TITLE: Boys Will Be Boys
SERIES: Faithfully Departed, Interlude #1
BY: Zorya
EMAIL: lunarmyth@yahoo.com
DISCLAIMER: Don't own the characters. Everyone is property of Joss and the WB and Mutant Enemy and all those rich execs.
DISTRIBUTION: Ask first, please.
RATING: PG
CATEGORY: angst
SPOILERS: None - just takes place after Season 3
SUMMARY: Spike and Angel meet and comment on each other's woman-spawned woes.
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It was raining.

He didn't care.

And so he trudged along in the wet and the mud and wondered where she was tonight.

Angel was back in Sunnydale.

Oh he didn't plan on staying. But he'd heard through the grapevine that there was trouble brewing. And if something big was going down, he wanted to be around for Buffy.

He hadn't heard one word from her since she'd left Los Angeles almost three months earlier. But then, he hadn't tried to keep in touch with her either. He felt it was better this way. A clean break. However, when things like this came up, it didn't seem quite so clean anymore. In his mind's eye he pictured her prowling around the graveyard or the park. Wherever she was, she would be searching for a fight. She always did, on nights like this. And that's why he'd stayed away from all of their old "haunts". His body and his heart ached to see her, but it wasn't worth the risk of bringing up all of the old hurts.

He wasn't watching where he was going, so when he bumped into the bumbling drunk outside of Willy's, he was instantly apologetic. Until he realized it wasn't just *any* bumbling drunk. It was Spike. And he looked like death warmed over. Angel muttered an oath and picked Spike up by the collar of his leather duster. Spike tried to fend him off, but in all of his drunken stupor he was only able to land one solid punch to Angel's jaw...accidentally.

"Come off of it, Spike," Angel warned, rubbing his jaw.

"Oh," Spike sneered. "It's *you*. Have ta admit, I never thought I'd see you again, Poofkins."

Angel growled and dragged Spike into the bar with him.

Willy looked up and saw Spike. "I thought I told you to leave, Spike."

Angel pushed Spike down into a booth and turned to Willy. "He's with me," he snarled menacingly, his ego boosted when Willy merely nodded and slunk back behind the bar.

"Bloody pillock, thinks he can tell *me* what to do..." Spike mumbled.

"Coffee!" Angel barked at Willy and the man jumped to do his bidding. He shook his head. *Dirty bastard* Angel thought of the barkeep. He sat down in the booth across from Spike and looked his childe over. "So what is it this time, Spike? I don't think it's Dru. I'd have figured you'd have gotten over that by now...or that you would've given in and done the world a favor by staking yourself. Is Buffy giving you trouble?" Angel smiled at the thought.

Spike raised his blue eyes to glare at his sire. "No, the Slayer's no' givin' me any trouble," he mocked Angel's tone. "And you're one to talk, Mr. I've-Got-A-Soul-But-I'd- Rather-Torture-Myself-By-Living-Without-You," Spike snickered. "Oh yeah, wait till the Slayer gets a load of this. Her Dreamy Cream Puff is back in town. Let me guess, you've been here at least two nights and you haven't even seen her yet."

Angel flushed.

Spike barked out a laugh. "You an' me, *Angel*, we've got a lot more in common than I'd like."

"Oh? You've tortured the love of your life and you've got a soul but you still can't be with her because she deserves so much more than you could ever give her?" Angel asked straight-faced.

Spike blinked. "Ok, maybe not so much in common." He shrugged and leaned back in the booth. "Fact remains, though, we're two whipped puppies. Never thought I'd admit to that. Who'd believe Spike - William the Bloody - would fall in love with a non-demon and switch to the other side." He saw Angel's incredulous look. "Oh don't give me that look. I know what they say. I see the way they look at me....right before I shove a stake through their...well. 'Oooh. It's Spike,'," he mimicked in a girlie voice. "'I hear he's playing for the *other* team now.' It's bloody disgraceful!" At that moment, Willy chose to set the coffee on the table and Spike snarled at him in full game regalia.

"Easy there, boy," Angel chided.

Spike calmed down and took a sip of the thick, horrible black Java. The alcohol's effect in him had already begun to ease off. "So why are you here, Soul Man?"

Angel growled at him. "I got some news of something going down here. Thought I'd come by and check it out."

"Couldn't let your precious Slayer get in too deep, huh?"

"And what about you? What about *your* Slayer?" Angel shot back. He hadn't forgotten the way Spike and Kiara had gotten along in L.A. A tiny part in him remembered the love his demon self had for the ex-Slayer and he felt a twinge of jealousy.

Spike snickered. "My Slayer. *My* Slayer. Well, when she's not going postal and trying to drive a stake through my heart, she's a luv. Won't let me touch her, but she's a luv."

"Oooh. Spike's been hit and he's down for the count. You've got it bad, huh?"

"I'd likely get more action from the mailman. But I can't get her out of my head."

Angel took this in. He didn't trust Spike. But he'd seemed to be working for their side. Taking into consideration everything Kiara had ever done for him, he didn't want to see her get hurt. He knew her possibly better than any other person - with the exception of Whistler. So he asked Spike the question he thought might be prevalent on Kiara's mind.

"But you're still in love with Dru?"

Spike was quiet. "I don't know if I'd say I was still in love her. She was my Princess. I loved her. I still love her. But I don't know if I'd say I was *in* love with her."

"And we all hoped love would spring eternal for you two."

"Shut your trap. I don't see you getting over the Slayer, now do I? No. You're the same old tortured soul you always were around her. I must say, *Angel*, she doesn't seem to have a very good effect on you. You've been a real downer ever since you met her. Well, with the exception of your brief glory days. Oh bugger it - who am I trying to kid? You were still a bloody sap for her. All that 'I'm going to destroy the world' crap. We both know you were just trying to impress her. Ah, the things we kids do nowadays for the ones we love."

Spike's words echoed in Angel's mind. *The things we do for the ones we love....* Spike had no idea. Sometimes he thought staying away from Buffy would kill him.

"I do love her," he murmured.

"Like *that's* not bloody obvious. Nobody thinks you don't love her, well, except maybe the Slayer herself." Angel winced at his words. Buffy didn't really believe he didn't love her, did she? "We just all know you're a damned fool," Spike finished.

Angel thought for a moment. "Maybe I am, Spike, maybe I am. But in the end, it's what's best for Buffy. I can give her this, and hope that she finds the normal life she wants. But I never could give her that."

"You know nothing about women, do you? How do you know she wants a normal life? For whatever reason she can find to love *you*, it's there and isn't going away. I can't fault her feelings, though why she picked you, I certainly don't know. Then again, you are better than the Boy Wonder. So maybe, you know, she just wants love. You and I are vampires no matter how different we are. We both know Slayers don't live forever. They fight and their light burns brighter than any star out there. But in the end, they're extinguished long before they've reached any potential for a gratifying life. Do you really think Buffy's any different? So she can kick a little ass. She's a great fighter. But one of these days, she's gonna be out of her league and not you or any of her little *Slayerettes* is going to be around to save her. Get used to that, Angel. Why can't you give her what happiness she wants while she's around to enjoy it?" Spike patted his pockets, in search of his cigarettes. He couldn't find them and figured they must have fallen out when Angel bumped into him. *Yet another reason to dislike the wanker* he thought sourly.

Angel was quiet as he pondered Spike's little speech. Was he right? When had Spike learned anything useful about love?

So he decided to counteract it in defense. "And you? You think you know so much about love? A soulless vampire who's only desire has been to please his insane mate? But you have no idea what to do with Kiara, do you? You think I don't know how she makes you feel? That I don't know you see the sunrise in her eyes? That you know you could spend eternity in her warm embrace? That every time you're near her you want to kiss her, touch her, hold her, love her? That she's so unlike Drusilla that she terrifies you? You don't want to break her, hurt her, harm her in any way - but you know that at any moment your control could snap and she'd be history. But I do know. I know because it's how I feel about Buffy. Isn't it ironic that the one person who's been chosen to dispatch us to our unenviable Fate, is the one person we know could give our immortality an actual meaning?" Angel shook his head. "No," he said. "I can't be with Buffy. But you could be with Kiara. That is, if you'd only make up your mind."

Spike glared at Angel. Since when had the Great Poof learned anything *useful* about love? He was letting the only woman he'd ever loved slip out of his grasp. And Spike....what was he doing? Could he bring himself to put Dru behind him forever?

The two vampires sat in silence as the rain poured down outside.





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