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He lay awake next to her, on his side, head propped up on his hand, gazing at her. He wanted to absorb every single inch of her into his memory. He, in his wildest dreams, never thought he would be here, next to her, ever again. He had become soft; yes, he would admit to it. Here he had been an evil, well, semi-evil creature of the night for over 120 years, and all he could think about was loving Buffy and giving her everything. He felt he had already done enough for himself, it was time to give. He vowed to himself from that day on that everything he did was because of her and only for her.

He swept a strand of hair out of her face and leaned over to place a chaste kiss on her forehead, then one on the tip of her nose and ending softly upon her lips. She mumbled slightly but didn't awaken. He decided he would let her sleep some more. He slipped out of bed, dressed quietly and stealthily made his way downstairs. For some reason he wanted to check out Angel Investigations. 'What a poufy name, Angel Investigations,' he thought to himself as he came closer to the main floor.

Someone he didn't recognize was at the front desk, a petite brunette who looked like a computer nerd with her glasses on. She looked up when she heard him descend the last step. She gave him a warm smile and said hi, barely loud enough for him to hear. He actually smiled back at her and nodded his hello. Without warning, he heard a crash off to his right.

"Oh, my God, Spike." Cordelia ran over to Fred and pushed her aside, grabbing a stake in the process. "Annnggeelll," she screamed.

Spike held up his hands in surrender, trying to convince her he wasn't there to harm anyone. Angel flew into the room, looking around frantically for the intruder. He saw Spike holding his hands up, shaking his head back and forth and trying to speak a full sentence. Angel crossed his arms over his chest and started to chuckle. Spike gave him an unpleasant look.

"Angel, would you be so kind as to call off your bodyguard?"

"It's alright, Cordy. Spike is here with Buffy and he's completely harmless. Well, somewhat harmless anyway. I'll explain later." Angel turned back to Spike. "Hungry? I was just getting ready to eat breakfast. Got plenty if you’re interested."

"Uh…sure…thanks."

About twenty minutes later, the two vampires found themselves in a dimly lit sitting room. They sat opposite from one another after Angel had pulled a table over that held a glass chess board and placed it between them. They had played against each other way back when, usually out of boredom during the daylight hours. Both had gotten quite good, but it had been a while. He started to set up the playing pieces so Spike pitched in to help.

Afterwards, Spike noticed Angel staring at him from time to time. Spike knew something was on his mind even though he really wanted to talk to Angel; he just didn't know where to begin. Finally, Spike started.

"Just say it."

Angel's mouth dropped open. "What?"

"You apparently want to ask me something, so just ask."

"What's with you and Buffy?"

Spike chuckled and looked away from him.

"What's so funny? You told me to ask."

"I knew exactly what you were going to ask, that's what's so funny." He stopped laughing and became serious as he looked back at him.

"Nothing. We had a…a thing for a brief time. Just happened. Now we're…just friends."

It was Angel's turn to laugh.

"I think I recall this conversation once before. A particular person, namely you, telling Buffy and me that we would never be friends. You're in love with her, aren't you?" Spike lowered his gaze and grimaced at the fact Angel could see right through him.

"I knew it. Is that the reason you sought a soul? Does she love you?"

"I think that is something you should be asking Buffy, if you're brave enough to do so," Spike said matter-of-factly.

"Why? Because you're not really sure how she feels about you?"

"Doesn't matter. I know how I feel, and that's all that I care about right now. I would do anything for her and her sister. They're my family, all that I have, well, except for you, but we both know how that's been."

**~**~**~**~**~**~**~**~**~**~**

Buffy woke up alone not too long after Spike had casually slipped out of the room. She was sure she heard Cordy yelling for Angel. She made her way to the bathroom, showered, dressed and headed downstairs to see what kind of mischief Spike had gotten himself into.

Buffy ran into Cordy and Fred. As they exchanged pleasantries, Cordy mentioned the whereabouts of the two boys. Buffy made her way to the darkest room in the hotel and stood at the doorway just in time to hear them talking about her. She was amazed at Spike's responses to Angel's hounding. Another thing that was unbelievable was how well the two were getting along. Well, getting along for them was not ripping each other's body parts off. They seem to be having a rational conversation of sorts.

She cleared her throat before entering the room, giving them a leeway to either change the subject or stop talking about her.

"Goodmorning, boys."

Angel stood, which made Spike roll his eyes. He had to hand it to Angel; he was still a smooth character what with the gentlemanly charms and all. He gave her a peck on the cheek.

"How did you sleep?"

"Like a log, thanks." She turned her attention to Spike, smiling affectionately. He returned it.

"I rolled over and didn't find you this morning. You left without waking me."

Mouth opened in astonishment; Spike couldn't believe Buffy mentioned their sleeping arrangements right there in front of Angel. Maybe now would be a good time to be stoic. He snapped his mouth shut and glanced over at Angel, who of course looked a bit perplexed. Spike cleared his throat and turned his attention back to Buffy.

"I…thought you needed to sleep a little longer. Besides, I wanted to check out the place. Which, I think I will finish my tour right now and let you two catch up."

He stood quickly, but as he passed the still standing Buffy, the back of their hands brushed. He gave her a glance and saw the twinkle in her eyes before she winked at him. She was up to something. He smiled to himself before leaving the room.

Buffy plopped herself down in Spike's seat.

"So, fill me in on the haps. What's new in your life, Angel? Seeing anyone special? Anything strange or odd happened lately?"

"What's going on, Buffy?"

"I'm trying to catch up. What better way to do that than to carry on a bit of conversation?"

"I mean, what's going on with Spike? You two seem to be on more than friendly terms. Am I right?"

"Possibly. Maybe. Does it matter?"

"Buffy, don't take this the wrong way. You know I care about you, I always will. I know it's your life and I have no right to tell you what you should do, but Spike? Can you trust him?"

"You would be amazed at what he has accomplished, what he has done for me and Dawn. He's risked his life, or unlife as he would say, he's protected all of us, he went out to get a soul for me because he wanted to be a good man. You of all people should know what it does to you to get a soul back after being without one for so long. He just wanted me to be happy, wanted to give me what he thought I deserved; love and happiness. I think all that speaks volumes and I will admit, it took me a while to fully trust him. But yes, I do now."

Silence filled the room.

"I believe he does love you. I can see it in his eyes and in his actions. But…Buffy…do you love him?"

"Hey, peaches, there's a crazy guy out here asking for you." Spike knew he was interrupting at a bad time. "I think you better get out here and talk to him."

"We'll finish our conversation later?" Angel looked perturbed.

"No need. The answer to your question is the same as my answer to your other question." Buffy didn't want to say it, especially with Spike in the room. She had her own agenda set for the right time and place to break her declaration to him.

Angel nodded his confirmation.

Spike's blue eyes widened and he was having a hard time containing his excitement. He knew exactly what the questions were and now knew her answer to both. Vampire hearing was a wonderful asset to the undead creature package. He quickly dropped his eyes to the floor so Angel couldn't pick up on this discovery.

As he passed Spike in the doorway, he asked Angel, "Need any help?"

Angel shrugged his shoulders. "Don't know yet. Maybe."

Buffy came up to stand next to Spike. "We've got your back, just in case."

Angel smiled and headed to the front lounge.

**~**~**~**~**~**~**~**~**~**~**

Angel, indeed, needed some backup. Gunn and Fred were out on a case and Cordy was in another part of the hotel. It turned out the "crazy man" was in actuality a demon who could split himself into two other smaller demons. All in all, they were peeved at something or someone and mean as ever, taking its anger out on the three warriors.

Angel decided to take on the large one, leaving the two small ones for Buffy and Spike, which they disposed of quite quickly. The big one was strong and Angel struggled. In fact, the demon picked Angel up and tossed him across the room like a sack of flour then ran towards him brandishing a bo that had been sharpened to a point at the end. Spike intercepted the demon's pursuit and took the blow meant for Angel. He crumpled to the floor holding his side where blood gushed from the gash the demon had inflicted.

Buffy took that instant to take the demon down, Angel hopping onto the bandwagon and holding him down while Buffy twisted its neck nearly all the way off. She scrambled off of the demon and crawled over to Spike who was lying face down on the floor, blood now pooling underneath him. Angel noticed and ran to get the first aid kit while Buffy flipped Spike over onto his back. He was unconscious and paler than normal and Buffy held her hands over the deep cut.

"It's bad, Angel. He's lost a lot of blood. We need to get it stopped before it completely drains out of him."

Angel put the kit down and ran over to grab some towels. He placed them over the wound and applied enough pressure over it to staunch the flow while Buffy booked it to the kitchen to grab as much blood as she could carry to replace what Spike had lost. When she came back into the room, she had to stop for a moment. Angel had lifted Spike up and was cradling his head in his lap. She could overhear him talking to his grand childe.

"Must be something good in that cold heart of yours after all. What was with that heroic white knight stuff? Throwing yourself in between that demon and me; taking the brunt of the hit, something that was meant to dust me, finish me off…Must be something in there," he trailed off almost too soft for Buffy to hear.

Spike moaned and started to move slightly. His eyes slowly opened.

"Oh, bloody hell,” he growled. “You would have to be the first thing I see after waking up from being almost skewered."

Angel looked up at Buffy with a goofy grin on his face.

"He's going to be just fine, Buff."

TBC to Pt. 2





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