Time is the Fire in Which we Burn

Episode 7- Chapter 5


Spike dressed casually and sauntered downstairs when he was sure the others had left. Wesley looked up as he came down the stairs. 'Thank God! Where the hell is Angel? Gunn's….'

'Yeah, Pet. Tell me another time, hey?' Suddenly, Spike veered off his route and went up to the human. He stood looking at him for a moment then grasped his face and kissed him deeply. Wesley knocked him away.

'Really!'

Spike chuckled and resumed his journey to the kitchen.

Thunderously, Wesley picked up the ringing telephone, but slammed it down when Angel appeared on the stairs. 'I do wish you'd have a word with Spike about boundaries!'

'How you feeling, Wes?'

'Feeling? Well, I'm fine, but Gunn….'

'Yeah, another time maybe? We're kinda preoccupied today.'

'Oh, are we?'

Angel grinned. 'Spike and me are, yeah.'

'I…?'

'You what?'

'No, Spike and I….'

Angel frowned. 'You and Spike what?'

Shaking his head, Wesley went into the office. Angel flew to the kitchen. 'He's in there.'

Spike came out, and they swooped together through the door. With a grin, Angel turned, locked it and pocketed the key.

Wesley spun round, surprised from his map. 'What's up?' He frowned at the low rumbles of laugher from the vampires.

Nervously, he glanced toward some weapons lying in the corner, trying to gauge how much chance he'd have to get to the door before they killed him.

Spike shook his head sadly as if he could read the human's thoughts and sauntered over to the desk. Suddenly he turned and said, 'Is it hot in here?'

Wesley froze. The accent, the intonation: they were his. He put the map down angrily, but before he could say anything, Angel went up to Spike, and standing too close for normal personal space, laid a hand upon his chest. 'Yeah, Wes, it is. It's us.'

'I don't know what you two think you're doing - what damn spell you're….'

'You make me hot, Angel.'

'Spike! That's totally unconscionable! I refuse to stand here and listen to you mimicking….'

Angel ripped off Spike's shirt.

'Stop this! Let me out!'

'Turn around, human.'

'Oh, Angel… this isn't what I wanted….'

'Yes, it is. I read you like a book, Wesley; you want me, like this: here on the desk. Hard, fast.'

Wesley began to tug at the door, but his efforts were hampered by his frequent glances at the vampires. When Spike bent over the desk and Angel tore the back of his jeans down, he gave up any pretence of trying to escape his fate. He stood with his back pressed to the door watching as Angel unzipped his jeans and took out a large, urgent-looking erection. Spike groaned.

Wesley took a step closer. Angel began to rub the tip of his cock over Spike's backside, wetting it and leaving a glistening trail on the pale flesh like a finger brushed though wet grass. Wesley came a little closer.

Turning with grin, Angel began to push in, never dropping Wesley's gaze.

'I think you must be possessed. This is quite unacceptable.'

'But Wes, you're watching….'

'No, I'm….'

'Don't worry. Look.' Suddenly, Angel snagged Wesley's arm and pulled him closer. Wesley tried not to look down, but he couldn't stop his eyes: they moved completely of their own volition down to the joined bodies.

Angel began to pull out, every inch of his blood-red cock withdrawn agonisingly slowly. At last, the tip appeared; one trail of precum caught between it and Spike, and hanging like a web-strand, jewelled by early morning light. His shaft stayed solid and wavering slightly, hypnotising the bewildered human.

'Here, Wes. Feel him. Look at him.' Angel brought the man's hand to Spike and made him feel, made him push into the gaping hole. 'Take him now. You'll never get another chance. See how I've opened him up for you? You'll slide in so easily.' As he spoke in a low, tantalising voice, Angel eased the human out of his jeans. He was still soft, and Angel moaned at the feel of the warm vulnerability in his hand.

Once Wesley connected to the feeling of being in Angel's large palm, he rapidly hardened. Angel whispered his encouragement as he gently pulled and played with the thickening penis. He slid behind Wesley and placed him to his childe. He helped him push in, Wesley retaining his almost catatonic state.

Only when Spike moaned and began to push back into him did the human come back to life. He suddenly jerked and looked down at the cheeks spread below him, at the pale skin and dark edges of the hole and, most of all, at his own penis buried deep in the slim body.

'Oh, Christ!'

Angel chuckled and murmured in his ear, 'Yeah. Good, isn't he?'

Wesley nodded and began to move. Angel held him lightly around the waist and enjoyed watching Spike being taken, rubbing his hard shaft over the sliver of skin above Wesley's pants.

Wesley began to moan and both vampires heard a fair degree of distress mixed with the evident pleasure. Angel eased his hand around and cupped the human lightly, the hard, low-slung balls fitting perfectly to his palm. It was all Wesley needed. With an arching shudder that caught Angel a hard crack on his forehead, he came, shooting his semen deep into Spike's body. His legs wobbled; he fell back against the solid form behind him but was pushed to one side as Angel thrust back into Spike and took his pleasure, riding on the warm cum.

He came hard, fast, jerking in the spread body. Spike gasped and grabbed the edge of the desk, his knuckles whitening under the strain of the second penetration. Angel pulled him to standing and brought him off, too, the spurts of opaque fluid plopping softly to the desk.

With a sigh, they pulled apart and stood facing the human, fastening their clothes, watching him from under hooded eyes. Wesley backed away, already dressed. He put his hand to the door and said carefully, 'Please let me out now.'

Angel came forward, frowning, and did as he was asked. He caught Wesley's arm though and pulled him in for a kiss, but the human resisted and snatched away. 'I need - I want - I think I'll go home.'

The vampires watched him go then sauntered back up the stairs to their room.

Spike stretched then began to peel off his jeans with a small, rueful smile. 'Yuck.'

Angel glanced over to him and then began to strip as well. 'Shower.'

Under the water, they stretched and turned to the heat, revelling in the feeling of being sated. As they were drying off, Angel chuckled and said, 'Two-one.'

Spike grinned. 'How are you feeling?'

Angel frowned. 'Okay. Good. Better than good. Why?'

Spike just shook his head as if he could not imagine how anyone could be so misguided.



The alarm went, and Spike turned with a gleeful look to Angel. He tucked the sheet solicitously higher around his neck, gave him a swift kiss, pulled on some clothes and went downstairs.

Wesley was in the office and looked up when he came in. The telephone went in the lobby, and he made to push past Spike. Spike grabbed his arm. 'Leave it; it's not important.'

Wesley paused and looked at Spike's face. 'What's up?'

Spike looked away and shook his head a little, as if not willing to share.

Wesley took hold of his arm. 'Is it Angel? Is he still…? Bloody hell, what's that now?' He went out into the lobby, and Spike waited impatiently as the inevitable events played themselves out, but he could tell, watching the man, that he was distracted this time.

When he'd persuaded Fred to take Gunn home, Wesley turned to the vampire with a look. 'Thanks for your help, Spike!'

Spike clenched his jaw and turned his head, then stomped to the kitchen as if he could hide his emotions better there. Wesley followed him in. 'Sorry. What's wrong?'

'When you came in last night, he was,' he slammed his fist into the fridge, making the human wince in sympathy, 'talking about staking himself.'

Wesley caught at his shoulder. 'Surely not!'

Spike nodded sadly. 'I can't get him to get up this morning. It's like he's lost his… stuffing, ya know?'

Wesley nodded. 'It came as a shock to him to realise that he isn't a very good vampire anymore.'

Spike sighed again, seemed to think he'd used this small noise enough, so added a pout. 'I'm going home for a while. Maybe if you get the time, you could go up and see him?'

'Well, yes, of course. If you think it will do any good.'

'Oh, I'm sure it would.' With that, he took himself sadly out into the lobby, and by the time Wesley got out, he had disappeared from sight.

The human got distracted with telephone calls for a while, but when it seemed a little quieter, he made two mugs of coffee and went up to the bedrooms.

He heard a rustle as he came in and found Angel just a solid looking lump under a sheet. He perched on the edge of the bed and put the mugs carefully on the nightstand. 'Angel?'

When there was no response, he put his hand tentatively on the sheet. 'Angel, there's no point doing this; the day goes on, tomorrow always comes, and things get better. You've had a shock; you've discovered you aren't as invulnerable as you thought you….'

There was a shaking under his hand, and it made Wesley bite his lip. 'Don't, please, Angel; I really can't bear it.'

Bravely, Angel put his hand out of the sheet and onto Wesley's thigh, giving it a small squeeze.

Wesley nodded, pleased. 'Now, get up and come and help me downstairs. Oh! I haven't told you; Gunn got….'

'You'd be better running this place on your own. You don't need me.'

Wesley huffed at the low, self-indulgent comment and decided something more drastic than sympathy was needed. He hit the lump instead. Angel's face emerged, pouting. 'Ow.'

'Stop being melodramatic, and get up.'

Angel sighed and propped his head up on his hand and patted the sheet closer to him. Wesley shifted along, and when Angel suddenly sat up, they were only inches apart. Angel lowered his eyes and then raised them with such a soulful, sad look that Wesley felt himself falling into their helpless depths. He took a breath and then cupped Angel around the back of the neck and laid his forehead to the vampire's. 'Don't ever let me hear that you've been thinking of ending things, Angel. You are a champion, and you've only just started on this path of yours.'

Angel tipped his head a little, their faces changed position, and before they knew it, they were kissing softly. Angel pulled Wesley closer, further onto the bed and laid back, Wesley leaning over him, staring at him. Once more, there was a pause for a moment when the vampire sensed it could go either way, and then the man lowered to the welcoming lips. He stretched so he lay alongside Angel, so they could kiss and roll and feel each other's bodies.

The human felt Angel lose concentration for a moment, opened his eyes and followed his look to the bathroom.

Spike leant against the doorframe, naked, just a towel around his waist. Wesley felt a shudder of something course through his body and didn't have time to analyse what it was before the second vampire joined them on the bed, sitting on his heels, slowly unwrapping the towel.

Angel pulled Wesley back to him and began to kiss him once more - suddenly no confusion, fear or hesitancy in these kisses. Wesley felt a sense of sinking into Angel's body, of losing himself under the vampire's powerful influence. He barely felt his jeans being loosened or lowered to the top of his thighs. He was aware of something cool being spread over him, but not enough to stop kissing and exploring Angel's mouth with his tongue. He sensed hands parting him, heard a moan of satisfaction and then felt something trying to enter his body.

Angel increased the intensity of the kiss, running his hands through Wesley's hair, groaning to the unfamiliar pleasure of stubble.

It wasn't enough distraction. Wesley felt himself being stretched, felt something tear, and he cried out, this small sound being immediately drowned out by a cry of deep distress. He whirled around and found Spike huddled on the bed, holding his head. He put a hand guiltily to the prone figure, but felt himself being pulled back into strong, eager arms. 'He'll get over it; don't let it….'

'Angel! Have some damn sympathy, will you?' He scrambled off the bed and pulled up his jeans. He looked at Spike and seemed to come back from a long way away. He looked wildly around the room as if uncertain what he was doing or how he got there, and then with a small moan of distress, he left.

Angel cursed softly and hit Spike. 'Spoil sport.'

Spike, tears of pain in his eyes, sat up and glared at him. Still sending Angel vicious looks, Spike crawled up and flopped alongside him. They shared a cigarette, both deep in thought.

Angel turned his head, as if trying to keep his thoughts veiled, his face dark, his brow lowered. Only when Spike turned and crawled over the bed and began to shift the nightstand, did he rouse to say with a frown, 'What are you doing…?'

He watched, bemused, as Spike lay on his belly, peering off the end of the bed, then with concern when he went to the safe and then with fury when he opened it and got out the orb.

He crawled over and tried to snatch it away, but Spike held it out of reach. He opened his mouth to speak, but Spike suddenly said, 'I couldn't take him.'

'I know, but….'

'No, not 'but', Angel. I'm not whole. I'm mutilated. I'm half a man. Even less a vampire.'

'Spike! You're….'

'I want it out.'

There was a huge pause. With total clarity, Angel knew exactly what his childe meant. They stared at each other, and then Angel said with as much command as he could muster naked, 'No.'

Spike shook his head. 'It's not your decision.'

Trying not to turn this into an argument, trying to remember that this was possibly the most important thing they had ever talked about, Angel said calmly. 'We're together, Spike; it affects me as much as you.'

Spike pursed his lips, but then acknowledged the truth of this with a small nod. With a sigh, he put the orb on the bed between them. 'We can try, Angel: find someone who'll do it, and if it doesn't work, you'll know why, and there'll be tomorrow. It's the best - possibly the only - chance I'll ever have.'

'No… it's too risky.'

'Risky? Afraid I'm gonna start biting again, Mate?'

Angel snagged him to him and held him tightly. 'No. I'm afraid it won't work, and this damn spell won't be strong enough to keep you here with me.'

Spike pulled gently away, and Angel saw the faint glisten of tears in his eyes. 'What's gonna happen to us in the future? What if you get your damn redemption and become human? If I'm like this, we can't be together - hell, we might not anyway, but at least if I have this fucking chip out, we can try!'

Angel sat back on his heels and stared at the tiny, blue light. 'One go.'

Spike blinked with relief and pleasure.

Carefully, they replaced the orb in its resting place and refastened the door. Angel climbed off the bed and began to dress. 'I have contacts. I'll find someone who won't ask too many questions. Stay here.'

Spike nodded and watched Angel go with a sense of intense fear that he was giving up something very precious just to gain an elusive dream.



They burst in just as the doctor was setting up for the day. He shrank back against the wall of the small operating theatre and held his hands out defensively. 'I don't keep drugs here. What do you want?'

Angel swept some instruments off the table and nodded for Spike to climb on. 'You're doing an unscheduled operation.'

The man recovered some of his composure. 'Get out, or I'll call the police.'

Angel shook his head sadly. 'Now, why do I think you're not going to do that?' He made a show of thinking deeply. 'Oh, yeah, I know what kind of operations you do here, Quack. I'm a deeply religious man; so, don't get me riled up.'

'You're from Pro-life?' Real fear suddenly crossed the doctor's face.

Angel and Spike both chuckled. 'You could say that. Now, come here.' He eased Spike flat onto the table and pointed to his head. 'In there is a piece of metal, and we need it taken out.'

The doctor came forward, intrigued, despite himself. 'Bullet?'

'No, a sort of device. I'm not sure what it is.'

'Jesus, I'm not a damn brain surgeon! I can't do this kind of operation! I'll kill the man!'

'No, you won't. Trust me on this.'

'The anaesthetic alone to do this kind of thing… I've not got that or instruments….'

'You take things out, right?' Angel's tone was becoming aggressive, and the man nodded dismally. 'He doesn't need anaesthetic. Just open him up, and take it out.'

'No….'

Angel laid a gun on the table, and the doctor looked at them both.

Nervously, he picked up a small disc-saw and switched it on. It gave off the sort of noise that immediately made the vampires suck on their teeth: an instinctive reaction to the soft zizzing sound.

'At least hold him down.'

'He won't need it. I need to watch what you do.'

'Why?'

'Just get on with it.'



Angel loved blood. He thrived on pain, but watching Spike's skull being sawn into tested even his sadistic tendencies. The doctor opened it up like a small flap and then exclaimed at the small metal object clearly visible.

Angel nodded and put a hand on Spike's shoulder. Spike covered it with his, and the only indication that he was not enjoying the experience much was a deep trembling in the muscles of his hand. Angel gripped it tightly and tried to stop the shaking with the power of his body.

The doctor took a pair of pincers and delved to the chip. After some difficulty, he got a grip on it and began to pull. Suddenly, Spike shot upright and screamed. The doctor fell back in shock, not used to his patients doing this, and Angel tried to get the screaming figure to lie down again, but Spike fell off the table, writhing on the floor, holding his head, still howling pitifully. The doctor put his hands over his ears. 'Stop him!'

Angel knelt to Spike, but he couldn't get close enough to the thrashing figure. He looked at the doctor in agonised panic. 'Get it out!'

The doctor picked up the pincers once more, but however hard they tried, Angel could not hold Spike still enough for the man to get any chance of removing the chip.

Finally, Angel stood up to get more purchase and punched Spike with all his strength in the face. Spike went down like a stone, his jaw cracked, but silent.

This silence was completely bewildering, and for a moment they were both too stunned to react, but then Angel dragged the unconscious figure into his lap and said between gritted teeth, 'Get it out.'

The doctor slipped on the blood that slicked over the floor and probed roughly into the exposed brain. With a grunt, he got a grip of the chip and began to pull.

This time, Spike surfaced through deep layers of unconsciousness from the pain. He screamed again and tore frantically at his face and head, trying to get fingers into his own brain. The doctor covered his ears once more and began distressed moaning, then, casting a glance at the distracted Angel, flung to his feet and escaped the blood-splattered room.

Angel tried to cradle Spike to him, but the smaller vampire flung himself around the floor, screaming. Angel looked wildly around and spied the anaesthetic machine and dragged Spike to it, kneeling on him as he put the mask to his face. He used the last reserves of his strength to hold Spike down, screaming at him to breathe. The gas began to take effect, and then he sank, shocked to the floor.

The respite only lasted a few minutes. The agony was so bad that Spike surfaced even from that deep unconsciousness, still screaming, still trying to tear the chip physically from his skull.

Angel held him but got knocked away. He tried to put the mask back on, but in his total terror and panic, Spike slammed him into the wall and crashed the machine to the ground.

The screaming tore at Angel. He felt utterly paralysed. He looked around wildly and then heard something in the screaming. Spike was attempting to say something, but it was incoherent. Angel caught at him; watching his lips as he screamed, he finally understood what Spike was saying.

He backed off, shaking his head wildly. Spike flung himself to his sire and fell on the floor, kicking and twisting to the agony as if being electrocuted. Angel backed away again, but Spike crawled pitifully to him, and laid just one hand on his shoe. Finally, with a roar of distress and a scream of pure fury, Angel took a stake out of his pocket and plunged it into his lover.

As he watched the dust explode, he had the absurd thought that at least he now knew that vampires with souls could be staked. He began to giggle at the thought and wanted to share it with Spike.

He fell to his knees and vomited in the silence.

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