RockStarPeach

For the latest round of Angel’s Bunnies on

strip_off_angel

For

shay2

Pairing: Angel/Spike, Wesley
Rating: PG
Summary: Wesley's thoughts as he witnesses a loving moment between Angel and Spike.
**nothing harsh from the watcher. 

Wesley was working late, as usual.  Everybody was. 

Fred was up in her lab, testing out some kind of magical-technical something or other that would be able to obliterate vampires from a distance, but so far had the unfortunate side effect of rendering anyone else in the area temporarily blind. 

Gunn was in his office, going over reports, preparing for a court appearance the next day in which he was likely to succeed in getting off yet another of their low-life clients who would continue to murder senior citizens, because if he went to prison it would mean a demon war with way more casualties. 

Lorne was out at some after party, meeting and greeting the who’s who of the demon and human worlds, roping in their latest batch of probably evil clients, and Angel and Spike were out ‘on business’.

For business, read ‘dispatching a nest of Haabek demons’, but they hadn’t wanted to alert anyone to the danger they possessed unless it was absolutely necessary, and if the two vampires succeeded, it wouldn’t be.  No babies would be sacrificed, and no portals opened to alternate hell dimensions, and everyone would go on blissfully unaware and living in the hell they were already so comfortably familiar with.

Angel hadn’t actually been out on patrol in quite a while, preferring to keep himself hidden away from all of his friends, from the people he saved, from the world.  Hidden behind desks and telephones and reports, and he wasn’t seeing things as he should be anymore.  He was drifting, and Wesley was afraid that soon he’d be lost to them entirely.

Flipping through the papers on his desk, Wesley came across something that needed Angel’s attention.  Well, attention would be stretching it, as Angel didn’t pay attention to much these days, besides the big shots anyway.  Didn’t pay much attention to any of them anymore, and especially not Spike.  Spike, who he used for the dirty jobs and discarded when his usefulness had come to an end.  Spike, who he was out with that night, and would probably be dismissed without even a ‘thank you’ when it was all over.

Spike, who he thought might have been the one that was able to get to Angel, to understand him and be there for him and let Angel know that he wasn’t as alone as he thought he was.  But either Spike wasn’t interested in a friendship, or Angel wasn’t, because the two seemed almost incapable of being in the same room without an argument.  

He caught movement in the lobby out of the corner of his eye and looked up to see Angel returning from the fight.  It was mildly surprising that he was back so early, but what was even more surprising was that Spike was with him.  The smaller vampire was limping slightly, walking a bit to the side and behind Angel as the larger vampire led the way to his office.  Spike must have been hurt.

Concern and curiosity, along with the need he had to get Angel to sign the release form he’d been looking at so that Wesley could have full access to the hazardous magical substances vault, drove Wesley to leave his office and follow them to Angel’s.

It took him a few seconds to collect the proper papers and by the time he reached Angel’s office door, it was shut firmly, closing the vampires in.  He was about to knock, to announce his presence, but as he peaked through a crack in the shading of the large glass wall what he saw made him drop his hand in mid knock, arm falling loosely to his side.

Spike was sitting on Angel’s couch, duster draped over the arm, white t-shirt stripped off and bunched up in his hand, stomach covered in blood.  He was wearing an expression of pain that made his normally beautiful face look exquisite, and Wesley blinked a few times before deciding to forgo the knocking he had planned and go in unannounced, because obviously Spike needed medical attention.

His fingers had barely made contact with the doorknob when Angel emerged into his field of view carrying a handful of something that Wesley couldn’t see, and something made him remain still and quiet.

Angel must have spoken, because Spike looked up at him for a moment before nodding once and directing his attention to the far wall.  In a way, Wesley was glad that he couldn’t hear them; they were probably only calling each other any number of ridiculously childish names, but without the sound there seemed to be a peace about them.

Angel bent down in front of Spike, and after a small amount of fiddling laid down the contents of his hands; a bottle of something and a few plain white bandages, and began to gently dab at Spike’s wound with a towel.

Spike winced – obviously the towel must have been covered in some sort of alcohol or disinfectant – and Angel’s head tilted up to Spike’s face, free hand immediately going to Spike’s knee, fingers rubbing soothingly over the soft material of Spike’s jeans. 

Spike looked back at Angel, smiling tightly, but genuinely, Wesley noted with a small amount of surprise.  He closed his eyes, mouth turning down at the corners in concentration as Angel again applied the wet towel to his stomach.  Angel’s other hand hadn’t stopped its activity on Spike’s leg and that small touch seemed to keep the blond vampire grounded.

It wasn’t long before Angel tossed the bloodied cloth down on the floor next to them and picked up the bandage, pressing it gently to what Wesley could see now was a very deep gash just under Spike’s ribs.  He smoothed the gauze down, pressing slightly harder on the tape around the edges to secure the covering, and the care he took in doing it told Wesley it had more to do with wanting to make Spike comfortable and speed his recovery that to stop him bleeding all over the furniture like he’d claim.

Eventually the clinical pushing of Angel’s fingers and thumbs over the edges of the bandage gave way to a softer, more intimate touch.  It wasn’t sexual; far from it.  But it was comforting, caring, and the slight frown on Spike’s face smoothed out, hands going to rest on Angel’s shoulders, kneading slightly in time with Angel’s caresses.

Angel’s hands stilled when they reached Spike’s sides, palms firmly pressed over Spike’s ribs on either side, thumbs still working vaguely on the skin under Spike’s nipples.

Angel must have said something else then, because Spike’s hands stilled and his eyes shot open, and he looked at Angel confused for a moment, as if he’d been somewhere else.  He probably had been.

Angel’s hands squeezed one final time around Spike, and Spike smiled again, sad and sweet and his lips moved but Wesley couldn’t read them.  Angel reached up to grab Spike’s head in his hands, tilting it down, and kneeling up higher so that his head was almost level with Spike’s.

Wesley’s breath caught slightly at the scene.  He was sure that they were going to kiss, and a part of him wanted to bang on the widow or open the door and ask them what the hell they thought they were doing.  A part of him wanted them to have any sort of happiness or escape that the kiss, and whatever followed, would give them, and a part of him wanted to watch.

But all Angel did was pull Spike’s face down and touch their foreheads together, comfort and affection radiating through the touch, and despite Wesley’s curiosity about how long they would stay that way, or would happen next, he found himself turning slowly away from the window, and walking back to his office.

The scene had become more intimate than Wesley was comfortable witnessing.  If he was honest with himself it had started out the same way, but he had felt compelled to watch at least this much.  Now though, he wanted to give the vampires their privacy.

Perhaps there was something good inside this hall of evil after all.

Those papers he needed Angel to sign could wait.

END