blue_icy_rose

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spikeshunny

Title: There's Always Consequences
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 980 (this chapter)
Spoilers: Through season 5 of Buffy. Things go AU in early season 6, especially after Tabula Rasa. There's also a reference in this chapter to Connor before he comes back and goes all teen angst.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything associated with Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It all belongs to Joss Whedon.
Note: I seriously wouldn't be surprised if this story's been forgotten by most. Honestly, I wouldn't blame you since I just sort of let this sit there while I happily explored the world of crossovers. But if you haven't forgotten this then I'm letting you know now that I haven't forgotten about this story - it's just not high up on my list of fics to write unfortunately. Fickle muse and all. But thanks to

pappy123 for getting me thinking of this again! Written for

tamingthemuse (prompt: cuisine).

Previous chapters can be found here.

Spike grinned as Dawn slapped a hand over her mouth to keep herself from laughing out loud. Buffy looked like she desperately wanted to go into the other room so she could laugh. Xander, on the other hand, simply continued to look up at Angel, waiting for an answer.

Angel stared back at him, his mouth slightly open. “Because...because it’s not a girl’s name.”

“Then how come there’s a girl on Willow’s street named Angel?”

He looked up at the other three and then back down at Xander, realizing that the others were so busy trying not to laugh that they’d be no help at all.

“Because, well, because sometimes there are names that can be for both boys and girls,” he finally said. Xander paused and considered this for a moment.

“Oh.” He looked back at Spike and then turned to Angel, brightening. “Are you going to watch me while Spike and Buffy fight the demons?”

“What?” Angel’s eyes widened when he heard Dawn snicker.

“That could work,” Spike said, his grin turning into a smirk. “Don’t you think so, Buffy?”

Buffy bit her lip and thought about it. “Well, normally, I’d say that Angel should come with us and Dawn could watch Xander but that’s not going to work tonight.”

“I’m going over to Katie’s house,” Dawn explained as soon as she saw Angel open his mouth to say something. She looked down at Xander. “What do you think, would you want to hang out with Angel for a little bit?”

Xander looked like he was giving the question serious consideration. “I think so.”

“Great!” Buffy sent Angel a wide smile. “Then the demons can deal with Spike, instead of Angel, and they know him.”

“Which might make things worse,” Angel muttered.

Buffy gave him a pointed look before continuing, “And Angel and Xander can play games. As soon as Angel tells us what we’re dealing with, we’ll be set.”

Angel sighed as they each turned to look at him. He should have known when he woke up to find Cordelia downstairs, waiting to yell at him for not cleaning the weapons the night before and leaving the slime to get on her shoes, that this day was going to continue to go downhill.

~*~*~

“So, you think Angel’s going to have ripped all his hair out by the time we get back?” Spike’s eyes lit up at the mere idea even as Buffy shook her head.

“No,” she told him. “I think Angel might be grateful that vamps can’t have kids but other than that, things should go fine.” She grinned. “Maybe they’ll be friends by the end of the night.”

“Hey now, don’t put that out there! What if someone hears you or something?” Spike scowled.

She snorted at the look on his face. “Oh please. Like anyone, especially Angel, is replacing you as Xander’s favorite vampire.”

At that, Spike smirked. “True. Still doesn’t mean I have to like the thought.”

“You don’t.” Buffy nodded in agreement and then bit her lip. “But Spike, in a few weeks, things are going to go back to the way they were. Can you handle that?”

Spike didn’t answer at first, choosing instead to keep walking. Finally, he sighed. “Yeah. You lot didn’t see much of it but me and Xander actually became friends.” He thought about adding that he was evil so they weren’t good friends but after today, that excuse was just never going to work ever again.

Buffy smiled, surprising Spike. “Good. Xander needs more guy friends. Well, besides the ones he works with because they don’t know about the Sunnydale nightlife.” She glanced over at him. “And Spike, you do realize that you can’t just keep ordering in for dinners, right? Xander’s going to need actual meals.”

“I can cook, I’ll have you know.”

“I don’t think Lean Cuisine counts.”

“Oi!”

Laughing, Buffy sped up. “Come on, Blondie, the faster we get the demons, the faster we’re able to go back and see what Xander’s done to Angel.”

~*~*~

Angel watched as Xander pushed two tiny cars after each other on the track that he’d talked Angel into helping him build. Xander was making car noises and also acting like the announcer of a race, informing Angel when the red car would pull ahead of the yellow car and when it was the other way around.

He couldn’t help the pang of sadness as he watched Xander send the red car flying across the finish line first. His son could have been doing that in a few years.

Xander looked up. “How come you’re sad?” He tried to think of something that could have made the vampire sad and frowned. “Did you want yellow to win?”

Angel shook his head, his lips twitching. “No. I was just thinking of someone, that’s all.”

“Were they mean?” Xander tilted his head and tried to come up with another reason for the vampire to be sad.

“No, they weren’t.” Angel let out a breath. “How about another race?”

Xander shook his head. “No, they have to go to the rest pit.” He carefully placed the cars along the side of the track. “That way they can get fixed.” He stood and turned to Angel, looking hopeful. “Can I have some cookies?”

“Did you have dessert already?” Angel asked. He couldn’t help but wonder if even considering saying yes was a bad thing.

Once again, Xander shook his head. “No. But cookies are a snack.” His eyes lit up. “Can I have ice cream for dessert? Can I?”

If he was lucky, this was going to all just annoy the crap out of Spike. Angel smirked at the thought and nodded. “Sure.”

A hyped up Xander who just happened to be a toddler. At the moment, Angel couldn’t think of any better revenge against Spike for those hot pokers.