*****
Part 1: The Lovers

University of Sunnydale June 2015

"I want all of those papers on my desk by Noon on Friday and there will be no excuses." Professor Finn told his students, there were a few groans but only good hearted ones, he knew that he was viewed as one of the better faculty members and that the 1,000 word essay was less than any other course gave out. He smiled wryly and wondered what his students would think if they knew about his other job, the real reason that he could afford to drive his two-year old BMW. Private Investigation took on a whole new element when you had an understanding of the demon element of the criminal world and working with the people at MacDonald and Trent meant there was always work. A glance at the window showed that it was nearly sunset, time to go out and find his lover, it was about time for him to be getting up.

---------

Sunnydale June 2015

Spike woke to the sounds of movement in the next room, rolling off of his makeshift bed he took hold of the stake before smelling the scent of his lover, a new one in terms of his life, but one with whom he was finally building levels of trust.

"Hello lover." Spike growled in a low husky voice as Riley walked through the door, they met in the darkened hall and the ex-soldier pushed his lover up against the wall, willing himself not to take the vampire there and then.

"Missed you." Riley said, in his own form of the vampiric growl, Spike pulled away and dragged his lover over towards the bedroom. "I've been waiting for this all day."

"Me too." Spike said as he threw Riley down on the bed and ripped off his clothes, one piece at a time, Finn was glad that he was not wearing one of his favorite suits as he had been last time Spike got this dominant, Armani was so expensive and it was a shame to see such a suit ruined. Still, he thought wickedly, the suit had gotten off lightly compared to how ruined he had been the next day.

Spike looked down at his lover, if Riley was still capable of logical thought enough to put a wry smile on his face he was obviously not doing this right, pulling away he leaned in to his lover and planted himself on top, covering Riley like a blanket. Now they were touching each other all over and as hands and lips played over cool skin Riley began to forget that he was supposed to be grading papers tonight. He lost all conscious thought except for the mouth that was playing with his body, his lover and his life were giving him pleasure and in that moment it was all that he needed.

------------------

Spike lay watching his blissed out lover sleep. He slept soundly now, a far cry from the wounded hero that had come to his bed five years ago, a victim of the short lived war of independence with Canada. Riley had returned to Sunnydale a broken shell, looking for any one of the friends that had once been there and found only the enemy that had tried to steal his girlfriend. Their war of words had led to a fight or fuck scenario that had left Spike wondering why he had never seen the side of the soldier that made him want to coddle him. Spike had told Riley of Buffy's demise and Riley had told him how he had lost his lover to the forces of man, and not the forces of evil as they had always thought. Buffy and Forrest were both dead and Riley felt empty, he had asked Spike to kill him and the Vampire had smiled, telling him that the chip was still in place and instead offering to love him. The rest was history. Riley had changed, slowly at first but then more quickly as he thrived under the love from a strange source, he worked two jobs and kept his lover in blood and in return Spike did a lot of the ground work for Riley's more demonic cases. Together they were the team that Spike and Dru and Riley and Buffy had never been. They were both the happiest that they had been in a long time.

Spike knew that it was a night for reminiscences, he always got this way on his birthday, not the day he was born to the world, but the day that he was borne to darkness. Riley didn't know the significance of the day and if Spike had his way he never would. No, there were days that the two of them shared pain over lost love and lost chances, and there was no need to add this one to the mix.

*****
Part 2: The Angels

Angel Investigations LA office June 2015

"Mr. O'Connell, you're Three AM is here." Cordelia told her boss, with a slight sarcastic tone, Angel was pulled out of his reverie by her voice over the intercom. Angel pressed the buzzer and accepted the caller, not wanting his business to suffer because his mind was on his Childe and not on his work.

"Send him in 'Delia." Angel said in his business tone. Angel watched as David Nabbit entered his office and nodded to the computer geek that was now the second richest man in the world, having knocked Bill Gates of the position with his innovation in fourth generation technology.

"David, What can I do for you?" He asked one of his oldest and best clients. Nabbit had in fact been one of the first real paying customers that actually paid.

"It's more what I can do for you Angel." He said in his business tone, a lot different than the friendly tone he used when the pair met on Thursdays for the anti-demonic task force that they sat on. "This was passed on to me by one of my sources, a guy working in the probation office wanted it to be noted by the task force, but I thought you ought to see it first."

Angel looked down at the paper and grimaced as he saw the face of one of his lesser known enemies. Faith was being released on parole, thanks to the new technology that had meant that criminal thought was now a crime and that if a prisoner was not thinking evil thoughts anymore they could gain early release as it proved that rehabilitation was working.

"Thank you." Angel said, tucking the paper under a file on his desk. "I'll deal with it immediately."

"You're not going to have her *dealt with*, Are you?" David asked slightly fearful that he would actually be accountable for one of Angel's less than charitable works.

"No, Actually I was thinking more along the lines of recruitment, we need more field operatives with ready experience." Angel said with a smile, David was less scared but still worried about the woman that they were releasing into the community. Still with an upstanding member of society like Angel vouching for her Faith's parole was guaranteed.

---------------

Cordelia sat at her desk filing her nails and reviewing the list of things to do that week, a lot of them were complete for this Monday evening and she was aware that Angel only really gave her a small itinerary because of the painful visions that still plagued her. The last years had been kind to her in many ways, however the visions that tied her to Angel had been bad for her career and her love life and while she dated, she was thirty three and a failed actress, who had worked for the same firm since leaving high school.

Still, Cordelia Chase was a wanted woman, even if only for the fact that she was always on the arm of one of Los Angeles' most eligible bachelors. Angel O'Connell was well known amongst famous people as the savior of Rebecca Lowell, the friend of David Nabbit, and the greatest protector one could hope to have. Of course, he rarely worked cases himself now, instead endorsing others to work in his field, but he could often be seen working at some benefit or other. It made Cordelia smile when she thought that the only reason that they had ever gotten into the bodyguarding industry and made a name for themselves was to legitimize the business to take on the now defunct Wolfram and Hart. Now Angel was unwittingly the second most wanted man in Los Angeles, after Davey of course.

Today was one of the days that she knew she would not get to leave early, it was marked in black as a day that Angel would brood, she did not know the significance, nor did she ever ask LA's answer to the caped crusader, but she was always there for him. Angel was the only family she had left in the city, the only person that mattered to her in the entire world, and if she ended up as Rachel to his Connor then so be it, after all, he had brought her out of the mouth of hell, the least she could do was to be there for his return to salvation.

*****
Part 3: The Pesky Kids

LA June 2015

Alexander LaVelle Harris stared at the pencil sketch on his desk and let the memories of his past life wash over him. His affair with the man in question had been a short one, a fling of passion and eroticism that had burned violently and quickly, and still it was the most amazing relationship of his life. No one knew that the brunette in his picture existed, let alone that he was the love of Xander's thirty something years. No, to the people that worked with him at the School where he taught Alexander Harris was a well respected father of two, the mother of his children childhood friend and sweetheart Willow Rosenburg worked as hard as he did and the nanny was the one that watched Anne and Jenny while they were out. Reality was different, the Nanny was of course the one that was truly 'married' to Willow, Tara was the stay at home mother of the two, while he was little more than a sperm donor and acting father to the little girls. The reality was that Anne was not even their baby, but the child of Buffy Summers, deceased slayer and former friend of the pair.

Willow and Tara had taken the children to see Tara's parents, knowing that Xander would want to be alone. This day was the one that he had lost Spike forever when he had left Sunnydale to become a teacher and a watcher to Anne. Spike had told him on the day he left that this was his 'death day', Xander had never looked back. Turned on the midnight before his true birthday, this was the day that Spike would turn 200. Xander wondered where his ex-lover was, Watcher records showed him to be out of the country, but one was never certain where William the bloody was concerned.

Xander wondered what would happen when Willow found out the news that he had been warned of earlier, that Faith was finally able to fulfill her duties as the Slayer. Perhaps they would finally return to Sunnydale. Perhaps he would see Spike once again.

*****
Part 4: The Watchers

LA June 2015

Wesley Wyndham Price was pensive, his forced retirement from the watchers had thrown him into despair after he had lost Faith, the second time when he had been double crossed by the black ops team had taken away his respect for the order he had been raised to revere. After the near death experience of Cordelia nearly fifteen years before he had left LA and the new family that he had adopted there to find a new place for himself, now he was back and finding it more and more difficult to find work. LA was, if anything more corrupt and criminalised than it had been when he had left, the rich could afford to live in the suburb towns that had built up over time and commute in when they had to frequent the centres and the only people that still lived *in* LA were those too poor or too underpriledged to move out. It was like London had been a few decades ago but on a larger scale and he was stuck right in the middle.

There was little call for demon hunters or Language specialists, at least not the languages that he specialized in. Even though the 2010 Demonic Relations Charter, followed a year later by the Equality of Species act, had officially recognized a number of more friendly demons and given them the basic freedoms that had once been deemed *human* rights, there was still a lot of hatred and confusion. There was little work for him in a big city like this and the only job he did have, as a teacher at the free information school, paid so little he could barely afford to live.

The news that the Watchers were coming back to the Americas to look for the new Slayer and try to repair the old one had trickled down through the ranks until it was known that the Slayer was back. Wesley had heard this news from a Vampire he had followed in order to stake him, luckily they were still not recognized as a species in need of the same rights as humans. He had still staked the miscreant, after robbing him of course, but now he had a song in his heart as the stake hit home. Perhaps there was a way that he could get his job back after all, since the Slayer was older than usual, an older Watcher and one she had known might be what she needed, and unless Rupert was found after being missing for eight years, he was the one first in line.

*****
Part 5: Soldier boys

"Miller, Time to get that lazy ass out of bed and earn your keep boy."

"Yes Sir." Graham said, making his way to the showers to wash ready for another day at work. He smiled wryly to himself as he thought of it as work, it was so much less than that, he was a prostitute and only just that. It was more likely that one would describe his life as slavery because he was bound to the brothel where he was housed until all of his debts were paid off, such was the newest system of private health care. Life had not been so easy on the ex-soldier after he had been 'retired' from active service after the Initiative, jobs had been scarce and those that had come in were less than savory. Mostly he had been given grunt work and laboring, not too close to the other guys after he had broken the 'don't ask, don't tell' policy of the army he served. Now his life was spent in a different type of service, working at a government licensed brothel while he paid off his debts to society, debts which totaled a little over two thousand dollars.

"Miller, if you'll go through to the lounge there is a client waiting, he's hired you for the evening and he's a very 'special' case." McVeigh his overseer told him, Graham knew that meant one of two things, it was either a celebrity that liked it a little rough or it was a less than respectful demon wanting a boy to play with, his size and stamina made him ideal for this type of work, still it paid better and meant he got more time off while recovering. According to Graham's own calculations he ought to be out of the "hospital" in a week or so and then any money he earned off of his body would be his own.

-----------------

Charles Gunn, Charlie to his brothers was old and tired. There had been a time when he was a fighter, a gang banger and an all round he was mad, bad and dangerous to know, now the closest he came to that was a T-shirt that bore the cliched slogan. He sat with his buddies in the sports bar that he frequented and watched the latest music releases play on the TV, his life was duller than the proverbial ditch water that his piss warm beer tasted of and he was reminded almost every day of the job he walked out on with the city's most eligible and credible bodyguard.

Vampire hunting had not paid enough to bring up a child, he was reminded of that each time he visited his wife's unmarked grave or looked into the face of a son asking why they could not afford the latest video games or sneakers. Work had come freely on a building site, the racists telling him that he would suit blue collar work, now he wondered if he ought to have gone back to Angel's after he had heard they were finally making money, or if Angel would give him a job now. Construction work had given him a definite figure and despite his 35 years he was still young enough to box and train. Still a man had his pride and there was only some things that he was willing to do, going back was not one of them. Taking another sip of his disgustingly watered down brew he made his way to the pool table that had just freed up and challenged someone to a game. If he was lucky he might just win enough money to buy his boy a birthday present that would make him happy.

Obliviously he watched the basement door open and close and another one of the pretty boys leave with a client, he thought of the stories that Cordy had told him of Doyle, the man he had once loathed along with Wes as a guy he could never replace. Now he smiled at the thought of how much the dead demon would have liked this place, a licensed brothel, gambling den and liquor joint all under one roof, he saluted no one in particular, a little too drunk on the weak beer and strong whisky. 'God Bless America.'

*****
Part 6: Remembering love lost.

LA June 2015

Angel was tired, bored and considering opening the window and testing the age old theory that Vampires could fly when there was a knock on his door and a middle aged man entered, he smelled human but as far as he was aware could be hostile. There was no more appointments booked so this must be an unsocial call.

"Excuse me sir, you can't go in there." Cordelia said following the stranger in. "Angel, I..." She stopped as she watched the man halt, a sword against his throat. Cordelia would not usually worry about such shows, Angel was prone to a bout of humor every so often, but on such a day as this when he'd been up all night brooding...she gulped and left them to it, whatever happened she hoped that the guy had good insurance.

"Mr. O'Connell, I appreciate the fact that I don't have an appointment but you came highly recommended and my client needs protection. If I could just have a few minutes of your time..." The grey haired man said, Angel studied him and decided that no matter how rich or bored he was there was no need to kill a potential client. He knew that there was no agents free at the moment but he could always pass it on to one of the smaller companies that he dealt with if need be, it would be interesting to hear who it was that would hire a man with such audacity.

"You have two minutes." Angel said curtly, pulling the sword away but getting out the tools he needed to sharpen it. It was a trick he had learnt early in his life, that sharp pointy objects unnerved mortals.

"I represent "Zero Hundred", I'm sure you know of them..." He paused, Angel said nothing, he knew little about music these days and even less about this band, he assumed it was a band at least. "Anyway, our guitarist has been receiving threats on his life from an unknown party and so far there has been no clue. I wondered if there was any way that we could..."

"No." Angel said cutting him off even though he still had thirty seconds to spare.

"Money is no object Mr. O'Connell."

"No, I have plenty of it" Angel smiled at his own joke. "Unfortunately there are no people available to work the case and we don't deal with pranks..." he said, they were interrupted by a phone ringing, it was the man's mobile.

"Excuse me..." he said, blushing that he had forgotten to turn it off.

"Stuart Granger." He answered politely. "Calm down and tell me exactly what happened." Angel heard a panicked voice on the other end talk too fast for him to make out anything at the distance. "Okay...mmhmm...Oz, I'll deal with it." He said, Angel's head pricked up at the name, one that he had not heard in so many years, making his way over to the man he plucked the phone from his hands and listened to the voice.

"...I swear Stu, there is someone outside..." He said, Angel handed the phone back to the confused manager and grabbed the black duster that was hanging on a peg near the door.

"Let's Go." He said, as if there was no explanation needed to change his mind.

"Decided to take me seriously after all then?" Granger said arrogantly. "Will you reassign an operative now you know how bad this is?"

"Actually, I'm doing it myself as a favour."

"To whom?" He asked stuffily.

"An old friend, I had him for dinner one day and owe him for the *delicious* company." Angel said, in his best Hannibal Lector tone. Cordelia having overheard rolled her eyes, before allowing them to follow her boss out of the office. Damn, she was trying so hard not to get wrinkles and he would stay forever young, and his tight ass still looked as adorable in those all black jeans as it had the first time she had met him. After they left she kicked herself, she needed to get out more.

***** Interlude - Memories

LA June 2000

The pounding on the door called Angel from the blissful slumber which had embraced him, he was laying in Doyle's arms, the pair of them together in a way that could never and would never happen, because Doyle was dead and Angel was cursed. Making his way to the door in just his boxers he was surprised to see Oz, the boy that he barely knew standing in his doorway with a pained look on his face.

"Angel?" Oz asked, looking afraid and alone.

"Come in." Angel said, "It's not like you to be out on a full moon." Angel was pensive, maybe Oz had learned the control that he needed.

"I'm safe, as long as the wolf stays calm." Oz said, Angel was sure it was the most words he had heard the boy speak in continuity. "I was driving and hit trouble, Vamps a family of them chased me and I had to take refuge. This is the first place I thought of." For some unknown reason this made Angel smile, that in a city of millions Oz would think of him, in Slayer speak it gave him 'warm fuzzies.'

The pair spent the night talking and sharing stories of their travels, Oz had been to Thailand, Tibet and all over Asia and Europe, places that Angel had visited in another lifetime and places that he would no doubt visit again in the next. As morning crept slowly up to them the two were finally getting to know one another in ways that they had never been able to with the Hellmouth so close to them.

"So how are Cordy and Doyle?" Oz asked, when travels had been dealt with and neither wanted to talk about the lives and loves they had left in Sunnydale. Angel swallowed and felt the tears welling, he held them back but the lycanthropy had enhanced Oz's senses and he knew there was something wrong.

"Doyle died." Angel said, his voice faltering as memories flooded back to him.

"I'm sorry, I know that you cared for him." Oz said, thinking of Larry and Dev, one forever lost and the other lost forever to him. "I know what it is like to lose the guy you love." Angel looked directly at him, his mind catching on the last words, picking up on what it was that Oz was saying.

The pair looked at the pain reflected in each other's eyes and for a moment there was perfect understanding between the two of them, the loneliness and solitude of the last months finally dissipating to allow something else, passion. On reflection neither would be able to tell who moved first, all they could say is that a moment later lips locked together in a wanton and passionate kiss. Angel, having the advantage of not dressing since answering the door was naked first, but the eagerness of youth meant that Oz was not far behind him. The pair were separated for only a minute before they were back in each other's arms, moving towards the bedroom while never parting.

"Angel...Soul..." Oz said, breathlessly as they fell onto the bed, as if it were nothing more than an after thought of the moment of extreme need between them.

"Permanent." Angel urged, nipping at Oz's neck before moving down to torment the already peaked nipples, Oz gasped at the contact, Angel was playing with him and making him hard for the first time in months. Angel too was getting stimulated in places that had gone for weeks without even so much as his hand to entertain them, neither one would last long. Reaching a hand between them Angel used fast and hard strokes of both organs together to bring them to climax. They came together in a scream and then fell back to the bed sated and satisfied, united in both their ecstasy and grief.

-----------------

"Stay a while." Angel said, trying to keep the request casual and not allow the pleading that it was to enter his voice. Oz looked at him sadly as he gathered the last of his things.

"I can't, I'm on my way back to Sunnydale to see Willow." Oz said, watching as the pain that had left Angel's eyes the previous night return in full force, not for Doyle but for Buffy. The pair had spoken a little that morning about the clause of Angel's curse, the powers had fixed it so that he could have happiness once again, to increase his ties to the mortal realm, but there would never be the bliss that he had experienced with Buffy and for each love he took there would always be the pain of losing them eventually. A fact that had been driven home with the loss of Doyle.

"I hope it all works out for you." Angel said, surprised that he was not bitter or jealous, merely hopeful that Oz would be happy. Oz had smiled his sardonic smile, silently telling Angel that that was what he hoped to. The pair hugged, and then silently Oz left, leaving behind him only the memory of a man he was just beginning to know and the smell of the salt water tears that were welling in Angel's eyes.

---------------------

Angel was still brooding over his loss when Oz returned two weeks later, he knew immediately that there was something wrong, something a lot worse than just being rejected by the woman that Oz was in love with. The pair were more like they had been in Sunnydale than the lovers that they had been on Oz's short visit, the werewolf stayed in Angel's bed, locked in his arms and gaining the strength that he needed to live again, but there was no physical manifestation of their former intimacy. The boy never told the Vampire what had happened to him, but in conversation with his Childe he could only begin to guess the tortures that Oz had endured, pain similar to that he himself had administered to a hundred mortals in his 200+ years. Oz stayed for nearly a month before the road called him again. Angel was again alone, but he had a tie to the mortal world in his friends and family and it was enough, it had to be.

*****