*****

Smoke passes slowly over full pink lips in the silver moonlight. Kissed to plump, pink perfection they part to allow the filter access.

"Mmm Nice." A voice cuts through the darkness. A pale white, almost luminescent, body lazily stretches on the mussed bed.

"That's one way of putting it." The smoker's deep voice replies, rumbling through the night like a sleek jungle cat. The blonde smokers hand strokes his lovers back as he sits in the darkness, staring at the magnificent beauty of the moon through the dominating open window. There is a rustle of sheets as the lover rolls over, his bulky form graceless in the relaxed moment. He raises his head to look at his beloved.

Crystalline blue eyes continue to stare out into the far reaches of the sky. The blonde's arm moves to accommodate the larger mans form.

"What are you looking at?" The brunette asks sleepily, resting his head with his tangled, sweaty hair on the blonde's chest. The blond drops the still lit butt of the cigarette into a nearby ashtray and pulls his lover closer.

"Just�space. There's so much of it. And yet we have so little time to explore it all." He says softly, delicately, as if afraid that by his words the world shall crumble. The brunette rubs his lovers stomach in slow circles as he considers his answer. "We have time. We have forever." He says placing a kiss an inch or two above his lovers nipple.

The blonde sniffs. "Is that enough? There's more space out there than there are minutes in the world."

The brunette raises his head to look at his childe. "Is there something out in all that space that you can't get here?" He asks softly, unsure as to whether he should be hurt by his lovers melancholic state.

"Possibly. Maybe. Probably, Love." The blond says softly, entwining his fingers with that of the older man.

"Will, is something wrong?" The brunette asks, voice tinged with worry and something resembling regret. Spike removes his arm from the older man's shoulder and slides down the bed.

"I don't know. I just feel so�empty. Like there's nothing out there." He looks up at the larger man's face. "Nothing but you, me, this room, and the moon, Angelus."

"You always call me that. Even after all this time." The brunette says, deftly changing the subject. The smaller man, seeming infinitely smaller in his inexplicable sadness, sighs unnecessarily , his eyes wander back to stare out the window. "I do." He states, barely audibly as a soft breeze ruffles the thin curtains framing the window. Angel raises and wraps his arm around the man, effectively reversing the roles; comforted to comforter.

"Why is that?" He asks, brushing spider-web strands of hair from Spike's brow.

"It's just something I do." The blonde replies, not taking his eyes away from the window.

"Why don't you call me 'Angel' anymore?" The brunette asks, trailing his fingers down a high cheekbone, travelling down the cheek to end lightly stroking the soft flesh beneath the chin. Spike closes his eyes and gives into the comforting feeling.

"Because you're not my Angel any more."

Angel presses one finger to his boys chin and raises his head to look at him. Spike's eyes remain shut.

"Will�" He says once. No response.

"Will�" He repeats. The blonde's eyelids drift open, revealing sad blue eyes. "I'll always be your Angel, Will." He says placing a kiss on Spike's forehead. "Always."

Spike shakes his head slowly.

"You'll never be my Angel again. You can't be, because you're everybody's Angel." The blond says, regretfully returning his eyes to stare out the window.

Angel follows the younger vampires gaze to the glimmering orb floating outside the window.

"You just want me to be yours." He states, beginning to understand the melancholia.

"Just like you'll always want me to be your 'Will'." Spikes eyes return to Angel's face. "But he's a man I can never be again."

The brunette looks at the blonde's downcast face, mouth slightly open as if to protest. He closes his mouth again as he sees the look on the younger man's face. The light from the window gives the depression's in his face a hollow look, sunken cheeks and darkened eyes, bone white skin. The sadness in his boy has spread, emptying him of feeling, of what little life his undead body had left in him. He is a skeleton. The remains of feelings past.

Angel's 'Will' is most certainly gone now.

The older vampire's hand caresses Spike's shoulder. "I know that you're not my 'Will'. I know that that man died a long time ago. I loved him, and I miss him. But�" Angel pauses. The younger man rests his head wearily on the older vampire's shoulder. "But, that doesn't mean I don't love you."

Spike stays silent nestling further into Angel's embrace, fitting perfectly into the curve of the older man's arm.

"Would you be able to settle for just loving me for me?" The brunette asks softly, almost scared as to what the answer will be.

Spike turns his head to look at his Sire, raising a hand to brush it down the older man's cheek. "It's all I've got." He says simply, before brushing his lips across the brunette's.

Licking his lips after the brief chaste kiss, Spike returns to his position under the Angel's wing to continue to stare at the moon.

Angel rests his cheek on the top of the blonde's head and stares out after him, watching silently as his boy's heart flies out the window away from him into the unknown.

~fin~