Title: Don't Fear the Reaper 7/?

Author: Ajay

Rating: PG

Disclaimer: All characters in the BtVS and AtS verse
belong to Josh Whedon and others who are not me. I
just take them out for a walk sometimes. Okay, so I
forget to put Spike back on occasion but who wouldn't
forgive me that?

Warning: Ummm, don't wanna do this but, character
'death' and a little Buffy bashing.

Description: Post 'Fade Away' a wish is made, a wish
is granted and everyone will pay.

Feedback: Please. Little wet kitten eyes begging.

Many thanks to my amazing beta Ghostsforge who is so
good for my ego.

Archived at www.the-crypt.com and
www.geocities.com/Jess_Lair

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It had been three weeks since Faith had talked to the
AI Gang and asked their opinions on whether she should
move to Los Angeles. All of them had agreed that they
could use her help when she wasn't off on assignment
for Giles, and Angel offered her a room in the hotel
to call home. She was looking forward to being with
family again. Maybe this time she could make it work.

While finishing her packing she thought about the
other conversation she had had with the LA Gang. The
one that took place after Angel had gone down stairs
to work out.

"So, what happened with Jaime?" Cordy waggled her
eyebrows.

"We drank, we danced, we had a good time."

"How good a time?" Cordy was pumping her for
information.

"What difference does it make?"

"Well, you have to admit he's damn hot!"

"Oh, yeah. With the eyes and the cheekbones and, I
think I've had this conversation before." Fred
blushed.

Cordy and Faith smirked at her.

"You didn't think of him that way before, did you?"
Faith asked sincerely.

"Not really. I mean, he was Spike! He was always
trying to kill us or causing near fatal accidents. It
didn't matter what he looked like. But, yeah, when he
was calm and helping to send Angelus to Hell I got a
chance to get a good look at him. I mean it's hard
not to realize he was a gorgeous man despite the
bleached hair. And, well, I think he's even better
looking with his natural color."

Faith smirked. "So, are you saying that if I don't go
for it, you will?"

Cordelia sputtered. "Uhh, no. I value my life and my
friendship with Angel. After these last months there
would be no way I'd stand between him and getting
Spike back."

"I believe that would be wisest." Wes looked at
Faith. "For everyone. But, I think we should discuss
how to approach bringing Jaime and Angel into contact.
It must be done in a way that will pose no harm for
Jaime and minimal mental anguish for Angel."

"Wait until I get back and settled in then we start
inviting both of them to spend time on different
occasions. Eventually, we'll hit on the right way to
have them in the same place at the same time. After
that it's up to them."

"Yes, but we must be extremely careful. If Jaime
carries any of Spike's essence and Angel scents him on
us..."

"Oh, fuck!" Wes was interrupted by Faith's outburst.

Cordelia and Fred gasped. Wes and Gunn spent a few
seconds trying to figure out what was wrong before
Cordy's outburst told them. "You DID sleep with him!
And Angel, oh shit Faith! He knew didn't he?"

"He...he grabbed me and wanted to know where 'he' was
but he didn't specify who then he backed off, said he
made a mistake." Faith hadn't felt this badly about
anything since she turned herself in for murder.

"Well. This may actually make it easier to approach
things."

"It may also make Mr. Emotionally Fragile go off the
deep end. AGAIN. Remember how well that ended up
last time?" Cordelia's bluntness was still in full
force. "I think we're playing with fire."

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Jaime couldn't stop the smile that had been on his
face for days now. He needed to call Wesley and tell
him the wonderful news.

He had met with members of AI at least once a week,
with him and Wes having contact nearly every day.
Each of the Gang had read the book Jaime had completed
and were proofing his WIP second attempt. Before he
left work on Tuesday, his boss had come by and
informed him that an agent who often worked with them
was interested in representing him in an effort to get
a publishing house to produce the book. Jaime was
shocked. He had assumed their own house would
publish.

"Oh, no son. Norton is thinking more along the lines
of Random House or Simon & Schuster. This is going to
be big." The man slapped him on the back and left
with a smile.

Yeah, he'd have to call Wes. It had been with his
encouragement that Jaime had submitted the story to
his boss. He'd see if he could take the Gang to
lunch.

777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777

Faith would be arriving that afternoon. Cordelia and
Fred were making some last minute adjustments to the
rooms she'd be using, straightening linens and
checking for towels and other amenities.

Gunn and Wes were taking inventory of weapons, noting
which had to be sharpened or have other repairs made.

Angel was going over the accounts of past business on
the computer. Fred and Willow had gotten together and
set up a system that would cross reference not only LA
and Sunnydale but the happenings from all over the
world. The idea had come about when Fred decided if
she had to follow Cordy's dictates and have another
girl in the wedding it would have to be Willow. Once
on the phone they had a long conversation to catch up
which eventually lead to talk of recent activities.
Now Angel could look up any physical descriptions or
known personality quirks with little effort. It had
made slaying several demons almost child's play in the
last two weeks.

When the phone rang for the third time he looked up
and realized he was the least busy of his people and
finally picked it up.

"Angel Investigations."

"Hello. May I speak to Wesley Wyndham-Price, please?"

Angel paused. There was something familiar about the
voice and he shivered at the tingle that ran up his
spine and into his skull. "Hold on a second he's in
another room. Can I tell him who's calling?"

"Oh, sorry. Jaime Ross."

"He'll be right here."

He leaned out his door and call to Wes. "Phone. Some
body named Jaime."

Wes and Gunn shared a grin and the older man headed to
the phone.

"So, you know this Jaime, too?" Angel surprised Gunn
with the question.

Charles licked his lips trying to give himself time to
think of exactly what to say. "Uh, yeah we've all met
him."

"All of you?"

"Yeah. Faith saw him a couple of times when she was
here and she introduced him to us."

"They're dating?"

"Oh, no! They just met in a bar and she thought he
was interesting so they became friends, then we met
him at lunch one day and we've stayed in touch."

"That's wonderful news!" Wes' voice interrupted them.

Angel tuned in to the other side of the conversation
on the phone. The melodious voice easily reached his
ears.

"Well, it's not published yet but getting an agent is
that much closer to it."

"I wouldn't worry. We've all told you it's a
wonderful book; you'll have no problem getting it out
there."

The other man chuckled. "Thanks, man. Especially for
the help in getting the setting just right. I guess
my memory wasn't as bad as I was afraid of, though.
Someday we should all take a trip to London.
Hey, if I do well let's plan on that, yeah?"

"I'm not sure how Angel would feel if we all took off
at once, unfortunately." Wes looked up then to see
his boss staring at him. No, Angel was staring
through him. He realized that the vampire was
listening to his conversation. He frowned in
consternation. Keeping Angel and Jaime apart had just
become an impossibility.

====================================================

Wesley had not explained what had happened to anyone
save Gunn, since he had been there. He wanted to do
it all at once as soon as Faith was with them.

Of course her plane was late. Why would the airlines
want to break a perfect record and be on time even
once? Cordelia was pacing with her arms crossed and
an extremely pissed look on her face.

She stopped in front of the two men. "If I didn't know
better I would think you caused the plane to be late
just to keep us in suspense. Wait a minute. You
didn't cause it to be late, did you Mr. Wizard?"
Wes' exasperated look made Gunn laugh until Cordelia
turned her 'don't fuck with me' face in his direction.

"No, Cordelia. I did nothing to cause the plane to be
off schedule. Why would I intentionally get myself in
hot water with you or Fred?"

Cordy harrumphed and resumed her pacing. Fred smiled
at Wesley and took his hand. "It's okay, sweetie.
She's just anxious. I mean this sounds really
important. Is it, I mean if it's so important that we
all know maybe you should just go ahead and tell us
and get our minds..." Wes knew the only way to cease
the Fred babble. He leaned forward and kissed her.

Gunn finally interrupted them with a nudge as he
noticed the arrivals board change the ETA to five
minutes. They rose and headed towards the appropriate
gate.

They saw the dark Slayer among the departing
passengers. All she carried was a small black bag.

"You have to stop at claims?" Gunn took her bag from
her.

"Actually, no. I had everything shipped. It's
supposed to be here later today but I'm not expecting
it until tomorrow at the earliest."

"So, you have what, one suit of clothes in there."
The fashion queen pointed at the small bag.

Faith smirked. "Actually, I have three days worth of
clothes and my toiletries in there." She looked at
Cordelia. "Not going to have a stroke there are you,
C? Wouldn't want that."

She leaned against Gunn as they watched the Seer's
face turn several shades of red. Their laughter
didn't help Cordelia's composure any, neither did the
sight of Wes and Fred trying to hold in their own
merriment. She finally took the focus off herself.
"Wes and Gunn have something to tell us but they
wouldn't until you got here. Now they have no excuse.
Talk."

"Let's, let's get out of public, shall we? We can
talk in the car." Wesley ushered them all out to the
parking deck.

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Angel had spent the last few hours recalling the voice
on the phone. It was so familiar but he couldn't
place where he had heard it. He would have to meet
this Jaime. It was the only way to satisfy his
curiosity.

The voice brought to mind long nights in St.
Petersburg, lust filled nights in Lucerne and nights
here in LA fighting the good fight. The common
denominator in all those nights was Spike. God, he
had the younger vampire on his mind so much that he
was fast becoming useless to his Gang.

He had to get over his obsession.
---------------------------------------------------

Wesley's proclamation that it was time Jaime be
brought to the hotel was met with stone cold silence.
Which was shortly followed by a babble of voices.

"What the hell do you mean?"

"Wes, that's not a good idea."

"Explain that, buster!"

He and Gunn exchanged looks and it was silently
decided that Wes was on his own.

He explained about the phone call and Angel's
reaction. He was sure that the vampire would soon put
the clues together and figure out what they were
hiding.

Faith sighed. "Okay. But I think we owe Jaime some
explanation about what's going to happen."

"I think I'm going to take vacation while someone
explains it to Angel." Cordy was looking out the
window refusing to meet anyone's eyes.

"Chicken shit!"

She turned to look at Faith. "You weren't here when
he heard that Buffy died or saw his face when she
returned. You didn't see him when Connor was taken
from him. When he came back hating Angel so much.
And, from the way he's acted I don't think losing
Spike was any different. We don't know what it's
going to do to him to find out that Spike's been here
all along. I don't think I can live with any more
grief. Or, or what if finding Spike again releases
Angelus? Huh? We've each had to live through that,
can we do it again?"

No one answered her. No one could.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Jaime had decided to be waiting for Faith when she
returned to the hotel. He wasn't quite sure what to
expect. He had been told that it wasn't a working
hotel as the Gang each had rooms and the agency was
run from there as well. Should he knock or would
walking in be better?

He tried the door and found it unlocked. Taking in
the lobby as he entered he saw no one about nor did he
hear anything. His interest was drawn by a row of
photographs on the far wall. Three lovely young
women, a blond, a brunette and a redhead smiled down
from beside a nice looking young man with an eye
patch. There was a group picture of these same people
with several others including an older man. Something
inside him jolted as though he should know these
people. But....he knew he had never met them before.
He was so tired of these odd feelings of familiarity.

He was so intent on his thoughts that he didn't hear
the office door open or the soft treads of the man who
just realized someone else was there.

Thinking that it was a client who had walked in
without him hearing he approached the young man. He
spoke while he was some distance away so as not to
startle him with his sudden appearance.

"I'm sorry I didn't hear you come in. Can I he...."
Angel's voice died away as the other man turned. He
felt his dead heart squeeze painfully. "Spike?"

TBC