Honorable
Sons: 33
by Josie_h
Notes
Spike was on the wing in seconds and attempted to haul his partner out of reach, as the cat launched itself toward the two tiny ‘birds’. A claw snagged Angel’s lower leg muscle, slicing a deep painful line down his calf and tearing at the instep, finally embedding in the underside of his foot but luckily, Spike’s swift reaction meant it failed to get full purchase on his Sire and the claw slid out as Spike lifted off. In his panic, Spike was able to fly them both free of the foliage and headed for safety, high up in one of the silver birches.
Angel was heavy and Spike was panting by the time he eased the bleeding figure down to rest on the fifth branch from the base. It was only up fifteen feet or so from the ground, but Spike judged it to be high enough to be out of trouble, at least for the moment. Angel was barely conscious as the blonde lowered his mate to lie flat on the broad and very solid branch. He winced as he examined the damage.
The claw had gone in deep, tearing muscle and flesh, and leaving a bloodied mess. Unable to think of anything else to do, Spike cradled the maimed and bleeding limb in his lap then lifted the foot and began to gently lick the wound. Spike’s own tiny heartbeat gradually steadied as the familiar act gave comfort even though, unlike his vampire saliva, the faerie version seemed to be doing little to assist. He registered the somewhat unusual flavor of his faerie partner’s blood and was distressed to only barely detect his mate through the link. He looked up in time to watch helplessly as Angel passed out completely.
They had to survive this. It was his fault they were outside and now, after all these months of struggling to renew his Sire’s strength, he had jeopardized it all with a simple suggestion and cocky attitude. The guilt cut him to his tiny core and tears of distress dropped onto the wound. What followed was odd. A sparkle of light marked the touch of the tear on marred flesh but then almost instantaneous healing occurred at the site of the drop. The ensuing droplets were as much from joy as sadness but all had the same effect. As the last precious drip was spread along the wound by tiny aqua fingers, Angel began to rouse. Spike could still see the line of damage but the healing was extraordinary.
“Bloody hell!!”
Angel’s first conscious act was to pull his partner down and kiss him in gratitude. His second was to hold him there and kiss him all the more.
Spike was enjoying the attention but facing the ground was able to see the cat tracking the scent of blood and beginning to circle the base of the tree with the intent to climb.
“Can you fly Sire?”
“I… um I think so…” Angel pushed up to standing, placing his injured foot gingerly on the ground though without weight on it, and stretched his wings
“Then… we’d best go now pet!” Spike took off vertically with Angel at heel not even questioning his partner’s insistence. The cat landed on their previous resting place a few seconds later.
They held onto the sturdiest upright as they sat in the uppermost branches, perched like two odd little Christmas ornaments on the very top of the tree. The breeze swayed their perch as both waited for some time until tiny heartbeats calmed. Angel’s leg was still throbbing but continuing to heal rapidly.
Spike relaxed a little and realized they were safe. He grinned with relief then began to snigger, “We’re quite the pair.”
Angel’s injured leg throbbed, he shivered with residual shock and was in no mood for joviality, “What?!”
“Oh *come on* Sire! You’ve got to admit it is all very bizarre” The aqua faerie stood on his branch and bounced a little, smiling broadly at his recovering mate. The tree swayed in the breeze and he sobered quickly as the still tender limb of his Sire connected with the upright causing the other faerie/vampire to pale and sway dangerously.
Spike dropped all mirth and was by his Sire’s side instantly, attentive and on the wing.
“All this sun is goin’ to me head… reckon I need a bit of a kip and don’t fancy fallin’ off here… Don’t know about you Sire but shall we head back in?”
The offer was transparent in its untruth… but Angel appreciated the sentiment. He smiled, nodded then spread his own wings to follow his tiny friend down through the foliage and on a direct path to the sliding doors of the patio.
The hawk was unseen, only heard at the last minute and happily veered off as the large human form of Connor stepped forward yelling “Bahhh F@#$ Off” in terror as the two small forms attempted to regain the balcony.
Realizing they were in danger they both accelerated toward their target. Hawk induced panic seeing Angel land in a sprawling heap on the patio table as Spike crashed into Connor’s chest but recovered to flutter up to hover close to the young man’s shoulder. As Angel began to untangle himself from his rather embarrassingly inverted heap of wings and limbs, Connor spotted the nasty red stripe down his father’s leg. Without thinking he swiftly grabbed the tiny figure from the table, pinching Angel’s wings between two fingers like some enormous butterfly, and leaving the slightly bewildered purple vampire to dangle helplessly from his own pretty appendages.
Spike saw a look of helplessness and shame pass over his Sire’s face, noted the utter powerlessness of the position and was incensed. He flew to his mate’s aid, landing near Connor’s wrist and biting down as hard as he could.
“Oww!!” Connor swiped at the tiny assailant and dropped Angel. He had closed his eyes in the hands of his son. Shamed by his own… everything in that position, but opened them as he fell some distance, thankfully it was into free space. He had time to regain his wings and catch onto the now diving Spike desperate to aid his Sire.
He snagged the plummeting aqua figure by the arm, doubled his own wing speed then smiled as they both recognized they were safe. Connor on the other hand was quite frantic, too many confusing events in too few minutes, he backed up to the frame of the open patio door looking bewildered and worried.
Spike and Angel took the opportunity and flew inside.
Some hours later found them perched on the breakfast bar, Angel making faces and Spike grinning with a sticky smile as they shared an eggcup full of pure maple syrup using two mustard spoons that had the relative dimensions of soup ladels.
“It’s disgusting!”
“Not that bad.”
“You know it’s disgusting and you’re just doing that to annoy me, aren’t you!”
“C’mon Sire… give it a go at least.”
The disgruntled older vampire swung his legs dejectedly. “How many days until Willow…?”
“Tomorrow… Dawn contacted her, they’ll be home early.”
“So the morning…?”
“We can spend in the sun and by tomorrow night… big again…”
“Guess the sun is a bonus…”
“Bloody hell yeah…. Sorry ‘bout the cat… should have seen that coming… Want to poison it when we’re big?”
“What? NO!!! Of course not…”
“Keep your kit on… was only jokin’!”
“Oh… sorry…”
Spike stood and held out a hand to his tiny friend. “C’mon, think we’ve earned a soft pillow don’t you?” He hauled Angel up and the two flew to their bedroom, noting the son and the ‘key’ in a rather intimate embrace in the study as they went past.
…………….
Willow and F’Iaid arrived around midday to a tearful Dawn and very contrite Connor. They were led into the master bedroom and though they should have been shocked, Willow smiled. Sleeping happily on the windowsill were two tiny intertwined figures covered by their upper wings. Each had their eyes closed but were obviously awake. They both sported very relaxed and satisfied smiles, Spike’s hand stroked Angel’s shoulder while he reciprocated by ‘exploring’ Spike’s face.
Willow squeezed F’Iaid’s hand, “Oh they are so beautiful!”
“Indeed Mistress, but it is not their natural form.”
“Oh… Oh of course… but look…. And in the sun….” Willow released her hold on her partner and walked toward the window.
Spike roused and stood, his partner followed the lead. They both stood, wings backlit from the light from outside. But the wiccan didn’t miss the hopeful look on both tiny faces. She gestured to them to follow and the group moved to the shuttered office.
“Just tell me what you said… again”
Dawn appeared panicked again, “Um… we …. Umm… well we were kind of doing a reveal spell but … well then we were talking about Angel and Spike, and we were kind of giggling and I just kind of …. Well…. Said… you know that they were really a couple of faeries and too cute together and…. Oh I may have said some other stuff…..But… can you??”
“Of course.”
She indicated a silk sheet that had been placed carefully on the floor and the two small forms dove under.
Spike rolled toward his Sire,“You regret us changing back?”
“Sun was nice”
“Was wasn’t it.” He stroked the pretty wings for the last time.
There was a blinding flash and two full sized vampires blinked dazedly at each other, before an annoyed head of tousled blonde curls pushed his way out to announce, “Alright shows over, now shove off and give us a chance… bloody naked under here!”
Willow grinned Spike was most definitely back in the building.