Betrayal

TIMELINE: Right after 'Chosen'.
RATING: PG
NOTES: Thankyou to az2mom.

***

Sharp pain through every cell and the instinct to howl and kill blinded him for a second. How he managed to park the car and not cause an accident in the process would forever stay a mystery. Angel closed his eyes.

It had happened.

Angel had gone to Sunnydale just as he always went when there was no other option. Not to see her, not to kiss her and certainly not to extract a sort-of promise out of her. He had gone because it was his duty, because eight years ago he had been appointed the Slayer's protector and he still had nothing but his word.

True, he had gotten too close and then too distant, but he had never quit at all.

Angel had gone to Sunnydale because his only option was to protect the Slayer, to die in her stead if necessary. But it hadn't been necessary. Angel had felt him spying on them, he remembered the fury when he realised that it was Spike's privilege. It was his territory and it was his woman too. That kiss had been enjoyed in more ways than the simple happiness it brought him.

Angel had considered the new option carefully, finally deciding that his other duties allowed him the justification to take a last resort.

Betrayal of self.

Now, alone in his car, Angel remembered a brash smile and green eyes staring defiantly over Dru's dark hair. He remembered the angry words and the accusations. "This won't be forever," Spike had shouted once as Angel conducted Drusilla to his room. "You won't win," a broken whisper as Angel's fist connected with his chin again.

Guilt wasn't an option now, he thought determinedly.

Angel opened his eyes, struggling with himself to remove the feeling of rage and impotence. Even though the long distance he could still feel his youngest protegée disappearing in the fire. His hands fisted on the wheel, he couldn't say he hadn't known. Of course Spike would do it, the Aurelius were always the most foolhardy of all the Houses.

Only a mantra let him calm enough to drive again: She was alive, she was alive... and he did have some sort of promise out of her.

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