Haunted

[jasonsnene]

Title:  Haunted (1/?)

Author:  jasonsnene

Pairing:  Angel/Xander

Rating:  NC17

Warnings:  M/M, angst

Beta: 

carinas_carinae

 

Summary:  Angel and Xander’s developing relationship is threatened.  Will they be haunted by the outcome?

 Previous Part

A/N:  I was blown away by the response to the Prologue for this.  Thank you all so much for the wonderful comments.

 

 

Part 1:

 

Angel paced in the waiting room, his snarls slowly turning to growls that made everyone else there turn his way.  He ignored them and continued his path.  At the slightest sound, he jerked his head towards the doors at the end of the hall, waiting impatiently for Xander’s surgeon to emerge. 

 

The surgery was supposed to take four hours.  That was four hours and 5 minutes ago and Angel was ready to push through the doors and find out what the hell was taking so long.  The waiting was making him crazy. 

 

He felt a small hand on his arm and jerked away before realizing that it was Fred.  “Angel, it’s gonna be okay.  Sometimes these things take a bit longer.  The surgery was complicated and you want them to take their time and get it right.”

 

Angel nodded and turned to continue his pacing.  Fred returned to her position between Wes and Spike and they all watched as his pacing continued.  He reached his hand into his pocket and fingered the patch Xander had given him for safe keeping.  He’d smiled that goofy lopsided smile of his and said he wouldn’t be needing it anymore. 

 

He knew that Xander was afraid going into the surgery.  The risks were high and the surgery itself was still in the experimental stages.  Angel had tried to talk him out of it, tried to convince him that it didn’t matter, but it mattered to Xander and Angel had quit trying to influence his decision and supported Xander in his quest to regain his full sight.

 

The fabric on the patch was soft and reminded Angel of Xander’s hair.  His thumb ran over and over the edge, remembering the number of times he’d removed it this past week.  It had only been a week.  Seven days since he’d gone down to the lobby to meet a client and seen Xander Harris standing outside his office.

 

The moment he’d seen the patch, something inside Angel snapped.  As long as he was away from Xander, he been able to ignore the thought of him being hurt while working with Buffy.  Ever since the night he had stood up to Angelus, Xander had held a special place inside of Angel.  There was something beyond the brave and noble white knight in him.  Angel had tried to pinpoint exactly what it was and had never been able to.  It was just Xander. 

 

Xander was starting to wake up and his eye blinked open lazily until he realized where he was.  Then his breath started coming faster and he looked down at his naked body before looking over at Angel’s.  “You, me, we…oh my god.  You touched my manflesh!”

 

Angel just smiled, thinking back to their shower.  Yes, he’d touched Xander’s manflesh and then he’d buried his own in Xander’s ass and it was perfect.  And he wanted to do it again.  Soon, preferably.

 

He couldn’t quite help the little growl of satisfaction that slipped out at the thought.  Unfortunately, that little growl set Xander’s pulse racing again and he was breathing so hard Angel was afraid he was going to hyperventilate.  “Xander, calm down.”

 

“Calm down?  Calm down, he says.  Right.  You have sweaty man sex with a vampire who hates you and wake up next to him with the growling and the yellow eyes and you see how calm you are, buddy.”  Xander tried to slip to the other side of the bed but Angel grabbed his arm and he slid over the slippery sheets right back into Angel’s side. 

 

And yes, there was another very manly squeak involved.  Angel chose to ignore it and instead nibbled along Xander’s jaw line.  When he reached Xander’s lips, he nipped at them until Xander opened his mouth and then he went in deeper, letting his tongue tangle with Xander’s until all he could taste was the unique flavor of his boy.

 

Xander pulled away after a moment.  “Whoa.  With the kissing and the tongue.  It should be illegal for you to be that good at kissing, you know.  Yep, a law that says ‘Hereby let it be known that the vampire, Angel, should be forever banned from kissing because it makes mere mortals lose their ever-loving minds’”. 

 

Angel just laughed and kissed him again.  He couldn’t get enough.

 

Angel still couldn’t say what it was about Xander that called to him.  It was more than his taste, more than his humor.  It was something indefinable, unique to him, and it called to something deep in Angel that he’d ignored for years.  Once he’d seen Xander again, though, he hadn’t been willing to ignore it any longer.

 

Spike was the only one who knew the extent of his obsession and he knew better than to say a word about it to anyone.  Angel had told him to protect Xander at all costs.  When Spike had tried to take the blame for the loss of Xander’s eye it took everything Angel had in him to not pull Spike’s heart from his chest.

 

Xander wouldn’t have wanted that, and Angel held onto that even as he’d listened to Xander arguing with Spike about the blame, heard Xander praise Spike for saving his other eye and getting him out of there.  Knowing that psycho, Caleb, had laid hands on his boy - had almost taken his sight completely - enraged Angel and he felt Angelus sliding closer the surface than he had in years.

 

Just being with Xander kept Angelus close but somehow that was okay.  It balanced Angel, kept him more in tune with both sides of his nature without letting himself go too far in either direction.  It worked.  It was what Angel needed.

 

Now if only the damn doctor would hurry up and let them know whether or not the surgery was a success.  All Xander’s hopes were riding on this chance and Angel was terrified that it wouldn’t work.  Xander had enough issues with his self-esteem without adding the loss of his eye to the mix.

 

Four hours and thirty minutes and finally there were footsteps coming his way and the surgeon emerged looking grim.  Angel heard Spike move beside him and Wes and Fred were there as well.

 

“Are you the family of Mr. Harris?”

 

Angel nodded and felt Spike latch onto his arm.

 

“I’m sorry, sir.  There were some complications in the surgery.  We did everything we could but he didn’t make it.”

 

Spike grabbed Angel just as he snarled and lunged at the surgeon.  Wesley ran for the doctor and guided him quickly from the waiting room as Angel’s howls sounded throughout the hospital.

 

A/N:  NOW BEFORE YOU FREAK OUT...Go read the Warnings.  Go on...See what's not there?  Now BREATHE.