Did It Hurt? (bxb)

XX

After what seemed like hours of walking, Angel and Oliver emerged from the woods. Angel recognized the road where the bus had stopped to let Mira in all that time ago. Now here they were. He turned to Oliver. "Where do we go from here? Should we try to find the others?" The vampire was frowning and looking around them. The road was abandoned of all cars, and a soft breeze blew through the wind. Oliver still held his hand, but Angel's nerves still wouldn't calm down. He looked up at him. "Ollie?"

"Let's go home," he said, finally looking at Angel. Seeing his worried expression, Oliver squeezed his hand. "My mother is after me. She's delirious with the idea that I need to be protected from everyone and everything that breathes oxygen." Sighing, he turned his head and looked up at the clouds. "If Simon was somehow taken while hunting for food, Mira probably would've forced him to revert to his human form, then drag him to the school."

Angel's eyes widened. "What? That's crazy."

Oliver shook his head. Angel wondered what he was thinking. Even though it might be against Oliver's wishes, he pitied him. Angel had a mother back at home who loved him. A mother who cared enough to sacrifice happiness with her husband and friends in the village for a boy that had the potential to grow into a monster. Oliver didn't have any of that. "Mira will want to make a statement. She'll want to send a message. By threatening Simon, she'll be saying, 'Not even the son that betrayed me is allowed to stand in my way. I will protect Oliver,-my first, full blooded son-, at all costs.' The school is the perfect place to announce that. Lots of people. Spreads the message faster."

"You think-" Angel could barely fathom the idea. "do you think she's going to kill Simon?"

To Angel's absolute horror, Oliver nodded grimly. "It would certainly get the message through."

"But doesn't she care that he's her own son?" Angel shouted. The thought was so horrible, it made him sick to his stomach. "Mira wouldn't really kill Simon, would she? It's got to be all just a bluff to get you back."

Oliver started walking again, loosening his grip on Angel's hand. Angel frowned, but he couldn't blame him. Oliver had been through more in his life than any other sixteen year old. They all had. Simon, himself... The whole world seemed pitted against them. "My mother's always hated Simon," Oliver said, looking straight ahead. "I never understood why she always seemed to resent him, but after what Grant told me about my Dad, it made a lot more sense. To Mira, Simon was never, and will never be her biological son. To get to me, she doesn't care what happens to him, or anyone else."

Poor Simon... Angel thought.  He had never met his boyfriend's godfather, but from what Oliver had told them back at Rebecca's Bed and Breakfast, Grant used to be an assistant of Phillip Young, Oliver's father, and Simon's... kidnapper. Phillip took wolf cub Salju fifteen year ago, and had put him through unspeakable tortures. Then, living under a new identity, Simon lived a life that was all a lie. His mother didn't even want him, and that same deranged woman had isolated Oliver, making him afraid to open up, and afraid to love.

"Angel?" Oliver stopped walking and looked at him. Angel jumped. They were just reaching Oliver's driveway. Had they really been walking for that long? Oliver had grabbed his hand again and moved in front of him. "Why are you crying, Love?" The vampire put a hand on Angel's cheek, and the smaller boy shuttered against the cold touch.

"I-it's not f-fair," Angel stuttered. "Y-you and S-simon have been through s-so much. You don"t deserve it."

Oliver gave him a small smile. "I know, babe. It isn't fair. C'mon," He turned and slung his arm around Angel's waist, and together they walked into the house. "Let's get something to eat, get cleaned up, and, oh-" Angel's eyes widened. The kitchen table was in pieces. There were blood stains on the floor. The shelf at the other end of the room had fallen over. "I forgot about the mess Mom had made..."