Okay, thought Xander, here’s a special dream. Tied to some kind of army cot, apparently. Two Mad Max type vampires gazing down at him. Angel and Spike, he was fairly certain, both with long hair, Spike’s much darker. Both wearing some sort of clinging, shiny material. He wondered if this was going to be a nightmare or one of those other, interesting dreams. He jerked again at the restraints. Discovered his feet, too, were tied. Discovered a fear of being bound (you’re never too old for a new phobia). Began to pant.
“Let me go,” he demanded of his nightmare/sexually explicit dream. “I need to … let me go.”
“Do you think he remembers us?” asked Angel.
Spike glanced at his Sire. Angel sounded amused? “Dunno,” he shrugged. He turned and looked again at the struggling boy on the cot, crossed his arms and affected a contemplative air. “Hmm, mebbee we need to remind him?”
They shifted into gameface simultaneously. The effect was less entertaining than Spike had hoped. Xander merely stared at Angel with those big liquid eyes of his, pulling hopelessly at his restraints. “Heh, yeah,” he said. “Okay, now’s when you untie me, right? Because I know this is a dream and everything, but I’ve still gotta pee. And the last time I had a dream where I really had to pee…”
“This isn’t a dream, Xander,” said Angel.
Spike moved forward to release Xander’s restraints. He jumped back quickly as soon as Xander was free, watching the boy for some kind of retaliation or escape attempt. Xander just lay there, breathing, clutching the blanket to him. He looked down dazedly at his covered torso, back at Angel. “I’m naked,” he stated ridiculously.
“Yeah, well we couldn’t dress your fat ass while you were out, could we?” said Spike. He grabbed the pile of clothes readied near the bed and tossed them carelessly onto Xander’s lap. Xander looked at the clothes. His mouth was open.
“I could wake up now,” he suggested. He wiggled his toes. He shivered. “It’s cold,” he said. He sounded confused. He looked up at Angel again and this time real fear shone in his eyes. “Why can’t I wake up?”
“You aren’t asleep, Xander,” said Angel patiently. Spike tsked at the barely veiled pleasure in Angel’s voice and tried not to smile himself. Wouldn’t do to scare the boy too much, as fun as it would be.
“This isn’t a dream, Xander,” said Angel. “You’ve been called back from the dead by The Powers that Be for some purpose.”
Spike shook his head in disgust. Way to break it to him gently, Poof, he thought. He squinted suspiciously at the dark, implacable face. Angel was loving this a bit too much for an evil demon on a path of redemption. In his opinion.