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Whose Shanshu?	By : QueenB Category: AtS/BtVS Crossovers > Het - Male/Female > Angel(us)/Buffy > Angel(us)/Buffy Views: 3387 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer (BtVS), nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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Buffy didn’t know what to make of it. Faith came storming back into the Hyperion angrier than Buffy had ever seen her. When the blonde Slayer tried to find out what was wrong, Faith snapped at her, saying her ex-boyfriend was a stupid jerk who needed to have his head smacked into a wall. Willow was hardly any more making with the information; neither of them would tell her what the problem was.
“I’m tellin’ ya, B. I’ve got to get ou her here and kill something. I’d go find a man to screw but I’m kinda attached to Robin now and he’s still on the sick list.”
Willow couldn’t help but grin at Faith’s wistful tone. “Oh, so it’s serious between the two of you, then?”
“What? Hell no! It’s just…” She paced up and down the lobby, fishing inside her jacket for a cigarette. She lit one, took a deep drag and puffed it into the air. She was trying to buy time to think of something flip to say and blow off Willow about the injured principal. Then she remembered her recent conversation with Angel. No way was she buying into the denial crap. She was gonna come clean even if he couldn’t be bothered.
“I like Robin. I mean, really like him, Red. He’s like Xander is. The whole decent, good boy act that ain’t an act, ya know? He wants to get to know me past the sex. If I’d been a better person when I popped Xander’s cherry, I might have kept him around instead of tossing him out the door afterwards. Speaking of which, where is Xander?”
“I’m up here. I saw all those women fighting over clothes and decided to steer clear. The last thing I wanted was to get caught up in that whole Planet of the Apes scenario.” Xander leaned against the upper banister and peered nervously around. “Is the coast clear?”
“Very clear, oh brave fetcher of donuts. Get your fine ass down here,” Faith teased.
“I’ll have you know it’s been a long time since anybody sent me to fetch donuts. I don’t go out now for anything less than pizza,” Xander said with mock dignity. He came down the stairs and sank down on the lobby couch next to Faith. “I heard you went to see Wood today. He doing all right?”
“Yeah, him and the other Slayers. The hospital gave us problems about insurance and things like that, but I go there today and find that they’ve switched their rooms, given them the best kind of care and all the expenses are being taken care of. Guess who we have to thank for that?”
“Those Wolfram creeps again, the oh-so-evil ones I’ve been warned about? They’re giving food and now medical help? Those bastards!”
“Not them, smart-ass. Angel! He’s arranged to have Robin and all the injured Slayers taken care of. Pretty decent of him, if you ask me. I don’t think the Peroxide Princess would have been so giving. Am I right here, B?
Buffy scowled at Faith. “Maybe if he’d had as much money as Angel--”
“--he would have spent it all on you,” Faith said in an indifferent tone.
Buffy figured that was probably true but she wasn’t going to admit it to Faith. She decided to change the subject. “What about Giles? I haven’t seen him all afternoon.”
“He’s still resting from the questing. I took him up breakfast since he’s still too tired to move. I think he’s just enjoying being pampered. Taken care of, I mean, ‘cause the other kind, not my type of thing. It wasn’t even Anya’s thing.”
“Not for want of trying, I’ll bet,” Faith snickered and Buffy snorted at the outraged look on his face.
Then Xander grew very quiet. “I miss her, you know.”
The other three women fell silent and Faith squeezed his shoulder awkwardly. “She seemed really crazy about you, X-man. She used to talk about you a lot when you weren’t around to hear it.”
“It’s weird. I woke up this morning thinking she was going to be there which was crazy ‘cause we haven’t been like that for months. I just thought I’d hear her voice and she wasn’t…” His voice wobbled out of control and he sucked in his breath hard and sank his head into his hands.
There was a sniffling noise and they all looked up to see Andrew lurking uncertainly near the lobby desk. His eyes were wet and he rubbed hastily at them when he saw them all staring. “I-I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop. I was getting some ice cream and I overheard you all and I was thinking about the last time I saw her. I thought she’d be one of the survivors, you know? She barely knew me and I knew she didn’t like me. None of you do but she saved me. I don’t get it. She saved me after I killed my best friend and I don’t know why.” His lip trembled and he began sobbing brokenly.
Buffy saw something like rage pass over Xander’s face and then vanish almost as quickly. “It’s okay, Andrew. I think she’d be glad to know how you felt.”
“She was so cool. We had a wheelchair fight when we went to the hospital to get supplies and she was kinda nice. She really liked humanity; she just had to be tough like Xena so she couldn’t say it.”
“That’s my girl. Hard on the outside, soft on the inside,” Xander said almost to himself.
Andrew sniffled, “Just like an Oreo cookie.”
Willow had never liked Anya but she had to concede her basic decency. “She and I didn’t always get along but she cared about Xander. She helped take care of Dawnie, too, after you…left that summer.”
“Died, Willow. I didn’t leave; I died. I wish you guys would say it and get over it. It’s so hard having to pretend, like I just took a vacation or something.” Buffy didn’t mean to sound so harsh; goodness knows they were all hurting over their individual wounds. But she felt that now was as good a time as any to face the various truths in their lives.
Before anyone could reply, the phone rang, jarringly loud in the open space. The answering machine clicked on, directing the caller to W&H. Faith sprang up before the machine could complete the message and snatched up the phone.
“Faith! Don’t bother. It’s probably somebody with demon-related troubles. Let the folks at W&H handle it. We’re temporarily out of the demon ass-kicking game, remember?”
Faith held her hand over the receiver. “Uh uh, B. I told you. I’m wound up and I’m looking to pound demon flesh here.” She spoke into the phone to the unseen caller. “Hello? No, this ain’t A.I. but maybe we can help. Welldon’don’t know if I can help unless you tell me, so what’s the sitch?” She listened for a moment and then grabbed a pen and paper pad off the desk and started scribbling furiously. “Uh huh. A nest. How many? HOW big? Shit, why didn’t anybody notice anything before now? Only at night…” She wrote faster as she tried to keep up with the man on the other end of the phone. “Okay, we’re on the case. What do we charge? Mmm, $300 per monster.”
She stopped speaking as the person on the other end burst out in protest. “Hey, buddy! We’re the ones risking our lives here! If you think you can get better and cheaper, look through the Yellow Pages.” There was a pause. Then she added, “Yeah, we take Visa. What’s your name and number and where’s the address?”
She hung up and turned to the others as she held up the piece of paper. “Woohoo! We got our first case! Want to go kill some big ass demons?”
This was the last thing Buffy wanted to get involved in right now. But if there was money involved… “What kind of demons we talking here?”
“According to the guy pissing his pants on the other end, they’re 11 feet tall with six arms, kinda purplish, with razor spines down the back and this bluish-purplish hair growing all over their bodies except on their stomachs. He says he’s seen three of them coming in and out of this abandoned lot next to his apartment and disaping ing into the ground at night.”
“They hurt anybody?” Xander asked. “I’m wondering how something like that walks around and leaves this guy alive as a witness.”
“He’s not sure if they’re killing people. But first all the rats, stray cats and dogs in the neighborhood disappeared and then they started coming back with these big heavy sacks and I’m betting they’re not shoes from the local Payless.”
Buffy frowned, her lips pursed in concentration. “I don’t recognize them. Let’s go talk to Giles; see if he knows anything.”
__________
The Watcher was still laid up although starting to feel rather restless. There was a telly but nothing was on that he cared to watch. There were no books on the premises either. All of Angel’s had been taken with him or ripped apart in whatever catastrophe had befallen the hotel. He made a mental note to ask him about this; he sensed that an intriguing tale lay hidden here, perhaps part of the apocalypse taking place here in Los Angeles that Faith had vaguely hinted at back in Sunnydale. There was an abrupt knock at the door, ending his musings. “Come in?”
He looked up as Buffy entered. “Giles, I know you’re still wobbly because of our little trip. But I need some old-fashioned Watcher info here.”
“What is it, then?”
Swiftly she recounted the phone call and the description of the demons. “Got any clues? Faith’s twitchin’ for a beating and she’s sharpening her sword as we speak. Any idea what we’re up against?”
Giles’s forehead wrinkled in thought before he gave up, shrugging. “Buffy, I’m flattered that you think me an endless repository of demonic lore but I must confess I’m stumped by the description. I haven’t the foggiest idea what those creatures could be.”
“So they could be friendly demons or unfriendly ones. We don’t even know if they’re hurting people. Maybe we should wait until we find out.”
“I say not.” Faith stood in the doorway. She’d switched to her new leather gear and held up her sword. “I put in a call to Wesley. He says these are Blechen demons. Nasty beasties. They basically eat anything with meat in the neighborhood. Now that all the four-legged vermin are gone, they’ve probably moved up to humans. He said their hides are wicked tough like armor and they’re Terminator strong. Sounds like a job for Slayers.” She twirled the sword and grinned at Buffy.
“So we’re after exterminator Terminators who’re eating their way up the food chain. No rest for the wicked. So much for coming to Los Angeles to rest up.”
She got up from the bed with a sigh and Giles called after her. “Do be careful, Buffy.”
She paused and smiled at him. She couldn’t remember the last time he’d said that with the same mixture of concern and respect as if, whatever she would face, he knew she could handle it. “Don’t worry, Giles. I’ve got Faith, renegade Slayer extraordinaire, with me. What could go wrong?”
“I heard that, Buffy! My god, that is the ultimate jinx! You and Willow told me that.” Xander waggled his finger in admonishment as the blonde and brunette Slayers stepped into the hallway.
“What’s a jinx?” Dawn said as she peeked out of her hotel room. She was wearing an amber-colored blouse, one of the new acquisitions Angel had thoughtfully sent. It was hers, thank God, and not one of Buffy’s that she had pilfered.
“B and me are going out for some quality slayage. We’re waiting a few hours until nightfall then we’re hitting the road. Don’t wait up for us, cutie.” Faith winked at Dawn and hoisted her sword easily over one soldier. She and Buffy headed towards the stairs.
“Wait! Are you sure you don’t need any company? ‘Cause I can swing with the best of them. Faith, tell Buffy!” Dawn called as she prepared to duck back in and get her crossbow.
“Naw, Dawnie. I took you out last night. This time it’s B’s turn. Don’t want to tto think I’m monopolizing you.” Faith didn’t really want anybody else’s company tonight. More of that foggy plan she’d been working in her head was coming together and they needed privacy for this one.
The lot was dark, too dark, and Buffy swore under her breath again as she nearly tripped on some unidentifiable piece of debris. “Did we have to come here now? This guy said they only came out at night. We could have gone after them in the daylight.”
“Yeah, but we don’t know if they’ve got sunlight allergies like vamps or if they simply hide to keep people from seeing ‘em. Besides, one more night and some poor soul might wind up demon chow. Don’t think I could live with that. Could you, B?”
Buffy grumbled under her breath as her foot slipped in a sticky mess on the ground. Her eyesight tended to be better than most people’s but she still felt at a disadvantage. She nearly bumped into Faith as she stopped near a rusty manhole cover. “What? Did you see something?”
“No, but I’m sure smelling something.” The next moment the stench hit Buffy too and it was all she could do not to gag. It was sewage nastiness. She remembered that odor all too well from her times with Angel. Dirty water, garbage heedlessly washed into the pipes and who knew what else--all leant their special parts to the powerful putridness.
Then they heard a faint crunching coming from beneath them and a high-pitched squeal. Oh god, was that--a baby? Faith hefted her sword, pulled up the cover and plunged into the darkness with Buffy right behind her. They crept quietly through the strengthening light and rounded a corner. Both women halted as they took in the sight before them.
At least ten large demons were crouched on the floor of a cavernous space. The rotten food odor was much stronger here and Buffy quickly took in the sight of piles of bones, bits of meat and gristle still clinging to them, littering the floor. The orange-colored monsters looked up at the sight of the two women and froze. A bag lying next to one of them let out a squeal. One of the demons thumped it hard, almost absently, and the noise abruptly ceased.
Faith lifted her sword and yelled, “C’mon, uglies! Feeding time is over!”
The demons stood up and bolted en masse for the other end of the cavern, one of them snatching up the heavy bag that continued to move albeit rather sluggishly. Buffy shouted to Faith, “Wait! Faith, there are too many of them!”
The brunette Slayer continued pelting after them, ignoring Buffy’s cries. The blonde woman rolled her eyes and was about to take off after her when her foot knocked against one of the bones. She glanced down and squinted as she took in the details in the dim overhead lights. By the fair amount of meat clinging to the skull, this had been chewed on fairly recently, possibly even tonight.
But there was no way it came from a human head. Weren’t these things supposed to be feeding on people? And why had ten large demons run away when faced with two small human girls? They were also orange when Faith had said they would be purple…
She took off again as she heard Faith yell and cursed herself for hesitating. The mystery could be solved later after she rescued her reckless sister Slayer. She came into a cavern to see Faith brandishing a sword while the demons…cowered against the far wall? One of them had thrown up his arms--only four of them, Buffy noted, instead of the six mentioned--and was frantically trying to ward her off while rumbling at her.
“Faith! Faith, will you listen a minute?” Buffy grabbed her arm and was almost decked for her trouble when Faith swung around and threw a punch.
“Sorry, B. Didn’t realize that was you there,” she smirked. “What’s the problem?”
“Oh, lots of things. I don’t think these demons are our guys.”
“How ya figure? Did you see the bones back there? That looked like the scene with the crazed rabbit in that Monty Python movie.”
Disbelief swept over Buffy’s face. “You watch Monty Python?”
“Why not? It had swordplay and horny virgins. Plus I thought John Cleese cute. He kinda reminded me of Giles.”
“Okay, not going there. But back to the demons again. These guys are orange, not purple, and they’re kinda low in the required amount of arms. See? Only four, not six. I’m thinking we’re barking up the wrong sewer here.”
“So what? Demons are demons and these are eating people.” She lifted her sword and advanced again and the demons cringed away.
Buffy dragged her back again. Something was off and Buffy wanted to get out of the sewer and away from the stink. Her skin was tingling and her gut seizing up from the presence of so many demons although she was sensing something else as well. “So if they’re the crawling people eaters we were warned about, how come they’re so scared of us? Have any of them even tried to throw a punch?”
“Maybe they know we’re Slayers.”
“They outnumber us five to one! Even cowardly beasties would think those are pretty good odds.”
“The odds just got better,” said a familiar voice behind her. Buffy whirled around and her breath caught.
It was Angel, looming larger than life in the cavern. Even though the beasts were taller than he by at least at foot, he still managed to cut an impressive figure. It had been he she’d been sensing not the Oompa-Loompas. Gunn and Wesley were with him and all three men were suitably armed with axes and swords. He smiled at Faith. “Am I too late to join the party?”
“Nope, although I don’t think they appreciate the gate crashing. Hey, Wes, how ya doing?”
Wesley didn’t look at either of the two women. He peered at the demons and frowned, lowering his axe slightly. “Faith. Good to see you again so soon. Are these the creatures you mentioned on the phone?”
“Faith, you didn’t tell me they were coming!” Buffy said, a warning note clear in her voice.
“I didn’t? Must have slipped my mind. Hey, I thought we could use the backup,” Faith said, shrugging.
Buffy didn’t like the sound of this. “You told me there were only three demons. Didn’t you think we could handle them?”
“Three? The boss told us there were ten of these ugly suckers.” Gunn gestured at the demons that still hadn’t moved but had taken to grunting amongst themselves.
Wesley protested, “That’s what Faith told me.”
Faith brushed off the error. “Three, ten. The guy on the other end of the phone wasn’t too clear. Besides, I didn’t think you’d mind the help and I thought Angel might like to get out of those stuffy W&H offices, remember why he got in this business in the first place. It’s all about fighting the good fight, ain’t it, Angel?”
“I’m not sure that’s the case here, Faith. These aren’t Blechen demons,” Wesley said as he rested his axe on the floor of the cavern.
“Okay, I was getting that they weren’t our target. What do you want from me, I was going on a phone-in description! But so what? Those bones back there say they ain’t vegetarians.”
“No, they’re not. These are Suggaroth demons. They belong to a different species altogether. They’ll fight with other demons for their food and they are carnivorous. But they’re shy and tend to avoid humans, preferring to live on the outskirts of our existence. Our flesh is too rank to eat and, when we join in force, we’re entirely too dangerous an opponent. Frankly, I can’t understand how this mistake occurred.”
“I’m thinking a lot of mistakes have been made tonight.” Without another word, Buffy strode up to the demon clutching the bag she’d seen earlier and wrested it from his grasp. The demon gave a gargle that was undeniably meant to be protest but one menacing swing of her scythe and he subsided. She pulled open the bag’s drawstrings and emptied out the contents.
The still, battered carcass of a piglet fell onto the floor.
She looked up at the fidgeting demon she had taken the prize from. “Oops. Slight miscommunications in the phone lines, guys. Sorry to have bothered you.”
She held up the bag and he snatched it from her. A barrage of unintelligible grunts and snorts came from him, as he made what were no doubt insulting comments about her intelligence.
Buffy gave a halfhearted grin and backed slowly out of the space. The others left with her as the offended Suggaroth picked up the pig’s body and stuffed it back into the sack.
__________
“Does anybody else think that was majorly embarrassing?” Gunn demanded as the five exited the sewer hole again.
Buffy looked at Faith with a level stare. “Yep. Let’s just go our separate ways and never mention it again.”
“Look on the bright side, guys. For the first time in a while, we’re not going home with demon ick on our clothes. That’s gotta be a plus. I’d have hated to get my new threads messed up.” It was a pathetic attempt to save face and Faith knew it. This night couldn’t have turned out any worse in her opinion. Angel and Buffy still weren’t speaking to each other; her plan to reunite them while fighting had been a total bust.
“Did you get ‘em?” They all looked towards the man who scampered down the incline leading to the sewer entrance.
“You the guy who gave me the 411 over the phone?” Faith called out to him.
“Huh? Oh yeah, me. I’m the one. Mr. Robert Smith. So did you get ‘em?”
“You sorta screwed up the description, Bob. These weren’t the guys we were lookin’ for.” Faith narrowed her eyes and subtly nudged Buffy. The blonde Slayer gave her a nod and raised her scythe. This guy was giving off seriously twisted vibes; both women knew he wasn’t what he was pretending to be.
“Oh? But you did kill ‘em, right? ‘Cause these guys are big, mean, scary bastards. They were carrying a baby in here earlier tonight.”
“Not a baby, mister. It was a pig,” Buffy countered, still watching him carefully. “No harm, no foul. Just pig. We let ‘em go.”
“They’re not dead? But they’re demons! They’re dangerous. I can’t have them living next to me.”
“So what if they’re demons? So are you,” Angel replied. He had stepped to the side to give himself plenty of swinging room and his fellow fighters had unconsciously spread themselves apart as well.
“Holy shit, this guy’s a demon? What was all that crap on the phone?” Gunn demanded even as his axe came up.
“That crap was employing you people to do a job and you couldn’t be bothered. I hate having those things living in the neighborhood. They’re vermin, eating practically everything in sight! They breed like fucking rabbits and the smell drives away all the human meals. I hire you guys to clean them out and I get excuses instead of results. This is what I get for dealing with humans. Stupid, useless humans!”
The final words emerged as a growl and both the man’s clothes and his skin ripped as his false human visage came away to reveal a towering, purple-skinned demon with large spines poking out of its back and six limbs, each ending in razor-sharp talons.
“Now that’s a Blechen,” Wesley said with calm satisfaction. The demon charged them and the battle was engaged. The A.I. team performed like a well-oiled machine as the men alternately stabbed and whacked at the beast. Gunn displayed an unusual ferocity as he jabbed and swung with an almost feline grace. Angel noted it and, in the corner of his mind not occupied with the fight, he was worried.
However, the two Slayers were like poetry in motion. Buffy performed gravity-defying flips while Faith ran rings around the creature, making one vicious jab after another into the Blechen’s hide, darting around its legs as it made futile swings at her with its claws.
But the skin was like armor and even their combined efforts were making no discernable dent in it. However, the beast was imperceptibly slowing in its movements. They couldn’t hurt it but they were wearing it down. Finally Buffy grabbed one of the spines and hoisted herself onto its back. Steadying herself in spite of its vigorous attempts to dislodge her, she drove the stake part of her scythe into its eye.
The beast roared, a guttural sound that spiraled up and out of control, causing all the other fighters to flinch. He flung up one arm and hooked the Slayer riding him with one clutch of his claws. Buffy flew from his back to land sprawling as the demon came crashing onto the ground. Neither combatant moved.
“BUFFY!” Angel ran over to where his golden-haired Slayer lay motionless, her back twisted, on some broken pieces of wood from discarded furniture.
Buffy stirred slightly as he knelt beside her, her hazel eyes focusing with difficulty on his face. “Did-did I get him?”
“Yes. I think you did.” He glanced up to see Faith yank the weapon out of the demon’s eye socket and give it a critical kick. The creature neither spoke nor twitched and he directed his anxious gaze back to the tiny woman lying on the ground.
“Yay. We bad.” She tried to move only to subside with a hiss of pain. “Ow!”
“Don’t try to move, Buffy. Let me look you over first.” He probed her body as gently and clinically as he could. He detected no heavy scent of blood either inside or out. She didn’t appear to have broken bones but every time she tried to get up she cried out in misery.
“Is she all right, Angel?” Wesley said softly. He detected the worry in the large vampire’s posture.
“I’m not sure. She may have a back injury. I don’t think anything’s broken. It could only be a sprain. Still, it’s not a good idea to move her.”
“I can’t stay here all night. Give me a minute and this Slayergal’ll be up on her feet in no time,” Buffy said with asperity. It was majorly upsetting to have Angel so close, to have him touching her so intimately yet with a doctor’s impersonal concern. She wanted to push him away before he noticed how excited his mere presence was making her.
He ignored her. “Give me the axe and my sword,” Angel said to Faith. She handed him the instruments wordlessly and Angel shucked off his coat. He inserted the weapons into the sleeves and pulled out his belt to fasten the loose bottom hem of his coat to the rigid poles formed by their hafts.
Faith couldn’t figure out what he was up to. “What are you doing, Angel?”
Wesley looked critically at Angel’s contraption before nodding in approval. “He’s creating a makeshift travois. We can use it to carry Buffy to the car. Hopefully, we can get her back to the hotel without harming her unduly.”
The vampire eased Buffy’s slight form onto the device and both he and Gunn carried her carefully to the car. One glance over her shoulder and Faith snickered. “Guess Mr. Smith was right. Those Suggaroth do eat everything.”
Gunn looked behind and laughed. The orange-colored demons had come outside, attracted either by the noise of the fight or the smell of the deceased Blechen lying on the ground. One of them sniffed delicately at his hide then grabbed one arm and began dragging him back toward the sewer.
“Well, that’s one demon I don’t have to worry about burying,” Gunn said in relief. Then he added, “I can’t believe that guy chose to call himself Bob Smith! Is that obvious or what?”
__________
Dawn was sitting in the lobby, idly swinging her legs and reading a magazine Willow had swiped from that law firm place. She had overheard her and Kennedy discussing it in the lobby where they thought she couldn’t hear. Xander had accidentally spilled the beans and Kennedy was upset her lover hadn’t told her. Willow had told Kennedy she was only thinking about taking their offer but even Dawn had heard the excitement in her voice.
She didn’t know much about this place but Faith thought these people were creeps and Dawn was inclined to take her opinion about it. Dawn couldn’t help a small feeling of resentment. She had what passed for a family, miraculously most of them still alive, and already some people were planning on taking off. Save the world and lose a family. It’s not fair.
Xander came down the steps and shuffled in to sit beside her. “Hey, Dawnie. Whacha reading?”
She flipped the pages to show him. “ ‘Hot New Fashions for the Summer.’ “
“Yowzah! Those don’t leave much to the imagination, don’t they? That red number reminds me of something Anya wore once.”
She glanced at the picture, frowning. “I don’t remember seeing Anya in a two-piece red bikini.”
“Well, this wasn’t a bikini, actually. It was a…” His voice trailed off as he realized Dawn was staring at him with barely concealed curiosity on her face. “Now that I think of it, it was definitely a bikini. She just never got a chance to wear it. She was saving it for summer. This summer. She just showed it to me once and asked me what I thought and thought kinda flew out the window. But it was absolutely, positively a bikini for bikini-shaped purposes.”
“Uh huh.” She smirked and shut the magazine, tossing it to the side. “So are you gonna work for these Wolfram people? Faith thinks they’re bad news.”
“I’m of Faith’s mind. Besides, they haven’t offered me a job. Just a repair job. A patch repair job, if you know what I mean.” He tapped his eyepatch significantly and Dawn’s eyes widened.
“Can they do that? That would be great! What’s the catch?”
“They said no catch. It’s just that I’m a friend of Angel’s so they’d do it for nothing.”
“You’re a friend of Angel’s? Where’d they get that idea? This whole thing is fishy. It’s fishy with tartar sauce on it. Don’t fall for it, Xander.”
“I’m not. I’m thinking maybe I could do consulting work for a construction company. With all the experience I’ve had, I’m thinking it shouldn’t be too hard to get somebody to hire me. No law firm handouts for me.”
“That’s even better. Yay Xander. Where would you work?”
He shrugged in an offhand fashion. “Cleveland is as good a place to go as any. How about you? Want to come with?”
“Buffy thinks I should go back to school. I don’t see why. What could I learn at school that Giles couldn’t teach me? He says he’s gonna teach me French, Spanish and maybe German since I’m so good at picking up foreign languages.”
“That’s great, grasshopper. But knowledge of foreign languages in what field? Are you gonna be a diplomat? A secretary? A counselor for the demonically challenged? Inquiring minds want to know!”
“I was thinking I could be a Watcher. The world will still have Slayers and they’ll need somebody to train them. Who better than somebody who grew up with a Slayer? With Giles we could start a whole new Watchers Council, make it even better than it was.”
“You want to lock yourself up in a library all day going over musty books? What are you, crazy? There’s a big, beautiful non-demonic world out there and you get to see it with both eyes and you want to strain those peepers with book scannage? You’ll wind up wearing glasses like Giles.”
“That’s stupid. You, Willow and Buffy went looking through books all throughout high school and I don’t see you guys in specs.”
“Ah, but we rounded out our book larnin’ with other wholesome, healthy activities: sleeping in class, killing the occasional demon, piggin’ out on lunchmeats and trying to guess what was in the noodle surprise. It was a full life, I’m telling you.” Xander sighed dramatically. “High school. God, how I miss it.”
A most unladylike snort greeted this statement. “Who are you trying to kid, Xander? You hated it. I heard you say so often enough so don’t deny it.”
“Only the enforced learning part.”
The lobby doors swinging open interrupted their conversation and they jumped as Faith and Wesley came rushing in. “Whoa! Doesn’t anybody knock? We so need a key for that door,” Xander complained.
“Stow it, X-man. You and Dawnie, move. We need the couch.” Faith shooed her off and grabbed the magazine.
Dawn hustled off even as she began firing questions at them. “What? What’s the problem? Where’s Buffy and why is Wesley here? Oh my god!”
The last cry came as Gunn and Angel entered bearing Buffy on the carrier. With infinite tenderness, they lowered her to the couch. Dawn and Xander surged forward to see her, a task made somewhat difficult because of Angel’s wide frame as he crouched beside her.
“She’s fine, Dawnie. Well, not walking fine. That demon we tangled with gave her quite a hit. But you should see the other guy,” Faith joked as she attempted to relieve their fears.
“I’m okay. Angel, will you stop hovering?” Buffy immediately regretted her harsh words as Angel straightened and moved away, his face once more an unreadable mask. “I’m sorry. My back is just one big owwie and it’s making Buffy more cranky than usual.”
He nodded but made no move to approach her again. He directed his next words to Faith. “She should be fine in a little while. As I said, no bones are broken. But until she can move without pain, she shouldn’t get up from that couch. She could make any injuries that much worse.”
Wesley carefully eased the weapons out of the arms of the coat and admired the scythe as he held it up to the light. “What an extraordinary weapon. I would love to hear the story behind this. I haven’t heard anything about your battle.”
She grinned up at him. “Well, if I’m stuck on this couch I’ll have plenty of time to bore you with the details.”
Wesley sat on another couch. “No better time than the present, I’d say.”
Angel was torn between warring emotions. He wanted to get as far away from Buffy as possible. He had no doubt that Faith had orchestrated tonight’s fiasco and he had no desire to make things worse by drawing out the confrontation between Buffy and himself. However, touching Buffy, inhaling her scent had been sore trials to his determination to keep her at arm’s-length. He had heard her heartbeat speed up in her chest whenever he was near. But that could be anger at his interference and meddling.
“He’s in my heart.” He still could hear the words said in her soft, delicate voice and see the tenderness in her gaze--no longer for him but for his demon grandchilde. A burning sensation rose behind his eyes and he didn’t know if it was tears of grief or anger. He could sense his demon, stirred by the violence of battle, growling angrily in his mind over the thought of any other vampire touching his mate.
But Buffy wasn’t his any longer. She had made that plain and he must honor her desires. He glanced over to the couch and heard her relating the details of the final battle to Wesley. During the conversation, others had come down the stairs and joined in the discussion. Soon all the Slayers had joined them, chiming in with their viewpoints about the stirring climactic fight with an army of Ubervamps. When Buffy came to Spike’s part in the finale, he could hear her voice falter as everyone in the room fell silent.
“He--the energy was tearing through him. Ripping him apart, really. And he told me to go. He said he could feel his soul and that it kinda stung.” The light words, so dismissive and typical of his grandchilde, caused a ripple of laughter throughout the room and Angel realized they were all hearing this story for the first time. “Then I ran out and started jumping from one rooftop to the other as the whole town caved in. Whatever magic blast was going out from that medallion really packed a wallop. The whole town collapsed. All we could see from where we were was dust. There wasn’t even rubble.”
“Not even a Flintstone, either,” Xander said. “The whole town of Bedrock gone in one fell swoop.”
Wesley sought out the vampire standing in grave stillness near the doors. “Ah. Good thing you didn’t wear it, Angel. We would have lost you.”
Faith asked, “You guys knew about the amulet?”
“As much as Angel did. We weren’t aware of what it would do, per se. There really wasn’t any time to research before he left for Sunnydale. I was frankly surprised to see him back so quickly. I was certain, whatever peril was on hand, his presence would be needed.”
“Not this time, Wes. I was strictly the delivery boy,” Angel replied without a hint of disappointment in his voice.
Gunn looked up from where he was polishing his axe. “That’s a switch. I thought the role of ‘champion’ was permanently tattooed on your forehead.”
“God knows there’s plenty of space,” Xander added.
Dawn let out a high-pitched giggle that turned into a loud laugh and several of the girls joined in, too. A fleeting smile twitched on Angel’s countenance but otherwise he made no other acknowledgement of Xander’s joke.
Buffy craned her neck, trying to see how Angel took the quip made at his expense but the angle of the couch was all wrong for it. Making an internal catalogue of her injuries, she sat up on the couch to stare at him. Immediately he stepped forward, at her side in an instant. “Buffy, I told you not to move.”
“It’s okay, Angel. See?” She stood, grimacing only slightly. “No back to the House of Pain for Buffy.”
She spun around to demonstrate and was assailed by a flare of agony shooting through her back. She gasped at the unexpected pang, staggered and fell. Moving with the vampiric speed only he was capable of, he caught her before she could hit the floor. “It’s all right. I’ve got you,” he whispered.
She clutched him automatically as those strong arms that she had clung to more times than she could remember wound around her back and held her upright. Dark fathomless eyes stared into hers, unnamable emotions flaming behind them. For several seconds she stood motionless in his embrace, lost in his gaze. Her heart pounded in her chest and it was all she could do to breathe.
Then he set her gently back on the couch and moved away again. “I told you. You’re not ready to move yet. Give it a couple of hours.” He walked towards the door and called over his shoulder. “You guys coming?”
Gunn was reluctant to leave the presence of so many girls even if they were underage. That Rona girl was a definite cutie. Give her a couple of years and she’d make one damn fine woman. But Angel was going to take off whether they were with him or not and Gunn didn’t want to spend the night in the hotel.
He’d grown to love the grand oversized place. He felt he’d earned the right to call it home after fighting so many people who’d tried to make it their personal arena. But it held too many memories of him and Fred and staying the night without her would be just too lonely. He sighed and hefted his axe. “C’mon, Wes. Time to hit the road.”
Faith made a last-ditch attempt to get them to communicate. “Aw, guys, you just can’t leave. You haven’t told us about the way the fight went on your end. I’m bettin’ that’s a riproarin’ tale of carnage and good old-fashioned mayhem. Me and the girls want to hear all about your manly acts of bravery.”
“Maybe another time, Faith. It’s late and some of us got work in the morning. Ciao, ladies!” Gunn waved goodbye to the sound of general groans of disappointment from the girls.
“Make sure you tell us before we leave! This isn’t something I want to get in an email. I want thick, meaty juicy details that I can sink my teeth into and I want ‘em face to face!” Faith called after their retreating backs. She turned to see Xander’s amused gaze bent upon her. “What?”
“Thick, meaty, juicy details? Are we talking about an apocalypse or a heavy date?” Xander asked her. “Be careful what you answer. There are young ladies present.”
“They can handle it,” she said. She eyed Buffy who had become uncharacteristically silent. “Hey, B. You feelin’ okay?”
“I’m five by five.” Faith was surprised to hear the blonde Slayer use her favorite phrase but Buffy was too worn out to notice. Angel had barely spoken to her in the car. He’d insisted on driving and neither of the two men with him nor Faith had dared to take control of the wheel from him. From there he hadn’t looked towards the backseat once. He only spoke to direct comments to Faith as to whether Buffy was adequately tied down with the jury-rigged knots he’d fashioned from the seatbelts.
Just now, he couldn’t get away from her fast enough. He couldn’t even bear to touch her. It had hurt more than she could imagine having him so close and yet so far from her. Nothing she had felt for Spike could compare to it. Even his death hadn’t opened this gaping hole in her heart. Buffy stiffened, ignoring the flash of pain the action brought to her back, as she realized what this meant.
She still loved Angel. Time, distance, world-ending disasters hadn’t changed that. But it was all too clear his feelings had altered. And it was the affair with Spike that had seen to it.
“Hey, Buffy. Angel left his coat. Should we call him back for it?”
“Let’s worry about that tomorrow, Dawn.” Hell, it won’t be the first coat he’s left with me.

TBC
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