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Title: Sunnydale High
Author: Ashlee
E-mail: RubysAndPearls@aol.com
Disclaimer: Don't own them! They belong to the wicked head of Joss.
Distribution: Ask first please!
Pairings: W/O F/S X/C B/A
Rating: R. This story is dealing with problems that every teen faces: drugs,
sex, jealousy, love, friends, drinking and family problems.
Summary: AU Fic about the students at Sunnydale high. There are no vampires and no slayers!
Cordelia Chase pushed away the students in the hall with disgust. God! Could that girl's hair get any frizzier? Hair spray much? She was late to one of the most boring classes in the world. English. Why do we need to learn about this stuff anyway? This was stuff first graders learned about. Cordelia figured out that it was the schools obvious mission to bore all the students to death.
Cordelia, everyone called her Cordy, was the most popular sophmore in the school. She was known at the 'Queen C'. Her family was rich, she had the best hair and outfits, and she knew a loser when she saw one. All the guys wanted to date her and all the girls wanted to be her. Yes, everything is where it was supposed to be.
"Woah. Have a sale at Hookers 'R' Us?" Xander Harris chirped. Cordy sighed and rolled her eyes.
"No. But I heard there is a sale at Homeless 'R' Us." The Queen C snapped, glancing at the boy's attire. Plain jeans and a Mighty Mouse shirt? That skater style was out.
"Just keep on looking baby. Oh, be careful when you open your locker. Those pesky rats!"
Xander Harris was that goofy kid that made you laugh, no matter how much he annoyed you. He was the only student that still got in useless fights with Cordelia. Or he was the only one that dared. Xander and Cordy used to date and were once crowned Queen and King for the Summer Dance. Xander was popular for his jokes and tricks. Every day was April Fool's day for Xander. Cordy gave him another looked of distaste.
"See you at lunch?" she asked. Xander winked at her and made a clicking sound with his tongue. Sometimes Cordy would feel as if she still liked the joker.
"Queen C!" A shout came from the hall and a couple of ditzy girls giggled at the rough British accent. Cordy rolled her eyes. She was never going to get to this class. Well, she could blow of English for a day and blame it on a sale at Tiffany's.
"Will." Cordy greeted as she turned and looked at the bleach blond junior in front of her.
"Its Spike." William Mcnamera corrected.
"How many times do I have to tell you!?" Cordy yelled, "Change that damn hair color!"
Spike grinned, he loved annoying the bint. "But, angel, I thought you loved it!"
William, or Spike as he liked to be called, moved from London 2 years ago. He was hot, Cordy had to admit, but she didn't know why all the girls seem to like him. Spike was a player, he would date a girl and then have sex and dump them the next day. Every girl knew it but they still were attracted to him. Spike was Cordy's brother's best friend. His parents were alcoholics so Cordelia's parents thought of him as a second son, since he was always at their house.
Spike opened his mouth for another snotty reply but was cut short when a brunette smashed into him, making him take a few steps back. Spike looked at surprise at the beautiful girl glared at him then continued walking. She was wearing blood red lip stick and heavy eyeliner, black leather pants and a leather jacket to go with it. Spike thought she was the most beautiful woman he ever saw. He had to find out who this girl was!
"God damn!" Spike exclaimed, taking to time to stare at her ass before turning back to Cordelia who looked disgusted.
"Biker chick?"
"You know her?" Spike said hopefully and frowned when Cordy laughed.
"Please! Gotta go. See you in math." Cordy said and walked away from the drooling junior.
Her english class was upstairs and the halls were still crowded, despite that all classes started 5 minutes ago. Damnit, Cordy cursed. Then the brunette saw her red-haired friend, Willow. She was talking to her boyfriend Oz. When Cordelia first saw the multicolored hair she thought she was going to gag, but it turns out that Oz was pretty cool. He was silent and sarcastic. Oz was even in a band!
"Will! You got my history homework?" Cordy asked, running over to them. Willow flashed her a sweet smile and dug in her backpack.
"Fresh from the printer." Willow supplied. Willow was the genius or their little group and was known well around the school. She was often offered lots of money for homework to get done but she only accepted from her friends.
"Your the best!" Cordelia said, she nodded hello and good-bye to Oz and waved at Willow before setting off, once again to her destination. English was already out of the question so she sat down on the leather couch by the library, memorizing her, or Willow's, history presentation. Someone sat down next to her.
"Great, all I need is more losers." Cordy snapped at the man next to her, who flashed a toothy smile.
The man who sat next to her was far from a loser, though. Angel was quarterback for the football team and the hottest, and the most popular, man in the school. He was everything a girl wanted sexy, romantic, sweet, funny, and good looking. The only problem was that Angel was extremely picky with who he dated. Angel made friends with almost every guy he met and didn't look down on people. Cordy was Angel's sister.
"Whats wrong, sis? Rough day?"
"What day? I haven't been to any of my classes yet." Damnit. It was going to take a lot of extra ass kissing to get her out of this one. Angel snatched her history paper away from her and skimmed over it, whistling.
"Damn, this is good." He commented, the frowned. "Too good. You didn't write this. Willow?"
"Damn straight." Cordelia smiled and grabbed the paper back.
"I heard there is a new girl coming later today." Angel said excited. They didn't get many new people in Sunnydale. When Angel went away to play football, everyone was scared of them. Sunnydale had a lot of gangs and bad people. " Xander was supposed to be planning a welcoming gag."
"That kid is such an idiot." Cordy snapped.
"That's why you went out with him, huh?" Angel grinned.
"Shut up!" Cordelia said after a long pause.
One point for Angel and zero for Queen C.
*******
Buffy Summers nervously licked her dry lips and smoothed an invisible wrinkle from her black skirt. Buffy was a beautiful girl. She had shoulder length blonde hair that tumbled to her shoulder and honey colored tan skin. She had soft features, full lips and a great personality. It was her first day at Sunnydale High, as a sophomore, and she intended to make it a great one. Buffy was a beautiful girl. She had shoulder length blonde hair that tumbled to her shoulder and honey colored tan skin. She had soft features, full lips and a great personality. Her father's encouragement helped a lot. She trusted her father. It was probably one of the only men that she ever trusted. There had been boyfriends but they were just crushes.
She had moved to Sunnydale from LA A new city, new school, new people. It was scary. Buffy had been warned by her old friends what a gang town Sunnydale was and not to trust anyone who looked too suspicious. She had laughed and told them that she give them a taste of her kickboxing lessons.
The blond clutched her books to her chest, took a deep breath, and entered Sunnydale High.
Part 2
The court yard was full of students at Sunnydale High. Some were cheerleading, others were playing football or eating lunch. Angel was sitting down on one of the stone benches, his eyes closed and his face inclined towards the sun. It was days like these that made Angel stop and relax.
"Earth to Angel!" A loud shout made Angel jump and his eyes snapped open. He turned to look at William who was grinning like a fool.
"Sorry mate. Did I scare you?"
Angel glared at him but the blond didn't notice. "See the new girl yet? Heard she was transferring from LA because she was Britney Spear's half sister and the media was harassing her."
Angel laughed. "Where do you think this stuff up?"
"It already around half of the school." Spike grinned, he had a thing for gossip.
"Did you do Spanish?" Spike said, getting serious. The Spanish teacher, Mr. Garcia, hated Spike with a passion. Maybe it was because Spike would disrupt the class with his flirting and loud mouth. If you had Spike in one of your classes, you better watch out. Spike was constantly in Snyder's office for trouble making. Xander came in second.
"No. Mr. Garcia likes me."
"What did you say? I could hear you because your lips were stuck to Mr. Garcia's ass." Spike snapped, but his eyes twinkled with amusement.
Angel would have replied but it felt like someone was pouring hot and cold water over his head. A tingling sensation ran up and down his spine and his heart quickened. For a second, Angel thought he was having a heart attack. His eyes took a life of their own as his gaze focused on the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Her honey hair flew in the soft breeze and she stalked across the courtyard with feline grace. It was hard for Angel to see but he knew that her eyes were a soft blue that showed the ocean if you looked hard enough. Everything seem to fade in the background and the only thing he could hear was the soft tapping of her boots against the grass. The blonde had books in her arms, she paused to look at the staircase then she walked up them and was out of Angel's view.
His vision and hearing came back to him and he took a few deep breaths. God! What had just happened? The dark junior realized that his friend, Spike, was shaking him roughly.
"Snap out of it, boy!" Spike frowned. He had seen that dreamy look in his friend's eye. He had followed his gaze and he also stared at the hot blonde. Damn!
"Did you see her?" Angel asked breathless.
"Yep. God damn!" Spike exclaimed with a chuckle. "I giveit four days."
Angel blinked, the hot and cold showers down his spine had lessen and the flutter in his stomach ceased.
"Four days until what?" Angel asked confused.
"'Till she is in my bed." Spike said matter-of-factly. Rage flashed in Angel's eye.
"What?"
"You heard me. You got to share sometimes." Spike grinned, nudging Angel in the ribs.
"Whatever." Angel said crossly, standing up and walking away. He didn't like that fact that Spike was so sure about this girl. She was pure and innocent and shouldn't be tainted. Where did that come from? Angel paused, he just saw the girl and already he knew her? Angel shook his head, he was out of it today.
Willow sighed, leaning her head against Oz's chest. She loved the feeling of being in his arms.
"Bronze tonight?" Oz asked.
"I am your groupie, after all." Willow said, smiling. The Dingoes Ate My Baby were playing at the Bronze tonight. Willow went to every one of their shows. She would sit in the front and grin like a fool when Oz played the song he wrote for her.
"Public Displays of Affection by Willow Rosenburg and Daniel Ozborne. I should have known. It is always the quiet ones." A deadly voice echoed through the hallway and Willow gulped, pulling away from her boyfriend, who reluctantly let her go.
"Principal Synder." Willow muttered, looking down. She felt as if she was facing the death sentence. Synder glared down at her and looked towards Oz with disgust.
"Since you are both our star students, I will let it pass. If I catch you again it is a detention."
"For what? Hugging?" Oz challenged and he felt Willow elbow him in the ribs.
After a moment of glaring at the musician Synder replied, "For talking back."
"But we didn't even talk back until-" Oz was cut off but Willow dragging him away.Synder watching them as the fled the scene. He would watch them, them and that dumb little group of theirs.
"Ugh! You want to step on my one hundred and twenty dollar shoes some more?" Cordy's yell echoed through the hall as she pushed away a nerd who had just stepped on her new Gucci shoes. God! These people needs so manners!While she was brushing herself off, she bumped into someone knocking down her books. Cordelia opened her mouth, prepared to yell.
"Sorry!" A small voice squeaked. Cordy blinked at the blonde in front of her. Buffy bent down to retrieve the books she had knocked down for the brunette.
"Don't worry about it. Your the new girl, right?" Cordelia said, even though she already knew.
"Is there a wanted sign with my name on it? Five people already came up to me and asked that." Buffy said, smiling.
"We don't get a lot of new people here." Cordelia extended a well manicured hand. "I'm Cordelia Chase. My friends call me Cordy. If you want to survive in this school just stick with me."
Buffy offered a smile, she could tell that Cordy was not the people that she usually hung out with but she was willing to give it a try.
"Let me just stop by my locker then I will show you around." Cordy walked to her locker with Buffy in suite. She glanced down at her registration paper. What luck, her locker was right new to Cordys. Buffy opened her new lock and dropped off her books in her locker while Cordelia was talking to a dark haired boy. He had on a goofy grin and a mighty mouse shirt. Buffy couldn't help but smile. Cordelia didn't seem the type to hang out with people in a mighty mouse shirt.
Cordelia waved Buffy over to her Xander. Buffy stepped next to Cordy and smiled at the new boy. He was cute, nothing else really.
"Hello!" Xander said, looking her up and down. "I'm Xander Harris, willing slave to all beautiful women. I'm free at three o'clock." The boy named Xander winked and Buffy laughed, she liked him already.
"Don't pay attention to his stupid comments. You learn to block them out after a while." The Queen C glared at Xander before turning to open her locker.
Cordelia screamed and jumped into Xander's arms when a small white mouse scurried out of her locker.
"Kill it!" Cordy screamed. Buffy blinked and stepped back, she wasn't scared of mice but Cordelia's screaming was giving her a headache.
The white mouse scurried around in nervous circles before a brunette in a leather jacket bent down and picked it up.
"Oh my God! I was attacked." Cordy breathed, her face was red and her voice was hoarse from screaming.
Buffy stepped forward and looked at the tough looking brunette. "Thanks." She said. The brunette looked her over before shoving the white mouse into her hands.
"Aww, is the princess afraid?" The brunette grinned at Cordelia before walking away.
Xander was sitting on the ground. He was laughing so hard, tears were in his eyes. Buffy couldn't help but smile. Cordy was being fanned by over ten guys who all were about to do anything to help the most popular girl in school. Xander wiped his eyes and his laughing slowly stopped but there was still a large smile on his face.
"Your doing?" Buffy asked.
"Hell yeah." Xander said, offering her his arm. "Come on. I'll show you around then we'll stop at lunch and you could meet the gang."
Part 3
"And this is the lunchroom...where you eat lunch." Xander said, waving his hands towards the large cafeteria. "You can eat outside too."
Buffy smiled, she liked Xander, he had showed her every single room on the school campus and explained everyone. He was sweet by making sure that he didn't have any trouble finding her classes. He also warned about staying away from small dwarf principals.
"Speaking of lunch...it is seventh period and I'm starved." Xander said, flashing Buffy his goofy grin. Buffy checked her schedule before nodding.
"Food good." Xander guided her over to a table where three people were already sitting down. Cordy was the only one Buffy recognized.
"Gang this Buffy Summers a newbie from LA and Buffy this is the gang. The two red head are Oz and Willow. Oz is in a band and Willow is our chica from ComputerLand. You already met the bitch." Xander said smiling at Cordelia.
"Hey." Buffy said simply, smiling as she took a seat next to Cordelia. Xander sat next to her, leaving two empty chairs at the table. She glanced at the girl named Willow, she sat on Oz's lap, so Buffy guessed that they were dating.
"So...Buffy....what brings you to good ole' Sunnydale?" Willow asked, smiling sweetly. Buffy decided that she wasn't like Cordelia, a little self-centered, but an innocent girl. Buffy frowned at the question, she didn't want to answer that.
"There was...an accident in LA." Buffy said, glancing down at her entwined hands. A feeling of sadness washed over her and she felt very small all of a sudden.
"How about coming to the Bronze with us tonight. My band is playing." Oz said, sensing distress in the blond. Buffy smiled gratefully.
"The Bronze? Sounds rich." Buffy commented.
"Its a dance club, the only cool place in Sunnydale." Cordy supplied, even though she didn't seem interesting in the conversation, she was looking down at her nails.
"Dancing? Dancing and me don't like each other that much." Buffy said, offering a half smile.
"Nonsense." Xander said. "I'll show you how to get your groove thing on!" Xander demonstrated by waving his arms around like a crazy person. Buffy smiled widely.
"The sad thing is that he actually does dance like that." Willow chuckled. Xander frowned and stopped grooving.
"What's wrong with the way I dance?"
"You look like your having a heart attack." Cordy supplied, she looked up from her nails to glare at Xander.
"You used to say I dance sexy." The brown hair student smiled widely at the look of anger in his ex's eyes.
"Bad history?" Buffy chimed in.
"Oh yeah." Oz agreed.
***
Angel waited patiently in the vending machine line. Did it take this long to get a damn coke? He could run to 7 Eleven for a quicker service. Angel sighed, oh well. It gave him more time to think about that beautiful blond who had crossed his path...or he had just stared at. God! What if she saw him staring at her like a fool? She would think he was crazy.
"Excuse me! Pardon me. The bloody Brit needs a coke, damnit!" A loud accented voice pushed through the line and Angel almost laughed as Spike bulldozed to the front. A part of him was still angry at Spike but he realized that he didn't even know the girl and he was acting jealous. He could push his possessiveness aside for right now.
"Peaches, you need a coke?" Spike asked, slipping his dollar into the machine, as Angel walked out of the line. Before Angel could voice his order a brunette pushed herself in front of Spike, pressing the Diet Coke button. Angel blinked in surprise. Instead of yelling, he simply stared at the woman in the leather jacket that had just used his dollar. The brunette paused before grabbing her coke out of the machine. She turned and faced Spike, her blood red lips curling into a smile.
"Thanks, I owe you." She said simply for walking away. Spike stared at her ass, for a second before turning back into a machine. He wordlessly put another dollar into the machine and pressed for the coke Angel wanted.
Angel stared at Spike in disbelief, Spike turned to him and handed him the coke, glaring.
"Whipped!" Angel said while coughing into his hands.
"Bugger off!" Spike yelled, walking away from Angel towards their table. Angel chuckled and followed Spike, but stopped dead when he realized who was sitting at the table. The familiar flutter in his stomach grew and he saw spots for a second.
"Spike." Angel hissed, grabbing his arm. Spike turned and followed Angel's eyes to the blond at their table.
"What's she doing there?" Spike asked to himself. "Well, come on your poof." Spike pushed Angel forward.
***
"Woah!" Buffy exclaimed, shivering. A rush of goosebumps trailed on her arms and she felt her heart quicken.
"What's wrong?" Xander asked.
"I wish I knew." Buffy whispered. Emotions ran through that she couldn't even begin to describe. "I'm just..." Buffy trailed off as she saw two very attractive looking guys walking to the table, but her eyes only caught one of them. A tall, dark, and handsome looking man and she licked her dry lips. It was strange that he was pale, but he lived in California. Her breath caught and she had to force air into her lungs. He was so gorgeous and his T-shirt fit to him in all the right places, hugging to his muscular chest. Buffy realized with a start how much she just wanted to curl in his muscular arms and stay there forever. Buffy could have sworn that he was also staring right at her, but maybe it was just her wistful thinking.
"Hey Angel, hello Spike." Willow greeted politely. Buffy caught his name and she felt as if she had said it a million times before. Angel sat in his chair quickly, looking down. If he looked at her then he knew he would do something incredibly stupid, like grab her face and passionately kiss her.
"Guys, this is Buffy. Buffy this is *William* and Angel, Cordy's brother." Xander teased.
"Call me Spike, luv." He said grinning at her. Angel forced himself to look up and smile at her. Buffy smiled back, he was acting shy and Buffy loved it. Wait, Cordy's brother? Oh great, now he is probably just like her. He must have a girlfriend already.
"Buffy is new here from LA, yadda, yadda." Cordy said.
"She'll be at the Bronze tonight, right Buffy?" Willow asked.
"Good. We will be there too." Angel said quickly. She was going to be out at the Bronze, then they would talk and have coffee and make out. Where did that come from?
"Great." Oz said. The bell rang and there was a collective groans and everyone started to pack up their lunch. Buffy stood up, grabbing her purse. She had math next, Xander had told her that Willow was in her class. Good, she wouldn't make a total embarrassment of herself then. Buffy's eyes once again trailed to Angel who smiled at her again, his eyes twinkling with something that she couldn't put her finger on.
"Guess I'll see you tonight." Buffy said softly.
"I can't wait." Angel replied.
***
"Buffy! How was your first day at school? You didn't get into any trouble, I hope." Buffy's father called out. He was a middle aged man, with small glasses and brown hair. He liked wearing tweed, Buffy could never guess why. She thought of her father as a bookworm, because all he would do is read books. His full name was Rupert Giles.
"It was fine." Buffy said, dreamily. She couldn't get Angel out of her head. What did he mean when he said he would couldn't wait for her to be at the Bronze? Was he just being polite? Was that a pickup line? Did she mind if it was?
"You met a man. Tell me about him." Giles said, smiling at the look on her daughter's face. It was tough thing to move from LA, especially with what happened. He was glad that she had made some friends.
"What are you talking about?" Buffy said but she couldn't stop the smile from spreading on her face.
"Come on, parents have a six sense for this." Giles pushed. Buffy smiled.
"Well, then you must be physic, so I don't have to tell you." Buffy said innocently, heading towards the kitchen for a snack.
"How was your day?" Buffy asked, grabbing a cookie.
"Full of unpacking. It was quite bracing." Giles removed his glasses and wiped them on his shirt. Buffy would tease him about that, since he constantly did it.
"Do you mind if I went out tonight?" Buffy asked suddenly. She need to go to the Bronze, she desperately wanted to see Angel.
"Well, you could go get some milk...I do need-" Giles was cut off by a small laugh.
"No, I mean out to this dance club, called the Bronze." Buffy said slowly. She frowned as her father looked at her strangely.
"I thought you don't dance."
"I don't but...there is this guy and he is going to be there. I will be with a group of people and I heard that its in walking distance." Buffy pleaded.
"Buffy, you have been warned about the gangs out here." Giles said, he was worried about his daughter's safety.
"Look, I know your worried about...what happened in LA." Buffy paused, looking down. "Just for tonight, please."
Giles sighed, he couldn't deny his teenage daughter of having fun for one night. "All right, but no drinking or drugs and all of that good stuff."
"Thank you!" Buffy said, giving her father a kiss on the cheek and running up the stairs.
Part 4
Buffy licked her dry lips and added shiny strawberry lip gloss, the final touch. The blond stepped back and looked at her full length mirror. Buffy had on thrown her hair up in a hair pony, dark jeans, and a blood red tank top. Does Angel like the color red? The question popped in her head before she could stop it. Down girl! She grabbed twenty dollars from under her mattress, her secret stash, then chose a small black purse. Buffy didn't want to act all Barbie doll, but she did want to impress Angel. With one last glance in the mirror, Buffy decided she looked OK.
"Dad! I'm leaving!" Buffy called, walking down her stairs and grabbing her leather jacket.
"Are you sure you don't want me to drive you?" Giles asked, coming out of the living room with a book in his hands. Typical.
"Don't be silly, its like 3 blocks away." Buffy assured her father and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
"I'll be home by 11:30."
"11:00." Giles corrected. Buffy sighed, but nodded, then she walked out the door. Party at the Bronze!
***
Buffy tried her best to remember the directions that Willow had given her. Willow had said it was only a couple of blocks from her house. Now she was in the middle of a bunch of buildings and no idea where to go. She checked her watch and cursed. Damnit! She was late for the first hangout with her new friends. Buffy pulled her leather jacket closer to her and kept walking, then abruptly stopped when she heard two sets footsteps. There should only be one. Keep walking, find a crowded place.
Buffy took a deep shaky breath and kept walking, unconsciously listening to the sounds of her heels against the pavement. There it was again, another set of footsteps. The blond walked faster, glancing behind her to see no one.
Buffy let out a surprised scream when an arm shot out and pushed her into alley. A black man with a switchblade pushed her against the wall. His clothes were dirty, regular jeans and a T-shirt with a leather jacket that had a gang symbol on the back. Buffy's eyes widen. She just had to ignore everyone's warnings about gangs, didn't she? Shit.
"Got any money, sweetie?" The African American glared at her, pressing the knife to her throat. Buffy sworn that he looked familiar, maybe she passed him at school. Buffy swallowed down the overwhelming fear and tried to remember her kickboxing classes.
"Why don't you check?" Buffy spat, then with one swift movement, she brought her knee up into the mugger's groin. The man went down and Buffy didn't spare a second for a victory dance, she just started running. She didn't get far. The black man grabbed her arm again and pushing her back against the wall.
"Bitch." He spat, he raised the knife but was pulled back. Buffy could have cried in relief when she saw Angel, grabbing the man by the throat ... and letting him go?
"Gunn?" Angel asked in disbelief.
"Angel?" The man asked back.
"What the hell are you doing?" Angel asked angrily.
"What the hell are you doing!?" Buffy yelled, putting a hand to her racing heart. Both men turned to look at the hysteric girl.
"I was walking by and saw someone get pulled in an alley. I came to help." Angel answered quickly.
"I just needed some money." Gunn stated bluntly and reached his hand out to Buffy.
"Sorry for the scare, lady." Buffy looked at the extended hand, then back at Angel who nodded, she shook it.
"I was just about to knee you again, ya know." Buffy said. She couldn't believe this. She had almost got robbed, saved by an Angel, and now was shaking hands with the person who robbed her in the first place.
"What did I tell you about this shit?" Angel asked, glaring at Gunn. When he saw his old friend put a knife to Buffy's throat, a wave of unrestricted panic and anger ran through him.
"Yo, there are some people who live in the bad part of town." Gunn glared at Angel. They were best friends back in freshman year. Gunn had joined a gang, fed up with his abusive parents and poor life, Angel wanted nothing to do with it. They never really talked since then.
"There are also people who get help." Angel said, his voice soft with compassion. Gunn stared at him for a bit, taking in the sentence.
"Maybe I'll stop by later." Gunn finally said after a long pause. Angel smiled.
"I'll see you around." Angel said, before he grabbed Buffy and pulled her out of the alley, away from Gunn.
"Are you all right?" Angel asked after a while of walking.
"Well, that was my first encounter with a robber, I say we party." Buffy said with false cheerfulness. Angel chuckled and Buffy longed to her him laugh more.
"I knew Gunn my first year of high school. We were best friends. Then he decided to join a gang, then it was the end of that friendship. No gang members wanted to hang out with rich popular kids." Angel explained. Buffy nodded, chewing her lip thoughtfully.
"Must have been hard on you."
"It was." Angel said simply. "The Bronze." The dark man made a dramatic sweep with his hands to a large brown building. There was a bouncer in front and a small line of people waiting to get in. Buffy could already hear the loud music from outside.
"Finally." Buffy muttered as they went inside.
***
"Hey! You guys are missing the party!" Xander yelled as he saw the two late arrivals. Everyone else was on the dance floor, except Oz who was on stage playing.
"Sorry." Angel muttered, he placed his hands on Buffy's shoulders, slipping of her leather coat. Buffy shivered from the contact and she looked up to find Angel staring at her intensely.
"Come on, Buff!" Xander said, oblivious to the special moment between the two. Xander grabbed Buffy's hand and led her to the dance floor, leaving Angel to stare wistfully at her and Xander dancing.
Buffy laughed as she saw the crazy way of dancing for Xander.
"Okay, Buff. I'll give you the 101 of Dancing With Xander Harris." Xander grabbed her arms and held them up, then made her turn to the side. Buffy looked like a scarecrow.
"Now, walk like a penguin and all the guys will be all over you." Xander said. Buffy was laughing to hard to even try.
"I'll take a rain check. Why do you dance with Cordy?" Buffy asked, dropping her hands and smiling. Xander frowned and looked at the three guys hovering around his ex. An unknown jealousy hit Xander like a wave and he made his way to the Queen C.
"Excuse me." Xander pushed a guy away from Cordelia and placed his hands on her hips. Cordelia raised an eyebrow but she allowed it. Xander leaned in close but then pulled away with a look of disgust on his face.
"What? No, Cordelia, I will *not* make out with you in the bathroom!" Xander yelled loudly. All the guys around Cordy gave her strange looks and left. Why would she want to make out with Xander and not them?
"I'm going to kill you, Harris." Cordy said, but wrapped her arms around his neck.
"You know you love me." Xander said smiling. Mission complete.
***
Spike walked back to the table and took a seat next to Angel. Spike placed him rum on the table and patted Angel's back. His friend had a faraway look in his eyes and Spike could see that he was staring at Buffy on the dance floor. She was dancing alone but men quickly came to join her. Angel tore his gaze away and then looked down at Spike's drink.
"Does the word 'underage' mean anything to you?"
"The bartender and me had a fling." Spike said, shrugging. Angel shook his head.
"I walked here, so don't expect me to drag you ass."
"Ever find that brunette chick?" Angel asked, changing the subject.
"Nah. She is like a ghost, man. She is here one-second then gone the next." The bleach blond snapped his fingers. Angel continued to stare at Buffy and the anonymous guy she was dancing with. Angel noticed how he always seemed to press up against her, yet she kept pushing him away. Finally she walked away from the loser. Angel smiled as she waved and walked back over to their table.
"Hey cutie." Spike greeted. Buffy smiled and said hi.
"How come you two bums are not, what Xander would say, getting down with your bad self?" Buffy took a seat next to Angel, scooting a little closer then she should have. Angel noticed and couldn't stop his lips twitching in a smile.
"I'm not good at dancing." Angel chuckled at the memory of Cordy calling him disabled in the dancing area.
"I'll dance." Spike said, standing up and grabbing Buffy's hand. Buffy smiled, though she would have preferred if Angel asked her. Jealousy rose in Angel as he watched the two dance, even though he tried to suppress it. He had seen Spike dance with girls before and Angel could tell that Spike was controlling himself from getting to close. Angel was grateful for that.
***
Willow looked up adoringly at her boyfriend, strumming the guitar, on stage. It should be illegal to be this cute. Oz looked down at her and smiled as he played. Willow's smile reached her ears. She knew that she was in love with Oz, she felt like she was flying every time he was near. Willow tore her gaze away from the man on stage to see Cordelia and Xander dancing closer than usual. Angel and her had a bet going on to see if the couple would get back together. Angel said that Cordelia wouldn't allow it but Willow thought otherwise. She knew that Xander still had the hots for her. Willow jumped as a pair of strong arms wrapped around her.
"Dance with me." Oz commanded softly in her ear. Willow smiled as she realized that the DJ was now playing an up beat song and the Dingoes were taking a break. Willow wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned her forehead against his. The couple swayed slowly to the fast song.
***
"Looks like you ghost has arrived." Angel said, interrupting Spike and Buffy's dance. Not that he minded much. Spike glanced at where Angel was pointing and stared at the mystery girl. She was dancing widely with some punk guy. She had her hands under his shirt and one leg wrapped around his waist.
"Bitch." Spike growled and stalked over to where the couple were practically mating.
"Excuse me, mate." Spike said coldly. The boy looked as if he was about to protest but he recognized Spike and stepping back.
"You owe me, remember?" Spike said at the girls strange look. The brunette looked Spike up and down before pulling him close and grinding against him. Spike put his large hands on her small waist pulling closer, his hands roaming to her ass.
"Faith." The woman whispered in his ear.
"Spike." The bleach blond said, before they both concentrated on dancing with each other.
"They look happy...I think." Buffy said, tearing her glance back to Angel who was chuckling.
"Spike has a way with woman."
"Not all woman." Buffy said smiling. Angel smiled back. The couple automatically seemed drawn to each other, it was by a higher force that their arms seem to instantly wrap around each other. Buffy moved her hips and rejoiced at the feeling of his arms wrapped around her waist. Buffy played with the little hairs on the back of his neck and smiled when Angel pulled her flush up against him.
She was beginning to like Sunnydale.
Part 5
"Buffy? Sweetheart? Get up, your doing to be late for school!" Rupert Giles yelled from the kitchen. He placed some strawberries and orange juice down for his daughter when she woke up. If she ever woke up. Giles paused, then smiled when he heard the shower running. He assumed that Buffy had a great time last night since a smile seemed to stay permanently on her face. He was happy that she was having a good time in this strange town. Buffy needed some happiness after what happened in LA. She rarely talked about it and Giles knew that wasn't a good thing, but he wasn't sure how to bring it up.
Giles recently got a job at the town's library. Giles had to admit that they had an extraordinary collection, he was afraid he would get lost in the building that oddly felt like home. Since he had experience in cross referencing, he was sure he would do fine.
"Oh! A fruity breakfast." Buffy observed, she was changed but her hair was still wet. She would blow dry it later. Buffy grabbed a strawberry and took a small bite. She had had a wonderful sleep after a wonderful night. Angel and her had danced for so long. They never really exchanged words, joking from time to time about stepping on each other's shoes, but that as it. It was perfect. It was sad when they had to part ways and she longed for his arms to fit around her once more.
"You looked like you slept with a hanger in your mouth." Giles observed that large smile on his daughter's face.
"This boy is really getting to you." Giles felt sad in a way, as if he was losing his daughter. He supposed he was. Buffy just answered sweetly.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Buffy had decided against telling her father about her little encounter with Gunn, she was afraid the old man would have a heart attack.
"Well, I still got to blow dry my hair." Buffy said, smiling and skipped back up the stairs.
***
Angel waited, excited, at school. He had been thinking about a certain blond all day and she had plagued his sleep. He felt as if he would go insane with need if he didn't see her. He saw Spike walking towards him. His hair was ruffled and it looked like he was wearing the same clothes from last night at the Bronze. He stumbled next to Angel and yawned.
"Rough night?" Angel grinned. He knew that Spike had a little more to drink then his body can handle.
"Man, I remember dancing with Faith...then...ending up on my front lawn with my shirt halfway unbuttoned." Spike said, wincing as he rubbed his temples. He had the worse hangover of his life.
"Don't look at me." Angel said, holding his hands up in surrender.
"Shut up." Spike yelled, then cursed at the dizziness over came him. Angel chuckled.
"Seemed that girl got to you, huh?" Angel grinned, remembering the way they practically mated on the dance floor.
"Don't think she did. I would have ended up in my bed instead of my lawn." Spike muttered.
"I didn't mean that."
"Well, I'm bloody telling you anyway." Spike muttered. He sat down on the steps, he could skip English for today and find a tree to fall asleep under. He looked in front of him to see Faith standing there. She looked as hot as ever and didn't seem fazed by the large amount of alcohol that she took last night.
"Did I wear you out, baby?" She pouted. "Too bad, I was looking for some fun tonight."
"You'll get your fun." Spike growled, standing up, pushing away the wave of dizziness and wrapped his arm around her waist.
"See ya, peaches." Spike waved, before walking away with the brunette. Angel noted how they walked away from the school and Angel knew he would have to make up an excuse for Spike. He didn't mind, he was glad that Spike's attention was elsewhere than his Buffy. His Buffy?
"Angel!" A luminous voice broke his thoughts and Angel smiled at the blonde before him.
"Hey."
Buffy smiled back and pulled at her backpack strap, unconsciously.
"I had a good time last night. You know...with everyone." Buffy covered quickly. She didn't want him to think she was just a blond bimbo trying to get into his pants. She prayed that she really wasn't like that.
"Me too. I mean with us dancing and everyone else dancing." Angel said, stumbling over his words. His stomach did a flip-flop at her beautiful smile and Angel couldn't help but smile back. It seemed that was all he did when he was around her. Angel didn't mind in the least.
"Everyone is going out for coffee at the Espresso Pump after school. You should come." Angel invited.
"Great. I'll see you then." Buffy flashed him another smile before walking past him. Leaving him once again to stare at her.
***
"How did they get the word coffee?" Xander asked absentmindedly.
"Actually coffee comes from the word-" Xander put a hand over Willow's mouth before she got a lecture on the word coffee.
"I was asking myself, Will." Xander clarified.
"I would love to hear to." Oz amended, wrapping an arm around his girlfriend. Willow smiled happily and stuck her tongue out at Xander.
The whole gang was meeting at the Espresso Pump. Buffy twirled her finger on the rim of her mocha cup, humming to herself.
"Dollar for your thoughts?" Spike asked, intruding on her day dream.
"Hm? Oh, nothing really."
"That was useless. Where is my dollar?" Spike asked, holding his hand out. Buffy chuckled but stopped when Spike looked serious. Finally he broke into a smile.
"If I stared at you long enough, would have had given me that dollar?" Spike wanted to know, he would keep that in mind then.
"Speaking of one dollar hookers, where is that girl you were grinding with last night?" Cordelia asked, ignoring the look of daggers that Spike shot her.
"Did I miss something? We were talking about one dollar hookers?" Xander perked up immediately. Cordy hit him hard in the chest.
"Her name is Faith and none of your damn business." Spike glared and Angel chuckled.
"Spike is whipped." A round of laughs came from the group and Spike glared at his friend.
"I'm whipped?" Spike said, glaring at Angel. Nobody really got the hidden meaning except for those two. Angel shut his mouth and Spike smiled triumphantly. Buffy gave an encouraging smile to Angel who grinned back.
"I saw you two dancing pretty close." Willow said, grinning at Cordy and Xander.
"Do I sense some sparks?" Oz asked.
"What? It was just a dance, nothing else!" Cordy replied quickly, too quickly.
"Angel your going down." Willow said, she was going to win the bet with Xander and Cordelia.
"I'll bounce back." Angel challenged.
"It was just a dance to you?" Xander said, mocking hurt.
Buffy listened to the exchanged between her new friends. She liked them all and she was glad that she moved here and met all these people. Especially Angel. Angel watched the far away look in her eyes and the content smile on her face and Angel couldn't resist. Angel slowly moved his foot under the table, resting it on top of hers. Then he moved his foot up, pushing up her pant legs.
He watched her expression turn from confusion to shock. Buffy glared at Angel who grinned mischievously at her. She felt heat rush to her cheeks but made no move to stop Angel. A little game of footsie wouldn't hurt. She moved her foot to rest on the seat, just between his legs, massaging his inner thigh. She watched his breath catch. Angel wasn't the only one who could play games.
"So how about it Buffy?" Cordy asked.
Buffy and Angel jumped, moving their legs away from each other.
"What?" Buffy asked breathlessly.
"Movies tonight?"
"Uh, yeah right." Buffy looked at Angel who nodded his agreement.
Damn it was going to be a long day.
Part 6
"This will probably be the most boring movie of my life." Spike grunted, looking down at his ticket. They were going to see a horror movie, Xander voted for it of course. Everyone groggily agreed.
"Come on! This movie will rock. It was given 2 stars!" Xander exclaimed, jumping into the popcorn line.
"Thats only 50% of goodness." Willow supplied.
"Could you think of anything else besides school?" Cordy snapped, paying for a Diet Coke.
"I can think of other things." Willow grinned, looking up at Oz who smiled back. Buffy grinned at the cute couple. A fool could see that they were in love. Speaking of love, Angel had given her his jacket for the cool movie theater. Buffy hugged it to her, breathing in the scent of his cologne.
"God help them." Spike muttered, grabbing his popcorn.
"I think it is romantic." Buffy sighed, looking wistfully at Oz and Willow who shared a bittersweet kiss. When Willow pulled away she looked flushed and embarrassed.
"I usually don't do this in front of everyone." Willow shot a hopeless look at Buffy.
"I stand by my cheesy romantic statement." Buffy grinned.
"Its not cheesy." Angel said softly. Buffy looked over at him, losing herself in his dark eyes.
"Save it for the *dark* movie, peaches." Spike whispered in Angel's ear, breaking his trance.
"Nothing? What? No, I'm not you, Spike." Angel said, remembering what Spike just said. Everything had seemed jumbled for a second, as soon as he turned away from her beautiful eyes. He knew that he could spend forever staring into them. It scared Angel, these uncontrollable feelings, but it also excited him to no end.
"Suite yourself. I always like when the girl puts her hand on my-" Spike said shrugging.
"My virgin ears!" Cordy remarked, covering her ears. All she needed was her ears to bleed, it would ruin her complexion.
"Virgin, eh?" Spike grinned and raised his eyebrows twice.
"We are missing the movie!" Xander glared at Spike. He didn't know why he was being so possessive around Cordelia. What they had was long over.
"Come on." Buffy said, grabbing a piece of popcorn from Angel's bowl, she started to the theater. Willow quickly caught up to her.
"Hey. Do I sense some sparks? My hair is frizzing." Willow nudged her gently, smiling like an idiot.
"What?" Buffy asked, turning her face away from her friend.
"Oh! I could so picture you guys going out. It would be...cool and stuff! Then we all go on double dates and rent an apartment and live next to each other, like Friends and-" The redhead bounced up and down in excitement.
"Simmer down now." Buffy chuckled. Even though the double dating thing with Angel would be more perfect. Even though the double dating thing with Angel would be more perfect. When they arrived at the movies, Cordy, Willow, Oz and Xander sat in the second row and Angel, Buffy, and Spike in the first. Buffy hesitantly took a seat right next to Angel. She felt butterflies in her stomach, the footsie fling at the coffee shop was leaving Buffy craving for more.
"Now, cutie, if you get scared then don't be afraid to jump in Uncle Spike's lap, you hear?" Spike grinned at Buffy.
"No thanks, Spike." Xander said from above them.
"Stupid bloke." Spike said, chuckling.
Angel glared at Spike but didn't say anything. He only saw Buffy smile gently and it was enough to make his anger melt away. Gods, he was falling for her hard.
"Will you two shut up? Its starting." Cordy hissed, kicking the back of Spike's chair. Spike whirled in his seat.
"Why don't you have you bouncer take me outside then, Princess." Spike spat, but was quickly greeted with a dozen pieces of popcorn thrown in his face.
Oz chuckled and wrapped his arm around Willow's shoulder. They soon were in a heated make out session, not really caring about the blond getting murdered in the scene. Buffy winced and turned into Angel's shoulder. Angel watched the scene, he always had a thing for horror movies, but his attention the turned towards Buffy. Her face was buried in his shoulder. If he moved his head to the side, he could smell her hair and place a kiss on the top of her head. Angel forced his head to keep straight.
"Dude! Look at her shirt, its all ripped up. She is almost naked." Xander exclaimed, pointing to the gutted girl on the screen.
"Stop thinking with your penis." Cordy snapped at him.
"Its over." Angel whispered to the blond on his shoulder.
"I know." Buffy answered, turning her head to watch the movie but never lifting it from his shoulder. Angel couldn't help the smile on his face. Half way through the movie, Xander was asleep and Cordy was talking quietly on her cell phone about the football game coming up on Tuesday. Angel was the star quarterback and it would be a big game. Spike was still intensely into the movie and Willow and Oz were still occupied with each other. Angel's hand was on Buffy's knee and he was only half interested in the movie.
Touching her sent the most amazing sensations through his body and it left him hungry for more. Every time he was near her, he wanted to get closer, wanted to feel their skin touch. Buffy was fairing no better. She felt like falling into the most blissful sleep with his arms around her. She forced herself to stay awake, she couldn't let her eyes droop, she wanted to cherish this moment and keep it in the back of her mind.
"Tired?" Angel murmured.
"Hmm." Was Buffy's response, scooting closer to him. She could feel his smile spread against the top of her head. She felt amazing, making this wonderful man smile.
The movie didn't seem important anymore. Angel lifted her chin from his shoulder, turning her face to his. His lips were just centimeters away and Buffy could feel his hot breath on her face. She titled her head closer, closing her eyes, the feeling of being almost complete ran through her and it made her toes curl in her shoes.
"WHAT?!" Cordy shouted into her cell phone, making Angel and Buffy split apart and half of the movie theater to jump in their seats.
"Sorry! I thought my friend said she made love to a frog." Cordy apologized loudly. Angel didn't dare to look at Buffy.
"Who made love on a car?" Xander asked groggily.
"Shut up! Its just getting good." Spike hissed. It was ironic because Spike said he would never like this movie and he seemed so in to it. Laughing at the funny parts and wincing away at the gory ones. Xander knew he would make fun of him later.
When the movie ended everyone started to leave the theater.
"Well, that was one kick ass movie!" Spike yelled out.
"What are you talking about? It was boring." Xander said, crossing his arms.
"That's because you were to busy drooling on my blouse, dork." Cordy hissed at him.
"What movie?" Willow said dreamily, glancing into Oz's eyes.
"It was...exciting." Angel said, glancing at Buffy who blushed and turned away.
Part 7
Faith stepped inside her small house. It was no bigger then 2 classrooms put together. It was a 3 room house and in the poor part of Sunnydale. What the hell did she need luxury for anyway? She was disappointed that she came home alone tonight, usually she would have some lapdog hanging on her arm. They would come home, get wild, then Faith would kick him out before they had a change to lay back down.
If her father knew what was going on he would kill her. Literally. Her mother left them when she was five and now she had an alcoholic father who was an unemployed bastard. She swore that she would find her Mom one day, but she never got the change to try and contact her. Her father had blonde hair so she pictured her mother as a beautiful brunette with large brown eyes.
Faith rarely talked about her mother, her father would get really angry if she did, but Faith didn't give a fuck what her father thought of her. Faith sighed and rolled her head back and forth, walking into her bedroom and locking the door behind her. Her bedroom consisted of mostly black, with red pillows on her bed. She had poster adoring the walls, full of punk bands and gory movies. Everything gothic seemed to interest her. She liked the dark, embraced it. She always pictured herself on the back of some dudes motorcycle.
There was a long sound at the front door, making Faith jump and gasp. She paused and then heard the fridge being wrenched open. Great, her father was home and he was drunk. The brunette grabbed a small duffel bag and pushed some overnight clothes into it. There was no way in hell she was staying the night with this drunken fool in the house.
"Faith!" A bellow sounded from the kitchen, but Faith ignored it. Faith took a deep breath and quickly unlocked the door and headed for the front of the house. She needed to get do the door and then everything would be cool.
"Woman! How many times did I tell you to answer me when I talk to you?" Faith's old man was heavy set and long greasy blond hair with green eyes. He had an untamed beard and his words were slurred from the amount of alcohol he had consumed.
"A lot. I'm going out." Faith snapped, not daring to look at him. She could smell the vodka on his breath even though she wasn't close to him.
"Where the hell are you going now?" Her father demanded.
"None of your God damn business!" Faith yelled, whirled around on the drunken man so quickly it made him dizzy.
"It is my God damn business, I'm your father!"
"And what a great one you are!" Faith yelled, backing up towards the door.
"What did you say to me? I'll beat the shit out of you!" He snarled, throwing down his beer bottle, it shattered to pieces on the ground and Faith let a frightened yell. She took one look at her enraged old man and ran out the door. She had no idea where she was going but she knew she had to get there fast.
***
Spike looked down at his book that he had to read for English. What was this gibberish? Damn, what do we need books for anyway? That's what computers are for. Spike pondered for a second about how he would make one hell of a teacher before there was a loud thudding on his door. He glanced at the clock on the wall.His dumb ass father shouldn't be home for another three hours. Spike walked up to the door and opened it, totally taken back by the scene before him.
"Can I come in?" Faith asked, willing the tears in her eyes to go away.
Spike blinked and opened the door wider, stepping out of the way.
Part 8
"That...sucks." Spike muttered. He was speechless. The girl he was falling for and the girl he knew nothing about just told him her life story. The brunette shed a couple tears and Spike suspected that it was a reputation issue. Or maybe she had no more tears to cry. Spike's hands twitched to choke the bastard that made Faith scared to death.
"You can say that again." Faith murmured, she was sitting down on his bed, in his room. She was becoming interested in the fabric of his blanket. Was it a mistake to tell him everything? One of the most popular bad boys in the school knew her worst fears and secrets. Though it felt great to get it off her shoulders.
"I would, but I don't think it would help." Spike put an arm around her shoulder, pulling her to him. Faith didn't pull away but rested her head on his chest as they both laid down. If Spike was in a good mood, they would have been fooling around already, but he wanted her to know that she could take comfort in him. A rational part of Spike knew that she would be gone in the morning and he would have to wait another couple of days before she popped up again for a grind at the Bronze. Spike sighed and stroked her hair.
"Don't worry, pet, everything is going to be all right." The blonde promised.
***
"Everything is *not* all right!" Cordy shouted the next day. Buffy sighed and her shoulders sagged.
"Cordy-" Buffy was cut off.
"I have to cheer for the biggest football game in the world, Buffy." The Queen C took a traumatic pause. "And my hair is not cooperating!"
Cordelia's hair was in a high cute ponytail but every time she leaned forward it was swing at the side of her head. She looked like a bimbo and Buffy didn't have the heart to tell her that she was.
"It looks fine. Just lower it a little." Buffy said gently. They were at Cordy's huge mansion and it was 2 hours before the football game started. Angel was at practice and Xander was going to pick them up in an hour and a half. Cordy was already supposed to be at practice but since she was the head cheerleader, she got to excuse herself for some grooming.
"Can you just be a little unselfish, Buffy?" Cordy snapped and turned back to the mirror. Buffy raised her eyebrows and threw her hands up in defeat.
"Now I have to put it down all over again!" Cordy whined and Buffy stood up from the chair quickly.
"No!" She had been waiting her for an hour already, waiting for Cordy's hair to work with her, she didn't need to stay another hour. "Why not French braids?"
Cordy gave her a disgusted look. "That's only for people who play stupid sports like basketball. I mean how hard is it to get a ball in a basket?"
Buffy sat back down and buried her face into her hands. She imagined Angel's face, just to calm her. When the maid walked her upstairs, she glanced a peek in Angel's room. There were clothes strewn around the floor and pictures on the walls. It just smelled like Angel's cologne and the scent of his skin. Buffy let out a sigh.
"There! Perfect, its not like "I Dream Of Jeanie" or to flat." Cordelia congratulated herself on the low pony tail. It looked a lot like Buffy's.
"You were no help at all." Cordy made sure to point out. Buffy shook her head and laughed.
"Come on, Princess. Your carriage is waiting." Buffy pushed her out the door.
***
"Students of Sunnydale High, please do *not* jump the fence, but buy your ticket at the front. Thank you." Xander looked at the loud speakers around various parts of the football field. Then he saw two punk kids being taken off the fence and pulled away by to police officers.
"These crazy people, they always keep you on your toes." The brown hair student said to his childhood best friend. Willow shook her head and clutched her small bowl of popcorn."Geesh, its only two bucks to get in."
"With a dollar you can call a collect number with a snippy toon and save a buck or two. A couple bucks are their lives." Xander grinned at her, taking a seat in front row of the bleachers. Their seats were always saved by people trying to fit in and be popular with them. Then they would endlessly talk in your ear and try to be exactly like you. It was pointless.
"Xander, you know, if you stay too close to the TV you could go blind." Willow shook her head once more and looked over at the field and the crowd of students among the bleachers.
"Hey! There is Cordy on the field, Buffy must be here." Willow observed, pointing to Cordy on the top of a pyramid in the center of the football field. The game against the Larquette school was not until another five minutes.
"What? I saw some red and yellow skirts and everything went blank." Xander's eyes were made to look at the cheerleaders. Willow suspected it was all Cordelia though.
"Snap out of it." She whacked his arm hard. Xander jumped and rubbed the sore spot on his forearm.
"Ow." He said. Willow smiled at him but looked a bit concern when he didn't smile back.
"You got some unleashed anger in you, Will. Either that or you never told me you were a bare knuckle boxer."
"Poor baby." Willow teased and then smiled at the approaching blonde.
"Hey guys." Buffy greeted them with a smile. She held a bag of candy and a small coke, she took a seat next to Xander.
"How did you like going with Cordy to get ready?" Xander raised his eyebrow twice. Buffy sighed and rolled her eyes.
"I think that you guys are incredibly evil for making me go through that. It took her twenty minutes to find out which shade of eye shadow to wear." Buffy held up her two hands. "Light red or an iota of a lighter shade of red."
Xander chuckled and shrugged. "Everyone has to go through it sometimes."
"I wonder how Angel can stand living with her." He commented, grabbing some of Willow's popcorn."That's a dime for each piece you take." Willow commented, remembering the outrageous price for the small bag of popcorn.
***
"Did you see those cheerleaders tonight?"
"Man, I'm nervous."
"We haven't lost a game yet. We ain't gonna loose this one."
The Sunnydale High men's locker room was filled with noise and commotion. The players of the football team and their coaches were all huddling around the room. They were talking, stretching, or just preparing.
"All right! Shut up, everyone!" Their head coach yelled. His name was Nest and he was a mean son of a bitch. He yelled at the smallest mistakes and wouldn't give praise to the players.
"Larquette is tied with us right now. We beat them and we go to the playoffs. Are we going to get to those damn playoffs?" Coach Nest yelled, daring any one of his players to step out of turn. There was a loud uproar of cheers and swears.
"If any of you loose this game for me, don't bother coming back to this locker room, ya hear?!" Coach Nest cried out again. Another uproar came but not as loud as the first cheer. Everyone started to get on their helmets, game was in a couple minutes.
"Angelus," Coach Nest walked up to the dark student and patted his back. Angel shifted, he was uncomfortable around his coach. He made him uneasy. "Your not going to let me down, right." It wasn't a question.
"Hell no, Coach." The more swearing the better for Nest. He didn't like pansy kids, who he assumed everyone to be.
"That a boy." Coach grinned and walked away to talk to the assistant coach. Angel shook his head and reached for his helmet.
"Damn. I think he likes you or something." A blonde haired player about Angel's height raised his eyebrows and hit Angel on the shoulder. The player had amazing eyes, they always seemed different colors to Angel. Sometimes blue or a deep green or an amazing light brown. The ladies loved it.
"Lets hope not, but I wouldn't surprised if he did." Angel smiled at Penn. Penn was their famous receiver, he could run like it was nobody's business. He catch a hundred mile an hour football with his hands tied behind his back. Penn and Angel were always good friends and stuck up for each other on the team. Most of the offensive plays involved Angel throwing long to Penn.
"You think we will win tonight?" Penn asked the star quarterback while adjusting his helmet.
"Yeah. These Larquette snobs won't know what hit them." Angel promised.
***
"Now for your entertainment, we give the students of Sunnydale High a special singer for the National Anthem." The speakers said. Everyone stood and put their hands to their hearts, taking off their hats. The two schools on the field exchanged looks and the Larquette team didn't take off their helmets. Just to piss everyone off.
"Principal Snyder!" The speakers announced and the short principal walked out into the field with the microphone in his hands. He glared at all the crowds of students. Half of the crowd sat down and waved their middle fingers. Penn grunted and removed his hand from his heart and placed it over his left ear.
"Damnit." Xander grunted. After an embarrassing singing of the National Anthem the game had started.
***
About two hours later the score was 23 to 28, Larquette in the lead. It was fourth quarter and 5 minutes left on the clock. Buffy painstakingly watched as Angel got sacked before he even got the ball. Her heart skipped a beat when Angel didn't get up after a second. She saw a player leaving over him, grabbing his hand and pushing him up. Buffy let out a sigh of relief and Willow watched closely.
"He rarely gets tackled, don't worry." The redhead grinned.
"Good. I mean, I'm not worried." Buffy covered but was blushing from her obvious mistake.
"Busted." Willow grinned, loving to see her squirm. Well, what else was she supposed to do? Oz was on tour in LA with the Dingoes and Xander was staring a the cheerleaders who were doing toe touches, so to sum it up, Willow was kinda bored.
"Shut up." Buffy said halfhearted.
***
"Shit, these guys are tough!" Penn exclaimed and sank on to the bench. The Sunnydale defense was good but it was wavering against Larquette's tight plays. Angel nodded and placed a hand over his chest. His entire body ache, he had never gotten tackle so hard.
"They play dirty." Another team member next to them said, indicating to a large gash on his forehead.
"Stupid preps." Penn spat, rolling his wrist. All they needed was one more touchdown.
"Come on you sissys! Your letting a bunch of women tackle you down!? Kenny, if I don't see an interception I will have your head!" Coach Nest yelled, pacing. His face was red and his breath was ragged.
"Someone call 911." Penn whispered to Angel. "Heart attack at twelve o'clock." Angel chuckled.
"Angelus and Penn! Hail Mary! Now, damnit! We are going to beat these sons of bitches and end this game now!" Coach Nest yelled out orders, pushing the quarterback and the receiver out on to the field. With one more look, they ran to their positions.
***
"Ooh! This is so exciting! One minute to go!" Willow said, finally into the game. Buffy watched as Angel was forced back on to the field, his movements were jerky and Buffy could almost feel his pain. She inhaled a breath and watched the minute count down. There was yelling on the field and the ball was passed to Angel. He took a couple steps back, holding out a stiff arm, then threw the ball down field. Buffy briefly thought about how strong his arms must be for throwing a football that far.
It was caught by a receiver and the touchdown was made. Sunnydale High School won the game 29 to 28.
The stadium was in an uproar as hundreds of students jumped off the bleachers, cheering. The Larquette team spat and walked away with their heads down. The cheerleaders jumped, waved their pompoms, and ran over to the players. Buffy jumped up and down on her seat and she watched Angel throw his hands up in victory. She heard Xander finally snap out of his trance and yell a 'yay' as if he knew what was going on the whole time.
Buffy couldn't stop the wide smile that spread on her face as she watch Angel be surrounded by the other players and the receiver who caught the ball was being lifted up on shoulders. Buffy was pulled up by Willow and the two girls ran down from the bleachers.
"Come on. Lets go congratulate them!" Willow shrieked as she moved past the swarms of people. Buffy knew that they were not allowed to go on the field but it was a chance to see Angel. Plus, a hundred students were pushing past people and flowing onto the field.
"Angel!" Buffy called and waved him over, moving past the large football players. She looked up at all of them and felt like an ant.
"Buffy!" Angel smiled and excused himself from his team mates and walked over to her. He took off his helmet and grinned down at her.
"I was looking for you." He told her honestly.
"I was watching you the whole time." Buffy grinned when she saw Angel wince.
"You should have just stayed on the ground."
Angel chuckled and shrugged. "I slipped." Buffy laughed and there was a comfortable silence, they each were just enjoying each others presence.
"You know what?" Buffy said stepping closer, licking her suddenly dry lips. "You must be the sweatiest man I ever saw."
"I'm deciding if that is a good thing or a bad thing." Angel smiled at her teasing and stepped closer to her.
"It depends." Buffy shrugged.
"On what?" A sensual smile on his lips.
"On this." Buffy muttered, wrapping her arms around his neck and crushing his lips to her. Everything seemed to fade to black as the outside world didn't exist for the two. Buffy barely suppressed a moan at the rapid emotions running through her and the electricity danced across her skin. Buffy felt her toes curl inside of her shoes and she rejoiced when Angel wrapped his arms around her waist. Angel slipped his tongue in her mouth, exploring. Their tongues dueled for dominance and Angel felt like he was in heaven. He could smell her scent, like honey and vanilla. God, she was so beautiful. These terrific feelings in his stomach and heart, he would never let her go.
Part 9
Cordy walked into her house, exhausted.
"I've never cheered so hard in my life!" She collapsed on the leather couch in their large living room. She glanced around her mansion and wondered how the hell she was going to make it up the marble stairs. They really needed an elevator in this place. Tommy Lee had in elevator in his house, damnit, she wanted one too.
Cordelia watched her brother smile widely as he stretched his sore limbs.
"I'm gonna take a shower, sis." He grinned at her.
"That better not be some sex sign grin." Cordy warned. Angel did nothing but smile and he felt the boyish urge of jumping up and down and chanting a nursery rhyme.
"Who is the girl?" Cordy asked lamely and Angel could tell she really didn't care. He wanted to shout to the whole world that he kissed Buffy. Buffy Summers kissed him, would Buffy want them to know? What if she was mad at him for bragging? Would she think wrong of him?
"No one." He answered and quickly went upstairs. He was a little disappointed about not telling Cordy. He told his sister everything and vis versa. He would have to ask Buffy about it tomorrow. Wait. Angel slowed in his tracks and frowned for the first time after the game.
What if Buffy wanted to forget about it? Did she just want a kiss from the quarterback? Angel's insecurities plagued him for the rest of the night.
***
The next day at school, Spike was looking for a certain brunette. He knew he would get shit from the gang because he missed the game, which he heard was one hell of a football game. Faith and him fell asleep and when he woke up, she was gone. Spike suddenly knew how all the girls felt when he left them in the morning. Finally! There she was in her trademark leather and black look. Spike quickly approached her. Faith looked a little bored and alarmed at the same time.
"Hey ducks." Spike greeted, smiling slyly.
"Look Spike..." Faith was cut off by Angel who walked over to him.
"Spike could I talk to you...oh sorry. Hi." Angel greeted Faith with a smile but frowned when she looked at him with disgust.
"Faith this is Angel. Angel this is Faith." Spike introduced. Angel smiled and nodded and Faith just stared at him then looked towards Spike.
"A bunch of us are going out tomorrow. You should come, pet." Spike encouraged her. Faith glared at him.
"What are you trying to do?" She snapped. Angel raised his eyebrows and slowly stepped back, knowing a fight when he saw one. Doesn't mean he wasn't going to watch. This girl could reduced Spike to goo with one look and he wanted to be there to watch.
"What the hell do you mean?" Spike asked angrily.
"You trying to include me in your 'popular friends' group because you pity me?" Faith snapped angrily. She knew that she was acting irrational but she saw the pity in Spike's eyes and she didn't want any part of it.
"No! This had nothing to do with that. Why are you acting like such a bitch?" Spike growled. He was angry that Faith shot him down for doing nothing.
"Your the bitch. You seem all bad but your just a scared little boy afraid of a woman's rejection!" Faith spat and walked away. Spikestared after her in shock. He clenched his fists together until his knuckles turned white.
"Spike." Angel said slowly, taking a step forward.
"Sod off!" Spike spat and walked away. Angel bit his lip to try and hold in his smile. He was ashamed of himself because he knew his friend was in pain but...God damn! That girl got him good. Angel shook his head and chuckled, but froze when he saw who was staring at him from across the courtyard. Buffy.
****
"Do you think that they are acting a little strangely?" Oz asked when he saw Buffy walk over to Angel. Willow bit her lower lip. She knew that she had a problem with gossiping and sharing secrets.The redhead blamed it on the caffeine.
"Who is?" Willow asked innocently but she knew that her voice squeaked. Oz looked at his girlfriend strangely. She had a something face. It was true. Willow had saw Buffy and Angel making out on the middle of the field. She had turned away quickly, though. When all the players left to the locker room, Buffy came up to her asking if they were ready to go. Buffy didn't look ready to share and Willow was not about to ask. Willow had known that Buffy had a thing for Angel but she wasn't sure how long this was going on.
"What do you know Will?" Oz asked, staring hard at his girlfriend.
"Math! I know I have math now!" Willow squeaked and grabbed her books. She hurried away from her boyfriend.
****
"Hey." Buffy said awkwardly, she had no idea what to say to him when all she could think about was that kiss. That perfect kiss. She found herself staring at his lips.
"Hi." Angel sighed as his arms felt strangely empty without Buffy. He felt like kissing her savagely and never letting go. Instead he fumbled with his hands and Buffy knew that it was to stop him from touching her.
"Yeah." Buffy said nodding slowly. Damnit.
"Basement?" Angel asked quickly.
"Hell yeah." Buffy replied and he grabbed her hand, quickly leading her to the basement for a brief makeout session. Buffy felt giddy, like sneaking away from the cops but in reality she was just skipping a class.
****
Angel pressed Buffy against the wall, running his finger through her hair and breathing in her perfume. Buffy moaned into his mouth, her hands slipped under his shirt and explored his muscular chest. Angel broke apart to drop small kissed down her throat and smiled against her skin when she held his head there. Angel could die from happiness right now. Buffy suddenly became very still.
"What is it?" Angel moved away from her neck, looking into her eyes. She was looking around suspiciously.
"Shh. I heard something." Buffy hissed. Angel grabbed her hand and looked around the damn basement. It wasn't that big and had crates in the corner and a boiler in the middle. The stairs led up into the janitors room then back to the main hall. A rustle behind the crates made Buffy squeeze Angel's hand.
"Hello?" Angel asked, ready for a yelling from Snyder. Everything was quite for a second.
"Angel? Man, is that you?" A familiar voice called from behind the crates and Xander's head poked out from behind them. Buffy breathed a sigh of relief, but still kept closed to Angel. Xander looked at them suspiciously.
"What are you two doing down here?" Angel opened his mouth to answer when another rustle came from behind the crates.
"Who are you here with, Xander?"
"Me." A small ashamed voice came from behind the crates and Buffy laughed as she saw Cordy walking out and fixing her shirt.
"So, you and Buffy, huh?" Xander asked, raising his eyebrows.
"You and Cordy." Buffy shot back. Cordy looked unfazed and ran her fingers through her perfect hair.
"Don't tell anyone, this probably isn't official." Cordy glared at Angel who couldn't hold in his smile. Cordy the snob, his sister, making out in the basement with Xander the goof. Priceless.
"Same here." Angel said and Buffy felt a little hurt that he didn't want to tell anyone. Buffy almost smiled when she saw the same look on Xander's face.
"Well, we better get to class then." Cordy said oddly. She didn't like to think of her brother fooling around with her friends. Yet, what on earth was she doing?
"Yeah." Buffy said. Neither of them moved.
"Oh what the hell?" Xander said, grabbing Cordy around the waist and pushing her back behind the crates.
"I think I might be scared for life." Buffy sighed, half of her sentence was muffled due to Angel attacking her lips once again. Not that she minded.
****
"Where the hell is Cordy and Xander?" Willow asked to Oz. The couple shared chemistry with Cordy and Xander and they were no where to be found.
"Probably making out in the closet." Oz said, engrossed in his paper. He had to get an B on this or else he would be lower to a C. Yet, Oz had no idea how close he was to the truth.
"Angel owes me bad." Willow grinned triumphantly.
Part 10
Buffy bit her lower lip and practically skipped through the halls. Angel and her had just had a makeout session in the basement. Angel was so adorable, sweet, and a great kisser. Buffy hadn't had a boyfriend in a long time and was a bit rusty on the whole dating scene. If you call this dating. It was make out sessions in the basement and away from everyone. Buffy didn't want to hide it but she didn't want to loose Angel either. Maybe it was because it was too embarrassing to be with her, that's why he wanted to keep it a secret. Maybe he was afraid that he would loose his popularity.
Her steps slowed and she felt a rejected. She remembered why she had problems trusting men, with the thing that happened in LA....she shuddered. No. Buffy would never go back to that day in LA. The reason why her mother died and the reason why she had to move, was all because of a man. What if Angel was like that? No, Angel was sweet and *not* crazy like her last boyfriend in LA.
"Hey Buffy." Willow said a little too excited and it snapped Buffy from her thoughts.
"Hey Willow." Buffy greeted with a smile, pushing her troubled thoughts in the back of her mind. She looked at Willow strangely. The redhead kept smiling at her and looking at her expectantly.
"Do I have something on my face?" Buffy said, putting her hand to her cheek uncertainty.
"Maybe someone has someone on their face." Willow said rocking on her heels, hinting towards Buffy and Angel as a couple. Buffy's eyes widened.
"You know too?" Buffy gasped, thinking about Cordy and Xander in the basement.
"Who else knows?" Willow asked, still grinning like a fool.
"Well, Angel does."
"Well, duh!" Willow said rolling her eyes. She was glad Buffy was confessing about her and Angel, even though she wasn't.
"Gosh, Cordy and Xander are so opposite. I don't really know if they are together though." Buffy said, slowly moving towards her English. It was the last place she wanted to go right now. Willow stopped in her tracks.
"Cordy and Xander are together? What? When? How?" Willow screeched. Buffy froze and turned around.
"Uh oh. I thought that's who you were talking about!" Buffy looked nervous. If Cordelia ever found out that she squealed, she would have her head on a silver platter.
"I was talking about you and Angel!" Willow's eyes widened and she slapped a hand to her mouth. Oh great, now Angel will have her head a silver platter. Maybe Cordelia and him could share.
"Shh! How do you know about that?" Buffy said looking around nervously.
"I saw you kissing at the football game." Willow paused before her eyebrows raised. "Cordy and Xander?" She asked again
"Oh." Buffy paused, it felt good that somebody else knew and it wasn't this big secret she had to hide forever. "Look, Angel wants to keep this private so please don't tell anyone."
"I promise I wont." Willow swore then noted the flash of sadness on her face. "What do you mean he doesn't want to tell anyone?"
"Well, when Angel and I were in the basement we bumped into Cordy and Xander. We promised each other that we wouldn't tell anyone and Angel sort of jumped at the opportunity." Buffy played with the strap on her backpack.
"Oh." Willow quieted and turned to see Spike walking over to them.
"Hey." The blond sounded mellow and sad.
"Whats up with you?" Buffy asked closing her locker with a slam.
"Nothing. Actually I just got a date with a redhead tonight. I heard she was easy." Spike grinned, hiding the look of sadness on his face. That stupid Faith bitch messed him up. He would show her that he wasn't afraid of a woman's rejection. She will see.
"What about that biker-" Buffy cut off by Spike's angry looks.
"You mean the royal bitch?"
"Uh oh. Cordy might have competition." Willow said, noticing the anger and pain in Spike's voice. Best to change the subject. Spike grinned despite his mood.
***
"Buffy, I want you to tell me about this man you have been with recently." Buffy's father asked at dinner that night. Buffy looked down at her mash potatoes and gently played with them with her fork.
"He is just a friend." Yeah, keep telling yourself that, Buffy cursed herself.
"Friends can become something more and with that look on your face, it will probably happen soon." Giles snapped harshly. He was worried, he wanted the best for his daughter and she had the worse luck finding good men, with the incident in LA and all.
"Angel isn't like Riley." Buffy said quickly, covering for her somewhat boyfriend.
"You don't know that." Giles replied.
"Neither do you. You haven't even met Angel!" Buffy snapped, throwing down her fork.
"I just don't want you to rush into anything." Giles said slowly, holding up his hands. He wanted to keep his anger down as well as Buffy's.
"Every man isn't like Riley." Buffy yelled. "I just want to move one. Get away from everything."
"Well, don't you think I have tried to? I'm trying to forget what you did!" Giles said, the words came out before he could stop them. Tears rushed to Buffy's eyes. She never knew that her father blamed her for Joyce's death.
"I didn't mean that." Giles said quickly, but the damage was done. Buffy pushed away from the dining table and ran upstairs to her room.
"Damnit!" Giles cursed, leaning back in his chair and burying his face in his hands.
****
LA, California. Year 2001.
"What do you mean that its over?" Riley Finn yelled at his girlfriend. Buffy Summers wince at his yelling and took an unsure step back.
"Riley, I know that we have been dating for two years but...I don't love you. How could I? You cheat on me constantly and drink like a fool. I don't want to be dragged down by you." Buffy said calmly. She knew Riley's temper was deadly and wanted nothing to do with it.
"I'm dragging you down, am I?" Riley hissed harshly, taking a daring step forward.
"Riley. You *will* stay away from me." Buffy snapped, standing her ground. Inside, she was shaking with fear. Buffy didn't like the look in the man's eyes and the way his fists clenched. He stared down at her before holding his hands up and stepping away in surrender.
"What do you think I'm going to do? Hit you?" Riley said with an amused tone.
"Its been known to happen." Buffy said sadly, rubbing her bruised arm. The night before he had grabbed roughly, pushing her away. She had finger shaped bruises around her left arm. It only gave her more confidence that this was the right thing to do.
"Bye Riley." Buffy said finally and walking away from her now ex-boyfriend. Riley said nothing back, Buffy would later know because that wasn't good-bye.
Later that night, Buffy awoke with a start. There was screaming in her dream and she realized that it was not just a dream. Someone was yelling in her house. Buffy slipped on her slippers and ran down the long staircase.
"Dad?!" Buffy cried out, she ran into the hallway, staring at a sight that no one should ever see. Her Mom was on the floor, covered in blood that was staining the marble floor, and her father was kneeling next to her, screaming into a phone. There was a bullet hole in her mommy's chest and she vaguely knew that her father was calling the ambulance or the police. Someone had shot her Mom.
"Buffy, look away! Get out of here!" She heard Giles yell. She looked at him, her mouth open, she could see tears in his eyes and she wanted to turn away and run but she was rooted to the spot. Tears ran down her cheeks and she was shaking badly. Her mother was dead. Joyce's eyes were open and unseeing. Her skin was pale and cool.
"Mommy?" Buffy whimpered and dropped to her knees. She couldn't tear her eyes away.
"Buffy leave now, Damnit!" Giles yelled and Buffy could see that his hands were covered in blood. Her father wanted to shield Buffy from the pain and nightmares at seeing her mother like this.Thats when everything went black.
When Buffy awoke a couple hours later she had found out that someone had entered her house and shot her mother, who was up to get a glass of water. It was a close range wound and the security camera caught everything. The man was dressed in black and he wasn't alone. He had two other people with him, who were also in ski masks and black clothing. The leader pulled out a gun and shot her mother. The man looked at the camera for a second and Buffy knew who it was. She would never forget those pale blue eyes with so much hatred in them. Riley pointed the gun at the camera and shot. Everything went black.
A month later the police found that Riley was just a regular guy and snapped when Buffy had broken up with him. He snapped so bad that he killed her own mother. Riley was still in prison. Two months later, the Summers moved into Sunnydale.
Part 11
"Hey, have you guys seen Buffy?" Angel asked the next day at lunch. It was a dreary day in California and it seemed to match his mood. The longing to see Buffy has intensified over the last few days and it was driving him crazy that he hadn't saw her all day.
"Maybe she is in the basement." Cordy quipped. Angel shot his sister a dirty look and frowned when Willow chuckled. He would talk to her about that later, not that he didn't mind. He wanted everyone to know who he was making out with in the basement. He wanted everyone to know who he wanted to date so badly.
"She was in Social Studies." Xander supplied.
"Speaking of missing people, has anyone seen Spike?" Oz asked, gently stroking Willow's hair.
"He probably has a hang over." Willow sighed.
"Ugh, I know! Did you see that redhead that he was like all over at the Bronze last night?" Cordy gossiped and rolled her eyes. "Desperate much?"
"He is taking the Faith thing pretty bad." Angel said, glancing over at Faith at the other table. Like Spike, she was all over a man who was convicted for drug possession, or that's how the gossip went.
"I don't know what he sees in that biker chick." Cordy said, taking a bite of her apple.
"You can't help you who like, Cordy." Willow said in a matter of fact tone.
"Please. I can see exactly why Spike likes Faith. Did you see those leather pants?" Xander grinned moving his hands together evilly and nudged Angel on the shoulder.
"What do you say, Angel?"
"Nah. Not my scene." Angel dismissed. Any man could get caught by Faith's beautiful looks but Angel's attention was on a certain blonde.
"Your disgusting Xander Harris." Cordy snapped, a little but more than jealous.
"Aww. Your still my favorite bitch, Queen C." Xander said wrapping an arm around the brunette. Cordy rolled her eyes but made no move to entangle his arm from hers.
"Buffy." Angel's eyes lit up as he saw her approach their lunch table. He stood up out of common curtesy and pulled out a chair for her.
"Hey." She smiled at him but Angel could tell it was force. Her eyes were a bit darker and didn't hold the innocent light in them. Angel frowned. The sadness and pain hung around in a thick cloud. Nobody else seemed to notice and Angel thought he was crazy for a second. No. Something was defiantly not right.
"Whats wrong?" Angel whispered in her ear, leaning close. Buffy just shrugged and flinched away from Angel being so close. Angel felt pain stab into his heart and he leaned back fully into his chair, not wanting to intrude on her personal space. Maybe she really didn't want anyone to know about them.
Willow looked thoughtfully at the exchange between the secret couple. She had also seen Buffy look a little down today and now brushing off Angel was not her style. Only yesterday she had confessed her eagerness to show everyone that Angel was hers. Now...
"So Buffy, sleep over at Cordelia's castle?" Xander grinned.
"Its no bigger then you house, Harris." Cordy snapped.
"Uh...I don't know." Buffy hesitated.
"Come on. It will be fun and the boys get to sleep Angel's room and the girls in Cordelia's. Its like a slumber party."Willow said, bouncing in her seat.
"Hence the idea of a sleep over." Xander said, putting a calming hand on Willow's shoulder.
"Have you been sneaking coffee?" Oz asked Willow. Willow looked a bit guilty.
"The box said caffeine free! It lied to me!" Willow covered quickly.
"Hello you wankers." Spike said and flopped down in a seat next to Buffy.
"Did the redhead keep you up last night or was it the booze?" Cordy snapped. Everyone had a problem with Spike's drinking and sex and it seemed to multiply over the last few days.
"Mostly the redhead." Spike grinned.
"What was her name again?" Angel asked, tapping his chin with his fingers. The smirk dropped from Spike's face.
"You know...I don't know." Spike said thoughtfully then he threw an arm around Buffy's shoulders.
"I'm thinking blonde tonight, though." Spike wriggled his eyebrows at Buffy who ignored him.
"Aww, whats wrong pet? PMS?" Spike grinned drunkenly. It was now official that Spike had way to much to drink this morning. Buffy glared at him and pulled out her chair.
"I have to go." She said, her voice shaking and she walked, almost jogged, away from the table.
"Why the hell did you do that?" Cordy snapped and Spike glared at everyone who looked at him with disapproval.
"Shut the hell up!" Spike snapped and walked away from the table also. Angel looked at everyone for a second before running after Buffy.
"Damn." Oz said after a long pause.
***
"Hey baby. Come on, he is just drunk." Angel said, stepping closer to Buffy who he found outside on a bench.
"I know. Its not Spike, I usually would have laughed it off but today...I'm just a little on edge." Buffy admitted. When she woke up this morning she threw some clothes on and ran out of the house. She couldn't stand to look at her father. Buffy glad that tonight she would sleep over at Cordelia's. Angel sat down next to her and cautiously put an arm around her. When she didn't move away, he pulled her into his embrace. She sighed and rested her forehead against his neck.
"Tell me what's wrong." Angel whispered and kissed the top of her head. He suddenly didn't care who saw them. The whole school was walking by and he didn't mind one bit and he was certain, for the first time, that Buffy didn't either.
"Not yet." Buffy whispered and Angel accepted the answer. He never wanted to push her into something that she didn't want to do. He just held her and he saw the whole gang smiling at them through the cafeteria window. Xander was holding a thumbs up sign and grinning like a fool.
****
"Xander only you would pick naked twister as something to do." Cordy looked at the dark haired boy with disgust.
"Like the thought never crossed your mind." Xander defended himself. The whole gang, excluding Spike, was in Cordelia's huge living room. It had a big screen TV and long omfortable couches. A antique coffee table was in the center of the five couches and on the table was soda, popcorn and chips. As it turned out that every two months everyone held a sleep over. It was Cordelia's turn and Buffy would have to be next. Buffy was amazed at how these friends always found time to hang, they were so entwined with each other and Buffy felt proud to be a part of their group.
"Actually, it hasn't." Cordy snapped back.
"Fine, no more gross stuff." Xander paused. "Strip poker!"
Buffy laughed. "Xander Harris, is there anything in your mind that *doesn't* have to do with undressing?"
"Well, there is the Discovery Channel." Xander said proudly.
"I like that channel." Oz said from his spot with Willow on the loveseat.
"I bet you like the Animal Planet too." Buffy grinned
"They *are* the Animal Planet." Angel smiled down at Buffy was nestled in the crook of his arm.
"Shut up you big jackass." Xander said lamely. Angel faked hurt and put a hand to his heart.
"Why do you hurt me so?"
"Has anyone talked to Spike?" Willow changed the subject before Xander could think of another reply.
"You mean when he is not drunk? No." Cordy snapped and snatched the bag of chips away from Xander.
"He is just going through a hard time with Faith. He will snap out of it." Buffy sighed.
"Well, I don't have all year so he better do it quickly." Xander chipped in.
"Spring break is coming up." Cordy said happily. "God, I need to go tanning."
"Fake and bake." Xander coughed into his hands.
"I don't fake tan, thank you very much. We do live in California so hence the beaches."
"Hence the life guards." Buffy grinned and Cordelia and her shared yummy looks.
"Not all life guards are cute." Angel whimpered.
"You do watch Baywatch right?" Cordy grinned.
"That's it! We will act out scenes from Baywatch!" Xander exclaimed.
"But no life guard, not even on Baywatch, it as cute as Angel." Buffy grinned and kissed him on the lips gently.
"Ugh! Hello? Sister is in the room so that means no PDAs." Cordy sighed and placed a hand over her eyes but Buffy and Angel never broke their kiss.
"Aww. Young love." Willow sighed and snuggled deeper into Oz's embrace.
"How about young vomit fest?" Xander quipped and the couple was shaken out of their kiss when the phone rang.
"Hold that thought." Angel whispered to the blonde and answered the phone.
"Hello?" Angel paused. " Hey Spike. Your where?!"
"What? No...no...this is what you get. What?" Angel paused once again and everyone was looking him. "Fine but never gain." The dark haired man slammed down the receiver.
"What's going on?" Oz asked as Angel untangled himself from Buffy and got up to get his coat and shoes.
"Spike is in jail."
Part 11
Spike and Gunn sat on the bench in the jail cell. They were located in the Sunnydale Local Prison and they were thrown in a large cell with four other men that they didn't know. They looked deadly and dangerous, with long hair, numerous tattoos, and the look of the devil in their eyes. Spike swallowed nervously, he didn't like this one guy who kept staring at him. He was bald and fat with tattoos all down his arms. He was staring at Spike like he was a piece of meat. This did not look good for people in prison. Spike had heard stories about how prisoners take other prisoners for bitches.
"I don't want to be these guys' bitches!" Spike hissed at Gunn.
"Do you think I want too? Your the one who got me into this mess! I have to get out of here, my dad is gonna kick my ass!" Gunn snapped back.
"Look here, gentlemen. We got ourselves a bunch of cry babies." A man with tattoos covering every inch of his skin stood up. The other men in the cell chuckled. Gunn stood up, glaring the man down. Gunn was very intimidating and knew how to fight, for he has been in several rumbles before with his gang.
"You wanna say that again and see what happens?" Gunn challenged.
"You better sit down, ghetto." Tattoo-boy snapped back, taking a step closer. Gunn dared to take another set, staring the prisoner straight in the eyes.
"Or what?" Gunn glared and Spike stood between both of them
"All right. The ego contest is over. Sit down, ladies." Spike said calmly and his comment cause a couple of laughs from the other occupants of the cell.
"Me? I did shit. It was this little white boy here!" Gunn protested holding up his hands. Spike and Gunn moved and leaned against the bars and Spike avoided eye contact.
"It seems I can't walk a straight line while I'm hammered." Spike said slowly.
"What?" Angel sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose with two fingers.
"Listen. I was walking down the street, minding my own business, when Billy Idol offers me a ride home. So when I get in the car this dumbass is driving ninety miles an hour and has beer in his system. So of course we get pulled over and bam. Were stuck here with Siegfield and Roy."Gunn said slapping his hands together.
"I should just let you rot here. You could have gotten killed or someone else killed." Angel snapped at Spike who never lifted his head.
"I know! I just slipped a little." Spike muttered. Angel shook his head and stepped back from the bars.
"Let them out." He told the guard. Angel had already paid bail. All he wanted to do was grab his girlfriend and fall asleep with her in his arms.
****
After Angel and Spike dropped Gunn at his house, they drove back to Spike's. The sleep over was still in session and it was only twelve, so Angel would make it back in time to fall asleep with Buffy. Which is what he had been waiting for all day.
"That was really stupid." Angel scowled to his best friend. Spike looked at his hands.
"I don't know whats wrong me, Angel. I see Faith everywhere I go and it kills not be with her. I don't know why she got so God damned angry at me." Spike said.
"Have you tried talking to her?" Angel suggested and Spike looked a bit shocked.
"Actually, no." Spike replied.
"Just talk to her, man." Angel sighed and there was a comfortable silence. "Did you know that Buffy and I are together?"
"Your shitting me! Since when?" Spike grinned.
"Four days ago." Angel told him.
"Damn. How come I never knew about this?"
"You haven't been around."
"Good point. That girl is fine." Spike grinned and nudged Angel.
"She is beautiful. Don't get any ideas." Angel smiled back.
"I really could have had her in four days, like I said." Spike said after a spell.
"Yeah right." Angel said gruffly.
****
Buffy purred gently and tangled her legs with Angel's. Angel smiled gently and caressed her cheek with his knuckles.
"Tired?" He murmured to her softly. It was about five in the morning and the sleep over was practically all up. They all ended up on the couches and floors, all the couples entwined together. Even Cordy and Xander were sprawled all over each other. Angel had scorned Spike once more before dropping him off at home. When he got inside the whole gang jumped at him for information about Spike's imprisonment. Angel had fun telling the story.
"Hmm." Was Buffy's reply and she drew patterns on his chest.
"Do you feel better?"
"Hmm?"
"This morning you looked really sad and you arrived here three hours before everyone else.
"Hmm." Buffy buried her head in the crook of his shoulder, not wanting to answer why she arrived early and hadn't even gone home to pack her bags. She couldn't face her father, not when he blamed her for...another shudder ran through her body. Angel tightened his embrace in response.
"Buffy." Angel whispered firmly although his voice was soft. Buffy couldn't tell him. He would think wrong of her. He would blame her too, just like her dad. Angel would call her disgusting and a murder. That's what she was. She couldn't ruin the perfect innocence between them and she didn't want Angel's pity. It would be too much to handle.
Angel sighed and Buffy could tell he was disappointed when she didn't answer. "All right, I won't force you to tell me, but I want you to know you can tell me anything. I would never judge you."
Buffy wished that the promise was true.
Part 13
Buffy yawned and cringed at the same time which made Xander chuckle at her expression.
"Are you alright? You look like you might have a seizure." The dark haired boy joked and received an elbow in the ribs by Willow.
"Shush! It's almost starting. Besides Buffy is just tired."
"Notice your the only one interested in the famous Talent Show." Xander quipped. Buffy was tired, she stayed up the whole night just to have the feelings of Angel's arms around her last. She dreaded when she had to go home. Back to her father and the overwhelming guilt. Buffy had snuck through the window and changed for school.
School was not any better. The whole Sunnydale High was assembled in the theater were the talent show helped raised money for a better uniforms for the football team. Cordelia had a fit about that. Buffy could just picture what Cordy was saying, 'Why not for better pompoms' or 'Why not for hotter football players?'
Angel and Spike were seated a couple rows behind Buffy, Xander, and Willow and Oz and Cordelia were sitting together in the front row. Cordy wanted to see the hot men up close and personal while Oz was forced along. Willow suggested that he should play the guitar but Oz has not reached his ultimate goal of playing more than five cords. When that happened then Oz would do anything.
"I don't get this. Why not a raffle or just collect the money from the games?" Buffy asked.
"I seriously doubt that it is for better uniforms. I think that it is for Snyder's troll make over. I mean come on! Could that guy get any shorter?" Xander said loudly.
"I hope you are talking about one the brainless students in this school, Mr. Harris." A snarl snapped from the stage. Xander realized that the theater was awfully quiet and the spotlight was on him. He heard a couple of snickers as Xander stuttered to answer Snyder's question.
"Did I say shorter? I mean intelligent and suave." Xander covered lamely. A round of laughs made the whole room shake.
"I'll see you after this, Harris." Snyder promised before turning to his audience. Xander saw Cordy turn in her seat and point and laugh silently at him. He would get his revenge.
"Damn that troll to hell." Xander grumbled.
"Mr. Harris!" Snyder turned sharply towards him.
"Oh come on! I'm not even talking loud!" Xander yelled, irritated that he got caught, not once but twice.
"Jerry, Jerry, Jerry!" Spike yelled out loud, roaring in laughter.
Xander slumped in his seat and buried his face in his hands. Willow patted him on shoulder while Buffy laugh quietly. So after three baton twirlers, one ballet dancer, and four erotic dancers, Snyder was still glaring angrily at Xander. Xander turned every way in his seat but he couldn't get his eyes of him.
"More strippers!" An obnoxious teenager yelled.
"They are called dancers." Snyder cleared quickly. Xander sighed in relief when Snyder turned his death stare to the other student.
"Next a song by our Sunnydale High receiver, Christian." Snyder introduced and the whole football team, including Angel, stood up and hollered. An attractive blonde walked onto the stage and winked at Cordy before he snatched the microphone from Snyder.
"My name is Penn." He correct, glaring at the principal. Cordy leaned forward in her seat and smile dreamily. While Penn started his jingle by moving his hips and blowing kisses to the ladies, Oz tapped Cordy on the shoulder and pointed to his chin.
"Watch that drool. It makes your shoes sloppy." The redhead, for now, whispered.
"Wow. He is pretty good." Willow smiled at Penn up on stage and Xander glared angry at Cordy for looking so in to the man on stage.
"I could sing too, ya know." He huffed.
"Does that come with a supply of earmuffs?" Buffy quipped.
****
"Yo, man. Ain't that your ex?" Spike nudged Angel in the ribs and pointed to the next singer on stage. She had shoulder length blonde hair, a black dress that hugged her every curve, and beautiful features. The men hollered while Angel shrunk in his seat. Yes, that was his ex. He wished Spike wouldn't have brought that up. All he wanted to do was forget that incident.
"Heard she was pretty desperate after you." Spike grinned.
"Heard or experienced?" Angel snapped and averted his eyes as the woman on stage started a sensual slow song. A couple of class clowns got up in the isle and started slow dancing. She had a beautiful voice, Angel must admit.
"What can I say? She begging me to fuck her." Spike grinned. "And it was after you broke up." Spike suddenly on the defense. He couldn't spot Faith anywhere and he really wanted to talk to her.
"So you did." Angel argued.
"Wasn't as bad as what *you* did." Spike corrected. Angel cursed under his breath. Darla was sensually dancing on stage and Angel could feel her eyes on him. They were always on him. Every time he and Darla passed him the hall her eyes would penetrate him, pleading and cursing him at the same time. Darla finished and Angel thanked God. The assembly ended and Penn was signing autographs in the hallway. Girls were crazy over that boy.
"Hey." A pale hand was placed intimately over his arm and Angel prayed that it was Buffy but knew it wasn't.
"Darla." Angel said, turning to face the beautiful woman. She was a senior and a year older then Angel, she looked like a mature woman while Buffy had her cute baby looks. Why was he comparing the two all of a sudden?
"Heard you got a girlfriend now, looks like a child." Darla purred in his ear, jealousy and envy evident in her eyes.
"Yes, a girlfriend that I like very much." Angel hinted but Darla just smiled.
"She looks like me...and all of your other woman."
Angel winced, he had a thing for blonde's it was true. "So?"
"I think thats telling both of us something, Angelus." Darla grinned and walked away swiftly. Angel understood why when Buffy walked to him. She smiled innocently at him but frowned when he didn't look at her.
"Who was that?" Buffy asked after a beat.
"Hmm? No one baby." Angel snapped out of trance and wrapped an arm around.
"No one." He repeated.
Part 14
"Spike." Faith called out, pushing away people in the hallway of Sunnydale High. The bleach blonde whirled around, smiling to himself at her voice. Damn, its been a long time since he had talked to her. Talk. That's all he was going to do. Did she always were those leather pants? Why do they have to be so tight?
"Spike? Are you listening?" Faith asked crossing her arms over her chest.
"Hm? What? Oh, yeah, of course." Spike snapped out of his daze and said the first thing he thought of.
"Of course is your answer to my question?" Faith said slowly. "Strange, I just talked about how ugly and homeless you looked today."
Spike blinked and was about to open his mouth to snap back at her but she laid a finger on his lips. "I'm joking. Calm down, boy." She whispered.
"I was meaning to talk to you." Spike said, stepping a bit closer.
"Just like you were talking to that redhead at the Bronze?" Faith asked, jealousy sneaking into her voice. She had saw them grinding at the Bronze and she saw all of the beer he had consumed. She smiled slightly as he cringed.
"I will never live that down, will I?"
"Nope." Faith smiled sweetly. She liked this, liked to fit in with someone she could laugh with. Faith didn't have to act in front of Spike, she didn't need to work on her facade or build more walls. Everything was peaceful.
"I've been doing a lot of stupid stuff lately." Spike admitted.
"Just lately?" Faith quipped.
"Hey! *You* were the one who snapped at me and now your the one who came and talked to *me*." Spike growled. The smirk vanished from Faith's face and she looked down at her hands.
"You are right. I came to say I'm sorry for acting like such a bitch. Something in me snapped, I thought you were just trying to use me or take me in as a pity child." Faith admitted softly.
"Nah. Not a girl like you, anyway. You got some hard core passion in you. I like that a lot, ducks." Spike grinned and placed a hand around her shoulders.
"Everything alright now?" Faith asked.
"Yes, sweet, everything is just fine." Spike grinned, finally happy that a large burden was removed from his shoulders. Faith fit perfectly in the crook of us arm and he felt as if he could finally breathe again.
***
"I feel like I can't breathe." Buffy sighed, her lips swollen from Angel's kisses. "But in a good way." She assured her boyfriend when he raised in eyebrow. Angel titled her chin up, brushing his lips past hers once more.
"I know what you mean." He whispered against her skin.
"This is a public school and not a porno movie." Penn cleared his throat and Angel smiled, stepping back from Buffy.
"Hey man. Nice singing, I thought you were Ricky Martin or something." Angel said, knocking fists with his fellow teammate and friend.
"You know all the ladies love me. Speaking of, who is your girl?" Penn nodded towards Buffy.
"Penn this is my girlfriend Buffy, Buffy this is my friend Penn." Angel introduced and smiled when they shook hands. Buffy felt a swell of pride when Angel said that she was *his* girlfriend.
"Nice to meet you." Penn said politely, looking at the blonde with a certain look in his eyes. Angel wrapped a possessive arm around her and Penn chuckled.
"Come on, Ang. You know I wouldn't hook up with your woman." Penn trailed off and looked at Cordy come racing over to stand very close to him.
"Hi." She whispered, breathless. Xander, who came up behind her, mocked her movements.
"Hi. I'm Cordy a big fat loser." Xander said in a whiny voice and Cordy turned a bright shade up pink.
"Your not fat." Penn said.
"I know right! Come on, walk me to lunch." Cordy ordered and offered her arm. It was wasn't a question and Penn hesitated for a second.
"Hey, Angel, man. I heard Darla talking backstage about you. The bitch is back." Penn grinned then took Cordy's arm and lead her to lunch. Every girl in the hall envied to be Cordy Chase.
"Darla?" Xander winced. "Ouch."
"What? Who is Darla? Wait, was that the girl from yesterday? What is she trying to do, steal my beau?" Buffy asked, slipping her hand in Angel's. Angel brought her hand up to his lips.
"Don't worry about it, baby." Angel assured. Buffy pulled her hand away, she didn't like how everyone was talking about her boyfriend and this Darla chick.
"I will." Buffy pouted and Angel was about to crumble. Buffy knew he couldn't take her pouty baby looks.
"Avert your eyes and save your dignity!" Xander said, shielding his and Angel's eyes. He knew about Darla and Angel's complicated past and all Angel needed was for Buffy to feel insecure. Xander was Buffy's friend too and he really liked the girl. She was different. Cordy, on the other hand, was off throwing herself at Penn when she should be throwing herself at him! Buffy sighed, dropping her pout.
"Fine." She said stubbornly, she would find out from Willow or someone else if her Angel wouldn't tell her.
"Oh no. I know that tone." Angel winced, he didn't want to involve Buffy in his past but a part of him wanted no secrets from her. It was so tempting. She was so tempting.
"Yes, you do. No basement today." Buffy gave her boyfriend a small kiss on the cheek, needing the contact if they weren't have a make out session, then spun on her heels and walked away. Angel felt himself walking after her but Xander put a hand on his shoulder.
"That will do, pig. That will do." He said sadly.
****
"So this Darla girl, she and Angel went out didn't they?" Buffy asked her friend Willow in Study Hall. She didn't really care about Angel and Darla being ex's, God knows she has the worst trouble with ex-boyfriends. Though, something else was bugging her. It had to be a bad relationship if Angel didn't want to tell her. He wasn't the only being secretive, Buffy cursed herself. Willow looked at her sideways.
"What are you getting at?" Willow asked slowly, raising her eyebrows.
"Nothing. There is no getting." Buffy assured. "But obviously there is somewhere to be getting to and I'm trying to find out where that place is."
Willow blinked at her. "Okay, you lost me."
"Willow, please I know you have been friends with Angel for like a really long time and I just want to know why people are acting all secretive towards this whole thing." Buffy said, waving her hands around.
"Angel wouldn't tell you anything, right?" Willow guessed and Buffy slumped in her seat and nodded.
"Girls! Maybe I should stop my teaching so you two could talk all you want." The teacher snapped at looked impatiently at the girls.
"Sorry." Buffy muttered.
"Don't say your sorry. That means you will do it again."
"Um, I'm not sorry?" Buffy raised her eyebrows.
"Would you like to spend the rest of the day in Mr. Snyder's office?" The old teacher asked. Buffy quickly found out that this was the teacher to watch out for.
"No." Buffy sighed.
"Then say that your sorry." The old woman snapped. Buffy blinked and there
was a couple chuckles around the class.
"But I thought you just said-" Buffy was cut off when the teacher slammed her book down on her desk.
"Get out of my classroom." The teacher instructed. Buffy looked a bit confused then she shook her head and collected her books. Buffy glared at the teacher one last time before walking out of the classroom.
"Dumb ass." Buffy snapped when she was out of ear shot.
"As a new girl, talking to yourself is a bad first impression." Buffy looked at the source of the sound and found a very beautiful looking blonde hair woman. She was skimpily dressed in a blue short skirt and a white tanktop.
"I didn't know I was impressing anybody." Buffy snapped and she quickly found herself disliking the girl.
"Obviously." The blonde looked over Buffy's jeans and a comfy sweatshirt. Buffy raised her eyebrow.
"So first impressions is your gig now? Looks like you inviting the whole army in your pants with that outfit." Buffy quipped and took a challenging step forward.
"At least they would want to come." Darla snarled this girl look familiar but she couldn't quite place her face.
"There is only one person that I would allow to get near my pants anyway." Buffy grumbled.
"Your nerd friend?" Darla chuckled.
"No. His name is Angel, you might have heard of him?" Buffy smiled at the look of shock on Darla's face. There was good things about being the girlfriend of the hottest and well known guy on campus. Darla snarled at her, yes, she remembered now. Angel's new girl and will be ex soon.
"Get out of my way." Darla scowled and walked past her, knocking her out of the way.
"Wanna try that again, bitch?" Buffy spun around and Darla stopped in her tracks and turned towards her.
"Excuse me?" Darla asked slowly.
"You heard me." Buffy said, clenching her fists. She didn't even know this girl's name and already she was itching to punch her pretty face. Darla looked her up and down and decided now was not the good time for a fight.
"Your not worth my time. By the way, you might have heard of *me* but my name is Darla." She flashed a winning smile before continuing down the hall. Buffy blinked. So this was Angel's ex? She was pretty and she strangely looked a lot like herself.
Part 15
"Then she totally just knocked shoulders with me. I mean, the whole hall was empty. She does *not* know who she is messing with!" Buffy exclaimed, slamming her fist down on the table. All the girls were at the Bronze and the guys were going to meet them later. Oz was busy setting up for the Dingoes and Spike, Angel, and Xander were God only knows where.
"Don't worry about her, Buffy. She is a senior and all seniors, except the hot men, are stuck up mature jerks." Cordy grinned. Willow nodded her agreement and Buffy felt a little better. This Darla chick was not going to get to her. She had already guessed that Angel and Darla had a nasty break up and all the people she talked to said that Angel would never go for her. Buffy felt a little ashamed for doubting Angel, but she would make it up to him.
"Senior equals sluts and sophomore equals sweet innocent girls with boyfriends." Willow chirped cheerfully.
"Yeah. I don't know why I was irritated about it. Angel would never go for her." Buffy smiled but frowned when she saw Cordy looking else where. Buffy turned towards Cordelia's gaze to find Angel talking to Darla.
"Except for the fact that they are on talking terms and good Gods what is she wearing?" Buffy whimpered, looking at Darla's attire. It looked like a scarf wrapped around her body.
"Oh. That? That...is just talking, Buffy. You said it yourself." Willow tried to encourage but the look of happiness dropped from her friend's face.
"I think I have that outfit." Cordy pondered out loud.
"See! She is already sneaking in to Angel's house and stealing Cordy's clothes." Buffy protested. She watched Angel and her exchange words before Angel walked away and she was happy to see that Darla looked pissed off.
"Told ya!" Willow grinned. Buffy got off her chair and met Angel halfway.
"Hey baby." He purred, wrapping his arms around her waist. He needed to be close to her after his fling with Darla. Why wouldn't she leave him alone? She had something about meeting Buffy in the hall. Angel prayed that Darla kept her mouth shut.
"Hey. Gave blonde the big brush off, I hope?" Buffy answered, folding her arms around his neck.
"Of course. Buffy, I never want you to worry about anything. I'm sorry about this morning and it was killing me not to see you for the whole day. I don't want any secrets between us." Angel sighed at the tingling feeling in his spine. It was the most amazing feeling, being with her, it made him feel light and everything seemed to freeze but them. Kissing her was something that words couldn't describe.
A look of deep sadness flashing in Buffy's eyes and Angel felt his heart crumble and shatter.
"What is it?" He asked softly, cupping her cheek.
"Nothing. I just don't want any secrets either." Buffy sighed. She would tell him tonight, Buffy vowed. She had been dating Angel for barely a month and already she was telling him her life story. Buffy didn't really care, though. It was like she talking to a childhood friend or a lover for many years. Angel's eyes held questions but she lead him to the dance floor, silencing his doubts. The couple wrapped their arms around each other and let everything fall into oblivion.
"They are so cute together." Willow sighed, looking at the couple who was swaying to the slow song.
"Yeah." Cordy sighed and took a sip of her coke. "Those bastards."
"Yeah." Willow nodded. She did have a boyfriend but she was little bit jealous that Angel and Buffy shared a great intimacy then most married people.
****
Buffy slipped her hands into Angel's back pockets of his jeans making him chuckle. They were standing on Buffy's front porch, smiling and just enjoying the each other's company.
"Why, Miss Summers." Angel smirked and bowed his head for a kiss. Buffy shifter her weight on her toes, meeting his lips halfway. The shock of electricity and emotion hit her hard and her knees almost buckled. She hand snaked into his hair, making him moan in her mouth. Angel's fingers caressed the small of her back and he felt himself drowning in her. God, make this moment never end.
"Ahem." An angry voice interrupted the couple, stopping things from getting too passionate and making them break apart. Buffy sighed and looked down at the ground.
"Hi dad." She muttered and she could feel Angel tense. It was strange how men always say they are afraid of nothing but when it comes to their girlfriend's parents, they run like babies.
"Mr. Summers." Angel said politely and extended his hand. "I'm Angel."
Giles looked at the hand, obviously not excepting the act of introduction. Angel dropped his hand, dejected and glanced at Buffy sideways.
"We were just going to go inside." Buffy said slowly.
"Like hell you are. You haven't been home for days, Buffy. I was worried sick and now I find you in a very discomforting position that no dad wants to see a sixteen year old in." Giles hissed.
"You haven't been home for days?" Angel asked, turning to Buffy, raising in eyebrow. Angel felt embarrassed, guilty and now concerned. Why was Buffy avoiding being at home? Was her father doing something to her? Angel felt an extreme anger boil up inside him and he clenched his fist.
"Excuse me. I will do the yelling at my daughter, not you." Giles said quickly, disliking the boy from the start.
"I was just wondering why she would want to stay away from home." Angel snapped protectively, stepping infront of Buffy on pure instinct.
"That's none of your damn business."
"Dad!" Buffy said quickly before Angel could say something else and make things worse.
"Please will both of your settle down? Angel and I are going to talk for a little then I will go inside and explain everything. All I need if you two at each other's throats, so stop acting like little children. This is my life!" Buffy shouted. Angel stepped back and Giles glared at him. Then he looked at Buffy and sighed.
"All right. Hurry up, I would really like to talk to you." Giles closed the door behind him.
"I'm sorry." Angel said after a short spell. "When he said you weren't home for a while I just that he did something to you. I got angry."
Buffy smiled and pulled him down on the swinging bench. "Thats very sweet of you."
"Really?" Angel smiled as if he won the lottery.
"And incredibly stupid. My dad would have killed you for talking back to him. He is very protective, but he would never hurt me. Not intentionally." Buffy added.
"At least there was that 'I'm so sweet' thing in there." Angel shrugged and smiled as Buffy laughed. It was like beautifully composed music. God, Spike would kill him if he heard him say that.
"Angel, I wanted to tell you about my past. Why I moved to LA and why my father...and me...have trouble trusting men." Buffy said slowly, she stared down at her hands. Oh Gods, she couldn't tell him. He would think rotten of her. He would leave her. Buffy felt her hands entwine tightly and her stomach did flip flops. She felt as if she was singing the National Anthem at the Superbowl. Buffy sighed, she really did have a horrible singing voice. She glanced at Angel and he looked at her intently. It was one of these times where Buffy wished that Angel wasn't a good listener, maybe he would zone out and miss half of the things she was about to tell him.
"When I was in LA. I was in a really bad relationship. This guy, Riley, he would yell at me and cheat on me and sometimes grab me roughly. I put up with it for a while and I really hated who I was. I'm not one to sit still while someone is treating me bad. My grades dropped and my partents always told me that Riley was no good. Turns out that they were right. So when I decided to break up with him, he got really angry then completely cool about it." Buffy took a deep breath and looked at Angel. He was looking at her intensely and Buffy felt as if he was looking through her.
"Go on." He urged, untangling her tightly entwined hands and replacing it with his own.
"The next night, I woke up because somebody was scream. I run downstairs to find my mother shot. She was dead. The police later told me that someone broke into my house and shot her while she went to get water." Buffy swallowed hard and blinked the tears away from her eyes. "It was Riley. He killed her, Angel."
Angel was speechless for a moment, glancing at her in pure shock. She was barely keeping her composure and she bit her lip until it bled. Buffy couldn't cry in front of Angel, crying was a breakdown and she couldn't breakdown. Not now.
"Buffy." Angel sighed before crushing her to his chest. He wrapped his arm tightly around her, desperately trying to shield her from the pain. Buffy sighed at the small relief and comfort, she didn't cry. There was no more tears to shed. All she had to do was heal and move on.
Part 16
Buffy fought the large urge to roll her eyes at her over protective father who was circling her, like a tiger would its prey.
"I don't know about this Angel character. Buffy, we have had incidents like this before." Giles swallowed hard and thought of his pass wife. He knew Buffy was a teenager and probably latching on to the first guy that looked her way.
"Dad! I know that you worried about what happened in LA but that is behind me now. I'm trying to move on and Angel is the right person to do it with. I know that for sure." Buffy said, standing up. They were sitting down at dinner after Angel left. He volunteered to stay and talk to Giles with her but Buffy declined. All she needed was a cat fight between her boyfriend and father.
"You don't know what you are doing Buffy. Your still a teenager." Giles said.
"I know what I'm doing." Buffy gritted her teeth, clutching the back of the dining room chair.
"No, you don't." Giles denied. "You think you are in love but your not."
"I am in love!" Buffy blurted out the words before she could think of them. Giles looked shocked. Buffy found herself shocked too. Where did that come from? The thing was, that it felt good to say those words. It felt more than good...it felt great. What would it feel like saying that to Angel? A small smile played on her lips as she replied more calmly.
"I love him, dad. I'm sorry if you can't accept that but I will continue to see him because of how he makes me feel."
Giles looked down at his plate and folded his arms across his chest. He was never going to win with her. He should haverealized that by now, he was probably getting too old for this. He watched as his daughter sat back down and popped a fork full of salad in her mouth. She was watching him for his reaction.
"Well, I guess that is the end of this discussion, then." Giles said slowly and he hoped that he won't regret giving his daughter the 'OK' so date a man that obviously disliked him.
Buffy smiled. "I guess so."
****
"You said what?" Willow squealed excited. Buffy and her pushed through the hall of students, desprately trying to get to lunch.
"I know! It just came out. I couldn't believe I said that I loved him." Buffy sighed dreamily.
"Love who?" Cordy asked, getting away from the Cordettes for a small period of time. Buffy didn't understand why Cordelia wouldn't just tell her followers to back off. Willow said that it had something to do with her popularity.
"What? I uhh...my dog." Buffy covered quickly. She was not ready for her boyfriend's sister to know. She wasn't even sure she was ready to know. Love was a powerful thing and if anyone saw the Titanic as many times as Buffy seen it then they would be scared of love to.
"Eww. Sometimes I wonder about you." Cordy quipped, raising an eyebrow.
"You have a dog?" Willow asked. Buffy shot her an annoyed look and sat down at their lunch table. Spike, Oz and Xander were already seated, munching on the cafeteria's mystery meat.
"Why aren't you sitting with Faith?" Xander asked after he nodded his greeting to the women.
"Why should I?" Spike snapped.
"You got in *another* fight? God, you guys are pathetic." Cordy snapped, taking a banana from Xander's lunch. Xander glared at her, already thinking up another practical joke for tomorrow.
"Oh. I'm sorry, Queen C. Hey, wait isn't that Penn? What's he doing with his arm around that brunette?" Spike smirked, looking over at Penn at the next table over.
"What?!" Cordelia snapped, jumping out of her seat. Her new attraction to Penn was unstable and Buffy had a feeling that Cordy wasn't Penn's type. She personally thought that Xander and Cordy belonged together. Buffy confirmed her thought by seeing the look of jealousy on Xander's face.
"And that bastard invited me over for dinner today." Cordy shook her head and sat back down, cursing the brunette by her latest attraction.
"Damn him. I say we go on a Penn strike." Xander raised his fist and Willow chuckled and Oz wrapped her arm tightly around her. Buffy zoned out of the conversation for a second. In the corner of her eye she saw the beautiful blonde one table away from them. Darla was wearing another one of her slutty outfits, containing a tube top and extremely short skirt. Buffy briefly wondered if she cut her clothes smaller everyday. So this was the kind of girl that Angel used to date. Does he still like that kind? Buffy looked down at her black pants and tank top. Maybe Cordelia could take her shopping this weekend.
"I smell jealousy." Spike quipped, nudging Buffy on the shoulder. He had obviously seen what she was staring at.
"What? No." Xander denied quickly and everyone turned to stare at him strangely.
"I was answering for Buffy, of course." Xander sunk in his seat.
"Well, she is practically a model." Buffy sighed and shifted in her seat.
"Who is?" Angel asked, swooping down from behind Buffy and pecked her on the cheek. He took a seat next to his girlfriend and put his tray of food down.
"I have a question! Why does everyone always shove their way into the conversation. I mean they should have been listening earlier. I say we make a rule and stop this conversation butting." Willow babbled, trying to get the attention off of Buffy.
"Darla." Cordy answered Angel's question bluntly. Buffy glared at her.
"What?" Cordy asked confused. Angel sighed and turned to look at the blonde next to him.
"Baby, I told you not to worry about her." Angel said soothingly.
"I'm not." Buffy denied quickly.
"Oh please. Its only all she thinks about." Cordy spoke up again.
"You don't know when to shut up, do you?" Spike asked.
"I can take hints, thank you very much." Cordy snapped back.
"Take this one. Be quiet!" Spike growled.
"Geesh. Just because your girlfriend is a big hoe, don't take it out on me." Cordy raised her arms in defense.
"What did you say?" Spike asked slowly.
"You heard me." Cordy dared.
"Can't we all just get along?" Willow said weakly.
"No!" Spike and Cordy snapped at the same time. Willow moved closer to Oz instinctively.
"Enough! I believe that Buffy and Angel are trying to have a Kodak moment." Oz yelled and everyone shut up. Oz rarely yelled and when he did, it meant serious business.
"Continue." Oz waved his hand at the couple.
"Thank you, but I think that we are done." Buffy said, leaving no room for Angel to argue.
"Whipped." Spike coughed into his hands. Angel rolled his eyes. Good God, not this again.
***
"Hey, Cordy! Wait up!" Xander caught up to the pretty brunette. Cordy stopped and rolled her eyes.
"I'm waiting." She snapped impatiently. Xander held up his hands in mock defense.
"Why the bitterness, Wicked Witch of the West?"
Cordy sighed and her shoulder slumped. "I haven't had a boyfriend in months, Xander. Months!"
"Yet the world still turns." Xander said slowly.
"You don't understand because your used to being alone." Cordy dismissed his comment with a wave of her manicured hand. Xander blinked, hiding the flash of hurt in his eyes.
"Doesn't mean that it doesn't hurt. Nobody likes being lonely, Cordy." Xander said slowly. Cordy looked up, it was the first time in a while that Xander seemed so serious. Harris was known as the class clown, he was always smiling and always happy. Right now, he seemed so sad.
"Well, duh." The popular woman quipped. Xander sighed, leading her to their Math class that they had together.
"Well, since we are both lonely, then maybe we can be lonely together." Xander suggested.
"Explain to me how that made sense." Cordy stopped in her tracks, turning to face Xander.
"Maybe..." Xander ran his fingers through his messy hair. "I think that we should get back together."
Cordy blinked several times. Get back together? She had thought of that several times between their make out sessions in the basement, but never really voiced it.But they had broken up before, what would stop them from doing it again? Their breakup with full of hateful words and it destroyed a large part of their friendship. It took them a month to even talk to eachother again. Slowly, they started becoming best friends again. She wasn't sure if she wanted to risk that.
"Xander, I don't know." She said slowly. Xander felt a shooting pain in his chest. He forced a goofy smile.
"I know. It was a crazy idea anyway. I didn't really mean it." Xander covered quickly. Cordy's face fell and she knew that Xander was trying to cover his hurt. Cordelia knew he was hurting because she was suddenly hurting too.
"I don't want to ruin our friendship, Xander. Maybe a dinner would be nice, though."
Xander's face lit up. Sure, he wasn't together with the Queen C but he would take anything he could get. "Great. Dinner this Friday. Pick you up at seven?"
"Sounds great." Cordy smiled also. They walked together to their math class but Xander stopped her when they reached the door.
"Will this affect our...basement rituals?" Xander asked, referring to their make out sessions.
"Hell no!" Cordy laughed.
Part 17
"I *love* spring break!" Cordy shouted out of her red convertible. Angel grinned, he was always one for winter. He always got horrible sunburn. It was the first day of the official spring break, which meant no school for one whole week. It was like heaven to every student. Their whole gang, including Faith was on a trip to the beach. It was like a tradition for all of the Sunnydale High students to go to the Hunnington Beach the first day of spring break. They would play volleyball, have hot-dogs and tan.
Spike wrapped his arm around Faith, they were both seated in the back seat. They had made up and made out. Spike knew that these relationships were dangerous but there was something attracting him to Faith that he couldn't name. So he would deal with the constant fights and the getting back together parts.
Xander was sitting in front, Cordelia was driving, and the three couples were squished in the back. Buffy gladly took her place on Angel's lap...only to make more room of course. Willow smiled and Xander could see her bouncing in her seat next to Oz.
"Oh. This is going to be so much fun! We could go surfing and swim...and stuff." Willow grinned.
"Will, you hate the water." Xander smirked.
"Let me pretend!" Willow glared. Oz chuckled and pressed a kiss to her temple.
"My old school never did anything like this." Buffy said, she was probably the most excited. One whole day on the beach with Angel. What else could a woman want? It took Buffy the longest to find the right swim suit to wear. She even out lasted Cordelia.
"Where were you from?" Faith asked, taking her attention away from the bleach blonde who was kissing her neck.
"LA." Buffy replied. Faith looked at her for a second before grinning.
"Sounds cool." Buffy was glad with the response, Cordelia and Willow were intimidated by Faith but Buffy was intrigued.
"Yeah right. But Sunnydale High must have the cutest guys." Buffy grinned, turning her attention to Angel. Angel smirked, leaning forward and nibbling on her earlobe.
"God! Can you stay off my brother for one-second?" Cordy asked. Buffy didn't reply, just sighed and leaned back into her boyfriend.
When the group arrived at the beach, they greeted some friends, and placed their towels on the sand. The beach was crowded but Oz found a perfect spot right in the middle of the beach.
Faith laid her black towel down and took of her sunglasses. Spike watched her take off her shorts and shirt to reveal what looked like a black bra and a thong. Spike's eyes widened and Xander coughed several times. Spike quickly grabbed a towel and covered his girlfriend.
"Ducks, the dressing room is over there." Spike gritted with a nod of his head.
"What are you talking about? This is my bathing suit." Faith gave him an odd look before sitting down in the sand. Spike stared at her for a long minute.
"All right then." He said. He had no problem with Faith in a thong but he didn''t like how all of the guys were staring at her like she was a piece of meat.
"Any man who looks this way will get their ass kicked." Spike warned before stripping into his swimming trunks. Buffy couldn't help but laugh.
"That was new." Xander said with a smile on his face.
"Yeah. New." Willow said frowning, looking down at her one piece purple swim suite.
"Purple is my favorite color. I'm thinking of dying my hair that color soon." Oz said, sensing his girlfriends insecurity. Willow smiled brightly as Oz, showing that his encouragement worked.
"Please." Cordy rolled her eyes and took off her large sweatshirt to reveal a skimpy looking dotted bikini.
"Dad let you buy that?" Angel asked, quirking an eyebrow. Cordy rolled her eyes once more.
"Of course not. But is credit card did." Cordy glanced at Xander who was staring at her in shock then looked down at his blue swimming shorts. "Watch that drool." Cordelia warned.
Xander used his hand to force his jaw up. "I'm just hungry." He denied. Angel had black shorts similar to Spike and when he turned over in the sand, Buffy gasped.
"I had no idea you had a tattoo." Buffy traced the large tattoo on his back. It looked like an 'A' or some kind of bird. Angel shivered at her feather light touch.
"Yeah. Penn and I got ours at the same time."
"Awesome. Men with tattoos rock." Faith pulled herself up from her tanning to stare at Angel's tattoo.
"I was thinking of getting one." Spike said quickly. He grinned with Faith laughed.
"Tattoos are lame." Xander gruffled and sat down next to Cordelia.
"I happen to find them incredibly sexy." Buffy grinned, leaning closer to Angel.
"You do?" Angel grinned. Just when their lips were about to touch a large heap of sand flew in the air.
"Get up you lazy people!" Penn shouted, kicking more sand at them. "Everyone is hitting the water!" Cordy waved hi to a *very* shirtless Penn. She smiled widely, taking time to look over his muscular chest and arms.
Faith grinned and got up. She was one for the ocean. Penn looked at her 'swim suit' and grinned. Faith walked past him but stopped and put a hand on his barbed wiretattoo on his arm.
"Love the tattoo." She whispered and walked steady towards the cold salt water.
"I had one too, you know! I...just got it...removed." Spike yelled lamely and ran after her. Everyone watched in amusement as Spike swept his girlfriend up and threw her in the icy water of the Pacific Ocean. Oz chuckled as he got up and offered his hand to Willow. Oz liked the ocean, it was calm and dangerous at the same time. Cool.
"Uhh. No. I don't do the whole swimming thing, remember? There is sharks and eels and tadpoles!" Willow said nervously.
"Come on, Will." Buffy said, stripping of her shirt to reveal a pink bikini and walking over to the shore of the beach. Her blonde hair swayed gently with the small breeze from the ocean and her already tan body blended into the bikini. She could see Faith trying to drown Spike for throwing her in. Angel stared after her, his eyes tracing her body with satisfaction. Penn looked after her too then looked smugly at Angel.
"Nice catch." He grinned. Angel simply nodded, swallowed hard, and followed his girlfriend to the edge of the waves.
Oz and Willow stayed back on the beach, Cordy and Xander went to play volleyball, and Penn dove head first into the freezing water.
Spike's teeth chattered as they waited for the next large wave to come. Body surfing was Spike's specialty.
"Fuck, its cold!" Spike swore and spat at the taste of salt water in his mouth.
"Suck it up, you baby." Faith looked unfazed and excited. Faith looked at the wave that was forming a little ways off and the brunette could already fell the water pulling at her.
"All right. This one is big. I say we go for it." Faith's eyes gleamed with danger and excitement. Buffy looked at the large wave that was starting to turn up and then glanced back at Faith. The two girls laughed and quickly swam closer to the forming wave.
"I dunno, that looks kinda big." Penn said, uneasy. He was never fond of getting caught under a large wave.
"Baby." Angel teased as he swam over to his girlfriend.
"I'm going under this one." Spike said before holding his breath and swam under the wave, safe from the undertow. Penn shrugged and followed Spike under the wave which has reached its peak, the tips of the water turning white.
"Go!" Faith shouted and Angel and Buffy started to kick and swim away as the large wave came crashing down. Faith was swallowed by the water and she felt herself being turned around under water. The next thing she knew she felt the hard sand scrape against her back as the she rode the wave to shore. The water was still pressing her down in the sand and she pushed herself up. Gasping for breath and pushing her hair, now filled with sand, out of the way of her eyes and mouth.
"God damn!" She yelled before collasping in the soft sand and wincing at the cuts on her back. She glanced to the side of her where Angel and Buffy had washed up. Apparently they took the same fate as her. Although they seemed to be handling it better. Buffy was sprawled on top of Angel, their lips fused together in a passionate kiss. Sand and ocean water covered every inch of their body. Buffy moaned into her boyfriends mouth as his fingers found a way into her wet hair. Angel wrapped his arms tighter around her, pushing her closer to him, needing the constant contact. Buffy tasted salt on his lips and their tongues dueled for dominance, exploring and rediscovering.
"Woah. I feel like I'm in a bad porno movie." Spike chuckled as he helped Faith off of the sand.
"I think I have sand in places where..."Faith stopped and raised an eyebrow at her on and off boyfriend. "you shouldn't have sand."
"Maybe I could help get some out." Spike purred suggestively and wrapped an arm around her waist.
"I meant my ear." Faith said breathlessly.
"Sure you did." Spike teased.
****
"All right, Xander. What was the meanest joke you ever played on someone?" Cordy asked. The whole gang including Penn and a bunch of other people from school were circling the large bonfire on the beach. It was nighttime already and there was drinks and chips scattered around the coolers. They were just asking questions about everybody, almost like a nicer game of I Never. Buffy curled into Angel's lap and rested her head on his chest, snuggling into his large sweatshirt that she borrowed. Cordy was seated next to Xander who had his arm casually around her but everyone could see that there was more going on then meets the eye. Faith sat in between Spike's spread legs and Willow and Oz busy digging their toes in the soft sand.
"It has be on my ex-girlfriend. She broke up with me so I called her Mom and told her that she got arrested for prostitution." Xander laughed. "Her Mom went to every police station in the town. It was the greatest." Xander slapped his hand on his knee and laughed so more.
"I remember that. You tried doing the exact same thing to me." Cordy smiled sweetly although her voice was deadly.
"Well, it didn't work." Xander defended himself.
"OK, Willow, what was the worst report card grade you *ever* had?" Xander asked. Willow looked back down at her toes that were covered in sand.
"C+." Willow grumped softly. Spike choked on the margarita that he was holding.
"Bloody hell, woman! That is the *best* grade that I ever gotten!"
"Damn, you need to study. It's almost the end of high school. One more year." Penn said wistfully.
"Shut up, Mr. I'm-so-smart-in-everything." Angel teased.
"Your one to talk." Penn snapped back.
"You sound like a bunch of old ladies." Buffy chuckled. Angel gave her a look.
"OK, Buffy. Worst cat fight that you ever got into." Penn asked. Buffy chuckled.
"There is too many to name. I think when I got into a brawl with this one girl at my old school. She pushed me so I punched her in the nose." Buffy chuckled to herself. "How was I supposed to know that I'm very strong and she has an extremely sensitive nose. She had to wear a small cast thing for six weeks."
"I think that I can take you." Faith declared.
"Do you really?" Buffy challenged, but a large smile was still on her face.
"Hell yeah." Faith licked her lips and rubbed her knuckles.
"Yes! The highlight of my day. Naked chicks wrestling in the sand!" Xander watched the two intensely.
"Who said anything about naked?" Spike growled, pulling Faith closer to him. Angel returned the sign of possessiveness by stroking Buffy's cheek with his knuckles.
"No naked wrestling chicks." Oz said.
"My Oz always was the innocent one." Willow sighed.
"Oz wants naked wrestling chicks, he just won't admit it." Penn laughed.
Buffy sighed and closed her eyes, leaning on Angel. She listened to the chatter of her friends, the waves crashing on the shore, and the small hum that came from Angel's lips. Today would stay with her for the rest of her life. She was almost scared, everytime something wonderful like this happened something bad would follow. Buffy pushed the thought away and let everything be still for a moment. She would worry tomorrow.
Part 18
"No, Willow. Definitely not, no way." Buffy shook her head at the redhead seated beside her. Buffy and Willow were having a small sleepover at Willow's house.
"Come on, Buffy! Please?" Willow pouted, giving her a puppy face, and clasped her palms together, looking like an innocent angel. But what Willow wanted Buffy to do was far from innocent.
"No! Why do you want me to do it so bad? I thought you had a boyfriend. I'm not going streaking down your block." Buffy shook her head but a large smile was tugging on the end of her lips.
"Why not? It is a dare. You can't back down on a dare." Willow sighed.
"Yes, I can. Anyway, you live like two houses down from Angel. What will he do when he looks out the window and sees a naked Buffy running around?" Buffy laughed and Willow joined her. Willow's house was almost bigger than Angel's and Cordelia's mansion. Willow's father was very smart and he owned his own computer business. Willow got her intelligence from him. Buffy felt a little embarrassed for having the sleepover at her house next month. Her house was practically the size of her garage!
"I'm sure he will run outside and join you." Willow grinned and munched on a chip. Buffy looked around Willow's room. They were both seated on her bed. Willow's room was full of bright colors and little flowers were decorating the wallpaper. A laptop and all computer appliances were on the desk opposite of Willow's large bed. The redhead had her own bathroom, which was pink, and her carpet was a pale purple. Stuff animals of all races and sizes were pillowed in the corner and on her bed. Buffy summed the room up as girly and adorable.
"Speaking of boyfriends, where is yours?" Buffy changed the subject, not that she didn't mind talking about naked Angel but she didn't want Willow to get any ideas.
Willow smiled at the topic of Oz. "Oh. Well, first he had guitar practice and then he is going for a gig in LA. Their first real gig! I'm their number one groupie, you know." She bounced up and down on the bed.
"That's great. Congratulations, we should throw a groupie party." Buffy grinned.
"Yeah! We could have those little hats with a big cake and a banner that says 'Oz's Groupie Party.' Willow paused and raised an eyebrow at her blonde friend. "I knew you were just kidding."
"Sure you were. You probably have been dreaming about that party for months." Buffy teased.
"Where is Cordelia?" Willow was the one to change the subject this time.
"I heard she and Xander got a date." Buffy raised her eyebrows.
"A date? Oh, they got it bad." Willow grinned. She would love to see Cordelia and Xander together. She knew that Xander was lonely and she wanted the best for her friend.
"I can't picture Xander doing the whole date scene. With candles, a romantic dinner, and some soft music playing in the background. Its not Xander's scene." Buffy shrugged and snatched the chips away from Willow.
"You have no idea. The most romantic date that he ever took Cordelia on was Chucky Cheese Cafe." Willow chuckled.
****
"So, what do you think?" Xander asked, excited about what Cordelia thought about the place he took her for their 'friendly date.'
"Its...uh...great?" Cordy grimaced and looked around the McDonalds.
"I know! I mean its not really like we are on a date, this is were friends go to hang out." Xander smiled and lead Cordelia to a booth. Cordy sighed, when Xander said dinner she expected a nice Italian restaurant. Not a fast food joint. The brunette couldn't help but chuckle. What else could you expect from Xander Harris?
"What do you want? Its on me." Xander winked.
"Just a salad and a bottle water." Cordy had to give Xander credit, it was the best McDonalds in Sunnydale.
"Great. I'll be right back." Xander went off to get their food.
Cordy looked closely at the table and flinched when she found that it was dirty. She grabbed a wet-nap from her purse and wiped out the table. Gods, these janitors are getting paid to clean, its not that hard of a job! Cordy looked around and saw a bunch lower middles class eating something that resembled a burger. If someone caught her in this place she would be dead. Oh well. She was the most popular in the school. If she wanted to date her friend at McDonalds, then that's what she was going to do.
"A salad and bottle water for the queen and a burger for the joker." Xander teased and set their food down on the table and sat across from Cordy in the booth. Cordy grabbed a plastic fork from Xander, inspected it, then finally dug it in her salad.
"You know, the guy who packed your salad just came back from the bathroom without washing his hands." Xander grinned at his friend. Cordelia' stopped in mid-chew and quickly spit the salad back in the container. She glared at Xander who was laughing.
"I'm joking. Calm down, this place is not diseased you know." Xander smirked.
"Shut up. I'm just very picky about places where I go to eat, dork." Cordy glared.
"It is a fast food restaurant, not a hot-dog vender on the street." Xander said, taking a bite from his burger. Cordy's eye grew wide and she put a hand to her mouth.
"What do you mean? I was in the city yesterday and I ate something from a vender on the street! Xander! See, look what you do. You always make me get sick." Cordy cursed him and kicked him under the table.
"Ow. Hey, I was just joking. Some date you are." Xander frowned.
"This isn't a date, okay? I never should have agreed to come with you." Cordy spat.
"Fine then leave! I don't care. I don't like you anyway!" Xander yelled.
"I will! You bastard!" Cordy yelled back.
The next thing Xander knew was his lips on Cordy's. He leaned over the table, running his finger through her hair. Cordy's mouth opened slightly and she moaned when she felt his tongue against hers. They both broke away quickly and sat back in their seat, breathless. Xander stared at her and not for the first time noticed how beautiful she was.
"Lets get out of here." He said.
"Yeah." Cordy agreed and grabbed her coat.
****
Xander wrapped his arms tightly around her, pulling Cordelia closer to him as they made the way to his bedroom. Cordy's hands slipped under his shirt, running her hands over his stomach. Xander shivered and they both fell on Xander's bed. Cordy detached her lips from his just to pull off his shirt. Xander groaned and kissed a path down to her neck, gently nipping with his teeth. Then he stopped and pulled away to look in her eyes.
"Cordy...are you sure about this?" He asked.
"Why? Do you not want to?" Cordy asked, self conscious.
"Does it look like I don't want it?" Xander said, looking down at himself.
"Well...Xander, I never done this before." Cordy said slowly and Xander raised an eyebrow.
"Your a virgin?" He asked. Cordy bit her lower lip and nodded.
"Oh. Well, it never seemed to me that you were. You are just so beautiful, I don't know why a man wouldn't want to..." Xander trailed off. "If it helps, I never done this before either."
"Good." Cordy smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck, bringing his lips down for a passionate kiss.
****
"Hello Angel." A silky voice called from behind Angel. It was the next night at the Bronze and Angel drove Spike and Faith to the club. He was supposed to meet Buffy and Willow here but they were late. Cordy and Xander haven't been seen the whole day. Angel sighed and he fought the urge to roll his eyes. He recognized that voice everywhere.
"Hello Darla." Angel sighed as the blonde came up to sit next to him at the table. Angel wished that Faith and Spike were sitting with him but they were busy grinding on the dance floor.
"Where is your girlfriend? Did she break up with you yet? Or did you do the same thing to her that you do to me?" Darla smiled, running her hand up and down Angel's arm.
"We didn't break up. She should be here any minute." Angel gritted his teeth. Darla was still beautiful and her blonde hair look more gorgeous than ever but all he could see was Buffy when he looked at her face.
"Its a shame. Maybe I should just tell her what happened between you and me." Darla purred, playing with the small hairs on the back of his neck. Angel pushed her away.
"What happened between you and me is over, Darla. We are over. I'm sorry about what happened between us but I'm with Buffy now." Angel said firmly.
"I seem to hear that a lot. 'I'm with Buffy', sounds like a lame excuse." Darla snapped. "Your not over me, Angel. You never will be."
Angel glared at her. "I think you should leave me alone now."
"Why? Afraid something might happen between us?" Darla mocked, leaning closer to the dark man.
"Nothing will ever happen between us, Darla." Angel said, firmly. He could feel her breath against his lips and he saw her eyes tracing every feature of
his face.
"You two might want to break apart now." Buffy said angrily, crossing her arms over her chest. Darla turned to look at her.
"What do you want?"
"My boyfriend." Buffy replied and possessively sat on Angel's lap. She raised an eyebrow and dared the blonde to continue.
"Sure he is, sweetie." Darla drawled.
"What are you doing at this table? Sluts over there, hun." Buffy faked a smile and pointed to a table across the room.
"Guess I'll meet you there." Darla snapped, standing up to her full height. Buffy jumped off Angel's lap and standing to face her. Darla still had a few inches on Buffy but Buffy wasn't intimidated. Angel sat there, ready to jump in. He didn't want any fights between them. Though it would be incredibly sexy to see Buffy punching another woman. The two blondes stared long and hard at each other.
"You want to say something?" Darla challenged.
"I don't think there is going to be a whole lot of talking from my side." Buffy glared, her fist twitched and all she wanted to do was punch this girl so hard. A rage and jealousy boiled up inside her. These were feeling she couldn't control. Everything felt so strong when it came to Angel.
"We got a problem here? You might want to step down, bitch." Faith looked at the two blondes then glared at Darla. She had arrived at the table just in time. She was always one for a good cat fight. Spike grinned and nudged Angel in the ribs. Obviously Spike was excited about somebody getting their ass kicked. Angel was none to thrilled.
Darla looked at Faith then back at Buffy. She swallowed her pride and stepped back.
"No. No problem here." Darla glared at the two girls before walking away.
"Damnit. I wanted some action." Spike slammed his fist down on the table and Faith grabbed him by the collar.
"Come on. I'll show you action." The brunette grinned and led him away to the couch.
Buffy sighed and sat next to Angel. Angel could feel her anger and distance so he put a calming hand on her arm.
"Baby. Don't worry about it. She isn't going to get to me."
"That is not what I'm worried about." Buffy confessed. "I heard some of the conversation. What *did* happen between you and her?"
Angel removed his hand from her arm and looked down at the table. He pursed his lips together. How was he supposed to tell her this? She would want to leave him, she wouldn't trust him. Angel knew he would die if that happened. He had never felt this way about anyone before. He sometimes didn't even know how he felt when it came to Buffy. There was a whirlwind of emotions inside his head and all he could do was let everything play out. Angel thought he was going to go crazy if he had one more dream with Buffy in it. When he woke up he could feel her blonde hair in his fingers and smell her shampoo. He *couldn't* loose her.
"Angel, I don't want any secrets between us. I told you everything I know. Why can't you do the same with me?" Buffy asked, feeling more then a little hurt.
"Buffy, I want to tell you. I'm...I can't." Angel said finally. Buffy sunk back in her seat. She hated the feeling of her boyfriend hiding something from her. It felt like a thousand knives stabbing her in her heart.
"Then I can't stay here." Buffy said slowly and grabbed her coat.
"Buffy-" Angel pleaded, grabbing her hand and bring her flush against him. Buffy breath caught in her throat and all Angel wanted to say flew from his mind. His lips parted involuntarily and he felt his eyelids droop as he bent his head from for a kiss. It always seemed so strange, one minute they were determined not to speak to each other and then the next they were in a position that no one could get out of. Buffy stood up on her toes, catching Angel's lips with hers and she felt herself melt against him. Her arms wound around his neck and desperately trying to get closer. Angel inhaled her scent and moaned against her lips. He felt his knees go weak and he was sure that he was turning into a pile of goo. They finally broke apart when breathing became an issue.
"I..." Buffy sighed, giving up on words. She wanted to leave and be angry at him but she couldn't.
"I'm afraid." Angel confessed, leaning her forehead against hers. "If I tell you, I'm afraid you will leave."
"Not possible." Buffy sighed, tracing his lips with her fingertips. She felt déjà vu from this. She remember when it was the other way around and she was the one scared to tell her secrets to Angel.
"Darla and I never had a good relationship. We were fighting and swearing at each other all the time. I even stopped hanging out with Spike and everyone because Darla didn't like it. I hated all the skanky clothes she wore and made her change what she wore and she listened to me. It was more like a battle for dominance than a relationship. One day we got in a small fight about what she was wearing, so that night I got really drunk, thanks to Spike, and then I..." Angel stopped.
"What?" Buffy asked.
"I slept with someone else. I cheated on her. Now she thinks that is what I'm going to do to you."
Part 19
"You told her? Are you sick in the head? You stupid ass!" Penn yelled loudly at football practice the next afternoon.
"Christian! Shut up and keep your ass down on the bench." Coach Nest turned away from the game play, that was happening on the field, to shoot daggers at the receiver on the bench. Penn held up his hands in surrender and turned
back to Angel.
"I didn't want anything between us...I knew I never should have told her but
she had this puppy face on and it felt like my heart was breaking." Angel looked down at his hands, last nights rejection still fresh in his mind. He didn't see Buffy the whole day and it felt like a whole month.
"Well, good! God damnit, man. You don't tell your girlfriend that you cheated on our ex. That's like telling a priest that you fucked his daughter." Penn chuckled and shook his head. Angel sighed and buried his head in his hands.
"I messed up big time." He muttered. He was confused, he didn't know if they were breaking up or just on a break or in a fight. Everything was mixing in his mind into one big Buffy heartache.
"Yep." Penn agreed.
"Your not helping." Angel glared.
"Oh, sorry. Was this the part were I tell you that everything will be okay?" Penn asked.
"That would be nice." Angel admitted.
"Well, too bad! That was the dumbest thing that you ever did." Penn slapped Angel hard on the back. Angel winced.
"Anyway, what did she do after you told her?"
"She got real quiet and then asked me if I had a record of cheating on people." Angel trailed off and Penn made a waving motion with his hands, telling him to continue. "I said...maybe once or twice before and then she bailed."
Penn threw his hands up in the air and slumped back in his seat on the bench. "Dumb ass."
Angel sighed and stared at the football players on the large field. "Your parents coming to the Parent Teacher Night thing?" The dark student changed the subject.
"Sadly, yes. My Mom checks up on me every second while my dad only cares about football. Man, he pushes me toofar." Penn admitted, kicking the grass
by his feet.
"I know exactly what you mean." Angel sighed.
"Angelus! Christian! Are you fucking deaf? I said get your ass out there and do the Quarterback Sneak into your blue in the face!" Coach Nest yelled, taking time to spit in the grass right by Angel's feet. Angel raised an eyebrow at the red-faced coach before putting on his helmet and running off
to the field.
****
"I hope I don't get a lecture on anything, especially on you, Angel." Daniel Chase ran a hand through his short brown hair that was shaded gray.
"Me? Don't you mean Cordelia?" Angel asked, offended. His father, Daniel Chase, always played favorites. Cordelia was his. Daniel always pushed Angel too hard, making sure that he was perfect in every way. Angel felt a bit detached from his father, knowing that he will never be good enough for him. Since, no matter what, everything that Angel was always wrong. Marie Chase on the other hand, just wanted all that her children could give.
Marie had beautiful chestnut hair that matched her eyes. She was very soft and sweet. Marie was Angel's and Cordelia's mother. Angel felt more closer to his mother.
"Excuse me? I happen to be getting good grades in every class." Cordy flashed
her father a perfect smile.
"Define 'good grades.'" Angel smirked as the smile dropped him his sister's face.
"OK, a couple C's and just one D but that is because that teacher hates me." Cordy defended quickly.
"At least you try, sweetheart. That is all I ask." Daniel glanced at Angel pointedly and Angel swallowed the urge to scream. He knew that being the middle was the worst place for a child but he felt that being the oldest was just a little bit worse. Angel's mother put a reassuring hand on Angel's arm and smiled at her son. Angel just rolled his eyes and opened the door to Sunnydale High.
It was Parent Teacher Night. The parents only cared about how their child was doing and everything else was a brush off, but for the students it was like being on death row. The Chase family were now just walking into the main lobby of the school. There was lemonade and cookies on a long table, the hallway was decorated with banners and posters of the school colors. Everything look like a cheery little school. Angel had the insane urge to bolt from this happy looking place. He was not in the mood to get yelled at or grounded by his father just because he got a B instead of an A. It was madness. While Cordy will get showered with gifts just because she barely passed Photography. Angel quelled down the hatred and jealousy and forced a smile as Snyder greeted them at the door.
"Hello." Snyder said, shooting daggers at Cordy and Angel. Cordy rolled her eyes and focused on her nails.
"Mr. Snyder. Its nice to see you again. I hope that you have good news about our children." Marie spoke softly while Daniel crossed his arms over his chest. All he was interested in were Angel's grades. If that damn boy slacked off just once...
"Quite." Snyder smirked at Angel and Angel wanted nothing more than to wrap his fingers around Snyder's troll neck and throw him like a football. Angel just shoved his hands into his pockets instead.
"Step into my office." Snyder lead Cordy's and Angel's parents into the room.
"Huston, we have a problem." Cordy muttered and glanced at the closed door to
Snyder's office.
"You mean, *I* have a problem." Angel muttered and walked over to pour himself some lemonade. The hall was filled with teachers, parents, and students. Angel's mood lightened when he saw Charles Gunn and his stepmother. Gunn would never bring his father to something like this and Angel was pretty sure that Gunn's father wouldn't come. Gunn's parents were alcoholics but Angel seemed surprise to see how much better Gunn's step-mom looked since the last time that he saw her. Angel placed his lemonade down on the table and
walked over to them.
"Yo homie." Gunn grinned and they knocked their knuckles together.
"Hey man. Mrs. Gunn." Angel nodded his head to the older woman. She grinned at him.
"Hey there. Gunn tells me you are kicking ass on the field." Gunn's step-mother winked at him and Angel had to laugh. She was always cool for a Mom.
"I try. So, how are you doing on those conferences?" Angel asked, looking
pointedly at Gunn.
"Not so bad. I've been clean." Gunn said and Angel could see the pride in his
eyes.
"That's good. So I'll see you around." Angel nodded his good-bye and walked
back over to his sister who was talking with Faith. Faith looked out of the
place and uncomfortable.
"Hey Faith. You've been dragged to this hell hole too, eh?" Angel grinned,
trying to lighten the dark mood around Faith.
"Spike said he was going to meet me here because of my fath-" Faith clamped
her mouth shut and Cordy raised an eyebrow.
"I didn't catch that last part." Cordy said dumbly, not taking the clue that
Faith wanted her sentence to be forgotten.
"Spike told me he wasn't coming." Angel changed the subject before Faith cou
ld retort. Fear flashed in Faith's eyes and she wrapped her arms around
herself. She glanced nervously to the Literature classroom where her father
was discussing her grades and behavior in that class. Faith never wanted him
to come and she was shocked that he insisted that he had to come. The date
accidentally slipped out of Faith's mouth when she grasped for an excuse for
not being home that night. Then he had blamed her for trying to hide
something important and so here they were. Faith swallowed hard. Damnit,
Spike said he would be here to protect to her. He promised that he would
drive her to his house and she could spend the night there. He promised
safety.
"Are you alright?" Angel asked putting a hand on the brunette's shoulder.
Faith jumped, jolted from her thoughts.
"What? Yeah, fine. Are you sure he isn't coming?" Faith asked, grasping at
straws.
"Yeah. I just got off the phone with him before I came here." Cordy answered
for Angel.
"Fuck." Faith spat and quickly glanced back at the Literature room before
brushing past Angel and Cordy. "I'll be right back." She muttered, dashing
from the scene. Angel and Cordy stared after her.
"That is one strange girl." Cordy spoke to herself. "But I must say, I love
her hair. It might need a few highlights but I love the color. I wonder who
her stylist is." Cordelia paused before tapping her fingers on her chin.
"Does she even go to a stylist?"
"Speaking of stylists, I think I saw your girlfriend around here." Cordy
said, waving with her hand in the direction of a hallway. Angel raised an
eyebrow, tearing his mind away from Buffy for a second.
"What does Buffy have to do with stylists?" Angel asked, dumbfounded.
"Duh. Everything." His sister gave him a look and it sounded like her answer
would explain everything. Angel shook his head, he would never figure out the
knowledge of Cordelia Chase. He gave his sister a look before heading down
the hall where Cordelia said that Buffy passed. A large part of Angel didn't
want to find Buffy, didn't want the rejection and pain. But he needed this.
Needed her. After a short while of aimless wandering and thoughts of dread
about his father and Buffy, Angel knocked into a random parent.
"God! I'm so sorry, I didn't see you there." Angel took a step back and
apologized.
"Angel." A somewhat familiar voice greeted him tensely. Angel held back a
wince.
"Mr. Summers. How are you?" Angel asked, forcing his manners to the surface.
"I've been better." Giles said, remembering with a wince about Buffy's
history grade and how her teacher gave him an hour long lecture about the
importance of being a good parent. Bloody hell. Giles wanted nothing more
than to go home and curl up with a nice book and a cup of tea.
"Oh." Angel shifted his weight awkwardly before looking down at his hands.
Giles made no move to comfort the tense teenager but simply stared at him,
mentally debating if he should make a truce for Buffy's sake. His daughter
might trust this fellow but he sure as hell didn't.
"Dad. Mr. Purcell wants to-" Buffy skipped up to her father only to stop
short when she saw his handsome companion. She stopped and glanced at Angel
before hanging her head in shame. When she should have listened and comforted
her boyfriend, she freaked and ran away instead. God. He must hate her for
judging him.
"Buffy." Angel sighed, letting the name roll of his tongue.
"Hey." Buffy said lamely and in no way expressing her feelings of sorrow or
self-hatred. Giles watched the exchange with growing interest. A large part
of him wanted them to break up just so he could stop having these nightmares
of Angel hurting his daughter.
"Can...we need to talk." Angel struggled to get the words out. He had so much to say but everything was melting inside his head as he looked at how beautiful she looked. She was in a plain black skirt and a white tanktop, but he had never laid his eyes on anyone so gorgeous.
"Yeah. We really do." Buffy nodded her head vigorously. Angel could have cried in relief, he feared that she wouldn't even want to talk to him.
"Room 264, Dad." Buffy quickly remembered her father and her angry Math teacher and directed her Dad to the room number. Giles sighed and pushed his glasses to the bridge of his nose before walking towards the classroom. He wasn't sure if he would ever get in between them. Buffy unconsciously stepped closer to her boyfriend. Was he still her boyfriend? A long spell passed and they still never moved. Buffy took a deep breath.
"Who was she?" Buffy asked slowly. Angel looked up and it appeared that the
questions was the last thing he expected from her.
"I was a sophomore and she was a senior. She was pretty and one of the most
popular woman in the school. She was great in acting and I heard she was even
offered a role in some commercial. Her name was Rebecca Lowell." Angel said,
desperately trying to let her know everything.
Buffy looked down at her hands. "But it meant nothing...right?"
"She left the morning after. I barely remember most of what happened." Angel
admitted. At the look of pain across Buffy's face, Angel cursed himself and suddenly wished a black hole would open and swallow him up.
"Buffy. I was stupid yesterday. I never meant to hurt you-" Angel desperately tried to push out his apologies and declarations of love but Buffy laid a finger on his lips.
"Shh, let me talk." Buffy reluctantly removed her finger and nervously played with her hands. "The truth is that I was the stupid one yesterday. I should have never judge you. I trust you and to think if you turned away when I told you what happened with my Mom, it would have killed me. And now I did that to you. God, I'm so sorry, Angel. I just freaked. I got really nervous because everything that Darla told me made sense and..." Buffy paused and took a deep breath. "I would totally understand if you want to break up. I hurt you and if we want a healthy relationship, then that's not acceptable."
Buffy licked her lips nervously, watching the emotions dancing of Angel's features. She felt as if she was going to die when the a long pause came over them.
"Your not mad?" Angel asked slowly, trying to get it through his head. How could she *not* be mad at him?
"No." Buffy responded. Angel let out a sound of relief before crushing the petite blond to his chest and inhaled the scent of her shampoo.
"Gods, Buffy." Angel whispered and kissed her head. He could have wept when she responded by wrapped her arms around him and sighing against his chest. "I thought that we..." Angel trailed off and titled her chin up, catching her lips in a passionate kiss.
Part 20
"Ahem." Someone cleared their throat behind the kissing couple. Angel quickly broke the kiss, knowing that voice anywhere.
"Father." Angel greeted with a nod of his head. His father looked none to happy and he seemed Angel was sure that he saw smoke coming of out his ears.
"You have horrible grades and now your off kissing some...whore." Daniel spat and Buffy raised an eyebrow. She disliked this man already. He didn't even know her and he was already calling her a whore. She opened her mouth to reply politely but Angel put a calming hand on the small of her back.
"She is not a whore and my grades are not horrible." Angel said slowly, pushing down his anger and his protectivness of Buffy.
"Are you talking back to me?" Daniel snapped. Buffy felt a little shocked that Angel let the whore comment slide, he once yelled a student in the hall for stepping on her shoes. Buffy felt very lucking for having a father like Giles, he was never this strict. Buffy knew for a fact that Angel's grades were better then eighty-eight percent of all the students in the school. Angel sighed and fought the urge to roll his eyes.
"No father." Angel responded and Buffy felt shocked. Buffy would be swearing and talking back a mile a minute. Buffy never knew how discipline Angel really was. It was strange to see Cordy the exact opposite of the way Angel was acting now.
"Who is she?" Daniel asked his son about Buffy.
"I'm Buffy." Buffy held out a hand to Angel's father. "Angel's girlfriend." The blonde desperately tried to explain their kissing from earlier before. She didn't to get Angel in trouble *and* make a horrible impression the first time she met Daniel. Daniel ignored the outstretched hand and raised his eyebrows.
"Buffy? Strange name." He commented.
"What can I say? I like to be different." Buffy shrugged, trying to act nonchalant but she felt very uneasy around the man.
"So I see." Angel's father muttered. Buffy's angry eyes looked toward Angel's for help but Angel gave her a helpless look.
"Well, come on, Angelus. Your grounded for one week. How can you be getting a C+ in an easy class like Physiology?" Daniel turned to walk away.
Angel simply sighed and turned back to his girlfriend. "Sorry about him."
"Don't be sorry. Damn, how can you be grounded for a week for a C+? My dad would rejoice if I had those grades." Buffy wrapped her arms back around her boyfriend, slipping her hands into the back pockets of his jeans.
"We got strict rules in our house. All rules don't apply to Cordelia, of course." Angel rolled his eyes and bent down for a short kiss, before pulling away from her.
****
"Mr. Harris. I was so looking forward to meeting your parents today." Snyder snapped at the dark hair boy. Snyder *loved* Parent Teacher Night. It was like Christmas for all principals. Snyder was sure he was put on this Earth to make all students miserable. He loved his job.
Xander cringed and turned to face the dwarf principal. Damnit, damnit, damnit. "Principal Snyder! How lovely to see you."
"I don't like my ass being kissed, Harris." Snyder glared at the student before him.
"What? Didn't quite catch that. By the way, how is the weather down there?" Xander said, leaning down to the ground, holding a hand to his ear. Xander was a good 4 inches taller than the principal and he knew how Snyder hated being ridiculed by his height. Snyder glared at him.
"I'll see you after school on Tuesday." Snyder promised before waddling away.
"Its a date." Xander yelled after him and rolled his eyes. Damnit, damnit, damnit.
"Should I be jealous?" Cordelia put her hands on her hips and raised an eyebrow at her friend/lover.
"Nah. Dates with trolls never last long." Xander stepped a little closer and wrapped his arms around her waist.
"So when are we going to tell everyone about...us?" Xander asked slowly.
"I don't know. Do I always have to make these decisions?" Cordy snapped at him. Xander chuckled and shrugged.
"By the way, how are those anger management classes?"
"Will you get serious for just one minute please?" Cordy glared. Xander sighed, getting serious meant dealing with serious situations. He liked when everything was joke then it meant that he could laugh and have fun. Instead of retorting back, Xander remained silent.
"So how long are you grounded for?" Cordy asked gently. Xander winced.
"Three week for three D's. Oh yeah, this is going to be one cold spring."
Cordy laughed and stepped out of his embrace to point teasingly at him. "I'm *not* grounded and I get a free shopping spree, courtesy of my daddy." Cordy's large smile could light up a whole Christmas tree. Xander's jaw dropped and he glared at her.
"Sometimes I just don't like you."
****
"Fuck!"
Faith cursed loudly as she searched through her pockets for loose change. She wanted to sneak out of this hell before her father got out of the conference with Mr. Garcia. She cursed Spike every second he didn't show. A small part of her mind that still hoped that he would appear out of nowhere and sweep her off her feet was whispering that he was just late. That he got car trouble or he got arrested again. Anything! The brunette was about to jump up and down when she found fifty cents in the back pocket of her jeans and she quickly pushed the money into student pay phone. She dialed Spike's number frantically, muttering under her breath as the phone rang. Once, twice, three times. It kept ringing. And ringing. Faith cursed out loud once more before slamming the phone back down on the cradle. She heard a strange snapping sound and suddenly knew that she broke the phone.
"Phone trouble?" A voice quipped from behind her. Faith spun ready for a brawl if someone pissed her off just enough.
"Hey B." Faith answered, forcing herself to lower her guard. She was still getting used to this 'friend' thing. Faith never had any real friends before, only the drug addicts that she hung out with during lunch.
"What's up? You are white as a ghost." Buffy asked. She was just going to meet her dad in the parking lot and she saw her friend beating up the phone.
"Uh.." Faith desperately tried to make up a lie and the brunette was sure that her heart stopped when she saw her father exiting the Spanish room. His face looked red and his angry eyes were scanning the crowd of students and parents. Parent Teacher Night was now ending. How sad. "Yeah. I need a ride home." Faith said quickly ducking behind Buffy out of her father's view.
Buffy looked at her strangely. "I can give you one, my dad won't mind."
"Thanks, B. Come on, lets hurry." Faith grabbed the blonde and pushed her out of the front doors before her father could see her. Mission accomplished.
"What's the rush?" Buffy asked, curious and worried about Faith's strange behavior.
"Like you really want to stay there?" Faith covered quickly.
"I see your point." Buffy saw her dad waiting in the parking lot and the two girls went over and got inside the car.
"Who's your friend?" Giles asked as he started to drive away from the horrid school building.
"This is Faith, Faith this is my dad." Buffy introduced.
"Howdy." Faith nodded. There was a long pause after Giles politely said hi.
"So where do you live Faith?" Giles asked, pausing the car at a stop sign, waiting for directions. Faith sucked in a breath. Was she ready to go home and face her monster of a father? No, she would get the beating of her life. But where else would she go? She couldn't go to that fucking traitor Spike. Damnit.
"Uh..." Faith opened and closed her mouth quickly. She was pretty sure she looked like a gaping fish. Buffy turned in the passenger seat to look at her friend and raised an eyebrow. Faith shot Buffy a helpless look and shrugged.
"Can Faith sleep over tonight?" Buffy asked suddenly to her father, seeing her friend's distress.
"Buffy, you have school tomorrow and with your grades..." Giles trailed off.
"Please?" Buffy pleaded.
"B, its okay." Faith tried to get Buffy from groveling but Buffy wouldn't drop the puppy face. Buffy was an expert at pouting. Angel fell for it everytime.
"All right, but no more last minute notices." Giles agreed reluctantly. Buffy smiled and clapped her hands together. Faith sunk in her seat but she couldn't help the smile coming over her face.
Part 21
"Thanks a lot, B." Faith said sincerely and tucked herself under the blankets. She was laying on the floor and Buffy was laying down on the bed, this only happened after an hour of argument about who sleeps where.
"Faith! How many times have you said that? Like a million. Its alright, don't worry about it." Buffy grinned at her friend, exasperated.
"I wasn't worrying about it. Just wanted to make sure you knew." Faith covered quickly and they both closed their eyes. The last thing Faith wanted was Buffy to think that she was dependent on anyone. She did have a reputation to uphold. After a long time of resting, Buffy broke the silence.
"Faith?"
"Hmm?" Faith answered, keeping her eyes shut.
"Why didn't you have a ride? Didn't your Mom drive you there?" Buffy was just thinking about what Faith was running from and why she seemed to scared. Something must have spooked her big if *Faith* was scared. It was something Buffy rarely saw.
"My Mom is dead." Faith said bitterly. "My dad drove me and Spike was *suppose* to pick me up, but I guess he has better things to do."
Buffy bit her lip. "I'm sorry. Why didn't your dad drive you home?" She pressed the issue further, not satisfied with Faith's half answer. Faith quickly thought up and threw away excuses in her head.
"Its...my punishment for getting bad grades." Faith covered lamely. No one would believe that dumb ass excuse, Faith cursed herself. She knew that Buffy didn't buy it but she was glad that Buffy dropped the subject.
"And I thought Angel's parents were bad." Buffy muttered.
****
"Pass the mash potatoes." A curt reply came from Daniel Chase at the dinner table. He glanced over his family. They were all sitting politely at dinner, eating something that the cook made up. It was good but not great. He would question the cook about it later.
"Here." Cordelia said cheerfully and passed her father the mash potatoes. Tonight was her shopping spree coming right from her father's wallet. Angel looked down at his food and pushed around the peas with his fork. Two weeks grounded and Cordy gets a fucking shopping spree. A fantasy of Angel getting up and throwing his plate against the wall flashed through his head and Angel had to place his hands on his lap. All he needed was to add a month to his list of 'days being grounded.'
"Are you guys going to go the coffee place after school tomorrow?" Marie asked politely and Daniel groaned loudly.
"Coffee place? Now I know that you don't have time for a coffee place, Angelus."
Marie glared at her husband and looked back at her children encouragely.
"Why do you call him Angelus? It is so lame and biblical." Cordelia gave her father a 'duh' look and popped a piece of chicken in her mouth.
"I don't know." Angel replied shortly and he could feel his father's eyes burning into him. Angel looked down at his plate. "Big game is coming up soon, if we win then we get to travel to up state." Angel said proudly.
"What about Buffy?" Cordy asked her brother. She knew how in love he was with her.
"Buffy would be riding with us." He couldn't imagine being on a school bus for an hour but if Buffy was wrapped in his arms, then it would all be worth it.
"That blonde?" Daniel asked.
"You have a girlfriend?" Marie smiled at her son.
"What are you smiling about? All she would be is a distraction." Daniel snapped sharply at his wife. Angel's mother looked down at her plate and sighed sadly. Her husband never used to be like this. It all came with the children. Daniel wanted all girls but he got Angel instead and for that, he was always pushing his son to be exactly like him.
"She is not a distraction. She helps me keep on track." Angel all but growled the statement.
"More like off track. You have been out almost everyday this month. You have been out partying with this blonde girl instead of staying home and studying. I'm sick of this bullshit with you, Angelus!" Daniel slammed his fist hard down on the table making everyone in the room jump. Angel fought down his anger and slowly put his fork down on the plate.
"May I be excused?" Angel grounded his teeth together. He needed to get out of this of this room, this house.
"You may." Marie said softly just as Daniel shook his head. Angel quickly stood up and walked out of the room. Daniel threw his utensils down on the table and stood up quickly.
"Dad.." Cordy trailed off, desperately trying to calm her father down but Daniel was already half way out of the room, chasing his son.
"Boy! You better get back here!" Daniel walked into the main hall to see Angel grabbing his coat, his shoes on.
"Who the hell do you think you are?!" Daniel growled, grabbing his son's arm roughly and turning him so they were face to face. Angel glared at his father, staring him right in the eye. "You think you can just storm off at dinner?"
Angel pushed his father's hand off him and straightened the labels of his jacket nonchalantly. "Yes." He answered coolly. He had no words to say to his father that pushed him so much.
"Good! Leave. You never come back, you hear me?" Daniel yelled outrage, pushing his son against the wall. Angel's father felt a small satisfaction as Angel's head snapped back against the wall hard. Maybe that would knock some sense into him.
Angel bit back a groan and rubbed the back of his head. Stars were swarming his vision and he could barely see the blurry outline of his angry father yelling at him.
"Your a worthless human being. You can never do anything right! God, I would be in my right mind if I just killed you now because you will never be nothing anyway. Your whole family thinks that of you! Soon that blonde bitch will think that too!" Daniel yelled at his son who was still disoriented. That was it. Angel snapped. He quickly recovered from his daze and pushed his father away from him. Daniel fell, not expecting the attack.
"She is *not* a bitch! You ever talk one more word about her, I swear to God that I will *kill* you!" Angel yelled at his father who was on the ground, pointing an accusing finger at him. Daniel was speechless. Never, in all of Angel's years, has he ever talked back to him. Never threatened him.
"What did you just say to me?" Daniel asked dangerously.
"You heard me." Angel's enraged mind barely registered his mother and sister standing a couple feet away from them. Marie looked shocked and Cordy looked scared, clutching her mother's hand.
"Get out of my house." Daniel yelled, scrambling to get off of the ground. Angel took one last apologetic look at his mother and Cordy before opening the door and walking away.
****
Faith quickly sat upright, clutching the sheet to her. She was breathing heavily, the aftermath of a nightmare. She heard a soft tapping sound and looked around her bedroom. Faith blinked and realized that if wasn't even *her* bed room. It was Buffy's room. She had slept over. Faith breathed a sigh of relief and looked at the clock. It wasn't that late at all. She must have just fell asleep five minutes ago. Damnit, she would never get back to sleep now. There was that tapping sound again. Faith looked around the room wildly.
"B." Faith hissed and turned around to shake Buffy's arm. Buffy's eyelids fluttered before opening. The blonde yawned and sat up in her bed.
"What is it Faith?" Buffy said sleepily, blinking her eyes. The tapping grew louder until it was almost a knock..
"That." Faith muttered. Buffy looked at her door for a second but then glanced at the window and gasped in shock. Faith also glanced at the window
and laughed. The brunette laid back down."I guess he came for a little bedtime story."
Buffy grinned and walked over to the window, glancing at Angel who was perched on the ledge. Usually, Buffy would have teased him but there was a desperate look in his eyes that made her frown. Buffy quickly opened the window and stepped back. Angel bit his lower lip and walked inside her bedroom.
"What the hell are you doing?" Buffy asked softly, her tone telling him that she wasn't mad but just surprised.
"I needed a place to sleep." Angel sighed then looked down at Faith who was already trying to go back to sleep. "Hey Faith."
"Hey Angie." Faith muttered.
"She has the best nicknames." Buffy quipped and pulled Angel over to her bed. "Just take off your shoes and lay down."
Angel did as he was told as Buffy went over and locked her bedroom door. All she needed was her father to walk in and see Angel and her in the same bed. She was sure the image would give the old man a heart attack. Buffy sighed and laid down besides her boyfriend, cuddling next to him.
"I better not start hearing strange noises up there." Faith muttered from her spot on the ground.
"There are some headphones on the dresser." Buffy smirked before turning her attention back to her obviously distraught boyfriend.
"What happened to your bed? Not that I mind." Buffy sighed and traced designs on his chest. When Angel didn't answer, Buffy knew it was something bad. He would tell her in the morning. He would have to wake up early and sneak back into his own house. They did have school tomorrow. Angel wouldn't worry about that right now. The dark haired man played with the ends of Buffy's hair and closed his eyes. Buffy was gently lulled to sleep by the sound of his heartbeat.
****
Oz stared at his math test and raised his eyebrows. He thought this was college geometry. It looked like second grade homework. Oh well. Oz was very smart or maybe it was that he just tested well. Oz looked over at his girlfriend, she was nodding her head up and down and writing quickly with her pencil. He grinned to see that she was dancing in her chair. She seemed to be have fun taking tests while everyone in the classroom was about to have a nervous breakdown. He loved that redhead.
"Times up!" The teacher pronounced and quickly gathered everyone's test paper. Willow gave her boyfriend a thumbs up and continued bouncing in her seat, listening to the song stuck in her head. When class ended, Willow walked over to her boyfriend.
"Easy test, huh?" Willow chirped.
"Yes. But I say problem sixteen was giving me some trouble. I was stuck on it for a long time." Oz looked deep in thought and Willow raised an eyebrow. "Maybe because I was trying to think up song lyrics. I get distracted easily."
"It happens to the best of us." Willow patted her boyfriend on the shoulder. A bleach blonde came running up to them and Spike grabbed Willow by the shoulders, shaking her. Willow looked at the British man with wide eyes as he shook her frantically. Spike was panting and he couldn't get the words out of his mouth.
"The room is spinning." Willow muttered and Spike finally stopped shaking her but didn't remove his hands from her shoulders. Oz raised an eyebrow.
"I fucked up big time, red. I was supposed to pick up Faith because her father...I mean she was having car trouble and now all because of me she is probably in the fucking hospital. That bastard! If I find out that he ever laid a hand on her I will..." Spike squeezed Willow's shoulder and she let out a surprised yell.
"Hey! Lay off, buddy." Willow squirmed from his grasp and went into Oz's waiting arms.
"I never knew a car had hands." Oz muttered, confused at Spike's ranting.
"Look who it is, Mr. I-don't-show-up-even-in-life-and-death-situations." Faith snapped from behind them.
"Exit, stage right." Willow muttered before pulling Oz away from the scene.
"Faith." Spike stepped forward to check for injuries. He knew he screwed up by leaving her with her abusive father. Faith stepped out of reach, crossing her arms over her breasts.
"What is your excuse this time? You overslept or slept with someone? Oh! Maybe you were in jail. *Again*!" Faith yelled, she didn't care that students passing in the hall were stopping to watch the fight that was about to break out.
"I know! I fucked up! I'm so sorry." Spike pleaded, he was about to drop on his hands and knees. The truth was that he was too intoxicated to do anything. Apparently, his body couldn't handle two whole bottles of vodka without getting horribly drunk, throwing up everywhere, then passing out. It totally slipped his mind that he had to go pickup his girlfriend.
"Spare me the bullshit." Faith held up her hand. "You are just so lucky that Buffy was there to give me a ride."
"Baby, please forgive me! I was drunk and I couldn't..."
"You were drunk! That is a shock!" Faith snapped sarcastically. Practically the whole school was forming a circle around the couple, watching and yelling out stupid comments. "We are over, Spike." Faith said, ignoring the pain that surged through her heart at the declaration. Faith turned to walk away.
"Baby, wait! Listen to me, God damnit!" Spike grabbed her arm and spun her around, turning her to face him. Faith glared at him, rasing her foot and smashing a kick right to Spike's groin. Spike's eyes rolled back and he fell to his knees. Fireworks exploded in his vision and he whimpered out loud. A crowd of cheers came from the crowd around them. Faith simply walked away.
Part 22
Cordy stared hard at her coffee. It was getting cold and she wasn't in the mood to talk or drink or have fun with her friends. Everyone, excluding Faith and Angel, were sitting in their regular booth at the coffee house. Cordy could feel the concerned glances that Buffy sent her way. Buffy was the first person Cordelia came up to at school that morning. She had been asking frantically for Angel and could have cried in relief when Buffy said he had spent the night at her house, but he didn't tell her what was wrong. Queen C didn't tell her either. Angel wasn't at lunch and Cordelia hadn't seen him all day. And Angel *never* missed coffee at the Espresso Pump.
When Angel left the house last night after the fight, Daniel exploded into a temper-tantrum of rage and fury. Vases were thrown and broken, a window was shattered, and Cordy learned just how many swear words her father knew. Cordy's mother told her to go upstairs quickly before her father hurt himself or someone else, Cordy didn't need a second invitation. She was scared as hell and from her room she could hear her father yelling at her mother. This was the only time that Cordy wasn't stressed about missing a shopping trip.
"Cordy? Cordelia? What is it like where you are?" Xander asked, waving a hand into her face. His arm was casually around her shoulders and Xander could feel the stress radiating from her. Willow looked at her friend strangely. She hadn't said one word the whole time. The redhead also noted that Buffy was looking worried too. She hated when secrets were kept from her.
"I'm fine." Cordy looked up and flashed a fake smile at her friends.
"You look like shit." Spike muttered, taking a long drag from his cigarette. His balls still hurt like hell and he needed all the cigs he could get. A couple bottles of vodka wouldn't hurt that much, either. Actually, it would make everything feel better. Stupid Faith and her fucking kickboxing lessons. Lessons like that should be illegal. Especially for crazy bitches like Faith. Everyone frowned when Cordelia brushed the comment off with a shrug.
"Oh my God." Oz muttered. Cordy being called a bitch and not doing anything about it? Something was seriously wrong.
"OK, something is totally wrong." Willow said.
"Thank you, Mrs. Obvious." quipped Xander.
"Be serious. Cordy, tell us what's wrong. Maybe we can help." Buffy said gently, looking her friend straight in the eye. Cordy looked at Buffy then chewed her lip nervously.
"Alright. But I'm not sure if Angel would like me telling you guys. Especially Buffy." Cordy muttered and pushed away her cold coffee so she could lean her elbows against the table.
"Whats that supposed to mean?" Buffy asked, offended.
"It means that Angel is overly protective of you." Cordy snapped back.
"Oh." Buffy muttered, sunk into her seat. She could live with that.
"Last night, Angel and daddy got into this huge fight, right in the middle of dinner. So Angel, being the dumb ass that he is, walks away from daddy. So he goes after Angel. Mom and I were just sitting there, praying to God that dad doesn't whoop his ass. So then we hear yelling so we go to look and we see Angel getting shoved into a wall." Cordy trailed off, feeling very uneasy about everyone staring intently at her. Usually she didn't mind being the center of attention but right now was very difficult.
"What happened?" Willow urged.
"He shoved Angel?" Buffy gasped.
"Ain't that abuse?" Xander asked dumbly.
"Sounds like my old man." Spike muttered.
Oz remained silent, raising an eyebrow.
Everyone's questions blurred into one and Cordy nervously looked at all the worried faces. Buffy sunk back into her seat, staring at the table. Cordy could feel the anger radiating from her. If Buffy was a super human, Cordy knew that her father would be getting the beating of his life from her.
"Ahem!" Cordy cleared her throat loudly and everyone shut up. "Like I was saying before I was rudely interrupted, Angel was pushed up against the wall and my dad said something," Cordelia shot a glance at Buffy before continuing, " and that Angel pushed him back and told him that he would kill him. Then daddy kicked him out and Angel left." The brunette blinked away tears and leaned into Xander's shoulder. They hadn't told anyone that they were together but by their movements and words, the whole gang already knew.
The whole gang sunk back into their seats and they stayed quiet for a long time. Everyone was thinking about different things. How horrible it was for Angel. How were Cordy and her mother going to get through this? Why would Daniel freak so much?
"That explains why he came to my house last night. He said he needed a place to sleep and I knew something was wrong but he wouldn't tell me. Damnit!" Buffy slammed her fist down on the table.
"Its alright, bint. You couldn't have known." Spike wrapped a friendly arm around her shoulders but it didn't make Buffy feel any better.
"Couldn't have known what?" Angel asked, coming up next to the booth. His hair was messed up and Buffy noted that he had the same clothes on from last night. He was panting slightly and out of breath. Everyone could tell that his cheery expression was a facade and the small smile he had was fake.
"Damn. Sorry, I'm late." Angel muttered and shook his head, slipping into the booth next to Spike and Buffy. Everyone stared at him. Angel blinked and reached up to touch his cheek.
"What? I got something on my face?"
"No. Face is clean." Oz supplied when everyone stayed quiet. Angel looked
around at the sullen faces of his gang. A feeling of dread welled in him stomach.
"What's going on?" Angel muttered. Buffy grabbed his hand in between her and brought it to her lap. She traced the pattern of his fingers and fiddled with his ring.
"I told them, Angel." Cordy said slowly. She knew her brother would get mad. Angel was like that. He wanted to protect everyone from the truth even if he was the one who was going to get hurt."
Angel's wild and angry gaze went to Cordelia then to the table. He stared at the table from a long time, desperately trying to sort out his feelings. It was hard since the tingle of pleasure from Buffy caressing his hand was clouding his view but he couldn't force her away. Didn't want to. Why had she told them? Angel felt embarrassed and ashamed at the same time. He was practically homeless since he refused to go back and beg forgiveness from his father. The day Daniel apologized to anyone would be the day that pigs fly.
"Do the words 'family problem' mean anything to you?" Angel muttered to Cordelia without looking up. "Emphasis on family."
"Yo, Angel, man. We *are* your family." Xander said.
"Yeah! We are all like your brothers and sisters. Expect Buffy is not your sister because that would be...gross." Willow remarked.
"But if she *were* your sister, we would get front row seats to Jerry Springer." Spike grinned, trying to lighten the situation.
"Yeah!" Xander said excited, his eyes lit up.
"You guys! Buffy is not my sister." Angel couldn't help that his lips were twitching in amusement.
"Xander could be the dog of the family." Cordy quipped.
"Cordy would be the maid." Xander paused then raised an eyebrow. "Spike would be the family doctor."
"Why the fuck am I a bleedin' doctor?" Spike put his cigarette out by dropping it in Xander's coffee.
"Because you know the cure of getting kicked in the groin since it happened to you so many times." Xander said as if it was the easiest thing to understand. Spike growled at him.
"I know someone else who is going to kicked in the balls soon." The bleach blonde threatened.
Angel laughed despite his mood and put an arm around Buffy.
"We have to talk later." Buffy whispered, tickling his ear with her lips. Angel closed his eyes and sighed.
"Later." He muttered, their voices quiet from their friends constant bickering.
He was so happy that he could find true friends like these. They accepted him no matter what. He knew that they would all have to deal with this family problem later but right now, everyone just wanted to joke and laugh. It was their way of coping with something bad. The problem with Darla was slowly fading and Angel was glad that she had backed off. Penn had told him that he wouldn't have to worry about that bitch for a long time. Angel would have to think him later. Spike's drunkenness still had to be discussed and dealt with. Angel's family problems would be discussed and Buffy needed her father to accept the gang. There was still many problems but everything would be pushed back until later.
Part 23
Giles stared at his book. He was already on page two hundred and thirty and he had just started this morning. Today was his day off from the Public Library. He must say that this new start in Sunnydale is slowly piecing together. He knew his daughter was happy, or as happy as you could get with that boyfriend of hers, and he had a wonderful job that he enjoyed very much. Cross referencing and living in musty books was his weakness.
The old man looked up when he heard the front door opening. He smiled when he saw his blonde daughter but his smile was soon wiped off his face when Giles saw her older companion. Giles sighed, the feeling of being weary already entering his system.
"Hello, Mr. Summers." Angel said politely, forcing a smile.
"Buffy. I didn't know that we were having company today." Giles sighed at his daughter who was clutching her boyfriend's hand, giving him encouragement.
"Surprise?" Buffy squeaked, shrugging innocently. Giles gave her a pointed look.
"I guess I forgot to mention that Angel is going to be staying for dinner." Buffy sighed, gently caressing Angel's palm with her thumb.
"I guess you did." Giles said. Buffy sighed at her father who was *not* being helpful. Well, she would be damned if these two men couldn't get it together.
"I did not mean to intrude." Angel said, turning to leave but was swung back around by Buffy.
"Well, you men are just going to have to get used to each other because you two will be around each other for a long time. Now, sit down and get comfortable while I go make dinner." Buffy said firmly, pushing Angel down on the couch. She that Angel and her father got off on the wrong foot, mostly because of her but she needed Giles to approve of Angel. She thought that Angel needed that as much as she did, especially with all his fatherly problems at home. He didn't need anymore. So Buffy flashed them a brilliant smile then pivoted and walked into the kitchen.
Giles sighed and shook his head, taking off his glasses and cleaning them with his shirt.
"I will never understand that girl." Angel chuckled, shaking his head also. Giles smiled.
"I was thinking the exact same thing."
Angel smiled, at least they have one thing in common. Emphasis on the one. Angel fiddled with his hands and watched as Giles took a seat on the couch across from him.
"So, Angel, tell me about yourself." Giles gestured with his hands, telling Angel to speak. Angel took a deep breath. He felt as if he was being interviewed by the police for a murder case.
"I'm quarterback for Sunnydale High and I am one of the smartest juniors in the school. I plan to study art and history some more." Angel tried to point out all of his good characteristics. Giles nodded his head, so far pleased with the answer.
"Ever been in jail, Angel?" Giles asked. He wanted to be sure that this man was not some known criminal that he saw on the news.
"Once." Angel's eyes widened as Giles raised an eyebrow. "But I wasn't *in* jail. I just went to the jail. I was picking up a friend!" Angel winced as he realized how horrible this all sounded.
"Was that the excuse that you gave to the police?" Giles felt suddenly uncertain about this bloke.
"What? No. I never got arrested, but my friend was in jail so I came and gave him a ride. I swear." Angel held up his hands in surrender. Angel would kicked himself if he wasn't sitting down. Giles smiled at the boy's obvious nervousness.
"I believe you. Calm down." Giles chuckled and leaned back into his chair. Angel couldn't help but grin at his anxiety. If Spike was here he would have been rolling in laughter and coming up with insults.
"If you study history then I guess that means that you like to read." Giles changed the subject. Angel smiled. He was more comfortable now and he leaned back into the couch's cushions.
"I love to read." Angel said sincerely.
****
Buffy watched the two men from the kitchen as the were drawn into a deep conversation about various authors and book. She felt a smile crawling onto her features and turned around to start with making salad. Lord knows she wasn't a good cook so about 10 minutes later the fire alarm went off.
Giles and Angel quickly ran into the kitchen to see a bowl of salad on the floor, the lettuce covering the counter tops and a growing fire on the stove. Buffy coughed and held her right hand which had been scorched by the flame.
"Hello! What are you staring at? A little manly help please!" Buffy shouted at the two men gaping at the kitchen. Giles snapped into action by desperately trying to pat down the fire with a nearby towel while Angel tended to Buffy, pulling her wounded hand under the faucet, pouring the cold water over the burn. Angel absently caressed her hand while the cold water nursed the hot wound. Angel blinked away the smoke in his eyes and looked urgently down at Buffy.
"Are you alright?" Angel whispered, turning Buffy to face him. Buffy turned off the faucet and gently dried her hand with a towel but Angel gently grabbed her chin with his hand, waiting for an answer.
"My hand hurts." Buffy admitted. The water had helped but it wasn't a miracle worker. She was positive that she would have an ugly burn mark. Angel smiled softly and brought her hand to hips, kissing the burn.
"Better?" Angel asked softly. Buffy closed her eyes and nodded, smiling.
Giles watched the couple and sighed. He inwardly knew how much Buffy liked this man and he also knew that there was nothing he could do to keep them apart. Angel's eyes were filled with worry and he was still gently caressing Buffy's hand so Giles summed up that there was nobody better for his daughter.
"I should have known that Buffy in a kitchen equaled disaster." Giles said, breaking up their moment. Buffy winced and turned to face her dad, her eyes sweeping the small damage that the fire had made on the stove and pan.
"I guess we are ordering out." Buffy said slowly, searching her father's expression to see how angry he was. Giles stared at her for a long time before sighing softly.
"You are lucky that I like the pizza delivery in Sunnydale."
****
Giles stared at the sleeping couple for a long moment. After the fire disaster, Buffy had called for a pizza while Angel and him cleaned up the kitchen. The damage wasn't that bad. They only had to clean up the salad on the floor and throw away a damaged pan. There was more conversation about Angel while they ate and then they had simply walked into the livingroom to talk some more. Giles had learned a lot about Buffy's boyfriend today. Giles hated to admit that he had already taken a liking to the lad. He seemed very devoted to Buffy and his education.
While Angel and Giles argued about which Harry Potter book was better, Buffy had dozed off cuddled up next to Angel. Angel slowly fell asleep soon after, his head resting on top of Buffy's. Giles had to admit that they made a cute couple together and Giles noted how tight Angel held her while she was sleeping. The old man sighed, taking off his glasses to clean them, before walking to get a blanket. He laid the blanket on the sleeping couple before walking upstairs to bed. Giles prayed that he would find them in the same position when he woke up.
Part 24
"Your dad is so cool. I can't believe this...its like a miracle." Willow squealed as she walked down the halls of Sunnydale High. Buffy and Willow were trying to work their way to the lounge to meet Faith for fifth period. Buffy and Faith had been talking on the phone a lot recently since Faith refused to go to any place with everyone because Spike would be there. Buffy thought that they were a cute couple but they needed to get it together. Or Spike needed to get it together. One of those.
"It *is* a miracle." Buffy grinned.
"My dad is never that cool. Well, my dad is never cool because he bought that talking bass thing that goes on your wall. I thought it was cute after first but then the ugly thing started to sing! Fish do not sing." Willow couldn't help but babble. Buffy grinned at the redhead as her friend went on about singing bass.
"I'm shutting up now." Willow clasped her mouth shut as Buffy's mocking smile. Though, Buffy didn't stop her mockery when Willow stopped talking.
"Hey, look there is Faith!" Willow said changing the subject quickly which made Buffy laugh. Faith waved them over to the couches in the lounge area. Well, it wasn't really a lounge. There was a couple of chairs with desks, couches, and endtables.
"Hey B." Faith nodded. "Hey Red."
"Hey Black." Willow tried the new nickname at Faith's black hair. Willow frowned to herself. No, that didn't sound right. "Nevermind." The redhead sighed and Faith chuckled. Willow and Buffy took a seat on the couch across from the brunette.
"So how is the drunken Billy Idol wannabe?" Faith snapped, trying not to show her interest in Spike.
"He is pinning over you and his loss of manhood." Buffy grinned. Faith smiled and rubbed her hands together.
"He got what he deserved."
"Yeah. I mean his drinking is becoming a real problem." Willow sighed and fidgeted with her hands.
"Damn straight." Faith nodded. "I volunteer to knock more sense into that bleach blonde skull of his." Buffy had a sneaky suspicion that Faith meant 'knock' in the literal sense.
"Who's gonna knock out who?" Gunn asked and plopped down in the seat next to Faith, throwing an arm around her shoulders. Faith and Gunn were friends ever since Spike introduced them.
"Hey Gunn." Willow smiled at her friend.
"I'm going to knock out Spike." Faith said matter-of-factly.
"I know you would. I saw what you did to him the other day and I must say...damn!" Gunn grinned and Faith smiled too. The wonders of a reputation.
"But Spike is my boy and I don't want him in the hospital, I'll talk to him about whatever you guys want me to talk about." Gunn offered. Besides, he needed to pay Spike back for getting him in jail.
"Does that mean that I can't hit him?" Faith looked disappointed but Buffy knew she was trying to hide her worries for her ex-boyfriend.
"That means you can kiss him and make him better after I talk to him." Gunn replied. Faith smiled. She liked the sound of that.
****
Spike glanced around Bronze later that night. He was all alone at their table. Oz was playing on stage and Willow was sitting on a couch looking at him with love while Xander and Cordy were getting jiggy on the dance floor. Buffy and Angel were passionately kissing on the couch next to the dance floor. Faith, on the other hand, was sitting at her table all alone. Spike wanted to go over that and ask her to dance but he was afraid of getting knocked unconscious. He knew he fucked up big when he forgot to pick Faith up and save her from her father but Spike knew that she was okay. He never really did thank Buffy for giving her a ride.
"Sup?" A voice interrupted him from his thoughts. Spike looked up to see Gunn sitting down next to him.
"Hey." Spike greeted before taking another gulp of his beer. The bartender served him anything he wanted, Spike guessed it was because they had sex behind the bar when the Bronze was closed. Gunn grabbed the drink from him and took a sip.
"Beer." Gunn acknowledged before throwing the drink over his shoulder, it landed on some random girl, spilling all over her shirt. The woman gave Spike a dirty finger before running to the bathroom. Gunn ignored it while Spike glared at him.
"She better not come back telling me I have to pay for that shirt, mate."
"You have bigger things to worry about some chick's shirt." Gunn sighed.
"Yeah. Like what?" Spike challenged. He didn't like the way that his friend was talking to him. Like he was damn priest or something.
"Like that lonely hot brunette over there." Gunn nodded his head towards Faith who was looking at Willow and Oz wistfully.
"I don't think that she is any of your damn business. She ain't any of mine, either." Spike frowned and automatically reached for his drink. Spike cursed himself when he remembered that it wasn't there anymore.
"That's your problem right there." Gunn gave him a pointed look. "You better stop with this drinking shit."
"Your one to talk, Mr. High and Mighty. Your the one who left Angel and I for some fucking gang." Spike spat. Gunn winced and looked down at his entwined hands before looking up at Spike.
"And look where all that shit led me."
Spike sighed and rubbed his forehead. "You preaching to me, Gunn? Come on, you know I don't need that."
"Well, your friends think that you do." Gunn said. "Faith does."
Spike glared at Gunn. Why the hell was he getting into this? Faith don't know anything.
"Just cut down, man. I don't want to loose my friend to something stupid like liver failure." Gunn said loosely. Spike took a deep breath trying to calm down the raging emotions in him. A part of his mind that he was right while another part of him wanted to kick the shit out of Gunn for getting up in his business.
"Your my friend, Gunn. That is the only thing that is keeping me from going off on your right now." Spike said slowly and Gunn grinned, throwing his head back and laughing.
"Try it."
Spike couldn't help but laugh too. "You know I will someday."
"Until then." Gunn knocked knuckles with his bleach blonde friend. "Later."
****
Buffy pressed against her boyfriend, straddling his hips. Angel groaned and he felt like he couldn't catch his breath. His heart was racing and his mind was running wild with emotions that only Buffy could cause. Angel tangled his fingers into her hair, deepening the kiss and smiling against her lips when she moaned.
Buffy teased Angel's tongue with hers and sighed in contentment. Only in Angel's arm did she feel like she was flying. That she could do anything. The loud music of he Dinego's and the crowded atmosphere of the Bronze slipped away into oblivion as they kissed. Buffy's hands slipped under his shirt, running her hands over his the muscles of his chest and the small of his back while Angel's thumb traced lazy circles around her belly button.
"This isn't Woodstock." An annoyed voice sounded from behind the couple and Buffy broke away from Angel's lips with a sigh and turned around to face Xander and Cordelia who were attached at the hip.
"Had enough dancing for one night?" Buffy asked. Cordelia and Xander sat down next to them on the couch but Buffy made no move to get off of Angel's lap or unwrap her arms around his neck. Angel liked it that way.
"Xander kept stepping on my toes. I think I broke my pinkie." Cordy pouted and Xander grinned.
"I warned you of the dangers of standing next to Xander Harris when he dances." Xander grinned proudly and smacked in the chest by his girlfriend.
"Looks like Spike and Faith are back together." Angel said, looking past Buffy to see Spike and Faith talking civilly at Faith's table.
"Good. I like them together." Buffy leaned her forehead against Angel's. "But right now we are together."
Angel smiled and captured Buffy's lips once more. Xander winced away from them and turned to his girlfriend. "As much as I love the imagery, I would rather talk to you."
"I feel honored." Cordy drawled. Xander reached out to caress her cheek and Cordy leaned into his touch.
"How are things at home?" The dark haired boy asked.
"Daddy is still breaking stuff while Mom is just being quiet. I try not to think of it." Cordy admitted and Xander wrapped a protective arm around her.
"Everything will be okay." He promised. There was a moment of silence, as silent as anyone could get with Angel's and Buffy's moans, before Xander spoke again.
"Until everything is okay, you could stay in my bed...I mean in my house."
Part 25
Angel stared up at the mansion, feeling the anticipation and dread churning his stomach. Never before had he found the front doors to his house so frightening. Angel shifted his weight from one foot to the other. Was he really ready to do this? Could he finally take charge in this house, once and for all? Angel blinked a couple times before looking down at his feet. He suddenly wished for Buffy to be here with him but instead he got his sister.
"Come on. Move it!" Cordelia ordered. It has been a week since Angel has stepped foot in his own house. Angel had stayed at Buffy's house and then at Spike's and Cordelia was sick of it. She missed her brother and her mother seemed to be having her mid-life crisis. "Dawson's Creek comes on a couple of minutes and I want this to be over with before then."
Angel winced. How could she watch that garbage? He could barely stand the WB.
Cordelia sighed at her brother's lack of movement. "OK. Look, you have to face him sometime, Angel. Better sooner than never." Referring to Angel's and her father.
Angel nodded, standing up a little taller. "Your right...for once in your life."
Cordy chose to ignore the comment and pushed her brother through the door. Angel felt the tension leave his body when he stepped foot in his home. As much as he loved Buffy falling asleep in his arms, there was no place like home.
"Daddy? Mommy? I'm home." Cordelia yelled carelessly and her scream echoed across the large hallway.
"How was the school, sweetie?" Marie asked as she went to greet her daughter. Angel smiled at he saw his Mom for the first time in seven days. It might be childish but Angel didn't care. Marie gasped and put a hand to her chest as she saw her son standing next to Cordy. He looked healthy and Marie was thankful. She had imagined her son out on the streets, begging for money and shelter. She should have known better.
"Angelus!" Marie smiled and embraced her son. Angel hugged her back and Marie stepped away to look at his face. "Are you all right? You left in such a hurry and I was worried when you didn't come back the next morning."
"I'm fine, ma. I just stayed at a couple of friend's houses." Angel said softly. Marie sighed and hugged herself tightly.
"You know better than to talk back to your father like that."
"This isn't right." Angel sighed and ran his fingers through his ruffled hair. "It's time for us to talk back to him. I'm not taking this anymore, mother, and neither should you."
Cordy squeezed herself between her family members and tapped her wrist. "As much I would love to see the drama about to unfold, I really have to watch Dawson's Creek. Its kinda the season finale."
Angel rolled his eyes. What did he expect from his tactless sister?
"Go ahead." Marie sighed and Cordy gave an apologetic look to Angel and fled upstairs to her bedroom. Angel's mother looked to her son and motioned for him to take off his jacket.
"He just went out. He should be back in a couple hours."
****
"He is still not back yet?" Buffy asked over the phone two hours later. Angel shrugged helplessly.
"Obviously not."
"Don't get smart with me, boy." Buffy grinned playfully. Angel smiled into the phone.
"What are you going to do about?" He teased and he could just imagine Buffy giving him one of her seduction looks.
"Just wait until I get my hands on you."
Angel laughed and he leaned back into his chair. He was waiting patiently in the living room, watching the fire crackle in the fireplace and talking to his girlfriend. He suddenly didn't want his father to come home when he could just talk to Buffy all night. But he knew he needed to confront his father, as much as he hated to.
"I can't wait." Angel admitted with a husky voice. Buffy, back at her house, shivered.
"There is only thing that is stopping me from coming over there right now is the fact that my father will kill me." Buffy said and Angel could hear the sigh in her voice.
"Same here." Angel chuckled and glanced at the clock. It was midnight already and his eyes were starting to droop. Angel smiled softly when he heard Buffy's soft yawn.
"Tired baby?" He asked.
"Yeah." Buffy admitted.
"Alright. I will talk to you tomorrow."
"Bye sweetie. Good luck." Buffy hesitated. "I love you."
Angel felt his heart skip a beat. Out of all the times they had talked to each other, this was the first time that either of them said those three words, it felt great. Angel felt a large smile creeping on his lips.
"I love you too." He responded and the words felt natural coming out of his mouth. He could almost see Buffy smile as she hung up the phone. Angel hung up and sunk back into the chair, the smile seemed permanently stuck on his face. It didn't stay that way for long.
Angel nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard the front door swing wide open. Angel swung around in his chair to see his father stumble in, obviously drunk. The dark haired student winced, this was going to be a little bit harder to deal with. Angel took a deep breath and stood up. He walked over to wear his father was struggling to kick off his shoes. Daniel looked up and his eyes grew wide with shock when he saw his son.
"Boy! What the hell have I told you about coming here?" Daniel's words were slurred and Angel could barely understand what he was saying. He wouldn't bother trying to figure it out. Angel sighed. This was the first, and hopefully last, time he ever saw his father drunk. Daniel always held himself higher than that.
"I came to tell you that I'm back." The look of rage on Daniel's face was priceless. "I don't care what you say."
"I own this house. I can get you out on your ass if I want to." Angel's father stood up straight and held his face high. Angel didn't back down but stepped a bit closer.
"I'm staying in my house, Mom and Cordy can't deal with you but I can." Angel challenged and he felt anger boiling up inside of him when Daniel laughed.
"I should rip your head off." Daniel spat. "You couldn't take me if you tried."
Angel crossed his arms over his chest, his eye brows raised, inviting his father to say something else.
"You are a failure as a child. If I knew that I would have you as a son, I would have never fucked your mother!"
Angel's arms came out, pushing his father away from him into the marble stairs. Daniel fell and winced as his back and head slapped against the hard mineral stairs. Daniel saw red. How dare his son hit him? Angel looked a bit shocked too. He didn't even know what was happening until his father was lying on the floor. His father leapt up with a shout of rage and ran at his own son. Daniel swung blindly at Angel. Angel moved back but Daniel's knuckles caught his chin and Angel's head snapped to the side. The pain buzzed inside Angel's head but he ducked another swing from Daniel. Daniel's drunkenness only seemed to increase his rage but his hits were beginning to get sloppy. Angel took the opportunity to strike at his father's stomach. The air whooshed from his lungs and he bent over, sucking in deep breaths of air.
"Angel!" A frantic call came from the stairs and Angel took his gaze away from his wheezing father to glance at the owner of the voice.
"Mom!" Angel shouted and turned away from Daniel for a second. "Go back into your room and stay there!"
Marie's wide eyes showed her fear. She was slowly descending down the stairs and stopped halfway. She was awoken from the sounds of a fight and she ran out of her room to witness her son beating up her husband. Or vis versa. Daniel's attention was torn from Angel and the his vision swarmed as he pushed Angel away from the stairs. Angel stumbled and fell hard on the wood floor. Daniel looked up at the blurry vision of his wife. Her! That bitch.
"You! You were the one who caused all of this!" Daniel spat, gesturing towards Angel who was shaking his head to make the colors in his vision go away.
"Daniel! Stop it. Your acting insane. This is our son!" Marie cried out, she was shaking terribly.
"I don't have a son!" Daniel paused and his eyes gleamed dangerously. "And soon I won't have a wife." With that, Daniel started a sloppy dash up the stairs. Marie screamed as she stumbled to run back up the stairs. She just made it to the second story when Daniel grabbed her arms, spinning her around, and pushed her up against the wall. Marie screamed as she desperately tried to push her angry and drunk husband away.
Daniel's vision swam and he felt vomit sting his throat. His mind was plagued with thoughts and how this bitch of a wife betrayed him. It was all her fault that his son turned out to be a wimp. Her fault! Daniel's fingers wrapped around Marie's throat. Her eyes went wide and she scratched at Daniel's large hands as he applied pressure. Marie felt her lungs burn from the lack of air and tears sprung to her eyes.
"Dad!?" Cordy screamed as she ran from her bedroom. What was he doing? "Stop it! Leave her alone!" She ran at her father, weakly trying to push him away but Daniel kicked her away easily. Ohgodohgodohgod.
"Get off of her!" Angel yelled as he grabbed his father roughly detaching him from his mother and punched him as hard as he could. Marie dropped to the floor, clutching her neck and gasping for air. Cordelia quickly crawled to her side.
Angel let out a cry of rage and punched Daniel again. This time, Daniel fell back. Everything seemed to go in slow motion as Daniel's body flew back, tumbling down the stairs. The marble steps were tinted with blood as Daniel's head slapped against them. It seemed like forever until Angel's father hit the floor. Angel stared, his eyes were wide with horror and his mouth open. Daniel's neck was twisted at a weird angle and his leg was bending the wrong way.
"Oh my God..." Angel whispered.
Part 26
Buffy sighed and leaned her head towards the sun. She was on a beach in Hawaii and Brad Pitt was rubbing her feet and Angel was massaging her shoulders. Yeah, this is the life.
Buffy groaned when she was awoken from her beautiful dream by the phone ringing loudly in her room. This better be good. Buffy blindly reached for the phone.
"What?" She snapped. All she wanted to do was get back to sleep with that wonderful dream.
"Bint! Something bad happened. There are cops and ambulances all over Angel's house." Spike's rough British voice sounded frantically over the phone. Buffy quickly felt awake and her heart started pounding. Oh God! What is something happened to Angel? Or Cordelia?
"What happened? Is Angel okay?" Buffy yelled into the phone, already getting up trying to find her shoes. She needed to go there, she needed to find out what happened.
"I don't know! Faith and I just got a call from Xander who got a call from Willow who saw the police and-" Spike started to ramble.
"Spike! Stop."
"I'll come pick you up. Faith and I are out the door."
Buffy hung up the phone and ran out of her room. Buffy grabbed a jacket as she flew down the stairs. She briefly wondered why Faith was over at Spike's house this late a night. Nevermind, she didn't even want to know.
"Dad! I'll be back, something bad happened!" Buffy yelled up the stairs to her father, who was most likely sleeping and didn't hear a word she just said. Buffy looked down at her clothes. She was wearing a large T-shirt that went down to her mid thigh and checkered flannel pajama pants with her father's large jacket. She didn't even want to look at her hair.
***
Spike made it to her house in record time and Buffy quickly jumped into the car. Both Faith and Spike looked a nervous as she did. The cryptic phone call from Xander was enough to make Spike on edge. Buffy nervously fiddled with her hands as Spike sped towards Angel's house. Buffy gasped involuntarily when she saw four cop cars, an ambulance, and a bunch of onlookers standing outside of yellow tape.
Buffy jumped out of the car, even though Spike just started to slow down and ran towards the scene. She felt like her heart was in her throat and trepidation was creeping up her spine. God, let everything be okay. Faith caught up to Buffy quickly as she stopped at the yellow tape. Buffy looked at Faith with wide eyes then looked down at the police tape.
"Well, what are you waiting for, bints?" Spike said from behind them and ducked under the tape.
"Hey! Stop! Get back behind the damn tape!" A large police officer yelled at the three teenagers.
"Shut up." Spike snapped back. He was angry and tired and he wanted to know what happened to Angel and Cordelia. "This is my friend's house and I have a bloody right to know what's going on."
Faith and Buffy winced. Spike couldn't even be nice to a police officer.
"Yeah. And I am Martha Stewart." The police officer took a step towards them, trying to push them back behind the yellow tape.
"No. Its okay, they are friends." Cordy said softly behind the police officer. Buffy gasped at Cordy's ragged appearance. Her eyes were red and puffy and tear tracks were evident on her cheeks. Her clothes were disheveled and her hair looked like it has been through hell. The police officer glared at the teenagers before stepping aside.
"Cordy." Spike breathed a sigh of relief and gathered his friend into a large bear hug. Buffy sighed and closed her eyes. Thank Gods she was all right.
"What happened?" Faith asked.
"Is Angel alright?" Buffy asked. Cordy shrugged her shoulders.
"I don't know." The brunette replied.
"What kind of answer is that?" Buffy practically screamed. Her heart was pounding so hard that she could hear it in her ears.
"Buffy." A soft husky voice sounded to the right of her. Buffy spun around to see her boyfriend, his appearance similar to Cordelia's.
"Oh God." Buffy breathed before running and jumping into his arms, wrapping her legs around his waist. She breathed in his scent and clung to him for dear life. She could barely believe that he wasn't in the hospital or something. Her mind made up all these horrible scenarios and to know that Angel was okay was heaven. Buffy immediately knew something was wrong when she felt his tense body against hers and his arms seem to be lack around her. Buffy waited a second more before slowly untangling herself from Angel.
"What happened? I was so worried, I thought something happened to you." Buffy blinked back the tears in her eyes and put her hands on his chest, just to make sure that he was really there. Angel didn't respond but just stared down at her.
"Angel say something." Buffy whimpered. "Please."
Angel's stoic expression held strong. "I killed him." Angel looked coldly down at her. It wasn't her business. What kind of girl wanted to stay with a murderer? Angel wanted nothing more to crawl out of his skin and get away from here. From everyone. Especially Buffy. He didn't need this.
"Killed who? Angel, baby, your not making any sense."
"Excuse me, Sir. I think it is time that you went with us." The same annoying police officer that had taunted them roughly grabbed Angel's arm. Angel's eyes widened for a second and before a stoic expression came over his features. Buffy frowned and roughly pulled Angel out of the police officer's grip.
"What do you he has to go with you? He is not going anywhere." Buffy's voice was cold and dark, her glare was deadly.
"Ms..." The cop took a step closer to the blonde.
"Buffy." Angel coldly to his girlfriend then glanced at the cop. The cop nodded and gently guided Angel away from the befuddled Buffy. Why did he gave her that look? Did she do something wrong?
Buffy whirled around to look at Cordelia who was hugging her mother close. Spike and Faith didn't meet her eyes but Buffy knew that had been listening to their conversation. Spike looked down at his hands.
"Somebody better tell me why Cordy is crying? Why did Angel say that? Why are they taking him away? Somebody tell me what the hell is going on before have a fucking stroke!" Buffy shouted loudly. Several onlookers' attention went towards Buffy but she didn't care.
"Bint." Spike said soothingly but Buffy shook her head and wrapped her arms tightly around herself. "Angel's dad is dead. Angel killed him."
Part 27
"So he attacked your mother." The detective circled around his suspect like a vulture, watching his every move, every expression. Sure, the kid looked innocent enough but nobody ever knows what these kids do these days. "Then what?"
"My sister jumped on him but he knocked her away." Angel said dully. He couldn't look the pushing detective in the eye. Everything was so fucked up. He wanted nothing more than to curl up in a nice dark place and never wake up.
"Is that when you threw him down the stairs?"
Angel winced and looked back down at his hands. God, who was this guy? Snyder's father? Do trolls have fathers?
"I didn't mean to."
"Well you did." The detective sighed and sat down in the chair in the Interrogation Room. Two other police officers and a lawyer were on the other side of the one way mirror.
"Has he ever hit you or your siblings before?"
"He just pushed me once." Angel remembered with a wince and he couldn't help but look at the clock on the far wall. Angel felt empty. Sure, a part of him was sad that his father who raised him was dead, yet another part of him was screaming in victory. He was torn.
"That's it? A little shove?" The rude detective continued.
Angel raised a daring eyebrow and for the first time in the whole three hours, Angel stared him hard in the eye. "It was more than a little shove."
The man stared at his suspect before sighing and nodding.
"Am I under arrest?" The dark student asked.
"No. This is a case of self-defense. You should be glad that you saved your mother in time." The detective actually showed Angel some respect for the first time but Angel didn't feel like getting up and doing a victory dance. He was exhausted yet he didn't want to go home. He never wanted to go home again and to think that all of this started with his yearning to be part of his home once more. Angel chuckled bitterly to himself and the detective raised an eyebrow.
"This is not going to be easy to deal with. I suggest a councilor of some sort. The ones at this police station are very good."
"I don't need some therapist lecturing me." Angel snapped darkly. The detective nodded, ignoring the student's dark attitude. There was a long spell of silence before Angel groaned impatiently.
"Can I go now?"
"You think I want you here? No offense, kid, but you scare the shit out of me." The detective chuckled and switched off the tape recorder before walking to the door.
****
Angel rolled his eyes as the phone rang *again*. Damn, will these people ever stop calling? Might as well get it over with. Angel tiredly reached over and grabbed the phone off the cradle.
"Hello?" He asked, bored.
"God damn man! What the hell happened to you? Buffy was in hysterics when the fuzz took you away and you weren't at school today. Everyone is worried about you. The whole school is saying your on death row!" Spike yelled frantically over the phone.
"Hey Spike." Angel answered simply. Angel looked, bored, around his room. He could still hear Cordelia bitching outside the door, screaming at him to come out. Why should he listen to her? He was the one who had power in this house. He was almost a fucking criminal.
"Angel, we are friends. Talk to me. Tell me what the fuck is going on!"
"Nothing. Everything is fine." Angel said smoothly.
"You don't sound to good, man." Spike paused and Angel could hear a woman's frantic voice in the background. "Buffy thinks you hate her or something."
"Why does she think this is about her? Why does she think everything is about her?"
Spike blinked and pulled the phone away from his ear to stare at it. Did he dial the wrong number? Was this *their* Angel who was actually dissing Buffy? Spike was half tempted to go over and look out the window to see if pigs were flying.
"Uhh. Sure." Spike said slowly. "You know you could talk to me, right Ang?"
Angel chuckled bitterly. "Yeah. Whatever."
"Hey. What the hell does that mean?" Spike growled, not liking his tone of voice. "I happen to be very approachable."
"Keep telling yourself that. I'll be back at school tomorrow and tell that blonde to fucking relax." Angel snapped before hanging up the phone. That was one thing taken care of. Angel leaned back against his pillows and closed his eyes. He quickly regretted it when he saw a flash of his father laying dead at the bottom of his stairs. No! He quickly forced his eyes opened with a gasp. He couldn't allow this to get to him, he just had to keep his walls up and he would be fine.
"Angel! I swear to God if you don't open this door I will break it down!" Cordelia screamed from the outside of Angel's room. The occupant inside the room winced, rolled off his bed, and opened the door.
"Its called knocking." Angel muttered before returning to lay down in his bed.
"Its called opening the door when I *did* knock the first hundred times." Cordy snapped and ran her fingers through her perfect brown hair.
"Angel what the hell is wrong with you? I know you probably have this big guilt trip going on but you can't feel bad about this. You saved me and Mom, isn't that enough for you to feel a little bit better?" Cordy sighed and sat down at the edge of his bed. Angel didn't answer but just stared up at the ceiling, not even taking time to glance at his distressed sister.
"I mean, its like you were James Bond and now you are Barney the Purple Dinosaur, expect with less singing." She pushed, waving her hands around.
"I'm fine, Cordelia." Angel said, still not looking at her. "I'm glad that he is dead."
The Queen C looked down at her hands. She missed her dad but she didn't miss the man that he was the day he was killed. A part of her was glad that he was dead too but to hear it from the person that killed him, her own brother, was a bit Hannibal Lector.
"Then why are hiding in this room? Time to face the music." His sister said.
"I'm not hiding Damn, why is everyone on my back about this?" Angel muttered more to himself than to Cordelia.
"Because you acting like a fucking baby." Cordy snapped, losing her patience. "Now. Go downstairs, get something to eat, change you clothes for God sakes and go out with your friends. Or just do something." The brunette got off his bed and walked to the door, already tired of arguing. It was like talking to a wall or Xander or something.
Angel didn't respond but just stared at the spot on his ceiling, only his blinking indicated that he was still alive, at least physically.
****
"Well what did he say?" Buffy eagerly asked when Spike hung up the phone. Faith, Spike, Buffy and Oz were all gathered in Buffy's bedroom. This was the first phone call that Angel had picked up and it would probably be the last with that look on Spike's face.
"He said everything was fine but I don't think he is okay. He sounded....strange. Like he was totally cool about everything." Spike sighed and the hopeful look on Buffy's face vanished.
"Maybe somebody should try going to his house." Buffy suggested. She was wigged out to say the least. She missed Angel and she was completely worried about him. He wasn't talking to anyone, pushing himself further and further away from the world.
"Already did." Faith sighed and glanced around Buffy's bedroom again. She would kill to have a nice bedroom like this. Her bedroom was more like a whole in the wall.
"I think he just needs some time to himself." Oz spoke up. "Collect his thoughts."
"He accidentally killed his own father." Buffy argued. "He shouldn't be alone right now."
"Maybe Oz is right. I mean, Angel has a good way of coping with things." Spike said slowly, trying not to anger the hyper sensitive Buffy.
"But he is all alone now. He doesn't have anyone to take comfort in." Buffy sighed and slumped down in her chair. Faith put a gentle hand on her arm.
"Don't worry about it, B. Angel is cool, he will get through this."
"How can you be sure?" Buffy asked softly.
"You can't." Oz answered and Buffy frowned. She was hoping for something comforting but she guessed she would have to face the truth instead.
Part 28
Angel walked confidently through the hallway of Sunnydale High, his head was raised high and shoulders stiff. In the corner of his he could see a couple of students whispering and looking in his direction. Normally, that would have bruised his ego but right now he didn't care. Didn't care for anything. This way, he won't get hurt or just randomly kill who ever pissed him off the most. He should really avoid Spike today.
"Angel!" A loud shout across the hallway made Angel halt and turn around. Angel raised an impatient eyebrow at brownish blondish hair student.
"Penn."
"What's up, man? What's with all these rumors and how come you missed practice? People are saying you escaped out of jail to come throw Snyder off the top of the building." Penn looked at his friend strangely.
Angel blinked. Not a bad idea. Where did that come from? Oh God...
"That's not true." Angel said, his strong walls crumbling slowly.
"Yeah, I know." Penn grinned and nudged his friend in the ribs. "Because I know your not some sort of a loony killer."
Angel's stoic expression was back in place and he shied away from the real world. Desperately closing himself in, hiding behind the walls of uncaring.
"You would be surprised." Angel muttered before walking away, leaving a confused and worried Penn behind.
****
"Ugh!" Willow yelled and pulled at her red hair. She felt like throwing a big tantrum, right in the middle of school, filled with the laying on her stomach and kicking her legs violently. Wouldn't be a real breakdown without that.
"Its okay." Oz said putting a comforting hand on Willow's arm.
"Nothing is okay! He just walked by me. He *ignored* me. I haven't been ignored since the third grade. I'm just not a ignorable person! What if I am becoming ignored? Do I have a sign on my face that says "Please Ignore the Redhead?" Willow yelled.
Oz blinked, his face expressionless. "No." He answered simply.
Willow sighed and looked down at her hands. "Sorry. I'm just a little bit angry about Angel and all. I mean, we are his best friends. You think he would talk to one of us."
"I still stand next to my theory of 'alone time'." Oz said.
"Hey guys." Buffy and Xander came and sat down at the lunch table with them.
"Why the cloudy face, Will?" Xander asked his best friend.
"I saw Angel today."
Buffy's eyes grew wide and she leaned forward in her chair to listen more closely. "You did? Did he say anything? Is he okay?"
"Slow down. He just walked by me in the hallway. He is tall so maybe he just didn't see me." Willow shrugged weakly and watched sadly as Buffy sunk back in her seat.
"Damn that man." Xander muttered, shattering the awkward silence.
"I guess that I just have to find him and talk to him." Buffy said slowly, but her face was determined.
"Uh, question?" Xander asked, raising his hand. "If he didn't talk to anybody, not even his own sister, what makes you think that he is going to talk to you?"
"I'll make him talk to me. No more Mrs. Nice guy...girl." Buffy took a deep breath and gathered her books off the lunch table before walking away to find her troubled boyfriend.
"If this was a movie then this is were the scary music would be playing." Xander muttered before taking a bite of his apple.
"Dum dom dom dun dum." Oz filled in.
"Thanks man." Xander replied.
****
Angel prepared himself mentally as he felt the familiar shivers go up and down his spine. Buffy was nearing him. He felt his heart start racing and his stomach seemed to try and separate it's self from his body.
"Angel." Buffy said sternly and grabbed his arm, spinning him to face her. Angel desperately tried to tamper down his anger and annoyance. Why did he even come to school today?
"What?" Angel snapped. Buffy ignored his tone as best as she could.
"You are going to shut up and listen to me. No more tough-guy act." Buffy said, pushing her boyfriend to sit down on one of the many stone benches in the courtyard of her school. Angel rolled his eyes but did not move to get up from the bench.
"What the hell is up your ass?" Buffy shouted and several onlooking students paused to stare at them. "I'm trying to call you because I'm worried sick about you and you don't even care. You have friends who are trying to help you during this hard time and you shun us away."
"I don't need your help. I'm perfectly fine, better than ever." Angel stared hard up at her, his features revealed nothing.
"Oh, I'm sure." Buffy snapped sarcastically. "You can lie to yourself like that Angel, but not to your friends. Not to me."
"I don't need to lie to myself. I'm not. I'm glad that I killed that son of a bitch and I think that I'm going to be even happier when I suddenly loose my temper on you!" Angel shouted, standing up violently, forcing Buffy to take a step back. Buffy swallowed hard and blinked tears away from her eyes.
"Your not going to scare me away, Angel. I know that your hurting and-"
"You know nothing!" Angel yelled.
"Because you don't tell me what's going on. I need to know whats wrong with you Angel. I know you want me to help and I know your just scared." Buffy desperately tried to reason with him but her flinching from his yelling was getting the best of her. Flashes of Riley Finn were shooting through her mind and she felt her emotions would soon overwhelm her.
"I'm scared of nothing! I committed murder, Buffy. You really want to love a murderer? It will probably end up just like you last relationship!" Angel shouted and his walls were falling down fast and he could hear his heartbreaking over and over.
A soft sob tumbled from Buffy's lips and she wrapped her arms tightly around herself, desperately trying to block his words and the images in her head. "I want to love you." She whispered softly.
Angel blinked at her declaration. "But you can't."
"No." Buffy said strongly, ignoring the tears tracking down her cheeks. "I *do* love you."
Angel stared at her, unmoving. His eyes wide with disbelief that even after all he had done to her, she still loved him. With a muffled cry Angel gathered Buffy tightly in his arms, breathing in her scent and sighing out of pure relief. Buffy sobbed into his chest, staining his shirt with her tears. She was suddenly very glad that he was holding her because she was sure her legs were made out of jelly right now.
There was a loud applause from the gathering students around them and Faith whistled as she watched the lovers reunite.
"This is *way* better than Passions." Spike muttered as he clapped with all of the other onlookers.
Part 29
In the morning was the last day of school for students of Sunnydale High. Students said goodbyes to the seniors and all the men said 'hello' to the new young freshmen. Sadly, Mr. Snyder was keeping his job as principal. There had been a celebration of throwing around books and papers, bonfires, dances, and house parties. Though the big party was at the Bronze where half of the population of Sunnydale High was getting drunk, making out, or dancing their ass off. An even *bigger* celebration at the Bronze was held to all the football players who were first in state.
Spike sighed and looked down at his glass of water. Water? He had a huge craving for a Bloody Mary or some Vodka but he knew that if he wanted to keep Faith, he had to be the permeant designated driver. Willow sat happily on Oz's lap. Even though it was the best thing that school was out, she was going to miss seeing all of her friends and doing everyone's homework.
"I feel so honored." Faith grinned.
"That you have such good friends like us?" Xander asked.
"No." Faith showed her yearbook to Xander. "I was voted 'Best Bad Girl.'" Sure enough, in the yearbook was a picture of Faith who had her middle finger up and her tongue sticking out. Willow and Oz had been voted Cutest Couple and Cordelia was Best Dressed. Though Xander had written 'un' in front of 'dressed'. He seemed to get a big kick out of it. Surprisingly, Xander and Cordelia had not gotten into a fight since they got back together. Sure there was the occasional 'I hate you's but it never ended without a make out session.
"Well, I feel a little gypped about not being voted the Smartest Student." Willow admitted.
"Well, you are the smartest out of all of us." Buffy chirped from her spot on Angel's lap. The whole group was gathered at a large table in the crowded Bronze.
"Thanks. That makes me feel better." Willow smiled sarcastically.
"It bloody should. I happen to be the second smartest here." Spike grinned.
"Yeah right. You couldn't count up to two before I taught you everything." Faith grinned.
"Yes. You taught me a *lot* of things." Spike shared a mischievous grin with his girlfriend.
"Okay, eww." Cordy frowned.
"I have to say this was my best year so far." Angel smiled softly into Buffy's neck. There had been so problems and talking but everyone finally seemed to forgive Angel for his shunning. Everything seems to be okay. Buffy knew that Angel was not one to share all of his feelings and his father's death would haunt him for a while, but Buffy knew that she could help him through it.
"Me too." Buffy smiled and shared a smile kiss with her boyfriend.
"A toast," Xander said, raising his drink. "to the best of this year and to hope for the best for next year."
"Amen." Oz muttered and the group knocked their cups together. There was a comfortable silence when everyone listened to the music and the babbling of all of the other students in the Bronze.
"I don't know about you party poopers but I'm going to go get down with my bad self." Xander said and got off his chair and waited for Cordelia to join him.
"What?" Cordy asked.
"I think that was our cue to leave and go dance." Xander raised an eyebrow at her.
"I'm sorry Xander but I really can't be seen in public with you and your dancing."
Faith grinned and got up. "All right, Xand, I'll dance."
Xander smiled triumphantly when Cordy got up quickly. "Okay, since you talked me into dancing." The Queen C *hated* how her boyfriend danced but it was better than Faith's mating ritual.
"Works every time." Faith sat back in her seat with a grin. Willow and Oz silently moved over to the dance floor, their arms wrapped tightly around each other in the mist of drunk students.
"I'm glad you two are okay now." Buffy smiled encouragely at Spike and Faith.
"Me too but is this no alcohol thing really necessary?" Spike whined.
"Hell yeah." Faith said, looking into Spike's glass for the seventh time this night to make sure it wasn't beer.
"Doesn't that suck?" Spike muttered to himself.
"Speaking of, how are things with your dad?" Buffy asked Faith with compassion and pity in her eyes. Buffy thought she had family problems but it kind of seemed petty compared to Faith's abusive father.
"Spike called social services on him a couple weeks ago." Faith looked down at her hands. "They are taking him to jail and since I'm not old enough to take care of myself they are making me stay with a guardian."
Spike grabbed Faith around the waist and pulled her on to his lap. "Don't worry, pet. I didn't think that things would go this far. I just wanted to make sure you were safe."
"You did the right thing." Angel nodded. Fathers were getting to be a bit of a sore subject for him but he forced himself to stay calm.
"I know." Spike grinned casually.
"So full of yourself?" Faith raised an eyebrow.
"Damn straight."
"Hey! How come you fine ladies aren't dancing?" Penn walked over to their table and looked the two girls up and down.
"She is waiting for her *boyfriend*." The bleach blonde said, hugging Faith possessively. Penn just grinned and winked at him.
"Hey Penn." Angel said.
"Sup?"
"Nothing much. Hey, I wanted to thank you for getting rid of Darla for me." Angel said, remembering his football friend saving him from that bitch.
Penn just grinned. "Trust me, the pleasure was all mine. You should have seen her face when I told her off. Think that she could just control everyone, take that you dumb walking STD."
Buffy smiled triumphantly. "I really like you."
"All of the ladies do." Penn made a clicking sound with his tongue and Buffy chuckled.
"Sure they do." Spike grunted.
Penn ignored Spike's comment and glanced over to the stage were the DJ was announcing the next band playing next.
"Yo, I gotta go! The Bronze offered me a little gig here. The students voted that I should sing so you better get your asses out there and dance." With that, Penn hurried away to the stage and took the microphone. A slow jazz song came on and Penn's soothing voice made the girls stop dancing with their boyfriends and start drooling at the hottie on the stage.
"That is our cue." Buffy said, hopping off Angel's lap and leading him to the dance floor followed by Spike and Faith.
Buffy sighed as she wrapped her arms around Angel's neck and his went around her waist, holding her flush up against him. Their foreheads were touching and Angel's lips gently whispered soothing nonsense against her skin.
"Angel?"
"Hm?" He asked.
"Thank you. For making this year anything but a living hell." Buffy smiled.
"You thought it was going to be that bad?"
"Have you ever been the new girl in school?" Buffy played with the small hairs on the back of his neck.
"Just once...I'm not sure about that girl thing though." Angel grinned and kissed her lips softly.
Yes, this year was definitely something to remember.
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