This takes place during Season 5 and is dedicated to Lilah and Pat, who have decided that every ANGEL fic could be better with a little shirtless training session…. I hope you're happy!

What A Girl Wants

"You ready?" Angel asked as he stripped off his shirt and draped it over the bench near Wesley's.

Wes nodded and pressed a final button on the control panel. Angel heard a soft hum and the entire thing slid back into the training room wall.

"So… what exactly is going to happen? Holograms or something?" Angel walked over to the display of weapons and tried to decide which one he wanted to use.

"The simulations are a blend of computer and magick. This room was designed to give us a number of life threatening situations, a number of different opponent types. From what I gather, our opponents will be solid." Wes smiled slightly. "It's ingenious really. And all relatively safe."

Angel paused. "Relatively?"

Wesley hesitated a bit. "I've never actually used it. There are fail safes… one would assume."

Angel swung his arms and rotated his head, stretching his shoulder muscles. "Oh sure. Because wouldn't it be terrible for Wolfram and Hart if I just happened to get dusted during a training session."

"I hardly think they would go through all of this to do that. The simulation can injure us but will be prevented from striking any fatal blows." Wesley bent his knees and extended his arms out in front of him.

Angel turned slightly. "Oh? How does it determine fatal and non-fatal?"
A surprised look came over Wes' face. "You know…" he said slowly. " I don't really know."

Angel stared at him for a moment then let out a short laugh. "Ok, well I guess we'll just see won't we? Do these magickal solid holograms bleed?"

"Apparently that's part of the simulation."

Angel pulled two broadswords off the wall.

"Good." he said with a grin and tossed one of the weapons to Wes.

Wesley rolled his eyes. "When you're ready, just say 'start'. I've programmed it to respond to your voice."

"Uh huh. But you don't know the routine?" Angel crouched slightly and rocked back on his heels. Stretching his arms above his head, he lowered them slowly.

Wesley bounced slightly on the balls of his feet, rolling his shoulders forward. "Of course not, that would be cheating."

Angel smirked slightly. "Ok then. Let's get it on.

Start!"

Illyria watched from behind two-way glass as the automatic training program began. Several holographic warriors appeared before Wesley and the vampire, Angel. She sniffed in distain. Never had she used a simulation in the room- she much preferred pummeling Spike instead.

A hologram could not give her the satisfaction that a real combatant could. Although, as she watched one of the holographic warrior sweep Wes' feet out from under him, they did seem to be solid enough.

The human rolled and came up quickly. He blocked the next strike.

"I know you are there." she said without taking her eyes off of Wesley.

"Uh, hi." Nina stepped into the doorway and stopped. Angel had warned her about Illyria- who looked like Fred, but wasn't. "I was looking for Angel. Just wanted to say 'hi', before, you know, I go get locked up."

Illyria studied her for a moment. She despised being around humans and did not interact with them unless she had too. Except for Wesley.

This one however triggered one of the shell's memories.

"You are Nina. You are a werewolf." She stated. "You are strength and chaos. Yet you allow yourself to be caged and controlled."

Illyria turned back toward the window.

"Hey!" Nina's brows drew together and she stepped farther into the room. "I'm doing the right thing. I don't want to hurt…"

Her eyes widened as she saw the spectacle in the training room.

"Oh… my…"

Angel was caught between two warriors, seemingly trapped. Suddenly, he whipped his right leg up and clipped one of them on the side of the head. Without pausing, his left arm swung up and into the face of the other one. There was a brief flash of his own demon before he was in control again and after another opponent.

Illyria cocked her head to the side and watched Nina watch the men train.

No. She corrected herself. She watches Angel.

It occurred to her that the woman could be of some use to her.

"Your body warms." She said to Nina. "You desire the vampire."

Nina's mouth turned up at the corners and she continued to watch.

Angel crouched, then leapt quickly to the side. A warrior rushed through the place Angel had been and into the sweep of the vampire's sword.

"Oh yeah. I do." Nina said softly. "Can they… can they hear us?" She asked.

Illyria gestured to the panel under the window. "The window is controlled by that device. They can neither hear nor see us now. If you wish I can make it so…."

"No!" Nina put her hand up. "No, that's ok." She turned her attention back to the training room.

Wesley was being backed up toward the wall. Quickly he stepped forward and ran one of his attackers through. Illyria nodded slightly, satisfied by his performance. Her gaze traveled to Nina again, who was still watching Angel intently.

"He rules here." Illyria said. "He has strength and power in this kingdom. I understand why you wish to be his consort."

Nina blinked and then looked at Illyria. She wasn't sure where this was going exactly. This Illyria seemed to want something but Nina didn't know what it was.

"Well… yeh. Sure, there's that. But look at him!" Nina smiled and gestured into the training room.

Angel stood in the center of the room, legs apart, arms wide as if daring the remaining warriors to attack. Sweat glistened on his face and chest. He turned and for the first time Nina saw the tattoo on his back, dark against his pale skin.

"He's beautiful." Nina said softly.

Illyria considered Angel.

As she had said, Angel was the ruler here. Illyria understood power and control. These were the things to desire in a consort to her way of thinking.

Yet the shell had considered other things as important as well.

Memories that were not Illyria's flooded her mind.

A cave in some other reality.

Being alone and then being saved.

"A handsome man saved me from the monsters." Illyria whispered too softly for Nina to hear. She shook her head slightly.

The shell had thought Angel was beautiful. For a time, that had been all the shell had thought about.

That seemed long ago.

"What of Wesley?" Illyria said. "Do you not find him beautiful?"

Nina focused her attention on Wesley. He stood, back to a wall, gaze intent on the two warriors attacking him. She didn't know much about him except that he seemed to be a bookworm. That impression however was overshadowed now by the cool efficient way he fought. Nina grinned as she watched the muscles in his arms and chest flex. "Who wouldn't? He's all kinds of yummy."

"Yummy." Illyria thought about that for a moment. "This is a term for food." Her voice lowered, and her eyes focused intently on Nina. "You are a werewolf. Are you saying you wish to eat Wesley?"

Nina flushed. "OH! No! I meant that he's… uh…"

"She meant that he's sexy." Eve strolled into the room. She peered through the window. "Mmmm. Now that is quite a sight. Hot, sweaty, half naked men… makes you glad to be a woman doesn't it?"

Illyria looked from the woman to the training room, then back to Eve.

"Glad to be a woman." she said. "So you can have sexual intercourse with them, correct?"

Eve grinned. "Been there, honey. Well, been there, anyway." She pointed at Angel and smirked at Nina's surprised look. "Oh, didn't he tell you?"

"No, he didn't." Nina said her eyes narrowing. "Must not have been worth talking about."

Eve glared at her. "Listen Lassie, I know when it's good and that was very good!"

"Oh? I had no idea you were a professional. Although, I guess I should have, considering that dress!"

"Will this be a fight to the death?" Illyria asked.

The two women stopped arguing and stared at her.

"What?" they asked in unison.

"You desire the same mate." Illyria said, somewhat confused. "Will you now fight for him?"

"No." Nina said quickly. "No, that's not what's going on."

"Mate? I'm not interested in Angel." Eve lowered her eyes. "I have a boyfriend." She mumbled.

Illyria studied her silently. The one called Eve was not being entirely truthful but that did not concern her.

"Sexual intercourse. I have only this shell's memories of it. I wish to experience this myself. What must I do to make this happen?" She asked.

Nina and Eve exchanged surprised looks.

"Uh…well that's sort of…" Nina shrugged helplessly.

Eve laughed and leaned against the windowsill.

"Oh, what's wrong? Haven't done the deed with Angel yet? Can't find the right words, like Illyria here?

Angel froze in mid-swing. His opponent took the opportunity to land several blows, knocking him to the ground.

"What?! Stop program!"

His opponent continued to advance.

"Stop… cease… END, damn it!"

The remaining warriors disappeared.

"Angel, that's cheating. We are supposed to fight until.." Wesley began.

"SHHHH!" Angel hissed. "Listen!"

"Hey, it's none of your business if I've slept with Angel or not! And it's none of your business how it's going to happen!"

Wesley's eyes widened. "Look," he said pointing to the window. "They're in the observation room."

Angel could see Illyria, Nina and Eve standing in the now visible observation room. The three of them were so intent on their conversation, they had failed to notice there was no longer a fight to observe.

"I wish to know how you intend to get him to have intercourse with you." Illyria was saying. "So that I may use this knowledge as well. "

Angel risked a sideways glance at Wes. He seemed paler than usual.

"They…" Wesley sputtered. "They're talking about…"

Angel nodded. "Yeh, they are."

Illyria turned her gaze on Eve. "You were with the vampire. He was under the influence of magick but you will tell me what it was like."

"HEY!" Nina shook her head. "Look, I really don't want to hear…"

"We were both under the influence of magick!" Eve said quickly. "That's the only reason I…"

"STOP! Right now! This is too weird!" Nina put her hands up and took a deep breath. "Eve, you need to just stay away from me. And I'm sorry Illyria but I'm not going to give you the low down on how I'm going to seduce…"

She looked up and her eyes met Angel's in the training room.

"Oh shit." she whispered.

Eve turned quickly. Her eyes went wide. "Oh! I… must have sat on the button." She looked from Angel to Nina and smirked.

"I guess now you don't need the right words. Don't say I never did anything for you." she said as she sauntered out of the room.

"I'm… I'm going to go… um…. it's a werewolf thing." Nina stammered as she hurried out the door.

Illyria stood and studied the two men. Her gaze traveled over each of their bodies slowly.

She cocked her head slightly.

"As I understand it, you are both very beautiful." She pronounced. "I will think more on this."

Without another word, she left the room.

Angel and Wesley looked at each other.

"Um…what the hell just happened?" Angel said after a moment.

Wes shook his head. "I honestly don't know. I honestly don't think I want to know…"

"Yeh, I think you're right." Angel said.

Wesley nodded to himself. "Um, do you feel somewhat, uh…?"

"Naked?" Angel asked.

"Yes."

"Yeh. Let's get out of here."

Wes picked up his shirt and tossed Angel his. "Perhaps, in the future, we should lock that observation room."

"That memo goes out immediately." Angel agreed.