Hey! This is my third story as you all probably know,(yes, I will be finishing the other two stories. I hope to get the next chapters of both posted over Christmas break.) and I hope to make this the best. The idea hit me on the way home from a shopping trip and I haven't been able to get it out of my head. It just seems to be the perfect idea for an AU fic. So, here goes nothing. I hope you get a good laugh out of it if nothing else.

Title: Recipe for Disaster?

Rating: At the moment PG-13

Summary: AU fic in the strictest sense of the word. Buffy and Co. are police officers and Angel's the new detective on the force. Is there a budding romance in the cards or a recipe for disaster?

A/N: To Rebecca: I think I know what I'm doing on this one. No quint jumps or misinformation involved. Just a normal AU fic. And it is fiction because the characters are fictional, as is the plot. So get your facts straight before you go insulting mine.

Detective Buffy Summers walked into the police station at eight fifteen looking haggard and worn out from a late night stake out of the house of a local woman who thought she was being stalked by her ex husband. She had been out until one in the morning and had been rewarded with very little sleep. Luckily, everything had turned out to be a false alarm and she was able to finish the paperwork on the case that morning.

"Summers! In my office!" Police Chief Rupert Giles demanded, seeing Buffy heading toward her office. Buffy turned and walked into Giles' office.

"Yeah Chief?"

"Buffy, have a seat. I need to talk to you about a very pressing matter."

"What's the matter?"

"Nothing's wrong. How long have you been here Buffy? Four years?"

Buffy nodded. "I graduated from the academy when I was nineteen, came here right after. Made detective two years after that and here I am. Why? Am I up for something?"

"In two months you're up for another promotion. But that's not why you're here."

"Why am I here?"

"We have a new guy coming in later this week. A detective like you. A couple years older though. He's twenty five I believe. Anyway, he's a transfer from San Diego and he needs a partner. Seeing as how you've been without one for a while, I'm assigning him to you. He'll be here tomorrow morning. He got in this morning and starts promptly at eight a.m. Any questions?"

"Why me? There are plenty of newbies out of the academy."

"You're on his level and you think the same way. I met with him earlier this morning and I think you'll get along very well. By the way, how was the stake out?"

"Nothing turned up. The ex was in bed all night and the stalker turned out to be a family of raccoons in the garbage cans. I'm writing up my report this morning. What's next for me to do?"

"Nothing right now. Catch up on your paper work and see Finn for an assignment. He's got the board this week. Make sure he doesn't give you something one of the new guys could handle. I want you on the street today. It'll do you good. Fresh air."

Buffy stood up and left the room. She headed down to her small office and grudgingly looked at the pile of paper work on her desk. She sighed in resignation and sat down to work. It was going to be a very long day.

After four hours of paperwork, Buffy decided to call her long time best friend, Willow Rosenberg for lunch. Willow and her husband, Daniel "Oz" Osbourne owned a small computer company together and Buffy routinely met Willow for lunch at a local restaurant called 'Callie's.' It had become tradition. She picked up the phone and dialed Willow's number from memory.

"Osbourne computers, Willow speaking, how may I help you?"

"Hey Will, it's Buffy."

"Hey! What's going on?"

"Not much. I was just getting ready to go out for lunch at Callie's. Do you want to come?"

"I can't. We're really busy in here right now and I can't get away. Sorry. Maybe tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow I'm training the new guy on the force. A detective and my new partner."

"You're being assigned someone new? I thought that after what happened you weren't going to have a new partner?"

"I didn't ask for it. But I'll be more careful this time. There is no way I am going to let another partner of mine get shot and killed." Buffy said vehemently. "This guy is already a detective and he's out of San Diego so I bet he knows what he's doing." She finished.

"I hope for your sake that he does. I know how bad it hurt you when Kim died."

Willow was referring to Buffy's late partner, Kimberly Sullivan. She had been fresh out of the academy, barely twenty when she was assigned to be trained by Buffy. They had been called to a bank robbery turned hostage situation and Kim had been too inexperienced to know how to handle the situation well. Shots were fired and Kim had moved out of the way just as Buffy fired a shot. The bullet hit Kim, who had just stepped in front of her in the back. It had struck her spinal cord and she had later died in surgery. That had been a year and a half ago and Buffy had refused to take on another partner since.

"Buffy? Are you there?" Willow interrupted Buffy's train of thought.

"What? Yeah. I've gotta go Will. I'll call you about lunch later this week, okay?"

"Sure. Bye."

"Bye." Buffy said hurriedly, hanging up the phone and slumping back down into her chair. She was still sitting there, looking out into space when Alexander Harris, nicknamed Xander, walked into her office.

"Hey. What's with the long face?"

Buffy sighed deeply. "Kimmy thoughts. I'm getting assigned a new partner. Giles didn't give me a choice. He's from San Diego and a detective. I was talking to Will and she brought up Kim. Ergo, I sit here and brood for a while until Riley comes down here and gives me an assignment."

"Are you on double duty?"

"Twelve hour. Not quite a double, but close."

"I'm going home for lunch with Anya and the baby. Would you like to come? She's been bugging me to bring you home for a while now."

"I wouldn't be very good company."

"Ahn doesn't need company. She talks enough for all three of us sometimes."

Buffy offered a small smile. "That she does. Are you sure you want me coming along to ruin your lunch?"

"Positive. And you won't ruin my lunch. I promise. Come on. If you can sneak out of here before you get an assignment, I bet you get to go out on patrol. The easiest job of them all."

"Okay, let's go. I really do not want to be stuck doing something boring like paperwork for the rest of the day. I've done enough already." Buffy relented, standing and tugging on her leather jacket over her red T-shirt and jeans. She grabbed her purse and followed Xander down to his car. The good thing about going to lunch together was the gas they saved.

Anya was waiting for them just inside the door. She brushed past Xander to hug Buffy, who had hung back slightly. "Buffy! Oh, it's been so long since I've seen you! Andrea misses you so much!" Anya exclaimed, referring to her eight month old baby girl.

Buffy returned her hug tentatively. Anya tended to get overexcited easily and Buffy could tell she was ready to get out of the house. "I was over here last weekend Ahn."

"Yeah well, how long has it been since we took a day and went shopping? Just you, me, Willow and Cordelia? Keeping in mind that I still don't like Cordelia."

"A couple months."

"Are you free this weekend?"

"As far as I know. Why? I may have to work."

"If you don't have to work will you go shopping with me? We'll leave Andrea with Xander and Oz and we girls can go to the mall."

"If I don't have to work. But I'm getting a new partner, so odds are I'll have to go through all the training stuff with him this weekend."

Anya seemed to deflate a little. But she regained her happiness when Andrea gurgled from her high chair and threw her lunch all over Xander. Both women burst into laughter at the sight of Xander standing in the middle of the kitchen with peas, carrots and apple sauce all over him. Xander scowled horribly and headed into the bedroom to change his clothes.

"Good baby. Get Daddy all messy." Buffy encouraged her, cleaning up what had fallen to the floor. "So Anya, what's for lunch?"

"I made spaghetti and meatballs with salad and garlic bread."

Buffy just looked at her. "All that for lunch? If you keep feeding me like this every time I come over, I'll gain fifty pounds by Christmas."

"All that for lunch. You're getting an invitation to dinner tonight too."

"I can't. I work until eight tonight." Buffy declined, picking Andrea up. The baby giggled and wrapped her hands in Buffy's hair. Buffy detangled her hair from the baby's fists and tossed her blonde locks over her shoulder to keep them out of Andrea's reach.

"Xander hurry up! Lunch is on the table and Buffy and I are going to eat without you."

Xander reappeared in clean jeans and a blue button up shirt and joined the women at the table. Anya served them all their food and they ate for several minutes in complete silence. Finally Anya broke the silence.

"So, Buffy, have you found a boyfriend yet?" she asked casually.

Buffy stared at her for a minute. "What do I need with a boyfriend? I'm happy being single."

"Well, you're like the last single person. Xander and I are married, Willow and Oz are married, Fred and Gunn are married and Cordelia and Doyle are engaged. You're still unmarried, unengaged, and unattached. It's just not natural for a woman your age to be single."

"I'm twenty three Anya. I won't be twenty four until January. That's hardly too old to be single." Buffy defended herself, looking at Xander for support.

"She's right you know. Twenty three isn't old. She has plenty of time if she even decided to get married."

"Ha! I'll even bet you're still a virgin." Anya stated, noting with satisfaction the color of red that Buffy's face turned. "I'm right aren't I?"

"That is none of our business, honey." Xander reminded his wife, trying desperately to fix the tense situation that was brewing.

"Xander's right. That is none of your business. It's my decision and at the moment I am not looking for a boyfriend. So let's leave it at that, okay?"

Anya surprised them both by relenting. She just nodded and finished her lunch quietly. Then Buffy's radio started to go off. She grabbed it and flipped the switch. "Summers here, what's going on?"

"Summers, you and Harris need to get over to the First National Bank, there's a hostage situation. Bank robbery gone bad."

"We're on our way." Buffy said, swallowing hard. She looked at Xander. "We have a hostage situation. We're close to it so we need to go. Now."

Xander was right behind her as they dashed out the door and down the stairs. Buffy slid behind the wheel of Xander's car and he tossed her his keys. She turned the car on, gunned the engine and stomped on the gas pedal, rocketing them in the direction of the bank. She parked half a block away, grabbed her standard issue out of her holster and headed into the scene. They were the first officers there. Buffy stooped behind a large trash can and took survey of the scene even as she heard sirens in the distance. She saw the would be bank robbers looking around nervously and saw Xander sneaking around the side of the building, looking for a way in. Suddenly all Hell broke loose. The robbers burst through the door and made a run for it, shooting at everyone who got in their way, including Xander. He took a slug in the shoulder and went down hard. Buffy ran toward them, planted her feet firmly and ordered at them to stop. When they just fired at her, she opened fire on them. Her first shot hit one squarely in the chest and the next few went astray before they got so close to her that she knew she had to move or get shot.

Suddenly, a large body collided with hers and sent her flying, the man landing directly on top of her. She grunted and placed her gun to his temple, still not sure if he was friend or foe. "Who are you?"

"Detective. New on the Sunnydale PD. Now let's move and get those guys." He ordered, surging to his feet. Buffy got up and followed his lead, leading her back into the fray of things, where cars were arriving and some of the robbers, five in all, minus the one she had killed, were trying to escape. She spotted one climbing up a nearby fire escape and took off after him. The strange, handsome man followed her closely.

Angel followed the woman up the fire escape and removed his own gum, a Sig., from his holster that he wore underneath his jacket. Suddenly the woman stopped, leaned back with one hand on the railing and fired a shot, knocking the man who had followed him off of the ladder. Then she continued up to the roof where the man they were chasing was several steps in front of her. She hopped onto the roof and again announced her presence and told him to drop his weapon. When a bullet sailed right past her head in reply, she opened fire.

Buffy pulled the trigger one final time just as she felt a bullet cut through the flesh of her hip. She grunted and fell to the ground, seeing the robber hit the ground as the strange man flew into him. She tossed him her handcuffs and radioed for help. The man handcuffed him to a thick pipe and hurried over to where she was lying in a slowly spreading puddle of blood.

"Are you okay?" he asked, sitting down beside her.

Buffy nodded. "Fine. Took a good fall though. It's just a flesh wound. I'll be fine."

"Good. Well I suppose I should introduce myself. I'm Angel Sullivan, the newest addition to the Sunnydale PD."

Buffy felt tears begin to swim in her eyes. Sullivan. He had looked familiar. A grieving brother on the day of Kim's funeral. Angel was Kim's older brother. Buffy swallowed forcefully and looked at Angel. "I'm Buffy Summers. And I killed your sister."

Angel was taken aback. He thought she had looked familiar. The details of his sister's accident began coming back to him. Shot by her partner in the line of duty. Caught in the line of fire. Died in surgery, the bullet had ribbed through too much spine. A crying woman at the viewing and funeral being held up by a man and what looked to be his very pregnant wife. The partner's name—Buffy Summers. Also named as his new partner. The irony almost made him laugh. He wanted to say something, but instead he rubbed one of her shoulders ad pressed his other hand to the deep wound in her hip. No matter what she said, she'd be getting stitches, a hospital stay and one hell of a sore hip for her efforts.

"Detective?" Buffy's soft voice cut through the haze of his thoughts. "Detective, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything."

"You're assigned to be my partner." Angel said softly. Buffy looked surprised.

"I swear I had no idea it was you. If I had I probably wouldn't have accepted the assignment. And I suppose I should apologize since I never got a chance to the day of Kim's funeral."

"That isn't necessary." Angel said after a pregnant pause. "It was ruled an accident and no charges were brought against you so I have no valid reason to blame you for shooting my sister in the back."

Buffy felt tears well up in her eyes. "Detective, it's no offense to you or your family, but you don't have a clue what happened that day. I was there, I know how everything went down, and it was not my fault that Kim got shot. I loved her like I love my own little sister and I would never have intentionally done anything to hurt her. But she was inexperienced, and it was that inexperience and a sick twist of fate that got her killed. Had I been a microsecond faster or slower pulling the trigger, she would still be alive, and that will always weigh very heavy on my mind, but, technically, and legally, what happened was not my fault, What you and I believe may be different, but facts speak for themselves and the facts say that I did not intentionally kill Kim."

Angel was silent for a long time. For some reason the police were not sending anybody to help him get her off the roof. She was still bleeding and he began to consider her needing a blood transfusion. "Miss Summers, I was rude and I'm sorry. I know it wasn't your fault. But my family and I, we never got the full story. All we were told is that she was accidentally shot in the back by her partner. We automatically that her partner was more rookie than she was, and aimed badly. We were never given any reason to believe that she stepped in front of you just as you fired."

"Do you want to hear the story while we wait?"

Angel nodded. "I would. If you wouldn't mind telling it to me."

Buffy took a deep breath. "I live not too far from the Bank of America, where the hold up took place. Kimmy and I had gone to my apartment for lunch. We had just finished eating when the call came through about a bank robbery. We were about two minutes away from the scene. We arrived first on the scene, with several other cars not too far behind. Kim and I took up post behind a pedestrian car close to the front entrance and were there when the robbers came out firing. I took a few shots over the trunk, but Kim couldn't get a shot without getting shot herself. So she decided to move. I sat back to get a good shot on the guy directly in front of the car. From where I was all I could see was his calves and that would've just made him mad. Just as I took my shot, Kim moved in front of me. The bullet hit her in the middle of the back. It went through her stomach and came out through her liver. The ambulance took her to Sunnydale General for emergency surgery and life flight, but she died in surgery." Buffy finished, looking about an inch away from tears.

"I was never told all that." Angel said softly. "Dad was so proud when both his kids went into the force. Kim always wanted to be a doctor, but when Dad got cancer when she was seventeen, she decided to go into the force to make his last years happy. He died not even a week after her graduation from the academy. When she moved to Sunnydale, we all thought it was for the best. A small, quiet town with a low crime rate for her to live in. She wasn't made for the force. She was made to be a doctor. But she ended up loving being a police officer. And when she died, it was an automatic thing to blame her partner. Especially when the report said that the bullet that killed her came from your gun."

Buffy nodded. "I can't even imagine how that must have felt. I wouldn't want to imagine how that must have felt."

Angel looked into her eyes and slowly reached up to brush away a stray tear that was trailing down her face. "I didn't mean to make you cry." He apologized.

"That's okay. You didn't. The pain in my hip and all the memories that I'd sooner forget did."

Angel chuckled softly and pressed harder against the sluggish bleeding. "We've got to get you off this roof before you bleed to death. Can you stand up?"

"I think so. Why?"

"If you can stand up, then I can carry you down."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

Buffy slowly stood up and let Angel help her climb onto his back. He grabbed her thighs to balance her and walked toward the edge, his muscles barely straining beneath her slight weight. She adjusted her weight on his back slightly to keep it even and leaned back so he could descend the ladder slowly so they had less of a risk of falling than if she had been completely in the middle of his back.

Once on the ground, a paramedic ran over and got under one of Buffy's arms to lead her to a nearby ambulance. Another paramedic rushed over and helped her get on a gurney while Angle told them what had happened. Finally they started to load her. She stopped them right before they closed the door.

"Angel?" she asked softly.

"Yeah?"

"Come with me?" she asked, her eyes begging him to go with her. He smiled and climbed in beside her, reaching out with one hand to rub her arm.

"Always."

Well, that's the end of chapter one? Andy ideas for how it should progress? Let me know. Liked it, didn't like it, let me know. Next chapter will hopefully be up in a week or two. Anyone interested in being my beta reader, let me know. If possible I would like for you to have had experience before. Not a necessity though.