Thank you everyone for the great feedback. Here is the next chapter. The lines are from the ep WitW. After this chapter the dialogue will start to become different than the show.
Chapter 2
Angel Investigations; 2:57 p.m.
With a spring in his step Angel climbs the basement stairs toward the lobby of his hotel. It is amazing that he got these tickets, Gunn wouldn't be too happy but he'd learn to love it. As he enters the lobby he hears the ending of Cordelia's conversation.
"…who's good with the loofah." Angel doesn't see her but she's in the room. Wesley is at the desk behind the counter. The silent vampire watches as the expression on Wesley's face changes from intrigued to bashful.
"I'm sorry. I missed that last part." He saves her any further embarrassment by quickly passing right by the statement. Wesley is positive she means it in a completely innocent manner but a small part of him wonders if the ghost doesn't get a little fresh now and then.
Cordelia stands nodding appreciatively "You are a gentleman." A lesser man, Xander for instance, would have teased her mercilessly for hour's possibly even days about her small slip up. The loofah comment was meant to be innocent, Dennis is a complete although dead gentleman, he helps her out on her back when she too tired to try.
Deciding to make his presence known Angel speaks up. "Who's doing what with the Loofah?" He only heard the end but with Wesley's look right now it was something juicy. Amazing—he's never been that into gossip until Cordelia became his friend, now he wants to know everything that goes on.
Wes rises from his desk quickly covering for Cordelia, "Not Loofah, Looh-fah. Nooctm... Skumth. It's a demon." He smiles awkwardly.
The brunette stares at Angel's clothing, why is she not surprise. "So, you went with the dark clothes today." She's been trying for the past three years to get Angel into something other than dark clothes. At least when he was dating Buffy he had some grays, reds, and whites added in but now it's just black or dark blue.
Angel ignores her sarcastic comment, a talent he has mastered since she's become a part of his team. "Ask me why I'm smiling."
Grinning at him Cordy takes the bait. "I will, because it's scaring me." Truly it is, the only time he really smiles is when he's killing something, evil, or with Buffy. Everything seems to come back to the Slayer, not that she's surprised, he loves her. Cordelia doesn't care what Angel says he still and will always love the Sunnydale Slayer.
Angel pulls a small stack of tickets out of his back pocket and holds them up; Wesley couldn't understand why tickets would make Angel smile. From what Gunn told him all he asked Angel to do was get him some tickets for a local band he loved.
Still grinning Angel tells Cordy and Wes. "We - are stepping out." This will be a fabulous night and he couldn't think of a better way to spend an evening than with his friends. Frowning for a moment he realizes that's not true, spending it with Buffy would have been a better way.
Fred and Gunn enter the hotel, seeing their friends gathered around in the lobby Gunn quickly makes his way over to them. He only hops Angel got his tickets. "Morning friends and neighbors." Gunn notices the tickets in his hands. "Ooh, are those the tickets? You got 'em?"
Now it is time for the moment of truth, letting Gunn know he didn't get the tickets he wanted. "Well, I got to the ticket place and..."
"I'm paying you back. This one's on me." The demon fighter interrupts eager to get his hands on those tickets.
Speaking up from behind Gunn Fred greets everyone. "Morning."
Gunn is practically bouncing with excitement. He's been waiting for these tickets to go on sale and now that they were almost in grasp he is jumping for joy…in a pure manly and rugged way of course. "Mahta Hari is the tightest band in LA. You guys are gonna be trippin' out."
Again Angel tries to explain. "The only thing is..."
Gunn puts a hand on Angel's shoulder "Look, I said I'm good for it, man. Don't have to worry about dippin' into your vacation money." Not able to wait a second longer he grabs the tickets from Angel. "The time I saw the Mahta Hari at the Troubadour they where the…" He finally looks at the hard pieces of paper in his hand reading it aloud. "Blinnikov World Ballet Tour. What's going on?"
Sighing Angel starts to tell Gunn again, this time he hopes he shuts up long enough to hear everything he has to say about the tickets. "I was trying to tell you. I got to the ticket place and boom! Tonight only!"
"But - you got ballet on my Mahta Hari tickets." The betrayal is written all over the man's face. How unmanly is ballet, he could not go to the ballet.
"This is the Blinnikov World Ballet Corps." The vampire with a soul tells everyone with a sparkle in his eyes.
Cordelia still leaned over the lobby desk rolls her eyes. "He's been saying that like it has meaning."
Shock mares Angel's face, he would have thought least Wesley would be interested in this show. "This is one of the premier companies in the world. And they're going Giselle! It's their signature piece."
In a whining voice Gunn moans out. "This is all like some horrible dream." He simply could not face his crew after this; he'd be the laughing stock of the demon-hunting world. It's fine for Angel he's hundred's of years old, he's supposed to like this stuff.
A light bulb seems to go off in Wesley's head. "I think I've heard of them. Very ahead of their time."
Again with the smiling Angel nods. "Oh, yeah. Yeah. I saw their production of Giselle in eighteen-ninety. I cried like a baby. And I was evil!" Even now he can hear Angelus denying he cried at Giselle.
"I-I think it sounds exciting!" Nervous even after all these months of speaking her mind. Being in Pylea she learned not to speak up, but now that she's back slowly her confidence is returning.
"Yes." Wesley agrees. It will be his chance to make his moves on Fred. Oh she'll look gorgeous in an evening gown.
Gunn continues his tirade of complaints. "No. No! This is not Mahta Hari. This is tutus, and guys with their big-ass packages jumping up and down. This is just..." He turns to Angel. "I will never trust you again. The trust is gone." How could Angel do this?
Irritation surges in Cordelia, it's just a ballet how bad could it be? "Oh, get over it. Do we get dressed up?"
Angel nods. "Of course." What would be the point of going out to the ballet if you didn't get dressed up? Someone would look really ridiculous if they weren't dressed in fantastic clothing.
That is enough for Cordy. "I'm in."
Still trying to further sell the ballet to Gunn and the others Angel speaks to the others. "Guys, seeing real ballet live it's..." He sighs unable to correctly describe the feeling but he tries, "it's like another world. Gunn, these guys are tight, and you're gonna be trippin' out."
Gunn shakes his head. "Don't be usin' my own phrases when we lost the trust."
Sighing Cordelia brings up work. "Come on, guys. Working day, cases to solve." She wants to get this day over with so night will be there, she's really looking forward to this ballet thing Angel is so excited about.
Finally giving in Gunn raises his hands in surrender. "Okay. But I'm not still paying, right. Because this is..." He stares at the tickets in his hand stopping the whimper begging to escape, "this is... It's like a nightmare."
TBC
