In his condo, Angel had a spectacular view of Los Angeles. But tonight, the view was the further thing from his mind. After much digging, Wesley managed to track down Buffy's whereabouts. Most importantly, Angel now had a cell phone number to call her. That was the wonderful thing about the cell phone age. Perhaps technology wasn't Angel's enemy after all.
He decided to make the call at home. Angel was sure that Wolfram & Hart was keeping tabs on him, regardless of the job position and luxury items. Besides, there were other personal things that Angel wanted to address during the conversation. He didn't know if it was going to get heated or not. Of what Wesley gathered, Buffy was in America again—Berkeley to be more specific. She was no doubt going college hunting with Dawn. So at least Angel didn't have to worry about time zones.
Angel had a glass of scotch before dialing the phone number. Each dial tone felt longer and longer until the familiar click. If Angel's heart still beat, it would've been racing at that moment.
"Hello Angel. I figured you would call sooner or later," said Buffy. She was sitting on her hotel bed. She finished painting her left foot, and was scrambling to paint her right foot while keeping the cell phone steady.
Angel was taken aback. "How did you…?"
"I have a Scooby gang filled with witches, Slayers, former Watchers, tech specialists, and others whose fields I can't properly pronounce. Besides, you've been hooked up with the best goodies from Wolfram & Hart. I'm a little disappointed. I was expecting your call two days ago," said Buffy, as she painted her pinky toe nail with purple nail polish.
"Someone had to throw the LAPD and FBI off your trail," responded Angel.
"That shouldn't be hard. Isn't Gunn your uber-attorney?" asked Buffy.
"So, Andrew was doing recon. Nice move, Buff. But then, he did mention that you had some trusting issues with us," said Angel.
"Would it sound personal if I said you're working for the enemy now?" asked Buffy.
"Well, now it does…as it's coming from you and not your henchman," said Angel.
"Andrew is not a henchman by any means. Sure, he murdered someone once but I'm sure he's still squeaky clean when compared to Wesley," said Buffy.
"Since when does 'murdering someone' fall lower on the scale of innocence?" asked Angel.
"Since it becomes like brushing teeth for people like us," said Buffy. "You know, that 'one girl in all the world' speech."
"I'm not exactly 'people,'" said Angel.
"My sentiments exactly," chimed in Buffy.
"Touché," said Angel. "So what do you have in store for Dana, anyhow? How are you going to stop her from gutting the first man that she encounters?"
"She didn't gut the first man she encountered. Andrew and Xander ended up fine," said Buffy.
"Was Dana sedated?" asked Angel.
"Well, not too sedated," said Buffy. She closed her eyes and put her palm on her forehead.
"Buffy, have you seen my toothbrush. I thought I put it in my tote bag," said Dawn, as she stepped into the room from the bathroom. Buffy motioned to Dawn that she was on the phone.
"Angel?" mouthed Dawn silently to Buffy. Buffy nodded yes. Dawn knew the conversation probably wasn't the most pleasant. She backed into the bathroom, and closed the door.
"Dana's dangerous, Buffy. You have a walking time bomb in your hands, and it's not going to end up pretty," said Angel.
"You're sounding a bit hypocritical. Remember when I told you about Faith, but you went over me anyways?" asked Buffy.
"That was different," said Angel. "Faith wasn't suffering from a mental illness that prevented her from seeing right from wrong."
"It's the fact that she was doing wrong despite having the wits to do right was the problem. Whether we still care to admit it or not, Faith was going borderline psychopath on us and it was major bad," said Buffy.
"But she rehabilitated. She served her time in jail," said Angel.
"Which is why we had to make sure Wolfram & Hart didn't get to Dana. There wouldn't be any rehabilitation. We had to make sure she wouldn't be used as a personal serial killer," said Buffy.
"I wouldn't have let that happen, Buffy," said Angel.
"How can I trust you on that, Angel? Even if you promised a million times, there's the higher ups that can make things happen…stuff that even you're not on board for."
Angel wanted to disagree, and argue that he was the person with absolute power at the firm. It was a lost cause, though. No matter how much Angel wanted to believe that, he knew that Buffy was telling the truth.
"Look, just be very careful with her, Buffy," said Angel.
"I will Angel. I've already made arrangements. I'm going to get Dana to a good place. I'm going to make sure that she knows what she did to those men was wrong. Especially Spike," said Buffy.
"'Especially Spike'? Hey, I fought her too. My shoulder was almost dislocated," said Angel.
"Angel, your arms weren't cut off. Otherwise, I'd be sending you flowers too," said Buffy.
"You sent flowers to Spike?" asked Angel jealously.
"Yes, chrysanthemums," said Buffy.
"Okay, so it wasn't like you sent roses or orchids or anything phallic looking," said Angel.
"Well, nothing says the opposite of 'get well' than phallic looking flowers," retorted Buffy.
"Say, how's Dawn?" asked Angel.
"Dawn has been the maturest she's ever been. I don't know whether to be proud or scared. I'm not used to the lack of whininess," said Buffy.
Dawn stuck her head out of the bathroom, and threw a face towel at Buffy. She closed the door quickly before Buffy could throw it back.
"Has she toured UCLA yet? You know, I have a pretty good rapport with the Dean," said Angel.
"I'm not about to be ensnared in your little trap, Angel," responded Buffy.
"You make it sound like I'm going to sick the SWAT team on you," said Angel defensively," It's only a campus tour."
"No, I mean…I'm still 'cookie dough,' Angel," said Buffy.
"I'm not asking you on a date, Buffy," said Angel.
"Maybe not at first, but we have a habit of pawing each other after professing that we're going platonic," responded Buffy.
"I wouldn't stir that up again," said Angel. He was lying.
Buffy almost felt disappointed. Maybe he's lying to save face? She tried not to show her real feelings.
"Besides, the Summers girls are done with Southern California. Northern California has less crowded freeways, the Golden Gate Bridge, and neat co-op markets. And L.A. is bound to be swallowed up in a Hellmouth a la Sunnydale—now that you're running things," said Buffy.
"Ouch," said Angel. "Thanks for the vote of confidence."
"I've got to go, Angel. Dawn's getting claustrophobic in the bathroom," said Buffy.
"You know, I might have to call you again…to debrief you on the Dana situation," said Angel.
"In that case, I'll let the voicemail pick up and you can debrief all you want," said Buffy.
Angel laughed. "Well, I guess I'll be getting chummy with your voicemail. Bye, Buff."
"Bye, Angel."