See part 1 for disclaimer
*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*
Part Seven
Half an hour later, the peace and quiet which until then had only been broken by the low murmuring of the two witches and the vampire was completely shattered by an exaggerated yawn from Cordelia. Barring Giles, they all turned to look at her.
"All right, Cordy, spill it." Her boyfriend commented in amusement as he rested his arm around her shoulders. "You have to enlighten us now, especially after that Oscar winning performance."
"I suppose everyone here does realise that it is Friday." The brunette replied swinging her legs to the ground, "All those that have a life, that is."
"Your point being, Cordy… that's if you have one." Willow asked as she leant back against the vampire. Turning slightly she threw him a mischievous look and he ruffled her hair in response before gently tugging a lock.
"Can we please go to the Bronze… just for a change?"
"Sure why not." Looking at the stunned faces of her friends around her, and sensing the silent amusement of the vampire, Willow burst into a fit of sparkling laughter. "I wish I had a camera, you should see your faces. It's absolutely priceless."
"Cordelia's right though, Willow. You all deserve a night off." Angel stood up, pulling the two witches with him. "And the Bronze is a good idea. Giles, Giles!"
"Yes?" The Watcher replied, not looking up from the papers he was reading, instead merely turning one over.
"Xander, if you would." Angel sighed as Willow, Amy and Cordelia giggled.
Xander grinning broadly reached over to wave his hand between the papers and the glasses of the Watcher. "Yo! Bookman, we're bailing."
"Xander please, don't do that." Giles looked up to find the four teenagers and the vampire grinning at him in fond amusement. "Did I miss something?"
"No more than usual, Giles," Willow replied with a soft smile as she moved to his side and rested her hand on his shoulder. "We're off to the Bronze to relax, so we'll see you tomorrow."
"Good idea, you all deserve a night off." He surprised them all by nodding in approval. "Willow, you're welcome to return here for a second night."
A fond smile crossed her face and she kissed his cheek, making him stutter in embarrassment. "You're a complete dear Giles but I'm going back to Amy's tonight."
"Yes, we need to brush up on the spell for her room." Amy put in as she grabbed her backpack. "I seem to remember someone once saying that preparations were extremely important."
"Excellent, then I will see you all in the library at 10.30 tomorrow… prompt." At the joint groan from all four teenagers, Giles merely smiled. He was too used to hearing it to be bothered by it in any way. "Now go, have fun. Forget about everything for a night."
*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*
An hour later, the three girls joined the vampire and the young man at the Bronze at their usual corner table. On leaving Giles' home, Cordelia had decided that they were going to change into an outfit more suitable for a Friday night at the Bronze or be forever shamed. She had been greeted with deep groans from Amy and Willow.
She had merely raised her hand and said, "I'm so not hearing any objections, you two so live with it."
Angel and Xander had looked at each other then promptly opted to do a sweep of the park and the cemeteries closest to the club.
Sitting at their table, the vampire and youth turned to watch their favourite girls walk across the Bronze's dance floor to join them. The brunette was now dressed in a crop top and Capri pants in her favourite maroon, hair pulled back in a ponytail. Amy had opted for a mid-thigh sky-blue skirt with a spaghetti strap shoulder top and a matching silver blue cardigan. Her hair was fastened back with a blue ribbon.
Both vampire and young man suddenly found their jaws dropping open as Willow emerged from the shadows into the club's low lights. A little self-conscious, she was walking behind her two more confident friends, trying her best to ignore the low wolf whistles and open stares she was receiving as she walked by.
Cordelia and Amy had managed to persuade the shy redhead to wear her new peacock blue set with black pedal pushers. They had then pulled her hair back in to a ponytail of loose curls and literally bullied her into wearing a pair of low-heeled blue sandals.
"Oh! My! God!" The words left his lips in stuttered astonishment as Xander watched his newly revealed beautiful best friend move towards them. "W… Will… Willow!"
Angel, on the other hand, quietly rose to his feet, a strange light in his dark eyes as he watched the girl he had always known was beautiful come publicly out of her shell. His gaze never left the redhead as all three finally joined them at their table. Sensing the waves of embarrassment coming from her, he took her hand and drew her to a stool in the shadows, "Álainna."
Willow looked up at him, clutching his hand with both of hers, her green eyes darker than normal. "Please Angel; this is so… so not me." She said so plaintively he tightened his hold on her hand. "I feel so… so stupid."
"Willow, you look beautiful and you couldn't be stupid if you tried for a century." He told her assertively, sitting down beside her. At her disbelieving look, the vampire cupped her cheek, running his thumb across her cheek. "I mean it Willow, you could never be stupid." He lowered his hand, taking hers back. "And you are beautiful, you always have been."
At this point fed up with the stupefied look on his face, Amy poked Xander in the ribs. "Don't just stare at her, Xander. Say something for goodness sake."
"You're… you're beautiful, Willow." Xander eventually stuttered, much to both Amy and Cordelia's intense amusement. "What did you do with my Willow?"
Willow blushed even deeper, making her friends laugh delightedly, even Xander eventually. They laughed even more as she buried her head against the vampire, the blush going down her neck.
"Oh stop it, all of you." She begged in a muffled tone. "It's bad enough as it is."
"Oh she's most definitely still our Willow," Angel murmured, unaware of the note of possessiveness that laced his voice as he raised Willow's head and ran a finger down her nose. "She's just come out of hiding at last."
"You'll just have to get use to it, Xan." Amy added as she recovered from her laughing fit. She smiled at Willow mischievously and the other girl grimaced back. "Especially after the major dent we made in Angel's American Express gold card today."
"Thank you for the warning, Amy." Angel murmured grinning as all three girls blushed. "It won't be that much as a surprise now."
"And Harmony is going to have a major fit." Cordelia put in with a nasty grin on recovering, making the others laugh out loud, the comment was so typical of her. "She is so going to have her nose rubbed in."
"That's our Cordy." Xander had recovered slightly at this point, although he kept shooting looks at the redhead out of the corner of his eye, still genuinely shocked by her transformation, "Must always have her priorities in the right order."
Willow had now also regained her composure, although she was still highly flushed. A glint appeared in her green eyes and she turned to Xander, smiling nastily as she thought of the perfect revenge. "You guys realise that we have to go back to school in just over a week. Our wonderful senior year, SAT's and that joy of joys, graduation."
"Oh pu-leese, I thought we were here to escape reality, not be reminded of it." Xander moaned, banging his head in the table, all thoughts of Willow's new image driven out of his mind. "That was so not needed."
"Xander, don't do that." Grinning, Willow hit the back of his head. "You'll dent the table."
"Very funny, Will. See this is me laughing." Xander glared at her, although he was smiling. Amy giggled as Angel turned away, hiding his smile.
"Alright you two, that's enough. Come on Xander; let's go do what you call dancing." Cordelia grabbed her boyfriend and dragged him onto the dance floor.
Amy rose. "I'm thirsty. Will, do you want a soda too."
"I'd love one but you better make it a caffeine free one." Willow replied smiling gratefully. Amy wrinkled her nose in reply knowing only too well her friend's reaction to the addictive substance then moved away.
*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*
The moment the blonde witch was gone, Angel turned to Willow and looked at her inquiringly, "All right, Willow, what's wrong? I can see something going on behind those intelligent green eyes of yours."
Willow drew closer to her friend. "Angel, this is going to sound strange but…" She broke off, frowning. "It's going to sound so selfish."
"Willow, I can't help you if you don't tell me!" He said patiently.
"For a while now, I've had this weird feeling that something strange is going to happen this year. I think what happened with my room is just the beginning and it scares me." She looked down at the floor. "Especially as both Amy and I are sure that we were followed here tonight, and it's not been the first time either."
The vampire responded by drawing the slender redhead off her stool and close to his side. As he slipped his arm around her waist, her left hand seemed to almost naturally find a resting-place on his shoulder as he held her close against him in a hold that was both protective and comforting at the same time.
"Will, look at me." He commanded.
Their gazes caught bright emerald green and dark chocolate brown. Unconsciously, their free hands entwined together, the vampire drawing it to his chest. Willow turned her head on one side a puzzled look in her eyes as a strange shiver ran through her. Unconsciously she drew even closer to him. "Angel?"
"Will, you couldn't be selfish if you tried, ionúin. It's just not a part of your make-up." He raised their joined hands to his lips and kissed the back of her fingers, before holding them against his cheek.
A further shiver ran down her spine as something went through her and she drew even closer if possible. "Angel, what's happening to us?"
"I'm not quite sure but I've got an idea." Still holding her hand, he ran a finger down the side of her soft cheek. "But what ever it is, Willow, I'm more than willing to find out. You have no idea just how much I'm willing to find out."
Their gazes caught once more, Willow's slightly confused and Angel's firm. "And when… if Buffy returns back home, what then, Angel?"
"Willow, listen to me. I promise you no matter what happens, I will always be there for you. I won't allow anyone to get in my way ever and I mean ANYONE." He said firmly, "Especially not her."
Seeing the look of doubt in her eyes, he released her hand and cupped her cheek. "I mean it, little one. You are the most important person in the world to me."
He slid his hand into her hair and drew her down, kissing her gently on the lips, "The most important person." He repeated emphatically. "Will, don't you understand, you are my world now."
Willow raised her hand touching his cheek, before running it through his spiky hair.
"Angel." She said simply in wonderment.
He drew her down into another kiss, deepening it slightly before she drew back.
For a moment, they stared into each other's eyes until a coughing sound announced the return of Amy and they both turned to look at her. "Ah guys, I hate to be the one to ruin things but Xander looks as if he wants to stake you, Angel."
Both Willow and Angel turned to look towards the dance floor. Xander was indeed glaring at them and the redhead found herself laughing, leaning even closer to the vampire - The vampire that still had his arm around her waist.
"He's just going to have to get used to it." Angel murmured in Willow's ear, "Because I plan on repeating the experience frequently." Which he did so, right there and then.
"Angel!" She blushed, hitting him slightly. As she did so, she caught her best friend's angry glare and stuck her tongue out at him.
"Ignore him, Wills." Amy shot back as the two girls sat down, Angel's arm still resting around Willow's waist so she had to draw her stool closer to him. "Xander's just being an idiot."
"Nothing new there then." The vampire murmured making both witches laugh.
"Angel." She said in a mock threatening tone as she hit him again. "You're just as bad as Xander sometimes."
He shuddered. "Ugh! What a terrible thing to say."
Both girls laughed again before the three put their heads together as they started to talk over the finer aspects of the spell. Angel's arm remained around the redhead's waist and she unconsciously leaned against his side, ignoring the disbelieving looks they were receiving from all around them.
They were equally unaware of the pair of ice blue eyes watching them from the second level.
"Now that was most definitely not what I was expecting. At least Peaches has got better taste this time around." He thought to himself. "And I wonder who the blonde girl is. It's not the first time I've seen her hanging around with Red either."
He scowled frightening a girl who was just about to speak to him. "I'm going to have to speak to them. What they did to Red's room just wasn't right. Ack! I'm beginning to sound like that bloody poof of a sire of mine."
Down below, the dark haired vampire suddenly looked up, his senses telling him they were being watched. He scanned the club attracting the two girl's attention.
"Angel?" Willow queried worriedly.
"Nothing," He replied covering her hand as Cordelia and Xander returned to the table, changing the subject.
"At least it better be nothing." He thought to himself, tightening his hold around Willow's waist.
*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*
Thank you for adding me to your alerts and favourites. It would also be nice to know what you think of each chapter as well.
You never know, you may give me ideas on what to include in this story.
So looking forward to seeing what you have to say ;op