Chapter 10

Title: The Night That Changed Everything

Author: Neamh1

AN:

Angel searched all around the side streets for Buffy but couldn't find any sign of her. He asked around and the bouncer said that he had seen her leave alone and that she had run off to the left but after that he hadn't seen where she'd gone. He tried calling his place and speaking with Gunn but she hadn't gone back there and he called at Faith's apartment and even at Buffy's run down house just in case but there was no sign of her.
Finally by four in the morning he was getting beyond worried and so he went down to the local police station and rang the bell.

"What do you want?" Kate asked when she walked through the doors and saw Angel standing in the waiting room dripping wet and dishelved.

"I need your help."

Angel and Kate went into her office and he explained everything that had happened. Kate sat quietly through it all trying to take it in; it was one huge mess all right and she actually pitied Angel for everything that he was going through.

"Well we can't put out an APB until she's been missing for forty-eight hours. She may have just gone
somewhere to think things through and she might turn up in a few hours, if she does call me straight away. In the mean time I'll go and speak with the club bouncers and see if anyone remembers anything else, it's possible she may have gone back there looking for you after you left."

"It's just, after what happened with Riley and her house we've all been on edge worrying that he could be there the next time we turn the corner, what if he's taken her some where?" Angel said worried. Riley was a likely suspect but with so many weirdo's on the streets anyone could have taken her. He was also worried about their child. God it sounded so strange to think about it, it was the last thing he'd been expecting or even thinking about in his life.

"I'll check up on him and question him, see if he's heard from her but I doubt she would have gone to him after he hit her. Go home Liam, I'll call if I hear anything." Kate said and showed him out of her office. She may not have broken up with him on the best of terms but in her heart she knew that he was a good guy and he cared a lot about Buffy. So, regardless of her feelings for the other women she would do whatever was in her means to track down the girl and return her to him. It was the least she could do for him since he made her begin to feel hope again.

Angel returned back to his apartment defeated and in a state of worry and found Gunn and Faith waiting for him.

"Faith went by her house and has been checking her messages but we've heard nothing, how did it go for you?" Gunn asked as Angel took a seat on the sofa and rested his head in his hands.

"Not good, I couldn't find any trace of her. I went to Kate to report Buffy missing and she said she couldn't put out an APB until she's been missing for over 48 hours. She's gonna ask around though and see if anyone from the club remembers seeing her leave." Angel sighed and leaned back in the chair trying to think where else she might have gone.

"So why did she leave? What happened, did you two have an argument or something?" Faith asked, not wanting to say anything in case her assumptions were wrong and Angel didn't know that Buffy was pregnant.

Angel studied her trying to see if she already knew, it was something that he should discuss with Buffy
first before they started telling people but with her missing..."Buffy's pregnant." He blurted out waiting
for a reaction from Faith, to her credit she didn't give one, "You already knew?"

"Yeah, I found out when she moved in with you. When I was packing her stuff at my place I dropped her box trying to carry too much stuff and her things fell out. She had a scan picture with her name on it and some pregnancy advice leaflets so I confronted her about it later that day and she told me everything. We went to the hospital the next day and she had her first appointment over here." Faith told them both, Gunn still hadn't said anything as he tried to put together all the pieces.

"Over here?" Angel asked, not understanding.

"Her first check was when she was away with Riley. She got sick because of the pregnancy and when Riley took her to the hospital the doctor did some tests and told them that Buffy was pregnant. Riley walked out on her and went back tot he hotel to get drunk. Buffy had to go back to the hotel to get her passport and everything and that's when he attacked her. The doctor in Spain told her that she needed to make an appointment once she got back home to see a doctor to have a check up and the doctor she saw was your sister. I'm guessing in Fred's drunken state last night she slipped up with the news?" Faith asked.

"Kind of, she thought that we were together and assumed that Buffy had told me the news. It wasn't her fault but you can see why she should never drink." He said sarcastically, annoyed with his sister for drinking and getting in such a state. "Did she get home alright?"

"Yeah, we dropped her off and Faith stayed with her for a while whilst I went and checked your place, she got a cab here later." Gunn replied now having the full story of events and understanding everything that had happened.

"So what do we do now?" Faith asked, worrying about her friend.

"Nothing, we wait for Kate to call with any news and just hope that Buffy comes home. It might help if you where at your place, she's more likely to come to you than me right now." Angel said, "She probably thinks I'm mad at her or something." He was hurt more than anything that she hadn't told him; that she hadn't thought she could come to him with something like this. He was also beyond pissed that Riley had attacked Buffy knowing that she was pregnant! It was bad enough attacking a woman in any circumstance but attacking a pregnant woman was beyond redemption. If he ever saw Riley again he'd beat him past the point of no return.

"Are you?" Faith asked, bringing him from his thoughts.

"Honestly?" She nodded, "I'm more hurt than anything, why would she think that she couldn't come to me?" Faith and Buffy had obviously talked about it, maybe Faith could shed some light.

"This is really something you should talk with her about. She just wanted some time to come to terms with things plus the fact that you were with Kate didn't make things easier. She thought that if she told you it would drive a wedge between you and Kate; she thought you were happy." Angel shook his head thinking how stupid they had both been. "She loves you, you know?" Faith said.

"I love her." He admitted and it felt good to say it out loud. "But is it too late?" He wondered, would Buffy even come back or just disappear. It's not like she couldn't just leave and make a new start, things like passports could be easily replaced. Had she decided to go and leave them all and make a fresh start bringing up their child elsewhere? No, he had to believe that she wouldn't do that, she may have run away upset but she would come back. They had been getting close, dancing and talking and he'd felt that she wanted him and much as he wanted her.

"You just need to talk things through, then I'm sure everything will be okay." Faith said. "Listen, I'll go back to my place and hang out there for a while, see if she contacts me. If she does I'll call you straight away, okay? Call me if you guys hear anything." She said, she gave Gunn a kiss and squeezed Angel's shoulder on her way out.

"How you holdin' up?" Gunn asked once Faith had left.

"Not good, I'm about ready to fall apart. I swear if we don't find her by the end of today I'm going to go crazy." Angel said.

"Why don't you try and get some rest. I'll keep watch for a few hours, you've had no sleep."

"I couldn't sleep anyway." Angel refused.

"Yeah but at least if you go and lie down you'll have had some rest, even if you can't sleep it's better
than nothing." Gunn convinced him and Angel finally agreed to go to his room for an hour on the condition that Gunn woke him if there was any news.

Three hours later there was a knock on the door and Gunn got up to answer it. He'd checked on Angel half an hour ago to find him getting some much needed sleep. Opening the door he found Kate standing in the hallway. He invited her in and within five minutes Angel was up and sitting opposite them on the couch.

"I've got some news, now we're not sure if it's good or bad yet so just hear me out." She said looking at them both. "I checked up on Riley and found that he has returned from Spain. He got back the morning
before Buffy's house was brunt down, we're considering him a likely suspect." She watched as Angel's fists clenched together, his knuckles turning white and his face was set in stone. She wondered if he was going to loose control but he sat perfectly still so she continued. "I've been around to check in on his home today and he wasn't there. I've spoken with the neighbours and they saw him leave early this morning with a holdall, he hasn't turned into wok or called in to say he won't be there. We've got to consider at this point that Riley and Buffy are together, whether she's with him voluntarily we can't make any assumptions."

"You think she went to him! She wouldn't, after what he did to her!" Angel boomed standing up from the chair.

Kate quickly stood ready to defend herself, an automatic reaction, "Calm down Angel or we'll have to
go to the station to discuss this." she said softly. His features softened slightly and his erratic breathing calmed before he took his seat again and apologised for flipping out on her. "I've put out the word for officers to keep a look out for either of them and to apprehend Riley if they see him. If they come
across Buffy they have instructions to bring her in too and question her on her disappearance. Either way we'll let you know if we come across them."

"So you expect me to just sit around and wait again?" Angel said.

"I know it's hard but yes, there's nothing you can do and what if she comes back here or calls and your not here? You and Faith are the two people she will contact if she's in trouble. If you go out, forward your house phone to your mobile. I'm assuming she already has her own house key with living here so that wouldn't be a problem. Just leave a note somewhere she would see it. I know you can't put your life on hold so this is how we can play it best. I'll keep you informed okay?" She said.

Angel nodded in defeat and Gunn saw Kate to the door. When he came back, his friend was deathly still on the sofa. "Yo Angel man, you okay?"

"Yeah. I'm gonna go do some work in my office, you can go home if you want." Angel said as he got up, maybe some work would take his mind off things for a while.

"You sure, cause I can stay if you want me to?" Gunn said, "We can play some PlayStation or whatever."

"God no. Go; see Faith. I'll be fine, I just want to bury myself in some work for a couple of hours and try and take my mind off things." Angel waved off his friend wanting some piece and quiet; not a constant reminder that she was gone and friends looking at him with concern and pity. He went and locked himself away in his office for a few hours and managed to get a good deal of work done until his uncle Rupert called on his mobile and asked how things were going.

Three days later and Angel was a wreck. He'd just spoken with Kate who had told him that they managed to track down Riley but Buffy wasn't with him. Kate now had no choice but to put Buffy on the list of missing people. She hadn't used any credit cards or gone in any banks to withdraw money from her accounts. It was like she'd disappeared off the face of the Earth, even Kate was baffled. She'd known a lot of people who'd gone missing over the years that she'd been with the police force but it this was strange. According to Angel they hadn't had a huge argument, his sister had slipped up that Buffy was pregnant with Angel's child and Buffy had run off upset over what Angel might say.
Kate couldn't say that she wasn't still a little affected by the Buffy/Angel relationship but she was putting her feelings aside to try and help Angel.
He'd been a complete mess since Buffy had disappeared and after he'd seen her from his apartment a few minutes ago she had called Charles Gunn and asked him to come straight around and see if Angel was okay. She got the impression he could really use a friend right now and she wasn't really qualified what with their history.
She'd promised Angel that she was going to keep looking for Buffy but that she thought he should try
and get some normalcy back into his life. She hated to think it but Buffy may well have run away and she might not be coming back. Angel couldn't sit around wasting his life waiting for her.
Kate walked away from his apartment building and got into her car heading back for the station. She just hoped that he managed to get over this in time. She knew it would be hard, what with him having a child out there somewhere and not knowing if it was alright or why that child had been taken away from him. She shook her head, her heart aching for what had been done to him.

Faith and Gunn went straight over to Angel's apartment after Kate's phone call. She'd explained that they had found Riley and that he had left town, he was currently looking for somewhere to live and a new job but she couldn't tell them where he was staying because she wasn't allowed. She also told them that Angel was in bad shape when she'd left him and that they should go over and see him.
When they got there they rushed inside and both stopped in mid step when their eyes fell upon his form
on the sofa, his face red, his eyes puffy and tears running down his cheek.

"She's gone, she left me." He said. Faith ran to him and pulled him into her arms, Gunn went into the kitchen and made them all drinks of coffee. When he came back Angel had calmed slightly and he and Faith were talking.

"I don't believe it Angel; I don't believe that B would just up and leave. She loved you and her whole
life was here. Despite what had happened she wouldn't have just left town. She didn't even have much money on her. I'd been to the bank for her and drawn out 300 that day. That's all the cash she had on her. And she only had that much because she wanted to go shopping the next day. I bet she didn't even take the whole three hundred with her." Angel's started thinking about what Faith was saying and she was right, it didn't make sense. Buffy wasn't the sort of person to run away from her problems and he had to believe that she was a better person than that. He stood up from the couch and stormed into his office, Faith and Gunn looked at each other before following him to see what he was going to do.
He started shuffling through papers in his desk drawer until he found what he was looking for. He picked up the phone and dialled the number on the card.

"Hello, is this Spike's Detective Agency? Yes, I need you to find someone." Angel said into the receiver.

TBC….