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Chapter 10: Sassy

Angel rubbed his face tiredly as he walked out of the elevator and down the large hall to his best friend, William Pratt's office. He would have to stop off at his place to get some sleep before the drive back to the cabin. He was annoyed that he was woken up in the middle of the night, tired from the four hour drive back to Sunnydale and pissed off that he had to leave Buffy. This had better be a life or death problem for the company or he was going to kill his best friend. When he got to William's office he swung the door open roughly causing it to slam into the wall, William turned around startled. "This better be good."

"Depends on your definition of good, Mate." The British man told his best friend. "It's gone… or screwed up. I don't know all the technical terms, I just do the business."

"What is gone?" He sighed.

"The website… All the programs on the website." William said moving the mouse to his desk top so the screen would show up. "I had Andrew keeping an eye on it in case any customers needed help and one minute it was fine then the next it looked like this." He pointed to his computer.

Angel frowned when he saw the company website, it was completely stripped clean. "There's nothing?"

William shook his head. "According to Andrew there is nothing. He went poking around in…" He pointed at the screen. "that thing and said it is all gone."

"But just what was on the site right? Not everything we have…" Angel asked slightly worried.

"All I know is the site, don't you have like a technology condom on these things or something?"

Shooting his best friend an annoyed look he nodded. "Or something."

"Maybe Red can look at it." William said referring to Willow. "She's like a wiz at this stuff. You know where she went for the Holiday? I tried her house after I called you, she didn't pick up."

"Yeah." Angel nodded, staring at the computer wondering what could have happened. "I will see what she can do with it." Angel turned to head home, he needed to grab his work computer and take it to Willow to see what she could do to fix it, figure out what happened and make sure it never happened again.

"Hey!" William called out to him. "Why don't you stop by and pick up your mutt? She keeps attacking my Spike JR."

Angel chuckled as he turned around to face his best friend but continued to walk backwards out the door. "Don't be a baby." He smiled, repeating what he has said on the phone earlier. "She's probably just sick of him always trying to hump her. And the fact that you named your dog after yourself is still enough to make me want to punch you in the face."

"I'm not jokin'! I'll throw her ass out!"

"Yeah, yeah." He said turning back around, walking down the hall to the elevator. "I'll get her."

0o0o0

After breakfast Xander sat in the living room looking at the undecorated tree. He didn't like that it wasn't decorated. He was the one who had asked if they could put off decorating the tree because he was hungry but then it got put off again the next day. They normally decorated the tree as soon as they cut it down and brought it in, they would record it too but everything was different this year. Things weren't going as smoothly as they normally did. He looked over at his younger sister, who was in the kitchen with the other girls, but Buffy was happier this year and that made it all okay. He figured it had something to do with a curtain guy who had showed up this year because he wasn't around right now and she was back to looking… not so happy. "Can we decorate the tree, finally?" He shouted to the kitchen.

"But Riley isn't back yet." His mother called putting away the clean dishes.

Buffy folded a clean towel and put it in the drawer. "It's okay. We don't know when he will be back anyway."

"I'm sure he will be back soon though." Willow said to Buffy more than anyone else.

"I think we should wait, it is Riley's first Christmas with us." Joyce told her children. "I want him to feel welcome."

"No, mom. Really." Buffy leaned against the counter and crossed her arms over her chest. "It's okay. He might not even get a change to come back."

"Right." Her father nodded as he sat down in his chair in the living room. "You told us how he throws himself into his work."

Buffy nodded at her dad's statement. "Yup. See. We can decorate it."

After a moment Joyce nodded. "Xander." She called walking through the living room. "Why don't you help me get the decorations back out."

Willow walked over to her older sister. "Buffy, it's your first Christmas with Angel don't you want to experience everything with him?"

"Who says he isn't experiencing it with his girlfriend right now?"

"Um… me!"

Buffy shook her head. "Willow, I know you think we are like a perfect match or whatever but he has a girlfriend. End of story. If he doesn't come back then he doesn't come back."

"And if he comes back without having a girlfriend?" Willow asked as Buffy walked towards the living room.

Looking back at her sister Buffy gave her a small smile. "We'll see."

It didn't take long for them to get the tree decorated with all nine of them helping. Buffy was putting on an ornament when her mother asked "So, Angel on top again?"

"WHAT?!" Buffy shouted looking slightly shocked.

"The Angel." Her mother nodded to the tree. "Are we going to put the Angel on top of the tree or the star?"

"Oh." Buffy looked slightly embarrassed. "Yeah, if you want."

0o0o0

Stopping at William's house first Angel used his key to get in, he picked up his Golden Retriever, Sassy. Then headed to his house to get a few hours of sleep and grab his work laptop before going back to the Cabin to see Buffy and have Willow look at the website, of course.

After taking a short nap he thought he should stop by Cordelia's house to talk to her, hopefully it would be a short visit and he could get on the road again soon. He showered and changed his clothes then grabbed Sassy's leash, she started to bark and wag her tail when she saw the black leash in his hand. "Come on, girl! You're coming with this time!"

He put the leash on his dog and grabbed the laptop case that his work computer was in then walked out the door.

0o0o0

Detective DiLeurentis signed when he saw Cordelia Chase walk into the precinct again. He got up to meet her before she approached his desk. "Ms. Chase."

"You said to tell you if anything else happened…"

The dark haired Detective nodded. "I said to call."

Cordelia shoved a piece of paper at the man. "I came home from shopping earlier and found this!"

The man scowled and took the piece of paper slightly worried it was a ransom note. He began to read the note and looked at Cordelia oddly. "Ms. Chase, it seems like he broke up with you."

"No!" She shouted. "He wouldn't do that!"

Looking back down at the paper Detective DiLeurentis raised his eyebrows. "It says in simple words right here…" He pointed as he read the key points. "I found someone else." Then pointed lower on the page. "I left your key…"

"But that's just it! He didn't leave my key!"

"Did you check under the mat? It's not safe to leave it there but most people do." He asked her.

Cordelia shook her head. "Angel isn't like most people but yeah… I did check under the mat, it wasn't there."

"Maybe he put it somewhere else… did you check over the door?"

Raising her perfectly waxed eyebrow at him she sighed. "Do I look like I can reach over the door?"

"If you want I can come with you to your place and help you. I'm not doing anything here right now and to be honest, it would be nice to get out of here and actually do something other than paper work." The Detective offered.

Cordelia nodded.

It didn't take long for them to get to Cordelia's apartment. They went straight to her door, without saying a word Detective DiLeurentis reached up and felt around the top of the door frame after a moment he brought his hand down showing the single key in his hand. "See. Right where I said it would be."

"I still say he was kidnapped." Cordelia huffed.

0o0o0

Angel pulled up to the cabin and opened the door to his Jeep Wrangler, grabbing his laptop bag he got out of the car with Sassy behind him. He turned to his dog giving her a stern look. "Stay." She sat down in the snow next to the car waiting. He decided to switch cars when he came back up, his jeep was much better in the snow. He didn't want to just show up and bring a dog into someone else's house without their permission so he wanted to check with them first.

When he got up the steps Willow opened the door. "You are in the dog house!"

"Perfect choice of words." He turned to point at his car so Willow could see his long haired Golden Retriever.

Willow smiled. "You brought Sassy? I wondered why you didn't just bring her to begin with."

"I didn't know if a dog fit into the Riley role." He shrugged. "But I couldn't leave her where she was, the person I asked to watch her threatened to throw her outside."

"Spike." Willow rolled her eyes using the nickname her boss' best friend liked to be called by. He hated his name William for some reason. "I guess you are right though, I don't think there was a dog. Well, get her in here!"

Angel turned towards the car whistling softly which caused her to come running. Turning back to Willow he stepped inside. "So why am I in the dog house?"

"Buffy wasn't too happy that you left." She answered as the dog slipped inside and Willow shut the door.

"I told her I had a work emergency. She was half asleep, maybe she didn't remember."

"She remembered, she just doesn't seem to think it's true." Willow told her boss. "When a guy lies to a girl about cheating on her for a year it makes a girl suspicious of men."

"I'll go talk to her." Angel nodded looking around the seemingly empty house. "Where is everyone?"

"Xander, Oz and my dad went to cut more firewood, Dawn, Connor and my mom went to a cabin down the road to see an old friend of the family, Anya is lying down because she didn't feel well and Buffy is in her room."

Angel nodded again. "Okay, I am going to go talk to Buffy. Can you take a look at this?" He asked handing her the bag. The turned to his dog and once again said "stay." Sassy lay down on the floor next to the door.

"What am I looking at?" Willow asked as Angel walked away.

Turning around, he looked at her. "Just log into the work account and you will see. I'll even pay you over-time."

Shrugging Willow took the laptop bag over to the kitchen table.

0o0o0

Walking up to the bedroom door he could hear Buffy listening to Adele's 'Rumor Has It'. He opened the door softly and smiled when he heard her singing along as she stood at the dresser with something in her hand. "You made my heart melt yet I'm cold to the core. Rumor has it I'm the one you're leaving her for…"

"Ouch! The man hater but yet the lyrics are very suiting." He smiled when Buffy spun around with her hand over her chest, startled. "So, I heard I was in trouble."

"Jeez." Buffy closed her eyes and tried to catch her breath then looked at Angel standing in the door way with the door half open. "No, not in trouble. I just didn't know if you were coming back."

"I said I would."

Buffy walked over and sat on the bed, she was about to say something when Sassy came running past Angel, pushing the door open and jumping on the bed. Buffy started to laugh when the dog licked her face. "Bad girl! Down." Angel pointed to the floor and Sassy jumped down. "You're all wet from the snow."

"It's okay." Buffy smiled reaching out to pet the dog. "What's her name?"

"Sassy."

"You're kidding!" Buffy laughed again. "That was my nickname when I was younger!"

Angel smiled. "She liked to talk back when she was a puppy so I had to name her Sassy, it just seemed fitting."

"That was the reasoning behind mine too."

"My friend that was watching her said I needed to take her because she was starting fights with his dog." Taking another step into the room Angel shut the door. "Willow said you were upset because you didn't believe I had a work emergency. I did Buffy… I still do. Willow is working on it now."

"Oh."

"I missed you." He smiled, leaning down to kiss her. He pushed her back on the bed slowly, blanketing her body with his, he placed his hand on her lower hip. Sassy lay down on the floor and turn her head away. Moaning into his mouth Buffy slid her hand up the back of his shirt.

"Angel, I think…Whoa! Not the kind of dog house Oz gets in." Willow smiled. Buffy broke the kiss and Angel sat on the bed next to her. "Now I see why you got all flustered when mom asked if the Angel was going to be on top."

Angel looked to his right at Buffy. "If you ever want to be on top just let me know."

Buffy smiled.

"Angel, looking at this…I really think this is a job for Buffy." Willow said walking over to the desk in Buffy's room.

Buffy got up and walked over to the desk. "What is it?"

"Take a look." Willow pointed to the computer.

Buffy sat down at the desk and Angel watched confused. "A job for Buffy?" He looked to Buffy. "I thought you were a waitress."

"I am." She said glancing at him quickly then looking back at the screen as words flew up the screen quickly she turned to Willow. "You know this has Watcher Corp written all over it, right?"

Willow nodded. "That is why I thought it would be a job for you. I will leave you to it."

"Wish me mosters." Buffy joked and her sister wiggled her fingers at her. Angel watched as words flew across the screen too fast for him to even read and Buffy's fingers moved just as quickly over the keyboard. "Remember when I told you waitressing was my job but I wasn't happy?"

"Yeah." Angel nodded.

A smiled came across Buffy's face. "This is what makes me happy."

Angel sat back down on the bed facing Buffy, he watched in awe as she worked quickly. It was pretty hot. He watched her in silence for about fifteen minutes before she turned the wheelie chair to look at him. "You're good."

"I'm good?"

Buffy nodded. "Yeah, it wasn't that bad."

"Buffy…" Angel started with a nervous smile. "My second best employee tried to fix it and he couldn't so I brought it to my best employee and she gives it to you because she can't do it and you fix it that fast? Who are you?"

Buffy laughed looking down at the floor. "Luckily for you I am an expert on Watcher Corps Programs and your companies programs."

"How?"

"I used to work for them." She shrugged.

"… but you don't anymore…"

Buffy shook her head.

"Why don't you work for them anymore?"

"I had this thing…" Buffy sighed. "I was being sexually harassed and I reported it but because of who I was making the claim against things got heated and I was fired."

"Who was it?" Angel asked.

"Quentin Travers." She answered not sure if he would recognize the name. Judging by the look of surprise on his face, he did. "I know, he doesn't seem like that type. He has a family and they seem so perfect but word of advice, if he ever asks you to stay late to help him on a 'project', don't."

"I can guarantee he never will."

"Anyway, I know from experience that Watcher Corp is always after your programs. They may be the big time company right now but they are threatened by you. Always have been. When I worked there they asked me to do something like this…" she pointed to his laptop. "to your company several times, I always refused even before Willow started working there. I actually wanted to work at your company, I was so excited when I heard a company was coming to Sunnydale but things happened and it didn't work out. When I was in college Oracle Inc. had just opened and I did so much research on it and my final paper was actually on your company. I told Willow to apply when she graduated so she could work there for me." She smiled.

"Did you interview for my company?" He asked wondering if he could have met her sooner.

Buffy shook her head. "Nah. Me and Riley moved to LA because he got a job transfer."

"Well, you have a job at my company now… if you want it." He offered.

"Angel…" She shook her head. "I can't work for you."

"Why?"

"We had sex!" She exclaimed. "That is against like so many…"

Angel smiled. "So! The job offer has nothing to do with that. Buffy, you pretty much just saved my company. I owe you."

"No. You don't." She shook her head again. "Besides, whoever did this wasn't that good. They must be hazing a newbie or something. I could have done something like that in high school… as long as I knew my way around Watcher Corp software."

"Thank God you know their software then." Angel smiled then glanced down at Sassy who was still lying quietly looking from her owner to the blonde. "Look, she wants you to work for me."

Buffy looked down at the Golden Retriever and pouted when she saw her sad puppy dog eyes. "Don't look at me like that!" She raised her voice while smiling and reached down to pet her head. "You're just so cute. I always wanted a dog but Riley doesn't like them."

"See." Angel smirked. "I didn't think a dog would fit into the role of Riley."

Willow walked into the bedroom slowly. "I heard yelling. I didn't think that was a good sign."

"She's giving me those eyes." The blonde pointed to the dog lying on the floor between her and Angel. "You know… those sad eyes! I can't handle it."

Angel turned towards Willow who was still near the door. "I offered your sister a job but she is having a hard time excepting the offer."

Willow's eyes got wide with excitement. "Buffy! Oh my GOD!" She rushed over and sat down on the bed next to her boss. "You HAVE to take it! Not only have you been wanting to work there since it opened but we will get to see each other every day and you will finally get to move back to Sunnydale! You said you wanted to move back when you and Riley broke up!"

Buffy raised her eyebrows at her sisters rambling. "There are things to factor in Will, I mean… I have an amazing job where guys smack my ass in the form of tips, a month to month lease on a wonderful one room apartment where the bugs and murky water come free of charge."

"Well, this will take care of the ass smacking!" Willow nodded then made a face. "Wait, you live above the Diner so you share water with… I ate there!"

Buffy tried to hold back her laughter. "I told you not to."

"Do you also share the bugs with the Diner?" Angel asked.

"I cannot confirm nor deny that."

"Give me a second to get over being grossed out." Willow took a deep breath. "Okay, so give me a real reason why you shouldn't take the job and move back to Sunnydale…"

"Amy…"

"Your roommate?" Angel asked. "Is she secretly a computer genius too?"

"She's really just a waitress." Buffy smiled.

"Oh! Amy should move back to Sunnydale too!" Willow bounced on the bed, excitedly. "Maybe even get go back to school and …"

"Will, can we say jumping the gun." Buffy jumped in. "Amy left Sunnydale for a reason… there was nothing there for her."

"So we make something there for her." Angel smiled at Buffy. "If she is really that important to you then both of you should move back to Sunnydale, I could use a new secretary if she is interested."

"You have a secretary, Angel." Willow said confused.

Angel laughed. "One that doesn't know how to type or file… I had some hope regarding the phones until the other day. Also she is my ex-girlfriend's best friend."

"Ex-girlfriend!" Willow exclaimed, smiling at Buffy.

"Ex-girlfriend…?" Buffy whispered.

"Why are we all saying ex-girlfriend?" Angel laughed.

"We had this conversation when you were gone that…"

"Willow!" Buffy exclaimed and then sighed. "Okay, so let's say me and Amy moved back to Sunnydale.."

"Oh! You two could stay with me and Oz!" Willow said excitedly again. "It would be so much fun! We have that extra bedroom!"

Buffy laughed. "Where we would be sharing a bed like we are now- not helping in the bed hog department… but any..."

"You're not a bed hog." Willow frowned. "You tend to do this curl up in a ball thing." She said attempting to curl up in a ball where she was sitting on the bed.

"Talking about Amy… and I don't ALWAYS curl up in a ball." Buffy wrinkled her face. "Only when I am cold. Anyway! If we did move back there would be the Riley problem. Mom and Dad would want to see Riley."

"But they think Angel is Riley…"

Buffy nodded at her sister. "He can't keep pretending to be Riley!"

"So, I won't." Angel told them then looked at Buffy. "Let's tell them we are together."