Chapter 10: Stuck On You

As Angel made his way back to the warehouse he was contemplating what his next move should be. If Buffy's information was correct and Spike didn't yet have the amulet that would explain why Spike was so reluctant to tell him about it.

It was also all the more reason to find out just which amulet Spike was after so Buffy could get it first and hopefully but a stop to whatever Spike was planning. However, after his last encounter with Spike he was reluctant to bring up the subject again.

When he entered the warehouse Spike was nowhere in sight, it seemed like the perfect opportunity had presented itself. He made his way over to Drusilla who was humming to herself while staring unseeingly into space. "Oh Drusilla," he called out in a low voice.

"Angel!"

"Are you alone?"

Her smile faltered a little, "Spike went out, he had to meet with someone."

"Did he now?" Angel walked behind her and put his hands on her shoulders, "He should have waited for me, I could have gone in his place. It would have given him time to work on his grand plan. Are you excited?"

"Oh, it's going to be so wonderful," she exclaimed in obvious delight.

He leaned in closer and whispered in her ear, "Tell me... exactly how wonderful it will be."

"What the hell are you doing?!" Spike called out in fury as he quickly made his way over to them.

Angel couldn't help but curse Spikes sudden appearance under his breath, but when he turned to address him there was nothing but a superior grin on his face. "Hey there, Spike."

"Get your hands of off her," Spike growled, his hand fiercely clutching the handle of the wheelchair.

"Now, now there is no reason to get testy. Dru and I were just having a friendly chat."

"Yeah, I know exactly how friendly you wanted to get."

Drusilla moaned and cooed, "Ohh, Spike don't be mad."

"Don't worry sweetheart." Spike reached out and took her hand in his and kissed it. "Why don't you go find yourself something to eat."

He waited until she had left and the door had closed behind her before turning to Angel, his expression wild with fury, "If you so much as lay a hand on her I swear I will..."

"You will what? Face it Spike, you couldn't take me when you had two working legs, you have no chance sitting in that thing. But hey, no need to worry. I wouldn't hurt Drusilla, you know how much I care for her."

"That's exactly what worries me," Spike stated as he began to calm down.

"Let's talk about more pleasant things, like this meeting you were at. Meet with anybody interesting?"

"It's peculiar how nosy you've become recently."

"I find it peculiar that you have gotten so secretive lately," Angel shoot back. He leaned forward and lowered his voice, "Or maybe you're just scared to tell me about it? Don't want me to see you fail again?"

"You just wait," Spike spit out before turning the wheel chair around and making his way out of the warehouse, leaving Angel alone once again to dwell on his inability to get any useful information.

Jenny made sure to arrive at the school extra early in hopes of seeing Rupert before her first class started. He had wanted to continue researching the amulet and since she herself had papers that needed to be graded they had spent the night apart. In the back of her mind she scolded herself for acting like one of her lovesick students but it was completely smothered by her longing to see him.

At first sight the library appeared empty, but the amount of books scattered over the table told her Rupert was somewhere near. She knew he wouldn't dream of leaving the library in this state. A quick look in his office revealed even more books and a cup of steaming coffee on his desk confirmed her suspicion that he hadn't been home at all, only a lack of sleep would bring her all-through English lover to drink coffee.

Just then the object of her thoughts walked out from between the bookshelves, carrying yet another book. He came to an abrupt stop when he noticed her. "Jenny, what are you doing here?"

"I work here," Jenny drolly replied and when Rupert still looked confused she added, "I'm a teacher, remember?"

One look at the clock sent him out of his bewilderment. "Oh, I hadn't realized the time," he said as he hurried down and started stacking the books on the table.

"You've been here all night," she stated rather than asked.

He gave her a sheepish look before admitting, "Eh yes, I thought it would be best to do a as thorough research as possible."

"Found anything?"

"I might have," he responded to her surprise. "I found three different possibilities that might be the amulet we are looking for."

He reached for one of the books on the table and handed it to her, the open page showed a drawing of an amulet consisted of two snakes, one in gold and one in silver, intertwined together. "That belonged to an ancient emperor, it doesn't really match the description too well but I figured one can never be too sure. The other two doesn't have any pictures but based on their descriptions one of them could be the one we are looking for."

He gave her another book before heading to his office and retrieving the third book. "Both of them are described as round shaped with undefined patterns in silver and gold and they are both used for protection against dark forces."

"What would Angel and Spike want with one of these?"

He gave a tired sigh as he sat down, "I have no idea at the present, the next step will be to find out more about these three amulets and try to find out if they could have any use for one of them."

"Great, more research. I'll send an email to some of my online sources, maybe somebody will know something." Suddenly she noticed him looking at her with a dazed expression, not appearing to be listening. "What?"

"Oh, nothing... you look very nice today."

She couldn't resist teasing him a little, "As opposed to how awful I usually look?"

"No, no of course not. I-I just meant..."

Then because she knew it was the most effective way to silence him and because she couldn't resist, she leaned forward and gave him a long deep kiss. Eventually she reluctantly pulled back, this was neither the time nor the place. "I'll see you later."

She was happy to note that his dazed expression had returned. "Yes of course... later."

"That was absolutely horrible!" Buffy heard a familiar voice exclaim behind her and she turned to see Cordelia approaching with Xander in tow.

"It wasn't that bad," Xander tried to calm his agitated girlfriend.

Buffy really didn't want to get involved in whatever argument the two where currently having, but on the off chance that it could be something Hellmouth related she concluded that it was best to at least ask, "What happened?"

"I was forced to take the bus to school," Cordelia elaborated, still noticeably upset.

"How dreadful," Buffy dryly replied, giving Xander a 'are you kidding me' look.

He merely shrugged his shoulders. "Her car broke down yesterday on the middle of the highway, we had to stand at the edge waiting for the tow truck with cars going by faster than a speeding bullet. I'm telling you, that's worse than any vampire you can imagine."

Buffy couldn't help but direct a gleeful look at Cordelia. "Sounds like you'll have to continue taking the bus to school for a while."

The other girl responded with a smug, "As if, I'll be getting a new, functional car in two days."

Buffy snorted, astonished and slightly envious, "Your car breaks down and you automatically get a new one? Why not just repair the car you already have?"

"I was getting the new car anyway as my 17-birthday present. My sister will get the old car to use for test driving."

"It's your birthday?" Xander blurted out in surprise, which got him an angry glare in return.

Just then Buffy caught sight of Willow making her way towards them. "Hey, you have no idea how happy I am to see you. But I have to warn you, you just walked into an episode of Days of Our Lives." Taking a closer look at her friend she suddenly noticed that she seemed upset and judging by the redness under her eyes she had been crying. "What's wrong?"

"I just... the funeral is this weekend, on Sunday. Oz parents weren't sure which students they should invite so, they asked me to tell you."

Buffy felt her stomach tightening painfully and all she was able to respond in return was a quiet, "Oh."

"Are you okay?" Xander asked, stepping forward as if to comfort her.

Willow took a step backwards and instead of answering him she asked, "Will you guys let Giles and Ms Calendar know?"

"Sure," Buffy quickly agreed, searching desperately for something to say.

"I have to get to class," said Willow before quickly walking away.

Buffy stares after debating what to do. "Do you think we should go after her?"

"I don't know. What would we say?" Xander's voice is cold, sending shivers down her spine even before he declared, "If you ask me actions his better than words. Don't you think it's high time we make Angel pay for what he's done."

The bell rang saving her from having this conversation, at least for the moment. She closed her locker and made sure to avoid looking at Xander as they made their way to their first class of the day.

Willow tried desperately not to let any more tears escape. Over the past days she had almost began to feel sane again. School had even started to have a peaceful effect on her making it appear as if nothing had changed. She'd been entirely avoiding the hallway where Oz used to have his locker which meant she had to take a detour to some of her classes, but it had given a comforting illusion.

It was still hard to find the strength to get up in the mornings, but at Saturday she had slept the whole night through without any nightmares and she had finally begun to hope for some sort of normalcy.

Then on Sunday night the phone had rang, it had been Oz's father telling her that the funeral was set in one week. One week. That was all the time left before she would have to say goodbye, before he would be gone forever. Part of her knew that wasn't logical, he was already gone, but somehow she had managed to delude herself of that notion making it feel as if it was only temporary. That he was away somewhere performing with his band and would be back soon. But he wasn't coming back and she wasn't sure she was ready to deal with that.

She came to an abrupt stop outside the door, the classroom blurred before her eyes as tears threatened to overwhelm her. A soft sob escaped her before she turned and ran in the opposite direction. She didn't pay any attention to the looks she was receiving as she raced through the hallways. She was vaguely aware of the bell ringing just before she threw the door open, bursting down the stairs and on to the school grounds. Finally away from the crowd she stopped her flight, leaning against a tree trying to get herself under control. Then her gaze came to focus on a nearby bench, the same bench where Oz was sitting when he first asked her out on a date. The last of her resolve finally crumbled and her knees buckled, sending her crashing to the ground as her grief came pouring out.