Part 11

"What do you mean 'oops'?" Buffy asked with her fists clenched and leaning over the table to interrogate her. Mr. Gordo was to her like Mr. Bigglesworth was to Dr Evil. Her partner in crime. (Although Buffy never actually did anything that could be considered a 'crime'.)

Kathryn shook her head, refusing to be accused of anything. It was the damn cat's fault anyway! "Nothing. I just might've...left the back door open an-"

"And he went outside?!" Buffy shouted before running out of the room and out the back door, calling out Mr. Gordo's name.

She frantically began systematically checking all the trees for the beautiful white cat, all to no avail. She checked amongst the rose bushes, in the agapanthus and under the garden furniture. She checked in the gardener's shed, throughout the entire garden and even in the pool (in case he'd fallen in and drowned or something **No, please not that.**). The thought that her precious and beloved cat was all by himself and not safe and sound distressed her beyond belief.

She went back inside and picked up the cordless phone. "Hello? Willow? Have you seen Mr. Gordo? He's missing and..."

"Oh my God, Buffy... Do you think I could help? You know, and try to find him?" Willow asked.

"Thanks, but no; it's okay. I don't even have any idea where to start looking and I don't think the two of us will have any better luck. I'll...see you tomorrow," Buffy hung up hurriedly before dialling the next number. And the next. And the next. No one had seen him nor had any idea where he might've gone.

Buffy sighed and sat down on one of the deck chairs lining the edge of the pool. The only person she hadn't yet called was Angel. She doubted he'd seen Mr. Gordo, but it was always worth a shot. She punched in the number she'd learnt off by heart from sneaking a peak from Kathryn's address book. "Hello? Is Angel there?"

"Who's this?" Kathy said from the other end of the line.

"It's Buffy. Could you please give the phone to Angel? It's an emergency."

"Well, maybe I can help."

"My cat, he's missing."

"No he isn't. He's here with me."

"What? He's there? With you? How? Why? When? Huh?"

"Hey, one question at a time. I was walking home from swimming training this afternoon and he was following me all the way. I didn't think it'd be very much trouble to keep him for a little while until Angel got home to gimme a ride to your place to give him back," Kathy said sweetly. For a twelve year old, Kathy was pretty smart, but when it came to animals...

"Oh thank God! Thank you, thank you, thank you. I could just kiss you right now except, well, we're on the phone and all. Do you think you could bring him back now though?" Buffy was ecstatic. She didn't care that Kathryn had left the door open or that Mr. Gordo had followed Kathy all the way to her house. Not to mention the coincidence that he'd found her at all. **Maybe he recognised her scent.**

"Of course. We were just about to leave but we had to have dinner first. We'll be right there."

Buffy pressed the button to hang up and trudged back inside. She put down the receiver on its charger and sat back in her chair at the dining table.

"Well? Has anyone seen him?" Joyce asked as she set down the large bowl of salad she'd made beside the dish of spaghetti bolognaise (and since it was Mai Lee's day off, Joyce had had to cook it—not exactly restaurant quality, but still "scrum-diddly-umptious"—as Dawn once put it).

"He followed Angel's sister home. They're bringing him back now," Buffy replied happily. "Mmm, this smells great."

Kathryn stared at her sister in fury. **How dare she treat me like that? The little bitch.**

"And Kathryn? I know it probably wasn't your fault, but please keep the back door *closed* when Mr. Gordo's around. He isn't a dog."

Five minutes later, the doorbell rang. Buffy leapt right out of her seat to answer it, anxious to see her cat all safe and sound again. And sure enough, there Kathy and her brother stood, with Mr. Gordo held unharmed in Kathy's arms.

Buffy flung open the door and eagerly invited them inside. Kathy handed Mr. Gordo back to Buffy with regret. But when she saw how happy it made Buffy to see the feline again, she realised that she shouldn't be regretting it. After all, it wasn't as if the cat was hers. It was ironic that she loved animals but she'd never had any pets except for a few goldfish that she'd had to give away when they'd moved a couple of years ago.

"I can't thank you enough!" Buffy hugged Kathy (cat and all) as if she'd just been told she'd won the lottery. "You have no idea how much this means to me," Buffy continued to gush.

"No problem. It wasn't as if I'd found him anyway. He found me."

Angel—who had been silent the whole time—watched Buffy intently, noticing how much the cat made her happy. **Will I ever make her that happy?**

"Kathy, we have to get going soon," Angel said ruefully. He really didn't want to leave so soon. It was so tempting to just grab her and kiss right there. He didn't even know why he was so attracted to her, he just...was. She was everything he'd ever looked for in a person; he supposed. He felt drawn to her in a way he couldn't describe. Unlike with Kathryn, who he'd started dating because he thought she was hot. **I guess I found someone better than her—someone who's exactly what I wanted to find in Kathryn, but didn't. That could be the reason.**

"So soon? Would you like some cake? We have lots of celebration cake left if you want any," Buffy offered warmly. She shifted her hold on Mr. Gordo, which revealed to Angel that she was indeed still wearing the bracelet instead of still guilt tripping about it.

Kathy was about to open her big mouth to say yes when her brother clamped a hand over mouth and shook his head. "No, we really should get going. Kathy has homework and so do I."

"Sure, I understand," Buffy said sadly.

"I mean, we'd love to stay but we can't. And if I remembered correctly, Kathy has an essay due tomorrow which she hasn't even started on," Angel said, and grinned as Kathy's eyes widened.

"Shit. Oh crap! We have to go, bye Buffy," Kathy said as she ran out the door and jumped into the car.

"Never mind her. It's actually due on Wednesday, I just wanted to get her out of the way," Angel quietly. The rest of the Summerses were still enjoying their dinner, not really interested in what would happen when Kathy gave back Buffy's cat (cos it's just such a big whoop...not). It was just Buffy and Angel, alone, again.

"I see... Now that you have me alone, what do you plan to do?" Buffy asked, smiling tenderly at the sentiment.

"Oh, I dunno." Angel replied and rested his hands on her shoulders. "I could give you a kiss." He captured her lips in a chaste kiss, taking his time to explore the inside of her mouth with his tongue until they mutually broke apart.

Buffy licked her lips, "Mm, not bad. What else?"

"How about a date?" Angel asked as he tucked a piece of her baby-soft blonde hair behind her ear.

"When?" Buffy inquired, and relished the closeness between their bodies, trying to ignore the possibility of being caught.

"Thursday, after school?"

"Sure. But why not tomorrow or Wednesday? Even though I work at the gallery on Wednesdays. And I can't tell you how much better it's been going since mom stopped getting Kathryn to work there since she's so bad at it."

"Really? Well it's because I have football practice tomorrow. And I already knew that you'd be busy on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays."

"Thursday it is, then."

*****

Buffy woke with a smile on her face. The moment she'd woken up to the near-blinding light coming from outside her bedroom window, she'd decided that it would be the perfect day for a jelly donut and fresh (and delicious) Starbucks mocha. She knew she had a chemistry test to do, but she wouldn't let something like that spoil her mood. After all, she'd studied as hard as she possibly could already (with Willow as her tutor) and that there wasn't much more she could do about it.

She threw back the covers of her bed and hopped out of bed with a spring in her step. Not much later after she'd used the bathroom, she was dressed in white capri pants, a pale yellow tank top and her favourite baby blue embroidered cardigan. Mr. Gordo—who had been sleeping at the end of her bed—had not yet woken up even though he'd gotten part of the blanket tossed over him (just a bit).

Buffy looked down at the two neat rows of shoes lined up in her closet and picked out the pair of blue, strappy sandals she'd bought especially to match the cardigan. She quickly put them on and fastened the small buckles on both ankles and went over to her dressing table to fix her hair and put on a little bit of make up.

Buffy slung a bag over her shoulder and checked her reflection out in the full-length mirror attached to the back of her door. "Perfect." She bounded down the stairs and out the door, shouting a good morning to her bewildered mother on the way out.

It was still rather early and she was in such a good mood that she'd decided to walk the whole way instead of taking the car. **Hey, on second thought it's kinda...far. And 'far' means 'late'.**

She popped her head back through the door and found her mother still standing there with a set of car keys in her hands as well as a steaming mug of coffee. "Jellies?" Joyce asked in amusement.

"How'd you guess?" Buffy joked. She knew that her mother knew that whenever she didn't have breakfast at home, she'd probably be buying jelly donuts from the bakery on Main instead.

Joyce shrugged in mock innocence, "Wouldn't have a clue."

Buffy smiled gratefully and kissed her mother on the cheek before taking the keys. She was thankful that she wouldn't have to beg for permission to take out her and Kathryn's car; unlike last time. After her sister had "accidentally" backed it into some old guy's car, their mother had been more careful in deciding whether or not they would be allowed to take the pretty (pretty expensive) little car out.

It was pale metallic blue. With leather seats. A CD player. Convertible. It even had custom installed headlight wipers (compliments of their father; the car junkie). It was probably Cordelia's dream car. It was always the best for Hank Summers' daughters. His amassed wealth had bought much for him and his family, but Buffy had never let it get to her and turn her into a snob.

Buffy took out the pair of sunglasses she'd left in the glove box and started the ignition. She was so excited that she'd almost forgotten to wait for the gates to open. Almost.

She drove carefully into town. It'd been a while since she'd last driven, but it wasn't as if she was rusty at it. It was just that sometimes there were some pretty crazed drivers running rampage—you could never be too careful. At least, that's what her mother always said.

She found a place to park conveniently right in front of the bakery. Maybe it was her lucky day. She entered the bakery and bought three jelly donuts—two for her, one for Giles. She picked up the paper bag from the counter after putting her wallet back into her bag and turned to find Angel standing there looking as if he were just about to hello.

"What a nice surprise," Buffy greeted him with a kiss on the cheek.

Angel grinned. How come things like this kept happening to them? It was like Fate was messing with their lives and kept doing things to bring the two of them together. Angel turned his attention to the girl behind the counter, "I'll have a cinnamon pastry, thanks."

Angel paid for it and picked up his paper bag and followed Buffy out of the shop. "Coffee?" she asked.

"As if I'd refuse a steaming hot Starbucks café mocha with extra cream and extra foam," Angel said and opened the door for her. Buffy complied and entered the café, glancing briefly at the menu before ordering.

"Angel? What do you want?"

"I already told you didn't I?"

"Oh. Right, ok," Buffy said quietly to herself and turned back to the person behind the counter. "One café mocha with extra cream and extra foam and one white chocolate mocha with no foam."

Meanwhile, Angel had found them a place to sit in the already bustling coffee house. He watched her wait for their coffees and paid special attention to everything she did. **I think I do believe in Fate...**

"Here we go," Buffy said as she set down the two mugs down on the table. "And please, don't worry. It's my treat."

"Are you sure? Cos I could pay you back," Angel fumbled for the money in his pocket.

"No, no, no. It's FINE," Buffy put her hand on his to reassure him. "So, how do you take your coffee?"

"What?"

"Well, when you get to know someone, you should find out how they take their coffee. I usually take one raw and one white." She took one packet of the raw sugar and one of the white sugar from the few that she'd picked up on her way over and opened them both at the same time and emptied their contents into her mug.

"Really? I guess I'll have to remember that then. I take two raw."

"Really? Am I strange or something? Cos everyone else usually take two of the same. And it kinda makes it harder to remember. Oh well, couldn't be too hard to remember," Buffy beamed and took a sip of her white chocolate mocha. "Yum."

*****

20 minutes later, they found themselves standing outside once more. It had become too crowded inside and the time to get going was dangerously near.

Buffy leant on her car and crossed her arms, waiting for Angel to reply to her question.

"What do you mean by 'Do you like shrubs?' and I don't think the owner of that car would appreciate you leaning on their car like that."

"I meant 'Do you like shrubs?'; how much simpler can a question be?" Buffy said, purposely not answering Angel's second question. She put her bag and the paper bag with the jelly donut for Giles in it in the passenger seat.

"I suppose I do, but you didn't answer my other question."

"About the car?" Buffy asked innocently, intending to tease him.

"Yeah." **That can't be her car right? It's a fucking Mercedes SL-500!! Can't possibly be hers.**

"Well, I thought you'd have figured it out by now. And I can tell you're probably thinking that it can't be mine. And you'd be right." Buffy grinned—she'd always wanted to try this on someone...

"But then why-" Angel lowered his voice, "You're not stealing it are you?"

Of all conclusions she'd thought he'd come to, THAT was not what she'd expected. "What? No. Dad bought it for himself to gawk at and used the excuse that it was for me and Kathryn to convince mom that we should get a third car. It's not technically mine and that's all I meant to...mean. And-"

Angel stopped her babbling with a kiss. "I like you. And I like cars. That meshes well. You know, in a not 'women-and-cars' way." Angel made a face and mentally kicked himself for the utterly thoughtless choice of words. "Do you think you could come to practice this afternoon? We could go...do something afterwards. If you want," Angel asked timidly. **Timidly? How did I get 'timid' and how the hell did I not notice?**

"Sure. I'd like that."

(A.N. I know that the new SL wasn't released until 2001, but who really cares? It's a nice car.)