A/N: Thanks to all of you who have followed and favorited. Cookies to those who left a review; you fill my heart with warm fuzzies. Also, sorry for the lateness!
Warning: Rated T for language and suggestive content.
Disclaimer: Buffyverse is the creation of Joss Whedon. Supernatural is the creation of Eric Kripke
Chapter Twenty-Nine: Dean
Dean stared at the door, debating whether to go out there or not. He knew it had been a mistake to lie to his father. He should have told him that Buffy was the Slayer when she gave him permission. But then, his father wouldn't have let them stay here in Sunnydale. They would have gone with him to Los Angeles, and he never would have fallen in—
"Hey, Dean!"
He turned to see Sammy kneeling by Giles' chair while Willow inspected his head. His little brother was glaring back at him, as if all of this was Dean's fault. "What?"
"Make yourself useful. Grab a glass of water and an ice pack from the fridge."
Dean had been knocked out in the line of duty more than a few times, so he knew the kind of headache in store for Giles now that he'd regained consciousness. Forcing his attention away from the door, Dean went into the kitchen. He poked around and found a large bottle of aspirin. After fishing out a few pills, he returned to the others and handed them to Giles, along with the water and ice pack.
"Thank you, Dean," Giles said.
"So it's true?" His eyes traveled to the tattoo on Giles' arm. "You used to do all this black magic shit?"
"Although it may be hard to believe," he said, pressing the ice pack to the back of his head, "I was young once. And I was quite foolish."
"But you're not doing that anymore, right? I mean, you don't conjure demons?"
"Dean, maybe this isn't the best time—"
"It's alright, Sam." Giles waved away Sam's protests, and Dean felt a surge of annoyance that his brother sat back and didn't interrupt the way he would have with their dad. "The supernatural world isn't quite as black and white as most hunters would like to believe. Not all demons wish us harm."
"I thought it was Buffy's job to kill demons, though." Dean looked around at each of her friends. "Willow's a witch. You let yourself get possessed by a demon. Next, you're gonna tell me that Xander's a werewolf, and Oz is a ghoul."
"Me? A werewolf?" Xander chuckled nervously, his eyes darting from Willow to Oz. "I'm not a werewolf."
"My job is to fight evil," said Buffy, coming through the doorway. "So let's deal with the bad and get on with our lives."
"Buffy." Dean closed the distance between them and reached out to take her in his arms. But she pulled away, and he could see the smudge of hastily wiped tears on her cheeks. In a soft voice, he said, "Look, I know my dad's a little bit of a hardass, but whatever he said, we can work it out. I'll make him understand, okay?"
"Dean..." Her eyes met his briefly. So briefly that he couldn't read them. And then she lowered her head, turning away. "Let's deal with the Gem first. Finish the job."
"You're right," he said. But she wasn't. Something was wrong, and he didn't know what it was, much less how to fix it. "Come on."
The gang gathered around the coffee table, and Buffy placed the ring in the center. She took a seat on the couch next to Willow, who was sitting beside her boyfriend. It didn't leave any room for Dean, so he sat on the floor across the table from Buffy, hoping that he could catch her eye. It wasn't working.
"I like it," said Willow.
Oz studied it from the safety of the couch. "It's small" was his observation.
"Really worth getting my ribs bashed in." Xander winced as he adjusted to find a more comfortable position in the armchair.
"It's also very dangerous," Giles said. He was perched on the arm of the couch, next to Buffy. "And we're destroying it."
Finally, a plan Dean could get behind. And maybe it wasn't such a bad idea that Giles knew a little magic. They'd probably need to do some sort of ritual mumbo jumbo to get rid of something this powerful.
"We don't destroy it," said Buffy, quietly.
"Well, Buffy, any vampire that gets his hand on this is going to be essentially unkillable." Giles frowned as he looked at her. Dean watched as she gave her Watcher one of those enigmatic looks that seemed to mean something to everyone but him. "Oh."
"'Oh,' what?" asked Dean, staring at Buffy. When she avoided his gaze, he looked around, noticing that at least Sammy and Xander seemed as bewildered as he felt.
"I have that gig in LA," Oz said in his usual cool and unflappable manner. Except that his fingers were restless, despite being clasped in Willow's hand. "I could swing by."
"Thanks, Oz." Buffy plucked the ring from the table, but didn't hand it over.
Xander leaned forward. "What's going on? What's in LA?"
"She's giving the ring to Angel," whispered Willow. But in the silence of the room, her voice carried and her words were clear. "Don't make a fuss."
"Buffy, are you sure?" Giles asked, glancing at Dean.
Something was obviously going on, and if Buffy would just look at him for a minute he could figure it out. But she kept her eyes averted. "Wait a second." He fell back on his training, using what Dad had taught them, to pull all the information together, to step back and look at the entire picture to help fill in the missing pieces. "'Angel' - your ex-boyfriend Angel? What's he gonna do with it? It only works on—"
"He should have it," said Buffy, cutting him off. As if by stopping the words, she could stop him from realizing the truth.
"Are you telling me that your ex-boyfriend is a vampire?" Even though she still refused to look him in the eye, he could see it in her face. And from the guilty expressions from her friends. "Isn't that a little conflict of interest?"
"He's not like other vampires."
"So, he doesn't drink blood? Hasn't killed anyone in a few years? Doesn't breed other blood-sucking little shits?"
"He has a soul."
"He has a—" Another piece of the puzzle fell into place. "That's the vampire you stabbed with a sword. To stop the Apocalypse."
"He lost it for a little while." She brought her fist to her chest. The fist that clutched the ring. The ring that would make her boyfriend invincible.
Ex-boyfriend, he tried to remind himself.
"What the hell, Buffy?" He leaned across the coffee table. They were a foot apart, but she was miles away. "Did he forget it in his other pants? How exactly does a vampire lose a soul?"
"Dean," said Sammy, tugging his brother's arm, "maybe you should ease up..."
Dean shook him off. "How do you know he won't lose it again?"
"Because he's in L.A." Buffy finally raised her eyes and met his. It took everything he had not to look away from the emotions he saw there. "And I'm here."
It explained so much. Her hesitancy and inexperience, the way she felt personally responsible for the deaths in the obituary notices. Only that one time, she'd said. How could anyone in his right mind not want to go back for more? Maybe… maybe risking his soul wasn't worth another night with Buffy.
"You give this to him," said Dean, struggling to keep his voice steady, "and we're done."
"It's a tactical decision, Dean, not personal," Buffy said, her eyes still trained on him. "He's a strong fighter, and he's fighting on the side of good. He's one of us."
"No. No, he is far, far away from being one of us."
She was so close. He could reach out and throttle her for the way she was staring back at him, with her chin raised defiantly. But he didn't. He wanted to grab her and kiss her until she forgot all about her stupid vampire ex-boyfriend. But he didn't. He wanted to hold her, to fill his senses with her eyes, her smell, her lips, her skin. Just one last time. But he didn't.
"I can't even... Sammy, let's go."
He walked out the door, not checking to see whether his brother followed or not. Because there's one thing he could always depend on – family.
}o{
Dad's contacts in L.A. hadn't been very useful. Dean wasn't surprised. Gunn and his crew were just a bunch of wannabes, street thugs defending their turf. They didn't know how to track down a specific monster. Certainly not one who pretended to be human. It even had a soul.
The Impala cruised down another street. The problem was that he didn't know how to track it down, either. Buffy had guarded her secret well. And he'd been so caught up in the present, in worrying about the future, their future, that they didn't talk much about the past. He figured they would have time to get to know each other better. He figured that he knew the important stuff.
He'd been wrong.
"Dean..."
"Look," said Dean, cutting off Sammy's complaints before he could start, "we find the van, we find Oz. We find Oz, we find Angel."
"And what are you planning to do once we find him?"
"I'm going to separate his blood-sucking head from the rest of his undead body."
Of all the supernatural creatures Buffy could have fallen in love with, she had to go and be a bride of Dracula. Fucking lame. And so fucking cliché.
"Come on, Dean. He's one of the good guys." Sammy withered under his brother's glare. "Can't you trust Buf—"
"I told you. I don't want to hear that name."
They sat in blessed silence for a few minutes. But Sammy just couldn't drop it. "Didn't it feel wrong to you?"
"You mean, did I not notice that some undead prick had been there before me?"
"That's not what I meant. She was different after she talked with Dad."
"Really?" Dean raised his eyebrow as he looked at his brother. "You're gonna try to pin this one on Dad?"
Sam frowned and looked away. Dean couldn't really blame him. It was his brother's fall back excuse whenever they had to leave a place, especially one that he liked. And he'd really liked Sunnydale.
"Maybe she didn't know until—"
"She knew." Okay, maybe she didn't know that he'd been a vampire when she slept with him, but she certainly knew now. And she'd still chosen to give him the ring.
"Then there's got to be a logical explanation for it," Sammy said, throwing his hands up. "Buf-she's not that kind of girl. She wouldn't—"
Wouldn't sleep with something so messed up, thought Dean, finishing his brother's sentence. The kid still had her on a pedestal, too blinded by her pouty lips that curved into a half-smile, and her golden hair that slipped through his fingers like strands of—
But Dean knew better. She was the kind of girl that did the saving. She was the kind of girl that didn't need to be saved. She was the kind of girl who shined all the brighter next to something dark, something a little bit twisted. She was the kind of girl that was attracted to broken things. But he was too far gone to be fixed.
"Or maybe he really is one of the good guys. Just because something isn't human doesn't mean it's bad." Sam gave a small chuckle. "Anya's kind of annoying, but she's not bad."
"Yeah, well, like you keep telling me, Anya's a human now. But Angel isn't." He should have known. No breathing, red-blooded male could have been satisfied with just one night with Buffy. Only a fool who was dead inside could walk away. "He's a vampire that can't be staked, can't be hurt by Holy Water, and can't be burned by fire or sunlight. I don't care if he's a good guy or not, no vampire should have that kind of power. What if he goes and loses his soul again?"
Sam muttered, "If you were with Buffy, there'd be a lot less chance of that happening."
"And if I kill him, there'll be even less." And maybe then he could go back to pretending that Angel never existed. Then she couldn't choose him.
"What if he didn't have the ring? What if he's just a regular vampire?"
"No vamp is gonna turn down that power."
"But if he did? Would that prove that he's one of the good guys?"
No. But Dean knew his brother too well. There was a point to this line of questioning. "Maybe."
"And you promise you'll just talk to him? You won't try to kill him?"
Dean swerved across the road, cutting off two cars and nearly putting a dent on the front bumper of the Impala. "You know where he is."
"Promise me, Dean."
"Give me the address, Sammy."
"I'm serious." Sam shrank back a little, no doubt realizing that his brother was also serious. "I promised Buffy I wouldn't tell you if you were just going to kill him."
"Why the hell would she tell you?" They'd left Sunnydale a few days ago without saying goodbye. When would he have promised her anything?
"Because I actually answer the phone." Sam held up Dean's cell phone. It had been buzzing since they left Giles' apartment. He hadn't picked up any calls with a Sunnydale area code. "She's been trying to talk to you. She's been trying to apologize."
Dean didn't want her apologies. He wanted to turn back time so that she'd never have anything to apologize for. "Fine. If he doesn't have the Gem, I promise not to kill him."
Sam gave him directions to a brick building in the seedy part of town. Then again, this was L.A. It was all seedy, one way or another. The plaque on the door read "Angel Investigations." Great, Dean thought, a vanity plate.
"Welcome to Angel Investigations." A chesty brunette ushered them into an office. She wore a short skirt that showed a generous amount of toned legs. "Would you care for a beverage? We have water or coffee or water."
Dean gave her a half-hearted smile and a wink. "I'll take a water."
She smiled back, letting her fingers linger as she handed him the cup. Then she motioned them to wait while she disappeared behind another set of doors leading further into the building.
Dean took a few swigs of his drink before pulling a flask from his jacket. He poured the contents into the cup, refilling it to the original level. He screwed the cap back on his flask and tucked it away with only a few moments to spare.
The brunette emerged from the other room and opened the door wide to let them in. The office looked like any other, with a large desk and filing cabinets. Very little natural light. Which meant that the guy sitting behind the desk, the one with the dark spiky hair and sallow face, must be Angel. He said, "How can I help you?"
"We hear you're the man to see if we have an unusual problem," said Dean. "The kind that the police don't naturally handle."
Angel gestured to the chairs across from him. Sam was giving his brother that look as they took their seats. The exasperated, bitch-face look.
"We think there's a poltergeist in our aunt's house," Dean continued. "The furniture moves around, books fly off the shelves." His arms waved about, demonstrating his words, and the water in his cup sloshed over, splashing Angel's hand. "Oops, sorry."
The vampire let out a cry of pain as his skin hissed and burned where the liquid had touched it. He shot up from his seat, glaring at them. "What is this, Holy Water?"
Dean stood up, too, his hand automatically reaching for the gun at his waist. He'd promised not to kill Angel. A bullet to the head wouldn't kill him, but it would give Dean a sense of satisfaction. Like seeing Sam rise from his chair and stand next to him. He could always count on his brother to back him up. Even when he was acting stupid.
The hot receptionist burst through the door, wielding a baseball bat. "Are you trying to attack my employer? Because I don't have a back-up plan if he dies, so you guys should just get out of here right now."
"Cordelia, it's okay." Angel pulled out a handkerchief and started dabbing at his would. "These must be the Winchesters. Sam. Dean."
"Nice to put a face to a name," said Dean.
"If you're looking for the Gem, you're going to have to check outside. There might still be pieces of it floating in the air." Angel nodded his head towards the shuttered window. "But I'm pretty sure Buffy already told you that."
"Well, I have reason to believe she's got a weakness when it comes to you."
"And it's killing you inside, isn't it?" The corner of his mouth pulled back, a mix between a smirk and a sneer. Buffy seemed to have no problem telling him all about Dean.
"Son of a bitch," muttered Dean. White-hot fury swelled inside him. His hand closed around the grip of his gun.
And, suddenly, he was pressed up against the wall, Angel's hand at his throat. His yellow eyes flashed with anger, and he bared his fangs. "I may be a vampire with a soul, but I'm still a vampire."
Dean glared, refusing to back down even though it was getting harder to breathe.
"I want you Winchesters out of my city by tomorrow morning."
The ground rushed up as Angel stepped back, releasing Dean from his grip. Luckily, Sam was there to keep him from falling. Dean surged forward, but his brother kept him pinned to the wall.
"We're going," Sam said, as much an answer to Dean's questioning look as to Angel's ultimatum. "Thanks for, ummm, destroying the Gem."
Sam's hand dropped away, leaving Dean free to attack Angel. Instead, Dean straightened up and walked towards the door, schooling his face into a mask of indifference. Since the Gem was gone, there wasn't much point to killing Angel right now. He was just a regular, wooden-stake-to-the-heart vampire, and there would be plenty of opportunities in the future.
Before Sam and Dean had gotten halfway towards the building's exit, he heard Cordelia's voice. "So that's Buffy's new ex? Go, Buffy," she said, not even bothering to whisper. "What? I can't think a guy's hot? I haven't gotten laid in months, Angel."
"I don't need to know that, Cordy."
}o{
"Satisfied?"
"What?"
They were back in the Impala, heading towards the motel to meet Dad. He hadn't even sounded too disappointed that they hadn't killed Angel. He just sounded eager to get out of Los Angeles. He wasn't the only one.
"He destroyed it," Sam said. "We don't have to worry about a Daywalker in our midst."
"Yeah, great," replied Dean, without much enthusiasm.
That receptionist – Cordelia – had been pretty hot. And, job or no job, he should have hit on her. Usually he would have. Or at lease flirted a bit. He had to take the fun where he could get it.
"You should call her."
It took Dean a second to realize that his brother hadn't meant Cordelia. "No."
"Why?"
Because there are hundreds – no, thousands – of other women out there. And he loved women. All of them. Why should he limit himself to just one? It didn't matter that her skin was softer or her voice sweeter or her eyes greener then any other woman. It didn't matter that her lips had tasted like heaven or that her hair had reminded him of home.
"Because."
The only thing that mattered was family. Sam and Dad were the only people he could count on in this world. And keeping them safe was his only priority.
"That's not an answer."
"Too bad," said Dean, leaning over to turn on the radio. "It's the only one you're going to get."
Next up Chapter 30: Sam Only one thing could bring Dean back to Sunnydale.
