March 20, 2007
Buffy burst threw the office doors, her body showing tense and ready muscles under her patrol pants and shirt. Her face set firmly on 'Slay-mode' as her right hand tightened around her Scythe.
The only drawback for the lethal looking slayer was the baby car seat in her left hand.
Angel appeared right behind her, leather coat swaying as he walked, axe in hand, broadsword strapped to his back, his dark eyes flashing in eager readiness.
His own ready for action display equally ruined by the baby girl cradled against his chest.
"What are we up against?" Buffy demanded as her eyes settle on her watcher, eager to put domestic life on hold for a few hours and kick some demon ass that her body so craved for.
"Buffy, Angel, perfect timing." Giles greeted as he found the page he needed in one of the many dusty tomes he and the gang had been searching through.
"Oh you know, same crazy psycho killer is trying to open the Hellmouth and destroy the world." Xander vaguely answered her question, "Like we haven't seen that before." He emphasized the 'that' rather loudly.
"Do we know who this new player is?" Angel asked, shifting a dozing Katie onto the crook of his arm.
"Not so new." Xander added.
"What do you mean? Who is this guy?" Buffy asked, placing Liam's car seat on the table and focusing on Giles.
The watcher quickly removed his glasses and nervously cleaned the spotless lenses on his shirt. "Well, the data we have all points to an old enemy."
"Who is...?" Buffy pushed.
Giles lifted his eyes and met Angel's. "Drusilla."
Angel shut his eyes as the old memories rushed back, both of his demon and souled encounters with the insane vampiress.
When he opened his eyes a moment later, his wife's hazel green eyes were studying his face with concern.
"Are you ok with this?" She asked him, unsure where his stance on possibly killing his sired sat.
"I am." He assured, although he himself wasn't sure how true the statement was. He was fairly certain he wouldn't really know until the actual moment of truth arrived.
She took his free hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze while she directed her attention back to the gang. "Where is she? Do we know anything more than who and what?"
Willow spoke up, "According to the latest on the Wiccan Hotline, she's somewhere in Cleveland or the surrounding area. So yeah, not exactly useful on where, but we're working on it."
Angel shook his head, "Drusilla tends to slip under the radar, so you can't trust traditional magicks and tracking with her. If you want to know what her plans are…you need to get into her head, and trust me when I say you don't want to go there."
"She's crazy, how logical can she be." Xander stated.
"One word, Acathla." Angel remarked tonelessly.
"Uhh, that was your crazy idea." Xander pointed out.
The living vampires sighed, "No, not originally. Hey I would have been just fine with stalking and torture, I never would have thought to go that far if Dru hadn't point out where to find him. She has visions, sees things others can't." After a moment of pause, "How do you think I found out about Jenny researching my curse? If Dru hadn't sent me to the school…" he trailed, seeing the hurt cross Giles face.
"Yes, well let's do keep focused on the current threat?" Giles asked, pushing the bad memories back to the little box in his head filed under, 'Do Not Open.'
They all nodded silently.
"Umm, ok well, according to the Darkon codex, there is a prophesy of the Hellmouth opening on Ostara, the vernal equinox during of the full moon." The watcher stated.
"Tomorrow is the first of spring." Buffy added crestfallen. 'Great, another apocalypse…'
"Yeah…but yesterday was a new moon, March 25 will be the first quarter and the full shouldn't be until Apr 2." Oz stated, knowing the cycle of the moon better than anyone else in the room. Of course that most likely had to do with being a werewolf…that stuff was kind of important for him to know.
"Well then tomorrow couldn't be the prophesied opening, the moon phases and the equinox are not in alignment." Giles suggested.
Angel visibly paled and moved back from the gang, "She couldn't have." He whispered to himself, his mind wrestling with long buried memories.
"Angel?" Buffy asked, noticing him pale.
He looked and realized he was currently the center of attention. He wasn't thrilled about it either.
He took a breath and vocalized his fears, "In 1888, Drusilla was obsessed with the idea of controlling the moon. She spent hours, days even, searching threw books and reading the stars for a way to bend reality to her twisted will. One day, she found something…"
"The Lunar Mirror." Giles muttered.
Angel looked surprised, "Not many have heard of it. Those that have long thought such an artifact to be a myth…but Dru claimed it was real."
"She has this mirror?" Xander asked alarmed.
"Last I heard, she knew where to find it, but it was impossible for her to access. Believe me, she tired for years. I thought she gave up…but if she did manage to get it…"
"Apocalypse right on schedule." Buffy added dryly.
…
Dawn sat grumpily next to Connor in Angel's office. "How come they always leave us with babysitting duty?" She asked as Katie moped in her lap.
Liam laughed as his brother made a funny face.
"Well, we can either feel pissed that they are seriously over-protective of us and don't want us getting hurt…or we can look at it as they trust our skills and abilities enough to keep their kids safe from potential harm in their absence." Connor assessed.
Dawn sat back and thought, "Hmm, I like the second choice better."
"I'm kinda leaning towards that one too, I mean I'm supernatural…I heal quickly, I'm nearly as strong and fast as Buffy and dad are…there is no reason to protect me."
Dawn agreed, "Yeah, I'm a Watcher-in-training. I know how to fight; and I'm totally able to perform some kick ass magicks." She stated proudly.
"Hey, don't tell Buffy that…she'll flip." Connor warned.
He knew if his dad and step-mom found out about the little training sessions the two had been having in secret, they'd both be grounded for a decade.
"As I see it, when they find out it will be because we saved their asses…and they really can't punish us for that now can they?" The young woman reasoned.
The young man shook his head, "You've got them there."
…
Angel held his foot firmly down on the accelerator, easing the old convertible into an even more illegal realm of the speed limit.
The black vehicle sped into the equally black night, the headlights the only source of light on the empty roads. Save for the car behind them, Angel's SUV which was currently piloted by Giles and filled to the brim with Scoobies, books and weapons.
"Uhh Angel? You do realized we'll all die if you crash, right?" Faith asked from the back seat, mildly afraid for her life as the GTX reached triple digits.
"I won't" Spike replied calmly, lighting up a cigarette.
"You will if I turn around and stake you for smoking in this car." Buffy threatened when she heard Spike's lighter, knowing Angel was extremely protective of his car.
"Hey no threatening to stake my boyfriend…only I can do that." Faith shot back, giving the bleach-blond vampire a wicked smile.
"Yeah Blondie, I'm a one slayer man now." He grinned back, flicking the lit but unsmoked cigarette out the window.
Buffy rolled her eyes.
Ever since those two talked about their relationship they had been all over one another. 'Boyfriend this, or girlfriends that, my vampire, my slayer' She averted her eyes from the two necking in the backseat and glanced at her overly quiet husband. Usually he'd have banned either of the two behind them from entering his car, especially together, but he hadn't said a word when they got in at Angel Investigations.
Angel himself didn't seem to notice the comments. His eyes stayed glued to the road in front of him…and to some things that weren't playing outside his eyes, but behind.
"Angel?" Buffy asked, leaning in and letting her hand rest on his arm.
He glanced at her briefly to acknowledge her, and then resumed his pensive demeanor.
"We'll find her." She reassured him, knowing he was kicking himself for not dealing with the insane vampiress long ago…perhaps kicking himself for making her that way to begin with.
"That's what I'm worried about." He muttered before falling silent again.
…
About twenty minutes later they entered the city.
Cleveland wasn't a small area, not nearly as big as L.A, but still the largest city in the state.
Both Angel and Spike had demonic ties with Drusilla, Angel having sired her and Spike having been sired by her, they shared a sort of vampiric bond with the madwoman. They hoped they could tap into the link and use it to locate her before the world literally went to hell.
They agreed to start on different sides of the city and 'feel' around for her. It wasn't a crack plan…but they didn't have much else to go on currently. Spike and Faith exited the car just within the city limits as the Scooby gang headed for the center of town and Angel and Buffy to the far end.
…
After an hour of fruitless patrolling, Angel began to doubt the plan would work.
"This isn't working." He huffed in frustration, kicking a small rock hard enough for it to sail clear across the street and knock over a garbage can.
"Look on the bright side, you just invented the sport of rock bowling." She tried to cheer him up.
"This isn't a game Buffy. Drusilla is out there somewhere, possibly with an artifact of considerable power…" He replied grumpily.
"Easy Giles" She countered, really getting worried about how tightly strung these circumstances were winding him.
"Sorry." He breathed out a moment later, both walking briskly in the cold night air and feeling the waste of time weighting heavy on their shoulders.
She slipped her hand into his and gave it a gentle squeeze. "You're letting this eat you alive, Angel. It's not your fault."
"It is." He fired back, "I created her, she is my responsibility."
She stopped short and held his hand firmly, effectively halting him too. He turned to look down at her, her hazel green eyes probing into his chocolate brown.
"If a boy grows up to rob a bank, it is his mother's fault? No, it's not. All we can do is be the best we can be at any given moment. You, for better or worse, did what you thought was right at the time. Maybe you made Drusilla what she is, but you don't control her. What she does is up to her, it's on her shoulders, not yours." She reasoned.
Angel nodded, but she could see his mind wasn't fully with her on the subject.
Her husband may have come a long way from his constantly brooding days, but he wasn't %100 cured, he had relapses now and again.
Like right now.
He resumed walking, heading in the direction of the car.
She needed to jog to catch up with his determined and much longer strides.
As they passed by an old warehouse he suddenly stopped, whole body pausing as he worked his senses.
"She's here." He whispered, feeling the pull of the mad vampire on their link.
"Then let's stop in and say hi." She grinned, really wanting to kick the crazy woman's ass for mentally setting her husband back to Broodville.
…
They entered the building silently, both sets of eyes and senses scanning the area for signs of the undead.
As she neared, Buffy could feel the pull of demonic energy now too. That little tingle in her gut that told her something unfriendly was hidden in the shadows that needed staking. It was a different tingle than with Angel, he'd always registered different on her demon sensor, she could feel his soul. Whatever was roaming the shadows defiantly didn't possess a soul.
"I don't think they wanted company." Angel remarked, pulling a stake from his coat pocket.
"They?" Buffy asked, but needed no validation as a few dozen vampires materialized from the darkness. "Oh, that they." she gulped.
"Yeah, those ones." He agreed grimly, taking a battle stance.
They were good, but over two dozen vampires in a small space was pushing it.
"Sorry, was this a private party?" She taunted as the first ran at her. The fledgling was dust before he made it to her.
Angel looking peeved grabbed the next one tightly around the throat and held a stake to his chest. "You know who I am?" He growled out, demon face front and center.
The caught vampire's eyes widened, "Y-yes." It squeaked out, "Angelus."
At the name the other vampires in the room paused and looked at one another, whispers circulated, fear of what Angelus does to other vampires.
"And you know who that is behind me?" Angel demanded.
"Sl-slayer." The pitiful creature answered.
The vampires shifted again, looking more afraid. 'The Slayer and Angelus' the whispered intensified along with the fear.
Angel nodded, "So you know how this is going to end then?"
The straggling vampire gasped as he turned to dust.
The other vampires in the room scattered, scared out out of their wits at facing down the two most feared entities of the underworld.
Buffy raised her eyebrows, "Huh, being famous has its perks." She stated, pocketing her stake. She honestly thought that was going to be a bloodbath.
Angel wasn't listening to her though, his eyes were focused on the lone vampire in the room.
Buffy turned her gaze as a voice echoed through the large empty room.
"Shame on you daddy, I worked so hard at organizing my party...and you scared away all my guests." Drusilla pouted as she walked forwards.
"You should have known I'd disapprove." He scolded, taking a few steps towards her.
When she got within a few yards of him she staggered back, her face contorting in pain and confusion. "No, no you're not daddy, you're wrong all wrong! All warm and alive...not daddy...never daddy...only the Angel beast."
Ignoring her insane outburst he stepped forwards again, "Where is the mirror Dru?" he asked like a father soothing a child. "I know you have it."
"Daddy's gone...all swirled together...no way to pull apart." She whispered, sounded afraid and defeated. She moaned, her hands covering her head and she shook and pulled at her hair.
"Easy Dru, just give me the mirror..." He soothed again reaching for her.
"Monster!" She screeched, lashing out wildly at him.
He leaped back and cut to the defensive as the crazed vampire attacked.
Drusilla may be insane, but she was deadly good.
Buffy lunged forwards and joined the fight, defending her husband and trying to gain some offense.
"Nasty slayer!" Drusilla spat, "You steal them all from me! Daddy, my Spike...you make them wrong!" She pulled her closed fist in front of her lips and opened her palm, at the same time she blew the powder in her hand into the slayer's face.
Buffy gasped and fell back, the fine powder stinging her eyes and entering her lungs.
"Buffy!" Angel called, seeing his wife fall back and charging in to take her place with beating Dru.
The dark haired vampire danced away, toying with him.
An enraged Angel swept the mad vampiress legs from under her, sending her crashing to the ground in a wash of child-like giggles.
"Daddy's gotten slow…that awful thumping in your chest…it's made you soft." She purred as she rolled from Angel's assault.
Buffy recovered slightly and jumped in, going for the kill, but Dru saw her coming.
Popping to her feet, she glided past Buffy's swing and jumped into the air, cat-like graces spinning her over both heroes' heads and onto the upper balcony. "Run and catch, run and catch. Baa, says the lamb, baa from the blackberry patch." She sang.
Turning from the threat below, she ran towards the end of the balcony, and directly into Angel.
"Who's slow now." He quipped, sinking a stake into her chest.
Dru's eyes widened as she looked up into the face of her sire, the curves of her lips twisting into a pained grin. "Soft as warm butter." She whispered.
Before he could react, she lashed out, tripping him and ramming his head savagely against the metal bar. The attack scattered his senses and offset his balance, sending him careening over the railing and falling three stories to the cement floor below.
"Angel!" Buffy yelled, halting mid stride up the stairs as she watched helplessly as her lover fell from the balcony and landed hard on the equally hard floor. Had he been fully conscious, he could have controlled the fall and landed neatly on his feet, but he had been dazed and the landing was bad.
Drusilla grinned madly when she heard the snap of bones as Angel impacted. "All the king's horses and all the king's men…couldn't put the Angel-beast together again!" She sang as she ran in the opposite direction, knowing the slayer would choose saving her precious Angel over pursuing her.
The living vampire growled in pain as he rolled stiffly onto his back, his eyes fluttering unfocused as his bruised brain fought to understand what the hell just happened.
"Angel?" Buffy called, running over to the fallen man and grimacing at the odd angle of his left arm and right leg.
Dropping beside him, she ran her thumb along his cheek, calling his name again. "Don't move." She urged, afraid if his spine was damaged he could be paralyzed.
He grimaced as he tried to move his left arm, stabbing pain shooting up his nerves at the action.
"I said don't move." She repeated, placing her hand on him to prevent him from trying.
His eyes finally focused on her, "Buffy?" He asked confused, head still unclear.
"You're hurt; I need to check how badly, ok?" She coaxed, running her fingers over various part of his body to find, or hopefully not find, other injuries.
"Your leg is broken…I need to set it." She told him a few minutes later. She knew the sooner the bone was back in place, the sooner his healing could begin.
"What gave it away, the bone sticking out?" He gritted out sarcastically.
'Well at least his sense of humor survived the fall.' She thought with relief. If he was joking, he would be fine.
She gently as she could, she tore his pant leg around the break to get a better view of the injury.
"Wait." He whispered. He forced his eyes to focus on her, which was increasingly hard with the pain in his body and the throbbing in his head.
"The longer I wait, the worst it will be." She reasoned, worrying about the blood seeping from the tear in his skin.
"Shoulder." He groaned out.
Lifting his coat up, she realized his shoulder had been retched from the joint from the fall. "Put one hand…on top…one…behind…and push." He asked, having trouble forming a sentence over the pain.
"Ok, ready?" She asked, taking position. "On three."
He nodded and no sooner had he done so she said, "Three." while yanking the joint back into place.
He swallowed the scream, but wasn't able to suppress the growl of pain.
"Are you ok?" She asked, leaning down close and placing a kiss on his cheek.
"Knew…you were going…to do that." He panted out.
"I'm sorry." She apologized, knowing she still had to set his leg and was really not looking forward to it.
"One down…one to go." He stated grimly.
"Are you ready? Do you need a minute?" she asked, looking for a delay.
He shook his head, and then quickly decided against the action as the world spun.
"Just do it." He groaned out, wanting to get the pain over with so he could blissfully pass-out for a little while.
She prepared quickly by grabbing two pieces of the broken metal railing he had fallen through and tearing her sweater into strips for bandages and ties.
When she was ready, she as fast and gently as possible manipulated his leg back in place.
He wasn't completely able to swallow the scream this time, but he mercifully passed out.
Buffy bandaged the wound then braced the metal robs against his leg and wrapped the injury up, the makeshift split hopefully keeping the bone aligned until it could be set professionally in the medical ward.
While Angel was out cold, she called the gang and had them bring the SUV to transport him back to the office so Dr. Cassidy could fix him.
…
"Buffy?" Angel called, opening his eyes and seeing a pair of familiar grey ones looking back.
"Nope, try again." Dr. Cassidy replied, checking his pupil reactions with a flashlight.
Angel groaned and looked away, his eyes sensitive to the light.
"Where's Buffy?" He asked, not seeing or feeling her nearby.
"You didn't answer my question yet." She countered.
"Cass." He warned, not in the mood for games.
"Ok, ok, hold your horses. The gang is in Cleveland to track down some crazy super-bitch, Buffy had Xander rush you back here for a patch job. Far as I know, he went back already…so you might as well get some rest." She explained.
"I need to get back to Cleveland." He protested, sitting up and making to leave.
She pushed him back down, "Try that again and I'll have no problem with sedating you with enough drugs to send snoring until next week." The doctor threatened.
His face scrunched up in anger, but he also knew she wasn't bluffing. With a heavy sigh he leaned back, crossing his arms across his chest and glaring in defiance. His left arm being in a sling made crossing it difficult.
"In case you were wondering, your left arm isn't broken. The shoulder is sprained, bruised in more than a few placed too, but functional. However that doesn't mean you are good to go, that right leg is very much broken…you need to be off it for at least a week." She told him as he brooded.
"A week?" he snapped, "You're kidding right?" He asked, knowing he usually healed fast, within days.
"Well considering your tibia and fibula bones snapped and tore through your leg…a week seems pretty minuscule compared to the normal say…three to six months…and that's not including normal healing time from surgery and rehabilitation."
"Ok, ok. Point taken." He grumbled.
Dr. Cassidy studied him a moment, checked his bandages then left with the satisfaction of knowing he would stay in that bed…for a least a day or so.
…
Angel lounged in bed, already feeling bored out of his mind and worried as hell for his wife who was so far away and facing such heavy risks without him. He trusted Buffy's abilities to stop Drusilla and avert the coming apocalypse, she'd adverted plenty of disasters without him before…but he still worried. He liked being there, watching her back, making sure the odds stayed in her favor.
Being stuck in a hospital bed with a broken leg was just humiliating.
'Had I not hesitated at the last second, I would have staked Dru in the heart and avoided this mess…but no…I had to go all weak and soft…miss the heart and give her plenty of time to clock me and throw me off a balcony…God I'm such an idiot sometimes.'
The sound of crying fully captured his attention.
Looking up, he saw Dawn and Connor enter the medical ward, Katie and Liam expressing extreme unhappiness at being awake well past their bedtime.
"Dad, are you ok? When Cass said they brought you in…" Connor trailed, taken aback a bit at seeing Angel's leg in a full cast and elevated. It was throwing him seeing his usually 'invincible' father brought down to earth…literally.
"I'm fine…I've had far worse than a broken leg." He assured his eldest son.
Katie looked up when she heard Angel's voice and immediately held her arms out for her father. The nearly two year old girl hadn't been able to sleep without her parents nearby and seeing her daddy eased a lot of that tension.
Connor looked uncertain of whether to hand his sister over of not, his dad had a few IVs in his arm, not to mention a bunch of monitoring pads and a sling on his left arm.
"I'll take her." He confirmed, seeing his son eying the medical equipment.
With that said, Connor eagerly handed her over, only being able to handle so much crying in his ear for so long.
As soon as Katie was with her dad, she wrapped her arms around his neck and closed her eyes. He grinned and kissed her cheek as she fell asleep.
Liam reached his little chubby hands out for his dad too, "Dada" He spoke, sniffling on already cried tears.
"Little help?" Angel indicated to the sling on his left arm, Katie was currently occupying his right arm so he couldn't unbuckle it himself without moving her.
"I think the point of that is to stay on." His boy countered.
"My shoulder is sprained, not broken; I can still hold my kid." He persuaded.
Connor shrugged, "Ok, but you took it off if Cass asks." He replied as he unbuckled the sling and moved the IV lines off to the side.
Angel thanked him and Dawn walked forward and sat on Angel's bed, placing Liam next to Katie so Angel wouldn't have to reach with his injured arm.
"Thanks." The living vampire replied, holding his two youngest children against his chest as they settled down to sleep.
"It's late; you guys should go home and get some rest too." He said to the two young adults after a moment of watching his babies sleep.
"You sure?" Dawn asked, "We can sleep here if you need something…"
He shook his head, "No, trust me these beds suck. Get some rest, we might need your help tomorrow, you know, if the world is going to end or not…" He muttered dryly, really hating being out of the loop.
Connor fished threw the bag of Angel's clothes and pulled his phone from the coat pocket and placed it close to his hand on the bed.
"In case you need something, just call and I'll be here." He offered.
"Me too." Dawn chimed in, eager to help her brother-in-law/father figure.
"I will." Angel promised, although all three knew he'd try to do something alone first and more than likely hurt himself more before actually calling for said help.
After wishing each other goodnight, the two youths left and Angel returned his attention to the two children sleeping on his chest.
Watching them made him forget about the pounding pain in his leg, and it wasn't long before he joined them.
…
A few hours later:
Buffy popped into the Med-ward just as Willow promised she would. As much as Buffy hated teleporting, it sure had its uses.
Her eyes quickly found Angel, the only occupied bed in the room, and she hurried over.
She smiled when she saw Katie and Liam sleeping with him, although she had thought Dawn and Connor would have taken them for the night. On the other hand, if she knew her kids, they more than likely drove their aunt and brother to just enough insanity to think leaving two babies with someone who was immobile was a good idea. Of course she knew her husband well too, and figured the two offered to stay and he told them to go home and get some rest.
He was a sweetie, but sometimes rather short sighted.
She almost wanted to stick around and see how he handled needing to feed and change them with his leg chained to the ceiling.
She bent an placed a light kiss on each of her sleeping children's heads, not being able to resist kissing them goodnight.
When she leaned back up, Angel's eyes slid open and focused up on her.
"Hey." She whispered, not afraid of waking 'sleep-like-the-dead Katie but make-a-single-sound-and-your-doomed Liam.
"Hi." He whispered back, already feeling 100x better seeing his wife was ok.
"How are you feeling?" she asked, wincing at his leg.
"Much better now." He replied smoothly.
She grinned and leaned down to kiss his forehead.
He raised an eyebrow at her, "That the best you've got for me?"
She shook her head an leaned back down, this time meeting his lips in a little tongue war.
"Lips are working." She smirked.
"Not all that's working." He replied, extremely aware now of the catheter Cassidy must have inserted while he was out cold. 'Oh she's so getting her ass kicked...as soon as I have a leg to kick her with...'
"Good, I have something to look forward to when I get back." She teased.
His smile fell, "You're still in Cleveland." He realized she had only teleported in to check on him, the world was still in peril.
"Only for one night...you know..unless the world ends." She frowned.
"I'm sorry." He groaned out, blaming himself.
"For what?' She asked, "getting hurt?"
"I had her Buffy, but I...I couldn't kill her. Had I staked her heart this would be over already...not to mention I wouldn't have gone for unexpected flying lessons."
"You can't be seriously thinking I'll blame you for that...you sired her...there's...stuff. Stuff I don't exactly understand, but I'm not mad at you." She assured, sitting on the bed and resting her hand reassuringly on his good shoulder.
He gave her a weak smile. "Sometimes I wish you would."
"Not happening." She stated, placing a kiss on his temple.
"I have to get back...we're working on sort of a time limit here." She said reluctantly after a few minutes of just sitting with him and watching the kids sleep. She wanted nothing more than to just crawl into bed with him and forget about the rest of the world for a few more hours...but she was a slayer, saving the world was her #1 priority.
"Be careful." He insisted, uncomfortable with her fighting Dru alone.
"I will, plus I have Spike and Faith...as long as they don't run off for a quickie mid-battle, we should be fine." She assured.
Angel rolled his eyes, but knew both Faith and Spike were rather formidable in battle.
"Get some rest, ok? I'm sure I'll have lots of battle induced sexual tension bottled up when I get back...I'll need you to help me relieve some of it." She teased with a sly smirk.
"Only some of it? You planning on releasing it with someone else?" He bounded back, a playful grin on his lips.
"I dunno, I guess I'll just have to see how much of it you can handle when I get back." She promised with a seductive tone.
"I think I created a monster." He chuckled quietly, not wanting to disturb the two sleeping on his chest.
"No, you didn't create it...just added a little miracle grow." She insisted, devouring his lips as well as she could with the obstacle of two children in between them.
When Liam shifted in sleep they both froze, but as the just over a year old settled without waking, they let out a collective breath.
Realizing she really had to get back to finding Drusilla, Buffy leaned down as placed a chase kiss on her husband's lips, "I love you."
"I love you." He repeated back, really wanting to go back with her.
"Tell them mommy loves them." She indicated to her babies, hating not being with them.
"They know." He smiled.
She gave him a little wave and pressed the button on the responder Willow gave her. A second later, she vanished from the room, leaving Angel alone with their kids.
…
Spike led the search teams until sunrise when he had to retreat inside.
After, Buffy and Faith went out for recon. Although neither could specifically narrow on Drusilla specifically, they could still detect vampires...and she was one.
Despite searching extensively the entire morning and afternoon, they found nothing.
"We're missing something" Buffy sighed out, both tired and frustrated. "I'm heading back to the warehouse, there has to be something there...some lead we overlooked."
Xander abruptly stood from the chair he had been slouching in, "I'll come with." He suggested, eager for anything besides reading and going for snacks.
"No" Buffy declined, "I need you, Will and Giles to keep researching...Drusilla must be near the Hellmouth, and nightfall is in three hours. We're running out of time guys."
...
Ten minutes later she was pulling Angel's convertible up to the curb outside the old looming building.
Although she loathed driving, she silently thanked Angel for the numerous driving lessons. Nine times out of ten someone else would drive, but at least she knew how and could manage without incident. She honestly didn't think she'd have gotten her license without his help, and he certainly never would have allowed her to drive his car without one.
Entering the deserted building she felt a wave of unease wash over her. She felt a pulling at her heart, something was seriously wrong.
As she made her way to the back of the building, she found an office she'd missed earlier. Slowly she turned the knob and the door creaked open.
Her eyes widened as they fell upon the walls of the room. Every single space was filled with photos, sketches and clipping...of Angel.
"Oh my god." Buffy whispered, realized this had nothing to do with the Hellmouth at all...Drusilla had set a trap for Angel, her Angel, the one currently miles away, injured and alone.
…
Buffy ran full tilt down the upper hallway of Angel Investigations Inc., bursting through the doors or her and Angel's office and skidded to a halt at the sight assaulting her eyes.
Images of the long ago day she found Kendra slain replayed…except the death toll was three times higher this time…and far more personal.
She felt herself turn and vomit the content of her stomach, but the act didn't really register.
Seeing her children's bloody forms lying motionless and pale under the florescent lights stole most of her sanity an instant.
On auto pilot she went to them, cradling the limp bodies in her arms and hearing a broken sob escape her lips.
She wasn't sure how much time passed that way, seconds…hours? When she looked up her eyes landed on her Angel lying in the middle of the room, positioned like a sacrificial offering.
Placing her precious burdens down, she slowly made her way to the love of her life. Her hand covered her mouth to stifle the sob of misery when she saw the puncture wounds in his neck. Not one drop of blood marred his features, nor appeared anywhere around him. Drusilla had truly drained him of every last drop.
She knelt beside him, running her fingers along his far too pale and cold cheek. His dark eyes looked blankly up at the ceiling…nothing would spark the warmth again in them.
"I'm going to kill her." She vowed to her slain husband.
His dead eyes turned towards her, "Be careful Buffy. If you're not, she will kill you. I wouldn't have wanted that." His dead voice echoed in her mind.
"She didn't leave me any choice Angel, she murdered you…the kids…there is no forgiveness for that." She countered, madly talking to a corpse.
He nodded, "I know, let me do it."
"You can't, you're already dead." She reasoned back to the corpse.
She gathered her children's bodies and laid them with her husband's. She put one of his cold hands over each if them, leaving her family in an eternal hug.
She kissed his pale forehead and closed his staring eyes. Then kissed her dead children.
"I love you." She told them with tears in her eyes, then she walked out, not able to look back.
…
TBC