Angel stood mesmerized as Buffy made her way down the stairs toward him.
She was beautiful, breathtaking, perfect. There was no denying that.
But he also felt a ripping pain in his chest once he met her eyes. Angel had become a little too familiar with that look he saw in them over the past few days. And what made it worse was that he knew that he put it there.
Buffy knew something was up. It really wasn't that surprising though considering Buffy seemed to read him better than anyone and, well, he hadn't exactly been that great at hiding it either.
Every time he saw how much it was affecting her he wish that he had been.
Pushing everything else aside, he took the last few steps toward her and smiled. He leaned over to whisper how beautiful he thought she looked then promised that everything would be perfect tonight.
Neither had it in them to believe it though.
OoOoO
At the first glimpse of him, all of Buffy's worries and problems were temporarily forgotten. All she could do was stare and think of how wrong it was for one teenage boy to look that damn good.
She was snapped back into reality however from Dawn's coughing behind and telling her to get a move on. Turning her head, she glared at her younger sister then did as requested, dread slowly seeping in with every step.
She had no idea what had been bothering Angel so much over these past few days but she knew something was. Something bad. And she hated that he wouldn't tell her about it.
Especially when she started to come up with her own reasons. None of them good. All having to do with her or them.
The two killers there were either him still being mad because of everything with her dad and their fighting from the week before or that he had just changed his mind all together about them. She couldn't blame him really for that.. if it were the case.. but that didn't mean it didn't eat her up inside with just the thought.
Returning his smile, Buffy let her attraction to him in that outfit and his empty promise of a nice evening take over. For at least a little while she didn't want think or deal with anything else.
OoOoO
Trying to ease the tension some, Buffy smiled over at Angel as the crowd poured in, lights and loud music poured out. "You sure you want to do this?"
Angel leaned over and lightly kissed her cheek. "For you," he whispered, "Anything."
Before she could respond, he was making his way out of the car and glaring towards the entryway of the dance.
OoOoO
They were both rather surprised in how good the night started to turn out. It was even almost back to normal.
It hadn't taken them very long to get the rest of their group found and gathered. Everyone commented on each others outfits and their own, shared stories of getting ready and making their way here, and stories of what they had accomplished since arriving.
Xander had spotted Cordelia moments later and had wasted no time in getting into a small fight with her. He had asked Anya to go with him which turned out to be rather amusing with her obvious fear of Angel given she wasn't one who'd managed to warm up to him and he hadn't warmed up to her way of constantly bringing up stories of her sexual past.
And of her hope for futures ones as well.
Willow and Oz made everyone melt and let out inner awwing at just the sight of them. Xander had even let out a few jokes about them as well, explaining with a goofy grin how sick they made him feel.
Willow had huffed then those two got into a hilarious word fight of their own.
With all of the laughter and just round about good time, Buffy and Angel couldn't help but loosen up and start to even enjoy themselves. And once they hit the dance floor, after a sudden reappearance of the old Buffy with dragging him out there, they suddenly got sucked back into their lustful, can't keep their hands to their selves phase.
Not that either one of them seemed to mind. Neither did anyone else who happened to notice.
They also managed to ignore and not really even notice that they gathered everyone's attention. It had been a while for that as well.
But all Buffy could out at this point was the fact that Angel was looking like her every fantasy come to life.. more so than usual anyway, his body as it moved along with hers, the heat from him against her, the smell of leather that swirled around her, the way his body heat was burning a hole through her dress, and his eyes and lips doing the most damage.
\She swore his eyes became darker with every glance and she was to the point of her knees wanting to give out with every touch of his far too perfect lips. This wasn't good. She knew that. She just didn't care.
Connor had arrived later than the rest of the group to the dance but as he noticed the show his brother and Buffy were giving he wished he hadn't of. He laughed and shook his head before turning to a few people surrounding him and let out a few jokes at the couples expensive then left to go search out the rest of the place.
OoOoO
It was Connor who ended up with the responsibility of breaking them up before they could really put on a show for everyone.
His idea of calling the fire department to ask if he could use a hose to cool them down hadn't gone over so well with Jenny. He knew she was secretly laughing though.
As he made his way toward the pair he couldn't help but laugh as he imagined his brother face... then grimaced as he thought of all the things he'd probably want and might possibly do to him. "Great," he muttered.
OoOoO
Buffy had a hard time sitting down in her chair but was glad when she finally managed it somehow.
Buffy was alone at the table at the moment. Willow and Oz along with Xander and Anya were cutting up the dance floor still, Connor... she wasn't sure where he'd gone off to but she figured he might be hiding still which made her chuckle, and Angel had left her there to fight with the chair minutes ago to go use the restroom and see if he couldn't get them all something to drink.
Spotting Willow, she waved and smiled then continued looking about the crowded dance floor. Again, she ended up laughing out loud when she spotted Jenny and Jeeves out there as well.
That certainly was a sight to behold.
She had made eye contact with her boyfriend's aunt when she felt her cell phone start vibrating.
Shaking her head at the couple, she reached for her phone, checking to see who it was before flipping it open. Seeing that it was just home she was tempted to ignore it but something inside of her told her not to. "What's up?" she asked cheerfully, her voice trying to be heard over the background noise.
At first there was nothing and she scrunched her eyebrows together. Next she heard a few soft cries and knew for sure something was wrong.
"Mom? Dawn?" she tried. "What's going on?"
She knew it was her sister when the sob came out, one much louder than before. Next she heard her finally whisper out the problem that sent chills down her spine.
"He came back."
OoOoO
Jenny was frantic as she searched through the crowd trying to find Angel.
It had been several minutes since she'd watched Buffy flee out of here in one hell of a rush.
She'd see her before too. She saw her face draining of its color and her body starting to shake. And she had started to go over there but Buffy had already grabbed up her things and was running out of there like a bat out of hell.
She did finally spot him over in a corner with Connor and rushed over there.
"Hey Jen," Connor looked at his savior from his brother.
Angel glared his way then turned toward his aunt and narrowed his eyes as he looked her over. "What's wrong?"
Jenny swallowed then tried to explain what she'd seen earlier.
"Fuck," Angel growled and then grabbed at Connor's shirt, pulling him closer. "Call the damn police and have them sent over there now," he told him then dropped him a second later, hurrying toward the exit.
Connor paused for a moment. "You don't know what's wrong," he called out.
"I got a feeling," he yelled back, pushing a group of kids out of his way.
Connor looked at his terrified aunt then gave a tight smile. He reached for his phone and handed it to her. "Call. I gotta go make sure he doesn't.." he didn't finish, just went running after Angel.
As he got to the parking lot though he already saw him speeding out of there. Connor cursed, looked back at the dance, let a few thoughts race for a moment or two then started running.
OoOoO
Angel was more than halfway to Buffy's door by the time her mailbox he'd collided with had even hit the ground. And that was the least of the damaged he'd managed to cause of this record breaking trip.
Angel stomped up to the door. He'd been able to see some and hear more of what was going on inside that house from when he'd pulled in.
He already knew what was going to happen when he got in there.
And sure enough, as the door almost came off of its hinges and he stood there staring down Hank Summers, it had just begun.