Angel was pretty sure all of this started because of Gunn. All of a sudden the other day, the gang was all sitting around, coming back to the hotel after a particularly nasty demon that had them all covered in yellow and green slime, when he'd gone and muttered how he almost wished some new "big bad" would come to town. Everyone had given him a variety of looks and he'd just shrugged it off, saying he was kind of bored of the "same ol' same ol," that their nights have all started to sort of bleed together.

Things had been relatively quiet lately. Doyle would had a vision, they'd find the person they were meant to help, the issue would be taken care of. There were also the few side jobs from walk ins they took but none of them had been exactly something worth writing home about in awhile either.

Angel wasn't one to mind, though. He just wanted to do what he could in this world and didn't need the theatrics one damn bit.

The next several days only reminded him of that as a sudden rush of people from everyone's past just suddenly were showing up left and right and wreaking havok every which where. Some of Gunn's old street gang buddies suddenly having a stick up their ass, Doyle's ex wife had made an appearance as had about eight different demons who had beef with the half-breed, hell even Whistler had showed up to warn him something big was coming.

He hadn't seen Whistler in years, not since he'd gotten him off the dirty streets of New York City and shoved the idea in his head that maybe a vampire with a soul could do more in this world than he'd thought, not since helping him get his life on track and being sent to Los Angeles.

Whistler had helped get him to a better state of mind, he trained, he was properly fed, he was pumped full of all the information about how he could possibly help the world he was trapped in and do some good. And maybe someday he could even the slate enough to get a new start. He'd come to LA and quickly met Doyle who helped him start Angel Investigations, who helped him get a start on helping the people of the City of Angels.

Cordelia was the next one added to their little band of misfits. The aspiring actress had fallen into his path early on, she'd grown up in the little town of Sunnydale that was one of the Hellmouths so it didn't surprise her one bit that he was a vampire. She'd thrown herself in as their part time secretary and had started a relationship up with Doyle.

Soon there was also adding in Gunn and later Lorne... and they were all making this whole helping the helpless thing work the best they could.

After dealing with a witch Lorne happened to know from when he first arrived in this particular dimension, Angel put his head on the desk in front of him and prayed for some peace. For no more flashes of people of the past, no unexpected visitors... for just some peace... even if for just the next twenty-for hours. Hell, even for the rest of the evening.

He'd barely got that thought out into the universe however before a tiny blonde came walking through the front door.

"Welcome to Angel Investigations," Doyle's thick accent filled the room.

She went to open her mouth but Cordelia suddenly jumped up before any sound came out. "Buffy?"

"Cordelia," the blonde finally spoke, nodding toward the brunette.

"Oh, my God, Buffy! What in the world are you doing here?"

"Buffy?" Doyle whispered, rolling his chair a little closer to Angel. "Ain't that the vampire slayer?" he asked.

Cordelia had let it be known quite some time ago all about how she knew of the dangerous evils of the world.. the vampires, the demons, witches... apparently mayor's who liked turning into giant snakes... because of her time on the Hellmouth in Sunnydale. She tended to brag over the fact that she had known and fought against said creatures of the night with the one and only Slayer.

Angel nodded but otherwise found himself trying to remain as still as possible. Soul or not, slayers hadn't been too fond of him in his time.

He had also heard about this particular slayer who lived just a few hours from him from more than just her old high school friend here. She was making waves in the underground, poised to be the best slayer the world had ever known. She was a force to be reckoned with.

This Buffy girl glanced their way briefly before crossing her arms across her chest. "Devon."

"Devon? Dingoes Devon? From high school?" Cordy asked, clearly confused.

"One and the same," Buffy answered. "He got himself into trouble recently, the you wind up with two little holes in your neck kind. And, for some reason, has been going after people who he sees as did him wrong in high school," she sounded annoyed, even rolled her eyes as she spoke about this Devon character. "So, naturally, I thought of you."

"And you came all the way to LA to warn me?"

"Don't flatter yourself that much Cordelia. I was already in town... with Dingoes actually. After their show last night... well, all hell broke loose. There was this thing with Harmony and-"

"Wait. Harmony is in town?"

"Unfortunately. She thinks she's a groupie or something."

"And she didn't call me?"

Buffy sighed. "That is something to discuss with her, not me. I'm just here... warning you."

The two young women seemed to stare at one another for an eternity, then the air in the room seemed to shift. "Uh oh," Doyle muttered.

"You know, I'm not a scared little girl in Sunnydale anymore. I can take care of myself, I do it all the time, every single day in fact."

"I never said you couldn't handle it, Cordy. I'm just letting you know that one of your many ex-boyfriends has gone after your former best friend, apparently Blayne Moll and a few other people from high school. I was giving you a heads up."

"I don't need it. I don't need Buffy The Vampire Slayer swooping in to save the day."

The blonde let out a huge breath and uncrossed her arms. "Fine!"

"Fine!" Cordelia echoed back to her.

"I don't know why I even bothered tracking you down with this."

"Me either, Buffy. Because I don't need it. I can fight my own battles, and I have a team of my own now," she said, gesturing toward the men on the other side of the room.

Buffy's head turned and she glanced at them again.

"Hi there," Doyle greeted once again. "I'm Doyle, this is Angel... he's a vampire... as I'm sure you've gathered. But he has a soul, he's a good guy. Don't stake him please," he said to her. "The green fella is Lorne. Gunn isn't back yet, he's human... good fighter though."

The vampire slayer took each one of them in before looking back to Cordelia. "Then, I guess you're all covered."

"I guess so."

The blonde shook her head in annoyance and started walking back toward the door. Angel let out an unneeded breath as soon as she was on the other side.

"You gonna be alright mate?" Doyle asked. Angel nodded slowly and swallowed hard. "So... that's the vampire slayer? One girl in all the world and all that?" he asked after a moment.

Cordelia rolled her eyes, falling back into her chair. "Yep. That would be Buffy."

"Isn't she a wee bit small to be a vampire slayer?" he asked. "That is not the image I had in my head at all."

OoOoO

The next time Angel found himself in the presence of the beautiful blonde was only the following evening. Doyle had called him in a panic saying he and Cordelia had gone to pick up their pizza order and the next thing he knew Cordelia was being grabbed just as a vision hit him. He was basically useless when those damn "gifts" from The Powers That Be hit. It didn't help that the vision was of Cordelia either.

He'd rushed out all the information he had and not too long after the gang was gathered up and searching for her.

They'd happened to run in to Buffy, along with two of her friends, who were battling it out with a couple of newly turned vampires in an alleyway. Clearly, she didn't need help so the group all seemed to just pause as they watched her fight. Her friends seemed to try and help but almost got in the way more than actually helped out.

Doyle was again the one filling everyone in on what had happened and none of the little trio wasted any time jumping in to help.

OoOoO

The Slayer and friends, Willow and Xander, were already on the trail of this Devon MacLeish character before knowing about the Cordelia being captured situation so that had certainly helped. It was less than an hour before they were in the all clear again, having dusted the singer, saved Cordelia and a small group of others. Angel watched as the red haired girl, Willow, made her way over to a boy with similar hair color and wrapped her arms around him.

His attention next went to Cordelia and Doyle who was trying to ask her what had happened and if she were alright.

And finally, to the blonde vampire slayer. He could smell it on her, more right now though as she had a gash down her slender arm, blood making a fat line toward her hand as it oozed from the wound. She said something to the boy, Xander, then walked off. He couldn't help it, moving as if he were having an out of body experience, following after her. "Are you okay?"

She made a face. She'd taken her hoodie off and was using it to apply pressure on the wound now. "I'll live. It'll probably be all clear in an hour or two anyway."

"Perks of being a slayer."

"Or, a vampire," she said, her green eyes coming up to meet his.

Angel found himself losing all of whatever bravery he'd just had a burst of as she stared at him. She still had a stake in the same hand as the hoodie and knew he'd never take her if she attacked.

"So, you're really a vampire... with a soul?" she asked after what felt like forever.

"Cursed," he managed to get out as an explanation.

"Yeah?"

"Gypsies."

Her lips pursed together and stuck out a bit with the face she made, taking that in. "Cordelia has mentioned you a number of times. Watcher's Council, too."

He said nothing in response to that,

"So, you really just have a demon... lurking... in there?" she asked after another few tense moments.

"Basically. He's there, usually ignored. He doesn't get to be in control."

"Guess that's better than the chips," she muttered.

Angel had no idea what she was talking about and didn't want to ask her right now either.

She patted her arm again a few times. He wondered if he was going to get high off the aroma. "Can I see?"

He blinked. "Can you see...?"

She threw the hoodie off to the side. "Can I see?" she asked again.

This time he managed to get what she was meaning. "Um..." he trailed off. Her eyebrows raised. "O-okay," he said slowly. He glanced over once more at Doyle and Cordelia before letting his face transform from the human version to the vampire. Angel wasn't sure what happened or if he was even just imagining it, but something seemed to flash in those emerald eyes of hers... something that almost looked like lust. More as he transformed back to his human face.

"Cool," was all she said though, and quickly turned and walked away, grabbing a soda can as she walked back over to check on her friends.

OoOoO

"Call me crazy, but I'm really starting to miss our little mouth to hell," Willow said as the group was all trying to awkwardly part ways again. "And I think that says quite a bit about us," she added as an afterthought.

The guy who Angel learned to be named Oz, and was a werewolf, nodded. "I don't think I can make that drive tonight though."

Xander nodded as well. "Here, here. Something about being in a strange city, fighting off vampires that are not of your own, helping to save your ex-girlfriend... it wears a people down."

Doyle looked at Xander then Cordy. "E-ex-boyfriend?" he asked. Cordelia rolled her eyes and quickly tried to explain the history that was her and Xander Harris.

"I should probably check in with Giles, You know he doesn't like when we're far from home," Buffy said to her little gang.

"Oooh, ask him if he will fit the bill for us one more night at the hotel," Willow said.

"Yeah, and again, tell him I have no idea where all those extra charges were coming from."

Willow and Buffy both shook their head at that. "Let's just hope he answers first," she said and began reaching for her phone.

"You know we live in a hotel right?" Gunn butted in. "Tons of empty rooms not being used. Free to stay. A little extra protection from the dark forces of evil and whatknot."

Cordelia paled a little.