The hotel was quieter than he could ever remember it being. If he honed in on his vampire senses he could make out each individual person, hearing their breathing or their snoring, or a muttered word in their sleep as they tossed in the bed, he could hear their heartbeat if he paid enough attention, even the blood as it traveled through their veins. He could hear a faucet dripping downstairs, the ticking of clocks... but beyond all of this... the hotel was peaceful.

The groups had merged as one with just a little resistance as they found their way back here. There'd been a young couple waiting and talking with Lorne when they had returned and a few of them had gone back out to help with their situation. It had taken a couple of hours but the job was completed and then it was decided everyone should just call it a night.

Everyone had seemed rather exhausted, finding their way to their respective rooms and getting ready to just lay down and let sleep overtake them. He'd trailed off to his bedroom but sleep wasn't exactly something he was used to at this hour - no matter how tired he was. The rest and not doing much of anything was nice, but sleep just wasn't happening.

He'd eaten, showered, changed. He wrote in his journal and tried to relax... laying down in bed he started reading but he found himself distracted, finally he gave up and set the book aside to just lay down in his large bed and let his thoughts wander as they pleased.

The only other creature awake in the house was her, The Slayer. 'Buffy,' his mind whispered. Her honey colored hair came to mind instantly, those big green eyes, the sound of her voice... Angel closed his eyes and let out an unneeded breath of air. She was making him very unsettled and he didn't know what to make of it.

Angel imagined she was awake due to reasons close to his, used to late nights, running on little sleep, not always being able to just turn her mind off. She felt restless. Closing his eyes, he focused entirely on her and could almost see in his minds eye everything she was doing... laying down, sitting up, pacing the room she'd taken for the night. He could just about see her as she finally gave up, opening the creaky door to her room and walking down to the main lobby.

He had an internal argument with himself briefly before following, being drawn to her once again despite knowing all the risks of even being anywhere near her. He was aware that this particular Chosen One was pretty much in a class of her own but you never knew... she was still a slayer, he still a vampire. Every second she was around he felt like he was on edge waiting for her to spring into natural instinct action.

And yet, here he was... slowly making his way downstairs and watching as she cracked her neck as she stood in front of the fridge downstairs, looking around until deciding on a bottle of water and pulling it out. She closed the large white door and began twisting the blue lid on top of the bottle before looking right at him.

As it had every other time, it made his stomach tighten and if he had breath to steal he was sure that would happen, too.

"Hope you don't mind," she asked directly after taking her first sip.

It almost made him smirk. "Not at all," he said quietly. "Please feel at home."

She shrugged, taking another drink.

"You're free to go police the neighborhood or something. I can give you a spare key or-"

"Patrol. We call it going on patrol."

"Oh." He liked that.

"I'm sure early nights are not exactly something you're overly used to," he offered a moment later. "There's also a gym if you just need to burn off energy."

She followed the invisible line he pointed with his finger and then looked back at him. "Thanks. I might take up on that." She took another drink then screwed the lid back on. "Are you always this... intense?"

His face wrinkled up a little. He thought he was being rather conversational and relaxed... given the obvious.

"You look very unrelaxed," she continued.

"Oh. Well. Vampire... Slayer..."

She smiled a little, gently placing her bottle on the counter and took a few steps closer to him. "Right. Well, if I really wanted you gone or thought you were a problem then you would already be ashes in the wind, Angel. So, I don't think you need to worry so much. You know... uncleanch a little. It's okay."

"I'll work on that," he offered.

Buffy looked amused. "Uh huh. I think I might take up on checking out this workout room of yours. Maybe I can get the anxiety out of me enough to eventually fall asleep."

OoOoO

Buffy gave brief thought to moving into this old hotel the second she got acquainted with the shower in her room. She'd never known a hotel to have good water pressure or this much hot water, and it felt like heaven against her body. She turned the water up as hot as she could possibly stand it and just let her mind fall blank as she tilted her head back and just enjoyed the simple pleasure.

Angel hadn't been wrong at all, she wasn't used to calling it quits so early and having this much time to... well, do nothing, do anything she wanted, to relax... it wasn't something she was used to. Between her life as The Chosen One, school, being a friend and a daughter... it wasn't something she got exactly used to.

It didn't help being in a different place, a different town, a different room... or that there was a vampire constantly in close proximity. Willow had noticed it was setting her on edge but didn't know the full scope on as to why. Thankfully.

Of course, she had that little "Spider Sense" inside of her so this Angel character made those little bells go off but it felt different. It wasn't in a warning sense, she didn't feel danger because of him. But she certainly felt him. But... there was so much her favorite red head didn't know...

The first time she'd ever heard mention of Angel came in her first year in Sunnydale. She had been sitting in the library, just asking Giles a long bout of random questions as they popped into her head when she asked if there was any way a vampire could ever be "good." Many of the supernatural beings could go either way, there were good demons and bad demons, good witches and bad... so... what about vampires? Giles had explained that it didn't really apply to these exact creatures and the how-tos about it... but then he got that familiar distant look on his face as he remembered the lone vampire with a soul. He hadn't said much at the time but she had enjoyed the talk and had wondered about such a creature a handful of times.

It wasn't until Cordelia mentioned she'd ran into this very vampire that the gang had really looked into him. Cordelia wasn't exactly her favorite person on the planet but she wanted to make sure she was safe... and it peeked her interest again. A vampire with a soul. Helping people. In her former home town no less! So, everyone had started just doing a little research here and there.

The first time she saw a picture of him - well, it was a drawing - something had shifted inside of her. She could still remember how it had taken her breath and a rush of emotions she'd never felt ran through her entire being. She'd had crushes on boys many, many times... she'd dated, she'd hugged, kissed, even made out with a few of these said boys... but it had all been rather innocent. She daydreamed about movie nights and making out on her front porch, being a silly teenager. But then she saw him and it was like the woman inside of her decided to emerge. If she watching a television show or a movie and a love scene played... she pictured herself... with him, her dreams went from innocent to anything but real quick and he was always the one starring in them... She fantasized about this vampire - this vampire - more than she'd ever want to admit to anyone.

She had stolen two of the drawings Giles had. She'd tried to find out every slice of information she could - at least about since this whole cursed had taken place. Learning about who and what he was prior was a lot loss appealing but she knew enough... Angelus was no joking matter, he'd been a vampire of legend. And now he was in a whole new way since this whole bit of getting a soul business.

She never intended to meet him. She was jealous of Cordelia working with him, knowing him, who knew what else with him... Giles had once asked if they should ask him for assistance before and she'd adamantly told him to never, ever do such a thing. She'd watched the hotel and thought that he was gone before she had come to talk to Cordy... but that hadn't worked out because there he'd sat. She'd tried to ignore it, but her insides were screaming.

Seeing him again had been a whirlwind. Talking to him made her feel dizzy. Fighting alongside him was amazing.

And now this... being here in his home... Yeah... No. It wasn't right, none of what was going on was right.

Her nerves felt like they were on fire. He was live and in color... prettier than she could have ever imagined. He was tall, freakishly tall compared to her in her opinion. He was handsome, his voice sounded like it cut through her soul, he was large and knew how to move his body with grace she sometimes envied. She wanted to stare at him, to touch him, to ask him a million questions... she had a deep need inside of her to grab him and do unspeakable actions with him.

She'd never come close to a need like this before with anyone. And it was hard to concentrate on anything else.

Buffy tried to burn off some extra energy in their small gym before grabbing a quick snack and her bottle of water and heading back to her room, where she then took the most glorious shower of her life. It helped her relax some and clear her mind... but as she climbed into bed... her mind went right back to the vampire.

OoOoO

Angel was trying hard not to mentally stalk the blonde woman any longer, trying his best to do absolutely anything else... his mind registered her though as she moved through the building. He squeezed his eyes shut as the water started and put music on, then the tv to try and distract himself.

He didn't know what it was about this girl but she was throwing him through a fucking loop.

He'd seen vampire slayers before but he'd never felt whatever this was swirling inside of him with any of them. He'd had hatred toward them, fear, a lot of curiosity but this... this was beyond all of that. The second he'd even caught that first glimpse of her it was like she embedded herself in his very being. He craved something about her...

Angel got caught up in thinking about not thinking about her so when he suddenly smelled something new from her - arousal - it hit him quick and almost out of nowhere. He stilled right where he was standing and let the world drift away until all there was was her again.

OoOoO

Doyle was staring at him. He didn't like it. He didn't like the little smile that kept appearing on the Irishman's face either.

Leaving the table several minutes later, Doyle walked over to where Angel was hiding out as everyone ate breakfast and smiled brightly. "I think ya like the lass."

Angel just stared. The look on the half-demon's face made it clear it would do no good to neither deny it or pretend as though he didn't know what he was going on about. It didn't help he kept creeping over here to stare her way over and over. "She's a vampire slayer," was what he finally stated. "And she's extremely young."

"So?" Doyle asked. "She's strong and sexy. Maybe a bit on the younger side but let's face it, Angel. It's not like there's a ton of humans out there sharing your advanced age."

"Whatcha talking about?"

Both men turned quickly and looked wide-eyed at The Slayer in question. "Uhh..."

"Romance," Doyle finally blurted.

She looked confused for a minute. "You date humans?" she asked, posing the question quite obviously to him.

Angel swallowed. "Not really, no." She had a look of... disappointment?... on her face. Only for a moment before quickly covering it up as though it never happened. "I mean... it doesn't exactly work out well."

"And vampires hate him," Doyle threw in. "Turnin' on his own kind and all that."

"I guess that makes sense."

"What about you?" Doyle asked.

"Vampires don't really like me ether," Buffy quipped. "Sure haven't tried to date me."

Doyle's lips turned upward. "I'm sure you have college boys all droolin' over ya though."

She made a face. "Hardly."

"I don't believe that at all."

Buffy shrugged. "Boys get interested... but less when I can't make it to a date because I have to stop a vampire from eating a little boy who got separated from his parents, or have a demon explode all over me... stop an apocalypse or something silly like that. And, if I do happen to make it to that first date... and don't get called away for some evil dwelling business... then, I mean... it still never seems to go well. I hang out with my old high school librarian, I'm flaky on time - always, I'm stronger than them and that usually becomes an issue with boys I've noticed, I have my mind on so many other things... I carry around books about witchcraft and almost all of my stories involve beheading and graveyards.. so..." she trailed off and shrugged again.

"Huh," Doyle said, nodding his head a little. "Funny. Those are some of your favorite topics," he said looking back toward Angel. "Maybe you two..."

Buffy laughed. "A vampire a few centuries old who can have his pick of just about anyone... and a teenage vampire slayer. Wouldn't that be something?"