Co-Written with Scribes1015 (who's amazing by the way!)

Sitting back in the lobby downstairs, she tried her best to concentrate on whatever book she was supposed to be reading, but her mind kept drifting to a certain vampire and their little makeout session this morning. She still didn't know how she felt about everything, it was possible she was even more confused now then she had been before he snuck into her room. They probably should have used more of their time together this morning to actually talk, but as they usually did, they sort of had the tendency to get lost in one another.

He was a smooth talker, she'd give him that, but she didn't understand how all of this was supposed to play out. She didn't understand why after two years he suddenly had this hope that they could make it work, when nothing had changed. Yes, a lot had happened in their lives, and she missed him more than she thought possible but at the end of the day they would still be risking the world if they were together. This morning had been a clear indication that they were no better at controlling themselves, probably even less so than they had been.

Plus she wasn't entirely sure she fully believed him, though he'd done enough convincing to make her question it. She knew he cared about her, but a part of her still wasn't fully convinced that he was still in love with her, at least not in the way that she loved him. Had Lindsey not dropped the bomb about Darla, she wondered how differently things might have played out.

Watching him come down the stairs, she tried to fight the blush she felt creeping over her. His hair still damp, it was obvious he'd been in the shower, her own mind betraying her, images of just what he'd been doing for the last hour flashed through her mind. They hadn't done much more than kiss, but by the time he managed to pull away, it was obvious she'd left him with more than a little problem.

Venturing back downstairs, he ignored everyone's inquisitive stares. He felt a bit like he was walking in blind, there was no telling what in the hell Lindsey had ran back to them with this morning. Not that he really cared what any of them thought, well most of them anyways. If things in fact did continue between the two of them, he figured they would eventually have to have some sort of conversation with Giles, though he definitely was in no hurry to get there. Besides, well apart from fucking Lindsey it was kind of nice having the option to explore things between the two of them, without the commentary from all their friends.

They needed time to figure things out for themselves before they could even entertain the thoughts of everyone else. If they were really going to give this whole thing a go again, then they needed to know where they stood before letting all their friend's opinions get to them.

He smirked, she hadn't so much as looked up from the book she was pretending to read, a book that wasn't even in english to begin with. He stared at her a moment too long before clapping his hands together. "Alright, so... where are we as of right now?" he asked whoever was willing to listen and have any answers.

Wes' eyes drifted from him to Buffy then back again before he stood up and began going over the latest round of statistics that had been announced. "Los Angeles is seeming to mostly be following the orders from reports and images that make certain areas look like they have been turned into ghost towns," he followed up with. Wes grabbed a notebook and gave some key notes from the latest press release he'd caught the majority of to give off some more tidbits about some of the new cases more local and some of the new changes being talked about going into effect over the next couple of days. "A lot of stores are changing their hours so they can close earlier, might make some of our supply runs a bit more difficult..."

Angel sighed. "We'll figure it out, I still need to do a run in the next day or so at most. I am starting to wonder how long these stay in place orders will be followed. I'm glad to hear it's looking like people are complying but you know how easy and quick everyone starts to get restless."

Wes nodded. "This will be a crucial time to start getting some answers we are all desperate for. We get overran it's all going to be survival mode and nothing much else."

"I know," Angel agreed. Looking around until he found Cordelia, he found whatever lusting, butterfly type feelings that seemed to draw her to him gone and everything more or less back to normal. She was still someone he loved, he knew that, and he was happy to see her, amused, annoyed by her, and all the things in between but it was as it should be again. He then announced to her across the room that he hoped she could figure out a schedule for them, maybe about the basement gym, about his grocery and supply gatherings, and asked her to head up finding other ways for everyone to keep themselves busy. He told her if there were anything he needed to get when he went out to make a list whether that fall under card or board games, new equipment for their workout center, new gardening tools or whatever else. He wanted everyone to keep their focus but not to the point it consumed them and downtime was going to be an important factor if they were going to get through this mess.

"So, what else are we doing?"

Wes grabbed his notebook into his hands again. "Giles is trying to look more into where everything started while I'm trying to focus more on things a little closer to home, we've split some of the books into sections to look through for literally anything we can think of to help. Fred mentioned she was going to set up a lab in one of the rooms, I am sure she will have some hard to get items put out there for you to find. She seems determined to find a way to slow it down, stop it, combat it in some way or another."

"Still nothing officially put out there?"

Wes sighed. "Wash your hands, stay away from people. Basically the same things... No major advances on any medications or anything to prevent it or treat it yet. I'm sure it's being researched but it's still so early to probably even tell much of anything one way or the other. I made some calls to pull some strings but it's still a waiting game more than anything else."

OoOoO

It started off with Xander misunderstanding a paragraph he had read in one of the old texts but it spiraled into an easy conversation starter amongst the group, everyone throwing out their strangest creature encounter so far, and from there it went on to just discussing close encounters, funny moments everyone had had, powerful tools they'd used to win in various fights...

It all seemed to ease some of the tension hanging in the air and got everyone a little more familiar with one another. And more as some of the harder topics came up about loved ones that had been lost, hard choices that had to be made along the way, everyone explaining how they got here.

Buffy easily found something she liked in the few she was just getting to know while they took turns around the room. She and Cordelia obviously had their issues but that was nothing new, Wesley had grown so much since she had last seen him and she had to admit she liked this new version of himself. He was cool headed, confident. Lorne and Gunn she knew she felt instantly at ease with them after earlier anyway so that left Fred... who she thought was cute and adorable, sweet and incredibly smart, but didn't seem to like her much for whatever reason. Buffy hoped it was more along the lines of shyness but she couldn't quite read her.

It sounded like Fred had been through a hell of an ordeal so she wasn't going to push. Willow and she seemed to really hit it off though. Everyone slowly seemed to be finding little things here and there to bond over and it was at least a start.

Buffy found she really enjoyed when they would speak of how they all met, came into Angel's life. It only set it more in her mind that he had found a good group to surround himself with, each of them without doubt having something he absolutely needed during the past couple of years.

She also enjoyed watching Angel as everything played out, she would pay close attention to how he would smile or grimace as his friends would tell a story, bringing him back into the memory. He seemed to laugh more than she could remember, he seemed so much more comfortable around people now days. She had compared getting him to show more emotion to pulling teeth countless times so it was a nice change of pace.

He was still without any doubt her Angel, the vampire she had known and loved all this time, but it was as if he were somehow a more truer version of himself these days.

OoOoO

"Has anyone thought to even check in on Faith during all of this? I mean, without question we know she's nothing short of a hot mess and all... but do we think she could be of use or is it more she's better off where she is?"

Buffy made a face. Honestly, she hadn't thought much about her slayer sister.. too much other shit to be dealing with. After talking to Lindsey though about her history walk it had crossed her mind to discuss the locked up vampire slayer with the watcher's and her friends to see where they stood on the subject.

She figured she was so far from being able to be objective about that particular female and situation so she sat back and listened as everyone else gave their thoughts. Most of the room seemed on the page where she sat where she was and rotted, but of course Angel, and oddly enough Giles seemed to think it might be better for her, for all of them actually, if she were here.

She continued to listen to the two of them try to convince the others, trying her best to remove herself from the situation, she'd been through enough in the last twenty-four hours she couldn't handle Faith too, not right now. Dazed it took her a couple seconds to realize the room had gone silent, all eyes on her. Her eyes widened as she shook her head, "Oh no," she exclaimed, "Does everyone else remember the last several hours… 'Cause I'm not going anywhere near that conversation," she paused, "If the two of you think she should be here, then fine. Whatever," she shrugged her eyes falling to Angel's, "But if everything goes sideways, I firmly reserve the right to say I told you so."

He smirked stepping closer, he'd almost forgot how fucking adorable she could be at times. His voice lowered some, "I kind of need your okay on this one." She watched as his lips curved into the slowest smirk possible, the absolute last thing he wanted to do was cause any more tension between them, but it was Faith which automatically equaled rough waters. Still, they couldn't just let her waste away in prison either, she was still a slayer, and right now they needed all the help they could get on their side of things.

She sighed, "I don't really know what you want me to say, it's Faith…" Even if she ignored all of her personal reservations about her sister slayer, she still wasn't exactly someone that she trusted. "Say we break her out, then what? How do we know she'll even play for our side?"

He took a seat next to her, "She's changed Buffy, I know she's not your favorite person, but she wants to do right."

Her eyes rolled, "You know, you're becoming really good at making friends with people I don't like."

He grinned, leaning in a little closer to her ear to whisper, "Lindsey."

"Umm, okay…" Cordy stood from behind her desk, "Can I just chime in here? Since when does Buffy get the final say in whether or not we invite some deranged fugitive into the hotel?"

Angel groaned, the reality of this whole fucking mess slamming back into him as he stood back up. "First of all, Faith's not deranged and you know that. Secondly, Buffy's not getting the final say, but as the other slayer, her opinion does matter more than most. Now if anyone else has an opinion, I'm glad to hear it, I would love to know how all of you would prefer to let an innocent die…"

"Innocent," Wesley repeated. "I'd hardly classify a known murderer as an innocent Angel."

"Look, I didn't mean it like that," he sighed. "We all know that she's not innocent, I'm not sure there's a person here who's life hasn't been directly affected by her in some way or another… but she is innocent in this, whatever the hell this is. I understand that everyone has their own personal grievances, but we can't just leave her there." He shook his head, "I won't."

Buffy continued to listen as tensions rose, obviously Faith was a tough subject for everyone involved. Wes was totally opposed to the idea, still bitter from the beating she had cooked up for him last time. Gunn, Tara, and oddly enough Xander stayed relatively quiet during it all, though she figured Anya was voicing enough opinions for the both of them.

Giles was pitted against Wes, and Cordelia against Willow, who seemed to be leaning more towards Giles' side than anyone else, while Fred and Dawn each seemed to be too preoccupied with the commotion to really voice their opinion either way.

She really wanted to stay out of this, but when Lindsey mouthed off something about the bad guys not even being able to trust her, and Angel squared off, she once again found herself jumping back between the two of them. She gripped Angel's arms, Lindsey had a mouth on him, but she wasn't sure how many more blows he could take. "I am so close to locking the two of you in a damn closet until you learn to get along," she hissed more to her former lover than anyone else.

"You know, I'm starting to really like this Lindsey fella," Xander chimed in, "He's… bubbly."

"Enough," Giles' voice bellowed throughout the lobby as he slipped his glasses back on. "We don't have time for this, not now. We are facing something unlike any of us have ever seen before, the world as we know it could very well end, and all of you are bloody well acting like a bunch of highschoolers all over again. Now Angel, we can continue our discussion about Faith later on, I imagine it's safe to assume she will be fine until then, yes. As for everyone else, might I suggest you take a break, take a nap, have a cup of tea, but for the love of all that is holy… please stop bickering."

Everyone stayed silent as they watched Giles head down the hall to the kitchen. Glancing around there seemed to more than one barely suppressed smile, "Um, anyone else having flashbacks," Xander asked, raising his hand.

OoOoO

They had all pretty much dispersed after the whole Faith discussion this morning, and whoever was still hanging around had thankfully let it go… for now at least. Her legs folded beneath her, she sat on the top of the counter writing down a list of all the things Angel continued to rattle off. Cordelia, in her true fashion, had stormed off earlier and she'd yet to come back down, so she'd taken over the duty of list girl, not that she really had any complaints this time around.

Angel stood just a little too close, peeking down at her list, he pointed, "You misspelled that."

She swatted at his hand, "Hey, I'm a slayer, not a secretary," she teased. "Besides only you would know how to spell that anyway, Giles."

Temporarily forgetting about the others around, his hands easily slipped around her hips pulling her closer, closing in on her, his lips were just about to brush against hers when the sound of someone clearing their throat had them jumping a part… though luckily it was only Lindsey.

Blushing, Buffy quickly glanced around to the others who thankfully didn't seem to be paying much attention. "What's up," she smiled, trying to play it off, crossing her fingers that for once Lindsey would keep his damn mouth shut.

Lindsey scratched at his eye a little bit, "Well uh, actually I was just comin' to tell ya that Gramps is looking for you… the two of you actually," he added, pointing between them.

Her eyes went wide as she shared a quick glance with Angel who was looking a little worried himself. "Well that doesn't sound good," she mumbled, setting her notebook and the pen off to the side.

OoOoO

Thankfully, one Rupert Giles seemed none the wiser about the latest personal developments between the two of them and instead wanted to get their opinions on a number of other things he had apparently been busying himself with after his little outburst - and everyone else's - earlier.

Giles also used the opportunity of having just the two of them with him to voice a flood of concerns about the virus plaguing the world around them, the group's ability when it came to working together and how things were going with all these emotions running high, how sturdy the hotel might be when push came to shove, their plans for keeping everyone safe... the team, locals, people back in Sunnydale, those they cared about far and wide.. everyone left on the planet... how the world might look tomorrow, in a week, a year, through all of this and when all was said and done...

It was nothing really new, nothing that hadn't been on each of their minds and brought up, but somehow it hit differently coming from the mentor, the true adult of the group.

He slowly removed his glasses and rubbed his tired eyes. "I truly hate the lack of information we're finding access to here," he mumbled before sighing. "Every time there is even a sliver of news it feels like only more questions and concerns pop up in its place."

OoOoO

Coming out of his office, Angel looked around until he spotted Lindsey, pointed the marker in his hand at him and told him to come on.

"Angel," Buffy started and was hardly the only one giving some weary looks his way.

'What little skills the man possesses I need to use right now," he sighed. "So come on," he repeated and waited for Lindsey to slowly stand up from the table and walk his way. "It's fine," he offered Buffy before he turned to follow the damn lawyer. Pointing over to his desk, Angel then picked up one of the heavy folders off of it and handed it to Lindsey after flipping a page. "You happen to be our most on the radar person here apparently and I am going to use that. I need you to make some phone calls and find me these items."

Glancing down at the list, Lindsey then looked back up sheepishly. "Seriously?"

"Fred needs a lab, this is what she asked for. We also are going to need a makeshift sick bay area, medical rooms.. who the fuck knows. And Wes added a few items there at the bottom on a hunch but that's better than nothing at this point."

Lindsey sighed, looking back at the page as he walked over to the large desk and took a seat. "I know where you can get a few of these items off hand... but you're not gonna like it."

"Wouldn't expected any less," he shot back with a sigh.

OoOoO

By the time night fell Angel felt like he was at least accomplishing something rather than just sitting around twiddling his thumbs not knowing a damn thing. With everyone's help, the hotel had been a little rearranged to better accommodate life as it was becoming, some makeshift schedules put in place. He made a point to take time with every single member of these collective teams to get a read on where they were, how they were feeling, what they needed. He already had a pretty good read on most everyone here when it came to what would be their strengths and weaknesses, where they could at least help out if it wasn't their areas of expertise so that helped on a number of levels with planning for all the "what to do nexts."

Over the next few days he hoped to get some of the harder to gather items all here and set up, Lorne surprising him with the offer to come along and help with some of the heavy duty items, not taking no for an answer when Angel tried talking him out of it. Lindsey had proven helpful to a point at least, securing locations of every item he was asked about, and had offered up a better vehicle for them to use for these larger items needing to be acquired.

He also had the run of the mill items to gather which he was preparing for now and knew it was bound to be a long night.

OoOoO

Buffy was pretty sure she could get dizzy from watching Angel as the night dragged on, he'd been in and out of the door more times than she could count, and usually a blur every time. She didn't know how he was doing it, but one requested item after another seemed to be piling in.

They now had extra appliances and shelves to hold and store the truck load of food he brought in, it looked like he'd cleaned out a pharmacy or two at one point, bulk quantities of any household item you could ask for from paper towels to tampons, shampoos to light bulbs, extra blankets and pillows, clothes upon clothes, office supplies, giant white boards, pens, filing cabinets, electronics she didn't even know what all were beyond the regular ol' laptops, phones, walkie talkies and such. He got magic related items for the witches and watchers, weapons, books, toys, games, gardening supplies... just about anything and everything a person could ask for. Hell, he even marched in one time with a guitar and pick for Lindsey... all while making a quip about whether or not he wanted to chance that with Lorne around.

And all the while he was running around doing all of this, everyone else was either on research patrol or finding a proper place for all the new goodies.

Food was now more than plentiful, there were lists on all the key rooms to keep an update on what would need to be gotten or replaced come next supply run, downstairs had a major resource outfitting now that Xander, Anya and Cordelia were working hard to set up with visual aides and reminders of important dates, numbers, websites, people to keep an eye on and so forth. Willow was getting set up better with her new equipment, hoping she could use her long standing computer skills to get some more answers about things going on.

It all did start to feel a little more doomsday-y, which was hard to imagine at this point, but she hoped they were overreacting rather than under. It felt better to have some sort of a plan of action going on though, to be here, to know everyone she cared about was here and safe, to know they were taken care of for the time being at least.

OoOoO

As Lindsey came in with yet another box of cleaning supplies, Buffy couldn't help but grumble. "I'm about to say anything that doesn't absolutely need to be tucked away somewhere right now can just take up space in the middle of the floor until someone finally gets around to it."

"You may not like what your boyfriend is about to bring in then."

Her eyes cut his way, "He's not my boyfriend."

"Oh ya," Lindsey smirked, "Two of ya' seemed pretty cuddly to me."

Looking around the large room, Buffy made sure no one else was in ear shot before continuing, "Linds, Angel and I are," she paused, blowing out a breath, "Complicated on the best of days, and this whole end of the world situation we're in isn't doing us any favors. Loving Angel is one of the few constants in my life, that part will never change, but there was a reason he left and came here. We learned a long time ago that being around each other isn't the easiest thing for either of us. We're like magnets," she grinned, "Put us close enough and we attract no matter how much resistance there is from the ones around us. He was in the dog house big time this morning, and in talking himself out of it I think he may have gotten a little carried away with promises of some sort of future."

Even though she tried to hide it, he had known her too long not to hear the sadness in her voice. "Well what exactly did he promise," he asked, helping her gather a few of the items to move over to the counter. "I mean like I said the two of you seemed pretty happy earlier."

She slammed the box she was carrying next to the phone, none of this was Lindsey's fault, and in all honesty he was probably the last one she should be venting about Angel too, but it wasn't like she had a lot of other options either. It wasn't like she could go to Giles with what was going on. "That's the problem," she sighed, "We're not allowed to be happy, trust me, you only think Angel's a dick, you don't want to meet his counterpart."

Lindsey gave her a weird look, "You mean because of the curse?"

She nodded, "It doesn't matter how much we miss each other, or how many times we try to make it work, we both know where that road will eventually lead."

Trying his best to hold it together, he tried to be as reassuring as he could manage. Thankfully she had all but waved him off citing that she was probably just tired and would feel better in the morning about the whole ordeal, but he knew it was all just empty words. Tomorrow she might be back to fooling herself, but she was right there was no way the two of them could make things work if she had to carry the weight of him possibly turning evil. Except she didn't, he knew that, and so did fucking Angel. Which was exactly why he thought she knew that too after what he walked in on this morning.

He had just assumed that the damn vampire had come clean and told her the damn truth, though knowing that fucker he guessed he should have known better. One thing was for sure though that asshole had some explaining to do. Of all the people, living, breathing, real live human fucking beings, he was the last damn thing to deserve Buffy. She had almost had him on board with the whole thing, not for that fuckers sake but for her own, but as usual leave it to Angel to be stringing her along just to make shit more comfortable for the time being.