"Thank you, Thank you, Thank you..." The woman in Angel's arms cried against his chest.
"Shh, it's over." He soothed, rubbing her back. "You're alright."
"You saved me." She spoke against his shirt, then pulled back enough to look up at him. "You're my hero."
He looked away at that, not quiet ready for those words yet. He still couldn't get the picture of Stacey and Amanda's lifeless gazes out of his head.
"Look, why don't you stay for the night, it's not safe outside in the dark." He tried to change the subject as he moved them both towards the motel room door. More than anything right now, he just wanted to sit down.
"Whatever you say my Handsome Hero." She breathed out as she leaned against his arm. If she'd seen Angel's face change during the fight, she conveniently forgot.
They were just entering the room when she leaned up and latched her lips onto his.
He froze, startled and unsure what to do. It wasn't that he didn't know how to respond to a woman kissing him, he most certainly did, but usually that woman was Buffy...and this was defiantly not his wife.
Her lips were warm and her technique was well above average, but the spark just didn't accompany the action.
After a second, he pulled back, breaking the kiss. "I can't, I'm sorry." This wasn't something he wanted to deal with at the moment, he just wanted to sleep off his will-be hangover and make sure nothing ate this woman during the night.
"Sure you can." She smiled, pushing his though the doorways and kicking the door shut with her foot.
He caught her arms in his hands to keep her from advancing. "I'm married." He urged to pacify her growing interest in him.
"I know." she responded immediately, "I saw your ring back at the bar."
"Then you know nothing can happen between us." He stated obviously.
"A happily married man doesn't spend his days drowning himself in whiskey in a seedy bar then takes a pretty girl back to his motel room after midnight." She insisted with a sly smile.
"No, they don't." He muttered frowning, "which is why I need to go." Even if he wasn't feeling partially good about himself right now, he was sober enough to realize Buffy was likely going out of her mind looking for him. He just wasn't sure if it was in worry, or homicidal rage over how he snuck away.
He had a feeling it was both.
She could tell by his tone he was serious about not sleeping with her, and that was both refreshing...and annoying.
Even as he walked towards the door, Angel knew he wasn't going to make it home tonight.
His legs were already shaking as the adrenalin wore off and the exhaustion settled in. He hadn't slept since the following night nor had he consumed anything but alcohol and a few pub snacks in the last day. The fight drained his reserve strength and he knew he was running on fumes right now.
'If I try to drive home, I'll likely run off the road...I could kill someone...even myself.' As much as he hated the idea, he realized he was spending the night here...and he couldn't in good conscious let the young blond leave and risk becoming vampire bait.
"Take the bed." He surrendered, ready to drop where he stood. As much as he wanted to take a shower, he just didn't have the energy.
"Why don't you, you're hurt." She countered, seeing how he hugged his arm against his side.
The first night he spent at Buffy's house flashed through his mind, a similar conversation had sprang up between them.
"I'll be fine." He insisted, grabbing a pillow and a blanket off the bed to drop in an at least semi-clean spot of the floor.
"Let me clean you up first as least, you're going to get blood on the pillowcase." The young woman insisted, grabbing a facecloth from the little bathroom and running it under warm water.
It was then that Angel took a moment to catalog his injuries. Glancing in the dirty mirror on the wall by the bed he saw a bloody mess looking back at him. 'And she's still calling me handsome?' He wondered to himself as he bent his nose back to straight from where it had been broken. His left eye was already swelling shut and his lip felt 5x too big for his face. He didn't even want to think about the ribs pounding under his torn shirt.
"Sit down before you fall over." She ordered as she came back into the room with a glass of warm water and the wet facecloth.
With a mutter, be did as she asked, painfully removing his jacket and sitting gingerly on the bed.
"I did a little nursing before I had to drop out, I think I remember enough to get you cleaned up." She smiled at him as she began to wipe the grime and blood from his face.
"By the way, I never did catch your name." She asked as she wrung the cloth out in the glass.
"Angel." He muttered tiredly, feeling his body slowing down.
"Angel?" She smiled, "That's seems fitting for saving me tonight from those drugged out thugs. You can call me Sarah."
"Nice to meet you Sarah." He replied more on auto-pilot that anything else.
Seeing he was fading, Sarah prompted him to lift his arms so she could get his shirt off and see what damaged lay hidden beneath the fabric.
'Wow, yummy.' she thought to herself at the excellent definition in his abs and arms. He was in a hell of a lot better shape than most of the drunkards she usually ended up going home with. Most of the guys interested in her had beer bellies and a receding hairline, this guy looked straight off the runway.
"Lay down." She insisted, gently pushing him down.
He winced at the pull of pain from his protesting ribs, but once he was flat the pain faded.
Sarah took a few moments probing around a few ugly bruises and wiping at the claw marks on his arm before she realized he was out cold.
She finished cleaning his wounds the best she could then looked him over. 'Why are all the hot ones either married or gay?'
Then she glanced over at the pillow and blanket he'd dropped on the floor for his bed.
'Well no chance I'll be moving him.' She thought with a frown at the tall broad man sleeping where she had been planning to sleep.
She shrugged and grabbed the items off the floor, figuring the bed was big enough for two.
She pulled his shoes off and contemplated going though his pockets.
Curiosity got her in the end.
She watched him to be sure he was out, then slipped her hand into his pockets, pilling what she found on the bed in front of her.
Wallet, keys, and cell phone were the typical stuff found in guy's pockets.
Poking around in his coat she found some less common items, a blue lego, a half eaten Oreo and pink barrette.
'Guy must have kids' She wondered, looking at the mini hair clip and lego.
Wondering if 'Angel' was his real name, she opened his wallet and looked inside.
Her gaze was immediately drawn to the center plastic photo keeper, the face of a beautiful blond with bright hazel-green eyes smiling at the photographer, in her arms two grinning toddlers.
'Must be the wife and kids.' Sarah thought, looking them over and seeing how much the little girl resembled her dad.
Avoiding the seemingly accusing eyes of the three smiling faces, Sarah averted her attention to find out of 'Angel' was really his name. His ID confirmed his identity. "Angel L. Summers" She read off his license, "Doylestown, OH." She glanced over at his sleeping features, "Not too far from home, but far enough to not be found." She spoke quietly, then resumed her snooping. He had a few twenties she thought of snatching, but felt guilty about stealing from a guy who risked his own life to save her, a woman he didn't even know. She noted the lack of condoms some men stuff in their wallet when going out with the intention of finding some action.
"What made you take off?" She asked quietly to his still form, wondering what would cause a super hot guy who seemed to be happily married to spend his days wasting away in a bar and spending his nights in a cheap dump like 'The Weary Traveler'.
Seeing he was in no condition to answer her question, she tossed one of the blankets over him, mostly to keep her eyes off his 6-pack, and settled onto the bed beside him.
He shifted a little in his sleep, muttering something that sounded like puffy.
She shrugged and rolled over, feeling her own weary tiredness creeping in.
...
Buffy was pacing.
The image hadn't faded but it also hadn't followed Angel and the slut into the hotel. The magic was centered around the car, so that's where the image stayed.
All she knew was her husband had entered a cheap motel with a young blond woman, and neither had come back out yet.
"He's cheating on me." She muttered in shock, "Right now he's...he's with that...oh my god I'm going to KILL HIM." Buffy's shock turned into a blind rage as she tore around her office to find a stake.
"We don't know that." Willow tried to say but Buffy's death-glare quickly made her fall silent.
"Watch the kids." Buffy nearly growled as she grabbed a few choice weapons and headed for the door.
"Where are you going?" Willow panicked at the murderous gleam in the slayer's eyes.
"Hunting." She spat as the door slammed behind her.
"Oh dear." The red head muttered, afraid of what Buffy would do to Angel if he really was cheating on her.
...
Buffy nearly kicked the door open to Sal's Bar and quickly made her way over to the barkeeper.
"I need some info." She didn't ask nicely.
Sal raised an eyebrow, he wasn't much of a talker. "About what?"
"Scuzzy motels in Ontario the kind not in the phone book."
Ontario wasn't the kind of place Buffy wanted to visit. She knew it wasn't a great city in general. It scored a whopping 1 on the crime scale, a 100 being safest. Unfortunately that was the town Willow's magic dot had appeared over, so she knew that's where Angel's car was currently parked.
The grey eyed man nodded his brown head, drawing up a few in his mind. "More details?"
She supplied what she knew, describing how the parking lot looked and the partly seen sign.
"The Weary Traveler." He confirmed and gave some brief directions.
"Thanks." She muttered, leaving the bar once she had what she needed and headed back to the parking lot to navigate the big SUV to her husband's last known location.
...
Angel was restless in the bed beside her. Sarah had fallen asleep for maybe twenty minutes before she'd woken to him moving around in some sort of nightmare.
He was mumbling puffy or fluffy or something again and she was getting annoyed.
'Maybe I should have slept on the floor.' She grumbled to herself as she inched further from the man sleeping behind her.
...
Buffy pulled into the parking lot of 'The Weary Traveler' in record time, the normally hour drive took a mere 30 minutes after she left Sal's, the SUV's engine purring from the rush of speed. She could feel the pull of Angel's soul on hers as she got closer, directing her to the right room.
She stood at the door a moment, listening for sounds of a soon-to-be-re-dead cheating husband.
It would be more dramatic to kick the door open and catch him red handed if she timed it right.
When no discernible sex noises issued from the room, or any noises for that matter, she decided to be sneaky about it.
Her strong right wrist easily snapped the cheap lock and she opened the door quietly, her eyes scanning the dim lit room.
The image of a young blond lying beside her bare chested husband sent a flash of rage up her spine.
In a few steps, her hands were closing around the slut, grabbing her out of the bed and slamming her up against the wall. "You have three seconds to tell me what the hell your doing with my husband."
Sarah had awoken from her doze as she was grabbed and lifted out of bed, the hard thud of her back and head against the wall was just a bonus. 'Oh fuck, the wife found us.' Popped into her head. It wasn't the first time she got stuck between a one night stand and an angry spouse, embarrassingly enough not even the second. Of course this was the first time there hadn't actually been sex involved.
"We didn't do anything, I swear!" she found herself pleading back at the angry and amazingly strong blond holding her against the wall.
Angel had stirred when he felt Buffy's presence, and snapped fully awake as Sarah was snatched from the bed. 'Shit' He though as he pushed the pain in his ribs aside to jump up and free the poor girl from his wife's wrath.
"Buffy." He grabbed for his wife's arm but she didn't give him the change to say another word, her fist shot out and clocked him square in the jaw.
He dropped like a bag of rocks and didn't move again.
She was a lot stronger when she was pissed.
Sarah watched in horrified shock as her hero an hour ago was knocked out cold with one hit from a woman smaller than her. 'Holy shit, what is this lady?'
"Speak." Buffy ordered, resuming her interrogation.
Sarah's mouth moved a moment before words finally came, she rambled fast about seeing him in a bar, sitting with him, going to the motel, the fight with the drugged out thugs in the parking lot.
"No, I'm looking for the cliff notes from him kissing you up to me finding him in bed with you." Buffy cut off the tale about the 'drugged thugs' the woman was spewing.
"Nothing!" The woman bawled, "He fell asleep there and I didn't want to sleep on the floor."
Buffy's hazel-green eyes scanned over her husband's shirtless chest. "Then why is he half naked." She gritted out.
"I took his shirt off to tend his wounds, his ribs were bruised pretty bad in the fight." she blurted out. "And I kissed him earlier, he didn't kiss back. I swear I was just helping clean him up when he passed out."
Buffy glared at her for a long moment, chewing the story over and trying to figure out if she could swallow it or not.
Angel still had pants on, zipped and buttoned, and the woman was pretty much fully dressed, save for jacket and shoes. The bed wasn't rumpled and the room carried a stale, stagnant scent, not the pungent odor of sex.
So maybe the barfly was telling the truth.
Still didn't make her feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
"I find out you're lying, I'll come find you, and you wont be found again." She threatened as she dropped the woman, letting the frightened blond back peddle out, grabbing her coat and heels before vanishing into the night.
Once the woman was gone, Buffy closed the door and turned to frown down at her unconscious husband.
He wasn't getting off so lucky.
...
It was a full three hours since Angel had been knocked out and he still hadn't even begun to rouse.
By then, Buffy had gotten him back in the bed, ribs bound and wounds cleaned and dressed. Even royally pissed at him, she couldn't help herself.
She was stationed in the hard chair by the bed, silently stirring the pot of angry in her head as she watched him sleep.
Her mind was constantly working over what to say to him when he woke.
Or of she should skip talking and just knock him out again.
Granted if he was unconscious, he couldn't be remorseful and guilty and beg forgiveness.
She was actually looking forward to that.
"He looks relaxed."
Buffy's eyes rocketed to the blond woman from earlier standing in the doorway.
"Pretty sure I threatened you with bodily harm." Buffy muttered annoyed.
"You hinted at it, but only if I'd slept with him, which I didn't, so I risked coming back." She replied back lightly, testing the waters.
"Why?" The slayer asked, looking the woman over again, this time without the blinders of rage blocking her perspective.
The other blond just shrugged, "Got no where else to go." It was the sad truth, she'd been kicked out of her apartment last month for not being able to make rent, so spending the night with a guy had been the only roof over her head for the last few weeks.
Buffy just sighed as the barfly she chased out a few hours ago slipped back into the room and closed the door behind her.
Silence fell heavily over the two woman, neither feeling like a chat, or being comfortable with one another. Wife vs slut, not comfortable at all.
"What did you mean by 'he looks more relaxed'?" Buffy asked to break the silence. She wanted to know how much time this woman spent around her husband in this room.
Sarah looked over at the sleeping man and shrugged, "He was tossing and turning earlier. Kept mumbling and stuff. Like he was in a nightmare."
"Mumbling what?" Buffy asked, knowing Angel never really slept well if she wasn't somewhere nearby.
"I don't know." Sarah replied truthfully, "Couldn't understand most from his accent and slur, sounded like puffy or fluffy or something like that."
"Buffy." The married woman supplied, feeling a little better knowing her presence in the room was calming him and he'd been restless without her. That meant he at least still cared for her and was in her opinion, hopefully feeling a ton of guilt for what he'd done to her over that last day and a half.
This was one point in time where a brooding expression on his face would actually make her happy.
"Buffy?" Sarah questioned, thinking it over and nodding that it sounded like what he'd been saying.
"My name." The hazel-green eyed blond clarified.
"Oh, right." The blue eyed blond replied, barely remembering Angel saying it while Buffy was pinning her against the wall earlier. 'Guess even if his marriage isn't at the happiest at the moment, he obviously still loves his wife very much. Too bad, I really wanted to try him out.'
They fell silent for a moment before the woman added, "I'm Sarah, if you care to know."
"Sorry if I can't say that its been nice meeting you." Buffy muttered, thinking instantly she should feel sorry for saying it but not able to bring herself to apologize. This was a woman who had been flirting with her husband and had actually kissed him. Whether or not he enjoyed it, she still kind of hated this woman's guts right now.
"Yeah, I get that a lot." Sarah admitted, unfazed in the least. She'd grown a second skin for retorts like that over the years of picking up not-so-single-as-they-wanted-you-to-believe guys from bars.
"Is he going to be all right?" Sarah asked, glancing over at the still form on the bed.
"Depends." Buffy replied cryptically.
"On what?" Sarah questioned.
Buffy almost smirked, "On whether I kill him or not."
...
It was another hour before Angel groaned and his heavily lidded eyes fluttered open. The blinding early morning light from outside sung his eyes as he turned his face away from the open blinds. "Son of a..." He muttered to himself, feeling like a slayer slammed into him earlier instead of just a brawl with a few vampires.
He didn't remember Buffy being there and knocking him out.
'Never drinking again.' He though, not for the first time, as he gingerly sat up, feeling a stitch of pain in his acing ribs.
His healing wasn't doing much for him at the moment, his body although slightly more rested was still on empty.
He really needed to eat something.
His stomach didn't really agree...not with the hangover nausea.
"You don't exactly look better." A female voice commented from beside him.
He turned, slowly to keep the pounding to a dull roar in his head, and saw the blond he'd been sitting with at the bar.
"Uh, Hi." He mumbled, he vaguely remembered her being here but couldn't recall her name. He couldn't remember if she'd told him or not.
"Sarah." She supplied, seeing the deer in the headlights expression in his eyes. She got that a lot too.
"Sarah." He repeated to let her know he'd remember this time, then moved to get out of bed. He looked down at the bandages on his ribs and felt a tingle run up his spine. 'This looks like Buffy's handiwork.' But he knew his wife was in Doylestown and he did vaguely remember Sarah saying she had nurse training and assumed she'd patched him up.
"You don't look well enough to be getting out of bed." Sarah commented from her position sitting on the edge of the bed as she watched him gingerly sit up.
"I'm fine." He lied, willing his body to move. If he could make it to the shower he might revive himself long enough to hit a fast food place.
His stomach cringed again.
Angel wasn't surprised that his legs weren't exactly cooperating, but he managed to shuffle his sore body into the tiny bathroom without falling on his face. One achievement at a time.
The mirror reflected back a pretty nasty bruise on his jaw, one he couldn't actually remember receiving in the fight. He vividly remembered getting the black eye, bruised ribs, fat lip, claw gouges and broken nose...just not the clock to the jaw.
He pushed the door shut and dragged himself to the shower, determined to douse himself in hot water to help ease the throbbing.
There hadn't been as much red flowing down the drain as he would have thought based on how he felt, he figured Sarah did a good job of cleaning his wounds.
Pouring the tiny bottle of shampoo over his head, her used his less bruised arm to work it in a little before standing idle under the hot liquid, letting the water rinse the suds down his tall frame as he braced himself against the wall to keep from falling over.
When he'd used up the hot water, which hadn't been very long at all, he shut off the knob and pulled the shower curtain back to search for a towel.
His heart nearly jumped out of his chest as Buffy stood inches from the shower glaring back at him with an unreadable expression on her face.
He couldn't help the gasp as he jumped back a little, startled out of his mind.
She held up a towel, her hazel-green eyes unable to hide the evil pleasure she'd felt scaring the living crap out of him.
He suddenly remembered why he felt like a slayer had knocked him out earlier, and why he had a mega bruise on his jaw.
"Buffy, I..." He began to try to say something to explain himself but she cut him off.
"Don't. Get dressed." She ordered as she not so gently threw the towel at him then exited the bathroom.
He stood there a moment, just looking blindly at the towel and silently hating his senses for failing him that morning. He should have know she was there. He realized she must have been silently watching him from the chair in front of the window, where the blinding light had kept him from looking in her direction earlier.
He quickly toweled himself dry and slipped his boxers and pants back on, almost wishing he'd passed out and drowned in the shower.
He thought it might have been better for his health than whatever Buffy had planned.
...
When he exited the bathroom, he was once again alone with Sarah.
"Where's Buffy?" He asked, almost afraid to know. 'Probably sharpening her stake.'
The young woman sitting on the chair beside the bed shrugged her shoulders, "Went out, didn't say where."
He winced a little as he bent to retrieve his shirt from the floor, shaking it out by means of cleaning it.
He was just about to try shrugging it on when Buffy opened the door and immediately said "Don't bother."
The slayer turned to Sarah and pulled out a $20 bill, "Can you run across the street and grab some food?" There was a fast food joint, she hadn't looked to see which one.
Sarah eyed the money before snatching it up, "What do you want?"
"Doesn't matter." After a second, "On second thought, make sure you get yogurt." She looked at Angel as she said it, knowing he hated the stuff with a passion.
He grimaced and Sarah left to get the breakfast.
His eyes were studying the floor when Buffy ordered him to lift his arms. He looked back at her a moment in confusion until he spotted the ace bandage in her hand.
There was a heavy silence between then as Buffy re-bandaged his ribs, making the dressing tighter than she normally would have just to make sure he stayed a little uncomfortable.
Forgiveness wasn't on the plate yet.
After what seemed like forever, he opened his mouth. "Buffy, I..."
"Shut up." She didn't yell, but the calmness in her tone scared him more than if she had.
His mouth snapped shut again and he realized the talk they needed to have wasn't going to take place here and now.
Buffy would decide the terms.
When she finished with his ribs, Sarah was just getting back, a greasy bag in her hands full of cheap, fast and nutritionally devoid breakfast.
Angel's stomach turned for the worse, but he managed not to gag.
Buffy took the bag and sorted through it, pulling out a few egg sandwiches and a couple of yogurts and shoving them in Angel's direction.
"Eat." She ordered to him, handing the bag and remaining food to Sarah.
He eyed the greasy wrappers in his hands, caught between being physically starving but hungover enough to not want to ever look at food again, never mind eat it.
He managed to force down one of the sandwiched as Buffy calmly sharpened a stake in the corner, which made him extremely nervous.
Sarah ravenously wolfed down some hash-browns as she tried to avoid getting cut on the sharp looks Buffy kept flicking to her spouse. 'Man, that woman is scary.' She though as she tore open another egg sandwich wrapper. 'Absolute polar opposite to the happy picture I saw in his wallet...guess I know why he ran now.'
The soggy egg sandwich had sat better in his stomach that he though it would, but the yogurt was defiantly not going to go down as easily. Even when he wasn't hung-over, the stuff reminded him of thick spoiled milk. He knew Buffy was going to sit there and watch him eat it, just to torture him.
He figured he deserved a hell of a lot worse, and judging by her cold glances, he was going to get it too.
...
Angel had just finished forcing down the second yogurt cup when Buffy's phone rang loudly from her pocket.
"Hello? Will? Something wrong with the kids?" The slayer asked after digging it from her pocket and seeing the caller ID was Willow. Mother's instincts pretty much always made her ask about her offspring first.
"Hey Buffy, the kids are fine." The redhead greeted quickly, "Just...you know...wanted to check in with you. See how you were doing..." she sounded nervous.
"You called to ask if I had Angel strung up someplace and was torturing him?" Buffy amused into the phone, not bothering to look at either of the two other people in the room.
The witched laughed nervously, "No, ok well maybe a little." After a quick pause, "You don't...right?"
"No" Buffy replied, "He isn't strung up."
"Uhh." Was the reply on the other end, the Wicca not knowing what to make of that. 'So is she torturing him?' She wondered.
"How are the kids?" Buffy asked to change the subject, wanting to know how they were fairing. They didn't exactly respond well to both their parents disappearing for any length of time.
"Oh, well, they want to know where you guys are." Willow filled her in on the morning routine.
Buffy nodded and smiled, pacing slightly as she listened to her friend's words, then to Katie when Willow put her on the phone.
"Hi mommy, where are you? Are you coming home? Can I have cookies? Where's daddy? When is he coming home? Liam peed on the floor, is he in trouble? Can I go play in the sandbox?"
Buffy laughed a little, her daughter always made her smile, even when she wanted to run her father over with the truck.
"I'm coming home right now Sweetie, Ok? And no you can't have cookies at breakfast and yes you can play in the sandbox as long as an adult is with you." She answered her eldest before having Katie give Willow the phone back. She assured her friend that she was on her way back home and hung up.
When she looked over at Angel, she could tell he had been listening but trying to hide it.
"I'm going home." She stated tonelessly, "If you're not back within an hour of me, don't bother coming back." With that said she grabbed her keys and left without another word.
...
As soon as she left, Angel went to grab his shirt so he could follow.
"You might want to give her a few minutes head start" Sarah warned, "She's a little pissed."
"She'll be more pissed if I hang around here any longer." He stated, gingerly trying to tug the black cotton tee on without straining his ribs.
Sarah nodded and looked around the room, trying to figure out where to go from there. After this last incident, she really wasn't feeling like trying to pick up another guy at the bar. She didn't need anymore spousal drama.
He moved quickly around the room, stuffing what few belongings he'd brought with him back into his duffel and grab his coat off the back of the chair.
"Would you mind if I hung out here for a while?" She asked, wondering if he by chance he booked the room for a few nights.
Not paying much attention he shook his head, "Only paid for the night, check-out is at 10am."
Glancing at the clock she noticed it was already 9:13am. 'Damn.' She thought, 'Guess I have no choice but to go back to the bar.'
He finished packing and snatched his keys from the night table.
On his way to the door, he glanced over at Sarah and saw the lost look in her eyes. He tried to tell himself she was none of his business and interacting with her would only tick Buffy off more, but after a little war within himself he paused and asked, "Do you have somewhere to go?"
She looked up a little startled. "Who me? Oh, yeah, go on. I'm fine." She said easily, used to lying about that sort of thing.
He wasn't convinced. "Look, I don't have a lot of time, but I can drop you off somewhere if you need a ride."
"Nah, I'm good. I've got a place by the bar. I can walk, it isn't far." She said to give him a loophole to leave.
"Listen Sarah, I know you're lying." He stated, putting his bag down on the chair by the door and walking over to her, "You seem like a nice enough woman and I understand doing what you have to do to survive, but if you need somewhere to start fresh, I can find you a form of employment and a place to stay if you need it."
She looked back at him like he'd just told her he was actually Elvis. "Listen, I don't need a handout."
"It's not a handout." He emphasized, "It isn't much really and I can't promise you'll like it, but Buffy and I own a business in Doylestown. If you're willing to work for it, I'll be willing to give you the opportunity to change you life around."
"Are you serious?" she asked after a long moment.
"I am." He said honestly. He wasn't sure yet what she could do or if it would work out, but he was willing to give her a chance if she was willing to take it. She'd already shown his she wasn't just street trash, just a woman with limited opportunities living in a bad town.
"Umm, ok. I guess, that would be...yes." She said after a moment, suddenly feeling very excited and super nervous. "What do you want me to do?"
He smiled, ready to get going, "We can discuss some of the options on the way."
...
He dropped Sarah off at AI, having spent the drive back to Doylestown telling her about the business (at least the more 'normal' detective agency front) and going over employment opportunities. She was going to meet with Patty at the front desk and work over what she could do to help out and go over payment and lodging.
He thought she might be good helping Cass in the Med-ward, he knew she got in over her head at times being the only medic in a slayer facility.
After wishing her luck, he climbed back into the GTX and spend off towards home.
...
In no time at all he was pulling in his driveway, but his optimism fell as he noticed the SUV wasn't there.
Knowing Buffy would have made it home by now, he quickly parked and headed up to the front door.
It was locked.
Worry increasing, he glanced at his watch but noted he still had 33 minutes left on his 'be home within an hour of me' threat Buffy had given him.
He was somewhat relieved when his key opened the door. 'At least she didn't change the locks.'
Entering he found nothing out of place, Liam and Katie's toys were strewn around the living room floor, a little pile of Buffy's magazines were on the coffee table, his sketch pad and pencils were on the end table. The furniture looked to be in the same position it was in when he left, the kitchen was a mix of practical clean and toddler messes, the bedrooms looked as usual. After his inspection of the house, he came up with nothing suspecting a kidnapping or a struggle.
They just weren't there.
He thought about calling Buffy's cell, but decided against it. He'd just be ignored or hung up on.
Instead he's try Willow first. As far as he knew, she always knew where Buffy was when he didn't and she didn't hate his guts right now. Granted she was Buffy's best-friend, so by default she might actually hate him too at the moment.
He chanced it.
"Hello?" He heard the redhead answer with a smile on her lips, she obviously must have been laughing at something when she answered the phone.
"Hi Willow, it's Angel. Do you know where Buffy is?" But even as he asked, he could hear giggling in the background, giggling he knew he be his daughter's.
"Um, I do." Willow replied, her smile dissipated into a strained reluctance, "But...umm...I'm not at liberty to disclose the information."
He could practically see over the phone Buffy standing next to Willow and giving her the 'Don't tell him where I am' shake of the head.
"It's alright Willow, I wont pry. I just...I just wanted to know they were OK." He admitted, relieved nothing bad had happened to Buffy or the kids while he wasn't there.
"Yeah, they're fine." Willow agreed, "But that's all I can say. I'm sorry Angel."
"I understand." He replied, "Thank you. Bye." He hung the phone back on the hook and breathed out a sigh of both relief and disappointment.
Not knowing what else to do, he started cleaning up the messes left in the kitchen.
The little reminders his offspring left behind gave him some comfort, but only a little.
As he worked, he brooded over how how much worse he felt about what he'd done to Buffy that what happened to Amanda and Stacey. 'Great job dumbass, your bright idea to take off just dug you in deeper and made you feel even more like a piece of shit.'
...
When Buffy came back from her spontaneous therapeutic shopping spree at the mall a few hours later, she found her husband passed out on the couch, obviously waiting for them to come home.
Katie and Liam went to him immediately, jumping on him as usual, which woke him rather fast due to his sore ribs as Buffy played at not even noticing him.
She walked into the kitchen with her purchases as the kids interacted with their father. She figured she'd play the silent treatment game for the next few hours and see where it went from there. Mostly she still wasn't sure if she wanted to beat the crap out of him or not for using her as he had, not to mention taking off and making her worry for nearly a day over where he was.
All she did know at the moment was she wasn't ready for there to be sunshine and smiles between her and her spouse yet.
...
Later that night, Angel was getting fed up with being ignored. Yes, he knew he deserved it, but he felt that he should at least be given the opportunity to apologize and try to make things right between him and his wife.
"Buffy." He addressed rather pointedly as he entered the bedroom where his spouse was brushing her long blond hair in prep for bed.
She ignored him as she had the last few hours, not even acknowledging his presence.
Anger flaring, he grabbed her arm to turn her to face him. As he did, she automatically punched out at him, knocking him back a few steps.
"Don't grab me." She snapped, putting her brush down hard on the counter then turning away from him as she went to walk past.
"Stop ignoring me and I won't have to." He shot right back, wiping blood from his lip.
"I'm not the guilty party here Angel" She defended her actions, "You betrayed me!"
He knew she had him there. However useless he added, "I know, and I'm sorry."
"Oh, you're sorry?" She almost laughed back, "Yeah, that makes up for what you did. You drank from me Angel, enough to knock me out. You violated my trust in you and now you just want to apologize and have everything go back to the way it was? No, I doesn't work like that."
"You're right it doesn't. I know I made a mistake. I'm only human remember? I'm not perfect and there are times when my demon gives me the worst advise possible. I wasn't thinking straight and I made a impulsive decision when I shouldn't have. I know what I did to you is unforgivable and I'm not asking for it, I just want to opportunity to talk it out...that's all."
"You want to talk? Fine, let's talk about how I had to lie to our children about where you were, or about how I spent hours looking all over town for you, or how I had to feel the bite marks on my neck and know it means I can't even trust my own husband."
"What the hell do you want me to say Buffy? I screwed up! You have no idea how shameful I felt leaving here the other night, how not just emotionally but physically sick it made me. The taste of your blood wouldn't leave my mouth for hours, finally I turned to whiskey just to numb myself to the pain. I know it was the cowards way out and I know I promised you numerous times I would never leave...and I did. I broke every vow I made to you and for that I am willing to do anything and everything in my power to make it up to you." He had been yelling, but his voice had lowered during the admission of guilt, he didn't want to fight with her.
"Then answer me this, why did you even feel like you had to leave?" She asked, the real question that had been bugging her ever since it happened. "Because two slayers died? Because you felt in-adequate in protect them?"
"An eighteen year old girl gave her life to save mine, a girl I was there to protect." His voice was shaky, he couldn't help but see his own children in their stead, not being enough to keep Liam and Katie safe from the forces of darkness in his life.
"You aren't superman Angel, you can't save everyone." She snapped, " And you weren't just ambushed, it was a ploy to kill Spike." Buffy revealed to him, "Those demons wore scent blocking perfumes and wore charms to mask their auras. They were expecting a vampire and a seasoned slayer, by all rights, you shouldn't have even won that fight."
He stood looking back at her in a loss for words.
Since it happened, he'd been kicking himself for not having been focused enough on his surroundings to have noticed being surrounded, he'd though it was his fault the demons were able to get so close out of his own carelessness. Now he was being told otherwise.
"How do you know?" He asked, unsure if she would actually lie to him so extensively even just to make him feel better.
"Angel Investigations, we investigate, it's in the name." She went on to explain what Willow had revealed her earlier, about a minion caught from a yet unnamed enemy of Spike's.
After a long silence, Angel muttered an, "Oh." As he chewed over that new information. After another moment he spoke quietly, "It doesn't matter how it happened or why. Two young woman are dead. How am I supposed to live with knowing an innocent girl killed herself to save someone with as dark a past as mine?"
She stared at him a moment before she replied, "Don't be such a selfish asshole, this isn't only about you. Stacey was a slayer, she understood the balance between good and evil, she knew how to prioritize in a bad situation. To her, you're the boss, you train other slayers, you are a major player in Apocalypses, you have a family. It didn't matter who you were as a person, or what happened in your past. In the end, she saw the grand scheme of things...and your life was worth more. She made a choice for the greater good. She died a hero."
Angel didn't have a reply, honestly, his voice just wouldn't respond. His eyes were wet, but he didn't bother to wipe them.
Honestly, Buffy wasn't up to dealing with this right now. Talking had done almost nothing to sooth her anger. "I'm going to bed." She spoke as she brushed past him, the air of anger still thick around her.
He sighed and grabbed a change of clothes from his closet, he'd said his piece yet the wall was still between them. He realized he'd been so concerned about his own feeling of inadequacy he'd lost sight of what really mattered; that two young woman were dead and he just betray his wife's confidence and trust for nothing.
He understood she had every right to be angry with him, maybe even hate him, and his demon surrendered the fight. "What I did to you isn't forgivable and I don't expect you to just forget." He said quietly to her, wanting to apologize again for betraying her trust.
"Good, because you're not forgiven and I won't." She replied from the bathroom. "Now get out of my room."
'Her room, not ours.'
He left without another word.
...
Buffy woke the following morning feeling like something was terribly wrong. It wasn't only because Angel hadn't slept beside her, but something about the morning in general didn't feel right.
She looked around but couldn't place anything odd until her eyes met the clock. It was nearly 10am.
People with young children didn't get to sleep until 10am.
That's what had woken her, the light from outside was too bright, the house was too quiet.
Quickly she jumped out of bed and yanked on her robe as she rushed down the hall to the kid's bedrooms.
Even the hall was too quiet.
Katie's bed was empty, moving quickly she found Liam's the same.
Forcing herself not to panic, she walked fast down the stairs and found the couch empty too.
So wasn't the kitchen.
'Oh god, where are my children?'
She saw a flash of white on the kitchen table as she moved to look out the windows to see if Angel was outside with the kids, when she saw he wasn't, a pit formed in her stomach at the idea of a ransom note or worse.
'He wouldn't have taken them...oh god I will kill him if he did.' She promised as she went for the note.
It wasn't a ransom note, but it had been written in her husband's old world script.
Buffy,
Didn't want to wake you.
Took the kids to work with me.
I love you,
Angel
Relief washed over her and she couldn't help but feel a little foolish that her first thoughts where far darker than what she should have thought. Most woman didn't wake up in the morning fearing their family had been captured or that her husband kidnapped their children.
Despite the note, she wasn't actually feeling all that trusting of notes as of late or her husband, she grabbed the phone off the hook and dialed Dawn's extension at Angel Investigations.
On the third ring her sister answered and Buffy's anxiety melted as she could hear her son vrooming with his truck in the background. "Hey Buffy, what's up?"
"Nothing, I was just checking in. Angel brought the kids in with him this morning?" She asked, double checking.
"Yeah, they've been with me for a few hours now, he had a sword training class at 8am and has a hand-to-hand...uhh...now. Did you not know that?" Dawn asked, curious that Buffy wouldn't know her husband's schedule, since they usually spent more time at Angel Investigations that they did at home. Granted she knew there was some serious issues going on between them at the moment, everyone knew Angel had taken off a day ago, just most didn't know the details of why.
Nor would they risk asking the living vampire.
"We ahh...didn't get much talking in last night. I was just making sure I got his message right. I'll be in later ok?" Buffy diverted, she really didn't need to be telling her little sister about her spousal issues, especially not while she was babysitting her kids.
"Ok, see you then." Dawn hung up and returned to play monster trucks with Liam.
Buffy put the phone back on the hook and figured she might as well enjoy a child and husband-free morning. She hadn't gotten in many of those in a long while.
...
TBC...