Disclaimer: I do not own Buffyverse or anything else you may recognize
Chapter 33- Untouched
"Anyone thinks Gunn will start being more careful?" Dawn asked randomly.
"I do hope he does", Tara said as Buffy started the next recording.
"I hate Darla", Buffy muttered.
Lilah sneaked into Lindsey's dark office to look through some papers, when Darla's voice startled her, as Darla pointed out what she was doing, and Lilah said Lindsey was probably doing the same.
"Wouldn't surprise me, they both really hate each other", Xander commented.
Darla sat on the edge of Lindsey's desk, pouring dark blue powder into her left hand's palm, which Lilah knew was Calynthia powder, realizing that's how Darla kept Angel sleeping when they were together.
"Calynthia powder, so that's how she does it, it augments a person's synapses to give them restless sleep and also makes them more susceptible, hence why Darla enters his dreams like that", Giles explained to them all.
"The bitch, she's ruining him, slowly breaking him down", Buffy snarled, only getting more angry.
"I think Angel should sense something off though, I mean, he's dreaming about her too much now", Willow said to them.
Darla said nothing was as lovely as dreams as everything was hidden in them, and open one of the chambers and one would understand. Lilah asked what was in Angel's secret chambers, and Darla said. "Horrors."
"I'm sure you love those horrors", Buffy snarled, disgusted really.
Angel woke up in his bed at night, then walked down buttoning his shirt, hearing Cordelia and Wesley argue, with Cordelia calling Wesley a sheep because he didn't have an opinion he hadn't read in the book.
"Sheep, if she's calling someone that, then that person really needs to work on themselves", Xander said with a fond smirk, remembering when she had called Harmony 'sheep' and gotten with him.
Wesley said he had opened a book, but Cordelia reminded she was top 10% of her class, Wesley asking if it was advanced bosoms.
"Ummm, Wesley she was top 10% of the class", Buffy said to him.
"Yeah, just because she acts like the typical high school cheerleader doesn't mean she was as dumb as one, I was only barely better than her at studies", Willow agreed.
"Well, Wesley is doing a good job offending her", Tara muttered.
Angel asked what they were doing, and Cordelia said they were discussing whether or not to pay Gunn, and Wesley said they discussed for 3 minutes, then just did name calling and hair pulling.
"You sure your hair are big enough for that?" Dawn asked Wesley as they chuckled.
Cordelia said Wesley didn't want to share the wealth, but Wesley said Gunn seemed too proud. Angel said he'd think about asking but Cordelia wanted him to pay, making that an order, as Angel reminded she worked for him, and Cordelia called him unpleasant, and before he could make his case more, she said. " You can't fire me. I'm vision girl." She stuck her tongue out at him. Angel stuck his hands into his pockets and tried not to smile.
"I think she does have a point there", Tara said with a smile.
"Angel can't fire her", Buffy agreed. "Besides, it's just a minor argument, nothing to worry about."
"How do you think Gunn will react to being paid?" Xander asked.
"Well, he could use the money, but I don't know him well enough to say", Willow replied.
"Did you just see, Cordelia wants to share wealth with another guy?" Dawn pointed out, impressed. "She has changed a lot."
All felt impressed on noticing that too, Cordelia was growing nicely as a person now.
Angel decided to ask him, and do it on a case-by-case basis, and Cordelia gave a big smile. "My hero." Wesley said he was going to suggest that, while Angel asked about coffee, but Cordelia said it was night now, so there was none left. Angel said he was disoriented due to sleeping weird, and Wesley inquired more about it when Cordelia started to pant and lifted a hand to her brow. Angel ran and caught her as she swayed under the impact of an incoming vision.
"Just when Angel could have discussed his problem", Dawn groaned.
There was a blurry shot of a girl running, guys chasing her as Cordelia told them where she was, and said she was scared, so Angel ran out while Wesley supported Cordelia, who said Angel would be too late.
"I really hope he isn't", Xander muttered. "Why did the Powers have to give this vision so late?"
A sobbing girl was running from 2 guys when one grabbed her and threw her to the ground, the bald guy heading to her but the bearded one stopped him, saying he didn't want seconds and called the other one a pig, pulling out a knife.
All were tense, knowing exactly what the guys intended to do to the poor girl, Willow and Tara even remembered the same kind of threat having been directed at them and Anya by the Hellions when they had been rampaging Sunnydale.
The girl continued to sob, and suddenly a full dumpster slid across the alley and squashed the two guys against the opposite building. The girl took a deep breath and cried even harder.
Now everyone was surprised, not having expected that to happen.
"So she has powers too, telekinetic ones", Giles said in realization.
"I don't think she can control them though", Willow pointed out.
"At least she is safe from the guys though", Tara said and all nodded, feeling relieved at that.
Later, there was an ambulance as the two people were wheeled into it, and Angel arrived, ducking under the yellow police tape and picking a coffee cup from a police cruiser, walking to a young officer, and then made a civilian look off the crime scene, telling the officer to keep tourists out of the crime scene, saying he'd been out of vice three weeks and had seen enough at night to fill a mini-series.
"He's not wrong about the mini-series part", Buffy popped up.
"His acting is still good, even an actual cop bought it", Dawn said with a smile.
The officer told him the two had been pinned to the wall by a dumpster, and he asked if it had fallen on them, to which he said it had been shoved to them from the side, and Angel commented it must be a strong guy, the officer agreeing as Angel crouched down and looked at the blood, knowing it wasn't the guys', and asked the cop if he'd seen a scared girl around, but he hadn't, so Angel walked down the alley, looking around as an actual detective came around to talk to the cop, confusing him.
"Guess he's busted, how many years is he gonna get?" Xander asked jokingly. "Though I don't think he'd be bothered."
Angel found an unlocked door and entered an empty warehouse, walking around to see the girl from the alley, and she was scared as Angel pointed out she was bleeding, but she didn't want to talk, though Angel asked about the alley, and she whimpered while a piece of re-bar jumped into the air and impaled Angel through his shoulder, making him drop to his knees with a groan as the girl stared in horror and tried to run but he stopped her, getting up and pulling the re-bar out, shocking her as she asked what he was.
"Vampire with a soul, but you don't need to know that", Dawn told her.
Angel told her his name, and the girl thought she'd stabbed an Angel so she'd never go to Heaven, but he corrected it was his name, saying he was different from other people like she was, and knew the men in the alley were trying to hurt her. He realized she wasn't from LA, like him, and this town attracted loners, and he ended up giving her his card if she needed it as she couldn't hurt him and he wouldn't hurt her, though she said she was staying with a friend. She did take the card and hurried out while Angel grimaced and fell to his knees, clutching his shoulder as he said she could hurt him a little.
"Good thing it's only a little though", Willow muttered. "Which you can take, obviously."
"Doesn't mean it doesn't hurt", Tara grimaced.
The girl later entered an apartment building and the door opened to reveal Lilah on the other side, who apologized for her lateness as Lilah called her 'Bethany'. Bethany smiled and walked past her into the apartment, while Lilah walked over to her with a laundry basket, asking how the club was and if she'd met any cute boys, apologizing for not making it due to insane work and folding the laundry.
Now this was what shocked everyone completely.
"Her friend…is Lilah?" Dawn managed to let out.
"She seems really kind here", Xander commented. "Nice act."
"Let's see, the girl has powers, and is staying with a lawyer of Wolfram and Hart, what are the chances that Wolfram and Hart wants to use the girl?" Buffy asked rhetorically.
"Full chance", Willow shrugged.
Bethany wanted to help with the laundry but Lilah said it was like a zen exercise which levelled her out after work, and told Bethany she didn't need to help due to their blood oath, and that she loved having her here.
"If someone never met her before, they'd be fooled by this", Tara said to the rest.
"Guess Angel isn't the only good actor around", Buffy said with a sigh.
Bethany said she'd been awed by Lilah when she'd spoken at their school, and had talked to her, while Lilah said Bethany was truly special and had a power about her which all would know soon, and Bethany was getting sleepy so Lilah and her wished each other good night while she walked off.
"I am very much sure you want to use that power for yourself", Giles snarled in anger and disgust.
"But Bethany isn't", Dawn pointed out.
Cordelia and Wesley were trying to bandage Angel's shoulder, Cordelia complaining about the bandage, then Angel's non-existent breathing, and then the flexing of his man-boob muscles.
That made everyone let out some laughter.
Wesley noted the wound was ugly, Angel agreeing as they agreed to approach the girl with caution, though Angel didn't even know her name due to being impaled, saying it was hard to think with a re-bar through the torso, and Cordelia said she had experience due to her Sunnydale education.
Willow and Xander shared a guilty look, knowing exactly why Cordelia had ended up being impaled on a re-bar.
Angel then said the girl had a North-East accent and could be from Ohio, and seemed like she was on the run, but with the way her power went off, she couldn't stay low-profile. Wesley asked if she was a Demon but Angel was sure she was just a scared girl, and was lost, asking Wesley what he knew about telekinesis, but he wasn't too familiar so Angel asked him to broaden his horizons.
"I am familiar with it", Willow said with a shrug.
"Of course, it's a magic thing, Wesley doesn't know it yet", Tara pointed out.
Dawn wanted to tell how she could telekinetically move a pencil but decided she didn't want to be lectured by Buffy.
"Lost girls are his speciality now", Buffy muttered with a smile. "He does good."
Gunn then came in, holding an axe that used to be a hubcap, and asked Cordelia if she was still saving his life, to which she responded with she was every minute because he was still alive.
"Don't mess with her, Gunn", Xander said to him. "You can't win."
Angel then mentioned the girl who had squashed her would-be-rapists, while Cordelia slapped his arm and rubbed her hands as if she was counting money, but he pushed her hand down, and then Wesley mentioned telekinesis, of which Gunn did know the meaning, and Gunn walked off, agreeing to look into it, though he wanted Workman's camp if he got hit by a spatula.
"Sounds like another term for money", Dawn said.
"Maybe he isn't as proud as Wesley says", Willow said.
Cordelia said Gunn wanted payment and couldn't even afford a real axe, so he agreed to bring it up as she grinned while he walked up the stairs, saying it was a long day, though she said he'd been up for 3 hours only, but he just told her to find the girl and she and Wesley watched him leave while sharing a look.
"Darla, you little bitch", Buffy snarled, getting angry.
"Calm down, calling her a 'bitch' again and again won't make Angel realize anything", Willow told her, and Buffy nodded with a sigh.
Angel and Bethany both lay in their respective beds, Angel blinking while Bethany tried to sleep, and had a dream of herself as a young girl standing in an attic, and then an older man arrived. Lilah watched Bethany sleeping and smiled as things began to rattle, and in the dream the man called her 'rabbit' and grabbing her arm asked to go downstairs with him, and then the lamp flew and hit Lilah on her head, knocking her down while Bethany got up, scared, and grabbing her jacket, hurried out apologizing, and Lilah couldn't stop her. Bethany ran through the streets.
"Don't know about you but I really liked seeing her get hit", Xander said.
"I don't think she did though", Willow said sadly about Bethany.
"And the man in the dream, you think he….." Tara trailed off as the dark implication settled in everyone's minds, them realizing it could be really horrible.
Darla pushed Angelus down near a fireplace and they kissed, Darla turning Vamp and Angelus too, while Darla leaned over a sleeping Angel, caressing his shoulder and reminded him of the gypsy girl they had done. Angelus and Darla then bit each other's neck as Angel woke up the next day, disoriented, touching his neck where Darla had bitten it.
"You think she actually bit him?" Dawn asked.
"I wouldn't be surprised if she did", Buffy said angrily.
Angel walked into the lobby rubbing his eyes as Wesley was reading a book and Cordelia was on the computer, informing him of the progress as Wesley said telekinesis was caused by emotional stress, which Angel agreed with, but then Cordelia said they had a lead and the guys turned to see Bethany standing at the door.
"Okay, that I wasn't expecting", Xander said.
"I think it makes sense, she does want someone to listen to her and help, but she's afraid of hurting people, however, she can't hurt Angel", Tara pointed out.
"Okay, now I think I should have expected it", Xander sighed.
"If anyone can help her, its Angel", Buffy said confidently.
Bethany introduced herself to them, giving her full name as Bethany Chaulk, and Angel introduced his team, asking her to come in, but her knees sagged and he tried to help her, to which she pushed free, saying she was tired as Cordelia looked her up and down, and Angel decided to get her some tea, Cordelia saying he helped people all the time, and they started talking.
"She seems like she will be hard to help", Giles said.
"But she came, that's a start", Buffy told him.
At Wolfram and Hart, Holland berated Lilah for losing control over Bethany, saying she had the profile, but an out-of-control assassin was of no use, but then standing up, he told Lilah she could bring the girl to them, and Lilah agreed when she got a call from Bethany, asking her where she was.
"You think Wolfram and Hart will send some SWAT Team to get her? Or fight a legal battle or something?" Xander asked.
"No silly, a SWAT Team will make her distrust them, and its not like Lilah has legal custody of Bethany either", Willow pointed out.
"Right", Xander nodded, feeling like an idiot.
"You are so funny when you miss the obvious", Dawn said as all laughed at him, and Xander joined, deciding it was funny.
Angel leaned against a pillar with his arms crossed as Bethany walked out wearing a dress of Cordelia, and Angel inquired about Bethany's friend, to which she said she was okay, and then Angel explained to her he had experience with power needing to be controlled, though Bethany wanted it gone.
"Maybe she should talk to Cordelia as well, she can relate too", Tara suggested.
"Yeah, Angel and Cordelia seem like the best people to talk to her right now", Buffy nodded.
Cordelia and Wesley talked, Cordelia saying she got a vibe from her, as she was a woman and saw more levels in another one.
"We noticed too", Willow muttered.
Bethany explained more about her powers, saying she somehow went in and when she was out, things weren't where they originally were, and she'd never done it on purpose, calling it a disease, and eventually she snapped, saying she shouldn't be here, and Wesley arrived, agreeing as he said a girl with impulse-control issues wasn't as serious a problem as others, and then told the girl she could be sent off to her friend to toss more furniture, or her father instead. Bethany gasped as there was a flash of her father and Wesley flew back against the wall. Angel stepped towards her, she saw it and he went flying back out into the sun of the courtyard. He quickly scrambled back under the protection of the veranda, smoking ever so slightly and watched Bethany as she looked around at what she just did.
"Why would you do that, Wesley?" Dawn asked, getting agitated.
"He was trying to figure out what made her tick, and his guess was right", Buffy said, going into 'General Buffy' mode.
"I think there are better ways to do that than mention a traumatic incident directly on a hunch", Willow said to her.
"It worked, but it was really risky", Tara agreed. "And tone-deaf as well."
"Guess you can say he needs to learn more, like me", Xander said.
"It was a dangerous thing to do, but now that they know, I wonder what they will do with this information", Giles said.
Later, Cordelia folded some ice in a paper napkin and held it to the back of Wesley's head, calling him out for not approaching her with caution due to what had happened, and then Wesley said the trauma that can produce this level of psychic power usually involved abuse, and since she'd mentioned a sexual vibe, and Bethany had made a crack on 'family business', the father was the best guess, and Cordelia found the father disgusting.
"Some people are just sick", Tara said, referring to her own family as well. They weren't sexually abusive, but they were abusive and controlling, and liars too.
"I know", Willow said, the two holding hands, since her parents too, while not exactly abusive, couldn't care less about her, and her not existing was about the same as her existing to them.
Angel then arrived, telling Wesley to go as Cordelia first thought he was firing him before realizing Wesley shouldn't be around Bethany, and so he walked off. Angel told Cordelia to stay at her own place too for safety while she told Angel to be careful, then walked off as well. Angel entered the corner room on the top floor of the hotel to find Bethany sitting with her back against a box-spring mattress propped up against a wall. The doors to the balcony next to her were standing open. She said she felt safe up there, and found herself embarrassed, calling people pathetic, while Angel said he liked them, telling her he had seen horrors but that they also tried to be better. Bethany said he sounded like an old guy, to which he said he was well-preserved, and she said she'd like to see people the way he did.
At this point, Xander's lip almost quivered as he remembered his treatment of Angel. Even after how some people had treated him, he never gave up on people, and tried to help them. For someone who should be very cynical, he was actually hopeful in comparison.
Giles too was deep in thought. He was old, yes, but Angel was actually even older than him, and yet he was more open-minded and hopeful, while he was changing for the worst, since he liked it more when things were under his own control. Perhaps he could learn a thing or two from Angel as well.
"For someone who has such a bad life, or unlife, he is pretty optimistic", Tara commented.
"Yeah, especially since he started living in LA", Buffy noted, seeing how his lifestyle there was much healthier than his lifestyle in Sunnydale.
Angelus and Darla, both in vamp-face, were biting each other again in front of the fireplace. Angel lay sleeping in his bed. Angelus looked up from Darla's neck, panting, then pulled her off his neck. She smiled at him. They looked over at a bound and gagged girl. Angel tossed his head in the pillow, and then Bethany came to his room as he woke up, calling out Darla's name before he noticed it was Bethany, who sat down on the edge of his bed, saying they could have some fun, but Angel refused. She said she could make him happy, but he said she wouldn't like him happy.
"Bad idea", Xander muttered.
"Why is she doing this?" Dawn asked, more confused than anything, while the others felt their greatest sympathies go out to her.
"She has had terrible experience with other men", Giles simply told her.
Bethany slid her hand up his leg on top of the covers but he pulled it off, and she screamed at him to get off as the bed rattled for a moment, Angel commenting she wanted to make love but not be touched, as she asked if he was from the 18
th century.
"Well…" Willow trailed off.
Bethany sat on the chest of the bed, saying men loved her fragile and innocent, and she was like the chambermaid, while the men didn't care for her or notice her, though Angel said not everyone was that bad. She ranted how he loved people when he had hundred rooms to be alone in, so he wasn't qualified to help her, but he said he could be the only one and told her to get some sleep. She asked who Darla was but he wished her good night.
"This, this can help", Tara popped up. "He didn't take advantage of her even when he was in a position to, this can start restoring her faith."
"That's what she needs to control her powers", Buffy agreed.
Bethany sighed and walked out through the open doors of his bedroom. As she passed through the living-room-kitchenette area, Darla peeked out from behind a wall and looked towards Angel's bedroom.
"You're still here? Get out of here!" Buffy snapped at Darla.
"Calm down, Buff, your screaming won't do a thing", Xander said to her with a sigh.
At Wolfram and Hart, Holland told Lilah that Angel not sleeping put a crimp in Lindsey's project, telling her how Lindsey saw the big picture, which Bethany was ruining, so Lilah needed to get her out for the sake of the picture as well as her own.
"Now I think it will be all-out war", Xander said.
"Looks like it", Willow nodded.
At Hyperion, Angel held up Cordelia's silk scarf so that Bethany could test her powers as he dropped it while Cordelia watched while on the phone behind the counter. Then one end of the scarf rose to drape around Angel's neck as he told Bethany she could control it, while the scarf draped around his neck and she laughed.
"They did it", Dawn said with a smile.
"It was just a start, but good baby step", Buffy noted.
Cordelia hung up the phone and walked to them as Angel pulled off the scarf and she gave him a piece of paper as Gunn had this address, and Cordelia said she and Bethany would hang around the plaza shops. Angel gave the scarf back and walked off as Cordelia commented on it.
All chuckled at that.
Angel later kicked a door open as Gunn entered, Angel unable to do it as he wasn't invited and the guy was alive. Gunn said the guy was on critical list, looking around the place to note that it looked too high-profile for a thug in the alley, and informed Angel he was a muscle-for-hire, and not cheap either. Angel realized he was sent after Bethany, and Gunn agreed, saying someone wanted her hurt. Angel said someone could want to know what would happen if someone tried to hurt her, leaning against the invisible barrier as he asked Gunn to check stuff.
"Someone hired the thug to hurt her", Giles noted. "She is staying with Lilah, and Wolfram and Hart wants her as an assassin."
"So it was Lilah, of course it was her", Buffy said with a sneer, everyone getting disgusted at her.
"She has hit a new low now", Xander said.
"Yeah, earning the girl's trust and sending rapists after her? Yuck!" Willow spat out.
"I'm still dealing with this man's ugly-ass living room-set. Some people just shouldn't have money", Gunn said. Angel then started. "On the subject of money. How would you feel, maybe, you know, on a - case by case basis?" Gunn asked. "Are you offering to pay me for helping you?" Angel nodded. "Yeah." Gunn responded. "Cool."
"So he gets paid now too", Tara noted. "Angel Investigations has a 4th member now."
"The highest number they have so far", Buffy commented.
"Well, the more the merrier", Dawn smiled.
Angel blinked, still leaning against the barrier. Suddenly the barrier vanished and Angel landed full length on the floor of the apartment. Gunn jokingly commented on his grace as Angel got up, saying someone was off the critical list, and Gunn said it was a rapist-for-hire so no need to shed tears.
"Oh no, there should be celebration", Willow said darkly, and no one else commented wisely, especially Buffy. Willow hated herself for everything she had done as Dark Willow, except skinning Warren alive. He had murdered the love of her life, and before that he had tried to rape his ex-girlfriend, and then killed her for resisting. The Earth was better off without scum like him.
"Him falling was funny", Xander said to lighten the mood, and it worked as they chuckled.
"Yeah, it was about as graceful as him dancing", Dawn said, and now all laughed hysterically on remembering that.
Angel looked through some papers before hitting the redial button on the speakerphone, and it was Wolfram and Hart, making him and Gunn look at each other.
"So we were right", Giles said, narrowing his eyes.
"Bethany won't take this well", Tara pointed out.
At an old-fashioned carousel, Cordelia and Bethany held drinks, chatting about them before Cordelia told Bethany not to bone Angel, saying he was old-fashioned from the age of chivalry so he saw her as a damsel-in-distress, though it was more complicated than that.
"His choices in women don't seem to be damsels though", Buffy shrugged.
"Stop patting yourself on the back", Dawn said as Buffy chuckled.
Cordelia said she found Bethany dangerous, and wasn't being mean, because she did like her, while reminding her of the two dead guys. Bethany reminded what they'd tried to do, to which she said she could have floated them away or spun them till they puked, but she squashed them. Bethany sat on a wall, saying Cordelia didn't know how dangerous it was, but Cordelia said she did as she had seen Bethany in her vision and knew how scared she felt, telling her that's how Angel had found her. She agreed the guys deserved to die, but she'd made a decision in a panic, so she didn't want it to happen to her friends, which was why sex was off the table. Bethany agreed now.
"She made her listen! Can you believe it?" Xander asked.
"She was a good balance between Angel and Wesley here", Tara told him. "Angel was being a bit too gentle, while Wesley too direct, Cordelia was the right mix of both, so it was easy to listen to her."
"I compared her to Glory once around this time", Buffy said, now feeling guilty about that, even if she'd said it as a harmless joke at the time.
"Jealous much?" Dawn asked as Buffy groaned.
They got up and started walking as Bethany inquired if Cordelia and Angel were a thing, but she said she liked her men less broody and more spendy.
"Don't lie", Willow said with a smirk.
A man pushed between them, injecting something into Cordelia's neck as he passed by, and Cordelia called him a jerk as Bethany swayed while Cordelia rescued her coffee cup. Then two men grabbed Bethany and pulled her away as Cordelia screamed for police, throwing the coffees in their faces, blinding them as Cordelia lead Bethany away, almost being hit by a van as they crossed the street, but then the back doors of the van opened as 2 men dressed in white jumped out, throwing Cordelia down as they dragged Bethany into the van. Cordelia said she could squash those guys as the back doors were closed and the van sped away, with Angel and Gunn pulling up beside her in the convertible.
"No one around did a thing?" Xander asked in confusion.
"Some people like watching the show over doing anything", Giles told him.
Cordelia told them to fetch the tan van, and Angel drove off, failing to cut the van off due to other vehicles, eventually giving Gunn the wheel as they reached closer, and jumped onto the back of the van, grabbing the top rack and pulled a back door open as he reached in. Bethany tried to sit up to see what was happening as some hits and screams were heard. Then the two white-clad men were tossed out of the back of the van. Gunn swerved to avoid running them over.
"Bethany is saved", Tara sighed in relief.
Lilah said into her cell phone. "Shut up! Just shut up! One more excuse from you and I'm gonna bury you alive next to my house so I can hear you screaming." She sighed. "He took her to the hotel? Great. He wants to play with little Miss Time-bomb, I say we let him. Pull the trigger."
"Her threats are funny", Dawn said with a chuckle.
"What does she mean by the trigger though? What could that be?" Giles asked, as all tensed, realizing the worst was yet to come.
Bethany burst into the ruined upstairs corner of the room, followed by Angel, refusing to believe it was Lilah, and the balcony doors slammed shut, Bethany huddling down as she cried everyone wanted to play with her, but she didn't want to play anymore. Angel crouched in front of her, telling her to control herself, and then the door behind Cordelia slammed shut. Angel told her to control it, since no one was controlling her, absently batting a can of paint flying at himself away, telling her not to let them win. Bethany slowly stood up and walked past Angel and Cordelia towards the door. Just as she reached it, it opened - revealing her father standing there. "Hello rabbit." The windows in the corner suite blew out as the building shook for a moment.
"The father returns", Xander sneered in anger, as all tensed even more.
"This was the trigger", Tara said in realization.
Angel and Cordelia were now down as the dad said he'd been worried about Bethany, and that he and Lilah just wanted to help her. Plaster began to rain from the ceiling and walls and a nail worked itself out of some wood trim and flew to pierce Cordelia's arm. Cordelia winced, but didn't scream, pulling the nail out as the dad told her they could be together like before again. Angel woke up and looked around as Bethany looked like she might cry. "Shh rabbit." Bethany's eyes rolled back in her head for a moment and everything went quiet. Angel called out to her but was pinned to the wall, silenced, and the dad reached a hand to her but her face hardened as the dad slid back, floating up, while Angel came down.
"She's going to kill her father", Dawn noted. "Is this a good or bad thing?"
"He deserves it, but she needs to control herself, killing him can make it worse", Willow said, saying it from experience.
Her dad put a hand around his throat as Angel told Bethany to use her power to finish it. "Good-bye", Bethany said. The father flew backwards out of the window with a scream. Angel looked towards Bethany's calm face. The father plummeted, then slowed, and stopped to hang a few feet above the sidewalk. Angel watched Bethany. The father dropped the rest of the way and Bethany blinked, shaking herself and looked from Angel over at Cordy.
Everyone sighed in relief.
"The trigger didn't work", Buffy summed up for everyone. "The war goes on, but Angel and his team won this battle."
"Angel saved Bethany", Tara said with a smile. "He saved a soul."
"He did", Xander said in a begrudging tone, slowly understanding Angel better as a person.
Later, Bethany packed her things in Lilah's apartment, saying she wasn't a child, and Lilah tried to pass off as a friend, but Bethany said her friends didn't hire men to rape her. Lilah argued it was to make her stronger, and Bethany summoned her briefcase to her, saying she had done a good job now. She walked past Lilah, who tried to argue how she can be important, and the door opened to reveal Angel standing outside the apartment.
"So first, you hire men to rape your so-called friend, then you justify it, you are the definition of evil", Dawn said to Lilah.
"Like we keep saying, whatever helps these people sleep at night", Willow told Dawn.
Angel told Lilah she should learn to lose, as Lilah reminded he wasn't invited in. Bethany told Lilah not to try to find her, and Lilah, in a last desperate attempt, told Bethany that Angel was a Vampire. Bethany muttered it was weird and left, Angel saying. "Looks like you're gonna have to find someone else's brain to play with." Lilah smiled. "Yeah, we have someone in mind." Angel said. "Good night, Lilah." Lilah stepped out into the hall to watch Angel open the outside door at the bottom to the steps for Bethany. Lilah muttered. "Sweet dreams." She went back in slamming the door shut behind her. The screen went black.
"I know who you have in mind, and you're so gonna pay for it", Buffy snarled with pressed fists.
"At least Bethany is in good hands now", Tara pointed out the brighter side for everyone. "Her soul is saved by Angel."
"The helpless was helped", Dawn smiled.
"We have two more to watch, don't we?" Giles asked.
"Yeah, two more for the day", Xander nodded.
"Let's do it then", Buffy said as she came to the next recording.
And we're done with another one here. I think Willow regrets everything she did as Dark Willow, and she should, but she shouldn't regret skinning Warren alive. That bastard deserved far worse. Like, in one of my fics, I had Jason Voorhees chop Warren into two from crotch to head, and in another, I had Leatherface and his family cannibalize Warren, and in another fic I had Illyria rip out Warren's spine, and then he was tortured by Deadpool and Lucifer Morningstar from the 'Lucifer' show in Hell (that one was a big crossover story). And the torture was crotch-related.
I'm psycho, I know.
Anyway, hope all enjoyed and see you all next time with another chapter. Stay safe from the coronavirus ya all!