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Hurricane's Eye

Disclaimer: Characters and Premise are borrowed from the show "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel".

Cordelia watched in open-mouthed shock as, seventy-two hours after he'd vanished into the tunnels beneath the Hyperion, Angel opened the basement door and walked across the lobby.

He was still dressed only in the slacks he'd been wearing when she and Wesley had discovered him asleep on the couch with Fred. The only change in his attire was the addition of a layer of blood and grime.

"Cordy? Are you still there?" Willow's voice asked.

Cordelia put the phone back to her ear. "Angel just walked in," she said. "I guess he's okay."

Angel disappeared up the steps to his room without a word of explanation for his absence or his current condition. Fifteen minutes later he came back downstairs, after having showered and dressed.

"Have we gotten any new cases?" Angel asked dully.

"Not really," Cordelia hedged nervously, then in a rush she added. "Fred's missing, she went in the tunnels after you. Now no one can find her, but don't worry, she came back to the hotel to change clothes sometime yesterday. We didn't see her, but the old outfit is in the hamper and a new one's missing from the closest. So I don't think she's hurt or anything. Wesley and Gunn are looking for her as we speak."

"I'll find her," Angel said. Then disappeared back into the basement.

A little over an hour later he came back with Fred in tow. The dark haired girl's eyes were red from tears and her lips were pressed in a tight line. She glared angrily at Cordelia then ran upstairs to her room, the sound of the door slamming echoed through the hotel.

Angel flinched. "Tell her I'm sorry," he said. "I'm going to go patrol for the rest of the night. I'll have the cell if you have a vision or if we get a client." With that Angel turned around and left again.

Not ten minutes later Gunn and Wesley straggled through the front door. "We didn't find either of them," Wesley said, his voice guilt strickened.

"It's okay," Cordelia said. "Well not really, but Angel's back. He found Fred and brought her back. She's in her room, not speaking to us. He's out patrolling and acting all weird, even for Angel."

Over the next few weeks a pattern established itself; Angel patrolled LA's streets from dusk to dawn, stopping only if he was need to deal with a vision or other case. During the morning he slept for an hour or two while the cell phone recharged, then he'd leave. Since returning from Sunnydale, he'd decided that the tunnels beneath LA need patrolling during the day.

Fred, despite everyone's best efforts to stop her, frequently followed Angel on his self-appointed rounds.

The only trace of emotion anyone ever saw Angel display was the frustration trying to keep Fred from placing herself in danger caused him. Other than that his manner was detached and distant, eerily calm even when he fought. Cordelia was worried; even Lorne hadn't been able to explain his new outlook; when Angel had sang at Calatias for one of their cases Lorne had blacked out. After the green skinned demon had regained consciousness he'd told Angel that the souled vampire needed to face whatever it was that had him terrified and the sooner the better. Cordelia just couldn't see how terrified could ever possibly describe Angel, let alone now. Robotic seemed closer to accurate.

As for the rest of them, they tried to carry on with running the agency. Wesley was a stammering, uncertain, guilty mess, even worse than he'd been back when he first showed up in LA. Cordelia and Gunn both felt like they were living in the eye of the hurricane; sure it was quiet now, but you always knew the other side of the vortex was coming.

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