Chapter Three: Running From the Storm
He hadn't changed. Well not drastically... Not as much as she had, Buffy reflected to herself as they walked from Willy's bar room to the motel of Wesley and Gunn.
"Willy seems to be as helpful as ever," Angel said lightly, causing Buffy to wonder if he always sounded that cheery when the world was about to end.
"Oh yeah, he's just a fountain of information," Buffy said, feeling ridiculous as sounding so juvenile when she was almost 50... 50! She wondered if Angel saw any remnant of the girl he had once loved when he looked at her. "Although it's probably a pretty simple thing, you know, just a lot of demons trying to kill everyone... probably more manpower than strategy... Kill first, plan later, type of thing..."
"Well, we'll see what Wesley found," Angel said.
Buffy stopped suddenly.
"What is it?" Angel asked.
"This... Xander and Willow live here..." Buffy's voice trailed off.
"Live? In the biblical sense?"
"No!" Buffy said giving him a look. "You're just like a kid."
"Compared to who? I'll have you know we celebrated my 280th birthday," Angel said leaning over to joke with her. Buffy took a step back to put some air between them.
"Should I go get them?"
"I'm sure they'll be thrilled to ward off another apocalypse."
"Well you know, we're so good at it we should do it proffesionally... oh wait, we do," Buffy said as she rang the buzzer.
****************************
"Hey did Buffy tell you about how we met Dracula?" Xander asked excitedly. Buffy took a moment to reflect on how she and Angel must be putting on a pretty good show of friendly indifference if even Xander was buying into the act.
"And then she dusted him," Willow finished simply, as Buffy smiled in enough time to pretend she had listened to the whole account.
Angel smiled back. "That's pretty impressive," he stated. His features were impossible to read.
"What about you?" Buffy said quickly, before Xander had time to launch into his other tales of Glory, Frakenstein or any of the other subsequent famous monsters she had faced.
"Pretty much the usual stuff," Angel responded lightly.
"Guess LA just can't compare to the Hellmout," Xander said, then paused to consider his words.
"Oh good. You're here. You took longer that you said you would and I got worried," a tall blonde woman said as she slid into Angel's embrace as if she belonged there. Although the blonde hair originally managed to fool her for a second Buffy soon realized this was not a clone of her. The woman had dark brown eyes and incredibly light skin. She was tall and slender and her name was Grace as Cordelia said, taking it upon herself to start the introductions.
"We just stopped by to see an old friend and pick up some guys, Gracie," Angel explained to the woman now tight within his arms. Buffy felt herself draw inward as she wished there was someone like that to hold her.
"What is it with you and blondes?" Xander's old hostility was quick in its return. In moments like these he wished Anya was still there to make an obvious yet completely akward comment about how Buffy was safe now since she had reverted to her natural brown. G-d, he missed her so much sometimes.
"Speaking of old freinds," Cordelia said, with a slight edge," there's one waiting for you in the other room."
As if on cue Spike burst into the room. "Hey you weren't going to fight the apocalypse without me?" he said in his loud British voice. He punched Xander lightly and waved to Willow, finally settling down in an empty chair next to Buffy only after he had dropped a kiss behind her ear. "It's beautiful in Alaska, love," he said taking her hands. "After this is over you, me and Lil Bit will go up there and do nothing but hunt polar bear..."
"Dawn's married and in Europe I might add," Buffy said kindly and gently dis-entangling her hands.
"Then just you and me, pet," Spike said, the setback to his plans apparently caused him no grief.
Buffy smiled and glanced sideways at Angel. The girl, Grace, was still in his arms although the hold wasn't quite as tight as before.
Love, pet... It had been so long since she and Spike had been anything but good friends that she had grown completely immune to the names. Angel , unfotunately, did not have that advantage.
After her death, that time with Glory, Spike had looked after Dawn and when Buffy had come back he had show nothing but friendliness. All traces of his love seemed to have been buried or dissapeared. Once upon a time she had thought that he and Dawn would make a go of it, but just as they had reached the precipice or point of no return one or both of them had balked. Dawn because she couldn't adjust herself to loving a demon with no soul and Spike because after all this time he was still in love with Buffy. They had never talked about those times now, but the three of them had shared almost everything else. With Spike in Alaska and Dawn off having a grand old time with her husband and 2.2 kids, Buffy had missed those times.
Angel wore a disgusted look.
Grace looked slightly horrified.
Wesely finally clapped his hands and brought all the attention back to him. Buffy took a second to wink to the new slayer, Victoria, an action which her watcherd Richard Dickens (of no relation to Charles) missed, but Angel caught. Buffy outwardly pretended to abhor the new slayer to gain the stuck up watcher's trust, while she used her friendship with him to infiltrate his slaying methods and draw suspicion away from the late night "training" sessions she had with Victoria.
"The apocalypse is centered on one very important thing," Wesley said cautiously. "The master's rising," he paused for a minute. "There is a prophecy," he continued," that the slayer will die..."
"Giles," Buffy breathed out slowly.
"What?" Angel said immediately.
"He's been talking, I thought it was nonsense... About the Codex and how he misinterpreted the phrophecy..."
"The one about the master killing the slayer..." Angel mused.
Suddenly Buffy looked up and hurriedly glanced towards Victoria. Her face was ashen. Buffy stood speechless. "No," she said," the prophecy was meant for me. It has to be for me..." She said tears springing to her eyes as she was unable to tear her gaze away from the young girls face.
"But I'm the slayer now," Victoria said, softly.
He hadn't changed. Well not drastically... Not as much as she had, Buffy reflected to herself as they walked from Willy's bar room to the motel of Wesley and Gunn.
"Willy seems to be as helpful as ever," Angel said lightly, causing Buffy to wonder if he always sounded that cheery when the world was about to end.
"Oh yeah, he's just a fountain of information," Buffy said, feeling ridiculous as sounding so juvenile when she was almost 50... 50! She wondered if Angel saw any remnant of the girl he had once loved when he looked at her. "Although it's probably a pretty simple thing, you know, just a lot of demons trying to kill everyone... probably more manpower than strategy... Kill first, plan later, type of thing..."
"Well, we'll see what Wesley found," Angel said.
Buffy stopped suddenly.
"What is it?" Angel asked.
"This... Xander and Willow live here..." Buffy's voice trailed off.
"Live? In the biblical sense?"
"No!" Buffy said giving him a look. "You're just like a kid."
"Compared to who? I'll have you know we celebrated my 280th birthday," Angel said leaning over to joke with her. Buffy took a step back to put some air between them.
"Should I go get them?"
"I'm sure they'll be thrilled to ward off another apocalypse."
"Well you know, we're so good at it we should do it proffesionally... oh wait, we do," Buffy said as she rang the buzzer.
****************************
"Hey did Buffy tell you about how we met Dracula?" Xander asked excitedly. Buffy took a moment to reflect on how she and Angel must be putting on a pretty good show of friendly indifference if even Xander was buying into the act.
"And then she dusted him," Willow finished simply, as Buffy smiled in enough time to pretend she had listened to the whole account.
Angel smiled back. "That's pretty impressive," he stated. His features were impossible to read.
"What about you?" Buffy said quickly, before Xander had time to launch into his other tales of Glory, Frakenstein or any of the other subsequent famous monsters she had faced.
"Pretty much the usual stuff," Angel responded lightly.
"Guess LA just can't compare to the Hellmout," Xander said, then paused to consider his words.
"Oh good. You're here. You took longer that you said you would and I got worried," a tall blonde woman said as she slid into Angel's embrace as if she belonged there. Although the blonde hair originally managed to fool her for a second Buffy soon realized this was not a clone of her. The woman had dark brown eyes and incredibly light skin. She was tall and slender and her name was Grace as Cordelia said, taking it upon herself to start the introductions.
"We just stopped by to see an old friend and pick up some guys, Gracie," Angel explained to the woman now tight within his arms. Buffy felt herself draw inward as she wished there was someone like that to hold her.
"What is it with you and blondes?" Xander's old hostility was quick in its return. In moments like these he wished Anya was still there to make an obvious yet completely akward comment about how Buffy was safe now since she had reverted to her natural brown. G-d, he missed her so much sometimes.
"Speaking of old freinds," Cordelia said, with a slight edge," there's one waiting for you in the other room."
As if on cue Spike burst into the room. "Hey you weren't going to fight the apocalypse without me?" he said in his loud British voice. He punched Xander lightly and waved to Willow, finally settling down in an empty chair next to Buffy only after he had dropped a kiss behind her ear. "It's beautiful in Alaska, love," he said taking her hands. "After this is over you, me and Lil Bit will go up there and do nothing but hunt polar bear..."
"Dawn's married and in Europe I might add," Buffy said kindly and gently dis-entangling her hands.
"Then just you and me, pet," Spike said, the setback to his plans apparently caused him no grief.
Buffy smiled and glanced sideways at Angel. The girl, Grace, was still in his arms although the hold wasn't quite as tight as before.
Love, pet... It had been so long since she and Spike had been anything but good friends that she had grown completely immune to the names. Angel , unfotunately, did not have that advantage.
After her death, that time with Glory, Spike had looked after Dawn and when Buffy had come back he had show nothing but friendliness. All traces of his love seemed to have been buried or dissapeared. Once upon a time she had thought that he and Dawn would make a go of it, but just as they had reached the precipice or point of no return one or both of them had balked. Dawn because she couldn't adjust herself to loving a demon with no soul and Spike because after all this time he was still in love with Buffy. They had never talked about those times now, but the three of them had shared almost everything else. With Spike in Alaska and Dawn off having a grand old time with her husband and 2.2 kids, Buffy had missed those times.
Angel wore a disgusted look.
Grace looked slightly horrified.
Wesely finally clapped his hands and brought all the attention back to him. Buffy took a second to wink to the new slayer, Victoria, an action which her watcherd Richard Dickens (of no relation to Charles) missed, but Angel caught. Buffy outwardly pretended to abhor the new slayer to gain the stuck up watcher's trust, while she used her friendship with him to infiltrate his slaying methods and draw suspicion away from the late night "training" sessions she had with Victoria.
"The apocalypse is centered on one very important thing," Wesley said cautiously. "The master's rising," he paused for a minute. "There is a prophecy," he continued," that the slayer will die..."
"Giles," Buffy breathed out slowly.
"What?" Angel said immediately.
"He's been talking, I thought it was nonsense... About the Codex and how he misinterpreted the phrophecy..."
"The one about the master killing the slayer..." Angel mused.
Suddenly Buffy looked up and hurriedly glanced towards Victoria. Her face was ashen. Buffy stood speechless. "No," she said," the prophecy was meant for me. It has to be for me..." She said tears springing to her eyes as she was unable to tear her gaze away from the young girls face.
"But I'm the slayer now," Victoria said, softly.