Angel leaped out of the car.
"What the hell were you trying to do?" He shouted at the small blond that he overshadowed by at least a foot. "You could have gotten us all killed!"
Buffy lifted her chin and didn't seem the least bit intimidated.
"It's not my fault you didn't wear your seatbelts," she said defiantly.
"Why are you here, Buffy?"
"Why am I here?" She said. "Why? This isn't your town. You can't throw me out of here like you did in L.A."
"So you're sightseeing?"
"Why are you here?"
"Business."
Buffy looked into the car and nodded.
"I see you brought your gang." She looked back up at Angel. "Who's your friend?"
Angel stepped in front of her, blocking the slayer from Liz.
"I have a feeling you know exactly who she is."
"I don't think you do. If you did, you wouldn't be protecting her."
They started circling each other without even realizing it. The tension they gave off was palatable. So much so that when Max and Michael caught up to the accident they didn't feel it was safe to try and get passed the couple to get to the car.
"So I'm the one making the mistake. Did it ever occur to you that maybe you're the one doing the wrong thing?" Angel demanded.
"No," Buffy lied.
In the car, Cordelia leaned forward and whispered conspiratorially to Gunn and Wesley: "Buffy is the one trying to kill Liz?"
"I believe that is what Angel thinks, yes."
"You're the one that had the vision, didn't you?" Liz asked.
Cordelia nodded wisely. "I should have made the connection between Buffy and the mismatched outfit."
"That's Buffy?" Gunn said. "Not much to her, is there?"
"Don't underestimate her. She's one of the most powerful vampire slayers in recorded history."
"And yet she still hasn't found a haircut that works for her," Cordelia sighed.
The vampire slayer?! Liz thought with alarm. The woman Angel loved, the most powerful vampire slayer in recorded history wants to kill me? Could my life become any more bizarre?
"Giles has a bookmobile full of information on her and only one conclusion," Buffy fired at her ex-hunny.
"Wesley's got books." Angel replied.
"Wesley was a Watcher for about a minute and a half. Forgive me if I have more faith in Giles,"
"So now your Watcher's better then mine?" Angel said petulantly.
Liz didn't understand anything they were saying but she did recognize that their conversation suddenly took a turn from Godfather tension to the Honeymooners.
"If the paisley fits," Buffy said and Wesley looked down at his outfit.
"You're being a child," Angel said and that just set Buffy off.
"Oh please! Every time we argue you hit me with the 'I'm two hundred years older and wiser' crap."
"Not every time we argue, only when you throw a tantrum," Angel shrugged. "Which is a good deal of the time, I suppose…"
As they argued Wesley, Gunn, Cordelia, and Liz started to climb out of the car. That is until Buffy noticed Liz again and froze her with a deadly stare.
"I'm done with this Lucy and Ricky routine," she told Angel. "I want to talk to your friend now."
She headed for the car but Angel grabbed her arm.
"No, you're not."
Buffy looked down at the hand that was holding her arm and then she very slowly lifted her gaze up to Angel's eyes.
"Are you sure you want to do that?" She asked.
"You're not going near her," Angel said evenly.
Buffy nodded and then sent her fist up into his jaw. Angel's head snapped back brutally but he didn't let go of her arm. Instead, he heaved her across the alley where she nearly took out Max and Michael who dived out of the way. Buffy rolled to a stop and leaped to her feet. She had a deadly gleam in her eyes and a two by four in her hand.
She lunged at Angel, who dodged both right and left before he grabbed her wrist and hit her arm over his knee, jarring it from her grip. She used her other hand to deck him. He stumbled back, and she sent her foot into his stomach. He grabbed her ankle and twisted. She went with the turn to keep her ankle from breaking and did a spectacular spin in mid air.
"What the hell did we stumble into, Max?" Michael asked in awe.
"I don't know," Max replied, now especially thankful that he wasn't Ford. "But we're getting Liz and we're getting out of here."
* * * * *
Above them, on a rooftop that had a very pleasing view of the activities in the alley, they watched.
"You need to stop them," she said, and her voice lost the child like quality.
"Why?" He asked, quite puzzled.
"Don't you see what they're doing?"
He looked at the battle again.
"They look like they are going to kill each other," he said.
She glared at him and he saw the rage of a hundred years in her crystal blue eyes.
"It's not a battle, it's foreplay."
* * * * *
Buffy hit the ground on her backside. When Angel came at her again, she curled up her legs and sent them both into his stomach. He stumbled back against a brick wall. She jumped to her feet and backhanded him with one hand and then the other.
Angel's friends watched from their side of the alley.
"She's kickin' his ass," Gunn remarked, shaking his head.
"He's holding back," Wesley replied.
"How can you tell?" Gunn replied, and he cringed as Angel's fist met with Buffy's jaw.
On the other side of the alley, every time Max and Michael made an attempt to get to Liz Buffy, Angel or both of them fell or was launched in their path. Max looked over at Liz and she was looking at him desperately, not paying much attention to the incredible battle at all.
"I thought you said that he was a vampire," Michael asked, unable to take his eyes off of the fight. "Where are his fangs?"
And that's when Buffy gave Angel a punch that snapped his head back and when he recovered his face was contorted with fangs and ridges.
"Never mind," Michael mumbled.
Angel lunged at Buffy, sending them both to the ground. He pinned her for about a tenth of a second and then she rolled them both over and she was looking down at him. There was an incredibly long moment between them where they were frozen like that; caught like an interweaving statue of two warriors, locked in a never-ending battle. At that moment in time, they were equally strong, neither having an advantage.
Then Buffy leaned down and kissed him. It was a long, hungry, sensual kiss—like she'd been starving and he was the only thing that could sate her.
Liz's jaw dropped but no one around her seemed in the least bit surprised.
"Here we go," Cordelia muttered.
Across the way, Michael shook his head.
"This has just gotten disturbing," he said.
"Just?" Max said, having been disturbed way before then.
Buffy came up for air, and then promptly sent her elbow down into Angel's face. He caught her before she connected and used it to off balance her. He got to his feet and she backed away from him. They resumed like the kiss had never even happened.
"You don't fight fair," Angel remarked.
"I fight to win," she replied, and she launched at him again. He used her own momentum to send her into the wall behind him. Then he turned on her and pinned her arms above her head.
"Payback's a bitch," he said, and he leaned in and kissed her.
"So," Cordelia said to Wesley, "this is going to be a while, should we go for Chinese?"
"I don't understand," Liz said.
"It's---"Wesley stumbled for words. "It's complicated."
Gunn tipped his head and watched the couple. "It doesn't look that complicated to me."
Max and Michael took the opportunity to sprint across the alley. Max scooped Liz up into his arms and she held onto him in a death grip. Her world was completely upside down and he was the one thing that she could always depend on.
"What is going on?" He whispered into her ear.
She buried her head in his shoulder.
"I don't know," she whispered. "Just hold me."
And he did—until the sky caught fire.
There was an angry orange flash and suddenly the trash in the alley was on fire. Max and Liz looked up and great balls of fire were, literally, falling out of the sky. Max shoved Liz out of the path of one, while he fell back. The fireball exploded between them and rained sparks on Max. When his jacket started to smolder he reverted back to childhood and did a stop, drop and roll.
When he looked back up everything around him was on fire. He jumped to his feet and looked around frantically.
"Liz!" He shouted. But already the smoke was so thick that he couldn't see anything at all. And balls of fire were still spiraling out of the sky. "Liz!"
He stumbled toward the last place she'd been and he saw a shape filtered through the smoke. But the smell of the burning trash, in addition to the smoke, were starting to choke him and his eyes were watering.
"Liz!" He hollered.
Then there was a face in front of him, full of skin-piercing fangs and angry yellow eyes.
"Hello, Ford," the vampire from his vision said. "I could have sworn you were dead."
Then he swung his fist at him and everything went black.
* * * * *
Liz stumbled out of the smoke and fire, doubled over coughing. She finally caught her breath and she turned back toward the inferno. She was about to shout out to Max when his name caught in her throat. Standing in front of her was Buffy.
"Liz Parker," she said. "I think it's about time the two of us had a little talk—girl to girl."
