….Still disclaiming!
Thanks, as always, for the feedback! You guys keep me writing, even when RL gets hectic and the muses go AWOL. =0)
Thanks to Specks and Ky, my amazing betas, for pulling something extra out of me when I was convinced there wasn't anything there.
***
Unable to tear his eyes from the alarming manifestation before him, the horrified Watcher stammered, "I-I… I'm sorry. You say the demons came f- from where, Xander?"
"Giles! Stop staring and pay attention!" Willow admonished.
"Yeah, Giles… Demons? Power outage? Hellmouthy near death experience for yours truly?" Xander prompted helpfully. Frustrated by the lack of response, he sighed. "Can we take this inside, please? I'm starving," he declared, pushing past the older man and into the tidy apartment.
"Xander, for Heaven's sake! It's nearly three am, this isn't a Denny's!" Unable to take his eyes off the abhorrence at his front door, Giles was powerless to prevent Xander from making his way into the kitchen. As the sound of the cupboards opening and closing reached his ears, he reluctantly bid farewell to any hope of sleep.
"Uh, Giles? Can we come in?"
"Ah, yes, Willow. Yes, of course, it's just… Never mind. Please, do come in." Giles shook his head and moved aside to hold the door open so the girls could enter. As they trailed past him and into the living room, he continued to stare at Cordelia in confusion. In the years he'd known her, he'd seldom seen her look anything short of immaculate; even in the aftermath of fierce and bloody battles with demons she'd managed to look polished; yet here she was, clad in baggy gray sweat pants, an old Sunnydale High sweatshirt, with some sort of green substance all over her face. The long brown hair that normally looked as if she'd just stepped from a salon was piled on her head in dozens of sections, each fixed with a tie-dyed strip of cloth. Calling the change in her appearance bizarre was akin to calling the Amazon a stream and he couldn't help but gawk.
Following Xander into the kitchen, Buffy noticed her Watcher's fixation and elbowed him forcefully in the side as she passed. The jolt startled him enough to pull his gaze off Cordelia, but not before the grumpy brunette noticed.
"*Why* are you staring at me? Haven't you ever seen a woman at 3 am before?" she griped as she plopped down in the nearest chair.
Gulping down a bite of the ham sandwich he shared with Buffy, Xander couldn't pass up the opportunity to take a crack at the lone adult in the room, "Cordy, it's Giles! He probably hasn't."
"Well, that doesn't excuse it! I thought the English were supposed to have manners," Cordelia huffed.
"Yes, well, the English are also *supposed* to be asleep at this hour, Cordelia. Instead I find myself awake and it appears I've the 'less-than- incredible Hulk' in my living room while 'Shaggy' raids my kitchen." Giles retorted tiredly.
"HEY! Do you think pores like mine just happen?" Cordelia yelped, self- consciously putting a hand to her mud-packed. "If I didn't do this once a week, I'd have skin like Buffy's!"
"What?!" Buffy was indignant, "What's wrong with my skin?"
Enjoying the chaos after his three-month absence, Xander grinned over a mouthful of sandwich, "Whoa, Giles! A pop-culture reference? What *happened* this summer? Did you get cable?"
Moving between the two men, Willow waved her arms to get their attention. "Hello? Guys? Aren't you forgetting something? Like… Oh, I don't know….the demons?! World in peril and all that..."
"Thank you, Willow," Giles shot her a grateful look. Clearing his throat he got down to business, "Can we return to the matter at hand?"
"Yes," Cordelia agreed, "what's so important you dragged me out of bed? It better be good because I'm missing out on my beauty sleep!"
"Well, we ran into Xander at the hospital…"
"Hospital? You ran into Xander there?" Giles looked bewildered for a moment, giving both Willow and Buffy an once-over, "Are you hurt?"
"No, we're fine," Willow assured him, "we were there to check up on Doyle."
"Is Doyle the married guy?" Xander asked, trying to sift through the facts he'd heard from Willow on the way over.
"MARRIED?" Cordelia shrieked, turning to face Buffy. "He can't be married…"
"Oh, but he can," Buffy sighed.
"Huh?"
"His *wife* called while we were at the hospital, Cordy."
"Wait just a moment," Giles, clearly shocked, broke in with a gasp. "Am I to understand that Buffy's involved with a married man?"
He looked around at the group gathered in his home, trying to catch the eyes of the room's occupants. No one said a word, all studiously avoiding his gaze. Unnerved by the revelation, he took off his glasses and began polishing them absentmindedly as he focused his attention on the dejected blonde. "What on earth were you thinking, Buffy?"
"Whoa, Giles," Xander jumped up, quick to defend his friend. "Lay off her. She didn't know he was married."
"Yeah!" Willow spoke up, "And you can hardly call her involved! It takes more than a conversation at the Bronze to be involved, doesn't it?"
"Right!" Cordelia chipped in brightly, "Besides, she hasn't talked to a guy other than Oz all summer so, *definitely* not involved."
Turning to Willow she pondered, "Why isn't she involved? I mean… we all know she's a freak of nature, but guys can't usually sense something like that… At least not until you've been out a few times. And it's not like she's hideous…"
"Uh, guys? Still in the room," Buffy raised a hand in the air and waved it, rolling her eyes at her friends' antics. Turning to look pointedly at Willow and Cordy, she stated, "And, from now on *don't* help me. Please. Can we forget about my latest dating disaster and move right along to the non-Buffy portion of tonight's entertainment?"
***
Standing in the doorway of the Intensive Care Unit's waiting room, Gunn took a moment to study his squad leader. Angel sat alone in one of the chairs near the window, staring impassively into the darkness. He was clearly exhausted, with dark circles beginning to show beneath his eyes, hair completely disheveled, and a hint of dark stubble. His pants, which had been neatly pressed earlier in the evening, were rumpled; smudges of dirt showing on the knees where he'd knelt at Doyle's side while waiting for the EMTs to arrive. His dark shirt was wrinkled and, like Riley's, Gunn knew the front of it would be stained with the blood of a man Angel considered his brother.
"Well, how's he doing?" Gunn asked as he slid into a chair next to Angel, handing him a cup of coffee.
Putting down the two year old copy of 'National Geographic' he'd been leafing through and gratefully accepting the offered cup, Angel turned to face his friend. "Well, he's stable. He's still unconscious, but he's breathing on his own again. Dr. Wolfe seemed pretty upbeat last time he gave me an update. Said once Doyle wakes up, they'll only need to keep him a few days. That is, as long as he wakes up and there's no brain damage."
"I'm not too worried. What are the chances he damaged the tiny fraction of brain mass he uses anyway?" Gunn tried to joke, but at Angel's wan smile he became serious again. "He'll be fine, Angel."
Smiling gratefully at the comforting words and determined to think positively, Angel nodded and took a sip of the hot drink.
Leaning back, Gunn stretched out his legs before propping them up on the table in front of his seat.. Trying to keep Angel's mind off Doyle's condition, Gunn tried another tack, "What happened to the groupies?"
Creasing his brow in confusion, Angel asked, "Who?"
"You know, the chicks… Buffy and the redhead, Willow. Riley said they were here right after Doyle got brought in. He also said you and Blondie were holding hands…"
"Oh, yeah. They were here," he admitted, feeling ashamed. He could still remember the feeling of her delicate hand in his larger one, the warmth that had spread through him at her touch…
"Well?" Gunn's impatient voice interrupted his thoughts.
"Well, what?"
Gunn sighed and leaned his head back, staring at the ceiling tiles as he took a deep, calming breath; Angel's reticence could be maddening at times, but he was still a good friend. "Where are they now and why were you holding hands?"
"They're gone. I think Buffy got upset so they took off."
"You think she got upset? Why? I thought she was here when the doctor gave you the update…"
Bemused, Angel glanced at his frustrated friend, "What? Did Riley give you a briefing?"
"Matter of fact, he did," Gunn nodded. "Walsh insisted he brief the whole unit on what went down before he took his team out to recon."
"Wait… *everybody* knows about the hand holding?" Angel demanded, mortified. It was bad enough realizing that he was attracted to the woman Doyle had set his sights on, having anyone else know about it… He didn't even want to think about it.
"Oh, that…" Gunn grinned at the obvious distress on his friend's face, "No. Give the man some credit. He just told Graham and Forrest. Graham told me while they were suiting up and now I'm giving you shit about it." He paused before adding, "So, what's the deal, man?"
Looking into his expectant face, Angel realized something: "You're not going to let this go, are you?"
Gunn shook his head emphatically, watching as Angel ran a hand through his already mussed hair. He didn't even try to contain his grin as the story unfolded.
"Hold on," he shook his head as Angel finished the story of the night's events. "You mean, Doyle's still married? I thought his divorce was supposed to be final last week!"
"It was." Angel confirmed.
"Then what the hell is the problem?" Gunn exploded. "This has been going on for a year and half now. The divorce is taking longer than they were actually together, Angel!"
"I know. Harry said Doyle missed a signature somewhere in the stack and the judge refuses to finalize anything until he gets a document with all the I's dotted and all the T's crossed. Harry's beyond pissed. She's getting married in the Bahamas next month and she needs all the paperwork to send down there to get a marriage license…"
"I really couldn't care less about Harry's problems," Gunn spat. "Most people wait until their first marriage is over before jumping into the second. I can't believe she's so anxious to get remarried. Can't be good for Irish's ego…"
"Well, Doyle didn't seem to mind too much," Angel reasoned with a shrug. "Sure, it took him forever to accept that the marriage was really over, but once he did… Hell, last time he talked to her, he was helping Harry plan the seating arrangements for her reception. No, what's going to bother Doyle is Buffy."
"You mean aside from the fact that you've been putting the moves on her?"
"She thinks he's married now. As in 'cheating bastard' married. I don't know if she's going to give him the time of day agai…" He trailed off suddenly, his tired brain finally processing Gunn's last statement. Eyes wide, Angel stared at Gunn as if he were seeing him for the first time. "Is that what you think?"
"No, calm down. That's *not* what I think," Gunn reassured, realizing his attempt at humor had fallen flat. Holding up a hand in a placating fashion, he continued, "That's not what he'll think, either, if that's what you're worried about. I was trying to be funny. Normally, man, you'd laugh at something absurd like that…" he paused at that, obviously mulling something over before gaping openly at his co-worker. "Which means you *want* to put the moves on her!"
"What? NO!" Angel quickly denied the accusation. Unable to sit any longer, he got up and paced the waiting room. Avoiding eye contact with Gunn, he quickly changed the subject. "You said Walsh sent men out? Did they find anything?"
Gunn considered for a long moment, debating whether or not to pursue his line of questioning. Noticing the resolute expression on Angel's face, he discarded the idea, opting to wait for a better time. Taking pity on his exhausted friend and filing his questions away for later, he filled him in.
"…so, Riley's team found some dust at the scene. The lab guys analyzed it and determined that it *was* a vamp and not just poor housekeeping. Riley's clothes had some dust on them too… I guess from where you all helped get Doyle on the stretcher… It matched. So, we can safely assume the HST that bit him is history. What we still don't know is how the HST was eliminated. Professor Walsh is operating under the assumption that Doyle had a weapon on him and staked it just in time to save himself. I don't think he had anything on him, though, so I don't buy it," he stated firmly as he thought about all the dust he'd noticed on Buffy at the Bronze. He didn't buy her story about falling one bit and he planned to do a little digging in the morning. Looking at Angel, who still hadn't said a word, he continued, "But, I guess we'll know for sure when he wakes up. In the meantime, Walsh is working on getting him transferred out of here so that our medical team can supervise his care, but I don't think she's having much luck.
The power outage seems to have been citywide and there's no explanation for that yet. Aside from the power outage and a robbery at the museum, it seems to have been a pretty normal night."
"By Sunnydale standards," Angel muttered.
"Right, by Sunnydale standards." Gunn agreed. "Anyways, we're looking into the break-in, just in case, but so far we've got nothing. The cops are crawling all over the place so we can't get a close enough look without drawing attention to ourselves. The analysts are monitoring the PD's databases and communication, but their department has yet to file any reports on the robbery and they're pretty incoherent on the radios. The only thing we've picked up was a report of a traffic accident near the museum right around the time of the burglary, but they don't seem to be related. Probably just some local not paying attention."
Taking it all in, Angel considered for a moment. "Is that everything?"
"We're sending a few people to the museum tomorrow to poke around, but other than that…" Gunn held up his hands and shrugged, "That's it."
***
Rubbing his eyes tiredly, Xander looked from the book in his hand to the bookcase, trying desperately to remember where he'd gotten this specific volume. The bookcase was overflowing with ancient leather-bound texts and, to his weary mind, one musty, rotting tome was the same as the other.
"Giles and his stupid 'system,'" he muttered, thinking about how particular the older man was when it came to his precious books, "Using the old 'anal retentive librarian' cover was genius…"
Deciding he was about as likely to win the Publisher's Clearinghouse as he was to find the right spot for the book, he made a bold decision. Sneaking a furtive look over his shoulder to make sure Giles wasn't paying attention; he thrust the book onto a shelf at random. Turning, he quickly made his way back to the sofa and sat down heavily.
Raising an eyebrow at the empty-handed young man, Giles asked, "Xander, you don't think you should search in another book? We need to figure out what sort of demons you saw…"
There was a moment of silence before Xander's loud groan. "Giles. It's been hours and I've looked through everything but the 'Necronomicon.' I don't think we're going to find anything this way."
"Everything but the what?" Cordelia questioned.
"The Necronomicon? Ya know, Ash, Deadites…" Glancing around the room that contained nearly his entire social circle, he noted the perplexed looks on their faces. Realizing they had no idea what he was talking about, Xander moaned, "I really need some guy friends…"
"Uh, Xander's right." Closing her own book with a thud, Buffy looked up to meet the surprised stares of the Scoobs. "About not finding anything this way! Although, a few studly man-friends wouldn't hurt…" she grinned. "I'm exhausted, Will's asleep on whatever book she's supposed to be reading..."
Xander, thrilled to have Buffy on his side, saw his chance to escape further research.
"I say we call it a night," he suggested as he made his move for the door.
"Perhaps that's best," Giles agreed, "Although you will need to look into the museum incident tomorrow morning, Buffy. If we find out what they were after, we'll be able to discern what type of demon we're dealing with."
"Exactly, and we can put Willow to work on the net. I'm sure she can get us copies of the police reports so we can find out about the power outage… Oh and we can check if there was any other 'gang' activity last night."
***
TBC.
Thanks, as always, for the feedback! You guys keep me writing, even when RL gets hectic and the muses go AWOL. =0)
Thanks to Specks and Ky, my amazing betas, for pulling something extra out of me when I was convinced there wasn't anything there.
***
Unable to tear his eyes from the alarming manifestation before him, the horrified Watcher stammered, "I-I… I'm sorry. You say the demons came f- from where, Xander?"
"Giles! Stop staring and pay attention!" Willow admonished.
"Yeah, Giles… Demons? Power outage? Hellmouthy near death experience for yours truly?" Xander prompted helpfully. Frustrated by the lack of response, he sighed. "Can we take this inside, please? I'm starving," he declared, pushing past the older man and into the tidy apartment.
"Xander, for Heaven's sake! It's nearly three am, this isn't a Denny's!" Unable to take his eyes off the abhorrence at his front door, Giles was powerless to prevent Xander from making his way into the kitchen. As the sound of the cupboards opening and closing reached his ears, he reluctantly bid farewell to any hope of sleep.
"Uh, Giles? Can we come in?"
"Ah, yes, Willow. Yes, of course, it's just… Never mind. Please, do come in." Giles shook his head and moved aside to hold the door open so the girls could enter. As they trailed past him and into the living room, he continued to stare at Cordelia in confusion. In the years he'd known her, he'd seldom seen her look anything short of immaculate; even in the aftermath of fierce and bloody battles with demons she'd managed to look polished; yet here she was, clad in baggy gray sweat pants, an old Sunnydale High sweatshirt, with some sort of green substance all over her face. The long brown hair that normally looked as if she'd just stepped from a salon was piled on her head in dozens of sections, each fixed with a tie-dyed strip of cloth. Calling the change in her appearance bizarre was akin to calling the Amazon a stream and he couldn't help but gawk.
Following Xander into the kitchen, Buffy noticed her Watcher's fixation and elbowed him forcefully in the side as she passed. The jolt startled him enough to pull his gaze off Cordelia, but not before the grumpy brunette noticed.
"*Why* are you staring at me? Haven't you ever seen a woman at 3 am before?" she griped as she plopped down in the nearest chair.
Gulping down a bite of the ham sandwich he shared with Buffy, Xander couldn't pass up the opportunity to take a crack at the lone adult in the room, "Cordy, it's Giles! He probably hasn't."
"Well, that doesn't excuse it! I thought the English were supposed to have manners," Cordelia huffed.
"Yes, well, the English are also *supposed* to be asleep at this hour, Cordelia. Instead I find myself awake and it appears I've the 'less-than- incredible Hulk' in my living room while 'Shaggy' raids my kitchen." Giles retorted tiredly.
"HEY! Do you think pores like mine just happen?" Cordelia yelped, self- consciously putting a hand to her mud-packed. "If I didn't do this once a week, I'd have skin like Buffy's!"
"What?!" Buffy was indignant, "What's wrong with my skin?"
Enjoying the chaos after his three-month absence, Xander grinned over a mouthful of sandwich, "Whoa, Giles! A pop-culture reference? What *happened* this summer? Did you get cable?"
Moving between the two men, Willow waved her arms to get their attention. "Hello? Guys? Aren't you forgetting something? Like… Oh, I don't know….the demons?! World in peril and all that..."
"Thank you, Willow," Giles shot her a grateful look. Clearing his throat he got down to business, "Can we return to the matter at hand?"
"Yes," Cordelia agreed, "what's so important you dragged me out of bed? It better be good because I'm missing out on my beauty sleep!"
"Well, we ran into Xander at the hospital…"
"Hospital? You ran into Xander there?" Giles looked bewildered for a moment, giving both Willow and Buffy an once-over, "Are you hurt?"
"No, we're fine," Willow assured him, "we were there to check up on Doyle."
"Is Doyle the married guy?" Xander asked, trying to sift through the facts he'd heard from Willow on the way over.
"MARRIED?" Cordelia shrieked, turning to face Buffy. "He can't be married…"
"Oh, but he can," Buffy sighed.
"Huh?"
"His *wife* called while we were at the hospital, Cordy."
"Wait just a moment," Giles, clearly shocked, broke in with a gasp. "Am I to understand that Buffy's involved with a married man?"
He looked around at the group gathered in his home, trying to catch the eyes of the room's occupants. No one said a word, all studiously avoiding his gaze. Unnerved by the revelation, he took off his glasses and began polishing them absentmindedly as he focused his attention on the dejected blonde. "What on earth were you thinking, Buffy?"
"Whoa, Giles," Xander jumped up, quick to defend his friend. "Lay off her. She didn't know he was married."
"Yeah!" Willow spoke up, "And you can hardly call her involved! It takes more than a conversation at the Bronze to be involved, doesn't it?"
"Right!" Cordelia chipped in brightly, "Besides, she hasn't talked to a guy other than Oz all summer so, *definitely* not involved."
Turning to Willow she pondered, "Why isn't she involved? I mean… we all know she's a freak of nature, but guys can't usually sense something like that… At least not until you've been out a few times. And it's not like she's hideous…"
"Uh, guys? Still in the room," Buffy raised a hand in the air and waved it, rolling her eyes at her friends' antics. Turning to look pointedly at Willow and Cordy, she stated, "And, from now on *don't* help me. Please. Can we forget about my latest dating disaster and move right along to the non-Buffy portion of tonight's entertainment?"
***
Standing in the doorway of the Intensive Care Unit's waiting room, Gunn took a moment to study his squad leader. Angel sat alone in one of the chairs near the window, staring impassively into the darkness. He was clearly exhausted, with dark circles beginning to show beneath his eyes, hair completely disheveled, and a hint of dark stubble. His pants, which had been neatly pressed earlier in the evening, were rumpled; smudges of dirt showing on the knees where he'd knelt at Doyle's side while waiting for the EMTs to arrive. His dark shirt was wrinkled and, like Riley's, Gunn knew the front of it would be stained with the blood of a man Angel considered his brother.
"Well, how's he doing?" Gunn asked as he slid into a chair next to Angel, handing him a cup of coffee.
Putting down the two year old copy of 'National Geographic' he'd been leafing through and gratefully accepting the offered cup, Angel turned to face his friend. "Well, he's stable. He's still unconscious, but he's breathing on his own again. Dr. Wolfe seemed pretty upbeat last time he gave me an update. Said once Doyle wakes up, they'll only need to keep him a few days. That is, as long as he wakes up and there's no brain damage."
"I'm not too worried. What are the chances he damaged the tiny fraction of brain mass he uses anyway?" Gunn tried to joke, but at Angel's wan smile he became serious again. "He'll be fine, Angel."
Smiling gratefully at the comforting words and determined to think positively, Angel nodded and took a sip of the hot drink.
Leaning back, Gunn stretched out his legs before propping them up on the table in front of his seat.. Trying to keep Angel's mind off Doyle's condition, Gunn tried another tack, "What happened to the groupies?"
Creasing his brow in confusion, Angel asked, "Who?"
"You know, the chicks… Buffy and the redhead, Willow. Riley said they were here right after Doyle got brought in. He also said you and Blondie were holding hands…"
"Oh, yeah. They were here," he admitted, feeling ashamed. He could still remember the feeling of her delicate hand in his larger one, the warmth that had spread through him at her touch…
"Well?" Gunn's impatient voice interrupted his thoughts.
"Well, what?"
Gunn sighed and leaned his head back, staring at the ceiling tiles as he took a deep, calming breath; Angel's reticence could be maddening at times, but he was still a good friend. "Where are they now and why were you holding hands?"
"They're gone. I think Buffy got upset so they took off."
"You think she got upset? Why? I thought she was here when the doctor gave you the update…"
Bemused, Angel glanced at his frustrated friend, "What? Did Riley give you a briefing?"
"Matter of fact, he did," Gunn nodded. "Walsh insisted he brief the whole unit on what went down before he took his team out to recon."
"Wait… *everybody* knows about the hand holding?" Angel demanded, mortified. It was bad enough realizing that he was attracted to the woman Doyle had set his sights on, having anyone else know about it… He didn't even want to think about it.
"Oh, that…" Gunn grinned at the obvious distress on his friend's face, "No. Give the man some credit. He just told Graham and Forrest. Graham told me while they were suiting up and now I'm giving you shit about it." He paused before adding, "So, what's the deal, man?"
Looking into his expectant face, Angel realized something: "You're not going to let this go, are you?"
Gunn shook his head emphatically, watching as Angel ran a hand through his already mussed hair. He didn't even try to contain his grin as the story unfolded.
"Hold on," he shook his head as Angel finished the story of the night's events. "You mean, Doyle's still married? I thought his divorce was supposed to be final last week!"
"It was." Angel confirmed.
"Then what the hell is the problem?" Gunn exploded. "This has been going on for a year and half now. The divorce is taking longer than they were actually together, Angel!"
"I know. Harry said Doyle missed a signature somewhere in the stack and the judge refuses to finalize anything until he gets a document with all the I's dotted and all the T's crossed. Harry's beyond pissed. She's getting married in the Bahamas next month and she needs all the paperwork to send down there to get a marriage license…"
"I really couldn't care less about Harry's problems," Gunn spat. "Most people wait until their first marriage is over before jumping into the second. I can't believe she's so anxious to get remarried. Can't be good for Irish's ego…"
"Well, Doyle didn't seem to mind too much," Angel reasoned with a shrug. "Sure, it took him forever to accept that the marriage was really over, but once he did… Hell, last time he talked to her, he was helping Harry plan the seating arrangements for her reception. No, what's going to bother Doyle is Buffy."
"You mean aside from the fact that you've been putting the moves on her?"
"She thinks he's married now. As in 'cheating bastard' married. I don't know if she's going to give him the time of day agai…" He trailed off suddenly, his tired brain finally processing Gunn's last statement. Eyes wide, Angel stared at Gunn as if he were seeing him for the first time. "Is that what you think?"
"No, calm down. That's *not* what I think," Gunn reassured, realizing his attempt at humor had fallen flat. Holding up a hand in a placating fashion, he continued, "That's not what he'll think, either, if that's what you're worried about. I was trying to be funny. Normally, man, you'd laugh at something absurd like that…" he paused at that, obviously mulling something over before gaping openly at his co-worker. "Which means you *want* to put the moves on her!"
"What? NO!" Angel quickly denied the accusation. Unable to sit any longer, he got up and paced the waiting room. Avoiding eye contact with Gunn, he quickly changed the subject. "You said Walsh sent men out? Did they find anything?"
Gunn considered for a long moment, debating whether or not to pursue his line of questioning. Noticing the resolute expression on Angel's face, he discarded the idea, opting to wait for a better time. Taking pity on his exhausted friend and filing his questions away for later, he filled him in.
"…so, Riley's team found some dust at the scene. The lab guys analyzed it and determined that it *was* a vamp and not just poor housekeeping. Riley's clothes had some dust on them too… I guess from where you all helped get Doyle on the stretcher… It matched. So, we can safely assume the HST that bit him is history. What we still don't know is how the HST was eliminated. Professor Walsh is operating under the assumption that Doyle had a weapon on him and staked it just in time to save himself. I don't think he had anything on him, though, so I don't buy it," he stated firmly as he thought about all the dust he'd noticed on Buffy at the Bronze. He didn't buy her story about falling one bit and he planned to do a little digging in the morning. Looking at Angel, who still hadn't said a word, he continued, "But, I guess we'll know for sure when he wakes up. In the meantime, Walsh is working on getting him transferred out of here so that our medical team can supervise his care, but I don't think she's having much luck.
The power outage seems to have been citywide and there's no explanation for that yet. Aside from the power outage and a robbery at the museum, it seems to have been a pretty normal night."
"By Sunnydale standards," Angel muttered.
"Right, by Sunnydale standards." Gunn agreed. "Anyways, we're looking into the break-in, just in case, but so far we've got nothing. The cops are crawling all over the place so we can't get a close enough look without drawing attention to ourselves. The analysts are monitoring the PD's databases and communication, but their department has yet to file any reports on the robbery and they're pretty incoherent on the radios. The only thing we've picked up was a report of a traffic accident near the museum right around the time of the burglary, but they don't seem to be related. Probably just some local not paying attention."
Taking it all in, Angel considered for a moment. "Is that everything?"
"We're sending a few people to the museum tomorrow to poke around, but other than that…" Gunn held up his hands and shrugged, "That's it."
***
Rubbing his eyes tiredly, Xander looked from the book in his hand to the bookcase, trying desperately to remember where he'd gotten this specific volume. The bookcase was overflowing with ancient leather-bound texts and, to his weary mind, one musty, rotting tome was the same as the other.
"Giles and his stupid 'system,'" he muttered, thinking about how particular the older man was when it came to his precious books, "Using the old 'anal retentive librarian' cover was genius…"
Deciding he was about as likely to win the Publisher's Clearinghouse as he was to find the right spot for the book, he made a bold decision. Sneaking a furtive look over his shoulder to make sure Giles wasn't paying attention; he thrust the book onto a shelf at random. Turning, he quickly made his way back to the sofa and sat down heavily.
Raising an eyebrow at the empty-handed young man, Giles asked, "Xander, you don't think you should search in another book? We need to figure out what sort of demons you saw…"
There was a moment of silence before Xander's loud groan. "Giles. It's been hours and I've looked through everything but the 'Necronomicon.' I don't think we're going to find anything this way."
"Everything but the what?" Cordelia questioned.
"The Necronomicon? Ya know, Ash, Deadites…" Glancing around the room that contained nearly his entire social circle, he noted the perplexed looks on their faces. Realizing they had no idea what he was talking about, Xander moaned, "I really need some guy friends…"
"Uh, Xander's right." Closing her own book with a thud, Buffy looked up to meet the surprised stares of the Scoobs. "About not finding anything this way! Although, a few studly man-friends wouldn't hurt…" she grinned. "I'm exhausted, Will's asleep on whatever book she's supposed to be reading..."
Xander, thrilled to have Buffy on his side, saw his chance to escape further research.
"I say we call it a night," he suggested as he made his move for the door.
"Perhaps that's best," Giles agreed, "Although you will need to look into the museum incident tomorrow morning, Buffy. If we find out what they were after, we'll be able to discern what type of demon we're dealing with."
"Exactly, and we can put Willow to work on the net. I'm sure she can get us copies of the police reports so we can find out about the power outage… Oh and we can check if there was any other 'gang' activity last night."
***
TBC.