Part 12

Upon entering the Bronze, the pair were assaulted with the smell of sweat and over-sweetened drinks mixed with the musk of lust and overexerted teens. Buffy clutched to Angel's arm, afraid of losing Angel in the crowd.

She clung to his well-muscled arm as they weaved through the crowd towards Willow, who looked to be involved in a heated conversation with Oz, or rather, a heated make-out session. Xander was absent, but Buffy assumed that he was once again on the dance floor, shaking his bonbon and embarrassing a number of other patrons while he was at it.

"Don't take any notice of us," Buffy said as she slid down to sit on the adjacent raspberry-pink love seat. She pulled Angel down to sit next to her, leaning her head on his shoulder the moment he was settled.

Willow and Oz broke out of the kiss abruptly and looked flushed, nervously straightening their clothes out. "Hey, you two," Willow greeted them. "Where've you been? We've been here for ages now."

"Tell me, did you really take notice? Besides, we're only a couple of minutes late, and that's only because me and Angel had a revelation," Buffy said, giving her date a loving squeeze in the arm, "sort of."

"So I take it you're an item now," Oz said, putting two and two together.

Buffy looked at Angel for an answer, as if to make sure she hadn't taken it wrongly. He smiled, snaking his hand around her waist and pulling her closer towards him. "Yep," Angel replied simply.

"And you tell me I'm a man of few words," Oz whispered to Willow, who, upon hearing what her boyfriend had said, elicited a short giggle.

She held a hand up to Oz's ear and whispered, "They make such a cute couple."

"Hey! What are you guys whispering about us?" Buffy asked defensively, but was obviously just playing around with some otherwise slightly boring chit-chat.

"Wouldn't you like to know," Willow replied teasingly, nuzzling her face against Oz's shoulder. "I was just telling Oz what a cute couple you make."

Buffy beamed. "Well I don't know if you could really call BO boy over here 'cute'," she joked, holding him tighter despite what she'd just said.

"I take offence to that."

"Fine, then you can be my hottie boy," Buffy said, referring back to the song she had heard on the radio earlier. She gave him a dazzling smile and kissed him on the cheek playfully.

Angel laughed softly, "Better than BO boy, I suppose."

Buffy shook her head and smiled, pressing her chin into his shoulder, digging softly into his collarbone. She quickly flashed him a meek smile, as if to say "just try it".

"You've been a couple for what? Less than half an hour? And you're already doing teasing and all that fluff that comes along with the...coupley-ness. That's so...I can't even think of a word for it," Willow beamed, looking to her currently purple-headed boyfriend for suggestions.

"Cute?" Oz suggested uncertainly.

"Yeah, that's the word. Cute," Willow turned back to face the supposedly 'cute' couple who just looked at each other with eyebrows raised. "Okay...I said it before, but...you just *are*. A cute couple, I mean."

"Note to self: buy a thesaurus for Willow," Buffy said, earning her a wide grin and some mild laughter from Angel, Oz and Willow.

"Really? I don't have a thesaurus at home. My mom has one at her office. It helps you get lots of fancy words to make you seem all smart and stuff," Willow gushed, very close to bouncing in her seat if Oz hadn't stopped her with a gentle hand on her knee.

"But you're already smart and stuff," Oz replied in a quiet voice. Willow responded with a kiss, leading to more kisses and to Buffy and Angel turning their full attention back to each other.

"Dance?" Angel offered.

"Of course," Buffy accepted, dragging him onto the dance floor for the slow, sappy love song that they had started to play in the stead of a live band (who were currently taking a break). She hoped that her slow dancing skills were still up to scratch from when Gunn had last coached her on it during the previous weekend. It seemed that her feet just couldn't stand the aching slowness of it all. That was Buffy—always the party girl.

"Suppose I met the girl of my dreams—well, of many people's dreams—and I were to ask her out for a date on Friday night. Do you think she'd say yes?" Angel asked as he swayed to the music.

Buffy smiled into the comfort of his not overly-muscled chest, "I always knew you were a charmer."

"So will you go out with me Friday night?"

"Maybe I have plans..." Buffy teased.

Angel's heart sank at the thought, "Oh...do you really?"

Buffy thought for a moment, scanning her memory for anything that could possibly coincide, "Crap. I can't. I have to go visit my parents in LA. I've been away from them for nearly two months now. And I'm sure Giles has something planned for me as well since my mom probably talked to him about the leak... Shit. Classic case of 'I would, if I could, but I can't'."

Angel blinked, absorbing the information and trying to figure out what she'd said after the first mention of the word 'can't'. "Oh... That's okay then. Blood's thicker than water...whatever that means."

"You can come if you want. It'll be fun, I promise," Buffy said in a sing-song voice.

Angel couldn't resist the pout that came after his extended silence, "Sure."

"Great!" Buffy beamed, hugging him tighter to her. "So tell me—do you like Passions?"

*****

"Here's your itinerary, your house keys, car keys, backstage passes, and everything you'll need. Also," Giles reached down behind his desk, pulling out a small, fluffy ball from around his ankles, "here's your dog." Buffy took everything, struggling to hold everything all at the same time, especially Thor.

"You know, it's a good thing I walked him already," Buffy said, ignoring Giles and focusing all her attention on the mop-like fluffy ball of dog that currently resided under her right arm. "Oh, and I forgot to tell you..."

"What?" Giles snapped back to attention from his drawer-rummaging. "Is anything wrong?"

"Oh, no, nothing drastic. I'm just bringing a few friends along. Actually, they're friends of a friend, including my...friend," Buffy said, hesitant to tell Giles that she had developed a relationship with Angel. At the beginning of the whole thing, Giles had said a very strong 'no' to relationships other than friendship, claming that it wouldn't be a good idea. **"I think it would be best for either party for you NOT to be linked romantically with anyone while in Sunnydale. It'll be bad for publicity..." Yadda, yadda, yadda...Giles should learn that I don't really ever listen to him.**

"Oh...well, nothing can be done about that now, is there?" Giles said hurriedly, once again rummaging through his drawer for something.

"Giles? What are you looking for?" Buffy asked, rising on the balls of her feet to try to see what Giles was up to. He ignored her question and continued to look, opening the next drawer down to search for whatever it was that he was searching for.

"Aha!" Giles finally said triumphantly. "I found it."

"And what would this 'it' be? A rabbit in a top hat?" Buffy asked impatiently.

"It's a bottle of sunscreen and Miss Walkens' new Bel Air residence and phone number." Giles handed her a small, plastic tube and a piece of paper with an address in a neat, black script. **Probably written in his "favourite fountain pen" as well...Giles needs a life.**

"Sunscreen?"

"It's going to be sunny in Los Angeles this weekend, and seeing that you'll be spending a fair bit of time outside, I don't think it would hurt to put a bit on. Prevention is better than cure...or so they say," Giles sat back into his large desk chair and went through a large stack of sponsorship legality papers. "Also, it's under sponsorship. Apparently, all you have to do is use it."

"Right...I'm sponsored by a sunscreen company? It's probably all stinky and oily and all the other grossities of sunscreen," Buffy exclaimed in exasperation. "Not that, you know, sunscreen is a bad thing," she added to appease Giles' predictable protest. "Thanks for the address, by the way."

"The sunscreen actually has a rather nice smell to it."

"Really?" Buffy unscrewed the lid carefully, not wanted to drop everything, especially Thor. Holding it to her nose, she found it had a refreshing, summery scent. "Ooh, nice..."

*****

"Hurry up, Gunn. We're all waiting for you," Buffy shouted towards the front door, where Gunn had accidentally bashed his foot in the doorframe trying to get his luggage through. Buffy had Thor on his leash and had already put him in the car. The chauffeur was waiting and everyone was already inside except for the macho 'I don't pack as much as you' guy.

"I'm coming, I'm coming. Hold onto your panties, will ya?" Gunn lugged the bag through the door and shoved it into the trunk and slammed it closed.

"Finally," Buffy teased before getting into the limo, picking up a happily yapping Thor from Spike's lap.

"Your dog is *scary*. Get that thing away from me. I always have to put up with Peaches' Bertha Blue as it is. Yapping and attacking me..." Spike complained. He'd decided to tag along as soon as the words 'Passions set' were mentioned. He'd been a fan of the show for years and had only missed an episode when there was a blackout during the day and had put his VCR out of service and the timer out of whack. But it was all okay because his father's secretary had taped the episode by accident and had kindly given the tape to the slightly crazed 17-year-old.

"He's not a *thing*," Buffy replied, lovingly petting the dog under its chin to a much appreciated response.

"Well it's not a person either."

"True, but he's not a 'thing'," Buffy shot back.

"Alright, he's not a 'thing' then. When do we get there?"

"Are you always this annoying?" Buffy asked, slightly playfully.

A chorus of 'yes' came from Angel, Faith and Cordelia.

"Hey! No one asked *you*," Spike shot at Cordelia, who had tagged along as Gunn's guest. "You don't know me well, I don't know you well, and I don't think that being quick to judge is a good idea." He paused, "Did that just come out of my mouth or did I imagine it?"

Angel just laughed at him, "Does it matter?"

Spike just shrugged and settled back into his seat. He had to admit that it was rather comfortable, discounting the fact that the limo was packed; six people, not including the driver. "Well, let's get going," he shouted rudely to the chauffeur. "I got autographs to collect and fun to be had," he informed the rest of them with a funny grin that made everyone except Cordelia crack up. She just sent a death glare in his direction which made him stop grinning and send her a 'bugger off' look.

And so, the troupe of six made their way on the two-hour drive to Los Angeles with Spike to keep them company and Thor yapping out the window for the entire trip. There wasn't a single person who wasn't happy to get to Buffy's place and get relief from cramped legs, dehydration and, last but not least, some dinner.

"I wish Will, Xand and Oz could've come," Buffy said to Angel as soon as they got out of the car at her parents' LA home. "Willow wasn't allowed, Xander's grounded and Oz said he wouldn't come unless Will went. It would've been the perfect time for her mother's ignorance."

"She'll survive without coming on the trip, Buffy. Don't do the guilt trip thing. Not good for you," Angel reassured her. "And trust me, I know."

"Okay," Buffy nodded, biting her lip. "Who's hungry?"


AN: Thanks everyone who's reviewed!! I REALLY like to hear what you think of it. And just to give you something to look forward to until the next part, here are some...uh, hinty words: Towel. Dripping. Wet. Angel. Buffy. Crash. Yummy.

Okay, that's enough. I couldn't think of a better way to say thank you to EVERYONE who reviewed (especially the ones who didn't even fill in their email addy in the anonymous review mode), so THANK YOU!!! (And yes, I'm perfectly sane. I just couldn't help myself with this little 'trip'. Think of all the possibilities...get your mind out of the gutter!! Not THOSE possibilities. I'm only 15...)