PART NINE
"You want me to…what?" Willow regarded the object in his hand with abject fear.
"I can't believe I didn't think of this before! Come on, Willow, it'll be easy."
"Yes, b-but, I'm not even, really…immortal yet…I mean, Whistler, who says they're going to even listen?"
"You never knew Merrick did you?"
"Uhm..no…"
"Don't worry, they'll listen. You just need to promise me one thing."
"What?" She looked up at the demon.
"You'll make them cry, just a little. For me." Winking, he turned and left Willow to her task.
**
"Uhm…Angel, I can explain…" Cordelia reached out to touch his sleeve but he quickly jerked away.
"Don't touch me, Cordelia." He ground out hoarsely. The vampire looked almost ill.
11 pairs of rounded eyes watched the exchange in dead silence.
"Whistler didn't want to tell you because he knew you'd get up-,"
"She's the Immortal Watcher and no one thought that might be important?" He was trying very hard not to yell, with minimal success. God, she must be so miserable. No wonder she didn't want we to touch her. Immortal Watcher?! It's against her nature to even be near a vampire! To Angel, the Watchers had always been a confused bunch, but he had the utmost respect for their leaders. Although he had known Merrick only briefly and mostly through reputation, he knew that the Immortal Watcher stood for all that was good. To force this girl, this unsuspecting, undeserving child to carry the burden of his own sins was disgusting and unspeakable. The fact that she was also Immortal was like adding insult to injury.
"Angel, calm down. Of course it's important but you need to understand th-," Cordelia tried to be patient.
"What else is there?" He barked.
Startled, she jumped slightly, "I-I don't-,"
"There's still something else you're not telling me. What else is there?" It was a hunch, but he figured that it was a good risk to take seeing as how Whistler had a tendency to play with his life and for some reason, he'd chosen Cordelia to be his confidant. He also guessed that in her state of confusion, she wouldn't call his bluff.
Casting her gaze downwards, the brunette stumbled over her words, "She…ahh…she's not exactly immotal yet.."
Awaiting his reaction, Cordelia held her ground. After several seconds of silence, however, she finally got the nerve to look back up.
He was gone.
"Shit!" she muttered under her breath staring into the darkness.
There was a long moment of silence before anyone spoke.
"Damn, that man has the * nicest * ass I've ever seen." Laura smiled appreciatively.
"Oh, I second that." Jessica nodded in agreement.
"I think that someone should go after him." JR offered, "He's upset. He might do something rash."
"Hey, how about me? Worried that * I * might do something rash?" Cordelia exploded, unable to stop herself, "What in the HELL did you think you were doing? Did I ask any of you to talk? No! Now look what's happened! God, way to fuck everything up." With that, she turned to stalk off down the street…
And was promptly thrown to the ground by the looming figure in front of her.
**
"B-Buffy's on her way up." Giles sat down, pale and tired.
"Perhaps it's all for the best, man. She's the current slayer and she's also best friends with Willow. She might be able to help us much more than anyone else." Patrick cast a glance at the semi-useless younger Council members and sighed.
"She should be here in 3 or 4 hours. I told her to come in the morning, but she refused."
"Understandable, but I don't want her to get tired out before she even gets here."
"I'll make sure she gets some rest before-,"
The shrill sound of the phone pierced through the gentle mumbling atmosphere yet again.
"Lord, now what?' Mildly annoyed, Patrick jumped up and grabbed the receiver without thinking twice, "Hello?"
"H-hi…..? Cordelia?" the voice on the other end sounded cautious and timid.
"No, Cordelia isn't in right now. May I take a message for her?" Sighing, the Watcher began to search for a pen.
"Uhm…is Patrick there?"
His ears perked up almost immediately. Waving wildly at the assembled group, he caused all conversation to grind to an immediate halt.
"Yes, this is Patrick. May I ask to whom I'm speaking?" He responded carefully as a huge gaggle of Watchers immediately surged up around him. "Shhh!!!" He hissed, trying to wave them off.
There was a short pause and he was afraid that he'd lost her.
"Hello?" He prodded gently.
"Uhm…hi….yes, uhm, this is…uhm…Willow."
The Watcher came close to fainting, "Willow! Dear Lord, child, where have you been? We've been looking for you everywhere! Stay where you are and we'll come get you."
"Is it her?"
"It's the girl?"
"Finally!"
"Where's that two-faced little demon?"
"Move out of the way, Nigel, I can't hear!"
Throwing them all aside, Patrick rapidly walked out of the sitting room and into the hallway, pausing only to drag Giles along with him by his collar.
"A-actually, I was wondering if maybe you could all just go back home and wait for me." Willow's voice rang out with only a slight edge of hesitation.
"W-what?!" Slightly taken aback, Patrick promptly released his hold on Giles and started pacing up and down the narrow corridor, "And leave you with that demon? Absolutely not. I can only wonder what lies that…thing has been feeding you."
"But-,"
"No, Willow, as the acting head of the Council and your future guide in taking over your responsibilities, I simply can't allow this. You're obviously being brainwashed by this Whistler fellow and it's entirely unacceptable. Where are you? I'll send several men over to get you. You needn't worry about any possible repurcussions. I assure you, there are far more of us than there are of those knaves who have kidnapped you."
"Kindnapped? But I wasn't really kidnapped, see, Whistler is a good guy…" The hacker started off again only to be interrupted.
"Yes, I'm sure it seems that way, child, but trust me. There's a lot about him that you simply don't know. Now please, your location?" Patrick pressed on.
"I can't just leave yet!" She was becoming exasperated, "Angel needs me!"
"Angel?" He scoffed, "Do you mean Angelus? I know it seems as if Angelus is one of the 'good guys' as well, Willow, but you must understand that no matter what he's done for the Council or for your friend Buffy, fundamentally he's still extremely dangerous. I can't have you running around with him, endangering your own well being, especially before you've even reached your full capacity."
"Oh, but I feel safe with Angel, tonight we helped each-"
"Safe? Willow, I'm sorry to have to tell you this but Angelus is essentially a killer. Soul or not, he's been trained as a predator and an assassin for years and although he does serve some function on occasion, you don't have any obligations to him. Furthermo-,"
"Wait."
The command was quiet yet carried such a huge underlying current of anger that Patrick stopped in midsentence.
"First of all, you'll call him Angel," Willow continued in the same tone of voice, "Not Angelus because that isn't his name. Sec-,"
"Willow-," Patrick broke in hurriedly.
"EXCUSE ME?" She hollered so loudly that he jerked the phone away from his ear.
Giles, who had been waiting patiently in the hall, merely raised an eyebrow.
"Y-yes…?" Patrick responded after cautiously bringing the receiver back.
"Wasn't I just in the middle of giving you an order?" Her voice took on the same deadly quiet quality.
"Yes, but-,"
"Do you know who you're talking to?"
Swallowing hard, Patrick paused. "Miss Rosenb-,"
"Try again."
Thinking fast, the frightened man spit out the first thing he could think of, "T-The Immortal Watcher…..Sir?"
"Good." Her voice carried an oddly self-satisfied tone, "And what do you think Merrick would have done if he were told what to do?"
"Skewered me, Sir." The Watcher responded honestly.
"Interesting."
There was a long pause.
"Sir?" He finally broke the silence, afraid that she'd simply hung up on him.
"What do you think I'll do to you if you keep trying to tell me what to do?" She asked coldly.
Laughing nervously, the Watcher grappled for a decent answer, realizing that he may have just pushed his superior a bit too far…
**
Barely getting a chance to scream, Cordelia was in the process of opening her mouth when she found it suddenly full of dust. Choking, she slowly opened her eyes to see a gaggle of teenage girls with crosses, stakes and other previously concealed weaponry standing over what looked to be a pile of dirt.
"Bastard didn't stand a fucking chance," Laura smiled, smugly.
"Hah, eleven against one. I'd say he was a goner." Emma and Jessica high-fived each other.
"Oh, and that was cool, Robin. Like, how you did that spinny thing?" Tracy bounced enthusiastically.
Soon, the group erupted into self-congratulatory chatter as they recounted, in detail, the life-threatening 10 second fight with an unfortunately stupid vampire against 11 slayers-in-training.
Forgotten, bruised and still bristling, Cordelia slowly pulled herself to her feet again, "Uhm. Okay. Now that I've lost one of my best friends, betrayed another one, and almost gotten eaten all in one night, I think I'm ready to go home."
Bracing herself, the brunette started walking again only to be stopped this time by a lanky redhead.
"Not so fast." Carrie smiled, a strange sparkle in her grey eyes.
"I think you're forgetting something." Heather added cooly.
"Like what?" the flat, haughty tone of Cordelia's voice was almost painfully remniscent of her older, cheerleading self as she geared up for a challenge.
"You just nearly got eaten…." Laura began.
"Thanks, I almost missed it." The May Queen broke in rudely, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
"…and * we * saved your life," she finished, staring up expectantly.
Cordelia sneered, "Meaning what? That you want some show of gratitude or something? A 'thank you for fucking up my life' type-speech maybe? Don't hold your breath."
Toying casually with her stake, Laura shook her head, "No, I don't think a 'thank you' is really necessary…"
"Good, I wouldn't want all of you to die from lack of air, y'know." The brunette managed to deliver the retort in such a way as to show plainly that she wouldn't, in fact, mind such a scenario at all.
Choosing to strike, Laura licked her lips and glanced at her friends. "Actually, we want something else."
"A favor." Emma piped up.
"In return for saving your life," Robin grinned almost sadistically.
"A favor? You want me to do you a favor? What is this? Some kind of severe collective stupid-attack that's going aroun-,"
"Let me put it to you this way, Cordelia. You do us this favor or we don't hold up our end of the bargain." Eliz crossed her arms over her chest stubbornly.
"You know, the part about us keeping 'hush hush' with the Watchers Council?" Tracy clarified in a sweet voice.
"What?!" the brunette shrieked, outraged, "Blackmail?! How dare you!" Slowly, as she looked from one smugly smiling face to another, realization dawned. "OhmyGOD! You set me up! All of you set me up! Heather was in the alley baiting that vampire to-YOU COULD HAVE GOTTEN ME KILLED!!! Why you skinny little insignificant group of teeny-bopper Brittney Spears wannabes! I'll have you know tha-,"
"Take it or leave it." Laura cut in, calmly.
Nearly shaking from fury, Cordelia paused as the full scope of what was happening sank in.
Pinning her opponent with a deadly glare, Laura went in for the kill, "Give us what we want or round off a perfect night explaining yourself to Patrick and Giles. It's your choice. What'll it be?"
**
"And FURTHERMORE I want access to all of the records currently in possession of the Council concerning Protectors and their roles. I also want all of the information you have about Angel and Spike." Willow stomped loudly back and forth in the living room, dutifully ignoring Whistler who was busy doubled over in fetal position trying to muffle his hysterical laughter.
"Spike? But why do you need anything on Sp-," Patrick began, in a panicked voice.
She stopped and narrowed her eyes at the receiver briefly before bellowing, "ARE YOU QUESTIONING ME AGAIN?"
"N-n-n-no, Sir!! No, Sir!" Frantically, the Watcher started stammering uncontrollably.
"I'm going to die…I'm going to die…" Whistler moaned over and over again, clutching his stomach and literally crawling out of the living room, tears running down his face.
Willow sighed and returned her attention back to the phone.
"Look, call Headquarters or whatever and have the stuff sent to Cordelia's apartment as soon as possible. Now hand the phone over to Giles, I'm done talking to you."
"Yes, Sir." Obediently, Patrick handed the phone to the librarian who had been, up until this point, lounging casually against the wall, simply taking in the conversation. His task completed, the Council Head quickly scampered into the adjoining room, shouting orders to his underlings.
Giles gently shut the door to block off the noise before speaking.
"Willow?"
At the sound of her mentor's voice, the redhead heaved a sigh of relief, "Giles!"
"Dear Lord, Willow, what on earth did you say to him? I've known Patrick for years and I've never seen him react like that. I almost thought he was going to wet his trousers."
Snorting in a very un-Willowy manner, the hacker merely shook her head, "I just reminded him of who I was," she said a hint of pride creeping into her voice.
"I see," the librarian remarked dryly, "You pulled rank, I take it?"
Suddenly feeling guilty, Willow bit her lip, "Uhm…kind of. But, I mean, it wasn't my fault. He was being bossy and mean an-,"
"He's just trying to look out for your best interest, as we all are." Giles pointed out. "You can't fault him for doing his job as he sees fit, Willow. He feels that your life is his responsibility just as you feel that Angel's life is yours."
In a matter of a few seconds, Willow felt herself reduced to the teenage high schooler that she was, "Well, I guess I never thought of it that way…I guess that was really mean of me, huh?"
"You're young, it happens." The librarian responded simply.
"God, they must all think I'm some huge bitca by now," shame started to flush the young girl's cheeks and she sank down onto her couch, "And I'm not even Immortal yet….power is a dangerous, dangerous thing. Just goes straight to people's heads. I don't know what I was thinking…wow, Giles, I'm so sorry, can you tell Patrick that I'm sorry? Ca-,"
"Willow," Giles took pity on her enough to interrupt her apologetic babble, "I'm sure he'll live. Besides, he served under Merrick. He's used to it."
"So Merrick used to pull rank too?"
"All the time."
"So does that mean it's okay to do that?"
"I'd say that it depends on whether or not you want to be like Merrick."
Willow paused to consider his statement when she heard a ruckus coming from the foyer.
Unceremoniously, the door burst open, causing the startled hacker to almost drop the phone. Regarding the group standing in front of her, she hurriedly spoke, "Uhm, Giles…I swear I'm not pulling rank or anything, but something weird just happened so can I call you back?"
"Of course."
Quickly clicking off, she tossed the phone to the couch and jumped up. After an awkward silence she darted a look at Whistler who had since recomposed himself and now actually looked rather angry.
Cautiously, she smiled, "Uhm, hi. Who are you?"
Another strange silence descended upon the assembled group and the hacker started to fidget uncomfortably, "Uhm….my name is Wi-,"
Before she could get her introduction out, there was, what seemed to be an enormous exhalation of held breath followed by screaming.
In seconds, the hacker found herself surrounded by a huge group of nearly hysterical girls, shouting all at once with blatant admiration shining on their faces.
"Oh my God, I can barely believe it!"
"You are SO cool!!"
"I love your hair, is that, like, for real? What a great color!"
"Where did you get those black pants? They're fucking awesome!"
"Are you really the Immortal Watcher?"
"Can I have your autograph?"
Her head spinning, Willow fell back onto the couch tried to keep track of the endless chatter that burst forth all around her. Finally her gaze settled on a harried looking Cordelia.
Shrugging the brunette rolled her eyes, "They blackmailed me. I'm going to find a way to get back at each and every one of them soon. I've taken down names. They're slayers-in-training."
Whistler's cell phone started ringing and he quickly moved into the kitchen, away from the still-shrieking girls.
The redhead's face softened almost immediately, "'Slayers-in-training?' Aww!!! That's so awesome!" Feeling a surge of love for the younger girls huddled around her, Willow had to fight off the urge to gather them all into a group hug.
"What's it like to be immortal?"
"What should we call you?"
"Can I brush your hair?"
"Can we sleep over?"
The questions and doting stares were relentless but Willow fielded them with grace and ease. Never having had siblings before, Willow couldn't help but feel an instant 'big sister' kinship for the younger slayers. She was almost giddy with all of the attention when Whistler stepped back into the room.
"Will the wonders never cease?"
The grim expression on his face caused the hacker to sober up, "What's wrong?"
"That was Angel. He's coming over in about….well, now."
"He's coming over?! What?! Why?!"
"No time. get upstairs and get dressed fast."
Jumping up, the hacker flew from the room and up the stairs followed closely by her newly acquired entourage.
"Oh no, oh no, oh no!!" Her hands shaking, she bolted into her room and delved into her closet. Coming up empty handed, she crawled quickly across the floor, peering under her bed and overturning scattered clothing and books.
"What is it? What's going on?" Jessica asked, panicked.
"My mask and my shirt and my gloves…my whole outfit….I don't remember where I took it off. Oh no! I think there are pieces of it all over the house…I didn't think he'd come over tonight…I need to get dressed before Angel gets here!"
Snapping to attention, Heather quickly yanked Willow to a stop, "Dude, calm down. You're flipping out. We'll take care of it. We're slayers, that's why we're here."
"Right! What do you need?" Emma asked.
"Gloves, mask, boots, and shirt…they're all black…." the hacker responded nervously.
"Eliz, Emma, and Tracy, you've got the mask. Jessica, JR, and Teri, you've got the gloves. Hilary, stay here. Laura you're with me on the boots. Robin and Carrie go after the shirt." Heather shot the commands out quickly and within seconds the girls had emptied the room, nearly running over Cordelia in the process. Willow could hear them bounding off into various parts of the house.
"What's going on?' Cordelia asked as she made her way into the room and flopped down onto the bed.
"They're helping me get my disguise together before Angel gets he-,"
"One glove!" Teri shrieked as she ran past the open door pausing only to fling it into the room. The leather garment soundly whacked Cordelia in the head causing the brunette to jump up before Willow could finish her sentence.
"You totally did that on purpose you little cretin!" the former cheerleader yelled, running out into the hall.
The next thing Willow heard was a thud and harsh cursing as Laura shoved Cordelia out of the way and ran past the door travelling in the opposite direction, "Boot!" She called, tossing it into the room before going on her way.
"Let me help you get these on," Hilary quickly and quietly slid the incoming clothing on Willow.
"Other glove!" Jessica shouted as she threw it in and continued off.
Within less than a minute, Willow was efficiently dressed in most of her disguise.
"What are we missing?: Heather asked, slightly out of breath as she paused in the doorway.
"We're waiting on the mask," Hilary responded, wrinkling her nose.
"Got it!" Eliz smiled proudly, appearing from behind and leaning over Heather's shoulder to pass the final piece of clothing over to Hilary, "Tie up her hair, pull this sucker on and we're ready."
Harsh pounding from the downstairs door echoed up the hallway.
Sighing, Willow adjusted the veil over her eyes, "And not a moment too soon…."
PART TEN
Calmly, Whistler unlocked the door only to be confronted with a very angry Angel. Without thinking, the vampire charged into the house, only to be repelled several feet backwards by the invisible shield surrounding it.
"Hey, nice move there, Dr. Badass." Whistler stared down at his protégé and quirked an eyebrow.
Snarling, Angel got to his feet, "Where is she? I need to talk to her."
"You can try," the demon beckoned grandly, "Why don't ya come on in and make yourself comfortable?"
Storming into the house, Angel didn't spare Whistler a second glance. "Bastard." He muttered under his breath.
The demon merely smiled. "You're welcome."
**
Willow hurried down the stairs, almost tripping over the cluster of girls crowded around the bottom who were whispering in barely restrained excitement.
"He's here. Whistler just let him in." JR updated the hacker.
"Good luck!" Heather smiled warmly.
"Go get him," Jessica purred in her most seductive voice eliciting giggles from all of her companions.
Rolling her eyes behind her veil, Willow leaned over, "Thanks guys, but I don't want you to have to stay up so late for me. Council will get worried and you know that tweed and sweat don't mix."
Laura snorted.
"Why don't you all go get Cordy and go back home." The redhead gently ushered them back upstairs.
"Aww but…"
"Do we HAVE to?!"
"Nigel and Terrance sleep on the floor next to me and they *snore *!"
"I thought we were going to sleep over HERE…"
Shaking her head, Willow stopped all argument, 'I'd love to have you guys, but not tonight. Tell you what, ice cream on me, tomorrow, okay?"
Enduring a few hushed shouts of jubilation, Willow firmly pointed to the stairs until the entire group had filed reluctantly up them.
Bracing herself, she re-entered the living room.
**
At her entrance, Angel abruptly jumped up from his strained position, seated uncomfortably on the couch, "I-I'm sorry to come over here so late…." He began haltingly. Seeing her standing there, even if it was only her cloaked figure in a nondescript outfit, it was still emotionally unnerving. Suddenly, he began to have doubts over his purpose for visiting.
Gently, Willow inclined her head sideways, hoping that it conveyed her acceptance.
"I-I'd just like to speak to you."
Whistler entered the room carrying a soda.
"Alone."
Spinning on his heel in mid-stride, Whistler smoothly turned and left the room again.
As soon as the demon was gone, Angel dropped to one knee and took her hand.
An almost involuntary thrill went through the hacker's small frame over the significance of such a pose. She quickly destroyed it on the grounds that it was an utterly immature reaction.
"I know who you are and what you stand for and I'm sorry that you were somehow drawn into this." He said softly, from his prone position.
Sickeningly, the redhead felt her heart stop beating. He knows who I am? As in, 'Hey Willow, nice threads. What's a mousy loser like you doing protecting a guy like me?' That kind of KNOWS?
'I wish you'd told me in your email that you were the Immortal Watcher, but I understand that Whistler didn't want that. I promise to make this as painless and quick as possible for both of us, though."
Nodding numbly, Willow's panic bells were going off wildly in her head even though she didn't know why. Instinctually, she leaned closer, hanging on his every word.
Abruptly, he seized her hand harder and pulled it over his unbeating heart. Then, he started speaking in Gaelic.
The words were flying by so rapidly that she could only guess what they meant. That is, until one word flashed through her mind and caught.
'Release…'
She recognized it from the soul restoration spell she'd had to perform. What would he want to release? It didn't take long for the redhead's blinding intelligence to supply an answer Me! He's trying to release me from my duties as Protector!!
Stricken and horrified, Willow quickly jerked her hand out of Angel's grasp before he could finish and did the next thing that came to mind.
She backhanded him across the room.
**
Limping slightly, Cordelia walked back in silence towards her apartment, surrounded by a circle of slayers. She didn't bother to make an effort to even look around knowing that it was unlikely any vampire would be able to successfully attack the group and that if the girls were doing anything illegal, she wouldn't be able to stop them anyway.
How DARE they blackmail me? Manhandle me? Disobey me? She fumed in dead silence, refusing to acknowledge the real source of her anger. For all of the insults, death threats and general hysteria Cordelia had experienced with the small slayers, the worst part was feeling 'second best' when they got to see Willow. Although she intellectually understood the hacker's stronger bond to the group, it still hurt to be relegated to the back of the line.
No, I'm not hurt because they're all little cretins and I'll be glad to see them leave anyways…right?
Sighing loudly, Cordelia realized, with relief, that they were less than a block away from her apartment.
"Cordelia?"
She wrinkled her nose. NO, we couldn't have just gotten there without anything happening could we have? "Yeah, what?"
"Uhm…." Emma stared up at her with clear blue eyes, "Thanks." And with that, the tiny girl with blond curly hair latched onto the former cheerleader with a vice-like grip.
"Yeah, thanks. We're sorry for, like, pretending to blackmail you and stuff." Hilary quickly latched onto her other hand.
"We never would've really ratted you out to the council either." Tracy added sincerely.
"WE LOVE YOU CORDELIA!!!" Laura hollered as loudly as possible in an incredibly obnoxious voice before throwing her arms around the brunette's legs.
Before she could stop them, Cordelia was literally covered with tiny bodies, preventing her from moving so much as another step. Rolling her eyes, she tried desperately to contain the smile that was twitching at the corner of her lips, "Yeah, whatever."
"You're really, like, the coolest. I mean, you coulda said no and stuff." Teri said, 'But you didn't."
"EVERYONE says 'no' to us," Heather sighed.
"We never get to do anything or go anywhere." Robin nodded in agreement.
"The Council tends to keep us 'sheltered' pretty much all the time. Most of us don't have any friends or anyone else to talk to back at home and, I mean, I know that I haven't seen my parents for the past 6 or 7 years." JR added.
"Me neither," Eliz shrugged, "I don't really miss them, because I don't remember them too well, but getting to hang out with the rest of you guys for the past couple of days has just been the greatest."
"It was really nice of you to bring us to meet the Immortal Watcher, we appreciate it," Carrie smiled warmly, "Oh, and I know that Laura is really sorry for shoving you in the hall like she did."
"Huh?….Oh, yeah." The look on the raven-haired girl's face made it clear that the statement was somewhat of an afterthought.
"So, do you forgive us?" Jessica asked hopefully.
"Sure." The brunette tried to sound disaffected but couldn't help but feel bad for the group around her. She'd have to remember to bring it up with Willow at some point. Vaguely, she remembered how Kendra had been trained and how entirely different her experience had been compared to Buffy's. Cordelia tended to forget things like that, especially because most of the details occurred during a more self-centered stage of her life.
"Cool. Now that we're all kosher, can I try on your silver knee-high boots when we get home?" Jessica asked again with an equal amount of hopefulness.
"Don't push it."
"Uhm, just kidding."
**
Shaking her hand slightly to bring feeling back into it, she quickly stepped over Angel's stunned form with only a small pang of guilt and stalked silently into the kitchen.
"Whistler!" She barked harshly, her voice barely above a whisper.
The demon started from her sudden entrance, almost choking on his soda, "Huh? What happened?"
"I'm going to get my laptop. Hook Angel up to AOL on the computer in the living room under your screen name."
"Yes, ma'am!" He gave her a cocky grin and a sloppy salute before sauntering out the door. "Hah! What the hell happened to you?!" he asked just before the door swung shut behind him.
Willow heard him laughing at the vampire in the other room and sighed, allowing the guilt to wash over her. I did it AGAIN! What the heck is wrong with me?! Power…power going to the head…bad bad bad things happen…. Pushing her thoughts temporarily aside, she hurried upstairs.
"Okay, so this grey thing is called the mouse. It makes the pointy thing on the screen go 'woosh'." Whistler took another swig of soda before staring down condesendingly at the vampire sitting at the computer, still nursing a sore jaw.
"It wasn't funny when Cordelia did it and it still isn't funny now." Angel muttered, waiting for the line to connect.
"She really clocked you one, huh? She's a feisty chick. I coulda warned you."
"But you didn't."
"What'd you do to set her off?"
"I tried to release her from her duties."
"Then you SO deserved it." Whistler shook his head.
Smiling faintly, the vampire shrugged, "She's young. I didn't think she knew Gaelic that fluently."
Pausing thoughtfully, the demon furrowed his brows, "Gaelic? Neither did I…"
The sudden chiming of the computer put an end to the conversation as Angel quickly turned his attention to the monitor:
***************** Instant message from: Protector1 "I'm sorry about hitting you, are you okay?" ****************
Staring at the computer with a blank look on his face Angel slowly turned to Whistler for help.
"Click reply and then type in the box. She's in the other room IMing you from her laptop." The demon explained.
**************** Instant message from: Protector1 I really hope you aren't mad or anything. I mean, I don't normally get violent. I'm really an unviolent person. I'm SO sorry I hit you. I don't know what came over me.. **************************
Glancing up at the additional message, Angel carefully formulated his response and began gingerly hunting for the right keys.
******************* Instant message from: Protector1 I mean, I normally don't overreact. Like, I try to stay really cool-headed. Are you really mad? Is that why you're not responding? Gosh I'm so sorry. If you want to dismiss me as your Protector, you can, but I want you to know that I really thought it was an honor to be chosen and I've let the Council know and they're…uhm…fully supporting me on this… **************** Slightly panicking as her messages became more numerous, Angel tried to reformulate his response while searching for the delete key.
Whistler merely rolled his eyes.
****************** Instant message from: Protector1 I also want to personally apologize for not letting you know sooner that I'm Immortal Watcher. Like, you must be really uncomfortable about this since I know that Watchers and vampires get along about as well as slayers and vampires do…LOL. (sorry, lame joke) :) Uhm….are you still mad? ******************
"What does lawl mean?" Angel stared expectantly up at Whistler.
"LOL….not 'lawl' it means 'Laughing Out Loud', it's Internet lingo." The demon shrugged, "Dude, you should probably try typing something back before you give her a heart attack."
"I'm trying, I'm trying!! She just goes so fast…" Angel stared at the keys in frustration again.
Both men groaned at the sound of the IM chime yet again.
******************** Instant message from: Protector1 So anyways, I'm sorry. Have I mentioned that before? Oh, and I'm sure that Whistler's really sorry for not telling you everything too. *******************
"No I'm not." The demon shook his head at the computer screen.
Ignoring him, Angel rapidly sent out a short message.
******************* Instant message from: LoungeLizrd Wait. *****************
Up in her room, Willow's fingers immediately froze over her keyboard and her breath caught in her throat.
Back downstairs, blissful silence returned and with it came Angel's ability to think properly.
******************* Instant message from: LoungeLizrd I'm bad at this. Tpying is new to me and I'm still getting the hang og it. Sorry. Just give me a second. ******************
The red head sighed in relief.
******************* Instant message from: LoungeLizrd Typing. I meant to say typing. And of not og. ******************
She giggled softly before responding. ******************* Instant message from: Protector1 It's okay, Angel. I completely understand. ******************
**
"This has just really been the best night of my life." Tracy sighed happily as Cordelia unlocked the door.
It had been at least 5 minutes since they started but the girls seemed unable to stop gushing.
"I know, it's like first we get to hang out with each other, and then we meet Cordelia, and then we get to meet ANGEL and then we get to meet the fricking Immortal Watcher, I mean what next…?" Laura's voice trailed off and her dark eyes widened as Cordelia pushed open the door.
Jessica recognized the slightly frazzled looking blonde girl at the other end of the hall almost instantly.
"Holy fucking shit, its Buffy Summers." She said softly, her eyes glazed over in disbelief.
Cocking her head to one side, the current Slayer turned and smiled at the assembled group, "Oh, hi! You must be the slayers in training! I was wondering when you would be getting ba-,"
"OHMYGOD!!" Staring over Emma's shoulder, Hilary started screaming at the sight of her idol, "OHMYGOD, OHMYGOD, OHMYGOD!" Hopping up and down, she quickly shoved her way past her friends and took off.
Cordelia braced herself as the tide of small squirming bodies rushed passed her into apartment, "And you'd figure it was the Backstreet Boys or something." She shook her head.
Within seconds, the mildly frightened Slayer found herself being charged in the narrow hallway by a large contingent of screaming girls.
"This is fucking better than Disney World!!!" Laura whooped jubilantly.
"Buffy kicks Mickey's ass any day!" Heather shouted in response.
"I think I liked the 'They're rushing me, what do I do now?' face on Willow better," Cordelia said thoughtfully as she watched Buffy go down at the end of the hall.
"We still love you too, Cordelia." Carrie reminded her, having held back with the brunette.
"You can go over there, Carrie." The brunette sighed over-dramatically, "I don't mind."
Within seconds, the redhead had gratefully scampered off as well, leaving the former cheerleader alone at the end of the hallway.
Still smiling.