Title: Different Worlds

Author: Sara6255

Rating: PG-13 - R (Bad language)

Pairing: C/X, W/O, S/D, A/B eventually

Disclaimer: I don't own anyone or anything. (So sad)

Distribution: Sure, but please ask first.

Summary: This is an AU fic in answer to a challenge: Angel is like a "Bad Boy" who was raised on the tough side of Sunnydale. Buffy is a normal girl. Buffy and Angel despise each other because they are so different, (for now). They all go to school at Sunnydale High. Spike and Angel are brothers and they have an older brother, Kyle and Faith is their sister. Giles is Buffy's legal guardian because Joyce is dead.

Spoilers: None, a totally AU story

Feedback: I need it to survive!

Author's Notes: This comes from a challenge from Joana. You can e-mail her at: dopelittleangel4life@hotmail.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Buffy wandered home around eleven that morning. She decided that it would be best to stay on Giles' good side and be his devoted slave today. She walked in to find Willow sitting with Giles in the living room.

Buffy panicked, "Hey Will...I."

Willow saved her butt again, "After you left my house this morning, I noticed your Chemistry book on my desk, so I thought I'd bring it to you. I forgot you were walking home, that's why I beat you, I drove."

Willow handed the book to Buffy and she smiled, "Thanks Willow, I knew I'd forget something."

They both looked at Giles, "Thank you Willow, it was very thoughtful." He excused himself and went to the kitchen.

Willow grinned, "I fed him a story about what we did last night and he doesn't suspect a thing."

Buffy hugged her, "I owe you so much. Let's go to my room, it's time I leveled with you."

Willow and Buffy went to Buffy's room and she closed the door. Willow sat on her bed and Buffy followed.

"Willow, you know that I hate lying to you and everyone else, I really do, but I had no choice. If I tell you the truth, do you promise not to tell anyone, EVER?"

"Of course."

"I'm serious. You can NEVER tell a soul what I'm going to tell you."

"Buffy, I swear on my mother's life, God forbid, that I will NEVER tell anyone."

"Ok. Well, Last weekend when I was walking home from the library at school, I kinda...met some guys. Long story short, they were going to kill me; but Angel and his friends stopped them. Even longer story short, I got shot in the side; so I was at Angel's house last weekend because I couldn't get home at all, I was totally out of it. I was at the Bronze last night, talking to Angel and the guy who shot me, tried to shot me again, but Angel stopped him and got shot in the shoulder, so I was at Angel's house last night, making sure that he was ok."

Willow had a blank look on her face, "Ok, let me see if I understand this: Last weekend you almost got killed, but the guy that you hate saved you, but you got shot, so you held up at his house for a weekend; then last night you were at the Bronze with this guy that you told me you hated, then you almost got shot again, but he saved you even though, HE hates you and got shot in the process, so you decided to spend the night at his house again to make sure he's ok?"

"Well...yea."

"Ok Buffy, you need to fill in some missing blanks because I am totally lost. I thought you hated Angel and his friends."

"They saved my life when they could have just let me die, and they made sure that I was ok. I had more than enough time to get to know all of them and they are great people; they are so close to each other. Not to mention that Angel risked his own life for mine last night. They aren't who I thought they were."

"Ok, I get that. Are you guys all friends now?"

"Well, I wouldn't really say that. They are really nice to me and all, but we aren't really friends. But Faith and I are kinda friends; she's nicer to me than anyone."

"Faith?"

"Yea, she's cool; but don't worry, you will ALWAYS be my first and best friend. Now remember, don't tell anyone. I was warned numerous times not to tell anyone what happened, I just hate lying to you."

"Don't worry, I'll take it to the grave. I'm here anytime you need me. What about Giles?"

"Well, now that you know, it will be easier to lie to Giles. God, if he knew ANY of this, he'd send me off to a boarding school."

"O yea, I kissed Angel this morning."

"What!?"

"I was putting a new bandage on his shoulder where he got shot, and when I was cutting the gauze stuff, the scissors slipped and I stabbed him. He looked like he was about to cry, so I did the first thing I could think of to distract him, I kissed him."

"What did he do?"

"Well, at first I thought that he was going to pull away, but he started kissing me back. It only lasted a minute, but I knew that he didn't want me to stop."

Willow smiled, "So, what was it like?"

"My stomach did flip flops."

"So, I take it he's not on your bad side anymore."

"Not at all."

"Crap, I have to go to the store for my mom. That's why I left in the first place. You can bring my Chemistry book back to school on Monday."

Buffy smiled, "I knew I didn't leave my book at your place. Thanks Willow. I'll call you."

"Ok, and don't worry, your secret dies with me."

She winked at Buffy and left the house.

~~~

Buffy was in her room for about an hour before she couldn't take it anymore. She had been thinking about Angel non-stop and it was killing her.

"I can't do this."

She jumped out of her chair and decided to go for a walk to think about things. Giles had gone to the school to get some stuff he had left there, so Buffy left a note, telling him that she was going for a walk. Simple and to the point was good enough for her. Buffy stopped by a gas station and bought the paper. As she was looking through it, she stopped and starred at the local section. She read the headline: LOCAL TEEN FOUND DEAD AFTER APPARENT GANG FIGHT. Under the headline was a picture of a guy lying on the ground almost exactly where Buffy had knocked out Jack, except, that wasn't Jack. Buffy immediately freaked out; she grabbed the paper and ran back home and took Giles' car. The only rule he ever had was that when she took his car with or without asking, she always had to fill up the tank afterwards and Buffy agreed. She drove to Angel's house as fast as she could, crying all the way. When she got there, she ran to the door and pounded on it.

Kyle answered and smiled at Buffy, but he stopped when he saw that she was crying, "Buffy, what's wrong?"

Buffy shoved the paper in Kyle's face.

He looked at the article and his face went white, "Holy shit."

He backed away from the door, "Come in."

Buffy went in and immediately started pacing back and fourth, still crying, "Who the hell is that?!"

Everyone obviously heard Buffy and they all appeared from different corners of the house, including Angel, who was the last to get there.

He saw Buffy crying, "Buffy, what happened?"

Kyle handed the paper to Angel and he just stared at the picture of the guy, "What the hell...."

Buffy was in hysterics, "Who is that? It sure as hell isn't Jack.

Faith went over to calm Buffy, "Chill out B. Someone must have found Jack, and either tried to help him, or tried to kill him, but they got killed instead?"

Angel studied the picture on the paper, "Steve."

Buffy looked at the picture again, "Who's Steve?"

Kyle looked at the picture too, "That is Steve. He is...was a friend of Jack's."

Faith was still with Buffy, "So he found Jack and tried to help, but someone killed him..."

In unison, everyone looked over at Xander and he smiled, "Hey, I didn't kill anyone. If I had, I sure as hell wouldn't have killed Steve and just let Jack get away. Besides, I listen to Cordy, believe it or not."

Everyone then looked at Spike, and he replied, "I listen to Cordelia too, I didn't kill anyone." He smiled.

Angel sat down, "This doesn't make any sense, if someone killed Steve, why didn't they kill Jack too?"

Faith studied the article, "Maybe Steve helped Jack, but someone came along and there was a fight, Steve got killed, and Jack got away?"

Kyle dropped the paper on the table, "I don't buy it. I'm gonna go see what I can find out."

Buffy was a little calm now, "You're gonna go by the scene?"

"No way, not with all the cops, way too suspicious. I have other ways to find out stuff."

Faith went to Kyle, "I'll go with you."

Xander motioned to Cordelia, Spike, and Dru, "We'll go see if we can find something."

Faith looked at her brother, "What about Angel?"

Angel rolled his eyes, "Please, I can take care of myself. I don't need anyone here."

Buffy casually said, "I'll stay here with him."

Angel tried to sound annoyed, but it didn't work too well, "Whatever."

Everyone smiled at the pair, then left the house.

Buffy sat on a chair across from Angel, "This is nuts."

"Welcome to my life."

"I'm sorry."

"It's ok, I'm so used to it now, stuff like this doesn't even faze me anymore."

"Man, it's driving me crazy. It's my fault he's dead. If I had never knocked out Jack, Steve never would have tried to help, and he wouldn't have been killed."

"Ok; first, none of this is your fault. When you did that to Jack, you saved my life; second, Steve was almost as big an asshole as Jack, so whoever killed him did the world a favor. Third...well...It's not your fault, you saved my life. You had nothing to do with Steve's death."

"Yea, but I can't help but feel responsible."

"I was like that for a long time, but I learned to get over it and move on, just like you will. I'm sorry I got you in to all of this. If anything, it's my fault."

Buffy smiled, "We're trying to blame ourselves when it obviously isn't our faults. So, forget it. How's your shoulder?"

"Same as it was the last time you were here."

"You mean when I stabbed it with the scissors?"

"Yep, pretty much."

Buffy grinned, "I'm sorry."

"It's ok, it's of the past."

They both thought about what had happened after she stabbed him, and they were silent.

Buffy spoke up, "Sorry I kissed you. I just wanted you to forget how much your shoulder hurt. I mean, you looked like you were about to cry and I've NEVER seen someone so...tough almost cry, so I knew it hurt. I wanted to give you a distraction."

"It worked."

Buffy didn't like all the tension in the room, so she changed the subject, "You know, I owe you guys my life. I mean, I've only known you all for like a week, and you've already saved me twice. How can you do this? You guys go through this every day; I've been shot once and almost killed twice, in one week; I can only imagine what you guys go through. Don't you want out?"

"Every day of our lives; but we don't have a choice. If we drop our guard for a second, we're dead."

"I suppose you're right."

"Believe me, if I could, I would drag all of us, including you, away from this shit and we'd all start over, but that isn't a possibility."

Buffy and Angel continued talking for hours about random things, Buffy's mom and dad, Giles, her friends; Angel talked about his family, his friends, and who the whole rival thing had started. The longer they talked, the closer they felt to each other.

~~~~

Around 7 that night, Faith, Kyle, Spike, Dru, Xander, and Cordelia all came home. They saw Angel and Buffy sitting on the couch together talking.

Faith smiled, "Hey guys, how's it going?"

Buffy smiled at the group, "It's good as can be expected."

Angel looked at Kyle, "So, what did you find out?"

Kyle sat in a chair by the T.V., "Jack killed him."

Angel and Buffy exchanged confused glances, "So, Jack is alive?" Buffy asked.

"Yea, Steve found Jack unconscious and he went to help. Jack woke up and thought that someone was trying to kill him, so he pulled a knife from his pocket and stabbed Steve in the chest, 3 times. Jack didn't even stay to see who it was; he jumped up and ran off."

Buffy was really confused, "How do you know all this?"

"Friends on the inside."

"Meaning..."

"We know a guy who is supposedly on Jack's side, but he "works" for us. At times like this, he comes in handy. He keeps us informed."

"Oh, not a bad idea."

"Be on the look out Buffy. He's gonna really have it in for us."

Buffy's stomach twisted into a bunch of knots "Can't wait."

Faith saw the look on Buffy's face, "Follow me B."

She went upstairs to her room and Buffy followed. Faith opened her top dresser drawer, rummaged through it, and pulled something out. She handed it to Buffy, "Here, you need this."

Buffy saw a small gun that she would be able to hide in her purse...or back pocket, "No way. I don't know how to shoot those things."

"Take it, B. It could save your life. It's easy to fire, just point, cock the gun, and shoot. Only, do it faster than I said it." Faith smiled.

Buffy took it and carefully inspected it, "Ok, but if I shoot myself, it's on your shoulders." Buffy tried to make it sound like a joke, but this wasn't the right time.

She smiled, "Thanks. I'll be careful."

They went back downstairs and Buffy looked at her watch, "Man, I gotta go home. Giles will kill me if I'm late again."

Angel stood up, "Let me walk you home."

"Angel, I'll be ok, I promise."

"Buffy, I-"

"Willow. I'll call her and ask if she can pick me up."

Angel agreed, "Ok."

Buffy went to the kitchen and dialed Willow's number. No one answered, so Buffy faked it, "Hey Will. Can you meet me at the corner of Wisland Street in five minutes?" She waited for a minute, "Thanks. See you then." She didn't want to put anyone out of their way anymore than she already had.

She smiled at everyone, "It's all set. I'll call when I get home?"

Faith smiled, "You better."

Everyone exchanged their goodbyes, and Buffy left the house.

Buffy walked down the street looking behind her every five seconds. When she got to Wisland Street, she heard a noise, "You don't trust me?" Thinking it was Faith or one of them, she smiled and turned around.

When she saw the person, her smiled vanished, "Jack."

She saw Jack standing behind her with a big grin on his face, and Buffy's heart stopped.

~~~~~

End of part 11.