Hey everyone! I would like to apologize for my tardiness in getting this chapter out. I do update rather slowly, but I assure you all that every one of my stories will be finished. I'm just so busy that I don't get very long to write them each day and, as my chapters are long, it does take me a while to finish them. You've all probably been anxiously awaiting the next chapter, and here it is. Same rating, disclaimer and summary as the last two chapters. So, enough with me talking, let's get on to the story!

"Now, Miss Summers, will you state for the court, in your own words, what happened to you one the afternoon of February 16, 2003?" District Attorney Wesley Wyndham Price asked Buffy in court several weeks after her near death experience.

"I had just been assigned to work a case on the SVU with my partner, Angel. We went to the scene and were informed that we had to transport the body. I decided to stay on the scene while he took the body and after he left I was approached by a large man wearing an expensive suit and smoking a very smelly cigar. I told him that he would have to leave because it was a crime scene and he said that he had committed the murder. I attempted to arrest him, and he knocked me out. When I woke up I was underwater and I was tied up. Suddenly Angel dove in and pulled me to the surface."

'Thank you very much Miss Summers. I just have one more question for you. Could you identify your assailant for the court?"

"Yes. The man who attacked me is sitting behind the defense table."

"Thank you, Miss Summers. Your witness, Mt. DiAngelo."

Robert DiAngelo, mob boss and sleazy defense attorney stood up and approached Buffy, a cold glint in his eyes. "Miss Summers, you are a detective with the Sunnydale Police Department, are you not?"

"Actually I was promoted to Lieutenant a month ago. But yes, I work for the Sunnydale PD."

"A promotion. What circumstances was this under?"

"I was reported to have gone above and beyond the call of duty for a bank robbery I worked a while ago."

"You partner, Liam Sullivan, he also received a promotion?"

'Yes."

"For the same thing?"

"Objection Your Honor! What relevance does this have toward his client and the charges being brought here today?"

Judge Wilson looked down his nose at the defense attorney. "I trust you have a point Mr. DiAngelo?"

"I'm merely painting a picture of the supposed victim for the court. I will be making a point shortly."

"Make it quick. I don't like this line of questioning."

"Yes sir. Miss Summers, is it true that two years ago you shot and killed your former partner Kimberly Sullivan?"

"Yes, but…"

"And is it true that Liam Sullivan is Kimberly's older brother?"

"Yes, but that had nothing to do with our relationship as partners."

"Really? Then it isn't true that you and Mr. Sullivan are romantically involved?"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Just answer the question Miss Summers."

"Yes, we are dating."

"And is it or is it not true that Mr. Sullivan has a connection to the organized crime syndicate in San Diego?"

"He put some of them away if that's what you mean."

"All right, and is it or is it not true that some of the members of the families he put away swore revenge on him?"

"I don't know. I don't think so. Mr. DiAngelo, I really don't see what this has to do with your client killing and raping and woman and attempting to kill me."

"Allegedly. Nothing has been proven here. And as far as I'm concerned you're a lying little bitch who gets a kick out of screwing the brother of the partner that you killed!"

"OBJECTION!" Wesley roared, shooting up out of his seat. "Your Honor, he is badgering my witness, and that is verbal abuse!"

"Sustained. Mr. DiAngelo, one more thing like that and you will be out of my courtroom. Do you understand that?"

"Yes, Your Honor. I have no more questions."

"Good, the witness may step down. Court is adjourned for the day and will resume at nine tomorrow morning. Mr. DiAngelo, I will see you in my chambers."

Buffy stood shakily and stepped out of the witness stand. Wesley met her at the bottom of the stand with an apologetic look. "He shouldn't have gotten away with that. I'm sorry. I didn't know that he would be doing anything like that."

"Don't worry about it Wes. I can handle it. Besides, everyone knows he's the sleaziest lawyer on the face of the planet."

"Yeah we do. So does the jury if we're lucky. Is Angel meeting you somewhere?"

"We're meeting for dinner at Callie's. He's still trying to work our case while I had to testify."

"That's good. How are you coming with it? Any suspects?"

"One. And you won't believe this. Riley Finn."

"Have you contacted Internal Affairs?"

"Yeah. They're sending a Detective to look through our evidence. I'll have a fax of everything over to you by morning. You can start filing through what we've got, see if you can start making a case."

"I'll have to hand this one off to Cordelia. And I think the defense is calling you as a witness when they get their chance."

"Damn. I was hoping that I was done. Angel?"

"They're calling him too. But don't worry. If anything damaging is done I'll recall you or try to get the testimonies thrown out based on the assault he did in court today. I'd probably stand a good chance. Judge Wilson and I go back to law school together."

"That's good to know. Do you and Cordy want to join us for lunch? We could go over the case."

"I don't think you need to worry about the case right now. Go get some dinner and go home for the night. This has been a rough day."

"Are you sure? We probably won't get much done but talk about it anyway. Oh, and do I need to be here tomorrow?"

"No. I'll still be calling witnesses tomorrow. I'll let you know when it's his turn."

"Thanks, Wes. I appreciate it more that you can believe."

Wesley smiled, and led Buffy out of the room by the elbow. "Just be careful. If this case wasn't getting such big publicity right now, I don't have a doubt that they'd be trying to have both you and Angel killed. And besides me and maybe Cordelia, I don't think that there's a DA or ADA in the country that would take this case on. So watch your back and don't go anywhere alone. I'm even going to drive you to meet Angel."

Buffy accepted the invitation without hesitation. Angel had dropped her off since, the night she had been released from the hospital, her car had been stolen and wrecked beyond repair and she hadn't had time to go looking for a new one. She hadn't been looking forward to the five-mile walk into town.

"Thanks Wesley!" Buffy called after Wesley's car a few minutes later, after he had dropped her off at Callie's. She saw Angel at a booth inside and walked in. He stood up to greet her.

"Hey. How was court?" he asked, bending down to kiss her quickly. "You look exhausted."

"The defense attorney called me a bitch who gets a kick out of screwing the brother of the partner I murdered." Buffy mumbled, still sore about the accusation. "That didn't make me, Wesley, or the judge very happy."

Angel looked ready to find Robert DiAngelo and beat the tar out of him. Buffy laid a hand on his arm and gazed up at him with emerald green eyes that begged him not to get himself into any trouble. Sighing, he kissed the top of her head and gestured for her to sit down, taking the space beside her once she was settled.

"I don't think that you should be alone through this trial."

"That's what Wesley said. Do you really think that I can't take care of myself?"

"You can take care of yourself against drug dealers, people strung up on stuff too dangerous to fathom, and three hundred pound men dunk off their asses and mean as snakes that are trying to stab you in the gut. If the DiAngelo family were any of those things, I would have no worries about leaving you alone. But they are the mob and they have hit men and mercenaries at their fingertips, and right now I have no doubt that they would not hesitate a second to have you killed if they thought they could benefit from it."

"Angel, I can take care of myself."

"I know. But I still want you with me during this thing if only to humor me. Please?"

"I'm not leaving my apartment." Buffy said stubbornly.

"Okay, the I'll stay at yours."

"Are you inviting yourself to stay with me Angel?"

"No. I'm telling you that you don't have a choice. You'll either stay with me, let me stay with you, or I'll have Giles put a watch on your apartment twenty-four hours a day. And that would be pretty embarrassing for a hard ass like you. Take your pick."

Buffy considered her options for a moment. "Okay. I just need to stop by my place and pack some things."

Angel had to take a minute to let that process. "Did you just agree to stay with me until this whole thing blows over?"

"No. I agreed to stay with you until you realize that nothing is going to happen to me, and you'll let me go back to my apartment without an argument."

"I don't think that will happen until this thing is long over and done with, and every one of the DiAngelo's are behind bars."

"Angel, I'm not moving in with you."

"And I'm not asking you to. Neither of us is ready for anything permanent. I know that. I just want to know that you're safe. And I will know that if you're where I can keep an eye on you twenty four hours a day."

"This arrangement won't last long."

"It will last as long as the trial and probably after. Oh, and my parents want us to come up to their house for Christmas."

"Angel, they don't know that you're seeing me. As far as they know I'm just a girl you work with. When they see me, I won't be the woman you've been casually dating, I'll be the person who shot and killed their baby girl and they won't want anything to do with me."

"You can't know that."

"I can and I do. Unlike you, your parents know my name and what I look like. They had me arrested when I went to Kimmy's funeral. Little did I know they had taken out a restraining order against me, and being at the graveyard was just within the distance that I had to stay away from them. I found out later that the exact distance was the distance that a bullet could travel and still give a fatal wound."

"My parents did that? Why didn't you tell me?!"

"I didn't want to upset you, Angel. This thing between us is hard enough as it is. I didn't want outside worries making it even harder."

Angel grabbed her hand and held it tight. "What exactly is hard about this, Buffy?" he asked tightly, trying not to let the emotions he was feeling show through to her.

"Nothing you can help. Just the way I feel. The amount of guilt I have to deal with. The fact that I actually wonder why in the world you haven't shot me yet because of what I did to your sister. I killed her Angel! It may have been accidental, but it was still my fault. I was the experienced one. I should have been paying more attention to what she was doing. Hell, I shouldn't have taken a rookie within a mile of a hostage situation. I made a boatload of mistakes and everyone seemed eager to blame me at first. Then everything came out, and suddenly I was absolved of everyone's guilt but my own. It would be easier if you blamed me. It would be easier if everyone blamed me, because then I would know that I was getting what I deserved. But everyone is anxious to forgive and forget, and that isn't the way it should be."

During her emotional speech, Buffy had begun to cry softly. Angel twisted in the seat and pulled her against his chest, letting her sob into the soft material of his shirt. He ignored the strange looks people were giving them, and instead concentrated on comforting his distraught girlfriend. She fisted her hands in his shirt and held on to him like she would never let go. He crooned to her softly and, after several tense minutes, he felt her stop shaking and loosen her grip on his shirt. As soon as she regained control of her emotions, he hustled her out of the restaurant and into his car.

"We need to talk." He announced tersely, opening and closing her door for her. She buckled her seat belt and waited patiently for him to join her in the car, which he did after a long moment of getting himself in check. After calming his nerves, he joined Buffy in the car and also buckled his seat belt. "Why didn't you tell me any of that before you let things progress between us?" he demanded. Buffy jerked at the tone in his voice, but decided to answer.

"Because I thought that we needed time to get to know each other without all this hanging over our heads. Things were hard enough with the mob and the other case dumped in our laps by Riley, and pulling overtime, and me going to testify. It was going to be making a stressful situation even more stressful for the both of us. I was trying to make things easier. I'm sorry if it didn't work out that way."

Angel sighed deeply. "No, you're right. Things between us have been tense from the start. The way we met, the way we got together, and everything since then has been beyond tense and you were trying to help the situation. But you were hurting yourself keeping everything bottled up inside. I wish you had told me sooner."

"You didn't need anything else to worry about. I was fine and I'd been keeping it to myself for nearly two years, what were a few weeks more gonna matter?"

Angel chuckled and leaned over to hug her. She melted into his embrace and clung on him as relief swept through her body. He pulled back a moment later and kissed her gently for a few seconds, not trying to deepen the kiss or pull her closer. When they broke apart he started the car and drove towards the station.

"We got a lead on the bullet we found on the bullet that we got out of the rape victim. It came from a 9 mm. semi automatic."

"That's the Sunnydale PD standard issue. Did they get a serial number?"

'Filed off. If we can find a witness who corroborates our theory that Riley was at the Bronze Tuesday night around midnight I think we can get a warrant for his gun. If we can test fire it then the lab people can see if they match up."

Buffy almost spit out her pop. "We don't need a warrant!" she exclaimed. "Riley was here before me. Five years before I got here, they required all standard issues to be test fired for the records. It only lasted three years until a case about a police officer having his gun stolen and a murder was committed with it blew over, but I think he was here then. And if we're beyond lucky he still has the same gun."

"You head down to Chief Giles' office and ask. I'll go try and get an alibi we can break from Finn."

Buffy walked into Giles' office ten minutes later. Giles was sitting behind his desk doing paperwork and sipping on coffee she knew from past memory was cold. "If you've got five minutes for me I'll warm up your coffee."

"Get me a new cup and you've got yourself a deal. What can I do for you Buffy?"

"How long ago did Riley come here?"

"Seven years if I'm not mistaken."

"I don't suppose he still has the same gun?"

"You know as well as I do that officers keep their old guns. He has every gun from his very first one, same as you and I. We get refitted every two years."

"Thanks Giles." She said, "I'll be right back with your coffee.

"Thanks. And Buffy? What does this have to do with anything?"

Buffy turned around. "Giles, I have a sneaking suspicion that Riley really did this. Not only did we find his wallet less that a block from the scene of the murder, and not only has he not given us an alibi for that night, the bullet came from a gun exactly like our standard issue. If memory serves me correctly there're five people outside the force who have those guns, and less than three hundred in the state of California. Three of the five are retired police officers. So, in all likelihood we are looking for a dirty cop."

Giles shook his head. "Call the FBI headquarters in Los Angeles. Have them send down a couple of IA agents and explain the situation. I want them here bright eyed and bushy tailed tomorrow morning."

"Will do."

Angel approached Riley slowly. Riley saw him coming and waved. "Hey buddy. What's goin' on? Did Buffy do okay in court?"

"Fine. I actually have a couple questions for you."

"Shoot."

"I need to know where you were between midnight and three A.M. Tuesday night?"

"None of your damn business."

"Ri, I need to know. The bullet that killed that girl came from a standard issue gun. Now I don't think it was a cop. I just need to know where everyone who has one of the guns like ours was Tuesday night. Standard procedure. You know the drill. You've worked murders before."

Riley grinned maliciously. "I was at home. In bed."

"Alone?"

"No."

"Who was with you?"

"I just told you where I was. What do you need to know about my partners?"

"I'll need to corroborate your story."

"Man, I'm sick of this. If I didn't know better I'd say that you were thinking that I offed the slut."

"I don't think that Riley. But I'm beginning to think that you don't want me to know where you were."

"And what if I don't?"

"Then you're in a deep load of shit."

"Fine. I was at home in bed with Buffy, fucking her brains out all night. How's that for an alibi? Of course she won't corroborate it because she was too busy screaming to know what time it was."

Angel launched himself at Riley and hit him around the abdomen. Riley went flying and took Angel with him. They went down in a tangle of arms and legs, fists flying. There were guys trying to pull them apart, but Riley definitely got the worst of it before Xander and another officer, Alan Doyle, pulled him off Riley.

"Angel! Calm down." Xander said, "I know he's a bastard, but he isn't worth getting suspended over. What did he do anyway?"

Angel made a low growling noise in his throat. "He lied about Buffy."

"Lied? Right. You just don't wanna admit that your girlfriend is nothing but a fatass whore who gets it wherever she can. And I happened to be that place on Tuesday."

This time it was Xander who got in punches while Doyle and Angel pulled him off. Doyle looked ready to get in a couple of his own, but one look from Buffy, who had heard every word he had said after Angel had been pulled off him, was enough to make him back off and let the petite blonde have her way. Buffy took a big breath, walked over and punched Riley as hard as she could. Riley took a second to recover, drew back his fist and hit her across the nose. She attacked him, but before she got herself hurt trying to defend herself, Angel grabbed her around the waist and hauled her away leaving Riley screaming that he wanted to press charges and Xander trying to clam him down and explain things to Giles.

"What the Hell do you think you're doing trying to take on Riley?! That was absolutely idiotic."

"You did it, Xander did it and it wasn't even you he was talking about Angel. I deserve to be able to beat him up."

"I'm not arguing, but you have to know that you can beat him up. He would've killed you."

Buffy stomped off and got in her car. Angel was left staring at her taillights as she drove home for the day. He only hoped that she would come over to his apartment after she cooled down. But somewhere in the back of his mind he knew she would need more that an hour or two by herself.

The next morning the special FBI agent arrived. Buffy walked into her office and was met with a strange man wearing tight blue jeans, a worn leather jacket and smoking a cigarette. But it was his hair that drew her attention. It was platinum blonde, obviously died, and slicked back. It looked like he spent more time on his hair then she ever did on hers.

"Can I help you sir?"

The man turned around to reveal piercing blue eyes. "Well hello, love. It's nice to finally meet you. I'm FBI agent William Deveraux. But you can call me Spike."

What'd you think? I know it's a little short, but it's the best I can do at the moment. The next chapter of either Jarthran or Trust me will be out next, though I'm not sure which. Check back in a couple days to see what happens.