Chapter 11
"Come on." Angel said. He, Buffy, Gunn, and Fred were scaling the wall of the Chandler auction house. Buffy and Angel were almost at the top with Fred and Gunn a little ways down.
"Damn. This is so much harder than it looks on Batman." Gunn said.
They made it over the fence and to the electrical box. Angel ripped the cover off. He sorted through the tangle of wires inside for a moment. Finally, Buffy walked up and grabbed a small handful and pulled them out. The lights went out. Fred used some electronic gizmo to make the light on the door turn green and let them in. They descended some concrete steps.
Following the floor plans, Fred brought them to a hallway. "Thirty yards west. This is the junction." She laid the floor plans out on the floor. "All right. I'll be in here trying to hack the security system for the vault. Charles.."
"Secure the escape route. Guard station, one floor down." Gunn said.
"Disarm and contain. Angel, you and Buffy get to the vault, wait for system shut down, then steal the axis."
"You are so hot right now."
"Go." The guys jumped up and started to head away in separate directions. "Guys." Angel and Gunn came back and each left in the opposite direction they were originally going.
Buffy followed Angel this time. She led the way to the vault. When they found it, the door was wide open. Buffy brought out a can of aerosol and sprayed the sir in front of the doorway. A network of green light beams became visible.
"Help me out here Fred." Buffy said. Angel stepped in up next to her and the barred security gate came down in front of their faces. "Not exactly what I had in mind." Buffy looked around. "I'll be right back."
Angel watched Buffy walk off. He took a hold of the bottom cross bar and started to lift the gate. He fell back as he was showered with electrical sparks and a ceiling panel inside the vault opened. A woman's head and upper torso dropped down through it.
"You know, I put that down for a reason." She said.
"Who are you?" Angel asked.
"Who are you?"
"I asked you first."
"What are you, seven?"
"Tell me you're not here for the axis."
"I'm not here for the axis."
"You're lying."
"I'm fibbing. That's lying. Only classier." The woman reached down a hand and all the light beams arced up and out of her way, then she dropped down into the cleared space.
"What?"
"Technically? I'm exciting the subatomic particles with electrical energy and then bouncing them off each other before they hit ground state. I just love that folks go for this high tech stuff. Electricity comforts them. Suckers."
"What are you?"
The woman held her hand over the palm recognition scanner. "I'm a freak." There was an electrical discharge and the lock opened. "What did you think?" She walked into the vault.
"Yeah, well, uh, I'm sure there is a lot of other nice, expensive things that you could steal in there. It just.. it doesn't have to be the one." Angel said.
Gunn came in and said, "Where's the bogey?"
"Inside. She's after the axis."
"She? As in she took out the four armed guards downstairs?"
"That's good to know."
The woman came back out of the vault, carrying the axis, and took a hold of the rope she came down on. "So long, handsome."
"Listen. I need the axis. See, it's an ancient mystical artifact.." Angel started.
"That's fun for a girl and a boy. I like to think of it as mine."
"Please."
"Please? Are you kidding me?" She noticed Gunn. "Hey there, Denzel."
"I'm trying to find someone. Someone very important to me, and the axis there, it's my only shot."
"Come on, he's telling the truth." Gunn said.
"Oh, golly, if you say it's true. So what? You just wanna borrow this thing?"
"You can do whatever you want with it as soon as I find her."
"Her. Of course it's a her." She let go of the rope and walked over to the gate. "Two questions then. One: do you really love her?"
"Yeah. I do. But not in that way. I'm married. Got a kid. The girl I'm looking for is more of a sister."
"Really? Two: on a scale of one to ten, exactly how stupid do you think I am?" Suddenly an alarm went off, the lights began to flash, and the gate slowly rose. "Don't answer that."
"Way to go Fred." Angel said.
Gwen went back to climb her rope. Angel tried to force the gate up faster. Gunn rolled through under the gate as soon as there was enough space and lunged for the woman, wrapping his arms around her legs.
"Let go!" She yelled.
"A little help here!" Gunn called.
The woman reached out and sent an electrical charge into Gunn, who let out a scream. Angel tackled the woman, breaking her hold on Gunn, who dropped to the floor. Fred and Buffy came running through the door. Angel had his fingers on Gunn's neck, feeling for a pulse.
"He's dead." Angel said.
"No! No! No!" Fred said, running over to Gunn. Buffy stood there stunned as the woman looked at Gunn lying on the floor.
She went over to Gunn. "Move!" She blew Angel out of the way with an electrical charge, and moved Fred away from Gunn with a well-placed kick. "Sorry honey." She reached down and laid one hand on Gunn's chest. There were a couple discharges, but nothing changed. She shook her hand out and put it back on Gunn's chest. "Just like starting a Chevy." There was another discharge and Gunn arced up gasping for breath. "There we go."
Angel tossed the woman to the side and Fred ran back to Gunn with Buffy. Gwen kicked Angel in the head.
"Angel, we've got to get to a hospital!" Buffy said.
For a moment Angel hesitated, looking from Gunn to the woman, then he ran to pick Gunn up while the woman climbed up her rope into the ceiling.
Buffy and Conner came into the Hyperion after seeing her dad. Gunn and Fred were sitting around the lobby, Dawn was asleep, and Willow was on the computer. Angel was nowhere to be found.
"Where's my husband?" Buffy asked.
"He left a few minutes ago. You just missed him." Willow said.
"Where'd he go?"
"Said something about finding out who that girl was earlier."
"Oh." Buffy went to sit down, but Willow held out a piece of paper.
"He gave me this before he left. It's the address where you can find him."
Buffy grabbed the paper and rushed out the door saying, "Thanks Will!"
Buffy ran outside and grabbed the first cab she found. As soon as the cab pulled to a stop and Buffy paid the driver, she checked the slip of paper Willow had given her. It said that the woman would be somewhere around here. Buffy sighed and walked through the door. She heard voices coming from the main lobby and one of them was Angel's. Buffy rounded the corner and saw the elevator door was open. As soon as she could see the inside of it, she saw Angel sitting on the floor with that woman straddling him and burying her tongue in Angel's throat. Tears sprung to Buffy's eyes as she watched metal bars slide across the door and Angel and the woman broke apart.
"You're alive." The girl said.
"You felt that? My heart.." Angel said.
"It was beating. It doesn't, does it?"
Buffy let out a sob and Angel and the woman looked over. Angel's eyes widened and he shoved the woman away. "Buffy!"
"You bastard!" Buffy said.
"What the hell is going on?" the woman asked.
"Well, that should be obvious to a professional like yourself." A man said, walking up to the bars. A couple of men grabbed Buffy's arms and she didn't make a move to stop them. All she could do was stare at Angel.
"It's a double cross." Angel said.
"I'm not slow. I know it's.. shut up." The woman said, then to the man who had just arrived. "Is he one of yours?"
"No. I thought he was yours what with the tonguing." The man said.
"In his dreams."
"Not even close. That's my wife." Angel said, pointing at Buffy.
"She's pretty. Might keep her when I'm done with Gwen." The man said.
"Go to hell."
"Job's done, Elliot. You don't have to do this." Gwen said.
"I have no choice. The job you did for me was a train wreck. The noise, the publicity, that little stunt you pulled in the bar." Elliot said.
"That was just a joke."
"Professionals are discreet, young lady. You, on the other hand, are a freak. A dangerous freak. Which is why I had them remodel the elevator you're standing in. More of a retrofit really. Low-teched the whole thing with six inches of plexi-glass separating you from any available current." Gwen slammed her hands down on the bars. "Tempered Lucite."
"He's gonna seal us in. Turn on the gas." Angel said.
"What are you, Lex Luthor?" Gwen asked.
"No, he's a lying prick." Buffy said angrily.
"Oh. I like her. She's fiery." Elliot said.
"Keep you hands off of her." Angel said. "Buffy, love, it's not what you think. She kissed me. It meant nothing."
"Look, work out your personal problems later." Gwen said. "We're a little trapped and I can't get us out."
"What do you think? I was gonna stand here and duke it out with electro girl? Ah, don't worry. I'm told that the gas is very fast acting. You'll be dead with in.. Whoops! Where does the time go?" Elliot said.
Gas started to hiss out of nozzles in the roof of the elevator as the doors slid shut before Angel could stop them from closing. Buffy watched them close. The men let her go, not seeing her as a threat. She stood there watching the door and listening to the pounding coming from the inside. Hot tears fell down her cheeks at the memory of Angel's lips on Gwen's.
"We should be finished here any time now. Oh? I see. Uh-huh. Well, we had the tuna casserole last Thursday morning." Elliot said into his cell phone. Just then, the doors opened and the bars went away. Angel came out carrying Gwen in his arms. "Get rid of him."
Angel laid Gwen down in the corner by the elevators and turned to engage Elliot's goons. Angel took care of the three goons. He tossed the last one aside and turned to find Gwen advancing on Elliot, who backed away, holding the bag containing the axis up between them like a shield.
"I expect to get screwed. Professional thief. Hazard of the biz." Gwen said.
"Just wait a second, please." Elliot said.
"What I don't appreciate, Elliot is being called a freak. That's my word. And I get cranky when people like you use it."
"Gwen. Think about this." Angel said.
"You've ever been struck by lightning, Elliot? I've been struck by lightning fourteen times. It's not my fault. I just attract it. You know what also attracts lightning? Maggoty little norms like you!"
"So you're a freak. Boo-hoo. So what?" Buffy said cruelly.
"Excuse me?" Gwen asked, wheeling on Buffy. "I think you've already figured out Angel's not the poster boy for normal and I'm no Betty-regular either. Sometimes you got to let go."
Angel hauled back and slammed his fist in Elliot's face.
"Hey! I wanted to do that!" Gwen said.
"You were gonna fry him." Angel said.
"Was not!"
"Don't fib."
"Fine. Did you at least break his nose?" Gwen reached out to turn Elliot over but Angel took a hold of her arm and held her fast. "You're really gonna use that axis thing to find her, aren't you?" Angel just looked at her. "Figures. Anyone that bad at stealing stuff has got to be doing it for some sort of love. Bummer. But you better go after your girl there."
Angel turned to find Buffy gone. He ran out to the street and saw her blonde hair rounding a corner. Angel took off after her. When Buffy heard him coming, she started to run. There was no way she wanted to talk to him right now. Too bad for her though. Angel grabbed her arm and stopped her.
"Let go of me you lying son of a bitch!" Buffy yelled. She shoved him hard into a wall and ran off into an abandoned building.
Angel followed her in. "Buffy, please listen to me."
"Who are you?" Buffy asked not looking at him.
"She kissed me. I swear it Buffy."
"You weren't stopping her."
"I was. She had just started to kiss me when you walked in. I shoved her off."
"Boy, but you were certainly enjoying it."
"No, I wasn't. I could never."
"Stop lying!"
"I'm not!" Angel grabbed Buffy and violently spun her around. "I love you and only you."
"Get off of me!" Buffy tried to shove him off, but Angel tightened his grip. "Ow! Stop!"
"Buffy, just listen."
"Obviously those old habits never go away."
"What?"
"Oh, you know, you got a wife, but you got a mistress on the side."
"Buffy, I do not have a mistress. I don't even know her!"
"So, I guess that I got old and too wife-ish and you needed someone edgier. Someone who could make.." Buffy sobbed. "Make your heart beat."
"You heard that?"
"Yeah, I heard that." Buffy yanked away and walked over to a shadow.
Angel walked over to her and took her hand. He placed it on his chest so she could feel that his heart was no longer beating. "It's not beating."
"She still made it beat. I can't do that."
"No, you can't. Your not a demon for one thing."
"You hurt me."
"I did. And I'm sorry."
"You're always sorry."
"I'm extra super sorry right now. I love you Buffy and I'm sorry I hurt you. I didn't mean to."
"Stop apologizing and take me home. Make it up to me. A lot."
"I planned on it. Right after I find Cordy."
Buffy, Gunn, Willow, Fred, Conner, Dawn, and Angel all sat around the lobby of the Hyperion. Angel and Buffy had finished the ritual with the axis and found Cordelia. Soon Willow, Angel, Buffy, Dawn, and Conner were going to have to leave. School started on Monday and it was Saturday night already.
"But she was beautiful?" Fred asked.
"God. There was all this light around her. And the light seemed to made up of pure joy and warmth." Angel said.
"You think higher beings get to take vacations?" Willow asked.
"The way we saw it..
"It felt sort of permanent." Buffy finished.
"Too bad. We could've all gone to Vegas." Gunn said.
"I guess we should have know that when she started that glowy thing that the Powers were up to something." Dawn said.
"Yeah, but who would have thought it would have been this?"
"Tell you the truth: it doesn't surprise me. In some small way, maybe it even makes it easier. Knowing the good she's doing up there. Even if we can't see her or talk to her, it's like she's still on our side." Buffy said.
"Doesn't mean you miss her any less." Fred said.
"No. All those months I thought 'Cordy's fine. She's with Gru and she's happy.' I get back to LA and I find out that she's gone. I keep thinking 'I got to get Cordy back home.' Finally I find her and I realize she already is home where she belongs." Angel said.
"Yeah."
"Was that where you were mom?" Conner asked.
"What?" Buffy asked. Everyone turned to Conner.
"I mean, you said when you died, you were in heaven. Right? Well, when you described what it was like for you and then what it was like for Cordelia, I figured: that must be what you were doing."
"I don't know. Honestly, I can't remember what it was like up there. All the things I did. All I remember was that I was happy and I knew that my friends were all right. Kinda like I am now."
"Oh. Do you ever want to go back?"
"Someday. But that day isn't today. That day won't be for a while. At least I hope."
"Me too." Angel said.
Buffy looked back at him, still hurt that she had seen another woman's tongue down his throat. After a few seconds, she stood and sighed. "I guess since we know that Cordy's all right and all, we should get going back to Sunnydale." Buffy pointed at Conner and Dawn. "You two have that science project to get on."
"How'd you know about that?" Dawn asked.
"I work at the school. I'm friends with the principal. I meet your teachers in the faculty lounge. I know things."
"Stupid mouths."
"Yeah, I know. This is so much fun working at your school."
"You're going to regret saying that one day considering the school's past history." Angel said, standing up.
"I know, but for now it's fun. Especially cause I got a better job than Giles did. I guess Slayers really are way cooler than their Watchers."
"Come on." Angel said. He, Buffy, Gunn, and Fred were scaling the wall of the Chandler auction house. Buffy and Angel were almost at the top with Fred and Gunn a little ways down.
"Damn. This is so much harder than it looks on Batman." Gunn said.
They made it over the fence and to the electrical box. Angel ripped the cover off. He sorted through the tangle of wires inside for a moment. Finally, Buffy walked up and grabbed a small handful and pulled them out. The lights went out. Fred used some electronic gizmo to make the light on the door turn green and let them in. They descended some concrete steps.
Following the floor plans, Fred brought them to a hallway. "Thirty yards west. This is the junction." She laid the floor plans out on the floor. "All right. I'll be in here trying to hack the security system for the vault. Charles.."
"Secure the escape route. Guard station, one floor down." Gunn said.
"Disarm and contain. Angel, you and Buffy get to the vault, wait for system shut down, then steal the axis."
"You are so hot right now."
"Go." The guys jumped up and started to head away in separate directions. "Guys." Angel and Gunn came back and each left in the opposite direction they were originally going.
Buffy followed Angel this time. She led the way to the vault. When they found it, the door was wide open. Buffy brought out a can of aerosol and sprayed the sir in front of the doorway. A network of green light beams became visible.
"Help me out here Fred." Buffy said. Angel stepped in up next to her and the barred security gate came down in front of their faces. "Not exactly what I had in mind." Buffy looked around. "I'll be right back."
Angel watched Buffy walk off. He took a hold of the bottom cross bar and started to lift the gate. He fell back as he was showered with electrical sparks and a ceiling panel inside the vault opened. A woman's head and upper torso dropped down through it.
"You know, I put that down for a reason." She said.
"Who are you?" Angel asked.
"Who are you?"
"I asked you first."
"What are you, seven?"
"Tell me you're not here for the axis."
"I'm not here for the axis."
"You're lying."
"I'm fibbing. That's lying. Only classier." The woman reached down a hand and all the light beams arced up and out of her way, then she dropped down into the cleared space.
"What?"
"Technically? I'm exciting the subatomic particles with electrical energy and then bouncing them off each other before they hit ground state. I just love that folks go for this high tech stuff. Electricity comforts them. Suckers."
"What are you?"
The woman held her hand over the palm recognition scanner. "I'm a freak." There was an electrical discharge and the lock opened. "What did you think?" She walked into the vault.
"Yeah, well, uh, I'm sure there is a lot of other nice, expensive things that you could steal in there. It just.. it doesn't have to be the one." Angel said.
Gunn came in and said, "Where's the bogey?"
"Inside. She's after the axis."
"She? As in she took out the four armed guards downstairs?"
"That's good to know."
The woman came back out of the vault, carrying the axis, and took a hold of the rope she came down on. "So long, handsome."
"Listen. I need the axis. See, it's an ancient mystical artifact.." Angel started.
"That's fun for a girl and a boy. I like to think of it as mine."
"Please."
"Please? Are you kidding me?" She noticed Gunn. "Hey there, Denzel."
"I'm trying to find someone. Someone very important to me, and the axis there, it's my only shot."
"Come on, he's telling the truth." Gunn said.
"Oh, golly, if you say it's true. So what? You just wanna borrow this thing?"
"You can do whatever you want with it as soon as I find her."
"Her. Of course it's a her." She let go of the rope and walked over to the gate. "Two questions then. One: do you really love her?"
"Yeah. I do. But not in that way. I'm married. Got a kid. The girl I'm looking for is more of a sister."
"Really? Two: on a scale of one to ten, exactly how stupid do you think I am?" Suddenly an alarm went off, the lights began to flash, and the gate slowly rose. "Don't answer that."
"Way to go Fred." Angel said.
Gwen went back to climb her rope. Angel tried to force the gate up faster. Gunn rolled through under the gate as soon as there was enough space and lunged for the woman, wrapping his arms around her legs.
"Let go!" She yelled.
"A little help here!" Gunn called.
The woman reached out and sent an electrical charge into Gunn, who let out a scream. Angel tackled the woman, breaking her hold on Gunn, who dropped to the floor. Fred and Buffy came running through the door. Angel had his fingers on Gunn's neck, feeling for a pulse.
"He's dead." Angel said.
"No! No! No!" Fred said, running over to Gunn. Buffy stood there stunned as the woman looked at Gunn lying on the floor.
She went over to Gunn. "Move!" She blew Angel out of the way with an electrical charge, and moved Fred away from Gunn with a well-placed kick. "Sorry honey." She reached down and laid one hand on Gunn's chest. There were a couple discharges, but nothing changed. She shook her hand out and put it back on Gunn's chest. "Just like starting a Chevy." There was another discharge and Gunn arced up gasping for breath. "There we go."
Angel tossed the woman to the side and Fred ran back to Gunn with Buffy. Gwen kicked Angel in the head.
"Angel, we've got to get to a hospital!" Buffy said.
For a moment Angel hesitated, looking from Gunn to the woman, then he ran to pick Gunn up while the woman climbed up her rope into the ceiling.
Buffy and Conner came into the Hyperion after seeing her dad. Gunn and Fred were sitting around the lobby, Dawn was asleep, and Willow was on the computer. Angel was nowhere to be found.
"Where's my husband?" Buffy asked.
"He left a few minutes ago. You just missed him." Willow said.
"Where'd he go?"
"Said something about finding out who that girl was earlier."
"Oh." Buffy went to sit down, but Willow held out a piece of paper.
"He gave me this before he left. It's the address where you can find him."
Buffy grabbed the paper and rushed out the door saying, "Thanks Will!"
Buffy ran outside and grabbed the first cab she found. As soon as the cab pulled to a stop and Buffy paid the driver, she checked the slip of paper Willow had given her. It said that the woman would be somewhere around here. Buffy sighed and walked through the door. She heard voices coming from the main lobby and one of them was Angel's. Buffy rounded the corner and saw the elevator door was open. As soon as she could see the inside of it, she saw Angel sitting on the floor with that woman straddling him and burying her tongue in Angel's throat. Tears sprung to Buffy's eyes as she watched metal bars slide across the door and Angel and the woman broke apart.
"You're alive." The girl said.
"You felt that? My heart.." Angel said.
"It was beating. It doesn't, does it?"
Buffy let out a sob and Angel and the woman looked over. Angel's eyes widened and he shoved the woman away. "Buffy!"
"You bastard!" Buffy said.
"What the hell is going on?" the woman asked.
"Well, that should be obvious to a professional like yourself." A man said, walking up to the bars. A couple of men grabbed Buffy's arms and she didn't make a move to stop them. All she could do was stare at Angel.
"It's a double cross." Angel said.
"I'm not slow. I know it's.. shut up." The woman said, then to the man who had just arrived. "Is he one of yours?"
"No. I thought he was yours what with the tonguing." The man said.
"In his dreams."
"Not even close. That's my wife." Angel said, pointing at Buffy.
"She's pretty. Might keep her when I'm done with Gwen." The man said.
"Go to hell."
"Job's done, Elliot. You don't have to do this." Gwen said.
"I have no choice. The job you did for me was a train wreck. The noise, the publicity, that little stunt you pulled in the bar." Elliot said.
"That was just a joke."
"Professionals are discreet, young lady. You, on the other hand, are a freak. A dangerous freak. Which is why I had them remodel the elevator you're standing in. More of a retrofit really. Low-teched the whole thing with six inches of plexi-glass separating you from any available current." Gwen slammed her hands down on the bars. "Tempered Lucite."
"He's gonna seal us in. Turn on the gas." Angel said.
"What are you, Lex Luthor?" Gwen asked.
"No, he's a lying prick." Buffy said angrily.
"Oh. I like her. She's fiery." Elliot said.
"Keep you hands off of her." Angel said. "Buffy, love, it's not what you think. She kissed me. It meant nothing."
"Look, work out your personal problems later." Gwen said. "We're a little trapped and I can't get us out."
"What do you think? I was gonna stand here and duke it out with electro girl? Ah, don't worry. I'm told that the gas is very fast acting. You'll be dead with in.. Whoops! Where does the time go?" Elliot said.
Gas started to hiss out of nozzles in the roof of the elevator as the doors slid shut before Angel could stop them from closing. Buffy watched them close. The men let her go, not seeing her as a threat. She stood there watching the door and listening to the pounding coming from the inside. Hot tears fell down her cheeks at the memory of Angel's lips on Gwen's.
"We should be finished here any time now. Oh? I see. Uh-huh. Well, we had the tuna casserole last Thursday morning." Elliot said into his cell phone. Just then, the doors opened and the bars went away. Angel came out carrying Gwen in his arms. "Get rid of him."
Angel laid Gwen down in the corner by the elevators and turned to engage Elliot's goons. Angel took care of the three goons. He tossed the last one aside and turned to find Gwen advancing on Elliot, who backed away, holding the bag containing the axis up between them like a shield.
"I expect to get screwed. Professional thief. Hazard of the biz." Gwen said.
"Just wait a second, please." Elliot said.
"What I don't appreciate, Elliot is being called a freak. That's my word. And I get cranky when people like you use it."
"Gwen. Think about this." Angel said.
"You've ever been struck by lightning, Elliot? I've been struck by lightning fourteen times. It's not my fault. I just attract it. You know what also attracts lightning? Maggoty little norms like you!"
"So you're a freak. Boo-hoo. So what?" Buffy said cruelly.
"Excuse me?" Gwen asked, wheeling on Buffy. "I think you've already figured out Angel's not the poster boy for normal and I'm no Betty-regular either. Sometimes you got to let go."
Angel hauled back and slammed his fist in Elliot's face.
"Hey! I wanted to do that!" Gwen said.
"You were gonna fry him." Angel said.
"Was not!"
"Don't fib."
"Fine. Did you at least break his nose?" Gwen reached out to turn Elliot over but Angel took a hold of her arm and held her fast. "You're really gonna use that axis thing to find her, aren't you?" Angel just looked at her. "Figures. Anyone that bad at stealing stuff has got to be doing it for some sort of love. Bummer. But you better go after your girl there."
Angel turned to find Buffy gone. He ran out to the street and saw her blonde hair rounding a corner. Angel took off after her. When Buffy heard him coming, she started to run. There was no way she wanted to talk to him right now. Too bad for her though. Angel grabbed her arm and stopped her.
"Let go of me you lying son of a bitch!" Buffy yelled. She shoved him hard into a wall and ran off into an abandoned building.
Angel followed her in. "Buffy, please listen to me."
"Who are you?" Buffy asked not looking at him.
"She kissed me. I swear it Buffy."
"You weren't stopping her."
"I was. She had just started to kiss me when you walked in. I shoved her off."
"Boy, but you were certainly enjoying it."
"No, I wasn't. I could never."
"Stop lying!"
"I'm not!" Angel grabbed Buffy and violently spun her around. "I love you and only you."
"Get off of me!" Buffy tried to shove him off, but Angel tightened his grip. "Ow! Stop!"
"Buffy, just listen."
"Obviously those old habits never go away."
"What?"
"Oh, you know, you got a wife, but you got a mistress on the side."
"Buffy, I do not have a mistress. I don't even know her!"
"So, I guess that I got old and too wife-ish and you needed someone edgier. Someone who could make.." Buffy sobbed. "Make your heart beat."
"You heard that?"
"Yeah, I heard that." Buffy yanked away and walked over to a shadow.
Angel walked over to her and took her hand. He placed it on his chest so she could feel that his heart was no longer beating. "It's not beating."
"She still made it beat. I can't do that."
"No, you can't. Your not a demon for one thing."
"You hurt me."
"I did. And I'm sorry."
"You're always sorry."
"I'm extra super sorry right now. I love you Buffy and I'm sorry I hurt you. I didn't mean to."
"Stop apologizing and take me home. Make it up to me. A lot."
"I planned on it. Right after I find Cordy."
Buffy, Gunn, Willow, Fred, Conner, Dawn, and Angel all sat around the lobby of the Hyperion. Angel and Buffy had finished the ritual with the axis and found Cordelia. Soon Willow, Angel, Buffy, Dawn, and Conner were going to have to leave. School started on Monday and it was Saturday night already.
"But she was beautiful?" Fred asked.
"God. There was all this light around her. And the light seemed to made up of pure joy and warmth." Angel said.
"You think higher beings get to take vacations?" Willow asked.
"The way we saw it..
"It felt sort of permanent." Buffy finished.
"Too bad. We could've all gone to Vegas." Gunn said.
"I guess we should have know that when she started that glowy thing that the Powers were up to something." Dawn said.
"Yeah, but who would have thought it would have been this?"
"Tell you the truth: it doesn't surprise me. In some small way, maybe it even makes it easier. Knowing the good she's doing up there. Even if we can't see her or talk to her, it's like she's still on our side." Buffy said.
"Doesn't mean you miss her any less." Fred said.
"No. All those months I thought 'Cordy's fine. She's with Gru and she's happy.' I get back to LA and I find out that she's gone. I keep thinking 'I got to get Cordy back home.' Finally I find her and I realize she already is home where she belongs." Angel said.
"Yeah."
"Was that where you were mom?" Conner asked.
"What?" Buffy asked. Everyone turned to Conner.
"I mean, you said when you died, you were in heaven. Right? Well, when you described what it was like for you and then what it was like for Cordelia, I figured: that must be what you were doing."
"I don't know. Honestly, I can't remember what it was like up there. All the things I did. All I remember was that I was happy and I knew that my friends were all right. Kinda like I am now."
"Oh. Do you ever want to go back?"
"Someday. But that day isn't today. That day won't be for a while. At least I hope."
"Me too." Angel said.
Buffy looked back at him, still hurt that she had seen another woman's tongue down his throat. After a few seconds, she stood and sighed. "I guess since we know that Cordy's all right and all, we should get going back to Sunnydale." Buffy pointed at Conner and Dawn. "You two have that science project to get on."
"How'd you know about that?" Dawn asked.
"I work at the school. I'm friends with the principal. I meet your teachers in the faculty lounge. I know things."
"Stupid mouths."
"Yeah, I know. This is so much fun working at your school."
"You're going to regret saying that one day considering the school's past history." Angel said, standing up.
"I know, but for now it's fun. Especially cause I got a better job than Giles did. I guess Slayers really are way cooler than their Watchers."
