Chapter 52
Buffy walked downstairs to the lobby with a bag of clothes for Angelus and found Fred and Gunn talking. Angelus could be heard from the monitor saying vulgar things towards them. Xander had decided to go check on things in Sunnydale earlier that day and he was gone. Gunn looked up and scanned Buffy's body. She wasn't in her usual attire. She had on a pair of tight, black leather pants and a black tank top that showed off her cleavage and hugged her curves, showing a little of her toned stomach. Her hair was loose over her shoulders and curled in loose ringlets.
"Buffy, you, uh.. Changed." Gunn said.
"I got tired of playing mommy. Most of all, dressing the part. I'm the Slayer. Why not dress like one?" Buffy said. She looked over at the monitor. "How long has he been talking?"
"Uh, not long. A few minutes or so."
"Like smacking your girl around? I bet you Wes would never hit her. He's all proper and English. And that accent.. Oh, chicks just love a good accent. Makes em all buttery in their nether regions. Isn't that right, Fred? You know, I had a bit of an Irish brogue back in the day. If you like, I can use it on you when I rape you to death. Or.." Angelus said.
"Son of a bitch."
Buffy rolled her eyes. "I'm, uh.. I'm going to go, you know, shut him up for you."
"How?" Fred asked.
"You guys have some issues to work out. Am I right? It should take a while, yeah?"
"Buffy.. You're not going to make good on your offer are you?"
"Maybe. Maybe not. Depends on what he decides. Why should you care?"
"Buffy, that's too dangerous. You know what he'll decide." Gunn said.
"Ah, he won't hurt me." Buffy said in a singsong voice as she started to trot off towards the basement. "Oh, and if Connor comes back, tell him I went out patrolling. Hell, tell him to go find me if he wants. Have fun."
"Gunn, losing Angel's soul has made her crazy." Fred said as Buffy walked down into the basement. Gunn came after her, but she locked the door against his protests, and shut off the camera.
"I smell something sweet." Angelus said. He looked up as he heard the click of her boots on the stairs. Then his jaw almost dropped as he saw her outfit. "Ow.. Momma's got a brand new bag. Buff, did you dress this way just for me? Now I feel so underdressed."
"Get back." Buffy said, unlocking the cage and walking in with a cold smile.
"What's in the bag Little Red?"
"Clothes for you." She tossed the keys behind her, out of the cage, and then tossed the bag next to Angelus' feet before she cornered him against the wall.
"What the hell are you doing? I don't have any more information."
"I know."
"Oh I see. I love games too. They're so.." Buffy cut him off by slamming him against the wall. She held him there lightly with her hands on his chest and gave his body a slow once over. Angelus smirked. "I like this change. What's come over you?"
"I don't know. Don't really care. I woke up and was just tired of it all. Thought you could help me with the forgetting."
"I'm your demon. What were you thinking? Vampire? Like me."
"Nah. Maybe later though. Right now I have something in mind."
"What's on you're mind? Not that I don't already.."
Angelus was cut off again, but this time it was by Buffy covering his mouth with hers. He pulled her closer and kissed her deeply, almost animalistically. She ran her tongue hard across one of his dull incisors and drew a small amount of blood that he sucked up greedily. Her hands found the front of his shirt and ripped it open. He stared down at her for a moment and wondered what had come over her. Then he saw it. There was a gleam in her eye that made her eyes turn violet. It was the gleam of a spell. Someone had put a spell on her to make her.. Do whatever it was she was doing. Angelus wasn't complaining. He knew exactly what Buffy could get her body to do and he wasn't about to miss out on it. When he looked back down into Buffy's eyes, the violet was gone and replaced by something sinister. She almost looked.. Soulless.
With a flick of Buffy's wrists, Angelus was thrown onto the floor in the corner of the cell. He was about to attack when Buffy straddled him and started to work on his belt as she kissed and licked his chest. He groaned as she dug her hips into his and caused him to grow harder. Angelus sat up and pulled her closer, kissing her more deeply than before. He ripped her shirt off and then got rid of his pants, then hers. He actually wanted her a lot more than he had ever wanted Darla. Hell, Darla had nothing on this woman.
Buffy brought him back to her by raking her nails hard down his chest and drawing blood. She licked it up and then kissed Angelus. He bucked and was suddenly inside her. She smiled coolly and started to move. Their sex was hard, fast, and animalistic. She was definitely under a spell. But Angelus didn't care. She was his one way or another. If a spell made her evil, then he'd take it. Buffy belonged by his side. There was no one else worthy enough of him. "Not even Darla." He thought again.
Buffy laid sleeping on top of Angelus' sweaty chest. He has covering her bottom up with his torn shirt and he used his chest to cover her breasts. She sighed slightly as Angelus stroked the small bite mark on the back of her shoulder. He covered her up in his old, tattered shirt and laid the blanket down on the floor before he laid her on it and got up. Walking over to the bag, he looked at some of the scratches and bite marks she had left on him. With a smile, he changed into the clothes Buffy had brought him. A noise behind him caught his attention and he turned to find Buffy sitting up and not even bothering to cover herself.
"Hello lover." She purred. "Could you hand me my clothes?"
"I thought you were asleep." Angelus said, ignoring her request.
"Woke up. Clothes, now."
"What? You think that I'm going to just let you walk out of here without me? I know you're not exactly the goody-two-shoes Buffy you once were."
"No shit. Clothes now, or beating now. Whichever."
Angelus laughed. "You're a pistol. Which makes you all the better of a companion for me."
"I planned on getting you out of here, but I can't do that when I look bad. I have to look like 'the goody-two-shoes Buffy' that everyone knows and, for some odd reason, loves." She flashed him her 100 watt smile and stood up as he tossed her clothes to her. "Thank you SWEETHEART." She mocked.
"You're welcome DARLING." He smiled at her. She quickly got dressed and stepped to the cage door, ready to walk out. Angelus couldn't help the chuckle that escaped his lips as she paused, hands on the bars. "You know you tossed the keys over there, right?"
Buffy turned with a grin on her face. "I know."
"And you locked the door."
"That would be a big 'duh.'"
"Not to mention turned the camera off." This time it was Buffy who chuckled. "What?" She slid a key out of one of her pockets in her pants. "I never come unprepared." She opened the cage door and leaned against the bars, facing him. "Now, you stay here and be a good boy while mommy goes up and wreaks havoc on our friends' minds."
"Yes mommy." Angelus brought her to him with one arm around her waist and kissed her deeply. "I'll play good if you play bad."
Buffy smiled and waved as she finished locking the door and walked up the stairs. "Ciao."
"Hey Buff?" Buffy stopped and turned. "Who do you think did this to you? Not that I'm complaining."
"Don't know. Don't care. If I find out, we'll thank em." With that, she was out the door.
Lorne was out in the lobby and he was the first to notice her. "Hey! Look who's finally decided to come out of her room! Wow, what's with the new look sugarcakes?" "She doesn't want to play mommy anymore. She wants to be the Slayer." Gunn said.
"Ah Gunn, don't be jealous. The last guy that was jealous of me is in Belize or something like that." Buffy said.
"You were down there with that monster for three hours!"
"So?"
"Three hours with Angelus Buffy? What were you doing down there for that long?" Wesley asked, concern creeping into his tone.
"Exactly what Buffy would normally do." Cordy said, walking down the steps with Connor next to her.
"Huh?" Fred asked. "I'm confused. And how long have you been standing there?"
"Long enough to know what's going on."
"Hi Cor! Had a vision? Need me to go kill something?" Buffy asked, ignoring everyone else for the time being.
"No, nothing."
"Oh." The Slayer shrugged and sat down on the settee, propping one leg up in a half Indian style fashion while the other dangled casually over the side. "So what's new with you then, Cordy?"
"What's with the new look? It screams Angelus. Well, you know, if he was a woman."
"I got tired of sitting around playing mommy like Gunn said. I actually decided to go and have some fun."
"What?" Gunn asked. "So you admit it?"
"No. I was down there talking with him for a while and then I went out and patrolled the sewers. It's like demon rush hour down there! What a rush! You gotta love the whole no-sun concept the Beast thought up! Brings in the tourists."
"Talk? You expect us to believe you went down and had a casual conversation with the thing that has haunted your dreams since the first time he went bad?"
Buffy cringed inside, wanting to rip Gunn's head off, but instead she flashed him a glowing smile and flipped her hair out of her face. "Why wouldn't you believe me?" She stood and walked up to him. Leaning close, she whispered in his ear, "After all, I could pop your head right off your shoulders and not even think about trying. So if I were you, I'd stop interrogating me." She pulled back and flashed another high wattage smile. Gunn just stared back at her, too dumbstruck to form words. Buffy was going to turn to go back down to see Angelus, but the monitor caught her attention. "Damn it!"
"What?" Fred asked, looking at the monitor.
"Lilah." Buffy almost growled the name, but she covered it with a scowl and ran to the door. Lilah turned as Buffy and the others dashed down the stairs toward her. As Angelus reached out through the bars to grab her, Gunn fired a tranq dart into him. Lilah dropped her crowbar and ran across the room, ducking back into the sewers. Gunn kept the rifle trained on Angelus. Wesley and Connor headed after her as Angelus collapsed to the floor.
"Connor, wait." Buffy said. "You should stay here and make sure it isn't a setup. There might be others." Connor nodded and started searching the dark corners of the basement.
"Check the locks." Gunn said with a glare at Buffy.
Connor shook the door to the cage. It was solid. He kicked the crowbar away from the cage and across the room. Gunn finally lowered the rifle. "What kind of brain fart made that witch try and let Angelus out?"
"I want to know how she even knew he was here." Cordy said.
"Maybe she took Angel's soul." Connor said.
"She's a mucky-muck at Wolfram & Hart. It's her job to know." Gunn said.
"I thought the Beast killed everyone at Wolfram & Hart." Fred said.
"Maybe she cut some kind of deal with it."
"You really think she has a connection to the Beast?" Connor asked.
"Lilah or not, someone is doing the Beast's dirty work."
"That would explain how giant lava-boy could tiptoe past Buffy and Angel to take out Manny." Cordy said.
"And butcher that family, those priestesses." Connor added.
"Even though Lilah's evil, I don't see her hacking up all those people." Fred said. "Right Buffy?"
Buffy looked up from Angelus who was starting to stir. "Hmm? Oh, Lilah and hacking. Yeah. I don't think she could do that."
"Okay, maybe it's not just her. Maybe the big bad Beast has minions doing his dirty work." Gunn said.
"Morons. The big rock doesn't have minions." Angelus said, sitting up. "It is the minion."
"No, it's not. We've seen what it can do." Fred said.
"You've just seen the warm-up act."
"What are you saying?" Cordy asked.
"I'm saying, there's something bigger. Something worse." Angelus looked at Buffy. "The Beast.. has a boss."
"Worse than the Beast?" Gunn asked.
"That's.. that's not possible." Cordy said.
"How did you survive this long being so retarded?" Angelus asked.
Buffy tried hard to laugh and Angelus knew it. She cleared her throat and went as serious as she could. "Cut the Fu-Manchu. What do you know?"
"Quite a bit. Maybe I'll fill in the blanks sometime."
"How do you know there's something worse than the Beast?" Connor asked.
"Cause I've got a brain, son. The Beast I knew was big on the smash and slaughter. Had the brawn to be really good at it, too. But the big picture? Not his strong point. But whoa.. flash forward. Now he's all rain of fire, destroying the Ra-tet, blotting out the sun.."
"He's right. Those are big moves for a guy whose head's made out of rock." Buffy said.
"Maybe he got smarter." Cordy offered.
"And maybe I'll sprout some wings and flutter away." Angelus said. "There's something else out there. More powerful, more vicious.. pulling all the strings. I don't know about you but I'm just dying to find out what it is." Gunn glared for a minute and then stomped upstairs. "What's stuck up his rear end?"
Buffy smiled. "A giant stake." She put her hand on the pole and Angelus moved to grab it, but Connor grabbed Buffy by the waist and pulled her away.
"Mom, watch out. He'll try and kill you." Connor said.
She turned to him. "You're absolutely right. What was I thinking?"
"I don't know. You've been acting strange lately. Don't worry, I won't let Angelus hurt you."
"Thank you sweetie. Why don't you go up with Fred and Gunn?"
"Are you going to be ok?"
"I'll be fine. I'm going to see if I can.. Pump any more info out of him."
"Ok." Connor hugged her and she cringed inside.
As Connor went up the stairs, Angelus smirked as Buffy shuddered. "Ick."
"Don't you just hate the warm fuzzies?" Angelus asked.
"Again, ick." Buffy walked up to the bars so she was face to face with Angelus and both facing away from the camera.
"So, you were saying something about pumping me for more 'info'?"
"Didn't say what kind of info." She ran her hands over his chest as he cupped his hand over her breast. He leaned in for a kiss and Buffy moved away. "The camera's watching."
"Go unplug it." She shook her head playfully. "Why not?" She shrugged. Angelus smirked. "God I love this."
"You should. You never know, I might get bored with you and decided to go solo."
"Doubtful."
"How do you figure?"
"You would have by now." She smiled. "See. I knew it." Angelus wagged a finger at her and she moved to the bars again. He leaned down and this time Buffy allowed him to kiss her. Things had started to get heated when the door slammed open. Buffy wrapped her hand around Angelus' throat and held him at arm's length. "I know you have more than that."
Angelus laughed. "Come on Buff! You know me better than anyone. It's going to take a lot more than hollow promises to get me to talk."
"How about another tranq dart?" Gunn asked.
Buffy released Angelus and sat on the stairs. "Won't work."
"Oh I don't know. It did a few minutes ago."
"Gunn, just leave him alone. I don't want my husband to come back and have a ton of little holes in his body."
Gunn came over and sat next to her. "It's going to be ok. We'll get Angel back."
"I know."
"Hey, I'm sorry about earlier. You just took me by surprise."
"I have a tendency to do that sometimes."
"Why don't you go rest? I'll watch Angelus."
Buffy looked at Angelus and then stood up. "Ok. I'll be.. You can call me on my cell if you can't find me." With a final glance at Angelus, Buffy headed upstairs.
Buffy walked downstairs to the lobby with a bag of clothes for Angelus and found Fred and Gunn talking. Angelus could be heard from the monitor saying vulgar things towards them. Xander had decided to go check on things in Sunnydale earlier that day and he was gone. Gunn looked up and scanned Buffy's body. She wasn't in her usual attire. She had on a pair of tight, black leather pants and a black tank top that showed off her cleavage and hugged her curves, showing a little of her toned stomach. Her hair was loose over her shoulders and curled in loose ringlets.
"Buffy, you, uh.. Changed." Gunn said.
"I got tired of playing mommy. Most of all, dressing the part. I'm the Slayer. Why not dress like one?" Buffy said. She looked over at the monitor. "How long has he been talking?"
"Uh, not long. A few minutes or so."
"Like smacking your girl around? I bet you Wes would never hit her. He's all proper and English. And that accent.. Oh, chicks just love a good accent. Makes em all buttery in their nether regions. Isn't that right, Fred? You know, I had a bit of an Irish brogue back in the day. If you like, I can use it on you when I rape you to death. Or.." Angelus said.
"Son of a bitch."
Buffy rolled her eyes. "I'm, uh.. I'm going to go, you know, shut him up for you."
"How?" Fred asked.
"You guys have some issues to work out. Am I right? It should take a while, yeah?"
"Buffy.. You're not going to make good on your offer are you?"
"Maybe. Maybe not. Depends on what he decides. Why should you care?"
"Buffy, that's too dangerous. You know what he'll decide." Gunn said.
"Ah, he won't hurt me." Buffy said in a singsong voice as she started to trot off towards the basement. "Oh, and if Connor comes back, tell him I went out patrolling. Hell, tell him to go find me if he wants. Have fun."
"Gunn, losing Angel's soul has made her crazy." Fred said as Buffy walked down into the basement. Gunn came after her, but she locked the door against his protests, and shut off the camera.
"I smell something sweet." Angelus said. He looked up as he heard the click of her boots on the stairs. Then his jaw almost dropped as he saw her outfit. "Ow.. Momma's got a brand new bag. Buff, did you dress this way just for me? Now I feel so underdressed."
"Get back." Buffy said, unlocking the cage and walking in with a cold smile.
"What's in the bag Little Red?"
"Clothes for you." She tossed the keys behind her, out of the cage, and then tossed the bag next to Angelus' feet before she cornered him against the wall.
"What the hell are you doing? I don't have any more information."
"I know."
"Oh I see. I love games too. They're so.." Buffy cut him off by slamming him against the wall. She held him there lightly with her hands on his chest and gave his body a slow once over. Angelus smirked. "I like this change. What's come over you?"
"I don't know. Don't really care. I woke up and was just tired of it all. Thought you could help me with the forgetting."
"I'm your demon. What were you thinking? Vampire? Like me."
"Nah. Maybe later though. Right now I have something in mind."
"What's on you're mind? Not that I don't already.."
Angelus was cut off again, but this time it was by Buffy covering his mouth with hers. He pulled her closer and kissed her deeply, almost animalistically. She ran her tongue hard across one of his dull incisors and drew a small amount of blood that he sucked up greedily. Her hands found the front of his shirt and ripped it open. He stared down at her for a moment and wondered what had come over her. Then he saw it. There was a gleam in her eye that made her eyes turn violet. It was the gleam of a spell. Someone had put a spell on her to make her.. Do whatever it was she was doing. Angelus wasn't complaining. He knew exactly what Buffy could get her body to do and he wasn't about to miss out on it. When he looked back down into Buffy's eyes, the violet was gone and replaced by something sinister. She almost looked.. Soulless.
With a flick of Buffy's wrists, Angelus was thrown onto the floor in the corner of the cell. He was about to attack when Buffy straddled him and started to work on his belt as she kissed and licked his chest. He groaned as she dug her hips into his and caused him to grow harder. Angelus sat up and pulled her closer, kissing her more deeply than before. He ripped her shirt off and then got rid of his pants, then hers. He actually wanted her a lot more than he had ever wanted Darla. Hell, Darla had nothing on this woman.
Buffy brought him back to her by raking her nails hard down his chest and drawing blood. She licked it up and then kissed Angelus. He bucked and was suddenly inside her. She smiled coolly and started to move. Their sex was hard, fast, and animalistic. She was definitely under a spell. But Angelus didn't care. She was his one way or another. If a spell made her evil, then he'd take it. Buffy belonged by his side. There was no one else worthy enough of him. "Not even Darla." He thought again.
Buffy laid sleeping on top of Angelus' sweaty chest. He has covering her bottom up with his torn shirt and he used his chest to cover her breasts. She sighed slightly as Angelus stroked the small bite mark on the back of her shoulder. He covered her up in his old, tattered shirt and laid the blanket down on the floor before he laid her on it and got up. Walking over to the bag, he looked at some of the scratches and bite marks she had left on him. With a smile, he changed into the clothes Buffy had brought him. A noise behind him caught his attention and he turned to find Buffy sitting up and not even bothering to cover herself.
"Hello lover." She purred. "Could you hand me my clothes?"
"I thought you were asleep." Angelus said, ignoring her request.
"Woke up. Clothes, now."
"What? You think that I'm going to just let you walk out of here without me? I know you're not exactly the goody-two-shoes Buffy you once were."
"No shit. Clothes now, or beating now. Whichever."
Angelus laughed. "You're a pistol. Which makes you all the better of a companion for me."
"I planned on getting you out of here, but I can't do that when I look bad. I have to look like 'the goody-two-shoes Buffy' that everyone knows and, for some odd reason, loves." She flashed him her 100 watt smile and stood up as he tossed her clothes to her. "Thank you SWEETHEART." She mocked.
"You're welcome DARLING." He smiled at her. She quickly got dressed and stepped to the cage door, ready to walk out. Angelus couldn't help the chuckle that escaped his lips as she paused, hands on the bars. "You know you tossed the keys over there, right?"
Buffy turned with a grin on her face. "I know."
"And you locked the door."
"That would be a big 'duh.'"
"Not to mention turned the camera off." This time it was Buffy who chuckled. "What?" She slid a key out of one of her pockets in her pants. "I never come unprepared." She opened the cage door and leaned against the bars, facing him. "Now, you stay here and be a good boy while mommy goes up and wreaks havoc on our friends' minds."
"Yes mommy." Angelus brought her to him with one arm around her waist and kissed her deeply. "I'll play good if you play bad."
Buffy smiled and waved as she finished locking the door and walked up the stairs. "Ciao."
"Hey Buff?" Buffy stopped and turned. "Who do you think did this to you? Not that I'm complaining."
"Don't know. Don't care. If I find out, we'll thank em." With that, she was out the door.
Lorne was out in the lobby and he was the first to notice her. "Hey! Look who's finally decided to come out of her room! Wow, what's with the new look sugarcakes?" "She doesn't want to play mommy anymore. She wants to be the Slayer." Gunn said.
"Ah Gunn, don't be jealous. The last guy that was jealous of me is in Belize or something like that." Buffy said.
"You were down there with that monster for three hours!"
"So?"
"Three hours with Angelus Buffy? What were you doing down there for that long?" Wesley asked, concern creeping into his tone.
"Exactly what Buffy would normally do." Cordy said, walking down the steps with Connor next to her.
"Huh?" Fred asked. "I'm confused. And how long have you been standing there?"
"Long enough to know what's going on."
"Hi Cor! Had a vision? Need me to go kill something?" Buffy asked, ignoring everyone else for the time being.
"No, nothing."
"Oh." The Slayer shrugged and sat down on the settee, propping one leg up in a half Indian style fashion while the other dangled casually over the side. "So what's new with you then, Cordy?"
"What's with the new look? It screams Angelus. Well, you know, if he was a woman."
"I got tired of sitting around playing mommy like Gunn said. I actually decided to go and have some fun."
"What?" Gunn asked. "So you admit it?"
"No. I was down there talking with him for a while and then I went out and patrolled the sewers. It's like demon rush hour down there! What a rush! You gotta love the whole no-sun concept the Beast thought up! Brings in the tourists."
"Talk? You expect us to believe you went down and had a casual conversation with the thing that has haunted your dreams since the first time he went bad?"
Buffy cringed inside, wanting to rip Gunn's head off, but instead she flashed him a glowing smile and flipped her hair out of her face. "Why wouldn't you believe me?" She stood and walked up to him. Leaning close, she whispered in his ear, "After all, I could pop your head right off your shoulders and not even think about trying. So if I were you, I'd stop interrogating me." She pulled back and flashed another high wattage smile. Gunn just stared back at her, too dumbstruck to form words. Buffy was going to turn to go back down to see Angelus, but the monitor caught her attention. "Damn it!"
"What?" Fred asked, looking at the monitor.
"Lilah." Buffy almost growled the name, but she covered it with a scowl and ran to the door. Lilah turned as Buffy and the others dashed down the stairs toward her. As Angelus reached out through the bars to grab her, Gunn fired a tranq dart into him. Lilah dropped her crowbar and ran across the room, ducking back into the sewers. Gunn kept the rifle trained on Angelus. Wesley and Connor headed after her as Angelus collapsed to the floor.
"Connor, wait." Buffy said. "You should stay here and make sure it isn't a setup. There might be others." Connor nodded and started searching the dark corners of the basement.
"Check the locks." Gunn said with a glare at Buffy.
Connor shook the door to the cage. It was solid. He kicked the crowbar away from the cage and across the room. Gunn finally lowered the rifle. "What kind of brain fart made that witch try and let Angelus out?"
"I want to know how she even knew he was here." Cordy said.
"Maybe she took Angel's soul." Connor said.
"She's a mucky-muck at Wolfram & Hart. It's her job to know." Gunn said.
"I thought the Beast killed everyone at Wolfram & Hart." Fred said.
"Maybe she cut some kind of deal with it."
"You really think she has a connection to the Beast?" Connor asked.
"Lilah or not, someone is doing the Beast's dirty work."
"That would explain how giant lava-boy could tiptoe past Buffy and Angel to take out Manny." Cordy said.
"And butcher that family, those priestesses." Connor added.
"Even though Lilah's evil, I don't see her hacking up all those people." Fred said. "Right Buffy?"
Buffy looked up from Angelus who was starting to stir. "Hmm? Oh, Lilah and hacking. Yeah. I don't think she could do that."
"Okay, maybe it's not just her. Maybe the big bad Beast has minions doing his dirty work." Gunn said.
"Morons. The big rock doesn't have minions." Angelus said, sitting up. "It is the minion."
"No, it's not. We've seen what it can do." Fred said.
"You've just seen the warm-up act."
"What are you saying?" Cordy asked.
"I'm saying, there's something bigger. Something worse." Angelus looked at Buffy. "The Beast.. has a boss."
"Worse than the Beast?" Gunn asked.
"That's.. that's not possible." Cordy said.
"How did you survive this long being so retarded?" Angelus asked.
Buffy tried hard to laugh and Angelus knew it. She cleared her throat and went as serious as she could. "Cut the Fu-Manchu. What do you know?"
"Quite a bit. Maybe I'll fill in the blanks sometime."
"How do you know there's something worse than the Beast?" Connor asked.
"Cause I've got a brain, son. The Beast I knew was big on the smash and slaughter. Had the brawn to be really good at it, too. But the big picture? Not his strong point. But whoa.. flash forward. Now he's all rain of fire, destroying the Ra-tet, blotting out the sun.."
"He's right. Those are big moves for a guy whose head's made out of rock." Buffy said.
"Maybe he got smarter." Cordy offered.
"And maybe I'll sprout some wings and flutter away." Angelus said. "There's something else out there. More powerful, more vicious.. pulling all the strings. I don't know about you but I'm just dying to find out what it is." Gunn glared for a minute and then stomped upstairs. "What's stuck up his rear end?"
Buffy smiled. "A giant stake." She put her hand on the pole and Angelus moved to grab it, but Connor grabbed Buffy by the waist and pulled her away.
"Mom, watch out. He'll try and kill you." Connor said.
She turned to him. "You're absolutely right. What was I thinking?"
"I don't know. You've been acting strange lately. Don't worry, I won't let Angelus hurt you."
"Thank you sweetie. Why don't you go up with Fred and Gunn?"
"Are you going to be ok?"
"I'll be fine. I'm going to see if I can.. Pump any more info out of him."
"Ok." Connor hugged her and she cringed inside.
As Connor went up the stairs, Angelus smirked as Buffy shuddered. "Ick."
"Don't you just hate the warm fuzzies?" Angelus asked.
"Again, ick." Buffy walked up to the bars so she was face to face with Angelus and both facing away from the camera.
"So, you were saying something about pumping me for more 'info'?"
"Didn't say what kind of info." She ran her hands over his chest as he cupped his hand over her breast. He leaned in for a kiss and Buffy moved away. "The camera's watching."
"Go unplug it." She shook her head playfully. "Why not?" She shrugged. Angelus smirked. "God I love this."
"You should. You never know, I might get bored with you and decided to go solo."
"Doubtful."
"How do you figure?"
"You would have by now." She smiled. "See. I knew it." Angelus wagged a finger at her and she moved to the bars again. He leaned down and this time Buffy allowed him to kiss her. Things had started to get heated when the door slammed open. Buffy wrapped her hand around Angelus' throat and held him at arm's length. "I know you have more than that."
Angelus laughed. "Come on Buff! You know me better than anyone. It's going to take a lot more than hollow promises to get me to talk."
"How about another tranq dart?" Gunn asked.
Buffy released Angelus and sat on the stairs. "Won't work."
"Oh I don't know. It did a few minutes ago."
"Gunn, just leave him alone. I don't want my husband to come back and have a ton of little holes in his body."
Gunn came over and sat next to her. "It's going to be ok. We'll get Angel back."
"I know."
"Hey, I'm sorry about earlier. You just took me by surprise."
"I have a tendency to do that sometimes."
"Why don't you go rest? I'll watch Angelus."
Buffy looked at Angelus and then stood up. "Ok. I'll be.. You can call me on my cell if you can't find me." With a final glance at Angelus, Buffy headed upstairs.
