Title: Family: On to LA
Author: victoriamartynne
Rating: R
Disclaimer: I own nothing!
Spoilers: None, I think!
Summary: Sequel to Family: Back to Sunnydale, Family: Forward to LA and Family: Return to Sunnydale. The Scoobies visit LA and a haunted house.
They arrived back at the table looking slightly flushed. No one however mentioned it.
"We were going to go to the bar down the street and have a few drinks." Buffy told tem. "Interested?"
Cordelia nodded. "Sure, I'll have to change though."
Buffy nodded. "Come on then."
She, Cordelia and Fred stood up and went to get changed.
Arriving back downstairs all three girls had pooled their efforts to make each other look ravishing.
Fred wore a clingy back dress with a very low neckline. Buffy was wearing white pants with a silver chain mail top. Cordelia had borrowed Buffy's leather pants and teemed them with a black backless sheer top.
Buffy had insisted that if they were to be sleeping together that night then they deserved to drive their men wild for a couple of hours, ghost free of course.
Cordelia had to admit she felt a little sorry for Lorne and Wes who had only each other for company. It was times like this that she hoped they didn't get lonely.
"Well, don't you look fine?" Spike commented as Buffy came up to him and draped an arm around his shoulders.
Already in Angel's arms Cordelia rolled her eyes. "Fine? That's it?"
Spike shot her a sour look.
"Where is everyone else?" Fred asked, noticing the absence of her boyfriend.
"They went on ahead, to get a table." Angel told her and held out an arm for her to take which she did gratefully.
The bar was one of the techno places with bright lights and loud dance music.
Lorne had chosen a table under a green light in the hope that no-one would notice he was green. It wasn't working. He had however danced with three women already and was working on a fourth.
"How does he do it?" Buffy whispered to Cordelia.
She shrugged and laughed.
"Angel, honey, did you mean what you said earlier?" Cordelia asked, her eyes huge.
"About getting married?" She nodded. "Of course I did."
"Do you still mean it?" He nodded and squeezed her hand. "I want to."
"When?" He asked, feeling excited.
"I don't know. Sometime soon. It seems like the right time." She told him earnestly.
"Pick a date baby." He whispered in her ear and kissed her neck gently. "And your wish is my command."
"My Prince Charming." She murmured before her lips met his, oblivious to the amused looks they were receiving from Fred, Buffy and Wes. "How about we wait until the summer and get married on the Bluff at night? We can have candles and roses and birds chirping."
He looked at her quizzically. "Where are you going to get the birds from?"
She swatted him on the arm. "Fine, we'll have music playing instead of birds chirping. How does that sound?"
"Perfect." He smiled. "What day?"
"How about August ninth?" She suggested. "It was my mother's birthday; I think she'd have liked it."
He kissed her forehead. "I think she'd have loved it, and I do too."
She smiled. "Thank you."
"What for?"
"For making me so happy." She replied and leaned into his chest, letting him wrap his arms around her.
"You two look like you're having an important conversation." Lorne interrupted their talk by sitting down at the table again.
She turned to him and smiled. "We were actually."
"Do we get to hear too? Or are you going to sing for me?" He teased.
"We're getting married on August ninth." Cordelia said happily.
"Congratulations!" Wes was the first to congratulate them but he was quickly followed by everyone else.
Buffy leaned across to hug Cordelia tightly. "I'm so happy for you."
"You promise to come to the wedding?"
"No matter how many demons or vampires I have to kill." Buffy promised.
"I'll get some more drinks in then." Spike told Angel and went to the bar.
A couple of hours later a very tipsy Fred and a merry Wes led the gang back to the hotel.
"Oh!" Fred exclaimed, suddenly realising something. "I can't go in there."
"Why not?" Gunn asked patiently.
"Aunt Claire and Uncle Al can't see me drunk, they'd be so disappointed." She giggled.
Buffy rolled her eyes. "You should have thought about that before the four strawberry daiquiris."
Fred nodded animatedly.
Spike was the one to roll his eyes this time and dropped Buffy's hand. He picked Fred up around the waist and slung her over his shoulder. Wes held Gunn back from clouting him as Spike entered the hotel.
Everyone else followed him and they were soon at Cordelia's room where the girls were to be sleeping that night.
Wes and Lorne headed off straight away and Angel offered to stand outside the bathroom door while Cordelia washed and changed. She accepted gratefully but whispered that he wouldn't be waiting outside.
When Angel walked her back to the room he kissed her goodnight and left her with Buffy and Fred.
"Do you think we can all fit in the bed?" She asked doubtfully when she saw Buffy and Fred lying on each side.
"Sure." Buffy replied, patting the spot in between them. "Just enough space for you."
"It's a good job I'm not pregnant anymore. I'd never fit in this gap, huh Fred?"
All she received was snoring in response. "I guess the daiquiris took more out of her than we thought."
Buffy laughed.
Cordelia snuggled into the space into the bed and pulled the covers over her.
"Night Buffy."
Cordelia was awoken when Fred jumped out of bed and bolted out of the door. Cordelia swung her legs out of bed and followed her at a more sedate pace.
She headed towards the bathroom, guessing correctly that that was where she was headed.
She knocked on the locked door. "Fred honey, it's me."
She heard nothing. "Fred?"
She tried forcing the door but it was too strong.
She went back into the bedroom and woke Buffy.
"I think Fred might have passed out in the bathroom. I need you to force the door." She whispered.
Buffy nodded, already wide awake.
They made their way back to the bathroom and Buffy forced the door.
"She's not here." Cordelia stated, puzzled.
"Look." Buffy said and pointed with dread at specks of blood on the tiles. "We need to wake Wes."
Cordelia nodded and they began to head down the hall.
"She definitely went in there, she has to have." Cordelia insisted. "She'd drank too much and I bet she felt sick."
"She could have been kidnapped." Buffy suggested.
Cordelia shuddered. "Let's not talk about what could have happened."
Buffy nodded and set off ahead of Cordelia down the hall.
"Who should we wake?" She asked. "Angel, Wes or Gunn?"
She turned around. "Cordelia?"
The hall was empty.
"What happened?" Angel growled.
"I don't know. I turned around and she was gone." Buffy repeated for the third time. "Just like Fred was."
"She can't have just disappeared." He insisted.
"She did." Buffy insisted. "Fred was locked in the bathroom and when we forced the door it was empty. Cordelia was following me down the hall, I turned around and there was no-one there."
"Then where the hell is she?" He shouted in frustration.
Buffy burst into tears. "I don't know."
Spike stepped forward and took her in his arms. "Hey, back off you big poof. Can't you see she doesn't know anything?"
Angel ran a hand through his hair. "I know, I'm sorry, but where is she?"
Wes and a very angry looking Gunn arrived back at Angel's room.
"It's definitely new blood." Wes told them.
"Of course it is." Buffy snapped. "If it had been old blood we'd have noticed it before."
"Okay guys." Lorne interrupted. "We're getting a bit irate here. Maybe we should inform Claire and Al."
Gunn nodded. "I'll do that."
He left without saying anything else.
"This isn't going to end well." Lorne murmured quietly so only Wes heard. He nodded in agreement.
After searching the hotel until the early hours of the morning they eventually gave up in defeat.
Spike had stood up to Claire and Al and Buffy was now in his room.
Wes had woken Willow up and asked her to find a suitable locator spell in one of his books and call him to tell him how they could find Fred and Cordelia. Angel and Gunn had gone back to bed but neither slept.
It was a long night.
Cordelia struggled in the ropes that were holding her to a chair. Fred was across the room from her tied to a chair but was unconscious.
She wasn't gagged but she'd tried screaming and no one had heard so she'd given that up.
She didn't know what had grabbed her or where exactly it had taken her but she suspected that she was still in the hotel somewhere.
Once Fred began to stir she'd ask her if she remembered anything.
All she could think of was that it would seem weird for there to be demonic activity as well as ghost activity. But who'd ever heard of ghosts that kidnapped people? Then again, stranger things had happened.
When Angel awoke he went straight to Wes's room to find out if he'd heard anything but found his room empty. By the time everyone else had arisen and met in the dining room downstairs it was obvious that he was missing. Spike and Angel had broken into his room and saw his things were scattered around, as if there had been a fight. Nothing else was amiss and the door had been locked.
"What do we do now then?" Buffy asked the four remaining men.
"Perhaps someone should call Willow and ask her to speed up the locator spell?" Lorne suggested.
"Do that." Angel ordered. "I'm going down into the basement, that place was huge so there could be things that we missed before and."
"Excuse me." Claire interrupted and handed him an envelope. "A fax this morning. I hope it helps you."
He opened it and read it aloud. "I can't find a locator spell but I did find an article about the hotel from fifty years ago. A psycho escaped from an insane asylum and checked into the hotel for the weekend. By Sunday night three people were dead. A woman was burned with hot oil. A man was hung from the ceiling in his bathroom and a child was beheaded. If these fit the descriptions of the ghosts you've seen then the ghosts might want to trade essences with three humans and therefore have another chance at living. It has to be done in the building in which they were killed and the recipients must be the same sex but not the same age so it really could be anyone. I hope this helps, Willow."
Buffy sighed. "Okay, so we need to find Wes, Cordy and Fred before the ghosts get the chance to swap essences. That means searching the hotel thoroughly."
"I'll do the basement." Angel volunteered.
"I'll take the attic." Spike offered.
"That leaves me, Buffy and Lorne to search everywhere else." Gunn concluded.
"Let's go then." Buffy finished.
Author: victoriamartynne
Rating: R
Disclaimer: I own nothing!
Spoilers: None, I think!
Summary: Sequel to Family: Back to Sunnydale, Family: Forward to LA and Family: Return to Sunnydale. The Scoobies visit LA and a haunted house.
They arrived back at the table looking slightly flushed. No one however mentioned it.
"We were going to go to the bar down the street and have a few drinks." Buffy told tem. "Interested?"
Cordelia nodded. "Sure, I'll have to change though."
Buffy nodded. "Come on then."
She, Cordelia and Fred stood up and went to get changed.
Arriving back downstairs all three girls had pooled their efforts to make each other look ravishing.
Fred wore a clingy back dress with a very low neckline. Buffy was wearing white pants with a silver chain mail top. Cordelia had borrowed Buffy's leather pants and teemed them with a black backless sheer top.
Buffy had insisted that if they were to be sleeping together that night then they deserved to drive their men wild for a couple of hours, ghost free of course.
Cordelia had to admit she felt a little sorry for Lorne and Wes who had only each other for company. It was times like this that she hoped they didn't get lonely.
"Well, don't you look fine?" Spike commented as Buffy came up to him and draped an arm around his shoulders.
Already in Angel's arms Cordelia rolled her eyes. "Fine? That's it?"
Spike shot her a sour look.
"Where is everyone else?" Fred asked, noticing the absence of her boyfriend.
"They went on ahead, to get a table." Angel told her and held out an arm for her to take which she did gratefully.
The bar was one of the techno places with bright lights and loud dance music.
Lorne had chosen a table under a green light in the hope that no-one would notice he was green. It wasn't working. He had however danced with three women already and was working on a fourth.
"How does he do it?" Buffy whispered to Cordelia.
She shrugged and laughed.
"Angel, honey, did you mean what you said earlier?" Cordelia asked, her eyes huge.
"About getting married?" She nodded. "Of course I did."
"Do you still mean it?" He nodded and squeezed her hand. "I want to."
"When?" He asked, feeling excited.
"I don't know. Sometime soon. It seems like the right time." She told him earnestly.
"Pick a date baby." He whispered in her ear and kissed her neck gently. "And your wish is my command."
"My Prince Charming." She murmured before her lips met his, oblivious to the amused looks they were receiving from Fred, Buffy and Wes. "How about we wait until the summer and get married on the Bluff at night? We can have candles and roses and birds chirping."
He looked at her quizzically. "Where are you going to get the birds from?"
She swatted him on the arm. "Fine, we'll have music playing instead of birds chirping. How does that sound?"
"Perfect." He smiled. "What day?"
"How about August ninth?" She suggested. "It was my mother's birthday; I think she'd have liked it."
He kissed her forehead. "I think she'd have loved it, and I do too."
She smiled. "Thank you."
"What for?"
"For making me so happy." She replied and leaned into his chest, letting him wrap his arms around her.
"You two look like you're having an important conversation." Lorne interrupted their talk by sitting down at the table again.
She turned to him and smiled. "We were actually."
"Do we get to hear too? Or are you going to sing for me?" He teased.
"We're getting married on August ninth." Cordelia said happily.
"Congratulations!" Wes was the first to congratulate them but he was quickly followed by everyone else.
Buffy leaned across to hug Cordelia tightly. "I'm so happy for you."
"You promise to come to the wedding?"
"No matter how many demons or vampires I have to kill." Buffy promised.
"I'll get some more drinks in then." Spike told Angel and went to the bar.
A couple of hours later a very tipsy Fred and a merry Wes led the gang back to the hotel.
"Oh!" Fred exclaimed, suddenly realising something. "I can't go in there."
"Why not?" Gunn asked patiently.
"Aunt Claire and Uncle Al can't see me drunk, they'd be so disappointed." She giggled.
Buffy rolled her eyes. "You should have thought about that before the four strawberry daiquiris."
Fred nodded animatedly.
Spike was the one to roll his eyes this time and dropped Buffy's hand. He picked Fred up around the waist and slung her over his shoulder. Wes held Gunn back from clouting him as Spike entered the hotel.
Everyone else followed him and they were soon at Cordelia's room where the girls were to be sleeping that night.
Wes and Lorne headed off straight away and Angel offered to stand outside the bathroom door while Cordelia washed and changed. She accepted gratefully but whispered that he wouldn't be waiting outside.
When Angel walked her back to the room he kissed her goodnight and left her with Buffy and Fred.
"Do you think we can all fit in the bed?" She asked doubtfully when she saw Buffy and Fred lying on each side.
"Sure." Buffy replied, patting the spot in between them. "Just enough space for you."
"It's a good job I'm not pregnant anymore. I'd never fit in this gap, huh Fred?"
All she received was snoring in response. "I guess the daiquiris took more out of her than we thought."
Buffy laughed.
Cordelia snuggled into the space into the bed and pulled the covers over her.
"Night Buffy."
Cordelia was awoken when Fred jumped out of bed and bolted out of the door. Cordelia swung her legs out of bed and followed her at a more sedate pace.
She headed towards the bathroom, guessing correctly that that was where she was headed.
She knocked on the locked door. "Fred honey, it's me."
She heard nothing. "Fred?"
She tried forcing the door but it was too strong.
She went back into the bedroom and woke Buffy.
"I think Fred might have passed out in the bathroom. I need you to force the door." She whispered.
Buffy nodded, already wide awake.
They made their way back to the bathroom and Buffy forced the door.
"She's not here." Cordelia stated, puzzled.
"Look." Buffy said and pointed with dread at specks of blood on the tiles. "We need to wake Wes."
Cordelia nodded and they began to head down the hall.
"She definitely went in there, she has to have." Cordelia insisted. "She'd drank too much and I bet she felt sick."
"She could have been kidnapped." Buffy suggested.
Cordelia shuddered. "Let's not talk about what could have happened."
Buffy nodded and set off ahead of Cordelia down the hall.
"Who should we wake?" She asked. "Angel, Wes or Gunn?"
She turned around. "Cordelia?"
The hall was empty.
"What happened?" Angel growled.
"I don't know. I turned around and she was gone." Buffy repeated for the third time. "Just like Fred was."
"She can't have just disappeared." He insisted.
"She did." Buffy insisted. "Fred was locked in the bathroom and when we forced the door it was empty. Cordelia was following me down the hall, I turned around and there was no-one there."
"Then where the hell is she?" He shouted in frustration.
Buffy burst into tears. "I don't know."
Spike stepped forward and took her in his arms. "Hey, back off you big poof. Can't you see she doesn't know anything?"
Angel ran a hand through his hair. "I know, I'm sorry, but where is she?"
Wes and a very angry looking Gunn arrived back at Angel's room.
"It's definitely new blood." Wes told them.
"Of course it is." Buffy snapped. "If it had been old blood we'd have noticed it before."
"Okay guys." Lorne interrupted. "We're getting a bit irate here. Maybe we should inform Claire and Al."
Gunn nodded. "I'll do that."
He left without saying anything else.
"This isn't going to end well." Lorne murmured quietly so only Wes heard. He nodded in agreement.
After searching the hotel until the early hours of the morning they eventually gave up in defeat.
Spike had stood up to Claire and Al and Buffy was now in his room.
Wes had woken Willow up and asked her to find a suitable locator spell in one of his books and call him to tell him how they could find Fred and Cordelia. Angel and Gunn had gone back to bed but neither slept.
It was a long night.
Cordelia struggled in the ropes that were holding her to a chair. Fred was across the room from her tied to a chair but was unconscious.
She wasn't gagged but she'd tried screaming and no one had heard so she'd given that up.
She didn't know what had grabbed her or where exactly it had taken her but she suspected that she was still in the hotel somewhere.
Once Fred began to stir she'd ask her if she remembered anything.
All she could think of was that it would seem weird for there to be demonic activity as well as ghost activity. But who'd ever heard of ghosts that kidnapped people? Then again, stranger things had happened.
When Angel awoke he went straight to Wes's room to find out if he'd heard anything but found his room empty. By the time everyone else had arisen and met in the dining room downstairs it was obvious that he was missing. Spike and Angel had broken into his room and saw his things were scattered around, as if there had been a fight. Nothing else was amiss and the door had been locked.
"What do we do now then?" Buffy asked the four remaining men.
"Perhaps someone should call Willow and ask her to speed up the locator spell?" Lorne suggested.
"Do that." Angel ordered. "I'm going down into the basement, that place was huge so there could be things that we missed before and."
"Excuse me." Claire interrupted and handed him an envelope. "A fax this morning. I hope it helps you."
He opened it and read it aloud. "I can't find a locator spell but I did find an article about the hotel from fifty years ago. A psycho escaped from an insane asylum and checked into the hotel for the weekend. By Sunday night three people were dead. A woman was burned with hot oil. A man was hung from the ceiling in his bathroom and a child was beheaded. If these fit the descriptions of the ghosts you've seen then the ghosts might want to trade essences with three humans and therefore have another chance at living. It has to be done in the building in which they were killed and the recipients must be the same sex but not the same age so it really could be anyone. I hope this helps, Willow."
Buffy sighed. "Okay, so we need to find Wes, Cordy and Fred before the ghosts get the chance to swap essences. That means searching the hotel thoroughly."
"I'll do the basement." Angel volunteered.
"I'll take the attic." Spike offered.
"That leaves me, Buffy and Lorne to search everywhere else." Gunn concluded.
"Let's go then." Buffy finished.
