Chapter 10: Quiet time.

Title: Reunion time.

Author: Nikka

Author notes: Hi everyone, If you need to know about summary, rate and all the rest it's all in chapter 1 I'll just remind you that English is not my native tongue so you may find some spelling & grammar mistakes, you're more then welcome to let me know about them but remember you may find them while you read the story. Have fun.

Disclaimer: Angel & Buffy's characters are not my creation (wish they were) they belong to Joss Whedon and David Greenwalt. Other characters that are not familiar from the show do belong to me.

A special thank you to Sigma for reproof reading my story. I hope you'll see the difference. As of that the upload of the chapters may take longer.

They opened the door and walked in very quietly, as everyone was asleep. When they entered their bedroom, they saw Lorne sleeping in the bed with Connor next to him in the crib. Not having the heart to wake him up, they went to sleep downstairs in the living room on the couch and the floor.

"It's hard and lumpy".

"Oh, Angel! You can be such a baby sometimes." Cordy teased him.

"What? The floor is not comfortable. I miss my own bed".

"Me, too." She sighed, giving him a sympathetic look. She wanted to go home to her own apartment with her own bed and her own wonderful ghost who took care of her.

He kept twitching and moving around till finally she had enough. "Angel!" he turned to her. "Do you want to share the couch with me? I know it's a bit small, but still…"

Before she could finish her sentence, he jumped onto the couch, grinning. The couch was small, but they managed. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders, and she leaned her head on his chest. It was so quiet. She couldn't here any lungs breathing or any heart beating.

Although she instantly fell asleep due to her exhaustion, Angel found he couldn't sleep. It wasn't that he wasn't comfortable; he was very comfortable. But, he just wanted to look at her, to hear her breathing, to listen to her heart beat, to experience how alive she felt. He realized that she was more alive even now than he ever would be. In that quiet moment, he truly knew that love, at least this love, couldn't happen. No matter how much he loved her...no matter if she ever grew to love him, they could never have a future. He couldn't ever give her the life she deserved; the life she wanted.

He had felt this before, with Buffy, but, this time, it hurt more. The pain was stronger. Buffy was the first woman he had dared love in over 100 years. It had been new...fresh. He could, and did, get over it.

But, here with Cordy, it was different. She was different...more mature. Their life was different: they had a child, a family. He knew he couldn't leave her like he left Buffy; she wasn't just his love: she was his world, his...life. He stroked her hair then closed his eyes and went to sleep.

Buffy walked into the kitchen. To her surprise, her sister was quiet. She sat on a chair eating her cereal silently. There was no loud music coming from the radio or the television; she didn't even speak.

"Cat eat your tongue?" Buffy asked sarcastically.

"Shhhh…" Dawn whispered.

"What?" Buffy asked, apparently too loud as her sister shushed her again.

"What with all the 'shhhh'ing? Is someone dead?" Buffy laughed.

"No. Look in the living room, quietly". Dawn ordered.

Buffy, curious as ever, went to see what had caused this radical change in her sister. It was fortunate she wasn't holding anything. If she had, she would have dropped on the floor right about now. She stood there in shock, staring at Angel and Cordelia who were curled up together on the couch. She put her hand on her mouth, afraid she'd scream and wake them up. She stood in hallway a little longer, trying to calm herself down before she walked back to the kitchen.

"All right, they're sleeping, I'll be quiet". Buffy said calmly to Dawn, trying to show her little sister she didn't even care that her ex-boyfriend... the love of her life...her first true love was sleeping with Cordelia.

The phone rang. Dawn hurried to pick it up. "Hello". She whispered, "Yes Giles, she's here".

Dawn handed the phone over to Buffy. "Hi Giles…no, we're fine. Dawn is just being a good hostess. Ok, then, we'll meet at the magic shop in one hour. Bye".

"We're going to the magic shop?" Dawn asked, disappointed.

"I am, but you can do what ever you want: it's Sunday". Buffy smiled when she saw the grin on Dawn's face. She knew Dawn loved hanging out with the Scoobies, but sometimes she wanted to have fun on her own.

"You know what, pumpkin, I'll join you, if you don't mind me tagging along". Dawn turned and saw Lorne standing in the doorway, Connor in his arms.

"But, where would we go?" Dawn asked, worried that Lorne's appearance might cause a few...problems.

"Don't worry, sugar, I'm a master of disguise. Hey, we can even take the little peanut with us. I'm sure his parents wouldn't mind".

Buffy twitched as she heard Lorne refer to both Angel and Cordelia as his parents.

"Can we see a movie?" Dawn jumped up excited.

"I was thinking of something like a park, but we can do both." Lorne smiled at her.

"Great! Then that's the plan. I'll go get dressed". Dawn rushed upstairs.

"I think I'll get dressed, to, and get Connor ready." Lorne followed Dawn up the stairs.

"I guess that leaves me the job of waking mom and dad". Buffy said sarcastically as she walked to the living room. She looked at them, not knowing how to wake them up. She leaned towards Angel and gently shook his arm, calling his name softly.

Suddenly, Angel jumped up. In the process, he woke Cordy who got on her feet in an instant. Both looked terrified at Buffy as they chorused, "Is it Connor?"

"No, no". Buffy smiled, trying to calm them. "Giles called. He wants us all to meet in the magic shop; he thinks he has some new info". They were still staring at her. "And Connor is fine. He's upstairs with Lorne getting dressed; they're going to the park with Dawn".

As they finally calmed down, they smiled in relief. Angel got up, helping Cordy to her feet as well. Buffy just stared. They worked so well together. It was like they read each other's thoughts, knowing what the other one needed.

"I'll go call Xander and wake Willow up." Buffy said, walking towards the stairs.

"Yeah, we'll get ready, too". Cordy called after her.

"He'll be fine, Angel. Relax".

"I know, Cor, but I'm just…."

"Yeah, me, too, but we need to let go at some point." Cordy pushed open the door and the bell of the Magic Box rang. Everyone was already there. After a round of good mornings and hellos they sat down.

"We did some reading last night". A few giggles were heard, but they died quickly as Giles just frowned. "As I said, we've done some reading and found out a little bit more about the Magistrate".

"In one of the books," Wesley continued. "We found a story about a young girl, a witch who had abused her powers, who was sentenced by the Magistrate". Wesley paused. "Her punishment was that all her powers were stripped away so she'd never be able to perform magic again".

"More than that, actually." Giles said. "All the magic the girl had done, good or bad, was reversed".

The room quieted down, they all knew what it meant.

"Anything else?" Willow asked desperately.

"Nothing really. A few more stories similar to this one, all-resulting in the same punishment. Fortunately, no one was killed." Giles tried to encourage them, but he didn't succeed.

"I met the Brolug". Cordy said suddenly. The room turned and looked at her, shocked.

"I didn't have a chance to tell you, but last night, as Angel and I left the Bronze…"

Xander interrupted her. "You were at the Bronze?"

Cordy ignored him, and just told them about the vision, about the appearance of the Brolug, about how she had glowed, and about chasing him away. When she was done, they all seemed in stunned.

"Did you learn anything new? Anything helpful?" Wesley almost begged. Cordy remained quiet.

"Girl, what's wrong?" Gunn asked, seeing her worried expression.

"I…I felt him". She stopped; it was hard to find the words.

"What do you mean you felt him? You didn't tell me that!" Angel seemed rather angry.

"I didn't know what to tell you...how to tell you". She stopped again. It seemed almost like she was afraid to say something; afraid it would come true.

"What, Cor? Didn't know how to tell me what?" Angel was getting nervous.

"What happens...what always happens when the Magistrate arrives. I read his mind. He already knew the sentence and the punishment".

"How could he?" Willow demanded. "How could he tell if it hasn't even started?"

"It has". Cordy interrupted. "The Magistrate has been watching you for some time. He's been reading you all: your feelings and your thoughts. He's been gathering information. He thinks you're all guilty."

"So he is here because of Buffy...because of the spell we did?" Xander asked.

"Yes." Cordy confirmed their worst nightmares.

"Can't we change his mind? If he listens to us, maybe…." Tara's voice cracked. The thought of losing her friend was again was too much for her.

"Maybe. I don't know. All I know is what I felt, was I saw. And I saw death...Buffy's death".

"Would we remember?" Giles asked, trying to compose himself.

"Yes, that's the punishment. You'll remember what you have lost. Twice".

The room was quiet. Willow was crying into Tara's arms, but Angel just sat with a serious look on his face. Giles turned away and took his glasses off. Cordy looked at Buffy. For a moment, she swore she saw a smile. A little one, but a smile. Mostly, Buffy just looked frozen.

"What do you mean gathering information?" Cordy looked up surprised by Buffy's question.

"What? I don't…" Cordy frowned

"You said the Magistrate was gathering information about us, right?" Cordy nodded. "Where did he get the information? Did he observe us? Did he send someone?" Buffy kept asking, but Cordy had no answer.

"I think I read about that in…" Wesley ran to one of the books and started to browse through the pages. "Ah, hah!"

" 'Ah, hah' what?" Xander demanded.

"In this book it says that the Magistrate can send a astral projection of himself to the world to learn more about the person he's about to judge. But it says it can only stay a few minutes."

"That can't be it."

"What do you mean, Buffy?" Willow, who by now stopped crying, asked.

"If he can only astrally project himself for...what?..15 minutes? That's not enough to read all of us and learn a lot about our lives. He must have had help".

"Yeah, but who knows us so well, knows the Magistrate, and would agree to help him…" Xander stopped. The answer was very clear to everyone.

"Spike". Buffy said angry. "That's it! I'll kill him. After I'll get what I need from him, I'm going to kill him". She stormed out of the store, leaving the Scoobies looking angry faces and the A.I. Team looking confused.

"Well, Cordelia, tell us everything you know. If the Brolug is here, that means the magistrate is not far behind. We have a lot of work ahead of us". Giles said as everyone gathered around.

TBC.