Chapter 34- Research Party
-Angel-
Willow and Tara are asleep sitting at the table. They drifted off over their research books sometime a couple of hours ago. Giles keeps nodding off and waking himself up with abrupt jerks. Buffy is curled up on the couch like a child. Research has never been her strong point. Wes is up at the hospital and Gunn is trying to find out what he can on the streets. Fred and I are the only ones really alert and actively working. I don't know how she's still awake. I have a feeling a large portion of it is her devotion to me, and I'm touched.
I barely glance up when someone walks through the doors into the lobby. Fred stands up. "Can we help you?"
"Mucho research requires mucho snack food. I brought supplies."
I finally look up. Xander is standing in the lobby holding a box of donuts aloft. I can not help but smile. Buffy's white knight has arrived.
Giles jerks awake. "Did you bring any jellies?" He asks, taking his glasses off and rubbing his eyes.
"Extra ones, just for you G-man." Xander says.
Giles glares at him.
The smell of sugar wakes Buffy from her nap on the couch. She smiles lazily even before she opens her eyes. Her first exclamation on waking is "Oooo donuts! I hope you got extra jellies." She grins at Xander as she pilfers one from the box.
"Here now, since when do you eat?" Giles says. He looks ready to snag the donut from her hand and I fight the urge not to laugh. The picture of an English Watcher hoarding donuts is just amusing.
"Since Xander brings donuts." Buffy says sticking her tongue out at him. I can't help it. I laugh. I stand up and dig one of the sugary treats out of the box for myself. So it doesn't the same way it would if I were human, these things pack enough sugar it still tastes sweet.
There is a fresh round of coffee for everyone. The caffeine makes me jittery, but caffeine is the only thing keeping me standing on my feet at the moment. Once donuts have been passed around along with the coffee, Xander buries himself in a thick stack of books.
Fred slams a book shut and shoves it to the side. She buries her head in her hands. "If Cordy were here it would help. We could show her some of these pictures and maybe she would recognize the scepter. This way is just fruitless."
"I am apple-less here too." Willow says with a sigh.
"There are just so many scepters and they all do things like raise the dead, or open portals or grant some power that a vampire would like." Fred says.
"Lorne, I'll talk to Lorne, see if he can get inside her head and figure out what this scepter is, or at least give us a better description of it. The sooner we get this over this, the sooner Cordy will get better." I say.
*
We wait until the middle of the night to sneak Lorne into the hospital. It's not easy taking a green guy with horns anywhere. I close the door to Cordy's room. Xander is outside keeping watch for nosey nurses.
"Ok Lorne, we need to know anything you can tell us about this scepter." I say.
Lorne looks at me doubtful. "Alright, but the last time I tried this with someone I got blown across the room." He sits down on the hospital bed and places his hands at Cordy's temples. He hums just under his breath. There are several minutes where everything is quiet. There is only the soft bleep of the machines in the room and Lorne's soft humming. Finally he drops his hands to his side and opens his eyes.
"Oh sweetcheeks, this is not good. Let me tell you, Cordy was right when she said we had to fix this. I figured that vision to be a humdinger to do this to her, but I had no idea." Lorne says.
"What did you see?" I ask, trying to be patient with the green demon.
"Not so much see as feel, lots of bad, end of the world, impending doom type feelings." Lorne says.
"Lorne, did you see the scepter?" I am running out of patience quickly.
"Oh, I got a clear picture of your scepter. Pretty slim, solid silver carved with a lot of runes. Great big fat sapphire sitting on the top."
"Alright, back to the hotel and we'll look through the books again."
*
I lean back against the couch and scrub my hands over my face. Buffy is curled up next to me. I turn to her and place my nose in the crook of her neck. She rubs slow circles on my back.
"You need to rest, Angel. You haven't been sleeping since Cordy went into the hospital." She whispers.
"I will. Once we know what's going on I'll rest." I make promises I know I'm not going to keep. I won't sleep until this is over, all of it.
Buffy kisses my neck and I can't help but do that little purr growl thing she likes so much in the back of my throat. She has tried to purr, she can't manage it. It's an acquired skill, and one I rather like being the keeper of. Somehow I feel like it would lose its appeal if she could do it too. I can feel her lips curve up in a smile against my skin. I raise my head and beckon her closer with my hands on her waist. I rest my forehead against hers. Her lips are just a hair's breadth away from mine. I can feel the panting, soft unneeded breaths she takes and it turns me on to know I can do that to her. Our kiss starts out sweet, innocent and I am reminded of all the evenings we spent patrolling in the graveyard. She trails little kisses across my jaw and down my neck. She stops at the thick artery and licks it. Blunt little teeth nibble at the skin.
"I'm hungry." She whispers in a pouty voice seconds before her fangs slice into my neck. I try to angle my body so the people sitting at the curved desk researching can't actually see what Buffy is doing. I bite my lip and feel the blood trickle to keep from calling out. I can't stand it anymore and the things I want to do to her aren't done in front of civilized company. I pick her up in my arms, keeping my right side, the side she is feeding from, away from the others. I take the steps two at a time. Just as I reach the bedroom and kick the door shut behind us I hear the conversation downstairs.
"Ok, not fair, research funpalooza going on here, just where does he think they are going?" Xander says.
"Xander, they're-he-bedroom, Buffy, Angel, no curse." Willow finally spits out.
"Someone please kill me now for asking." Xander says.
"If only we could." Giles says dryly.
*
I awake to the sounds of Willow shrieking downstairs "This is it! Hey, guys, found it! This is it! Oooo, this is so not good." Buffy stirs beside me, apparently it woke her up too. We both get dressed and go down to the lobby. Everyone is gathered around Willow.
"The scepter of Aeternus Proelium." She says. "Wait, that's Latin, I think it means-"
"The scepter of Eternal Battle." I supply for her. Everyone turns around to look at Buffy and I.
"Morning, Dea-Angel and gads! What happened to your neck?" Xander looks at me horrified. I touch my neck, fingertips just brushing the healing, but still quite vivid, puncture marks Buffy put there. I'm pretty much speechless.
"I got hungry." Buffy says offhandedly; as if it were something Xander would completely understand.
"Buff! That's what they make those nifty little bags of blood for and cripes I can't believe I said that." Xander shudders at his own words.
"Its more fun to drink Angel then bags." Buffy says. If I could blush I would.
"Ok, Buffmyster, that's enough with the imagery." Xander says.
"If I have to hear about you and Anya's sex life, you can hear about me biting Angel." Buffy says.
Xander looks like her really wants to say something, but he can't find words. I smirk.
"Yes, well, there are reasons these are called private conversations." Giles says. "Shall we get back to the matter at hand, this scepter to be exact?"
"Well it says here that the scepter was created sometime in the first century, wow, anyway whoever holds the scepter will not fall in battle. Oh, I get it, Eternal Battle, sort of. Wow, all the big guys had possession of it. Hitler had it last. There's nothing here about how he lost it or where it went to though." Willow says.
"This just gets better and better, now this vampire oracle can fold time AND she's got this nifty scepter of I can't be killed. If I die again I am so coming back to haunt you all." Buffy says.
-Angel-
Willow and Tara are asleep sitting at the table. They drifted off over their research books sometime a couple of hours ago. Giles keeps nodding off and waking himself up with abrupt jerks. Buffy is curled up on the couch like a child. Research has never been her strong point. Wes is up at the hospital and Gunn is trying to find out what he can on the streets. Fred and I are the only ones really alert and actively working. I don't know how she's still awake. I have a feeling a large portion of it is her devotion to me, and I'm touched.
I barely glance up when someone walks through the doors into the lobby. Fred stands up. "Can we help you?"
"Mucho research requires mucho snack food. I brought supplies."
I finally look up. Xander is standing in the lobby holding a box of donuts aloft. I can not help but smile. Buffy's white knight has arrived.
Giles jerks awake. "Did you bring any jellies?" He asks, taking his glasses off and rubbing his eyes.
"Extra ones, just for you G-man." Xander says.
Giles glares at him.
The smell of sugar wakes Buffy from her nap on the couch. She smiles lazily even before she opens her eyes. Her first exclamation on waking is "Oooo donuts! I hope you got extra jellies." She grins at Xander as she pilfers one from the box.
"Here now, since when do you eat?" Giles says. He looks ready to snag the donut from her hand and I fight the urge not to laugh. The picture of an English Watcher hoarding donuts is just amusing.
"Since Xander brings donuts." Buffy says sticking her tongue out at him. I can't help it. I laugh. I stand up and dig one of the sugary treats out of the box for myself. So it doesn't the same way it would if I were human, these things pack enough sugar it still tastes sweet.
There is a fresh round of coffee for everyone. The caffeine makes me jittery, but caffeine is the only thing keeping me standing on my feet at the moment. Once donuts have been passed around along with the coffee, Xander buries himself in a thick stack of books.
Fred slams a book shut and shoves it to the side. She buries her head in her hands. "If Cordy were here it would help. We could show her some of these pictures and maybe she would recognize the scepter. This way is just fruitless."
"I am apple-less here too." Willow says with a sigh.
"There are just so many scepters and they all do things like raise the dead, or open portals or grant some power that a vampire would like." Fred says.
"Lorne, I'll talk to Lorne, see if he can get inside her head and figure out what this scepter is, or at least give us a better description of it. The sooner we get this over this, the sooner Cordy will get better." I say.
*
We wait until the middle of the night to sneak Lorne into the hospital. It's not easy taking a green guy with horns anywhere. I close the door to Cordy's room. Xander is outside keeping watch for nosey nurses.
"Ok Lorne, we need to know anything you can tell us about this scepter." I say.
Lorne looks at me doubtful. "Alright, but the last time I tried this with someone I got blown across the room." He sits down on the hospital bed and places his hands at Cordy's temples. He hums just under his breath. There are several minutes where everything is quiet. There is only the soft bleep of the machines in the room and Lorne's soft humming. Finally he drops his hands to his side and opens his eyes.
"Oh sweetcheeks, this is not good. Let me tell you, Cordy was right when she said we had to fix this. I figured that vision to be a humdinger to do this to her, but I had no idea." Lorne says.
"What did you see?" I ask, trying to be patient with the green demon.
"Not so much see as feel, lots of bad, end of the world, impending doom type feelings." Lorne says.
"Lorne, did you see the scepter?" I am running out of patience quickly.
"Oh, I got a clear picture of your scepter. Pretty slim, solid silver carved with a lot of runes. Great big fat sapphire sitting on the top."
"Alright, back to the hotel and we'll look through the books again."
*
I lean back against the couch and scrub my hands over my face. Buffy is curled up next to me. I turn to her and place my nose in the crook of her neck. She rubs slow circles on my back.
"You need to rest, Angel. You haven't been sleeping since Cordy went into the hospital." She whispers.
"I will. Once we know what's going on I'll rest." I make promises I know I'm not going to keep. I won't sleep until this is over, all of it.
Buffy kisses my neck and I can't help but do that little purr growl thing she likes so much in the back of my throat. She has tried to purr, she can't manage it. It's an acquired skill, and one I rather like being the keeper of. Somehow I feel like it would lose its appeal if she could do it too. I can feel her lips curve up in a smile against my skin. I raise my head and beckon her closer with my hands on her waist. I rest my forehead against hers. Her lips are just a hair's breadth away from mine. I can feel the panting, soft unneeded breaths she takes and it turns me on to know I can do that to her. Our kiss starts out sweet, innocent and I am reminded of all the evenings we spent patrolling in the graveyard. She trails little kisses across my jaw and down my neck. She stops at the thick artery and licks it. Blunt little teeth nibble at the skin.
"I'm hungry." She whispers in a pouty voice seconds before her fangs slice into my neck. I try to angle my body so the people sitting at the curved desk researching can't actually see what Buffy is doing. I bite my lip and feel the blood trickle to keep from calling out. I can't stand it anymore and the things I want to do to her aren't done in front of civilized company. I pick her up in my arms, keeping my right side, the side she is feeding from, away from the others. I take the steps two at a time. Just as I reach the bedroom and kick the door shut behind us I hear the conversation downstairs.
"Ok, not fair, research funpalooza going on here, just where does he think they are going?" Xander says.
"Xander, they're-he-bedroom, Buffy, Angel, no curse." Willow finally spits out.
"Someone please kill me now for asking." Xander says.
"If only we could." Giles says dryly.
*
I awake to the sounds of Willow shrieking downstairs "This is it! Hey, guys, found it! This is it! Oooo, this is so not good." Buffy stirs beside me, apparently it woke her up too. We both get dressed and go down to the lobby. Everyone is gathered around Willow.
"The scepter of Aeternus Proelium." She says. "Wait, that's Latin, I think it means-"
"The scepter of Eternal Battle." I supply for her. Everyone turns around to look at Buffy and I.
"Morning, Dea-Angel and gads! What happened to your neck?" Xander looks at me horrified. I touch my neck, fingertips just brushing the healing, but still quite vivid, puncture marks Buffy put there. I'm pretty much speechless.
"I got hungry." Buffy says offhandedly; as if it were something Xander would completely understand.
"Buff! That's what they make those nifty little bags of blood for and cripes I can't believe I said that." Xander shudders at his own words.
"Its more fun to drink Angel then bags." Buffy says. If I could blush I would.
"Ok, Buffmyster, that's enough with the imagery." Xander says.
"If I have to hear about you and Anya's sex life, you can hear about me biting Angel." Buffy says.
Xander looks like her really wants to say something, but he can't find words. I smirk.
"Yes, well, there are reasons these are called private conversations." Giles says. "Shall we get back to the matter at hand, this scepter to be exact?"
"Well it says here that the scepter was created sometime in the first century, wow, anyway whoever holds the scepter will not fall in battle. Oh, I get it, Eternal Battle, sort of. Wow, all the big guys had possession of it. Hitler had it last. There's nothing here about how he lost it or where it went to though." Willow says.
"This just gets better and better, now this vampire oracle can fold time AND she's got this nifty scepter of I can't be killed. If I die again I am so coming back to haunt you all." Buffy says.
