Disclaimer; I own none of the lurvely Angel characters, they all belong to some guy named Joss...and I stole a phrase from a certain movie as well, goes by the name of Speed. So don't know who that belongs to but it's not mine.

A/N; Nobody reviewed the last chapter *sniff* was it really that bad? Ah, who cares, I'm giving you more anyway! So here it is. The end. Told u it was short. I will get working on some more episodes though, so any ideas will be welcomed greatly.

Chapter 7

"Ouch!" Caitlin winced at the pain, both in her back and her foot. She sat on the desk behind the counter at the hotel, with Angel gently bandaging her foot and Cordelia carefully cleaning and dressing the deep claw wounds on her back. The creature had certainly left its mark, and without the accelerated healing her Slayer powers usually gave her, it was going to hurt for quite a while yet.

Wesley entered the room holding a syringe full of some yellowish liquid. Caitlin noticed what he held and began inching away from him. "That had better not be for me!" she warned.

"I researched the council's archives – well, what's left of them – and found the ingredients to reverse the effects of the drug you were given," Wesley said, stepping closer.

Again Caitlin tried to wriggle further away, but this time Angel held on to her. She looked again at the needle and gave Wesley her best wounded puppy dog look.

"I'm afraid that won't work on me, so it's no use trying," Wesley told her sternly.

Reluctantly, Caitlin sighed and held her arm out to Wesley, purposely looking the other way.

"Ah, - erm...it – it doesn't go there," Wesley said awkwardly.

Caitlin's head snapped back to look at Wesley sharply. "Oh no, no way! Na-ah!" she protested.

"If you want to recover from this then I'm afraid it's the only way," Wesley told her.

"Why can't I just wait till it wears off?" Caitlin asked hopefully.

"Because it could be weeks before it wears off naturally," Angel told her, "Do you really want to be weak and helpless that long?"

Caitlin looked offended at this, "I am not weak and helpless!"

Angel moved like lightening and in an instant he held her arm gently but firmly behind her back so that she was defenceless and he could easily break her neck or worse. After a moment, he released her and Caitlin pushed him away sulkily, "Yeah, well, that was unfair. Anyone's weak compared to you."

Angel chuckled, knowing that his point had been proven, but she was just too proud to admit it. Wesley began to advance on her with the syringe, and Caitlin looked to Angel, hoping for some last minute salvation. Instead he held her arm firmly, partly to help her balance with her injured foot, and partly to prevent her from making a run for it.

Reluctantly, and with a defeated pout, Caitlin lowered the waistband of her favourite pink sweatpants to reveal the top of her left buttock. She looked away as Wesley leaned down to inject the antidote, and let out a small squeak of pain as she felt the needle pierce her skin.

"There, all done!" Wesley said as Caitlin covered herself up, still pouting. Angel was grinning amusedly at her, and when she noticed this she narrowed her eyes at him and said, "What are you laughing at?" before limping over to the refrigerator. She took out a bottle of soda and stood there for a second, struggling to open it. Frustrated, she finally gave up and turned to see everyone watching her, trying not to laugh.

"You guys are enjoying this way too much!" she said, narrowing her eyes and folding her arms in a sulk.

Wesley took the bottle from her with a smile, "You know, it is okay to admit that sometimes you just need a big – strong – man – around..." He struggled with the bottle cap, but eventually realised he couldn't open it. Cordy sighed and took the bottle from him, opening it easily and passing it back to Caitlin.

Everybody tried hard to keep a straight face, but failed as Wesley stood there looking foolish.

Caitlin smirked and clapped him on the shoulder. "Yep, big and strong, Wes!" she said as they all laughed out loud.

As everyone wandered away, going about they're business, Angel took the opportunity to speak to Caitlin while they were alone. "Hey, can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Sure, what's up?" Caitlin replied, jumping up to sit on the counter.

Angel paused a moment, wondering how to phrase what he wanted to say. "I just...I mean, I wanted to talk to you about...us..."

Caitlin stopped fidgeting and looked at Angel curiously. "...'Us'...as in – crime-fighting, monster-slaying, Angel Investigations 'us'?"

Angel swallowed, anticipating how awkward this was going to be. "Us as in 'you and me' us."

Caitlin's smile disappeared; "Oh..." she looked down at her feet, avoiding eye contact with him.

"Look, I don't want things to get awkward between us, but...I don't..." Angel struggled, wanting to let her down easy.

"It's okay," Caitlin looked up to face him. "I know what you're gonna say."

"You do?" he asked tentatively, hoping she had not misread the signs.

Caitlin nodded. "Yeah, I get it... You're still in love with Buffy. You always will be."

Angel started to feel a little guilty. "Im sorry..."

"Don't be. I'll get over it...besides, relationships in the workplace – always a big no-no." she smiled and Angel knew she'd be okay. The events of the last few days had evidently changed Caitlin somehow, Angel could tell. He had no idea how she had survived the ordeal, but something must have given her the strength to fight back. And it was that same strength that he knew would help her overcome anything.

Caitlin gingerly lowered herself to the floor and limped towards the stairs. "And you know," she turned back to look at him, "Relationships based on extreme circumstances...they very rarely work out."

She grinned at him and turned to negotiate the stairs with her injured foot. Angel smiled to himself and headed back to his room to sleep off the insanity of the last 24 hours.