Dedicated to Babs, Angie, Sabs, Calli, Jules, and Sasha....May they always irritate me beyond belief and be my best friends =P...And to Liz (Will_ow) for posting this challenge and being my fwiend and and and....helping me some with this part :P and betaing and and and.....yeah that's enough :P. Oh and everyone that's reviewed *sniffles dramatically* this is for you! *cries*...But if you haven't reviewed then....it isn't :P

Disclaimer: DO I look like a gay-straight bastard (with control issues and a bad haircut) that ruins everything? The answer is no . . . I do not. I have pwiddy red hair :)

Feedback: y'know.....the funny thing about feedback is everyone wants it but no one wants to give it......so.......PLEEEEEEEEEEASE??? I'll be your bestest friend and stuff...oh and people won't have to hunt you down for being the sole reason I haven't finished =P.

CHARMEDFAN01@HOTMAIL.COM OR stacie12285@yahoo.com

Summary:.......Where does the ice in the ice maker come from?

Spoilers: Spike's gonna be human? *walks angrily for two seconds before falling into a huuuuuuuuge hole* Oh crap! I found the biggest plot hole ever!

Random Question of the Day: If Riley's in a forest and no one's around...does anyone hear him whine?

I'm sorry to do this readers, but I hafta have a villain I hate and...yeah

Rating: G...{B/A goodness} =P [Screw the real rating system =P]



Chapter Nine

It was too quiet around the Bronze. There were no fights, no conversations, no drunken arguments about the advantage of spray cheese. Just desolate quiet. At least that's how it seemed to Angie. They had closed for "renovation," which was just a fancy term for kicking people out so they could have a meeting. Didn't people ever wonder why nothing had changed when they came back?

"Angie," Liz shook her.

"Oh, um, yeah?"

"What's got you all thinky?"

"Nothing. Just wondering why they call it 'puppy love' when puppies aren't involved."

"That's great," Liz began flipping the pages of a magazine she'd found behind the bar.

"What's that," Angie tried to read over her shoulder.

"Apparently one of our bartenders is a perv."

Angie laughed and looked at one of the pictures. She titled her head and appeared deep in thought. "How do they do that?"

"That . . . uh . . . spider thing? Maybe there are wires holding 'em up," Liz laughed and threw the magazine in the bar's direction. "What now?"

"I s'pose we wait until everyone else gets here."

"Gre-e-e-eat," Liz let her breath out in a whoosh of air. She gazed around the club and marveled at how different it looked during the day when they allowed people to rent the club for private parties. She'd always know there was something magnetizing about the place considering the large numbers of people that seemed to gravitate but without the flashing strobe lights and the throng of dancers, it actually looked like it could have been the over-priced restaurant it was before they bought it. It was a shame they had painted the walls crimson. She was partial to blue. They hadn't taken down the crystal chandeliers yet, but she doubted they would. Something about pretty things made the sisters happy. *I'll have to tell Angelus that.* After all, if she hadn't told him where the club was, he'd never have known.

"They're late," Angie checked her Tweety Bird watch.

"Aren't they always," Liz grimaced and hoped they hadn't run into trouble.

"Fuck, shit, damn it all to hell," Faith walked in cursing and threw her jacket away from her.

"What is it," Angie stood up quickly, almost pushing her chair to the floor.

"Nothing, just Goldilocks decided now would be a good time to call New York."

"Why would she call there," Angie stared blankly.

"How the hell should I know," Faith snapped and threw herself into one of the over-stuffed chairs. "Anyway, have either of you found out anything about Angelus or Spike?"

"Just what we already know . . . they're bad."

"Well that's just great. If it isn't one bad thing, it's a million," Faith grimaced before walking over to the bar to pour herself a drink.

"I hear that," Liz muttered.

***

Buffy walked as fast as she could to get to the Bronze. The surprise phone call from her cousin Kate in New York had thrown her later than she'd expected. Kate didn't seem to care that Buffy had a place to be, or that Buffy couldn't care less about Kate's love life. Buffy glanced at her watch. *Fuck.*

"Well, what do we have here," a deep-ish voice asked from behind her.

"That's really not your concern."

"Everything around here is my concern bird."

She turned around angrily and recognized her annoyer from her dream, "What do you want?"

"Maybe I should introduce myself . . . I'm Riley," he gave her his 'charming' smile.

She suppressed the shudder working its way up her spine. "That's great."

He opened his mouth to continue talking when she turned to walk away. He rushed to catch up with her and grabbed her arm, "Where do you think you're going?"

She laughed at his attempt to intimidate her, "Yeah, that's threatening. Listen, I've got an elsewhere to be and my people that are at that elsewhere wouldn't be pleased to know that someone in this somewhere touched me. Yeah."

He stared at her back as she walked into the Bronze. "So she's a Summers," light dawned in his dull blue eyes.

****

"I know! Don't kill me all right!"

"Buffy, we're not gonna kill you," Liz reassured her from her seat.

"Why not," Buffy glared at the three suspiciously.

"It's not like it's your fault you're late," Angie smiled.

"It's not!"

"Anyways, what'd you want us here for B," Faith asked, looking around the room in distaste.

"I didn't call you here," her eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"That's really weird," Angie stated.

"Is it that obvious?"

"Don't snap at her *Babs.*"

Faith gasped, "How dare you?"

Liz stepped in, "Y'know, since we made a mistake let's just call it a night and go home."

"She's right, I'll see you guys to-"

"Actually, I wanted to talk to you Buffy," Liz grabbed her arm.

"Alright."

They waited for the other two to leave before speaking.

"So, what's up with you and Angelus."

Buffy's eyes flashed with something close to panic. "What about Angelus?"

Liz smiled and knew she had her, "Nothing, just wondering how you're doing. Friends worry."

She let out the breath she didn't realize she'd been holding, "Oh, it's nothing. Everything's doing great."

Liz pretended to study her face carefully and gasped, "You like him don't you?"

"Ok! Ok, I do! But . . . I'm afraid of what everyone else, excluding Faith, will do when they find out."

"You shouldn't care."

Buffy thought that over and was silent for long moments.

"Buffy?"

"He'd care. He'd never feel that way or admit to it and I'm not going to put myself out like that, not when I know I'd just be hurt or rejected."

"Feel what way," Liz prodded, feeling slightly guilty for what was going to happen after this.

"Liz...I think that I might be in love with Angel."

Her mouth fell open, "Y'know...I have some place I need to be."

She began walking toward the door before she realized something, "I won't tell anyone."

"Thank you."

Angel sat in a chair on the balcony, stunned. Before he had time to dwell, he heard Buffy's shoes clicking on the floor and jumped out of his seat.

"Really," he forced a smirk to his face.

She tensed and stood frozen to the spot, "What are you doing here?"

"A friend told me I should be here."

"How much did you hear," Buffy asked already knowing the answer.

"Oh, I heard everything," he paused to let his words sink in.

He vaguely heard an "Oh god" from her direction before she ran out, slamming the door behind her.

"Damn it," he ran a hand through his hair, "I hope Liz has a better plan next time."

******

I'm sorry it took so long!

Special "Thank you"s to :

- Liz - for betaing and helping me

- Jess - for basically yelling at me =P

- Sera Devona - for reviewing and saying I have a fan ;)

For reviewing:

- buffyangelus, Midnight Moon, TK, Tariq, AJ, Forever-Buffy and her Ang, and Jen :)



***Reviews greatly appreciated!****