Chapter 8
Despite the attitude that Buffy'd had when she came to Angel with her idea of working together, she'd had some qualms about working at a place that had not only plotted against him, but had at least once tried to kill her -- and they probably would have attempted to more often if she had visited L.A. more. But she had to admit their working together had its benefits. For one thing she probably wouldn't have been able to travel to a source of evil in a 2004 Dodge Viper if Angel hadn't had this job.
She didn't think much of cars, mainly because her own driving was abysmal, but she had to admit that there were some real kick-ass cars in the garage of Wolfram and Hart. Angel still seemed a little reluctant to use anything except his convertible (a car which, in her opinion, he had no business driving) but the others had been more than willing to use them. Fred had tactfully pointed out that it would be hard to be secretive when the entire world can see you. And Angel's car wasn't equipped with the automobile equivalent of stealth technology----- another cutting edge bonus of the evil law firm.
"Do we know how much further?" Angel asked.
"According to the map, three more blocks," Buffy answered.
It had taken more contortions than usual to make the locator spells work, and even when they had finally gotten them to work they hadn't been able to reduce the possibilities down to three locations. Gunn, Kennedy and Willow had gone down to the one in Pasadena. Faith, Wesley, and one of the other Slayers had headed to Baldwin Park. Buffy's group was heading towards Fullerton, where the biggest cache of demons could supposedly be found. The third location was a demon rich neighborhood, however, so it was hard to tell if the Order had a lot of assassins there or whether they were seeing normal demon activity. In any case, they had moved out.
She and Angel had only made one exchange, beside the last one. The first had been when Buffy had turned the radio on. "Could we not hear that?" Angel had said.

"You don't like Mariah Carey?" Buffy had asked.

"I just don't think its appropriate to have music that cheerful when we're about to face the forces of darkness." "

I supposed you'd rather listen to 'Helter Skelter' or 'Sympathy for the Devil'" said Buffy only half-joking. "

It's not her music that's the problem. I just don't like listening to people Wolfram and Hart used to represent."

Buffy took this in. "Seriously?"

"According to Lorne, not only did she sell her soul for her first recording contract, she sacrificed at least one friend to ensure that 'Glitter' got made and released."

"I knew it. No other way that film gets greenlighted, let alone released in theaters." Buffy was about to ask questions about Brittany Spears or Beyonce Knowles but then finally got that Angel was not in a talkative mood. She was pretty quiet after that. Whether Robin and Fred had noticed the atmosphere in the car and decided not to interrupt it, or whether they were just afraid of having a private conversation when Angel could hear them was unclear. In any case neither had not spoken since they had left.

Left with time to think Buffy found herself amazed that, for all the talking they had done about how both of them had grown over the past two years, it had taken them less than a month to get back into the holding pattern that their relationship had been in her senior year of high school. They had been dancing around each other, knowing there was a lot to be said but still not saying it. Perhaps it was because she was still feeling so fragile after what had happened to Spike, but they still seemed unable to talk about themselves. There was an obvious solution to this, of course,and that was to talk about it now. However, Buffy didn't think that she should bring it up when a) they were about to do battle with evil and b) someone else would hear them. She wondered if she had, perhaps without even knowing it, asked Fred and Robin to join them for just that purpose. What she didn't know was why Angel, who had never been the type to do with others what he could do by himself, had gone along with getting help.. Well, this at least she could talk about.
"Angel, why did..."
"We're here. " Shit. She had never known how fast Angel could drive. "I think we had better walk it from here."
They opened the doors and got the weapons ready. All of them were armed with a staking device that Angel had developed in his first year in L.A. They wore heavy coats in order to cover the spring-loaded stakes under their shirts. A simple movement and the stakes were out. Robin was carrying a battle-ax, Fred a modified tazer-rifle and Angel a kitana. Buffy was armed with a comparatively small crossbow, but as the others could testify, she was the one who needed the least arming. She was the deadly weapon.
"All right," said Angel. He was trying for a 'buisness as usual' attitude but Buffy knew him well enough to sense that something was a little off "According to the spell the assassin or assassins were holed up in one of the buildings on this block. This is a pretty demon-infested neighborhood."
"That's not quite right." They turned to Fred. "I mean, neighborhoods are not particularly demon heavy. Most demons prefer to live in abandoned buildings or underground. The idea that a demon would be openly living in one of the houses is, if you'll pardon the phrase, preposterous."
"She's right," said Buffy. "According to the specs all of the residents of this area are human. Of course it doesn't rule out the possibility that they could be members of the Order of Taraka."
"We've got some info on who does," Angel said, taking out a piece of paper. "Everybody who has been living here has been here for at least a year. However, that house was put on the market a month ago." He pointed to an undistinguished brownstone about two blocks away.
"Any particular reason why we think demons might live there?" asked Robin.
Buffy pointed to the sidewalk next to the building. There was an open manhole. "Convenient sewer access. A vampire's dream."
"Yeah, or maybe the area is under maintenance. The last thing that we want to do is break the door open and scare the crap out of some homeless guy," said Robin
"He's right. Besides, I don't think the direct approach would get the best results." said Angel.
"All right then. Someone has to do some reconnaissance. "
"I guess that's me. Robin, would you mind backing me up?"
Buffy turned to Angel in surprise. She had expected Angel to ask her to go. Even Robin seemed to be less shocked than she.
"Angel, are you sure..." she started but Fred, of all people, interrupted: "He's probably right. I mean ,if there are demons there and they see you, they'll take it as a sign to clear out and then we're back where we started. Subterfuge is the name of the game."
For a moment Buffy considered fighting this, then decided it wasn't worth the time. Besides she wasn't in charge any more. She shot Angel a disapproving look which he seemed to ignore. "All right, but be subtle. No more then ten minutes there and back."
Angel and Robin both nodded. The vampire and the former principal slipped quietly into the shadows.
For a moment, an awkward silence hung over the normally talkative Fred and Buffy.
"Well I guess that means that we have a few minutes to...prepare," Buffy said slowly.
"I know. Maybe we can discuss, oh I don't know, your relationship with Angel."
Buffy stared at Fred in shock.
"Please. I may have spent five years in a demon dimension but that doesn't mean I've completely forgotten about human nature."
Buffy looked at Fred, this time with admiration. "I guess you really are as smart as everyone says."
"So why did you ask Robin and me to come with you? And don't tell me it's because you wanted back-up. I've seen Angel fight, and you're a Slayer. That should be more than enough to take out a pack of demons."
"It's been a few months and..." Fred fixed her with a glance that she had formally associated with Giles and Wesley "....that's not going to fly, is it?" said Buffy.
"No it won't. Why did you want us to be your chaperones?" asked Fred.
Buffy thought about it, really thought about it, for a second. "How much do you know about our...relationship?"
"You were the love of his life," Fred said simply. "I know that he was devastated by your dying. And when he heard that you were alive again I saw something in his eyes that I never saw about anything else." She paused. "I know that the last year and a half have been shaky for both of y'all, and he's had his share of highs and lows, but he still loves you with all his heart."
Buffy replayed what Fred had said in her mind. "You said 'were.'
Fred looked flustered for a moment. "Well, I meant to say 'are'. Y'know how I babble some times...wrong word just popped right out."
"Is there someone else?" There was an ache deep within her that she hadn't felt in a while.
"No. There was a time when he might have loved someone else, but there's no chance of that now."
Buffy knew that there was more to this, but she also knew it was wrong to force Fred. "So you know about us."
"Well, I got the story in dribs and drabs two years ago from Cordelia and Wesley. Willow told me the rest earlier."
"We never had a real relationship. We never dated in the conventional sense. It was more like we'd get together, demons attack, we kill them, we check each other for bruises. That was going out for us." She tried to be glib, but inwardly she was starting to really think about some things that she hadn't dealt with in a long time
"Well fighting with someone-- I mean fighting along side someone can stir up mighty powerful emotions. I mean, when there's a possibility that you might die, social graces go out the window." Fred smiled, but it was clear that she was trying to be serious too.
"Yeah," Buffy smiled. "That's probably how Cordelia and Xander hooked up in the first place."She reflected for a moment. "Did she tell you about that part of her past?"
Fred nodded. "She mentioned Xander occasionally. I didn't know all the details until y'all came to stay." Fred gave a small smile. "But that's not the real issue. She shook her head. "But that's not the point. The point is, we can never be intimate. Our love was doomed when I was in high school, and if our relationship is based solely on how much we're willing to fight for each other, we have no chance together."
"So me and Robin are here so that if things get too violent, y'all don't start ripping each others clothes off." Fred thought to herself and then stared straight ahead.. "Now there's an image that's gonna linger."
"I don't think that's exactly what we were worried about, but that's part of it," Buddy said.
"But when you first came here, you said that you had moved on. That you and Angel could just coexist."
"I know and I meant it, but you have to understand we've never really had any other kind of relationship and we're still trying to get it together. It's hard to adjust to the idea of us being...coworkers." Buffy said weakly.
Fred thought about it for a moment. "Look, I'm the last person who should be giving advice on romance, but I'll try anyway. What it comes down to is this: Do you still love him?"
Now that the question had been put to her directly, Buffy thought it would take a long while to answer. It took seventeen seconds. "Not the way that I did when high school was over, but, yes, I still love him."
"Then you need to tell him. You need to learn his feelings. Try and see if he still loves you, then figure the rest out."
"All right...say he loves me. What then? The problem's still the same, we can't be together ever."
"Maybe not now, but there might be a way out."
Now Buffy was baffled. She was about to say such, when she realized that a lot of time had passed. She looked at her watch. "We gave them ten minutes, right?"
"Yes, but that was..." Fred looked at her watch ".... thirteen minutes ago. Oh crap."
"We'd better go." They both began running. As they got closer to the house, they could hear banging and pounding. Buffy had gotten pretty good at recognizing the sounds of battle, and that was the sound of bodies hitting walls. She hoped that they weren't the bodies that she feared they were.

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