90

The Sweet Smell of Fruit Loops

Drusilla floated into the reception area of Havoc & Associates.

Travers immediately looked down his nose at her, because she didn't have an appointment. He knew that, because he knew what Stenslow's schedule was from moment to moment, and he didn't recognize this woman. He rose to his feet.

"Excuse me, madam, may I be of some assistance?" Evil, and working for evil, he might be, but Travers did have flawless manners.

"I need to see Mr. Stenslow," Drusilla murmured. There was something else that she was supposed to say, what was it? Oh, yes. "Angelus sent me."

"I see." Travers scrutinized her carefully, taking in every detail, including the dolly casually tucked under one arm. "If you would care to have a seat, madam, I shall see if Mr. Stenslow is free."

"And how will I know that you won't do something.., naughty?" Drusilla asked. "We'll just go right on in with you, won't we, Miss Edith?"

"I'm afraid that I shall have to insist..," Travers began.

"No, I think that perhaps I shall have to insist," Drusilla contradicted him, then vamped out.

"I'll take you right in to see Mr. Stenslow, shall I?"

&&&&&&

Oz looked at the two bundles brimming with energy seated across the breakfast table from him. Exhaustion had finally claimed him sometime around dawn, but that hadn't given him much of a chance to get rested before his charges were up and bouncing off the walls. He was wondering how he was going to occupy them until their departure. And, more to the point, what they were going to wear, when there was a knock at the door.

He answered the door to see Spike and Lorne, laden with suitcases.

The children, making no attempt to conceal their curiosity had followed him, and as soon as the door opened, they moved with the velocity of bullets shot from a high-powered rifle.

"Daddy!" They practically flew at him.

Spike dropped the cases and went down on one knee, taking them into his arms, hugging them, kissing them fiercely. "God, I missed you two," he muttered.

"Where's mummy?" Alaric demanded.

"Couldn't bring her along with, sport," Spike explained. "We would have had to clear out half the building. But she'll be along to see you off when you leave."

"We missed you both," Ariel muttered into his shoulder. "Do we really have to go to England?"

"Yes, precious, you really do," Spike said, a little sadly. "Tell you what. Some other time, we'll all go, and your old dad can show you round."

Lorne and Oz had moved away a bit, giving the family members some time. "Is that the kid's stuff?" Oz asked.

Lorne nodded. "The blossom packed away clothes for every possible occasion," he replied. "And, I'm sure the munchkins will be sorry to hear, their school materials."

Oz grinned. The twins might not be happy to hear about it, but at least it would give him a way to keep them occupied until their departure.

Lorne cleared his throat. "Hey, Spikester, I hate to break up the family reunion," he said softly. "But if we're AWOL for too long, it's going to be noticed. We don't want to blow the moppet's cover, do we?"

Spike reluctantly released his children. It was hard on him, being away from his kids like this, but at least he'd had these few moments, which was more than Rose did. Poor pet had hardly been able to sleep last night for missing them. And home just didn't quite seem like home without their energy vibrating off the walls. He gave them each one last kiss.

"Your mum and I will be round to see you off," he repeated. "You be good for Oz, hear me?"

"We will, daddy," Ariel promised. She elbowed her brother's ribs, a move she had seen Rose use on Spike many a time.

"We'll be good," Alaric said obediently. But he turned and glared at his sister.

Before it could turn into an out and out brawl, and ruin the mood, Lorne bent down to them. "How about giving Uncle Lorne some sugar, guys?"

The twins latched onto him for a moment, then watched gravely as their visitors left again. Then, they turned their little, woebegone faces to Oz, and he held out his arms.

&&&&&&&

Angelus sauntered down to Rose's office, and was annoyed to find it empty. In fact, it didn't look as though it had been opened up at all that day. And yet he knew that Rose was here, she'd been at his staff meeting. Staff meeting, what a joke. But it suited his purposes for now, to play Wolfram and Hart's game. He did enjoy the perks. The fancy office, the respect, the posh penthouse. If it weren't for the responsibilities involved, he'd probably consider sticking around for a while. But responsibility had never been his strong point. Back to the question at hand though. Where was Rose? Well, if she wasn't here, then perhaps her department head would know.

When he stepped into Wesley's office, he saw the Watcher bent over a book, and Rose, diligently tapping away at the computer. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what was going on. They thought they could protect her this way. He conceded that Wes could be a problem, albeit not an insurmountable one, if he was planning on attacking Rose. But he wasn't, not at the moment. If he was going to have an audience while playing out his fantasies with Rose, Wesley wouldn't be his choice anyway. He'd want to do it in front of Spike.

"Wes, I need a word with Rose." He said it suddenly, abruptly, without making any announcement of his arrival.

Both researchers jumped quite visibly. But, predictably perhaps, Wesley was the first to recover.

"I'm afraid that is out of the question," he replied, a trifle primly. "I'm sure you can appreciate why."

Angelus gave half a nod. "Just the other side of the room then," he suggested. "You can watch, but I think Rose would be more comfortable if you didn't listen." He gave Rose his best smile, which made her stomach turn flip-flops, and not in a good way.

"On one condition," Wesley said. He pulled out his trank gun, they were all still carrying them despite what the senior partners did or didn't like. "I keep you covered the entire time."

"Fair enough," Angelus conceded. He made a grand gesture to Rose, who reluctantly joined him at the far side of the room.

"You'll make a cute vampire, Rosie girl," Angelus teased. "And you've already got he complexion for it." He made as if to touch one ashen cheek, when Wes' voice rang out from across the room.

"Hands to yourself, if you don't mind." It was phrased as a suggestion, but sounded more like an order.

"What do you have to say to me?" Rose asked, losing the battle to keep her voice from quavering.

"You're not going to buy a friendly little visit, are you?" Angelus asked, then answered his own question. "No, I guess not." He fished a piece of paper out of his pocket. He noted that Wyndam-Pryce was watching him like the proverbial hawk. "I need another translation."

Rose took the paper from him gingerly, as if she was afraid that it would bite her, though, in truth, it wasn't the paper she was afraid of. But despite her best efforts not to have the slightest physical contact with him, he was simply better at these things than she was, and his fingers brushed against hers. All done, she had no doubt, just to rattle her further.

Perusal of the missive proved it to be another note from the Q'xlzr demon. Rose read it over carefully. It was trying to arrange another meeting with Angel. It obviously didn't know that Angel wasn't Angel anymore, and she didn't trust her little blue-gray friend's safety to Angelus. Her mind whirled furiously, trying to come up with a plausible lie.

"It's from the Q'xlzr," she remarked. "But then, you already knew that, didn't you?" He nodded, but waited for her to go on. "It says that it's gotten too dangerous for it here. It's going away for a while until things quiet down a little."

Angelus laughed out loud. "Damn, you have got to be the world's worst liar," he observed. "Now be a good girl and tell me what it really says." When Rose remained mute, he put the pieces together himself. "It wants good old Angel to meet with it again, doesn't it?"

Rose didn't answer verbally, but her expression gave him all the answer he needed.

"You're afraid that I'm going to hurt it, aren't you?" Angelus inquired softly. "You actually like the little demon, and you don't want big nasty old Angelus doing it any damage."

Rose nodded, but she still couldn't find her voice. She was frantically trying to think of a way to warn the lop-eared little demon of the danger it was in.

"I wasn't planning on hurting it, Rosie," he said in his best reassuring voice. "I was just going to kill it."

Rose's eyes, which had been mostly downcast throughout the conversation, shot up to look at him in horror.

Angelus held up a hand in a halting gesture. "I was going to kill it," he repeated, putting emphasis on the word 'was'. "But I could be persuaded not to."

"What do you want?" Rose whispered. It was all the volume she could summon up.

Angelus leaned his head closer to her, making sure to keep his hands at his sides to keep the Watcher from getting trigger-happy.

&&&&&&&

Wesley stood on the other side of the room, trank gun drawn, watching Angelus intently. Noting his moves, his facial expressions, everything. Rose, he scarcely paid attention to at all, except for how she was positioned relative to Angelus. He couldn't hear the conversation, it was carried on much too quietly. But Angelus was enjoying himself too obviously for it to be anything innocuous. He became even more alert, if that were possible, when he saw the vampire bend his head close to Rose's. It was therefore something of a shock when he saw dainty, terrified, little Rose haul off and deliver Angelus a resounding slap in the face.

Angelus backed up a step, hand to his stinging cheek. But he was grinning, and it was far from being a pleasant expression. But he couldn't resist one more dig. "Are we still on for Saturday?"

This time, Rose grabbed a large, heavy book, but he was gone before she could throw it.

&&&&&&&

"Good morning, Ms..," Stenslow left it hanging, reminding her that she hadn't so much as given Travers her name.

"I'm Drusilla," she said dreamily. "And this is my friend, Miss Edith."

Stenslow blinked. He wasn't quite sure what to make of Drusilla. Many people had that problem. For most people, it was pretty much the last problem they had. But his discomfiture showed neither in his manner nor his speech.

"Drusilla, then." He smiled his charming best at her, which wasn't very. "I understand that you're here on behalf of Angelus?"

Dru nodded, and it disconcerted the hell out of Stenslow that she wasn't looking anywhere near him, but rather, from what he could tell, at the far corner of the ceiling. At last, she turned to face him again. "Darling Angelus wanted me to make sure that you've got that nasty old soul of his put up somewhere nice and safe," she murmured. "You will let me take a teensy little peek at it, won't you?"

"I assure you, young lady," Stenslow blustered. "That Angelus' soul is locked safely away in our vaults. There is no way that anything could happen to it. Our vaults are even rated to stand up to an earthquake."

"That sounds very impressive," Drusilla allowed. "But Angelus made himself very clear. He wants me to see it with my own eyes." She gave Stenslow her best poor, little girl look, and having had much practice with it, did very well. "He'll be ever so cross with me if I don't. You don't know what he can be like when he's cross."

Stenslow didn't particularly care to find out. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt," he murmured reflectively. "I'll have Travers take you and show you."

Dru batted her eyelashes at him. "Couldn't you do it?" she asked coyly. She lowered her voice to a whisper. "Miss Edith and I don't like that spidery little man." It wasn't a lie, either. Drusilla thought that Travers looked too dry to be of any interest.

Stenslow summoned up another smile, but it was a weak one. Still, she seemed harmless enough, as far as vampires went, which wasn't very far. But it could help to get him in good standing with Angelus, which he was certainly eager to do.

He stood up and offered Dru his arm. "Right this way.., Drusilla was it? What a pretty name."

"You're a nice little man," Drusilla cooed.

&&&&&&

Spike and Lorne were returning from their expedition, when they came face to face with Angelus.

Spike took one look at his grandsire and grabbed his lapels and shoved him against the nearest wall with enough force to knock nearby pictures down.

Angelus brought his hands up between Spike's and knocked them away. "What's your problem, junior?"

"Aside from having to share a planet with you," Spike snarled. "I want to know what you did to get Rose's handprint on your face."

Angelus rubbed the red mark with a grin. "Fred's about the same size as Rose," he pointed out. "What makes you so sure that it wasn't her that did this?"

Spike gave him a contemptuous look. "Fred wouldn't have bothered slapping you," he snapped. "But Rose ain't all that well-trained. As you should know, poncey bastard. So what did you bloody well do to her?"

"I didn't lay a finger on her," Angelus declared. "Just ask Wesley." His face took on a calculating look. "Not that I wouldn't have liked to, mind you..," He grunted slightly as Spike shoved him back into the wall.

"Listen close to this, you sorry sod," Spike growled. "If you lay a hand on Rose again, I promise you, it won't make one blind bit of difference who you are with a soul or what the hell the senior partners will do or say. Touch her again, and I will stake your sorry ass." He deliberately turned his back on Angelus as if to suggest that he wasn't worth the precaution of keeping him in sight.

"Hey, Spike," Angelus called after the retreating figure. "You stake a vampire in the heart, not the ass." He had a sudden visual of the act, and winced.

&&&&&&

After that little exchange, Spike's next stop was, where else? To see Rose.

For the second time that morning, the researchers were startled by the sudden entrance of a vampire. But Spike's entry didn't cause the consternation that Angelus' had.

Spike pulled Rose up out her seat, quickly, but still quite gently. He stood there for long moments, just looking her over, then, he pulled her into his arms.

"Could you possibly enlighten me as to what is going on?" Wesley asked Lorne quietly.

"We saw Angelus when we were coming back in," Lorne replied in a stage whisper. "The studly one took one look at the little hand print on his face and decided that the Rosebud must have laid one on him."

"She did," Wes remarked with a grin. "I don't know what he said to her, and she refuses to tell me, but whatever it was, it was enough to make her forget how scared she is of him and give him a good wallop."

Rose wasn't sure why Spike had made the surprise visit, but she didn't have a problem with it. She snuggled against him and inhaled. "You smell like Fruit-loops," she murmured. She sniffed again, breathing in the scent.

"I think Lorne and I interrupted breakfast," Spike replied. "They miss you too, babe."

Rose fought back a sniffle. "Was that why you came here?"

"No," Spike admitted. "I came to find out just what that son of a bitch said to you that made you smack him." He grinned. "You must have laid into him pretty hard to mark him like that."

"My hand still hurts," Rose admitted. "But we've got to do something, Spike. He's going to kill the Q'xlzr."

"That's why you hit him?" Spike knew that Rose was quite fond of the little demon, had to be, to sit through one of their fertility ceremonies, but somehow, he didn't see her getting up the nerve to slap Angelus on its account.

"No." Rose's eyes dropped, and her face flushed. "He said he wouldn't kill the Q'xlzr if I would..," She looked up into her beloved's eyes and couldn't bring herself to finish the sentence. Her face got even redder.

Spike was starting to get the idea, though. He leaned forward and whispered in her ear, and Rose nodded, then snuggled back into him. "No originality," Spike remarked. "Over a hundred years, and some things just don't change. Do you know when he's supposed to meet your demon?"

Rose sighed. She might as well give up on pointing out that it wasn't her demon. No one listened anyway. "He said he'd give me until one o'clock to change my mind," she replied. Just mentioning the time was enough to make her look at the clock. And realize that it was only about three and a half hours until her deadline was up.

"So he'll have to be coming back here then to get your answer, won't he?" Spike was obviously thinking out loud. He looked over at the room's other occupants. "Lorne, would you mind if I put you in with Gunn? Looks like I'm going to have a spot of demon-rescuing on the books today." He started to leave.

"Darling, wait a minute." Rose threw herself on Spike again, inhaling deeply. "That's better."

As Spike and Lorne left the office, Wesley heard Spike say, "Waste all that money on cologne, and find out that what really turns her on is the smell of Fruit Loops."