162

Angelus Bells

"I think that what we ought to do is every time Angelus leaves the building, start searching for it," Wesley said.

"Do you know how long that could take?" Gunn asked incredulously. They had all met in person anyway, since Angelus was gone. "Or how many places something that size could be hidden?"

"Can anyone else come up with something better, though?" Fred asked. "We certainly can't search for it when he's around. He's not stupid, he'd notice and probably figure out what we were looking for."

"Maybe someone could decoy him away from the building," Rose suggested. "That would free the field for the rest of us to look. And we probably could narrow it down. The best places to look would probably be..,"

"His flat and his office," Spike finished for her. "Nicely thought out, pet." He turned his beaming face to the rest of the group as if he were inviting them to find Rose as amazing as he did.

"But what could we say that would get him to leave if he didn't want to?" Harmony asked.

"That might in your bailiwick, Harmony," Wesley remarked. "Find us the name of a client that Angelus wouldn't pass up the opportunity to visit."

"And subject an innocent client to Angelus?" Gunn asked. "Most of the clients we have now wouldn't be able to deal with it."

"We still have a few of the old contacts," Harmony replied. "Maybe you could go over the list with me and see if we can find one that wouldn't mind."

"I'll do it," Gunn grumbled. "But it isn't very fair to the clients."

"Things are getting a bit desperate here," Spike pointed out. "We have got to figure out a way to get the big pouf's soul back, and right smartly. I want to be able to bring my kids..," He looked at Rose and corrected himself. "Our kids back home."

"All in favor of the current plan?" Lorne asked, looking at Spike and Rose, snuggled together, yet looking strangely incomplete. He missed the munchkins too.

"It does seem to be the best we've got at the moment," Fred sighed. She raised her hand.

So did everyone else.

"And perhaps Harmony could pass the word along when Angelus leaves the building," Wesley added. "It might give us a little extra time to search."

"Sure." Harmony shrugged. "But I won't be able to tell you how long he'll be gone. Some things never change. Angel or Angelus, he never tells me anything."

"Do you think maybe we should decide ahead of time who is to search where?" Rose suggested. "Or else, everybody is going to be checking in the same places and there will be other places that won't get looked into at all."

Wesley pulled out a piece of paper and a pen. "This is going to take a little organizing."

&&&&&&

Oz looked up to see Willow entering the library. "How's Giles?" he asked.

"Better," she replied. "Conscious. But he's going to be in the hospital for a while." She looked over where two little heads, blond and chestnut were bent diligently over their work, pretending not to listen in, but very obviously doing so. "Hey guys, he really liked your get well cards."

"He did?" Ariel asked eagerly. She looked to her teacher. "Could we make more?"

"Yeah, could we?" Alaric added. He wasn't all that interested in making more cards, as far as he was concerned, one was enough. But it was more fun than their regular homework.

Oz looked at them indulgently. "If you get your other stuff finished up," he promised. "Then, you can make more cards."

&&&&&&

Stenslow sat, pale and shaking, long after Angelus left. Finally, he came to his senses. "Get rid of that, Travers," he snapped, gesturing to the body still laying on his desk. "And activate a new operative in Wolfram and Hart. Preferably someone a little smarter. Someone who can do what they're told to do without getting caught."

"Do you still wish to have Rose Powers brought here, sir?" Travers asked. "In light of Angelus' threat?"

Stenslow thought hard and fast. "Put that order on hold for the time being," he answered grudgingly. "There's got to be a way to get around that damned vampire."

"Very well, sir," Travers replied. "I'll send someone in to clean up directly."

&&&&&&&

"So, what's on the agenda now?" Rose asked Wesley. "We know where we are in regards to Angel's soul, which is pretty much nowhere right now. Do we even have any of our regular work to do? Besides the administrative tasks?"

A slow grin spread over Wesley's face. "Angelus is still out of the building," he remarked. "Why don't you and I take a little look around his office, Rose?"

"What if he catches us?" Rose inquired nervously. The thought of coming face to face with Angelus was now enough to give her a full out case of the creeping horrors.

"Harmony can give us a quick word of warning when he comes in," Wesley soothed. "We can just sit there as though we were waiting for him."

"I hope you have a plausible story to tell him as to why we want to see him," Rose remarked. "None of us has gone to see him since he lost his soul. Except when he called that staff meeting."

"We can ask about that man he caught stalking you this morning," Wesley replied. "Come along, Rose, this could turn out to be a golden opportunity."

&&&&&&

"This doesn't feel right," Rose muttered. "Where do you suggest that we start looking?"

"You start with the desk," Wesley directed. "I'll look about and see if I can locate anything resembling a wall safe."

Rose obediently started rifling through the desk. The smaller drawers she passed by on the grounds that the object of their search wouldn't fit in them. The larger drawers, she went through thoroughly, until she came to the locked drawer on the bottom.

"Wesley, there's a drawer here that's locked," she informed him. "Do you have any way to get into it?"

Wes came over and inspected the mechanism. "It doesn't appear to be too complex," he muttered, half to himself. "Have you got a hairpin, Rose?"

Rose watched, fascinated as Wesley dealt with the lock. Once he'd done so, he turned away, leaving her to continue the search.

Rose started rummaging through the drawer, and unearthed a metal box. She didn't think that it was what she was looking for, but she had to admit to a certain curiosity. She started to pry it open.

&&&&&&&

"Mummy's not there," Alaric complained. The twins were in the library for their evening conversation with their mother.

"Do you think something's wrong?" Ariel looked worried. There had been so many things wrong of late, that they were almost coming to expect them. But mummy was one of the few totally dependable things in their universe.

"I don't know," Oz admitted. "Maybe she just got busy and forgot." His heart wasn't in that one, though. Rose was so totally devoted to her children that she'd probably take time out from an apocalypse for them.

"Mummy wouldn't forget us," Alaric said firmly.

"I'm sure that she'd be talking to you if she could," Oz murmured, trying to be soothing, but actually coming down with a case of nerves himself.

"Do you think Angelus has her again?" Ariel seemed to be excelling at finding the worst possible scenario.

"I hope not," Oz replied. "Listen, kids, we could sit here all night and guess, but that wouldn't help. Why don't we just wait until tomorrow." He brightened, just a bit. "Maybe something happened at Wolfram and Hart and their system is down. She couldn't send you a message if the computers weren't working." He thought it unlikely with all the failsafes that the law firm employed, but it was the best he could do.

"I don't like this," Alaric grumbled. "Not one bloody little bit."

&&&&&&

Angelus came striding in, face like a thundercloud. Harmony had had her head bent over her computer and hadn't seen him coming in the door, and so didn't have time to alert Wesley and Rose. Instead, she tried to stall Angelus.

"Hi, boss," she said brightly. "Would you like some blood? We just got some fresh otter in."

"Later," Angelus snapped. He was still headed for his office.

"Um..," Harmony began, trying to think on her feet, so to speak, and having difficulties with it. "Gunn wants to see you," she said. "He said it's really, really important." She looked rather pleased with herself at having come up with something so plausible so quickly.

"Then have him come to my office," Angelus growled. He gave her a suspicious look. "And when did you become so helpful?"

"It's my job, isn't it?" Harmony asked desperately. "And, you know, I've been thinking about things. So you don't have a soul. I don't either. What a coincidence, huh?"

"Yeah, a real coincidence," Angelus said sarcastically. "Vampires without souls, who would have thought? Are you planning on wasting any more of my time, or can I go into my office?"

"Now that you mention it..," Harmony had nothing, and she knew it. It showed plainly on her face, too.

"Find something useful to do," he ordered. "If Gunn really does have something urgent, send him here." He went on into his office.

Harmony picked up her phone. "Spike? You need to get up here right away," she whispered into the receiver. "Wes and Rose were searching his office, and he got back before I could let them know." She hung up without waiting for an answer, and dialed Gunn's number next.

&&&&&

Rose, sitting on the floor behind the desk, was hidden from view. But Wesley, lifting up pictures and gently thumping the walls was in plain sight.

Angelus grabbed the Watcher by his collar and lifted him up off the floor. "What's going on, Wes?" he asked. He could have been asking about the weather.

Rose got the lid off the steel box, and saw the glowing cube within. It was his soul, she'd found it. It was then that she became aware of what was going on elsewhere in the office. She stood up, keeping the crystalline cube in her hands, but out of sight behind the desk.

"Rosie." Angelus' face brightened. He casually tossed Wesley to one side, where his head hit a table and knocked him cold. "I thought I'd have to go tracking you down, and here you are just waiting for me." He leered at her. "You do want it, don't you?"

Moving faster than even she thought possible, Rose raised the crystal box above her head and smashed it down on the desk.

&&&&&&

Spike, Gunn, Fred, Lorne and Val all converged in front of the office.

"Have you heard anything, Harm?" Spike demanded. He had a wild look in his eyes at the thought of Angelus being anywhere near Rose.

"Not through the soundproofing," Harmony admitted.

"So do we go busting in?" Gunn asked. "Or play it cool and knock?"

"I vote fast." Everyone looked at Val in surprise. He seldom contributed to the group discussions, feeling that he was just there on sufferance. "That way, he can't grab her and use her as a shield or a hostage or something like that."

Spike gave him a critical look. "Good thinking, Valentine," he said approvingly. "There may be hope for you yet." He looked at Gunn. "Shall we?"

"Ready when you are," Gunn replied. Fred, Lorne and Harmony brought up the rear, trank guns drawn.

Spike and Gunn flung open the doors, which were, surprisingly, unlocked. But the sight that greeted them was nothing that they could have conceived of in their wildest dreams.

A groggy Wesley was just starting to come to, making a feeble effort to sit up. Fred immediately put her gun away and went to him. It didn't look to her like she was going to need it anyway.

In the middle of the floor was Angel, right where he'd been standing when Rose had broken the cube. His knees had simply buckled under him. But he was no longer alone. Rose was sitting on the floor, her arms around him as he sobbed uncontrollably, occasionally crooning softly to him as though she were soothing one of her children.

Fred had helped Wesley to his feet, and by tacit consent, the entire group moved back out of the office. It looked like Rose had things well in hand, and Angel would probably recover more quickly without an audience.

"Harm," Spike said. "Have you got the council's number?" All eyes turned to him, then everyone broke out in smiles.

"That's right," Lorne remarked, beaming. "Now the moppets can come home."

&&&&&&

Angel didn't know how long he'd been crying, but he felt drained. He dragged his gaze up to the person who cradled his head so protectively in their arms and was stunned to see who it was.

"Rose?" He was almost afraid to believe that it was her. He must be dreaming, surely it couldn't be Rose. Not after what he, or rather, Angelus had done to her.

Rose had lost all her aversion to the vampire the moment she'd smashed the container with his soul and her old friend had looked at her again out of his eyes. She was neither afraid nor repulsed. Angelus was gone, and Angel was back.

"How are you feeling?" she asked softly. For all she knew, having your soul put back so abruptly hurt or something. But she was sure that wasn't why he'd been crying. It was from what he'd put his friends through. "I missed you, Angel."

"How can you stand to be near me?" he asked incredulously. "After everything that I did to you?"

"It wasn't you," Rose replied. She looked down at him and noticed that the cross around her neck was perilously close to him. With an impatient gesture, she yanked it off her neck and slung it away.

"Spike's right," Angel said, reaching up to caress her cheek gently. "You're an amazing woman, Rose."

&&&&&&

After about half an hour of pacing outside the door, Spike grew too impatient to wait any longer. He went in.

Angel was just getting to his feet. He offered Rose his hand to help her up, and it was then that they all noticed something.

"Why didn't you say something, Rose?" Angel asked. "I could have waited, but your poor hands..,"

"I'll be all right," Rose mumbled. Truth to tell, she hadn't noticed either. There had been too much going on. But both hands had jagged shards of the crystal cube wedged in them and had bled profusely.

"You always have to take care of other people first, don't you, pet?" Spike asked. He picked her up, she didn't look all that steady. He gave his grandsire a glance. "Welcome back, gramps."

&&&&&&&

In the wee, small hours, someone knocked on the door to the rooms that Oz and the twins shared.

"What is it now?" Oz grumbled to himself, going to answer it.