Author's Note: I am the worst writer ever. Why? Because I haven't updated in like a decade!! I appologize fair readers!! I promise more rapid updates on all stories. My goal is one chapter per week between all my stories! But reviews have a tendancy to make me work at twice the speed!

"Cordelia? Yes, it's Wesley." Wesley had called the phone they gave her.

"Wesley! Oh my god! The Hamptons is everything I've dreamt of! Kennedy's house has wings, like east and west wings! And servents, and wow being rich is better than I remember!" Cordelia sound as if she would burst at any moment.

"Well I'm sorry to ruin your fun, but I need you to come back for a day or two. I've called the airline, your ticket will be at the United counter, can you get to JFK by this evening?"

"Hold up, wait a minute. First it's 'sure Cordy have your well deserved vacation' now it's 'come home;' what's going on Wes? Is it another apocalypse, cos didn't we just get through with one?"

"It's Angel." Wesley was hoping that somewhere inside of her she remembered all the feelings she had for him.

"Is he okay?"

"Currently, yes."

"But futurely he won't be?"

"It's a distinct possibility."

"Jesus, five minutes with Giles and you've turned back into poncy head-boy watcher Wesley. Speak human!"

"I wanted you to have a chance to say good bye." Cordelia could hear the drop in his voice.

"Is he going on a trip? I'm hoping it's not a Bahamas cruise, cos that definately won't end well." Cordelia was trying to lighten the conversation up.

"No Cordelia. I am being serious. Angel will be going away for a while, so if you want to say good bye you need to come home. Now."

"Going away where?"

"I'd rather not discuss this on the phone."

"Wesley, what in the hell is going on?!?!"

After a pause and a sigh Weslye replied, "We have to unleash Angelus, and we can't resoul him afterwards. We have to kill him." Wesley could hear Cordelia's audible gasp.

"I'll be on the next flight out."

"We'll have a car pick you up."

"Thanks for letting me know, and I'll see you soon Wesley." Cordelia abruptly hung up the phone.

"Do you think that was a good idea?" Gunn's voice came from behind him.

"Angel loves her deeply, and she cares a great deal about him, it wouldn't have been fair to not let her say good-bye."

"And when he kills her first, we'll know who to blame."

"Gunn, we did this last year."

"I remember how well that turned out, big mess, raving psycho on the loose."

"We can contain him, and we are going to impregnate his mind with thoughts. Thoughts which will far more interest Angelus than eating Angel's associates."

"Right, and that's why we had to send the love birds away. I still don't think this is such a good idea."

"Well that's great Charles, but until you come up with something better..."

Gunn interrupted him, "How about one rogue elf?"

"What?"

"We've got a lead on one of the elves, one of those good-evil elves. Turns out we do business with him. He's an arms dealer, runs his operation out of Canada."

"Canada?"

"Hey, who'd suspect an evil elf would be running arms out of the land of maple leaves? Personally, I've always been suspicious of those Canucks. They're a bit too quiet if you asked me."

"So he's running elven weapons out of Canada?"

"No, actual arms. He literally sells limbs. Some demon clans eat arms, he gets them from bodies donated to science or something. It's strictly a cadaver thing, and it's quite profitable, you should see his, er, it's impressive, and wrong."

"Is he a Wolfram and Hart client, and if so, why?"

"He is, apparently dealing in dead body parts isn't exactly legal. We also help him smuggle them into the states."

"Gunn, we don't have time to go to Canada."

"I know. That's why I sent up the recovery team. He'll be here in a few hours."

"Well maybe he'll offer us an alternative to our current plan. But no matter what we have to release Angelus' soul, it's for the rebirth."

"It's all good, I got few problems with that. I'd love to kick that guys ass."

"Who's ass are we kicking?" Faith asked coming into the room. "You know I hate to be left out of a good ass kicking, or spanking." She said with varying levels of innuendo.

"Hey Faith, what's up?" Gunn asked.

"Actually, I was looking for you."

"Hm, wonders never cease. I'll leave you two, I need to arrange some, er, things. Yes, see you later." Wesley quickly ducke dout.

"So I was thinkin', Buffy's gone, Angel's brooding and I'm just itching for some rough and tumble."

"You wanna spar?"

"Yeah, somethin' like that." Faith said with a wink as she headed down to the training room. Of course, Gunn followed her.

"I can't believe I just watched a bunch of girls dance around topless." Buffy remarked as they walked down the Vegas strip.

"Come On! That's quality entertainment! Please, let's not act like you weren't completely entranced, pet. Am I right Pike?"

"There was definate fly-catching going on at one point."

"I rest my case, love."

The three of them stopped in front of Bally's. "Well guys, this is my stop. Don't do anything I wouldn't do. Here's my spare key. I should be home around five am. I might do a quick sweep after work, so don't wait up for me." Pike handed Buffy the jey and gave her a wink.

"And if we aren't home, don't wait up for us mate. But if you don't here from us in 24 hours, call this number, ask for Giles or Wesley." Spike handed Pike a copy of the Hyperion's number.

"Buffy, please try to keep the shenanigans to a minimum. This is Vegas, you can get into a lot of trouble in the blink of an eye."

"Minimal shenanigans, check. And wow do you sound like Giles."

"Well a little bird did tell me that the Watcher's Council has a few openings." Pike laughed. "But honestly guys, be careful around here, there are a lot of demons who would just love to add 'Slayer Killer' to their titles."

"Don't worry, I'll keep a good eye on our girl." Spike said as Pike ducked into an employees entrance door.

"Where to now? I say Caesar's Palace or the Belaggio, I hear that's where the good shopping is. The Venitian too."

"Sure, but first we are goin' here." Spike pulled her onto a side street and into a small off-strip casino.

"Um, I think eww sums this up. This place was definately not in the brochure." Buffy looked around the small casino. Few people were in it, mostly people that could be identified as locals. It was much quieter than the other casinos. It would not cause headaches, but then there was the smell of old beer, and the dirt beaten into the carpet. The whole place made Buffy want to wash her hands for an eternity.

"It might not be pretty, but if the locals gamble in here you know there is money. All the money in Vegas isn't in those ritzy titzy casinos, it's all here, off-strip." Buffy could practically see the dollar signs in his eyes.

"Yes, as well as all the grime, dirt, and scum."

"Here's a hundred dollars, go find a slot machine and double your money. I've gotta find myself a poker game." He handed her the money and wandered away.

"So much for the glamour of Vegas." Buffy muttered as she sat at an Elvis machine. "Come on Elvis, don't be cruel." She said as she launched the first of her money into the machine.

Two hours later Buffy had nearly four hundred dollars, and had lost her patience with slot machines. She was also a bit dizzy from all that reel spinning. She finally found Spike at a blackjack table.

"I thought you were looking to play poker?" She asked as she slipped her arms around him. "Or was it just not the same without the kitten wagers?" She whispered into his ear.

"Noone left to play with." Spike motioned over to the three empty poker tables. "I sort of cleaned the lot of them out." He said showing her the piles of chips in front of him.

"Ooh, you're like the lord of the plastic chips." Buffy mocked.

"Don't mock me love, this is about seventy thousand dollars."

Her eyes nearly fell out of her head when he said that. "What?"

"Lots of money, all represented by plastic chips, I'm tellin' you, if I had known these casinos were going to be this profitable I would have invested in Bugsy when I had the chance! Instead I laughed at his 'desert paradise' fantasy. Goes to show I'm not much on the forethought."

"You knew the guys who built Vegas?"

"Of course! Angel did too, but I was less of a friend and more of an associate to them. In fact, I know where Jimmy Hoffa is, and let me tell you it's not in a pair of concrete boots. Hell, he isn't even in this dimension!" Spike gathered his chips and headed for the cash-out area. "So love, you want to go do that bit of shopping? I'd like to head over to the Venetian and try their high stakes poker tables. See if I can get a free room out of them."

"Free room? We have a place to stay."

"No love, I'm talking a suite at one of the most lavish hotels in all of Vegas. Like you really want to sleep on Pike's couch instead of a king sized bed."

"Point taken."

The two of them headed over to the Venetian, and while both put up a front of happiness, both were deeply troubled by what was about to happen in L.A. They both even felt a bit guilty about not being there, but the guilt was a very small bit, and was easily overrode for Buffy with a visit to the Jimmy Choo shoe store. She wasn't superficial, there was just something relieving about shoes this cute. Plus it was kind of nice not to be at the center of the apocalypse for once.