Part Sixteen –

I can't read you I wish I could what's going through your mind? I can't touch you your hearts protected I get left behind

The sun was dipping low under the horizon, and had painted the commercial district in soft reds and blacks, when Angel found Buffy. Pushing the heavy door of the Hyperion open he stepped around the debris that littered the floor in an attempt to move quietly. Everything was covered in dust, and where the scant rays of light where being let inside from the open door Angel could see towers of dust dancing in the light. A shadowy figure sat leaning against the bottom of the sweeping staircase, a shard of broken mirror was in the figure's hands, and she played with it, turning it over and over so that a mesmerising pattern of light played on the wall opposite her. Her pulse quickened as he stepped toward her, and he felt it bubbling on his throat, though she made no move to approach him.

He was by her side in an instant, and folding his coat under him, he sat next to her, watching the light shows she made. "It's beautiful." He finally said.

"It's just light." She disagreed.

"The hotel." He clarified, and she turned to look at him for the first time, blonde hair falling loosely around her face, framing her pained eyes.

"It's broken." She told him.

"No." he disagreed. Standing up, he held out a hand to help her up too, she surveyed him for a minute before taking his hand and excepting his help. Keeping her hand in his he tried to comfort her through his physical presence even if he couldn't work out what was going on her mind. Running his free hand over the banister he swept the dust away to reveal the mahogany underneath. "See… it just needs cleaning."

"I'm pretty sure there's some structural stuff too." Buffy objected.

"Nothing we can't deal with." Angelus glanced around what he could see off the vast lobby they were now standing in, grateful for his vampiric eyesight in the failing light. "Would you object if I used it for Aurelius? I need a new base of operations if this is where we're settling."

"Do you have to?" Buffy sighed. "This place needs a soul… not vampires."

Slightly offended but not willing to push his now obviously unstable mate he shrugged. "What do you want to do with it?"

"Restore it."

He resisted the urge to point out that that had been obvious and instead just prompted her further. "And after?"

"It should be somewhere… to help people I guess."

"Aurelius helps people."

"By not killing people when they bite them?" She rolled her eyes. "You're really doing humanity a favour there. I mean going out to help people in trouble… like preternatural cops or something."

Angelus raised one eyebrow and smirked. "Out to help the hopeless?" he mocked. Seeing her face he scolded himself for pushing her. "If that's what you want then, that's what I'll get the order to do. But Buffy – you're not going with them."

Rounding on him she drew herself up to her full five foot four (with heels) height and met his eyes. "And exactly why not?" she demanded.

"The Initiative, The Watchers Council and probably a hundred Slayers are all out to get you. You are not leaving my sight again until they're all dead."

"I'm the Slayer! Of course there are people after me, that's their job, as bad guys, and it's my job, as the good guy, to beat their miserable asses back to hell. That's the way it goes!"

"Not anymore." He insisted.

"You think you can stop me?" She challenged.

Seeing this was getting him nowhere he changed his tactic. "Giles told me you dropped out of School."

She stiffened. "And?"

"Don't you want to finish? I can keep everything covered demon-wise until you're done. I'm sure the school wouldn't object to having you back." He reasoned.

"It's not quite that simple." He motioned for her to go on. "I didn't so much drop out… as er… burn down the gym and get kicked out." She shrugged. "So I'm pretty sure they don't want me back."

"What about private school then?"

"You have to do aptitude tests and stuff to get in, and I'm not exactly the greatest smarts wise."

"We can sort something out." Wrapping his arms around her he breathed in the scent of her hair. "Would you at least consider it?"

"If you'll consider letting me patrol." She shot back. Grumbling under his breath, he knew she'd won already.

Glancing around the walls again Angelus knew there was more they needed to talk about. Whatever it was that had crept into their link when Willow had had wrapped itself around Buffy's mind like a blanket, her mood was constantly unpredictable and when she was at her prophecy spewing worst she could never remember what had happened afterwards. It was all getting worse… she was being drowned in black magic and he had no idea how to save her.

Seeing her shiver he slipped his jacket off and swung it over her shoulders. "Cold?" he murmured.

"Only in my head." She laughed, all of her playfully argumentative-ness from a moment before had gone again and Angel could feel the change in the link. It was like it had got cold… like something was draining all the happiness away and pulling his most horrific memories to the surface.

"How can I make it go away?" He asked desperately.

"Have to ask the death-bringer that." She shrugged, blank eyes fixed on the bottom step of the stairs. Following her eyes Angel stepped toward the stairs.

"What is it? What do you see?" He demanded.

"Shadows."

Shifting Buffy's weight in his arms Angel gracefully moved up the stairs to Buffy's apartment, cursing the fact that the building had no elevator. As Buffy's door came into view, up just one more flight of stairs he passed the door of the elderly neighbour who'd witnessed there fight earlier. The door swung open, pretending to have not noticed he put his foot on the first step. Feeling a hand on his shoulder Angelus knew he had no choice but to turn around, doing so he shifted Buffy's weight again and she curled closer to him in response one hand splayed on his chest.

"Excuse me?" the old lady stepped away from him a little, it was late and she was dressed in slippers and a quilted dressing gown, hair pulled up in a net. But she stood regally, as though she had been someone important once and wasn't going to forget it anytime soon.

"Yes?" Angelus prompted.

"Are you Miss Summer's husband… oh, I suppose she's not Miss Summers anymore." She corrected herself.

Somewhat confused as to why she would assume they were married, though he supposed the fact they were living together might just have been a bit much without marriage for her taste… she somehow didn't seem the sort to be that strict. "Yes." He finally answered. "We're married." They were vampirically married at any rate. But he couldn't remember his human surname if Buffy ever wanted to use it. Shifting Buffy's weight again as his arm muscles ached from over use he saw the woman give him another pointed look. "She feel asleep in the car." That at least was true.

"Oh, well. A young lady left a message for Buffy and yourself."

"Oh." Well that explained why she thought they were married, whoever had visited must've told her they were. The woman looked at him expectantly for a moment. "Who was it?"

"She said her name was Willow."

"Oh." Sighing Angelus held back his frustration at having missed her he really wanted to talk to her about this weird channelling thing Buffy was doing. "Did she leave any contact details?"

"It's all in here." The lady reassured him, holding up a folded envelope. Unwrapping his fingers from around Buffy's body Angel took the envelope and then pulled Buffy closer to his chest. Wondering as he did so how she was managing to sleep through this entire conversation.

"Well, ah, thank you." Angel said hoping to draw the conversation to a close, and nodding stiffly the woman headed back into her apartment while Angel turned to face the stairs. Sighing he began to mount them again.

Having wrapped Buffy up in their bed Angel snuck back to the living room and picked up the phone, switching on the table lamp he collapsed on the sofa. There was so much to do and so little time. Breaking the seal on the letter from Willow first skim reading the contents he sighed again. She hadn't said much, just that she thought it best to stay close to him and Buffy if she could help, that she'd gone to stay with a friend, and that they should call her as soon as they got back. Pulling the legal pad on the table closer Angel started to write down everything that needed his attention urgently and possible solutions. Seeing the resulting eighteen double-sided pages he almost cried in frustration. Calling Willow seemed the easiest to tackle first, though when she had said to call whenever they got back he was pretty sure she hadn't meant two am which the glowing clock assured him it was.

Dialling the number he listened to the ring tone shriek in his ear for long minutes. He was considering just hanging up and having a go at something else on the list when a click told him the phone had been picked up, there was a long pause then a deep voice muttered "'lo."

"I'm looking for Willow."

"'Kay." There were long minutes of silence punctuated by the muffled sounds of people moving around and talking, a door clicked shut and Willow's voice came over the line.

"Is that you Angelus?"

"Yes." Angel played with the phone cord and glance over at the door through which Buffy was sleeping. He could feel her heart rate increasing and wondered what she was dreaming about.

"Good… I was beginning to wonder whether you'd got my message at all."

"We just got in." Angelus explained.

"Oh, where did you go? Urgh, no that's not the point." There was a pause. "Listen, do you remember I said that when I went to work for the council my best-friend Xander came too?"

"I remember."

"Well, when I was in Sunnydale I went to visit his Uncle, and he was kind of surprised to see me, 'cos Xander told him he was coming back with me. Since we had an argument before we left and he didn't come with me, I can only guess he followed me."

"Is he dangerous?" Angelus growled.

"No!" Willow yelled, there was another pause. "I mean… I don't know. I've known him since we were in diapers, he's my best friend… but since we went to London." She sighed. "He got kind of zealous… that's what we argued about, I was scared about what was happening with Buffy, I knew it was wrong… but he. I don't know, he got irrational – started thinking the council are as great as they think they are."

"Do I need to be looking for him?" Angelus asked again.

"I…" There were some muffled sounds of talking at the other end of the line. "He's a good man, Angelus, but he's kind of confused, and it's making him unpredictable. I wouldn't be worried… but with all of the Council's power behind him. He'll be looking for me and Buffy."

"If he comes after Buffy he's a dead man, Willow." Angelus warned.

"Please, Angelus, please don't kill him." Willow whispered.

Angel sighed. "I won't do anything unless he comes after us… but if he does…" the sentence didn't need finishing.

"I understand."

Willow hung off and the dial tone buzzed in Angel's ear. Flicking to the last page of his urgency list Angel wrote Xander and underlined it. Scribbling out 'call Willow' he picked another task and picked up the phone again.

This time the phone was picked up on the second ring, and the person at the other end was breathing quickly as though they had run to pick up the phone. "Dalton?" Angelus demanded before the person at the other end could say anything. "I want a copy of everything about Kaitlyn from the texts. Send it to me here." He rung off before the vampire could reply and leaning back studied the inky blackness of the night outside the window. He hadn't forgotten what the bitch at the initiative had said about his sister… if Kaitlyn was about to arrive on the scene things could be about to get a whole lot worse.