SECTION3
"Buffy – that look you are giving me is not helping things."
Frankly, as much as I love her, the look I was getting at the moment, the look that insinuated poor Angel had his brains sucked out by the big bad lawyers and doesn't even realize it, was downright pissing me off.
"Angel, I'm sorry." Across the table Buffy, looking about as tired as I felt, shrugged her shoulders in defeat and tipped her chair back in what I could only explain as exasperation, "I listened to your story, but it just doesn't make sense."
I sighed heavily, feeling my own frustration at her inability to just believe what I said without needing an explanation. When did she turn into Giles?
"Well the same could be said about yours, Buffy. You had never heard of the Immortal before your trip to Rome, so the fact that some guy may have lied to you to get in your pants doesn't even register as a maybe?"
Oh god! I was tired, still weak, not thinking clearly, but the moment the words left my mouth I regretted them instantly and cursed the amount of time the past year I had be hanging around Spike. His lack of tact had somehow rubbed off on me.
Buffy's face, drawn, tired but overall impassive had suddenly flamed an angry shade of red the instant my words registered.
"I can't believe you said that."
If I was pissed earlier, which I thought I was, than right now she was one step away from making me a pile of ash on the very chair I sat.
What Cordelia may have referred to as mega-pissed.
"I can't believe I said that either." I whisper.
As a last ditch effort, and a way to turn away from her burning stare, I turn to Xander, in the chair next to me for some sort of male support. But somehow, between the time my foot had firmly placed itself in my mouth and the time Buffy jumped from the chair in anger, the man had made a silent exit.
Smart man – Buffy must not have been the only one to have matured in my absence.
"Buffy..."
I attempt to fix my slip of the tongue with an apology.
Unfortunately, she wasn't going to let me get in a word.
"Angel, let's review. You went to work with an evil law firm – I opened a haven and training center for Slayers. I saw Andrew die on a bus, since that time you have had two conversations with him, both of which you are being conveniently vague about. Your last memory is fighting a dragon in the back alley of L.A., I find you with slit wrists bleeding on a hellmouth seal. You say the Immortal I know is really some human lawyer who you've entangled with in the past, entangled with the last year and consequently had killed. I won't even dwell on the fact that your okay with killing humans now." At this point her finger is waggling about an inch from my face as she liens over her dining room table, "However, the man I knew as the Immortal was pretty much at my side for the last year, and according to my slayer senses, as well as 5,000 other slayers, he is a vampire. Further, according to the remaining council's records and pretty much the whole city of Rome, this vamp is a famous, if not the most famous of vampires, only second to Dracula himself and goes by the name of the Immortal. . .not Lindsey"
Cocking an eyebrow I try to digest Buffy's tirade. Actually I want to rebuke Buffy's tirade in one smooth sentence, but I can't. It sounds so damn logical. . . to damn logical actually, to perfect. But there was nothing I could do about it at the current moment. Buffy wasn't going to just outright believe me and if I left, to let the both of us cool down, where the hell would I go? Would I just raise her suspicions further?
Besides, one thing I have learned over the years is leaving has never really helped much where Buffy and I were concerned.
"And as for getting in the pants comment."
Ouch, her icy tone made me wince. I was hoping that maybe I had only thought I said that.
I am blaming Spike – I am blaming my lack of finesse on Spike.
"Tough talk coming from a guy who sleep with a werewolf, a she wolf whose only redeeming quality seems to be the tight tops she likes to wear."
Dumbstruck. . . one word, dumbstruck.
"Nina?"
"Cordelia. . .at least you worked with her. I admit it was hard for me, well downright nauseating actually, but it was at least something I could fathom happening. How long did you actually know this one before you jumped into the sack and risked your soul, a week. . .maybe a month? Was she worth it? Is she the one who fucked with your head?"
Oh if looks could kill at this moment, I would be a dead man.
"How did you know about Nina?"
It was all I could think of to ask. I couldn't exactly face. . . actually I didn't exactly want to face the other questions. Especially since a lot of the same questions have been haunting me night after night since the affair began. I didn't see Nina being any sort of pawn in some game to get me, but I didn't know why I was with her either.
"I could ask you the same thing about the Immortal? "
Nice comeback Angel. . .not! What the hell was I doing, trying to piss her off more?
Still confused I watch her, noticing her anger seemed to be dissolving into a dark amusement. Obviously my squirming was helping her mood out.
At least my relationship with Nina seemed to bother her as much as the thought of her and the Immortal bothered me.
"Angel I am training slayers, lots and lots of slayers, and I have to train them to do undercover work as well as the run of the mill patrol-and-stake. I can't help it if you seemed to be a good candidate for surveillance. A vampire who was likely not going to kill them if they got caught."
Slayers. . .tricky. . .and apparently effective.
I have to say, I am impressed. I had never detected them, she had however ducked away from my team of professionals in Rome.
"So while I was having you tailed, you were having me tailed?"
"You were having me tailed?" her voice mocked, before a broad grin broke over her face letting me know she had been onto me all along.
I watch her shrug her shoulders, her eyes pretending to scan the table rather than meet me the face, "I guess I just wanted to make sure you were safe. . .that's all."
She looked at this moment if she wasn't sure if she should laugh or cry.
I on the other hand saw only humor in this odd situation, "So even though we can't ever seem to commit to each other, we always have to keep tabs."
"Sad huh?"
She finally met my gaze with a pout.
Deciding the worst of the fight was over, I begin my half lap around the table to meet up with her. The distance of the table between us was, in my opinion, to far than I was willing to have. Besides, at the moment it was kind of nice to know she was feeling as neurotic and possessive about me as I always have felt about her.
I wonder if she has ever contemplated putting me in a small box for safe keeping?
"Buffy. . .let's drop Nina and your relationship with the Immortal and focus on me, Sunnyvale, Wolfram & Hart and whoever the ugly guy is staring at us in the paper. Once we get that straightened out we can move on to better subjects like the proper handling of freshly baked cookies and how I am not letting you out of my sight again."
Sighing I watch Buffy hesitate, a common look of do I fall into your arms Angel, so do I be a responsible slayer.
To my disappointment, she seemed to be leaning toward the latter of the two options, "Angel. . .I would love to just forget your crazy stories, but I can't. I know you believe what you believe is fact, but if I can keep an open mind, can't you too? I mean even a small part of you realize maybe they did something to you. Maybe everything you know is false?"
I look at her, her concern flooding into every feature of her beautiful face and for the first time wonder if maybe she was right.
Could she possibly be right?
"Buffy. . .I don't know?"
Crossing the few steps that now separated us, she met up with toe to toe, "I honestly don't know either, but I don't think this is as easy as we hoped, I think whatever you faced in L.A. And everything I have faced in Sunnydale is nothing to this creepy town. It's almost like we were set up to be here. You. . .me. . .and Xander?
I couldn't concentrate on cheering her up at the moment, so I only nod. Everything did seem convenient, to damn convenient and the only option I saw was for me, somehow alone, to take a little trip down to Wolfram & Hart and meet up good ole Lindsey. . .or whoever the hell he is.
"Let's go for a walk. . .check out the mansion and maybe the rest of this town."
"Walk?"
Snapping out of my thinking I looked again at the woman standing directly across from me.
"Why not Angel, let's see how accurate this town really is. Is there an outline of where you fell from hell on the mansion floor? Are the shackles still there too? You know. . .a trip down memory lane."
She was trying to make light of the situation.
I could only muster a half grin. Somehow, before sunrise, I was going to have to ditch her and see Lindsey alone.
She was not going to be very happy with me.
"Yeah, let's go for a walk."
Hell, why not.
