Sorry for not updating in a while guys!!
AN: I needed a climax with B/A fighting so there's going to be a point in this chapter where they can't stand each other anymore and by the end . well, you know!
Dedication: To all the reviewers.
Here it is .
They walked into the Bronze, immediately taking in the scent of smoke and beer. It was hot in there, mainly because of the hundreds of people dancing and jumping up and down on the dance floor.
They walked throughout the Bronze, checking for possible exits, checking the catwalk and the skylights. They had to mark down advantages and disadvantages in their minds.
Faith was tending the bars, just like she said she would. Buffy glanced at her with a knowing look; Faith returned it and looked around. The band started to play a slow song.
Lorne was leaning against the bar, just taking in the amount of people who were dancing. 'I'm good,' he thought. His bar was a total success. Drusilla came into his view and he immediately smiled.
"Hey honey buns. What can I do for you?"
"Lorne," she whimpered, "I'm cold."
"Aww," he took his overcoat off and wrapped it around her shoulders, "That's my girl."
She started to purr into his shoulder and looked up at him, with fire in her eyes. It was a sign of pure want. "Let's dance."
Still looking in her eyes, Lorne took the keys from his pocket and slammed it down on the bar. "Faith, you're in charge for the next hour."
"No problem, Boss," Faith said smiling. "Go have your fun."
Lorne whispered into Dru's ear and an evil smile spread across her face. They scurried towards Lorne's private office.
*_-_*
Meanwhile, Angel and Buffy were looking around on the dance floor. They looked at the kind of people who were at the bar. The size of the dance floor. They went back stage while the band was playing and looked around. Buffy thought it was useless, they'd been around the Bronze a couple of times already. She knew every inch of the place.
She turned around and headed for the bar; Angel followed her. She sat up on the stool and slammed down a twenty. "Gin-a-tonic."
Angel looked at her in shock. He grabbed hold of her arm. "We're here to work, not to get drunk and party." He was squeezing her arm.
"First of all, we've been through everything. I know this place as if it were the back of my hand. Speaking of hands, why don't you lay yours off of me?" She looked at where he was squeezing her upper arm.
"You want to fool around when we're supposed to be working, fine! But I'm not the one who will be to blame for you slacking off. I'm checking the back alleyway. I'll be back soon."
He took off and she started drinking. The past few days HAD been hell, just like she'd expected. She drank the liquid and it was smooth and warm as it went down her throat. Her life was a mess. She came to Sunnydale because of her Uncle. Later, she finds out that she might be dealing with explosives, the one thing she hadn't perfected in her years of training. She was away from her friends in LA, and got stuck with a moronic hypocrite. She just wanted to forget, forget all that had happened to her. She ordered another drink and swallowed fast.
Angel was lurking in the alleyway, looking for anything useful. Garbage cans, rats, pools of water and litter was all that he saw. He looked closer, to the top of a cardboard box that was in the middle of the alleyway. There was something sticking out of it. He looked closer, and there was a six-inched knife sticking through the box.
Angel looked to the left and right, checking if there was any figure to be found. Then he looked at the knife, put on his gloves and slipped it into a plastic bag. He quickly got back inside.
*_-_*
"Jonathan," a woman's voice called out, "Get me some orange juice and then come back in here and massage my feet."
"Yes, Darla."
"Jonathan, where'd you put my knife?"
"What knife?"
"The one that my father gave to me. Where did you put it?"
Jonathan looked as if he was about to run. When he finally sprang, Darla jumped up and pulled him over by the hair. She was inches away from his face. "Where, did you put...the knife."
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I had it in my hand in the alleyway. Then I tripped; I think I dropped it. Please don't hurt me, please."
"You dropped it. You fucking dropped the knife. By now that undercover PI probably has it and is doing tests on it already." Darla yelled. 'The only reason why I'm keeping this waist of skin alive is because he knows about the bombs and of course there's always the need to have a sexual boy toy. All I give a shit about is killing innocent people,' she thought. When she had first arrived to this community, she had been shooed away. They thought that she was white trash just because of the way she looked. 'But it'll bite them in the ass in the end; they'll see.'
*_-_*
Angel looked around for Buffy in the throng of sweaty people. "Where the hell is she?"
Buffy was swaying her hips to the soft sound of the music. She was dancing up against a guy and appeared to be very drunk. She moved in closer to him, lifted her hands above her head and swayed. She dropped her hands around his neck and he started to dance with her.
He looked into her eyes. "You want to go take a ride, baby?"
Buffy still clung to him and smiled a tipsy smile. "Sure, what kind of car do you have. And what's your name?"
The guy chuckled. 'This girl is soooo drunk; just my lucky night...' "My name's Riley. And let's go," he said while putting out his hand for her to take. She took it and he turned around. Angel blocked him, his two arms crossed over his chest.
"You better go take a walk, boy."
"And who are you?"
"A friend," he said simply. He grabbed Buffy's arm, "Let's go."
Buffy wriggled her arm free and slapped him across the face. "Maybe I don't want to go. I want to stay here with Riley. He said he wanted to go take a ride."
Angel looked at her in shock. He waited only a second before he rushed Riley, his hand punching his nose. Immediately, blood started to poor. Angel grabbed Riley by his collar, spitting every word out to him.
"You knew that she was drunk and you made a pass at her! You damn sicko!" he punched him in the gut and Riley cried out. He sat back on the floor, cringing to a corner. Angel looked as if he was going to kill him; he was. He started punching him left and right, cutting his lips, bruising his eyes, blood spilling everywhere. He pulled his fist back, attempting to swing at him in the face. His fist lunged, but was caught by a hand. Angel looked up at Faith.
"Calm down," she whispered through gritted teeth. She dropped his hand and walked away, through the throng of viewers.
Angel pulled him by the collar once more. "If I hear that you've taken advantage of anyone, especially her," he said pointing towards Buffy, "I'm coming after you."
He dropped his collar. Angel sat up and went over to the furious girl. He pushed her in front of him. "Come on."
"Lay your hand off of me."
"Don't make me do this..."
"Make you do what?"
"You leave me no other choice." He grabbed her body and swung her over his shoulders.
"You moron! Put me down," she screamed, making an embarrassment out of herself. She punched him in the back, making him bite his lip. She kicked and screamed and he wouldn't let go. When he got into the parking lot he set her down and opened the convertible door for her. She made a run for it, but he quickly took her by the arm and cuffed one of her hands. He pulled the other cuff towards the car seat and cuffed her other hand between the bars. He seated her in the back.
"I hate you. You don't know what's good and what's bad for me. Don't expect to act all macho on me cause I'm not going to take it." She kicked the seat.
"I knew that guy. He looks forward to seeing drunk girls so he can take advantage of them," he said calmly, not caring for the car seat at the moment.
When they got to the apartment, he let her out of the seat her hands still cuffed.
"Uncuff me."
"No."
She put her two hands together and backhanded him. He stumbled back.
"That's it; you're going up again," he said while lifting her on his shoulders. He carried her all the way up the flight of stairs, with her punching his back so hard that he thought he was going to collapse. When they got to their door she gave him one last hit to his lower back. He threw her on the floor, his eyes flaming with anger. He unlocked the apartment and dragged her in by the middle of her cuffs.
"You don't get it, do you? I did you a favor and all you do is tell me I'm a moron? I can't take it anymore; I can't look at your face and I can't stand your Joan Collins 'tude any longer. You're gonna pack tonight and get the hell out of my apartment," he screamed at her while dragging her across the floor.
"Angel..." she cried.
"No, listen to me. You are to never, ever see me again. You are not to talk to me, not to look at me, not to even breathe or stand in the same room as me."
"Angel." she cried even louder.
He wasn't looking at her, just dragging her by the cuffs to her room. "I told you not to talk to me. You never listen to me and you assume that you're better than everyone. You don't give a damn about what other people say. You're always bitchy and."
"Angel!" she screamed.
"What the fuck is the matter with you, I'm trying to talk and you're interrupting me like you're some kind of higher being?" He finally saw her and gasped at the sight. She was crying there, looking down at her wrists. They were bloody, mainly because Angel had dragged her across the whole apartment. There was a trail of blood from the living room all the way to her bedroom.
"Oh my G-d."
"Look what you did to me," she half screamed, half cried. She held her wrists up for him to see. She stood up and glared at him. She was crying so hard and she attempted to smack him, but being drunk, she missed him. She did, however, pound her fists on his chest so hard that he thought his heart might break, either from the pounding or from her crying.
"Look what you did to me, you asshole! Look!"
His eyes were watery now. He didn't know what to do. He was acting like an animal. He made the girl bleed from her wrists!
"You don't say anything? You're the one! You're the one that doesn't give a damn about anyone and you're the one that never listens! I've tried to be nice to you, but it's as if you love to hate me. You love to drive me nuts and abuse me, and yet you never ever wondered how I was feeling. You're always." she broke down and lay on the floor, sobbing.
He got down on the floor and lifted her head onto his lap, rocking her. "I'm so sorry, I never meant to do anything like that. Please, please don't cry," he said pleadingly, about to cry himself.
She didn't stop and it sounded like she was having a panic attack, she was panting so hard from the tears and her heart was racing.
He didn't know what to do. He wanted to make her stop crying; he thought she would die because she was breathing so heavily and so fast. He lifted her chin to him and looked into her eyes, "please don't cry, baby. Please. I'm so sorry that I hurt you," he purred. She calmed down a little, streams of tears still making their way down her face. He kissed her cheek lovingly, wiping her tears away. Then he moved away from her cheek, moving closer to her mouth. It was like in slow motion to her. It was like a movie that she had seen. She'd been waiting, her heart aching, but she hated to love him. She didn't allow herself to love him until the kiss came ... He got closer and closer, their noses touching, making them both grin. He finally captured her lips. It was one of those kisses that made your heart ache and made you want to cry. It was so gentle, so calming, so slow and loving. He swallowed her sobs and tasted the salty tears in her mouth. He moved away from her mouth and started kissing down her neck, hugging her close to him. She let out a deep sigh of relief and stopped crying.
He pulled away from her, slightly nuzzling her neck before looking into her eyes. "I think I should fix your wrists up, okay?"
She nodded and he kissed her again. He felt his heart jump and smiled. He picked her up from her floor and set her down on the living room couch. He went to the bathroom and brought out the first aid kit.
"I'm sorry I got all crazy when I was crying; it just brought back bad memories from my past," she said with a sniffle. He was cleaning her cuts with gauze and alcohol.
"Want to talk about it?"
She sighed and started talking, "When I was little I was always curious about a lot of things. So, when I went into my father's office I started playing with all sorts of cool pens, writing everywhere. On the walls, on his checks on his furniture. When my dad found me he dragged me by my arms to my room and tied me to my bedpost with a rope. I tried getting out of his knots but every time I struggled, they got tighter. And I started to bleed and." her words trailed off.
'G-d, I am an animal,' Angel thought. He didn't even think about what he had been doing to her; he was just ranting about how bitchy she was. She wasn't bitchy.
"Where's your father now?"
"He passed away a few years ago."
'Lucky bastard,' he thought. Angel would have hung him for what he did to the girl.
"There, all done. I'll make you some coffee, you should go take a shower," he said while getting up from the couch.
He made his way towards the kitchen.
*_-_*
I know - not too much B/A goodness - I truly swear that there is so much more in the next part. You guys might be thinking I'm weird for using so many non-cannon couples, but that was a part of the challenge. Go Lorne and Dru!
Please review!!!! Let me know what you think!
~Liz (AKA Will_ow)~
AN: I needed a climax with B/A fighting so there's going to be a point in this chapter where they can't stand each other anymore and by the end . well, you know!
Dedication: To all the reviewers.
Here it is .
They walked into the Bronze, immediately taking in the scent of smoke and beer. It was hot in there, mainly because of the hundreds of people dancing and jumping up and down on the dance floor.
They walked throughout the Bronze, checking for possible exits, checking the catwalk and the skylights. They had to mark down advantages and disadvantages in their minds.
Faith was tending the bars, just like she said she would. Buffy glanced at her with a knowing look; Faith returned it and looked around. The band started to play a slow song.
Lorne was leaning against the bar, just taking in the amount of people who were dancing. 'I'm good,' he thought. His bar was a total success. Drusilla came into his view and he immediately smiled.
"Hey honey buns. What can I do for you?"
"Lorne," she whimpered, "I'm cold."
"Aww," he took his overcoat off and wrapped it around her shoulders, "That's my girl."
She started to purr into his shoulder and looked up at him, with fire in her eyes. It was a sign of pure want. "Let's dance."
Still looking in her eyes, Lorne took the keys from his pocket and slammed it down on the bar. "Faith, you're in charge for the next hour."
"No problem, Boss," Faith said smiling. "Go have your fun."
Lorne whispered into Dru's ear and an evil smile spread across her face. They scurried towards Lorne's private office.
*_-_*
Meanwhile, Angel and Buffy were looking around on the dance floor. They looked at the kind of people who were at the bar. The size of the dance floor. They went back stage while the band was playing and looked around. Buffy thought it was useless, they'd been around the Bronze a couple of times already. She knew every inch of the place.
She turned around and headed for the bar; Angel followed her. She sat up on the stool and slammed down a twenty. "Gin-a-tonic."
Angel looked at her in shock. He grabbed hold of her arm. "We're here to work, not to get drunk and party." He was squeezing her arm.
"First of all, we've been through everything. I know this place as if it were the back of my hand. Speaking of hands, why don't you lay yours off of me?" She looked at where he was squeezing her upper arm.
"You want to fool around when we're supposed to be working, fine! But I'm not the one who will be to blame for you slacking off. I'm checking the back alleyway. I'll be back soon."
He took off and she started drinking. The past few days HAD been hell, just like she'd expected. She drank the liquid and it was smooth and warm as it went down her throat. Her life was a mess. She came to Sunnydale because of her Uncle. Later, she finds out that she might be dealing with explosives, the one thing she hadn't perfected in her years of training. She was away from her friends in LA, and got stuck with a moronic hypocrite. She just wanted to forget, forget all that had happened to her. She ordered another drink and swallowed fast.
Angel was lurking in the alleyway, looking for anything useful. Garbage cans, rats, pools of water and litter was all that he saw. He looked closer, to the top of a cardboard box that was in the middle of the alleyway. There was something sticking out of it. He looked closer, and there was a six-inched knife sticking through the box.
Angel looked to the left and right, checking if there was any figure to be found. Then he looked at the knife, put on his gloves and slipped it into a plastic bag. He quickly got back inside.
*_-_*
"Jonathan," a woman's voice called out, "Get me some orange juice and then come back in here and massage my feet."
"Yes, Darla."
"Jonathan, where'd you put my knife?"
"What knife?"
"The one that my father gave to me. Where did you put it?"
Jonathan looked as if he was about to run. When he finally sprang, Darla jumped up and pulled him over by the hair. She was inches away from his face. "Where, did you put...the knife."
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I had it in my hand in the alleyway. Then I tripped; I think I dropped it. Please don't hurt me, please."
"You dropped it. You fucking dropped the knife. By now that undercover PI probably has it and is doing tests on it already." Darla yelled. 'The only reason why I'm keeping this waist of skin alive is because he knows about the bombs and of course there's always the need to have a sexual boy toy. All I give a shit about is killing innocent people,' she thought. When she had first arrived to this community, she had been shooed away. They thought that she was white trash just because of the way she looked. 'But it'll bite them in the ass in the end; they'll see.'
*_-_*
Angel looked around for Buffy in the throng of sweaty people. "Where the hell is she?"
Buffy was swaying her hips to the soft sound of the music. She was dancing up against a guy and appeared to be very drunk. She moved in closer to him, lifted her hands above her head and swayed. She dropped her hands around his neck and he started to dance with her.
He looked into her eyes. "You want to go take a ride, baby?"
Buffy still clung to him and smiled a tipsy smile. "Sure, what kind of car do you have. And what's your name?"
The guy chuckled. 'This girl is soooo drunk; just my lucky night...' "My name's Riley. And let's go," he said while putting out his hand for her to take. She took it and he turned around. Angel blocked him, his two arms crossed over his chest.
"You better go take a walk, boy."
"And who are you?"
"A friend," he said simply. He grabbed Buffy's arm, "Let's go."
Buffy wriggled her arm free and slapped him across the face. "Maybe I don't want to go. I want to stay here with Riley. He said he wanted to go take a ride."
Angel looked at her in shock. He waited only a second before he rushed Riley, his hand punching his nose. Immediately, blood started to poor. Angel grabbed Riley by his collar, spitting every word out to him.
"You knew that she was drunk and you made a pass at her! You damn sicko!" he punched him in the gut and Riley cried out. He sat back on the floor, cringing to a corner. Angel looked as if he was going to kill him; he was. He started punching him left and right, cutting his lips, bruising his eyes, blood spilling everywhere. He pulled his fist back, attempting to swing at him in the face. His fist lunged, but was caught by a hand. Angel looked up at Faith.
"Calm down," she whispered through gritted teeth. She dropped his hand and walked away, through the throng of viewers.
Angel pulled him by the collar once more. "If I hear that you've taken advantage of anyone, especially her," he said pointing towards Buffy, "I'm coming after you."
He dropped his collar. Angel sat up and went over to the furious girl. He pushed her in front of him. "Come on."
"Lay your hand off of me."
"Don't make me do this..."
"Make you do what?"
"You leave me no other choice." He grabbed her body and swung her over his shoulders.
"You moron! Put me down," she screamed, making an embarrassment out of herself. She punched him in the back, making him bite his lip. She kicked and screamed and he wouldn't let go. When he got into the parking lot he set her down and opened the convertible door for her. She made a run for it, but he quickly took her by the arm and cuffed one of her hands. He pulled the other cuff towards the car seat and cuffed her other hand between the bars. He seated her in the back.
"I hate you. You don't know what's good and what's bad for me. Don't expect to act all macho on me cause I'm not going to take it." She kicked the seat.
"I knew that guy. He looks forward to seeing drunk girls so he can take advantage of them," he said calmly, not caring for the car seat at the moment.
When they got to the apartment, he let her out of the seat her hands still cuffed.
"Uncuff me."
"No."
She put her two hands together and backhanded him. He stumbled back.
"That's it; you're going up again," he said while lifting her on his shoulders. He carried her all the way up the flight of stairs, with her punching his back so hard that he thought he was going to collapse. When they got to their door she gave him one last hit to his lower back. He threw her on the floor, his eyes flaming with anger. He unlocked the apartment and dragged her in by the middle of her cuffs.
"You don't get it, do you? I did you a favor and all you do is tell me I'm a moron? I can't take it anymore; I can't look at your face and I can't stand your Joan Collins 'tude any longer. You're gonna pack tonight and get the hell out of my apartment," he screamed at her while dragging her across the floor.
"Angel..." she cried.
"No, listen to me. You are to never, ever see me again. You are not to talk to me, not to look at me, not to even breathe or stand in the same room as me."
"Angel." she cried even louder.
He wasn't looking at her, just dragging her by the cuffs to her room. "I told you not to talk to me. You never listen to me and you assume that you're better than everyone. You don't give a damn about what other people say. You're always bitchy and."
"Angel!" she screamed.
"What the fuck is the matter with you, I'm trying to talk and you're interrupting me like you're some kind of higher being?" He finally saw her and gasped at the sight. She was crying there, looking down at her wrists. They were bloody, mainly because Angel had dragged her across the whole apartment. There was a trail of blood from the living room all the way to her bedroom.
"Oh my G-d."
"Look what you did to me," she half screamed, half cried. She held her wrists up for him to see. She stood up and glared at him. She was crying so hard and she attempted to smack him, but being drunk, she missed him. She did, however, pound her fists on his chest so hard that he thought his heart might break, either from the pounding or from her crying.
"Look what you did to me, you asshole! Look!"
His eyes were watery now. He didn't know what to do. He was acting like an animal. He made the girl bleed from her wrists!
"You don't say anything? You're the one! You're the one that doesn't give a damn about anyone and you're the one that never listens! I've tried to be nice to you, but it's as if you love to hate me. You love to drive me nuts and abuse me, and yet you never ever wondered how I was feeling. You're always." she broke down and lay on the floor, sobbing.
He got down on the floor and lifted her head onto his lap, rocking her. "I'm so sorry, I never meant to do anything like that. Please, please don't cry," he said pleadingly, about to cry himself.
She didn't stop and it sounded like she was having a panic attack, she was panting so hard from the tears and her heart was racing.
He didn't know what to do. He wanted to make her stop crying; he thought she would die because she was breathing so heavily and so fast. He lifted her chin to him and looked into her eyes, "please don't cry, baby. Please. I'm so sorry that I hurt you," he purred. She calmed down a little, streams of tears still making their way down her face. He kissed her cheek lovingly, wiping her tears away. Then he moved away from her cheek, moving closer to her mouth. It was like in slow motion to her. It was like a movie that she had seen. She'd been waiting, her heart aching, but she hated to love him. She didn't allow herself to love him until the kiss came ... He got closer and closer, their noses touching, making them both grin. He finally captured her lips. It was one of those kisses that made your heart ache and made you want to cry. It was so gentle, so calming, so slow and loving. He swallowed her sobs and tasted the salty tears in her mouth. He moved away from her mouth and started kissing down her neck, hugging her close to him. She let out a deep sigh of relief and stopped crying.
He pulled away from her, slightly nuzzling her neck before looking into her eyes. "I think I should fix your wrists up, okay?"
She nodded and he kissed her again. He felt his heart jump and smiled. He picked her up from her floor and set her down on the living room couch. He went to the bathroom and brought out the first aid kit.
"I'm sorry I got all crazy when I was crying; it just brought back bad memories from my past," she said with a sniffle. He was cleaning her cuts with gauze and alcohol.
"Want to talk about it?"
She sighed and started talking, "When I was little I was always curious about a lot of things. So, when I went into my father's office I started playing with all sorts of cool pens, writing everywhere. On the walls, on his checks on his furniture. When my dad found me he dragged me by my arms to my room and tied me to my bedpost with a rope. I tried getting out of his knots but every time I struggled, they got tighter. And I started to bleed and." her words trailed off.
'G-d, I am an animal,' Angel thought. He didn't even think about what he had been doing to her; he was just ranting about how bitchy she was. She wasn't bitchy.
"Where's your father now?"
"He passed away a few years ago."
'Lucky bastard,' he thought. Angel would have hung him for what he did to the girl.
"There, all done. I'll make you some coffee, you should go take a shower," he said while getting up from the couch.
He made his way towards the kitchen.
*_-_*
I know - not too much B/A goodness - I truly swear that there is so much more in the next part. You guys might be thinking I'm weird for using so many non-cannon couples, but that was a part of the challenge. Go Lorne and Dru!
Please review!!!! Let me know what you think!
~Liz (AKA Will_ow)~