Chapter Six

Becky Wellings was becoming a name Angel was learning to hate. A few weeks ago this girl had made a pass at him, mind you she also had a boyfriend at the same time, but she had gotten in a fight or something with him and her way of getting revenge was to start flirting with other guys. Who knows why Angel became her victim, but he did. Not once had he gone out on a date with this girl. In fact he didn't even know her name when she started flirting with him. But she and her boyfriend had made up not to long after this whole thing started. He though was pissed that she was flirting with others during their little time of separation. Things just spiraled out of control from there.

There was no concrete evidence that Angel had done anything to her. But he still had to go to the principal's office everyday during third period, the only class that he had with Becky, and sort this all out. It was a hassle that he couldn't really use on his permanent record at the moment. It was something that should be on no permanent record.

It was after the bell had rung for third period to begin when he finally saw her. He was sitting in the office chairs as usual, trying to teach himself the math he was currently missing at the moment, when Buffy walked in. Silently without a word she handed the office aid her note, keeping her head bent at all times. He didn't think she even knew he was there, and if she did, she didn't show any signs of it.

Angel just furrowed his brow for a moment before jumping up and going after her. "Buffy?" She froze without turning around. "Buffy?"

"Hi," She spoke quietly and kept her head bent.

"You okay?"

"Yeah. Of course I'm okay. Why'd you ask?"

"You just seem… I don't know, a little off."

"Long day." She answered her head still down to the ground. "I'll umm… I'll see you later okay?" And without even waiting for an answer she booked it out of the hall and towards her next class. Angel didn't even see her for the rest of the day.

One weeks later…

"Hello?" Angel picked up the private line in the back of the bar. His mood was already bad today and with every second that past it was getting worse and worse. He had no idea hat had happened. One moment, he and Buffy are spending time with each other, laughing at each others stupid jokes, and then suddenly she completely ignored him. They hadn't even spoken once since that day in the hall. He had tried to get to her through Kathy, try to pick Kathy up from school in order to see Buffy, but all his attempts had so far failed. So he had to resort to asking his little sister questions about a girl who had suddenly become a mystery to him. All Kathy had to say though was that she was quiet. That was it.

"Yes. Mr. O'Connel please." A clipped tone came from the other line.

"This is him."

"Mr. O'Connel, this is Rebecca Kirkland from Woodville Preschool. I'm calling in regards to your sister Kathy."

His heart stopped. "Is she okay? Is everything alright?"

"I think it's best if you come down here immediately Mr. O'Connel." And the phone hung up.

"Sam!" He grabbed his jacket and immediately rushed out of the back room. "I have to leave… Kathy… I just have to go."

"Is everything alright?"

"I don't know. I just have to go." He ran out the door, his heart beating fast, not knowing what was ahead of him. If anything ever happened to his little sister he wouldn't know what he would do. She was the only thing in this world that he had left.

In record time he made it to the school, not even bothering to shut off the engine as he got out of the car. The only thing on his mind at the moment was getting to Kathy. The halls were empty, causing his running feet to beat loudly against the cold tile floor. Finger paintings of rainbows and butterflies whizzed by him as he raced down the hall towards Kathy's homeroom. He was panting harshly by the time he got there.

"Hi Angel." Kathy sat on the ground coloring and smiling happily back up at him.

"Kathy… What…. Are you okay?"

"Of course I am." She turned back to her Care bear coloring book, currently focusing intently on keeping her pink markings inside the big bold lines.

"Mr. O'Connel."

He whipped around to see Mrs. Kirkland standing by her desk. "Mrs. Kirkland. I don't understand… I thought something was wrong…"

"Something is wrong. Kathy was left here at school once again."

Angel froze. "That's impossible."

"I don't know what was so important that you decided to neglect the needs of your little sister this afternoon…"

"Mrs. Kirkland…"

"Don't interrupt young man! Now your sister was left here once again not even two weeks after we had a conversation about this…"

"Mrs. Kirkland I don't know what happened today. Buffy was supposed to pick her up… She must have forgotten or something…."

"It is not Ms. Summers responsibility to look after your sister. It is yours and your mothers. Now I hate to say this, but child services have to be notified…."

"I'm sorry Mrs. Kirkland. I really am. But I swear to you that it won't happen again. If I would have known that she needed to be picked up I would have done it. I swear. Please, just don't call social services." He looked over at the little curly haired girl coloring happily away, his heart clenching at the very thought of her absence.

"I already have Mr. O'Connel. It's too late." He blanched. "They should be contacting you within the next forty eight hours. I suggest you think long and hard on what will be best for your sister in the future. Her older brother or a responsible role model." She gathered her things and walked out. "Good day Mr. O'Connel."

He was stunned. He honestly had no idea what to even do or say. If the social service people came at a time when his mother was around then they would take Kathy away. No questions even asked. But how was he supposed to get by them without them even meeting his mother. There was no way that anyone was going to sit there and do an interview with a sixteen year old brother and leave the mother completely out of it. But what was on his mind even more was Buffy. He knew she had to have had a good reason for not picking Kathy up, but it just wasn't like her. Usually she would call if she couldn't get to Kathy. Hell, she called if she was going to even be a few minutes late in picking her up.

"Angel?" Kathy's voice penetrated through his thoughts. "I'm hungry." He just looked at her, not quite sure what he should do. "Angel? Are you listening?" She put her little hands on her hips and glared at him.

"Umm… Yeah. We'll… We'll stop and get something on the way to the bar." He sighed knowing that that was another thing that social services would look into. A sixteen year old working at a bar tended to be a huge warning flag. "Pack up your things okay?"

"O'tay." She quickly shoved as much stuff as she could into her little backpack and ran up to him, taking his hand in her little one. "What's wrong?" She immediately sensed something was off.

He kneeled down in front of her and took both of her hands in his. "Whatever happens, I love you. Okay? You have to know that. I love you, and mommy loves you too. Even if she doesn't' always show it. Do you understand?"

She furrowed her little brow. "I know." Her seriousness soon changed though to a little half smirk that was completely rare for a four year old. "Everyone loves me. You want to know why?" He could only nod. "It's 'cause I'm so cute." She smiled big at him, her little nose scrunching up as she did.

Angel laughed and quickly took her in his arms for a hug before she could see his tears.

"Hi, you've reached the Summers residence. We're not home right now, but please leave a message after the beep."

"Hey Buffy. It's umm… It's Angel. Look, could you just call me when you get this. I'll be at work 'till three. Just call me please." He hung up the phone. He'd been trying to reach her all night but all he got was the sound of her voice coming across the phone in the form of an answer machine message. He had already previously left six different messages both on her cell phone, her home phone, and the phone in her room. She had yet to call back.

"Liam, stop talking on the phone and get your ass out here and help me!" Sam bellowed from the front.

"Yeah yeah." He came out and immediately was set to work. Friday nights were always the busiest time for them.

Six hours and about fifty seven vodka tonics later, Angel sighed wearily and leaned up against the bar. Things were finally slowing down.

"Where's your sister?" Sam started counting the register even though they still had another couple hours before the bar needed to close. The people inside here right now were mostly the regulars gathered around a table filled with poker chips trying to play a game that they were to drunk to remember.

"She's in the back asleep."

Sam nodded. "You gonna tell your mom what's about to happen to you guys?"

"Why should I? It's not like she'd care."

"Liam. Talk to your mother. Maybe you can convince her to sober up for a couple hours. You and Kathy mean more to her then you seem to think."

"Yeah? Well, she sure has a funny way of showing it." He leaned his head back against the wall.

"Why don't you go home. You look beat."

"I'm fine." Truth was he didn't want to go home. He didn't want to look at the shambles there house had to be in at the moment. He didn't want to find his mother passed out on the couch. He didn't want to listen to the answer machine where messages from social services were bound to be stored. If it were up to him, he'd stay here in this tiny little bar for the next couple years until he was eighteen and able to take Kathy out of that environment and raise her without any worries.

"Angel…"

"Sam, don't start with me okay? I'm not going home."

He felt the back up Sam's hand hit him lightly in the back of the head. "Let me finish."

"What?"

"I just thought you might want to know who just walked into the bar."

Angel looked up confused, and that's when he saw her. She was dressed scantily in a black leather skirt and red halter. Her knee high boots seemed to cover more skin then those two pieces of clothing combined. It was at that moment when he saw her that he was filled with bitter anger.

She was laughing slightly as her and the boy she was with sat down in one of the booths, his hand immediately resting on her thigh.

"You want to serve them or should I?"

Angel took his pad of paper out and walked over to her. She didn't even notice him until he cleared his throat. "Liam? What're you doing here?" Her eyes were glazed over and she was smiling dumbly at him.

"I work here. Remember?"

She giggled. "Oh yeah."

He shook his head. "Get up."

"What?" She hiccupped drunkenly as the other guy just kissed and laved at her neck.

"I said get up."

"Where we goin'?"

"You're going in the back until I get off work, then I'm driving you home."

"Don' wanna. Instead I want beer."

"You're sixteen. I'm not giving you anything."

"My card," She grabbed her purse and flung it at him. "Says different."

"Just give us a couple shot of tequila to start with man. She's twenty one." The man sneered at him.

"I'm not serving her." He stood his ground.

"Just give us the damn drink kid. She has a legit card." He turned and once again started kissing her neck, his hand slowly disappearing up her skirt.

"Fine." He pulled her up and out of the guys grasp. "How 'bout I call the cops and have them come down here and deal with it. I'm sure they'll love to see you, a… what are you? Twenty four, twenty five? Doesn't matter I guess. They'll just love to see a mid twenties druggy with a girl who looks like a teenager. What d'ya say?"

The guy started at him for a moment before getting up. Buffy was easily able to pull out of Angels grasp and immediately went to the man, rubbing up against him. "Where ya going baby?"

"I've gotta go. I'll see you later." Leaning down, keeping eye contact with Angel the whole time, he kissed her deeply on the lips, grabbing her ass and pulling her against him at the same time. With one finally smack to her butt her walked out of the bar whistling.

Angel bit his lip and ground his fingernails into his palms to keep from running after the guy and beating the shit out of him. He was only snapped out of his reverie as Buffy stumbled in front of him to grab her purse.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?"

"Out." She straightened her skirt. "I now have to find another place to spend the night because of you."

"You're not going anywhere." He grabbed her wrist.

"Let me go."

"You're drunk. You're not leaving this bar without me. Got it?"

"You're not the boss of me."

"Does it look like I care at the moment?" He dragged her to an overstuffed chair near the bar and pushed her down in it. She tried to get back up but was to drunk to stand on her own two feet for longer then ten seconds.

An hour later Angel put on his coat and kneeled down in front of her. "Think you can walk to the car?"

She just glared. "I'm not disabled." From the look in her eyes, she was starting to sober up. Her eyes were still slightly glazed over though. Nodding once he got up and went in the back to get Kathy. But the time he was back out front she was already heading out the door.

"Night Sam."

"Night. Drive safe."

Placing Kathy in the back sleep, hoping she would sleep the whole ride home, he tucked a blanket around her before he climbed into the drivers side himself. Buffy sat leaning there against the window starring off into the distance.

"So… Who was that guy?" He asked as he started the engine.

"A friend."

"Pretty damn good friend."

"Angel…"

"Oh, so it's Angel now. God Buffy. You acted as if you didn't even know me."

"I don't know you Angel. I barley know two things about you."

"And whose fault is that?"

"Oh don't give me this bull shit." She whispered harshly. "The guy in the bar is just someone that I see every once in a while. Calm down."

"Calm down? Buffy the guy had his hand up your skirt half the time. That's a little more then just a friend."

"What? I'm not allowed to have a boyfriend? Is that it?"

"Not when it's guys like that." He pulled harshly out of the parking lot and got on the road, flipping on his brights as he went.

"I'm sorry. Next time I go out on a date I'll make sure to check with you first to make sure it's okay. I wouldn't want to upset you or anything." She quipped.

"I thought you didn't even go on dates."

"I don't." She whispered after a minute.

"Then what the hell were you doing?"

"It wasn't a date Angel. Dates don't go like that."

"Then what was it?" He pressed the gas and sped down the empty road.

"Let's just call it a little bit of cold comfort."

He immediately slowed down and looked at her as she starred off in the distance. He hoped for all the world that that answer was out of a drunken rage then anything else. That it was just her not being clear headed. But he knew in his heart that it wasn't.

They drove the rest of the way to her house in silence. Neither one of them not knowing what to say. They had come to a mutual agreement not to talk so as not to wake up Kathy, but both knew that it was all just an excuse. So when they finally arrived at her driveway she got out without saying so much as a goodbye. Angel of course followed.

"What happened to you today?" He shut his door and looked at her expectantly.

She shook her head truly having no idea what he was trying to get at. "What do you mean?"

"Kathy. You were supposed to pick her up." Her eyes went wide and she hit the car with her palm as realization hit her.

"Angel… I'm so sorry…"

"They called social services Buffy. Because of you I could possibly have my little sister taken away from me."

"Angel I'll go down and straighten everything out with Mrs. Kirkland. I promise…"

"It's too late! She already called them. There's probably a message from them sitting on my answer machine right now!" He gestured angrily with his hand, emphasizing his point.

"I am so sorry. I swear I'll make it up to you."

"No, you know what? Don't bother." He climbed out of his car and sped off leaving Buffy standing in her driveway starring after him.

"Damn it." She closed her eyes and whispered.

"So," Sam said in a roundabout sort of way later the next day. "You and this girl seem to be spending a lot of time together."

Angel laughed. "Not really."

"Kid, before last month you didn't spend time with anyone except Kathy and the lonely drunks that you serve everyday. You seeing a girl outside of school, even if only for a couple minutes or so, is seeing a lot of somebody." Angel just continued to dry the glasses and put them neatly back up on the shelf. "Do you like her?"

"Is that any of your business?" Angel slammed one of the glasses down a little bit harder then he should have.

"Cool it kid. It was just a question."

"Sam, just drop it okay."

He looked at Angel thoughtfully and then took the glass he was currently drying away from him. "What happened?"

He laughed bitterly. "It doesn't matter. I should just know by now that my life is never meant to have a single bit of happiness in it. It sucks. The sooner I realize that the better.