AUTHOR'S NOTE So I don't think I like the idea of the sneak peek at the end…not for this story anyway. If you guys review and beg for me to keep it then I will, otherwise, it's gone. Anyway, thanks to everyone who reviewed and especially for helping to get over 100 reviews! This is my first story to get into triple digits, review-wise. Thank you so much!

DISCLAIMER Don't own em…wow I sound like a broken record.

…

Chapter Nineteen: In Which Angel Investigations Is Reunited

Los Angeles

"Wow."

Angel looked sadly at the ruin of his city. Los Angeles had felt the effects of the pulse just as strongly as Seattle.

"I know," Max replied. "A little different from the LA you came from?"

"A little," Angel replied.

"So where should we start looking for your friend?" Logan asked.

"I honestly don't know," Angel admitted. "The last time I saw him, he asked me never to look for him again. I don't know where he would be. Caritas was destroyed long ago, but he could have rebuilt it anywhere."

"Caritas? Like, 'mercy?'" Logan asked.

Angel nodded. "Lorne is an anagogic demon. When I met him, he ran a karaoke bar for demons called Caritas and would help them on their path after they sang."

"And you think he can help?" Max asked.

Angel nodded. "He will read you when you sing. Some of your Psy-Ops people might have Pylean DNA as well." He suddenly got an idea. "Logan, head east toward the cemetery."

Logan headed east. They reached the cemetery and again, Buffy and Angel got out, followed by Max. Logan joined them this time as well. Angel surveyed the scene. "He's not here," he finally said. "I thought he might, well, be visiting. We've lost many people."

"Angel?" Buffy asked quietly. "Since we're here?"

Angel nodded. "You don't mind?" he asked Logan and Max. They shook their heads silently.

Angel led Buffy toward the few trees that stood in the graveyard. "It feels weird to be in a cemetery again," Buffy commented. "I avidly avoided them in Rome." She smiled joylessly. "She who hangs out a lot in cemeteries."

Max looked at the headstone they had stopped at. "Cordelia Chase?"

Angel indicated the small grove of trees. "This area was bought by an anonymous donor while I was CEO of Wolfram and Hart. It's dedicated to Angel Investigations, our old detective agency. Cordelia was with me from the very beginning."

"She was with me in high school, too," Buffy added sadly. She saw a small memorial plaque next to Cordelia's grave. "Whose is that?"

"Doyle's."

"Oh." Buffy had only met the half-demon once, but she had been too angry with Angel at the moment to take much notice of him. "I thought his body…?"

"It was destroyed. That's just a memorial."

"Another friend?" Logan asked.

Angel indicated the four gravestones and two memorials in the area. "They were all friends."

They passed the graves one by one. After Cordelia's and Doyle's, another memorial plaque was set for Fred. Wesley's grave was after that and then Lindsey's. Angel had wanted Lindsey buried in the plot. He had turned out all right in the end. Finally, they stopped at the last grave. "Charles Gunn. Died June 1, 2009." Angel sounded slightly surprised.

"The day of the Pulse," Max muttered.

Angel nodded. "Then Illyria is really all that's left of Angel Investigations." He turned for the car. "Come on, Lorne's not here."

The Hyperion Hotel

"This is the only other place I can think of," Angel said as Logan stopped his car outside the ruined building.

"You used to live here?" Max asked.

Angel chuckled. "It was a little nicer back then." He opened the door. "Wait here for us."

"Alright." Logan watched as Angel and Buffy carefully picked their way into the hotel. "What do you think?" he asked Max. "Will they ever admit how they feel about each other?"

"Logan, come on! There's history there, can't you tell?" Max laughed a little. "I thought Eyes Only was supposed to be observant." Logan just glared at her playfully in the rearview.

Angel was thrilled to spot Lorne immediately among the rubble of the Hyperion. He looked unhurt, but was crouched on the ground, muttering to himself. 'I really hope he isn't crazy,' Angel thought.

"What do we do?" Buffy whispered almost silently.

"Sing," Angel suggested.

Buffy carefully approached the green-skinned demon. "I touch the fire and it freezes me," she sang softly. Lorne lifted his head but didn't look her way. "I look into it and it's black."

When she got no response, Buffy looked helplessly to Angel. He took a deep breath. "I never realized how happy you made me, oh Mandy." Lorne gasped when he heard Angel's voice. "Well you came and you gave without taking, but I sent you away, oh Mandy."

"It can't be!" Lorne said. He turned around and Angel was happy to see that his old friend at least didn't look crazy. "Angel?" he asked shakily.

"Hello Lorne. It's been, well, I guess it's been a long time for you anyway."

Lorne shook his head. "But you're dead. You and Spike, the Pulse and the big dust cloud! Everyone knows that!"

"Couldn't you read our minds by the singing?" Buffy asked. "We used a Time Turner. We're here from '04. We need your help."

"I know you asked me never to look for you again Lorne," Angel said. "But this is different. This is the good fight."

"Oh Angelkins, I'm yours for the good fight!" Lorne actually smiled. "I can't believe you're alive!" He turned to Buffy. "Hello Buffy."

"Er, hi. You know me?"

Lorne waved a hand. "It's the thing with the singing and the reading and yeah. I'm glad to see you well."

"Thanks. We should probably go though. It's a long drive back to Seattle."

"Seattle?" Lorne looked from Buffy to Angel. "What's in Seattle?"

"Transgenics," Buffy supplied helpfully.

"The good fight," Angel added.

Lorne nodded. "I'm ready to fight that fight again. It's been lonely and boring here with no one for company in a huge, ruined hotel."

Angel's face dropped. "We visited the cemetery."

"The Pulse was bad for us, Angelface. And…" His green face paled. "I shot Lindsey that night. I'm so sorry Angel, I just couldn't take it anymore."

Angel nodded. "I know. It's okay. It's all in the past. Come on."

They led Lorne out of the Hyperion. It appeared that he'd been living there for quite some time since the Pulse and he was surprised to see Logan's SUV. "You have a car?"

"The car is mine," Logan said as he got out to greet them.

Max could only stare at the green skinned creature with red eyes and horns. "You're a Nomalie!" she whispered.

"A what?" Lorne asked.

Max just shied away from him and wouldn't meet his eye. "She's never seen a demon before," Angel explained. He turned to Max. "Max, this is Lorne. He's a demon. He's not a Nomalie."

Warily eying him, Max reluctantly said, "Nice to meet you."

Buffy cast a look at the slowly brightening sky. "Angel, we have to get you in the car. It's almost dawn."

Angel nodded and led Lorne to Logan's car. "Next stop, Seattle!" Logan announced cheerily as everyone piled in. Within an hour, everyone but him was asleep.

Terminal City

Illyria made Original Cindy distinctly uncomfortable. She never stopped staring and not in the good way. She was beautiful, OC would give her that, but there was something very wrong about her. She didn't understand how Alec could put up with her so much.

"Does she give you the heebie-jeebies?"

OC turned around to see the redhead smiling at her. "Yeah, a little," she admitted. "What is she?"

"A demon," the witch replied. "Well, the spirit of a demon trapped in a human body technically. Her name was Fred before..."

OC looked at the girl sympathetically. "A friend of yours?"

"Acquaintance is a better word. But she was a science whiz and it was nice not to be the only nerd around." She blushed. "I'm Willow, by the way."

"Original Cindy." They shook hands. Willow didn't take her eyes off of Original Cindy either, but her gaze didn't make her the slightest bit uncomfortable. "So what's your story?" OC asked.

Willow laughed. "Well, if you'd asked me that eight years ago, I would have said nothing."

OC raised an eyebrow. "And now?"

Willow shrugged. "Now…I've been through a lot. I used to be a total nerd and I was hopelessly in love with my friend Xander."

OC's hopes plummeted. "Oh."

Willow looked hopefully at the dark-skinned woman. "That didn't last long. My first boyfriend's name was Oz. He was in a band." She grinned wryly. "He was also a werewolf."

"Damn!"

Laughing, Willow nodded. "I know. Around that time, I started dabbling in magic. Oz left me after a while to deal with the whole werewolf thing and I, well, I fell in love with another witch named Tara." Willow's voice caught at her girlfriend's name.

OC looked into Willow's eyes. "What happened?"

Willow looked at the ground. "She was the first woman I ever loved. She showed me who I really was, but she left me. I was addicted to magic and she left me because of it. Then just when it looked like things were getting better, she…" Tears formed in her eyes. "She was killed."

Original Cindy nodded slowly. "I'm sorry."

Willow's voice dropped to a whisper. "And I turned into this monster. I let the magic take me over and I couldn't control it anymore. I killed people."

"Love makes us do awful things," Cindy said soothingly. "I remember how hard it is to deal with losing someone."

Willow brushed the tears from her eyes. "It's happened to you too?"

"Mm-hmm. Her name was Diamond. She was my first too."

"Did you love her?" Willow blushed. "I'm sorry, that's a really personal question."

"It's cool. And yeah, I did. I miss her sometimes."

"But you remember her." Willow smiled sadly. "She won't ever leave you then."

OC brushed a strand of stray red hair from Willow's forehead. "Your girl won't ever leave you either, sugar. She'll always be with you too."

Willow nodded. "I know. I like to think that she's still looking out for me. I want to think that she wants me to be happy." Her voice trailed off as she looked into those deep brown eyes and, before she knew what she was doing, leaned in to kiss the other woman softly.

…

The Answer to the Last Trivia Question

Willow went into Buffy's mind to cure her catatonic state in "The Weight of the World" after Glory kidnapped Dawn. Buffy blamed herself and thought that she had killed her sister. Nova Kalissa Tristan, Victoria87, LittleDrusilla, Gylzgurl all got it correct.

Today's Trivia Questions Are:

1. When did Buffy first describe herself as "she who hangs out a lot in cemeteries?"

2. When did Buffy meet Doyle and what was she so angry at Angel about to notice him?

3. Buffy sings part of "Walk Through the Fire" to Lorne – the big climax song in "Once More, With Feeling." Angel sings "Mandy" to him. Why is "Mandy" an important song for Angel and Lorne?

Hehe, lots of trivia today!

…

Review Responses

Nova Kalissa Tristan Good job! I'm really glad that you're enjoying the story so far and thanks for the review!

General Mac Thanks for your review!

Victoria87 You're my 100TH REVIEWER! Thank you so much and good job on the trivia too!

LittleDrusilla I'm actually reading The Mammoth Hunters right now. And Alec and Illyria are my favorite part ..grin..

Gylzgurl Good job, that's right! Thanks for the review!