Chapter 5

Angel was going crazy, imagining things Wolfram and Hart could be doing to Buffy and was almost completely insane by the time she finally reappeared. She looked shaken but relatively unharmed and he gathered her close the moment she stepped over the thick line.

Buffy had appeared in the hallway just outside the door, completely alone and still smirking. Good luck, Lindsay, she'd thought as she'd opened the door. All other thoughts had fled, however, as her gaze had lit upon a stressed out Angel and room of very worried demons.

She now stood wrapped in his arms and struggled to not beak down and cry it all out on his shoulder. She didn't think it would send the right sort of image about her to the demons, not that hugging and kissing didn't do that anyway. Angel kissed the top of her head and she lifted her head from his shoulder and looked him in the eyes.

'Wolfram and Hart wanted to meet with me,' she said and his eyes narrowed. She placed a soothing hand on his cheek and smiled lightly at him. 'I don't think Lilah likes me.'

Angel eyes widened. They'd actually sent Lilah to talk to Buffy? He was about to ask Buffy what Lilah had told her when she broke into his thoughts saying offhandedly, 'I don't think her bosses knew she was meeting with me. She looked real nervous when Lindsay barged into the office. It was pretty funny actually.'

He looked down at her, shocked. Lilah was going behind the Senior partners backs? It didn't seem right. The more likely scenario was that Lilah was doing the Senior partners bidding and Lindsay wasn't supposed to know about any of it.

'What did Lilah-' he began but Buffy cut him off with a Duh! Look.

'After what you told me, do you really think I let her say anything to me? She got so pissy 'cause I kept cutting her off. Then Lindsay came in and she got all worked up again. Hey, is there something going on between them? If not, there should be. The chemistry? Damn!'

Angel stared at her bewildered. 'Buffy, tell me everything that happened, word for word, from the start.' he said calmly.

She looked sheepish for a moment. 'Guess you didn't get most of that, huh? Okay,' she sighed and told him everything that had happened from when she left the ring, to when she appeared outside the doors to this room.

He was silent for a few minutes, trying to digest it all and Buffy took that time to watch the demons around them. Once she had appeared, most seemed to go back to whatever it was they were doing, the tenseness and apprehension gone, others sat there, staring into space. More than one demon, however, was watching the two of them closely.

'We have to find a way out of here, Angel. We can't stay here much longer. I have things I need to get to back home. Dawn can't really be left alone right now, Willow's a little fragile and-,' Angel's face was blank, a mask in place and Buffy looked at him, puzzled. 'What's wrong?'

'Why did you come here, Buffy?' he asked in a strange sort of voice.

Buffy was confused. 'What do you mean, why did I come here? I came to save you,' she said, like it was the most natural thing in the world to want to come after him and protect him.

'I mean, why are you here? There are things in your life that are more important to you now. So why come here when you know you're needed at home?'

Buffy looked at him like he was crazy. 'I may be needed at home, Angel, but it's not urgent-end-of-the-world needed. You were in trouble, I came, end of story. Are you telling me you wouldn't do the same?'

'I would always come for you,' he replied softly and Buffy felt tears in her eyes. 'No matter what, I would be there for you.'

Buffy reached up and pulled his head down to hers, claiming them in a searing kiss, uncaring of the demons who watched on. She pulled away moments later and opened her mouth to speak, but before she could say a word, a loud bang came from the back corner of the room, where two demons had started to fight.

Buffy frowned then looked at Angel. 'We should stop that,' she said and he agreed. Jack would probably find someway to blame this on him, probably for not breaking it up.

Buffy and Angel walked quickly over to the feuding demons and attempted to put a stop to the fight. Unfortunately, both demons were stronger than they looked and both really wanted to fight. Denied fighting each other, the demons turned on Buffy and Angel and began to attack.

Buffy dodged a punch from the spiky demon she was fighting and spared a glance for Angel. He was holding his own against an Greshta demon. I know what the demon is. See Giles, I do pay attention, she thought triumphantly. The Greshta was mostly a placid demon and only attacked when it sensed danger to itself or its family. That meant Buffy knew who started the fight.

She kicked the demon in the chest and dodged under its arm to come up behind it and double punch it in the back. It roared and tried to turn and grab her by the neck but again she was too quick. She grabbed its arm and snapped it back, not breaking it but causing a serious amount of pain. She kicked it behind the knee and it fell to the ground, then she punched it in the face, hard, knocking it out. Angel was still struggling with his demon and Buffy watched as the Greshta took a swing at him, raking its claws across his beautiful chest.

'Hey,' she protested and ran forward to help Angel out. She kicked the demon in the face, then swung round and delivered a nasty kick to its temple. The Greshta crumpled to the ground and Buffy turned to help Angel up. She pushed up the bottom of the ruined shirt and examined the claw marks. The furrows weren't deep and Buffy breathed a sigh of relief.

'They're not deep. You'll live to fight another day,' she said wryly. She looked at the unconscious demons. 'Think Jack will be "upset"?'

Angel laughed and pulled Buffy against his aching chest. Even if Jack was, if he touched Buffy, he was a dead man. Not that he wasn't already, fifty times over. Angel knew Cordelia and Wesley were working on opening the bracelets. Come to think of it, what the hell is taking them so damned long? I thought Wesley was a genius.

As they settled down to sleep, later that night, Buffy wondered if anything would come from the fight today. After all, one of Jack's main rules was no fighting in between matches.

She woke still snuggled in Angels arms and she stifled a smile. It felt so right to be here, in his arms. Why didn't he see that? She felt Angel stir and watched as he opened his sleep hazed, chocolate coloured eyes. She did smile this time. He was so gorgeous, it took her breath away. She leant in to kiss him. He met her halfway and she sighed at the feel of his lips against her own. Heaven.

The doors burst open a moment later, and Buffy and Angel jerked apart. Angel stood quickly, pulling Buffy with him, then left the cage to see what the commotion was about.

Jack and his henchmen stood there, guns drawn, making an impressive picture. Buffy, however, was unimpressed. 'What the hell do you want,' she said loudly before she realised it. He looked at her, unamused and she glared right back.

'Good news, Slayer,' he said and Buffy had a feeling she wasn't going to like this "news". 'I saw the fight that happened here last night,' he glared at the two demons who were sporting impressive bumps and bruises. One cradled his arm. 'And I gotta say, I was impressed. The way the two of you worked together was amazing. So in tune. I like that. So I said to myself, Jack, how could you use this and I came to this conclusion. Team fighting.'

Buffy raised her eyebrows and just looked at him. Team fighting? Psycho.

'What's that, I hear you say. Well Slayer, you and your boyfriend are going to fight as a team and you're going to fight to survive, of course, anything I throw at you. Great entertainment for all.'

Buffy made to protest but he looked directly at her and asked ,'Would you prefer I pit you against your boy?'

Buffy shook her head and he smiled jovially. 'Right. It starts tonight. The Slayer and the Vampire with a soul. An exclusive fighting pair. Never before seen, almost indestructible. Good luck with that,' he said then turned and left the room.

Buffy looked at Angel with dread settling in her stomach. Oh well, she thought. At least I'm fighting with him and not against him. There are some small miracles.

Angel was thinking the same thing. Working together. He could at least be there to make sure nothing happened to her. If anything did, then he could rip off the head off whoever harmed her.

Jack's men went to the board and arranged the names. When they left, Buffy and Angel examined it then moved away from the board to the back of the room, watching silently as the demons went up to it one by one. Two demons stood in front of it at the end. One was tall and lanky, a garish pink colour and it smelt of rotten eggs. The other was small and heavily built. It reminded Buffy of a small bull dozer; well built. The demons turned to look at Buffy and Angel and each wore an identical look of hunger on it's ugly face.

These demons were not of the friendly persuasion, and although Buffy had been after a real challenge, she still felt some trepidation at the look in the demons' eyes. They would not be easy to defeat.

The demons regarded her and Angel for a few moments longer, then walked off, presumably to ready themselves and Buffy and Angel looked them over with one identical thought. Damn.