Title: A Helping Hand

Author's note: New month, new chapter as promised. We probably have one more chapter to this till we're done so bare with me.

Chapter 14

It was nearing 3pm and Angel was sitting downstairs in the hotel lobby, going over his options in his head not once coming to a final decision on what his next action should be. He had come downstairs initially and sat where he sat now determined to wait for Buffy to exit those elevators, hopefully not accompanied by her two new companions, and confront her. Confront her with what words, he did not know, but he figured, the words would come naturally in the moment. Time however was not his friend for as it went by, his determination faltered and he lost his nerves.

Angel's temple throbbed remembering Buffy's smile as she embraced Riley. He'd just stood there and said nothing, just watched the exchanges of affection as their bodies disappeared into the hotel room and the door closed leaving him alone in the hallway. All thought had left his brain and his feet dragged him back into the elevator, out into the foyer and to the waiting area where he parked himself staring straight ahead at nothing in particular. The conversation he'd recently had with Mr. Preston no longer stood at the forefront in his mind and it hadn't even occurred to him, now rapt in other thoughts, to tell her what he had learned.

Finally, he stood, walked over to Charlize at the front desk and asked her for a pad and pen. After all his mulling, he figured his best choice of action would be to just leave Buffy a simple note. He realized that he really had no right to interfere in her life. No real right to expect anything from her. She from the very start had been honest with him about Riley, so he took the pen in his hand and began writing. A few minutes later, he looked at the pad and his hand written words and sighed. He'd only managed a pitiful 'Dear Buffy'. Gripping the pen with an even stronger hold than he had before, he waited with strain hoping for the right words to start to flow and then… then it did. He ripped the piece of paper from the pad, folded it and handed it to Charlize.

"Give that to Ms. Summers in room 210 would you please".

Charlize took the piece of paper in her hand, smiling as she did from Angel. "No problem".

Angel turned to leave and curiosity got the better of Charlize. She looked at the folded paper in her hand and thought to herself. 'No one will know'. With that, she looked pryingly around the hotel lobby and when she was certain no eyes were on her, she unfolded the paper and read its content in silence.

Dear Buffy,

Call me! 718-555-3268

Angel

"Damn it", a red head muttered underneath her breath, the suitcase she wheeled behind her, losing one of its wheels. "That's the last time I ever shop at Walmart".

"Are you ok Ma'am?" came the trotting of feet towards her in the form of a hotel staff, outfitted from head to toe in blue. "I can get that for you Ma'am", the young man offered, taking the suitcase from the red head and maneuvering it with ease on two wheels rather than the four it was intended. "Would you like me to call you a car Ma'am"

"Oh, no thank you. I'm waiting for someone. And please, stop calling me Ma'am. I'm starting to feel like my mother and that's just never of the good"

"Sorry Ma'am", he said flustered and rectified his mistake when the red head gave a look. "I ah…I meant sorry Ms."

"Much better. Ms. I can work with", she finished with a grin. "Can you just wheel it - Angel?"

"Ma'am, um, Ms.?"

"Oh sorry", the woman said turning to face the young man holding her suitcase. "Not you. Give me one second", she finished before hurrying away and towards the hotels exit. "Angel", she called out again. She slowed her pace once she saw the person she was calling after turn around to acknowledge her.

"Willow", he said

"Hey Angel", she returned coming to a halt in front of him. "What are you doing here? she asked.

"I ah -"

"That question wasn't meant to stump you ya know", she told him

"Sorry", he said after a beat. "I was here to talk to Buffy"

"Oh, So how did that go?"

"We…um, well…err…I came wanting to see Buffy, but didn't' actually get around to the seeing her part", he finished with a look of uncertainty.

"Oh", she said with a look of confusion. "So you were leaving without seeing her then?"

Angel looked to the exit door a feet from where he stood then back to Willow in front of him. "Oh right. I thought I'd just drop by some other time instead. She may be busy or something and I didn't want to bother her".

Willow liked Angel. She hadn't spent much time getting to know him but from their brief encounters, she grew to like him. Even more, she grew to like him together with Buffy. She could tell from the very start, perceptive as she prided herself to be, that Angel was taken with her best friend and vise versa. She also knew that Buffy was extraordinarily stubborn and sometimes needed a little push to see things differently. If that extra push came in the form of a very tall, dark and handsome lawyer, who was she to look a blind eye. Why not use it to her advantage she thought. Riley, she was convinced was not the right guy for Buffy, despite his charm and his gentlemanly ways. If it took Angel for Buffy to see this, then Willow figured she would help the process along.

"Are you planning on dropping by New York anytime soon cause Buffy and I are heading back to the city today, so you might want to reconsider your options"

"What?"

"Oh yeah. I thought you knew", a knowing smile curving its way onto the red heads face. Had Angel caught that look, he might have been taken back, but he was caught up in his emotions, his head cast down contemplating what was just revealed to him.

"No, I had no idea", his head rising to meet Willow's stare.

"Room 210"

"What?"

"210. Buffy's room. She's up there right now so if you wanted to see her, now is as good a time as any", she finished with a big smile, teeth flashing, a slight bounce evident in her stance. "Of course you probably knew her room number already though huh"

"I um…"

With a little movement of the head, "Yeah, she told me"

Lacking a response, Angel stood dazed. "Ah…"

"Huh huh, so the elevators would be that way", Willow pointed, then put a hand to his back to help him along.

Angel noticed his feet were moving, and before long, he found himself standing in front of the elevators. He looked over his shoulder and saw Willow walking towards a hotel staff member, a suitcase resting by his feet. She looked up suddenly and smiled in his direction and gave him a 'thumbs up', before focusing her attention back to the young man in blue.

Thoughts were now currently running rampant within Angel's mind. What was he doing? She's up there with her boyfriend and father for crying out loud. He shouldn't interfere. Let her be. It wasn't his place to come between Buffy and Riley and it definitely wasn't his place to drop the bombshell of news he had learned from Mr. Preston on her, especially considering the circumstances.

The elevator doors opened and Angel's conscious thoughts weighed on him heavily as a swarm of people made there way out of the crowded elevator. He chewed away on whether or not he should enter that elevator, but before he had come to any sort of decision, he heard his name.

"Angel?"

He looked up, a man and a woman emerging from the same elevator, turning left only to reveal Buffy, her bewildered eyes fixed on him, making her way in his direction. "Buffy", he breathed.

"Angel, what are you doing here", she asked

"I ah…"

"Honey, is there something wrong", came a voice from behind her. Angel looked up to see both Riley, wheeling a suitcase from behind and Buffy's father make their way to stand at her side. He'd been so caught up in seeing Buffy that he'd only just notice now her two companions.

Not once taking her eyes from Angel, she gave him a pleading look and answered her father's question. "Nothing Dad. He just wanted to know if my stay here was a good one". With that, she began to walk away from him.

It didn't dawn on Angel to listen to his conscience for it had guided him in the right direction for a large portion of his adult life, so when he heard a voice in his head tell him to let her walk away, he paid it no mind and his feet began to move, his right hand reached out to grab a hold of Buffy's arm. "Buffy, please, I need to talk to you".

Buffy swirled around at his sudden hold on her arm. Her mind was buzzing, caught in a plethora of emotions, though it did not go unnoticed to her the look on Riley's face as he eyed Angel's grip on her arm.

"What do you think you're doing", came Riley's irritated voice

Angel removed his hold on Buffy, returning Riley's stare before looking down on Buffy once more. "Please"

She didn't know what it was or why it was, but as she looked up into his eyes, it was intoxicating. No words, but a look and she knew what he was thinking. What he wanted, how he felt… about her. She was pretty certain the look she gave him reflected that same sentiment and she hoped beyond hope that neither her father nor Riley picked up on it. She turned to gage Riley's reaction but to her relieve he had been glaring at Angel the entire time. Her father stood by watching curiously, his expression guarded. She turned back to Angel. "Don't do this please. I can't ok".

Angel opened his mouth to respond but was cut off.

"Excuse me but may I enquire who you are?", Hank Summers said, now deciding to take part in the on-goings.

Buffy could feel her lungs tighten in her chest and she spied Angel looking at her in a way only he could, then to Riley, then back at her and finally landed on her father. "I'm a friend", he said.

"Of whom". This was from Riley. He made his way to stand directly behind his girlfriend, resting the suitcase down he held in his hand by his side and placing both his hands on Buffy's shoulder possessively.

The act did not go unnoticed to either Angel, Buffy or Hank. Deliberately, Angel voiced his response to Mr. Summers. "That would be your daughter Sir".

"Buffy, is there something you would like to tell us?", Hank turned to his daughter as he asked the question, though the response that came after was not what he was expecting and threw him for a loop.

"Funny how I was thinking that was a question Buffy should be asking you", Angel spitted out, the contempt in his voice clear and exact.

"I'm sorry?"

"Oh, but will she forgive you is the question".

As the exchanges happened, Buffy looked from one man to the next utterly confused. "What the hell is going on?"

There was an air of confusing around them. Riley looked dumbfounded glancing back and forth from Buffy's father to this man he had a fierce desire to strangle to death. Buffy stood there just as confused, her eyes pleading with both men to tell her what was happening, but neither of them took their eyes off the other. They both stood there staring at each other, daring the other to draw guns, was the only thing Buffy could compare it to.

Before long, she felt a hand on her arm pulling her.

"Buffy, we're leaving now", her father said as he pulled her towards him and started walking, Riley following in step before giving a last glare in Angel's direction.

"With all due respect Sir, I think your daughter has the right to know the truth about who her real father is",Angel said, his voice raised, though not to the extent to make him yell. Just enough to make his words carry so that it was heard by all three of the departing. It however carried further and Willow who had still been chattering with the same hotel staff member Angel saw her with earlier, made her way to join the group, who by now had all stopped in their track at Angel's words.

"Mr. Summers, Riley, I didn't know you were here". When she got no reply, and noticed the intense atmosphere, she looked to Buffy. "What's going on?"

"I don't know", Buffy told her. She pulled her hands from her father's grip and slowly walked over to Angel. "What's going on?"

Angel looked down at her and wished he could take her in his arms right there and then and save her from the pain that was about to hit her dead on. "I don't think it's my place to tell you Buffy", he told her, lifting his head, his eyes landing on Hank Summers who by now was filled with rage, his jaw tight with fury.

"You son of a bitch!" And before anyone could react, Buffy found herself being moved aside and Angel found himself on the floor, his lip busted and Mr. Summers standing directly over him. "This has nothing to do with you. Stay the hell out of my affairs, do you hear me".

To be continued…

Alrighty, there ya have it. Ok, well not really. I wanted to reveal that whole father mystery to you in this chapter, but my evil side got the better of me and told me to let you guys sweat it out. I'm thinking though for some, it might be obvious already from a few chapters back. If not, then go me.