Disclaimer: All Characters belong to J.W, and the plot is model after Jane Austin's novel Pride and Prejudice

Note: Thank you to everyone who has reviewed the story, I'm sorry it has taken forever for me to update, but I had a bout of writer's block and then when I started writing again I had a hard time reconnecting with the story after such a long break. I'm not too satisfied with the chapter, but at least I got it done. I just finished writing this, so there might be mistakes or things might not make sense, if so please tell me.

I would like to thank Christine for taking the time to beta this fic. Thank you so much for your help and support.

The Tour

Chapter Six

Silence. For a few uncomfortable minutes nothing was said between Buffy and Angel, before Buffy resolved to get the tour started and over with quickly. Indicating that Angel should follow her, Buffy began to explain the history behind the different sections of the center. As Buffy described the center in more detail, Angel relaxed a bit, and he couldn't help but become enraptured by the passion and love that Buffy held for the center that shone clearly in her voice.

"Over here is the Whedon gallery, named after a generous benefactor who gave a sizable donation a few years back for art supplies. All the artwork on display were made by the children in the intermediate and advance art classes." Buffy stated as they entered the room filled with different art pieces.

"Really?" Said a slightly awed and surprised Angel as he examined the different pieces. "Some of these pieces are quite well done, the work of collage-level art students. You must have an amazing Art teacher on staff. Would it be possible for me to have an opportunity to talk with the teacher?" 'Anyone who could guide children into creating such amazing works must be extremely gifted in their own right' thought Angel, looking forward to having a stimulating conversation with the "Art Teacher" in the near future.

"You're talking with her," announced Buffy with a hint of pride in her voice. Shock passed quickly on Angel's face before he masked it. Unfortunately it wasn't fast enough because Buffy saw the expression and became defensive. "Why do you look so surprised? Didn't think someone like me could be artistic?"

Realizing he had inadvertently offended Buffy again, Angel tried to redeem him self. "No not at all. I knew you helped out at your parent's gallery, so had great knowledge of the art world. I just thought you helped manage the center not teach in it. You're an extraordinary teacher," trying to redirect the conversation Angel said, "some of your students show signs of immense potential." He then turned to focus his attention on a sculpture of a griffin which had caught his eye.

'You're just being sensitive; he just didn't know you were a teacher here. That's all. Let it go. Hey at least he thinks you have some gifted students.' Thinking all this, Buffy tired to focus on the work Angel was looking at. "This one is called 'Guardian" and was made by Haley Bernstein one of my students in the advance class. Haley is greatly influenced by Greek Mythology," turning she pointed to a wall of paintings. "Here is a painting of the Twelve Gods of Olympus, and there on the corner is a painting of Medusa."

At a far away glance, the paintings seemed to have been done in the classic style of idealizing the myths, but at a closer look things are very different. The Gods were actually their modern day, real life counterparts: like Zeus was Bill Clinton, Hera was Hillary, and Aphrodite looked like Pamela Lee Anderson, and so on; and they weren't being portrayed in the best light. In the Medusa painting, there was the enlarged and hideous face of a monster shown as a reflection in the mirror of a beautiful woman who looked like she is getting ready to walk down a runway. Quite entertained by the paintings, Angel said, "They're quite amusing and insightful. Is Ms. Bernstein interested in selling them?"

"You're interested in 'Buying'?" Asked Buffy, this time the one surprised and not being able to hide it. 'Hmm… I never thought he would be interested in a satiric painting which made fun of the rich and famous'

Answering his question Buffy said, "All the artwork here is on sale, but you will have to wait to the auction on fundraiser night. Well we should continue on with the tour. Let's go outside to the garden. It was recently replanted and quite beautiful. Some of it was done by community volunteers, but a bulk of the work was made by the seniors from the local High School as a class project."

'Wow this place really is one of the centers of the community. Maybe Oz wasn't so wrong to settle in this town. People here seem to take care of one another' thought Angel as he followed Buffy outdoors and he decided to tell Buffy just that.

"I like to think so," responded Buffy as she made her way to the garden. "I can say I'm eternally gratefully to all the local volunteers and benefactors, without them we would not be able to make it. We are governmentally funding, and with all the recent budget cuts, we are relying heavily on community support."

"Seriously? From the look around I had first thought it was private institution, everything looks to be in top condition," said Angel as they turned a corner and came upon the garden.

Laughing Buffy said, "Looks can be deceiving." Sighing she continued, "One of the main goals of the center is to give children a wide range of opportunities in activities that aren't part of school or in which their parents can't afford to send them to private lessons. The center's been very lucky since we've had the support of the mayor, but even he hasn't been able to give much help in regards to funding." A bit tired Buffy sat down on a bench in the middle of the garden and motioned Angel to do the same. "We use to have a full-time staff of twenty-five, now only seven members are full-time and another five is part-time. With the smaller staff many of the others have had to take up extra duties, and still some programs had to be cut."

"That's awful. How can you manage so many activities with so few people?" Said Angel, surprised at how well-run the place was despite how under-staffed they were. 'The staff must be strong as oxen to work so much.'

"Well luckily people like parents and high-schoolers, who used to come to the center, have volunteered their time to help chaperon field trips and to teach a class here and there. If it wasn't for them I won't have had time to teach the art classes this summer."

"There wasn't an art class here before this summer?" asked Angel in shock. He had always believed in the importance of art in people's lives.

"No not for the past year. Before the cuts, we had a full-time art teacher, but then we had to let her go because she was expendable." 'Poor Molly, I wonder what she is up to now. Probably yelling at a coworker for messing with her paints; how was I suppose to know she put her paint in the order of the paint spectrum'

"An art teacher is 'expandable'!? Who came up with that logic?!" exclaimed Angel in what sounded to Buffy like outrage. 'Wow he must love art a lot, and I think he has been enjoying the tour maybe he isn't as bad as I thought' "Let me guess your bosses and sponsors thought art as a less vital element in the children's development in comparison to sports. Well I guess that should be expected coming from a small town like Sunnydale."

'Never mind that last thought. He just insult Sunnydale by insinuating that people in this town aren't cultivated enough to know that art is just as important as sports…yeah so there's a little truth to what he says. But that's not the only reason Molly had to be let go and I should tell him so.'

"Well the fact of the matter was that she hadn't been here long, and she was one of the people on staff that only taught one specific class and wasn't the most useful else where. Plus with me on staff and them knowing I have an art degree, they figure I could take over the classes at some point. But I've been so swamped, I couldn't until this past summer. Also others on staff had a number of jobs, like how Robin our supervisor handled things in the office and took care of the different sports teams we have; or with Jess who teaches our creative writing and music composition classes."

Intrigued by the requirements one needed to work at the center Angel couldn't help but ask, "So what do you add to curriculum here if not your knowledge of the art world?"

Blushing a bit, Buffy answered, "Well I teach the self-defense and dance classes, and I use to be in charge of the choir before my sister Dawn was able to help out. Plus I'm always in charge of making Fundraiser Night happen."

"You have so many responsibilities. You seem to almost be a jack-of-all-trades, handling such an important event, working at your parents' gallery and teaching art, dance, and self-defense classes. Wait…did you say you teach dance?" said Angel, then realizing he had just said, he mentally shook him self as he noticed Buffy's face had gone blank and unreadable. 'You Idiot!!! Why did you say that! Everything was going so well too. Had to ruin it by making the connection. She had probably forgotten that stupid statement until I opened my mouth again'

As Angel mentally berated himself, Buffy silently sat next to him thinking. 'He had to mention that didn't he… look at how quiet he is now… he's probably wondering if I'm going to be angry with him now. Am I going to be angry? Nah Angel's now worth it… But maybe I should let him sweat it out for a while before letting him know' The two of them sat there for another minute in silence until Buffy couldn't stand it anymore and thought it had been long enough.

"Yes I teach some dance classes also," Buffy finally said. "Look Angel about…"

Before she could finish Angel interrupted her by saying, "Buffy I don't know what you may have heard last night, my intent was not to offend anyone. I was just tired of Oz bothering me and trying to get me to dance, so I just lashed out at his choice of partners which just so happened to be you, and I'm sorry."

'Not the best apology I've ever heard, but it wasn't the worst I've heard either…Oh well' "You're forgiven, it wasn't even that big of a deal so forget about it," said Buffy. Deciding to address Angel's earlier comment about being a "Jack of all trades" she went on to say "Anyway the reason I'm involved in such a variety of things is because I always knew I wanted to stay in the family business while also working at the center. So I majored in Art History and got a minor in dance, plus I took a few business management courses so I could understand the business side of things better."

"Wow, you must love the center very much. But someone with your talents can be making a lot more money else where," said Angel. 'Thank God the dance incident is being swipe away. Maybe I have a chance with her… wait but I don't want a chance with her just because she is beautiful, kind, and talented, amazing… no not going there.' 'And what's wrong with going there?' Said a voice that sounded a lot like Oz. 'Women of her class status strive to become richer by marrying rich men' 'Okay so you've been burned a few times by gold-diggers, but does that seem like Buffy? If Buffy was after money in her life she would have gone for a better paying job.' 'That's true. And she doesn't seem like a materialistic person, but as we know looks can be deceiving.'

Not noticing the internal dialogue Angel seemed to be having Buffy continued on with their conversation, "Well sure I could be making more money working for a professional art or dance institute or working at some fancy art gallery, but would I be happy, I think not. I love the center it's been like a second home to me all my life. This is the place where I made my first artwork and had my first dance recital, got my first exposure to Martial Arts not counting TV or the movies. I was given so many opportunities here, that I feel the need to ensure that other kids have the same chances I did. That's why I'm working so hard to make sure the center gets the proper funding it deserves."

"It's good that you know money doesn't buy happiness. I've known too many people who spend their lives chasing after ways to become richer and …" as Angel continued to converse with Buffy he couldn't help notice how comfortable and easy it is to talk with Buffy, and how many shared interests they had together. 'She would make the perfect girlfriend…Girlfriend!!! No don't go there, just because she seems kind and giving doesn't mean she is, remember that Doctor Kendall you dated… you thought she was so selfless and giving to be working at a free-clinic, but it turns out she was just using you to help fund the clinic, her lab experiments, and her lawyer fees for her malpractice lawsuits. Should have known she was trouble to have more than one lawsuit against her, good thing I got out of that relationship'

Angel wasn't the only one having an internal conversation as Buffy couldn't stop thinking about the different glimpse of Angel she was getting. 'I guess he's not really that bad, he did apologized somewhat for last night's comment and he seems very interested in art and my work at the center. It's not that bad talking with him, but some of his comments seem to insinuate that he's superior to me just because I went to public school while he had a boarding school education. He's not exactly outright flaunting it, but his whole demeanor screams I'm better than you are…But I guess that's to be expected from a guy whose wealth, intelligent, gorgeous, and wow doesn't he look good in that tight fitting shirt; he has the body of a God must workout a lot. Don't go there Buffy, so your physically attracted to him that doesn't mean anything, he still has a elitist personality. Any way a guy like him doesn't look at girls like you, remember Darla? He probably a playboy who goes for glamorous sexpot models or socialites not simple working girls like me, oh well' Looking at her watch, Buffy realize how late it was getting.

"Angel, we better get back in its getting late."

Noticing the darkening sky for the first time, Angel realized he had been talking with Buffy for nearly two hours, shocked at how he lost track of the time he just nodded in agreement and followed Buffy in. When they entered the center, they noticed that most of the kids had left already; everyone left was just helping with the clean up. Willow and Fred were putting away the costumes, while Oz and Gunn were helping the kids pack up the props and sets. The girls were the first to see that they had come back.

"Hey nice of you guys to come back when most of the work is done," teased Willow as she and Fred packed up the last of the costumes.

"Sorry Will, we lost track of the time. So how is the play coming along, any problems?" said Buffy.

"Everything's going great, only a few little mishaps here and there, but nothing for you to worry about. So Angel how did you like the tour?" asked Willow politely.

"I think it's all quite remarkable. As I said to Buffy before, if I didn't know any better I would assume this was a private institute. It's amazing how your town has banned together the resources you have to give the children of the community so many recreational and educational opportunities."

"You must have been really amazed by the center Angel," said Oz as he and Gunn made their way to the group, "you guys were gone for over two hours, I didn't know the center was that big."

"Actually we just lost track of the time while we were talking outside," answered Buffy, who happened to not notice the gleams in Oz and Gunn's eyes, but Angel did and he knew he was in for some teasing later on.

"Must have been some conversation," said Gunn but deciding to drop the subject and greeted Buffy, "Hi Buffy, it's nice to see you again. You have a wonderful place here, makes me wish that there was such a place like this in the old neighborhood that I grew up in."

"Hi Gunn it's nice to see you too. And thank you for you compliments towards the center, we all work very hard to keep things running smoothly. So how do you like your stay in Sunnydale so far? I think Oz told me last night that this is a semi-vacation for you, personally I would have pick a different place," said Buffy.

Laughing Gunn answered, "Yeah this wasn't my first choice either, but things in Sunnydale aren't looking as bad as I first thought," he gave a glance at Fred, which the others didn't miss and which made Fred blush, "I just have to help make sure the Bronze's security is up to date and to help out here and there with the club, otherwise I have a lot of free time to explore the attractions in town, which I'm sure would go a lot smoother with a tour guide."

Shyly taking the hint Fred said, "I'll…be your guide if you want," than thinking she was being to forward, "of course if you would rather have someone else…"

"No… I would love it if you gave me a tour of the town," said Gunn with a smile that made Fred forget about all her nervousness and she smiled in return.

The doors to the center suddenly opened and Robin Wood walked in carrying a heavy duffel bag. Greetings and introductions were made between the guys before Robin told Buffy to go home and that he would lock up.

"Are you sure Robin, I don't mind staying," Buffy said hesitantly, "You just got back from a game you must be tired, you should go home and rest."

"You're one to talk; you work three times harder than anyone else here. Besides I have some work to do in the office anyway, so there's no point in both of us staying." When Buffy nodded in agreement, a round of "Bye," "Goodnight," and "See you tomorrow" was heard as the group left.

Once outside again Buffy turned to the guys and said, "Well I guess this is where we say 'Goodnight' also."

But Willow spoke up and said, "Actually, while you and Angel were on your tour, we all decided that we should have dinner together at Antonio's. You guys don't mind do you?"

"Not at all," said Buffy, "I'm actually a bit hungry and have a craving for Italian anyway."

As Angel was about to agree also, his phone began to ring. "Excuse me." As he walked a few feet away, the others could hear as Angel said the name "Natasha" and began talking in Russian. The girls were curious, while Oz and Gunn just groaned. At the girls' looks Oz answered, "The call just means Angel will not be joining us for dinner."

"How do you know that for sure?" asked Willow.

Gunn answered this time, "When Angel gets a call from Natasha, that usually means it's a…" but before he could finish his sentence, Angel had come back.

"Sorry everyone I won't be able to join you for dinner, a friend I haven't seen in a while is in town, so we'll going to have dinner to catch up. Hope that's not a problem with anyone?"

Though the girls and Gunn all responded that it was alright, Buffy couldn't help noticing how Oz just remained silent with a slight look of disapproval. After Angel left and everyone was heading toward Antonio's, Buffy's curiosity finally got to her, so she took Oz aside to ask why he was upset with Angel.

"It's nothing really, I'm just not a big fan of Angel's friendship with Natasha," answered Oz.

Buffy remembering that Angel seemed to be in a relationship with Darla, who is Oz's sister, thought that Oz was just being an over-protective brother. "Oh are you worried about Natasha getting in between Angel and your sister Darla?"

Oz just looked at Buffy with a puzzled look and said, "No, not really. What made you think that?"

Embarrassed at her assumption and for prying, Buffy just said, "Well…I…umm… just thought that since Darla and Angel are involved that…"

Suddenly Oz began to chuckle softly and said "Is that what he told you?" Buffy was now the one with a puzzled look and just shook her head.

"Sorry for laughing…it's just Darla's not Angel's girlfriend, and for that matter Angel doesn't have a girlfriend period. The reason I'm upset is because of that fact," Oz tried to explain, but he could see Buffy was more confused than before, so he softly said the next part, "Angel just has many friendships with ladies that have benefits."

Finally catching on Buffy just said "Oh." 'See, what did I tell you he's a playboy'

"Yeah," Oz continued on, "I know that Angel and his lady friends, which includes my sister, have perfectly amicable relationships. That's not what bothers me…it's the fact that he doesn't seem to be looking for a real relationship at all which frustrates me."

'Aww…so Angel doesn't want a relationship with substances or he has a fear of commitment…that's very revealing about his character. Now Buffy don't judge the man, you just met him, if that's how he wants to live his life that's his right…Anyway isn't it awfully sweet of Oz to be so concern for his friend and it shows how much Oz himself desires to have a serious relationship too. Willow I hope you see what a great guy he is'

"Well Oz, I think you should forget about Angel for now and concentrate on my lovely sister over there." Buffy giggled at the slight blush that appeared upon his face; they rejoined the rest of the group and soon the five entered the restaurant. The rest of the evening was filled with lively conversations and much to Buffy's amusement the beginnings of two couples.