A/N I'm sorry I haven't updated in so long. Everything seems to be going to shitat workright now and that was the only computer I had access to. That's changed now, though. I finally got my new computer at home! claps Yay!

Chapter 10

Buffy sat in her and Ville's hotel room talking to her mother. Her and Angel had been together for five months and things were quickly getting serious between them. Orlando had released a statement saying that he and Buffy had been having problems along time before the story broke and they had officially broke it off three weeks before the photos were taken. Buffy's camp had immidietly sent out a statement saying the same thing and that Buffy and Orlando were still friends, which they weren't really. It was now November and Buffy was in Washington DC with HIM. Ville's birthday was today and he had no clue that Bam and Buffy had planned to surprise him on stage tonight.

At the show in New York, Bam and Ville had surprised Buffy by not only surprising her with a cake and the entire audience singing 'Happy Birthday' to her, after the show, Bam had rented out a restaurant and thrown her a huge party. Angel had sent her a card with directions to ask Bam to give her her surprise. Bam had produced a small box and handed it to her. It was a white gold locket with her name engraved on it and a tiny pink diamond in the heart. Inside the locket was a picture of her and Angel at Ruisrock. Bam had gotten her a large framed picture of the two of them while she was filming Interview. She was in full on 19th centrury clothes and Bam was in his typical skater clothes. It was an odd picture, but Buffy loved it because Bam was special to her and this was the beginning of a friendship that had endured a long time. Ville had gotten her a big pink teddy bear with a heartagram on it's belly and it was wearing a really cool hat she'd been looking at in Finland a while back.

"I'm fine mom." Buffy said.
"How is the tour?" Joyce asked.

"It's great. It's been a lot of fun. I really needed this time off."

"Lynn sends her best. She was so glad that you came by to see her."

"I was happy to see her too."

"How is Angel?"

"He's been pretty busy lately."

"Really?"
"He's in London right now with a client. The man had Angel fly out there so the guy could be with his British mistriss and talk about the divorce."

"Oh my."

"It's pretty funny."

"I suppose from your point of view, it would be."

"Speaking of British people, how's Giles?" Rupert Giles was her mother's new boyfriend. He was a librarian at Hemry High School in LA and Buffy's mother met him at her art gallery. They two had been seeing each other for two months.

"He's fine, honey. He says hello."

"He's there?"

"No. He just said that when I talked to you, I was to tell you hello."

"Oh."

"How's Ville and the boys?"

"They're great. You heard about Minniapolis, right?"
"I did. I was worried, but since you haven't called about it... I assumed everything was fine."

"It scared the hell out of me, but yeah, Ville's fine."

"Oh, his birthday was yesterday, wasn't it?"
"Yeah. Twenty-nine."

"Tell him happy birthday for me, will you?"

"Of course I will."

"Honey, I've got to run. Cindy is beeping through on the other line."
"Ok, mom. Love you."
"I love you too, sweetie."

"Bye mom."

"Bye."

Buffy hung up and glanced at Ville. He had rolled over on his side and was snoring lightly. She smiled and sat back on her bed, her back resting against the headboard. She started to doze off, but there was a knock on her door. Glancing at her watch, she stood up and looked at the door. It was probably Mige or Burton wanting to talk to Ville. She opened the door and was surprised to find Angel standing on the other side.

"Surprise." He said simply.

"Oh my God!" Buffy threw her arms around Angel's neck and kissed him. "What are you doing here? I thought you were in London."

"I was. I caught a flight into DC so I could come see you."

"Awe!" Buffy hugged him tightly.

Angel noticed the sleeping Ville. "Oh, should we be quiet?"

"No, he's pretty much dead to the world when he sleeps."

"Well, I thought maybe you and I could head out and see the sights."

"Sure. Let me just grab my coat and let Ville know I'll meet him at the club later."

"Ok, I'll wait out here."

Buffy went back into the hotel room and picked her coat up off the chair. Then she headed over to Ville and leaned down. "Ville?" She shook him gently. "Hey."

"What?" He asked sleepily.

"Hey, I'm going out. I have my cell phone on if you need me."

"Ok." He rolled over and went back to sleep.

Buffy smiled and headed out of the room, double checking to see if she had her room key. "Ok, all set."

"You and Ville are sharing a room?"
"Yeah, it's cheaper that way."

"Says the woman who makes over a million dollars per picture."

Buffy shook her head. "I like saving money." They got off the elevator into the lobby and Buffy stopped short. "Shit." She pointed at the hords of paparazzi outside the hotel's entrance as she moved away from their line of sight. "Did you come in through that?"

"No, I had the taxi driver take me into the parking garage and came up from there."

"And they didn't see you?"

"I don't know. I just drove in."

"I'll bet you anything, they know you're here."

"I haven't seen much in the papers about us."

"You're not looking hard enough, then. There was a spread about us in Us Magazine just last week. They know who you are now."

"Damn. They're good."

"You're telling me." Buffy motioned to the front desk attendent to come over to her. The lady got up and walked calmly over to them. "Hi, is there an exit in the back that we can use that isn't covered with cameras?"

"Yes, ma'am. Let me call someone up here to escort you."

"Thanks."

The lady walked away and got on the phone. A couple of minutes later, a middle-aged man walked up to them. "Miss Summers?"

"Yeah?"

"If you'll follow me, I'll get you out of here with no problems."

"Cool." As she and Angel followed the man, Buffy thought about how they would get back in. "Um, I don't think getting out's a problem... It's getting back in that I'm worried about."
"Yes, that is a problem." The man thought a minute and then took out a business card and handed it to her. "This is the private number to my office. Just give me a ring when you're ready to return and I'll have a distraction waiting so you can get in safely."

"Wow. Full service. Thanks."

"Anything for our clientele."

Thirty minutes later, Buffy sat in the driver's seat of Bam's black Mercedes Benz. He had driven it down here just so Buffy could have something to drive around in. Bam himself was with his girlfriend Missy in Baltimore driving around in his new Hummer. He didn't really like to travel in it, but he knew Buffy hated driving it. Bam was going to meet Buffy and the band at the club later for sound check.

"This is a nice car." Angel said.

"It's Bam's. He usually drives this one on road trips, but he thought I might need a car. So, he's driving his Hummer around in Baltimore. We're going to meet him later tonight at the 9:30 Club for the show. It's Ville's birthday today and Bam and I have a surprise planned for him." Buffy stopped. "Oh, can you come tonight?"

"Yeah. I can just trade my ticket in for a flight early in the morning. I don't have to be back at the office until tomorrow afternoon."
"Cool. So, do you like history?"
"I love it. I almost decided to become a history teacher until I got into law books."

"I've never seen all of the US History Museum, so I thought we could head there. It's too bad we don't have a lot of time to see more."

"What about tomorrow?"
"After the show tonight, we're headed up to Phillie. Well, actually, Bam, Ville, Missy, and I are headed to Bam's house in West Chester since it's only an hour or so away from Phillie."
"Oh."
"And we'll be up there for two or three days."

"It sounds like you're going to have fun up there."

"Yeah, I love West Chester. I love my room in Bam's house."

"You have a room there?"
"Yeah. Bam wanted me to stay more often, so he picked out one of the nicest rooms and decorated it like my apartment in New York. Actually, that room was the inspiration for my apartment."
"That's nice of him."

"He works so hard to look like such an asshole, but he's really a sweetheart." Buffy pulled into a parking spot close to the museum, which was a miracle, and she got out. "I wanted him to be down here so we could explore DC, but he had to go to Baltimore to visit Novac's mom."
"Novac?"

"Bam's best guy friend."

"Ah."

"So, where should we start?"

"What haven't you seen?"

"The entire left wing. I've seen the right wing, but not the left one."

"Ok, then, that's where we'll go." Angel allowed Buffy to walk ahead of him.

They walked through the museum, checking out all the different artifacts. Buffy loved the Ruby Slippers from The Wizard Of Oz. Angel loved the History of War In The US exhibit. They talked about what interested them and every now and then, someone would recognize Buffy and ask for her autograph. She politely signed and talked a little with the person, but she never drew attention to herself. Angel was amazed at Buffy's composure. She just smiled and acted like it was no big deal. Angel guessed that shew as used to it by now.

"Every now and then I'll get someone who remembers my ice skating days," Buffy said as they headed down the escalator. "It's always great to be remembered for ice skating and not acting because that was... still is my passion. If I could still ice skate the way I used to..." She sighed. Angel took her hand and gently squeezed it. She smiled up at him and followed him off the escalator.

Ville sat on the chair across from Buffy at the large table and listened to her gush and gush about her day with Angel. She hadn't gotten to go to the airport with him that morning, so she was a little upset. At the moment, they were at Bam's house, aka Castle Bam, with April, Phil, Bam, Missy, Jesse with his daughter Ava, Mige, and Novac. They had another hour before they had to head to the gig, so April had suggested sitting down and having a nice brunch. Buffy had helped her cook, despite objections from Bam, Ville, Jesse, and Novac, and the brunch actually turned out nice.

"When will you get to see him again?" April asked.

"Soon, I hope. I was thinking about flying out to Sunnydale to surprise him before we head to Europe. He wants me to meet his father and brother." Buffy said.

"That's sweet."

"Yeah." Phil said. "I'm glad you found someone you love so much."

Buffy blinked, taken back by that word: Love. She paused for a minute, then said, "Yeah. I'm glad too."

"Plus he's super hot." Missy said.

"There's always that." Buffy nodded.

"Have you heard from Orlando?" Bam asked.

"Man, who cares about him?" Novac said. "She's happy with her new man."

"Thanks Novac, but no, I haven't heard from Orlando." She looked a little guilty. "Maybe I should call him."

"No, no, no, no, no! You don't need to call him. Baby, you're banging. Look at you. It's his own fucking problem if he wants to give up someone as awesome as you."

"Despite the Novac-speak, he's got a point." Ville said. "If he wants to give up the chance to be your friend, which is a wonderful thing I must add, then that's his mistake. You are a beautiful woman who has more love for everyone around her than the goddess of love has to offer. They should rename Aphrodite to Buffy."

Buffy laughed. "You've got such a way with words."

"And I fucking know it."

Bam raised his goblet. "Here's to fucking awesome love, great wording, and the ditching of shit heads." They all raised their glasses.

After a few more minutes of small talk, Mige looked at Ville. "Think we need to head out."

"Yeah." Ville stood and walked around to help Buffy out of her chair. "We should get to the club."

"We'll see you guys there." Bam said.

Buffy walked over to Jesse and he handed her Ava. She bounced her and cooed for a little bit, then kissed her and handed her back to her daddy. "See you guys."

Bam tossed her the keys to the Benz. "See ya."

Buffy, Ville, and Mige walked to the door and headed out. Buffy handed Mige the keys and opted to sit in the passenger's seat this time. They had a while to go, so Buffy laid her head back on the seat and went to sleep.