This was far from the first time Lindsey had found himself taken into police custody, especially if you looked at his younger years, but that hardly meant he was enjoying himself or any part of this situation. It felt like it had been a month of Sundays before he was even placed inside the back of the police car in front of the little restaurant, let alone by the time they started to book him.

While he'd had his fair share of little arrests over the years, he had only ever spent a long weekend at most behind bars, and he certainly hoped that kind of luck wasn't running out on him now. He sure hoped once everyone was talked to - including Buffy and Angel - about what had happened in the bathroom brawl earlier that some clarity would be seen by the good officers.

For now, though, there was a whole lot of just waiting around...

OoOoO

Buffy sighed as she looked down at her phone. She'd obviously missed a call when she was in the bathroom and it wasn't from anyone she'd been hoping to hear from. Instead, she found a voicemail from the principal of her school which only made her worry more. Being in a small town had some major downsides, like everyone knowing your business all the time. Not that she thought it looked so hot that one of the preschool teachers was seen in part of such a mess.

Not that anyone besides their core little group knew what was really going on or how bad it all was. Any of those random people who'd caught the end didn't understand what all led to such events.

She still couldn't even believe today had happened and wished she could just go back and erase any and all of it. Angel was still waiting over at the jail because they were taking forever pushing Lindsey through all of the procedures. He had waited with her until Xander was able to come pick her up. He'd made sure she had someone with her, and could get her back home before he'd left her side. Though she was missing him terribly right now and hoped the boys would be out of there soon.

Cordelia had also showed up for the story, but she was quite a driving force when she wanted information and was able to pull some strings. She was also determined to not let Darla fake her way through any of this. She was also leading the hunt right now on trying to track down Fred. .. if that was even her real name.

Buffy wanted to shake all over even thinking about her now. Her mind would travel back to the day at the hospital when she'd thought she'd seen one of her other neighbors and now there was Fred... Fred who acted like she couldn't hurt a fly - even after those classes. Fred who was so sweet and innocent, who was someone she'd bonded with so easily... partly because she reminded her of Willow and Tara in a number of ways but also just because she was cute and sweet and welcoming, someone who she'd told way more than she wished she had now. Any of what she'd done or said getting back to Darla made her sick to her stomach and made her wonder how Darla had or planned to use any of that against her and Angel.

She couldn't help but wonder how many others there had been always watching her, how many, when and where, how had they been part of her life, how close had some of these people had gotten to her. It was all like living in a horror movie at times when she really let herself get caught up in it all.

After she and Angel had divorced she'd honestly thought that was the end of Darla. She'd gotten what she'd obviously wanted, she'd torn them apart... all hell broke loose, she and Angel had gone their separate ways... And yet Darla obviously had still singled her out like some crazy woman!

Angel had mentioned how he hadn't heard or seen her once since that night at the hotel either, until that day he'd ran into her in the store. She'd figured Darla had wrecked their lives, had her fun with it, and had decided to just move on so they wouldn't need to worry over her again but that sure wasn't how things had gone so far.

Buffy knew if it was just her she wouldn't be so worried, but now they had a baby to worry about, and that scared her more than anything in this world. She was sure it wasn't above Darla one bit to harm her while she was pregnant, or go after their little girl somehow once she was born, and that was terrifying.

She knew it was still just a piece of paper but it was something as she looked into starting the process for a restraining order against the psychopathic woman. She began trying to tell everyone she could think of to be wary of Darla and tried thinking up of what all evidence she might still have from Darla stalking them in the past. So much she knew she'd tried to just get rid of, but she hoped there'd be at least some signs of something that she could use in a case against her. Buffy also began looking into different security systems alongside Xander, who she knew would understand these things better than she. She also began interest searches to try and grasp what in the world was even going on with the woman and what she could do about it.

OoOoO

"I don't think I have ever been happier to see your ugly ass mug."

Angel rolled his tired eyes. His back hurt like a motherfucker and he was utterly exhausted. "You always know just how to make a man feel special, Linds."

Lindsey cracked smile. "It's been a long time in here without any female companionship... you couldn't have at least had Buffy around?"

"We're both about to be locked up all over again if you keep your shit up."

"It's been a long day," he mockingly whined out.

"It's about to get a whole lot longer," Angel warned.

Lindsey chuckled. "The way they dragged ass all day I feel like I should've shot the bitch."

"Can't say that very thought hadn't crossed my mind a few dozen times today."

"How is your woman anyway? She and Baby Lindsay alright after everything?"

"Yeah, more or less... she's been panicking a bit off and on I think. Seeing Darla and the two really going at one another like that had her shaken. Which I can't blame her for that either..." he sighed.

"Fuck no," Lindsey agreed remembering that cold look in the crazy bitch's eyes. "We all thought she was loony before but she's so far off her rocker I don't even know where to begin. Especially if I was Buffy. I'd love to be a fly on the wall when she gets what's coming to her."

"I don't need to witness. I just want it done." Angel sighed as they finally reached his car, "And I don't want my wife to be any part of it," he added, sliding into the driver's seat. Starting the engine, Angel navigated the parking lot quickly, he was beyond anxious to get back home.

Lindsey made sure to buckle his seat belt, the last thing he needed was these dickheads fucking with them just for the hell of if. Especially with the way Angel was zipping around the damn parking lot, like it was fucking Daytona.

Thankfully, no charges had been pressed, yet. Though he was pretty certain they lacked the evidence to do so, otherwise they would have already. He'd seen enough Law and Order to know that much at least.

"Ya, speaking of that, you better make sure they don't cross paths again. Did you see the way Buffy went after her?" Lindsey asked with a hint of amusement in his voice, had she not been pregnant he would have paid to see the little firecracker take that bitch out.

Angel's grip tightened on the steering wheel, "I saw Linds, in case you've forgotten she's very pregnant with our daughter. She doesn't need to be going after anyone."

Turning his head to look him dead on, Lindsey couldn't believe that Angel actually sounded pissed at Buffy. "Hold the fuck up, you're not mad at Buffy are you?"

Glancing at Lindsey out of the corner of his eye, he shrugged, "No," he stated simply. Too exhausted for this conversation right now, he wasn't mad at Buffy. He was just worried...about everything.

"Bullshit," Lindsey barked.

Angel slammed on the brakes as they neared the stop sign ahead of them. Throwing the car in park, he turned to face Lindsey head on. The tension, all the stress from the day, finally exceeding his threshold. "What does it matter if I am pissed at her? It's none of your fucking business Lindsey, you might want to watch where you stick your fucking nose tonight."

Lindsey's eyebrows rose with every word that mother fucker threw his way. Here he was going to fucking jail, over his bullshit, "You sanctimonious son of a bitch," and this asshole had the audacity to say some shit like that to him.

"Didn't we talk about using words you don't understand, Linds."

Oh this son of a bitch wanted to fight, fight. Opening his door Lindsey stepped out at the same time as Angel, each of them started around the car, neither stopping until they were chest to chest in front of its headlights. Using both of his hands, Lindsey shoved Angel back as hard as he could.

Momentarily losing his balance, Angel stumbled back a step before regaining his footing, locking his hand into a fist, he swung, making contact with the left side Lindsey's face.

"Motherfucker, let's go," Lindsey yelled, recovering from the blow, charging Angel he swung and missed, as he always did. He couldn't believe the fucking idiot still fell for it, grabbing him in a head lock, they both tumbled to the hard ground.

They were a mess of tangled limbs rolling around on the pavement. Tossing one another back and forth Lindsey finally got a hit in, just before taking a punch to the gut, which knocked the air from him. Not one to back down, his hands shot out to Angel's throat in an attempt to strangle the bastard.

They probably would have killed each other had it not been for the car who began honking from the other side of the stop sign. Flipping Lindsey off of him, they both lied back in an attempt to catch their breath, as the passerby carefully drove around them. Hopefully they didn't call the cops, neither of them could handle anymore of that tonight.

"You know, I really fucking hate you sometimes O'connor," Lindsey managed to get out between gasps. They certainly weren't as young as they once were, there was a time when this was an everyday occurrence. Judging from the pain in his shoulder, Lindsey was sure he'd be feeling this for a week.

Angel wasn't sure what happened, he wasn't even really sure why they were fighting. Lindsey just had a way of pushing all of his buttons at the wrong time. Getting to his feet, he looked down at his tattered shirt, then across to Lindsey's bloody face. How the hell was he going to explain this to Buffy? Shaking his head, he muttered to Lindsey to get back in the fucking car before they really ended up in jail again.

As was his nature Lindsey opened his mouth to argue, only to have Angel spin around to approach him once more.

"If we're both in jail, then Buffy's alone, and Darla fucking wins."

Releasing his breath, Lindsey relented, nodding his head in agreement, at least there was something they both agreed on right now.

"Get in the damn car, I don't have time for this," Angel huffed making his way to the driver's side once more.

"Already on my way," Lindsey spat, using both hands to flip him off from the passenger side.

Once they were both seated, Lindsey flipped the dashboard mirror down to survey the damage. "I'm telling Buffy," he whined, hissing as he touched the open wound on his eyebrow.

Rolling his eyes, Angel silently prayed for the strength to make it home before he beat the poor boy to death.

OoOoO

Darla couldn't believe that the police station had refused to hold Lindsey. They hadn't even charged him with assault, fucking bastard had gotten away with nothing more than a citation for disturbing the peace. She had put on one of her best performances today too, cried real tears, sobbed even. Still it wasn't enough, the detective had told her that they simply lacked the evidence to charge McDonald with anything more.

Too bad Fred had disappeared, she could have at least been a witness on her side. Someone to back up her version of events, the real version.

Despite it all, she now knew what had to be done, but she would have to be smart about it. This little run in with the law, was a tie between her and Buffy that she hadn't anticipated. No, there was no time for mistakes, there definitely couldn't be anymore accidental confrontations.

Today was a slip up that she couldn't afford again, had the police believed Lindsey and Angel then she could have been in a world of trouble. Stalking… Please. She had never stalked anyone a day in her life, she was merely taking out obstacles as she'd always done.

Though now she would have to wait a bit longer before putting any of her plans into place. The Sunnydale Police were highly moronic, as she found most police to be. All she had to do was give it a little time, so that they wouldn't tie her name to anything related to the O'connor's. Yes, soon she would be the one swooping in to comfort Angel, making him fall back in love with her all over again in the process.

OoOoO

Thank God, the rest of the ride was made in silence otherwise Angel was sure something else would have gone down between he and Lindsey. Having some time to breathe, to calm down was nice, he enjoyed the damn silence. Of course, as soon as they pulled into the driveway his damn mouth had to open. "I sure hope you've gotten over your pissant attitude before you go in there."

Angel glared.

"Because she did nothing wrong," the asshole dared to continue, "and you have no reason to be all pissed off at her. She was put into the shit situation not on her own damn accord."

Angel grit his teeth together. "Once more, asshole, I'm not pissed off at Buffy. I am pissed off at you, however." Before they wound up in another dumbass fist fight tonight, he got out of the car and slammed the door shut behind him. This day was a shit show and he was over it.

Going inside, Angel found a tired looking Xander who he was happy to let off of guard duty and send home after they caught up for a few minutes. Xander looked between the other two men before he left and asked if he even wanted to know what the hell happened. Both Angel and Lindsey just shook their heads and Xander left it alone.

Buffy had already gone to lay down and all Angel could think about was how badly he just needed to be around her, today had been rough and he'd spent way too much time apart from her with all that had been going on. Leaving Lindsey downstairs to do whatever the hell he wished, Angel started up the stairs which made his feet feel like lead more and more with each step. He briefly thought about taking a much needed shower but he didn't think he could stand or stay awake long enough for one.

Angel sighed, stripping out of all of his clothes other than his boxers as soon as he got to the bedroom and made his way toward the bed. He let out a sigh of relief as he pulled Buffy into his arms as he laid down, it made some of the tension in his shoulders ease up just being able to see her, touch her, and know for sure she was alright.

His hands slid under the shirt she was wearing and came to rest atop where their little girl was resting and said a silent prayer of thanks that she was alright as well.

"You're home," Buffy whispered, sleep heavy in her voice.

"Yeah, just got here a couple minutes ago. I sent Xander home." She nodded and started turning to face him, pillowing her head on his shoulder. "You sure you're okay?" he asked for the hundredth time today.

Buffy nodded as she yawned. "It's just been a long day, but you're all too well aware of that. I tried getting Xander to go home hours ago."

"I'm glad he stayed," Angel told her, yawning his own self.

"Is Lindsey back?"

"Yeah. Fucker's downstairs," he said right before the door opened and the light was flicked on to show Lindsey standing in the doorway and Angel let out a groan.

"Lindsey? Oh, my God! What happened to you?!" Buffy asked after squinting against the brightness. She sat up all concerned and Angel groaned once more.

Lindsey pointed his finger over at Angel. "That mother fucker right there!" Buffy looked over at him and took in his own state of haggardness then looked back at Lindsey. "My arm hurts," he whined. "And don't get me started on my pretty face that he's gone and messed all sorts of up!"

"Oh, for crying out loud," Angel rolled his eyes.

"You two really started a fight?" Buffy asked and made him sit up so she could get a better look at him too. "You two are ridiculous, I swear."

"It really hurts!" Lindsey whined more and Buffy got out of bed and asked him to follow her to the bathroom so she could doctor him up. Angel muttered some curses under his breath then grabbed Buffy's pillow and just threw it over his face and counted to ten.

OoOoO

Buffy was trying hard not to crack a smile and keep her annoyed face on as she finished up with Lindsey and he continued to play the innocent victim role. She pushed just a little extra hard next to his eye as she put a small bandage over the wound and he winced. "Now, do you want to tell me what really happened?" she asked after just another few seconds of applied pressure.

"Ow!" he whined and pulled away from her. He gave it another couple of moments before he looked up at her, his blue eyes that she was sure could make any woman with a pulse weak in the knees full of concern and exhaustion meeting hers. "He was scared today," he said with a shrug. "You know he doesn't always know how to process his emotions."

"Uh huh," she said pointedly.

He smirked at that. "He pushed everything down trying to get through the day and I did, too. We got back together in a tiny space and shit happened. We blew off some steam... that's all. He was in a pissy mood and didn't need to come home with it anyway." Lindsey shrugged again. "Everything will be back to normal in the morning, you know us."

"Yeah, and you're both morons," she told him, pushing on his shoulders before stepping back so he could stand before asking how the other part of the day had gone and thanking him for stepping in.

Lindsey washed his hands and checked out the damage Angel had left on his face. "I could have probably just let her run out of there but it didn't seem right. Especially not when we didn't know how bad the situation might have been."

Buffy hugged him. "I know." Lindsey patted her hands around his chest and he turned to make sure she truly hadn't been hurt. Buffy shook her head. "She didn't touch me. Threatened to, and I know she would have had she really had the chance to again."

"We're going to make sure that doesn't happen, love."

"I hope so."

OoOoO

"I'm going to bed, princess!" Lindsey shouted as he passed by Angel again. He wasn't really sure if he was talking to Buffy or him but he decided to let that shit go. "You two should really think more about moving out of this shit hole because I'm feeling more and more like I just never want to step foot in this town again. Every damn time I come here..." he trailed off in an annoyed mutter.

"I think that gives me more reason to want to stay."

Lindsey turned and looked half amused, half annoyed. He didn't say anything else other than telling Buffy and Baby goodnight and he'd see them in the morning.

"Okay, your turn."

Angel shook his head and patted for her to return to bed. "I'm fine," he told her. "I just want to fall asleep with my wife."

Slipping between the covers, Buffy sat up leaning back against the headboard, her eyes raked him over as she fully took in the sight of him. There was a small cut on the corner of his lip, his arms were riddled with scratches, and he was probably going to have a bruise or two come morning, she couldn't believe they had gotten into a fight after everything that happened this morning. Her fingers brushed his check, as he leaned into her touch, every brush of her hand caused him to relax a bit more, it had been a good long while since he had experienced a day this shitty. He was just grateful that this time it got to end with her in his arms.

"I love you."

Turning, he pressed a kiss into that palm of her hand. "I love you too," he told her without ever opening his eyes. "Now come here," he groaned.

Buffy willingly obeyed, snuggling down in his arms, she rested her head against him carefully, as he held her tightly to his side. She got lost in her own thoughts as she doodled down the expanse of his chest, he'd been silent for a while but his grip on her was steadfast. He looked drained, emotionally, physically, just everything. It made a knot form in the pit of her stomach, he was the calm one of the two of them, so if he was this worked up, then that only meant things were bad, probably worse than either of them had even imagined possible. She tried to keep the thoughts of what could have happened from her mind all day, but some of them still wormed their way through the cracks of her false bravado.

"Stop."

She jumped slightly at the sound of his voice, she had assumed he'd fallen asleep by now. "I'm scared," she confessed, knowing that if she tried to play dumb or deny something was wrong, he would see right through her.

"So am I." Him being this forthcoming was never a good sign, "And I started the fight with Lindsey because of it," he sighed, leaning his head down to rest against the top of her blonde locks.

"I'm sure he wasn't completely innocent," she attempted to reassure him. Having witnessed their fights many times over the years, she knew better than anyone the roles they each played. It was just how they were, like Lindsey said she was sure everything would be fine come tomorrow.

Angel's only response was to huff out a bat of exasperated air. He didn't want to think about Lindsey anymore, he certainly didn't want to think about fucking Darla, he just wanted to pretend like everything was fine. He just wanted to hold his pregnant wife, and pretend their biggest concern was which shade of pink they were going to paint the nursery.

The rest could wait until morning.

"Everything will be okay," he whispered hoarsely, as he tried to hide the fear in his voice, kissing the top of her head.

She knew he was just trying to make her feel better, she could hear it in his voice. "How do you know," she questioned quietly, her breath tickling his chest.

"It has to be."

Each of them stayed awake a while longer, though no more words were exchanged. Both nearly delirious from the days events, there was nothing else that could be said that would make either of them feel any better. Angel waited until he felt Buffy's breathing even out, her muscles release the last bit of tension they held, signaling that she had finally succumbed to slumber, before he allowed himself to fully relax. Slipping into a restless sleep moments later, his grip never loosened on her throughout the night.

ButImBroken:

Cowritten with Scribes1015!