"With Some Scoobies on the Side Series"
By: Lynn
DISCLAIMERS: Duh guys! Nothing's mine!
DISTRIBUTION: You ask me, I ask you... you know the process. I got the transcripts from Link to previous parts: http: This is a re-write of most of the Angel episodes with the Scoobies in the mix. Whoohoo! This is gonna be fun!
SPOILERS: I guess the beginning of Ats.
E-MAIL: A/N: Okay, so during the Ascension thing, Angel didn't tell Buffy he wasn't saying goodbye, and the whole "one last look by the fire trucks" thing didn't happen. And Faith didn't go all psycho. In my story, her association with the mayor was just a decoy.
Part 3
When they exited the elevator to the parking garage, three guys attacked them. One guy grabbed Tina and the other two tackled Angel and Buffy back into the elevator, the doors closing before they could throw the thugs off of them. The doors to the next elevator opened and there stood Stacy.
"Hey, hey. Okay, he just wants to see you, that's all," Stacy tried to soothe the struggling Tina.
Finally, she quit and calmed herself, "Okay, no problem." She managed to get out of the other man's grip and pretended to cooperate. They walked through the doors of the parking garage, and before they knew it, Tina tried to escape by running away. She didn't get far though, the two men grabbed her and forced her into a gray Mercedes Sedan.
As soon as they started to speed off, the elevator doors opened once again and both Buffy and Angel walked out, leaving two unconscious men behind.
They ran into the parking garage and saw the Sedan drive away. Angel quickly and heroically jumped into his black convertible, but was dismayed when the keys wouldn't fit. He looked around and noticed Buffy in an identical convertible four spaces down.
"Angel! What are you doing! Come on," Buffy yelled.
"Damn it," he cursed and got out of the car, running full speed to the right one.
Buffy gripped the side of the car as Angel floored it to catch up with the Sedan that held Tina captive.
"Hold on," Angel ordered her, and if possible, pressed on the gas harder. When the slayer realized that Angel was about to ram into a head on collision with the Sedan, she did as she was told. At the last possible minute, the driver of the classic car chickened out when Angel didn't and swerved into a parked car.
Angel and Buffy got out of the convertible and marched up to the other car. When the driver tried to attack, Buffy kicked the car door to slam into him, allowing Angel to grab his pistol and aim it at Stacy, who got out the back.
Holding his hands up, Stacy warned, "Whoever you two are, you don't want to get involved here."
"Tina get in the car," Buffy said to the scared blonde, who willingly obeyed.
Stacy put up a brave front and challenged the dangerous man in front of him. "You know what? I don't think you're going to pull that trigger."
Surprising him, Angel hit him with a hard left. "Good call," he quipped. He dropped the gun, and with Buffy at his side, got in the car, Buffy hopping in the back.
"Nice party, huh," Tina sarcastically commented.
"A little too fabulous for me," Buffy returned. Angel started up the car and they drove off, leaving their attackers behind to lick their wounds.
After another quiet and awkward ride, Angel drove the girls to his basement apartment.
Angel was in the kitchen making tea while Tina was rummaging in her bag in the next room, and Buffy was sitting on the edge of Angel's bed, calling up a most likely worried Willow.
"My Girl Scout training," Tina randomly informed Angel, "I can live out of this bag for days if I had to."
"I've made some tea," he called from the kitchen. He placed two cups on the table and poured the hot water in them before putting in tea bags.
"Thanks."
"Do you take milk and sugar," he automatically asked.
"Yeah."
"Because I don't have those things," he finally remembered. Blood, only blood. "I don't get a lot of visitors."
Tina saw the weapons hung on the wall and smirked his way. "At least not ones you like."
Angel emerged from the kitchen, holding the two cups. He handed one to Tina and kept the one he made for Buffy in his hand. "I have relationship issues, too," he attempted to joke, but it came out a bit sad when he saw his slayer in the bedroom chatting happily on the phone, looking beautiful as always.
Tina looked her way, too. "Oh, you mean you and..." Her name was at the tip of her tongue, but she just couldn't quite get it.
"Buffy," Angel helped her.
"Thank you. You and Buffy used to be... together? Well, obviously, the way you two look at each other."
"Yeah, but we broke up a few months ago. It wasn't... we're here to help you, not us."
Tina gave one last glance towards Buffy who was still on the phone. "I guess this is the part where you comfort me? Not like you didn't earn it."
Angel realized immediately what she was offering and thanked the powers that Buffy was in the next room, out of hearing range. Even though they weren't together anymore, he knew Buffy had a bit of a jealous streak like he did. At least he hoped she did.
"No," he put down Buffy's cooling tea on a nearby table, "this is the part where you have a safe place to stay while we figure things out."
"You mean you don't want-"
"You have enough people taking advantage right now."
At his words, Tina teared up and tried to hold in a sob with a hand over her mouth and turned away from him. "Boy are you in the wrong town."
She sat down on the small makeshift bed. Angel went to grab a dishtowel to help dry her tears, but was beat to it by a smaller hand. He looked up and met Buffy's hazel eyes. She didn't seem angry or upset, so he was a little relieved that she didn't hear the earlier exchange between him and Tina. Although, he couldn't really decipher that, because she didn't look compassionate either, her emotions were unreadable.
Buffy walked over to a crying Tina and handed her the dishtowel. She took it and looked at Buffy gratefully. After Tina took the towel to dab her wet eyes, Buffy and Angel sat on either side of her.
Deep down, Buffy felt the nagging of the green eyed monster wanting to use her slaying abilities on the other blonde, but she knew that Tina was just a vulnerable country girl trying to survive the big bad city of Los Angeles.
"Russell have a last name," Angel gently interrogated.
"Yeah," Tina sniffled, "but you don't need to know it. You've done enough already. Both of you. He's the kind of guy that can get away with murder."
"Who did he murder," Buffy asked.
"I don't know. Maybe nobody... He likes- He likes pain. I mean he really does. He talks about it like it was a friend. And you don't leave him, he tells you when he's had enough. I knew this girl, Denise, she tried to get away. She disappeared off the face of the earth," a sob escaped her lips and she choked on her words, "He finds you."
"Not anymore," Angel determinedly declared.
Angel pulled a blanket over Tina when she finally fell asleep. While Angel did that, Buffy, a little guiltily, went into Tina's purse and pulled out her address book. When she met Angel's warm brown eyes, she nodded toward the kitchen and he obediently followed her.
"Here," Buffy said in a hushed tone and handed over the small red book, "I'm sure you can find Denise in there."
"Thanks." They both lost eye contact as silence washed over them, both trying to figure out what to say next. Their emotional wounds were still fresh.
"Well, I guess I better go."
"Yeah. Um. Do you have a number where I can contact you, to you know, keep in touch?"
She nodded, "Sure." She quickly scanned the area and saw a desk in the other room. Angel followed her to the place where he sat for hours drawing portrait after portrait of just her. He just hoped she didn't look through the bottom drawer where he kept those drawings. Luckily, he had left a pencil and a sheet of paper on top of the desk, which she used to scrawled down a phone number.
Buffy turned around and for a few moments she was caught up in his captivating gaze.
"That's my cell phone number. We don't have a number for our apartment yet." When she handed it to him, their fingers brushed and that familiar shock went through both of them.
Buffy yanked her hand back, much to Angel's disappointment.
"It was great seeing you. Really."
"You too. I'll call you if anything happens." Buffy nodded and with that, and half heartedly hurried up the stairs with Angel watching her exit, their hearts and souls aching.
TBC...
Lynn