"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. 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.
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 2
After the visit to Vinpur's home, Buffy and Angel decided to check on Melissa. Kate may have sent an officer to guard her property, but the two warriors were more lethal than any of the guns that the police officers carried.
As they got out of Angel's car and started to walk to Melissa's door, they were suddenly in high alert when a high pitched scream pierced the quiet night. Immediately, they used their supernatural speed to get to Melissa as fast as they could.
When they got there, Melissa was hysterically running out of her home in her black nightie. Only focused on trying to escape, Melissa didn't notice Buffy and Angel, and ran straight into Angel. She frantically tried to get away, too scared to figure out it was her savior.
Angel grasped her shoulders to help calm her down. "It's me. It's me and Buffy," he gently reassured her.
"He's- he's in there. His- his hands...," Melissa gasped, overwhelmed with fear. After Xander and Doyle dropped her off, her feeling of safety was creeping slowly back into her life. The feeling up and left as soon as she got into bed, and oddly felt something groping her underneath the sheets. What she found was a pair of hands without a body attached to them. An officer had come running to her aid when she let out a loud scream. The slightly overweight cop searched her room and found nothing to cause her to scream, and assumed her to just be having a bad dream, The man met an awful fate when the floating hands wrapped around his neck and choked him to death.
"We know," Buffy comforted her by laying a hand on her back, "We know what he can do."
"He killed a... Please don't leave me alone! Please don't leave me alone! Please don't leave me!"
"It's alright. It's alright," Angel soothed her when she buried her face against his chest and cried, "Buffy and I won't let him near you. Shh..."
As Buffy and Angel tried to calm down the hysterical brunette, they didn't notice Ronald watching angrily on the other side of the fence that surrounded the house. His dismembered hand crawled to him and up his leg, and reattached itself to the end of his arm. Before walking away, Ronald took one last look at the object of his obsession in the arms of the man who claimed to be Mr. Jensen and decided to eliminate the lying son of a bitch that got in between him and Melissa.
After a call on Buffy's cell phone, an ambulance and a gaggle of police surrounded the area. Melissa was wrapped in a blanket with Doyle, Xander, and an EMT at her aid.
When other EMT's rolled the murdered officer's dead and bagged body out of the house, Doyle quickly turned Melissa's back toward it so she wouldn't see, and Xander shoved a styrofoam cup filled with coffee in her shaky hands.
"Here drink up, Love," Doyle gently ordered, "It's over."
Amongst all the cops there, one of them was, of course, Kate.
"She is not making a lot of sense," Kate said to Angel and Buffy.
"She's been living in terror for the last five months," Buffy retorted.
"You two think it's the doctor."
"We know it's the doctor," Angel said.
Kate put her hands on her hips."Well, how could he do it? I mean, she's got bars on her windows. The security cameras in the hallway show our officers going in and nobody suspicious all day. I mean, who is his guy, Houdini?"
Buffy and Angel shared a secretive look before Buffy answered the rhetorical question, "Something like that."
"I've pulled prints. If they match his, he's going down."
Matching frowns dawned both of the couple's faces, knowing that putting him in jail won't be enough to keep Ronald from Melissa.
"Detective," someone called, distracting Kate from Angel and Buffy, "Can you sign the coroners release?"
Kate separated from the two to do her job, and Angel and Buffy started to walk towards Doyle, Xander, and Melissa. Doyle saw them approaching and met them in the middle, Xander following him, and leaving Melissa with the EMT.
"How's she doing," Buffy asked with concern.
"Numb," Doyle answered, "Did they get any prints?"
"Yeah," Angel said.
"Good. So we can put him behind bars... for about ninety seconds, until he skitters through 'em," Doyle shook his head in disgust, "Not a lot of things that make me shudder, but this guy- crawling around under the covers..."
"At least it was just his hands down there," Xander added, but then paused, the idea of it making him, Doyle, and Buffy even more creeped out, "Wish I hadn't even thought that."
"He's coming undone," Angel stated.
"I'll say," Doyle returned.
"No, I mean he's out of control. He's killing now."
"Anyone that comes between him and his obsession," Doyle agreed, glancing at a still shaken Melissa.
"Wait a minute," Xander said, his eyes a bit wide, "Don't we stand between him and his obsession?"
Doyle looked just as spooked as Xander, which eased his male ego a bit. "I'm not putting too cowardly a point on it," Doyle said, "but if this guy can't be contained and he can't be killed, what are we going to do about it?"
"If his body parts go long enough without any blood and oxygen, they're going to deteriorate," Angel said thoughtfully, "he's not gonna be able to put himself back together no matter how much psychic surgery he knows."
"So what you're saying is to break him down and box him up," Buffy interpreted.
"Of course that's just a theory."
"Hmm. What do we do in the mean time," Xander asked.
Looking over at Melissa, Angel simply said, "Protect her."
Later on, they took Melissa to Angel's apartment. As a precautionary, the guys took duct tape and sealed off all the places the doctor could wiggle through to get to their client.
"It's not good for the ventilation," Xander stated while sealing a vent, "but he's not getting in here." Cordelia, who stood directly behind him, touched his shirt collar, causing him to jump from paranoia and wave his arms in the air as if swatting a bee. "Don't do that," he snapped at her when he realized it was just her and regained his composure.
"I was just trying to fix your collar," Cordelia defended herself, glaring back at her ex-boyfriend.
"Yeah, well, what say we just leave it crooked until this thing's resolved."
Cordelia silently agreed, and the two of them walked to Angel's small kitchen where Angel, Buffy, and Doyle sat with Melissa, who was now wearing one of Angel's over-sized black shirts and sipping tea.
"I don't see how this can...," Melissa stumbled, "I mean, this can't be happening. What I saw- you think I must be crazy."
"No," Buffy gently insisted, "We believe you."
"But it's not possible. I mean, he can really..."
Angel nodded. "Yes... Remember I told you I sometimes handle things the police can't," Melissa nodded in recollection from when she first met the dark vampire, "This is one of those things. I'm going to take care of him. Buffy, Doyle, Cordelia, and Xander are going to stay here with you. I want you to try to get some rest."
Cordelia grabbed a tissue, and offered it to Melissa, but she refused.
"Thanks, but I'm not going to cry anymore. At least I hope not. I'm tired of crying and being afraid," she declared bravely, but with a shaky voice.
"You don't have to be afraid," Buffy said gently.
"You're just duct taping me in for fun," she shot back. Xander uncomfortably cleared his throat, and tried to shove the roll of duct tape he was holding into Cordy's unwilling hands.
"You've survived a living hell these last few months and you're still standing," Angel encouraged her, "while he's coming unhinged at not being able to control you. He's the weak one. You're the strong one."
"You should listen to him, Melissa," Cordy rang in, "He knows what he's talking about. He's stalked plenty of," Melissa stared at her while Angel and Buffy shot her a glare, "... books on the subject," she amended, then turned to Angel, "Could I see you upstairs for a moment?"
Angel and Buffy excused themselves and left Melissa with Doyle and Xander.
"Okay, Melissa stays here with us, that makes sense," Cordelia said while they rode up the elevator to the office, "but the part about you taking care of the doctor... This guy is REALLY dangerous. Right Buffy? Tell him this guy is dangerous."
The blonde slayer just ignored her and shook her head. Although she knew that Cordelia was right, she had to respect Angel's wishes... No matter how much it bugged her.
Angel opened up the elevator and walked straight to his desk to flip through the yellow pages.
"What are you doing," Cordelia questioned.
"Seeing where I can get some steel boxes at this hour of the night."
"Steel boxes," Cordelia looked perplexed, "Why would you want... Oh. For packing up people parts," she headed out of Angel's office to her desk, "You know this job... Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful to have it. God knows it's educational, but sometimes...," she jumped in surprise when the phone rang. "God, who's calling at this-," she looked down at the phone and saw the button for line three blinking, "It's the special line."
Angel and Buffy gazed at her through the window that separated them. They knew who exactly who it was.
"Answer it," Buffy ordered.
"Right, right. Okay. Now, who are we again? Johnson International Holdings?"
"Jensen," Angel corrected her, still thumbing through the pages.
"Jensen. Good, got it," the phone continued to ring as she suddenly trailed off and kept on babbling. "Jensen, now does that sound like an international name?"
"Cordelia," Buffy snapped.
Finally, Cordelia ended the ringing and picked up the phone, using her friendly secretary voice. "Jensen International Holdings. How may I direct your call?... Please hold," she pressed the button to put him on hold and said to Angel, "It's him."
Angel glanced at Buffy and took a deep breath before picking up his own phone.
"Brian Jensen," Angel said, sitting in his leather chair.
"You're working late," Ronald commented from the other end of the line.
"Downside of being global."
"If you still want me to, I'll operate on your wife."
"I do, thank you."
"We'll have to do it out of the country, and I need a hundred thousand dollars in cash to get things rolling."
"Are you in your office?"
"Yes."
"I'll bring it to you tonight." Angel hung up the phone and caught the worried look in Buffy's blue-green eyes.
"You're going over there," she asked softly, and he nodded.
"What if he comes apart on you," Cordelia added.
"If he comes apart on me, he's going to stay that way." Angel stood up out of his chair.
"Angel, are you sure you want to do this alone," Buffy inquired, "I've got a bad feeling."
He cupped his slayer's cheek comfortingly, "Don't worry. I'll be fine," he stated, which did nothing to appease her bad vibe, "Stay and protect Melissa. I've got an appointment with a doctor."
Buffy smirked despite her feelings, "Clever."
"Always am."
Later that night, Angel entered Ronald's office carrying a long, steel box.
"That's a big box," Ronald said to Angel, "You didn't have to bring it in small bills Mr. Jensen."
Angel came up to the desk and placed the box on top of it. "Actually, I didn't bring-"
"Any money at all," the doctor concluded for him, unsurprised, and Angel stared back with an unreadable face, "No, I didn't think you would. Though the safety box is a nice touch. I mean your name is not really Jensen. You don't have a wife. Unless, that blonde girl I saw you with is your wife, but she looked too healthy to have a tumor. What a tangled web, eh?"
Ronald placed his left hand on the desk, causing Angel's attention to steer towards it, expecting it to disconnect from his body.
Within that second he was distracted, Ronald pulled out a long, silver device with his right hand and shot a tranquilizer dart out of it and into Angel's neck.
"I developed this injector while working with animals, Ronald informed Angel. The vampire pulled the dart out of his neck and looked at it, the object almost immediately slipped out of his fingers. "They don't like their limbs cut off any more than we do and they can hurt you if you get too close."
Angel felt the poison flow through the blood that he recently drank, making him a little dizzy. Angel cursed the doctor, knowing that if he were human, the injection would kill him. Lucky for him, the toxin wasn't as effective as the stuff that he was shot with before the Ascension, seeing as how it was supposed to be used for the living, but he knew it would be powerful enough to knock him out. Angel was suddenly glad that Buffy agreed to stay behind and help protect Melissa.
"You'll feel a slight sinking sensation," Ronald continued, "that's your heart slowing down as the paralytic takes effect. Eventually it'll stop all together," he stood up, "I just can't believe the audacity- to think you could take her from me?"
Angel felt his body getting heavier and he sank to his knees.
"I saw you. I saw you hold her. Even with your... whore there," Angel dropped to all fours, he broke out into a cold sweat, and his body shook, "Nobody can break the bond between us. Nobody." Ronald picked up a scalpel from his desk and peered at it intently, "Clearly even she can't accept that. I've tried so hard to show her in so many ways. I've taken care of her, been there for her, even when she didn't know it." Angel rolled onto his back and his body twitched. Through his ears, Ronald's voice became distorted.
"If that isn't devotion... And what do I get for my trouble? She lies, she cheats. But no more. I won't be made a fool of. She would've made a beautiful bride."
As Angel finally collapsed and passed out, Ronald left, leaving the vampire in the middle of his floor, like a forgotten piece of paper that floated off his desk.
Pulling her jacket around her tighter, Buffy paced in front of Angel's office building, keeping watch for the demented doctor and patrolling for the evil creatures of the night at the same time. Though, sometimes, it was hard to decipher whether or not the things that came out at night were evil; L.A. was different from Sunnydale. As soon as the sun set, the demons roamed the streets freely as if they were humans, too. The mortals didn't even give the weird looking beings a second thought, figuring since it was just Hollywood, and that the demons were probably actors that just came from a set, or they were just used to seeing freaky looking things, living in L.A. All they needed was a hat and a coat, and they were a part of the crowd.
Suddenly, Buffy's Slayer senses went off when a high pitch scream came from an alley a little down the street, driving her away from her thoughts. She hesitated for a second when she looked back at the building which housed Melissa, feeling a little guilty for leaving her post. The screams continued and the slayer shook it off and ran to the other person in need, figuring that the slaying wouldn't take but a minute. As she took off, she missed Ronald emerge from the dark shadows and slip into the building.
When Buffy reached the alley in the matter of seconds, she found a scantily clad red headed woman struggling with a male vampire. His fangs were just a hairbreadth away from the rub-on tanned skin of her neck when Buffy decided to interrupt.
"Hi," Buffy greeted, her voice sounding overly cheery, "What's going on?"
"Beat it," the vampire snarled at her, "This is none of your business."
"Help me," the frightened woman whimpered but was silenced when the vampire tightened his hand around her neck and gave her body a little jerk to shut her up, an animalistic growl erupted from his throat.
"Actually it is my business," Buffy stated matter-of-factly, stepping further into the alley, "You bite," she pulled out Mr. Pointy from the waistband of her pants, "I slay. Any questions?"
The vamp dropped the girl harshly and lunged for the ready slayer. The fight was short-lived when the only hit the vampire got was one punch across Buffy's face, but she was unaffected. She hit him a few more times for fun and shoved him against the wall, and drove Mr. Pointy straight into his heart, rendering him to dust.
Buffy tucked the stake back into her waistband and turned to the girl, who still sat on the dirty asphalt floor of the alleyway in shock. Before Buffy could get out a word, the scared redhead stumbled to her feet, and darted away from the dark area.
The blonde stepped out of the alley and watched the girl run away. "Your welcome," she yelled after her.
The sound of squealing tires caused Buffy to turn her head. She saw Angel's black convertible barreling and swerving down the road. When Angel reached his destination, he ungracefully parked the car in his hurry, the right front tire of the car was propped up onto the sidewalk in front of the building.
Buffy was instantly next to him when he got out of the car.
"Buffy, we have to hurry. Ronald's going after Melissa. He shot me with a dart, it was meant to kill me, but it just knocked me unconscious," Angel hurriedly explained while they quickly marched towards his apartment.
"Are you okay," she asked with concern, keeping pace with him.
"Fine. Just a little dizzy."
"Good. Let's kill this bastard."
Standing next to the sleeping Melissa, Cordelia worriedly glanced at her watch. Buffy was still on patrol, and Angel was still on his mission to reassemble Dr. Meltzer. Her thoughts momentarily strayed to a couple years back when Buffy blew up the reassembled/invincible demon, The Judge, and they had to gather all the parts themselves. Hopefully, it wouldn't have to resort to them touching the still twitching parts of Ronald.
"What if Angel and Buffy don't come back," she questioned Doyle who was on the floor adding more duct tape to the cracks he missed, while Xander stood over him, supervising.
"Ah, they'll be back."
"What if Dr. Chopped Salad shows up before they do?"
Xander ripped off another piece of duct tape and handed it to the half-demon.
"Xander and I have this place sewed up tighter than...," Doyle's reassurance was cut short when they heard a rattling noise.
"What was that," Cordelia wondered out loud.
Doyle rose from the floor and slowly walked over towards the living room, Xander and Cordy right on his heels.
Xander pulled two weapons free from the brick wall that Angel had so conveniently displayed, and handed one to Doyle and one to Cordelia, and then pulled off another for himself.
"Just the wind," he stated, but all three of them looked around warily.
Cautiously, they separated into different parts of the sealed apartment. Xander backed up into the bedroom, Cordelia slowly traveled to the kitchen, while Doyle moved further into the living room.
"So you want to play some cards, or do you want to watch the tube," Doyle asked the other two casually, but all three were scanning the room for any body parts skittering around with their weapons raised.
"Sure," Cordelia replied just as casually, "how about some- gin? Penny a point? You in Xander?"
"I'm not really into gin, more of a poker man myself."
As he glanced around the room, and made sure Melissa was safe, he totally missed the dismembered eye floating around the pipes.
"Yeah," Doyle responded, "You'll owe me money."
"We'll see about that."
The rattling noise started up again, and Doyle walked nervously towards the sounds. Walking further into the room and gazing down, he found the trap door Angel used to get to the sewers trying to be opened.
"Guys," Doyle called out. Two fingers came up through the hole in the little metal door, trying to push the bolt that held the door closed.
Behind Xander, who was still in the room, Ronald silently stepped through the door and let his floating back into his empty socket.
Before the unsuspecting Scooby could join the other two, Ronald hit the back of his head with a hard object in his only hand and knocked Xander unconscious. The doctor caught him before he could hit the floor and make a sound and then swiftly threw him out the door he came through.
Too distracted by the hand trying to enter through the trap door, Cordelia and Doyle didn't even notice the missing Xander. They watched as the fingers pushed the bolt through and then disappear back into the confines of the sewer.
Doyle carefully crouched down next to the trap door , the hatchet he was holding raised slightly, ready to be put to good use. He flicked the latch back and opened the door, expecting to get attacked by some sort of limb of Ronald's, but found only darkness. He furrowed his brow and lowered his weapon, wondering why nothing had popped out of the tunnel below.
Suddenly, the hand that was there before reappeared and grabbed Doyle, pulling him head first into the tunnel, the trap door closing shut behind him.
At the same time, Ronald put his other hand over Cordelia's moth from behind and pulled her into the room. He effectively slammed her against the wall and threw her out the door with Xander.
Ronald shut the metal door, and turned to see that Melissa had woken from her slumber and was sitting at the edge of the bed, watching him with wide eyes.
The doctor kept his own eyes on Melissa as the hand he used to trap Doyle, obediently crawled to him and reattached itself to his arm.
"Hi," Ronald said casually as he readjusted his tie, "Getting some rest?"
"I- what are you?"
"I'm more than meets the eye. But you never bothered to find out, did you? You just took advantage of my kindness," he pulled the scalpel he brought from his office out of his jacket, and started to walk towards Melissa, "Led me on until you could find yourself a vacuous LA pretty boy."
Obviously scared, Melissa tried to run pass him but Ronald cut her off and cornered up against the wall.
"I'm very disappointed in you Melissa."
Melissa stared at the scalpel he held dangerously in his hand. "I know- I didn't mean..."
"No, no, no. No. Stop now. You're babbling."
"I think," she gulped, "I think you disappoint yourself." She didn't know what was happening, but she felt her confidence building within herself. "I think you gave up on being loved a long time ago and now you're just another creep who gets off on pain."
"Now don't try your little childish-"
"I think you know that I would be crazy to want to touch you, to wake up next to little pieces of whatever you are," Melissa ranted on, looking upon him with disgust, finally able to fight back.
"Shut up," Ronald retorted, visibly wounded by her words.
"You turned yourself into a freak, Ronald, a vile, repulsive freak. And I'm done being afraid of you. You can cut me and you can kill me, but it still won't change what you are." As Melissa was talking, something happened within Ronald and his neck bulged and moved as if something was trying to get out of his throat. Her rise of confidence was effecting him mentally, and he was struggling to keep himself together, both body and mind. "Angel was right. You're weak!"
"I'm weak," he hissed, "then how was it I killed him?"
The door behind him slid open, "Inefficiently," Angel's voice rumbled.
Ronald quickly turned around and saw Angel and Buffy standing in the doorway.
"You can't be alive," he exclaimed, shocked, "You- you're not human."
Melissa backed away from the insane doctor and strongly replied with, "You should talk!"
Angrily, Ronald spun towards Angel again and his teeth flew out of his mouth as if he wore dentures, and lunged towards the vampire. Buffy quickly interfered and the teeth clamped on her arm instead. The slayer cried out in pain and disgust and retaliated by smashing the set of teeth against a wall, causing Ronald to clamp his hand over his mouth in pain.
As Angel advanced on him, Ronald slammed the scalpel into his shoulder to prevent him from getting any further, but it failed because Angel came at him again.
This time, Ronald threw his right hand at him, and it gripped Angel's throat, slamming him into Buffy and they both fell back hard to the floor.
When the doctor turned back toward Melissa, Angel ripped the hand off and threw it away from him. The hand came skittering back, and remembering that he still had the scalpel in his shoulder, he pulled it out and stabbed it to the ground.
Ronald sadly looked at Melissa, knowing he had finally been defeated. "We could have been so happy," he lisped around his toothless mouth, and then one of his ears fell off.
"Ronald," Buffy growled, getting the decaying doctor's attention. As he turned around, Buffy hit his head with a pipe, sending it flying across the room.
"That was for poisoning my boyfriend and potentially giving me rabies ," Buffy said to the fallen, decapitated body in front of her.
Angel briefly stroked her back before stepping up to Melissa. "Are you alright," he gently asked.
Her response was just a gasp, as she was still in shock, and being the noble hero, Angel held her carefully to soothe her.
The next morning, everything seemed brighter. Melissa was now stalker-free, Angel and Buffy saved another life, and Cordelia was just happy that they were getting money.
Playing her part as helpful secretary, Cordelia began her task to make some coffee.
"Oh, goody," she chirped, seeing a used filter already in the machine, "recycled coffee, my personal favorite." She added some fresh grounds to the old filter and started up the machine.
"That's disgusting, Cordy," Xander commented over her shoulder.
"What," she shrugged innocently, to which Xander just shook his head and sat in a chair.
Angel and Buffy came from the other office and the vampire handed Cordelia some papers.
"Oh. That guy's never going to put himself back together, right," Cordelia asked.
"He's in twelve steel boxes, buried in twenty cubic feet of concrete in the floor of LA's newest subway station," Angel replied blandly.
"That ought to bring tourists," Doyle joked, earning a laugh from Xander and Buffy.
The door opened then, and a happier looking Melissa walked in carrying a potted plant.
"Hey," she greeted with a genuine smile.
"Hi," Angel, Cordy, Xander, and Buffy returned.
"Hi, how's it going," Doyle questioned politely.
Melissa handed Buffy the plant, "I brought this for you guys."
"Oh. Thanks," Buffy smiled at the woman, happy that Melissa was finally going to get her life back together.
"I hope it doesn't need light," Angel said.
"I'm sure it'll be fine in here," Melissa replied.
"Can I offer you some coffee," Cordelia asked.
"Coffee, oh no," Melissa refused quickly, not wanting to taste the horribly made coffee again, "I can only stay a minute. Places to go, people to see," she gazed thankfully at Angel, "Thanks to you, all of you."
At that moment, Cordelia, Doyle, and Xander started to "subtly" cough, and Doyle "accidently" dropped his pen, all to remind Angel of the money they needed to get from Melissa.
Uncomfortably, Angel said, "Ah- there..."
Melissa glanced at the others who were coughing and Buffy, who avoided her gaze by playing with the leaves of the plant. "What," she asked.
"There is- ah- there is a- bill?"
"Bill who?"
"A bill for our services."
"Oh, of course. That's the other reason I came," she pulled out a check from her purse and handed it to Angel, "Here."
Cordy darted forward and happily snatched it from her hand. "I'll take that, thank you," she said and then giddily skipped back to her spot by the desk, showing Xander and Doyle their first check.
"I mean," Angel said, "we didn't do it for the money." Buffy nodded her head in agreement.
"Oh please, you earned it," she reached over and shook Buffy and Angel's hands, "Well, I hope I never see you again."
"Me too," Buffy replied, "Good luck."
Without a backward glance, Melissa turned away and walked out the door.
"Well that didn't go so badly," Doyle stated.
"See," Cordelia said, "you can save a damsel and make decent money. Is this a great country or what!"
"Let's march down to the bank and deposit this beauty."
"You guys go ahead," Angel declined, "I think I'll stay here and not burst into flames."
"Oh right, without that ring, you're pretty much the night deposit guy," Doyle teased him, "still, cause to celebrate."
"You think everything's a cause to celebrate," Cordelia replied and picked up her purse, "We could use more of these. You two coming," she asked Buffy and Xander.
"No," Xander answered, "Buffy and I are going to go get some coffee."
"But I just made some coffee."
"No thank you. We actually want to live."
Cordelia shot a glare at him, but still had a gleeful smile on her face. "Say what you want, Harris. Nothing can ruin this day."
She and Doyle exited the office, their arguing voices about Doyle having more visions echoing down the hall.
"You want to go now," Xander asked Buffy as they went into Angel's office.
She placed Melissa's gift on Angel's desk and stepped in front of him. "Are you sure you don't want to come with us," she questioned him an placed a hand on his chest.
"It's daylight," he bluntly replied.
The slayer shrugged her shoulders in a dismissive manner, "So? You've got the ring."
"Buffy, we talked about this," he started to protest, but, as always, Buffy was persistent.
"It's just coffee, Angel. I doubt you'll forget that you're a vampire seeking redemption in an hour's time." Her boyfriend playfully glared at her comment.
"Just go and save yourself, man," Xander added, "You know she's not going to give up."
Buffy nodded in agreement, "That's right. Besides, you don't want Cordelia's recycled coffee, do you?"
Angel paused a moment, "I'll go get the ring," he decided and bolted down the stairs.
Buffy grinned devilishly at her best guy friend. "Having power feels great."
"Yeah, it must make some interesting games in the bedroom."
She swatted him on the shoulder in response.
"Ow."
End
Next installment: "Room with a View"
Lynn