Disclaimers: Mutant Enemy and Joss Whedon own it all. I'm just doing this for fun, and hopefully entertainment

Reviews: Welcomed and appreciated

What if the Initiative came to Sunnydale a few years earlier than we thought? And what if Angel got chipped instead of Spike? Just an idea…

Angelus stood in the shower letting the hot water sooth his muscles. One thing about his slayer, she certainly had endurance and very strong thighs. He smiled a very self-satisfied smile.

'Don't get used to it Angelus. I'll have her back as mine.' Angel knew it was ridiculous, but he had to fight his jealousy with his alter-ego.

'She likes it a little rough m'boy. She liked it better the second go 'round.' Angelus smirked.

'Please, like that could possibly work. I was there, moron.'

Angelus shrugged. 'So what, you may have been there the first and the second time, but I was there for the third, forth and fifth. And I'll be there for all the rest of it.' He was feeling satiated and smug. One way or the other he'd get the little bastard out of his mind.

'We'll see. She was making love to me Angelus. Not once did I hear her scream your name. My name was on her lips.'

Angelus smiled. 'Do you really think that kind of thing matters at this point? I have her, I can touch her, I can feel her. I can fuck her. All you can do little brother is stand in the background and watch. But hey, that can be fun too.' He turned off the water and grabbed a towel to dry off.

Buffy heard Angel's voice and knocked on the door. "Angel? Are you okay babe?" She jumped back as he swung the door open and took her into his arms, a half smile playing at sensuous mouth.

"Ummm…fine. Just humming a little song. With all this bullshit going down with the Initiative I can't believe how lucky I am to have you with me." He kissed her.

She pulled away to look into his face. "You'll always have me. I'll use my last breath to make sure you're always safe."

There was a tinge of panic on his face, her words touched him and he didn't like that at all. He shook it off and laughed. "Hey, isn't that supposed to be line? Somehow, I will get this fucking chip out of my head and I'll be able to take care of you."

She looked up at him in confusion. Her Angel did not talk like this, must be all that time with those creep commandos. "Babe, don't worry. You never go after humans anyway, so I'll take care of it."

"You don't either sweet. So where does that leave us?" He arched one brow waiting for her answer.

"I'll deal with anyone who tries to harm you again Angel. Demon or human. You can count on it. Now, I have to shower and change before Giles gets here. Oh, and I need to take his sheets out of the dryer. I so do not want him to know what we did here." She raised her self on her tip-toes and kissed him as she grabbed a clean towel and headed for the bathroom.

"Need me to scrub your back?" He graced her with one of his sexiest smiles.

"I think not. I'd die if Giles walked in on us. I'll be out in five minutes."

The jangle keys in the door alerted Angelus to the fact that someone was here. He looked up at the clock. It was only 1:30; Giles must've taken off early to bring him blood. He smiled at the concern these people had for him.

'Not you Angelus, me.' Angel's voice hammered in the back of his mind.

"Would you leave me the fuck alone?" The nagging bastard was starting to get to him.

"Hey Angel!" Willow opened the front door, her hands full of books and bags. She set them down and went to him, giving him a sincere embrace. "We were all so scared something awful had happened to you. Well, I mean, something awful did happen to you, but at least you're safe. At least, I mean." She took a deep breathe and looked around, "Who were you talking to? Where's Buffy?" Willow turned and picked up the nearest bag. "Oh sorry. You have to be starving. Giles sent us to Willie's to get this for you, he thought you could use the real stuff since you haven't eaten in so long…gods, I'm talking too much huh? Always do when I'm nervous and I'm nervous and stressed 'cause we cut our last two classes to make a blood run…"

Buffy, who was coming down the stairs saw the look on Angel's face at the onslaught of her best friend. "Will, take another breathe and relax. Is Xander with you?"

Willow looked up at Buffy. "Yeah, he's parking the car. He has a ton of books so it looks like we're running an errand for Giles. Clever, huh?" She noticed the look that passed between Buffy and Angel and blushed. It was filled with things she only ever read about. Passion, desire, hunger. She so felt like she walked in at the wrong time. "So, maybe we should go." Xander was just coming through the front door.

"Go? We just got here. I am not going back to school. I am all psyched to play hooky for the rest of the day and that is just what I am going to do, thank you very much." He set down a pizza box. "We bought you some type O dead boy." He turned to Buffy. "Thought you could use some food too, Buff."

Angel gave Xander a killer look that the boy missed while he was rummaging through the bags while Buffy ran her hand over his shoulder. "He didn't mean anything." She whispered to him.

"Thanks. And of course you have to stay. We need to figure all this Initiative stuff out. What time is Giles coming home?" Buffy reached for the bag with the blood in it and looked to Angel and in a hushed tone asked, "Do you need more?"

"I think I'd better to avoid suspision, don't you?"

"I'll warm some up." She went to the kitchen, Willow looking at the two of them knowingly while Xander opened the box of pizza.

Willow followed Buffy into the kitchen to get plates and napkins and to talk to her best friend. "So, what's the story?"

"Huh?" Buffy turned to her best friend, a flush to her cheeks. "What do you mean?"

"You so can't fool me Buffy. What happened between the two of you? The way you look at each other…oh my god!"

Buffy grabbed Willow and pulled her to the far end of the small kitchen. "Will you keep your voice down." She whispered.

"But you did, didn't you? You and Angel, you did it, right?"

"We did on the night he disappeared, on my birthday. I didn't say anything because I didn't know what it all meant, his taking off, our first time. All of it, I was so confused. But it didn't have anything to do with our making love. It had to do with that damn Initiative. I know he loves me and that it meant as much to him as it did to me." She smiled at Willow, who was smiling back.

"I…what was it like? Are you going to do it again?" Willow had a look of awe on her face.

"Gods Will. I can't really talk about it now, but it was great. And we already did it again. I am so in love with him Will. He is everything I have ever dreamed of." She turned to take the mug out of the microwave and handed Willow the paper plates and napkins. "Here. We'll talk later."

As she walked back into the living room with Willow, Angelus gave her a knowing look as she handed him his mug. He pulled her down to whisper in her ear. "Everything you ever dreamed of, huh? Baby, you don't know the half of it yet." He kissed her cheek and let her go, her cheeks hot with embarrassment.

"So hate those super senses of yours sometimes." She pulled away and grabbed a slice of pizza, suddenly realizing just how hungry she was.

"I spoke to the council from school, it seems the Initiative has been around for some time in one form or another but they have never made a presence on the Hellmouth before. This Professor Walsh seems to be the one who conceived this idea of breeding vampires, but was nixed by her superiors so she went over their heads and is working in secrecy, on her own. Still through a government agency but it would appear a very secret branch." Giles was pacing, wondering what their next move would be. "The council would like you to come to England for protection Buffy."

"Hello, slayer here. I do not need protection. Do they know about Angel? Do they even care?" She didn't like the council and she was certainly not going to England. "Giles? What did my mom say when you talked to her?"

Giles had to smile at Buffy's quick change of subjects hit him. It was usually reserved for Angel, but he occasionally got a dose of it as well. "She's very disappointed in you and was ready to call the police to have Angel arrested. I talked her into waiting. Told her I was bound to hear from you and that she didn't want to push you further away then you were now."

"God, poor mom. I am such an awful daughter." Angelus came to her and pulled her into his embrace.

"Babe, it's safer for her right now if she thinks this. Once it's over we can explain it all to her if you want. But right now, while the Initiative is looking for the both of us…well, we need to get out of here." He turned to Giles. "Are you ready Giles?"

"Yes. I've cleaned out the trunk and Buffy can lie on the back seat of the car."

Xander looked at the three of them. "So, did I miss something here? I mean, the trunk, the back seat? Are you planning on running away? Shouldn't we storm the place and make them leave us alone?"

Willow gave Buffy a roll of her eyes. "Xander. All human, well except for the demon prisoners. Giles and Buffy and Angel have to come up with some other sort of idea.

We can't exactly go in there and stake 'em. And I am so sure convincing them Angel's a good guy and Buffy's a slayer won't cut it. They have to lay low for awhile, hence the lies to Mrs. Summers? Remember?"

"Oh, yeah. But why can't they just hide here?"

Angelus stood up, tired of the children interfering. "They are watching all of you, boy. One slip and I'm sure they'll have no problems picking all of you up. Buffy and I are going into hiding until we can find a weakness." He looked over at Willow. "Keep researching Willow, I know you can come up with something." He gave her his best Angel smile.

Blushing, Willow agreed. "Yes, I'll can do loads of research, I'm sure before long we can figure something out."

"We should be off soon, it's almost dark." Giles turned to Buffy and Angel. "Are you ready?"

Buffy sighed and went to her best friends. "Don't worry, we'll be safe. Just keep an eye on my mom, okay Will? Don't let her hate me too much." She gave the redhead a hug.

She reached over and picked up a bag. "Oh, here Buffy. Giles said you'd be going out of town for awhile, so I brought you a few things. Just some jeans and sweaters and stuff." She pulled out her favorite lime green sweater with a little puppy on it. "Look, here's my Mr. Snuggles sweater. Very warm."

Buffy smiled at her sacrifice. "Thank you so much Will, and I promise I will take very good care of him." She hugged her one more time, kissed her cheek and whispered in her ear. "We'll talk girl talk when this is all over." She turned to Xander, intending to hug him good bye as well, when she felt Angel's arm at her waist.

"We have to go. Now."

"Oh, okay. Bye Xand, you drop in on mom too, okay? Make sure she's doing alright." She waved as they departed though the garage entrance.

"Yeah Buff, no problem…" Xander was disappointed and a little sad that he didn't have a few minutes with Buffy. But that was typical. They just weren't destined to ever be together. And if he ever had hopes, the looks Buffy and Angel were giving each other certainly dashed those tonight. He shrugged and turned to Willow. "Guess we should head home. Those of us not of the save the world variety need to go to school tomorrow." He paused. "Do you think that they'll be okay? Will Angel ever be okay? I mean, we fight vampires, demons, evil. But the military. The government, can we handle this?"

"We have to Xander. They don't really know who they're dealing with. Buffy, well she's…she's practically omnipotent. And to protect Angel, she won't hesitate to use everything she is."