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…
Willow kept her eyes peeled to the entrance of the Bronze, waiting for Oz to make his appearance. It wasn't that he was late, it was that she was 20 minutes early and she was very uncomfortable with the apparent closeness of her best friend and his new girlfriend. It gave her the willies and she didn't have Buffy here to commiserate with. "Oh, there he is." She smiled and waved to Oz, who made a b-line to the cute redhead.
"Hi. Am I late?" He consulted his watchband.
"Oh no. We were just a bit early. But I didn't want you to miss us." She continued to smile at him.
He looked over at Xander and Cordelia and nodded. "Hi guys. Take it you two made it official?"
"Yeah. Cordy actually chose me over Harmony and the vapid vixens." Xander waggled his eyebrows a few times.
"Xander, please. Don't make me regret my decision." She rolled her eyes. "Hey. Do you see that guy over there?" She nodded in the direction of the bar. "He's been looking over here for the past half hour. Do you know him or is he just a very impolite guy who's hitting on me in a very passive aggressive way?"
The other three teens looked over in the direction Cordelia had motioned.
Graham had seen the group of kids before. All friends of the slayer, all aware of the dangers in Sunnydale and all trying to make a difference. He knew this was dangerous, not just for him but for them as well, but he couldn't stand by and do nothing. Not anymore. His friend and fellow comrade in arms, Forrest had been assigned to shadow the teens tonight, but after his usual bitching, Graham had offered to take it off his hands.
"I deserve the shit assignments after letting Riley get the best of me." Graham hung his head.
"Not your fault man. Neither of us thought he'd turn like that." Forrest smiled. "But hey. If it'll help ease your conscience, the kids are all yours." He threw Graham his transponder and taser. "But really man, thanks. I hate that club. Makes me feel like an old man."
So here his was, it had worked out perfectly. He had been scanning the crowd for over a half hour, making sure none of the Initiative members were about. And now he was ready to approach the group. Just in time it would appear, since the dark haired girl had noticed him. So, stealth was never his strong suit. Sue me, he thought. He got off the stool he had been sitting on and went over to them.
"Here he comes. This is so embarrassing. Don't worry Xander, he may be a cutie, but I'll put him in his place."
"Hi. You're all friends of the slayer, right?" The young man sat on the nearest empty chair. "Don't ask questions, just listen." He nervously looked over his shoulder. "You have to get to someone, Mr. Giles, the slayer. Someone. Professor Walsh is planning on taking the slayer's mother in hopes of bringing her and the vampire out of hiding. You have to get to her, help her. It may be too late, but I had to try." As he stood up he pulled a slip of paper out of his wallet and handed it over to Willow. "Here, this is the address where the slayer and her vampire are. She might be able to stop Walsh, lord knows I can't."
"Wait. Will we be followed?" Oz wasn't sure he trusted this guy.
"No. I'm your tail tonight and right now all I'm going to follow is a big bottle of tequila."
"Why are you doing this?" Xander asked.
"Because I'm sick of doing what's wrong and there isn't a whole hell of a lot I can do to make it right." He turned and was gone.
Willow turned to Xander and Cordelia. "You two get Giles andfind Mrs. Summers, get her out of her house. We'll try to find Buffy. Let's meet at the library. I don't know where else we can go." She looked over at Oz. "Will you help me?"
"Natch." He took the address from her. "I know where this is, well the area anyway. We played a party there last year."
"We're on it." Xander stood up and took Cordelia's hand. "Here we go again babe. Do you want to just go home?"
She took a deep breath. "What? And let you and Willow have all the fun? Not on your life."
By the time Giles, Xander and Cordelia got to the house on Revello Drive it was in a shambles. "She must've struggled." Cordelia picked up an over turned chair. "This is so not right. I mean, the government? They're supposed to be working for us."
Giles looked over at the young girl, surprised at her emotional outburst. "Well, this agency works well out of the radar of official government rules. We'll find her Cordelia. I'm just wish you had come to me first before you decided to bring Buffy back into the mix."
"Well, it's her mother Giles. I think she would want to know." Xander was feeling a bet defensive because he felt that perhaps they should've waited for Giles input.
"Yeah. And besides she is the slayer. We can't fight all her battles now can we?"
Giles glanced at Cordelia, "Yes, well indeed. I suppose we should get to the library and wait. See if Willow has found Buffy and Angel, if not I'll get them."
"Are you sure? I mean if Will and Oz don't find her, maybe we should keep her out of this."
"No Xander, I think you were right in your first instincts. Buffy should know. This does concern her mother after all."
"Hey! I was right?" Xander smiled at Cordelia.
She rolled her eyes. "Yes Xander, miracles do happen. Now let's not push our luck and get out of here in case they come back." She turned and left the house, leaving the two men to follow.
Xander shrugged. "She's used to leading."
Buffy rubbed her face against Angel's chest. She never really thought about it, how cool his skin was all the time, but she marveled at the fact that she didn't get a chill being so close to him while she slept. Her bare skin seemed to soak up his coolness while he pulled in her heat. A perfect match. She moved her leg against his hip.
"If you don't stop moving you are going to have to pay the price little girl." Angel growled into her ear without opening his eyes." He was exhausted but her squirming was wrecking havoc on his will power.
"Ummm." She ran her tongue over his nipple. "Think I have the currency needed."
He chuckled and flipped her on her back. "So, you think you can keep it going as long as I can?"
"You may not have aged in the past two and a half centuries, but I'm still younger than you and my stamina seems to know no bounds." She laughed up at him.
They both jumped as they heard a banging at the front door. "Dru and her soldier?" Buffy asked.
"No, I don't think he'd bring her back." Angel swung out of bed and pulled his pants on. "Get dressed and get ready to run." He headed for the living room.
"No way am I going anywhere without you." She said to herself and she hurriedly dressed and followed Angel.
"Willow? Oz?" She was confused, Angel was just angry.
"What the hell are you doing here?" He went to the window and looked out to see if they had been followed.
"I'm sorry." She looked at the state the two of them were in and became even more flustered. "I am so sorry, but…well, one of those soldiers. He came up to us tonight at the Bronze. I'm sorry we went there while you had to be here Buffy, but you know, we're supposed to be acting natural and all and…" Oz put his hand on her shoulder and she closed her mouth.
"Seems that crazy professor is going to try to take your mom to bring you out of hiding. Giles and Xander and Cordelia are going to try to warn her, but we don't know if we were in time. Thought we should come and get you." All eyes were on Oz. In the short time they had known him, they had never heard so many words uttered at one time from him.
"Oh my god." Buffy looked up at Angel. "We have to get…"
"No! If their point is to get us out of hiding and we show up, they succeed. We need to formulate a plan Buffy. We can't just go charging in there. They want us for a specific purpose and we know what that is. No, we stay here." His arms were crossed over his bare chest, his eyes determined.
Buffy was incredulous. "Um hello, my mother. You can stay here, but I am going!" She turned to Willow and Oz. "Give me ten minutes to change." She walked to the bedroom with Angel right on her heels.
"You are not going Buffy. I will not let you out of this house." He grabbed her arm.
She gave a hard laugh. "Okay, so you and what army plan to stop me?"
He softened his voice, Angelcoming to the forefront. "Baby, I know how worried you are about your mom, but they won't hurt her. This Professor Walsh may be a mad woman but she is using your mom to get to you. She won't do anything to her. And in the meantime we'll come up with a plan to get her out and bring down the damn Initiative." He gathered her into his arms.
"Angel." Her voice tired but determined. "If it were me, wouldn't you be in there, trying to get me out? I love her, she's my mother and she's gonna be so scared. I have to go back. I have to try."
He looked down into her eyes and realized this was one of the reasons he loved her so completely. "Yeah. Okay. But we go back into town my way."
She smiled up at him, fighting the tears that were threatening to fall. "Okay. Let's get dressed. You do realize you only have pants on and that your fly is down, don't you?"
He chuckled. "Well,we did have plans."