Chapter Six

Max stepped into the bar and immediately knew it'd be comfortable. The people there were each hanging out in their own groups. It just seemed mellow. She looked over at Faith and noticed she was having the exact opposite feelings as her.

"How often do you guys kick it here?" Faith asked, still observing the place in disgust. Fred shrugged.

"Whenever we just need to wind down, I guess," she replied. Alec nodded.

"This definitely seems like the place for that," he commented.

"Can we just get a table? It's not cool to just stand here," Harmony complained.

"Why exactly are you even here?" Dawn asked, giving her a pointed look.

"I work for these guys, silly." Dawn rolled her eyes.

"That's not quite registering with me yet..." she muttered.

"And no reason it should," Spike replied as he pressed his hand against the small of Max's back, guiding her towards the bar. "Been meaning to ask you, pet. Can transgenics get drunk?" Both Alec and Max scoffed.

"Despite many attempts by pretty boy here, no. We're not capable," Max answered. Alec rolled his eyes at the small insult.

"Yeah, sorry. No kinky drunk sex for you, bleached wonder," he retorted. Max smacked the back of his head. Wesley, Fred, Gunn, and Lorne watched this exchange in amusement. Harmony was already downing her second serving of blood. Dawn just rolled her eyes and settled herself onto a stool. Faith and Max suddenly noticed this and gave her a look.

"What?" she asked innocently.

"You're underage, niblet. Only thing you'll be getting is tea, soda, or something virgin," Spike said flippantly as he signaled the bartender. Dawn huffed but didn't reply.

"We're gonna go get a table. Otherwise we'd take up all the stools," Gunn said. The others nodded.

"We'll meet you there in a few minutes," Max replied. Faith and Alec looked at her expectantly. "Just have to talk with Spike for a bit, okay?" Faith tugged on Dawn's arm, much to her annoyance, and they followed others to a table. Spike looked at Max with raised eyebrows.

"And what little chat will we be having?" he asked. Max just smirked and gave him a kiss. "This is a chat with no words then?" he questioned after she pulled away.

"No, there'll be words," she answered. "Just very few." She gave him a coy smile.

"I take it you forgive me then." Max simply shrugged.

"Come on. With eyes, cheeks, and lips like that...how could I not?" she teased.

"Nice to know our relationship is of the deep sort."

"Did I mention I love your accent? And I'd like to hear some of your 'poetry'?" Spike's eyes widened.

"How do you know about that?" Max laughed.

"A little birdie told me," she replied. Spike just looked at her. "A blonde-haired, green-eyed, petite, skinny birdie that frequently goes by the name of Slayer or Buffy." Spike rolled his eyes. Max suddenly frowned. "Speaking of which...where is Buffy? Does she even know where this place is?" Spike shrugged. Max pulled her cell phone and dialed.

"Hello?" an irritated voice reached her ear.

"Buffy?"

"Max?" Buffy's voice softened. "Why are you calling me?"

"Because I want to know where you are," Max replied, letting Buffy know the answer was obvious.

"Sorry...I got a little...preoccupied." Max made a sound of sympathy.

"Bad reunion with Angel?" she guessed. Spike's eyes snapped over to her. A small sigh could be heard from Buffy's end of the phone.

"Kind of an understatement...but yeah."

"Think a little bar fun will cheer you up?" Max asked.

"Very doubtful...I think I'll just check into our hotel."

"You sure?"

"Positive."

"Fine. I'll get Faith and Dawn and we'll meet you there." Spike let a small groan. Max sent him an apologetic look.

"No. I don't want to ruin your evening. I'm alright," Buffy immediately protested.

"Bit of trivia, Buffy. I hear that phrase a hell of a lot, even said it a few times myself, and it's almost never true. I'm on my way." Max hung up before Buffy could argue further. She turned to Spike, who had a slightly sad expression on his face. "Sorry. But I got the feeling that Buffy needed a little comfort. I'll make it up to you." She gave him a quick peck on the cheek before waving Faith and Dawn over.


"Alright, spill it," Max ordered as soon as Buffy, Faith, Dawn, and she had settled down on the beds. Buffy fidgeted but glares from the other three girls made her tell them what happened with Angel. They all had the same expression when she was done, a mixture of disbelief, confusion, and sympathy.

"Angel loved Cordelia!" Dawn suddenly blurted out. Buffy nodded numbly.

"Guess they got pretty close these past four years..." she muttered.

"So what are you gonna do, B?" Faith asked. Buffy stared at her warily.

"What do you mean?"

"Do you still love Angel?" Buffy fidgeted again. "It's a simple question, B."

"It is not!" Buffy snapped angrily. "It's never been simple! How is falling in love with a vampire that could lose his soul if he has one moment of true happiness simple? And then having him lose that soul and terrorize and even kill some of my friends? Then having to run a sword through his body and sending him to hell, just after he regained that soul? And he came back as a wild beasty that I had to take care of...and then he left me for LA and ends up falling out of love with me and in love with a former bitch-queen! Now he's CEO of Evil, Inc.! Does that sound SIMPLE to you!"

"So you admit to loving him still," Max concluded cheekily. Buffy glared heatedly at her.

"That wasn't exactly my point," she replied through gritted teeth.

"I know it wasn't, but that's what I got out of it besides you needing to vent and relax a little," Max retorted. Buffy made a sound of frustration.

"How am I supposed to relax?"

"Try not to think about Angel," Dawn offered. Buffy gave her an annoyed look. "What?" Buffy groaned and got off her bed and headed for the door.

"Where are you going?" Faith asked.

"Out," Buffy snapped. "I need to clear my head and figure things out. Angel and I can't be together, despite what we both are probably still feeling. It's too complicated." Max slowly raised her hand.

"Uh, kinda dating a vampire with a soul myself...I don't think it's as complicated as you're making it out to be."

"Did your honey go evil and start torturing your friends?" Buffy asked in a bored voice. Max wisely didn't respond. "Thought so." She turned and flounced out the door. The other females just exchanged pensive looks.

Next Day...

Max, Alec, and Faith stepped out of the elevator at Wolfram & Hart. Max continued walking forward without a second thought but Alec and Faith stopped to admire their surroundings. When Max realized they weren't behind her she walked back towards them with an impatient look on her face.

"Sorry Max but this place is awesome. We haven't had a chance to check it out yet, like you have," Faith pointed out as a demon with blue horns and a green tail sticking out of his suit walked by while talking on a cell phone. "I've been getting that slayer buzz ever since we got within a mile of this place. It's on overdrive."

"Understandable," Spike appeared beside Max. She greeted him with a grin and a kiss. "I know why you're here," he said to Max before turning to Alec and Faith. "But why are you?" Faith put an arm around Max's shoulders.

"Hanging out with our favorite super-soldier chick is all." Spike cocked an eyebrow at her. "'Kay fine, we want to kill something." Spike chuckled and opened his mouth to respond but a familiar blonde with a low-cut ensemble, necklace, and a black blazer walked by. Both Faith and Max folded their arms across their chests as they watched the blonde talk with Angel, who seemed incredibly uncomfortable and kept glancing over at them.

"Who's that?" Alec asked since both females were too busy narrowing their eyes. Spike scoffed.

"Nina," he replied. "Got bit by a werewolf a few months back. Been coming here every time she's gonna get hairy and flirts with a very dense Angel."

"He seems pretty clued in from where I'm standing," Max growled. Spike and Alec looked back and forth between Nina, Max, and Faith.

"Something wrong, luv?" Spike asked. Max didn't answer as she marched towards Angel and Nina, Faith following close behind.

"This is gonna be good," Alec muttered. Angel's eyes widened as he saw them coming.

"Can't you take me, Angel?" Nina was saying.

"Uh..." Angel stuttered.

"Where ya gonna take her, big guy?" Faith asked before he could answer. Nina looked at her and Max in confusion.

"I'm guessing it'll be a nice place with plenty of iron bars, space of about 30 by 50. Very cozy, I'm told. That is, if you're a werewolf," Max added glibly.

"Faith...Max...what are you..." Angel began.

"Just saying 'hello'," Faith replied.

"Who are you?" Nina asked, a slightly uncomfortable look on her face.

"Friends of ol' Angel here. He's a vampire ya know." Max gave him a playful punch to the shoulder while giving Nina a pointed look.

"Yeah...with a soul," Nina said slowly, not getting what she was doing. Max grumbled under her breath.

"So he told you then...Good for him," a new voice startled them. Angel winced at Buffy's hard expression. Faith's eyes widened.

"Hey...Angel...weren't you gonna take this dog-girl to her cage?" she said pointedly. Nina's expression turned indignant.

"Hey!" Angel looked nervously towards Buffy but she purposefully ignored him.

"Yeah...I was," he finally replied before leading Nina away. Buffy let out a loud scoff.

"My god! Is he just picking up chicks off the streets?" she asked angrily.

"Nice guess, pet," Spike replied. Buffy shot him a glare. He held his hands up in surrender. "Just answering your questions, luv. But the poofter did basically get Nina off of the street. She was bitten by a werewolf." Buffy's expression didn't change.

"I need to kill something," she said bluntly. A few demons about to walk by them suddenly changed direction.

"Would you like to just settle for fighting something?" Fredstood next to herholding a stack of files. "Cause I think we've got just the thing." She smiled and Buffy weakly returned it. "I was just gonna head over to Wesley's office to discuss it with him and Angel. Wanna come?" Buffy stiffened at the mention of Angel's name but she nodded.


Max, Alec, Spike, Faith, Buffy, and Fred all filed into Wesley's office, much to Angel and Wesley's surprise. Max, Alec, and Spike exchanged similar looks, having heard most of what they had been talking about. It seemed a certain dog-girl had a crush on the usually dense vampire.

"Hey guys. I think I have a case," Fred greeted, handing Angel the stack of files. "Children's epidemic. 7 kids, comatose, each with a semi-rictus of the facial muscles. I haven't been able to isolate a causative agent." Spike, Buffy, and Faith stared at her dumbly.

"Say what now?" Faith questioned. Max smiled slightly as Angel passed her a picture of one of the kids and she gave it to them.

"Creepy smiles," she explained simply.

"Oh," they chorused.

"Do you think it's mystical?" Wesley asked. Fred bit her lip.

"Well, I've been doing some mini-investigations. I pulled their plasmas apart. No indicators on the cellular or subcellular levels."

"Tv," Angel said suddenly as he continued looking through the files. "Each of the parents said their kids collapsed between 7:00 and 7:30; all in front of the tv." Fred seemed to take this in to consideration.

"Huh. That might be it. But I'd still like to get a handle on the pathology," she replied.

"Good. I'll-I'll follow up on this lead," Angel said. Buffy looked at him, tongue in cheek.

"Any potential ass-kicking involved?" she asked. Heglanced at her, obviously surprised she was talking to him.

"Uh...I'm not sure. There might be," he answered. She nodded firmly.

"Then I'm coming along," she stated. The others exchanged looks while Angel stared at her in disbelief.

"What?"

"I'm coming with you. I need to catch up on my slaying. Let's go, Captain Forehead," she said while walking out of the room. Spike didn't bother hiding his wide grin at Angel's annoyed expression.

"Shut up, Spike," Angel growled without looking at him as he followed Buffy out.


Buffy was leaning against Angel's desk with her arms folded as Lorne and Angel reviewed some of the papers.

"I'm just saying, the signs are definitely all there," Lorne said. Angel winced and rubbed his forehead.

"Can we please just get back to the job?" he pleaded, noticing Buffy's look of annoyance at the topic of conversation, Nina.

"Your wish, dreamboat, my command. I know most of the show runners in town, but I don't think they're up to this sort of sinister..." Lorne stopped leafing through the file abruptly. "Hey...between 7:00 and 7:30, right?" Buffy and Angel both looked at him expectantly.

"Yeah?" they chorused.

"There's a real popular kid's show in the So-Cal regional market. It's in the right time frame. It's in the right demographic."

"What's it called?" Buffy asked. Lorne held up one of the pictures of the kids' eerie grins for them to see.

"'Smile Time'."


Angel and Buffy walked onto the set of KTCE in a section marked 'Closed set. Absolutely NO VISITORS'. Buffy rolled her eyes as Angel completely ignored the sign and continued down the dark hallway. A squeaking noise suddenly reached their ears and they turned to find a janitor pushing a wheeled trash can around the corner. He had a disconnected look in his eyes as he walked toward Angel and Buffy without noticing them. Buffy waved her hand in front of his face, but there was still no reaction. She exchanged a look with Angel.

"Okay...official wiggins is being had..." she muttered.

"Come on," Angel said simply, continuing into the 'Smile Time' offices. Buffy narrowed her eyes at his retreating back but followed after him.

The office room was decorated with the show's logo of a smiling sunshine, plus cardboard cutouts of the puppets were placed around the room. Buffy froze as she heard a throbbing rumble.

"Please tell me you can hear that too," she commented as she noticed Angel's pensive expression. He looked around the room, obviously following the noise until he saw a rattling file cabinet on one wall.

"It's coming from over there," he stated before moving the cabinet out a bit, revealing a hole that had been cut in the wall behind it. The rumbling noise grew louder and Buffy cut in front of Angel, wanting to go through the hole into the secret hallway beyond it first. Angel rolled his eyes at the action but wisely didn't say anything.

"Where's the light switch?" Buffy grumbled in the darkness. Angel laughed softly as he easily flipped on a buzzing light overhead. "I would've eventually found that ya know."

"I'm sure you would have," Angel replied in a slightly condescending tone. Buffy scowled at him but her expression changed to one of curiosity as she saw a set of doors at the end of the hall labeled simply 'Don't'.

"Let's say we 'do'," Buffy mumbled as she made her way to the padlocked doors, the rumbling noise growing even louder. She pulled the padlock off with ease, opened the doors, and walked into the hidden room with Angel following close behind.

At the far end of the room a man was sitting, hunched over, resting his elbows on his knees and wearing a towel over his head. The man was sitting underneath a large, metallic, egg-shaped, glowing thing. Angel walked past Buffy and up to the man, but the man didn't get up or remove the towel from his head. Suddenly, his hands started to twitch and he struggled to speak.

"You shouldn't...be here," he said weakly. Buffy's eyes widened as the rumbling sound got louder and louder. Oval slits opened along thebottom of theegg-shaped thing,forming a bright, glowing smile-shaped opening.

"What's that thing do?" Buffy asked. When the 'smile' was fully formed, a jolt of power hurtled her and Angel across the room. They landed in some boxes that were stacked against the wall. The metal oval object stopped smiling, and the rumbling noise went back to a dull roar. The boxes that covered Angel and Buffy moved a bit, and two pairs of puppet hands reached out from them. The puppets pulled themselves up. One had black hair that stuck straight up and wore a black leather duster with coordinated black pants and shirt. The other had long golden-blonde hair and wore blue faded jeans, a red halter top, and a jean jacket. They both looked down at their hands, confused. The girl puppet's eyes widened first.

"Oh...my god!" Buffy's voice shrieked.

A/N-Sooooooooooooooooooo sorry it took forever for me to get this chapter posted. I've been incredibly busy. I'm also starting to write a story that has nothing to do with fanfiction...so updates will probably be slower than usual, but definitely faster than this took. I won't be abandoning my two fics, either. I will of course be finishing them, so no need to worry about that. Review please!

Doza-No, Angel wasn't dating the Nina girl, she just had a crush on him that he didn't notice. Hope you liked this chapter more.

RavynJensen-Smart girl...hehe. I know it was kind of disturbing to have him kiss Buffy right after kissing Cordy and finding out she had died...but I wanted things to be even more tense between them.

Sky Angel-Thanks. I'm glad you liked it so much ;o) They eventually will be happy...

Lozz422-Thanks ;o) Yeah, Illyria will be coming in the next few chapters, gotta get through the puppet part first though...hehe.