Angel looked cautiously around Faith's cramped apartment as she hurriedly pulled drapes closed before turning to offer him what might have been the beginning of a smile, but ended up only reflecting her uncertainty at the whole situation as she shifted nervously. "Uh- make yourself comfortable. I have- some books somewhere- I think-" she said awkwardly before something else seemed to occur to her and she quickly offered, "Or, would you like something to eat? I picked up some-" she shifted uneasily once more, before deciding to just let the statement die without making anything even more uncomfortable, relieved when he didn't press it.

"This is fine," he said with a brief shrug, sitting down on the nearest chair and grabbing a book sitting on a nearby table, smiling slightly as he looked at the title.

"Psychology? Interesting choice-"

"Oh. Yeah," she replied, flushing slightly. "It was my major."

He nodded slowly. "Buffy was starting to say you graduated?"

"Angel, look," she blurted, crossing her arms before sitting down across from him and forcing herself to meet his eye. "You and I are five by five, okay? You helped me out when no one else would take the chance, and I owe you one for that, but- the thing is," she continued, looking uncomfortable, "Buffy and I are-" she let out a deep sigh before saying shortly, "You hurt her pretty bad. And anything else that gets said about that needs to be between you and her, but I can't-" she sighed again, looking pained as she concluded, "I'm sorry, but- whatever's abut to happen- my loyalty is to her. I thought it was only fair that you know."

Angel felt like she had punched him in the gut, and only narrowly avoided demanding if she had any idea how much Buffy had hurt him and in how many ways as his fists clenched at his sides. He was surprised at how much her words hurt, even after all this time, the sting at the realization that she believed he was only trying to make small talk with her to win her support in some way- that there was no way he could possibly care- He forced himself to be the adult in the situation, though, trying to keep emotion from his voice as he said, "I'm hoping that won't be an issue."

She nodded. "Well, ditto."

Unable to deal with the awkwardness, Angel got up and moved through the apartment, stopping in front of a shelf with pictures on top of it, eyes instantly leaping to one of Buffy and Spike- William, a small voice in his head unwillingly corrected- prominently displayed. They were sitting outside on the grass, sunshine surrounding them, arms casually thrown around one another. But what hurt him more than their posture, more even than the sunshine, was the look on her face, her head thrown back in laughter as Spike seemed to be whispering something in her ear, both of them carefree- and he knew, without needing to think about it, that he had never made her laugh like that- had never even seen it-

"I shouldn't have come here," he said aloud, and heard rather than saw Faith shift nervously again.

"You shouldn't say that," she sighed in what sounded like resignation. "I'm sure- if there had been another way you would have taken it." Her brow furrowed as she took a step toward him, continuing, "Though actually- I am still a little unclear on the 'why you're here' part-"

"Can I ask you something? he interrupted, and she eyed him cautiously before responding,

"Um, sure. I guess so."

"How are they together?" he blurted, relieved when she didn't ask who he was talking about before beginning carefully,

"I'm not sure you should be asking me about them. I don't see how it could lead to anything good-" but something in his face seemed to give her pause, and she met his eyes slowly before venturing two words, hoping they wouldn't hurt him. "They're happy."

"I'm- glad," he nearly choked as she eyed him disbelievingly.

"That's big of you," she said, doubt in her voice. "But Angel-"

She was cut off as a loud knock sounded at the door and Spike came in without being asked, nodding shortly at Angel before addressing Faith.

"Buff's on her way. There were a lot of them-"

"Is she okay?" Faith and Angel as ked at the same time, and there was a painful pause before Spike replied,

"Well, last I saw she was making the other guys look worse, yeah. But you know my girl- always hates to leave the fight unfinished-"

"You didn't stay to help her?" Angel demanded incredulously, stunned when Spike just arched an eyebrow.

"And do what? Get knocked unconscious and probably killed? One of the disadvantages of being a real boy, peaches- no superpowers." He shrugged, sitting down on the couch casually enough that Angel knew he must have been there countless times before adding, "I can help her better here."

"How?" Angel asked shortly, and Spike looked at him as though he had grown two heads before replying shortly,

"Well, I was thinking maybe you could help me out with that part. What are you doing here? What do you want us to do to help you? That kind of thing. Maybe we can start sorting it out, and that way, by the time Buffy gets here, there will be some kind of plan-"

"Buffy is here," a tired voice said from the doorway, and Spike jumped up in a alarm at his wife's disheveled appearance as she stood there, hair that had previously been contained in a chignon falling wildly around her shoulders, a good three or four inches longer than Angel could ever remember having seen it as she continued, "Faith? Can I maybe hit you up for some jeans?"

Despite his best efforts Angel's eyes leapt to her skirt, which had a very new slit cut high on her shapely thigh-

And he paled as he realized that the same thigh was bleeding. "You're hurt," he said, stunned when she just shot him a withering glare.

"Good to know you can still be counted on to state the obvious," she quipped before sighing, softening her voice as she added, "I'll live."

Faith and Spike both sprang into action as Angel watched, feeling more ineffectual than he had in years while Faith rapidly slammed drawers were open and shut, muttering,

"I gotta say, at least before evil disappeared I always knew where the first aid kit was," before tossing some bandages at Spike, who started to quickly wrap them around his wife's thigh.

"Really, I'm fine," Buffy said, though for whose benefit exactly Angel wasn't certain, "It's not deep."

"No, it's not," Spike confirmed as Buffy caught a pair of jeans faith tossed her way and shimmied into them as Angel averted his eyes. Within seconds, though, all of them had somehow managed to congregate in the small living room, and Angel tried to remain unaffected as Spike again sat down on the couch and Buffy casually slid onto his lap. Despite himself, Angel hated how similar the motion was to the kiss he had seen them share earlier- unthinking, not sexual but comfortable, certain-

"So, Angel," Faith said, looking slightly pained. "I guess now that the gang's all here-"

"You want to know why I came," he supplied, sinking down into a chair.

"Well, that would cover a lot of it, yeah," Spike supplied dryly, linking a hand casually with Buffy's, causing Angel's stomach to clench painfully as he looked at them for a long moment before sighing.

"It's a long story and really there's no good way to start… I've been living in Nepal-"

There was a brief pause during which all three of the people sitting around him looked like they wanted to ask him a question and none of them did, and he was grateful that he couldn't flush as he continued,

"Strange things started happening about three months ago. Unexplained deaths, mostly… a few large-scale fires- at first I assumed they were just accidents, coincidences- but then I saw it-"

"What?" Buffy asked blankly, and he fought the urge to sigh impatiently as he elaborated,

"A demon."

"Well, whoopee," Buffy snapped caustically. "Newsflash, but I just saw three of them-"

"I hadn't seen a demon in five years," Angel said slowly. "I'm not ashamed to say that I was pretty floored."

"Yeah, well, neither had I," Buffy admitted slowly. "I kind of thought they were gone but-"

"They weren't," Angel finished definitively. "Just hiding, waiting for their moment-"

"For five years?" Buffy asked incredulously. "Without any of us finding one?"

"It's not that hard to hide," Faith observed unthinkingly. "I mean, think about Angel-" before snapping her mouth shut, looking very sorry to have spoken even as Buffy flinched before amending,

"Okay, wrong question. Why now?"

"I don't know," Angel admitted shortly. "I have reason to believe that they're after me-"

Spike looked at him incredulously before saying, "You know, mate, did it ever occur to you that you're approaching this whole 'fighting evil' thing all wrong? Maybe the thing for you to do would be to join forces with the bad guys and count on your truly horrible luck to wipe them out-"

Angel recoiled as though slapped, despite himself feeling the truth of the words, thinking for the millionth time that he should really just go as he began to stand up, saying, "I should get out of here-"

But he was stopped by Buffy, who, though she had started to smile at her husbands words, had instantly stopped when she saw Angel's reaction and was now looking at him with what could only be described as compassion as she shifted slightly on Spike's lap as she quietly said, "Angel, sit down," turning to her husband and chiding softly, "That was really uncalled for," before her gaze hardened again. "After all, Angel's made it clear that he wouldn't be here if we weren't his last resort- it's not like we need to try to make him feel worse-" and she flushed slightly as she met his eyes once more, "Which I now realize that I was doing earlier, and-" she gulped before offering an only halfway sincere, "I'm sorry. This-" she closed her eyes, taking a deep breath before continuing, "Doesn't have to be bad. If we can all just put aside our differences and work together for a little while we can get rid of these guys and get back to happily coexisting millions of miles from one another. Anyone else in favor of this plan?"

Taking everyone's silence as agreement she nodded, standing up. "I never thought I was going to say this again, but I think we should call Giles." She turned her gaze to Faith. "Can I use the phone in your bedroom?"

"Yeah," the girl replied, looking surprised. "Go for it."

"Will, can you come help me?" Buffy asked, but her tone made it clear that it wasn't a question, and Spike jumped up at once, looking confused as he followed her into the back of the apartment and moments later Angel heard a door shut.

"Is it wrong that whenever she says 'Will' I think she means Willow?" Angel enquired, trying to lighten the mood after a long moment of silence and surprised when Faith flinched.

"Uh- I'd have to go with a 'yeah'. Willow's a bad subject around here… I wouldn't bring her up-"

Angel looked at her in frank astonishment before venturing, "At the risk of sounding completely out of the loop- why?"

Faith opened her mouth, then shut it, looking pained. "I'm thinking that's not something I should be answering."

--

"Since when do you need help to make a phone call?" Spike asked lightly as Buffy shut the door to the room, and he offered her a small smile as she turned toward him. "Last I checked you were quite up on all the wonders of modern technology-"

"Are you okay with this?" she cut him off abruptly, and his smile faded at the question, brow furrowing slightly as he contemplated.

"Okay with what?" he finally replied, and she sighed in frustration, tucking her hair behind her ear.

"Me. Doing this," she elaborated shortly, waving her hand ineffectually in the air, surprised as he just continued to smile indulgently at her.

"What? Saving the world?" he quipped dryly before abandoning his attempts at wit at the somber expression on her face. "Of course I'm okay with it," he confirmed, stepping forward to gently push a strand of hair from her face. "I fell in love with a slayer. It'd be pretty hypocritical of me to be angry at her that she is one."

Buffy scrutinized his face carefully. "I know that- this isn't what you signed up for," she said slowly. "I mean, I'm definitely remembering the talks we had about how all the slayer stuff was over-"

"Yeah, well," he shrugged casually, and she was amazed as always at his ability to be calm in the face of whatever life threw their way, his instantaneous ability to grasp the big picture. "That was before we realized evil was still alive and well, now, wasn't it." He lowered his voice slightly before adding with a knowing smirk, "Anyway, the whole thing is kind of a turn on."

Despite herself she let out a sharp giggle, shoving him playfully before he grabbed her and kissed her lightly. As she pulled away, though, her look shifted from happiness to uncertain admiration.

"And you're really okay with-" she gulped slightly, seeming to deliberate before she continued, "Angel being around?"

It was his turn to scrutinize her closely as he paused for a long moment, face uncertain for the first time as he replied slowly, "Are you saying there's a reason I shouldn't be?"

She looked at him in confusion for a minute before understanding what he was getting at, and her mouth dropped in genuine offense as she said incredulously, "God no. Of COURSE not."

He shrugged matter-of-factly, confident smirk coming to his face as he arched an eyebrow cockily. "Didn't think so."

She let out another irrepressible giggle before she elaborated, biting her lip, "I just meant-I mean, not that I've really been all 'arms-wide-open' since he got here, but- you've been pretty-" she bit her lip again before settling on a word, "Harsh."

Spike shrugged. "Never did much get along with him. You know that. Don't see that changing anytime soon." His gaze softened as he continued, reaching a hand out to cup her cheek, "Doesn't mean I want him dead or would try to stop you from working with him." As she leaned into his touch slightly he scrutinized her again before continuing, "If working with him is what you want. I'll support you if you don't want to get back into this, you know. I'm sure Faith would understand, and it's not like there's a scarcity of slayers around-"

She looked down for a long moment before letting her eyes meet his. "I don't. Want to. And I wouldn't be if you weren't okay with it. But the fact is- Angel knows there are other slayers and… well, pretty much has made it clear that he never wants to see us again, and he still came here."

"You think more is going on than he's telling us?" Spike supplied slowly, unsurprised when she nodded, and he sighed before agreeing, "Me too."

--

Angel shifted uncomfortably, looking at the still closed door. "You think they need help?" he asked after a beat, and Faith shrugged.

"Help with what? Making a phone call?" She frowned slightly. "I'm sure they're fine."

"Should it be taking this long?" he enquired and she shot him a withering glance.

"I'm sure they're also talking about what all of it means. Give them a few minutes."

"Well," he began slowly, "Not to sound dense, but couldn't they be talking about that out here?"

She looked at him as though he was very stupid before elaborating, "What it means for THEM. You know. As a couple."

He couldn't stop himself from flinching at the word even as he felt like an idiot, replying stiffly, "Right. Got it."

Faith looked at him uneasily, feeling, not for the first time, that this whole situation really could not end well for him, not when he so clearly still had feelings for Buffy- and not when she suspected Buffy would never fully get over him, either, no matter how much she might try to hide that from herself, channeling everything she had ever felt for Angel into anger, no matter how much she might love Spike- and she flinched, remembering Buffy's wedding, Willow storming out as the petit blonde dissolved into tears, Spike's total confusion about what was going on and-

Faith snapped back to the present with difficulty, trying to survey the situation objectively. Okay, maybe it's not so bad. Angel loves Buffy. Spike loves Buffy. Buffy loves Angel and Spike, but there's no way she'll ever leave her husband, and with any luck she's going to be too mad at Angel to actually get to really talk to him and resolve anything, and god knows all he ever tries to do any more is avoid her, so we just need to get this all over with as quickly as possible so that no one gets hurt in the meantime-

And as the bedroom door swung open and Buffy and Spike stepped back into the living room, hands entwined, Faith felt for the first time that at least that part of it might actually be okay, at least for Buffy and Spike. Buffy was looking at Angel calmly, almost indifferently, Spike was looking at her as though everything was completely fine, no trace of jealousy or discomfort coming off of him at all, and Angel was clearly trying his best to be level headed about everything, taking it in stride-

"Okay," Buffy said briefly with a slightly strained smile that let Faith know just how hard she was trying as she addressed them. "Talked to Giles, he has entered research mode. Faith, do you still have your UCLA ID card?"

"Sure," she nodded at once before asking somewhat suspiciously, "Why?"

Buffy flushed sightly, looking a bit sheepish before answering, "Giles needs you to steal a book.

Faith looked at her disbelievingly for a moment, uncertain whether to laugh or take the statement completely seriously, deciding to try for something in between as she smiled wryly. "Must be some book. It have a name?"

"Not one that I can pronounce," Buffy smiled back. "Here-" she said, proffering a piece of paper. "I had him spell it."

Angel looked at the paper before letting out a slight snort. "It's Latin. Means 'After the End.'"

Buffy shrugged before offering sarcastically, "Yeah, whatever. Intriuging." She bit her lip, looking uncertain before she blurted. "Giles thought that Faith and William should probably go steal the book while you and I go patrolling."

Faith looked at Spike quickly, trying to determine if he was okay with that, relieved when he seemed to take it completely in stride.

Angel wasn't so lucky, looking at Buffy uncertainly, a strange sort of agony in his eyes, seeming to want to say something but be unwilling to as everyone stood there in silence for a moment that stretched on for just a bit too long, causing Buffy to offer awkwardly,

"Or- I could just go alone," before Angel said softly,

"It's fine. That's fine. We'll go." There was another pause as his brow furrowed slightly. "What exactly are we patrolling for?"

She shrugged, looking slightly helpless. "I think that's sort of what we're all trying to figure out." She turned her attention to Faith. "William and I are going out to dinner. Can we meet back here after dark?"

Faith looked at Angel uneasily. "Um- sure. I kind of have some stuff I need to do though- um-" she paused awkwardly. "Angel, do you mind if we-"

"Go," he said shortly, even as he swallowed hard. "I don't mind being alone."

--

Angel looked carefully out the window at the shady street in front of the building as Spike William and Buffy emerged, still holding hands. He watched them say goodbye to Faith before turning and beginning to walk in the other direction, despite everything smiling at one another.

"So much for the Opera," he heard her teasing through the open window, nothing that she sounded slightly wistful, before feel his heart twist painfully as Spike stopped, caressing Buffy's cheek gently as he said,

"Well, pet, we'll just have to make an opera of our own," before leaning forward and claiming her lips in a lingering, gentle kiss.

And as Buffy wrapped an arm around Spike's neck, letting out a small whimper, Angel let the curtain flutter shut.

--

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