Hello to all my loyal readers and reviewers! Thanks so much for actually reading this! Okay in this chapter: Collins! Yeah! A little of Collins/Angel fluff, but a little serious too. Not going to give it all away! Hope you like!

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Angel jumped at the sudden noise: keys in the lock. Collins! She had been sitting here, freaking herself out for the past thirty minutes or so. She just kept thinking Jason would come here.

Angel had decided not to mention anything. Everything was okay…nothing happened. It was a chance meeting, a cruel twist of fate. It wouldn't happen again. Right?

Collins opened the door, smiling as usual. He was happy to be back home with his Angel. He saw her sitting on the couch. "Hey baby!" He called to her.

At this, Angel smiled and jumped up to meet him. She ran and threw her arms around his neck. She quickly glanced over his shoulder at the door—it was locked. As much as she tried to deny it, she was terrified. Terrified of the possibility of seeing Jason again. She held Collins close, looking for comfort and love, but most importantly: protection.

Collins kissed her and wrapped his arms around her waist. He looked up and down her outfit. He laughed gently. "How was your day baby? And what's with the sweats?" He asked, smiling. He tightened his grip on her. She seemed…fragile right now. May be it was because of her clothes, but either way, he wanted to make sure she was okay.

Angel laughed. "I just took a bath and wanted to be comfortable," she said shrugging, which was a little hard considering her arms were around his neck. She smiled. "Oh…it was alright. How was yours?"

Collins smiled and kissed her. "It's better now that I'm with you." She smiled and kissed him at this.

Collins laughed and started to let go of Angel. Angel unwillingly let go of his neck, but put her arm around his waist. She glanced nervously towards the window. Why did she keep doing this to herself? He didn't know where she lived. She was just torturing herself right now.

Collins noticed this, of course, and asked. "Baby, are you okay?" He asked gently, while putting his arm around her protectively.

Angel forced a smile. "Yeah sweetie. Why?" He couldn't know. Not now. I don't want to worry him over nothing. What am I going to do? I can't lie to him. May be—

Her thinking had been interrupted by Collins pulling her towards the couch. He sat down and pulled her next to him, his arm still around her. He knew something was up. He could tell that she didn't want to talk about it. Not now anyways. But he was going to try. "Well, for starters, you've barely said anything since I've gotten home, which is so not you. Normally you're overflowing with little things to tell me. And not that I'm complaining, but you haven't let me go since I walked in here." He shifted slightly, allowing her to lean into his chest. She did, and he wrapped both his arms around her.

Angel looked down and didn't answer him. As she looked down, she noticed her hand was gripping his leg. She hadn't even noticed. Was she that afraid?

Collins tried again. "Come on baby…you know you can tell me anything," he said gently. He looked at her, her head looking down. He sighed and placed his hand gently under her chin. He pushed her face up so he was looking in her eyes.

Angel thought to herself as she looked into Collins' eyes. Well, may be if I tell him a little bit, not the entire thing…he could help me. I won't tell him about Jason, or what he did to me…but may be just something happened. But what? She sighed. "I..I…some guy was harassing me a little," she said quietly. There, that wasn't a lie. Jason had harassed her.

Collins immediately tensed at that thought. He hated when anyone said anything to his Angel that was mean, even rude comments made him upset. "Do you know you he was?" He asked, his voice was gently yet mixed with anger. Especially when he said the word 'he.' Collins knew Angel was always so damn concerned with everyone else that she never protected herself. That's why he was here. To protect her…when he could.

Angel shrugged, starting to shake slightly. She always did at the memories; sometimes even talking about him freaked her out. "No..no…I don't know him." She whispered. She felt the burn of tears behind her eyes and before she could force them back, they spilled over. The tears streamed down her face. She sat there crying over everything. Jason. Why she never left. What he did to her. What he was doing to her right now. Just…everything.

All the anger Collins felt was immediately replaced with concern when he saw Angel break down. "Shh..baby…it's okay.." He said soothingly. He pulled her into his lap, holding her close. She rested her head on his chest. He rubbed her back gently and rocked her slowly. "Baby…it's alright…let it okay." He gently kissed her forehead, "I'm here when you want to talk," he said quietly.

He knew how Angel worked. Sometimes she wanted to talk about it right away, other times she wanted to just cry. He hated seeing her cry, on any occasion, but knew sometimes that this showing of emotion helped her. He just held her and comforted her the only way he knew how: letting her cry, holding her, and kissing her, gently letting her know that he was here.

Angel clutched the front of Collins' shirt in her hands as she sobbed into his chest. She realized that this was the first time she had cried over Jason, and had something more comforting than a hard, cold floor.

After a few minutes of Angel crying, she finally started to calm down. She sniffed every so often. She didn't look up at him, she couldn't. Not yet. Angel just held his shirt and let him comfort her. She sighed and took a deep shaky breath. "I'm sorry…for this," she croaked out.

Collins shook his head. "Don't be, you have nothing to apologize for, okay?" He told her. He noticed she wasn't looking at him. He wanted her to, but wasn't going to press it. "Are you okay baby? What did he do to you?" he said all this gently, but the last question came with traces of a threat. It was just his overprotective nature.

Angel shook her head. She instinctively tugged her shirt down; making sure that none of her skin was showing. Then reached out and crossed her arms over her chest, placing her hands on the marks on her arms that were under her shirt. "Yeah…I'm alright. He just said things to me. You know the typical things."

He held her closer and kissed her forehead again. "Baby…I'm so sorry that you have to go through all this. People just can't see that you truly are an angel," he told her. She smiled weakly at this, which caused Collins to smile. This was a good sign. He could normally tell how bad it was by the time it took Collins to get Angel to smile.

He thought for a moment. "You okay now?" Angel nodded her head, which was still up against his chest. He smiled at her. "Good."

They stayed like that for a while. Collins just held Angel, and she was just happy for the protection that he gave her, even without knowing it. He shifted his position. "Oh shit." Collins muttered out.

Angel looked at him. She was slightly confused. "What wrong honey?"

He sighed. "Mark, Maureen, Joanne, and Roger are coming over tonight. We planned this a few days ago." He said, and then he looked at Angel. "I'll just call them and tell them tonight's not going to work." He reached for the phone, but Angel stopped him.

"What do you mean?" Angel asked him. "I'm sure everything will be fine."

Collins shook his head. "I don't think you'd want visitors tonight. That's fine. It can just be us." He told her smiling.

She smiled back at him, but shook her head. "No, don't worry baby. I'm fine now. I just need you…and your comfort," she told him, nuzzling her face into his chest again.

He smiled. "If you're sure." He told her, the worry obvious in his voice. He hated that he always worried for her, but it was just natural. He loved her more than anything and he hated that he could not always be there to protect her.

She nodded. "Yes I'm sure. What time are they coming?" She asked.

Collins laughed. "Uh… actually any minute." He told her.

"Okay," she told him, smiling. She thought about getting up and changing, but that would mean leaving Collins. She wasn't normally like this, but Jason stayed at the back of her mind. No, she would just stay in her sweats. At least she'd be comfortable. "What are we doing then?" She asked him.

Collins shrugged. "I'm not sure exactly. Maureen said she was bringing movies and the food, so that means so is Joanne. And that leaves Roger and Mark with drinks, not like they're complaining though," he said, laughing slightly. She laughed with him.

She jumped at the pounding on the door. Collins looked worried again. "Are you sure you're okay?" She just nodded, and smiled. "Okay," he said as he helped Angel up and walked to the door. Angel had grabbed onto his arm. Something was up. He knew it. He loved that him and Angel were always holding each other in some way, but this time it felt…like she was holding onto him for dear life.

Collins and Angel walked to the door. He threw it open. There stood everyone, except Mimi who had to work. He laughed. "Hey guys! It's good to see you again!" He said as he reached out to take things from Joanne, whom it looked as though Maureen had made carry everything.

Joanne smiled at him. "Thanks Collins." She said as she handed him a bag filled with food.

Collins shrugged. "It's no problem." He set the food down and went to hug Joanne, followed by Maureen who had started to tell her story about some cute waiter down at the coffee shop asking for more details about her upcoming protest. He gave Roger and Mark a quick hug.

Angel had let go of Collins as he helped Joanne. She had gone over and hugged Maureen, then Mark, then Joanne, and finally Roger. She walked back over to Collins and grabbed his hand. He squeezed it gently. "So, what are we doing first?" She asked.

Maureen jumped up and down. "I can give you a little preview of my protest!" She exclaimed excitedly. Mark had already picked up his camera and had begun to film. He took the camera away from his eye for a brief moment to roll his eyes, which got a laugh out of everyone except Maureen. She ended up joining in the laughter anyways because that was Maureen.

Roger shrugged. "Why don't we just watch a movie? Didn't you bring them Maureen?" He asked.

Maureen nodded. "Yeah! Come on, we can go and watch some of them. Grab the food Pookie!" She called over her shoulder as she had already walked over to the TV. She popped a tape into the VCR and pressed play.

Joanne had grabbed the bag of food, Mark had his camera, and Roger carried the drinks. They all settled down. Maureen and Joanne sharing a chair. Mark in a chair across the room. And Collins, Angel, and Roger all sat on the couch.

They watched the first movie, in a semi-silence. Maureen and Joanne had started a little disagreement. Something about how the guy at the coffee shop wanted more than just protest information.

Angel and Collins shared a look, and then went back to watching the movie. Eventually, Maureen and Joanne stopped their little argument—when the movie was over.

Maureen jumped up and put in another movie. Roger had drunken three cans of beer, a bottle of water—Angel made him do that one, she wanted him to drink something healthy—then he started on a can of Coke. He and Mark had eaten an entire bag of chips. Everyone was just enjoying each other's company.

It was about half way into the second movie, it was about nine-thirty. But Angel was exhausted. She yawned. Collins nudged her and whispered. "Baby, why don't you go to bed? You've had a long day." He said. Angel couldn't help but think, 'You have no idea.'

She just nodded. "Yeah, okay." She stood up. "I'm going to bed guys. Had a long day," she smiled and went and told everyone good night. She came back and kissed Collins. "Don't stay up too late," she told him, smiling as she walked into their bedroom.

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Angel lay down and tried to fall asleep. She was tossing and turning. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw his face. That cruel face.

She replayed the day's events over and over in her mind. She felt terrible for lying to Collins.

She continued to toss and turn for about a half hour before she realized she wasn't going to be sleeping. She couldn't, not with out Collins. She quietly got up out of her bed and walked out the door. Maureen and Joanne had left already. It was just Mark, Roger, and Collins.

Collins looked up when he saw her. "Hey baby. You okay?" He asked.

She nodded walking over towards him. "Yeah, just couldn't sleep."

He smiled and reached out his hand and helped her into his lap. She snuggled against him as she felt him wrap a blanket around them both. She nuzzles her face into his chest. "What are you watching?" She asked.

Collins shrugged. "I don't really know." He told her laughing. He stopped himself quickly.

She smiled. "You can talk," she told him.

He smiled. "Okay, thank you baby," he whispered to her. He gently kissed her forehead and tightened his arms around her.

She smiled and there, in his arms, she fell asleep. She didn't even think about Jason once. She knew that was because Collins was there. She fell into a peaceful sleep.

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Post: Sorry for updating so soon! I couldn't sleep and just had to write when Collins got back! Next chapter…hm…not sure yet! I'm leaving (again) for about 5 days starting Monday-Saturday. Wait, I think that's 6 days. What ever. I hope you guys enjoy what I have so far. I will try to update as soon as I get back!