Sitting up, Buffy cracked one eye open and rubbed at the side of her hair that was nothing short of a straight disaster from the feel of it. She really hadn't drank that much last night but obviously the whole thing had gotten to her more than she would have expected, she barely remembered anything past the point of getting into the cab.. it was all bits and blurred pieces after that.

Still with one eye shut, she felt around for her phone before assuming it was still in her purse, then snarled her nose at the time showing on her alarm clock for the longest time before she worried about trying to get up.

After taking what seemed like the world's longest shower, she did feel like a brand new person at least by the time she was done, dried off, and dressed again In pajamas, but still... dressed. After grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge, she finally dug through her bag to find her phone, her heart racing more than it really should be at the sight of Angel's name at the top of her notifications.

OoOoO

Finally once she decided to properly get up and get on with the day, and doing her best to remind herself that Angel could really probably use at least one day of a break from her so going to the office again today without any reason to be there would be completely ridiculous, Buffy decided to look for a couple things to help her keep track of everything she was doing with this new little job Angel had thrown her way yesterday. After all, if he was going to entrust her with such then she really needed to make sure she did a good job with this party and that included keeping track of everything she did, spent, and got in the process.

Deciding on some new budgeting software for her laptop at home, she also browsed around at all the planners and binders on Amazon until she found some she liked. Clicking the button to put them into her cart, she continued looking around to see if there was anything else that might catch her eye here before she was ready to move on to the next few things on her list.

Still feeling a little hungover from the night before, she'd given up on the idea of cooking anything after staring aimlessly in her fridge and looking through the cabinets countless times. Then she'd had the idea to just go grab something from one of the take out places down the street but that was before she remembered she'd left her car at the office.

She'd just started to scroll through some of the local delivery places when a knock sounded at her door. Looking down at her pajamas she said a silent prayer that it was just someone trying to sell her cable or something.

"Angel," she said shocked, feeling her eyes widen at the sight of him. He was standing there holding her keys in one hand, and a bag with what looked to be Chinese in the other. Smiling, she just shook her head and stepped aside, "Careful I might be starting to get used to all this spoilage."

Shooting her a quick wink he eased by her, "Thought you might be needing these," he said tossing her keys on the counter. "And I figured if you felt anything like I did when I woke up then Chinese probably didn't sound like too much of a bad idea either."

Honestly he wasn't sure himself what in the hell he was doing, first he'd replied with the little game they were playing last night and told her that she was his favorite part of the night. Then this morning before he could even talk himself out of it he was already up at the office and climbing into her car. Had her keys not fallen out of her hoodie in the cab last night he never would have gotten the idea, then this morning he couldn't seem to think of much else.

She couldn't help but stare at him in the middle of her kitchen, she wasn't quite sure what to make of this new little budding friendship they had going on, but whatever it was, she found herself liking it more and more.

OoOoO

Even though things started off a bit awkward, they soon fell into an easy rhythm. Once Angel spotted her opened laptop he couldn't help but tease her a bit about taking her work home with her, and how again wasn't she the one saying he needed a life outside the office.

She was adorable, even in her cartoon pajamas, it was getting late but she had insisted he stay and watch some series on Netflix about a vampire slayer and other types of strangeness. It wasn't something he would normally watch but it was interesting enough to hold his attention, and she seemed pretty enthralled by it so that more than anything meant he didn't have any complaints. It was strange, sitting there, the two of them sprawled out on her sectional he felt more comfortable than he did in his own home at times.

"So any big meetings I should prepare myself for this week?" she asked, grabbing one of the blankets she kept folded under the coffee table, then spreading it out over the two of them. "I mean no matter what's going on it can't possibly be as eventful as last week," she deadpanned.

"Oh I don't know, I'm sure there's still a few secrets you have yet to discover.'

She tossed a piece of popcorn his way and gave him her best glare, "You're probably right Liam."

He groaned, "Are you ever going to let me live that down."

"Nope," she shook her head, "Seriously though, anything special on the agenda?"

He sighed, for once his mind wasn't spinning with everything that needed to be done at the office, and honestly right now he didn't want it to start. "I don't think so, Lindsey usually has some sort of get together with all his people on Mondays though. Knowing him there will be a whole list waiting for all of you tomorrow."

"And here I thought you were the one who barked out all the orders," she teased.

"I do not bark," he grumbled. "I just don't have the patience for slackers or ignorance."

"Or mistakes," she added, "Or forgetfulness, or anything less than perfection."

"Hey," he quipped, "Now you're starting to sound like Lindsey."

They went back and forth for a while, her trying to convince him that there would be benefits to showing his softer side at the office, and he kept poking fun at her every chance he got. One second they were laughing at something on the television and the next his eyes were snapping open to find a frantic Buffy staring back at him.

OoOoO

When she first woke up she nearly panicked at the feeling of a strong body wrapped so tightly around her. It wasn't until her eyes slowly fluttered open that memories from the night before started to trickle back, but nearly as soon as she breathed that sigh of relief panic flooded her all over again when she noticed the light flooding in from behind the curtain.

Turning around in his arms she didn't have time to think of the position they had wound up in, somehow they had managed to sleep all through the damn night and now there was no doubt, they were both late.

"Angel wake up," she shook him a little harder, "We're late."

OoOoO

When Buffy was nearing an hour late, and the number in her file was going straight to voicemail, Lindsey took a deep breath and headed upstairs. He wasn't sure what to expect from Angel when he informed him that she was a no-show, but he'd run a few scenarios through his head. What he hadn't been prepared for however was to find his office empty and dark, he questioned Harmony but she just shrugged her shoulders and told him she hadn't heard anything from him either.

Pulling out his phone one more time he quickly scrolled down to Angel's name and hit send, not surprisingly his phone went to voice-mail too.

Knowing better than to think the two of them running late on the same day was a coincidence he couldn't help but shake his head and laugh as he made his way back to his office. One of them was bound to show up sooner or later, and when they did they were going to have some explaining to do.

OoOoO

He kept trying to calm her down, but she wasn't trying to hear it, even reminding her that he was in fact the boss did little to ease her anxiety. Once she knew he was fully awake she had practically flown into her room all the while mumbling apologies about how she should have known better than not to put her phone on the charger, and how she swore she'd had the alarm set. He kept reassuring her that it was fine, that she was fine, and everything was going to be okay while she ran around getting all her things ready to leave.

He always kept a few spare changes of clothes in the closet at the office for nights when he crashed there, the only problem was going to really be explaining why the two of them were late. He was pretty sure no more than a handful of people would even bother to question his comings and goings... out loud and to his face anyway, and thankfully he didn't have anything major scheduled for the start of his day that he'd missed out on, but he could already hear Harmony nagging him as soon as she saw him walk through the door, and he could easily imagine the unsaid bullshit Lindsey would be carrying around from this incident. Then there was Buffy... and she'd actually have to go face the dumbass and explain at least something to him.

"Lindsey's going to fire me," Buffy breathed out, her fingers nervously combing through her hair, eyes scanning the room one last time to see if there was anything she wasn't forgetting in the rush.

"No, he's not," he tried reassuring her again. He thought to himself that if anyone was going to fire someone over being late it'd be him, and he decided to keep that to himself at that moment.

OoOoO

Buffy sat in Lindsey's private office feeling more nervous by the passing tick of the clock. When they had finally arrived at the office, Lindsey spotted her as she got closer and popped his head out of the office in the middle of what looked like that Monday kick off meeting thing Angel had mentioned with the rest of the team and asked her to come wait in here rather than join them.

She kept trying to remind herself that losing out here wasn't going to be the end of the world, that it was all a temporary thing anyway, one that no one walked in here expecting to last very long to begin with, but somehow that only made her feel worse. Not to mention the fact that while she had not even been here a week yet it already felt like it would be hard to say goodbye to this place... or, more importantly, the people who she'd met and gotten to know in these few short days...

Her insides squeezed as she heard the door open, and she quickly stood up and faced Lindsey as he joined her, an apology for how this morning had gone so far flying out of her face nearly too fast for her lips to even catch up with the words she was trying to say.

Lindsey's face was pretty unreadable as she apologized, explained that she was in another room from her alarm, had hurried in as quickly as she could... as she hurried to tell him that she would completely understand if she was let go because of the oversight but threw out a number of other options off the top of her head other than having to terminate her position all together.

Lindsey finally held up a hand to stop her. "I understand that sometimes shit happens, I do. People get sick unexpectedly, tires blow out, traffic happens, alarms get missed... whatever the case, sometimes things happen in life. I get it. I really don't care much unless these things become a pattern personally, that said... I do have to let Angel know and-"

"He's already pretty aware," she cut him off with her face cringing up. "We were late this morning and actually came in together.."

His eyebrow rose a bit and Lindsey sat back in his chair.

Fighting the urge to blush at where she was sure his thoughts were taking him, she quickly jumped in to explain about having left her car here after their big ol' get together and how Angel had wound up bringing it back to her, then how that led to them just hanging out together at her place on through the chaos that was this morning.

"Uh huh. And what did he say about the whole showing up late situation?"

"That he would let you handle the situation? Pretty much along the lines of it's your team so your responsibility to handle. And again however you see fit, I understand and totally support whatever decision you decide to go with..."

OoOoO

Ignoring Harmony as usual, Lindsey had no issue with letting himself on into Angel's office, catching him just standing up to put his jacket on as he tried to patiently wait out the end of the phone call he was stuck on. Once he hung up the receiver and they got through their usual back and forth banter greetings to one another, Lindsey cocked his head to the side and asked where he was heading.

"It is lunchtime."

"Uh huh," Lindsey did his best not to show his amusement as Angel squirmed as he tried to avoid the whole conversation, going out of his way to not mention the reason these breaks suddenly held any significance. Throwing out that a certain pretty blonde wouldn't be able to join him and inviting him to tag along had Angel pausing mid-step and shooting his friend a dirty look.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You seem to have a sudden interest in eating again so I figured-"

"Not that," he growled.

"Oh, about Miss Summers? Yeah. I tried coming up here earlier to let you know we had an issue with her not showing up this morning and imagine my surprise when I couldn't find you either," he said with a twinkle in his eye. "But don't worry, she filled me in on how y'alls evening went yesterday."

"And?" Angel asked through a clenched jaw.

"And? Well if there's anything I've learned around here is how you don't have time for bullshit like that!" A flood of different emotions seemed to pass over Angel's face and he almost looked like he was going to be sick before Lindsey laughed. "Relax, I'm joking. I docked a quarter of a point from her and she was determined to make up for this morning by working through lunch and catching up on what she missed this morning. I'm the more level headed one out of the two of us, remember?"

Angel didn't look one bit amused.

"So, again... do you want to tag along with me as I try and salvage the rest of my break... or should I expect you to turn me down to go keep her company?"

OoOoO

Buffy felt like she was absolutely disorganized all morning and needed to get herself together if she was going to survive the rest of the day. Finishing up with the page she was on of Lindsey's notes, she sighed and had a quick internal debate with herself before getting up and going off to find at least something from one of the vending machines to tide her over. Working on an empty stomach tied together with the anxiousness coursing through her today just did not sound like anything good was going to come of it.

Grabbing herself a drink, she started browsing through what food options were available while also pulling her phone out to finally update Angel about how things had played out with Lindsey and everything this morning, and to apologize profusely to him once again for the whole thing.

OoOoO

He felt his phone vibrate just as he stepped back out of the elevator. He had gone ahead and went with Lindsey but he only stayed long enough to place a couple of to-go orders, which seemed to make Linds nearly choke back a fit of laughter as he walked back out the door. He was honestly surprised he had managed to keep most of his comments to himself for the small amount of time he had, though he was grateful for it. On some level he knew that anything and everything regarding Buffy evoked a whole different set of thoughts and feelings than he was used to, but he really hadn't had the time to figure out what all that meant himself, much less explain it to anyone else.

Making his way to the small set of offices Linds had taken over, he said a quick prayer to whoever may be listening that the rest of his team had in fact gone out for lunch. Not that he much cared what bit of gossip someone from Lilah's team might come up with, but he wasn't the one who had to deal with it either.

Spotting her across the room, he smirked, she was so engrossed in whatever she was doing she didn't even hear him. Coming up behind her he sat down a bag that he'd learned from their little game was her favorite guilty indulgence when it came to fast food.

"You really didn't have to work through lunch," he told her, taking a seat next to her then nudging the computer screen his direction.

She rolled her eyes, "Oh but I did," she huffed, "And even so I still feel like I'm drowning trying to play catch up after missing the meeting. I haven't got to call any of the hotels to set up any meetings yet, I'm pretty sure I gave Lindsey the wrong impression about what exactly we were doing last night, and on top of all that I'm freaking starving and you," she turned his direction, "In case no one's ever brought it to your attention the vending machines here freaking suck."

He couldn't help but let out a small laugh, "You know you're pretty cute when you're angry."

Taking a couple of the fries out of the bag she gave him a bite of one as she glared. "If only the same could be said about you, mister."

OoOoO

It had taken some convincing but he'd finally managed to sway her into joining him in his office for the rest of the afternoon, but only after begrudgingly promising he would be the one to fill Lindsey in on where she was. Which he had once they had made it upstairs and of course his only reply had been a smart ass "Of course she is".

Once they were done eating, she'd called a few of the event planners at the hotels she'd had her eyes on. Talking to them on speaker phone seemed to have piqued Angel's interest some, after she hung up he had come over to where she was sitting behind his desk and practically lifted her onto his lap so he could look through some of the pictures of the different venues with her.

That same rush he felt those first few seconds this morning when he'd woken up with her curled against him was coursing through him. He was trying to pay attention to everything she was showing him, but he was having a hard time getting his mind to focus on anything except for her.

She was trying really hard to ignore the way his thumb kept brushing up against her side, but he wasn't making it easy, and she had no freaking idea how she felt about any of it. Clearly they had already blown past your typical office relationship, she just wasn't quite sure where exactly they were headed. Angel had been nothing more than a perfect gentleman, but even though he hadn't outright tried to make some move on her, she couldn't help but feel like maybe he was feeling the same way.

Even though she didn't put a whole lot of stock into rumors or what other people said, everything that she had ever heard anyone say, everything that she had witnessed herself between him and others led her to believe that he was different with her. The stumper was why, with his money and his position she was pretty sure he could have any number of women that she would never in a million years be able to compare to.

"What's wrong," she heard Angel whisper from behind her.

Blinking away her thoughts she shook her head, "Nothing."

Angel was quiet for a second then cleared his throat, "So is that why you've been staring at an ad for Aflac for the last five minutes?"

Biting her lip, her eyes widened as she actually looked at the screen, "Oh umm," she stumbled as she exited back to the page she was supposed to be on. She mumbled some sort of quick apology, all the while fighting back the heat she felt slowly creeping over her cheeks.

OoOoO

It had taken every single ounce of willpower that he possessed to let her walk out of the office when the time came. More than anything he wanted to suggest they go grab a bite to eat or try to offer her a few more suggestions about the Christmas party but he had managed to refrain… barely.

"Wanna talk about it?"

Lindsey showing up just before she had decided to call it a night had certainly helped matters, for once. Though right now he wasn't sure which was more annoying the looks he kept getting from him, or his inability to say what Angel could clearly see brewing behind that southern boy smirk. "Talk about what," he all but groaned as he took his phone out for the countless time. Buffy still hadn't responded to his latest round of texts, and that alone was giving him more anxiety than he cared to admit.

His feet propped up on the small coffee table, Lindsey laced his fingers behind his head as he reclined back on the sofa. This girl had barely been in their life for a week and already she had Angel more wound up than Darla, hell anyone, ever had before. He was still biting his tongue, trying to let the two of them figure out just what exactly this was growing between them, but keeping his thoughts to himself was not his strong point. Plus it didn't help that Angel seemed to be in complete and utter denial about the whole damn situation in general.

Like now, he was over there at his damn desk smiling like an idiot over whatever he could only assume Buffy had just sent. Any other time he'd go mosey on over there and take a peek at what he figured were some private pictures or some other juiciness, but not only did he not get that vibe from Buffy, he was nearly positive Angel would turn irate if he dared to intrude on anything regarding the small blonde.

"Just what are you grinnin' like a damn fool over, over there?" he finally dared to ask after the third time Angel's phone buzzed and he got lost in whatever exchange the two of them were in the middle of.

After he quickly finished typing something out, Angel cleared his throat and put his phone down off to the side back on his desk. "Nothing," he shrugged off.

Lindsey cocked his head slightly to the side and decided to take a slightly different approach to this conversation, turning it more toward the much less interesting work related part of this strange blooming relationship in hopes to pick up on something more interesting in the details.

Angel had already rather flippantly let him know about the offer he had extended to Buffy in regards to planning their annual Christmas festivities around here and he could only see how that was bound to push these two closer together. His only concern really had been if the extra workload was going to mess with what he needed out of the girl during business hours but that had been promised as nothing to worry about and so far at least that rang true.

Hell, Buffy had missed over an hour of work today and seemed like she had a hard time getting back on track for the better part of the morning and yet by the end of the day she had managed to get more done than almost any two other members on the team combined, and that was even before you added in this side project she had obtained for the holidays.

She sure continued to surprise him.

"You two decided on the actual place to even host this thing at yet?" he asked not long after Angel had tossed him a couple of the files as he got caught up on some of the happenings about the party and asked if there was anything he could do to help... all the while hoping that answer would be no, or at least nothing more than being in charge of getting invites out or something simple like that.

Angel moved a few photos around before handing one over saying that's the one Buffy liked the best and he was supposed to go look at the actual space and probably sign the agreement and everything in the next couple of days whenever he had the chance.

Before finally deciding they should probably both get out of here already, Lindsey suggested maybe taking Buffy to actually look at each building to have a better feel for the place. "Or, you know, I could always offer to take her around town in your place," he yelled over his shoulder, not daring to look back or wait for any further response.

OoOoO

Finally getting back home, Buffy practically melted her way from the door back to the same spot she and Angel had apparently fallen asleep together last night. Laying down, she reached over for the blanket Angel had left folded up and stretched it back across her, it faintly still smelled of him and that was far too comforting than it needed to be, she thought, but only for a moment.

Fighting the urge to just close her eyes and fall asleep right there, she kept up the back and forth with Angel as long as she could before the heaviness of her eyelids won over.

Just as she was drifting off she made a mental note to try and call Willow again later, the two had kept in touch since the redhead went off to tour the countryside with Oz but actually having time to truly catch up and just talk and gossip had been much harder than the quick texts or game of voicemail tag they usually got stuck in.

After the past couple of days she really felt like she needed someone else to bounce these crazy ideas about her and Angel off of and to try and figure out all these feelings brewing around inside of her when it came to that man.

OoOoO

Glancing again at the time, Angel sighed and wished for morning to show up already. He had long since given up on the idea of getting any proper sleep in tonight, already having laid there aimlessly several times and waking up not long after he would finally drift off a few times already so far.

He had made use of his makeshift home gym, had taken two showers, and attempted to get lost in one of the books Wes had given him a number of weeks ago but none of it seemed to be helping much.

Grabbing a throw pillow, he pulled it to him to stuff behind his head as he worked on getting more comfortable. With a sigh, he looked around his living room and thought again how much more at home he had felt at Buffy's than he probably ever had been a single day here. And that thought only led him down a rabbit hole of wondering for the millionth time what in the world it was about her that got to him like only she seemed to be able to, wondering if it were her place necessarily or the fact he was around her, wondering how his place would feel with her in it...

He really didn't know what to think of this friendship or whatever it was between them... but life sure felt easier with her around. And especially after the events of this weekend he wasn't so sure all his feelings exactly fell into that friendly category when it came to the spunky blonde... he sure didn't find himself attracted to Lindsey or Wes, counting the minutes down until he would see their damn faces again, or wishing he was curled back up around either one of them right about now.

ButImBroken:

Written with Scribes1015!