Thankfully things seemed to settle into its own version of a new normal as the week continued on, neither of them coming in late again, work was going along accordingly, they had lunch together daily, and for the past few they had holed up in Angel's office for those meals as a stream of continuous rain and, in her opinion, unnaturally cold weather returned. Both sides of the coin for work were also going quite well, strides were being made with the team under Lindsey and she couldn't be much happier with the progress about the party right now either, a lot was falling into place there now that they had officially put the lease in on the space and she had a clear idea in her head of what she wanted to do with it.

Lilah had made a comment the other day when she called to simply check in on everyone and any comments about when this project ended and coming back to normal made her heart sink a little, she was really starting to hate being reminded that this was only going to last so long here under Lindsey and at Angelus Enterprises.

Spending almost every moment after work around Angel had become another consistent part of life lately, after she'd be clocked out for the day she would run upstairs and find herself amused by the back and forth between him and Lindsey most days, then they'd fall into discussing something or another about the party or at least something company related, it would then turn into dinner plans at some point, and after that the next thing she knew they would be laid up in her living room eating and laughing like it was all the most natural thing in the world.

She still felt a little bit of anxiousness all the same when she thought about their plans for the following week though, but also a lot of excitement, too, especially as the days got closer. Angel kept insisting to her there wasn't anything she needed to do other than show up but she knew that wasn't going to fly over as simple as that.

"Am I supposed to get all dolled up or anything for this dinner of yours?" Buffy suddenly asked when Angel brought up a few things she could bring along if she insisted on helping. Which, she absolutely did. "I guess I should probably look into starting to pack an overnight bag before too long."

"If you want to, I'm not going to stop you, but I wouldn't expect Lindsey or Wes to match you on that," he warned.

"And what about you? Do you even own anything other than suits and ties?"

Shooting her a look he took a seat back down beside her on the sofa, "I wasn't in either last weekend," he mumbled then stretched the blanket they'd been sharing back across the two of them.

Scooting closer, she threaded their arms together, "Oh cause slacks and button downs are so much more casual."

He smirked, "Good to know we agree."

OoOoO

After waiting for as long as he could possibly manage, and only after she'd dozed off a few times did he finally force himself to say goodnight. Even though they were spending so much time together, it almost felt like the more he was around her, the harder it became to leave every night, and that way she would look at him everytime he started to go, sure was starting to weaken his resolve.

Not since he was an adolescent had he felt this much anxiety about kissing someone, it was comical. He'd lost count of the number of times the last few days where he'd caught himself leaning in, turning towards her on the couch, or simply pulling her to him at the office. He wasn't sure how she had managed it, but he both felt like he had only just met her, and had known her forever. With anyone else he would have already background checks run, non disclosure agreements printed and signed, and probably already sat them down to discuss how he didn't do relationships and anything that transpired between the two of them probably wouldn't venture very far outside the bedroom.

He didn't want things to be like that with her though, he didn't want some business arrangement, and for once he didn't want to give off the impression that he didn't trust her. He wasn't sure why, and had anyone tried to tell him as much he most definitely would have questioned if they had indeed lost their mind, but there was just something about her, he wanted to trust her, and more importantly he wanted her to know that she could trust him.

OoOoO

Funny thing, once upon a time Saturday mornings were her favorite time of the week, not this one though. Burrowing deeper into the covers, she managed a peek at her phone then groaned out loud when she noticed how early it still was. She was becoming quite used to her routine throughout the week which automatically included seeing Angel, now that the weekend was here, again, she wasn't really sure how to go about that.

Last night she'd kept expecting him to usher her into some crazy plan for lunch or hint that he might could use her help around the office at some point but he never did. In all honesty once they had gotten back to her place and settled in he seemed rather distracted. Probably not in a way that anyone other than her, and well possibly Lindsey, would notice but he had. More than once she caught him nearly zoning out during the show they had decided on, and it wasn't even one of her soap operas as he liked to tease her by saying. It was some documentary on the freaking last czar of Russia, which was totally up his alley.

Even when they had decided to go ahead and call it a night it felt… awkward, and it was all bothering her far more than she liked. The little voice of anxiety inside her head kept trying to whisper that maybe he was growing bored of their little friendship, that maybe now that the new had started to wear off he wasn't finding her nearly as interesting as he thought. Or maybe now that they had time to get to know one another, he'd managed to see past the brave exterior she hid behind so well and decided he didn't have the time or patience for some dumb girl.

Of course he hadn't given her any real reason to believe such things, but whenever she let herself get all wrapped up in it all, anything seemed possible. Already she felt herself slipping into dangerous territory when it came to him, and no matter how hard she kept trying to pump the breaks it felt like every time she saw him she only fell further.

OoOoO

After getting absolutely nowhere with Angel the last week or so, Lindsey decided that today he would try something a little different. Earlier this morning he'd called Buffy and asked if she would be interested in helping him out with a couple of things at the office. Angel didn't usually come in until around noonish on the weekends, which he hoped would give him just enough time to put his plan into motion. Buffy seemed pretty tight lipped herself, as far as spilling any secrets about what was going on between her and Angel anyways, but that didn't mean he couldn't send the man spiraling once he walked in to see the two of them gallivanting about.

He'd even go so far as to order them lunch, and much to his surprise he had even been able to order them a couple togo glasses of wine. Him and Buffy had built a friendly enough repor since she started the company, but he wasn't sure she knew him quite well enough to see past his bullshit, not yet anyways. Which meant that, hopefully, she would be none the wiser, while Angel went into one of those silent tailspins he was so good at.

In reality he wasn't sure what he expected to get out of this little charade but it was Saturday, and what could he say, he was bored. Plus it served the asshole right with the way he'd been walking around here all tight lipped like he didn't have his very own set of eyeballs and couldn't see exactly what was happening here. It was his turn to squirm.

OoOoO

She was right in the middle of laughing at something Lindsey said when she caught a glimpse of him making his way down the hall. It had taken her a second to fully realize it was him since he'd apparently chosen today, one where he wasn't supposed to see her, to go casual. Again her mind started to wonder just what that could mean, but in a blink she forced all those thoughts away, in no way was she trying to venture down that depressing road again.

Lindsey had text him right in the middle of his morning work out to let him know that there was some urgent something or the other at the office that required his attention. He'd tried to press for more details, for once he was trying to stay away from the damn place, knowing that if he were inside those four walls his mind would inevitably drift to a certain blonde, who he was desperately trying to give some space so he didn't seem like a total stalker.

Hearing that now all too familiar giggle, he nearly stopped dead in his tracks at the sight of her seated next to Lindsey. It almost looked as though they were in the middle of some situation, which made his stomach drop and his brain went into a sort of manic fritz as he just stood there for God knew how fucking long. Buffy had a strange look on her face when she saw him which felt like the worst of it all... of course she had just been laughing at Lindsey so she looked amused about whatever that was but there was a mixture of surprise and what looked like a hint of sadness upon taking him in that only made him more upset about whatever in the hell was obviously going on here.

With a clenched jaw, and a clenched fist at his side, he did finally get it together enough to walk the rest of the way toward the two of them. "You said there was a problem I needed to come handle?" he managed to ask Lindsey, his tone just a step away from a growl.

Lindsey's head cocked slightly to the side then he snapped his fingers. "Oh, right, I got that under control already... I must've forgotten to call you off," he grinned.

Angel glared his way and let out a slow, deep breath. He swore one of these days, probably in the near future from the way things had been going these past few weeks, he was going to kill that fucking man.

OoOoO

Lindsey gave Angel enough time after he'd up and stormed off, presumably heading upstairs to calm down after the whole altercation he'd orchestrated, guessing that Angel would run upstairs to shower, change, and try to get his mind right again.

Buffy was far from as naive about what he was up to as he might have came in here hoping, but even though she knew there was more to his little offer for her to come in today it hadn't stopped her from letting him have a bigger peek into what was going on between his best friend and this girl. He now knew how their paths had first crossed for example, how she had realized who exactly she had befriended in these halls and how shocking that had been for her, and more information about how else they had bonded over the short time they'd known one another than he was getting out of Angel at the very least.

He felt he had a better idea of who Buffy was and where she was coming from in the world after some more casual downtime and one on one discussion. He could absolutely see why Angel was drawn to her the more he got to know her his own self, hell he was pretty sure at this point there was no one you could hand pick off the planet if given a choice better suited for the asshole than the vibrant blonde bulldozing her way into their lives.

When he finally dared to go chase after Angel, he popped his head in first and felt a tingle of anxiety at the scene. Angel had managed to surprise him, he was simply sitting in his office, still in his work out shorts, looking annoyed off into space. Angel didn't even seem to pay attention to him entering the room until he was mere feet away.

Letting out a sigh as he got closer, he took a seat at the other end of the sofa. "You do know I would never actually go after your girl, right?"

Angel rolled his eyes. "Linds, I'm well aware of what you're up to... Why in the hell it's bothering me as much as it is all the same is another story."

That made Lindsey relax, his lips twisting together. "Because you like her," he shot out easily, and the two stared each other down for a moment after Angel ignored making any comment or argument against it. "You know, I was surprised when I learned Buffy wasn't already planning to be in the office in the first place given you two have been pretty much stuck together at the hip for weeks now."

Angel scratched at the back of his head. "Well, that was kind of the point. Everyone is always on me about spending too much time here and now I have her spending far too much time inside these walls as well, plus I started to worry being around all the time might start making her feel suffocated," he sighed out. "Hell, I wasn't even going to come in today," he grumbled.

"Did you happen to explain that to her?" Lindsey couldn't help but ask given twice today Buffy had tried to joke about the situation when it came up but he could see something was bothering her about it, now it all made a lot more sense. Angel didn't exactly have the best people skills, hell even before his whole life fell apart he was never exactly great with others but he could fake it enough to get through and people to not really take notice, and he was sure Buffy saw everything in a completely different light than what Angel intended.

OoOoO

"Hey."

Looking over her shoulder, Buffy cursed the nervousness and raging butterflies trying to bubble back inside of her at just the sound of his voice. "Hi. I was just finishing up..." she told him as she turned back to her laptop, fingers dancing over the keys as she sent a copy of all updates back to Lindsey, her eyes couldn't help but keep jumping back to him though as she double checked everything before powering everything back down.

"What?" he finally asked.

"You have legs," she blurted out, making him laugh.

"This is news?" he chuckled, his hip resting easily against one of the desks nearby, arms crossing across his chest.

"No, it's just a little strange to see... especially in here..."

"Yeah, well, you can thank Lindsey for that," and he went on to explain what he was doing before Lindsey dragged him away, ruining his workout apparently and plan to go for a run after. She knew Lindsey had to have something up his sleeve from the moment he had called her this morning but she didn't have as much of a scope as to what he was up to until Angel had showed up and confronted them earlier.

She sure had to give credit to the man, he was very good at this little game.

She tried to start an apology but he quickly shut her down, just as Lindsey appeared to tell them he was heading out. "I was just about to ask if Angel here knew where you were so I could tell you the same thing. I just got everything saved and sent, should be easy to pick up on things come Monday."

"Sounds like a plan... want to walk out with me?" he asked, and she sure didn't miss the mischievous twinkle in his eye as he looked toward Angel.

She would be lying if once again she wasn't hoping Angel wouldn't suddenly butt in to ask her to stay behind with him for one thing or another, or offer to handle walking her out, but that never came. "Sure," she finally answered, "That'd be great."

OoOoO

Come Monday morning he was in a terrible mood all over again. He had barely managed to get any sleep the last couple of nights, having spent countless hours second guessing his every decision. Since Lindsey's little fiasco Saturday, he'd only exchanged a few brief texts with Buffy. It was his own damn fault, he knew that, still didn't make it any easier to deal with though.

He had decided that instead of dropping her coffee off at her desk, he was going to call Lindsey and have him send her up to his office once everyone got in and settled. He wasn't sure what he was going to say or where to even start, but he had to try something. Since his little talk with Linds Saturday he'd come to a few revelations, and the last thing he wanted was for her to get the impression that he wasn't interested or was trying to blow her off.

No, he hadn't quite figured out how she'd managed it but somehow that damn girl had found a way to maneuver herself into a part of him he'd long thought gone. Now he wasn't sure what exactly that meant, and he definitely wasn't ready for any damn long drawn out conversation with his so-called best friend, but at some point in the last twenty-four hours he'd given up trying to deny it to himself.

OoOoO

Those weird feelings she'd had Saturday had pretty much quadrupled when after she got home from the office Angel still hadn't done so much as text her. He had eventually sent her a couple short responses which made her feel a little better last night, but then when they died out it made her feel even worse. She kept trying to tell herself that she was over thinking it all but even that wasn't doing much to make her feel any different.

Deciding to push all that mess to the side she'd taken a deep breath and plastered a smile to her face as she walked into the office, only letting it falter a little after she'd exchanged pleasantries with Lindsey and finally noticed that for once there wasn't a steaming cup of her favorite beverage waiting for her.

She had a good poker face, Lindsey would give her that. However he'd seen her falter when she'd noticed her empty desk, and not for the first time he felt the need to go knock some sense into that boss of theirs. In an attempt to make her feel better he'd tried offering that he had yet to see the big guy and wasn't even sure he had in fact made it in yet, but she'd just waved him off by telling him it was none of her business anyway. Which technically it wasn't, but they both knew after the last few weeks it was more hers than anyone's.

Once everyone else arrived he was quick to pull them all together for their weekly get together, but he had only just gotten started when he saw the bleached blonde poking her head in the door.

"What is it Harmony?" he asked, letting out a near audible groan.

OoOoO

It was Monday, he tried reminding himself as he turned around to see Darla walking through the doors to his office. He figured she would eventually seek him out, but damn a part of him sure was hoping she'd just let it go and take the hint that he simply wasn't interested anymore. Though knowing her as well as he did he should have known better. He wasn't stupid and despite her trying to convince him otherwise he knew that she'd always held onto some fantasy of the two of them taking things beyond the the bedroom.

Not that he believed Darla actually gave a damn about him, no, he knew that woman was incapable of caring about anyone other than herself. Which was exactly why the little arrangement they had, had lasted the number of years it did. It wasn't him she was worried about losing, it was his money and the power that came with his last name.

He sneered, "What are you doing here?"

OoOoO

Buffy had watched with a hint of curiosity as Angel's secretary whispered to Lindsey over in the corner. Ever since learning that the barbie wannabe was in fact Lindsey's sister she couldn't help but try to figure out how. The two of them couldn't be more different, and she was pretty sure she superseded even Angel when it came to annoying the man. Trying to stifle a giggle at Lindsey's wild hand gestures, she quickly looked away as he made his way back to the group.

They finished going through everything that he expected to be done before the long weekend. Of course they were only due in the office three days this week so their workload was lighter than it usually was, but they still had a lot to get done in the short amount of time. Gathering her things, she was just about to make her way back over to the desk she'd claimed as her own when Lindsey interrupted her.

"Wanna take a walk with me?"

She eyed him warily, "Depends where we're walking to."

"Well," Lindsey grinned, "Seems the big guy wants to have a word with you, and I," he shot her a quick wink, "Feel inclined to accompany my employee to the dungeon."

She couldn't help but laugh. Sometimes he really was too much, "So in other words you just feel like being nosey."

He smirked, "I have no idea what you're talking about Summers."

OoOoO

Thankfully he'd been able to get Darla to leave fairly quickly, though now he was pretty sure half the damn twelfth floor had their suspicions confirmed as to just what his relationship with the toxic blonde was. He'd barely even been able to get two words out before she had let loose on him, not that he really had expected any different, but it would have been nice if she'd thought to show up after hours rather than first thing on a Monday morning.

As he had imagined, she hadn't exactly taken things sitting down, and he'd had to threaten to call security on her just to get her to actually leave. It wasn't that he couldn't have handled her himself, but he knew Darla, that was precisely what she wanted and he just wasn't going to bite again. He knew it probably wasn't the last time he'd hear from her, but right then he was just glad that part was over, that whatever they'd had was officially ended.

OoOoO

Those familiar butterflies were swarming back inside her as she followed Lindsey off the elevator. It wasn't like she had never been called up to Angel's office before, but usually when it happened she got a text, or he'd whisper something or another in her ear as they parted ways after lunch. This was the first time he had done it out of the blue, and after a couple days of not really speaking she had to admit the act made her more than a little nervous.

Just as they were approaching his office, one of the dark doors practically flew open, swinging so hard the handle bounced off the wall behind it. Buffy watched as a blonde, just a little taller, but obviously older than herself stomped passed them, then paused to give Lindsey what she assumed was a look of pure disgust.

"Who was that and what exactly did you do to her?" Buffy couldn't help but lean over to whisper after the woman continued on her angry way. Buffy looked over her shoulder once more at the mystery woman then back at Lindsey.

Lindsey seemed to be almost on a delay over there, staring off for a couple seconds too long before his face turned more towards her and he forced that anger from his face and replaced it with one hell of a forced smile. He made a noise before answering rather vaguely, "No one you ever want to have to deal with."

'In no way does that clear anything up,' she thought to herself but on the outside she just shrugged and walked beside him until they were inside Angel's familiar office. Her eyes did narrow a bit as she watched Lindsey make his way closer to Angel and whisper something to him.. something about the whole situation was making her feel weary all over again. Needless to say, she was only more curious about the mystery woman.

Angel didn't look all too happy with whatever Lindsey had said but did a pretty good job of covering it up, he just kind of nodded, said something back that she couldn't hear, and then put more attention on her as he greeted her and told her to come in closer, nodding his head again but this time toward the cup of coffee she'd noticed a lack of earlier.

OoOoO

"So. Apparently... I have pretty bad people skills."

"Mmm... You don't say?" she shot back, trying hard not to smile. "I would have never guessed such a thing about you."

"I know, it's pretty shocking," he told her with a hint of a smile, coming to sit back down after having seen Lindsey back out just moments ago.

Taking a deep breath, he started apologizing for how awkward the last several days had been and wound up feeling even worse off when once again he fumbled on lines of communication with the girl all over again. He was trying to explain about being worried about how much time they had been spending together but before he got it across that it was on his end, that he was worried he was smothering her or something along those lines, she had taken it in the complete wrong way.

Buffy's face seemed to pale a little and she rushed to agree and tried telling him they really didn't need to hang out anymore if he didn't want to, that she was fine having just a normal business relationship or something along those lines, and trying to get out of the upcoming holiday plans and the entire time he felt like he wanted to slap himself for making this whole situation somehow worse than where they started out at.

"Buffy-"

"Angel, really, it's fine and not a big deal-" she cut him off, each word and each emotion she was doing a terrible job of keeping out of her voice digging a deeper hole inside of him.

He quickly scooted closer to her, taking her hands in his. "I didn't want you to get tired of me," he told her softly. "Never the other way around, Buffy."

Buffy's mouth snapped shut and she looked at him as though he had up and magically grown an extra head or something. "Why in the hell would you think that I would?"

He shrugged his thumb brushing across the soft skin of her hand for a moment. "Like I said, I don't exactly have people skills and it's been a very long time since I've even had a place for anyone new in my life in any capacity... let alone anything like this. And, well, being around you is almost addictive... and as much as I utterly crave being around you as much as possible, I really didn't want to ruin it by... I don't know, smothering you every free second of the day or whatever. I was just trying to let you breathe a little but... with a little reflection, I see I was giving off a lot of wrong impressions with the whole thing and I'm sorry for that, that was never my intention."

OoOoO

After figuring out what was really going on with the whole mixed up Angel situation and being able to roll her eyes at him telling him how stupid he was for even thinking anything along those lines, Buffy had to admit a huge weight suddenly lifted off her shoulders... But even so, something still felt a little... off. Not in a bad way, thankfully, but something about certain phrases he used or how he would look at her was making her whole body feel like it was going to go haywire.

After making a quick trip downstairs to gather up a few things, she'd returned to his office and tried letting everything fall back into its normal place but she wound up finding herself a little too hyperfocused on every little thing he did, every glance or passing touch in between talking about work or just casual conversation about the past few days or whatever topic wound up on the table. And no matter how many times she told herself she was being crazy again, or reminding herself of who she was compared to who he was, she still felt her pulse race every single time.

ButImBroken:

Story is written with Scribes1015!