"How does Will get to escape the dinner intervention?" Buffy asks as she digs into her second cheeseburger as her Oliver and Dig sit in Big Belly Burger.

"Because she's not got as many issues she refusing to speak about."

At Dig's answer Buffy leans onto the table and arches a brow "You may be wrong about that Diggy."
Oliver laughs softly only earning a glare out of Dig, he clearly wasn't happy with either of them.

Both of them glance at each before glancing back at Dig and biting into their burgers.

"Hungrier than I thought." Oliver mumbles while Buffy clears her throat, she could see Diggle staring at them both and it was driving her insane "Can you yell at us already?" She whines "Come on dad you know you want to give us a lecture."
Diggle glares at the blonde "Don't call me that."
Buffy holds up her hands in defense before pointing at Oliver "Him first though. I'm hungry."

"Did you just throw me to the wolves?" Oliver asks in disbelief as she attempts to snatch a chip off his plate only resulting in him slapping her hand anyway.

Buffy rolls her eyes "Technically I tossed you at the Diggle."

Diggle shakes his head in amusement before turning to Oliver "Oliver, you've been spending a lot of time under that hood the last couple of weeks."
"Keeps my ears warm." Oliver says offhandedly.
Buffy arches a brow "Really? Do you have ear muffs in it?"
"No, but the leather is really warm." Oliver tells her making her hum in interesting.

Diggle groans "Can you two stop getting along now."
Buffy chuckles softly "I think we're annoying him."
"Little bit." Oliver laughs only making Diggle clear his throat and glare at them both.

Diggle sighs in frustration before continuing "So you made this decision to avoid entanglements?" Diggle asks Oliver.
Oliver nods "For their protection. The people who get close to me get hurt. What's the problem, do you think I'm losing my grip?"

Diggle shrugs "No, it's just the opposite really. You seem calm, scary calm."
Buff nods in agreement "It's actually giving me the wiggens."

Dig sighs before continuing "Look I get things didn't work well, with Helena, with McKenna..."
"With Laurel?" Oliver finishes "With Sara?" He asks his features tightening painfully making Buffy swallow.

She honestly hadn't realized how much her and Oliver had in common, it seemed they were both destined to be alone forever.
"The list goes on." Oliver continues.
Diggle nods "Yeah, what do you do? You hood up, you go home, you repeat. It's not much of a life."

"The life that I'm leading for myself right now doesn't leave much room for an actual life, and I don't need one."
Diggle shakes his head before standing "I'll be back."

As he leaves the table Oliver turns to Buffy examining her, her injuries had mostly healed now from when he had found her in the hospital.
"How are you doing?"
Buffy frowns at the sudden question and arches a brow in confusion "What now?"

Oliver offers her a small smile and he moves to face her properly "We haven't really spoken about what happened at the hospital."
"Oh." Buffy breathes before shrugging "I'm fine."

Oliver arches a brow at the blonde "Sure." He mumbles not believing her for a second "And Dean?"
"Alive." She says with a sigh as she turns to him and offers him a friendly smile "You know you're right you know."

Oliver frowns only making her shake her head in amusement "About protecting people. I've watched a lot of people I care about die, it's easier to be alone. Because otherwise they end up like Dean, half dead or worse." Clenching her jaw she chuckles loudly, clearly with no humor behind it "I think we just need to face it, neither of us is ever gonna have a happy normal relationship."

Oliver smiles softly trying to ignore how depressing that actually sounded "We're doomed."
Buffy smiles before turning to look at him, looking him straight in the eye.
"It's a good thing I'm used to isolation."

Oliver smiles back at her, enjoying her company more than he would ever admit "Another thing we seem to have in common."

Before either of them could say another word everyone in the restaurant begins staring at their phones. It seemed as though every single person's phone was buzzing.

"My spider sense it tingling." Buffy mumbles as she feels the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.

"Something is wrong." Oliver says confirming her thoughts before his own phone begins ringing.

Seeing it's Willow he quickly opens his phone only to have her start speaking before he could even get a word in "Click the link I just sent you."

Buffy frowns as Oliver puts her on speaker quiet enough for both of them to hear and places the phone in front of him so she could see as well "This came up on every screen with an IP address originating from The Glades."

Buffy and Oliver glance at each other before he opens the file.

Instantly a live video fills the screen "If you make The Glades your home, you know who this man is, John Nickel." The narrator of the video says as Nickel appears o screen gagged and tied to a chair "He owns your tenements, manages your slums, provides the leaking roofs over your heads, the lead in your pipes, the asbestos in your walls. Basically, he makes money off of our suffering. But the police aren't interested in helping us, they may have let us down, but I won't."

Five Years Ago – Palm Springs

Buffy downs her shot of whiskey, groaning loudly in disgust, still to this day she couldn't stand the stuff, she couldn't even imagine a world where she drank this stuff and liked it.

Turning her head she laughs softly as she watches Gunn punch Willy in the face again, they had taken turns beating on the snitch who had told them that if they didn't rough him up enough then people would start talking.

Finally Willy nods "Okay! Okay!" He yells loudly before grabbing the stool from behind the bar and pulling it over so that he could sit opposite the two of them "What do you wanna know pretty lady?" He asks Buffy as he grabs a pre-prepared ice bag from underneath the bar and holds it against his now sore cheek.

Buffy sighs before glancing at Gunn who gives her the go-ahead "Where's Angel?"

Present Day

Willow's hands fly frantically over the the keyboard as she tries to find the signal where this video was comic from. But panic was beginning to fill her, the signal kept jumping across the city faster then she could keep track of.

"Track him Willow."

Oliver orders as a sound of a car speeding through the roads goes through the background, he and Diggle must be on their way here. She had to find this before they got here, otherwise she had a feeling their next conversation wasn't going to be too pleasant.

"Trying here!" She hisses back in annoyance ordering did not make this red-headed ex-witch move any freaking faster.

As she tries she glances at the video still streaming in horror as whoever was doing this forces John to admit to all of the horrors he had committed "Ok, yes, I made a little profit. At least they had a place to live. Without me people like that would end up on the street."

Willow groans in disgust at his words but focuses however as the captures voice comes through she panics "People like.." The man grabs John causing him to cry out in terror as tears spill down his face, fearing for his life which he clearly knew may come to an end move with one wrong move "…that's all we are to guys like this. John, I find you…"

"Come on!" Willow screams at her computer as the signal jumps again, this guy was good it's like his system knew just how to avoid her and keep her running around like a chicken with no legs. He was playing with her.

Suddenly all of her movements come to a halt as the captures final word fills the room, with that one word she froze as he raised his gun aimed at John's head "Guilty."

And with that she knew she was too late, the load gunshot confirms her words and the redhead has to force her gaze away from the screen as John is shot right in the head.

Xander crouches down behind the metal frame currently hiding him from Moira's view on the roof. He knew that she was meeting with someone, and he knew for sure it wasn't supposed to be found out about due to the fact, it was taking place on the god damn roof!

"What did Malcolm want with you at the hospital." A familiar voice asks making Xander duck lower in his hiding space before peeking around the side to see a male figure approaching Moira, it must be the same guy from last time.

Moira turns to Frank "A target for reprisal. He wants justice, and he's not going to stop until he gets it." Moira turns slightly allowing her gaze to fall over the view of Starling City and the Glades "Besides, this is good."

Frank scoffs "I think your definition of good requires an adjustment."

Xander nods slightly "Got that right." He mumbles under his breath before continuing to listen in on the conversation.

"No." Moira tells Frank, trying to make him see why they were in a good position "He came to me, which means he doesn't know that we're responsible for the attempt on his life."

"Yet." Frank points out after a pause, making Moira frown, there was more going on it seems then she was aware of "What are the chances of Malcolm discovering who paid The Triad to assassinate him?"

"I was very discreet. I wired the money through a shell corporation I own from an offshore account."
Xander's eyes widen at that, this gave him an idea, maybe it was time to talk to Felicity.

After the boys had taken off to get to their lair, Diggle had promptly sent the still injured Buffy home, well Buffy being Buffy didn't go home. Right now she was standing anxiously outside Dean's front door, she was going back on herself about this repeatedly, she knew she had to talk to him, but at the same time she didn't want to.

She raises her hand to knock on the door but it hovers slightly, shaking her head she lowers her hand and backs away planning on leaving the building.

"I'll just text him." She mumbles to herself before groaning, she was not the bitch that broke up with her boyfriend over text.

Growling loudly in annoyance she goes back to the door and finally after another five minutes of standing there she knocks on the door.

When there isn't an answer she smiles and shrugs "Oh I tried." She turns around only to hear the door open making her pause.

"Buffy?" Dean asks as he spots the blonde, when she turns back to him his eyes widen slightly, all the bruises on her face were gone, the cut near enough healed.

Buffy stares at her boyfriend, guilt washing over her, he had a black eye and there was a large cut on his forehead cutting through his eyebrow, which would likely leave a scar.
He was leaning on one side, wincing slightly.
"Come in." He tells her as he reaches forward and takes her hand leading her into his apartment.

Moving to sit down he watches her as she paces the room, sparing him a glance every few minutes.
The two stay like that for a while, neither daring to speak before finally he turns to her "What happened that night Buff?"

Buffy glances back at her boyfriend before sighing, she wasn't sure how she was going to do this, she hadn't broken up with someone in years, normally the guy died before she had to.

Favoring her left side she winces as she bends down to sit beside him, playing with her fingers she continues to put it off till Dean surprises her by leaning over and entangling their hands together.

Buffy inhales deeply as she watches his fingers wrap around hers, looking over at him she sighs before pulling her hand away. She couldn't be touching him right now, it was just make this more difficult.

"The men that took us..." She begins to tell her tale refusing to make eye contact with him as she continues to stair at her hands "...it was my fault Dean." Finally she turns to him water filling her eyes as he watches her in confusion "I do work for the Watcher's Council—"

"The one Xander runs?" Dean asks in confusion remembering back to a dinner he had had with the eye patch wearing spaz when he had been properly introduced to Buffy's friends.

Buffy nods before sighing "These people are dangerous and I pissed them off. Dean what happened to you is because of me and I can't—"

Buffy is cut off as Dean leans forward and kisses her softly on the lips, she remains there frozen and stunned by his actions till he pulls away and smiles at her sadly "I don't care."

Buffy frowns in confusion "What?"

"I don't care what you did to these people. You say they're bad guys then that puts you in the hero book." When she opens her mouth to speak he places a finger to her lips and looks into her eyes, a terrified expression filling his eyes "I love you."

At his words Buffy freezes, her eyes go wide and she just froze, she had no idea what to say to that "You—you what?"

Dean smiles at her and pushes the hair out of her face as he admits the truth "Buffy, I know there is a lot you keep from me, but I know you. If these people are after you I'll help you...because...I love you."

Buffy takes a shaky breath, it had been such a long time since someone had said that to her in this context. Slowly she reaches up and places her hand on his bruised cheek and ignoring her better judgment she gives into her feelings.

Leaning forward she kisses him softly her hands beginning to weave through his hair as he pulls her closer. She knew she shouldn't be doing this, but as much as she denied it she did want to love him and hearing him say those words to her made her weak.

Slowly he pulls her into his lap and when he winces she pulls back with a worried from on her face "Are you okay?"

Dean merely gazes at the beautiful woman in front of him "Couldn't be better." He breathes before pulling her into another kiss before he grins as he feels her begin tugging on the end of his shirt.