Title: A Hyperion Christmas
By Angelfan15
Disclaimer: I own nothing!
Pairing: Buffy/Angel mainly
Distribution: Let me know where it's going!
Spoilers: This is completely AU
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Angelus is forced to spend the holiday season at The Hyperion Hotel, where is whole life is turned upside down.
Author's Note: I wrote this on my phone during my lunch break while sitting in my car on Christmas Eve. I'm just now getting the time to post it, sadly it isn't really edited, sorry. I just wanted to get it posted. I hope you like it!
Chapter 1:
Liam Angelus walked into the large hotel, at least that is what it said on the outside. The Hyperion Hotel. He wasn't sure he had the address right until he walked into the building, he should have known it was some kind of setup. The building itself was beautiful, he could tell it was well taken care of and most of it was the original structure from when it was built, probably in the early 1900's, judging by the style. He looked around to see if he could find someone that might know where he should go. He caught sight of a red headed girl talking to a small brunette as they hung Christmas decorations around the large crowded lobby area. He made his way towards the two girls. "Excuse me."
The redhead turned around with a frown on her face, as she looked the man up and down. It wasn't very often that they saw a man in a designer suit walk through the door. "Can I help you?"
"I hope so." The man looked around the room at all the people, he had never been to a place like this before and it was starting to make him slightly nervous. Was his BMW safe outside? He couldn't believe he was actually here, he should have gotten more information but once again, his ego got the best of him. "I'm supposed to be… volunteering here. I'm not exactly sure where I'm supposed to go."
"Oh!" The small brunette exclaimed, suddenly excited. "I can show you where you need to sign in! By the way, I'm Fred… Well, Winifred, but everyone calls me Fred!" She giggled. "This…" she pointed to the redhead beside her. "Is Willow. We volunteer here too."
He nodded at the woman. "You can call me Angelus."
"We don't get many guys dressed like you in here." Willow looked the man up and down again.
He raised his eyebrows. "Should I have changed first?"
Willow let out a small laugh. "It would have helped. See, this is a homeless shelter… it's hard enough for these people to admit that they need help to begin with but to take it from someone in really expensive threads…" she trailed off.
Angelus nodded again. "Point taken." He looked around the building again at the many people hanging out in the lobby. Some of their clothes looked torn and dirty while others just looked like they were wearing hand-me-downs. Before walking through those doors he didn't know it was a homeless shelter but as soon as he entered the building, that smell was a dead giveaway.
"Next time." Fred smiled, pointing over her shoulder then turned for him to follow her.
Willow watched the well dressed man follow her friend. If there was a next time. There weren't many well off people that would spend their time helping the less fortunate on a regular basis. She turned at the sound of a friendly male laugh, to see a long haired blonde man in cowboy boots, an old worn pair of jeans and a tight tee-shirt greeting some of the regulars that stayed at The Hyperion. Lindsey McDonald was the exception. He was a very successful lawyer with Wolfram and Hart Law Firm, the rich and powerful always wanted him to represent them because he was ruthless in the courtroom but once he walked into those Hyperion doors, you would never know it. He was one of the most kind and generous men Willow had ever met. He had been volunteering at the shelter since the day the doors opened, in fact, he helped get the place ready before they even opened.
Fred led Angelus into the office that was behind what was probably a check-in desk at one point. She pointed to the desk with a clipboard on it. "Here's where you sign in." She laughed as she looked up at the well dressed man. "What is it that you were interested in doing today? We have the kitchen… preparing food and doing dishes and whatnot." she trailed off as she thought. "You could help us decorate… oh, or the laundry needs to be done too!"
Angelus raised his eyebrows at the small woman with the Texas accent. He barely cooked for himself, he wasn't going to do it for a bunch of people he didn't know. And laundry? What exactly did he get himself into? Maybe he could get away with just spending a few hours here doing nothing, it's not like anyone would notice.
0o0o0
"Alright, what do we have today?" The Texan Lawyer smiled as he clapped his hands.
He watched as the small blonde turned to look at him with a huge smile. "Oh, thank God you are here, Linds! I could use a big strong man to come and save me."
Lindsey McDonald pursed his lips and looked around the hotel suite. Each family got their own suite which allowed them to feel like they weren't in a homeless shelter. "Am I in the right room?" He teased. "Is this the right blonde in front of me?"
She laughed. "I can do many things, fixing the plumbing is not one of them."
Lindsey laughed. "Yeah, but your Buff, Buff. Since when do you need a man? For anything!"
Buffy Summers laughed as she playfully handed the wrench over to the blonde man. "Since I have been fighting with this pipe for hours while you have been off in a nice comfy office getting the rich and powerful off for a crime they DID commit. Now, come on!" She pointed to the exposed pipes. "Get your hands dirty!"
"Yes, ma'am!" He wiggled his eyebrows at her before planting a kiss on her cheek.
Buffy shook her head laughing as she watched him get to work. She didn't know what she would do without him.
0o0o0
"Hey, Buffy!" Willow greeted her best friend as she walked into the kitchen. It was very rare that anyone wanted to do the dishes so Buffy would often end up doing them herself.
"Hey, Will." The blonde greeted back as she picked up another pile of dirty plates, walking across the kitchen, to rinse in the sink.
Willow smiled at the blonde as she made her way over to open the large dishwasher, Buffy rinsed a plate quickly and then handed it to Willow. "There was a new guy here today."
The blonde raised her eyebrows at her long time friend. "Yeah? And you didn't send him up to help me? I had to wait for Lindsey."
The redhead rolled her eyes at her best friend, she knew that Buffy loved working with Lindsey. "I don't think he will be back."
"Why not?" Buffy asked, handing another plate over to the girl.
Willow shook her head, placing the plate in the dishwasher. "He was dressed way too nice to volunteer in this place."
Buffy gave her friend an unimpressed look.
"What?" The redhead shrugged with large eyes. "No matter how classy we keep this place, it's still a homeless shelter and that guy didn't look like he wanted to help anyone!"
"You don't know that." Buffy shrugged, holding out a dish.
"Yeah, I do." Willow frowned as she grabbed another dish. "I have been here long enough to know, Buffy. That guy is living his life for himself."
"Then why would he be here to begin with?" Buffy questioned, earning a shrug from her best friend. "Well, how was he dressed?"
"Some designer suite." Willow shrugged. "I wouldn't know, but you would."
The blonde rolled her eyes. "Not by choice."
0o0o0
"You showed up there lookin' like what?" The man laughed as his brother tossed his briefcase on the glass coffee table. "Like that?"
Angelus looked down at his black Armani suit. "Okay, so I didn't exactly have time to change after work, Doyle."
Doyle Angelus laughed even harder. "You didn't miss the part where it was a homeless shelter, right? Not even your basketball shorts are going to be low key enough for that place."
"I didn't know it was a homeless shelter before I got there! All I had was an address!" Angelus rolled his eyes. "What exactly do you suggest I do then?"
Doyle shrugged. "A trip to Goodwill."
Angelus looked at his brother with disgust. There was no way he was going to go anywhere looking like a mess.
"Come on, man." Doyle encouraged his older brother. "You don't want to get your fancy suits all ruined, do ya?"
"No." Angelus shook his head. "And it will be really easy for me since I'm not going back."
"You have to!" Doyle exclaimed, jumping up from the couch, standing in front of his older brother. "McDonald det you! You have to keep going until Christmas! You can't let him win!"
The tall dark haired man shook his head again. "You didn't see this place, Doyle. The people that go there."
"When have you ever lost?" Doyle asked, daring his brother to keep it up. "You win at everything you do, in and out of the courtroom. Are you really going to let McDonald be the one that takes you down?"
Angelus narrowed his eyes as he thought. It wasn't that he didn't like Lindsey McDonald, he was a good lawyer and a decent guy as far as he knew but he just didn't like to lose a bet.
"Was there any hot girls there?" Doyle asked his taller brother, trying to give him a reason to keep doing.
Angelus shrugged as he sat down on his couch, he looked around at his large penthouse, thank God the maid had come in. She had taken the past two days off and he couldn't stand the way the place looked. "There was a girl, I only saw her for a second when she came downstairs. She could use some cleaning up but she wasn't too bad on the eyes."
"She wasn't homeless, was she?" Doyle asked as he sat beside his brother.
Angelus shook his head then thought for a moment. There were several people there that were wearing hand-me-down clothes, she could possibly be homeless!
0o0o0
Angelus looked around the hotel as soon as he entered. He saw different people hanging around in the lobby than yesterday. He couldn't believe his brother actually talked him into coming back to this place. He looked around as he made his way through the large lobby. He didn't see the two girls from the day before, Willow and Fred. In fact, he didn't see anyone that looked like a volunteer at all.
"Hey." Called a voice from behind him. "Can I help you?"
He turned around to see the girl he had noticed the day before, she was even prettier up close. "I'm sorry, what?"
The blonde smiled at him, she couldn't help but think he looked cute in his jeans and black tee-shirt. "You look kinda lost, just wondering if you needed any help."
"Do you volunteer here?" Angelus wondered, hoping that she wasn't homeless. It bothered him that he could even be slightly attracted to a homeless person.
The blonde shrugged with a smile. "You could say that, I'm Buffy. Are you here to volunteer?"
"More like voluntold." He said with a smirk. He needed to stop letting his ego get the best of him, it just wasn't something he could do. McDonald had dared him and the price was just too important to him. "Not really sure how I ended up getting roped into this."
"Oh." She frowned, if he didn't want to be here then he didn't have to be. There was no such thing as being voluntold. Why was it so hard for people to help the less fortunate? "Well, if you want to stick around, you can sign in here." She pointed to the desk. "If not… there's the door." She pointed towards the exit.
Angelus raised his eyebrows at her, he wasn't expecting that reaction, he was just trying to joke around, keep her smiling but as soon as she frowned he found himself wanting to do anything to make her smile again. That wasn't like him at all. He was a hardcore lawyer that didn't care about feelings, definitely not a woman's feelings. He used women and moved on to the next, never worried about if they smiled or not. So, why was this one different? He barely even spoke to her.
He watched her walk over to the staircase and hug someone, he glared in their direction when he realized she was hugging none other than Lindsey McDonald. What the hell was he doing here? And why was he hugging her? He watched his co-worker say goodbye to the blonde and a couple other people before making his way out the door of The Hyperion.
Angelus watched as a man looked at a paper hanging on the wall before walking away. He made his way over to the paper to see what it was, it was a list of things that needed to be done around the shelter. Angelus skimmed the list until he heard the blondes voice again. "What do you mean your truck broke down?" She said into a cell phone.
Angelus turned slightly to listen to her, she definitely wasn't homeless with that phone! Right?
"But we were going to get the Christmas tree for the Hyperion." She pouted. She looked cute when she pouted. "You know what, I can ask Lindsey to pick it up tomorrow." She paused as if she was listening to the other person speak
"He already left for the night, he has court in the morning… hey, do you need a ride?" She smiled into the phone. "Okay, I will be there soon. Bye, Gunn."
She ran into the office where the sign in sheet was, grabbing a set of keys and running out of the office and The Hyperion. Angelus watched her leave, like hell she was going to ask Lindsey to do something that would make her happy. He was going to be the one to put a smile on her face, not Lindsey McDonald!
Angelus followed her path as he pulled his phone out of his pocket. "Hey, Doyle. Do you know anyone with a truck?" He scoffed. "No! Am I the type of person that would know someone with a truck?" He rolled his eyes. "You know… different types of people than me. You know what? Whatever. I gotta go." He shoved his phone back in his pocket as he jumped into his BMW. There might still be a place opened for him to buy a truck.
0o0o0
Angelus paused as he pulled a large tree out of the back of the pickup truck. What the hell was he doing? He wasn't the guy to go out and buy a new truck that he would never drive just to buy a Christmas tree for a homeless shelter! What the hell was it about this girl that basically told him to get out of the shelter just a couple hours earlier?! This wasn't him, but he continued trying to pull the large tree out of the back of the truck.
A dark haired man let out a whistle as he looked at the black truck. "That is a nice truck!"
Angelus shrugged, even though he did pick the truck because it was top of the line, he also wanted the truck with the biggest bed to fit the biggest tree he could find. The truck still wasn't big enough though, he had part of the tree angled so it was on the roof of the truck. Unfortunately, it had already scratched the truck.
"Need help?" The man nodded towards the tree.
Angelus nodded. There was no way he was going to get a 12 foot tree out by himself when it took several of the employees at the tree farm to get it in the truck.
"I'm Xander." He offered his hand to Angelus but realized the man's hands were already full. "Right, sorry." He nodded at the tree again. "What's your name?"
"Angelus." He told him, as they both attempted to pick up the tree together. "I don't think this is going to work."
"How many guys did it take to get this sucker into the truck?" Xander asked, looking around the tree.
Angelus sighed as he scratched his head. "More than two, that's for sure." He pulled out his cellphone and looked up a number before calling it. "Hey, are you guys still open?" He paused for a moment. "I will pay you whatever you want to pretend like you still are." He smiled into the phone. "Be at The Hyperion in fifteen minutes."
"This is for The Hyperion?" Xander asked, surprised. "Wow, this is the biggest tree Buff has ever gotten for the shelter."
Buff? Didn't the blonde say her name was Buffy? "Do you think she will like it?" Angelus wondered.
Xander frowned as he looked at the taller man. "She hasn't seen it?"
Angelus shook his head. "I just picked it up. Does she have to see it first?"
Xander shrugged. "She just always does. Everything goes through her. She's the man with a plan." He leaned away from the tree to see the other man better. "Who exactly did you call?"
"Tree moving company." Was his only reply.
"Ahh." Xander nodded, looking at the tree again. "I feel like the place you got it from could have delivered it easier."
"Cheaper too." Angelus mumbled, he wouldn't have bought a new truck if the tree farm would have delivered it. "They couldn't deliver it until tomorrow because it was so late."
Xander raised his eyebrows at the other dark haired man. "What's wrong with tomorrow? It's not like it's Christmas now."
"Tomorrow would be too late." Tomorrow she would have already asked Lindsey McDonald to do it.
0o0o0
An hour and three thousand dollars later, the tree was standing in the lobby near the staircase. That was where Xander said the tree went every year. Angelus stood in the middle of the lobby looking up at the tree, it was a decent size tree. Next year he would have to plan accordingly and have the tree farm deliver an even bigger tree. Next year? What was he thinking?
He turned around when he heard a gasp, to see the blonde from earlier. He swore she said her name was Buffy. He should have asked Xander to be sure.
"Did you do this?" She asked looking up at the tall tree.
Angelus nodded, as he glanced up at where she was looking.
"It's beautiful!" She smiled at him. "I can't believe you did this! We were supposed to get a tree earlier today but my friend's truck broke down. I guess that's what we get for not having a truck for the shelter. I was going to ask another friend of mine in the morning."
"Now you don't have to." He shrugged, smiling back at her. "And if you ever need a truck… I just happen to have one."
"That's really nice of you." She smiled even wider at him, he was getting more and more attractive by the minute. "I'm sorry about earlier, by the way. It's just, there are people in the position to help those in need and they aren't willing. I thought maybe you were one of those people, clearly I was wrong."
Angelus shook his head, she was right. "Nope, not me at all."
"We have never had a tree this big before." Buffy looked up at the top of the tree. "We will just have to get more decorations."
Angelus raised his eyebrows at her. "You are going to decorate it?"
The blonde nodded, happily. She couldn't believe he had gone through all the trouble of getting a tree for them. "We all will. We just get all the boxes of decorations out and let everyone do whatever they want."
"Huh." Angelus breathed out, looking at the tree. Why wouldn't they want a professional to come and decorate it so it looked good?
"Thank you again." She smiled up at him as she walked closer. It caught him off guard when she hugged him, wrapping her arms around his neck.
Angelus smiled as he hugged her back. "It was no problem."
"You know, I don't think I got your name." She whispered up at him as she pulled away.
Angelus watched her tuck her hair behind her ear, she really was adorable. She was nothing like the women he normally went for, yet, he found himself doing things he would never do before after only talking to her for a few minutes. "Angelus."
"Well, Angelus, I can't thank you enough." She motioned towards the tree. "It's getting kinda late though, so I'm going to get some sleep. See you tomorrow?"
Angelus smiled widely and nodded. "Yeah, definitely."
0o0o0
Angelus packed a change of clothes in his car so that he could go straight from work to The Hyperion Hotel. He wasn't sure what time the blonde would get there but he wanted to be able to spend as much time with her as possible. He found himself questioning, yet again, why that was. He jogged through the courtyard and into the hotel, he could see several people decorating the tree.
"Hey Buffy!" Xander called, sticking his head out of the sign-in office.
Angelus smiled when he spotted Buffy carrying a box over to the tree. She set it down, smiling at a little boy who started opening the box as soon as it left her hands. "Yeah?"
"Phone call." The dark haired man nodded towards the office.
Buffy smiled at him before whispering to the little boy. "I'll be right back." Then made her way to the office. "Thanks, Xand."
Angelus watched her talk on the phone for a few minutes, he made his way towards the office to sign in when he saw her hang up the phone.
"Angelus!" Buffy smiled walking around the desk to where he was. Why did he have to be so attractive? She didn't normally go for the tall, dark and handsome type. "Good to see you made it." She pushed the sign-in sheet towards him on the desk.
"Of course, wouldn't miss it." He smiled back at her as he wrote his information down. The blonde leaned against the desk, as she watched him sign in. "What's with signing in anyway? There's more people volunteering here than are signed in."
"Not everyone signs it, it's kind of like a newbie thing. Once you come enough then you don't have to do it anymore." She paused, trying to find an easy way to explain it, but there really wasn't one. "So, we didn't use to have a sign in sheet, but there was this guy… Ken, he was kind of killing the people that stayed here. Okay, there was no kind of about it, he was killing them. He figured no one would miss them. Now we try to keep a better track of the new people."
"That would be a good reason to sign in." he agreed.
"Oh, yeah. We are running a background check on you as we speak." She smirked teasingly. "Did you get a chance to look at the list of to-do's for today?"
Angelus shook his head. "Ah, no. I just got here."
"There's a lot to do." She shrugged before making a grossed out face. "But we can scratch off the plumbing issue. We thought we had it fixed but turns out we have to bring in an actual plumber. So, if you want…" she looked up at him with a small smile. "You could do something with me. That is, if you don't mind getting a little messy."
Angelus looked down at his jeans and tee-shirt, getting messy was the whole reason Doyle had dragged him to The Gap. "Not at all." He smiled.
0o0o0
Buffy grabbed some white sheets and laid them out flat on the floor, she was so happy that Lindsey had done the heavy lifting the day before and moved the beds, tables and chairs into another room. Although, that was when she thought she was going to have to paint the room by herself. Now, she had Angelus to help her.
"What exactly are we doing?" Angelus asked, straightening out one of the sides of the sheet.
Buffy shrugged with a smile. "Painting."
The lawyer raised his eyebrows. Didn't they have people they could hire to do that? He was a firm believer in never doing anything himself if he didn't have to.
"We normally do it every few years, I feel like it makes people feel better about having to be here. Especially this time of year." She pursed her lips as she walked to the door and grabbed two cans of paint from the hallway. "I wanted to paint the walls green and red just for the Christmas season, but Lindsey, my friend that thought he fixed the plumbing issue, said painting the rooms that often would be too much work and we have enough to do around here."
Angelus watched her open the paint can and stir the light blue color before pouring it into a paint pan. "How long have you been doing this?"
"Oh, god." Buffy thought for a moment. "Since I was 17. So, about ten years." She laughed, picking up a roll of blue painters tape and a paint roller with a long handle. "I can't believe it's been that long! Here, you're taller than me." She handed him the roller as she started to take some tape off the roll. "You will have better luck with the top."
Angelus took a deep breath. Ten years? That's a long time to do so much for other people. What did she get out of it? He just didn't understand.
"Hopefully, this room can be finished tonight." She looked around the room. "Maybe the bathroom tomorrow." She turned to look at him. "How late can you stay?"
Angelus shrugged. He couldn't stay as late as he had the night before when he brought the Christmas tree. He was supposed to meet Darla, she hated it when he was late. "A couple hours."
Buffy nodded, trying not to show that she was disappointed. She wanted to get to know him more, she felt like she misjudged him when she first met him. He must be a nice guy, he did go through all that trouble of getting them a Christmas tree and it didn't hurt that he was very good looking. She glanced at his left hand to check for a wedding ring, but didn't find one. With her luck, he would have a girlfriend though.
0o0o0
Buffy smiled as Willow walked into the back door to the kitchen. The redhead tossed a clipboard onto the counter. "Everything okay with the food delivery?"
Willow nodded, watching as Buffy started the dishwasher. "They are dropping everything off on the 23rd for Christmas dinner and our normal shipment is coming in tomorrow morning."
Buffy looked down at the clipboard, flipping to the next page. "Are you sure this is going to be enough?"
"How many people are you expecting on Christmas, Buffy?" Willow raised her eyebrows. "We already have 40 turkeys here, not including the ones they are going to drop off on the 23rd."
"I know." Buffy pouted. "I just don't want anyone to go without."
"With you here, I don't see how they possibly could." Willow laughed. "So, who exactly is going to cook all these turkeys this year?"
"My parents are going to come and help out." The blonde smiled. "Okay, so mostly my mom but dad did say he will show and help in some way."
"If Joyce Summers is coming then we are all saved." Willow laughed again, taking the clipboard out of her best friends hand. "Because we don't have anywhere near enough helping hands. Is your sister coming?"
The blonde shrugged. "Does she ever?"
Willow shook her head, Buffy's sister was never one to help others and wouldn't be caught dead in a homeless shelter. The two sisters couldn't be more different.
"Speaking of volunteers…" Buffy trailed off with a smile. "I kinda met a guy."
"A guy here?" Willow asked, interested. "Who? I know all the guys here."
"His name is Angelus." Buffy smiled, thinking of the dark haired man. "He's so sweet."
The redhead raised her eyebrows at her best friend. "Are we thinking about the same Angelus?"
Buffy shrugged.
"Suit guy." Willow nodded.
The blonde shook her head. "Everytime I see him, he is wearing jeans. He's jeans guy."
Willow shook her head, leaning against the counter. "No, the first time he came in he was in a designer suit and I had to tell him to wear something else next time."
"Oh." Buffy pouted then shrugged. "Well, he's pretty sweet. He got that tree out there." She pointed on the direction of the lobby, even though it wasn't visible. "And he helped me paint the room that needed to be done. Lindsey was going to help me but his court date got moved up and he could only move everything out of the room. Which I am thankful for, I don't know what I would do without Linds."
"Did you finish painting the room?" Willow wondered.
Buffy shook her head. "Angelus could only stay a few hours and I knew the kitchen needed to be cleaned up."
"Maybe Angelus could only stay a few hours because he doesn't actually want to be here." Willow suggested.
"I don't think so." Buffy shook her head again. "I mean, I do think we got off on the wrong foot when we first met. I thought he was going to be one of those guys that actually didn't want to be here, but those are normally the court ordered ones, which he isn't because we don't have any right now. Then I came back from giving Gunn a ride and there he was, in the lobby with that huge tree! And I don't know… I think I'm kind of crushing on him."
"Just be careful, Buffy." Willow warned, she knew her best friend wore her heart on her sleeve and she took it upon herself back in college to be the one to protect her.
0o0o0
Buffy climbed off the ladder and looked up at her handy work. This was the first time she was painting without Lindsey or Xander, it wasn't too bad, although she wouldn't take it up professionally. Lindsey and Xander had both got stuck at work the last couple of nights, which she understood. Lindsey was a lawyer and it was shocking how many domestic abuse cases there were around the holidays. Xander ran a construction company and they were currently trying to finish a home to get the family in by the holidays.
"Don't worry, I signed in." She heard, causing her to turn towards the door to see Angelus with his hands up in surrender as he walked in.
"Hey." She smiled. "I didn't think you were going to make it tonight."
"Work ran a little late." He shrugged, shoving his hands in his pockets.
Buffy nodded. "Of course, that happens sometimes. That's why Lindsey and Xander aren't here too."
Angelus nodded at the mention of his co-workers name, he and Lindsey had been in the same meeting. Luckily he was able to slip out before everyone else. "I figured you would be in here working on the bathroom by now."
"That was the plan." Buffy nodded with a laugh, looking at the wall she had been painting. "That plan hasn't really worked out well for me."
He looked up at the ladder next to her. "You are painting by yourself?"
"Not really much of a choice." Buffy laughed, setting the paint roller down. "It is the holidays and people are busy."
Angelus bent down to pick the roller back up. "How about I help you out some before it gets too late and I came by tomorrow to help you again?"
"I would say… thank you." She nodded with a teasing smile.
"You should smile more." He told her with a smile of his own. "It looks good on you."
Buffy shrugged, still smiling. "I wasn't aware I didn't smile enough."
"Maybe you just need someone to make you smile more." He held the roller up as he started to paint the wall.
"Maybe." She smiled, watching him paint the wall before she grabbed another roller to paint where she could reach.
"I saw that the tree was fully decorated." Angelus noted, not taking his eyes off the wall.
"Everything except the angel on top." She nodded, glancing over at him. "Someone who is not me can climb up on that ladder to put the angel on. It would be so embarrassing if I fell."
He stopped painting the wall and turned to look at her. "Do you often fall off ladders?"
Buffy shrugged with a pout. "I'm not going to say it's never happened, but certainly never with that many people around."
"No more ladders for you." He pointed at her. "I will just have to come here everyday in case you need to use a ladder."
"That doesn't sound too bad." She smiled teasingly.