Ok, this one's kinda dumb...but I was terribly sick with mono when writing this, so I made Buffy suffer with me.
Angel pulled the covers up higher around Buffy, making sure they were secure. He brought his hand up to brush her hair gently away from her damp forehead, frowning at the abnormally high temperature of her skin. Even though she was in a restless sleep, Buffy seemed to unconsciously lean into the cool temperature of Angel's hand, seeking some kind of relief from her fever. Angel frowned again and bent down to brush his lips against her forehead before standing up to exit her bedroom, quietly shutting the door behind him.
Willow looked up from her spot on the couch where she was watching TV at a low volume as the vampire as he entered the living room. "How is she?" she asked.
"Sleeping finally," Angel said. He didn't sit down, but just paced the small living room. "It took a few Advil PM's though."
"Well that's good, right? I mean just yesterday she was doing the whole, 'I don't need sleep, I'm the Slayer' thing," Willow supplied hopefully.
Angel didn't seem relived. Willow could practically feel the waves of tension coming off of him. "Thanks for calling me. I didn't know it was this bad."
Willow gave him a tight-lipped smile. "Well, you know Buffy…" she trailed off.
Yes, Angel did know Buffy. He knew she wasn't feeling well all week, and he knew not to believe her when she insisted it was "just a head cold". He knew that as long as she was conscious, she would slay. He also knew that a sick Slayer was a slow Slayer. And a slow Slayer was a dead Slayer.
No, Angel wasn't stupid. So he also knew that Slayers didn't get this ill naturally. Sure, there was that thing back in high school where she had the flu, but she kicked that in a few days, even with the demon drama at the hospital.
By now Willow had noticed that Angel was thinking over something as he paced the living room. "Angel?" she asked. The vampire stopped his pacing and looked at her. "What are you thinking?"
"That this isn't just a head cold," he responded.
"Well yeah, I think that's pretty obvious," Willow replied. At Angel's pointed look she caught on. "Oh! You think something's doing this to her."
"Or someone," Angel said. "Just another attempt to take down the Slayer."
"Wouldn't be the first time," Willow muttered.
Angel dug his cell phone out of his pocket. "I'm gonna call Giles."
Willow just nodded in agreement.
After struggling a bit with the apartment door, Willow finally undid the lock and stepped into the kitchen. Angel and Giles had already covered the small breakfast table with books, and currently had their heads bowed over a particularly ancient looking tome that Angel seemed to be translating for Giles.
Willow dumped the bags and boxes she carried in her arms on top of the books on the table and said, "Okay, these are all the test kits I could get from the hospital. We've got everything from Ebola to Mumps. You know I think that was the one time I was actually happy that I went to high school with Ashley Gibbs. I knew she would owe me one day. How'd she even become a nurse anyway? She made me do all her biology homework…" Willow trailed off as she realized Angel and Giles were staring at her. "If this works, just be happy I was such a pushover in high school," she finished.
Angel gave her a small smile. "Thank you, Willow."
Willow nodded, resolve face firmly in place. "So the spell we did pretty much confirmed that what ever icky thing Buffy has is mystical in origin. Now we just gotta figure out what it is." Willow dug through one of the brown bags on the table and fished out a few items.
She held out a sterile syringe and several empty glass vials to Angel. "You're up," she said to him. "Better hope she took enough of those Advil PMs."
Angel eyed the medical equipment skeptically and shot a look at Giles, who gave a terse sigh before nodding in the general direction of Buffy's bedroom door. Angel grabbed the items from Willow before disappearing down the hall. Willow cringed internally a bit at the exchange. How quickly she forgot that anything having to do with Angel, Buffy, and Buffy's blood didn't tend to go over well with Giles.
"Ding ding, we have a winner!" Willow said excitedly. Angel practically threw the book he was reading down on the coffee table before leaping off the couch and heading towards the kitchen, Giles following close behind.
"Well, what is it?" Angel asked as he hovered over Willow's shoulder trying to make sense of whatever results she was looking at.
Willow put down the pamphlet she was holding and looked up at the vampire and Watcher. "Mono," she said simply.
Giles looked a bit surprised. "Really?" he asked.
"Really," Willow confirmed, checking the test kit's instructions again. "More specifically, infectious mononucleosis."
"Interesting," Giles said.
Angel looked between Willow and Giles, a confused expression on his face. "Um hello, eighteenth century knowledge of disease here. What's mono?"
Giles took off his glasses before answering. "It's quite common in young adults, particularly in high school, since it is exchanged through saliva." Willow could practically see the hackles rising on Angel as Giles said this, and she wondered how he continued speaking as though he wasn't standing next to an irritated vampire. "Symptoms include sore throat, fever, body aches, chills and fatigue. Everything Buffy has presented in the past few days."
"What's the cure?" Angel practically growled.
"Nothing," Giles said. "With rest and some cold or flu medication to alleviate the symptoms, they should go away within a few days. After that Buffy will most likely be fatigued for a couple weeks-"
"Weeks?!" Angel asked.
"Yes," Giles said, looking at the vampire. "Normally a Slayer would recover fairly quickly from something like this, but since this strain appears to be magically altered, it is affecting Buffy as if she were a normal girl." Giles sat down at the table in the chair next to Willow. He looked over the information packet that came with the test kit. Willow recognized the look on his face as his "research mode" look. She glanced up at Angel, who was standing still as a statue, arms crossed, and was looking between Buffy's closed bedroom door and the supplies spread out on the table as if he wasn't sure where he should be right now.
"What I'm confused about," Giles said, still looking over the test kit pamphlets, "is why mono? It's not exactly a deadly disease. More of an uncomfortable inconvenience, really."
Angel began his pacing again. "I don't care what it is, just get me a name of whoever did this."
"Giles is right," Willow said gently to Angel. He shot her a glance. "This thing isn't dangerous. Maybe we should just let it run its course. The hardest part will be keeping Buffy off her feet anyway."
Angel couldn't help but smirk at that. He sat down on the other side of Willow at the table and said, "I can stay a few more days. And I'll come back whenever I'm free to help out with patrol."
"Thank you, Angel," Giles said sincerely.
The three sat in silence for a few moments before Willow said, "I wonder why mono? It's so…common. And I didn't even get to use the Ebola test kit!" She held up the unopened package, a little disappointed. Angel shot her a glare.
"Yes Willow, I've been wondering the same thing," Giles said.
"I mean, a third of our class got mono junior year. I think it was after that party Becky Anders had after Winter Formal. Cordy and Xander definitely both had it," Willow recollected, a slight smile on her face. "A bunch of kids were out for a week or two, but no one died or anything. It was generally something more demony that did that."
"Seems oddly specific," Angel said.
"Do you think the type of disease could hint at who is behind it?" Giles asked.
"Sounds like an old high school grudge to me," Angel replied.
"Then why go after Buffy?!" Willow asked, raising her voice. Angel shot her another glare and then glanced in the direction of Buffy's bedroom door. Willow looked apologetic and continued. "She saved everyone in that school tons of times! We had the lowest mortality rate of any graduating class!" Willow finished, with a small amount of pride in her voice. Angel just shrugged, and Giles continued to look deep in thought.
"Okay," Willow stated. "So who did we go to high school with, who probably didn't like Buffy very much, has a decent amount of knowledge about both science and the dark arts, still lives in town with nothing better to do than tinker around in their mom's basement…." Willow trailed off and her eyes grew wide.
"I know who it is," she said.
Angel looked directly at her and said, "Get me an address."
"Ugh, I can't believe I have mono," Buffy said groggily as Angel handed her a mug of hot tea before sitting next to her on the couch. "It's so…high school."
"Maybe you'll make it trendy again," Oz said from his spot next to Willow on the opposite end of the cozy L-shaped couch that was in the girl's living room.
"Unlikely," Buffy said as Angel attempted to rearrange the blankets around her. "I wouldn't wish this misery on anyone," she added as she swatted away Angel's hands. "And I can't believe it was Jonathan and his creepy little friends! How many times did I save their butts in high school? And this is what I get?"
"They won't be causing anymore problems," Angel said cryptically as he wrapped an arm around Buffy's shoulders. She sank back against him gratefully as his cool body soothed her feverish and achy one.
"Yeah, Angel and I made a pretty good team!" Willow said brightly. "He did the growly, smashing part and I finished up with a few spells to de-magic all their supplies."
Buffy looked up at Angel and said in a dramatic, Southern-belle voice, "My hero!" She then reached up and gave him a small kiss on the base of his chin. She then frowned at him after a moment.
"You know I didn't kiss any of those losers, right?" Buffy asked Angel, suddenly a little worried. "I know mono is called the 'kissing disease,' but yuck! I would never!"
Before Angel could respond, Willow said, "We're pretty sure they just cast a spell."
"Oh," Buffy said. "Good, I guess…" She looked back up at Angel and said, "Unless you gave it to me." Angel just raised his brow at her. "You did do quite a bit of kissing back in the day," Buffy said with a smirk, poking her boyfriend playfully in the arm. Buffy obviously knew that Angel couldn't have gotten her sick, but she couldn't resist teasing him, especially since he had kept her bedridden for the past two days.
"It's late, let's get you to bed, huh?" Angel said as he took the mug of tea out of Buffy's hands and helped her off the couch. Willow and Oz smirked at each other. Angel ignored their teasing and was just glad Buffy's sense of humor seemed to be returning.
Before Angel could sequester his girlfriend in her bedroom, she stopped and turned around. "Wait a minute, about my patrol schedule-"
"NO!" Angel, Willow, and Oz all said in unison, cutting her off.
"Okay, okay," Buffy said, raising her hands in surrender. "Didn't realize this was a dictatorship," she mumbled as Angel placed his hands on her shoulders and guided her down the hallway to her bedroom.
"Tough patient," Oz said after a moment, causing Willow to let out a snort of laughter before resting her head on his shoulder.
Yeah, yeah, not my greatest plot line, but I was in a serious rut. This was my way of dealing with The Trio, since I absolutely hated that story arc in the show. I highly doubt they would have been around as long if there was an angry Angel in the picture! The good news is that my night class is done so hopefully I will have more time to write now!