Chapter 10 – City of Angel

"A bit busier than Sunnydale." Buffy shouted over the motorcycle as they neared the law firm building. "Especially for 1:30 in the morning." She added as they rounded the building and found the underground parking garage, 4 doors on the bottom of a ramp, they pulled up to the far right door and stopped by a keypad, Buffy punched in the code Angel gave them and the door opened. They drove into a garage with many vintage cars that all looked new. Spike parked the bike by the elevator at the far end of the garage, and shut it off.

"Bloody ponce has a few company cars, probably magically sun proof and everything."

"Spike, can you at least try to be nice?"

"For you pet?" he started then gave her a grin "I'll try, but no promises if he starts anything."

"Of course, why should I expect that?" she commented sarcastically as they reached the elevator and pressed the button. "So you ready for this weirdness?"

"Nope, Angel will probably be in a suit and everything." He joked.

"Ehh, didn't think of that." She laughed with him then the elevator dinged it's arrival. Spike motioned Buffy through first then followed her in. Buffy rifled a piece of scratch paper out of her pocket, floor 42 she checked then pressed the number on the wall.

"I love you Slayer," Spike said sincerely, Buffy gave him a slightly confused look, not what he said, she'd heard it plenty before, but why now? Spike clearly knew what she was thinking, "Just wanted to keep that fresh for ya." She smiled up at him and gave him a soft peck on his cheek just before the elevator dinged for their floor.

The doors opened to a large office, with what seemed to be a conference room at the far end. The pair stepped out of the elevator and started to look around the room, a large desk with weapons and other antiques behind it was at the end of the room they were at. Then there was a kind of sitting area in the middle, a couple couches and chairs, then a very large table in a partially cut off room behind. Strange thing was, there was no Angel in Angel's office, no nobody to greet them.

"Wonder where he's at, he knew I'd be here about now." Buffy pondered.

"So we gonna wait for him or go poking around?" hoping she'd choose the latter option.

"We should probably stay put Spike. Pretty big place to get lost in."

"Fine," he grumbled, then looked to Angel's desk and got a fun idea. He strode over and plopped right in his chair. "Ooo, very nice accommodations for the king of an evil empire."

"Spike stop it, you said you wouldn't start anything."

"He ain't here yet, can't start trouble until the other party gets here." He clarified as he started to spin the chair like a little kid.

Buffy tried not to laugh at him "And how old are we William?"

At that he stopped the chair, facing the wall behind the desk. But before he could retort, the main doors opened to the office. Buffy turned to face who entered, Spike didn't move. Angel strode into his office with a guy and girl in tow. They were in the middle of a conversation and headed for the meeting room when Angel stopped, and turned around to see Buffy standing by his desk.

"Buffy?!" almost surprised to see her.

"Hey Angel." She tried to say modestly as a smile covered her face… and possibly started to blush... dang he looks good in a suite…

Angel looked over at a clock then reasoned to himself that it was about that time. He walked over to her giving her a hug "Sorry I wasn't here earlier, got caught up with something, lost track of time, you been waiting long?"

"Na, just a few minutes actually. Nice office."

"Thanks." Then Angel's two companions crept up behind him obviously anxious to meet her. "Oh Sorry, um Buffy this is," Angel went to motion to the brunette woman but she pushed past him to shake hand with the famous Buffy.

"Hi I'm Fred, been workin' with Angel for a while now, and now I'm the head of the Science department here." She had a charming Texas accent and was very enthusiastic, shaking Buffy's hand with just as much energy. "It's just so nice to meet you, I mean we've all heard stories, but to meet you in the real live flesh and everything, gosh, it's just wow! I mean you're the Slayer, well one of two I guess. Just how strong are ya? Angel says you're a bit stronger than your average vampire, but I just can't picture a small-ish woman like you or me being so strong. The physics of it all just boggles my brain…" before she could babble anymore the guy who came in with them grabbed her shoulder.

"Fred, I think you may wear out the slayer's arm." She looked down and immediately released Buffy's hand and apologized. The man looked at Buffy and smiled "Well you haven't changed much."

Buffy was very confused, have I met this British dude before? Searching his face for clues. Clearly her confusion was obvious enough as Angel provided the answer for her. "Buffy, this is Westley." She took a double take but then she started to see it under all the facial hair.

"Holy Crap! Well you've changed quite a bit." She smiled, hoping that didn't sound too mean "So you run all things magic here? You got my amulet handy?"

"Quite right, I'll go fetch it. Be right back." He left the office, closing the door behind him.

"Good drive?" Angel asked sitting against the edge of his desk, Buffy joined next to him, propping herself up on the massive desk.

"Yeah, ears are still ringing a little from the motorcycle though." Shit… I had to announce that, Spike was being so good at hiding and not causing trouble yet. Buffy could just see Spike holding in his laughter at her.

"Since when do you drive a motorcycle?" Angel asked confused then saw his chair turn out of the corner of his eye, then turned to face it.

"Hey Grandpa! So you bloody evil now or did you just kill the boss and take over?"

"What the hell is he doing here? And in my chair?" Angel asked Buffy not moving his eyes from Spike.

"He's been helping me for a while now, offered to give me a ride to L.A."

"Really?"

"Yup, I'm a goody good guy now too!" Spike mocked, propping his feet up on the desk.

"Come on, feet off my desk, and get out of my chair!" Angel rounded the desk, Spike had no intention of moving, then he picked Spike up by his coat. "Why the hell are you helping?"

"Told ya, I'm a white hat now."

"You get another chip?"

"Nope, don't even have that bloody thing anymore." He gave an evil grin.

"What?!" Angel glared at Buffy confused as he gripped tighter to the vampire's coat.

"It was a whole thing, it was killing him so we got it taken out. Besides he's got a s…"

"Don't tell this ponce!"

Angel was confused, then stared Spike down and put the pieces together. "Damit, when did you get a soul?" he asked then threw Spike back a few feet beside his chair.

"So you're like Angel then, with the curse and all?" Fred felt compelled to ask.

"No!" Spike replied, almost offended "I'm not bloody cursed, I wanted my soul back so I went and got it. Simple as that."

"How?" Angel asked brow getting furrowed and arms crossed, clearly upset he was being copied.

"None of your business."

"So you won't lose it with a 'moment of perfect happiness'?" Fred clarified.

"Nope, I can shag all I want and I still get to keep it." Shooting a triumphant grin to Angel.

"Oh," Fred responded almost sorry she asked.

"Sorry about Spike," Buffy apologized to Fred "He just doesn't know when to shut up." Then glared back at Spike.

"He never has," Angel added "I'm surprised that hasn't got him killed yet." Buffy and him shared a laugh at the comment.

Then to Spike's relief Westley came back in the room, amulet in hand. Now if we hurry we could get back to Sunnydale before sunrise… No, I gotta see if I can make the dimension come true, gotta tough it out here with the ponce so I can end up with Buffy. "Hey look it's our shiny trinket."

"Well yes, I mean this is what you were looking for right?"

"Seems like," Buffy responded, accepting the amulet from Westley "You dig up any more info on it besides the name?"

"Why yes, quite a bit actually." Westley handed over a file as well "Well the translation on it boils down to giving cleansing power to the champion that wears it. You said you were hoping to use this as a magical conduit for sunlight?"

"Yeah. Preferably without Spike or me needing to wear it. Since it seems to roast the wearer into a pile of ash."

"Where did you find that?"

"Didn't find it, we opened some dimensional windows and saw it play out that way."

"You've been messing with dimensions?" Angel asked concerned.

"Not going in, just looked around a few to see what the FIRST's plan might entail. Why Spike and I were so important to it that it hasn't actually killed us yet." Buffy clarified. The room was quiet with thought then Fred broke the silence.

"Sounds neat. Can we call it a night?" She asked Angel "You guys are staying the night aren't you?"

"Yeah." Buffy replied.

"Great, then we can go over everything in the morning." Westley concurred.

"Sleep sounds awesome." Buffy agreed then faced Angel "Got a couch or two we can crash on?"

Unsure about the 'a couch' & 'we' in that statement he replied "I have a guest suite, 2 rooms, full kitchen, bathroom, the works."

"Besides your own penthouse? Very nice to be the king of evil." Spike sassed.

Buffy exited the bathroom, hair up in a towel and some pajama shorts and tank top donned. She walked over to join Spike who was sitting up on the bed in the larger room of the suite. The slayer snuggled up against the vampire. "I don't think Angel liked you sitting at his desk, or you know being here."

"Yeah, knew that was comin'. Why'd ya have to tell him I got a soul? Now the sod just thinks I'm copying him."

"You're the one who said you got the chip out. Besides he was just gonna keep asking why you were helping."

"Maybe," he replied as he leaned in to kiss her forehead "Think I shouldn't've come?"

"No, I definitely felt 'giddy Buffy' return when he came in, and kinda forgot you were there until I blew your cover with the motorcycle…"

"Well that's reassuring."

"Sorry, but it does prove your point for tagging along."

"Yeah?" he remarked, both happy she wanted him here & that he was right "Thanks luv." And gave the girl a squeeze and pecked her on the cheek "I love you Buffy."

Well there was the key words to make me uneasy… I could just go sleep in the other room…

"Sorry pet, I know ya don't like it when I say it, but I just can't help it sometimes"

"That's still not fair." She turned to see a confused look on his face. "Your mind reading trick." His confusion quickly turned to his familiar smug grin, then she surrendered a coy smile "Well we should get some sleep so we don't konk out during the research party tomorrow." She started to take her hair out of it's towel then looked back to Spike curious "You gonna mind wet hair?"

"Naaa," he replied and pulled her in close again "Cold and wet doesn't bother me."

"Okay," Buffy snuggled up against her kind of boyfriend "Goodnight Spike."

"Night luv." Ha gave her one last kiss on top her head then settled to try to sleep himself.

Buffy stirred at the sound of three knocks at the door to the suite. But the last thing she wanted to do was move from her cozy spot in Spike's arms. Maybe I was just hearing things and it's not time to get up yet. To her regret she heard the knocks again followed by a familiar voice. "Hello? You up Buffy?" Spike was still out, Buffy looked over to him, kissed his forehead. Then reluctantly got up out of bed and headed for the door.

"Morning Angel." Buffy welcomed, as she opened the door for him.

"Good morning. You sleep well?"

"Yeah," she went to scratch her head and realized she had some bad bed head going on "Oh crap, is there a cat on my head?"

"Just a little one," he chuckled.

"Give me a minute." She fled to the bathroom to straighten out her hair.

Angel poked his head around the suite, one bedroom door was shut, the other had a messed up bed, but no Spike. He breathed a sigh of relief. Good, they didn't sleep together. That would be unfathomable, even if he's got a soul now. Then he saw Buffy re-enter the room. "You ready to learn how to save the world?"

"Sure thing, I'll change then come on down. Think I'll just let Spike sleep for now."

"Less face-time with captain peroxide is fine with me." Buffy rolled her eyes at the vampire "We're down in the conference room in my office when you're ready."

"Sounds good, be down in 10."

"Morning all!" Buffy announced as she entered the conference room. The group greeted her in return, she saw Angel, Fred, Westley, and a couple more faces she did not recognize sitting around the table. Then she noticed the muffins in the middle of the table and wanted to dig in.

"I like the blueberry best," Fred offered "They got those nummy crumbly bits on um."

"Sounds good," Buffy grabbed a blueberry muffin and took a seat at the table "Thanks, Fred? Right?"

"Yeah, short for Winifred, but Fred's always been my nickname so I don't even bother with the real one anymore."

"Fair enough," mouth half full of muffin. "So anything new about our sun happy amulet?" She asked Angel as she set the piece on the table.

"Well, you guys found out a lot about it just in finding it's name and that it was in Sunnydale, some higher powers took great pains in keeping it a secret this long. How did you even come across it?"

"Combo of the dimension peeping and asking around."

"Dimension peeping?" asked one of the men at the table Buffy didn't recognize "What exactly were you peeping toms looking for?"

"I'm sorry, who are you?"

The black man in a suite replied "Charles Gunn, you can just call me Gunn, used to be some extra muscle to the team, but now I'm loaded up with lawyer knowledge so I'm heading up the legal department for Angel."

"Ah, nice to meet ya." Buffy smiled "And while we're at it, who's the green guy?"

"I'm Lorne, yes I'm a demon, but don't go slayin me sweetheart, I haven't done an evil thing in my life."

"Working here doesn't count?" She could tell she made the room uneasy with that comment "Sorry. That came out kinda rough… So Lorne, what kind of non-evil demon are ya?"

"I'm an empath demon, I can read people's aura's, more so when they sing. I use my ability to help people find their path."

"Really?"

"Oh sure, we've sang for Lorne lots of times to help save the day." Fred enthused "Especially Angel."

Buffy couldn't help but burst out laughing "Are you serious?" Everybody couldn't help laugh a little having heard Angel sing multiple times, then Buffy caught Angel's scowling face and forced herself to stop. "So what tomb did Wolfram & Hart snatch this thing from?"

"Um, yeah, don't have a name on the tomb, but got this gps location and an ariel photo for ya, you could go recon it when you get back." Angel explained happy for the change in conversation.

Buffy looked over the map "Is this Westview Cemetery? Or maybe St. Mary's? Not sure, it looks different from above."

"It's been a while since I frequented Sunnydale, not sure which one it is myself." Angel replied.

"Eh, no big, we can check out the gps coordinates."

"If I may," Westley jumped in "You said you were intending to use the Lapedium Solis as part of a spell, not through a champion like how the text suggests."

"Yeah, we saw how it turned out when a champion used it. They ended up a pile of ash, looking to avoid that outcome."

"Through your dimensional peeping?" Gunn asked.

"Yeah."

"Would you mind explaining just how you managed that?" Westley inquired.

Buffy went on to explain the whole spell best she could not going too in-depth on the less relevant dimensions and definitely not mentioning the more erotic dimensions that would surly upset Angel. People would ask questions as she went, making the explanations get even longer. Angel's crew would sprinkle in the new details as they talked, nothing too helpful far as Buffy could tell, but maybe Willow and her watcher Jr. of a sister would see something useful in their notes. During the discussion Harmony kept coming in and out of the conference room, almost like she was hoping to see when Spike joined. Why do I keep paying attention to when she comes in? Am I getting jealous of Harmony? Buffy looked at the clock, it was almost 12, Spike should be getting up soon… Fred pulled Buffy back to the conversation at hand. "Sorry Fred, zoned out for a sec. What was that?"

"Just seems like were all up to date on what we know, anything specific you want us to look into before ya gotta leave?"

"Well it would reassure Willow to know the make-up of this Lapedidoum Solstice."

"Lapedium Solis luv." Spike corrected as he announced his presence and strode into the conference room. All eyes looked to him, Buffy was glad he was finally there, Angel could have gone longer without him, and the rest were just surprised to see him. Everyone was aware of who he was and that he was there but most were not aware of his blinding Billy Idol hair-do. "Why is latin so tricky for you pet?" he asked as he sat in an open chair to the left of Buffy.

"Because it's a dead language, and I'm not dead like you." Spike smiled at the jab, while Buffy and Fred giggled a little at her comment. Then Buffy remembered where they were and who was around. "Anyway, you've just missed the boring re-explaining and clarification stuff."

"Glad you didn't wake me for that excitement."

"You ain't big on planning?" Fred asked.

"Spike? Plan?" Angel mocked "That'll be the day."

"Oi, I can when I want to…" Spike defended himself. "Just don't like to." Fred conducted introductions for everyone in her enthusiastic way, including the part where Spike was sired by Drusilla, then got a chip, and is now chip-less but has a soul and that's why a vampire is helping a slayer, again. "So now that you all know my life story, why is a bunch of goodie good guys running evil inc.?"

Angel took the question, "We had a run in with a higher power this summer, and didn't really like what it was trying to do, or how, so we took her out. Wolfram & Hart saw it as ending world peace, so they gave us the keys to the place."

"We believe this is also a means to corrupt and divide us as well." Westley added.

"Sounds like fun." Spike commented with an evil grin.

"No," Buffy scolded. "Spike you have a soul now, no more evil ploys."

"I'm not doing anything evil, I'm just admiring someone else's handiwork that's gonna make this ponce miserable." Buffy just rolled her eyes in response.

"So why exactly is it that you two hate each other? I thought you two used to raid Europe together? Isn't that fun bonding stuff for vampires?" Gunn inquired.

"Yeah, know what else is fun vampire stuff Charlie-boy? Constantly snogging my bloody girl." Spike glared to Angel. "Even in front of me on occasion, especially when Darla flaked out on you."

"Oh, get over it Spike I was evil. When did I ever do something malicious to you when I had a soul?"

"I seem to remember a certain U-boat incident where you made me swim to shore before the sun came up." Spike jabbed "Yeah, I figured that one out, you had a soul then, that's really why you wouldn't bloody let us eat the crew."

"You're lucky I didn't just dust you like I did the other two annoying vampires on that boat."

"You couldn't if you tried Nancy." Spike stood up as to challenge Angel.

Angel stood in response "I've got 120 years on you boy, come at me!"

The pair started to approach each other until Buffy stood up between them, glaring at Angel, and pressing a hand against Spike's chest. "Enough." She said firm but calmly, then she looked to Spike "You promised you wouldn't start anything."

"I said I'd try not to, but this wanker is asking for it." Before he could say another word in defense, Buffy pushed against him causing him to fall back into his chair. Spike crossed his arms like a stubborn child being put on time out.

Then Buffy looked back to Angel, "And you should know better…" Angel sat down himself before Buffy made him. "Now, can we have a civil conversation about Sunnydale's current apocalypse, without you two going at it? Or am I going to have to take out some of my frustration on both of you?" Both the vampires kept their heads down and sat quietly. To which Buffy then sat down herself.

"Wow, that's just amazing." Fred enamored "Do all Slayers have that kind of control over vampires?"

Buffy wasn't sure how to answer the question. Then Gunn jumped in "I think these two are a special case there Fred." Then he flicked his wrist in the air and made a whip crack sound effect.

"Oi!"

"Hey!"

Spike and Angel may have been upset by the comment, but the rest of the table was laughing, even Buffy. The rare sound made Harmony re-enter the room, and confirmed Buffy's suspicion as she sauntered over to Spike as the laughter faded.

"So, Spikey, how've you been?"

He was a little taken back by the gesture as he spun in his chair to face his ex. "Peachy. You?"

"Oh I'm doing fine, likin' the new job, feel like I've really found my own place in the world."

"Good for you Harm…" He replied plainly.

"Harmony." Angel asserted to get her attention, she looked to her boss. "There a reason you popped in?"

"Well you were laughing… a lot. Just saying that's a weird sound for this office." Angel glared in response. "And it is about lunch time? You want me to order something or y'all doing cafeteria today?"

"We'll finish up here then just head down to the cafeteria today Harmony." She nodded in response then took one more ogling glance at Spike before leaving the room.