WOOT chapter three! God I love mid-term holidays...Ok, so the same disclaimer applies to this story! Oh and that magical button down the bottom still has its magical powers...just incase your wondering...Oh and I promise the next few are longer...

Stuck in the Past: Store him?

2002 LA

Wesley looked up from the newspaper clipping he was reading. "Cordelia, the hotel officially closed its doors on December 16th 1979." Wesley looked up to see if he had her attention. Satisfied he had, he continued. "On that morning the concierge, Roland Meeks, made his morning wake-up calls with a 12 gauge shotgun, room to room. It's been empty since." Sitting back he sighed heavily.

Cordy glanced up from the computer screen and nodded sadly. "According to city records it was declared a protect historical landmark. The Property Management Company that owns it has been trying to sell it for 10 years, but nobody seems to want to buy the hotel. Its such a nice place, it just doesn't make sense."

Wesley scanned the document he was holding. "I think I might know the answer, apparently back when it was open, there was a murder mayhem dating back to the hotel's construction in 1928, when a roofer leapt to his death."

Cordelia covered her mouth with her hand aghast at the information she had been given. "You're kidding?" She whispered.

Wesley shook his head. "That's not all; he took two of his coworkers with him."

Cordelia nodded and took a steadying breath. "Yeah that's all really interesting. What are we doing?" She looked confusedly at Wesley.

Wesley looked up. "Doing?" he asked.

Cordelia sighed. "Yes! You did notice that Angel neglected to tell us, for instance, the point of all this." The doorbell interrupted her rant. Standing up, she moved to open it, surprised at the two standing on the other side. "Giles. Willow" she said, staring at them in shock.

"Yes. Hello Cordelia. Sorry to barge in on you, but we were getting nowhere back home, so we figured we might be able to help here." Giles removed his glasses and began frantically cleaning them.

Wesley approached the door. "Yes. Yes. Come in, I was just telling Cordelia the reason for doing this."

Willow stepped in, and moved to the couch and began rummaging through the photos on the floor. "What is the meaning for this?" She asked, inspecting an old shot showing a group of people standing around.

Wesley rubbed his head. "Ah- well - I mean, clearly he has us compiling incidents - ah, arranging data, organizing information in such a way that - uh" Wesley paused and sighed as Cordelia raised her eyebrow at him. "Yes, I-I did notice that, the no point thing. Frankly I haven't the slightest idea what to do with all this." Wesley sighed again, and dropped onto the couch beside willow. "I suppose we could make a collage - or a mobile," he mumbled distractedly.

Willow gasped, and thrust a photo at Cordelia and Wesley. "Wesley! Look who was staying here in 1952."

Giles leant forward and gasped at the two figures standing in the background. "That's odd." He muttered.

Wesley nodded in agreement. "Well. Now we know one thing for certain."

Cordy nodded. "Yup. It's not that vampires don't photograph, it's just they don't photograph well."

Giles sighed and shook his head. "No. Angel must have a connection to this place, and obviously Buffy was needed there."

Cordelia frowned. "So, why didn't he just tell us?"

Willow considered the comment and after a moment added, "Perhaps he was ashamed to."

1952

Angel leant back against the bed head, Buffy cradled in his arms. Her even breathing and slow heartbeat signaled she was not far from sleep. Running his hand through her hair he grinned. She was the last person he had expected to turn up here, but in a way he was glad it was her. They had so much unfinished business between them, that maybe here they would be able to sort it out. Cringing as a song started from next door, he tried to will it to stop.

Buffy lifted her head from its warm comfortable position against Angel's chest. "I forgot about music. Here I was thinking it was going to be all poppy, not all icky." Buffy groaned.

Angel chuckled. "This is the 50s."

Buffy nodded. "Yeah. It's nice though. No real interruptions." Buffy smiled softly.

Before Angel could make any comment, a gun shot sounded; very faint, but enough to arouse the attention of a Vampire and the Slayer. Remembering what happened, Angel held Buffy tight against him, not letting her move away.

Buffy looked up shocked. "Why aren't you doing anything?"

Angel sighed softly. "Because I can't change the future. If I run in there, than I'll look suspicious...besides I already get trialed later on."

Buffy gasped and sat up, straddling his lap, but not paying attention to the fact she was sitting a lot closer than she had in a while. "You get trialed?"

Angel nodded. "I do. But I think with that I can change it a little and defeat what ever it was that caused it." Noticing her expression he smiled slightly. Noticing for the first time the position she was sitting in, he spoke quickly. "Come on, I know you're probably getting itchy. Let's go and see what we can find out next door."

Smiling brightly, she jumped up. "Discreet, Inspector Buffy's on the case!" Laughing she led him to the door.

Buffy knocked gently on the door. "Excuse me sir." She called, trying the door handle and finding it open. "Look at that...its open." Grinning, she led Angel in.

"Be careful Buffy." Angel warned, following her in. Stopping at the sight of the body, Angel swallowed.

"Poor thing. Wonder why he did it?" Buffy leant down and inspected the gun. "He doesn't look like someone who would kill himself."

Angel regarded the body. "What do you mean?"

"Well for one, he is neatly dressed, and although his face is scrunched up, he just doesn't look like someone who would do it." Buffy paused. "I dunno... I just have this feeling."

Angel nodded. "I can understand that feeling. I've learned to trust that." Smiling he caught her eye. Just as he was about to move over and kiss her, a noise in the hall broke the moment. Reaching forward, he grasped her arm and dragged her into the bathroom, leaving the door slightly open so they could peer out.

A man entered the room, the bellhop beside him. "Did she touch anything?" he asked, looking down at the man.

The bellhop shook his head. "Consuela? Does she ever?"

The manager sighed. "This is the third one in as many months. It doesn't make sense. Why can't they ever do it in their own homes, for god's sake?"

The bellhop continued walking and crouched down in front of the body. "I should have seen it coming. The guy did seem pretty depressed."

The manager turned to his partner. "Oh, really? How could you tell?"

The bellhop snorted. "Kind of cheap, though. The death-wishers usually tip better. Like they know they're not gonna take it with them anyway?"

Buffy snorted. "I so want to go out there." She whispered. "Do you think we can sneak out, and pretend that we thought we heard something?"

Angel regarded the two men in the room. One was listening intently to nothing, while the other one was still rambling about the body. "Come on. Lets see how fast and silent you can be."

Buffy grinned. "You haven't seen nothing yet baby!" Taking his hand, she silently ran across the room. Prying the door open she stepped out, and managed to pull it to before the manager turned around. Composing herself, she knocked. "Hi, um its Buffy and Angel from next door, we were wondering if -" Buffy trailed off and opened the door. Gasping at the body she leaned back into Angel. "What happened?" She whispered through her hand, which was actually hiding her smile.

"Uh Ma'am, I don't think you should be here." The manager began, striding forward.

Angel growled. "Don't even think about touching my wife." He growled darkly.

The manager stopped walking. "Look, just go back to your room and forget this ever happened."

"Are you going to call the police?" Buffy leant sideways to see around the manager at the body, which the bellhop was trying to hide.

The manager shared a look with the bellhop. "Yes I am. Now if you will leave me alone I will do it right now." Moving to the phone he picked it up, and dialed a few numbers. Turning back to Buffy and Angel, he smiled and watched as they hesitantly left the room. Putting the phone back down he sighed. "That was a close one." He muttered.

"No kidding boss. So who do I call first?" the bellhop pulled a sheet down over the body, to save any more intruders seeing it.

The manager stared at him. "Don't be mad. No one is calling anyone. They'll shut us down."

The bellhop glanced at the body. "But what about him?"

"What about him he's dead." The manager moved to the door, frustrated when the bellhop continued talking.

"Well, we can't just leave him here. What if that couple comes back?" The bellhop stared at the door, where the couple had just left through. It was strange though. The man was such a scary sight, but the woman was so pretty and full of life. Oh well opposites attract. Pity though, she'd make a nice girlfriend.

The manager opened the door and called back. "No, of course not. We'll - ah, - we'll store him in the meat locker."

The bellhop stared at the manager like he had grown two heads. "Store him? We're gonna store him?"

Buffy looked over at Angel. "They're going to store him?" She swallowed at Angel's slight nod. "Ew."

ARG Chapter three done. WOOT I seem to be plowing through these like no tomorrow! Ok, please review...I would really love to know what you think!