Episode 6.12
The Call
by Karen
The whole room was silent. The phone call everyone had been waiting for had finally come. They just sat there, waiting for some reaction.
Finally, Angel took a deep, unneeded breath, "I'll take it in my room," he said, turning towards the door. Gunn nodded, knowing that would be the vampire's choice, had already transferred it.
"Say hi for us," Briana called after him.
Sarah turned on her, a look of disgust on her face, "What was that?" she asked, once the vampire was out of the room.
"What?"
"'Say hi for us'?" Sarah asked, "From the way Mr. Harris told it, Buffy is the bloody love of Angel's bloody life! And you want him to say 'hi' for us?"
Gunn and Faith looked at each other, "Nah, she's not British," Faith joked.
---
"Buffy," he said once he picked up the phone.
"Angel," she said, her voice a bit breathy, with a hint of fear, and something else he couldn't distinguish.
"Buffy," he returned in the same tone, and heard a small sigh at the other end of the phone.
"It's good to hear your voice," she said softly.
"It's good to hear yours," he said, sitting on the side of his bed. Then he shook himself mentally, "Uh, Spike said you'd call."
"He did? Yes, I guess he would. I'm mostly calling to check on Sarah, Briana, and Jade. Willow said you promised to call if you found anything out, but we haven't heard from you. And we've been meaning to get in touch with you, and then nobody would do it, and it got put off, so now I'm calling."
"Things have been busy," he said defensively. "But I do have some information on Jade, if you're ready for it."
"Go ahead," she said, and quickly he informed her of the things that Faith had learned from the girl and filled him in on. "Have you found this Luke yet?" Buffy asked, and he ran a hand through his hair.
"Jade is doing really well here. She's a bit under the weather at the moment, but Faith seems to have taken her under her wing, and the two are greatly helping each other."
"Angel," she interrupted. He was reminded that they both knew when one was lying to the other, and sighed.
"I'm just saying that I don't think that Jade is stable enough to leave yet. She did find Luke, her younger brother, along with the other children she had grown up with. They grew up in an orphanage like I said, and as far as we can tell, she is the only one that survived out of at least twenty children. According to Faith, Luke was everything to Jade. She was his mother, his sister, his best friend," he said.
"That's got to be tough," Buffy said softly.
"I agree with you that she needs training, but this city is her entire life, her brother was her entire life. It's no surprise to me that she isn't feeling well. She's grieving."
"Can you guarantee me that you can handle her training?" Buffy asked, her tone business-like.
"Between Faith, Spike, Sarah, Briana, Connor, Gunn and I, I can guarantee both her safety and that she will get enough basics to stay alive."
"The girls have been with you at least a month now, right? A month in the field? An associate might show up sometime within the next month to gauge their progress. We sent them to you because we knew you would need them, but if they're not making enough progress, then they might need to be reassigned. This was to be for their benefit as much as yours, Angel. They need real experience without much danger before they can go back to their lives and be counted on surviving."
"Okay," Angel said, his voice holding no emotion. He didn't want to think at the moment what it would mean to everyone if the girls were assigned elsewhere. He had almost gotten used to their strange quirks and personalities. Though he didn't have a favorite, he knew that a few did. "Is this the only reason you called?" he asked.
She sighed, "Is it true you think about me all the time?"
"Yes," he said without thinking out his answer, without giving himself time to lie.
"Is it true that you still love me?" she asked quietly.
"We've gone over this. But yes, I still love you, I will always love you, only you."
"I just thought…with what you've been through…what happened? Our crew said they found Faith's body…"
He sighed, "We died, every one of us. I-I watched them all fall, before I finally fell," he said quietly, letting himself remember, knowing he was safe telling anything to Buffy. "A-And then we were in this white room, and there were other beings there, Gods maybe, or The Powers That Be. They gave us the choice to go to heaven, or be given a demon free life, or to go back and fight. We chose to fight."
"Why?"
That one simple word made him think. He hadn't questioned his reasonings in the moment, but now, afterwards, when he had seen what had happened… "Because I don't deserve to go the heaven, and with a demon free life, I wouldn't have you. There would be no way of us being together…they wanted to have me be reborn, live with a family, grow up, live a normal life, and then die. I wouldn't remember anything. I couldn't live without remembering you, it wouldn't be worth it."
"Angel," she sighed, and he thought he heard tears in her voice.
"So, uh, what's new with you?" he asked after a moment.
"Just training girls. We've got two hundred in different stages of development; from those that haven't accepted it yet, to those that are just about ready to go home and fight the good fight on their own, on their own ground. At first, we were just going to find them and train them in their home towns, but then the magnitude of what Willow did hit us, there just weren't enough of us, so Giles started an academy. We still have some girls that refuse to come to the academy but are willing to learn, but they're few and far between, so we can manage.
"We actually have so many slayers that Willow's looking for a spell for those that refuse to accept their destiny, to release them of it. Because girls that are slayers and don't know it or won't accept it are being targeted, and because they don't know how to protect themselves, dieing. We have so many willing to join the cause, it's amazing." He sat back, letting her talk. Once she was on a topic of interest, she sounded like her old, teenaged self, the girl he remembered from Sunnydale. "And we keep finding more girls everyday. They seem to get their powers at 14, which is really young, but with the program we have going, we're trying to make sure they survive for as long as possible. Another use for the spell would be to have them 'serve' until they're 20, or 25, and then release them of their calling if they want, so they can live a normal life. Almost like the military, you sign up for so many years, and the Council has enough money to offer benefits and stuff for slayers. We're really going places, changing the world."
"Would you ever want that, to stop being the slayer?"
"A slayer, Angel," she corrected kindly.
"You'll always be the only one to me."
He could tell he had flustered her by the way she said what she said next, "I've accepted that I'm a slayer, I don't think I could deal with it being taken away, it's a part of me. And now that I have a job that pertains to what I'm good at, my life is a dream, even though some things are missing."
"Like what?" he asked.
"Certain people, certain things," she said, being evasive on purpose, he could hear it in her voice. "Well, I've got to go, I've got a meeting to get to, but don't be a stranger, call me sometime."
"I'll do that," he said, knowing that he never would. He's torture himself before he'd ruin her happiness.
"Bye," she said.
"Bye," he replied, knowing that he sounded sad, knowing that she'd understand.
He stayed in his room for a few hours after he had hung up the phone, thinking over their conversation, her answers, and her veiled threats. He didn't know what bothered him more, her seemingly happiness, or the thought of losing the slayers. Even if it were the only reason for her calling, it would be a call nonetheless from her if she were calling about the girls. And then he felt guilty about thinking of them as nothing but a tool.
He decided then that tomorrow he would start a training regimen for the girls. The others would hate to see them have to go, and he was kind of attached to them as well. He was being desperate, but in the moments when he wasn't worrying about what he had done to LA, and when he wasn't worrying about his crew and when he wasn't worrying that they had chosen the wrong thing, he was worrying about her, wishing for a life with her.
He began mapping out a training schedule for them, and off in the other parts of the hotel, he heard doors close as his friends went to bed.
By the time everyone dragged themselves out of bed the next morning, he had a schedule all mapped out on a piece of poster board he had found lying around.
"What the-" Briana asked as she and Jade came down the stairs.
"Guess it wasn't a pleasure call," Faith said to Spike with a nudge as they followed behind the two girls. As they descended, Faith kept an eye on Jade, she was still getting sick every so often, and it worried Faith.
Angel waited silently before everyone had shown up. "Last night, a member of the Council informed me that this isn't supposed to be a pleasure stay," he said, looking at Briana and Sarah, "They also said that if you don't make improvement while you are here, then you will be reassigned." There were small gasps from the two girls, who looked at each other and then the friends they had made. "As for you, Jade, I've gotten you a stay for right now, but the same goes for you, if you don't get the training you need here, you'll have to go to England to get it." It was Jade's turn to gasp, and she looked imploringly at Faith, as if Faith could make his words not be true.
"That's why I've set up this schedule. It's flexible, but personally, I like the help you provide, so I'm going to be trying to stick to it as best as possible."
"So what's on the agenda for today?" Sarah asked.
"First we have to get Jade up to speed, but you two need to stick around, you might learn something you missed the first time."
"What type of lessons are these gonna be?" Faith asked, "There isn't much you need to learn about being a slayer, don't die. That's the only lesson that's kept me going."
"But they need to learn how to not die," Gunn said, "If I had had a chance to learn how to fight before I hit the streets, if it hadn't been learn on your feet, I don't know, maybe I would… be doing something different today." Everyone heard the unspoken part that came next, maybe he wouldn't have died.
"I was thinking that Faith, since you have the most experience being a slayer here, you would like to teach Jade some of the basics. Spike and I can stand in for demonstrations until nightfall. Then we'll take what she's learned out on the street and apply it."
"Nah," she said, shaking her head, "I've never had any formal training. I'd just screw it up." Spike, Sarah, Briana, Angel, Connor and Gunn all started to tell her otherwise, all having fought with her before, and the din was deafening.
So it was odd when a soft but clear voice from the doorway broke through the din, "I never had any formal training either, and I seem to have come out of it alright. I have a whole training school under my control."
Angel and Spike just stared at the blonde standing just inside the door, shocked to see her there, trying to remember if she had ever looked so lovely. Spike then mentally kicked himself, and turned his attention on Faith, who looked shocked, but then she had a big grin on her face. Sarah and Briana were likewise surprised, but they seemed more pleased than anything to see their mentor. Jade looked from one face to another, having no idea who this newcomer was, Gunn looked at her a minute, confused, before a light went on. Connor didn't seem to care who the woman was, but he had a good idea from the look on his father's face exactly who she was.
It was Faith that broke the silence, walking up to the slayer with sure strides, "B, long time no see!" she said, quickly giving the blonde a hug.
"Hi, Faith. I can't say that even with everything I've heard, I'm still surprised you're still here," she told the woman, "But then again, you kind of lucked out with the prison being destroyed," she walked down the steps, Faith on her heels, "I checked out the systematic destruction, and Willow's first hypothesis seems to be right, the demons targeted places of good, or places where slayers lived, or had lived. Gotta say," she said, looking around, "I like what you've done to it, not that I've ever been here…in life. But anyway," she said, "Briana, Sarah, nice to see you again, Spike, same to you. Angel," she nodded her head his way, locking gazes with him for a moment, before she turned back to the others, "You must be Jade. Nice meeting you."
"Uh, likewise," Jade said, shaking her hand, even though she had no clue who she was.
But she had already moved on, "I'm sorry, I don't know who you are, but it's a pleasure meeting you, I'm sure," Buffy said to Gunn and Connor, shaking each of their hands.
"Charles Gunn," he said, shaking Buffy's hand heartily.
"Connor," he said, watching her move, starting to understand why his father liked her so much.
"I didn't mean to interrupt your little meeting, I kinda found it fascinating."
"What are you doing here?" Briana asked, taking the words out of Angel's mouth.
"Well, I had some frequent flyer miles to cash in, and you guys have been here just about a month now, and not many of the others wanted to come and meet with two vampires, so I volunteered. I told you someone would show up within the month," she told Angel with a smirk, "The school's fine without me, they've got Willow, and Kennedy and Amanda, and all the others," she shrugged. "I don't know about you, but I'm looking forward to some training after being cooped up on that stupid plane." She looked at everyone, but avoided Angel's eyes. She didn't know what she would see there, didn't want to know.
"Well, I guess that's settled," Faith said, "I'll just follow along, maybe I'll learn something." She looked at Buffy, noticed the slayer's avoidance of Angel. "That is, if it's okay with you, B, and Angel. You two probably have catching up to do," she said, thinking.
"Nah," Buffy said, drowning out Angel's answer, "That can come later. Slayer training comes first. Jade, do you know anything about slaying?"
"Uh…" she bit her lip, before shaking her head.
"Well, stop me if you've already heard this, but…" she went on to describe what the slayer was, what a slayer primarily did. "We'll teach you about vampires today, since we have two volunteers," she motioned to Angel and Spike, "Two ways to kill a vampire, cut off their head, or stake through the heart. Two things definitely repel them, Holy Water and crosses. I don't know about garlic, I never had good luck with it," she shot Angel a glance, "Though there is no surefire formula, it is generally agreed upon that the older the vampire, the stronger, just because they've been around longer, learned more. It's not advised to go against a vampire over 100 years of age or older without backup. In fact, the Council is negotiating adding it to the Slayer Handbook. This wasn't the case when Faith and I first started slaying, but you're not the only one, never be afraid to call for backup if you think you'll need it.
"You can't tell vampires apart from regular humans until they transform," Buffy turned to Angel, and he demonstrated. "Note the ridges, the yellow eyes, and the sharp fangs. I don't have to tell you to stay away from the fangs," she said with a small laugh.
"There is a ton of vampire lore, but I brought some books for you to read, quite a few, actually. We're currently trying to put together text books, to lighten the load of books, but those will be a few years down the road," she turned suddenly to Angel and Spike, "If you guys have anything you want put in, or left out, of the text books, you should probably let Giles know.
"Now, the biggest thing we're worried about is your fighting skills," she said, turning back to Jade, "Have you had any formal training, any type of martial art?" she asked, "Generally there's this form we have all slayers fill out, but…" she looked at her expectantly.
"I grew up on the street," Jade said, "I think that's the best education a girl could get on fighting," she said with a bit of bravado, hostility. She didn't like Buffy. She didn't like the way she just came in and starting bossing everyone around, and God could she talk. Even more than Briana!
"It's not enough," Faith and Gunn said at once. They looked at each other, and Faith let Gunn continue, "My sis and I grew up on the street, me and my gang, fighting vampires, surviving as a team. But my sister, vampires got he best of her, and the next thing I knew, I was fighting my sister."
Buffy felt bad for Gunn, and yet admired him for speaking up. "They're right. A street education is not going to win you many fights." She looked at the girl's disbelieving face and knew she wasn't going to be able to tell this girl anything. She turned to Angel, "Do you have a gym? A practice room, anything?" she asked.
"There's one in the basement."
"Show me."
Five minutes later, Angel showed them into a gym full of old equipment, but there was sufficient padding on the floor.
"This isn't going to be like what you would face out on the street, Jade, but it's a taste," Buffy said, stepping onto the padded flooring, "Spike?" she asked, turning to him, inclining her head. Their gazes met, and he nodded slowly. She turned to look at Faith, hoping the slayer would understand. She didn't know how far the relationship between the two had progressed, she hadn't even truly known until she had walked into the old hotel, but she hoped Faith understood. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Angel's surprised face as Spike stepped out onto the mat. She moved to the side, and Spike walked opposite her, then they turned to face each other.
"It's nice seeing you again," Buffy said softly, but she knew both vampires heard her.
"It's nice to see you, too," he said just as softly, as they began circling each other.
"A fight with a vampire while patrolling would never start like this. Generally, one always has the upper hand, depending on whether you surprise the vampire, or the vampire surprises you. You can never tell who is a vampire, so you have to learn to trust your instincts," she said as they circled. The last part she had to turn slightly to talk to her audience. She started to say something more, but that was when Spike made his move, while she was distracted, charging in to tackle her to the ground. As they fell, she tried to twist out of the grab, but he had her by the waist, and he fell on top of her.
He crawled up her body to sit on her stomach, punching her in the face. She wriggled underneath him, and he grinned, "Been awhile since we've done this, luv," he said, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. She wasn't sure whether he was talking about their 'relationship' or the fighting. She grabbed him by his sleeves, and for a heart stopping minute, Angel had a vision of them kissing, but as she pulled on one of his sleeves, she kicked out the other hip, and flipped them over.
"Don't you remember, Spike, I like it on top," she said, mentally cringing, as she punched him in the face and pushed him away from her, using the momentum to push herself to her feet. He did a kip up, and they squared off again. He jabbed her in the face, making her spin; she used the momentum to spin herself around and backhand him. He backhanded her, and she returned the favor before spinning around and kicking him in the face. He fell to his knees, but pushed himself up in an instant, a sadistic grin on his face, "It has definitely been far too long, slayer."
She nodded, her face grim, as she concentrated on looking for a weakness. They circled a bit more before she kicked him below the knee and then brought her foot around to kick him in the head. He spun and used the momentum to back fist her in the cheek. Her head was flung to the side by the blow. She fell to the ground, a small gasp of pain coming from her lips. She looked up at Spike, glaring at him as a trickle of blood ran down her chin.
He laughed, walking over to her and pulling her up by her hair; she hissed in pain. "Let me continue the lesson," Spike said, pulling sharply on Buffy's hair, "A vampire will use anything against you, hair, earrings, necklaces. When you're patrolling, wear comfortable pants, shoes, no fancy shirts. Wear things you don't mind getting dirty," he said, wiping his finger across Buffy's cheek and licking the blood from his thumb, "This is what I miss most about being evil, the blood. Your blood is like the elixir of life. Tasting a slayer, killing a slayer," he smirked at Buffy, adding a last part silently, "That's something every vampire dreams of." He grinned at Buffy, "Ain't that right, luv?"
"Yeah," she said, her voice thick with pain. She looked up at the three girls, letting them see her humiliation through her face and her eyes. Her gaze snagged on Angel's, and the look on his face made her heart soar. It was then that she realized a second reason for this humiliation.
He pulled her hair a bit, pulling her head from side to side, "Should I let you go, pet, or should I play with you a bit more? You know how I-"
Through the whole thing, Angel had been stewing. She had chosen Spike over him. Why the hell did she choose Spike over him? And then, the banter. He knew both were known for their banter, but did it have to have so much innuendo? And did he have to drag on her hair, her beautiful, long hair?
Something inside him snapped, and he was on the insolent younger vampire in an instant. "Don't you touch her! Don't you ever touch her!" he yelled, his momentum dragging them both into the wall, where he repeatedly bashed Spike's head off the cement so hard he was leaving dents.
The girls gasped, shocked at what the mild mannered Angel was doing. Even Gunn was shaken. He had seen the vampires get into it once or twice over the past year, but he had never seen Angel so…possessive over anyone. Faith bit her lip, just slightly worried Buffy and Spike had pushed it too far. Only Connor didn't show any change in emotion. He knew what his father was capable of, knew the feelings running through his veins, fueling his anger, because he had once felt them as well, though he thought he had never felt it so strong.
Angel's hands were around Spike's neck, strangling him though it wouldn't have effect. Between smashing him against the wall, he jammed his knee into the vampire's stomach, repeating over and over that Spike had no right to touch Buffy, to taint her.
"This is how fast, strong, and unpredictable a vampire can be. Don't get caught off guard, or it will cost you your life," Buffy said from her knees, where she had dropped when Spike had let go of her hair, not wanting to drag her backwards as Angel grabbed him. She wiped her lip, pushing herself to her feet. She walked over to the angered vampire, and gently put a hand on his arm, pulling him away from Spike. Spike dropped to the ground, panting, as Angel stared at Buffy.
"You used me," he accused, and when she didn't say anything, he stormed off. A moment later, they heard a resounding crash of a door being slammed shut.
Everyone didn't move for a moment, staring at one another, uncertain of what had just happened. But then everyone started to move as one, as Buffy ran out of the room to talk to Angel, Faith ran to Spike to see how he fared, and the girls slowly milled about, talking to each other in hushed whispers. Connor and Gunn helped Faith help Spike to his feet, and then helped to lead him to his room, before leaving, knowing the slayer would enjoy playing nursemaid.
Buffy knocked twice on the closed door she knew to be Angel's. When there was no answer, she twisted the knob, it turned in her hand. She let herself in to find herself staring at his back as he stood at the curtained window.
"How could you do that?" he asked softly, and she took a deep breath, willing herself to not cry at his harsh tone.
"It had to be done," she said, her tone matching his. There was none of the whispery breath he had heard on the phone, no traces of the girl he had once known. The woman in his room was professional and businesslike.
"You could have told me, could have let me in on what was going on. You played me for a fool, first choosing him, and then used my feelings against me. How could you do that to me?"
"I'm sorry," she said softly, taking a few steps towards him. She hadn't taken the time to think about how Angel would feel about the plan. She knew he would be jealous of her and Spike, and she knew he would protect her, but she hadn't expected this. "I'm really sorry."
"I know that you were with Spike," he had turned and she could clearly see the pain on his face, "I don't want to know the details, and to have it thrown in my face like that…is that how it's going to be, are you going to choose him over me?" he asked.
It was the final straw. The emotional dam she had built over the years broke as she propelled herself towards him, literally throwing herself into his arms, her lips on his as if she hadn't seen him in centuries as the tears streamed down her face.
.End.