Instant Rewind: Chapter 3

The phone in the lobby had been ringing off the hook forever over an hour. Unfortunately for the person on the other end, no one was about to answer the phone. The answering machine picked up for the hundredth time, "Hi, you've reached CW Investigations. Please leave us a detailed message and we will get back to you as soon as we're in." The voice on the other sounded in an urgent tone.

"Hey kids! You absolutely need to call me. Something important has happened and we need to get on it pronto." Lorne's voice resonated through the empty lobby of the Hyperion Hotel. That was the last time the phone rang. The hotel remained silent before the front door burst open and three figures sauntered through.

"I had him!" Gunn yelled as he tossed his homemade axe to the floor. Gore splattered on the floor as he went straight to the bathroom. Fred followed close behind picking up the bloody object.

"Do you have to throw things on the floor, Charles?" She asked as she went to the back door that led to the basement. Wrenching it open, she descended the stairs to wash the weapon.

"I didn't throw it!" Gunn yelled back. Connor followed and gave Gunn a scowl.

"You threw." He said. He dropped the backpack he was carrying and fell onto the couch. He was tired. It had been a long battle. Gunn had underestimated the muscle the Mar demons had…by a lot. They nearly got their asses handed to them. Wesley had driven Cordelia home to get changed. Connor looked down at himself and noticed that his new shirt that he had just bought was covered in blue Mar blood. Throwing his head back against the couch, he sighed heavily. Fred emerged from downstairs at the same time as Gunn emerged from the bathroom. She walked over to Connor and sat down next to him.

"Well, that was…more than we were expecting." She said as she looked to the large man standing behind her. Gunn shrugged and threw his hands up.

"So my informant was whack. What do you want me to say? I already apologized…we just won't trust that two-faced vampire wannabe again." He crossed his arms over his chest and made an 'its-not-my-fault' face. Connor smirked.

"Here here. Look, it doesn't matter whose fault it was. It sucked, we nearly lost, but Wes' mojo seemed to do the trick."

"He is very good with that, isn't he?" Fred said with a dreamy expression on her face. Connor motioned with his finger down his throat in an imitation 'gag-me.' Fred hit him in the arm playfully and he laughed at her. Fred and Wesley were really cute with each other. They matched in more ways than one. Gunn had never really been okay with it, but he was managing with grace.

"Well," Connor said standing, "I am going to go and have a much needed shower and burn the new shirt I bought because there is no way these stains are coming out."

"I second that motion." Gunn said. He looked at his two friends and shrugged, "Guess some of that Wolfram & Hart crap is still stuck up in my brain." Moving alongside Connor, the two men headed upstairs to shower. Fred smiled after them and moved towards the office in the back. She picked up a folder that was lying on the counter and moved into Wesley's office to put it away. She didn't notice the blinking light on the machine. While she poured over their next case, she heard Wesley and Cordelia come through the front door. At the same time, the back door opened and Spike emerged from the basement.

"Well that was entertaining." Cordelia said. Spike sauntered over to the fridge and pulled open the door. Picking up what was left of his breakfast that morning, Spike downed the rest of the blood then put the cup on the counter. He wiped his mouth on his sleeve and smiled at Fred. Fred made a 'gross' face and kissed Wesley as he leaned into her.

"Yes, well, we won't be unprepared the next time."

"Next time?" Spike questioned.

"Yes, I believe we have only seen the beginning of this assignment." Wesley put his arms around Fred and hugged her softly. Connor and Gunn emerged from the lobby and Gunn hit Spike in the shoulder.

"Thanks for the back-up Blondie." Gunn's sarcasm rang clear with every word.

"Hey, I had you back, mate. You were the one too bloody stupid to pay attention to my signals."

"Signals? What signals? Waving your arms in the air is not a signal." Gunn said sitting down in the large brown leather chair behind his desk.

"I was NOT waving my arms, I was signaling you to come to the rescue you stupid git." Cordelia moved between the two men and put up her hands.

"All right, that's enough. No more fighting, not today." Connor smiled at her bravery. Coming between Gunn and Spike was a dangerous thing.

"Don't ya'll think we should worry about the next case? I think for right now, we are okay when it comes to the Mar demons. They are pretty low-level stuff, now this file," She dropped a large file on the counter, "This we can get some serious stuff from." The classified Wolfram & Hart file lay open on the table as Wesley began to go through some of the pages. The team began to read the file on the upcoming merger between the Kalan and Maa tribes when a soft cough came from the lobby. All the heads turned to see a small woman standing framed by the sun. Her long blonde hair fell down her back and she wore rather large sunglasses. Her hair framed her face and she wore heavy bangs. She waved slightly and the team moved away from the offices. Cordelia moved to hug her friend.

"Buffy." Buffy hugged Cordy back and smiled.

"Hey, how are you guys?" She asked. She didn't remove her sunglasses while talking to them.

"We're good." Fred replied. Buffy watched as Spike moved towards her. She kept her distance and smiled.

"Good." Wesley brought out a glass of water and handed it to her. "Thanks." She said. Slowly she sat down and took of her glasses. For a while she hung her head and waited. Slowly she lifted her heavy head, instantly the group gasped in unison. The black eye she wore was turning purple and yellow. She'd had bruises before, but this was different. Cordy sat next to her and held her face up. Buffy could see the rage on Spike's face as he moved away from her and threw a punch at the wall.

"That bloody, stupid, sodding…" Buffy's eyes widened as she picked up their reference. She put her water down and pleaded with Cordy.

"It's not what you think." She said.

"What do we think, Buffy?" Cordy asked, "What did he do to you?" Pain spread across Connor's face as he looked at the small fragile woman sitting on the couch.

"No, its not…it wasn't Angel."

"Sure, figures you would cover up for him."

"NO! It wasn't Angel. I swear to all of you, he would NEVER do that to me. No matter what he…has become." She said slowly. She turned her attention to Wesley, "I…Hamilton did it. He found out I was the one who stole all the files. He threatened me, then he beat me up."

"Oh."

"I don't know how he found out, because even Lindsey doesn't know, but he did."

"How did he get the upper hand on the Slayer?" Gunn asked.

"Magic. He stripped my powers from me when he confronted me. It was rather unpleasant. I still don't know if all my strength has returned or not."

"Does Angel know?" Cordy asked.

"No. He, he thinks it was an accident. I can't tell him, and neither will Hamilton. Angel can't know I was the one who stole from his company…" Wesley walked over to her and sat next to her. She leaned into him and he hugged her small shoulders, "Look I can't help you guys anymore. Even if I believe in what you do…Hamilton threatened not just me but my…our…children. I'm done Wesley, please don't ask me again." Wesley nodded and smiled at her.

"No. We won't." Gunn looked obviously displeased with the situation; he crossed his arms and scowled. Concern flooded Connor's face. He barely knew this woman and guilt swept through him for what they made her do. Buffy slowly stood and moved away from them. Spike tried to follow her but she put up a hand in protest. Placing her sunglasses on her face she made to leave.

"I'm just here to say goodbye," She made it to the door before she turned around and put her bag down, "One last favour for old times sake." Turning, she left the bag where it was. Then she was gone. Wesley moved towards the bag and opened it. Within the bag was a final file. Single and solitary, he lifted it out of the bag and opened it. There were only four sheets of paper in the folder. The top one was a picture of Angel; the files described the attempt on his life and death threats to his family.

"This is getting more complicated than we imagine."

"What is it Wes?" Gunn asked.

"It seems that not everyone is happy with this upcoming merger. Angel's life has been threatened. It seems they tried to kill him several days ago. A threat has also been made on Buffy and the children…including you Connor." Wesley handed Connor the file and he read the lines saying his name.

"I am NOT that monster's son." He tossed the file on the ground and walked away.

"Do they know who tried to kill him?" Fred asked picking up the file next.

"Who cares?" Gunn asked. Cordelia glared at him.

"I do." Fred swallowed and looked through the write-up.

"Oh my god." She said at length. Interested, Connor came back.

"What? Who is it?"

"It's someone on the inside. It's one of the lawyers who work with Angel on the merger case. Steven Derange. It says he was paid a rather large sum to kill Angel…he has now gone missing. However, there are members of the Maa Tribe who wish for Angel to be killed off so they don't have to merge with their enemies. The ambassadors working with Wolfram & Hart deny that anyone of their members is trying to kill him. It says that they have no other proof to suggest otherwise. If Buffy already knew this, why would she leave us the file?" Fred inquired.

"She wants us to help her." Cordy said at length. Connor took a similar stance to Gunn and frowned.

"No way. We are not helping that man."

"I agree with the little man." Spike said standing next to him. Cordelia stood and moved towards Wesley.

"Well I think Wes and I run this show and we decide who we help and who we don't."

"You actually want to help the man who fired us all and continues to help Wolfram & Hart?" Gunn accused her.

"No. I want to help Buffy."

"Yes, I agree," Wesley said, "We have put her life in danger by asking her to help us. We owe her one. We may not like Angel, but we all love Buffy…and her children are innocent." Fred got up and looked at the two sides. She nodded her head and went to stand with Wesley.

"Three against three," Cordelia said, "What's it going to be boys, we can't do this without you." Heartbeats later, Gunn let his arms fall. He bowed his head and nodded. Spike was already in from the beginning.

"Anything for Buffy." He said. Connor continued to scowl as he thought it out.

"Buffy. No one else." The team nodded together and moved back into the offices. All six continued to ignore the blinking message that was waiting for them.

--

It had been over a week and Angel was still no closer to finding out what had happened to him. He was still unsure of how to approach the subject with Lindsey. It had turned out that the Angel from this dimension enjoyed Lindsey in a more friendly capacity. Lindsey spent a lot of time sticking up for Angel rather than fighting with him. Angel felt it was best to keep as much distance between himself and this life; that meant not getting to know too much about what was going on. He found that it was becoming increasingly difficult. Especially when at home. He would come upstairs from a rough day dealing with demons and lawyers, Angel wanted nothing more than to down a bottle of whisky; instead he was drawn into a life he had no clue what to do with. Dinnertime, bath time, story time, and bedtime…it was never ending. The seven year old, Liam, was not as difficult as his little sister, Isabella. She was attached to Angel at the hip…literally. She enjoyed nothing more than wrapping herself around Angel's legs forcing him to walk forward with her attached. The whole way through the apartment she would giggle and squeal as Angel tried to detached the young girl from his leg. When he finally managed to free himself he would have to sit with her for at least an hour watching Spongebob Squarepants and the Fairly Odd Parents. When she was satisfied that he had suffered enough, she would let him leave to have a shower. He drew out his shower as much as he could to get some time to think. Within a half an hour of peace, loud knocks would sound from the bathroom door and Isabella called his name.

"Daddy! Daddy, we are having dinner!" Angel sighed and told her he would be out in minute. Turning off the water, Angel groped for a towel. One fell into his hand and he patted his face dry. Pulling open the curtain he saw Buffy standing in the middle of the bathroom with her arms crossed over her chest. Her bruises had faded and were barely noticeable now. She had finally told what had happened to her, claiming that she had fallen down a flight of stairs on a recent run she'd taken. Angel didn't believe her; there was no way a Slayer lost her balance and fell while running. But he had accepted in nonetheless. He stood before her and she blushed slightly. Angel dropped the towel from his face and wrapped it around his waist. He stepped out of the shower as she continued to watch him. Standing in front of the sink, Angel looked up. Where a mirror should stand there was nothing. A small hand gripped his shoulder. Angel turned his head to look at Buffy. She moved in front of him and looked up into his face.

"How was your day?" A simple question.

"Busy." Buffy gave him a crooked smile and squirted some of Angel's hair gel into her hands. Rubbing them together she moved her hands up to his hair. Angel leaned forward and allowed her to style his too-long hair.

"Probably not as busy as mine." Angel laughed a little and smiled at her.

"No, you have me beat there." Angel thought of Isabella who was a ball of energy that never wanted to end. Buffy finished then wiped her hands on Angel's towel that hung from his lean hips. Slowly she put her hands on the sink and then pushed herself up to sit on the edge. Angel was suddenly uncomfortable. She looked into his eyes and noticed that her husbands chocolate eyes started to shift from side to side. She took his face in her hands and smiled.

"What?" She asked.

"The kids…"

"They're watching cartoons." Angel's cover was gone. She lifted her powerful legs up and wrapped them around Angel's torso drawing him towards her. Angel allowed her to draw him towards her stopping short. She locked her legs around him and then brought her arms up around his neck. Angel's mind shouted at him that he shouldn't do this. He had no idea what would, or could, happen. His body and heart however shouted the opposition. His mind began to cloud over as he thought and rethought the situation before him. Her arms pulled him towards her and Angel leaned into her. Slowly she brought her lips to his. Angel's mind exploded, as he tasted her lips. She felt the same as he remembered; tasted the same; in all the years he had been without her, she was the same. She pressed her body towards him and he responded by putting his large hands on her tiny waist and pulling her towards him. The kiss intensified taking on heat and passion. A soft moan escaped her lips and Angel's eyes flew open. Her green eyes shone back at him, as she looked deep into his soul. Angel reluctantly broke the kiss breathing heavily.

"Buffy…" A giggle exploded from outside the bathroom. Angel's head turned and he saw both Liam and Isabella staring at them from the threshold of the bathroom. Angel growled slightly before Buffy let go of him. She put a hand on his chest and cocked her head to the side. Angel turned his attention back to his children…my children…and put a hand on his hip.

"Maybe you two should go and set the table so we can eat dinner?" Isabella laughed again as her brother dragged her towards the kitchen. Buffy brought a hand to her mouth and laughed. She slipped off the counter and took hold of Angel's towel. Pulling, the towel fell form him and she tossed it in the hamper.

"Come on, daddy, time for dinner." She walked away from him allowing him to get dressed. Angel emerged moments later in a pair of sweatpants and muscle shirt. Buffy and the children were already sitting, waiting for him. He sat at the head of the table and together they ate dinner. The silent chewing was a refreshing twist to Angel's noisy day. When they finished eating, Angel made Liam help his mom clear up and do the dishes while Angel got Isabella into the bath. Bath time was the part of the night Angel liked the most. She was so little. Angel had never made it to this stage in Connor's life, so he relished in the fact that at least for a little while he had the opportunity to be the kind of dad he wanted to be. Over the last week, Angel got the impression that the Angel that lived in this world was not the most fatherly. The first night Buffy had asked Angel to give Isabella a bath; the little girl had a look of excitement on her face. When Angel had said yes, she had squealed with delight at the idea that she would be spending some quality time with her dad. Angel played in the water and let her splash him several times before he gave her a stern look. Instantly she stopped and pouted. With a slight flick of his wrist, Angel sent some water splashing into her face, which made her erupt into giggles. Once she was finished, Angel helped her get ready for bed; read her a story; then kissed her goodnight.

"Love you, Isabella." He said to her. She rolled over and smiled into the wall.

"Love you more, daddy." Angel listened to her breathing slow and smiled. Buffy was behind him, slowly she walked past him and kissed Bella on the head. The child was asleep by the time Buffy arrived, but it was the most touching moment Angel had ever witnessed. Together, they closed the door and moved onto the next room. Liam was easier to put to bed. They stood at the door and both looked in on the seven year old. Liam looked up from his comic book and smiled at his parents.

"Lights out in half an hour." Buffy said.

"Okay, mom." Liam replied. He turned his attention back to his comic as Buffy closed the door enough to see the light glow in the hallway. She left the hallway with Angel in tow and proceeded to finish cleaning up the kitchen. Angel picked up a dishcloth and started to dry the dishes. As he worked his way through the mountain of dinner dishes, Buffy gave him a curious look.

"What?" He asked.

"Nothing." She replied continuing to wipe the counters. Angel felt that this would be the perfect opportunity to get some information out of her. He had to find out what this Angel's life was like on a more regular basis. He'd already figured out that he was cheating on his wife and that he enjoyed the dealings of Wolfram & Hart more than Angel would have liked; that he had fired his friends without a second thought and that he seemed to do many of his things from behind the scenes. The one person who would be able to help him was Wesley. He had to find out how he could get in touch with him without tipping off Wolfram & Hart.

"Buffy," He started as she turned towards him, "I…my head is still a little out of sorts from when I…fell. I was wondering if you could indulge me and clear a few things up?"

"Like what?"

"Wesley." Buffy nearly dropped a plate when he said the ex-Watcher's name. She caught it before it could smash into a million pieces. She put the plate on the counter and looked up into his face. He noticed that her hands started to shake.

"What do you want to know?" She asked.

"When did I fire them?"

"Long time ago," Off his look she adjusted her answer, "Right about the time you became a member of the Circle of the Black Thorn. You never looked back after that." That didn't explain everything, but at least it was a start.

"Everyone?" He asked.

"If you mean Wesley, Gunn, Fred, Cordelia, Spike and Connor, as 'everyone' then yeah. You fired everyone." She put the plate away as Angel stared at her. Shock registered on his face as he took in the times. He made a mental note of the people who were around when he joined the Circle: Wesley, Gunn and Spike yes. Fred was Illyria by that point…Connor was with his adoptive family…Cordelia she was dead. How does that one figure in?

"Cordelia?" He asked. She turned to him and saw the pain etched in his eyes.

"Yeah, why?"

"But, she…she died." Angel said. Buffy put her hands on her hips and put her dishcloth over her shoulder.

"What are you talking about?" She asked him. Angel shook his head and tried to clear the cobwebs out of his mind.

"Nothing," He turned away from her and began to put some dishes away, "Where are they now?" He asked.

"They are staying at the hotel you used to live in before Wolfram & Hart. They have been there since you fired them, running CW Investigations." She finished with her set of dishes then hung the cloth off the stove. Angel did the same and thought about what she had told him. So it was possible to see him. Suddenly it occurred to Angel that his friends might not exactly be his friends here.

"Are we, on friendly terms?" He asked.

"Sometimes I worry about you…no. You are not on friendly terms. They won't even speak with you. Gunn and Spike would like to kill you but Wesley…well he is a little more civilized than they are." Damn. That causes a problem. Angel rubbed his head. The dull throb that had been sitting in the back of his head had turned into blinding pain behind his eyes. He had no allies here that he could trust; not even Buffy. She always looked at him like his questions were ridiculous. Until he was able to prove who he was, there was no way he could tell her. As he tried to rub the tension out of his head, his body fell against the counter and his shoulders slumped. Buffy walked up to him and took his hands away from his head.

"Are you alright?" She asked. Angel shook his head to indicate that he was not. Leading him towards their bedroom Buffy urged Angel to lay down. He instinctively fell onto his back but when he noticed her annoyed look; he rolled over onto his stomach. She then moved to straddle his lower back resting lightly on his buttocks. Moving her hands across the small of his back she began to kneed the knots that had formed in his back, shoulders and neck. Angel's eyes closed and he concentrated on the movement of her hands. Slowly she worked at his lower back using her thumbs; then she moved up to the middle of his back where she used her whole hand to slowly move in circles releasing the muscles from their rigid position. She then progressed to his left shoulder down his arm slowly urging the muscles to loosen and relax. Moving across the plain of his upper back she did the same to his right shoulder and arm. She then inched herself forward and put her hands on the nape of his neck. A groan escaped Angel's lips as she worked out the headache that was raging at the base of his skull. Stars danced in front of Angel's eyes as the tension slowly escaped from his body, while Buffy's expert hands moved along his neck up along his head to his temples. Sleep threatened Angel as he allowed her to work her magic. In this moment, Angel wondered if his alter ego received this kind of massage every night. The thought once more brought him back to the affair he was supposedly having curious as to why he would even think of it in the first place. Maybe I shouldn't have fired her so soon. I could have asked her my motivations behind the affair. Angel noticed that Buffy had stopped rubbing his head and he tried to turn his head to look at her. She got off him and walked to the bedroom door. She left the room without another word causing Angel to wonder if he had done something wrong. He listened intently as she said goodnight to Liam and asked him to turn his light out. The her a click and the hallway that once was lit by a soft light went dark. Buffy then turned off the torch light that was on in the living room casting the large space into blackness. A single night-light glowed in the kitchen. Buffy re-entered the room and slowly closed the door behind her. Angel looked at the clock as she sat down beside him. The time read 9:00 pm.

"Wow, we are a little early." Buffy smiled and put a hand to his face.

"Early? What are you talking? This is late in my books." She said. Angel smiled up at her and pulled her down to him. She rested her head on his shoulder and sighed deeply. With his arm around her he listened to her breathing become slow and deep. She didn't try to kiss him goodnight or anything else of the sort; she just simply fell asleep in his embrace. Angel focused his attention on the ceiling as he thought about ways he could talk to Wesley and convince him that he was not the Angel from this place. The massage that Buffy had given him was still fresh on his sense. Slowly, Angel's eyes closed and he began to drift off into a uncomfortable sleep of uncertainty and Buffy.