Previously: 'Eh. What happens in my house stays in my house. That fair?' Angelina plopped herself back down next to the girl.

'And I thought you couldn't get any cooler' Dawn hugged the slayer.

'Hey, hey, hey. Now are we gonna watch the Angels kick butt or are you gonna sit there the whole night hugging me?'

Dawn laughed. 'Butt kicking time'

Angelina placed the DVD into the DVD player and pressed play.

'Here we go' She settled herself back into position.

Chapter 40

Lorne left the patisserie holding a box. He had ducked in and purchased a birthday cake for Angelina. He knew her birthday wasn't for another two days; the day before Halloween, but he wanted to make sure that she still got a party. If Angel and himself, as well as the others, couldn't protect her, she at least deserved a birthday party. Whether it was early or not.

He also had a birthday present; that dress he had bought when shopping with Willow and Angelina. Though he decided it best to see if she actually lived through Halloween. He would give her an I.O.U. perhaps?

Now being dressed in a bright blue suit, stuck out from the usual crowd. He stuck out anyway because of his skin, and he knew this. But one thing he didn't know, was that he was about to receive a massive blow to the face.

'Excuse me?' a female voice asked from behind him.

Lorne turned and found himself facing a rather attractive red head. 'Yes?'

The woman smiled 'I was wondering if you could help me?'

'Well that depends. What do you need helps with?' Lorne was cautious. It was odd that this woman was asking him. Normally people would see the green skin and horns and avoid him.

'Well I-' the woman cocked back her fist and threw a punch.

Lorne was too shocked to duck. The fist caught him right in the nose, by the pain, he could tell that it may be broken.

'Die!' spat the woman and she hit him again, causing Lorne to drop the cake and block the punch.

The woman's face shifted and became one of a demon's.

Now Lorne understood why she had asked him. His mouth dropped open. The he realised he could hit the bitch back.

'Be seeing you soon' the vampire sneered, then turned and vanished into the night.

Lorne shook his head to clear it as he bent down to pick up the cake. Surprisingly, it was unharmed. As he was inspecting the cake, he also noticed blood on his suit. His good suit! Blood on his suit!

He nearly had a fit. Then realised he could taste blood. The last punch must have split his lip. He lifted a hand to his mouth and found it was bloody, but there was no split lip. He lifted his hand to his nose, and it came away with a nice coating of sticky blood.

'Damnit' Lorne cursed.

Slowly an idea began to from in his mind. If he'd been bashed for no apparent reason, Angelina may be patrolling. She could be in trouble.

Lorne hurried home as fast as he could, hoping that his theory was wrong. That he would find her at home.

About twenty minutes later, he reached the apartment door. He was out of breath, as he had run the whole way and he was now dreading to find an empty apartment.

He tried the door. It was locked. Fumbling through his pockets, he found the key that Angelina had given him, and he stuck it in the door and unlocked it.

Slowly he opened the door, just in case someone else was in there and peeked into the apartment.

The TV was on, it was the credits of some movie. The light in the kitchen was on, but he couldn't hear anything coming from that direction. And then he looked at the couch. It was folded out, which he didn't know it could do, and on it lay Angelina.

To an inexperienced eye, it may have just looked like she was sleeping oddly, but Lorne had seen too much death to be so naïve.

'Oh god! Angelina!' he cried as he came rushing forward, placing the cake next to her on the makeshift bed.

He grabbed her shoulders, 'Angelina! Can you hear me?'

Angelina stirred and opened her eyes as Dawn came rushing into the room. From the direction of the kitchen.

'Lorne? wha-what time is it?' Angelina thought she had just dozed off, not that Lorne had thought she was dead.

'Thank you Oprah Winfrey!' Lorne exclaimed as he pulled Angelina into a hug.

Angelina still not knowing what was going on. Lorne kissed the top of head and wouldn't let go of her. 'Whatever he had thought, it must have been bad' Angelina thought. Then she remembered she'd been watching movies with Dawn.

'Dawn? You here somewhere?' she called into Lorne's suit.

'Over here' Dawn answered. She was leaning on against the door frame observing the spectacle before her.

'Did I doze off?' Angelina called.

'Halfway through' Dawn replied. 'I didn't know how to turn off your TV so I left it and went to get a drink from the kitchen. That's when Lorne came home, five minutes ago'

'Oh ok.' Angelina said, and then noticed a wet patch on Lorne's suit. She only noticed it because her forehead was pressed into it. It was warm.

'Lorne, why is your suit wet? And weirdly warm?'

'Crap!' Lorne let go of Angelina and began tugging at his suit jacket.

Dawn gasped and Angelina's eyes nearly fell out of her skull. This was the first time either of them had seen his face. Dawn because he had buried it in Angelina's hair; Angelina because she was being hugged and nearly eating his suit.

'What happened?' Angelina reached out to touch his face; completely forgetting about the notice she had in her lap.

'Some red head whacked me' Lorne hissed as Angelina touched a tender part of his face. Angelina withdrew her hand and Dawn came forward with tissues.

'Here' Dawn handed him the box.

'Thanks Dawny' Lorne took several and held them to his nose, while tipping his head back.

'Looks like she hit you up pretty good. Do you know why?'

'No clue in the universe Angel Face'

'Hmm…'

Dawn noticed the box lying next to Angelina. 'What's in the box?'

'Cake'

'Cake?' Angelina looked surprised and slightly confused. 'Well let's clean you up and then we'll eat it. You look like you could do with a pick me up'

'You have no idea' Lorne sighed as he stood and headed to the bathroom, which was full of medical supplies. It was handy having a slayer as a friend.

Angelina followed him, and Dawn picked up the box and headed to the kitchen.

Dawn opened the box and found a chocolate cake which read 'Happy Birthday Ange!' When was Angelina's birthday? It mustn't be far off if Lorne was buying cake. She would have to ask him when he came out of the bathroom. She wasn't sure if they were really going to eat the cake, but searched the cupboards until she found three bowls and spoons. Then she settled herself down, and admired the cake.

Meanwhile, in the bathroom…

'So you really have no idea why she hit you?' Angelina casually asked.

It wasn't everyday that a vampire hit one of her friends. And she never imagined in a million years to see Lorne standing in a blood soaked suit, with a possible broken nose.

'Like I said, no clue' Lorne answered.

He and Angelina had resorted to sitting in an empty bathtub, just in case they splattered the room with blood. It would be easier to clean in the bath, than the rest of the room.

It was amazing that they both fit in it. Angelina always thought the bath, with built in shower, was small. Guess she was wrong.

'Ok take away the tissues please'

Lorne abided and removed the tissues, which were covered in a large amount of blood.

Angelina had to work with cuts and scrapes and blood nearly everyday, but working with blood that belonged to a friend, well it made her kinda queasy.

She gently felt around Lorne's nose and face, searching for any breakages and future bruising. Lorne tried his hardest not to pull away from the gentle hands, but couldn't help letting a few hisses escape.

'Do you want the good news or the bad news?' Angelina asked while wiping blood absentmindedly onto her jeans. It would come out in the wash.

'Surprise me?'

'Well, good news is your nose isn't broken…' Lorne breathed a sigh of relief at this statement.

'And the bad news?' he dreaded to think.

'Bad news is there will be some swelling and a bruise or two'

Another sigh of relief from Lorne. Swelling and bruising he could handle. He could cover almost anything with a dab of makeup. He just hoped the swelling would go down.

Lorne leant back in the bath, taking up whatever available space there had previously been. Angelina, who had been trying to get out of the bath, was now stuck. She had no way to get out unless she wanted to hurt the green demon, who by her standards, had been hurt enough for one night.

'Quite right there?' she laughed.

'I come to find the bath quite comfortable'

'You know it's even more comfortable when there's only one person in it' Angelina stated.

Lorne attempted mock hurt 'What? You don't want to stay?'

'As much as I would love to, we have a visitor remember?'

'Dawn's eating cake by now. Who cares?'

'Angelina rolled her eyes and smiled 'I care. Now give us your shirt, I'll put it through the wash'

Lorne quirked an eyebrow 'If you wanted to see me shirtless Princess, all you had to do was ask. Either that or catch me just after a shower' he shrugged.

Lorne's antics were starting to wear her down. She was exhausted and desperately wanted to attempt sleep. Who knew what was waiting for her tonight.

'Believe me I would have. Now please give me your shirt so I can wash it. You left the jacket on the back of the couch right?'

Lorne could see exhaustion was playing on Angelina's emotions. 'Yes I did' he began to unbutton his blue shirt and leant forward so that Angelina could get out of the bath. She did and held out a hand for the shirt.

Lorne shrugged it off and handed both shirt and orange neck tie to her.

'Thank you' she smiled and exited the room.

Once again Lorne leant back and took up the space of the bath. He shut his eyes with a sigh and a smile. She had stayed safe. She was still alive. Tomorrow was another day.

He rubbed his hand over his face, being careful about the nose and tender spots and was about to move when Dawn walked in.

'Woah! Didn't know you were here'

'Did you see me leave?' Lorne retorted with a sigh. He was pretty tired too. Maybe they'd have to eat cake another night?

'Well no. but I thought… never mind' Dawn had nothing, until… 'You really care about Angelina don't you?

Lorne opened his eyes and locked them onto Dawn's. 'More than she'll ever know'

Neither of them knew that Angelina had returned holding fresh bath towels, but upon hearing the previous question, had hid behind the wall, eavesdropping.

'More than she'll ever know… What does that mean exactly?' Angelina thought.

'Well it's obvious she-' Dawn never finished.

Angelina had heard enough for one night and had rounded the corner pretending she was none the wiser. 'She what?' she chirped.

Dawn stalled for a second, then came up with 'that it was obvious that Buffy had taken all the hot water yesterday. It really bugs me'

Angelina was impressed. It was a good save. 'Oh? It would probably bug me too. Hate cold showers. Speaking of showers…' she threw a towel at Lorne and one at Dawn.

'They're for yours. I'm sorry but I really have to go to bed, cake another night?' Angelina asked.

'Sure Ange' Dawn and Lorne chorused. They were both thankful they hadn't been busted.

'Ok. Dawn the couch is yours, not Lorne's.' she shot him a look. 'Goodnight.'

Lorne was confused. When was the last time he'd slept on the couch? The first night maybe when he accidentally fell asleep, but that was probably it.

Then he realised Angelina was pretending. Let Dawn believe it.

'Damn' he muttered. 'It was comfortable'

Dawn looked at him 'You can have it if you want. I don't mind.'

Lorne held up a hand. 'It's ok kid. I think I'd rather scare the crap out of Angel Hair in the morning, if you don't mind'

'Not at all'

'Ok then. You showering or am I?'

Both demon and girl played rock paper scissors for the shower. Lorne won.

Dawn left the room and he showered, glad that the hot water felt better on his face.

Afterwards Dawn showered, but it was the quickest shower ever. Lorne had taken most of the hot water. She nearly froze.

Silently cursing, she dressed in pyjamas and cleaned her teeth, then made her way out to the couch.

Lorne had waited to say goodnight.

'See you in the morning Dawn'

'Goodnight Lorne' Dawn threw the blankets over her head and settled in as Lorne turned the light off and headed to wards the bedroom.

There he found Angelina in pyjamas and already asleep. She wasn't kidding when she said she was tired.

Lorne rolled into the bed and closed his eyes. Listening to Angelina's steady breathing was like a lullaby. It lulled him to sleep in no time.

For Dawn however, the apartment was full of different sounds. Ones she hadn't heard from hers. She sighed. She would just have to get used to them.

She rolled over and closed her eyes, willing sleep to come. And after a while, it did.

No one noticed however, the red head sitting in the tree outside the apartment's kitchen window.

~**~

Just to clear some things up:

The red head is Ally.

Angelina's apartment backs onto a park, hence the tree

And no one except Willow knows what's going on with Angelina and Lorne. Willow only knows about the club at this stage though.

Reviews and ideas about a sequel would be awesome!