"Rise and Shine, Miss Summers" before being able to reply, the nurse whipped back the blinds and let the sunshine belt her right in the face "Good morning" the nurse beamed at the lovely day then back to her patient.

Buffy groaned and pulled the sheet over her eyes, mumbling quietly. When she felt a pair of eyes on her she dropped the sheet back to her bed and forced a smile "Good morning… when can I get out?"

The nurse smiled kindly "Well, you can get out once the doctor comes by to check on you, so that will be after 9am" they had managed to squeeze her down in Radiology a little after 03:30, so the images would have been sent to the nightshift doctor to peruse.

With a nod she looked to the clock on the wall and shrieked "Its 6am! Why did you wake me at 6am!" She couldn't believe that she had been woken up at this godforsaken time. The nurse looked at her in amusement but didn't reply.

She busied herself at the medication cart and handed Buffy a couple of painkillers and a cup of water. Without saying anything else the nurse left the room and closed the door over once Buffy had taken the pain relief and handed her back the little shot sized cup.

Buffy sighed, she hated being up so early, especially when she didn't get a good sleep and the fact that last night had ended so badly. She tested out small movements of her hand but felt a jolt of pain, so she laid it on the bed then felt the bump on her head with the other hand.

Her eyes darted around the room to see if there was a mirror anywhere, spying one above the sink in the corner she carefully made her way over with unsteady feet. Looking at her reflection she could see a tiny rise in her hair where the bump was but other than that, she only had last nights makeup on but that was now smeared and icky.

With a sigh she made her way back to the bed and pressed the button so she could sit comfortably. Grabbing her phone, she was greeted with one notification from Willow and none from the person she wanted to see.

Seeing that the charge was about to die, she switched it off to preserve what little was left and frowned. The next three hours would drag in and not knowing what happened to Angel was making her feel worse.

Oooooooooooooooo

Last night had been the worst night in a long time, the lack of sleep and minor aches he could deal with but the incessant jibes from Damien really got to him. They were placed in separate cells; however they were close enough for him to shoot venom from mere yards away.

Eventually around 3am Damien had fallen asleep leaving him alone in his thoughts, he played back their fight and the sickening sound of Buffy hitting that dumpster with some force. At 5am he had managed to fall asleep himself, but it was short lived when the Sheriff had woken them both at 8am.

"O'Connor?" Both brothers quirked their eyebrow at him and waited. The Sheriff looked between the pair and sighed, Sunnydale was a quiet town, sure he was used to the odd drunken bar fight, but this was some twilight zone nonsense that he didn't need to deal with "Now I would normally let a minor scrap go but that young lady ended up in hospital"

At the mention of Buffy, he felt suddenly awake, all of the tired leaving his body "Is Buffy okay?" His sad eyes pleased for any information to be given. Seeing the even face on the cop he sighed "When can I get out?"

Damien remained silent as the Sheriff spoke "Well, I'm not taking too kindly to assault, both of you were involved, so its really up to Miss Summers what happens next… besides I'm going to make an example, unless you post bail, make yourself comfortable until we hear if charges are being pressed"

"I want my call" Damien snarled without even trying to be polite, he stared down the officer and stepped closer to the bars. The older man smirked at the poor attempt of dominance from him and quirked his eyebrow.

Opening the door to Angel's cell, he locked eyes with the brother "You can go second" Angel skirted past him and waited until he was shown down to the corded phone on the wall. Closing his eyes, he tried to picture how he would dial and repeated the numbers in his head.

As he pressed the last digit to Buffy's number that he had taken the time to learn after the last mishap, he held his breath. The line didn't connect, and the automated message relayed the number and advised to leave a message. Angel clenched his teeth and slipped the handset back on the receiver.

Looking back at the Sheriff, he saw the man shrug and extend his arm out to lead him back to the holding area. He'd picked who he wanted to call, and it didn't pan out, that was just the luck of the draw.

Damiens dark eyes raked over his brother's despondent form and felt glee. He knew his brother would try to call her and not someone who would help get him out of this hellhole. As he walked by Angel, he snorted at him and whistled a light tune.

Dialling that all too familiar number, Damien leaned against the wall casually and smiled when the caller answered "Hi mom, say I need some cash…" The officer watched as the cocky kid listened on the other end and shrugged "No biggie, just need to be bailed out, got in a fight"

The more that the conversation happened on one side, Damiens smirk fell "What in the hell do you mean no?! I'm your kid for god's sake. This is all Angels fault, leave him in here, not me" without saying anything more he smacked the receiver off the hook a few times before being warned about his aggression.

Storming back to the cell he slumped down onto the bench and almost folded his arms across his body in a petulant rage, but he remembered he wasn't alone.

"Luck run out with mom? Knew one day she would see through your act Damien… you're a scourge of this family and I'm glad she finally sees it with her own eyes" Angel wanted to laugh when he heard his twin growl and slam his hands against the bars but there was no joy at the moment.

Setting himself against the wall, he looked forward and frowned, he hoped that Buffy was alright. He wouldn't forgive himself if anything were to happen to her, he had spent many a year not caring if he emotionally hurt women but now, he cared in every which way for Buffy and the last thing he wanted was to lose her.

Oooooooooooooooo

After what felt like hours and hours, an older doctor came round and took some vitals and asked some questions about how she was feeling, how was her head and was she okay to stand. Being polite as she could be, Buffy answered the questions and looked him dead in the eye "Can I go home?"

With a sigh he flipped through the chart, clinically she was well, but he didn't like the idea of her being attacked "Well, you can go home but I really would advise speaking to the police and pressing charges, you were lucky last night that all you got was a bump on the head and a sprained wrist, Miss Summers"

Seeing her look down to her hand that had been wrapped up in a compression bandage, he continued "This might not be my place, now excuse me if I'm stepping out of line but has that man hurt you before?"

Her eyes flew up to the doctor and she shook her head in a panic "No! Angel has never hurt me; it was his brother who pushed me… I tried to help but he was too strong" she flinched a little at the unpleasant reminder of being thrown heavily.

The doctor rubbed at his chin "You may want to rethink who you spend your time with Miss Summers, the last thing you need is to be trapped in an abusive relationship"

Buffy clenched the fist of her good hand "…and I won't, can I go?" When the doctor only nodded in reply, she threw the sheets off her and got out of bed, grabbing her phone and purse from the table. Stepping into the small toilet she looked in the mirror and splashed some water over her face and left as quick as she could.

Knowing that she should go home and freshen up before anything else, when the cab drove by the police station, she blurted out for him to stop. Throwing some cash at him she grabbed her purse and hurried inside. One look from the receptionist and she knew that they were sceptical of her appearance, maybe a quick change would have been good.

Clearing her throat, she made her way over to the desk confidently "I'm here to see Liam O'Connor" the receptionist looked at her for a beat then click clacked away on the keyboard in front of her without saying anything "Uh, hello?"

The older women forced a smile and raised her finger to silence Buffy, she dialled a number then raised the handset to her ear "Hey Chief, we have a young lady here wanting to see a Mr O'Connor?!" After a pause she motioned to the seats across the way "have a seat"

Buffy frowned and plopped down on the hard plastic chair, her head started to throb a little, so she placed her hand against the lump and grimaced. Although she knew she took a hard hit to the head, she hadn't dared look at the injury since early this morning, she didn't want to know if it had swollen any further.

"Miss?" She looked up to see an older man smile kindly at her, she didn't recognise him, so he must not have been at the hospital last night. He motioned for her to follow him into his office, and he sat behind the desk "What can I do you for?"

Sitting up straight she began "I want to see Angel, uh Liam… I want to see Liam" when he only stared right through her she frowned "He had nothing to do with what happened to me, I got involved and it was Damien who pushed me"

Nodding, he leaned back in the chair "You wanting to press charges against either or both of them?"

She knew she would never do such things against Angel, his brother on the other hand, was pure evil and needed to be held accountable for trying to ruin them "Not Angel! …could I speak to them, please?" When he nodded she followed him into the holding area.

"Angel!" She rushed towards him and practically shooed the officer out the way when he unlocked the cell. Wrapping her arms around him tightly she felt tears well up in her eyes "I'm so sorry"

Angel held her tight then tipped her head so he could look into her eyes, when a tear escaped, he wiped it away with his thumb "You have nothing to be sorry for" he then pressed a kiss to her mouth, savouring having her in his arms again. They pulled apart when they heard Damien fake gag from the next cell.

Damien leaned against the bars, his hands gripping onto the higher rung as he tilted his head and smirked "Where's my kiss, Buff?" He chuckled when his brother tried to come for him, but she gripped onto his arm with a death grip.

Angel looked down to see her other hand wrapped up and felt a second surge of anger. If it wasn't for her grip or her pleading eyes, he would have tried to go for his brother again. He felt sick, he couldn't believe this had happened to her and she genuinely got hurt because of their issues.

Looking at Angel and the cops she stood tall "Can I talk to Damien… alone?" She saw the worry in Angels eyes, and she kissed him softly to let him know she would be okay. The officer then escorted Angel out but remained behind the door in case he was needed.

His predatory eyes ran over her in last night's clothes, making her feel queasy but she made her mind up to be strong "They want me to press charges against you… and I think I should, you've done and said horrible things, why are you like this Damien? Why be this way towards your brother"

His tongue came out to lick his bottom lip and he sighed dramatically "Don't pretend you know us or our family because you let Liam between those pretty little thighs of yours" when she frowned, he smirked "Families have drama Buff, sure yours must as well"

He switched up his cocky attitude to one that almost looked sad, almost "See, if you do press charges then I'll get kicked out of pre-med, I'll lose out on my chance to help those in need, you wouldn't want to do that to me, would you?"

Buffy frowned, no, she wouldn't. He might be an almighty ass and he did hurt her, although it was unintentional, did he deserve his future career to be ruined?

Seeing that she was taking the bait, he finished "Mom and Dad have had quite a tough life, losing a child and all, how would they feel knowing you ruined my life and when he brings you round for dinner, they look right in the face of the girl responsible? Hmmm"

A sickly feeling bubbled in her stomach, he was right, if she did get him thrown out the program then his parents would be faced with her… that's if Angel still wanted to be with her. Yes, they had their differences, but would he feel betrayed by her if she did it?

When he saw her eyes glaze over, he wanted to gleefully laugh, she was so easy to manipulate. She was standing close enough that when he reached through the bars his fingers grazed her arm that was wrapped around her midsection "What do ya say?"

Feeling him touch her she bounced back out of reach and tried to wipe a tear that had escaped. She looked back to see him watch her with morbid fascination and smile deviously, almost enjoying her pain.

As soon as she left the holding area Angel wrapped his arms around her "Are you okay?" He felt her head shake no, as her fingers clung onto the material of his shirt "Can you give us a few minutes?" The cop nodded and opened one of the offices for them to enter.

Angel sat on the edge of the desk and let her hug into him, sobbing quietly. Once they had tapered off, he tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, directing her gaze back to him "The Chief said he's waiting to see if you're going to press charges against, well us?" His fingertips came down to stroke her injured hand lightly.

Buffy nodded and wiped at her face "Yeah" she cleared her throat "I've already said that I'm not doing anything against you… I was going to press charges against Damien though"

He let her words sink in "Was?" He quirked his eyebrow, this might finally be the deciding factor in his parents letting him deal with his own shit and not bailing him out like they always do.

"If I do, he'll lose his place at med school" she felt Angel tense around her, so she took a step back "I can't do that to him, that will ruin his life"

Angel looked around the room then back at her incredulously, not believing that Damien was most likely going to be off the hook, again "What in the hell did he say to you?" his tone came out more harsh than he realised as she shrunk back as he spoke.

Buffy shook a little as she spoke "I'd be to blame for him not being able to help people and your mom and dad would know that it I was the reason!"

He scoffed "Don't let his bullshit fool you, Buff, Damien only wants to help one person and that is himself" his hand began to shake in anger, just like always, Damien had used his vicious tongue to whisper and manipulate the situation into his favour.

Buffy felt the tears roll down her face as she watched all the emotions play out on his, before he shut down, pulling up a mask of indifference "I'm sorry"

Angel snapped out of it and shook his head vehemently "No, no… Buffy" he lightly ran his fingers over her arm until she relaxed, then pulled her tight against him "This isn't your fault, I'm not mad at you" when she kept her eyes on the ground, he tipped her chin up.

It was now or never; they had shared their feelings through their actions but had yet to vocalise it "I love you"

Her mouth opened as she choked a little with emotion, her fingers clawed at the collar of his shirt as she pulled him toward her so she could kiss him soundly. She smiled against his mouth then sighed "I love you too"

Angel wrapped his arms tightly around her slender waist and let his head rest on her shoulder. His mind was in turmoil, he wanted his asshole of a brother to have a shitty time, but he didn't want Buffy to crumble and feel responsible for it.

Before they could say anything else, Angel's phone began to ring, when the officer handed it to him once he was out, he actually forgot about it. He looked at the caller ID and sighed wearily as he answered "Hi Mom…"