"Relax, I was overruled on that idea, the tat should be over your heart," Xander told him.
Angel unbuttoned his shirt and pulled out his undershirt. "It's two Zs?"
"Giles and them are working with the Justice League now, so I called Giles and he got in contact with Zatanna Zatara who had a great uncle who was in a similar position once, so you got a tat that keeps your soul in place until you are dusted and a ring that gives you control over the demon so you don't have to listen to that coward yammering on and on when you're trying to sleep," Xander explained.
"You... I..." Angel rushed forward and hugged Xander.
"Hey! No hugging!" Xander exclaimed, sounding absolutely horrified.
Angel released him. "You have no idea what this means to me... or do you?"
"Of course I do," Xander said, straightening his clothes, "why do you think I was so in favor of dusting you?"
"How does that make any sense?!" Cordelia demanded.
"You are the only one who actually understood what I was going through, weren't you?" Angel asked in disbelief. "You actually sat down and considered my situation and decided staking me was the kindest thing you could do."
"I thought he was just jealous you plowed Buffy and he didn't," Cordelia said with a frown.
"It can be both," Xander defended himself. "Angel, think back on some of the things Angelus did that upset you the most. How do you feel about them now? Do they still feel like they're your memories?"
Angel winced and his face wrinkled in disgust before a look of shock overcame it. "Those aren't my memories! I'm not Angelus!"
"Yeah," Xander agreed. "I figure it's kind of hard to separate the two when Angelus is in there with you, making you feel everything he does about them."
"I..." Angel trailed off for a moment. "I knew I wasn't him, but I always felt like I was, like he was just the dark half of me."
"Kind of," Xander said with a frown. "The demon is... based on all your darker aspects, but it's not you. Remember as JRR Tolkien said, 'you are a soul, you have a body.' The soul is you."
"Why couldn't you have told me this back in Sunnydale?" Angel demanded, rubbing his chest just over his heart.
"Because it would have made you happy," Xander said. "Once you understand and accept it, it's going to be the kind of memory that fuels a patronus."
"Really, a Harry Potter reference?" Cordelia asked dryly.
"Which you got," Xander pointed out.
"If you told me in Sunnydale it would have freed Angelus, so staking me was the kindest thing you could have done for me," Angel realized.
"Yeah," Xander agreed.
"I'm not completely blameless," Angel said, "I was not a good son or brother when I was alive and my thoughtless and stupid actions lead to the creation of Angelus, but his sins aren't mine."
"Are you still onboard with helping people?" Doyle asked, concerned.
"One hundred percent," Angel told him firmly. "I still have a lot to make up for, it's just not an insurmountable mountain of sin."
"So no changes?" Cordelia asked.
"I'll probably mope a lot less, but no real changes," Angel told her. He turned to Xander. "You... are the best friend I've ever had and it pains me to admit it."
"That is completely understandable," Xander said, wincing. "Let's just ignore all this and move on to a less painful topic."
"Agreed," Angel said.
"Boys," Cordelia said, rolling her eyes. "Death and destruction, face it head on, but get a little honest emotion involved…"
Xander cleared his throat. "So, that favor?"
"I owe a mage a favor and he's called it in. He wants a copy of the tape Spike made of torturing you."
"Why would he want that?" Xander asked.
"I don't know," Angel admitted, "but since it's John Constantine I really am in a bind."
"Dirty blonde hair, dresses like a hobo who found a trenchcoat in the gutter, heavy English accent?" Xander asked.
"That's him," Angel agreed. "You know him?"
"He works for the Justice League I think, ran across him on a case the police called me in to give my opinion on," Xander explained. "He's probably just curious."
"I've been trying to figure out where Spike is and I think I can get him to give me a copy if I promise to make you watch it," Angel explained. "I know you don't have to help me on this but I would really appreciate it."
"That's fine, I want a copy anyway," Xander told him.
"It's probably going to be pretty horrible," Angel warned him, only to get a shrug in return.
"I'm guessing Spike and Dru are in Vegas, it has a large population and a massive homeless population living in the storm drains, so it's the best spot for them to quietly feed and make some money," Angel explained. "I've reached out to contacts in the area to try and locate them, but haven't heard anything so far."
"And we are relying on Spike being willing to share a copy because of his sadistic nature and we can't just kill them and take it because Dru has recovered and will see us coming a week in advance," Xander added.
"Yeah," Angel agreed. "Thankfully Spike is very sadistic so I can't imagine he'll disagree. He'll probably laugh his ass off."
Cordelia looked up into the air. "Hey Dru, if you're seeing this could you just make a copy of the tape and mail it to us? You could tell Spike it's to make Xander watch it because you've seen it and make his day without him feeling like he's doing Angel a favor."
"You really think that will work?" Xander asked.
Cordelia shrugged. "Worth a shot."
The phone rang and Angel picked it up. "Angel Investigations, Angel speaking."
"It can't be that easy," Doyle said.
"That is appreciated," he said after a moment. "Goodbye Dru."
"That worked?" Xander asked in disbelief.
"Yeah," Angel agreed. He sighed. "That's one of the reasons I never tried to stake them, she's talented enough to see it coming and make any attempts useless."
"I get blinding headaches and confusing visions, she gets pay per view," Doyle grumbled.
"What'd she say?" Cordelia asked, ignoring Doyle's complaints about his precognitive gifts.
"She Fed-exed the tapes, but despite being guaranteed overnight they ended up in the three day delivery bin because of the lazy idiot who was on shift," Angel replied. "It should be here in the morning."
"Tapes?" Cordelia asked. "How long were they torturing Xander for?!"
"Just Spike and a couple of hours," Xander told her.
"It was more like half a day," Angel said, "and Dru made two copies because she knew her kitten would want one for himself."
"Kitten?" Doyle asked, grinning at Angel as he thought he had something new to tease him about.
"That would be me," Xander said. "She's called me kitten since she met me for some reason."
"Maybe because you met the were-cheetah?" Doyle offered, a bit disappointed he wouldn't be able to mess with Angel over having an embarrassing nickname.
"You met a were-cheetah?" Angel asked.
Cordelia picked up Xander's travelog, handed it to him, and waited for a response.
Angel's eyes widened as he read, scanning it and then re-reading it from the start. "You either have the worst luck in the world or the best," he finally said, "a lot like John, at least in that."
"So I've been told," Xander agreed, unconcerned. "Well, since that's done, what is there to do in this town and can I grab a room here?"
"It's LA, there's like a ton of things," Cordelia said, "and there are plenty of open rooms, they're just dusty."
"I can handle dusty," Xander said.
"Should I call Buffy?" Angel suddenly asked.
"Is she even at home?" Cordelia asked. "Cause I think Xander mentioned her hanging out with a bunch of Teen Tighters or something."
"Teen Titans," Xander said, rolling his eyes as he knew she was just being annoying because Cordelia and Buffy both tended to compete with one another, both wanting to be the center of attention, "in Jump City. Not sure if they have a public number but Joyce should know it or be able to relay a message to call you."
"That should work, thanks," Angel said before retreating to his office, hoping Joyce would help him but unsure, as he knew she didn't approve of his relationship with Buffy. Did they still have a relationship? He'd broken things off because of the curse, but that was no longer a factor…
Before he could second guess himself or lose his nerve, Angel quickly dialed the number for Buffy's house.
"Hello?" Dawn said, answering the phone on the second ring.
"Dawn, this is Angel, I was calling to get Buffy's number," he said, wincing as he knew she really didn't like him.
"Doesn't that lead to badness and Xander finally getting to stake you?" Dawn asked. "Hold on, let me find it," she said before he could answer.
Angel pinched the bridge of his nose and waited, copying down the number when she returned a minute later to rattle it off. "Thank you," he said, "and you don't have to worry about the curse breaking, Xander contacted a mage who put a tattoo on me that will prevent that from ever occurring."
"Is it a tramp stamp?" Dawn asked, getting a laugh out of the normally mopey vampire.
"That's the first thing I checked," he admitted, relieved he wasn't the only one who thought that was what Xander would arrange if he could, "but it had to be over my heart so it's just a pair of linked Zs on my chest."
"That's less funny, but as long as it works I'm happy," Dawn said.
"Same here," Angel told her. "Thanks for the number, bye."
"Bye," Dawn said and hung up.
Angel called the number.
"Yo this is the tower, what ya need?"
Angel blinked. "I'm calling for Buffy Summers."
"Buffy? I think she's training with Robin right now. Want me to take a message?"
"Yes, please tell her Angel called," the vampire replied.
"Will do, Daddio," the voice replied before it hung up.
Angel leaned back in his chair, he could wait, there was nothing going on at the moment.
Cordelia poked her head in the door, not bothering to knock. "Hey Angel, Xander is off… doing whatever he does, hopefully nothing catches fire, or nothing close to here anyway. I'm clocking out, call me if you need anything, but if you wake me up be aware I know where you sleep."
Angel smiled slightly. "Have a good night, Cordelia."
"You are in a good mood," she noted, "of course that's not really a big surprise. You call Buffy yet? I can bug Xander for the number."
"I got the number from Dawn, but Buffy's training so I left a message," he replied.
"But did you leave your number?"
"Leave my number?" he repeated.
"New digs, new number," she said, amused.
"I… forgot that," he admitted.
Cordelia grinned. "You may want to do that."
"Yeah," he said, embarrassed.
"Well, I'll let you get to that, see you later."
"Later," he repeated and picked up the phone, dialing the number again.
"Titan's Tower, Raven speaking," came a droll female voice.
"Hello, this is Angel," the vampire said, "I left a message for Buffy but forgot to leave my new number. Can you make sure she gets it?"
"Sure," Raven agreed and copied it down as he told it to her. "Can I ask what it's regarding?"
"I'm a friend of hers and I just got a magical tattoo that anchors my soul in place so I won't lose it if I feel a moment of happiness."
"Did Beastboy put you up to this?" she demanded angrily.
"Who's Beastboy?" he asked just before he heard the click of a dial tone.
Angel just stared at the phone in his hand for a moment before setting it down. "I'll just call again later," he muttered.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Aggghhh!" Beastboy yelled as he dodged the rapid fire of cushions from the couch.
"What'd I do?!" he exclaimed.
"You know very well what you did!" Raven growled out, waving her hand and gathering all the cushions in the room to pummel her teammate with.
"I swear, I don't!" the green skinned teen exclaimed as he transformed into a monkey to improve his dodging ability.
"What'd he do?" Buffy asked surprised but amused as Raven wasn't using any sharp objects.
"He had someone prank call me pretending to be calling for you about having their soul anchored in place so they could be happy without losing it," Raven growled out.
"Angel called?!" Buffy asked excitedly.
"What?" Raven asked numbly, the multitude of cushions falling to the floor.
"Ex-boyfriend, cursed by the gypsies to lose his soul if he has a moment of happiness," she rattled off. "Did he call?!" she demanded hopefully.
"Um… yeah, and left a number to call him back," Raven admitted, embarrassed. "It's on the pad next to the phone."
"Yes!" Buffy squealed and ran over to grab the pad and run off to make a private call.
"Um…" Beastboy said as he transformed back into a human, still not sure what was going on.
"Sorry, I thought the whole 'lose their soul if they were ever happy' thing was a prank by you," she admitted, embarrassed.
Beastboy blinked. "You throw your soul around like a Frisbee, if you were going to lose it you would have already," he said.
"Yes, but I thought it was a dig at me not being… an extrovert," she explained.
"Huh," he said. "I kinda get it, but I don't think that would work as a prank. A prank is more like setting your alarm an hour early while setting your clock two hours ahead or lacing your tea with caffeine powder."
Raven froze for a second before focusing on him once more. "That was you?!"
"I regret nothing!" Beastboy exclaimed with a laugh as he fled with the goth teen flying after him.
Typing By: Abyssal Angel
Beta By: Abyssal Angel and Mist of Shadows