"Immortal Beloved...CVI..."

A shortie...

PG-13

Disclaimer: No, Joss, no...I make no claims, put that thing down! It's all yours and ME's

Spoilers for Angel to the bitter end...Flee at once!...

Summary: Ok, so no one asked and the Missus begged me not to...Some things just will out...And like my devil in "The Devil and Dr. Walthrop" I am reputed to play with the truth sometimes...However if I am lying about lying...

As always one of multiple (106) versions of an outcome to the events following Angel S5...

(Now, now...most of them have been very nice to Buffy)

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Rome...Buffy and Dawn's apartment...

Ummn...Buffy stared at the glaring trio in front of her...Who, having destroyed the main force of the Partners in LA by forcing them out, were now in Italy to finish the mopping up...

And were now seeking info on the final surviving member of Evil, Inc from his current girlfriend...

"Look, guys...I can see where you might be a little peeved with me...Did I mention how glad I was to see you alive, Will?..." Buffy beamed nervously...

"We just told you the Immortal was one of the Senior Partners of the Wolf, Ram, and Hart, Buffy...Doesn't that bother you?..." William stared at her...

"Well, sure..." she shrugged... "But he wasn't with them at the end..." she wagged a finger at him...

"Only because he was clever enough to straddle the fence and keep a foot in both camps...Which, no doubt, explains why he can call himself "The Immortal"..."

"All right, all right...Maybe I did let myself get swept...But that doesn't mean..."

"Where is he...?" Angel demanded...

"I haven't seen him in a while...Did you try his office in town?..."

"Buffy...Two of my best friends are dead because of him and his friends...Where...Is...He?..." Angel repeated...

"Geesh...Angel?...You think I'm covering for him?...Will, are you gonna let him talk to me like..."

"No one in our organization trusts you..." Illyria said firmly...

Buffy blinked...Who the hell...?

"Well..." Will frowned... "I wouldn't have put it that way..."

"I would..." Angel said...Glaring at Buffy... "For God's sake you people sure were quick enough to drop my rating to pond scum without even asking me why I'd cut my deal with Wolfram-Hart..."

"That...Was Giles' decision...Not mine..." Buffy nervously insisted...

"I'm sure he's glad you now toe his line..." Angel frowned...

Will?...She looked at him...

"What?..." he eyed her... "We want the Immortal, Buffy...Considering he's the only other vamp with some kind of soul, however filth-ridden and merged with his demon, he's a murderous scum bag worse than Angelus or Spike put together and a coward hiding behind your pants to boot..."

"Buffy..." Angel cut in... "You can either hand him over...And we'll see he gets a fair trial...Or..."

"Or what...?...Lets remember who we're talkin' to fellas...I'm Slayer Counselor General...And a world-saving one at that..."

"Who sided voluntarily with a Prince of Darkness..." Illyria noted...

"I didn't know he was still thinkin' of rulin' the world...I was...Tryin' to help him..."

Cause he reminded me of you, Will...she beamed...Lord, he rolled his eyes...

By the way, who's the blue freak?...she hissed to him... "You haven't gone and got yourself another girl on me?..."

"Helping him?...Really..." Angel smiled coolly... "Then you can do him a real kindness and let him atone for his sins...In a court of law..."

"Which by the way brings us to our other matter..." he noted... "Your Slayers killed five vamps in our people's care...And wounded three of our folks when they tried...Peacefully...To stop them...And unless you agree to our demands for future restraint on your organization's part, ours is gonna haul your asses into court..."

Oh...Buffy waved a hand... "Vamps...We dust them, that's what we do...This crazy idea you guys got of tryin' to save them is just..."

The boys eyed her coldly...

"Giles says..." she squeaked a bit...

"We don't give a damn what Giles has to say...And you of all people know that vamps can be helped, under the right conditions..." Will frowned... "And we intend to try..."

"Aw..." she frowned... "That's such a silly waste of...Ummn..."

"Yeah, God knows you sure never wasted time trying to help me..." Will nodded...

"Look..." Angel grimly cut in... "We've told you how it's gonna be...Your people can do all the defending against attackers they like but from now on keep your people in defensive mode until ours have had a decent chance to try and help these folks and everything's hunky-dory...You cross us up and we'll have you before the International Court of Justice, the UN, and the world press as vigilante murderers...Of folks a lot of whom still have living, caring relatives..."

"But..."

"I know it's difficult to stay that slaying arm, girl..." Will eyed her... "Lots harder than that good ole kill, kill, kill...But no one's asking you people to take a risk..."

"But Will..."

"But that's how it crumbles, Slayer..."

"But...What about us?..."

"What 'us'?..." he stared at her startled face... "You couldn't even bother yourself to send a card or call after Andy went back and told you...And I know he did, girl...About your psycho Slayer cutting my hands off when I tried to help her...Let alone try and reach my soul via Willow to see I was alright and safe in Heaven when you thought I was neatly dead and outta the way..."

"But...I told you...Back at Sunnydale..."

"Tell it to His Benevolence...He'll need it when we find him..."

***