"Immortal Beloved..." CXXXIX...

PG?13

Disclaimer: If ya are fan-fic writers, where's your disclaimers? Disclaimers? We ain't got no disclaimers...I don' need to show you no stinkin'...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: Though the standard IB format, one of (137) versions of events following the end of Angel S5 episodes from "Girl in Question" through to "Not Fade Away" and beyond... (Not a continuous story, though some are multipart...)

***

LA...One hour before sunrise...

The unequal battle of the Partners and Angel's team has reached its inevitable conclusion...

"Well, that was easy..." Angel notes... "Is our friend in the ambulance ok?..." he raised his voice to be heard by the police officer eyeing him from across the prisoner transport van in which he, William, and a frowning...Why do we not kill these feeble human warriors?...Toast our victory in their blood...Or at least the demonic blood of the Partners' army...And go mourn my Wes with a proper funeral pyre?...Illyria...Sat handcuffed...

"He'll be fine...Just sit tight..." the large woman replied...

"Why do I have to sit on this side?...Can't I sit over with my husband?..." Buffy, similarly handcuffed with two Slayers by the officer and two other large and burly policemen, asked, plaintively...

"Lady, I tole you ...You're staying on this side..." the officer frowned...Eyeing the battered William... "She really your wife?..."

"So she's said..." William nodded, smile to Buffy which was returned...Angel frowning...

"I still can't believe you jerks kept all this from me..." he pouted...

"Tell your other lady friend there to sit still..." the female officer pointed to a squirming Illyria... "I don't need any more trouble tonight..."

"Illyria...I told you we'll get everything straightened out at the station..." Angel turned to her... "Just relax..."

"Need to know, Angel..." Buffy replied...Slight frown back... "And you weren't gonna tell me about Will?..."

"Giles said...When I called him..."

"Since when do you pay attention to anything Giles says?..."

"We worked very well together on this operation..." he noted, a bit miffed...Hey, Liam is not incapable of team play even if Angelus...

"People..." the officer warned... "Lets can it a mo...We're here..."

The van pulled into a police garage and halted...Rear door opened to reveal six officers with shields and billy clubs...

"Are they really cops, Slayer Counselor-General?..." one of the other two Slayers, a tall brunette named Sharon, addressed Buffy...

"If not, aim for the heads..." Buffy hissed... "They're definitely not vamps..."

"Quiet!...Lets go, people...!!" the female officer urged...Tapping Angel with billy club, indicating he was to stand...

"We can kill them if they beat us, correct?..." Illyria addressed Will... "It's in the constitution, isn't it?...I think I remember from my Fred memories..."

"Worse...We can take them to court..." Will noted... "And with the Partners gone, we have about 3000 unpaid attorneys looking for something to do..."

"I pity them..." Illyria nodded... Smiling benignly at the policeman politely offering a hand while keeping his other firmly on his club...

"I'm not tellin' you again, blondey, you keep away from this man!..." the female officer insisted...

"Hey!....I just wanna walk with my husband!...Lemme go!!..." Buffy yelled.... "Will!..."

"It's all right, love..." he called... "Just be patient...I'll get it all sorted out inside...Ummn..." He turned to the policewoman...

"Officer, I should mention there's a kid at home...In good hands..." he noted... "But we do need to get home to him...Or at least word to his sitter..."

"You'll be able to make a call...The rest's up to the judge, sir..." she shook her head...

"Yeah, he hasn't had time to bond with me yet..." Buffy glared... "This is crazy...Do you guys know we just saved this city?!..."

"Ma'am...A lot of people tell us that..." the policewoman sighed... "And sometimes it's true...But given your behavior tonight, I would have serious reservations about letting you care for a kid without some immediate aggressive behavior therapy...Now, lets go..."

Buffy staring...Open-mouthed...

William looking about, a bit embarrassed...Oddly enough, Angel and the two Slayers showing the same look...All avoiding Buffy's stare but Illyria, who frowned...

What is the cause of this behavior?...The Slayer Queen was merely marking her possession of her mate when the blue warriors arrived...

"Inside, people...Lets go..." the policewoman urged...

"Yeah, we got a special level domestic disturbance here..." one of the other officers was speaking into his walkie-talkie...

***

"You want a lawyer..." the policewoman who led the arresting team eyed Angel as he, the Slayers, Illyria, and William sat in the station office... "Aren't you head of Wolfram-Hart?...I saw you at the policeperson's ball last October..."

"Yeah, I've always been supportive of the LAPD ball..." Angel nodded... "But actually, I'm not an attorney per se...In the strictest sense of the word as to courtroom law..."

Oh, please...Will frowned...Strictest sense of the word?...I doubt you can spell 'attorney'...

"When can I make my call?..." Buffy rose...

"Lady, sit down...I'll be gettin' to you, honey..."

"I gotta right to make a call!...Will, tell her I have a right to make a call.."

"Lady...I don't like your tone..." the officer glared... "You shut up and wait till we get to you or I will put you in a cell where you can cool those pretty...Italian?...Boots of yours still we get good and ready to give you access to a phone...You hear me?..."

"Love..." Will hissed...

"I just wanna call Giles...He'll get this sorted...The Council's got connections..." Buffy noted, moving to him...

"Did I say you could sit with him?..." the officer eyed her sharply...

"Oh, come on..." Buffy glared back... "Will, tell her to let me sit with you...

"Girl, take your seat and don't give any more trouble...This is your last warning..." stern look...

"Buffy..." Will, placatingly...

She frowned but sat...

Just wanna sit by my husband and call my Chairman...she glared at the officer...Now on phone...

I just saved the world again ya know, ya big stupid...

"Ok..." the officer leaned back, cradling phone...

"The good news is we got confirmation there's nothing more on the destruction of life and property issues...That's been made to go away..."

Phew...Angel sighed...

"Seems you W-Hers really do have connections..." the officer frowned slightly at Angel who gave an innocent smile back...

"Hey, you guys can go now...It's all set on the big charges..." she addressed the three men and one woman in suits who'd been waiting silently in chairs when the group had come in...

"The mayor'll be glad to hear that, Cheryl..." one rose...The woman and remaining men still seated...

"Toodle-loo..." the officer eyed the three seated... "Unless you are in fact counselors able to represent the folks here?..."

"We're from Washington...We've shown our credentials...We'll leave when we're good and ready..." the older of the two men, a cadaverous, icy-looking fellow, frowned at the officer, taking a drag on his cigarette...

"No smoking in this office, pal...Put it out..." she frowned... The cigarette-smoking man eyeing her with steely eyes a moment, then breaking off and putting out his cigarette...

"And I'm waiting instructions from Miss Summers', Miss Gale's, and Mrs. Evers' employer in England..." the woman, a petite brunette in tweed, explained politely...

"Do you people mind these guys sitting in?..." the officer eyed Angel and co... "'Cause if you don't want 'em, they are gone, 'credentials' or no..."

"It's fine..." Angel nodded... "If your people don't mind, Buffy..."

"Giles sent you, right?..." Buffy addressed the woman who nodded... "Fine, get us outta here...Will and I have a kid I need to bond with at home...Are the other guys yours, Angel?..."

"We know each other..." Angel nodded, eyeing the cigarette-smoking man...Who coolly nodded... And waving to the somewhat harassed-looking mayor's office official now departing...

"Thanks, Lou!...My best to Hector!!..." he called... Yeah, yeah...Distracted wave as the mayor's aide headed out the double doors...

Still gotta face those damned reporters and explain how five blocks of prime business distinct got pulverized while the mayor was on vacation...the aide sighed...

"Ok...The big ones are gone, as I say... And so far, nobody seems to have reported any missing persons or zoo animals, so I'll assume it's only the sort of body parts scattered round Wolfram-Hart Plaza that are always gone without a trace the next day...And that they'll be gone by eight am...?"

"Not to worry..." Angel nodded...

"Specimen collection..." the cigarette-smoking man spoke into a cell phone.. "Wolfram-Hart...".

"You always have to be on your toes in these situations, Mr. Mulder..." he explained to the young man sitting next to him as he closed phone...

"I still don't know why you asked me here..." Mulder eyed him... "Who are these people?..."

"...We'll see..." the officer continued... "But the other matter remains..."

"If you wish to understand the secrets that have eluded you, Mr. Mulder..." the cigarette-smoking man noted quietly...Indicating Angel and the group about him... "You must be prepared to find the answers a bit difficult to accept at times..."

"Can't we just let 'the other matter' go as well?..." Angel suggested... "No charges are being pressed..."

"Yeah...Right, Will?..." Buffy looked at William...

Will?...

"Uh, no...No charges..." he nodded...

"That's fine..." the officer nodded in return... "But this is the third offense witnessed and by state law we have to charge the young lady..."

"She's the Slayer...The Chosen One...?" Mulder asked... "She was...Now there are many..." his companion noted...

"I didn't mean anything...Will?...Tell her I didn't mean it..." Buffy looked at him... "It was just...The way I show how much I care..."

"You beat your husband to show how much you care?..." the policewoman frowned... "What about the kid you mentioned, he come in for a good wallop when Mommie wants to say good night?..."

"Hey..." Buffy rose...

"Sweetheart..." Will cautioned...

"That's right, you better sit your ass back down, girl..." the officer nodded coolly... "Now Officer Manning found you slamming your husband on the ground and pounding his face when he found you two tonight...In the midst of a very questionable sit, involving those body parts which I hope Mr. Angel here is right about disappearing shortly and the property damage you are very lucky has been made to go away..."

"I was...Happy to see he was ok..." Buffy tried... "See he didn't tell me he was joining Angel to fight the Partners tonight...I nearly didn't find out in time...So when I found him, I just wanted to keep him from getting back into it...And I...."

Maybe I was a leetle upset with him for not tellin' me...After all we'd been through to get back together and...

"Wait?..." Angel frowned... "You weren't gonna come if he wasn't there?...You were trying to get him out while we were still likely to die?..."

"He's done enough world-saving...Angel, I knew you could handle it..." Buffy waved a hand... "And if things went south, we'd clean up the mess...I just didn't see that he needed to take another risk when we hadn't even gotten a chance to properly catch-up..."

"It was love, ma'am..." she concluded to the officer...Smiling at Will... "I was just tryin' to protect the husband I'd lost a century ago..."

"A century ago...?" Mulder stared...

"Cicely...Just wait, you'll find out..." the cigarette-smoking man nodded wisely...

"Honey, I don't care if you lost him a century ago or last night in a card game...And that doesn't explain these two other incidents of beating..."

Two other?...Angel, Mulder, the other two Slayers...

The cigarette-smoking man nodding sagely...We knew that...He notes to Mulder...

She disciplines her mate well, Illyria nodding with approval...

"Two?..." Buffy blinked... "You mean that time back in Sunnydale was reported?...Giles said he'd taken care of..." she eyed the Council woman in tweed suit who was nervously waving hands...No, no...

"Guess 'Giles' slipped up that time...Maybe we should make that four?...Incidents...?" the officer noted, sternly... "An incident here in LA... In April...Outside the victim's apartment, eyewitnessed by Officer John Lennings..."

"I was mad that he hadn't called or wrote...I'd just found out about my being his reincarnated wife..." Buffy, nervously... "I just wanted him to know how I felt..."

Uh-huh...

"Sunnydale...This looks interesting... The reporting officer found the victim locked in a basement...Seeming deranged and malnourished...With signs of severe beatings..."

"That was someone else..." Angel cut in... "The First, right, Buffy?..."

Ummn...

"Mr. Angel...I'll ask for your input later...Miss Summers, the report says you were found striking him and told the officer he needed it because he was trying to get away from the basement...Charges were not filed at that time, though I sure would like to know why not...Was that your Mr. Giles' doing?..."

"I didn't want him to run away..." Buffy noted... "I only did it cause that's the only way I could reach him when he was nuts...Ummn...Tough love, you know...?"

"You didn't get him proper care?...Why was he in a basement?..."

"He'd just got his soul back and he was kinda nuts...I didn't know want to do with him..."

"They told me you left him in the basement at Sunnydale High after he won the soul back...Which seemed insane, given the Hellmouth..." Angel cut in... "But you beat him?..."

"It always worked with Spike..." she tried...

Will looking sadly at her...Sweet...

"They didn't know, the others?..." Angel eyed her, then Will... "How long was this going on?..."

"She thought I might still be Spike..." Will spoke up... "She was just trying to keep a lid on..."

"Am I hearing that there were more incidents than what the officer witnessed?..." the policewoman asked, cutting Buffy off in mid-declaration...

"I was having my own problems..." Buffy tried... "I didn't know I was a reincarnate...My heart was split right down..."

"So you hit us when you have problems?..." Angel frowned... "Even when we get a soul for you?...Well, now I think I know where that shove into Hell came from..."

"This is none of your business, Angel..." Buffy glared... "Speakin' of which, how's Dru?...You never did clean up that little mess, did you?...Your little psycho 'daughter' who murdered my husband...."

"People..." the policewoman frowned...

"Buffy..." Will called...

"I didn't know how else to deal then...I got him out after a little while...He stayed in our basement till he burned to death..."

"You didn't get him any care?..." the officer eyed her... "Honey, I wouldn't leave my dog in the basement, let alone my sick husband, ex- or unDead or what..."

"I didn't hit him then..." Buffy pleaded... "Tell her, Will..."

"She didn't...Except that time after the First brainwashed me in the Sunnydale High basement and I was under her influence... But that was just to help me..."

"Tough love again, huh...?"

"Something like that..."

"Girl, I think I see a serious pattern of violence here..."

"Well, I had been a killer vampire..." Will tried... "It was often that or stake me in the early days..."

Thank you...Buffy mouthed...

Don't mention, sweet....

"But now you had a soul?..." the officer noted... "And she'd been aware of that for some time...?"

Well...

"Don't we have any rights, Buffy?..." Angel, annoyed... "As human-souled beings?...God, it doesn't surprise me at all you were born in England, Cicely..."

"Oh, now...Angel, lets not let politics get into this..." William sighed...

"Enough..." the officer put up a hand...

"If you knew your killer vampire husband..." she began...

"I didn't know he was my husband until I found out this year, in London..." Buffy cut in...

Just for the record, she explained...

Right...The officer frowned...

"...if you knew he had gotten a soul and you'd stopped beating him...For 'tough love' purposes...Why did you resume your behavior in LA?...I mean, before, you beat him to 'save' him...Had he lost his soul?...Was he being brainwashed...?"

"I...I was mad at him for not calling me right away...After burning up and me thinking...After I found out William was my lost husband..." Buffy looked at the group about her...

"Are you using some fiend mind control device with her?..." Mulder eyed his companion...

"No, it's all her...See why JFK and Clinton never chased after Slayers?..."

"I was just a little pissed at him...I lost it..."

I'm sorry...Mournful tone...

"I see...Mr....?" the officer eyed William...

"Walthrop, ma'am..."

"Mr. Walthrop...Do you wish protection from this lady?..."

Will?...Buffy stared...

"Will, you'd be welcome to stay with Nina and me..." Angel noted...Frowning at Buffy... "I dare say the boy would be better off..."

"Angel, I oughta...!" Buffy raged...

"If he doesn't want protection..."Angel began...

"I saved your miserable hide...!"

"People!!...We'll have quiet here..."

"I don't need protection from my wife..." Will noted... "It's fine..."

The officer shook her head... "The problem is...Not only state law requires an investigation...There's a child at home..."

"I never...Ever..." Buffy began...

"She nearly killed her sister/daughter at least once...That I know of..." Angel cut in... "And she's had no time with the boy...William just rescued him the other day..."

"Angel!! I'm gonna...!!"

"What?...What?!...Kill me?!!..." he glared... "I don't think anyone needs to hear that..."

"Ma'am..." he turned to the officer... "As a good friend and the sire...Vampiral father, you might say...Of Mr. Walthrop...I think I must say I certainly have reservations about Miss Summers being allowed to..."

"Angelus, you murderous bastard!!!..."

"Buffy, darling!!..." Will cried as she rose up in rage...

"Don't...For my sake, Cics..."

Ummn...She eyed him...Red-faced with rage...Angel taking defensive stance...Cops pulling weapons...

"Lady...Sit down and be a good girl...Or we will have to do something you won't like..." the officer glared at her...

"Please, dear..." Will sighed...

"Sure..." she looked round...

Nothing wrong, it's cool...

"I'm fine...Just tell that jackass to keep his opinions to himself...Can we remember who and how many times saved the world?... "

"Considering the mayor and Warren Mears and even the Master weren't what I would call, world-class threats..." Angel began...

"Angel...Enough..." Will frowned...

"I knew you hated me, deep down...Ever since I came back from the dead the last time..." Buffy glared... "Jealous of me, jealous of William...Not like you earned that soul, is it?..."

"I was good enough to be Buffy's first, wasn't I?...Maybe Cicely's too?..." Angel sneered...

"Mr. Angel...Keep that up and I might put you and the lady in a cell together..." the policewoman frowned...

"Below the belt, Angel..." Will noted quietly... "Lets remember we're all friends here..."

"And God knows you weren't Cicely's first..." Buffy cut in, narrow-eyed look at Angel...

"And from the little I remember I doubt you managed to be Buffy's first either..."

Hmmphf...Mmmphf...

"Now we've gone and made Illyria cry..." Will sighed... "Fred, it's ok...We just had a very stressful night..." he patted her...

"I thought we cared for each other...Can't we just be friends?...Or fight it out to the death in private?...Wesley would want it that way..." Illyria, sobbing...

"Lyri, I'm sorry..." Angel sighed... "Buffy, I lost my temper...Old wounds opening up...I'm sorry..."

"You might apologize to my husband..." she noted, coolly...

He frowned, but... "Yeah...Will, I'm sorry...No offense intended..."

"It's fine, mate..."

"You were monitoring after Andrew left LA...How well have they known each other...?" Buffy hissed to the Slayer to her left...

"Back to the matter at hand, people..." the policewoman sighed... "I'm passing this on to the judge, with a strong recommendation that Miss Summers here..."

"Mrs. Walthrop..." Buffy corrected.. "We'll have the paperwork to make it legal again in soon..."

"You might want to hold up a bit on that..." the officer suggested, dryly...

"Hey..."

"...Anyway, I'm recommending that the lady enter a domestic violence program...But that will be at the discretion of the judge..."

"I'm going to jail?..." Buffy stared...

"We'll bail you...Angel?..." Will looked over...

Hmmn?...

"Well, assuming Wolfram-Hart's credit still exists..." Angel noted...

"I'll contact Mr. Giles..." the woman in tweed called... "Sorry about the other incidents in Sunnydale, apparently we'd not been informed of them..." she eyed Buffy who looked a bit around, nervously...

I saved the world...Lots...

"It'll be fine, pet..." Will called to her as two officers motioned for her to rise...

***

"Whoa..."

"Impressed...?" the cigarette-smoking man eyed Mulder as they sat, the room partially emptying now...

"I guess...But say, why do you bring me to these things and let me know some of your secrets?...What's in it for you, given I won't change my mind and turn to your side?..." Mulder asked...

"I know...But given Miss Summers' revealing a darker side in all her goodness...And given in all these years you've never gone after that Scully...I was thinking...We might go out..." the cigarette-smoking man smiled...Hopefully...

***

"I can't believe she was in LA with you the whole time after Andrew went home...And you two let me take that damned trip to Rome...You and that 'could we put Buffy in a box?' or 'mind control her?' crap..."

"What?..." Buffy eyed a sheepish Will...

"Just maintainin' the decep..."

"Yeah, don't start hitting him again..." Angel said... "Jesus!!..." he shrieked at the blow...

"Hey, I'm not married to you..."

***