Xander was pissed off. It took three days for the troop from Sunnydale to give even a grudging account of why they had come to LA in the first place. Still they remained secretive about the details; they would only say that there was a god out there hunting Dawn, and that they needed to hide out until they could discover a way to either stop or kill the god. When Wesley attempted to question them further, he was met with only evasive answers and silence. The distrust was obvious, and, to Xander at least, offensive.

How dare Buffy and the others assume they could come down and use the hotel as a place to hide out while also expecting the employees of Angel Investigations to fight beside them without disclosing exactly what was going on? What reason could they possibly have to not trust Angel, Wesley, Cordelia, and himself? Especially Angel. Buffy had never stopped punishing him for leaving Sunnydale after graduation, even though she had theoretically moved on. The exclusion of the brunette vampire was deliberate and wrong, and the more Xander thought about it, the angrier he got.

* * * * * * *

Angel was pissed off. This was the first time that Xander had seen his friends in almost six months and they completely cut him out of their circle. Nobody - not even Willow - would tell the young man what was going on. Of course, they wouldn't tell anyone else what was happening, either, but these people were supposed to be Xander's best friends. Xander, who had risked his own life for Buffy and the others countless times. If anyone should be allowed to know, it was him, but instead they were treating him like shit: isolating him because he had moved to L.A. and "abandoned" them. Xander was being punished, and it wasn't fair. The more the vampire thought about it, the more irate he became.

* * * * * * *

Willow was worried. Although Xander had promised to sit down and tell her everything that was happening in his life, the young man had yet to do so. Whenever she brought it up, he would quickly shrug it off and then change the subject. If she didn't know better, she would swear that Xander was trying to hide something from her. What would Xander ever need to hide?

It was in the late afternoon of the third day that Willow was finally able to pull Xander aside and talk to him alone. All day he had seemed bothered by something, although Willow had no idea what could have irritated him. Finally she chalked it up to seeing Buffy and Spike together. It had been something of a shock to her, too, but she had also had the luxury of watching them come together gradually. Suddenly having to deal with them as a couple must not be a very pleasant experience. Plus they probably only helped remind Xander that he had been single ever since Anya dumped him. Once they were finally alone, Willow decided that her first order of business was to try and find out whether Xander's love life had improved in L.A.

"So, is there anyone special in your life?" she started, cringing at the triteness of the words even as they came out of her mouth.

"What?" Xander asked.

"You know, are you seeing anyone?"

"No," the brunette sighed.

"Is there anyone you want to be snuggling with?" Willow asked next. She had only asked to try to lift the mood, and was completely unprepared for Xander's reaction. His head snapped up even as his cheeks turned crimson.

"What? Ah, why do you ask?" he inquired in a rush.

Willow hid her smirk when she realized that this was undoubtedly an uncomfortable topic for her friend. Xander has a cru-ush, Xander has a cru-ush, she chanted mentally.

"Just making conversation," she replied in her best indifferent voice.

Xander visibly relaxed. "Oh. Then, uh, no."

"Are you sure?" she rejoined, a little of the sing-song voice in her head leaking into her words.

The brunette's eyes immediately narrowed once again as he sized up his friend.

"I mean, this is L.A., after all," Willow continued, "bathing beauties everywhere." Then, playing on a sudden hunch, she added, "Even here at work."

She was delighted as Xander's eyes flew open and his once scarlet face drained to a deathly pale color. Score one for the Wiccan! She was a little less delighted when he began to hyperventilate and had to run to the kitchen to get a drink of water.

When he had calmed down for the most part (though his skin retained a slightly pallid look), the redhead looked at him expectantly. "I'm waiting," she informed him.

"I don't know what you're talking about?" Xander attempted.

Willow shook her head. "Don't even try it, buster. I want to know details. Well, not too many details," she corrected after a moment's reflection, "but an outline will do fine. Just don't leave any gossip out."

Xander squirmed under the force of her glare, then evidently decided to follow the past of least resistance. "Well, there's not much to tell, really. Just a couple of kisses..." he trailed off.

"In the closet, right?" Willow asked with a wink.

The brunette frowned. "What?"

"The closet. Remember how you guys always used to go for closets? And just think, if you decide to break in every closet in the hotel you'll be kissing for months."

Xander stared at his friend, bewildered. "You think I meant Cordelia," he finally stated, more to himself than to Willow.

"Of course. Xander, you don't have to try and pretend -"

"I am *not* seeing Cordelia again," Xander insisted, a slightly crazed look creeping into his eyes.

"Whatever you say, Xander," Willow said, a huge, Cheshire grin on her face.

"No, really."

"Uh huh." With that, she sashayed out of the kitchen still grinning, bent on finding her own snuggle-baby now that she knew Xander's heart was on the mend.

* * * * * * *

Xander was still turning this conversation over in his mind as he lay on his bed later that night. Dressed only in his boxers and a t-shirt, he looked up at the ceiling and hoped for some kind of sign. Even though he now did (mostly) believe that Angel was interested in him, the youth still was unclear about what that meant. Did Angel want to date? Were there more groping sessions planned for the kitchen, or were they now going to be confined to the bedrooms? Did this mean that (gulp) sex would eventually be a part of their relationship? If so, what about the curse? Or was Angel not worried about it because he "was interested in" but not in love with Xander? The thoughts began to get more and more frantic as the brunette realized he had absolutely no answers. He was saved the effort of a full-fledged panic attack, however, by a quiet knock on his bedroom door. In the hallway, he came face to face with Angel.

"Hey," the teen greeted with a mixture of surprise and nervousness.

"Hi," the vampire replied, "can I come in?"

Looking down at his partially undressed state, Xander heaved a mental shrug and stepped out of the doorway. "Sure, what's up?"

The Irishman waited until the teenager had shut the door, then took a step closer to him, effectively pinning Xander against the door, though they weren't touching.

"I just wanted to see you," Angel explained in a quiet voice. "We haven't talked since that night on the roof."

Xander was flustered. "Yeah, uh, umm. About that..."

"What about it?" Angel queried, then cut off any response by pressing his lips upon the warm ones beneath them. The kiss quickly engulfed them both for several minutes, as the only pauses were made when Xander began gasping for breath. Then, as all good kisses eventually do, it evolved. Angel began to run his cool fingers around the waist of Xander's shirt, then finally under the shirt to trace along the over-heated skin of the boy's back and sides. The vampire slid his tongue out of Xander's mouth long enough to slide it along the jaw line and down the neck, feeling the thrum of Xander's blood just beneath the skin. Xander, meanwhile, hesitantly began to unbutton he blue silk shirt Angel was wearing, caressing the soft material between his fingers constantly. It was only when the shirt was fully untucked and unbuttoned that the teen seemed to be unable to imagine what he was supposed to do with the sudden expanse of unblemished pale flesh literally at his fingertips.

"I -I've never..." he began, his anxiety almost palpable.

"Don't worry, Xander. I'm not going to force you to do anything."

"I mean, I've always kind of wondered what it would be like with another guy, but I never really thought I'd find out," Xander began explaining anyway.

"Hmm." Angel became too engrossed in tracing the younger man's ear with the tip of his tongue to respond properly.

Xander looked at the dark-eyed man in front of him and took a deep breath. He had never, ever expected to admit this to anyone, let alone Angel. But in for a penny... "In fact, sometimes I used to, ah, think about you. When I was alone. At night. In the dark..." Xander began blushing furiously, which Angel, drawing back to look at him, found completely adorable.

"I know," Angel murmured, headed back for the earlobe.

The youth pulled back so fast his butt slammed against the door. "What?"

"I know. I knew." Seeing an incomprehensible look in the teen's eyes, Angel elaborated, "I knew that you thought about me."

"WHAT?"

Angel ignored the wide-eyed terror that had engulfed the younger man as he leaned forward to latch his teeth onto Xander's other ear instead. "Vampires can smell pheromones, you know," he murmured as he nuzzled, "and you were always swimming in them whenever I was around. It didn't take me long to put two and two together."

"Oh. My. God."

Angel frowned at the distressed man. "Xander, it's not a big deal. If I didn't already know you were attracted to me I never would have just started kissing you the other day."

"Ohmigod, you've known since *high school*? You've known this whole time we were living together? 'Not a big deal'? Please excuse me while I go burst from shame and humiliation."

Before the youth could get anywhere, a chilled hand grabbed his shoulder. "Don't be embarrassed. There's nothing to be embarrassed about. Really." Before the youth could open that delectable mouth again, Angel silenced him with what was meant to be a reassuring kiss.

"But..." Xander started once he came up for air.

Angel had no choice but to kiss him again.

* * * * * * *

A second knock on the door half an hour later found both of them shirtless in Xander's bed. Angel was interrupted in the middle of sliding Xander's boxers off even as the teenager was attacking the fastenings on the vampire's pants. At the sound of knuckles on wood they both froze for a moment, then scrambled to cover up as much of their bareness as they could.

After yanking up his boxers, the younger man hastened to open the door, pulling on his t-shirt (inside out and backwards, no less) from the floor on his way.

Taking a fortifying breath, the younger brunette finally managed to open the door, revealing a sleepy-looking Willow on the other side.

"Wills! What's wrong? Are you okay? Is Tara okay?" he realized he was babbling but was more concerned with keeping his best friend out of his room than anything else.

The Witch smiled gently. "Xander, everyone's fine. I can't sleep, though, because I keep thinking about what I said today. Can I come in?"

Because she happened to glance away, Willow missed seeing Xander's face launch into full-blown panic mode.

"In? Why do you need to come in? We can talk in the hall, right?"

Ignoring him, the redhead began to press into the room. "Look, I'm really sorry I teased you about Cordelia. I think if you two can be happy together then it's none of my -" she stopped short, staring at the Angel-shaped person sitting half-naked in Xander's bed.

"Hi, Willow," Angel said softly, giving her a small, embarrassed wave.

Later, Xander would swear Willow turned at least five shades of red in as many seconds. "Oh, um, I'll just be going, then," she practically gasped. "I guess you can forget everything I said about Cordelia. Bye!" She nearly flew from the room.

Xander buried his face in his hands. He refused to open his eyes again even as he felt Angel pulling him back down into bed, then rolling him onto his left side. The vampire placed a tiny kiss on Xander's right cheek, then wrapped an arm around the younger man's waist, holding him close. They lay like that even after Xander's breath evened out and the young man fell sound asleep.

As they entered the lobby/office area the next morning, Xander was instantly aware of Willow's eyes zeroing in on every move that either he or Angel made. It reminded him a lot of on of those Doppler Radar storm trackers that illustrate big weather systems as they inch across the screen. No one else even looked up, though, so apparently the word wasn't out yet about their sleeping arrangements. Not that he had expected Willow to tell anyone, but in a way it would have been nice to have that part over with. If there was one thing he had discovered in his relatively short life, if was that secrets were the devil. Especially relationship-type secrets. It was always best to break the news as quickly as possible. The problem was finding a nice opening. "Speaking of Angel, he sure looks good naked doesn't he? And boy does he know how to use that tongue!"

Somehow nothing he thought of seemed quite right.

In the end, Xander thought he'd opt for the most subtle approach of all (well, most subtle after not actually telling them) which was to simply be affectionate to his new lover while everyone else was around. Not sucking-tonsils-down-the-throat affectionate, but hand holding, small touches affectionate. Girly stuff. Eventually even Buffy would catch on to that, right? And he'd be spared the harsh scenes of announcement and maybe confrontation. Sure Buffy and Spike looked all happy and loving, but who wouldn't get pissed if a best friend started dating their ex? Human nature, baby. Not to mention the whole curse issue, which had yet to come up in his conversations with Angel.

So, as they got to the bottom of the stairs, Xander confidently reached out his hand and caught...air. Air devoid of answering Angel-hand. Spinning around gracelessly, the young man could only watch as the vampire gave him a wide berth and went to sit with Tara and Dawn. Went to sit alone with the two girls, so very blatantly completely ignoring Xander. Well, blatant to Xander, at least. No one else much noticed yet again, which reminded him of why he had left Sunnydale in the first place. Still, Xander was dumfounded by Angel's action as he stood uncertainly still for a moment, then finally took a seat at the other end of the room. Had he done something to piss the brunette vampire off between leaving the bedroom and arriving in the lobby? Or was it that Angel just didn't want anyone to know they were together? The lack of bitterness which accompanied that thought startled the young man for a moment, but he supposed he should be used to it. It was Cordelia Chase all over again, ladies and gentlemen, and here he had thought Angel would be different.

* * * * * * *

Angel settled between Dawn and Tara and tried valiantly to follow their conversation about something called a Sailor Moon. After about ten seconds he deemed it hopeless and let his mind wander to more pleasant activities, like watching Xander cross the room and throw himself into a chair. That boy's body was incredible, all golden heat with muscles in all the right places. The older man would have liked nothing better than to have pulled all of that unbelievable flesh into his lap so Angel could feel it burning right through his clothes. That night on the roof, though, he had made a promise not only to Xander, but to himself as well. He promised Xander that he was not just using him to get back at Buffy, and he promised himself he would never ever do anything to make the young man feel like that was the case. Being demonstratively loving right in front of everyone might make Xander question his motives. So for now, Angel would simply have to content himself with watching the luscious boy (*his* luscious boy, his demon growled) out of the corner of his eye.

About fifteen minutes after Angel and Xander had come down, Buffy and Spike arrived, looking rumpled but in high spirits. To Angel's sensitive nose (and to a few less-sensitive ones as well) they reeked of sex. It was a mystery why they even bothered coming down, but maybe even they had to come up for air every once in a while.

Angel was surprised and pleased to note that he wasn't bothered in the slightest that his ex-girlfriend was now sleeping with his former enemy. Sure, there was a twinge or two, as well as the dull ache that accompanies looking into the past, but other than that, nothing. No sharp pain, no sudden jealous desire to rip Spike's head off and make the blond vampire's final resting place the vacuum cleaner bag.

Instead, he fantasized about reaching out and touching Xander's hand, stroking the long warm fingers and kissing the palm. Moving on to the wrists...

"Angel? Did you hear me?" Wesley asked again.

The brunette blinked slowly. "What?"

"Well, as I was saying," the ex-Watcher continued in a low voice, pulling the vampire away from everyone else, "I can't seem to find much in the research regarding anyone named Glory. Perhaps if we had a little more to go on..."

Angel sighed. The last thing he wanted to do now was spoil the wonderful morning by fighting with Buffy over information she so obviously did not want to give him. But it looked as if he had no choice.

* * * * * * *

Twenty minutes later, the morning was indeed ruined. The hostile faces of the Sunnydale crew met him no matter where he looked. Buffy's face was especially angry, her entire body language giving off her defensiveness as she glared at Angel furiously.

"Well, maybe if we had a better understanding of what was happening, we might be able to do something about it," Angel explained (again) in a mild tone. However, the fact that he had balled his hands into fists underneath the table belied his soft voice. He was holding onto his temper by a mere thread.

"No way. It's a family thing," the blonde Slayer hastily rebuffed the vampire.

Before Angel could answer, however, another voice spoke up.

"And he's not part of your family?" Xander asked, jumping to his feet and gesturing at the brunette vampire, his voice growing in volume with each snarled word. "Do you even remember how many times he's risked his life for you? How much pain he's gone through for you? And you still have the nerve to say he's not part of your family? Well FUCK YOU, Buffy. You can take your high horse and ride it on out of here, because Angel of all people does not deserve to be excluded by someone like *you*." The slamming of a door as he exited served to punctuate his words.

There was an awkward silence for several seconds until the blessed (under the circumstances, at least) ringing of a telephone interrupted it.

Hiding her relief behind an unconcerned look, Cordelia got up to answer it, leaving the tension of the room behind.

After she had left, Wesley began again, hoping his Englishness would be act as something of a balm for the situation. "Buffy, surely you can see the only way we can really help is if we know exactly what we're fighting - "

"No. It's none of your business," she interrupted, throwing another irate glare directly at Angel.

"It is our business now," Cordelia replied, returning to the room. "That was Giles. Apparently Willy told Glory about Angel living in L.A. and now she's on her way here. So spill."

"She's coming?" Buffy's eyes had grown round in fear. Angel reflected that this was the first time he had ever seen that expression on her face. "We have to leave here. Dawn, let's go."

"No, Buffy," Angel placed a restraining hand on her arm, "you need to tell us what's coming. We're going to have to fight her whether or not you leave, and it would be nice to be a little bit prepared."

It appeared that even Buffy knew when she was beaten. Lowering her head, she slowly began to fill in the gaps in the information. Gradually the picture became more clear: who Glory was, what she wanted and why. Only when Buffy got to the part of Dawn being the key did she begin to stumble over words.

After she had finished, there was a split second of silence before anyone from the L.A. faction responded.

Fiddling with his glasses, Wesley leaned forward to grab a heavy tome from the table in front of him. "Oh. Well, I'll see what the books tell us about -"

The petite blonde leapt to her feet. "We don't have time for that! Glory is on her way *now*. We have to get out of here."

Angel shook his head. "What are you going to do, just keep running forever? If we all fight her, maybe - "

"No. She's too strong. We've gone up against her before and barely escaped with our lives."

Wesley cut in before Angel and Buffy could regress to another yelling match. "I have some barrier spells that might help us, or at least buy us some time, if Willow and Tara lend their Wiccan abilities to them."

Buffy shook her head. "We've been researching for months now. If there were information out there, we would have found it already. It's too dangerous to just stay. Dawn needs to get out of here."

Surprisingly, Angel agreed. "And so does Cordelia. She can take Dawn out and hide her while we fight."

"No. Dawn needs me."

Angel sighed. "Buffy, it's the only way."

Spike interrupted before Buffy could respond. "I hate to agree with Thunder Buns here, but he's right, pet. We can't just keep running."

* * * * * * *

By the time Xander's temper had cooled off enough for him to return to the room, he found that Dawn and Cordelia had already left and the others were doing some pretty heavy-duty research. Obviously something was up. Frowning in confusion, Xander wandered over to ask Angel what was going on.

Touching the vampire lightly on the arm, the younger man moved so that he was quite plainly invading Angel's personal space. It was the first time he had gotten close to the vamp all day and even the slight touch was reassuring as hell. Touching the cool, hard flesh gave Xander the feeling of belonging that had been missing for so much of his life. The youth was contemplating what this might mean when Angel unexpectedly slipped his wrist from Xander's grasp, stood up and walked several steps away. All right, now it was painfully obvious that Angel wanted nothing to do with him, that earlier had not been a fluke or mistake on Xander's part. Why? Had he done something? Or had it all been a lie? Had Angel just been using him as a nice, easy lay with whom there was no remote chance of perfect happiness occurring?

With these thoughts clouding the young man's mind he sank slowly the nearest chair, ignored by everyone around him. From that position, he barely registered the conversation taking place directly behind him between Spike and Wesley.

"You know, this Glory chit doesn't exactly have her own body."

"Whatever do you mean?"

"Well, none of the others seems to remember this, but she and this regular human guy, Ben, they share the one body. It'll be her, then out of the blue it'll shift and he'll take over. It's like they fight over it."

"And he's just a human? No special powers?"

"None. He used to be a doctor."

There was a pause as Wesley pondered this. "Well, I suppose...Of course! Glory needs the human body to be corporeal at all in this dimension."

"Do you think it'll help?"

"As a matter of fact, I think it will. If we can find a spell that'll bind Ben permanently to the body, it will suppress Glory to the point of nonexistence. She won't be able to gain power over the body. I just need to find the proper spell..."