"Hell yea Luv!" Spike called out with pride. "We came, we conquered, we kicked Indian ass! The buggars!"
"Um, ya know, I don't think I'm allowed to put the word, 'ass' in my report…" Dawn hesitated.
"WHAT? What bleedin Christ History report is this if you can't even explain how it really happened??" Spike bickered harshly.
"Well, it says in the book that the Indians were the first people to inhabit North and South America…" Dawn skimmed through the pages carefully.
"Oh bollocks! That's what they want you to think! The Britains were the *real* leaders." Spike stiffly confirmed.
Dawn absently threw a whole ho-ho into her mouth and munched down while the chocolate crumbs got all over her book. "Ya know Spike, it's ok. Really. You don't have to help me. I'll just do it on my own…" Dawn tried to be gentle in her objection.
"What? Now Little Bit!" Spike whimpered. He sounded truly hurt. "I can help you on this. I know what I'm talking about, damn it!"
Dawn sighed and mentally gave up on trying to get someone else who knew what they were talking about, like Willow, or Tara, to help her. She couldn't hurt Spike just to get a better grade. She just couldn't. Not after all he did for her after Buffy's death and all… She presented him with a warm smile and scooted over so that he could lie down next to her.
"All right, now you're talking…" Spike plopped down beside Dawn and looked over her notes. "Now, do you think you can say 'sod off' in this paper, or no?"
"I wonder how Buffy's date went last night." Willow excitingly called from one of the back stacks.
"Do you think she had an orgasm with this man?" Anya asked matter-of-factly.
"Anya!" Everyone reprimanded her.
"What?" She looked around innocently. "I was only asking."
Just then the doorbell jingled and everyone stared in shock as they saw Buffy and Angel come through smiling at each other.
"Hey people!" Buffy cheerily smiled, taking heed of the rest of the room after several moments. Willow, Tara, Anya, and Dawn had gone stone still as their eyes bulged out of their sockets, all answering in an equal monotone "hey". Spike slowly got off the floor, his opaque, black eyes boring into Angel fiercely.
Xander, always the first one with a comment coming out of his mouth, no matter how inarticulate or absurd pertaining to the situation stood up a little awkwardly and walked over to where both Buffy and Angel stood.
"Buffy, really, you shouldn't be picking up weird strays wandering about, and bring them home. It's not natural." He meant his little bantering to be taken lightly, perhaps breaking the ice a little, but once again, as always, his humor was doomed to make him seem like a complete idiot, or a complete asshole with no compassion.
"Xander!" Buffy bit back.
But to everyone's surprise Angel merely chuckled at Xander's derogatory comment softly. "Oh Xander, you'll never change, will you? Don't you mean to *ever* grow up?" His smile pinched at Xander's ego more than anything he had said, for it was full of sympathy and seemed to be pitying a poor fool that knew no better. He came up close to Xander's viewpoint and playfully slapped him in the face a couple of times in rapid succession. Although they were not in the slightest hard slaps, but more of a male bonding pissing contest, nonetheless Xander flinched and rubbed at his abused cheek with a pained look.
Willow and Tara exchanged an arched brow before Angel's voice took control of the room once again.
"Spike!? Wow! Buffy told me about your little make over, but I still didn't believe it. And yet, here you are. So what, you on the home team now, or what? What spanked you back into line?" Angel asked with an amusing grin.
"What's with the new vocab, Angel? Last time the word 'spanking' crossed your lips your manner of dress was still in style." Spike scornfully stung back.
"Oooh, try not to get too wild here, my boy. Especially with the ladies about. You should know better." Angel gently admonished, a wry smirk pinning Spike with absolute hostility.
//Uh-oh! This was spelling 'ugly' in the *big* time sense! God, I didn't know that Angel and Spike were still going to be so childish about the whole thing… Here both of them were, well beyond the age of any mature human being, and yet they still were flinging insults at each other as if they were in tiny, separate tree houses on different lawns. Men. They never grow up.// Buffy better do something before this turned into another Noble-Steed fight.
"Hey!" She pushed in front of both their vision lines and blocked both their views from each other. "Calm down you two! I don't want to have to hose you boys down. Now we're all adults here…I should think. What's past has past. Let's leave it at that. Ok??" Buffy turned to each demon in turn and gave them a stern glare. "Angel is just here on official business. There's a demon in LA that we need to help him track. So let's just try and get along. There's no need to start an all-time 'Who's-Got-The-Bigger-Dick' war, ok??"
"Sorry Spike; Buffy's right. Anyway, it wouldn't be fair to you; you'd be stuck sulking." Angel jabbed into Spike with a wicked grin.
"Angel!" Buffy turned to face him. "I mean it!" She harshly chided.
"Ok!" Angel cried, looking at her innocently. "I was only joking around."
Spike's eyes narrowed and formed into little tiny, hard marbles. He glowed at Angel for several seconds before walking out of the magic shop with a grumble under his breath.
Angel merely shrugged and smiled an angelic smile to a confused Buffy.
"So where's Giles?" Angel tried changing the subject, suddenly feeling uneasy.
"Oh, he's out getting coffees and doughnuts for everyone." Willow smiled, trying to get everyone to go right along with whatever was the most convenient and comfortable disposition.
Angel raised a surprised eyebrow towards Buffy. "Giles drinks coffee now?? Wow, I have been away for a while."
"Buffy, not that this is really a mystery as of now, but where have you been all day? We were worried. You couldn't have picked up a phone?" Xander scolded.
"Yea, you blew off your classes." Tara chimed in.
Buffy sighed. She knew she was going to hear it from Giles as well on how she slacked on her responsibilities again. "Sorry guys, I was at the mansion helping Angel research about this demon in LA that they encountered." Buffy apologized softly.
"Uh-huh…I bet…" Xander snorted, eyeing both Angel and Buffy in sarcastic disbelief, his tone both taunting and unforgiving. "And uh, what did you find in your so-called," He cleared his throat for more emphasis and made the sign of marking quotation with his fingers. "Research?" He finished with a downcasting stare.
"Xander!" Buffy could feel herself blushing from head to foot. "We *were* researching! God! We lost track of the time, ok?"
"Yea, I know one specific way that can happen." Xander's tone was becoming more and more disdainful.
Buffy rolled her eyes and chose to ignore his comment. Luckily her sister came through with another remark that spelled certain distraction, unfortunately yet again humiliating Buffy in the process.
"Well, no matter! I don't care if Spike isn't happy about your return! I am!" Dawn ran up to Angel and grinned eagerly. "So you really here because of a demon, or did you just miss Buffy too much?" She held a hand up to her mouth and slyly snickered.
"DAWN!" Buffy growled out, embarrassed beyond all reason.
Angel chuckled and captured Dawn's face in his hand fondly. "Can't fool you. You're too quick. I guess I don't need an excuse to come visit my girls." Angel winked at Dawn affectionately.
"Cool! Cause I missed you!" Dawn jumped into his arms, giggling, despite his huffed-out grunt.
"Thanks Cutie, I missed you too." Angel smiled as he held her up to the light. "Oh, I brought something for ya!"
He aided her down gently and roamed through his pockets.
"Really?? Cool! What is it??" Dawn asked excitingly.
"Hmmm…" Angel suddenly frowned in graveness. "I can't seem to find it…"
Dawn's face became worried as she looked up at him.
"Ahh-ha! Here it is!" Triumphantly Angel pulled out a small object of some sort, and clutched it in his hand. The silver coating caught the light and glimmered a little before he put both his hands behind his back.
"Well…" Dawn incited.
"Ah-ah. You gotta find it first." He presented both his hands as closed fists in front of her. "Pick which hand."
Dawn grinned in girlish pleasure. It had been a long, long time since someone had given her affection like this. Since her mother died… Yes, there was Buffy, but she was rather busy being the Savior of the Planet and all… Dawn tapped his left hand.
"Nope…try again." He said with a teasing smirk.
She tapped his right hand, proudly knowing that this would be the one.
"No…not there. I think you've got it…. Let's check in your nose! Things always seem to wind up in there somehow."
Dawn was now in full roars of laughter as Angel bent her head back and peered into her nose with his serious, scrutinizing eyes.
"Yep, here it is!" Angel patted her softly on the back and gave her face a little shake, furtively putting the box right on her upper lip. Dawn smiled and made a grab for it, fingering it and toying it with a small gasp.
"Cool! Angel gave me…" Dawn eyed the article in a peculiar fashion, not quite knowing what it was. "Something cool…" She finally concluded skeptically. "See Buffy?" She smiled self-satisfied at her big sister.
"Yea, he often does that to girls." Buffy witty, little smile met Angel's, with genuine devotion.
"So what exactly is this?" Dawn looked to Angel with a questioning glance.
It's silver coating was just the beginning beauty of this unique gift. Its form was of an oval smoothness, polished to the very last edge. It had mystical shapes that Dawn had never seen before carved immaculately into the middle of it. There was no opening whatsoever that she could find and she finally dismissed the thing as another little knick-knack. It wasn't amusing in the slightest, except for the fact of its obvious beauty. Maybe it could be a cute, little paperweight or something.
"I know that you think there's nothing more to it." Angel's tone had become grave and almost discreet. "But you couldn't be more wrong. It's a luck charm, Dawn. And not just one of those hokey rabbit-foot keychains that you buy at the grocery stores down the street. This is a real one that actually brings good, solid luck. A leprechaun sold it to me for helping his family find their pot of gold at the end of the rainbow." His eyes bore into hers with greedy delight.
"You liar!" She giggled.
He gave her a secretive smile and raised his eyebrows playfully at her.
"Does it really bring good luck?" Dawn's tone suddenly turned earnest and she looked at Angel pleadingly.
Angel crossed his fingers over his heart and smiled. "I swear on my torturous human soul that I kid you not."
Dawn's eyes glimmered with wonderment as she held the article and turned it around and around. "Bitchin…" She whispered.
Just then the door jingled again and a distressed Giles came stumbling through it with a bag full of doughnuts and a tray of trembling coffees.
"Giles!" Willow called out. "Look who's here!" She pointed to Angel in exciting gestures as Giles glanced over to where she was.
"Yes, yes, very nice…" He mumbled absently. "Good lord, good lord, dear lord…" He muttered under his breath, putting the refreshments on the table. He took his glasses off and wiped them clean for several minutes. He proceeded to the back of the shop where he kept his little office and desk and shut the door.
"Gee, maybe you were right, Angel. Giles changing stereotypes by drinking coffee instead of tea does not equal a good." Xander finally concluded after moments of silence.
Buffy caught Willow's eye and bit her bottom lip as Willow merely shrugged in a puzzled aspect.
Buffy hurriedly made her way to Giles' shut door and knocked softly. "Giles? It's me." She tried. "Is everything ok?"
Suddenly the door flew open to expose Giles with a huge mountain of books over-piling in his arms, swaying uneasily, and scaring Buffy nearly half to death. He swaggered over to the table and pushed all the books on the top with a grunt. After a couple of moments he suddenly seem to realize he wasn't alone.
"Well come, come." He beckoned all of them. "The books aren't going to research themselves, are they?"
All eyes and mouths gaped open and stared at Giles in absolute stillness, as if he were a phantasm of some sort, trying to communicate in a language they could not grasp.
"God, talk about bossy!" Xander demurred. "I tell ya the coffee is such a no-no for him."
"What's up Giles?" Buffy asked, coming over to the table as everyone else followed.
"Anyone read the paper this morning?" asked Giles.
"Was the Braves game that bad?" Xander asked.
"Appearantly not…" Giles rolled his eyes and thrust the paper on the table for all to see.
Willow picked out the headline right away and shivered. "Sunnydale Slaughter…"
"Well at least whoever is writing this stuff has cute, little, pithy headlines." Xander commented.
Tara grabbed the paper and started to read aloud to everyone. "Early this morning, young, athletic, college student was found murdered in his dormitory. The scene consisted of a beyond brutal assault, and left the Sunnydale police to fathom what definite motive or incentive the scene accomplished. For all personal belongings and tokens were still intact in the boy's room and nothing was stolen. Police are babbled by this case, as no fingerprints or evidence has been found. Also remains the serious question as to why severe torturing devices, dating as far back as the early 18th Century, were found on the murder scene…"
The magic shop was silent for several moments as Tara slowly put down the paper and bit her bottom lip. Dawn looked at Buffy who had back up against the wall, appearing to be lost in her own despair with a look of pure horror stamped on her face. Willow shook her head in dismay.
"DAMN! I'd hate to see who he was hanging around with last night," Xander suddenly called out, shaking his head full of pity.
"He was with me…" Came a soft, desolate cry from behind everyone. With shock everyone turned to see Buffy's pained, guilty face cast in the shadows.
Willow was the first to realize. "Oh my God! I knew he looked familiar! Buffy, good God, that was your date!"
Xander's eyes widened as he looked at the floor for a moment before approaching Buffy cautiously and put his arm around her. "Ok Buffy, you know we love you, and 'psychotic' is such a strong word to use here." He giggled nervously. "And I can only imagine what it's like to come back from the dead, with all that built up rage and madness trying to work itself out, but…if you ever feel the need to talk to anyone of us, or let out some of that pent-up anger, especially on Angel's head, go for it. Cause this killing humans…it's just not right."
"When I left him he was fine. He wasn't the greatest person in the world, and he certainly couldn't go on a date to save his own life, but he didn't deserve to die…" Buffy let out a sigh. "What could have done this to him?"
"Oh God, Buffy!" Angel's voice called out, grabbing everyone else's attention in the process. "I think I have a pretty good idea…" His eyebrows knotted in great apprehension as he pressed his lips together tightly.
Buffy gasped. "Your demon…"
"What? Who?" Giles asked in pure confusion.
"That's why Angel's here, Giles." Buffy explained sadly. "There was a demon in LA that he and his crew were fighting and it bolted here."
"Oh man, it isn't enough that we're the central Hellmouth in this town, but now every time Angel's sorry ass comes for a visit he's gotta bring some of his pals. Can't you leave your demons in your own town? It's not fair…" Xander griped, huffing a little.
Angel sighed and chose to ignore Xander's patronizing note. He merely turned to Buffy again. "It must have tracked me after I got here. God, I'm sorry, Buffy." Angel's sympathetic face held long with hers.
"Well at least if he had a date with you Buffy…he died in a happy sense…ummm, did he die happy?" Xander looked at Buffy.
"WHAT?" She asked incredulously.
"Did you give him a happy at least at the end of the night?"
"NO!" She raged.
"Oh." Xander stood quietly for a few minutes. "Well then, yea, it does suck to be him." He admitted ruefully.
"So exactly why did this demon kill a random college student?" Tara quizzed.
"Maybe it got bored…" Xander suggested idly.
"Or perhaps the demon saw the guy with Buffy and figured that was a way to get to her." Dawn replied wisely.
"Sounds logical." Giles sighed and cleared his throat. "Well, I suppose then we'll have to go into research mode here and look for your demon Angel, finding out what it wants. Xander, Anya, Willow, Tara and Dawn, you can stay here and help me look through the text. Buffy and Angel will have to patrol. See if they can pick anything up."
"Aww, why do we always get the boring job? Xander…" Anya looked to him in a grieving manner.
Xander suddenly shook his head furiously and grabbed a coffee and made a run for it, yelling back to her, "No sex now! I'm working!"
"Xander!" Anya ran after him, moaning full of vexation.
Angel chuckled a little and smiled a little. "And I thought Buffy and I were bad…"
Apparently, even though he only meant his remark in the minor sense it was enough to make the room blush with old fears and freeze in silence.
Buffy giggled fidgety, quick to make a haste remark. "Well, guess we best get going." She headed toward the door, as she gave Angel a grave stare.
Angel cleared his throat. "Yea, I hear ya." Quickly following her out they left the shop as they entered it. Motionless.
* * * * * * * *
Buffy sighed into the night air and shivered slightly, causing Angel to glance at her in slight concern.
"You ok?"
"Huh?" She turned to him. "Oh yea," She tried to shake it off. "I'm fine. I guess I just was thinking about what happened back there… They trust me being with you about as far as I can get away from being a Slayer." She retorted bitterly.
"Well, can you blame them?" Angel looked to her with a tactful stare. "I mean we pretty much stand tall in the 'Lust Bunnies' category when it comes to each other…" He looked at her with a shy, but furtive smile.
Buffy shifted uncomfortably as the wind picked up a little. However, she was far from being cold. "Well…yea," She started awkwardly. "But that's all past… I mean it was a while agoooo…" She droned slowly, stopping when she caught his eye.
He merely stared at her.
//Oh God, those eyes. They're certain to make me lose my whole soul in their depths…//
"So…" Buffy cleared her throat and tried to change the subject. Angel let her off easy this time and let her do what she pleased, merely shifting his dangerous gaze to the front of the road, thinking calmly and underhandedly on how this dilemma would go down.
* * * * * * * *
Several hours later into the dark of night Dawn yawned long and hard, as she was snuggled up on the couch in the back storage room of the magic shop with an open book on her lap. She wished Buffy would hurry up and get back from patrolling. She wanted to go home. After all, she had school in the morning.
Willow and Tara languidly sipped from one coffee cup as their eyes bore into books with so much fade in the ink it looked like there was nothing there at all.
Xander and Anya were down in the basement of the shop. They went down together about an hour ago, only to check on a "so-called noise" they both heard, but no one had seen them since. The only sounds coming from the pair were occasional bangs and moans, so everyone had a pretty good idea what was going on.
//So much for keeping on task…// Giles lamented sourly.
Just as he was about to call it a night Buffy and Angel came through the door.
"Ah, Buffy, Angel. I trust patrolling went well." Giles verified.
"Actaully…we couldn't find zilch on this demon character…" Buffy dejectedly replied.
"Ah well, better luck tomorrow perhaps." Giles breezily stated. Dawn trudged from the back, hearing Buffy come in, her eyes half-opened, as her form swayed gently back and forth. She looked to Buffy sleepily.
"Can we go now?" She pleaded.
Angel gave her a little winning wink as he silently chuckled.
"Oh Dawnie, I'm sorry, I forgot you have school tomorrow, don't you?" Buffy sighed in remorse.
"Yea, that pesky little thing called 'education'." Dawn dryly replied.
"All right, all right, we're going." Buffy went and gathered a few books off the table. "I'll try to research these while I'm home, ok?" She looked to Giles in approval.
Giles waved his one hand in acceptance.
"Come on, let's go." Buffy looked to Dawn with a smile.
"I hope you washed my white tank top for tomorrow…" Dawn warned lightly as the two sisters made their way out the door. Buffy halted mid-step and suddenly looked to Dawn. "Huh?" She looked at her little sister as if she didn't know who she was.
Dawn stared at Buffy for a moment, testing to see if something would click. She finally rolled her eyes, whipping her head about violently, while grunting loudly in her throat.
"You forgot, didn't you?!" Dawn daring, loud voice causing Willow and Tara to look up from their idle reading.
"Of course not!" Buffy defended herself in vain. She was silent for a minute, raking her brain, thinking of some story to tell her. "I just---" She stammered. "I just---didn't think you should wear a white tank top tomorrow to school. It's an old demon law, ya know? 'Thou shalt not wear white tank top to thee educational department buildings.' I was just trying to protect you Dawnie," Buffy grinned widely.
"Oh please," Dawn snorted loudly. "Buffy!" She began to whine now in the most pathetic way. "How am I supposed to try out for gymnastics now?? That's their dress code!" She was practically stomping her foot.
"All right, all right! I'll wash it as soon as we get home---"
"It won't be dry in time for tomorrow! You have to hang-dry it, genius!" Dawn sliced Buffy's logic down with pure swiftness.
"OK! FINE!" Buffy was getting more and more agitated. "Desperate times call for desperate measures. I'll let you borrow mine, ok?" Buffy waited to see if that would calm her down any. However, it only seemed to enflame Dawn more.
"I don't want to wear yours! It's too big in the chest area!!! I'll look like a loser!"
"Look now--" Buffy tried, but was harshly cut off with Dawn's spiting tongue.
"I ask you to do one favor! One favor!! And you said you would! Now I have to forego trying out for gymnastics because my sister is a self-centered, self-absorbed brat!!! What the hell else will I have to give up in my non-existent life because my sister is just mentally impaired?! I guess I'll just have to live in your shadow for the rest of my life!! Perfect!" Dawn was seething with wrath.
Buffy had enough. She could take abuse to a degree but Dawn was really strumming her last nerve, and she finally broke.
"FINE! Let's just buzz our way over to the Sister Store on the way home and you can exchange me for another one, ok? A better model! Program her how you like and have her wash your damned tank tops till Judgement Day!" Buffy barked curtly.
"Girls!" Giles admonished them from where he stood.
Both were suddenly struck silent as they glared at each other in sister rage.
Finally, Dawn decided to go for the gold. Hit her where it really hurt. She knew it was risky, and it was not at all doing anybody justice, but at that point her emotions were so much in a frenzy, as was her ego completely crushed she didn't care.
"I wish mom were here… At least she would have had my tank top done…" She bit out in a rough whisper.
Buffy's eyes slowly sought out Dawn's and drilled into them with such malice and pain she looked like a totally different person. "Don't." Buffy chastised slowly, marking every sound with considerable emphasis. "Don't you dare…don't you even think about going down that road..." Buffy bitter words stung at Dawn to the max, and Dawn, instinctively understanding her smaller size and weight compared to Buffy, fled from the entire situation and out the magic shop door, slamming it behind her.
Angel was quick to react, sympathizing immensely with both parties, but for once going after the smaller of the two Summers ladies. "I'll talk to her Buffy… See if I can't reason with her." Angel ran after Dawn while Giles watched Buffy absently nod to Angel and take off by herself, heading for places he could only guess.
* * * * * * * * *
Angel pinpointed Dawn quite effortlessly running down the street like a careless, lost child among strangers. He caught up with her relatively fast, using his vampire speed.
"Come on, slow down, will ya? A 246 year old can't run that fast, sweetie." Angel called out to her.
"Just leave me alone!" She snapped back, trying to run faster.
"All right, fine." Angel called nonchalantly. "But I have all eternity to bug you since I'm not getting any older so the choice is yours." He stated matter-of-factly.
Dawn finally stopped with a long, defeated groan and looked back to where Angel stood. "What do you want?" She tartly yelled.
"I just want to talk to you… That's all…" Angel walked stealthily over and engulfed the distance between the two of them, casting Dawn's small, white form into darkness. He bent down to her eye level. He gave a drawn-out, loud sigh before he began.
"You know I love both you and your sister very much. Well, not exactly in the same way…cause that would be very wrong…" Angel paused for a moment and winced. "But there's nothing I wouldn't do for either one of you. And I know that right now it must be so hard on you because of your mother and everything. You had to suffer Buffy's death as well…" He reached out and cupped her face with one hand. "But let's not take it out on Buffy, ok sweetie? I mean she's got enough problems coming her way. I think even more than she realizes."
"Yea, it's all about her! No one cares about me!" Dawn huffed.
"Now that's not true…" Angel comforted. "I know Buffy cares about you. And Giles, and Will, and Spike. And even that bozo, Xander cares about you. And I care about you very much Dawn. I really do. Listen," Angel sat back on his heels and dug around in the inside pocket of his coat before pulling out a small, index card. "I want you to keep this, ok? It has my personal number on it and if you ever need anyone to talk to I'm here to listen, ok?"
"But why do that to you?" Dawn objected. "You don't need to know about all my problems. Anyway, I'd probably bore the crap out of you."
"Ahhh, nah, I'd just have to kill you if you did that." He wickedly grinned at her, before poking her in the stomach playfully, listening to her giggle and roar with laughter as he tickled her.
He finally stood up with a smile, as she threw her arms around him in a great hug. A muffled "thanks" was whispered into the soft fabric of his coat.
"So come on, you want some ice cream?" Angel grinned down at her.
"Double scoop?" Her eyes widened with excitement.
"UGH! What are you trying to do? Suck me dry?" He gave her a mocking smile, but his tone was defensive and grave.
"Nope, that's your job!" Dawn slapped back with a proud, self-satisfied snicker.
"Ooooh, how witty we've suddenly become!" Angel taunted her gently. Angel casually slung his arm around Dawn and pulled her close to his chest. "All right Miss Summers, we'll see how long you can hold up your laughter after I'm through with you. Trust me when I say you're going to be paying *BIG* time for that one!"
"I'm sure!" Dawn clutched him tightly as she giggled into his coat.