TITLE: Meeting

AUTHOR: Kelly Rowe

RATING: PG

DISCLAIMER: Buffy, Angel and all other characters (except those I make up) are the absolute property of Joss Whedon, Fox, Mutant Enemy and Warner Bros (If I owned them, the events of Buffy season 4 or most of season 3 wouldn't have occurred).

SPOILERS: General (if any)

TIMELINE: Over 17 years after IWRY

DISTRIBUTION: You want you can have it; just tell me where you put it.

The Scoobies arrived back at Angel's office just after nightfall. They opened the door and walked in to find Cordy and Doyle getting it on, on her desk.

"Cordelia, really" Giles shouted. Cordy and Doyle broke apart and began re-arranging their clothing.

"How rude" Cordy told them, "Don't you know how to knock".

"What happened? I heard shouting" Angel called running up the stairs from his apartment.

"We caught Cordy and Doyle having sex" Willow said, amused.

He turned to them and said, "How many times do I have to tell you two, not in the office. You'll scare away the clients".

"Oh, so you and Buffy could have wild crazy sex all over the office, but Doyle and I can't?" Cordy said.

"Well, actually princess. They bonked all over his apartment, not the office," Doyle corrected.

"What are they talking about?" Joyce asked Angel.

Angel, looking extremely pale, told them "Nothing. They're just trying to take the attention away from themselves". Seeing everyone's disbelieving look, he said, "Look, if anything had happened anytime, I'd be evil".

"That's true" Willow told the group, dismissing Cordy's claim.

"Who's ready to go?" Joyce asked, trying to break he tension. When everybody nodded, she continued, "Let's go".

Everyone grabbed heir stuff and followed Joyce outside. They took two cars. Joyce, Giles, Xander and Willow were in one and Angel, Doyle, Cordy and Spike in the other car.

"How come we got stuck with Chip-head?" Cordy asked.

"Because Queen Cow, I don't want to be stuck in a car with Xander the moron and the other Scoobies for two more hours" Spike told her.

Cordy shot Spike a murderous look and whispered to Angel, "The second we don't need him anymore, I'm going to stake him".

Angel laughed for the first time in a long time as he drove towards Oakdale and the unknown.

Buffy looked around at the empty house and tried to figure out what to do to pass the time. It used to be so easy when Hope was first called and started to patrol, Buffy used to go with her, it was important not only for bonding purposes but also because the council had appointed Buffy her watcher. But everything changed when Hope met Devlin, a vampire with a soul, like Angel only with one major difference, no matter what happened he couldn't lose his soul. She wasn't sure why that was, but she was grateful that Hope would never have to go through what she did when Angelus resurfaced.

Not that she wanted her teenage daughter to sleep with her boyfriend or anything, it was just a relief that if anything did happen, and no evil would arise. Buffy wandered through into the living room and sat down, she didn't know why but lately she'd been feeling nostalgic for the good old days in Sunnydale. She missed the gang and wondered what harm it would actually do if she were to call Willow. {Good one Buffy} she thought, {Willow probably doesn't even remember who you are}. Buffy just sat their thinking, why was she the one who always got screwed over by fate.

When the gang first arrived in Oakdale they stopped at an all night diner to discuss the next move. They went inside and sat down, when Joyce asked Spike something, she noticed he was staring at a group of teenagers in the diner.

"Spike" she repeated, more forcefully.

"What?" Spike answered.

"How close are we?"

"Not far" Spike said, distractedly.

They sat there in silence until they'd all finished their orders.

"Let's get going" Willow said getting up from her seat.

They all went outside and were about to get into the cars when Xander suddenly said, "Where's Chip-head?"

Cordy replied, "He's inside chatting up some teenage girls".

Spike came outside and climbed into Angel's car, saying "Well Peaches are we going or not?"

About five minutes later they pulled up in front of the house that Spike pointed out, it looked remarkably similar to Joyce's back in Sunnydale.

They sat heir staring at it for a few minutes, until Spike said "Are you bloody well going to go talk to her or just sit outside her house?"

This forced them to all get out of the cars and walked slowly to wards Buffy's front door.

Buffy had just got out of the shower, when she heard the doorbell ring.

"Just a minute" she yelled, grabbing her pyjamas and slipping them on.

She bounded down the stairs thinking it was Hope at the door, who'd just forgotten to take her keys again. Buffy opened the door and was shocked to find the gang standing there. She couldn't deal, so she did the only other thing she could do, she fainted.

The End