"Immortal Beloved..."...VII...

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 this week...Flee at once!...

Summary: Yet another quickie exploit of upcoming rumors before Joss does (he did, the sob) something stupid like pair Buf off with some jerk we've never heard of...And again, to be clear(er)...these are not meant as connected story chapters but retellings with the same basic "Will and Angel go to rescue Buf from the whoever the big ball of wind is..." setup...

A bit longer this time...(Hey, the way I figure it after ten or eleven times I'm sure to get part of it right...)

***

Play theme...

Rome...The most fashionable hotspot of both the young and alive...And the immortal and undead...Near midnight...

William and Angel keep hidden as they watch Buffy on the dance floor with their latest nemesis... "The Immortal" (Blowhard, Buffoon, Asswipe...William keeps trying nouns to match as they watch)...Buffy seeming both oblivious to any danger from her charming partner and rather fascinated by him...

"A love spell...Some kind of spell...It's gotta be..." Will mutters...Angel eyeing his new junior associate partner kindly...

Sure...A love spell...He nods...William frowning at the note of sympathy...

"Well...Heck...We came because a spell was involved, right?..."

"It may have only been to raise our Jude Law clone over there..." Angel indicated the now smirking Immortal...Whispering something to Buffy and smiling as she laughed...William staring now as well...

Miserable asswiping sot...The boys agreed...Quietly...

"You mean to say you think she might actually like him?..." William fumed...

"Well...Tall, dark...Charming but with that air of reserve, even brooding...And if Andy was right about his little stunts in saving those Slayers and Dawn the other night...At least fake heroic..."

Sounds like my Buffy's type to me...he grinned...

"Especially the 'tall, dark...'..."

Shut up...Will glared... "But if we must go this route, my girl prefers guys who stick around...And fit her like a glove...If you get my meaning..."

Angel darkened a bit...Spike...You little...

"Hold that thought, boss...They're moving away..." Will raised a hand...Angel turning...

"We'd best move along...Carefully..." Angel nodding, they felt their way along the back wall, keeping an eye on the moving couple...

"Get ready...We can't let him get her out of here and alone..." Will hissed...

"I'm aware of that, William...Just keep yours up..."Angel frowned...

Say...He stared at what seemed a familiar face...

Do I know him?...Hmmn...He looked again as he and William slipped toward Buffy and her latest...

"William...?" the brown-hair girl seated with the young man Angel could not place looked up... "William Walthrop?..."

Will blinked at her...Helen?...One of our little Slayer army from the Sunnydale days?...Oops...

"Will?...What the heck are you doing here?..."

What are you doing alive?...

Parker, well-decked out in his latest Italian togs, seated next to Helen the Vampire Slayer frowned...Just when things were starting so well with this one...And, oh no...He looked at Angel and William...Who stared back briefly, then glanced to where Buffy had briefly halted...

Are they those two ole boyfriends of...God, please no...Buffy Summers?...

Angel tapped Will...She's off again...

"Hafta go, girl...Buf's in potential danger...Explanations later..." Will gave a quick nod...

Buffy?...Helen stared...

"But Will..." she tried...Too late...

"They're almost to the rear door...He's leading her out..." Will hissed...

"We've gotta get the lead out, poof..."

"We could be right by her now, moron...If you'd stop tryin' to hide from her..." Angel snapped back...

Ok, ok...Just lets hurry...William's voice was anxious...

"She's at the door...We've got to run for it..." Angel insisted, moving to force a way through...Will hesitating, but seeing no choice, followed, picking up speed...

The door closed as they reached it...Two burly ...Yep, vamps...Moved to block...One grabbed at William, throwing him to the side as Angel crashed through...

"You!!..." the Immortal hissed at Angel, staggering before him...

"Angel...?" Buffy behind her evening's date, stared at him...Something a bit peeved in her expression, he noted...As the Immortal charged him and they went through the door and back into the club...

"Now, Angelus...You worthless lump of dust...I will finish..." the Immortal felt a hand jerk him back... "You, too?!..." he stared at William as a fist smashed into his face...

Oh, not the face...Several worshipful minions of His Benevolence, male as well as female, sighed...

"Nice to see you again too, mate..." Will grinned...The Immortal struggling to his feet and falling back into the club where no doubt he could count on minion support...Angel and William in pursuit...

Buffy threw the rear door open and entered... "Angel?!" she called...

"Wait!..." She blinked, seeing...

Parker?...she stared at him, then glared...Then moved off...Buffy?...Helen, next to him called...Too late...

"Parker?...Is that your name?..." Helen turned back to her new acquaintance...Who'd seemed...Courtesy of her Slayer's memories...A rather reassuringly familiar presence in a place so far from home...

Parker...She glared...Buffy's passed on memories bubbling up...

What?...He stared...

"I do something wrong?...And how did you know my name?..."

"UCal-Sunnydale..." Helen said, coldly...

"You were at UCal-Sunnydale...?" Parker tried a smile...

"UCal-Sunnydale...You said I...er Buffy...Was..."

Special...

Ummn?...Parker stared...Buffy?...

"Buffy...Who?..."

"Then you..." Helen got up...

"I...I what?...What are you talking about?..."

"I...er she...Dreamed about getting you back, you worm...I...er she dreamed you got transformed...And I...er she...Came after you..."

"Transwhat....?"

"Slowly I turned....er, she turned..."

"You mean, like those vamp things back in Sunnydale?..."

"Step by step...Inch by inch..." she moved on him...He backing into his chair in the corner into which he was boxed...

She put a hand to her pocketed stake...

Helen...?...Parker stared...

***

In the center of the club, Angel and Will closed in on the Big Bad...Who called on his support to no avail...Apparently off on break, pity...Will joked to him as the handsome leader's face distorted in rage...Worthless clods...Not worth the time I took to sire them...he noted...

Strange...He eyed the ring closing in around him and the other two vampires...

Those women all seem very...Unafraid...

Strong...

Angel cut short his ruminations by slamming into him...As he staggered, William caught him and whirled him back...

"Thanks for the dance, mate..." he grinned... "But I prefer to trip it with the ladies...Sorry to cut your performance short..." he tossed him onto Angel's stake...

And moved back toward the ring...Hmmn...Some of those girls look...He eyed them, trying to keep out of the view of the girl now parting her way and moving towards Angel...

"Angel!..." Buffy glared... "What the hell did you think you were doing?...We've been trying to scoop up this clown and his whole band in one shot for a month..."

Now most of the minions and the clues to the art and magic treasures he had hidden...Remain hidden...

"Thanks a lot..." she fumed... "Ladies...Stand down..." The ring of Slayers relaxed a bit...

"Geesh, Angel...What were you thinking...?"

I...Angel fumbled... "We...Thought you were in danger...Some kind of spell..."

Andrew said...

"Andrew?...Oh, for God's sake...Did Giles have Andy keepin' watch over me and Dawn?...Well, he got it dead wr..." she froze...

Oh...My...A hand to her mouth...

Shit...Will sighed...As the ring of Slayers pulled back to reveal his hiding place...

Oh, God...she gasped...And fainted...

Buffy?...Angel stared at the Slayer on the floor...Looking over to William...Who hurried over...

"Buffy?...Buffy..."

The ring of Slayers looked at each other...Then the two...

"Vamps!..." a voice from the rear called...The ring began closing, several pulling stakes, eyeing Angel and William carefully... "Get away from our Slayer Councilor General!!..." one called...

Uh-oh...Angel nudged Will...Who remained patting Buffy's hand...As she began blinking...And looked up...Will?...

Yeah...he smiled...

"Will?..." the other Slayers eyed each other...Pondering as Buffy's memories surfaced...Oh...

William...They beamed as a group...

Oh!...They looked at each other as Buffy sat up...Still shaken...

"It's him!...It's William!..." several cried...

"Oh..." a collective sigh...Sounds of mass sobbing...William and Angel staring at the mass of weeping Slayers...Oh, William...Then at each other...Then at Buffy, now rising...

"Can it, ladies..." Buffy called... "He's taken..."

***

Slayers clustered round as Buffy quizzed William for details...He giving a quick review of the past year...

"Well...Buf..." William paused... "Sorry to spoil your fun, but you'll round the rest of the bunch up...I guess we should be going, unless Angel...You..."

"What?!..." she grabbed at him... "William Soames Walthrop, you ain't going anywhere...Girls..." she waved...They again surrounded the two...Firm stares...Hands on stakes...

He blinked at her beaming face...Ummn...

"Say...How the hell did you get my name?..."

"Three weeks of searching the Council records left, then at Cambridge, and your hometown...For your memorial plaque..." she explained...

Her face fell a little at his look...What?...You didn't think I was gonna get you one?...Geesh...

"You don't let me know you're alive...You take forever to come to me..." she glared...

And as always it's to try and show me up, saving me...she frowned, then grinned...

"Anyway, you came..." she pulled him close... "Hey, Angel..." she waved...

Angel...The other Slayers surrounding them beamed...Then frowned a little...

"How come you didn't watch out for Dawn?..."one called... "Yeah...And what was that with having sex with Darla?..." one fumed...

Ummn...He looked at thirty advancing Slayers...Clearly bearing somewhat less than entirely happy recent Buffy memories of him...

"Ladies...It's ok...Water under the bridge..." Buffy waved them back..

"Remember the happy stuff..."

"Bartender...Garcon...Whatever they call you here..." she called to the server, a Italian version of Willie the Snitch...(His cousin in fact)...Now emerging from a hiding place... "Break out your best...Or whatever you got..."

***

Three hours later...

"Farewell...And adieu to ya, fair Spaniel (Spanish, Buf...Will corrected)...Ri'..." she nodded... "Laddies..."

"Farewell and adieu to ya, laddies of...Englan'..." she gave Will a drunken grin...Kissing him...

"Les dance some mor' Will..." she pulled him to the floor...Slayers scattered across the room, a few staggering across the dance floor with the few remaining, rather-anxious-but-afraid-to-leave regular patrons, human as well as demon...Most sleeping...Wherever they'd fallen...

Oh, Buf...he sighed...

"Hey, now..." he suddenly pulled back... "You ain' the First...Messin' wid' ma hed again?..."

No...She smiled at him...I'm noda Furst...

"An' this ain' a dream...?" he whispered in wonder...No...She patted him...Oh...

"Don' cry honey..." she hugged him... "I don' ever wan' see ya sad again...Over me leastways...From now on, you and me and all our guys are gonna be happy...For wha'ever time we get..."

Ri' Angel?...she called...

Ri'...he nodded, lifting his head from the table where he'd fallen several minutes before...

Ever' bod' hap...he agreed...Oh...he sighed...Looking down...

"Darl's waitin' for ya in Heav'n, Angel..." Buffy called, seeing his downcast face...She's Connar's mum and she's alri'...Soulwise...Sure..."

Yeah...Thanka...he waved...

***

Twelve hours later...

Buffy's apartment...Sounds of banging from the adjacent room as Buffy and Will wake...Both a bit under the weather...

They stared at each other a moment...Rather familiar, actually...

"I...Ummn...Buffy...I hate to say this..."

Hmmn?...Get me a towel, please...she groaned...Cold...Wet...

Oh, sure...

"Ummn...Buffy..." he passed the towel...

"Yeah?...What?..."

"I'm not absolutely sure...But I think we got married last night..."

Oh?...She looked at him...

"By...The Pope, I think..."

"A cardinal...The Pope wasn't feeling well..." she smiled...

"I wasn't that drunk, Will..." she grinned...Wiggling a fourth finger on which a piece of twisted metal gleamed...He eyed it...Isn't it great?...You made it for me last night, babe...she smiled and kissed him...

The banging from the adjacent room intensified...

"Hey!..." Dawn called... "You jerks...Lemme out of here!!...You locked the door!!..."

Damned right I did...Buffy chuckled...

***

Back at the hotspot...

Whew...Parker rose carefully...And painfully...

"Well...That was one hell of a party..." he noted to several of the awakening girls...

Who eyed him coldly...Clustering round him...

"Girls...I'm all in...Can we do this tonight, maybe?..." More of the Slayers moved in...

"UCal-Sunnydale..." Thirty Slayers intoned...

Ummn...Girls?...

Ladies...?

"Slowly we...er she...Turned..."

***