Part Five

*

Is it morning, is it day?
Will this heartache go away?
Do the heavens see my tears?
Won't they wash away my fears?

*

Buffy rolled over on the floor and woke up to the feeling of intense aching in her wrists. That was becoming normal. And yet… Something felt different. Odd. A mass was lying next to her. She could feel it. A dog? No, it wasn't hairy or slobbery. Her brain began to work.

Slobbery. Cake. Angel.

Angel!

She turned to find Angel lying asleep next to her, one arm draped over her chest, head to her shoulders. How long had he been there?

Buffy shifted enough so that their faces were directly next to each other, and just laid there, staring at his peaceful face. She almost smiled, thinking of how much she used to love him, and how seeing him reminded her of all those repressed feelings.

And here he was, tying her up, playing mind games, lying to her friends, trying to change her back to how she once was.

*Bastard.*

Buffy felt the pencil she was given from yesterday in her hands, and carefully pointed it at Angel's chest. One push, and he'd be gone forever. She wouldn't be his prisoner anymore.

She began to push it into his shirt, half of her mind screaming that she shouldn't do it (It's Angel for god sake) the other half screaming in pleasure that she would finally be free from his mansion of games.

Should she do it? Could she do it?

Before she could decide, a hand swept out and grabbed her arm, twisting it so that the pencil fell helplessly out of her hands. She looked back in horror at Angel's face again- his eyes were wide open, his smile was cruel. He had seen her like Smaug had seen Bilbo in The Hobbit.

She dropped her head in defeat- never an easy thing to do for a Slayer, let alone Buffy.

"That's a good girl" Angel whispered. Flicking the pencil away from them and keeping his possession of her arm.

"I wasn't going to…" Buffy conceded.

"Sure you were, Buffy. You were always meant to hurt me. Hell, you've done it before."

Angel stood up and shifted his legs.

"Like you've never hurt me?" Buffy parried back, not wanting to go specific but wanting to make her point.

Angel just hummed a reply, his mind was elsewhere.

"Are you okay?" he asked out of the blue.

"Okay?" the words choked in Buffy's mouth. "As kidnaps go, I guess I've had worse."

"But all you do is lie there… it's not healthy"

Buffy's eyes brightened. "So let me go, then"

"No, I've got a better idea."

He grabbed a chair and placed it next to her. By climbing it, he managed to access the solid iron bar which held Buffy's chains in place. He adapted the amount of chain allowed through by shortening it a metre, thereby forcing Buffy to stand up because the chains didn't allow her to sit any more.

"What are you doing?!" she shouted, feeling pulled apart as she stood tall, chained in position so she couldn't even bend her knees. Like a puppet on a string. If she heaved, she could probably lift her feet off the floor.

It was uncomfortable. By not being able to lie down, she felt vulnerable.

"Ah. Much better." Angel said, jumping down from the chair and feeling the urge to tickle Buffy's armpits. He resisted, but couldn't help holding her waist as he talked to her, if only to stop her rocking. Her arms were stretched towards the ceiling, her wrists bound tight enough to support the strength of a slayer. "Sorry about the change in living conditions, lover. I'm worried you'll get sores by just lying down day in and day out. This way, you can get some leg action- walk on the spot, stretch yourself."

"Gee, thanks"

"I'm only thinking of you." A beat of silence. "Well, and me. You're more easy to teach like this- I don't have to stoop down low."

"After last night…"

"Don't say you didn't enjoy it. I know you did."

Buffy glared at him. Angel walked behind her and slipped his arms round her waist the other way, hugging tight. He whispered her name calmly in her ear, kissing the base of her neck as he did so. Big mistake.

"Oh, Angel…" Buffy said as vindictively as she could "You're a year too late in doing that. Also, you're a few sanity chips too short for me anymore."

"What?" Angel mumbled, not really listening.

"You're pathetic, Angel. Did I ever tell you that? You've got a guilt quota as big as your weapon collection and is, let me be the latest to say, is extremely boring to listen to. 'Poor me', I killed so many people in my life'. Brood- pain-brood-pain, god it took all my patience to just smile and nod, let alone bother to reassure you about."

Angel was listening now. His arms tightened in a knot, making Buffy gasp as her stomach was being choked by his force. Iit didn't stop her.

"And it was even worse when you came back from hell" Buffy continued "I mean, can't you be like everyone else and just put up and shut up? Spike is more fun to hang around with than you, and half the time he's plotting to kill me."

"This isn't working" Angel said, through clenched teeth, knowing she was trying to unsettle him again. But he didn't move away.

"Well, I just thought I should be honest- after all, I'm not the only one in this room who needs to have a few home truths spelt out."

"Yeah, but you're the only one chained to a wall"

"If it wasn't for my instincts, I'd swear you were Angelus. Look around, all this is your demons handiwork. Tying me up has Angelus' scent all over it. And you know what? You're getting more and more like Faith every day. Using my body. Taking your anger out on me. Getting pleasure out of pain. It's sick. You're sick!"

Angel became enraged. He twisted her around as far as her arms could let her, and pushed his transformed game face into hers.

"You're right, maybe this is Angelus. Maybe after trying to help Faith I realised some demons can't be killed. He's always inside me, Buffy. Scratching, trying to get free, whispering commands in my ears. But he never told me to get you. He warned me off it, said you weren't worth the bother. It's me doing this, not him. And that's where we're different, as I know you are worth it."

"Oh my, what a brave, gallant and righteous soul you are, my love." Buffy acidly said, pain shooting down her arms but not attending to it. "You've killed all those people and you have the right to judge me? I'm the good person who saves lives, you're a vampire who has probably murdered enough people to fill Iowa. But it's your choice. You can either be a sadistic good guy or a pathetic bad guy, as you'll never be anything else."

Angel hit her. She headbutted him back, sending him reeling into the wall. Buffy automatically felt herself turn back to the righteous direction the chains had intended, gravity playing its role, and happily carried on talking despite not being able to see him.

"Personally? I'd rather have the bad guy, at least he has a personality rather than moping over all the people he's killed. Or you've killed. That's another thing, you're always taking the blame for what Angelus did, but whenever you're confronted with it you call yourself the victim. You were never the victim. You're just a lonely man who wants it all. Happiness. True happiness."

Buffy put on a puzzled face.

"Woops, my mistake. I forgot about your run-of-the-mill, happens-to-everyone curse."

"This never bothered you before…" Angel said rubbing his chin, and eyes almost brimming. It had been a long, long time since he'd cried. He wasn't meant to- he could brood quite easily for weeks on end, but crying was something he hadn't been pushed to for a long time. Not since the Lost Day…

"I was so involved in lovey dovey feelings for you that it didn't matter. But now, stepping back, I'm *grateful* you let me out of our sickening romance, as now I'm with a sane boyfriend who I can sleep with whenever I bloody well want. As soon as you left me, I never felt better. With Parker, and then Riley. And that feels good, Angel. Good."

Angel suddenly grabbed her mouth in an arm lock, and held on extremely tight.

"You're chatty today, lover. You'll get what's coming for that, so you'd better not aggravate me further. But seeing as you're supposed to be MY captive listener, I'm going to do some sharing. Remember Thanksgiving last year?"

Buffy couldn't verbally reply, but she mentally thought back a few months.

"You weren't so vocal on your dislike for me then. In fact, you bared your heart to me, admitting how much you still wanted me. You begged me to come back to you."

*No…*

"And when I turned human after accidentally mixing blood with a demon, we never left my bedroom for hours- for we made love repeatedly until we could barely lift our heads from the pillow. And still you wanted more, although you said you were 'spent. Pleasantly numb even.'

You needed me, Buffy, just one look at your face had told me that. Then afterwards, I had the hardest decision to make in my life. I went behind your back and asked the Powers That Be to swallow the day so my turning human never happened. Your face told me…your face showed your devastation. We kissed and cried, and you said you'd never forget. And then you did. So don't tell me these lies, as I know that barely a few months ago, my flaws didn't add up to a dollar to you. You don't think those things you said, you're just trying to hurt me."

*So I hurt you back* Angel silently added, still aching from Buffy's words.

He let go of her and stormed away, trying to gather his head together.

And Buffy? The word 'Broken' would have been an understatement. She didn't know whether to believe him or not, she was confused. And angry. And hurt. And betrayed. If it was true, then why couldn't she remember such a glorious day? The kind she had frequently dreamed about. But if she did, would she want to? Knowing this bastard had negated his humanity and kept them apart forever? What gave him the right? Why didn't he tell her? Why *did* he tell her?

It hurt so much, on top of everything else, she didn't need this extra greenery of emotions. Buffy watched as Angel sat on the sofa, back in his own thoughts.

"I hate you." She said in a low voice.

Angel raised his head, as if he had forgotten she was there.

"No you don't" he said with a joking voice. "You can't. You love me. That's where all this anger is springing from."

"I hated my old principle too, didn't mean I had a secret passion for him. But Riley… woah, the things he can do to my body would make a Playboy covergirl blush"

"Be quiet"

"No, I won't. don't you want to know about my thriving sex life?"

Angel tsked. Then remembering his promise to 'give her what's coming', he stood back up and returned to her side.

Buffy watched nervously as he took a pair of hand-cuffs from his table and locked her right hand in it. He undid the chains, but before Buffy could freely swing at him, he grabbed her arms behind her back and locked her other hand in the cuffs too.

"Here's the second lesson, Buffy." Angel said, brusquely pushing her along. "Whatever you speak is vindictive and graphic. You need to clean up your language."

"Where are you taking me?" Buffy asked, scared.

"The bathroom." Angel replied. He pushed her inside. Then he turned on the cold tap so that freezing water began to spout into the sink. He held Buffy's face, and pushed her under it.

She yelped.

Angel grabbed for the soap and a toothbrush.

Part Six

Angel squeezed the soap into mush, and pushed it into Buffy's teeth in an oppressing fashion. Buffy nearly wretched -the taste was unbearable- but Angel held her stiff so that she could hardly move. Bringing the toothbrush closer, Buffy recognised it as the one she sometimes left at Angel's mansion when they were still together. Angel didn't seem to have picked up on it though, as he harshly forced it into her mouth and began brushing her white teeth in short, strong strokes. Buffy tried to keep her mouth closed, it didn't work. Angel was obviously a professional in this kind of business, and the death grip he held her in was one she couldn't struggle against.

But this was Buffy. She still tried.

"You need to get clean, Buffy." He whispered, pulling the toothbrush out for another sliver of soap.

In the few seconds she had control of her mouth, Buffy shouted every swear word she could think of to Angel, before realising this was only going to aggravate him further.

It did.

Angel brushed her mouth out as hard as he could- the teeth, the gums, the roof. He cleaned it like he sold vacuum cleaners for a living and had woken up in a pigsty.

"Beg, Buffy" he said, pulling her onto the floor and resting her struggling body into his arms as he continued. "You beg for forgiveness, and I'll stop."

Soap dribbled down her mouth, and it took five slow minutes before Buffy nearly blacked out from the disgusting taste and realised she'd reached her limit.

She tried to mumble her reply, but all that came out was a goopy mess.

Angel whirled her around, so that she was almost lying on top of him.

"Did you say.. spit.. something?" he asked, putting the toothbrush down into another bar of soap, ready for more fun.

"Sorry" Buffy managed to say, after gagging.

"I didn't hear that" Angel said, shaking her.

"Sorry!"

"I like that word." Angel said sweetly. "You'd better say it more often while you stay under my roof. When the halls get dark, it'd be a danger to be in such a vulnerable position in the hall, with the other guests under my roof."

"You mean you?"

Angel simply laughed and continued brushing harder.

Buffy tried to break her handcuffs with a swift surge of strength, but as she did so, she almost twisted the muscle, and screamed in pain instead. Angel ignored her.

"Why don't you just dump Riley, Buffy?" he asked I don't want his fingers all over *my* property."

"I'm not your property" Buffy said smartly.

"Oh yes you are, lover. And you're dirty."

He held up the toothbrush and continued from where he'd let off.

The soap fell down her throat in chunks, the squishy tangy taste crushed into her mouth and was obliterated by the ritualistic cleansing that Angel's brushing induced.

"You like this?" he asked, using the arm that was holding her waist to pull her tighter into his chest with a thrust of energy. "You need to be clean, girl"

Soap dribbled foamily from her mouth. Buffy's eyes flashed hatred and disgust. She squirmed again, and Angel laughed out loud over the fact that she hadn't given up.

"Don't you get it, sweetheart?" he crooned, using circular motions to clean her molars "You're *trapped* here. Stop fighting it!"

He suddenly let go of his ex lover, and she fell on the bathroom floor, hands still tied together with 'cuffs. Coughing, Buffy's body rippled like a fish out of water.

Angel simply stood over her, checking out his non reflection in the mirror. He pushed his hand through his spiky dark hair, imagining he could actually see himself.

"It was cool having a reflection, you know" he told Buffy in his light voice, making it seem trivial "And *oh* the food. But my favourite part, the bit which I replay in my mind, was when you and me spent all that time having sex. I don't think I made love more in my life than I did with you that day- and I've been around, you know what I'm saying?"

He kneeled down, next to her, and noticed her top had riddled up. He placed his hand on Buffy's back, and she shivered with his cold skin on hers. Angel traced his icy fingers up and down in circular and swirly motions.

"You're awfully quiet, Buffy. The soap didn't kill you, did it? That'd be darn irritating, having to bury your body in all."

Buffy turned her head to him, hair sticking to her forehead scruffily. Soap still meshed into her lips. It was not a pretty site.

"That would be your main priority, wouldn't it? Disposing of the source. You really have gone mad."

"Whatever I am, you made me that way" Angel replied casually. "But we have to look at the bright side, you're still alive, which means lots of fun for me.. but not so much fun for you."

He leaned closer.

"You feeling like a good girl yet?" he asked with a big grin.

Buffy spat in his face.

"No, I'm feeling bad to the bone."

Angel angrily hit her. it wasn't a hard hit, more of a male equivalent of a slap, but she still rolled over with the impact.

"Stop doing that, Buffy. Good girls are clean, didn't I just teach you this lesson?"

"Screw you, Angel" she replied.

"Well, if you insist." Angel scowled. He easily put her into a sitting position, leaning against the shower unit. He walked over to the sink and cupped his hands under the running cold tap. Carefully walking back to Buffy, he moved his hands to her lips.

"Drink this." He whispered, fuming at her insolence but realising she must be thirsty.

Buffy was reluctant. She stared at him for a while.

"I SAID DRINK THIS!" Angel shouted, pushing his hands into her mouth, waiting.

Buffy smiled with a calculated pursing of lips. She was dying for a drink - the soap had dried her mouth and it hurt to speak- but she got more thrills out of upsetting Angel. That was always worth doing.

"No" she whispered back.

Angel gave up and parted his hands to let the water through his fingers, causing it to cover her black top.

"Oops, I've soaked your top. We'd better take it off, I don't want you catching a cold."

"You do that and I'll kill you." The blonde replied

"Like last time with Acathla?" Angel asked as he pulled at her top teasingly. Proving he could do it and she wouldn't be able to stop him.

"I sent you to hell. You forgot that, then? All that pain and suffering caused by the one woman you could trust? All those years in HELL, because of little old me?"

But Angel was ready for that one.

"That was different. You only had me in those last few seconds, before that I was Angelus."

"Split personality bastard" Buffy seethed.

Angel hit her again across the cheek.

"BE SILENT! What I was getting at, Fire-ball, was that I had that curse placed on my head during our battle. Angelus grew weak because of it and I didn't have clue what was happening when I returned. Put simply so that you can understand it, your friends helped you kill me. If they hadn't interfered, Angelus would have you stuffed in a glass cabinet right now. Or if it were you against me. well. you are chained and padlocked at this precise moment, and my hands are the ones touching you. Do the math, Buffy"

Buffy glowered quietly, hating him and loving him for touching her like that.

*Don't stop.Do stop.Don't stop.*

He had lifted her top so he could see her bra, when another idea changed his mind. He pulled her up, opened the shower door and pushed her inside, closing it behind him.

"What's happening?" Buffy asked. She tried to push past him, but Angel pushed her back against the side of the shower unit wall.

"I just had a vision. You, dripping wet chained up in the hall."

Stroking her face tenderly, his hand crept up to the controls of the shower.

"Don't worry" he soothed "This doesn't involve you taking clothes off. I was thinking. What's more uncomfortable than sitting around in wet clothes? Well, quite a few things but let's not detract. I want to see your . I want to see you beg me to undress you. To get out of your soaking clothes. Ready?"

"Bastard!" Buffy shouted back incredulously. This had gone so far. She screamed as loud as she could, but her voice was hoarse as it was.

Angel held his hand over her mouth to stop her.

Then he turned the shower on. Warm water spurted out and drenched them both, Angel holding Buffy in front of him, the noise of the unit was so loud that he let go of Buffy's mouth and let her scream her heart out. Nobody was going to hear. His grip on her was slippery, his clothes were soon soaked like hers. Grabbing the body gel, he lathered it up and rubbed Buffy all over with it. Her skin , where viable, and her clothes, he pulled her down to the floor so she was sitting on him and began shampooing her hair with vigour. All the while, Buffy was screaming and shouting for help.

Angel roughly pushed her off him, stood up and changed the settings for cold. Heat, or lack of, didn't bother him too much, but it would bother her. The water changed to ice, and Buffy shrieked. Angel grabbed her back up and once again pushed her into the wall.

"You like this, Buffy? You like being taught?" he shouted above the noise.

Buffy kneed him in his 'sensitive area' with a satisfied look on her face.

Angel gasped and fell down.

"As long as you don't mind me taking tips from the teacher" she shouted back.

A few seconds to herself, she closed her eyes and let the water cleanse her. She had never felt so.wet.. not even with sex machine Riley.

Buffy felt Angel grab her feet, and before she could do anything, she was dragged down onto the floor of the shower unit. Hard. It hurt. There wasn't too much room in there as it was, so she couldn't stretch out. Angel held her legs on either side of his shoulder, angry as hell. She realised she could probably squeeze her legs so hard that she could tear his head off that way, but thankfully wasn't given much time to consider as her teacher reached out and pulled her to him using her waist. They were now squashed against the wall, in deeply uncomfortable positions, soaking wet and the water still pouring.

Buffy's body was lodged between Angel's erect knees, as her feet were now pressing against the wall, slightly above Angel's head.

Angel leant forward, and they both fell back down onto the floor, Buffy's face in the direct path of the falling cold water. The pressure hurt, but Angel soon blocked it with his muscular body. Angel's face was barely a millimetre from hers now, lips almost touching.. Angel suddenly thrust his lips into hers hungrily, passionately, with unique force. Buffy reacted and kissed back, feeling Angel's tongue begin a war with hers, and wrestling for power and oppression here as much as they were in the real world. Lips sucking, caressing, bleeding, nibbling, becoming. Their fiery passions made them both aggressive and no longer tender but with brutal force. They needed each other, desired each other, and nothing and no-one was going to stop them. Not even each other. Angel held her waist tightly, ensuring her legs were wrapped around his, and managed to stand up. It was hard to think about anything other than kissing and groping, but his hand first had to turn off the damn shower. Feeling for the controls and his tongue beating Buffy's into submission, he managed to turn the dial to 'O'. the light faded, the water faded, and all the noise that was left was the slurping and kissing noises that their battered lips were making. In between were moans of satisfaction and cries of each others names.

He was beginning to wish he had Buffy's key on him. He could touch her, but she couldn't touch him. And he so wanted her to touch him. He decided to let her free. For one night only, unless there was demand for another performance. She could have been fooling him, he realised this, but he was far too intoxicated to care. Besides, the way she was kissing him, she could never have faked that. She was a psychology student, not a drama student.

"I'm getting the key" Angel whispered huskily in her ear.

He fumbled for the door and opened it, letting a wisp of air enter the booth. He took one dripping step out when he heard an external voice coming from the hall.

"Angel?"

Buffy heard it too, and stepped forward in surprise.

"Angel?" she said, repeating the other voice. "It's Riley!"

Acting on impulse, Angel glanced around the bathroom. He saw an old cloth on the windowsill which had a few ornaments on. Carefully picking them off he rolled the cloth up and returned to the shower unit.

"Angel?" the voice called again.

"What do you think he is here for?" Buffy asked, still breathless from the excursion but gloating openly. She opened the mouth to shout Riley's name, but knew she'd be stopped by Angel anyway so took her time to give him a chance to realise.

He did.

Without answering, he fished into his pockets for her gag and quickly hooked her mouth in it, ensuring it was loose enough for her to breathe, just make sure she couldn't shout. Angel pushed her back into the shower and she fell down. He grabbed her legs and tied her ankles together in an intricate knot with the cloth.

"Sorry, lover" he whispered "I don't want you rescued just yet."

Leaving her on the floor, he took his wet shirt and pants off, throwing them in with her. Buffy watched in fascination, not remembering the last time when she'd seen so much of Angel's body. He left off from his boxers, so he wasn't completely naked.

Then suddenly the room went dark. Angel had closed the door and pushed a brush through the handles so that it couldn't be opened from the inside. She was locked in.

"ANGEL!" She shouted through muffled material "RILEY!"

But Angel could barely hear her himself.

"Just hope your boyfriend doesn't overstay his welcome" Angel whispered through the slot into the darkness. "I'm not sure how long the oxygen will last. But don't worry, you're in safe hands."

Even in this perverse situation, he wasn't going to just let her die. He needed to get rid of the adult size boy scout, that was all. Why was Riley here?

Wrapping a towel around his waist, Angel opened the bathroom door and walked out into the hall.

Riley stood at the other side of the room, near the chains. Obviously he'd been looking at them.

"Riley?" Angel said abruptly. He was peeved that Riley might have cottoned on to what was happened. Ah well, it was just a minor detail.

Riley spun around. He seemed a bit tense, but not disgusted. He didn't know. Yet.

"Angel! You took your time."

He eyed Angel's appearance.

"Oh yeah" Angel nodded. "Just had a shower. Need to be clean, you know?"

"Yeah" Riley echoed quietly.

"So why are you here?" Angel asked, eyes turning blue when he realised that Riley was holding Buffy's lipstick idly in one hand.

It must have dropped out of her bag when he moved it...

Go to Part 7