***********************************

Riley paced around the initiative. He hadn't expected Buffy to actually *know* about Angel. That made it worse. Much worse.

He let out a frustrated moan and headed down the hostile block. He walked over to Angel's "cage."

"She knew. And you knew she knew," Riley said. Angel just grinned, trying not to look to weak from the lack of food.

"You're not going to win this one Angel. You can only go so long without food before you lose control. I've seen strong ones like you before. They've all crumbled. You will too."

"You're too confident for your own good Riley. One day, that'll come back in your face," Angel told him.

"We'll see. But just remember this, while you're stuck in here, I can do whatever I want with Buffy," Riley mocked. Angel growled and his face vamped out.

"Oh, I bet she loves that look," Riley commented. Angel pounded on the invisible wall in frustration as Riley just laughed and walked away.

***********************************

Buffy looked all around the campus for him. Riley had to be there somewhere.

"Looking for someone?" Riley asked, coming up behind her.

"Riley! Look, please, if you wont let him go, please just let me *see* Angel, to know he's okay. Please Riley," Buffy begged, and Riley couldn't refuse the look she gave him.

She looked so lost. Like she was missing her other half, and she wouldn't be complete without it. He could at least let her *see* him, then he wouldn't feel so guilty about killing Angel later.

"All right. Meet me here tonight and bring no one."

"Thank you," she said as she walked off. She had to plan with Giles about how to free Angel.

********************************

"Okay. Here's the plan. I kick the crap out of Riley and then free Angel. Shouldn't be too hard."

"Buffy, it's not that simple. They have to be tricky to have caught Angel in the first place. We have to be careful. I'm sure that Riley expects you to try something," Giles said, looking around in his refrigerator for his milk.

"Yeah, but Riley doesn't know that I know he's one of those army guys. I have an advantage over him," Buffy stated.

"Yes, but Buffy there's more than one army man out there. There's at least 10 that you've seen. And my bet is that there's more out there. We can't rush into anything if we don't know about it."

Buffy sighed and decided Giles was right. "But it's Angel, Giles. He's in trouble. How can I do nothing? I love him," Buffy said. Giles nodded and replied, "I know Buffy, I know."

"Okay, I'm going to go now. Get everyone together and try to come up with something. I'll let you know about it when I get back," Buffy said, grabbing her jacket and heading to the door.

"Buffy," Giles called after her. She turned around.

"Be careful," he told her. "You know me," she replied as she walked out the door.

"Exactly," he muttered as he returned to his milk-finding task.

********************************

Riley led a blind-folded Buffy into the elevator that would take them down to the Initiative. "Riley Finn," he said into the intercom. "Voice check confirmed," the electronic reply said.

"This place is high-tech, wherever we are," Buffy commented, trying to find a way to see where she was.

"This way," Riley said, leading her towards Angel.

"Riley, you don't need to use a blindfold."

"I can't trust you with this secret Buffy. Just keep walking."

Soon they were at the hostile block, and Riley removed Buffy's blindfold. She saw vampires in indents in the wall. Then she saw Angel and she ran to him.

"Angel!!!" she cried. He looked up to see Buffy coming towards him. "Buffy wait-" he tried to warn her about the shielding walls, but she had already hit them. She flew back a few feet.

"Buffy!" Angel cried. She got up and approached Angel.

"Are you okay?" he asked her, concern filling his voice.

"Yeah. Are you?" she asked back.

"Yeah," he told her. Buffy put her hand up on the shielding wall. She let the purplish energy spark, and then she was able to leave her hand there. Angel put his hand on the same spot on his side. The shield was the only thing separating their hands from touching.

"I'm going to get you out of here, I promise," Buffy said, making the promise to herself as well.

"I know you will. You always do," he said.

"Buffy, let's go," Riley said from the entrance.

"I promise. I love you Angel," she said as she slowly put her hand down. "I love you too," he told her.

She nodded and walked over to Riley. She looked back at Angel and suddenly kicked out, hitting Riley. Caught off-guard, Riley didn't have time to react.

Buffy kicked him and delivered a few punches to his face. She saw a card dangling from his neck and grabbed it as she kicked Riley in the head, knocking him out.

She brought the card over to Angel's cell and used it. She heard a woosh and Angel stepped out. Buffy pulled him into a kiss and they ran towards the exit.

Riley regained consciousness and ran after them. Angel looked behind him to see Riley gaining on them. "Buffy, keep going," he called as he turned around and headed towards Riley.

"Angel!" Buffy called as she ran after him.

Angel approached Riley and grabbed him, shoving him up against the wall. "This is for starving me," he said, punching Riley in the nose. "This is for the comments you made," he said, kneeing Riley in the stomach. "And this is for calling the woman I love meek and helpless," Angel said as he threw Riley into the wall on the other side of the hallway, knocking him out again.

"Come on!" Angel said, taking Buffy's hand. They ran through the hallways, trying to find a way out. They ran into a room and saw that it was obviously the master control room.

"Well, well, well. Buffy Summers. Didn't know you knew Hostile 23," a familiar voice said.

Buffy turned around and was face to face with her psychology professor, Maggie Walsh, who had at least 20 men behind her.

This was bad. Really bad

"Professor Walsh," Buffy said calmly.

"Grab him," Maggie said, indicating Angel. Buffy moved forward and kicked one of the men in the stomach and hitting the other in the face.

"No one touches my Angel," she said. Maggie looked amused. Then she saw that Riley was no where in sight.

"What have you done with my best man?" she asked.

"Riley? Oh, he's..."sleeping"...back there," Angel said.

"Smith, go look for him," Maggie said to one of her men. The man "Smith" nodded and left.

"Miss Summers, I'll let you go unharmed if you let us have Hostile 23, but if you refuse, I may have to resort to violence," Maggie told Buffy.

Buffy just moved closer to Angel. "You know that student abuse is illegal, don't you?" Buffy said, facing her. "And also, if you're the "good guys," you'd let me and Angel fight a fair fight. You need to tell 3 of your men to back off."

Maggie Walsh just laughed. "You'd still be up against unbeatable odds. Are you stupid girl?" she asked.

Buffy said nothing and got into a fighting stance. "When I say now, follow me," Buffy whispered to Angel. He nodded.

No one moved forward on Buffy or Angel. "Now!!" she yelled. Buffy started running the way they came and Angel followed her. They heard the screams of Maggie Walsh behind them.

Riley felt dizzy. His head hurt. Then he remembered Buffy. She had hit him. And her vampire had knocked him out. It was then that he heard the warning alarm going off. They were getting away. He wouldn't let Angel get away.

He saw men coming down the hall. "Finn! The hostile and the girl are getting away. We have to locate them," one of them said.

Riley nodded and took off running towards one of the empty corridors. He pulled out his tracking device and looked for someone with a lower blood temperature. He saw 67.5 near the weapon area.

Riley muttered a few curses and ran off in that direction. When he arrived, Buffy and Angel were successfully beating his men.

"Buffy!" Riley yelled. "This is between you and me!"

She looked up and Riley's men backed off, knowing he was taking charge. "Run. I'll be okay," Buffy said to Angel. He looked hesitant, but when Riley's men started to advance on him, he kicked the closest one and jumped up, grabbing one of the air vents and pulling it open and then swinging in.

Because of his vampire abilities, he had made the high jump, while Riley's men ran off, trying to find other ways into the air shafts.

"So Riley, you're not a wussy farm boy. Would've never guessed."

"So you're not just a needy girl that'll sleep with any other living organism?" Riley shot back. Buffy tried not to show it, but the Parker memories still stung. Then Angel had come back and everything had been right again.

"Didn't sleep with you. But I don't think you count," Buffy told him.

"I really liked you Buffy," Riley said, hurt.

"Awww, I feel *so* bad for you. You loved me and I broke your heart. News flash fish-boy, I don't care. I love Angel. He completes me. You just annoy me."

Riley was angry now. How could she say those things to *him*?

He lunged forward and soon they were fighting. Riley kicked Buffy in the stomach, sending her to the ground, only to have her deliver a roundhouse kick that knocked him down. She jumped up and stood above him.

"Too bad. I was hoping for an actual fight. Oh well, it was you what could I expect?" she said as she knocked him out.

Now she had to find Angel.

*********

Angel would've sneezed his cover a long time ago if he hadn't been a vampire. He was covered in dust from the old shafts. He was getting worried about Buffy. He was mad at himself for leaving her alone.

Angel heard footsteps and hurried over to one of the shaft doors to see who it was. It was Buffy and she was walking slowly around the halls.

"Buffy!" he whispered. She looked around. "Angel?" she whispered back. He opened the shaft door and poked his head out. She yelped.

"Over here! I heard something!" a muffled voice came. Angel grabbed Buffy's hands and pulled her up and shut the door just as three men came into the hallway.

Buffy and Angel listened to them look around and then leave. "Follow me," Angel whispered.

They crawled in the air shafts for a while, trying to find a way out, but failing.

Then as Buffy crawled carefully over another shaft door, the dust made her sneeze. She jolted the door open and fell into the room below.

"Buffy!" Angel cried, jumping out after her. She groaned in pain and sat up, looking at their surroundings.

It was a room filled with TNT, bombs, dynamite, and any explosive you can think of.

"Pretty impressive," Buffy said as Angel helped her up.

But it wasn't the explosives that caught Angel's eye. It was door to the right.

"Buffy," Angel said, pointing to the door.

There above it in green neon letters it said: EXIT.

******

"Find them! If they get out, we could be ruined! GO!" Maggie Walsh ordered as she tended to the cut on Riley Finn's forehead.

"She's strong. So's he, well given that he's a creature and all. Together, they're invincible. I couldn't believe it. Buffy didn't strike me as a fighter," Riley said.

"She's the Slayer Riley," Maggie said as she put ointment on the but. Riley yelped in pain.

"The slayer?" he asked, fighting back the tears that threatened to come because of the unbearable pain of aneceptic ointment.

"A creature killer, blessed with strength."

"Oh," Riley said. Even though she tried to beat him up, hurt his feelings, and was in love with another guy, Riley told himself, he still liked her.

"Now go find her!" Maggie Walsh said as she tightened the wrap on Riley's wound. He nodded, grabbed his gun, and left.

"Come on!" Angel said, grabbing Buffy's hand, pulling her towards the exit.

"No, wait!" she said stopping him. He turned around to look at her. "What?"

She looked at all the explosives. "I have an idea."

******

Riley didn't know where Buffy could be. He had looked almost everywhere. Accept the explosives area, but that was on the other side of the Initiative, and it needed voice code activation.

Riley decided to take a left when he thought of something. His men had told him Angel had gone up an air shaft. And there was an opening to that room from the shafts. And there was an exit in the explosives room.

Riley cursed and started running the other way.

***

"Oh no. NO. Buffy, we can't. We...no," Angel said.

"Yes we can. We just need to light one and run, that's all."

"Yeah, what about the innocent people we'd kill in the explosion?"

"Well...we can...the fire alarm!" Buffy said, pointing to the red lever by the exit.

"We can pull it and then wait a few minutes and then leave. Anyone stupid enough to stay will just have to die," she said.

"Buffy! You're the slayer, you can't just let innocent people die. You protect them, not hurt them," Angel told her.

"Well they hurt me because they took you away and tried to hurt you. So let's give them a fair chance. You can't save everyone," Buffy said.

Angel didn't say anything and looked around for something to light the explosives with.

Buffy pulled the alarm and the sound was a lot different from the "escaped prisoner" alarm.

Angel still couldn't find anything. "Buffy, what are we going to light the explosives with?"

She grinned, pulled a stake from her sleeve and ran it quickly against the bottom of her boot. The stake lit on fire.

"Where did you learn that?" he asked. She just grinned and got ready to throw the stake on the fire.

"Not yet!" Angel said, stopping her. "Give them a few more minutes."

Riley heard the fire alarms and he still ran towards the room he *knew* Buffy was in.

He just had to go a little further...

"Angel! The fire's almost at my hand. I have to throw it now!" she exclaimed. He nodded and she threw the fire onto the big pile of various explosives.

She opened the exit and she and Angel started climbing the ladder up to the ground above.

Riley opened the door and saw the exit door open and heard the sizzle of a lit fuse going. He saw one of the sticks of dynamite about to go off. He ran for the exit. The dynamite stick got closer and closer to going off.

Riley climbed higher and higher. He had to get out. He thought he could hear Buffy and Angel further above him.

He kept climbing, and climbing, and climbing....

And then, the Initiative exploded.

********

Giles was reading a book. Willow and Oz were kissing on Giles' couch, Anya was sitting on Xander's lap while they watched TV, and Doyle was playing with Cordelia's hair while she concentrated on her newest issue of 'Vogue'.

The silent room suddenly vibrated and there was a loud banging noise that sounded like it wasn't very far away.

"What was that?" Willow asked, leaping out of Oz's arms.

"It's Kosovo! They've gotten reinforcements and they're taking California!" Xander exclaimed, jumping up as well.

"It's not Kosovo Xander. We better go check it out," Giles said, looking for a weapon of defense.

"Hey, does anyone know what happened to Buffy?" Xander asked.

The room was quiet and then everyone groaned. They had a feeling Buffy was most likely behind the strange occurrence.

********

"Angel? Angel! Get up! Angel!!" Buffy called, shaking her boyfriend, who wasn't moving. They had just made it out and barely had enough time to run when the Initiative exploded. They had been thrown and now Angel wasn't getting up.

"ANGEL!" Buffy yelled, shaking him. She started pounding on chest, sobbing at him to wake up. "Please...Angel...." she said softly. He still made no movement.

"NO!" she shrieked, hitting his chest again. Then, hands grabbed hers and stopped her.

"Buffy, calm down, it's okay," Angel said, looking at her with concern in his eyes.

Buffy let out a sob of relief and hugged Angel tightly.

"Don't ever do that again!" she said, pulling away and smacking him in the arm. "I though you were dead."

"I'm here," he said, pulling her down to kiss him. They stayed lip-locked for about five minutes before the pulled away and looked at the damage they had done.

There was a huge hole in the ground where the Initiative had been, and the park was pretty much history.

"Oops," Angel said.

Buffy looked at him with an amused grin and started to look to see if anyone was still around.

She saw more than half of the initiative team standing a ways away from the wreckage. "Good, most of them survived," Buffy said, relieved.

Then she heard a crunch and looked down. Under her foot was an ID card. It said: RILEY FINN, CAPTAIN OF THE and then the rest was ruined.

"How many of these does he have?" Buffy asked before hearing a name. Her name.

"Buffy, help me," the voice rasped weakly. Buffy and Angel moved towards the sound and saw Riley, burned and bloody and really weak.

"We can't leave him here. We have to help him," Buffy said. Angel nodded and kneeled down to pick Riley up. Riley screamed as Angel gently touched one of his less severe burns.

"Men have such a low tolerance for pain," Buffy muttered as she and Angel carried Riley off just as police arrived on the scene.

*******

The gang arrived on the scene 20 minutes after Buffy and Angel had left it. They all couldn't believe their eyes. There was just a big hole where the park had been.

"Where's Buffy?" Xander asked, looking around.

"We don't even know if Buffy was responsible for this, she might not have been here," Cordelia said.

"If this was where the Initiative used to be, then Buffy was here. Angel was here, so she was here. If Angel was at the Bronze, she's there. So let's hope they're dancing the night away right now," Willow said.

A police officer came over and told the gang to please move farther away, they were still checking out the cause of the damage. The gang decided to go back to Giles' house and hope Buffy turned up.

What they weren't expecting was Buffy and Angel tending to Riley Finn on Giles' couch.

"Buffy!" Giles exclaimed. She turned around. "Look, it's a long story. Let's just say me and Angel took care of the Initiative, ok?"

"Yeah, we know. So does the awake population of Sunnydale," Xander said.

"What's he doing here?" Cordelia asked, indicating Riley.

"He was hurt, we couldn't leave him," Buffy explained.

"So let me get this straight. You two *blew up* the Initiative?" Giles asked, getting the 'that-was-a-wrong-choice' tone in his voice.

"Look on the upside, we don't have to deal with those army guys anymore. Besides, we gave everyone plenty of time to escape with their lives. And most of them did. And now it's one less problem to worry about, so spare us all the lectures Giles. And as for the park, the grass will eventually grow back," Buffy said.

"Yes, I believe it will...in about twenty years. Buffy what you did was very foolish! It was wrong. And what is that boy doing on my couch?" Giles asked, having not really noticed Riley before.

"He's hurt. We're helping him," Buffy said, losing her patience.

"Well, if he's hurt we should get him to a hospital," Giles told her.

"Oh yeah, and tell them what? 'Hi, this is a vampire killer, he was hurt in the explosion of his vampire lab, which by the way was caused by me and *my* vampire boyfriend.' Yeah, they'd buy that one. His burns aren't even that bad."

Giles decided to give it up and talk to Buffy in the morning. He said good night to everyone and went to his room. The rest of the scooby gang left shortly afterwards.

"Well Angel, Riley's out, Giles is asleep, and me and you are all alone. What are we going to do?" Buffy said slyly.

Angel growled and pulled Buffy on top of him, kissing her passionately.

They continued to kiss on Giles' floor when Riley woke up from his nap. He saw Buffy and Angel making out just a few feet away and decided to put and end to it.

"Buffy, I need some water," he croaked out. She looked over at him. "Okay," she said and went back to Angel's lips.

"I can't really get it myself Buffy. Please, I'm *really* thirsty," Riley whined. Buffy sighed loudly and got off of Angel and went into Giles' kitchen. Both men followed her gaze lovingly.

"Back off fishy, she's mine," Angel said, noticing that Riley was looking at Buffy hungrily.

"When Buffy sees that she needs a *real* man, she'll come to me."

Angel rolled his eyes as Buffy walked over to Riley and set the glass down. "Buffy, I can't drink it. I'm too hurt. Can you pour it in my mouth?" Riley asked.

Buffy smiled sweetly and walked over to him. Riley opened his mouth and Buffy dumped the whole glass onto his face.

Angel choked back his laughter. Buffy grinned at Riley and walked back over to Angel. She jumped into his arms and wrapped her legs around his back. They kissed passionately as they walked out of Giles' house.

"Thanks," Riley sputtered, water all over his face.

************

Buffy and Angel lay holding each other on Angel's bed, both wishing they could do more than just hold each other, but loving it anyway.

"Angel, why was everyone under your counter? I know it wasn't because you planned that dinner and movie thing. That was pretty obviously last minute. So spill," Buffy said, giving him her pouty lip. "Please," she added, looking like a sad puppy.

"I have a surprise for you. You will like it, and I want it to be a surprise, so can we just keep it at that?" Angel asked, grinning at her frustrated face when she knew he wouldn't tell her.

"If I guess it, will you tell me?" she asked. Angel shook his head. "Is there *no* way I can get it out of you?" she asked, moving her hand up his chest slowly, making his shirt tickle his chest.

Suddenly, Buffy pounced on Angel and started to tickle him. Angel rolled over and started to tickle her, leading to their tickle war.

"Okay! Okay, you win, I'll wait," Buffy laughed as Angel tickled her most ticklish spot. Angel grinned in victory and kissed her on the forehead.

"Will I like it?" Buffy asked.

'If you only knew Buffy, if you only knew....' Angel thought. He just nodded and they fell asleep.

*******

Buffy yawned as she and Willow headed outside. It was perfect day outside.

"Tired?" Willow asked. Buffy nodded. "Angel and I were up last night tickling each other. I was trying to get him to tell me what you guys are up to," Buffy said, looking at Willow.

"Oh no, you get no answers from me. Besides, I think your surprise may come sooner than you think," Willow said.

Buffy and Willow stepped outside and Buffy froze. Someone was sitting there in the grass, with a picnic set up, in broad daylight.

And that someone was Angel.

Buffy was frozen. She couldn't believe it. She was dreaming. That had to be it.

She wasn't even aware that she had walked over to Angel until she stood right in front of him. She looked up at him with a shocked expression.

"So, do you like your surprise? Everyone was under my counter and my kitchen was all messy because we were making the food for this picnic, and I didn't want you to know that Willow had found a spell to make me human, I wanted to surprise you. And it's permanent. I can't go back to being a vampire unless I'm attacked."

Buffy just looked at him, still in shock. He looked absoulutely beautiful in the sunlight. He needed a tan, but they could work on that.

"Hu...Human?" Buffy managed to get out. Angel just smiled and nodded. Buffy started to cry.

"Are you upset?" Angel asked. Buffy shook her head and pulled Angel down to her, kissing him passionately. It was their first of many kisses in the sun.

Willow watched with a smile on her face, and turned back to the building to look for Oz.

Buffy pulled away and looked at the picnic. "Looks yummy," she said, taking Angel's hand, pulling him down with him.

"What do you want? You can have Cordelia's chicken salad, which I think she lost a nail in. You can try Xander's "Xander Punch", and I have no idea what he put in it. Or you could have some of Anya and Doyle's potatoes and gravy, but the gravy turned out white and the potatoes turned out brown. Or there's Willow and Oz's "Stake Cake", which looks like a stake. The gray stuff on it is supposed to be vampire dust, but I think the dust is genuine," Angel said.

Buffy looked at him with an amused expression and then laughed. Angel joined her. Buffy drank in the sound of Angel actually *laughing*. "Or..." Angel said, reaching over. "You can try my addition. Cookie-Dough-Fudge-Mint-Chip Ice Cream because I know it's your favorite," he said, pulling out a carton and two spoons. Buffy looked up at him with glee in her face.

She jumped on him and kissed him. Angel pullled the top off the ice cream and handed Buffy a spoon. He scooped some out and fed it to her. She did the same for him. Soon, Buffy got out the gravy and stuck her spoon in. She then flung her spoon at Angel. The white gravy got all over him.

He took some of Xander's punch and poured it on her. "You better hope he put washable stuff in that punch!" Buffy said in mock anger. Angel just smirked at her.

She grabbed Cordelia's lumpy salad and chucked it at Angel. He dodged it and threw potatoes at her. They hit her square in the face. Both were shouting and giggling like little children, and everyone who saw them envied them. They were obviously in love.

An hour later, Buffy and Angel trudged to Giles' house, arms around each other, covered in food. "The ice cream was good," said Buffy. Angel laughed and kissed the top of her head.

They walked in to see Riley whining to Giles and Giles getting impatient. "Good heavens! What happened to the two of you! Wait! It's still day. Angel...what...how...explain?" Giles asked, turning his attention away from Riley.

"Willow turned Angel human. Just go with it Giles. Can we use your shower?" Buffy asked.

"Human! What! This is not good. Buffy, I'm hurting. Don't you care?" Riley moaned from the couch.

"Oh cry about it Riley," Buffy said, leading Angel upstairs.

"Wait! They're going to shower together!!! Can they do that? Stop them!" Riley said to Giles.

I can't control them. Besides, I like seeing you so upset," Giles said. Riley looked at Giles and started to cry.

"You give men a bad name," Giles muttered.

Angel and Buffy dried each other off with towels and found two of Giles' robes and slipped them on.

"Buffy, can we just kill Riley? Why does he have to live?" Angel asked. Buffy just kissed him and they walked back down to where Giles was.

"Buffy! Get dressed. Angel might see too much of you!" Riley demanded.

"Shut up fishboy, Angel is allowed to see what he wants to see. By the way, you can stop your little crush you have on me, because not even if Hell froze over would I want to date you," Buffy said.

"That's awful Buffy! How could you say that!" Riley cried, getting up, even though his burns caused him pain.

He ran out the door and into the day. Buffy decided he'd show up later. Either that or a vampire would kill him.

Buffy turned to Angel. "Well, now that he's gone..." she said, leading her fingers up his chest.

"I...uh...need to go...out," Giles said, hurrying out the door. Buffy and Angel laughed. Then they looked at each other with love in their eyes.

"Angel, will you marry me?" Buffy asked him.

Angel looked at her in shock, his brain registering what she had asked. Then he felt his heart swell up with happiness and joy. "Yes," he whispered.

"Nothing could make me happier."

They kissed passionately and then proceeded to break Giles' table.

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