Disclaimers: Not mine, never have been mine, neverwill be mine. Yes, it's a sad state of affairs.
Content: As usual, B/A. Very few of my fics aren't.
Rating: Er, PG-13?
Spoilers: Very vague Buffy season 5/Angel season 1.Nothing specific, seeing as how I haven't watched inover a month.
Author's notes: It's a short story and it takes placethis season - I think I may faint from the rarity ofthat. Aside from that, Angel's good fairy is at playagain. You have been warned. :)
Distribution: Anyone who has anything of mine andwants it may have this, too. Anyone who doesn't, justask - I will say yes. All of my stories can be foundat
Feedback: Tell me I'm great, tell me I suck - feedbackand flames will both be cherished.

Angel was in pain. His entire body was filled with adull ache, but mostly it was the shallow slash acrosshis abdomen he was feeling. It was from the claw ofsome demon Angel had never encountered before. Angelhad won the fight, but he'd been left with this woundto remember the demon by.

His steps were getting slower by the time he reachedthe Hyperion Hotel. Instead of feeling better, he wasfeeling worse. Every step made his wound hurt more.*I'll be fine once I rest,* Angel told himself.*Heal.*

By the time he got back to his room, Angel didn't evenhave the strength to clean and bandage himself beforecollapsing onto his bed, instantly asleep.

***

Dreams of demons, flashing claws, heat and pain chasedBuffy back into the waking world. Upon opening hereyes, the pain didn't leave her. Buffy groaned inmisery. Rolling over and pulling the blanket back overher head.

"Buffy?"

"Mmm, g'away," Buffy muttered from under the covers.

"Honey, what are you still doing here?" her mom'svoice asked from the doorway. "Don't you have classtoday?"

"Mom?" Buffy asked, peaking up over the covers. "Whattime is it?" she asked groggily.

"It's nine a.m.," Joyce replied. "Are you feeling allright? You don't look so well."

Buffy sat up out of the covers a bit further. Her momcame into the room and sat on the edge of the bed,making Buffy wince as the movement made her hurtworse. "I don't feel so well," she said at last.

"What's wrong?"

"I hurt," Buffy said slowly.

"Did something happen last night? Did you get hurt?"Joyce asked even as she reached over to feel Buffy'sforehead. "You've got a fever."

"Of al the times to come down with the flu," Buffygroaned, sitting up higher. "Could you pass me thephone and my bag? I need to call my professors andtell them I'm not coming to class. And Giles to say Iwon't be training today."

"I'll do it," her mom said, standing. "You just rest,and feel better."

Buffy smiled. "Thanks, Mom."

***

Vaguely, Angel heard Cordelia enter the hotel. Hecould hear her calling for him from the lobby. "Hello,is anyone here?"

Angel groaned and looked up at the ceiling. He reallyshould be getting up. Hell, he really should befeeling better. He wasn't; if anything, he was in evenmore pain than before. Moving was not an appealingoption.

"Angel?" Cordelia's voice called again. She was up thestairs, in the hallway now. "Hello, somebody answer mehere!"

Angel groaned and forced himself out of the bed. Ittook way more effort than it should have to evenstand. Taking an unnecessary breath to steady himself,he then walked very slowly towards his doorway. "I'mright here," Angel said from his room, discreetlyleaning on the doorjamb for support.

"Thank goodness!" Cordelia said looking at him. "Whenyou didn't answer, I was worried. What the hellhappened?!"

Angel suddenly remembered that he was still wearingthe same shirt as he had during the fight last night."It's nothing," he replied, trying to be nonchalant."Just a scratch." Angel stepped away from the doorjambto go change his shirt.and his legs gave out fromunder him.

"Yeah, right, 'it's nothing,'" Cordelia said, hurryingto his side.

"I'm fine," Angel tried again, struggling to his feet.

"No you are not 'fine,'" Cordelia said with certainty,crouching next to him. She supported some of hisweight and helped him stand. "Come on, you're gettingback to bed," she said, helping him across the room."Damn it, Angel, vampire's can't get sick, can they?"

"No, they can't," Angel agreed as he collapsed back onthe bed.

"Well, you seem to be running a fever anyway," shereplied testily. "Come on, help me get your shirt offso that I can clean you up."

Angel groaned as he rolled over slightly to get hisshredded shirt off his shoulders. That sound wasechoed by a hiss from Cordelia as she looked at hiswound.

"Okay, that's nasty," she said. "Uh.I don't think thisis healing right. What did this?"

"A demon," Angel replied vaguely. His head wasstarting to feel.fuzzy.

"Then I'm going to call Wesley and see if we can findout what sort of demon it was, okay?" Cordelia saidmoving about the room.

"Good.idea."

"Meanwhile, I'm going to put a bandage on that." Shesat on the bed next to him, a washrag in hand. Shehesitated a moment. "This may hurt a bit."

"Just do it," Angel said through clenched teeth. Itcouldn't hurt much more than it already did.

A moment later he was proven wrong and screamed his way into unconsciousness.

***

Pain blossomed in her midsection, coursing through herlike nothing she could remember feeling before. It waswaves of agony, crashing through her with no regardfor anything else. The pain tore her apart fromwithin.

And abruptly ceased.

Well, not completely. It faded back to the everpresent, ever growing pain she'd been feeling sinceshe awoke. It faded enough for her to be aware thatshe was gasping for breath and that her throat was rawfrom screaming. She whimpered in misery.

She'd been too caught up in the pain to hear the twopeople come thundering up the steps, but she couldn'tignore them when they entered the room. "Buffy!"

Buffy looked at her visitor, blinking in confusion."Willow? What are you doing here?"

"I came here to check on you and you started screamingwhen I entered the front door," Willow repliedquickly. "Come on, let me take a look at you."

It was then that Buffy realized that she was curled upin a ball, protecting her stomach. With a supreme actof will she uncurled herself, going back to lie on herback, taking deep breaths to calm herself. "There'snothing wrong," Buffy said weakly.

Willow gave her a disbelieving look even as her motherspoke up. "You don't scream like that if nothing'swrong!" she said. "You scared me. We'd better take youto the hospital."

"No!" Buffy yelled quickly, sitting up despite thepain.

Willow put a hand on her shoulder until she laid backdown. "I know you don't like hospitals, Buffy." shebegan.

"You don't understand!" Buffy protested, just comingto a revelation herself. "It's not my pain!"

"Buffy." her mom tried again.

Buffy shook her head and took a hold of Willow's armforcefully. "It's *not* my pain," she said again,calmer but with certainty.

Maybe it was something in Buffy's expression, butWillow's eyes suddenly went wide. "Whose pain is it,then?" she asked, believing.

The truth of it scared Buffy more than she cared toadmit. "It's.Angel's."

***

Angel blinked slowly as he came to, his visionreluctant to focus. He could feel the bandage pressingagainst his wound, but he honestly didn't know if theincreased pain he felt was from that or simply becausehis condition was getting worse. Whatever hiscondition was.

He attempted to sit up, but that just sent the painshooting back through his body, almost making himblack out again. He barely stopped himself from cryingout. *Okay, no moving. Good idea.*

"You're awake," Wesley's voice came from near at hand.

"Wesley?" The fact that his own voice was barely awhisper didn't do anything to comfort Angel.

"I called him, remember?" Cordelia said. "To see if wecan find out what did this to you."

"Oh yeah," Angel muttered. "Any luck?"

"As of yet.no," Wesley replied reluctantly. "Though itwould help if you could tell us more about whathappened."

Angel swallowed. "Claws. The demon had claws."

"That's what got you?" Wesley asked quickly.

"Yes."

Cordelia hurried from the room, likely to get on herdemon database. Wesley sighed. "The thing is.from thereaction you're having, it seems like there was somesort of poison.on those claws."

It didn't feel like the last time Angel had beenpoisoned, but he nodded very weakly anyway. Therewasn't much else that made sense.

"We *will* fix this," Wesley said confidently. "Youjust rest easy."

Angel nodded again. There wasn't much else he coulddo, after all.

***

Giles was in the house too, now, and Buffy could hearthe group of them talking downstairs. She couldn'tmake out any of what they were saying, but the factthat it wasn't being discussed with her didn't bodewell. Buffy bit her lip to keep from making any noiseas she sat up, then swung her legs over the side ofthe bed. Balancing herself against it, she stood veryslowly. That accomplished, she took slow, deep breathsbefore going any further. Walking all the waydownstairs was going to be the hard part.

Knowing that the pain wasn't hers made it a littleeasier to ignore - and she did know it was Angel'spain, despite what anyone else might think - but itwas still there. Every step she took jarred her entirebody, making her want to whimper in pain. She was theSlayer, though. She could do this. She could walk downthe hall, and then down the stairs.

*Yeah, you just keep telling yourself that.*

Buffy was starting to be afraid she was going to passout by the time she reached the top of the stairs, butshe'd gotten this far and she *was* going to make itthe rest of the way. It was taking all of herdetermination to make it. Vaguely, she began to hearsnippets of the conversation below.

".to the hospital. She should be."

".absolutely right."

*One stair.two stairs.*

".try and make Buffy go.?"

*.three.four.*

".give her something."

*.five.six.*

".knock her out?"

"No!" Buffy said as firmly as she could from her placeon the stairs. It wasn't very loud, but they heard hernonetheless. "I'm not going to the hospital. I'm goingto L.A."

All three of them rushed towards her. Her mother cameand wrapped an arm around her. Buffy was thankful forthe support, but not for the direction it wasintended. "You shouldn't be out of bed!" Joyce said,trying to help her back *up* the stairs.

"I'm not going to the hospital, and I'm not going backto bed," Buffy said clearly. "I'm going to L.A."

"Buffy." Giles began.

"I know what I'm feeling, Giles," she said, shruggingout of her mother's support to continue working herway down the stairs. "If I am feeling Angel's pain,then there is something very, *very* wrong. So I amgoing to find out what it is. Now, you can eitherdrive me, or drive myself, but either way I am going."

The threesome seemed a bit shocked by her remarks.Finally, Giles seemed to give in. "Perhaps one of usshould call first?" he pointed out.

Buffy glared at him with the last of her strength."You do that, Giles."

***

He could hear their voices near at hand, but none ofwhat they said made much sense anymore. Everythingbeyond the pain was hazy, dreamlike. The pain,though.that was too real, too sharp. Angel had evengiven up the illusion of breathing, because even thatsmall movement was too much.

"..was Giles.. Buffy. symptoms as Angel. cominghere.."

He heard them vaguely. "Buffy?" he asked, and it cameout barely above a whisper.

Then Cordelia was there, trying to help the poisoninduced fever pass by wiping his forehead with a coolcloth. Angel didn't have the strength to tell her thateven that little bit of pressure hurt. It was nicethat she was trying to comfort him, as fruitless as itwas.

"I think he's delirious," he heard her say softly toWesley.

Maybe he was. He could have sworn he heard someonemention Buffy.

***

The drive to L.A. was tense and quiet. They'd takenMrs. Summers' Jeep, and Giles sat in the passengerseat, with Willow in the back taking care of Buffy asbest she could. Much of the drive had been agony toBuffy, and she lay with her head in Willow's lap,semi-conscious. The two hour drive had felt like days.

"How is she?" Giles asked, turning in his seat to lookat Willow.

Willow shrugged. "She doesn't seem to be in pain now,so she's either unconscious or."

"I'm fine, and thanks for asking," Buffy interrupted.

Giles looked at her in surprise. "I thought you wereresting. We're almost there," he said. "How are you?"

Buffy was silent for a long moment, feeling the gentlemovement of the car on the city streets. "It doesn'thurt any more," she said at last.

"Which is good!" Willow replied happily. Both Gilesand Buffy looked at her, similar concerns apparent. IfBuffy was truly feeling Angel's pain before, and nowshe wasn't. "Or not," Willow concluded.

"Mom?" Buffy asked gently. "How much longer?"

"Just a couple of minutes," Joyce said. "I'm gladyou're feeling better, honey. You had me worried."

"Yeah," Buffy replied weakly. She was stillworried.very worried.

When the car stopped at last, Buffy did her best toprove just how good a Slayer's recuperating abilitieswere. The day's ordeal had been quite draining, andshe wasn't quite able to run, but she was still thefirst one out of the car. She didn't wait for Giles tounload the books he'd brought with him, or anyone elsefor that matter, but walked right up to the front doorof the hotel. She was well ahead of her companions bythe time she entered to see Cordelia and Wesleylooking at her in surprise.

"How is he?" she asked without preamble.

"It's nice to see you, too," Cordelia retorted. Buffyjust glared at her; she was not in the mood to playgames. "Come on, I'll take you to him."

Neither Cordelia nor Buffy said anything as theywalked up the stairs. In the second floor hallway,Cordelia stopped outside one of the doors. "He was inand out for a while, but he's calm now," she said. Herfacial expression showed doubt that was a good thing."I'll.just wait out here."

Buffy said nothing to Cordelia, nor gave her anotherthought as she entered the large hotel room. She madeher way to the bed where Angel lay, shirtless and verystill. They'd actually been almost on friendly termswhen they'd last parted, and now, having felt whathe'd been going through for the last day. Buffy wasactually nervous. No, that was fear that was grippingher stomach. He was just so *still.*

Sitting on the edge of the bed, Buffy sighed. Shewanted to say something, even though he wouldn't hearher, but the words stuck in her throat. There wasn'tanything to say. So Buffy ever so gently, and withmore than a touch of hesitation, reached to place ahand on the side of his face. His skin was abnormallywarm - for him, at least - from the fever they hadshared until only minutes ago. Buffy pulled back, andfelt a fine coating of dust on her fingertips.

For a moment she stared at her fingers in blankincomprehension. Then she freaked. "You are not goingto do this to me," she muttered. "You are not goingto.to crumble to dust while I watch after I goteveryone out here to help you. After I got my *mother*to drive me here, for goodness sake!" Her voice wasrising in volume with every word. "Angel," she saidsternly, and then it became a plea, as she shook him,hit him.anything to get a response. "Angel!"

Angel gasped, shocked awake, and then turned over on his side, coughing violently. "Easy, there," Buffymuttered, now feeling very embarrassed by heroutburst. *I mean, that dust could have come fromanywhere,* Buffy thought to herself. *I doubt heexactly has a cleaning staff.*

Finally Angel calmed, and rolled back to look at her."Hey," he said weakly.

"Hey yourself," Buffy replied with a very slightsmile. She could not begin to explain how relieved shewas to see him awake.

Angel grinned back, seeming inordinately pleased. Heput a hand to his chest, then winced slightly. "Didyou hit me?"

"Well, umm." Buffy stuttered.

"And here I was hoping this wasn't going to be arepeat of your last visit."

Buffy felt herself turning bright red. "Umm.that is,I."

Angel grinned once again. "That was a joke, Buffy."

Oh, a joke. Buffy wasn't sure how to do with that. Shelooked away for a second to collect her thoughts. "So,you're feeling better then?"

"Much better. Better than.a long time," Angel replied.

There was an odd note in his voice Buffy could notinterpret. He didn't elaborate, though. "So, what areyou doing here? And why did you hit me this time?"

"I'm here.because I was feeling your pain. You beingpoisoned made me get sick," Buffy explained, trying toshrug off the oddness of it all. "As for why I hityou, it was really silly, and I'm sorry."

Angel looked at her patiently. "It's okay. And I'msure it wasn't silly," he said, prompting her tocontinue.

Buffy sighed. "I touched you, and I felt dust. Ipanicked, okay?"

Raising his hand to his forehead, Angel wiped some ofthe dust away and rubbed it between his fingers,thoughtfully. Then his smile got even larger than itwas before, if that was possible. "That's it." hewhispered to himself.

"What aren't you telling me?" Buffy asked at last.

Angel turned his smile to her. "I understand why youpanicked," he said. "Some demons deteriorate ininteresting ways when they die. Vampires."

"Turn to dust," Buffy said, rolling her eyes. She wasthe Slayer; she knew this. It was pretty obvious thatwas why she had panicked. "Do you have a point?"

Angel nodded. "I'm still here, Buffy," he said calmly."The vampire.the demon isn't." He was grinning fromear to ear.

Buffy just could not comprehend what he was tellingher. "What are you." Then, it slowly began to dawn onher. "Are you.?"

Angel nodded and took her hands in his own warm ones.

"How.?"

Before she could finish asking her question, or Angelcould reply, Cordelia had enough of waiting andentered the room. "Hey!" she said. "How is." She criedout suddenly, and stumbled.

"Vision," Angel said quickly before Buffy could worry,and went to get out of the bed and help Cordelia.Before he could do more than get out of the covers,though, she stood back up.and her eyes had gonecompletely white. "What.?" Angel muttered.

"I take it this isn't normal?" Buffy whispered.

Angel shook his head mutely.

Cordelia - or whoever she was - smiled at them softlyand walked towards the bed. "The demon's poisonattacks through blood," she said in a voice that wasnot her own. "Shared blood; shared destiny. Throughthat, it would have destroyed you both."

"What.?" Angel began to ask, but the being's blindglare silenced him

"Your tasks are incomplete," she said. "We could illafford to loose two Warriors at this juncture. Thatcatastrophe has been averted." She smiled then at theboth of them and clasped their intertwined hands."Live, Warriors, and fight as is your destiny. Love,as is your calling." Then her eyes returned to normaland she dropped as if her strings had been cut.

Angel and Buffy caught Cordelia before she could hit the floor next to the bed. Cordelia groaned. "Angel?"she muttered.

"Yes?"

"You know I hate the visions, right?"

"I know," Angel replied.

"If they *ever* decide to talk *through* me again, you can find yourself another vision girl, because I'mgoing to find out who they are and." she faltered."Well, I don't know what I'll do, but *one* of uswon't survive it."

Angel chuckled. "I hope they'll keep that in mind," hesaid. He looked over Cordelia to see Buffy, smilingslightly at him. "So." he tried to begin.

"So." Buffy said, but couldn't get any further either.Then they both began to chuckle.

Cordelia looked at them both like they'd grown secondheads. "Okay, what did I miss?" she asked. "Who gaveyou two ex-invalids giggle pills?"

That just made Buffy and Angel laugh harder. They didn't have any words to share at the moment, but theycould share this laughter. And didn't someone saylaughter was the best medicine?

*Shared blood; shared destiny,* Buffy thought,remembering the words from just moments before. *Ithink I'm beginning to like that deal.*

*.And I wonder what Angel looks like with a tan?*

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