Rating: Same as the show.
Disclaimer: I don't own nothing. Not even the clothes on my back. They're on loan.
Summary: Angel gets a unique message.
Spoilers: You have to have seen or at least know all the major stuff that went down on both shows.
Notes: I don't remember if Buffy was in Rome at the beginning of S5 of Angel, but I'm saying that she is so the fic works. Its basically fluffy and funny. Nothing serious.

"Here." Harmony held out a bulky manila folder with several stamps covering the battered package.

"What is it?" Angel asked.

"I don't know, it came for you this morning." Harmony replied.

Angel took it and went into his office. Once inside and behind his desk he opened the package. A blank video tape fell onto his desk with a clatter and a white piece of tossed paper was found inside.

`Play Me', was all the paper said.

Against his better judgment, Angel put the tape into the VCR and sat back into his chair. After fiddling with the remote for five minutes, he finally got the tape to play.

Static created his eyes, before an image appeared. It looked like the bottom of the bed on the right and two pairs of feet squeezed into the screen.

"It's not on." A voice complained.

"Are you sure?" A smaller voice asked, "The red button's blinking."

"It's not on." The first voice said, "If it were on, the red button would be--"

Static.

Angel lifted a brow.

The vision reappeared, but this time the camera was pointing towards a mirror. A blond boy was holding the camera and Dawn was standing next to him. She was taller, Angel noted, and seemed genuinely cheerful despite her annoyed look towards the blond.

"I told you!" Dawn complained. "Camera's different here."

"Ssh!"

The camera moved and it looked like the boy was moving down a hallway. Several girls passed him on the way before he stopped before a door.

"Go on." The blond boy said.

Dawn's hand appeared and it knocked on the door.

A moment passed and the door opened--

"What--oh!" The door slammed.

For a moment Angel had seen Buffy, disheveled, hair in knots and wearing a robe that fell off one shoulder. The image seared itself into his brain while Dawn let out a laugh and the boy's hand came into the screen and started knocking again.

"Go away!" Buffy shouted through the door.

"Oh, c'mon, Buffy! The camera loves you! It wants to love you." The blond boy spoke up.

"Well, the camera's a big pervert." He heard her voice through the door. "I thought I told you if I ever saw that thing again, you wouldn't see the light of day again, Andrew."

"Oh, c'mon Buffy!" Dawn shouted at the door, her long hair coming into the screen. "It's just for fun. We're not gonna send it to anybody anyway, right?" She turned to the screen and made a shushed look.

The camera bobbed up and down.

A moment of quiet and then the door opened, revealing Buffy. She glared at the camera before sighing. "Fine." She waited a couple of seconds, glancing around. "Okay, bye!" The door shut again and the screen turned to Dawn.

She looked at the camera lens. "You got that, right?" The camera bobbed.

Static.

"Hello from Rome!" Dawn and Andrew shouted at the camera screen before Andrew disappeared behind the camera again.

"Hi!" Dawn said again, "Um, this is sort of spontaneous, I guess. Buffy doesn't know what we're doing, but we're doing a pseudo- documentary about her life here and we're gonna send it to Angel and his guys cuz... um--"

"Cuz they need to know how you're doing." Andrew piped up from behind the camera.

"Right!" Dawn nodded, then pushed a wayward strand behind her ear. "And cuz Buffy would never actually write to Angel or talk to him on the phone herself. So, hope you enjoy our week in Rome!"

"Week one in Rome!"

Static.

"What're we doing?" A voice was heard. The camera was pointed at feet again, but it was dark.

"Sh!"

Dawn's hand appeared and pushed a door open slightly and the camera wedged itself between it. An unknown music vaguely resembling salsa flared through the room and there was Xander, flaying about.

Angel supposed the boy was dancing, but it looked a lot more like flaying.

It wasn't long before he spotted the camera and let out a shout. "Hey! No filming when one-eye guy's dancing `round his room by himself. This is a no filming zone--"

Static.

The screen became dark and the sound was strange for a moment before the camera began moving around. A hand appeared and pushed fabric away and Buffy appeared. Or at least a shot of her chin did. Not that Angel didn't mind looking at her chin. It was a nice detail. Her chin disappeared and soon her whole body appeared. She was seated at table outside. A cafe, he supposed, and she was speaking with Willow. She smiled and laughed then turned and spotted whoever was using the camera.

Buffy gave them a weird look before turning back to Willow. They spoke a while before Buffy looked back at them again. Then she spotted the camera--

Static.

"Fine, fine, fine! I'll talk to the damn camera, but it better not talk back!" Buffy told the camera as she stood outside in the sun. She looked just as Angel imagined she would.

"Say `Hello from Rome'." Dawn instructed off camera.

"No." Buffy grumbled.

"Say it." Dawn commanded again.

Buffy rolled her eyes. "Hello from Rome."

"Good. Now say, `Hi, I'm Buffy. And I'm in Rome'." Dawn instructed again.

Buffy glared at something Angel assumed was Dawn. "Why don't you just give me a script or something."

"Well, we had one, but one of the girl's used it to line they're balcony's with--" Andrew went on.

"Eew." Both girls chorused.

Dawn appeared on the screen. "Andrew, that's just gross."

"Yeah, you know what, don't talk." Buffy told the screen.

"But they're a lot of birds in Rome, right Buffy?" Dawn said.

"I've never seen so many birds in my life." Buffy replied. "They practically mauled Xander when he tried feeding them."

"He shouldn't have left the safety of the cafe." Dawn chimed.

"Hi." A perky voice said and the camera whirled around and settled on Willow. She frowned at the camera, before deciding to ignore it.

"Hey Will." Buffy said.

"Hi." Willow said again and looked distressed that the camera was still filming her. "Ugh... what's with vid-boy?"

"I dunno." Buffy said. "I'd love to find out though."

"We're just having a little fun." Dawn interjected. "I mean, this is Rome. How many times do you get to see Rome in a lifetime? We wanna capture it so we won't forget."

"I don't think you could forget all buildings and art and demons," Willow started, "We can say demon on film, right?"

"And the birds. Don't forget the birds." Buffy supplied.

"True." Willow smiled.

"I wanna rent a scooter." Dawn said. "And I wanna race it around town."

"You do that." Buffy replied. "And remember, it's okay if you hit the pigeons."

Static.

"Now, Buffy... coming from one woman--"

"You're not a woman Andrew--"

"to another, how're are things on the romantic front?"

Buffy was on a balcony of some kind and glaring at some pigeons at the other end of the railing. She turned back to look at the camera. "Andrew, why have you suddenly become my stalker?"

"What stalking? You heard Dawnie, we're making memories! Memories!" He sang.

"Okay." Buffy sighed. "What memories are we making?"

"Well, why don't you tell the camera about what's going on?" Andrew implored.

"Well, Camera, we're in Rome. It's nice except for the excess of birds. We're staying at this quaint hotel thanks to Kennedy's money. Willow's dating Kennedy. She's also been to several covens and sending the word out. Xander's dealing with only having one eye pretty well. Giles is off somewhere with a troupe for training and the other girls are taking a breather." Buffy supplied.

"What about you?"

"Me? Well, I fought an Italian pervert of a vampire last night and nearly lost my arm to this ten foot demon with really bad breath. I'm fending off a cold I think I'm getting. Gee, these memories have been fun. Gotta go." Buffy brought a hand up to the camera before the static came on.

"Okay, so we didn't exactly accomplish a whole lot. But wait a few months." Andrew said. "We'll have her babbling to the camera as if it were her best friend!"

"She needs to get used to it, right." Dawn said. "It takes a while to get used to being filmed all the time."

"Exactly."

"Are you guys still filming?" Buffy asked as she came into the room.

"Yes!"

"Wonderful." Buffy mumbled.

"You going out?" Dawn asked.

"Will says the coven spotted some heavy demon activity south. I'm gonna go take the girls for a little exercise." Buffy told them.

"Ooh, can we come--"

"No--"

"There'll be seven slayers coming with. We'll be fine." Dawn said.

"Okay..."

Static.

"Aah!" Came a male voice, but it came out fairly feminine.

"Shut up, you're screwing up the action sequence!" Dawn hissed.

The camera was shaky, but Buffy and several other girls appeared suddenly. They were all fighting several demons and Andrew kept zooming in and out on Buffy's face as she fought.

Static appeared.

"Oh great--"

"Battery's--"

"How can it die like--"

Buffy appeared on the shaky screen, holding an axe. She was asking Dawn if she was okay before she spotted the camera.

"I thought I told you to leave that at home." She said.

"But it was begging me to come with." Andrew protested.

"What do we do with them?" A girl with a thick French accent asked.

"Oh, ugh, we could burn them... or something." Buffy said.

"Oh, I can see it now. They'll be quoting you. `We could burn them or something.'" Andrew sighed.

"Get out of here!" Buffy shouted.

Static.

"Thus, ends week one of Rome." Andrew said to the camera. Dawn sat next to him on the edge of a bed.

"We didn't exactly accomplish what we set out to do." Dawn said. "But we're not gonna get discouraged. There's always next week--"

"And next week,"

"And the next!"

"So, we hope to see you again soon." They said together, "Until then-- "

Static.

"Good bye." Buffy said, before her axe came down and hit a demon.

Static.

Angel brought a hand up to his head and glanced at his phone. It be easy to call her. Let her know what Dawn was doing, but...

Angel pressed rewind and waited patiently.

It wasn't everyday he got to see Buffy whenever he wanted to.

Send feedback to Tiara

Back to the Fanfiction Archive