SUMMARY: Buffy, Faith, Willow, Xander, Oz and Cordelia get a travel grant from their school to go to Cambridge and they meet Spike punting down the river Cam.
RATING: PG-13 so far, maybe a mild R later.
DISCLAIMER: Not mine, blah, blah…
FEEDBACK: Would be nice. This is my first AU fic though, so please be kind to me.
DEDICATION: To Emol, because she doesn't even like Buffy and Angel and has passionately sat through my complaining about my last story.
SETTING: Cambridge, England
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Lyrics are a random selection, mostly from well known songs which I don't actually know who belong so, yeah it belongs to them. Lyrics are in italics.

Part One -

'We are young, we are free.'

Xander scanned the airport waiting room looking for his friends, eventually he saw them casually leaning against the glass wall at one end of the crowded room. He approached the gang and greeted Willow and Oz with 'Hi's' and a kiss for his girlfriend, Cordelia. Xander dutifully noted that Buffy and Faith weren't here yet, and quite frankly he'd been cutting it fine to arrive on time. Almost as soon as the thought crossed his mind, Buffy and Faith ran across the room to them, hair flying out behind them.

'We're not late.' Buffy told them, Oz raised an eyebrow at her and she pointed at the clock. 'We still had thirty seconds to spare.'

Faith pulled off her denim jacket to reveal a skimpy vest top underneath and sighed. 'God, I can't wait to get out of here. It's too damn hot.'

'I've got to agree with you there,' Cordy sighed, 'But you would be slightly cooler if you ditched the leather pants.' Everyone paused for a moment to observe the black leather, till Faith looked up indignant.

'But I like leather!' She exclaimed.

'I never noticed.' Her sister told her rolling her eyes.

'It's not like you haven't got a pair, B.' Faith retorted and blushing red Buffy quickly changed the subject.

'I can't believe the school gave us this travel grant!'

'I know,' Willow agreed excited, 'and it's going to be so interesting, studying the gothic architecture, there's so much history in England. And did you know that Cambridge was once completely underwater and because of the sea effecting the shape of Britain, it could be covered again if no one did anything to stop it.'

Everyone looked at her blankly except Oz who just kissed her ear and whispered, 'I love it that you know so much.'

Thankfully the intercom message came over the speaker system telling them to start boarding the plane before Xander could make some bizarre comment.

A few days later the gang was heading through the centre of the 'old town' of Cambridge. The old town was filled with windy little streets and the shops were a peculiar mix of tourist trap shops and cafes and alternative clothing stores. At the far end of all of these streets is access that paths that wind along beside the woody river Cam.

It was a hot day and locals were punting on one half of the river, away from the colleges, trailing their feet in the water, and dive bombing the punts from the river that passed over it. It looked incredibly fun especially after a long tiresome day taking pictures and writing about gothic architecture in the collages. After a quick count of how much money they could possibly spare the gang decided to hire a punt and a punter so the boys didn't have to suffer the humiliation of undoubtedly not being able to move it anywhere. As the hire place was very busy they were told they would have to wait an hour, so the gang brought some food to eat, as they were told that there were some great picnic stops you could eat at by the side of the river.

When they returned an hour later they were introduced to their punter, Spike, who looked the very definition of a Billy Idol look alike, with bleached blonde hair ruffled to stand upward in an odd scruffy but in an adorable sort of way. Faith was immediately taken by the man and was even more enthused by the fact that he was apparently a singer for a rock band.

It took a few minutes for the friends to realise that the phrase picnic on the river Cam was totally literal, and was actually more of a floating party than anything else. Bottles of Champagne and food passed from boat to boat as regularly as people did. 'I think I could get used to this,' Willow called laughing hysterically as they were passed a couple of Bicardi's and a thirteen year old boy tried his best to chat up Faith until Spike gave him a warning look and he backed off.

'Why not?' Spike replied, 'Everyone here has!' He exchanged a few words with another punts-man and then turned to the group. 'This is Penn, he's got a club opening in town tonight would you and yours like to come?'

Spike was addressing Faith and so her exclamation of 'Hell, yes!' Was taken as a veto from the whole group, not that they minded. Spike was clearly the kind of guy who knew exactly where the hottest clubs were at and while they were here they might as well have some fun.

That night Buffy stood in front of the mirror in her hotel room trying to decide on what to wear. Her sister had returned from a ride around town on the back of Spike's motorbike exclaiming that all of his friends were really hot and that the club was very cool, from what she'd seen of it. In the end Buffy gave up trying to find something funky and sexy without looking slutty and just pulled on her tight black leather pants, a tight blood red Chinese vest top, with black battling dragons sewn into the silk. I t was one of her favourite outfits but not when she thought any of her friends would actually know she even owned, but then, who cared she was going to have fun, even if that meant lowering herself down to Faith's standards. At least Faith had fun, she thought slightly bitterly. That was the bad thing about being the good girl of the family, she had to be so goddamn good all the time.

Bounding down the stairs in her outfit a few minutes later Buffy passed her shocked friends and hurried out the door. When no one followed her she stuck her head back round the door and called that it was time for them to go.

They nodded dumbstruck and followed her, for once even Faith unable to think Of anything to say.

Sitting in Penn's club Angel was bored as hell, it wasn't that he didn't like clubbing, he enjoyed it with a relish but the company was getting a bit old. God would Darla ever get the hint he fumed silently to himself as she whittered on about something that had happened at the previous night's party with Harmony. Harmony was an annoying bint too, Angel thought crossly as she tried to give him the eye from across the table. God I used the word Bint. Spike is wearing off on me! Angel thought half-panicked for a minute and then figured it was the perfect word to describe her anyhow.

Spike was heading over to his table then anyway and Angel quickly stood up, eager to escape with him, but Spike waved him back and stood back to reveal a group of people from behind him, 'Angel, Darla,' Spike half-shouted over the noise of the band, purposefully ignoring Harmony. 'These are some friends of mine from America. This is Faith, Cordy, Willow, Oz, Xander and Buffy.'

Angel gave a half nod to each person as they were pointed out, but stopped when he came to the last girl. Buffy was a small slim blonde girl but whose natural stance and manner seemed to scream of danger. It was just something about her aura that drew him to her like a moth to a flame and god was she beautiful. Even in the half-din of the club he could make out every detail of her face, with deep hazel thought provoking eyes, which seemed to change colour slightly as her face flushed under his intense gaze.

His eyes swept over her figure and deep lustful thoughts immediately seized him. Calm down! He commanded himself and tried to tear his attention away and listen to what Spike had been saying about the band, he failed miserably however to take any of it in and as soon as the music started again Angel took Buffy's hand and lead her onto the dance floor.

Buffy was dancing sensually with Angel, her back pressed up against his chest and her arms looping backward over his head, bringing it down to her neck which he immediately began peppering with feather light kisses, nuzzling at her ear intently. His hands slipped under her top and drew circles over her stomach as their hips swayed together to the music. Eventually the song ended but it did little to stop the couple they stayed where they were, the only movement was Angel slowly turning Buffy in his arms, keeping contact the whole time, so that she faced him. They stood motionless lips millimetres apart staring deep into each other's eyes.

'Angel…' Buffy whispered, 'you don't know anything about me.'

'I know you're beautiful.' He whispered back and moved in to kiss her when Buffy was jolted from behind. Breaking the moment and causing Buffy to spin around and open her mouth to evil the person who'd knocked her. It was Darla.

'Hi Buffy, Can I talk to you for a moment?' She asked her voice all simpering sweetness. Buffy hated her all ready.

'Sure. I'll be right back Angel.' Buffy told him, and left him standing on the dance-floor staring after her.

Darla led Buffy to the corridor around the back of the bar that led to the fire exit once there she leaned against the wall and pulled out a smoke. She held them out to Buffy but she pushed them away and stood there waiting for Darla to get round to actually telling her something. 'You've got to watch out for Angel, Buffy.'

Okay, that had not been what Buffy had been expecting. 'What do you mean?' She asked carefully, scrutinising Darla's eyes for a betrayal of emotion but they were masked and neutral, telling her nothing.

'I mean, he's a player. He'll love you and want you until he has you and then he'll leave you.' Darla's voice was cold and lead Buffy to believe that she was rather experienced in the matter.

'How do I know I can trust you?'

'Why would I lie?'

That one had Buffy stumped, the only reason Darla could possibly lie about something like that for would be if she had a thing for Angel, and wanted to keep Buffy away. But there had been no trace of it in anything she had seen tonight, not that she had seen much but Angel, but then Angel had definitely not shown any interest at all in Darla which rather reluctantly lead Buffy to the conclusion that Darla was telling the truth. Sighing Buffy leant back against the wall and ran a hand through her blonde hair.

'Thanks, I guess.' She told Darla who promptly got up and left her to stand in the cool corridor trying to work out how in the hell she was going to stay away from Angel tonight, especially since she had shown a lot of interest in him already. Although… she could always look and not touch she laughed to herself, she wasn't a user but she knew perfectly well that after tonight she was unlikely to ever see him again. So she could still have lots of passionate kisses, just decline any offers of going anywhere afterward and she'd be okay. So long as she didn't get drunk she'd be fine, yeah you keep on telling yourself that she told herself.

Part Two -

'Storm clouds full of thunder move silent as they drum, and when they go we'll be fine; till tomorrow.'

When Buffy finally emerged from behind the bar Angel gave a sigh of relief which Spike instantly noted 'Got yourself a new honey, huh?' He called to him laughing. Angel shrugged but found himself grinning too. Determined not to reveal anything to Spike Angel got up slipping his hands around Buffy's waist, she tensed at his touch and puzzled Angel spun her round in his arms so she faced him.

'What did Darla say to you?'

'Oh nothing very important.' Buffy replied, he could tell she was lying but he saw no realistic way of getting him to tell her without pushing her away, so shrugging let it slide.

'Would you like to dance, then?' She nodded and he led her onto the dance-floor.

The dance was awful, not that either of them were bad at dancing, or that to any watching they would have looked odd but something about their previous chemistry was gone, Buffy was cold and unreceptive, her movements betraying that whatever Darla had told her it was intensely bothering her.

'Buffy,' Angel whispered into her ear as she ground against him, eyes closed. 'What's wrong?'

'Nothing.' She whispered, 'Just… don't push it okay?' Angel walked around her. Not breaking the constant contact between them but stopping their dance for a minute.

'I don't want to, but it's making you upset, and I don't like it. If Darla said something…' He paused unable to think of a word that wouldn't make it sound like he hated Darla's guts, even though he did. 'Look, I'm just saying we had a thing once, and it didn't work out.' He studied Buffy's eyes, they were easily readable as to her having realised something, but whatever it was didn't seem to be in his favour as she simply stared at him for a minute before shaking her head.

'I don't want this.' She told him and walked off, shocked Angel simply watched as she went back to their table, picking up her stuff before walking out.

Spike had been watching the exchange between Buffy and Angel from their table, and was aware that Angel had said something to screw up what he had with Buffy totally up and from the expression Angel had, it really bothered him. So when Angel came back to the table and sat down, looking depressed and brooding Spike rolled his eyes at him and said 'Go after her you pillock.'

Angel looked uncertain, as though he wasn't sure of what she'd do if he did.

'Won't that be kind of stalker like?' He replied.

'Na, it'll be okay,' Faith told him. 'Because you're pretty hot, so it'd be cute, not stalker like. Besides - if you overstep you're mark she'll just beat the crap out of you.'

'Great.' Angel said smiling, then took a double take at Faith. 'She'd fight me?'

'Yes, she's like expert at all martial arts and stuff.' Spike looked at Faith, who was sitting on his lap, and downing his cocktails, with a look of contemplation for a second before shrugging and turning his attention back to Angel.

'Go on, what are you waiting for you stupid bugger.' Angel ignored him, his attention still on Faith.

'Where are you guys staying?'

'Hotel, it's that big old one, near the Corn Exchange.' Angel gave her a look which told her that that was totally unhelpful. And she kept going. 'It's called, um, The Cambridge Arms, something like that.' And without listening to the rest of the conversation Angel rushed off.

'He is a daft prick.' Spike muttered before turning his attention to making out with Faith, with reckless abandon.

Dru, sitting across from Spike was getting increasingly worried. Spike, her brother, was not usually this way with women. To be honest Spike was no saint, she knew that but she also knew that Spike's hard cover had been built up after being hurt by women using him when he was younger. This girl Faith had it in her dress and behaviour, that she could well be another one all set to hurt her Spike. No matter how vicious Dru could be to him she didn't want him hurt and so set about splitting them up.

At that moment Penn sidled up to the table and Dru saw the opportunity to kill two birds with one stone, she'd had a thing for Penn for ages, and if he would agree to help her they could be drawn closer by the secret they shared. 'Penn, dance?' She offered and Penn, shrugged and let her lead him onto the dance floor. As soon as they were comfortably dancing to a slow song and out of hearing distance of the others she began.

'Penn, I suppose you've noticed how close Buffy and Angel seem to be?'

'Yeah, they're cute together.'

'I suppose, but Darla's in a psycho-bitch mood now.' Penn looked deeply concerned and nodded, score! Dru silently celebrated in her head, Penn she knew was deeply in love with Darla, but she wouldn't give him the time of day because of her obsession with Angel.

'And you know, she'd really appreciate it if someone was to split them up. I'm sure she'd award that certain person… justly.' Dru held her breath as she watched Penn think it over, she could practically see the cogs in his mind working as he evaluated the situation. He smiled.

'What do I have to do?'

'They're staying at The Cambridge Arms, I just want you to throw your weight around a bit, get them kicked out the hotel. Say they wrecked your club or something.'

'How's that going to help?' Penn asked puzzled.

'It's simple, If they get kicked out they'll have to stay at another hotel, and Angel won't be able to contact Buffy, or know where she's staying at all. Thus ending the romance, cheering Darla up, and making her extremely grateful to you.' Penn grinned wickedly and kissing her lightly on the cheek ran off to sort out the finer details. Dru, remained on the dance floor for a moment still talking to herself. 'Of course, them being kicked out will also split up Fait hand Spike, making me happy, and then when Darla isn't as grateful as you want her to be I'll be your shoulder to cry on. God I'm brilliant.'

Angel cruised down the streets of Cambridge in his black convertible looking for Buffy, eventually he saw heading down one of the more dangerous side alleys. Quickly Angel parked his car and followed her down the alley. A few metres into the alley he had lost her all ready although it was dark on these back streets Angel could clearly see that there was no-one there, he paused by a fire escape and peered into the darkness trying to see where she could have gone. Suddenly he found lying face up on the street, Buffy sitting on top of him and staring at him surprised.

'I didn't think you were the stalker type.' She sighed cynically.

'I'm not, Spike said I should follow you… And I actually took his advice,' he shook his head, 'anyway I was going to talk to you but I kept on chickening out.'

Still suspicious she demanded 'Why's you come after me anyway?'

'I wanted to find out what I did that was so wrong, and besides this place might not be New York but it's still pretty dangerous. Although I suspect not for you.' He added, rubbing his head smiling Buffy got off him, and offering her hand helped him up.

'Just so you know I still don't trust you.'

'Well, would you except a lift to your hotel anyway? I've got my car, it's just around the corner.' She considered it for a moment then nodded. 'All right, a lift would be good.'

When Buffy arrived at the hotel she told Angel to go home, and he did, after insisting on giving him his mobile number first he left, surprising Buffy slightly. But any realisations that might have been going on in her head where immediately forgotten as she arrived at the front desk to get her keys.

'Ah yes, Summers booking? We have your luggage for collection.'

'Pardon?' Buffy replied confused.

'We have collected your luggage from your rooms and brought them down here so you can take them to your next destination.' The receptionist carefully explained.

'No, I mean what the hell are you talking about? Why would we want to move hotels?'

'The Summers booking was cancelled a few hours ago.'

'Well I didn't do it! And we aren't supposed to be moving, can't you un-cancel it?'

'I'm afraid we've all ready given your rooms to someone else, and were fully booked so we can't put you in another room.' The receptionist looked sympathetic and nodded to a stand full of brochures on the other side of the hall. 'You can look for another hotel from those if you like, but with the blues brothers at the Corn Exchange I'll doubt you'll have much luck, perhaps one of your friends has all ready organised something else.'

Buffy nodded numbly, and asked where she could find a phone, they were pointed out to her and she headed over there.

An hour later her friends had all arrived back at the hotel, she had called them to tell them about what had happened and if any of them had anything to do with it. They had denied all knowledge and returned straight to the Hotel to help her paw through the brochures and try to make a reservation. But the receptionist was right; most of the hotels were fully booked and those that weren't were too expensive for them to stay at anyway. Sighing Buffy resigned herself to what she had been determined not to do, and called Angel.

'Angel.' He answered gruffly and Buffy almost hung up on instinct but forced herself to reply.

'Hey, it's Buffy, I'm at the hotel.' He sensed the distress in her voice and was immediately concerned.

'What's wrong, has something happened?'

'Apparently someone has cancelled our booking, and we don't have anywhere to stay.' Her voice cracked slightly under the strain, but steeling herself she carried on, 'We were wondering if you'd know somewhere we could stay, because all the hotels are booked up or too expensive.'

'You can stay with me if you like.'

'All six of us?' Buffy asked shocked.

'Yep, it's a pretty big house, Spike, Dru, Darla and Penn stay here pretty much the whole time anyway, but there are plenty of spare rooms.'

'Thanks. How do we get there?'

'Spike and I will come and get you.' They said their goodbye's, and Angel hung up leaving Buffy wondering what the hell she'd just done. Sure she'd just found somewhere for them to stay but she's also condemned herself to more quality time with Angel and she wasn't at all sure she'd be able to stand being around him without doing something stupid. Like say, having sex with him.

Part Three -

'I can see you ain't fooling me.'

Spike and Angel arrived half an hour later and the whole gang was quickly settled into Angel's house, although house was an understatement. It was huge, there were at least a couple of dozen bedrooms and the entire basement floor was a massive entertainment zone. There were a few bedrooms down there, as well as all the latest television and computer equipment, pool, snooker and table tennis tables, a mini gym and a bar, complete with barman. Wow quite frankly didn't cover it.

'Jesus, you're loaded man!' Xander exclaimed as he headed down to the bar. The bar was virtually empty, except for Penn who sat nursing a pint and staring unseeingly at the back of the bar.

'Hey Penn,' Xander said lightly and sat down next to him the Xander raised an eyebrow at him, 'Same as him.' He replied and looked back at Penn.

'What's up with you, your in a house which in itself has the capacity to pull babes over from the other side of the planet and you're sighting in the bar, getting drunk on your own?'

'I'm not getting drunk on my own, I'm getting drunk with you and the barman.'

'Actually the barman's shift just ended, help yourself to whatever you want but make sure he doesn't get to much okay?' The barman told Xander nodding at Penn, with that the barman left.

'Story of my bloody life.' Penn commented and when back to his drink, pausing before drinking he gave Xander a sidelong glance. 'You gotta promise me something mate, don't try and trick someone into loving you.'

'What do you mean?'

'You want to know my story?' Xander nodded, 'pour me another pint and I'll tell you.' Obeying Xander went round to the other side of the bar and pulled him a pint, Penn inspected him carefully and then nodded at the pint once he'd finished. 'Dru came to me with this idea to split up Buffy and Angel so that Darla would like me, but it so totally back fired it's unbelievable. My dad runs The Cambridge Arms, I got him to kick out the American guys telling him they were making trouble at my club.' Apparently Penn hadn't realised Xander was one of the Americans and kept on talking. 'The idea was that they'd find somewhere else to stay and Angel wouldn't know where Buffy was staying and since it's pretty unlikely they'd accidentally meet up they'd be separated and Darla would reckon she was back in the game.'

'What do you mean about Darla? Why'd she want them split up?' Xander interrupted.

'That's obvious,' Penn slurred, 'Darla had a thing for Angel, they went out once till Angel realised what a selfish bitch she was and dumped her, but of course Darla still wants him. She told Buffy that he was a player, but it didn't seem to bother her that much and she was pretty miffed. Usually that's all she has to do to keep the girls running from Angel, but for some reason Buffy didn't. Anyhow Dru reckoned if I split up Angel and Buffy then Darla'd be grateful, if you get my meaning.' He'd finished his pint and motioned for Xander to draw him another, as soon as Xander was finished he kept talking. 'Of course, this is me, I'm totally in love with Darla, even if she is a bitch, so I agreed. It didn't of course, 'cos Angel found out and invited them all here now Darla's even more pissed and I'm starting to realise what I've fucking done. I just want Darla to goddamn like me but that seems to totally surpass her.' Penn looked down at his empty drink and stood up a little unsteadily. 'I need to go and pass out.'

'Wait,' Xander called out to him, thoughtfully. 'I reckon I might know how to solve your problems.'

Penn looked at him and shook his head, 'I think I've done enough to them. I think they deserve this.'

'But that's the point Penn, they don't have this, the lies they've been told are keeping them apart. If we got them back together sure Darla would be mad for a while, but she'd get over it, and then it would be your perfect opportunity to swoop in and be the friendly shoulder to cry on.' Penn considered him for a moment.

'Go on.'

After another day of tediously detailing sections of architecture in Cambridge the American's returned to Angel's house to find a surprise had been dinner had been prepared for them by Spike and Angel, who were part time gourmet cooks when not touring with their band, Eagle Eyed. Buffy had to admit it was a pleasant surprise to discover that Angel could cook especially considering that she couldn't. By the time the evening was wearing down there was only Buffy, Angel and Spike still up. Spike and Angel were attempting to teach Buffy to cook. After another batch of blueberry pancakes had been tossed in the trash by Spike for being too rubbery Spike sent Buffy down to the pantry in the back of the basement kitchens to get more blueberries.

Twenty minutes later she still hadn't come back and Angel went off to look for her, assuming she had got lost.

As soon as Angel had climbed down the stairs of the basement he felt something was wrong. A slight click behind him confirmed his suspicions, running back up to the door he found he it was locked. The door was bullet proof; he was totally unable to knock it down. Angel stood helpless on the other side, shouting at Spike to let him out, but he could hear his echoing footsteps walking away from the door and he was powerless to stop him.

Light footsteps behind Angel made him spin around to face Buffy who was looking up at him curiously. 'I wasn't gone that long was I, anyway there aren't any more blueberries down here.' She started to move up the stairs only to be stopped by Angel, she looked up at him suspicious, 'What?'

'Spike locked us down here.'

A million expressions flashed across her face, not least of which were suspicion and anger. She seemed to be pushing them away though because all she said was, 'Did you have anything to do with this?'

'No, I don't know. Maybe. Not on purpose at any rate.' He sighed, running a hand through his spiky hair and his darted around the room. There's a fire exit at the back of the pantry but I have a feeling that'll be locked too.' Buffy nodded, yeah I saw that. Big padlocks all over it.'

'Great.' Angel sat down heavily on the steps trying to sort out his thoughts, normally he would love to be locked in the basement with a girl he adores, however she practically hated him. Making his whole time here, till Spike let them out, undoubtedly very uncomfortable. 'I suppose we'd better be prepared to spend a long time down here. I don't know what Spike wants, but I get the feeling he's not going to let us out for a long time.'

'Why not?'

'Because he's very patient.' Angel looked around again, 'Do you want something to eat?'

'Yeah, I suppose.' He indicated for her to sit on the sofa while he hurried off to the kitchen to do some serious thinking. Halfway there the lights plunged into darkness.

Buffy shot up from her position on the sofa and immediately groped around for something to keep her stable, whilst her eyes adjusted themselves to the darkness. Which was basically impossible, the darkness was absolute and Buffy knew that trying to move anywhere would be useless. She didn't know her way around in light, in dark it would be stupid to even try. So she stood and waited for Angel to come and get her getting slowly and slowly more freaked out by the lack of power. The feeling of something lightly brushing against her arm made her hair stand on end and she had to bite her tongue to stop herself from screaming, she was not going to give Spike the satisfaction of knowing he'd scared her.

The sound of a match lighting behind her made her spin round, and almost fall over from the sudden movement. The match flared and she could see Angel's face glowing orange in the light of the match. He lit a candle and passed it to her without a word. 'Thanks.' she muttered and stared into the candle's flame. 'Are there any more candles? We could put them on the shelves and stuff and then we'd be able to see fairly well.' He nodded gravely, 'I was going to do that but I thought I'd better check you were okay first.'

'Why wouldn't I be okay?' She challenged, angry at the implication. Despite the fact she was very grateful. He stepped back a little hurt and she sighed. 'I'm sorry, I didn't mean… Thanks. For the candle.'

'Come to the kitchen with me. We can still fix something to eat. The fridge is very well stocked. Suspiciously.' He added and shook his head. 'I still can't believe spike would do this, well - I can believe him locking us down here even if I can't fathom why. But I don't get the point of cutting the power.'

'How do you know it's not just a power cut?'

'We've got a back-up system in this house, the power will come back on from the reserve supplies a few minutes after the power cut. It hasn't so Spike must have done something to that.'

'Can't we look at the fuse box, and over-ride whatever he's done.'

'Probably, but the fuse box is upstairs.

'Useful.' Buffy replied sarcastically.

'Yeah… We could sue the architect's when we get out if you want.' His light expression told her he was joking and she laughed at his attempts to lighten the atmosphere.

Hours later Buffy and Angel were sitting in the living area in front of a roaring fire and surrounded by candles. The whole scene was one of the utmost intimacy and romance and now that they were sitting one on either end of the sofa, feet up on the central cushion and facing each other, you could have been forgiven for believing that they were in fact a couple. When all the barriers were down there conversation had diverged into relationships.

'Have you got anyone special in America?' He asked her and she shook her head.

'No. Most of the guys I know are great brother-type friends or… not me. I supose there are people who like me, but I can't help it I've never felt really comfortable with any of them.' She looked thoughtful and then risked it. 'I met someone great over here. But I found out some stuff about them and it's topping anything we could have had.' Before he asked her whom she was talking about, she continued, moving the conversation away from her.

'What about you? Any special relationships?'

'No. I was never very… serious about relationships when I was younger because I figured that it wasn't like I was going to meet the girl I was going to marry or anything.' He looked pained at the memories he was recalling. 'I suppose I used them really, by the time I started looking for real relationships the only people that would go near me I didn't like. So I haven't really had a relationship for a while.'

'Why'd you change?'

'What do you mean.'

'I mean why'd you go from player to serious guy. Doesn't happen all that often in my opinion.'

'My mum died. And I never really thought about it - but she and my dad were together forever basically and even after he died she was still faithful to him. And it sort of made me realise that no one ever loved me that way.'

'That kind of love hurts a lot.'

'Yeah well, to know it even once has got to be worth it.'

'I was never sure about that. All that pain for one moment of happiness, maybe it's be better to live a mediocre life and never have the pain.'

'I don't think you really believe that.'

'No.' She looked at him thoughtfully, the way he read her mind amazed her in a way she had never been before. 'I suppose I don't really.'

The fire had started to burn down and the light on the room was dimmer than before. Trying to move away from the unbearable connection between her and Angel, Buffy stood up and went to put more wood on the fire. Once she was finished she sat on the thick rug in front of the fire and watched the flames flickering in and out of the logs and shifting colours. A hand on her back surprised her and she turned round to see Angel there, he settled down beside her and staring into the fire started talking again.

'I didn't finish telling you why I stopped being a player - as you put it. You see, as steady as my resolve was I probably wouldn't have lasted for very long being good. But then I met this amazing woman. And she made me feel… eternal. Like there was some part of me that had always belonged to her and vice versa. It was fantastic.'

'What happened?' She whispered hot wanting to spoil the moment.

'I just don't know I'm afraid. We were together for about five minutes and then she changed. Like she didn't want me anymore.'

'Maybe she thought she knew something about you, that she didn't like.'

'Perhaps. But I tried to show that I wasn't.'

'Then maybe she thought that you were only being so nice to get you to believe that you were going to change when in fact you weren't.'

'But I was. I had.'

'Then maybe you should have told her all that in the first place!' Buffy exclaimed and jumped up and tried to stride off purposefully, slightly hampered by the fact that once she left the protective circle of candles she couldn't see anything and walked into a table. She was stopped from falling by Angel, who's strong arms immediately encircled her and spun her round to face him.

'I was a coward.' He said staring deep into her eyes. 'But I think I don't need to be anymore. I love you.'

'I love you too.' She replied as if some primal instinct she didn't understand was controlling her. He lowered his head to hers and their lips met, gently he ran his tongue over her lips and obediently she opened her mouth letting his tongue in and starting a fountain of fireworks that exploded in her head in a mirage of flashing lights and thunderous sound.

'Jesus.' She whispered as they came up for air. 'That was amazing, Angel.'

'I'm sure we can do better.' He replied one eyebrow raised and a cocky half-grin on his face.

Hours later Buffy and Angel lay entwined in each other in one of the many four poster beds of the house, peaceful sleeping. Blissfully unaware of the disruptions that were to come for them.

Part Four -

'Just remember till you're home again, you belong to me.'

As the combined groups of English and American friends met in the first floor dining room Spike filled them in on his and Xander's plan. It was strange to everyone to see them working together, but Xander had needed Spike's knowledge of the house to work out where they could lock them up without starving them or depriving them of oxygen or anything. He'd asked Penn, who told him to talk to Spike, and refused any more involvement or any credit. It had naturally been Spike's idea to cut the power, he said he was setting the mood. Spike and Xander had obviously been expecting praise for their wonderful plan and were deeply surprised when Darla went a funny purple colour and stormed off closely followed by Dru, who muttered something about going to see of she was okay. Faith meanwhile, had grabbed Spike's arm and was dragging him off looking very pissed. Back in the dining room Xander was being thoroughly told of by Willow and Cordy.

'I can't believe you did that to your friend!' Cordy shouted and started pacing the room, occasionally shooting Xander and angry glance. 'Xander, you must have seen how uncomfortable around each other! You just forced her to spend the night with someone she hates!'

'She doesn't hate him, any fool can see that, she's just holding back! They just needed someone to push them in the right direction!' Xander defensively replied.

'You gotta admit you were pretty tactless.' A normal subdued Oz added, his face showed no emotion and he just set about trying to calm Willow rather than saying anything to that would fire up her frenzy even more.

'Xander, I'm sorry for doing something about the fact that my friend was hurting!' Xander finally shouted and left slamming the door so hard it rebounded off the frame and smashed back into the wall.

Darla meanwhile was livid. Her plan to separate Angel from Buffy had already totally failed and the fact that Spike had just locked them up together meant they had undoubtedly bonded and where now totally bloody inseparable. Dru rushed into the room behind her and said in a carefully calming tone of voice started to try and say something.

'Shut up!' Darla screamed back, Dru stepped back and seemed to be actually restraining herself from running out of the room and tried again.

'Darla, we can still…'

'We can still what? Angel's been locked in the basement with the girl he worships. They undoubtedly spent the night continuously screwing and there is nothing we can do.'

'Maybe not, but Angel can't control everything either.'

'What do you mean?'

'She's here on holiday Darla, she's got to go back at some point.' Darla shook her head.

'That may be, but come on Dru you know Angel, he'll find a way around it. Probably move to the bloody states to keep her.'

'Then all we've gotta do is keep him here.'

Darla took over. 'If Angel leaves, he's living his restaurant business behind and will take Eagle Eyed instead.'

'Yes.'

'And you know how his daddy hated his band and the lawyer who handles Angel's money - he always respects what Angel's dad would have wanted. So if someone happened to mention to him that Angel's going to America to continue his musical career and leaving the restaurants. He wouldn't be happy, and he could stop the money. No money and Angel can't *get * to America.' She announced satisfied. 'Obviously, the girl can't stay here because she's got school and family in America… Dru you are a genius!' Darla exclaimed and rushed out the door leaving Dru to wonder if she'd done the right thing.

A few rooms down the hall Faith was glowering at Spike. 'I can't believe you did that to my sister Spike! You know as well as I do, that Angel's a total player.'

'He was going to change! And if you ask me your sister is the best person to change him. He really cares about her, you can see it in his eyes.'

'I don't sodding care about what you think you can see, because I know what I can see. You're hurting my sister and I will never forgive you.'

'I'll let them out Faith. We were going to this morning anyway. But I know Angel, and locking them up together was the only thing that was going to get them to talk about whatever the hell it was that kept them apart.'

'I know what kept them apart.' Spike looked at her questioningly, 'Darla told her that Angel was a player and she didn't want to get messed up in him. But now I'm not sure.'

'That bloody bitch!' Spike exclaimed, 'She wants Angel she was just trying to keep them apart, and now that they've most likely got it together I know exactly what she'll do next.' A plan seemed to be forming in his head.

'All right here's what I want you to do…'

Meanwhile downstairs Angel had just woken up to the unfamiliar feel of the tiny warm body curled up next to him. It wasn't exactly having someone next to him that was different it was the fact that he loved this person so much it was unbelievable even to himself. Gently kissing the top of Buffy's head he got out of bed as quietly as he could to go and make some breakfast for them. Sometime during the night someone had turned the power back on and although the stuff in the fridge was all still a bit icky, the things from the pantry were mostly fine. Half-way through the batch of pancakes he was making he was disturbed by the gorgeous form of Buffy standing in the doorway, in one of his red silk shirts, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

'Hi.' She told him. And then pulling him into a hug sighed contentedly.'Hey to you too.' He told her and they were busy sharing an early morning kiss when they were interrupted by a loud coughing from the hallway.

Tearing his gaze away from Buffy, Angel looked over to the noise to see Spike leaning nonchalantly in the doorway grinning slightly.

'Was I interrupting something? I came to let you go, but it seems you too might prefer it down here alone.'

'Shut up Spike.' Angel almost growled at him.

Spike just smirked. 'I did you guys a favour!' He tossed them the keys and turned to go, but paused and turned back. 'I want first dibs on the wedding cake though.' With that he left leaving a slightly stunned Buffy and Angel behind.

Epilogue -

While Darla was on the way to Angel's lawyer she was intercepted by the police, who had received an anonymous tip about a certain tax discrepancy. She was sentenced to pay a nice big fine, leaving her penniless and broken.

The Americans returned to America with Buffy and kept in close contact with their English friends.

A few months later Angel joined them he had convinced his lawyer to let him go on the grounds that he would be opening a new chain of restaurants in America. Of course, Eagle Eyed happened to go on the journey with him.

Penn and Dru finally got it together having figured that since everyone seemed to be using them, they may as well get used together.

Faith and Spike stayed together although they had seriously rough spots in their relationship basically every day.

And Buffy and Angel… had a lot of fun. Their relationship was great and are planning on getting married soon.

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