Buffy walked into her mother’s living room to find her younger sister Dawn watching a recorded episode of “Passions” with Spike.
Dawn lay on her stomach on the couch, casually eating popcorn out of the bowl Spike held on his lap. The peroxide blond vampire sat on the floor leaning back against the couch. As Buffy watched he dunked a piece of popcorn into the mug sitting on the floor next to him. Buffy gagged as Spike tossed the popcorn kernel, now dripping with blood, into his mouth.
“Spike you’re gross,” Buffy announced. “And why are you here? I thought your TV would be fixed by now.”
“The reception’s better here,” Spike replied absently never looking away from his soap opera. “’Sides blood tastes better if I heat it on a stove instead of in the microwave. I haven’t figured out how to get a stove into my crypt.”
“Shh!” Dawn hissed glaring at her sister.
Buffy rolled her eyes as she ran upstairs for the clean cloths she was certain she’d find in her closet. Since the start of the new school year she’d been dropping off her dirty clothes at home and miraculously they’d be clean in a few days, without the expenditure of numerous quarters.
A few months ago she might have been more disturbed at finding Spike in her home, but Giles’s advanced Slayer training had led to an unexpected discovery about the neutered vampire.
Ever since Buffy first came to Sunnydale Giles had insisted she learn to identify vampires by honing her Slayer senses, not her fashion sense. This year she had finally learned to do just that. Now she understood why Kendra had declared that Willie was “dirty”. At the time she’d just written it off as more of Kendra’s hit first ask question later attitude, now she knew better. With her newly trained senses she could feel the tarnish Willie’s life style had left on him.
Her Slayer sense wasn’t really like Spiderman’s Spidey-sense, it wasn’t always on, it required a certain state of mind to access. It was fun to practice during dull lectures, much better than doodling and with less potential for embarrassment than napping. Using her special senses her classmates gained a glittering rainbow feel to them. Buffy had never thought of colors as having a feel to them before, but they did, most people felt like a constantly shifting display of color. People like Willie, who consistently dealt in shady business gained a tarnished patina. Vampires at least the minions felt black, sometimes with a hungry, angry red flame caged in the blackness, but always predominately black. Vampires like Spike and Harmony still had their full range of colors. In Harmony the colors were still overwhelmed and caged by the blackness, but they were all there.
Which brought her to Spike. Buffy remembered Spike whining about Dru breaking-up with him because he “wasn’t demon enough for her”, when he came back to Sunnydale on his drunken pity-fest during her senior year but Buffy hadn’t thought much of it. Buffy had just thought Dru was being mean because she was mad about Spike teaming up with Buffy to stop Angel from ending the world. Now Buffy was having to admit that Dru might have meant the comment more literally, because Spike just didn’t look like a normal vampire.
In Spike the blackness was less a cage and more a lattice holding all the colors in place. He didn’t feel human, but he didn’t feel like a proper vampire either. Buffy was starting to theorize that the colors were a person’s soul and the blackness was were it was missing in vampires, but that meant that vampires didn’t loose there whole soul when they were changed, parts of it were left behind. It explained why the Judge had been able to burn some vampires but not others; there was probably some sort of critical soul mass that he needed to burn someone. When the gypsy curse had broken it had done a more complete job of removing Angel’s soul then being turned did, so the Judge couldn’t burn him, but it also meant he’d been psycho even by vamp standards. Spike had told her once that the Angelus she had fought was a completely different creature from the one he’d know before the curse and that he never wanted to see Angel’s curse broken again.
Spike’s revelation had given Buffy a whole new dislike for the gypsies and their breakable curse. Sure they hadn’t wanted Angel to be happy, they were trying to punish him, but turning him into an even worse monster than he’d been before they cursed him was just so stupid. It didn’t hurt Angelus any, just the world, their moronic clause had given the demon exactly what it wanted, and the demon was the one they should have been punishing, not Angel’s soul.
Of course the fact that Spike had a lot of his soul left didn’t seem to stop him from being evil, but lacking a nutcase of girlfriend to impress, he seemed to have lost interested in being the “Big Bad”. Thinking up devious plans certain ranked well below watching his soap opera in Spike’s book. Buffy could think of several ways Spike could get around the chip and still cause chaos, but ever since his unsuccessful alliance with Adam Spike had been in major suck-up mode. He’d even been going out slaying other vampires and demons on a regular basis… and making sure Buffy knew about his good deeds. All part of his not-being-staked-through-the-heart campaign.
Which was why Buffy didn’t mind having him in the house. Spike had decided that his best bet for survival lay in remaining on the Slayer’s good side. Buffy wondered if her mother would consider Spike an acceptable babysitter for Dawn. Plus it was tons of fun to tease Spike and enjoy his inability to retaliate.
Buffy checked in her closet for her clothes, she found a pile of dirty laundry. “Mom!” she yelled.
“I’m not a laundry service,” Joyce yelled back.
“But…”
“You can use the machine, but don’t just slip your stuff into the laundry basket and expect me to take care of it, you’re not a child anymore Buffy.”
“You did Spike’s laundry.”
“Because his clothes were filthy and I didn’t want him walking around the house naked. Do you realize he only has that one set of clothes? I’m thinking about taking him shopping,” Joyce explained.
“Spike, in different clothes?” Buffy giggled. “That could be sign of the apocalypse.”
“Hey Spike,” Buffy called. “What’s with your one outfit look? I thought that went out with the “Dukes of Hazard”. Even Dru the nutcase had three outfits. Buffy grinned as Spike’s aura flared predictably at the mention of Dru’s name.
“I like these clothes, besides the crypt doesn’t have closets,” Spike muttered.
“Yeah, most corpses aren’t up to changing clothes,” Dawn remarked.
“And apparently some of their more lively brethren can’t manage it either,” Buffy added. “Not unless someone’s mom points out that they need to.”
Spike just glared.
“Now my mom’s going to take you shopping, like a little kid.”
“I didn’t say I’d go,” Spike protested.
“Oh and you watch TV with my baby sister.”
“Hey,” Dawn protested as Spike said. “Watch it Missy, your Watcher likes this show.”
“Oh and lets not forget those little marshmallows that you need for your hot chocolate.”
“We were trying to watch the telly Slayer,” Spike snapped.
“Ooh the big bad… well formerly big bad vampire can’t take a little teasing.”
“You’re one to talk Slayer, at least I don’t sleep with a stuffed animal… I think I’ll tell the boys down at Willie’s about the pig… Course they won’t believe without proof.”
“You leave Mr. Gordo out of this,” Buffy warned.
“It has a name? This gets better and better,” Spike said with a grin. “I have to show this to the local demons.”
“You wouldn’t!”
“Try and stop me,” Spike challenged sprinting for the stairs. Buffy took off after him before the last of the popcorn hit the floor.
_____________________________________________________________________________
Cordelia dropped the files she was holding as Buffy stormed into the new offices of Angel Investigations.
“Where is he?” the Slayer demanded.
“Angel?” Cordelia asked.
“No, his moronic grandchild!”
“Who?”
“Spike! Where is Spike? I know he’s in LA, he left a ransom note!” Buffy shouted.
“Ransom note?” Cordelia asked in alarm. “Spike kidnapped someone? I thought he was on our side now!”
“He took Mr. Gordo!”
“Who?”
Angel walked out of his office a confused look on his face, “Buffy, why would Spike take your stuffed animal?”
“Because he’s a evil!”
“I thought Spike was helping you lately?” Angel asked.
Buffy shifted her weight uncomfortably. “He’s still evil.”
“And stealing stuffed animals seems a bit innocuous, given Spike’s history,” Angel continued.
“Huh?” Buffy and Cordelia asked.
Angel grimaced. “Harmless, stealing toys seems like a harmless prank, especially when you consider that we’re talking about a person who got his nickname by torturing a guy to death with a railroad spike.”
“He’s being an immature brat!” Buffy exclaimed. “He’s gonna show Mr. Gordo to all the demons he can find and none of them will take me seriously again!”
“Trust me, if they can take someone named Buffy seriously they can deal with the Slayer having a stuffed toy,” Cordelia commented.
“There is nothing wrong with my name,” Buffy hissed.
Cordelia repressed a snort of laughter.
“Okay, slow down,” Angel instructed. “Buffy why are you here?”
“I thought Spike might have come here.”
“To me?” Angel asked, confused. “The last time I saw Spike he tortured me, we’re not exactly on the best of terms.”
“You could find him, couldn’t you?” Buffy asked.
“So you can get your toy back?”
“After I stake him.”
“You’re not going to stake him over a toy,” Angel said.
“Why not, he’s evil.”
“He’s been helping you.”
“But…”
“Find him yourself Buffy, we have real work here and this is just ludicrous.”
“Angel please, I promise I won’t stake him,” Buffy pled, staring at her ex-boyfriend with wide hopeful eyes.
“Buffy…”
“Please, it would mean a lot to me.”
“Fine,” Angel conceded after a few moments. “This is insane, but I’ll help.”
_____________________________________________________________________________
“Willow, have you seen Buffy?” Riley asked.
“She didn’t tell you?” Willow squeaked.
“Didn’t tell me what?”
“She went to LA.”
“To LA? To Angel!” Riley demanded.
“She didn’t say Angel,” Willow said.
“What did she say?”
“That it was an emergency,” Willow said. “That was all.”
“I’m going after her,” Riley said.
“Wait, what if it were a family emergency?” Willow asked. “Her dad does live in LA too.”
“Her mother would have know if it were a family emergency,” Riley said darkly. “She went back to help him and she didn’t even bother to tell me.”
“I’m sure it’s not like that!” Willow yelled at Riley’s retreating back.
_____________________________________________________________________________
“So what do we do now?” Buffy asked.
“You sit,” Angel instructed. “Cordelia is going to go to a couple of the local demon hang-out, she’ll ask about Spike.”
“Why can’t I go? What are you going to do?” Buffy demanded petulantly.
“You’re not going because I might want to use these people as sources again, and your not being even vaguely rational about this,” Angel said.
“Well what are you going to do?”
“I’m going to be working on a real case. You shouldn’t come, it’s not a demon thing; if there’s any violence it’ll be guns. You could get hurt,” Angel explained.
“So I’m just supposed to sit here and wait?” Buffy asked.
“You could finish my filing for me,” Cordelia offered.
_____________________________________________________________________________
“Does something in your past haunt you my children? Won’t your ghosts stay in the grave?” LaCroix asked in his Nighcrawler persona. Since establishing himself in LA he’d purchased another radio station and renewed his Nightwatch program.
Wesley had quickly become a fan, shortly after that Angel had forbid Wesley from to listen to the program within his hearing. He still didn’t know what to make of the elder vampire and preferred not to think about him.
LaCroix made that difficult enough without Angel having to listen to his voice every night. The ancient stopped by at least once a week and Angel couldn’t exactly kick out the person who’d saved his life only a month ago, no matter how much Angel distrusted him.
“How does your past come to you my children? Does it fill your nightmares or is it more corporeal? Are your ghosts of flesh and blood? Reminders of what once was or what might have been? Tell me my children. Share the skeletons in your closet with your friend the Nightcrawler.”
_____________________________________________________________________________
“Well, one could say we struck it lucky,” Cordelia said.
“You found him?” Buffy asked.
“Not exactly, but he’s been showing your pig in half the demon bars in the city.”
Buffy groaned. “Oh God, this is awful.”
“No it’s not. All we have to do is stake out one of the places he hasn’t been to yet,” said Cordelia. “Spike’s sure to show sooner or later. Didn’t Angel say he was thorough?”
“I’m going to be the laughing stock of the demon world,” Buffy protested.
“Well Spike and Angel have both been in your shoes, and I’m sure you’ll handle it exactly like they did,” Cordelia offered.
“How’s that?”
“Kill a bunch of them, it seems to garner respect,” Cordelia said. “Did you know Angel can chase off whole packs of vampires by just mentioning that he’s Angelus? And from what I hear, Spike’s getting a worse rep since this whole chip thing. See he kills things when he’s in a bad mood and since the chip keeps him from killing humans he’s always in a bad mood, hence demon corpses tend to pile up in his vicinity.”
“Okay, I’m good at killing demons, that could work,” Buffy said. “But first where do you think Spike’ll show up next?”
“We should wait for Angel,” Cordelia objected.
“While we’re waiting, Spike’s out doing who knows… Riley?!” Buffy exclaimed. “Why are you here?”
“Riley stood in the doorway of Angel Investigation’s new office looking anxious and awkward. “You said it was an emergency, I thought I could help,” he said.
Cordelia looked Riley over critically. “So this is Riley, he looks… wholesome,” she commented.
“And you are?” Riley asked.
“Her ex’s best friend,” Cordelia answered.
“Riley, this is Cordelia Chase. Cordy, this is Riley Finn,” Buffy said hurriedly. “Cordy went to high school with the gang and I.”
“So you were part of the Scooby Gang?” Riley asked.
“You haven’t ditched that stupid name yet?” Cordelia asked Buffy.
“Yeah she was,” Buffy answered Riley. “In a round-about way, she and Xander used to date.”
“Please, just bring up my momentary insanity,” Cordelia exclaimed.
“Before Xander and Anya got together?” Riley asked.
“Xander’s still with demon-girl?” Cordelia asked incredulously.
“Anya’s a demon?” Riley asked.
“Ex-demon, it’s a long story,” Buffy answered. “And yes, they’re still together. So how about you Cordy, is there any up and coming movie star type on your social calendar?”
Buffy saw a flash of sadness before Cordelia dawned a bright false smile. “I don’t like to kiss and tell,” she said. “Unlike some people, or would that be kiss and show, and everyone says I’m the tactless one.”
“I didn’t bring him here,” Buffy protested.
“You don’t want me here?” Riley said.
“It’s not like that,” Buffy objected. “It’s just… awkward.”
“Well duh,” Cordelia said.
“What is it like? You come running at his beck and call. You don’t even tell me you’re leaving…”
“What do you mean she comes…” Cordelia began only to be silenced by a quick jab from Buffy’s elbow.
“I didn’t want you to get up-set,” Buffy said.
“How am I supposed to feel with you here?” Riley demanded.
“You’re supposed to trust me,” Buffy snapped. “Remember?”
Riley glanced at Cordelia’s rapt expression then said. “Look, I don’t want to get into this here. Where are you staying? We can talk there.”
Buffy stared at her feet. “I’m staying here,” she mumbled.
“What!?” Riley yelled.
“It’s a hotel building, there were lots of empty rooms,” Buffy defended herself.
“Then I’m staying too,” Riley said.
“We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone,” Cordelia said, smiling.
“Cordelia!” Buffy hissed.
“What! Even you admit he doesn’t belong here. Send him home, we deal with your problem, then you go home and our lives go back to normal. Hopefully without Angel getting all depressed like he did every other time you visited.”
“Why are you being so hostile?” Riley asked.
“What part of ‘I’m Angel’s friend’ didn’t you understand?” Cordelia snapped.
“He broke up with Buffy,” Riley protested.
“And if you think that means he does still love her you’re even dumber than you look, which I didn’t think was possible.”
“Hey!” Buffy and Riley both exclaimed.
“Look, Angel still thinks she walks on water, so even if you were Brad Pitt, I wouldn’t like you, althought I might consider faking it if you were,” Cordelia stated.
“Alright,” Riley sighed. “I won’t expect even basic good manners from you, happy? Buffy I’ll go find someplace else to stay. I’ll reserve a room for you as well, at least think about using it.”
“Sure,” Buffy said absently, still staring at Cordelia.
“So you’re leaving now,” Cordelia said escorting Riley through the door. “Good. Oops, that’s supposed to be goodbye. Don’t come again.”
_____________________________________________________________________________
Buffy quickly packed her bag, her thoughts racing a mile a minute after Cordelia’s confrontation with Riley.
Angel stopped in the doorway of her room. “You’re leaving?” he asked.
“Riley followed me, things are bad enough between us without me staying here,” Buffy replied.
“What happened?”
Buffy gave a small sad laugh. “Not enough, he thinks I don’t love him. We’re trying to work things out.”
“Do you love him?”
“Maybe, I thought I did. He’s what everyone wanted for me, even you. Riley’s nice. He’s normal but not so normal that he can’t handle my world. I can introduce him to my parents without them freaking. He tans well. That’s what you wanted for me remember? According to everyone we’re the perfect cute couple, like Willow and Oz used to be. You heard how that turned out haven’t you? Riley fits all the requirements for being the prefect Buffy-boyfriend.” Buffy sighed, “Do I love him though, that’s harder, and hardly your business. We’re ex’s remember. Riley and I aren’t that, not yet anyway. Do you want me asking what’s with you and Queen C? The two of you seem pretty tight theses days. She seems to know you better than I ever did. Why can you be with her but not me?”
“I’m not ‘with her’,” Angel said. “There are times I don’t know what I’d have done without her, and I love her, but I’m not in love with her. Don’t worry Buffy, you’re still the only one.”
“Angel… I didn’t mean it like that.”
“Then why did you ask?”
“I shouldn’t have. She just seemed so sure of what you think, how you feel. I never felt that sure, not even when we were together,” Buffy said. “Let’s just forget I ever asked. We aren’t together; it’s not my place. But Angel, Riley and I aren’t broken beyond repair yet, and maybe I do love him. I can’t tell him I came here because of Mr. Gordo; he’d never believe it. He assumed you called me because of some emergency, could we please keep it that way?” Buffy asked.
“You can’t tell him the truth?”
“Not right now.”
“If this is what you really want Buffy,” Angel said. “I’ll play it any way you want.”
“Do you have any big prophecies pending?”
_____________________________________________________________________________
“Angel this is really quite ludicrous,” Wesley announced.
“I know that,” Angel replied.
“We’ve taken turns staking out this bar for days, and all we’ve found are rumors of Spike at other locales.”
“We have.”
“Meanwhile we’re all looking for some major catastrophe which might truly justify Buffy’s “emergency in LA” message to the detriment of our legitimate business.”
“You’re not wrong.”
“One has to wonder why we’re doing this.”
“Because Buffy asked me to.”
“Angel, that’s not a reason.”
“It’s close enough.”
“It’s unfortunate that you can’t simply whammie Riley into believing there was a crisis,” Wesley said.
“I don’t want to do that,” Angel snapped. “It’s too dangerous. Besides I just don’t like the idea of playing around with people’s minds, it seems… evil.”
“It’s a tool Angel, not evil unless you use it for evil,” Wesley argued.
“Did LaCroix brainwash you into believing that?” Angel asked. “You don’t think it’s wrong to rearrange Riley’s mind because it would save us a little trouble?”
“We’re already lying to him, I fail to see the difference.”
“Then you aren’t looking hard enough,” Angel said. “At the moment I’m not taking away his free will.”
“Alright Angel, perhaps this isn’t an occasion which calls for that. I still wish you’d learn to use that ability. If you’d had it when Detective Lockley and her cohort tortured you, you could have persuaded them to release you,” Wesley said.
“And if I loose my soul again? Do you really want me to have the ability to rearrange people’s minds at will?”
“And maybe you should cripple yourself because you would be a lesser threat on the off chance that the curse breaks. Of course that would severely limit your ability to help people now.”
“Let it go Wesley,” Angel said. “I’m not learning that’s final. Go help Buffy keep Riley amused. I’ll watch for Spike.”
_____________________________________________________________________________
“Spike, I hear you’ve been following in your Sire’s footsteps, wearing the Slayer’s leash and all,” A horned demon laughed, as he saw the bleached blond vampire heading for the bar.
“Well, I got tired of hunting humans, not enough challenge anymore. After you’ve got two Slayers to your name it gets old hat you know,” Spike replied.
“And you’re not just scared of this current one?”
“How many Slayers have you killed? And I’m not afraid of any Slayer who sleeps with a stuffed animal,” Spike said.
“How could you know what she sleeps with unless you really are following Angelus’ example?”
“Angelus is a wanker, but I can’t fault his taste in women,” Spike said, grinning. “Have you seen the current Slayer Mate? And if you don’t believe me about her little friend, well I’ve got a hostage with me tonight.” So saying, Spike drew a well-loved plush pig from a bag at his side. “Isn’t it cute?”
“Spike if you’ve got the Slayer wrapped around your…” The other demon fell silent, noticing someone standing in the shadows of the bar they’d just entered.
“Let’s just say she’s been less than accommodating …” Spikes’ voice choked off as a hand clamped around his throat. He suddenly found himself dangling several inches off the floor.
“I think everyone’s tired of your stories,” Angel growled.
Spike kicked wildly, trying to wriggle free of Angel’s hold. Angel’s eyes burned golden for a second, then he dropped Spike clutching the back of a chair to keep his balance as the room spun out of focus. Spike got up from the floor, frowning in confusion. “What’s a matter with you?” He asked.
Angel focused on his errant descendant’s voice and threw off the last of his disorientation. He snatched Mr. Gordo from the other vampire and turned to stalk off. At the door he turned and glared back at Spike. “She was going to stake you, you know. Don’t you think that’s carrying a joke a little too far?”
“Give her the lecture, not me,” Spike sulked.
_____________________________________________________________________________
“I found something!” Wesley exclaimed.
“Yes!” Cordelia exclaimed. “I can’t believe this, Buffy is such a bad influence, I’m cheering about finding trouble, non-paying trouble even.”
“Oh… no, this won’t work,” Wesley continued. “The caprace demon won’t rise for another century.”
_____________________________________________________________________________
Buffy… and Riley,” Angel said. “Buffy you forgot this.”
Buffy took Mr. Gordo, “Oh… um, Angel thanks. Dawn will really appreciate getting this back.” She looked at Riley then added. “Dawn left it at Dad’s last time she was down.”
“Buffy, I ran into a mutual acquaintance of ours. He’s headed back to Sunnydale, might pay you a visit. I know you’re upset with him, but he’s promised better behavior from now on… if you quit teasing him,” Angel said.
Buffy slowly turned a dark shade of red. “Maybe I was a bit out of line.”
“It’s not easy for him Buffy. This goes against everything he’s learned for a long, long time,” Angel said. “He sees this as the only way to survive, and he is helping you. You might try cutting him a little slack, or at least not rubbing his nose in how much he’s had to change.”
“Who? What’s he talking about Buffy?” Riley demanded.
“You remember Spike?” Buffy asked.
“Hostile 17? You still haven’t gotten rid of him,” Riley accused.
“His name is Spike,” Angel said. “He’s not an experiment.”
“Whatever, he’s a vampire. I thought you guys had an emergency?” Riley asked angrily.
Angel glanced at Buffy; she smiled back hopefully, pleadingly. “It hasn’t materialized quite as quickly as we anticipated,” he said without enthusiasm. “Cordelia and Wesley are checking into the whys.”
“Don’t you think maybe you jumped the gun a little in calling Buffy? She has a life of her own you know,” Riley accused.
“Riley, in theses cases it’s better to be safe than sorry,” Buffy said.
“Right,” Riley snapped.
“Look, I’d better check on Wesley and Cordelia, I’ll just be going.” Angel said as he turned and walked out of the hotel room.
“He shouldn’t have called you,” Riley said to Buffy once Angel had left.
“Come on Riley, it was business, world in peril stuff. Angel didn’t do anything wrong,” Buffy objected.
“Open your eyes Buffy. Nothing happened, nothing is going to happen. Angel just wanted you here, with him.”
“You don’t have the right to say that,” Buffy snapped. “You don’t know the first thing about Angel.”
“I know he still loves you, his ‘best friend’ said as much. I know you let him further into your heart than you’ve ever let me.”
Buffy bit her lip. “It’s not like that. Angel’s in my past and he’s going to stay there. Neither of us wants a repeat of last time. In high school I thought we could work around the curse, but Angel’s right, Spike’s right; we’d destroy each other. But we’re in the same business; we can’t exactly cut all ties. This is why I didn’t want to get involved with you Mr. Initiative Soldier, for fear we’d have a messy, painful break-up but still have to work together in a crisis. You know there’s a reason why office romances are a bad idea.”
“That would all be great… if there had been a crisis. There wasn’t Buffy. How can you move on if he keeps calling you back?” Riley asked.
“Drop it Riley, please. Angel wouldn’t call me if he didn’t think he had a good reason. Maybe he didn’t need me this time, everyone makes mistakes, but I know Angel, he didn’t have any ulterior motives, case closed.”
_____________________________________________________________________________
“What are we going to tell him?” Angel asked.
“There’s always the novel concept of telling the truth,” Wesley replied.
“I promised Buffy I wouldn’t,” Angel said. “That goes for you two as well.”
“So she won’t have relationship issues with Mr. Personality?” Cordelia asked skeptically. “I’d think you’d be happy that they’re not working out. Why don’t you tell Buffy about the prophecy, about you becoming human? I’ll bet she drops him like a hot potato.”
“I told her to move on, how can I take that back now? Besides, she shouldn’t waste time waiting for me.”
“Well, whatever you’re going to tell Riley, you’d better decide quick,” Cordelia said staring out the window. “’Cause he’s coming.”
Both Angel and Wesley stepped back as Riley barged through the door; Cordelia stepped forward to confront him.
Riley sidestepped Cordelia in order to march up to Angel. “I know what you’re doing,” he accused.
“Trying to run a business?” Cordelia asked hurrying to impose herself between Angel and Riley again.
“Cordelia,” Angel said softly as he gently nudged her to one side.
“You’re trying to take her back,” Riley continued obliviously. “You gave her up. Buffy’s my girlfriend. I’m better for her than you. You can’t have her back.”
“She’s not a possession,” Angel said mildly. “She makes her own choices.”
“You’re the one trying to make choices for her, not me,” Riley said. “You’re the one spinning her head. First you dump her, then you tell her you still love her. You keep popping back into her life every time she starts to figure out what she really needs, then you duck out again. You keep her in constant turmoil. Buffy trusts you, she can’t see what you do to her, but I do. I won’t let you wreck her life anymore than you already have. If I have to kill you to get you out of her life I will.”
“Mr. Finn, I believe you’re operating under a false perception,” Wesley said. “I was the one who called Buffy. I found a prophecy about a carpace demon rising in downtown LA; I believed that the Slayer’s presence would be vital in preventing civilian casualties. It was only a few moments ago that I became aware that I had miscalculated the date of this event. We were just about to call Buffy and let her know about this mix-up. You really shouldn’t blame Angel for what happened. It was my mistake.”
“The last thing I’d ever want to do is hurt Buffy,” Angel said. “Riley I’m doing my best to deal with this relationship so as to minimize her pain, but I will always be there for her if she needs me. I know this is awkward, and maybe I’ve made mistakes, I’m not good with people, but don’t ever think I’m trying to hurt her.”
“Trying or not you do,” Riley said glaring at all three of them before turning to leave.
_____________________________________________________________________________
“Tragic love, it makes for excellent fiction,” LaCroix said asperically “But what is it to live it? Romeo and Juliet lie moldering in the grave. Princes claim their unattainable maidens but did they truly live ‘happily ever after’ or is that just a convention of the storytellers.”
“Tonight’s callers have been sorely lacking in happy endings. Take heed gentle listeners, forbidden love is forbidden for a reason. Listen to those who have been there my children. Listen to your elders whose eyes are not blinded by love.”
“The path you walk is strewn with shards of broken glass and the prize you seek is a poisoned apple.”
“Take joy in what you may have and ignore the lure of the impossible dream, it will only bring you pain.”
_____________________________________________________________________________
“So you saw Angel?” Willow asked her tone making clear that by saw she was referring to Buffy’s Slayer-sense, not the conventional saw.
“I almost didn’t check,” Buffy replied. “I don’t know what to think, his aura’s all weird. I think the blackness in vampire’s must be the actual demon, cause Angel’s got it too, but it looks like something’s trying to pull it out of him.”
“That would be good right?” Willow asked. “No more Angelus.”
“It looks painful,” Buffy replied. “It’s part of him and his soul’s getting all ripped up in the process. I think something’s wrong. I’m going to ask Giles to start talking to Wesley to keep tabs on him. If Angel’s being hurt some way, I need to know about it. I’ll fix it.”
“What about Riley, he won’t like this,” Willow said. “Remember what you told me about making sure Oz knew he came first? I think you need to do that for Riley. Angel can take care of himself plus he’s got Wesley and Cordelia looking out for him. He doesn’t need you and you’ll really hurt Riley.”
Buffy looked down at her hands. “I can’t not look out for Angel. I’d like to put Riley first, but Angel is Angel, he’ll always be the one I love,” she said. “I’m not honest with Riley. I want to love him, but it isn’t the same. Five minutes with Angel and I can’t pretend something’s not missing in Riley and I’s relationship. How do I get in these messes Willow?”
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