A single hazy blue eye opened in response to the strident ringing of Angel's cell phone. Wil promised himself, not for the first time, that he was going to change the ring to anything besides 'The William Tell Overture.' Angel had absolutely no taste. Wil's open eye saw Angel's hand creep out from under the bedcovers toward the phone.

"Don't you dare answer that," Wil growled.

"It's probably important," Angel said groggily, reaching for the phone. Wil shot his hand out and grabbed it before Angel could.

"Remember what happened the last time you answered the phone? We won a no-expenses paid trip down painful memories lane," Wil spat, covering the phone up so that the ring was muffled. Shouldn't the phone have stopped ringing by now? After a moment, he realized that it was stopping-but that whoever was calling was just hitting redial very quickly.

Angel sat up and reached for the phone. "As I recall, you told me to answer that phone call. Now give me the phone."

Wil sat up as well, but didn't hand over the offending item. Instead, he answered it himself. "Hello. No, His Dark Broodiness is not available. He is currently with his therapist. May I take a message?" Angel winced as he heard shouted expletives coming through the phone. "Oh, Gunn. How's Sunnydale?" Wil asked lightly, holding the earpiece of the phone away from his head.

Angel got out of bed and pulled on some clothes. He gestured to Wil, who waved him off. Wil had been the one to decide to send Gunn and Fred to Sunnydale, so he should be the one to deal with the aftermath. It didn't matter to Angel that he would have done the same thing. If you take authority upon yourself, you get the responsibilities too.

Wil turned his attention to the phone call once Angel was gone. "Gunn, I know you aren't happy about this. But seriously, how is Sunnydale?"

"How's Sunnydale? Let's just say 'Hellmouth' is a compliment for this place. Tell me again how you and Angel stood it here for so long? Masochism?" Gunn spat over the phone.

Wil winced at the loud voice, holding the phone several inches from his sensitive ear. "It grows on you."

"Like jock itch?" Gunn replied. "And you're going to pay big time for not telling us about Slayerbitch."

Wil grimaced. It sounded like Buffy had made quite a first impression. "She's going through a lot right now"

"Yeah, and she's about to go through a lot more, like a plate glass window. You know what she said when we got here? She told us that 'she didn't need a couple of Angel's second-rate lackeys hanging around and getting in her way.' Then she told me and Fred to go help Dawn clean the living room up," Gunn shouted. "I did not leave Delia in L.A. and drive my ass up here to play domestic for some stuck up, self-absorbed cheerleader!"

"Why would you? You can do that here," Wil muttered away from the phone.

"What did you say? Never mind. Look, the little girl doesn't want our help, even though she needs it. The redhead still won't do much but cry and Rupert's already making noises about leaving. What is it you want us to do here?" Gunn asked.

Wil sighed. "Help Buffy. Train Dawn, especially Fred. Make sure Willow's on the road to recovery."

The outburst from Gunn was so loud that Wil set the phone down on the bed. After a moment, he realized that the man wasn't going to shut up any time soon, so he dragged himself out of bed and went to the bathroom. He could still hear the phone when he turned the water on, so Wil climbed into the shower. He shivered a little when he saw the shower massager, but tried to ignore it in favor of keeping up with Gunn's phone conversation, one-sided as it was.

Once he was bathed, Wil went back into the bedroom to pick out something to wear. He'd promised to take Cordelia and Wesley out tonight, to apologize for sending their partners away. At least he had a few things in the closet here, so he didn't have to leave to go to his own place. He was about halfway dressed, and Gunn was partway through his second diatribe on Buffy's pretentiousness, when Angel returned bearing two large, steaming mugs. Wil took one gratefully, sipping at what turned out to be a nice blend of fresh cow, human and sheep's blood. "Very good," He said as a compliment.

Angel nodded. "Gunn still?" He mouthed. Wil rolled his eyes. Angel started listening in on the conversation while Wil peered through the closet. He pulled out a charcoal gray shirt, but Angel shook his head. "Too dark."

Wil faked shock. "Angel says 'too dark?'" He mouthed. He hung the shirt up and pulled out a camel sweater. "Better?" Angel nodded, so Wil set the sweater aside and chose a cream turtleneck to wear under it. It was nice being a vampire; heat didn't bother him so he could wear layers even in the summer.

While Wil finished dressing, Angel retrieved a pair of the blonde's dress shoes and began to polish them, all the while listening to Gunn go off about Buffy. Meanwhile, Wil fixed his hair and finished off his blood. Once he'd brushed his teeth and gargled, the blonde put on his freshly polished shoes and picked up the phone.

"Why don't you invite her to go to the Bronze? It should relax her; get her mind off Willow and slaying for a little while. She's much nicer when she doesn't feel like the world is out to get her," Wil said. "Fred might want to take Dawn to a movie. There's a new comic-book flick out that she should love, and teenage girls are good at bonding over popcorn. I'd love to chat, but I have an appointment that is in my best interests not to miss." Wil ended the phone call and tossed the phone back on Angel's night stand.

"Well?" Angel asked as he followed Wil down the stairs. Cordelia and Wesley were waiting in the lobby, looking as well made-up as Wil was.

"They're getting along famously," Wil said as he escorted the seer out the door.

���...�...�...�...���

"What did Wil say?" Fred asked when Gunn hung up the phone. She was sitting across from him on the second of two beds that dominated the seedy hotel room they'd acquired in Sunnydale. Finding out that Angel's old place had neither electricity nor water had made the ruined mansion unusable, so they were relegated to the Hellmouth's finest roach motel.

Gunn flopped back on the bed, staring at the stained ceiling. "Go clubbing with the Slayer and take her sister to a movie."

"What?!?" Fred yelped. It was one of the few times Gunn could remember hearing her yell. "How is that supposed to solve anything?"

Gunn shrugged. "I have no idea, Fred. There aren't enough clubs on the west coast to mellow out the Slayer and her sister doesn't need any more candy. The kid's hyper enough as it is."

"That vampire is going to pay when we get back," Fred vowed. She didn't mind coming up here to help out, but she wasn't going to tolerate being treated like garbage. Buffy had no right to question their abilities-look at the messes the oh-so-important Slayer kept getting herself into!

"Wanna grab a bite before hitting the cemeteries?" Gunn asked as he got up off the bed.

"Sure, why not?"

���...�...�...�...���

Angel paced back and forth in his apartment, bored out of his mind. Wil was off gallivanting with Cordy and Wes, to make up not only for sending Gunn and Fred off, but for being so loud the night before that the other investigators had felt it necessary to get hotel rooms elsewhere. Angel was still wincing at the cost of those rooms. Cordelia would pick the nicest place she could find.

Xander and Oz were also gone, to wherever it was they went to in Oz's van every couple of days. Angel knew it had something to do with sex, but he didn't know where they went. As long as they had a phone with them, he didn't care-and he was grateful they left. Yes, he and Wil could get noisy occasionally, as did the others. But Xander was a bit much.

So Angel was alone, there was nothing to do in terms of work since they'd hit a lull, and no one was around to play with him. Of course, he could always go downstairs to Caritas, where Lorne was sure to have something at least mildly interesting going on. Giving up on entertaining himself, Angel went back downstairs.

Sure enough, Caritas was packed with its usual, mostly demonic clientele. The green seer was playing the gracious host, wincing through atrocious renditions of the Pointer Sisters, and generally being a great guy. Angel ordered a whiskey and found a stool near the end of the bar.

It was more than an hour before Lorne worked his way back to the vampire. "Bored, hmm?"

Angel jerked up from where he'd been staring at his half-consumed drink. "Yeah, a little."

"Blondie leave you here by your lonesome?"

Angel snorted. "He promised Cordelia a bunch of stuff so that Gunn could go help Buffy."

Lorne laughed. "I'm sure it was a lot, then. You know, it's generally not done to convince people to help out your exes, especially when they don't like them."

"It's Buffy, Lorne," Angel said warningly. "She's the Slayer. Do you really want us moving up there when she gets herself killed?"

Lorne backed off immediately. "Nope, I'm liking you right here. By the way, don't think you're getting out of singing. I've been keeping track, and you're behind the others upstairs-by almost three songs. That's not a good example for the boss to set."

"Wesley's the boss," Angel whined.

Lorne rolled his eyes. "Yeah, right. You know what I mean, and you'll sing before I close in the morning."

Angel knew he'd have to sing, but he was going to put it off as long as he could. Right now there were just too many people in the room for him to get up there and humiliate himself with his voice.unless he drank a lot more whiskey than he'd had so far.

Hours later, the place was shutting down, the sun was beginning to rise, and Angel still hadn't sung. He'd been holding out to see if Wil came home, so that he could sneak out unnoticed. It wasn't to be, though, because Lorne gave him a glare and pointed at the stage. "Sing or else, lover boy."

Angel grimaced but went to the stage. The quicker he got this over with the quicker he could go warm up some blood and go to bed. Maybe Wil would show up before he was too deeply asleep to appreciate it. Lorne had already programmed in a song, so Angel just hit play. Of course it would be Manilow, since Lorne knew he actually knew the words to the man's work and wouldn't bungle them too badly.

"Her name is Lola, she was a showgirl."4

���...�...�...�...���

Wil crept up the stairs as quietly as he could, hoping not to wake Angel, wherever he was sleeping. What had begun as a simple dinner date with Cordelia and Wesley had turned into an extended evening of clubbing, barhopping and other sorts of revelry. By the time they'd finished, it was daylight and Cordelia had had to hold a blanket over Wil to get him into the hotel. Now they were trudging up to their rooms, exhausted and woozy. Well, Cordelia and Wes were woozy. Wil hadn't had anything to drink. The evening out had been fun, but he had missed Angel's company.

He figured that Angel had stayed in his room again as they had last night, so he headed for his own quarters. He didn't want to disturb the vampire's sleep at this time of day. So when he found Angel in his own bed, curled up under the covers, he was understandably surprised. He paused in the middle of toeing off his shoes and pulling off his sweater to look at the innocent-looking vampire sleeping there. When the world wasn't pressing down on him, Angel looked heartbreakingly young.

Wil shucked off the rest of his clothes and crawled into bed on his side, careful not to bump into Angel. The dark vampire probably wouldn't even wake up. That notion was disabused when Angel reached over and pulled Wil to him, turning so that they were wrapped around each other. Wil buried his head in Angel's shoulder and sighed. "Long night?" Angel asked.

"I'm getting too old for that kind of thing," Wil replied. Angel laughed.

"Nah. I missed you."

Wil rubbed his nose against Angel's collarbone. "Missed you too. Cordelia dances too fast."

Angel rubbed a hand down Wil's spine, resting on the small of his back. "Don't dance with her, then."

Wil snorted. "Have you ever tried turning Cordelia Chase down in a dance club?"

"Yes. It wasn't pretty," Angel replied. "I think I lost, too."

"Of course you lost. It's Cordelia," Wil said. "Sorry I woke you up."

"I wasn't asleep yet," Angel lied. He had been asleep, but he'd been waiting up for Wil before succumbing. "Besides, this is nice," He said, yawning.

Wil murmured his agreement. "Yeah."

4 Copacabana Barry Manilow

*****
Part 35:

Gunn watched in disgust as Buffy stormed out of the Magic Box once again, off to wherever she went to dust vampires. This was the fourth time in the past week that she'd gone off in a huff, dropping everything to be the Slayer. At first it had simply annoyed him; now he was truly pissed.

"She'll be back. She always is," Anya said from behind the counter. The ex-demoness had shown back up just after Angel and Wil had left. Willow had been hard on her, so after Giles showed up and the situation had been diffused, Anya had left town for a few days. She'd returned, though, because Giles wanted to go back to England.

"Right. And while she's off playing Joan of Arc, we've got catatonic girl over there, drooling in her cheerios," Gunn snapped, looking over at Willow. Anya frowned. Willow wasn't actually drooling; her nose was running incessantly.

"Dawn, where are you? Willow needs to be wiped up!" Anya called. A few moments later, a panting and sweaty Dawn appeared out of the training room.

"What?" Dawn said, gasping for air.

Anya pointed at Willow. "She's got snot all over her face again. It's going to run off paying customers." Dawn rolled her eyes and padded over to the witch, picking up a box of Kleenex on the way. Willow didn't respond as the girl cleaned her up, but then again Dawn didn't expect her to. She hadn't so much as made eye contact with anyone ever since her brief breakdown in Buffy's kitchen when Xander had been there.

Fred came in from the training room as Dawn was finishing up. "That's all for today, Dawn. Don't forget your homework, though," Fred said, holding up Dawn's backpack. Dawn grinned and took the bag, slinging it over one shoulder.

"So where's Buffy? She was supposed to take me home," Dawn said, looking around.

"Gunn made her mad again, so she went off to commit genocide," Anya replied, closing out the register.

Gunn rolled his eyes. "Come on, I'll drive you home. We'll be back in a few, An."

After Gunn and Dawn had left with Willow in tow, Fred went over to talk to Anya. "What happened?"

Anya sighed. "Buffy's doing better, she really is. Gunn just doesn't see it. After all, he is one of Angel's people, and that's not sitting well with Buffy right now. He shouldn't have told her that Spike and Angel can have orgasms together. That just made her mad." Fred winced, remembering that scene with particular clarity.

~~~~~

Buffy snorted. "Why don't you just go back to L.A.? We don't need you here!"

"You don't? An hour ago when there were twenty vamps breathing down your throat you did," Gunn replied, leaning up against the counter.

"Only because you let them know I was there. Ever hear of subtlety?"

Gunn laughed. "Not from you, Miss 'Come on, gimme your best shot'. Damn, girl, can't you say something less stupid?"

Buffy rolled her eyes. "As if you're any better, Mr. 'I'm so gonna dust you,'" Buffy said in reply. Gunn ignored the jab to move on to more substantive topics.

"Face it, Slayer, you need our help. You're not getting the job done. You promised Wil and Angel that you'd take care of getting Willow better, training Dawn and protecting Sunnydale. As far as I can see, you're going precisely half of one of those, and it isn't the one they were really worried about," Gunn said.

"You have no idea what you're talking about. Dawn is doing fine, Willow is as good as anybody can expect her to be, and Sunnydale is always my first priority!" Buffy spat.

Gunn nodded. "Exactly what I mean. Dawn isn't 'fine.' She doesn't know enough about slaying and you aren't helping her. Willow could be a lot better. Trust me, I know what it's like to lose somebody-and so do you. And as for Sunnydale, that was the one they weren't very worried about."

"Why are you so concerned with Angel and Wil? They aren't here and this isn't their turf. Just go back, like I asked-and take nerd girl with you," Buffy retorted.

"I'm concerned with them because they're my friends and they asked me to come up here, though gods only know why. What did they even see in you? I certainly don't see anything to attract them, and they're certainly happy enough with each other. You're right. I should ask them why they're so concerned with keeping you safe," Gunn jabbed.

Buffy's eyes narrowed. "Leave them out of this. If a couple of old friends want to team up to work on my side, fine. If they want to send me help, even better. But if you're going to help, then help slay and stay out of my life! Dawn and Willow aren't your responsibility. Just dust vampires and go home."

Gunn choked back a laugh. He'd figured that she'd convinced herself that Wil and Angel weren't just friends, and he'd been holding back that piece of information for just this kind of situation. He figured it would do her good to get the stuffing knocked out of her, to learn that even when they could come back to her, Angel and Wil had chosen each other-former mortal enemies-over her. "Oh, they're friends all right, real close and all. You do know they're together, right?"

"Yeah, they said so. What do I care if they say that? It's not like it matters to me," Buffy said truthfully. It didn't matter to her. After all, they were a couple of pieces of her past, two ensouled and celibate vampires she might have cared for once.

"No, I mean together, as in doing the nasty together," Gunn said with great satisfaction.

"Yeah, right. Hello, curse? Besides, Angel's not gay," Buffy replied, smirking.

Gunn grinned widely. "Hello, magic?" He said in a fair imitation of Buffy. "Curse is gone, girl, like a million miles away. And as for Angel, he may not be gay, but he sure seems to like whatever Wil does to him, if the screams are any indication."

Buffy stared at Gunn for a long minute. There was no way.there was absolutely no way the curse was gone! Angel would've come back. "You're lying."

Gunn shrugged and gestured to Fred. "Ask her. She helped figure out how to do the spell-and the one that took Wil's chip out."

"Spike's chipless?!!!" Buffy screamed. "You dechipped him?"

Gunn nodded enthusiastically. "Oh, yeah! He was a liability, not being able to protect himself and all. Besides, by that point he and Angel were pretty tight, so he wasn't going to do anything to mess that up. They're so perfect together. It almost makes you want to gag, it's so sweet."

Buffy gnashed her teeth and stormed out of the Magic Box, picking up a stake along the way.

~~~~~

"Yeah, that was probably a mistake," Fred said. She'd enjoyed it at the time, since Buffy had been so intractable. However the action hadn't had its intended effect. Instead of blowing up and falling down, Buffy just kept on patrolling, leaving Dawn in Fred's care, and Willow in Dawn's. That was why, two days later, Dawn was getting trained by Fred and Willow was spending her days in the Magic Box.

"I wish Giles were still here. He could deal with this and make it go away," Anya said. She was tired of her shop being center stage for all the melodrama that followed the Slayer around. Why couldn't she have a nice, quiet, normal business day? One without all the storming, posing and shouting? It would also be nice if Willow would stop exuding bodily fluids all over the place.

Fred shook her head. "That's why he left, both times. She needs to learn this herself. If Wil hadn't called us, we wouldn't be her either. Actually, I think we would have left already if it weren't for Dawn." She thought a moment about something Anya had said earlier. "Do you have any suggestions for how to talk to Buffy? Cause whatever we're trying isn't working."

Anya thought a moment. "She doesn't respond well to threats, and that's what Gunn's doing. I don't think she'll ever even listen to you, because you remind her too much of Wesley. That may be a problem with Gunn as well-she remembers Cordelia and what she was like, and assumes Gunn will be like that too."

"Oh. That could be a problem," Fred replied softly. She knew that Buffy didn't like Wesley, but she had no idea that she would still have problems with him now. From what she knew, the Wesley she'd fallen for was very different from the one that had come to Sunnydale to take over Giles' work.

���...�...�...�...���

"Woah!" Gunn yelled as Dawn stepped back too fast and almost tripped. They were carrying Willow inside, since the witch had not started walking on her own this time. Sometimes she would go where they wanted, and sometimes she just froze. Unfortunately this was one of the 'not moving' moments.

Dawn righted herself and stepped into the house, cradling Willow's legs. "Almost in," She said, directing them into the living room. Once there, they dumped Willow onto the couch and propped her up. "She's heavier than she looks."

Gunn turned from where he was closing the door. "Yeah, they always are after a few minutes of lugging them around. What do you have to feed her tonight?"

Dawn grimaced. "Willow baby-food. Carrots, green beans and chicken puree."

Gunn made similarly disgusted faces. "Man, that makes me want to never have kids. Well, the sooner we get started."

"The sooner I can beat you at football!" Dawn finished. She and Gunn had set up a nightly Playstation battle, and she was seriously kicking ass. He cried foul, since he never went down to use Xander's in L.A., but she just waved him off. He was big vampire-hunter guy, so he could learn to use a silly little controller, right?

They'd been playing games for about an hour, with Willow sort of watching, when Dawn took a moment's rest to ask Gunn about something that had been bugging her. "So Angel and Wil really are together-together?"

Gunn nodded. Dawn hadn't actually been in the shop with him, Buffy, Fred and Anya, but he was sure that Buffy had let something slip. "Yeah, for a long time now, really."

"Are they happy?"

"Very. You don't see people that can hang on to each other like that very often. Even when they're fighting, they're still together," Gunn replied, thinking of the rough spots they'd been through.

"That's good. Buffy'll come around, but you've got to give her some time. Angel was her big love, and Riley just left her again, and she still thinks of Wil as Spike," Dawn said.

Gunn sighed. "I know, but she needs to shape up fast, 'cause we can't stay here forever."

���...�...�...�...���

Buffy stalked through Restfield, looking for something to kill. She didn't like being this way, out on the hunt for no other reason than catharsis. Slayers slayed to protect people, not to vent their spleens, but it was the only way she had right now to let it all out. Unfortunately the vampires weren't doing their part, so she had nothing to stake or maul.

She knew what Gunn was trying to do, and she didn't like it. She knew how to take care of her sister and her best friend-and she didn't need the advice of one of Angel's little flunkies. He and that female version of Wesley needed to drive back to L.A. and play at Angel's feet, instead of pissing in her garden.

Thinking of Angel just made her mood worse. Oh, she was sure that Gunn had told her about them a few days ago just to get a rise out of her, and it had worked. When they'd told her they were together when they'd been here, it hadn't sunk in. Afterwards, she chalked it up to a professional relationship, since Angel still had the curse.

But due to some crafty magic, Angel was curse free, and not in her bed. She knew that they'd called it quits some time before, but she'd always thought of herself as Angel's true love-and Spike's, for that matter. Finding out that he was the reason she was alive only drove that point home. What a way to show your love! Why were they together, doing.well, whatever it was guys did, when she was here and lonely? Riley certainly hadn't seen her death and resurrection as anything exciting. He'd shown up because he'd *finally* gotten word of her death and wanted to make sure it was true. Of course, he'd found a living, breathing Slayer and had had trouble believing what had happened. And when the call had come in to do some sort of tour in Southeast Asia, off he'd gone without a by-your-leave. Damned men.

The more she thought about it, the madder she got. What were Angel and Wil trying to pull here? This 'we're together' crap was just that-crap, in all likelihood designed to mess with her head. For about the tenth time, she wondered if Angelus was back-but Giles had reassured her that they were both ensouled and on the up-and-up. Only her trust in Giles kept her from driving down there and staking them on sight.

And where did they get off telling her how to take care of her own? Angel was one to talk-she'd kept up with enough of the goings-on of Angel's crew before her death to know that he'd gone off the deep end some time back. Of course, her information had dried up when she'd died, and she had been unable to make contacts in L.A. since then. No one there was willing to rat on Angel now, even if they had been before. It didn't matter, though, because regardless they had no right to tell her she wasn't doing right by Dawn or Willow! What did they know about people grieving over lost loved ones? It wasn't like they'd lost anybody or anything-and certainly not a lover. How would they feel if all of a sudden, right before their eyes, their most precious thing in the world was just sucked away from them? They would have done the exact same thing Willow had, if they could have managed it.

Finally an unwary fledge began to dig himself up. Buffy sat on a tombstone and waited for it to rise. As soon as it had found its feet, she spun it around, kicking and punching. The thing never had a chance-its arms were ripped off and its face bashed to a pulp before Buffy got bored and staked it. She was gone before the dust hit the ground. There had to be more action somewhere. There just had to be.

*****
Part 36:

"We're out of milk," Xander groaned as he slammed the refrigerator door shut. Oz looked up from his now-empty cereal bowl, hunching over it a bit more. Xander squinted and frowned at his lover. "Did you use the last of the milk?"

Oz just stared up at Xander. After a minute, the seer threw up his hands and stomped out of the kitchen. When he got to the office, he found Angel, Wil, Cordelia and Wes arguing loudly.

"We *have* to go, Angel," Cordelia shouted, stomping her foot.

Angel shook his head. "No, you don't *have* to go. Cordy, it's a gallery opening. No one but the gallery owner and the artists *have* to be there."

"But the owner is an Eraen demon, as is the artist," Wesley reminded Angel. "And there will be a class of art students from UCLA at the gallery. Do you really want a hundred and fifty college students stuck in a building with a pair of Eraen demons?"

"What's an Eraen demon?" Xander asked the huffy investigators.

"They thrive on pain," Wesley answered. "Eraen demons live to emotionally torture people." Xander shuddered.

"And you don't want to protect these kids why, Angel?" Xander asked the vampire.

"Exactly what I'm asking," Wil said. "It won't hurt to go down there and enjoy the art-I've heard she's an excellent artist-and also make sure that nothing out of the ordinary occurs."

"But there's no vision attached to this!" Angel said desperately. With no one on his side, he knew he was going to lose.

Xander frowned. "So what? We'll just trot on over to the gallery, look around and hobnob, and come home. Besides, we don't just do what the visions show-just last week you made all of us-"

"Fine!" Angel said, cutting Xander off. "But I don't think this calls for all of us, do you?"

Wil looked over at the frustrated vampire. "Perhaps if Cordelia, Wes, Xander and Oz went? They can call if something happens and Angel and I can get some things done around here." He would have liked to have gone to the showing, but he knew that leaving Angel alone here would be bad-he'd feel abandoned.

Cordelia nodded. "That'll work. Xander, you and Oz need to get dressed. We've got maybe fifteen minutes." Xander nodded and went down to collect Oz. Cordelia and Wesley also retreated upstairs to change.

Angel sighed and slumped against the desk. "You don't have to stay," He said.

Wil smiled softly. "I want to, or I wouldn't have offered." Angel nodded slowly, knowing that Wil had wanted to see the art. They stood there silently for several minutes, listening to the sounds of their coworkers getting ready. Twelve minutes later, a herd of frantic people barreled down the stairs.

"Let's go!" Cordelia shouted as she followed the guys toward the lobby. "We are not going to be late for this!"

Xander stopped halfway down the stairs. "Deadboy! We're out of milk. There's a grocery list on the fridge!" Before Angel could respond, the group was out the door.

"Grocery list?" Angel whispered.

Wil stared at where Xander had been standing. "Wanna go to the supermarket?"

Angel turned to Wil, a horrified look on his face. "You're kidding, right?" Wil shook his head.

"It's not like we have anything better to do tonight-you've got your cell phone, so they can get in touch with us if they need to," Wil replied.

"But."

Wil rolled his eyes. "You didn't want to go to the art show. This is the other option. Get your jacket, would you?" He walked off to collect some money and the grocery list. He didn't mind the supermarket, particularly this time of evening-the crowds would be a bit thinner, with fewer children.

���...�...�...�...���

"Can't we put this off?" Angel whined as he and Wil walked into the grocery store. He hated shopping for food he didn't need to eat and he despised large, brightly lit stores like this one. They smelled bad, had bad help, and bad merchandise.

"Stop whining, Angel. This won't take too long," Wil replied as they stopped to get a buggy.

"Won't take long? Did you look at that list? There must be two hundred things on it!" Angel said, scowling.

Wil looked thoughtful. "You're right." He pushed the shopping cart at Angel, selecting another for himself. He then pulled out the list and peered at it. A moment later, he ripped it in two and handed half to Angel. "That should cut the time in half, don't you think?" Before Angel could say a word, Wil was off toward baking supplies. "Don't worry, I'll find you when I finish!" Wil called over his shoulder.

Angel stared down at his half of the list. Wil was a cocky bastard; the older vampire knew he was making this a challenge-who could get done first? There was no doubt in Angel's mind that he'd beat the blonde at his own game. "Ok, let's see.canned green beans. That I can do."

When he got to the canned-foods aisle, Angel quickly located the canned green beans.all five brands and six varieties. "French cut?" He muttered, looking at the cans of food. The list didn't say what kind of cut to get, so Angel grabbed a can of generic, whole green beans. The next thing on the list was crackers. He remembered seeing a sign for crackers on the main aisle, so he turned around to find that spot.

Of course, the list didn't say what kind of crackers the cracker-eaters wanted, and green beans were nothing compared to saltines, Ritz, butter, caf�, flavored, and graham crackers-in regular, low fat and low salt varieties. After a couple of minutes, Angel grabbed a box of no salt, no fat saltines, figuring that if someone wanted salt or fat on their crackers, they could just add it themselves. Feeling good about how quickly this was going, Angel looked down at the list.

"Tampons?" Angel stared at the word for a moment. It occurred to him that perhaps Cordelia had put that on the list purposefully-to bother any male that did the grocery shopping. After all, the only other female in the hotel, Fred, was currently in Sunnydale with Gunn. Well, Angel wasn't going to be deterred by ladies' products, so he directed his buggy, squeaks and all, toward the main aisle once more.

Unfortunately, ladies' products weren't listed on any of the signs hanging in front of the aisles. Angel was about to give up and ask when he noticed that there weren't any employees anywhere. With that option gone, he was reduced to wandering the aisles. He was a detective, wasn't he? This couldn't be too hard.

Five minutes later he came to the conclusion that 'hygiene' was a euphemism for ladies' products. That wasn't much of a consolation when he was faced with a wall of boxes and soft bags. Why couldn't there be just one kind. "It just says tampons," Angel moaned.

"What kind does she usually use?"

Angel turned to see an elderly lady standing next to him, studying some bottles on the opposite side of the aisle. "What?"

The lady repeated herself. "What kind does she usually use? Just grab a box of the closest thing to that."

"But I don't." Angel began. The lady frowned. "She's not my girlfriend! I'm just doing the grocery shopping!"

"Hmmph," The lady snorted. She turned around and stepped forward, grabbing a box from the hygiene aisle. "Here," She said, thrusting the box at Angel. He accepted it and threw it into the cart, quickly getting away from the scowling lady. Well, Cordelia wasn't his girlfriend. How would he know what kind of tampon she used? It wasn't like she knew what kind of lube he and Wil used, Angel thought to himself.

Forty-five minutes later, Angel was a nervous wreck, having prowled every aisle in the store at least ten times. His cart was only halfway full, over three-quarters of the list was left over, and nearly every customer in the store was glaring at him. Strangely enough, he hadn't run into Wil once.

"Almost done?"

"What?" Angel said, spinning around. Wil was propped on a shelf behind him, next to an overflowing shopping cart. "What is that?" He asked, pointing to the cart.

"My half of the list," Wil replied. "Where's the rest of yours?"

Angel stared down at the cart. "I." Wil stopped him.

"Why did you get whole green beans? And nobody in the hotel is going to eat those crackers. Candied yams? What were you thinking.and Cordelia will kill you if you try to make her use those tampons," Wil said quickly. "Don't you pay any attention to what goes on in the hotel?"

Angel just stared at the ground. "Yes, I do. I just don't always notice the groceries. I only eat them when we're having family dinners, you know," He said quietly.

Wil flinched. He really shouldn't be so hard on Angel; after all, the vampire did do, and notice, a lot. "Come on, we'll finish it together. Besides, you've got all the frozen stuff on your list."

"They're mopping that aisle," Angel said.

"So?" Wil replied. "They're always mopping that aisle. Their cooling system is leaky, so there's always water on the floor." Angel shrugged and followed Wil down the next aisle.

"How do you know what kind of tampons Cordelia uses?" Angel asked curiously.

Wil grinned. "We swap out grocery duty; when she goes she picks up our lube, and when I go, I get her tampons."

Angel's jaw dropped. Cordelia bought their. He was about to comment when Wil pulled up and stopped in front of the crackers.

"Xander likes regular saltines, Oz is partial to sesame wafers, and Cordelia only eats club crackers," Wil said, selecting three boxes and putting the one Angel had gotten back on the shelf. "And yes, there's a difference."

"I'm sure there is," Angel said defensively. Wil grinned.

"Now you know, in case you come back out," The blonde said as they turned toward the canned food aisle. "The green beans aren't so important, but you'd better get ones that have been cut up." He pointed to the ones next to the kind Angel had originally selected. "Get about ten cans, hmm?" He said absently as he checked out some other offerings.

"Do we need that?" Angel asked, watching Wil throw cans of chopped tomatoes, corn, beans and peas into the cart.

"What? That?" Wil said, looking at the cart. "They need a little variety, you know. Besides, it sounds like Gunn and Fred will be coming back soon, and Fred will need something to experiment on. It's hard to mess up a can of beans."

Angel nodded. "How are they doing?"

Wil frowned as the turned onto the frozen vegetable aisle. "Fair, I suppose. Dawn's advancing nicely, from what Fred has told me. Buffy's not taking their assistance very well, but Anya's helping out on that front. Willow they've had no luck with."

"Have they taken her to see anyone?" Angel asked, catching the bags of broccoli and mixed vegetables Wil threw at him.

Wil shook his head. "Not yet, but I've been pushing them to. She needs professional help, but Buffy's balking at that as well. There are some people in Sunnydale who're sensitive to that kind of thing, though, so maybe between Anya and Dawn, she'll back down."

"Eventually, I'm sure she will," Angel murmured. She'd have to-the Slayer had almost no backup now, and without Willow, she was seriously shorthanded.

"Chocolate or vanilla?" Wil asked, holding up two cartons of ice cream.

"Xander has to have chocolate, and Wesley's not here to want vanilla or strawberry," Angel replied. "See? I do pay attention to some things."

"I know you do," Wil said as he deposited three quarts of chocolate and mocha ice cream in the cart. "Come on, there's still a lot of stuff to get, including milk."

An hour later, they finally made it home. Wil put Angel in charge of stocking the pantry while the blonde put things in the huge hotel freezer. He didn't trust Angel to put everything where it was supposed to be. Angel was just finishing the crackers and soda when Wil walked into the pantry, carrying mugs for both of them.

"Thanks," Angel murmured, taking one mug. Wil nodded and leaned back against one wall, sipping his dinner.

"Any idea of when they'll be back?" Wil asked, glancing at his watch.

"Nope," Angel said, shaking his head. "It's what, eleven-thirty now? They won't be until well after one, at the earliest, and they might just stay out all night."

"Ah. Let's see.wanna see if we can get upstairs without running into Lorne's customers?" Wil asked, grinning. Angel nodded and took their mugs to the kitchen to wash them out. A couple of minutes later, they were sneaking through the lobby and up the stairs. They didn't completely avoid Caritas' customers, but they didn't see Lorne, so they made it up without incident.

"Do we have anything to do tonight?" Angel asked, looking down at his desk.

"I can't think of anything," Wil replied, shuffling through some files. "Most of this is on hold, done, or cancelled. I guess we could go shake down Makla Diesh again, for this theater house case," Wil mentioned, holding up a file.

Angel grimaced. "I'd rather go back to the grocery store." That comment brought a smile to Wil's face.

"There's always the movies," Wil suggested. "We haven't been in months."

Angel stared at the ceiling for a moment. Actually, a movie didn't sound so bad. "What's playing?"

Wil flipped through that day's paper. "What're you in the mood for? Action, mystery, horror, drama, romance?"

"Action," Angel said automatically.

"Spider-Man?" Wil suggested. "There's a one a.m. showing."

"Sure," Angel replied.

���...�...�...�...���

When Angel and Wil stumbled into the Hyperion at about four-thirty that morning, they noticed that Cordelia, Wesley, Xander and Oz had not returned. Their friends' absence concerned them, so Angel tried Cordelia on her cell phone. "It's turned off," He said, staring down at his own phone.

Wil frowned. "She always leaves it on when she's out. What about Xander?"

A moment later, Angel looked back up. "His is off too."

"Right then," Wil said, looking around. "Five minutes for gear, and then we hit the sewers."

Angel ran up the stairs to his apartment, while Wil raided the weapons cabinets.

*****
Part 37:

Moving through the sewers to reach the art gallery took longer than Angel and Wil would have liked. Unfortunately, there wasn't a direct route from the Hyperion; as much as they would have preferred a well-networked underground tunnel system, Los Angeles hadn't been too accommodating, leaving some areas almost inaccessible.

"Well, at least the building's got a basement," Wil muttered as they crawled through a removable grate in the gallery's boiler room. Angel swore when his coat caught on one of the grate's hinges as he crawled through.

"Just find them, ok?" Angel snarled to Wil. He wasn't in the mood for chitchat. All the way over to the gallery, Angel had been trying to convince himself that they'd arrive to find the gang still partying on and not, for once, involved in some sort of bad thing. He wished he'd gone with them; he really did love art of all kinds. If he'd been here, maybe he could've stopped whatever had happened to his friends. He'd refused to go mostly out of stubbornness-he'd wanted some time away from the constant vigilance that his job required. Now he was regretting being so contrary; he'd tried to avoid his work, so it had come to him.

"This place is deserted," Wil said quietly. Angel couldn't help but agree. The building was empty of people-and everything else. There was no way it had ever been a gallery, or anything else for that matter. "We are in the right place, aren't we?"

"Yes, this is the address Cordelia left us," Angel replied, looking around. It wasn't difficult for the vampires to do so; the windows were boarded up, keeping all sunlight out.

"A setup?" Wil asked quietly.

"That's what I'm thinking," Angel said, frowning. He had a really bad feeling about this situation. If there was no gallery, and hence no gallery opening, then their friends hadn't been missing for a couple of hours-they'd been gone, maybe hurt, all night. That just decreased the likelihood that he and Wil would find relevant clues. "Find everything you can here," He ordered Wil, who was already searching intently.

Angel did the same, pouring over various crates and boxes, looking for anything that might lead to their friends' whereabouts. There wasn't much to see; dust coated every surface. "Angel?" Wil called out.

"What?" Angel said, moving over to where Wil was. The blonde pointed to the usty floor. "Footprints?"

"Cordelia, Wesley, Xander, Oz, and at least a dozen other people," Wil explained. "You can tell which are whichand." He stopped as he bent down closer to the wooden floor. "Someone just shined their shoes-navy. There's shoe polish residue, fresh enough to smell. Cordelia was wearing navy shoes."

"Anything else?" Angel asked. He hadn't found a single thing.

"Yeah, there is. There's some sort of blood on the door frame and floor near the main entrance. Demon, not human," Wil said, pointing toward the door. They went over to investigate. "Definitely not human."

"And none of our people are human either," Angel reminded him.

"But this isn't any of them," Wil replied. "Besides, what human, or even several humans, could bring down those four? It would have to take demons, and strong ones-Eraen demons."

"Wolfram & Hart," Angel said darkly.

"It would be my first thought," Wil agreed. "Even though they haven't really tried the outright kidnapping approach lately."

"No, they usually just go for the kill," Angel said. "But then again, maybe they've gotten smarter."

"Between the four of them, they know everything about you," Wil stated.

Angel shook his head. "No, it's more than that. This is what they've been trying to do all along-if they get rid of them, what good are we? Seriously, Wil, what would you do if they died? What would Fred and Gunn do?"

Wil stared at the floor. He knew exactly what Angel was talking about-he'd go mad, and that would make him an easy target. "But they're not just going to kill them, or we'd be looking at bodies."

"No, they've probably got some sort of harebrained scheme to torture them, or turn them against us, or something like that. Wolfram & Hart's motives aren't ever simple, or clear," Angel said. "We need to find out where they took them."

"Makla Diesh or Lorne?" Wil asked Angel.

"Both," Angel replied as he headed for the sewers. "You go to Lorne. He has other contacts in the city. I'll shake down Makla Diesh."

���...�...�...�...���

"What brings you." Lorne began, his voice fading as he saw the look on Wil's face. "What happened?"

"They've been kidnapped-Cordelia, Wesley, Xander and Oz," Wil replied in a broken voice. "I need names, contacts, anything."

"You think it's them again, don't you?" Lorne asked.

Wil raised an eyebrow. "You have a better idea?"

"No, and you're probably right. Look, there's an old Ibne demon north of campus that knows a lot about what goes on around here. Why don't you ask him?" Lorne said. "Other than him, I can't think of anyone that can help you."

"Thanks," Wil said as he ran back out the door.

Frank, the Ibne demon, didn't have much to offer. "Eraen demons? Yeah, a clan of them moved in a while back-heard they were going to open a gallery. Not a bad crowd, but you've got to keep an eye on them," Frank said thoughtfully. "I'm trying to remember where they came from.was it Miami, or maybe Atlanta?"

Wil hummed in frustration. "Did they have any connections to Wolfram & Hart?" He asked impatiently.

"The law firm? Maybe, I don't know. It's none of my business who you hire to keep your forms filled out right," Frank replied. "They could do worse than Wolfram & Hart-that Gavin fellow got me a great deal on this property, you know."

The vampire swore at himself as he ran out of Frank's store. He should've known.after all, not everyone in the city thought Wolfram & Hart was a bad place. Hells, a lot of good people used them for legitimate things. At least he knew now that an entire clan of the demons had moved in.

When he got back to the hotel, Angel was waiting. "What did you get?" He asked Wil.

"Not much," Wil replied. "There's a whole clan of Eraen demons, but I don't know if they're connected to Wolfram & Hart or not."

"They are," Angel said angrily. "Makla Diesh knew that one-the 'gallery owner' was seen meeting with some of their lawyers a few weeks ago."

"That doesn't tell us much," Wil stated. "Like where they are."

"Actually, I got an address for at least one of the demons," Angel said, holding up a piece of paper. "It's not all that far away."

"Let's go," Wil growled, heading for the sewers.

���...�...�...�...���

The address turned out to be in a rather upscale neighborhood-completely inaccessible by sewer. Angel swore vehemently when he found himself blocked-it was still daylight out, and would be for several hours. They were stuck until sundown.

"What about going to visit Lilah?" Wil asked. "She might just know something."

"We have, what, about five hours until sunset?" Angel asked.

"At least that," Wil replied. "We can get there and back here in less than that amount of time."

"Fine," Angel agreed and off they went.

Lilah wasn't nearly as surprised to see them as they would have liked. When she was expecting them, it usually meant she was neck-deep in whatever trouble they were fighting. "Long time, no see," She murmured as Angel and Wil stormed into her office. "Were you this rude around Lindsey?"

"Where are they?" Angel asked harshly. He wasn't in the mood for Lilah's shit.

Lilah shrugged. "Who?"

"You know," Wil replied. "Tell us."

A brief smile flitted across her face. "Tell you what?"

Angel reached across the desk to pick Lilah up by the neck. "Where are Cordelia, Wesley, Xander and Oz?"

Lilah waved her hands toward Angel in a placating manner. Once he set her down, she answered. "Fine, fine. The demons took them to their house. Honestly, I would have figured you'd have been there by now. Oh, wait; it's still all sunny out, isn't it?" Lilah said, reaching for a control panel on her desk. Wil spun around when he heard the door lock, and then turned around again when the window shades began to open.

Angel grabbed Wil and backed toward the door. Both vampires pushed on it, but found that it was solid steel and unmovable. Lilah cackled as sunlight began to creep across the floor, getting closer and closer to the vampires. There wasn't any place to hide in the office, so if they didn't find a way out, they were dust. Wil looked over to one side of the door, thinking quickly. After a second, he began to tap on the wall. A few taps later, he reared back and punched one fist through the wall. Angel looked over and frowned. What was Wil doing? A second punch told him-Wil had found the studs in the wall and was punching through the wall between them. The dark vampire moved to help him, kicking below where Wil was punching. They opened a hole large enough to get through just as the sunlight reached them. Wil climbed through first, pulling Angel behind him.

They could hear Lilah laughing in her office as they patted out any small fires that had started on them. "That was." Wil began, glaring at the hole in the wall. Angel was so furious a vein stood out on his forehead.

"We should go," He said, pushing Wil toward the hallway. Wil started walking, only to stop when he saw that Angel hadn't followed. He turned just in time to see Angel pull a pin from a hand grenade and toss the explosive into the hole in Lilah's office wall.

"Angel!" Will hissed, pulling at the vampire. Now was not the time to be playing around for vengeance! Besides, Lilah was human!

"It won't kill her," Angel snarled. "But she won't try that again for a long time."

Wil shuddered as he rushed Angel through the halls. A couple of seconds later, the floor shook as the grenade exploded. The vampires ran down the hall despite the commotion; after that little stunt they'd be hard pressed to make it out of the building alive.

Just as Wil had suspected, a large contingent of guards came after them down the stairwell they'd taken. The vampires ran even faster, heading for the lobby. The law firm wasn't stupid; by now all sewer access would be blocked. "Wil, we can't go through the lobby; it's still daylight," Angel reminded the blonde as they neared the ground floor.

"We don't have much of a choice, do we?" Wil shouted back as they hit the door leading out of the stairwell. The lobby was brightly lit, but most of it was from fluorescent bulbs and not sunlight. The vampires ran out into the lobby proper, Wil leading with Angel following behind. The dark vampire was about to ask Wil just what he had planned when the blonde grabbed a passing onlooker and ripped his coat off. Wil tossed the long garment to Angel before finding another victim. The two vampires covered themselves and darted out of the lobby and toward the street just as several contingents of security guards poured into the lobby.

Wil ran down a side street, hugging the side of a tall building that provided much-needed shade. He wished, and not for the first time, that Angel had chosen a less sunny city to use as his base for fighting evil. After a few minutes of searching, the vampires found a usable manhole cover and dropped down into the protective dankness of the sewers.

"That went well," Wil murmured as he checked Angel for injuries.

"Don't even start," Angel spat as he returned the favor for Wil. "That got us nowhere."

Wil pushed Angel against the sewer wall before leaning against it himself. "We know for sure that Wolfram & Hart are involved," He said calmly. "Although I'm not sure what that's going to get us. I doubt Lilah would tell us the truth about what they did with the gang."

"Probably not, but we don't have many options," Angel replied. "Even if they're not there, searching the house may get us some sort of clue-anything to tell us where to go."

"True," Wil said. After a moment of silence, he rolled onto his side and looked at Angel. "And what the hell were you thinking, throwing a grenade in Lilah's office?"

Angel flinched. "Like I said, it won't kill her. Maybe, though, she'll think twice before messing with us again."

"Or maybe she'll get fed up with playing with us and just hire a sniper to take all of us out. It doesn't take much to fire a wooden dart at one of us from twenty meters, you know," Wil retorted. "It was stupid, Angel, and I don't ever want to see you doing that again."

"The sun will be down soon. Let's get back to that house," Angel said, ignoring Wil's attack. The blonde stared hard at Angel's back for a minute before following.

���...�...�...�...���

"They haven't been in here," Wil said as he and Angel prowled through the sprawling mansion that the Eraen demons had inhabited. The place reeked of demon, but there wasn't a trace of any of their friends.

"Same as before, Wil; look for something to tell us where they are," Angel said, studying the foyer.

Wil walked down one hall, entering the first room on his left. It turned out to be a bathroom-and held no clues whatsoever. His searches of the kitchen, living room and den also produced nothing. Angel was busy upstairs and didn't seem to have found anything.

The last room Wil entered before going upstairs to join up with Angel was the study. "This might prove interesting," Wil murmured as he booted up the computer he found in desk cabinet. Once the computer had finished booting up, the vampire began to search through its hard drive, glad for all the computer lessons Fred had forced upon him. At least he knew how to find things that people didn't want him to see.

"Find anything?" Angel asked from the doorway. Wil looked up, startled.

"Maybe. It's hard to tell, though. Most of what's on here is garbage-grocery bills, games and pornography. I'm going through the temp folders now," Wil replied, his eyes glued once more on the screen. Angel took a seat next to him and watched as the vampire poured through files and folders.

"Hmm." Wil hummed at one point.

"What?" Angel asked.

"Our demons spent a lot of time online-reading the news. Most of what's in here is news stories and junk from newspaper sites. And, of course, a lot of naked.things," Wil said. "And Disneyland."

"Disneyland?" Angel said disbelievingly.

"Maybe they like rollercoasters," Wil said, shrugging. "There's nothing in here. Maybe Lorne knows someone else we can ask, or something."

"Let's hope," Angel said, leading Wil out of the house. It was going to take them a while to get back to the hotel.

���...�...�...�...���

"Lorne," Angel called out as they entered the lobby. The green demon was standing just outside the entrance to Caritas.

"You're back already?" Lorne replied, frowning. "You haven't found them yet, have you?"

Wil shook his head. "Not a damned clue, other than confirmation that Wolfram & Hart has something to do with it."

"Come on in, sit down. Maybe we can think of something," Lorne said, waving them into the club.

The vampires took a seat, accepting the drinks Lorne served them. "There's nothing at all, Lorne. Nothing."

Lorne looked up from the muted television he was watching. "Hmm? Nothing? Didn't Frank have anything for you?"

Wil scowled. "He likes Wolfram & Hart."

"Hmm? Oh, I didn't know that. Sorry," Lorne said distractedly.

"What's so bloody interesting on the telly?" Wil asked the demon.

Lorne looked back at them. "Oh, nothing, just some sort of domestic-terrorism biological warfare scare at Disneyland."

Angel looked at Wil. "Come again?" The dark vampire murmured.

The demon gestured toward the television, which was showing images of people being carried around on stretchers. "It's been on the news all day, but then again you guys have been awfully busy trying to find the others. It seems that someone let loose some sort of nerve gas or something at Disneyland-people just started dropping like flies, blood running out their ears and all. Now the city's trying to deal with a few thousand seriously injured people-and of course the army's all over it."

"Disney." Wil jumped off the barstool, heading for the door.

"What?" Lorne asked, watching the vampires leave.

Angel stopped. "It's not nerve gas, it's a clan of Eraen demons-and Cordy and the others are probably at Disneyland right now." Lorne nodded and jumped the bar, barking an order to one of his employees to cover the club for the evening. He was just in time to jump into the back of Angel's convertible as the vampires raced down the street.

*****