(Untitled)

[face_of_angelus]

Riding the elevator up to my floor in silence I hummed along quietly with the Muzak. Being CEO had its small perks, getting Barry White into heavy rotation in the office was only one. Could that be considered evil too? Wasn't sure if Connor would still be here, or even alive. The brief alert I'd received had been vague. All I knew was Harm had

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[buffys_bitch]

"Well the hell have you been, you git?" I grumble when Angel finally steps out of the lift.

"You missed a bloody party you did. Complete with werewolves, damsels in distress with wet shirts, college boys getting attacked by Harmony on speed and Wesley here putting on the kungfu moves." I gesture to Percy who merely nods, and then looks past Angel to someone else coming out of the elevator.

I follow his gaze and then feel my gut clench. I just stand and gape, at a total loss for words.

[puzzled_by_life]

I watch as the elevator door opens and the blond... vampire? Gazes at the persons that steps out from the elevator. Man and woman. Suddenly I get a feeling like someone has just walked over my grave but just as that it's gone. Weird.

And I'm really confused. Have I mentioned that lately? I mean... this is freaky! Cool. But still freaky. I should just go away. Obviously no one will help me. Doesn't really seems like anyone's interested. So I look one more time around... the freaks and whatnot... and shake my head.

"I should just leave, I suppose." I murmur lightly, though I doubt anyone ever heard, they all seem to be... weird.

[boyhostage]

I had a strong sense of....something around this young man. A curious form of deja vous I suppose yet I couldn't quite put my finger on it. Lord knows I'd been anxiously awaiting Angel's arrival, so that he would at least sidetrack Spike for awhile. When Angel was around, Spike generally opted to annoy him instead of the rest of us.

"Hello, Angel. I was just wondering that myself." I said, as I turned a glare on Harmony. It was times like these when I wondered why I had hired her. Granted a familiar face around the office was helpful for a time, but not if she's going to be trying to eat all of our clients. She knows Angel's policy about human blood.

[face_of_angelus]

"I believe you both know Buffy." Spike looked ready to spit nails, which would have been almost amusing. Looked like he was going to have his big reunion with Buffy.

Couldn't help but look Connor over. He looked good, Harmony hadn't put a scratch on him. He could still fight, he just didn't know it.

"Who's this?" glancing at Wes for a second I extended my hand towards Connor. "I'm Angel."

[puzzled_by_life]

Slowly I shake the offered hand. "Um, hi." Yeah, so... my voice doesn't exactly sound all confident and everything, but I really couldn't care less, seriously I just want to get out of this mad house.

"I'm Connor Reilly. Um, I was told I could find help here." Well, not that from where I stand help seemed to be an option. I mean, I just knocked out their secretary... that can't be exactly good, can it now?

[lastguardian]

Uh oh. Major uh oh. Look at Spike with the dropping of the jaw and look at Wes who... surprisingly, not too freaked seeming. Gotta give the Watchers credit, they all seemed to have passed Stoicism 101 with flying colors. But Spike.

Wait.

Spike? Spike? Spike is here? And Angel doesn't look surprised and oh my GOD how is this possible and what am I going to - oh my God. He's looking at me and he has that hurt look in his - okay, can I see through his eyes?

This can't be real. This can't be. Nope. It's not happening.

"Spike?" I finally gasp, the entire world, everybody else just fading around me.

[buffys_bitch]

"Buffy." I manage to say after what seems like an eternity. I take two steps towards her without thinking, I want to fold her in my arms and tell her I'm alright. But then again I'm not alright am I

[lastguardian]

"Is it really you?" I ask weakly, my throat dry. "I mean, are you -"

Dead echoes cruelly at me. He's always been dead, as long as I've known him he's been - dead. There's probably a headstone in some old cemetery in England that nobody ever visits that says William - God, I don't even know his last name. I'm not sure if he even knows it anymore.

Finally, after seconds that felt like years, I tear my eyes away from the sight of the blonde vampire and turn back to Angel. He doesn't seem surprised to see his progeny standing before him. He seems annoyed, if anything, but that was a perpetual state of Angel and Spike. I don't understand this. At all. I don't - I turn back to Spike, slackjawed, entranced by his presence.

My mind is filled with all of the things I never got to say to him.

I love you I'm sorry I never meant to hurt you When I punched you it didn't mean anything Thank you I love you I love you I love -It all has to be written on my face, plain as can be. But I can't bring myself to say it, not here. Not with Angel

[buffys_bitch]

"Is it really you? I mean, are you -"

I can see how confused she is, trying process the fact that I'm standing right here talking to her, and not a pile of ash at the bottom of the hellmouth like she'd thought.

All sorts of emotions play across her face, too many to count and to fast for me to decipher. I search her gaze for some sign of relief or happiness at my being back.

"It's really me." I reply with a small wry grin, trying to reassure her, put her at ease. "I'm here, well not completely but I shouldn't quibble."

"How is this happening?" She asks, still in shock and wanting answers

[lastguardian]

“I can’t believe this.” That’s the first thing that I can think of to say, and I’m not sure whether I’m saying it to Angel or to Spike. My insides are being wrenched in a million different directions and I’m starting to feel all shaky. Thank God for Slayerness keeping me on my feet.

Spike’s words hit me so unbelievably hard - the necklace. The one he put on to save me and a bunch of other people he couldn’t have cared less about. The one Angel gave me (which, to give Angel his credit, he wanted to wear) that killed Spike, barely leaving me with time to say a hurried “I love you” and rush out to save my own skin.

And then there was the fact that Angel brought him back. Okay, I get it - accident. But the not-telling-Buffy part, that’s not the kind of thing you just forget about. And really not the kind of thing that the girl in question can just excuse.

You’ve excused him for a lot more an annoying little voice chimes in the back of my head. How about when he tried to kill everyone you love and you had to send him to hell? You had no

[face_of_angelus]

Seeing the look on her face I know the Senior Partners will be pleased. They thrive on hurt, on anger. If its good for them, its good for me.

"Forgot to mention it." As much as I liked seeing Spike sputter and go on I knew Connor was confused by all this.

"If the two of you don't mind taking your matters into private, I have a matter to discuss with my client."

Spike and Buffy could blame for everything in the world and none of it would matter. I had to get Connor out of this mess, quicker the better.

"Wes, Connor. My office, now."