Duty Or Destiny - (6) Fairytales and Lies - Part 3
By Tasha

Chapter Summary: Picks up from the episode "Lie to Me" and continues through to a confrontation between Angel and Buffy at the Bronze. Spike and Buffy both witness the exchange between Angel and Drusilla at the beginning of the episode. Drusilla tries to warn Angel of what is coming, but he won't listen. Ford arrives, and he attempts to integrate himself into Buffy's life.

Author's Note: Some dialogue was taken from the episode "Lie to Me", and some of the dialogue in scenes from the episode has been rewritten to fit the purpose of this story.

Disclaimer: All characters originally created by Joss Wheadon and Mutant Enemy belong to them by all rights. I just sneak them out of the vaults to play with them whenever I can. I do not make any money off of this. I have only the satisfaction that others enjoy the creativity and storylines that I come up with for our heroes, heroines, and villains.

'Single' quote marks surround thoughts in this story. "Regular" quotes are around spoken words.

---

"Come on, Mom! She's always late." A young boy kicked his feet out from where he sat on a jungle gym. The sun set a long time ago, and everything around the school park was dark.

"Are you lost?" A deceptively soft voice called from the shadows. A dark haired woman, dressed in a very old fashioned white gown stepped from the shadows slowly.

"My mom's just supposed to pick me up is all." The boy scooted under the bars to the other side of the jungle gym. It kept the jungle gym between him and the strange woman.

"Do you want me to walk you home?" The dark woman moved closer to the jungle gym.

"No, thank you." A tendril of fear grew in the boy's mind. He was always nervous when his mother showed up late, and tonight he was getting scared. He watched the woman's every movement.

The woman wrapped black painted fingernails with white tips around one of the bars of the gym. "My mummy used to sing me to sleep at night." Her head tilted to the side, and tendrils of her long black hair floated onto her cheeks. She sang a few lines of a song in a whispery monotone voice. "Run and catch. The lamb is caught in the blackberry patch."

The boy moved around the jungle gym, entranced by the movements of her hands. Her voice had a hypnotic quality to it that lured him closer.

"She had the sweetest voice." The woman closed her darkly colored eyelids as if she remembered something from days gone by. She snapped back to the present, her eyes opened, and her eyes narrowed on the boy in front of her. "What will your Mummy sing when they find your body?"

"I'm not supposed to talk to people." The boy tried to back a way a little, but his feet seemed rooted to the spot.

"Oh. Well, I'm not a person, see? So that's just ..."

Angel ran in-between Drusilla and the young child that she taunted and stalked to make a meal out of. "Run home!" He ordered to the child. He waited to be sure the boy was gone before he turned to face the stalker.

Drusilla gaped at Angel, amazed and transfixed by his presence. "My Angel!"

Angel's eyes briefly traveled down Drusilla's torso, before he forced them back up to her face. "Hello, Drusilla."

Dru sauntered closer to Angel. Her dark fingernails trailed down the white of her dress that was tinted a light blue in the moonlight. Each step she took was more deliberate in her attempt to be innocently seductive. "Do you remember the song Mummy used to sing me? Pretty."

Angel gulped. Buffy usually patrolled this area during the night. He wasn't sure if she'd already been through or not, and he really didn't want to be caught with Drusilla. "I remember." He wasn't ready to explain Drusilla to Buffy. No matter how trapped his demon felt behind the soul, he still hungered for the woman before him. Buffy would never be able to touch the part of him that Drusilla could.

"Yes, you do." A light seemed to fade in Dru's eyes.

Angel broke the spell of memories. "Drusilla, leave here." He tried to reign in the demon's needs. He wanted to use his Sire voice on her, but it wouldn't come out. Dru's Sire really didn't want her to leave. "I'm offering you that chance. Take Spike and get out."

"Or you'll hurt me?" Drusilla grinned. She knew her Angelus was still inside the body before her somewhere. 'Oh yes my lovely Angel is still in there.' She delighted in the guilty look that crossed over Angel's face.

Angel looked down. He closed his eyes and licked his lips repeatedly. 'Why am I fighting my nature? For Buffy? Because of the soul?'

"No. No, you can't. Not any more."

Angel continued to talk without looking up. He thought maybe that would make it easier to say the words he rushed to say. "If you don't leave, it'll go badly ... for all of us." He made the mistake of seeking out her face again.

"My dear boy's gone all away, hasn't he? To her."

"Who?"

"The girl. The Slayer." Dru ran her hand up Angel's chest, wrapping it in the lapels of his jacket. "Your heart stinks of her, but it won't do you any good. She's already lost to you."

"I don't know what you're talking about, Dru." Angel had enough problems with Buffy without Dru trying to get to the Slayer first. He needed Spike gone, and the only way Spike would leave was if Dru did too.

Dru tutted a sound from her lips, and she stepped closer. Only a couple inches separated her face from his. "Poor little thing. She has no idea what's in store for her."

"This can't go on, Drusilla." Angel placed his hand over Dru's. The coldness of her touch would have made most people drop the hand, but to Angel it was like a warmth that no human could match. Her touch was familiar, craved, and remembered. "It's gotta end." He sighed out the last few words. His heart would have raced, if it could still beat, and his chest heaved from the unnecessary breaths he took.

"Oh, no, my pet." Drusilla lifted her face right up to Angel's lips. Her lips took a detour to his ear without touching him. "This is just the beginning."

Angel almost pulled Dru back to him when she started to walk away from him sideways. His hand started to reach out for hers as it left his chest to fall back down to her side.

Drusilla walked away without ever taking her eyes off of Angel, until she could no longer see him with her vampiric sight. She headed off in the direction of the mansion. She needed to scold Spike for trying to keep Angel's presence from her.

Angel gulped hard. He forced himself to turn, look away then walk away from the woman that he still loved with some part of his undead heart. His demon roared within at Angel's betrayal of the woman he sired.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Buffy watched everything unfold between Angel and Drusilla from a nearby rooftop of one of the schools. The dark beauty of the woman transfixed her, but she had no idea who the woman was. The tingles at the pit of her stomach were familiar though.

Ever since the binding in the church, Buffy had honed the tingles to help tell her if Spike was near. This woman felt almost like a family member to her; like Spike, but not. She hadn't read about any Childer that Spike created in the books in Giles' collection. 'Who is she?'

Buffy's anger grew at how attached it seemed Angel was to the woman. 'After all the lectures he's been giving me lately about vampires, souls, and good versus evil? Hypocrite.' She huffed. She knew this woman was a vampire. She vowed to find out who the woman was, and why she felt similar to Spike. It was hard enough to be away from Spike. She wasn't about to let another woman stand in her way.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Spike tossed his cigarette to the ground. He ground out the last red embers beneath his boot. He pushed off from the wall he rested against just below where Buffy was up on the roof.

Spike sensed Buffy's tumultuous mood. He could tell she wasn't pleased about what she was seeing. To tell the truth, he wasn't too pleased about it either. He'd long since given up on winning Dru's affections, but Dru and Angelus together were not a good combination.

If Drusilla suspected anything between Buffy and Spike, he had a feeling that her sharing that bit of information with Angel would not be good for him. 'Even with him all soul having, I'm sure he wouldn't like it. Stupid git wants what should be mine ... again.'

Spike waited until he felt Angel and Drusilla were far enough away from him. He then lingered long enough to be sure what direction Buffy headed off to. "Not this time, you pillock." He sneered, "Not this time." He headed off in the same direction Buffy did.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Rupert Giles watched Jenny Calendar walk away from him. He smiled at Buffy, who arrived shortly afterwards, and they both headed to the library. "Hello. Did we hunt last night?" He kept his voice low enough not to alarm anyone who walked around them.

"I did a couple of quick sweeps downtown," Buffy answered distantly. Her mind was elsewhere. She needed to find more of Giles' hidden books. Somewhere, she would find the information she needed to continue her search for the woman from last night and Spike's interest in her from Halloween.

"Any encounters?"

"Nothing vampirey," Buffy lied. There was no need to worry Giles about any other mysterious vampires in her life. He already watched her too closely after the whole "costume" incident. God only knew what Angel told him about that evening.

"I've been researching your friend Spike. The profile is fairly unappetizing," Giles stated matter-of-factly in true Council fashion. "I still haven't got a lead on why he's here."

"You'll figure it out." Buffy twisted her hands in front of her chest. 'I so hope he doesn't figure it all out, especially not before I do.'

"You all right?" Giles turned his head to look at Buffy. "You seem a little glum."

"I'm fine."

Giles stopped at the entrance to the library. "Why don't you take the night off?" Apart from Spike's presence things were quiet on the Hellmouth lately. He knew that Buffy needed to be able to spend time with her friends and relax. She always seemed a lot more refreshed after a night out with them.

"Okay. That'd be nice." Buffy smiled warmly. 'If Giles isn't expecting me to be out patrolling, I can spend more time looking around without a Watcher curfew to report in.'

"You could spend some time with Angel." Giles was unaware of the impact his words had on Buffy.

"I don't know." Buffy frowned. "He might have other plans. He seems busy with other things lately." She turned abruptly and walked off to class.

Giles stared after Buffy a bit bewildered. As far as he was aware, Angel was still the main male interest in her life. Although he didn't approve of the match, there were worse things than having a souled vampire watching out for her. "How odd?" He muttered out loud.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Willow and Buffy sat in their literature class next to each other. They passed notes back and forth with questions and answers about the woman Buffy saw last night.

Willow was worried about her friend. She lost a lot of her perkiness since Halloween. If she really thought about it, she would have realized that Buffy hadn't been the same for a couple months since Spike arrived in Sunnydale. She knew her friend was hiding something from her. Despite her best efforts Buffy wouldn't share whatever it was that was bothering her.

Buffy sighed at the end of class and entered the hallway. "I don't know if she was a vampire. I don't think so." She hated lying to her friends, but they wouldn't understand why she felt the pull from the woman to her. "They seemed pretty friendly with each other."

"Who's friendly?" Xander piped in behind Willow and Buffy.

"No one!" Buffy rolled her eyes. Xander butting his opinions into the mix was the last thing she needed right now.

"Angel and a girl," Willow tossed back to Xander.

"Do we have to be in total share mode?" Buffy huffed. She should have known that Willow wouldn't keep anything to herself. Sometimes the young genuis' attraction to Xander was annoying. It was one of the reasons Buffy hadn't shared everything about her current predicament with the redhead.

"Hey, it's me! If Angel's doing something wrong, I wanna know." Xander punctuated each word with two fingers motioning from Buffy to the ground. "'Cause it gives me a happy." Anything that put Angel in a bag light made Xander happy. Even if Buffy never looked at him like a boyfriend, he was still jealous of anyone who garnered Buffy's attention that way.

"I'm glad someone has a happy." Buffy looked up into Xander's smiling face. 'What would it take to wipe that grin right off his face?'

"Oh, you just need cheering up." Xander, Buffy and Willow walked up into a mezzanine sitting area near the window. "I know just the thing. Crazed dance party at the Bronze."

"I don't know." Buffy briefly basked in the sunshine coming through the window. She remembered Spike forcing his way into the school through this very window a couple months ago. 'You can't even tell that he was ever here.'

"Very calm dance party at the Bronze?" Xander moved his arms back and forth a little slower as he made his way to sit next to Willow on the couch. "Moping at the Bronze?" Buffy's moods frustrated him. 'If Angel makes her so depressed, why does she still try to go out with him?'

A new male voice snuck up on the group. "I'd suggest a box of Oreos dunked in apple juice, but maybe she's over that." A slightly taller teenager walked up behind Buffy with his hands in his pockets.

Buffy twirled around to face the new addition with an ecstatic look on her face. All of her worries evaporated in that moment. "Ford?"

"Hey, Summers." Ford wrapped his arms around Buffy and hugged her tightly. He patted her back. "How you been?"

"Oh, my God! What are you doing here?" Buffy squeezed the reminder that she had a happier past before Sunnydale and slaying.

"Matriculating."

"Huh?" Buffy's mind was confused, and it didn't register exactly what Ford meant. Besides that, a little of her less than stellar high school education showed through.

"I'm finishing my senior year at Sunnydale High. Dad got transferred." Ford held both of Buffy's hands in his.

"This is great!" This was the first good news Buffy had in weeks.

Xander tapped his hand on his leg. 'Sure, we can't get her to cheer up, but one look at whoever that guy is and we don't exist!' Even his thoughts grumbled out his jealousy.

"Do you think so?" Ford played off his nervousness by acting coy and shy. He had a job to do here, and he couldn't afford to screw it up. "I didn't think you'd remember me."

"Remember you? Duh!" Buffy wanted to slap Ford upside the head. She never heard anything so foolish. "We only went to school together for seven years! You were my giant fifth grade crush."

Willow looked at the pair of old friends with a smile. As long as Buffy was happy, she was happy for her. Xander, not able to stand being ignored any longer, opened his mouth, "So ... you two know each other?"

"Oh, um ... Sorry. This is Ford." Buffy motioned from Ford to Xander and Willow. "Billy Fordham, this is Xander and Willow."

"Hi," Xander ground out.

"Hey," Ford responded.

"Nice to meet you," Willow added in her perky flavorful tone.

"Ford and I went to Hemery together in L.A." Buffy and Ford sat down next to each other on a couch opposite of Xander and Willow. She tucked her skirt underneath her and crossed her legs. "And now you're here? For real?"

"Dad got the transfer and ... Boom!" Ford shrugged his shoulders. "He dragged me out of Hemery and put me here."

"So you two were sweeties in fifth grade?" Willow loved getting the gossip and dirt on Buffy's former life. She rarely talked about her early days as the Slayer or her pre-slaying life.

"Not even!" Buffy rolled her eyes and huffed at Ford. "Ford wouldn't give me the time of day."

"Well, I was a manly sixth-grader," Ford teased. "Couldn't be bothered with a girl that young." He continued his taunt.

"It was terrible. I moped over you for months." Buffy pouted, "Sitting in my room listening to that Divinyl's song "I Touch Myself"." She gulped nervously and looked at her Sunnydale friends. "Of course I had no idea what it was about!"

Ford and Xander both shared a look of yeah right, and Willow stared off in the distance with a lost smile on her face.

"Hey, are you busy tonight?" Buffy quickly changed the subject. "We're going to the Bronze. It's the local club, and you have to come."

"I'd love to, but if you guys already have plans, would I be imposing?" Ford asked Willow and Xander.

"Oh, only in the literal sense," Xander's voice dripped with sarcasm.

"Okay, then." Ford stood up to leave. "I gotta find the admissions office to make sure my transfer's in order."

Buffy stood up next to Ford. "I'll take you there, and I'll see you guys in French." She wrapped her hand on his Ford's arm.

"It's good to meet you." Ford walked with Buffy down the stairs.

Xander's fake grin disappeared the moment Buffy and Ford were out of view. "This is Ford, my bestest friend of all my friends." He rolled his eyes. "Jeez, doesn't she know any fat guys?"

Willow's eyes bulged with recognition and knowledge. "Oh, that's what that song is about?"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The Bronze was alive and hopping with teenagers and college-aged students. As soon as Buffy entered the main area of the club near the pool tables, she felt the music vibrate through her very being. She walked over to the pool table where Willow, Xander and Ford were playing. "Hey, you made it," She spoke to Ford.

"It wasn't hard to find."

Willow giggled. "Buffy, Ford was telling us about the ninth-grade beauty contest and the swimsuit competition." She loved having some tasty dirt on her friend that showed she was just like the rest of them.

"Oh my gosh, Ford, stop!" Buffy glared at Ford half in mocking jest and half in seriousness. "The more people you tell, the more people I have to kill." She leaned against the pool table more heavily.

"You can't touch me, Summers." Ford lined up his pool cue for the next shot. "I know all your darkest secrets."

"Care to make a small wager on that?" Xander teased. He felt vindicated that he knew at least one thing about Buffy that her former friend didn't.

"I'm gonna get a drink." Buffy placed her hand over Xander's. The testosterone levels were rising quickly, and she knew what the tone in Xander's voice meant. "Ford, try not to talk." She walked over to the bar.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"So you think you know everything there is to know about Buffy?" Xander waited for his turn to shoot.

Willow gave Xander a look of warning. She was positive Buffy would be upset with Xander if he started a fight with Ford.

"I'm positive." Ford missed his shot. He pressed his fingers to his temples. He rubbed small circles on each side of his head in an attempt to alleviate the pain. "She's quite an amazing woman."

"Don't be so sure of that." Xander sunk the intended pool ball.

"She's not an amazing woman?" Ford questioned. 'What kind of friends did Buffy have in Sunnydale?' He wondered to himself. 'Probably ones that aren't planning on exchanging her life for theirs,' His mind answered him.

"Oh she's amazing all right." Xander sunk another ball swiftly. "She has many hidden talents."

"Xander," Willow warned. She turned to Ford. "We just love Buffy a lot, and we don't want to see her get hurt."

"I'd never hurt her," Ford answered a bit too quickly. 'At least I won't be the one that hurts her physically. I have to think that she would do the same thing if our situations were reversed.'

"Good then, we're all okay with everything." Willow pulled Xander up to stand next to her after he missed sending the third ball into the corner pocket. "Right, Xander?"

"Whatever, Wills." Xander stepped back for Ford to take his turn. "So long as Buffy is happy."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Angel stood up next to the bar after Buffy approached it. He looked down at her, drink in hand. "Hey. I was hoping you'd show here tonight." He smiled warmly at her. "I wanted to see you."

"You could have seen me last night." Buffy glared at Angel. "What happened to you? I thought we were going to patrol together?"

"I decided to stay home instead," Angel lied. He rather hoped that his checkered and brutal past would not be a subject he needed to air out with Buffy. He really wasn't in the mood to explain Drusilla to her yet either.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"That's Angel." Willow noticed Buffy and Angel at the bar a few feet from them.

Xander powdered the tip of his pool cue. "He's Buffy's beau. Her special friend," He taunted Ford.

"He's not in school right? He looks older than her." Ford glanced back and forth from Xander to the scene at the bar.

"You're not wrong." Xander picked up all the balls from the end of the table to rack them back up for another game of pool.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"What did you do last night?" Buffy questioned Angel further. She knew he was lying to her, but she was curious how far he'd take the lie.

"Nothing." Angel shrugged his shoulders.

"Nothing at all? You ceased to exist?" Buffy inwardly raged. 'Of all the pompous ways to act. Does he really think I'm that stupid?'

"No, I mean I stayed in ... read." Angel looked away quickly then back at Buffy. What was she hinting at? She seemed to be fishing for information. Did she realize that he wasn't at home?

"Oh," Buffy's simple but soft response showed none of the fury that welled inside. 'How could he not know that a Slayer was near him? Some wise old vampire he is. I'm surprised he's lasted this long.'

Buffy forced herself to leave Angel's side. Angel followed right behind her. Her line of questioning made him uneasy. He needed to know why she was so curious about his activities last night.

"Didn't want that soda after all?" Ford smiled at Buffy.

"Not thirsty," Buffy felt Angel's presence behind her, but she refused to look back at him right away. It was Willow's greeting to Angel that forced her to turn around.

"Hi," Ford offered a polite greeting to the new guy. He needed to be sure of everyone involved in Buffy's life. The only way his plan would work was if he had everyone secured and away from Buffy at the right time.

"This is Ford." Buffy pointed over her shoulder at Ford. "We went to school together in Los Angeles."

"Nice to meet you." Angel stepped forward. He shook hands with Ford out of civility.

"Whoa." Ford pulled his hand back. "Cold hands."

"You're not wrong," Xander piped in from the sidelines.

Buffy glared at Xander.

"So, you're visiting Buffy?" Angel sized up the boy from head to toe. Something smelled off about him. There were various scents all over him, but something wasn't right.

"No, I'm actually here to stay." Ford and Buffy shared a familiar glance between them. "We've just moved down."

"Hey, Angel, do you wanna play?" Willow made her best effort to break some of the tension between all the males and Buffy.

Buffy's head snapped up at the tingling sensation of another presence on the fringes of proximity to her. "You know, it's getting really crowded in here tonight." She looked up at Angel and then Ford. "I'm a little hot. You wanna take a walk?"

"Um, sure. That'd be nice." Ford grinned. 'Excellent. He must not mean much to her despite Xander's efforts to tell me otherwise.'

"Okay, then," Buffy glanced at Angel and then over to Xander and Willow, "I'll see you tomorrow." She brushed past Angel quickly.

"Good night," Angel grumbled. 'What the Hell is going on here?'

"Take care," Ford tossed Angel's way as he slipped past him to follow Buffy out the door.

"Okay, once more with tension." Xander continued to powder the tip of his stick. A part of him delighted at the terse expression on Angel's face. Another part of him still felt the pain of being left out of Buffy's love life.

"He just moved here?" Angel questioned.

"Yeah, and boy does he move fast." Xander stared off into the distance.

Willow constantly shifted her weight from one foot to another while she stared at the ground. "Angel, we could still play." She looked up to find Angel no longer standing at the side of the table. "See you made him do that thing where he's gone."

Xander smirked and huffed. "Like I care if Angel stays." He readied his stick to make the break on the next game. He wished Angel and Ford would both disappear.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

A lone figure extinguished the cigarette he held in-between his fingertips, and he set down the empty beer bottle. He sauntered behind the two Scoobies playing pool. With a natural stealth, he disappeared into the alleyway behind the Bronze to follow Buffy and Ford from the shadows.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"So that was your boyfriend?" Ford asked Buffy. The two of them walked down the alley behind the Bronze.

"No ... Uh yeah ... Maybe." Buffy sighed. What was Angel to her? "Can we lay off the tough questions?" She asked Ford for a bit of a reprieve over explaining Angel at the moment.

"Sorry." Ford shoved his hands in his pockets. "So, what else do you do for fun around here?"

A loud crash echoed into the alley from around the corner of the building. Buffy gripped Ford's shirt tightly. "My purse! I left my purse at the Bronze. Could you get it for me?" She asked in a bit of a panic. That noise sounded like a fight, and she had a good idea what kind of fight it was.

"Okay." Ford turned and started to walk back to the Bronze.

"Good. Run! Thanks." Buffy fidgeted. Once she was sure Ford was running back to the Bronze she took off around the corner.

A mixture of growls and sobbing stopped Ford's retreat. He headed back in the direction Buffy disappeared in. A crying girl ran past him before he reached the corner of the building. He slowly walked closer to investigate.

Ford ducked away from a flying trashcan. He watched Buffy kick and punch a vampire in the chest and face. 'Yes! This was just the opportunity I needed.' He edged closer to the fight. The vampire disappeared in a cloud of dust after a few more moves from Buffy. "Uh, what's going on?" He played up the innocent act.

"Um," Buffy stuttered. 'Shit! What am I going to say now?' She licked her lips. "There was a cat, and there was another cat. They fought, the cats, and then they left." She mentally rolled her eyes at herself. 'Smooth one there, Summers. You sound like a moron.'

"Oh, I thought you were slaying a vampire," Ford smiled with a frank tone.

"What? Whating a what?" Buffy's mouth opened wide. There was no way she heard him say what she thought she heard him say.

"I know, Buffy. You don't have to lie." Ford grinned at the ease with which he slipped into his well thought out speech. "I've been trying to figure out the right time to tell you. I know you're the Slayer."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Just like that, he told you?" Willow twirled the phone cord in-between her fingers.

"Just like that," Buffy answered over the phone. She sat on the island in her kitchen at home. "He found out right before I got booted from Hemery."

"Wow, it's neat." Willow tripped over whether or not she was saying the right thing to Buffy. "Isn't it neat?"

"Yeah, I guess it is." Buffy smiled warmly. "I don't have to constantly worry he's going to find out my dark secret." She inwardly chuckled, 'Or at least not that dark secret.'

"I'm happy for you, Buffy. I hope this makes it easier for you this time." Willow offered her support. "If you want things to work out that is."

"I don't know." Buffy rubbed her wrist absentmindedly. "Ford is a great friend, but I'm not sure I really want a boyfriend right now. My life is kind of complicated." She whimpered softly through the burning pain in her heart and wrist. The pain reminded her of why she was lonely.

"Buffy ... Buffy, are you still there?"

Willow's voice pulled Buffy back into the realm of the present. "Yeah, I'm still here, Will." She choked on the loneliness she felt. "Sometimes I feel so lonely."

"I'm here for you, Buffy." Willow offered the support of a best friend. "I'll always support you."

"Thanks, Wills. I'll see you tomorrow at school." Buffy hung up after her friend said good-bye. "Some things you just can't help me with." She hopped off the island, returned the phone to its cradle, and walked up the stairs to her bedroom.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Those would be the things that I'll help you with, Slayer." Spike's accented voice caressed the night from the other side of Buffy's back door. He stalked over to the tree that grew up to Buffy's window. He climbed halfway up, nestled himself against the trunk, and lit a cigarette. Tonight he would watch Buffy from his perch to make sure no one else came near her.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"98 ... 99 ..." A knock at her balcony door stopped Willow mid-stroke. She walked over to the door and peeked out of the blinds. Her eyes widened in surprised. She opened the door. "Oh! Angel, what are you doing here?"

"I wanted to talk to you." Angel leaned against the invisible barrier that kept uninvited vampires out of the homes of humans. He rested his hands on either side of the door frame.

"Oh ... Well ..." Willow backed up a couple steps away from the door. When Angel stood still, she asked him, "Well?"

"I can't. Unless you invite me, I can't come in." Angel tried to be patient and sound caring. How long had Willow been friends with Buffy? Surely she should remember the basics about vampires.

"Oh!" Willow slapped herself upside the head mentally. "Well, okay, I invite you to come in." She backed completely away from the door. She turned around, and she noticed her bra sitting on top of her bedspread. She quickly scooped it off the bed and hid it.

"If this is a bad time, I ..."

"No! I just ..." Willow stepped closer to Angel and whispered, "I'm not supposed to have boys in my room."

"I promise to behave myself." Willow's innocent attitude was endearing. He fought against letting loose the amused chuckle in his throat.

"Okay, good," Willow answered hastily.

"I guess I need help." Angel twisted the silver ring around on his finger several times.

"Help? You mean, like, on homework?" Willow's brow furrowed. "No, 'cause you're old, and you already know stuff."

"I want you to track someone down ... on the Net." Angel glanced at Willow's laptop.

Willow beamed. "Oh! Great! I'm so the Net girl." She was excited about helping Angel now.

Angel followed Willow over to the small desk next to her bed. "I just wanna find everything I can: records, affiliates ... I'm not even sure what I want to find."

"Great, what's the name?" Willow sat down.

"Billy Fordham," Angel's eyes never wavered from the screen as he spoke.

Willow froze. "Uh, Angel, if I say something you really don't want to hear, do you promise not to bite me?" She turned back around to face Angel.

"Are you gonna tell me that I'm jealous?" Angel knew he was angry over Buffy's brush off in the Bronze. He was also jealous of the look she got in her eyes when Spike's name was mentioned. Another boy in the mix would not work well with Angel's plans.

"Well, you do sometimes get that way." Willow only wanted to see Buffy happy. She hoped Angel wouldn't stand in the way of that happiness if Buffy chose Ford over him.

Angel shook his head back and forth. "You know, I never used to. Things used to be pretty simple." He lowered himself to sit on Willow's bed. "100 years ... just hanging out, feeling guilty really honed my brooding skills."

Willow typed away on her laptop while she listened to Angel. 'My gosh, he does brood doesn't he?' She thought to herself.

"Then she comes along." Angel sighed. "Yeah, I get jealous."

Willow turned around in her chair for a moment to offer her supportive friend face to Angel.

"But I know people, and my gut tells me this is a wrong guy."

"Okay." Willow faced her computer screen again and restarted her search for specifics on Ford. "But if there isn't anything weird ... Hey, that's weird." She frowned.

"What?" Angel sat up straighter behind Willow.

"I just checked the school records, and he's not in them." Willow punched in a couple more commands. "I mean, usually they transfer your grades, but he's not even registered."

Angel stood up next to Willow. He read the search page on the screen. "You said he was in school with you guys, right?"

"Let me see if I can ..." Willow was cut off by her mother's call from the hall. "Willow, are you still up?"

"Go!" Willow panicked. She pushed Angel towards the door. "Um, I'm just going to bed now, Mom!" She held the door open for Angel. "Come by tomorrow at sunset. I'll keep looking."

"Don't tell Buffy what we're doing." Angel evened his gaze on Willow. "If Buffy knows we're investigating her friend, she'll try to stop us. We have to find the truth to protect her."

"You want me to lie to her? It's Buffy!"

Angel sighed. Sometimes he wanted to strangle humans because of their ultimate sense of black and white. Why couldn't they see the gray areas? "Just don't bring it up till we know what's what."

"Okay, it's probably nothing anyways." Willow fidgeted.

"That'd be nice." Even if the words came out of his mouth, Angel refused to be satisfied with anything but the information he needed to remove Ford from Buffy's life.

Willow closed the door. She paced around her bedroom in her pink and gray bunny slippers for another 15 minutes before she was settled down enough to attempt going to bed.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

(To Be Continued)