My Dearest Elizabeth,

If you’re reading this, then Mr. Dreyfuss was successful in locating you. I know you must have a lot of questions, the biggest one probably being ‘where the hell have I been’. Trust me to say that all of your questions will be answered soon.

Please, take the airline tickets and Dawn and leave California. After everything you’ve been through with first losing your Mom and then the Hellmouth, think of this as a vacation of sorts. The keys are for two different buildings. One set is for the hotel which I remodeled extensively just for you and your sister, which you now own. The 2nd set is for the nightclub, which you now also own.

I’m sorry I am unable to answer any of your questions at the moment, but suffice it to say that I wish I could be there to welcome you home but that I am just unable to leave with matters of my personal life being as tied up as they are. The bank cards and pin numbers are included. Feel free to change your numbers as you see fit as the money is yours. I will be in contact soon and the 3 of us can sit down and discuss this at length.

Your Loving Father,

Hank

PS I’m sorry about not attending Joyce’s funeral. I still loved your mother very much.


Angel refolded the letter into thirds, handing it back to a silent Buffy. After talking for a bit, in between bites of chili and sips of cocoa, Buffy’s voice took on a chill when she spoke of the letter, before handing it to him to read.

“All the documents look authentic, Buff. If you want, I can take them over to W&H to have one of the lawyers look them over just to be sure, but to me it seems as if Hank has suddenly made you pretty well off financially,” Angel said quietly, looking up from the letter she was now gripping in her hands.

“Think you can have someone look at it tonight,” she asked quietly?

“Tonight?! Buffy, its 1:30 in the morning. It can’t wait until normal hours?!” he asked, surprised at her request.

“Tomorrow morning I have a meeting with Mr. Dreyfuss and I want to be prepared, just in case.” Pausing a moment, Buffy looked at Angel, staring into his eyes before continuing; “I told him that my father better be there as well.”

“Do you think this is a good idea right now Buffy? You’re not seriously considering going all the way to Florida are you??”

“I don’t know right now Angel. I just don’t know. I’m running on empty here and I don’t know what to think,” her voice tight as she stood up suddenly, pacing the floor in front of him, becoming more agitated by the second, her voice raising and strained to his ears.

“What am I supposed to do Angel? Tell me that because right now I really don’t know. A few days ago I’m facing the First Evil and I’m watching girls drop around me left and right, dying, and for what? What is the point? And now all of a sudden my father decides he wants to be a part of my life and he knows all about the Hellmouth which means what? That he knows all about me being the Slayer? That he knows Dawn is a key? And if so, is that why he left us? There are so many things going through my mind that I feel like my head is going to explode,” and with that Buffy stops her pacing, standing in front of the dark vampire staring at him, looking very much like a lost little girl.

“So tell me, one Hellmouth gets closed for business. All those homes and those people, gone forever. Everything I’ve known for the last 8 years of my life is just gone and why? We stood there, on that cliff and all of those demons, just kept coming and coming. Girls that I was supposed to protect are gone and they were so young Angel! Some of them hadn’t ever gotten to really experience life and now they will never get to! And Spike! I know you don’t care for him, but I do! I love him Angel and he never knew that! All he did was love me and he took everything I dished out and he stayed. He forgave me time after time and accepted crumbs, never asking for anything more and I know you don’t think he was good enough for me but the truth of the matter is that I wasn’t good enough for him! He took care of Dawnie when I was dead and he did it because he loved me and I tried to tell him that I loved him but it was too late and he didn’t believe me and now it’s too late and he will never know! He sacrificed himself for all of us and it’s because of him the Hellmouth was closed and why? For what? Because now another one is open and everyone is still looking to me to make it all better and I can’t! I can’t do it anymore Angel. Not alone. Spike was by my side every night patrolling with me, even when I told him to go away! He loved me! He loved me and now it’s too late!” and with that, Buffy’s voice broke, choking on tears she was trying not to cry when she whispered “He will never know that I love him too!”

Her chest heaving, Buffy burst into tears, her knees unable to hold her up any longer and as she sank to the floor, Angel moved quickly from the bed he still sat on and took her into his arms once more and sank to the floor with her, holding her as she sobbed against his chest, his eyes closed tight against the bleeding emotion of her agony.

The door opening behind her, Xander and Willow peered in and Angel stared at them over the top of Buffy’s crumbled body in his arms, a barely imperceptible shake of his head and they backed out as quietly as they came, closing the door behind them.

For what seemed like endless minutes she sobbed hard; her breaths starved and gasping, her tears hot and soaking the shoulder and chest of his jersey and silently, Angel rocked her, his mouth close to her ear as he made soft shhhh sounds. After some time her sobs gave way to quieter tears and then to hiccups and still he rocked her much the same as he had the night before.

Angel spoke quietly in her ear, his voice raw with emotion. “I’ll get you your information tonight. I will make some calls and tomorrow morning, I will meet you at the lawyer’s office and together we’ll see if we can’t figure this out.”


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“Put me through to Morgan’s private line now,” Angel barked into the phone. He had left Buffy 30 minutes ago, wrung out and sleeping and immediately he came back to his office at Wolfram and Hart, pacing and wanting to destroy something.

Hearing the whirr click of the line connecting, John Morgan barely said hello before Angel was issuing his orders.

“I’m about to fax you a whole mess of papers John and its up to you to decipher everything and tell me if they’re legit or not. I want them gone over with a fine-toothed comb. Look for clauses and loopholes and Gotti even. I don’t want anything missed. While you’re at it, I want everything you can find on two men. One is a lawyer here in LA named Alec Dreyfuss. The other is a man named Hank Summers.”

“Should I even ask boss?” Morgan replied, a tinge of his Aussie accent coming through since he was only half awake, Angel’s call having yanked him out of a sound, scotch-induced sleep.

“I’ll fill you in later. Just get me all of the information you can and John? I need it as of yesterday,” Angel spoke firmly.

“Will do boss,” and with that Angel placed the phone back in its cradle. Turning around to face the row of windows behind his desk, Angel stared out over LA, his eyes not seeing the skyline, but Buffy’s face when she professed her love for his grandchilde.

Remembering her words, Angel felt his chest tighten painfully and suddenly he roared out, his demon coming to the fore, and he spun around shoving everything off of his desk in one large swipe before picking up his chair and throwing it across the room to smash into the wall. Pounding his fists down on top of his desk, the thick glass overlay cracked beneath every landing of his fists before it completely cobwebbed and then shattered into sparkling diamonds as he shoved that too across the desk and onto the floor.

Even though he didn’t need the air, he was breathing heavily, his tirade ending just as quickly as it began. Closing his golden eyes, Angel leaned down supporting himself on rigid arms; his bloodied hands still balled into fists on top of his desk. Still simmering with the turmoil inside him, his voice was rough, quiet, as he spoke aloud to a girl that was sleeping in a hotel suite 10 miles away.

“That’s not your love to give to him.”


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“I don’t know if it would be wise to try to spend any of that money yet Dawn. We’re checking to make sure it’s legitimate…” and Giles trailed off realizing the bouncy teen wasn’t even listening to him. “Why do I even bother,” he groused, acting every bit the wounded Father.

The phone rang just then and he stepped over to find Angel on the other line.

“Giles, its Angel. I have the information Buffy asked for about the legitimacies of the properties and such. I had one of the lawyers here take a look at everything and you’ll be surprised at what we found. I also took the liberty of calling that Dreyfuss guy and moved the meeting over here to Wolfram & Hart since Buffy wanted me to be in on it.”

“What were you able to find out,” Giles asked, somewhat surprised that Buffy asked for Angel’s involvement.

“A lot. I’ll fill you both in when you get here, but let’s just say that right now, Buffy won’t have to worry about much of anything in providing for Dawn. Be here at 9:30 and we’ll talk before the meeting with Dreyfuss and Hank at 10:30.”

A bit peeved that Angel was ordering him about like one of his lackeys, Giles simply agreed to Angel’s instructions before hanging up and going off to inform Buffy.