Elseworlds: Fallen Angel
by Lady Raven

If you really like reading disclaimers, I wrote the whole thing out in parts 1 and 3, and a short version in part 5. BTW, to answer a popular question, while other characters in the Buffyverse will be appearing, I'm not planning to put any other Slayerettes into this-I have to save some things for the sequel! (Which won't be for quite a while-I have to finish this first!)

Part Seven


Angel told her absently "I think he was just born that way, Dru." He looked at the familiar handwriting and sighed. "What's it about?"

William shrugged and replied "Nothing big. Snyder caught Dru reading tea leaves in the lunchroom again, and went nuts."

Angel rolled his eyes and muttered something about power-addicted trolls, and Buffy decided this was something she really shouldn't get involved in. She turned to Angel and asked, "Are we finished for the day?"

Giles had entered the library, unnoticed by any of the others, and added "Will Miss Summers be staying here?"

"No, Miss Summers will not" Buffy told him. She turned to Angel and added "I'll work on this over the weekend, and I'll come back Monday, if that suits you?" Angel nodded, and Buffy told William and Drusilla "It was nice to meet you, maybe we'll see each other again."

"We will, very soon" Drusilla replied, giving her a sweet, strangely disturbing smile.

Buffy smiled back and walked to the door, Angel beside her. He helped her on with her coat, escorted her out the door and to her car. "You don't have to see me to the gate" Buffy said with a smile.

"Just making sure you get off safely" Angel replied.

Buffy started the car...or rather, she tried to. Nothing happened. She turned the key again. Still nothing. She popped the hood, and got out to have a look. Angel opened the hood wide, and held it in one hand. As Buffy came to stand beside him, Angel said in a quiet voice "I think you're going to have to stay the night, after all."

Buffy stared down at the car engine. Every wire that could be pulled out, had been. It would take hours for a skilled mechanic to fix, and she wasn't. "I think you're right" she said.

After one last look at the damage, Buffy followed Angel back inside. Giles, William and Drusilla were coming out of the library, and they stopped in surprise.

"Looks like I'm staying after all" Buffy told them. "Someone wrecked my car."

Giles said "How awful. Can I call a mechanic for you?"

"No point until Monday. It's going to take hours."

"Very well" Giles replied. He asked Angel "Which room would you like me to prepare?"

"I think Buffy would like the green room" Angel told him.

Giles gave Angel another significant look, and nodded. Wondering if she was missing something here, Buffy asked "The green room?"

"It's very nice" Drusilla chimed in. "It's near all of us." She looked at Buffy and said, "I think you might fit into one of my nightgowns, would you like to borrow one?"

"I appreciate the offer, but it isn't necessary" Buffy said. "I get called out on short notice quite a lot, so I keep an overnight case in the trunk of my car. I'll just go get it."

"Very well. Angel?" Giles asked. Angel recognized the tone, and meekly followed him, as Buffy went back out to her car.

William looked at Dru and grinned. All three of them were familiar with that particular tone. When Giles used it, he was obeyed without question. Angel might be a grown adult, but the three children Giles had raised would react to that voice until death.

"Looks like Giles is gonna have a 'Talk' with Angel. You think it's about Buffy? She didn't seem like Angel's usual type-she acts like she has a brain."

"She's more than that" Dru replied in a sing-song voice.

"What do you mean, Dru?" William asked.

"Buffy is what Angel's been looking for all his life" Dru told him. "She's the piece he didn't know he was missing. She's going to be part of our family."

William looked at Dru thoughtfully. Drusilla had first told him she could see the future when they were eleven years old, shortly before his and Angel's father died. He still wasn't completely convinced, but he did believe that Dru could see things that others didn't.

"Well, let's wait and see, huh, ducks? You wait here for our new family member, and I'm gonna go upstairs and change."

"All right, Spike" Drusilla told him. She watched William run up the stairs, and then turned to greet Buffy.

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Giles pointed at the kitchen table and Angel obediently sat. Giles put on the kettle for tea, and Angel sighed inwardly. This was going to be serious. When Giles put the teapot on the table to steep, Angel automatically laid out the cups, milk jug and sugar. He, Spike, Dru, and Giles might act out the master/servant attitudes for the public as they had for his father, but when the family was alone, they acted like just that; a family.

Giles poured the tea for both of them, and the two men each added milk and sugar, then sipped to check the taste. They both then put the cups down in the saucers. Giles then nailed Angel to his seat with a look, and asked bluntly "Who is Buffy Summers really, and what are you trying to do?"

Angel sighed again. He should have known that Giles wouldn't be fooled. "She's a private detective. I hired her to find out who stole the Fallen Angel."

"Of course" Giles said thoughtfully. "She's the detective who saved Benjy Forrester's hide last year, isn't she? When he lost those government papers?"

"Yeah, how did you know? I can count on one hand the number of people Benjy told about that-and we were all sworn to secrecy."

"Adamson" Giles told him. At Angel's slightly astonished look, he smiled and added, "Yes, butlers have a grapevine too. To answer my second question, what are you up to?"

Angel opened his mouth, looked Giles in the eye, and closed it. He looked down into his teacup, and said "Really? I'm not sure. The second I looked at her, it was like an electric shock. All she has to do is look at me and my head starts to spin. I don't know what's happening to me, Giles, no woman's affected me even remotely like this since-" Angel broke off, upset.

"You don't have to say it, Angel, I know" Giles told him gently. Her name hadn't been spoken aloud since Angel was eighteen. Only Giles knew the full emotional agony that Angel had gone through, the determination and sheer strength of will it had taken, to turn his despair and depression into the ice-cold desire for success that had rebuilt the Roarke fortunes. The Fallen Angel had cursed him in love, but blessed him as far as money was concerned.


 

Part Eight Forthcoming


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