SquidgeWorld Archive

Chapter Text

Part 1

He'd done it again. He'd called Giles and said he'd needed Willow to help with some pretty powerful magic. It supposedly had to do with an old enemy from Wolfram and Hart who left the year before after helping the AI team.

This guy knew how to put a big dent in Wolfram & Hart's power, if he had a powerful witch to help him. At least that was the story Angel told Giles.

Willow was doing so well with getting over Angel. After that first gut wrenching step of telling him no, it became easier and easier to live without him in her life. She knew she wasn't completely over him yet, because her stomach jumped into her throat when Giles told her to prepare to leave for LA. It's not like she could explain to Giles why she didn't want to go. So, she did the next best thing.

She asked Buffy to go with her.

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The dark haired vampire paced the lobby of the Hyperion. There was so much on his mind. First, there was Lindsey McDonald. How did HE get a plan to crush the W&H Los Angeles office? Angel just assumed *he'd* be the one to come up with the plan to take down Wolfram and Hart. Not Lindsey McDonald.

Second, there was Willow. Beautiful, intelligent Willow. Did he really treat her so horribly?

The lawyer sat on one of the couches in the lobby looking over notes with Fred and Wesley. They were discussing the possible dangers of routes through the law firm. Lindsey wondered for the hundredth time that day why he decided to go to Angel with this information. The arrogant asshole was only thinking of himself instead of how to help take down Wolfram and Hart. Who cares if Lindsey was the one who thought of it? The end result would be the same. But, Angel was pouting because he didn't come up with the idea.

Lindsey wondered if the witch would be powerful enough for this to work. They said she was one of the most powerful witches in the world and not even 21 years old. Well, he'd find out soon enough.

Just then, Gunn walked in and kissed his girlfriend, Cordelia. She smiled at him and hugged him.

"What are you so chipper about?" The seer asked.

"I was about a block away when I was attacked by these vamps." The good-looking young man said. "Then, next thing I knew, I was fighting side by side with someone I never thought I'd meet."

"Okay, I'm curious." Cordelia said, as everyone else looked to the young warrior for the rest of his tale.

"Me." A voice at the door stated.

"Buffy." Angel said, surprised his witch brought the slayer.

Willow walked in behind the slayer. "Hey guys." The hacker said with a smile.

"Wills! You made it!" Cordelia said as she jumped up to hug her friend.

"Yep." Willow replied as casually as possible without looking at the dark haired vampire. "Just point me to the magic-type stuff and I'm all over it!"

"Willow, this is Lindsey McDonald." Wesley said as Lindsey stood and looked at the lovely young woman behind the blonde. "He'll be helping you with the spell." Willow honestly believed she'd never seen eyes more beautiful in her entire 20 years of life. Wesley continued the introductions. "And this is Buffy Summers, the slayer."

"I kind of figured as much." The blue-eyed Texan said as he shook Buffy's hand. "Nice to meet you." The speechless Buffy just smiled and nodded at the gorgeous lawyer. He then walked to Willow. "You should hear all of the compliments your friends have given about you, your magic, and your computer skills, Miss Rosenberg."

"Really?" She asked, thinking Cordelia would've been the first to remind everyone of her previously backfired spells. "And please, call me Willow." He smiled brighter when the young hacker made the suggestion.

Gunn tried to ignore the growl emanating from his boss, but it continued to increase in volume. Wesley and Fred looked at Cordelia who was trying to hold in a laugh. Cordy figured out what was going on with Angel and Willow months ago, but kept it to herself. She hated the way the vampire treated her friend like a piece of meat. She couldn't believe Angel would use Willow, of all people the way that he did. Willow was too wonderful a person in the former May Queen's opinion.

Cordy finally put two and two together and figured out that Angel didn't get his easy piece of ass when he was in Sunnydale last month because he'd been really grouchy recently. She also figured out that her friend got smart and dumped him completely. ~Way to go, Wills!~ she thought proudly.

"Okay," Buffy announced with a smirk. "Either somebody's really hungry, or our resident vamp is about to have a temper tantrum." Everyone looked at Angel, who then realized he was growling. "Something wrong?" The slayer asked slyly.

"No, n-nothing's wrong." Angel replied. "Let's get started." He sneaked one last look at Willow who was deep in conversation with Lindsey yet again. He wondered what Willow could possibly have in common with that little slime ball.

A few hours later, everyone decided to take a dinner break. After eating the Chinese food delivery, Angel got up and decided to make his way to Willow before they got back to work. He needed to talk to her. The vampire's stealthy moves didn't hide his actions from Cordelia.

"Angel, since you're up, could you help me bring these leftovers to the kitchen?" She asked sweetly with a look that dared him to say no. Once they were out of hearing range, the ex-cheerleader spoke. "Go near her and I will stake you myself." She said calmly, but stern. Angel looked at her in shock. "You don't think I know what you've been doing? The way you've been treating her? I'm just glad she finally wised up to the way you were using her like she was just something to do!" The vampire tried to speak, but Cordelia didn't let him. "She's such a caring, intelligent, amazing, and very beautiful woman. I'll never understand how she let you get away with it for so long."

"Cordy, you don't understand..."

"No, YOU don't understand." Cordelia retorted. "You had your chance and you blew it. You took her for granted and you lost her. That's YOUR fault. It looks like she's moving on. Deal with it." The seer stormed off to the kitchen and deposited the food she was carrying. Angel followed and did the same.

He stood in the kitchen for a while longer and thought about everything that had happened in the past few months. He really had done all of the things Willow and Cordelia accused him of.

He knew he had reverted to his human self, using her for sex and nothing more. How could he show her how sorry he was?

Meanwhile...

Willow understood the entire process she and Lindsey would need to go through in order for this plan to work. She and Lindsey had gone over it 4 times and were now just chit-chatting about their lives and the things they had in common.

Buffy smiled at the two before it dawned on her that it was the first time she'd seen Willow in such a good mood in months. Next, she noticed Cordelia return to the room and went to her. "Hey, can we talk for a second?"

Cordelia looked at the slayer with suspicion, but only saw concern in the slayer's hazel eyes. Cordelia quietly led her to Wesley's office and shut the door.

"Something's going on here, and I bet the farm you know what it is." The blonde stated.

"It's not my place to say, Buffy." Cordy replied.

"It's been going on for months, hasn't it?"

The seer just nodded.

"He barely said two words to her when he was in Sunnydale last month." The slayer observed. "And after that, she was even more down."

"I bet he talked to you the entire time, didn't he?" Cordy said as more of a statement than a question.

"Yeah." Buffy said softly. "She really didn't want to come here, Cordy. I could see it in her eyes." The slayer continued her realization with unshed tears coming to her eyes. "And that's why he's been sending for her. Wes could've done a lot of that magic."

Again, Cordelia only nodded.

The two were silent for a few moments.

"She's been doing great these past few weeks." The blonde stated. "She's smiling again. Real smiles, Cordy."

"Well, we just have to make sure she continues on that road." Cordelia agreed. "Deal?" The two shook hands and giggled. "Wait a minute. Who's out there to protect her from him now?"

The two women ran out of the office to the lobby.