Roomies

Disclaimer: The characters of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel: the Series Universes (Angel, Cordelia, Spike, Xander, Doyle, etc…) are the creation of Joss Whedon and are, therefore, the property of him, Mutant Enemy (Grr, Arg), and 20th Century Fox (and all other affiliated parties). No money is gained from this work as it is created purely for the enjoyment of others. Please do not sue.

AN: Constructive criticism and friendly fedback are always appreciated. Flames will be used to warm my toes.


~Part 28: Badness as Prophesized By the Mutant Ninja Demon~


Doyle walked into the office, took one look at the array of sullen faces and said, “I take it Angel’s back th’n?”

He received a nasty look from Cordelia and a muttered “Yah think?” from Xander before the room fell silent once again.

Spike seemed to be taking what little comfort he could from wrapping his arms around Cordelia and pointedly not looking through the window into the private office. Cordelia was making a valiant attempt to appear as if she was reading the magazine that lay open in front of her even though her eyes would flicker in the direction of the office every few moments.

“Wha’ time did ‘e ge’ ‘ere?” Doyle asked, peeking through the window in time to see the vampire place an old wind up clock on his desk and then roll a pencil across the surface of the desk.

Xander shrugged as he came to stand next to Doyle. “I’m guessing last night or this morning. I mean, we didn’t get out of here until ten so…”

“Was late last night,” Spike supplied gruffly, his voice barely loud enough to be heard by the two other men.

“And?” Doyle asked over his shoulder. His gaze must have unsettled the vampire because Spike tore away from Cordelia.

He began pacing the length of the room; his duster snapping behind him with every turn. After a moment, he began to pat down his pockets. It didn’t take long for him to locate his packet of smokes and light one. He took a long inhale and let the nicotine rush ease some of the tension out of his muscles. Finally he answered saying, “And he seemed bloody peachy.”

“Bu’ ‘e saw Buffy,” Doyle stated needlessly. He winced when the tension that had left Spike returned immediately upon mention of the slayer.

“Doyle’s right,” Xander stated. “Wonder Gel was in Sunnydale for twenty-four hours tracking her and that whatsamacallit Doyle saw in his vision.”

He leaned down and looked through the same window that Doyle had. He watched as Angel crouched down in front of his desk and studied the edge intently. With a sigh he offered, “There should be country music angst here, people… Or at least a scowl and some brooding. I’ve a feeling Buffy’s gunna be coming to town.”

“Really?” Doyle asked. “Bu’ ‘e’s over ‘er.”

Xander shook his head as he rested a hand on Doyle’s shoulder. He ignored the shiver that he felt travel beneath his fingers. In a solemn voice, he said, “You’ve much to learn, young Padiwan.”

Cordelia wandered over to them and swatted Xander across the shoulder. “Give it a rest Xander,” she said crossly as she leaned down to see what Angel was doing.

“Oh my gods!” she gasped. She jerked back and ran for the office door so fast that none of the males had a chance to stop her before she went careening into the other room yelling, “Don’t do it, Angel.”

Doyle, caught up in Cordelia’s hysteria at the sight of the stake in Angel’s hand, said, “Listen ta me, man. It’s nawt worth it.”

“It’s not?” Angel asked, his face a picture of confusion. He held his stake between limp fingers.

“No!” Cordelia exclaimed. Her face was awash with conflicting emotions. Behind her, Spike finally wandered into the room utterly nonchalant, not giving a single emotion away.

“As much as I hate to admit this, you shouldn’t let Buffy get to you,” Xander stated. He stood as close to the door as he could get, obviously not wanting to be any closer to Angel then he had to be. “You’ve got Spike and Cordy now. You’re over her and you just need to give her a little more time so that she can get over you.”

“Why don’ yah gimme tha’?” Doyle asked, motioning towards the stake.

“Because I need it to level my desk; the floor’s uneven,” Angel stated slowly, as if speaking to a child. He bent down and wedged the tip of the stake underneath the leg of the desk that he was standing next to. He leveled a worried look at Cordelia and asked, “You thought…?”

“Doyle did!” Cordelia replied a touch faster than necessary. She painted a fake grin on her face before continuing, “You know how he always jumps to conclusions.”

She gave a nervous laugh and sent a look Spike’s way. A moment later the blonde stated, less than enthusiastically, “’Cause you saw Slutty.”

“It wasn’t a social call,” Angel said softly. He met first Spike’s eye then Cordelia’s before saying, “I was there to protect her. I stayed out of sight and she didn’t even know I was there.”

“Really?” Cordelia asked.

Angel nodded, a soft smile playing on his lips.

“So you avoided her?” Spike asked.

“Look,” Angel said, “Buffy will always be a part of me and that’s never going to change. I’m not going to lie to you and say that I didn’t lover her, because I did. But I’ve got you two now. I *love* you two. Buffy and I have said our good-byes. No need to stir any of this up again.”

“So there’s no ‘stirring’?” Cordelia asked. “Well… if one of my exes came into town, had a stalking binge and then left without even saying hello, I’d be—”

“A little upset that Spike spilt coffee all over my new comic!” Xander exclaimed. Suddenly, he changed gears and said, “It’s Buffy! Hey, Buff-ster, how are you? When did you get in town? Why you here?”

Buffy was grinning at Xander as she stepped through the door and into the office. “I came to see you, actually.”

“Me?” Xander asked incredulously. “Really?”

Buffy nodded. “We all miss you and when Giles told me that I should take a bit of a vacation the first person who came to mind was you. Of course my mom thinks I’m here to see my dad.”

Xander grinned and gave Buffy a quick hug. Once the hug was over, he took a step back and waited. Buffy shifted from one foot to the other, she eyes wandering in Angel’s direction before quickly settling elsewhere.

“What a surprise!” Cordelia suddenly stated. She gave a lame laugh and linked her hands behind her back so that Buffy wouldn’t see their nervous trembling.

“Cordelia,” Buffy said, as if just seeing her. “How are you?”

“Good!” Cordelia said quickly. “I’m good. You?”

“I’ve been worse.”

“Uh huh,” Cordelia muttered. “Well… And you remember Spike who can’t eat people now, so you won’t stake him.”

“Hope you di—”

“And this is us leaving,” Cordelia stated as she dragged Spike in the direction of the elevator.

“Well, that was fun,” Buffy said, still looking slightly confused at Cordelia’s lightning fast escape. Her eyes fell on Doyle and she frowned. “Hey, aren’t you that guy—?”

“Fr’m th’Bronze?” Doyle asked. At Buffy’s confused nod, he replied simply, “Yeah.”

“Doyle has visions,” Angel stated. “He saw Xander in one and that was why we went to Sunnydale in the first place. Later he had another one and that’s why Xander came to LA.”

“And the whole, ‘I’ve got the hots for you’ thing?” Buffy asked.

Doyle shrugged. “Got ‘is attention, didn’ it?”

Buffy nodded slowly before turning to face Xander once again. “So… what happened to your eye?”

Xander rubbed his eye self consciously before saying, “Casualty of war. My dad wasn’t too impressed with my gun shot decision to leave town. I can still see… it’s just dimmer.”

Buffy nodded, her features relaying her sorrow. “I’m sorry—”

“Hey,” Xander said, “don’t worry about it. I’ve got it taken care of. Remember, you’re the vampire Slayer not the ‘bad parent’ Slayer.”

Once again Buffy nodded. She opened her mouth to say something else but was interrupted by the window shattering and a green demon, sporting a long samurai sword, jumping into the room.

Angel, being closest to the demon attacked it immediately. He was quickly kicked down as the demon left out a grating growl.

“Angel!” Buffy called out.

“The end of days has begun,” the demon stated as the four of them stared at him in wonder, “and cannot be stopped.”

Buffy launched herself at the demon. She managed to get a few good punches in before she was neatly tossed aside.

“For any one of us that falls, ten shall rise.” The demon, who had managed to corner and keep Angel down, held its sword over the vampire’s chest with both hands and was about to plunge it down when Doyle ran into his side.

The two of them went careening into a book case. The demon got to its feet faster than Doyle could and grabbed the Irishman by the throat. He pulled out a mace and held it threateningly. “A great darkness is coming.”

Angel pulled himself up and faced the demon. At his side, Buffy stood panting but uninjured. As one, they shot foreword. Angel grabbed Doyle while Buffy kicked the mace from the demon’s hand.

“Together, you are powerful,” the demon stated. “Alone, you are dead.”

There was a flurry of action as Buffy and Angel took turns attacking the demon. Neither of them were having any luck. The demon was incredibly strong and any hit that they made against it seemed only to affect it for a moment before it was once again as strong as it had been to begin with.

Xander recovered from his shock at the sight of the demon slowly. He felt as if he was fighting his way through a tub of cotton candy. When he finally managed pull himself together, Buffy had kicked the demon hard across the face.

“This is the great warrior of darkness?” she asked.

The demon flew at her. Angel grabbed it around the shoulders only to be flung away and kept out of the battle by the intense glare of sunlight blocking him into a corner. Xander looked around frantically until his eyes caught on the mace lying on the floor at his feet. He hefted the wood and metal weapon up and tested the weight of it in his hands.

The demon had a handful of Doyle’s hair. It used its hold to drag the half demon over to wall and smash his face against it repeatedly.

“What do you think of the great warrior now?” it rumbled out as it surveyed the room with an air of confidence.

“You hurt my potential boyfriend,” Xander growled as he approached the demon, “I think you’re dead.”

With that said, Xander swung his mace wildly. He hit the demon across the temple and twice on the shoulders. The hits were hard enough to convince it to release the hold it had on Doyle. Doyle slumped in a boneless heap at the demon’s feet.

Xander let loose a crazed yell and swung his mace with every ounce of his strength. It connected solidly with the jewel in the middle of the demon’s forehead. There was a sound of shattering glass and the mace dropped to the ground. The demon gave a blood curdling scream before it was engulfed in a brilliant ruby red light.

When the light dimmed, the only thing left to prove the demon’s presence was the broken window and the weapons it had lost during the battle.

Xander helped Doyle to his feet and the half demon groaned as he reentered consciousness. “You okay?” he asked softly.

“Wow, Xand, that was amazing,” Buffy said from her spot by the door. She walked over and helped him manhandle Doyle into a chair before asking, “How’d you know how to kill it?”

Xander shrugged. “I was frightened guy with a mace.”

Buffy nodded slowly. “Did I really hear what I think I heard?”

“The ugly mutant ninja demon prophesized a big badness?” Xander supplied brightly. He picked up the mace and placed on the closest flat surface. “I think he was gloating a little bit there too.”

For a moment, Buffy just looked at him before shaking her head and grabbing the samurai sword that had been kicked underneath the desk. “It sounded like some kind of not fun fight is being planned,” she agreed.

“Uh… guys?” Angel asked. “As much as we should be paying attention to what our friend, the green man, had to say, could we work on getting me out of the corner?”

Buffy turned to Xander. “Want to go for lunch?”

Xander shrugged and turned to Doyle. “You going to be okay?”

Doyle nodded, holding his head and not even attempting to stand up. “Yeah. Go. ‘Ave fun wi’h yer friend.”

With grin and a quick shoulder squeeze, Xander headed out the door with Buffy in tow. As they wandered out Xander said, “So, did you have a fun Thanksgiving?”