CHAPTER TWO

“Hey Charlie!”

A grin spread over Gunn’s face as a familiar voice rang out across the upstairs lobby, and he turned from Harmony’s desk to wave to the person approaching him. His grin widened as he noticed the people with the dark-haired Vampire Slayer: one of them was the red-headed, completely badass Wicca, Willow. Next to her stood an unknown brunette girl, her arms wrapped tightly around her chest and her eyes switching from one employee to another... Kennedy?

“How’s it hanging?” Faith yelled, leading to the others toward him, her volume causing many of the other people in the lobby to turn, startled, to stare at her. She smiled, flashing them all her teeth, before winking teasingly at Gunn.

“Hey, girl!” Gunn slid into his old persona, one that both Faith and Willow would recognise: that od a street smart, wise cracking thug. “What you been up to?”

“Oh you know, G. Savin’ the world and all that.” Faith shrugged nonchalantly as she slapped his hand in greeting. “Look at you, rockin’ the office wear.”

“Nothin’ huge, then?” Gunn laughed, turning to smile warmly at the witch standing behind the Slayer. “Yeah, gotta look the part to scare the employees, you know? Willow, how are you?”

“Hey Gunn, I’m... okay.” She grimaced and shrugged in the direction of Gunn’s office, where Buffy’s voice could be heard coming out muffled through the wood of the door. “this is Kennedy. Kennedy, this is Gunn. He worked with Angel at the Hyperion before he upgraded from Hotel to—“

“Hell?” Kennedy suggested, her eyes shifting between Gunn and a passing employee. “Gun, huh? Weird name.”

“Charles Gunn. Two n’s,” Gunn grinned, holding up two fingers before extending his hand. Kennedy paused before gripping it, quickly withdrawing her hand. She even went so far as to wipe it on her jeans. Cocking an eyebrow in amusement, Gunn beckoned to the vampire dithering behind him at her desk. “Don’t worry, I’m not evil. Most of us aren’t. We really are working on makin’ a difference here.”

“Yeah, they ain’t all bad, Boarding-School.” Faith laughed, punching the other girl’s shoulder playfully. “Hell, I worked for good ol’ Wolfram and Hart back in the day. If I hadn’t been hired to kill Angel, I never would have headed down that sweet road o’ redemption.”

Kennedy frowned at Faith, but said nothing.

“Be nice,” Willow chastised her girlfriend playfully. “Sorry, Gunn. Kennedy’s—“

“A Slayer.” The girl supplied, lifting her chin defiantly.

“What can I do for you?” Harmony asked brightly, sidling up in shocking pink. “Oh my God! Willow? What are you doing here? I heard about the whole turning-evil-and-try-to-destroy-the-world thing last year, but I figured you were dead or something!”

“Hi Harmony... No, I’m still alive.” Willow assured her shakily, trying to smile at the vamp despite the blush spreading over her cheeks- courtesy of the bewildered and amused stares she was being treated to by Faith and Kennedy. “You’re... you’re Angel’s secretary?”

“Hello? Assistant!” Harmony corrected with an imperious toss of her hair. “I’ve been off the human blood for months now. Oh!” The others jumped. “I should probably apologise for the whole biting you thing.... Who are you?” Her attention turned questioningly to the other two women.

“This is Faith and Kennedy.” Willow explained, pointing to each girl in turn. She couldn’t help but speak more slowly when addressing Harmony, even if she was still shaken by the abrupt changes in tangents. She didn’t bother waiting for that apology. “They’re—“

“Vampire Slayers,” Kennedy declared haughtily, glaring at the blonde. The vampire turned pale.

“Oh, right! I heard about that whole now-everybody’s-a-Slayer-but-me thing.” Harmony prattled, talking even faster out of nerves.

“Harmony,” Gunn interjected.

“I think it’s strange, don’t you? I mean...”

“Harmony.”

“...If the Slayer is supposed to be so powerful, why would she need backup? She should just—“

“Harmony!”

“What?” She wined, indignant.

“Go get. Our guests. A drink.” Gunn suggested slowly, pronouncing each word carefully. “We’ll be in my ...” He glanced at his office door, the noise behind it still steadily getting louder. If they started throwing his stuff around, he was not going to be happy. “Or rather, we’ll be in Angel’s office.”

Offering the other, still human girls a warm smile, he led the way, leaving Harmony behind them.

“I was getting to that.” Harmony pouted, turning back to her desk, mumbling something about pushy lawyers.

Gripping Kennedy’s hand comfortingly, Willow trailed behind the happily chatting Faith and Gunn, searching the cesspool for familiar faces. No Wesley, no Fred, no...

“Will, what’s wrong?” Kennedy asked, her movement pulled up short by Willow’s abrupt stop.

“Huh? Oh, nothing,” the redhead gave her girlfriend a small, distracted smile despite the worried crease between her brows. “Nothing, I just.. It’s fine.”

Staring down the hall a few moments longer, the witch let herself be led into Angel’s office, her eyes still fixed on the wall at the end of the corridor.

“Gunn?” she asked as Harmony left the audience, tea and coffee set on the table in front of her. “Is it possible that this building is haunted?”

*                             *                             *                             *                             *                             *                             *
 
“Buff— What?” Spike faltered, staring around him. He had been in the office, self-indulgently watching the Slayer begin a tirade against Angel, the Great and Mighty Poof. Then suddenly, he’d seen a flash of what he thought was the hallway, and now... now he was surrounded by shiny metal and chrome, flashing lights and chemicals. He was back in the lab.

“Spike?” A sweet, Texan voice questioned, and Spike turned to see the scientist... Fred... staring at him, along with several others- people he guessed worked for the chit. “What are you... did you disappear again?”

“Looks that way,” Spike murmured, before suddenly spinning around, and tried to overturn the nearest bench, a feral roar erupting from him. Instead of the chaos of broken glass, possible explosions and loud noises he meant to create, his hands passed ineffectually through the table, and he growled in frustration. Turning away, Spike clenched his jaw and closed his eyes, running a hand through his hair.

Fred jumped as Spike roared, stumbling backwards instinctively. She knew he couldn’t hurt them, but she still watched cautiously as he turned away from the destruction he had failed to cause. When she heard him draw a rattling, unneeded breath, she gestured for the others to leave.

The staff left quickly, anxious to get away from the vampire, and Fred stepped forward carefully.

“Spike...?”

Spike shook his head before tilting his head back to stare at the ceiling, sighing. “She’s here. She... she came here... She’s here.”

“Who’s here?” Fred puzzled. But even as she wondered who could have this sort of effect on the vampire-ghost, she caught on. “Buffy? Buffy’s here, in L.A.?”

Spike spun to face Fred, wild desperation in his eyes. He jerked forward like he was going to grip her shoulders, but instead her reached up to grasp at his own face. “Buffy... Oh, God. She’s here, in the building. I was... Oh, God.”

Fred now had to stop herself from trying to grab his shoulders, “Spike, slow down. What’s going on?”

Spike groaned, falling to a kneel. “Buffy, she’s here. I was... I was in one of your offices... the lawyer’s... and she... she was there. Out of nowhere, she was there. And then she was yelling at Angel and... God, she was so beautiful.”

 “And then you were here?” Fred asked soothingly.

“Yeah...” Spike whispered, looking up at her. He had tears in his eyes.

Fred kneeled down next to him, smiling. “Then go talk to her.”
 

*                             *                             *                             *                             *                             *                             *
 
The door slammed open and closed again, so hard that the wood shook in its frame. Angel stalked into the room, anger still marring his usually expressionless face. My God, what the hell is her problem? She yells because the damn amulet killed the bastard, and when he isn’t there to be yelled at for not staying dead, she takes it out on me.

Angel stopped short a good ten feet from his desk, staring at the people occupying his office. Gunn was leaning casually against the desk, silent, while Faith sat behind him, lounging quite comfortably in his chair, her boots resting on the mahogany in front of her. An unknown girl stood behind her, her arms folded and her eyes unfocused despite her tense stance. Could this be Kennedy?

He turned to the couch and saw Willow, and almost flinched. She was sitting, but she hugged her chest and was folded in on herself, her brow furrowed in thought and pain.

“Here’s the big man, now!” Faith grinned up at Angel, her hands folded comfortably behind her head.

“Gee, Faith. You really have no sense of formality, do you?” The could-be Kennedy eye-rolled, before focusing a harsh stare on the vampire.

“Pfft. I’ll leave that to you, Ken-Doll.” Faith scoffed jokingly, winking at Gunn, who was watchingher amusement. “How’s it going, Angel?”

Rather than answering her question, Angel turned to Gunn. “What’s going on?”

“These guys showed up about twenty minutes ago, and you and Buffy were still, uh, ‘arguing’ when they did, so I brought ‘em in here.” Gunn shrugged, not bothering to straighten out of his slouched position against the desk his hands in his pockets.

“Yeah, got bored of ‘sight-seeing’,” Faith laughed.

Angel ignored the comment, and cocked his head pointedly at Willow.

“She saw him, Angel. Well, she thinks she saw him, in the hall outside. It’s uh, messing with her head a little.” Gunn explained softly, and Kennedy glared at him as he said the last few words.

“Spike. Well, I guess that’s why he wasn’t there when Buffy wanted to yell at him.” Angel muttered, and Willow raised her head, brushing hair out of her face.

“Where’s Buffy?”

“She needed some time to uh, cool off,” Angel replied, ignoring the scoff interjected by Faith. “She’s in Gunn’s office, but she’ll be here soon.”

Gunn sighed pointedly. “I’m fine with you guys using my office, Angel. After all, you own the place. But if either one of you broke somethin’ of mine, we’re gonna have some serious issues.” He smirked at the vampire, to show that he wasn’t as serious as his tone suggested.

Angel nodded mutely, only half listening to his colleague. Watching Willow as she stared blankly at the door, he furrowed his brow. What the hell was going on here? So Buffy had had some sort of... relationship with Spike... but why did Willow care about his return?  He glanced at Kennedy, who was still glaring at nothing. And Kennedy for that matter, she doesn’t seem the vampire-tolerant type.

The door swung open, and the occupants of the office turned to see Buffy enter the room, her arms folded protectively across her chest. She nodded briefly to Kennedy, who immediately relaxed her stance, and offered a wan smile to Willow. Her eyes were rimmed in red. She’d been crying?

Turning to Angel, she inhaled deeply before sighing. “What do you know about the amulet?”