Title: Big Bad By The Bay 6/10
Author: Gileswench
Feedback: Constructive criticism always welcome. Praise abjectly sought.
Disclaimer: It all belongs to Joss, Mutant Enemy, etc., etc., etc. I just let them have all the fun Joss won't. I own nothing except my twisted mind which you really don't want. Please don't sue. Oh, and I don't own The Simpsons, Indigo girls, or San Francisco either, but I promise to put them right back where I found them.

Angel opened the door to see what all the commotion next door was only to find Buffy and Cordelia approaching his room.

"Could we maybe come in here for a while?" Cordelia asked. "There's sorta something going on in our room."

"What's all the noise, anyway?" Angel asked as he let the girls past him.

"Let's just say I've seen a lot of strange things, but I never thought of Kate as the type to have a demon lover in the literal sense."

"What are you talking about, Cordy?"

"It seems Mr. Green Mojo guy is into girls after all."

"Lorne? And Kate? I didn't see that one coming."

"We were of the surprised, too," Buffy added. "So where's Giles?"

"Taking a shower. Buffy...about Giles...are you...? Has he...? Not that it's any of my business..."

"You're right. It isn't your business."

Cordelia's eyes shifted uncomfortably from one to the other of her companions as her fingernail made its way back into her mouth.

"I know that, Buffy, but...Giles? Are you really sure?"

Buffy sighed.

"Why does this matter so much to you? It's not like there's any way we'd ever be together again."

"If this is because of the curse..."

"No, Angel. It isn't because of the curse. It's because of us. We just don't belong. Not like that."

"But that doesn't mean you should be with him, either."

"Of course it doesn't. Just because I can't be with you doesn't mean I should be with Giles, or anybody at all."

Neither noticed that Giles had returned to the room. He stood by the bathroom door, his brow furrowed with worry at what he was hearing.

"Have you thought about this at all, Buffy? He's so much older and you have different interests and you always fight with him. Why him?"

"Because it's right," she answered simply.

"Right? I don't get it."

"You're not supposed to get it. You're supposed to find someone I don't get it about, either. Isn't that what exes do?"

"Could you at least try to explain?"

Buffy thought for a long moment before speaking again.

"When I met you, I was just a kid. And you came along all mysterious and broody and forbidden...I just ate that up. You never said very much, so I could pretend you were whatever I wanted you to be. I fell in love with a guy I made up and stuck your face on. And I'm kinda thinking you did the same thing. A hundred years alone makes you do the wacky, too. But it doesn't work; putting a real persons' face on what you're looking for. Angel, don't you remember all the fights we had because you didn't do what I expected you to and I didn't act like you expected? It wasn't because we weren't acting like us; it was because we couldn't live up to each others' fantasies."

"But Buffy..."

"No. Let me finish. My train of thought will get all derailed."

"I was just going to ask how you know you're not doing the same thing again."

"I know. I know Giles. He knows me. I know he's grumpy and sarcastic and sorta stuffy. He knows I'm thoughtless and I get tunnel vision and lose track of what's important. We don't read the same books, and he's never listened to a band that recorded anything after 1979, and we hate each other's clothes most of the time, but that's okay. That's all surface stuff. Underneath, we're a lot alike. He gets me and I get him. Sure, it's gonna be a little weird when we get back to good old Sunnyhell and have to tell the gang, but that's okay. We'll deal. This isn't a fantasy, Angel. This is reality and it scares the hell out of me, but it's good. And you can come over here and help me out anytime, Rupert."

Giles pushed off the doorframe and came to Buffy's side.

"I wasn't certain you knew I was here."

"Please. Like you could be in a room and I wouldn't know."

"You've given that impression more than once."

"See? Abuse of sarcasm. Note that I'm not caring about that. I even called you Rupert."

"You're getting rather good at that."

A blissful shout in perfect middle C came through the wall from the next room.

"Somebody's good at something," Cordelia muttered around her fingernail.

Buffy took a determined stance.

"Okay, Cordy, we are going to do something about that bad habit once and for all. We'll give the lovebirds next door a little time to afterglow and then I'm taking you in there for the one sure-fire cure for nail biting."

"What's that?"

"One Buffy Summers extra-impressive manicure."

"A manicure? You think that'll work?"

Buffy shrugged.

"It did when I was a biter. About the time I found out I was the Slayer, I really got into the whole oral fixation thing. Between the Slaying, trouble at school, my parents breaking up, and a serious case of pizza face, I was sorta losing it. I learned to give myself a really great manicure, though, and I got over it."

"Do you have decals?"

"Lots of 'em. They're sort of a requirement in an anti-nail-biting manicure, 'cause they'd be so ishy to accidentally swallow."

The men gulped in unison.

"So, Buffy, not to distract you, but you're really over me?"

"Yes, Angel, I'm really over you. God! Will you get over yourself?"

"I just needed to make sure. And believe me, I'm glad. This means I can move on, too."

He held out his hand to Cordelia.

"I want to find a way to make this work, Cordy. I don't know how, but we'll find a way around the curse if it's the last thing I do."

"Oh, Angel!"

The pair embraced. Buffy and Giles looked dumbstruck at them and then each other.

"Okay, I really don't get his choice."

"Now, Buffy, it isn't up to us."

"I never said it was. It's just weird, is all."

*****

Kate snuggled up to Lorne's green chest and giggled.

"What's so funny?"

"This. You and me."

"You wound me to the core, Katie."

"No, that part wasn't funny. That part was great. In fact, that part was the best I've ever had. No, it's just, who would have thought I'd end up falling for a green guy from another dimension?"

"It's a little strange for me, too, y'know. A pinkish girl with blue eyes and only five toes per foot...let's just say, Mom wouldn't approve."

"Your mom can bite me."

"She probably would, if she ever met you."

The two cuddled silently for a few more minutes. At last, Lorne spoke.

"Look, sweet thing, I'd better put on my pants and skedaddle."

"No, Lorne, don't go." Kate groaned.

He kissed her and pulled her close.

"It's not like I want to, but there's two girls who will want to get some sleep soon, and I'm sleeping in...well, your bed, but it's in their room, too."

"But I don't want this to be over."

"It isn't over. I promise you, I'm not the love 'em and leave 'em type. Yeah, I flirt, but I don't...I never...Kate, I don't know how to tell you this but..."

"Oh. My. God. You were a virgin?!"

"That's about the size of it. Do me a favor and don't spread that one around, will you?"

"Wow. Huh. A virgin. You must be a natural. And don't worry; your secret's safe with me."

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