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Disclaimer: I don't own anything, please don't sue me, I have no money. Some of the dialog is from Buffy episode Goodbye Iowa written by Marti Noxon.
Chapter 14: The Meeting
Buffy warned everybody about the Initiative and soon found out from Riley that professor Walsh had been killed by the Polgara demon. In the fear of the Initiative she told everyone to stay together in a place that wouldn't be found by them, which turned out to be Xander's “apartment”. Once they saw the news of the little boy that had been murdered, they made a plan to go inside the Initiative at night. But Buffy had more fearful things in her mind than government commandos that were trying to kill her and that was dinner with her mother and she had invited Angel.
Buffy had been nervous all day and now she couldn't stay still. In vain she had tried to sit in front of the fire place while waiting Angel, since when did guys have to take time to get dressed, even though she wasn't one to talk since she had been picking her dress for nearly two hours. Finally she had decided on light pink dress with thin straps, she looked very innocent in it and that was the point.
Buffy fidgeted with the hem of her dress till she heard footsteps nearing, she turned around to see Angel walk into the room, looking very handsome in black pants and dark red dress shirt. The sight made her mouth water and unconsciously she licked her lips, all fears of her mother forgotten.
“Is this okay?” Angel asked nervously, he had never changed his clothes so many times as he had tonight, he wanted to make a good impression on Joyce or at least try to fix the damage he had done before, he didn't want to give her any more reasons to dislike him.
“Oh, it's definitely okay”, Buffy answered with a husky voice and blushed when she noticed how she sounded like.
“You're looking very beautiful”, Angel said and with two long strides he reached her, pulling her into a gentle kiss.
“We better be going, we don't want to be late for dinner”, he murmured into her ear and pressed a soft kiss to her cheek before pulling away. Buffy grabbed her coat and they headed out.
“Do you think I should get her some flowers?” Angel asked hiding his hands into his pockets to stop them from fidgeting. Buffy shook her head.
“Definite no-no. Angelus sent me some flowers. So no flowers.” He frowned thinking of the things he had done as Angelus, revealing to Joyce that he had taken her daughters virginity but soon he was pulled out of his thoughts by a gentle slap to his arm. Buffy stepped in front of him and placed her hands to his chest looking into his eyes.
“Don't go there. It was Angelus that did those things, you didn't have any power in stopping him. I love you and tonight is going to go just fine, she can't blame you for things that you didn't have power over”, she said gently even though she didn't believe all of it herself. She pulled him down into a kiss and smiled when she saw him relax a little.
“Maybe I should get her chocolate or something”, he said thoughtfully as they continued walking.
It didn't take long for them to reach their destination even though both of them hoped it would have but there was no point in running away. Taking a deep breathe, Buffy pressed the door bell and grabbed a hold of his hand while they waited for Joyce to answer. It didn't take long for Joyce to open the door.
“Hi honey, why didn't you just come in? Hello Angel.”
“Oh, Angel has this thing for politeness.”
“Okay. Why don't you come in.” Buffy stepped inside pulled Angel with her and closed the door behind them. Angel helped her out of her jacket and she smiled brightly at his gentleman behavior but it did nothing to melt Joyce's heart towards him.
“Buffy, could you set the table since I didn't have time yet?” Buffy nodded and turned to Angel, rising to her tiptoes, she said to him: “Why don't you wait in the living room.” She was about to give him a small kiss but seeing his uncomfort in front of her mother, she just squeezed his hand before going to the kitchen. Angel turned to look at Joyce, she didn't look happy but she wasn't glaring at him either.
“I still don't believe you are what's best for my daughter. I believe all you will cause her is heartache and pain. You can't give her normal life or children. But I will not tell any of this to her cause I know how she feels about you, or at least thinks she feels and I don't want loose her for a third time”, she said with a hushed but stern voice
“I appreciate that you are straight with me but I love your daughter and I will never hurt her intentionally.”
“I believe you do love her but she is still young. She should be with someone her own age, you can't possibly understand a teenage girl”, she insisted and glanced at the dining room to see if Buffy was going to hear their conversation.
“I know she is young but she is not a child. Because of what she does she had to grow up fast, too fast and because of that she is capable of making adult decisions. And no matter how old or young a man is, he never understands everything about women”, he added the last part with a small smile. Joyce obviously wasn't happy with his answer but didn't say anything because Buffy walked in from the kitchen. She leaned against the door jam and looked at her mother and boyfriend suspiciously.
“The table is set”, she simply said and cast a look to Angel that told him they would talk later.
The dinner was little awkward. Angel didn't want to hurt Joyce's feelings by telling that he didn't need food and because of that he ate the food that was no use to him or that he couldn't taste well but despite that he told her it was delicious.
All through dinner Joyce asked about Buffy's studies and gave almost unnoticeable hints that she should enjoy the college life. But after she noticed that Buffy wasn't going to keep the conversation going on the subject, she mentioned of the boy that had been murdered. Buffy assured her they were going to make the killer pay but didn't give her any details, just that it had been a demon. The dinner was over and the time for the visit to Initiative was near so they thanked for the dinner and left.
As soon as Joyce closed the door, Buffy turned to Angel grabbing hold of his hand and looked into his eyes. “I'm sorry about mom. I can guess what she said to you but please don't let it get to you. She just has a hard time accepting what I am, she just doesn't understand what it is to be a Slayer.”
“I know. Don't worry. Let's just go to Giles' so we can finish this”, he assured her. Buffy smiled slightly and pulled him into a passionate kiss that she had been waiting for all evening. After the kiss ended, she was smiling widely and they continued their journey to Giles' apartment.
Willow did a spell that Angel wouldn't show on any vampire detectors if there were any and after that, Buffy, Angel and Xander sneaked into the Initiative, Buffy wearing a scientist outfit while Angel and Xander were dressed as commandos.
They were following doctor Angleman but since he was talking to someone, they had to wait to get him alone. Buffy glanced at Angel, he was clearly feeling uncomfortable in the commando outfit but Buffy couldn't help thinking that he looked hot in it, well he would look hot in anything or nothing. She licked her lips and smirked looking him up and down. He could feel her eyes on him, taking in every inch of him and he turned to look at her uncomfortably, he couldn't wait to get back into his own clothes.
Buffy leaned closer to him and whispered to his ear so Xander wouldn't hear: “Maybe we could borrow those clothes for later.” Angel could feel the heat running through him and he looked into her eyes, dark from passion, making him swallow.
“Same to you”, he whispered huskily but their moment was cut off when they noticed the other man walking away from Dr Angleman. He stepped through the door and quickly they followed him. Buffy grabbed him by the lab coat and turned him around.
“You know, I don't generally like to kill humans but I've learned it pays to be flexible in life”, she said sternly. ”I was wondering when you'd turn up”, Dr Angleman said sounding like from a cheap movie.
”Oh darn, so this wasn't a surprise”, she said over acting disappointed till she continued seriously: ”Now lets take a guided tour to room 314.”
”You will be stopped, somebody has already noticed you're here”, he said confidently. Suddenly Riley walked into the room and positioned himself standing by the door with his arms crossed in front of him. Angel glared at him and he had to suppress a growl just thinking that this boy may have seen his Buffy naked.
“Finn. Take this girl to the stockade, immediately!” Dr Angleman commanded but Riley didn't move, Buffy looked at him and he didn't look well, actually he looked like someone who was going through withdrawal from drugs.
“Maggie wanted me dead, didn't she?” she asked turning back to the doctor in her hands.
”She did”, he admitted and the confession made Angel growl. Dr Angleman looked at him scared and then turned to Riley, quickly adding: ”But understand, the Initiative has no interest in eliminating the slayer. It was her own vendetta.”
”Why? Spell it out for me. I feel an attack of dumb blonde coming on.”
”I don't know”, Dr Angleman said and right that moment Angel lunged at him grabbing him by his labels of his coat and pulled him close to his face.
”Think harder”, he said gritting his teeth, feeling the demon rise inside him. “I... It was the... project”, the doctor stammered now truly scared. Buffy placed her hand on Angels arm making him relax by a single touch and then she turned back to the doctor.
”Project 314?”
”It... it... escaped”, the man stammered glancing at the vampire. ”That's enough. You're making her sound like some psychopath. She wasn't like that. She was a brilliant woman”, Riley interrupted them sounding like professor Walsh was more than a boss to him. ”She was. It's not...” Dr Angleman tried to reassure.
”All she was trying to do was help people, and this is how you want them to remember her?”
”Riley. Listen, I heard Angleman say that she was feeding you drugs”, Buffy said to Riley but obviously he didn't believe her, with long strides he was up her face looking very unstable.
”No! You're doing this to me, aren't you? This all started because of you”, he accused her and that made Angel growl loudly, Riley just glanced at him like he was the scum of the earth.
”Listen to yourself, you're not well. All I'm trying to do is to get to the truth”, Buffy tried but it was for nothing.
”You want truth? Then tell me! What did you do to her, Buffy?!” Riley yelled and Angel was ready to jump him but stopped at the look Buffy gave him.
”Stop it! I didn't do anything!” Buffy yelled back at Riley. He tried to grab her but then Angel stepped in and pushed the unstable commando across the room, nobody especially him was going to touch Buffy.
”Riley, stop! We need to know what is in 314...” she started but didn't get to finish when a dead body of a commando fell to the floor. They turned to look up and saw Adam standing in the catwalk. ”Me”, he said stating the obvious. The demon made of pieces started to walk along the catwalk while talking to himself.
”I've been thinking... About the world. I wanted to see it. Learn it. I saw the inside of that boy, and it was beautiful, but it didn't tell me about the world. It just made me feel. So now I want to know about me. Why I feel. What I am.”
”One big ugly piece of Frankenstein”, Buffy offered but the monster didn't pay any attention to her. He stepped off the catwalk and landed to the floor on straight feet. He reached to his pocket and pulled out a flobby disk that he put to his hard drive.
”I am a kinematically redundant, bio-mechanical demonoid. Designed by Maggie Walsh. She called me Adam, and I called her 'Mother'.”
”Adam. Maggie would want you to stand down”, Dr Angleman tried clearly scared of the monster. ”Yes. But I seem to have a design flaw. In addition to organic material, I'm equipped with GP2D11 infrared detectors, 140...” he started but Buffy just rolled her eyes.
”Why do bad guy alway love to hear themselves talk?” she said noticing the Polgara demons arm, she continued more seriously: ”She pieced you together out of parts of other demons. Made her very own Frankenstein's monster.
”I am also made of a man and machine. Which tells me what I am, but not who I am...Mother wrote things down, that's how I know she loved me, and you. And that's how I learned I have a job here.”
”She wasn't your mother! She didn't love you” Riley yelled disgusted by the monster and sounding like a little boy that didn't want to share.
”Is that really the issue here?” Xander questioned after staying quiet for a long time. Adam looked at Riley and pulled out another disk that he fed to his hard drive.
”Riley Finn... Mother created you too”, he said but Riley interrupted him.
”Maggie's not my mother. I have a real mother.”
”A birth mother. But after you met Maggie, she was the one who shaped your basic operating system. She taught you how to think, how to feel. She fed you chemicals to make you stronger, your mind and body. She said that you and I were her favorite children, her art. That makes us brothers, family.”
”I'm not like you, I'm a man!” Riley said and pulled out his gun but Adam grabbed his hand and punched him. Buffy and Angel jumped into action, Buffy grabbed the things arm but he knocks her down to the floor. Seeing it happen, Angel growled loudly and hit Adam hard in the face. With a quick move Adam punched Angel sending him flying across the room and landing on Xander.
Buffy jumped up from the floor and attacked Adam but when seeing Dr Angleman fleeing, he puched her hard, making her drop to the floor. Adam killed doctor Angleman but was attacked by Angel. Growling in rage he started to pound his fists into the human made demon but Adam spun around and stabbed him with the bone coming from the arm.
”Angel!” Buffy screamed and ran to him. She kicked Adam to the lower back, making him release Angel and he spun around. Buffy was fighting the thing hard but when the commandos on the door started to get through, Adam grabbed her by the throat lifting her off the ground and tossed her against the door. She landed with a heavy thud feeling dazed.
”Thank you. This was interesting”, Adam said before leaving. Buffy glanced after it but quickly grawled to Angel. She touched his face that was twisted in pain and looked at the wound on his side.
”Honey”, she whispered bringing his eyes to hers. ”It's okay. It will heal”, he assured her but the pain was no less.
The commandos rushed through the door but didn't pay any attention to Xander who informed them about the demon. ”It's not the Polgara. It kind of looks like a man...” Buffy tried to explain not leaving Angels side but Forrest didn't believe her. ”Right, and you just happened to be in the neighborhood”, he said sarcastically.
”She's telling the truth. I saw it. It killed Angleman. Go. Now!” Riley said getting up from the floor with difficulty. “Let's take them into containment”, Forrest said but Buffy looked at him like she was ready to kill.
“Try it and I'll show you what a Slayer can really do. None of your little toys will be any help to you if you piss me off”, she said with a cold voice that send shivers down his spine, not that he would let it show.
“Let them go. But take miss Summers off the clearance”, Riley said and the commandos took a step back, Forrest not looking happy. Slowly Buffy got up and helped Angel to stand. She cast one last look to Riley and the commandos before leaving the room.
Angel was laying on the bed against a mountain of pillows while Buffy was bandaging the wound still in her scientist outfit. “This is becoming a habbit, do you have some sign that says 'stab me'”, she said but then stopped remembering the day she send him to Hell. She looked at him and whispered: “I'm sorry.”
“There's nothing to be sorry about”, he answered and pulled her up to face him. Gingerly he lifted his other hand and framed her face keeping her gaze with his. He stroked her cheek with his thumb and pulled her into a gentle kiss.
“Maybe I do it intentionally so I can have you to play nurse for me”, he whispered and pressed a kiss to her ear before pulling the earlobe between his lips. She giggled and pulled away.
“Okay, mister. You're hurt so none of that right now”, she chastised and pressed him down to the mattress.
“Come on, doc. I'm fine”, he said and pulled her back attacking her lips. After a while she surrendered into the kiss but by accident brushed against the wound. He winced from the pain but tried to act like nothing had happened but Buffy had already noticed. She pulled back breathing heavily and her eyes went straight to the bandage.
“See, you're hurt. So rest, I'll get you some blood”, she said and rose from the bed. He grabbed her hand and pulled her closer to the bed.
“I promise to behave myself, but you have some making up to do once the wound heals enough.”
“Is that a promise?” she asked with a husky voice bending closer to him.
“You bet it is.” Their lips hovered close to each other for a while before he grabbed her by the back of her neck and pulled her into a passionate kiss. Once she pulled back breathlessly, she looked at him with heavy lidded eyes and whispered: “I'll go get that blood.”
She pulled away and quickly went to the kitchen warming the blood from the fridge. Her thoughts went back to the meeting with Adam and how powerless she had felt against him. She didn't like the feeling but now the fight against the thing was personal, nobody messes with her boyfriend.
