Home Truths

Los Angeles, California

As Buffy reached the entrance of Wolfram and Hart she had to admit the place looked pretty damn impressive. It took up a large portion of L.A skyline and it had to go at least one hundred stories up, if not a lot more. The outside was covered mainly in glass but was tinted black and you could not see into it. Buffy stood by the entrance sign that stated the company name boldly and proudly. The Slayer was anything but proud as she stood in front of the large, modern, slick building. She thought that disgusted might not have been too strong a word – no, it was a perfect word.

She looked up at the bright Los Angeles sunshine shining down on this little cornerstone of evil. It was enough to make her skin crawl...and she hadn't even stepped foot inside the door yet.

Buffy took one last look at it from outside before she walked briskly up the steps passing men and women all dressed in a businesslike manner and pulled open one of the heavy doors stepping inside and, reluctantly, letting it shut behind her. The Slayer walked in a couple of steps as she took in the large white interior; the place looked a lot bigger inside than it even had outside. There were sharp lines everywhere, black marble flooring, white paint everywhere, and cold metal staircases. It was all very now, very hip, very minimalist. It was the kind of place every business aspired to look like, yet to Buffy it was all too cold, too clean, as if a lot of polishing up had been done to get rid of the stains. With a place like Wolfram and Hart, all she had heard about it, she was betting there were a lot of stains.

The Slayer felt the hairs stand up on the back of her neck just by standing in this huge complex. It was a law firm but there was a lot more to it then that, there were things here that weren't only evil and unnatural they were so powerful that everything told her to prepare for an attack. Her fists balled at her sides and it took everything she had not to get paranoid and lash out at the people all bustling about – all looked so normal, so human...or at least as normal and human as lawyers could ever look. In their sharp suits and slicked hair they were just too normal.

She took a few more slow steps into the huge place and she heard talking, phones ringing, a few laughs, coughing, and shouting...all very normal sounds for a place of work. It was a good facade, if Buffy had not had her supernatural senses she would have sworn it was just a normal, if very expensive, law firm.

She made her way to the elevators and stepped inside standing at the front of a huge crowd of men and woman all dressed in power suits. She felt way too casual in her tight blue jeans; brown boots, white shirt and beige fitted jacket. As soon as they reached the second floor Buffy stepped out of the elevator and everything was different. The interior was much the same except it was wooden flooring, pastel colored walls but it was the people that were different. The lawyers were still bustling in and out of offices but then so were the demons. Demons of all shapes and sizes wandering around, arguing with their lawyers and eating jelly donuts provided by the firm to keep their clients happy, either jelly donuts or little babies, whatever they wanted. Buffy felt herself tense; she had often bent the rules of being a Slayer and become friends with reformed demons but she knew that these demons were not reformed, not most of them. They wanted lawyers because they had committed crimes, evil crimes that no one was ever to know about. Some of the demons looked more human and they could get tried at a human court but ninety eight percent of the time Wolfram and Hart would make sure the verdict was not guilty – if the price was right. Buffy saw these demons that appeared to be humans but she could easily pick out which were and which weren't the real deal.

Buffy saw a receptionist talking hastily on the phone; nodding, scribbling things down and then the moment she was finished with one call another call would come along. The Slayer turned and walked back to the elevator calling it up as she shook her head in reproach. Places like this were what made her job just that much harder, which was a thing a Slayer really did not need. She stepped back in the elevator filled with new yet somehow almost identical looking people and rode it all the way up.

She had only wanted to get a feel for the place, the real place before she went where she actually needed to go.

There were many hidden rooms, alternate dimensions, and secrets in Wolfram and Hart and Buffy felt no desire to see what went on in this place like this. What was worse here then the open dealing with demons? The torture rooms, the prisoner cells, the place where useful body parts were held, where evil beings lurked and plotted. She had no desire to see these things, no she did not need to see them to want to destroy the place and salt the earth it left behind. It would be very little use though, to do such a thing, there were hundreds of branches of Wolfram and Hart all over the world, some secret some public but all evil. Besides, places like these were always built with magick detectors and wards; protection spells would be wrapped around the place like layers of several dirty blankets.

Gradually as she rode the elevator farther and farther up the numbers of lawyers dwindled until there was only her and four men left in it. She stood in front and felt the men behind her; they were human but they were, in a way, worse then the demons because they had souls and they did the demon's dirty work for money. It made her want to turn around and punch them just for that, just for the knowledge that they made evil's existence just that much easier. Buffy even felt her fist clench, ready for a fight but then the elevator made a small 'ding' sound and the doors slid open.

The Slayer stepped out and the men stepped out and fanned around her then moved off to their separate ways. There were fewer offices up here but they were bigger, roomier and classier then the ones on lower levels. These were for the big boys. This is where she had been heading for. The floors here were polished and wooden, the walls painted a dark peach and the doors to the offices were all closed, frosted glass gave some vision into them but not much.

Buffy walked slowly down the corridor, which only had a few people walking up and down it, and she made it to the office at the end of the corridor, its door was closed too. She stopped in front of it. Buffy took a breath – what to do? What to do? Should she make an entrance or knock politely on the door?

Since she was never one to follow protocol but didn't like to be overtly rude she settled on a mixture of the two. She knocked on the door and then pushed it open and stepped in. The room was empty and she let out the pent up breath, so much for her grand entrance. Buffy turned and shut the door behind her then she walked over to the desk against the back wall of the large office, which had a beautiful art deco mural on it. The walls were dark, the carpet cream and there were two black leather couch's over to one side and a coffee machine, a coffee table in front of the couch's. It was all very rich and attractive; it was also furnished and decorated expensively. She noticed the window blinds were pulled away exposing the bright sunlight to the room almost blinding and she quirked her eyebrow at that.

Buffy looked at the desk and it's piles of papers, phone line, computer and other bits and bobs and she sighed, shook her head and walked over to the large windows which took up most of the side wall. She folded her arms and stood with her back to the door as she looked out of the window at the view of Los Angeles that was so beautiful it was undeniable. Buffy had lived in L.A at one time and it still held a little bit of her heart but since moving to Europe she was not as impressed by the huge buildings, bustling streets and skyline as she had once been. She preferred the hills, the trees now, not to say that she didn't like to throw down and party once in a while but she had become more...at peace with herself she guessed.

"...So, you're telling me I can't kill this guy, then?" Came the familiar voice as both of the office doors were pushed open.

"Not unless you wanna have a hoard of fire breathin' uglies on your ass" Another male voice came this one she did not recognize.

Buffy heard them stop abruptly as they saw her but she did not turn around, yet, she needed just another second.

"How'd you get in here?" The unfamiliar voice asked, surprised and angry.

The Slayer turned, arms still folded, to face the two men. The man who had spoke was tall around six feet, black chocolate skin tone, black hair shaven close, with full lips and a wide nose, large brown eyes that looked at her clearly liking what he saw. He was dressed in a snazzy and expensive charcoal suit, white shirt, and dark gray tie with silver tiepin, black shiny loafers and a brown leather briefcase in one hand.

Buffy's eyes moved to the man she had really come to see. Angel stood staring at her with his eyes a fraction wide and mouth open but with no words coming out. She had always loved seeing Angel's shocked face but she could find no humor in it today. His pale skin stood out against the dark walls and his dark brown hair was gelled back – not his usual spikiness, it had grown out since she had last seen him. He was tall but not as tall as the other man and his broad shoulders and chest seemed a little broader, his waist a little wider but it all suited him. As if anything could not suit Angel. He wore black pants, black shoes, a dark blue shirt and a black jacket over the top of it. Angel looked well, for a vampire.

"Security around here isn't all it's cracked up to be," Buffy answered the man's question but kept her eyes on Angel "Guess the new management isn't either"

The black man took a step forward "Oh, yeah? How about I just call up here some of that security and we'll see how good they are?" He arched an eyebrow and pulled out a small silver flip phone.

Buffy shrugged "Go ahead"

He didn't seem to expect that response.

"Buffy," Angel finally managed and put his hand up to the other man to motion him into putting the phone away.

The man frowned and looked at her "Buffy? As in Buffy-the-vampire-slayer-love-of-your-undead-life-and-all-around-apocolypse-averter Buffy?"

"No, the other one" She replied a small smile on her lips before it dropped and her gaze turned back to the vampire "Nice setup you've got here. Shiny. New. Evil"

He opened and closed his mouth a few times then looked at his companion "Gunn, can I get –"

"A moment alone with your sweetie? Sure, nice to finally meet you" Gunn looked at her and walked over his hand outstretched.

She took it and shook firmly, he winced a little and she realized she had shook a little too firmly "Sorry" She apologized.

Gunn nodded and backed away, looked at Angel "Any trouble you know where I am" He turned and walked out of the doorway pulling the doors shut behind him.

The vampire and the Slayer locked eyes and neither moved nor said anything for a long while. Angel finally moved away from the door and walked around to his desk, shrugging his jacket off and laying it around the back of his chair. Then he walked back around the desk to stand close in front of her.

"Buffy," Angel looked deep at her "Good to see you. You look –"

"So, what's with the walking around in sunlight?" She said briskly looking back out of the window at the city "You not telling me something?"

He shook his head "It's special glass means I can walk around in here and not burst into flames"

"That's gotta be...neat"

"Yeah..." Angel shifted on his feet "I heard from Andrew that you weren't exactly pleased about the..."

Buffy turned back to him sharply "About the you taking over an evil law firm? Yeah, I don't know why but for some reason that really bothers me"

He sighed and stepped closer to her "Buffy, I'm here to do good. The resources here are more than anything we could come up with on our own and I'm in charge, I'm changing this place slowly but surely. I figure in a few years time we could have this place completely turned around"

She nodded "Okay, a few years time...sorry, if I don't get this Angel but you could turn this place around in a few weeks, a month. Burn it down. Kill everyone on your client list that is evil, which would be about...ninety five percent, right? Then move on. That would turn this place around and nothing less than that"

"Buffy, you don't understand –" He held his hands out.

"I do understand. It's you who don't. I guess the power has gone to your head," She said, "because you are helping these things get away with murder literally. Has your mission changed that much now, Angel? Do you think you've atoned for your past uglies and you're a little bored so you might as well make some new ones for yourself?"

Angel puffed his chest and shook his head "We are changing things here. We are doing the best we can. We can't just kill everyone on the list. If we did a new branch would appear somewhere and we'd be out, we would have had a chance at changing things and we would have thrown it away. Why did you come here, just to criticize my judgements? Andrew made it pretty damn clear what you thought"

"You know that's not the only reason I came" Buffy said softly.

Silence filled the room and it was one of tension, Angel's face held anger and resentment whilst she kept hers centered and as calm as she could be. The silence stretched on and that was about the times the doors to the office burst open and a green skinned demon with small red horns and a jazzy yellow suit walked in followed by Wesley Wyndham-Price, Buffy's former Watcher. Buffy saw he no longer wore glasses, contact's she was betting, and he had a rugged looking covering of stubble over his chin and jaw. He also wore a dark green shirt and black slacks and he held a couple of file folders in his hand.

"Angel-cakes, who's your gorgeous friend?" The green skinned demon asked turning his red eyes to Buffy as he wandered over, walking jauntily.

"This is –" Angel started.

"Buffy," Wesley saw her and smiled he walked over and there was warmth in his eyes "It's good to see you again"

Buffy couldn't help but smile too "Hey, Wesley"

She had expected just a handshake or mutual smile but her old Watcher pulled her into an impulsive hug and she felt her eyes widen. Wesley had certainly changed – as the new muscles in his body testified. He had become a demon hunter and, by all accounts, a good one. He moved away and gave her another smile this one sheepish.

"Buffy? Oh, wait Buffy! The Slayer, of course!" The green demon grinned to show his pearly whites and he slapped his hands together in mirth "Good to meet you finally, honey-cheeks. I've heard so much. Yet none did you justice"

"Oh, uh...thanks..." She frowned.

"Lorne," He told her his name and held out his hand, which she shook.

Buffy nodded "Lorne, right. Nice to meet you. I'd like to say I've heard a lot too but..."

Lorne nodded and grinned flamboyantly "But Angel-face isn't real forthcoming with details, right? Ha! I know"

Angel turned to the two men "Guys, we were kind of having a private conversation here"

"Oh, of course. We'll go but we need to discuss the Hornbill Deal after, Angel" Wesley started to walk away.

Buffy shook her head "No, you guys stay. I have other people I need to see here"

Wesley and Lorne gave each other a knowing look whereas Angel just fumed.

"Right," Wesley cleared his throat "Of course you do"

"Any ideas as to that person's whereabouts?" Buffy asked politely.

He nodded "Yes, I think you'll find what you're looking for on the third story. The lab."

The Slayer smiled her thanks and then turned and walked out of the office closing the doors behind herself and letting out a deep tension filled breath. She could practically feel Angel's anger even from out here. She heard the three men talking rapidly and her hearing was good enough to know it was all about her and not the Hornbill Deal. However, Buffy had other places to be – a science lab for instance. That was one place Buffy Summers never thought she'd end up. Willow would have been proud.

The ride down in the elevator was a long one and this time she got the whole thing to herself. Buffy bounced on the balls of her feet and whistled along to the dreadfully cheery music that the elevator was playing. After a while she realized it was an instrumental of Wind Beneath my Wings by Bette Midler and Buffy flushed at her whistling of it. This place really was evil.

The doors slid open to the lab level and she was almost blinded by the sheer amount of white – white floors, walls, and ceilings. She stepped in and the doors slid closed behind her leaving her in this hospital like place and boy, did she hate hospitals. As she walked further in she saw that a lot of the place had glass walls and as she walked down a corridor she could see into the main body of the lab where people in white coats were looking down through microscopes at slides and others were testing new machinery, some tapping at computers, others blowtorching things to test durability she guessed. Buffy had presumed it would be like the Initiative complex back in Sunnydale but she saw no testing on demons, no live demons anyway. There were dead bodies that were being worked on and all the machinery just made Buffy's head spin; she had never been a science queen.

The Slayer walked down the flight of steps that lead down into the lab and she walked across as various scientists ignored her. All of the people here were human or at least all of the alive people in here and all seemed to be deeply involved in their work.

Finally someone seemed to notice her, a guy of about her age maybe a little older walked over with a bounce in his step. He had floppy brown hair and brown eyes, a goofy grin on his face – he was tall and lanky but that grin was infectious. He looked strangely familiar but she didn't know why.

"Woah, hey! Non-science geek alert! Non-science geek alert!" He whooped "Are you lost? Believe me it's nothing to be ashamed of. I got lost my whole first month here"

Buffy tilted her head "What makes you think I'm not a science geek?"

"Well, you don't look the type" He grinned "Besides, you're not wearing a cool white coat. Hi, I'm Knox, can I help you?"

She nodded "Yeah, I'm looking for a guy"

"Well, you found one" Knox wiggled his eyebrows.

Buffy smiled a little "He's about this tall, blond hair, leather coat –"

"Oh, sure," Knox turned and pointed to another small staircase that "First office on the left"

She nodded and walked toward that staircase paused, looked back at Knox to find him watching her. He waved at her and she turned and walked slowly up the stairs the broke into a little run. The corridor those stairs lead to was painted white –surprise, surprise – and as Buffy reached the first door on the left she saw it was open and bit's of conversation wafted out as she came and stood in the doorway.

"...You're fine"

"No more ghostly goings on? You're sure, luv?..."

"...I am totally sure, Spike"

Buffy took in the scene quickly a brunette woman sat on the edge of her desk, her dark hair was loose and a little wavy and she wore square-rimmed glasses that suited her slender face well. She wore a knee level flowery skirt, a light blue shirt and one of those white lab coats. Her lips were painted red and she pushed a hand through her hair shyly as her brown eyes looked at the vampire in front of her. The word gawky came to Buffy's mind when she saw the pretty but shy girl.

The Slayer's eyes turned to Spike who stood in front of the girl with his back turned to Buffy. He wore his dark black duster and his hair was still slicked back, peroxide colored and he was so very much here. Not dead. Not dead. Andrew had spilled the secret Spike had not wanted to him to tell her – that he was actually alive...or as alive a vampire could get. Right then though all her anger left at his lying because he was here.

"Looking good for a pile of dust, Spike" Buffy spoke and there was no tremor in her voice, which she was very proud of.

The brunette woman's eyes looked up at her and she jumped standing up straight as Spike spun on his heel, his duster flowing around him like a cape. His beautiful light blue eyes locked on her, looked her over and then rested on her eyes wide with shock. She looked him over his pale skin still molded to those cheekbones that looked so sharp they might cut but she knew from experience that they did not. His soft lips fell open a little and he mouthed something silently. Buffy saw he wore his usual tight black T-shirt, black jeans under the duster plus biker boots of course.

"Buffy" Spike whispered and his face was one of an exquisite mixture of joy and surprise "Buffy, you're..."

The Slayer stepped into the room slowly.

"So this is Buffy..." She heard the other woman say quietly.

Buffy and Spike walked toward one another slowly and she smiled at him, still looking him over and feeling an overwhelming relief that he was well and so very much not dead. As if synchronized they reached each other in the middle and Buffy looked at him. Spike threw his arms around her and pulled her into a tight hug, he lifted her off the ground, which Buffy widened her eyes at but allowed. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he swung her around once before setting her back down on the floor but neither one let go.

"Why didn't you call...?" Buffy whispered in his ear, still in his embrace.

"Was a ghost for a fair bit of time, luv," He whispered back "Couldn't pick up a sodding phone. Tried to go to you but I couldn't leave the city limits"

Buffy pulled back enough to look in his eyes "And after?"

"And after..." Spike hung his head "After, I didn't want to ruin things for you. I saved the bloody world and I was afraid I would never live up to that again. So, I s'pose I wanted you to remember me like that"

She looked at him "That is so lame"

He let out a loud chuckle and she laughed with him until she stepped back into him and slipped her arms around his waist, leaned her head on his chest and listened to his heart not beating. Spike stroked her hair and his body shivered at her touch.

Neither of them noticed Angel standing in the doorway, arms folded and a blank face.