Los Angeles Livin'

Disclaimer-Anything that you recognize isn't mine.

Summary-Sequel to California Trippin'. Crossover with Angel and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Spike was dusted during the battle with the First. Still grieving over him, Max joined Buffy, Dawn, Giles, Andrew, Faith, and Alec in going to live in Europe. But when they receive news of a slayer in desperate need of helpandsend Max and Andrew to check it out in LA, they encounter someone they thought they'd never see again.

Timeline-Angel Season Five. There's a little bit from the season premiere episode but then it skips ahead about three months later to the episode 'Damage'.

Pairings-Max/Spike, Faith/Alec, Fred/Wesley, Buffy/Angel. There will be more pairings as the story goes on.

Prologue

19 Days Later...

Max stepped on the brake and pulled the key out of the ignition. She turned to the person in the passenger seat, Faith. She tried to smile, make it seem like she was okay, but she failed miserably. She sighed and leaned her head back against the leather seat.

"We're here," she said flatly. Faith leaned forward in her seat and looked out the window at their surroundings.

"Could've fooled me..." she replied, smirking. Max frowned.

"What do you mean?" she asked. Faith just pointed and Max followed the direction with her gaze. Her eyes widened as she saw the house. Or mansion, was probably more accurate.

"Okay, did Buffy find some hidden treasure and forget to tell us about it?" a voice came from the backseat. Faith smiled.

"Guess so," she muttered. She looked over at Max and realized she had that dazed look on her face, like her mind was completely in a different time and place. It didn't take a genius to figure out exactly when and where. She unbuckled her seatbelt and opened her door. "Come on Vi, Caridad. Let's go check out our new home."

Vi and Caridad got out of the car and stretched. Max stayed seated and just stared at the steering wheel. Faith sighed but motioned to the other two girls to open the trunk. It neatly held eight suitcases. It was completely packed to the top, but still capable of closing with a satisfactory click.

As Faith, Vi, and Caridad unloaded their luggage, another car pulled up next to theirs. Faith smiled and went to greet them.

"What's up Jeeves?" she said to Giles as he stepped out of the car. He rolled his eyes but smiled at her.

"Hello Faith. How was the drive?" he asked. Faith shrugged and looked over her shoulder. Max had gotten out but was just leaning against the car, her head leaned forward, letting her hair cover her face. Faith bit her lip.

"Kinda quiet," she remarked softly before turning back to Giles. His brow was furrowed.

"She's still suffering," he stated. Faith nodded.

"I hope she'll be okay soon...I can't stand seeing her like this. She was like that for the whole plane ride too," a voice behind them said. Faith's face immediately split into a wide grin before she spun around and gave Alec a huge hug. He smirked and kissed the top of her head. "Happy to see me after the long and aching torture of being apart for a full 2 hours?" Faith rolled her eyes and let go of him.

"Would you prefer I just said 'hi'?" she asked sarcastically. Alec just continued to smirk and shook his head. "Thought so."

"Hello fellow travelers," Andrew greeted as he and three slayers unloaded their luggage. Faith rolled her eyes but greeted him nonetheless. "How is the psychologically wounded one?"

"She's fine," Max's voice startled him as she appeared, carrying two suitcases. "And she'd like to check out the rest of our new digs." Alec smiled and slung his arm around her shoulder.

"You and me both Maxie," he said, leading her up the steps. Giles tossed him a key and he opened the door. The others followed behind him. They all gasped at the sight.

The floor was checkered black and white and waxed so cleaned, they could see the ceiling in the ground. A spiraling staircase stood a few yards in front of the entrance. It was made out of black marble and was just as clean as the floor. There were more rooms to the left, right, and up the staircase. But the mansion seemed incredibly empty.

"I take it we gotta go furniture shopping," one of the slayers pointed out. Her voice echoed loudly. The others were in too much awe of their surroundings to answer her right away.

"Don't worry Becca, shopping is always the best way to ring in the new shitload of cash..." Alec said softly, running his hand along the staircase railing as he slowly ventured up.

"Done a lot of shopping in your time?" another slayer asked.

"More like stealing," Max said absentmindedly as she stared up at the ceiling while walking into the room to her left.

"Cool," the slayer grinned as she checked out the room to the right.

"Anyone know how many floors are in this place?" Vi asked.

"Five or six I suppose," Giles answered. Faith let out a soft whistle.

"Damn," she commented. "Probably won't seem so big once the others get here though."

"When is that, exactly?" the other two slayers asked.

"Less than an hour or so, I suppose," Giles answered. "But Buffy and Dawn are going to be bringing most of the slayers from back in Sunnydale and..." Faith elbowed him in the stomach as she caught sight of Max's frozen form in the next room. "They should be here soon." Faith left Giles and walked over to Max.

"Wanna check out the rest of the mansion with me?" she asked. Max didn't answer. "Max?" Max slowly turned to look at her, as if just realizing she was there. She nodded. Faith gave her a small smile and motioned for her to follow. "How much you wanna bet this is the dining room?" A ghost of a smirk appeared on Max's face. "Let's go see where the training room is gonna be..." Faith took her hand, wincing slightly at the thinness of it compared to the shape it was in 19 days ago.

A few minutes later they stood in a room that was so huge, Faith saw it being about the same size as the prison she had been in. She let out a soft whistle and turned to say something to Max, only to find her already in the middle of the room. Sunlight graced her face, making her look more alive. She tucked her waist-length brown hair behind her ears and stepped toward a window. She ran her fingers along the ridges. It was surprisingly smooth and had white sunflower designs imprinted along the edge.

"Pretty aren't they?" a familiar voice spoke to her. She whipped her head around and saw Spike leaning against the wall. "Too bad I never really got to see 'em up close or anything. Being a vampire and all." He smirked. Max did a double take and he disappeared. Her lower lip quivered as she drew in a shaky breath. A tear fell down her cheek as she stared at the place she had seen him. She leaned against the wall and slid down to the ground, ducking her head and bringing her knees up against her chest. She raked her fingers through her hair and sobbed.

Faith winced and ran to her side, dropping to her knees.

"Max, what's wrong?" she asked softly as she gave her a warm hug. Max shook her head, clinging to Faith's arm as the sobs racked her body.

"I saw him," she managed to say. Faith sighed and rested her chin on Max's head. "He was here. He was real. He wasn't dead." She turned her head to look up at Faith. "He can't be dead, Faith. He can't be."

"But he is, Max," Faith replied. "The sooner you realize that...the sooner you can move on. I know it hurts, but it's what you have to do." Max let go of her and stood up, pacing back and forth in a sunbeam.

"I don't want to," she said quietly with her back turned. She glanced over her shoulder at Faith. "And I don't think I ever will." A beat passed before she walked out of the room, wiping her eyes as she went. Faith sighed and leaned her head against the wall.

"We've got to do something to help her," Buffy's voice echoed throughout the room. Faith turned her head to look at her and smiled.

"I thought you weren't gonna be here for another hour," she said. Buffy shrugged and came to sit down next to her.

"Didn't take as long as I thought it would. The girls were pretty eager to get here," she explained. Faith laughed softly.

"You didn't tell me this place would be this huge," she remarked. Buffy grinned.

"I like to surprise people," she said.

"Behold your success. I think Vi, Caridad, Becca, Gwen, and Hailey's jaws literally dropped to the floor. Did you notice how you can see the ceiling in the ground?" Buffy laughed.

"Yeah, I did. It's a shame we're gonna have to cover it with such valuable furniture," she commented. Faith's grin widened.

"That's a burden I think we're all willing to carry."

They sat in comfortable silence until Dawn came into the room.

"Buffy, the furniture people are here," she said. Buffy sighed and stood. Faith followed her out.

As some of the men carried in a large mattress and began to bring it up the stairs, Faith exchanged looks with the others.

"I really think we're gonna enjoy living here," she commented.

Los Angeles (Wolfram & Hart)...

"We're gonna change things," Angel said. "We came to Wolfram & Hart because it's a powerful weapon, and we'll figure out how to wield it."

"Or kill ourselves with it," Wesley added.

"Yay team," Fred commented flatly.

"No," Angel argued. "Sooner or later they'll tip their hand, and we'll find out why they really brought us here." He picked up an envelope from his desk. "Meanwhile, we do the work, our way, one thing at a time." He ripped open the envelope. "We'll deal..." An amulet fell out. "With whatever comes next."

Immediately, the amulet activated. A black whirlwind erupted from it, causing papers on Angel's desk to stir. The ashen whirlwind started to glow with flecks of orange as something began to materialize inside it. A man's skeletal form showed, then it gradually filled out until it was complete. The wind faded and Spike was standing there, screaming and grunting, in the middle of the office, right where the amulet had fallen.

"Aah!" he groaned as he doubled over in pain, panting and glaring ferociously.

"Spike?" Wesley questioned softly.

"Spike," Angel repeated angrily.

Harmony stuck her head through the office doorway, smiling. "Blondie Bear?"

A/N-I know this chapter is really short, but it's just the Prologue. The actual chapters will be a lot longer. I hope you liked how it started. Review please! ;o)