And maybe lure Angel into eating something solid for a change.

edit: "No, I don't care if you growl at me, you're going to at least taste this! How do you don't like it if you've never even tasted it?"

Be funnier if he pissed Angel off by mentioning Spike, who eats food like a linebacker.

"I know vampires can eat -- Spike did all the time." Muttered under breath: "*He* liked my roulade..."

PoutyChef!Andrew!

Plus showing a Big Board to Wesley.

Well, one suspects that Andrew takes his Big Board with him wherever he goes...

Yes. I am 12.

I want them to import Phantom Dennis to the Hyperion. He and Andrew can commiserate.

a Phantom Sous-chef.

Mixed up as to which thread I want to put this post in:

Fay, this is a beautiful, beautiful Andrew/Warren piece.

Ohhhh... Andrew Road Trip! He should have the Big Board.

"This" (gesturing with Williams Sonoma spatula at drawing of vaguely neo-Med building ) "is the Hyperion, where we live. It's really kinda cool. It used to be a demon-infested hotel. And this over here, that's Wolfram & Hart, where they keep the zombie lawyers...."

I want to see Andrew knock all their socks off with really good pastry. I mean, I want Wesley to fall at his feet over mille feuille, goddamnit.

Ooh! And given Fred's typical attitude towards carbo-loading and her own geekiness, she might get a crush on Andrew, who would be completely oblivious.

Plus, jealous Gunn, always a plus. Then, there'd be the fun of a jealous Wes, who wouldn't be able to figure out exactly why he was jealous, or of whom.

I am so darned close to finishing the whole story/chapter/big chunk of the ongoing tale. If I post this, though, I won't have an excuse not to trudge onwards to the end.

The fence around Sunrise Grove had long since been breached. From the look of Sunrise Lane, the main street going through the cancelled development, several cars a day used it as a shortcut between the occupied neighborhoods and the old state highway on the other side. Forty years ago, before the freeway, Sunrise Grove would have been a thriving area.

Willow smelled vampires among the unfinished, decrepit houses. Well, not so much the smell of vampires, but the sense of them. A prickling along the nerves that said supernatural things were in the area. One of those witchy things, she imagined.

"Here, vampy, vampy, vampy," she murmured to herself as she walked down the black, desolate street. Maybe she should have brought a flashlight. None of the streetlights here worked, and she was working off starlight citylight reflected from the scattered clouds. She paused at the crossroad of the main street and a hundred feet of concrete that was supposed to be a road. "It's got to be here somewhere."

"Looking for something, pretty lady?" said a voice from the darkness.

"Yes, I am," she said with no little relief. "I'm looking for the recreation center."

An unassuming man stepped out of the deeper shadows. His blue jeans and t-shirt attracted no comment, but something in the swagger told Willow everything she needed to know.

"I don't think there's anything at the rec center that you want. Any business you have you can settle with me."

She couldn't dust every annoying vampire she met tonight, she had work to do. "No, I really need to go to the rec center. And please don't use the line, 'I didn't order my dinner delivered,' please, that is so passe," she added, seeing him about to speak again. "I need to see Ripper."

The vampire jumped a little. "How do you know Ripper?"

"Never mind. Is he here?"

A half-glance into the darkness told Willow the direction, but he was suspicious when he turned back to her. "What do you want with Ripper?"

"I'm not here to slay him or anything like that. I need his help." She managed not to back up as he approached, but her hand was on the stake in her pocket.

"You're just a human. What kind of help could Ripper give you?"

"Never mind. Is he here?"

He nodded after a moment's thought. "Yeah, he's here. And I bet he'd be real curious why a little mortal girl is looking for him. After you." He gestured down the road.

No way was she going to let a vampire walk behind her. "Oh, I couldn't. After you."

The fangs and ridges came out. "I insist."

They glared at each other a moment, then Willow sighed impatiently and started walking. "Just for your information, I've already dusted one of your sort tonight for annoying me."

"Tough little girl, all worked up and looking for trouble."

Willow turned and found the vampire well within arm's reach. "You have no idea." She remembered Tara crying as she was wheeled away, and her fingers itched for mayhem.

The vampire leaned back a little, though he didn't step away. "OK, then. Just up the street. You can see the lights."

She nodded and strode up the street.

A female vampire lounged at the door of the recreation center. "Why, Sammy, how sweet, you brought take-out."

"Not hardly, Angie. This one's for Ripper."

"He's got you bringing in his meals now? Or does he want her for Spike?"

Sammy looked at Willow. "She came here. I didn't go get her."

"How badly is Spike hurt?" Willow frowned.

Angie studied her. "What makes you think Spike's hurt? How would you know?"

"Oh, never mind." Willow tried to go past, but Angie caught her arm. Willow turned, her hand moving. "*Repello.*" Angie was thrown back against the wall.

"O-kay," Sammy said slowly. "That explains a great deal. You're a sorcerer too."

"Witch, actually. You going to show me the way or do I just go yelling for him?"

"No, that would be bad. You might interrupt him at something, and then he'd get very annoyed."

For the first time, Willow hesitated, realizing that the Ripper she was looking for might not be as pleased to see her as the Giles she remembered. "What kind of things?"

Sammy raised his eyebrows and just looked knowing. "All kinds of things. Come on, then."

Angie got to her feet slowly, growling at Willow, who didn't even look over.

Willow might have been more interested in the arrangement of the newest vampire lair in town if she hadn't had other things on her mind. She follwed the vampire with the singularly unscary name of Sammy into the rec center. The place was surprisingly tidy, not decrepit like the ruined factory Spike had occupied on his arrival. Giles' influence? Something reminded her not to think of him as Giles, that the genial ex- Watcher no longer existed. The scary guy who had frozen her and Tara on Buffy's front lawn bore no resemblance to the subject of Willow's younger fantasies--or, at least, no resemblance that Willow admitted to.

Thought of Tara being frozen led to memories of Tara whimpering like a frightened young animal as her broken hand was mended. Thoughts and memories together were overwhelmed by the tearing desire to rip that blonde god-slut to pieces.

Sammy led her down a flight of dark, half-finished concrete stairs. The hallway at the bottom got its light from the open door of a room down the way. Loud electric guitar music came from inside, reminding Willow briefly of Oz. The singer's words were actually understandable, meaning the music was something Giles would listen to. Something about warriors from the land of the ice and snow.

Sammy went to the door and knocked loudly. "Hey, Ripper!"

"Yes?"

"Somebody here to see you."