(con't)
Wesley turned to whisper something to Lorne, who nearly choked on his caramel-soy decaf latte. Angel ignored them and kept walking.
"I wonder what she'll think. The visit before last, I was a puppet. Then, back to a vampire for the next visit. Now...ha!... human!" He looked at his faint reflection in the glass of the Immigration Services office, admiring himself for a moment before waving cheerfully at the family of Minoto demons waiting inside. The two adults looked at him warily, but the little one waved back enthusiastically.
He barely resisted doing a little dance-step as he started walking again.
"Human. God, I love being able to say that! Anyhow, too bad Nina didn't get in until late. Still, I can take her out to breakfast tomorrow, go sit at a nice, sunny outdoor cafe..."
Wes rested a hand between Angel's shoulders and gently steered him towards his office. "Yes, yes. I'm sure the two of you will have an absolutely wonderful time."
"Yup. And, no more gypsy curse, so no need to worry about having too wonderful a time."
"R-right." Wes stared at Angel for a moment, once again giving him the kind of head-to-toe survey that was only one step down from open flirtation. "Angel, can we step into your office for a moment? There's something we need to, um, discuss."
"C'mon, Wes! This is my first day as a human. In fact, it's the end of the day. People have gone home for the night. Can't whatever it is wait until tomorrow?"
Wes didn't answer, since he had gone over to Harmony's desk and was giving her some sort of instructions. Harmony looked both befuddled and startled, but that was pretty normal for Harmony.
"You just go on in, sweet-cheeks," Lorne said. "Wes will only be a minute."
"Whatever." Angel headed for his desk, but the sound of his door locking stopped him cold. He turned to ask Lorne what the hell was going on.
Lorne wasn't there. In fact, from what Angel could hear, he was on the other side of the locked door yelling for people to shove desks and filing cabinets in front of the door.
Sound of a lock. Lorne calling for people to push desks and filing cabinets in front of the door.
"Oh, no you don't," Angel muttered. He ran up and gave the door a flying kick that would knock it off its hinges.
As he hopped around in agony, Angel realized that "blinding pain" was a surprisingly apt description.
"ShitpissfuckdammitalltoHELL!!"
Well, kicking down doors clearly not an option. He eyed the frosted glass panel between his office and the reception area, and was debating whether or not he wanted to risk multiple lacerations when the glass suddenly darkened. From the sound of things, Wes had ordered Harmony to use her vampire strength to stand her huge oak desk on end in front of the window.
Angel grapped the doorknob and shook it furiously.
"Wes! Lorne! Harmony! If you don't let me out of here RIGHT NOW, you are all going to be very, very fired!"
"Sorry, Angel-muffin, but I believe the appropriate phrase in this situation is 'No way, Jose'."
"Lorne..." Angel was pleased to find that even without the demon, he could still growl quite effectively.
His hearing was also better than he'd expected. He could hear Wes's exasperated sigh as clearly as if the man were standing right next to him.
"I do apologize for this, Angel," Wes said, "but it's probably best that you remain isolated until we can do a little more research on how your reversion to human state might have effected your vampiric...ah...immunity to certain, well, things..."
"Things? What kind of things?" Angel snarled. Wes was so lucky that Angel was no longer a vampire, or he'd find himself missing a chunk of his throat. Despite his regained humanity, the idea of sinking his teeth into Wes's neck held a certain, visceral appeal.
Wes's voice grew slightly fainter, as if he was stepping back from the door. "Well, it's entirely possible that if you were, well, exposed to various...conditions...and you could have some viruses and bacteria lingering in your system that could have unpredictable and adverse effects."
"That still doesn't explain why you locked me in my office, Wes."
He grinned in satisfaction as he heard Harmony 'eep!' at the threat in his voice.
"I'll, um, see you tomorrow, Boss!" she squeaked. "Bye!"
"Oh, is that the time?" Lorne said. "My, my, my."
Angel heard the sound of two sets of footsteps fading rapidly into the distance.
"Think of this as being kept overnight for observation," said Wes, from just a little further away than before. He sounded calm, but Angel could tell the man was faking it. "It's nothing more than a precaution. I'm sure everything is just fine, and we'll all have a good long laugh about it in the morning."
"Wes, what do you mean you're sure everything 'is just fine?!' Are you trying to tell me there's a chance that things are not fine?"
No answer.
"Wes?"
He counted to five.
"WES!!!!"
Nothing.
Angel stood for a few minutes, wondering what exactly had just happened. Maybe this was some weird practical joke that Spike and Harmony had thought up, and Wes and Lorne would be back any minute now...
Or not.
"Fuck."
Angel took a deep breath, not even stopping to marvel at the fact that his lungs were now actually using the air that was coming in.
Ever since Angel first heard about the whole Shanshu deal, he often daydreamed about what he might do if he actually did become human again. There were, of course, the obvious fantasies involving Buffy, not a few involving Wes, and one very special one involving them both.