"Hey Alex! What's up?" Maria asked.

"Nothing much. You wanna do something tonight?"

"Sure! That would be great! We haven't done anything in weeks!" Maria answered cheerfully.

"Okay. Movies or the mall?"

"Movies, definitely. I want to get lost in a fantasy world. Get my mind off of things."

"What things are those?" Alex asked, playing dumb.

"The fact that my best friends have been acting peculiarly for weeks, and I have no idea why!" Maria said pointedly, giving Alex a glare.

"Peculiar? Me?"

"Yes you! Liz and Michael, especially! Disappearing for hours, not showing up at your usual haunts. Keeping secrets. Something is definitely up with you guys." Maria said hurt in her voice.

"Maria nothing is up with us. I swear okay? It's just been a weird month."

"Why? What's been weird about it? Come on Alex. Spill!" Maria said, highly frustrated.

"Lots of things. Most importantly our relationships with the Czechs."

"A yes, the Czechs. The ones we fell for and then got walked all over by." Maria said bitterly.

"The ones who now want us back in their lives." Alex said. "In case you haven't noticed Michael keeps staring at you."

"Yeah, well Michael's good at staring. It's the anything more that he sucks at." Maria said snidely.

"Yeah. What movie do you want to see?"

"A comedy. What comedy's are out?"

"Why don't we go see The Perfect Storm? George Clooney?"

"George Clooney? I could take that."

"Alright, I'll go check movie times," Alex said as he walked off to find a newspaper.

"Ok." Maria turned around and smacked into Michael. "Haven't seen much of you lately."

"Sorry, been busy. How've you been?" he asked sincerely.

Maria nearly fell over. "Um fine. You?"

"Doing alright I guess. I miss you though." he blushed, unable to believe he had just told her that.

"That was your choice." Maria said softly before she walked away.

"Yeah, and I regret it everyday," he said softly to himself, hanging his head.

"Keep trying Michael." Liz's voice said from behind him.

"I think it might be too late for that, Liz." he said sadly. "You ready to go meet your new watcher? He should be at the house by now." he said with a little excitement in his vioce. His curiosity was peaked from all he had heard about Wesley

"Tone it down would you?" Liz said. "I'll meet you at the magic shop in fifteen minutes." The magic shop had been a recent discovery on their part but they were quickly becoming regulars.

He leaned down to her ear. "Calm down Liz, no one was listening. You keep acting that jumpy people are REALLY going to wonder about you." He then walked out of the Crashdown, taking one last look at Maria.

Liz stopped and looked behind her.

"That's the third time you've done that in fifteen minutes. What's up?" Michael asked.

"I get the feeling we're being followed."

"By who? Or by what?" he asked nervously.

"I don't know. Sun hasn't set so it's not a vampire, unless Spike's got a cloak on. It doesn't feel demony."

"Well, you ready to find out who it is?" Michael asked, gesturing to a store they could dash into.

"Yeah." Liz said as the two ducked into a store and hid behind the display case by the window. "Isabel?" Liz gasped. "Michael, this isn't good."

"Liz think. Was she in the hall the other day when you beat up Butler?"

"I don't know."

"She probably was. You know she was getting suspicious anyway. That probably just set her off. Look I'll go distract her, and you get to the house, ok? I'll meet you there after she's gone." Michael gave her a quick squeeze then stood out in the open.

Liz ducked behind a bookcase and waited till Isabel had spotted Michael and her back was to her before she slipped out of the store and ran for the house.

Liz hesitantly knocked on the door to the house she had felt comfortable enough to just walk into for the past few weeks. She was nervous about meeting her new watcher.

The door opened and a brunette stood on the other side of the doorframe. "Hello?"

Liz looked at her in confusion, then she realized this must be Cordelia. Wesley had brought his friends with him. "Hi, I'm Liz Parker. I'm looking for Wesley?"

"Oh you're Liz. I'm Cordelia Chase. C'mon in. Thanks for the note you left us. Made everything a lot easier. Wesley's up in his office, which used to be Giles' office so I'm sure you know where it is. In fact Wesley took over Giles' rooms totally. I took the master bedroom, Doyle's in the room next to the garage, and Angel's downstairs in the basement." Cordelia said as she and Liz went upstairs.

"Good thing I have already become acclimated to this house." Liz smiled. "Did you guys have a nice trip?"

"Yeah pretty much so. But for the life of me I do not know who gave Wesley a driver's license."

Liz smothered a giggle. "So when do I get to meet him?" she asked as they walked into the office.

"Wesley's in his bedroom. Hi I'm Doyle. You must be Liz."

"Nice accent."

"Why thank you!" Doyle turned to Cordelia, "See Princess? Some people DO appreciate a fine Irish accent!"

"Yeah, yeah. Did you get the books out yet?"

"We're almost finished. The man's got quite a collection goin'!" Doyle exclaimed.

"My friend Alex said he'd be by to set up your computer system tomorrow if you wanted." Liz volunteered.

"Alex?"

"Yeah you see a few of my friends have found out about my destiny and have decided to help me no matter what I tell them."

"Oh! You're creating your own Scooby Gang!" Cordy exclaimed. "That's cool, while there will be issues dealing with them, you'll be glad you have them most of the time!"

"That's what Buffy said. Oh by the way did she or Giles happen to tell you that Spike is in town?"

"Spike?" Cordy said in horror. "Just what we need," she sighed.

"What's that Delia?" Angel asked as he walked into the room.

"Your favorite child is in town!" Cordelia replied.

"My favorite child?" Angel said, looking confused.

"But he's been fixed. Some military group put this chip in his brain and he can no longer bite or hit people. But he can hit demons." Liz said.

"Oh! You mean Spike!" Angel said, going broody immediately.

"Right. Spike. And you're Angel right?"

"Yes, I am. So you must be Liz." Angel said, giving her the welcoming smile he had been practicing on clients.

"That's me." She was about to say something else when the doorbell rang. "That must be Michael."

"Michael?" Angel mouthed to the others.

"I'm gonna go let him in." Liz said.

"Who's Michael?" Angel asked once Liz was gone.

"Probably another member of Liz's Scooby Gang."

"She's already got a Scooby Gang? I'm impressed." Angel replied. "I wonder if they are as interesting as the original Scooby Gang..."

"Well I guess we'll find out."

Max was sitting on his bed reading some demon dictionary he'd found at the bookstore near the Crashdown when Isabel walked in.

He quickly laid the book down so she wouldn't be able to read the title. "What's up Is?"

"Everything and nobody will tell me anything."

"What do you mean?" Max asked innocently.

"Well for one thing Michael and Liz. You know I'm beginning to think something is going on with them in a romantic sense."

"Don't make the same mistake I did in thinking that Is. You'll never hear the end of it. I am still treading on thin ice with Liz for that." Max warned.

"Well then please explain to me why exactly they were walking together down the street and then Liz disappeared after Michael saw me."

"Maybe she just had to get somewhere fast." Max said in explanation

"Yeah but why was she with Michael in the first place? He dumped her best friend. She's supposed to want him badly injured."

"I think she has a great understanding of where Michael is coming from, considering she did the same thing to me, Is. They found a common ground." Max said wryly and shrugged, as if it didn't really bother him.

"You're not sitting there telling me that this doesn't bother you. I know you're not."

"Ok, so them being close bothers me, Is. I want it to be me with her. So what? There isn't anything I can do about it. Liz has made her position clear. And believe it or not, I am glad Michael is there for her. Because she is hurting as bad as I am. I can see it in her eyes." Max sighed.

"Max why don't you go talk to her tonight? Wait till she goes out on her balcony and then climb up and make her listen to you."

"Cause she never sits on her balcony anymore," Max muttered under his breath.

"What?" Isabel asked.

"Nothing Is. I'll try to talk to her again."

"Good. Cause you love her and she loves you and unless you two make up all is never going to be right with the world."

"Right Is." Max said with a small smile.

"That movie was depressing." Maria said.

"Yeah, I didn't realize it was gonna end like that." Alex agreed.

"Well you have succeeded in bumming me out to the extreme. What do you wanna do now?"

"Lets go get a milkshake or something at the Crashdown. Comfort food." Alex grinned.

"Sounds good. I wonder if Liz is working tonight."

"I don't remember if Liz is working tonight. Guess we'll see!" Alex replied.

"I hope she is I haven't talked to her in ages."

"Well looks like Liz isn't working tonight." Maria said disappointed as they sat in the booth at the Crashdown. "Maybe I should go and see if she is upstairs and wants to come join us?"

"No! I mean she's probably studying or sleeping. She's been looking kind of tired lately." Alex backtracked quickly.

"Well, she can always say no, Alex!" Maria responded, giving him an odd look. "It doesn't hurt to ask!"

"Well what if you wake her up? She'll be all cranky." Alex spotted Michael and shot him a look.

Michael came over to their table. "Hey."

"Hey Michael!" Alex said brightly. "Want to join us for a milkshake?" he said, slight desperation in his voice.

"Uh I can't. Working and all. But I did want to tell you that Liz has left strict instructions not to be disturbed unless the world is ending. She has some huge test to study for."

Maria looked from Michael to Alex and back again. She knew something was up with them. Just then she noticed Isabel walking in. "Isabel!" She called.

"Hey. Have you guys seen Max? I've been looking all over for him." Isabel said walking over.

"Max?" Maria shrugged, "Nope." She looked at Michael and Alex who both shrugged also.

"Maybe he's up on Liz's balcony. He said he was gonna try to talk to her."

"Yeah, maybe. Why don't you join me and Alex? Michael has already claimed other duties as an excuse..." Maria asked, she left unspoken that it was a perfect chance to gang up on Alex to find out what was going on.

"Sure." Isabel sat down next to Maria and they both faced Alex.

"Michael you sure you can't stay?" Alex asked feeling like he was in front of a firing squad.

Michael gave him a sympathetic look, "Sorry man, I have a pile of dishes calling me in the back." he stalked off praying Alex could hold his own with the determined girls.

"So what's up girls?" Alex asked.

"We were just wondering what you've been up to Alex!" Isabel said with a sweet smile, she knew kindness was the best way to get info out of him.

"Up to? School, band, normal every day stuff."

"Uh huh, so how come you have been out of sight so much in the last couple of weeks? Those things don't usually make you disappear!" Maria demanded.

"Uh well, my dad has been insisting on quality time."

"Your dad was out of town on business buster." Maria said angrily

"My mom was insisting on quality time? I met this awesome girl who wanted to sleep with me?"

Isabel sent a withering glare his way after the last sentence. "You are getting deeper and deeper Alex. You don't want to be on my bad side and you know it."

"Guys I love the both of you, you know that, but there are just some things I can't share with you two at the moment. I'm sorry. I'll see ya tomorrow." Alex got up and left.

Isabel and Maria looked at each other. "Whatever they are keeping from us, it is serious, isn't it?" Isabel asked, strangely subdued.

"Yeah and I have this strange feeling that you and I are the only two who don't know what's going on."

"I think its time we took matters into our hands, and found out what it was." Isabel said, determined.

"Then tomorrow?"

"We start Operation: Find Out what The Hell is going on." Isabel said.

*Thwack!*

"You know I think it's getting easier to kill these things." Liz said before she dusted the vampire.

"Well, you have been practicing for several weeks. Everything gets at least somewhat easier with time and practice." Wesley said reasonably.

"You know Wesley, Michael usually comes on patrol with me. You really didn't have to."

"Well, I wanted to see how you did in a real life situation. How else am I to know what your weaknesses are? Or what we need to work on? Plus, I'd like to get the lay of the land."

"Well you could always spar with me yourself instead of letting Michael or Doyle do it."

"Ah, well I have finally admitted the fighting is not where my strengths lie." Wesley blushed, "I do it when necessary, and hold my own, but I am not good enough to give you any real competition."

"In other words you're deathly afraid of me after watching me whale on my friends and are rather fond of your internal organs, right?"

"Something like that!" Wesley answered, grinning involuntarily.

"It's cool. I think I've got most of the guys in school afraid of me after what happened the other day."

"Yes, well hopefully you have learned a lesson in hiding your 'talents'" Wesley said somewhat stuffily.

"I promise not to beat up anymore football players if that's what you mean."

"Good." Wesley said, then decided to drop the subject already knowing that was the best he was going to get out of her.

"I think that's it on the vampire scene. Sun comes up in a few hours. I'm gonna head home and try to get some sleep."

"Right, you'll come over for training after school?"