Angel came so hard he woke himself up. Groaning inwardly, he couldn’t remember the last time he woke up and the sheets weren’t sticky. He rubbed his face vigorously to clear his head and sighed. Better get up and put the sheets in the washer. He got up, wiped himself off with the sheet, slipped into his pants, stripped the bed and began what had become a daily chore since he’d started having intensely erotic dreams about Willow every time he went to sleep. "For chrissake! I’ve been around for two and half centuries and one demure little redhead somehow has turned me into a wet dream having teenager. It’s fucking ridiculous!" He had no clue what to blame the onset of this attraction on, it just started out of the blue. His thoughts were focused now on the lovely Willow……"God, she’s everything……brilliant, funny, sweet, loyal….that tight little body and beautiful ass, but pure and wholesome, with skin so perfect…in his dream her flawless skin had glowed in the moonlight as she writhed and moaned underneath him in ecstasy…screaming his name as she came…..UGHHH. Better put these pants in the laundry too. Shit."

Once Angel showered and changed, he gathered up the laundry basket and headed toward the basement. He was halfway across the lobby when Cordelia called out her evening greeting. "Hey Angel, glad you’re up, hope you slept well. You sure do a lot of laundry lately, are you going for the Good Housekeeping Vampire of the year award or what? Geez."

Angel glanced in her direction, said "hey Cordy", ignored her remark and continued toward the laundry room.

Returning to the lobby, Angel schooled his features to nonchalance….he hoped. Nobody knew what was going on with him, so there was no reason to feel self-conscious. He snorted to himself as he wondered when self-consciousness ever required reason. As he re-entered the lobby Cordelia waved him over. "Angel, Willow’s coming to visit us!"

“Willow! Oh. Huh? Where? Here? When? Oh. Why?”

"God, Angel, coherent much? Well, Willow called today and I told her about the problems we’re having working out the bugs in the new computer system. She said she needs to see you anyway, so she’s going to come right away for a short visit and fix us right up, no problem. Great or what?! I’ll enjoy having another girl around for awhile. You know, not counting Wesley, that is.

Angel vacillated between looks of panic and confusion. He frantically thought, “how am I going to manage behaving normally around the woman I’m having lusty fantasies about when I’m awake, and hot, sweaty, monkey sex with when I’m asleep? Shit. I’m getting a hard-on just thinking about how not to get one! He was grateful to be leaning against the counter. Think kittens…or nuns. Christ! Not nuns.”

He willed himself into control. Finally, he asked, “Why does Willow want to see me?”

"How should I know? It’s not like it’s any of my beeswax! Oh, and since you have this big hotel all to yourself, I invited her to stay here with you."

Angel thought maybe he was elated, but was too nervous to know for sure. Willow, here. Beautiful, sexy Willow, staying here. This was a lot to take in. "When will she arrive?"

Cordelia glanced at her watch and said, "any time now, I’d guess."

Angel looked toward the door, back to Cordelia, then at what he was wearing. "I should change. Should I change? I should change. How do I look? Do I look okay?"

Cordelia’s eyebrow went up and with a knowing look, she nodded and said, "Aha! Angel, you’ve got a thing for Willow! You’re even sounding like her, with all the babbling. When did this come about?"

Angel knew at this moment exactly what a deer with its eyes caught in headlights must feel like.

**************

Willow was nervous and excited about her upcoming visit, as she drove toward L.A. She knew she’d feel better once she confessed her burden to Angel, it had been weighing on her heavily since she discovered it yesterday. Getting away from her usual routine and friends would be good for her. She thought, "I’m an adult now, time to have experiences outside the confinement of my Sunnydale roles in life. Cordelia seems so much nicer and more grounded when I talk to her on the phone or in e-mails." Cordelia and Willow had been in touch off and on for a while now. It was handy to have access to another group that shared a similar mission. Willow looked forward to getting to know the ‘new and improved, vision having’ Cordelia better. Wesley had become a better person as well from what Willow had gathered. Willow asked herself "has a new life in L.A. changed Angel, too?"

Angel. It seemed to Willow, any female who had met Angel would have thoughts of him. His quiet intensity, strength, intelligence, kindness……broad shoulders, soulful eyes, sexy mouth. "No, no, no! Can’t think of Angel lustfully, she chided herself. If I sit here and fantasize about him, how can I look him in the eye without blushes giving me away when I see him? Not to mention looking Buffy in the eye when I get home. Angel had the starring role in Willow’s sex dreams fairly regularly, ever since she’d first started having them in high school. This had caused lots of awkward moments….luckily, in this case, those weren’t unusual for her, therefore not a dead giveaway. Many times through the years she had averted her eyes and stammered in Angel’s presence, Buffy’s presence, and especially, the presence of them together, due to guilt from nasty things she and Angel had done together in her dreams. "Nope, self, no thinking of the ‘Angel fuckability factor’! Think of frogs, instead. Oh! No! Too scary. Think of Xander and Anya together. Yes! Now that’s the car trip equivalent of a cold shower."

"Time to start looking for my freeway turn-off anyway, there’s a good distraction. Not paying attention here is a good way to get lost." Lost in L.A. sounded a lot scarier than vamps, demons, and otherworldly beasties….at least to a Sunnydale girl like Willow. She passed the rest of the trip carefully following Cordelia’s directions to the Hyperion. Once she parked in front of the hotel, she checked her appearance as best she could in the rearview mirror, “not too bad for after a car trip.” Emerging from the car she stretched and said confidently to herself "okay, I’m going to make the most of this time to reacquaint myself with the A.I. gang and help out where I can." She shuddered slightly remembering her original purpose here and thought, "I hope like hell Angel doesn’t hate me for not discovering the whole truth about the Gypsy curse sooner."

***************

Angel stood at the front desk of the Hyperion fidgeting under Cordelia’s scrutiny, trying to ignore her smug and amused smirk. He opened his mouth several times to respond, but nothing came out. Angel grumbled to himself, "how in the hell is she so intuitive and insightful about these things anyway, you’d think her self absorption would make that impossible." Angel’s humiliating ‘sleep-time emissions’ made him too uncomfortable to even think about confessing the related attraction to Willow.

A "hi guys" from the doorway saved Angel from having to respond to Cordelia. Angel and Cordelia turned to see Willow smiling cheerily. Cordelia ran across the lobby to greet her friend.

Willow grunted from the impact of Cordelia’s enthusiastic hug and grinned at the other girl’s happy squeal. "Willow, we’re so glad to see you, you look great! How was the drive? Are you tired? Can I get you something to drink? Eat?"

Willow never thought she’d see the day Queen C would welcome her so…. buoyantly. "Thanks Cordy, but I’m fine, the drive was fine and your directions were easy to follow. Just happy to be out of the car and finally here. This place is awesome…..and huge, I love it." She spotted Angel off to the side, smiling sweetly.

"It’s so nice to see you, Willow, and thank you, I‘m glad you like the hotel", the vampire said shyly. He was unnerved by the changes in her. She looked as lovely as ever, but more mature and confident. Her clothes were distracting, some sort of black leotard, cut low enough to rivet his attention on her firm, high breasts and a skirt that was all soft and flowy and really flattering. With great self-control he forced his eyes to remain on her face.

The little witch was pretty unnerved herself; Angel’s presence always had an electric effect on her. She never became immune. She gathered enough presence of mind to approach Angel and give him an affectionate hug and kiss on the cheek, "thanks Angel, it’s nice to see you too. L.A. seems to agree with you."

While it amused the hell out of her to watch these two be oblivious to the fact that their attraction was mutual, Cordelia thought it was time to move past their social discomfort. Their cluelessness was endearing since it sprang from the modest, unassuming qualities they both possessed, but she could only stand so much. "Come on Willow, I’ll show you to your room. You can freshen up and unpack. When you feel settled in, we can have a take-out feast here in the lobby and the four of us can catch up. Wesley should be here by then."

Willow smiled in Angel’s direction as she followed Cordelia up the stairs. Angel smiled back and thought, with relief, "that went well, I’m pretty sure I didn’t make a complete ass of myself. Mostly thanks to Cordelia, I hate to admit it, but she ushered Willow out of here just in time. Given more time, I surely would’ve said something moronic out of nervousness and ruined the moment." He also gave mental thanks to Willow, her timely entrance saved him from a Cordy sized inquisition into his infatuation for Willow. The stunning redhead’s arrival made him realize something. His attraction wasn’t just sexual, he loved Willow.

**************

The members of Angel Investigations enjoyed their evening of food, fun and catching up with Willow. It was a nice diversion to have someone new around, since they saw only each other day in and day out…a new face was good. Her insights and input into the supernatural things they all dealt with were enlightening, too. A night off from fighting evil was good for them all, it seemed the world of baddies were taking the night off and giving them a well deserved break.

Wesley got up from the couch and said he was heading home. "Willow, it’s a great pleasure having you here, I look forward to working with you during your visit. See everyone tomorrow!"

"Bye, Wesley" the remaining three said in unison.

Since being left alone with Cordelia would mean the third degree and being left alone with Willow flustered him, Angel felt pressure to be the next to say goodnight. "See you ladies tomorrow, thanks for such a nice evening," with that, he headed off to his room.

Cordelia smiled at Willow and said "it really is great seeing you, I feel lucky that we’ve become friends and put the past behind us. Thank you for being the forgiving type."

"Cordelia, you’ve changed, it’s not hard to turn over a new leaf with you, I feel lucky to be friends too. Now, I’ve got to get to bed before I drop. Tomorrow’s a big day." Willow hugged Cordelia, said goodnight and went upstairs.

With everyone else gone, Cordelia turned out the lights, locked the door and left for home. Willow was more right than she knew when she said tomorrow would be a big day. Cordelia wasn’t sure what to think of all the implications of the things she’d learned today. She thought to herself, “Angel has it bad for Willow, that’s for sure, and any fool can see Willow’s attracted to him too. I have high hopes for those two. Naturally, I don’t want anything to threaten Angel’s soul (been there, done that, hated it!!), but he’s such a pro at keeping a tight lid on happiness. If anyone could let romance into their life, while maintaining a balance, it was Angel. And while I’m on the subject of things that are none of my damned business; what’s the big, mysterious thing Willow needs to talk to Angel about, anyway? She’s so tight lipped about it, you’d think it a was state secret or something. Whew, it’s gonna be like freakin’ Melrose Place around here for a while!"

End part 1