Disclaimer: Still not mine. I keep hoping.

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For a fleeting moment Angel panicked. He hadn't checked the bathroom before the children had entered, and he feared that something...but what? The windows were still covered over, the room had no other exit. There was no way out and no one there, except...

Heartbeats. Fast. Close.

Behind him.

Angel turned around. The door had been blocked with the industrial-sized restroom receptacle, which Angel reflected had been unusually heavy, too much weight for the children to have moved on their own. He sized it up and frowned. It didn't seem big enough.

Then it moved.

With a small smile he pulled off the lid, and Buffy screamed. The sound echoed to deafening levels before she registered that it was him. He lifted her out, and Willow's head popped up cautiously. She looked down excitedly.

"It's okay! Angel won!"

The reply was too muffled for Angel to hear, but the yelp that followed it was loud enough. Angel saw Willow's stricken look and could only imagine.

"Don't move," he admonished the redhead. Angel set Buffy down firmly then reached for a now-frozen Willow. As soon as he pulled her out the third head emerged slowly. Xander gasped for air, his face nearly purple.

"Sorry, Xander," Willow said meekly. Her eyes were wide and upset. "I kicked him. I didn't mean it." As soon as Angel put her down she ran to her friend. "Did I hurtja bad?"

Xander, still not quite able to speak, gave a quick head shake. Angel winced empathetically as he helped the third child out.

"What do we do now?" Buffy asked, her high voice echoing off the tile.

Angel made sure Xander could stand, giving the boy a manly commiserating pat on the shoulder, then turned to the blonde.

"I get the three of you out of here."

Willow and Xander both looked relieved, but Buffy shook her head.

"I can't go," she protested. "I'm supposed to...do something."

"I know. But it's too dangerous. I'll get you to your parents," Angel said. "You'll be safe."

"But the other kids..." Willow said slowly. "What'll happen to them?"

"I'll-"

"You don't know what to do," Buffy interrupted sharply. "You can't save them."

"I can save..." Angel started defensively, then changed tactics. "Look, I'm not discussing this. I'm the grownup here, and I say you go."

The three kids exchanged looks, and then as one crossed their arms and planted their feet.

"We're..." Willow began, her face placid but a glint of hard resolve in her eyes that took Angel aback.

"Not!" Xander said loudly, glowering his dislike of vampires, of Angel, of this whole situation. But in his eyes Angel saw a loyalty to these two girls that was so fierce the vampire knew he'd never seen the like of it in anyone, let alone a child.

"Going." The blonde girl eyed him with such certainty that Angel was speechless. She was only a child, but he sensed in her a maturity, command that was strange in such a small child. Strange and familiar...but he wasn't the sort to be pushed around.

"Yes. You. Are."

"No we're not!" the children chorused in unison.

"Yes you are!"

"No we're not!"

"Are!"

"Not!"

Angel opened his mouth and closed it again. *What am I doing? I'm almost two hundred for chrissake!*

"That's enough!" he said in his best adult voice.

"Not!" the children chorused again. Angel's vampire hearing picked up murmurs and approaching footsteps, still well down the hall but definitely coming their way.

"Shhhh! I hear someone-"

"Not!" Xander's muffled voice chimed in. Angel looked down to see Willow's tiny hand clamped firmly over her friend's mouth.

"Coming," he finished with a sigh.

"Somebody's coming?" Willow squeaked, then covered her own mouth at Angel's glare.

"Not!" Xander whispered stubbornly. Buffy elbowed him as Angel moved to the door, listening intently, his mind racing. There was no way he could walk them out of this room without being seen, and there was definitely a crowd coming down this corridor. He sensed four, perhaps five vampires. He had the sinking feeling that his cover was blown.

"Quiet. I need to think," Angel announced tersely as the footsteps grew loud enough for even the children to hear. He could get the kids out the window maybe, charbroiling himself in the process, but there wasn't going to be enough time. He tried to think of something to say that wouldn't scare them, but Buffy's frightened whisper summed up the situation nicely.

"We're trapped."

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To Be Continued...