•••

"We're out of milk," Xander groaned as he slammed the refrigerator door shut. Oz looked up from his now-empty cereal bowl, hunching over it a bit more. Xander squinted and frowned at his lover. "Did you use the last of the milk?"

Oz just stared up at Xander. After a minute, the seer threw up his hands and stomped out of the kitchen. When he got to the office, he found Angel, Wil, Cordelia and Wes arguing loudly.

"We *have* to go, Angel," Cordelia shouted, stomping her foot.

Angel shook his head. "No, you don't *have* to go. Cordy, it's a gallery opening. No one but the gallery owner and the artists *have* to be there."

"But the owner is an Eraen demon, as is the artist," Wesley reminded Angel. "And there will be a class of art students from UCLA at the gallery. Do you really want a hundred and fifty college students stuck in a building with a pair of Eraen demons?"

"What's an Eraen demon?" Xander asked the huffy investigators.

"They thrive on pain," Wesley answered. "Eraen demons live to emotionally torture people." Xander shuddered.

"And you don't want to protect these kids why, Angel?" Xander asked the vampire.

"Exactly what I'm asking," Wil said. "It won't hurt to go down there and enjoy the art—I've heard she's an excellent artist—and also make sure that nothing out of the ordinary occurs."

"But there's no vision attached to this!" Angel said desperately. With no one on his side, he knew he was going to lose.

Xander frowned. "So what? We'll just trot on over to the gallery, look around and hobnob, and come home. Besides, we don't just do what the visions show—just last week you made all of us—"

"Fine!" Angel said, cutting Xander off. "But I don't think this calls for all of us, do you?"

Wil looked over at the frustrated vampire. "Perhaps if Cordelia, Wes, Xander and Oz went? They can call if something happens and Angel and I can get some things done around here." He would have liked to have gone to the showing, but he knew that leaving Angel alone here would be bad—he'd feel abandoned.

Cordelia nodded. "That'll work. Xander, you and Oz need to get dressed. We've got maybe fifteen minutes." Xander nodded and went down to collect Oz. Cordelia and Wesley also retreated upstairs to change.

Angel sighed and slumped against the desk. "You don't have to stay," He said.

Wil smiled softly. "I want to, or I wouldn't have offered." Angel nodded slowly, knowing that Wil had wanted to see the art. They stood there silently for several minutes, listening to the sounds of their coworkers getting ready. Twelve minutes later, a herd of frantic people barreled down the stairs.

"Let's go!" Cordelia shouted as she followed the guys toward the lobby. "We are not going to be late for this!"

Xander stopped halfway down the stairs. "Deadboy! We're out of milk. There's a grocery list on the fridge!" Before Angel could respond, the group was out the door.

"Grocery list?" Angel whispered.

Wil stared at where Xander had been standing. "Wanna go to the supermarket?"

Angel turned to Wil, a horrified look on his face. "You're kidding, right?" Wil shook his head.

"It's not like we have anything better to do tonight—you've got your cell phone, so they can get in touch with us if they need to," Wil replied.

"But…"

Wil rolled his eyes. "You didn't want to go to the art show. This is the other option. Get your jacket, would you?" He walked off to collect some money and the grocery list. He didn't mind the supermarket, particularly this time of evening—the crowds would be a bit thinner, with fewer children.

•••

"Can't we put this off?" Angel whined as he and Wil walked into the grocery store. He hated shopping for food he didn't need to eat and he despised large, brightly lit stores like this one. They smelled bad, had bad help, and bad merchandise.

"Stop whining, Angel. This won't take too long," Wil replied as they stopped to get a buggy.

"Won't take long? Did you look at that list? There must be two hundred things on it!" Angel said, scowling.

Wil looked thoughtful. "You're right." He pushed the shopping cart at Angel, selecting another for himself. He then pulled out the list and peered at it. A moment later, he ripped it in two and handed half to Angel. "That should cut the time in half, don't you think?" Before Angel could say a word, Wil was off toward baking supplies. "Don't worry, I'll find you when I finish!" Wil called over his shoulder.

Angel stared down at his half of the list. Wil was a cocky bastard; the older vampire knew he was making this a challenge—who could get done first? There was no doubt in Angel's mind that he'd beat the blonde at his own game. "Ok, let's see…canned green beans. That I can do."

When he got to the canned-foods aisle, Angel quickly located the canned green beans…all five brands and six varieties. "French cut?" He muttered, looking at the cans of food. The list didn't say what kind of cut to get, so Angel grabbed a can of generic, whole green beans. The next thing on the list was crackers. He remembered seeing a sign for crackers on the main aisle, so he turned around to find that spot.

Of course, the list didn't say what kind of crackers the cracker-eaters wanted, and green beans were nothing compared to saltines, Ritz, butter, café, flavored, and graham crackers—in regular, low fat and low salt varieties. After a couple of minutes, Angel grabbed a box of no salt, no fat saltines, figuring that if someone wanted salt or fat on their crackers, they could just add it themselves. Feeling good about how quickly this was going, Angel looked down at the list.

"Tampons?" Angel stared at the word for a moment. It occurred to him that perhaps Cordelia had put that on the list purposefully—to bother any male that did the grocery shopping. After all, the only other female in the hotel, Fred, was currently in Sunnydale with Gunn. Well, Angel wasn't going to be deterred by ladies' products, so he directed his buggy, squeaks and all, toward the main aisle once more.

Unfortunately, ladies' products weren't listed on any of the signs hanging in front of the aisles. Angel was about to give up and ask when he noticed that there weren't any employees anywhere. With that option gone, he was reduced to wandering the aisles. He was a detective, wasn't he? This couldn't be too hard.

Five minutes later he came to the conclusion that 'hygiene' was a euphemism for ladies' products. That wasn't much of a consolation when he was faced with a wall of boxes and soft bags. Why couldn't there be just one kind. "It just says tampons," Angel moaned.

"What kind does she usually use?"

Angel turned to see an elderly lady standing next to him, studying some bottles on the opposite side of the aisle. "What?"

The lady repeated herself. "What kind does she usually use? Just grab a box of the closest thing to that."

"But I don't…" Angel began. The lady frowned. "She's not my girlfriend! I'm just doing the grocery shopping!"

"Hmmph," The lady snorted. She turned around and stepped forward, grabbing a box from the hygiene aisle. "Here," She said, thrusting the box at Angel. He accepted it and threw it into the cart, quickly getting away from the scowling lady. Well, Cordelia wasn't his girlfriend. How would he know what kind of tampon she used? It wasn't like she knew what kind of lube he and Wil used, Angel thought to himself.

Forty-five minutes later, Angel was a nervous wreck, having prowled every aisle in the store at least ten times. His cart was only halfway full, over three-quarters of the list was left over, and nearly every customer in the store was glaring at him. Strangely enough, he hadn't run into Wil once.

"Almost done?"

"What?" Angel said, spinning around. Wil was propped on a shelf behind him, next to an overflowing shopping cart. "What is that?" He asked, pointing to the cart.

"My half of the list," Wil replied. "Where's the rest of yours?"

Angel stared down at the cart. "I…" Wil stopped him.

"Why did you get whole green beans? And nobody in the hotel is going to eat those crackers. Candied yams? What were you thinking…and Cordelia will kill you if you try to make her use those tampons," Wil said quickly. "Don't you pay any attention to what goes on in the hotel?"

Angel just stared at the ground. "Yes, I do. I just don't always notice the groceries. I only eat them when we're having family dinners, you know," He said quietly.

Wil flinched. He really shouldn't be so hard on Angel; after all, the vampire did do, and notice, a lot. "Come on, we'll finish it together. Besides, you've got all the frozen stuff on your list."

"They're mopping that aisle," Angel said.

"So?" Wil replied. "They're always mopping that aisle. Their cooling system is leaky, so there's always water on the floor." Angel shrugged and followed Wil down the next aisle.

"How do you know what kind of tampons Cordelia uses?" Angel asked curiously.

Wil grinned. "We swap out grocery duty; when she goes she picks up our lube, and when I go, I get her tampons."

Angel's jaw dropped. Cordelia bought their… He was about to comment when Wil pulled up and stopped in front of the crackers.

"Xander likes regular saltines, Oz is partial to sesame wafers, and Cordelia only eats club crackers," Wil said, selecting three boxes and putting the one Angel had gotten back on the shelf. "And yes, there's a difference."

"I'm sure there is," Angel said defensively. Wil grinned.

"Now you know, in case you come back out," The blonde said as they turned toward the canned food aisle. "The green beans aren't so important, but you'd better get ones that have been cut up." He pointed to the ones next to the kind Angel had originally selected. "Get about ten cans, hmm?" He said absently as he checked out some other offerings.

"Do we need that?" Angel asked, watching Wil throw cans of chopped tomatoes, corn, beans and peas into the cart.

"What? That?" Wil said, looking at the cart. "They need a little variety, you know. Besides, it sounds like Gunn and Fred will be coming back soon, and Fred will need something to experiment on. It's hard to mess up a can of beans."

Angel nodded. "How are they doing?"

Wil frowned as the turned onto the frozen vegetable aisle. "Fair, I suppose. Dawn's advancing nicely, from what Fred has told me. Buffy's not taking their assistance very well, but Anya's helping out on that front. Willow they've had no luck with."

"Have they taken her to see anyone?" Angel asked, catching the bags of broccoli and mixed vegetables Wil threw at him.

Wil shook his head. "Not yet, but I've been pushing them to. She needs professional help, but Buffy's balking at that as well. There are some people in Sunnydale who're sensitive to that kind of thing, though, so maybe between Anya and Dawn, she'll back down."

"Eventually, I'm sure she will," Angel murmured. She'd have to—the Slayer had almost no backup now, and without Willow, she was seriously shorthanded.

"Chocolate or vanilla?" Wil asked, holding up two cartons of ice cream.

"Xander has to have chocolate, and Wesley's not here to want vanilla or strawberry," Angel replied. "See? I do pay attention to some things."

"I know you do," Wil said as he deposited three quarts of chocolate and mocha ice cream in the cart. "Come on, there's still a lot of stuff to get, including milk."

An hour later, they finally made it home. Wil put Angel in charge of stocking the pantry while the blonde put things in the huge hotel freezer. He didn't trust Angel to put everything where it was supposed to be. Angel was just finishing the crackers and soda when Wil walked into the pantry, carrying mugs for both of them.

"Thanks," Angel murmured, taking one mug. Wil nodded and leaned back against one wall, sipping his dinner.

"Any idea of when they'll be back?" Wil asked, glancing at his watch.

"Nope," Angel said, shaking his head. "It's what, eleven-thirty now? They won't be until well after one, at the earliest, and they might just stay out all night."

"Ah. Let's see…wanna see if we can get upstairs without running into Lorne's customers?" Wil asked, grinning. Angel nodded and took their mugs to the kitchen to wash them out. A couple of minutes later, they were sneaking through the lobby and up the stairs. They didn't completely avoid Caritas' customers, but they didn’t see Lorne, so they made it up without incident.

"Do we have anything to do tonight?" Angel asked, looking down at his desk.

"I can't think of anything," Wil replied, shuffling through some files. "Most of this is on hold, done, or cancelled. I guess we could go shake down Makla Diesh again, for this theater house case," Wil mentioned, holding up a file.

Angel grimaced. "I'd rather go back to the grocery store." That comment brought a smile to Wil's face.

"There's always the movies," Wil suggested. "We haven't been in months."

Angel stared at the ceiling for a moment. Actually, a movie didn't sound so bad. "What's playing?"

Wil flipped through that day's paper. "What're you in the mood for? Action, mystery, horror, drama, romance?"

"Action," Angel said automatically.

"Spider-Man?" Wil suggested. "There's a one a.m. showing."

"Sure," Angel replied.

•••

When Angel and Wil stumbled into the Hyperion at about four-thirty that morning, they noticed that Cordelia, Wesley, Xander and Oz had not returned. Their friends' absence concerned them, so Angel tried Cordelia on her cell phone. "It's turned off," He said, staring down at his own phone.

Wil frowned. "She always leaves it on when she's out. What about Xander?"

A moment later, Angel looked back up. "His is off too."

"Right then," Wil said, looking around. "Five minutes for gear, and then we hit the sewers."

Angel ran up the stairs to his apartment, while Wil raided the weapons cabinets.