The Way Things Should Be

by Lady Callista

Distribution: Anyone who has permission for any of my other stories may have this too. Others, ask and I will most likely give permission.
Feedback: Please!!! This was the first Buffy fic I ever wrote (and I just realized I never sent it to a few of my lists) so I really wanna know what everyone thinks.
Disclaimer: Anala is mine. So are the spells.(Mostly) The three times three spell is from someone else, not sure who exactly. The first part of the wolf protection chant isn't mine, but I'm not sure who's it is. I added the last part, obviously. "When I Fall in Love" belongs to Celine Dion and whoever else. All characters belong to Joss, the WB, Mutant Enemy, (the evil)FOX, and whoever else came up with them. If they belonged to me the show would be drastically different. Please don't sue, believe me, it's not worth it.
Rating: Same as the TV show
Spoilers: Anything up to The Yoku Factor on Buffy, and Sanctuary on Angel. Nothing beyond those shows has happened.
This is a response to ObsessiveAngel's challenge:
Must haves:
Buffy/Angel reuniting
Buffy telling Riley off for hurting Angel
Spike being good, evilless-Spike
No fighting amongst the Scooby gang
Adam being killed
Giles drunk and singing
Cordy and Wesley being there too
Angel being able to be as "happy" as he wants
Try and include 5 of these:
Riley telling Buffy to choose between him and Angel, Buffy replying: Choose? There's no choice to make. And walking over to Angel.
The song "When I Fall in Love"
A get together at the Bronze
A competition over who looks better in leather pants
Sex in a public place (can be implied if you don't like writing it)
Someone being able to do magic naturally
The movie Sleepless in Seattle
Giles acting kinda like Ripper

This is a re-write of The Yoku Factor. It begins at the point that Angel, Riley, and Buffy are in her room. Spike is not in league with Adam, is not evil again, so therefor there is no fighting or division in the Scooby gang.

Another fic I wrote many years ago, what do you think?

"Riley, I need to talk to Angel. Alone."

Riley stared at her, but didn't move a muscle. "I'm not going anywhere. After what that bastar.."

Buffy glared daggers at him and took a few steps towards him. Buffy spoke slowly, as if to a little child, "Go! I don't need protection from the big, bad vampire. I need to talk to him. Without you here. "

Riley looked into her eyes, and must have recognized the look he saw there. "I'll wait right outside."

Buffy just rolled her eyes and herded him out the door. She turned slowly to Angel. "Sorry about that. He's kinda..."

"An idiot?"

"I was gonna say overprotective, but..."

"Look, I didn't come here to disrupt your life. Riley," he said the name with disgust "is not any of my business. I just wanted to say I was sorry. I was way out-of line..."

"It means a lot that you came here, but Angel, it wasn't just you. I had no right to say some of the things I did. "

"But no matter what, I shouldn't have hit yo..."

"I kinda hit you first." Buffy grinned.

"Doesn't matter."

" Yes, it does Angel. We were both wrong. Let's just move on with..."

" Our lives? Try even harder than we were to forget?"

Buffy looked at him curiously when he said that. She got a momentary sense of deja-vu. Something about forgetting... She reluctantly brought her mind back to the present, trying to concentrate on what he had said even though she was feeling overwhelmed just being near him again.

" Not forget, Angel. Just move on. I'll never forget you..."

Whoa! Buffy thought to herself, that same weird feeling. What was going on?

He didn't notice her discomfort, he was too preoccupied with his inner turmoil. He wanted to take her into his arms right there, but knew he no longer had that right. Besides, he knew how it would end.

" I won't forget either. But Buffy..."

Just then Angel was interrupted by the phone ringing.

Buffy looked at him apologetically and went to answer it. Buffy spoke " Hold that thought." Then said into the phone, "Hello?"

Angel watched her as her beautiful face creased with lines of worry. He couldn't hear what was being said, he only knew it was upsetting her. He wanted to kill whoever was upsetting her so.

Buffy said into the phone, "Go to Giles' place Will, I'll be there as soon as I can. Everything will be all right. I'll let Xand know to meet us there."

She hung up and quickly dialed another number. "Hey, Xander, are you with Anya? Okay, good, you two get your butts to Giles. Willow and Tara were at a Lowell party when a huge group of vampires crashed the place. Willow thinks they were working for Adam; they may be going after the Initiative, checking it's defenses, etc..,we gotta move fast."

She hung up, and turned to Angel, who was looking at her with puzzlement. He had no clue what Lowell was or who Adam was. And all he knew of the Initiative was that they had tried to kill him and were pretty much bad. So why was Buffy worried about them?

She read the look in his face, so she explained. "Yeah, the Initiative may be bad, but they also have hundreds of cages with monsters, demons, vamps, and other creatures of the night. If Adam needs to build an army that would be a great place to go. There are secret ways in, but not enough to get a lot of vamps in at the same time to free everyone. They're probably looking for a direct entrance. "

As she had been talking, she had put on a lightweight coat and filled it's pockets with Slayer paraphernalia. She tossed him a few things and they were off. She hadn't even questioned that he would come with, she just knew he would.

As they opened the door, she had started to continue explaining, only to be blocked by Riley. "Where are you guys going?"

Mad beyond anything for him not understanding Angel and her's relationship even after all the time she had taken to explain, and for messing with her boyfriend, even though he no longer technically was, she brushed by him.

"Someplace that you don't need to be. Go back into hiding Riley, before the Initiative finds you."

And with that she breezed by him. Angel gave him a slight smirk before following in her wake.

A few minutes later, at Giles apartment

Willow, Tara, Xander, and Anya were already at Giles when Buffy and Angel arrived. Giles's looked at Angel rather strangely as he opened the door, but made no comment as he let the vampire in.

"Angel! Hi. I didn't know you were back in town. After the way Buffy acted when she came back after seeing you I...oh, Goddess..." Willow abruptly stopped talking as Buffy shot her a look. Obviously realizing she had said too much, Willow continued in a rush. "But that's not really why we're here, is it? Buffy..."

Giles cut her off this time, explaining to Buffy all that Willow had told him. "Put briefly; During a party at Lowell Hall, somewhere around a dozen vampires barged in and started tearing the place apart. Although the place was packed with people Willow recognizes as being in the Initiative, there were far to many college students around for them to get their stakes out. So they started a huge fist-fight that cleared most of the people out of the room, then discretely staked as many as possible before the vampires fled. They seemed to be looking for something in particular, however, as they had scanners that we've only seen used by the Initiative. So we assume Adam is the leader behind them. And they are very possibly looking for an easier access to the Initiative than the tunnels Adam and Spike escaped from."

"That's what you call briefly, G-man?"

"That was as brief as possible while still including all the bloody facts!"

"Sorry..." Xander looked down.

"As am I. I should not have yelled, but as always you choose to make a joke at the worst possible time. And do not call me G-man. " He added the last part almost as an afterthought.

Buffy cut into the tension by asking, "So, what do we do? I know exactly how to find the easy access that the vamps are looking for, but I can't use it anymore. And neither can Riley. And I don't think anyone else in the Initiative is gonna make nice and let us in"

She explained to Angel quickly what had happened with Oz, Riley, and the Initiative. She left out, of course, the part about Willow and Tara. As far as she knew she was the only one that knew about them and didn't want to say anything if Willow didn't want the others to know.

"So you can't get in? So what? Just call them up and tell them." Anya said with her usual flippantness.

"Well, I'd assume they've come to the same conclusions we have by now. But since working together is not an option, we'll merely have to both do our best and stay out of each others way. Buffy, I suggest you patrol and try to kill as many vampires as possible. Don't just let them find you, actively hunt! The less vampires there are the less Adam can turn to his purposes. The rest of us will stay here and try to find a way to destroy Adam or at least find out where his 'headquarters' are."

"Could you use more help? Cause I've got..." Angel began

Just then Giles' phone rang. He excused himself to the other room and came back with the phone in hand, giving it to Angel.

Angel took the phone "Angel. Cordy, calm down. What happened? What did you see? Yeah, that would be Adam. We're working on the problem, I was just about to suggest you and Wes come up and help. We need more people, and Wesley could bring some of my older books. Maybe there's something on how to kill a demon-monster-vampire-hybrid or whatever the hell you would call Adam. Just hurry up you two. Things are probably gonna go down pretty fast." Angel hung up and told the group briefly about Doyle's death and how Cordy now got the visions from the powers that be. He also told them that she had seen Adam fighting with Buffy, and it looked as if the Slayer was losing the battle.

"Well, that's one vision that won't come to pass."

Angel didn't comment that all the visions came to pass and had never before been wrong, unless it was because he had done something to change them. Maybe because he wanted so desperately to believe her.

"Well, worry about that later. I doubt you'll even run into Adam tonight, not until all his plans are set up which they obviously aren't. " Giles told them.

"Yeah, sure. I'm already loaded up on weapons. Let's go." She said the last to Angel, just as unconsciously as she had when she had headed for Giles. She knew Angel would go with her.

It seemed everyone in the group did as well, for Willow looked at both of them as she said "Be careful," Xander said to Angel," Don't fall on a stake now, Dead-boy." Anya mearly watched them, uninterested as always, and Tara smiled shyly, whispering, "Artemis and all her huntresses go with you and protect you."

Angel looked at her oddly for a moment, then said in return, "And Apollo, her brother, light your way."

Tara looked at him sharply, but him and Buffy had already turned to leave.

She turned to Willow, "Is he a Witch too?"

"No, why would you say that?"

"Because that was a traditional blessing I said, and he replied with another traditional blessing that is the perfect response to it. "

Xander cut in, "No, he's not a Witch. He's something much older. He's a vampire."

"But he can't be! He had a soul; a very tormented, yet very positive aura."

"Yeah, he's a vampire with a soul. It's a long story, but it's the reason him and Buffy can't be together even though they love each other so much."

"Sorry to cut into this fascinating conversation, but we have to research." Giles said. He set books down on the table, and each of the teenagers took one. The search had begun.

Meanwhile, Buffy and Angel were leaving Giles's and heading for one of the local cemeteries.

"Willow's friend, she's a Witch too?"

"Yeah, that's how they met. Some Wicca group at school. Willow found out the group itself was a bunch of fakes, but Tara was the real McCoy. They've been practicing together ever since." Buffy told him.

"That's good. Slayer strength may not be enough for this job, we may just need a little magick."

Buffy shouted out a warning a second before three vampires jumped them. She spun and took the first one out easily, beheading him with the knife she carried. The other two charged her.

Angel spun and took one of them down with a round-horse, quickly staking him.

Buffy had the other one engaged in a punch-block, punch-block routine that she was thriving on. She loved to release some pent-up emotions this way. She was beating the pulp out of him when the vampire suddenly exploded. When the ashes cleared, she saw Angel behind where it had been, still holding a stake

"Spoil my fun..."

"Save some for the other vamps Buffy."

She looked at him slowly, emotions still running high.

"I just needed to release a little "hormonal angst" as Xander once said. I enjoy beating the crap out of these things every once in a while." Buffy said slowly.

Angel took a step closer, "I'm just saying to save your strength. There's plenty more out there that we can kill."

"I know, I know. It's just sometimes..."

"Sometimes what?" He asked.

Buffy changed the subject, "I kinda like having you along with me again. I mean, Willow or Xander patrol with me sometimes, but I always have to worry about them getting killed. With you I know that won't happen. I don't have to worry or watch out for you or..."

Buffy got that feeling of deja-vu again, only this time a picture came into her head along with it. He was facing her, they were both near tears. He was saying something about her worrying about him would get her killed. Or get other people killed. How he couldn't fight when he was like this...

Like what? The rational part of her mind asked.

She rapidly saw him standing in the sunlight, walking towards her. He kissed her, and...

"Buffy? Buffy? Are you okay?" Angel asked her, very worried.

"What?" She suddenly came back to the present, confused and disoriented.

"You kinda blanked out on me."

"Sorry, just daydreaming I guess. Weird though, I..." Buffy was very confused.

"It was not a daydream."

Angel spun around, trying to locate the source of the voice.

Finally, he saw it. Someone, hooded and dark, was walking slowly towards them.

"It was not a dream." The voice repeated. "You see what was."

"What was? But that never..."

"You see a day that never was, yet was. You see events that never happened, yet did."

Angel looked at the figure, now clearly a woman. "She remembers the day that..."

"Not completely yet, but she will. Her love is so strong it fights with everything in her to remember. And a Slayer is a great fighter. She will not lose this fight, she only needs time."

"Okay, who the heck are you, what are you talking about, and how do you know who I am?"

"Who I am is not important. Only that I can help you. As for what I speak of, you will remember in time. No one can tell you, you must remember for yourself. But you should not dwell on it now. You need all your strength for this battle. Adam is something like which you have never faced, and he has powerful magick on his side. You will not defeat him without help. Help I can give."

"Who are you?" Buffy repeated.

"You will know me in time. But if you need a name, you may call me Anala. For now, I need to see your Watcher. I believe he has a book I require." That was all the woman said, she merely stopped talking and looked at Buffy expectantly, waiting to be taken to Giles.

"How do I know you're on our side? That you won't just kill all of us?"

The woman began chanting softly in a strange language. Buffy glanced to Angel quickly, but he indicated he didn't know what it was, which was rare. The woman gestured at Buffy, and she felt herself levitating in the air. She spun around and as she did so, felt a strange touch on her mind. "Because if I wanted to kill you, I would have done so by now. Or I would have killed or kidnapped your friends, the ones you name as Xander, Willow, Anya, Spike; should I go on?" Anala had read her mind.

" Spike!! Spike's not our friend..."

"Actually, he kinda is now." Buffy supplied. "The Initiative put a chip in his head so that he can't hurt or kill any mortal thing--so he's been helping us fight demons, vamps, and stuff. And can I please get down now?!?"

"Oh, sorry."

Anala gestured with her hand again, and the Slayer felt herself slowly lowered to the ground.

"What are you?"

"I am a Witch, much in the way your friend Willow is. But I also have natural magick, magick I was born with. It was part of my family's legacy, a family tree filled with powerful witches, spellcasters, and other Pagans. That is why I know of your problems, and am here to help you with them. All of them."

As she said the last part, she focused her attention on Angel. He looked at her curiously, and was about to ask what she meant when Buffy spoke.

"Fine, I'll take you to Giles. The whole gang should be there. Maybe then you'd care to explain a little more how you intend to help."

Buffy, Angel, and Anala walked back to Giles house to meet the rest of the gang.

AN: The entire story is written, but as I said, it's an old one, and as I was rereading it I realized just how bad some of my grammar was, and that my writing style has changed over the years, so I'm doing a minor rewrite, which is why it will take a few days to get the entire story up.