Chapter One: Guilt

3rd sequel the Secret Lover Series

Set during the summer inbetween season's 2 and 3

Chapter Summary: Willow's thoughts on the past month and a tearful conversation with Angel.

Willow sat on her bed. She missed Xander more than anyone in Sunnydale, with the exception of Angel obviously. How could she have been so blind? So stupid to think he was evil. This was all Giles's fault. If he hadn't been so prejudiced against Angel none of this would have happened. Xander would still be in Sunnydale, him and Angel would be together, Buffy wouldn't be alienating everyone because of guilt, and Kendra wouldn't be dead because of Buffy's carelessness during a fight.

"Kendra." Willow thought. She deserved better than the death she got. Buffy should have paid closer attention. But I guess we've all been paying the price for our betrayal. But taking Kendra away from us, the one girl that COULD HAVE BEEN CAPABLE of taking Buffy's place AND WHO SHOULD HAVE taken Buffy's place while Buffy emotionally recuperated from Xander leaving.

But no. Buffy was too proud for that. Too stubborn. And Willow didn't blame her. That was who Buffy was. And she knew Buffy couldn't stay down for very long. But then again Even Xander blocked that punch when they tried to take him down, how could she have stood up against Drusilla and Spike?

Kendra was in Sunnydale for the summer, but it only lasted for three weeks, before her untimely death. Her, Buffy, Willow, and Oz were hunting for Spike and Drusilla. They found them gorging on a kid, who couldn't have been more than 17. Buffy had said it was this guy she knew, Scott Hope or whatever. Oh well. He thought she was gay anyway, she had said. No big loss.

Buffy had knocked Spike of the battle instantly, well, not exactly. She sent him and his wheelchair flying down the road. But still...that was funny to watch. Kendra went for Drusilla, which lasted for a few blows, but unfortunately, Drusilla knew a little bit of magic, and froze us all in time to have a conversation with Buffy, or so she told me.

FLASHBACK

--Four weeks prior--

Whoosh. The gang was frozen excpet for Buffy. Drusilla looked at Buffy, with actual sanity in her gaze. "Buffy...your pals are doomed. You got rid of the boy, and he was the only thing holding you all together. This here," She motioned at the frozen gang, "Will all end soon, they don't like you much anymore. Why did you let the book man take the boy away from Daddy? Daddy loved the boy. very much so. Why?"

Buffy hung her head low, her feelings starting to show, "I was jealous. I loved Angel, and I didn't want him with anyone else. God Drusilla what am I going to do? Giles is practically hunting Xander and we're all starting to hate him."

Drusilla looked down on Buffy with pity, but it was soon replaced with anger, "You're the slayer. You should have thought of the consequences of your actions before you acted."

Buffy knew this was true. But what happened next she was totally unprepared for.

Drusilla walked over to the frozen form of Kendra, who had a fixed sneer on her face. "This one, she's so full of life. All she knows is doing good and slaying. It will be her death that drives you all over the edge. It will be her death that saves you from the book man's thrall."

Drusilla took a dagger from her pocket, and stabbed Kendra in the gut. She then took the spell off of the gang, and Kendra fell to the ground.

END OF FLASHBACK

Willow sighed and looked over to her sliding glass door. Angel was standing there, staring at her. Willow half-smiled. She had formed a friendship with Angel soon after Xander left. She was the one who inadvertedly let Angel escape and convinced Giles that there was nothing Angel could have done to stop Xander from leaving. Since then, they had been thick as thieves. Not even her and Buffy were this close.

Willow made a hand gesture for him to come in and he did, sliding the door closed behind him. "Hey." He said quietly. "Hi." She said, feeling instantly better.

"Any news?" She said hopefully.

"Yeah," Angel said, a bouncy tone in his voice. Willow hadn't heard tone of voice from him in a very long time. "He's got a job down there, and he's having a great time. I wish I could go and visit him but I'm scared to leave you all here with Giles."

Giles had become increasingly unstable since Xander had left. He blamed Xander for Jenny's death. His exact quote was, "He could have stopped her. He could convinced him not to kill her."

After that; Willow, Oz, and Buffy stopped talking to Giles. Buffy sent a letter to the Watcher's council, stating Giles was emotionally unstable since Jenny's death, which lead to him being officially fired as Buffy's watcher. A new watcher was to be sent sometime in September.

Angel sat by Willow on her bed. She lay down, staring at the ceiling. "So, do you and Buffy talk much?" Angel inquired.

Willow frowned, "We do, some. But she's really focused on slaying right now, I guess she feels guilty for what happened to Kendra. And after the Xander fiasco, she can't be a happy camper at all. I would just be getting in her way."

Angel reached over and ran his thumb over her hand reassuringly, "He says he's going to stay there until Giles leaves. Hopefully that will be sometime soon, in the meantime, all we can hope is that he's safe. Right?"

"Right." Willow said, but her mind was already drifting off to sleep.

"G'night Will," Angel said, and with that he opened her door and walked out, dissapearing into the darkness.

Author's Note:

Well, I originally wanted to end the series with Bargaining, the original ending had Angel turning Xander, killing him, then suicide by sunlight. But I figured that to be too emo, so I decided not to use it.

So I left it open, but hadn't planned on writing anything else for it.

Until now.

I was reading the series over again, and I realized there was much more to this story.

And this is the result. A brand spanking new entry to the series.

And believe me, I have no idea what's in store for the next chapter.