The next morning, the team was walking up the steps from the street toward the building.
"Angel's a vampire?" Willow asked.
"I can't believe this is happening," Buffy stated. "One minute we were kissing, and the next minute..." She looked to Giles and Ms. Calendar. "Can a vampire ever be a good person? Couldn't it happen?"
"A vampire isn't a person at all," Ms. Calendar snapped.
"I think I touched a nerve."
"I've got a bit of a miff about vampires. A bit of family history, a bit of dead ancestors - not that big of a deal, though."
Giles cleared his throat. "A vampire may have the movements, the, the memories, even the personality of the person that it took over, but i-it's still a demon at the core, there is no halfway."
"So that'd be a no, huh?" Willow asked.
"Well, then what was he doing? Why was he good to me? Was it all some part of the Master's plan? It doesn't make sense!" Buffy was confused.
They reached a bench. Buffy and Willow sat.
"Alright, uh..." Xander sat as well. " ...You have a problem, and it's not a small one. Let's take a breath and look at this calmly and objectively. Angel's a vampire. You're a Slayer. I think it's obvious what you have to do."
Buffy didn't react, so Xander looked up to Giles and Ms. Calendar for support.
Giles crouched down to Buffy's level. "Uh, it is a Slayer's duty..."
"I-I know you have feelings for this guy, but it's not like you're in love with him, right?" Xander asked.
Buffy looked away.
"You're in love with a vampire? What, are you outta your mind?"
"What?" Cordelia was nearby, looking somewhere else, but turned to Xander.
Xander looked at her. "Not vampire..." He asked Buffy, "How could you love an umpire?" It was nice cover. "Everyone hates 'em!" He glanced at Ms. Calendar, who was biting her lip and looked like she would explode any second.
Cordelia looked back at another girl wearing the same dress that she was. "Where did you get that dress?" She pursued her. "This is a one-of-a-kind Todd Oldham. Do you know how much this dress cost? Is this a knockoff?" She checked the label. " This is a knockoff, isn't it? Some cheesy knockoff! This is exactly what happens when you sign these free trade agreements!"
The two girls disappeared into the building.
"You think we have problems..." Buffy had been watching Cordelia's hissyfit.
Angel walked down the hall outside his apartment. He went to his apartment door, unlocked it, and went inside. There were a bunch of old books stacked along a wall. He closed the door and went over to turn on a lamp. When he straightened, he sensed a presence. "Who's there?"
"A friend."
Angel quickly recognized the voice.
Darla stepped out of the shadows, wearing a Catholic schoolgirl uniform. "Hi. It's been a while."
"A lifetime."
"Or two, but who's counting?"
"What's with the Catholic schoolgirl look? Last time I saw you it was kimonos."
"And last time I saw you it wasn't high school girls." She flared the skirt. "Don't cha like?" She approached him. " Remember Budapest? Turn of the century? You were such a bad boy during that earthquake."
"You did some damage yourself."
"Is there anything better than a natural disaster?" She walked away. "The panic. The people lost in the streets. It's like picking fruit off the vine." She reached the bed. "Nice! You're living above ground, like one
of them. You and your new friend are attacking us, like one of them." She walked over to the window. "But guess what, precious? You're not one of them." She drew the blinds open, letting in a stream of sunlight. Angel was blinded, and he stumbled backward to get out of the light. "Are you?"
"No," Angel answered. "But I'm not exactly one of you either."
Darla walked to the fridge. "Is that what you tell yourself these days?" She opened the refrigerator and saw the bags and bottles of human blood. "You're not exactly living off quiche." She closed the fridge. "You and I both know what you hunger for." She went over to him. "What you need. Hey, it's nothing to be ashamed of. It's who we are. It's what makes eternal life worth living." She smiled and touched him. "Mm. You can only suppress your real nature for so long. You can feel it brewing inside of you. I hope I'm around when it explodes."
"Maybe you don't wanna be."
"I'm not afraid of you. I bet she is, though." She started to leave. "Or maybe I'm underestimating her. Talk to her. Tell her about the curse. Maybe she'll come around. And if she still doesn't trust you, you know
where I'll be." She exited the apartment, leaving an angry Angel behind.
In the library, Buffy was looking through a book, along with Willow and Xander. Giles came up behind Xander and startled him.
"Here's something at last."
"Can you please warn us before you do that?" Xander asked.
Ms. Calendar was on her laptop, but she wasn't quite researching. She wasn't going to let on that she already knew all about that vampire in particular - she'd blow her cover. So, she had to at least pretend. She hadn't taken a day off for nothing, anyway. It was just bitter luck that this was the matter at hand.
"There's nothing about Angel in the texts, but it suddenly occurred to me that it's been ages since I've read the diaries of any of the watchers before me," Giles stated.
"That musta been so embarrassing when you thought he had read your diary, but then it turned out he hadn't, but then he felt the same way..." Willow said to Buffy.
Xander gave Willow a look.
"I'm listening."
"There's mention some two hundred years ago in Ireland of, of Angelus, the one with the angelic face."
Ms. Calendar figured she'd better keep up the pretenses. She closed her laptop and paid more attention to what was being said.
"They got that right," Buffy stated.
Xander cleared his throat. "I'm not saying anything, I have nothing to say."
"Does this, uh, Angel have, um, a tattoo behind his right shoulder?" Giles asked Buffy.
"Yeah, it's a, it's a bird or something."
"Now I'm sayin' something. You saw him naked?" Xander asked.
"So, Angel's been around for a while," Willow concluded.
"Not long for a vampire. Uh, two hundred and forty years or so."
Ms. Calendar bit her lip, preventing herself from retorting that it was long enough to get most of her ancestors killed. She didn't want to startle anyone. She'd just hang on for the ride and let Giles lead.
"Huh! Two hundred and forty. Well, he said he was older." Buffy was a little stunned.
Giles took the seat next to Ms. Calendar, looking through the diary. "Angelus leaves Ireland, uh, wreaks havoc in, in Europe for, uh, several decades, and then, um, about eighty years ago, the most curious thing happens. He, he comes to, uh, to America, um, shuns other vampires, and, and lives alone. There's, there's no, no record of him hunting here."
"So he is a good vampire!" Willow said. "I mean, on a scale of one to ten, ten being someone who's killing and maiming every night, and one being someone who's... not."
"I say that there's no record, but, uh, vampires hunt and kill. It's, it's what they do."
"Fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly," Xander stated.
"He could've fed on me. He didn't." Buffy was still trying to defend him.
"Question: a hundred years or so before he came to our shores, what was he like then?" Xander asked.
"Uh, like all of them," Giles answered blindly.
"More descriptively put, a vicious, violent animal," Ms. Calendar added.
In The Master's lair, The Master and Darla were having a conversation.
"Don't think I'm not grateful, you letting me kill the Three."
"How can my children learn if I do everything for them?" The Master asked.
"But you've gotta let me take care of the Slayer."
"Oh! You're giving me orders now!"
Darla walked away. "Okay, then, we'll just do nothing while she takes us out one by one."
"Do I sense a plan, Darla?"
She turned around.
"Share..."
Darla walked back. "Angel kills her and comes back to the fold."
"Angel! He was the most vicious creature I ever met. I miss him."
"So do I."
The Master considered, "Why would he kill her if he feels for her?"
"To keep her from killing him."
"Hmm." He spoke to Collin, "You see how we all work together for the common good? That's how a family is supposed to function!"
It was night, Buffy and Willow were in the school library. Ms. Calendar had gone home under Giles' advice. He'd thought she'd done more than her share during the day. Willow was helping Buffy study, anyway.
"Okay, so let's review," Willow stated. "Reconstruction began when?" She looked up. "Buffy?"
"Huh?" She came back to earth. "Oh! Um, reconstruction... Uh, reconstruction began after the... construction, which was... shoddy, so they had to reconstruct."
"After the destruction of the Civil War."
"Right. Civil War. During which Angel was already, like, a hundred and change..."
"Are we gonna talk about boys, or are we gonna help you pass history?" Willow asked.
Buffy looked up at Willow.
Willow closed the book. "Sometimes I have this fantasy that Xander's just gonna grab me and kiss me right on the lips." She smiled a huge smile.
"You want Xander, you've gotta speak up, girl!"
"No, no, no, no. No speaking up. That way leads to madness and sweaty palms."
Darla peeked out from behind the stacks.
"Okay, so here's something I gotta know. When Angel kissed you... I mean before he turned into... how was it?" Willow asked.
Buffy smiled. "Unbelievable!"
Darla continued to watch and listen.
"Wow! And it is kinda novel how he'll stay young and handsome forever, although you'll still get wrinkly and die, and... Oh, and what about the children?"
Buffy looked at her.
"I'll be quiet now."
"No, it's okay. I need to hear this. I need to get over him so I can..."
"So that you can..." Willow made a stabbing gesture.
"Like Xander said, I'm the Slayer, and he's a... vampire. God, I can't! He's never done anything to hurt me..." She collected herself. "Okay, no, I need to stop thinking about this. Okay, let's give another half an
hour and maybe something will sink in. And then I'm going home for some major moping."
Darla smiled and backed away.
"Okay. The era of the congressional reconstruction, usually called radical..."
At the Summers house, Joyce was in the kitchen doing her taxes and having coffee. She heard creaking on the porch outside and got up to investigate. She looked out the door window and saw nothing.
She opened the door a bit and still there was nothing. She closed the door and headed to the front. Darla looked in, sporting her game face. Joyce walked slowly through the living room and heard a knocking on the door. She looked out, saw Darla in her human guise and opened the door. "Hello?"
"Hi! I'm Darla? A friend of Buffy's?"
"Oh!" Joyce sighed in relief. "Nice to meet you."
Darla exhaled. "She didn't mention anything about me coming over for a study date, did she?"
"No, I thought she was studying with Willow at the library."
"She is. Willow's the Civil War expert, but then I was supposed to help her with the War of Independence. My family kinda goes back to those days."
"Well, I, I know she's supposed to be home soon. Would you like to come in and wait?" Joyce asked.
Darla entered the house. "It's very nice of you to invite me into your home." She smiled.
"You're welcome. I've been wrestling with the IRS all night. Would you like something to eat?" She headed into the kitchen.
Darla followed. "Yes, I would!" She looked at Joyce's neck.
In the kitchen, Joyce looked around. "Let's see what we have. Do you feel like something little or something big?"
Darla vamped out. "Something big!"
Angel was walking up to the house. He almost knocked, but then decided to leave. As he went, he heard Joyce scream. He ran around to the back door and kicked it in. He saw Darla biting Joyce. "Let her go!"
"I just had a little, there's plenty more. Aren't you hungry for something warm after all this time? Come on, Angel. Just say 'Yes'!" Darla shoved Joyce into Angel's arms so he could see the bite and smell the blood. He struggled with himself and looked away from the bite. Darla watched with a big smile. Angel looked up at her again with his game face on. "Welcome home!" She walked around them and left the house.
Angel continued to struggle with himself.
Buffy came into the dining room, and Angel looked up. "Hey! I'm home." She turned toward him and froze with fear.
Angel bore his fangs and growled.