Chapter 7 - Let's Bring Him Home

-Hyperion - Lobby-

Willow, Wesley, Fred and Lorne were standing around the counter as Willow slammed down the papers she had in her hand. She put her hand to her head and sighed. "It should't be this hard. It's just breaking one friggin jar."

Wesley walked behind her and started to rub her back. "We'll find it Willow, I promise."

Fred saw this display of affection and couldn't help but feel jealous. "Yea don't worry Willow, it will all work out."

Willow just smiled at their attempts at comfort. She started to humm a little when she started to search once more. She went through the portfolio she brought with her containing Angel's curse hoping to find something. She started to humm a little more but stopped when Lorne stood up. "Wow kiddy, you have quite a lot of power inside of you, makes me wonder if we should be happy you know what you're doing or terrified."

Willow looked up at the friendly green demon while Fred and Wesley were staring at Willow now awaiting her answer. "Oh empath demon, right. Don't worry about it guys. I went through this whole evil, try to end the world thing but I'm good now. Giles took me to the coven in England. Kind of like magic rehab. So if my eyes and hair go black during this spell...well they're suppossed to."

Everyone nodded and Lorne still looked at her, "Can I talk to you hun?"

Willow nodded and they walked towards Angel's office. "What's up Lorne?"

"Willow, you're scared we all are. I think you have a right to be though knowing you've seen Angelus before it's just...think about what you're thinking."

"What was I thinking? I think a lot you know."

"Just blow up Angelus from here. You know Buffy wou..."

"I know. They're just thoughts. I could do it I know I could but...like I said rehab. I'm still dealing and the thing with Angelus is personal."

"I know kitten but just know...We're dealing with one Angel gone bad we don't need another one. Just be careful okay?"

Willow hugged Lorne. "You got it!" They let go of each other and walked back to the group.

Wesley had somewhat of a smile upon his face when he saw her return, "Everything alright?" Lorne and Willow nodded as they sat down once again. "I think we found something. We could do a glow locator spell but accompany it with power. Like where the ball would go to find it, the power that accompany's it will break it instantly."

Willow smiled and hugged Wesley as tight as she could. "That's a great idea." He hugged her back but when they let go he wasn't smiling...not even a little. "What's the catch Wes?"

"We can't do it until Buffy and Spike get back. It's obvious you three have part of his soul so to do this locator spell we need a little bit of Spike's, Buffy's and your blood."

"That's okay...let's just get the stuff and when they DO come back we'll do the spell."

Wesley nodded and Willow walked upstairs to a room where she kept her bag. She walked back down with the Orb of Thesulah in her hand. "We're gonna get Angel back!"

-Warehouse-

The fight between the Beast and the rest of the people Buffy brought with her had started. Gunn was leaning on a wall half unconscious and Faith was trying to help him. Spike and Conner were trying to take care of the Beast but weren't succeeding to well. This was shown when Conner was thrown against a crate. Buffy and Angelus were both sitting on crates but Buffy didn't sit directly beside him knowing there was already so much he could do to her being that close. Angelus was staring at the fight intently until he glanced at Buffy and just never stopped staring.

Buffy got a little uncomfortable with the silence, "What do you want?"

Angelus continued to smile that evil grin, "There's so many things...staring at you I figured you would have guessed."

Buffy shook her head in disgust and changed the subject. "You gonna tell me why I'm not in there?"

Angel seemed disappointed, "You already know the answer to that."

"No I don't."

Angelus didn't believe her but explained anyway, "I want you all charged up when it's our turn. Plus you can't kill him with swords and weapons."

"So, how do you kill it?"

Angel only stared at the fight once more, "I'll show you when the moment comes."

Buffy seemed a little more curious now, "How come you're not all angry anymore?"

"There's no reason to be."

Buffy shook her head. She hated the way he made her feel. She couldn't believe that Angelus was inside of Angel, her Angel all the time. When Buffy's attention was back on the fight she saw Spike was down on his knees and the Beast was looking for something to finish him off with. Buffy was about to get up and stop it when Angelus did. He walked around the Beast and grabbed the knife he was playing with earlier. The Beast was about to smash a box on top of Spike to finish him off when Angelus rammed the Kinfe he had into the Beast's back. The Beast couldn't reach it and with a tacky flash that covered the room he was gone. That wasn't the end though. That flash flew around L.A. and the shadow over the sun was there no longer.

At the Hyperion the four ran to the nearest window and smiles spread wide accorss their faces. All at once..."She did it!"

Back at the warehouse the room filled with light. Spike got the strength to roll himself into the shadows cursing to himself. Angelus ran towards the back and looked through the door that was letting all the sun in, "You mean killing the Beast really does bring back the sun?"

He shook his head and stared at the confused room. Buffy took charge, "Why'd you kill him?"

Angelus smiled and looked her in the eyes, "Didn't like him much. Tried to use me. I hate it when guys try to use me but if you ever want to just let me know."

He winked at her but Buffy shook it off obviously disgusted. Without taking her gaze off Angelus she called to the rest of the gang, "You guys okay?"

Grunts and groans came from the room to confirm that they may not be okay at the moment but they will be. Angelus took this time to survey the occupants around the room. His eyes stopped at Conner for a few seconds before directing them back at Buffy, "So you've met my son?"

"Yeah, sweet boy, nothing like you."

Angelus shrugged it off, "He's more like me then you think. He was created by me a..."

Buffy interrupted his low blow, "Darla. I know."

Angelus recognized the envy she was trying to hide, "Yeah well, I always did have a thing for blondes." A wicked grin spread on his face once more, "And I guess you have a thing for my children."

"Just for the record, Spike is Dru's childe. Plus I don't have a thing for Conner, I love him but not like I love An..."

Buffy stopped herself but Angelus caught her mistake and laughed out loud. "I knew you still loved him. Doesn't it just piss you off that he doesn't love you anymore. I could feel the hurt and pain he felt when he had to see the woman he does love, which would be Cordelia of all people screwing his son! Inside I couldn't help but smile. Conner over there isn't all he's cracked up to be." Buffy had a tear in her eye which also did not go un noticed by Angelus so of course he used it to his advantage. "Oh don't cry Buff, It's the truth. See I thought slayers were supossed to be strong. With how much I've seen you cry It's a wonder you've lasted so long. Oh yes your little friends who just manage to get in the way." Angelus was now behind Buffy holding her arms. Not tightly but enough to give her goosebumps. "We both know if they weren't around, you wouldn't be fighting me, you'd be screwing me."

Angelus bent down to bite her and she closed her eyes. He was now in vamp face and his fangs scraped her neck which caused just a little blood to drip. This must have brought Buffy back to reality because the next thing he knew she was yelling, "Gunn, you good."

Gunn yelled a hell yea and before Angelus knew it he was hit in the back with three tranquilizers. He growled and fell to the floor. Spike ran through the sunlight and to Buffy's side. "You alright luv?"

Buffy just nodded and looked around making sure everyone was okay. Faith and Conner walked up and they formed a circle around the now unconsious body of Angelus. Faith stared at Buffy, "How come you just backed down when the Beast thingy attacked?"

"Angelus looked at me and I knew. If he was gonna be stopped then I was the one he wanted to do it. He wanted you guys down and out so when we had our moment that he almost succeeded in there wouldn't be any interruptions." They all nodded and then Buffy looked at her watch. "I know the sun just came up but it's supossed to go down in about half hour. I say we wait it out so that we can drive back to the hotel without two big piles of dust."

Gunn, Conner and Faith walked outside to the sun that they hadn't seen for a long time. Spike and Buffy stayed by Angel each holding one of the tranq guns. Buffy walked to a pole and slid down it so she could sit down. Spike walked over and sat in front of her. "That was close."

"I don't know what came over me. It won't happen again."

Spike took his hand and tilted Buffy's head to get a good look at the scrape the fang made. The blood was still dripping and he wiped it away with one finger. "Buffy you couldn't help but..."

Buffy had to interrupt instantly, "You're wrong Spike. I could help it, I knew what he was planning when he circled me like that and I couldn't do anything. You remember a long time ago when I wanted to know how you killed the two slayers, well it came back to me at that moment. It never occured to me how right you were." She was crying just a little bit now, "Angelus talked about how I'd basically be dead if I didn't have friends or family and I remembered that's exactly what you said to me. I'm really not that strong. That day you also mentioned that I had a death wish, that all slayers do and you were right. I just finished listening to him make fun of my pain and then all of the past seven years came back to me and deep down I really just wanted it to end."

"Buffy I hate to say it but I was right. Just because it was true doesn't make you weak. You're one of the strongest woman I know Buffy. So the important thing was that you didn't listen to what he was saying and pulled away."

Buffy denied that, "I didn't pull away because I was listening, I pulled away because I realized he wasn't just gonna bite me and end it, he was gonna bite me and keep me forever. I've lost a lot being the slayer and if he turned me into a vampire I know I would lose everyone I ever cared about, and I would probably be the one to kill you guys! The thing is, that feeling is still there, how that death wish still lingers. You've told me a lot...about my power and where I come from, now I need you to tell me that if I die, it will be forever."

Spike stared at the now crying girl in front of him. He just went over to her and held her. "I promise you luv, no one will ever take you away from that happiness that you deserve but you need to promise me something; I know this death wish of yours is upon you but don't let it take you."

They were staring at each other now and Buffy nodded and hugged him back. They looked up when Faith walked over. "Sorry to intrude guys but I think the suns low enough for us to take off."

They nodded and stood up. Faith stopped Buffy. "I didn't mean to listen in or anything but what's this about a slayer and a death wish?"

"Spike come here." Buffy called him back. "Spike I need you to do me a favor, I think Faith should know as much as I do about who we are. When this is over I want you to give her a little glimpse of what you taught me." Buffy winked at him.

"Am I gonna like this?" Faith asked

"If you like to hit Spike, I think you will!" Buffy said tearing that grin right off his face.

Faith walked towards the car smiling as Spike and Buffy were left. "So Spike, you want his legs or his head?" They eventually decided and carried Angelus to the car. There was arguments about wheather they should throw him in the trunk or not but Buffy pulled rank and he was to ride in the back too. They were on their way back to the Hyperion and the same thought ran through all there heads. "Angel's coming home!"