Buffy lies in her bed, Angel sits next to her, he entangles his fingers with her and she smiles. Buffy sits up in the bed and craws onto Angel's lap the two kiss, as they do Buffy pulls at Angel's shirt. Angel raises his arms as Buffy pulls the shirt over his head. Angel then slowly removes her silk pyjama shirt as they continue to kiss.
Angel rolls them so he is on top, suddenly he grabs her wrists and bites into her neck.

Buffy shoots up awake. On the other side on town, Angel does the same as he sits up the ghost of Jenny smiles "You want her?"
"No." Angel stutters.
"Take her. She's here now. Came to town for you." The ghost tells him "Take what you want. Pour all that frustration and all that guilt into her, and you'll be free."
"No."
"You can't live for eternity with all that pain. This is what you are. This is why we brought you back. Take her. And then you'll be ready... to kill her."

Buffy heads down the stairs where she sees Giles holding pieces of paper "Here, Buffy. Take a look." Giles places the paper on the table "These letters contain references to an ancient power known as The First."
"First what?"
"Evil. Absolute evil. Older than man, than demons. It could have had the power to bring Angel back."
Buffy looks through the papers when she notices something "These guys—I saw them in my dream." Buffy shows Giles the image of the men in robes with no eyes "I feel asleep up there."
Giles turns to Buffy "You had another dream with Angel? What happened?"
Buffy freezes not knowing what to say "Oh, we don't need to get sidetracked. Who are these guys?"
Giles nods excepting the answer and then turns to another letter "Well, they're known as the—as the bringers or harbingers." As Giles sits he continues to explain "they're high priests of the first. They—they can conjure spirits manifestations and set them on people, to influence them, haunt them."
"These are the guys working the mojo on Angel?"
"We gotta stop them." Xander says.
Giles shakes his head and turns to the blonde "Y—you can't fight the first, Buffy. It's not a physical being."
"Well, I—I can fight these priest guys." Buffy tells the watcher.
"If we can find them." Xander tell her.

Buffy and Xander enter Willy's bar. When Willy sees them he waves "Hey. It's the slayer." He says loudly "What brings the slayer down here?" One of the vampires at the bar raises from his seat and goes out the back exit as Buffy heads over to the bar. "Hey, Willy, how you been?" Buffy asks.
"Well since you left town I've been keeping out of trouble, as God is my witness. So, what can I do for you? Couple of drinks?"
Xander leans forward "Yeah. Let me get a double shot of—of information, pal." Xander says, when Buffy gives him a pointed look.
Buffy rolls her eyes and turns back to Willy "3 priest. They call themselves-"
"The bringers." Xander adds.
Buffy nods "Bringers, harbingers. They have a 'No eyes' kind of look."
Willy just shrugs "Doesn't ring a bell."
Xander leans on the bar "How about I ring that bell for you?" Xander turns to Buffy "Does the threatening come now?"
"Maybe you shouldn't help." Buffy tells him before turning back to Willy "They would've come to town recently. They'd be holder up somewhere summoning the spirit of The First."
Willy looks around the room nervously before leaning closer to Buffy, "Well, I heard a few things, you know from the underground."
"The underground?" Xander asked confused.
"Yeah, you know. From things that live under the ground. Apparently there's been a lot of migration out of Sunnydale. From the lower inhabitants. Something's scaring them off, and these are things that aren't easily scared. Could be your priest guys are underground."
"Underground where?" Buffy asks.
"I do not know."
"Ok, thanks." Buffy says disappointed.
"See you around." Xander says to the snitch before the two of start to head for the door.
"Hey." Willy says to Xander "You did great, by the way. I was very intimidated by you."
Xander started grinning like a 5 year old "Really? Thanks."
Buffy rolls her eyes and starts to push Xander through the exit "Let's go."

Once the two of them step outside Xander turns to Buffy "Man is it hot. It was so nice and cool in there. Now I know what it must be like living in Malibu for you."
Buffy sighs as she starts walking "Yeah, a nice cool waste of time."
"We know underground." Xander says trying to comfort her "That's a start."
Buffy shrugs "Sure in a town with 14 million square miles of sewer."
"Plus a lot of natural cave formations and a gateway to hell. Yeah, this does resemble square one."
"I don't know what to do."
"Look, we'll find the bad guys sooner or later."
The two start walking again and as they do Xander turns to Buffy "Hey have you thought about where your gonna stay?"
Buffy nods "My father he uh...bought my house here so that whenever I came home I would have a place to crash."

Later that night Buffy is in her old house she looks around the different rooms and sighs. She slowly climbs the stairs and walks into her mothers room. Buffy walks over to the table where there were a number of different photos, Buffy slowly strokes the image of her mother before picking up a small necklace from the table. It was a small locket and when Buffy opens it there was a picture of her mother, Tony and herself form the day she was born. Buffy holds back tears as she slips the necklace on.

Buffy slowly leaves the room and heads to her own bedroom, as she enters it someone closes the door. Buffy spins around shocked, only to come face to face with Angel.
"Angel."
"Huh...Buffy. You're supposed to be in Malibu. Why are you here?"
Buffy steps closer "You called me, I knew something was up. What is it?"
Angel looks away "Uh..." He's breathing suddenly become agitated "I gotta—I—look, I, uh, I had to see you, um...I don't know, I...you shouldn't be..."
"Just tell me what's going on." Buffy begs.
"She wants you to touch her." Says The First appearing as Jenna, to Angel "What are you waiting for?" It asks Angel.
Angel turns to Buffy but does not look her in the eye "You have to stay away from me."
Buffy looks at him rather confused "You came to see me to tell me that I can't see you? Angel, something is doing this to you."
As Angel starts to step closer the look on his face makes Buffy nervous and she backs away "You just have to control it, ok?" Buffy tells him "I—I know that you're confused."
"I think you're the one who's confused. I think you need to-"
"She wants you to taste her." The First tells him "Think of the peace. You'll never have to see us again."
When Angel starts to shake his head Buffy looks at him worried "Angel, how can I help you?"
"Leave me alone!" Angel screams before jumping out of the window.

"Tony I still don't think this is a good idea." Pepper says as she walks over to the driver's window, where Tony was currently putting the keys in the ignition. "Pepper it's fine, I'm just going to go offer my assistance to Buffy's 'Friend' then bring her home."
Pepper sighs "It's pointless arguing with you."
Tony smirks "See after all these years you finally learn." Tony gave her one more smile before starting the car and driving out the gate, heading for Sunnydale.

"Giles, we have to do something. Soon. Now." Buffy says to the librarian/watcher who is currently sat at his desk. Giles shrugs "I'm still not sure what."
"Find me these priest guys. Find me something I can pummel."
Giles turns to Buffy "Let's not lose our heads."
"Giles, he's slipping. I think we're losing him."
Giles sighs "Look...you realise if he...truly becomes a danger, you may have to kill him. Again. Can you do that?"

Tony stares at the 'Welcome to Sunnydale' sign as he enters the small town. "Jarvis where is Joy—Joyce's house." Tony asks stuttering over Joyce's name as he does.
"Miss Summers address is 1630 Revello Drive, that is about 15 more minutes, sir."
Tony nods and continues to drive.
After 15 minutes Tony pulls into the driveway at Buffy's house. He slowly makes his way over to the door and knocks "Buffy?" He calls. When no one answers the door, he pulls out one of his little tricks and unlocks the door. As he walks through the house he spots many photo's of Buffy and Joyce. "Buffy?" Tony calls again before finally accepting that she is not here "Dammit." Tony exclaims, he turns back to the door and was about to make his way out when something stops him, in the doorway was a picture of him Joyce and Buffy on Buffy's 1st birthday. Tony picks up the photo and smiles softly before quickly heading back to the car.

"A child shall be born of man and goat and have 2 heads, and the first shall speak only in riddles—" Buffy reads from one of Giles' books "No wonder you like this stuff. It's like reading the sun."
"Yes. Ah." Giles says as reads from one of the books.
Buffy turns to him "Priests?"
"Um...yes, but, uh, more posturing, I'm afraid. 'For they are the harbingers of death. Nothing shall grow above or below them. No seed shall flower, neither in man nor...' They rebels and they'll never ever be any good. Nothing specific about their haunts."
"Let me see that." Buffy asks, she takes the book off Giles when he hands it to her and begins to read "The harbingers of death. Nothing shall grow above or below." Buffy stops "What?" Giles asks confused as too why she stopped.
Buffy turns to him "When I was driving down here I saw something, the place where they're celling Christmas trees a few of the trees...they were dead. While the rest were thriving and growing like there was no tomorrow."

Buffy kicks down the gate and goes straight to the dead trees. She looks around and spots an axe. She quickly grabs it and starts hitting the ground. Once the hole appears in the ground Buffy stops and jumps inside. She walks through the tunnels and stops when she comes across a few of the bringers currently chanting "All right, 10 more minutes of chanting and then you guys have to go to bed. Buffy says before running at them she quickly beats them and destroys the alter they were worshiping.
"Hmm. I'm impressed." Says a voice. Buffy looks up in shock, as standing in front of her was Jenny. She quickly realised that was not the case "You won't get Angel."
"Hmm. You think you can fight me? I'm not a demon, little girl. I am something that you can't even conceive. The First Evil. Beyond Sin, beyond death. I am the thing the darkness fears. You'll never see me, but I am everywhere. Every being, every thought, every drop of hate."
Buffy rolls her eyes "All right, I get it. You're evil. Do we have to chat about it all day?"
The First glares at her "Angel will be dead by sunrise. Your tomorrow...will be his wake."
Buffy shook her head "No."
"You have no idea what you're dealing with."
"Let me guess. Is it...evil?"
Suddenly The First forms into it's true form and hisses "Dead by sunrise." Buffy turns and runs heading straight for the mansion.

Tony drives around town looking for Buffy but can't spot her anywhere. Suddenly he pulls over, as across the road he spots a couple of people he remembers from photos Buffy keeps in her room. He quickly walks over to the group of teenagers, one of the girls with long brown hair looks over at him and gasps "Oh, My God! Your—you—Your Tony Stark. Billionaire, Tony Stark." She quickly stands and smiles at him "Hi I'm Cordelia Chase. You may have heard of my family."
Tony shakes his head "Nope." He then turns to the brunette boy and the red-headed girl "You two. You know my daughter. Where is she?"
Xander coughs trying to come up with a cover, Giles had told them that Buffy had found the locations of the bringers, and was going after Angel. "Um...well Mr. Stark—Buffy—sh-she's around."
Cordelia turns to the man "She's gone to help her boyfriend, Angel."
"Cordelia!" Willow and Xander hiss.
Cordelia shrugs "What? He's rich. I don't lie to the rich."
Tony smirks "So tell me about this Angel. From the photo I saw, he seems a little old to be dating a high school girl—actually she graduated all ready. But she is still 17."
Xander snorts "You have no idea."

"Angel!" Buffy screams as she runs inside. She looks around but can't spot him anywhere. Buffy runs out the back door knowing where he would go. Buffy runs through the bushes and stops when she sees Angel standing on the hill "Angel." Angel quickly looks at Buffy before turning back to look at the town below them. Buffy slowly walks over to him "Angel, please. I need you to get inside. There's only a few minutes left."
"I know." He responds "I can smell the sunrise long before it comes."
"I don't have time to explain this. You just have to trust me. That thing that was haunting you—"
Angel turns to face her "It wasn't haunting me. It was showing me."
"Showing you?" Buffy asked confused.
"What I am."
"Were." Buffy tells him.
"And ever shall be. I wanted to know why I was back. Now I do."
"You don't know. Some great evil takes credit for bringing you back and you buy it? You just give up?"
"I can't do it again, Buffy. I can't become a killer."
"Then fight it." Buffy tells him.
Angel turns away from her "It's too hard."
Buffy begins to panic knowing it won't be long till the sun comes up "Angel, please, you have to get inside."
"It told me to kill you. You were in the dream. You know. It told me to lose my soul in you and become a monster again."
"I know what it told you what does it matter?"
Angel turns to face her "Because I wanted to!" He exclaims "Because I want you so badly. I want to take comfort in you, and I know it will cost me my soul and a part of me doesn't care. Look, I'm weak. I've never been anything else. It's not the demon in me that needs killing, Buffy. It's the man."
Buffy shakes her head tears filling her eyes "Your weak. Everybody is. Everybody fails. Maybe this evil did bring you back, but if it did it's because it needs you. And that means that you can hurt it. Angel, you have the power to do real good, to make amends. But if you die now, then all that you ever were was a monster." Angel stays silent, "Angel, please, the sun is coming up." Buffy begs.
"Just go."
"I won't."
"You think this is simple? You think there's an easy answer? You can never understand what I've done. Now go."
Buffy grabs him "You are not staying here. I won't let you!"
He shoves her off "Leave!" He exclaims causing Buffy to punch him in the face. Angel knocks her to the ground he walks over to her and forces her to look at him "No! No!" She yells.
"Am I a thing worth saving, huh? Am I a righteous man? The world wants me gone."
Buffy looks up at him tears falling from her eyes "What about me? I love you so much. And when I left town I tried to forget about that. Tried to make it go away. Even before I left I killed you and it didn't help." Buffy pushes him away from her "And I hate it!" She exclaims as she looks over at him "I hate that it's so hard...and that you can hurt me so much. I know everything that you did, because you did it to me. Oh, god. I wish that I wished you dead. I don't. I can't."
Angel shakes his head as Buffy stands "Buffy, please." Angel begs as he stood "Just this once...Let me be strong."
Buffy steps closer to him "Strong is fighting. It's hard and it's painful and it's everyday. It's what we have to do. And we can do it together. But if you're too much of a coward for that, then burn. If I can't convince you that you belong in this world, then I don't know what can. But do not expect me to watch and don't expect me to mourn for you, because—" Buffy stops speaking when she sees the snow falling around them. The two of them watch as the snow falls over the t own.

After getting very limited information out of the teenagers Tony heads out. He walks around the town for what seems like ages. As he walks it starts to snow, Tony looks up at the sky shocked. It never snowed in California. His thoughts were cut off when he sees Buffy walking hand in hand with a tall dark haired man in the middle of the street. Tony hides watching as his daughter and the man walk together never letting go of each together.

S.H.I.E.L.D HEADQUARTER: LOCATION UNKNOWN

Fury waits in his office, for the man known as Whistler. Fury continues to pace in his office, the waiting was irritating him. He had contacted Whistler with the help of one of his father's old friends, who had often dealt with demons back when he lived in Boston. "Well, well look, big guy in a suit wants a meeting with little old me." Fury shoots around and raises his gun at the figure that had materialised in his office.
Whistler raises his hands "Woah, hold it. You invited me here, I shouldn't be getting threatened."
Fury watches the man closely "Your Whistler?"
Whistler nods "That would be me. I understand you have some questions."
Fury lowers his gun and nods "I do, they're about Buffy Summers."
Whistler smiles "Ah, yeah the kid. Disturbing sense of imagery that one. Threatened to rip out my rib cage and wear it as a hat."
Fury chuckles "Knew I liked that girl for a reason."
"So what do you want to know?"

Fury sits down in his chair and looks over at the demon "I've been working on a project. A team which I want to assemble, I want Summers apart of that. However there is the slight issues of—"
Whistler nods and grabs the bottle of scotch from the corner of the room "This stuff, so much better than that English watcher of hers." Whistler grabs a glass and makes his way to the desk. "The watcher's council and the powers." Whistler finishes Fury's sentence. Once he had pored himself a drink, Whistler looks up at the director "You wanna know when she will be free from the powers. When she will fulfil her destiny, so that you can recruit her."
Fury nods "Yes. I would rather know when she will be free. I don't want to have to deal with the damn powers jumping at my back, saying she's their property."
Whistler smiles "Well, Buffy doesn't like the council that much and the moment she came to Malibu things were different. However, as far as I know in a few months there will be and—incident whereby Buffy makes it very clear that she will not be working for the council anymore. As for the powers, after..." Whistler stops and starts counting with his fingers "5...no wait 6 more apocalypses, after that she will be free. When Sunnydale is gone."
Fury nods hiding the shocked feeling of 6 more end of the world situations "Is there anything else I may need to know?"
Whistler sips the drink before continuing "The kid's not so much with the trust. So I suggest you start trying to get her to trust you now. Or at least stop having your agents following her. You saw what happened with Barton."

Fury nods, ever since he had sent Coulson in to try and brief Stark on what happened, and to establish first contact with the daughter, he had been worried about what would happen if the Slayer learned the connection between Coulson and Barton, and then SHIELD. Which, would put Coulson at risk, but he knew that if anyone could get Buffy to trust SHIELD, it would be Coulson. "Thank you Whistler." Fury tells the demon.
Whistler smiles "And thank you for the scotch." Whistler gave him another smile before disappearing.