Author's Note: Here is chapter based on Beauty and the Beasts. I did skip over a few things, but it's because they weren't really Ronnie centric and she is the point of the story after all. So read, enjoy, and review!

Disclaimer: All recognizable things belong to Mutant Enemy. All others belong to me.

Chapter 10: There May Be Something There That Wasn't There Before

Ronnie was in shock. She couldn't move. There lying on the ground was her Grandsire, the one she had just spent hours coping with the torture he put her through last spring. He had promptly passed out when she discovered him. She wasn't sure why he was here, how long it had been for him, or if he even had his soul.

She wouldn't be able to handle if it was Angelus who woke up from his state of shock. She would stake him on the spot. But she couldn't risk it if he was Angel.

She quickly went to him and lifted his limp body, noticing his burnt silhouette that stained the floor, and carried him down to the basement. She felt him start to stir and hurriedly hung him from the chains that he had hung her from so many times before.

He woke with a start once she got the last manacle around his wrist and she backed off a good distance from him. He noticed the state he was in and snarled once his eyes settled back on Ronnie. She was shocked at the lack of recognition in his eyes.

"Angel?" She asked. He just continued to snarl at her. She changed into gameface and growled at him, trying for a baser form of recognition. "Sire?" It worked, he stopped snarling.

"Childe," he said questioning.

"Grandchilde," she explained. "You sired Drusilla and she sired me, Veronica. Do you remember?"

His brow furrowed in concentration as he focused on her. Realization finally hit and it was as if the floodgates of his memories had unlocked.

"Ronnie," he almost choked her name out.

"Angel, oh my god," she quickly shifted back to her human face, "what happened to you?" She asked as she moved to remove him from the chains. He flinched back in fear at her movement and she stopped. "Angel?"

"I hurt you," he whimpered. He looked around the room. "Here, I hurt you here."

"It's ok, Angel," she said soothingly. "It wasn't you, it was Angelus. I'm just going to get you out of the chains now, okay?"

He nodded once, but otherwise wouldn't look at her. She got him out of the chains and he quickly huddled himself into a corner.

"Angel, how long were you gone?" She asked, realizing that time could move differently in some dimensions.

"A hundred years."

She winced, and then asked her next question, even though she feared she knew the answer. "Where?"

"Hell, I spent a century in Hell." He whispered and started trembling again.

"What happened?" She asked. She knew it had to be horrible based on his current demeanor, but he had to talk about it to get over it.

"Torture, so much torture, then I had to fight to survive. The only thing that kept me fighting was Bu…" his eyes widened. "Is she okay?" He asked frantically.

"Buffy? She's fine, she's home, sleeping." Ronnie rushed to assure him.

Suddenly something occurred to him. "But how? It's been so long."

"Angel, time moved differently there, where you were, it's only been 3 months since Acathla here." She explained to him gently.

"Buffy's okay?" He asked in awe.

"Yes, everyone's okay."

"Spike and Dru?"

"Gone, he helped us in the fight and then he took Dru and they left."

He nodded in understanding, "And you're here?"

"Yeah," she laughed. "I'm a Scooby now."

"You live here in the mansion?"

"No, I can't do that. I'm living with Giles. Oh my god, Giles! We have to tell him you're back!"

"No, don't tell anyone I'm back yet. I can't…I can't be around humans yet. It's been too long, it would be too tempting."

"Okay, Angel, I won't tell anyone yet. But the sun's coming up so I've got to head home. Will you be okay here?" She asked carefully.

He nodded.

"Okay, I'll come back tonight before I go to work with some blood."

He made no acknowledgement of her saying this, and she left.

A few nights later it was the full moon and Ronnie came into the library to take the last wolf watch after she got off work at midnight. She had kept her promise to Angel and not told anyone that he was back yet, but she hated keeping secrets from the group. He told her how Hell had been for him and she kept him supplied in blood so he wouldn't have to deal with humans until he was absolutely ready.

When she walked in she saw Xander dozing off at the table and Oz in his cage. She went to the cage and saw Oz sleeping peacefully, then walked back over to Xander. She leaned down as close to Xander's ear as she could, then she yelled.

"Alexander Lavelle Harris!"

He jumped up two feet in the air and looked all over the room until he found Ronnie.

"Geez, Ron, you gave me a heart attack." He said clutching said heart.

"Xan, you fell asleep on wolf watch, more than you heart is on the line if you don't take this seriously." She said arms crossed to show her seriousness.

He had the decency to look ashamed. "You're right, I'm sorry."

She nodded. "It's ok, I won't tell Giles, but you should go get some rest."

"Right, good idea," Xander nodded as he left. "Night, Ronster."

"Night, XanMan."

She looked back at the cage to see her yell had woken Oz. She stuck her hand in the cage to pet his head. "Sorry I woke you up, Oz, but you know how dumb Xan can be."

Oz turned from her and curled back up to return to sleep while Ronnie yet again wondered what she was going to about Angel.

The next day Ronnie came to the Library during the gang's free period to make sure nothing was up at Hellmouth High.

"It appears Oz might have gotten out last night when Xander was asleep." Giles said. "Willow is going to the morgue tonight to examine the body to be sure."

"Wills, make sure to look at the report for confirmed time of death." Ronnie instructed.

Willow nodded and looked worriedly at Oz.

"We'll get to the bottom of this Oz." Ronnie assured.

He nodded and smiled sadly at her.

That night the watches were only divided in two shifts: Buffy taking the first with Ronnie coming directly after work.

Ronnie stayed until everyone else showed up in the morning.

"What did you find, Willow?" Ronnie asked as soon as the witch walked in.

"It doesn't look good; it's definitely not a vampy kill. It looks a lot like a wolfie one." She said sadly.

"What about the report? What was the time of death?"

"2 am."

Ronnie breathed a sigh of relief. "Well, there you go. It wasn't Oz, I got here at midnight that night and I kept my eye on him the whole time. If it is a wolf, then there's a new one in Sunnydale, Oz couldn't have done it."

"Are you absolutely certain?" Giles asked.

"Swear on my grave." She nodded.

Everyone was immediately relieved. "Well, never the less, we still need to find what it was that did kill that boy. Tonight is the last night of the full moon, how shall we divide the shifts?" Giles asked.

"I have to work tonight and Buffy and Faith should be out patrolling trying to find the real killer." Ronnie insisted. "And since we know it's not Oz, Giles, you, Willow and Xander can handle the wolf watch."

Giles nodded. "Quite right, excellent plan dear."

"Good, now I'm gonna go catch some sleep." Just then she noticed the doughnuts that were on the counter. "Ooh, jellies?" Oz nodded and she snatched one before she left.

Ronnie didn't mention how she didn't want a shift tonight or to patrol because she was so worried about Oz last night that she had forgot to check on Angel. She would go to the mansion right after work tonight.

"Angel?" She called when she walked into the mansion. She knew he probably sensed her as soon as she entered the gates outside, but she didn't want to risk surprising him; he'd been so uneasy ever since he'd gotten back.

"In here," he called from the living room. He was sitting on the couch, brooding. Not that she could blame him these days. It was actually quite comforting, seeing him act normal.

"I brought you some more blood." She said smiling "I'm sorry I didn't come over last night."

"It's fine. What happened?"

"We were worried that Oz was getting out and killing people, we cleared his name, but we don't know who the real killer is yet." She said and yawned, between work, wolf watch, and worrying about Angel she really hadn't gotten much sleep lately.

"Thanks for the blood. Why don't you go home and get some sleep, you look exhausted."

She nodded reluctantly. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine."

"Okay, goodnight, Angel." She gave him a hug before she left.

"Night, Veronica." He still called her by her proper name now and then. She was fine with it from him; Angelus had used her nickname in disdain. Angel calling her Veronica helped him separate the two.

At about 10 the next morning Ronnie woke up to a knock on the door. She went to go see who would be at the door at this time of day, all the Scoobies would be at school, Giles too. Joyce would be at the gallery, and anyone else she knew from Sunnydale would all be at work at the Mayor's office.

When Ronnie opened the door it was Buffy.

"Buffy, shouldn't you be in school?" She asked surprised.

"I'm skipping today." She shrugged and walked in the flat to sit on the couch.

"Did you guys find the killer?" Ronnie asked coming to sit on the chair by the couch.

"Yeah, he was a student. He started taking this Jekyll and Hyde potion that turned him all creepy monster and was using it to kill people that got him mad. He was all jealous boyfriend and was trying to kill anyone that spoke to his girlfriend." Buffy explained.

"Well, now I believe Cordelia. Once you live on a Hellmouth, nothing surprises you anymore." Ronnie laughed.

Buffy smiled sadly and nodded.

"What's wrong, Buff?" Ronnie asked.

"The guy, he was mad at me for telling his girlfriend to leave him. He was gonna go after me. But someone else stopped him." She looked at Ronnie, a little lost.

"Who?" Ronnie asked, worried she already knew the answer.

"Angel," Buffy whispered. "He saved me, and then he ran away."

"Buffy, I'm so sorry, he told me not to tell." Ronnie said frantically.

"You knew?" Buffy asked hurt. "You knew he was back and you didn't tell me?"

"He's been in Hell, Buffy. Time moved differently there. For him he spent a hundred years in constant torture. He didn't think he could be around humans yet so he made me keep it a secret." Ronnie explained.

"A hundred years?" Buffy asked in shock.

Ronnie nodded. "He just needs time, Buffy."

"Okay, I can give him that. Are we gonna tell Giles and the others?"

"Not yet. He wants to get better around humans before we tell anyone. That's probably why he left as soon as he saved you, didn't want to risk you."

"But it's definitely him? Not Angelus?" Buffy asked pointedly.

"Trust me, if it was Angelus he would already be dust." Ronnie assured her.

"You're right. Sorry. Okay, I guess I really should head back to school, I just needed to tell someone about Angel, and I knew you'd understand."

Ronnie nodded. "Bye, Buffy."

"Bye." Buffy said as she walked out the door.

Well, there it was, someone else knew Angel was back. But that still didn't answer the most important question. What were they going to do about it?

A/N: I'm going to skip Homecoming. So when I return, Band Candy! And so will be another change I put in the cannon, but don't worry, I'm sure you'll all like it. =) Please Review!