Chapter/episode 11: Triangle.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Buffy, Angel, Willow, Tara, Xander, Anya, and Giles were meeting at the Magic Box. Giles would be going to England the next day to see the Watchers Council about Glory. "Normally, I wouldn't want to get involved with them, but we've run out of options." Giles told them. "They have resources we don't, and they might be able to get information on her. We've exhausted my books, and Wesley in L.A. has looked through everything he has and has found nothing."

"I agree." Buffy sighed. "I'm not excited about going to the Watchers Council but we're getting desperate."

"Desperate times call for desperate measures." Angel agreed.

"I'll only be gone for a few days." Giles said.

"And I'm in charge of the Magic Box while you're gone, right?" Anya asked eagerly.

Giles hesitated. He clearly hadn't thought about it until that moment, and he didn't look too excited about the idea of letting Anya run the magic shop by herself. Angel couldn't blame him. "Well," Giles said carefully, "I'm not sure…it's a lot of work for just one person."

"I could do it!" Anya insisted. "Xander, tell him!"

"She can take care of it, Giles." Xander said.

"We'll help her." Willow added.

"I don't need your help!" Anya cried. "I work here, you don't!"

"I think what Willow means," Angel said quickly, hoping to avoid a fight, "is that if anything bad happens, we'll be here to help."

"Well actually I meant-" Willow began, but Tara elbowed her and she fell silent.

"Everything will be fine, Giles." Buffy promised, giving him a smile. "It's just a few days. It'll be fine."

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A few days later

Angel walked into the Magic Box and found Anya, Willow, Tara, and Xander. "Hey Angel." Tara said.

"Where's Buffy?" Xander asked.

"She's got class. What's going on here?" Angel asked, looking at the magic stuff spread across the table.

"We're trying to do a spell to help Buffy on patrol." Willow explained. "It's a ball of sunlight so she can burn the vamps, even at night."

"Oh, that's a good idea." Angel said. "How's it going?"

"Still a work in progress. But we're getting there."

"She's taking the supplies from the shop!" Anya cried. "You have to pay for those!"

"Giles wouldn't mind." Willow said.

"I'm in charge of the shop while he's in England." Anya said. "You have to pay for those. Xander, back me up. Who's right?"

Xander looked panicked as both Anya and Willow looked at him expectantly. "Well…it's not a matter of…girls…I've got to go." He started for the door.

"Xander!" Anya yelled. "You can't just leave!"

"You know what?" Xander yelled back. "I can! I don't want to be in the middle of you two anymore! Figure it out for yourselves!" he stormed out. Angel was impressed. He didn't think Xander was brave enough to yell at them.

"Tara?" Willow said, rounding on her girlfriend. Tara looked very uncomfortable.

"Oh, look." She said, glancing at her watch. "I have to go to class. Bye!" she ran out of the shop as fast as she could.

Willow and Anya both turned to Angel. Angel took a nervous step back. "Um…I've got to go to…I've just got to go." He ran after Tara and Xander.

They were both outside. "I was wondering if you'd get out." Xander said.

"Don't doubt my running away skills." Angel responded. "So now what?"

"I really do have class." Tara said. "Buffy and I are taking a class together. I'll see you guys later." She left.

Angel and Xander looked at each other. "Anything's better than in there." Angel said.

"I'm going to the Bronze. You can come if you want."

"Let's go."

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Xander and Angel were at the Bronze, and had just gotten food and drinks when they ran into Spike. Spike looked at them. "I never thought I'd see the two of you together willingly."

"And I never thought I'd be talking to you in a way that didn't involve exchanging death threats." Angel said. "Miracles happen every day."

"That's true." Spike agreed. "So what brings you two here?"

"I'm hiding." Xander said. "He's just got nothing to do."

"Where's Buffy?"

"School." Angel answered.

"Oh." They were all quiet for a minute. Then Spike said, "You know, Peaches, I bet I could beat you at pool."

Angel raised his eyebrows. "Really?"

"Yeah."

"I don't think so."

"Want to find out?"

"You're on."

They went to one of the pool tables and Angel and Spike started playing, Xander watching from the side. "So who are you hiding from?" Spike asked, glancing at Xander.

Xander sighed. "My girlfriend."

"Oh yeah, of course. Why?"

"She and Willow were arguing and wanted him to settle it for them." Angel answered for him. "Your turn, Spike."

"They're always doing that." Xander said. "They're always arguing about something and want me to decide who's right. And that puts a ton of pressure on me because then I have to choose between my girlfriend and my best friend, which isn't fun, and then whoever I don't pick gets mad at me. You're lucky, Angel, none of Buffy's friends like you enough to put you in that position."

Angel gave him a look. "Thanks, Xander. That makes me feel so much better."

"And you know," Xander went on, "sometimes Willow will give me this look like 'Really? Her?'"

"Yeah, I know that look." Spike said. "A lot of people never really got Dru."

"Well she was insane." Angel pointed out.

"Yeah." Spike said wistfully. Angel and Xander both stared at him a moment.

"I win." Angel said a minute later.

"Damn." Spike sighed. "Rematch."

"No. I won."

"You were just lucky. I want a rematch."

"Guys." Xander said suddenly. "Look over there."

Angel and Spike looked in the direction Xander was pointing just in time to see a huge troll walk in. Several people screamed. The troll said, "Ale!" and went for the beer.

Angel, Spike, and Xander stared in surprise. "Huh." Angel said. "There's something you don't see every day."

The troll looked around. He walked up to them. "Do you know where I could find some babies to eat?" he asked Spike.

"Um…no, sorry." Spike said.

The troll didn't look happy. "I want to eat babies!"

"This really couldn't get weirder." Xander said as the troll went back to the beer.

Suddenly Anya and Willow ran inside. "Xander!" Anya cried.

"Have you guys seen a troll?" Willow asked.

"You mean like the one over there?" Angel asked, pointing.

"Yep, that's him." Anya said.

"What happened?" Xander asked.

"Willow accidently released it with magic." Anya said, glaring at Willow.

"Um, why are you guys with Spike?" Willow asked.

Suddenly the troll grabbed someone by their shirt and threw them across the room. Then he picked up his giant hammer and smashed the counter. "I wish Buffy were here." Willow said worriedly.

"I'm here!" Buffy suddenly ran inside, followed closely by Tara.

Willow smiled a little. "I wish I had a million dollars." She said. Everyone stared at her. "Just checking."

"Hey!" Buffy yelled at the troll.

The troll looked at them. He suddenly looked angrier. "You!" he said, but he wasn't pointing at Buffy. He was pointing at Anya. "You are still arrogant and wicked, Anyanka! Just like when we were dating!"

Everybody turned to look at Anya. "It just got weirder." Angel muttered to Spike.

"Olaf?" Anya said.

"You went out with a troll?" Xander asked.

"Well he wasn't a troll then. He was just a fat, stinky man. And he cheated on me and I turned him into troll. Which, by the way, is how I got the job as a vengeance demon."

"You turned me into this!" Olaf the troll roared.

"Well you seem to like being a troll." Anya reasoned.

"I adjusted!" Olaf shouted. "And then I was trapped in the vase until the witch let me out! And now I'm going to kill you!" he picked up his hammer again and hit the pole holding up the second level. The level came crashing to the ground. Buffy, Angel, and Spike ran for Olaf. Olaf, however, sent all of them flying backward, smashing into the wall. Then he ran away.

"Are you ok?" Angel asked Buffy.

"I'm fine." Buffy said, getting up. "There are people over there who are hurt, though."

The whole Scooby Gang started digging people out of the rubble. Some people were pretty badly injured. "What do we do now?" Willow asked Buffy.

"We have to catch Olaf." Buffy said. "We can't let him hurt anymore people. Willow, Anya, you guys go back to the magic shop and try to find a way to put Olaf back in the vase or at least get rid of him somehow. The rest of us should split up and go look for him."

Willow nodded, grabbed Anya by the arm, and the two of them ran off. The rest of them followed, going off in different directions. Buffy and Angel walked side by side. "So you were hanging out with Xander and Spike?" Buffy asked, fighting a grin.

"It's not that funny."

"Sweetie, it's pretty funny."

"Oh, shut up."

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Angel and Buffy were heading back to the Magic Box. They hadn't found Olaf and had no idea where he went. "Maybe Willow and Anya found something." Buffy sighed.

Angel looked at the Magic Box as they walked toward it down the street. "Buffy, something's going on in there." He said suddenly. Buffy looked too.

"It looks like…Olaf. Willow! Anya!" Buffy cried, and she ran to the shop, Angel right behind her.

They burst into the shop and found Olaf beating up not Willow or Anya but Xander. Willow was hiding behind the counter, watching as Anya tried to distract Olaf by saying stuff to annoy him. It seemed to be working; Olaf looked rather agitated.

"Oh, shut up woman!" Olaf finally yelled, dropping Xander on the floor. "After all this time you are still so annoying!"

He went for Anya but Buffy jumped in front of her. "If you want my friends, you're going to have to go through me." She said.

Angel stepped forward. "And if you want her, you'll have to get through me first."

Olaf shrugged. "That is doable." He raised his hammer, but Angel kicked it out of his hand. Olaf hit him hard in the face, and Angel stumbled back but returned with another kick, this time to the stomach.

"Buffy, get his hammer!" Anya hissed at Buffy. "His power is in the hammer!" Buffy nodded and darted past the fight to the hammer.

"So," she said, "Your power's in your hammer." She swung the hammer and hit Olaf in the head, knocking him back into the wall.

"Good job." Angel said.

"You too." Buffy replied. She dropped the hammer and they both ran at Olaf together. Olaf tried to run but Buffy grabbed him and pulled him to the ground. Angel grabbed him and smashed his head into the floor, knocking him out. Buffy sighed in relief and let go. "Are you ok, Xander?" she called.

Anya was helping Xander off the floor. "Yeah, I'll be ok.' Xander replied, wincing in pain.

Tara suddenly appeared in the doorway. She did a double take at the sight of the practically destroyed magic shop, Olaf unconscious on the floor, and Xander and Angel both bleeding. "What did I miss?" she asked.

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Willow did a spell and Olaf disappeared in a portal. "Where did you send him?" Buffy asked.

"To the Land of the Trolls." Anya said. "He'll like it there. Lots of trolls."

"He can meet a nice ugly lady troll and they can have ugly troll babies." Angel said, causing Buffy to giggle.

"There's a Land of the Trolls?" Xander asked.

"Oh yeah." Anya said. "There are lots of different worlds."

"It's kind of hard to tell where exactly you send them, though." Willow said.

"Yes." Anya agreed. "He could end up in the Land of Perpetual Wednesday, or, you know, the Land without Shrimp."

"There's a land without shrimp?" Tara asked curiously. They all looked at her. "I-I'm allergic."

"There's also a land with nothing but shrimp." Angel said.

Buffy sighed. "We trashed the magic shop." She said. She picked up Olaf's hammer. "But we beat the troll and I got a cool new toy." She said, and set it down on the counter. A second later, the glass counter shattered under the weight of the hammer. Buffy groaned. Angel smiled and put his arm around her.

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Giles had returned from England and was meeting Buffy, Angel, and Joyce at their house. "I shudder to think about what the shop would have looked like if I'd been gone longer." Giles said.

"Well maybe we'd of had time to clean it up." Buffy said. Giles rolled his eyes.

They all sat at the dining room table. "So what did you find out?" Joyce asked.

"You know everything about this?" Giles asked.

"Yeah, I got some myself and Buffy and Angel filled in the rest." Joyce said. "It's so hard to wrap my head around."

"It has been for all of us." Angel said.

"Do you think she suspects anything?" Joyce asked.

"No. How would you come to this conclusion on your own?" Buffy reasoned.

They continued talking, but none of them, not even Angel, knew that Dawn had been on the stairs.

The "There also a land with nothing but shrimp" comment is based off a line from one of the season five episodes of Angel when Illyria is talking about all the places she's visited and says, "And one land with nothing but shrimp. I tired of that one quickly." I always thought it was funny that there apparently was a world without shrimp and a world with nothing but shrimp. Please review!