Chapter/episode 11: Gone.

So…I'm back! I am so, so sorry. I haven't had time to even think about writing in months. I have virtually no spare time anymore. It's practically a foreign concept these days. So writing is seriously on the backburner (this hurts me more than it hurt you, trust me). However, I am now on…wait for it…Winter Break! Two whole weeks of not having to worry about school. For the next two weeks I'm going to get as much writing done as possible, so hopefully you guys will get several chapters to read. Once school starts up again…I honestly don't know. I also don't want to think about that right now. So finally, here is the long-overdue next chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Buffy handed Dawn her breakfast. "Hurry up, you're going to be late again." She said.

"Don't tell me what to do." Dawn huffed.

"She's right, Dawnie." Angel said as he walked in. He kissed Buffy and went to the fridge for blood.

"Whatever." Dawn sighed.

"How are you?" Angel asked Buffy. Buffy knew what was behind the question. But he couldn't say it out loud, because Dawn didn't know about the baby yet.

"I'm good." She replied.

Spike suddenly burst in with a blanket over his head. "Damn sun." he yelled. Angel grinned.

"Hello Spike." He said. "What are you doing here?"

"Breakfast. I'm all out." He said. Angel rolled his eyes and handed Spike his cup of blood.

"I'll make another one." He sighed.

"Dawn." Buffy said. "School. Now."

"Fine." Dawn got up and grabbed her bag.

Angel froze. "Someone's coming. I hear footsteps outside." He grabbed Spike's blood and poured it down the sink. It was Spike's turn to roll his eyes, which he did as he left the room.

Sure enough, when Buffy opened the door to usher Dawn outside, there was a woman standing there. Angel watched from the doorway to the dining room. "Hello." Buffy said. "Can I help you?"

"Yes. Are you Buffy Summers-Angel?"

"That's me. Who are you?"

"I'm from Social Services. I'm here for a home visit."

Buffy paled. "That's today?"

The woman smiled. "Yes, it's today." She turned to Dawn. "And you must be Dawn?"

Dawn smiled. "Yes, ma'am."

"School." Buffy said to Dawn. "Now." Dawn rolled her eyes but left.

"She's rather late, isn't she?" the woman asked as she came inside.

"It's just one of those mornings." Buffy said quickly.

The woman nodded but wrote something on her clip board. "My name is Ms. Kroger."

"Nice to meet you." Buffy said. She was almost dying of nerves already. She'd completely forgotten about the visit, what with the excitement of the last couple of days, and she knew nothing was exactly at its best for inspection at the moment.

Angel walked in from the kitchen. "This is my husband Angel." Buffy introduced hurriedly. "Angel, this is Ms. Kroger. She's from Social Services."

"Of course." Angel said. He noted the slightly panicked look in Buffy's eye, something only he would notice. Truthfully, he'd kind of forgotten too. "It's nice to meet you, Ms. Kroger."

"Angel is registered as your last name." Ms. Kroger said, checking her clip board.

"That's correct. My first name is Liam, but I never liked it and everyone's called me Angel for a long as I can remember." Well, it was only partly a lie.

"Come in, sit down." Buffy said, ushering Ms. Kroger into the living room, with Angel following.

Quite unfortunately, Spike was in the living room. "Hello." He said.

"Who is this?" Ms. Kroger asked.

"I'm-" Spike began, but Angel cut him off.

"He's my brother." Angel said quickly.

Ms. Kroger looked from Angel to Spike and then back to Angel. "But…he's British and you're…not."

"Step-brother." Angel said quickly. He turned to Spike and gave him a look that clearly said to play along while saying, "William, this is Ms. Kroger from Social Services. She's here about Dawn."

"Oh." Spike said, understanding. He stood up. "Buffy's a real good mum. She keeps Dawnie away from all sorts of…bad stuff."

Angel could tell Spike had to leave. "Uh, Will, don't you have to go do that thing in town?"

Spike gave him a look. "Why yes, Liam, I do. I'll see you later." He grabbed his blanket and left.

Ms. Kroger turned back to Buffy and Angel. "He lives here?"

"No." Buffy said quickly.

"He's visiting from…England. We're just letting him stay here while he's in town." Angel continued.

"No one else lives here but us and Dawn." Buffy said.

"Buffy, I'm going to take a shower!" Willow's voice called down from upstairs. Ms. Kroger gave Buffy a look.

"And…my friend Willow." Buffy admitted. "She just needs a place to stay for a while until she can…move into her new apartment! She got an apartment and it's not ready yet so she's staying here until it's ready. She's great, really, Dawn loves her. She's been a family friend for a very long time, I trust her completely."

Ms. Kroger made another note on her clip board. She had just started talking again about Dawn when Buffy felt a wave a nausea roll over her. "Oh no, not now." She thought, but after a few seconds she felt very sick. "Excuse me a moment." She said, and ran upstairs as fast as her feet would carry her.

Angel knew exactly what was wrong, but he knew he needed an excuse for Ms. Kroger. "Um, she probably just left something on."

"The kitchen is upstairs?"

"No, the kitchen's over there, why?"

"Well what did she leave on upstairs?"

"Uh…the shower."

"But I thought that Willow girl was taking a shower?"

"Yes, um…would you like to see some more of the house?"

Buffy burst into the bathroom upstairs and puked her guts out in the toilet. Willow, wearing a bathrobe, was at her side in a moment. "Buffy!"

"I'm ok." Buffy gasped, wiping her mouth. "Morning sickness. No biggy. Got to run!" she stood up and tried to leave but Willow grabbed her arm.

"Buffy, are you sure you're ok?"

"Fine and dandy and very busy, I really have to get back downstairs!" she pulled away and ran downstairs.

"There's really nothing of interest in the cabinet over there, really." Angel was saying when Buffy walked in. Ms. Kroger seemed to be looking at the weapons cabinet. "Just a bunch of…cleaning supplies! We're very…we're obsessively clean! We love cleaning stuff!"

Buffy really wanted to bang her head against the wall at this point but figured that wouldn't look very good. "I'm back." She said.

"I was just telling Ms. Kroger about the cleaning supplies." Angel said.

"Yes, sweetie, I heard." When Ms. Kroger wasn't looking, she elbowed him. "Cleaning supplies?" she hissed so only he would hear.

Ms. Kroger turned to them. "I don't know what kind of game you think you're playing, Mrs. Summers-Angel, but I do know this is not a suitable household for a teenage girl. I am recommending Dawn be taken out of your care immediately."

"No!" Buffy cried. "Please, Ms. Kroger, give us another chance."

"My decision is final. You'll be hearing from me soon." She walked out the door.

Buffy screamed and threw a book that was lying on the table at the wall. "Buffy," Angel tried to calm her down but it didn't work. She ran upstairs and into her room, slamming the door shut behind her. Angel went after her and ran into Willow (who was dressed now).

"What happened?" Willow asked, alarmed.

"Our Social Services visit didn't go too well." Angel said.

"Is that what was going on downstairs?"

"Yeah. We might lose Dawn." Angel stopped at Buffy's door and tried to turn the handle. "She locked it. Buffy?"

"Just leave me alone." Buffy replied from inside.

"We can deal with this, Buffy, I promise." Angel said.

"Don't make promises you know you can't keep, Angel."

"Buffy, let me in." Angel called impatiently. "I'm not above breaking down this door, you know! Then we'd have to repair it using the money you hate me using so much!"

After another minute, the door opened. "Oh my god." Angel said. "Buffy, what did you do?"

Buffy seemed to have attacked her hair with a pair of scissors. She was still crying. "I guess I kind of lost it." She said. Angel hugged her.

"We can get through this." He told her.

"I don't want to lose her, Angel." Buffy whispered. "I really don't. Plus, being told you're not fit to raise a child is the last thing you want to hear when you've just found out you're going to have a baby."

"Buffy, you are going to be the best mother in the world. Our child is going to be lucky to have you as a mother."

Buffy tried to smile but didn't exactly pull it off. She walked back into her room and looked in the mirror. "Oh, I'm a mess. Look what I did to my hair." She looked at Angel again. "If it's ok with you, I'm going to go into town and see if I can get a professional to fix this."

"Sure, go ahead. I'm going to the Magic Box to work with Xander and Anya on some stuff. Why don't you meet me there when you're done?"

Buffy nodded. "Sounds good."

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"You know, I was under the impression we were researching diamond-using demons, not going over seating arrangements." Angel said, looking up from the book he was reading long enough to speak with Xander and Anya, who were looking at their chart for seating arrangements at their wedding reception.

"Come on, Angel, you planned a wedding once." Xander said. "You know how much work it is."

Anya, who clearly hadn't been listening to Angel and Xander's conversation, said, "Maybe we could put Buffy and Angel over here with your family and then-"

"No." Xander interrupted. "We're not putting Buffy with my family."

"Why not?" Anya asked.

"Because we like Buffy." Xander replied. Angel cleared his throat loudly. "And him too I suppose." Xander added unenthusiastically.

"Gee, thanks Xander." Angel said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

"Fine, what if we put them with D'Hoffryn?" Anya suggested.

"I'd honestly rather you didn't." Angel said.

"We're not inviting D'Hoffryn." Xander said.

They were all so busy arguing that they didn't hear the door open. A moment later, however, Angel looked around. Xander noticed. "What wrong, Deadboy?"

"I don't know…" Angel said slowly. "I thought I just heard…never mind."

"Oh, don't worry honey, that was me."

Angel, Xander, and Anya all jumped, startled. "Buffy?" Angel called. He felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah, I'm over here. I seem to be invisible. Pretty cool, huh?"

"Wait, I know this!" Xander cried. "Have you been feeling ignored?"

"No, this isn't a Marcie thing. I was just in town after getting my hair cut, and-"

"You got your hair cut?" Anya interrupted. "How does it look? Because I've been thinking about getting mine cut before the wedding."

"Oh, about to here…oh, you can't see me, uh…" she grabbed a small statue off the shelf and held to what Angel was pretty sure was her shoulder. "About to here."

"Oh, that sounds really cute." Anya said.

"Um, ladies," Xander began.

"Priorities!" Angel finished for him. "What happened, Buffy?"

"Nothing. It was like suddenly…poof! I was invisible." Buffy replied.

"Could it be some sort of spell?" Xander asked, looking at Angel.

"Possibly." Angel said distractedly. He needed a minute before he could think about that. First he was panicking a little inside. On a normal day, he would have worried a little, but mostly trusted that Buffy could handle it, with a little help from him and the Scoobies. But although he still had that faith in her, there was one new element that was completely beyond Buffy's control: what if this hurt the baby?

"Angel?"

Angel snapped back to reality to find both Xander and Anya looking at him with a mixture of confusion and concern. "Sorry, what?" he asked hurridly.

"You ok? You zoned out there a little." Xander told him.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I was just thinking."

"Now is not the time to be brooding, Angel, your wife is invisible." Xander said.

"I-I wasn't brooding!" Angel cried indignantly. "I was thinking. And I don't brood that much anymore."

"It's true, he's gotten a lot better." Buffy's voice cut in.

"I'll believe that when I see it." Xander replied. "And, for that matter, when I see you. What are we going to do about this invisible situation?"

"Why don't you guys research invisibility spells?" Buffy suggested.

"That's a good idea." Angel said. "What are you going to do?"

"Are you kidding? I'm invisible! This is a once in a lifetime opportunity! I'm going to go have some fun."

The other three glanced at each other. "Are you sure?" Anya asked. "I mean, what if this is serious?"

"You guys will figure it out. I have complete faith in you. I just want to enjoy myself a little for once. I'll be back in a little while."Angel heard her footsteps start heading toward the door.

"Buffy!" he said. "You two get started." He told Xander and Anya, and ran after Buffy just as she opened the door. He reached out, found her arm, and held on to it as he shut the door. "We have to talk about this for a minute."

"Why?"

"The baby."

She was quiet for a minute, before responding, "Angel, don't worry. I'm fine, and the baby is fine. This isn't a big deal, we'll be ok."

"You don't know that."

"Sweetie, I need a break. Just a couple of hours of being invisible. If I start to feel weird I'll come straight back, I promise." He felt her kiss his cheek. "I'll see you tonight, and hopefully by then you'll be able to see me." He heard her footsteps again.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"The Social Services office." Buffy replied cheerfully.

It took Angel a moment to realize what exactly that meant. "Oh dear god." He said. "Buffy!" he shouted, but she was gone. "Damn it!" he kicked a rock and went back inside. "Ok, let's get started. The sooner we find out what happened, the better."

Xander looked at him as he sat down. "She'll be fine." He said.

Angel sighed. "Thanks. Found anything?"

"Well, there are a couple of spells that could make someone invisible." Anya said. "But what I don't understand is why anyone would do this. I mean, isn't an invisible Slayer twice as hard to defeat as a normal one?"

"Anya has a point." Angel agreed. "Why would anyone do this? Let me see those spells." Anya handed him a spell book.

About ten minutes later, Xander put down his book. "I give up. I mean you said it yourself, it doesn't make any sense. Why would someone just turn her invisible?"

"Maybe it was a mistake." Anya suggested.

"That's possible." Angel said. "Magic goes wrong all the time. I mean, Willow…" he trailed off, and they all looked at each other, thinking exactly the same thing. "No." Angel said. "No, no, Willow wouldn't…no."

"I don't know, she's done similar things by mistake before." Anya pointed out.

"And let's face it, we've all partly been waiting for her to relapse." Xander said slowly. "I mean, I love Willow, but…she has a problem."

"Let's just wait a moment, maybe we're all jumping to conclusions here." Angel said. "Willow's been doing really well. It's been hard but she's been coping."

"I think we need to ask her." Xander said. "I don't want to believe it was her but we have to accept the facts."

Angel sighed and nodded. "You're right. You and I should go talk to her. Anya, you stay here and keep looking."

Anya nodded, but Xander said, "Are you sure I shouldn't just go alone? I'm closer to her than you are, it might be better if only I talk to her about it."

"This is my family we're talking about." Angel replied. "If Willow did something I deserve to know."

"Fair enough." Xander sighed as he stood up. "But Buffy's been through way worse, Angel, I'm sure she'll be fine. You don't need to worry about her." Angel nodded but didn't say anything more as the two of them walked out the door.

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Willow was sitting at her computer in the dining room with a bunch of books spread out across the table when Xander and Angel walked in. "Hey Will." Xander said.

"Hi." She said. "I've been researching the diamond that was stolen from the museum. Turns out it has a history of being connected with magical events."

"We have a bigger problem to worry about right now." Angel said as he and Xander sat down.

"What's up?" Willow asked, looking concerned.

"I think you know." Xander said quietly.

"No, I don't." Willow said slowly.

"Will, I know what you did." Xander told her. Willow paled.

"It-it was an accident." She stammered. "I didn't mean to."

"We know you didn't. It's understandable. Relapse is part of getting better. But we need you to tell us what you did to Buffy so we can-"

"Buffy?" Willow interrupted, looking confused. "What happened to Buffy? What are you talking about?"

"What are you talking about?" Angel replied, looking confused.

"What happened to Buffy?" Willow asked again.

"Buffy's invisible." Xander told her.

"Buffy's invisible!" Willow cried.

"Yeah." Angel said. "She was in town getting her hair cut and-"

"Buffy got a haircut!" Willow interrupted.

Xander sighed, irritated. "Yeah, and apparently it's adorable, except none of us can see it because she is invisible!"

Willow gasped suddenly. "And you two thought I did it! Do you really have that little faith in me?"

"Well what were we supposed to think, Willow?" Xander said. "Your track record isn't exactly clean in the area of magical accidents."

"But I'm doing so much better." Willow insisted. "Angel, you know I'm doing better. I can't believe you both thought this was my fault." She got up and stormed out the front door.

"Willow," Angel ran after her, leaving a very surprised Xander sitting alone in the dining room. "Willow, wait." He grabbed her arm as he caught up to her in the yard.

"Leave me alone, Angel." She snapped at him.

"Willow, listen to me. Ok, it wasn't you. If you say you didn't do it I believe you. But I've got to know. What are the chances that an invisibility spell could hurt the baby?"

Willow hesitated. "I don't know, Angel. I think they both should be alright, but I can't know for sure unless I know exactly what spell was used."

Angel sighed. "Ok. Thank you." He let go of her arm. She walked down the block and out of sight. He went back to the house and sat down on the porch steps. A minute later Xander came out of the house and sat down next to him.

"I just called Anya." He said. "She hasn't found anything new." Angel was silent. Xander looked at him. "Are you sure you're ok? You've been acting really strange about this. I know you've always been worried about Buffy, but suddenly it's like you're afraid if you turn your back she'll vanish."

Angel smiled. "If somebody had told you five years ago that you'd be asking me if I was ok, would you have believed them?"

"No, I would have hit them." Xander admitted, and Angel laughed. "And you are avoiding the question."

Angel sighed. "It's been a long, hard year so far. I guess you could say I am a little paranoid."

"It's understandable. But she'll be fine."

"I know." Angel said quietly. "So what should we do next?"

Xander frowned, thinking. "Maybe we should check out where it happened, see if we can spot any clues. The problem is…where do we look?"

"I know where she gets her hair cut." Angel said, standing up. "It must of happened somewhere near there."

"Sounds good to me."

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"Willow?" Angel called as he got out of his car with Xander. "What are you doing here?"

"I stopped by the magic shop and Anya gave me the details." Willow explained. "I thought I'd come over here and check it out. Look at this." She led them over to an alleyway and pointed to the tire marks on the ground. "Someone left here in a hurry."

"Yeah, but those could have been made anytime." Xander pointed out as they walked back over to the sidewalk.

Willow shook her head. "I thought so too at first, but then I found some black paint on the fire hydrant."

"What fire hydrant?" Xander asked. Suddenly he hit his leg on something. "Ow!" he gasped, grabbing his leg.

"That fire hydrant." Willow replied, wincing. "Sorry." She crouched down and motioned for Angel to do the same. "See these scratches of black paint? They aren't invisible, but the hydrant is."

"So the car must have left here after Buffy became invisible." Angel finished, understanding.

"Exactly." Willow nodded. She held up a can of orange spray paint and sprayed the hydrant. "I've been spray painting all the invisible things I've found so we know where they are." She explained, pointing to a dumpster that was bright orange and only partly there.

Angel nodded. "Good idea. So what now?"

"I'm going to cross check the tire tracks with the city records." Willow replied. "See if I can find Buffy's mystery van."

Xander was about to say something when he stumbled over something in the street. "There!" he cried, pointing. Willow sprayed the area.

"It's a pylon." She said. "You know, one of those traffic cones. Here," She picked it up and handed it to Xander. "Take it back to the magic box. Maybe you can use it to help you find out how to help Buffy and the-" she broke off as she realized what she was saying, and Angel gave her an alarmed look. "-uh, the fire hydrant!"

Xander stared at her. "Right." He said finally. "We'll do that. Come on, Angel." He started heading back toward the car.

Angel turned back to Willow and gave her a look. "I know, I'm sorry." Willow groaned, and ran back over to the dumpster as Angel followed Xander.

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Spike was sitting in his crypt, watching TV, when the door suddenly opened and then slammed shut again. Spike jumped to his feet and looked around. "Hello?" he called. "I'll warn you I'm not kind to demons." Suddenly a lamp floated into the air. Spike rolled his eyes. "Oh, a ghost, is it? Go off and be dead like a good little spook." The lamp flew across the room and smashed into the wall. "Hey, watch it! That was a good lamp!"

More of Spike's possessions started flying off around, many of them breaking on the ground. "Are you throwing things at the wall?" Spike cried. "Stop it!" he caught a glass as it was thrown at him. "Be off with you!" he felt something ram into him, and he went flying across the room and hit the ground hard. "This isn't funny!" he shouted. "I'm warning you! I have vicious friends!"

He heard laughter, and his new supply of pig's blood floated into the air. Spike watched in surprise as a little bit was pulled out of the jar, as though someone had dipped their fingers in it. He watched as the words Hello William were written across his wall. "Who are you?" he yelled. Suddenly the rest of the blood was splashed across the opposite wall. "You've broken things, you've splashed blood across the walls. You've come to destroy my crypt?" Spike asked. Suddenly he was lifted into the air and thrown across the room.

"Stop it!" Spike shouted, wincing. "How am I supposed to fight back if I can't see you?" He was grabbed by the front of his shirt, spun around, and tossed into his chair. "What are you doing?" he asked. Suddenly he felt something that felt like a hand mess up his hair before he heard more laughter, and the crypt door opened and closed again. Then there was silence. "Hello?" Spike called, but there was no answer.

"It's gone." He sighed. Then he looked around. "Bloody hell." He groaned, and closed his eyes.

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Angel, Xander, and Anya were studying the traffic cone in the Magic Box. "We've tried everything." Anya sighed. "I'm out of ideas."

"There must be something we haven't thought of." Angel said, frustrated. "There's got to be a way to undo this."

"I agree, but what?" Xander asked. "I mean, Anya's right, we've tried everything."

Anya reached out to grab the cone. But when she touched it, it crumbled under her hand. "Ew." Anya said. "Look, it turned to pudding."

"What?" Xander reached out and touched it, and the same thing happened. Angel did the same.

"See? Like pudding." Anya said.

"Oh no." Angel whispered. He leaned back in his chair and covered his face with his hands. "Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no."

"What?" Anya asked, looking confused.

"An, think about it." Xander said. "This cone was hit by the same thing Buffy was. So if we don't find Buffy and reverse this soon…"

Horror appeared in Anya's eyes as she understood. "She's pudding?" she guessed.

Angel stood up. "We have to find her. Now."

"I know." Xander said, following suite. "I'll go with you. Anya, you stay here in case she comes back." He turned back to Angel. "Before we leave, we should call your house first. In case she's there." Angel nodded, tapping his fingers on the table anxiously.

Xander dialed the number and waited. A moment later he sighed. "I got the machine." He said.

"I'll be waiting in the car." Angel said, and walked out the door.

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Angel and Xander walked into Spike's crypt. "Spike…whoa, what happened?"

Spike was slowly picking up all the broken objects from the floor. He still looked like a mess from being thrown around, and the pig's blood was still on the walls. "I had a visit from Casper the unfriendly ghost." He grumbled.

Angel and Xander glanced at each other. "Buffy." They said at the same time.

"No, no." Spike sighed. "It couldn't have been the Slayer, I tend to notice her."

"Not right now, you wouldn't." Xander said. "She's invisible. We're looking for her."

"Buffy's invisible?" Spike asked, frowning. Then it dawned on him. "Buffy did this? Oh, I am going to kill that woman."

"You might not have a chance, she's in trouble." Xander said. "Whatever did this to her, it's going to kill her. She's fading away and she doesn't know it. That's why we're looking for her."

"Do you have any idea where she was going after she was here?" Angel asked desperately.

"No." Spike said. "She didn't say anything. Do you want help looking for her?"

Angel shook his head. "No, you stay here. There's a chance she may come back to mess with your head again, she likes doing that. Stay here, and if she comes back tell her what's going on and that we're looking for her." And with that, he left, Xander right behind him.

"Where now?" Xander asked.

"We should split up." Angel said. "I'm going to check the house again, you check in at the magic shop. Then just look wherever you think you might find her." He ran off in the other direction.

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Angel ran into the house just in time to crash into Dawn. "Sorry." He gasped. "Dawnie, have you-"

"Just leave me alone." Dawn snapped, and she ran upstairs.

Angel groaned but knew he didn't have time to go after her. He started shifting through the books Willow had left lying in the table. Suddenly something grabbed him from behind. He cried out in alarm and threw a book at the wall behind him. "Relax!" Buffy's voice yelled. "Sheesh, that was almost too easy."

It took Angel a second to register that it was her. "Oh, thank god you're alive!" he yelled, and threw his arms around her (which was quite impressive, seeing as she was still invisible).

"Wow, you really missed me, huh?" Buffy asked.

He kissed her. "I was worried you were already dead."

"Why, what's going on?"

"We were doing some research on what happened to you, and…Buffy, you're fading away. If we don't reverse this you'll turn into…pudding."

"Oh." Was all Buffy could say. "Do…do you think the ba-"

"I don't know, sweetie, I don't know." Angel whispered, pulling her closer. "We need to get you back to the magic shop now. My car's outside." The phone rang. "That's probably Xander, you should get it." Angel told Buffy. Buffy went into the kitchen and answered the phone.

"Xander?" there was a pause. "Who is this?" Angel frowned and joined her in the kitchen. "Who are you? What…wait!" after a moment, she put the phone down. "I don't know who that was." She began slowly. "But they said they can reverse this…and that they're holding Willow hostage and we need to meet them in the arcade."

"Do you believe them?" Angel asked.

"Yeah, I do. We need to go."

Angel groaned. "I'm going to regret this." He mumbled. "Come on, let's go."

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Buffy and Angel walked into the arcade. "There's Willow." Angel said quietly, pointing to the corner where Willow was standing by herself, looking worried.

"I see her." Buffy replied. "Come on."

"Angel!" Willow gasped when she saw him. "Is Buffy with you?"

"I'm over here." Buffy said. "So where are these guys?"

"They're invisible too. I think there are about three of them."

"That's right, Slayer." A man's voice said. A large gun-like device was floating in the air behind Buffy.

"What's that?" Angel asked Willow.

"It's an invisibility ray. That's what made Buffy invisible. It wasn't a spell after all." Willow replied. "And…no, Buffy! He's lying!" the invisible man had just been about to shoot Buffy again. "The ray's on the wrong setting, I saw the plans! It's going to make you fade faster!"

"Shut up!" the man yelled.

"Wait," a different man's voice began.

"You were going to kill her?" a third man's voice cut in. "You promised we weren't going to kill anyone!"

"I know that voice." Buffy said suddenly. "Who are you guys?"

The third man answered in a very poorly disguised voice: "No one you know."

Suddenly the ray fell the ground as the first man cried out in pain. As far as Angel and Willow could tell, Buffy had tackled him. A fight had broken out. Angel quickly started to untie the ropes around Willow's wrists. "Thanks." She said. "Don't you want to help Buffy?"

"I do, but…" he turned and looked around the room. "I don't know where any of them are." Willow, thinking fast, picked up the invisibility ray. Angel hesitated. "Do you know how to work that thing?" he asked.

"I think so." Willow replied, fiddling with the knobs. There was a noise to their left, and Willow fired the ray in that direction. Buffy appeared next to Angel.

"Thanks." She said, surprised. "Um, two of them are over there, I think." She pointed, and Willow fired. Two people appeared. "Warren?" Buffy gasped. "
Jonathon?"

Suddenly Angel reached out and grabbed something. "Caught the third one." He said with a grin. Willow shot him with the ray. All three of them stared at him.

"And who are you?" Buffy asked.

"I'm Andrew." He said meekly. Angel let go of him.

"So you three have…what? Banded together to be pains in my ass?" Buffy asked.

Warren looked at her somewhat defiantly. "We're you arch-nemisises…ees." Angel raised his eyebrows. "And you may have beaten us this time, Slayer, but next time, uh…"

"Maybe not!" Jonathon finished for him, and something exploded into smoke. Buffy and Willow both started coughing, and Angel squinted through the smoke.

"Uh, guys?" he said with a grin.

"I thought you said it was unlocked!" Warren hissed. They were desperately trying to get through the locked door.

Buffy giggled. "I give you my arch nemisises…ees." She finished with a frown.

Angel watched as the three boys ran away in the other direction. "I think I might have just learned what it truly means to be terrified." He deadpanned, causing the girls to laugh. He looked at Buffy. "You look amazing." He said. He ran his fingers through her hair. "I like it."

Buffy sighed and gave him a kiss. "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"Acting like I did today. There was no call for it."

Willow smiled. "I hate to break up this cute moment, but shouldn't we tell everyone that Buffy's ok? Xander and Anya are waiting."

Buffy nodded. "Yeah, let's get out of here."

"Agreed." Angel sighed. He put his arm around Buffy as they walked out of the arcade and onto the street. "By the way," he said, "I love what you did to Spike's place."

Wow. That was way longer than I thought it would be. Next chapter should be up as soon as possible, and I mean it this time. Please review!