Morning

Standing outside the house in the bright early morning, Buffy stood between Katie and Connor at the edge of the driveway staring at the 1996 green Jeep Cherokee.

"Why are you three standing around?" Xander asked as he opened the driver's side door.

Cordelia rolled her eyes catching Buffy's fearful expression. "C'mon, it'll be fine."

"Yeah," Dawn chimed in opening the back seat door. "I found a booster car seat for Connor in the basement and Xander checked it and strapped it in Jeep. It'll be fine Buffy, let 'em in the car."

Xander rolled down the window and stuck his head out saying, "Yeah! Let 'em in the car!"

"In the car! In the car! In the car!" Xander, Cordelia, and Dawn chanted.

Connor tugged at the hem of Buffy's blouse, turning her attention. "I want to go in the car, Mama."

"The pout! Connor, do the pout!" Cordelia loudly whispered from the passenger's seat to Connor.

Buffy watched as Connor's little mouth dropped in a deep pouting frown and his brown eyes grew bigger melting anyone with a beating heart.

"We're not afraid, Mama," Katie assured and looked at Connor to follow her lead.

Connor nodded his head and repeated, "Yeah, we're not afraid, Mama." His pout deepened.

Buffy released a heavy breath shaking her head feeling utterly outnumbered.

Xander took the long route to the Magic Box having too much fun in the car with his niece and nephew.

Katie and Connor had the windows rolled down with their heads sticking out of the car, feeling the Californian breeze.

Sitting in the middle of the backseat, Buffy watched with amusement as her children had the time of their lives. She wanted something, anything to bring their spirits up since last night. They awoke in the morning still a bit shaken and depressed. She had made them their favourite for breakfast and Dawn sat with them and watched cartoons but nothing was pulling them from their melancholy.

She turned her chin to the right and watched Connor with a wide grin on his little face. He really looks like Liam when he smiles like that. Shifting her glance to the left. Buffy's young daughter stared out of the window with fascination. Her heart ached to wonder what could've happened if she hadn't gotten rid of Angelus when she had. Buffy wasn't sure if her heart could take if anything else happened to her children.

Buffy hoped that the group left at the Magic Box had formed some sort of way to access Angel's soul.

All of this was beginning to be too much. Buffy refused to have Angelus roam Sunnydale for as long as he had the last time he was soulless. She knew so much more now. Buffy was a better Slayer than before. I defeated a Hell God for Christ's sake. I can take Angelus. I can defeat Angelus... again.

Magic Box

Opening the door first, Buffy entered the magic shop as Katie and Connor breezed past her to find a spot at the roundtable where Giles, Wesley, Fred, Willow, and Tara sat. Books laid spread across the tabletop.

Connor pulled out an empty chair and climbed onto it. He then pushed the old heavy books out of his way to make room. Giles stood from his chair and went to the teapot placed in the corner of the shop when Katie snatched his vacant seat. She scooted it against Connor's chair and frowned for a moment when she remembered something.

Katie ran back to Buffy taking the colouring book and crayon box from her hands. The seven-year-old rushed back to Connor and opened the colouring book.

"Buffy," Giles began watching Buffy set the tote bag on her shoulder aside, "how was last night? Did you happen to run into Angel?"

"That and more…" Buffy said reaching into the tote bag for two juice boxes. "I saw Angel, we fought, and then…" she briefly paused, "… he made an unwanted visit. He tried to," Buffy poked the straws into each juice box, "get an invite into the house."

Piecing together her jagged story, Giles slowly nodded, realizing Angelus had threatened the children. "And they're… safe?" He asked, glancing down at the children busy colouring.

"For the moment," Buffy crossed the short distance to the table and placed the juice boxes down in front of the kids. She turned her eyes to the research notes and open-faced books on the table. She took a moment to examine it when she asked, "Looks like I'm not the only one who had all the fun last night."

"Yes, well," Giles removed his glasses, "that would be selfish of you to keep 'all of the fun'." He tried a small smile then continued, "We've learned a lot last night—through trial and error of course."

"Yes, we did," Wesley spoke upholding a notebook in his hand. "For one, Mr Giles and I were completely off with the idea of Delothrian's Arrow. Foolish really…" the ex-Watcher shook his head at his own stupidity.

Buffy frowned, "Why? Why would that be foolish?" She looked around for a response.

"Because then that would mean Angel's soul is lost," Willow explained.

"And that would be the worst case scenario." Tara finished.

Tossing her eyes between the ex-Watcher's to the Wiccan's, Buffy still very unsure what all of this was leading up to. Personally, she wasn't sure if she could take any more stress than that already riddled her body. "So… what's next?" No one responded to her question. "Guys, I need answers." She stepped closer to the group not wanting her children to overhear the fear in her voice. "I can't have a homicidal maniac running around Sunnydale and threatening our kids… I need my husband back."

Willow stood from the chair and said, "Angel lost his soul the 'old-fashioned' way, right?"

Crossing her arms, Buffy nodded.

"Then that means, his soul is not misplaced."

"And?" Buffy tried to keep her voice even but her patience wore thin quickly.

Willow looked at Tara, "Well, Tara suggested the original curse—"

"—But it was Willow, who explained the curse to me." Tara bashfully smiled at her girlfriend.

"But you knew right away that the Ritual of Restoration was the only way to go." Willow grabbed Tara's hand with a soft smile, giving it a gentle squeeze.

"The Gypsy curse?" Buffy asked. "You wanna recurse him?"

Willow nodded, "Yes, but not just recurse him, we wanna bind his soul. But that would mean we'd have to rewrite the entire spell."

Releasing a heavy breath of frustration, Buffy's annoyance was brimming over the edge. "And are you able to?"

"We already did." The redhead smiled. "Fred," Willow pointed at the mousy dark-haired woman sitting next to the children ducked her head suddenly terrified of the aggravated Vampire Slayer, "happens to be a whizkid with the languages—I mean, really, Buffy she gave Giles a run for his money!" Willow's smile dropped noticing the tight-lipped frown adorned across Buffy's face. "Err—she know's Kalderash—or a very similar language to it, i.e, Romanian. And Fred was able to change a few words around in the spell. We can bind Angel's soul."

A weight lifted from Buffy's shoulders hearing the news but no one else standing around the table shared her relief. "What? What is it?"

Wesley said, "There is just… one problem." He told the Vampire Slayer carefully.

"And that is...?" The research group was silent unsure how to explain to Buffy the newest dilemma. The silence was suffocating, Buffy knew whatever it was, it was going to put a sharp stake straight through her relief.

"Oh my God," Cordelia sighed heavily also feeling the pressure of the silence. "Put on your running shoes and get to the point!"

Giles cleared his throat. "In order to complete the Ritual of Restoration, we need the Orb of Thesulah."

"We're a magic shop, do you have one in stock?" Xander asked.

"No, no I do not," Giles said, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "The last known Orb of Thesulah was destroyed."

Pursing her lips together, Buffy knew exactly where this conversation was heading. "Destroyed during the first time Angel's soul was restored."

"And unfortunately, that was the last known orb in existence."

"I already checked eBay," Anya announced from behind the counter. "But they were out of stock…" she stepped back around the counter suddenly afraid of the Slayer's sharp glare.

More than anything, Buffy wanted to punch something. Her eyes shifted from the Scoobie's to her children, happily colouring at the table. They were completely oblivious to the terrifying stress which held their father's lost humanity in the balance. Releasing a breath, Buffy calmed her nerves and looked at Giles. "So, what now? Are you telling we can't do the spell that would save my husband because we don't have that orb-thing? Really? You're honestly telling me Angel will not get his soul because of a glass orb? We are in a magic store is there anything—anything here that could work as a substitute?"

Afraid to let the Vampire Slayer down, the room was silent.

"Guys!" Buffy clenched her jaw and held her hands to her hips.

The children heads snapped up recognizing the anger in their mother's voice. For the first time, they noticed the thick tension in the room and the exasperated expression adorning Buffy's features.

"Temper, temper, Buffy."

Buffy whirled around to the back door which led to the supplies room basement to see Angelus leaning against the door frame with his arms crossed over his chest.

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