Disclaimer: All characters and things from ANGEL and BUFFY belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy. If they aren't on the show they belong to me.

Summary: Angel and Spike get a chance to get back the people that meant the most to them after the battle against Wolfram and Hart. But can they keep the real past a secret from the only people they want to share it with? A/C S/B

CHAPTER 29

Spike followed Buffy back into Giles' house to see that Faith, Willow, Xander, and Giles were no longer sorting out all the weapons, rather they were packing them up into backpacks or arming themselves how they liked.

"So I guess we are getting ready to move out?" Spike asked.

Faith nodded, tossing Spike an axe and Buffy a sword. "We're taking everything we've got."

"I see that." Buffy noted that none of the weapons had been left on the floor. She looked up at Giles. "To the high school then?"

Giles nodded, taking a deep breath. "I'd say it's now or never."

"And never isn't an option, right?" Willow asked, trying not to sound as scared as she was.

"You'll be fine, Wil." Xander wrapped an arm around the redhead like a protective older brother would do. "Right?" He looked at the rest of the group.

"We've been through worse, I think." Buffy said, opening the front door and leading the rest of the group out onto the street.

"The schools close to here, right?" Faith asked Giles.

Giles nodded. "Three blocks to the right."

"Sounds like a plan." Faith cracked her knuckles as the group began walking up the street toward Sunnydale High. "So, once we get into the school, do we have a game plan?"

"Well, we find the source of all of the activity." Giles said. "And that is where we will need to close up the gap, so to speak."

"And how are we going to find that source?" Buffy asked.

Giles looked over at Spike. "Spike, your vampire smelling, do you still have it?"

Spike took a whiff of the air and nodded. "To the best of my knowledge."

"So Spike is going to lead us to it?" Xander raised an eyebrow. "Like an attack dog?"

"Bloody right." Spike seemed offended by Xander's comparison between him and dog. "And if you don't watch it I'll take a nice bite out of you."

Xander smirked. "You lost your K-9's there, remember?" Xander referred to Spike's vampire fangs.

"Okay, not important." Buffy said as they approached the front of the school. "What is important is how we are going to close this thing once we find it?" She looked to Giles for an answer.

Giles held up a book he had carried along with him. "There is a spell of some sort in the Watcher's Diary. Wesley and I spoke about it, and decided it was probably the best way to close up the rips in time."

"So they are using the same spell in L.A.?" Faith asked.

Giles nodded.

"Alright." Buffy clapped her hands together, satisfied with Giles' answer to Faith's question. "Let's get this show on the road." And with that she led Spike, Faith, Giles, Willow, and Xander into Sunnydale High School, all of them knowing there was a chance they would never walk back out the way they had came in.

Angel pulled her convertible down the street right before Wolfram and Hart. Somehow he had managed to fit himself, Cordelia, Connor, Wesley, Gunn, Fred, and Lorne in his car as well, which amazed him. He turned the car off. They would have to walk from here.

"We can't drive any closer." Angel said. "Unless we want to piss from creatures off. We will have to walk from here."

"I'm down with that." Gunn shrugged. "It's only a block."

"Yeah, well once this is over, we are running back here like hell, understood." Angel said. "I don't know what's going to happen in the alleyway. If things get bad and you can get back here just do it. Run like hell."

Gunn smiled. "Well, assuming we all live, and make it back here, then what?"

"What do you mean?" Angel asked, looking over at Cordelia who shrugged, unsure of what Gunn meant too.

"I mean do we come back and just all make our way back to the hotel to our non existing business?" Gunn asked. "I mean, closing up the only way the bad bumps in the night get into our reality could seriously hurt our business."

"True." Fred nodded. "And what about Lorne?"

"What about me?" Lorne raised an eyebrow at Fred.

"You're a demon." Fred pointed out. "So what happens to you?"

Lorne looked around the car for an answer to Fred's valid question.

"Lorne is not evil." Wesley rationalized. "He works for the powers. They won't let any harm come to him. There is nothing against good demons; we are only trying to stop the evil ones from coming into this reality. I would even go as far as to assume that without Lorne and other demons like him the balance of this world would be thrown off. We rely on them."

"Makes sense." Connor said. He was exactly like Angel used to be back in Sunnydale, Cordelia realized. Connor's statements were always short and direct to the point.

Lorne nodded, in relief. "Yeah it does."

"Well, anyway." Angel started up. "Me and Cordy were thinking about what to do after this, and we thought maybe we could turn the hotel into like a real hotel."

"And let other people come in and stay?" Fred asked.

Angel nodded, wrapping his hand into Cordelia's. "Of coarse we would keep rooms for ourselves."

"All of us?" Gunn asked, surprised.

"If you guys want." Cordelia told Gunn. "We're family. Why wouldn't you guys stay?"

"Well, I didn't know if you two were going to keep the place or not." Gunn said.

"Of coarse we are." Cordelia said, looking at Angel with a small smile. "Too many good memories in there to just give that place up. Plus, there's more then enough room there for kids to run around. It's a good place to grow up, I think."

"Kids?" Lorne smiled at Angel who blushed.

"Already?" Fred looked at Cordelia. "Cordy are you…"

Cordelia smiled. "No Fred. I am not pregnant. Not yet anyway."

"Yet?" Gunn nudged Angel.

"One thing at a time here." Angel tried to recover from his blush-fest. "Right now we've got demons to deal with."

Connor nodded, jumping out of his father's car. "We've got to get moving."

"Yeah." Angel agreed as the rest of the group followed Connor out of the car. "Stay tight, and Wes, you're working the mojo right?"

Wesley nodded.

"Okay, good." Angel said. "Everyone stay safe."

Everyone nodded, passing glances between themselves as the followed Angel toward the end of the street and toward the alleyway behind Wolfram and Hart that contained the rip in the reality which they were looking for.

Buffy, Faith, Spike, Giles, Xander, and Willow moved together silently through the dark, familiar, halls of Sunnydale High School. They were all waiting on Spike's cue to lead them in the direction they needed to go, but so far the ex-vampire had been no help.

"Maybe we should turn a light on." Faith broke the silence that hung amongst the group. "It couldn't hurt."

"Won't help me figure out where to go." Spike said. "I need to go off my senses."

"Well, they have been loads of help so far." Xander said sarcastically.

"I'm trying here." Spike defended himself.

"Do you sense anything?" Buffy asked him.

Spike shrugged. "Maybe. I…"

Spike was interrupted by a loud banging noise coming from the end of the hall.

"What was what?" Willow asked, as the banging grew louder.

"I don't think we need vampire senses to tell that's probably a sign." Faith looked at Spike and then Buffy.

Buffy nodded, moving swiftly down the hall, with the rest of the group following her. The banging grew louder, and then suddenly stopped, causing Buffy to stop as well and stare up at the door which the banging had just been coming from.

"The library." Buffy said simply, the door in front of her extremely familiar to her. She turned back to Giles. "The rip in reality is in the library?"

"It can't be." Giles seemed shocked. "I would have noticed. I sat in their every single day. I would have known. I couldn't have missed it."

"Sure you could have." Willow said. "You wouldn't have even been looking, not before your memory was brought back anyway."

"Point for Willow." Xander said. "I say we go in there." He pointed to the library.

"Me too." Faith said, moving past Buffy and busting open the library doors to find the room empty and dark. "Well, there's no one in here." She turned back to the group. "Are we sure the banging was coming from in here?"

Before anyone could answer Faith a vampire dropped from the ceiling onto the dark-haired slayer's back. Faith quickly gained her footing, pulling the vampire over her shoulder and slamming him onto the floor where she proceeded to stake him.

"Well, I would say that was a bloody sign that we should start looking here." Spike said, flicking on the lights.

"Yeah." Buffy nodded. "But what are we looking for? I mean what does a rip in reality look like?"

"We could ask." Faith said.

"Ask who?" Xander said sarcastically. There was no one in the room besides them to ask.

"Them." Faith pointed up to the bookshelves on the upper level.

"The books?" Willow asked.

"Behind the books." Faith said.

Suddenly, and without warning, vampires seemed to swarm out of ever corner and crevice of the room, completely surrounding Buffy, Faith, Spike, Xander, Willow, and Giles, who were now directly in the middle of the library, passing glanced to each other. They knew it was going to be a long night.

Angel, Cordelia, Connor, Wesley, Fred, Gunn, and Lorne moved up the street which Angel's car was parked and down toward the alley behind Wolfram and Hart. The same alley which Angel, Gunn, Spike, and Illyria had lost their lives in during the final battle in the old reality.

As they moved closer to the alley, a chill made its way down Angel's spin, the scenario eerily familiar to the first time he had lost his life. The chill made him visibly shiver, catching Cordelia's attention.

"Are you okay?" Cordelia asked, gently laying her hand on Angel's back.

"Huh?" Angel turned, looking at Cordelia. The minute he saw her, the chill was gone. This was not like the last time. The last time he had fought in this alley she was already gone, now she was by his side. He had his guardian angel with him, he realized. There was no way he would fall this time. "Yeah. I am fine." He took her hand, giving it a little squeeze and causing her to give a small smile in return.

"Okay." Cordelia's smile was tight and short-lived. She was nervous.

Angel could not look at her any longer. He hated to know he had put her in a situation she was not completely comfortable in. Instead, he looked back at the rest of Angel Investigations. "Everybody ready?"

Momentary looks were tossed among the group behind Angel and Cordelia. Then Gunn spoke up.

"As ready as we will be." Gunn said, and then added, trying to lighten the mood. "Its not every day you get to go back to the place where you were killed, right?" He looked at Angel.

Angel nodded at Gunn, understanding Gunn was masking his own fear with his joke. He then turned to everyone else. "We'll move swiftly. Wesley, this is mostly on you."

Wesley understood. "I'll work as quickly as I can."

"Alright." Angel took a deep breath. "Let's move."

Cordelia, Connor, Wesley, Gunn, Fred, and Lorne fell into step behind Angel as the ex-vampire turned the corner and found himself in the same alleyway Cordelia's vision had led him to. The vampire and demons were swarming at the end of it. They seemed to be protecting an intense glow that was coming from behind them in the shape of a circle. Angel assumed that it was the rip in time, which he and the rest of the Fang Gang had come to close up. He raised his sword, the same as he had before he died in the past reality, and recited the same words. "Let's go to work."

Buffy, Spike, Faith, Willow, Xander, and Giles all backed into each other, as the vampires seemed to circle around the group. The scoobies were shoulder to shoulder before they realized they were in for it.

"So, do we have a plan here?" Faith asked.

"Yeah." Buffy said. "Me, you, and Spike distract them. Willow, Xander, and Giles work the mojo and get the opening closed."

"And where would that opening be exactly?" Xander asked.

Just then a huge spark flew across the room from behind the bookshelves.

"I'd say up there." Buffy motioned toward the bookshelves.

"Good idea." Willow sounded nervous. "So how do we get up there?"

Giles then pulled a small vial out of his pocket, launching it onto the group in front of him, and causing the vampires to jump back, some who had been hit by the liquid when the vial had cracked open began to smoke at the feet. Giles turned back to the group. "Holy water." He explained.

"Bloody brilliant." Spike grinned at Giles. "Now go close that damn thing up."

Giles nodded as he, Xander, and Willow moved toward the bookshelves while Buffy, Faith, and Spike began to fend the vampires off.

Two or three vampires at a time were throwing themselves at Buffy, Spike, and Faith, but they held their own. It was as if all three had been dying to see this much action in one night. The vampires could not come at them fast enough, and the amount of dust on the floor just kept increasing.

"Bloody amazing." Spike said, giving one vampire a good kick to the chest. "I am actually enjoying this."

"I hear ya." Faith agreed.

Spike and Faith were so wrapped up in the action that neither of them saw what Buffy did. The blonde slayer could not believe her eyes. She watched in horror as Giles, Willow, and Xander, near the bookshelf did not realize that as they were trying to close up the rip, more vampires were spilling out, and one had planted itself right behind Willow.

Buffy reacted as quickly as she could. "Willow!" She shouted.

Willow looked at Buffy, but it was too late, the vampire had grabbed the redhead from behind. "Buffy!" Willow screamed in the vampire's grasp.

Buffy tried to move toward her friend, but the crowd of vampires seemed to close around her. "Xander! Help Willow! Giles, don't stop! Keep the spell going!"

Giles did as he was told, continuing to recite the Latin from the book in front of him, and Xander did as he was told, moving toward the vampire who was holding Willow. But Xander was no match for the undead creature, who tossed him aside in a second flat, and that's when Buffy realized that the look on Willow's face was one of pure horror.

The vampire moved Willow's red hair away from her neck, and Willow let a single tear fall, her eyes never leaving Buffy's.

"Willow!" Buffy shouted to her friend again. "Fight back! You know how to!"

"I'm ready for this." Was Willow's response. "I miss Tara." And with that final comment the vampire sunk its teeth into the red head's neck, and drained the life out of her, as Willow stood still, allowing the creature of the night to finish what it had started before anyone could get to her to save her.

Angel, Connor, and Gunn stood on the front line, fending off the oncoming vampires and demons that seemed to sense what the Fang Gang was trying to do and wanted to make sure it didn't happen. Cordelia, Fred, and Lorne stood in a circle around Wesley with their swords held high, ready to face any demons or vampires that broke the line of Angel, Connor, and Gunn, while Wesley began reciting the spell that he and Giles decided would close up the rip.

"How we doing back there?" Angel asked over his shoulder to the group behind him as he effortlessly swung his sword, taking two demons down.

Cordelia looked over at Wesley who was busy reciting some words in Latin. She then turned back to Angel. "I think he's doing good."

"How much longer?" Connor asked, wiping blood from the corner of his eye as he prepared for another wave of vampires. He was getting tired.

"He's going as fast as he can." Fred defended Wesley.

"Yeah, well…these vamps and demons are coming as fast as they can." Gunn said, noticing more demons and vampires up ahead.

"He's going, he's going." Lorne encouraged Wesley. "Aren't you?"

Wesley continued reading, ignoring Lorne's comment.

"See?" Lorne said. "He's a busy little beaver…"

Suddenly Wesley stopped reading, looking up, his eyes huge and fearful.

"Why did he stop reading?" Angel was the first to notice, his vampire hearing still a huge part of his remaining senses. "Wesley?"

Angel's words caused Cordelia, Fred, and Lorne to look at Wesley, all seeing he was scared.

"Wes?" Cordelia asked her old friend.

Wesley shook his head. "This can't be…" He sat down on a crate behind him.

"What is it?" Fred asked, kneeling in front of him.

"What's wrong?" Angel called over his shoulder as he, Connor, and Gunn continued to fend off the oncoming demons.

"This spell." Wesley looked up at Cordelia, Lorne, and Fred. "What it calls for…it can't be possible."

"What does it say, Wes?" Cordelia knelt next to Fred, taking Wesley's hand in her own. He was one of her oldest and dearest friends, and she knew something was terrible wrong by the tone of his voice alone.

Wesley only shook his head.

"What is it, Cordelia?" Angel asked, gritting his teeth as his sword collide with a demon's claw.

"Yeah, because we don't got time for him to take a break!" Gunn shouted over all the commotion the vampires and demons were making. He was growing tired as the toll of the fight bore down on him.

"Wesley?" Lorne snapped his green finger in front of the Englishman. "Snap out of it."

"Lorne…" Cordelia pushed Lorne's hand down, giving him a warning glare.

Lorne immediately retracted his hand.

"Wesley? Talk to us." Fred pleaded.

"What does the spell say?" Angel asked, as he and Connor took down a large demon that had managed its way to the front of the pack.

Wesley looked up, his glance passing between Fred, Cordelia, Lorne, and the book in front of him. "It…uh…it says the only way to close the rip is to…well you need to throw a fighter through it. The fighter will close this reality to the last, and be stuck in that one for eternity."

"A fighter?" Cordelia asked, her panic setting in as she immediately thought of the only fighter she knew-Angel.

"Roughly translated…yes." Wesley said sadly.

"A fighter?" Angel called over, his vampire hearing still so well.

"What?" Connor and Gunn asked at the same time.

Angel looked at Connor and Gunn, as he continued to fight off vampires. "The only way to close it up is to throw a fighter through it."

"Oh…" Connor looked back at Cordelia and then to his father. "Not good."

Angel shook his head, agreeing with Connor as he fought off another demon. What Wesley had said was not good, not if a fighter for the Powers That Be was the one who had to be sent through the rip to the old reality, but Angel had other plans.

Buffy felt her knees go numb as the vampire by the bookshelves let Willow's limp body fall to the floor. The slayer could not move, could not react. Her best friend was dead. Xander however, managed to get to his feet and do the only thing that felt right, he staked the vampire who had killed Willow.

"B! Watch your back!" Faith's voice broke the trance Buffy had found herself in.

Buffy turned to find a vampire throwing its body at her, and tackling her to the ground before she could react. The next thing Buffy knew, however, the vampire on top of her had turned to dust, and Spike was standing over her, offering her his hand.

"Get up." Spike said simply.

"Willow…" Was all Buffy managed out.

Spike nodded. "I know. I saw. But get up. Fight for her now."

Spike's words were simple enough, but they struck a cord in Buffy, and sent the blonde slayer to her feet. She then managed to help Faith take out the remaining five vampires that were in the library. They were all safe for the time being.

Buffy, Spike, and Faith quickly moved toward the bookshelves were Giles continued to read the Latin out of the book, and Xander sat over Willow's body, trying his best to wipe up his tears before they rolled down his cheeks.

Buffy threw herself around Xander's shoulders without saying a word and they both sat over the red head's body.

"Buf…" Spike finally spoke up from his spot next to Giles and Faith. "This is what she wanted."

"What?" Buffy was shocked by Spike's comment.

"He's right, B." Faith jumped in. "Willow wanted this."

"To die?" Xander asked, appalled. "She wanted to die?" Suddenly Xander's facial expression changed as reality hit him. "She wanted to die."

"What?" Buffy asked, confused.

"She wanted to be with Tara." Xander said. "That's all she wanted."

"And now she got it." Spike added.

Buffy thought for a moment. Spike was right. This was what Willow had wanted.

"What?" Faith again broke Buffy's train of thought.

"I didn't say anything." Buffy looked up at the other slayer.

"Not you. Giles." Faith pointed to the ex-watcher. "He stopped reading."

Buffy noticed now that Giles had stopped reading. She stood, leaving Xander to sit on the floor next to Willow by himself. "Giles? What is it?"

"We can't stop this." Giles said.

"What? Why the hell not?" Spike asked.

"Not unless we have a fighter to jump through and close the rip for good." Giles shook his head. "That's what the spell calls for and that is not something we have."

Glances were passed amongst the group. If anything, that was exactly what they had. Buffy, Spike, and Faith. All three could jump if needed; all three were fighters, if that was what the spell called for.