When Buffy arrived back at the mansion, she felt exhausted.
Fortunately, afternoon naps were accepted around here.
She poked her head into Angel's room, seeing him in bed. He smiled at her, still awake. "Taking your afternoon nap?" she teased.
"Well it's the middle of the day. It's not like I'm going anywhere."
Buffy closed the door behind her and walked over to the bed. "Can I join you?" She didn't wait for permission and climbed under the covers, snuggling next to him.
"You okay?"
"Yeah."
"How's your side? Did you change the dressing yet?"
"Yes, doctor. It's fine. It's already healing."
"How did your talk with Faith go?"
"Good. She said she'll help."
"You don't sound like you're happy about that."
"I am. I just feel bad about the way I treated her before. I'm surprised she was willing to talk to me. Surprised she even wanted to help me last night."
"I'm sure Faith understands she did a lot of things to hurt you and that it'll take some time to forgive."
"Can I really still blame her though? I mean, it's not like she can remember."
"I think she wants to make amends regardless."
"We were friends at one time. I'd like for us to be friends again."
"I'm sure you will," Angel said, kissing her forehead.
"I'm so tired." Buffy closed her eyes, resting her head on his chest.
"Then sleep," he whispered, closing his own eyes.
"One Orb of Thesulah!" Willow said, placing the orb on the counter in front of Tara.
"I thought you two had the one Adriana gave you," Anya said.
"Oh we do," Tara said. "But we thought in case we really did need a spare, we'd take this one too."
Willow brushed off a layer of dust from the orb with her fingertip. "I found it in the storage room. A little dusty. We haven't had to use it in a while."
Giles walked out from the back room and handed Anya a note. "Anya, I need you to make an order."
"Sure."
Giles turned to go back downstairs, but stopped when he saw a familiar object. "Why is the Orb of Thesulah here on the counter?"
"Oh, Willow and Tara are using it for—"
"Decoration!" Willow said, cutting Anya off. "They're kind of funky and unusual looking. And look, they make great paperweights!" Willow picked up the orb and placed it on a stack of papers. "See? Look at that. Those inventory sheets aren't going anywhere with this bad boy holding them down!"
Giles stared at Willow, a look of concern on his face. "Willow, are you feeling alright?"
"Me? Oh, I'm fine. Never better! Well, except for the impending doom of the apocalypse, that is."
Giles shook his head. "Alright. I'm going back downstairs."
When Giles left, Willow made a show of wiping a bead of sweat off her forehead. "Whew! Close call!"
Anya gave Willow a confused look. "I thought you were using it for Angel's spell."
"We are. I just didn't want Giles to know yet."
"Why can't Giles know again?" Tara asked.
"Oh you know how Giles is, Tara. If he found out we were doing a spell like this…"
"Right. He'd give us a lecture. He's already concerned about us doing the spell on Maleficus."
Willow cleared her throat, then took on a British accent to imitate Giles. "You girls really shouldn't be dabbling in those dark magicks. Those forces are extremely powerful as well as dangerous. There could be unforeseeable consequences!"
Tara laughed. "Willow, you're so bad!"
Willow shrugged. "I love Giles. I really do. He's just so easy to make fun of sometimes."
"So are you going to do the spell tonight?" Anya asked.
Willow picked up the orb and put it in her bag. "We'll probably wait until Buffy's injury heals. But we're going to tell them this afternoon!" she added with a smile.
"Wanna take a quiz?" Buffy asked, looking up at Angel with a smile. She was laying on the couch with her head in his lap and a magazine in her hands.
Angel looked away from his book, his brow furrowing. "Quiz?"
"'Is He Devoted To You? Take this quiz and find out now!'"
Angel laughed. "You don't need a quiz for that."
"I know. I just want to see if you can pass the test anyway."
Angel put down his book and smiled. "Okay. What's the first question?"
"Question one: How often does he tell you you're beautiful? A) At least once a day. B) Only when you're wearing something incredibly sexy, or nothing at all. Or C) Not often enough."
"Well of course the answer's 'A'. You know that."
Buffy smiled. "Question two: On your birthday, he…A) Treats you to a romantic night and gives you a thoughtful gift. B) Just gets you a card. Or C) Says he forgot."
"'A'. Definitely 'A'."
"Good answer. You're passing the test so far. Okay, question three: He tells you he loves you…A) All the time. B) Only when you say you love him first. Or C) He hasn't told you yet."
"I think all of my answers are going to be 'A'."
"Question four: You're sick in bed with the flu. Your man…A) Comes over and takes care of you. B) Offers to pick up your prescription from the pharmacy. Or C) Stays away…he doesn't want to get sick too."
"I'd have to say 'A' again."
"Okay, one more question. It's late at night, you can't sleep, and you're feeling lonely. You call your guy and he…A) Comes right over. B) Talks to you on the phone until you fall asleep. Or C) Says he's busy now and promises to see you later."
"Well, if you called me late at night, chances are I would actually be busy, so I guess I'd have to say 'C'."
Buffy sat up and glared at Angel. "'C'? But I'm lonely and I can't sleep!"
Angel laughed. "I'm kidding. Of course I'd come see you right away."
Buffy smiled. "I knew you were just kidding."
"No you didn't," he laughed. "How'd I do?"
"You passed with flying colors. I guess you really are devoted to me."
"Was there any doubt?"
She leaned forward and pressed her lips to his.
The front door opened, and the moment was interrupted.
"Oh good, you're both here!" Willow said, smiling.
"Good news, Will?" Buffy asked.
"Really good news," Willow said, fighting back to urge to squeal.
"You two have a few minutes?" Tara asked. "We have something pretty big to tell you."
"Wait, should we call a meeting?" Buffy asked.
Tara shook her head. "No. This really only concerns you two."
Buffy threw Tara a confused look. "What do you mean?"
Willow sat down on the coffee table, smiled at Tara, then turned to Angel and Buffy. "Okay, here's the thing. Tara and I have been working on a spell."
"Right, to thwart Maleficus," Angel said.
"No. I mean, yes, we've been working on that one too. But we've sort of been working on another as well." Willow took a deep breath and looked to Angel, feeling like she could absolutely burst with the news she was about to tell. "Angel, what would you say if there was a way we could make your soul permanent?"
"What?" Angel asked, not sure if he heard her right.
"Make his soul permanent?" Buffy looked from Willow to Tara. Willow had an almost giddy look on her face, and Tara was beaming. "Are you saying what I think you're saying?"
"No happiness clause," Willow said. "Tara and I can do a revised restoration spell."
"Is this what you two were working on the other day?" Buffy asked.
Willow nodded. "Yeah. So, Angel? What do you think?"
Angel was quiet for a moment, then spoke. "I'm sorry, Willow, but I don't think that's possible." Angel gently moved Buffy aside as he rose to his feet and walked over to his book collection.
"But, Angel, it is!"
Angel selected a book from his shelf, glancing at the worn cover. "Don't you think I've researched this already? You can find a lot of soul-binding spells in these books, but there's not one in here that would work. Not in my situation anyway." Angel placed the old book back on the shelf and stared at Buffy, seeing her eyes so full of hope. "I tried, Buffy. I tried to find a way. I had hoped these books would give me the answers, but all they seemed to give me were false promises."
Buffy stood up from the couch and walked over to him. "Why didn't you tell me any this before? I could have helped you research."
"I didn't want to get your hopes up. Besides, it doesn't matter anyway. I never found a spell that would work."
"No offense, Angel, but you're not a witch," Willow said, smiling. "Don't you think there's the possibility you overlooked something?"
"I just don't see how it could be so simple."
"But what if it is?" Willow stood up, walking over to him. "Look, I had my doubts as well, and I've researched those same spells too." Willow glanced at Buffy, seeing the surprise on her face. "I didn't want to tell you, Buffy. For the same reasons as Angel. I didn't want to get your hopes up. But now I understand why I couldn't find the answer before. You were cursed by gypsy magick, and that's a whole other ball game!"
"Tell them about Adriana," Tara said.
"We talked to this friend of Anya's, some girl she knew from her vengeance demon days, and she's a gypsy!"
"It was a gypsy who put the curse on me in the first place," Angel said, pondering aloud.
"Right. So who better to help us with gypsy magick than a gypsy herself?"
"So this gypsy helped you change his curse?" Buffy asked.
"Well, not exactly," Willow said. "Turns out the original curse itself can't actually be altered. So instead, she'd helped us create a brand new curse!"
Angel glanced at Buffy, the corner of his lip lifting in a smile, then turned back to Willow. "You really believe this will work?"
Willow nodded. "I do, Angel."
"And I wouldn't lose my soul, not even after…"
"You'll never have to worry about Angelus again. You could be as happy as you want and you and Buffy could be together…in every sense of the word."
For the first time since he'd given up his quest on a soul-binding spell, Angel felt hopeful. "And you're sure this will work?"
"Yes! It'll work! Okay, maybe we're 99% sure, but those are pretty good odds!"
"Oh my god," Buffy said, placing her hands over her mouth.
Willow smiled at her. "We were kind of hoping that would be your reaction."
Buffy threw her arms around Willow, hugging her tightly. "Willow, I love you!"
"Okay, I can't breathe!" Willow squeaked.
"Oh, sorry!" Buffy apologized, letting go. 'Tara, you too!" Buffy hugged Tara as well. "Thank you so much!"
"You're welcome."
Willow grinned. "It's times like these when I'm so glad I'm a witch."
"How exactly does this spell work?" Angel asked.
"The new curse acts like a lock," Tara said, trying to explain. "Think of it like this. We take Angelus, put him in a box, lock him up, and throw away the key. It's a permanent lock. In fact, the only thing that'll break the curse is if you stop loving Buffy."
Angel smiled. "Well there's no chance of that happening."
"We figured," Willow said, smiling. "Isn't that much better than a happiness clause?"
"And what do we have to do?" Buffy asked.
"Your part's easy," Willow said. "There's just one thing you have to do."
"What's that?"
"Well, the thing is, in order for the new curse to work, we have to remove the old curse first. Which would mean…"
"Angel and I would have to sleep together."
Angel's eyes grew wide, but he remained silent.
Willow nodded. "Yeah. I don't know of another way to make Angel lose his soul."
"Willow and I will be right there," Tara said. "And as soon as Angelus appears—"
"Wait, you're not going to be in the same room with us, are you?"
"What? No, of course not, Buffy!" Willow laughed.
"Okay, good. Because that would make this just a little more awkward than it already is."
"When Angelus appears, Willow and I will perform the spell."
"And afterwards, you'll be just fine." Willow smiled at Angel. "Complete with a soul and as much happiness as you can stand."
Buffy turned to Angel, grinning ear to ear. "What do you say, Angel? Do you want to make your soul permanent?"
"Absolutely not," Angel said defiantly.
A/N: Yes, I know.
You don't even have to tell me.
The chapter was going so well, and then I had to totally ruin the ending! But you had to know that once Angel realized he'd have to be Angelus again, he'd have some sort of problem with it. Notice how quiet he got towards the end there? Grr…stubborn Angel!
Until 52…(Ducking from objects hurled by angry readers…)
