...
Angel was reading the report in his hand over and over and over, each time hoping by some miracle he'd discover he'd read it wrong the first six times.
Breaking his dark eyes off the page, he looked up at the slayer standing before him. "Are you sure?"
Marie nodded, "I'm sorry Sir, Angel, but Willow and her team tested the entire scene 5 times, Jessica was killed by a...by a slayer."
Hearing what was written in the pages in his hand didn't help him swallow the sickening taste of it any better.
"Damn it!" He snapped out, slammed his hand on the desk in frustration.
Marie jumped back, feeling the demon within the man across from her raging along with the human.
When Angel noticed her uncomfortable and guarded stance, he apologized. "I'm sorry Marie." He shook his head and ran a hand over his eyes, "I just can't believe this. We train these girls to keep them safe, not so they can kill each other!"
The young woman nodded, "Trust me, I live with these girls, and I can't believe it either. I know there are fights and sometimes emotions get heated, but murder?"
"I know this is going to sound harsh Marie, but I need you to do something for me." Angel asked quietly.
"Yes?" The slayer questioned, hoping to do anything that could lead to Jessica's murderer.
Angel looked down at the floor a moment before meeting her young eyes, "Don't tell anyone about this."
"What?" She blurted out, "But one of them..."
Angel stood and clamped his hand quickly over her mouth, "Exactly. We have no leads, thus anything said will only spread panic and allow the murderer to cover their tracks. No one outside the lab techs and us can know about this."
"And Buffy." Marie suggested once he removed his hand.
Angel eyes widened, "No!" He snapped out, "Buffy is the absolute late person to hear about this, do you understand me?"
Marie stepped back a little in surprise, Angel and Buffy usually shared all their information. "Why not?" She asked confused, "She's, well you know, Queen Slayer, and your wife."
Angel sighed and began to pace behind his desk, "I'm well aware of both of those points, but the fact is Buffy isn't going to take this news lightly, and before she finds out I want to know who and why."
"You know she's going to be furious we kept her out of the loop." The young woman reminded him.
Angel kept the cringe off his face, "I know, but let me worry about that."
He really wanted to tell Buffy, not only because he promised to talk to her but because he honestly valued her opinion. She was one of the most fair people he knew when it came to making difficult decisions. However, he also knew finding out a slayer murdered Jessica would ruin her. After everything that happen with Faith and her brief stroll with the dark-side, Buffy took the concept of 'dark slayers' very personally. He had no doubt in his mind Buffy would blame herself, and he wasn't going to serve that tray of guilt to her on a silver platter.
He knew he'd likely get kicked to the curb for keeping this a secret from her, but he'd rather have her anger than tears any day.
...
In the morning, Buffy was sipping her coffee and watching Angel out of the corner of her eye. She knew there was something he wasn't telling her, her 'Brood alert' was flashing every time her husband walked by, even if his face didn't betray his feelings, she saw the proof of it in his eyes every time.
He'd been overly quiet last night and seemed distracted. She'd thought for sure they'd be intimate after their little romp in the training room that day with Faith and Spike, but his mind seemed to have forgotten his earlier lust. A few times she'd caught him staring off into nothing and when she'd asked him about it, he dismissed it completely. Buffy had decided to let him tell her on his own what was bugging him, but this morning he seemed worse rather than better.
"Hey." She spoke up from the couch as he was passing by her to get his sketchpad off the coffee table. "Come sit with me?"
"I will in a bit, just need to sketch this before I forget." His tone was light enough and he'd spoken with a smile, but Buffy saw the denial for what it was. He was avoiding her.
He'd been on his phone a lot yesterday and today too, sneaking off so she wouldn't overhear. That wasn't like him, and the secrecy was bugging her to no end.
'Ok, so totally confronting him tonight.' She told herself, not willing to stand idle as he slunk around and dealt with something that was obviously bothering him deeply. It was less than a month ago Stacy and Amanda died fighting side-by-side with him, she was afraid Jessica's death was stirring that pot of guilt and in return he was withdrawing again.
Determined to get to the bottom of his mood shift, she followed him into the kitchen. Unfortunately, before she could question her spouse, their son decided cereal was more appealing outside the bowl. With a sigh, she grabbed a cloth to clean the milk and soggy Cheerios off the floor while Angel took the boy upstairs for a bath.
...
Marcy stood in the center of the room, looking over at the other students. "Ok class, today we are going to practice flips and spins, line up by the pull-up bars along the wall and make sure your hands are well dusted."
The other young ladies in the room stood staring at her, none made a move to follow her orders. One girl stepped forward, "Um, what are you doing?"
"Leading my class." Marcy answered as if it were the most obvious answer in the world.
"This isn't your class, it's Buffy's." The girl shot back, annoyed that a lower level student was acting like the teacher.
Marcy smiled, "I am Buffy."
The other girls looked back at her with a mix of confusion and pity, a few even in humor.
Buffy walked into the training room then, looking over at the girls and at Marcy. Her cheeks tinted slightly as she remembered Marcy witnessed her little playful turned foreplay scene with Angel yesterday.
"Glad you could make it Marcy, now please get in line with the others." Marcy said to Buffy as if she were in charge.
"Huh?" The true blond slayer questioned at the bizarre order. Buffy cast her hazel-green eyes at the other students and one made a crazy swirl around her temple and pointed to Marcy.
"I said get in line Marcy or you be asked to leave the class." Marcy repeated, looking as stern and serious as possible.
"Ok, I think we some identity problems cropping up, I'm Buffy, you are Marcy." Buffy tried to explain, both weird-ed out and annoyed. She had enough on her mind worrying about what was bothering Angel, never mind dealing with a role playing slayer.
"Please leave Marcy, I have a class to run and I don't have time for mind games." Marcy dismissed as she walked over to the bucket on the floor they kept the hand powder in to reduce friction on the pull-up bars.
The eldest slayer didn't know what to do, the younger woman was obvious suffering from some sort of mental breakdown. 'Oh I really hope this has nothing to do with what she saw last night.'
Taking a deep breath, Buffy walked towards Marcy, "Ok, why don't we take a walk to the Med-Ward..."
Marcy didn't let her finish, she grabbed a handful of powder and hurled it at the older slayer, sending a plume of white into her face and effectively blinding her for a few seconds.
Buffy scrambled back, suddenly her world was plunged into darkness and she was coughing intensely to get the dust out of her lungs.
During the commotion, Marcy ran from the room, grinning that her plan was so far going perfectly. Only a few more minutes and she would have everything lined up.
...
Angel was just finishing his second and last class of the day as Marcy slammed the door open and ran at him.
"Marcy, what...?" His question was cut short as she slammed into him and hugged him tight, "Oh thank god you're ok, I thought she was going to hurt you!"
He looked down flabbergasted at the girl attached to his chest, then tried to pry her off, "Marcy, what the hell are you doing and what are you talking about?"
The other girls in the class were watching with the same mix of emotions as Buffy's class had been.
"Angel, she wanted to kill you!" Marcy spoke to him like a concerned wife, "and why are you pulling away from me, you're my husband."
"I'm Buffy's husband." He answered back defensively, pulling her hands off him.
"But I am Buffy." The false blond professed up at him.
He looked back at her if she'd just said Spike was her mother. "Ah huh." He answered, fearing the poor girl had lost her marbles.
He turned to his class, "Ladies, can you excuse us, and Jenny, call the Med-Ward and security on the way out."
Marcy looked up at him, "You believe me right Angel, I love you and you love me, so I know you have to believe me."
"Of course, Buffy." He said just to keep her calm while he waited for security to come.
Marcy took a step back from him, "You don't believe me!"
Marie ran into the room, "Angel, Sir! Marcy Gibbson just went nuts and attacked Buf...oh, she's in here." She stopped short and looked back the the girl in question with a mix of embarrassment and apprehension.
Angel's attention shot back to Marie, "She attacked Buffy? Where is she? Is she OK?"
Marcy yelled up at Angel, "I am Buffy!"
Both ignoring Marcy, "Buffy's fine Sir, just some dust in the face." Marie informed the living vampire of his wife's condition.
Angel turned back to Marcy, grabbing her wrist in a iron grip, furious but trying hard to be civil, "Marcy, you obviously need help."
"No I don't, I'm Buffy!" She yelled as she lunged at Angel.
Just then the slayer security team armed with tranquilizer guns entered the room, Angel grabbed Marcy's upper arms and held her back as two of the girls rushed forwards and grabbed hold of her.
Marcy screamed and flailed her arms as she tried to break free of the tight grips of the other slayers pulling her back off of Angel, "I'm Buffy!" She yelled over and over as she was dragged away. "I'm Buffy!"
...
Marcy grinned to herself as she was being led down to the cells outside the Med-Ward, everything was perfect. Under her breath, she read the spell she'd studied all night, repeating it over and over quietly to herself, waiting for the transfer to take effect.
As the iron cell door opened, Marcy screamed and yanked away from her captors, grabbing the stone she'd hidden along the wall earlier and whispered the last few words of the incantation. The rock glowed than vanished and Marcy grinned knowing what she desired would soon be hers.
...
"I'm fine Cass." Buffy huffed as the MD examined her breathing with a stethoscope.
"You're opinion is noted, now take a deep breath so I can check if your lungs agree." Cassidy ordered, listening intently for any signs of dust in the slayers chest.
Buffy rolled her eyes but complied, now understanding how annoyed Angel got when being subject to this torture.
After a few seconds, Cass pulled the buds out of her ears, "Ok, sounds clear. I officially declare you fit for duty."
"Goodie." Buffy yipped and jumped down off the exam table, the last place she wanted to be was in here when Angel eventually heard what happened and went all over protective on her. On that thought, she pulled her cell out of her pocket and hit the speed dial for his cell number.
Half a ring later he answered, "Buffy are you OK? Where are you?"
She smiled to herself, knowing those would be his first two questions. "I'm fine and I'm heading up to check on the kids, where are you?"
The line was silent a moment before he replied, "Looking for you."
"I figured as much, but I'm sure you forgot you have an appointment for 1:30pm, you need to leave now to make it on time." She pointed out, knowing he wasn't going to go before he heard from her.
"I'll cancel." He replied immediately.
"You will not cancel, you've been on a waiting list for three months, you're going." Buffy argued back to her stubborn spouse.
His side of the line was quiet again.
"Angel, you'll be home in a few hours, just go, OK. I'm fine, I promise. Marcy just threw some training powder at me, Cass already released me."
"You're in the Med-Ward?" He demanded.
'Oh gees.' She shook her head, "I was coughing from the dust, it was just a precaution."
"Are you sure you're alright?" He replied, but it was louder outside the phone.
Buffy clicked the cell off and turned to see Angel leaning against the door behind her, his dark eyes thick with worry.
"Perfect now." She smiled and walked the few steps to his open arms.
He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, "What happened?"
Leaning against him, she explained what transpired a half hour ago then listened about his own encounter with Marcy.
"I wonder what made her snap?" Buffy sighed, feeling depressed another slayer was having problems.
"I don't know, she seemed fine a few days ago, a little distracted maybe, but not...crazy." Angel replied, shaking his head, at a loss. It was bad enough they had a murderer on the loose, now slayers were going nut too?
"You're going to be late." She told him, looking up at him with those soul piercing eyes of hers.
"Sure you want me to go?" He asked again, giving her every opportunity to say no.
She shook her head, "Go. Now. Before I throw you out the door."
He grinned at her, "I'll be back in a few hours."
"Ok, I'll see you then." She leaned up and planted a goodbye kiss on his lips.
He returned the kiss and added another for good measure.
"Go." She shooed him off before he was more late, there would already be more speeding than she was comfortable with involved for him to arrive on time for his appointment.
After he finally left, Buffy stood in the basement for a few moments thinking about Marcy. Something made her want to go see the girl, maybe to try and figure out what was wrong with her. Making up her mind, she heading to the containment cells.
...
Marcy was waiting patiently for the spell to take effect, it wouldn't be long now.
As she paced her small cell, she heard the outer cell block door click open and some words exchanged.
Her heart jumped in her chest as she watched Buffy walking alone down the corridor towards her.
The older slayer walked up just out of reach of the bars and looking in on the younger woman.
Marcy smiled at her and spoke a few words, "Dictum factum" (What is said, is done)
Buffy looked back at her and for some reason felt the impulse to repeat the words, "Dictum factum?"
As the words left her tongue, both woman dropped to the ground.
...
Slowly, Buffy opened her eyes and looked up at the cement ceiling, her brain feeling fuzzy. "Huh? What happened?" She mumbled as she sat up, rubbing the bump on the back of her head.
"It worked!" She heard someone say enthusiastically. "Ha! It really worked!"
Buffy turned to the very familiar sounding voice and wasn't prepared to see herself looking back at her.
Marcy jumped up and down in excitement as she moved around in Buffy's body, knowing everything would go as planned now and she and Angel would finally get to be together. Marcy instantly loved this body, it was strong and well toned, with it, she would have Buffy's reputation and friends and life. Best of all, she would have Angel.
Buffy looked back at herself in horror, "No, Marcy you can't do this!" The slayer shot to her feet but was now contained behind the iron bars of the cell Marcy had been locked in.
"I already did." The other slayer grinned as she eagerly headed towards the exit. "Later Marcy!"
"Marcy!" Buffy yelled at her retreating back.
When Marcy reached the guards waiting by the outer door, she told them, "Marcy's getting violent and the delusions are getting worse, I think you should keep her sedated from now on."
The slayers on guard duty nodded and headed out back to check on the prisoner as Marcy walked Buffy's body right out the door and into the hall.
Buffy was screaming after Marcy when the guards came in. "Oh thank God, Marcy performed a spell on me, I'm actually Buffy. You need to go after her and get my body back."
"Of course you are." One of them nodded as she lifted her tranquilizer gun.
"No!" The body snatched slayer yelled and the dart shot into her arm.
Tiredness washed over her, "But...I'm...Buffy." She said one more time before she dropped to the cell floor.
Cassidy was called in a few minutes later and installed an IV into the prisoner's arm to keep her sedated.
...
Marcy walked excitedly though the halls, never before having used the elevator to the upper levels. She was practically bouncing at the thought of being in Angel's arms in just a few minutes. Eagerly, she entered the elevator and hit the number for the office suites.
A few seconds later she was floating down the hall and looking for Angel's office. When she reached it, she knocked then opened it, figuring that was what Buffy would do.
It was empty.
A frown slid over her lips, 'Hey, where is he?'
Heading over to the desk, she looked at his calendar but couldn't find anything penciled in for now, his last class already ended and he wouldn't have left without Buffy.
Dejected, she exited his office and move to the one next door, Buffy's office, well hers now. With a grin she opened the door and slipped inside. She wasted a few minutes looking around at the pictures on the walls and at various papers scattered on the desk before losing interest. She wanted to find Angel.
Exiting the room she heard someone calling Mommy.
Suddenly she had something grabbing her legs. "What the hell?"
"Mommy?" Katie asked, looking up at the face of her mother.
"Ah, yeah, hi kid." Marcy replied, not wanting to deal with the little vermin for even a second.
"Hey Buffy, I heard about Marcy. Are you alright?" Dawn asked worried to her sister as she came to stand beside her, Liam reaching out for his mother from his aunt's arms.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Marcy replied quickly, not wanting to take the toddler. "Can you watch them, I got a thing I have to do." She asked, hoping the girl would keep the little brats since she wanted no part of them.
Dawn nodded slowly, "Um, yeah. I can watch them a little longer I guess. Are you sure you're ok?"
"I'm perfect, I just need to find Angel. Do you know where he is?" She asked hoping Buffy's sister would know.
The former key shook her head, "Sorry, I haven't seen him since this morning."
"Ok thanks anyways." She muttered before heading back towards the elevator.
Katie and Liam watched their mother disappear without even speaking to them with hot tears in their eyes.
"Hey, it's alright." Dawn soothed the toddlers as she brought them into the nursery room to play, "Your mommy just had a lot on her mind right now." She told them, not really believing it herself. Something wasn't right about Buffy, granted when she didn't know where Angel was she sometime got a bit eccentric.
"That wasn't mommy." Katie muttered under her breath to her doll.
...
Marcy spent an hour trying to figure out where the heck Angel disappeared to.
Finally she discovered from the woman at the front desk he wasn't in the building, he'd driven off someplace over an hour ago.
With a sigh, she told the woman to call her office the moment he came back.
Careful to avoid Dawn the the little brats, she snuck back upstairs into her office and locked the door.
Forever seemed to have crawled by, Marcy was bored yo death and paging though a demon textbook when her phone rang.
"Buffy." she remembered to say as she answered.
The receptionist on the other end informed her Angel had returned and was heading up to his office.
"Great, thanks!" She cheered and hung up.
Pausing at the mirror on the wall, she decided to freshen up a little before the big reveal to her love.
She spent a few minutes in the joined bathroom brushing her teeth and adding a little make-up.
Looking at her new reflection again, she smiled her new smile and went to greet her husband.
...
Marcy slipped into his office, her heart thumping in anticipation.
Finally, Angel was here and she was alone with him.
He looked up at her as she entered and flashed her a quick smile. "Hey."
"I've been looking all over for you my handsome husband." She countered, a little mad she'd been unable to locate him for so long.
He looked up again from the paperwork on his desk, his dark eyebrows drawn down, "What do you mean, you know where I was."
Marcy had no idea what he'd said to Buffy, but didn't care. "Oh, well it must have slipped my mind." She shrugged, "But now that you're back..."
She'd closed the distance between them as she'd spoken, and was now right up to him, ready to have those amazing lips all to herself.
Angel had an uneasy feeling as Buffy came closer, which was unusual. He'd told himself he was just tired from the action today and eagerly accepted the kiss she was offering.
He felt those familiar lips pressing against him, the same touch and taste as always. But something wasn't right.
Her kiss was...off.
Way off.
He stood and pressed against her, searching for whatever was pulling at his senses.
She moaned a little as he rose, seemingly annoyed he'd made it harder to kiss him from his vantage point above her.
That was very Un-Buffy.
His heart began to tighten as he realized what he'd missed right off the bat. Although he could smell Buffy and taste Buffy and touch Buffy...he couldn't feel her. Even standing right in-front of him with her lips to his, he felt like she wasn't there at all.
'This isn't my wife.'
Marcy was elated, he was so strong and beautiful and he was kissing her! She though this was the happiest moment of her life, she'd completely fooled everyone and knew everything would be perfect from now on.
She almost screamed when her hands were suddenly caught in his iron grip and the face of his demon was inches from hers, an angry growl rumbled from his throat. "Who are you!"
"I'm...Buffy, your wife." She replied, momentarily taken aback be the angry and gruesome features that suddenly dominated his usually handsome face.
His hands released hers but were around her throat instantly. "No...you somehow have my wife's body...where is Buffy?" He nearly spat, keeping a tight hold but not enough to damage the stolen features.
Marcy was at a loss for words, but only for a moment. "No! I AM her! You...you love me!"
His growl intensified, "I won't ask you again." His heart was thundering now, fear building and making his grip tighten. The sound of his wife's heart beating with fear wasn't helping.
Marcy couldn't believe the hostility she was getting from Angel. "But...but I look like her, I sound like her, I smell like her. I AM her now! You're supposed to love me!"
"You're only Buffy on the outside, you'll never be Buffy on the inside." He countered, "No matter how hard you try, you can't be her, you can't have her soul."
Marcy lost it then.
With the strength of the oldest slayer, Marcy slammed her knee up into Angel's groin and at the same moment, punched out at his solar plexus and nose.
Pain over-ruled every other system function as Angel dropped with a breathless gasp to his knees.
His legs were numb from the pain in his crotch as he struggled to draw breath back into his lungs from the shot to his chest. His eyes were watering too much to see from the blow to the nose.
Despite the near paralysis, his hearing picked up on Buffy's body moving to the wall, where his weapons were hung idly.
Marcy was blind with rage, she started yelling as she went for a weapon. "I did all this for you! For us! And this is how you treat me? This is how you treat our love?"
He heard the click of a sword being removed from the fasteners.
"You led me on, made me think you loved me...then when I give everything up for you, give you everything you want...you reject me? No...no I wont be rejected."
She stood over him, the sword brought up and held baseball bat style, ready to swipe his head clean off. "If you wont have me, you wont have anyone!"
Marcy swung.
...
Buffy was screaming in her cell, she knew Marcy was someplace loose in the building and was after Angel, but she could do nothing to stop it. Her screams went unheard except for in her head, the drugs keeping her immobile.
She kept remembering Faith stealing her body all those years go. She kept remembering how easily Riley had been fooled into believing it was her he'd slept with. 'Angel would know.' She kept repeating in her mind, 'Angel will come find me.'
But the fact was, even though there was no clock or windows to tell the time, she knew she'd been here for hours now.
Angel hadn't come.
'He must be back from his appointment by now, but doesn't he know she's not me?' Whisked through her head, 'What if he can't tell she isn't me? She must have fooled him too.'
The image of him going home with her played out, of her running her fingers though his hair and pulling him in for a kiss. It becoming more than a kiss.
She kept imagining Angel making love to Marcy without even knowing the difference.
'Oh God, what is she going to do to my husband...what is she going to do to my children?'
Buffy kept picturing Marcy neglecting the kids, ignoring their needs for food and to be bathed and entertained. She could picture the selfish slayer wanting to get rid of her children, of holding them underwater in the bath.
'No!' She yelled again into the murky confines of her own mind, 'Angel!'
...
Angel ducked the wild rage filled swing, pain filled his already aching groin but he managed to roll far enough to regain his feet before the sword swung at him again.
His hearing was leading his movements mostly, his eyes still too watery to be trusted.
With still burning lungs, he jumped back as Marcy ran forwards, trying to bury the broadsword to the hilt in his chest.
Angel kept retreating and blocking her crazed moves, unwilling to fight against his wife's body and cause it damage.
"Die already!" Marcy yelled, rushing at him with a blind mad rage.
The living vampire had enough, although this woman was obviously a trained slayer and currently possessed his wife's strength and reflexes, she was too distracted with anger to use them properly.
Angel dropped and lashed his foot out, tripping Buffy's form and sending the sword clattering out of her hands as she fell.
She was on her feet again instantly, coming at his with her bare hands.
"I'll kill you!" She shrieked, diving at him with her fingers hooked like claws.
They traded blows for a few minutes, he was careful to keep from hurting Buffy's body in the exchange.
Finally, he found and opening and took it.
Marcy's scream using Buffy's voice was cut short as Angel caught her in a choke hold.
The slayer went wild under his arms, scratching and kicking to break free.
Angel gritted his teeth against the nails digging into his flesh, but held tight, pushing her against the wall to help minimize the damage she could inflict on him until she passed out.
It seemed like forever before she weakened in his grasp.
Every sense was focused on her slowing heartbeat as he held off her airflow, being extremely careful to only hold her long enough for her to pass out.
When her body finally relaxed against him, her fingers dropped listlessly and eyes slipped shut, he released his hold on her throat. He could hear the blood flowing back around her body, listened for her lungs expanding and contracting with slow and even breaths.
He lifted the unconscious woman into his arms and quickly made for the Med-Ward, knowing she wouldn't stay unconscious for long.
...
"Cassidy, I need a tranquilizer. Now!" Angel yelled as he pushed open the Med-Ward doors, the slayer in his arms already beginning to rouse.
The red headed doctor scrambled out of her office, grey eyes wide. "What happened to Buffy?" She asked, knowing if the slayer was being allowed to be carried, it was serious.
"Traq first." He insisted, laying his wife's form down on a cot and grabbing for restraints.
Cass was shocked to see him tying Buffy down, even more so upon seeing the lack of love reflecting in his blazing yellow eyes as he looked down at her.
He actually looked mad, hell furious even, despite the demon mask that distorted his features; in fact the demon enhanced the look of the emotion.
For a moment, she almost fought for an explanation, but Buffy's eyes opened as Angel was cuffing her wrist and she screamed as she swung at him, trying to claw his eyes out.
"Cass!" Angel yelled desperately under the assault, quickly clamping his hands down on her arms to hold the once again homicidal slayer on the cot.
The MD didn't think as she grabbed a tranquilizer and injected it into the wild slayer.
A few hectic moments passed, but the slayer-strengthen drug did its job and soon Buffy was lying still and calm.
Angel finished binding her as soon as she relaxed under his grip.
"Jesus Angel, what the hell happened to Buffy?" Cassidy asked, looking over the slayer for any signs of head trauma.
"She's not Buffy." He growled threateningly, pissed anyone couldn't see that immediately.
"What?" Cass stuttered out, "But she looks..."
"It's Buffy's body, but that sure as hell isn't Buffy inside." He clarified, looking at the Dr.
Cass's grey eyes widened again, "Who is it then?"
Angel's eyes narrowed, "I have a pretty good guess." He turned back to the Medic, "Keep her sedated Cass."
As he moved towards the door at a rapid pace, Cass yelled after him, "Where are you going?"
"To find my wife."
...
Angel exited the Med-Ward and immediately headed to the containment cells. Now he knew why Marcy had been yelling she was Buffy, the crazy bitch had been planning to steal her body.
He slammed the door open and the slayer guards stood at attention, alarmed at the vampire that had just barged in. "Angel?" One of them asked as his clawed fingers snatched the keys off the rack, he ignored them as they nervously asked him questions, looking indecisive about whether they should try and stop him or not.
Buffy was priority number 1, he had no time to deal with the guards.
Seeing he wasn't attacking anyone, the slayer guards decided to stand clear of him, his demon was fuming and they all felt it.
It only took a few moments before he was standing outside the only occupied cell in the wing.
Angel paused at the cell door, his eyes washing over the limp form of Marcy laying on a slim cot in the otherwise empty room. As he neared, his heart already began filling with the feeling of his wife's beloved soul. Opening the lock, he entered the cell and quickly disconnected the IV line.
He sat on the bed and looked down at the body of the young slayer whom he was serious engaged with at the moment, but it wasn't Marcy's soul he could feel in her body.
Lifting her head and shoulders onto his lap, he ran his clawed fingers lightly though her hair as he waited for the drugs to fade and his wife's borrowed eyes to open.
...
Slowly, Buffy felt her head beginning to clear a little and risked opening her eyes. For a moment, she thought she must be dreaming, but then Angel smiled at her. "Hi."
She blinked a few times before repeating it back to him.
Without another word, he bent and pressed his lips to hers.
Immediately he noticed the taste was wrong, so wasn't the shape and feel of her mouth, but the kiss itself, that was so very right.
"Hmm...there you are." He whispered, savoring the feeling of Buffy's love washing over him, calming him.
"Relax my Angel." She whispered to him, lifting her hand and running it down his cheek so his features would shift back to human, she could feel his demon was dangerously exposed at the moment.
Pulling her closer, he nuzzled his lips into her hair and let his anxiety fade, bringing the demon feature with it.
"Are you ok?" She asked him after a moment, looking up at the bruise forming on his bloody nose. He hadn't bothered cleaning himself up after the fight, he'd been too focused on getting to Buffy.
A grin tugged at his lips, "I'm supposed to be asking you that."
"Please tell me she didn't hurt the kids." Buffy begged, instantly falling back into mommy-mode.
"I didn't smell them on her." He answered, not having been in the building long enough to check in on them yet. Buffy was scheduled to have been watching their children, so he hadn't been worried about them when he'd arrive back at AI. "I'll call Dawn the minute we get back to the Med-Ward." He added, easily lifting her still drowsy body into his arms and headed out of the cell.
The guards watched him walk past with Marcy cradled against his chest with confused looks on their faces.
"Um, Angel, Sir, where are you going with Marcy?" One brave soul asked, now recognizing him without the demon masking his face.
"She's Buffy." He snapped before shouldering the door open and walking to the Med-Ward.
...
Willow was looking over the two slayers in the cots before her, nodding to herself. "Oh yeah, defiantly a body swap spell."
"What gave that away?" Buffy grumbled inside Marcy's form.
The Wicca sent her a glare, "Hey, I'm trying to help here."
Buffy let out a breath, "I know, Sorry Will. I'm just...tense."
"We all are." Angel spoke from beside her, pulling her closer to rest her head against his shoulder. Once she settled against him, some of the pressure enveloping her naturally receded.
"Do you know how she performed it?" Willow asked Buffy, still a little wigged about seeing Angel snuggling with non-Buffy's body.
"No." She sighed. After a moment, she thought about the words Marcy had spoken and mentioned it to Willow.
The red headed witch thought for a few minutes, "Hmm, I think I might now how she pulled this off."
"Who cares how she did it, how do we undo it?" Angel asked, more concerned with fixing it than how Marcy managed it.
Willow looked over at him, "In order to reverse the spell, we need to know its forward direction first."
Angel scowled but remained silent.
After pacing a few steps and thinking hard, Willow explained the possible spell workings to Buffy and Angel. "At some point she must have hidden a pre-loaded spell crystal in the containment cell so she could activate the spell when she was brought in. The guards confirmed she slipped out of their grip a moment and grabbed at something on the floor, since she had nothing in her hand when they hauled her back up, it was dismissed. All the power was in the words themselves, they would have acting like homing device in your mind, luring you close to her so the spell could complete. All she had to do was recite them, and the words you both spoke engaged it."
"So how do we dis-engage it?" Buffy asked, hopeful she could get back into her own body soon.
"Repeat the spell, your souls will switch again, but into the right bodies." Willow shrugged.
"How do we know what spell it was, there are dozens of body switching spells." Angel asked, remembering his own experience with being body snatched by a horny old man who was trying to relive his youth.
"I'm going to guess it was this one." Xander announces as he walked into the room with a photocopy in his hand. He'd led a group of volunteers to look for evidence when Angel informed him of the body switch. The 'smoking gun' was a photocopied spell found in Marcy' trashcan.
He handed the document to Willow who quickly scanned it over. "I'm going to agree, this looks right."
Buffy perked up, "When can we do it?"
Angel glance over towards his wife's body, "As soon as sleeping beauty is awake enough to talk."
Ten minutes later, Marcy slowly opened her eyes and looked around.
She went to scratch an itch on her nose but found her wrists and arms were tightly bound to the bed rail. 'What?'
"Rise and shine." Angel growled as he loomed over her, his face awash in anger.
Marcy swallowed and looked around, noticing several more sets of narrowed eyes watching her, including her own.
"You wont hurt me." She said quickly to try and mask her immediate fear, "You won't hurt Buffy's body."
"It wont hurt...for long." he threatened as his face shifted, revealing those long pointed teeth.
"Angel." Marcy heard her own voice summon him, and watched with leery eyes as he walked over and sat beside her body. Marcy fumed as the hussy used her hand to pat his arm.
Willow came up to her and held the photocopy up, "Reverse it."
"No." The slayer spat, under no circumstances would she surrender her only bargaining chip.
"Well I did ask nicely." Willow muttered, then hit her with a spell of her own.
Marcy yelped then sat staring blankly ahead, her face and body slack.
"Hey, what did you do to me?" Buffy asked, looking at her zombie self with a wrinkled nose.
"Made her my puppet, just you know, without strings." The Wicca replied. "But it doesn't last long so I'm going to start the spell, ok?"
The others in the room nodded and moved away to clear space and to not be in the path of any swapping.
Buffy gave her husband a reassuring smile before she got up to sit beside herself on the cot.
"Ok, here goes." Willow said to herself as she controlled Buffy's body into speaking the words of the spell.
Buffy held up the loaded stone Willow had handed her and spoke the last words of the spell with herself.
Like before, both woman slumped over unconscious as the spell took effect.
When Buffy awoke, she found herself in Angel's arms, his dark eyes looking worried down at her.
She held up her left hand and spied her wedding band, knowing she was back in her body, she leaned up to kiss her husband, letting him know she was Buffy again.
Angel kissed back, mentally checking off all the signals that this was indeed his wife.
"Welcome back, Beloved." He whispered as they broke apart.
"Good to be back." She answered as she sat up and looked at the others in the room.
Marcy was glaring at her with hate flaming in her eyes.
Willow and Xander cheered their success while Cassidy sat around feeling useless since no one was injured or in need of medical attention. Granted she like the break, she rarely got one with this group.
"What are we doing with her?" Xander asked, pointing to Marcy, who was now cuffed to the bed.
"I know what I would do if given a few minutes alone with her." Angel growled.
"Which is why you will not be having any minutes alone with her." Buffy countered, keeping a firm grip on his arm. Turning to Xander, she added, "We're just going to have to lock her up for now."
Xander nodded and left to get the security guards so Marcy could be escorted back to her cell.
Willow said her goodbyes and headed out, her and Oz had a date night tonight and she needed to get ready.
While waiting for the guards, Angel grabbed the phone and called the nursery extension, Dawn picked up on the third ring and he let her know what had been going on.
Or he had been before Buffy snatched the phone away from him so she could ask about the kids.
With a smile on her face, she sat down on one of the cots and had a conversation with Dawn and the kids, their end on speakerphone.
Angel sat beside his wife and listened in, a smile finally finding its way over his lips too.
Marcy hated them. Hated them both so much she wanted to scream.
Instead, she sat calmly and waited for the guards to come, knowing they would need to release her in order to transport her.
A few minutes later, the security detail entered the room to collect the mentally unstable slayer.
Angel watched the young slayer intently, not trusting her, as Buffy was still talking on the phone with Dawn.
Marcy waited patiently for her moment, then took the tiny opening she'd suddenly been granted.
As she was being marched from the room, she dodged the guards and grabbed the closest sharp object available, which happened to be a scalpel, and hurled it at the unexpected slayer with all her strength.
Angel had expected her to try something, so the second he saw her moving he shifted in front of Buffy to shield her.
A glint of metallic caught his eye as the metal object flew through the air, the speed and force surprised him, its surface sparkled like a disco ball off the fluorescent lighting before its short flight ended lodging itself in his chest.
He gasped and fell backwards, crashing into the cot Buffy had been sitting on and spilling them both onto the floor.
Marcy didn't get to see anything else, the hilt of a tranquilizer gun impacted her face and she lost consciousness.
...
Buffy scrambled into a sitting position as she tried to figure out what had just happened. A second ago she'd been talking to Dawn, then the phone was retched from her hand as Angel's weight crashed into her and sent them both sprawling to the ground, with him landing partly on top of her.
The blond nudged her husband's bulk aside for a moment and popped her head up over the overturned cot, looking for the threat.
All she saw was one of the guards hitting Marcy with the gun and then the young slayer collapsing unconscious.
'What the hell just happened?' The eldest slayer wondered as she glanced down at Angel, just now realizing he seemed to have been knocked out.
"Angel?" She called, looking him over quickly but not immediately seeing any reason for him to not be conscious.
Cassidy was in motion, quickly moving past the unconscious slayer the guards were now hauling up and binding her wrists, and dropping to her knees beside Buffy.
"What the heck just happened?" Buffy demanded her as she slipped out from under Angel.
"Where was he hit?" Cass asked quickly, ignoring Buffy's question and looking nervously down at Angel.
"Hit?" Buffy felt her stomach plummet, "What do you mean hit? Hit with what?" Her hazel-green eyes suddenly dropped to her husband's still form, searching for injuries.
The grey eyed doctor yanked Angel's shirt up for a better view of the impact site, as she scanned she spoke, "Marcy threw a scalpel at you, Angel intercepted its intended the path."
"What?" The blond's eyes widened, looking down in a mix and anger and horror at her limp spouse.
"Found it." Cass declared as her eyes located a small bloody hole a few inches under his right collar bone, about the width of a nickle, the silver tip of the knife protruding out less than an inch.
Before she could do anything about the find, Angel snapped back to full consciousness, his eyes flaming in golden hate and with a growl of pure rage he was up off the floor and on his feet alarmingly fast.
"Where the f*ck is she?" He spat as his feral eyes scanned the room, "I'm gunna rip her f*cking throat out!"
Buffy blinked twice, looking down at where he'd been a second ago then up at her furious spouse. 'Ok, not good.' Her mind raced to keep up, 'Walking around with a knife stuck somewhere in his chest is not going to end well.'
In a second, Buffy was on her feet and chasing after Angel, who was quickly stalking towards the guards carrying a now rousing Marcy.
"Angel don't!" She yelled, grabbing for him before he committed murder in cold blood.
Using Angel as a distraction, Marcy slammed her foot into the closest guard's left leg and elbowed the one behind her in the face.
The two slayers dropped back clutching their injuries as Marcy pushed forwards, breaking their hold on her arms. Her hands were still bound, but she wasn't worried about it. Grabbing a hold of the cot closest to her, she used it to brace herself as she sent a powerful kick the a tank of Nitrous Oxide (laughing gas) anchored to the post beside her, which snapped the top knob off and sent a geyser of the chemical compound screaming from the released pressure into the air immediately surrounded the ruptured container. Marcy held her breath and rolled away, but the guards were left laying on the floor with happy grins on their drugged faces.
As Marcy popped back to her feet, she found her neck suddenly locked in Angel iron grip, his fangs fully exposed as he glared down at her with smoldering anger.
"Angel!" Buffy warned, reaching him and grabbing his arm, trying to prevent him from doing something he'd live to regret. "Angel, look at me!" She demanded, trying to get though the thick cloud of rage blocking his common sense.
He growled and tightened his grip on Marcy, enjoying watching her blue eyes bulge as the pressure increased around her throat. He may have a soul, but the demon in him was demanding vengeance for the attempt on his wife's life. There wasn't a hex brewing in his mind as there was when he'd killed Ethan Rayne, but the same anger was lurking so very close to the surface. His hands were itching to snap the little bitch's neck for trying to kill Buffy.
"Angel!" Buffy yelled, demanding his attention. She could tell he was close to the edge, and everything in her was afraid he'd go over.
Slowly, his hate screaming eyes turned off of the slayer he was choking to glare at his wife.
"Let her go Angel, she'll be punished, but not like this." The natural blond slayer insisted, holding her gaze with his and reaching out into his very soul.
They stood facing off for a good long minute, Buffy's hazel-green eyes locking with his wild yellow and flooding them with as much love as possible.
Slowly, his hands began to release the pressure on the younger woman's neck.
Marcy watched with bulging eyes as Buffy disarmed the furious demon holding her, the beautiful man she'd wanted was completely gone from this current creature. Horrified at herself for wanting to kiss this disgusting beast, Marcy whipped her bound hands forward while their attention was occupied on each other and slammed them into the wound on Angel's chest.
The vampire's face contorted in pain as his hands fell away from her neck and he dropped with a gasping growl to the floor on his hands and knees.
Marcy's leg was in motion to his rib-cage even as Buffy lunged for her in her own sudden rage. Here she was trying to keep Angel from killing this mentally damaged trainee and the girl uses the mercy to attack them instead.
The younger slayer was expecting Buffy's attack, and at the last second spun around with her clenched fists held tightly together and impacted Buffy's jaw, knocking the older woman into a cart of tools.
Cassidy wasn't a fighter, but knew she had to do something, she rushed forwards with a syringe of tranquilizers to try and subdue the wild slayer.
Marcy looked over her shoulder a moment before Cass was close enough to use her only weapon, spinning to avoid the needle, she grabbed the woman by the lapels of the white medical jacket. With a cruel smile, Marcy flung the doctor into the counter, watching with satisfaction as her head bounced off the hard steel cabinet door and she slumped to the ground motionless.
Holding the needle she'd taken from the MD, Marcy stalked over to Buffy as she was getting dizzily to her feet and without preamble slammed the syringe into her exposed back. Buffy yelped and flashed her elbow back, clocking Marcy hard across the jaw. Unfortunately the drugs were fast acting so she wasn't able to continue the assault as her legs grew heavy and her eyes unfocused. Marcy stood rubbing her chin with a mad grin on her lips as Buffy sagged to the ground unconscious.
"Guess that means I win." Marcy spoke to five slumped forms on the Med-Ward floor.
She turned to find something to free her wrists and walked directly into Angel's raging form.
There were a hundred things he could have said to her, but his mind wasn't interested in words. His right hand shot out, claws digging deeply into her shoulder and he ripped her towards him, a second later his fang sank mercilessly into her throat.
Marcy would have screamed, but the knifed teeth in her neck wouldn't permit it. The world lost focus almost immediately as her blood was siphoned away at an alarming speed, she couldn't help but muse that all this happened because she loved Angel and wanted him to declare his love back to her. Instead of loving her, he was going to kill her.
His anger ruled him as hot slayer blood pumped into his mouth.
Even as he tried to savor the potent slayer blood running down his throat, in his mind, he saw his wife's eyes flash at him, begging him not to do this, not to be a monster.
He could feel the girl's heart slowing, knew he could end her so very easily.
in the end, Buffy's love won out over the demon's rage.
Spitting the psycho from his mouth, he let her drop boneless to the floor without another thought.
Taking a few steps to the sink, he retched the young slayer's blood from his body and down the drain.
Her blood wasn't welcome in his system.
Glancing down at Cassidy sprawled a few feet away, he listened to her steady heartbeat. Satisfied she'd live, he stumbled over to his wife's sleeping form and dropped down beside her.
With the last of his strength, he tried to pry the scalpel from his chest, but Marcy's blow had pushed it in further, and now the handle was buried too deep to grasp.
Exhausted, he laid beside his wife and promptly lost consciousness.
...
TBC...