A/N You asked for it. Here it is. A continuation of Awakening putting Buffy into Angel Season 4 instead of Faith. Enjoy!

Buffy shot awake and looked around her. She wasn't in Angel's bed and he wasn't turning into Angelus. What the hell had just happened? What kind of dream was that? The First had definitely made Angel and Buffy share dreams before, but that…. That couldn't have been just a shared dream. It had been a whole day together. She'd felt every bit of it like it had just happened to her.

Angelus stood in the dark basement and stared at his cage. He could hear the heroes upstairs talking about keeping Angel's soul safe and how awful Angelus is. The ex-Watcher was laying down his game plan to get him to talk about the Beast. Angelus, however, wasn't going to divulge anything to that sniveling pipsqueak.
Angel's little fantasy had driven home Angelus' desire for the little blonde Slayer. His games before hadn't worked on her. She'd only gotten stronger and more resilient. She would probably be even more fun to play with now after everything she'd been through since he had last been out and about. He'd have to come up with some new games for her this time that ended with her playing on his team.

Finally Wesley walked downstairs into the basement holding himself as tall as he could and trying to make himself look…. Menacing maybe? He just looked like he had licked a lemon. He came to a stop a few feet away from the cage.

"Angelus."

"Wes. Why the long face? Aren't you happy to see me?" Angelus asked.

"Should I be?"

"Well, if it wasn't for you and your shaman friend, I wouldn't be here. I'm feeling the love."

"The choice was Angel's."

"Angel, schmangel. You're the man with the brain."

"You're comfortable?"

"Nice acoustics. Wouldn't hate a chair."

"You'll have to forgive the accommodations. The last time you were free, you terrorized Sunnydale."
"That slayer…. She's a pistol."

"I've imagined this moment many times. Years of study, research…. I've read everything ever written about you."

"Stop, I'm blushing."

"To be one-on-one with the legendary Angelus." Wesley sat down in a chair a few feet away from the cage. "As a former watcher, it's a high point."

"Buttering me up. Getting me all relaxed, hmm? Not the most innovative interrogation technique. Certainly won't get me to play along."

"Is it a game?"

"It's always a game. But if you want to continue playing…. Move your pawns forward…. then you need to offer me something sweet to get me to roll the dice."

"Did you know the Beast?" Angelus didn't answer. "If you knew the Beast, why wouldn't Angel remember?"

"What part of 'I'm not playing this game yet' did you miss?"

"What is it you're after?"

"Why should I make it easy for you?"

"I don't expect you will."

"Here's a question for you: what's the deal with Angel and The Raiders of the Lost Ark?"

"The movie?"

"The 'perfect day' fantasy he came up with. Caves, booby traps, the requisite phallic sword."

"He fought the Beast in the fantasy?"

"Real candy-ass."

"The Beast?"

"Angel. Not enough to be the hero. Couldn't be happy unless the whole gang's pitching in with his lady at his side."

"Cordelia?" Angelus snorted. "Buffy?" He gave Wesley a smirk. "Angel saw Buffy in his fantasy?"

"Who else would be enough to make him trigger the gypsy curse?"

"I imagine his fondness of Cordelia…."

Angelus laughed again. "She wishes."

"So, he killed the Beast in this fantasy with Buffy."

"Had to. To get what he wanted. We all want something, Wes. It's the way of the world. Everybody's got an agenda."

"And you want to tell me mine."

"You want to come down here, get your vital stats on lava boy, play the big hero…."

"I want to know how to kill the Beast. It has nothing to do with being a hero."

"Sure it does, but why now? Can't be because there's an apocalypse coming. Always one of those around the corner."

"Enlighten me."

"'Foul rag-and-bone shop of the heart.' That's where you live."

"Meaning?"

"You want to impress the girl. Move in, get her to love you, and after a couple days of flowers and chocolate covered cherries," Angelus banged his hands on the bars to startle Wesley. "You'll bend her over the kitchen counter…."

"That supposed to rattle me?"

"Kinda bony for my taste, but different strokes…."

"The Beast called you an adversary."

"Bet he loves to rub that shiny bald head against her soft, milky skin. Mmmm…. Good…. Come on, Wes. Not like your schoolgirl crush is a secret."

"You've found a vulnerability, exploited it. Well done. Can we move on now?"

"Happy to."

"You were adversaries…. You and the Beast."

"Guy like me…. friends, enemies…. hard to keep track."

"If he was an enemy, I'd be doing you a favor in destroying him."

"You know, you're not fooling anyone. Get some new clothes, cool haircut, hit the gym…. You're still the same loser none of the other kids wanted to sit with at lunch."

"Yet you're locked in that cage and I'm out here."

"So? You've got no leverage. What are you going to do? Kill me?"

"If I have to."

"Wait 'til they drop, Wes, then try that line again."

"I'll put your soul back. You won't talk, no problem. We'll bring Angel back and be no worse off than we were."

"Making you a failure again."

"You want to waste my time, you can rot down here."

"Nice stamina, Wes. No wonder Fred's not interested."

"Whatever your connection to the Beast, clearly you don't know anything that can help us."

"Is this the part where I'm supposed to get defensive, start talking to prove you wrong? What else you got?"

"You must hate it that Angel fights evil."
"Eats you up inside, doesn't it. Seeing all those idiots flock around him, calling him a champion. Anyone ever call you a champion?"
"I do my part."
"Right. Like letting Lilah suck Lorne's brain. Or, here's an oldie but a goodie: Faith. Good job being her Watcher. She turned out to be a peach."

"And you managed to get your soul back, not once, but twice, saving the world several times in the process. Nobody's perfect."

"Then there's kidnapping the fruit of my loins. Smooth."

"He survived."

"I guess you just can't understand that special bond between dad and son, given that your own father's ashamed of you."

"And Connor's ashamed of you. The universe's way of maintaining order, I guess."

"Twerp really gives me the creeps. You?"

"In Cordelia's vision, you and the Beast were standing on a field."

"Oh, God, yeah. Let's talk about Cordy, shall we? Now, there's a rack to write home about. Too bad about the personality, though. 'Yap, yap, yap, yap, yap! Oh, God. Oh, Angel. Angel, we can't. I love you, but you were so bad. You ate babies.' Chicks. Which do you think is worse, Wes? Stealing my kid like you did, or banging him, like Cordelia? All that bumping and grinding. Fire raining in the sky. Quite a picture. Well, more of a snapshot, cause Connor…." Angelus chuckled. "At least you thought you were doing the right thing. And speaking of, let's loop back around to what you're going to offer me in exchange for what I know."

"Why would we give you anything?"

"Why wouldn't you? I have something you need and we both know that you and your little club of wannabe heroes aren't going to be the ones I tell it to."

"Who will you tell it to?"

"There's a good question! Finally! I knew there was a brain hidden in there somewhere." Angelus smirked. "You know exactly who I want standing in your place. She's petite, blonde, stronger than human, hell of a lay…."

"Buffy?"

"The one and only."

"And why would she want to see you? You spent the better part of six months trying to kill her."

"Not kill. Not yet, anyway. Drive insane first. I'll be the first to admit that that plan didn't work out so well in my favor."

"She shoved a sword in your heart and sent you to hell for 100 years."

"Not mine. I was shoved back in my box when the little witch did her spell. She sent her beloved Angel to hell, not me."

"She won't come. She has plenty on her plate at the moment and doesn't need you added to it."

"I'm sure you'll figure out something." Angelus stretched his limbs out. "Hey, who's a guy gotta kill to get a drink around here?"

Wesley sighed and walked up the stairs, shutting the basement door behind him. "He wants blood."

"I'll get it." Fred offered.

"Me too." Gunn followed her out of the lobby.

"Why would he want Buffy?" Cordelia asked. "He hates her."

"He's refusing to talk to anyone but her." Wesley said.

"The things he put her through…."

"I know."

"You don't know. You weren't there. She's not going to come just to get that psycho to talk."

"She might." Lorne said.

"I'm going to call her." Wesley said. He walked into the office and shut the door. Going through Angel's personal phonebook, he found Buffy's home number and dialed it first.

Buffy stood in her surprisingly empty kitchen and stared into her cup of coffee. She hadn't told anyone about her dream or vision or whatever the hell it had been. Deep down, in the pit of her stomach, she knew she'd just released Angelus somehow. For the last twenty minutes she'd been debating on calling the Hyperion just to see if it was true. When she finally got up the nerve to pick up the phone, it began ringing.

"The Summers' house of annoying teenage girls and company." She answered. "This is the ring leader. How can I help you?"

"Buffy?" She didn't recognize the voice at first.

"Yes, this is her."

"It's Wesley."

"Wesley?" Buffy's eyes widened as she stared straight ahead. "Angel is he…."

"Gone."

The world did that crazy floor-dropping-out-from-under-you thing it did when bad news came calling. "Gone? What do you mean gone?"

"He's Angelus once again."

Buffy's breath caught and her hands started shaking. "How?"

"We had a shaman extract his soul."

"Oh my god." She dropped the phone. It had all been real!

"Buffy?" She could hear Wesley calling from the dropped phone. Buffy put her face in her hands. She was pretty sure she was going to be sick. The line went dead and the incessant beeping noise began after a few minutes.

Willow walked into the room and stopped dead at the scene. "What's wrong?"

Buffy followed the directions to the Hyperion as best she could. She had to stop a few times to save some people from demons or vampires taking advantage of the permanent midnight situation. She would've had to have asked Wesley what was going on, but if the dream vision thing was real, then it had already been explained to her. The Beast was the reason behind this.

The Hyperion finally loomed ahead. She parked next to Angel's black convertible in the parking lot, grabbed her bag from the trunk, and walked into the courtyard entrance. When she opened the doors, Wesley and Gunn were in each other's faces while Lorne and Fred stood off to the side trying to get them to stop.

"Hey, hey, come on, guys!" Lorne cried. "Let's not say anything that…."

"Shut up, Lorne!" Gunn snapped. "Great idea, Wes, stealing Angel's kid. Oh, was losing him a part of your plan, too?"

"Go ahead." Wesley said. "Throw some more blame around. It's what you're best at."

"You want to say that again?"

"Face it, Gunn, you can't give her what she needs."

Gunn punched Wesley in the face. To his credit, Wesley didn't fall to the ground like Buffy expected. He attacked Gunn right back. Buffy sighed and calmly walked over to the two combatants and sent them flying across the room. The place got deadly silent when every realized what had happened.

"Buffy?" Wesley asked, his eyes wide with surprise.

"I'm guessing this is Angelus' handiwork?" Buffy said, walking over and helping Wesley to his feet. Gunn got to his feet and moved towards them, but she turned her glare on him. "If you start that fight up again, I'm putting you both in the hospital."

"I would do as she says." Wesley said.

"Angel's Buffy?" Fred asked, walking up to the blonde Slayer.

Buffy smiled slightly at the name. "Yeah."

"What are you doing here?" Gunn asked.

"I've been asking myself that." She turned to Wesley. "I need to talk to you before I see him." Buffy didn't wait for an answer. She headed into the office with Wesley not far behind her.

Connor walked up to the cage where Angelus was sitting on the floor in a dark corner. He'd slipped in while the others were in the middle of their fight. "Everyone's afraid of you."

"Is that my shirt?" Angelus asked, looking at his offspring.

"Not anymore."

"Looks good on you, son."

"So did Cordy."

"She looks good on everybody."

"Angel warned me about you. Said I should remember you're not my real father."

"Yeah, that was a nice speech. Touching. I think it ended with you promising to kill me."

"I remember."

Angelus stood up and stalked toward the teenager. "Kind of unnecessary, don't you think? I mean, with your track-record, I'll be staking myself by the end of the day."
"It's fine by me."

"Darla felt the same way. It made her sick, you squirming inside her. So, she jammed a stake in her own heart, just so she wouldn't have to hear your first whiny breath."

"You don't know anything."

"Then there was Holtz. It disappointed him so much that he stabbed himself in the neck."

"My fa…. Holtz was a good man. All he ever wanted was for you to get the punishment you deserve. And you will."

"And now my boy's in love. All hearts and flowers. But doesn't it freak you out that she used to change your diapers? I mean, when you think about it, the first woman you boned is the closest thing you've ever had to a mother. Doing your mom and trying to kill your dad. Hmm…. There should be a play."

"You think I care what you say? Angel told me how you'd try to hurt me, how you aren't my real dad, just some animal in a cage. Angel's my dad."

"I'm gonna cry."

"That's what he told me. And he thought I believed him. The truth is, Angel's just something that you're forced to wear. You're my real father."

"I'm right here. All you have to do is come and get me."

"You'd like that."

"You couldn't take me anyway."

"We'll see."

"Promises, promises. Don't make 'em, if you can't keep 'em."

"I wouldn't think of it."

"It might be your best chance. Don't disappoint daddy."

Cordelia chose that moment to come down the stairs. "Connor. Go upstairs."
"No." Connor said, his eyes not leaving Angelus.

"Please, go upstairs."

"It's your lucky day."

"Yeah. Go to your room, mama's boy." Connor walked upstairs and Angelus turned to Cordelia. "Cordy. Cordy. Cordy. Just couldn't stay away."

"It's been a long day, and I think you've done enough damage."

"So, no hug?"

"You and I are gonna make a deal."
"Tough. Did you practice that in front of the mirror a few times? Lemme guess. You want to know about the Beast."
"Everything you know."

Angelus was about to respond, but a he picked up familiar voice with heightened hearing. His Slayer was here. She'd apparently just sent Wesley and Gunn flying across the lobby from the sounds of the thuds and sudden quiet. Finally he turned his attention to Cordelia again. "And in return, I get what from you? Wouldn't mind a car. I hear the new Mustang is nice."

"Something better."

"What's a better ride than a Mustang?"

"Me." When he didn't respond, she continued. "That's the offer. No more stalling, no more games. You tell us what you know, you get me."

"Must be some confusion. You took out the soul. Still have the brain."

"Then use it. The Beast, the darkness…. the world is falling apart. We're out of time, we're out of ideas. Your little request to bring Buffy here didn't work. She hung up on Wesley. You're the end of the line." Clearly the girl didn't hear that the blonde Slayer was upstairs in the office with Wesley now.

"Wes was better at buttering me up."

"You know what it means to be a champion."
"I'm trying so hard to forget."

"Sometimes a sacrifice needs to be made."

"And you're the little lamb. Not that there aren't a few things I wouldn't mind doing to that body…. Other than the obvious."

"Tell us about the Beast, and you can do whatever you want."

Angelus walked up to the bars and smirked, rubbing his hands up and down two of the bars. "I'll pass."

"We don't have time for games! I'm the only one that's offering you anything worth your while."

He laughed. "You think my standards are that low, huh?" She looked stung by his words. "Maybe once upon a time I would've thought about taking that deal. But now? Buffy Summers is the only one I'm interested in making deals with."

"She's not coming!"

His eyes ticked up to the top of the stairs where the blonde Slayer was now standing. "Are you sure about that?"

Cordelia turned around and saw Buffy standing there. Her mouth fell open. "What…. When…."

"Hello, lover." Angelus purred, ignoring Cordelia completely. "Long time, no see."

"There's a reason for that." Buffy retorted. She looked at Cordelia as she descended the stairs. "Go away, Cordelia."

"You're crazy if you think you can just come in here and start giving orders." Cordelia snapped, trying to use her height to intimidate Buffy.

Buffy wasn't fazed. "You're the ones that brought him out without fully grasping what could happen. He only said a few sentences and he's got everyone at each other's throats and you offering yourself up like Christmas dinner to him. I'm pretty sure that makes me the only sane one here. So yeah, I will be giving orders from here on out. Go." Cordelia started to counter, but Buffy looked away and walked over to stand in front of Angelus. They both waited until the brunette had stormed up the stairs and slammed the door behind her.

Angelus smiled. "Turn around and let me get a look at you."

Buffy's face remained stone cold as she placed her hands on her hips. "You wanted me here to tell me what you know about the Beast."

"We can't play a little catch up? It really has been a long time since I've seen you."

"You know what's going on in Sunnydale right now. Do you really think I want to play twenty questions with you?"

"How would I know what's going on in your little slice of hell? You haven't talked to Angel since you two had those couple of days and nights to yourselves after you came back from the dead."

Buffy sighed and lifted her shirt up to reveal the fading bruises on her ribs and then she pulled down her turtleneck to show him the remnants of the bruises on her neck. "Whatever that shaman did to you, it wasn't just a fantasy that made you lose your soul. It was me."

Angelus looked hard at her. The bruise on her jaw was almost gone and the cut on her cheek was just a faded red mark now. But they were the same markings as the Buffy in Angel's little fantasy. "You mean that whole perfect day crap was real?"

"Apparently."

He shuddered. "My other half can make up some seriously cheesy fantasies."

"It was a little Indiana Jones-ish."

A thought occurred to him and he turned his smirk on her. "If that was really you then I have to say…. I'm impressed. You've gotten much better since your 17th birthday."

"Seriously? That's why you wanted to talk to me? To hit on me?"

"I had a lot more in mind that hitting on you."

"I know playing games with me is one of your favorite pastimes and this seems like some new twisted game where you try to get in my pants and then kill me, but I really need to get back to trying to stop the First from destroying the Slayer line."

"Pretty sure I'm on that guy's side."

"Not much you can do to help out your boss at the moment considering you're, you know, locked in a cage."

"I don't have a boss."

"Are you sure? According to the First, it's the reason you are the way you are. The reason you exist. It believes its calling the shots for all the evil in the world."

"Maybe I'm not on that guy's side."

She sighed. "What do you want from me, Angelus? You were so desperate to talk to me, you turned down Cordelia."

"Well, that was just being smart on my end. I wouldn't touch that with a forty foot pole. Though Angel…."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Covered that in dreamland."

"You really don't care that they were making googly eyes at each other?"

"I've slept with three people since Angel and I broke up. I can hardly blame him for trying to move on."

"Three? Really? I know about that college playboy Parker and the Captain America reject Riley. Who's the third? Please don't tell me Boy Wonder."

"Xander? Ew. No."

Angelus moved closer to the bars and sniffed the air. After a moment, he growled. "Spike."

"You vampires and that smelling thing."

"I marked you."

"Excuse me?"

"That little scar on your neck where Angel nearly sucked you dry…. Ever wonder why it scarred? Did you ever think about why none of your other wounds did?" Buffy reached up and touched the scar. "That was me. That mark means you belong to me."

"Angel."

"No. Me. Angel wouldn't have the balls to mark you like that."

"I'm just going to lock that tidbit away for later when I can actually talk to Angel about that."

"What if there isn't a later?"

"You'll have a soul shoved up your ass once the Beast is destroyed. So what do you want from me for you to start singing so I can get back to my own apocalypse?"

"There are so many possibilities. I have a list."

"I'm sure you do. Pick one."

"If I'm going to, as you so eloquently put it, 'have a soul shoved up my ass', then I want you in here with me for two hours before the Soul-Boy comes back to bitch and moan about how horrible I am."

Buffy sighed. "Fine."

"Fine? Just like that? You're not afraid of what I'll do to you?"

"It's no worse than anything I've done to Spike or he to me. I might even enjoy it." Angelus gave her a surprised look. "Oh please, I'm not the innocent little seventeen year old you mentally tortured five years ago."

"In that little fantasy, you were terrified of me coming out."

She shrugged. "And then I threw caution to the wind and had sex with Angel knowing full well where it would lead."

"I'm surprised he didn't stop you like all the times before. Guess all those nights with his hands under the covers thinking about the day he made you forget finally got to him with you standing right there in that easily discarded dress…."

"What day he made me forget?"

Angelus covered his mouth dramatically and gasped. "Whoops. Didn't mean to let that slip."

"I'm sure you didn't. What day are you talking about?"

"Your boy has been keeping a pretty big secret from you for the last three years."

"I'm sure you're just dying to spill it."

"I thought you wanted me to tell you about the Beast?"

"You're the one that brought up Angel's big secret."

"Add another hour in here with me to the deal and I'll tell you what the secret is."

"I'll just ask Angel. I gave you two hours in exchange for world saving information and that's all you're getting."

Angelus shrugged. "I'll leave the deal open in case curiosity gets the best of you."

"The Beast. Start from the beginning."

"Why not? It was 1789."

"36 years after you were changed, so you were in…. Prussia?"

He raised his eyebrows at her. "You've been doing your homework."

"Angel and I talked a lot and the Watcher's Diaries have a lot of details about you."

"I was taking a shortcut on my way to Vienna. Started feeling like someone was watching me. There were troops around. I'd run into them now and then. Not as sweet as the girls, by the way."

"Naturally."

"But, the little massacre I ran into? Seriously lacking in military precision. Bodies, bodies everywhere, and not a drop to drink. So, I followed the trail, and there was the one you lot so cleverly call 'the Beast.' We had a lot in common, but he already knew that. He'd been watching me. He staged the carnage to impress me."

"Why did he want to impress you?"

"He thought I might be able to help him with a situation."

"What situation?"

"You've heard of the Svea Priestesses?" Buffy shook her head. "Very powerful, big into banishing. The Beast was next on their list. He couldn't touch them…. some kind of mojo…. but a vampire could."

"He needed you to kill them."

"We had it all worked out. I'd scratch his priestesses, and he'd scratch my back somewhere down the line. A limited partnership."

"So you killed the priestesses and he still owes you a favor?"

"No. I declined. And he didn't ask twice. I probably could have been more diplomatic with my refusal, but I'm not big with teamwork." She snorted and he shot her a glare. "I thought that was going to be the end of me. But, his priestesses showed up. They just started up the whammy, and there you have it. The Beast was banished."

"How?"

"Don't know. I was busy with the passing out."

"How very manly of you."
"You've seen that thing and how easily it smacked you and Angel down."

"Fair point. Is that everything you know about the Beast?"

"Yes."

She eyed him for a long moment and then nodded. "Ok. I'll go upstairs and tell the others to look for Svea Priestesses."

"What about our deal?"

"As soon as the Beast is banished again, I'll come back and hold up my end of the bargain."

"Prove it."
"How?"

He quirked a finger at her and beckoned her forward. She took a moment to glance up the stairs and then sighed, taking the two steps forward to stand in front of him with the bars between them. He reached out and took her wrist, lifting it up to his mouth. Without taking his eyes off hers, her licked up her wrist towards her thumb and lightly bit down on the fleshy part of her hand just below her thumb. She sucked in a breath and shuddered, her eyes closing.

Angelus chuckled. "I like this new, darker Buffy. She's going to be fun."

Buffy took her hand back and walked up the stairs. Wesley was the only one around. He was sitting in the office looking at a pile of books. She walked into the office. "Knock, knock."

"Is everything ok?" Wesley said, looking up at her. "Did he reveal anything on the Beast?"

"He told me everything. We need to find the Svea Priestesses. They banished the Beast in Prussia in 1789."

"What was his connection to the Beast?"

"It tried to recruit him for his Evil Buddies Club. He declined."

"That was rather…."

"Anti-climactic? Yeah. Little bit." She sighed. "I'm going to go upstairs and take a shower. Change clothes. Enjoy the sound of silence for a little while."

Wesley nodded. "Understandable. I'm sure Angel wouldn't mind you using his room. I'll get the others started on the research."

Buffy nodded. "Thanks."

Buffy and Connor walked up to the house at the address Wesley had given them. Cordelia had wanted to go, but Buffy had shot her down. Wesley had thought that Connor should go with Buffy to learn some things from the experienced Slayer. They climbed up the stairs and found a small plaque on the door that read "Svear, Mon. – Fri., 10AM – 4PM".

"Guess this is the right place." Buffy said, ringing the doorbell. She waited a few moments and then rang again.

Connor peeked through one of the windows. "Looks like no one's home."

She nodded and banged on the door. To her surprise, the door flew open from her pounding. "This is never a good sign."

"I wouldn't think so." Connor said, following her inside the house.

"Do you smell that?"

"It smells like death."

They rounded a corner and found several very dead bodies covered in blood. "Well, this is a familiar feeling."

"You find dead bodies a lot?"

"Sadly. And sadly for these people, we're too late."

"How does the Beast know exactly what we're gonna do?"

"Psychic? Maybe?" She knelt down to examine the nearest body of a woman. "I doubt he knew we were coming here. These people have been dead for a few days."

"So by the time the shaman took out Angel's soul it was too late."

"Yeah." Buffy looked over at Connor. His eyes were wide and he looked slightly panicked as he started at the bodies of the children holding their bloody toys. "Hey…."

"They've been here like this…. for days?"

"With the sun being gone and the chaos going on out there…. Yeah. I doubt anyone even noticed they were gone." She reached out and took his hand. "Connor…."

"We should look around. Maybe they left something out that could tell us how to get rid of the Beast." He pulled free from her hand and walked off.

Buffy sighed and moved off in the opposite direction. She found an office and gathered up all the papers and files she found there. Connor was in the kitchen, so she headed that way. She found him starting at a calendar on the refrigerator door. One of the days was marked Daddy's Birthday and circled with a red heart. He suddenly ran away and out of the house.

"Like father, like son." Buffy said, heading out after him. He was sitting on the sidewalk with his head between his knees. It was clear from the smell that he had thrown up. She let him compose himself some before she walked over and sat down next to him. "It's so different. Dead demons are usually just a big blob of oozing mess that sometimes has pretty colors. Vampires just turn into dust in the wind like they were never there at all. But humans…."

"It's not…."

"What?"

"Family."

Before Buffy could answer, a vampire jumped out of the bushes behind them. She was the first one up and knocked him backwards with a powerful punch. Another vampire appeared and attacked Connor. Buffy pulled out a stake and took care of the first one before yanking the vampire off of Connor. He grabbed a stake from his pocket, but Buffy had already dusted that vampire. Another vampire attacked them and together, they dusted him.

"Time to go!" Buffy said as she grabbed Connor's hand and hauled him towards the car. He glanced back to see a large group of vampires heading down the street towards them. She jumped over the hood and climbed into the driver's seat as Connor scrambled into the passenger's seat.

A vampire jumped at Buffy before she could get the door closed. She stomped on its hand and elbowed it in the face and she turned the key in the ignition. Slamming the door on the vampire's head and then slamming it shut, she hit the gas. They flew down the road, leaving the vampires behind.

"Are you ok?" Buffy asked.

"Yeah." Connor said, not looking at her.

"You're so much like your dad, it's ridiculous."

"I'm nothing like him."

She laughed. "Keep telling yourself that. Connor, it's not a bad thing to be like Angel. He's a great man."

"He's not a man."

"I'm sorry you grew up in a hell dimension with one of Angelus's enemies who wasn't around for the last two centuries, but this attitude towards your dad is unwarranted. He is a good man and he wants nothing more than to do good in this world. To do right by the people he loves. One of them is you, his son."

"You haven't even been here."

"I don't need to be here to know that because I know Angel."

"You love him."

"Yes."

"Why?"

"I can give you a million reasons why, Connor. I just know that I've seen him at his best and at his worst and he's still the one person I would give pretty much anything to be with."

"Why aren't you with him?"

"Because I trigger his curse. I turn him into his worst. Until that can be gotten rid of, then there can't be an 'us'."

Connor was silent the rest of the way to the Hyperion. When they got back, Gunn, Fred, and Lorne were gathered around the TV displaying the security footage of Angelus. Cordelia and Wesley came out of the office.

"What happened?" Cordelia asked.

"Vamps." Connor answered.

"You didn't get the Svear." Fred said, realizing Buffy and Connor were alone.

"The Beast got there first." Buffy said. "We found the bodies."

"Guess he found a way to kill them after all."

"So much for our big priestess rescue." Gunn said.

"Are we sure Angelus doesn't know anything more? I mean, maybe Buffy, you should talk to…."

Buffy shook her head. "He's told us everything he's going to."

"Which means our last-ditch plan, turning Angel into a soulless monster, it's a bust." Gunn said. "If Angelus can't help us…."

"It's time to bring back Angel." Cordelia said.

Connor suddenly walked out of the lobby. "Oh, and he's usually so chatty." Lorne said.

"He's had a rough night." Buffy said.

"We'll need the shaman." Wesley said.

Buffy walked down the stairs into the basement. Angelus was sitting in the dark corner of the cell. Normal people wouldn't be able to see him, but she had good vision. He watched her walk up to the red line and stop.

"You keeping your word?" He asked.

"I told you I'd be back." Buffy said.

"How'd the little field trip turn out? Priestesses still feisty?"

"The whole family was dead."

"Oh, god! I'm always missing the fun stuff. Did you bring me back a souvenir? Maybe a stray baby toe?" Buffy didn't react so Angelus stood up and walked over to stand in front of her. "Come on, Buff. Where's your sense of humor?" She still didn't answer him. "Well, don't blame me for our little debacle. I told you everything I know."

"It was too late."

"Who's fault is that? Doesn't matter. I showed you mine. Now it's time to show me yours."

"You weren't listening. I told you I would give you two hours with me in exchange for world saving information. News flash: world not saved."

Angelus paused for a moment, surprised that Buffy had actually managed to play him. "You're not thinking I'm just gonna let this go."

"Last I checked, you're out of options."

"Won't be in here forever."

"According to Wesley, you've got about one more hour in there. The shaman is on his way to give you your soul back."

Angelus smiled at her. "Not gonna happen."

Buffy stared at him, remembering that smile. He'd given it to her a number of times. It meant he knew something she didn't. She turned and rushed up the stairs. Lorne let out a startled cry when she ran past him. Wesley and Fred were in the office and they jumped at her sudden appearance. "Open the safe." She demanded.

"What?" Wesley asked.

"Angel's soul. I need to see it. Now."

Wesley stood up and opened the picture on the wall to reveal the hidden safe. He turned the combination lock until it clicked and opened the safe. As Buffy had suspected, Angel's soul was gone.