Update Note: From now on, the updates are going to take longer because I'm completely out of pre-written stuff.

Chapter 5

"Guess that's it," Xander said after they had finished searching their assigned area.

"Yeah," Willow said. Even though it was quiet, there was a whirlwind going on in Willow's head.

Should I tell Xander I like him? I mean, he doesn't really have a serious crush right now, but… What if he rejects me? What if it causes him not to be my friend anymore? What if he completely ignores me afterwards? And I'm completely alone? What if...

"What are you thinking, Wills?" Xander said, cutting off Willow's internal dilemma.

Willow looked over at him. In that moment, a little bit of bravery shot through her.

"Xander…"

"Yeah," he replied.

"We're friends, right?"

"Of course," Xander said with a bit of confusion.

"Well… What if I told you…" Willow's resolve started to falter.

"What?"

At that moment, Willow wished for some sort of interruption. Of course, she was met by silence.

"What is it, Willow?" Xander asked.

"I like you and I want to kiss you," she blurted out, instantly regretting it.

"...Oh," Xander finally said.

"I'm sorry," she said. "Just… ignore it. It doesn't matter."

"Uh… Sure."

Willow stood up. "I'm just gonna… Go to the bathroom," she said as she ran.

"Willow," Xander said. She didn't turn around. "Willow!"

"Dang it, Harris," he muttered it himself. "You just made your best friend cry." He might not have thought of Willow that way at all, but he probably could have found a better way of saying it. Or, even just actually say it instead of just sitting there. With a sigh, he waited for the others to come back.

BtVS - A:tS - Sw9

Cordelia and Gunn broke apart, unknowingly finishing their make-out session right under where a heart-broken Willow was crying. They looked at each other.

"Why did I just do that?" Gunn said to himself, puzzled.

"You!?" Cordelia exclaimed. "What about me!? I'm the one that just kissed a loser! God, if this ever gets out at school… Just kill me now!"

"Why did I just do that?" Gunn said again, this time disgusted.

Cordelia took a deep breath. "Okay. This never happened." Gunn nodded. "If anyone asks, especially Xander! We just argued the whole time."

"This never happened."

"Right."

They quickly picked up their weapons and went to do a fast sweep of the basement, purposefully ignoring each other.

BtVS - A:tS - Sw9

Willow took a couple deep breaths as she pulled her fingers through her hair, calming herself and glanced at the mirror in front of her. She looked so… different. It wasn't just her hair, her entire face looked more mature. She had a sudden flashback to Xander complementing the new look. Before she could start crying again, she pushed the memory out of her mind and took another deep breath. It would be okay. So what if Xander didn't like her? (even though she was mentally still sobbing) She could totally find another girl that did. Girl? Where did that come from? Willow quickly shook it off. With another deep breath, she left the bathroom and headed back towards the lobby. When she got there, she saw Fred and Wesley coming down the stairs, sneaking glances at each other.

At least they like each other, Willow thought miserably. No. Happy thoughts. Like rainbows. And puppies.

Willow noticed Xander looking at her with a concerned look on his face. She ignored him.

After Cordelia and Gunn got back, the groups all gave their vampire reports, all with positive results. Well, positive meaning there wasn't an evil creature that wanted to eat them in the hotel, not like they all found vampires or anything.

"Perhaps," Wesley said, "We've been thinking about this wrong." The group looked at him, some intrigued, some bored.

"If the vampire isn't hiding in the hotel," he continued. "Then maybe it was right in front of our faces all along…"

Cordelia looked at him. She was one of the bored ones. "So… you think the vampire is one of us…" This guy was such a weirdo. She couldn't wait to get back to Sunnydale.

"Yes," he said excitedly. "That's exactly it!"

"Okay, I think that's just a bit too Hollywood for me," Buffy said. While it was nice to do something that didn't have parental supervision - burn down one gym and they never let you forget - she just wanted to go home.

Wesley looked at her, "Which is exactly what the vampire would say!"

"I'm literally wearing a cross!" she exclaimed, pulling the silver necklace closer to him so he could see. They all leaned in and saw that it was actually a cross.

"Um… Guys?" Willow said, thinking about how weird her reflection looked. "I think I might have an idea…" With a sense of deja vu, the gang looked at her

"Well, we've all been wondering how all this stuff happened… But what if we… did it…"

"What in the world are you saying?" Cordelia cut in.

"Well, what if the reason all this weird and seemingly random stuff happened because we chose to do it?"

The idea clicked in Buffy's head. "You mean like we're lost our memory?" The idea set off a lot of different reactions.

"Is that even possible?" Cordelia said, not wanting the loser she had been rejecting for years to be right.

"I have heard of this one spell…" Wesley started muttering. "But the Lethe's Bramble spell doesn't seem powerful enough to erase very much…"

"I'm not sure…" Liam broke in. He didn't understand how he could have ended up in such a strange place to begin with. The idea he just forgot how he did, seemed weird.

"Unless of course it had a very powerful caster…" Wesley ignored Liam's comment as everyone else ignored his.

Buffy gave a small frown as she absentmindedly put her hand on her right shoulder.

"It's a theory…" she hesitantly said. Buffy suddenly tightened as she felt something under her shirt.

"That I think might be right," she finished. Ignoring the strange looks she was getting, she asked Willow, "Uh, is there a bathroom on this floor?"

Willow nodded and pointed to her left, remembering from her little breakdown session. "Down that hall."

"Thanks," she said as she hurried past everyone. Once she was alone in the bathroom, she looked in the mirror and pulled down her shirt's collar to reveal a part of her shoulder. Buffy's eyes widened in shock as she saw a scar that she knew was a vampire bite. Either Willow was right, and Buffy had just forgotten the vampire that had managed to bite her, or something way creeper was going on. Buffy definitely hoped for the former, even though the idea of a vampire biting her filled her with an elephant sized feeling of dread. Besides, either way, it was definitely a vampire bite.

Calm down, Summers she told herself. It's already happened, there's nothing you can do, and it might have just given you the answer to what happened, so just calm down.

Buffy heard a knock at the door. After taking another deep breath, she opened it and saw Liam on the other side.

"Hey, Liam," she said with a smile. You so have a crush, her internal voice told her. She ignored it.

He hesitated before saying, "The others told me to ask ya to come back and wait for the, uh, demon to wake up. To ask it for information"

Buffy nodded. "Okay."

Liam hesitated again before asking. "Are you alright?"

"Um, it's fine. It's nothing to worry about." They looked at each other. "... We should probably get back."

Liam nodded and noticed something in the mirror behind her. Or, more like the lack of something. Not noticing his face, Buffy started back toward the lobby. Liam looked more closely, in case he was mistaken. He wasn't. There was no one in the mirror.

"You coming?" Buffy said, interrupting his increasing fear.

"I'm the vampire," he whispered. With one last look in the mirror, he followed after Buffy.

(I'm naming my scenes now, so you know what I'm talking about.)

Willow's Confession: Good on you for saying it, Willow. She might have taken it badly, but I totally get it. Besides, it similar to her reactions in Innocence and whenever she found out Xander slept with Faith. I got reminded of that one line from Teacher's Pet. Xander: "It's funny how the Earth never opens up and swallows you when you want it to."

Cordy/Gunn Aftermath: Keeps on reminding me of Cordy and Xander.

Willow POV Bathroom: Not so stealthy gay reference :P

Lobby: Buffy's not going to stand for you Hollywood mumbo-gumbo, Wesley (even if you are kind-of right). Also, Wes didn't wave a cross in Gunn's face because, unlike canon, they haven't talked much and, subsequently, don't not like each other (is that a sentence, or what?). This scene gave me a reasonable explanation about why Cordy shot down Willow's other idea in an earlier chapter. Unintentional (on Wesley's part, I totally knew what I was doing) reference to the events of Tabula Rasa, too.

Buffy/Liam POV Bathroom: Buffy's scar is from Graduation Day Pt. 2, Buffy v. Dracula and possibly Prophecy Girl. The reason Buffy's so upset/worried over it is based on the fact in Nightmares, one of her biggest fears was being turned (Also, being buried alive. Remember that next time you watch Bargaining.) And, so you're not confused, Buffy is far enough away and her footsteps are loud enough that she didn't hear Liam's whisper at the end.

Thanks to Starway Man for the review and ideas. You were totally right about those things. I still like the chapter, though. :) Also, if any of you have any ideas on how to put some action in the story, I'd really appreciate it ('Cause right now, the story's kind-of climax-less). I'll give you all the credit you deserve, because I don't really have any ideas. (Well, I would give you credit anyways, but...)