Part IV
4:10 AM
Angel and Buffy entered the library, carrying the unconscious vampires. Willow was intently staring into the screen of the computer, using the mouse skillfully to apparently mark certain passages of the book page on the screen. Oz watched quietly, his hand on her shoulder, occasionally pointing at something on the screen and commenting. Xander and Cordelia were sorting various documents that Willow had evidently printed out. At the entrance of Buffy and Angel, the four turned to the door, with expressions of both concern and hope.
Angel walked over to Willow, prepared for the redhead to still despise his very presence, but she was all business as she reported, "You were right, Angel. The titles you remembered were among those we scanned in last year-here's what I found." The mouse clicked a few times, and Angel impatiently read what was on the screen. He smiled at their success, and then a wild hope appeared to transfix his features. Willow saw it, and put her hand on his arm, squeezing softly while looking sadly at him and saying, "I know, I saw the possible implications too, but then I found this." The mouse clicked again, and Angel's expression quickly became one of hopelessness. Genuinely saddened, Willow whispered, "I'm sorry, Angel." Buffy heard the exchange and ran up to them. "What's the matter?"
He turned to her, and by the time she could see his face, it was once again the determined Angel she had seen for the last hour. "It doesn't matter now. We have what we need. Willow, finish printing up what we need, and I'll spend the day in here looking over the procedures. Everyone else can go home and get some rest. There's enough tranquilizer in them to keep them out for fifteen hours. . .we'll be ready to go once the sun goes down."
Willow turned back to the computer, and Angel walked down to the table where Xander and Cordelia had finished assembling the documents, and Angel began to read them, his face blank. Buffy walked over to him and put her hand over his, asking again, "Angel, please tell me what's wrong."
He looked at her, and she could see the profound sadness in his eyes. "Buffy, the only way I can live with myself is to get this done. . .right now, everything else is secondary." He sighed and commented for the benefit of the others in the room, "At least we won't have to worry about Spike and Dru. The factory is burning to the ground, and their car was gone. . .I think we won't be seeing them again, at least for a while." The others in the room visibly relaxed at this news, and Angel raised his voice, "All right, everyone else pack up and take off. I can handle it from here." Having finished printing the last of the documents, Willow shut off the computer and she and Oz joined the others at the door. Buffy lingered and requested, "You guys go ahead, I'll catch up." They headed out, and Buffy turned to Angel again. "Let me stay with you, Angel. You shouldn't have to do this alone." Angel shook his head and replied, "Buffy, I have to. It should be perfectly safe: they're down for the count, and it's Saturday, so no one will come in looking for anything. You need your sleep. Go." Without another word, he brusquely turned his back on the woman he had loved for years and resumed studying the documents. Confused and not a little hurt, Buffy turned away and left the library, leaving the room bereft of the living.
8:00 PM (the next evening)
He awakened slowly, and only gradually did he realize that he was not where he last remembered being. He and Jenny had been together in his apartment, and then he had felt dizzy and lost consciousness-what had happened? He opened his eyes and cautiously examined his surroundings. He was lying on a sleeping pad on the floor of the library, with his head resting on a comfortable pillow. He turned to his right and saw that Jenny, still asleep, was in a similar condition, and that they were both fully dressed.
He sat up and immediately spotted Buffy, who had an obvious expression of concern on her face. Nearby, he could see that some kind of ritual circle had been set up, with Willow, Oz, Xander, Cordelia and. . .no, it couldn't be. He leapt to his feet and began frantically looking around for a stake while shouting, "Buffy! My god, it's Angelus! Why are you just standing there. . .?"
His Slayer locked eyes with him and calmly replied, "It's all right, Giles. The prior tenant just got his lease renewed." It took Giles a moment to translate the Buffyspeak and look over at the vampire, who stood and nodded curtly at him. Giles, disbelieving, turned back to Buffy and asked, "Angel's back? You managed to perform the curse ceremony? Buffy. . .that's wonderful. . .but why are Jenny and I here? I don't understand. . ."
Angel walked up behind Buffy and squeezed his shoulder supportingly as she said again for the second time in two days, "It'll come to you in a moment, Giles." Her face was sad as she continued, "I'm sorry, Giles."
Jenny stirred at this point, and Giles was going to check on her when abruptly a look of abject horror crossed his face, and he almost fell. To his credit, he managed to regain his composure almost instantly and he continued to check on Jenny's condition. She looked at him in puzzlement, and he swept her up in an embrace without saying a word. After a moment, there was an anguished shriek, and Jenny Calendar began sobbing as if the world had come to an end. She pulled away from him as if his touch burned her. "Get away from me, you bastard!" She leapt to her feet, and was looking around the room when Angel walked up to her and grabbed her by the shoulders. Gently he told her, "It's all right, Jenny. Giles is in there, too, just as you are."
Realization sank in, and she turned back to the Watcher, who was sitting on the ground looking rather shell-shocked. She sat next to him and held him, whispering, "I'm sorry. . .I didn't know." She began crying again, as she wailed, "Oh God, Giles, I killed you! How could you ever bear to look at me again?" Giles was silent, and they held each other for a while before the Watcher's inherent curiosity got the better of him. He got to his feet, pulling Jenny up with him. He looked at the children who he had advised for more than a year, and there was genuine puzzlement in his voice as he asked, "How in the world did you manage to pull this off? None of you has any experience in magical operations!"
Angel cleared his throat and corrected Giles, "I do, actually. You know Angelus, never one to pass up an angle, particularly if it has pain-causing implications." He turned to Willow and commented, "I think you might want to have a little talk with Willow, too. Unless I miss my guess, she has a lot of untapped aptitude in this area." Willow smiled gently at the compliment, and Angel continued, "Her research skills were also indispensable. I remembered seeing two books with titles in the language of Jenny's people in the library, and I had leafed through them in the past, hoping to find some understanding of my condition. Unfortunately, though I've always had a talent for languages, I only understood bits and pieces of it. They had been scanned into the computer last year, and they provided the remaining understanding of the principles behind the spell that we needed to cast it without Jenny's supervision once we used Jenny's algorithm on them."
In spite of the grimness of the situation, Giles could not help but smile at the ingenuity of his friends. "Well, it seems you have done rather well in our absence, although this situation is far from id-"
Abruptly, his face fell, and he turned to Jenny, who seemed to have come to the same realization. She whispered, "The curse. . .this means we can never be together, Rupert." She looked stricken, and Giles didn't look much better.
The darker side of Buffy was tempted to say "Welcome to my world," but that would be inexcusably nasty, and besides it wasn't true, as Willow hastened to explain as she walked over to the two vampires, her face glowing with excitement. "That's not true! The books also explained the background behind the spell, and it told us something we should have been able to figure out anyway." She looked at Jenny and asked, "Didn't it strike you as strange that your people had gone to the trouble to create a curse specifically for the purpose of tormenting vampires by giving them a soul? How often would the situation arise to use such a curse? The book explained that the spell was originally created to re-ensoul clan warriors that had been transformed into vampires. . .so that they could act as kind of the Gypsy version of Slayers. . .guardians against the depredations of the undead. The intention was that the vampires would remain as part of the clan, subject to the normal limitations of being a vampire. There was no escape clause in the original spell. . .that was created later. The version we cast on you has no limitations. . .you can be together." Willow smiled, but her joy at having helped her friends save their happiness brought tears to her eyes.
Jenny's eyes were welling up too, but she managed to whisper, "Willow, that's wonderful," before embracing her younger friend. Abruptly, she pulled back and turned to Angel, who was quietly waiting, and exclaimed, "Angel, that means we can cure you completely! You and Buffy can be together. . ." Her voice trailed off, and Buffy tensed as Willow started to explain what Angel had been holding back from her until after the re-ensoulment ceremony had been completed and they were waiting for their friends to awaken: "Once the curse version of the spell has been cast on a vampire, the non-curse version will never work on that same vampire. . .it's a nasty side-effect that your people put into the curse to avoid a vampire finding the non-limiting version and using it to escape punishment."
Jenny turned to Angel, feeling overwhelming guilt at the burden her people had put on her friend: "Oh, Angel. . .I'm so sorry. If there's anything I can do. . .?" He looked at her and laughed bitterly. "Do you think that I have the slightest right to blame you for anything?" He turned away from her, unable to face the victim of yet another of Angelus' crimes.
"All right, that's enough of that for right now." Buffy's voice firmly brought their attention back to more immediate matters, and the newly ensouled vampires listened intently as the Slayer spoke quietly. "Before this night is over, we're going to have to decide how you want to deal with this, and I'll support you in however you want it handled. But, first, I have things I want to say to both of you." She turned to Jenny and said softly, "I thought I had apologized to you before, but it turned out I was pouring out my heart to a demon, so I'm going to say it again, and some more. I was so wrong to do what I did. . .you managed to be my friend even with a lifetime of urging from your people that should have prevented it. You've helped us more times than I can easily count, and I repaid you by driving you off and keeping you away from a man who loves you. I was wrong. . .you are my friend. . .you are his friend. . .and I will make things right, even if I have to live a thousand years to do it." She embraced the Gypsy vampire, and tears were shed before she turned to her mentor, who was gazing at his Slayer with a look of naked pride.
Buffy walked up to Giles and said quietly, "You know, you're a stuffy, difficult bastard sometimes. I got to think that you didn't have a clue what it is like to be seventeen with the weight of the world on your shoulders. I was wrong. . .you knew exactly what it was like. . .you threw out the rule book when you met me, and you've done more to keep me alive and kicking than anyone in this room, and that's saying a hell of a lot. I love you, Giles, and I always will." She walked away, then turned back to Jenny and Giles. "Angel pointed out that you just might not want to go on like this, given how you both feel about vampires in general, and I realized that he was right. . .I'm not sure I could manage, if I was in your place."" She looked at the floor for a moment, gathering her strength, before continuing, tears streaming down her cheeks. "If you don't want to deal with this, I'll do whatever you want to. . .end things in whatever way you want it. I'll. . .stake you. . .I'll take that nasty broadsword out of the weapons cabinet and do it that way. Or if you want to walk out into the sunlight together, I'll . . .let you. . .I'll even watch, if you need someone to bear witness." Her voice remained even, though the tears continued to flow, "Or if you want to make a go of it, I'll help you do it. . .we all will." Overcome by the torrent of emotions, she sank into a nearby chair and began sobbing, with her head buried in her folded arms. Angel stood behind her as if to lend her strength by his presence, and stayed there silently as she continued to sob.
Giles looked at Jenny, and a moment's silent communion followed before they walked over to the crying young woman who had so influenced their lives. After a moment, she sensed their presence and looked up in expectation. Giles sighed and commented, "Well, Jenny, I suppose you're going to need a new job. I've been in that classroom, and there's far too much sunlight for comfort."
As Jenny nodded and contemplated some job offers she had received in the recent past, Buffy leapt to her feet and gave Giles a hug that would have made oxygen an issue if he still needed it: as it was, he accepted the mild discomfort and just held her as the others came up to offered their well wishes. Only Angel held back, and any observer would have noted that, at least for a moment, the aura of melancholy that surrounded him perpetually had eased somewhat.
As always, comments are welcome and desired.
4:10 AM
Angel and Buffy entered the library, carrying the unconscious vampires. Willow was intently staring into the screen of the computer, using the mouse skillfully to apparently mark certain passages of the book page on the screen. Oz watched quietly, his hand on her shoulder, occasionally pointing at something on the screen and commenting. Xander and Cordelia were sorting various documents that Willow had evidently printed out. At the entrance of Buffy and Angel, the four turned to the door, with expressions of both concern and hope.
Angel walked over to Willow, prepared for the redhead to still despise his very presence, but she was all business as she reported, "You were right, Angel. The titles you remembered were among those we scanned in last year-here's what I found." The mouse clicked a few times, and Angel impatiently read what was on the screen. He smiled at their success, and then a wild hope appeared to transfix his features. Willow saw it, and put her hand on his arm, squeezing softly while looking sadly at him and saying, "I know, I saw the possible implications too, but then I found this." The mouse clicked again, and Angel's expression quickly became one of hopelessness. Genuinely saddened, Willow whispered, "I'm sorry, Angel." Buffy heard the exchange and ran up to them. "What's the matter?"
He turned to her, and by the time she could see his face, it was once again the determined Angel she had seen for the last hour. "It doesn't matter now. We have what we need. Willow, finish printing up what we need, and I'll spend the day in here looking over the procedures. Everyone else can go home and get some rest. There's enough tranquilizer in them to keep them out for fifteen hours. . .we'll be ready to go once the sun goes down."
Willow turned back to the computer, and Angel walked down to the table where Xander and Cordelia had finished assembling the documents, and Angel began to read them, his face blank. Buffy walked over to him and put her hand over his, asking again, "Angel, please tell me what's wrong."
He looked at her, and she could see the profound sadness in his eyes. "Buffy, the only way I can live with myself is to get this done. . .right now, everything else is secondary." He sighed and commented for the benefit of the others in the room, "At least we won't have to worry about Spike and Dru. The factory is burning to the ground, and their car was gone. . .I think we won't be seeing them again, at least for a while." The others in the room visibly relaxed at this news, and Angel raised his voice, "All right, everyone else pack up and take off. I can handle it from here." Having finished printing the last of the documents, Willow shut off the computer and she and Oz joined the others at the door. Buffy lingered and requested, "You guys go ahead, I'll catch up." They headed out, and Buffy turned to Angel again. "Let me stay with you, Angel. You shouldn't have to do this alone." Angel shook his head and replied, "Buffy, I have to. It should be perfectly safe: they're down for the count, and it's Saturday, so no one will come in looking for anything. You need your sleep. Go." Without another word, he brusquely turned his back on the woman he had loved for years and resumed studying the documents. Confused and not a little hurt, Buffy turned away and left the library, leaving the room bereft of the living.
8:00 PM (the next evening)
He awakened slowly, and only gradually did he realize that he was not where he last remembered being. He and Jenny had been together in his apartment, and then he had felt dizzy and lost consciousness-what had happened? He opened his eyes and cautiously examined his surroundings. He was lying on a sleeping pad on the floor of the library, with his head resting on a comfortable pillow. He turned to his right and saw that Jenny, still asleep, was in a similar condition, and that they were both fully dressed.
He sat up and immediately spotted Buffy, who had an obvious expression of concern on her face. Nearby, he could see that some kind of ritual circle had been set up, with Willow, Oz, Xander, Cordelia and. . .no, it couldn't be. He leapt to his feet and began frantically looking around for a stake while shouting, "Buffy! My god, it's Angelus! Why are you just standing there. . .?"
His Slayer locked eyes with him and calmly replied, "It's all right, Giles. The prior tenant just got his lease renewed." It took Giles a moment to translate the Buffyspeak and look over at the vampire, who stood and nodded curtly at him. Giles, disbelieving, turned back to Buffy and asked, "Angel's back? You managed to perform the curse ceremony? Buffy. . .that's wonderful. . .but why are Jenny and I here? I don't understand. . ."
Angel walked up behind Buffy and squeezed his shoulder supportingly as she said again for the second time in two days, "It'll come to you in a moment, Giles." Her face was sad as she continued, "I'm sorry, Giles."
Jenny stirred at this point, and Giles was going to check on her when abruptly a look of abject horror crossed his face, and he almost fell. To his credit, he managed to regain his composure almost instantly and he continued to check on Jenny's condition. She looked at him in puzzlement, and he swept her up in an embrace without saying a word. After a moment, there was an anguished shriek, and Jenny Calendar began sobbing as if the world had come to an end. She pulled away from him as if his touch burned her. "Get away from me, you bastard!" She leapt to her feet, and was looking around the room when Angel walked up to her and grabbed her by the shoulders. Gently he told her, "It's all right, Jenny. Giles is in there, too, just as you are."
Realization sank in, and she turned back to the Watcher, who was sitting on the ground looking rather shell-shocked. She sat next to him and held him, whispering, "I'm sorry. . .I didn't know." She began crying again, as she wailed, "Oh God, Giles, I killed you! How could you ever bear to look at me again?" Giles was silent, and they held each other for a while before the Watcher's inherent curiosity got the better of him. He got to his feet, pulling Jenny up with him. He looked at the children who he had advised for more than a year, and there was genuine puzzlement in his voice as he asked, "How in the world did you manage to pull this off? None of you has any experience in magical operations!"
Angel cleared his throat and corrected Giles, "I do, actually. You know Angelus, never one to pass up an angle, particularly if it has pain-causing implications." He turned to Willow and commented, "I think you might want to have a little talk with Willow, too. Unless I miss my guess, she has a lot of untapped aptitude in this area." Willow smiled gently at the compliment, and Angel continued, "Her research skills were also indispensable. I remembered seeing two books with titles in the language of Jenny's people in the library, and I had leafed through them in the past, hoping to find some understanding of my condition. Unfortunately, though I've always had a talent for languages, I only understood bits and pieces of it. They had been scanned into the computer last year, and they provided the remaining understanding of the principles behind the spell that we needed to cast it without Jenny's supervision once we used Jenny's algorithm on them."
In spite of the grimness of the situation, Giles could not help but smile at the ingenuity of his friends. "Well, it seems you have done rather well in our absence, although this situation is far from id-"
Abruptly, his face fell, and he turned to Jenny, who seemed to have come to the same realization. She whispered, "The curse. . .this means we can never be together, Rupert." She looked stricken, and Giles didn't look much better.
The darker side of Buffy was tempted to say "Welcome to my world," but that would be inexcusably nasty, and besides it wasn't true, as Willow hastened to explain as she walked over to the two vampires, her face glowing with excitement. "That's not true! The books also explained the background behind the spell, and it told us something we should have been able to figure out anyway." She looked at Jenny and asked, "Didn't it strike you as strange that your people had gone to the trouble to create a curse specifically for the purpose of tormenting vampires by giving them a soul? How often would the situation arise to use such a curse? The book explained that the spell was originally created to re-ensoul clan warriors that had been transformed into vampires. . .so that they could act as kind of the Gypsy version of Slayers. . .guardians against the depredations of the undead. The intention was that the vampires would remain as part of the clan, subject to the normal limitations of being a vampire. There was no escape clause in the original spell. . .that was created later. The version we cast on you has no limitations. . .you can be together." Willow smiled, but her joy at having helped her friends save their happiness brought tears to her eyes.
Jenny's eyes were welling up too, but she managed to whisper, "Willow, that's wonderful," before embracing her younger friend. Abruptly, she pulled back and turned to Angel, who was quietly waiting, and exclaimed, "Angel, that means we can cure you completely! You and Buffy can be together. . ." Her voice trailed off, and Buffy tensed as Willow started to explain what Angel had been holding back from her until after the re-ensoulment ceremony had been completed and they were waiting for their friends to awaken: "Once the curse version of the spell has been cast on a vampire, the non-curse version will never work on that same vampire. . .it's a nasty side-effect that your people put into the curse to avoid a vampire finding the non-limiting version and using it to escape punishment."
Jenny turned to Angel, feeling overwhelming guilt at the burden her people had put on her friend: "Oh, Angel. . .I'm so sorry. If there's anything I can do. . .?" He looked at her and laughed bitterly. "Do you think that I have the slightest right to blame you for anything?" He turned away from her, unable to face the victim of yet another of Angelus' crimes.
"All right, that's enough of that for right now." Buffy's voice firmly brought their attention back to more immediate matters, and the newly ensouled vampires listened intently as the Slayer spoke quietly. "Before this night is over, we're going to have to decide how you want to deal with this, and I'll support you in however you want it handled. But, first, I have things I want to say to both of you." She turned to Jenny and said softly, "I thought I had apologized to you before, but it turned out I was pouring out my heart to a demon, so I'm going to say it again, and some more. I was so wrong to do what I did. . .you managed to be my friend even with a lifetime of urging from your people that should have prevented it. You've helped us more times than I can easily count, and I repaid you by driving you off and keeping you away from a man who loves you. I was wrong. . .you are my friend. . .you are his friend. . .and I will make things right, even if I have to live a thousand years to do it." She embraced the Gypsy vampire, and tears were shed before she turned to her mentor, who was gazing at his Slayer with a look of naked pride.
Buffy walked up to Giles and said quietly, "You know, you're a stuffy, difficult bastard sometimes. I got to think that you didn't have a clue what it is like to be seventeen with the weight of the world on your shoulders. I was wrong. . .you knew exactly what it was like. . .you threw out the rule book when you met me, and you've done more to keep me alive and kicking than anyone in this room, and that's saying a hell of a lot. I love you, Giles, and I always will." She walked away, then turned back to Jenny and Giles. "Angel pointed out that you just might not want to go on like this, given how you both feel about vampires in general, and I realized that he was right. . .I'm not sure I could manage, if I was in your place."" She looked at the floor for a moment, gathering her strength, before continuing, tears streaming down her cheeks. "If you don't want to deal with this, I'll do whatever you want to. . .end things in whatever way you want it. I'll. . .stake you. . .I'll take that nasty broadsword out of the weapons cabinet and do it that way. Or if you want to walk out into the sunlight together, I'll . . .let you. . .I'll even watch, if you need someone to bear witness." Her voice remained even, though the tears continued to flow, "Or if you want to make a go of it, I'll help you do it. . .we all will." Overcome by the torrent of emotions, she sank into a nearby chair and began sobbing, with her head buried in her folded arms. Angel stood behind her as if to lend her strength by his presence, and stayed there silently as she continued to sob.
Giles looked at Jenny, and a moment's silent communion followed before they walked over to the crying young woman who had so influenced their lives. After a moment, she sensed their presence and looked up in expectation. Giles sighed and commented, "Well, Jenny, I suppose you're going to need a new job. I've been in that classroom, and there's far too much sunlight for comfort."
As Jenny nodded and contemplated some job offers she had received in the recent past, Buffy leapt to her feet and gave Giles a hug that would have made oxygen an issue if he still needed it: as it was, he accepted the mild discomfort and just held her as the others came up to offered their well wishes. Only Angel held back, and any observer would have noted that, at least for a moment, the aura of melancholy that surrounded him perpetually had eased somewhat.
As always, comments are welcome and desired.