Buffy walked vacuously down through the school the next day. Inside her head she ran over what Jenny had just told them: she'd discovered Angel's cure, to restore his soul. But he'd thrown her computer on the floor and burned the printout. Was it truly possible, to change him back to his old soulful, brooding ego that she'd fallen in love with so long ago? Her thoughts were broken by the presence of the four teens gathering at her sides, her friends, all again with their significant others. Xander smiled weakly to boost the Slayer's moral, his hand and wrist bandaged and clean. Cordelia was fixing her makeup with her compact mirror, and Oz and Willow were their happy-go-lucky selves. The only one of the group who actually looked depressed was herself. They neared the library, and through the window in the door they saw Ms. Calendar and Giles chatting. Buffy put away her thoughts of gloominess, grinned as best she could and entered. Jenny glanced up first. She looked horrible, like she'd been crying non stop since they rescued her the night before. Her eyes were red and puffy and there were circles under them. The handkerchief Giles held to her face was wet as they caught her tears. The watcher patted her back and stood up.
"Ah, there you are. I suppose you've all been…thinking?"
"Can it really happen? Did you really find the curse?" Buffy squeaked out. Jenny nodded and took Giles' handkerchief again.
"I-I did. It's on this little yellow disk in my room that I guess he didn't see. We could get it and load it onto Willow's laptop, but I need an…Orb of Thesula. He smashed the one I bought and the guy at the shop probably won't let me have another one because he was hesitant to sell me it yesterday. I'm sorry, this was kind of a plan to get you guys to forgive me…but…" Ms. Calendar sobbed. Willow ran over and wrapped her arm around the computer teacher.
"Ms. Calendar, don't cry. You tried. And we have the disk; all we need is the Orb, right? I could go out after school and get one, he won't suspect it being for the same reason."
"A question," Xander stated. "Why restore his soul? Why bring him back? Next time we see him, stake through the heart; boom he's gone. Was that so hard? If he thinks we still have a heart for him, he'll just keep trying to go after us."
"Xander, I can't believe-"
"That I'm telling the truth? Recall that I haven't liked Dead Boy since we met. And when you are hopping down memory lane on your merry travels, just remember who was the only one there who could have brought you back. He couldn't do it. Because he couldn't breath. And there were only two of us there." Slayer and slayerette glared deeply at each other. Xander turned on his heels and stormed out of the library.
"Bravo Miss Full of Herself. Now I have to go calm him down. You really have to-"
"Don't you start Cordelia," Buffy turned her eyes to the May Queen. Cordy went out after Xander.
"I just hope we still have the disk…when I went back to get my purse, the window to the lab was open and there was a book knocked from the top of my cabinet…He may have gone back. And got it." The computer teacher wiped her eyes with Giles' hand cloth and gave it back. "Willow, could you go take over my class this afternoon? I'm going to go home, maybe I can get some sleep knowing he can't get in…" Ms. Calendar slugged her purse over her shoulder. Willow brightened.
"Right! Good! I get to be substitute, and at the same time I can look for the disk! Two birds with one stone." The bell rang shrilly from outside the door. Buffy grimaced and picked up her books again.
"English. Paper due. I forgot about it. Why can't I ever use the excuse that I was out all night trying to make sure my ex didn't kill anyone?" the girls and the werewolf disappeared into the hallway, Oz's arm still affectionately draped around Willow.
Jenny stood up from her place and prepared to go as well when Giles caught her arm.
"I want you to be careful," he said delicately. His tone was full of betrayed love.
"I will. I'm just going home. If I'm lucky I'll sleep right through this whole mess. And when it's over my Prince Charming will hopefully wake me up. My total lack of sleep the past few nights is evident, isn't it?"
"Indeed…Jenny, please. Don't go out at night unless you have at least one of us with you or a very large cross at hand. If my journals on Angel are up-to-date, he will stop at nothing once he has a victim in sight…And I must distress that one of my more priceless volumes on witchcraft was stolen last night. It contained a fair amount of powerful magick; time modification, identity alterations, and the sort. No need to be worrying, you, uh, should be off. You look atrocious, not in the offensive way, just, ah-"
"Rupert, I get it. I'm a mess. I'll try to have sweet dreams, and maybe we can all rest a little easier when we get Angel under control." She went to leave but gave him something he wasn't expecting: a heart filled kiss that left a small red smudge on his lips. Jenny hurried out before he could gather himself and process what had happened.
"Oh my…" he stared at the entrance after the technopagen. Then his head clicked; he needed to find that volume and perhaps any new information he could uncover on Angelus.