Whistler was gone and everyone stood around the magic shop studying Buffy and Angel, trying to figure out what they were going to do with this information. For the last few minutes they had been sitting at the table, each staring straight ahead, their minds fuzzy.
"Boy," Buffy said finally, breaking the tension that had built up.
"You can say that again," Angel murmured.
"And it's not even lunch," Cordelia said, dazed.
Willow crossed to Buffy and wrapped an arm around her, hugging her. "Are you okay?" she asked softly.
Buffy nodded. "Yeah, I am. It's a lot to take in, but…I'll be fine." She turned to Angel. "How are you?"
"Yeah, mister about-to-be-worthy…I'm guessing this goes on your top ten list of days to be undead," Xander said.
"Actually, I'm thinking tomorrow will be better," Angel mused, "after the part where I die." He caught Buffy's eyes and held them. Tentatively she offered him a smile. He returned it. Her hand slid across the table and touched his fingers. Slowly he curled them around her own and gave her arm a gentle tug. She rose and walked over to him, then wrapped her arms around him in a fierce hug.
"Tomorrow night, you could be human again," she said her voice muffled by his coat.
He didn't answer her, just held her, and gently planted a kiss on her forehead. Willow and Cordelia exchanged happy smiles.
"So," Wesley said, clearing his throat. "Where do we go from here?"
Xander stepped forward. "Sorry to return the conversation to this side of deathly serious, but can we have a review before the quiz?"
Giles walked over to the teapot and poured himself a cup. "It seems simple, actually. Sometime tomorrow evening the ten of us will gather. Angelus will be brought forth and he and Buffy will fight. If Buffy wins…when, when Buffy wins, somehow Angel's spirit will live on but the demon Angelus will be thwarted."
"Who had $10 on when one of the two Brits would say 'thwarted?'" Gunn called, looking around.
"I had 'finite'," Oz said.
"We don't need even to discuss what happens if Angelus wins," Cordy muttered. She looked up suddenly, "Not that I think that might happen!" she added quickly.
"Wrong. You need to consider that, Cordelia," Angel said. "I don't know what this spell is that's going to involve forming a circle, but I know that if Buffy fails, which you won't," he said to her and her grip on his waist tightened, "…you need to be ready to kill me then and there. Everyone goes armed."
"To the teeth," Wesley added.
"Eight on one," Oz said, "pretty good odds we'll win."
"But still chancy. Everyone goes armed," Angel repeated. "We don't know if this spell will have any after effects. If you're dazed for even a moment…don't forget, I'll remember this conversation. Angelus will be expecting you to be prepared. I…he won't stop to banter. He'll just kill."
The joyful feelings everyone had been sharing moments before were quickly vanishing as a cold, sinking feeling settled into their stomachs.
"God, I wish it didn't have to be this way," Buffy said, letting out a huge sigh.
"It's pretty amazing, though, don't you think?" Willow asked. "I mean, think about it Buffy…you and Angel are destined to be together, to fight side by side. It's…it's written! I mean, written…predestined…wow."
Buffy gave her an embarrassed smile. "Yeah…"
"It's nice," Angel said, looking into her eyes.
"Where was I when they were handing out destinies?" Xander muttered.
"I know this isn't really important," Anya said, "but who exactly is that Whistler guy?"
Buffy glanced at Angel. "He's like a messenger for the Powers That Be."
"Like Doyle was…" Cordelia said softly. Gunn took her hand and gave it a squeeze. Though never having met him, Gunn had a great amount of appreciation for Doyle; for a man that had loved Cordy and had given up his own life to save the world. "Like you are," he told her.
"And you've both met him before, but neither one of you knew about it?" Willow asked.
"I guess so," Buffy answered, looking to Angel for an explanation.
"Yeah, what's all this about you living in New York?" Cordelia asked, leaning in. "Which part of town? Hey! Did you get to see Cats on actual Broadway? Or off-Broadway even?"
Angel looked uncomfortable. "I…lived on the streets."
"You were in a gang? Like a vampire gang? Sharks and Jets kinda thing?" she asked.
"I'd think Bloods and Crypts, but something tells me Angel's never been into that," Oz said.
"No, I—I was homeless," Angel told them shamefully.
"Wow…" Cordelia said. "Really really homeless? Like cardboard box, collecting tin cans homeless?"
Angel gave her a look and she shut her mouth.
"Cordelia, please…" Wesley sighed.
"Why were you homeless?" Buffy asked softly, imaging how hard life must have been for him.
"My soul had been restored over a hundred years before. I was…lost. I didn't know what to do with my life. Figured I was doomed to live in misery forever, remembering all the horrible things I'd done."
"Then Whistler came to you," Gunn said.
Angel nodded. "He knew what I was, knew that I hadn't fed on anyone in over a hundred years. Knew it was wearing me down."
"So he took you to LA? To see Buffy?" Wesley asked.
"He asked if I wanted to become someone, told me that the Powers needed me on their side. So we went to LA. I watched Buffy, outside her school, called by Merrick."
"Who's Merrick?" Cordy asked.
"Buffy's first Watcher," Giles said softly.
Gunn looked surprised. "You weren't her first Watcher?" Giles shook his head.
"Merrick was killed by vampires," Buffy said. The bond between she and Merrick had never grown to what she had with Giles, but it had still been horrible to lose him.
"So then what? You saw her called and…?" Xander prodded. So much of Angel's past had never been revealed to them.
Angel cleared his throat. "I saw her called and watched her kill her first vampire. Then she went home and looked at herself in the mirror. Saw herself as the Slayer for the first time. And I decided I wanted to help her."
Buffy slowly moved to a chair and sat down, dumbfounded and fascinated at the same time. Angel watched her carefully.
"Why?" Willow asked suddenly.
Angel shrugged. "She needed help. She was so young…"
"No, I mean…the Powers put you two together for a reason. They called you, Angel, kinda like they called Buffy…only it seems you had a choice and she really didn't, but, still. Whistler said you two were meant to fight together, that this isn't the way things were supposed to be. You weren't ever supposed to have…been a couple…and right now you two should still be out there fighting as a team. A platonic team."
"Where're you going with this, Will?" Buffy asked.
"But why together? I mean, you both fight the big hairy evil things without each other, heck, in different cities now, and…don't take this the wrong way, but why do you have to do it together?" the red head asked. "What's so important that the Powers need you to be a team?"
"You mean, what's coming that the world needs the two of them working side by side…" Wesley said.
"Well…yeah," Willow said.
"Something big," Cordy said.
"And hairy," Xander followed her.
"And evil," Oz finished.
"Buffy," Willow said, turning to her friend. "Why did Whistler come to you?"
Buffy shifted in her seat. "Angel and Drusilla were going to wake up Acathla," she said slowly, "back when we were juniors in high school. They had kidnapped Giles, put you in the hospital, killed Ms. Calendar."
Angel hung his head.
"I knew, that night," she continued, "that I was going to have to kill him, unless you could re-curse him before he pulled the sword from Acathla's body. Whistler was at Giles' apartment. He told me that the sword wasn't enough to kill Angelus. That I had to know how to use it. He said only Angel's blood would stop it from happening, and that Acathla had to suck Angel into Hell." Her voice was very low and faraway. She paused now and Willow took her hand. "He told me that night that it wasn't supposed to be like this, that Angel was supposed to be there, helping me to stop Dru from waking up Acathla."
"But it was too late, huh?" Gunn said, admiring the strength Buffy had possessed even at such a young age.
She nodded. "The curse restored his soul but Acathla had already been woken up, so…"
No one finished the story.
"And now, he's back here again, to give us new instructions to right the way of things," Giles said.
"To make sure that you two get back together," Anya said. "The Sister always was a softy."
"Looks like it," Buffy said quietly.
"It would seem that you have an even bigger part in the scheme of things than you thought," Wesley said to Angel.
Cordelia was quiet, watching Angel. She, Wesley and Gunn all knew about the day Angel had once again been mortal. For a twenty-four hour period where his heart had beat, sunlight had warmed his skin, and Buffy had been returned to him, the love of his life. She watched him, stared at him with such intensity that he felt it and looked over at her. Interpreting her thoughts, he shook his head slightly, enough that she saw the movement and its meaning, but the rest were left in the dark. She glared at him.
"So," she said, clearing her throat, and ignoring the death threats in Angel's eyes. "What happens when Angel becomes human? He'll lose his super-strength, right?"
Giles looked up at her, surprised at her astuteness. Wesley and Gunn both glared at her. Angel
looked relieved that nothing worse had come out of her mouth.
Buffy turned to her, a curious look on her face. "I guess, so, why?"
"Well, I mean, if you two are supposed to be battling the worst the Hellmouth can throw at us, how is Angel supposed to do that without his vamp strength?" Cordelia may not have had the courage, or been mean enough, to blurt out her friends' secret, but she wasn't going down without some effort.
"I hadn't thought about that," Giles said, taking off his glasses. "I guess we'll see to that when it happens."
Angel threw her another glare and quickly steered the conversation to a safer topic. "That's not important. We need to figure out this spell. Tonight." The others nodded, slowly.
"So," Buffy said, "what do we do now? Keep researching?"
Giles nodded. "Precisely. Double our efforts. Look for anything referring to angels, circles, spheres…well, you know the drill I suppose."
"Tonight, we hit the streets. Beat up Willie the Snitch for a while, find Spike, see who's heard things. We got attacked last night and had to run…the vamps out there, they know. They told me that Angelus was coming," Buffy said.
"They knew?" Wesley asked, astounded.
"Yeah," Buffy replied, remembering with a shiver the events of the night before. "We came across what we thought were six vamps about to all-you-can-eat it up on three girls. Turns out the girls were bait. They were waiting for me and Angel, ready to attack."
"Nine on two? That's not very nice. That usually makes for a cranky Slayer," Xander said.
"We managed to dust a few of them, and would have taken out the rest, but Angel got us out before it could get worse. The vamps had a small army holed up in a warehouse right next to us. Seriously freaky."
Willow's eyes were huge. "Guess it's okay you didn't come home then."
"We were afraid they'd follow us…better to lead them away from you," Angel said.
"Did they?" Giles asked.
"No," Buffy answered him. "But, better safe than sorry."
Anya rolled her eyes, "Right. I'm sure it was a hardship for you two to spend the night together, alone, in that big mansion."
Buffy and Angel looked appropriately sheepish. Giles cleared his throat. "This may present new problems, but it does provide us with a clue. If the vampires know about the events to come, perhaps this is some sort of prophecy we haven't yet come across. May I suggest we get started?" he asked.
Giles and Wesley hit the stacks of books and began pulling out volume after volume. As they had hundreds of times before, each person grabbed a book and began scanning through it.