TITLE: BUFFY'S TURN 18\?
AUTHOR: RICK
E-MAIL: amulet@my-dejanews.com
SUMMARY: Lest everyone forgets. This fic has Buffy going off the deep end with Spike and Faith in the beginning. Xander doesn't give up on her. He saves her so to speak, nothing new there. Buffy falls in love with him, big time. He doesn't know it of course, partly because he and the Scooby gang are involved in extra-curricular activities. They are about to come up against an evil that dwarfs the usual hell mouth variety, where the bad guys all wear white hats too.
Chapter: 18- Angel To The Rescue.
While Buffy and Willow cry to each other Tara looks around for Dawn. She finds her sitting on the steps to the second level of the shop staring into space. The teenager is in total shock. Maybe she doesn't really belong to Joyce but she is certainly the only mother she has ever known. And she may not have adult love for Xander, as Buffy does, but she loves him, nevertheless. He is perfect in her eyes. He is funny and handsome and cool and she knows he loves her. Maybe not like he loves Buffy but he does love her. No one is going to tell her differently.
She doesn't believe for one moment that he hurt Joyce. Or, if he did, he must be under a spell or something. But, she has to do everything she can to help Buffy get Joyce back
Buffy comes looking for her. The slayer engages her in a long hug. She has to tell Buffy how she feels.
"Buffy, it can't be Xander, it can't!"
Buffy feels the same way but her sense must over ride her feelings right now. The note is in Xander's handwriting. And her mother did say it was Xander. Joyce knows Buffy loves Xander and that Dawn loves him too. She would never have said it was him if she wasn't sure. Buffy and Dawn cry their hearts out. But then Buffy breaks their hug. She has to come up with a plan to get her mother back.
The cloned Giles leaves the magic shop under the guise of checking out some contacts. Every one else stays there for the time being. After an hour or so of going over a few possible plans of action Angel and Cordelia come into the shop.
Angel and Buffy stare at each other for a moment before either can speak. To be truthful Buffy has thought very little about Angel. She thought about him all the time she was with Riley but since she found her love for Xander the vampire comes up very little. But, now it is different.
For Angel's part he has mixed feelings. He still loves Buffy. He was very civil to Xander when the boy visited LA. Part of that was because he liked the idea of having the boy in a different place than Buffy. The vampire has always known that Xander is the only real rival he has for Buffy. Angel had heard from Cordelia that the reason Buffy went on her wild streak was because Xander left Part of the reason Angel wanted to come back to Sunnydale was to see just how much of a hold the boy has on her. He is heart broken for Buffy about Joyce but part of him will have no problem attacking Xander if he is the one who has her. In his more truthful moments he cannot understand how Buffy could possibly have deep feelings for him. He would like nothing more than to put him out of his misery. Obviously he feels he could beat the boy very easily. He may have killed a daemon or two but he is certainly not in Angel's class.
After greeting everyone Angel leads Buffy to Giles's office.
"Buffy, I swear to you I'll get her back I know the boy is your friend but he has obviously changed sides."
Buffy furrows her brow. She sees something in Angel's eyes she doesn't like.
"Angel, I just want my mother back."
"I know you do, Buffy, and I'll get her."
Buffy closes her eyes. "Angel, do you think Xander...phew, do you think Xander could have done this?"
"Buffy, I'm sorry, it doesn't matter what you or I think. He did it...you heard your mom. Now lets get her back."
The slayer is lost. For the moment she finds comfort in Angel's arms. They stare at each other. Dawn comes into the room before anything else happens.
"Buffy, Giles called, he wants to know if you and Angel have a plan. He is going to go back to Ethan Hawkes place to see if he can find any clues."
Buffy, Angel, Willow, Tara, Cordelia and Dawn do some brainstorming. The slayer speaks.
"So first Xander and Oz are set up by somebody. Then Xander doesn't want either Willow or I involved in solving that."
Angel takes over. "Then the thing with your mother. Buffy, is there something Xander and Oz wanted to hide from the rest of you?"
Willow speaks up. "I really don't think Oz is involved in anything to harm your mother, Buffy."
Buffy gets a little upset at that. "But, Xander would, Willow? Now who's being naive?"
Angel speaks again. "Look it's a good bet that whatever Xander is doing Oz is his partner."
Buffy starts to cry again but Angel goes to her. "Look, Buffy, we have to do this now so dry the tears and lets come up with a plan."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The first thing Xander and Oz do is go see Willy at the bar. He is still a good source of info. He even occasionally has a tidbit from the black opps world. They have reached a very workable arrangement with the man. If anyone is in the bar they do the roughhouse routine to cover Willie. If not they just give him the money for whatever information he might have. The bar is empty but Willie gets very nervous.
"Listen, Xander, just leave, I have nothing for you."
"Willie, please, we're really up against it here." Xander lets him see a roll of hundreds. Willie might be scared of something but that much money is very hard to turn down. He stares at Xander before he speaks.
"This is big time stuff kid. Everybody's involved, even your slayers ex. They have some kind of ace in the hole. Be wary of that watcher he's not who you think he is."
They give him the money. Oz feels he has to warn the man.
"Willie, it's going to get very rough, they're taking out everybody who knows us."
"Thanks for the warning."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`
They hop into the van. "Well, lets go pay Giles a visit if it really is Giles."
Oz is puzzled. "Do you think they could somehow do something to Giles?"
"Oz, do you remember when we were in training and we were suppose to break into one of the buildings on campus?"
"Yea, and we hit the wrong one."
"When you and I split up I went into this really weird room. There was a whole set of dead bodies, or at least that's what I thought they were, laying on tables. And I swear they looked like some of the people who run that place."
"You mean like clones or something?"
"Whatever they were it was very weird."
"You think they somehow replaced Giles?"
"That would make sense out of what Willie said."
"When I juice myself up my senses get very sharp. I could probably tell if it is Giles."
"Sounds good except, what the hell are we going to do if it isn't Giles?"
"We can't take him out. I guess we'll have to try to get him to take us to the real Giles."
"They'll probably be watching all those guys, lets try his house first."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`
Buffy and company decide they have to beat the bushes until they find some clues. Buffy and Willow still cannot believe that Xander is evil.
"You know, Will, I...I never dreamed I could love Xander like I do. This is the worst nightmare I can imagine. It's my mother and yet...I just can't believe it's Xander."
"Lets go, Buffy. We need to stop over at Giles's house to see if he has anything."
Buffy rides in the car with Angel. The vampire tries to talk to her.
"We'll get her back, Buffy, that little boy has no idea who he is messing with!"
Buffy just sighs as Angel continues.
"He really hurt you didn't he Buffy?"
"He didn't hurt me, Angel, in fact he saved me...again."
Angel is getting upset. "I don't get it, Buffy?"
"Look, Angel, I'm having a hard time believing that the Xander I've known for the past five years did this, okay?"
"Well, he did it, okay!"
"What are you, glad he did it?"
"What's that suppose to mean, Buffy?"
"It means you never liked him to begin with, Angel. And now that I lo..And now you like him even less."
"I didn't make him evil, Buffy!"
"He's not evil, Angel, whatever is going on he's not evil!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Oz and Xander pull up about half a block from Giles's house. They spot a car with two guys in it. Xander has a plan. "
"Lets go in the back. If we have to take him with us you get the car I'll take care of the guards and bring him out the front."
"Sounds like a plan."
They go in the back. They walk into the living room. The cloned Giles was on the phone. When he sees Xander and Oz he puts it down. He is very nervous. Our heroes get close. Just from The reaction to their presence Xander is guessing Willie knew what he was talking about.
"What do you think, Oz?"
"Not even close."
Oz heads back to the van. He begins to drive it onto the pavement in front of Giles's house.
Buffy and the rest of the gang turn the corner to go down Giles's street. Buffy sees the van.
Meanwhile Xander is in the house. He talks to the clone.
"We're taking you somewhere. If you don't co-operate I'll just shoot you. If bullets don't kill you I'll slice off your fucking head. You got it?"
The clone is frozen. He knows Xander is speaking the truth. As he opens the front door Buffy and Angel are getting out of his car. She sees Xander half dragging the clone to the van.
"Shit, Xander, what the hell are you doing?"
Before he can say anything a shot rings out close to the van. The two guys from across the street open up on Xander and Oz.
The clone tries to get away. Xander slams him with the gun and throws him into the Van Oz peels out. Xander shoots out the tires of the car following them. It flips over and crashes into a tree.
Buffy just stares at the Van as it disappears down the street. Angel looks at her.
"Are you satisfied now, Buffy?"
She doesn't say anything. He grabs her roughly. "Are you?"
Buffy can only cry. She buries herself on Angel's shoulder. The vampire softens.
"I'm sorry, Buffy, I really am."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Oz and Xander take the fake Giles to an abandoned warehouse. They tie him up. Xander questions him.
"Look, whatever you are we have no beef with you. But, you have to talk with us. What is your mission?"
"I'm Rupert Giles. My mission is to be Rupert Giles."
"Okay, listen, where did you come from? I mean when you became Rupert Giles?"
Oz puts a gun to his head. "Are you programmed to feel fear? You were endangering our friends. If I were you I'd be afraid of us."
Xander and Oz talk. "Oz, I have to go see Buffy. Did you see the look on her face? She thinks I actually hit Giles."
"Okay, I'll work on this...thing, whatever it is."
"At least if we can get him to tell us where he comes from. That's probably where they have Giles."
Xander circles slowly in the cemetery. He has no idea if they are following Buffy or not. He sees Angel.
"Hey, Angel, I only have a few minutes. Is Buffy..."
That's as much as he gets put before Angel belts him in the side of the head. He gets up.
"Angel, what the hell are you doing?"
The vampire calls to two men who come toward Xander. Xander stares at the vampire as he defends himself from the attackers. He knocks them both out but not before sustaining a huge cut on the side of his face. Angel is still there. He tackles him. Just as he does Buffy comes into the cemetery. All she sees is Xander attacking Angel. The boy gets a punch in. Buffy rushes to him. When he sees her he tries to talk to her.
"Buffy, what the hell is going on?"
"That's my question, Xander?"
Before he can answer her Angel is on him again. He eludes him. He yells to Buffy as he is running.
"God damn you Buffy, I loved you so much!"
Buffy just stares as the boy runs away. Angel jumps up. He looks at Buffy.
"Why didn't you run after him, Buffy?"
Buffy can't say anything. All she can do is stare. The look on Xander's face was terrifying. Angel shakes her.
"Damn it, Buffy, do you love him that much? What does he have to do kill us all before you'll do your job?"
Buffy stares at Angel with tears in her eyes. He gets her out of the cemetery before she sees the other two guys who were with him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`
Xander can't believe it. Angel sold him out. Those two guys who attacked him were from the agency. That was bad enough but...Buffy was there. It was her, not a clone. No way they would fool him with a clone of her. But, is she involved in all of this? His heart is telling him no but he has to believe his eyes. That was Buffy and...She's working with the agency. He goes back to the warehouse.
"We have big troubles, Oz. Angel is in on it and...phew, ...Buffy too!"
"Shit, Xander, this gets more awful by the minute."
Xander has to be by himself and cry for a while. He's not going to stop himself. He doesn't care if it's manly or not. If Buffy is on there side he has very little left to salvage here. This isn't something he can forgive. This is for keeps, a war where there are no prisoners.
He comes back. "Oz, as far as we know they're all in on it. It might just be me and you, man!"
"Xander, I'm not ready to die yet. Let's just get a plan and do it step by step. Let's not wait to see what they do anymore."
"We'll hunt them!"
"It has my vote."
"I tell you right now, if Buffy is in on it I have very little left to lose"
"I hear you Xander but, we can't let them bastards win, we just can't!"
"Okay, lets start with that clone in there. If he can't be of use we have no reason to let him hang around."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR: RICK
E-MAIL: amulet@my-dejanews.com
SUMMARY: Lest everyone forgets. This fic has Buffy going off the deep end with Spike and Faith in the beginning. Xander doesn't give up on her. He saves her so to speak, nothing new there. Buffy falls in love with him, big time. He doesn't know it of course, partly because he and the Scooby gang are involved in extra-curricular activities. They are about to come up against an evil that dwarfs the usual hell mouth variety, where the bad guys all wear white hats too.
Chapter: 18- Angel To The Rescue.
While Buffy and Willow cry to each other Tara looks around for Dawn. She finds her sitting on the steps to the second level of the shop staring into space. The teenager is in total shock. Maybe she doesn't really belong to Joyce but she is certainly the only mother she has ever known. And she may not have adult love for Xander, as Buffy does, but she loves him, nevertheless. He is perfect in her eyes. He is funny and handsome and cool and she knows he loves her. Maybe not like he loves Buffy but he does love her. No one is going to tell her differently.
She doesn't believe for one moment that he hurt Joyce. Or, if he did, he must be under a spell or something. But, she has to do everything she can to help Buffy get Joyce back
Buffy comes looking for her. The slayer engages her in a long hug. She has to tell Buffy how she feels.
"Buffy, it can't be Xander, it can't!"
Buffy feels the same way but her sense must over ride her feelings right now. The note is in Xander's handwriting. And her mother did say it was Xander. Joyce knows Buffy loves Xander and that Dawn loves him too. She would never have said it was him if she wasn't sure. Buffy and Dawn cry their hearts out. But then Buffy breaks their hug. She has to come up with a plan to get her mother back.
The cloned Giles leaves the magic shop under the guise of checking out some contacts. Every one else stays there for the time being. After an hour or so of going over a few possible plans of action Angel and Cordelia come into the shop.
Angel and Buffy stare at each other for a moment before either can speak. To be truthful Buffy has thought very little about Angel. She thought about him all the time she was with Riley but since she found her love for Xander the vampire comes up very little. But, now it is different.
For Angel's part he has mixed feelings. He still loves Buffy. He was very civil to Xander when the boy visited LA. Part of that was because he liked the idea of having the boy in a different place than Buffy. The vampire has always known that Xander is the only real rival he has for Buffy. Angel had heard from Cordelia that the reason Buffy went on her wild streak was because Xander left Part of the reason Angel wanted to come back to Sunnydale was to see just how much of a hold the boy has on her. He is heart broken for Buffy about Joyce but part of him will have no problem attacking Xander if he is the one who has her. In his more truthful moments he cannot understand how Buffy could possibly have deep feelings for him. He would like nothing more than to put him out of his misery. Obviously he feels he could beat the boy very easily. He may have killed a daemon or two but he is certainly not in Angel's class.
After greeting everyone Angel leads Buffy to Giles's office.
"Buffy, I swear to you I'll get her back I know the boy is your friend but he has obviously changed sides."
Buffy furrows her brow. She sees something in Angel's eyes she doesn't like.
"Angel, I just want my mother back."
"I know you do, Buffy, and I'll get her."
Buffy closes her eyes. "Angel, do you think Xander...phew, do you think Xander could have done this?"
"Buffy, I'm sorry, it doesn't matter what you or I think. He did it...you heard your mom. Now lets get her back."
The slayer is lost. For the moment she finds comfort in Angel's arms. They stare at each other. Dawn comes into the room before anything else happens.
"Buffy, Giles called, he wants to know if you and Angel have a plan. He is going to go back to Ethan Hawkes place to see if he can find any clues."
Buffy, Angel, Willow, Tara, Cordelia and Dawn do some brainstorming. The slayer speaks.
"So first Xander and Oz are set up by somebody. Then Xander doesn't want either Willow or I involved in solving that."
Angel takes over. "Then the thing with your mother. Buffy, is there something Xander and Oz wanted to hide from the rest of you?"
Willow speaks up. "I really don't think Oz is involved in anything to harm your mother, Buffy."
Buffy gets a little upset at that. "But, Xander would, Willow? Now who's being naive?"
Angel speaks again. "Look it's a good bet that whatever Xander is doing Oz is his partner."
Buffy starts to cry again but Angel goes to her. "Look, Buffy, we have to do this now so dry the tears and lets come up with a plan."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The first thing Xander and Oz do is go see Willy at the bar. He is still a good source of info. He even occasionally has a tidbit from the black opps world. They have reached a very workable arrangement with the man. If anyone is in the bar they do the roughhouse routine to cover Willie. If not they just give him the money for whatever information he might have. The bar is empty but Willie gets very nervous.
"Listen, Xander, just leave, I have nothing for you."
"Willie, please, we're really up against it here." Xander lets him see a roll of hundreds. Willie might be scared of something but that much money is very hard to turn down. He stares at Xander before he speaks.
"This is big time stuff kid. Everybody's involved, even your slayers ex. They have some kind of ace in the hole. Be wary of that watcher he's not who you think he is."
They give him the money. Oz feels he has to warn the man.
"Willie, it's going to get very rough, they're taking out everybody who knows us."
"Thanks for the warning."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`
They hop into the van. "Well, lets go pay Giles a visit if it really is Giles."
Oz is puzzled. "Do you think they could somehow do something to Giles?"
"Oz, do you remember when we were in training and we were suppose to break into one of the buildings on campus?"
"Yea, and we hit the wrong one."
"When you and I split up I went into this really weird room. There was a whole set of dead bodies, or at least that's what I thought they were, laying on tables. And I swear they looked like some of the people who run that place."
"You mean like clones or something?"
"Whatever they were it was very weird."
"You think they somehow replaced Giles?"
"That would make sense out of what Willie said."
"When I juice myself up my senses get very sharp. I could probably tell if it is Giles."
"Sounds good except, what the hell are we going to do if it isn't Giles?"
"We can't take him out. I guess we'll have to try to get him to take us to the real Giles."
"They'll probably be watching all those guys, lets try his house first."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`
Buffy and company decide they have to beat the bushes until they find some clues. Buffy and Willow still cannot believe that Xander is evil.
"You know, Will, I...I never dreamed I could love Xander like I do. This is the worst nightmare I can imagine. It's my mother and yet...I just can't believe it's Xander."
"Lets go, Buffy. We need to stop over at Giles's house to see if he has anything."
Buffy rides in the car with Angel. The vampire tries to talk to her.
"We'll get her back, Buffy, that little boy has no idea who he is messing with!"
Buffy just sighs as Angel continues.
"He really hurt you didn't he Buffy?"
"He didn't hurt me, Angel, in fact he saved me...again."
Angel is getting upset. "I don't get it, Buffy?"
"Look, Angel, I'm having a hard time believing that the Xander I've known for the past five years did this, okay?"
"Well, he did it, okay!"
"What are you, glad he did it?"
"What's that suppose to mean, Buffy?"
"It means you never liked him to begin with, Angel. And now that I lo..And now you like him even less."
"I didn't make him evil, Buffy!"
"He's not evil, Angel, whatever is going on he's not evil!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Oz and Xander pull up about half a block from Giles's house. They spot a car with two guys in it. Xander has a plan. "
"Lets go in the back. If we have to take him with us you get the car I'll take care of the guards and bring him out the front."
"Sounds like a plan."
They go in the back. They walk into the living room. The cloned Giles was on the phone. When he sees Xander and Oz he puts it down. He is very nervous. Our heroes get close. Just from The reaction to their presence Xander is guessing Willie knew what he was talking about.
"What do you think, Oz?"
"Not even close."
Oz heads back to the van. He begins to drive it onto the pavement in front of Giles's house.
Buffy and the rest of the gang turn the corner to go down Giles's street. Buffy sees the van.
Meanwhile Xander is in the house. He talks to the clone.
"We're taking you somewhere. If you don't co-operate I'll just shoot you. If bullets don't kill you I'll slice off your fucking head. You got it?"
The clone is frozen. He knows Xander is speaking the truth. As he opens the front door Buffy and Angel are getting out of his car. She sees Xander half dragging the clone to the van.
"Shit, Xander, what the hell are you doing?"
Before he can say anything a shot rings out close to the van. The two guys from across the street open up on Xander and Oz.
The clone tries to get away. Xander slams him with the gun and throws him into the Van Oz peels out. Xander shoots out the tires of the car following them. It flips over and crashes into a tree.
Buffy just stares at the Van as it disappears down the street. Angel looks at her.
"Are you satisfied now, Buffy?"
She doesn't say anything. He grabs her roughly. "Are you?"
Buffy can only cry. She buries herself on Angel's shoulder. The vampire softens.
"I'm sorry, Buffy, I really am."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Oz and Xander take the fake Giles to an abandoned warehouse. They tie him up. Xander questions him.
"Look, whatever you are we have no beef with you. But, you have to talk with us. What is your mission?"
"I'm Rupert Giles. My mission is to be Rupert Giles."
"Okay, listen, where did you come from? I mean when you became Rupert Giles?"
Oz puts a gun to his head. "Are you programmed to feel fear? You were endangering our friends. If I were you I'd be afraid of us."
Xander and Oz talk. "Oz, I have to go see Buffy. Did you see the look on her face? She thinks I actually hit Giles."
"Okay, I'll work on this...thing, whatever it is."
"At least if we can get him to tell us where he comes from. That's probably where they have Giles."
Xander circles slowly in the cemetery. He has no idea if they are following Buffy or not. He sees Angel.
"Hey, Angel, I only have a few minutes. Is Buffy..."
That's as much as he gets put before Angel belts him in the side of the head. He gets up.
"Angel, what the hell are you doing?"
The vampire calls to two men who come toward Xander. Xander stares at the vampire as he defends himself from the attackers. He knocks them both out but not before sustaining a huge cut on the side of his face. Angel is still there. He tackles him. Just as he does Buffy comes into the cemetery. All she sees is Xander attacking Angel. The boy gets a punch in. Buffy rushes to him. When he sees her he tries to talk to her.
"Buffy, what the hell is going on?"
"That's my question, Xander?"
Before he can answer her Angel is on him again. He eludes him. He yells to Buffy as he is running.
"God damn you Buffy, I loved you so much!"
Buffy just stares as the boy runs away. Angel jumps up. He looks at Buffy.
"Why didn't you run after him, Buffy?"
Buffy can't say anything. All she can do is stare. The look on Xander's face was terrifying. Angel shakes her.
"Damn it, Buffy, do you love him that much? What does he have to do kill us all before you'll do your job?"
Buffy stares at Angel with tears in her eyes. He gets her out of the cemetery before she sees the other two guys who were with him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`
Xander can't believe it. Angel sold him out. Those two guys who attacked him were from the agency. That was bad enough but...Buffy was there. It was her, not a clone. No way they would fool him with a clone of her. But, is she involved in all of this? His heart is telling him no but he has to believe his eyes. That was Buffy and...She's working with the agency. He goes back to the warehouse.
"We have big troubles, Oz. Angel is in on it and...phew, ...Buffy too!"
"Shit, Xander, this gets more awful by the minute."
Xander has to be by himself and cry for a while. He's not going to stop himself. He doesn't care if it's manly or not. If Buffy is on there side he has very little left to salvage here. This isn't something he can forgive. This is for keeps, a war where there are no prisoners.
He comes back. "Oz, as far as we know they're all in on it. It might just be me and you, man!"
"Xander, I'm not ready to die yet. Let's just get a plan and do it step by step. Let's not wait to see what they do anymore."
"We'll hunt them!"
"It has my vote."
"I tell you right now, if Buffy is in on it I have very little left to lose"
"I hear you Xander but, we can't let them bastards win, we just can't!"
"Okay, lets start with that clone in there. If he can't be of use we have no reason to let him hang around."
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