Part 14- Understatement

Buffy looked up and saw Oz and Willow drive by. They stopped, having
seen her. Willow walked up, and asked, "What are you doing sitting
out here all by yourself? I wondered about you when Oz told me you
ran after Spike."

"I followed him," Buffy replied.

Willow sat down next to her, and said, "Go on."

"To the Mansion. But it wasn't Spike I saw, it was Angel."

"Oh. My. Goddess. " Willow responded in shock.

"And I kissed him." Buffy looked over at Willow, and was afraid of
what her expression would be.

"Oh." Willow blinked at her in surprise.

"Xander saw," she added, almost a whisper, and looked away.

"Oh!"

Buffy looked up to see Willow's horrified expression. "God, Willow, I
know, I don't know what happened. Xan is so pissed right now he told
his mom not to let me in."

"Wow," Willow shook her head, obviously still in shock.

"What should I do, Will?" Buffy pleaded for insight from the girl who
knew Xander so well.

"If he doesn't want to see you, then maybe you should accept that for
now?" Willow suggested. At Buffy's surprised reaction, she
continued, "Look, I'm just saying give him a little time. He just saw
the one thing that would probably be classified as his worst
nightmare, and he's understandably upset. He needs to deal with it in
his own way. And Xander's way to deal with things is usually alone
for a little while."

Buffy sighed, and shrugged. "Fine, I'll go with your instincts on
this. You have known him longer than me. I guess I should...go back
to Giles'," Buffy said. "He needs to know. It might be important,
somehow."

Willow watched as the girl walked away. *It MIGHT be important?
That's what I call the understatement of the millennium.*

*****

Buffy had just explained her run-in with Angel to Giles. She was
having trouble concentrating, her worry about Xander was all she
could think about. She realized Giles had said something to her. "I'm
sorry?" she looked up at him.

"I said, are you sure it's Angel?" Giles asked gently. "I hate to
suggest otherwise, but..."

"It's him," Buffy nodded, sipping the coffee he'd given her. "It's
something in his eyes, I can't really explain it." She chose not to
mention, *And his touch, and his kiss* She shook those thoughts away,
adding, "I can just tell when the soul is there. So, what do you
think?"

"I'll have to do some research," Giles said with a weary sigh,
sitting at his table, which was now covered in large books, some
which looked several hundred years old. "I'm not aware off-hand of
any stories of anyone coming back from..."

"You can say it," Buffy shrugged. "Hell. He was in Hell, where I sent
him."

"Where's Willow?" Giles asked then. "I could use her help with the
research."

"Probably talking to Xander," Buffy said. "He found out."

"I see..." Giles nodded, but obviously didn't really. He didn't press
the matter though, which Buffy was grateful for. "Well, if you see
her, would you ask her to stop by?"

"Yeah, I will. If I thought it would do any good, I'd stay..." Buffy
said.

"That's quite all right," Giles replied. "Go home and rest. You need
some time to adjust to this change in events."

"Thanks, Giles," Buffy said with a smile. She stood then, well, I
guess I'll see you later," she added, and left the apartment.