"Nobody knows the trouble I've seen…"

Buffy awoke from a doze and lifted her head slightly to hear Willow softly singing. She smirked at the choice of song.

"Nobody knows my sorrows…"

"Hey. Wanna pick something a little more cheerful?" she asked quietly. Willow stopped singing and smiled.

"It's a small world after all, it's a small wo--"

"Gah! No!"

Willow laughed. Buffy lunged slightly to the left and knocked into her best friend. They both began to giggle, willing themselves to put the scariness of their present situation out of their minds for the time being.

"I'm sure Angel will come for us," Willow said confidently. She looked to Buffy, as if for confirmation, and Buffy nodded authoritatively.

"Yes, I'm sure he will too," she said. Willow smiled, relieved.

"And maybe he'll bring Oz! Maybe nothing bad has happened, really, and it's all been a misunderstanding."

"A big misunderstanding."

"Yes."

Buffy nodded again and fell silent. "Willow?" she asked after a few moments. "Willow, you awake?"

Willow didn't respond. Buffy craned her neck to see and sighed as she heard her friend emit a small snore after a pause.

"Wonderful."

***

Gina, Lisa, Laura, Oz and Giles all ran backstage after their final number, laughing and jumping and hugging at their success. The last song, a Cecelia Song original entitled "Green-Sweatered Superman," had brought down the proverbial house, and they had rushed backstage immediately after they had finished.

Oz stared out of a small peephole he had made in the stage curtains, looking out at the still-clamoring audience in awe. "We created that," he said simply, looking at the rest of them with wonder on his face.

"Kind of amazing, isn't it?" Gina said, walking over to Oz and handing him a soda. He nodded, and went back to staring.

Laura and Giles were leaning against the table, side by side, enjoying the relative silence. A loud thud stirred them from their reverie, and they saw Lisa struggling to carry one of the largest amps out of the door. Oz rushed over to help her.

"What do you think you're doing? You could hurt yourself!" he said quietly to her. Lisa ignored his concern.

"I just wanted to go ahead and load up the equipment so we could get out of…so we could go home. I still don't feel so well," she said, holding a hand weakly to her stomach. Giles and Oz glanced at each other and nodded, and began taking the equipment off the stage and over to the stage exit.

"D'you guys want some help?" Laura asked, compulsively wiping the condensation off her soda can as soon as it formed.

"No, you girls go outside and get some fresh air," Giles said authoritatively. He and Laura exchanged glances and he nodded slightly, as if to assure her that things would be all right. The three girls walked outside and over to their car. Gina perched atop the trunk of the car and Lisa leaned on its side. All three girls were silent.

"When are we going to tell them?" Lisa asked quietly.

"How are we going to get out of town?" Gina asked in reply.

"I don't know," Laura said, more to herself than anyone else. "I don't want to leave." She smiled and waved to Oz and Giles, who were beginning to pile the equipment just outside the stage exit. Lisa stood up and stretched, moving away from the car and beginning to pace around the parking lot.

"None of us do, but we have to. And it's got to be soon. There's almost a full tank of gas in the car, we could just drop the guys at home and--"

She was cut off as a tall cloaked figure suddenly appeared from behind a car and covered her mouth with one pale hand. Gina and Laura both stared silently at the spectacle, not moving a muscle. Finally, Gina spoke.

"Hello, Angelus."

***

"That was quite an experience," Giles grunted as he hauled an amp over to the door. Oz looked up from the complicated tangle of wires he was examining and nodded.

"You can most definitely say that again. And again. And again." He rubbed his chin as he tried to figure out which wire led to which outlet.

"Is this what being in a band is like nowadays?" Giles asked suddenly. Oz was a bit taken aback, Giles usually answered questions instead of asking them. He thought about the question for a minute.

"No. Being in a band usually means more fights, more practice, and less fun," he said finally. Giles nodded, as if he had been expecting such an answer. "You did a good job with your song," Oz added. Giles looked up at the young man, surprised.

"I--thank you, Oz. You did well with your joke," he replied. Oz shrugged.

"Willow told it to me." The thought of Willow was painful to Oz. He wasn't sure why. Which made it even more painful.

"Ah. Yes. How's she doing these days?"

"Doing good. She figured out how to levitate chalk and draw on a blackboard." Oz went back to trying to figure out the wires. Giles nodded.

"You know, when I was growing up in London, I used to be in a band," he said suddenly. Oz looked up from the wires and regarded Giles with a newfound respect.

"You were?" he asked interestedly. Giles glanced at him and nodded.

"Oh yes. Three chaps from my street and I. One night we broke into a music store and managed to get away with three guitars and almost an entire drum set. We played in an old factory when we should have been in school. We called ourselves the 'Screeching Beagles'."

Oz stared at Giles. "Were you any good?"

"Oh, not at all. We only knew one song, 'Hey Jude.' And that was just because the bassist wanted to learn it to play for his girlfriend."

"Oh. Her name was Jude?"

Giles furrowed his eyebrows. "No, no. Oddly enough, it was Lorraine."

The two men went back to hauling equipment.

***

"Fancy meeting you here," Laura said to the dark-haired man. He sneered and advanced on her and Gina slowly.

"What are you doing here?" he asked malevolently, still clutching Lisa to him. Gina raised an eyebrow and she could see Lisa do so in return. Lisa was enjoying herself. Gina chuckled internally.

"Playing at the Bronze, silly. What are you doing here?" Laura said lightly. Gina stayed quiet.

"Playing at the Bronze," he answered frostily. Lisa rolled her eyes and bit down on his hand. "Ouch!" he said, dropping his hand and letting her free. Lisa sauntered beside her other two friends, then turned to face Angel.

"You should know better than that, Angelus," she began.

"Angel."

"You might have remembered that I don't respond well to captivity, Angelus," she said, walking over to him and examining the bite marks on his palm. She clucked her tongue. "You used to be so fun. Why'd you have to go and get a soul, huh?" Angel glared at her.

"What have you done with Buffy?" he spat. The three girls began to giggle.

"Can't remember," Gina began in a singsong voice. "Can't remember what we did with ickle Buffiekins. Poor Vampy misses his Slayer," she laughed, clapping her hands delightedly and dancing slightly. Angel growled and lunged for her, slamming Gina against the side of the car, her neck in his hands. Gina giggled even harder. "Ooh. Like it rough."

He released his hold on her and she crashed to the ground and immediately righted herself. Gina smiled at him and walked back over to her friends, who were both smiling.

"Poor Angel. All tortured. Stupid soul," Lisa said. "We should have killed those meddling gypsy idiots!"

"If I remember correctly, I think we did," Laura said levelly.

"Ah. Right you are."

"Where's Buffy?" Angel asked again, more urgency in his voice.

"Oh, I don't know. Here, there. All around," Laura grinned.

"She's more a spirit of slaying than an actual human," Gina said, cottoning on.

"'Yes, Virginiangelus, there is a Slayer Claus,'" Lisa finished, snickering. Angel roared, losing his temper, his facial features contorting wildly as he lunged for Lisa. He grabbed her by her shoulders and threw her up against a wall of the Bronze, pinning her there with his arms. "Ooh. Hey baby. Now you can't make me believe the Slayer fully appreciates upper-body strength like this," Lisa smirked. Angel slammed her against the wall again. "Ow! Watch it, psycho, I bruise easily!"

"Where. Is. Buffy?" he asked again, shaking Lisa slightly with each word. Lisa rolled her eyes.

"Hmm. Banging me up against this wall seems to have given me amnesia. Tell me, who is this Buffy?" Lisa asked sarcastically. Angel roared in anger, raising his hand to strike Lisa. It was then that he heard two male voices coming from not very far away.

"Angel! Angel, what in God's name are you doing?" Giles cried, dropping the amp he was carrying and rushing over to the confrontation. Oz looked down at the smashed amp and cried out in disbelief. He then looked up and dropped his own amp and rushed over to help.

Angel cursed as he saw the two men run over to him. Laura and Gina promptly responded to the rescue mission by whipping up some tears, and instead of being flippant about being pinned against a wall, Lisa began to scream. When Giles reached them, Angel tried to explain what had happened, but Laura and Gina were both sobbing hysterically and Lisa was pleading with him to "just let her go and he would get anything he asked for." Angel felt as if he were in a performance of the theater of the absurd.

"H-he came out of nowhere and his face was all scary and he t-t-tried to bite us!" Gina sobbed, pointing a finger at Angel. He tried to rearrange his face into its normal shape but couldn't seem to calm himself down. He stared at Giles and Oz, trying to think of something to say to prove that it was really him. Giles was glaring at him with hatred blazing in his eyes. Wonderful. It's not Angelus, it's me! he wanted to scream, but he couldn't seem to open his mouth. Oz attempted to wrest Lisa out of Angel's grip, and Angel flung the young man against the wall. Giles frowned and faced Angel, his lips pursed thin with determination.

"Girls, let me handle this," he said authoritatively. He reached into his jacket pocket and produced a small cross. Oh great. He thrust it into Angel's face and Angel involuntarily recoiled, releasing his grip on Lisa, who ran into the arms of her still-weeping friends.

"You're making a mistake, old man," he finally managed to growl, backing away as Giles advanced on him with the cross. Oz looked like he would have seriously considered staking him. And behind the two men, Angel saw three tiny smiles playing on the lips of the three original members of Cecelia Song.

"Oz, get the girls into the car and turn it on. We're taking them home. Where you can't get them, Angelus," Giles spat, gazing at Angel with intense loathing. Oz nodded and escorted the three girls to the car and revved the engine. Giles walked slowly back to the car, never taking his gaze or the cross away from Angel. He then jumped into the backseat and the car sped off. Angel watched, stunned, as the car sped away. He was overcome with a powerful sense of déjà vu.

"Well, would you look at that," a familiar voice came from the shadows of the alley. Angel whipped around and glared at the darkness, willing the disembodied voice to show its origin. After a moment, Xander appeared from the shadows, a small smile on his face. Angel groaned.

"What are you doing here?"

"Oh, saving your sorry hide, as usual."

Angel glanced at the young man curiously, but resolved not to take his bait. Xander walked over to Angel and stood beside him.

"You know the funny thing about old cars like that?" Xander suddenly asked. Angel shrugged his shoulders. Xander grinned. "They won't last for thirty miles without oil," he ended. Angel glowered at him.

"Does this have anything to do with…anything?" he asked testily. Xander grinned even wider.

He then pointed to a huge oil slick on the parking lot pavement where the convertible used to be, with a thin trail of shiny black liquid following after the car's direction. Angel began to smile.

"Boy am I glad I took that automotives class," Xander said, weaving a small screwdriver through the fingers of his left hand.