PART TWO
"Okay," Buffy said to the vampire who was standing in front of her. "This is where I have a problem. You see my friend over there?" She pointed to where Willow hovered over an unconcience Xander. "You hurt him. Now, I'm gonna have to do the same to you." She rushed him and threw him to the ground. She punched him in the face before driving Mr. Pointy through his chest. She dusted herself off and walked to where Xander was now sitting up. "Why do I always get knocked out? It's either me or Giles! Why?" Xander yelled. Buffy and Willow shrugged and helped him up. "Who knows Xander," Buffy said. "Why was I the one to become the Slayer? It's one of life's great mysteries." Xander stood on his feet and waited for the spinning to stop. "Yeah, well it can't EVER be Willow or you. It's always me or Giles! Someone wanna tell me why that is?" Willow looked at Buffy and was about to comment when someone did it before she could. "Maybe it's karma. Who knows. But with you bloody idiots no one can tell."
They turned to see the vamp that had been a pain in there sides since he showed up. "Spike. What do you want?" Buffy asked, irritation clearly in her voice. Spike shrugged and lit a cigarette. He took a long drag and looked at the friends. "Well, not hunting, that I can tell you. Thanks to those soldier boys." Spike took another drag of his cigarette before throwing it to the ground. "I was out looking for vampires. I need some kind of violence in my undead life. But for some reason I always run into you bloats." Willow looked at him. "Yeah, it's nice to see you too Spike. And you know, we aren't always so happy to see either. After someone tries to rip your throat out, you don't really wanna see them anymore." Spike smirked. "Right. Which is why you let the big poof hang around. If I'm not mistaken, Angel tried to rip all your throats out and you let him stay around." Buffy looked down at the mention of Angel's name. Sure had been thinking about him a lot lately. Mainly since she started to have dreams in which the two of them were together; where Angel was human. Sure, she'd had these sorts of dreams all the time, but this one was different. Almost as if it actually happened and she had forgotten it….
"Deep thoughts, Goldielocks?" Spike taunted, drawing her back to reality. She looked up at him and frowned. "That's none of your business, Spike. And the only reason we let Angel stay is because he regained his soul and we knew that he would never hurt us." Willow nodded in agreement while Xander rubbed the back of his head. "Right, at least until the next time you give him a happy. What was it? Oh yeah. 'One moment of true happiness and his soul is taken from him.' You gave him a little over a moment didn't you, Slayer?" He laughed and turned away, walking into the night. Buffy stared after him, hurt by all the memories that came flooding back to her. As if sensing it, Willow looked at her and slightly punched her on the arm. "Hey, Buff. There, uh, sure have been a lot of vampires out this week. Think maybe we should ask Giles and Miss Calendar if something might be up?" she said, trying to make Buffy forget about the memories of Angel that must have come back to her.
Buffy looked at her. "Yeah. Sure. Probably a good idea. I'll tell them tomorrow. I just wanna go home and see how Dawn and Mom are. Then, I'm gonna go to bed. I'll see you guys tomorrow." The petite Slayer turned around and began walking out of the cemetery, leaving her red-headed friend to stare after her. As Buffy exited through the cemetery's gates, Xander's voice drifted after her. "Does anyone even care that I have some severe brain damage here?!?!?"
*******
Back in LA, Angel and the rest of his team stood outside the beach house Doyle had seen in his vision. Cordelia turned to look at her boyfriend. "Are you sure this is right, Doyle?" she said, obviously irritated. "I mean, it looks like no one's home." Doyle smiled at the brunette he loved so much. "I'm sure, 'Delia. This is the place." Gunn turned away from the window he had been looking in. "Well, someone does live her. House is decorated like the Pope was coming to visit or something." He stated. Angel came from around the house, followed by Wesley and Fred. "There's no way to get in through the back unless we break down the door." Angel said. "Well, maybe we could come back," Fred suggested, pushing a strand of her long brown hair behind her ear. "You know, maybe try and see who lives here and then we can-" "Can I help you?", the female voice that had interrupted Fred asked. They turned to see a tall girl with short blonde hair standing behind them, a shopping bag in her arms. Angel stepped forward to introduce himself. "Hi. I'm Angel. Do you live here?" he asked. The girl nodded. "Yeah. My name's Amber. Amber Stotler. Can I help you people with anything?" she asked, her eyes traveling to each of the strange people standing in front her home. Angel shook his head. "No. You can't help us. We were hoping to help you."
Amber smiled awkwardly. "Help me with what?" she asked. Cordelia stepped forward. "Ghosts. Specifically the one haunting your house. Oh, by the way, I'm Cordelia Chase." Amber looked shocked. Then she gathered herself and smiled at the brunette girl. "Ghosts? You do know that they are make-believe right?" Wesley stepped up toward Amber. "Miss Stotler, I realize that a ghost in your home is quite unbelievable, and many people may in fact call you insane for believing such a thing, but we are not that kind of people. We deal with this sort of bizarre accurences everyday. We are private investigators who deal with the paranormal cases. We only want to help you." Amber looked at the British man. "Does that mean you can make him disappear?" she asked, her voice filled with hope. "We hope to. But we sort of need some information first," Angel said. Amber nodded and looked at them, remembering how chilly it was tonight and how they all must be freezing. "Oh, excuse my manners. Would you all like to come inside? Hopefully that ghost won't do anything." She moved to the door, struggling with the bag. Doyle noticed and reached to take the bag from her. "Why don't you let me take that, Miss?" Amber smiled and allowed the Irish man to take the bag. She unlocked the door and stepped in, holding the door open for the rest of them to step in.
She took the bag from Doyle, thanking him for holding it for her. She placed it on the counter and showed her guests to the living room. Once they were all seated, Amber began to tell her story. "My friends and I, after we went into our sophomore year of college, bought this beach house so we could stay together. We're pretty close. Uh, anyway, the haunting stuff happened about a week after we had moved in. You know, we didn't think anything of it. It wasn't really that big of a deal. Ya know, all that happened was pictures falling and stuff being placed in different places. We just thought it was the wind or each other, so we never really got into it. But then, all this freaky stuff happened."
Angel leaned toward her from his place on a chair. "What do you mean 'freaky stuff,'" he asked. Amber shrugged. "You know, freaky stuff. Like the window would break without anything colliding with it. Or the one time we came home from classes and everything was trashed, but nothing was missing. We kept, excuse me, keep hearing things like angry voices and footsteps and something dragging something else down the hallway. But the real freaky thing was when the man we didn't know was standing in our hallway late at night. Oh, he was transparent by the way." Wesley looked at her. "You saw the ghost?" Amber nodded. "Yeah we all did. He said that this house was his and if we didn't leave he would kill us all. Then he disappeared. He was dressed like a mobster or something."
"So, the ghost spoke to you?" Fred asked, very interested in the story. Amber nodded. Angel sat back in the chair and looked at his friends. "Sounds like a poltergeist." He turned to Amber. "It's a troublesome ghost who tends to be a pain in the ass every once and awhile. We can exorcise it, but it is pretty tricky." Amber looked at him. "But you can do it?" He nodded. Amber sighed, relieved. "Thank God. Kristi and Allie will be glad to hear that. They're my friends who live here with me." Gunn looked at her. "Where are they by the way? Shouldn't they be here with you?" Amber looked at him. "They're out of town trying to find somebody who'll get rid of the ghost. Allie seems to think an old friend of ours from high school can help. She and Kristi went to get her." "Why didn't you go too?" he asked. She shrugged. "Didn't want to. It's been a really long time since I've seen her and I told them I'd wait here for them to bring her back. I mean, what's one day compared to like 5 years without seeing Buffy?" They all looked at her at the mention of the Slayer's name. "Do you mean Buffy Summers?" Cordelia asked, her eyes traveling to Angel's shocked expression. Amber nodded. "Yeah. You know her?" Cordelia looked at her again and nodded. "Yeah, I have some association with her. Just like Angel here." Amber smiled. "Good. So, if she comes it will be like a reunion for you guys too." Cordelia smiled, then frowned when she still saw the same expression on her friends face.
Outside of the beach house, the employs of Angel Investigations walked to the cars that were parked not far. "Buffy?" Angel said in disbelief. "Of all the friends they could have had, it had to be Buffy. What do I do now? If she comes, the two of us will be delivering blows the entire time." Fred looked at him. "Isn't that a good thing?" she asked. Cordelia shook her head at the young physicist. "No, Fred. He doesn't mean that they will deliver blows to the bad guys. He means that they'll deliver blows to each other." Fred looked from Angel to her. "Oh, alright. But why would they do that?" Angel grunted. "Fred, Buffy and I have a very complicated…past. VERY complicated. We just.. don't really get along when we're around each other anymore." Fred nodded. She didn't ask anything else about this girl Buffy. Fred knew how much Angel hated to talk about his past. She didn't pry. But she really did want to know what was up with this girl. Cordelia reached out and touched her arm. Fred smiled, knowing that Cordy would tell her later.
Gunn looked behind him at Angel. "Listen, Angel," he said slowly, not trying to upset the vampire. "I've had some relationships with pretty bad pasts too, but I mean, this is a case right? Listen I totally get that you don't wanna see this Muffy-" "BUFFY" Angel corrected him angrily. "Sorry. BUFFY. But like I already said. This is a case. With a paying customer. And a vision. Obviously these Powers want us to help these girls. So, are you gonna?" Gunn asked. Angel shrugged. "Well, I don't have much of a choice, do I?" Angel asked, throwing himself into the driver's side of his convertible. "Atonement. I have to. But just as a heads up, this won't be a very nice reunion." He waited as Fred, Wesley and Doyle got into the car before driving off. "Like it ever is," Cordelia commented as she climbed into the truck with Gunn, who drove past her apartment on his way home. "Never is?" Gunn asked, sliding behind the wheel. Cordelia looked at him. "NO! Those two never get along. Well, now. They used to though. Of course, that might be just because they got groiny with each other." Gunn wrinkled his face in disgust. "Oh, listen Cordelia, was that information COMPLETELY necessary?" he asked, his voice a little too high.
"WHAT?"
"Allie? Are you sure you know where this dorm room is? We've been walking around like two hours and we still haven't found her," Kristi said, her voice filled with irritation. Allie glared at her. "Yes, Kristi, I'm positive. See, Stevenson. That's what the computer said her dorm was called. Now what room was she in?" Kristi pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket. "Uh, 214." "Cool," Allie said, pulling open the door to the large building. "So, let's go look up an old friend." The two walked until they came to the room they were searching for. This is it. Allie thought as she raised her hand to knock. Hope Buff isn't mad about this. Allie smiled when the door opened. A red headed girl she didn't know stood in the doorway. "Hi," the red head said sweetly. "Can I help you?" Kristi nodded. "Yeah. We're looking for Buffy Summers. Is this her dorm room?" The red head nodded and stepped back, allowing the two strangers to come in.
Willow knew they weren't vampires when they walked in, no words of invitation. "I'm Willow. Willow Rosenberg." Willow held out her hand. Allie took it first and shook. "My name's Allie Sullivan. And this is Kristi Webb." Kristi took Willow's hand. Willow jumped when she heard Kristi's name. "Oh, my God!" she shrieked. "I read about you in the paper. You're like, California's smartest college student! I've always wanted to meet you! I can't believe Buffy knows you!" Allie giggled as she watched Kristi blush. Kristi loved the spotlight. "Speaking of Buffy, is she here?" Allie asked. Willow nodded. "Well, not here, in the room. She's in the bathroom. You can sit down." Allie took a seat on the bed closest to her. Kristi sat down on the opposite bed, next to Willow. "So, are you two friends of Buffy's?" Willow asked. "Well, I mean, yeah, you probably are, but I mean what are you doing here?" Kristi smiled. I like this girl, she thought. "Just wanna say 'hi' mostly. I haven't seen Buff in years. We heard she lived here. We looked up her home address and the dorm room. We stopped by her house, but Joyce said she went back to her dorm." Willow nodded. "Yeah, she got back not long ago. So, are you guys friends from L.A?" Allie nodded. "We went to Hemery with her. That was like years ago. Forever. We just wanted to catch up. It's not too late is it? Cause we can come back tomorrow." The red head shook her head. "Naw, it's never too late around here."
Just then the door opened. "Hey, Will?" Buffy said, not seeing the other two girls in the room yet. "Have you seen my good tank top? I can't find it any-" She stopped when she saw Kristi and Allie. "Hey, Buff," Allie said, standing up. "Long time no see." Kristi joined her when she saw Buffy smile. "Oh, my God! You guys!" Buffy yelled as she went forward and embraced both girls. "Oh, God! It's been so long! Man I have missed you two so much!" The three friends pulled apart and smiled. "Kristi, God, how long as it been?" Kristi shrugged and tossed her brown hair behind her shoulder. "Years. That's all I can say. I could count how many, but my brain's not processing everything right now." Buffy smiled. She looked at Allie. "Allie. You haven't changed since that summer in L.A. The only thing different I can see is your hair. When did you let it grow out? You always said you never would." Allie shrugged, bringing a hand to her head and smoothing her hair out. "Oh, I just, thought it was time for a change. We aren't the same people we were in high school. Or when you left for that matter." Buffy smiled again. "Oh, sorry. This is Willow. She's my roommate." Willow nodded. "Yeah, they know that." Buffy nodded. "So, what are you guys doing here anyway? And how'd you know where my dorm is?" Allie glanced at Kristi. "Brainiac here looked it all up. We stopped by your place first and your mom told us you were here. She just gave us directions to the campus and we hunted you down. Dawn has really grown up since L.A." Buffy frowned slightly. She wished they knew the truth about Dawn. That she wasn't real. That all those memories of her were fake. But she knew better. "Yeah. She's growing up really fast. Now back to why you guys are here." Allie nodded. "Well, it sorta has to do with the thing that happened when we ran into each other that summer in L.A." Allie said, trying to sound inconspicuous. Buffy looked shocked. She knew what Allie was thinking of and she looked at Kristi, who was looking at Allie, obviously confused. Buffy looked back at Allie to see her shake her head. Buffy relaxed. Kristi didn't know that she was the Slayer. Good news. "Okay, um. Allie, you wanna go get a coffee or something? Kristi, I know Willow has a ton of questions for you. Would you like to stay here?" Kristi looked away from Allie and smiled. "Yeah. I kinda wanna get to know you. I like ya." Willow smiled and nodded. "Okay. We'll be back later." Buffy grabbed her coat and led Allie out the door. Kristi turned and smiled at the red head. "So, how did you become like the smartest girl in California?" Willow asked.
***************************************
"Man, Buffy. You have no idea how much I missed you." Allie said. She and Buffy were sitting at a table in the Espresso Pump. Two mocha lattaes sat on the table before them. "Believe me, Allie. I think I have an idea. I've missed you too ya know." Buffy replied. Allie smiled. She had missed this so much. Sitting around chatting with her best friend who she never got to see. Just like old times. "So, Allie. Not that I'm not grateful to see you, but what did you want? Did something happen back in L.A? I mean you did say that it had something to do with what you saw happen last time I was there. Did someone get attacked?" Buffy asked. Allie shook her head. "No. It doesn't have anything to do with vampires. How is your experience with ghosts?" Buffy shuddered. She remembered one of her experiences with ghosts. It was the night of the Sadie Hawkins Dance. She had been lured there by James, one of the ghosts. That was when Angel had been…not himself. But he had been there waiting for her and that was when they both got possessed by the ghosts, James, who had possessed her, and Grace who had possessed Angel. The only thing Buffy could recall after that was that when she was herself again she had been kissing Angel. Her Angel. Then he had shoved her away and ran off. Then she remembered. He wasn't her Angel. Buffy pulled back to reality. She looked at her old time best friend. "Uh, not very much. But I have a little experience in the area of ghosts. Why?" Allie looked at her. "Because we have one. A bad one. He wants us dead. Big time. He even said it. He appeared before us and said so. We came here hoping you could help us get rid of him. Ya know, I didn't tell Kristi and Amber about the little incident that happened that time you came to L.A. I just told them that you could maybe help us. Can you?"
Buffy looked at her once again. She saw how much her friend needed help. This bastard threatened my best friends. That definitely makes it so he deserves a good beating, she thought. No one got away with threatening her friends for very long. "Yeah. You know I can, All. I just need to talk to my Watcher, Giles and see what he knows about ghosts. Then we'll go get this guy. Oh, sorry. This dead guy." The two friends smiled at each other.
To be continued?
"Okay," Buffy said to the vampire who was standing in front of her. "This is where I have a problem. You see my friend over there?" She pointed to where Willow hovered over an unconcience Xander. "You hurt him. Now, I'm gonna have to do the same to you." She rushed him and threw him to the ground. She punched him in the face before driving Mr. Pointy through his chest. She dusted herself off and walked to where Xander was now sitting up. "Why do I always get knocked out? It's either me or Giles! Why?" Xander yelled. Buffy and Willow shrugged and helped him up. "Who knows Xander," Buffy said. "Why was I the one to become the Slayer? It's one of life's great mysteries." Xander stood on his feet and waited for the spinning to stop. "Yeah, well it can't EVER be Willow or you. It's always me or Giles! Someone wanna tell me why that is?" Willow looked at Buffy and was about to comment when someone did it before she could. "Maybe it's karma. Who knows. But with you bloody idiots no one can tell."
They turned to see the vamp that had been a pain in there sides since he showed up. "Spike. What do you want?" Buffy asked, irritation clearly in her voice. Spike shrugged and lit a cigarette. He took a long drag and looked at the friends. "Well, not hunting, that I can tell you. Thanks to those soldier boys." Spike took another drag of his cigarette before throwing it to the ground. "I was out looking for vampires. I need some kind of violence in my undead life. But for some reason I always run into you bloats." Willow looked at him. "Yeah, it's nice to see you too Spike. And you know, we aren't always so happy to see either. After someone tries to rip your throat out, you don't really wanna see them anymore." Spike smirked. "Right. Which is why you let the big poof hang around. If I'm not mistaken, Angel tried to rip all your throats out and you let him stay around." Buffy looked down at the mention of Angel's name. Sure had been thinking about him a lot lately. Mainly since she started to have dreams in which the two of them were together; where Angel was human. Sure, she'd had these sorts of dreams all the time, but this one was different. Almost as if it actually happened and she had forgotten it….
"Deep thoughts, Goldielocks?" Spike taunted, drawing her back to reality. She looked up at him and frowned. "That's none of your business, Spike. And the only reason we let Angel stay is because he regained his soul and we knew that he would never hurt us." Willow nodded in agreement while Xander rubbed the back of his head. "Right, at least until the next time you give him a happy. What was it? Oh yeah. 'One moment of true happiness and his soul is taken from him.' You gave him a little over a moment didn't you, Slayer?" He laughed and turned away, walking into the night. Buffy stared after him, hurt by all the memories that came flooding back to her. As if sensing it, Willow looked at her and slightly punched her on the arm. "Hey, Buff. There, uh, sure have been a lot of vampires out this week. Think maybe we should ask Giles and Miss Calendar if something might be up?" she said, trying to make Buffy forget about the memories of Angel that must have come back to her.
Buffy looked at her. "Yeah. Sure. Probably a good idea. I'll tell them tomorrow. I just wanna go home and see how Dawn and Mom are. Then, I'm gonna go to bed. I'll see you guys tomorrow." The petite Slayer turned around and began walking out of the cemetery, leaving her red-headed friend to stare after her. As Buffy exited through the cemetery's gates, Xander's voice drifted after her. "Does anyone even care that I have some severe brain damage here?!?!?"
*******
Back in LA, Angel and the rest of his team stood outside the beach house Doyle had seen in his vision. Cordelia turned to look at her boyfriend. "Are you sure this is right, Doyle?" she said, obviously irritated. "I mean, it looks like no one's home." Doyle smiled at the brunette he loved so much. "I'm sure, 'Delia. This is the place." Gunn turned away from the window he had been looking in. "Well, someone does live her. House is decorated like the Pope was coming to visit or something." He stated. Angel came from around the house, followed by Wesley and Fred. "There's no way to get in through the back unless we break down the door." Angel said. "Well, maybe we could come back," Fred suggested, pushing a strand of her long brown hair behind her ear. "You know, maybe try and see who lives here and then we can-" "Can I help you?", the female voice that had interrupted Fred asked. They turned to see a tall girl with short blonde hair standing behind them, a shopping bag in her arms. Angel stepped forward to introduce himself. "Hi. I'm Angel. Do you live here?" he asked. The girl nodded. "Yeah. My name's Amber. Amber Stotler. Can I help you people with anything?" she asked, her eyes traveling to each of the strange people standing in front her home. Angel shook his head. "No. You can't help us. We were hoping to help you."
Amber smiled awkwardly. "Help me with what?" she asked. Cordelia stepped forward. "Ghosts. Specifically the one haunting your house. Oh, by the way, I'm Cordelia Chase." Amber looked shocked. Then she gathered herself and smiled at the brunette girl. "Ghosts? You do know that they are make-believe right?" Wesley stepped up toward Amber. "Miss Stotler, I realize that a ghost in your home is quite unbelievable, and many people may in fact call you insane for believing such a thing, but we are not that kind of people. We deal with this sort of bizarre accurences everyday. We are private investigators who deal with the paranormal cases. We only want to help you." Amber looked at the British man. "Does that mean you can make him disappear?" she asked, her voice filled with hope. "We hope to. But we sort of need some information first," Angel said. Amber nodded and looked at them, remembering how chilly it was tonight and how they all must be freezing. "Oh, excuse my manners. Would you all like to come inside? Hopefully that ghost won't do anything." She moved to the door, struggling with the bag. Doyle noticed and reached to take the bag from her. "Why don't you let me take that, Miss?" Amber smiled and allowed the Irish man to take the bag. She unlocked the door and stepped in, holding the door open for the rest of them to step in.
She took the bag from Doyle, thanking him for holding it for her. She placed it on the counter and showed her guests to the living room. Once they were all seated, Amber began to tell her story. "My friends and I, after we went into our sophomore year of college, bought this beach house so we could stay together. We're pretty close. Uh, anyway, the haunting stuff happened about a week after we had moved in. You know, we didn't think anything of it. It wasn't really that big of a deal. Ya know, all that happened was pictures falling and stuff being placed in different places. We just thought it was the wind or each other, so we never really got into it. But then, all this freaky stuff happened."
Angel leaned toward her from his place on a chair. "What do you mean 'freaky stuff,'" he asked. Amber shrugged. "You know, freaky stuff. Like the window would break without anything colliding with it. Or the one time we came home from classes and everything was trashed, but nothing was missing. We kept, excuse me, keep hearing things like angry voices and footsteps and something dragging something else down the hallway. But the real freaky thing was when the man we didn't know was standing in our hallway late at night. Oh, he was transparent by the way." Wesley looked at her. "You saw the ghost?" Amber nodded. "Yeah we all did. He said that this house was his and if we didn't leave he would kill us all. Then he disappeared. He was dressed like a mobster or something."
"So, the ghost spoke to you?" Fred asked, very interested in the story. Amber nodded. Angel sat back in the chair and looked at his friends. "Sounds like a poltergeist." He turned to Amber. "It's a troublesome ghost who tends to be a pain in the ass every once and awhile. We can exorcise it, but it is pretty tricky." Amber looked at him. "But you can do it?" He nodded. Amber sighed, relieved. "Thank God. Kristi and Allie will be glad to hear that. They're my friends who live here with me." Gunn looked at her. "Where are they by the way? Shouldn't they be here with you?" Amber looked at him. "They're out of town trying to find somebody who'll get rid of the ghost. Allie seems to think an old friend of ours from high school can help. She and Kristi went to get her." "Why didn't you go too?" he asked. She shrugged. "Didn't want to. It's been a really long time since I've seen her and I told them I'd wait here for them to bring her back. I mean, what's one day compared to like 5 years without seeing Buffy?" They all looked at her at the mention of the Slayer's name. "Do you mean Buffy Summers?" Cordelia asked, her eyes traveling to Angel's shocked expression. Amber nodded. "Yeah. You know her?" Cordelia looked at her again and nodded. "Yeah, I have some association with her. Just like Angel here." Amber smiled. "Good. So, if she comes it will be like a reunion for you guys too." Cordelia smiled, then frowned when she still saw the same expression on her friends face.
Outside of the beach house, the employs of Angel Investigations walked to the cars that were parked not far. "Buffy?" Angel said in disbelief. "Of all the friends they could have had, it had to be Buffy. What do I do now? If she comes, the two of us will be delivering blows the entire time." Fred looked at him. "Isn't that a good thing?" she asked. Cordelia shook her head at the young physicist. "No, Fred. He doesn't mean that they will deliver blows to the bad guys. He means that they'll deliver blows to each other." Fred looked from Angel to her. "Oh, alright. But why would they do that?" Angel grunted. "Fred, Buffy and I have a very complicated…past. VERY complicated. We just.. don't really get along when we're around each other anymore." Fred nodded. She didn't ask anything else about this girl Buffy. Fred knew how much Angel hated to talk about his past. She didn't pry. But she really did want to know what was up with this girl. Cordelia reached out and touched her arm. Fred smiled, knowing that Cordy would tell her later.
Gunn looked behind him at Angel. "Listen, Angel," he said slowly, not trying to upset the vampire. "I've had some relationships with pretty bad pasts too, but I mean, this is a case right? Listen I totally get that you don't wanna see this Muffy-" "BUFFY" Angel corrected him angrily. "Sorry. BUFFY. But like I already said. This is a case. With a paying customer. And a vision. Obviously these Powers want us to help these girls. So, are you gonna?" Gunn asked. Angel shrugged. "Well, I don't have much of a choice, do I?" Angel asked, throwing himself into the driver's side of his convertible. "Atonement. I have to. But just as a heads up, this won't be a very nice reunion." He waited as Fred, Wesley and Doyle got into the car before driving off. "Like it ever is," Cordelia commented as she climbed into the truck with Gunn, who drove past her apartment on his way home. "Never is?" Gunn asked, sliding behind the wheel. Cordelia looked at him. "NO! Those two never get along. Well, now. They used to though. Of course, that might be just because they got groiny with each other." Gunn wrinkled his face in disgust. "Oh, listen Cordelia, was that information COMPLETELY necessary?" he asked, his voice a little too high.
"WHAT?"
"Allie? Are you sure you know where this dorm room is? We've been walking around like two hours and we still haven't found her," Kristi said, her voice filled with irritation. Allie glared at her. "Yes, Kristi, I'm positive. See, Stevenson. That's what the computer said her dorm was called. Now what room was she in?" Kristi pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket. "Uh, 214." "Cool," Allie said, pulling open the door to the large building. "So, let's go look up an old friend." The two walked until they came to the room they were searching for. This is it. Allie thought as she raised her hand to knock. Hope Buff isn't mad about this. Allie smiled when the door opened. A red headed girl she didn't know stood in the doorway. "Hi," the red head said sweetly. "Can I help you?" Kristi nodded. "Yeah. We're looking for Buffy Summers. Is this her dorm room?" The red head nodded and stepped back, allowing the two strangers to come in.
Willow knew they weren't vampires when they walked in, no words of invitation. "I'm Willow. Willow Rosenberg." Willow held out her hand. Allie took it first and shook. "My name's Allie Sullivan. And this is Kristi Webb." Kristi took Willow's hand. Willow jumped when she heard Kristi's name. "Oh, my God!" she shrieked. "I read about you in the paper. You're like, California's smartest college student! I've always wanted to meet you! I can't believe Buffy knows you!" Allie giggled as she watched Kristi blush. Kristi loved the spotlight. "Speaking of Buffy, is she here?" Allie asked. Willow nodded. "Well, not here, in the room. She's in the bathroom. You can sit down." Allie took a seat on the bed closest to her. Kristi sat down on the opposite bed, next to Willow. "So, are you two friends of Buffy's?" Willow asked. "Well, I mean, yeah, you probably are, but I mean what are you doing here?" Kristi smiled. I like this girl, she thought. "Just wanna say 'hi' mostly. I haven't seen Buff in years. We heard she lived here. We looked up her home address and the dorm room. We stopped by her house, but Joyce said she went back to her dorm." Willow nodded. "Yeah, she got back not long ago. So, are you guys friends from L.A?" Allie nodded. "We went to Hemery with her. That was like years ago. Forever. We just wanted to catch up. It's not too late is it? Cause we can come back tomorrow." The red head shook her head. "Naw, it's never too late around here."
Just then the door opened. "Hey, Will?" Buffy said, not seeing the other two girls in the room yet. "Have you seen my good tank top? I can't find it any-" She stopped when she saw Kristi and Allie. "Hey, Buff," Allie said, standing up. "Long time no see." Kristi joined her when she saw Buffy smile. "Oh, my God! You guys!" Buffy yelled as she went forward and embraced both girls. "Oh, God! It's been so long! Man I have missed you two so much!" The three friends pulled apart and smiled. "Kristi, God, how long as it been?" Kristi shrugged and tossed her brown hair behind her shoulder. "Years. That's all I can say. I could count how many, but my brain's not processing everything right now." Buffy smiled. She looked at Allie. "Allie. You haven't changed since that summer in L.A. The only thing different I can see is your hair. When did you let it grow out? You always said you never would." Allie shrugged, bringing a hand to her head and smoothing her hair out. "Oh, I just, thought it was time for a change. We aren't the same people we were in high school. Or when you left for that matter." Buffy smiled again. "Oh, sorry. This is Willow. She's my roommate." Willow nodded. "Yeah, they know that." Buffy nodded. "So, what are you guys doing here anyway? And how'd you know where my dorm is?" Allie glanced at Kristi. "Brainiac here looked it all up. We stopped by your place first and your mom told us you were here. She just gave us directions to the campus and we hunted you down. Dawn has really grown up since L.A." Buffy frowned slightly. She wished they knew the truth about Dawn. That she wasn't real. That all those memories of her were fake. But she knew better. "Yeah. She's growing up really fast. Now back to why you guys are here." Allie nodded. "Well, it sorta has to do with the thing that happened when we ran into each other that summer in L.A." Allie said, trying to sound inconspicuous. Buffy looked shocked. She knew what Allie was thinking of and she looked at Kristi, who was looking at Allie, obviously confused. Buffy looked back at Allie to see her shake her head. Buffy relaxed. Kristi didn't know that she was the Slayer. Good news. "Okay, um. Allie, you wanna go get a coffee or something? Kristi, I know Willow has a ton of questions for you. Would you like to stay here?" Kristi looked away from Allie and smiled. "Yeah. I kinda wanna get to know you. I like ya." Willow smiled and nodded. "Okay. We'll be back later." Buffy grabbed her coat and led Allie out the door. Kristi turned and smiled at the red head. "So, how did you become like the smartest girl in California?" Willow asked.
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"Man, Buffy. You have no idea how much I missed you." Allie said. She and Buffy were sitting at a table in the Espresso Pump. Two mocha lattaes sat on the table before them. "Believe me, Allie. I think I have an idea. I've missed you too ya know." Buffy replied. Allie smiled. She had missed this so much. Sitting around chatting with her best friend who she never got to see. Just like old times. "So, Allie. Not that I'm not grateful to see you, but what did you want? Did something happen back in L.A? I mean you did say that it had something to do with what you saw happen last time I was there. Did someone get attacked?" Buffy asked. Allie shook her head. "No. It doesn't have anything to do with vampires. How is your experience with ghosts?" Buffy shuddered. She remembered one of her experiences with ghosts. It was the night of the Sadie Hawkins Dance. She had been lured there by James, one of the ghosts. That was when Angel had been…not himself. But he had been there waiting for her and that was when they both got possessed by the ghosts, James, who had possessed her, and Grace who had possessed Angel. The only thing Buffy could recall after that was that when she was herself again she had been kissing Angel. Her Angel. Then he had shoved her away and ran off. Then she remembered. He wasn't her Angel. Buffy pulled back to reality. She looked at her old time best friend. "Uh, not very much. But I have a little experience in the area of ghosts. Why?" Allie looked at her. "Because we have one. A bad one. He wants us dead. Big time. He even said it. He appeared before us and said so. We came here hoping you could help us get rid of him. Ya know, I didn't tell Kristi and Amber about the little incident that happened that time you came to L.A. I just told them that you could maybe help us. Can you?"
Buffy looked at her once again. She saw how much her friend needed help. This bastard threatened my best friends. That definitely makes it so he deserves a good beating, she thought. No one got away with threatening her friends for very long. "Yeah. You know I can, All. I just need to talk to my Watcher, Giles and see what he knows about ghosts. Then we'll go get this guy. Oh, sorry. This dead guy." The two friends smiled at each other.
To be continued?