(((Part 2)))
Angel grunted and rolled over. He didn't want to wake up yet. He didn't want to face the day. He wanted just one more hour of sleep...
"Wake up, sleepyhead!" Angel was abruptly pulled from his dreams by Cordelia's falsely cheerful voice. He could feel her doubt, her pain everyday, but to her credit, she tried to pretend that she'd forgiven him.
"Um uhwok," she heard, muffled by the blue-clad pillow.
"What was that? I couldn't hear you THROUGH THE PILLOW!" she replied, leaning closer to his still form to deliver the last three words.
"Guh uhweh," he replied, pulling the pillow closer.
"Angel, if you don't wake up right now, I might think you're dreaming about Darla again," Cordy said threateningly. "And that would really piss me off."
Angel groaned and raised his head, blinking rapidly in the bright light streaming from the hallway. "What is it?" he rasped, wrapping a sheet around his waist.
"It's two in the afternoon, that's what it is!" Cordelia shot back. "I know you're a vampire, Angel, but we are running a humanity-centric business, and their hours of operation are nine to five. Besides," she grinned, enjoying the salt she was about to rub in his open wound, "the Boss wants you up."
Angel winced and ran a hand through his hair. "Now?"
"Yup!" She grinned evilly, and then turned to go back downstairs.
***
"What's wrong?" Willow persisted, drawing a chair up next to Buffy's at the dining room table.
Buffy sighed and smiled wanly. "It's nothing, really, Wil. It's just... everything's confusing. It's-but I can handle it. It's okay, really."
"No, it's not," the red-head insisted. "Come on, Buffy, you can't kid a kidder, and I know you. What is it?"
"Just... stuff," Buffy replied vaguely. She shifted away from the witch.
"What stuff? Anything in particular?" Willow refused to give up. This was a best friend's job, to pick at and question the other friend's stories.
"Spike," Buffy finally admitted, albeit quietly.
"Buffy, did he do something?" Willow questioned immediately, instantly alarmed. "I know he's been lurking around a lot, but-"
"No, it's just the lurking," Buffy assured her. "All the lurking. It's bugging me."
"Well, of course!" Willow agreed. "As it should. I mean, a guy's stalking you for fun, yeah, that would have me pretty bugged too."
"It's not just that, it's..." Buffy stood up suddenly, nervously pacing around the dining room. "He honestly thinks that there's something between us. I mean, really. Like, he can't live without me or something. It's really creepy, Wil." She stopped pacing to look at her friend. "I mean, what if... wh-what if..."
"What if he's right?" Willow finished softly, almost wincing at the thought of it. "Buffy, he's a vampire. He's evil. He doesn't have a soul. I... I really don't know what else to tell you."
"You don't think I should ever..." Buffy trailed off, unable to even think ahead to the end of that sentence.
"No! No, absolutely not," Willow said quickly. "Buffy... I mean, what happened? A few days ago, you hated him too. Now I'm kinda starting to wonder."
"I hate him!" Buffy yelped immediately. "I hate him. I do. I just... God, and it kills me to even think this, but... I don't know how I feel about him. I really don't. It's scary, Wil." She sat back down at the table. "I don't know what to do anymore. I don't think that I love him, but sometimes I wonder... sometimes I wonder, what if this is it? Riley's gone. He's not coming back, not for a really long time, and what am I waiting for? I don't exactly have the long-life-growing-old-with-my-grandchildren-thing to look forward to... why do I do this to myself? This enforced single-dom."
Willow hesitated. "Maybe because it's safer?" She grinned. "Sorry, am I psychoanalyzing again? Who would think a psychotic-evil-government-doctor-Frankenstein would have that much influence on me, huh?" The smile faded. "Seriously, though... I agree. I mean, I do think that you're awfully hard on yourself. I just... I just think that you could do better. Even if you're settling for something less than-passionate, I don't know... I just think that you can do better than a wannabe-evil-soulless-demon who would kill us all if he didn't have a piece of metal the size of a penny lodged in his brain."
Buffy sighed, lowering her head onto the tabletop. "You know what the worst part is?" she asked, glancing sideways at Willow. "I agree with you, I really do..."
***
"The last step in thy forging is my pain," Darla chanted, raising the rod up to the empty sky. "The price with which I purchase the return of thy unholy vessel." She gritted her teeth and plunged the arm that held the rod into the steaming cauldron. Shrieking in pain, she nevertheless forced her arm to stay under.
Across the room, Lindsey merely looked on, smiling grimly.
[END TWO]
