Around 20 minutes later, the doorbell rang at Angel's apartment.

A solitary figure lying on a pile of black silken sheets groaned. Maybe they'll just go away...

The bell was followed by insistent knocking.

Maybe not.

Snarling in irritation, Angel shoved himself up and rolled out of bed to answer the door, If these are *more* of Spike's goonies, there is going to be some SERIOUS
bloodletting in-, He whipped the door open, already in attack stance when he came face to face with a very startled young girl.

"Willow?" he gasped in surprise.

"Angel?" she backed away fearfully.

Suddenly he realized he must have his game face on. The guilt was enormous as he
quickly shifted back to his human features.

He felt the anger and power ebb right out of him at the sight of the pretty teenager
cowering at the other side of the hall, "Yes..yes, Willow, it's Angel. I'm sorry about that."

She let out a sigh of relief.

His shoulders slumped slightly and his gaze glued itself to the floor.

They stood like that for a few more seconds before Willow finally cleared her throat,
"Well Angel? Aren't you going to invite me in?" she asked firmly.

His eyes shot back up to her face almost instantly in order to gauge her emotions.

She'd been expecting that reaction and gave him a huge, warm smile. "I came by to give you something and to see how you're doing."

"Oh. Well, yes, of course, come in." Needless to say he was quite a bit surprised that she still wanted to be alone behind closed doors with him. He honestly hadn't expected her to come visit him or to keep checking up on him either.

"You look surprised, didn't you remember that we were supposed to hang out tonight?" she demanded once he'd closed the door.

Oh. I completely forgot about that. "It..ahh..it slipped my mind."

She nodded briskly and began to survey the apartment. The same apartment he'd spent all day trashing.

Forgot about that too.

She turned her steely gaze back to him and he flinched slightly Here it comes..violent tendencies and all are out in the open. Here's the part where she leaves.

"Angel, I'm worried about you," she murmured softly, crossing the room.

There, she had done it again. She'd managed to catch him completely off guard and
shock him.

Her demeanor seemed to swing almost as quickly as his. From all at once reprimanding and scrutinizing to tender and loving.

"I'm fine, Willow, really," he shifted uncomfortably. It wasn't just that it
felt strange to know she cared, but it also felt good. And feeling good wasn't
something that Angel was willing to allow himself any time soon.

"Don't you..umm..have parents? That is to say..aren't they going to be worried about
you? You really shouldn't be here," he hastily stepped away from her. She smelled too nice.

"My parents are out of town. Perpetually. And I *should* be here. I'm checking up on a friend."

"Willow..," he began in exasperation, "what...happened to your hair..?" His voice trailed off as he suddenly took in her torn corderoys and stained shirt as well.

She blushed furiously, "I um....I had an accident." She turned away from him and started wandering around the apartment, "Angel, do you have a mirror around here?"

"Were you attacked?" he felt the energy pulse back into him as he growled in anger.

She went into the bathroom and he followed her.

"WERE YOU?" he demanded again.

She swiftly shook her head to the negative before exiting the bathroom. "Don't you have a mirror anywhere in this place?"

"Then...??" He followed her as she stalked into his bedroom.

After a brief glance around, she walked back into the living room. "Angel, how on earth do you get by without a mirror?"

"Willow, I don't HAVE A REFLECTION!!" he gripped her shoulders firmly, "What happened to you?"

"I went out a window. Must you pry????" she yelled back in exasperation.

His eyes rounded, "Someone threw you out a window?"

"NO, I *jumped* out a window," she explained patiently.

"Oh...what?"

"I-it's a long story," she waved him off immediately, "We can get into it later."

He shook his head in wonder as she shrugged him off and headed for her backpack.
Maybe she's on some sort of drug or something....

"Angel, have you eaten?"

"No."

"Good, I brought you something to eat."

Right before his eyes she reached into her bag and yanked out two pouches of blood.

"Willow, where did you get those?" Even he could hear the edge of hunger in his voice as he eyed the pouches and he hated himself all the more for it.

"I volunteer at the blood bank. Don't worry about it." She picked up one of them and
threw it to him, "Drink up."

He looked at the bag and then at her, "Willow, this is human blood. I don't drink human blood anymore." He firmly tossed the pouch onto the chair at the other end of the room.

"Angel, you're weak and you haven't eaten, just make an exception this once until you can go out hunting on your own again."

"Absolutely not."

She gazed at him silently before surrendering to his will. He was obviously not going to back down on this one.

"Fine then. Hey, want to watch some TV?"

"What?" he was thrown by her sudden change of tactics, "Willow, I really appreciate
what you're trying to d-,"

"Oh wow, Angel. You don't even have a TV in here? What do you do all night?"

"Willow, I think you should go hom-,"

"No. I can't go home, Angel. Not now. Not until I spend some time with you."

"Willo-,"

"Will you sit down? Your pacing is making me nervous."

Almost automatically, he sat down at her request before wondering why.

She was more determined than ever to make this visit seem completely normal. Just two friends, hanging out together on a Friday night. Two totally normal pals, chatting it up with a little bit of take-out from the local blood bank. Hmmm...

"Well, you don't have any mirrors or TVs in here...or a computer. So what would you
like to do? Do you have any board games?"

He simply stared at her.

"Guess not....hey, I have an idea, let's have a conversation," she smiled brightly while sitting on the edge of the couch, "You go first."

She looks like a pixie or an elf with her hair like that. Thats when he realized she'd been speaking to him...something about a conversation.... Bad idea, "Willow, you know me, I'm not much of a conversationalist."

"Well, neither am I."

That's true. "Okay, what do you want to talk about?" He couldn't understand why he kept giving in to her. She was definitely a major switch from Buffy. She was much more honest and straightforward. He could tell that she was willing to put
herself on the line for her friends both physically and emotionally. Which was exactly what she was doing for him.

This was going to take some serious adjustment.

"Anything you'd like, Angel. Life, hobbies, favorite TV shows...if you had a TV which
you don't so we can scratch that one...unless of course you used to watch TV at some point and had a favorite show from back then and we could talk about that. You know what show I really like that's pretty old? I Love Lucy. It's SO hysterical. I mean, the whole 'red-head' factor has nothing to do with it. That's why Xander thinks I like it. He doesn't think it's funny at all. He's really into the Three Stooges, though, which I absolutely don't understand because I've watched it with him and I don't even crack a smile while he's on the ground laughing so hard I think I'll have to administer CPR. In fact, it's funnier to watch him than to watch the show. There's a definite difference between "girl humor" and "guy humor", I think. Hey did you watch any cartoons when you were little? Oh, well, I guess not cause there weren't TVs when you were little, but I used to love cartoons. I'd wake up at 6am and run downstairs to watch them. They had some of the coolest cartoons back then, none of the 'mutant' stuff they have now. Have you noticed how EVERYTHING is mutant now? There's even some show with mutant bunnies, now that's just twisted. When I was little, I liked the Smurfs, before they time-traveled of course, and Kidd Video, and Poochie , and My Little Pony, and The Wuzzles, and She-Ra, which granted was sorta sexist in hindsight, but at the time I wanted to BE her, an-,"

"Okay, Willow, you know what? I *do* want to talk about something," Angel chose to interrupt her now knowing that if he didn't, she'd be liable to carry on this one
conversation with herself all night.

Willow smiled internally Note to self. Babbling incessantly makes Angel talk.
Outside, she was all innocence, "Yes?"

"It's...well.." he stood and started pacing again, "It's hard for me to say."

"Oh, give it a try, it can't be that bad."

"Oh, but it is, trust me it is," he rolled his eyes, "....it's just that," he suddenly sat down right next to her and lowered his voice, "There's this face I just can't get out of my head."

"A-a face?"

"Willow, as a..a...a friend," he seemed to have trouble saying the word and believing it at the same time, "can I ask you something?"

"Sure, Angel!" unable to help herself, she leaned forward slightly and her heartbeat
picked up just a bit.

"It's pretty important, and I can give you time to think about it, but I really need an
answer."

She nodded.

"I feel so stupid asking, and I know this isn't the right thing to do, but I can't help
myself."

She nodded sympathetically.

" I mean, I've turned it over in my head a hundred times, and every time I do it, I can't seem to get away from my feelings..."

She nodded again, her heart jumping to her throat.

"But I trust you Willow, I really do. I think I've always trusted you without even knowing it," he took her hands in his, "And..I don't want you to hate me for asking you this, especially because I'd promised myself that I wouldn't when this whole thing started, but now I know that I can't let it go any longer."

"Angel, just ask!" she finally exploded.

"Do you think I have a chance?"

"A-a chance?"

He looked incredibly guilty but forced his gaze to her own, "At a...at a relationship..."

Willow just about fainted, "A relationship?"

"With Buffy."

"With.......Buffy..oh," she looked down immediately and tried to blink away the
unexpected tears which flowed into her eyes. Must be dust in her contact lenses again.

"Willow? Please don't be mad at me. I know it's unfair to put you on the spot bu-,"

She looked back up at him, "No. No Angel, it's fine."

Was it his imagination or did her eyes look a bit brighter than they did before?

"I understand your position completely, and I don't hate you at all," she continued,
forcing herself to smile at him kindly, "I could never hate you, you're one of my closest friends," she dropped her gaze again and studied the crinkles in the tan leather sofa, "I can ask Buffy, if you'd like. I think your chances are good though," she raised her eyes back to his, "Very good. With a little bit of prodding, I'm sure she'll come around..." What am I saying? Am I agreeing to help him to win back Buffy? Ohmigosh I am..

"Y-you mean, you'll help me to get her back?" he asked in disbelief.

"Yes...I will."

"Thank you Willow," he whispered softly. In a rare show of emotion, he leaned over and hugged her.

Falling limply into the embrace, she felt the tears well in her eyes. Wow, it sure
is dusty in here....

******************

Part 9

"So she wasn't there?"

"Well, *someone* was there. I heard the door slam upstairs."

"Any sign of who it might've been?"

"No, by the time I got up there, the room was empty. The window was open, though."

"Xander, it could've just been the wind that slammed the door shut. I think you're
overreacting."

"I don't. Her room was a disaster area. There were clothes and shoes and makeup all over the place."

"Makeup?"

"Yeah. It's not at all like her."

"Well, if there was makeup and stuff..maybe we *should* go take a look."

"My point exactly, what if she's possessed or something?"

"I think that both of you are overreacting," Giles broke in, looking up from one of his
books, "She'll be fine, I saw her running across campus with Amy today. She looked a lot happier than I've seen her in a long time. And I can't believe that you simply violated her privacy by barging into her house like that, Xander."

The boy had enough decency to look mildly embarrassed, "Well, I was worried about her. She isn't returning my phone calls and Buffy's been emailing her for the past few days and she hasn't been responding. We barely get to see her anymore. That and the fact that she's hanging out with Amy way too much."

"Well, why don't you just call Amy and see what's going on?"

"Don't go there, G-man."

"Oh, please Xander, don't tell me that you're still scared of her after that whole magic spell incident."

"No, I'm not 'scared', I'm just-,"

"Petrified out of your mind," Cordelia finished. She was sick of watching them discuss
this. It was Saturday night, they should be out having fun. "I hate to admit it, but I think that I'm going with Giles on this one. Willow's fine. In fact, she's probably at the Bronze right now, dancing the night away. Let's go check," she grabbed Xander's arm and started hauling him out of the library.

"I think that's a wonderful idea. Buffy, you ought to go with them. Everyone has been on edge lately and a break would do us all some good."

Unable to believe her ears, the slayer simply stared at him, "You're kidding, right? No patrols?"

Giles removed his glasses and cleaned them thoughtfully, "No, no patrols for tonight. I think that one night off should be alright, especially since everyone has been so stressed. Vampiric activity has been down recently, and it should be fine as long as you three stay together at all times."

"Great, music to my ears. You heard the man, let's go," With that, Cordelia forcibly
yanked both Xander and Buffy towards the library door, "Laters Giles!"

"Goodnight, I'll see you all tomorrow morning at 10:30!"

Swallowing their collective groan, the three teens smiled and waved before dashing out the door, into the darkness.

************
They were sitting so close that their knees were touching.

She stared at him, her green eyes glittering in an almost predatory manner.

He returned her gaze evenly while making a few wild calculations in his head.

"Don't try to stall, fang-boy," she said in the most intimidating voice she could muster.

"I'm *not* stalling," he replied, trying to sound outraged while he stalled some more.

"Uh huh," she snickered, "Don't even *think* about lying to me. I'm a master at this. Now go."

Damn, she's got me. What am I gonna do.

"NOW," she urged.

"Fine, fine, seven," he replied in exasperation.

She paused a moment.

A HA! Gotcha!! he thought, doing a little victory dance in his head.

Suddenly, the predatory glitter returned to her eyes and his heart fell.

Uh oh....

She threw her head back and laughed heartily.

"Damn," he muttered under his breath.

"Angel?" she asked, grinning smugly and relishing every moment of it.

"Yes?" he responded, pouting slightly.

"Go Fish."

************

It had been a long past few weeks and as embarassed as she would have been to admit it, Amy Madison had gone to bed on a Saturday night before 10:30. She hadn't been able to help it. She was downright exhausted. Between preventing homicidal vampires from killing her friends, early morning phone calls which forced her out of bed and using her powers to conjure up different outfits, she'd been pretty busy.

Hence, she'd fallen asleep almost the instant her head hit the pillow. And now she
couldn't wait to wake up.

The frequency of her visions has increased, and these were definately worse. They were still a bit foggy..not quite as vivid as the one she'd had the night Angelus was chasing Willow, but they were just as bad, especially since she didn't know what to
make of them.

It was the same over and over again. These long metal poles of some kind coming down, beating fiercely, next there was shouting, and finally lots of blood. The scene then shifted to a broken body, face obscured by shadows, lying out on cold cement. Finally, the sequence ended with a glimpse of a hill and a brilliant flash of sunlight. Again and again and again, the images and sounds paraded through her head. Always in the same order, always the same spacing, always the same length. She never got more information or insight than these few snippets.

Finally clawing her way to consciousness on what must have been the fifth time through, she sat up in bed, her body covered by
a cold sweat.

She moaned softly and looked at her alarm clock.

10:47.

It was going to be a long night.

***************
Giles had his jacket on and was halfway to the door before he remembered his umbrella.

Sighing softly, he returned to his office, but couldn't find it. Finally, after an additional 10 minutes of searching, he located it under one of the large library tables. Xander and his fooling about....

Grumbling under his breath he tried to get it by reaching one arm under, but it was too far. Finally, he simply gave up and crawled under the table. Grabbing the umbrella, he started to back out, but paused when he saw a book underneath as well. "I am going to have to discuss proper library etiquette with all three of them," he muttered, reaching for it.

As he pulled it away, he was somewhat surprised to find tiny fragments of rope behind it. Now that's odd...we really need to clean more thoroughly. People could start asking questions.

After getting out from under the table, he picked up his umbrella and turned to throw the book into the "return" bin. He'd take care of it tomorrow morning. The cover of the book, however, gave him pause. "Scripts and Ancient Curses," he read aloud. Frowning slightly, he noticed that a few of the pages had been marked. Casually flipping through the chosen passages, his frown deepened, "Oh my."

His panic rapidly increasing, he dropped the book on the counter.

With shaking hands he picked up the phone...

****************************

Part 10

It was nearly 3am when a very bleary-eyed Willow finally returned home. "I am going *straight* to bed," she mumbled to herself after she'd locked the door and waved goodnight to Angel. The time they'd spent together had been marvelous. They'd really just hung out and talked for the first few hours but once he'd found a deck of cards in his closet, things had really started swinging. She'd beat him in three straight hands of Go Fish and five of Hearts. He was a bit put out at first and even went so far as to call her a card shark so she let him win the last two games of Hearts. It was bonding. Bonding was good. She felt bonded and now she was exhausted.

Passing through the living room, she noticed the answering machine blinking.

Wow, 7 messages, I sure am popular tonight.

The first three were from her parents. Alternately it went, Mom, Dad, Mom. She'd have to remember to call them. The next three were from Xander. She'd have to call him back too at some point. She stretched tiredly and flopped back onto the couch
to listen to the last one:

Beeeep…

After I hear this one, I'm going straight to bed.

"Willow? Th-this is Giles…"

The hacker grinned to herself, I can't believe Xander got Giles to call me too…

"I-I've discovered some rather…disturbing news and we're all at the library right now and..It would be a good idea if you came by as well…It's approximately 2:45am right now and I've sent Buffy over to get you. This is extremely important, Willow, and I look forward to hearing from you soon."

Click

This caused her to sit straight up. 2:45am? Well then, Buffy should be here right…

As if on cue, the doorbell rang.

…now

He walked casually down the street, hands in his pockets, humming softly under his breath. It had been a pretty interesting night. It seemed that the more he got to know her, the more he was surprised by the outwardly meek and quiet Willow
Rosenberg. She was an unending series of contradictions. Physically fragile, she was mentally strong and quick. She was sweet and sincere but also knew when to be firm and hard-headed. Like that night he was going to kill himself. He frowned slightly. If
she hadn't stopped him…he shook his head. I owe a lot to her. I owe her my life two times over. Probably even more. She also had a very strange and unintentional way of making him laugh. He was growing to like her distinct sense of humor almost as quickly as he was growing to like her. Certainly, he'd gotten along with her before. He'd even come to her for help on occasion. But he'd never really gotten to *know* her. Not like he did now. Now, he was just beginning to see the spark and the life which lay just under the shy exterior. The "real" Willow Rosenberg.

Yes, this night had only strengthened his opinion of her. In fact, he couldn't remember a time when he'd been so at ease with another person. He couldn't help but grin at the memory of Willow trying to inconspicuously let him win at cards. She has a good heart. he suddenly realized. And above all, that was the one thing Angel respected about the red haired hacker. For someone who had lived on the Hellmouth for so long and had dealt with so many hardships at such a young age, it truly amazed him that she was able to remain as innocent and kind as she had.

Whistling, he started to turn a corner and that's when he felt it. An odd tingling sensation which was faint at first and then seized his entire being. Buffy… He could sense her. She was coming towards him at a very quick speed. Swiftly stepping backwards into the shrubbery, Angel melted into the shadows in the way which only he could. He watched almost longingly as she ran past him. She was close enough to touch. His heart ached silently as he caught a faint whiff of her perfume. Vanilla.

Sighing softly, he watched her run in the direction he'd just come from. Next, she took a turn down Willow's street. Frowning, he waited. Within a few minutes, both Buffy and Willow emerged walking hurriedly. He caught pieces of their conversation as they flew past him.

"So Giles hasn't said anything to you?"

"Nope, he wanted you to be there before he explained what this was all about. He seems pretty freaked out though. Do you have any ideas about what might be going on?"

"Umm…no?"

By then, they'd moved so far that he couldn't hear anymore. Growling, he started to follow them. I wonder what's happening?

***********************

"Buffy…Willow. Good," The librarian looked at both girls and nodded briskly.

Cordelia moaned softly, half asleep and sat up from her previous position of leaning against Xander, "Thank God for small favors. It took you people long enough. Do you know what lack of sleep does to a person? Dark circles right under the eyes. Very unattractive."

"Okay Giles, so what's up?" Buffy asked, pointedly ignoring Cordelia and taking a seat at the end of the table. Willow chose to stand, rather nervously, near the door.

"W-well, I was doing a bit of cleaning around here and I found some things which were…disturbing. Then I did some more cleaning and I found some more things..which were just as disturbing."

Willow felt her heart begin to sink as a very unsettled feeling invaded the pit of her stomach.

"It started with this book," he held up the offending object for the rest of the group to see.

Uh oh. Willow recognized it almost immediately and could feel the guilty flush start to creep up her neck. I thought I put that away.

"And then I found some odd scraps of rope and other books which had been mislaid," Giles continued, "As well as this." He held up a piece of crumpled paper.

I knew I should have shredded that. she kicked herself mentally.

"Okay Sherlock, so what's the deal?" Cordelia demanded, "What's on the paper?"

"If I'm not mistaken, this paper is a computer print-out of a restoration spell."

At the mention of the word "computer" all eyes turned to Willow. She fidgeted uncomfortably, fiddling with the bottom of her blouse.

"A restoration spell? As in…to restore a person's soul?" Buffy whispered softly.

"Willow," Giles asked, a serious look in his dark eyes, "Were you planning on using this?"

The library fell silent as everyone waited for an answer.

She shifted, "Well…not exactly…"

"Willow, do you now how dangerous this is? If you had found the spell, you should have come to me first. It's extremely powerful and you don't have the experience or the training to carry out something like this on your own. It's a good thing I caught this in time. We need to thoroughly explore our options. I'm not so sure that using the spell at this point is a good idea."

"Can I see it?" Buffy asked numbly as she took it from his hands.

"It could be outdated for all we know or it could even backfire."

Xander nodded vigorously, "Yup, spells can backfire. It really sucks when that happens. Besides, it's not right to change him back now. Not after he killed Ms. Calendar. I mean, how do we know that it won't happen again? How do we know he won't get happy and then go nuts and start killing people? The guy is dangerous, Willow."

"Well, the restoration is actually designed to *permanently* anchor the soul," she began.

"But we don't know if it would even work in the first place," Giles cut in, "You also have to realize that Angelus would most likely attack once he realized what was going on. If we ultimately failed, we'd have a very dangerous, antagonized vampire on our hands," he shook his head, "No, this is entirely out of the question."

"B-But…"

"Willow, it was a good idea," Buffy looked up sadly from the piece of paper she was holding, "but I'm afraid Giles is right. I've given up on ever getting Angel back the way he was. I think this is for the best. If we tried to restore his soul, it would just
complicate things more."

"Y-you don't understand," the red-head stammered, tears starting to fill her eyes.

"Don't understand what?" Giles asked, slightly confused, "My God, Willow…you didn't actually attempt this already did you?" he stared at her in shock.

"No, it's not just that I attempted it…," she replied, her voice sounded pained and hoarse.

"She was successful," said a voice from the door.

**************************

Part 11

From the instant Angel stepped into the library, Willow's world started moving in slow motion.

First there was the collective gasp from her friends. Then there was the look of complete shock on their faces. Finally, the shouting began.

"Angel?" Buffy cried.

"Oh my God." Cordelia yelped, hiding behind Xander. He jumped up and started moving away from the table.

"How could you? Are you insane?" Willow started slightly when she realized that the question was directed at her.

"X-Xander, please…"

"NO, I can't believe you'd do this!! How could you do this to everyone, Willow?" The intense look of utter betrayal in his eyes was worse than anything she could have ever imagined.

Giles stared blankly at the whole scene before silently stalking off into his office.

"Xander, I didn-,"

"I can never trust you again," he hissed through clenched teeth, angrier than she'd ever seen him.

Unable to stand it, Willow looked past him, to where Angel had walked over to Buffy and was talking to her in a muted voice. The slayer looked to be near tears and was shaking her head slowly. He reached out to touch her arm and she flinched away
from him.

"How could you bring that bastard back in here?" Xander growled, drawing her attention back to him, "How dare you?? How dare you endanger ALL of us? How dare you…disgrace Ms. Calendar's memory like this?"

"Xander…" she choked out, trying to get away from him.

He took ahold of her arm harshly, "Willow, I don't even know who you a-,"

"Xander! Stop!!" Cordelia insisted, grabbing him and trying to pull him away.

"Get the bloody hell out of my way," Giles bellowed, coming out of his office with a crossbow in hand.

That's when the real pandimonium broke loose.

Cordelia stopped struggling with Xander almost instantly and looked up in horror.

Angel paled slightly but didn't say anything as Giles roughly grabbed Buffy and shoved her away. He lifted the crossbow and aimed it directly at the vampire's heart.

"No!" Willow screamed, breaking away from Xander, and rushing to scramble over the table.

"Willow," Xander flew after her, grabbing her ankle just as she launched herself upwards.

"You killed her, you bastard, you killed the only woman I ever loved and you deserve to die for it," Giles snarled, a dull and icy look in his eyes as his fingers gripped the trigger.

Angel made no attempt to move.

Buffy sat a few feet away, stunned.

Cordelia quickly regained her senses and ran over to where Willow and Xander were still fighting.

"I'm sending you to hell."

With a vicious kick to the mouth, Willow forced Xander to drop her foot and launched him tumbling backwards into Cordy. Crawling on her hands and knees, she crossed the table and shot off the other side, falling face first. Her arms reached out and
encircled Angel's waist, pulling them down together.

As they spiraled downwards, Willow heard a faint wooshing noise just as the arrow flew past, nicking the side of her face. She
landed heavily on his chest.

Shaking, she sat up and lightly touched the cut the arrow's near miss had made, just under her eye.

"Willow, get out of the bloody way," Giles ground out, his voice barely recognizable to her ears.

She looked up to see him standing over them. Breathing hard and perspiring profusely, he was reloading the crossbow without taking his gaze off of the pair below. His eyes were vacant yet wild. He looked almost as if he'd lost his mind.

"No," she whispered defiantly.

He held up the crossbow, "I said get out of my way."

She stood up, suddenly getting very angry herself, "I said, NO goddammit."

The librarian faltered slightly.

"Put that thing down," she demanded, "Before you hurt someone."

"Willow, get out of the way. I'm not going to ask you again," he was almost pleading.

"If you want to kill him, you'll have to kill me first," she said softly, deliberately walking directly up to the tip of the arrow, "Put the crossbow DOWN, Giles. You don't know what you're doing. Please."

There was a moment when she was sure her heart stopped beating. One brief moment when she thought he might actually shoot through her to get to the vampire below. Luckily, he didn't.

With a look of bitter sorrow and grief, Giles slowly lowered the weapon.

Willow let out the breath she hadn't even known she'd been holding. Over his shoulder, she saw Buffy starting to walk towards them. She looked on as a very shaken Cordelia helped up Xander who was nursing his injured jaw.

"Giles, I-I'm so sorry-," she moved towards him shakily, suddenly switching from an angry, stubborn fighter back to a frightened sixteen year old.

He shook his head and drew away from her, "Get out," he whispered.

"What?" she asked, not quite comprehending.

He turned his full attention to his young protégé, "Get..the..bloody hell…OUT OF MY LIBRARY," he shouted at her, his face contorted in fury.

She gasped and paled slightly, her chin starting to tremble. Backing away, she felt the tears springing into her eyes again. She turned and bumped into Angel who had, at some point during the confrontation, gotten up to stand behind her. She pushed past him blindly and ran out the doors, top speed. Dead silence fell throughout the room and they could hear her sobbing loudly down the hall.

Wordlessly, Angel turned and ran after her.