AUTHOR'S NOTES (1):  Thoughts are still in italics. color:black'>
AUTHOR'S NOTES (2):  Thanks to Liz who's now read 3 completely different versions of this chapter and who finally told me to just post the damn thing already. Thanks also to all of you who sent feedback. And, no, there are no plans for an Oz/Angel/Wesley sexual romp. Although that's certainly an idea worth exploring…wicked grin

Wesley was surprised that the mansion was undamaged until he recalled that it was on the outskirts of Sunnydale. Angel carried him into the unlit great room and carefully laid him on the couch. The vampire moved precisely through the room avoiding the remnants of the coffee table. He built a fire and went into the kitchen to unpack the medical supplies they had "liberated" on the way.

Oz trailed the vampire into the kitchen. "Angel, I think we should get Wesley to the hospital," he ventured. The scent of fresh blood wafting from the back of the van had sent Angel into game face as soon as they left The Bronze. The drive to the mansion had been extremely tense partly because Angel had not shifted back to his human face. Oz had assumed it was the proximity of fresh blood, but they were two rooms away from Wesley, and the vampire still had not changed his features.

Angel looked closely at the young man. It had been an overwhelming twenty-four hours for Oz. He and Willow had made love for the first and last times, the Mayor had ascended and turned Sunnydale into a hellish wasteland, and most of the people Oz cared about were dead or missing. He was exhausted, and he was scared. Adrenaline was the only thing keeping him upright. His eyes shifted constantly from human to werewolf and back again. Angel relaxed his face. "Why don't you try and get some rest?" he suggested. "I'll deal with Wesley."

Oz nodded his thanks and grabbed some energy bars and bottled water. "Okay. Come get me if, you know, something changes."

Angel gathered up bandages, disinfectant, towels, and a bowl of water and headed back into the great room. He was not looking forward to the next thirty minutes.

Wesley was lost in the movement of the flames when Angel re-entered the great room. "Wesley?" The man looked awful and smelled delectable. Angel touched him gently on the arm, "Wesley?" The ex-Watcher returned his attention to the vampire. "Where's Oz?" he asked.

Angel gestured towards the bedrooms. "Resting. I thought it would be better for him not to be here for this," he said, indicating the bandages and disinfectant.

 "I need to tell you some things first," said Wesley. Angel stopped unrolling the bandages. It wasn't Wesley's words but his tone that demanded attention. It was soft yet authoritative, like Giles, but without the harshness and prissiness that Angel had always associated with Wesley. This can't be good news. I don't want to hear this.

"Should I get Oz?" wondered Angel.

"No. This is for you only." Wesley's hands played with the blanket that Angel had given him. "I'm dying," he stated, daring the vampire to dispute him.

Angel took an unneeded breath. "I know. I can take you to the hospital if you want." Angel had never liked Buffy's new Watcher, but the man sitting in front of him was not that Watcher. This was someone else.

Wesley's answer didn't surprise him. "No. I'm needed here." Now I know I'm not gonna like this. Angel waited for him to continue. "These earthquakes are not part of the Ascension." Wesley paused, then added, "I think the Hellmouth is opening."

Angel was dumbstruck by Wesley's statement. He opened and closed his mouth several times before he could speak. "You're kidding, right? Why now?" As soon as he asked the question, he knew the answer. The Mayor. Angel began to pace in front of the fire.

"There's more," said Wesley. The vampire abruptly stopped pacing. There's more? How could there be more? The Mayor has ascended, and the Hellmouth is opening. That usually means the end of the world. What more could there be?

"You have to close the Hellmouth." What? "What?!" sputtered Angel.

"You are the only one who can close the Hellmouth," explained Wesley. "I can't do it because of…" Wesley waved at his body, "…and Oz has no experience. If Buffy were here –" The vampire growled and flashed golden eyes at the ex-Watcher. Wesley stared him down and repeated in a quieter voice, "If Buffy were here, she would do it. We both know that. In the meantime, you are the only one."

Angel snarled and resumed his pacing. "How? The last time the Hellmouth opened, it took two slayers, a witch-in-training, a Watcher, and me to close it, and we damn well nearly didn't make it!" Angel was yelling by the time he finished the sentence. This cannot be happening.

"We damn well nearly didn't make what?" Oz's voice penetrated the tension in the room. He glanced at Angel and Wesley. Their body language screamed brewing trouble. "Uh, guys? Not feeling the love here. What's goin' on?"

Angel glared at Wesley who refused to answer. "He has a right to know," demanded Angel. The ex-Watcher sighed deeply. "I'm dying."

"Got that part already," said Oz. "Kinda hard to miss actually."

"And the Hellmouth is opening," Wesley mumbled. Oz turned to Angel. "And the upside would be?"

"He wants me to close it," replied Angel. Oz raised his eyebrows. "No offense," the boy offered, "but I don't think that's in your job description."

Angel smiled, "I guess it is now." He regarded Wesley and took another unneeded breath. "Tell me what to do."

Apparently they had about a day to close the Hellmouth, and Wesley had a simple yet effective plan: Angel would cast a sealing spell over the Hellmouth. The complicated part, as Wesley explained it, was the details. They needed to find a sealing spell, which meant research. The books from the Sunnydale High library had been split between Wesley's home, Giles' apartment, and Willow's basement. Someone would have to go out into the apocalyptic night and get the books. Once they found the right spell, they would need to gather the ingredients. That would be another journey into the horror. Finally, Angel would have to go back to Sunnydale High's library and get close enough to the Hellmouth to cast the spell without getting dusted.

Wesley glanced at the werewolf and vampire before him and tried to sound Watcherly. "I think it can be done." He waited for Angel to say something, anything. It was Oz who broke the silence. "That complicated part? You do know that's more like a suicidal part, don't you?"

They left Wesley at the mansion and took Oz's van. They returned with several boxes of books and miscellaneous mystical ingredients that they had scrounged from Giles' home. They spread the books out on the great room floor and began to research. Oz finally gave up trying to read words through his closed eyelids and headed back to his temporary bed.

An hour after that, Angel stood up abruptly. "I'm going to patrol, see if I can find out what else the Mayor is doing," he explained. Wesley stopped reading and regarded the vampire. "You think she's still alive?" he asked in a carefully neutral voice.

Angel did not want to think about a dead Buffy. He wouldn't believe it until he saw her body. If she was dead, he didn't care if the Hellmouth opened and swallowed the world. He didn't think he could live without her alive somewhere in it. He answered Wesley honestly. "I don't know. But I have to find out." He stormed out of the mansion, his duster swirling around his feet.

Three piles of books surrounded Wesley: rejects, not yet reads, and maybes. The rejects pile was steadily increasing. It seemed he had been reading for hours. His head was pounding, and the tea Angel had left him was cold. He sipped it anyway. "`For optimum results, use a Slayer'?" he read aloud and threw the book across the room in disgust. "If I had a bloody Slayer, I wouldn't be trying to make it work with a vampire."

Someone picked up the discarded book. "I'm kind of bloody. Does that count?" Wesley's teacup shattered on the mansion floor.