"Angel?" Buffy and Xander said simultaneously.
"Yeah, see we have this slight problem, Can I come in?"
Buffy opened the door to find a small brown haired mousy woman at the other side.
"Thanks, Angel said he'd be by, you know, after sunset."
"Great. Are you going to tell us now about this 'slight problem' or are we going to have to wait until Angel gets here?"
"It'd be better if we waited for Angel. So you are the slayer... I kinda imagined you a bit taller... maybe a few more muscles. You know the way Angel talks about you..."
"Dead boy still jonsing for the Buffster, color me shocked." Fred was startled by the other voice and turned to see who it was.
"That's Xander, don't mind him, no one else around here does." Xander was visibly taken aback by that. He walked past the two women and out the door without a word.
Buffy felt bad immediately after she said what she did. She left Fred without a word either, trying to catch up to Xander.
"Xander!! Come on Xander!!"
"Buffy, its ok. I know you didn't mean anything by it. I just figured I'd leave when the opportunity presented itself."
"You don't have to go."
"I got that, its just you and Angel will have this big evil to face, it'll be better that I'm not there to get my face pummeled."
She stood next to him silently for a moment, not sure of how to say what she wanted to say.
"Face pummlage or not, I'd prefer you being there. A meeting with the Ex... I think I'll do better with strength in numbers."
"He's not." Xander said barely audible.
"What?"
"Nothing." Xander seemed to clear his thoughts and walked with Buffy back to her house, with sunset minutes away.
**********
They sat around the Dinning room table, Angel and his crew on one side. While Buffy, Xander, Willow, Kennedy, and Dawn were on the other side.
"So this Rehpotsirhc demon... It wants to take over Sunnydale"
"At least it doesn't want to end the world." Kennedy tried to brighten up the conversation.
"Well it'll be a lot better than the last mayor." Willow added.
"If it takes over Sunnydale it will have total control of the hell mouth... it has the power to make anything it wants come out from there and help make a hell on earth." Angel pointed out.
"Right. So we stop this thing. Dawn, Xander, research. I want to know how to kill this thing if we can. Willow, help Lorne and Fred on the magic end of this. Gunn and Kennedy, you patrol the good side of town. Me and Angel will take the bad side of town."
Willow looked at Xander and in his head said, //At least she stopped making those speeches.//
//Yeah, that's great.//
//What's wrong?//
//Nothing. Just all this being around Angel brings back old feelings.//
//Like you hating him?//
//Not all of him, just the viscera.//
"Xand Will, you got an interesting starring contest going there, you gonna declare a champ and get to work?"
"Only if you ask nicely. Oh, and you could make us some cereal." Xander smiled at an unamused slayer. His smile faded and a sick feeling crept into HIS viscera.
"Alright Dawn, you cover the Sumerian, I got the Latin."
"Hold on, Xand. Can I talk to you a sec?" Buffy started up the stairs and he dutifully followed. When he got to her room he shut the door behind him.
"What's wrong with you?"
"I might ask you the same thing. Ever since Angel and his crew came to town you've been treating us all like less than human."
"Look at us, we're still armatures. All these years and we still don't have anything going like Angel does. They're like a well-oiled machine and we're... we're oil less."
"Buff, the Initiative was well oiled. Oily doesn't mean better. We've got more apocalypses under our belt than they'll ever have. But that's not the thing that's buggin the Buffinator is it?"
"Angel seems so... happy." She looked down to the ground. She sat on the bed and waited for him to join her before continuing.
"I guess I'm jealous. I mean he has a kid, a grown up kid... and all this major stuff has happened, and I'm-"
"Not happy." She saw the pain behind his eyes and quickly corrected him.
"Getting there. Xander... For me to be happy, you need to find the happiness."
"I don't know if I can promise that, even for my favorite slayer."
"Well I might not be for long. I need to tell you something. What happened today... I-"
"Buffy! We need to get going!" Angel banged on the bedroom door.
"Tell me when Dead boy is gone, kay?"
Buffy smiled and got up; she left the house within seconds. Xander sighed and went to go find out what he could on this demon.
*********************
Buffy and Angel patrolled the same cemetery for the second time that night, not saying anything.
"So...."
"So..."
"You love Cordy? That is, when she isn't evil or having sex with your son."
"Yeah. So what happened to Xander?"
"Why do you think anything happened to him?"
"You are protecting him. So is Dawn, Willow, and her friend."
"Girlfriend actually."
"Yeah, that girl that's her... You didn't mean a friend who happens to be a girl, did you?"
"Nope. Kennedy is a potential slayer, when the others left she decided to stay behind, I think its getting pretty serious between them."
"Wow... And Willow said not much had changed. So what got you all coddling Xander?"
"He saw me and Spike kissing and his heart stopped beating."
"Hey if my heart had a beat it would stop just from the mention of it, you and Spike?"
"Not anymore. Xander.... seeing him like that, knowing I did that; Spike left a few days later."
"You stopped your relationship with him for Xander?"
"I did it for myself, and for Spike. What happened to Xander.... It's almost a good thing. I mean we're so close now, and all these problems we've had. They aren't gone, but things are getting better."
That was when the demon decided to attack, they never are really polite. It wasn't a very long fight; it got the better of Buffy and threw her to the ground, when it turned around Angel threw an axe at its head, decapitating it.
*************
Buffy and Angel entered the Summers home to see Xander and Dawn watching cartoons and laughing.
"Some research you guys are doing." They got up and quickly turned off the TV.
"Willow said we could. Blame her." Xander pointed over to the Wicca who was sitting on the couch.
"We did a spell... to make the demon not all that strong, like a tenth of his strength, We called Gunn and Kennedy and told them, they decided to call it a night after going around three times."
"You know you have a cell phone so you can bring it with you, not leave it at home." Kennedy jumped in.
"Well, no biggie, we killed it."
"So I guess this means goodbye to the fang gang."
"Not quite, we have to stay at least three days to make sure no other demons try to take advantage of the demons death. Great power emerges from the death, we could be talking about a possible apocalypse."
They all looked up at Fred for a moment.
"All she needs is a British accent, an annoying habit of cleaning her glasses, and she'd be Giles." Dawn looked around to see who agreed while Fred looked at her like she was from mars.
"What's a Giles?"
"Yeah, see we have this slight problem, Can I come in?"
Buffy opened the door to find a small brown haired mousy woman at the other side.
"Thanks, Angel said he'd be by, you know, after sunset."
"Great. Are you going to tell us now about this 'slight problem' or are we going to have to wait until Angel gets here?"
"It'd be better if we waited for Angel. So you are the slayer... I kinda imagined you a bit taller... maybe a few more muscles. You know the way Angel talks about you..."
"Dead boy still jonsing for the Buffster, color me shocked." Fred was startled by the other voice and turned to see who it was.
"That's Xander, don't mind him, no one else around here does." Xander was visibly taken aback by that. He walked past the two women and out the door without a word.
Buffy felt bad immediately after she said what she did. She left Fred without a word either, trying to catch up to Xander.
"Xander!! Come on Xander!!"
"Buffy, its ok. I know you didn't mean anything by it. I just figured I'd leave when the opportunity presented itself."
"You don't have to go."
"I got that, its just you and Angel will have this big evil to face, it'll be better that I'm not there to get my face pummeled."
She stood next to him silently for a moment, not sure of how to say what she wanted to say.
"Face pummlage or not, I'd prefer you being there. A meeting with the Ex... I think I'll do better with strength in numbers."
"He's not." Xander said barely audible.
"What?"
"Nothing." Xander seemed to clear his thoughts and walked with Buffy back to her house, with sunset minutes away.
**********
They sat around the Dinning room table, Angel and his crew on one side. While Buffy, Xander, Willow, Kennedy, and Dawn were on the other side.
"So this Rehpotsirhc demon... It wants to take over Sunnydale"
"At least it doesn't want to end the world." Kennedy tried to brighten up the conversation.
"Well it'll be a lot better than the last mayor." Willow added.
"If it takes over Sunnydale it will have total control of the hell mouth... it has the power to make anything it wants come out from there and help make a hell on earth." Angel pointed out.
"Right. So we stop this thing. Dawn, Xander, research. I want to know how to kill this thing if we can. Willow, help Lorne and Fred on the magic end of this. Gunn and Kennedy, you patrol the good side of town. Me and Angel will take the bad side of town."
Willow looked at Xander and in his head said, //At least she stopped making those speeches.//
//Yeah, that's great.//
//What's wrong?//
//Nothing. Just all this being around Angel brings back old feelings.//
//Like you hating him?//
//Not all of him, just the viscera.//
"Xand Will, you got an interesting starring contest going there, you gonna declare a champ and get to work?"
"Only if you ask nicely. Oh, and you could make us some cereal." Xander smiled at an unamused slayer. His smile faded and a sick feeling crept into HIS viscera.
"Alright Dawn, you cover the Sumerian, I got the Latin."
"Hold on, Xand. Can I talk to you a sec?" Buffy started up the stairs and he dutifully followed. When he got to her room he shut the door behind him.
"What's wrong with you?"
"I might ask you the same thing. Ever since Angel and his crew came to town you've been treating us all like less than human."
"Look at us, we're still armatures. All these years and we still don't have anything going like Angel does. They're like a well-oiled machine and we're... we're oil less."
"Buff, the Initiative was well oiled. Oily doesn't mean better. We've got more apocalypses under our belt than they'll ever have. But that's not the thing that's buggin the Buffinator is it?"
"Angel seems so... happy." She looked down to the ground. She sat on the bed and waited for him to join her before continuing.
"I guess I'm jealous. I mean he has a kid, a grown up kid... and all this major stuff has happened, and I'm-"
"Not happy." She saw the pain behind his eyes and quickly corrected him.
"Getting there. Xander... For me to be happy, you need to find the happiness."
"I don't know if I can promise that, even for my favorite slayer."
"Well I might not be for long. I need to tell you something. What happened today... I-"
"Buffy! We need to get going!" Angel banged on the bedroom door.
"Tell me when Dead boy is gone, kay?"
Buffy smiled and got up; she left the house within seconds. Xander sighed and went to go find out what he could on this demon.
*********************
Buffy and Angel patrolled the same cemetery for the second time that night, not saying anything.
"So...."
"So..."
"You love Cordy? That is, when she isn't evil or having sex with your son."
"Yeah. So what happened to Xander?"
"Why do you think anything happened to him?"
"You are protecting him. So is Dawn, Willow, and her friend."
"Girlfriend actually."
"Yeah, that girl that's her... You didn't mean a friend who happens to be a girl, did you?"
"Nope. Kennedy is a potential slayer, when the others left she decided to stay behind, I think its getting pretty serious between them."
"Wow... And Willow said not much had changed. So what got you all coddling Xander?"
"He saw me and Spike kissing and his heart stopped beating."
"Hey if my heart had a beat it would stop just from the mention of it, you and Spike?"
"Not anymore. Xander.... seeing him like that, knowing I did that; Spike left a few days later."
"You stopped your relationship with him for Xander?"
"I did it for myself, and for Spike. What happened to Xander.... It's almost a good thing. I mean we're so close now, and all these problems we've had. They aren't gone, but things are getting better."
That was when the demon decided to attack, they never are really polite. It wasn't a very long fight; it got the better of Buffy and threw her to the ground, when it turned around Angel threw an axe at its head, decapitating it.
*************
Buffy and Angel entered the Summers home to see Xander and Dawn watching cartoons and laughing.
"Some research you guys are doing." They got up and quickly turned off the TV.
"Willow said we could. Blame her." Xander pointed over to the Wicca who was sitting on the couch.
"We did a spell... to make the demon not all that strong, like a tenth of his strength, We called Gunn and Kennedy and told them, they decided to call it a night after going around three times."
"You know you have a cell phone so you can bring it with you, not leave it at home." Kennedy jumped in.
"Well, no biggie, we killed it."
"So I guess this means goodbye to the fang gang."
"Not quite, we have to stay at least three days to make sure no other demons try to take advantage of the demons death. Great power emerges from the death, we could be talking about a possible apocalypse."
They all looked up at Fred for a moment.
"All she needs is a British accent, an annoying habit of cleaning her glasses, and she'd be Giles." Dawn looked around to see who agreed while Fred looked at her like she was from mars.
"What's a Giles?"
