A/N If you saw the episode, there were two versions. Mine's all from Buffy and Angel's P.O.V. Sorry it took so long to get up. I had to find the script to the episode and then, you know, write it. So, enjoy.

Chapter 8

Buffy yawned and watched as the passengers started to unload from the plane that Willow was supposed to be on. Angel yawned right after Buffy. As she laid her head down on Angel's shoulder, they both yawned together. Buffy winced a little from the bite in her neck and Angel wrapped his arm around her. Conner stood next to Buffy and Dawn stood next to Angel. Xander stood next to Dawn holding a large sign that said "Welcome Home Willow" written in yellow crayon.

"You think she'll get the sign?" Xander asked.

Buffy lifted her head and looked at the sign. "Get the sign? I don't think she's gonna see the sign."

"Why is it so pale?" Conner asked.

"I used yellow crayon. It was a thing from when I talked to Willow on the bluff. I hope she gets it." Xander said, lifting the sign proudly.

"Oh, tell us again what you said." Dawn said.

"Well, I was talking from my heart and I knew Evil Willow wasn't really ready to.. You were kidding."

"Mm-hmm. A little bit."

"We've heard the crayon speech a few times." Angel said.

"Not that it's not great, of course." Buffy added.

"I saved the world with talking from my mouth. My mouth saved the world." Xander said grinning.

"Uh-huh. I'm getting nervous. Are you nervous?" Dawn asked.

"Yeah. It's gonna be weird seeing her. What do you say to someone in this situation?" Buffy asked.

"I'm gonna say 'Hi, Willow.'" Xander said.

"C'mon. You're saying it's not going to be the least bit strange? We saw her kill someone. She was about to kill Dawn.."

"And Giles wouldn't let her leave unless she completed that whatever recovery course."

"Right." Dawn said. She looked at Buffy and she smiled guiltily back. Dawn looked at Angel. "Right?"

"She kinda didn't finish." Angel said.

"She didn't finish? She didn't finish being not evil?"

"H-he said it was really important that she come back early and that she was doing really well and we shouldn't worry." Buffy said.

"Guys, I just noticed something. Everyone's off the plane, so where's aunt Willow?" Conner asked.

Buffy, Angel, Dawn, and Xander turned to look at the flight attendants closing the door. Willow was nowhere to be found. Buffy and Angel looked at each other worriedly.

"You don't think she would have?" Buffy asked.

"I don't know." Angel said.

"Maybe she took an earlier flight and we just missed her." Xander said.

"Let's go home and see if she's there."

"Good idea." Buffy said.

They all headed back towards the new van that Angel had bought for Buffy and the family. It had a large backseat and then two seats in the middle and then the driver's seat and the passenger's seat up front. It also had a small TV that Angel had bought a Playstation 2 for so Dawn and Conner would have something to do while the traveled back and forth between Sunnydale and LA. Xander climbed into the driver's seat and Dawn got in the passenger seat. Buffy and Angel climbed into the backseat and pretty much fell asleep against each other. Conner climbed into the seat behind the driver's seat and turned on the little TV that had the Playstation attached to it.

The ride home was short and quiet. Dawn and Xander talked quietly in the front seats about Willow. Conner played his video game with the volume turned off and Buffy and Angel slept peacefully in the back seat. About a block from the house, Xander had Conner wake the two up. As they walked up from the driveway, Xander brought Willow back up.

Buffy opened the door saying, "They absolutely put her on the plane in London."

"So, she got off in Chicago when they stopped?" Xander asked.

"She could've caught a flight anywhere from there." Dawn added.

"Maybe she doubled back. Got off the plane in London after Giles left." Angel said.

"Well, if she's doing that.. ducking Giles.. then, she's evil, right?"

"Well, I've avoided Giles tons of times. Just meant I was lazy, not evil." Xander asked.

"I hope you're right, because defeating Lazy Willow.. probably less hard." Buffy said.

"We should check the messages, see if she tried to reach us here." Conner said.

"That's a good idea." A noise came from upstairs. It sounded like something being dropped in Buffy and Angel's room.

"What was that?" Dawn asked.

"Upstairs."

"Willow, is that you?" Xander called.

Buffy and Angel ran up the stairs and into their room. They checked all the rooms and found nothing. Buffy called Giles and he confirmed that Willow had indeed left London. With a shrug, they headed back downstairs.

"Definitely not up there." Buffy said.

"She didn't leave a message." Dawn said.

"I checked with Giles again, too. Hasn't heard from her."

"Is he throwing a tasteful British wiggins?" Xander said.

"Oh, with extra wig. He's blaming himself pretty hard, like he should've known she wasn't ready to come back. I-I kept telling him, you know, it wasn't his fault. Maybe something about us she couldn't face." Buffy said as they all sat on the couch. She sat between Angel's legs on the couch and leaned back to rest on his chest. Conner sat on the floor in front of her, Dawn sat next to Xander in the middle of the couch, and Xander sat against the opposite end from Buffy and Angel.

"Like she didn't think we were ready to forgive her? I get that." Xander said.

"So Giles is blaming Giles, and we're blaming us. Is anyone gonna blame Willow?" Dawn asked. Everyone turned to stare at her a gawk. "Oh, don't give me shock face. I mean, will anyone around here ever start asking for help when they need it?"

"Look, if Willow flipped out, it's her bad. We can only be here for her so much if she won't be, you know, here." Buffy said.

"Yeah, I guess."

"Ok, I know this is going to sound really mom-ish, but guess what. It's time for bed for you two." Buffy said looking at Dawn and Conner. "We all have to go to school in the morning." Dawn and Conner both groaned. "Up, up, up. Let's go." The two stood up. "I'll be up in a minute to say goodnight."

"Fine!" Dawn called back.

"I guess that means I should hop in my car and split, huh?" Xander asked.

"Yeah." Buffy said with a yawn.

"Are you two gonna be ok?"

"We'll be fine." Angel said between a yawn.

"You guys have been laggin' all day. Well, minus the big part where you slept."

"Just lack of blood on both our parts. If you'll remember correctly, the last time Angel nearly sucked me dry, after Graduation that is, I slept for almost a week straight." Buffy said.

"You were also really depressed because Angel left."

"That too."

"All right. Good night guys." Xander left and Buffy locked the door behind him.

He was so tired that she barely made it up the stairs. Angel had to practically carry her up the last few steps. They made sure Conner and Dawn were settled in bed and then they went to bed themselves. The next morning the alarm barely woke them up. They were a little better that day, but just as Angel dropped them off at the school, Xander called Buffy's cell. He had found a body at one of the construction sites on school grounds. Buffy shooed Conner and Dawn off to find Kit and Carlos and then she and Angel went to talk to Xander. Faith was there with him when they arrived.

"No skin." Buffy said.

"Tough to look at." Xander said.

"And yet my eyes refuse to look away. Stupid eyes."

"I found it first thing this morning. I gave my crew the day off, and I called Faith and then you guys right away."

"I got to get a job where I don't get called right away for this stuff."

"Yeah, I know exactly what you're thinking. Maybe Willow is back."

Buffy looked up at Xander and frowned. Angel was the one who spoke up. "I don't know. Let's talk to Spike. See if he's seen anything weird."

"Good idea." Buffy said. "Xander, stay here and watch for people who might wander by and get curious." Xander nodded and Faith, Angel, and Buffy left. They walked through the school and down into the basement. It was still a maze like the last time Buffy and Angel had been there.

"You think they made this complicated enough?" Angel asked.

"We can't use the blueprints to find our way around down here? It's like the walls move or something." Faith replied.

"Out! This is my place." They heard Spike yell from another room.

"I think I hear him." Buffy said sarcastically.

"You need permission to be here. You need a special slip with a stamp." Spike kept going as Angel, Faith, and Buffy walked through a door and found him pacing around a large storage room. ".. And put your heart back in where it fell out. You call yourself finished, but you're not. Worse than ever, you are.."

"Spike." Buffy said. He stopped but didn't turn to her.

"Spike." Faith said. This time he did turn.

"You went away. You've been gone since.." Spike said to her.

"The church. You scared me a little. I didn't.. I didn't know what to think."

"We're here for a reason, Spike." Angel said.

"Tragedy." Spike faced right, away from them. "Is there blood?"

"He knows. He must have seen the body." Faith said.

"You did it once. I heard about it."

"Spike, we need to know who did this." Buffy said.

Spike turned and walked towards Faith. "Look at you.. glowing. What's a word means 'glowing?' Gotta rhyme."

"Spike, please.." Faith said.

"I-I-I should hide. Hide from you. Hide my face. You know what I did." Spike backed away from Faith.

"Boy, he's extra-useful today." Angel said.

"This isn't the time." Buffy whispered to Angel.

"Everyone's talking to me. No one's talking to each other." Spike said.

"Might as well go." Buffy said to Faith. Faith nodded and they started to walk off.

Spike stopped them. "Someone isn't here. Button, button.. who's got the button? My money's on the witch." Spike looked back over towards the right. Faith, Angel, and Buffy stopped and turned back. "Red's a bad girl."

"He's talking about Willow." Faith said.

"And that means something because he's chock-full-o-sanity?" Buffy asked.

"Maybe he saw her." Angel said.

"They think you did it. The slayers and the vampire. They think you took the skin." Spike said to the right again.

"Is there something here? Something that killed?" Buffy asked.

"I have to go. There are things here without permission. I have to check their slips. Make sure they have authorization." Spike said, walking away into the deep shadows.

Faith started to go after him, but Buffy stopped her. Faith turned, looking ready to beat the shit out of Buffy, but Buffy shook her head slightly and Faith lowered her head. Buffy took her hand and led Faith back out to the hall upstairs. Faith and Angel walked Buffy to the main office.

"I gotta get to work." Buffy said. "I'll see you after school?" She asked Angel.

"I'll pick you all up at 2:30. We've got some research to do." Angel said.

"Goody."

"Count me out. I want to try to talk to Spike. You know, see what we're going to do." Faith said.

"Ok. I'll be up here if you need help. Not many kids have heard that the young counselor that's ready to help is, well, ready."

"Yeah. Later B. Later Angel face." Faith walked off and Buffy turned back to Angel.

"Have a great day at work sweetheart." Angel said sweetly.

"Bite me." Buffy said.

"Already did." Angel pointed to her neck and Buffy batted his hand away playfully. He caught it and pulled her closer to him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled his head down for a passionate kiss. Just as their lips were about to meet, someone cleared their throat next to them in the doorway to the office.

Buffy turned her head to see who it was. "Principal Wood."

"Mrs. Summers." Principal Wood said. "Demonstration to the kiddies on a loving and safe marriage?"

"No, just saying goodbye."

"You have work to do."

"I'm getting on it." Principal Wood nodded and walked off down the hallway. Buffy looked back up at Angel. "Only my second week of school and already I'm in trouble. Thank you."

"I'll make it up to you." Angel said.

"Promise?"

"Of course."

Angel gave Buffy a small kiss on the lips and then turned and headed back to the van.



Dawn sat at the computer, Xander and Buffy had books open in front of them, and Angel was with Conner in the living room working on some new weapons Angel had picked up. They were trying to find some type of skin flaying demon that would let Willow off the hook.

"Ok, so I looked up demons that skin their victims and demons that flay their victims 'cause, you know, same thing. There's a ton of prospects. Anything else gone? Uh, eyeballs, toenails or viscera? That's guts." Dawn said.

"She knows about viscera. Makes you proud." Buffy said.

"Just skin." Xander said.

"Ok, I'll work on that." Dawn said.

She went back to pecking the keys on the keyboard while Buffy stood and went to a corner of the room to watch Angel and Conner. Xander got up and walked over to her.

"What's up?" he asked.

"I need to do something. I just.. I have this feeling in my gut.." Buffy said.

"In your viscera!"

".. That we know exactly who did this. And all of this work that we're doing is just a way for us to convince ourselves that Willow's ok."

"Oh, guys!" Dawn said. "I got a good one. A demon called 'Gnarl.' He's a parasite with these nasty long fingernails. He secretes something through them and uses that to paralyze his victims. He then cuts strips of their skin while they're still alive. It takes hours."

"We didn't find any strips of skin. Which, by the way, ggaahhhh!" Xander said.

"You wouldn't. He eats them. That's why he's a parasite. It's like his natural food."

"Dawn, you're new at this, and I get why you're proud, but I'm not exactly sure why this demon is any more likely than any of the others." Buffy said.

"You never said pool of blood."

"There was no pool, just splatters." Angel said, coming in with Conner.

"See! Then this is your guy. He laps up the blood. You could say it's like his natural beverage."

"You're terrifying." Xander said.

"Now if we just knew how to find this thing."

"Well, we could ask some questions over at Willy's place."

"Or, we could be smart. Sorry, Xander." Angel said.

"What?"

"Whoever did this had to get blood on them, which means they left a trail."

"Right, minute traces of blood." Dawn said.

"And we have a way to track it." Buffy said.

"We have a.. Oh, I get it."

"What? How? What's going on?" Xander asked.

"We're gonna use Angel and Conner!" Dawn said.

"No, we're going to use Spike. We need to try to help Faith out. She's working with him. Trying to get his sanity back in line." Buffy said. "I think using Spike will make both of them feel like they're supported."

"Good plan." Xander said.

"Then let's go." Conner said.

"Well, we kind of have to wait till sundown." Buffy said.

"Oh, right. I knew that."