Chapter 26
Buffy was walking behind Liam down the hallway. She had a stake in one hand. They heard music coming from a radio in one of the rooms.
"God, there's like a million rooms." Buffy said.
"Minstrels." Liam said, walking into the room and poking the radio with his sword. Buffy walked up and turned the stereo off. "How did..? You stopped the tiny men from singing."
"You really are far from home, aren't you?"
"I tell ya, I get through this, I'm gonna have a great cup of ale. I don't care what father says it does to you."
"Maybe we should just sit tight and let the vampire experts deal with this thing."
"Sorry for acting so womanish."
"Oh, you're no.." Buffy rubbed his arm. "Really not womanish."
"You're very sweet."
"You don't know the half of it. What is it about danger that makes.. makes your blood just.." Liam shifted on the bed and she turned to him. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing. Excuse me." Liam got up and ran into the bathroom. Buffy sat there and stared at the door. Suddenly, Liam came back out. "I'm invisible."
"No you're not."
"Oh. Excuse me." Liam went back in.
Buffy walked up to the door. "What's going on?"
"Uh, I'm almost finished."
Buffy picked up a glass vase and started to inspect it. Suddenly it shattered in her hand. Buffy gasped and noticed that it hadn't hurt her hands. Then it hit her that she had crushed it. "Oh my God." She inspected her hand. *Nothing wrong with it. Could us a manicure though.* she thought. Buffy looked at the sword and picked it up without any effort. She stared at it in shock and then poked the wall. The sword went right through. She squeaked and yanked it back out, no effort there again. "Oh no! I'm a vampire!"
Liam came back out of the bathroom. "Are you all right? I heard a noise."
"I'm fine." Buffy dropped the sword on the bed. "Let's get out of here."
"Agreed."
They walked around a little more. Buffy tried not to grasp onto Liam, afraid she would hurt him. She wasn't going to let anyone know that she was a vampire. She had strength bigger than one of those huge muscle-y men on TV.
Liam stared down at the beautiful blonde at his side. He made sure not to look at her neck because his face would change. He didn't want this beauty to know that she was with a vampire. She might run off and he didn't want that. They walked down into the big room where they had all first met each other. Everyone was already there.
"Any luck?" Wesley asked.
"We saw no vampires of any kind anywhere." Liam said as Buffy said, "Nothing! No vampires here."
"Did you check every room?"
"Only the ones that wanted turn-down service. There's five floors. You can finish." Buffy said.
"It's a waste of time." Gunn said.
"I agree. There's nothing here. This place is evil, and I think that I should leave now because of evil." Liam backed towards the doors.
"Don't be a fool!" Wesley said, going after him.
"Good luck, all." With that, Liam was gone.
"So, we're all locked in, huh?" Gunn asked.
Buffy whimpered and looked out after Liam. She had scared him away with her freakish strength! And she really was attracted to this guy. There was something about him. Buffy pretended not to be hurt and wigged. "Excuse me? Did I just get the brush off? Did a guy just bail on me? There really is some sort of horrible spell." Buffy paused. "Do you think Liam's ok out there?"
"If something's eating him, at least ain't as bored as me." Gunn said.
"Joke all you like. Liam, right now, may be facing horrors he's never even imagined." Wesley said.
Suddenly, Liam burst back through the doors. Buffy sat up a little. "Liam!"
"Demons!" Liam cried.
"Really?" Wesley asked. Then to Gunn. "Told you." Gunn stood, axe ready. Wesley turned back to Liam. "How many?"
"Hundreds. Screaming."
"Will they try to get in?" Fred asked.
"Don't think they saw me."
"I guess you really better solve this puzzle and all."
"What type of demons, would you say?" Wesley asked.
"Shiny." Liam answered, sitting by Buffy on the couch.
"You left me." Buffy said to him.
"I'm sorry. I panicked. Did they harm you?"
"No. I'm better now that you're back. And that isn't just a come on line. For some reason I feel really.. Comfortable with you."
"And I you. I've never felt this way before about a woman. And what a woman you are."
"Thank you." Buffy and Liam scooted closer together on the couch and held hands.
"Ok, to interrupt the love fest.. Do we have to check the rest of the rooms? Cause I'm bored just saying it." Cordy said.
"Wouldn't the vampire be comin' after us anyhow? Aren't we vittles?" Fred asked.
"And he should be starving, by rule. But I also happen to think that further searching would be pointless. I think the Council has been far cleverer than I imagined." Wesley said.
"Ooh. How?"
"Yes, speech, speech." Gunn said sarcastically.
"Six people, each unknown to each other, far from home, trapped together at night.. I submit that the blood-sucking fiend may be closer than we dared suspect. That it may be.."
"I'll search the rooms." Liam said, standing suddenly and bringing Buffy with him.
"I was getting to the good part!"
"But we can't just wait for the vampire to appear. I'll just flush him out.."
"That it may be one of us." Wesley finished.
"Uh.. you're kidding." Buffy said a little jumpy. "I'll go with Liam!"
"Would that I were, Miss Summers, but the simple fact is.. the fiend has been under our noses the entire time, waiting for the moment to.." Wesley took a cross out of his breast pocket, and put it in Gunn's face. "Strike!" Gunn punched Wesley in the face and he fell to the ground.
"See?" Liam said with a laugh. "The English is stupid. Let's have a different theory."
"I'm not quite finished. I think it's only fair that everybody have a turn. The cross obviously doesn't affect me or our friend, the pugilist."
"Oh, your ass better pray I don't look that word up." Gunn said.
Cordelia took the cross and waved it around in front of her. She scoffed and tossed the cross to Fred. Fred scanned her body with the cross like a security guard would with a metal detector at the airport. She handed the cross to Buffy, who took it nervously. When nothing happened, she breathed a sigh of relief. She handed the cross to Liam. He held onto the cross tightly.
"See. No vampire here. I'm just like the rest of you." Liam said.
"Does anyone else here.." Fred started, but Liam cut her off.
"Look, the devil's awake."
Everyone turned to look at the green guy. They all moved towards it.
"Don't get too close." Wesley said.
"Ooh..Oh..Guys, hey, that was quite a whammy. A little trip through the transitive nightfall of diamonds, if you know what I mean. I certainly don't, but.." The green guy started.
Liam cut him off. "He speaks madness."
"Hey, here's a funny sidebar. I'm tied to a chair.. again! What the hell's going on?"
"We were hoping you would enlighten us, spawn of evil." Wesley said.
"Oh, dear. I'm starting to suspect my surefire hit spell closed out of town. Did anything go right? Anything? Did Cordy at least get her memory back?"
"Just tell us where the vampire is, fiend."
"What are you talking about? There aren't any vampires here. Well, I mean, except for our boy here." The green guy said, motioning towards Angel.
"Uh, lying devil man." Liam said.
"Oh, like my spell made you not a vampire anymore. My magic isn't that.."
"Shut your mouth." Liam punched the green guy in the face.
The green guy was punched so hard, it sent him and the chair he was tied to sliding across the floor. Gunn wielded the battle-axe and pushed Fred behind him and out of the way. She wandered over to where Wesley and Cordelia were. Buffy stared in shock at Liam.
"It's not.. He just.." Liam tried.
"Well, our mystery solved." Wesley said.
"Explains the lame-ass cover story about being Irish, too." Gunn said.
"Is this a convenient time to point out that you left me alone with him, genius?" Buffy asked Wesley, stepping away.
"Well, I-I never touched her." Liam said.
"You lied to me!" Buffy said to Liam.
"I did not."
"You did. You didn't tell me you were a vampire."
"I thought you would be scared."
"Damn right!" Buffy stepped up and punched Liam hard in the face. He went flying back and tripped on the steps behind him. She turned back around, a little shocked, and was just in time to catch the axe flying at her head. Gunn had thrown it at Liam, but hadn't meant to nearly hit Buffy. She screamed and threw the axe down. "Oh my God! You threw an AXE at my HEAD!"
"I didn't mean to!" Gunn said. "I was throwing it at the vampire."
"YOU threw an AXE at my HEAD!"
"And you caught it." Wesley said.
"So?"
"Well, you're not a vampire."
"Duh!"
"The only explanation is that you are the Vampire Slayer."
"What?! I'm that thing that you were talking about in that test thing?"
"Most obviously so."
"No way! I can't be! Look at me! I'm.. I'm a cheerleader! I'm a freshman in High School! I'm POPULAR! I can't be a Vampire Slayer."
"Correction, THE Slayer."
"And he's a vampire?" Cordy asked.
"Yes."
"Then she should slay him. You said she's a Vampire Slayer."
"I don't want to! He's nice. He didn't hurt me." Buffy said.
"Vampires are all the same, my friend. There's nothing human about them." Wesley said.
"That's right. You ain't a person. Just dust waitin' to happen." Gunn said to Liam.
"I don't wanna hurt anyone." Liam said.
"What do we do?" Fred asked.
"Don't fear. It's under control." Wesley said.
Fred grabbed Wesley's arm. "Are you sure?"
A stake flew out of Wesley's arm thing and hit Liam in the side. "Sorry. I mean, ha!" Liam vamped out and started fighting with Gunn. He wrestled the axe away from Gunn and threw him across the room. Angel turned toward Wes, Fred, Buffy, and Cordelia in vamp face. Cordelia went to hide behind the chair Lorne was tied to. Fred cowered behind Wesley. Buffy stood staring at Liam.
"You want a vampire, then? I guess I'm your man. I guess I'll start feeding on your corpses. Startin' with the girls. So, who's gonna be the first course? Hard to choose between you three girls." Liam said.
"What do you mean, it's hard?" Cordy asked. "I mean, she's the tasty one." She pointed to Fred. "Look at her. Half of her is neck. A-a-a-and Buffy's a Slayer. You WANT to kill her."
"Miss Chase, Miss Burkle, Miss Summers.. run." Wesley said.
"But.." Buffy started.
"You're not trained obviously. Just go."
Buffy took off and found a large room down a creepy hall. She could hear the sounds of a fight in the lobby, but she didn't care. She threw herself behind some boxes as Liam walked in.
"It baffles me. You liked me so much before, and now I can't even get a little kiss. I can see you." Liam said. Buffy tried to make a run for it, but Liam caught her. He held her in front of him by her upper arms. "I seem to be strong, too, and fast. It's not so bad, this vampire thing."
"Well, I've got a super power of my own, hot shot. Remember?" Buffy said.
"What's that now?"
Buffy kicked him in the shin and took off a little further. Liam came after her and grabbed her again. As he held her, someone came from nowhere and tackled them through a window. They all went falling to the floor in a large kitchen. The someone who had attacked was a tall male that looked to be about seventeen. Buffy and the teen stood.
"Thank you. Thank you. Thank you." Buffy said to him.
"Why did he attack you Mom?" the teen asked.
Buffy started to laugh. "Mom?" She laughed harder. "Mom!?" Buffy nearly fell she was laughing so hard. "You think.. Oh man, this hurts my side! You think I'm your.." Another fit of laughter took Buffy over.
"Are you ok?"
"I'm fine, but you think.." She started to laugh again.
"Yeah, and that's your husband, my dad." The teen said, pointing at Liam.
"Kid, I'm too young to be a mom. Look at me!"
"It's a long story. But trust me.." Buffy shoved the teen away as Liam swung at her. Buffy blocked the punch with amazement and then shoved Liam back.
"Think I'm a bit tired of being bullied." Liam said.
Buffy attacked again, letting the instinct that overwhelmed her take over. She and Liam exchanged a few more punches and kicks before he broke off and stared at her.
"You're stronger than the rest. Are you not a vampire yourself, then?" Liam asked her.
"I'm a Slayer dumb ass. Weren't you listening?" Buffy retorted.
"You two don't remember?" the teen asked.
"I remember waking up here in this madhouse with that fine lot of hypocrites." Liam said.
"Hypocrites?!"
"I'm supposed to be evil, but you attack me without cause. You all gang up on me because I'm different. They're as bad as my father."
"Fathers. Don't they suck? My Dad's pretty bad too."
"Say one thing, then.. 'Be good. Fear God. Do as you're told.' And the whole while I know good and well, he's had his share of sinning."
"Sounds kinda like my dad." Buffy sat down next to Liam.
"Is he a self-righteous bastard?"
"You'd be amazed. Hey, I'm sorry I attacked you. It was just something in me that told me to."
"I got the same feeling."
"Are you afraid to fight me?"
"Truth to tell, I'm not much for fighting. I'd rather be satisfying my sinful urges with you."
"Really?"
"Look at you! You're a beauty you are."
"Thank you."
"Of course."
"Hey, what do these rings mean?" Buffy asked, holding up the ring on her left finger. "That kid over there says that we're, like, married and he's our kid."
Liam took Buffy's hand and looked at the ring. "That's a Claddagh."
"A whadda?"
"It's a sign of devotion. The hands mean friendship, the crown means loyalty, and the heart means love. The way you have it, it means you're married." Liam looked down at his left hand. "And so do I."
"Maybe that's why we're all 'Hey..'"
"But that child, ours?"
"He does look a lot like you." Buffy looked at the kid. 'Hey kid, come here."
The kid started to walk over, but Fred stuck her head through a window. "Hold it. Nobody kill anybody. Please?"
"What is it?" Liam called.
"I think I may have something that can help you remember each other." Liam and Buffy stood up and walked out of the kitchen with the teen. They followed Fred out to the lobby.
"Is she going to be all right?" Buffy asked, talking about Cordy.
"Just give her some time. She'll come around." Wesley said. "Just go home and take care of Sunnydale. Dawn will be home today."
Angel turned to Gunn. "Call us if anything happens."
"You got it." Gunn said.
Buffy and Angel took one final look up the stairs and walked out to the van where Conner waited. None of them really wanted to leave, but they had to. Wesley was right, Dawn was coming home that afternoon and Buffy had to be there. Angel would never leave her alone, so he chose to go back with Buffy and Conner. They looked up at Cordy's window, but the light was off and no one was looking out over LA as the two champions and their son drove away.
Buffy was walking behind Liam down the hallway. She had a stake in one hand. They heard music coming from a radio in one of the rooms.
"God, there's like a million rooms." Buffy said.
"Minstrels." Liam said, walking into the room and poking the radio with his sword. Buffy walked up and turned the stereo off. "How did..? You stopped the tiny men from singing."
"You really are far from home, aren't you?"
"I tell ya, I get through this, I'm gonna have a great cup of ale. I don't care what father says it does to you."
"Maybe we should just sit tight and let the vampire experts deal with this thing."
"Sorry for acting so womanish."
"Oh, you're no.." Buffy rubbed his arm. "Really not womanish."
"You're very sweet."
"You don't know the half of it. What is it about danger that makes.. makes your blood just.." Liam shifted on the bed and she turned to him. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing. Excuse me." Liam got up and ran into the bathroom. Buffy sat there and stared at the door. Suddenly, Liam came back out. "I'm invisible."
"No you're not."
"Oh. Excuse me." Liam went back in.
Buffy walked up to the door. "What's going on?"
"Uh, I'm almost finished."
Buffy picked up a glass vase and started to inspect it. Suddenly it shattered in her hand. Buffy gasped and noticed that it hadn't hurt her hands. Then it hit her that she had crushed it. "Oh my God." She inspected her hand. *Nothing wrong with it. Could us a manicure though.* she thought. Buffy looked at the sword and picked it up without any effort. She stared at it in shock and then poked the wall. The sword went right through. She squeaked and yanked it back out, no effort there again. "Oh no! I'm a vampire!"
Liam came back out of the bathroom. "Are you all right? I heard a noise."
"I'm fine." Buffy dropped the sword on the bed. "Let's get out of here."
"Agreed."
They walked around a little more. Buffy tried not to grasp onto Liam, afraid she would hurt him. She wasn't going to let anyone know that she was a vampire. She had strength bigger than one of those huge muscle-y men on TV.
Liam stared down at the beautiful blonde at his side. He made sure not to look at her neck because his face would change. He didn't want this beauty to know that she was with a vampire. She might run off and he didn't want that. They walked down into the big room where they had all first met each other. Everyone was already there.
"Any luck?" Wesley asked.
"We saw no vampires of any kind anywhere." Liam said as Buffy said, "Nothing! No vampires here."
"Did you check every room?"
"Only the ones that wanted turn-down service. There's five floors. You can finish." Buffy said.
"It's a waste of time." Gunn said.
"I agree. There's nothing here. This place is evil, and I think that I should leave now because of evil." Liam backed towards the doors.
"Don't be a fool!" Wesley said, going after him.
"Good luck, all." With that, Liam was gone.
"So, we're all locked in, huh?" Gunn asked.
Buffy whimpered and looked out after Liam. She had scared him away with her freakish strength! And she really was attracted to this guy. There was something about him. Buffy pretended not to be hurt and wigged. "Excuse me? Did I just get the brush off? Did a guy just bail on me? There really is some sort of horrible spell." Buffy paused. "Do you think Liam's ok out there?"
"If something's eating him, at least ain't as bored as me." Gunn said.
"Joke all you like. Liam, right now, may be facing horrors he's never even imagined." Wesley said.
Suddenly, Liam burst back through the doors. Buffy sat up a little. "Liam!"
"Demons!" Liam cried.
"Really?" Wesley asked. Then to Gunn. "Told you." Gunn stood, axe ready. Wesley turned back to Liam. "How many?"
"Hundreds. Screaming."
"Will they try to get in?" Fred asked.
"Don't think they saw me."
"I guess you really better solve this puzzle and all."
"What type of demons, would you say?" Wesley asked.
"Shiny." Liam answered, sitting by Buffy on the couch.
"You left me." Buffy said to him.
"I'm sorry. I panicked. Did they harm you?"
"No. I'm better now that you're back. And that isn't just a come on line. For some reason I feel really.. Comfortable with you."
"And I you. I've never felt this way before about a woman. And what a woman you are."
"Thank you." Buffy and Liam scooted closer together on the couch and held hands.
"Ok, to interrupt the love fest.. Do we have to check the rest of the rooms? Cause I'm bored just saying it." Cordy said.
"Wouldn't the vampire be comin' after us anyhow? Aren't we vittles?" Fred asked.
"And he should be starving, by rule. But I also happen to think that further searching would be pointless. I think the Council has been far cleverer than I imagined." Wesley said.
"Ooh. How?"
"Yes, speech, speech." Gunn said sarcastically.
"Six people, each unknown to each other, far from home, trapped together at night.. I submit that the blood-sucking fiend may be closer than we dared suspect. That it may be.."
"I'll search the rooms." Liam said, standing suddenly and bringing Buffy with him.
"I was getting to the good part!"
"But we can't just wait for the vampire to appear. I'll just flush him out.."
"That it may be one of us." Wesley finished.
"Uh.. you're kidding." Buffy said a little jumpy. "I'll go with Liam!"
"Would that I were, Miss Summers, but the simple fact is.. the fiend has been under our noses the entire time, waiting for the moment to.." Wesley took a cross out of his breast pocket, and put it in Gunn's face. "Strike!" Gunn punched Wesley in the face and he fell to the ground.
"See?" Liam said with a laugh. "The English is stupid. Let's have a different theory."
"I'm not quite finished. I think it's only fair that everybody have a turn. The cross obviously doesn't affect me or our friend, the pugilist."
"Oh, your ass better pray I don't look that word up." Gunn said.
Cordelia took the cross and waved it around in front of her. She scoffed and tossed the cross to Fred. Fred scanned her body with the cross like a security guard would with a metal detector at the airport. She handed the cross to Buffy, who took it nervously. When nothing happened, she breathed a sigh of relief. She handed the cross to Liam. He held onto the cross tightly.
"See. No vampire here. I'm just like the rest of you." Liam said.
"Does anyone else here.." Fred started, but Liam cut her off.
"Look, the devil's awake."
Everyone turned to look at the green guy. They all moved towards it.
"Don't get too close." Wesley said.
"Ooh..Oh..Guys, hey, that was quite a whammy. A little trip through the transitive nightfall of diamonds, if you know what I mean. I certainly don't, but.." The green guy started.
Liam cut him off. "He speaks madness."
"Hey, here's a funny sidebar. I'm tied to a chair.. again! What the hell's going on?"
"We were hoping you would enlighten us, spawn of evil." Wesley said.
"Oh, dear. I'm starting to suspect my surefire hit spell closed out of town. Did anything go right? Anything? Did Cordy at least get her memory back?"
"Just tell us where the vampire is, fiend."
"What are you talking about? There aren't any vampires here. Well, I mean, except for our boy here." The green guy said, motioning towards Angel.
"Uh, lying devil man." Liam said.
"Oh, like my spell made you not a vampire anymore. My magic isn't that.."
"Shut your mouth." Liam punched the green guy in the face.
The green guy was punched so hard, it sent him and the chair he was tied to sliding across the floor. Gunn wielded the battle-axe and pushed Fred behind him and out of the way. She wandered over to where Wesley and Cordelia were. Buffy stared in shock at Liam.
"It's not.. He just.." Liam tried.
"Well, our mystery solved." Wesley said.
"Explains the lame-ass cover story about being Irish, too." Gunn said.
"Is this a convenient time to point out that you left me alone with him, genius?" Buffy asked Wesley, stepping away.
"Well, I-I never touched her." Liam said.
"You lied to me!" Buffy said to Liam.
"I did not."
"You did. You didn't tell me you were a vampire."
"I thought you would be scared."
"Damn right!" Buffy stepped up and punched Liam hard in the face. He went flying back and tripped on the steps behind him. She turned back around, a little shocked, and was just in time to catch the axe flying at her head. Gunn had thrown it at Liam, but hadn't meant to nearly hit Buffy. She screamed and threw the axe down. "Oh my God! You threw an AXE at my HEAD!"
"I didn't mean to!" Gunn said. "I was throwing it at the vampire."
"YOU threw an AXE at my HEAD!"
"And you caught it." Wesley said.
"So?"
"Well, you're not a vampire."
"Duh!"
"The only explanation is that you are the Vampire Slayer."
"What?! I'm that thing that you were talking about in that test thing?"
"Most obviously so."
"No way! I can't be! Look at me! I'm.. I'm a cheerleader! I'm a freshman in High School! I'm POPULAR! I can't be a Vampire Slayer."
"Correction, THE Slayer."
"And he's a vampire?" Cordy asked.
"Yes."
"Then she should slay him. You said she's a Vampire Slayer."
"I don't want to! He's nice. He didn't hurt me." Buffy said.
"Vampires are all the same, my friend. There's nothing human about them." Wesley said.
"That's right. You ain't a person. Just dust waitin' to happen." Gunn said to Liam.
"I don't wanna hurt anyone." Liam said.
"What do we do?" Fred asked.
"Don't fear. It's under control." Wesley said.
Fred grabbed Wesley's arm. "Are you sure?"
A stake flew out of Wesley's arm thing and hit Liam in the side. "Sorry. I mean, ha!" Liam vamped out and started fighting with Gunn. He wrestled the axe away from Gunn and threw him across the room. Angel turned toward Wes, Fred, Buffy, and Cordelia in vamp face. Cordelia went to hide behind the chair Lorne was tied to. Fred cowered behind Wesley. Buffy stood staring at Liam.
"You want a vampire, then? I guess I'm your man. I guess I'll start feeding on your corpses. Startin' with the girls. So, who's gonna be the first course? Hard to choose between you three girls." Liam said.
"What do you mean, it's hard?" Cordy asked. "I mean, she's the tasty one." She pointed to Fred. "Look at her. Half of her is neck. A-a-a-and Buffy's a Slayer. You WANT to kill her."
"Miss Chase, Miss Burkle, Miss Summers.. run." Wesley said.
"But.." Buffy started.
"You're not trained obviously. Just go."
Buffy took off and found a large room down a creepy hall. She could hear the sounds of a fight in the lobby, but she didn't care. She threw herself behind some boxes as Liam walked in.
"It baffles me. You liked me so much before, and now I can't even get a little kiss. I can see you." Liam said. Buffy tried to make a run for it, but Liam caught her. He held her in front of him by her upper arms. "I seem to be strong, too, and fast. It's not so bad, this vampire thing."
"Well, I've got a super power of my own, hot shot. Remember?" Buffy said.
"What's that now?"
Buffy kicked him in the shin and took off a little further. Liam came after her and grabbed her again. As he held her, someone came from nowhere and tackled them through a window. They all went falling to the floor in a large kitchen. The someone who had attacked was a tall male that looked to be about seventeen. Buffy and the teen stood.
"Thank you. Thank you. Thank you." Buffy said to him.
"Why did he attack you Mom?" the teen asked.
Buffy started to laugh. "Mom?" She laughed harder. "Mom!?" Buffy nearly fell she was laughing so hard. "You think.. Oh man, this hurts my side! You think I'm your.." Another fit of laughter took Buffy over.
"Are you ok?"
"I'm fine, but you think.." She started to laugh again.
"Yeah, and that's your husband, my dad." The teen said, pointing at Liam.
"Kid, I'm too young to be a mom. Look at me!"
"It's a long story. But trust me.." Buffy shoved the teen away as Liam swung at her. Buffy blocked the punch with amazement and then shoved Liam back.
"Think I'm a bit tired of being bullied." Liam said.
Buffy attacked again, letting the instinct that overwhelmed her take over. She and Liam exchanged a few more punches and kicks before he broke off and stared at her.
"You're stronger than the rest. Are you not a vampire yourself, then?" Liam asked her.
"I'm a Slayer dumb ass. Weren't you listening?" Buffy retorted.
"You two don't remember?" the teen asked.
"I remember waking up here in this madhouse with that fine lot of hypocrites." Liam said.
"Hypocrites?!"
"I'm supposed to be evil, but you attack me without cause. You all gang up on me because I'm different. They're as bad as my father."
"Fathers. Don't they suck? My Dad's pretty bad too."
"Say one thing, then.. 'Be good. Fear God. Do as you're told.' And the whole while I know good and well, he's had his share of sinning."
"Sounds kinda like my dad." Buffy sat down next to Liam.
"Is he a self-righteous bastard?"
"You'd be amazed. Hey, I'm sorry I attacked you. It was just something in me that told me to."
"I got the same feeling."
"Are you afraid to fight me?"
"Truth to tell, I'm not much for fighting. I'd rather be satisfying my sinful urges with you."
"Really?"
"Look at you! You're a beauty you are."
"Thank you."
"Of course."
"Hey, what do these rings mean?" Buffy asked, holding up the ring on her left finger. "That kid over there says that we're, like, married and he's our kid."
Liam took Buffy's hand and looked at the ring. "That's a Claddagh."
"A whadda?"
"It's a sign of devotion. The hands mean friendship, the crown means loyalty, and the heart means love. The way you have it, it means you're married." Liam looked down at his left hand. "And so do I."
"Maybe that's why we're all 'Hey..'"
"But that child, ours?"
"He does look a lot like you." Buffy looked at the kid. 'Hey kid, come here."
The kid started to walk over, but Fred stuck her head through a window. "Hold it. Nobody kill anybody. Please?"
"What is it?" Liam called.
"I think I may have something that can help you remember each other." Liam and Buffy stood up and walked out of the kitchen with the teen. They followed Fred out to the lobby.
"Is she going to be all right?" Buffy asked, talking about Cordy.
"Just give her some time. She'll come around." Wesley said. "Just go home and take care of Sunnydale. Dawn will be home today."
Angel turned to Gunn. "Call us if anything happens."
"You got it." Gunn said.
Buffy and Angel took one final look up the stairs and walked out to the van where Conner waited. None of them really wanted to leave, but they had to. Wesley was right, Dawn was coming home that afternoon and Buffy had to be there. Angel would never leave her alone, so he chose to go back with Buffy and Conner. They looked up at Cordy's window, but the light was off and no one was looking out over LA as the two champions and their son drove away.
