"Now, Willow, take two deep breaths and just let it happen." Willow did as she was told and felt herself grow extremely light. Xander watched, holding his breath, as Willow floated off the couch. She seemed almost to glow as she rose toward the ceiling.

"Wow!" he whispered, almost not believing what he was seeing.

Suddenly, Willow's eyes flew open and she spun herself to a standing position in midair. "Something's coming. Not natural. Evil."

Phoebe jumped out of her chair. "Cole must be here!"

Willow floated down to the floor. "She's excited about a demon showing up here?"

Piper pulled herself up out of the other chair. "Cole and Phoebe have been on again off again for quite a while. This is one of their on again phases."

"Kind of like me and Anya." Xander's eyes went all misty as he thought about the woman he had left at the altar and how she had become a vengence demon again.

"Similiar but different if the story Willow tells me is correct." Piper smiled. Willow had really opened up in the past week. She had told Piper all about what had happened in Sunnydale.

"Xander, there's been something happening in Sunnydale. Buffy called me." Willow took a deep breath knowing that Xander was going to blow the news way out of porportion. He still made no secret of his hatred of Angel. Now that Angel was back in Buffy's life, Xander would probably be almost impossible to deal with again. "Angel's back and apparently Buffy's been letting him feed from her. She also said that there was an old friend of ours back in town too but wouldn't tell me who it was."

"Great. Deadboy's back and making a snack of our friend."

"Angel's saved your life too, Xander."

"He's meant to be there right now. He has to help Buffy through some things. She needs him. There is a lot that's about to happen and only he can stand beside her because a lot of it revolves around the two of them." Leo was standing in the doorway. Piper immediately went to her husband and he wrapped her in his arms. "Just like it was meant to be that you would be here now and Dawn would be discovering who she really is." Leo smiled down at Piper and caressed her stomach with one hand.

"I just don't like him. He almost cost Buffy her life once doing exactly what he's doing now."

"Xander, admit it. You never really got over the fact that Buffy chose Angel over you. You've never been nice to him. Never gave him a chance."

"A chance to do what? Bite me and feed from me. Willow, he's not the guy for Buffy."

"She loves him. If she didn't, she wouldn't have ever let him feed from her." Willow was determined to make Xander see that Angel and Buffy belong together. And that they should offer their friends their blessing. Giles was the only one who had a right to hold a grudge. After all, it was his woman that Angelus had killed. "Xander, he never actually hurt you. Physically, I mean. He loves Buffy and she loves him. That's why she and Riley would never have worked out. Because she still loved Angel."

"I'll give him a chance to prove himself to us. If I see even one sign that he's gone evil, I'll stake him personally."

"And you know that normally I wouldn't stand in your way in that case. Right now, though, I think I would stand a better chance of beating him than you would."

"Willow, you know that I just want to protect both you and Buffy from everything."

"Buffy doesn't need protection. She's the Slayer. She's the one who can protect us." Willow really was hoping that Xander would hold to his promise. Angel deserved at least that much.

"Willow, why don't you tell him what you've already sensed about Angel?" Willow dropped her head.

"Xander, he can't go all evil on us again. Even if he and Buffy . . ."

"Willow, don't say it. It's hard enough to accept the fact that they've done it once. I don't think I can stomach the thought that they might do it again." Xander did a double take. "What do you mean, he can't go all evil on us again?"

"His soul is anchored. As long as Buffy lives, he can't lose his soul again." When Xander just stood there gaping like a fish out of water, Willow giggled. "I figured it out when we saw him that Thanksgiving. He showed up here not just because of his friend's vision, but also because of his tie to Buffy."

"Xander. Willow. I want to introduce you both to Cole." Phoebe walked into the living room to see Piper in Leo's arms and a look of total shock on Xander's face.

Everyone turned to look at her and Cole walked up behind her. The look that crossed Willow's face was one of pure rage. "You!" Piper felt the power welling up in the room.

"Willow, no!!!!!!" Piper screamed.

"He's the reason Buffy had to kill Angel the first time!!!" Willow screamed. "He was in charge of the company that was building low income housing right where Acathla was buried. It's all because of him that the statue was uncovered in the first place. If he hadn't decided to put the housing there, ---"

"Then you wouldn't have had any idea just how bad Angelus could be. You would never have anchored his soul to Buffy and they wouldn't be together now because he would have killed her back then." Phoebe was standing right in front of Cole, trying to protect him.

"Phoebe, move. He doesn't deserve your protection. It's because of him that Angel killed yet another member of the Romani people."

Just then, Xander walked up in front of Willow and held up a yellow crayon in front of her face. Just as quickly, he snapped it. That brought Willow's attention away from Cole for a moment. That was all it took for Xander to bring Willow back to her senses.


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A/N: Sorry it's so short but hopefully I'll have more up soon. Thanks for all that have been reviewing. Especially you queen bodaciea (sp?).