CHAPTER 11

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, although I wish I did because I'd find a way to put Angel and Buffy back together; where they belong. You will also notice that I've snagged some lines from a few episodes on either Buffy or Angel.

Summary: What if the Oracles had in fact restored Angel to his vampire state instead of taking back the day (In "I Will Remember You" on Angel) so that a prophesized miracle could occur?

Historical Note: This trilogy takes place between the fourth and fifth season of Buffy, and between the first and second season of Angel. You may also notice some of the later elements are from later seasons of either show.

Author's note: this trilogy will go back and fourth between Sunnydale and L.A. More so in this first series. The second there isn't much crossover's going on, there may be a few though. I really tried to keep to both shows storylines as much as possible. Some events (The Glory bit in season 5 on Buffy for example) will be either pushed back or taken out in general. These events may have been important on the shows, but not in this story. And Just to let everyone know so that there is no confusion, Darla was never resurrected in season 1 finale of Angel. So none of that Darla stuff ever happened. Yep, instead of Darla giving birth to Connor, Buffy will. As far as I can tell so far, the 'Connor' story line will remain the same. I'm still debating about the Cordy/Connor thing tho. Who else was going 'eww!' when that scene with Cordy and Connor in 'Apocalypse, Nowish' aired??!

Angel was finally able to calm her then he and Buffy brought Faith back to the old mansion and let her sleep it off for the night. After Faith broke down in the alleyway, he realized Faith needed help.

"Faith, come on," he told her gently as the three of them walked into the old mansion where Angel had lived before he had moved to LA. It was a good thing he had left some old furniture in there that he didn't need, because they decided they had to stay there for the night.

Buffy carefully walked over to a chair as Angel escorted Faith into a room with an old couch in it.

Inside the room, Faith sat down on the old couch as Angel scrounged up a towel he had left there and handed it to her.

"It's ok," he assured her. Faith was shaking, and seemed almost back into her comatose state as she sat on the bed. Angel unfolded a towel he had found in the other room and placed it onto her shoulders.

"Rest here," he told her. She then lay down on the couch. She said nothing as she lay there with her eyes open.

"You rest here. I'll be in the next room if you need anything," he told her before he left the room. He then walked into the other room and grabbed some bandages as he began to bandage Buffy up.

"Angel, what are we going to do with her?" Buffy asked as she sat in a chair with her shirt pulled up while Angel began bandaging her wound. She was lucky that the knife hadn't cut any deeper or she would have needed stitches. She winced as Angel placed the gauze on her cut. He apologized.

"Buffy, I still think we need to get you to a hospital," Angel said as he finished up.

"Angel, I'll be fine. It isn't that deep," she told him as he knelt in front of her with a concerned expression on his face. "Don't worry about it," She told him.

"I want you to go to the hospital tomorrow anyways, just in case," he asked. Buffy nodded.

"Alright. But I'm only doing this for you," she told him. He smiled and bent down and kissed her bare stomach.

"Thank you," he told her before pulling her shirt back down.

"See. Good as new," she assured him. Her gaze then wandered towards the room Faith was sleeping.

"What are we going to do about Faith?" Buffy asked.

"I figure we try to get through to her," he explained.

"Angel, we tried that before. Remember how that turned out?" Buffy reminded him

"I know, but this time she wants it, and I think I can get through to her this time," he explained. Buffy sighed.

"I hope so. I mean, I no longer have contact with the Watcher's Council, so I can't just call them and have them get her. Not that they could handle her the first time,"

"No. Bringing them into this will only make things worse," he told her as he stood up. "We just need to talk to her. Help her out. She's unstable right now, and she needs a few days to sort all this out" he told her.

"What she needs is a free ticket to wacko land," Buffy told him. He gave her a look.

"Buffy…"

"I know, I'm sorry. I'm just not loving the idea of being away from Connor. Even if it's just for a night," Buffy explained.

"I know. It feels weird, not putting him to bed or hearing him cry," Angel admitted. They then fell silent as Angel thought of what to do next.

"We can take Faith back to L.A. with us. Take all the necessary precautions to make sure Connor's safe."

"Alright, fine," she said realizing it was a good idea. "But I want to get this over with as soon as possible. I don't like it here for one," Buffy said looking around as she felt a cold chill run through her as she realized they were standing in the room where she had sent Angel to Hell almost two years ago. Angel rubbed her arm to comfort her.

"I know the feeling," he admitted.

"And I also don't like the fact that were staying in a mansion with a crazy killer," she added.

"Buffy, I don't think she'll attack again. I think she's finally snapped; I mean, I think reality is finally hitting her," He explained.

"I hope something's hitting her, cause if reality isn't going to hit her anytime soon, then I'll be forced to," Buffy threatened. Angel smiled at her. He could never get sick of her.