What Now? Takes place after season finally. Buffy has gone into a trance like when Glory took Dawn in season 5. Angel crossover. Pairings are S/B ending up B/Wesley Angel/Cordy Dawn/ Andrew Willow/ Kennedy BTVS and Angel characters are not mine. I do not own them. I do plan on kidnapping them for the purpose of this story though. MWAHAHAHA. MINE ALL MINE! Oh there's the doorbell. It's probably Joss with another lawsuit. Honestly, you'd think he would be flattered by my attempt to chain him up in my basement. He's so moody. He keeps it up and I'm gonna not go to his house with my binoculars anymore. I mean, uh, darn I've said to much.... Nevermind. I'm probably going to rate this PG13. Mild language, a little violence. Major Cordelia and Riley bashing. ( I feel so bad for Mark, it wasn't his fault his character was a tool) For the purpose of my story Cordy woke up from her coma after Angel left for Sunnydale. ............................................................................................................................ Her eyes were blank. That's the only way to describe them. If you looked deep enough you could see the glimmer of pain and a little bit of bewilderment. Xander didn't like to look that deep. It was hard to see his friend with so much heartbreak. It made his pain over losing Anya look like a frolic through the park. " The worst thing is we thought we won," thought Xander, " the First was defeated, Sunnydale is nothing but a pit of ash. We thought the worst was over" For Buffy it just started "It's not right!" Xander exclaimed suddenly. Willow, Giles, Dawn, Faith, Andrew, Wood and the few potentials left looked up but didn't say anything. They knew what he meant already. Xander looked at Giles "Has any slayer ever had to deal with this much? With this much loss?" " No" Giles said softly, " I doubt that any other could have handled a tenth of what Buffy has been through and stayed sane" " I know I couldn't have. B's taken on more than I ever could have dreamed of" Faith said as she continued driving into the night. " I don't understand, why are we going to LA?" asked Rona, hurt, but healing quickly now. " Is there more damage control to be done?" It took a day and a half to get on the road, everyone injuries had been tended to and thanks to the newfound slayer strength the girls were doing fine. Wood was healing too. Not as quickly, but he had Faith to fuss over him. "No" said Giles, " I think, perhaps seeing Angel and a bit of rest might be the key to helping Buffy. And, I'm quite distressed to say, we don't really have homes to return to. Angel has a large hotel now. I'm afraid we have to invade that for a bit.. just until we figure out our next move" " But Giles," Dawn said, "it wasn't Angel that put Buffy all comatose and trancy, it was Spike." As hard as it was for Xander to say he somehow made the words come. " I have to agree with Dawn, Giles. I don't know what happened at the end to Spike, but it has nothing to do with Angel, he wasn't even there." " yes I know," said Giles " but one of the names Buffy said before she went into this trance was Angels'" "umm Giles?" Willow said hesitantly, " She didn't sound very loving or reminiscent saying his name. she sounded angry, furious even. And she only said his name directly before she shut down. The only other name she kept calling was Spikes" "I know" was all Giles would say " I guess she really loved him more than we all thought." Andrew said. He was still shaken by the whole almost dying thing but slowly dealing with it. Silence fell as the school bus continued through the night towards LA .......................................................................................................................... = Buffy's mind= Numerous scenes of spike are flashing through Buffy's mind. Spike coming out of the shadows the first time she saw him. He was laughing over her kill of the minion from the anointed one outside of the Bronze. She saw his gleaming bleached hair and his vivid blue eyes again.He walked towards her with his trademark smirk and swagger and spoke to her with that deep cockney accent. Spike sitting with her on her back porch while she cried over her Mom being sick. He came to kill her but after seeing her tears, comforted her instead. Spike laying in his crypt, thrashed by Glory. Buffy kissing him softly for protecting Dawn. Spike fighting by her side, night after night, only wanting to be close to her. Spike taking her abuse after being brought back from heaven Spike saying he loved her Spike holding her just 2 days ago while she slept and the one that kept playing over and over = his look, so full of love, as she told him she loved him and he didn't believe her Those words echoed in her brain, drowning out everything else " No you don't, but thanks for saying it" Everything in Buffy started screaming again inside her brain as only one tear rolled down her face. One. For him alone. ............................................................................................................................ In LA " Angel look," Fred yelled, "Sunnydale is on TV!" Angel and the rest of AI gathered around the TV. What they saw shocked them into temporary silence. Finally Gunn spoke "That's a town? It looks like the Grand Canyon." "My God," said Wesley softly, " who could have ever imagined the whole town gone? I mean, the high school was necessary But the entire town?" " Guys remember, they were fighting the First," Angel said dryly. " It made our Apocalypse look like nothing." " So Buffy wins again," Cordy said acidly. She almost stopped to wonder why whenever Buffy's name is mentioned she reverts back to Queen C from high school but instead kept talking, She always has to one up everyone. I mean honestly, can't the girl do ANYTHING without a truckload of drama?" At this comment Wesley bristled "Drama, Cordelia? She is the slayer. She has been through more than any young woman I have ever met and sacrificed more than any person should have HAD to, yet she doesn't complain one bit" Angel caught Wesley's eye and signaled that the conversation should end right there. Wesley was still indignant at Cordy's implication that the slayer, his slayer for a short time, was anything but magnificent. The rest of AI didn't say anything. They were scared to upset Cordy and possibly push her back into a coma but each silently praised the slayers for what, judging by the scene on TV, had to be the battles of all battles. " Wonder who survived?" Murmured Fred. " Well the First hasn't taken over the world so I guess that means the good guys, or girls, won." Said Gunn "Perhaps Mr. Giles or Faith will contact us soon and let us know what happened." Said Wesley, glancing at the phone as if he could will it to ring. " Well providing if they are still alive, of course," Said Lorne, " Big pit like that doesn't usually herald good news" Once more Cordy spoke up " Oh I'm sure Buffy survived. Anytime now she will come through the door and throw her arms around Angel expecting him to follow her around professing his undying love" Once again Wesley started to snap at Cordelia but Angel quickly offered to carry Cordelia upstairs saying she needed to rest. " I'm sure if this Buffy is alive she can't wait to see Angel" said Fred after Cordy was upstairs with Angel. ............................................................................................................................Reviews are always appreciated! I should be uploading a new chapter soon. I have the story all laid out but it's just a matter of typing it out.