Disclaimer: See previous chapter.

Chapter 13

Buffy woke from sleep with a start, her heart pounding in her chest, drenched in cold sweat, but she still refused to open her eyes, hoping she would soon drift back to sleep. Stupid slayer prophetic dreams, Buffy mumbled rolling over burying her head farther in the pillow. She tried her hardest to fall back asleep but this dream had really shaken her up, mostly cause it was about Angel. In the dream, Angel's insane vampire-childe Drusilla had staked him while Buffy had been held down by a crew of vampire's and forced to watch as Drusilla killed him, able to do nothing but cry and scream his name as he crumbled to a pile of dust. She wanted to believe that the dreams were nothing more than nightmares since a little over a month ago Buffy and Faith had set fire to a church after Spike and Drusilla had tried to do a ritual using Angel's blood to make Drusilla stronger, and now both vampires were presumed dead by the Scooby gang, but yet Buffy knew in her line of work she rarely had just nightmares that didn't mean anything. She knew she would have to tell Giles about this dream and also talk to Faith, since they were both slayers they tended to either share dreams or have the same prophetic dreams. After much tossing and turning Buffy realized that the sun was now up and sleeping was futile but before she opened her eyes she had a weird feeling come over her that someone or something was in her bedroom watching her. Buffy stopped tossing and turning for a second, holding her breath, hoping she would be able to catch a movement or something that would tell her who was in her room. She felt a stream of hot air on her cheek and she knew it couldn't be Angel or any other vampire since they really weren't big on the whole breathing thing, or the tanning thing and well sunlight. Buffy opened her eyes slowly, raising her hand ready to strike at whatever or whoever was standing above her, her eyes shot open and she saw two blue eyes staring into her own and Buffy's eyes widened.

"Wow, you should've seen your eyes bug out, it was so funny." Dawn said giggling.

"So extremely not funny Dawn," Buffy said dryly, pushing Dawn away from her, "What do you want?"

"To see your eyes bug out like that, and I wanted to say happy birthday." Dawn said.

"Thanks Dawnie, now get out so I can get dressed." Buffy said swinging her feet down from the bed and going to her closet as Dawn walked out of the room. Buffy looked at her clothes and finally settled on a purple shirt, a short khaki skirt and a pair of knee high boots, going into the bathroom and brushing her teeth and hair, before going downstairs to eat breakfast with her mother and sister. She sat down at the breakfast bar, placing her bag on the chair next to her as her mom placed a plate with eggs and toast on it.

" Hey sweetie, happy birthday? Does 17 feel any different than 16?" Joyce asked placing a kiss on the top of her daughter's head.

" It's funny you should ask that, you know I woke up feeling more responsible, mature and levelheaded. Hey, I now posses the qualities that one looks for in a licensed driver." Buffy said baiting her mother hoping that this year her mom would finally allow her to take the driving test, and Dawn snorted with laughter nearly choking on her orange juice, and Buffy elbowed her sister in the side trying to be as gentle as possible.

" Buffy." Joyce said in a warning tone.

" Come on Mom you promised we would talk about this when I turned seventeen." Buffy whined sounding much younger than she really was.

" And we will Buffy, but you haven't even been seventeen for a whole hour yet." Joyce told her oldest daughter.

" MOM, you can't be serious, do you remember what happened when you tried to teach her to drive, I'm pretty sure even the jeep is traumatized." Dawn said trying to control her laughter as Buffy glared at her.

" So Buffy are we still on for the big shopping trip this weekend?" Joyce asked hoping to curb the fight she knew was now inevitable.

" Well duh, I mean when else do I get to spend your money. Oh Will and Xander said they'd watch Dawn while we go out." Buffy said.

" Oh puh-leeze Mom, I don't need a sitter, I'm not a little kid anymore." Dawn whined.

"Yes you do." Buffy and Joyce said in unison. Dawn rolled her eyes at her sister and mother and stomped out of the kitchen.

" Come on, sweetie, I'll drive you to school." Joyce said to Buffy.

" That's alright mom, I'll walk, its a nice day." Buffy said pulling her book bag off of the chair and kissing her mom's cheek before leaving the house. She hadn't wanted her mom to drive her to school, because the dream was still on her mind, and she wanted to stop by Angel's and make sure he wasn't a pile of dust. She really hoped that the dream wasn't a prophetic one because she loved Angel and didn't want to lose him.

She reached Angel's house and knocked on the door, when he didn't answer right away, she just burst in. Unfortunately Angel was walking to the door, and a ray of light hit him, he growled covering his face with his arm.

"Oh god Angel I'm so so sorry." Buffy said, shutting the door behind him and running to him, taking his face in her hands seeing how badly he was burned.

" Buffy, its okay, I'm fine." Angel said chucking softly at the concerned expression on her face, " Is everything okay?" He took her small hands in his own.

"That's what I was going to ask you, your okay right?" Buffy asked.

" Sure I-I'm fine. What's up?" Angel asked her curious as to her strange behavior.

" Umm, I-I had this dream...that- that Drusilla was still alive."

" What happened?" Angel asked concerned.

" She killed you. Right in front of me." Buffy said.

" Buffy it was just a dream." Angel reminded her.

" But it-it felt so real." Buffy murmured, and Angel put a hand on her cheek.

" It wasn't Buffy, I'm right here." Angel reassured her.

"Angel, th-this has happened before, these dreams I have come true." Buffy said nervously.

" Not every dream you have comes true." Angel told her.

" But what if..what if Drusilla is still alive, we never saw her body." Buffy said.

"She's not, but even if she was we'd deal." Angel said.

" What if she..." Buffy began but was cut off when Angel kissed her, she arched into his kiss wrapping her arms around his neck, pulling him closer to her as he kissed her deeper, a flush creeping up Buffy's cheeks. Suddenly Angel pulled away from their kiss, leaving Buffy wanting more.

"What if what?" Angel asked as Buffy struggled to catch her breath.

"I'm sorry, were we talking?" She asked and Angel leaned down to kiss her again after a little while Buffy broke off from the kiss, looking down.

" I'm sorry, umm I have to go to school." Buffy said chewing on her lower lip, as she turned and headed towards the door. But Angel followed her, grabbing her arm and turning around kissing her again. They kissed again as passionately as before, Buffy pressed up against the wall, and then she pulled away to catch her breath, but their foreheads continued to touch.

" You have to go to school." Angel said.

" Right this is me going." Buffy said but kissed him again and he pulled away.

" You still haven't told me what you want for your birthday." Angel said smiling.

" Surprise me." Buffy told him, kissing him again softly this time, " This is nice, I like seeing you first thing in the morning."

" It's bedtime for me." Angel told her.

" Well then I like seeing you at bedtime, um- umm you know what I mean." Buffy said nervously realizing what she had just insinuated, but Angel just gave her a reassuring smile.

" I think I do. What do you mean?" Angel asked.

" I like seeing you, the part at the end of the night where we say goodbye, it's getting harder." Buffy told him honestly.

" Yeah it is." Angel said, " Umm you really should go to school." Buffy nodded than leaving the mansion.

As Buffy left Angel's house a little bit of her worry had been alleviated because she now new that Angel was still alive or undead or whatever and now he would at least be on the lookout for Spike and Drusilla. Now that her worry had faded, her thoughts had turned more to the lust and passion she felt when she was with or even near Angel. Buffy wanted to be with Angel but she wasn't even completely sure he really wanted to be with her, every time it felt like their relationship was going somewhere either Angel or she pulled away, and it was frustrating and she wanted to know where they stood even if it meant giving in to her passion, and just pray that Angel felt the same way. Buffy looked at her watch, she saw that she was going to be at least a half an hour late for school which meant she would have to miss her first class, which she really couldn't afford to miss since she was already failing that class due to her frequent absences because of her late patrols. Buffy reached the high school and went straight to the library, she figured if she had to miss her class she could fill Giles' in on last night's patrol and her weird dreams. She pushed open the door and was greeted by the sight of Giles sitting at a table in the library, completely lost in the book he was reading, so much so he didn't even look up when she walked in.

" Hey Giles." Buffy said, and began laughing when he jumped completely flustered and Giles glared at her.

" Buffy, it's extremely rude to sneak up on someone." Giles said sternly and Buffy began to laugh harder at his attempt at being stern, and flopped down in the chair across from him.

" I'm sorry Giles but you should have seen the expression on your face." Buffy said between her laughter.

" Yes, I'm sure it was very humorous, oh and happy birthday, but why aren't you in class?" Giles asked, and Buffy stopped laughing, muttering a thank you and then silence descended on the table. Giles now noticed how completely exhausted Buffy looked, she had dark circles around her eyes, and it was extremely obvious that something was bothering her. " Buffy, is something wrong?"

" No, nothing's wrong," Buffy said unconvincingly and Giles arched an eyebrow at her, " Okay, well its these dreams I've been having, well I guess its more like the same dream, in it Drusilla is alive and," her voice grew softer at this point, "and she kills Angel, either before I can reach them or I'm held down and forced to watch her kill him. What do they mean Giles? Do you think that Drusilla is still alive?"

" Buffy, I honestly don't know, but I don't believe anyone either vampire or human could have survived that fire. It is also possible that these dreams were just regular run-of the mill nightmares and not portents." Giles told Buffy trying to reassure her the best way he knew how.

" I know, I already thought about that but its just you know they involve Angel that equals major wiggins." Buffy said trying to push some of the worry and fear that had settled on her ever since she had woken up that morning.

" Well it seems the best course of action now would be to be more on the alert while you are patrolling and to hit the places Spike and Drusilla hung out in when they were in Sunnydale." Giles said, and Buffy rolled her eyes knowing when something big was going to happen his answering was always for her to patrol more, she was about to grumble about the extra patrol but stopped when the door to the library swung open.

" Hey it's the woman of the hour." Xander exclaimed as he came into the library giving Buffy his trademark goofy grin, and Buffy was about to reply when Willow bound into the library skittering to a stop behind Xander.

" Happy birthday Buffy." She sang out placing her hands on Buffy's shoulders, and Buffy gave her a genuine smile, but Willow could tell even through Buffy's smile that something was seriously bothering her, her worry was evident in her eyes, " Not happy birthday Buffy?"

" Sorry, Will," Buffy said wondering how Willow always could read her so well, "I umm gotta go find Faith, I'll talk to you later." Buffy jumped up out of the chair and rushed from the library, leaving Xander and Willow completely bewildered by Buffy's behavior.

"Okay, G-man what's the what?" Xander asked hopping up on the library counter.

" First Xander, I've asked you repeatedly not to call me that, and secondly Buffy has been having dreams and they kind of have her as you kids would say "wigging." Giles explained and both of them had to fight back their laughter at hearing the extremely British tweed-clad man using their slang.

" Slayer dreams?" Willow asked choking on her laughter.

" Well were not exactly sure but there is a possibility that they could be just nightmares."

" So what exactly happens in these dreams?" Xander asked.

" Drusilla kills Angel and Buffy is powerless to stop it." Giles told them.

" Oh well can't say dead boy didn't have it coming." Xander mumbled but Willow heard him and smacked in the back of the head.

" Guess that means no party?" Willow said more than a little disappointed, " I've already bought little hats and the cake and everything."

" We are not canceling the party, Buffy and Faith bloody well will have a party, they need to relax and there will never be a good time to do that on the hellmouth." Giles told them determined to give Buffy at least one night of semi-normalcy.

" Looks like caution man, but the sound he makes is funny." Xander said.

" But Buffy and Angel.." Willow said ignoring Xander's attempt at humor.

" May very well be in danger. As they have been before and I imagine will be again. As I have learned living on the hellmouth there is no good time to relax." Giles told them and they nodded in agreement.

" Besides Will, Angel will be there, unfortunately." Xander said saying the last part under his breath.

" Right, so Buffy can protect Angel and still have cake." Willow said excited about that night.

" Precisely, now don't you two have a class to get too?" Giles asked the two teens.

" We're gone, see you later Giles." Willow said waving bye to Giles and leaving the library, dragging Xander with her.

A/N: Some of the lines may have been taken from the episode Surprise/Innocence. But I own neither.