Chapter 4

The new-fangled slayer, whom had called herself Jennifer Longheart, stared at Buffy and Angel with a slight smirk that had formed at the corners of her mouth. Angel put his hand on Buffy's shoulder as if to articulate that they should give ground. He was right. Buffy couldn't come to blows with the new slayer even if she could defeat her. Killing a slayer was completely out of the question.
Buffy turned around and Angel did the same as they both took off in a dash. Buffy could hear the running footsteps coming up from behind them and the beats were slowly getting softer. They were losing her as they whipped their bodies around trees and leapt over headstones.
The rain started to fall again bringing a sweet smell with it. Buffy stopped for a moment and looked behind her to see that the slayer had ended her pursuit. Angel stopped too and was looking at Buffy from behind.
"This is going to make things more complicated", he said.
She was nodding her head in agreement. She knew that the slayer wouldn't stop until she was dead. She knew this because she would have done the same thing. She closed her eyes for a minute as she gave thought to what she was actually about to suggest. It was damn near impossible for her to force her lips apart and force the dreaded words out of her mouth.
"We are going to need help", she said. "We are going to need my friends." She felt her voice get weak as she said it. She was actually suggesting that they seek out the help of her old friends that she had kept in the dark about her for over three months. It would be one of the hardest things she would ever do but she knew that she absolutely need them right now.

Jennifer walked up to the apartment building in the not-so-good part of town that she had been staying at for the past three days. The building itself was very dilapidated and run down. Eleven of the twenty windows were boarded up or broken, making for very chilly nights. The walls were and off color green and had deep, long cracks running up and down them. The wooden steps that led to the front doors had gapping holes that were to be avoided when used.
She really didn't complain about her newfound home. It was better than a lot of the places that she'd stayed at before. She carefully made her way up the stairs and through the creaking doors to the dark lobby. Up another two flights of stairs and she was at her apartment. Number 1122 was going to be her new home in Sunnydale until she was finished with her business. She walked into the room and was greeted by the smell of burnt eggs and dust.
Her watcher was sitting at a small desk by the boarded up window in the corner. His laptop was placed in front of him and he was typing away.
"Mr. Filther?" She said.
He turned his eyes to her and looked from behind a pair of glasses. He pulled out a smile and turned back to his computer.
"It appears that you, the council, and I are the only ones whom know of the slayer that was turned", he said. "That, I would say, gives us a great advantage. She will be receiving no help in the matter."
"That's not exactly true, boss. Angelus was with her. He knows about her and he is trying to help."
"Hmm...That might cause a slight glitch in our plans but I don't think that it will be anything to give an extended worry to." He started typing again.
She then laid down on the bed and let her eyes close. Soon she was asleep again.

Buffy now was standing outside of her old house. Her at-one-time home seemed to tower over her with a hint of a threat. It was going to be hard for her to ask for help and she didn't know how she was going to bring herself to do it. As she looked at the window that had once been hers on the top floor a few tears rolled down her cheeks and fell to the ground with an infinitesimal noise.
Angel heard the tear fall and he looked down at her with sympathy.
"You can do this", he said with the reassuring voice that she'd missed for too long. He got a small smile when she looked up at him and gave him a bit of a smirk. Together they walked in unison to the doorway that they had walked through so many times in the past.
Without thinking about it, and on instinct, Buffy opened the door and proceeded to walk in. She was interrupted with a dull pain in her face and arms like she'd just walked into a wall. She rubbed her nose a second as she tried to figure out had just happened.
"You have to be invited first", he said. His words slapped her in the face. It wasn't so much that he had said it; it was that she couldn't even walk into her own house without being invited.
Being that the door was open Willow could hear a voice coming from downstairs so she went out to see what was going on. After taking a few steps down the stairs, she could see her. She could see the face that she hadn't seen in over three months. She thought she might have cried in joy as she ran the rest of the way down the stairs.
"Buffy!" She screamed as she stepped outside and wrapped her arms around her neck.
Xander and Dawn heard the name get called out from the other room and they were there with Willow in just a few seconds. There was a big group hug with Buffy in the center, Willow, Xander, and Dawn on the outside, and Angel standing off to the side. Angel had to fight to smile at how happy Buffy looked.
Buffy hadn't heard her friend's voices in entirely too long and she just wanted to cry when she finally got that privilege. When her friends pulled away she could see that they all had tears, even Xander.
"Come in here out of the rain", Willow said even though it was just drizzling.
Buffy followed them into the house and a sudden feeling of warmth and happiness filled her up when she saw that things were exactly the same as when she left. Angel followed her in and was the first to see Spike standing in the doorway of the hall, returning his gaze.
Angel could smell the feelings that Spike harbored for Buffy and it made him want to kill him. He was much of the jealous type but...it was Spike!
Both of the vampires watched Buffy as she sat down on the couch and began to spill it out to her friends as best she could. After a few hours they knew it all and they were all speechless. They all knew about the torture and the conscience and the events of the past three months and the new slayer. That was when Xander stood up and said the words that she knew he would say.
"We will always be there for you Buffy", he said with a proud voice. "Anything you need."
"That's what I was hoping you would say. In the mean time I am going to go to my room and sleep a little while."
She stood up without another word and ascended the stairs to her bedroom, with Angel right behind her.
"Goodnight", she said to the crowd at the foot of the stairs.