New Way of Life

NOTE: I do not own these Angel and Buffy characters, but if you see anyone whom you do not recognize, he/she belongs to me.

A/N: This story takes place after Chosen, but before Conviction, meaning it's the summer in between. To put down a recap, Spike burned up, everyone (minus Anya) escaped on the school bus, Buffy and her friends haven't split up yet, and Angel Inc is preparing to move into W&H. On with the story…

CHAPTER 10

            "Be a vampire again?" Buffy repeated Wesley's words. "Have you lost more of your mind, Wesley?"

          "Wesley, what are you talking about?" Angel asked him.

          Wesley stuck his hands into the pockets of his jeans as he explained. "Lorne found a spell. With a few ingredients we can reunite Angelus with Angel and give Angel his full strength back."

          "I have a better plan," said Buffy, causing all eyes to focus on her. "Let's not follow your plan. Second plan, I stake the son of a bitch."

          "It's not even close to being that simple, Buffy," Wesley tried to reason. "Angelus has acquired new powers from this demoness. It's impossible to even get near him. He… he also hurt Fred."

          Angel's eyes glossed with sadness and anger. "What?"

          "Will she be OK?" Gunn asked serious, coming closer to Wesley.

          "It's unlikely," Wesley replied with a shake of his head.

          "Oh, no," said Willow lowly and distressingly. "Fred."

          "Angel, I know this is difficult," said Wesley. "But you have to make a choice."

          "He already has," Buffy said, standing in front of Angel protectively. "No vampire. We'll find another way."

          "Buffy?" the Slayer looked up to see Dawn coming down the stairs. She went to stand by Buffy. "What's going on?"

          "Mr. Fuzzy Face here wants to re-vampify Angel," said Buffy, never taking her glare off of Wesley.

          "I'm just not getting it," said Kennedy. "I mean you got two bad ass Slayers right here. I don't care how much power this guy has, let's shove a stake through him."

          "Hold your horses there, Xena," said Xander. "We don't know how big a punch Angelus is packing. And if it's a bigger punch than usual, this cannot end well."

          "Honey, he's right," said Willow to Kennedy. "You weren't around for the whole Angelus clash thing. No good came out of it. Just bad. Lots of really bad… bad."

          "Which is why I don't want him inside of Angel or near him ever again," said Buffy resolutely.

          "Buffy," Angel began.

          Buffy whipped her head around to look at him. "No. Don't even think it."

          "I wasn't," Angel said, his voice gentle. "I don't know what to decide here. All I know is that it's late and we can't solve anything right now. We can try this again in the morning."

          "Yeah," Willow agreed. "Wesley, I can make the couch up for you if you want."

          Wesley nodded his head, a look of gratitude on his face.

          Once everything was situated, Gunn led Wesley into the downstairs den, which had a bed, furniture, and several items of Gunn's neatly folded clothing on top of the dresser.

          "Nice, huh?" said Gunn to his friend. "Not that big, but it's all mine."

          "Attractive," Wesley commented, going to the dresser and picking up a sweatshirt of Gunn's.

          "Hey, man," said Gunn, snatching the shirt. "Took me the longest to fold this stuff. Touch it and pull back a nub."

          "Sorry." Wesley went to sit on the bed, melancholy written all over him.

          "Fred has to be OK, man," Gunn said. "If fang face… I'll kill him."

          "Gunn, we only have one way to stop Angelus," Wesley said, every ounce of seriousness in his voice.

          "Man, you talking taking away what might be Angel's last chance for humanity. He's worked too hard for too many years for this to happen."

          "You think I want this?"

          "It's not about what you want," said Gunn. "It's about what Angel decides to do. And whatever it is, I'll be there for him." He went over to his dresser and fingered the stake he'd gotten from Buffy, as he hadn't thought to bring one of his own along to Rome. "No matter what."

          "I just don't get it," said Dawn, fluffing a pillow in the living room.

          "Yeah, I hate these plaid sheets, too," said Kennedy, helping Willow make up the couch for Wesley. "They seriously make me want to puke."

          "No." Dawn laid the pillow on the couch before taking a seat on the arm of the couch. "Why does Angel have to be a vampire again?"

          "He might not be, Dawnie," said Willow. "He hasn't decided yet."

          "It might be just as well, anyway," Dawn shrugged. "When he's here all he does is try to hurt Buffy. It's not like he deserves her. Maybe he should go away again. For good this time."

          "Dawn," Willow said, surprise in her voice. "Angel has never wanted to hurt Buffy. She's like the whole world to him."

          "Yeah, and I thought you liked Angel," said Kennedy, dropping down on the couch.

          Dawn glanced away, not looking at either of them.

          "Dawn," Willow nudged. "Did something happen?"

          "He said some things," Dawn said lowly. "Some not nice things."

          "What did he say?" Willow asked, putting a gentle hand to the teenager's shoulder.

          "He said I betrayed Buffy… back when everyone was voting her off the island." Dawn sighed before continuing. "And he was right."

          Willow hugged her warmly and said, "Oh, Dawn. Angel was probably just being Mr. Grumpy. He didn't mean anything."

          "None of us were exactly saints toward her," said Kennedy. "I feel your crappiness so don't think you're alone in this."

          "Do you think… Angel might stay here?" Dawn asked, looking into Willow's eyes.

          "Honey, I don't know," said Willow honestly. "All we can do is hope for the best."

          Upstairs, Angel lay in bed next to Buffy, his arm wrapped tightly around her. The feel of Buffy's tiny body against his gave Angel a rush of happiness, a rush he knew he could never experience if he went through with Wesley's plan. It was still so hard to believe. Angelus was back and Angel would be meeting with him for the first time face to face since their little brawl in his mind.

          "Are you asleep?" Angel whispered into Buffy's ear.

          "No matter which way I answer that, it will be a definite no," she replied.

          "I'm not too tired myself."

          Buffy turned around and looked into his chocolate eyes. "Angel, you can't go with Wesley on this."

          Angel reached out and stroked her cheek gently with his finger as he said, "I don't want to. I can't leave you again."

          "Then don't," said Buffy, sitting up in the bed. "Angel, I can't watch you go again. I don't think I'd be able to handle it this time."

          "Shh," Angel cooed gently, sitting up and pulling her close to him. "It's going to be OK. I'll figure something out. I promise."

          "Let's go," Buffy said suddenly.

          "What do you mean?"

          "Let's just go. We can leave right now. I'll go tell Dawn and we'll—"

          "Buffy, you know we can't," said Angel.

          Buffy shook her head with unhappiness. "I know, but I want us to. God, I'm so scared…" she sniffled as tears began to stream out from her eyes.

          Angel held her even closer and rubbed her back. "Buffy, baby, it'll be OK. I promise you. I won't leave you again. I won't." As he held her and listened to her cry, Angel wondered if he could remain true to his words. He would try, that was for sure.

          Late that night, Willow and Kennedy lay in their bedroom. Both had fallen fast asleep after thinking about everything with Angel. Willow moaned lightly in her sleep, feeling what seemed to be a chilled breeze pass over her. The red head slowly opened her eyes and gasped at the sight of a small figure, a man, at the head of her bed, staring at her.

          "Who are you?" Willow demanded.

          "It's all right," the man assured her, Willow hearing an Irish accent in his voice. "Get up." Willow remained where she was, hesitating. "I promise you, it's all right. Now get up."

          Finally, Willow stood up from bed and went to stand before the strange man. It was then that she noticed something as she glanced back towards her bed; she was still in it.

          "Oh, my God!" Willow exclaimed. "I'm dead." She turned to the man. "Am I dead? Why am I dead?"

          "You're not dead," said the man. "Your body is projecting your essence."

          "Projecting?" Willow repeated. "Listen, buddy, I was a ghost once and that Halloween wasn't a very happy one."

          "I've come to help you," he said.

          "Who are you?"

          "My name is Doyle. I'm an old friend of Angel's."

          "Is this is a Scrooge thing?" Willow asked. "Because this is clearly not Angel's room."

          "No, I've come to see you," Doyle told her. "I've been sent momentarily by the powers that be. I know how to help you stop Angelus. The answer is in the Romainet text, towards the middle. Read it, do what it says, and your troubles are over."

          "Well, how do I know you're telling the truth?" Willow asked suspiciously. "Maybe when I read it someone's head will blow up or… catch lice."

          "And what would a dead man have to gain?"

          "OK, point made there."

          "Take care, witch," said Doyle. "And help Angel to keep his happiness."

          "Can do," Willow said with a nod.

          "Willow? Willow?" the next thing the witch knew, she was back in bed right next to Kennedy, who had spoken to her. "Are you talking to yourself?"

          Willow sat up and looked around the bedroom, which was empty. "The little Irish man."

          "Did you have another leprechaun dream, Will?" Kennedy asked, sitting up as well.

          The girl next to her shook her head. "No." Willow got up from the bed and sat down at the small desk, opening her laptop.

          "What are you doing?" Kennedy inquired sleepily.

          "Looking up the Romainet text. If this works then Angel might be here to stay."

          "How do you know?"

          Willow replied as she began surfing the net, "Little Irish man told me."

A/N: Come back for more. In the meantime please review.