Authors Note: Well, you guys are lucky. I'll probably be updating alot because I'll be home for the next couple of days. I have an ear infection in both ears and bronchitis. So I'll probably have another chapter out for you all by tomorrow afternoon. There's not much else to do while I'm confinded to the sofa. LOL. Oh, and special thanks to emerald sorceress and dreamsof4ever for the get well wishes. Enjoy!

Chapter Twelve

The World as We Know It

He carried me all the way home and didn't put me down until we reached the bathroom of the apartment. When he set me on the countertop I felt as if I was being left alone. Even though I could see him, I felt as if I was stranded on some strange island.

After turning on the hot steamy water he turned to me. Placing his large hands on my knees he made me look him in the eye. "I want you to take a shower."

"But..."

"No buts. You're freezing. After you take a shower and get warmed up, we'll talk okay?" He said. I could only nod my head. Kissing me gently on the forehead he left me in the now steamy room.

Slowly I stripped off my soaked clothes, feeling the goose bumps rise all over my arms and legs as the cold air hit my even colder skin. I was numb. My mind couldn't quite wrap around the fact that I had been dead yet.

Stepping into the shower I hissed as the water hit me. It burned, but I didn't turn the temperature down. Right now I just needed to feel something, no matter if it was pain or not. Anything was better then what I was feeling now.

After washing every inch of my body I stepped out and wrapped myself in a huge fluffy towel. Looking down at my rain sodden clothes, I had no other choice then to walk out there with nothing but the fluffy material to hide my body.

He was sitting on the sofa in a fresh pair of dry clothing waiting for me as I entered the room. His hands were crossed loosely in his lap as he stared off into the now blazing fire. He was obviously brooding. The way is brow scrunched up and how he didn't even blink was a sure give away to that fact.

Clearing my throat I got him to look at me, with a little shock I might add, with my near naked appearance. "I umm... I don't really have any clothes."

"Oh." He said quickly, bolting up from his position on the couch. Going over to his closet he pulled me out a button down shirt and a pair of sweat pants. "Here," he offered them to me. "I know they're a little big..."

"They're fine." I took the clothes from him raising an eyebrow when he didn't turn around.

"Sorry," he amended immediately at my look, turning his back to me. The situation was all too familiar.

I quickly dressed, giving my mind something to do. "Okay... I'm uh- done."

He turned around, giving me a sad look. For the past couple weeks all I had wanted him to do was recognize the fact that I'm me. But now that he had... in the past hour my life had gotten more confusing then I ever think it will be.

"Are you hungry?" He asked fidgeting with his hands. It almost brought a smile to my lips. Almost.

"I'm fine."

"Did you want to go to sleep or..." We both knew what the 'or' meant. It was something that I needed to hear I knew, but it still didn't make it any easier.

"Do you know how I died?" Was that my voice? It sounded so dead of any type of emotion.

"Yes." I could barley hear him.

"Were you there when it happened?"

He shook his head slowly. "I was in another dimension. I didn't find out about it until I got back. Willow was waiting..." he swallowed once. To say I died was something that was obviously hard for him. "She told me."

"Did... did anyone else die then?"

"No, only you."

The numbness in my body lightened a little as I heard that. "Good."

"Buffy, you've had a long day. Maybe you should get some sleep."

I shook my head. "I'm not tired."

"Buffy..." he sighed

"Why can't I be out on the street?" I snapped my head up, interrupting him.

"What?"

"The street. Why are you and Connor so worried about me being out there?"

"It's not safe."

"I'm a slayer."

"Even more reason why you should be inside."

"Angel, make this easier on the two of us and just tell me what's going on."

He got up, placing himself as far away from me as possible, making sure not to look at me. "Slayers are dangerous here. Their power is used to run this city."

"Power? Like my strength?"

"Every Slayer has an infinite amount of power in them. If harvested, you would be able to obtain that power and use it for yourself. So you add it to somebody who already has super strength and you get..."

"Something that's impossible to kill." I starred at him blankly. He refused to meet my eyes.

"Exactly. Leon's been capturing the slayer for years now. It wasn't until a little over two hundred years ago that he was able to harvest ones power."

"But the girl, the slayer that he used, she's got to be dead by now. He should be out of power"

"Even if she was Buffy, one slayer dies, another one is called. You know the drill."

The numbness inside of me turned off in an instant. "What do you mean even if?" He got up off the chair on the other side of the room and started pacing, his hands folded behind his back. "Angel, please tell me that they didn't find a way to keep them alive." His pacing became frantic. "Oh god. You're telling me that some poor girl is somewhere out there being drained of everything she has?"

"This is why I didn't tell you. I knew you'd just be upset."

"Angel, tell me what the hell is going on!" I jumped up anxious to stop his pacing.

Even though he didn't, he still continued with the story. "In 2076 a new Slayer was called. She wasn't the brightest girl in the world; she probably would only have lasted a couple months at tops." He said almost offhandedly. "Thus making her an easy target for Leon's lackeys to find and capture her. They took her to The Orders headquarters where they proceeded to drain her powers straight into Leon. Therefore making him the strongest thing to ever grace this earth. He was unstoppable after that. No one could touch him. An ancient coven of witches tried to go after him... they didn't even last an hour." Something flickered in his eyes as he said that, but I dismissed it when he started talking again.

"He's impossible to kill. So for the past couple of hundred years, that slayer has been sitting up there in Leon's little tower being drained of everything she has. Every week he goes to her, performs the same spell to withdraw the powers from her into him. His will is the only that even keeps her alive."

I starred at him dumbfounded. "No, I don't accept that. There has to be some way to kill him."

"People have tried Buffy. I've tried! You can't kill him; he has the strength of an ancient vampire and a slayer in him. There is nothing we can do. The only way to stop him is to kill the girls!" He threw his hands up in the air.

Thoughts raced through my head. "Girls?" He closed his eyes and slumped down into the previously vacated chair. For the first time since I've been back, I noticed how tired he looked. "There's more then one of them, isn't there?"

He nodded slowly. "When Leon started becoming a threat to more people then just the ones in Los Angelus, the council stepped in. They summoned the powers of old, creating a new slayer. The day she was summoned, she got sent head on into battle with Leon. She lasted about a week before he was able to catch her. She's now up in that tower too."

"So if Leon hears that I'm a slayer also, he'll come after me."

"Making him more powerful then you can even imagine." Angel looked up into my eyes for the first time. "Buffy please, don't go out on that street. Connor was foolish enough to take you patrolling."

"Hey, don't worry about it. This Leon guy finds out who I am, I'll run screaming 'till I form a plan." I joked, trying to make light of the situation.

"Don't... Buffy I... I can't lose you again." At that moment all the anguish he had been feeling over me spilled out in his voice.

I looked at him sadly before moving over to his side. Pushing him back into the chair I straddled his legs and wrapped my arms around his neck. "I'm not going anywhere." I said pushing my forehead to his. "Trust me. I've died once... okay twice, I don't plan to do it again any time soon."

He wrapped his arms around my waist and closed his eyes. "Good, because I'm never letting you go."

"Promise." I whispered. It was selfish to ask yes. But I had to hear him say it. This world was so much different from what I was used to, I had to have something to hold onto, even if it was a lie.

"Promise."

Kissing his forehead I leaned into him and closed my eyes. Tucking my head into the crook of his neck I fell asleep for what seemed like the first time in months.