Part 12: The Beacons

The next morning, as Angel walked Buffy to the high school, the Slayer murmured, "I'm glad Giles was able to work everything out with Mom. Now I can live with you as your wife."

"Yes, and I'm going to have to deal with Snyder. I'm not enjoying the thought of that, especially after everything I've been told about him from the others," Angel said.

Buffy laughed, then said as they reached the high school, "Come one, Honey, we need to see Giles about last night's patrol. After that, I'll take you to Snyder's office."

Neither noticed, as they walked towards the entrance of the high school, that everyone they passed by were stopping what they were doing to look at Buffy and Angel in envy.

In a hushed whisper, a girl asked as the newlyweds passed, "Where did she get him!"

Another beside the girl answered, also in a hushed whisper, "She's been seeing him for awhile on and off. Almost since she first came here. I guess they finally decided to make it official that they're together."

Buffy waved to Angel before disappearing into the crowd going to classes. With a sigh, Angel turned around and entered the main office. A woman looked up, startled.

She gazed at him stunned for a moment, before saying in a rush, "May I help you?"

"Yes," said Angel quietly, "I'm here to see Principal Snyder about a last name and address change for my wife."

After a long pause -- in which Angel was sure the woman was going to faint --, the secretary asked, "And whom would your...wife be known as, sir?"

"Buffy Anne Summers," came the simple reply.

The woman gasped, before whispering faintly, "Oh my!" She stood abruptly, and said, "If you will wait here sir, I'll go inform the principal."

With a faint smile of amusement, and a lifted eyebrow, Angel watched as the secretary knocked on the principal's door. After a snapped "Come in!", the woman walked into the office. Even though they talked in low voices, Angel could hear them.

"What is it, Miss Johnson?"

"There is a man in the outer office that claims to be Miss Summers' husband, sir. He also said he wishes to change Miss Summers' last name, and the address of where she is now living."

"What! Get him in here right now!"

Moments later, Angel sat before Principal Snyder, and had to agree with what everyone had said: he looked like a troll. But he knew that wasn't true, because the man smelled human...regrettably.

Snyder leaned forward on his desk, his eyes narrowed in shrewd contemplation. Minutes passed, before he said, "So. I hear that you have married Miss Summers, Mister...?"

"Kells. Angel Liam Kells."

"Mr. Kells then," Snyder said bluntly. "Do you realize that the one you have claimed to have married is underage, Mr. Kells?"

Angel leaned forward in his chair, his face void of all emotion, as he said, "She is not. She is eighteen as of two days ago. I married her the night of her eighteenth birthday...after she was said age even on her birth certificate."

"Do you have proof of this marriage, Mr. Kells?" Snyder sneered.

Quietly, calmly, Angel pulled out a paper in the folder his was carrying, and handed it to the principal. He said, as Snyder studied it, "I have many more copies of this document, sir. This copy is for Buffy's records of the legality of her last name and where she is now living being changed."

Snyder looked up, and asked, "She is living with you then?"

"Yes," Angel said, very much wanting to roll his eyes in disbelief. "She is my wife, sir. Of course she is living with me."

"Does her mother know of this?"

"Yes."

Snyder then asked skeptically, "And she accepts it?"

"Yes."

"You have proof?"

Angel pulled out several papers, and handed them to Snyder, as he said, "This -- and the other papers -- are signed and witnessed by people who are close to my wife and I agreeing that we did get married, and that it was done after her eighteenth birthday...of her own free will."

Thirty minutes passed, as Snyder read through -- then re-read -- all the papers. With a muttered curse, Snyder stacked the papers neatly, then pulled out Buffy's school file. He then said, after placing the papers into the file, "The changes will be done then." He then looked up at Angel. "Is there anything else you need?"

Angel took out a small piece of paper, then handed it to Snyder. He then leaned back in his chair, folded his arms, and said with a faint smile, "Yes, there is, in fact. I would like a pass that allows me free entrance into this school during school hours, to contact the people on that sheet when necessary. This pass would also allow me to take them out of a class at any time...for any reason. This also means that they can leave their classes at any giving time for any reason."

Fury blazed in Snyder's eyes. He stood up suddenly, and snarled, "You think you can get away with that, Mr. Kells! I think not!"

Calmly, Angel rose slowly to his feet, leaned forward on Snyder's desk, and locked eyes with the principal. He was satisfied to see uncertainty appear in the man's eyes. In a voice devoid of all emotion, Angel said, "I can get away with this. Would you like to know why?" He allowed his eyes to become yellow from the demon within him. "I have contacts in places you or whomever you work for would fear to tread." His eyes changed from yellow to a fiery red with the power of Hell behind them. "You are nothing compared to me."

His eyes returned to normal, as he released Snyder from his gaze. In a much friendlier tone of voice, Angel then said as he straightened up, "And if I ever hear that you are causing problems for any who are on that list -- and any I might add after this day --, you will truly learn what fear is."

As Buffy was getting ready to leave her last class of the day before lunch, she sensed a presence uniquely Angel's, and grinned. Murmurs of startlement made Buffy look towards the door as the bell rang. Angel leaned against the doorframe, his eyes only on her. He grinned, as the Slayer ran over to him.

"You did it," Buffy asked breathlessly a moment later, practically bouncing in excitement, as Angel moved to allow the other students to pass by.

"Yeah," he said, as his grin turned into a smirk. He took a laminated card out of a pocket in the leather jacket he was wearing, and gave it to Buffy. "Got one for everyone. Giles sent notes -- and the cards -- to everyone else in the group. Also got a promise from Principal Snyder that anyone else we add to the list is to get one as well."

"Cool!" Buffy took Angel's arm, and steered him out into the crowded hallway, before saying, "Let go to the cafeteria, I'm starving!"

Angel chuckled, before he said, "I was actually hoping that we might go out to my car. I packed a lunch to celebrate. The others should already be out there waiting for us."

A slow smile took over Buffy's face, as she said, "I'll take your cooking over the cafeteria's any day. Let's go!"

"Well, now that we don't have to worry about Snyder butting his nose where he shouldn't, how are we going to use these free school passes," asked Buffy from where she leaned against a tree. She then said, explaining further, "You know, how will we know when to use them?"

"Good question," Oz commented from where he sat softly playing his guitar.

"Yeah," said Xander as he scarfed down the last of the sandwiches, "with the old system when we got a pass, we knew we had to go to the library. How will know when to go now?"

"Most of the time," Angel said idly from where he lay on the ground gazing at the sky, "I'll come and get you."

"And when you can't, Angel," Willow asked as she packed up the picnic basket.

"Angel need not go to get you," said Giles, "as that may take more time than we may have."

"Then," Buffy said, her expression confused, "how will you contact us?"

"Easy," said Darkmoon from his perch in the tree behind Buffy. "Giles, the Watchers, the druids, and I created some devices that you all can wear that will let you know we need to meet. I don't know about the others, but I'm calling them Beacons. Why don't you show them, Giles?"

Giles nodded as he pointed to what looked like a watch on his wrist, and said, "You all received these with your free passes, all except for Angel and Buffy who shall receive their's later. What these are are what you might call a...'homing device' for where you need to go I suppose." Giles paused in thought, then said slowly, "I suppose 'Beacon' is as good a term as any for them. Anyway -- as Buffy would put it -- on the place where you would normally tell time, is blank. When you need to go to a certain place, the blank face will then show a picture. The picture will tell you where you need to go, as well as a feeling that you need to go to that place immediately."

"As an added precaution," said Darkmoon, "they do tell the time. In fact, no matter where you are, those devices will tell you the time of that place. You will also be able to get the time of a place where you want to know the time of."

"What would those pictures be," asked Angel curiously, ignoring what his familiar had said.

"A book for the library. A stake for the mansion. A teacup for Giles' home. A headstone for the cemetery. And a guitar for the Bronze," said Darkmoon as he leapt out of the tree, and onto Buffy's lap.

"Sounds good," said Buffy. "But why don't Angel and I have one yet?"

"Yours needed a little extra treatment," Darkmoon said, then explained, "You both needed a way to call your steeds to you, so we did that."

"You know," said Willow suddenly, "that posses a really good question. How are we supposed to activate, shutdown, or whatever these things?"

"It's simple, really," said Giles as he stood. "All you need do is look at it, and think what you wish it to do. A precaution though," he said, as everyone but Buffy and Angel looked at there "Beacon," "the device can sense when the use is an emergency or not. So do not think you can get away with using it in non-emergency situations."

All but Giles, Angel, and Darkmoon groaned.