Summary: What if Buffy had gone with Angel into that hell dimension on the finale of Season2? My first fan fiction, I think this would be considered AU.
Disclaimers: Mutant Enemy and Joss Whedon own it all. This just all just for entertainments sake, I hope.
Giles and Willow were pacing in the main room of the mansion. The place made Giles physically ill. This is where Angelus and Drusilla had tortured him; this is where he lost his slayer.
Oz just sat on the floor, waiting.
They had decided to wait before telling Xander and Joyce about Buffy and Angel's return. Giles didn't want to disappoint Joyce in case Whistler had been wrong. He didn't want to get her hopes up and then dash them should this not work. As for Xander, he was feeling very guilty for not telling Buffy about Willow's plan for restoring Angel's soul. Maybe he was right, maybe not. But Xander felt responsible for her jumping into the opening with Angel. Giles was afraid Xander might do something very stupid and result in more chaos, or quite possibly his death.
So here they were, Willow nervously twitching with Oz trying his best to calm her down and Giles, himself, not at all sure how to react to seeing Angel. Angel, who had killed Jenny and tortured him mercilessly. Of course he realized that had been Angelus, not Angel, but to try to differentiate might be more than a little difficult for Giles right now.
"Whistler said we should expect them tonight. Oh, Oz, I am so nervous…no, excited, no wait…both. I am excitedly nervous! Please, Giles, don't go alpha male. I mean it's Angel, not Angelus. It's all good, right Oz? It's gonna be great. Do you think Buffy will look different? Over 20 years for her, she's bound to look different, unless she's found a witch to do glamours, but probably not." Will sheepishly looked at the two men staring at her.
Oz gave her a hug, "Breath baby, it's all good. At the very least, it'll be better."
Willow sat, "Nervous rambling, sorry. Stopping now, sitting now, quite as a mouse now."
"Yes, well. We are all a bit unnerved," Giles removed his glasses and took a cloth from his pocket to clean them, "but I am sure if all goes as planned we shall have Buffy back very soon."
"Dude, if you rub those lenses much more tonight you are going to change the prescription. And don't forget, we are going to have Angel back, too. She chose him, Giles and I really don't think all of us can change that fact. Remember as far as she is concerned they've been together like, what? 20 years?" Oz rubbed Willow's back as he spoke.
"Gosh sweetie, 20 years." Willow gazed at Oz, "I'd jump into another dimension with you, it's so romantic. She gave up everything for the man she loved, okay not man, demon. But demon with a soul. Yup, I'd do it in a second."
"Good God Willow! This was a serious misjudgment on Buffy's part. She was too emotional and too young to make a proper decision. And the fault is all mine, I did not do the proper job as her watcher, I did not impart to her the importance and dedication she needed as a slayer. She was too undisciplined and I was too lax, I gave into her way too many times and this is what we have. Some sort of new prophecy to deal with, a green slayer and the old slayer past her prime. If we make it through this the Powers That Be may be looking over our shoulders indeed!" Giles was tired of Willow turning this into a Shakespearean play and had reached his limit with this latest romantic tangent she had gone off on.
"Ease up, Watcher. It is what it is. She loved him, he loved her and now they are coming back and we have a prophecy to decipher. Spilt milk, Giles." Oz was almost losing his patience and that really pist him off.
Willow couldn't help but fall more and more in love with Oz. Everything about him during this crisis told her what kind of person he was. The kind of person she wanted to spend the rest of her life with. And it didn't matter that they were only 17. Living on the Hellmouth really made a person define the path their life would take and she wanted hers to be the same one as Oz. "I love you Oz." She smiled up at him and Giles, once again, rolled his eyes.
A deep crackling sound made all three of them turn around to face the opening of a whirling vortex. One moment the air was filled with what felt like an electrical current and the next, two bodies were lying on the floor. A man was holding a woman in his arms, apparently trying to protect her from the elements and the woman had a small bundle in her arms.
"Buffy?" Giles wasn't sure how to proceed. Were they hurt, would they remember this dimension? He cautiously approached them.
Angel raised his head first. "Giles? Is that you? Willow? Oz?"
Willow was almost at a loss for words. It was Angel, she could tell, but an Angel she had never seen before. He had a very long braid down his back and his clothes didn't belong in this century. She imagined this was closer to how he looked before he became a vampire.
"It's us Angel. The re-souling worked? I'm so happy! How's Buffy, is she okay?" Willow was scared, Buffy hadn't moved yet, but whatever was in her bundle was starting to. Angel carefully removed the bundle from Buffy's arms and opened it. It couldn't be, but it was, a baby? "Angel?" Willow asked questioningly.
"Will, please take the baby, I have to see to Buffy." There was concerned in his voice and Willow reached out without a second thought.
She held the baby to her and he looked right into her eyes, right into her soul. Willow saw both Buffy and Angel in this precious child. Could this be right? Vampires couldn't have children, they weren't alive. But yes, she felt it, she was holding their baby. "Oh Oz, he's Buffy's and Angel's."
"How do you know?" Oz put his finger out so the baby could grasp it.
"I just do." Willow turned towards Angel, "How's Buffy? Do we need to take her to the hospital?"
Giles hadn't moved, but as soon as he assimilated the fact that his slayer might be hurt, he jumped into action. "Angel, what is it? Did she hit her head? Did she break something coming through?"
Buffy's eyes finally opened. "Did we make it back? Where's Connor? Oh God, did I drop him?" Her voice was filled with panic. Willow knelt next to Buffy with Connor still in her arms.
"Is this Connor?" Willow handed the little bundle over to his mother.
She took the baby and held him to her body, cradling him, protecting him. "Oh Wills, I missed you so much. Thank you for all that you did for Angel, for me, for us." She reached over and hugged Willow with her free arm. Willow hugged her back and sobs of happiness overtook them for a few moments.
Finally, Giles cleared his throat. "Buffy, how are you, my dear?"
"God Giles, after all this time you still haven't relaxed a little? Repressed much? How about a hug for your missing slayer?" Buffy smiled up at her watcher. She really had missed him.
Giles shifted uncomfortably and leaned over to embrace his slayer. He held her and breathed her in, he was so glad to see she was safe. "Buffy, it's only been a few months. A summer, really. Whistler explained about the time differential, but you don't look 20 years older. Hardly a day older that when you left, actually." Giles looked suspiciously at Angel.
Buffy looked at Angel, too. "Looks like we got some 'splaining to do."