Disclaimers: I own nothing. All rights and all the hoopla belong to Joss Whedon and all his people.
Timeline: Set during 'Who are you?'
Pairings: Read and see.
Summary: What if Buffy had turned evil instead of Faith?
Distribution: Want. Take. Have. Just tell me where it's going.
Feedback: Please? I'll even give you a cookie!
The sun had finally set as Angel and Drusilla reached Giles' apartment nearly an hour later. As Angel reached for the doorknob, Drusilla disentangled herself from Angel and floated over to the large fountain. "Dru." Angel complained as he went over to fetch her.
This too was a normal game of theirs, but tonight Angel really didn't feel like playing. These days he wasn't even sure how he and Drusilla had even ended up as a couple, and there were days when Angel would doubt his sanity for being with her. Then she'd just look at him with a smile and Angel would find himself forgetting everything.
He walked over to the fountain and watched Drusilla for a moment before deciding his course of action. Drusilla didn't even react to his observations. She simply sat on the edge, her hand floating on the top of the water in the large fountain, eyes pointed heavenwards. "Dru?" Angel repeated after watching her for another moment or two.
She glanced up at Angel and smiled almost sadly at him. "It's all changing, my pet. I can feel it already. Everything's all different." Even as she spoke, her words sounded duller than usual. It was as though she wasn't even with him. He had lost her to the stars in her head and he knew it. Frankly, he was more than used to it by now. "Daddy's never coming back to his princess." She added, her hand dipping further into the water. "Maybe it shall all change if we float away."
"Dru!" Angel started, but before he could stop her, she had thrown herself into the fountain with a loud crack as her head hit the bottom, water splashing up around her as she descended. He didn't know if he should laugh at her stranger than normal behavior or scream at her for making his life complicated. "Dru, what are you playing at?" He asked her, as she simply lay motionless in the fountain, half submerged, her head lying at the bottom, blood slowly pouring into the fountain as she watched everything around her. "Are you going to make me come in and get you?" Angel asked her as he grabbed her by the arm and started to pull her out.
Suddenly Drusilla jerked up and pulled Angel into the fountain, another splash flowing over the edge as he landed hard on his ass next to her. "Excuse me, what was that for?" Angel asked her, too annoyed to even bother trying to get out of the fountain. When Drusilla didn't respond, his annoyance with her sizzled to concern. "Dru, precious, what's wrong?" He asked as he pulled the equally wet, and now bleeding Drusilla into his lap. "Come on, Dru." He coaxed. "Talk to daddy."
Drusilla wildly shook her head as she began to struggle against Angel's now tightening hold on her waist. "No, no. Your heart will stink of her again. Stealing. Stealing. Stealing. As always. She always steals it away. Leaving princess all alone." Her voice trailed off, floating into the night air.
Angel stared at Drusilla for a moment, as he tried to comprehend what his childe had just said. He wasn't sure if she was rambling about a vision she had had, or about her insecurities regarding their relationship. "Dru, don't talk like that. I told you after you and Spike broke out of the Initiative that I would always take care of you, and I meant it. If you weren't here, I'd still be in LA, but instead I fell back in love with you." The words seemed to pour out of Angel and he felt as though he had no control. He couldn't hold back. He could feel the demon in him screaming, wanting him to say anything to please Drusilla.
To him, this had all really started about two months after teaming up with Doyle and Cordelia in LA. They had started their own supernatural investigations and business had started to pick up. Then, he'd received a phone call from Faith. They'd found Drusilla on Giles' doorstep mumbling about 'the knights of darkness changing what they fear'. It had taken them hours to calm her down. Faith had no idea what Drusilla even wanted, so she had called Angel. He'd been the one to figure out about the Initiative. He was the one that found Spike. But Drusilla seemed to go madder with each day, and Angel had found himself suddenly falling in love with his mad childe. After two months, he had called back to LA and told Doyle that he wasn't coming back. Now here he was 6 months later sitting in a fountain spilling out his feelings to her.
Her reaction to his sudden declaration of love wasn't exactly what he had expected. "No! No lying!" She screamed at Angel, slashing at Angel's face, drawing deep bloody welts. As he grabbed for her hands, his blood dripped into the water mixing with his childe's. Drusilla avoided his grasping hands and threw herself backwards in an attempt to get away from her sire. A large crack sounded through the air as her head connected with the plaster ledge.
"Dru!" Angel yelled as he crawled over to his immobile childe. Immediately Angel cradled Drusilla into his arms, and stepped out of the fountain, water and blood dripping onto the concrete.
The door to Giles' apartment opened and Faith stepped out into the night, looking confused and worried at the same time as she spotted the wet and bloody couple. "Angel? What in the hell are you and Dru doing out here? You weren't screwing were you?" She asked, her eyes darting to the bloody gash on Angel's cheek.
Angel shook his head as he tried to think of an explanation to what had just happened. "We had a fight. At least I think it was a fight…" He admitted almost sheepishly as his hand absently strayed to the back of Drusilla's head. He pulled his hand back almost immediately as he realized that Drusilla was still bleeding. Suddenly fearful, he brushed past Faith and carried Dru into the house. "Get Rupert. Now. And the first aid kit." He instructed.
"Wait, what's going on?" She started to ask, but trailed off as she saw Angel's blood stained hand. She closed the front door behind them and ran off to find Giles.
Blood and water dripped heavily onto the couch as Angel lay Drusilla down. Almost helplessly, Angel ripped off the bottom of his own shirt and held it to the back of Dru's head as he tried to stop the flow of blood. Impatiently, he awaited the slayer's return, murmuring softly to Drusilla as he did so.
"What is going on here?" Giles asked as he entered the living room, followed closely by Xander, Anya and Faith. Angel didn't respond to Giles' question instead he took the kit from Faith and began patching up Drusilla, water and blood dripping onto the fresh bandage.
Without a word, Giles' took the bandage and kit away from Angel as he began to patch up Drusilla himself. The watcher motioned to Faith and she lead Angel over to a chair close to Drusilla's to patch up his wounds.
"This is all just from a 'little' fight?" Faith skeptically asked Angel as she bandaged the wound on his cheek. "What did you leave the chainsaws at home?"
Suddenly Anya laughed. "Oh, this is nothing. You should have seen them when Darla was around. Darla was jealous of all the time Angelus was spending with Dru and she called me. So, I thought it was just gonna be your simple entrails on the outside wish, but instead she wished that Dru would find-"
"Spike." Angel cut in as he pushed away from Faith and took Giles' place next to Drusilla. As Anya started to glare at Angel for interrupting her story, he cleared his throat. "Is here." He added as he shifted Drusilla into his lap.
True to Angel's word, Spike stood in the doorframe looking confusedly at the scene before him. Faith started towards him, but he brushed past her when he saw the state Drusilla was in. "What did you do to her, you bloody bastard?" Spike demanded as he slipped into gameface and attempted to pull Drusilla away from Angel.
Angel growled at Spike and without so much as a word punched Spike in the stomach, sending him to the ground. "Why'd you do that?" Xander asked as he watched Spike hit the ground. "Not that I'm complaining or anything."
"He was getting on my nerves." Angel stated as he tenderly stroked Drusilla's face.
Spike shifted back into his human face as he gingerly climbed to his feet. "Bloody hell, mate. That-" He froze as Drusilla's eyelids began to flutter open. "Ducks?"
The confident smirk was evident on Angel's face as Drusilla murmured, "My Angel?" Her voice was soft and uncertain. "We're all wet and my tummy is all growly."
Angel just laughed as he bit into his wrist and placed it to Drusilla's lips, relief washing over him as she shifted into gameface and began suckling. "That's my girl." He said so softly only Spike and Drusilla heard him.
"Okay, can I say 'ew'? Do you have to do that in front of us?" Xander complained earning himself jabs in the side from both Anya and Faith.
Neither Angel or Drusilla responded as she licked wound on Angel's wrist clean, slipped back into her human, and pushed Angel's wrist away from her. "Oh, my Angel. You do love me. I can taste it all over, naughty boy." Drusilla playfully scolded before leaning up and capturing Angel's lips in a kiss, not caring in the slightest about the other people in the room.
A look of pure disgust and jealously washed over Spike's face as he turned on his heel and fled from the room. Giles started to say something but Faith beat him to it. "I'll take care of it, G." She said before following Spike out of the apartment, leaving Giles, Anya and Xander to deal with the vampiric couple.
Giles cleared his throat, hoping that Angel and Drusilla, or at least Angel, would take the hint and break apart. "Do you really think that's going to work?" Xander asked with a nervous laugh.
The words weren't even out of Xander's mouth when Angel and Drusilla broke apart. "Sorry, Rupert." Angel apologized, his hands moving to rest possessively on Drusilla's waist as she rested her head on his chest. "We actually came here for a reason."
"A Scooby meeting?" Xander sarcastically asked, earning himself a 'Xander' from Anya, who actually liked Drusilla. Anya had met Drusilla during one of the insane vampire's tantrums. After watching her shove a man through a meat grinder, the two had become fast friends.
Giles sighed at Xander before turning to Angel, who had yet again been distracted by Dru's behavior. She had taken to tracing patterns on Angel's chest. Giles cleared his throat, although he was, as usual, intrigued by Drusilla's behavior. Even all his research on Drusilla from junior year had not prepared him for meeting the real version. The books barely etched the true dimensions of the vampire's insanity. Secretly, Giles had been keeping notes on Drusilla's behavior in hopes of writing a book detailing insanity's effects on the undead. He shook his head as he tried to remember his previous train of thought. "Yes, did one of your demonic sources have news on the sudden decline of supernatural activity?"
Angel shook his head as he took one of Drusilla's wandering hands into his own. "No, we got a call from the hospital today." At these words, the whole room seemed to go still. "Buffy woke up."
Before anyone could respond to Angel's sudden news, Drusilla jumped out of Angel's lap. "I-I have to go change Miss Edith." She stated, almost fearfully as she moved backwards out of the room.
"Dru precious, come back here." Angel called as he grabbed for her, only to catch air. As the front door slammed shut, Angel started to stand, but to his surprise was stopped by Anya.
"Stay. I'll go after her." Anya told them. "I don't want to be here, either. Xander acts funny whenever someone mentions Buffy." With that Anya followed Drusilla outside, leaving a very embarrassed Xander in her wake.
Sheepishly, Xander looked up at Angel and Giles. "My girlfriend, everyone." He deadpanned. Giles didn't respond. Instead he took off his glasses, polished them, and replaced them. Meanwhile, Angel simply looked pensive and Angel wasn't sure if it was because Buffy had awoken or because of Drusilla's odder than usual behavior. "So, um, should we call Willow?" Xander nervously asked the other two.
Giles shook his head. "No, we mustn't involve her in this. Lord only knows what she'd try to do if involved." He responded a hint of sadness evident in his voice.
"She's going to her." Angel suddenly informed them, earning strange looks from both Giles and Xander. "Buffy." He clarified. "She went to Willow. She's the only person Buffy knows for certain that will help her. She wouldn't come to us because she'd be afraid that we'd call the cops or the Council. Besides, she'll be afraid of retaliation. She's tried to kill each of us in turn." His voice softened and he trailed off slowly.
All three men were silent for a moment, Xander's hand coming up to massage his neck. Even though Angel had come the closest to dying, it was Xander who was haunted by Buffy's turn to evil the most. He had just started dating Faith at the time. Buffy had just convinced Willow to join her at the Mayor's office as a computer hacker. They tried to convince Xander to join them. But when he refused, Buffy had waited for Willow to leave before attempting to strangle him. It had been Angel of all people who saved him. After that, he understood why Giles had sided with Faith and Wesley (who had been fired when Buffy turned evil and replaced with the recently fired Giles). It had taken them all a long time to realize that the girl they had all loved was gone and wasn't coming back.
Anxiously Xander broke the now uncomfortable silence. "What about Joyce? You don't think Buffy will try home first? And hey-" Xander added in as a thought hit him. "Why did the hospital call you and Loo- Dru instead of Giles or Joyce?"
"Joyce and I had both agreed that Angel should be listed as Buffy's emergency contact." Giles admitted. "It was for both our own safety and Buffy's. If the Council was ever alerted of Buffy's awakening, it would be worse than the police finding her."
Still Xander looked very much confused. "That still doesn't explain why she wouldn't go home first thing after waking up."
Angel sighed dramatically, as though Xander was missing something elementary. "Joyce's house isn't home to Buffy any more. It wasn't back then. It was the first thing she told me when she thought she had reverted me back to Angelus. Willow's the only family she thinks she has left." He explained to Xander. "Oh, and Joyce moved back to LA three months ago. I'm sure Rupert will want to call her after we leave."
As Giles nodded the affirmative, Xander seemed to be having another thought. "What do you think she's thinking right now?" Xander began. "I mean it's been eight months. How do you adjust to something like that?"
This time Giles answered him. "You don't."