Disclaimers: Mutant Enemy and Joss Whedon own it all. I'm just doing this for fun, and hopefully entertainment

Reviews: Welcomed and appreciated

Willow and Cordelia were sitting in front of the fire Jenny had built, Cordy still rocking the frightened new vampire as the four men entered Angel's main room. Jenny ran to Giles, who was using Xander as his crutch. Kendra rushed up as well, hoping to be of some help, she was tired of feeling so useless in this whole situation.

"Just give us one sec Ms. Calendar and I'll set him down on the couch." Jenny was attempting to pry Rupert from Xander's arms and he was afraid all three of them would end up on the floor, so Kendra pulled her away to allow Xander to gain his footing.

As soon as Giles was ensconced on the couch with Jenny, Xander nodded to the other slayer as he went to Cordelia and put his hand on her shoulder "Cordelia? Will? How ya doin'?"

"She has her soul back, but she's majorly wiggins. I wanted to sit on the couch, but no, had to be back on the floor. This skirt is beyond ruined anyway, so warmth it is." She shrugged and looked up at Xander with a sad smile.

Xander smoothed her hair. "I'm so sorry for all of this Cordelia. I never meant…you were never meant…" Xander wasn't sure what he wanted to say, but he needed her to know anyway.

"Don't go all guilt on me Harris, you are so making this up to me. So guilt is really a non-issue." She looked over at Angel carrying Buffy.

"Is she alright?" It had never occurred to Cordelia that Buffy might get hurt, she was the slayer. She was the one who hurt things. "Why is she tied up?" She suddenly remembered Willow being brought in with her hands tied and why. "Oh no."

"What? What's wrong wit Buffy?"Kendra approached Angel, concern and anger on her face. "I knew I shoulda been wit ya. I'm da slayer as well, I shoulda been dare."

"I think we all need to talk about this one." He motioned to Kendra to sit while he helped Willow and Cordelia to their feet and walked them over to one of the couches.

Angel was sitting in a large armchair, Buffy asleep in his arms. His face resolute. "I did the only thing I could do. You can't tell me you would've wanted her dead." He wasn't talking to anyone in particular. Actually Spike thought he might be talking to himself.

"If I left her for dead and she rose tomorrow night, which one of you would've put a stake through her heart? Tell me right now, would that have been you Rupert? Or Kendra, could you have killed her?"

Kendra, confused at the turn of events,burst into tears and ran from the room.

"Hey Angelus, think you coulda been a little harder on the slayer? She's doing her best here, don't go blaming her because your not sure you did the right thing." Xander got up to go after her, but Willow put her hand on his arm, making him fight to keep from shuddering at her coldness.

"She'll be alright, she just needs to sort it out by herself. She's not use to caring for people. And this has to be one of her biggest fears. She'll come back when she's ready."

Xander nodded, trying to keephis tears at bay.

Giles hung his head, unable to answer Angelus' question. Could he have killed his slayer? Never. He was at odds with himself. One part of him, the watcher, felt this was an abomination. His slayer, his vampire slayer, now a vampire. The only resolution being her death. The other part, the one who looked at this small, young girl as his surrogate daughter, rejoiced at the fact of her being alive, no matter the cost. Something could be done, something would be done to keep her alive. The council would never find out, not as long as he lived.

"Wait a minute." Jenny looked from Giles to the two vampires on the other side of the room. "Buffy was turned? How? When? What happened? Talk!"

Spike decided to answer the question. "Darla almost drained her, but she didn't sire her. No blood exchange. Buffy would've risen tomorrow, but she would've been nothing more than a minion. Kinda like a worker ant." He looked over at Giles. "Unless her soul was still intact."

"Enough Spike, it's a wives-tale, demon lore. Giles will tell you as much. Right?" Buffy was starting to stir and Angel wanted to get her to the cages downstairs before it became too difficult.

Giles just shook his head, "A wives-tale."

Willow panicked, "So what's gonna happen once she wakes up? Will she still be our slayer-Buffy or is she some sort of zombie-Buffy? I mean, Angel, she would never have wanted that." She looked up at Xander and Cordelia, "I don't think I can handle this, I think I'm gonna throw up."

For the first time since he entered the room, Giles looked over at Willow. She had been rescued, but what was going on? Oh god, no, he thought, not Willow too. "Jenny?"

She saw the direction of his eyes. "We took care of it. We used your Orb of Thesulah, I used the gypsy curse to restore her soul."

Giles crumpled further into Jenny's arms. "This is…oh god…"

"Buck up old man, the gypsy here got rid of the happiness clause. Anyway, Angel drained the slayer and sired her" He saw the look of shock on the women's eyes. "Hey, better then zombie-Buffy, right?" Spike went to Willow, at least she had spoken, a good sign. "Have you eaten?"

Not sure how to react at this latest news, she gave him a half-hearted smile, "Sips, I'm taking sips." Willow held up a plastic cup with a lid and straw attached. "Kendra got it for me, it has Winnie-the-Pooh on it, see?"

Cordelia patiently explained to Spikes' confused look. "She couldn't look at the blood, makes her feel faint, so I sent Kendra to get her a cup with a lid. Seems they only had children's cups. Appropriate, though, don't you think?"

Spike eyed the princess, surprised at how she came through in a crisis. Hmmm, he thought, seems this humans are full of surprises.

Buffy's head hurt and she felt sick to her stomach. I never feel like this, she thought. Darla, she must've done something to me. I know she did, I just can't remember what. And I am so cold. She dug deeper into Angel's chest. She knew it was him, his scent was so overwhelming and comforting. She took a deep breath, but it felt very strange to her, hollow. She opened one eye and looked up at her mate. A rush of possessiveness rushed through her, but quickly abated. He looks so tired, she thought. Did vampires ever look tired? Vampires! It started to come back.

She sat straight up, making everyone in the room jump. "Oh my god! Am I hurt? Did Darla hurt me?" Her thoughts were in a jumble. Her head was twisting around, trying to get a look at everyone, were they all here?

"Willow? Are you okay?" She saw her puffy eyes and the even odder sight of Cordelia comforting her best friend. What was up with that?

The whole room looked at Buffy, not sure what to expect, holding their collective breathe.

Realization began to sink in. She put her hands, which were bound, up to her neck. The wound was healed, but she knew it was fresh. Buffy tried to asses her feelings. She didn't feel demony. Do I feel like killing everyone here? No, she answered. Do I want to head up to Seattle and off my mom? No, again. Down to Los Angels and kill my dad? Well, maybe a little, but no more than usual. Can I feel my heartbeat? NO! But I can hear all of theirs and they are scared. With fear in her eyes as well, she looked up at Angel, her link to him stronger than ever. "What happened? What did she do?"

Angel looked at her closely. There was fear in her eyes, the demon wouldn't allow fear. She was grabbing at his shirt, despite the fact that her hands were tied, trying to insinuate herself closer to him in her panic. Again not a demon trait. His eyes went to Spike, who just gave him an I-told-you-so look.

"Baby, how are you feeling?" He took her face in his hands and turned her to look at him.

The concern in his face scared her even more. "She did it, didn't she? She killed me." She turned toward Giles. "I'm so sorry, she had me tied up, there were so many of them. I couldn't stop her and I couldn't save you. Are we in hell? I'm such a loser slayer." Tears started streaming down her face.

"Angel and Spike stopped them, they're gone…dead." Giles got up and went to her. "Buffy, how do you feel, what are you feeling?" She wasn't acting like a demon, she was Buffy, his Buffy. Was it possible? Was the lore true?

She looked into her watchers eyes. "It happened, didn't Giles? Darla, she turned me. Why don't I feel different? What did you do?" The panic in her eyes receding a bit. Giles looked up to Angel for an answer.

Taking in Giles unspoken request, he took Buffy's face in his hands again. "Buff, we need to go upstairs and talk. We'll take care of all this, I promise. Do you trust me?" She shook her head. "Alright then." He stood with Buffy in his arms and turned to the rest of assembled group, zeroing in on Giles and Spike. "You need to handle the rest." He gave Willow a small smile and went upstairs, Buffy clinging to him.

"I told you, slayers don't lose their souls." Spike was feeling very self-satisfied.