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

Reviews: Welcomed and appreciated


She looked over at the red head who had been her best friend all that time ago. Buffy's best friend anyway. The girl was nervous, Buffy could hear her heart beating a fast, deep staccato. She had to hide the smile that threatened to spread across her face. Angelus had always accused her of being a failure as a demon. And most of the time she agreed, but at this moment she was relishing the discomfort she was causing Willow. And for the life of her, she couldn't figure out why. Her old self had loved this pale, sweet creature. Maybe that was exactly the reason. Willow reminded her of what she had given up, what she had lost. But she thought of her Angelus and she felt calm invade her senses. It was all the way it should be, she thought.

Setting the cup of coffee back onto the table Buffy looked up at the Wicca. "So, lesbian now? How things change."

Willow looked up in shock. "Well…I… umm…it just sort of happened. I mean…"

"Hey, not judging. I've done some things that would put a permanent blush on that sweet face of yours. Just funny how things can change in a couple of years. I mean really, I'm a fucking vampire and you're a lesbian, weird. Whoda' thunk it?" She gave Willow a bit of a wicked grin over the rim of her cup. Buffy had surprised Willow with a call, asking to meet with her. She wanted to know what was really up with 'her' mother. Was it really as serious as Giles led her to believe or was he attempting to lure her out of her self-imposed exile?

"Yeah," Willow gulped her latte a little too fast and burned her tongue. "Umm, after graduation, after Cordelia's dad lost all their money, she and I moved in together and we…we just sort of happened. Faith, she knew before we did and Oz, well he just took it all in stride. Xander had a difficult time with it for awhile, I mean his best friend and his girlfriend. But he eventually accepted us. Xander's dating an ex-vengeance demon now, her name's Anya. They actually met our senior year. She took off when word of the ascension hit the street. She came back a few months later, after Faith saved us all from the mayor." Her voice softened a little at Faith's name.

Buffy chuckled. "You and Cordy, we thought you two just had Xander in common." Her eyes held Willow's for a moment before she sat up in her seat, changing the subject. "I heard the slayer had died in the ascension. Have you met the new one?" Buffy really didn't care, just small talk. But she wanted Willow to relax before she broached the subject of Joyce.

"No. Actually she's from Italy. Guess she's taking care of another Hellmouth over there." Her voice trailed off. "Umm, we have a really nice Wicca who helps us out, I met her at school. And Wesley decided to stay around after Faith died. We all do our best, but we still miss you." She looked down at her hands.

Buffy shifted uncomfortably. "Yes, well. Have you seen Joyce? Giles said she wasn't doing too well. I didn't know if he was being honest with me, after all I am one of the bad guys."

"Oh never Buffy. You could never be considered that." Willow shook her head. "I know it probably doesn't matter to you, but I always understood why you made the decision you made. I mean, it was extreme, but I understood."

She looked at Willow thoughtfully. "And what do you think you understand? Why do you think I made the decision I made?"

She looked up and shrugged. "You'd found your soul mate and lost him. And then by some miracle you found someone you could love again and you weren't willing to lose him, not again." Willow shook her head. "I can't say I wouldn't have done the same thing." Finally looking up at the woman who had once been her best friend, she spoke again. "I think you have to be a woman to understand. Lord knows Xander never will."

Buffy laughed. "Well we all know how Xander felt about Buffy, don't we." She pushed the cup back, tired of the useless liquid. "Now, back to Joyce. Is she going to die?"

The business like quality of Buffy's voice took Willow by surprise. But then she remembered, vampire. Soulless. But not really, not totally. She wasn't as attuned to auras as Tara was, but she recognized something in Buffy that wasn't entirely gone. "Well, surgery was performed, but we won't really know for sure. Not for awhile. She's been acting a little funny, before her surgery she was very bizarre but we attributed that to the tumor." Willow bent in towards Buffy. "She doesn't recognize your sister all the time."

Buffy bent her head to one side in confusion. "Sister?"

"Yeah, Dawnie. Anyway, I think if you could see your way to visiting them it would do Joyce a lot of good." Willow had a hopeful look on her face.

"Okay." Buffy was most definitely intrigued. A sister? Since when? She had to talk to Angelus about this. Someone or something was playing tricks and she wanted to find out whom. "Can you meet us tomorrow night and go over with us?"

"Us?"

Angelus and I. You didn't think my sire would let me go there alone did you?" She opened her purse and laid $10.00 on the table. "My treat. Meet us here at, let's see…what time does the sun start to set? Around six? We'll go over to her house." She rose to leave. "Willow, let her know we're coming. I don't want to shock her."

"Okay. And Buffy? Thanks." She gave her best friend a shy smile.

"Willow. I didn't turn into a monstrous killing machine, 'fraid I've been a bit of a disappointment to Angelus in that department, but I'm not really her. You do know that don't you? I have her memories but not her sensibilities. I mean, part of her is here, but not enough to make it count. Don't forget, don't idealize me. When we left you we did so without a second thought. My only concern was for him and for me. Not Joyce, not Giles, not you. So even Buffy wasn't the girl you thought she was." With that last statement she turned and left Willow.


Angelus felt her enter the house and went to greet her. "How was your meeting with the sweet, little thing?"

Her eyes zeroed in on him jealously. "Don't even go there lover. But it was interesting. Interesting and weird. Not really your type though, she and Cordelia are lovers." She smiled at his questioning expression. "Yeah, I know, could've knocked me over with a feather. Oh, and by the way, did you know I had a sister?" She stood in front of Angelus reaching up to draw his head down for a kiss.

He put his arms around her. "Sister? Since when?"

"My thoughts exactly." She pulled away from Angelus and went into the library, pulling a book out and thumbing through it. "Remember that group Cletus was talking to us about at the party?" Cletus was an old vampire that continually showed up when he wasn't invited, a habit Buffy was going to break for him. "He was rambling on about seeing, oh I don't know, queer demons and bizarre knights and monks who could change reality?"

"Queller demons and the Knights of the Byzantium? Yeah, but you know Cletus. Actually I'm seriously considering putting him out of our misery. He was way too old when Darla turned him. Still don't know what she was thinking." He shook his head with a small chuckle. "The girl did have a warped sense of humor, gotta give her props for that."

"Please, no words of admiration for the bitch…wait! Here's something." Buffy sat next to Angelus and began to read from the book.


Willow sat before Cordelia as she massaged the knots out of her shoulders. "I knew I should've gone with you. I can handle the bitch. Like you should even be nervous because she used to be Buffy. She isn't anymore, she's a vamp like any other vamp we dust on a nightly basis. You have to get over that ridiculous worship you always had for her. You and Xander. I have to be honest, when we got together I was so glad she was out of the picture. The last thing I needed was to have to compete with her for you. Xander was bad enough, but the thought of you deferring everything to her would've been too much to handle. She always got everything, little miss perfect 'I save the world as a nightly task, worship me' slayer." Cordelia hated the tone of her voice, she had gotten so much better since she'd been with Will, but all the insecurities she thought she had overcome in regards to the slayer had resurfaced when her lover told her about their meeting.

"Oh baby. There would've never been any kind of competition. I loved Buffy, but never like that." She turned in Cordelia's arms and knelled in front of her taking her face into her hands and kissed her deeply. "Never like this. Not with Xander, not with Oz, never with Buffy. I loved her like a sister, but I love you like my life. I can't even remember life without you sweetie."

Cordelia eased herself down on the bed, taking Willow with her. "I just hate the idea of her coming back into our lives Willow. Her presence still permeates our meetings at Giles'. I don't think he ever forgave himself for Buffy's defection and I think this is just a way for him to try and pull her back in. She doesn't care about Joyce or Dawn, it's just curiosity or some sick game she and Angelus are playing."

"I don't know Cordelia. She wasn't the same Buffy, our Buffy, I know that for sure. But she wasn't all demon. Her aura, Tara would be better at reading it, but it wasn't the same as a demon's."

Cordelia sat up and stared down at Willow. "Oh my god! You're doing the same thing as Giles aren't you? You're going to try to get her back into the fold. Hello! Am I the only one who can see just how dangerous this is? You are going to invite a slayer-vampire and her vampire master lover into her old home where her mother and sister still live. They could do anything at any time to any of us and you're talking auras?" She was incredulous.

Willow reached out to her and pulled her back into her arms. "Baby, please. We are not doing this for any reason other than to try and bring a little comfort to Joyce. Maybe once she sees Buffy, maybe she won't have these crazy episodes with Dawnie. And if Buffy or Angelus wanted us dead, well we'd be dead. An invitation wouldn't matter."

"Oh, that makes me feel so much better." Cordelia rolled her eyes.

"Well, I know something that will make you feel so much better." Willow pulled Cordelia's t-shirt over her head. "Now, get under the covers with me and I'll warm you up."


"Okay, right here. Knights of the Byzantium are an ancient order assigned the task of destroying the key." Buffy had found the passage she was looking for.

Angelus went to another book on his shelf and held it up to her. He opened the book and looked through it "Tarnis, 12th century, was one of the founders of the Monks of the order of Dagon, their sole purpose appears to have been as protectors of the key. The key is not directly described in any known literature, but all research indicates an energy matrix vibrating at a dimensional frequency beyond normal human perception. Only those outside reality can see the key's true nature." He looked up at Buffy. "Buffy, the monks possessed the ability to transform energy and bend reality."

"Great. And outside of nature? What the hell does that mean?"

"Psychics, crazies." He shrugged. "Maybe people with tumors in their brains and people who live in a houses that are cloaked by an inter-dimensional spell?"

"She must've been sent to the slayer as a sister to be protected. Man oh man, are those monks ever out of the loop or what? Think they have no idea the slayer is dead?"

"You died about 5 years ago, maybe they just read you as dying once and didn't recognize the second time?"

"Makes sense, I guess. So, what do we do? I mean who wants this key and why?"

"It doesn't involve us babe. Go see Joyce if you must, but leave the rest of it to them. They are not a part of our world and we are not a part of theirs." Angelus was adamant.

Buffy shrugged. "Okay." She graced him with one of her most suggestive smiles. "Bed then?"

He pulled her into his arms and kissed her deeply. "Oh yeah. Most definitely."