Angel Season 6
Episode One: Reunited
Summary: Picks up where 'Not Fade Away' left off. Some familiar faces appear in the alley and the fight for humanity is not over.
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Alley behind the Hyperion Hotel, Los Angeles – night
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The battle was raging and already there were more wounds on the home team than could be counted. They were bloodied, beaten, battered and bruised and were tiring fast.
"Angel!" Spike yelled through the army of demons. "I don't think I'm gonna be able to last much longer!"
"Me…" Angel yelled back, snapping the neck of a demon between his words. "… Either!"
"If they don't ease up soon we're gonna lose!" Gunn shouted as he darted between live and dead bodies, killing the live ones with a swift swing of his sword as he ran.
"Gunn, you okay?" Angel asked between killings, stopping momentarily to check on his fellow comrade.
"I've been better." He spun around and began fighting again, holding the same front as Angel. A few metres ahead and off to the left, Spike was fighting a beast much larger than himself. Across the alley from him, Illyria was doing her best to stay alive. Angel glanced her way briefly to see if she was doing okay. It was a mistake, which he realised moments later.
A demon tackled him to the ground, pummelling him and knocking his sword from his hand. It clattered across the ground, landing in a shallow puddle. With the demon kneeling on his chest pounding on him and him without a weapon, he was helpless to the mercy of the beast.
He grunted loudly and painfully with every blow he received. He could feel his lip bleeding and tasted the bitter blood trickling between his lips, but he wasn't sure if it was from a previous wound or if it was just rain falling on his face. With what felt like the last amount of strength he had left in him, Angel threw a punch back at the demon and knocked it to the ground. He rolled over and on top of the beast and began pummelling it.
"How do you like it, huh?" He shouted through the rain, which had begun to fall heavier. Spike looked over after he managed to defeat the demon he was currently battling and scanned the battleground for Angel. He saw Angel sitting on top of the demon, beating on it vigorously.
"Angel, don't waste your energy!" Spike shouted as he returned to fighting.
Angel quickly reached for into his jacket, ripped out a stake and plunged it deep into the demon's chest. It exploded into a thousand tiny pieces of dust beneath him and Angel quickly got to his feet.
He continued the battle, every now and then glancing towards his friends to see that they were all still alive. The battle raged for hours longer, and they were rapidly getting weaker.
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Watcher's Council, England – next day, different time zone
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Giles, Buffy, Willow, Xander, Faith and Andrew sat around a large rectangular table in one of the Watcher's Council's meeting rooms. Spread out in the middle of the table were images, numbers and figures on documents describing the massive horrors that were currently taking place in Los Angeles.
"There is a serious supernatural disturbance in the skies above L.A. and it demands our urgent attention." Giles began explaining. "Something is happening over there that is blowing the tops off our gauges here in England. We must, I repeat must head over there right away and try to put an end to whatever the trouble is."
"Giles, Angel is in L.A. He's probably already taking care of the problem." Buffy paused. "Oh God, do you think he's alright?" She asked, suddenly realising the danger and trying not to sound too frantic.
"There is no way to tell Buffy. Before the problem gets any worse, we need to gather the strongest and best trained of the Slayers and ship them over to Los Angeles as soon as possible."
"Giles, do you have any idea what this thing might be?" Xander asked.
"I'm afraid not. You know as much as I do."
"Well we've gotta get over there and find out what's going on." Willow said, repeating Giles' sentence.
"Buffy, Faith; go and organise the Slayers and prepare them for an unknown lengthy stay in Los Angeles. Tell them to pack light, into only a few suitcases. Have it done within the hour."
Giles proceeded to give orders to Willow, Xander and Andrew and then they all went their separate ways, preparing to head over to America to help in any way possible. Giles stayed back in the meeting room examining the evidence of the problem. His sources had emailed photos of the clouded sky in L.A. and the darkness, the raging storm and the horrors that must be unveiling over there. He gathered up the documents and left the room, going off to organise himself for the trip.
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Alley behind the Hyperion Hotel, Los Angeles – same day, early hours of the morning
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The rain had begun to fall heavier, and Angel and his friends were beginning to feel the heat. There were hundreds of demon bodies scattered around the dirty little alley, and many more had been reduced to merely piles of dust. Angel was the first to notice a slight change as the army began to thin out.
"Spike!" he shouted, the roaring of beasts beginning to fade as they all continued killing. "What's going on?" Angel looked down the alley to see only a few more demons running towards them.
"I don't know, maybe they're all scared of us." Spike joked. Within moments, there were no demons left alive in the alley, and Spike and Angel stopped, standing next to each other. They were breathing heavily and unnecessarily; clutching their wounds and their swords tightly.
"Somehow I don't think so." Gunn came running from behind Spike and Angel and stopped between them. Within minutes, the last of the demons were dead, and Angel, Spike, Gunn and Illyria gathered in the middle of the alley.
"What is going on here?" Angel repeated.
"It appears that the Hell-beasts have stopped coming." Illyria stated.
"Yeah, thanks for your contribution, Blue." Spike said sarcastically. "Where the hell have they all gone? I mean, one minute we're in a fight for our lives and now we're standing here wondering how the hell we survived."
"Yeah, that thought has crossed my mind." Angel added
"So what, is this over or is there more to come? I thought this was a kill-or-be-killed kinda thing that we weren't gonna be coming out of alive." Spike asked.
"It can't be over." Angel replied. "Not yet." Just as he spoke, even before anyone could move, there was a deafening clap of thunder in the sky. It was followed by a brilliant flash of lightning, after which everyone had to blink several times in order to see again.
"Spoke too soon mate." Spike turned to Angel. "You couldn't have said something more positive?"
"Come on; show us what you've got!" Angel shouted suddenly. Gunn, Illyria and Spike's eyes were fixed on Angel, and the image of him standing in the rain staring up at the clouds was enthralling, to say the least. They couldn't figure it out, but there was something about the way that Angel wasn't afraid at all; it bugged them. They knew they signed up to die, but it wasn't about that anymore. It was about the fight.
A split second later, after another clap of thunder and flash of lightning, roaring and screaming could be heard from the end of the alley. Angel's team could only look on in horror as more demons came running into the alley, with nothing to stop them. There were hundreds, running at full speed towards them.
"Well, I asked them to show us what they've got." Angel said as he once again raised his sword to begin combat.
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Los Angels Airport, next day, early hours of the morning
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"Quickly girls, hurry." Giles led the 200-odd Slayers through the pouring rain to an awaiting line of old yellow school buses. Giles led the first load of girls onto the first bus and stopped to talk to the driver. "Thank you Bruce, for offering your services to us."
"Ah, no problem Rupert. I owe you anyway." Bruce replied and started the bus. Giles stepped out and the doors slid closed. Buffy and Faith were leading the other girls onto the three remaining buses and preparing them to be led out. The doors all closed and Buffy, Faith, Xander, Willow, Andrew and Giles gathered under an awning against the side of the airport terminal building.
"Giles, all the girls are on the buses and they're ready to go." Willow informed him.
"Thankyou, Bruce knows where to take them. But we have to beat them there. We have a few hours before the sun is meant to rise, but by the looks of it that won't be happening any time soon. We need to get to the alley you saw in your dream Buffy, as fast as we possibly can."
"Giles, we don't have long. You only told us about this yesterday, and all of us Slayers had a dream last night. That has to say something. This thing is huge, bigger than anything we've ever faced. And it's not good, so we need to act fast." She paused and looked around. "Where's our ride?"
"Another friend of mine is picking us up in a mini-van soon, and we're going to go straight to the hot spot." Giles confirmed. A mini-van pulled up next to them only moments later and before they could get wet, they piled inside the van and were driving off before even doing up their seatbelts.
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Alley behind the Hyperion Hotel, Los Angeles, later that morning
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Angel was on the ground, unconscious. He lay against a wall leaving Spike, Gunn and Illyria to continue the fight. Spike kept calling out to Angel, trying to wake him up but he was unsuccessful. He just kept praying that Angel would wake before he was dusted.
Illyria was a fighting machine. Through the storm, the thunder and lightning she kept kicking, punching and swinging her sword at anything that came her way.
Gunn was close to death. He struggled to stand, yet alone fight. Spike saw him go down, and tried to reach him.
"Gunn!" he shouted over the noise of all the demons. "Gunn, get up!" A demon towered over him, and as he looked up he realised that he was going to die.
"Looks like I'm the first to go…" He said, knowing that only he could hear himself over all the noise. He allowed the beast to pull him to his feet before throwing him across the alley and into the wire fence at least ten metres behind them. Spike's eyes followed him, and as he landed Spike saw on the other side of the fence a shocking number of civilians approaching.
What the hell are they doing? They're going to get killed! Spike thought to himself. He watched as Gunn struggled to move. Then he spun back around to continue fighting, because it was all there was left to do.
Illyria fought her hardest, managing to blow back an entire line of demons with one wave of her hand. Wesley had taken not all her powers.
Wesley. The name that kept replaying in her head. It was why she was still fighting; for him. He was the reason she had not given up hope that they would win, because she had to unleash the anger built up at the moment of his death. She was overcome with grief, human grief, but didn't let it stop her from doing what she knew had to be done.
Angel woke, and found himself lying against a wall beside a dumpster. He looked around to see Spike desperately trying to hold the demons off, and Illyria doing the same. He looked over to the wire fence to see Gunn lying still, with no demons around him, just lying there alone. He looked up, past Gunn to see a crowd of people on the other side of the fence.
"What the…?" he whispered. Then he saw a familiar face. Heading the crowd was Faith, and Angel instantly understood. The Slayers had come to help save the day, and Angel couldn't say that he wasn't glad about that.
Angel watched as the crowd moved closer, and he could faintly hear Faith shouting orders to the girls.
"Okay, this is it. Don't let your guard down, under any circumstances. Fight to your full potential and never let the enemy get the upper hand in a fight. Now, charge!" Faith led the girls towards the battle and as one they crashed down the fence and joined Angel, Spike, Illyria and Gunn in the tiny alley. Faith saw the familiar face of Gunn at her feet and quickly dragged his body to the side so the young Slayers could charge past.
"Gunn. Gunn!" she shouted at him as he lay in her arms. His eyes were closed, his body was limp and Faith couldn't tell if he was breathing because of the exhilaration of the moment. She put his arm over her shoulder and carried him to a broken door that she uneasily slid through and laid him on the floor. She began CPR, trying to resuscitate him.
Angel appeared at the door, using the doorframe to help him stand. He looked out at the army of young Slayers fighting, then turned back to watch Faith.
"Faith." He said softly. Faith spun around to see yet another familiar face.
"Angel." She looked back down to Gunn. "I... I don't think he's gonna make it." She added sadly.
"Come on." Angel made his way to the floor beside Gunn. "You breathe, I'll push." She continued CPR, and Angel slipped in a press of Gunn's chest every so often.
Gunn coughed and a little bit of rainwater came out of his mouth. He looked up to see Faith and Angel looking down at him. He ached, and struggled to keep breathing.
"I… can't." he choked out, spluttering from the water and blood in his throat. "Do… this." Angel tilted his head down in sympathy for his fallen comrade.
"Come on Gunn, what happened to the big strong guy I met last year?" Faith asked, trying to get him to push on.
"He got beat." Gunn coughed again then pulled his jacket open to reveal a nasty wound in his side.
"God, we gotta get you to a hospital." Faith murmured. "Angel, you got a cell phone?"
Angel fumbled around in his jacket pocket. He was surprised he still had the thing, and wasn't sure if it would even work because of all the water.
He stepped outside quickly, trying to keep the phone out of the rain. He dialled 911 and told an operator his location. "Bring backup." He said, saying that there was going to be a lot of injured people.
He returned to Faith who remained on the floor with Gunn and crouched beside them. "What did you tell them?" she asked.
'I explained Gunn's situation and that he needed medical attention fast, and then I said that a bunch of girls were attacked on the street and are also in need of medical attention." Angel explained, smirking slightly at what he thought was an ingenious idea.
"Good move, but is it wise to bring civilians into this?" Faith asked.
"We can't think about that right now. We just have to trust that they will be isolated from the fight and protected, because we need the medical help for the girls. By the way, thanks for coming."
"Nice to see you too Angel." Faith leant over and hugged him.
"How did you know to come here? All of you?" Gunn spoke up, struggling to hold himself up.
"Giles informed us of some weird stuff happening around here and then all the Slayers had a weird dream last night about a big fight going down. So, here we are to help." Faith explained.
"Well, it's good to see you again." Angel answered, smiling warmly. It didn't come across as he was planning, partly because of his bloodied and swollen face.
"Angel, did you want me to clean up some of your wounds?" Faith offered.
"'No, I really should be out there. I started this whole thing, now I've got to finish it. And as much as I regret saying this, you… you can't be here." Faith looked at him, puzzled. "You, the other Slayers and anyone else who came with you; you can't stay. You'll all die, because there is no other way out of this."
"Angel, what the heck are you talking about?" Faith asked. "And what do you mean you started this?"
"I started this Faith. This was my assault on the Circle and the only way out is us dying. I can't have you around here fighting, because you'll all die too. I appreciate you coming here and bringing them, but please, Faith, call the Slayers off."
"God Angel, what do you think I am, stupid?" Faith laughed. "You're not getting rid of us that easily. We're here to fight until we win."
"But you won't." Gunn wheezed.
"You won't win. We won't win." Angel continued. "We knew that when we entered this fight. When we started this fight."
Faith climbed to her feet and allowed Gunn to lie back on the ground. She took a few steps away from Angel, towards the door. The expression on her face was one of shock, disbelief and concern. "I don't know what's going on, but after the fight I'm gonna get some answers." She disappeared out the open doorway and into the night, off to join the fight.
Angel knew he should be out there fighting, and wanted to leave, but he was torn between staying with Gunn and leaving him alone to go out and fight. Fighting was what he did best, but one thing he'd also become good at was showing compassion towards others.
"Gunn." Angel called to his friend, seeing he was losing consciousness. "Gunn!" Angel could see that Gunn was losing the hope and will to hold on. "Come on Gunn, the ambulance won't be much longer."
Gunn looked up at Angel. "Don't worry 'bout me bro. You need to be out there." Angel looked down at Gunn, understanding what he was saying but still being torn between decisions. "Go!" Gunn ordered before he rested his head back on the ground.
Angel tried to move towards the door, but was also trying to hold himself back to stay with Gunn. He didn't want to leave, but at the same time he did. Another familiar face suddenly appeared at the door.
"Xander?" Angel said, surprised.
"Angel. Hi. Willow's performing a spell to close the portal, but you need to come out and fight."
"I can't, I've got to stay with Gunn." Angel replied, firmly making his decision.
"Buffy asked for you." Xander said softly. "I'll wait with him, you need to go." Xander knelt by Gunn's side and began observing his injuries. Angel sprung to his feet and rushed to the door. He stopped at the door and turned back.
"Gunn." Gunn lifted and turned his head to see Angel. "Thank you." He smiled and rested his head back down. Angel disappeared out the door and Xander and Gunn were left alone.
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Alley behind the Hyperion Hotel, Los Angeles, mid-morning
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The Slayers were fighting off more of the enemies than Angel and his friends had fought in all the time they'd been fighting. Angel looked up at a window, beaming out a bright shining light.
It must be Willow. He thought, smiling. He grabbed a fallen foe's sword and rejoined the battle. Even though he was weakened physically, he was still emotionally strong and had the will to push on. He just hoped Gunn could hold on until the ambulance arrived.
Angel still hadn't found Buffy or Faith, and was unsure if Illyria or Spike were still alive. Before he'd even had the chance to search properly for them or strike down a single enemy, he felt an earth-moving shudder that rocked him from side to side for several moments. A glimmer passed through the alley before disappearing, and Angel looked up at the sky. Everything evil in the alley had stopped moving and the Slayers looked up at the sky just like Angel.
The clouds began to dissipate and fold into each other, slowly disappearing. Without realising the time of day, Angel remained staring into the sky as blue appeared behind the clouds and rays of sun poked through. He was hit with a ray and quickly moved into a shaded part of the alley, where he found the body of someone he recognised. Spike.
The blonde vampire was lying on his side, facing the alley and resting against the side of a dumpster. He was unconscious, and Angel crouched down in front of his face. It was cut, bruised and bleeding. Angel tilted his head sideways so that he and Spike were looking eye to eye, and stayed still until Spike woke.
His eyes flickered open and he saw before him his grand-sire. "Ghah!" he cried in shock, coughing up blood. "Angel, bloody hell don't do that." He scowled. He looked around to find that it was day and that all the demons had gone. "What happened?"
"Willow." Angel replied.
"Will… what's she doing here?" Spike saw all the girls standing in the alley and finally put everything together. "The Slayers."
Angel helped him to his feet; an act of kindness that was hidden from the eyes of everyone else, and the two vampires made their way through the shadows to where everyone appeared to be gathering in the alley.
"Good fight girls," shouted a strong male voice. "There are three ambulances parked out on the street. If you need medical assistance, go now because we're heading back to the buses."
"Is that…?" Spike asked.
"Giles." Angel finished his question with the answer. Half of the girls headed in one direction towards the ambulances and the other half moved towards the buses parked at the other end of the alley. Left standing together were Giles, Faith, Andrew, Buffy and Willow. Xander had taken Gunn out to an ambulance where they headed off to the hospital, but Angel didn't know.
Angel and Spike remained in the shadows, and watched as Faith whispered something into Buffy's ear. She turned around to see the only two vampires she had ever loved and loathed. She, Faith, Giles, Andrew and Willow began walking towards them.
"Look at you two." Buffy commented, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "Are you alright?"
"I've been better." Angel replied. Spike stood, gaping mouth. "It's good to see you, though I would have liked it to have been under different circumstances."
Everyone looked at Spike. "Buffy I…" he began.
"It's alright Spike, Andrew told me that you were back. Took a while for me to believe it though." Spike looked at Andrew who was cowering behind Giles.
"So Buffy, uh… how have you been?" Spike asked, not sure what he should say.
"I've been pretty good. Busy, for sure, but good." And with that she stepped forward and gave Spike a hug. It was a tight hug, telling him that she'd missed him. She then proceeded to hug Angel before stepping back. "Do you wanna tell us what the hell is going on here?" Buffy asked.
"I promise you that I'll explain everything, but there are two things I need to do." Angel replied.
"'Hmm?" Buffy mumbled.
"I need to know where Gunn is."
"Oh, Xander's gone to the hospital with him." Willow answered his question. He just rang me on my cell phone. She smiled warmly in welcome, and Angel gladly returned it.
"What's the second thing?" Buffy asked.
"I need to get inside." Angel pointed to the sky, and everyone realised that the sun was actually out and that soon it would soon become dangerous for Spike and Angel because the shade was quickly disappearing.
"Where can we go?" Buffy asked. Angel looked over his shoulder and pointed to an opening between two halves of a brick wall.
"Through there is the old hotel. We can gather in there. Did you want to bring the Slayers in too?"
"Yeah, Andrew can you go and get them all and bring them into the hotel?" Buffy looked over to Andrew. "They could do with a rest before we head off again." He nodded and ran off in the other direction. Without another word, Angel and Spike pulled what was left of their coats over their heads and ran through the sunlight and into the hotel.
Once inside, they were protected and Angel left Spike's side and headed into his old office. He found that there was still a couch in the little room and plopped himself down on it with a grunt. Spike hobbled in after him, only just noticing a large wound on his upper thigh. He groaned as he sat down next to Angel.
"I still can't believe I'm alive." Spike said, turning to look at Angel. "I signed up to die, and I didn't."
"I know Spike. But let's not think about that right now." The others wandered in slowly, one by one. Buffy, Faith and Willow each found seats in the office and Giles stood at the doorway.
"So, what happened?" Buffy asked.
Angel sighed. "About a year ago, some big-wigs known as the Senior Partners gave us the keys to Wolfram and Hart. They told us that we could run it to how wee see fit. Over the past few months, I've been setting up this fight. First, I set up all the things that would lead to it. Lindsay being turned over to the Senior Partners, giving rights to demon clans so we could divide and conquer and even making my own team hate me and think I was dealing with the enemy. It all lead to this fight."
"But why?" Willow asked; confused after the information she received.
"Cordelia came to me and sent me a message, putting me back on track. Without her none of this would have happened."
"'Where is Cordelia?" Buffy asked. Angel looked away, almost in sadness. He only had a memory of her now.
"She's dead." He said simply. There was silence for a minute.
"I still don't understand why you did all of this, Angel." Willow spoke up. "And what does Cordelia have to do with it?"
"Cordelia showed me what I had to do. She could see that even from inside Wolfram and Hart, running it and making everything work; we really weren't doing much good. From a simple gesture she made to me, I understood exactly what I had to do. I was to set everything up for the end, then watch it fall."
"You burnt down the house while you were still inside." Giles tried suggesting a metaphor.
"Exactly." Angel answered. "Everything I've done these past two months has led to this day, this fight, this… win." The last word he said was in surprise. "All I planned to do was to show the Senior Partners that they don't own me, or any of us." He paused, looking to Spike beside him. "I showed them that they may be able to run the world, but they can't control it. We showed them that we can screw up everything for them." Angel stopped; a satisfied look on his face.
"Well, that's interesting." Giles commented. "All this time, I thought you were doing the bad stuff inside of Wolfram and Hart."
"Angel would never cross to the other side; he's not like that." Spike protested. "He told us a few days ago when we all signed up for be a part of this fight that we were still fighting the good fight…"
"It was just more important…" Giles finished, nodding. There was a long, awkward silence that was only broken by Angel speaking directly to Willow.
"Willow, thanks for closing the portal." He said respectfully. "You must be more powerful now than I ever imagined." Willow smiled and turned away, embarrassed.
"What was that portal from?" Faith asked, after spending the entire time listening and doing nothing more.
"'That was the Senior Partners' reaction to everything I did. It was what I was expecting would come, I planned it. They rained Hell on us, unleashing the worst of the worst to destroy us. But I feel satisfied now, knowing that we beat them. They tried to destroy us, but we won. Now they know that we're stronger than they thought when they handed us the keys to Wolfram and Hart, and that it was the biggest mistake they could have ever made."
"Do you want to run Wolfram and Hart Angel?" Giles asked.
"No." Angel replied, without hesitation. "I never did. I want to leave it all behind me. I have better things to live for now."
"So what now?' Buffy asked. "I mean, you don't want to run Wolfram and Hart anymore, you've won the biggest fight in your life, you've got all of us surrounding you and all your friends still with you."
"Not all my friends." Angel replied sadly.
"What are you talking about?" Buffy asked. Everyone listened in to see what Angel was going to say. They knew straight away that he meant someone had died.
"Fred is dead." Willow choked out a response and turned to Buffy's shoulder to cry on. Buffy knew she and Fred were friends; they were close and even emailed each other. "Wesley is dead."
"Wesley?" Buffy asked. "He's here? With you?"
"He was." Spike piped up.
"He's dead now Buffy, a demon named Vail killed him just before this battle began." Suddenly, Angel realised who was missing. "Where's Illyria?"
"Excuse me, what did you just say?" Giles asked, suddenly getting interested. "Illyria?"
"Yeah, she's a new member of our team."
"Actually an 'old' new member." Spike corrected him.
"I know who Illyria is." Giles snapped. "You say that she's alive?" Angel nodded. "How?"
Spike rolled his eyes, knowing the story off-by-heart by now. He sighed loudly, but tried to put it at tactfully as possible. "A sarcophagus came into Wolfram and Hart, Fred breathed in some ancient dust and Illyria took over her body and mind. There is no Fred left."
"We tried everything. Poor Fred…" Angel's voice trailed off as he looked to his feet. "I couldn't…"
"Illyria is a dangerous and deadly enemy, and you say she fought with you in this battle?" Giles said to Angel. He nodded.
Suddenly loud noises came from the lobby. Andrew and a crowd of Slayers came gushing into the hotel, and everyone in the little office headed straight out to see them.
Giles walked out last, and the pager in his trouser pockets began to beep. He pulled it out to see a message printed.
EMERGENCY. RETURN TO ENGLAND ASAP. JJ
"Buffy." He called ahead. "We have to go."
"What? Why?"
"Juliette just paged me. Something's wrong, we have to go." A second later, he received another page.
HELLMOUTH. COMPROMISED. LEAVE NOW. BRIEFING BACK HOME. JJ
"Buffy, I'm sorry but we have to leave. You can always come back once we sort out this new threat."
"What is 'this new threat' exactly? Where do we have to go so suddenly?"
"Juliet just said that there's an issue with a Hellmouth and that we have to leave now." He emphasised his point again. He knew that Buffy wanted to stay with Angel and Spike for a while longer, but both of them understood their place in the world and the role that they had to play.
Buffy sighed heavily and spoke to the crowd gathering noisily in the lobby. "We need to go." She shouted. Everyone looked at her, even Angel and Spike. "We need to leave here now. Everyone back to the buses, quickly and quietly. Go, now." She turned to Angel first.
"You have to go? Why?" he asked.
"I don't know. Giles got a page from England and we need to go, but I promise you that I will be back. I'll come as soon as I can, whenever we take care of this thing I'll return. I just want to be around you guys for a bit, that's all."
"That's understandable." Angel replied. "We'll wait." He smiled and hugged her goodbye. She moved on to Spike.
"Well, it's goodbye again luv." He said.
"Same to you Spike; I'll be back soon. I just want to get to talk to you both again." She smiled and hugged him before kissing him on the cheek. As she walked past Angel she gave him a peck on the cheek and waved to both of them.
They Slayers left, and Giles, Faith, Willow and Buffy headed after them. "Wait!" Angel called. "Willow, Faith, Buffy."
"What?" Faith answered for the three of them.
"Do you all have to go? I mean, can't the new Slayers take care of this?"
"Angel, we still have to lead them. It's our job as the original Slayers to teach them. We can't just abandon them." Faith objected.
"I don't mean it like that; I just mean that Buffy wants to stay here and there are other people to fight instead of you. Don't you just want to test them to see if they can take care of something on their own, in case either or you aren't around?" Angel suggested.
"Good point, but no." Buffy answered.
"Angel, we want to hang around as much as you want us to but we have a responsibility."
"But the responsibility isn't just yours now, it's everyone's." Spike reminded them.
"Guys, please…" Buffy begged. "Don't do this to us. Don't try and make us stay, we told you that we're coming back."
"I know, but we're down in numbers and the Senior Partners could strike back at any time with any amount of strength. What if we can't take it on our own?"
"Are you asking us to stay and protect you?" Buffy queried. Angel looked away in embarrassment.
"Angel, you can take care or yourself." Faith told him.
"But Gunn is in hospital, with Xander, and we've already lost Fred and Wesley. Illyria's still outside somewhere and Lorne left, but other than that it's just the two of us. You can't honestly say that you're going to leave us like this."
Angel was playing on the guilt trip. He knew that they'd break. It wasn't just that he wanted them to stick around; it was more that he actually did need the help that they could offer. He wanted somebody else to be around to offer protection if the Senior Partners did strike again, and Willow finally cracked.
"What harm can it do? They need to learn to be independent and fight on their own. Besides, I'm not much of a fighter." She walked back towards Spike and Angel. They smiled and greeted her warmly as she stood beside them.
"Thanks Willow." Angel said. Faith sighed loudly.
"God, you guys are so gonna wish you didn't want us staying here. I'll make your life Hell." She joked, walking back over after Willow. It was Buffy and Giles left standing at the door.
"Buffy, are you staying too?" Giles asked.
"I…" She began. She desperately wanted to stay, but she didn't know if she could leave the young Slayers on their own. "I'll be back." Keeping a straight face with no expression, she turned and left through the glass double-doors. Giles followed behind, waving his hand as a goodbye as he exited after Buffy.
As they headed down the alley to the buses waiting, Giles said one sentence to Buffy.
"You made the right choice."
"Don't even start Giles." She wasn't angry, but she wasn't entirely pleased with the decision she ended up making. She wanted to turn back and run in to her two ex-lovers, but she couldn't. She knew Giles would be disappointed in her, and she didn't want that.
Besides, she'd be back.
Author's Note: It may be a little long for some people, but keep in mind that one chapter is an entire "episode" in the equivalent of the show. Well, what do you think so far? I've got big plans for this season, some of which are ideas from Sam the Smuggler. To him I am eternally grateful. Ready for episode 2?
NEXT ON ANGEL, how does everyone cope after the battle? Faith and Willow have joined Angel, but will things work out?