Feedback: Pretty please with a cherry on top! Feedback and criticism (but only constructive) is welcomed and appreciated.
Disclaimer: None of it's mine except Chuck and Lucille, Commissioner Newtown, Jonah, Ulrich, Doctor Muerte and Helena Daley. If it were, Angel wouldn't have left Buffy in the first place. This is therapy for me.
Pairing: B/A, minor use of other ships e.g. W/O, S/F
Summary: AU. The whole gang are werewolves.
Author's note: Here's one of the final chapters in this story, hope you like it and don't forget to leave a review :)
-#-#-
Dr Muerte barely raised an eyebrow at seeing the soon-to-be master vampire walk into the waiting room where the Clan had gathered, led by Angel, and followed warily by Oz, Gunn and Wesley. Giles looked up from where he'd had his head in his hands and sniffed the air, then glared at Angel.
"He's dead," he stated.
"Yes," said Angel. "But he's the only chance Buffy's got." Giles nodded, and though he may not have liked the idea of a vampire being even in the same room as the woman he'd come to care for as a daughter, he would accept it if it could help her.
"Well, now you've talked about me as though I'm not present may we begin?" The vampire's eyes flashed their darkly beautiful, golden colour in irritation.
"Of course," said the doctor. "I'll need you Angel, Willow and Tara, is it?" She turned to the pale young woman, who was sitting shyly in a corner, clutching Doyle's hand. She shared a look with her mate but got up anyway.
"And of course, yourself," she said motioning at Ulrich. "If you'd like to follow me."
She led the four of them to the room where Buffy was, and quietly pushed open the door. Buffy looked pathetically small lying in the hospital bed, covers tucked around her. Her face was pale and her hair was scorched from the explosion. Angel's eyes moved towards her blanket-covered legs, knowing they were swathed in bandages, covering the inflamed tissue surrounding the broken bones. Feeling his beast rise, he barely managed to tamp down a growl, but knew from the look Ulrich shot him that the vampire could sense his rising anger.
"Now," said Doctor Muerte. "I need Tara and Willow to stand either side of Buffy and hold hands over her. Then I need Angel and Ulrich to each take one of Buffy's hands." The quartet sent curious glances over at the doctor but obeyed her instructions.
"Tara, Willow," she said, "I need you to cast a spell for me. Do you know the Sanctus Corpus spell?" Both witches nodded a little hesitantly. Tara spoke up.
"That spell is extremely hard and I…"
Doctor Muerte shook her head, dismissing any misgivings with a wave of her hand.
"You're both capable of doing it and with your combined powers things should go just fine. You know what to do. I have to leave now if the spell is to work properly." She smiled reassuringly at Tara's concerned face. "Don't worry. Have faith."
-#-#-
"O spiritus sanctus, corpus sanctus, those who we invoke hear our plea.
We seek entry to meet with the spirit who guards the body
From trespass great and who now holds judgement over the form
To shield from all harm. We seek entry.
We seek entry to meet with the spirit who guards over the mind
From twisting perversion and who now protects the psyche
To guard from danger. We seek entry.
Speak with those now whom we send.
O spiritus sanctus, corpus sanctus, those who we invoke hear our plea."
The witches' voices rang around the room and then there was only silence.
Angel cracked open an eye. Had it not worked?
Suddenly a bright ball of light seemed to rise up out of Buffy's still body and hover over her chest, pulsing with a warm, white glow. Then without warning it suddenly split and sunk into the two men's chests.
Angel was filled with sudden warmness for a second and then he blacked out.
-#-#-
When he woke up he was sitting in a large, white room. There were no doors or windows, so perhaps it was more accurately termed a white cell. Ulrich was still unconscious next to him and he roughly shook the vampire, who blinked lazily and then turned his head and looked at Angel.
"It worked then?" Angel shrugged.
"I think so. If it did then this should be Buffy's mind." He frowned at the white, bare room. "Or at least some part of it."
Ulrich stood up. "It's not really what I was expecting," he said, forehead creased. "I'd expected it to be more…I don't know, animated perhaps."
There was a small laugh from across the room. Angel's head whipped round so fast he thought he might have whiplash. Buffy was sitting Buddha style on a table that had materialised from nowhere. She was smiling and Angel thought he'd never seen anything more beautiful in his life. He made to move towards her.
"Buffy, I…"
She stopped laughing abruptly and raised her hands, her features twisting into one of anger. He found he couldn't move and from the corner of his eye he could see Ulrich was also similarly frozen in place.
"What are you doing here?" She demanded. "For what purpose do you come into my presence?"
Okay, so maybe it wasn't Buffy after all.
What had Willow said to them before they'd started? That it was Buffy's spirit they would be talking to. It seemed as though a person was split into three things. Mind, body and spirit. And when Buffy had been tortured and practically raped, her spirit had decided that to keep her body safe, it would also protect her mind by keeping her in a self-induced coma.
Ulrich spoke the words now to ask permission to speak to Buffy.
"We seek to meet with Buffy and bring her back to the world in which she sleeps," he said respectfully to her spirit. It smiled sadly and released the hold on the two men.
"You care for her greatly", she said. "I will let you speak with her."
Angel and Ulrich shared a look of relief, which died at her next words.
"But I warn you now, Buffy is much happier here, inside herself. Anything you see is created from her mind, memories and her emotions, and remember that if she does not want to see you then you will be ejected from this place."
There was another flash of light and Angel was momentarily blinded; when he could see again he found Ulrich was gone and that he was in the garden of the Hyperion. It was a beautiful sunny day and Angel found himself gazing at the other figure in the garden, who was sitting on a blanket in the shade of one of the willow trees they'd had planted that year.
"Buffy?" He called out gently. His wife turned her head and smiled at him.
"Angel," she greeted warmly. "Come and sit down."
She patted the space next to her and he walked over, noticing his shoes were missing and the grass was cool and tickling his feet. He placed himself next to her and reached out and touched her cheek with the back of hand, marvelling at how well she looked, how different compared to the body laying back at the hospital.
"Angel," she laughed. "You look as though you haven't seen me for months."
Angel smiled but it didn't reach his eyes and he moved his head closer to hers, capturing her lips and memorising the taste he'd been deprived of, darting his tongue out to dip into her mouth, savouring the sweetness of the kiss, and deepening it, crushing her mouth between his, as he wrapped his arms around her body, pulling her onto his lap.
"Eew, kisses! Mommy and Daddy are kissing, Uncle Spike!" Squealed a five year old Conner, as he stood in the entrance to the garden. Buffy drew back grinning and turned her head towards the little boy, who was now joined by an amused werewolf who grabbed the youngster and swung him up on his shoulders.
"Disgusting, isn't it squirt?" He said. "But I reckon we ought to leave 'em to it huh? That's just what grown-ups do." Conner wrinkled his nose.
"Is that what you and Auntie Faith do too?" He asked curiously.
Spike squirmed and the couple on the lawn laughed. He glared at them and turned to go inside, avoiding the child's question by ignoring it, knowing he would have already forgotten about the subject in ten minutes, when he found something more interesting to do. The duo disappeared inside but the werewolves' sharp hearing picked up Conner's petulant statement.
"I don't want kisses, girls are icky. I don't want to grow up!"
Angel smiled at his son's adamance and then turned back to Buffy who was gazing wistfully at the sky.
"It's nice here," she murmured and glanced at Angel, who was watching her concernedly. He laced his fingers with hers and gripped them tightly, knowing he had to convince her otherwise.
"Buffy love, you have to go back, I…"
But she'd disappeared and the scenery had changed again. He found himself lying on the beach, the sun beating down on him as he lay on a beach towel, watching his children eat their lunch in what little shade was provided by a large brolly. Buffy was rummaging around a large cooler, looking for something.
"Angel, where'd you put the…oh nope, it's okay I've found them," she said, triumphantly emerging with plastic cups and twisted the top on the bottle of chilled orange squash, which lay next to her.
There was a sudden cry from Dawn, who screwed her face up and started crying as Conner stuck his tongue out at his sister, and began innocently picking the crust off from around his bread.
"Mommy!" She wailed. "Conner's dropped my sandwich in the sand and he won't say sorry."
"Liar!" He yelled and dropped his bread on the sand before racing towards the sea. Dawn chased after him, waving her spade around in the air like a sword shouting her brother's name angrily as she tried to hit him.
"Dawn! Connor!" Yelled their mother but they ignored her and began to throw sand at each other. She sighed and turned to Angel who was smiling bemusedly.
"Can't we have one holiday where those two don't argue?"
He laughed and helped her pick up the discarded food and put it in the rubbish bag they'd brought with them and then back into the cool bag.
"They're siblings, what else do you expect?" Buffy smiled and then impulsively grabbed Angel's hand, pulling him towards the sea. His eyes widened and he tried to dig his heels into the soft sand.
"No way, forget it Buffy." She merely smirked and gave him a sharp tug, using her unnatural strength to help drag her unwilling mate towards the water.
"Stop being a baby," she mocked. "It's only a little bit of water."
"But my hair," he whined playfully. "It's going to get totally ruined."
"You're such a woman."
"I'm not."
"Are too."
"Not."
"Are."
"Not."
"Are…Angel put me down! No…don't even think about it…NO! Angel!"
But it was too late and he'd already dumped her in the salt water.
He hastily back peddled as his irate wife rose from the water like an avenging water goddess. The effect would have been better if it hadn't been spoiled by the seaweed clinging to Buffy's head and face. She parted the green strands like a curtain and glared at him, her eyes narrowed to slits.
"You are so gonna die mister!" She called, picking the plant off her hair and tossing it at him.
He nimbly dodged out of the way and began running over the relatively empty beach, glad they'd chosen to go to a parallel universe for their annual summer holiday; the only other people on the beach were an elderly pair of Spider demons and a mermaid, who was giving them a dirty look from where she lay sunning herself in the rock pools.
"Gotta catch me first!" He yelled back.
Connor and Dawn, who by this time had gotton past their grievances and had begun to build a sandcastle, were watching their parents in faint disgust.
"They're so embarrassing," muttered Connor. His sister nodded and patted a bit of wet sand onto the castle wall.
"Grown-ups," she shuddered and pressed a shell into the front of the castle. She paused and stood back a little to admire her handiwork. "It's pretty!" She cried, her mind already wondering onto another track. "Fairy castle!"
Connor rolled his eyes. "Is not! You're such a girl!"
Dawn stuck her tongue out at him. "You smell," she said and grabbed a handful of seaweed from by her feet and dangled it in front of him. Her twin's eyes widened and he shrieked and backed away. She giggled and waved it in front of him, laughing as he ran towards Angel and Buffy. She ran after him swinging the seaweed wildly.
"Conner's scared of the seaweed," she sang as he ran and hid behind Angel, who was pulling on his T-shirt. Their parents had finally tired themselves out it seemed and were now getting dressed again.
"Are we leaving?" Moaned Dawn.
"Sorry Dawnie," said her mother. "But if we're going to go before the tide comes in fully we need to go now."
"No," she stomped her foot and screwed her face up. "I don't wanna go!"
"Neither do I," said Buffy; but before Angel could say anything the world changed once again and he found himself back in the white room. Ulrich was glaring at him.
"What are you doing?" Asked the vampire crossly. "You're supposed to be bringing her back not playing 'lets-relive-the-memories'."
Angel rubbed his face frustratedly. "It's hard," he said trying to explain. "It's like it's real, and you forget anything about reality and this just being a memory. It's a struggle trying to remember what you were trying to convince her to do in the first place."
Ulrich nodded. "It's a defence mechanism of Buffy's mind, so that you forget that you came to convince her to leave. She's trying to protect herself."
Angel growled. "And where were you?"
Ulrich shrugged his shoulders, the gesture seeming out of place on the normally graceful vampire.
"I'm not present in the memories you've just relived. For myself to be present you need to get her to remember being held in the compound. Until then there's nothing I can do. It's up to you and Buffy now."
-#-#-
Back in the hospital waiting room, most of the pack had fallen asleep.
It had been seven hours since Angel, Ulrich, Tara and Willow had gone into Buffy's room and not once had they emerged. Exhausted by the events of the day the werewolves had succumbed to slumber reluctantly, the only ones still awake being Conner, Spike and Faith. Even Dawn had finally given in, dozing against her Uncle's shoulder. Those who were still up had clustered in one corner of the room, sprawled out on the floor, having shunned the hard, beige plastic chairs for the coolness of the tiled floor.
Faith was flipping idly through an outdated Hello magazine, lips curled in faint disgust at what some of the so-called 'celebrities' were wearing, knowing she would never part with her black leather trousers even if they weren't in vogue at the moment. Spike had filched a pack of cards from the children's ward and he and Conner were now playing Poker, betting with Spike's precious cigarettes. The beta werewolf was dying for a smoke but there being an unfortunate no smoking policy in the hospital, and with his reluctance to leave to go outside to light up, lest Buffy wake up and he wasn't there, he'd been unwillingly forced to go cold turkey.
Conner stretched his legs, trying to shake off the pins and needles that now plagued him. Putting down his hand he smirked triumphantly at Spike's curse of frustration and scooped up his pile of cigarettes, knowing he'd sell them back to Spike later, for a large profit of course.
Spike tossed his cards down in disgust. Three queens, an ace, and a seven and the kid had still beaten him with three kings. Though he suspected that when Conner had said he didn't know how to play he had been lying, he couldn't prove anything. It had started with 'beginners luck'. Now he thought it was more like 'cheater's knowledge.'
He was just about to demand that the kid roll up his sleeves when Doctor Muerte popped her head around the door. Spike searched for any hint on her features that would be able to tell him what sort of news they would be getting but her expression was blank. She could have been a good Vegas card player.
"Well?" He demanded anxiously. There was a pause and then the doctor broke into a smile.
"It's good news," she said. "She's awake."
-#-#-
Thanks to all of my reviewers! Wow, I've gotton over the 100 reviews mark! Yippee! You guys are so GREAT! My aim is now to reach 150 reviews at least by the end :)
PLEASE REVIEW THIS STORY!
Please continue to write your support, ideas and general comments, they really are appreciated.
Thanks to those people who did review this story, your efforts are appreciated.
Regan: Sorry about the long wait, here's your next update and thanks so much for reviewing!
Cathy: It's nice to hear from new people, hope you keep reading now that you've found it, there isn't much left but hopefully it's all good. lol.
General Mac: I liked your review. lol. Short and to the point. But thanks for doing it, cos I know then that one more person is reading what I write.
Wackycavegirl: Perhaps I didn't make this v. clear. I put in 'character death' so that you would think Xander was dead, but then I revealed in the next chapter that he was alive. It was just a ploy to help with the unexpected twist. Hope you aren't too confused. Sorry the update wasn't sooner. And you gave me two reviews for one chapter, though the last one was a well-deserved nag. Thanks ; )
Lis: Thank you for your lovely comment. Yeah I like Xander too much to kill him off and it wouldn't have added anything to the story except compound Buffy's grief.
Ellie C: You said that you hoped it didn't take this long for the next chapter to come out. Sorry! (Blushes sheepishly).
Backlash: No there isn't a prequel though I would gladly do one if anyone were interested in them. Review and tell me what you think.
Mickeyblueeyes: Yeah I understand what you say about Xander and I completelyagree. Something interesting with Ulrich will be happening and I'm glad you recognise Helena's intense need for retribution. Let's just say at the moment there are lots of different endings this story could have and I'm working through the possibilities as we speak. As you already know this story is ending soon, I'm not so sure about a sequel but I wouldn't mind doing prequels or something similar.
Tina: I agree that Buffy should kill the scientist but sadly that's not how it's going to play out. And what do you mean Angel should kill 'the vampire'? Ulrich is my baby- you can't kill him off! Besides he's got a rather interesting role to play in the last few chapters.
Sam: Thank you for your complimentary review. It may have been one word long but it made me feel really good. : )
Stephanie: Well someone fell for my plot twist. Thanks for that. lol. Glad you like it, keep reading and reviewing.
Charmedslayers: Thanks for saying that. You made me feel all happy inside.