Chapter Twenty-One: Storms, Bad Hair, and Haircuts

A/N: This chapter was written by Willowzlilsecret.

A/N: Thanks to everyone that has reviewed so far-it's good to know that people still read. )

Willow was up early again and could hear her aunt and uncles arguing voices from her room. She crept down, torn between guilt from eavesdropping and curiosity.

She leaned against the edge of the door and listened.

"Well?" Jenny's voice came, more calm then before.

"We have a lead. He hasn't been seen lately, but we have tracked him a to a certain cell phone." Giles explained.

"What? Cell—who would be stupid enough?" Jenny asked disbelievingly.

"Well, apparently this man. He has made numerous threats using the same phone. And we should be able to make our move in the next week at least." Giles said in a reassuring tone. Willow sighed and crossed herself before going back to listening.

"I have to go now. Back to the-the library." Giles said and kissed Jenny on the cheek. Willow scrambled onto the couch next to Oz, barely staying on.

Both Giles and Jenny left the kitchen soon followed by the sound of the front door shutting and a car starting and the shower upstairs starting.

"Boo." Came Oz's voice from next to her. She was so startled that she jumped and would've fallen off had it not been for Oz quickly grabbing her and holding her close to him.

"Good morning." Willow said softly before kissing him softly on the lips. When she pulled away Oz raised an eyebrow and replied with,

"Love you." She smiled shyly before pulling Oz's cover's over her own body and snuggling against him.

He kissed her forehead and stroked her hair. He felt her breathing slow as she went back to sleep. He let a smiled creep on his face before resting his head on Willow's.

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Both of them were shaken awake two hours later by a frantic looking Buffy.

"What's going on?" Willow asked groggily.

"Hurry! Get up!" Buffy said, not answering. She grabbed Willow's arm and jerked her up.

"Oz come on!" she screamed. The rest of the gang were all running around the room grabbing random things such as pillows, blankets, flashlights, and batteries. Now that she was more awake, Willow noticed the sky was darker then usual and rain was splashing against the windows.

"Whats going on?" she repeated. Xander looked at her with wide-eyes.

"Hurricane." he said. Willow's eyes widened as she got up and began ushering the dogs up the stairs. Oz stood up and started down the stairs.

"Where the hell are you going?" Angel yelled. Oz shook his head and continued down.

The teens shook their heads, and continued grabbing things.

"We're up in Jenny and Giles' room." Willow called as she shut the door behind her.

"Has anyone seen Snoopy?" Buffy asked frantically as she searched under tables and chairs.

"No." Cordelia said in a high-pitched tone. Suddenly they heard Oz sloshing his way up the stairs carrying a wet crying dog. Snoopy. The group looked down the stairs to see that the house was flooded up to the second stair.

Willow grabbed Snoopy and rushed him up to the room. The rest of the group followed soon after, shutting the door and sealing it with random articles of clothing just in case.

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The dogs were all curled on the bathroom floor, Snoopy in the middle. He was still wet and shaking from the cold. Xander was holding Buffy in his arms. Cordelia and Dawn were curled up together on the bed. Angel and Connor were sitting on the floor playing cards. And Willow and Oz were sitting on the window seat looking out at the weather.

The sky was a sickly green and the ocean waves were huge. Every now and then the sky lit up with lightening and thunder cracked the silence. Rain spattered against the window so loudly that they could've been at a rock concert.

"Where's Darla?" Oz yelled over the rain.

"She left early this morning. Like 3 AM early. Also she called to say she got home ok, around like nine." Angel answered as he dealt a new hand of cards. There was a long silence.

"I can't believe there weren't any warnings or signs of a hurricane." Cordelia said over the pounding rain.

"There were!" Xander said as he stroked Buffy's hair. She was shivering and scared to death. No one really knew what was wrong with her.

"What are you talking about?" Dawn asked, also yelling.

"There were, but we ignored him due to the fact of rapist." Angel supported Xander's theory.

"Stupid rapist." Connor added before setting down his cards. "I win."

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By lunchtime the storm had passed and it was found that they had only gotten the edge of the hurricane, and barely had any damage.

The whole first story/basement was ruined and flooded, and the wood stairs were goners.

Luckily the kitchen and living room were ok. But the pool had flooded over onto the deck, so they had quite a bit of damage.

Soon as they got their electricity back, calls were made to Jenny, Giles, and Spike. As well as numerous calls from parents that had heard about the hurricane.

"Well, looks like we're inside all day." Xander observed.

"Well, its getting sunnier, we could probably do something." Buffy said, more calm.

"Don't take this the wrong way Buff, but if another one of these started up, I don't think you be in any shape to do anything." Xander replied not unkindly.

"Yeah Buffy. What went on up there?" Willow asked. Buffy shook her head.

"Well, I think it's a good idea, as long as we stay near to the house." Angel said, siding with his (hopefully) girlfriend-to-be.

"Ok." Dawn agreed, seeing that Buffy didn't want to discus it. She knew exactly what had happened to Buffy to make her that way. "Let's go."

The group all changed out of their pajamas and into bathing suits, shorts, and old flip-flops. Buffy made a quick call to Spike and told him that they were going to be around outside the house if he wanted to show up.

As soon as they got outside, the groups paired off. Xander and Connor, Willow and Oz, Buffy and Angel, Dawn and Cordelia.

The water was still a little more then ankle deep, and the girls had fun splashing around in it.

Buffy and Angel walked a ways towards town, just talking.

"So, really, what made you so afraid of hurricanes?" Angel asked.

"Nothing. I don't wanna talk about it." Buffy said. She skipped up a ways and kicked a little water at him.

He sighed before splashing her back.

" 'ell luv." came Spike's voice from behind her. Buffy spun around and saw him approaching. She squealed and ran into his arms.

Angel looked down and amused himself with some floating grass-the same color as Buffy's hair-trying to ignore Buffy and Spike.

Buffy wrapped her arms around Spike's neck, totally oblivious of the fact that Angel was even there. She felt his arms slip around her waist as he pulled her up. She kissed him lovingly and stroked his messy hair.

Angel cleared his throat loudly and Buffy dropped away from Spike.

"Oops. Sorry." she murmured.

"Let's see if we can find the rest of the gang." Angel suggested, not looking at either of them.

Spike shrugged and seized Buffy's hand. And so they walked Buffy and Spike hand in hand with Angel about a yard ahead of them.

The group approached Cordy and Dawn, who were splashing each other and running around wildly, screaming and laughing. Unfortunately, Angel, who was in the front, got splashed straight in the face.

'This is the worst day ever.' Angel decided as he wiped the muddy water off his face.

"Oops." Cordelia giggled before splashing Dawn again. Angel rolled his eyes before kicking an enormous amount of water at the two girls. The burst into harder laughter and Dawn ran up to him, throwing herself on him. He threw her over one shoulder, and Cordelia over the other.

Buffy fumed jealously behind him, watching him holding her best friend and sister. She must've tightened her grip on Spike's hand because he turned to her and asked what was wrong.

"Uhm, I…something slimy wrapped around my ankle. It was gross." Buffy lied. Spike picked her up and held her like a little child. She felt much better. She kissed him on the cheek before resting her head on his shoulder.

'This is just great. You love both of them. You should've known that you can't use people. Something always goes wrong. Someone figures it out or…or you fall in love.' she scolded herself.

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Soon the whole group was rounded up and they were back in the house, drying off, so on and so fourth. They all sat on the couch, but Spike pulled Buffy aside.

"Now, I know this probably isn't the best time but…how did you manage to get green hair?" he asked.

"Darla. She dyed it." Buffy said coldly. Off the look she had, Spike decided to leave it alone.

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The group had the ps2 set up in the living room and they were playing different games while eating ice cream, chips, and other random junk food items.

"Where's Darla?" Spike whispered to Willow. She shifted uncomfortably before explaining everything to him. He nodded and then tussled Buffy's hair before pulling her into a tight hug.

She smiled up at him before digging into the ice cream gallon she was sharing with Xander. Oz was battling Connor (as usual) and so far, no one was winning. Dawn was cheering on Connor and Willow was cheering on Oz.

All in all, the day wasn't that bad, seeing as how it had started out with a bad storm and a flood.

About half an hour later, Jenny arrived home carrying grocery bags. "A little help, please?"

All the guys jumped up to help her. She smiled at them but did a double-take when she saw Spike.

"William! Well, it's been so long!" She said, setting the rest of the bags on the floor and kissing him on either cheek. She bent down to pick up the bags but he stopped her.

"Don't worry 'bout it, I got it." he assured her as he picked up the bags.

"Ok, then, I'll just start on lunch!" Jenny smiled. She started to walk away, turned and looked at him, smiled, and went into the kitchen. The girls had cleaned up all their trash and tidied the family room before Jenny got a good look at it.

Oz and Connor were still battling it out, not taking their eyes off the TV screen. Soon the whole group had taken sides according to their favorite character.

"Come on kids, early dinner or late lunch, whatever you wanna call it." Jenny called from the kitchen.

"Hold on mom." Xander called over his shoulder, watching the TV screen intently.

"Ok, well it's going to get cold." Jenny warned.

"Ok." Xander answered. Moments later Oz won. Half the group jumped up in whoops in yells and the other half, not so much.

They all went into the kitchen and saw that they had hamburgers and chips for the late lunch/early dinner.

Giles arrived home and ate with them and Jenny came into the room. She mouthed something to him, but he shook his head 'no'

"Does anyone want to check out the damage down at the beach?" Connor suggested as he took his, Dawn's, Xander's, and Cordelia's dishes to the sink.

"Ooh! Isn't that dangerous?" Willow asked as she chewed her last bite of burger.

"Why would it be dangerous?" Dawn question as she grabbed the cups and put them in the sink.

"I don't know. I mean, it looked pretty scary earlier." Willow said softly.

"Looked scary. As in you saw it!" Giles exclaimed, taking off his glasses.

"Well yeah, there was a window." Willow said, raising an eyebrow.

"Why didn't you board up the window?" Giles said in a dangerously quiet tone.

"We didn't think of it. We were panicking." Xander defended her.

"Do you have any idea how dangerous that was?" Giles roared. Willow cowered back and Xander stood up, his chair flying back.

"It's not like we knew! We woke up and we look out and Buffy just yells 'It's a hurricane!' And we all scattered, waking people up and getting the dogs." Xander shot back.

"I-I know, I'm sorry. But do you know how worrisome it is?" Giles said wearily, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"S-s-sorry." Willow said quietly.

"So am I." Giles said before returning his glasses to his face. "I'm going downstairs to see the damage."

"I'm going to take another shower." Jenny said after running her fingers through her hair.

The group all looked at each other. Angel raised his eyebrows and started, "Well that was…"

"Bracing?" Buffy suggested.

"Yeah." Angel agreed.

"Well, I need to take a quick trip to the lou." Spike said and stood up. As soon as he walked out of the room, Buffy looked around.

"Who's Lou?" she asked, sounding utterly bewildered. The gang burst into laughter.

"Bathroom." Dawn managed.

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The gang just hung around the house for around two more hours before Spike had to leave.

As soon as the door shut behind him, Angel pulled Buffy off away from the group, into the bathroom.

"You didn't break up with him." he pointed out.

"Good job Captain States-the-Obvious." she replied, raising an eyebrow.

"Why not?" he asked.

"Cause I'm not sure yet." she answered and turned to go. He grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

"Can't you be sure? Can I make you sure?" he asked as he stroked her cheek. She didn't move closer or pull away. He leaned in slowly and kissed her.

She fought her hardest not to kiss back. 'No! It was your own words! No Angel until you break up with Spike! He'll think you're a hypocrite! What if I hurt his feelings? What if he gets mad at me? Oh god he's such a good kisser.'

She gave in and wrapped her arms around his neck, standing on tip-toe to kiss him. He held her tightly, afraid that if he let go, he would lose her.

She ran her fingers through his hair and felt him put one hand under her butt to hold her up. She was beginning to feel light-headed from lack of air. She finally pulled away, but didn't let go of him.

They were both breathing heavily, trying to catch their breath.

"We have to…" Buffy began, then nodded to the door.

"Not yet. Please." Angel begged, still holding her up. Buffy looked from him to the door, and back to him then grinned.

"You win." she smiled. He lifted her onto the counter in the bathroom and stood between her legs, kissing her.

"You…are…a…great…kisser." Buffy whispered between kisses. Angel felt a smile of pride cross his face as he moved from her lips down to her neck. She gasped and held him even more tightly.

'Well, she's better then Darla. "Oh my god. OHHH ANGEL! DO IT MORE!" It was like sex. With a dying cow. Why did I ever go out with her? She was such a…immature dying cow.' Angel said to himself. 'Why am I thinking about her while I'm making out with Buffy?'

Buffy was so close to falling off the edge of the counter, she was leaning so far into Angel. This vaguely reminded her of when she was at Spike's house, and he had a few unexpected guests so that anytime they wanted to kiss they'd have to go into the bathroom…

She shook her head and kissed Angel's cheek.

"We really do have to…and plus I want to take another shower and see if this dye comes out." Buffy said raising an eyebrow at Angel. He looked her up and down and she turned bright red and slapped him lightly on the shoulder.

"Out!" she said.

"Fine." he laughed.

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Buffy looked at her hair, very annoyed. It had a green tint so that it looked like she had spent too much time in a chlorine pool without showering. She sighed and pulled her hair into a pony-tail and put a base-ball cap on overtop.

The group finally went down to the beach to survey the damage.

"Well its not that bad." Willow raised an eyebrow. There were holes and heaps of sand, broken shells everywhere, clothing articles, and ripped tents littering the ground.

"I think they have some sort of clean-up crew. They should be here by tomorrow." Xander said.

"I vote we go back up to the house." Dawn said quietly.

"Agreed." Oz said, patting her shoulder.

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"So now what?" Buffy asked as she flopped down on the couch. Everyone was lounging around the living room with the stereo playing.

"Well, I have an idea." Cordelia said, raising an eyebrow.

"What's that?" Xander asked.

"Well, an idea is when—" Connor began.

"It's for the girls. We should go to a hair salon!" Cordelia exclaimed.

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The girls arrived at the salon just as the sky was beginning to get dark.

"What can I do for you girls? We're not crowded, so we can probably fit you all in." the lady behind the counter said. She was sucking on a large tootsie-pop that she took out of her mouth to talk.

"Well, I want my hair cut, shoulder length, please." Willow said, stepping forward.

"Ok, I'll get Meadow on that." she said and waved a middle aged blond over. Willow and the woman walked away and the lady turned back to them.

"I need this green dye out of my hair." Buffy said, pulling her hair out of the ponytail. The tootsie pop fell out of the woman's mouth and cracked on the floor.

"Ok. I'll do you. Wait here." she said, and looked expectantly at Dawn and Cordelia.

"I'm just gonna look around." Cordelia said and wandered towards the shampoos.

"I want highlights." Dawn said, flipping her hair over her shoulder.

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About an hour and a half later, the girls were all finished and paying up. Willow had the exact haircut she wanted, Buffy had a normal shade of blond hair coloring, and Dawn had a few subtle blond highlights streaking her hair.

When the girls got back to the house, it was totally dark.

"Do you think the guys would really just leave us like that?" Cordelia asked as she fumbled for her keys.

They got in and were greeted by the guys, all wearing nice clothes, and soft classical music.

Buffy's eyes immediately flew to Angel, who had his hair brushed back. She raised an eyebrow and held in a giggle.

"We decided to do something special." Xander explained as he put his arm around Cordy's waist. Every guy took his girlfriend and lead her upstairs. That left Buffy and Angel.

"Your hair." Buffy said, suppressing laughter. He rolled his eyes and put his arms around her waist.

"Wait." she said and put her fingers through his hair, mussing it around. "Much better."

She stood on tip-toes and kissing him softly. Then pulled away.

"Let's go."

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The whole group was exhausted by the days goings on and went to bed at around midnight, only half an hour after Giles and Jenny got home.