Willow, Wesley, Dawn, and Xander were still in the circle chanting. They had been at it for what seemed like hours. Every once in a while they would look over to the sleeping forms lying within the steel cage. They waited for some movement or sound that would indicate that their two warriors were waking. Dawn was starting to really worry, and after she fidgeted in her seat several minutes pondering all the things that could possibly go wrong she finally broke the silence in the room, "Shouldn't they be awake by now? Shouldn't we check to make sure Buffy is still breathing? I mean maybe she had a bad reaction to that drug, or maybe she's hurt."
Willow was starting to worry a little herself. She didn't want Dawn to know that though. She looked over to Buffy and Angel, then back to Dawn. With a small smile she tried to reassure her even though she had her own reservations about the two lying behind them, "We have to let them do this Dawnie, and it will take as much time as it takes. I can see Buffy's chest rise and fall, she is breathing. Lets give them a while longer before we try to bring them back ourselves, ok." Willow was trying to convince Dawn but also herself. This was taking way longer than she had expected.
Just as they settled again and resumed their chanting they heard something stir in the cage. It was Angel; he turned to his side and tried to wipe his eyes.
Angel felt as though he had been hit by a truck. His whole body ached and his eye lids felt very heavy. He finally sat up and opened his eyes to search for Buffy. She was lying next to him but when he moved her to see if she was awake she did not respond.
The group jumped up from the circle and ran to the cage grasping at the steel bars. Dawn yelled, "Oh god, he's awake. Angel, Angel… are you ok…..is Buffy? What happened?" She was frantic and she desperately wanted to run into the cage and check Buffy herself.
Angel reached over and pulled Buffy's body on to his lap. He knew she was alive, he could hear her heart beating. She was still deep asleep and he started to worry. They should have woken together. His mind began to roll over all the events that had just occurred and he felt the panic begin to rise.
"Wes, why is she still asleep? I'm awake, shouldn't she be?" Angel sounded panicked. Wesley ran over and grabbed the spell book and started thumbing quickly through the pages. He knew he had better find something fast. Willow walked over and joined in the search. Dawn continued to try and question Angel about the dream spell.
"Angel, did it work? Did you and Buffy make a deal with Angelus? What happened?" She was getting agitated with him because the more questions she asked the more he ignored her. "Hello, is anyone home? Maybe if you tell us what happened we can find out what to do to help her?"
He finally looked at Dawn and gave her a smile which scared her a little. "Ok Dawn, calm down, yes it worked. Did you have any doubt that your sister could do it? She knows me better than I know myself. She knew exactly what to do. Now we need to find out why she's not awake. Wesley, could it be the drug keeping her asleep?" Angel hoped that was enough for Dawn at the moment he didn't have time to play twenty questions. He was now looking to Wesley for answers. "Open the cage we need to get Buffy to a bed. This floor is cold and damp. She will be more comfortable in her own bed."
Wesley stopped reading and looked up at Angel with a brow raised. "I'm sorry Angel, but until we find out what is going on I can't let you out of there. I can't take the chance of letting you loose if you are Angelus. We have been in this situation before and someone died as a result if you remember correctly. We have no idea what occurred in your dream quest, and until Buffy wakes to confirm your story, you will have to stay were you are." Wesley stated this cautiously, he did not want to provoke the vampire but he didn't want to put everyone else in the hotel in danger in case it really was Angelus. "We will have Xander fetch some blankets for Buffy. Put her on the cot and we will get a portable heater down here to warm the area." Wesley then turned and told Xander where to find blankets and the heater.
Angel was agitated but could understand why Wes reacted this way. He remembered the last time he was in this cage and what happened when he escaped from it. If he were in Wesley's shoes, he wouldn't open the cage either. For the moment he only cared about helping Buffy. She seemed to be sleeping peacefully and he sat there smoothing her hair as he watched the rise and fall of her chest. He laid her on the cot and leaned down to whisper in her ear, "Wake up Ionin. I need you here with me now. I love you baby…….please wake up."
Angel then heard the door of the hotel open as the gang had returned from patrolling. "Xander, can you go upstairs and fill in Faith, she and the girls are back from patrol. She will want an update and I need her to come down here and help Wes with this drug thing. She is the only one who knows what the drug does and how she came out of it." Angel was asking Xander for help. A lot of things had changed over the past several years, one of which was he and Xander's so called relationship. He knew Xander would never really approve of him but they had reached a certain understanding. By no means were they friends but they were now allies and Xander had accepted the fact that Angel was going to be in their lives weather he liked it or not.
He gave Angel a nod then ran up the stairs to greet Faith. She was pacing the lobby even though they had only been back a few minutes. She had been thinking all night about the time she had taken the drug to help Angel. It was the weirdest thing she had ever experienced in her life. She wondered how Buffy was dealing with the same experience and she hoped that all this was worth it in the end.
"You're wearing a hole in the floor love. Try and think of something else for now. Hopefully the ponce hasn't bulloxed up the whole thing." Spike was trying to be supportive but was just as worried about Buffy as Faith was. "Sides, nothing we can do but wait it out ducks."
Faith stopped pacing long enough to give Spike an irritated glare. Just then Xander came bouncing up the steps and into the lobby. Connor spotted him and ran over to try and catch the update he knew was coming.
"Hey guys, how was patrol?" Xander was calm and collective as he reached the others. "Who cares you git, get to the news. What's going on down there?" Spike had no intentions of letting Xander side step the issues at hand.
"Ok, right to the nitty gritty then. The nut shell is Angel woke up, Buffy didn't. Faith, Angel wants you to try and help Wes with the details of your rabbit hole adventure. Hope they know what they are doing." Xander was getting very nervous, and the only way he knew how to escape the panic were his smart witty replies which annoyed Spike to no end.
"Right, that's my cue. Spike, can you and Connor keep an eye on the girls, I don't want them running off while we're out of commission. Tell Illyria to come down when she is finished with her patrol." Faith turned and went down the steps of the basement.
"Great, once again, everyone is helping and I'm stuck here babysitting with a grouchy vampire." Connor then turned and stomped off in the other direction. He figured he would search out a couple of the girls and train a little. Nothing like a good spar to get your mind off of things, hell anything was better than sitting around listening to Spike bitch about his father stealing Buffy away from him.
Wesley heard the door to the basement open and before Faith even reached the bottom of the stairs he began his borage of questions.
"Yes Faith, I am so pleased you joined us. Buffy has taken a smaller dose of the drug you once took but she has not wakened and Angel is somewhat concerned that there may be a problem. Can you remember what it was that brought you back?"
"Don't know Wes, when I was in Angel's little dream when he woke up so did I. I had this feeling he was in danger and I needed to get to him as soon as possible. Maybe B is just tired." She reached the bottom of the stairs and walked over to the bars looking in on her two friends.
"Maybe we are missing something; tell us exactly what happened right before you woke up. Something you said or did maybe. Anything you can think of." Willow was irritated and she snipped at Faith's casual attitude. She knew Faith didn't mean to be nonchalant it was her nature but it pissed Willow off nun the less.
"Well, there was fighting, at first I was fighting Angelus and then Angel stepped in to finish it. He gave me some words of wisdom like 'you can't stop fighting, it is never over' or some shit like that. I think maybe I was awake before him. It's all a little fuzzy though, can't remember the exact words, just the afterthought." Faith was sitting there looking very uncomfortable. She looked to Angel for confirmation that it was okay for her to be telling them anything about their time in his mind.
He looked at Faith and gave her a nod. Faith nodded back and turned to Wesley and began the whole tale. She filled him in quickly, making sure not to leave out anything.
Willow had heard all she needed to hear and grabbed a chair as she walked up to the door of the cage. She told Wes to open it and although he hesitated at first he saw the determination in her eyes and soon obliged. She walked in and sat the chair next to the cot Buffy was lying on. She saw Angel stiffen and he tightened his grip on Buffy's hand.
"Angel, just relax, I've done this before with Buffy before." She could see the fear in his eyes when she sat down next to a sleeping Buffy. "Please take my hand. I need someone powerful to anchor me. I am going to enter her mind and try to find out why she won't wake up."
Willow offered her hand to him and he took it. She picked up Buffy's other hand and began to chant. She closed her eyes, and Angel could feel the power emanating from her. He had his eyes glued to Buffy but when he felt the burst of power go thru his hand and into his body he looked at the red head in front of him and saw her hair turn a funny shade of gold and white.
When Willow opened her eyes again she found herself in a familiar alley. It was outside Angel's old apartment just down the street from the Bronze. She walked around and began to calling to her friend. She didn't see Buffy any were in sight so she headed to Angel's old place. She found Buffy lying in bed staring at the ceiling.
"Buffy, what are you doing here? We were so worried. Its time to go Angel is waiting." There was no response from Buffy and Willow became scared. What if something was wrong with her? She looked closer and saw her eyes blink and she let out a sigh of relief then began to question her friend again.
"Hello, earth to Buffy, did you hear me at all? I said its time to go Buff, the gang is getting really worried." Willow walked over and touched Buffy's hand. Buffy looked at her friend with swollen red eyes.
"What are you doing here Will? I was lying here waiting for Angel to come back. We were kissing in the alley and he just disappeared. Where is he?"
"Buffy, don't you remember? He was here, you helped him, and he woke up but your still here. Its time to go home Buffy, time to wake up now, time to start living your life with the one man you have always wanted to be with." Willow was trying to get her to remember. Why was she all of a sudden so confused? Maybe the drug was doing something to her.
"Will, isn't this all just a dream? The powers don't want happy champions; they want us to be miserable and alone. I'm afraid if I go back then this was just……… this…….. a dream. What happens if I go back and he doesn't want me or what if he really isn't cured? We have been apart for so long, I have been alone for so long….I just can't." Willow saw new tears streaming down her face and her heart broke at the sight. She had never seen Buffy so scared and it totally unnerved her. She needed to think of something fast, and something to get Buffy to snap out of this. This was Buffy and Angel's chance to be together really together and Willow was not going to let Buffy mess it up. She became determined to stop this now.
"Buffy, you've survived death twice, and in both of those lives you have always loved and wanted Angel. Now you both have a chance to be together and you want to loaf around here. Get out of that bed and I mean now mister! Do you know what I would do if I had your chance? I have loved two people in my life and I have lost them both. So now you have a chance to experience what I could only dream about. You have both fought so hard to get to this point, and I won't let you give up now. Now get your ass out of that bed and let's go!" Willow was now shouting at the top of her lungs. She could not fathom why Buffy would just lay there feeling sorry for herself when Angel was clearly out of his mind with worry. She grabbed Buffy's hand a pulled her from the bed causing both of them to go tumbling to the floor.
The next thing they knew Willow and Buffy both opened their eyes and were in the steel cage of the basement with Angel squeezing their hands so tight their fingers were going numb. He released Buffy's hand and pulled Willow across Buffy's body into a tight hug.
"Angel, air becoming an ………need to breath please." Willow tried to whisper out. He let go of her and turned to Buffy grabbing her in a hug and kissing her passionately.
Wesley decided it was as good a time as any to unlock the cage and let them out. Willow walked out and the rest of the gang watched the couple kiss until it got too intimate and they retreated feeling they were witnessing a little too much.
As they reached the lobby Faith rounded on the group, "Well, that was hot. So red, you found her wandering around in her mind or what?" Faith was asking Willow with that all too familiar smirk on her face.
"Kind of, she was worried that the dream was just a dream and she would wake up not having Angel cured. I can understand why she was afraid that it didn't work but she just pissed me off. She knows not to mess with the resolve face." Willow was now grinning from ear to ear.
"Yes, well now that we have helped Angel, and can see the spell worked out, I need to get back to my original goal. I trust you will assist me with this Willow." Wesley was glad everything worked out for Angel but he could not stop until he had Fred back. Willow could see the determination in his eyes and the sadness that they also held.
"You bet Wes, I am a little tired though. I think a good night's sleep will help my thinking process. In the morning Dawn and I will start on just that." She walked up the stairs to her room thinking about the events of the past few days and welcoming her calling pj's and pillow.
