What Now?
When Buffy and Angel walked into the library they saw Giles and Wesley sitting at the table drinking tea and having a conversation. When they realized Buffy and Angel's presence they looked confused. "Oh…hello Angel…what are you doing here?" Giles asked.
"I came through the sewers, I needed to talk to Buffy and figured she'd be here," Angel explained.
Giles nodded his head, "Oh right…of course. Well I suppose that I don't have to ask how things went with Angel last night."
A half smile appeared on Buffy's face, "He's going to stay…he just told me outside the library," she was still slightly unsure about the whole thing. "So there we go…My mission is complete…now how do I get back?"
Giles and Wes looked at each other with confusion. Wesley got up out of his chair, "Well that can't be right."
Buffy looked worried, "What can't be right? What's going on?"
"Well you see that's what I called you here for. Wesley and I believe we've found out how you got here and what you need to do to get back," Giles explained.
Buffy looked confused, this sounded like a good thing so why did Giles and Wes look like they were wigging? "Oook then, so what's the problem?"
Giles continued his explanation. "Well we believe that since you are the slayer and you have great power…you subconsciously brought yourself here. We believe that you were worried about something…wished something could be different and I supposed the higher powers felt that you needed to make this change that you felt needed to happen. As we talked about yesterday you believed it may have something to do with Angel leaving so the way you would get back to your time was to convince him to stay. The odd thing is…you've convinced him which means you should have gone back by now. When you've successfully changed what you needed to change you should have been sent back. I don't understand why it hasn't happened yet."
They all stood there for a moment looking confused when Xander walked in. He still had anger in his eyes. "I'm not going to let you ignore this Buffy. I called Willow, she's on her way here and when she gets here you're going to tell her the truth. You're going to tell her that what you told Giles wasn't true."
"Buffy what is he talking about?" Giles asked looking even more confused.
Buffy looked back at him. "He knows…Willow heard us talking and I guess she told Xander."
Giles's face turned white, "Oh good lord."
"Look Xander I'm sorry. Willow wasn't supposed to hear that…it's my fault…I shouldn't have even told Giles in the first place but I can't tell Willow that what she heard isn't true because first of all it is, and I don't like lying to my friends, and second of all she won't believe me anyway. She knows I would never lie about something like that so you're just going to have to get over this and deal," Buffy said as she turned around to try and continue her previous conversation. "So, what now Giles? I did what I needed to do and I'm not back so what now?"
Angel looked at Xander and then at Buffy, "What's going on? What is Xander talking about?"
"Don't worry about it," Buffy said sharply.
Buffy was about to continue talking to Giles when Xander interrupted. "You can ignore me all you want Buff but Willow's gonna be hear soon and if you don't tell her then we're gonna have some problems."
Buffy ignored him and continued to look at Giles. "Giles…tell me what's going on?"
Everyone was silent for a little while. Things were getting out of hand. Wesley and Angel had no idea what was going on between Xander and Buffy, Giles had no clue why Buffy was still in her past body after Angel had agreed to stay, Xander's face was turning beet red and he almost looked like he was about to explode, and Buffy was caught in the middle of everything just as confused as everyone else. Buffy looked at Giles getting extremely frustrated, "Giles?"
Giles just shock his head, "I…I don't know. It should have worked…you should have just been sent back…I…I don't understand. Perhaps Angel staying wasn't what you were sent back here to change. Perhaps it was something else. Do you remember what you were thinking about the night before you came here? Before you went to sleep?"
Buffy was silent. She thought about that night after she had checked on everyone who was sleeping. She thought about what was going through her mind that night.
She climbed into her bed and lay there for a while just thinking. She thought about all the potentials and how good they were doing. They were making such progress. But was it enough? Was her army of young potential slayers going to be enough to face the First Evil?
God she wished she didn't have to deal with this. The First was the biggest evil she had ever faced. No other evil being she faced had such perfect planning. None of the others thought to destroy the slayer line before actually going after Buffy herself. None of the others had thought to destroy the council. None of the others had done their homework on Buffy herself. She knew this was going to be a hard battle and the truth was she wasn't ready for it.
She missed Angel. Sure she was getting along better with Spike, and he was a great guy but Angel would always be the one man she would love forever. She wished that he would be there with her, that they could fight side by side like they had done in the past. She longed to be back in his arms, his comforting arms, where she knew she was safe. With that thought she had fallen asleep.
Just as Buffy had started to come out of her day dream of what she had thought that night, Willow walked into the library. When she walked in and saw that everyone was there, she panicked. She could see in Xander's face that he had told them what she knew. She tried to run out the door but Xander stopped her. "Will its ok. We're going to clear all of this up right now."
Buffy walked towards Willow. She looked so scared, so worried, Buffy felt horrible that she was going through this. She knew she never should have told Giles. Buffy didn't really know what to say but she gave it a try. "Will I am so sorry. I should never have said what I said to Giles. I didn't want you to find out like…I didn't want you to find out at all. I just…"
Xander interrupted again. "Stop it Buffy…will you just tell her the truth…tell her its not true cuz it can't be true."
Willow looked at Xander disappointed, she knew that Buffy would never lie about something like that and she knew that Xander knew it too. He was just trying to protect her. "Xander its ok," Willow said trying to smile.
Buffy tried to continue her explanation. "Look Will, it's really not as bad as it seems. I don't know how much you heard me tell Giles but you don't destroy the world," Buffy smiles at Xander, "Xander saves you. He brings you back to us. The magic took control of you because you were so upset about Tara. We knew you didn't mean any of it and after it all happened you got better. Giles takes you to England and you become a very powerful witch that works for the good side. You help me so much everyday."
Willow was still looking pretty upset but it was clear that this was helping her feel a little bit better. "Really?" she asked Buffy with a half smile.
Buffy smiled back at her and gave her a big hug, "Really."
When the two were done hugging Buffy turned back to Giles. "I think I know what happened. I think I know why I was sent here and I know what I need to do to get back."
