AN: Here's the next part, I'll finally be nice and get back to B&A…

Back at Buffy's house…

In her old bedroom on 1630 Revello Drive, Buffy stood next to her bed holding a stake, very aware that she had nothing on.

"Buffy?" Angel repeated again.

This time, she forced herself to look into his eyes, torn up inside knowing the cold look she would find there.

But she didn't see what she was expecting. The eyes she looked into were those of her Angel.

"Angel?" She asked, "You...you didn't change.?!?..."

"No, and I don't feel like I will. It's different this time Buffy."

A thought suddenly crossed her mind, and her eyes teared up, "Angel, didn't I...didn't I make you ha.."

"Shhh...of course you did. I'm still happy. And even happier than last time, cause it doesn't feel like I'm going to lose my soul. I don't know why. I can just tell."

"Oh, Angel!" Buffy dropped the stake and launched herself into his arms. They hugged tightly, the came together in an earth-stopping kiss. She peppered his face with kisses, then just held him tightly, repeating, "Angel, my Angel."

This went on for several minutes, until finally he extracted himself from her. "Not to put a damper on this, but it's well after sunrise. You should probably check in with Giles."

"Yeah, yeah, okay." She kissed him again, then reached over to pick up her phone.

"And Buffy..."

"I'm not gonna say anything about this, don't worry. If Giles found out I endangered all our lives because I couldn't keep my hands off you he'd probably save Adam the trouble and kill me himself. I'll tell him after this is all over, then ask him how the hell this is possible."

Still grinning like a little kid, knowing she had Angel back forever now, she picked up the phone to call Giles.

Angel heard only her part of the conversation, but got the idea that the gang had formed a plan during the night. He started to get dressed, ready to head over to Giles's to see what would happen next.

Buffy hung up a moment later, "They've got a plan, big time. All I got out of it was it requires me and you four guys to march right into Adam's lair, which will be found with magick. All the girls will be involved in various spells to keep us safe and allow us to destroy Adam. Giles said they'd explain the rest of the details when we got there. So let's go." As she had been speaking, she had gotten dressed.

They left her house quickly, Angel covered up by his duster. Thankfully, they had thought last night to raise the hood on his black convertible. Looking out through carefully blacked windows, Angel began to drive for Giles house. Buffy curled up against his arm and stayed that way until they reached Giles.

When they got there, they went into the house hand in hand, waiting to hear the plan to defeat Adam.

"Are you sure all that's gonna work?" Buffy asked Anala after the witch had outlined the plan she had told to the Scoobies before Buffy & Angel arrived.

"It will work if everyone does their part." Anala replied. "If you and the guys can get into Adam's lair and stay alive until Buffy's close enough for Willow's spell to work, then we will win. Remember, Anya's protection spell can only work fully on one person, so that's gotta be Buffy. She cannot be harmed at all. The spell will affect the rest of you some, giving you more strength and making it so you can't die. But you can still be injured I'm afraid. And it won't work at all for Angel, there's no way this type of magick can be used on a vampire, I'm sorry." She looked at Angel, then at Buffy, as if she were really sorry. "If any part of this plan goes wrong, we will all end up dying."

"Well, that's really comforting." Xander said sarcastically.

"Do you have any better ideas?"

"Well..."

"Didn't think so. Now, is everyone ready?"

Buffy looked around at the gang. Giles, Wesley, Xander and Angel all stood ready with weapons, she also carried several. Anya knelt in the center of Giles's living room, going over the incantation she would need to chant and the actions she would use. Willow and Cordy stood hand in hand, already mentally linked by Anala's potion. Cordelia carried a bag with the extra spell material necessary, and Willow wore a talisman around her neck that Anala had charged.

"We're ready." Buffy said, and everyone nodded.

"Then let us begin. May Goddess and God be with us." Anala said. She then knelt down a few yards away from Anya. She began chanting a basic circle calling. When she had finished that, she called, "Hail to the North, West, South and East. Earth is my body. Water my blood. Air my breath. And Fire my spirit. Be with me now, Guardians of the Watchtowers. Hail to thee." As she had been calling the Quarters, she had lighted a candle at each point. She now lite a gold candle in the center of the circle. "I call to thee now; Apollo, the all-seeing sun God. As you see all creation, as you knew of Persephone's kidnapping, you know now what we need to know. Grant me your sight. Let me find what I seek. "

She began to chant louder then, using a language Buffy had never heard. "Este scris, aceasta putere este dreptul poporuil meu de a conduce... Translation: It is written, this power is my people's right to wield...

But Angel obviously had, for her looked at her sharply. "That's Romani."

"Yeah, so is the spell she gave Anya." Willow whispered.

Buffy suddenly got a strange feeling in her gut. She looked closely at Anala. It was obvious that the spell was taking a lot out of her, she looked so exhausted.

Suddenly, the area right around her began to shimmer and twist strangely.

"What's happening?" Everyone backed up a step.

"She...it looks like a glamour. I tried to cast one once, but..." Willow trailed off.

"It doesn't matter." Anala cut her off sharply, her face downcast so no one could see her. "It is working. Follow the trial to Adam. And hurry. Anya, begin."

The others looked at her a moment longer, but she wouldn't raise her head. Finally, they realized they were wasting time, and, as one, headed for the door.

As they left they heard Anya beginning to chant. "Thrice around and thrice repeat, all evil doth this ring defeat. Thrice around and thrice repeat, all evil doth this ring defeat. Thrice around and thrice repeat, all evil doth this ring defeat. As above, so below. This circle is sealed. Asa sa fie! Let it be so. I call upon the Guardian of the..."

As they marched off into the night, Wesley looked at Buffy. "How is the spell working? I don't..."

"I can feel it." Willow said. "Anala can sense Adam now, and her talisman lets me know what she feels. I can lead us right to him."

As much as Buffy disliked not taking point, she now had no choice. Willow took the lead position and began to lead them towards battle. Buffy and Angel followed her and Cordy, walking side by side. The other three guys brought up the rear. No one spoke. All were focusing on the coming battle.

All that is, except for Angel. He was still thinking about the girl who spoke the Romani's language and had disguised her appearance. He suddenly wondered who she really was and if they could really trust her. But then he also realized it didn't really matter. This was their last option.

Willow led them at a rapid pace, never changing from her course, never straying. She knew exactly where Adam was. Anala was showing her.

When they reached the caves several blocks away from town, she stopped suddenly. She pointed towards the largest one. "They're in there. They know we've found them. They're cooking up magick already, but I'm pretty sure ours is stronger."

Buffy nodded, then pointed to a smaller cave, it's entrance hidden from the other by brush. "You and Cordy go in there and set up. We'll give you two minutes, then we're going in. We can't afford to wait. As soon as I'm close enough to Adam, freeze him."

Willow nodded, then gave Buffy a quick hug. "Good luck."

"Don't need it. I've got the Power of Three, plus a few good men to back me up."

They both smiled a little, then quickly parted company.

They headed into the cave. Buffy gave them two minutes, using the time to check her weapons. The guys did the same. After time was up, she looked at them and nodded. "Let's do this."

Angel locked eyes with her for a moment, mouthing , "I love you."

"I love you." She mouthed back. "And I'm always your girl."

With that, she turned around and marched into the cave, her backup following her.

Willow quickly placed four different colored candles around her and Cordy to form a square, then faced the East one. She rapidly called the Quarters, then knelt facing North with Cordelia in front of her. Her hands were on Cordy's temples. "In this night and in the hour, I call upon an Ancient Power. O Goddess Bride and Consort Bright, I ask you now to bring your light. Let me see through the seer's eyes. Grant me your sight, O ye most wise." She then began to chant in Latin, a spell she had memorized long ago to give her Second Sight. Magnified as if was now by the Seer's eyes, she saw as Buffy and the others began to enter the cave.

This was the easy part. Even as she continued to chant the Latin part, watching Buffy's movements, she mentally went over the spell Anala had given her to freeze time. It was much harder than anything she had ever done. Well, except for the Ritual of Restoration, but that didn't really count since Jenny had helped her with that one. She only hoped she was capable of doing this one by herself.

Buffy slowly led the others into the cave, weapons raised and ready. They were going through a narrow tunnel. Then, abruptly, it opened up into a huge cavern. There they saw about a dozen vampires and a few dozen demons. In the far back was Adam, a witch kneeling to either side of him, both chanting.

As the group of five burst into the cavern, they were charged by demons. They fired crossbows into the first wave before they could reach them, killing five or six right off. The ones behind them met a similar fate.

Then the vampires came. There were too many this time, and the crossbows were lost. The hand to hand fighting began.

Suddenly, in the midst of staking a vamp, Buffy heard Angel yell. She looked up as the ashes in front of her cleared to see three vampires bearing down on him, one trying to turn his own stake against him.

She charged them, echoing words she had used two years ago. "You can attack me. You can send assassins after me, that's fine...But NOBODY messes with MY boyfriend!!!" She yelled as she began to pummel the vamps. She was greatly outnumbered as two more charged in and it was now five against one. She was unarmed, having lost her stake in a previous struggle. She was also alone and outnumbered. She was tired from the strain of the day. But she was royally pissed that they had dared to touch Angel. And the spell Anya was working kept them from being able to hurt her. In other works, pity the poor vampires. All five of them were on the ground in a moment, and Angel tossed Buffy a stake. She did all five in a rapid succession. She was everywhere, helping her friends where it was needed, tossing out weapons, encouragement, and little puns. She was unstoppable, even more so than usual. And she was loving it.

Willow watched the fight with joy. Almost all the demons and vampires were gone. The few that were left, the Scooby gang was taking care of.

Buffy now approached Adam, who had been watching with disgust. "I told you to stop them!" He yelled to his demons. "Do I have to do it myself?"

"Try it!" Buffy yelled to him.

All of a sudden, a body came flying past her from out of nowhere. "I'll kill you!!!"

She looked on in shock as Riley charged Adam like a madman, "I'll show her who's the best man! I'll kill you like she said I couldn't."

He had quite clearly lost it, Willow noticed at one.

As he charged Adam, the two witches at his side looked up. Both focused their eyes on Riley for a moment, then whipped their heads toward the side. His body flew like lightning towards a large stalagmite on the floor, impaling him where-the-sun-don't-shine. He screamed in agony, laying on the floor bleeding. No one moved to help him, everyone was too busy.

But Willow didn't even notice. She had lost it also. For one of the two witches sitting at Adam's side was Tara.

Next part out soon…

AN: I'll apologize to Tara fans out there for this one, I actually loved her as well. But this was written right as her and Willow got together, and I thought it would be cool to have her turn out to be a bad guy. I thought it was a Joss-worthy twist.