Buffy Big Brother - Day 6 - Morning

Its almost the end of the second week in the Buffy Big Brother House the group are all getting to know one another better and the new and existing relationships have changed from friendship to more intimate footings.

Angel is seen by the Big Brother cameras looking for something in the bathroom, Buffy is looking for Angel, Giles is in the Diary Room debating the many differences between good old fashioned text and cyber text with the female Big Brother (Jenny as she's asked him to call her), the others are discussing the new arrival Kendra, also a Slayer, (much to Buffys visable disgust) and Spike is recovering from his unfortunate accident with the top of Cordelias French Bikini and an uneaten Sherry Trifle, Xanders remark of "Who'd have known there was enough material in that piece of string and two band-aids to disable the famous William the Bloody - think of what she could achieve with actual clothes" is met with a swift smack to the solar plexus from Cordy who informs the housemates with her usual air of complete superiority that as "The only one among you feebs who has both disabled and dispatched two of the most feared vampires in recent history, I'm thinking I should get some status out of this - (with a pointed glance at Buff and Kendra) after all its not like I'm blessed with superhuman reflexes and strength, I'm just... me, oh well guess it's more than good enough, see some people really are lucky enough to have it all... like me." she grins, safe in the knowledge that her looks, money and "inordinately good fashion sense" will see her through any situation

The new housemate Kendra also seems unimpressed with Cordelias imagined prowess as a Vampire Slayer which is fine with Cordy as she, on the whole, is quite unimpressed with Kendra "what do you mean you have no luggage, just because you live in a grass hut on the wrong side of the Bahamas is no excuse for that "beach dwelling, I live nowhere near a decent Neiman Marcus, reject ensemble."

Cordelia is saved from being on the receiving end of Kendras aptly named stake "Mr Pointy" by both the Sanctuary Spell and the arrival of Spike and Drusilla - again Kendra is on the receiving end of the Sanctuary Spell when taken aback by yet more vampires in the house tries to Slay them too. Drusilla takes an immediate and obvious dislike to the new Slayer which manifests itself in Dru twisting Miss Ediths head the wrong way round so Kendra can't see the dolls face.

Angel finally appears much to Buffys delight, who runs over to greet him with a kiss, she is visibly puzzled and hurt when he appears to brush off her attentions before heading over to join Spike and Drusilla, both of whom are surprised, (and happy), at the turn of events. Buffy turns to talk to Willow and Xander, who are just as shocked as Buffy at the way Angel has just acted especially as Xander has also noticed that Angel seems different somehow "he kinda looks like he's wearing make-up - geez that guy'll do anything for the female vote." he flinches as Willow digs him in the ribs, noticing that Buffy is almost crying while looking over at Angel as he laughs and jokes with Spike and Drusilla, she is about to say something to Buffy when...

This is Big Brother, Buffy please come to the Diary Room immediately and the rest of you please return to your bedrooms and stay there until Big Brother advises you you may leave... (Spike is opening his mouth the protest when Big Brother adds an extra comment) - NO arguments, remember our Portal to Hell still needs a test subject.

Spike shuts his mouth, Buffy heads to join Giles who is still in the Diary Room and the rest of the housemates return to their respective bedrooms - all are shocked when Angel heads in to Spike and Drusillas room instead of the room he shares with Xander, Oz and Giles.

Buffy Big Brother - Week 2 - Day 6 (afternoon)

Buffy sat down in the Diary Room chair, her mind ablaze, her certainties of only a few hours before swept away. The last thing she remembered the night before was falling asleep curled up in Angel's arms. Though strength coursed through her that was the equal - and more - of her lover, she had felt a primordial comfort at being encircled in his embrace, letting an exhausted consciousness slip into the most contented sleep she had ever known. After all, there had been a damn good reason for her fatigue...
And then, barely five minutes ago...
----
"Angel!"
He turned to face her, that old smile haunting his lips. "Buffy," he greeted her in return. "Good to see ya."
She kissed him full on the lips, the passion of the previous night still lingering in her system (feelings she reckoned had a half-life of, oh, forever).
He returned her gesture, and she felt the first trickle of doubt gestate. Slowly, but with increasing unease, she realised that he wasn't kissing her.
He was kissing her back.
She broke the contact, her hands still clasped possessively around his neck. He stared down at her and she felt her brows knit in puzzlement - was it just her, or was he somehow different looking?
"You look pale," she blurted out before she could stop herself, knowing full well it was an absurd thing to say to a vampire but knowing also that it was the right thing to say. Angel was never going to be voted Mr Coppertone anytime soon, but today he looked downright anaemic.
"Must be all the being dead thing, champ," Angel told her, waggling his eyebrows patronisingly. He delicately, but no less definitely, removed her hands from around his neck. His eyes flitted behind her, his attention diverted to something else for a second. To - Buffy glanced for a moment where his gaze had landed - to Drusilla?
"Is something wrong?" she said, that trickle of a few moments ago gaining speed and volume with each passing heartbeat. It wasn't the best metaphor for their relationship, she reflected, since they had only one heartbeat to share between them. Before, she'd considered it romantic - they shared rhythm gave them life.
Now...now she was abruptly reminded of the fact that only one of their two hearts actually did the work.
Angel allowed a flash of...something...to pass across his face, before visibly composing his expression into something diplomatic. "Nothing."
Buffy took a step back, feeling the bottom fall out of her world. "It's last night," she said. It was not phrased as a question.
Angel waved a hand. "Forget it, slugger, kay? Let me grab somethin to drink here - I'm parched." He winked at her. There was not one trace of lightness in the gesture. "You know what it's like...having to survive on scraps."
Buffy blocked his path as he attempted to brush past her. She was fighting back tears and not entirely succeeding in doing so, watching in disbelief as he rolled his eyes impatiently. "What now?"
"What now?" Buffy croaked back at him. "Forget it? I can't forget it, Angel. We shared something last night that - that I thought...you said that...why, why are you acting like this?"
And a thought struck her then, one so horrific that her efforts to contain her shock lapsed, and a tear rolled unbound down her cheek. "Was it...me?"
Angel grinned widely. "You!" he repeated incredulously. "No, hun, it wasn't you at all. It was me - I went into this expecting one thing and I got another. You shouldn't expect a gourmet meal from a drive-thru attendant, should you?"
With that, he tried again to move past her, and this time was met with no resistance; Buffy at that moment couldn't have stopped a breeze. He paused, however, a step or two later, and she thought it's all over, he's come to his senses and this is all going to be some huge great mistake and everything will be alright-
"For what it's worth, though," he said instead, "I thought you were terrific. First-class. Right up there with the best. And hey remember, I've been to Calcutta."
----
"Buffy, this is Big Brother. Are you listening?"
Buffy jerked back to reality. For one more glorious moment she wondered if it had all been a paranoid daydream she'd slipped into, but no. Glancing down, she saw the thin rivulets of red trickling still down her arms, legacies from where her fingernails had been resting against her palm while Angel talked. She lifted her hands to her face a moment, staring numbly.
"Buffy!"
"What is it?" she said, at that moment feeling closer to eighty than twenty.
"You want to know what's happened, don't you?"
"Happened to what?" Buffy asked, the words still not registering to her.
"To Angel."
That got her attention.
"You want to know why he's changed."
And suddenly, there were sobs, and tears, and suddenly Buffy was on the floor, her chest heaving helplessly, her hands clawing at her face, her arms, at anything they could lay reach to. Until that moment, it had all been too unreal to be real, but hearing it, having it confirmed by the voice had finally convinced her that this latest nightmare was indeed happening. Monsters she could handle. Apocalypses she could be beeped for. But Angel had been her guide, her enigmatic protector, her hopeless fantasy. She had given him everything, and he had taken it and tore it up in her face, laughing.
Slugger. I'm a slugger. I'm a champ. I'm a notch in the bastard's coffin.
And suddenly, there were arms.
"Sssssh," a female voice soothed her. Buffy wanted to say Mom? and surrender to the lie (what was one more?) but the voice was not that of her mother's. It was, however, somehow familar. She extricated herself from the comforting embrace long enough to see the face of her newly-appointed grief consellor. Buffy found herself looking at a mature woman, in her early thirties, with dark eyes and a lightly bronzed, almost swarthy complexion. She flashed the younger girl a smile that was obviously meant to be as comforting as the hug had been.
"Giles' voice?"
The woman smiled, looked tempted to deny it, and then shrugged. "I also go by Jenny," she told Buffy, "but yes, if you like."
Buffy composed herself. It was a short sentence, but an achievement nothing short of heroism. Jenny seemed to recognise this; Buffy could see admiration reflected in the older woman's eyes. She understood Giles' fascination. "You know what happened to Angel?"
"In good time," Jenny replied easily, "let's bring you through and get you cleaned up a little."
Buffy was about to protest, about to say that there was no way she could go back in there with Angel still around and probably still wearing that terrible thin smile, when she saw that what Jenny meant by bring you through was not what she expected. Where once there had been a solid wall with a mirror facing the Diary Room chair, now there was a mini-portal, of a much more sedate nature than the hungry maw they had experienced earlier.
"Come with me," Jenny said again.
Buffy went.
----
"Get out."
"Now now Spike, my old friend," Angel grinned, prowling around Spike and Drusilla's bedroom like a caged animal. "That's no way to speak to your old mentor and comrade in chaos. Go around saying things like that, you'll get the legs cut from under...oh," and he flashed another smile at Spike, "sorry, my bad."
Drusilla said nothing. She was slowly spreading her arms wider and wider, like a cobra about to strike. Her face, though, was not that of something about to attack. A look of wonder and amazement was seeping across her. Spike narrowed his eyes. Something odd was going on here, something beyond his comprehension. Admittedly that wasn't saying much, but that didn't mean he had to like it.
"That's a bit politically incorrect, coming from a nancyboy poof like you. Why don't you run back to your Slayer bitch and play nice puppy for a while. This room's for vampires with the cojones to actually suck blood from things that don't make Rentakil's Christmas card list. Right luv?" he glanced at Drusilla for support.
She was caught in sheer rapture, her face shrouded in joy. "Daddy!"
"He's not your Daddy, Dru," Spike explained with the endless patience of the devoted boyfriend. "He's got a horrible little dirty soul now, remember?"
Angel merely kept on grinning.
"Daddy's home!" Drusilla said, and flew at Angel. Spike braced himself for the inevitable intervention of the Sanctuary spell, his hands gripping the armrests of the wheelchair tightly. So much for the plan-
Nothing came. Drusilla hadn't meant to attack Angel. She had simply gone to him, and now, as Spike watched disbelievingly, Angel curled his arms around her hips and kissed the base of her neck, sending shivers of ecstasy up Drusilla's entire body. Angel's eyes locked with Spike's.
"Angelus."
"Large as life," Angelus - for it was he - replied, his eyes glittering. "Surprised to see me, Spikey boy?"
"Missed you so much, Daddy, we have," Drusilla cooed adoringly. "Things have been ever so boring without you."
Spike felt his rage (which was never exactly insignificant at the best of times) begin to boil over. "I had no idea you were so bored, luv," he said softly.
Drusilla detached herself from Angel reluctantly, looking contrite. Angelus winked at her. She grinned like a cat and walked back over to Spike. Angelus met Spike's challenging gaze for another second and then seemed to dismiss it altogether, resuming his former prowling with a vengeance.

"Free!" he exclaimed, pausing to swat at an ornamental crystal vase. It shattered into a million pieces, shards raining down all over the room. Tiny flashes of blue magick marked the instances of the Sanctuary spell kicking in as the shards bounced harmlessly off the room's inhabitants.
Angelus howled in frustration. "You call this freedom?" he snarled, turning on Drusilla in Spike in rage. "Decades trapped inside that shell, that excuse of a body - made to sit through good deeds...and let's not even mention the music, shall we? And when I finally, I finally get to come out to play, they slap this damn joke of a spell on me to neuter me all over again? How dare they."
"Kill them! Kill them! Rip them up and eat them!" Drusilla sang, jumping up and down excitedly.
Angelus laughed. "That's my girl. And we will, Dru, we will, you and me and Professor Xavier, spell or no spell."
"Starting with the Slayer...the wicked girl...kill her, kill her Daddy, and let me see in her head before she stops!"
"Oh no," Angelus shook his head. "Buffy won't be the start. She'll live long enough to see what I've done to her, see what price she's paid for what she did to me."
"What did she do?" Spike asked, genuinely curious.
"She made me feel," Angelus told him. "Made me almost human. She came this close to saving my soul. And that's not the kinda thing you just f-"
"Could all housemates assemble in the living area, please. Repeat, all housemates in the living area."
"No-one," Angelus said softly, "no-one interrupts my evil dialogue." That ever-present smile faded completely. "I'm gonna have to have a little chat with Big Brother about it."

Buffy Big Brother - Week 2 - Day 6 (evening)

I didn't know where she was taking me. Right then, I didn't care. How could it have been worse than the private dimension of Hell I was in? Jenny had been kind, but I would have followed her if she'd had horns and a pointed tail. A part of my brain tried to make a connection with the whole "Giles wouldn't mind if she did have the horns" theme but to be honest, I was too bummed to make my trademark quips, even to myself.

Going through a portal is an interesting experience. I had wondered if it was like being born, but I very much doubt birth feels as if the universe had just sneezed around you. That's the sensation that pulsed through me for a quarter-second before the Diary Room - thankfully - vanished and I found myself Through The Confessing Glass.

Literally. We were in another Diary Room.

"Sure that thing worked?" I asked Jenny, thumbing to the portal behind me.

"I'm sure," she smiled reassuringly. I liked that smile. I wanted to cling to it. Abruptly I realised that this was kinda gay. My God, I'm actually missing my mother. Somehow, this was every bit as much of a revelation as...as anything else that had happened that day.

We went through the small entrance door. My suspicions were correct; it was the Big Brother house, right down to the smallest detail.

"I know what you're thinking," Jenny said, sitting down on one of the high stools in the dining area. "Trust me, we're alone. This isn't your house. Think of it as a Big Brother house."

"There are others?" I asked numbly. Why was I surprised? I used to think I was the only Slayer, after all. I used to think I was the only girl Angel-

No. I wasn't about to break down again. Comforting voice or not, Jenny was a stranger. But later, Willow's shoulder wouldn't know what hit her. It'd look like the Ganges Delta, I promised myself, feeling the terrible urge to cry again well up. I had to stop, had to think, had to be the Slayer again. Too much at stake. God, my quips were really suffering.

Jenny didn't answer my question. I didn't push. "You're probably wondering who I am."

"You're a very feminine Big Brother, if that's what you mean. I think even Cordelia would have to approve of those boots."

"Doesn't that just make my week," Jenny replied dryly, unknowingly increasing her stock in Buffy's eyes tenfold. "All I can tell you is that I was brought in, much as you and your friends were, except at a different..." she shrugged, trying to explain, "...level, I guess. I've been here for the past six days, mostly just watching and interacting through the announcements."

"Six days?"

"You remember the Master...ah...yeah I thought you would. His lackey killed the previous staff. I'm their replacement."

"Gotta love that job description: 'sacrificial victim replacement'. Did you ask about health & safety?"

"I was told that there could be no further outside encroachments unless Big Brother specifically authorised them. Plus, I was given this."

I regarded the stake hungrily. It had been too long, I suddenly realised, since I killed a vampire, watched his bones turn to dust and his once-proud face collapse into nothingness, a faded memory.

"Thinking about Angel?"

"Yup."

Jenny looked pained. "I need to tell you the truth. You have to understand that this won't be easy for you to hear."

She was wrong. As she told me - told me about the gypsy curse (that much I knew) and the get-out clause of "perfect happiness" that had returned him to his former state, made him the monster he once was, I found myself growing more and more relieved. It had been Angelus who said those things. Angelus who kissed me back. Angelus who made me feel worse than I'd ever thought possible.

"You're taking this well."

"Why wouldn't I? That - thing - through there is no more Angel than Giles is...no offence," I added quickly, and had the satisfaction of seeing Jenny blush. "Just tell me how we're going to fix this and I'll get back and warn the others."

Jenny's face, which had worn masks of puzzlement and hopefulness in equal measure upon seeing my calmness, abruptly fell, and along with it went my own fragile serenity. "Fix this...?" she breathed.

"Fix this," I repeated, feeling my jaw set. "You knew this was going to happen, so I assume you have some sort of plan to fix it. My gosh, I seem to be saying fix a lot, don't I? Fix fix fix. Fix Angel. Now."

Jenny's eyes were wide with sympathy and - I was very pleased to note - not a little fear too. "We can't."

"Fix him, you bitch!"

My breathing gradually returned to normal. I was a little surprised to note that I seemed to have moved. My arm had thrown itself out, my hand had tightened around Jenny's neck, and my other hand had, all by its lonesome, found her stake.

And not one single spark of blue magick had gotten in the way.

I loosened my grip on her neck. "No spell?"

"Not...here," she wheezed. "It's...still on...back in the house."

"You can't f...return Angel?"

Jenny looked me straight in the eye. For someone being pinned to the ground by an extremely-pissed-off-Slayer, it must have taken guts. "It's beyond me. He's not coming back."

I nodded. "Then bring him - bring Angelus - here."

"Why?"

"Why else?" I smiled, slipping the stake into my back pocket. "So I can kill him."

Buffy Big Brother - Week 2 - Day 6 (evening)

The living area felt wrong. Giles felt it as soon as they had all assembled - all except Buffy, he noted with concern, who was still apparently talking to Big Brother - Jenny, most likely.
"Why you?" he had asked her, during one of their extended conversations. "What do you mean, Rupert?"
"What connection do you have with anyone in the house? I'm simply trying to comprehend why this 'Big Brother' would choose you."
"I don't know," she had lied in reply. Giles didn't kid himself that he was the world's foremost expert on the opposite sex - almost a fortnight spent in the close company of Buffy, Cordelia and Willow had convinced him that there could be no such thing as an expert - but he knew Jenny's voice well enough to know when she was lying.
He missed his books. God he missed his books. Contained within those ancient pages was enough ancient wisdom, enough priceless clairvoyance and arcane knowledge (if you forsake the mysterious jam stain on the contents page of the Arcadia Mortus) to solve any problem he'd so far encountered. Without them, what use was he in this house, to his Slayer?
He knew that the general consensus was that he'd developed quite a fancy for Jenny. In truth that was utter, utter nonsense; Giles was above such adolescent concepts as a "crush", especially on someone whom he'd never even met in person. Jenny was most probably a homely and perfectly lovely woman, and not in any way shape or form a husky-voiced dusky love goddess with smouldering eyes and wandering hands.
No, the real reason for Giles' frequent liasions with Jenny was - what else? - to gather as much information as he could about their current predicament. Unlike certain others (he paused to glare at Xander and Cordelia, who had emerged, dishevelled slightly, from some far-off nook of the house) he wasn't prepared to accept their situation. The amount of power displayed by Big Brother thus far had been staggering; taming the Master - even for a while - effortlessly creating portals between dimensions, altering reality as it saw fit. Giles was only glad that no-one of any real importance had thus far been "evicted", a process about which he was extremely dubious. He had the decency to feel a momentary pang of guilt about Harmony's unknown fate. But then, it would take a particularly resilient Hell dimension (and one with a Dolce & Gabbana outlet) to cope with her for long.
Angel was leaning against a nearby wall, regarding the Diary Room entrance with - Giles looked again - an odd expression on his face. The expression itself, one of intensity mixed with a rather calculating calmness, wasn't all that unusual, it was just that Giles had never before seen its like on Angel.
Conversation with the vampire was awkward at the best of times, but Giles felt he had to try. He wasn't blind - there was obviously something pretty serious going on between Angel and Buffy, and he had to admit it wasn't easy for a Watcher to give his blessing to his Slayer to pursue a relationship with a vampire.

As if Buffy had ever sought it...
"Another delightful surprise in store, no doubt," Giles said, referring to the gathering called.
Angel turned his head slowly to take in the Watcher. Giles found himself being scanned from head to toe. There was a pause beyond that of awkwardness before the reply eventually came. "What age are you, Rupert?"
"Young enough to be able to wear platform shoes without a sense of postmodern irony. Why do you ask?"
"They put men like you in charge of Slayers," Angel mused, seemingly oblivious to Giles' puzzlement gradually turning to irritation. "They always have.Young, nubile, women, getting told what to do by old, out-of-shape men. Slayers for the boys."
"Just what the hell are you trying to say?" Giles said, absolutely aghast at what he was hearing.
"Oh c'mon, Rupert," Angel grinned lewdly, "I've seen you train her. The way you make her sweat. Those little sweat tops and the way they stick to her...and let's not discount that trademark Slayer flexibility..."
Giles tried to fight down the opposing feelings of outrage and revulsion that were surging through him. He couldn't believe Angel was talking like this. Angel, of all people, who had proven his worth and fought alongside them. Sure, there had been that little spat with Xander Harris, but quite frankly Ghandi would have been hard pressed not to resort to violence towards that boy.
"How dare you," Giles hissed.
Angel moved off the wall. He seemed totally unconcerned about the Sanctuary spell. So much so, in fact, that Giles took an involuntary half-step backward before cursing himself for his weakness and standing his ground. The movement was not missed by Angel. A contemptuous upturn of his mouth added to the overall air of menace which was as pervasive as it was puzzling.
"You never wondered, Rupert," Angel went on, his voice low and soft again, "what it would be like...to have her beneath you, have all those taut Slayer muscles working on you..."
"Stop."
"...to hear her cry out your name..."
"Shut up!" and now the others were glancing toward him, because he could no longer contain his anger. All thoughts of Angel had gone, and the shadow of Ripper, whom Giles had thought long buried, was screaming to be unleashed, to be able to lash out against this bastard-
"I did, Rupert. I wondered. But hey, guess what, you English ponce," Angel said, grinning widely, hatefully, even as Giles felt Ripper seize control, "I didn't have to wonder for long."
Giles fist snapped forward -
- and was pulled back.
"It's all right," Buffy said quietly, her hand closed tightly around Giles' wrist, showing no signs of outward strain. "I can handle this."
The fire in Giles' eyes died. He stepped backward, fists refusing to unclench but face beginning to go red with shame at losing control. Spike was already snickering at him. He glanced at Buffy, and was surprised - and pleased - to see the gratitude in her eyes for what he had tried to do. Beneath that, though, was a world of hurt which shocked him to see.
"Hey, princess," Angel greeted her. "Just having a few words with the Muffin Man. Wanna disappear somewhere and make out? Let's sneak off, just you and me, and be all clandestine about our forbidden love, because God knows no-one else around here is doing that, eh Cordy? Xander?"
His targets went white. Willow's mouth slowly formed a large O.
"That's enough, Angelus."
"Angelus," Giles echoed. "But that's impossible...what could have caused-"
"I did," Buffy cut him off. "I caused it."
"You bet she did," Angelus crowed. "The small-print said one perfect moment but this little machine just went a-bove and be-yond! Oh, remind me to tell you all about it, Xander."
Xander made to move toward Angel. As he did, Willow ran across him, a sob escaping her lips as she fled to her bedroom. Confused, Xander stopped, looking as if he meant to follow her. One quiet look from Oz stopped that plan. Oz went in his place, sending a venomous glance in Angelus' direction before he did.
"Go comfort her!" Angelus called. To Xander he said, "I'd watch that Oz guy if I were you. Alone with Willow, on a night like this, with her feeling vulnerable...and him such an animal..."
The three vampires laughed, as if sharing some secret joke.
"Angel-"
"Angel doesn't live here anymore," Angelus interrupted the announcement smoothly.
"-Angelus, please come to the Diary Room immediately."
Angel nodded, almost to himself. He faced Buffy again. "Gotta go, champ. Will you miss me?"
Buffy's eyes were like diamonds. "Trust me. I won't miss."

Buffy Big Brother - Week 2 - Day 6 (later)

Xander could feel Oz glaring at him, and so retreated into the Boy's bedroom followed discreetly some 10 minutes later by Cordelia. She found him sitting on the edge of his bed with head in hands.

C: "Xander!"

Xander: "– What??"

C: "Do you actually care about whatever lame inducement you've been offered to stay here?"

X: (Somewhat aggressively) "Yes!"

C: "Well, you know what? I don't think we're getting anything! What guarantees do we have? It's probably all a con."

Xander realised that Cordelia had stopped talking and was making odd little noises. He raised his head to see her standing on tip-toes to gradually move a camera into a new position.

X: "What do you think you're doing?"

C: "Getting us out of here!"

X: "Are you crazy? There IS no way out of here!"

C: "Why do you always think you know everything cheese brain?"

Moving one of the beds aside and a rug, Cordelia exposed a square hatchway in the lino floor.

C: "This leads in the direction of the garden. Once you get level with the garden you have to dig and get all dirty. That's where you come in Xander."

C: "I"m all for getting dirty"

C: "With this". (She hands him a spatula).

X: "You can't dig with this. Anyway, where would we put the soil?"

C: "I don't know! Anywhere! In the pillowcases? In the cooking? – It can't taste any worse than Buffy's cooking. If you do this for me Xander, I'll be very appreciative..."

X: "When do we start?" (Peering down into the hatchway.)

X: "It is kind of dangerous around here. No harm in having a back-up plan"

C: "Right."

Buffy Big Brother - Day 6 (Evening)

The house is now in complete disarray, Its apparent that Angel has indeed become his vampiric alter-ego Angelus who is now intent on destroying any harmony left within the BBB house. So far he's managed to piss of the majority of the household, Spike included, the only exception to this is Drusilla who's quite obviously delighted to have "Daddy" back in the family fold again - she shows this in her trademark manner of dancing to unheard music and humming in an annoyingly high pitched fashion, whilst stroking her beloved Miss Edith (who appears strangely unmoved by recent developments).

So far Angelus and his remarks concerning Cordelia and Xanders illicit (or so they had believed) liasons in the closets and broom cupbpoards of the BBB house have been met with dismay (Willow), disbelief, (Giles) and disgust (the remaining housemates) - Willow was last seen running towards the girls bedroom crying followed by a concerned Oz, Xander and Cordy retreat to the Boys Bedroom where the remaining housemates are concerned to hear strange sounds eminating, however no-one wishes to "intrude" on what could be as Giles puts it "a private, and to put it quite frankly, visually disturbing moment" between the two.

They are further disturbed when an announcement from Big Brother is broadcast to the Housemates:

This is Big Brother, could any housemates attempting any umm... unsanctioned activities at this time please refrain from doing so... and Cordelia, please return the Spatula to the kitchen - people still have to use that you know.

Cordelia and Xander appear in the doorway looking sweaty and dishevelled - the other housemates look on, none of them wishing to speculate on what could have possibly been going on in the bedroom that would involve the newly outed couple and a spatula.. although Spike does mention that "I'd have paid money for X-Ray vision if my imagination and Cordelia lives up to fantasy."

Kendra, the newest housemate to arrive in the Buffy Big Brother House, has so far viewed proceedings with a mix of shock, disbelief and outrage. "A Slayer in love with a Vampire who pays no mind or the proper respect to her Watcher; boys and girls allowed in bedrooms together and no violence allowed to the walking dead... Me Watcher would have a fit at the likes of you lot."

Drusilla stops humming and swaying long enough to sashay her way over to the second Slayer, stopping in front of her, she looks the younger girl up and down and, from the plain look on her face, finds Kendra lacking. "You would do well to hold your tongue little girl, otherwise one day someone may just come along and (she flicks her lethal fingernails within a millimetre of Kendras neck causing little blue sparks to emit from the presence of the Sanctuary Spell) take it off you for your impertinence." Kendra stands her ground, safe in the knowledge that as long as the Spell is in place no harm can come to her, of course the fact that Mr Pointy is also denied a closer look at the insane Vampires heart infuriates her. But still, a Slayer can't have everything.

Angelus has been called to the Diary Room, Buffy watches him go with an odd look on her face as if caught between resolve, regret and utter heartbreak, but still she turns towards the Girls Bedroom to go comfort Willow. She is stopped by Giles who obviously has something he'd like to discuss with his Slayer, she follows him into the kitchen where a whispered conversation is quickly entered into.

Willow and Oz are sitting on Willows bed, Oz has his arm round Willow who is trying unsuccessfully stifle her sobs.

"I'm so sorry Oz, you must think that.. well I don't know what you're thinking, I mean, when it comes to guys and the way their minds work... its fairly obvious that I wouldn't have a... I mean it's Cordelia... of all people,,, I mean she's... and he's.. he's the Treasurer, and founder member of the We hate Cordelia Club. How could he... kis... be with her...when I used to want so much.." she sobbed, starting to cry again.

Oz again tries to comfort her, suddenly and painfully aware that he's not exactly known for his verbal talents, he draws her to her feet, places an arm around her shoulders and draws her into a comforting hug. "Sometimes there's more to a guy.. or girl than you would think, we all have.." he paused trying to think how he could explain it best, "parts we hide from everyone else, but sometimes other people.. they see these parts anyhow and they want them too" he stopped aware that this is probably the longest conversation he's had since he'd entered the BBB house. He keeps his arms around her wanting to provide some small measure of comfort aware that she's hurting and as, (all of the housemates could testify), one of the things Oz does well is listen.

Willow starts to pull herself together, finally realising that, although Oz has been great with her, the way to show her interest in him isn't really by falling to pieces over her best friends betrayal with Sunnydales own self confessed " Teen Queen of Mean". She wipes her eyes, blows her nose and suggests that they "Go get some fresh air in the garden, maybe check on the chickens and...oooh, see if Mr Clucks incontinence problem has cleared up yet...", the latter sentence is said with a decidedly un-Willowlike glint in her eyes as she remembers a certain pair of Jimmy Choo shoes, bedspread and a Prada backback. They head out to the garden, passing on the way a concerned Buffy who stops mid-frantic whispered conversation with Giles to draw her friend into a hug with a promise of "Chocolate, more chocolate and mucho Girl Talk" later on that evening.

Once out in the garden Oz and Willow take a minute to check out the huge full moon hanging over the garden.. both are in awe at how close it appears to be to the house as Willow says "almost like it was made just for us," she stands bathed in its glow unaware of Oz stiffening beside her as he gazes upwards...

Spike had felt frustrated and angry at being unable to attack and feed and now having to move about in a wheelchair. At first he had been really chuffed to see Angelus back. It had sickened Spike to see him as such a mewling lap-dog. No, ...wait a minute...cats mewl. Anyway, it was sickening. But now he wasn't so happy about it. Angelus was one of the few people that knew too much about Spike and could get to him. Drusilla was everything to Spike and although Angelus's atempts to wind him up were crude, they worked every time. God, if he could just get out of this &! chair, he'd show him... I killed two slayers! I can take him down a peg, or three.

Funny... Red's all upset out in the garden with wolf -boy. it should be amusing, come the full moon, with the sanctuary spell and all. Still moping after Xander Harris? That should go down well.

Without the capacity to harm them, Spike now seemed slightly preposterous to the others, but they didn't know him at all. These children, who'd only been on the planet for a matter of years annoyed him like gnats, no more. Only the slayer and the watcher needed... ... watching. He almost admired the spunk of the others. Good kids really. They'll end up getting killed in this lark. Giles ought to know that.

Ever observant to the goings on around him, Spike never missed a trick. He saw the sub-text of every look and conversation. The others saw only a cynic and a nuisance. Even Angel who knew him so well seemed to under-estimate Spike.
Oz: "You really like him don't you?"

Willow: "It's just that me and Xander have been friends since forever and I always held a candle for him. But-"

Spike: (Singing in the kitchen) "I'm just a fool, I'm just a fool, – to keep waiting – I'm just a fool, Im just a fool"

Giles: "Shut up. You can't sing and the reference is lost on the youngsters."

Spike: "I can too!...Hey! and it's Angel that can't sing!"

Buffy Big Brother - Week 2 - Day 6 (night)

The sound of Spike's voice drifted through to the garden. Willow, to her amazement, found herself clenching her fists. She wanted to punch Spike. She wanted to punch Xander - not hard, but still...oh, what the hell. Just to see the look on his stupid big-eared face when I did it. Just so he would realise that I'm not, contrary to appearances, his best bud, because I'm a girl, with girl bits and a very hard girl fist. And then I wouldn't know whether to walk off and cry or rush over and make sure he was OK. I'd probably do both.
Well, one thing was for sure. At this year's AGM of the We Hate Cordelia Club, Xander would kiss his vice-presidency goodbye.
"Sorry, Oz," Willow sighed, abruptly realising that she'd ignored her companion while these thoughts rattled through her. She glanced across at him. "Oz? Is everything alright?"
He was leaning forward slightly, clutching his stomach. "Gotta say, not really," Oz replied, sounding out of breath.
Willow stayed calm in typical Willow-like fashion; namely, by shooting to her feet, dancing a mini-jig of anxiety, thumping Oz on the back -
"Ow!"
"Sorry! I'm so sorry!"
- and finally settling for standing beside her new friend, her arms around his shoulders (which, she noted at some deep conscious level, were surprisingly broad).
"You're sick!" Willow despaired. "You're sick because I'm putting you under too much stress, aren't I?! I'm coming on too strong!"
Oz lacked the energy to properly dismiss this. "Will..." he winced, as a fresh twinge shot through him, "relax...probably just something I ate."
"But I cooked today!" Willow wailed.
"Yesterday, thennnnnaaaargh," Oz's voice trailed off into a guttural growl of pain. Arms wrapped around his sides, he tumbled off the garden bench, hitting the ground with a painful thump before Willow could react.
"Don't move, Ox! I'll get help!" Willow promised him, turning and running into the house in a panic. "Buffy! Buffy, come quick…"
----
"I can't go. I'm sorry."
Giles stared at his Slayer in puzzlement. "We need to talk, Buffy. Now more than ever you need my guidance. This situation has gone far beyond-"
"Giles," Buffy interrupted him gently, but no less firmly, her eyes locked on Angelus as he closed the door of the Diary Room, "trust me, this situation is about to be contained."
And with that, she hugged him fiercely, and walked toward the door.
----
It was Cosmetics Hour for Cordelia. Ordinarily only a thermonuclear war of global proportions - i.e. not one merely confined to unfashionable countries - could have prevented the inevitability of this ritual from happening. Tonight, she sat on the edge of her bed, her makeup an incredible four hours old, and simply stared into the middle distance.
She never heard the very soft, almost inaudible hum of a tiny portal materialising into life across the room, depositing a small and tightly wrapped package on the floor between Willow and Buffy's beds.
The label on the front said simply: From Jenny. If all else fails.
----
"Good evening, Angelus."
Angelus replied by putting his fist through the mirror. "Those things bug me," he confessed to no-one in particular. "I don't like the whole non-existence symbolism. I drink, therefore I am. The vampire codex. Now what do you want?"
"Your release upon the household has not gone unnoticed by Big Brother."
"Cut the crap," Angelus replied, sitting heavily in the Diary Room chair and scanning the room intently for the source of the voice. "You know what I think, mysterious disembodied yet oh-so-sultry voice? I think my release has gone unnoticed by Big Brother. I think we're dealing with an absentee landlord and you're the stand-in until it returns. Why else would it need you? What other purpose would you serve, apart from giving Giles un-librarian like thoughts..." Angelus shivered, "I mean, I'm over two centuries old, but the thought of that guy gettin jiggy...it's just plain wrong, ne-c'est pas?"
"You like to talk, don't you Angelus?"
"Not really. Torturing is way more fun," and Angelus sighed with nostalgic longing, "but I haven't done that since that little gypsy tramp, and she wasn't even fun. You know some people can live their whole lives with one lung? She barely lasted five minutes. I think it was seeing it used for firewood that finally did it."
No response came. Second after second dribbled past. Eventually Angelus chuckled softly. "I thought I recognised that accent. Give my love to the clan now, won't you?"
"Burn in Hell."
The portal that Buffy stepped through hours previously reopened. Now, however, it was removing the element of choice it had presented. Angelus' hand whipped out faster than humanly possible, anchoring him to the elaborate armrests of the Diary Room chair. The portal's maw tugged at his feet. He gritted his teeth with the strain, the muscles in his arm standing out like steel rods. A howl of frustration began to escape his lips.
Ping. Ping. Ping.
Angelus watched in horror as the heavy steel screws soldering the Diary Room chair to the floor came loose. For another fraction of a second he hung there, suspended by his own inhuman strength alone, before the portal claimed him and the chair both, swallowing them whole.
At that exact moment, the door to the Diary Room opened to reveal Buffy Anne Summers, vampire Slayer, ready to plunge herself after her former lover and end this nightmare once and for all. Buffy faced the portal, at the very periphery of its terrible gravity, her hair streaming out before her, Jenny's stake clutched so tightly in her right hand that it was in danger of becoming kindling. It was a perfect image.
It would also be the last time for quite a while that something went to plan.
"Hurry, Buffy..." Jenny's voice implored her.
"I'm there," Buffy assured her, taking another step forward.
"Buffy!" Willow's voice came suddenly. "Buffy, come quick! It's Oz! Oz is really sick!"
Buffy hesitated. She turned. Willow was at the door, ashen-faced.
And behind her, running and bounding at a terrifying speed, was a werewolf in the full throes of bloodlust.
"Willow!" Buffy screamed, launching herself at her friend. The Diary Room portal stuttered and died, forgotten.
Frying some hot ribs in the kitchen, Spike took the time to peek out and see the Slayer (shoving Willow out of the way) and the werewolf meet head-on.
"They'll do anything for viewers," he muttered, and began looking for the garlic.

Buffy Big Brother - Week 2 - Day 6 (night)

"Janna!"
Rain dripped off her nose. She sank deeper into the greenery around her, wishing it would swallow her whole. In her tight, stubby-fingered grasp, Pascal's fur was getting damp. Protect me, she silently implored her constant companion, keep me hidden, Pascal, and I'll dry you out tonight. Don't get sick like Mother, please. I need you.
Pascal didn't reply. She thought this a good omen. Her friends toys were chatterboxes, after all - airheaded, useless. Little Janna disapproved of them. The other girls treated her with respect because of who she was, the position her family occupied. She was not liked, however. This suited her just fine.
A hand came down on her shoulder, smelling of pipe smoke and alcohol. Janna squealed in fright, but to no avail. She was picked up, struggling, and carried like a sack of particularly irritable potatoes back to the caravan her family occupied. Bare moments later she was deposited in the chair from which she'd bolted but five minutes previously, sodden with rain and tears.
Her captor leaned toward her face. Janna recoiled in fear and distaste. "Do not," her uncle whispered, "do that again."
"I don't want to go!" she wailed. "Want to stay here, with Nan!"
Her words fell on deaf ears. "You are going to America. Your feelings on this are no matter," her uncle insisted, his accent thick with conviction. "He has been seen there. Do you understand? I must keep the watch over him and, since you are my responsibility now," and she could hear the disgust in his voice, "you are coming with me."
"But uncle," Janna sobbed, "why is it so important? I don't see why-"
The slap rang out very loud in the caravan.
"One day," her uncle hissed, "perhaps you will not have to ask that question. I pray you never see it."
----
Angelus opened his eyes, astonished that they were still intact. Shouldn't Hell have claimed him by now? Shouldn't he already be suffering the eternal agonies - watching endless Love Boat reruns while dressed in tweed, or forced to play the part of one of the children in The Sound Of Music (the most convincing argument for fascism he'd ever seen)?
This wasn't Hell. This was - he realised, as he sat up and rubbed perfunctorily at the ache in his head where he'd slammed into the wall - another Big Brother house. Close, he grunted. Someone less observant might have thought themselves not to have moved at all, but it was clear to him that this living area he'd impacted had never been lived in.
So the question was, why hadn't he been sent to Hell?
"Hello...?" he called cheerily. "Anyone in? Three little pigs? Anyone?"
----
In the girls bedroom of the empty house, Jenny was cowering in the largest wardrobe, her entire body trembling. The Hell portal couldn't be activated anywhere but the entrance circle in the living area, and sure, she could have switched it on, but it would have taken everyone - Buffy, Willow, Kendra, Giles - along with Angelus. She couldn't live with that.
She could hear him moving. The spectral image of her uncle remained in her mind, scolding her for being so weak, so foolish. This is not justice, Janna. This is vengeance. It had been his motto. It had also summed up the man. He was a throwback to a more brutal age - the same age that the creature which now stalked outside had come from.
He would find her. She knew in her heart that this was true. Her scent was scattered all over the house, and she had dived in here barely sixty seconds ago. Why hadn't Buffy gone through as she'd promised? Kendra could have handled the werewolf. More than that, the Slayer had stolen her stake - something she'd only discovered when the awful realisation that she was alone with Angelus had-
He was getting closer. She could feel him now. Was this some genetic memory from her long-dead ancestor? Janna wondered if the foolish girl, wandering from the safety of her clan's caravan that night, had suspected what a legacy her death would leave.
You're going to die, Janna, her uncle taunted her.
Maybe, she retorted, with sudden strength, but not like this.

Angelus paused to sniff the air. Buffy had been here, no question of that. She'd talked for some time with someone else, someone whose scent he didn't recognise. That scent carpeted the house around him. He allowed his nose to follow the lingering trail as it headed in a beeline for...
"Hello, Angelus."
To his surprise, the owner of the scent walked boldly toward him, emerging from the entrance of one of the bedrooms. His suspicions had indeed been accurate - she bore the unmistakable arrogant air of the Calderash clan, the gypsy sect which had brought about his unwanted ensoulment over a century ago.
"You don't look like her."
"I know. Her likeness hangs at the head of our family's table." Jenny smiled thinly. "They painted her with two eyes and two lungs, not as you left her."
Angelus accepted this apparent compliment with a modest shrug. "Well, accuracy and appetite wouldn't have gone together, would they."
"You're wondering where you are."
"Actually I'm wondering if your people still taste of elderberries."
"Go ahead," Jenny waved him on, indicating the flesh of her neck, "be my guest. You'll get no more success here than back where you came from. But it'll be fun to watch."
"Was there a bulk discount on Sanctuary spells this quarter?" Angelus complained in disgust. "Just wait until I get my hands on those Furies. I can't believe I let them off last time..." he trailed off, apparently lost in the memory, before a small chuckle escaped his lips, "...wait, maybe I can. " Angelus grinned and winced slightly, "it's at times like this when the decision to switch to tight leather pants comes back to haunt ya."
"On the plus side, Cordelia still doesn't know who stole her eyeliner."
"That's right," Angelus said, snapping his fingers. "You can see whatever we do in there, can't you? Now why would the all-powerful Big Brother," he snorted, barely able to keep the contempt from his voice, but to Jenny's ear it rang slightly hollow, "need a scrawny little soul-bag like you to keep the show running? And what's with this other house setup anyway?"
"Glad you asked. Follow me." Jenny indicated the hallway which led to the other bedrooms and, in this house at least, to her small control room, filled to the brim with camera monitors, sound relays...and portal control switches.
One of which would open up the failsafe portal, right in the control room itself. She had no idea how the knowledge of how to operate the control room had arrived in her brain - it had just been there from the moment she had arrived. Only one other person, apart from the mysterious Big Brother, knew what she did.
All of that didn't matter. She was going to throw that switch and take her and Angelus wherever it led them, be it Hell or otherwise, as long as it was away from here.
To her amazement, Angelus obediently began following her, trotting along the corridor behind her. Her heart was pounding not only with fear now, but with exhiliration; despite how much she'd despised her uncle, a part of her had always longed to fulfil the most long-standing desire of her people; to see the monster Angelus dead, at long last. Now, that goal was within her grasp...
"Run."

Jenny felt herself freeze. She forced herself to turn around, bade every single rebelling nerve ending in her body to calm down. "What?"
Angelus' expression was impassive. "Run. I like it better when they run. Oh you didn't think that little performance fooled me, did you? Let me tell you something about the human heartbeat, gypsy; when you have nothing to fear, it shouldn't really be topping one hundred and twenty...hot...delicious...beats, should it?"
With that, he vamped out. Seeing him like that, as he must have looked to her long-dead clanmember all those decades ago as he lay feasting above her, Jenny felt her fragile thread of confidence snap altogether. Turning tail, she fled in the direction of the control room. If she could-
An arm thumped across her shoulders, sending her off-balance and crashing into the wall. She tasted blood in her mouth as she crumpled to the ground, her left shoulder already throbbing where Angelus had swatted her mid-run. Opening her eyes, gasping with pain, she saw him crouch above her, saw the terrible hunger in his eyes.
"Sorry ladies and gentlemen, looks like sale season is well and truly o-"
Her hand lashed out, not in blind panic, but for a precise target.
Jenny grabbed those leather trousers and squeezed.
"-ooooooooooovugh!"
She kicked Angelus in the head as he slumped, extremely carefully, to the ground. Absurdly, impossibly, he was laughing as he hit the floor. She didn't waste time wondering about it. The control room was hers in two, three, four long desperate strides.
Door door door door -
Angelus' arm snaked around it as she tried to slam it shut. Gritting her teeth, screaming for all she was worth, Jenny threw herself at the barrier, the only thing keeping her alive. A yelp of pain from outside, and the arm was gone. She pounced on the locking mechanism, thanking the stars that Big Brother had made it a standard fixture of every room.
Safe.
Thump. The door shook on its hinges. Thump. This one was even harder.
"Comin' to getcha, lil' piggy!"
Jenny scrabbled frantically amongst the four control panels for the failsafe button. By the time she pressed it, she knew, Angelus would have broken down the door. Good for him. He'd be unable to stop himself being pulled through another portal - and this one would be to Hell.
There it was. She'd found it. Behind her, the door splintered, able to withstand maybe one more hit before it gave way.
No matter. She pressed the button, just as Angelus burst through, fangs exposed, arms and hands outstretched, reaching-
"No emergency exists. Failsafe aborted."
The last few seconds of Jenny Calendar's life began with Angelus seizing her neck in his hand. She was propelled backward onto the control panel, her final scream dying on her lips as he cut off her oxygen supply.
Forgive me, Giles, she thought.
Angelus snapped her neck a half-second later.

Buffy Big Brother - Week 2 - Day 6 (night)

When Willow had time to think about it, much later, it made a strange kind of sense. They'd known from early on in the first week that chickens were exempt from the Sanctuary spell - the Master had devoured several in his hunger. Likewise it seemed that the spell was negated the other way - Mr Cluck had been able to express his affections for the housemates, after all (she'd assured Xander that the finger would regain proper motion soon).

However, it was amazing how all of this logical thought failed to go through her mind when she first saw Buffy and the creature meet head-on. There was sudden chaos in the living area. Willow had been shoved aside by Buffy - a move that she now realised had probably saved her life - and now was cowering amidst the seating area as the Slayer battled the newcomer.

The sound of the fight attracted everyone from their rooms. No-one as yet noticed the absence of Angelus.

No-one except Giles.

Buffy was in serious trouble. She was trying to fight this thing - my God, Willow realised, it's a werewolf - as if it were a vampire. A humanoid, in other words, which relied on fists and feet. She wasn't prepared to be simply bowled over in a primal charge, the werewolf snarling and yowling as it knocked her to the ground, its teeth baring down on her exposed chest-

"Hi-yuh!"

It was Kendra, proving her Slayer status by arriving in the nick of time. A well-placed boot had the werewolf sprawling across the floor...

...right towards Willow.

It was up and on its feet in a second, snarling, looking for the nearest target at which to launch yet another vicious assault. Willow crawled backwards, too terrified to run, wide-eyed and staring as the great hulking beast turned its head toward her. She found herself eye-to-eye with it for the briefest of moments.

"No..." she breathed, horrified at what she saw.

It was about to spring to her when it was caught by another broadside, this time a double Slayer whammy as both Buffy and Kendra thumped themselves into the body of the animal. Willow, trembling, tears filling her eyes, felt arms pick her up and carry her to relative safety by the kitchen. She glanced up at her rescuer.

"I gotcha," Xander assured her. "C'mon, you're alright now. This thing's about to be dog meat."

"No!" Willow replied, trying to struggle out of his grasp. He was almost too astonished to resist. "Xander, she can't kill it!"

"Why?"

Spike poked his head out from the kitchen. "For Gods sake," he complained, "can't a guy get his hot wings in peace? Xander, that "thing" out there is Oz."

Xander snorted in disbelief. "No way. Oz, a werewolf? We would have noticed."

"I told you those hairs in the plughole weren't mine," came Spike's voice.

"It's true," Willow said, "I saw it in his eyes, Xander. I know it's him, you have to let me go," and with that she was finally free of him, and hadn't even time to ponder the underlying significance of all this.

Buffy had to admit it - Kendra made a pretty good Slayer. So she might have been slightly jealous when the new girl arrived, with her perfect ritual recital and her love-me-Giles attitude...but since then, she'd seen enough to realise that Kendra was just a kinda lonely girl. Rearrange her DNA slightly and get rid of that odd accent (actually, those four odd accents) and she could have been Buffy Summers, circa one year ago.

They had the werewolf backed into the corner, each Slayer wielding their stakes, ready to administer the decisive blow. Buffy was well aware that legend had it only a silver weapon could do the job. Maybe no-one's ever given wood its fair shot, she thought grimly, steeling herself to make the final attack, twenty or thirty tries should do it-

"Buffy, no!"

For the second time in less than five minutes, Buffy found herself distracted at the last possible moment by Willow's voice. Her opponent wasn't about to miss an opportunity like that. It leapt, not at her but above her, towards the garden, trying to make its escape. Buffy saw her chance. The exposed belly of the werewolf was right above her head. One thrust with the stake would cripple it.

She couldn't do it. Something deep inside her was going to prevent her, some instinct which made her trust Willow's request, no matter how crazy it sounded.

"Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!"

Whump. Barely one hundred pounds of wailing Willow smacked full-on into her. Buffy tasted floor. Again. Thanks, Will, she thought, as the breath exploded from her body. They went down in a tangle of arms and legs as the creature bounded across the living area and leapt into the garden, vanishing into the twilight beyond in an instant.

There was silence, except for the faintest of pings. Spike politely moved Xander out of the way, a plate of hot steaming chicken wings held reverentially in his hands. The eyes of everyone in the room followed him as he made his way, oblivious, to the seating area.

From outside, a werewolf howled.

"Amen to that," Spike said, and bit deeply into his first wing.

----

Giles was missing. No-one had even noticed until the commotion had died down. Some time during the chaos he had vanished. The only place they hadn't yet searched was the garden, for obvious reasons. Buffy knew in her heart he wasn't there, but she couldn't shake the feeling that he was in trouble. For now, though, they had more pressing matters...

"Oz?" Buffy said, disbelievingly.

Willow was in tears. "I don't understand it either. But it's him."

"Oh it's him all right," Spike agreed. They'd called an emergency council based around the living area, and he seemed to be enjoying squatting in the middle of it. Kendra stood guard at the sliding glass doors, ready to swat any large and hairy gatecrashers. "You can smell it, you know. Near a full moon, anyway. Something about them gives it away."

"You knew?" Buffy rounded on him angrily. "And you said nothing?"

Spike almost choked on a chicken wing. "Sorry - did I miss the part where I go look out gang, he might spoil our jolly picnic? I'm evil, you stupid bint. I was hoping he'd give into the Hairy Side of the Force and take out a few of you simpering nancies with him."

"How did it happen?" Willow said, talking to herself as much as the group, her stomach churning. She wanted to go to him, or to go hide in her room, but knew she could do neither. "Was it the reason he was brought here? The connection?"

Xander's expression was dark. "Maybe it was done to him after he got here. A little surprise from Big Psycho Bro?"

"Oh my God," Buffy said suddenly, her face white. "Jenny..."

----

When the then as-yet-unidentified werewolf had burst through into the living area, Giles had been in his room, looking over the notes he'd made after his conversations with Jenny, trying to piece together the puzzle that his mind was telling him had a pattern. Angelus' appearance hadn't been random. A being as powerful as Big Brother couldn't have failed to know about the curse.

Jenny knew more than she was prepared to tell him. Of that much he was certain. Something had transpired between her and Buffy a few hours ago. Giles was coming to the conclusion that he was being left out of the loop.

And then came the scream.

The voice, transmitted to the room via the Big Brother comm, was Jenny's. At the end of the scream the voice had trailed off, gurgled slightly, as if oxygen had abruptly been severed. Giles found himself suddenly unable to breathe, as if in sympathy. In a dreamlike state, awful realisation clawing at his heart, he snatched up a page of the notes and began running.

No-one saw him as he charged through the living area. He registered the werewolf battling the Slayers dimly, dismissed it - they could handle it. The Diary Room was empty when he opened the door, as he'd known it would be. Angelus was gone.

Bare moments later, so was Giles.

Buffy Big Brother - Week 2 - Day 6 (Night)

The gang had finally decided on a plan of action, Buffy and Kendra were going to head out to the garden to see if they could capure "the werewolf formerly known as Oz" as Spike, oh so wittily (well he thought so) put it. Buffy had to make many assurances to a distraught Willow regarding the "totally humane and breakage free" capture of Oz.

The two Slayers headed for the patio doors that would take them out into the moonlit garden, Buffy supposed that the full moon was good for one thing - a 6 foot werewolf in the first throes of lune-lust wasn't really going to have anyplace to hide amongst the plants and shrubberies. She turned to Willow just before they headed outside and tried to give her what she hoped was an encouraging smile although even to her it felt twisted "I promise you Will, we'll find it... Oz" she was still having a hard time reconciling the snarling, brutish animal with the eternally laid back musician she was coming to know. "And we'll bring him back to you - unharmed" the latter was said with a look at Kendra, the younger Slayer having so far argued in her ever changing accent that "Bringing a wild animal back into the house is dangerous to us all - your Watcher should have something to say about this." However as Giles was nowhere to be seen despite the earlier commotion, his input would have to remain unheard for the time being.

Buffy had got as far as the doors when her attention was caught by the immensely disturbing sight in front of her, running full tilt towards the patio where she and Kendra were standing was one incredibly mad werewolf. Even more disturbing was the fact the werewolf was in turn being chased towards the house by an insane vampire who could be plainly heard through the glass calling plaintively for the "Nice puppy, here puppy come and play with Mummy and look Miss Edith wants to play with the puppy too." She was indeed waving the blindfolded, porcelain doll madly above her head as if the mere sight of Miss Edith would cajole the reticent werewolf into play.

Drusilla, who had been happily minding her own business out in the garden listening to the "music of the stars and laughter of the moon," for the previous hour had been delighted when the irate werewolf had found his way into the garden. Although never bored, (after all have you ever met an insane person thats not happy mingling with their multiple personalities), she was longing for a different type of excitement and though the return of Angelus to her was much appreciated, (she was planning to thank Big Brother... and come to think of it Buffy too for that surprise package), she still needed more stimulation what with Spike in a wheelchair and unable to "play" to her (or for her) satisfaction, she needed more than was currently available to her. Plus the fact that she wasn't allowed to bite, maim or kill any of the other housemates was becoming an increasingly bitter source of disgust to her.

Now though she was becoming enraged, the puppy refused to play with her or Miss Edith and disobediance like this just would not, could not be tolerated anymore. Not even registering the housemates behind the closed doors or their horrified expressions she continued heading the werewolf towards the house determined to get her own way.

The wolf hit the patio doors full on, it took the combined strength of Buffy and Kendra to hold them closed and thankfully the glass took the impact without shattering. The two girls watched in amazement as Drusilla then grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and whacked him over the snout with Miss Edith, much as someone would with a disobedient puppy to try and stop it peeing on the carpet. The wolf howled and tried in vain to bite the vampire but Drusilla, her insanity and anger fueling her already immense vampire strength was more than a match. She again raised Miss Edith above her head and brought it down with a resounding Thwack" on the werewolfs head, he staggered, stumbled then fell the the floor, unconscious for the moment. Drusilla stepped back and regarded him for a moment "See what happens to bad puppies who won't play nicely with Mummy and Miss Edith... they get put to sleep."

Before she could inflict further damage on the prone werewolf Buffy quickly interceded she was followed outside by Willow who dropped to her knees to inspect the damage. Now the danger was over, (well in this crisis anyhow), the housemates had to make some quick decisions regarding the confinement of the wolf. It was agreed finally that they would us the vampires bedroom to hold him in as it was the only one with "good old fashioned chains and manacles." It took Kendra a full 5 minutes of wondering and further 10 of blushing when she realised why Spike and Drusilla would have been given a room with manacles and chains sufficient to hold a werewolf once awakened.

Under the watchful eye of Buffy, Drusilla lifted the werewolf with ease and took him into her bedroom, where said items of restraint were immediately put to good use. The rest of the housemates retired to the living area Xander comforted Willow, assuring her that they could sort it out in the morning, Kendra and Cordelia, (who had finished her marathon make-up session and had entered the living room just in time to see Drusilla whack "what looked like a big, hairy sasquatch with that evil demon dolly of hers,") went into the kitchen for a chocolate fix.

Werewolf / Oz crisis averted Buffy headed off to the Diary Room with Crisis 2 to attend to, she only had a moment to hope that she would have the strength both mentally and emotionally to do what she had promised Jenny.