Give The Soul Life

As the bright light disappeared the five friends gathered around Angel with anticipation. He lay on the ground breathing heavily as he tried to get up. "Don't try to get up so soon," Wesley warned. "Just relax and let the magic work."

"What…what did you…what did you do to me?" Angel asked in between pointless intakes of air.

"How do you feel?" Willow asked with a bright smile on her face.

"I don't," Angel started to say as he tried to get up, "I don't feel any different. What the hell did you do to me?"

"That will all be explained once we figure out if it worked," Cordelia answered.

"Wha…what are you talking about?" Angel asked. And before he knew what hit him Wesley grabbed his arm through the bars and taking advantage of his weakened state, injected him with a relaxant. "Ahh," Angel screamed in pain, "What are you…what are you doing?" he pleaded weakly.

"Shh," Fred responded, "Just let the relaxant take over. Let it take away all your pain and suffering."

"No…what did you?" Angel pleaded with worried eyes. He fell to the ground in his weakened state. "Do you realize what you've done? The last," he started to say as he tried to catch is breath, "The last time I had a relaxant drug Angelus was temporarily freed. Why are you doing this? Why are you trying to bring him out?"

"How do you feel?" Tara asked as they all ignored what he was saying.

Angel took a moment to think as the drugs were starting to work their way through his system. He smiled and the look on his face was the look of a completely plastered person who had had way too much to drink. "I feel…great!" he answered with a smile.

"And Angelus?" Wesley asked.

"He's not…he's not here," Angel said with an intoxicated smile. "In fact…I don't really feel him at all anymore. But hey…that could just be the liquor talking," Angel said as he slurred his words.

The others looked at each other and laughed a little. "Angel you didn't have anything to drink," Fred said with a giggle.

Angel started cracking up. "Oh yeah…good point. What the hell did you guys do to me?" he asked still with a smile on his face.

"Angel…you're free," Willow said with a smile.

Angel just looked at her with a confused smile, "What do you mean?"

"To be happy," Willow finished. "You're free to be happy. The curse is gone Angel. The soul still remains but the curse…is gone."

These were extremely sobering words. His smile faded as he thought about what he had just heard. "How?" he asked as he tried again to stand up and laughed a little as he stumbled a bit.

"Because you deserve to be happy Angle," Cordelia answered. "Willow found a spell that could eliminate the curse without eliminating your soul. You're still a vampire with a soul…but the demon…is gone."

"You don't have to worry anymore, Angel," Willow said softly as she walked closer to the cage at a very stunned looking Angel. "Angelus is never coming back. He's still inside of you. There was no way to get him out without killing you but he's buried so deep now that he will never get back. We locked him up Angel and we threw away the key. No longer will he bother you…torture you…keep you from what you deserve."

Angel swallowed hard as he tried to stay focused on what Willow was telling him. "And what's that Willow? What do I deserve?"

Willow just smiled and softly replied, "Happiness."

XXXXX

"So he just…didn't show up?" Giles asked Lorne as the two walked into the hotel.

Lorne shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe we got our times mixed up or something." They were discussing the client that Lorne was supposed to see. He had asked for Giles' help in translating but when they got to the place they were supposed to meet the man they realized that he didn't show up. Little did Giles know that there was no man at all.

Giles looked around with slight worry in his eyes. "Where is everyone?"

"I don't know," Lorne said as he looked around too trying his hardest to seem stumped as well. "Why don't you check upstairs and I'll go check the kitchen."

"Good idea," Giles said as he started walking towards the stairs.

As he started ascending the stairs Lorne walked out of sight and waited for Giles to be completely out of sight before going down to the basement. "Sorry I'm late folks but poor Giles kept wanting to wait longer for our little non existent friend."

"Where is Giles?" Tara asked to make sure he didn't know where they were.

"He's looking for all of you upstairs," Lorne responded. "Is everything done? Did it work?" he asked with excitement in his voice.

"We think so," Wesley responded, "Time for you to make sure."

"Angel?" Fred said as she walked to the cage that held him.

"Hmm?" Angel asked with a smile and tears in his eyes. The happy drugs hadn't warn off yet and for the past twenty minutes or so that they had been waiting for Lorne were filled with Angel telling his friends how much he loved them. He had been balling his eyes out at their kind gesture and he was feeling very good at the moment.

"Angel we need you to sing for Lorne, ok?" Fred asked her friend.

Angel stood up slowly with a smile on his face as he whipped away his tears, "Alright. I know the perfect thing to sing," he said proudly. "My friends are the greatest friends in the world," he started to sing. "They make me so happy and everyone makes me so happy and I feel so happy," he continued to sing the made up song.

"Alright Angel cakes that's enough," Lorne stopped him as he began to laugh a little.

"Well?" Cordelia asked anxiously as they all awaited Lorne's response.

"He's our Angel alright," Lorne responded with a smile. The other five breathed a sigh of relief. They weren't really too worried to begin with because they were pretty confident that the spell would work, but now it was for real. "There is no sign of evil anywhere. When Angel used to sing…I could sense Angelus in there," Lorne paused. "I don't sense it anymore. It's gone."

The whole group started yelling and hugging in cheer of their accomplishment. Angel walked up to the bars and put his arms through. "Oh…I want to have hug time too," he wined.

The others laughed a little. "How much longer do you think he's going to be like this?" Cordelia asked with a giggle.

"Shouldn't be too much longer," Fred responded. "We should probably let him out now and maybe get him some coffee or something."

As soon as Wesley opened the cage Angel practically ran up to the girls and wrapped them in a huge hug. "I love you guys," Angel said as the tears started to come again.

They just laughed and started leading him upstairs. "We love you too Angel," Fred responded with a smile.

XXXXXX

Buffy, Dawn, Faith and Anya were the last ones to come home that day. Even the boys had gotten home from work before the girls finally called Giles to pick them up from the mall. They kind of wanted to tell everyone together what they had done for Angel but since he was still pretty drugged up when Giles found them they were pretty much forced to tell him.

Giles was a little upset that they had done all of this behind everyone else's backs but he understood the reason why they didn't tell anyone else. Willow only told the people whose help she needed and while Giles could have been a good asset she felt that he would have protested and just ended up slowing everyone down.

It was true. Giles admitted that he probably would have tried to stop them. He would have told them it was too dangerous or something similar to that. Although he was a little upset he realized that what's done is done and he did know that Angel had done a lot of good since he came to LA and even before that when he was in Sunnydale. After some convincing he finally admitted that Angel did deserve this and that he was happy for him.

Spike was the next to find out. He came back shortly after Angel's happy drugs had worn off. He was furious that Cordelia and Wesley had sent him on a wild goose chase. When he got to the house they sent him to, the person had no idea who he was, what Angel Investigations was and further more they didn't even have a basement.

When they told him the reason why they had done what they did he couldn't stop laughing. He didn't really care about the whole, Angel's curse being gone thing. He was just upset that he missed all the hugging and crying and drugged up fun.

They also ended up telling Connor, Xander and Gunn when they got home from work. Xander of course, since he wasn't always a big fan of Angel, didn't really care either way but Connor and Gunn were both very proud of what they did and genuinely happy for Angel.

Oddly enough, the only person who really didn't seem happy for Angel was Angel himself. When the drugs wore off he pretty much barricaded himself in his office and just told everyone he needed some time to think. They definitely weren't getting the reaction they expected. They thought he would be happy and grateful but instead he was solitary and shut down.

He had been in his office for a few hours now and when Giles left to go pick up the girls Willow decided that it was time someone go in there and find out what was going on. She took a deep breath and knocked on the office door.

"Come in," Angel said reluctantly.

"Hey there," Willow said with a forced smile as she entered the room.

Angel was reading some papers at his desk and when Willow first walked in there was a moment of silence.

"So umm…I just wanted to let you know that everyone's back except for Dawn, Anya, Faith and…Buffy," she finally spoke. Just the mention of Buffy's name made Angel flinch but he didn't say a word. "Giles is actually picking them up from the mall now," she continued.

Finally Angel spoke. "Do they know?"

He was referring to everyone who was home already and Willow knew it. "Yeah," she admitted with a sheepish face. "We were going to let you decide when to tell them or at least tell them all together but Giles was confused about how you were acting and Spike knew we sent him to get him out of the hotel and demanded to know why and then…" she stopped her rambling when his innocent eyes finally met hers. "I'm sorry," she said bashfully.

"It's ok Willow," Angel reassured. He could see the mixed emotions in her eyes. She was confused. He could tell that she was wondering why he was acting this way and wondering if she did the right thing or if maybe he was mad at her or something. He knew that he had to explain himself. "Willow…I'm sorry," he started. "I know I haven't exactly been acting the way I'm sure you expected me to react to this. I guess it's just…a lot to take in."

"I know," Willow said shyly, "And I'm sorry. We shouldn't have done it the way we did. We just wanted it to be a surprise and with the cage incase it didn't work and we just did everything wrong…" she rambled.

"Willow its ok," Angel stopped her and smiled. He stood up and walked towards her. "I'm glad you did what you did," he said softly and reassuringly. "I mean this is great," he continued. "Now I won't ever have to worry about becoming a monster again. I won't ever have to worry about hurting the people I love again."

"Yeah," Willow said in agreement. "But…that's not the only reason why I wanted to do this. I know you think that you should be condemned for the things that you did in the past Angel but you're not like that anymore. You're one of the good guys and you have been for a long time now. You can't keep doing this to yourself. You deserve a little happiness in your life. You deserve to be with the one you love," Willow continued with a hinting ton.

Angel didn't say anything but he knew what she was talking about. There was silence and then Willow broke it. "Alright well…I'm going to go out there with the others. Feel free to grace us with your present anytime now," she joked with a smile.

He smiled lightly back at her as he watched her walk out the door.

XXXXX

By the time Buffy and the others got back to the hotel Angel had come out of hiding. Everyone was sitting around in the lobby talking and laughing, even Angel. When Giles and the girls walked in everyone fell silent and started staring at Buffy. Buffy just looked around at everyone with extreme confusion. "Alright, I give," she finally said. "What's with all the creepy stairs?" she asked with an unnerving smile. Dawn, Faith and Anya were all looking very confused and wondering the same thing.

Everyone was still very silent and they all just looked around to see who was going to tell them. "So…" Dawn said trying to break the awkward silence. "What did you guys do today?"

Willow looked at Angel and he nodded to her. He was never really all that good with all eyes being on him and he really didn't want to tell the story. He also felt it would be more fitting if Willow told them since it was her idea and all.

The red head didn't really know how to start so she just went with, "Oh you know…ate lunch, hung out…did a spell on Angel to take away his curse but leave his soul so that he could feel happiness…hung out some more. The usual," she added with a smile and a shrug of her shoulders.

The others just looked at her, smiled and tried to stop from laughing. Even Giles was about to crack up. The only ones not almost laughing were Faith, Dawn, Anya and Buffy who instead were trying to comprehend what Willow had just said. "I'm sorry…come again?" Faith asked with confusion evident in her facial expression.

After the joking part was over Willow explained the events of the day and all of her plans that led up to it. The whole time Willow was telling the story Buffy never took her eyes off of Angel. Her face was expressionless as she tried to take it all in. Angel didn't really know what else to do but to stair back. He looked into her eyes searching for any shred of emotion he could find.

"So Angelus," Faith started to say, "He can never come out now? It's Angel all the way?"

"That's right," Willow answered.

"And he doesn't have to worry anymore about the whole true happiness thing?" Dawn asked as she looked at her sister.

Willow looked at Buffy too whose eyes were still fixated on Angel. "Yup…if Angel finds true happiness…he won't have to run from it anymore," she responded as she changed her gaze to Angel.

After the question and answer session, neither Buffy nor Angel had said a word still. There was a moment of silence as everyone looked around at each other trying to figure out what they should do. Then all of the sudden everyone at the same time started giving excuses to why they had to leave. "I'm getting really tired I should go to bed," some said. "I think I'm going to go for a walk," others said. "I'm gonna go read a book or something," more said.

One by one they all started walking upstairs, outside, to the kitchen, to the basement and anywhere else they could go to leave Buffy and Angel alone. Even Spike, who didn't like this situation at all, just walked out the door without a word. As everyone was walking around and leaving, Buffy finally snapped out of her trance and started watching as everyone left and smiled at her.

When everyone was finally out of the room Buffy walked towards Angel and he walked towards her. They both looked at each other trying to find the words they wanted to say. They both even opened their mouths a couple of times but nothing came out.

"I don't…I don't really know what to say here," Buffy said with a forced smile.

"Neither do I," Angel responded. After a few more moments of silence Angel finally spoke again. "Buffy…I…I don't think this should change anything…between us."

At first she wasn't sure if she heard him correctly. From the moment she heard what Willow was saying and really understood it she was hoping beyond all hope that this would mean her and Angel could finally be together. Ever since moving in with him she had been longing for his touch and his companionship. "You don't?" Buffy asked with mixed emotions in her ton of voice.

"It's just that if you really think about it, nothing has changed," he tried to reason.

"Are you serious?" Buffy asked angrily as if he was crazy.

"I mean yes…obviously things have change," Angel clarified. "But I'm still a vampire, Buffy. I still can't bring you into the light. You'll still get older and I'll still stay the same. You'll still die one day and I'll still live forever." He paused, "I still have nothing to offer you."

At this point Angel was really just trying her patients. Normally she would probably just hide her emotions and agree with him and go on as if nothing ever happened because she would have no other choice. But right now she was pregnant, hormonal, and down right sick of his crap. She shook her head in fury. "No," she said angrily.

Angel looked at her with confusion. "What?"

"I'm not going to let you do this, Angel," she yelled. "I'm not going to let you make me your excuse," she explained angrily. She paused for a moment to let what she just said sink in and then she looked at him with extreme seriousness. "Do you love me?" she asked him strait forwardly.

"Buffy this…" Angel started to say as he turned away from her.

"No," Buffy interrupted him. Her anger was starting to become taken over by sadness but she tried her hardest not to let it. "Please Angel," she said calmly as she grabbed his arm. "It's a simple question."

He looked at her with despair in his eyes. Finally he answered her. "Yes," he said softly. "You know I do. I always have. I always will."

Buffy smiled at him as tears started forming in her eyes. She put her hand to his check and caressed it. "Then that's all that matters," she said lovingly.

All Angel wanted to do was let all of his emotions go and give in but he couldn't. He moved away from her caressing touch. "It's not that simple," he said angrily. "I won't do this to you Buffy. I won't let you do this to yourself," he said as he started to walk away from her.

"Do what?" she pleaded.

Angel paused in his dramatic walking away and turned around. "You deserve better Buffy. You deserve someone who can take you into the light, someone who can grow old with you."

"Don't tell me what I deserve!" she yelled as she marched towards him. "Don't you think I should be the one to decide what I deserve?" she pleaded. "It's my decision Angel," she said as she started calming down again. "You remember years ago when you asked me if I ever think of the future? And remember what I told you?" Angel nodded his head. "It's still true," Buffy continued. "All I want…is you."

She paused and for a moment they just stared at each other. "I don't care about the other stuff," she continued forcefully. "I don't care about…" she paused and grabbed her stomach.

"Buffy?" Angel said with worry in his voice. "Are you alright?"

Buffy looked up at Angel. "I think it's time."

To be continued….

Note: I promised I would tell everyone the translation of the Latin that Willow and Tara were speaking in the previous chapter. The English translation of the spell is as fallows: 'God of emotions, evil of curses, please release this soul's curse, its bind. Please give it life, allow it to feel, allow it to love. Give the soul life, give the soul life, give the soul life.' It was the best I could think of. Thanks for all the reviews guys!