Buffy stayed at Spike's with Angelus and Cora until three, when Spike showed up. After spending more than an hour in the same room as Angelus, she was ready to leave. Cora had looked sad to see her go and had asked her to come back for a visit the next day.
Buffy went over the things Cora had told her. It still seemed impossible. Angelus was evil; he was cruel and malicious, and he was always that way. Buffy exited the cemetery and headed towards Giles', lost in thought. The way Cora was so comfortable with him was unreal, but then again, the girl had known him since she had been born. Buffy knocked on the Giles' door. He opened it after a minute and smiled a warm greeting.
"Buffy, wonderful of you to stop by. Come in, come in." Giles beckoned her inside and closed the door behind her.
"Hey Giles. I hope I didn't interrupt you," Buffy said as she took a seat on Giles' couch.
"No, no, not at all. I took a day off from the Magick Shop today and I've been catching up on some light reading." Giles motioned towards a rather large stack of books on the coffee table.
"Right…" Buffy laughed at the ex-librarian. "So, I meant to come by after patrol last night to tell you about this, but I got tired, and then I was…occupied today."
"Buffy, what is it?" Giles switched into instant Watcher mode.
"Well, first of all…Angelus is back in town."
"He-what? Buffy are you all right? Did you two fight?"
"Yeah, Giles everything is okay. Confusing, but okay." Buffy took a deep breath, wondering how she would tell her ex-Watcher about Cora and her relationship with Spike and Angelus. "I don't exactly know how to tell you all of this without you thinking I'm crazy, but…"
Buffy spent the next half hour filling Giles in on everything that she had learned over the last twenty-four hours. Giles fired questions at her the entire time, and Buffy realized that she still didn't know everything yet. She couldn't answer half of them.
"It's just so hard to believe," Buffy said after she had finished telling Giles about her strange afternoon watching soap operas with the new girl and Angelus.
"Yes, it is quite strange," Giles agreed. "Although I suppose that if there really is a different side to Angelus, he wouldn't go around advertising it. Spike's a vampire, and even when he could still murder he had many human emotions. I suppose that we're seeing Angelus' slightly more human side."
Buffy was surprised at how well Giles was taking the surprising news.
"Not to underestimate him, however," Giles continued. "To you and me, he is still just as dangerous. You need to be ready for him should he make an attack on you."
"Should I go after him?" Buffy looked hesitant. "With Cora here?"
"I think our best place right now is the defensive. Especially with…Cora—is her name? As in, the goddess of Hell and the queen of the underworld? Well, that's certainly not encouraging."
"Angelus named her," Buffy explained.
"He named her?" Giles shook his head in disbelief. "This definitely gives us a new view of Angelus." Giles removed his glasses and leaned against the wall of his living room. "Quite strange."
"He's not good though, Giles. He's not Angel."
"No, he most certainly is not. And that is rather important for you to remember. I do believe, however, that this Cora may be a lot more powerful than she seems. I don't know how else she could have such a strong influence on Angelus, despite the Gypsies' curse. For now, we need to be cautious. I do believe that we want Cora on our side. We wouldn't want to do anything to threaten her."
"Killing Angelus would threaten her?" Buffy raised her eyebrows at him.
"It would seem so."
"Fine. Then, I won't kill him, but if he makes a move against me, I'll be ready." Buffy stood up from her place on the couch.
"Yes, I think that it would be wise to be ready for him."
"Don't worry, Giles." Buffy was heading towards the door. "I will be." She reached the door handle and turned back to say goodbye to Giles. "I'm going to see Riley, I think. I'll talk to you some more tomorrow."
"Right, well, be careful," Buffy was already half way out the door, "and check in!" Giles called as the young Slayer closed the door behind her.
"We're certainly going to have some interesting days ahead," Giles said to himself as he watched the door close and put his glasses back on.
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After Buffy left, Cora had spent the next hour refereeing arguments between Spike and Angelus over who would control the remote. Both vampires betrayed the fact that they were hundreds of years old with their childish bickering. Finally, they both settled on one of the movies out of Spike's trunk: Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
"Cora…" The girl had been zoning out since they put the movie in. "Hello-o." Finally, with an evil grin, Angelus reached up and grabbed Cora's injured leg firmly. He ignored the sharp stab of pain in his gut as Cora let out a stifled scream. The downside of their slight agreement: if she ever felt threatened by him or if he caught her off guard and hurt her, he felt double her pain.
She turned to him with a clenched smile. "Yes?"
Angel gestured to the TV. "You're missing the fun."
"If you're referring to the blood and the torture and the cannibals, then I know I am. And it's on purpose."
"You know, pet, for practically being raised by vampires, you're quite the goody-goody," Spike commented dryly from his spot on the chair.
"Sorry I don't condone the whole killing and murdering and drinking of blood," Cora narrowed her eyes at him, and then turned back to Angelus. "I am getting hungry though."
"Really? I'm still stuffed from breakfast." Angelus kept his eyes pinned to the TV.
"Well, it's way past dinner time for the human and I'm hungry," Cora complained. "If you're both going to keep me locked up in this graveyard for a while then the least you can do is feed your prisoner."
"I usually just like to torture mine, not feed them," Angelus said.
"I'll go get you something, pet," Spike said, giving in and getting up. He headed for the door. It was past eight, and the sun had already disappeared beyond the horizon.
"Wait," Cora began, sitting up, "I want to go."
Angelus laughed loudly. "You can't even walk." Cora sank back into the couch. Unfortunately, he was very right.
"Fine, but nothing too greasy, Spike. I don't think my stomach can handle it yet."
"Yeah, sure, pet. Whatever you say." Spike closed the door behind him with a heavy thud.
Angelus and Cora sat in silence for a few minutes, listening to the screaming that emanated from the movie.
Then Cora let out a small growl.
"You're starting to sound like a vampire, girl." Angelus turned his head to look at her.
"I was locked up in that basement for almost two weeks, Angel, and now I might as well be locked in this crypt. I can't walk; I can't even get myself food. I'm tired of being like this."
"But you're so freakin' cute when you're helpless." Angelus gave her a sly smile. Cora returned it with an angry look. "Fine, Cora, how about we go for a walk around the cemetery?"
"Really?" Cora smiled. "I actually don't know if I can walk though," she reluctantly admitted to him. She cast an angry look down at her bruised legs.
"I guess I can help," Angelus said sarcastically. He stood up from the couch and helped her sit up. He pulled the blanket off that had been covering her and evaluated her clothing. She was still in her tank top, her abdomen wrapped up in the thick bandages, with Spike's boxer shorts on. "You need some clothes. You might as well be walking around naked." Angelus grinned at her. "You can walk around naked if you want you know," he offered with a sneaky grin.
"You're disgusting, Angelus," Cora countered. "I don't have any shoes." She contemplated her lack of clothes for a second. "I'm gonna have to get some stuff. You should take me shopping." She smiled up at Angelus.
"Yeah, right. Then dinner, then a movie…not." He helped her swing her legs to the floor. "We'll just take a few steps out of the crypt. It's warm tonight."
After helping her get up, he looped one of his arms around her waist, supporting most of her body weight for her. She looked up to him gratefully and then concentrated on making her battered body move.
Angelus noticed her cringing with each step. "I could just carry you. You wouldn't even bleed on me this time."
"Well I didn't mean to bleed on you the first time," Cora replied as they worked their way up the steps to the old wooden door.
"By the way," she began. "You bit me last night. You shouldn't have done that."
"I didn't bite you. I scratched you. Suck it up." Angelus pushed open the door.
"When I heal and we cut all this nice crap, I'm gonna kick your ass for that."
"Yeah, I figured." Angelus smiled at her as they stepped into the moonlit night.
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Buffy had gotten halfway to Riley's frat house when she remembered that he was out of town with some of his friends. Instead of walking back home, she pulled out her cell and called Willow. She knew she could count on her best friend to pick her up and go patrolling with her. Plus, she bribed Willow with all of the new information she had regarding the mysterious girl who now resided in Spike's crypt and her own vampire ex. Willow had eagerly agreed and not ten minutes later, her car pulled up to where Buffy was walking on the sidewalk.
"Ready to go kill some baddies?" the redhead called from inside the car.
"Aren't I always?" Buffy got into Willow's little black car and put her seat belt on.
"Where to first?" she asked.
"Well, how about you pick a cemetery and we'll patrol there first?"
"Sounds good." Willow smiled at her best friend. "So when do I get to hear all that juicy news?"
"You drive, I'll talk," Buffy instructed. Then she took a deep breath and told the story for the second time that night.