Disclaimer: I own nothing below except the plot. All characters, locations, and concepts are owned under their respective copyrights.

Spoilers and Timeline: Buffy up to season 2 "Passion" Time frame "Killed by Death"

Author's note: As with all of my stories, suggestions about future plot developments are welcome and wanted. Reviews of any kind are neat as well.

Thanks to my Beta: xfirefly9x

Only Two

Chapter 5

Joyce Summers awoke feeling light-headed and nauseous. She thought at first she was suffering from a hangover.

Then the memories flooded back. Her day was normal. Until she returned home. Then there was her encounter with that strange boy, Angel. He had done something to her, the details were still fuzzy. He had attacked her. Before she blacked out he mentioned "your daughter isn't what she appears to be." That was important for some reason, though she couldn't reach the fateful conclusion. That was when she noticed her location.

She was lying on a bed, though it was more like a cot, and she wasn't covered with anything except her work clothes. She noticed a bandage on her neck. When she looked up, she saw bars high above her head. As she looked around, she noticed she was in a cage. Outside of the cage, there was a dilapidated old factory that had seen better days, it was sparsely decorated with a table and chairs, and it held a strange collection of dolls. There were a number of people outside of the cage. Two were near the cage, the rest were scattered throughout the room. The first person was standing in front of the cage; she was a pretty young woman with black hair. The second was a young man with curiously bleached blonde hair in a wheelchair. She sat up and swung her legs so she was facing the duo.

They were discussing her. The woman turned to face her and said cheerfully "Oh, look, mummy's up."

The blonde man turned also, and Joyce had to admit, he was handsome, except for the hair. He regarded her with a somber expression. "I suppose she is, Dru, we'll need to get some food for her, she'll be with us for a time."

Joyce thought this was an appropriate time to make herself known. "What's going on here? Why am I locked up?"

The woman, Dru apparently, walked closer to the cage. "Mummy shouldn't be so loud, she should be like a child, seen but not heard. You're like a little bird, caged so the cat won't get you, so yummy and so fun, right Spike?"

The young man, or Spike was it, moved closer to the cage. "You'll have to pardon Dru, she's wrapped up in her head sometimes. Why are you here? Well, do you remember what happened last night?"

Joyce tried to force the memories to come, but they seemed to go to that place where she kept things she would rather forget. She sat up "There was a weird boy, he came looking for my daughter. Then he-" and she couldn't quite say what happened next. It was similar to what happened last year, when she ended up in the hospital after falling on a barbecue fork, which didn't make any sense - she didn't even own one.

Spike snorted. Hearing his grand-sire referred to as a 'boy' was worth a good laugh later. "What was the boy's name?"

Joyce was wondering why he wanted to know. "He said his name was Angel, do you know him?" Also, she still hadn't gotten the 'why am I locked up?' answer. She stood up and moved closer to the bars of the cage.

Spike and Dru smiled in unison, eerily so, and she answered, again cryptically. "Daddy and Spike knew each other well, but I was their favorite, Daddy made me special."

Joyce had enough, she looked sharply at Dru and berated her. "Will you just shut up, all that you're saying is nonsense."

Dru bristled and almost snarled. Spike was not pleased by the rebuke or the tone. "You ought not talk to her like that, she's killed for much less. That's why you're locked up, so we don't do that."

Joyce took a step back "K-kill me? Why?"

Spike motioned for Dru to follow him as he moved closer "We need to make something clear first, did Angel look like this last night?" Spike morphed his face to that of a vampire, and Joyce's memories were triggered, and she felt the fear again.

She whimpered, "What are you, some kind of cult. With the masks and fake teeth and those weird yellow contacts."

Spike was about to yell at her, growl, and demonstrate his power to get her to see, but Dru interrupted. "Bad Mummy doesn't want to hear or see, we are the fear that comes with the dark, the monsters under the bed or in the closet, and if you let us in, you're powerless." and her eyes focused on Joyce and looked her up and down, "and I want to know how your life tastes, I can hear it coursing through you like a river, and I'm thirsty."

Spike regarded Drusilla for a moment. That was a very poetical description of their existence; maybe he could convince her to keep a journal, publish it someday. He turned to Joyce. "I never did get your name, sorry about that."

Joyce was still shaken by Dru's description, Joyce still wasn't sure what she meant. She gathered herself enough to answer. "It's Joyce."

Spike softened his demeanor but kept the vamp face. "Well, Joyce, what the lovely little brain-teaser here is trying to say is that we're vampires, the genuine article. Immortal, no sun, don't fancy crosses much, tend to avoid picket fences."

Joyce still refused to believe such an outlandish story. It couldn't be real. "That's ridiculous, it can't be—"

Drusilla was tired of this game, so she morphed her own face, jumped up to the top of the cage, jumped again so she was in the rafters of the ceiling, ran a little, and then dropped to land perfectly back in her original spot while turning face her back to normal. "Does mummy see now?"

Joyce gaped "Okay...vampires, now what does this have to do with me and my daughter?"

Spike lost some of the softness in his face. "Your daughter is the, I mean a Slayer." Spike corrected, he had met the other one. She was also a lot of trouble.

Joyce got that quizzical look again. "And what the hell does that mean?"

Spike smirked. "Actually it's short for vampire," Spike pointed at himself "Slayer." Dru mimed staking him in the heart. "They're supposed to kill us, and the last time I fought your daughter, she dropped half a building on me, thus the wheels. We've met before, I was about to kill her when you hit me with an axe."

Joyce thought back to that night. She vaguely remembered something of that sort. And then she thought of Buffy's odd behavior. Her expulsion from Hemery High School, her strange friends. Not the kind she used to have in Los Angeles, and then something Spike said struck her. "You're trying to kill my daughter, why?"

Spike wheeled up to the cage, so that the front of the chair clinked against the bars. "We're enemies, plain and simple. Also, I like a good fight, and Slayers provide some of the best brawls. I've already killed two others."

Joyce asked the next obvious question. "How many are there?" Joyce was thinking there were many people like this, it was obvious there were multiple vampires, it would make sense that there would be a number of 'Slayers.'

Spike thought for a moment "Well, for some reason, there's only ever been one, it's always a young girl, can't fathom why, but now there are two, and that is not a surprise that I liked."

Joyce was again puzzled. "If there's only ever one, and you've killed two, why is Buffy a Slayer?"

Spike laid it out for her neatly. "When one dies, the next one is called. The first one I killed was in China and the next was in New York."

Joyce was getting a headache, now to the important question, her first one actually. "Okay, now what about me? Are you going to use me as some kind of bait?"

Dru hopped up and down in an entirely girlish manner. Joyce found it creepy, and Dru's happy-sounding voice provided little comfort. "Oh, Spike, that's a good plan. Mummy would make a good sister for you. Little Slayer is going to come anyway. She'll bring daddy with her; he'll want to punish us. She's going to bring the one who is like her too. They'll break our bargain. We should set mummy free and make her like us."

Spike considered this, in all likelihood, Dru was right, that the troublesome Slayer would probably mount a rescue mission, but maybe the state of her Watcher, the stuffy brit, would keep her in check. "Not yet luv. If that happens, you can do what you want to her. How about the teacher that Angelus said he killed?"

Dru moved Spike away from the cage and told him what she saw. "She's alive, and won't let the Watcher go, but he drifts ever away from her. Locked away in his mind, he lives where she's not, and she wants him to come back. He can't take back what he's given, and the teacher will get desperate."

Spike looked up at her. He wondered what else she could see, and felt the tingle of healing in his legs.

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Jenny wasn't exactly sure why she was here. Giles couldn't speak, couldn't respond to her in any way. He was lying there, hooked up to all sorts of machinery; at this point it was the only thing keeping him alive. When Dr. Gaines had called her, she hoped it was with good news. He had dashed those hopes when he told her Giles' condition had worsened inexplicably, and instead of a week, Giles had mere days to live.

On getting the call, Jenny had dismissed her classes and left the school, citing a family emergency as an excuse for her departure. Principal Snyder couldn't keep her from leaving. Not that he wanted to try, her look and voice left no doubt she was going to leave; it was like she was daring him to try and stop her. She let Willow know where she was going, knowing the girl would pass the information along.

So here she was sitting in the hospital room of a comatose Giles. He looked peaceful, despite his condition. She had a flicker of doubt then. Maybe she should just let him go. She could keep and remember his love, and use it to guide her in her new mission, to serve in his stead, help Buffy and her friends fight the evil that seemed rampant in this town. Giles had even given her means to call on reinforcements if she wanted.

As it was only a flicker, the doubt died shortly after. She thought back to the look on his face when she had come back to life. She had seen the grief that had almost crushed him, and the relief that its reason was gone. And she thought about the note he wrote. She pulled it out and read through it yet again, it calmed her and gave her hope. If she couldn't find a way to bring him back, this was the part of himself he left for her.

This was all silly and maudlin. She had a plan, it was fairly extreme. He might hate her for it. But he deserved to know it, even if he couldn't hear her, she owed him that.

She scooted her chair closer to his bed and grabbed his free hand; the other was a connecting point for one of many I.V.s. She hoped he could at least feel her in some way.

She squeezed and stroked the hand, trying to will her warmth and life into him. She knew it was futile; her research had thus far been brief and had produced nothing on Rupert's condition. Though she did find something on the other problem she wanted to prevent.

"Rupert..." Now that she said his name she was unsure how to continue, she wasn't used to talking to people who couldn't talk back.

Then her determination reared its head again. 'Damn it, just do it, you need to say it. It's as much for you as it is for him', it told her, and then she took a deep, calming breath.

"Rupert, I'm here, I don't know if you can hear me. You were right about that spell - it's killing you."

She squeezed his hand harder, her anger at him coming out. "How could you save me, only to leave me to face everything alone. Well, news flash buddy, you're not going anywhere, I'm looking into reversing the spell, and if I can't then I'll force a certain vampire we both know to keep you here the only way he can. Then I'll modify Angel's curse to bring your soul back, I know you'll have issues with that, but-"

She stopped and brought his hand up, and kissed it lightly. "We always let things tear us apart, and so far, we don't do well when that happens, your puppy-dog eyes, me dying. Not this time. One way or another, you are not going anywhere." She felt her emotions well up within her. She'd already let out more out than she thought. Before she added tears to the kiss, she dropped his hand, shook her head, and left the room.

She would compose herself before she got back to the school; it wouldn't do to have the kids worried about her. Buffy, Willow, and their friends. She would need their help with research. They would need all of their focus for that, not guessing at why she'd been crying.

While Jenny had delivered her message and promise, Giles was locked in another side effect of the spell.

For Giles, the last couple of days had shown him the reason why Slayers and Watchers were supposed to be secret and alone. If he hadn't become attracted to Jenny, if they had not pursued a relationship, her death would be just another unfortunate victim in the long list of those that turned up periodically in Sunnydale.

It wouldn't hurt as much as it did. He wouldn't be haunted by her lifeless face during his fitful attempts at sleep. He wouldn't have to know the meaning behind the smirk Angelus sported when Giles had attacked him that night. To know, that no matter what he accomplished during the attack, the demon had already won. To add humiliation to grief and rage, Giles was unable to get vengeance for Jenny. He almost joined her in death. In truth, a part of him welcomed the possibility. It was Buffy that had brought him back; she showed that she still needed him.

This was shown in stark terms when Buffy had contracted a flu that landed even her in the hospital. That was where he currently was. He had just endured a rather awkward conversation with Buffy's mother. She had tried to comfort him. She'd heard about Jenny and that they had been close. Her efforts were halting and ineffective, as such attempts usually are; some things can't be soothed with a kind word. Giles was about to go see about Buffy when he felt something.

It was a warmth that wrapped around his hand, and there was incoherent whispering. It was a soft voice that rose and fell with emotion. He couldn't make out the words, but he could feel its urgency and will, its anger and determination, and a strange feeling of fear and elation that stirred within him. He didn't give this more thought. Buffy had talked of something that was attacking people in the hospital, that was apparently invisible to those like himself, but Buffy and others, children apparently, could see it and were scared.

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It was later that day. Willow was attempting to keep up the fiction that she and her friends were attending a regular high school, where grades and attendance actually mattered. She and Cordelia; whoever thought they would have the same idea on any subject? But such was the power of being comrades in arms on numerous occasions, even though they were bitter rivals, and Willow still resented that Cordelia was dating Xander. But this was muted by recent events and a new-found relationship with a certain werewolf.

Xander was too busy to note all of this. His current job involved sorting through books, and taking those he thought to contain magical materials to Ms. Calendar. She had taken up residence in Giles' office. Some titles were incomprehensible, being in various languages, demonic and otherwise. For those he turned to Oz, who was at a computer nearby. He was alternating between researching about Giles' problem, and using Ms. Calendar's translation program to read the titles Xander could not. Ms. Calendar had set up a computer in the fading Watcher's office, something Xander found unsettling.

He was also worried about Buffy. She had been agitated all day. She was action girl; she did not enjoy research. Even though the situation with Angel was much improved, he still couldn't be around during the day. Also, Buffy was worried about her mother. Xander wondered how Giles would react on seeing the damage some of his books had suffered on being used so roughly by Buffy. There was another reason Watchers researched; the Slayer could destroy their source materials.

Buffy demonstrated this when she suddenly slammed her current book shut. She stood up and walked quickly towards the office. Xander began the 'Uh oh' thinking process. She was about to have it out with Ms. Calendar.

Buffy practically stormed into the office. Her research had turned up almost nothing on Giles' problem and she let Ms. Calendar know as much. "What are we doing here? We should be thinking about how to get my mother back from the vamp circus in town."

And she basically mumbled, "And I am so grounded" when she noticed the book on the newly-computerized desk with the title Behavior Modification: Theory and Practice. Curiously, she moved around the desk to see what was on the computer screen. Ms. Calendar had yet to answer her question when Buffy saw a translated page with the heading Magical Transference. Buffy looked at the teacher's face. Jenny was still focused on the screen when she answered. "You're mom is either safe or dead. Either way, there are more important things we have to deal with right now."

Buffy was surprised. While she was aware of the situation with Giles, though not the most recent developments, she figured Ms. Calendar would understand. "I know about Giles, but what's with the Psych book?"

Jenny turned to face Buffy, who was trying to make sense of the magical stuff on the screen. "Rupert is worse off than we thought, but that isn't the only thing I have to worry about."

Buffy turned and softened at the mention of her Watcher. "What else? And I am not just going to sit around while my mother is a hostage."

Jenny regarded Buffy with annoyance. "I'm worried about Angelus, and if you want to so bad, go and try to rescue her, but keep in mind if you fail, you'll both be dead and the rest of us will be defenseless."

Buffy was shocked. "Angel, why would you be worried, you put his soul back, he's okay now. And what do you know about fighting, I've dealt with Spike and his freaky girlfriend before."

Jenny decided to field one problem at a time. The one with the most potential disaster first. "How do you feel about Angel?"

Buffy replied with a confidence that had only recently been regained. "I love him, more than I realized."

Jenny nodded, she had to hear it to be sure. "How did he lose his soul?

Buffy blushed, but forged ahead. "We had sex, and he had a moment of perfect happiness. But now that I know what could happen, we won't do it again, at least not until we can find some way around the curse."

Jenny narrowed her eyes. "Did you plan the first time?"

Buffy looked a little sheepish. "No, it just kinda happened, okay, near death experience, fighting for our lives, we got emotional."

Jenny put her hand on the psychology book. "Right, and I am trying to find a way to keep it from happening again. I'm not going to try and keep you apart, it wouldn't work anyway. Forgive me if don't trust you two. When it happened, Angel was supposed to be on a boat out of town. About the fighting, I know what it's like to know something wants to kill me, not just anybody, me."

Buffy got it. Along with the other stuff Ms. Calendar mentioned, that was her next question. "You're scared about a repeat of the night Angelus attacked you?"

Jenny scoffed. "Of course. Do you know what I went through?"

Buffy shook her head in the negative. "Not really."

Jenny sighed. "It started in my classroom. He popped out of nowhere, he kept laughing, like it was some kind of game." Jenny remembered running through the school, her heart pounding away in fear. "I ran, trying to get out. He had locked the doors before he came to get me."

She started shaking as she neared the end of her story, it was hard to relate how utterly terrified she was. "And when he caught me, you know what, he was smiling. He enjoyed my fear and the chase, like he was looking forward to it. And I can still feel his hands as they wrapped around my head. You've died before, so you know what happened next."

Buffy nodded and looked away. She vividly remembered her own death, the pain, the fear, the powerless feeling that she had. She jerked back up. "I'm sorry, I get it, okay. What about Giles, any progress there?"

Jenny indicated the computer screen. "I might have something here, but the spell's gotten worse; he's dying faster than before."

Buffy saw the look on the teacher's face as she said this. She thought she'd felt that before, and sported that look, when Angel had become Angelus. She reached out and placed a supporting hand on the older woman's arm. "I'm sorry about earlier. You're right, either way my mom is not our top problem. Besides, Kendra is going to be here later. It's probably best that I wait for her. Between the two of us, we should be able to take down Spike and his band of groupie rejects. I'll be outside. If you find anything about Angel or Giles, I'd like to know."

Jenny regarded Buffy as the Slayer got up and left. It was a new relationship they now had. Shared experiences, 'even if it was death' she thought, had brought them back to what they had before Angelus appeared, and Jenny had taken a leadership role that was entirely new territory for her.

As Buffy left the room, Xander slid into the room with an arm-full of books. He was waiting outside the door, and he had heard the entire conversation. "Everything alright, Ms. Calendar?" He thought for a moment he would have to try and stop Buffy from doing what she wanted. Try being the key word; he knew he couldn't actually do anything if she really wanted to do something.

Jenny's eyes flicked from the computer screen to Xander and back. "Not everything, but we're getting there." She smiled slightly. Things were slowly coming along. She even found something that might help her with Rupert.

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Buffy's hoped-for aid came later in the afternoon. The researcher Giles had requested and Kendra, the other Slayer, came in on the afternoon flight. The researcher had accompanied her after he had flown from England, in order to brief her on what little he knew. Her Watcher had told her what he knew, which again wasn't much, but he gave her one very important piece of information: he would no longer be her Watcher. Mr. Zabuto was to be assigned a potential Slayer.

Kendra was a tad worried. This researcher was younger than her Watcher, and noticeably more youthful than Mr. Giles. Though older than that interesting boy who had paid attention to her the last time she was in town. She couldn't quite recall his name. She'd become unusually uncomfortable around him. Her Watcher was much stricter than Mr. Giles. She wasn't allowed friends. It seems he had been vindicated, as it was these friendships that partially led to the current situation in Sunnydale.

The researcher also lacked field experience, though he could recite passages from the Slayer handbook from memory. She had read that more times than she could remember. But even she wouldn't memorize basic theory about vampires, their evolution and whatnot. The best way to hold various weapons when she was being attacked from above, sure, but not why cemeteries next to churches were less than ideal as a priority for patrol. That was not something she usually took the time to memorize.

Nothing much had changed since she was last here. Her companion hadn't been given much information, at least none that he shared with her. The last time she came, there were dire things happening, and she suspected that the same was true now.

So far the only thing that had changed was the welcome. Instead of Mr. Giles, they were greeted by a woman with short black hair. She regarded them with a guarded expression.

Jenny had seen Kendra when she was last in town. Her proximity to Giles had been upsetting; she didn't think it was jealousy, but it wasn't far from it. It was during that period when she distanced herself from Giles after the Eyghon incident; it was only later that she learned the girl was a second Slayer.

The researcher accompanying Kendra seemed like a younger Giles, glasses and all, and though he was wearing a suit, it was more casual than the ones Rupert usually wore.

Jenny waited for them, just outside the library. She decided to introduce herself to Kendra first and let the researcher wait for the moment. "Hey, Kendra, vampire Slayer, right? Mr. Giles told me about you."

"He did, oh, and who are you?" Kendra was a little surprised. Giles seemed to be very prolific with his sharing of what should be closely held secrets.

Jenny regarded the other Slayer for a moment before answering. Kendra was more imposing than Buffy. When Jenny had first heard about them, Kendra fit the profile more for a hunter of deadly creatures. "My name's Jenny. Glad you're here, Buffy's been waiting for you."

At this point the researcher cleared his throat. "Why would that be? Jenny was it? Mr. Travers mentioned someone named Calendar. Would you be her?"

Jenny shifted her attention. "Yeah, that's me. Jenny's fine though, and you would be?"

The man straightened up a bit. "Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, ma'am. Mr. Travers told me Mr. Giles included you in council business. What's going on here? Where is he, by the way?"

Jenny bristled at the tone and sought to squash any indignation this newcomer might have. "He's at the hospital right now, slowly dying, because of me. As for the rest, Buffy's mom is a prisoner of the local vampire big wig."

Wesley sought to dissect Jenny's statement. "Why is Mr. Giles dying because of you?"

Jenny deflated a little. Relating this story again got harder every time, especially since Rupert kept getting worse. "A vampire, Angel, or as you might know him, Angelus, killed me. He left my body for Giles to find." Wesley blanched at the name of the infamous vampire. This new piece of information was no surprise. What Jenny said next was shocking. "Rupert..." Jenny shifted from formal to affectionate, she couldn't help it, "used a spell to bring me back to life."

"Did he call it a transfer spell?" Wesley sharpened at this; it seemed awfully familiar.

Jenny saw the shift in focus and wondered at it. "Yes, he said he learned it at someplace called the Watcher's Academy. Why?"

Wesley got a wistful look. His time at the school was fondly remembered. "I know of the spell. Even though I was only a first year, Professor Allen encouraged students to sit in on his classes, and I couldn't pass up an opportunity like that, I had to, top marks as the goal and all that."

Jenny had no clue who this Allen person was, but here was something, now she had help with Rupert. "So you know, is there a way to reverse it?"

"Ordinarily, no, but usually the transfer from the spell is immediate. It would take a large amount of mystical energy to disrupt the spell. Is there something else around here that could cause that?" Wesley was curious, what else had Giles been up to?

Jenny jerked her hand up and pointed her thumb behind her. "Well there is an entrance to another dimension, a Hellmouth, in the center of the library, a little ways from where we're standing."

Wesley had ran the gamut from shocked, to afraid, to a trip down memory lane, now he was stupefied and he thought 'An actual Hellmouth, why in the blazes am I here? I haven't even started my field training qualifications yet. What were Travers and Giles thinking? Oh, this is bad, this is very very bad.'

He steadied himself and said to Jenny, "That would explain the abnormal behavior of the spell. I don't know of a way to reverse it, but there are some possibilities. To the next problem, Angelus, is he still around?"

Jenny cringed at the name. When she said it earlier, she was just trying to clarify who was around for newly arrived duo. The name served as a grim reminder of her recent, terrifying past. "See, there's a story there. In short, he had a soul, he was a good guy, even saved my life once. He lost the soul, went bad, I performed the curse to give him the soul back, and now he's good again."

Wesley processed the story. A vampire with a soul, there was a new one. Wait, curse. That meant this woman had some power, a quite impressive feat. "Are you a witch?"

"Naw, just a gypsy, undercover, though I do have some ability. Giles and I once bound a demon," Jenny said with some pride, and relief she didn't have to hide that anymore. Who would have thought that a demon in the internet would lead her to associate with someone who would gladly sell his life for hers, someone with whom she could share her weirdly exciting life.

Wesley was pleasantly surprised. That opened up more possibilities to restore Giles, but that could wait for the moment. He knew from his studies, prioritize, deal with threats first. The wounded could wait. Mr. Travers had briefed him before he left. He knew of Spike and Drusilla's presence in the town. He had thought Angelus was on that list, but he was thankfully wrong. "Do you know where the vampire's lair is located?"

"Buffy and Angel know where they are. What are you thinking?" Jenny wondered at the sudden shift. It seemed he had shoved Rupert to the background.

Wesley turned to Kendra. "If we consult with those two, we should be able to plan a rescue mission, and hopefully destroy the nest in the process." He turned to Jenny. "Is there anything you need to do? The sooner I can speak with the Slayer and Angel." Wesley felt weird saying the name like he was talking about an ally. Angelus was the kind of vampire that his parents had used in cautionary stories. What was really unsettling was that Wesley had found those stories were true, in every detail. "The sooner we can sort out how to implement a tactic I've wanted to try."

Kendra looked warily at Wesley. He seemed like he knew what he was talking about, but competence like beauty, could very well be skin deep.

Jenny responded. "There is one thing I have to discuss with Angel. There is a way he can lose his soul again; I'm going to try and prevent that."

"That's a capital idea. Be sure to tell me if you're successful. It would be quite the catastrophe if Angelus re-appeared." Wesley didn't know how the soul was lost in the first place; he could envision the worst scenario, that the vampire would change sides in the midst of a battle.

Jenny couldn't help but agree. She could vividly picture what Angelus would do, having already been his target. It would only be worse a second time. "Will do. Now come on, let's meet the rest of the group, then we can get to work."

Jenny turned and led Wesley and Kendra into the library where all of the Scoobies, students (Willow, Cordelia) and slackers (Oz) included, were waiting. Angel was still not there. She was equal parts relieved and nervous. She had someone to share the burden of leadership and trying to save Rupert, but she also had to have it out with Angel. She couldn't allow his soul to pull a vanishing act, and if she had to be clichéd and traditionalist about it, then she would, with some added magical punch.

Angel and Buffy might know the consequences, but they were still in love, and Jenny knew what that meant. She couldn't afford to leave her life in the hands of a young and headstrong Slayer, and a cursed vampire. Rupert had told her that Buffy was, as all Slayers were, supernaturally more mature than her age indicated, but she still wasn't willing risk it.