Hello everyone I am back. It has been a while I know and I apologise. Here is the next awaited Chapter. Please be aware it is unBeta'd at the moment I just wanted to get it out there. Enjoy! :-)
Angel
The Bronze was busier than it usually was but, luckily for the gang, Willow had gotten there early to get them a table. Xander had been the next one to arrive. He didn't stay too long at the table however, before he was off trying to score a date. Buffy was the last one to arrive as she'd been babysitting one sister and saying bye to the other. Caitlin had to go to San Francisco for a few reasons, some Buffy knew and some she didn't. The blonde had wanted to ask but she could see Caitlin was a little jumpy about it all and Mom wasn't telling. Dawn had wanted to go with them but Caitlin had pleaded with her to stay a home, pointing out that Mom was just dropping her off at the Manor, saying a quick hello, then leaving. Caitlin had sprung the trip on her sisters that morning but their mother looked like she had known about it for a while.
Willow was trying to explain to Buffy why the Bronze was so busy. "Ah, it's the fumigation party!" Buffy made a questioning noise but didn't seem to be too involved in the conversation; she just nodded absentmindedly, not really paying attention to her friend. She couldn't help but worry about Angel. Buffy hadn't seen him in a while and all the worrying about her sister now brought up the worry for him.
The redhead noticed that Buffy wasn't paying too much attention; she figured it was something to do with Caitlin. She had received a phone call from the blonde saying she was going to be away and left the number of where she was staying. Willow continued talking, giving the Slayer the benefit of the doubt "It's an annual tradition, the closing of the Bronze for a few days to nuke the Cockroaches yunno?" Willow explained as it would be Buffy's first fumigation party.
Still not paying attention Buffy responded "Oh." She was twiddling her straw in her drink in quiet worry. Caitlin always disappeared to the Manor when she was feeling stressed or her mood was down. Angel only seemed to turn up when there was trouble, plus Caitlin didn't seem to like the mysterious guy.
Willow carried on despite her friends distracted profile. "It's a lot of fun... What's it like where *you* are?" Willow inquired. She wanted to know what was wrong with her friend so she could try and help.
Buffy finally looked up to her friend and smiled sheepishly "I'm... sorry, I was just... thinking about things..." she trailed off not really wanting to tell Willow about Caitlin. She knew her sister had phoned her best friend but she wasn't sure if she had told Willow what the situation was. Hell, Buffy didn't even know herself.
"So, we're talking about a guy?" the excitable younger teen asked giving her friend a way out. Willow loved how protective Buffy was over Caitlin; she knew the older sister wouldn't dish out information about the younger teen. It made her a little envious; she wanted to be an older sister, she wanted to the one someone turned too in their time of need.
The Slayer quickly took up on the lifeline given, sure it wasn't completely different from what she was thinking about but it was better than discussing her sister's problems. Some of which she was responsible for. Buffy rallied some humour and pulled a face of mock innocence. "Not exactly a guy. For us to have a conversation about a guy there'd have to be a guy for us to have a conversation about. And is that a sentence?" Buffy asked in genuine confusion. Alright, so the subject of guys was bugging her more than she had anticipated.
Smiling at her friend's mini babble, being glad she wasn't the only one, Willow nodded and responded, "You lack a guy." Willow spoke babble enough to know how to discern what the main point of a little babble was.
Nodding slowly, Buffy smiled shyly "I do. Which is fine with me, most of the time, but..." She hadn't really dated since becoming a Slayer, well she had, but not since they incident with JD. She knew she had caused it, indirectly, by telling her boyfriend something she shouldn't have. It was hard for Buffy to trust guys around herself; she tended to say things she wasn't meant to. She didn't understand why she did it; apparently Phoebe did the same thing. Must be genetic.
Willow looked sympathetically towards Buffy. She hadn't had a boyfriend since Xander and grade school, but then, she wasn't exactly popular. Buffy had been popular and now she really wasn't. Willow could say she couldn't miss what she never had, but Buffy could. "What about Angel?" She hadn't heard Buffy mention him for a while but Willow thought it was worth asking.
The Slayer gave her friend an incredulous look. "Angel?" she asked the redhead just to be sure. She received a nod before she carried on, "I can just see him in a relationship, 'Hi, honey, you're in grave danger. I'll see you next month.'" Buffy's tone was thick with something akin to annoyance, almost like she wanted to see him more. Funny how she had complained about him when they had first met.
"He's not around much, it's true," Willow agreed, hoping Buffy carried on talking. It would be interesting to see how Buffy would solve that problem. Maybe Willow could learn something from it and put it towards figuring out Caitlin.
Looking dreamily past her friend Buffy spoke softly, "When he is around... it's like the lights dim everywhere else." Buffy refocused her eyes and gave her friend a smile, "You know how it's like that with some guys?" Asking the question was actually just for Buffy to see Willow's feelings. She would keep at it until she really knew about Willow's intentions. Clearly Caitlin felt something for Willow; the possessed Caitlin had been all over the redheaded hacker after all.
Willow, suddenly not meeting Buffy's eyes, started to blush "Oh, yeah!" Buffy was glad to see Willow had looked at Xander, who she knew was easy to spot from the corner of her eye. Buffy grinned; maybe Willow would become her potential 'sister' sometime soon. Caitlin, however, needed to hurry up and get it together before Willow was snatched up!
Xander had been on the floor since he arrived, making short stops at the table to scout the floor and hydrate himself. It was a little embarrassing to watch so Willow and Buffy had stopped. He didn't know how to dance so he was truly making a fool of himself. He kept at it though, dancing up to girls, being shot down, and moving straight on. He was now making yet another move, this time on a pretty brunette. "Hey, Annie!" Xander glanced to his right and saw the said girl's boyfriend. A very BIG boyfriend. "Dino, my man! Just leaving," he exclaimed as he turned away in a rush. He then made the tragically fatal mistake of bumping into one Cordelia Chase.
"Ouch! Please get your extremely clumsy, badly dressed, giant-footed oafishness off my two-hundred-dollar Prada shoes!" Cordelia shrieked at the male. She truly despised someone, especially *him*, scuffing up her shoes. She could easily get a new pair, she had the money after all, but the wait for the shoes was so not worth it.
Xander put his hands up and pulled a genuinely frightened face; an enraged Cordelia Chase had that effect on just about anyone. "I'm sorry, I was just..." he didn't get to finish his sentence before she was waving her hand in front of his face in an unspoken order to cease talking.
Cordelia was done preparing her cut down and now found the perfect time to execute it. "...getting off the dance floor before Annie Vega's built boyfriend squashes you like a bug?" she asked sarcastically. She really did find him pathetic. It actually made her cringe.
The male visibly brightened; he'd been noticed after all! Sure she was the bitch of the school but boy, was she good eye candy. "Oh, so you noticed!" Cordelia nodded followed with a derisive snort, a grin, and then a very good version of the infamous "crash-and-burn" sound effects. Followed by a gleeful smirk. No way in hell was Cordelia going to give him something to hang over *her* head! Xander slowly deflated, he should have known better: Only Cordelia could reduce you to an inch tall without an actual spoken word. "Yeah, thanks for being so understanding," he said trying to act solemnly.
"Sure," the self-important female responded grandly. After all, giving Xander a minute of her time was a gift to him.
Xander shook his head before he spoke, going for a regaining of a shred of dignity. "Y'know, Cordelia, I don't know what everyone's talking about. That outfit doesn't make you look one bit like a hooker!" He laughed at her look of displeasure as he made his escape before the May Queen could respond. Cordelia stomped her foot, glaring at his back as Xander walked off and went over to the table that his friends occupied. "Boy, that Cordelia is a regular breath of vile air. What are you vixens up to," Xander asked as he leant against the table, he was in the zone.
The two girls exchanged looks at his name for them, but let it go; they would probably never understand him. Willow gave a shrug, "Just sitting here, watching our barren lives pass us by." She got a confused look in response. Not wanting to have to explain herself, she looked for a distraction and found one, "Oh, look, a cockroach." Willow stomped on the not-so-innocent insect, quickly distracting herself more than Xander. Buffy looked down to where Willow had stomped and grimaced at the thought of squashed bug.
The two girls exchanged looks at his name for them, but let it go; they would probably never understand him. Willow gave a shrug, "Just sitting here, watching our barren lives pass us by." She got a confused look in response. Not wanting to have to explain herself, she looked for a distraction and found one, "Oh, look, a cockroach." Willow stomped on the not-so-innocent insect, quickly distracting herself more than Xander. Buffy looked down to where Willow had stomped and grimaced at the thought of squashed bug.
Xander looked between the two brooding teens and mentally shook his head. Well, at least he was trying to do something about it.
"Whoa, well, let's stop this crazy whirligig of fun! I'm dizzy!" He was hanging out with his best friends and the hottest girl in school, in his opinion anyway, and there they were, sitting at a table doing nothing to get a date or even a dance. He missed Caitlin; she was always up for a dance, made him look good too. He made sure to dance with Caitlin at least twice; she was not only helping him improve his dancing, but it made him seem cool. He had seen the looks he was given when they were dancing. It was a definite improvement over the smirks or glares he usually received.
Getting up Buffy chuckled a little, "Alright, now I'm infecting those nearest and dear to me. I'm gonna call it a night." She was just going to head home and try to sort her thoughts out. Buffy knew she wouldn't get a call from Caitlin and figured she wouldn't see Angel either. Thus a perfect time to sort everything out; no distractions for her to encounter at home.
"Oh, don't go" Willow argued. She didn't want to be alone. The shy redhead didn't have Caitlin to talk to, and Xander would go off dancing again. Willow realized that her life before Caitlin and Buffy had been sorely lacking. She loved Xander, but he was always off doing something when they were at the Bonze and now she always had someone to sit with.
Xander quickly jumped on that train, "Uh, yeah! It's early! We could, um, dance!" He wanted Buffy to stay too; he wanted at least one dance with her. Plus he understood Willow's worries, he wasn't that clueless!
The Slayer smiled at her friends but regretfully shook her head, "Rain check? Good night." She quickly made her exit before they could convince her that she should stay. Xander looked on in disappointment but looked at Willow for an answer. Willow shrugged at Xander; she was a little disappointed too.
Buffy made her way out of the Bronze looking as bummed as she felt. As she passed by the stairs, Buffy felt a tingling sensation on the back of her neck. That wasn't exactly new, but it still felt strange. Quickly spinning around, hand half reaching for a stake, the Slayer looked at the stairs but saw nothing. Sighing Buffy started to head out again
~GU:CM~
Buffy could have sworn that she felt something watching her. She wasn't that in tune with her Slayer true, but it had warned her of something. The Slayer shook her head and casually strolled towards her home, enjoying the peaceful night for once. Giles had given her the night off; it was like he knew she wouldn't be able to concentrate. Buffy paused in her walking at that thought, she wondered if Giles had done some digging on her sister. The Watcher had seemed to grow more tolerant to the younger Blonde over the last few weeks and didn't seem surprised with her going away. The Slayer sighed and shook her head as she started off again, she couldn't be asked to try and figure it out tonight.
Then the tingling sensation was back again! Buffy knew it meant something important, Merrick had told her she would be able to decipher what it meant when she fully accepted her powers and honed her skills, but for now the good old 5 senses would have to do. The blonde Slayer quickly turned around hoping to catch whatever was looking at her. Buffy sighed in annoyance, looked up at the sky while rolling her eyes, and took a deep breath before she spun around and again carried on her way home.
Walking no more than a block, the blonde was once again forced to stop when she heard the sound of breathing coming from the alley she was in the process of passing. Buffy knew she was about to be in a fight, with slumped shoulders she called out, "It's late, I'm tired, and I sooo don't wanna play games. Show your stalk-ish self!" The Slayer jumped a little when she heard a roar but quickly grabbed her stake as she heard something land behind her. She spun on the spot as she pulled out her stake and thrust her arm forward only to be met with some resistance. Buffy looked down in surprise to see that there was a hand holding onto her arm! The teen made a surprised sound when she saw how big they were. The blonde whipped her head around to the side of her when she felt another hand gripped her arm, "Ooo! Okay, okay, not nice..." They dragged the still-fighting Slayer into the alley, but even with her struggling she was easily overpowered. As the two vampires held her, one on each arm, against a chain link fence, a third vampire slowly approached them. "Okay, okay... Look, I really don't wanna fight all three of you... well, unless I have to!"
In quick succession Buffy lashed out with a series of blows that caught the vampires by surprise. She first snap-kicked the crotch of the vampire in front of her, sending him down in a howl of pain. Next Buffy elbowed one of the vampires holding her one arm, causing a spurt of blood and loud 'crack' as his nose collapsed. Crap, blood that would never come out of the blouse she wore! She then threw a punch at the other vampire holding her, only to have him easily block her swing. He gave her a twisted smirk as he chuckled and quickly responded with a thrust knee into her solar plexus, knocking the air out of Buffy and slamming her into the fence. Wheezing Buffy thought how bad this situation looked as she struggled to breathe.
The other two recovered quickly from the blows and grabbed her again. Buffy just knew she was going to feel that knee to the gut in the morning. The vampire in front of her again began his approach towards the Slayer. With panic running rampant through her whole body and struggling still to breath, Buffy could do no more than struggle against their grasp. She gasped as he stopped in front of her and grabbed her head; he slowly started to lean in, clearly enjoying the panic the Slayer was feeling. Buffy closed her eyes tightly waiting for the teeth to sink into her neck. All she could think was how lame non-speaking vampires were; they never gave her anything good to quip about and never quipped about her.
The vampire leant in closer but was stopped by someone pulling him off of her; Buffy opened her eyes and saw Angel. "Good dogs don't..." Angel reared back his arm and punched the vampire before finishing his sentence "…*bite*!" The vampire snarled before heading his attack on Angel, he was clearly not impressed at being stopped and punched.
Buffy was surprised, she hadn't expected Angel to come anywhere near her, especially after the Owen mess up. She hadn't really paid attention to Angel much as she had been fuming at her sister and at Giles. Buffy shook off her surprise and quickly started to attack again, using the weight of the two vampires holding her, the Slayer was able to kick them both in the face. Smiling as she heard their groans.
The Blonde quickly scrambled away from their hunched over bodies, she got into a strong defensive position but she faltered slightly when one of the vampires grunted and headed for Angel, the lapse in concentration allowed the other vampire to grab her wrist and throw her to the fence again. Buffy watched for a split second and saw how easily Angel moved and how he seemed to know the other vampire had been behind him, he dodged its attempt to punch him in the back of the head. Buffy struggled in the vampires grip as she saw one of the vampires Angel was fighting go over to the window and rip off one of the bars. Buffy knew what was going to happen and she had to warn her saviour "Look out!"
Angel quickly spun around ready to attack but was stalled when the vampire swung the bar and sliced his chest open. Angel exhaled breathlessly at the pain as he leant forward; Buffy knew she had to act quickly if they both wanted to get out of there. The blonde thrust her open palm up into the chin of her attacker dislodging him from her and used the advantage to throw her elbow into the vampires stomach, as he bent forward to clench his stomach with a grunt, she used her two hands to hammer the top of his head, with a thud he landed on the ground seemingly unconscious. Seeing her chance Buffy rushed towards Angel and leant some of his weight on her to help him up, she noticed his two assailants coming closer "Run!" she screeched in fear as she helped manoeuvre him until Angel had his own footing.
The Three watched as the pair rushed from the alley and decided to give chase, their armour was weighing them down so it meant that they were lagging behind, they watched as the Slayer dragged the other into a house with a shout "Get in! C'mon!" they simultaneously growled in frustration as the door slammed shut on their hands. This was not going to go down well with their Master, they tried to peer inside but it was clear that the Slayer was not going to come out and they could not get in.
~GU:CM~
Angel leant his body against the banister, it wasn't a fatal wound but it was bleeding and stung like a bitch, he gripped the fabric of his top to keep it away from aggravating the wound. He saw Buffy peering worriedly out of the window "It's alright," he started and watched as Buffy tilted her head to show she was listening "A vampire can't come in unless it's invited." He watched as her shoulders slumped in relief.
"I've heard that before but I've never put it to the test, there was way too much at stake to try that," Buffy commented as she watched the Three stalk back to the shadows. It was true there was no way she would have tried that if anyone was home, she was not going to put Dawn, her mother or Caitlin in danger. The school girl turned and leant against the door with a sigh of relief, she looked at her saviour and started to smile before she saw his wound "Oh…I'll get some bandages just uh…take your jacket and your shirt off," Buffy mumbled the last bit as her cheeks flared red. She rushed out of the room leaving Angel by himself, she was going to get one of her fantasies out of the way, him topless, and the only thing better would have been if they were on a beach somewhere in the sun!
The usually mysterious man took a deep breath before releasing a shuddering exhale, he quickly checked that the Three had at least retreated enough to hide before following the Slayer. He easily removed his jacket before hesitating to take off his top, with a sigh he quickly removed said top also. Buffy turned just as he was taking his top off, she noticed the tattoo on his right shoulder. She had obviously seen tattoos before but for some reason seeing it on him surprised her "Nice tattoo," she exhaled just to break the silence. Angel looked over his shoulder briefly but didn't respond as he turned to face her. "I was lucky you came along, how did you happen to come along?" Buffy asked as she started to clean and bandage the wound, she needed something to distract herself from his chest.
Angel closed his eyes briefly as he felt Buffy's initial touch but forced his eyes open and he made them focus across the room. He cleared his throat discreetly before attempting to answer Buffy's question "I live nearby," he wasn't going to go into too much detail, the less the information given the less having to be remembered later on. Angel looked over his shoulder briefly and caught Buffy's pinched eyebrows, she clearly wasn't happy with the short sentence "I was out walking," he added as he looked away from her. This was a dangerous game he was playing, he was glad that Caitlin wasn't around or his vague answers wouldn't be enough but they seemed to do the trick with the eldest Summers sister.
The younger occupant nodded but seemed disappointed that he wasn't there for her "So, you weren't following me?" Buffy asked and successfully hid the longing in her voice. Angel looked over his shoulder as he caught the hidden tone in her voice but he didn't comment. Buffy ignored his gaze and carried on with what she was doing "I just had this feeling you were,"
The male tensed at those words, clearly her Slayer senses were better than she had anticipated. Buffy looked up when she felt him tense but instead of being met with a frown she was met with a smile "Why would I do that?" He asked with a teasing lint.
"You tell me. You're the Mystery Guy that appears out of nowhere," she nudged him lightly for his teasing lint. "'m not saying I'm not happy about it tonight, but... if you are hanging around I'd like to know why," Buffy was serious about wanting to know and the fact Caitlin mentioned it every time Angel was mentioned. The Slayer could understand why Caitlin didn't trust him, the last time she was stalked it did not end well for either of them. Lothos had been a Master vampire and the destruction that was left in that wake had not ended well for any of their family. Especially for herself and Caitlin seeing as it had lead for the both of them to be...
"Maybe I like you," Angel responded to Buffy and unknowingly taking her away from bad memories, he had known that she was no longer with him but he had assumed she was starting to figure out what he was.
Buffy smiled slightly as she finished bandaging him up. She wasn't sure if he was being serious or not but she would take the chance as she *did* really like him "Maybe..." she didn't get to finish before she heard the front door starting to open. She knew it was her mother and she also knew that if they were caught she was so going to be grounded, even possibly shipped off to her grandmother's. Buffy started to groan before another thought kicked in, the vampires were still out there. The blonde quickly turned and rushed to the front door, she pulled her mother into the house and closed the door.
The mother of three raised an eyebrow at her eldest child's strange behaviour, she was used to strange behaviour, her family was known for it after all but this was a different kind of strange behaviour. It was almost paranoia. "Hi!" Joyce greeted with some cheer and some confusion, she followed to look out of the window like Buffy was but couldn't see anything "What are you doing?" She asked after a beat of silence.
Turning to her mother the daughter answered "There's a lot of weird people outside at night, I just feel better with you safe and sound inside," Buffy said as she stepped in front of her mother, who was heading for the kitchen. "You must be beat with the round trip to San Francisco in one day," Buffy knew her mother didn't like making the round trip in one day but Joyce had to be back for work the next day.
Joyce nodded and rubbed her hand down her face, much like Caitlin did when she was frustrated or tired, this made Buffy smile seeing as her sister share something with their mother. "I am, your Grams would not let me go before having dinner and the girls were around, plus I spoke to Paige and Phoebe. It's been a busy day," Joyce sighed and ran her hand through her hair, another trait Caitlin had picked up. The younger female chuckled at the action, she really could see how much alike her mother and sister were. She knew there were something's that Caitlin got from her father but it was rare for Caitlin to ever do them because the younger sister didn't know him and Buffy could only remember his smile, Caitlin's smile. Buffy had often seen her cousins and grandmother stare at Caitlin's crooked smile and a flash of sadness would enter their eyes, her cousins clearly remembered Ricky as they were older than she was when he died, he sounded like a good man. Their mother clearly missed him, it made the Slayer wonder why her mother got back with her father.
Buffy came back from her thoughts when she felt her mother start to walk past her again, Buffy grabbed her mother's arm and diverted her mother's path to the stairs "Well, then why don't you go upstairs and get into bed, I can bring you some hot chocolate?" she knew her mother had a weakness for hot chocolate. All Halliwell's had a weakness for hot chocolate. She just hoped it distracted her mother from going into the kitchen.
Raising a brow at her eldest, Joyce quickly looked her daughter over and wondered what the girl had done wrong in the kitchen, there was no Dawn or Caitlin to blame the mess on this time. Like the baking incident of '93, Buffy had tried to blame Dawn who had actually been outside with her cousins. Joyce stroked her daughter's cheek "That's sweet," she complimented and watched as her daughter beamed at the praise but the mother quickly turned "What'd you do?" she asked with a grin to show she wasn't annoyed, yet.
"Can't a daughter just be concerned about her mother, especially after such a long day?" Buffy questioned looking affronted, she should still be able to get away with acting innocent and cute. Damn her mother for not thinking she was. Buffy's face dropped that look quickly though as Angel walked out of the living room and into the hall where mother and daughter were talking.
Joyce ignored the question as she followed Buffy's gaze and noticed a male stood in the living room entrance, a male that was far too old for her daughter she was sure. She shot her eldest a look that said they would be speaking later before she acknowledged the male "Hi," she simply greeted as she gave him a one over. Her daughter did know how to pick them though.
"Hi," Angel said back to Buffy's mother. He knew that the situation could become very awkward and he really didn't want that to happen, but introducing himself was better than her finding him.
Cursing under her breath Buffy quickly went to introduce them to each other but her mother put her hand up to stall her "And just who might you be?" she asked with a little bit of suspicion in her voice. she could have sworn that she had seen him before, she just couldn't place him.
"His name is Angel. Angel, uh, this is my mom. Mom, this is Angel. Uh, we ran into each other on the way home," Buffy filed the silence when it appeared Angel was reluctant to speak. She looked between the two but couldn't understand why they were staring like that at each other.
Angel nodded his head to her, knowing if he shook her hand it would be bad, she wasn't ready yet "Nice to meet you," he knew what her staring meant and it probably didn't help that he was staring at her either.
Giving the male a tight smile before glancing at her daughter again, Joyce saw the lost puppy dog look in Buffy's eyes. The older woman sighed as she knew she would have to be nice "What do you do Angel?" Joyce asked trying to sound interested, which was hard to do when all you really wanted was to sleep. She saw from the corner of her eye that Buffy was once again going to respond but Joyce stopped her with a raised hand "I asked Angel not you Buffy."
The teen winced at the sound of her mother's tired and slightly irritated voice, Buffy just hoped that Angel could be believing. Angel hide a grimace at the sound of the mothers voice and tried to keep his face passive as he answered her question with no help from Buffy. "I'm a student," he responded as if he were actually asking a question. Joyce shot him a disbelieving look and looked him over once again, Buffy gave him a panicked look that spurred him to carry on with his answer "First year, community college."
Jumping in quickly Buffy took his answer and tried to make it believable to save both their hides, God how she wished she were fighting the vampires again "Angel's been helping me with History, you know I've been struggling in that department without Caitlin's help."
Feeling too tired to deal with them Joyce opted to believe them "Be that as it may it's a little late for tutoring. I'm tired and I've got to get up early in the morning to go to work so say goodnight and go to bed Buffy. It was...a pleasure to meet you Angel" Joyce had paused as she really didn't know what to say so she went with a happy but slightly sarcastic goodbye to Angel. She was going to have a talk with Buffy when she was free tomorrow.
"I'll do that mom," Buffy said as she hugged her mother good night and watched her walk up the stairs. She turned to face Angel and knew she couldn't let him go home, it was way too dangerous. for the first time that night she was glad Dawn and Caitlin weren't around, she was going to have to hide Angel in her room. The Slayer opened the front door and proceeded to say a false goodbye "G'Night! We'll hook up soon and do that study thing that we said we would!" Buffy shut the door with an internal wince, that sounded lame even to her. The blonde turned around and signalled for Angel to be quiet and to follow her, the two slowly make their way up the stairs and into Buffy's room and making as little noise as possible.
As Buffy shut the door Angel decided now would be a good time to talk "Look, I don't wanna get you into any trouble..." he didn't get to finish his speech before Buffy cut him off
"And I don't wanna get you dead. They could still be out there," Buffy gestured to the window. Buffy headed further into the room before stopping, she noticed a dilemma and blushed "oh...two of us, one bed. That doesn't quite work," the blush deepened so Buffy stopped talking. Angel was silently amused at the girl's embarrassment. Buffy shook her head before she carried on "Why don't you take the bed? Y'know you're wounded..." this time it was Buffy who was cut off.
"I'll take the floor," Angel interjected and carried on speaking when Buffy opened her mouth to protest "Oh believe me I've had worse." He could see from the added words that Buffy was reassured that he would be fine, he was also glad that she didn't seem to want to ask how much worse he had endured, he wouldn't be able to think up a convincing lie. He seemed to suck at lying with these Summers women.
Buffy nodded her head "Well, why don't you check and see if the Fang Gang is still loitering around so that your back is turned whilst I get changed?" Buffy suggested with a cheeky smile. Angel merely nodded his head and went to the window, they both knew the gang wouldn't hang around so he didn't say anything before Buffy started up again. "Y'know, I'm the chosen one, it's my job to fight guys like that," Buffy paused for a brief second but it was enough for Angel to pick up on the loathing that Buffy held for her position.
"Uh, somebody has to," the male didn't know what to say so he tried to be comforting but as soon as the words were out of his mouth he knew he had made a mistake. "I fight as well," Angel continued trying to show he hadn't meant to annoy or hurt her with his words.
The Slayer finished changing and turned to glare at Angel, she hated being reminded that she *had* to be the Slayer "Well, what does your family think of your *career* choice?" she snapped at him and emphasized the word career to make him know she hadn't chosen what she was doing.
Angel winced internally at the reminder of his family, he could still see Buffy glaring at him so he knew he had to answer as not to piss her off "They're dead," he responded to her angry question with a soft tone.
Buffy's anger deflated with those words, she just couldn't be angry at someone who had lost their family, she kind of knew the feeling. She needed to understand him more though so she tried to delve a little deeper "Was it Vampires?" she asked in a calmer tone that her last question. She noticed him stiffen but heard his murmur of agreement, she didn't blame him for not speaking louder than he had, she had almost lost her family to Lothos. Buffy approached him and placed her hand on his shoulder, noticing that he stiffened but didn't mention it "I'm sorry."
The brunette shrugged and subtly managed to get the blonde's hand off of his shoulder without looking like he meant it "It was a long time ago," he said he didn't want to dredge up memories he'd rather not remember.
Crossing her arms Buffy decided to take a chance "So, this is a vengeance gig for you," she surmised. if this was about getting revenge then she knew best of all that it was the most dangerous reason to fight the vampires, vengeance blinds reason.
Angel didn't rise to what he considered bait and decided to change the subject to a safer one. he looked at her properly "Y-you even look pretty when you go to sleep." So it wasn't the safest topic change after all then, Angel quickly looked back to the window as to avoid his starring.
"Well, when I wake up it's an entirely different story," Buffy responded to the subject change. she assumed he didn't want to talk about his family, the thought of it being something else didn't even cross his mind. The Teen went over to the bed and picked up the comforter, it would have to do as getting the spare duvet would alert her mother to Angel still being in the house. Buffy thrust the comforter into his hands as he came over "Here, sleep tight." Both started to get settled into for the night, when Buffy saw that Angel was comfortable she looked at him again "Angel?" Angel looked at her to show her he was paying attention "Do you snore?" she asked half seriously and half-jokingly. She couldn't stand it when people snored, she hated sharing a room with Phoebe because if the older girl was led on her front she would snore loudly and keep the blonde awake.
The older occupant chuckled breathlessly "I don't know. It's been a long time since anybody's been in a position to let me know." They shared a smile before Buffy was satisfied and turned her lamp off so she could settle in for sleep. Angel whoever continued to stare at the teen who was gradually starting to drop off, the male smiled before looking back at the ceiling and closing his eyes.
~GU:CM~
Xander was pacing, he couldn't help it really, he had just been clued in to what had happened last night after Buffy had left the Bronze. He did not like it one bit. Buffy had been followed by vampires and *Angel* had saved her then stayed over! The male stopped pacing just in front of Buffy and Willow "He Spent the Night?" he asked just to be sure he had heard right. Before Buffy could answer Xander showed the girls why he was so agitated "In your room? In your bed?" his voiced rose into a shout at the end of his question rant.
Both girls looked at him strangely, they got why he was upset of course because they knew he had a crush on Buffy but they didn't expect that reaction. Buffy shook her head and spoke to Xander slowly "Not *in* my bed, *by* my bed." It was almost strange to see him acting like she thought Caitlin would have reacted. She was glad that neither her sisters were home in the morning because they would have discovered Angel sleeping on her floor; she had left him to sleep there and hoped her mother wouldn't need to go back before she got back from School.
Willow sighed as she imagined herself having the person she crushed on saving her and staying the night. The redhead shook her head when she saw that person had blonde hair and looked quite feminine. Willow turned her attention to Buffy and hoped the distraction "That is so romantic!" she gushed and grabbed Buffy's arm lightly "Did you, uh…I mean, did he, uh…" she stuttered off not knowing how to word what she wanted to ask.
"Perfect Gentleman," Buffy assured her friend with a smile. She had understood what Willow was trying to ask her, Willow was wondering if Angel had acted inappropriately. The other girl smiled and relaxed back into her chair, she felt she had to ask just in case Caitlin found out and Willow needed to help calm her down.
The female occupants of the library jumped when the male slammed his hands on the table "Buffy, c'mon, wake up and smell the seduction. It's the oldest trick in the book." Xander really couldn't believe how both girls were falling for it, a part of him wished Caitlin was there to back him up and she would see what he saw at least.
Buffy sat up straight in her chair and realised that he was not going to let this go, she couldn't help but be annoyed by his behaviour "What? Saving my life? Getting slashed in the ribs whilst saving me?" she questioned with annoyance showing in every word. She couldn't believe that they were arguing about this, Xander shouldn't be annoyed that Angel had saved her life. Unless it was because *Angel* saved her life and not *Xander* doing the saving. She snorted at the thought, Xander wouldn't have been able to save her.
Shaking his head at her supposedly naivety Xander retorted "Duh! I mean, guys'll do anything to impress a girl." He really wanted Buffy to see what he was seeing, there was no way an older guy like Angel was not looking for a bit of hanky-panky and the fact she had willingly invited him to sleep in her room was just, in his opinion, Naive and stupid.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Buffy asked as she stood up to glare at Xander. He was acting like Caitlin would have acted and she barely tolerated her younger sister berating her so there was no way she was going to take it from a friend she hadn't known for too long. Willow whimpered slightly at their actions and words, Buffy heard and turned to look at Willow. The Slayer softened when she noticed Willow was freaked out by her display.
Xander realised that he was actually in an argument, he looked at Willow and grinned trying to show that everything was cool "I-I once drank an entire gallon of Gatorade without taking a breath," Buffy was far from impressed at his jokey attitude but let it slide, for now.
Willow, who had been worried they were going to get into a massive argument sighed in relief "It was pretty impressive. Although later there was an ick factor," she shrugged at Buffy to show she was alright.
Giles had been keeping an eye on the discussion and decided that he shouldn't intervene as he felt if he did it would only be bought up later when they had time to stew on their feelings. Teenagers, he scoffed to himself and he approached the table now that the discussion had calmed down. "Can we steer this riveting conversation back to the events that happened earlier in the evening?" Giles watched as Buffy sat down again but kept her eyes on Xander, who was looking distinctly uncomfortable "You left the Bronze and were set upon by three unusually virile vampires. Did they look like this?" The Watcher questioned as he set the book down in front of Buffy. Willow peered down to the picture first and winced, those vampire did not look friendly at all.
"Yeah. What's with the uniforms?" The slayer had been dying to ask that question since she had met them. Seriously it was the 20th Century, shouldn't vampires be trying to get with the time and blend it, hunting in armour sounded more effort that it was worth.
The Watcher took off his glasses to clean them whilst he thought, it was serious if Buffy was being chased by these vampires, "It seems you encountered the Three. Warrior vampires, very proud and very strong." He placed his glasses back on as he heard Buffy sigh in defeat, it appeared the teen had known that but had hoped for better news.
Willow looked up from the book and focused on Giles "How is it you always know this stuff? You always know what's going on. I never know what's going on," She really detested not knowing what was going on and that had been happening a lot more lately.
"Well, you weren't here from midnight until six researching it." Giles's response was a little more snippy than he had originally planned for it and promptly received a glare from Buffy. it seemed the blonde had taken up her sisters favourite past time, glaring at his remarks to Willow.
The redhead shook her head "No, I was sleeping and dreaming of good and fluffy things. I like those things, these things are just way too much," Willow started a mini rant and promptly blushed when she revealed way more than she had set out to. Buffy smiled at Willow and secretly envied her for still being able to dream like that.
Giles blinked at the response he had gotten and didn't know how to respond, so he ignored it "Uh, o-obviously you're hurting the Master very much. He, he wouldn't send the, the Three for just anyone. We must step up our training with weapons." They hadn't practised recently with weapons and he really had no idea on her capabilities with weapons.
Buffy couldn't reel in the groan that escaped her mouth "Do we have to, I practise enough with Caitlin especially when she need to blow off steam. I'm already good enough," and if she needed more practise it would be with Caitlin, who she knew was trained in them. she really wished she had gone for all the martial arts classes Caitlin went too before going to mixed martial arts. Stupid therapy requests. No that wasn't far, it wasn't Caitlin's fault it helped her calm down to hit things with weapons.
"I will be the judge that, thank you very much," Giles commented indignantly. She was his Slayer and he was going to train her, whether she liked it or not.
Xander was quick to jump in at this point "Buffy, you should stay at my house until these Samurai guys are history." The teenaged male missed the look Willow shot him and also missed her shaking her head in disbelief.
"What?" Buffy ground out at his statement, she was still a little pissed at him for his earlier comments. he had after all implied she was dumb.
Xander waved Buffy down, clearly not catching her threatening tone, "Ah-ah-ah, don't worry about Angel, Willow can run to your house and tell him to get out of town fast." Both girls frowned at him, Willow for being used *again* and Buffy for being treated like a damsel in distress.
Giles, knowing Xander was digging himself deeper, shook his head "Angel and Buffy are, are not in any immediate jeopardy. Eventually the Master will send someone else, but in the meantime the Three, having failed, will offer their own lives in penance."
That caught Buffy's attention "Really? they didn't get me so now they are going to offer themselves up for the chopping block. I love the stupid warrior's code," Buffy grinned and relaxed a little. Willow smiled as well, she didn't have to phone Caitlin and tell her the bad news anymore.
"Yes lets thank their stupid warrior code," the eldest occupant rolled his eyes as he headed into his office, Teenagers.
~GU:CM~
Buffy looked around the weapons cabinet, she was checking it out for any decent weapons. Giles was by the entrance closing down the library. "Cool! Crossbow!" The Slayer grinned as she lifted the object out and then looked for the ammo, with her free hand she took the bolts out and examined them "Huh, check out these babies. Goodbye stakes, hello flying fatality. This would save *so* much time. What can I shoot?" Buffy asked as she turned to face her Watcher.
Giles moved to take the crossbow away from her "Um, nothing. The crossbow comes later," seeing as he didn't know how good with weapons she was, he really wasn't going to trust her with something sharp that could fly across the room. Buffy pouted as he relieved her of the weapon and put it back. "You must first become proficient with the basic tools of combat." The Slayer rolled her eyes as her Watcher disappeared into the cage, she already was proficient with weapons. Giles came back out with two poles, *quarterstaffs* Buffy reminded herself, much to her annoyance and handed her one "And let's begin with the quarterstaff. Which, incidentally, will, uh, require countless hours of vigorous training. I speak from experience." He thought he was reassuring her but all he was doing was making himself bigger and she knew that the bigger they were the harder they fell.
"Giles, 20th Century? I'm not gonna be fighting Friar Tuck," Buffy complained because she knew that the only thing a quarterstaff would help with would be breaking so she could stake a vampire.
Trying to keep his calm with the teenager , which wasn't easy, the Englishman replied "You never know with whom or what you'll be fighting." Giles walked over to the table and started to place on protective gear, Slayers were naturally hard hitters and he did not wish to be bruised. And these traditions have been handed down through the ages. Now, you show me good, steady progress with the quarterstaff, and in due course we'll discuss the crossbow. Put on your pads," Giles grabbed his staff and turned to face his opponent, only to have her laugh at him.
Buffy leant on the staff as she laughed at him "I'm not gonna need pads to fight you. I don't wear them with Caitlin so there is no way I am with you." She just found it so funny he was being serious.
Giles bristled in annoyance and decided to teach her a lesson "Well, we'll see about that. En garde!" He thrust the staff at Buffy several times wanting to catch her off guard as she was still laughing. Buffy easily parried them all, half-hearted but still managed it easily. She decided to take the offensive, pushing his staff to the floor and punched him in the face, he gasped in surprise from the moves. Buffy came around with the staff and hit him in the back. Giles winced as he heard the sound before he felt in and had no time to actually register the pain before he was hitting the floor with a groan. Buffy had knocked his legs from under him as he was focusing on the hit to the back, the blonde stood over him with a grin. "Good. Let's move on to the crossbow," Giles managed to get out between his clenched teeth, he was embarrassed and in pain.
Buffy chuckled "My thoughts exactly," she hadn't really wanted to show him up but he had left her very little choice. She was going to drag Caitlin into one of these session just so he could see she really wasn't just trying to get out of training by saying she knew what she was doing. Seeing them spar would certainly shut him up. The teen walked back over to the weapons cabinet and took the crossbow out again "Next time Giles, listen to me."
~GU:CM~
Dawn sat on the stairs waiting for her big sister to come home, her mom had said that she was studying with Willow but Dawn knew the truth. She was studying alright but it wasn't with Willow or even a school subject. She wanted to know why there was a strange man in Buffy's room, their mother might not have seen him but she sure had and that's only because he clearly didn't know about her. She had been on the phone to Caitlin when she saw him, causing her to fall silent, she had told Caitlin that she had seen some strange bird in the window earning her a warning to stay away from it by her sister and a smile from the strange guy.
The mother of three walked out of the front room and replaced the phone on its cradle "Dawnie what are you doing?" she asked softly. She obviously knew what her youngest was doing, she was sat looking at the door after all but it was usually for Caitlin, who they had just gotten off the phone too.
"Waiting for Buffy," the young girl responded in a mumble to her mother's question. Joyce gave a little smile at that, a year ago, heck even 6 months ago Dawn wouldn't have bothered waiting for Buffy. The girls didn't hate each other but it was just them always arguing, Buffy wanted to spend time with her friends and Dawn wanted attention from her big sister. Joyce couldn't even remember how many headaches she had gotten from the two arguing, it usually took Caitlin to agree to forgo going out to spend time with the young girl for the argument to stop.
Joyce opened her mouth to ask Dawn another question but it died in her throat as the front door opened up "I'm home!" was heard before Buffy even appeared. Dawn was off the step and had her arms around Buffy before the older girl had shut the door "Oof! Dawnie let me shut the door at least," The blonde chuckled as she maneuvered herself and her baby sister in order for her to shut the door.
The gallery owner smiled wistfully as she remembered a time when she did the same thing to her sister, it was a long time ago and she hadn't done it since before she was an Aunt at the age of 12. "Dinner will be finished soon so why don't you two just relax for a little while." She shared a smile with Buffy and brushed her hand over Dawn's hair as she walked past them in order to get to the kitchen.
Buffy knew that her mother was giving her some time with Dawn, something that she had been doing more of lately and it made both of them feel good about themselves, a year ago that never would have happened. The older sister picked up her youngest sister, who squealed in surprise and in the process made Buffy chuckled, so that she could move them to the living room. Buffy purposely collapsed backwards so that she was lead on the sofa with Dawn on top of her "What's the what Dawnie?" Buffy asked as she adjusted herself to get comfortable.
The brunette fidgeted, causing Buffy to groan as she got an elbow in the side, she wanted to be comfortable and be able to see Buffy as well. Dawn peered up into her sisters forest green eyes and looked serious "Should the question be Who's the Who?" she asked trying to be suitable so that if their mother overheard them then she wouldn't catch on to what she was on about.
"You saw," Buffy's response wasn't a question but more of a statement. The Slayer was actually a little incredulous that Dawn hadn't blurted it out to their mother yet but she would take her sister's silence if she was giving it. "His name is Angel," Buffy said barely above a whisper so their mother wouldn't here.
The pre-teen nodded at the statement "You could have warned me somehow, I was on the phone to Caitlin when I saw him," Buffy frowned and went to respond but Dawn slapped her hand over Buffy's mouth "I didn't tell her but now Caitlin think's some strange bird it nesting outside my window."
Licking her sister's hand, who pulled back in disgust, the older girl got to answer "Well there is a nest outside your window but the bird doesn't give me the creeps." Dawn narrowed her eyes at her sisters teasing but she could sense the underlying gratitude. The two sisters led on the sofa just relaxing until their mother called them into the dining room for dinner.
~GU:CM~
Willow quickly picked up the phone as she entered her room. She hadn't expected it to be ringing; her parents just left notes or sent letters, so she knew it wouldn't be them. "Hello Rosenberg Residence, Willow speaking," Willow answered like she had been taught.
The teen heard a chuckle on the other end and frowned in thought, she knew that chuckle "Wow Wills you sure have that greeting down. Every time I ring it feels like I am about to book an appointment," it was Caitlin!
"Hi Caitlin!" Willow exclaimed as she skipped over her bed. She had shut the door even though she didn't need to obviously but she never really knew if or when her parents would be home. They were meant to be gone for a week but sometimes they just turned up. Willow noticed the time and saw it was a couple minutes past 8 at night. "I thought you weren't going to phone until tomorrow so you could get settled in and talk to Amy for a while," Willow knew about Amy and Caitlin's little outings once a week and liked how Caitlin had a friend outside of their little group. She always saw Amy's face light up when they left to do their thing.
"Well I spoke to Amy earlier and she said Buffy looked a bit freaked out when she came into School today…" Caitlin trailed off expecting Willow to fill in the blank for her. Amy had sounded worried and even looked worried when Willow had seen her earlier in the day.
Willow sighed into the phone, she hadn't wanted Caitlin to know about the Three because she was meant to be relaxing but the redhead couldn't keep a secret to save her life. Actually she didn't know if that was true anymore seeing as she was now in life threatening situations "Buffy got jumped last night by some vampires, Angel saved her." Willow chuckled when she heard Caitlin groan at Angel's name "Why don't you like Angel?" Willow asked seriously.
Caitlin could be heard moving, clearly making sure she wasn't being listened too "The guy gives me the creeps, we only ever see him at night, we only know his supposed first name, which is lame by the way, and he seemed to have a knack at knowing what baddies are coming. Forgive me for being sceptical," Caitlin finished sarcastically with a hint of anger. Willow remained silent; Caitlin had worked herself up about something that she hadn't said, the older teen didn't have to wait long before she heard Caitlin sigh "Sorry I didn't mean to say it like that. Let's just say I don't get on well with Buffy and her male friends aka Boyfriends."
"Caitlin what is it that made you angry? and no being vague," Willow knew she was pushing it but she wanted to know so she could help. She was met by silence on the other end; clearly Caitlin didn't want to answer "Caitlin I…" Willow was quickly cut off.
Caitlin had been silent because she has been trying to think of a way to get out of explaining without hurting Willow's feelings. She cut the redhead off "Please Willow, please drop it," her voice came out in a begging tone. She couldn't re-live the previous year, or even the year before that. She had freaked her family out when she had gotten lost in the past and she didn't think *she'd* make it through if she had to go there again.
The older teen couldn't believe that she had heard Caitlin begging but she quickly changed the subject "What did you do today then?" it was a very safe question seeing as Caitlin was in San Francisco.
~GU:CM~
The dinner had been peaceful just them talking about how their day had gone. Dawn discussed her history project on her genealogy, Buffy and Joyce shared a look that was thankfully missed by Dawn. Buffy had whined about doing her own studying and trying to fit in having fun, the life of a teenager was so hard. Joyce had told the girls that they were going away for the weekend to pick Caitlin up from the manor, Buffy knew she was going to have to tell Giles and that he would complain.
The rest of the evening had gone well and was quiet with each of the occupants doing their own things. It wasn't until late when a scream woke Dawn up. Dawn shot up in bed when she heard a scream rip through the house, she jumped up from her bed and rushed into Buffy's room. The pre-teen stopped in her tracks as she caught a glimpse of Angel's face. Dawn blinked as she watched Angel flee through the window, she couldn't believe that he was a vampire, she had seen him during the day after all.
Joyce rushed into the room carefully going around a frozen Dawn. The mother of three rushed over to her eldest who was looking out of the window in confusion and panic "Buffy, what happened?" Joyce questioned her daughter as she turned the blonde away from the window to look at her. Blue eyes peered intently into green eyes but when no answer was forthcoming Joyce shook her daughter's shoulders slightly "Buffy?"
Buffy shook her head trying to clear it of the confusion, anger and hurt she was feeling "Uh, nothing. I saw a-a-a weird looking bird." The older sister caught her youngest sister's eyes and saw that the young girl had seen exactly what she had by the panicked expression covering Dawns face. Joyce furrowed her brow but remembered Dawn mentioning something like that to Caitlin on the phone earlier.
"It might have been the one that made me jump earlier," Dawn backed Buffy up with her statement. Joyce was reluctant but nodded as she dropped the subject, she would probably never know what had spooked Buffy but as she looked out of the window she couldn't see anything to suggest the girls were lying.
The mother bid her girls good night and told Dawn to get back to bed as she left the room to go back to her room and sleep. Dawn stood frozen by the door, she couldn't believe her eyes "he's a vampire?" the young girl questioned softly. Buffy just nodded slightly, still too shocked to speak. "Well crap," Dawn muttered as she approached Buffy's bed. Buffy nodded again, she too approached the bed. Both girls knew that they would be sharing a bed tonight, neither would sleep otherwise.
~GU:CM~
As soon as they had all met up the next day Buffy had told them what had transpired the night before and all of them had been shocked, Xander felt a little bit of 'I told you so' but wisely kept his mouth shut. Maybe he was learning after all, or maybe he was scared she would bite his head off like she had seemed to want to do yesterday. Willow was the first to break the stunned silence "Angel's a vampire?" she muttered her question as if her mind couldn't process the thought. Caitlin had been right all this time it seemed.
The blonde in the group dropped her head and heaved a sigh "I can't believe this is happening. He was home alone with my Mom and Dawn, He could have killed them," Buffy lifted her head to look at her friends again, they could all see the torment she was going through over that fact. "One minute we were kissing and the next..." tilting her head to her Watcher she asked him a question she already knew the answer to but needed him to disprove her " Can a Vampire ever be a good person? Could it happen?"
Giles shook his head, a small part of him really wanted to say yes but he couldn't because it wasn't true. He wished he could say yes so she wouldn't worry about her family's safety but Vampires were demons. He was surprised her family was still alive if he had spent time there unsupervised but he knew not to say that out loud, ever. The Watcher adjusted his glasses as he carefully worded his response, "A vampire isn't a person at all. It may have the movements, the, the memories, even the personality of the person that it took over, but i-it's still a demon at the core. There is no halfway with demons they have no souls, they are innately evil."
Willow scoffed at Giles's answer he had said all that when all he really needed to say was a one word answer "So that'd be a no then?" She asked with a hint of sadness for Buffy and sarcasm for Giles.
Buffy looked at Willow and shot her a small smirk. The redhead was certainly hanging around Caitlin too much if she was picking up on her habits. The Slayer's thoughts caught up with her again and she flung her arms out in frustration "The why is he doing this? Vampires like to toy with their prey but this is a bit excessive isn't it! getting me to like him after saving my life and then delivering me to the Master? He could have taken Mom or Dawn at any time I wasn't home yesterday or he could have slaughtered them but he didn't. This doesn't make any sense." The others could tell Buffy had been keeping that in for a while and it must have freaked her out to realise she had left her mother and sister unattended with a vampire in the house. Once they reached a place where they could sit Buffy slumped down onto the bench, exhausted even though the day had just begun. Willow sat down beside her and started to rub her back soothingly.
Xander scratched the back of his head and joined them on the bench "Alright, so uh you have a problem and it is by no means a small one. Let's take a deep breath step back so we can look at this calmly and objectively. He's a vampire, you're a vampire Slayer therefore you must Slay him," Xander patted her on the shoulder with a smile but stopped short when he saw the glares that the girls were giving him. Gulping, Xander looked to Giles for support.
The Librarian sighed at the poor boy, he just kept sticking his foot in his mouth, Giles crouched down in front of Buffy "It's a Slayer duty..." was all he managed to get out before the foolish boy spoke up again but the Watcher was secretly glad because the girls had turned their glares onto him. He missed Caitlin, she would be able to reason with the two.
The teenaged male hadn't been afraid of his female friends for long as she opened his mouth back up "I-I Know you have feelings for the guy but c'mon it's not like you're in love with him or anything," Xander joked and nudged Buffy with his shoulder, only to see Buffy look away "You're in love with a vampire? what the hell is wrong with you?" Xander shouted out and jumped from his perch to point at her accusingly. Buffy sunk down trying to hide herself away from his accusation but could not tell him she didn't because in truth she suspected that she did.
Everyone froze when they hear a voice shout out from beside them "What!?" They all turned to face a shocked and horrified looking Cordelia. The whole gang remained silent as all of them were experiencing different levels of panic.
The first person get over their shock was surprisingly the guy who was getting them exposed "Not Vampire.." he turned back and pointed more frantically at Buffy "How could you love and Umpire? Everyone hates 'em!"
Willow blanked Cordelia out as she started ranting at a girl wearing the same outfit as her. The redhead focused all of her attention onto her oldest friend "Are you trying to get us all caught?" she asked with a hint of anger in her words. Turning his attention to his old friend Xander blinked in confusion. The redhead shook her head "You keep shouting stuff about, 'how's was the Slaying last night' 'with a vampire.' Why don't you just announce it over the PA system during class time." Willow took Buffy's hand in hers and pulled her up so they could head to class.
Giles nodded at Willow's words and awkwardly patted Xander on the back "She has a point," and with that he headed towards the Library leaving the teen on his own to think of his actions. The Watcher knew he would be having to remind Buffy that Angel was indeed a vampire and not a person, maybe it would help if he were able to find out exactly who the vampire was, the name was strangely familiar if he was honest.
~GU:CM~
He knew they would turn up during their free period and he was glad that he had been looking into this Angel character because he really couldn't believe what he had found. The Watcher stepped up behind the male teen, causing Xander to jump, but Giles wasn't paying attention as he carried on reading what was written in the book he was holding "Here's something at last."
Xander was quick to speak up as he clutched his chest dramatically "Can you please warn us before you do that? I'm too young for a heart attack." He looked towards the girls for a little back up but they didn't seem too interested in him after his bout of putting his foot in his mouth earlier.
"There is nothing about this Angel vampire in the texts but it suddenly occurred to me that I made heard a name similar to it and I decided to check the diaries of the Watchers before me," Giles ignored Xander's little speech in favour of staying on a serious topic but when he looked up he saw that the teens were only half paying attention.
Willow sat facing Buffy and her legs crossed on the chair so she could lean forward "That musta been so embarrassing when you thought he had read your diary, but then it turned out he hadn't and you ranted about him not being the A in it and when you found out he felt that same..." she managed to say in one breath before she heard Giles clear his throat forcing her attention onto him. The Librarian raised a brow at her and she quietly eep'd before facing him "I'm listening."
Shooting the young teen a thankful look Giles carried on now he had their attention "There's mention some two hundred years ago in Ireland of, of Angelus, the one with the angelic face."
Buffy Absently nodded her head to that part of the story "They got that right," she mumbled and rubbed her eyes with the heels of her palms. She was so tired, she just wanted to wake up from this nightmare and be back in her bed.
The young male coughed but otherwise kept his mouth shut, he really didn't want both of them to be pissed off at him for too long. The other occupants of the library shot him a look but carried on as Xander didn't carry on speaking. Giles took up speaking again "Does this, um, Angel have a tattoo on his right shoulder?" Giles almost forgot to use the vampire's new name. If he has used Angelus, Buffy would have jumped to his defence without actually thinking about it. Damn teenage hormones the Watched sighed.
Buffy nodded but before she could verbally response Xander jumped up in accusation. Clearly the male had really wanted to speak earlier and could no longer keep his silence. The teen male stood up and pointed at the Slayer "Now I'm saying something!" he exclaimed as he waved his pointed finger about in mixture of disbelief and anger "You saw him naked?"
"No," The older teen responded with a scowl. His behaviour was starting to grate in her nerves. Turning her attention to her Watcher Buffy was able to respond to his question "Yeah it was some kind of bird, a Griffin maybe," her eyebrows bunched up.
The redhead spoke up quickly as she saw her long-time friend opened his mouth to respond "So, he's been around for a while then?" the question caused Giles to regain the room's attention again.
"Not long for a vampire," Giles responded with a shake of his head. The watcher could see they wanted more information than that "Uh, two hundred and forty years or so." Angel was fairly young for a vampire, especially one with his reputation.
Buffy's eyes widened "Huh! Two hundred and forty. Well, he said he was older. I was thinking maybe twenty two, guess I was thinking realistically," Buffy trailed off into a mumble, Willow heard the words as she was sat next to the blonde and patted her shoulder sympathetically.
The Watcher takes a seat at the table and continues to flip through the diary "Angelus leaves Ireland, uh, wreaks havoc in, in Europe for several decades, and then about eighty years ago, the most curious thing happens. He, he comes to, uh, to America, um, shuns other vampires, and, and lives alone. There's, there's no, no record of him hunting here," Summing up the Vampires afterlife seemed the best way to give them the information without giving them too much information, it was far from pleasant.
"So he *is* a good vampire!" Willow exclaimed as she nudged Buffy but stopped quickly as she realised what she said "I mean, on a scale of one to ten, ten being someone who's killing and maiming every night, and one being someone who's... not," she lamely tried to cover herself as she really didn't think a vampire could be good not from the ones she had seen and the not having a soul would be very hard for them to be good. Willow quickly looked to Giles for help, no way was Xander going to help her out.
Giles shook his head as she closed the book "I say that there's no record, but, uh, vampires hunt and kill. It's, it's what they do." He knew that wouldn't help Willow but he was not going to lie to them, it would probably get them killed if he did.
Xander nodded enthusiastically "Fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly," the quicker Buffy got over Angel the better for him, them, he mentally corrected himself. He really didn't like Angel, before he knew that Angel was a vampire he just seemed like a stalker and a pervert. Angel looked to be in his twenties and that didn't help him when following Buffy but finding out he was a vampire and over two hundred years older than his friend just plain creeped him out. He had to be up to something.
"He could've fed on me," Buffy said in a hard tone. Willow could tell she was trying to stand up for the vampire but even she could see that Giles and Xander assumed she was realising the situation. Buffy crossed her arms defiantly "He didn't," she added as she too saw what they were thinking.
Xander threw his arms up and pointed at Giles "Question: a hundred years or so before he came to our shores, what was he like then?" He asked the Watcher his question without realising that Buffy was glaring at him again.
Willow started to rub Buffy's shoulder, much like she did when Caitlin was pissed off, the blonde started to calm slightly but her glare remained on the teen. Willow sighed in relief slightly, she really didn't want Xander to be beaten to a pulp.
Giles wished Xander would stop putting him on the spot but he had to admit the teen had a good point and he knew he should answer honestly "Uh, like all of them. Uh, a vicious, violent animal." So he did.
Buffy pushed away from the table "I get it alright, he's a vampire but I want to know what he's up to first before I do anything." The blonde walked away from them and left the library leaving the three with different thoughts on her words. Xander thought her words were an excuse. Giles thought her words were smart in knowing the enemy. Willow thought that Buffy had meant the words an excuse for more time and to see if Angel really was up to something.
~GU:CM~
School was over for the day and so was Buffy's light training. Giles has tried to teach her how to block blows from the 'friar tuck' staff but the blonde had quickly blocked and disarmed him. leaving the Buffy and Willow to laugh at him. The two teens had stayed after the training to get some studying done.
Willow flipped her book back to the beginning of the chapter she was just on before she looked up at her friend, she took her studying very seriously "Okay, so let's review." The redhead was so focused on the study session that she didn't notice that Buffy wasn't paying attention "Reconstruction began when?" she asked as she focused on the book again but when she didn't get a response she looked back up "Buffy?" Willow prompted.
Buffy focused on her friend after she heard her name "Huh?" she shook her head, she had heard the question she just hadn't been paying attention "Oh! Um, reconstruction... Uh, reconstruction began after the... construction, which was... shoddy, so they had to reconstruct," she finished lamely knowing she had completely failed that one.
Shaking her head Willow gave the correct answer "After the destruction of the Civil War," she should have known this wasn't going to be easy, Caitlin liked to study and they usually went further than they should have but they had fun. The redhead knew they were not going to get anywhere anytime soon.
"Right. Civil War. During which Angel was already, like, a hundred and change..." Buffy trailed off as her thoughts went back to Angel.
The redhead shut her book with a sigh, she had thought right it seemed "Are we gonna talk about boys, or are we gonna help you pass history?" She asked rhetorically already knowing the answer. Buffy looked back at Willow but did not answer. Willow crossed her arms over the book with a smile "Sometimes I have this fantasy that someone's just gonna grab me and kiss me right on the lips," the Smile faltered a little due to confusion. She wasn't sure anymore who that person was.
Buffy could see the confliction in Willow's eyes but decided not to push the redhead to tell her what she was thinking "You want that someone, you've gotta speak up, girl!" It would be cool if Willow would tell Caitlin she had feelings for her, Dawn and herself knew Caitlin had some feelings for Willow and with how Willow acted around Caitlin, they knew she had feelings for Caitlin too.
"No, no, no, no," Willow instantly responded as she shook her head "No speaking up. That way leads to madness and sweaty palms," she pulled her book closer to her as if seeking comfort. Speaking up would lead to more confusion and possible some anger from people and she really didn't want to have to deal with that. Before Buffy could open her mouth to retort, Willow changed to focus back onto the blonde "Okay, so here's something I gotta know. When Angel kissed you... I mean before he turned into... how was it?"
"Unbelievable!" Was the only word that Buffy could think described the kiss. She had kissed guys before but older guys could clearly kiss better. Great kissing must come with experience and practice.
Willow sighed as she tried to imagine a kiss that was unbelievable, she figured her mind could never conjure a feeling that good. "Wow! And it is kinda novel how he'll stay young and handsome forever, although you'll still get wrinkly and die, and... Oh, and what about the children?" as the question left her mouth she took into account how Buffy was staring at her and realised her mind had run off again and that Buffy didn't want to be thinking about that stuff. "I'll be quiet now."
"No, it's okay. I need to hear this. I need to get over him so I can..." Buffy tried to search for a word that wouldn't hurt her to say but she knew she wouldn't be able to think of one.
Catching the Slayers dilemma Willow jumped "So that you can..." she too didn't say a word as she knew Buffy didn't want to hear one but she supplied a stabbing gesture. The two of them knew that everyone else was cheering for her to do that but Willow could tell Buffy really didn't want to and would stall until she had to.
Buffy nodded with a sad look on her face "Like Xander said, I'm the Slayer, and he's a... vampire. God, I can't! He's never done anything to hurt me..." Buffy shook her head, Willow shouldn't have to listen to her little rant. "Okay, no, I need to stop thinking about this. Okay, let's give another half an hour and maybe something will sink in. And then I'm going home for some major moping." She might not know what to do but if she didn't decide and have a good reason for her decision she knew that Caitlin would make a decision when she came back. She was positive she wouldn't like the decision.
Understanding her friend wanted time to think about this Willow opened her book and started to question the blonde again, she knew she hadn't been listening earlier but she wanted to know how much she needed to teach.
~GU:CM~
For the first time in a long while the house was quiet, there were no feet thumping on the stairs, no giggling girls and no arguing. The reason for it being so quiet? she was home alone. Joyce was sat on the sofa curled up with a glass of wine and a book. Her eldest daughter was studying with her friend, her middle daughter was with her grandmother and cousins and her youngest was sleeping at her friend's house for the night. Joyce took a deep breath as she enjoyed the silence, the mother of three almost didn't recognise what silence was. Her life had always been busy and noisy. She had helped raise her nieces and then had children of her own but they were now at that age where being at home with her just didn't appeal to them anymore, the thought made her feel sad.
Placing the book down on the coffee table Joyce stood up and walked up the stairs, she headed towards her older children's rooms and couldn't help peering inside. Buffy's room was quite neat for a teenaged girl, she had a few articles of clothing on the bed, her wardrobe was open and a few items of makeup were on the vanity. Buffy was never usually this clean or organised but it seemed being in Sunnydale had helped her to mature a little.
She turned and entered Caitlin's room. The room was meticulous as always, the only items that were out of place where things Dawn had clearly borrowed and her wardrobe door was open signalling Buffy had raided her sisters clothing again. Joyce chuckled as she moved everything back to its place. Caitlin wouldn't mind things being moved but the young teen was very strict about where things went, her music was arranged in genre, books arranged by author and special books were out of reach on the top shelf from Dawn. The only thing Joyce noticed as being out of place were the pictures on Caitlin's bedside table, it seemed they had been moved. She had a few pictures on her bedside. The first was one of all the girls, with her nieces in the back and her children in the front. The second was one of herself and her children. The oldest picture on there by far was a picture of herself, Buffy, Caitlin as a baby and Ricky. Joyce noticed that the picture had been cleaned up and placed in a new frame. The newest picture on there was a picture she had taken herself; the children had been outside and messing around when she took the picture. Xander had gotten a hold of the hose and was dousing the girls with it, Caitlin had her arms around Willow and was picking her up to put her in the spray and Buffy was doing the same with Dawn. Joyce did note that a picture was missing; she reasoned it was because Willow was around a lot and her daughter didn't want to explain the photo. What she didn't realise what Caitlin had used it against Buffy a few weeks ago and that it now resided in Buffy's top draw.
Joyce went to Dawn's room next and smiled fondly at the mess, Dawn had yet to get into sorting her items out or even picking up after herself. The pre-teen loved to create a mess but cleaning her room was apparently the worst punishment in the world even though she usually roped Buffy or Caitlin into helping her.
As she left the room she heard a tentative knock on the door and furrowed her brow "Who could that be," Joyce mumbled as she headed down stairs and opened the door to see a shy blonde stood there looking sheepish "Can I help you?" Joyce asked politely.
"I'm looking for Buffy?" the girl at the door asked. Joyce smiled at the shy girl, it was a relief to the mother to see Buffy had gone from horrible stuck up friends to nice real friends and she knew her daughter wouldn't get into as much trouble with people like these. How wrong she was.
~GU:CM~
The study session had ended before it was scheduled to due to Buffy not paying attention and Xander storming in and declaring he was bored. Willow had given up then and there as she was clearly outnumbered. Buffy had invited the two back to her place but had set off before them so she had time to ask her mother without seemingly trying to push her to accept. She figured her mother would say yes because Caitlin and Dawn weren't home and she could play the lonely teen card. Buffy enters the yard through the gate and heads to the backdoor, usually she would go through the front but she had taken a few shortcuts to get home quicker.
Buffy noticed the kitchen light is on so she knew her mother was indeed home and probably finishing up with dinner but she quickly saw that the back door was ajar and warning bells went off as she quickened her pace. Barging through the door her heart stopped beating, her mother was lead on the floor unconscious with Angel holding her body, she gasps as the vampire turned to face her and she could see his vampiric face.
Angel put Joyce on the floor and stood with his hands up "This isn't what it looks like," he defended as he started to walk backwards. Buffy looked from her mother's prone body to Angels retreating form and gave chase. Angel spun on the spot and rushed into the living room and hoped to reach the front door before Buffy caught him. With Angel's back turned to her Buffy put on a burst of speed and collided with his back causing the vampire to fly out of the front window. Angel tumbled over the porch with the speed he had been traveling. Buffy stopped by the window and saw Angel standing up "You're not welcome here," Buffy ground out in anger and heartbreak "You come near us and I'll kill you." Decision made. Buffy rushed back to the kitchen, grabbing the phone on her way. Buffy knelt beside her mother and dialled 911 "Mom, Mom can you hear me?" Buffy placed her hand over her mother's neck and used the other one to place the phone to her ear "Yes I need an ambulance, 1630 Revello Drive!" Buffy looked around for a dish towel as the Operator asked her a question "My Mother cut herself, she lost a lot of blood, Please hurry," Buffy dropped the phone and placed her other hand over the hand on her mother's neck.
"Hey Buffy!" Xander called out as he and Willow walked through the back door only to stop as they saw Buffy kneeling over her mother "Oh my God!" Xander exclaimed as he dropped down next to Buffy.
Willow quickly rushed over to grab a dish towel before joining them on Joyce's other side and handed Buffy the dish towel to hold to the wound. "What happened?" Willow asked trying to remain calm. She had no idea how to handle this situation and with it being her best friend's mother just made it worse.
Buffy nodded her thanks to Willow as she applied the cloth material to her mother's neck "Angel!" She scowled as she answered. The teens remained silent as they waited for the EMT's. The ambulance arrived and did their job before informing Buffy that her mother was going to be taken to hospital and asked her if she wanted to ride with them but Buffy shook her head stating that she had to collect her sister and that she would go afterwards.
Willow and Xander wrapped an arm around Buffy "We'll come with you to get Dawn," Willow whispered as they watched the ambulance drive off. Buffy nodded her head and turned back to the house and noticed the broken window, she slumped a little knowing she was going to be in trouble over the broken window.
~GU:CM~
Buffy sat beside her mother, the doctor had told them that her mother wasn't in any danger after they stopped the bleeding and that she would wake up soon. Willow had taken Dawn to the cafeteria to get a drink and a snack whilst Xander had called Giles to inform him about Ms Summers and the broken Window. Giles had said he would have one someone fix the window on the down low and the Council would fund it. The Council didn't want people sniffing around their Slayer after all.
The Slayers attention turned to her mother as she groaned "Mom?" Buffy asked as she gripped her mother's hand. Joyce squeezed the hand as she opened her eyes, the mother of three groaned but nodded to Buffy "Mom are you alright?" the daughter asked the mother who nodded again. The blonde got up and called for a doctor who checked Joyce over and stated she would need to stay the night but was in no serious danger. Buffy left a message with Xander to get Willow and Dawn from the cafe, when the blonde came back into the room her mother was sat up in the bed looking a lot better than she had when she left. "Do you remember anything, mom?" Buffy asked as she perched on her mother's bedside, smiling as her mother placed a hand on her forearm.
Joyce concentrated for a few seconds before nodding her head hesitantly "Not much, Just that a friend of yours came over...I think I was going to make snacks," Joyce bought her free hand to rub her forehead before shaking her head, signalling that she couldn't remember much after that. Buffy was glad her mother didn't remember being attacked by a vampire, she did not need that hassle again. "I guess I slipped and cut my neck on," her brows furrowed in confusion this time "The doctor said it looked like a barbecue fork," the statement almost sounded like a question as Joyce spoke to Buffy "We don't have a barbecue fork." That was a statement though and Buffy had to resist the urge to squirm under her mother's gaze, she could almost feel the question forming in her mother's head. Luckily form Buffy Giles came through the door, Joyce turned to the gentleman who entered the room "Are you a doctor?"
Giles stopped in his tracks like a deer caught in headlights, he hadn't expected Joyce to be awake so soon. Buffy, who was thankful for the unintentional save, quickly jumped in "Oh! No Mom, this is Mr Giles."
Joyce looks at her daughter the back at Giles, Buffy could see the confusion mounting in her mother's eyes "The Librarian from your school?" The older female asked the younger female. Buffy nodded her head. "What's he doing here?" she continued to ask, not aware that she was being slightly rude; the other two occupants were not exactly going to call her out on it. She was in hospital after all.
Giles shot a look at Buffy before focusing on Joyce "Uh, I-I just came to pay my respects, wish you a speedy recovery." The teen rolled her eyes but smiled when her mother looked at her for confirmation.
"Boy, the teachers really *do* care in this town," Joyce replied loudly in a tone that Giles couldn't decipher but Buffy could, it was her Mother's 'I don't really believe what you're saying but giving you the benefit of the doubt' tone.
The Slayer quickly jumped in and kissed her mother on the lips and then the forehead, the Halliwell Tradition, and then rested her forehead on Joyce's "Get some rest now." Buffy knew Joyce would mention Giles later but for now they were both content to just leave it alone. Joyce was led in a hospital bed and knew she had freaked out her daughters so she didn't want to start anything.
Joyce gripped the back of her daughter's neck keeping their foreheads together. Giles, seeing the intimate moment between mother and daughter, left the room. "Is Dawn here?" the blue eyed female asked her green eyed daughter. Buffy nodded. Joyce smiled softly "Is she with Willow and Xander?" She didn't know why she knew the two teens were there but she did. Buffy nodded again, a little too choked up to respond. Joyce rubbed her fingers on Buffy's neck in a soothing motion "Did you call your Grandmother?" Buffy shook her head. They both knew Grams would shove everyone in the car and drive down to see them, none of them needed that. "Good girl," Joyce hated the thought of her mother coming to town just to see her in hospital "Now you run along whilst I take a nap and I expect both my girls here when I wake up."
Buffy cleared her throat and nodded again "Okay mom, I'll get Willow and Xander to bring Dawn in whilst I go get you some clothes and food so I might be a while." Buffy got up and exited the room. She saw Giles a little down the hall waiting with Willow, Xander and Dawn so she made her approach. Dawn flew from under Xander's arm and wrapped her arms around her sister's waist and buried her head in Buffy's shoulder. Buffy pulled Dawn in tight and dropped her head down to place a kiss to Dawn's crown. The friends watched silently as the sister's comforted each other, they didn't wait long before Buffy regained her composure. "The Doctor told me earlier that she's going to be okay. They gave her some iron…her blood count was a little…"
Giles nodded his head as he interrupted "…a little low. It presents itself like a mild anaemia." The Watcher shot Dawn a quick glance before he continued "You were, uh, you were lucky you got to her as soon as you did."
"Lucky?" Buffy scoffed at the word "Stupid." She should have known better than to be so relaxed after finding out Angel was a vampire, just because she liked him didn't mean he was any different than Lothos. Dawn tightened her grip and it made Buffy glad she was a Slayer or the hold would be painful.
The younger male shook his head "Buff, it's not your fault," Sure she knew he was a vampire but none of them had expected family to be involved. It was a bucket of cold water to the face for all of them.
The blonde shook her head, she couldn't just agree with him to make herself feel better, she should know better. "No? I invited him into my home. After I knew who he was, what he was, I still didn't do anything about it. I didn't do anything because I had feelings for him, because I cared about him. Vampires are all the same. I should have trusted Caitlin's instincts I didn't the last time and that blew up in my face too." Dawn pulled away slightly and gave her sister a sympathetic look. Buffy looked away from her baby sister, she didn't deserve the sympathy, if only Dawn knew what really happened.
Willow leant forward and placed her hand on Buffy's shoulder, the blonde looked at her redhead friend "If you care about somebody then you care about them. You can't change that by…" Willow didn't get to finish as Buffy let out a sarcastic laugh. Willow noted Buffy was acting a lot like Caitlin usually did.
"…Killing them? Maybe not but after what's just happened I'd say it's a start." The older sister started to untangle herself from her youngest sisters hold, ignoring the whimpering that came with the action, Buffy held Dawn at arm's length "I want you to stay with Mom, she wants to see you when she wakes up okay?" Buffy asked her sister softly, she couldn't worry about her sister whilst trying to kill Angel. Dawn nodded before heading to her Mother's room. Buffy hear Xander shout after her but didn't hear the words he spoke. She blinked as she realised Giles was stood in front of her. "You can't stop me from going Giles I have to do this. Look, The Three found me near the Bronze and so did he, so he got to live nearby."
Giles lightly gripped his Slayers arm as she started to walk around him; he leant in close so no one would overhear "This is no ordinary vampire…If there is such a thing. Now, he knows you, he, he's faced the Three! I think this is gonna take more than a simple stake." He really wanted her to think about this but had a feeling he was going to lose again.
Buffy tilted her head but didn't look at him "So do I," she replied with a smirk. It was times like this she was glad Caitlin used to spar with her; she knew a thing or two about weapons because of it.
~GU:CM~
Joyce woke up only a few minutes after falling asleep as she felt the bed shift, blearily she peered down at her side and saw Dawn settling in for a nap. The mother of three pulled her daughter closer with a contented sigh. She did like a good cuddle as she woke up, something she sorely missed with her older daughters.
Willow smiled at the scene in front of her, she'd never had a relationship with her mother where she could go for a cuddle, heck she barely got hugs. She really envied the three sisters who clearly got hugs all the time lately, when she had been round anyways. Willow had even got a hug from the Mother; the only other adult to hug her had been Miss Calendar when she had Aced a test a few weeks ago, Caitlin had gotten a friendly squeeze of the shoulder. Miss Calendar had seemed to know what they needed, the teacher always used physical touch to congratulate the two of them but she was careful with Caitlin and always stood in front of her. Willow had liked the feeling the hugs caused and wished she was hugged more often by adults.
Joyce turned her head and gave Willow a small smile, she knew the redhead was upset about her accident; Xander seemed to be handling it well and didn't need reassurance. Giles caught her attention so she decided to talk to him "They talk about you all the time," she chuckled when Giles jumped. "It's important to have teachers who make an impression, especially on Buffy," It was nice to see Buffy talking about school for once. She was like Phoebe in that respect never really caring about what happened only about going out and having fun. Blood really was thicker than water. They had been raised in different cities and with different people but acted almost identical.
Giles nodded at the implication of Ms Summers words. Buffy never paid attention in school before but seemed to be now. "She makes quite an impression herself," Giles commented back. He had been trained to handle and guide the Slayer but he was shocked when he had first met her, and her sister.
"I-I know she's having trouble with history. I-is it too difficult for her or is she not applying herself?" Joyce was worried about Buffy failing some of her courses, she knew if Buffy failed she would need to repeat them next year and the blonde would be hard on herself, her behaviour may deteriorate again.
The Librarian nodded his head, it was true and there was no point in lying that would not help his case. "She lives very much in the 'now', um, and, uh, history, of course, is, is very much about the, uh... the 'then'. B-b-but there's no reason..." Giles tried to defend Buffy but could see Joyce was well aware of what Buffy was like as she waved her hand in the air.
"She's studying with Willow, she's studying with Darla, I-I mean, she is trying." Joyce was proud of Buffy for trying, her other daughters all tried their hardest and so did her nieces, most of the time. She had no idea where Buffy had gotten her work ethic, she suspected it came from the Summers side of the child's bloodline.
Willow frowned "Darla? I-I-I don't think I know her..." Willow knew everyone's name in her history class and Darla was not one of them. Something was suddenly off with the situation.
Joyce shrugged "Her friend, the one who came over tonight," you couldn't remember everyone's name after all so she assumed Willow wouldn't remember that name as Darla went to a different school. Joyce never flagged up on how Buffy would have met her if she was always with Xander, Willow and Caitlin.
"Darla came to your house tonight? Sh-she's the friend that you mentioned earlier?" The Watcher needed to be sure on the facts before jumping to a new and horrible realisation. He knew who and what Darla was.
Nodding Joyce responded "Poor thing, I must've frightened her half to death when I fainted. Someone should really check and make sure she's alright.
Giles looked alarmed when he had heard the name and was even more so when he realised Darla had been invited in. He got up and nodded quickly "Yes, someone should, right away. I'll do it." He subtly motioned the other two to follow him. As the door shut separating them from Joyce, Giles looked grave as he turned to the teens "We have a problem."
Joyce smiled; maybe there wasn't anything funny about the Librarian after all "That school is amazing!" She was so glad she had found it. She had almost given up on sending her girls to school until she had seen a random flyer about SDH science fair, she had given it one last shot and gotten her girls into Sunnydale after so many other rejections.
~GU:CM~
Raiding the weapons cupboard had been fun, she had been able to choose what she wanted without hearing her Watcher moan. The Slayer spent the time walking towards the Bronze contemplating how she was going to do this. She knew she had to kill him, he had tried to kill her mother, something about this whole situation didn't sit right with her but she no longer had a choice. If she didn't then Angel could try again or worse, Caitlin could try and kill him. It wouldn't have been the first time Caitlin tried and Buffy doubted it would be the last.
Before she knew it she was at the Bronze, she walked into the abandoned and darkened club. Buffy tried to breathe in to see if she can scent Angel, she knew his scent by heart unfortunately, but instead of being able to scent the vampire she got a large dose of fumes from the fumigation. Buffy coughed at the horrible smell and made a decision not to use her Slayer sense; Angel's scent would be hidden in the fumes. Buffy scowled, it must have been why he chose the Bronze as a show down, he could easily get the jump on her. There was only one thing left to do, out herself and hopefully he followed "I know you're there and I know what you are!" Buffy called out as she readied her weapon, a crossbow, it probably wasn't the most precise weapon but it was the least personal. She did not want to be close to him when she killed him.
Angel peered out from his hiding spot but was still hidden enough that Buffy couldn't see him, He was going to play her game "Do you?" he asked just loud enough for her to hear. By the time she had turned the face him he had moved to the other side of the room "I'm just an animal, right?" he asked another question. The typical question he heard from the 'good' guys.
The Slayer shook her head and she turned to face his voice "You're not an animal," Buffy said softly. Angel paused at the tone of voice. Shaking her head Buffy added "Animals I like," her voice had hardened with resolve. She had to do this, for herself and more importantly her family. He was a threat that had to be dealt with.
With Buffy's back to him Angel growled and jumped from the shadows. Buffy, alerted by his growl, spun to face him with her crossbow ready. Angel didn't say a word as he charged at the Slayer, what could he say? This was a showdown and he had gotten over the dramatics long ago. Buffy aimed and went to pull the trigger, Angel had sensed her intent and jumped on the pool table, and the arrow flew from the crossbow and hit the spot Angel had been. Buffy reloaded giving Angel time to jump up to the catwalk, hiding in the Shadows again.
The Slayer held her breath and closed her eyes hoping she would be able to sense him, before she could find him she felt a powerful pressure on her back that sent her into the pool table, the weapon flying from her hands. Buffy kicked out behind her and smirked as she felt her shoe connect with him. Turning on her heel, Buffy rushed to grab her fallen crossbow, she aimed the weapon at the Vampire.
Angel slowly got his footing back but didn't rush Buffy as he had done previously. Angel shrugged and let the demonic façade fall from his face making him look human. The blonde teen lowered her weapon slightly at the human face, it was easier to visualise his demise when he looked the part. Angel growled at her hesitation "C'mon! Don't go soft on me now!" Angel heard the trigger sound from the crossbow but didn't flinch as the arrow hit the wall beside him. The Vampire blinked "Little Wide," he commented.
Buffy jumped to her feet but made no effort to attack him again, she wanted answers and she was going to get them. "Why didn't you just attack me when you had the chance? Was it a joke? To make me feel for you and then..." Buffy stopped in order to gather herself again, he was a vampire and he was the bad guy "I've killed a lot of vampires. I've never hated one before." The Slayers resolve was back up but she could feel it quickly weakening, she really wanted this to be over.
"Feels good, doesn't it? Feels simple," Angel goaded hoping it would push Buffy over the edge. A few well-placed words could work wonders on a simple girl like the Slayer.
Shaking her head Buffy knew she couldn't hold it back anymore. Dropping her aim altogether she started to rant "I invited you into my home and then you attacked my family!" Buffy waved her free hand as she spoke and anyone would be able to tell she was pissed off.
The Vampire shrugged "Why not? I killed mine. I killed their friends... and their friend's children... For a hundred years I offered ugly death to everyone I met, and I did it with a song in my heart," Angel swayed with his hand over his heart as if he could hear some music with his memories.
Buffy narrowed her eyes "What changed?" her question was valid as he hadn't killed any of them yet but he admitted that he would have if it had been before, but before what?
"Fed on a girl about your age..." Angel started the tale he had to share. He hoped it was the right time "beautiful... dumb as a post... but a favourite among her clan," as he spoke the bronze and Buffy became unimportant as his memories seemed to take over.
The human watched as the vampire's eyes glazed over slightly, clearly he was back in the past remembering what he had done. Buffy found a problem with that, Angel wasn't smiling at the memory he was frowning. "Her clan?" The blonde asked the bring Angel back to the present. She had to know the whole story.
"Romany. Gypsies." Angel clarified understanding how she might be confused. No-one really used their word clan in that context these days. "The elders conjured the perfect punishment for me," he could see Buffy was hanging onto his words and did not leave her hanging "They restored my soul."
Buffy frowned in disappointment, she thought that she would be getting some serious answers but it turned out that all he was doing was lying to her again. Vampires didn't have souls "What, they were all out of boils and blinding torment?" she asked somewhat sarcastically.
Shaking his head Angel responded "When you become a vampire the demon takes your body, but it doesn't get your soul. That's gone! No conscience, no remorse... It's an easy way to live." His ending words were drenched in something that Buffy would call remorse. Not that it was possible he was a vampire, a run of the mill plain old vampire…Wasn't he? "You have no idea what it's like to have done the things I've done... and to care. I haven't fed on a living human being since that day."
"So you started with my mom?" Buffy demanded as she raised her crossbow back up, she had just angered herself by remembering what he has done. It was all well and good to be cursed, supposedly, but he still had no right to attack her mother when he could have gone straight for her. It was her job, her mother was unknowing of the supernatural world.
"I didn't bite her" Angel denied but failed to protect himself, if she was going to kill him then she would get no resistance. He deserved death and much more for what he had been responsible for.
Buffy shook her head, she was starting to believe Angel, "Then why didn't you say something?" she asked as the crossbow was lowered slightly again. Holding the weapon was giving her emotions away more than she realised, anyone could see when she was disbelieving or believing as the weapon came in to play.
"But I wanted to, warm fresh blood is the best blood there is," The vampire's reply was in a low tone but still clear to the Slayer. Buffy blinked as she registered the remorse in his tone this time. Angel gestured to himself as he carried on "I can walk like a man, but I'm not one. I wanted to kill you tonight."
Buffy was struggling internally, she believed what he was saying, this had been the only time he had ever been completely open and honest with her. The Blonde looked at her bow, which she finally noted that it had lowered slightly, and then back at Angel. Shaking her head Buffy put the crossbow on the floor; she had a feeling that she wouldn't need it, not with Angel. Taking a deep breath Buffy stepped closer the Angel and bared her neck "Go ahead," she silently hoped her instincts were right.
Buffy watched from the corner of her eye as Angel eyed her neck but made no move to bite her, Buffy straightened her neck and gave Angel a look he couldn't decipher "Not as easy as it looks."
"Sure it is!" A voice sounded from behind them. Angel peered over whilst Buffy spun on the spot. They both watched as Darla strolled from the shadow with her hands behind her back, the picture of innocence, only that they knew better. Darla smirked as they duo turned their attention on her "do you want to know what the saddest things in the world are?" the blonde vampire asked with a small pout.
Angel rolled his eyes at her dramatics but didn't respond. Buffy on the other hand couldn't help but comment, playing into Darla's little game "Bad hair on top of that lame outfit?"
Darla shook her head "To love someone who used to love you," Both vampires eyes met for a brief second before Angel looked away. The older Vampire focused back on Buffy and her pout grew back into a smirk "and for someone else to get credit for your handy work."
With clenched fists Buffy ignored Darla's last comment "You guys were involved?" Buffy asked as she looked over her shoulder at Angel. She knew she could relax a little around him now, Darla had knowingly told her she had attacked her mother.
"For several generations," Darla answered the question knowing Angel would either not answer or try to explain himself and the situation, she didn't need to be degraded that way. It was wrong to try and love the thing that was designed to kill them and exactly what was happening.
The response from Darla caused Buffy to turn back to face her. Anger and disgust building up inside of the blonde so she decided to lash out the only way she really knew how to "Well, you been around since Columbus, you are bound to pile up a few ex's. You're older than him, right? Just between us girls, you are looking a little worn around the eyes."
"I made him," Darla started forcefully before she softened and smiled "There was a time when we shared everything, wasn't there Angelus?" The creator asked her created but frowned as she didn't get a response "You had a chance to come home, to rule with me in the Master's court for a thousand years, but you threw that away because of her." Buffy just raised an eyebrow, a response she had picked up from Caitlin, at the accusation but refused to comment, the Vampire clearly had issues she needed to vent. "You love someone who hates us. You're sick. And you'll always be sick. And you'll always remember what it was like to watch her die," Darla lost her focus on Angel as she finished and focused fully on the Slayer. "You don't think I came alone, do you?" Darla shrugged lightly and smiled her supposedly innocent smile.
Buffy kicked her crossbow up from the floor and held it in her hands with a triumphant smirk "I know I didn't," she said as she aimed it at Darla. She may have had second thoughts about shooting Angel but shooting Darla was going to be a huge stress relief.
The Vampire barely blinked as the weapon was pointed at her but didn't flinch "Hmm, scary." She had the Slayer beat so she really needn't worry about a pesky crossbow. She finally revealed her hands by moving them and their content in front of her "Scarier!" Darla's hands were holding onto two 9mm pistols. She took aim and shot Angel in the chest, she didn't need him interfering with her plan.
Angel staggered back and dropped to the floor as he felt the bullet enter his chest. Buffy nearly spun around but controlled herself knowing she could get shot if she did but the Slayer did peer over her shoulder to look at the injured Vampire.
"Oh, don't worry. Bullets can't kill vampires. Can hurt them like hell, but..." Darla trailed off with a giggle as she let the Slayer think for herself. She didn't want her to think for too long, so Darla aimed the pistols again. Buffy seeing the movement dived over the pool table, just in time for Darla to start shooting at her. The pool table covered Buffy from the bullets that Darla fired her way and she waited for a break in the firing by reloading her crossbow. "So many body parts, so few bullets. Let's begin with the kneecaps. No fun dancing without them," Darla called out to the hiding Slayer with a maniacal gleam in her eye. As she stopped firing she noticed the Slayer pop up from behind the pool table and fire a bolt straight at her. Darla doubled over as she felt the bolt hit her and couldn't believe it, the Slayer had actually got her. The vampire straightened up "Close, but no heart," Shame it wasn't in the right place. Darla ripped the bolt from her body and chucked it on the pool table, almost daring the Slayer to try again.
"Buffy, it wasn't Angel who attacked your mom, it was Darla!" a Voice shouted from above them. Both blondes turned to the voice to see Willow being dragged down to the floor, Buffy presumed it was by Giles and Xander.
Darla turned her aim toward where Willow had been standing and let loose a few warning bullets, she had no issue with them, for now, but if they tried to help their friend again she would show them a world of hurt. Satisfied that they weren't going to pop up again the Vampire turns her attention back on Buffy, knowing she would have to get closer Darla jumped up onto the pool table and headed to where she knew Buffy was hiding.
Buffy could feel the vibration of Darla's footsteps through the pool table and chose the best time for what she wanted to do. As Darla got closer Buffy jumped up, surprising the Vampire, and gripped onto the table and tugged. The sudden movement of the table caused Darla to slip and fall onto her back. Using the distraction, and pushing the table away from her, Buffy moved for cover knowing she had a few seconds before Darla was up and shooting at her.
Darla growled and fired a few shots as the table skid along the floor, as the table came to a stop she leapt up and headed for where the Slayer had hidden, she was getting fed up of this game and was going to end it before the Slayer got in a lucky shot, or she ran out of bullet. A glaring light was aimed at Darla, who looked up at the distraction. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the Slayer move again, spinning around the Vampire shot a few bullets at the moving target. "C'mon, Buffy, Take it like a man!" Darla taunted as the Slayer hid again. Buffy leant out from her spot causing Darla to laugh as her taunt worked. Buffy was not facing the Vampire though, her gaze was to a darkened corner of the Bronze. Darla aimed the guns for the killing shot but before she could pull the trigger she felt a sharp pain in her back and in her chest, looking down she noticed a piece of wood sticking out of her chest before she saw nothing at all.
Angel looked up from Darla's ashes to see Buffy looking at him, she was stoned face and giving nothing away. Buffy moved out from behind the counter but made no move to get closer to him. Angel looked at her for a while longer before sparing a glance at the ashes. Angel said nothing as he turned and walked away.
Buffy couldn't believe what she had seen and was utterly speechless, Angel has killed his ex-lover of over a century and that was a major thing. Buffy didn't, couldn't, utter a word as she watched the Vampire turn and walk out of the Bronze, what could she possibly say to that act? Her attention was pulled from the retreating figure by the sound of jingles and a flash of blue light in the top corner of her eye, she turned to it but found nothing but a dark corner. She did note that Willow was glancing over her shoulder but Xander and Giles were not.
~GU:CM~
Willow cringed as the phone rang, it was the same time Caitlin usually rang but she knew Ms Summers had rung her mother and explained what happened. Caitlin was not going to be happy; Willow just hoped she could reason with the blonde. She hadn't been in long either; she had been with Buffy who was feeling down after her kiss and trying to cheer her up. Willow also knew she would have to explain the whole Angel is a vampire thing too. Boy this was going to be hard.
The teen picked up the phone but didn't greet, she had a feeling Caitlin wasn't in the mood for pleasantries.
"Hospital?" was the first thing Willow heard from Caitlin. Willow remained silent; she wasn't going to agitate the blonde. Caitlin sighed down the phone and Willow knew she was rubbing her hand down her face "Willow I'm trying not to be mad. Mom explained it to me, she didn't want us worry if she was alright or not until and getting everyone in the car."
Willow nodded even though Caitlin couldn't see. Buffy had explained that when she mentioned ringing Caitlin up, apparently Grams was a massive worrier. "Buffy said that your Mom wouldn't want any of you to be called until she could call you herself. I did want to ring but Buffy wanted me to look after Dawn she was really worried about your mother," Willow explained now that Caitlin sounded less annoyed than she had though she would be.
Caitlin made a sound of agreement "Yeah I wasn't this understanding about an hour ago," Willow stiffened up at hearing that, she had heard what Caitlin was capable of when she was upset. "Grams and Prue weren't impressed when I dented the wall earlier. They kind of anticipated I'd react like that so Piper took Perri out for dinner. I might need to buy mom a present to say sorry also," Caitlin said sheepishly down the phone.
The redhead was feeling bad that she wasn't on the end of Caitlin's rage "I'm sure they all understand Caitlin," she heard Caitlin scoff but knew it was just frustration at herself more than disagreeing with Willow's statement. "There is something else that I failed to mention too…"
"What?" Caitlin's question was no longer in her soft tone of voice but in a hard tone that Willow knew whatever she said would upset Caitlin.
"Well you see, the thing is…well it's like this…" Willow really didn't know how to start telling Caitlin about Angel and it was making her sound like a stuttering fool.
"Willow!" Caitlin shouted down the phone trying to get the redhead to just tell her. Willow jumped in surprise and quickly squeaked out what she was intending to say and hoped that was that but she figured Caitlin hadn't understood what she had said. "Willow speak slowly and clearly," the younger teen explained.
Taking a deep breath Willow steeled herself for Caitlin's reaction "Angel's a Vampire," Willow waited anxiously for Caitlin to respond but all she heard was breathing, shallow breathing. The older teen waited a few moments before talking in case Caitlin had been struck in silence but there was only so much Willow could take. "Caitlin?" she asked quietly hoping for a positive response, she would take a grunt if only the break the silence on the other end. She knew that Caitlin was either too stunned to speak or was trying to repress her anger.
"I have to go," Caitlin whispered back finally but not the words Willow had hoped for.
Willow heard the dial tone and dropped the phone onto the bed, she could tell by the whispered words they were done through clenched teeth and knew that Caitlin was failing to repress her anger. She only hoped Caitlin didn't do anything stupid.
~GU:CM~
Buffy, Willow and Dawn were lounged on the couch. Buffy at one end and Willow at the other, Dawn had her head in Buffy's lap and her feet on Willow's. They were watching some cheesy comedy movie that was on the try and distract Buffy from her suffering, Angel and Buffy had decided not to pursue anything even though both clearly wanted too.
Joyce walked into the front room with a scowl on her face and the phone in her hand. That had been the third time her mother had called that day, it was barely midday. "What do you think would happen if I ignored your Grams?" she asked her daughters and she slumped down on the nearest arm chair.
Dawn scoffed knowing exactly what Grams would do "She'd drive down and try to ground you," Dawn turned her head to look at her mother as she spoke. Willow furrowed her eyebrows at that; she really didn't understand how close families worked, if she ignored her mother she'd get studied by her.
"If you ignored Grams you would be my hero," Buffy responded. All eyes turned to her and she could see her mother wanted her to explain, Buffy shrugged "You'd have to be the bravest person in the world to ignore her."
The phone rang again interrupting the group. Joyce looked at the phone and groaned at the number displayed "Hello," Joyce answered with a sigh. Buffy and Dawn chuckled as they focused back on the movie. Willow followed suit, still not quite understanding what was going on. Joyce smiled when she heard who it was "hey baby how are you?" she asked Caitlin who was the one to phone. Buffy and Dawn spared a glance but gave their mother a little bit of privacy even though they both wanted to speak to her. Willow on the other hand couldn't help but look at Joyce. The mother of three smiled when she saw Willow focus on her "Buffy, Dawn, Willow and I…You'll be about 3 hours?...We'll see you then baby."
Buffy waited until her mother put the phone down again before talking "Caitlin coming home?" she knew what she had heard but needed it confirmed. Joyce smiled and nodded, she missed her daughter when she was away even though she should be used to it as it happened quite a lot since they had moved away from San Francisco.
"Good I miss her," Dawn's words, even though said about herself, applied to everyone in the room. They couldn't wait for the blonde to get home, she might be angry with all of them but at least she was there at home.
\Silver-Eternal-Dragon/