Warning: Rated T for now, but may change later to M for darker subject matter.

Disclaimer: Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel belong to their copyright holders, I own nothing.

Chapter 3: Decisions

Buffy threw open the doors to Giles's office. She was shocked by the sudden darkness and began fumbling around the wall for the light switch. Why in the world was Giles sitting in the dark? Shouldn't he be researching, like they all were? Finally her fingers brushed against the switch. Moving upwards, she moved the switch up, causing light to flood into the office.

How was she going to deal with this? Buffy was still reeling from her call from Angel, clearly. There was something going on that nobody was telling her. Angel was angry at her, so angry that he sounded ready to say goodbye to her and never speak to her again, and she had no idea why. All she knew was that Angel's good friend Fred (who only Willow and Faith, really, had met) was gone and somewhere in this weird blend Giles was mixed in. If anyone was going to tell her what was going on, it would have to be him.

Giles was sitting at the table, but not researching. He appeared to just be sort of staring off into space.

"I need to talk to you," Buffy told him instantly. All of her tears were gone; she didn't want to look too weak when she had no idea what was even going on.

His eyes slowly moved upwards, as if seeing her for the first time. "Oh, Buffy, you're here." The words started to come out with a slur, but as he spoke more, his speech got better so he nearly wasn't slurring. "What a surprise. Is there something that you need?"

"Giles, I just got off the phone with Angel."

Recognition hit Giles's eyes, and Buffy saw it. He knew what she was going to say next and he knew what was coming after that. Almost within five minutes, everything he had done the week before involving Angel and Spike and Fred and everyone else was revealed. Buffy knew, so she was angry. He had wanted to keep it a secret for a while so Buffy wouldn't be as hurt, but apparently that wasn't an option anymore.

"I'll be completely honest with you," Giles said. He stood up suddenly, causing the chair to scrape against the ground, causing a horrid sound. He closed his eyes, as if he were extremely tired, and then opened them again. His hands were hanging on to the table, as if he couldn't stand up on his own.

Buffy knew something was going on, that he was drunk, or something. Why else would he be like this, unstable on his feet? Still, she wasn't going to wait for the answers she wanted.

"Spike's alive," Giles started off.

Silence filled the room. Surprise filled Buffy's chest. What…how? She saw Spike burn. She…

"I love you," she had said.

"No, you don't. But thanks for sayin' it," Spike had last responded to her.

Their last conversation. She remembered it, of course. Who could forget it? And now he was alive? If he was alive, wouldn't he have called her or come to England or anything? Buffy didn't understand.

"How?" she asked Giles.

"I am not sure of that. I had no time to ask. He and Wesley were too busy asking for favors." He spoke slowly, to get every word out that he could.

"Favors?" Buffy echoed.

"The-the woman. Fred was dying. According to Wesley, an Old One was taking over." Out of nowhere, Giles let out a laugh. "Oh, like there was any possibility of saving her anyway. There wasn't! An Old One…no, no amount of research would've worked."

Buffy connected the pieces of the puzzle that she could, thinking of what Angel said and what Giles was saying.

"They needed help," Buffy concluded, summarizing. "Their friend was dying and they called you to ask if you could research any ways to help Fred. So how does that come out to be my fault that she died?"

"I told them we wouldn't help them. Because of you. You didn't want to."

Buffy's mouth fell open. "Giles, I… Why would you do that? I would've helped, of course I would."

"I was protecting you!" Giles yelled. "From Spike, from Angel, from all of them! They're all bad, and not things that we need to associate with. You're the Slayer. Your problems are more important than theirs."

"That's not true!" Buffy argued back. "They're people I love, people I care about."

"They're not people," Giles spat. "Vampires."

She shook her head. Tears were coming back. "I care about them, Giles. How could you? How could you? Now Angel is threatening to never speak to me, hoping I remember what I did to his friend. He blames me for Fred's death, and I didn't even know she was dying." Buffy took a deep breath. "God, Giles, nobody over there will ever speak to me again!"

"Good riddance."

"No!" Now she was crying again. "They're my friends. I-I love…" She couldn't finish that statement. It didn't matter. After what she "did," the ones she loved wouldn't love her anymore anyway.

Giles, how could he? After all these years of them going through thick and thin, beating all the bad guys, working past almost every obstacle imaginable. What was happening to him? Why did he have to be acting like this?

She couldn't stand it anymore. She had to get out of here, get away from him and this apartment. Angrily, Buffy spun around and began storming out of the office.

"Where are you going?" Giles called after her.

"Why?" she yelled back. "You want to call Angel back and blame more things on me?"

Grabbing her stake, Buffy left the apartment, slamming the door behind her.

Dawn didn't outright hear every word that was yelled between Giles and Buffy, but she definitely heard some shouting. It frightened her, at first. She'd never heard Buffy and Giles yell at each other like that. And then came the slamming of the front door. Buffy left the building.

She was tempted to go find Giles and ask what was going on. Knowing him and Buffy, though, neither of them would probably tell her until everything was all made up. Hopefully, that'd be soon. Everything would go haywire if everything in this apartment became stressed and angry. All Dawn wished for was some peace and friendliness in their living place.

Albeit, Giles had been acting kind of strange lately. Maybe their argument had something to do with that?

Oh, who knew? It could be any problem. And now Buffy was out—patrolling most likely—avoiding any more confrontation that Giles and she could have tonight. As much as she wanted to go see what was happening, she decided to stay in her room and hope that everything would be better tomorrow.

Why was she so irate? Buffy was being unreasonable and selfish. He had done her a favor, a huge one, and gotten many problems off her back. How could she not see it? Without him, Angel and Spike and Buffy would all cling to each other forever, hoping one day for one romance to happen which eventually would lead to destruction. Angel and Buffy couldn't be together because of his curse and Spike and Buffy together would surely end in disaster, in Giles's eyes. He'd done the right thing.

She was ridiculous, way out of line. Buffy was foolish. Everything that went wrong was because of Angel and Spike. Hell, he wouldn't be surprised if it was their fault that Fred had fallen to that Old One.

They were all doomed if they were to stay around with Angel and Spike. That meant Wesley was doomed too, and so was whoever else that surrounded themselves with those two vampires. They worked for Wolfram & Hart, for God's sake; the home of evil!

Buffy would get over it. She'd realize what was best for her. And so would he, because Giles had another thought that could save someone else's life.

He began searching around on his desk for the slip of paper that held the number to the Wolfram & Hart offices. When he found it, he became hesitant of calling in case Angel would answer, but then he thought that the number would go to Wesley's office, seeing as Wesley was the one to call him in the first place. With the phone, he started dialing.

"Hello?" Wesley answered. His voice was dark and depressing. Understandable, Giles supposed; he did recently lose Fred, who he had cared for.

"Wesley, it's Giles."

"Oh. Well, um, I certainly didn't expect to hear from you."

"Yes, I know this is a bit of a surprise. I've been thinking about a lot of things lately, though, and I have a proposition for you."

"A proposition?"

"Yes. But before we get there, I must apologize for Fred's death, along with Buffy's actions. I can't help but feel guilty for what's been done."

"It's not your fault," Wesley spoke in a monotone voice, giving Giles the illusion that Wesley might not have been telling the truth, that he did somewhat blame Giles.

"As you know, we have many Slayers running about and we are rebuilding the Watchers Council. We have a few Slayers in Rome, including one named Kennedy. She is staying with Faith—which might've been a mistake, now that I look back on it. She's quite a lot like Faith; occasional attitude, sometimes a little bit of a rebel, and I wouldn't want something bad to come of her acting without thinking. This could be your second chance, Wesley. What happened to Faith and you, that's all put behind us. I'd like you to go to Rome to help train Kennedy to become the best Slayer she can possibly be. I have the utmost faith that you'd be able to do it."

Wesley remained silent for many seconds. "With Faith, I was a horrible Watcher. I don't believe I am the one for this, Giles."

"Wesley, you are. Just by hearing the way you talk I can tell you've grown and changed immense-immensely," he stuttered. He blinked and took a deep breath. "You'd be a great help to Kennedy."

"I…" Wesley sighed. "May I think about it?"

"Of course. Call me back by tomorrow evening."

"Sure."

Giles smiled. Wesley had to see what was right for him because Giles wasn't planning on accepting no for an answer.

Wesley put the phone down. Just as he did, the door to his office opened, and in walked the haunting figure of a now dead Winifred Burkle. In her usual armor, Illyria stepped forward. Her ice-blue hair was covering part of her face, which Wes was thankful for. He really didn't need to see her face right now, and see those eyes that were no longer the ones he loved.

"My pet is annoyed with me. He has stormed off. I will show him annoyance—rip out his fangs and cut off his head for acting such selfishly."

"Spike is not your pet," Wes spoke, standing up. "Even if he were, being annoyed with him isn't a proper reason to kill him."

"Proper," Illyria mocked. "Humanity is disgusting."

"You asked me to teach it to you," he countered.

Then suddenly Illyria was gone, having slowed time and left the office, not wishing for Wes to see her leave. It always spooked him out when she did that. Couldn't she just walk out of the office without freezing time?

Whatever. Like he really cared. Illyria wasn't his top concern, so why was he burdened with taking care of her?

He left the office, making his way towards Angel's. He wanted to tell Angel about the call he just received from Giles. Admittedly, going off to Rome and training a Slayer sounded tempting, especially after all he'd been through recently. It'd get him away from L.A., away from Wolfram & Hart, away from Illyria inhabiting Fred's body. But he wasn't so sure he should do it. He just wasn't a Watcher anymore.

In his office, Angel was sitting at his desk, thinking over everything he said to Buffy, hoping what he said hit home for her and she understood the pain he felt.

"Wes," Angel said worriedly. "Is something wrong?"

"Illyria is fine," he responded.

"No way in hell," Spike spoke up, raiding into the office all of a sudden. "Who does she think she is, bloody callin' me her pet?"

"Look, Angel, I wanted to talk to you," Wes said.

"About Illyria?" Spike asked. "Good! I think-"

"No," Wes stopped him. "I got a call from Giles. A job offer."

Spike didn't say anything, thinking back to what Buffy did. Angel didn't speak either, not knowing if this had any connection to his phone call to Buffy.

"Wesley," Angel started, but Wes cut him off.

"I wouldn't be anywhere near Buffy. I'd be in Rome, actually, looking after a different Slayer named Kennedy."

"Mm," Spike moaned. "She really could use some lookin' after and trainin'."

Angel shot Spike a dirty look. "Wes, I… Well, what do you think? I mean, we don't want you to leave here, of course not. But it is your decision."

He sighed. "As much as I'd like to say and be haunted by Fred's face, I don't know. On one hand I think this is a great time to be around the people I care about and who care about me, but on the other maybe it'd be great to get a new start. And it's not like I couldn't come back. I train Kennedy in Rome for a little while, then come back to L.A., when the wounds aren't so fresh. It'd just be like a small work vacation."

"What about Illyria?" Spike asked the dreaded question. "She looks for you to teach her about humanity."

"Someone else can do it while I'm gone," Wes spat. "She doesn't need me. I don't need her. I don't want to even see her."

A few moments of silence ensued. "I understand," Angel finally told him. "If you need to leave for a little while, Wesley, it makes sense. None of us are going to try and hold you back. Do what you want to do."

Wes appreciated what Angel was saying. It really made sense. So, Wes would do what he wanted to do.

Night finally fell. Buffy left the apartment a little before nightfall, so she walked around aimlessly with a stake in her hand, just waiting for vampires or demons or anything to come out. She had a lot of bent up anger that she wanted to get out.

Once it was night, she headed to the local graveyard. There were always vamps there that were in a good need of staking.

As she neared, she heard two people laughing. Looking around, she saw them. There, atop a hill that was right next to the graveyard. Two vampires. They had to be. Two vampires…without souls. She began walking towards them, a bit of fear rushing through her body, although she wasn't sure why. They were just vampires, a guy and girl, it looked like.

But as she got closer, she saw the face of the guy. It was a face she'd seen before, not too long ago when she and a few other Slayers raided a local vampire hangout. He was there, and immediately they all knew who he was. The new Vamp Master. And now here he was again. In the graveyard.

With bad timing, she thought of Angel and Spike. They had souls, would never fall in with a vampire like this. They would also never speak to her again, never forgive her.

Buffy continued walking towards the two vampires, holding the end of the stake in her fingertips.