Sunnydale, 1998

Angel looked down at Buffy. After a night of lovemaking, they had both fallen asleep in each other's arms. Buffy was still asleep, her head on Angel's chest.

For a century, Angel had been tormented by guilt. A soul was perhaps the cruelest punishment the gypsies could have devised. All the things he had done, all the people he had hurt and killed, he remembered everything.

Until now. For one moment, Angel had let go of all that. He had been happy – perfectly happy. And after that, the weight of his crimes felt lighter.

Of course, if they didn't stop the Judge, none of that would matter.

"Wake up, sleepyhead," he whispered.

"Mmmm." Her eyes slowly opened, and she looked at him.

After a minute of just staring into each other's eyes, Angel finally spoke.

"We have to go."

"I know." Buffy got out of bed, and started getting dressed. "This is my life. Get up, get dressed, go to school, save the world."

"Even Saturdays?"

"I told everyone to meet back at the library. So yeah, even Saturdays."

Buffy put on the sweats Angel had given her.

Angel looked at the window. Light was creeping around the blinds.

"It's daylight. You go on ahead."

"We'll take the tunnels."

Angel shrugged. "Okay."

Xander walked into the library.

"Well, the bus depot was a total washout. And may I say what a lovely place to spend the night. What a vibrant cross-section of Americana."

Jenny, Cordelia, and Willow looked at him, concerned.

"No vampires transporting boxes?" Giles asked.

"No, but a four-hundred-pound wino offered to wash my hair." He looked at everyone. "What's up? Where's Buffy?"

"She never checked in," Willow said glumly.

"If the bus depot is as empty as the docks and the airport…" Giles shook his head.

"Do you think this Judge guy's already been assembled?" Jenny asked.

"Yes," Giles replied.

"Then Buffy could be…" Xander started to panic. "Okay, we gotta find 'em. Um, we gotta go to that place, that, uh, that factory. That's where they're holed up, right?" He looked at Willow and Jenny. "Let's go."

"And do what?" Cordelia asked. "Besides be afraid and die."

"Well, nobody's asking you to go, Cordelia," Xander shot back. "If the vampires need grooming tips, we'll give you a call."

"Cordelia has a point," Giles said. "Now, i-i-if Buffy and Angel were, were… harmed, then we don't stand to fare much better."

"Yeah? Well those of us who were born with feelings are gonna do something about this," Xander declared.

"Xander…" Jenny started.

"No, Xander's right!" Willow cut in. "My God, you people are all… Well, I'm upset, and I can't think of a mean word right now, but that's what you are, and we're going to the factory!" She started out of the library, just as Buffy and Angel walked in.

"Buffy!" Willow greeted her.

"We were just going to rescue you," Xander said.

Willow threw Giles a look. "Well, some of us were."

"Well, I-I would have," Giles replied defensively.

"What happened?" Cordelia slid off the counter.

"The Judge, i-is he…" Giles asked.

"No assembly required," Buffy deadpanned.

"He's active," Angel confirmed their worst fears.

"Oh, damn it," Giles whispered.

"He nearly killed us," Buffy continued. "Angel got us out."

"Why didn't you call?" Giles removed his glasses. "We, we, we thought…"

"Well, we retreated back to my place. Buffy got hurt, so we spent the night there," Angel explained.

"We should have called," Buffy added.

"Buffy, the Judge, we, we must stop him," Giles said.

"I know."

"What can you tell us?"

"Not much. I, um… I kicked him. It was just like a sudden pain. If he'd got his hands on me…"

"In time he won't need to," Giles said grimly. "The stronger he gets, he'll be able to reduce us to charcoal with a look."

"Also, not the prettiest man in town," Buffy added.

"We'd better continue researching, looking for a weak spot."

Jenny sat down at the computer. "I'll, uh, go on the Net and search for anything on the Judge."

"Thank you," Giles nodded.

"The rest of us should get book-cracking," Xander nodded to Willow and Cordelia. The three of them vanished into the stacks.

"I need to go check in with Mom," Buffy said. "Just in case… I need to see her."

"Yes, of course," Giles nodded.

Buffy walked out. Angel looked after her.

"Angel, maybe you could tell me more about what happened when Darla raised the Judge?" Giles asked.

For a moment, Angel said nothing. Finally, he turned around. "Sure."

Spike paced impatiently. Things were not going well. Angel and the Slayer had escaped. The Judge was just sitting there.

And his TV sets were wrecked.

"I'm not happy, pet," he said to Drusilla. "Angel and the Slayer are still alive, they know where we are, they know about the Judge… we should be vacating."

"Nonsense," Drusilla scoffed. "They'll not disturb us here. My Angel is too smart to face the Judge again."

Spike glanced over at the Judge. "What's Big Blue up to, anyway? He just sits there."

"I am preparing," the Judge replied without looking back.

"Yeah," Spike walked over, "it's interesting to me that preparing looks a great bit like sitting on your arse. When do we destroy the world already?"

"My strength grows," the Judge replied evenly. "And every life I take will increase it further."

"So let's take some!" Spike shouted. "I'm bored."

"At the behest of Darla, I fought an army. They hacked me to pieces. For six hundred years, my living head lay in a box buried in the ground." He turned to Spike. "I've learned two things from that experience. One is to be patient."

"Yeah, well, we're gonna need more than patience to defeat Angel and the Slayer," Spike scoffed. "What else did you learn?"

"Not to take strategic advice from vampires."

Buffy walked to her house.

It was strange. She hadn't had a very solid idea of what her first time with Angel would be like, but it wasn't like last night. Last night had been the result of fear. She had almost lost Angel, and she was still terrified of the Judge. If she didn't stop him, he would destroy everything she loved, everything she fought for. And somehow, Angel had managed to make all of that go away. In spite of all the terror, it was the best night of her life.

She had no intention of telling her mother. She knew they hadn't done anything illegal – the age of consent in California was 16. And protection wasn't really an issue – vampires couldn't get people pregnant. But she had only just told her mother about Angel, and she didn't need to deal with "The Talk" in the middle of an apocalypse.

That wasn't why she was here. She was here to see her mom – because it might be the last chance she would ever get.

She opened the door, and saw her mother standing in the doorway. Ted was behind her. Both had an "I'm very disappointed in you" look on their faces.

Crap.