WELCOME to SUNNYDALE. The big yellow and orange sign greeted Angelus as he drove into town. He had a few hours before sunrise, but he expected that Buffy and her gang would be patrolling extra hard and he didn't want to be seen until he was ready. He'd need to find somewhere to hide for the night and ignore his love of luxury. Anything would have to do. The factory was destroyed and Buffy would be expecting him to return to his mansion. He would have to pick a crypt in one of the cemeteries.

Angel turned off the road and parked his Plymouth in the woods where it couldn't be seen from the street. He walked silently through the trees watching for Buffy and her friends while simultaneously searching for a place to spend the night. Peering through the trees, he caught sight of the small blonde walking just a few paces behind two others. One of the two was quite obviously Xander, but the other surprised Angelus for a moment. He knew that Spike had helped Buffy to stop him before, but that could be forgiven. Angelus hadn't been in his right mind and Spike took drastic measures to stop his mentally damaged sire from doing something stupid. Now, here he was walking stake in hand with the slayer. Angelus involuntarily growled. The slayer had gone and corrupted his childe. Sure the boy was Drusilla's childe but the poor girl had no idea how to teach a childe how to be a vampire and it had been his duty as grandsire to take over for her. This was not what he'd had in mind for his boy.

Spike was a killer and damn good one. Angelus would never admit to the boy how he admired his style. His approach was always so unsubtle yet thought out and gracefully executed. Angelus was more the type to hide in the shadows and snatch someone up while they're alone. If he decides to play with his victims at all, it's a much slower and not nearly as pretty show. Angelus loved to watch Spike kill. He'd wait until William was alone and he'd have a nice chat with the boy about that and his new association with Buffy.

His family was broken apart by that damned soul of his. Darla was dead and Drusilla was off on her own somewhere. The childe should never be left alone. She can't take care of herself. Angelus hoped for the girl's sake that she had found someone to take care of her. He'd have to go find her once he'd taken care of the slayer. He didn't think it would take long, but he wanted to have some fun playing with her first.

Willow was still asleep next to her when Buffy woke up. It was a Friday, but even after the long night of magic and worry, Willow would be going to class. She could smell breakfast cooking downstairs. Joyce must have decided that having her daughter home was occasion enough to cook a big meal, even if she didn't yet know the reason for Buffy and Willow's sudden appearance the night before. Both girls had looked so exhausted that Joyce had insisted that they both head up to bed before going upstairs herself.

Buffy changed and went downstairs. She found her mother in the kitchen frying bacon and sat down at the kitchen island. "Morning," She said to her mom, her voice sounding rough after the long night.

Joyce smiled at her. "Good morning. I wasn't sure what you girls would be in the mood for so I made pancakes and bacon."

"Bacon sounds great."

Joyce fixed her a plate and watched her eat for a minute before asking, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Buffy shrugged and nibbled on her bacon. She sighed. "Actually, something bad happened, something really bad."

"I thought so. You seem really upset and you don't normally visit in the middle of the night, not that you visit at all... but that's not the point. What's wrong, honey?"

"Uh… It's Angel." Joyce looked a bit confused. "By Angel, I mean… Angelus. He's back."

Joyce's eyes widened. "Honey are you alright?" She asked as she walked around the counter to hug her daughter.

Buffy wanted to smile and cry at the same time. This is why she needed her mom at times like this. While everyone else worries about Angelus, Buffy could always count on her mom to worry about her first. "Mom, I'm fine. A bit wigged out, but I can get through this. I did it before."

Willow came down the stairs and found them in the kitchen. "I smell bacon."

Joyce smiled. "I have plenty."

Willow sat next to Buffy and Joyce fixed her a plate of bacon and pancakes. "So, Buffy, are you comin' to school today, because I'd understand if you didn't but we do have a test in Psych."

"I think I gonna stay here, spend some time with my mom."

"Um… Actually Buffy, I have to get down to the gallery. Shortly after breakfast in fact," Joyce said.

"Oh, well that's okay. I can go check in with Giles, see if he has any ideas what to do about our situation." Buffy said. "We'll be back tonight. The dorms are pretty much public domain, even if Angelus can't get into our room. I don't want to chance it."

Joyce nodded. Willow cleaned up her dishes. "Well, I've gotta get going. I don't want to be late."

"Bye," Buffy said looking a bit down.

"Bye, Willow," Joyce said. Willow left and after cleaning up the dishes, Joyce left too.

Buffy sighed and headed off to Giles's; taking extra care to make sure the door was locked behind her. Just in case.

The house was dark. The curtains were closed to keep out the sun. Giles hissed as he bumped his hip into the side of the table for the fourth time since Spike moved in. He turned on the desk lamp and rubbed his sore side. Spike was asleep on the couch. Thankfully the vampire didn't snore and he didn't seem to mind if Giles turned on a few lights while he slept. Not that Giles cared how well Spike slept, he just thought since Spike hadn't been the worst house guest he'd ever had and was at least respectful of Giles's space and didn't go rummaging through his things, he ought to maintain the peace between them.

He sat at his desk and flipped through an old familiar book for what felt like the millionth time in the last 12 hours or so. The book's preface claimed it contained "a complete history of the most feared and horrible vampires of the 19th century" but it held little information on the monster that was currently terrorizing his slayer. Angelus hadn't even turned up yet and already they were in a panic. He closed the book and turned to some of the old watcher's diaries. They too held little information on Angelus, a least nothing that they didn't already know.

Giles sighed and took off his glasses. He set them on top of the book and rubbed his forehead. He didn't know what to do. He hadn't been able to fall asleep until after sunrise and even then it was fitful and full of nightmares. He dreamed of Jenny.

He was in the Sunnydale High library. Jenny stood in the center of the room, smiling at him. She said his name softly and raised a hand as if to reach for him when a pale white hand wrapped around her throat. Angelus stood behind her smiling. Giles tried to run at him but he couldn't move and Angelus snapped her neck. Angelus's voice echoed through his head as he said, "What you going to do about it, Rupert? I'm just getting started."

The front door swung open and Buffy walked in, pulling Giles away from his thoughts. He pushed his glasses back on. "Buffy."

"What are we going to do, Giles?"

"Uh… I-um-"

"I could hardly sleep last night. I kept having these nightmares and what about my friends and my mom? What happens when he comes after them? I can't protect them all at once. I don't even know that I could protect one of them at once."

"Buffy, calm down. I know that this is all very difficult-"

"Difficult? This is way past difficult."

"But, we have to keep a level head. We cannot allow Angelus to frighten us into hiding and panicking."

Buffy sighed. "You're right. We have to focus."

"Willow's spell hasn't yet alerted us that he has come to Sunnydale, so we can assume that he is not yet here."

"What if the spell didn't work or- or he made it here before she cast it? He could be here right now and we wouldn't even know."

"Yes, alright, but still we need to plan. I assume you already know that the chances of bringing Angel back are slimmer than the last time. He'll be prepared for that. I believe Willow still has the spell, but there's no guarantee that it will work. You have to be prepared to do what must be done."

"'What must be done', yeah. Right. The real problem isn't doing it. It's getting Angelus to fight me instead of hiding and playing games."

"Maybe the best way to do that is to play some games of our own."

Angelus had picked a large ornate crypt in one of the larger cemeteries. It was the cemetery that Buffy patrolled most often mainly due to its size and therefore likeliness to harbor more vampires, but that just meant he'd have a nice view of her next fight. The inside of the crypt was dusty and full of spiders. A few snakes had moved in and taken care of the rat population. Angelus found it disgusting. He hadn't lived in surrounds like this since… well he never had. Angel however used to live in worse places than this. Sewers, old moldy basements, and other such dark filthy places where the freshly ensouled Angel had hidden himself away from the world. He would need to get some supplies once the sun went down, which felt as though it were drawing near.

While investigating his new temporary home, Angelus had found what appeared to be a trap door. He lifted the heavy covering and peered inside. There was an old, worn ladder hanging down into a dark chamber. Angelus jumped down discounting the ladder. The room was large and empty, but appeared as though it had been intended for a sarcophagus. There was a tunnel that definitely led to the sewers dead ahead. The chamber would be the perfect place to set up a bedroom. Even if Buffy walked right into the crypt, she wouldn't notice his presence unless she knew where to look. It was perfect and Angelus couldn't help but smile. Everything was certainly going his way.

The sun had set and Willow was just leaving a late lecture on historical Roman figures. She was walking with a classmate and having a heated discussion about the death of Julius Caesar.

"No way, his death was completely justified," Willow's classmate, Davidson, was saying.

"Not at all. Caesar may have been a dictator, but he wasn't a bad leader. Sure someone needed to do something about him, but I don't think killing was the way to go," Willow insisted.

"Killing is the only way to deal with dictators."

"No, you're so wrong. Anyway, we can talk about this tomorrow, I gotta get back to my dorm."

"Okay, see ya, Willow."

The two parted ways and Willow headed to her dorm to grab a few things before heading to Buffy's.

Outside of the dorm, Angelus stood hidden in the shadows of the nearby trees. He watched Willow enter the room and turn on the light. When she left, he followed. He kept back far enough that she couldn't have seen him even if she had turned around. He followed her mainly by her scent. When she turned and walked onto Revello Drive, Angelus lost all doubts about where she was headed. The girls were obviously hiding out at the Summer's. That most likely meant that Xander was staying with someone as well in an attempt to make them all untouchable. They might not be alone to sleep, but Angelus couldn't get inside anyway. He could wait. They couldn't stay indoors forever. Once the weekend ended, they would all have work and school to go to. For now, Angelus had a crypt in serious need of redecorating and a wayward childe to deal with.