The buzz of victory filled the air as they escaped the Initiative. Too excited to go home, Xander drove them all to the Bronze. They found a table and ordered drinks. Anya showed a few minutes later and dragged Xander onto the dance floor.

Giles sipped his tea, seeming to enjoy the loud music. Willow and Buffy sat on either side of him nursing drinks of their own. Willow was pleasantly surprised when Tara appeared beside her.

"Hey! I didn't know you were coming out tonight," Willow said smiling at her.

"You're friend Xander called. He said you were looking lonely and I should come and remedy that," Tara told her.

"Really?"

Tara nodded. "Uh huh."

Willow looked toward Xander as he laughed and danced with Anya. She smiled. "He really is the heart of us," she murmured. She grabbed Tara's hand and pulled her onto the dance floor.

"Any chance a Watcher would dance with his Slayer?" Buffy asked.

"Not if you paid me," Giles said.

"Not really a... what kind of music would you call this?"

"Toxic whining."

Buffy smiled. "Not really a 'toxic whining' kind of guy then?"

"I think it was the Beatles that got music right."

"Well, if they come around playing at the Bronze, I'll let you know."

"Please do." Giles smiled. "You did very well today, Buffy. I don't think I tell you that enough."

"We did it together. All of us."

"I don't just mean Adam. You didn't back down when that Colonel tried to stop you. You took charge and you got out every possible survivor. I'm very proud of you."

Buffy smiled. "Where would a slayer be without the love and support of her Watcher?"

"Here I would imagine. Dancing and drinking one of those brightly colored fruit concoctions," Giles said with disapproval.

Buffy laughed. "No chance of a dance then?" she asked as the band switched to something less aggressive and whining as their previous song.

"Maybe just one song, but do be kind. My generation was never so provocative with their dancing."

"No worries. We'll sex it down a few notches."

It was black. Buffy wasn't sure where she was, but it was freezing and the blanket she vaguely remembered pulling over herself, wasn't there. She reached over for the lamp on her bedside table and she only felt air.

"Willow?" She asked. No response cut through the empty silence and light came through the blackness. She was certain she was alone and not in her dorm, but this didn't feel like her bedroom either. Suddenly, there was something glowing in front of her.

"Angel?" And it was definitely Angel. He didn't say anything. For a minute, she wasn't even sure if he could see her, but his eyes focus on her face and he smiled. He tried to say something, but his voice came out as a broken scream and he erupted into flames.

Buffy bolted awake gasping. Light from the street lamp shined through the thin curtain over the window. She looked at the time on her alarm clock. It was just after four in the morning. She laid down and tried to get back to sleep, but she couldn't get the image out of her head. She grabbed a towel and an armful of clothes and went into the bathroom.

The heat from the shower helped calm her. She stood under the spray until it turned cold before reluctantly stepping out. She got dressed and examined her dark eyes in the mirror. Buffy was no stranger to sleepless nights, but wasn't a fan of baggy eyes either. She pulled her messy wet hair into a bandana before she dropped her things back in her dorm. Willow was still fast asleep in her bed, so Buffy quietly slipped back out.

The cool night air was refreshing, but even the strongest gust of wind couldn't blow away the images in her mind. Guilt twisted her insides into a tight knot and her eyes burned with tears. She couldn't decide if the images were real or if they built solely on her imagination. It wasn't like she was the one to send Angel to hell was it? She may have staked Angelus, but Angel had been gone long before that. He was torn away by... something she couldn't quite remember. Her memories of her after Thanksgiving trip LA were still foggy. The harder she tried to remember, the thicker the fog became until she finally gave up.

She snapped out of her thoughts and looked up just in time before she smacked into Giles's front door. Her feet stopped with the door hardly an inch from her face. It was late and Giles was probably sleeping. She wasn't sure how she walked this far completely on autopilot or why, but she hoped Giles might have some answers.

The sky hadn't even begun to lighten and Giles was likely exhausted after the night events. Especially since they hadn't left the Bronze until midnight and probably hadn't gotten more than three hours of sleep. Buffy knocked on the door as her guilt for interrupting her Watcher's dreams was overpowered by the guilt of having potentially done something so selfish as to send her first love into hell.

Five minutes later, Giles was blinking at her in surprise and confusion as he tied his robe shut. "Buffy. What is it?"

"I keep having these nightmares," she said pushing past him.

He closed the door. "I'm truly sorry, Buffy, but isn't this the sort of this that could wait until morning?" Giles asked trying not to sound as irritated as he obviously was.

"About Angel," Buffy continued as she felt that made the issue all the more serious.

Giles seemed to agree. He nodded and sat down on the couch. The soft cushions made sleep that much more appealing and he seemed to have trouble keeping his eyes open for a moment. Buffy paced a few feet away, having trouble sitting still.

"I keep having these dreams about him being in hell. At first I thought it was just guilt. That I was involved in his soul getting ripped out... but I don't think that's it anymore. I think he might be trying to contact me som- Giles!"

Buffy's eyes fell on her Watcher who had allowed his head to drop forward as he drifted to sleep. He started awake as she shouted. "Yes... good plan, Buffy," he said.

"Were you even listening?" she asked.

"I-I was... you were... No I was not." She rolled her eyes. "I'm sorry, Buffy. It's just been such a long night." He yawned. "You ought to go home and get some rest. We can talk about this in morning."

Buffy sighed. "Okay. Goodnight, Giles."

She left him to shuffle off to bed and headed out. She let herself wander as her thought about Angel and hell and LA. She ended up in a part of the cemetery she didn't often walk through as there was no more room to bury new bodies. The graves were crammed together and grave monuments had obviously been in style when this section of the cemetery was being filled.

One of the monuments was long and flat on top and just perfect for sitting on. Buffy sat on the cool hard stone and stared down at the wet grass. It was silent except for the sound of bats flying overhead as they vacated the forest to search for insects drawn to the lights in the city.

She hadn't heard him approach, she jumped a bit when she heard his voice behind her. "Fancy meeting you here," Spike said. "Thanks for inviting me to your little victory party by the way. It's not like I was a prominent part of your success or anything."

He walked around the monument to stand in front of her, but stopped when he saw the tears on her face reflecting the moonlight. "What's wrong, pet?" he asked softly.

She wiped the tears away with the back of her hand. "Go away, Spike."

He didn't. He stood in front of unsure of what exactly to do. He settled on sitting next to her, hoping that she might talk to him or at least feel a little less alone. Spike wasn't sure what insane masochistic part of his brain led him to place his arm around her shoulder, but to his surprise, she leaned into him and laid her head against his chest.

"It's Angel," she whispered. "Every time I close my eyes I see him. He's haunting me and I can't shake this guilt for what I've done."

"You didn't do anything, pet. You killed Angelus, you stopped him hurting people."

"How do you think he got that way? How do you think he lost his soul in the first place?"

Spike stiffened as his head was filled with the image of the girl he hated to love wrapped up with the sire who never deserved her. His chest rumbled as he contained a growl.

"I was there, Spike," Buffy said softly. "In LA. I don't know how it happened. I can't even remember, but I know it was my fault. It can't be a coincidence that I was in LA the same time Angel lost his soul. He's in hell because of me. I shouldn't have gone after him."

"Whatever happened, it wasn't your fault."

"I was-" He pushed her back to look her in the eye.

"I know you, Buffy," Spike insisted. "You'd never do anything to hurt someone like that, not someone who was good, someone with a soul. You would have done anything to avoid it. You're a hero, Buffy. Hero's don't make monsters. They save them."

Later, neither of them was really sure who moved first. One way or another, Buffy ended up in Spike's lap with their lips moving together.

The next morning, things had settled down. No Adam, no Angelus, and from the looks of it, no more commandos. Willow laid back on her bed with a contented sigh. Everyone was safe and sound. And wasn't that a new deal? She finally had some time to herself. Time that she decided, was best spent less alone and more with someone she missed every second she was away. Because let's face it, Willow was completely, undeniably in love with Tara and it was time she knew it too. Willow grabbed a favorite spell book from under her bed and got to work.

It took little more than an hour to get it just right, but finally, Willow had exactly what she wanted. She smiled and left her dorm. In a matter of minutes she was on the other side of campus knocking on Tara's door.

The door swung open to reveal a smiling Tara on the other side. "Hi," she said.

"Hi," Willow replied feeling suddenly nervous.

Tara stepped aside and let her in. Willow showed her the pale pink flower she held in her hands.

"It's beautiful," Tara said taking it. She sniffed at the soft petals.

"I made it. It took a while to get the smell just right. Too much rose oil... it was kind of overpowering."

"You made it?"

"Yeah. I named it after you too."

Tara blushed and tucked her hair behind her ear. "Yeah?"

"I called it 'Tara's Kiss'."

Tara wasn't sure what to say and she felt a bit breathless. "I- thank you." She examined the four pink petals that did in fact resemble human lips. "It's really beautiful," she whispered looking at Willow. She took a slow step forward and so very slowly pressed her lips against Willow's.

AN: So here ends part one. More to come at an undetermined time, but I'd say some time in September is when you should come looking for the sequel. I'm still in the process of re-editing part one to clean up the million and one mistakes that were overlooked so if you notice anything major please point it out so there's no chance of me missing it yet again. Thanks for reading, you've all been so very fantastic.