Chapter 4

"Not that I don't appreciate your leaping to B's defense right now," Faith said carefully, "even if that is about her being alive at the moment, but do you really this is the best time to bring this up?"

"Of course not," Cordelia's eyes had never left the Scoobies, all of whom looked like they would much rather be facing off against a Hell Goddess, the Mayor, or hell, studying for finals, then deal with this. "We're in the midst of a full blown crisis. That is the perfect reason to set aside old grievances. It's also exactly why we're not going to do that."

"Faith, please take out your old grudges on me," Xander was frantically pleading.

"You weren't worth my time then, Harris; you're not exactly a priority now," Faith's smile was somehow more comforting than Cordelia's expression. "Besides, last I checked pushing everything to the side until it bubbles up and bites you in the ass has always been your little groups stock in trade and it always worked against you. Time to deal with your shit."

Cordelia's expression fell on Tara. "I don't know you very well," she said slowly "but when I talked to you…in Sunnydale, you seemed fully committed to letting Buffy rest in peace. I'll be generous and say that you were under the influence of the aura of Buffy when this happened."

"It may not matter much, but I was the last person brought on board," Tara said. "I knew how badly this kind of thing could go and I was arguing against it until the night before. But I helped get the material together, so if you want to hold me responsible feel free."

Cordelia shook her head. "I thought as much. Your girlfriend's going to be taking a lot of venom the next minutes. If you want to stay her to stand by her or leave to let her face the music, I'm fine either way."

Tara looked at Willow. "It's okay, honey. I earned this," Willow spoke for the first time since she'd walked in.

Tara thought for a moment and walked to a different part of the room.

Cordelia looked at Spike. "I'm guessing nobody even asked your opinion."

"They wouldn't have liked it if they'd heard it," Spike met Cordy's stare without blinking. "I saw how Niblet was suffering. The last thing she needed was her friends spending their time playing Wake the Dead." Spike looked at Buffy. "No offense."

Buffy actually smiled. "Relatively little taken."

Cordelia looked at Anya. "I already hate your guts and I'm not inclined to give much leeway."

"Don't." Anya said. "Believe me, I should have known better, if not best. 1100 plus years as a vengeance demon. I'd done something like this countless times and it never ended well for anybody, least of all the person brought back. It lost its appeal within the first century and you're talking to someone whose job it was to wreak a horrible vengeance. I actually went through fifty years trying to convince some people that the worst vengeance that they could enact on their targets was to let the dead stay dead. I knew that humans aren't smart by design but this was a particular breed of stupidity. Like the Ottoman Empire or The Bee Gees."

Cordelia clearly hadn't been expecting this. "You went along with it anyway?"

Anya shrugged. "I'd only been human for two years. Honestly Mrs. Summers death hit me pretty hard and I barely knew her. Dawn wasn't the kind of wronged woman I usually dealt with but if she had wished for Buffy back, I might have been inclined to grant it despite the consequences."

"Did she ask for it?" Cordelia asked.

Anya shook her head. "We don't even have that as an excuse. Entirely selfish and self-involved. It's usually the kind of thing I'm proud of being most days so it says a lot I'm ashamed of it here."

Cordelia was clearly surprised by this. So naturally she focused her attention on Willow. "You're supposed to be the smart one," she said carefully. "The one who thinks through. The planner. I'm guessing that you were the brains behind this operation. Please note I use the word brains in the loosest sense of the term."

"What do you want me to say?" Willow sounded more like the woman who had been fond of the softer side of Sears when they had been growing up. "That I was acting selfishly? Completely abusing the dark arts? Risking the natural order of things because I missed Buffy?"

"For a start," Cordelia said.

"You're right." Willow said. "It was reckless, wonton, and dangerous. It was the kind of decision so badly handled that, with the ironic exception of my sexuality, I am now seriously questioning every major life choice I've ever made. I don't think there are enough cookies I can bake to make up for a decision this badly thought out."

Cordelia considered this for a minute. "You make it a lot harder for me to destroy you when you do all the work yourself," she said coolly.

"You could you just pretend it was freshman year if that made it easier," Willow said.

"Please. I didn't figure out how to do makeup properly until the winter formal," Cordelia said dismissively.

A lot of the tension had dissolved in the last couple of minutes. Spike looked a little disappointed but less than he would have given their history. "Cordy speaking on your behalf, Peaches?" he asked neutrally.

"Spike, I think we all know I'm not in the best position to throw stones at this particular glass house," Angel admitted. He fixed his expression on Xander. "Of course, there are exceptions."

Up until now Xander had relaxed as his friends had begun to admit their culpability when it came to their parts, however small, in Buffy's resurrection. When Angel fixed his expression on him, he went stock rigid.

"I never particularly liked you, but at least when I was in Sunnydale you at least could speak from the position of the moral high ground," Angel was walking towards him. "Call me crazy but at the very least, we're finally on the same level in that regard."

Xander looked around the room frantically, hoping somewhere to find a friendly face. Only Willow was willing to stand up for him. "This was my idea. I persuaded everybody. I cast the spell."

"Yes, and I appreciate you're taking responsibility for it. It's just, well, at the end of junior year you found the spell that was going to give Angel his soul back." Cordelia's stare was, if anything, more bloodthirsty than Angel's. "I remember that when it, you were the biggest proponent of just killing Angel. I remember that because I was on your side, though you acted as if I wasn't. You said that using magic just to get Buffy's boyfriend back was not the right thing to do."

Cordelia was now moving at the same pace as Angel. "I'm curious. Is your moral opposition to magic spells being used only extend to people you don't like, because otherwise, I don't know which of your faces I'm looking at right now."

Xander knew he was in deep shit. "I didn't think this was a good idea."

"And how hard did you try to talk them out of it?" Angel asked.

"Much as I'm enjoying watching Xander try to back up until he's back on the safe confines of the Hellmouth," Faith said slowly, "I think it would take too much time for the two of you to punish him appropriately. Time we don't have."

Cordelia considered this for a moment. "You're right." She turned to Faith. "I understand you deflowered Xander."

Xander went ice cold. Everyone else started to shift. Well, almost everyone.

"It was after the two of you broke up," Faith said, slightly guilty.

"How long did it take?" Cordelia asked abruptly.

Xander suddenly realized what Cordelia was about to do.

Faith gave a big evil grin. "Five minutes, maybe a little less."

"And to think I missed out on all that," Cordelia said.

"Don't worry. He's much better at it now," Anya said simply.

Xander couldn't move his head fast enough.

"Out of curiosity how many times did it take before he became you know, good at it?" Cordelia asked casually.

"Anya, please-"

"Six. Six and a half, really, much as I liked the first couple of times, the first barely counted." Xander had never wished Anya had a filter until this moment.

Xander walked right up to Angel. "Please I beg you, rip out my throat."

"You'll forgive my impertinence but was his initial poor kissing technique one of the reason you found it so much easier to become a lesbian?" Anya asked Willow.

Willow genuinely smiled. "No, it lived up the potential. Then again, we were both under the influence of forbidden hormones and I was actually fulfilling a lifelong fantasy, so I might have been slightly deluded as to the technique."

"Out of curiosity do you think his initial inability to satisfy may have been a contributing factor to your embracing the dark side," Anya asked Faith curiously. " I have seen stranger things over eleven hundred years."

"No I can't blame him for that." Faith deliberately paused. "It was so quick it didn't really have an effect on me one way or the other."

Xander practically pulled down his shirt collar. "See how ripe my jugular is? Imagine how nice and smooth my lifeblood will be going down."

Angel was actually smiling now. "Ok Cordy, I think he's suffered enough."

"What position did you use when you separated him from his maidenhood?" Anya was asking Faith matter-of-factly.

"You want, I can give you makeup tips when this is over. Live out a fantasy of your own."

A big smile was now dawning on Buffy's face. "You know what they say, once you go vengeance demon, you never go back."

Spike walked over to Cordelia. "Clearly all those years of demeaning the Scoobies I was clearly an amateur. I hail the queen."

"All right, ladies. We can save the rest of the bedroom talk for when this over." Cordelia said clapping her hands. "Or you know, every time one or more of us is alone with him for the duration."

"I suppose I should be grateful all the years I was the librarian, this level of discourse never unfolded," Giles said.

"I guess it's refreshing to know that even in a world with vampires and witches, the scariest thing in the world is still a bunch of gals discussing boys shortcomings'" Fred said.

Buffy blinked a few moments. "I'm sorry. I don't believe I know you."

"Oh. Winnifred Burkle. First time I learned about you…" She looked at Willow.

Willow nodded. "Angel and the rest had just returned from this demon dimension. Fred had been trapped there for, what was it, five years?"

Buffy looked at Fred with respect. "And you came through it intact?"

"That's a relative term." Fred said. "Let's just say I think I have an understanding of what you and your friends have been through the last few years."

"Which dimension?" Anya asked.

"Pylea."

Anya shook her head. "I'm amazed you made it out in one piece. I spent a couple of weeks there about a century ago. Demons and vampires are in charge of the hierarchy, humans were slave labor or hunted for sport." She paused. "How did you get in the first place? It's not like there are doorways."

"I read the wrong book," Fred said simply.

"There were still volumes that can do that?" Giles asked.

"There was one in the Cal State Library," Fred said.

"Cordelia ended up trapped in their last spring," Wesley said. "I'd like to say that we intended to save Fred, but as it turned out we wouldn't have been able to escape without her."

Giles and Willow both looked at her with new respect. "Were you studying linguistics when you went there?" Willow asked.

Fred shook her head. "Relative physics. Ironically enough, I was considering the theories of alternate universes. I just never expected to find proof of one." Fred hesitated. "And I suspect that may be the reason your sister was taken in the first place."

Buffy looked around. "I thought someone told you Wolfram and Hart was behind Dawn's abduction."

"All we know for certain is that there's a meeting planned with them this morning," Wesley told them. "Beyond that, all we have are bits and pieces."

He them summarized what they had learned and he made sure that Giles saw the piece of paper their mole had left them.

Giles looked even more serious than usual. "I knew Travers and his lot were barely human on a good day," he said grimly. "This is beyond the pale for them."

"Based on our few meetings, it's keeping in character," Buffy reminded him.

"You're certain that no one at the council knew Dawn's relationship to the Key?" Angel was being delicate for him.

"If they found out, it wasn't from me," Giles told them.

"Which doesn't mean they couldn't have figured it out on their own," Tara spoke up. "You asked them for information on Glory. They knew why she was here. Maybe they reasoned it out on their own."

"Those blighters may have been a couple of centuries beyond the curve," Spike admitted. "Didn't make them idiots."

"And they couldn't have liked our last encounter," Buffy said. "They might think the Key was something to important to be taken care of by a bunch of kids who barely graduated high school."

"That doesn't mean they're the ones who took her,"

"But that note –"

"The Watchers are involved, no question." Fred said. "But as far as they know the only purpose the Key had expired when Glory did."

"I'm more confused than usual," Xander said.

"This part is going to be confusing even for people who had a masters in quantum physics and I never completed my dissertation," Fred told them. "But I think there's a real possibility that Dawn wasn't kidnapped by anyone with any supernatural connections."

"They did say a bunch of blokes in suits took her," Spike acknowledged. "But honestly, that wouldn't disqualify either Rupert ex-employer or the attorneys. If they're just acting as accomplices, who's behind the curtain?"

"Even I couldn't be specific on that front."

"Then use as broad strokes as you have too." Wesley encouraged her.

Fred gathered her thoughts – always tricky on a good day – before she looked at Buffy. "Before the monks turned the key into human form, its purpose was to open the door to Glory's home dimension," she said carefully. "But the reason that couldn't happen was because once it was used it was going to open the door to all of them."

"You don't need to remind us of what was the most painful experience of the last few months," Anya said.

"Actually, I do," Fred said. "It's no longer possible to Glory to use the Key. What if someone else figured out how to use her for a different one?"

Buffy's expression had been darkening at Fred's bumbling references to her sister, but now she grew thoughtful. "You really think that's possible?"

"You're talking to someone who stumbled on to an alternate one by accident and had to spend five years before someone could let her out." Fred reminded Buffy. "I spent a lot of time scribbling equations on a wall trying to find a way to open the door from the inside. There were times when I was desperate enough that I would have done things I never would have thought possible just to go home again. Now I would never have been willing to sacrifice another person's life to do so, but we all know that there are plenty of beings out there with far less moral scruples."

Willow, the brains behind the Sunnydale contingent, picked up on Fred's theme. "If you're right, we already know a contingent that has the resources, capabilities and ruthlessness to do exactly the kind of thing Fred's talking about."

"Who?" Cordelia asked.

Xander answered. "Our military."

"This some residual from your memories as a soldier or something more concrete?" Cordelia asked.

"Our freshman year in college," Buffy said slowly.

"But I thought the Initiative was scrapped," Wesley said.

"The Initiative was. Our fighting men and women are still happily involved in fighting monsters and demons," Buffy said grimly.

A very unsettling thought occurred to Willow. "Buffy, did you ever tell Riley…"

A look of horror crossed Buffy's face that quickly disappeared. "No. He was gone for a month before I finally shared with you guys." Her expression froze. "That doesn't mean they couldn't have found out without us telling them."

Within a few seconds everybody realized the implications of what Buffy was suggesting.

"Okay, next Halloween I'm dressing as someone who works for the CIA," Xander said.

"Pretty sure they don't wear uniforms," Spike said softly.

Angel was beginning look appalled. "You thinking that your phones were tapped?"

"That makes a terrifying amount of sense," Gunn realized. "You guys were survivors of a military disaster. There's no way any part of our government was just going to take you at your word that you could be trusted to keep your mouth shut."

"That's right. Keep a secret on the supernatural for your entire life and no one gives a damn you. Witness the government massively screw up trying to handle the supernatural," Xander shook his head. "How the hell did we manage to not spend our summer vacation in some basement in the Pentagon?"

"Riley and Graham must have done a lot of spadework for us," Willow said. "But they're the government. They don't trust anyone, so obviously we couldn't be."

"I'm not saying that a healthy dose of paranoia isn't useful considering what we've already been through," Giles said, "but this is still theoretical. It's a very sound theory, I grant you, but we don't have any proof that the government has any part in this."

"Yeah, cause it's not like the government has a history of spying and listening in on groups of people it considers dangerous," Gunn reminded them.

"I'm pretty sure that's why the FBI was founded," Xander agreed. He walked towards Fred. "Since you weren't firsthand witness to this particular event, you should know that apparently our government spent at least a year in Sunnydale trying to make the supernatural part of the military-industrial complex."

Fred put her head in her hands. "I was really hoping that The X-Files was more fiction than fact; this sounds like something that was scare the hell out of Mulder and Scully."

Buffy looked at Willow. "There has to have been some kind of long-term surveillance and wire-tapping in Sunnydale when the Initiative was there."

"And there's no reason they would have removed it just because it was gone," Willow agreed. She looked at them. "This is looking like all the worst parts of our worlds are collaborating, and they've decided that Dawn is their target."

Spike's voice grew very cold. "If they've got Niblet locked in some lab somewhere, I don't care if my head explodes, I'm going to tear them all limb from limb."

"Make sure you save me a drumstick," Faith said. "It's your sister, B. What's our best course of action?"

"We have to divide and conquer. But organized divide and conquer." Buffy looked at Angel. "Wolfram & Hart have a protracted interest in this. Do you think they have eyes on this hotel?"

Angel gave it some serious thought. "None of them have been in here since we took up residence, but that only means they don't have a view of the interior. I don't think they've tapped our phone line, but if they can find a way around it they might."

Buffy looked at Willow. "You and Fred are on tech research. Figure out if they're listening and/or looking in and see if there's a way we can find a way to watch them."

Willow looked at Tara. "Do me a favor, honey. I need you to find a phone store and get enough cells for all of us."

"I'll go with her," Gunn said. "I know a guy who specializes in these kinds of things. Besides, I think the buddy system would be our best move going forward."

"Glad to know we're on the same page," Buffy said. She looked at Giles and Wesley. "The Watchers, any chance they have an office in LA?"

Wes chose to answer. "There has to be a presence here. Our group surmised that they had to have an eye on Faith ever since she turned herself in. Do you think any of them would be dumb enough to have a forwarding address here, Rupert?"

"Foolish no. Brazen, yes." Giles looked at Wesley. "Are you doing the footwork because you don't want to avoid the obvious connection?"

"We both know very well my father has the capability for this kind of operation, if he did not order it outright," Wesley told them forthrightly. "He has spent the last two years thinking I'm a disgrace to the family name. I want him to keep thinking that for as long as possible."

"What about the military angle?" Xander asked. "How do we cover that?"

"Carefully." Buffy told them. "I think our best way forward is to act like we haven't figured it out yet. Once Willow and Fred have tech support to set up, we're going to have a field team doing checking to see any leads we can find. Gunn, when you get back from getting us all connected, I want you to work with Xander and Tara to do the groundwork."

"You trust me on this?" Gunn asked.

"It's your turf," Xander agreed.

"Right now we seem to be covering all the human angles," Cordelia said. "Are we certain that demons and vampires aren't involved in this?"

"They have to be," Faith said. "You don't go after the Slayer's sister and not have some supernatural help involved, if only because you know even our best and brightest would end up lying in heaps if they were to try and stop her."

"You find anything at the safehouse that indicates demons were there?" Buffy asked Angel.

"I think they might be being used as clean-up if nothing else," Angel told her. "Make sure all of their loose ends disappear without a trace."

"Couldn't tell from that murder in the bathtub," Gunn said. "But maybe whoever did it got to lick the plate clean."

Xander shuddered. "That might be the most efficient way to clean up, if not the most disgusting." He looked at Angel. "This is your town. Do you think these people would act local?"

"They'd have too," Angel figured. "Anyone out of Sunnydale would know better. We need to check at Caritas."

"That can't possibly be what it sounds like," Willow said.

"Basically it's the demon equivalent of the Bronze," Cordelia said. "Though considered what happened the last time we paid a visit, The Host may not be thrilled to see us this soon."

"He doesn't brood the way Angel does," Gunn reminded her. "But maybe to be safe, you should be the one to go. He has less of a reason to be mad at you than me or Angel right now."

"I'll tag along," Anya said. "If it doesn't work out, I have quite a few contacts who'd probably still be willing to talk to me."

"How heavy is the demand for vengeance demons in LA?" Cordelia asked curiously.

"It's easier to find one of us than a reliable agent," Anya told her. "And usually we do a better job than them."

"How serious are you?"

"Montgomery Clift was all set to star in Sunset Blvd and pulls out a month before the shoot starts," Anya told them. "William Holden was basically washed up at that point. How do you think he got the part?"

Cordelia looked at Anya with new interest.

"Don't get any ideas," Angel warned Cordelia.

"Hey, I've got a full-time job now," Cordelia said. "I'd just like a few theories of mine confirmed."

"How scared should I be right now?" Xander mumbled. He looked at Gunn. "Someone needs to hold down the fort. When you and Tara get back, I think we need to make sure this place is secure and be ready to head out if there's anything new."

"I don't have a problem with that," Gunn said. "What about the rest of you?"

"Do we have any idea when this meeting at Wolfram and Hart is taking place?" Faith asked Angel with a mischievous look in her eye.

"Knowing them, they'll make sure to have it after sunrise," Angel told Faith. "They don't want any surprise guests coming." He paused. "Vampire guests."

There was a measured silence. "Are you sure that it's the best idea to have a direct approach?" Wesley asked. "You know what these people are capable."

"My granddad was a member of the Texas Rangers," Fred said. "He loved spinning yarns about the old days and one of his favorite stories was that one day in Lubbock, there was a riot in the streets. It got so out-of-control that the local sheriff put out a call to the Texas Rangers. Hours go by and finally a car drives up, the door opens and a single ranger gets out of the driver's seat. The sheriff blinks for a moment, and asks the obvious question: 'Where are the rest of you?' The Ranger looks him dead in the eye and says: 'Just one riot, isn't there?'"

The implication was pretty clear.

"I get that your friends did all they could to help you on the Hellmouth, but in a lot of the battles against Ground Zero for evil, there was only going to be one slayer to stand against the forces of darkness. No one will say it was perfect, but the world is still standing. Why should this be any different?"

"Fred," Giles said gently. "Few people could appreciate more than I just how much respect you have for what Buffy has been doing all these years, but from what I understand Wolfram & Hart is basically a representation of all that evil represents."

"Then Faith's help should just about make it a fair fight," Wesley said coldly. "For the evil law firm."

"I don't know when Stiff Upper Lip became such a bad-ass, but it's starting to turn me on," Faith said with a smile.

"Me too." Everybody looked at Xander. "I just said that out loud, didn't I?"

"Yes, and we all really wish you hadn't," Buffy said. "That being said, it is an encouraging sign of character growth. Clearly quitting the Council agrees with you."

"You do know I'm not going to let the two of you do this on your own," Angel told them.

"I would be shocked if you didn't," Buffy said. "But considering sunrise is going to come in about two hours, can you give any support besides the moral kind?"

"Better than that. I know a way in." Angel said. He turned to Spike. "I assume you intend to come along for this attack."

"Are you kidding? This'll be fun." He paused. "I know they got a read on your entire backstory, so I assume I'm somewhere in your file."

Angel looked stunned. "Dru paid me a visit about a month before everything went to hell." Spike shrugged. "Probably told me more about what you and your crew have been up to than you did in the last year."

For the first time Angel and Cordelia looked a little awkward. "What did Drusilla tell you?" Cordelia asked slowly.

"That somehow Wolfram and Hart found a way to bring Darla back from Hell," Spike told the group.

Willow winced. "Darla? That blonde in the schoolgirl outfit was around the first few months Buffy showed up? Angel dusted her."

"Well, apparently this evil law firm found a way to get around that loophole," Cordelia said. "Naturally they brought her back as a human to mess with Angel's head for a few months and then they brought in Drusilla to turn her back to a vampire."

"That sounds as icky to you guys as it does to me?" Xander asked.

"Believe me, it's more disgusting than the usual vampire crap we go through," Gunn pointed out. "It took three months for Angel to work through his issues with that."

"Where's Darla?" Buffy, ever the Slayer, asked.

"She skipped town." Angel said quickly. "She might very well be a problem down the line but I don't think she's involved…" He trailed off and turned to Fred . "Are you sure that this abduction was all about Dawn being the Key?"

"Based off everything we've learned," Fred asked.

"What are you thinking?" Buffy asked.

"Darla doesn't let go of grudges." Angel said simply. "She never said it directly last year, but she has to remember then when it came down to it, I chose you over her. I don't know what Wolfram & Hart promised her when they used her to manipulate me but even if they didn't make a direct offer, I don't believe that finishing what she started against you wasn't on her to-do list."

Buffy looked at Spike. "Did you spend any time with her after Dru turned you?"

"Twenty years give or take," Spike said. "The thing about bloodlines is, each generation you go back, the less of a connection it is. Angel was closer to Dru than Darla was back then and those two barely got along. She tolerated Dru. She couldn't stand me."

Cordelia looked at Angel. "It's an Elder thing," Angel agreed. "Darla was closer to the era of ritual than I was, and it was pretty much gone by the time of Spike and Dru's generation."

"Probably why she went back to Sunnydale," Spike said. "Get close to her roots. Of course, that was before." Spike turned to Angel. "How long was Darla human before Dru turned her?"

"Six months give or take."

"Why does all of this math matter?" Gunn asked.

"I'm trying to figure out of Grandpa here has a point," Spike told him. "The Darla I knew was calculating and ritualistic because of her roots, which predated Angelus by what a century, more?"

"About that."

"Now she's a kid." Spike hesitated, then shuddered. "Yeah, I just worked out the bloodline here. You're right, it's messed up."

"Hey, I need a chart to keep track of this, and I never even bothered with most of what happened in Sunnydale," Gunn nodded.

Spike looked at Angel. "Not only is she dealing with being human, but she's also got a fair amount of Dru's madness in her. I'm guessing she's been more out of control since she came back."

"She and Dru basically slaughtered the entire branch of the LA office of Wolfram and Hart as her coming out party," Wesley told them.

Spike looked disturbed for the first time. "Dru told me that and I thought it was one of her rants. That actually happened?"

"More or less," Angel's awkwardness shifted into something more measured. "You're right. The old Darla would never have done something that blunt."

"I'll admit I find this fascinating, but what does this have to do with our current problem?" Giles asked.

"Maybe everything," Spike said. "We've been asking ourselves who these people would get for supernatural help. Who bears a massive grudge against Buffy and Angel? Who has the kind of forethought to participate in this process just so she can make her old rival suffer before she dies?"

"Holy fuck," Xander said. "You're saying that Darla is helping the Watchers and Wolfram & Hart so she can have vengeance?"

"That's completely insane," Willow said.

"In our world, that means it's perfectly logical," Anya said grimly.

"You wanted to know who cleaned up the mess," Angel said bluntly. "There was a lot of blood."

"I knew we were headed for a high school reunion when we came here, but this is taking it way too far," Xander said.

Buffy looked at Cordelia. "I'll ask Lorne if he's heard she's back in town," she told Buffy. "That will irritate him a little."

"We'll have to worry about the long term repercussions later," Buffy said. "How sure are you that they haven't closed the back door by now?"

"Doesn't matter if they have," Angel said. "I invited you around because I think the best way through is a major distraction at the front door."

"Which has always been my stock in trade," Spike frowned. "You do know that unless they come at me with demon guards, I won't be able to put up much of a fight?"

"Yeah. But I'm betting they don't know that" Buffy said. "Besides, you're not going in alone."

Faith looked at Spike. "You know, I don't think we've officially met," she told the blond vampire. "I'm Faith, the twisted vampire slayer."

Spike gave a small smile. "William the Bloody, horrible poet, part of the Scourge of Europe. No offense, Buffy, but she's a better dresser than you."

"She's got a style of offense that I think works better with yours, all things considered," Buffy said. "However, considering that Wolfram and Hart does have a history with her –"

"Then we should probably strike before the sun comes up," Spike said.

"Bear in mind, it won't be a picnic," Wesley told them. "If they're involved, they have to know that you're going to pay them a visit. They'll have some nasty surprises in store."

"You're not saying they'll be expecting me?"

"They'll have more defenses." A smile that Buffy would never have thought possible on Wesley two years earlier crossed his face. "They have no idea what to expect."

WOLFRAM AND HART

"One of our sources inside the LAPD clocked this from a traffic camera." Gavin Park said. "The license plate matches Joyce Summers' car."

Lilah Morgan did not like Gavin – she didn't really like anybody – but she admitted the man had his uses. "When was this taken?"

"Forty-five minutes ago."

"Took her long enough." Lilah tried to put on a dismissive air.

In reality, she was worried. The Senior Partners had only informed her about this operation twenty-four hours ago. Had she been in any position to give counsel, she would had advised against it in the strongest possible terms.

It had never been easy dealing with Angel the last two years but he was an entity that could be controlled if you provided the proper kind of manipulation. After the disastrous hiring of Faith earlier last year, she had been very certain that using a Slayer against Angel was a bad idea. And that was a Slayer who had cause to hate him.

She knew that there was an entire file cabinet on Angel somewhere in the records department. She couldn't begin to imagine how much shelf space was devoted to Buffy Summers. But knowing about her and being able to predict her was a completely different story. The firm had continuously underestimated Angel; she had little confidence that they had doubts in their abilities to handle a woman who hadn't yet gotten through college, no matter how many apocalypses she had thwarted. Left to her own devices, she would have told them that it was not in the firm's interest to have this woman attract their attention – and this operation had done so in the worst possible way.

"What's the ETA of the representative?" she asked casually.

"One hour."

"I think it's in our interests that she and her ex spend a protracted period catching up."

"You think our forces can't handle her?" There was no sarcasm in Gavin's tone. He had learned about this operation the same time Lilah had. Perhaps he had a similar concern about it.

"I think it's everybody's interest that she and her friends get her after our guests have left," Lilah said.

"How much extra security would you be comfortable having?" Gavin actually seemed sincere.

"With this woman," Lilah looked at the photo. "I'm not sure an Army would be enough to slow her down."

Gavin considered this. "You know, there's a panic room on the eighth floor."

"There's one on every floor." Lilah said dismissively.

"This one isn't on the blueprint. Manners put it in. Kept it off the grid."

"Why are you telling me about this?"

"Lilah I know what you think of me. You're right, of course. But we both work here. And while we have faith in the long term goal, I think we both know that there are…occasions when management…misjudges who works for it."

That was a pretty nasty euphemism for what had happened in Manners wine cellar, but it was what they did for a living. And she did want to survive.

"Management finds out about this; they might have you skinned alive."

Gavin shrugged. "That might be preferable than if the Slayer gets a hold of us."

Lilah considered this. "Lead on."

AUTHOR'S NOTES

Seeing how much trouble happened over the last few seasons when nobody ever talked to each other, I figured now was the time to let it loose.

Xander has always been more judgmental than most of the Scoobies towards the judgments that Buffy made, particularly regarding Angel. I figured Angel had every right to be pissed at this. I also thought that a really good measure of revenge would be, since we have every single woman in Xander's life in the room at the same time, to let every single one of them grade his, um, performance. That's the definition of hell for any teenage boy and quite a few adult males.

In this story, Dawn had been taken because she was the Key more than the sister. And since we already know the military has a way of looking at supernatural power, I thought I would bring them in on this. No one from the Initiative will be showing up, but that doesn't mean we won't see some faces we recognize.

I honestly didn't intend to have Darla as part of this story but then I realize that she and Buffy have a fair amount of unfinished business that never got taken care of. I also do think that given the conditions of her being sired, she might actually be a little crazier than usual. No, she will not have a bun in the oven when she shows up but that doesn't mean there won't be repercussion from her and Angel's horrible roll in the sack.

Just so you know, there will be a lot of switching back and forth between groups for the next few chapters. But trust me, Buffy and Faith against Wolfram and Hart was in the works from the start of this story.

Lilah is evil but no one would accuse of her being an idiot. I intended to have her running this operation but given how much experience she has with Angel, there's no way she's authorize it. That doesn't mean she won't encounter the Slayers but trust me, it's not going to turn out the way you think.

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