The summer passed fairly uneventfully. The Scoobies hunted vampires and Giles searched for Buffy. Months passed with no word from her. School started and still nothing. By day the four of them attended their Senior year classes and by night they continued hunting. Giles found a Magic teacher for Willow. And then the beginning of October, Buffy came home. After an awkward couple of hours with her mother, she decided to go looking for her friends. They weren't answering their phones so she thought they might be at the Bronze. Hearing a sound in an alley nearby and thinking it might be a vampire, she followed it and saw a man in black walking though the alleyway. She followed along behind him, only to see him stop and listen for something. As Buffy watched, someone else stepped out of the shadows. This time she was sure it was a vampire because its game face was on. She started forward only to stop when the man lifted his hand and shot what looked like a stream of water from some kind of gun at the vampire. It raised its hands to its face and started screaming. An arrow pierced its chest from behind and it dusted. A woman stepped out of the shadows. To Buffy's shock, she realized it was Cordelia and she was holding a crossbow and reloading it.
"Nice shot." The man, who Buffy suddenly realized was Xander, said.
"Thanks. Definite improvement over the first time I shot it."
"Yeah, getting shot by my girlfriend in the foot is not fun. Which is why we all now wear boots as well as vests when hunting."
"I made it up to you. And you heal nearly as fast as a Slayer, so not a real big deal." She kissed him.
"That makes six so far." Xander said, after releasing the lip lock. "Come in Wolf Man, what's your count at?" Xander asked into a walky talky.
"Willow just dusted number eight. Call it a night, Nighthawk?"
"Sure, we got six ourselves. Meet us at the Bronze, we can have a little down time."
"On our way."
"You're hunting vampires?!" Buffy exclaimed. "Don't you realize you could get hurt?"
Xander and Cordelia turned to look at her.
"And if we don't, people will die." Xander answered "So you decided to come home. And it's our choice, not yours."
"Holy water and crossbows aren't enough to deal with vampires, Xander." Buffy told him.
"I guess you missed the part where we got a combined total of fourteen vampires tonight. Or the fact that we're wearing boots and protective vests. We're doing what normal people do when they hunt vampires, stacking the odds in our favor. And the gun isn't loaded with holy water, it's loaded with chemicals. Don't try drinking it, you'll burn your throat. We're heading into the Bronze, are you coming in too?"
Taken aback by the rather cool reception, Buffy wondered what the problem was.
"Is everything alright, Xander?"
"Besides the fact that we haven't seen you for over four months and your mother has been going out of her mind with worry about you? Why would anything be wrong?"
"She told me to go, Xander." Buffy explained.
"Yes, but she didn't mean it. She was freaked out by everything that happened. She needed time to deal. You not coming back or calling her didn't help."
"I needed time to deal too, Xander. Someone murdered Angel."
"No Buffy, someone dusted Angelus, the vampire that was torturing Giles. When exactly did you decide it was finally time to go to the Mansion?"
"The morning after the attack. Why?"
"Because by that time Giles would have been tortured for maybe ten hours, at least. But he might not have even still been alive by the time you got there."
"I was hoping Willow would try the spell to save him again."
"Ah, honesty. Willow was in a coma for a while. When she came out of it she did want to try again. Someone, probably Drusilla, had destroyed her supplies. And by the way, it wouldn't be saving Angel, it would be condemning him."
"What do you mean?"
"The soul wasn't in the body anymore. It was released into the after life. The soul was at peace. Yanking it back and shoving it into a demon filled corpse would have pulled it from Heaven into Hell. Angel was innocent of the crimes of Angelus. Forcing him to suffer for those crimes was evil."
"You're serious? Angel was in Heaven?"
"Most likely. That or reincarnated. Either way, he was free and at peace. And even though I can't remember it, I may have been the one who dusted Angelus and saved Giles. Circumstantial evidence suggests it."
"You - how?"
"Someone broke into Giles condo and stole two bottles of liquor. I apparently bought a vest and a helmet at the Army surplus store that night. Burn patterns on the floor at the Mansion suggest two vampires were dusted using fire. Giles attacked Angelus using alcohol and fire while trying to avenge Jenny. I can't say for sure it was me because I suffered head trauma myself that night and have amnesia. But the evidence does point towards it. Saving Giles would be worth it."
"Angel was gone. The spell wouldn't have saved him?"
"I'm sorry, Buffy. I know you want to hear something different, but honestly, no it wouldn't have."
"I think I'll go home. I'll see you all later."
"Buffy, we missed you. That's being honest too. But getting back our friendship, that's going to take time. We thought you were dead too."
She nodded and headed home.
A/N I know I tend to be in a minority on this, but I think Buffy acted like a brat in the Dead Man's Party episode. I didn't buy Cordelia defending her, it seemed really out of character to me. And I didn't think Xander was being mean to Buffy while defending Joyce.