Continued...

"Oh, uh, I see you brought friends?" asked Willow, trying to sound more cheery than she felt.

"Hi Willow, gee, it’s been ages." Cordelia bubbled in what she hoped was a very convincing manner. This was harder than she remembered it being. It’d been awhile since she’d felt the need to try to sugarcoat her words so fully. She decided to just keep going with it and shot the redhead another beaming smile. "Is Buffy here? We really need to talk to her. Well, actually it’s Angel that really needs to talk….." Cordelia trailed off mid-sentence. They heard Buffy’s voice coming from another room.

"Will, you home?" Buffy called to her friend as she walked through the house, totally unaware of what was to greet her at the front door. Angel wasn’t sure if he could go through with this now that he had heard her voice again. Had his friends not already been standing behind him, he probably would have fled, but as things were, there really was no place for him to go.

Willow turned and looked toward the kitchen as she yelled, "Yeah Buffy, in here." She shot a quick look at Angel and the others.

As Buffy walked to the living room, she could see Willow standing at the door. She continued closer, stopping when she saw who else was there.

"Hi." she said in a obviously startled voice. She stared at Angel, her heart thumping furiously in her chest.

"I need….I need to talk to you for a minute." said Angel quietly as he glanced from Buffy to the ground and then back to Buffy. He could sense her anger.

"So….you brought back-up this time?" she quipped as she eyed Cordelia and the others. The hurt was still radiating off of Buffy. Still, Cordelia took offense to this snotty remark, and suddenly felt an overwhelming urge to straighten the little moppet out with a big "Listen here!", but was stopped from saying anything as Angel answered Buffy’s question.

"I didn’t bring the others because of you. We are here on business, and I just need to get something from you first." As the words came out of Angel’s mouth, Gunn groaned to himself. Angel had absolutely no game at all when it came to talking to the ladies. What he’d just blurted out was not going to get this thing done any faster, judging by the way the petite blonde’s eyes had doubled in size before narrowing to angry little slits.

"Business! That is why you came here?" Buffy practically spat at him. Her growing agitation was becoming more and more evident.

"Listen" said Angel, as he grabbed Buffy by the arm, trying to diffuse the situation. She looked at him with pain and hurt in her eyes and quickly jerked her arm away from him and turned away for a moment. Sighing, she turned to face him. They both stood staring at one another, neither knowing exactly what they should do next.

While the drama played out at the Summers’ house, unaware of how things were progressing, stood Liz, quiet and alone on the other side of town. Realizing this "get the cross back" might take a little longer than she initially thought, she decided to get more comfortable. She sat on a stone bench in front of the "Sunnydale Cemetery" sign. Images of Angel had been running through her mind since they had parted ways back in LA. She couldn’t help but feel attracted to him again. Those things that he had done soo many years ago had no bearing on her feelings for him now. She felt like she was sixteen again and much in love. The silence and the thoughts were quickly broken as she heard a lovely British accent come from behind her.

"Well, hello there. You must be new in town." said a very suave sounding man. To her he was a stranger, but to practically everyone else in Sunnydale he was known as Spike.

"Yes, yes I am. Just waiting on a friend to come and pick me up, no need to worry." said the soft spoken Irish accented woman. She stood up so she could see this beautifully sounding man who had approached her. As she looked more closely at him, he did the same with her. She was small and petite with beautiful light brown hair. He smiled to himself. Spike was ever so loving having a new woman to entertain. After Buffy had left his crypt earlier, he was determined to find a new honey that would respect him for the romantic he was, and this little lovely would do just fine. He noticed that she seemed a little uncomfortable, a little unsure, perhaps, but Spike was certain that he would be able to make her feel more at ease around him. He was quite good at this sort of thing, he had to admit to himself.

"So pet, what is a beautiful young thing like yourself doing in a cemetery?" asked Spike. As uncomfortable as she was talking to this stranger, especially after the warning that Angel had given her, she was enjoying the attention from him just the same. ‘He is so handsome. That beautiful blonde hair combed perfectly into place, and those cheekbones, they looked as if they had been sculpted by an artist.’ Liz thought to herself, as she stood there admiring her new acquaintance. Besides, she was no ordinary girl, and didn’t have to worry about many of the same things that would be dangerous to someone with, say a pulse or a temperature above 60 degrees.

"Well luv, cat got your tongue?" asked Spike, trying not to sound too eager for a conversation. Startled by what this mysterious young figure said to her, she quickly came back to reality and replied, "I told you, I’m….I’m…waiting on a friend."

"Well, well, a friend ehh?" asked Spike suspiciously. "What kind of a friend asks to meet your pretty face in a cemetery?" He asked.

"Well, if you must know, I requested this meeting place, I like to be alone you know, and I figured that this would be adequate." said Liz. Somehow the words had seemed much more clever in her mind than they actually did when she’d said them.

"You picked the wrong place to be alone Miss. This is not a good place for a beautiful young thing like yourself to be sittin’." said Spike, now fronting a bit of concern toward his new prize. This would be the part where she would be very taken with his sensitivity, if the previous conquests of the last 100 years or so had taught him anything.

"You need not worry about me sir, I am quite capable of taking care of myself." Liz said in a quite reassuring voice. Spike seemed surprised by her response, and just stood there gazing at her beauty, trying to decide what he should do next. Her tone and mannerisms didn’t match her appearance, he realized. This was no ordinary bird, he decided.

* * * * * * * * * *

Chapter 5 –

"Rrrrmmmm," was the sound that came from Wesley, as he cleared his throat, trying as hard as he could to get this show on the road without seeming to pushy. He realized that Angel and Buffy had issues to work out, as they always seemed to have issues, but there just wasn’t enough time for a heart to heart at the moment. Time was of the essence, and he was afraid of what might become of Liz if they wasted much more time here. Old and experienced as she may be, Sunnydale was unlike any other place on earth and he worried that Liz had underestimated it. Buffy and Angel seemed to be utilizing the "utter silence" method of communicating right now, anyway, and Wesley was growing more restless by the moment.

Buffy decided to break the silence, "So, what is it that you need from me?"

"Well" said Angel. "The silver cross that I gave you……that night in the alley, do you remember?" he asked.

"That is what you came after and brought all of the them for?" said Buffy in what seemed to Angel to be the most mean and uncaring tone he thought he’d ever heard from her, but she didn’t give Angel anytime to answer as she quickly continued, "Forget it, never mind, I don’t care anymore." And those were the words that nearly did Angel in, ‘I don’t care anymore’ is what echoed louder and louder in his head. How could she say that, after everything that they had been through together, how….but the thoughts were gone from his head as she turned away from him and raced up the stairs and to her room. He could hear her up there, could hear what she was doing. She rummaged through her drawer and as quickly as she disappeared, she was back down the stairs and threw the small black box that contained the silver cross at Angel.

She was hurt that he had wanted it back, and she was even more upset that he brought all of his friends there to humiliate her in the process. Especially Cordelia, she was certain that she was just loving this little episode. She had always wanted Angel, and apparently she was getting what she wanted. It made Buffy fume to think that Cordelia had been there to witness this.

"There, you have what you came after, now you can take care of whatever business you have." said Buffy with tears flowing down her face. She turned and headed for the kitchen. Angel turned for the door, and caught Cordelia’s eyes as he walked outside. She had seen the tears in his eyes, as he quickly walked out the door with Wesley, Gunn and Fred in tow, but Cordelia wasn’t going along to try and comfort him. She had seen enough. She had come to feel a great deal for Angel, this was true. He had saved her life on more than one occasion, and she owed him, even more for helping her find herself. She was grateful to him for showing her how to care more for others than for yourself, and it was this altruistic spirit that she decided to do what she was about to do. She was about to say some things that she had only thought to herself, and really didn’t care to share with anyone else, yet she knew she had to. She knew how she would feel if she didn’t. Cordelia braced herself for what was to come.

Meanwhile, Angel and the others were already in the car and had driven down the street. Angel hadn’t even noticed that Cordelia had stayed behind. He was trying to rationalize Buffy’s words. He knew where they were coming from, he knew she was hurt and confused but it didn’t help to ease his pain. All he knew was that he needed to find Liz and get this over with so he could go back to his life in LA. Being back in Sunnydale was just too painful for him. It was just too hard. He stepped harder on the gas pedal, trying to speed this ordeal up in order to get it over with. Soon Buffy’s house was out of sight.

Willow looked pained. She knew how awful Buffy felt now, and as her best friend, felt obligated to try and help somehow. She didn’t really know what to do, but she figured that she had to at least try. "Buffy!" Willow called, a little half-heartedly, to be honest, and wasn’t overly surprised when there was no answer. Willow moved as if she were going to follow Buffy, when she caught Cordelia’s eye for a moment. The taller girl just shook her head. Willow nodded and collapsed onto a chair.

Cordelia went into the kitchen and found Buffy with her head down on the kitchen counter, crying quietly. Following her instinct, she went over and put her arm on Buffy’s shoulder, not thinking that at the present time, that may not have been the best way to start this conversation. Buffy spun around quickly, knocking Cordelia back against the refrigerator. Buffy just looked at Cordelia with eyes that were as cold and calculating as any demon that Cordelia had ever seen.

"What do you want?" asked Buffy, still crying uncontrollably. Yet at the same time as she felt her heart would break, she also felt more rage inside of her than she thought she had ever felt before, all of it directed at Cordelia. How dare she come here and gloat now? Buffy thought to herself. She’d seen what had happened, she’d been standing right there for the whole thing, and yet that wasn’t enough for her? Buffy hadn’t been humiliated enough for Cordelia? She had to come in here to make it worse?

"You got what you always wanted, so why don’t you just get out!" screamed Buffy.

"Got what I always wanted?" asked Cordelia not sure whether to be annoyed or puzzled by this statement. She stood a few feet away from the Slayer, realizing by now this was not the time for the "there, there" treatment.

"You have wanted Angel since the moment you laid eyes on him, and now you have him. He isn’t here on business, and I know that." cried Buffy. With tears streaming down her face she continued, "He told me how you two felt about each other…...I’ve known since I came back. When we met……. after I came back……… he told me…. he told me about you!"

Cordelia was shocked, everything that she was about to say to Buffy was stripped from her thoughts. She was utterly unprepared for any of this. It made absolutely no sense to her at all.

"What are you talking about?" she asked in a stunned voice.

"You know exactly what I’m talking about!" exclaimed Buffy, looking more angry and less sad by the second.

"No, I don’t." said Cordelia, still puzzled at what Buffy was saying.

As Angel pulled up to the front of the Sunnydale cemetery, he saw Liz standing there in front of the entrance, engaged in conversation with someone. Someone he recognized. He slowed the car to a stop, jumped out and ran quickly over to Liz. He grabbed the one she was talking to, and promptly threw him to the ground.

"What the bloody hell was that for?" asked Spike looking up to see who had so rudely interrupted his flirting. He sighed dramatically when he realized who it had been, thinking he should have expected this.

"You, stay away from her!" demanded Angel. He had his arm protectively around the girl. Spike grinned.

"Well, if it isn’t bloody Robin Hood and his merry men, here to save the day." quipped Spike as he surveyed Angel’s reinforcements, deciding whether or not to getup right away.

"I don’t have time for you Spike, so just get out of here, now!" said Angel. Spike had to admit that a little part of him loved watching Angel get all riled up like this. It was just too easy to push his buttons and Spike simply could not resist.

"Oh, don’t get your panties all in a bind, I’m not hurting this pretty little thing, we’re just having a nice ‘lil chat." Spike said as he gathered himself and stood back up.

Fred couldn’t help but giggle as she found Spike’s little quips amusing. Spike heard her and walked around Angel.

"Well now, what do we have here?" Spike asked as he walked up to Fred, looking her up and down. "Seems like big bad broody boy got himself another cutie." He smiled sweetly at Fred and shot Angel a coy look, eyebrows raised in a lecherous fashion. "Doesn’t seem to take you long now does it?" said Spike, and with one swift punch, he was laying on the ground again. This was beginning to seem like old times, and Spike was thoroughly enjoying tormenting Angel and the urge to continue was impossible to resist.

Spike stood up, brushed the dirt off of himself and once more turned to Fred. She smiled.

"Now pet, you must be careful with this one, he gets a little, how should I say this….." smiling ever so evilly at Angel, "angry, when you do the dirty, so you must be careful, hear me luv?" And again Angel hit him, knocking him to the ground. Angel stood over him, daring him with his eyes to stand up again, but for all of Angel’s intimidation Spike just laughed, laying there and grinning up at Angel. It was just so easy, he couldn’t resist, just one more.

"What’s a matter?" he said staring up at Angel, "All ready do the nasty with her?"

Angel had heard more than enough by now, and it was getting harder and harder to beat his demon back down. He hauled off and hit the younger vampire again and again. He hated doing this, hating having to get violent without good cause. Spike was a waste of effort for him, and it angered Angel. He hit him again. However to Spike, it was more than worth a few smacks or punches, he had gotten to Angel. After all these years, it was still one of his very favorite games to play. There was only one other thing he could have said that would have gotten a "better" reaction out of him, and he was saving that one for the perfect moment. When Angel had finished he grabbed Liz’s arm and headed for the car. The others just silently followed.

"Buffy, I don’t know what the hell you are talking about. What has happened to you? You come back from the dead with everything except your brain?" said Cordelia who was getting quite tired of the accusations. Knowing this wasn’t what she had come in here to do, she took a deep breath, relaxed and decided to try a different approach.

"Yes, I love Angel, but not like that. We take care of each other. We do have a special bond." Buffy’s eyes narrowed at this statement, and Cordelia shook her head and continued. "But one that comes from working together and caring about the same things and the same people." finished Cordelia in a more passionate voice than Buffy had ever heard from her. "He has saved my life and I have saved his, we love each other like family, because we are family. All of us, Wesley, Gunn, Fred, Lorne, Angel, Connor and me. I don’t know what he could have said to you to make you think that there was anything more to our relationship than that!" Cordelia took a deep breath before continuing.

"It crushed him to learn that you had died. He was devastated Buffy, he left all of us and went away for the entire summer, trying to find a way to deal with losing you. He was finally dealing with things, finally accepting what had happened, and then Willow calls and says you’re back, what do you think that did to him? Huh?" asked Cordelia, but she only stopped long enough to catch her breath, then she started again. "How in the world could he possibly love me, there isn’t room left in his soul for anyone other than you. You are his love, and you always will be and what you just did to him was inexcusable. I don’t know why you acted the way you did, but you better get over it, because the apocalypse is about to take shape over Sunnydale again, and THAT my dear is the only reason we are here!"

* * * * * * * * * *

Chapter 6 –

Liz turned toward Angel as they all climbed into his car and asked, "Who was that?"

"No one!" said Angel, "Besides, I thought I told you not to talk to anyone, you could have been killed!" Liz was beginning to become annoyed with Angel’s tone, she had only been polite to the stranger. Besides she was quite capable of taking care of herself.

"Listen, all I need is the cross back and then you are free to go back to LA. Did you get it?" In response Angel reached in his black leather coat, and pulled out the small black velvet box and tossed it to Liz.

"Where do we need to go next?" asked Angel, still staring ahead, not looking at anyone else. Liz opened the little black box carefully, and gazed longingly at the cross. She wanted those days back, the ones that she and Liam had enjoyed together once so long ago, but she knew they were lost forever. Sighing, she gently pulled the cross out of the box and put it on. She felt safe again.

"Where do we need to go?" asked Angel again, impatiently. Liz just looked at him, she wasn’t sure what had happened, but it couldn’t have been good.

Suddenly, a quiet voice from the back seat asked, "Um….where is Cordelia?" it was Fred who asked. She had noticed Cordelia was missing when they all got out of the car, but with all the excitement with that blonde guy, she forgot to say anything.

Angel spun around quickly, looked at Fred, "You mean she isn’t here?" He thought to himself…. ‘now how could I have missed that?’

"No." replied Fred, "I don’t think she came out of the house with us. She must still be at Buffy’s." Suddenly a new sickness ran through Angel. If there had been much talking between Cordelia and Buffy in the time that they had been gone, things were going to get ugly for him very soon.

"What?" said Buffy, she still didn’t understand why Cordelia was making this so hard. How stupid did Cordelia think she was, anyway? She knew what had gone on between them, he had told her so much when they met.

"Buffy, what EXACTLY did Angel tell you?" asked Cordelia. Buffy turned away from her, looking out the window hoping that she wasn’t really going to have to relive that day.

"Buffy!" said Cordelia once more. Buffy kept quietly looking out the window, trying desperately to find the right words.

Finally, she began. "Well, after they brought me back, I knew that the only person who would understand what had happened to me was Angel. Which is why I called him. We met at a hotel in Logan, and, I was so glad to see him again. But things had changed, we both had changed." Buffy’s voice was quiet and calm, and Cordelia leaned against the counter patiently awaiting the part of the story she knew she wasn’t going to like.

"I told him how I thought that I had gone to Heaven. How everything was so peaceful, and how I was so content and happy, and how it felt to be ripped out suddenly and brought back here to this hell."

"You were in Heaven?" asked Cordelia, in what she hoped was a supportive voice and not a doubtful one. Buffy seemed to accept it for what it was.

"I don’t know……not for sure, but everything was perfect, I knew that I was were I was supposed to be."

"So what did Angel say?" Cordelia asked. Buffy closed her eyes and took a deep breath before answering.

"He said he was really glad to have me back, and that was about it. He said that he had been brought back from hell to finish his mission, and that must have been why the Powers had allowed me to be brought back as well. He said that the Powers don’t allow something of that magnitude to be accomplished if they do not need it to be."

"So, what does all of this have to do with you being mad at Angel?" asked Cordelia. So far, she wasn’t understanding what the big fuss was all about.

Buffy hated having to share this with anyone, especially with Cordelia yet she continued, "I said ‘I Love You, please come back to me, I need you,’ and……he just looked at me. Just looked at me. Like nothing. I thought I was going to die right then…..again, after all that, after what I had choked up the courage to say to him, and…..he just looked at me. No emotion at all. The pain was unbelievable. It still is."

"Did he say anything else?" asked Cordelia, knowing that she still hadn’t heard the whole story. This didn’t sound right.

"No, nothing, he just looked at me, like I was some helpless dog that he had no use for anymore, so I….." Buffy’s words trailed off then. She wasn’t sure if she could physically do this, actually finish telling Cordelia about what had happened.

"Then you what?" prodded Cordelia. This was taking longer than she had supposed it would. And she still didn’t really feel like she was getting any answers.

"Then I said some things that I shouldn’t have, and so he told me that he had moved on, that things had happened with you and it just wouldn’t work now."

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