PART THIRTEEN

"Because you'll be dead" Xander said coldly.

Angel looked past him again, and his yellow eyes flashed with fear. Suddenly, he pushed Xander onto the floor, causing the stake to fly out of his hands.

Out of nowhere, a knife immediately sailed through the air and hit Angel deeply in the chest. Hot, metallic pain shot through Angel's body as it did so. It hurt so intensely that he nearly buckled with the pain. Using his numb fingers, he managed to prise it out of his skin.

The knife-wielder stepped forward grinning. His pointed teeth shined in the moonlight.

Without a seconds notice, Angel hurled the knife at the vamp, cutting it's head clean off its shoulders.

On the ground, Xander's eyes widened as he witnessed this. He shakily sat up, hugging himself.

"That was aimed at me" he slowly realised as the vampire turned to dust. "That was meant for me..."

Touching his wound and idly wondering if it'd stop bleeding this side of the next century, Angel walked over to Xander's stake and rolled it back to him.

As the two men held eye contact, Angel's demonic face gradually turned back into human form. Xander hesitantly picked up the stake, watching Angel as he did so. He backed away, finally turned around, and ran in Willow's direction.

Angel watched him go, deep in thought.

"Hey, little help here!" shouted a female voice behind him.

Angel raced over to Buffy, prising the vampire off of her and staking it himself.

"Thanks, I needed a bit of back-up" Buffy said, pulling him to her.

"We'd be dead long before now if the Scooby's hadn't showed up." Angel admitted.

"True." Buffy mused. "Hey, what happened to you?" she asked in a panic, pointing to his chest.

"An accident with a sharp knife" Angel replied, showing her his newly acquired weapon, "Don't worry, honey. It'll heal quickly"

Despite himself, Angel gathered Buffy in his arms to give her a fierce hug, well aware that the Scoobies could see everything.

*

Any vampires left from the massacre had vanished. The Slayer and her lover stood on one side of the road, while her friends stood on the other. Circumstances had dictated that they'd finish the massacre this way, but their positions in the street highlighted how the Scooby gang had been split apart.

Buffy and Angel clung close together, waiting. Buffy found no need to run from her friends any longer, in fact, her and Angel were ready to face them. She didn't know what the Scooby's thought had happened to her, and she didn't know what to tell them, but she figured the best place to start was the truth. But she was willing to lie about the things which would grieve her friends the most, such as Angel kidnapping her. There were some things they would never need to know.

Surprisingly, Xander was the first to speak, beating her to it.

"You saved my life" he said to Angel, unsure how to deal with that revelation.

"I know" Angel replied calmly.

"It kind of puts an unwelcome dampener on my whole 'Angelus vendetta' " Xander added, "But you've still been acting like a bastard, so I'm at a loss as to what to think."

"Angelus?" Buffy and Angel asked in unison.

"Yeah, I mean, you intend to turn Buffy into a vampire- which WON'T happen, by the way- but you take time out of your day to keep me alive? I don't get it" Xander shrugged.

"Vampire?!" Buffy echoed. "What, Xander you have this all wrong, why the hell did you think that Angel was going to turn me into a vampire? I'm the *slayer* for Christ's sake!"

"There's no point in lying if its true, Buffy" Willow said, although her countenance was slightly friendlier than the others. "Spike told us everything. How you orchestrated your own kidnapping, how you and Angel slept together. That Angel is going to sire you... you need help- we need to get you away from him."

In response, Buffy held onto Angel tighter.

"Okay, I'm going to say this in order of importance; Spike's a goddamn vampire with a chip in his head, so why would you ever believe him? This is Angel, not Angelus, and I never orchestrated anything with anybody. I WAS kidnapped, I DID try to escape, but the thing about kidnappers... they're not big on letting their prisoners go. And finally, I have no intention of gaining pointy teeth whatsoever. Now or in the future. Comprende?"

Giles hesitated, but lowered the cross that he was still clutching.

"That doesn't answer all my questions, Buffy. Like why you tried to run away from us? Who kidnapped you? Why were you at the mansion?" Giles asked.

"Why did you have multiple orgasms with Angel when he always turns 'grr' after sexual intercourse'?" Anya asked, before turning to Xander and adding "I really want to know".

Buffy nodded. She gave Angel a side glance, and then faced her peers.

"You want to know everything? Fine. When I came to LA, Angel didn't want me there. We argued, and after Faith was arrested, I left again. On my journey home I fought a demon, who knocked me unconscious and took me back to its nest, I-I think it wanted to sacrifice me, I don't know. But I was chained to a wall for the best part of the week, see?"

She held out her hands, to show the marks where her shackles had been.

Giles walked across the road and inspected them.

"Yes, uh, what kind of demon?" He asked, ignoring Angel's presence entirely.

"I don't know... I was out of my head most of the time I was there. Angel killed it, he might know? It was tall and scrawny, right? Yellow-?"

"Orange" Angel said at the same time. Sheepishly, he added "Yellowy orange, scaly. I went back to LA after Riley came to the mansion, thinking that I could retrace Buffy's steps. After a quick chat with one of my LA snitches, I was told about this demon, which was preparing for a ritualistic ceremony. I simply follow the clues to its lair... I was lead to this small, dingy apartment. The demon was sleeping when I entered, but when I freed Buffy, it attacked me. After some team-work, we managed to kill it using a spade. But... woah.. I never saw anything like it in my life. And I've had a life, if you know what I'm saying "

"It sounds like a Fardas demon to me" Giles mused.

"Yes!" Buffy shouted a bit too loudly "That must be it. The next thing I know, I'm back at Angel's mansion and he's tending my wounds."

"Then why didn't you call us?" Willow asked, a little hurt. "That was twenty-four hours ago. You couldn't pick up a phone?"

Buffy sighed. "You're right, I can't excuse myself for that, I just... my head was all over the place. Trapped in that apartment for days on end, it gave me time to think. I've treated you guys horribly. For the past year I've been caught up in my own stuff, and it was only this past week that I realised it. I felt so guilty, I couldn't face you..."

"Nothing like a life-threatening experience to put things in perspective, huh?" Xander said guiltily.

She'd really been kidnapped- how could they have gotten this so wrong? One word. Spike.

Buffy turned to face him and smiled. She walked across the road and hugged him.

"Xander, I feel like I haven't talked to you properly since my first day at college, god, I am such a bad friend." she sighed.

"No you're not, you've just been busy." Xander whispered into her ear.

"It stops now. I've never said this before, but I think that you and Anya are perfect together, you're so happy. You guys are more important to me than anything, I need you. I miss you all, I've been so lonely..."

Behind them, Anya's glare turned into a smile. She wasn't happy with Xander hugging other women who weren't her, but what Buffy said really meant a lot.

Buffy pulled back and walked over to Willow and Tara, wiping her face.

"Sorry?" was all Buffy could say before she choked up and fell into a hug with her best friend.

"Ssh, it's okay, Buffy" Willow said, surprised at such an emotional outburst.

"No it's not" Buffy replied, "You were going through something over the past months, and I wasn't here for you. I love you, Will. You're my best friend and I was a bitch."

Buffy turned to Tara and smiled warmly. Tara shyly smiled back.

"But as I said before, it all changes now. I'm going to be in your lives so much that you'll be begging for space."

Willow grinned, trying not to cry as well. "Darn Tootin'" she managed to say.

Finally, but just as importantly, Buffy turned to face Giles.

"Buffy-" he began, taking off his glasses.

"Can I go first? I need you, Giles. You're like a father to me. No, scratch that. You ARE a father to me. I've been taking you for granted, and you don't deserve that. I've been pulling away from you because I thought I had to, you're not my watcher. But you're still my father, you're still my friend, and you're still my mentor. I want you back in my life."

Giles was not the kind of man to hug people, but his eyes showed Buffy that he was deeply touched by her speech. He nodded, wiped his glasses extra hard and put them back on.

"Always." He said.

They had spent months estranged from each other, but this one olive branch healed all their rifts in one go. Angel watched from a distance, feeling out of place. Doubts crept into his mind. Maybe he should leave?

Buffy walked over to him, grabbed his hand and took him back to the gang.

"When Angel saved me, we had a discussion -or fight- about our relationship. We had a really long talk, one thing lead to another... and we're back together. Blissfully happily together."

The Scooby's physically showed reaction, but Angel continued where Buffy had left off.

"I know that some of you don't want this, but we do, it's what we need. I hope you accept us becoming a couple again, even if you don't condone it."

They looked at Giles as he said this. He seemed agitated by this news, probably remembering Jenny's death, how Angelus had ruined his life by killing his girlfriend.

Xander hesitantly stepped forward and drew everybody's attention. He wanted to be careful with his words this time. He didn't want to make it sound like he was jumping headfirst into another erroneous conclusion.

"You know how I feel, Buffy, but I'll accept it- it looks like I have no choice. One question, though. What about the curse?" he asked

"Yeah" said Anya. "Spike said you had sex. He was quite detailed."

"He's already proven himself a liar" Willow said to the lovers' defense.

"But there were sheets!" Anya argued.

"Oh yeah." Willow replied, shrugging and letting the question pass her by, to Angel and Buffy's dismay.

They went red. How could they explain this? Yes, they'd had repetitive, amazing sex, using chains and other...stuff....like Angel managing to control his emotions...but that was a personal affair, between them. It was so complicated and not something they intended to broadcast.

"We... overcame that obstacle. The curse is still there, though. Actually, talking about the curse, I'm going to ask two incredible wiccas a favour, to see if they can find a way to make a vampire's soul permanent? That is, if they want to?"

Buffy smiled at Willow and Tara.

"Sure" Willow said. "On one condition"

"What's that?"

"You tell me exactly *how* you overcame the obstacle? I'm going to need to know if I have a chance at curing Angel.." she said, raising her eye-brows conspiratorially at him.

Angel grinned in return. They'd accepted him, barely. It would take a while to gain their trust, but it looked like everything would be alright.

"So" Buffy said, facing the group. "Any ideas how to kill Adam?"

Giles' ears perked.

"Yes, actually. I've found a spell which might work..." He said, bringing everybody closer as he told them what they could do.

Hiding behind a tree, Spike watched them talking and groaned. Adam would not be pleased. Not pleased at all. If his plan had played out how he wanted it, the Scooby's would have shunned Buffy by now. Angel would be dead, and Adam would be able to kill them all.

And he would be chipless.

Thinking quickly, Spike realised he had only two choices of behaviour left. He could try to find a way to stop Buffy slaying him, or he could get out of town.

It didn't take long for him to decide, he'd pushed her too far, this time. He was on his way out of here- either running through the exit with his two feet, or...

...or as dust being blown around in the wind.

He slinked away into the shadows, intent never to return.

***

EPILOGUE

Riley stared out of the window of the bus, watching all the houses spin by. He was leaving Sunnyhell- with all its monsters and traitors and evil- far behind him.

He picked the tear-stained letter off of his lap and read through it once more. He knew the words by heart, but somehow his attention kept being drawn to Buffy's handwriting. She could be very blunt when she wanted to be, as this letter proved.

It explained why she had been missing for those heart-stopping few days.

*Demon kidnapping*

It explained how she'd escaped.

*Angel saved me*

It explained that Spike was a liar.

*He was trying to split me apart from my friends, and it nearly worked.*

It explained how her friendships had been strengthened.

*But now we're closer than ever. A lot of bad history has been put behind us. They've even accepted Angel, which they would never have done a year ago-*

It even explained what had happened between Buffy and Angel at the mansion.

*We realised that we still loved each other*

But it didn't explain how they'd managed to have sex without Angel losing his soul, or why chains were found in the mansion. It didn't explain where the demon they'd supposedly slain was buried, or how Angel had saved her so quickly, as when Riley had last talked to him, he had no ideas whatsoever where Buffy was.

She did apologise, but how could an apology ever make up for all that he'd lost?

*You don't deserve this. You'll find someone worthy of you one day, honest.*

But he was through. If the Scooby's could turn their back on Angel and Buffy's shifty behaviour, fine. But he was getting out of there, away from her and her sadistic, unnatural relationship. Buffy's last train on the Normalsville Express had officially left the station.

Riley leant down to stuff the letter back into his bag, but he missed, and it fell to the floor without him noticing. He closed his eyes, looking forward to returning to Iowa, away from all the pain he had suffered Sunnydale.

*I've never been happier with Angel, I'm in seventh heaven. I love him.*

*And he loves me.*

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