A little over two hours later, the faint sound of a car pulling up outside the office alerted Buffy and Angel to the fact that Faith and the others had arrived.  They had been sitting around the office talking quietly about everything that had happened in their lives since they last saw one another.  Buffy was initially amazed by how much Cordelia and Wesley had changed since they had begun associating with Angel but it wasn’t long before she realised that she shouldn’t be.  Angel had a habit of changing those around him, bringing out the best in them simply by being himself; she had only to look at herself to see the proof of that.  As she listened to them talk she realised how close the trio had become – the family that none of them really had – with Angel as a kind of older brother to the other two, the one who always watched out for them.  For a split second she was jealous of the obvious affection between them but then Angel tightened his arm around her, as if just savouring being able to touch her, and she realised how selfish she was being.  He loved her, she knew that nothing could every change that, and Cordelia and Wesley were her friends and, as her jealousy faded, never to return, she was suddenly immensely grateful that he – and they – were no longer alone.

“They’re here,” Buffy told the other two as she and Angel reluctantly got to their feet, “Remember,” she said, looking up at Angel, “I have to do this alone…you three just have to keep the others from getting involved.  I wish that there was time to explain this to them but Faith won’t give me that chance so if it looks like I’m going to win, they’ll be trying everything they can think of to protect ‘Buffy’.”

“No ‘if’ Buffy,” Cordelia protested, “You’re going to beat her.”

“No question about it,” put in Wesley encouragingly.

Buffy smiled and reached out to hug them both, “Thanks guys,” she said softly, “if anything should…go wrong, take care of yourselves – and him.”  They both nodded and she stepped back, turning to face Angel.

For an eternal moment they just stood looking at each other before moving as one to take their world in their arms.  Angel buried his face in her unfamiliar dark hair and muttered hoarsely into her ear, “Be careful, Beloved, I’ve just got you back…I can’t lose you now!”

“It’ll be all right,” she told him tenderly, “I’ve never had more reason to win than I do right now…we are finally going to be together, you’ll see.”

Angel’s head lowered to meet hers but the instant before their lips met the sound of the door opening made them turn.

“Hello?  Is anybody here…?” Giles’ voice trailed off and he stopped in his tracks, so abruptly that Willow and Xander nearly ran into his back, at the sight of – as he thought – Faith, and Angel standing wrapped in each other’s arms.  Giles and Willow were both carrying crossbows and Xander held a sword and at the sight of the two of them all three raised them defensively.  Faith entered quietly behind the others, her eyes widened as she realised the significance of the two of them together, and she stayed in the background, watching quietly, though Buffy’s eyes had locked on her the moment she came into the room and her gaze never wavered.

“Angel.” Giles acknowledge flatly, “Or should I say, Angelus?” he asked with a cold expression and a pointed glance at Buffy.

“I still have my soul.” Angel told him quietly, casting a grateful glance at Cordelia and Wesley as they moved forwards to flank the couple in a silent show of support, recognising that it must be hurting them, Buffy in particular, to be looked at with such hatred by their friends.

“Angel, how can you stand with her after everything she’s done?” Willow asked, her voice a confused mixture of fury, hurt and disbelief.

“You’re blind, Willow,” Angel told her, “You claim to know her but none of you see it.”

“Let’s take this outside and get it finished,” Buffy told Faith quietly before anyone could respond to Angel’s cryptic words.  The other Slayer nodded and gently ran her finger over the blade of the knife she held in her hand before turning to leave the room, Buffy picked up another knife from where she had left it on Angel’s desk in anticipation of Faith’s choice of weapon and followed, wondering as she passed her friends if one of them would try to kill her.

They shifted their weapons restlessly but allowed her to pass before following her out onto the street.

“Remember to watch the others, not Buffy and Faith,” Angel warned Wesley and Cordelia as they followed close on their heels.

Once in the street the two girls circled one another warily, each looking for an opening, which would give them the advantage.  Without warning, Faith attacked and as Buffy whirled out of the way, battle was joined in earnest.

They moved so swiftly that to those watching their actions were almost a blur, only Angel, with his superior vision, was able to see clearly as they traded blows with such force that each one could have killed any normal human outright.  Though they were soon bruised and bloody, they seemed almost unaware of the abuse that their bodies were taking as they searched for a way to gain the upper hand.

Faith’s blade flashed like lightning, leaving a deep gash in Buffy’s left arm as she twisted to keep herself from being gutted.  Her movements never slowed but Angel felt her pain as if it was his and he glared angrily at Giles, Willow and Xander when they cheered.  He watched in horror as Buffy fell back before Faith’s vicious blows, using all her skill simply to avoid the knife.  Just when Angel could stand no more and was about to help her rather than see her die, she grabbed hold of Faith’s arm and used the other girl’s body for leverage as she launched herself into the air, coming to land behind her and immediately lashing out with a vicious kick that was too much for even the body of a Slayer.  Faith’s leg shattered and she hit the ground with a curse.  In an instant Buffy was on top of her, pinning her down so that she couldn’t move far enough to throw her off.

A crossbow bolt arced towards the pair on the ground as Willow fired an instant before Cordelia tackled her.  Angel snatched it from the air in time to prevent it from reaching its target before reaching out and almost casually tugging the crossbow out of Giles hands, breaking it in two before throwing the pieces behind him.  Holding Giles’ arm in a grip of steel that the former Watcher was unable to break, he positioned himself between Buffy and the others and looked round to see how his friends were faring.  Cordelia had easily subdued Willow and was sitting on her in much the same way that Buffy was sitting on Faith, but with one hand clamped over her mouth to keep her from trying to use magic.

Xander was proving more difficult to subdue, the boy was waving his sword wildly in front of him, making it impossible for Wesley, unarmed as he was, to get anywhere near him, but it didn’t matter, recognising that he couldn’t disarm the boy and knowing that it was almost over, Wesley was settling for keeping him busy so that was unable to get anywhere near Buffy and Faith.

Buffy looked down into her own face and her mind filled with memories of the girl who had caused her so much pain but, despite everything, she was her sister in many ways.

Hatred glared back at her and Faith said sneeringly, “You can’t kill me…you’ll never get your body back if you do!”

Buffy’s eyes filled with tears as she raised the knife and she whispered softly, “I’m sorry, Faith, I’m so sorry.  I wish that it could have been different.”

Faith’s eyes widened and she made one last desperate effort to throw Buffy off.  As the knife began to descend she cried out, “No, B!  You can’t…!”  Then the blade pierced her heart and she was silent.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 

Shaking with grief and exhaustion, Buffy got slowly to her feet.  Her head spun from the knowledge that, for the first time, she had taken a human life and the awareness that she now had no chance of ever returning to her own body.  Every muscle in her body ached and, as her adrenaline ebbed, she was suddenly aware of the pain from the cut on her arm and several broken ribs.  She staggered and would have fallen but suddenly Angel was at her side, offering her his strength now that hers was gone and she sagged against him, allowing him to support her.

She realised dimly that Giles, Willow and Xander were weeping over Faith’s – or was it her, she wondered fuzzily – body and that she should reassure them that she was still here but she was so tired and couldn’t find the words.  Wesley and Cordelia had gathered around her and, along with Angel, were looking at her anxiously and she managed a rather feeble smile.

Her smile was the last straw for Xander, who had been glaring at them with hate-filled eyes, and with a howl of rage he scooped up his sword, leapt to his feet and charged at Buffy.  She forced herself to straighten, leaving the shelter of Angel’s arms and knowing as she did so that she had little energy left with which to defend herself – even from an opponent as inept as Xander – but there was no need for her to worry.

Positioning himself between them, every muscle in Angel’s body tensed and his eyes flashed yellow, his angry snarl a warning that even Xander could not miss.

His charge faltered as he realised that, while he might just have been able to defeat an injured and exhausted Faith, he stood no chance against Angel.  “I was right about you all along!” he spat furiously, “You claimed to love Buffy and look at you!  Protecting the Bitch that killed her!”

“She loved you and you’ve betrayed her!” Willow added her voice broken and her eyes burning with hatred through her tears as Angel took Buffy in his arms once more.

“We’ll find a way to kill you both for this,” Giles’ tone was pure Ripper despite the tears that streamed down his face.  His eyes swept over Cordelia and Wesley with contempt, “How could you help them to do this?  What kinds of people have you become?”

“You’re a fool,” Cordelia told him bluntly, “You’re all fools.  You should know that Angel would never do anything to harm Buffy – he’d die first!”

“Don’t talk rubbish, Cordelia!” Giles snapped, “Buffy is dead because Angel deliberately kept us from helping her!”

“And thank God that he did!” Wesley said fervently, “You have no idea of the harm you would have caused if that bolt had found its mark!”

“What are you going on about?”

Cordelia and Wesley both began to speak at once.  Falling silent they looked at one another for a moment, then with a gesture, Wesley indicated that she should continue, adding, “I’m sure that you can put it far better than I.”

Cordelia smiled and then turned to face the others, “Angel knew her the moment that he looked into her eyes…all three of you claim to love Buffy but its been a week and none of you have even noticed that there was something wrong, that she’d changed.”

A confused silence and angry glares were their only response but before Cordelia could spell it out for them, Buffy spoke, her voice redolent with the pain and exhaustion she was feeling, “I could see you inside the body of a demon, Giles, even though I couldn’t understand when you spoke; and Xander, I knew you weren’t yourself when a hyena possessed you.  Are Faith and I really so similar that you couldn’t see any differences between us?”

“Buffy?” Giles whispered, his face suddenly pale.

“Uh-huh.”

“This…this isn’t possible,” he protested, even as he and the others stepped towards her, searching for evidence that she was who she claimed to be, “It has to be some kind of trick!”

Angel growled softly in annoyance and Wesley said sharply, “Don’t be stupid!  Do any of you really believe that Faith could portray Buffy so well that she could fool Angel?  As Cordelia just said, he knew who she was the moment he looked into her eyes!”

Their tears had stopped and some of their hostility had faded but Giles, Willow and Xander still looked doubtful and with an effort Buffy shook off the exhaustion that was trying to claim her and took a step towards them, Angel still at her side.  As one, they backed away and she stopped, meeting each of their eyes in turn.

“You still don’t believe me, do you?  You want more proof.  Fine!  This year:  Willow keeps trying to push me at other guys despite the fact I’ve told her I’m not interested, Sunday, Olivia, Kathy, the ring of Amara, Xander dating Anya, three inch tall fear demon, enchanted beer, Veruca, Oz leaving, Spike neutered, Riley, Maggie Walsh, the Initiative, vengeful Indian spirits, Willow’s stupid spell, the Gentlemen, the Hellmouth opening and Adam. Now if you’re finally convinced – go home!”

They no longer doubted her, Faith had been in a coma during the events she had just summarized and there was no way she could have known about them.  Willow was crying again, this time with relief, and Xander and Giles were both having to blink rapidly to hide the moisture in their own eyes.  They wanted to hug her but something in her expression and the trace of bitterness in her voice discouraged them as she leaned heavily against Angel.

“Go home.” she repeated wearily before dismissing them from her mind and reaching up to gently stroke Angel’s cheek, saying as she did so, “Don’t look so worried, I’m f…” Her voice trailed off as her body finally succumbed to her injuries and Angel caught her as she fell, lifting her in his arms and carrying her carefully through the office and down to his apartment.

As he laid her gently down on the bed, the sounds of movement and voices alerted him to the fact that the others had followed them but their presence was unimportant and he hardly noticed when Cordelia and Wesley shooed them away and closed the bedroom door to give him and Buffy some privacy as he gently tended to her wounds; washing away the blood that covered her and wincing at the huge bruises and deep cuts, feeling her pain as if it were his own.

She stirred as he wrapped her broken ribs, feeling the pain of his actions despite the care he was taking, and her eyes opened, focusing hazily on his face.  For a moment she looked at him in confusion, then memory returned and her eyes filled with a turbulent combination of grief, pain and love.

Tears welled up and she tried to blink them away as she struggled to sit up but they would not be contained and as Angel took her gently into his arms to comfort her she asked sadly, “Why?  Why did it have to be this way?  Faith wasn’t all bad!  We were alike in so many ways…she was my sister!”

“I know,” Angel murmured softly, “But you’re so much stronger than she was.  She couldn’t stand against the darkness so she became a part of the very thing she was supposed to fight, you never have.”

“I…I feel like I let her down!  That I should have helped her somehow.”

“You did everything that you could for her,” Angel told her firmly, “and in the end you did what you had to – the way you always do.  If she had fulfilled her destiny and turned the Slayers to darkness then countless lives would have been lost.”

“I know.  I just…wish there’d been some other way.”  She sighed heavily and then winced as the movement reminded her of her various injuries.  “Now she dead and I suppose that Buffy Summers is too.” She looked down, tears trembling on her lashes as she added, “There’s no way that I could ever explain this, so that ‘normal life’ you wanted for me is gone forever.  I can’t go back to college and the police are still looking for me – I don’t have anything left!”

“You have me,” Angel reminded her, wanting nothing more than to take away her pain, “You’ll always have me.”

At his words Buffy looked back up into his loving brown eyes and her grief faded as she remembered what the Oracles had done.  A smile lit her face and the love in her eyes shone so brightly that it almost hurt him to look at them.  “I can’t believe I’d forgotten!” she exclaimed wonderingly, “I haven’t lost anything compared with what I’ve gained today!”

Unable to resist the temptation she presented, Angel slowly lowered his head towards hers, “I love you,” he whispered hoarsely an instant before his lips settled over hers, their touch as gentle as the brush of a butterfly’s wings.

Buffy’s eyes fluttered open with a little moan of protest as he drew back, which changed to satisfaction as his mouth covered hers more firmly than before.  For a moment the kiss remained chaste, then Angel’s tongue flicked out to stroke the closed seam of Buffy’s lips and she opened for him eagerly, their tongues tangling together as all the passion they had suppressed since the long ago night of her 17th birthday exploded between them.

Ignoring the pain in her ribs, Buffy leaned back against the pillows, drawing Angel with her.  He lay above her, his strength surrounding and protecting her as he took care, even in the midst of passion, to support his weight on his arms so that he did not cause her any pain.

“Angel?” she asked tentatively when they finally broke the kiss so that she could breathe, “does it bother you that I’m not…me, anymore?  Does it make a difference?”

“Oh, Buffy, no!” Angel exclaimed, horrified that she could think that even for a moment.  He looked earnestly into her eyes and, willing her to believe him, said, “I’m so sorry that this has happened and I wish that I could make it right for you but it doesn’t matter to me – not the way you mean!  When I look into you eyes, no matter what colour they are, all I see is the soul of the woman I love looking back at me.  All I see is you – that’ll never change, regardless of the body that you’re in, you’re still you and that’s all that’s important.”

Silence reigned in the living room.  Cordelia and Wesley had both tried to persuade the others to do as Buffy had instructed and leave but all three had flatly refused to do so.

“Do you think Buffy’s all right?” Willow asked Giles softly, “She seemed so angry and that’s not like her.”

“Yeah,” Xander agreed, “Maybe this exchange with Faith has changed her somehow.”

“Would you listen to yourselves!” exploded Cordelia before he had a chance to reply, “Just think about what you’ve been doing for the past week!  My God!  Less than twenty minutes ago you were trying to put a crossbow bolt into Buffy’s back and you expect her to behave as though there was nothing wrong?  What planet do you come from?”

“But…we didn’t know…” protested Willow weakly as they all went pale as they suddenly realised just how close they had come to killing their friend.  If it hadn’t been for Angel…

“You think that makes it better?”  Cordelia asked incredulously, “You spent a week helping Faith hunt her and not one of you noticed there was a damn thing wrong – how would you feel in Buffy’s place?”

“Betrayed, hurt, angry,” Giles listed softly, “Cordelia is quite correct, we have failed Buffy terribly and she has every right to be upset.”

A sudden loud moan from the bedroom made everyone look towards the closed door.  Cordelia and Wesley smiled at one another, having a fairly good idea what had caused it, but the others tensed and Xander got to his feet, saying, “I’m going to go and see if Buffy’s all right, she should be in a hospital.”

“I wouldn’t if I were you.” Cordelia told him, trying not to laugh, “They won’t thank you for it.”

He glared at her but didn’t reply and he crossed the room and pushed open the door, only to stop dead at the sight of Angel and Faith – Buffy, he corrected mentally – lying together on the bed in the middle of an extremely passionate kiss.  For a moment he was so taken aback that he was unable to speak and then outrage took over.

“What the hell are you doing?” he demanded loudly.

They looked up at the sound of his voice and Buffy gave him a look that could have killed at thirty paces, “Get out!” she ordered, and for once Xander had the sense not to argue.

Once he had gone, Angel looked at Buffy and said softly, “They’re not going back to Sunnydale until you talk to them, you know that don’t you?”

She nodded and admitted with a tired sigh, “I don’t want to…not yet.  I wish that just once they could back off and give me a little space.”

“I can get rid of them for you, if you want?” Angel offered, getting to his feet.

“No…I’m going to have to talk to them sooner or later, I might as well get it over with.”  So saying she started to sit up, only to wince as her damaged ribs protested violently to the movement.

Angel was at her side in an instant, helping her to complete the action and supporting her as she got unsteadily to her feet.

“Come on,” she said quietly, “lets go and get rid of them, then we can talk about us and what we’re going to do now.”  She took a step towards the door, trying to hide the fact that the muscles in her legs felt like over-cooked spaghetti and that every movement was agony.

Buffy’s efforts to disguise the extent of her discomfort were futile, the dark eyes that could see through to her soul cut through her deception like a sharp knife though rice paper and he lifted her gently into his arms, taking great care not to jar her in any way.

She started to voice a half-hearted protest but fell silent when his dark head bent over hers and his lips touched hers for a moment, “I love you,” he told her huskily, “I could have lost you earlier, let me hold you.”

Silently admitting that there was nothing that she wanted more, Buffy nestled back against him, laying her head on his shoulder with a contented sigh as he carried her through the bedroom door and into the living room where the others awaited them.

The disapproving expressions on Giles, Xander & Willow’s faces and the amusement on Cordelia and Wesley’s were a silent testament to the fact that Xander had told them what he had interrupted and the three from Sunnydale had not yet been informed about the change the Oracles had made to the curse.

Angel barely had a chance to sit down, with Buffy still in his arms, before the recriminations began.

“Buffy, what on Earth were you thinking?” asked Giles sadly, his expression reflecting his deep disappointment in her, “You know better than this…haven’t the last few years taught you anything?”

Buffy nodded without lifting her head, and Angel suppressed a groan at the feel of her soft hair rubbing against his neck.  He didn’t make a sound but Buffy felt the vibration in his chest and mischievously turned the motion into a caress, rubbing against him like an affection kitten.

Angel dipped his head until his lips were against her ear and murmured softly, “Witch, I’ll get you later.”

She twisted to look into his eyes, and the loving warmth in hers told him that she couldn’t wait, they smiled at one another and then Buffy shifted so that she could see Giles and the others.  “Yes, Giles, the last few years have taught me something,” she confirmed, “they’ve taught me that a life without Angel is no life at all.”

Angel’s arms tightened around her a fraction, not enough to cause her any additional pain but enough to provide a silent reassurance that he would never willingly leave her again and Buffy returned the gesture to tell him that she understood and appreciated his feelings.

“That’s not true!” burst out Willow, “You’ve been happy this year, you know you have, and what about Riley!”

Buffy felt Angel stiffen beneath her and reached up to gently stroke his face as she addressed the most important issue first, “What about Riley?” she asked, “I’ve told you over and over again that I’m not interested in him, I don’t even particularly like him but you’re determined to keep pushing him at me!”

Willow looked wounded, “I only wanted you to be happy,” she said in a small voice.

Buffy forced herself to ignore the inevitable guilt that filled her over hurting Willow and shook her head, “You wanted me to behave the way that you thought I should, you never once asked me what I wanted.  You say that I’ve been happy this year but you know that isn’t true, you just haven’t wanted to accept it!  Everything inside me iced over when Angel left last summer and it changed me.  Do you think that I don’t know what a bitch I’ve been lately?  Do you think I liked what I’d become?”

For a moment no one replied, then Xander said, “I’m sorry that you’ve been unhappy but that doesn’t change the fact that you and Dead Boy here are a disaster waiting to happen…how many people are going to die this time because you can’t control your lust for one another!”

Buffy gasped at the cruelty of Xander’s words and she turned her face into Angel’s chest to hide the tears that sprang to her eyes and tremors shook her small form as guilt over the past overwhelmed her.  She had never believed that it had not been her actions that had caused the nightmare, never believed that she was not to blame for Angel losing his soul and all the anguish that had come after and now, finally, someone had confirmed what she had believed all along – it had been her fault.

Angel’s eyes flashed golden with rage as he felt the impact of Xander’s cruel words strike Buffy’s heart with deadly precision and only the fact that she needed him kept him from tearing the boy limb from limb for what he had said.  Instead he stroked Buffy’s back with long soothing strokes as he endeavoured to calm her and whispered soft words of love and reassurance, reminding her that the curse was gone forever, until he felt her shaking begin to subside.  Then he opened his mouth to give Xander a dressing down that he would never forget, only to find that he had been beaten to it by Cordelia.

He had been so wrapped up in Buffy that he had been almost unaware of what the others were doing and he almost smiled at the sight of Cordelia standing over Xander, calmly cutting him down to size in her most withering fashion.

“…You’re here because you owe Buffy an apology, remember?  Or have you forgotten that you recently tried to kill her?  And how dare you condemn either of them for trying to find happiness together, you ought to know them both well enough to know that neither of them would ever do anything that might result in Angelus coming back, although you obviously don’t since you couldn’t even tell that Buffy and Faith weren’t the same person!”

“Dammit, I know what I saw!” interrupted Xander furiously, “If I hadn’t interrupted them then the curse would already have been broken and…”

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