I don’t own anything except Gillian and the lame plot of this story. I am not associated with
Mariah Carey or her song, My All. Everything else belongs to Joss
Whedon, Mutant Enemy, the little Grr Arrg dude, and all those other
people. Oh, yeah. I own that dude in the dark cloak, who appears
later on in the story. I’m not making
money, so don’t sue.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: THIS IS A SEQUEL TO GILLIAN'S SECRET!! Sorry for the caps.
This happens about two weeks after Gillian’s Secret, and Gillian's living in
what was Angel's apartment. The third season never ever ever happened. As far
as this fic is concerned, Angel is still in Hell. Although Joyce knows about Buffy's
slaying and stuff.

"I’m thinking of youIn my sleepless solitude tonightIf it’s wrong to love youThen my heart just won’t let me be right‘Cuz I’m drowned in youAnd I won’t pull throughWithout you by my side."

-My All:Mariah Carey

4:30 PM. Gillian knew she should probably be asleep by now, but she wasn't.

This was not the fist sleepless night--or, rather, day--Gillian had experienced since
she returned to Sunnydale. Living in what had been Angel's apartment,
she was constantly plagued with memories of him.

One day when she had stayed home to rest because she "looked
exhausted" as Giles put it, she had been looking through Angel's things. (Yes,
she's nosy, she's a bad person, let's move on.) In a pile of boring papers,
she had found two paintings

The first, perfect and precise, was of Gillian. She was sitting on a
window seat, staring out at the world outside. The sun was streaming
through the window, highlighting her red hair, and her expression was
wistful, longing. After staring at it for a moment, remembering the
day Angel had carefully painted it, she smiled. At least--in his eyes, > she thought

The second, not as good, but good nonetheless, was of Angel. He was
asleep, curled up on a chair too small for his large body. His face
looked so vulnerable--a characteristic you hardly ever see in
Angel--that Gillian had started crying at his memory. Angel had always
told Gillian she was a natural artist, but she rarely believed him

Now, as Gillian thought of how Angel had kept the portraits of each
other, she felt a longing deep within her chest so painful it was
almost physical.

She still loved Angel, that much she was sure of. The question
was--when and if she got him back--did he still love her?

Gillian sighed and shifted on the velvet sheets. She stuck her nose
in the pillow and inhaled deeply. It still smelled of Angel

Gillian closed her eyes and could almost see the stars and the
wildflowers, smell the indescribable smell of a summer night, feel the
grass beneath her feet and Angel's warm hand in hers. As she faded
back into the memory, she lost consciousness of the world around her . ..

AUGUST, 1926

"Come on, Gillian!"

"Angelus, you know I don't have as long of legs as you!"

Angelus and Gillian ran barefoot through the field hand in hand,
Gillian stumbling behind because she didn't have as good of night vision
and--as she had pointed out--she had shorter legs. Usually, she could easily
outrun Angelus despite these facts, but tonight, she wanted to act like
she wasn't the Slayer. Tonight was Angelus's 170th birthday and they
were gonna go watch the stars

Angelus stopped, Gillian stopping with him, and bent down, putting her
left arm around his shoulders.

"Angleus, what are you--"

Gillian broke off as Angelus scooped her up and took off jogging
again

Gillian laughed. "Angelus!" she shrieked, wrapping her right arm
around his neck, too

Angelus also laughed, but when they got to the clearing they always
watched stars from, he still didn't put her down

He stared deep into her eyes and slowly moved his head down towards
hers. Their lips softly pressed against each other's and they felt all
the love they couldn't suppress any longer

Angelus pulled away and stared into Gillian's eyes. Then his head
snapped up. "Look," he said

Gillian also looked up and the both saw a shooting star go flashing
across the sky. Angelus put Gillian down and she snuggled up into his
chest

"You know what they say, don't you?" Angelus asked, looking down at
her

"What?"

"Every time you see a shooting star it means two hearts just fell in
love."

Gillian smiled and stood in front of him, looking up into his eyes.
"Really?" she asked

"Mmm-hmm."

Gillian raised up on her toes and received another kiss

"You're not gonna be able to see the stars as good from this
position," Angelus whispered

"I don't care about the stars," Gillian said as they kissed again

JUNE, 1998

Gillian's eyes snapped open and she looked around. > she asked herself. She knew it had to have been something

Then the phone rang. Gillian realized. Groggily,
Gillian stumbled over to the phone and picked it up

"Hello?" she mumbled

"Gillian, I'm sorry to wake you, but I have wonderful news."

"Huh? Giles? What is it? It's the middle of the night for me."

"Yes, I know. I called Buffy, but she was out. I didn't want to beep her, because he mom might get mad at me for beeping her just to tell her good news. Now, if it was
a major world destruction--"

"Giles! Okay, I get it. Now what's this wonderful news? I want to
go back to sleep and dream about Angel again."

"Well, I was searching through some of the old slayer lore . . . "

As Giles continued to go into depth about where he had found whatever
this wonderful thing was, Gillian couldn't help but think, was never around, but at least he didn't ramble like this. >

" . . . but Angel would be very weak after he got out and--"

"Woah woah woah!" Gillian exclaimed. "Hold up! Did you just say
'after Angel got out'? As in--out of Hell?"

Giles sighed. "Yes, Gillian. Haven't you been listening? I said I found a way to get Angel out of Hell."

"You can? For real? Are you serious? Oh my God, Giles! That is
amazing!"

Gillian silently watched from the table in Giles' office as Buffy shrieked and hugged her Watcher. Giles had just broken the news to
Buffy

Though at first Gillian had reacted similarly, she was now in a more
subdued state. What if Angel didn’t love her? What if he chose Buffy
instead? What if--and this was the worst--Angel died in the process?

Giles had explained the ceremony required to open the vortex and pull
Angel out and it was--well, tricky to say the least

"Gillian?"

Gillian looked up, jarred from her thoughts, to see Buffy standing in
the doorway of Giles’ office

Gillian smiled. "Hey."

Buffy walked in and perched on the desk. "So . . . Angel's coming back."

Gillian nodded. "Possibly."

Buffy raised her eyebrows questioningly. "Possibly?" she asked

The vampire sighed and looked up at her new friend. "The ceremony is
somewhat difficult."

Buffy shrugged. "How somewhat?"

Gillian chuckled and opened her mouth to explain, but just then Giles
walked in

"Have you two seen anything, ahum, interesting lately?"

Gillian shrugged and was about to say no when Buffy spoke up. "Oh,
yeah, I was meaning to tell you guys; I saw Spike the other night. I
made a deal with him and he said he’d leave town. I wonder why he's
back."

"I don't care why he's back," Gillian hissed, her game face on. "I'm
gonna kick his ass so hard into the ground he won’t be able to get out
for six hundred years."

"Whoa! Down girl!" Buffy exclaimed

Gillian glanced at the two noticing their stares, and quickly shifted
her face back to human. "Sorry," she said quietly. "I just really
hate him for what he did."

"Killing your family?" Giles asked gently

"Partly," Gillian mumbled

"And taking Angel."

Giles and Gillian looked at Buffy, who had spoken

"You hate him because he took Angel from you," Buffy continued

Gillian looked down. "Because of Spike, the one still living person I
ever loved thinks I'm dead. But so does Spike and the whole rest of
the world, for that matter."

"But Angel was the most important thing in your life," Buffy said

Gillian looked up at her and smiled weakly. "he means more than he
should to both of us."

The figure hid in the shadows; waiting, watching. It knew what it was
waiting for. She would show up soon, it knew

And then, there she was. Walking down the alley with the other
Slayer, a werewolf, and three humans

As the five continued to make their way down the alley, the dark
cloaked figure followed, keeping unseen. It would reveal itself when
the time was right. But that time was not quite yet

Soon, it knew. Soon it would reveal itself. The look on her face
would be horrible. It could just see the shock and amazement on her
face. But it would all be worth it. Eventually

The figure watched her walk down the street with the other four and
smiled bitterly to itself. "Soon," it whispered quietly. "Soon."

Buffy groaned as Gillian slammed her up against the wall and hovered
her fangs inches over the blonde girl’s neck

"You're dead again!" Gillian exclaimed, letting go of the
older-looking but younger girl. They were training in the library

Buffy sighed. "God, girl, how'd you GET so strong?"

Gillian laughed. "You forget, my dear, that I have the combined
strength of a vampire AND a Slayer."

"Oh, yeah. That," Buffy said dryly

The slayers moved over to the table and sat down, Buffy drinking from
her water bottle and Gillian shifting her face human

"Yes! This is it!"

Both girls jumped ten feet in the air and looked up at Giles, who had
spoken

"Must you always do that?" Gillian asked. Then, with a look of pure
horror on her face, she said, "Oh my God, I am starting to sound like
Giles."

"It'll happen to all of us sooner or later, Gillian," Buffy informed
her. "Consider yourself warned."

Gillian smiled, then turned to Giles. "So, what is this amazing thing
you discovered?"

"Uh-oh," Giles said

"Let me guess," Gillian said sarcastically. "That means: this is
bad."

Giles sighed and looked at the girls in front of him. "I found the
precise details to extract Angel from Hell."

Gillian and Buffy brightened.

"Well, that's good," the vampire said

Seeing the look on Giles' face, Buffy added, "That’s not good?"

Giles looked up and, seeing the worried looks on the Slayers’ faces, decided to worry them no further. "Oh, uh, I just—need a long time to figure it out."

Gillian and Buffy exchanged skeptical glances, but then shrugged and
looked back at the Watcher

Giles stepped into his office saying, "You know, Gillian, I've been
reading some of the Slayers' diaries, most especially yours--" at this,
Gillian's eyes widened in what looked like horror "--and I'm finding
some of this very interesting."

Giles came out holding a book Gillian
recognized all too well

"Oh?" Gillian practically squeaked out the syllable

"Yes," Giles said, oblivious to her discomfort. "You have something
in here about a 'neat ritual'? What exactly is that?"

Gillian, half relieved he wasn’t talking about something about Angel
and half confused about what he WAS talking about, said, "Let me see
that."

Giles handed her the book and Gillian read the neat, flowing
handwriting out loud.

"'July 2, 1926

Dear Diary,

Jake found this really neat ritual today. It was really really neat.
It's just--neat. I mean, he said it was complicated, but if it works,
it'll be the best thing in the whole world. I hope hope hope it works.
I love Angel so much and I know I want to be with him forever. If this
works, I think I can. I just don't know if Jake really WANTS to figure
it out. I mean, he's always hated Angel. Oh, wait, I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me explain exactly what happened today . . . '"

JULY, 1926

Gillian and Angel burst in through the door, and Jake looked up, startled. He had planned to spend a quiet evening at home, but obviously his slayer and her vampire boyfriend were not going to let him

"Hey, Jake!" Gillian exclaimed, laughing

The good mood the two were in made Jake wonder exactly what they had been doing

"Hey, Gillian. Angel," Jake responded. "What did you want?"

"Oh, well, you said you had a ritual thingy you wanted to talk to me about. You said it could wait until tomorrow, but I want to know now," Gillian said in a rush

Gillian was sitting on the arm of the sofa Jake had been sitting in, and Angel was standing beside her, clasping her hand

Jake sighed, seeing he would get no reading done tonight and said, "Well, I don’t really care for it, but I guessed that the two of you would be thrilled about it."

"What is it?" Angel asked

"Well," Jake said, setting his book aside and picking up an older looking volume. "It would be somewhat complicated for me to figure out and you two to pull of, but if we could do it--" Jake paused, wondering what he was getting himself into, "--I think that Angel could very well be human."

Gillian stood up and released Angel' hand. "Oh, my God, Jake, are you serious?"

Jake smiled ruefully and nodded. "Yeah."

Gillian turned so she was facing Angel and grasped each of his hands in her own. "Did you hear that, Angel? Isn't it great?"

"That's the best thing in the world," Angel replied sincerely

As the vampire bent down and kissed the slayer, Jake turned around, disgusted. How could a slayer love--a vampire? He didn't get it, and he probably never would

Gillian turned to Jake.

"So, how hard is it?"

Jake sighed. "Fairly hard. I don't even have it all figured out yet. Why don't the two of you leave and I'll try to work on it?"

Gillian nodded and she and Angel filed out the door after a round of good-byes

PRESENT

"After that he never mentioned the spell again," Gillian said. "I wonder what happened to it."

Buffy and Giles shrugged, both dumbfounded

JULY, 1926

When they were gone, Jake picked up the book which held the spell to turn Angel human in it and tossed it on the floor. It slid across the floor, and came to a stop under a huge sofa, never to be seen by either of the three ever again

But one person, a dark figure, stood in the window, watching with a menacing hate. A hate for Jake. The dark cloaked figure nearly growled out loud as the Watcher picked his book back up and continued reading it. The figure wanted that book found, that spell carried out. It could not rest until it was

Years later, when Jake died and the house was vacated, the dark cloaked figure snuck into the house and peered under the sofa.

It stuck its hand underneath and fished out the book. Flipping through the pages, it was glad to find that it was, indeed the right book

"I will find you Gillian," it whispered somewhat dangerously. "And I will make your dream come true."