The Return: Part 3
by Jenna Poo
Buffy walked through the quiet cemetery. She had been hunting almost three hours and hadn't seen a single vampire. " Guess I chose the right place to move if I want to forget who I am." she said sarcastically to herself. Just at that moment she heard a noise to the left of her. She turned swiftly, stake in hand, and came face to face with a tall man. He had dark hair, and extremely dark eyes. Buffy stumbled back, surprised. She gaped at him, letting the stake slip slowly from her hand.

" A-Angel?"

The man laughed easily. He put his hands in his coat pockets and stepped towards her.

" I had an idea my appreance would shock you. I've been expecting you."

Buffy composed herself and replied hottly, " Expecting me?! Is there anyplace I can go where someone isn't expecting me?!?"

The man's face softened. " You can't run away from who you are, anymore than Angel can run away from his past."

Buffy felt the retort 'try me!' jump into her throat, but she quickly pushed it down. She glanced at him and cocked her head to the side. " You wouldn't mind telling me who you are, would you?"

The man looked startled for a moment. " Did I not introduce myself?" he extended his hand towards her. " My name's Jonathan."

She wanted to smile at his politness, but didn't want to offend him. She figured that he was actually as geeky as he came off. She took his hand reluctantly. " Nice to meet you Jonathan. But lets get strait to the point, shall we? What do you want with me? And how do you know me?" She paused before asking the next question. " What kind of demon are you?"

Jonathan laughed again. " Not a demon. I'm fully human. But I know everything about you. From the first vampire you slayed to having to send Angel to hell."

Buffy's brow furrowed. She was getting really sick of all these strange people, demons, whatever they were, knowing everything about her.

Jonathan continued. " I know what you're thinking."

" Oh really?"

" Yeah. You're wondering how everyone, including me, knows about you and all your history."

Buffy didn't say anything, but her body tensed up. She was ready for him to sprout wings and breath fire at her.

" Who girl, calm down! I can explain everything!" he said, defensivly stepping away from her.

This time, she did smile, reveling in the fact that he was scared of her. " So start talking." She tried to put back on her tough exterior.

" You met Whistler, right?"

Buffy nodded slowly.

"Well, there is actually an order of us. We're not good, but we're not evil. We just work to make sure that the evil in the world doesn't get so powerful that you can't take care of all of it. And when they think that you are maybe a little ovewhelmed, they send one of us."

" But I thought you said you were human?"

" I am. Not all in our order are demons. But, the demons in our group have been sent to us because they have been turned good, kind of cursed, like Angel. Whistler, for example, had basically the same type of curse that Angel did."

" How come Angel wasn't one of you guys?"

" He was, actually. Only he had a different job to perform. He was sent to watch over you, personally. Me, for instance, my job isn't really to just watch over you only. I watch over more of the whole scheme of things. But Angel's job was to watch over your needs, and see to things on the front."

Buffy looked down at her shoes. " He was supposed to be my friend?"

" Well, not exactly. He was sent to be your protector. To fight by your side and ensure that you lived as long as possible."

Buffy started to walk away from him, not wanting to deal with the emotions that came with this topic.

Jonathan caught up with her and place a hand on her shoulder. " Buffy, I think it's important that you know that no one disaproves of what happened between you and Angel."

She looked up at him, doubtful. " What do you mean 'no one disaproves'? Do you think it really matters to me that it was okay with you and your order that we got together? It doesn't erase the pain. It doesn't erase the emotions!"

Jonathan wanted to comfort her. Wanted to give her some hope that one day this would all sort itself out. " We knew, as soon as you two met, that you clicked well." He said soothingly. " It's never happened that a slayer and her gaurdian became friends. We were very encouraged, to tell you the truth. And you two worked togehter so well...it didn't suprise any of us that you would fall in love."

Buffy looked about you cry. This was almost too much for her. " Is that what we were? Just one of your little experiments? I killed my lover because you people were fasinated with our relationship!!" she screamed at him. Tears began to well in her eyes and he face crumpled. " You should have stopped us." she barely whispered.

Jonathan looked down at her. " Maybe." he said matter-of factly. " It would have saved you both from alot of pain. But if you had never met, you wouldn't have experienced the love that you two had for eachother."

Buffy looked at him, knowing what he was trying to do. She gave into him, her anger and resentment melting away in his eyes. " I would never trade what I had with Angel. Even if it spared me all of the pain it caused."

Jonathan nodded, please with her, but keeping his expression solemn.

" Well," Jonathan announced, breaking Buffy out of her thoughts. " Why don't you take me back to your place and I can explain to you how I'm supposed to help you."

" This has everything to do with getting me back to Sunnydale, doesn't it?"

Jonathan smiled. " Maybe."

Buffy smiled back at him. " Come on." she said, and they walked out of the cemetery.

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