The Balance: Part One
by Care
They were all in the hospital waiting for Willow to deliver her second baby. Angel and Giles were pacing; Cordy and Xander were sitting patiently in the hospital chairs waiting for their new niece or nephew to arrive.

Willow had been in labour for about four hours now and still there was no word. Everyone was starting to get nervous. The gang never was good at waiting.

An hour later, Oz came out carrying a beautiful baby. Everyone was congratulating him and Willow when they went in to see how she was doing.

Angel, who was standing by the door, looked out into the hall for a minute and swore that he saw someone he recognised. He glanced down the hall again and saw the retreating back of a blonde-headed girl. She looked very familiar to him.

"Guys I'll be back," he whispered to the group and then walked down the hall after the girl. As he got closer he started to run after her. She seemed to be walking faster and faster.

Angel finally caught up to her in the hall.

"Do I know you from somewhere?" he asked.

The girl, who was wearing large sunglasses that practically covered half her face looked up at him, and said with a pout on her lips, "Amazed that you don't recognize me... thought that after all we've been through you would at least remember me."

"Buffy?"

"In the flesh!"


* * *
Angel came back into Willow's hospital room, where everyone was admiring the newborn baby born, dragging Buffy behind him.

"Look who I found," he said casually, as if seeing Buffy after all these years was nothing.

They all looked up as one and said, "Buffy!"

"Oh my god! Where have you been?" Willow asked. She was so happy that her best friend was back.

"I've been around."

"Around where?" Xander questioned.

"Nearby."

"How close?" Giles inquired.

"With you. I was always with you guys. I just never let you know."

"Why not?" Cordy asked quietly.

"Because I'm dangerous."

"You always were, we still stuck around," Oz stated.

"I know... just that after I changed... I didn't know if I would lose control and I didn't want to take the chance."

"We could've helped you if you did. We would have stood by you and trusted you not to hurt us," Willow spoke.

"I didn't trust myself, Will. I still don't. I didn't want you guys to find out that I was watching you, but Angel saw me."

"Good thing I did or we would probably never have found you," Angel stated.

"No, you don't understand! I'm still changing. Not vampire, not slayer. I'm something in between. Something that can't be stopped or controlled. I don't even know what's going to happen to me!" Buffy said with a force that they had not seen before.

"What do you mean?" Giles stepped forward.

"I don't know... it's just that lately, I've been feeling things that I've never felt before."

"What type of things?" Giles could feel that she was holding something back... something that she wasn't telling him... something important.

"Do you really want to know?" she asked quietly.

"We all want to help you," Cordy announced.

"Fine. Watched that cup on the table there."

They all turned to the glass of water that was sitting on the waiting table. All of a sudden it started to shake and then if lifted up into the air. The vibrating in the cup increased and it exploded. Glass shattered to the floor.

They looked amazed.

"That's only a small demonstration of what I can do. A very small demonstration. It's also why a stayed away for so long. I can't control this power... not completely and if I stayed right now, I wouldn't be able to keep you guys safe." Buffy looked guiltily at Willow.

"You're not telling us everything," Willow said.

"That's everything," Buffy whispered.

"No, it's not!" Willow screamed, "What aren't you telling us? What's going on?"

"I know what's going on," Angel said softly.

Buffy looked at him angrily.

They turned to him for the answer.

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