Just a Normal Time In Sunnydale.....: Chapter Twenty-One
by rockangelz25
Buffy walked back down the road to the old mansion. Wasn't it just a short while ago that Angelus had been holding Xander some kind of hostage? And now he had Giles for the opening of Acathla...... If Spike didn't hold up his end of the bargain, she would kill him. Then again, if he didn't hold up his end of the bargain, it wasn't likely that there'd be anything else to kill.

She held the sword in her hand. Her hair was pulled back, and she was ready to kill Angelus for once and for all. He was the one who'd made all of her friends go through so much--too much, as far as she was concerned. And it had to end. It would've been nice to get Angel back--to have Willow perform the restoration spell. But it was too late for that, and she had no choice anymore.

She could see the mansion as she got closer, and only hoped that she was doing the right thing.

**

Giles looked at Angelus--he thought it was Angelus he was watching. "How're you holding up?"

"Never.... Better."

"Glad to hear it, old buddy. Are you ready to talk? What's a ritual between friends?"

Giles took a deep breath. Angelus wasn't going to like this. "To open the gateway to hell.... The secret is to wear a tutu." Angelus snarled, getting up and moving to Giles in one fast movement. "Pillock," spat Giles.

Angelus backed away, choking off his rage. "This is useless!" he raged. "He'll never tell us anything. Should just kill the stubborn old man now." He moved toward Giles threateningly as Spike wheeled into the doorway of the room.

"Hold on, there."

"Where have you been, young William?" Darla looked up from the corner that Angelus had just come from. "Drusilla was worried sick. I thought she was about to run out into the sunrise to find you."

"I've been around," he replied evasively.

"But if you kill the Watcher now," he continued, "you'll never get anything out of him. God knows you can't figure it out on your own. You haven't done that well yet. Just wait a little longer. He's a human, mate. Only so much that a human can take."

"He has a point," said Darla.

"I know that." Angelus clenched and unclenched a fist.

That was the worst part of it, he decided. Not the stubborn old man that was refusing to tell him the ritual, not the fact that the Slayer would rain holy hell down on him as soon as she figured out where her Watcher was, not the fact that he couldn't open Acathla. The worst part was that Spike was right.

"Fine. We'll let him sit for a few hours."

"No, Daddy." Drusilla floated into the room behind Spike. "You just need to show him his heart."

Angelus smiled, knowing exactly what she meant.

**

Xander walked into Willow's hospital room again. Oz was still beside her bed, watching her, looking for something--for anything.

"I called her parents," Xander told him. "They'll be back as soon as they can. Her mom has to reschedule her lecture, find an appropriate substitute...." His voice trailed off bitterly.

Willow's mother couldn't care less about her daughter. Willow was in a coma, for God's sake! And she was trying to find a substitute.

"Okay." Oz barely even looked up.

"Oz, man.... Why don't you go take a nap, or something like that? You can't do anything for her right now."

"I don't want to leave her."

"Go over there." Xander vaguely gestured to the corner. "If she wakes up, I'll call you."

Oz hesitated, then nodded. There wasn't anything to be jealous of, he knew that much. And Xander was right.

So he walked over to a chair in the corner and sat down to take a short--and very light--nap.

Xander took Oz's spot, holding Willow's hand. After a while, he could tell that Oz had drifted off.

He just wished that Willow would wake up.

**

Giles finally looked up again. After Angelus had done that thing with the knives, he didn't think that he'd ever wake up once he went under..... But it seemed, just as he woke up, that he heard a discomforting voice telling him, "See with your heart...."

"Jenny!" He looked into the face of the one woman he'd ever loved. "I thought I'd lost you--"

He was cut off by her comforting voice. "Shh. I'll never leave you."

"We have to get out of here." He tried to stand, but something held him down.... Then she was there.

"No, no, no, no. Slowly." She put up a hand to cradle his face. She ran it along, touching his lips....

"It can't be you." Some rational part of Giles struggled to discover what was going on. She smiled a little in response.

"Did you tell Angel? About the ritual?" Her face suddenly looked a little worried.

"No." He looked proud of himself. "We have to get.... Him away from Acathla."

"Why? Is he close to figuring it out?"

"Later." He didn't want to go into it now--not in the monster's own lair, of course! Angelus could walk in on them at any moment--they had to leave....

"Tell me what to do." She looked at him beseechingly, looking for a sign.... "It's all right," she reassured him.

"We'll be together--finally. We'll have everything we never got to have..... Never got to feel."

She'd gotten closer, and was still getting closer..... "Just tell me what to do."

"We have to get Angel away from Acathla," he repeated, caught up in her beauty and their proximity to each other.

"Angel himself?" she asked quietly, finally understanding it. "He's the key?"

"His.... His blood. He.... He mustn't--"

"Shhh," she cut him off. They met in a slow kiss--something that felt like heaven to Giles.

Angelus and Spike watched Drusilla work her dark magic on Giles. "The blood. Of course. The blood on my hands must be my own. It's so simple."

"You should've thought of it on your own. Wait, not that simple," Spike smirked.

"Your blood and your life," Darla whispered to her boy. "You are the key."

Angelus was silent for a moment, before saying, "Okay. Kill him."

"And what if he's lying? We'll spend the next month picking librarian out of the carpet, which I myself don't fancy, and you'll have to spend the month after finding someone else who knows the ritual." Spike glared up at his grandsire.

"Yeah. Good point. All right, don't kill him." Angelus turned, ready to stalk out of the room.

"What are you planning, William?"

"Absolutely nothing, Darla." Angelus stopped to listen to the conversation. "But lord knows how bloody annoying Angelus is when something stupid happens to mess up his plans, and he's ten times worse when it was his own stupidity. I don't want to hear one of his tantrums until necessary."

Angelus restrained the urge to turn back and dust the boy. Spike was just annoying now as he had been when Drusilla turned him. But he did make good points, and Drusilla would have a fit of her own--possibly one that would last for centuries--if he dusted her precious knight. It wasn't worth it.

Then Spike noticed something. "Er, Drusilla?" Angelus turned around, then noticed it too. She was still furiously making out with Giles.

"Honey?" Angelus tried.

"We're finished here, ducks," Spike pointed out.

She stopped, then turned around to see all three closest members of her family watching her. "Sorry," she told them. "I was in the moment."

Behind her, Giles came out of his trance--the look of pure joy on his face was replaced with one of absolute horror as he realized what he'd done.

**

Oz had drifted away a few minutes ago. He'd looked like he needed it, Xander decided. And it did give him time to be alone with Willow.

He carefully reached out and picked up her hand.

"Come on, Will," he told her. "Look, you don't have a choice here. You gotta wake up. I need you, Will." He looked at her hand, then back at her face.

"How'm I going to pass trig, you know?" He tried to laugh a little. "And who am I going to call every night to talk about everything we did all day?"

Her face was still.

"You're my best friend. You've always--" he could've sworn he saw her blink, but it was probably a trick of the light. He swallowed hard.

"I love you."

Suddenly, her head moved a little--and her fingers started moving. "Willow?"

"Oz," she breathed, her eyes still closed.

"Oz, man, wake up," Xander called.

"Xander, is she--" He opened his eyes quickly, jumping out of the chair and running over to her.

"She's asking for you," said Xander, backing away carefully.

"I'm here," Oz told her.

"Hi," she whispered.

"I'm going to go get a doctor," said Xander.

"How're you feeling?" asked Oz as Xander walked out.

"My head.... Feels big." Her eyes were still closed.

"Is it big?"

"No." He smiled a little. "Head-sized."

He leaned over to kiss her, then smoothed her hair back. Her eyes slowly opened a little.

"Is everybody else okay?" she asked.

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