Angel and Buffy were standing in front of Faith, discussing tactics for waking her up, when Riley and Xander trounced in. “Giles all right?” Buffy asked.
“Yeah, he’s fine,” Xander answered. “Dandy, actually. Hey, did you know Miss Calendar isn’t dead?”
“What? She isn’t?”
“Nope. Riley and I walked right in and she was there, and we freaked out.”
“You freaked out,” Riley corrected. “I never thought she was dead.”
“Me neither,” Angel added quietly. “I mean, she was almost dead, but then Giles came and saved her. She was never dead. Why did you think so?” he asked Buffy with a bit of a ‘did you really think I’d do that now’ tone to his voice.
“You killed her! I mean, I wasn’t there, but Giles was sad, and then he tried to kill you and Drusilla and Spike in your quaint little packing factory and failed. We went and saw her grave,” Xander recalled.
“There was never any grave,” Angel protested.
“Right, because you’d have noticed one, what with being pure evil and all that.”
“I never killed her! I would have remembered that. You can’t just come in here and accuse me of killing her. If I had, I’d admit it, but the fact that she’s always been alive I think contributes to my plea of not guilty,” Angel argued.
“That’s rich, De-Undead Boy. But if you’ll remember, she wasn’t always alive. From about two and a half years ago until today, she was very much dead. Even Giles thought so,” Xander countered.
Angel looked very angry and looked as though he was about to say something quite offensive to Xander, but then he stopped and a look of total understanding spread against his face. Riley took the opportunity to say something.
“As much as it kills me internally to say this, I’m with Angel. I don’t ever remember Jenny Calendar being dead. She’s always just lived with Giles. She’s helped us research tons of times.”
“And as much as it kills me internally to say this, I distinctly remember Angel killing Ms. Calendar. Hell, Riley’s on a first-name basis with her, and neither Xander nor I am, and we would have known her the longest,” Buffy added.
“There’s something wrong with this,” Angel muttered.
“Giles thought she was dead, too, until this morning. Or, so said Jenny,” Riley said, ignoring this last comment.
“There’s something seriously wrong here.”
“And if anyone would remember, wouldn’t Giles? I mean, it’s been a good long while since I’ve seen Giles so happy. Ms. Calendar being here feels right,” Xander said, “but she wasn’t here yesterday.”
“Hey!” Angel said. Finally people started paying attention to him. “Something’s not right. She’s been living with Giles for two years, and he doesn’t remember it? Until this morning, he thought she was dead. At least two of us are being screwed with here. It’s no use to just stand here and argue about it; we’re all going to stand our ground on this matter because it’s a big deal. I contest that I didn’t kill her and the only person here who agrees with me hates me on several levels. Somehow, something is very wrong.”
Everybody stared at Angel. Even Riley looked him in the eye. They all realized he was right.
“Are you sure you weren’t hallucinating?” Buffy asked Xander and Riley timidly.
“We’re sure,” Xander said. “She made me eggs.”
“Who’s Jenny Calendar?” Asked Faith from behind them, making them all jump.
“See?” Buffy said to Angel as she took his hand in a kind of apologetic ‘I’m not trying to be against you’ way. “She’s never met her, either.”
“And how much you wanna bet she’s met me?” asked Faith.
“Crazed murderer lady presents an interesting point,” said Xander.
Angel, however, let go of Buffy’s hand and crouched in front of Faith. “Crazy murderer lady has something she needs to tell us,” Angel said. Faith only rolled her eyes and stared at the ceiling. “You’re not a Slayer anymore, are you, Faith?” Xander and Riley were silent; Buffy joined her boyfriend beside Faith.
“Not in the strictest sense, no,” she admitted.
“Why not?”
“I don’t know,” she said, furrowing her brow a little. “It just… happened. One minute I was in jail, and the next I wasn’t… but I wasn’t a Slayer, either.”
“There’s more to it than that,” Angel assumed.
“No, there isn’t. I wake up and I’m in the Sunnydale woods. I come out, play a little game with Xander here (which was fun until he kicked me), wake up, leave, and then you find me. Two humans knock me out and it’s not even noon yet. I guess I just realized I wasn’t a Slayer anymore.”
“Oh, thank God,” Buffy interjected. “I thought it was just me.”
Angel turned to her with immense concern and stood up. She stood up, too. “No Slayers anymore? Why not?” asked Xander in a high-pitched voice from across the room.
“Again with the I don’t know,” Buffy said. “I could just tell when Dawn woke me up this morning. I didn’t understand what the problem was until I tried to run here with Xander; he kept up with me perfectly. Then I tried to run to Angel’s, but I was still pretty slow. I punched a wall. It hurt and didn’t crack. I guess it’s just not a Slayer day today,” Buffy shrugged, a little blasé about the whole thing.
Angel studied Buffy closely. There was something ever so slightly different about her. This morning, when she came to see him, he sensed for the first time that they could actually be together without breaking any supernatural laws or anything. It was right. It was perfect. Angel smiled. Buffy smiled back. Giles and Jenny walked through the door.
“Hello, all,” Giles said behind a pile of books, just as amiable as before. He put the books down on the floor, and then turned to help Jenny with hers. He put his arm around her as though showing everyone that she wasn’t actually dead. Then Giles looked at the people around him and saw total shock on Riley and Xander’s faces, saw Angel and Buffy gazing at each other as he had gazed at Jenny earlier, and saw Faith looking extremely disgusted with the whole thing. “What? What’s going on?”
Xander’s white face turned to Giles. “We’re Slayerless. We are lacking in Slayers.” Then he turned and collapsed into a chair. Buffy wrenched her eyes away from Angel’s and looked at Giles. “Faith woke up this morning out of jail and not a Slayer; I woke up this morning just not a Slayer. It’s kinda nice,” she added. “Freeing.” Then she turned to Jenny. “Hi, Ms. Calendar.”
“Hi, Buffy,” she responded. She was about to say more when Giles exploded.
“Freeing? I daresay not! If we have no Slayer, we have no chance of defeating those vampires that were making that wretched sound at the Bronze last night! In case you haven’t noticed, half the town is still asleep and it’s nearly eleven o’ clock!”
“It’s Sunday,” Xander said from the chair. Riley turned and sat in a chair next to Xander and just stared.
“It is! You’d think that people would be waking up and going to one of the 42 churches in Sunnydale! There is something that must be done. I will guarantee you that if we checked on every person that is still asleep, we would find that they were at the Bronze last night, there for no reason except because a voice at the back of their mind told them to go.”
“Look, Giles, maybe it’s something that isn’t going to be solved by strength or violence,” Buffy suggested. “Besides, we’re all fairly experienced fighters. We could hold our own anyway. As much as it makes me cringe to say this, I think we should research. Find out about disappearing vampires who make loud noise that causes everyone to sleep, that causes some people to think that people are dead when they’re not, and that…”
“Causes people to forget about their girlfriends,” interrupted Xander from the chair. “Until this moment, I had totally forgotten that I didn’t see… uh… Anya this morning. Now I’m forgetting her name,” he added, “but it seems okay. Like I should be forgetting.”
The room was silent for a moment. “Did anyone else think I was dead before this morning?” Jenny asked. This broke the ice a little; Xander laughed tentatively.
“I did,” admitted Buffy. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be. I’d just like to know why.”
“I think we all would,” Giles said, and they began their research party.
***
About half an hour later, Willow came into the apartment soundlessly. Buffy looked up. “Hey, Will.”
Willow noticed what was going on. “Oh, okay. A research party without me. I get it. Sure, that’s okay. I’ll just…” she made as though to leave.
“What? Willow, hey!” Willow stopped and turned back to Buffy. “Didn’t you get my message?”
Willow looked confused. “There weren’t any on my machine,” she said.
“Sorry, Red. I just wanted to create a little chaos. Too bad someone already made it for me,” said Faith from the corner of the room, making Willow jump. Her surprised face quickly turned to a frown.
“What’s she doing here?”
“I’m having tea with the queen, haven’t you noticed?” Faith said, still tied to the chair and looking quite uncomfortable. “Look, we’ve already established that I’m not a Slayer. Can’t we at least loosen these a little? It’s not like I’ll be able to break free.”
Buffy turned and consulted with Angel by raising an eyebrow, who raised one back and then went to untie Faith. “No escaping,” Buffy told Faith sternly.
“Yeah, fine, no escaping. How about I help with the research. Will that make things up to you?”
Buffy raised both eyebrows at the offer. “That’d be nice, thanks.”
“Sure. Anything to get my strength back. The ex-Slayer rubbed her wrists and picked up a book. Willow watched all this with a minorly disgusted fascination. “She’s not a Slayer anymore? And, hey, not in jail, either.”
“Yeah… She woke up in the woods and lacking in Slayer strength. Of course, so did I…” explained Buffy. “Well, except for the woods part. Dawn woke me up.”
“So, we have no Slayers, and… HEY!” Willow pointed at Jenny, who was getting up to get a drink. “Ghost of Ms. Calendar here!”
“Oh, God, not you too,” she said, and retreated to the table.
Buffy filled Willow in on the Battle of Who’s Dead and if Angel Killed Them. “Also, half the town’s sleeping, Xander’s forgetting Anya and Angel sent Spike to hell. It’s all very confusing.”
“Angel sent who to where?” Xander asked, a look of glee spreading across his features as he looked up at Angel.
“He was coming at me with an axe,” Angel explained indifferently.
“So, join the fun, Will. It’s a crazy morning in Sunnydale.” Willow smiled and grabbed a chair, sitting at the table. “Hey, when’s Oz going to be back?” Buffy asked.
“Sometime today, didn’t say when,” she said shortly, already studying the nearest book. Buffy thought that her best friend sounded blatantly unenthusiastic about her returning boyfriend; she wondered if Will was still beating herself up about the whole, Oz-Tara fiasco.
Momentarily, a yell came from the hall as Anya hustled in and hid behind Buffy, who hadn’t had a chance to sit back down yet. “Thank God, Buffy! Help me help help.”
The rabbit hopped in after her, still six feet tall and still laughing like a freak. Buffy looked at the thing in disgust and lashed out a kick at it, mildly surprised when her foot connected (though with very little effect). Angel, understanding that the non-Slayer may need help, helped. The rabbit shortly turned evil and growled; Anya ran into Xander’s bathroom and locked herself in.
“What’s going on? What are those two kicking at and why did my bathroom door just close spontaneously?” asked Xander.
Giles looked up at Xander. “You can’t see the rabbit?”
“What rabbit?”
“Or Anya?” asked Willow.
Xander’s face went blank. He stared at the wall and seemed to process things for a few seconds. Angel and Buffy continued to hurt the massive evil bunny. “Anya. Anya. I know that name from somewhere…” he said slowly.
Oz walked in and raised an eyebrow. “Giant bunny,” he said, and then stepped out of the way and made his way over to Research Central.
“Hey, you,” Willow said happily.
“Hey, back,” Oz replied as he kissed her softly. Buffy, delivering a punch to the highly unusual opponent, reconsidered her thoughts about Unhappy Willow. Angel gave the bunny a kick and it whirled into the coffee table, splitting it in two.
“Hey!” said Xander, still a little dumbfounded by the invisible source of destruction. “Watch the furniture! I already lost a chair today.
Buffy winced. “Sorry, Xand. It’s the furniture or the windows behind you.”
Xander flinched. “Okay, fine, the windows. The carpenter in me just can’t watch all that lovely work go to waste.”
Buffy watched fondly as Angel quickly redirected the fight around Research Central and together he and Buffy put the rabbit through the windows, watching it fall the fifteen or so feet and then recover. They quickly consulted each other with a glance and jumped out after it, despite both their humanness. They both rolled out of it flawlessly, but none of the crowd at the table bothered to move to watch the fight; all continued their research.
Anya poked her head out from behind the bathroom door. “Is it safe?” she asked.
“Yes,” all but Xander answered in unison without looking up from their books. Xander jumped.
“Yes what?”
“Nothing, Anya’s just asking if it’s safe,” Willow explained.
“Who’s Anya?”
“Who are you talking to?” asked Anya
“Xander,” said Willow.
“Yes?” said Xander.
“Xander who?” said Anya.
“I’m talking to Anya,” said Willow to Xander.
“Who’s Anya?” asked Xander.
“I know you are. I’m Anya. You’re talking to me,” said Anya.
Willow stared at the wall for a moment in frustration. “That’s it. I’m not talking anymore.”
Anya looked at Willow as though she were insane and then took Buffy’s seat. Below, Buffy and Angel continued to battle the still insane rabbit without much success. The fight led them over to Restfield cemetery somehow; the pair batted and swatted at the thing for five minutes before Angel got frustrated.
“Okay, rabbit,” he said seriously, his face contorted with anger. “It’s time things went my way.” Despite being mortal, despite being human, Angel picked up the giant rabbit and threw it against a tombstone. He punched it in the nose and bent its giant ears.
Nothing worked.
“I think I have to kill it,” he told Buffy grimly.
“I thought that’s what we were trying to do from the beginning,” Buffy said, just watching and letting Angel take care of it.
He went up to the rabbit and gave its head a swift twist. That worked.
Angel turned back to Buffy with a bit of self-disgust at killing something that now looked so harmless. She had a bit of a weird look on her face, too. “I’m sorry I had to do that. But Anya looked like she may have died if she’d had to run any longer.” He walked towards her. “Plus, that growling was really starting to…”
The look on Buffy’s face registered with Angel finally. She wasn’t disgusted; if anything, quite the opposite. His own face softened as he looked at the woman he loved; not the Slayer, just a woman. He brought his hand up to her face. “God, you’re gorgeous in the sunlight.”
Buffy stopped trying to suppress whatever she was suppressing. She leant in and kissed Angel deeply, loving him, wanting him. Needing him. Buffy was an extremely strong person on all accounts; she loved him as much as anyone could love, but she’d never needed him before. She did now, not being the Slayer, him being stronger than she was now. She needed him.
He felt it.
Angel pulled Buffy into him. Buffy ran her fingers through his hair as she jumped onto him, causing him to back up against a mausoleum. Angel carried Buffy up the stairs to his mansion, his lips never leaving hers, hardly daring to let her go for even a moment. He stumbled into what served as their home and immediately Buffy leapt down and they started clawing at each other’s clothes and leaving them lying on the floor in a trail to the bedroom, needing to have each other as though the world depended on it.
To them, just then, the world did depend on it.
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