Once again Angel found himself staring at the plane with narrowed eyes as the rest of the gang threw their stuff into the cargo-hold and climbed aboard. "Angel," Buffy said, a note of impatience in her voice, "let's go."
Angel carefully walked into the plane and sat down next to his girlfriend, nervously looking everything over as the plane took off into the air.
An hour passed without incident, during which Willow slept, Xander played computer games on her lap-top, Buffy read some more of 'The Verdict', Giles worked on translating some book from latin to english, and Angel, as before, gripped the edge of the chair and glanced at his watch in ten minute intervals. Suddenly the plane bucked and lurched back and forth, causing Angel to grip Buffy's hand tightly. A moment later the pilot called to them, "Sorry, a bit of turbulence."
Angel let go of Buffy's hand and Buffy shook it, trying to get the circulation working again. "Angel," she said slowly, "we really need to talk about this fear of planes thing."
"I'm not scared of planes," Angel protested weakly.
Buffy held up her now bright red hand as though submitting a piece of evidence for his approval. "Really?" she asked skeptically.
"I - I just thought you might need some . . . support," Angel told her lamely, giving her a forced smile.
"Yeah. Mhmm," Buffy muttered, suppressing a smile. Xander was already laughing, and Willow, who'd awakened with the plane's motion, was biting her lip to hold back her giggles.
"For the last time, Buffy, I'm not at all scared of planes," Angel said, then jumped slightly when the plane once again lurched forward unexpectedly.
"Sure you're not," Buffy said, nodding her head. "Of course not. Silly me. I mean, what sense would that make? You're a vampire and all, it's not like there's any reason for you to be worried or anything. None of us are nervous, why would you be?"
"Exactly."
"Of course."
"That's my point."
"Mhmm." Buffy decided to drop the conversation before she embarrassed him again and returned to her book.
* * *
Jack Arthur looked on as everyone retrieved their things from the back of the cargo-hold area and began to leave. Buffy turned to stare at him curiously, and he looked back at her for a long moment before returning to the plane. She frowned, wondering what his deal was, then shrugged and began to walk towards Giles' car. Angel stopped her, giving her a quick hug before he did his usual disappearing act.
"So," Buffy said softly, "what now?" She directed her question at Giles, who shrugged.
"I really don't know," he answered, just as quietly. "I suppose we just go home." And, with that, they got into the car and he started the engine.
* * *
"You're back so early!" Buffy's mother called out in surprise as the door to her house opened and her daughter walked inside.
Buffy smiled at her weakly. "Yup, the trip was shortened," she answered.
Joyce Summers raised an eyebrow at her. "Are you alright?" she asked, looking her daughter up and down, positive there was something wrong.
Buffy sighed, wishing she could tell her mother just exactly what was wrong. "Yeah," she said instead. "I'm fine. I'm gonna . . . I'm gonna go upstairs and go to bed, okay?"
"You don't have to go to school tomorrow if you don't want to, Buffy," Joyce said to her, still looking rather worried.
"Actually, I do want to," Buffy said, longing to see Giles and her friends, to speak with people who could understand and who she could talk to. Suddenly she stopped on her way up the stairs and turned back, dropping her suitcase. "I'm gonna go out for a walk," she said.
"I thought you just said you were going to bed," Joyce replied, sounding confused.
"I was," Buffy answered. "But there's something I have to do first. Do you mind?" Her mother shook her head and Buffy left the house, heading straight towards the cemetary. Once she arrived, she searched out a particular headstone and knelt beside it, looking around curiously. There were several piles of flowers at the grave; apparently no one had forgotten Cordelia Chase.
"Hey, Cordy," Buffy said softly after a moment. "I've never been one for talking to the dead . . . I mean, usually I just stake em and call it a day. But . . . Cordy, sometimes out of the blue you'd come up with the best ideas, and right now I really need one." She sighed, closing her eyes for a moment before continuing. "We were never really all that close, but I think this is something you would have understood. I've just been fired. I'm no longer the Slayer. And I can't talk to anyone else about it, really, because Xander and Willow don't understand, and Giles doesn't, either. I'm trying to be upbeat about the whole thing, so they don't feel bad for me, but it's really hard, and . . . " She suddenly shook her head, angry with herself for wallowing in her own pity. Standing, she turned and walked away, never noticing the vampire watching her from the shadows.
* * *
"Spike, I have news!"
Spike looked up and sighed as one of his vampire henchmen walked into the warehouse with a wide grin and an excited expression. "What is it, Olivia?" he asked her.
"The Slayer," she hissed. "She's no longer the Slayer."
"Huh?" Spike raised an eyebrow skeptically.
"She was talking to her dead friend," Olivia said hurriedly. "She told her that she's no longer the Slayer, that she's been fired."
"And I'm supposed to believe this?"
"She's right," Drusilla murmured. "I can feel it inside me."
Spike grinned outright. "So our dear friend Buffy has no power left?" he repeated. "Now this I find very interesting."
"What should we do?" Olivia asked.
"How long until sunrise?"
"About an hour or so."
"Hmm. Well, I guess there's enough time," Spike replied, sounding thoughtful.
"Enough time for what?" Olivia queried, her eyes wide with excitement.
Spike smiled at her. "Killing the EX-Slayer, of course," Spike replied.
* * *
Buffy turned the corner towards her house, lost in her own dark thoughts of what the future held for her now that she was no longer the Slayer. She knew that she was dwelling on it entirely too much, that for the majority of her life she had not known of her destiny, but to have it taken away from her created a hole inside her she didn't know if she could ever fill.
As she got closer to her house her slayer senses kicked in and she stopped, sniffing the air slightly and suspiciously. Her eyes turned towards her house and immediately she took a step backwards in surprise. Her house was on fire. She paled slightly, and then immediately began to panic . . . her mother. Her mother was in there. Without thinking she ran towards the house, and whirled when a firm grip on her shoulder stopped her.
"Buffy, what the hell do you think you're doing?" Angel growled at her, just barely keeping his normal face intact as he remembered they were in the middle of the suburbs with nosy neighbors already running outside to see what was going on.
"My mother," Buffy growled back, trying to pull herself away from him. "My mother's in there!" she continued.
Angel glanced towards the house, then back towards her. "You're not going in," he said firmly.
"I have to!" she hissed, fighting him once more.
He released her then, but blocked her when she moved to go inside. "I'll go," he told her, the tone of his voice leaving no room for argument. Within a moment's time he was inside the flaming house, and Buffy took a step towards following him, then stopped. She knew very well that if she went inside Angel would just carry her out, and then her mother might be hurt in the process.
So she stayed outside, instead. Closing her eyes, she mentally cursed herself for allowing Angel to go in instead of her. Forced only to watch, she became aware of a fact tickling at the edge of her consciousness. She stopped cold and mentally searched her mind, trying to find what was hiding there. Suddenly it came to her, like a slap across the face; this was her fault. There was only one explanation for this fire, and it had nothing to do with any kind of accident. She was no longer the Slayer, and this was the first step towards the vampires' revenge. Buffy staggered backwards, fighting for breath with each passing moment during which Angel and her mother did not emerge. The burning desire to run inside and make sure they were both okay was not leaving, and she'd taken a step towards the house before she even knew what she was doing.
A firm grip once again held her back. She whirled, ready to punch whoever it was, but stayed her hand when she saw Willow. "What happened?" Willow asked, looking towards the burning house and then towards Buffy's despondent expression. Buffy looked at her cluelessly, and Willow explained, "I have a police scanner, I recognized the address."
"My . . . my mother," Buffy gasped. "Angel. They . . . they're in there."
"No they're not," Willow said, smiling slightly as she looked over Buffy's shoulder. Buffy turned to see what she was staring at and immediately relaxed. Angel was walking out of the house, looking slightly sheepish, Buffy's mother following behind him. Buffy ran towards them both.
"You okay?" she asked Angel and her mother at the same time, her eyes darting back between them as she wondered which one she should be more concerned over.
Buffy's mother smiled. "I'm fine," she replied. "I was just getting my emergency supplies."
"You . . . your what?" Buffy queried, her mouth dropping open.
Joyce Summers held up a suitcase. "I keep this around in case of emergencies," she explained. "It has some money in it for a hotel, stuff like that. Besides, the fire's on the second floor, I was on the first. I called the fire department and they're on their way."
"Oh," Buffy muttered, biting her lip then looked towards Angel. "Sorry," she added. Angel shook his head and pulled Buffy into his arms. Buffy leaned against him, curling next to his body, grateful for the support. She didn't care that her mother was staring at her, and was unaware that it was obvious to anyone watching how very in love the two of them were. She needed Angel right now, and her mother and everyone else could go to hell. She looked up at him, her eyes filled with tears. "This is my fault," she whispered.
"No," Angel said firmly. "It's not. You know that. You have no control over what Spike does."
"But I . . . God, Angel, this isn't going to end until I'm dead. This . . . it's just the beginning." She blinked, noticing Willow signalling frantically behind her mother, and turned to see if Angel had figured out what she was going on about, then froze. Her mother. Buffy looked towards her mother, to see that Joyce Summers' mouth was open in shock as she stared first at her daughter and then at Angel, blinked twice, then turned back to Buffy, trying to think of something to say. "Um . . . " Buffy looked at Angel frantically. "Um . . . uh . . . I'm going to end up dead if I . . . uh . . . don't get that . . . that . . . that book, from my . . . my room and . . . and Mr. Spike . . . my . . . my uh . . . teacher! . . . yeah, that's it . . . my teacher Mr. Spike won't stop nagging me till it's . . . uh . . . been . . . paid for!"
Angel looked confused for a moment, then noticed the way Buffy was glancing towards her mother and then back at him. "Um . . . well, I'm sure he'll forgive you considering the circumstances," Angel muttered weakly.
"Buffy," Joyce interrupted firmly. "I think we need to have a very long talk."
"Uh-oh," Buffy murmured, looking away from Angel to glance at her mother. "About . . . about what?"
"About?" Joyce Summers repeated, raising an eyebrow delicately. "About what precisely you're talking about, for starters." She glanced towards Angel and then back at her daughter pointedly, making it abundantly clear what the second topic was going to be about.
Buffy sighed and leaned her head back against Angel's arm, for the moment unable to bring herself to care what her mother might interpret from that. Quite frankly she didn't care anymore, her mother didn't understand her, obviously, and had no idea what she'd gone through in the past three days. Right now all she had to lean on was Angel, and she wasn't about to push him away to save face in front of her clueless mother, no matter what the consequences might be.
The firetrucks pulled up to the house a minute later, and immediately rushed inside to battle the fire. Five minutes passed, and then they came out, walking towards Joyce. "The damage was minimal," he assured her. "As far as we can tell only one bedroom upstairs was damaged."
Buffy bit her lip, knowing very well it was her bedroom and grateful that she had decided to visit Cordelia's grave rather than stay home to sleep. She had no doubt but that she'd be dead if she hadn't. She moved towards the house, determined to confirm her suspicions that this fire had been started by Spike and/or his henchmen, but Angel pulled her back.
"You shouldn't go in there," he said, still sounding concerned.
Buffy smiled, touched by his worry. "I think I'll survive," she said, smiling at him slightly in an attempt to make him relax a little.
"I'll go with you," Angel replied firmly, unable to let her out of his sight when he knew her life was in danger.
Buffy fought to push aside the warm and fuzzy feelings threatening to overwhelm her. Her mother and Angel had almost died tonight, Spike was trying to kill her, she was no longer the Slayer, and all she could think about was how sweet Angel was when he was concerned. She shook her head; if that wasn't obsession she would hate to find out what was. With a sigh she nodded and allowed Angel to lead her through the house, making sure the coast was clear before he'd allow her to continue. Buffy's mother followed behind them, obviously puzzled by what was going on and knowing that her daughter and her 'history tutor' knew more about any of this than she did.
Buffy stopped by her bedroom and looked around, smiling once again to herself when she saw Mr. Gordo remained unharmed. As far as she could tell most of the damage was small and easily fixed; she hated herself for wishing her mother wasn't there so she could spend the rest of the night at Angel's . . . it was such a perfect excuse, too! She moved to go in, to see what else had been damaged, but once again Angel held her back. "No," he said briefly, but with steel in his voice and expression.
Buffy sighed. "Fine," she muttered. "But if you don't stop with this over- protective rift I swear I'll make you get on a plane again."
"You could have been killed," Angel replied, his eyes widening slightly at her jokes. Obviously he found this very, very serious. Buffy shook her head, Angel really didn't understand the use of humor to lighten the tension in a situation.
"But I wasn't. I wasn't even here," she said in a reassuring tone.
"Buffy." Mrs. Summers' voice made them both turn. "I think we should go check into a hotel," Joyce said firmly, her eyes darting to Angel's and then back to her daughter's.
Buffy nodded. "Okay," she replied, and, giving Angel an exaggerated look of annoyance, followed her mother down the stairs.
Giles was sitting in the library reading when he heard the double doors slam open and then closed. He looked up to see his Slayer . . . no, he corrected himself, his ex-Slayer, walking towards him, pure fury etched on her expression. "My mother almost died last night," she hissed, glaring at him. "And, for that matter, so did Angel. This has to end."
Giles blinked and looked at her curiously. "I don't understand."
"You don't understand?" Buffy repeated. "Well, let me clarify it for you, a bunch of vamps set fire to my house, how's that? My mother was in there, Angel went in to get her out."
"Good God!" Giles gasped, his eyes widening. "Are they all right?"
Buffy nodded. "Yeah, the fire didn't spread. But we have a serious problem on our hands. Spike's not going to stop until I'm dead."
"I'm afraid you're quite right," a new voice said from the doorway. They both whirled as one on the uninvited guest, and blinked when they saw who it was. Jack Arthur stood there, his hands clasped behind his back in a conciliatory manner.
"What are you doing here?" Buffy asked, her eyes narrowing as she slipped into Slayer stance; a stance as natural to her as breathing.
He held up his hands in a defensive posture. "I've come to speak with you; both of you. If you'll let me," he added.
Giles nodded and gestured towards a chair, which Mr. Arthur walked towards and sat down in. "What do you want to speak with us about?" Giles asked, as he and Buffy took seats across from him.
Jack Arthur took a deep breath. "First of all, Monsieur Giles, please accept my apologies for my attitude in the car previously. I'm afraid I got a little too into my acting."
"Your acting?" Giles queried.
Mr. Arthur nodded. "There are many things going on in Europe that you are not aware of, Monsieur. There has been a breach in Watcher security, and I'm afraid that is just the beginning."
"A breach in security?" Giles repeated, sitting up straight and staring at Jack Arthur in pure shock.
"Um . . . not to interrupt or anything, but what are you two talking about?" Buffy asked, looking from Giles to Mr. Arthur and back again.
"A - a breach in security is a code, Buffy. It - it means that somehow the - there are vampires infiltrating," Giles explained.
"Why would they do that?" Buffy questioned, raising her eyebrow.
"It's quite simple, Miss Summers. Once it has been established that more than a simple fight is needed to take care of the Slayer, vampires are more than capable of looking at things from a more political aspect. That's what I believe is going on right now."
"Mr. Howard's a vampire?" Buffy's voice held a hopeful note.
Jack Arthur shook his head. "At first that is what we believed, but after you and Angel arrived we knew that wasn't the case. One of you would have sensed that."
"Well . . . we might not have," Buffy said somewhat plaintively, sticking her lower lip out in a well practiced pout.
Mr. Arthur smiled. "No, it's not likely. However, you are most certainly not fired."
"Really?" Buffy's whole face brightened as she sat up straight, her eyes hopeful. Suddenly she paused, realizing her reaction, and looked at Giles sheepishly before adding, "Not that I care or anything."
Giles smiled that time in affection for his Slayer and then turned to Mr. Arthur. "I'm afraid I don't quite understand."
"We believe that the vampires are paying off a great deal of the higher ups in the Watcher Council. Mr. Howard, certainly, and several others that we know of. However, proving that is harder, and even if we can there isn't exactly anywhere we can turn to, considering Mr. Howard is as high up as the Watcher chain goes, so to speak."
"Well then what can we do?" Buffy asked. "And what about Mr. Zabuto, Kendra's Watcher? Is he in on it, or what? I mean, maybe we could go to them and explain it; I don't think Kendra would do something like this."
Mr. Arthur shook his head. "No. We can't be sure about Mr. Zabuto, and I'd rather not take the risk. We do know that there's someone working on the inside, though, among you."
Buffy and Giles exchanged skeptical glances. "What?" they both said as one.
"Somehow Mr. Howard got his hands on your journals, Monsieur Giles."
"Duh, he gave them to him," Buffy said, shaking her head in exasperation. Then she looked at Giles, to see that he was obviously shocked by this news. "You didn't give them to him?"
Giles shook his head. "I most certainly did not," he said firmly.
"But -- he used them. Against me, probably against everyone else, too. He did have them," Buffy explained.
"As I said, someone on the inside is working against you. My only viable suspect is your vampire friend, Miss Summers."
Buffy's eyes flashed in pure rage. "You want to say that again?" she hissed, entirely ready to kill Mr. Arthur and ask questions later.
Giles, however, remained much calmer as he answered, "Impossible. Angel has not been in the library for quite a few months. I would know if my journals had been missing for that long. If they were taken they must have been stolen right before I left for Europe."
"Is it at all possible he might have come here, taken them, and then met you at the plane?" Mr. Arthur asked, shifting uncomfortably in his chair in an attempt to avoid Buffy's anger.
"Uh, no," Buffy said sharply. "We had to leave within a half hour of sunset to get to Europe in time. He wouldn't have had any time to go here, steal the journals, and then get to the plane as soon as he did," Buffy explained, and then she continued to glare at Mr. Arthur, daring him to make another accusation.
"Then it must be someone else," Mr. Arthur said, standing and beginning to pace. "We need to find out who, and we must figure out a plan of action."
"I don't understand, though," Buffy muttered, sounding puzzled. "I mean, why go through all this trouble just to get me replaced? There's always going to be a Slayer, they can't do anything about that."
Mr. Arthur shook his head. "You have no idea of your own skill, do you?" he asked. "Perhaps you don't realize that you, Miss Summers, are quite frankly the best Slayer there has ever been, and possibly will ever be. You are not simply this generation's Chosen, your skill shines through. Yes, your methods are unorthodox, of that there's no question, but you are the best, Miss Summers. I find it hard to believe you have that little faith in your skills that you did not question Mr. Howard's motives from the beginning."
Buffy blinked in surprise. She'd been hearing the same basic thing from Giles, Angel and Willow all week . . . but hearing it from someone who didn't know her personally, had no reason to praise her . . . it sent a pleasant chill up her spine and did wonders for her confidence as she stood as well. "Thank you," she said, "but I think our first priority has to be to find out exactly who is leaking stuff to the Council. I don't think it's any of us," she added to Giles, "somehow I just can't picture Willow or Xander having anything to do with this."
Giles sighed. "There are two other people you're leaving out, Buffy."
Buffy raised an eyebrow. "Oz and Ms. Calendar?" she asked, and shook her head. "I don't think so. Oz needs us anyway, we keep him calm during the full moon, remember? As for Ms. Calendar I thought gypsies had that whole code of honor going, ya know, only one betrayal a year."
Giles glared at her. "Buffy . . . "
"Sorry," Buffy apologized. "Unresolved tension comes to the forefront. What can I say? We're both absolutely positive it's not Angel, so don't even suggest it again," she added, directing that comment towards Mr. Arthur and then looking towards Giles for support.
"I agree it doesn't make much sense for him to be the culprit," Giles concurred.
"As in you know him better than that," Buffy filled in, still looking ticked off about the fact that Angel was being considered a suspect.
"Nobody knows any one person that well, Buffy," Giles said gently, trying to make her see reason.
Buffy's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Fine. How do I know you're not the leak, huh? Isn't it entirely possible you took your own journals and gave them to Mr. Howard and now you're just denying it? How much are they paying you?"
"Buffy . . . !" Giles began, sounding outraged.
"Precisely," Buffy interrupted. "We can't afford to start turning against each other for no reason, and I will not accuse Angel without some kind of proof, not just speculation. Besides, there are hundreds of people in this school, and it's not a big secret that I'm the Slayer, it could be one of them."
"It's not a big secret?" Mr. Arthur repeated, sounding shocked.
"Well, you know," Buffy supplied.
"Yes, but I'm . . ."
"A member of the Council. And it's more than likely that our little spy is also a member of the Council. Am I wrong?" Mr. Arthur shook his head. "Okay. Now we just need a plan, some way to draw our little friend out so we know for sure who it is."
"Perhaps I could make it clear that the library was broken into last night and someone left a box full of books," Giles suggested.
Buffy raised an eyebrow. "Burglars leaving books in a library?" she reiterated, sounding more than a little unsure.
"Yes, perhaps someone trying to tell us something," Giles said. "I'm quite certain everyone in school would know about it within a matter of hours."
"Yup, Giles-ish burglars leaving books instead of taking books from a library. You're right, it's strange enough that word would spread," Buffy agreed.
"But how is the vampire going to know?" Mr. Arthur asked, then took a step backwards when Buffy whirled on him.
"Look, I appreciate you telling us and all that, but you do not ever compare Angel to the rest of them, do you understand me?" she asked, and he nodded hastily. "Good. And if it will make you feel better, I'll call him."
"Perhaps I'd better," Giles suggested. "I fear you might not be entirely subtle."
"Fine. Call." Buffy crossed her arms and glared at him as he walked towards the phone.
* * *
Angel groaned as he heard the sound of the telephone ringing and glanced at his clock. It was ten a.m., Giles was calling early today. With a soft moan he forced himself into a sitting position and rubbed his eyes tiredly before picking up the phone. "What do you want?" he said, just barely keeping his temper in control.
"There's something I must tell you," Giles replied, sounding uncomfortable for some reason.
"Can't it wait?" Angel asked.
"I'm -- I'm afraid it can't. The library has been broken into, and someone has left several books here. I believe it's some kind of message."
"What?!" Angel demanded, suddenly wide awake. "That's what you call me for? Someone left you some damn books? So go read them! God, why the hell did you have to call me for that? Look, I have no problems helping you out, I volunteered and everything, but would you just STOP calling me when the sun's up? Duh, I'm a vampire, I sleep during the DAY! Why can't you just call me at NIGHT? Is that so hard? You call me up to tell me someone gave you some BOOKS! Why the hell do I care? You can translate them, you're not an invalid. I'm going to bed. And I'm changing my number. I've had enough! I haven't had one whole day's sleep in MONTHS! Leave me alone!!!" With that Angel, in full vampiric mode, hung up the receiver and went back to sleep.
* * *
Giles hung up the phone, biting his lip slightly. "I - um, I don't think he cares," Giles muttered, still a little surprised by Angel's sudden temper. "Told you," Buffy said, frowning slightly. "Well, I'll start getting the word out that someone left some books in the library," she added as she turned to go.
"Yes, good idea," Giles said, moving away from the desk and towards the middle of the room. "Meanwhile we must think of a plan of action. You're quite right, if all the higher ups in the Council are in on this it might be quite difficult to prove."
"For now I think we should just find the leak," Mr. Arthur suggested. "Then we'll work on something else."
* * *
It was nine at night as Buffy, Willow, Xander, and Giles all crouched behind a bookshelf and waited for something to happen. "This is a total waste of time," Buffy muttered. "I could be out with you know who right now, but no, I'm stuck here doing one of your little watcher buddies a favor."
"This is more than just doing Mr. Arthur a favor," Giles reminded her. "This has to do with your life."
"What -- " Buffy stopped suddenly when she heard the double doors swing open. Immediately the four leaned forward, watching intently for any glimpse of the person who had just entered.
Who they saw was someone no one had expected. Principal Snyder.
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