"I believe we should return to the library," Giles said as they left the warehouse.
"Time for some heavy duty research," Buffy sighed.
"Perhaps Angel will be able to get away from Kelvasus’ people, now that the eclipse has occurred," Giles commented. "With any luck he’ll be able to provide a detailed description of the spell Kelvasus used. Information which could prove invaluable in reversing it."
"As long as he remembers which side he’s on." Xander muttered.
Willow glared at him, saying, "We should go."
"Yes, quite," Giles added.
After getting into Oz’s van, Willow put on the welding mask again.
"That’s odd," she said.
"What?" Oz asked.
"A little of the sun’s showing, it’s like the eclipse is ending normally," Willow replied.
"You’re sure?" Oz asked. "I thought we failed. We didn’t stop Kelvasus, we didn’t even find him."
Willow shrugged.
By the time they arrived at the school there was no doubt about what Willow had seen, the sun was more than half visible.
As they climbed out of the cars, Buffy was torn between elation and concern, "Angel must have done something to stop them," she announced.
"Or they didn’t have any more luck finding the Shadwen than we did," Xander offered.
"Either is a possibility," Giles said. "We need to learn what happened. Someone should check if Angel has returned to the mansion yet."
"He might have gone to my place," Buffy said. "Angel knows I’d be looking for him."
"I’ll check at home," Joyce offered.
Giles unlocked the school’s front door. "While we look for Angel, why don’t the rest of you continue our research on the Shadwen and Kelvasus."
* * *
By the time everyone had regrouped in the library the sun was shining, completely unobscured in the clear, bright, blue, Southern California sky.
"No Angel?" Willow asked, analyzing the grim looks on her friends’ faces.
"No," Buffy replied as Giles unlocked the door to his office.
"Angel can take care of himself," Willow offered. "I’m sure he’ll be all right."
"Buffy," Giles’ voice was tense. Everyone looked up to see him standing in the door of his office holding a sheet of paper. "They were here," he said. "It’s from Angel, they were here all the time and they had the Shadwen."
"Maybe they’re still here," Xander said.
Quickly the group split up to search the school.
Passing a window over looking the school courtyard Buffy froze. A figure in dark clothing lay face down in the sunlit area by the fountain.
"It can’t be," she whispered, running into the yard. "No, Angel!"
Buffy knelt by Angel’s side, gently she turned him over, the concrete where he had lain glistened with blood in the brilliant sun. Tentatively Buffy touched his face, whispering his name over and over again. Angel’s face was covered with bruises and blood. His eyes remained closed despite Buffy’s pleading.
"Giles!" she screamed, gathering Angel into her arms.
A few moments later Buffy’s friends reached the courtyard.
"Dear lord," Giles exclaimed. "Quickly get him out of the sun." He rushed to help Buffy move Angel into the school.
"Wait," Joyce warned. "He might have neck injuries."
"Joyce," Giles replied, lifting Angel with Buffy’s help. "Angel is a vampire, the sun is a much greater danger to him than the possibility of spinal cord injuries."
"Why hasn’t he burned already?" Cordelia asked. Noticing the look Buffy was giving her, she continued. "What? Is it a crime to ask the obvious question? Don’t vampires normally burn right away when they get in the sun?" Carefully Giles and Buffy set Angel don in the shadow of the building. "She’s right," Giles said softly. "He shouldn’t have survived that exposure."
Buffy knelt on the ground, gently cradling Angel’s head in her lap, tears running down her face. "How can we help him?" she begged.
Joyce turned Angel’s hand over pressing her fingers to his wrist.
"Angel doesn’t have a heartbeat," Xander said. "Not even when he’s not hurt."
"He’ll be okay," Willow said kneeling beside Buffy. "Remember the organ loft falling on Spike? He healed from that."
"I’m getting a pulse," Joyce said, looking up. "It’s unsteady but definitely there, he’s also breathing."
"That isn’t possible," Giles said, taking Angel’s other hand.
Joyce cautiously opened Angel’s eyes checking the pupils. "Call 911," she said. "I think he has a concussion."
Everyone simply stared at her, then Giles snapped, "Do it."
Cordelia whipped out her cell phone and dialed, as she spoke with the operator the other looked expectantly toward Giles.
"This isn’t possible," Giles said. "But Angel survived direct sunlight, he has a pulse, it breathing and his skin is warm to the touch. I don’t understand what could have happened, but he’s not a vampire, and he’s badly injured."
* * *
A confused and concerned group gathered in the Sunnydale hospital’s emergency room. Giles had taken the lead in dealing with the official’s questions, claiming that Angel was his nephew on a visit from England and that he’d planned to meet Angel at the school, but had no idea how he’d come to be injured.
Once the question had been dealt with there was nothing for anyone to do but worry, they couldn’t even discuss what had happened in the busy emergency room.
Finally the doctor cam out. "Your nephew has a concussion and several broken ribs, in addition to a number of bruises and cuts, some of which required stitches."
"He’s going to be all right though?" Buffy asked.
"Most likely," the doctor replied. "However we can’t be sure until he regains consciousness."
"Can we see him?" Buffy asked.
The doctor nodded, "But only one at a time, and only family."
Giles glanced at Buffy, "Doctor, Angel is far from home. Buffy and the others are very close to him, let them see him."
The doctor looked at Buffy’s tear streaked face then back at the door to the emergency room. "Go ahead," he said with a sigh.
Buffy followed the doctor back into the emergency room. She pulled up a chair and sat down beside Angel’s bed.
"Angel," Buffy said, taking his hand. "Please wake up. You’re alive now, really alive, you have to be okay. Angel, I love you. Please be all right, please."
* * *
In the waiting room Joyce and the Slayerettes sat quietly exchanging looks, wishing that they could speak openly to one another. They were too distracted to discuss everyday topics.
Giles had gone in to check on Angel and Buffy again. It had been two hours since the doctor had spoken with them. Angel hadn’t regained consciousness yet. The doctor had informed Giles that the longer he remained unconscious the greater the likelihood of serious brain damage became.
Giles was afraid that some of Angel’s symptoms came from the immense shock of changing from a vampire to a human. How were the doctors to deal with his medical condition when they didn’t even believe in the species he’d belonged to for the vast majority of his life. Even Giles, who was as much of an expert on vampires as could be found in the country, had no idea of how this had happened or what the side effects might be.
Finally Willow, Xander and Oz gave up their attempts to talk about normal subjects, they moved their chairs close together, trying to keep their conversation discrete.
"Angel, alive," Willow whispered. "It’s wonderful really. Wonderful, except for him being hurt of course. Still he’ll get better then he and Buffy can be like a normal couple."
"Buffy hasn’t been the same since that whole soul thing last year," Xander admitted. "His being back didn’t really fix things, maybe this will."
Oz nodded, he was the latest addition to what Xander called the Scobby Doo Gang. The first time he’d really helped out had been just after Angel had switched sides, so he didn’t know what Buffy had been like before, and Oz hardly knew Angel at all. Still, he had an idea of the pressure Buffy had been under. Also that Buffy and Angel were in love was apparent, even to Cordelia, the restrictions and dangers inherent in their relationship had to be tearing them apart.
Oz wondered what it was like for Angel, living with the shadow of his past and the possibility of becoming Angelus again hanging over the future. Oz’s own deepest fear was that he might kill someone while in his wolf-phase. As Angelus, Angel had committed any number of murders and murder was only one of a list of atrocities which could be lain at the vampire’s feet.
Also no matter what else, Oz knew that when the night ended he’d be himself again, the wolf safely locked away until the next full moon. Angel didn’t have that, if his demon gained control there was no guarantee that Angel would ever be back. Finally Angel’s life could never be normal. Even when he was Angel, Angel was still a vampire, with all the restrictions and needs which that entailed. Oz could safely ignore that he was a werewolf for all but three nights a month.
Oz knew what he would have given not to be a werewolf, he could only imagine how much more Angel must want a cure for vampirism. Oz only hoped that Angel’s cure hadn’t cost him his life.
* * *
Angel was confused, he wasn’t truly aware yet, just drifting slightly below consciousness, but he felt something was terribly wrong... no right, with him.
For a long time Angel’s partially awakened mind was completely overwhelmed by a pulsing sensation throughout his body. He was fascinated by it and frightened as well. It was strange and confusing, but somehow vaguely familiar at the same time.
Later, after his mind came to terms with the differences within his own body, Angel’s awareness began to expand. His senses slowly began to function again. There was a sensation of warmth on his face and arm, pressure on his hand and a soft murmuring in the background. It was all unexpected, but reassuring.
Voices, words, Buffy... It was Buffy speaking, holding his hand. Angel couldn’t understand what was being said, couldn’t begin to explain the warmth on his skin, but it didn’t matter. Buffy was there, with him. Somehow that made everything all right.
Relaxing, Angel slid into a true sleep.
Angel blinked then opened his eyes. It was bright, blindingly so. He found himself starring out an open window directly into the setting sun.
Angel jerked upright in the bed, panicked, fighting to free himself from monitors, tubing, wires and the bed sheets.
Suddenly someone was holding him still and Buffy was saying, "Angel, it’s okay. Don’t fight me Angel."
What was wrong with her? It was the sun, he would die. Instincts developed over the course of two centuries drove him to escape, but Buffy’s arms were like steel bands, holding him there in the deadly light of the sun.
Angel felt as if his chest were about to explode, his lungs constricted in terror and his heart pounded painfully against his ribs.
Then the blinds came down, heavy metal blinds blocking out the fearful sight of the sun. Angel eased back on the bed, surprised that he didn’t feel any burns. Buffy still held him and Giles stood at the window, Angel realized he’d been the one to shut the blinds.
Then the room was filling with strange people. They were fussing with the things Angel had disarrayed in his panic, scolding him for moving, checking his various injuries.
"It’s okay," Buffy whispered in his ear, "I’ll explain later."
A hospital? Angel thought, what am I doing here?
One of the doctors placed a stethoscope on Angel’s chest, Angel waited for his expression to change, to fill with confusion then fear, but he only nodded.
Then Angel understood the throbbing in his chest, his heart was beating. Dazed Angel allowed the doctor to finish with him.
When the room was finally quiet again Buffy took Angel’s hand once more, smiling broadly at him. "You’re human," she said. "Not a vampire, not anymore."
"I’m dead," Angel said dully. "Nothing can change that."
"Angel, we found you at the school, in the sun. Unconscious, but alive," Giles said. "I don’t know how, I would never had thought it possible, but Angel, you are alive."
"Even the doctors think so," Buffy added.
"The Shadwen," Angel said softly remembering the events of the eclipse.
Giles looked startled, the shock of finding Angel had completely distracted him from the current crisis, an inexcusable lapse.
"What happened?" Buffy asked.
"I screwed up the spell," Angel replied. "But Kelvasus still has the Shadwen, he’ll try it again."
"Did you learn where their lair is?" Giles asked.
"It’s the salvage yard," Angel said. "I met Kelvasus in the guard shack."
* * *
There were still fifteen minutes left before the sun disappeared over the horizon, Buffy thought. Time for them to go in and get the Shad-thing and get out before Kelvasus could get his whole organization moving against them.
This time it was just her, Giles, Willow, Xander and Oz. Angel couldn’t leave the hospital yet, and Buffy had persuaded her mother to stay with him. Cordelia had left hours before Angel woke-up. Cordy had said she was trying to cut down on her exposure to losers, since it seemed contagious and that she had better things to do than hang out in hospitals waiting to find out if a murder was going to be all right.
So here they were the original Slayerettes plus Oz hurrying through the salvage yard, hoping Kelvasus hadn’t chosen another resting spot for the day.
"Stay out of the shadows," Giles had advised. In a junk yard that wasn’t easy. Still they knew Kelvasus had more follower than would fit in the guard shack. That was the whole point of getting out before night fall, keeping the numbers of vamps they fought at any one time down to the minimum.
The Chosen One protected the world from the forces of darkness, but Buffy’s first rule of Slaying was don’t get killed. Taking on fifty odd vampires would definitely be breaking that rule and would probably leave Kelvasus with the Shadwen and plenty of time to get the hell out of Dodge before Faith or whoever the next Slayer was figured out what had happened. Not a good plan.
There was the guard house. Tiny, maybe two rooms total, in enough of a clearing that reinforcements wouldn’t be coming till sundown.
"Is everyone ready?" Buffy asked, they nodded. Buffy turned and kicked the door down.
"I know it’s early," Buffy said, attacking one of Kelvasus’ four body guards, "But I want to beat the crowds."
The fight lasted only seconds, then they were moving on to the inner room. Kelvasus was waiting for them, the Shadwen sat on the bed behind him. He stood in the center of the room, calmly aiming a gun at the door.
Buffy and the Slayerettes quickly scattered to either side of the door as Kelvasus triggered his first shot.
"You’ve got a problem with aim don’t you?" Buffy taunted.
Kelvasus shrugged, "Given your reputation, I was expecting someone larger. Somehow one always forgets appearances are irrelevant with Slayers. But if you truly believe that I am incompetent with firearms, just step through the door and permit me to disabuse you of your illusions."
"Aren’t you just Mr. Eloquence," Buffy shot back.
Kelvasus smiled, "It doesn’t really matter to me, whether I shoot you or my followers tear you and your friends limb from limb come sunset. So please feel free to make up you own mind as to which you prefer."
"Oh wow," Buffy exclaimed, "It’s like one of those multiple choice tests. You know, fill in the bubble. But you forgot C."
"See what?" Kelvasus asked, as Buffy on her knees leaned around the corner and threw a vial of holy water at him.
The vial shattered as it hit Kelvasus’ forehead. He dropped the gun to claw at his eyes and Buffy ran into the room and staked him saying, "Option C: none of the above."
"Is this the Shadwen thingy?" Buffy asked picking it up from the bed then turning to display it to Giles.
"Yes, I believe so," Giles replied.
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