The battered and aging Citroën pulled into the parking lot outside the
Family Home teen shelter, coming alongside the only other vehicle in the
lot, Oz's Chevy Van. The slightly dimmed headlights illuminated the van's
owner and his red headed girlfriend as they stood just outside the
building. The old car came to a sharp, lurching halt as the brakes were
applied a tad too sharply for a vehicle moving so slowly. In truth, the
car had not moved very fast the whole trip from Caritas on account of the
fact that the driver, one Buffy Anne Summers, had indeed never found third
gear.
"I just don't get it!" whined Buffy, as she killed the engine. "I've slayed dozens, if not hundreds of vampires, beat the crap out of an invisible, psychopathic sophomore determined to do a little free cosmetic surgery on Cordelia's face, back body dropped the Master straight to Hell, blew the Judge up with a rocket launcher, not even mentioning Der Kinderstod, the She Mantis, or Darryl Epps, the red headed stepchild of Frankenstein. So why is it that I can't find third gear!" Behind her, Giles sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Seeing this, Xander Harris began to laugh. Buffy looked over at her friend in confusion. "What's so funny, Xander? I know it's not my driving."
Xander took a deep breath, to clear out the last of his giggles. "Sorry Buff, it's just that.Oh, this is too much.we've been reunited for an hour at best, and you're already giving Giles migraines!" Giles gave the boy an exasperated look as Xander exited the car, waving to Willow and Oz. "Hey, guys, look at what we picked up at the second hand store! Only one owner too!" At this very.Xander introduction, Buffy got out of the driver's seat, raising it so Giles could escape from the cramped back seat area. She moved away from the car over to where Oz and Willow were, but before she got two steps in, she was nearly knocked on her ass by Willow, who slammed into her full force with a hug.
"OhmyGodBuffyitsyouitsreallyyouIcan'tbelieveityourehereandyoureokay!" Willow took a breath as she pulled back to look at her long missing friend. "Okay, taking a breath. Relaxing. Find my center. Okay, I'm good. Oh, you cut your hair. Looks good!"
"Hi, Will. I missed you too. And your hair looks great!" The pair hugged tightly as Oz walked up to them and coughed. Buffy looked at the boy and smiled. "Hey, Oz. It's good to see you too."
"Hey, Buff. It's cool that the gang's back together. Especially with what we found inside, right Will?" At that, Willow pulled back from Buffy in shock, cursing herself that she had forgotten to say something.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, Buffy! I can't believe I didn't say this right away! Angel! The curse."
"I know, Will. The curse worked. I guess you got enough of it done before everything hit the fan."
"Uh, yeah.sure. But Buffy."
"It was too late though. He had opened the portal. And I couldn't close it. Wouldn't. He was back, and how can anyone blame me?! If any of you had to choose between the love of your life or the world, could you do it? Spike could. He sacrificed Angel.and now I have to live with that."
"BUFFY! ANGEL'S ALIVE!" Willow screamed at the top of her lungs, interrupting the Slayer's indictment on all of them.
"What? Willow, a-a-are you sure?" asked Giles, a slight edge coming into his voice.
"Yes! Me and Oz, we found him inside. He's alive, but."
"Take me to him, Will!" shouted Buffy. Without word, Willow took her friend in hand and led her back into the shelter. Xander climbed back into the Citroën, rummaging around. He produced a cross and two stakes, one of which he gave to Giles.
On Giles' look, Xander merely said, "Always be prepared!" Giles nodded in response and followed the girls into the shelter. Xander went to follow Giles but was pulled away roughly. Before he knew what was happening, he was slammed against the van several times. As quickly as it had begun, the attack stopped. Once he regained his balance, he looked at his attacker. Oz stood before him, hands shoved into the pockets of his fur lined jacket. Xander sputtered, "What w-w-as th-that for?"
Oz looked Xander in the eye, a cool, calm expression on his face. He stepped in closer to Xander, and began to speak quietly. "The way I figure it, Giles will put two and two together eventually, and my Will, she's just too happy to see her best friend. And the damnedest thing is that Buffy had no clue whatsoever. But you and me? We know the truth, don't we?"
"Yeah, you're right. We do know. We both know that I didn't tell Buffy about Willow's plan to try the curse again. I sent Buffy into that mansion to kill the man she loved without even bothering to tell her there was a chance for him to be saved, if she could just buy time. And so what! As far as I'm concerned, he didn't deserve to be saved! That soul of his was a punishment to begin with! He was and is a killer! He tortured Giles, played mind games with Buffy and the rest of us, and he killed Miss Calendar! He deserved everything he got coming to him!"
Oz thought about that for a moment, then said, "So, he betrayed all of us."
"Yes!"
"And the biggest sign of that betrayal was when he killed Miss Calendar?"
"YES!"
"Who betrayed all of us when she didn't tell you the truth about Angel?"
"YE-huh?"
"Gotta look at things from both sides, man. This would never have happened if she didn't pony up from the get go, and you know it."
"Yeah, I get that. But so what? We could do a whole 'Elseworlds' series on whether or not Angel would've gone all Big Bad or not. The fact is, he did, and we paid for it."
"You don't get it, do you? You had a choice in this. You could've told Buffy the truth. See, I'm bettin' that she and Spike could've held him off long enough for the curse to work. Buffy wouldn't have left us, Giles probably would've forgiven Angel for what he did, and most importantly, Willow wouldn't have spent the entire summer thinking she failed her friend." He stepped in close to Xander, getting right in his face. "You'll find a way to make this all right again. And if you ever make Willow suffer like that again, I will kill you." He stepped away from Xander, turning his back on him as he walked to the entrance of the shelter. "I'm gonna go inside and referee this reunion fiasco. Why don't you stay out here and think about what you did." With that, Oz went inside, leaving a dejected Alexander LaVelle Harris alone with his guilt.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The front door of Wesley Wyndham-Pryce was flung open fiercely as he and Faith bolted in, Wesley pausing only to look over his shoulder one last time to make sure they weren't followed. Exhausted, he collapsed onto his couch, gasping for air. Faith, however, was bouncing off the walls. Literally.
"Goddamn! That was FUN!! Did you see how I dusted those five vamps without them even realizing it! I was on a roll!"
"No, Faith, you were almost dead or mutilated. Angelus, or Azrael, as it were, had you dead to rights. If I hadn't been able to ward them off." Wesley stopped, not wanting to finish the gruesome thought. Faith kneeled down by his side.
"Hey, I'm sorry. I admit it, I went off half cocked. No, quarter cocked. Hell, I don't even think I was cocked at all. He punked me out, and you were there to save my ass. Again. I don't know what I'd do if you weren't my Watcher, Wes. From what I get from listening to you and Giles talk, most Watchers don't get involved. They just."
"Watch?" offered Wesley.
"Yeah. I mean, look at Kakistos. If it was some other Watcher, they'd probably be dead, and I'd be on the run or somethin'. But it was you and me, whoopin' that ass!" Faith jumped back up, arms raised in victory. "You an' me, tag team champions of slaying suck heads! I'm tellin' ya, we rock!" She began to walk towards her room, already in the process of taking her shirt off. Pausing for a moment, she turned back towards Wesley. "Hey, do we have any pizza left over from the other night?"
"Yes, it's in the refrigerator. Why do you ask?"
"Could ya nuke some for me while I change into comfy clothes. You know how I get after slaying." She continued back into her room, closing the door. Wesley slowly slid off the couch and made his way into the kitchen.
"Yes, Faith, I do know how you get after slaying. Hungry and 'horny'.", he thought to himself as he removed the pizza box from the fridge. He divvied up the remaining slices onto two plates and placed the first one in the microwave. After completing his task, he took both plates to Faith's room. Juggling both plates on one arm, he knocked on her door and began to open it. "Faith", he began, "we need to do some research on this occurrence. If this Azrael is indeed Angelus, returned from Acathla's dimension, we need to discover.how.he.got." Wesley stopped speaking. He couldn't get another word out, much less form a coherent thought beyond what he saw inside Faith's room. Namely, Faith. Naked. Well, nearly naked. She was clad in only a black thong, her back to the door. Looking over her shoulder, she smiled coyly.
"Hey, Wes, didn't hear ya knock." She winked at him, then slipped a black sports bra over her head, arching her back as she adjusted it into place. "So what were you saying about Angel?" She bent over slowly at the waist, flexing her glutes and hamstrings as she grabbed a pair of sweats and pulled them over her legs slowly. Wesley turned around quickly, almost stumbling. He inched over to Faith's dresser, placing the plates down as he attempted to recover his composure.
"She's just a girl. A child. An incredibly sexy, virile.No! What am I thinking! She's only sixteen! I've got to get myself under control!" Wesley sorted his thoughts out, banishing all the latent sexual tension to a far corner of his mind. He breathed in and out slowly, then turned back around. Faith had already grabbed a plate of pizza and was sitting cross legged on her bed, stuffing her face. Wesley thanked his stars that Faith's inherent lack of table manners made her seem more child like and thus not an object of desire. This worked well for Wesley.
"So, let us review all the facts before we make our report to Mr. Giles."
"Review what!? Angel almost kicked my ass!! Fact! Review over!"
"Faith, it's not that simple. There are particulars we need to be absolutely certain of, like if that truly was Angelus. We have never seen his face, we've only heard the descriptions given by Mr. Giles and the others. Plus, he never identified himself as Angelus, only as Azrael. He could in fact be an altogether different vampire, using a passing resemblance to Angelus to cash in on the established reputation and garner more forces. Therefore, we need to."
"Oh, good God, please don't say."
"Research." Wesley went back out into the living room to gather up his books on noted vampires. Stacking them, he carried the ungainly load back into Faith's room. Depositing them on her desk, he took the top two books and sat down on the lone chair. He handed the first book to Faith, and dove into the second. There they sat in silence for two hours, researching, going through book after book until.
"Got 'im! Here's our bloodsucker!" Faith held up her book in triumph, pointing to the picture in the book. It was from an article in the Los Angeles Times, describing a series of mysterious disappearances from a hotel, the Hyperion. In the photo, near the back of the crowd, but clearly visible, was Angel. And it was an exact match for the vampire they had faced earlier that night. Azrael was in fact Angel. The proof was now irrefutable.
"Well, I'd say that settles it. We have the proof we need."
"Oh, so when I say it's Angel, you go 'Oh no no, tut tut tut. We must research.' But when you see some old picture in a book that smells like some old dead person, you say 'Oh, my my, it must be true.'?
"Yes Faith, that's exactly right. Now, let us make a telephone call in to Mr. Giles. He must be apprised of this situation immediately."
"Knock yourself out, Watcher guy."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"It's right back here, Buffy! The room in the back! That's where we found him!" Willow ran ahead of her friends and opened the door wide, slipping in just ahead of the throng of Scoobies that piled in behind her, Oz bringing up the rear. Buffy looked around, realizing what room they were in. It was the room where the portal to Acathla's Dimension was. Of course! She knew he was there! She should have stayed longer. If not in the other dimension, at least in this room for the few seconds it might have taken for Angel to emerge. Speaking of which.
"Will, where's Angel?"
"Buffy, I swear, he was right here! Not even ten minutes ago!"
"He's still here", interjected Oz, sniffing the air, "I can smell him."
"Well, where did he go? He's not in this room." Buffy looked back into the hallway. "Did he go into one of these other rooms? Did he have clothes when you saw him?"
"No", replied Oz, "All he had on were some rags and shredded leather pants."
"Maybe he went searching for some clothes."
"Or blood. Remember Buffy, beyond all else, Angel is a vampire." Giles ran a hand through his thinning hair. "His priorities are no doubt being fueled by intense hunger. I seriously doubt that his captors fed him well. It would also not be too much of a stretch of the imagination that his hunger overrode his conscience, if his soul was truly restored as you say."
"So, you're saying that."
"Angel may have had to fed from the people held captive there, no doubt having to kill."
"I don't accept that! Angel has more control than that!"
"Buffy, even you said that time moved faster there than here. I have little doubt that he may have held out for some time, but even the strongest wills can break. And I should know, he broke mine."
"Oh, is that what this is?! Is this revenge time, Giles? What happened to all that talk about vampires being demons that took over the body of the victim? That it was a different person? Angel with his soul is the person he was before he became a vampire who has to deal with all the horrible things that Angelus did. And I'm sure, oh so very sure, that he's paying for the torture he inflicted on you, and the murder of Miss Calendar."
"Do you really think that little of me, Buffy? Is that why you left in the first place, because you thought that we wouldn't care about Angel. I cared about Angel, damn it! He was a valued member of our team, who risked his life for all of us! I never forgot that, even when I went to kill the creature who had taken his place! But the fact remains that while Angel's soul may indeed be restored, it in no way banishes the demon inside him. He himself said on numerous occasions that it was an ongoing struggle going on inside of him, the demon fighting for dominance with the man! And in a Hell dimension, the man would not be able to withstand the torment indefinitely. On the other hand, a demon would thrive in a Hell dimension. So it stands to reason that Angel's demon half could have, I say could have taken dominance! I am only postulating a theory, not making an indictment! We will simply have to see for ourselves!"
"Uh, Giles?" said Willow, "When me and Oz found him, he was pretty disoriented, but he was also kind. Just like Angel used to be, before the curse was originally broken. He gave me advice on how to survive in the Hell dimension, before he remembered that he wasn't there anymore. Then we jogged his memory a little, and he was overcome with grief over what had happened when he lost his soul. He even busted up his hand pretty bad. Angelus was a smooth operator, but he wasn't a good actor. There's no way he could fool me into believing he was our Angel. Not again." She looked at her two friends, who were both noticeably looking away from each other. "So, when we find him, and we will find him, Buffy, we will all see that Angel is back and we can be happy for a change." At this, both Buffy and Giles looked at each other. Both had misty eyes, but refused to cry again.
"Giles, I."
"No, Buffy, it is I who should."
Oz stepped in to settle everything. "Cool, you're both sorry. We're done arguing." He began to sniff around the room, trying to lock onto Angel's scent. He stopped after several minutes, frowning. "No go. I can tell his scent was here, but I can't lock onto it, tell where he went."
Buffy walked out the door, back into the hallway. "So I guess we do it the hard way. We search room by room, in pairs. Oz, you and Willow take the rooms on the left. Giles and I'll search the rooms on the right."
"No need for all that, Buff. I think I found what you're looking for." Xander stepped into the hallway from the front of the shelter, holding Angel gently by the arm. "I found him in the alley on the side of the place. As best I can figure, he crawled out through an open window." On Buffy's shocked expression, Xander merely said, "It's real, Buff. Angel's right here."
Buffy slowly approached the dark haired vampire. As she came into the light, Angel's face lit up with recognition and tears welled up in his eyes. "Buffy? Is it really you?"
"Yes! Oh God, Angel, I thought I'd never see you again!" They flew into a fierce and loving embrace, pulling each other as close as they could get to one another.
"You brought me home, Buffy. I know this now. I saw you with Spike, rescuing those kids. Kids I wasn't strong enough to save. You showed me the way home." He began to sob into her shoulder. "Thank you! Th-thank you so much!"
"I love you", said Buffy, too choked up to say anything else. As they pulled back to look into each other's eyes, Buffy saw the fear and torment that still marred Angel's soul. It would be a long time before he was ever going to be himself again, if ever.
At this point, Giles' cell phone rang. He first thought about ignoring it, instead concentrating on ensuring that Angel was who he said he was, but he decided against it and answered. On the other end was Wesley. Giles turned and walked away from the group of reunited friends so he could hear better. Ten minutes later, after hearing everything Wesley had to say, he responded with, "Yes, thank you for that report. Yes, I do think it's quite peculiar, considering the person you claim you saw two hours ago is standing right in front of me. What? Yes, I said right in front of me. Look, we'll sort all of this out when we get back to Sunnydale. I'm sure it'll be an interesting conversation." He hung up his cell phone and returned to the group, who were all still talking to each other, though Oz was giving Xander a peculiar look. He cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. "Pardon me for interrupting, but we need to get back to Sunnydale now. I just spoke with Wesley, and he and Faith are going to need our help."
"Why? What's going on? And who are Faith and Wesley?"
"I'll explain all of that on the way back, Buffy. But for now, we need to get going now. It seems that Faith and Wesley had a run in with, w-well, w- with you, Angel." Everyone looked at Angel with a perplexed look on their faces, only to see an even more perplexed one on the vampire.
To Be Continued.
"I just don't get it!" whined Buffy, as she killed the engine. "I've slayed dozens, if not hundreds of vampires, beat the crap out of an invisible, psychopathic sophomore determined to do a little free cosmetic surgery on Cordelia's face, back body dropped the Master straight to Hell, blew the Judge up with a rocket launcher, not even mentioning Der Kinderstod, the She Mantis, or Darryl Epps, the red headed stepchild of Frankenstein. So why is it that I can't find third gear!" Behind her, Giles sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Seeing this, Xander Harris began to laugh. Buffy looked over at her friend in confusion. "What's so funny, Xander? I know it's not my driving."
Xander took a deep breath, to clear out the last of his giggles. "Sorry Buff, it's just that.Oh, this is too much.we've been reunited for an hour at best, and you're already giving Giles migraines!" Giles gave the boy an exasperated look as Xander exited the car, waving to Willow and Oz. "Hey, guys, look at what we picked up at the second hand store! Only one owner too!" At this very.Xander introduction, Buffy got out of the driver's seat, raising it so Giles could escape from the cramped back seat area. She moved away from the car over to where Oz and Willow were, but before she got two steps in, she was nearly knocked on her ass by Willow, who slammed into her full force with a hug.
"OhmyGodBuffyitsyouitsreallyyouIcan'tbelieveityourehereandyoureokay!" Willow took a breath as she pulled back to look at her long missing friend. "Okay, taking a breath. Relaxing. Find my center. Okay, I'm good. Oh, you cut your hair. Looks good!"
"Hi, Will. I missed you too. And your hair looks great!" The pair hugged tightly as Oz walked up to them and coughed. Buffy looked at the boy and smiled. "Hey, Oz. It's good to see you too."
"Hey, Buff. It's cool that the gang's back together. Especially with what we found inside, right Will?" At that, Willow pulled back from Buffy in shock, cursing herself that she had forgotten to say something.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, Buffy! I can't believe I didn't say this right away! Angel! The curse."
"I know, Will. The curse worked. I guess you got enough of it done before everything hit the fan."
"Uh, yeah.sure. But Buffy."
"It was too late though. He had opened the portal. And I couldn't close it. Wouldn't. He was back, and how can anyone blame me?! If any of you had to choose between the love of your life or the world, could you do it? Spike could. He sacrificed Angel.and now I have to live with that."
"BUFFY! ANGEL'S ALIVE!" Willow screamed at the top of her lungs, interrupting the Slayer's indictment on all of them.
"What? Willow, a-a-are you sure?" asked Giles, a slight edge coming into his voice.
"Yes! Me and Oz, we found him inside. He's alive, but."
"Take me to him, Will!" shouted Buffy. Without word, Willow took her friend in hand and led her back into the shelter. Xander climbed back into the Citroën, rummaging around. He produced a cross and two stakes, one of which he gave to Giles.
On Giles' look, Xander merely said, "Always be prepared!" Giles nodded in response and followed the girls into the shelter. Xander went to follow Giles but was pulled away roughly. Before he knew what was happening, he was slammed against the van several times. As quickly as it had begun, the attack stopped. Once he regained his balance, he looked at his attacker. Oz stood before him, hands shoved into the pockets of his fur lined jacket. Xander sputtered, "What w-w-as th-that for?"
Oz looked Xander in the eye, a cool, calm expression on his face. He stepped in closer to Xander, and began to speak quietly. "The way I figure it, Giles will put two and two together eventually, and my Will, she's just too happy to see her best friend. And the damnedest thing is that Buffy had no clue whatsoever. But you and me? We know the truth, don't we?"
"Yeah, you're right. We do know. We both know that I didn't tell Buffy about Willow's plan to try the curse again. I sent Buffy into that mansion to kill the man she loved without even bothering to tell her there was a chance for him to be saved, if she could just buy time. And so what! As far as I'm concerned, he didn't deserve to be saved! That soul of his was a punishment to begin with! He was and is a killer! He tortured Giles, played mind games with Buffy and the rest of us, and he killed Miss Calendar! He deserved everything he got coming to him!"
Oz thought about that for a moment, then said, "So, he betrayed all of us."
"Yes!"
"And the biggest sign of that betrayal was when he killed Miss Calendar?"
"YES!"
"Who betrayed all of us when she didn't tell you the truth about Angel?"
"YE-huh?"
"Gotta look at things from both sides, man. This would never have happened if she didn't pony up from the get go, and you know it."
"Yeah, I get that. But so what? We could do a whole 'Elseworlds' series on whether or not Angel would've gone all Big Bad or not. The fact is, he did, and we paid for it."
"You don't get it, do you? You had a choice in this. You could've told Buffy the truth. See, I'm bettin' that she and Spike could've held him off long enough for the curse to work. Buffy wouldn't have left us, Giles probably would've forgiven Angel for what he did, and most importantly, Willow wouldn't have spent the entire summer thinking she failed her friend." He stepped in close to Xander, getting right in his face. "You'll find a way to make this all right again. And if you ever make Willow suffer like that again, I will kill you." He stepped away from Xander, turning his back on him as he walked to the entrance of the shelter. "I'm gonna go inside and referee this reunion fiasco. Why don't you stay out here and think about what you did." With that, Oz went inside, leaving a dejected Alexander LaVelle Harris alone with his guilt.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The front door of Wesley Wyndham-Pryce was flung open fiercely as he and Faith bolted in, Wesley pausing only to look over his shoulder one last time to make sure they weren't followed. Exhausted, he collapsed onto his couch, gasping for air. Faith, however, was bouncing off the walls. Literally.
"Goddamn! That was FUN!! Did you see how I dusted those five vamps without them even realizing it! I was on a roll!"
"No, Faith, you were almost dead or mutilated. Angelus, or Azrael, as it were, had you dead to rights. If I hadn't been able to ward them off." Wesley stopped, not wanting to finish the gruesome thought. Faith kneeled down by his side.
"Hey, I'm sorry. I admit it, I went off half cocked. No, quarter cocked. Hell, I don't even think I was cocked at all. He punked me out, and you were there to save my ass. Again. I don't know what I'd do if you weren't my Watcher, Wes. From what I get from listening to you and Giles talk, most Watchers don't get involved. They just."
"Watch?" offered Wesley.
"Yeah. I mean, look at Kakistos. If it was some other Watcher, they'd probably be dead, and I'd be on the run or somethin'. But it was you and me, whoopin' that ass!" Faith jumped back up, arms raised in victory. "You an' me, tag team champions of slaying suck heads! I'm tellin' ya, we rock!" She began to walk towards her room, already in the process of taking her shirt off. Pausing for a moment, she turned back towards Wesley. "Hey, do we have any pizza left over from the other night?"
"Yes, it's in the refrigerator. Why do you ask?"
"Could ya nuke some for me while I change into comfy clothes. You know how I get after slaying." She continued back into her room, closing the door. Wesley slowly slid off the couch and made his way into the kitchen.
"Yes, Faith, I do know how you get after slaying. Hungry and 'horny'.", he thought to himself as he removed the pizza box from the fridge. He divvied up the remaining slices onto two plates and placed the first one in the microwave. After completing his task, he took both plates to Faith's room. Juggling both plates on one arm, he knocked on her door and began to open it. "Faith", he began, "we need to do some research on this occurrence. If this Azrael is indeed Angelus, returned from Acathla's dimension, we need to discover.how.he.got." Wesley stopped speaking. He couldn't get another word out, much less form a coherent thought beyond what he saw inside Faith's room. Namely, Faith. Naked. Well, nearly naked. She was clad in only a black thong, her back to the door. Looking over her shoulder, she smiled coyly.
"Hey, Wes, didn't hear ya knock." She winked at him, then slipped a black sports bra over her head, arching her back as she adjusted it into place. "So what were you saying about Angel?" She bent over slowly at the waist, flexing her glutes and hamstrings as she grabbed a pair of sweats and pulled them over her legs slowly. Wesley turned around quickly, almost stumbling. He inched over to Faith's dresser, placing the plates down as he attempted to recover his composure.
"She's just a girl. A child. An incredibly sexy, virile.No! What am I thinking! She's only sixteen! I've got to get myself under control!" Wesley sorted his thoughts out, banishing all the latent sexual tension to a far corner of his mind. He breathed in and out slowly, then turned back around. Faith had already grabbed a plate of pizza and was sitting cross legged on her bed, stuffing her face. Wesley thanked his stars that Faith's inherent lack of table manners made her seem more child like and thus not an object of desire. This worked well for Wesley.
"So, let us review all the facts before we make our report to Mr. Giles."
"Review what!? Angel almost kicked my ass!! Fact! Review over!"
"Faith, it's not that simple. There are particulars we need to be absolutely certain of, like if that truly was Angelus. We have never seen his face, we've only heard the descriptions given by Mr. Giles and the others. Plus, he never identified himself as Angelus, only as Azrael. He could in fact be an altogether different vampire, using a passing resemblance to Angelus to cash in on the established reputation and garner more forces. Therefore, we need to."
"Oh, good God, please don't say."
"Research." Wesley went back out into the living room to gather up his books on noted vampires. Stacking them, he carried the ungainly load back into Faith's room. Depositing them on her desk, he took the top two books and sat down on the lone chair. He handed the first book to Faith, and dove into the second. There they sat in silence for two hours, researching, going through book after book until.
"Got 'im! Here's our bloodsucker!" Faith held up her book in triumph, pointing to the picture in the book. It was from an article in the Los Angeles Times, describing a series of mysterious disappearances from a hotel, the Hyperion. In the photo, near the back of the crowd, but clearly visible, was Angel. And it was an exact match for the vampire they had faced earlier that night. Azrael was in fact Angel. The proof was now irrefutable.
"Well, I'd say that settles it. We have the proof we need."
"Oh, so when I say it's Angel, you go 'Oh no no, tut tut tut. We must research.' But when you see some old picture in a book that smells like some old dead person, you say 'Oh, my my, it must be true.'?
"Yes Faith, that's exactly right. Now, let us make a telephone call in to Mr. Giles. He must be apprised of this situation immediately."
"Knock yourself out, Watcher guy."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"It's right back here, Buffy! The room in the back! That's where we found him!" Willow ran ahead of her friends and opened the door wide, slipping in just ahead of the throng of Scoobies that piled in behind her, Oz bringing up the rear. Buffy looked around, realizing what room they were in. It was the room where the portal to Acathla's Dimension was. Of course! She knew he was there! She should have stayed longer. If not in the other dimension, at least in this room for the few seconds it might have taken for Angel to emerge. Speaking of which.
"Will, where's Angel?"
"Buffy, I swear, he was right here! Not even ten minutes ago!"
"He's still here", interjected Oz, sniffing the air, "I can smell him."
"Well, where did he go? He's not in this room." Buffy looked back into the hallway. "Did he go into one of these other rooms? Did he have clothes when you saw him?"
"No", replied Oz, "All he had on were some rags and shredded leather pants."
"Maybe he went searching for some clothes."
"Or blood. Remember Buffy, beyond all else, Angel is a vampire." Giles ran a hand through his thinning hair. "His priorities are no doubt being fueled by intense hunger. I seriously doubt that his captors fed him well. It would also not be too much of a stretch of the imagination that his hunger overrode his conscience, if his soul was truly restored as you say."
"So, you're saying that."
"Angel may have had to fed from the people held captive there, no doubt having to kill."
"I don't accept that! Angel has more control than that!"
"Buffy, even you said that time moved faster there than here. I have little doubt that he may have held out for some time, but even the strongest wills can break. And I should know, he broke mine."
"Oh, is that what this is?! Is this revenge time, Giles? What happened to all that talk about vampires being demons that took over the body of the victim? That it was a different person? Angel with his soul is the person he was before he became a vampire who has to deal with all the horrible things that Angelus did. And I'm sure, oh so very sure, that he's paying for the torture he inflicted on you, and the murder of Miss Calendar."
"Do you really think that little of me, Buffy? Is that why you left in the first place, because you thought that we wouldn't care about Angel. I cared about Angel, damn it! He was a valued member of our team, who risked his life for all of us! I never forgot that, even when I went to kill the creature who had taken his place! But the fact remains that while Angel's soul may indeed be restored, it in no way banishes the demon inside him. He himself said on numerous occasions that it was an ongoing struggle going on inside of him, the demon fighting for dominance with the man! And in a Hell dimension, the man would not be able to withstand the torment indefinitely. On the other hand, a demon would thrive in a Hell dimension. So it stands to reason that Angel's demon half could have, I say could have taken dominance! I am only postulating a theory, not making an indictment! We will simply have to see for ourselves!"
"Uh, Giles?" said Willow, "When me and Oz found him, he was pretty disoriented, but he was also kind. Just like Angel used to be, before the curse was originally broken. He gave me advice on how to survive in the Hell dimension, before he remembered that he wasn't there anymore. Then we jogged his memory a little, and he was overcome with grief over what had happened when he lost his soul. He even busted up his hand pretty bad. Angelus was a smooth operator, but he wasn't a good actor. There's no way he could fool me into believing he was our Angel. Not again." She looked at her two friends, who were both noticeably looking away from each other. "So, when we find him, and we will find him, Buffy, we will all see that Angel is back and we can be happy for a change." At this, both Buffy and Giles looked at each other. Both had misty eyes, but refused to cry again.
"Giles, I."
"No, Buffy, it is I who should."
Oz stepped in to settle everything. "Cool, you're both sorry. We're done arguing." He began to sniff around the room, trying to lock onto Angel's scent. He stopped after several minutes, frowning. "No go. I can tell his scent was here, but I can't lock onto it, tell where he went."
Buffy walked out the door, back into the hallway. "So I guess we do it the hard way. We search room by room, in pairs. Oz, you and Willow take the rooms on the left. Giles and I'll search the rooms on the right."
"No need for all that, Buff. I think I found what you're looking for." Xander stepped into the hallway from the front of the shelter, holding Angel gently by the arm. "I found him in the alley on the side of the place. As best I can figure, he crawled out through an open window." On Buffy's shocked expression, Xander merely said, "It's real, Buff. Angel's right here."
Buffy slowly approached the dark haired vampire. As she came into the light, Angel's face lit up with recognition and tears welled up in his eyes. "Buffy? Is it really you?"
"Yes! Oh God, Angel, I thought I'd never see you again!" They flew into a fierce and loving embrace, pulling each other as close as they could get to one another.
"You brought me home, Buffy. I know this now. I saw you with Spike, rescuing those kids. Kids I wasn't strong enough to save. You showed me the way home." He began to sob into her shoulder. "Thank you! Th-thank you so much!"
"I love you", said Buffy, too choked up to say anything else. As they pulled back to look into each other's eyes, Buffy saw the fear and torment that still marred Angel's soul. It would be a long time before he was ever going to be himself again, if ever.
At this point, Giles' cell phone rang. He first thought about ignoring it, instead concentrating on ensuring that Angel was who he said he was, but he decided against it and answered. On the other end was Wesley. Giles turned and walked away from the group of reunited friends so he could hear better. Ten minutes later, after hearing everything Wesley had to say, he responded with, "Yes, thank you for that report. Yes, I do think it's quite peculiar, considering the person you claim you saw two hours ago is standing right in front of me. What? Yes, I said right in front of me. Look, we'll sort all of this out when we get back to Sunnydale. I'm sure it'll be an interesting conversation." He hung up his cell phone and returned to the group, who were all still talking to each other, though Oz was giving Xander a peculiar look. He cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. "Pardon me for interrupting, but we need to get back to Sunnydale now. I just spoke with Wesley, and he and Faith are going to need our help."
"Why? What's going on? And who are Faith and Wesley?"
"I'll explain all of that on the way back, Buffy. But for now, we need to get going now. It seems that Faith and Wesley had a run in with, w-well, w- with you, Angel." Everyone looked at Angel with a perplexed look on their faces, only to see an even more perplexed one on the vampire.
To Be Continued.