"Immortal Beloved..." XC...

A shortie...

PG-13

Disclaimer: No, Joss, no...I make no claims, put that thing down!

It's all yours and ME's...

Spoilers for Angel to the bitter end...Flee at once!...

Summary: Various outcomes following "Girl In Question" and /or "Not Fade Away" on Angel...

Ok, I lied about stopping at 50...But me poor ole mum would just say, "so long as I like it, it's ok..."

Archived at the 'Normal' Buffyverse page of the Buffy Rebecca verse, https://www.angelfire.com/zine2/buffyrebecca/index.html (scroll on down to the IB series)...

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Rome, night...

A thirty-five year old Buffy is surrounded by four members of a powerful new vamp clan...

Who, with the usual demonic lack of imagination, have named themselves... "The Four..."

Naturally, normally...Piece a cake...

However, this time they've managed to tap a powerful Hell energy source...And more serious...

She left her stake behind at the apartment in Rome before beginning Patrol...A fact which the psychic member of "The Four" had noted...

Not having been quite herself following her recent dumping by the Immortal...Who wasn't into aging babes, sorry...And had been feeling a bit confined by Buf's efforts to keep him on the monogamy leash...

Hell, she'd even bristled at the notion of having Dawn join them...Not even a stranger...Geesh...

Too much chain for a free-nonspirited dude like His Benevolence...

A hastily grabbed board proves not quite enough...The leering, supervamps crowd her into a tight corner...Hmmn...

She waves a hand... "Can we take five a mo?..." They stare...Huh?

"I'm in a tight corner and it's the time when one of my friends usually does something to get me out...But none's in Rome right now, so let me make a few calls..." she pulls a cell phone...

The Four eye each other...Ummn...

"C'mon guys...You wouldn't want it said you beat me unfairly..." she gives them an innocently sincere look... "Everybody knows it's traditional to let me call in my gang..."

Unfortunately they had chosen to act as a council...Convinced by Star Wars Six that it was in the final analysis the best way to go...

A debate begins...Unable to reach consensus on immediate killing they reluctantly agree to defer to tradition...

Hey, the greatest of the Slayers would hardly lie, right?...

Hmmn...She frowns as Willow's machine plays the same message it's played for over a decade... "Hi, it's Willow...And Kennedy..." A giggle... "And we're off on an important astral plain tour...Please leave a message and the goddess'll get back to you as soon as we return..."

Remind them that you're a small g, Willow...Kennedy's voice hisses... "We wouldn't want folks to think you're going the megalo route again..." "Right...That's with a small g...See ya..."

Beep...

Yeah...Buffy frowns...An astral plain tour of every exotic sex dimension in the known and unknown universe...

She dials again as the Four patiently wait...

"Xander?...Buffy...I'm having a leetle trouble here in Rome...Couldya possibly see your way to...What...?"

Uh-huh...

"Well, I realize resurrected Anya may have a few misgivings regarding your vision of being hurt fighting with me but...What?..."

A pledge?...Never to fight with me again?...

"Xander...?...C'mon..." she tried her best wheedling tone... "What's a little pledge to your recently resurrected beloved compared to our friendship and the times we've shared..."

Well, you could teleport...Wish Anya to...

"Oh, right...No longer demon...Couldn't she rejoin the firm for a little while?...It being a crisis sit and all..."

No...The whole world's not in danger...she admits...

Indeed not...one of the Four stares... "Hell, lady, do we look like a quartet of insane Angeluses who'd destroy our own home?..."

"Xander...C'mon...I really need ya...What?...You'll call the Roman police?...Xander?...You gotta come..."

I'm sure in the interest of fair play these guys would wait till you could fly in from Nairobi...

Well...Another of the Four looks at his mates...Kinda expecting a lot of us...

"I guess it'd be ok..." the third from the left notes... "I gotta nothing else to do tonight till dawn..."

Xander?...she eyes the dead phone...

Phone the cops?...What kinda dumbassed help is that?...a frown at the phone...

"Hang on..." she waves at the Four...Who nod politely...

Seems a shame...The fourth of the Four notes, shaking his head...I thought these guys were always there for her...

"Giles?...Buffy...Yeah, in Rome...Yeah, I decided to take on the Four single-handed..."

Yes...she frowns at the phone... I am having 'a little difficulty'...

"I left Mr. Pointy at home...And the Four are super-charged...Could you send a few Slayers over?...Teleport them, maybe?...And come yourself, if you got a few minutes..."

Whatdya mean you don't think that's wise?...

"I don't care if you think the only two in Rome aren't experienced enough...Send them over...And keep sendin' em..."

What?...What does that mean, 'my dear, one must weigh the costs against the benefits...'

"Tomorrow?...When you've gathered at least ten experienced Slayers?...Giles, I'll be dead by then...Unless..." she pauses...And pulling away from the phone, turns to the Four...Well, three now, one having gone off to take a leak and find someone for dinner...

"You guys couldn't wait till tomorrow night?..."

"Fraid not, ma'am..." one answers politely, if a bit put out... "That would be stretching our chivalry a little...We are pure Evil after all, you know..."

Right...she sighs...Then brightens... "Giles?...If you won't send those two kids to die with me, how's about trying that First Slayer superstrengthening linkage?..."

Hey, I heard about that...one of the Four notes... "That was really something...That Adam never stood a chance..."

Hey, thanks man...he beams as his returning comrade tosses a half-dead young woman his way...And her date to the other two...

"What?...It won't work without at least two wiccans in the circuit?...And the First Slayer's pissed at me?..."

Why me?...I thought we'd reached an understanding...she thinks, frowning... "Well can't you find two wiccans or sorcerers at the Council and give it a try...?"

Yeah, yeah...she waves a hand... "I know you warned me to wait for backup..."

"Individual responsibility?...Sure I've heard of it...It's what wealthy Republicans say to middle class and poor people when they want their retirement money to play with in the stock market..."

So about this link thing...Giles?...

"Giles?..." she eyes the again dead phone...

"Sorry about this, Slayer..." the first speaker of the Four notes...As they munch on the male human, leaving the female for a speedy transformation...

Hey, nothing wrong with 'The Five'...And she's quite the attractive young Italian female...

Hell, the second speaker of the soon-to-be Five suggests...

Nothing particularly wrong with... "The Six..."...Eyeing Buffy as she ponders options...

Especially if it means we get a famed star in our little circle...

And 2 into 4 is a lot less likely to cause major infighting...

"I got an idea...Gimme one more minute..." she starts dialing...

Sure...Take your time...The third of the now Five politely nods...

Demanding little prima donna, isn't she?...the second speaker quietly notes to the fourth... "I think

I see now why the little friends aren't all that anxious to charge in..."

"Older, wiser, lives of their own...Not quite the starry-eyed Slayer worshipers they once were..." the fourth speaker nods back...

Though that Mr. Giles strikes me as rather coldly Machiavellian...the second speaker shakes his head...

Grrr...the new member, female, in demon face, eyes Buffy... "Just a min, sister..." the third speaker pats her, offering a blood pack which she feverishly tears open and drinks from...

"Hey, Harmony?...Are you still working for Angel?..." Buffy stares at the phone...

Oh, got your soul, eh?... "Well, that's one way to keep your job..."

Hey...she frowns...I wasn't in LA...How could I have helped you?...

"Well, I was busy with Spike the night I had you cornered in Sunnydale..."

You...What?...

With whom?...she blinked at the phone...

"You lying bitch!...Post-soul William would never..."

One of the Four eyes his male comrades, all four rolling eyes...

"What...?" their new sister looks at them...The second speaker explains...

"Well...Maybe just to test things out..." Buffy admits... "But I bet he never did again..."

He better not've...she thinks...

"And I bet there's been no one else...Huh?...Right?...Huh?..."

"Hah!..." she crows as Harmony is forced to concede the point...Damn that pure new soul...

"I knew it..." she grins...A thumbs up to the Five... I's still the One...

Whoa...The new fifth member eyes her, then her new comrades...Just the one time after corporealization?...

Gee...She eyes the battered, non-transformed corpse of her former boyfriend...

I took that human scum bag back after affairs with three different girls...Kicking the corpse down the alley...

"Put me through to William...Now, Harm!...Or human-souled or no!!..." Buffy shouts...

That's no way for a Slayer to treat a souled being...the third speaker hisses to his clan... "Especially one she made fun of and never tried to help when she turned...A former classmate..."

Hey, Will...It's me...she beamed at the phone...

"It's so good to hear your voice..."

Well, hey...her voice took on an aggrieved tone... "You never called me, you know..."

Ummn, look...I'm sorry about not calling you after the thing with Dana and the hands...

"Yeah, Andy cracked after ten minutes back home..."

And as for the battle with the Partners...I woulda come if I'd had warning from Giles...But Henri...The Immortal, you know him?...And I...Were skiing on the Alps that weekend...And my cell phone batteries weren't charged so I didn't get Giles' last minute message to rally the troops to help you guys out...

"Anyway, Will...I was wondering if you're seeing anybody now?..."

Nah, I dumped him...His Benevolence wasn't really seeking redemption, just a good time with a lot of human girls...

She dumped the Immortal?...the fourth speaker chuckles to his comrades quietly...

"That's not how I heard it..." he grins...

"Nobody?...Really?...Great..." she beams at the phone...

So how's about you coming to Rome and seein' your lil' blonde Slayer girl at last...?

"When?...Well, how's 'bout grabbing an orb of Callistos from your former W-H occult vaults and teleportin' over here right now?..."

We could do the town, have dinner...

"After we take care of this one little problem I'm having here tonight..."

Well...Just a few vamps...Nothing world-shaking...

"See...This will have you making snide comments all night, I know...I somehow managed to leave Mr. Pointy on my living room floor..."

Well...See... "These guys...The Four...er no, the Five, now..."A beam from the new member...

"...Are supercharged via the Cleveland Hellmouth..."

Knew we shoulda blown that one when we stopped by after Sunnydale...she thinks...

"So I'm having just a leetle trouble dealin'..."

But after we deal here, it's time we got to know each other again...she smiles at the phone...

"He won't buy that, will he?..." the new female member asks, eyeing the Slayer on phone...

"Are you kiddin'?..." the first speaker of the Five chuckles... "Or just not yet fully plugged into the Evil network yet?...We're talking about William the Bloody Awful's poetic, romantic soul here...He'd buy if she offered him the Brooklyn Bridge..."

"I know it's been twelve years, Will...And I might note, again...You never called me..." Buffy frowned at the phone...

Oh-oh...The second speaker of the Five shakes his head... "I think I hear strike four..."

Now that's sad...the third speaker sighs... "I always thought they made a great couple...Regular Tracy and Hepburn..."

Much better than that brooding jerk Angelus...the fourth male agrees.. "Say, did any of you ever believe that line he gave her about not being able to stay with her in Sunnydale because of the curse?..." he grins...

He must thank Angelus on bended knee every night for getting him out of that burb and that relationship...the third chuckles...

You gotta what?...she stares at the phone...

"... 'Stay home and take care of the kid'?...What kid?..." a dumfounded look, followed by a rather angry one...

"Whose...Kid?..."

Kid?...The new member eyes her comrades... "Oh, the sacrificial kid, right..." the second male nods...Explaining hastily...As Buffy listens to Will's hurried summary of events over the phone...

"It's ok Slayer..." he kindly calls to her, she looking over to him... "It's really not his kid...Really..." he nods to her as she stares...

"You adopted a kid?...They let you adopt a kid?..."

Hey...He's human-souled...Why couldn't our kind be good child-care providers once the bloodlust and evil are purged?...the third male frowns... "We may be ruthless killers but when we love we really love..."

Except when we kill what we love for fun, of course...

"Don't take it that way, Will...I'm just surprised...I'm sure you're a great dad..." she smiles...

You...A 'dad'...she chuckles...Then looks a bit downcast...

"I wish I had been there, Will...I keep thinking about all our time together..."

When do we eat her?...the female hisses... "Hang on...This isn't settled yet..." the first male waves a hand at her...The other three males eyeing Buffy with rather considerable sympathy as she speaks...

"I should've come to LA when Andy came back with Dana, I know...But Giles said it was likely you were bait for me and I thought maybe...I mean Xander and Dawn both said...Willow was away on her astral plain tour...Still is, by the way...Anyway..."

Dawn and Xander both said I should move on, cause you obviously had given up on me...Maybe the soul didn't want me in the first place...

She listens a moment...

"Well...You weren't the same old, 'nothing will stop me from either killing or having the Slayer' self after you got back from Africa...You know that, Will..."

But I am sorry...

"Say...Couldn't you get a sitter?...Or maybe leave the kid with Giles in London for the night and then come on to Rome?...We got so much to talk over after we kill these guys...Er..." she eyes the slightly annoyed...Hey, we been exceptionally polite and honorable foes, lady...Five... "Give these poor creatures the peace they deserve..."

A little more like it, girlie...the first male speaker nods to his mates...A little courtesy is always appreciated...Even by your heinous fiend foes...

"What?..." she eyes the phone...Then her foes...

Ummn... "Will, I can't do that..." she hisses...The Five looking at her as she hastily whispers...

I mean...I'm the Greatest of the Slayers...

"I can't run out on a battle...They'd be saying I'm chicken...And it would be an insult to these..."

Hey...she glares... "I damn well did mean it...You little blonde coward...And if you'd had the guts to risk facing me..."

She listens...The Five, including their new member, listening now with rather bated breath...

Not necessary for them of course, but given the romantic tension, they couldn't resist adding to the drama of the moment...

"I do mean it, William..." she says firmly...

Aw...the first male nods to the others... "I knew it..."

Hmmphf...the new female waves a hand... "She's playing him...He'll come running, they'll fight us...She'll dump him..."

"Ok...I'll do it..." Buffy nods... "For you, darling..." she listened and hurriedly repeated a chant...

And vanished...Leaving the Five in jaw-dropped astonishment...

She left the field...Buffy Summers, greatest Slayer of all time...Left the field to her foes...

For love?...

We...Won?...

"God, now that was romantic..." the fourth male sighs...

"Geesh...Are all English guys like that William?..." the startled female eyes the spot where Buffy had departed from...

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