After few hours
Buffy awoke trying to figure out what had happened in the last couple of hours. It surprised her to know that Angelus wanted her. He wanted to make love to her instead of fighting and she was having a hard time believing that.
"So, what do you say Buff, do we have the deal or not?", he broke the silence. She didn't answer him, just looked at him. She was so lost, confused and sad. "Ok, Buff, let me tell you this. Accepting my deal would be the best choice you ever made."
"What if you are just lying and playing with me? How would I know that you won't just kill me or hurt me", she asked.
"You don't. I guess, you just have to trust me on this one, lover", he said with a smirk. He saw that she was struggling, not wanting to believe him, but in some place deep down she did want to believe him. "Let's say, you didn't accept my deal and then what will you do. How are you going to explain to your friends and tell them that I lost my soul again Do you think, they'll understand? Do you think they will forgive you just like nothing ever happened? And may I remind you that you just let me make love to you. You gave yourself to me willingly; knowing it was I all along. How do you think, your friends are going to react, oh, and lets not forget your boyfriend", he asked her, knowing by the look on her face that he had her. Buffy thought about what he said and it made sense. Now she was torn between her duty and her heart.
"Trust me Buff, this is the only choice you have that will benefit you. You get what you want and I get what I want", he added. "Also, one more thing, you can't tell anyone about this. This stays between us only, or the deal is off."
"But if I agree with your deal, then how will I explain to them that you lost your soul and not let them find out about us, because they are going to find out soon", she asked.
"I'm sure you can come up with something good, lover, so do you agree or not?", he whispered in her ear.
Buffy nodded her head, feeling like she had no choice left but to take that one. "Good, I want you to come here tomorrow at night, also if you want to keep your pathetic boyfriend alive, I suggest you break up with him because I like to keep what is mine", he said, sounding more like he was commanding her.
"Are you finished telling me what to do, because I will not do that", she answered back while glaring at him
"No, it's more like a warning lover, and you might want to rethink about my suggestion."
Soon Buffy got dressed and left the Mansion wondering the whole time how she is going to explain to her friends that he lost his soul without letting them know she slept with him. Soon she reached Giles' house and braced herself to tell them the news of Angel losing his soul.
Giles house
"So, Buffy, want to tell us, why you asked us to come down to Giles' at 11:00 A.M", Xander asked.
"I have some news, it's about Angel. He lost his soul and I..." before Buffy could finish talking, Xander broke in.
"What? How could that have happened? When did this happen?" he asked. Buffy looked at everyones faces, they were shocked and didn't know what to say.
"Well, I just, I guess what I am trying to say is that Giles, you were right about the prophecy all along. About the part that something dark will come and change people's lives forever, it was about our altered evil twins", Buffy answered nervously.
And before she could give them the reason, Giles said, "Are you saying that Angel's soul was somehow taken from him by some sort of spell like it was taken from him in alternate universe, Buffy?"
Buffy didn't know what to tell them at that moment. If she said yes then she would be lying, but then if she said no, nobody would forgive her and the deal she made with Angelus would be off.
"Yes I guess, I just..." she answered in a quiet voice, feeling guilty for lying to her friends.
"But don't you guys have the curse to give him back his soul", Riley suggested before continuing. "I know the curse was for when he gets his one moment of happiness and loses his soul, but we could try give him back his soul."
"Yeah, he has a good point", Xander agreed with him.
Willow suddenly was nervous and Buffy knew the reason for it, it was because she didn't have the curse, it was destroyed by Angelus. "Umm, guys, we can't curse him", Willow said.
"Why not, it's a good idea", Giles said. "We can't because we don't have the curse. I gave that disk to Angel and he didn't return it to me and I didn't make any copies because the curse was too important, and if it was stored in too many places then it would be easy for someone to find", she explained.
"Willow, how could you do that? How could you not keep it for a back up plan", Giles said, while trying to keep his anger down.
"Well, I thought, why would Angel lose his soul again. I mean Buffy and him aren't together anymore and when he asked me if he could see how the ritual was performed, I thought it was in safe hands, but I am so sorry", Willow said softly.
"It's okay Willow, everyone makes mistakes", Oz comforted her.
"Ok, since we can't curse him, we have to be careful. We could try to find out who could have performed the spell that caused him to loose his soul. We all know what is he capable of. We have to be extra careful from now on. But first we have to do is reverse the spell of invitation to our houses, so he can't come into anyone's house. Also, start keeping a wooden cross and bottle of holy water with you in your pocket or bag. And warn your parents about not inviting some strange man into your houses. We'll think about more later on", Giles instructed.
"And Buffy, are you ok? I mean I'm sure this is a lot harder for you, and you do know that you have to be very careful from now on, and I guess, he won't be going back to LA, he would stay here", Giles said in low tone.
"I'm ok. You are right, this is hard for me, but I have been through this before, so I'll be okay", she answered him. Buffy wanted to tell them the truth, but she couldn't. She was so scared and confused.
"O.K people, go to your classes and try not to think of unpleasant thoughts", Giles suggested as everyone left, still kind of in shock.