Title: A Hard Road to Travel

Author: LeAnn

Disclaimers: I don’t own these characters. Joss Whedon does.

Spoilers: Just through Becoming, Part II

Rating: PG-13. There’s a little bit of adult content, but not too much.

Feedback: I’d like it, but I’m not desperate for it - ashleezak@earthlink.net

June, 1998

Rupert Giles sat slumped over his desk. The mess that had been left behind was overwhelming. Principal Snyder had done nothing but gloat over Buffy’s expulsion. He was so smug that it had become an hourly battle not to punch the little man right in the face.

Since the final battle in the mansion between Buffy and Angelus, his world had come crashing down. They all knew she was alive, but that was all. Joyce had tearfully confided to Willow that she had overreacted when Buffy told her about being a Slayer and had thrown her out of her house.

Willow had gone through Buffy’s room and noticed things that were missing, things that Buffy would have wanted to keep. Xander had checked at the bus station and confirmed that a blonde fitting Buffy’s description had bought a ticket for Los Angeles, but when they followed up with it in L.A., they discovered that she had bought four tickets for scattered locations all over the country. When Giles and Xander had tried to follow those leads, they found that all of them were dead ends. Once she had gotten to L.A., she had vanished.

Since that day, the remaining Scoobies had spent every spare minute trying to track down any clues to find their lost friend. It had taken them all quite a while to make their way to the mansion, but they found hints that let them guess what had occurred.

Suddenly a cry from the library jolted Giles from his desk. Although the school was closed for the summer, the librarian had rigged a door so that they could come and go into the library all they wanted. He walked out to where Willow, Xander, and Oz were hunched over books. Willow was looking up from her book with an ecstatic look on her face.

“What is it?” Giles asked tiredly, not even being able to summon any excitement.

“Angel’s not dead!”

“WHAT?!” came a chorus of cries.

“Dead Boy’s not dead?” Xander asked. “How do you know?”

“Once Acathla opened the portal, only the blood of the one who opened it could close it, right?” Willow didn’t wait for the nods to go on. “Well, we found swords up there, right? So stabbing a vampire with a sword won’t do anything.”

“Yes, but the energy to close the portal would kill them.”

“A human, yes. Not a vampire. It would suck him into the dimension that the portal originated from.”

Xander spoke up. “But, Will, that portal would’ve brought hell on earth.”

“So now all we need to do is find out which hell dimension he was sent to.” The redhead looked around the group as if that should explain everything.

“That’s all fine and dandy, but why should we bring him back? He tried to kill us.”

“Xander, who in this world could find Buffy?”

Giles stared at the group. He could tell that Xander would fight this idea all the way. Oz looked remarkably calm, but then he never looked ruffled. “Willow, which one would we bring back? Angel, or Angelus?”

Willow faltered for just a second, then replied, “Angel. I know what I felt after that spell. I felt his soul go back in him.”

“How do you know for sure, Will? I mean, you’d just gotten hit in the head hard.” Xander paced around, trying to find a hole in her plan.

Giles sank into a chair and closed his eyes. He had been the one who had suffered the most at the hands of the vampire, but he was also the one with the most to gain if Willow’s plan succeeded. “If you’re sure about this. If I can handle it, then we should do it.” He stared at Xander to quell his arguments. “For Buffy’s sake.”

The rest of the afternoon and evening was spent trying to find a ritual that would isolate the vampire and bring him back.

October, 1998

The circle was nearly complete. Cordelia had just gotten a manicure and wasn’t thrilled at the revelation that she would have to hold hands to participate in this summoning. Willow, Oz, Xander, Cordelia, and Giles were gathered around the spot where the statue of Acathla had once stood. Early in the summer, they had come up and destroyed it so that it could never be used again. Fortunately, they discovered later that they wouldn’t need it to bring Angel back.

It had taken weeks to find which dimension he was in, and had taken even longer to find all the pieces necessary to bring him back. Willow had wanted to lead the incantation, but Giles had insisted that he do it. He had done a lot of soul-searching in the last few months and had come to realize that Angel was a person separate from the demon Angelus. That wasn’t to say that he had forgiven him, but he understood.

Willow placed the candles around the chalk outline on the floor. They had actually been ready to do this for a couple of weeks, but the signs had pointed to Halloween for the maximum chance of success. She dipped her finger in the melted wax from the large red candle in the center. Quickly she dabbed the wax on everyone’s forehead. Cordelia grimaced, but kept her silence. It was difficult for them to keep quiet, especially Xander. He had been acting strange ever since the decision had been made.

Once everyone had been painted with the wax, Giles motioned for them to join hands. He looked down at the book that was opened at his feet. Although he read the words from the page, he had already memorized every syllable. The book was to ensure that no mistakes were made.

The Latin phrases were ominous, and everyone felt the power that immediately began generating from the circle. Halfway through the ritual, a bright light began glowing inside the circle. Giles hesitated for just a second, then resumed his chanting. The Latin melded into the Gypsy curse that Jenny had researched. That was one thing that the Watcher had insisted on. He was not about to risk loosing Angelus on the world again.

The light began to solidify into a human-shaped figure. Giles increased the volume and tempo of his chanting. Suddenly everyone was thrown back as the light exploded outward.

There was a shadow over him. The sunlight surrounded him, teasing him with the hope that he hadn’t realized that he had held so dear. Buffy danced in front of him, gliding out of reach every time he stretched out his hand. This particular torture was more effective than the physical abuse. He could be stoic about that, knowing that he deserved it. However, this emotional cruelty was very effective. Tears ran down his face as he tried once again to touch his love.

This time, he touched her. As soon as he did, Buffy screamed and fell. He looked at her. There were two holes in her neck. He felt something running down his face and wiped his mouth. His hand came back bloody. No words were formed as he screamed. The primal sound echoed in his ears. Suddenly, a force began pulling at him. He tried to fight it, but the tugging was too powerful. He heard Giles’s voice and fought against this new punishment. He had already suffered centuries of pain from the memories of killing Jenny and torturing Giles. He screamed again as the light became brighter. The vampire felt like he was being squeezed through a tiny hole. The crushing pain became unbearable, then suddenly it was dark. Angel was back in Sunnydale.

December, 1998

Willow and Oz held hands as they walked up to the mansion. The last month and a half had been difficult. Angel had returned, but his sanity was tenuous, at best. It had taken quite a while to convince him that he was not in his hell anymore.

“So, do you think we’ll be able to talk to him tonight?” Oz asked.

“I hope so. Buffy’s been gone for over six months. All the leads we had have gone completely cold.”

They walked in silence for a little bit before Oz spoke again. “Should we?”

Willow looked at him. “Should we what?”

“Should we find her? She obviously doesn’t want to be found, or she would’ve let someone know by now.” He kicked at a rock that was in his way. “Maybe she needs time and space. We know that Angel had his soul and she sent him to hell anyway. If I’d done that, I’d want plenty of time to recover.”

The unusually long speech from her normally taciturn boyfriend made her think. He had an excellent point, as usual. He didn’t speak up often, but he knew what he was doing when he did.

“I think we should.” She sounded unsure of herself, so Oz let her talk it out. “If for no other reason than Joyce needs her.” They both considered the mental state of Buffy’s mother. She had blamed Giles for Buffy’s disappearance, and had even at one point tried to take legal action against him. The case had immediately fallen through, because even the grief-stricken Joyce had realized that she couldn’t take the idea of vampires and demons into court. After that, she had just let herself sink into a depression, leaving Willow and Cordelia to run the gallery in her place. Willow had tried to be supportive, but was growing increasingly uncomfortable when she realized that Joyce was trying to substitute her and Cordelia for Buffy.

They were surprised to find Angel dressed and waiting for them outside the mansion.

“Hey, Angel. How are you?” Willow asked as she ran up to him.

The vampire looked at her curiously. He looked around at the obvious change of seasons and sat down on the steps. Willow crouched in front of him.

“Where’s Buffy?”

Both the teens gasped. He was clearly lucid, as opposed to the last time they had visited him and he had tried to stake himself to get rid of the insane visions that kept haunting him.

“Angel? You know where you are?”

He looked at her. “A lot of time has passed.”

“Yes.”

“Where is she?”

Oz fielded this one. “She left. We don’t know where.”

Angel flinched. “I couldn’t feel her here. How long?”

“Since she’s been gone?” Willow grimaced. “Since May.” The vampire looked at her uncomprehendingly. She continued. “It’s almost Christmas.”

Tears welled up in the vampire’s eyes. “I killed her. Every time I’d touch her, I killed her. Over and over again.”

“Angel, that wasn’t here. You didn’t kill her here.”

He calmed down a little. “She killed me, didn’t she?”

Willow cringed. This could make or break the situation. Gingerly she nodded.

“Good.”

She wasn’t sure what she had been expecting, but that wasn’t it. The fact that he was still sane was highly encouraging.

“Hey, let’s go see Giles. He’s been wanting to know how you’re doing.”

The vampire let them lead him toward the school.

Giles sat in his office. He was checking on yet another lead. This one was a Watcher in Denver who had seen a girl take out four vampires at once. The description wasn’t quite Buffy, but Giles was hoping that she had tried to change her looks to hide. He frowned when he heard voices out in the library.

The experiment with Angel had been quite discouraging. They hadn’t taken into account that he had evidently spent centuries being tortured for what he’d done. His sanity was nearly non-existent, and he had simply run out of patience with the vampire. The only redeeming feature was that Willow had really expanded her magical abilities. She had also confided to Giles that she had made sure that there was no happiness clause in this curse. When they had pulled Angel out of hell, his soul had been firmly attached. There were no loopholes.

“Giles!”

He sighed. He really didn’t want to have to deal with anything other than the vampires who had evidently heard that the Slayer was gone. In fact, the only thing that had even affected his depression was finding that the vamps had turned Principal Snyder. The whole gang had gotten a huge laugh out of the nerdy ex-principal trying to be a bad creature of the night. Xander had even gotten the privilege of staking the ineffective vampire.

“Giles!”

Stepping out of his office, he faced a rational Angel. The madness that had haunted his eyes since they brought him back was gone. There was an immense amount of pain there, but the madness was gone.

“Angel.”

“I want to help.”

The Watcher and the vampire faced each other. They might not be friends, but they were united in their goal. It was time to find Buffy.

January, 2018

Buffy stared out off the bridge at the crowd below. They seemed to be making the most of this New Year’s Celebration. The ex-Slayer, on the other hand, felt no reason to celebrate. Her new duties as Watcher were not as fulfilling as she had hoped.

Two years after she had left Sunnydale, she had been trying to avert an apocalypse in Mexico City when her life had completely changed. The Watcher that the Council had sent to try to help was nearly as incompetent as the fighters she had found at the site trying to deal with the influx of demons and had died with the rest of them, offering little help. She had enlisted a local shaman to help battle the creature. The shaman had had his own ideas of how a Slayer should handle things and had cast an interesting spell on her. She knew that another Slayer had taken Kendra’s place, but she had never met her. The Council had told her that her line had ended with Kendra, so she felt justified putting her life on the line. There was nothing at stake. However, his spell had caused a weird variation in her powers. She had emerged from the fight no longer a Slayer, but she was still at nearly full strength. Her healing powers were greatly diminished, but after that battle another Slayer was called. There would continue to be two Slayers from there on out.

Buffy frowned at an overeager drunk tried to hit on her. She turned away from him in disgust. That was another thing she hated the shaman for. In the last eighteen years, she had aged physically only a year. Had he not died at the hands of that demon she would have been tempted to go back and kill him.

The Council had hired her as a Watcher after her husband had died two months ago. She had gone to England shortly after she ran from Sunnydale. Facing Quentin Travers was not a task that she had enjoyed, but after a lot of arguing, screaming, and deal-making, she had convinced him not to ever tell Giles about her whereabouts. In return, she had nearly signed her life away to the Council. In fact, the only reason she’d had any life of her own at all was that the Council had thought that she’d died in Mexico. The calling of the next Slayer had backed up that assumption.

After that, she had gone to Las Vegas and proceeded to get roaring drunk. When she finally sobered up three days later, she found a familiar face in her bed. Her ex-boyfriend Pike had been laying next to her. It turned out that while on her bender, she had married him. She had tried to get out of it, telling him that he deserved better than her. He wouldn’t let her, and showed his devotion by telling her about all the things she had cried to him over while she’d been intoxicated.

He had taken his time proving that they could be happy together. For the next fifteen years, they had traveled all over the world fighting demons. It was only after he died that she had gone back to the Council.

Quentin Travers was long gone by now, and the man who was now in charge was a little more human than his predecessor had been. His name was Wesley Windham-Pryce, and he had been shocked to discover her alive. After expressing what appeared to be genuine sorrow for her loss, he gave her a crash course in being a Watcher. Many things that she’d been doing over the last fifteen years were similar to what he was teaching, so she had been a quick student. Tonight was the last night before he gave her the name of her Slayer.

The next morning she walked into the Council headquarters. She ignored the strange looks. She had been getting them since they had found out who she was. A grim smile etched itself on her taut face. She supposed it was odd to find an almost thirty-seven year old that looked like she was nineteen. Of course her birthday was coming up in a couple weeks, but she had to admit that she didn’t feel her age.

“Morning, Wes.”

He looked up from the papers on his desk. “Good morning, Buffy. How are you this morning?”

She glanced at him, but he appeared to be genuinely interested. “Fine. I didn’t drink anything last night, so I’m good.”

“Good, although you might have wished that you had.”

That cryptic response had her glaring at him. “What do you mean?”

“I mean that I have the name of the Slayer that you’re being assigned to. Her name is Rhiannon Osbourne.”

“Okay? Is she like descended from Ozzy or something?” Buffy didn’t quite understand why that name would make her wish for a drink.

“You don’t recognize…” Wesley trailed off. “Never mind.” He continued quickly. “Her Watcher is retiring, which is a very unusual situation. Normally active Watchers don’t survive this long, but he’s done a commendable job. You will be his relief.”

“Great. Where is she?”

“Currently, she’s training with Faith in Los Angeles. I don’t believe that you’ve ever met Faith, but she’s done an excellent job taking care of the new recruits.”

“Fine. I assume you’ve already got my travel arrangements made?” At his nod, she continued. “It’ll take me just a few minutes to pack. I’ll contact you once I talk to her.”

Wesley dismissed her and went back to work. He knew the history from Sunnydale and expected an explosion soon. He just hoped that it stayed in that half of the world.

Buffy tried to sleep on the flight over. She felt an odd fluttering in her stomach that she hadn’t known in many years. Throughout her travels, she’d killed just about any kind of demon that could be imagined, but she was nervous when it came to meeting another Slayer.

She saw the sign for “Mrs. Pike”. It took her a moment to remember that she was Mrs. Pike. Her husband’s first name was Oliver, but it was never used.

Putting Pike behind her, she walked over to the handsome woman holding the sign.

“I’m Mrs. Pike.”

The woman snorted. “Married young, didn’t ya? Or is that some kind of Watcher thing? Everyone has to be married.”

The chatter set Buffy’s nerves on edge. There was something about the woman that didn’t seem right. For one thing, she was dressed like a teenager. Granted, she had the body to carry it off, but it did seem out of place for someone that old to wear a skimpy top and skin-tight latex pants.

“Yeah. He died helping me clean out a vampire nest.” Buffy didn’t elaborate on how long she’d been married. She intended to play on her youthful appearance. “This is my first assignment. You must be Faith.”

Faith nodded. After meeting the new Watcher’s eyes, she was immediately suspicious. There was a wealth of wisdom and pain hidden in there, belying the young face. Something wasn’t quite right with this new Watcher. “You must’ve been some student to get such a peachy assignment so young.” She waited for Buffy’s slow nod. “What did you say your first name is?”

Buffy tossed her long hair. “I didn’t.”

The brunette bristled. Two could play at this game. “Well, we need to hurry. The party’s about to start.”

“Party?”

“Retirement party.” Faith started to explain, but the blonde’s close-mouthed attitude discouraged her. She’d let Giles deal with her.

Buffy stewed on the way to the party, although she was trying to let the bright California afternoon lighten her bad mood. The last thing she wanted was a big social setting to try to get to know her new charge in. She looked over at the Slayer and decided to broach the subject. “Am I going to get to meet Rhiannon before the party?”

“Yeah. I’ll get you two alone before we spring the surprise on the old man.”

“Surprise?”

“Yeah. He doesn’t know it’s coming. He just thinks that he’s handing Rhi off.”

“Rhi?”

“She likes to be called that. Feels that Rhiannon is a mouthful.” Faith laughed. “I’ve known a lot of Slayers. Worked with six myself. But I have to admit that she is a real work of art.”

“When did you get called?” Buffy asked, then bit her lip. She hadn’t meant to ask that.

“I followed Kendra. She ran into a raving maniac of a vamp. Drusilla was a hell of a kill. It took me weeks to get her tracked down. She nearly got me, too. But she ended up dust. ‘Course I had to stake Spike first, but I got her.”

Buffy paled. She knew about Kendra, but she hadn’t known the name of the Slayer who was called next. That made Faith nearly as old as her. To be fair, she wouldn’t have put her any older than thirty. She had heard from the Council that Spike and Drusilla were dead, but she didn’t know who had gotten them or when.

“We’re here.” Faith parked in front of a nice middle class type house. Buffy cast a critical eye at the structure. It was well made, with exits available for quick escapes as necessary. She got a peek of the back yard. It was obviously a training facility, with punching bags and dummies set up at various spots. Buffy was shown into a nice sitting room.

“Wait here. I’ll go get her.”

Buffy sat down and composed herself. She was old enough to be this girl’s mother, so there was no reason to be nervous. A moment later the new Slayer walked in.

She was not tall, but carried herself with a confidence that exceeded her years. Her red hair was short, worn in an attractive bob, although she had multi-colored streaks running through it. Buffy eyed her carefully. She needed a little advice on how to make sure that her stakes weren’t visible, but this girl had real potential. It was nearly tangible.

Buffy smiled, letting the girl relax. “Hello, Rhi. I’m Mrs. Pike, your new Watcher.”

The blinding smile that resulted slapped Buffy. That smile was so familiar, but she couldn’t put a finger on it. “How did you know my nickname? Oh, wait, Faith. Isn’t she cool? She’s the oldest living Slayer. Ever. That kind of makes her a legend, doesn’t it?”

Buffy squirmed. The girl got more and more familiar, although she was certain she’d never met her. There were twenty million people in L.A. The odds of her knowing someone were miniscule. She forced herself to relax.

Faith interrupted them. “Come on. It’s time.”

Rhi exuded such excitement that Buffy had to grit her teeth against it. This girl had real power. Suddenly Buffy was really looking forward to working with her.

Buffy was led down the hall into a larger room. At least she thought it was larger. It was darkened. She could hear other voices whispering around the room. Suddenly she tensed. It was one thing joining in a party for a friend; it was another when she didn’t know anyone in the room. She pulled herself all the way back close to the wall so she could prepare herself. Then she waited.

Footsteps echoed down the hall. All the whispers quieted. The door opened and she heard a female voice telling someone, “Just a little further.” The light came on.

“Surprise!”

Buffy collapsed against the wall, robbed of her breath. The Watcher that had walked into the room was Giles.

“Buffy!” Joyce clutched Giles’s arm and screamed, then sagged against him. Everyone turned, transfixed, and stared at the blonde who hadn’t aged since she had run from them so long ago. Xander was there, no gray in his hair but lines etched on his face. Willow had joined her daughter, and Buffy could place her now. Her red hair was streaked with white. Cordelia was there, too, leaning against Xander. She hadn’t changed much, just looked well-preserved. Oz stood by Willow with a young man standing beside him that looked just like the werewolf.

Faith stared at the new Watcher. This was Buffy? But she was dead. Another Slayer had been called and everything. She turned back to Giles automatically for answers.

Giles, on the other hand, was trying to deal with Joyce. She had crumpled to the floor and was clutching her chest. “Someone call an ambulance.”

Buffy found herself stumbling forward to kneel beside her mother. Joyce looked up at her. “Buffy? It’s really you, right? I’m not seeing things?”

“It’s me, Mom. I’m here.”

“They said you were dead. Rupert told me you were dead.”

“I’m not dead. I’m right here.” Buffy lost her mother’s face to tears. She glanced up at Giles. “I’m very much alive.”

Everyone gathered around the blonde in the hospital waiting room. The Scoobies were silent to a person. Buffy finally looked at them. “What?”

Xander reached over and slapped a cross on her arm. Buffy stared at him. “What was that about?”

“Just checking.”

“Xander. It‘s broad daylight. How could I be a vampire?”

“What else could we think? You’re … were dead. Another Slayer was called. And you haven’t aged a day. Add it up and it all spells…well, you know.” Xander got up and paced around the room. “And how could you just let us think you were dead?” He was starting to get worked up. “Didn’t you think about how we felt? How could…” He trailed off, unable to continue.

Willow hadn’t lost the hard look on her face that she’d had on there since the party. “Let her alone, Xander. I’m sure she had some good reason.” The sarcasm in her tone had Oz reaching over and laying his hand on his wife’s. She didn’t take the hint. “All those years of letting your mother worry. How could you?”

Buffy backed up slightly, retreating from the unexpected attack. She hadn’t expected her friends to be this hostile. “This wasn’t my fault.”

“Wasn’t your fault? I suppose someone kept you from telling us that you were alive. And I just suppose that some stupid…person killed you and made you keep away from us! After all we did to find you!” Oz finally pulled her down. Tears started down the witch’s face. She pulled away from Oz and ran from the room. Xander and Oz followed quickly. Rhiannon and her brother looked on curiously, not quite following the exchange.

Buffy looked down at the floor miserably. Finally another voice spoke up finally. “They’ll come around. They always do.”

She looked up into Cordelia’s face. The woman was extremely well-dressed, which didn’t surprise her. The compassion in her face, though, was new.

“What do you care? Not only did I hurt them, but the shock was enough to nearly kill my own mother.” Buffy shrugged. “I guess I didn’t think about how they would feel about me being dead. I just wanted to make sure the Council continued to think I was gone.”

“Buffy, I know we weren’t friends when you left. In fact, I was doing everything I could to make sure that I kept up the Queen B charade. But I learned pretty quickly that they missed you, for real, and were devastated when Rona showed up.”

“Rona?”

“Yeah. The new Slayer for Giles to train. Faith had been by to help keep the mayor from eating Sunnydale, but she left right after and went back to England. Since we knew Faith hadn’t died, then we had to assume it had been you.”

Buffy narrowed her eyes at Cordelia. “So how come you’re being nice to me all of a sudden?”

The brunette blushed. “Because your mom kind of adopted me as a, well, I think she thought that I was a replacement for you.”

A nurse came out and interrupted them. “Mrs. Pike, you can see your mother now.”

Buffy jumped to her feet and followed the nurse. She paused outside the room door when a doctor motioned her over.

“Mrs. Pike? I’m Dr. Brannigan. I’d like to speak to you about your mother.”

Buffy braced herself for the bad news. “How is she?”

“She’s doing well, right now. We caught it before it could go into a full-fledged heart attack. I take it that she was subjected to a great shock?”

“I ran away a while ago and now I’m back.” Buffy looked uncomfortable having to explain this to him.

“Well, I won’t keep you from seeing her, but I would ask that you try to keep any more shocking news from her.” He gave Buffy a stern look. “At least for a few days.”

“Thank you, doctor.” She pushed her way into her mother’s room.

Joyce’s eyes were closed. She heard Buffy walk in and opened them to look at her. “Buffy. You look the same.”

“I know, Mom.” Gazing at her mother who had aged so much since she’d last seen her, Buffy’s eyes filled with tears. “I’m sorry. I‘m so sorry.”

“Honey, I should be sorry. I’m the one who kicked you out. I shouldn’t have.” Joyce gripped her daughter’s hand. “I overreacted. You needed support, and instead of giving it, I was selfish and threw you out.” She felt Buffy’s stare. “Yes, I was selfish. I was hurt because you hadn’t shared this with me. I lashed out the only way I could, and you were the only one there.”

“Mom, believe me, there were a lot of times I wanted to tell you. I was scared. I wanted to come tell you, and let you hug me and tell me everything was going to okay. But I couldn’t.” She drew in a shaky breath. “I knew from a prophecy that I was going to die, and I did. I was so scared.” Tears began flowing, and once they had started, Buffy had no control to stop them.

“Rupert said you died. Again.”

“I did, Mom. Well, kind of,” Buffy sobbed. “I haven’t been a Slayer for a very long time.”

“What?” came a voice from behind them. Giles rose slowly out of the seat in the corner. Buffy jumped. She hadn’t even seen him when she came in.

“I haven’t been a Slayer since the episode in Mexico.” Buffy looked at the face of the man she’d always considered her father. “There was this shaman down there who’d been the head honcho for a long time. Then I came in and started doing his job. I didn’t listen to him like he thought I should, so he cast a spell on me.”

“What kind of spell?”

The new Watcher smiled at the old Watcher. Evidently there were some habits that time couldn’t break. “I think he was trying to kill me, but with all the magic that was swirling around after that demon died, it changed it. It took away most of my Slayer powers. I’m not as strong as I was. I don’t heal nearly as fast. And the next Slayer was called, even though I wasn‘t physically dead.”

“But your appearance? You still look so…”

“Yeah. That was a side effect that I definitely did not want. My physical aging has been slowed down a lot.” She groaned. “Had the demon not killed that stupid shaman, I would’ve been tempted to go back and do it myself.”

“So what now? I mean, why did you come back?”

“I’m your replacement.” At his shocked expression, she clarified her comment. “I’m a Watcher.”

“But the name they gave me? Mrs. Pike?” he stammered.

“That’s my name. My married name, anyway.”

Joyce gasped. “You’re married?” Both Buffy and Giles leaned over to her to make sure she wasn’t straining herself. “I’m fine. Give me some room.” She shooed them away brusquely. “There are going to be some surprising moments here. I’m prepared for them, so let’s continue with the catching up.”

“Actually, I’m a widow. Pike died a couple months ago.”

“I’m so sorry, honey. How long were you married?”

“Just shy of fifteen years.”

Giles folded his arms. “You were married that long?”

Buffy told the whole convoluted story of meeting and marrying Pike, then the two of them traveling the world to hunt demons. She wound down with how she had ended up as a Watcher.

“Do you mean to tell me that Quentin Travers knew where you were and was using you?” Giles’s voice was hard.

“Yeah. I couldn’t face you guys, so I thought some time would help. Don’t feel bad, though, he took it out of me in spades.”

“What do you mean?” Joyce asked.

“Well, he sent me to the nastiest, most dangerous demon sites there were. If there was a slime creature, or a worm god, that’s where I went. I was actually relieved after Mexico, because I didn’t have to be at his beck and call. That’s why I got so drunk. I could feel that my Slayer powers were gone, so I thought I could live a normal life.” She laughed without humor. “That lasted until the first vampire attacked. When I knew I could still hold my own against them, me and Pike agreed to do what we could. Privately.”

“Your husband? He knew about vampires?” Giles asked, curious.

“He was there when I was first called in L.A. He helped me take out the gym.”

“He’s that Pike?” Joyce was shocked. “I didn’t connect the name.”

Buffy cast a startled look at her mother. “You mean, you knew about Pike? How?”

Her mother blushed. “After the gym incident, I went through and read all your notes and letters. I saw his name in a few.”

“Mom!”

The three were startled when the door opened and a nurse stuck her head in the room. “Sorry, but it’s time for Mrs. Summers to rest.”

“I’ll be back as soon as I can,” Buffy promised. She and Giles walked out into the waiting room where the entire gang had reassembled.

Giles held up his hand to stem the rush of questions. “She’s going to be all right. Now I suggest we find some place to go eat and talk.” He looked around the group. “At least, Rhiannon, Faith, Buffy, and myself.”

Buffy watched the others cast dark glares her direction. She tried to ignore it. That was easy when Rhiannon came up and began talking to her.

“I knew you looked kinda familiar, but I didn’t know where I’d seen you, ‘cause you still look like you did in Mom and Dad’s pictures. How come you didn’t age?”

The Slayer’s speech patterns definitely took after her mother. Buffy couldn’t remember Oz saying that much in the few months she knew him. She smiled at Rhi.

“I’d like a nice long talk with you.” Buffy gave her a calculating stare. “You’re different. Your powers, I mean.”

“You’re not wrong.” She smiled slyly. “I’m sure I’ve got a few surprises of my own.”

They left the parents and friends behind and walked out with Giles and Faith.

“I will not tolerate her working with my daughter, and that’s the end of it.”

Oz was nearly at the end of his rope. He’d been trying to talk Willow down for the last hour. Getting up off the hotel bed, he rummaged through the mini-bar looking for something to drink.

“Oz? What are you doing?” Willow demanded. “You don’t drink.”

He calmly poured himself a shot of scotch and sat down in a chair. “I do tonight.”

The werewolf loved his wife. She was still a beautiful woman, but there were times when she could get a hold of an idea and be so incredibly stubborn. Tonight seemed to be one of those nights.

“Look. The Council seems to know what they’re doing. And if she really is Buffy, then there’s no real reason why her experience over the last twenty years couldn’t be of great help to Rhi.”

“At least there’s no earthly reason that Theron would be in contact with her.”

Oz smiled at the thought of his son. He was only two years younger than his sister, and at fourteen, he was old enough to be making some of his own decisions. However, he was not about to bring that up to his irate wife.

He put his glass aside and gathered the witch in his arms. It took some subtle kissing to settle her down enough for her to give in to his charms. A few minutes later, the Do Not Disturb sign on their door was appropriate.

Down the hall, another couple was having a similar discussion.

“Xander, I don’t see what the big deal is. You guys wanted her home, now she’s home and you can’t stand her. What’s with you?” He paced around the room, refusing to answer her question. She snorted. “Fine. Don’t talk. Anyway, if anyone should be mad at her, it should be me.”

That got his attention. “Huh? Why you?”

“You know how much I spend on trying to stay young looking. How come she comes home looking like a high school student and I can’t?” Cordelia watched Xander out of the corner of her eye to see if her teasing had done the trick. She hid a smile when she noticed him settling down.

“I know she hurt you, but from the looks of things, I don’t think she had an easy life.”

“And how would you know?” Xander shot back, but Cordy had already made him think. He hadn’t considered the fact that Buffy could have suffered, too. Leave it to Cordy to point that out.

“Well, for starters, her name is Mrs. Pike, but I didn’t see a husband with her, did you?”

Xander looked at her. “So maybe she’s a gold-digger like you.”

Cordelia glared at him. “I prefer the term matrimonially ambitious. And no, I never figured that Buffy was that kind of woman.” She paused while she tried to broach the next subject. “So, how do you think Angel’s going to take it?”

He collapsed into a chair. “I forgot about him.”

After the vampire had regained his sanity, he had left immediately to try to find Buffy. None of the leads had panned out until that trip to Mexico. He had been too late; the battle had already happened. Angel had nearly been destroyed when he could feel that the Slayer who had fought there was no more. He had come back to Sunnydale in shreds.

It had taken years to for the vampire to recover. Oddly enough, it had been Xander’s constant picking that had given him the impetus to fight off his depression. He was now a very valuable member of the Scooby gang.

“Looks like maybe his dreams weren’t so far off, then, huh?” Cordy drawled.

“Maybe we shouldn’t have been so quick to dismiss the idea of Buffy being alive.” Xander rose and began pacing again. “But how could we not? It would’ve been cruel to keep his hope alive when we were sure she was gone. I mean, another Slayer was called and everything.”

Cordelia frowned. She wasn’t sure whether Xander was trying to talk himself into accepting Buffy back or out of it. She tried taking a different tack. Rolling over on the bed, she picked up the phone and dialed.

“Who are you calling?”

“Angel,” she answered matter-of-factly. She ignored his uneasy expression and motioned for him to pick up the extension.

“Yeah?” came the answer on the other end.

“Twenty years I’ve known you and you still don’t have any phone etiquette.”

“Hi, Cordy.”

“Hey, Angel.”

“Xander. So, what’s going on that both of you need to call?”

“Are you sitting down?” Cordy asked.

“Sure.”

“Angel, sit down. You’ll need it this time.” She smiled as she could almost picture the vampire grudgingly sitting down.

“Fine. I‘m sitting. Now what’s the new emergency?”

“Buffy’s alive.”

Angel felt like he’d been shot. Buffy was alive? Finally he grated out, “How?”

“We don’t know all the details, but we do know that she’s the Watcher taking over for Giles, and that when Joyce saw her she had a heart attack.”

“Is she okay?” Angel was reacting on instinct.

“Joyce or Buffy?” asked Xander.

“Either. Both. I don’t know.” He sighed into the phone. “Where is she?”

“Joyce is in the hospital, although the doctor said as long as there are no more setbacks, she can probably go home in a couple days. It was a really minor one. Buffy’s up here dealing with Rhi.” Xander grinned at the uncomfortable silence that followed the mention of the new Slayer. Everyone in the Scoobies had taken a turn trying to keep Rhiannon from getting obsessed with the handsome vampire. Angel had tried, carefully, to keep his distance, but with her being the daughter of his friends, it had been difficult.

“So will Buffy be staying until Joyce gets released?”

“I think. I know Giles is putting her up for tonight, at least.”

“Where?”

“Faith’s place.” Cordelia hesitated before going on. “Angel, are you coming up here?”

He let the silence stretch before he answered. “Yeah. I’ll leave in a little bit.”

“Okay, then. We’ll see you later.”

Cordelia rolled over on the bed and laughed as soon as she and Xander had hung up the phones on their ends. He glared at her uncomprehendingly.

“Oh, this is too much!” she gasped. “I haven’t had so much fun in years!”

“Well, I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself,” Xander griped. “I don’t think Angel and Buffy are going to appreciate it.”

She sat up and pulled him down onto the bed with her. “Oh, honey, this is perfect. Angel isn’t whole without her. Twenty years has passed. Don’t you think if he could’ve found happiness somewhere, he would have?” She grinned impishly as she ran her fingers through his hair. “Besides, can you imagine the shock Buffy’s going to get when he walks in? If you still want revenge, enjoy that.” Cordy leaned forward and kissed him.

Xander considered her words. The longer he thought about it, the less he wanted to get back at Buffy. She probably had suffered just as much, or more, than they had, so at least for tonight, he felt justified in letting things be.

Cordelia was thrilled when she felt Xander give up. She had gone through three husbands to get to the one she wanted, so any time that they fought she felt was a waste of time. She grabbed him and laughed as they rolled around on the bed together.

Angel wasn’t feeling nearly so thrilled. He stared out the windshield, trying to keep his attention on the road ahead. Twenty years that had been wasted without Buffy. Twenty years that he could’ve been holding her, or fighting beside her, or even fighting with her. Part of him screamed at him to desert her, just as she had left him. The more rational part of him wanted to comfort her, to tell her that he had forgiven her for sending him to hell.

The trip took much less time than it should have, and before he was really prepared to face her, he was sitting out in front of Faith’s house. He waited for a moment, then went in.

The front door was always locked, but Angel quietly leaped the fence and walked around to the back door. He had a key; actually, he was the only one with a key to the back door. Using it, he opened the door slowly and walked in. There was a dim light burning in the kitchen, and he used that to negotiate past the furniture. Walking toward the guest rooms, he paused at each door he came to.

The first one was Giles’s room, but he wasn’t there. Angel assumed that he was still at the hospital with Joyce. The one directly across the hall was Rhi’s. He tried not to get too close, because the teenager seemed to be ultra sensitive when it came to him. Going a little further, he came to the room that he normally used when he was in town. It was empty. That only left two rooms, and the one at the end of the hall was Faith’s. He chose the other.

Standing outside of the room, he tried to sense the person inside. He was very confused when the person that he read was not Buffy. Cautiously, he opened the door. Laying asleep on the bed was a young woman who looked like Buffy. In fact, she was nearly identical to the woman he saw before she stabbed him with the sword. However, there was no way that this young woman was the same person. Her essence was wrong. There was no hint of Slayer powers, although he could tell that her body was very physically fit. Disappointment overwhelmed him. This was just a look-alike.

He closed the door and walked back to his usual room. Crushing frustration and regret sapped his energy. Turning the lock, he laid down on the bed and covered his eyes. He cried as he had not cried in nearly two decades. Sleep finally claimed him.

Buffy woke early the next morning. She felt remarkably rested, considering the emotional stresses that she had endured yesterday. Rolling over, she curled up and savored her delicious dream.

It had been years since she’d had a good dream about Angel. She closed her eyes and ran the picture through her mind again. There he was, opening the door to her room and staring at her. She hugged herself. Since she had killed him, the majority of Buffy’s dreams had been nightmares, terrible pictures of how he blamed her for killing him. The dreams became exceptionally vivid about six months after she left Sunnydale. They were always the same. Angel walked to her, basking in the sunlight. Shortly thereafter, she killed him. Her dreams varied, as did the actual method of death, but the message was the same.

Pike had been very worried about her sanity. Usually the nightmares got worse about the time of the anniversary of the event. He had even talked her into going to a dream therapist, but he hadn’t been able to do anything. She opened her eyes. It didn’t matter. He was gone, and she was just going to have to deal with that.

Quickly rising and dressing, she wandered back to the kitchen. To her surprise, no one else was up. She put a pot of coffee on and sat. A few years ago, she had dreamed a particularly vivid dream, one that showed that Angel was alive. Unknown to Pike, she had visited a seer. The woman had told her that Angelus was bound so that he could never walk upon the earth again. With that, Buffy had officially ended all hope that he had somehow survived.

The scent of coffee roused her from her thoughts. She had just poured a cup when Rhiannon walked in.

“Good morning.”

The vague wave that Buffy received indicated that she was not the morning person that her mother had been. She smiled into her cup.

Waiting for the redhead to pour her own cup and find a seat, Buffy spoke. “Are you ready for me to see what you’re capable of?”

Rhi grinned, albeit somewhat awkwardly. “I think I’ll surprise you.”

Buffy stared at her. “I have no doubt of it.” She found that she meant that. With a werewolf for a father, there probably wasn’t much that could shock her.

“So, where are your parents staying?”

“Dad keeps a hotel room most of the time. He’s up here a lot playing.”

Buffy nodded. Oz had kept up with his music. That wasn’t too surprising. “And what does your mom do?”

A devilish gleam showed in her eyes. “Mom’s a witch.”

After last night’s lambasting, the Watcher wasn’t surprised, until she realized that the Slayer meant that quite literally. “You mean that Willow is a practicing witch?”

“Yeah. She’s the head of the coven. Her and a lady named Tara. They’re best friends. Have been since college.” Rhiannon waited until Buffy had taken a sip of coffee. “Apparently, they had a fling in college.”

She got the desired reaction. Buffy spit coffee all over the table. “And where was your father?” she asked as she wiped up the mess.

“Dad was off on tour. I guess it was just one of those experimental things, but they ended up staying friends ever since.”

Buffy felt that the conversation had gone far enough. She finished her coffee. As she was rinsing out her cup, she said, “Rhi, as soon as you’re done, get ready to spar. I’ll meet you in the backyard.”

She left the kitchen without waiting to see if Rhiannon had listened. She suddenly felt the need to take out some of her aggressions. Sorting through the small shed that stood beside the back door, Buffy pulled out a staff. Smiling slightly at the memory of her first training session with Giles, she began whirling it around. Feeling her muscles loosen up, she spun the staff faster. Gradually the circles became sweeps, attacks, and counterattacks. The kata that she began was complex. She had learned it while she and Pike were in Japan, cleaning out a vampire cult that had tried to revive Japanese feudalism. One of the masters she had trained with had taught her a great deal, and she concentrated on practicing all of it in the early morning sun.

“I certainly didn’t teach you that.”

Buffy was so startled that she had attacked before she thought about it. Only the last second recognition of Giles kept her from bashing his skull in. Still, she managed to gouge a small piece out of the brick faзade of the house.

“Very good.” He walked over and sat on the steps. Buffy realized then just how old Giles looked. She had connected the fact that he was retiring, but it hadn’t really sunk in. Quickly she calculated his approximate age. Saddened, she realized that Giles was pushing sixty. She pushed that depressing thought away.

“So, uh, how’s Mom this morning?” she asked awkwardly.

“Fine. She’ll probably be released tomorrow. Possibly today, depending on the results of her tests.” He looked at the young woman who had not changed physically in her time away from him. “So, Buffy, how are you?”

Buffy sighed. “I guess I’m feeling a little overwhelmed. I know I haven’t been a Slayer for years, but I still functioned like I was. Since I still had the strength, I could pretend that nothing was different.” She was saved from having to continue by the whirlwind arrival of Rhiannon.

“Can you teach me to do that? With the staff? That was really beyond.”

Buffy frowned for a second until she realized that she was suffering from the same problem Giles had encountered with her. The popular language usage had changed once again. She smiled sadly as she faced her charge.

“Sure. Grab a staff.”

Buffy was able to tune out Giles’s presence quickly. He made it easier when he entered the house. Still, she spent a very uncomfortable half hour feeling like someone was watching her.

After a quick lesson with the staff, Buffy moved on to other weapons. She filed away the note that she needed to congratulate Faith on her excellent training techniques.

It was into the hand to hand training that Buffy first noticed the power of her Slayer. Buffy tried to grab her and throw her. Suddenly, she found herself holding a snake. She threw it away in disgust, only to see it change and land gracefully.

“So that’s it, huh? Cross a witch and a werewolf and you get a shape-changer?” Buffy had to laugh at the glee that the girl expressed at having surprised her Watcher. “Giles knew all along, didn’t he?”

“Yeah. But he’s known me since I was a baby. In fact, he was the one who pointed out that I was a potential.”

“So at least you were prepared.” Buffy turned toward the house. She quickly jerked back to face her charge. The feeling of being watched was back, and was stronger than ever. It was only when Rhiannon raised her head and looked toward the door that Buffy turned. Angel stood just out of reach of the sun. Buffy wondered briefly why night was falling so soon, but a second later she realized that she was just fainting.

Angel woke to sounds of sparring. He rolled over. It was only ten-thirty in the morning. He couldn’t be out and about yet, but there was something drawing him to watch the combatants.

He watched out the kitchen window for a long time. The look-alike sounded like Buffy, but didn’t move like her. There was a hardness where there used to be smooth grace. Many of the techniques were moves that Buffy had never used. Still, the woman was an impressive fighter, especially for her age.

He grinned when the Watcher was shocked by Rhiannon’s shape-shifting. To her credit, she handled it well. During the exchange, though, she turned enough so that Angel could see into her face. He felt weak. The eyes, her eyes, the ones that he hadn’t been able to see while she slept. They were Buffy‘s.

Avoiding the sun, he opened the back door. Rhiannon saw him immediately, but when Buffy turned and saw him, he knew that somehow, it was really her. Then she fainted.

Angel had dashed out into the sun and scooped her up. Rhiannon realized what he was doing and cast a quick spell to create a shadow over him, saving him from a fiery death. She sighed as she saw that he hadn’t even noticed what she had done. His eyes were only on her Watcher.

Rhi followed them into the living room, where the vampire carefully laid her on the sofa. He gently tapped her face, trying to wake her up. The jealous child inside her made Rhi grab a handy vase, pull out the flowers, and toss the water on Buffy. Angel’s disappointed look was enough to make sure she would never do something like that again.

Buffy sputtered awake under the deluge of cold water. She opened her eyes and looked into Angel’s dark soulful ones. “I’m dead, aren’t I?” she gasped.

Angel smiled at her as he wiped the wet hair back out of her face. “No, you’re very much alive.”

It took a long moment for that to seep through her thinking, and when it did, she pushed past the vampire and jumped to her feet. “But you’re dead! I killed you!”

“Buffy, you had to kill me. It’s all right. I’ve never held that against you,” Angel reasoned. “But I thought you were dead. We all did.”

The Watcher looked around desperately. “I talked to a seer. She said Angelus was bound. He could never walk the earth again!”

The vampire was beginning to be worried. Buffy was getting hysterical, and he couldn’t think to do anything to settle her down. “Buffy, listen. Just calm down. Everything’s going to be okay, but you have to settle down.” He tried to pull her into his arms, but she pushed herself away. The shock had pushed her over the edge, and in her panic, she saw Angel as just another vampire. She pulled out a stake and lunged.

Both the vampire and the Watcher had forgotten about the Slayer. Rhiannon saw Buffy move in for the kill, and stepped in. She knocked the blonde around and decked her with a hard jab to the face. Buffy fell, unconscious.

“Rhiannon!” he shouted as he bent to pick Buffy up. “That’s enough!”

“She was going to kill you,” Rhi whined. “I couldn’t let her do that!”

About that time, Faith came down the hall in a very skimpy nightshirt. “What is going on here? Don’t you realize that some people have to sleep during the day?” She looked around at Rhiannon and Angel, who was holding Buffy in his arms. “What happened? And what are you doing here, Angel?”

Angel didn’t respond. He pushed past Faith and carried Buffy to her room, where he carefully laid her on the bed. Her face was bruising from Rhiannon’s blow, and she showed no signs of waking. After carefully drawing the curtains to shut out the sunlight, he sat back down at the edge of her bed. There still was something different about her, but he could no longer avoid the truth that it was Buffy.

Faith was staring hard at Rhiannon. “What’s going on, or do I have to start getting violent?”

The commotion had drawn Giles from his room, and he joined the two women. “Is something wrong here?”

Rhiannon sighed, realizing that she was probably going to get the short end of this. She motioned for them to sit down, as she sank into a chair close by. Faith began to sit on the sofa.

“Faith, don’t. It’s wet.”

The redhead got a glare. “Why is my couch wet?”

“It’s Buffy’s fault.”

It was Giles’s turn to frown. “Rhiannon, unless she has given you permission to call her that, you need to refer to her as Mrs. Pike.”

“Like there’s really a Mr. Pike,” mumbled the jealous girl under her breath.

“What was that?” demanded Giles in a tone that brooked no disobedience.

Rhiannon sighed. “I said I didn’t see any evidence of a Mr. Pike.”

“That’s because he’s dead. He was killed helping Mrs. Pike take out a vampire nest.”

The Slayer hung her head under Giles’s scorn. She tried to salvage the situation. “I was just trying to help Angel…”

“Angel is here?” asked Giles. Receiving nods from both Slayers, he groaned. “Good lord. Where is he?”

“He carried Mrs. Pike back to her room.” Rhiannon avoided eye contact with Giles so she wouldn’t see the disapproval at her use of Buffy’s married name as an epithet.

“Faith, please try to get the whole story from her. I’ll go see if I can help Angel.”

He rose as quickly as he could and walked back toward Buffy’s room.

“So what’s his deal? You’d think that I’d killed his puppy or something,” Rhiannon grouched.

Faith was suddenly very serious as she turned toward the girl. “How much of the back story do you know from your mother?”

“Just that she ran away in high school. And her and Mom were evidently best friends before that.” Rhiannon frowned. “In fact, before this weekend, every time she was mentioned, it was in a really happy way.”

The older Slayer rose. “I think it’s time we called your mother.”

Giles paused at the door. He felt like he’d been drawn into the past. The situation and setting was different, but the view of Angel taking care of Buffy was still just as poignant. The vampire was holding her hand. “Come in, Giles,” he said without looking up.

The ex-Watcher eased his way into the room. “When did you get here?”

“Very early this morning.”

“How did you know?”

“I got a call from Cordelia and Xander.”

Giles nodded. He had known that the others were not as happy about finding Buffy alive as he and Joyce were, but it also didn’t surprise him that Xander was the first to get over it. Just after graduation, he had come to Giles and Angel and confessed about lying to Buffy and not telling her about Willow’s second attempt at restoring Angel’s soul. The guilt had been building in him since Willow had announced that she had felt the spell work. Even through his jealousy, Xander had proven what a good man he was to become with his confession.

“Why does she feel so different? And why is she still so young? Did she die again?” Angel finally asked.

Giles leaned over and examined Buffy’s face before answering. Then he told the vampire everything that she had told him and Joyce at the hospital the night before. Angel was silent for a long time before he spoke again.

“She said that she’d talked to a seer. The seer told her that Angelus was bound and could never again walk the earth.” Angel shook his head. “I think she took that to mean that I was dead and never coming back.”

“What happened to her?”

“Rhiannon hit her.”

“What?” Giles was genuinely angry.

“Buffy was hysterical. She tried to stake me, and Rhiannon thought she was saving me.”

“That’s no excuse. I’ll just have a word with her…”

“Giles.” The name stopped the man’s rant. “She’s just jealous. Let it go.”

“Let it go?”

Angel turned to him. “If we push too hard now, we could lose her. We don’t want another incidence like this one, do we?” He gestured toward Buffy.

That settled the older man down. Despite the fact that he and the vampire had become very close friends over the past twenty years, it still unnerved him to watch his own face get older while Angel still looked just as he had since he’d been turned two and a half centuries before.

Angel looked up. “I’ll go talk to her. Evidently my last little talk didn’t take.”

“Angel…”

He looked at Giles. “Yeah?”

“Despite everything, she is still just a girl in love.”

“That’s just the thing.” The vampire smiled sadly. “She’s not in love. I just happen to be the only person she’s known who even looks like he’s close her age.”

Giles considered that as Angel left the room. He was right. Since Rhiannon’s potential had been discovered when she was five, her life had focused on schooling and training, of one sort or another. She hadn’t been exposed to anyone outside their ring of influence. He shook his head and looked at Buffy as she groaned in her sleep. Giles just hoped that her jaw wasn’t broken.

Angel walked into the living room and saw Faith and Rhiannon sitting quietly. He nodded to the brunette and she got up and left the room. He sat and faced the Slayer.

“Rhiannon, do you know who that is?”

“Yeah.” The girl sat and kept her gaze downcast.

“Buffy is the only woman I’ve loved in all the years that I’ve been around.”

Rhiannon sucked in her breath. She’d never heard the vampire talk about loving anyone, although she knew that he cared for his friends.

“I’ve tried to be honest with you. I told you last time that there couldn’t be anything between us.” He looked at her. “Rhi? Look at me.”

She felt her eyes being drawn up to his. The truth was there, as it was every time he looked at her, but she had convinced herself that it wasn’t really the truth. Tears welled in her eyes.

Angel rose and walked over in front of her and hugged her. She tried to feel something romantic in his chilly embrace, but knew that it had never been there. She’d convinced herself that he had cared for her in a way that he hadn’t. Part of her tried to blame him, but she knew better. He had always been truthful to her.

She began sobbing as she finally let go of her childish fantasy. He rocked her like he had when she was little, and there was another twinge in her heart as she realized that she had never grown up in his eyes.

The vampire let her cry it out. He had seen it in her face as she completely accepted the truth. When he felt her tears letting up, he leaned back.

“Rhi, I’ve never had children. I’ve always considered you and Theron to be the kids I could never have. I hope you can handle that, because I’d still like to look on you like that.”

Suddenly something in Rhiannon snapped. She smiled up at him bravely. “I’d really like that.”

Faith suddenly peeked around the corner. “Is anyone dead? Do I need to sweep up or anything?”

Both of them laughed as she walked into the room. She had dressed for the day. “Well, is the storm over?”

“Yeah. I can handle it now,” Rhiannon said. She looked between the two of them. “I suppose I have an apology to make to Mrs. Pike.”

“Well, actually, I think you’ll need to wait on that for a while. Angel, she’s awake.”

He gave Rhi a squeeze and left for Buffy’s room again.

“Oh, Giles, I had the worst dream,” moaned Buffy as she began twisting on her bed. Her hand brushed her face and her eyes flew open. “Ow. What happened?” She was confused to see an old Giles sitting beside her.

“Buffy, there’s a lot that’s happened. With us, I mean. Would you like to hear a story?”

She lay back and looked at him. “Okay.”

It was a long twenty minutes when Giles finally wound up his account of what had happened when she left. Buffy was in tears for a lot of it.

“You mean, he really is alive?”

Giles had the barest hint of a smile on his face. “As alive as he’ll ever get.”

Buffy blushed. She’d known better. Just about that time, Faith poked her head in the door. “Hey, you decent?”

She didn’t wait for an answer; she came in and plopped down in a chair. “Your boy Angel is good. He’s really good.”

Buffy felt a flash of jealousy at the familiarity. “What do you mean?” she bristled.

“He just talked Rhi down without the least hint of violence.”

“Talked her down? What was wrong with her?” Buffy asked, confused.

“She’s been seriously jonesing for him ever since I’ve known her. Ten years, at least.”

“Then she’s all right?” Giles asked. “Angel was right, then. I would’ve gone in there shouting and made the whole situation worse.”

Buffy sat up. “Wait a minute. What did I miss?”

“She’s the one who laid the hurting on you, B. I sneaked in there and listened to them, and he did a great job. I wouldn’t doubt it if he had her feeling guilty.” She grinned and tossed her hair. “Anyway, I better get back in there and tell him you’re awake. Besides, Willow and Oz are on their way over.”

Buffy sighed and looked at Giles. “What’s wrong with Willow? Why is she so hostile toward me?”

Giles returned her sigh. “I don’t know. She was so upset, and I think that she blamed herself for a while.”

Just then Angel filled her doorway. Giles immediately rose and excused himself, although Buffy and Angel were so involved with each other they never noticed his absence.

It took only a second for him to cross the distance to her bed, but it felt like an hour. She began sobbing on his shoulder as she cried out twenty years of guilt, locked away sorrow, and destroyed hope. He held her and whispered that it would be all right.

“I killed you, I killed you, I killed you,” she murmured over and over as she clung tightly to him.

“It’s all right. Buffy, I don’t hold it against you.” He grinned slightly. “I can think of a lot of other things I’d rather hold against you.”

She frowned. “Was that a joke?” He nodded. “I don’t remember you having much of a sense of humor.”

Burying his face into the hollow of her shoulder, he laughed. “Suddenly, I’m feeling really funny.” He raised up and smiled blindingly into her face. “Buffy, there’s nothing that can keep us apart now.”

The words had enough time to sink into Buffy’s heart. She returned his smile and threw her arms around his neck. The next minute he was being bodily torn from her.

“Wha…”

Willow stood in the doorway in a fury. Her streaked hair stood out from her head as she pointed her hands at the couple in the room. “Break my daughter’s heart, will you? Couldn’t wait to get back into your slut’s arms? I’ll teach you to hurt my baby!” She motioned to the side and Angel was flung against the wall. Buffy leaped to her feet and was tossed against the other wall. “After I got rid of the curse, you couldn’t wait to run back to you little bedmate, huh?”

Rhiannon ran screaming into the room. “Mom, they did no such thing. In fact, I owe Mrs. Pike an apology! Mom! Listen to me!”

It didn’t take much for the rest of them to see that Willow was in no condition to listen. She was infuriated by the resistance to her righteous fury and would not pay any heed to the others trying to stop her. Buffy was beginning to turn blue from the pressure that the witch’s magic was applying to her throat. Angel was being held, too, but since he didn’t need to breathe, he wasn’t in as bad a shape.

Willow was showing no signs of giving up, especially when she sent a jolt of power toward the vampire since he didn’t seem to be suffering. He convulsed as the electricity ran through him. Rhiannon had seen enough.

She drew on all the power she had in her, added with her Slayer’s powers, and threw a blast of pure magic across her mother’s spell. It disrupted everything, and both spells went down in a shower of pyrotechnics. Rhiannon fell to her knees, drained, while Willow collapsed, only to be caught by Oz.

“How dare you!” she snarled at her daughter. “I was taking care of them for you!”

“No, you weren’t!”

The room went silent. No one had ever heard Oz shout like that before. He looked at his wife. “Willow, I love you, but you weren’t defending Rhiannon. You were avenging yourself.”

Angel, by this time, had pulled himself up and crawled over to where Buffy was laying on the floor gasping for air.

The werewolf crouched down and looked into the witch’s face. “Willow, I’ve known you for too long. You felt so guilty about so many things that weren’t your fault. I know. How many nights did I wake up and hold you while you cried?” His words were soft, as if aimed only at Willow, but everyone heard them clearly. “You’ve let this sour inside, and with Buffy back, you suddenly have someone to focus it all toward. You know what? It’s not Buffy’s fault. She didn’t what was going to happen. She did what she thought was right at the time.” He sighed and gathered Willow up in his arms. “I said then that I didn’t think we should go after her.”

“What about Joyce …” Willow began.

“What about her? She kicked Buffy out of her house. Snyder kicked her out of school. What was she supposed to do? Move in with Giles? That’s real appropriate. Move in with you or Xander? Your parents wouldn’t have let her stay. Would you have really wanted her around if she had to live on the street? How long do you think she would’ve lasted then? Six months? A year? What then?”

At some point in his lecture, something broke through to the witch. She burst into tears and sobbed. Buffy crawled over to her. She reached out a hand and put it on Willow’s shoulder. Willow grabbed Buffy and hugged her tightly. “I’m so sorry.”

“I have some apologizing to do, too.” Buffy looked around the room at Giles and Angel, and at Faith, Xander, and Cordelia, who were standing in the door. “I should’ve thought it through a little more. You guys could’ve helped me to find another way to do things.”

Giles spoke up. “I think I speak for everyone in here when I say that we truly didn’t know, until later, what you had gone through. It would’ve taken a lot to handle it, for all of us.” He looked around. “Let’s try to put the past behind us, and just be glad we’re all together now.”

“Here, here,” Xander applauded. He looked over at Cordy, who was snuggling up to his side.

Several hours later, the whole gang filled Faith’s living room to capacity as explanations, apologies, and laughter swirled around. Buffy was firmly attached to Angel as the two of them shared the same chair. Willow and Oz took up one side of the sofa, avoiding the wet spot. Willow looked years younger since she’d let out all the resentment she’d harbored all those years. Xander and Cordelia were cuddly, and Buffy gave them odd looks from time to time. Giles left after a while, because the hospital had called and said that Joyce’s tests had come back okay and she could be released. Buffy offered to go, but Giles assured her that he would bring her back as quickly as possible.

Rhiannon had taken time to apologize to Buffy, who in her turn, had reassured her that it was natural to love Angel. She also promised to give her a real workout as soon as they all got back to Sunnydale.

It was only after the sun set that things began to ease up and get quiet. Faith was the first to leave, saying that she was going to go make a quick patrol pass since everyone else seemed to be busy. Giles and Joyce left soon after, citing that they didn’t want to make the drive too late and tire Joyce out. Xander and Cordelia left on their heels. Oz gathered his family up and headed back for their hotel, practically dragging Willow who had spent all afternoon trying to make things up to Buffy.

Suddenly Buffy and Angel were left alone. After all the years, and fears, Buffy was suddenly very timid about being with her former boyfriend.

“You look the same,” Angel whispered into her ear. She shivered even though there was no breath to tickle.

“I still want to go down and kick that shaman’s ass again,” she complained. “He screwed me up even worse than I was anyway. And I’m pretty screwed up.”

“You haven’t seen the advantages to that, have you?” he asked as he ran his fingers across her neck and into her hair.

“What advantages? I’m a thirty-six year old woman in a nineteen year old body.”

“And I’m a two hundred and sixty-two year old demon in a twenty-six year old body.”

Comprehension was slow in dawning, but when it did, Buffy’s face lit with a brilliance that nearly hurt to look at. She clung to her lover’s neck so tightly that it was fortunate that the vampire did not need to breathe.

“Shall I prove to you how much I’ve missed you?” he growled playfully in her ear.

“Oh, yes.” The trip to Faith’s spare room was quick.

Buffy woke on a cold surface. She was completely disoriented until the surface below her began moving. She raised up to look Angel in the face.

“Wow.”

“Is that all you have to say?” he grinned.

“Wow sums it up.” She stretched and looked at the clock. “Yikes! If we’re going to get to Sunnydale this morning, we’d better leave now. The sun will be up in a little while.”

It still wasn’t quite as quick as they would’ve liked, but within a few minutes, they were in Angel’s car and headed back home. They talked about all the things that they’d missed about each other over the years. It was only when Angel fell silent for several miles that Buffy became curious.

“Hey. You fall asleep or something?” she asked. “Which would be bad, since you’re driving.”

The vampire sighed. “I was just thinking about something. Did he love you?”

“Who?”

“Your husband.”

“Oh.” Buffy went silent. “Yeah, he did. He loved me from the time we fought that first bunch of vampires right after I was called.” She sniffed back tears. “I loved him as much as I could. I died a lot inside after killing … well, sending you … Whatever.”

“Did he make you happy?”

“Yeah. As happy as we could be wading into demon lairs and taking out vampires. At least I knew that he knew what he was in for. Still, I have to admit, for a regular human, he did a pretty good job kicking butt.” She was quiet for a long moment. “I’d never hated vampires as much as I did then. They’d taken you from me, and then they took Pike. I just waded in there and tried to die.” Tears started in earnest as she relived that painful time. “As usual, when I try to die, I can’t. I took them all out. I killed and killed until they were all gone. But that didn’t bring either of you back.” Her voice dropped. “I wasn’t even here when they figured out how to bring you back.”

“I’m sure you would’ve brought me back had you been there,” Angel assured her. He decided it was time to change the subject. “Have you decided where you’ll be living?”

“No.” She laughed shortly. “I guess I’m a little old to be living at Mom’s. I might stay there, but I guess I should start looking for an apartment.”

He glanced at her playfully. “I wouldn’t mind if you stayed with me. At least, for a while.” He took her mischievous swat in stride. “I suppose there’s enough room at the mansion.”

She grinned as they pulled up in front of said mansion. “Oh, I guess I could stay for a little bit. Seeing as I have no other place to go.” They quickly made a dash for the front door as Angel tried to beat the rising sun.

They quickly initiated his bedroom, this time even more thoroughly than the quick reacquainting at Faith’s house. Buffy lay beside the sleeping vampire, wide awake. She made up her mind and made her way to her mother’s house after leaving a note for Angel.

The path back to the house of her teenage years was hauntingly familiar, despite all the changes that the last two decades had seen. She frowned when she saw unfamiliar vehicles parked out in front of the house. Suddenly unsure of herself, she stopped a neighbor who was walking past.

“Does Joyce Summers still live there?” she asked.

A quick nod was all she got. Living on the Hellmouth seemed to bring out the weirdest in people. She went onto the porch and tried the door. It was locked, so Buffy looked in the flower pot where the spare key had been kept. It was still there, and she let herself in. Shaking her head over the habits of people, she walked in. Seeing no one downstairs, she assumed her mother was still in bed.

Walking upstairs, she found her mother’s room with no problem. Confused at the voices coming from behind the door, Buffy knocked as she pushed the door open. “Mom, it’s me.”

She wasn’t that shocked to see Giles in her mother’s room. He had been very proprietary of her, and taking care of a sick woman wasn’t surprising. Finding that same man in bed with her mother was quite another thing.

“Giles! Mom!” That was about all her shock would let her get out.

“Um, Buffy. Hi!” her mother said, trying to arrange the blankets to make sure they were covered. “I, um, we weren’t expecting you today. I mean, after you and Angel stayed in L.A.” She blushed deeply. “I guess this is kind of a shock.”

“Yeah. Didn’t really see this one coming.” Buffy blushed herself as she caught the innuendo in her words. “I’ll be downstairs.”

Half an hour later, Giles, Joyce, and Buffy sat around the table, each nursing a beverage of their own.

“So, when did this happen?” she asked awkwardly.

Joyce cleared her throat. “I was very upset at Rupert after you left. I did a lot of things I’m not proud of. And to be honest, it took years after you left for us to even be able to carry on a civil conversation.” She looked at Giles and Buffy ruefully. “It was only after your father died that I realized that life was too short to deny myself.”

“Dad’s dead?” Buffy asked. “When? How?”

“Oh, I’m sorry, honey. I didn’t think about you not knowing. He died in a car accident about ten years ago.”

“Well, I never tried to find out or contact anybody. I figured you were all better off without me.”

“Buffy, honey. If I had a dime for all the times I wished you back. I played whole conversations in my head, each one apologizing for driving you away. It was my fault, and I’ve had plenty of years to live with my mistake.”

“We both can’t imagine the kind of life you’ve had since you left,” Giles added. “I know you well enough to know that you didn’t even come close to telling us everything that you’ve been through.” He cleaned his glasses. “I called and talked to Mr. Wyndham-Price last night. He says that he’s very glad that everything seems to have worked itself out admirably.” Giles gently touched her hand. “He also gave us some background on the kind of life you’ve led and the kind of things you did while you were still with the Council. Buffy, I’d give anything to have kept you from that kind of hard life.”

Buffy felt tears threatening again at the serious outpouring of sympathy from her mother and her Watcher. “I guess the only thing that I really regret is not being able to ever have kids, but I’ve already dealt with that.”

They spent a little while longer catching up with details form their lives apart. Buffy finally saw how late it was getting. “I think I probably better patrol.”

“Buffy, you’re a Watcher now. Watchers don’t patrol.”

“Old habits die hard. Besides, I want to see Rhi in action.”

Two hours later, three figures made their way through the graveyard. Buffy and Angel held back as they watched Rhiannon attack the first of three vamps. Buffy evaluated her style and her abilities. The Slayer really had potential.

“So, are you happy?” Angel asked, seeing the expression on his love’s face.

“More than anything. I have you, and I don’t have to go out and face all the bumps in the night by myself anymore.” She hugged him tightly. “I couldn’t be happier.”

“You do realize that you’ll still die before me?” he asked, knowing he had to.

“I’m already tired of this aging thing. Knowing I have another couple hundred years in front of me is daunting. So, how do you handle immortality?”

“Very carefully.”

He realized that she could get the last laugh as he was suddenly laying on his back, staring up at the dark sky. Laughing, he pulled her down on top of him. “I guess now we need to work on your sense of humor.”

A screech from another part of the graveyard had them both on their feet. “I guess they’re playing our song,” Buffy said. “Shall we?”

“After you.”

They ran to Rhiannon’s aid, each engaging a vampire. Side by side, they fought like no time at all had expired. Buffy smiled through a face full of dust. Some things in this world never changed.

Another couple centuries of this wouldn’t be enough, she thought. And smiled for the possibilities.

The End