She Comes to Me

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She Comes to Me

Past, Present, and Future

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He looked around at the shattered remains of his dream. How had it come to this? Everything he had worked for, all he had believed in, all that he wanted for this world. How had it all been reduced to a pile of rubble no taller than a sapling?

He knew how and a growl of rage erupted from his withered throat. Rage that had not waned an iota in years, rage that was directed at two specific individuals and their close knit traitorous family. Their ‘family’ ha! Family was not a term he would use to describe that motley group; family portrayed something that was missing from the assembly of people who had reduced his world, his life’s work to nothing but…this.

He looked out at the vast landscape, the acres of grassy knolls and thick virgin forests; untouched by time, protected by magick and ignorance. They had taken all that away from him: turned his own family, those who had stood by him for years, who had stood by the vision, the dream, for centuries. Had turned those he considered trusted friends and allies against him.

They would not get away with it. If he had to spend the last years of his life, no matter who he had to make a deal with, no matter what he had to do, he’d see that they paid for what they had done. All of them. And then he’d see them in hell.

Slowly turning his back on what was once the center of his existence, he walked away, never looking back at the debris his life’s work had become. “I swear they’ll pay, if it’s the last thing I ever so.”

And the moment those words were out of his mouth, a stranger appeared in front of him. He looked to be in his late thirties, dressed simply in cotton pants and a corded sweater. For all appearances he looked normal, but there was something about him…

“I hear you’re looking for a way to extract your revenge.” It was a statement, not a question despite the polite appearance the Stranger showed.

“Yes,” It was a growl, a snarl as his rage threatened to erupt. “Who are you?” The latter was said as an after thought; as if it were something he had to say when faced with a stranger who had seemingly popped up out of nowhere and read his mind.

“No one of consequence. But I can help you.”

The wind was whipping around them now, but didn’t seem to touch either man standing in the ruined clearing. There was a part of him that found that odd, that wondered at it and thought he should feel less at ease, more on alert, something other than…intrigued.

“How?”

“Simple,” the Stranger answered with a smile that chilled to the bone. “You want revenge against those who turned against you; against those who orchestrated that…mutiny. I do as well. I had plans for them that didn’t include…this.” He waved his hand around what was once a tall proud building, centuries old.

“What do you need from me?”

The Stranger smiled and it was not a pleasant one. If it were possible to feel anything other than the bone deep rage and mind numbing hatred, the older man would have been…scared. As it was, all he did was listen to what the being, this Stranger, had to say.

“At this moment, nothing. I know everything that happened, and I know how to…fix it. I know the exact moment things changed and I know the perfect way to extract your revenge upon them. All I need is your consent and we’ll begin.”

Quentin Trevors nodded and shook the hand of the man standing in front of him. “Then you shall have it.”
*********
What Happened…

“Doyle, I need to see the Oracles, I need to…make this right.” Angel was still bruised and sore from his fight with the Mohra Demon but that didn’t stop his determination.

“Right? Angel, man, are you sure? I mean what about the slayer? What about you and the slayer?” He could not allow his friend to renounce everything they had because of one tiny incident with a superior force.

His friend got a faraway look in his eye, a slight smile playing over his features. “Yes. I’m sure. If I’m like this then I can’t protect her. I have to protect her, Doyle. She’s my everything and if something were to happen to her because I couldn’t be there to help her…” He trailed off but there was no need to finish the sentence.

Heaving a heavy sigh, Doyle nodded at the man he considered a friend, his closest. “Okay, but I don’t like this.”

“Promise me, Doyle…promise me you won’t tell Buffy.” There was a large part of Angel that wished his friend wouldn’t agree, but Doyle only nodded, promising not to say a word…to the slayer.

Of course he was thinking how to get the slayer here to stop the idiot of an ex-vampire before things went too far. He was planning on calling Cordelia and explaining things to his princess, having her bring Buffy along and subsequently not breaking his word to Angel, when something hit him.

His last thought was not for Angel or Buffy, or what a colossal mistake this was and the horrible repercussions it was going to have on the future of the world. No, his last thought was for Cordelia. And then everything went black until Angel returned from his meeting and revived him.

After that day he never remembered having met the slayer for more than those few moments at the beginning of her visit. He didn’t remember, though Angel had told him, about the day he was human, and he didn’t remember being hit over the head with a blunt object because the world as one man knew it wasn’t good enough for him.

That man wanted things to go his way, wanted to be the one responsible for winning the End Days, wanted to be the one to go down in the annals of history as the one to organize the winning war. He wanted to be the one to do so, not some slut of a slayer and her demon lover. Not people who had turned their backs on everything the Council stood for, not people who were mere amateurs, who had no idea the power the Watcher’s Council wielded.

As Quinton Travors stood over the prone form of Allan Francis Doyle, he smiled. It was by no means sane, tinged with a wildness that would have scared his younger self. His laugh was cold and just a bit unhinged. He threw away the iron bar used to cosh the head of the half demon that was had wanted to change things, who had the sheer audacity to think that he knew better than Quinton.

Because Quinton Travors wanted to be the one remembered for ending the End Days.
*********
What Was Meant To Be…

The phone rang, once, twice, Cordelia picked it up just before the third ring, mustn’t seem too eager with these Hollywood types. Maybe she had made an impression after all at tonight’s party.

“Cordy?” Willow’s voice echoed from the other end.

“Willow, hey!” She replied with genuine pleasure in her voice, just a little disappointed that it wasn’t some big name come to offer her the world. At least it was a friendly voice.

The red head was one of the few people Cordelia Chase still kept in touch with in Sunnydale. Most of her ‘friends’ had written her off after the Xander incident and she hadn’t cared enough to try to get them back. Then there was that whole ‘daddy cheated on his taxes’ scandal that rocked her world. Sunnydale things were better left there.

“So, how are things there?”

“You know the same, college just started and all, that’s been interesting, a real change from high school. Plus, that whole lack of Hellmouth in the library. Makes studying there a lot less…stressful.”

Willow went on to tell her friend about college and the gang, skimming over the part where Buffy was still in a major funk about Angel leaving. They had all seen the veil drift over her the night after they had blown up the school; she closed herself off, shut down, tried to conceal her pain as best she could.

But she was fooling no one. No one that is except her mother who was still in major denial about her daughter’s future and whom she wanted to spend it with. Joyce Summers seemed to be the only one happy about Angel’s departure. Well, she and Xander.

“Speaking of,” though they hadn’t been that didn’t matter to two who had witnessed close to three years of the angst-y deep love known as Buffy and Angel. “You’ll never believe who I ran into tonight.”

“Brad Pitt?”

“No.”

“Ian Macgregor?”

“No, Will…” Then, because the answer was less than obvious and Cordy didn’t want to spend all night answering twenty questions, “Angel.”

The silence that greeted her on the other end wasn’t surprising in the least. She could just imagine Willow opening and closing her mouth as she attempted to think of something to say to that. Cordy could sympathize: seeing Angel in LA had been a shock, speaking with him almost more so.

“Wow, well, um, how does he look?”

“The same, Willow, vampires don’t exactly age.”

“Right, right, I know that. And..?”

“He misses her, I can tell. We didn’t exchange more than half a dozen words, but it was the way he looked, more haunted than I’ve ever seen even him. Not that that’s saying much, but at least with Buffy he…smiled. And the smile never creeped me out before; tonight there was something in it that did.”

“I wish there was some way for things to have worked out…” Willow only wanted her best friend happy and Angel made her so. Therefore, for Willow at least, it was quite simple. If Angel made Buffy happy and Buffy made Angel happy, then the conclusion was that they should be together. It was a shame that it just wasn’t going to work out like that.

“I know, Will…maybe I can talk him into coming back to Sunnydale with me for some of my things. Accidentally run into Buffy…” Cordy was reaching, true, but it wasn’t totally impossible…in an alternate fantasy world.

“I don’t think he’d go for that, Cordy. But, maybe…?” Never one to give up hope, Willow tried.

“No,” the brunette sighed on the other end of the phone line, “I don’t think he will, either. Maybe I can work her into the conversation. Some...how…maybe.”

“Maybe,” Willow agreed though neither were overly optimistic about the chances of that.

Well that and Cordelia Chase wasn’t exactly known for her subtle approaches.
~~~~~~~~
“Riley’s a doof, Xander.” Buffy said as she looked at her mentor for more information as to why she had been called here when she was trying to cheer up Willow…Willow who had left the party early and Buffy hadn’t even noticed.

Shows what a great friend she was; Buffy knew exactly what her best friend was going through and instead of helping, she tried to steer away, deathly afraid that to be near that kind of heartbreak again would bring back everything she had been more or less suppressing for months.

But Spike, right. Damn the vampire for coming back to her town. How many times did she have to kick his ass before he finally got the hint? Well, she was in the mood for some serious slayage, Angel’s memory too close to the surface for her to deal with in any kind of calm rational manner. It looked like it was going to be one more ass kicking for Spike and Buffy was so going to enjoy that.

Yes, that was just fine with her.
~~~~~~~~
“Are you sure you’re alright, Willow?” Buffy asked yet again as she brought her friend some water and pain pills; whoever those commandoes were they had knocked her around pretty hard.

“Yeah, fine. Just…you know the same.” Willow was making less and less sense but it wasn’t from the blow to the head. Oz’s leaving had torn a hole inside of her that she doubted very much her capacity to heal.

“I know…” Buffy said as she sat beside her best friend. “I do know, it’s just…”

“Just that everything I’m going through reminds you of Angel. I know, I understand, I just need my best friend, you know?”

Willow was snuggled under a soft blanket, curled onto her side, her aching head resting against four pillows as she looked at Buffy. The knot on the back of her head was finally beginning to subside and Willow could only be grateful. Of course that could have been because she had really exceeded the maximum recommended dosage for the aspirin she had been taking nonstop since Buffy had stormed in and saved the day. By about ten times the recommended dosage.

“I know, Willow, and I’m trying, but it’s just so hard…” Buffy trailed off, once again berating herself for her weakness. Changing the subject Buffy tried for glib, “So, Riley. Why are you pushing so hard?”

Willow laughed then stopped at the stabbing pain. “He seems nice and since you’re really on Anti-Angel mode,” She said, the high aspirin dosage making her bolder than she normally would have been, “I thought he might be a nice diversion.”

“You’re pushing him at me for a diversion? Spike is a diversion, Riley’s a doof. Or, as Xander so eloquently puts it, Teutonic. Right, if I remember, are knights or something so I’m not really sure what he’s talking about. And I admit, Riley is a nice enough guy and if…”

Buffy paused then decided that since keeping it all bottled up hadn’t help maybe sharing would. “Angel owns my heart, my soul, everything about me. At the most I could look at Riley as a cherished friend. Maybe…Maybe if Angel had never entered the picture something else could have developed, but…”

“But,” Willow finished for her friend, “Since Angel did then he’s always going to be there. I understand, Buffy, you know I do. I just need some of that same understanding for me.”

“I know, Willow, and I’ll try…no, I’ll do better than that. I’ll be Best Friend Buffy for you.” And if Buffy’s heart broke just a little bit more as she thought about what she could never have with Angel, then she kept that to herself.

Some things were just never meant to be shared.
~~~~~~
Spike was not having a good day.

As a matter of fact, the last few weeks sucked royally. Poor choice of words as ‘sucking’ wasn’t exactly in his vocabulary any longer. Damn commandoes, who did they think they were? Implanting some damn chip in his brain to keep him from harming people. Did they think it’d do any good?

At least the slayer had the decency to kill a being outright. She didn’t leave them to starve, to rot from frustration and hunger and being a total outcast from the only society that even remotely accepted each other. None of this torture.

Except, of course, when it was warranted for information. And even that Spike could understand. Naturally he’d use a few of those methods throughout the years, for information, true, but it was great fun as well…

Damn it! Bloody chip, can’t even think about harming a human and look what happens.

Breathing heavily he slowly opened his eyes, noticing that the searing pain had passed. Damn chip.

His situation had not improved. But at least he had the promise of food. Giles’ apartment was not exactly the place he wished to find himself, but it was better than roaming the streets looking for a meal, the commandoes on his back, Harmony looking to stake him in one of her ‘I am woman hear me roar’ moments. What had he seen in her, anyway? Oh, right, sex; it wasn’t even that good.

And everything would have probably worked itself out just fine and dandy…and maybe with a way to remove this sodden hardware, but then who should show up but the Great Poof himself.

Angel was lurking nearby, Spike could tell. Blood, after all, always tells. Every once in a while he could see Buffy pause, looking as if she sensed him, too, trying to find the shape of him in the shadows of the night. It seemed that the self delusion that plagued most of the town had infected her when Angel left.

Spike’s train of thought was interrupted as they were suddenly attacked by…Indians? What was this, a western? And how the bloody hell had he gotten himself involved in this? All he wanted was a meal, warm and fresh preferably, and this is what he got in return? Bloody great.
~~~~~~~~
“Yeah, especially with Angel here and all…”

Xander’s words echoed around Buffy as she walked into his building, slowly through the doors and paused, listening to the conversation below. The tingling just below her skin was almost enough to drown out the words but not quite enough to heal her heart…not yet.

“It wasn’t a social call. I was there to protect her. I stayed out of sight. She didn’t even know I was there.” But he knew exactly where she was even when she wasn’t in his sight.

“Really?” Cordelia asked though she already knew that from his nod. “So you avoided her.”

“Look, Buffy is always going to be a part of me, and that’s never going to change. But she’s human and I’m…” Angel looked away from his friends, “not. And that’s also never going to change. We said our goodbyes, no need to stir any of this up again.” Even though they had never said goodbye because between them it never would be ‘goodbye.’

Cordelia snorted at that. Men, vampire or human it didn’t matter, they were all delusional. “You don’t want to ‘stir’ but if my ex came to town and was all stalking me in the shadows and then left and then didn’t even say ‘hello’ I’d be…”

Buffy took this as her cue and said, “A little upset.” She locked eyes with Angel and felt everything she had ever tried to repress about him (why had she wanted to in the first place?) flood back through her. Making her complete. “Wouldn’t you?”
~~~~~~~~~
Spike looked around Giles’ apartment as he fidgeted with the ropes that held him securely in place. Tied with chains to chair, check, out of sun, check, recently fed (though it was only a little, they apparently wanted to keep him weak – smart humans), check. Annoying Scooby’s, check. Giles flipping through old musty books, check.

No, everything was the same, nothing had changed. But something was different, there was something missing…? It was strange, this feeling of lacking something that had always been there.

So what was missing?

Closing his eyes, he listened to his blood, listened to the rhythm and cadence and everything it said and what it didn’t say. It pounded through him, stolen and unmoving though it was. Drusilla was there as she always was, there were several of his childer as well. But there was one missing…

“Bloody hell!” He shouted into the relative quietness of the room as he stopped struggling against his bonds.

He didn’t pay attention when everyone stared at him, wondering why he had suddenly become so agitated. He didn’t listen to Willow and Giles speculate on whatever they thought was the matter. No, all he heard was the lack of tempo that was his Sire.

If it were possible, he paled even more; if he needed to breathe, he wouldn’t have been able to. He sat completely still, trying desperately to find the bond that was Angelus. But it just wasn’t there. The bond with neither Angel nor Angelus – and they were different, the addition of the soul tweaked the Sire/Childe bond ever so slightly – no longer beat inside of him.

His Sire, his Yoda, his one time very own god was…dead.

Shock had set in. Wasn’t this what he wanted? Angel dead and ash? So why then did he feel like…crying? Like howling to the moon in rage and grief, finding those who had done this to his sire and destroying them with his bare hands?

Willow was getting worried. Spike didn’t look at all well and that wasn’t even including the fact that he had been implanted with some kind of behavior modification chip and had basically starved for a week or two. Slowly walking over to him, she crouched in front of him and asked, “Spike? Spike, what’s wrong?”

The look in his bright blue eyes was desolate, bleak and filled with more pain than she could ever remember seeing in his eyes. In anyone’s eyes, really…it was more than Willow ever wanted to see again.

“Angel…he’s dead.” That was the only explanation for the disappearance of him in Spike’s blood. The only thing that could have happened to make that bond disappear would be the death of Angel.

Willow sucked in a quick breath. What had happened? Everyone knew that Buffy had gone to LA on the pretence of seeing her absentee father to confront Angel on his skulking methods of protecting her. So if she was in LA and Angel had died…what had happened?

Grabbing Giles’ phone, she quickly dialed Cordelia’s number. When her machine picked up, Willow slammed the phone down without leaving a message. Thinking quickly, she dialed the number to the agency where she knew Cordelia worked with Angel and someone else…Doyle, maybe? So unimportant at the moment.

“Angel Investigations,” Cordelia’s bright voice echoed over the phone and for a moment Willow wondered if her friend knew…

“Cordy, it’s Willow, is Angel alright?”

“Willow? Angel? Erm, why do you ask?” She had, not three minutes ago, seen him disappear into his apartment with Buffy ostensibly to ‘talk things through’ now that he was human. Still, she wasn’t willing to tell anyone else his news no matter how good a friend and how much she was bursting with this wonderful knowledge.

“Spike,” Willow said in a rush, panic beginning to set in when she didn’t get a straight answer. “Spike said that Angel was dead, IS HE OKAY? CORDELIA, WHERE’S BUFFY?” Calm no longer had any meaning to her.

“Willow!” Cordy shouted into the phone, trying to calm the obviously distraught girl. “Willow, calm down! Angel’s fine. So is Buffy. It’s just that…well…” Cordelia was caught between telling her friend the great news about Angel’s new life – literally – and keeping it a secret. It wasn’t hers to tell, after all.

“CORDELIA!”

“Okay, okay…he’s human.”

The silence on the other end of the phone gave Cordy pause. “Willow?” Still no answer. “WILLOW?!” She repeated a bit more urgently, wondering what had happened to her friend.

“Cordelia, are you still there?” Giles’ voice came over the line, making Cordy wonder what exactly had happened to Willow.

“Giles is Willow alright?”

Giles looked over his shoulder at the girl now on the floor where she had collapsed, wondering what had made her gasp in shock, sitting stock-still but begin to hyperventilate. “What did you tell Willow, Cordelia? Is everything okay with Buffy and Angel?”

“Er, well, yes?” She looked helplessly at Doyle as if he had some of the answers.

“You don’t sound so sure, Cordelia.” And now he was beginning to panic as well.

“They’re fine, Giles, really.” And she was nodding frantically into the phone though no one but Doyle could see her. “Everything’s just fine. They’re talking…” Though she highly doubted that, she wasn’t about to tell anyone that they were probably having wild sex before she told them that the curse was no longer an issue: some things just needed to be told in the proper order after all.

“Angel and Buffy fought this demon and some of its blood got into Angel and now he’s human.” She said it all in a rush in the hopes of forestalling the inevitable thought that Angelus was back.

Again silence greeted her on the other end of the phone. This was getting ridiculous. “Giles? Giles, are you there?”

“Y-y-yes, Cor-Cordelia, I, I’m here. Ah, um, did you say…? Human?”

Rolling her eyes, Cordy nodded again. “Yes, human. As in sunlight and heartbeat and crosses and eating and Buffy. Human.” If they couldn’t figure out what Buffy and Angel were going to do now that he was literally alive, she certainly wasn’t going to tell them.

“Ah. We’ll have to call you back Cordelia…” And he hung up before he could think to change his mind which was currently awhirl. Angel…human…Angel human…Angel human with no preposterous loophole in a curse that should have been permanent in the first damn place.

Angel was human.

“Angel is human.” He said aloud for the benefit of those who had not talked to Cordelia.

There was absolute silence in the room as everyone looked from Giles to a still wide-eyed Willow who was shallowly breathing still on the floor. Heads volleyed back and forth between the two, wondering if this was some kind of joke because really, nothing like this had ever happened before and it was entirely unheard of…

Even for them.

“Human?” Spike spoke first. “Impossible, watcher. There’s no bloody way that a vampire can suddenly become human…” Right?

Swallowing once, trying to reign in his swirling thoughts, Giles began to clean his glasses as he attempted to make sense of the recent revelations. “Yes, well, apparently, Spike, that’s not entirely true…”
~~~~~~~
The Oracles looked at the scene before them, smiling though they would never admit, other than to themselves, that what they saw before them pleased them. It was true that they had told the warrior that what had happened to him was not of the Power’s doing, and it wasn’t.

It was someone much higher than the Powers. It was Fate. Love and Fate went hand in hand and this was no exception. The test, the real test was to see if all passed without any outside interference. If that happened, then all would be fixed. If it did not…

Then things would take a different path, would meander much more slowly into chaos and pandemonium before coming out the way they had always been foreseen.

So they watched as the warriors, the two most powerful warriors for their side, consummated their love. No longer denying what always was and always would be, no longer looking for escape clauses and ways around things that were meant to be just because it was a little harder than it could have been.

‘Privy to all the attendant pains and pleasures’ indeed.
~~~~~~~
It had been over two hours since Willow’s frantic phone call asking whether Angel and Buffy were alright, still alive. Cordelia looked at the plant before her and sighed again.

“Buffy gave it mites?” Doyle found that hard to believe, but there was obviously more to it than Delia was letting on.

“How else do you explain it?” She sat beside him, wondering where her life was going to go now.

“Jealously?”

“I’m jealous of her? Oh, please!?” But there was a grain of truth there. Not in the ‘I’m jealous she has Angel’ way, certainly not, Angel was more her brother than anything else. But in the ‘I’m jealous that she has a great love, that she knows what it’s like to love with your whole being, whole heart, to know, absolutely that the one you’re with is the only one you ever want to be with until time ends’ way…yeah, she was jealous.

Just as she and Doyle were getting ready to go to one of his favorite bars – the man had several it was kind of sad – the Sunnydale gang arrived. Introductions were made by Cordy who wasn’t exactly surprised that they had driven the two hours to confirm something as outlandish as this, though Spike’s appearance gave her pause for more than a moment.

Explanations were given and Cordy did a double take when she heard that Spike was the reason they had called in the first place. Some weird Sire/Childe thing that obviously only began to bother him after he had tortured Angel.

“Look, they’re downstairs in Angel’s apartment,” Her head jerked to the side as she said this. She didn’t elaborate, but everyone knew what was going on down there. When no one made a move in that direction she smiled. “Yeah, we were just about to go for drinks, care to join us?”

And that was when everything went kaplooy.

As they all sat at the bar, one that didn’t care about such legalities as ‘over 21’, Doyle had a vision. The demon wasn’t really dead. He told everyone the vision then went back to the office to tell Angel, leaving the rest of the gang at the bar, their reasoning simple: Angel and Buffy had killed it once, or at least seriously injured it – how were they supposed to know it would regenerate itself…though it did make Angel human…not the point – they could do it again.

But Angel went off to fight it alone…well, he and Doyle and really, what good could two humans – one former vampire human and a half demon – no matter how well versed in battle techniques do against a much stronger demon? Who was way angry at one of those humans? Buffy arrived and killed it, but Angel was in bad shape…and not just physically.

Deciding that they only way to ensure Buffy’s survival was to take away the one thing they had both wanted, Angel went back to the Oracles.

“Doyle, I need to see the Oracles, I need to…make this right.” Angel was still bruised and sore from his fight with the Mohra Demon but that didn’t stop his determination.

Heaving a heavy sigh, Doyle nodded at the man he considered a friend, his closest. “Okay, but I don’t like this.”

Of course he was thinking how to get the slayer here to stop the idiot of an ex-vampire before things went too far.

Doyle, knowing what his friend was doing and deciding that it was a colossally stupid mistake, called Cordelia and told her to get the slayer to the post office immediately. He’d explain everything later, but her presence was required and it was required NOW. Just as Angel stepped back through the portal to the Oracles’ inner sanctum, Buffy and Cordelia arrived.

“What? Doyle, what’s wrong? Did something happen to Angel?” Buffy was out of breath, not just from the sprint from the car to where Doyle stood, but out of fear that something had happened to her lover.

“Buffy, I don’t have time to explain, lass, just go through the door when I tell ya to.” Doyle frantically began the spell once more, at the last minute remembering that she needed a gift. Damn it, he didn’t have anything. Well, the slayer was on her own.

“Doyle, what…?” She was about to argue, but suddenly a door was visible and Doyle was literally pushing her through it.

“She’ll die? Then I’m here to beg for her life.” Angel could feel his heart so newly alive, breaking. This was the only thing he had ever wanted, to spend his life, short and mortal, in the arms of his love and he was giving it all away.

“It is not our place to grant life or death.”

“And I ask that you take mine back.” He paused when they turned back to look at him, surprise showing clearly on their otherworldly faces. “Look, I can’t protect her or anyone this way, not as a man.” He refused to acknowledge the tear that tracked down his cheek.

“You’re asking to be what you were a demon with a soul, because of the slayer?”

“No!” Buffy’s voice sounded clear in the chamber, echoing long after the acoustics should have allowed her protest to fade. Walking forward she stopped in front of Angel. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“Buffy, what are you doing here…?” His hand reached out, automatically, to touch her face, so beloved and at the moment, so incredibly angry.

“Doyle. Apparently your friend has more brains than you do. I will not allow you to give this up for me. Angel, this is what you’ve always wanted.”

Forgetting that they had an audience, and one that wasn’t likely to take being ignored lightly, Angel gripped Buffy’s arms and said, his voice breaking in time with his heart. “I can’t let anything happen to you, I won’t. If it’s within my power to save your life, to see that you get to live that life, than I’d gladly let you go.”

Buffy cupped his face with her hands, bringing him closer to her. “Well I won’t.” Her voice was fierce and threatening but her eyes held only love. “I love you and not only do I not care if you’re human or a vampire with a soul, I won’t let you give up the one thing that you’ve wanted for a hundred years just for me.”

“You don’t get it, do you?! I love you, more than my own life! I would die to protect you and if I have to, again, then that’s exactly what I’m going to do!”

He turned back to the Oracles and said, “Yes, a vampire with a soul; the Mohra Demon came to take a warrior from your cause and it succeeded. I’m no good to you like this. I know you have it in your power to make this right. Please…”

He refused to look at Buffy though she had walked up to his side, grasping his hand tightly in hers, pleading with him not to do this. Pleading with the Oracles not to do this.

“I can’t fight without him,” Buffy whispered though all present heard her. “I can’t do it alone anymore…”

“What is done cannot be undone.” The male looked at the sight before him and refused to show how their obvious love affected him. He heard her plea – and the truth in it – clearly enough…and granted her heart's desire.

Angel would not accept that but gripped Buffy’s hand all the tighter. “There has to be a way, I can’t fight for you without my strength, without my abilities as a vampire…” Why was he arguing so vehemently for this; it wasn’t what he wanted.

What he wanted was to wake up with Buffy in his arms one more day, always one more day until time ended. But if he did that then she’d die before they could realize that dream.

“There is one way. But it is not to be taken lightly.” Again the male spoke, as his sister looked on with something akin to…awe.

“We…transform you.” The woman said, turning back to the teary-eyed couple. “You will be neither fully human nor fully demon. Your soul will remain, your strength; you will be a mix allowing you to continue our fight with your mate by your side.”

An odd glow went around Angel and he screamed, falling to his knees and dragging Buffy, who still clutched his hand, with him. She shouted his name but he barely heard her, so focused on the pain coursing through him. Heaving great breaths that he did seem to need, Angel turned his head to Buffy several long minutes later, smiling at her as he wrapped his arms around her shaking form.

With a flash of light Buffy and Angel found themselves in an ignominious heap back in front of the Post Office, all their friends gathered around them each wearing identical expressions of concern and hope.

Buffy turned to her lover and wrapped her arms around him, holding tightly as tears soaked his shirt. His heart still beat; she could feel it, hear it. His skin wasn’t as cool as it once was but not as hot as it had been the night before. She could live with it because, now, she could live with him.

Angel buried his face in her hair, breathing the remembered scent in as he comforted her, thus comforting himself as well. Whispering words of love to her in both English and Gaelic, he held her until the group started to get restless.

“Oh, bloody hell! Just tell us already.” This was from Spike who knew that Angel wasn’t human, yet he could smell the humanity on him, but didn’t know exactly what his Sire was now.

“Yeah, Spike’s right.” Cordelia agreed then frowned. “Did those words just come out of my mouth?” Shuddering she continued, “What happened in there?”

Slowly Angel and Buffy turned only their heads and looked at their friends though made no move to pull apart. Turning to Doyle who was looking anything but ashamed, Angel glared. “You weren’t supposed to tell her.”

Doyle shrugged, “And I didn’t.” As his friend continued to glare at him Doyle added, smile still firmly in place, “I told Cordelia who then took it upon herself to inform the slayer.”

Buffy looked at her one time almost-friend and smiled. “Thank you. I’m glad you did.”

Turning to the rest of the group, Buffy frowned. “Giles, what are you guys doing here?”

Sighing, glad that everything was as it should be, though he had no idea what that was; Giles took his glasses off and tried for brevity. “It’s a long story, Buffy, but I think you have Spike to thank.”

The newly reunited couple turned to the vampire. “Spike?” Angel growled – apparently that was something he hadn’t lost in whatever transformation he had undergone. “Why Spike?”

Rolling his eyes the chipped vampire shook his head and started to walk away. “You should know, Sire, blood always tells, but then you always were a big Pouf.”
~~~~~~~~~
Later that night Buffy sat in Angel’s apartment, waiting as he saw to everyone’s needs. Explanations had taken a while and Giles had tried – and failed, which was a first – to find a reference of any kind on Angel’s new hybrid status. The former watcher fully intended to go back to the Oracles in the morning to ask some specifics, but decided it could wait.

She felt his presence drawing nearer a moment before she heard his steps on the stairs. He looked…tired. More than tired, bone weary; yet there was a presence to him that she had rarely seen before. It took Buffy a moment to realize that it was hope. For the first time in too long he had hope…because they were finally together.

“Everyone settled?” She asked crawling over his body and stretching out on top of him as he lay prone on the bed, exhausted from the day’s events.

“Yeah,” he said as his hands rested on her back, cupping her ass, tracing patterns on her shoulders. “Willow and Anya…is Xander actually dating her?” Buffy nodded as she peppered his chest with soft kisses. “Are staying with Cordelia and Doyle is putting up Giles, Xander and Spike; Cordelia refused to allow Xander and Anya together in her apartment.”

“And Spike?” Buffy momentarily lost concentration as she unbuttoned his shirt, intent on tasting more of his delicious skin.

“I figure he and Doyle will try to drink each other under the table, Xander will ignore them both, and Giles can get some more of his research done.”

“Ah,” Buffy acknowledged as she ran her hands under his now opened shirt, pushing it as far off his shoulders as possible with him on the bed. “That makes sense. And you?”

Angel smiled, shucking off his shirt and flipping them over lightening quick; full vampire or not, he still had the speed. Attacking her mouth with his, he whispered, “I figured we could test the bounds of my new strength. See just how long the slayer and her human/demon lover can last.”

Breath hitching as his fingers played with her nipples, Buffy managed to sagely nod. “It’s all about the stamina.”

Clothes were tossed aside in their haste for flesh on flesh. Lips met again and again as hands roamed territory they could never and would never have felt again had things turned out differently. Whispered words of love and devotion caressed skin, nerves sang for their other half.

Angel entered her in one sure thrust, catching her cry with his mouth as they began to move together, hips rocking in perfect rhythm, hands clasped together, building higher and higher to the peak they craved only with the other.

With a final shout of release, they exploded together, their orgasms rushing through to the other, bathing them in a soft glow.

Angel nuzzled Buffy’s scar, tracing the raised flesh with soft lips as he tried to control the breath he now needed. The mark that branded her, absolutely, as his, in the demon community. Maybe it was time to brand her, such as it was, in the human community as well…but there was time enough for that, now that they had time together.

“I love you, Angel,” Buffy said as he rolled to the side, bringing her with him, still inside her.

“And I you, my heart.”

They drifted off to sleep, content in their knowledge that the other would be there in the morning and that nothing could ever separate them again.

And discovered, throughout the night, that Angel’s stamina was just as wonderful and resilient as it had always been.
***********
Six Weeks Later…

“This can’t be right…” Buffy trailed off and counted again, ignoring the colored stick that also confirmed her suspicions. No, it was right. As her count had been the past ten times. She was late. How the hell could she be late? She was sleeping with a vampire; okay, a demon/human hybrid, but that didn’t matter. It had been confirmed both by supernatural means, scientific testing, and a nice long talk with the Oracles, that children between the couple were quite the impossibility.

Vampires couldn’t have children.

So how the hell could her period be late?

“Angel?” Buffy tried to call to her lover but her voice wasn’t working as it should. Trying again she managed a bit louder, “Angel!” Okay, there was a slight hysterical edge to her voice but could anyone really blame her?

Rushing into the bathroom Angel looked at her, sitting on the edge of the bathtub. Well, thank God for supernatural Angel hearing, Buffy thought when she heard him racing down the stairs.

“What’s wrong, baby?” Crossing the few steps to her, Angel crouched down and took her trembling hands in his. He was so focused on her that he didn’t notice the calendar on the floor beside her or the remains of the box – now shredded – next to that.

“I think…I, I, I, I…think th-that I’m…” She was stuck in a stuttering loop and couldn’t seem to find the word that would make it stop. “Pregnant,” Buffy finally blurted. Then frowned; that wasn’t nearly as hard to say as she had thought.

Smiling at the confused look on her lover’s face and delighting in the fact that she could say it again, Buffy tugged Angel’s hands over her still flat stomach. “I’m pregnant, Angel.”

Still Angel said nothing, though Buffy could see the look in his eyes. Joy, happiness, bliss rolled through him in a thousand waves that crashed together into one huge ball of wonder. “A baby?”

Buffy nodded and for a long awe filled moment they both just looked at each other, grinning like fools because this was the one thing that they never thought they’d have. The shout of joy that finally erupted from both their throats echoed around the small apartment, chasing all the shadows away.

Angel replaced his hands on her stomach with his head, listening for any trace of his child’s life. Buffy tangled her hands in his hair, loving the feel of it, loving the fact that she had been allowed to keep this that it hadn’t been taken away from her. From them.

Cordelia and Doyle were upstairs in the office arguing over the best way to kill a Votrtra Demon when they heard the shout. Cordy shrugged and kept reading while Doyle narrowed his eyes and wondered what the noise was all about.

“She probably surprised him with another set of chains.” Cordelia snipped. Then softened and turned to her new lover, kissing his lips and finishing reading the passage about the demon aloud.

Fifteen minutes later Willow, Xander, Anya, Giles, Spike, and Wesley came back from their magickal supply shopping trip to find Cordy and Doyle still wrapped around each other and reading about the Votrtra Demon.

Spike had agreed that he was needed now more than ever since Angel was only half a vampire and had consented to stay on the side of good. He didn’t like it most times, but it wasn’t all bad. And the group was actively looking for a way to remove the blasted bloody US government chip from his brain.

Wesley had returned with information on the commandoes running amok in Sunnydale and together both sets of the team had put a stop to Walsh’s crazy ‘Frankenstein’ plan before it went much farther. Buffy had been a little upset to realize that Riley Finn, a man she had thought to be nice and normal, was actually a member of the commandoes. But he and a couple of his friends had risked their lives to destroy Walsh’s laboratory so she had accepted his story and his friendship.

“I’m serious,” Spike said, hauling his share of bags onto the counter just barely missing Cordelia’s mug of now cold coffee. “Have you noticed how off she’s been acting? Something going on with the slayer.”

Just then said slayer and her lover walked into the lobby hand in hand, matching foolish grins on their faces. The gang turned to look at them, confused.

”Oh, God,” Cordelia said, voicing the opinion of everyone present. Angel with a big lopsided grin on his face was rare and couldn’t bode well. “Tell me the end of the world isn’t coming, Doyle and I are going out tonight.”

Simultaneously Buffy and Angel shook their heads, still wearing their smiles. “No end of the world,” Buffy laughed.

“We’re going to have a baby.” Angel said, his smile widening even further.

There was dead silence in the room but even that couldn’t dim the love and hope and joy on the proud parent’s to be faces. Suddenly everyone erupted into shouts of congratulations and hugs and kisses and everyone talking at once.

Cordelia and Willow immediately began planning a baby shower and Doyle and Spike insisted on taking Angel out for a celebratory drink. Giles, while more cautious, hugged Buffy and whispered his own words of sincere congratulations before exchanging a look with Wesley and the silent agreement to look into this further.
~~~~~~~~
“What about Liam?” Buffy asked, curled comfortably into her new husband’s side as they tried to decide on a name for their child.

Their wedding had been an informal ceremony, but it had everything either could have ever wanted: friends, family…and each other. And the bright promise of a future.

The Oracles had told Giles – albeit reluctantly as if it were a flaw even they could not overcome – that Angel couldn’t have children and yet here she was, pregnant. It was Giles who speculated that this miracle child was conceived during the day when Angel was completely human. The Oracles had refused to say a word, simply stating that all was working out as it was meant to.

‘Well,’ Angel had admitted, embarrassed, when Giles had presented his theory to them. ‘It wasn’t like we used protection…’

Buffy turned to her lover, equally embarrassed. Trying to justify their actions to a stern but obviously happy for them watcher, she had said defensively, ‘What? It’s not like he could have had kids before…that just wasn’t on my list of things to think about at the time…’

Buffy had gone to see Faith in the hospital, telling the still unconscious slayer what had happened during the time she had been asleep. No one was more surprised than Buffy when, right after Buffy had told her sister slayer that she was pregnant, Faith’s machines began to whirl and beep with signs of renewed life.

She had awoken, groggy and still angry, but not nearly as much as when Buffy had stabbed her all those months ago. The frantic race to rescue her from the council and clear her name with the police had taken the efforts of all their gang but had brought them closer to the once fallen slayer. It was odd, as Willow had pointed out, how much they all needed each other.

What was even odder, Cordelia had been the first to notice. Spike and Faith; no one was prepared for that.

“Why Liam?” Angel asked, bringing his wife back to their present discussion.

“Because that’s who you were before…before Darla.” They were slowly talking about the past, theirs together and separately. There was a lot Buffy didn’t know about Angel’s separate personalities and at first Angel had been terrified that she wouldn’t want him any longer once she knew. It hadn’t taken Buffy long to convince him that she loved all of him, no matter what he had done in the past.

“Don’t you want to give the poor kid another name? One not so…tainted?”

Covering his hands with hers as they molded her rounding stomach Buffy shook her head. “No. I want this child to know his heritage, to know that he’s loved and that he was named after people that his parents loved and respected.”

“Okay, then,” Angel agreed, though frankly he would have probably given her anything so long as she was with him.

In the end their child – poor kid – was named after just about everyone they loved: Liam Rupert Allen William Alexander Summers MacCullagh. MacCullagh was Angel’s, or rather, Liam’s name before his change and with Willow’s help, was the name Buffy had agreed to take when they married.

Liam had been born to Angel and Buffy MacCullagh August 1, 2000.

The world did not end.

The darkness did not spread.

The Hellmouth did not open.

It was a normal birth of a normal child. Or as normal as one of their number could be.

Seven months later Faith gave birth to another miracle child; Dawn Elizabeth Winstone was born March 15, 2001 to Faith and William Winstone.

And still the world did not end.

Everyone considered that a minor miracle in and of itself: Spike being a father? And the world not ending? Had to be a miracle.
***********
Twenty Years Later…

“You’re sure that’s what you heard?” Buffy asked the young man one more time, just to clarify though she believed him.

“Yes, Quinton said that he was to stop the battles and that nothing you or anyone did was going to change that. Actually, he was really dramatic about it, going off on none to sane a speech that made sense to only him. Waving his hands, spittle flying out his mouth; not a pretty sight. I think the last time you guys met really sent him over the edge.”

Liam looked from his mother to his father, each trying to understand what had happened to a man neither had any love for but was, ostensibly, on the same side as they. Several years ago Quinton Travers had lost control of his armies when the Buffy and Angel arrived, taking control of everything. He had been…less than pleased.

“Grandpa Giles said that Travers ‘lost his bloody mind’ after the battle for the Vatican Holy Ground five years ago and no one really followed him in the council since then. Oh, and Uncle Spike thinks that Aunt Faith has successfully infiltrated Travers’ operations.”

“And Cordelia?” Cordy had been lost in battle several weeks ago, captured by Travers as a bargaining tool. It wasn’t going to work, but obviously the former watcher didn’t realize that.

“No word, but Uncle Doyle insists she’s still alive. I think Aunt Faith’s first objective is to find her and get her out of there.”

“And Dawn?”

Liam smiled at the mention of his fiancé’s name but said smartly enough, “She’s working with Giles to control her magick.”

“Good, go and see what else needs to be done.” Angel told his son, handing him the map Giles had asked for.

They watched as Liam walked out, back to the amassing troops who were preparing to finish the battles today, no matter the cost.

Buffy looked to her husband and he nodded. “Looks like it’s time, then. Is everyone ready?”

“Willow and Tara are working with Oz’s Pack, trying to meld all their energy into one. We’re going to need it. Anya has persuaded a few of the fringe vengeance demons that they could still practice their craft if they helped us now. Apparently she has some sway there…or something, I have no idea.”

“Good, okay, Gunn and his crew are ready to protect the perimeter as we do the spell, and Wesley said that Doyle’s vision showed Travers leading the charge himself.” Angel paused in his recap and shook his head. “How the head of the Watcher’s Council came to be the leader of the darkness, I’ll never know.”

“Greed, hatred, blindness. Travers always wanted things done only his way and that was it. Remember when he wanted to take Liam? He insisted that the slayer not have the child, that our precious son was going to be evil and that only the council knew what to do.”

“But that’s over now, our friends pulled together to stand against him; and again when Faith had Dawn. He has never been able to come between us; no one has, so long as we’re together. I think what that Mohra Demon meant all those years ago was more than you and I together being strong. I think it meant all of us. That when we split the group we split out effectiveness as well.”

Buffy smiled and stepped into his ever waiting arms. In the years since they had first found their way back to each other things hadn’t always been easy. But they hadn’t expected that, all they had ever wanted was a chance to be together for whatever the world threw at them.

Buffy’s slayer powers had peaked then leveled off, ensuring her continued strength even as she aged though she still looked twenty-five not the forty Angel knew her to be. His own powers, derived from both demon and human, had slowed his aging process as well. He could tell that he was getting older, had actually found a gray hair the other night, but those who didn’t know him, who hadn’t spent the last twenty years fighting with him would never have been able to tell.

“Do you ever regret not having another child?” Angel asked as he wrapped his arms around her slender waist from behind, resting his had on her shoulder so they could look out at their friends and allies as everyone readied for the coming battle. This was the last chance they’d get to be alone and both planned on taking it.

“No, never. I got more than I ever hoped for; you, Liam, a life I didn’t think I’d ever know.”

Angel turned her back around, crushing her lips under his. “Ready to go find our friends and kick some watcher ass?”

“For that, I’m always ready?” Buffy asked as her lips touched his one last time.
***********
He looked around at the shattered remains of his dream. How had it come to this? Everything he had worked for, all he had believed in, all that he wanted for this world. How had it all been reduced to a pile of rubble no taller than a sapling?

And the moment those words were out of his mouth, five men stepped before him: Rupert Giles, Wesley Whydem-Price, Allen Francis Doyle, Alexander Harris, William the Bloody, also known as Spike, Charles Gunn, Daniel ‘Oz’ Osborne.

Spike stepped forward first, still armed with every thing he had been carrying during the battle. “We’re not going to let you do it, mate.”

Gunn stood beside his vampire friend – and he still, after all these years, couldn’t believe that he thought that. “Don’t do it, Travers. Listen to the man here.”

“He’s not a man, he’s a filthy demon.” Quinton spat at the group before him.

“He insults me! At least I didn’t switch sides because I want to be the one remembered for winning the final battles.” Spike growled back, holding his temper in check as much as possible. Which was difficult, all things considered.

Gunn looked his friend over. “Well, he does have a small point, Spike,” And swiped at the purple gore that clung to the vampire’s arm. Whatever kind of demon had purple blood, it was really hard to scrub clean.

Giles stepped forward as well, smiling a chilling grin that would have scared Quinton had he been sane enough to realize the danger. “Be that as it may, Quinton, he has fought beside us for years whereas you have turned your back on all you claimed to hold dear.”

Doyle spoke now, “We know what you’re going to do, Travers, and we’re here to stop you.”

“How, by killing an innocent human?”

“No,” Willow said, coming to stand beside the assembled group. The rest of their family had joined them, Faith, Tara, Gunn, Anya Harris, Cordelia Chase-Doyle, Buffy and Angel MacCullagh. Liam and Dawn who were to be married this night.

“By killing a murdering traitor who thought only of himself instead of the world.” Tara finished her friend’s sentence.

“The real measure of a hero, Travers,” Faith said as she maneuvered Cordelia to her waiting husband, “Is what they’re willing to sacrifice. You weren’t willing to sacrifice anything.”

”No,” Buffy agreed, joining her family. “You wanted to sacrifice us in order to see that you won. Do you have any idea what the world would be like now if we weren’t all together?”

Not that any of them could conceive of what their lives would be like otherwise, but the thought was chilling enough.

“And for that, Quinton,” Wesley said raising his crossbow, “You have to die. Because the fate of the world depends on things continuing the way they are.”

“They way they’re meant to always be.” Doyle added as he, too raised his weapon.

Suddenly Quinton Travers found himself faced with his own death. And didn’t have anything to say to that.

It was never discovered who actually fired the killing shot, for Quinton Travers body was riddled with gunshot holes and crossbow arrows. He died as the Stranger looked on from the trees, scowling fiercely at his thwarted plan. Again. How was it that they always found a way to win? They always foiled his plans; they always came out bright and victorious.

Damn them, it wasn’t supposed to be this way.

“Oh yes it is…” He heard whisper through the trees as the group – the family – before him turned without a word and went back to their camp to celebrate their final and most important victory.

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