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PART 8

"On patrol… there were a heap of bad guys out there last night" she tried to convince them. She knew it was hopeless that sooner or later (most probably sooner) they were going to know about her and Angel resuming their relationship.

Spike, ever the stirrer said, "Do I smell Peaches?"

Emma glared at the vampire and then turned her attention back to her parents. After seeing the look in her father's eyes, she decided that honesty was probably the best way to go here. "I may have… seen Angel," she added softly.

"I do smell Peaches" Spike muttered loud enough for the Scoobies to hear him.

Willow, who was offended by Spike's little comments, whacked him across the back of the head.

"Emma?" her dad questioned. In his heart Leo already knew the answer and he knew that it wasn't really any of his business she was an adult and had the right to make her own decisions, but it bothered him. He guessed that it always would… after all she was daddy's little princess.

"I was with Angel," she admitted finally and reluctantly.

"I told you" Spike said, "I smelled Peaches."

Willow whacked him again. "Will you just shut up? No one wants to hear your opinion… if we'd wanted it; we would've brought you and not left you in Sunnydale. By the way who's protecting the Hellmouth?" Willow told him.

Spike ignored the question; instead his attention was riveted to the scene before him. Andy sat there on the couch in shock, he'd just heard his girlfriend admit to spending the night with another guy… the exact same guy that she swore nothing would or could go on with. When he'd recovered he stood up and walked over to her, "How could you?"

"Andy…" she began. She never got to finish as he walked out of the manor. Emma felt so guilty, she hadn't meant to hurt Andy but she knew now that it had been inevitable… although she had been confused she'd finally realised the truth, she belonged with Angel.

To break the tension Jenny (the ever-faithful white lighter) turned the conversation back to the upcoming battle, while Emma almost sank to the floor. Her aunt Prue grabbed her and walked her out of the room, none of the other's paid it any attention.

 

Prue sat Emma down at the kitchen table and sat across from her. "Want to talk about it?" Prue asked sympathetically.

"About what?" Emma asked, "The fact I'm a necrophiliac or that I just threw away the best friend I've had?"

"Well, you’re not a necrophiliac, Angel is as alive to you as he is to the rest of us… none of us see him as a dead guy and you may have lost Andy but you still have all of us" Prue reminded her.

"When did you get so smart?" she joked. She couldn't believe how much better she felt talking about it, she and Prue had never been close… she'd always run to Phoebe when she'd wanted an aunt's opinion and she suddenly realised what she may have been missing all these years.

"I've been through a few bad relationships," Prue said like it was some big secret. "You ready to go back in?"

"Nope. I don't think I can deal with the whole Spike-thing. I have to listen to him say anything about peaches or poofs… I'll freak out" Emma replied.

"He is pretty disgusting… he keeps talking about someone named Dru and another named Harmony. There are some pretty out there things that he and they apparently did together" Prue added.

"Eww" Emma said. After a moment’s thought about how he might start talking about what Angelus used to do, Emma told her aunt, "I think we should go back in."

Prue and Emma headed back into the battle discussion and role assignments, each thinking of someone different. Emma of Angel and Prue of the Andy, she had loved… that had died so many years before.

 

Meanwhile back at the hotel, Angel was going stir crazy waiting for darkness to fall. All he could think about was that he had to hurry to the manor; not only because of the battle, but also to see with his own eyes was that Emma all right. Ever since she'd left there that morning he'd had a feeling that something was going to happen to her… something bad. He knew that he was probably being paranoid, but he wasn't willing to take a chance on Emma's life… he'd rather lose his own (again) than for her to lose hers.

He sat down on the bed and tried to think it through logically… Emma was not only a slayer, but also a witch she could do that whole orbing thing, that may even save her life this time. He lay back down and inhaled, he could still smell her unique scent on the sheets and he vowed to himself that this time, redemption waiting for him or not… if she died, he was going too.

As soon as darkness fell Angel was on his way to the manor, the streets were unnaturally quiet and the stench of death hung over the air. He quickened his pace, hoping to reach the gang and Emma before the actual battle reached them. When he arrived at the manor, he barged in and said, "It has begun."

"What?" Giles asked.

"The battle… they've already started their campaign" Angel told them.

Everyone exchanged looks and there was a mad rush of everyone hugging their loved ones. Emma rushed over to Angel; she had the exact same feeling he had that something bad was going to happen, only to him. As he held her in his arms, Emma endeavoured to shove all of her feelings away… she knew that they would only do her a disservice in the battle, be used against her to hurt the ones that she loved.

Piper looked over at her daughter and the vampire and tried not to smile, they just looked so right together… like her and Leo.

Leo looked over at what his wife was looking at and scowled, just because he knew they were inevitable didn't mean he had to like it. But as he saw his daughter look up at Angel and smile, he saw the love shining in her eyes and softened slightly towards the vampire, after all Piper's father hadn't liked him either and he'd still married Piper anyway.

Everyone let go of each other and moved into the teams they'd devised earlier. Splitting apart the couples, so that no one would be tempted to put their loved ones safety above the safety of the group. A good theory that Giles helped in the actual battle, he had only been apart from Jenny for thirty seconds and all ready she was consuming his every thought.

He was surprised to find he was on Emma's team and not Angel's, he'd thought that she'd have wanted her white lighter close at hand, but it seemed she preferred him… it reminded him of something that Buffy would've done. He watched Emma's eyes meet Angel's once and then turn back to her charges, Giles, Cole, Willow, Xander, Dawn, Cordy and her mother. Giles noted that each team had three witches, but Angel had two white lighters on his side and surmised this was Emma's way of giving Angel some extra protection.

 

They agreed on a meeting place and the teams split off in opposite directions, figuring that they could dispose of more of the threats that way. The meeting place was a park halfway between the two groups for anyone to go whether they were simply lost or they had to retreat. Emma's group had been wandering around since they left the manor and hadn't met any hostile forces; the only sign that anything was wrong was that the streets were quiet.

"This sucks" Cordy muttered from the middle of the group, "Where are the damn baddies?"

"Shut up" Piper told the ex-may queen, "Don't jinx us." She had absolutely no desire to fight more demons than she had too.

"Fine" Cordy grumbled. She was worried about Wes. She figured that if their group was not fighting any, then Angel's group must have hit the jackpot.

Emma overheard the conversation and was having similar thoughts. "Let's head towards the rendezvous, maybe we'll get some action for Cordy there" Emma said trying to keep the worry out of her voice not only because of Angel, but also her two aunts and her father. The group agreed and they headed towards the meeting area, hoping to find out what exactly was going on with this battle.

 

Angel's group was facing a similar dilemma, they'd only run into one demon and this one had been escaping from the scourge not a member.

"What is going on?" Angel muttered. He was worried, something major was up if this group was hiding… maybe it was another of those light things that had killed Doyle.

"Maybe we should head to the rendezvous point… maybe the others are having the same trouble" Leo suggested. He felt something was off, as did Angel, he just didn't know what it was and it was driving him crazy.

"Good idea" Angel said noticing how nervous everyone was getting, "We should regroup."

"Maybe as we approach, we'll run into the demons…" Wes added hoping that his beloved Cordelia was nowhere near any fighting.

"…And maybe we'll find the slaughtered bodies of our spouses and loved ones littering the ground," Anya said totally unaware of how everyone was feeling. All she cared about was she and Xander surviving the battle, not caring if the world went to hell or not. Anya didn't really understand (even after hours of explanations) that if the scourge won all of humanity was doomed.

Angel broke the tension that was between Anya and the others, "Let's go… maybe the others had the same idea."

They all headed off to the rendezvous point praying that they'd meet the others there and that everyone was okay, because the feeling was something big, nasty and deadly was going to occur.

 

 

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