Thank you to Maria and Flight Of Fancy for betaing.


The sound of the phone ringing echoed in Giles’ empty apartment. Joyce was calling to get help with Angelus, but Giles had already left his home, and was making his way to the hospital in response to the summons from Cordelia.

When Giles finally was allowed to see the young cheerleader in the hospital, he was horrified. He had to swallow a few times before he was able to speak. “Good Heavens. What happened to you, Cordelia?” He gently took one of her hands in his own.

Though heavily medicated to help with the pain, Cordelia was alert enough to communicate with Giles. She groaned, her eyes showing her distress, and her need to communicate with Giles. She gestured to a pad of paper and a pen, resting on the bedside table along with a glass of ice water with a straw, a towel-wrapped ice-pack, and a box of Kleenex.

“I’m sorry, Cordelia. What is it that you want? The pen and paper?” Giles asked.

She nodded carefully, not wanting to aggravate her concussion and increase her headache.

Giles picked up the paper and pen, and passed them to the injured girl. “Here you go.”

Cordelia put the pad of paper on her lap, and began to write in a very weak and shaky script. After a minute, she pushed the paper back into Giles’ hands.

The Watcher turned the pad, so he could read Cordelia’s message. ‘Broken jaw wired together. I think Buffy was right after all.’

Giles looked up at Cordelia, confused.

She was gazing back at him, tears on her cheeks and a haunted expression in her eyes.

“Buffy was right? In what way? And what happened to you?” Giles gave the pad of paper and pen back to Cordelia.

This time, Cordy only wrote a single sentence. ‘I slept with Angel.’

Giles looked at her, understanding dawning in his eyes.

Exhausted, Cordelia leaned back against her pillows and closed her eyes.

Giles gently touched her bruised cheek. “Angel did this to you?” he questioned.

Overcome by her emotions again, Cordelia simply nodded. Her eyes had filled with tears, and they hung on her lashes for fragile moments before slipping off and making silvery trails down her cheeks.

Giles took Cordy’s hand again, doing his best to offer her his support. “Do you want me to call someone for you?”

The young brunette shook her head, refusing to open her eyes.

“I need to go make some calls. I must make sure everyone is aware that Angelus is in our midst again. I’ll be back in just a few minutes.” He went to use the phone in the hallway.

The first call Giles made was to Willow. The next to Xander. The Watcher asked them both if Angel had ever been in their homes. Xander, not surprisingly, had never entertained the broody vampire. Willow, unfortunately, had.

Giles asked the young witch to find a beginner’s level magic book that he had loaned her recently. Once she had the book, she was to find a standard disinvite spell and perform it on her own home. After that, she should wait for Giles to pick her up and take her, and the magic book, to Joyce’s home. Giles felt it would be particularly important to do the disinvite spell at the Summers’ home as soon as possible, given the Light’s previous relationship with the dark vampire.

The next call Giles made was to Joyce. When the call rang through, it was Merrick who finally answered.

“Oh, hello. Yes, this is Giles calling. I’m at the hospital with Cordelia right now, but it’s imperative that you know not to let Angel into your home if you should see him. Lock all the doors and windows. Willow and I are both on our way over there now, and we will do a spell to disinvite him as soon as we arrive.” Then, without giving Merrick a chance to respond, Giles hung up the phone.

Telephone calls complete for the moment, Giles made his way back to Cordelia. “Do you know when the doctors are planning to release you?”

Cordy just shrugged.

After thinking for a moment, Giles nodded. “I believe you’ll be safe enough here, Cordelia. Though Angelus could enter the building if he wanted to, it is my opinion that if he wanted you dead he would have killed you yesterday morning when he did all of this.” The Watcher gestured to her face and body.

Cordelia nodded, both in understanding and in agreement.

“Have someone telephone me if you need anything, anything at all. I’ll let you know what happens as soon as I can. For now though, I must make my way to Joyce’s home without further delay. I need to pick up Willow on the way to Buffy’s home, so we can try to disinvite Angel.” Once more, Giles took one of Cordy’s hands and gave it a gentle squeeze before he laid it back on the bed and left the room.

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Merrick opened the door for Giles and Willow when they arrived at Joyce’s home. The two had been prepared for trouble, and each was clutching a stake in one hand, and a crucifix in the other.

“Where is Joyce?” Giles asked, as Merrick locked the door behind them.

“In the kitchen.” Merrick gestured towards the other room. “She wanted to make sure she had snacks and hot chocolate for everyone. I think it helps her to have something to do, and to be taking care of us all.”

As Merrick had predicted, when Giles and Willow entered the kitchen, Joyce immediately bustled over to them, getting them each settled at the table with a plate of sandwiches and cookies, and a mug of hot chocolate.

Once everyone was taken care of, Joyce fetched a mug of cocoa for herself and joined the others at the table. “Angel was here not too long ago. He said he wanted to leave a message for Buffy, but he couldn’t get in the house, even when I invited him. He went kind of crazy then. I was terrified until Merrick arrived.”

“I’m afraid that we’re not dealing with Angel anymore. I believe instead that it was Angelus that was here recently, Joyce. Earlier today, I received a phone call from a nurse at the hospital. Cordelia had given her my number and asked that the nurse contact me immediately. The poor girl has been badly injured, either by Angel or Angelus. She wasn’t able to provide a lot of information, but that much was clear.” Giles had removed his glasses, using them to gesture as he spoke, and now he returned them to his nose.

“Is there anything else that suggests we’re dealing with Angelus, other than Cordelia’s condition?” Merrick inquired. “It would be nice if we had a bit more corroborating information.”

“Cordelia indicated that she’d slept with Angel, and then he hit her, almost killing her with one blow. Buffy told us that Angel would lose his soul if he slept with Cordelia, so, if she was right, we’re dealing with Angelus.” The Watcher was uncomfortable talking about Cordelia’s sex life, and a pink glow had crept onto his cheeks.

“Buffy’s prediction was correct,” Merrick stated. “She warned us that the same thing happened when she was here before, and that we must do everything we could to prevent Angel from having sex.”

“He was very angry when he couldn’t get in. His face changed, and he started growling and threatening me.” Joyce’s voice shook a little as she remembered her menacing visitor.

Giles was shaken as well, thinking of how things might have turned out very differently had Joyce’s invitation allowed the sadistic vampire access to her home. “Joyce, you said that you invited Angel into your home, but that he still could not enter. Do you know why?”

“Honestly, I have no idea. At first, he appeared normal, but there was something different about his eyes. Then, when he was so insistent that I invite him in, I started to feel very uncomfortable. I knew that he had been helping though, and I put it down to just being alone with a vampire, so I tried to invite him in. When he still couldn’t come in, that’s when he seemed to go crazy. I didn’t do anything different though. I invited him in, but it just didn’t work.”

“I think I know why.” There was a hint of smugness in Merrick’s smile. “I walked in on Buffy doing a disinvite spell a few days ago. The casting seemed to take longer than usual. I think she somehow added something to the spell, so that Angel couldn’t enter, even if Joyce invited him.”

“I know she did the spell to expel the Changelings, but that was with Kendra’s help and it was part of the prophecy.” Giles was fascinated with the prospect of his former Slayer doing magic. “I wasn’t aware that Buffy was capable of doing other magic.”

Willow wasn’t happy to hear that Buffy now was able to do magic. It just wasn’t fair. I’m the one that does the magic, not her. Why does Buffy get everything? Buffy gets a prophecy. Buffy gets a new body. Buffy is the Slayer, then the Eternal Light. Now Buffy gets to do magic too. Willow was upset. She wanted something for herself, something that made her special and necessary to the group.

“Is there any way to get in touch with Buffy in LA? She probably knows the spell that was used to ensoul him.” Giles looked to Joyce, hoping that Buffy would have an easy answer for their latest crisis.

“Why would you think she would know something like that?” Joyce appeared puzzled.

Giles cleared his throat, hoping to find a way to answer Joyce without betraying her daughter’s confidences. “Buffy told me that after she came back from LA, it wouldn’t matter if Cordelia slept with Angel. That must mean that she either knows the spell, or she knows how to find the spell.”

Giles looked down into his mug of hot chocolate, too embarrassed to look anyone in the eye. “I’m afraid I must apologize to you all.” He pushed his mug away. “I received another call this morning, prior to the one from the hospital.” The Watcher sighed. “The call was from Lorne.”

“Lorne, the club owner from LA?” Joyce smiled in fond remembrance of the green demon.

Giles closed his eyes, ashamed to admit his mistake to the group. “It would appear that we haven’t been as trusting of the Light as the Powers expected. Lorne made it clear that our reluctance to accept the information Buffy can provide will lead to chaos and the destruction of life as we know it, and that we must change our ways.”

Joyce and Merrick both had satisfied looks on their faces. “We’ve had no trouble believing what Buffy has shared with us. Why are you having such a hard time with it? She hasn’t made a mistake yet, has she?” Merrick asked. “You need to trust her, Giles.”

“Yes, well. I will certainly do my best from this point on,” Giles promised. The blush that coloured his cheeks when he’d been talking about Cordelia had now spread down his neck and was blazing red. He’d removed his glasses when Merrick began to chastise him, and they were now being polished with his necktie.

Willow looked at the adults at the table. “Well, it’s not like Buffy got everything right. I mean, sure, she got some stuff right, but not all of it. Remember, she said we’re controlling? That’s not right, is it?” The redhead appeared in complete denial.

Giles rubbed his forehead. “Willow, much as it pains me to admit it, I believe Buffy has been nothing but honest with us.”

“But she said that we’re controlling. We’re not controlling, Giles. We’re her friends.” Clearly, the little witch just didn’t see her actions as potentially having a negative effect.

“Willow, we do tend to tell Buffy what to do, and we expect her to listen to us,” the Watcher told her gently.

Joyce went to the phone. “I’m going to give her a call. She should have left LA by now.”

After a few minutes, Joyce hung up the telephone. “She’s not answering. My guess is that she’s probably driving, and has her music blasting and her cell phone tucked into a bag somewhere. When I spoke with her earlier, she said she wanted to be back in Sunnydale tonight, and I know she’d planned to spend the night here. We’re just going to have to wait for her. For whatever reason, Angel can’t get in here, so we should be safe.”

Suddenly, Willow seemed to jump to attention. “What about the others? Xander, Oz, Cordelia, and Kendra?”

“What do you mean, Willow?” Giles asked.

Willow squirmed a bit on her chair, excited to have everyone’s attention. “If this is the safest place to be, then shouldn’t they all be here, too? What if Angelus decides to go after one of them? You all know he doesn’t like Xander much. I don’t want him to kill any of my friends.”

Giles sighed. “Unfortunately, if Angel really is Angelus now, then he’s more likely to wreak havoc at this point than he is to kill one of us. I’d like to remind you that if he’d wanted Cordelia dead, she would have died yesterday. Perhaps you should call Oz and Xander, just to check on them. You could always ask if Oz will pick Xander up and the boys can come here.”

Willow made a face. “I don’t think that’s really a good idea, Giles.”

“Of course, some awkwardness is to be expected, under the circumstances. It’s probably best that they stay where they are. As long as they stay indoors, they should be safe.” Giles tried to reassure the teen, without making her indiscretion public. He then turned to Joyce. “Where’s Kendra?”

“She went patrolling before Angelus showed up. We should go find her and make sure that she’s safe.” Joyce started to get up.

Giles placed a hand on hers, halting her departure from the table. “Kendra is the Slayer, Joyce. She will be okay. It’s her job to fight vampires, including Angelus.”

Joyce sat down again, but couldn’t hide the worry in her eyes.

Meanwhile, Willow had been sitting at the table, head bowed and face almost as red as her hair. She really hoped that Joyce didn’t know what had happened between her and Xander. She knew Buffy’s mom would be very disappointed by her behaviour.

Everyone focused on their hot chocolate for the next few minutes. There wasn’t much that could be done until Buffy arrived.

Willow peeked at Joyce, her cheeks still burning. With one glance from the older woman, it was clear that Joyce knew exactly what had transpired between Willow and her boy-shaped best friend, and she didn’t approve at all. Willow’s cheeks began to burn even more fiercely at the increased censure from Buffy’s mom.

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Enraged by the reception he received at the Summers’ home, Angelus stormed back to the factory, planning to take his anger out on Spike. His mood didn’t improve when he found the younger vampire still hanging from his chains, unmoving and unconscious.

He could make this work, Angelus thought, with a grim smile on his face. If he moved Spike now, there would be no resistance and no danger of escape. The larger vampire found his keys and opened the chains, moving the smaller vampire around until he was where his Grandsire wanted him. Angelus congratulated himself on a job well done, and then headed upstairs to have a bath and wash away Spike’s blood. When Angelus was finished with Spike, there would be no doubt in anyone’s mind who the leader of this family was.

Why should he limit himself though? Maybe when he was finished with Spike, Angelus would go hunt down the Master and drive a piece of wood through his chest. Remembering back to the few face-to-face meetings he’d had with Darla’s Sire, Angelus thought it would be more fun to stake the old bat-faced ancient a few extra times, before getting serious and aiming for his heart. It still rankled that Darla would return to her Sire whenever he called, and it just wasn’t in the dark and brooding vampire to forgive and forget.

Spike was confused when he woke. His eyes were still closed, but he could feel wood under his cheek. Was he lying on the floor? Had Drusilla defied her Sire and released her Childe? It took another moment for him to realize that he was still upright, but this time he was facing the wall. His arms were still chained, stretched out to each side, almost as if he were being crucified. At least this time he was able to support his weight with his legs and stand solidly on the floor.

Spike groaned. He knew Angelus had turned him to face the wall and, having watched Angelus’ torture methods more than once, he knew what to expect when Angelus returned. He toyed with the idea of pretending to be unconscious, but knew it wouldn’t work and would likely only anger his Grandsire even more. Back when he was a fledge, Spike had tried to fake out Angelus once and had been whipped within an inch of dusting for it. No, this time he’d have to take it like a man.

Someone was approaching the room, but Spike couldn’t turn around to see who it was. He knew he wasn’t in a position to ask God for anything, but the bit of William that remained within prayed that it wasn’t Angelus. Of course, Spike didn’t have that kind of luck.

Angelus walked up behind the chained up vampire, physically pinning him against the wall, and moving his mouth close to Spike’s ear. “Willy, my boy, it’s nice to see you awake. I’ve been powerfully bored waiting for you. Had to amuse myself with Drusilla and quite wore her out. I even went to play with the Slayer, but couldn’t find her.” With a final press into the wall, Angelus stepped back from Spike, but remained behind him so the younger vampire couldn’t see him.

Spike’s head twisted from one side to the other but, try as he might, he wasn’t able to see what his Grandsire was up to. Past experience told him it wouldn’t be fun, but at this point he really wanted specifics. He couldn’t help himself; he wanted to know what was coming.

Though he couldn’t see what was happening behind him, there was nothing wrong with Spike’s ears, and he couldn’t help but flinch when he heard the whistle and crack of a whip being warmed up. Spike cursed himself for that telltale action, knowing that his Grandsire had seen it.

“Hang on a minute, Spike. I’ll be right back.” The whip was placed on the cart of torture implements, and Angelus left the room.

Spike sighed, wondering what Angelus was up to, and wishing that, whatever it was, it would be over quickly.

This time, more than one set of footsteps entered the room. “Now, Princess, you just sit in this chair, and watch Daddy. Your boy needs to be punished for trying to betray me. You would never betray me, would you, Dru?”

“No, Daddy. I’m a good girl.” She giggled.

Spike closed his eyes, broken before Angelus ever touched him with the whip. He knew his Sire didn’t love him, probably never had, but it was heartbreaking to hear that she didn’t seem to care about him at all. He was her Childe, if nothing else. He pressed his eyes together, trying to prevent his tears from falling.

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Buffy parked her car just outside the warehouse, and then spent a few minutes sifting through the contents of her handbag before she found her house keys. Entering the converted warehouse, she felt carefully down the wall inside the door, trying to find a light switch. The building was silent, which meant that either it was finished, or that Clem was working on the finishing touches and had gone home to get a good night’s sleep. Then, with a flick of a switch, the light was on and her new home was revealed.

She was standing in the entryway, which had room for a few sofas along the walls, but was currently unfinished. In the centre of the floor, there was a cardboard box. On the box were two garage door openers, and a note from Clem that said he had tried to connect with Buffy earlier that day, but hadn’t been able to get through. The saggy-skinned demon also wrote that his teams had finished the last of the remodelling work earlier that morning, and that he just had a few more finishing things to do before the job was completely finished.

Picking up one of the remote controls, Buffy let out a squeal of excitement and immediately rushed for a garage door, just so she could push the button and actually watch the door run up and down. Not wanting to waste the opportunity, Buffy ducked out the garage doors and brought her car into the parking area for the first time.

Exploring her new home further, Buffy discovered that Merrick and her mom had been there recently. Her bed was assembled, and the red bedding was on, waiting for her to use tomorrow night. That reminded her, she’d promised to spend the night with her mother, and time was marching on.

After one last look around at her future, Buffy turned off the lights and locked the door.

The drive from LA had taken a few hours, so Buffy decided to get a bit of exercise and walk to her mother’s house. Setting off down the road at a brisk pace, she paused briefly at the end of the street, while she checked to make sure Mr. Pointy was safely tucked in the back of her jeans. It wouldn’t do to wander Sunnydale without some form of protection. Just because she didn’t have a sacred calling to hunt vampires any longer, didn’t mean that they wouldn’t be hunting her if the opportunity arose.

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Spike could feel the blood, running down his back, soaking into his jeans, collecting in his boots, and dripping onto the floor. The blonde vampire knew that he was becoming dangerously weak, and couldn’t afford to lose any more of the vital red fluid. Though his Grandsire had grown tired of the whip, and had wandered off for now, Spike knew he would return eventually.

Suddenly, someone lightly touched his shoulder. He couldn’t help but scream in agony once again. Though the touch was gentle, his body was so stressed and over-stimulated that he was unable to differentiate between what he was experiencing now, and the whip when Angelus used it to rend the flesh from his body.

“Shhhh. The sunshine is coming and soon my special knight will dance away with the golden light. The moon in the daylight, and the sun with the stars. The swimming fishies told me when I made you that this day would come and you would leave me. Never fear, I’ll make sure Daddy is busy, and leave you free to fly away my baby bird,” Dru whispered in his ear.

“Help me, Dru, please. Just, undo the chain. Cut me down and I’ll get out on my own,” Spike begged his Sire.

“Silly boy. Goodbye, my Spike. Don’t be sad for Daddy’s Princess. She was meant to find her pleasures elsewhere. Be happy that you’re going to join the sunshine. It was for her that I made you, all those many years ago. The stars knew that one day the time would be right.” It was clear that Drusilla had no intention of cutting Spike free.

Realizing that help would not be coming, Spike bowed his head in defeat and let himself slide into oblivion once again.