~*~
Chapter 2
~*~

The motel was cheap but still offered a pool. No one felt much like swimming, even if the pool had been more inviting than it actually looked.
The murky water in the small, square concrete hole was nearly invisible to Buffy as she wandered inside the gated area and plopped down on the cleanest looking poolside chair. Somehow the murky water was a perfect match to her mood.

To her, the pool and its darkness was an acceptable oasis of quiet in a desert of voices all competing for attention. Excited jabbering of girls realizing they had a future after all, mixed with the more subdued tones of the veterans who knew this was only a temporary break in the neverending battle. Buffy just wanted time to be alone with her thoughts, or perhaps time to not think at all would be more accurate.

She started as she heard the creak of the metal gate. 'Is there no place for some peace?' she wondered. She was slightly mollified to note the intruder was Xander. He had been as pensive as she was all day. Perhaps misery truly did enjoy company.

"Hey, Xan, how're you holdin' up?" Buffy sincerely felt terrible that Anya had not made it out of the Hellmouth. It had been easy to see that Xander and Anya were slowly working their way back to each other.

Maybe, like she and Spike, their only chance had been thrown away in that last awful year. Maybe she and Xander were doomed to living with the knowledge that they had been so close to happiness, only to lose any second chance in that great gaping hole of death and destruction they had once called home.

"Been better. You?" Xander smiled wanly, his one good eye looking dead in his pale face.

"I am sorry about Anya," Buffy said and touched his hand gently. "Not just today, but all the time we kept her on the fringe, never let her in. I'm mostly sorry that I'll never get the chance to tell her that."

Xander had a faraway look for a moment. He began to hum a tune that sounded like it belonged in a musical or something. Finally, his good eye snapped open and he gave a slight, ironic laugh. "That was the song, you know." Buffy looked at Xander in complete confusion. "With the song and dance demon…you remember, Xander does the bad thing part two or three thousand. Thank you for never rubbing my face in it that people died because I wanted a sneak preview of married life with An, by the way."

Buffy still looked puzzled but interested nonetheless.

"That song's been going through my head ever since…." Xander choked on the rest of the thought. "The words we sang were all about the little nitpicking things that bugged us about each other and how we'd never tell." He laughed ruefully. "Of course, all those things poured out in the song, so they weren't secret anymore. I mean, how shallow is it to get wigged out over smelly cheeses and hairy toes anyway?"

Buffy had to laugh. "You mean that was the worst of your worries? Which one of you was the Hobbit?"

"Hey, I said hairy toes, not whole feet." Xander playfully smacked Buffy on the upper arm. "No, there were bigger fears that came out. Too bad we didn't talk about it after the musical closed. Maybe I wouldn't have become the world's biggest jerk on Anya's happiest day."

Buffy understood regret more than she could begin to say and wanted to comfort Xander in some way, even knowing there were no words that powerful. "I'm sure Anya was coming around to understanding and forgiving. I know she never stopped loving you."

"Yeah, that's my An, always doing the stupid," Xander said with a sob. "She was so scared of dying. Did you know that?" Buffy shook her head in the negative. "Not there at the end. She was actually pretty prepared to do or die there at the end. I mean before. She was so afraid of getting old. Of me not wanting her any more. Of facing mortality--that was the hardest thing for her."

"Well, she didn't have to worry about it for, like, longer than anybody we've ever met," Buffy acknowledged.

"True," Xander agreed. "She was still working out the kinks of what it meant to be human and then I drove her back to being a demon again. Too bad she didn't stay one; she'd have survived the battle. Maybe you could have even made a vengeance wish against the First for what it did to Spike, saved us all the battle. God, Buffy, I don't know what to think! I was always so anti-demon and here I am wishing Anya still was one. It just wouldn't matter, not if it meant she was still alive, still with me."

"Yeah, I get that. Like Spike's soul…," Buffy whispered. "It wasn't that important in a lot of ways. It was so mind-blowing that he went and got it for me and I know it mattered in some way, but really he'd earned my love without it. In the end that sooo important soul's what burned bright enough to take out all the Turok Han. You should have seen him, Xan," Buffy exclaimed with tear-filled eyes. Anyone could see the pride in her expression, hear it in her voice. Spike had died well. Well or not, though, he was still ash.

Xander had no words for Buffy either. It had been obvious those last few months that the emotions between Slayer and Vampire were quite genuine. Xander had even come to grudgingly admit Spike wasn't all bad, even had redeeming qualities. Now he just hoped they’d redeemed him enough. It didn't seem right that the one being who had just saved the world might be in hell paying for his sins of the past. Xander wisely kept those thoughts to himself.

"It'll be kinda funny seeing Dead Boy again after what Anya told me though," Xander mused aloud.

"Whadda you mean?" Buffy sensed a story that would be new to her. As far as she knew, Anya’d had only the briefest encounters with Angel, in spite of the number of years she had been a part of the Scooby group.

"We talked a lot there at the end. Anya told me lots of stories that I used to ask her to shut up about--you know, vengeance demon stories. We all used to cringe when she'd start on those!"

"Well, they were cringe-worthy," Buffy reminded him. "She'd practically glow with the happies at the memory of making some guy's penis fall off or some village come down with some terrible disease or something."

"That's my girl," Xander admitted. "We just didn't get that she was actually just proud of doing her job well. Yucky, evil job, but pride in one’s work is understandable, I guess. She didn't have many boosts to her self-esteem, I suppose, and having D'Hoffryn approve of her work meant a lot."

"I guess," Buffy grudgingly agreed. "Like Spike and his stories… it wasn't the evil he was proud of, but memories of being the Big Bad, full of power and strength."

They both looked at each other and began to laugh.

"Nope, just doesn't make THOSE memories any better," Buffy sputtered to Xander's agreement. "Guess we just finally learned to love them, complete with their flaws…like they did us."

The mood sobered again at that thought.

"So what was the Angel story?" Buffy wanted anything to stop thinking of all she had lost by making Spike her champion. "Spill. I could do with a bedtime story."

"Anya was afraid you would find out about this and go all slay-happy on her, but I don't think she'd mind me telling you now." Xander leaned back in his chair and took a deep breath as he related the tale Anya had told to him as they shared their darkest secrets in the weeks before Armageddon.

Xander still looked a bit nervous as he began. "Yeah, well, it's about that whole cursed soul thing…." Buffy's eyebrow rose, indicating an interest.

~~~
Weeks earlier in the Summers basement:

Post-coital in Spike’s bed, Anya and Xander snuggled in afterglow. God how he had missed this, missed her!

"Did I ever tell you about that whole ‘have a happy, lose the soul’ part of Angelus' curse?" Anya asked through half-lowered lashes.

"No, but since I was here for that show and you weren't, I don't know what more you can add that I didn't live through. Besides, I'm not sure I like you thinking of Dead Boy just after we've made hot monkey love. Maybe it's the whole vampire's bed thing. Gotta look into moving locations," Xander mused.

Anya playfully swatted her ex and continued, "No, silly! Of course I wasn't here yet. I think I was in Asia somewhere that year, but all the demon world knew about it. I was pretty proud at the time too, let me tell you. D'Hoffryn was pouring the praise on."

"Actually, I got double kudos on that one," Anya continued. "When I went back to Arashmahaar after you dumped me in front of all our friends and ripped my heart out, I found out a lot of things Angel's been up to." Anya ignored the pained look on Xander's face at her blunt reminder of his darkest deed.

"I had lower beings coming up to me with congratulations on my bit of vengeance that just kept on giving," Anya continued. "Who would have thought one little spell a hundred years ago could still be so pesky?"

"Okay, slow down, An." Xander tried to follow this story of his beloved's and her questionable past. "Are you saying you had something to do with Angel and his curse?"

"Of course, silly! Do you think a masterful curse like that one just grows on trees? No siree, Bob, something that clever takes a lot of thought and consideration. Of course, all the old gypsy woman wanted was a spell to punish the evil vampire that had killed her favorite daughter."

Anya noticed the horrified look on Xander's face and hastened to point out, "Hey, she wasn't the first one who wanted a vengeance curse on Liam Connor Burke! He was a one-man destroyer of womankind and that was even before he became a vampire!

"His father had lots of money, one of the planted Protestant families, the Burkes, who married beneath him. His dad could own a business being Protestant, they had lots of silly laws back then, but he married a Catholic girl named O'Connor and Liam was always treated like some kind of half-breed, but the girls all liked his looks anyway. He got half the servant girls in Galway in trouble or turned off before he was even twenty! Oh, yeah, lots of vengeance wishes on that one." Anya laughed at the memory. "I could have made an entire career on him alone at one point."

Xander digested what he heard thus far and asked, "Okay, Angel was a jerk from the start, I'm on board with that…still, how do you figure in on the whole curse thing?"

"I'm getting there," Anya said with a peeved voice. "The old gypsy called on me and I delivered, just not exactly what she thought she was asking for. See, they wanted him to be guilt-ridden for eternity, but what's the fun in that? I mean, that's what eternal punishment is for, isn't it? That's a Higher Power gig."

Xander shrugged, "I suppose so. Maybe they wanted to watch it for a while."

"Oh, yeah, everyone is still watching that one," Anya said with pride. "See, there was no point in having Angelus get Liam's soul. That one was already so corrupt that no amount of cursing was going to get a sufficient amount of guilty feelings. So I worded the curse I gave the gypsy to put 'A' soul in Angelus, a soul that would feel guilt, tons of it. Liam's would have been far too unstable."

Xander looked shocked. "You mean Angel's soul isn't even his own!"

"Yeah, now it is," Anya went on to explain. "When he lost it and that teacher tried to recreate the original spell, they worded it differently. He got his own soul back that time, and no ‘out’ clause either."

"So he has Liam's soul….his soul now?" Xander asked, perplexed.

"Uh huh, and if you saw the things I did, you'd believe it! I'm sure if Buffy looked into Angel’s closets there in L.A. she'd see some dirty laundry! Like I said, Liam's soul is too corrupt to hold up against any selfish desire he has. He'll be just like any human loser who can justify any bad decision that gets them what they really want. Those W&H people are counting on it, in fact."

Xander tried to put all those pieces together and still didn't see the big picture. "All right, you cursed him with someone else's soul so he'd feel the guilt the gypsies wanted and made it slippery too. By the way, what about the poor guy the soul belonged to?"

"Oh, it was okay, I had it pick a soul with a martyr complex," Anya said offhandedly. "When he lost it, the soul was finally released to its reward and all that sappy stuff."

"Why did you make it so that he could lose the soul anyway? That always seemed kind of stupid to me," Xander remarked.

Anya looked affronted and swatted Xander with more force than he expected. "Alexander Harris, you just don't understand my job at all. You never give the customer exactly what they want. If it were that simple everyone would just go out and get vengeance on their own, like Willow did last year. There always has to be payback on the larger scale. We'd be sorry excuses for demons if we operated the way you suggest."

Xander thought about it for a moment and conceded the point that demon ways were not his own. "But why that perfect happiness stuff? Lots of people could get hurt that way--they DID get hurt, even dead!"

"It wasn't perfect happiness, you dope!" Anya shook her head at the misunderstanding. "To lose that soul Angel had to perfectly achieve the goals of both the soul and the demon. I guess you could call that perfect happiness."

"Still not getting it, An," Xander admitted.

Anya sighed deeply and tried to explain in a way Xander would understand. "Okay. After the curse, Angel still hung around Darla trying to kiss up to her, still be the main vamp in her life. He only ate criminals and bad guys though, and Darla knew he'd lost his edge."

~~~

Listening to Xander's reminiscence intently, Buffy's mind went to an encounter with Spike and gasped at the implications as the memory flooded her.

Spike had tried to help Buffy by taking on a pair of ordinary muggers only to get zapped by the chip. He had made the point that the Initiative should have made an exemption for bad guys to the ‘no eating of humans’ provision.

"Yes, because muggers deserve to be eaten," Buffy had replied smugly.

The conversation was a variation on a theme with Buffy taking the high moral ground with the unsouled vampire who was trying his best to live by human rules. She had walked away from Spike, throwing back words that reminded him he would never have a chance with her because he was evil and beneath her.

Now she had to face the fact that even her precious Angel had thought it acceptable to eat certain humans. Spike had never thrown that in her face either.

"Um, Buffy, if you'd rather I not tell you any more of this, I'll understand. I was just remembering about Anya, and me and my big mouth didn't think about how the whole Angel part might upset you," Xander apologized and began to rise.

Buffy put a restraining hand on him and smiled up at her grieving friend. "No, Xander, Angel is SO not the issue. Don't mind me, I was just lost in a thought is all. I really do want to hear Anya's story. Maybe I should buy a clue before we all pile in on Angel and his crew."

~~~

Back in the basement of revelations

"Wow, we all thought Angel was, like, this rat-eating brood boy. I didn't know he still followed that ‘ho around!" Xander exclaimed in genuine shock.

"I think Angelus really cared for Darla, at least as much as he could any woman," Anya said, shaking her head in affirmation.

"Let's see, where was I?" Anya searched her memory to pick up the threads of the conversation. "That's right, the curse! So the gypsies wanted him forced to wallow in guilt and not have a single moment free of misery and that's what they got. Of course that 'single moment' gave me an out clause to set the fox among the chickens. Hey, it was my job!" Anya defended herself against the look Xander gave her. "How was I supposed to know I'd wind up knowing and caring about people it hurt?"

Xander gave the out clause his thought and asked, "So I don't get it: if the soul of a good but wacky person and the demon with the big bad rep both had to get their goals met to free up the soul, what was it? We always just figured it was the--well, you know, the sex with Buffy--that did it."

"Stupid Angel just thought it was sex. He tried to lose the soul by sleeping with Darla and got his son out of it," Anya revealed, to Xander's amazement.

"Look, the soul was in love with Buffy. She was sweet and cute and the souled part was all protective and mushy over her. To have her love him too and consummate that love WAS the ultimate for the soul. Angelus just loved to corrupt innocence. What could be more of a coup than to take the virginity of a young, innocent Slayer, the embodiment of good and purity? Naturally, the demon was crowing with glee. Both parts were happy and ‘good-bye, soul’."

"Ewwww, are you saying Angelus was turned on by Buffy because of her innocence?" Xander felt a little dirty at the thought.

"Sure. When the rep for the Powers showed Buffy to Angel she was sitting on the school steps sucking on a lollipop, for God's sake! The demon took one look at all that wholesome schoolgirlyness and couldn't wait to get his fangs and cock in her. When the soul actually fell for her, it all just fell into place." Anya smiled in recollection.

"There was a big betting pool in Arashmahaar about when the soul was going to go walkies. I think Bindar the Obtuse won. It probably would have happened sooner, but Angel kept away from humans for the most part a long time after Darla threw him out."

Xander was getting a very different view of Angel with this story, one that didn't seem to match the hero of the people they had all believed the souled vampire to be. "Come on, Anya, Angel's the Champion of the Powers, the vampire on the side of good."

Anya nearly spit out the mouthful of limeade she had just swallowed, she was laughing so hard. "Boy, did he have you guys buffaloed! He did a couple of hero-y kinda things, but only because he was blackmailed once and interested in the girl the other time. Except for that, Angel just avoided people and brooded. It wasn't until the Powers tagged him to help Buffy that he started helping by choice and he only did it half-assed then until he moved to L.A. Now he has a Messiah complex of
unbelieveable proportions…thinks the Powers have whole prophecies on him. The survival of eternal goodness revolves around Angel and his actions…pfffft."

"That sounds like Angel," Xander admitted. "Wait, you said that now he has Liam's soul and it isn't so lily white. What do you mean?"

Anya leaned in conspiratorially and almost whispered. "I saw things after I went back to work for D'Hoffryn. Everyone kept congratulating me on the curse that just keeps on causing havoc and I got curious enough to check in on Angel…not that he knows, of course," she added.

"Willow used Miss Calendar's re-creation of my spell and Angel got his own soul back. That makes him better than Angelus, a lot better, but that soul's tricky. Just like your soul doesn't automatically make you good or make you choose the right path, neither does Angel's," Anya explained. "Also, there's no built-in guilt thing. He can feel it or not. He feels it more from habit now."

"Just in the first few years out on his own, he didn't have any problem locking a bunch of evil lawyers in with Darla and Dru to munch on. True, they were laywers and evil, but the other soul wouldn't have been able to make that choice. Liam could." Anya nodded decisively.

"Okay, I'm not getting the whole Darla thing. Angel dusted Darla the first year Buffy started slaying here in SunnyD," Xander remarked, confused.

"Those lawyers she later ate brought her back as a human. She hated it and was dying of syphilis, so she tried to get Angel to turn her. He wouldn't, but Dru did," Anya explained.

Xander's head was spinning. "Wait…Darla was undusty and human, then a vampire again, then--what, had a kid?"

"Well, technically, she got pregnant just before she got turned. Angel was in a bad place and part of him just wanted to lose the soul and lose himself. He was mighty surprised when he woke up soul intact. Darla was pissed too. Talk about performance anxiety and Darla was a professional!" Anya smiled at the memory of what she had been allowed to see played back for her enjoyment.

"It was a whole mystical thing…baby of prophecy…that kind of thing. Anyway, to get back to the point, Liam was right there with the idea of having his soul fucked out by Darla. Only problem was that Willow's spell doesn't have an out clause. The only way Angel can lose his soul now is through magic of some kind to extract it. Besides, if all it took was being really, really happy, Angel would have lost that soul when he became a daddy!" Anya had felt a few rumbles recently that made her wonder if someone had figured out how to get the soul out of the vampire after all.

"I think I can kinda see why Angel might let Darla and Dru have at it with the lawyer buffet, since they brought Darla back to start with, but that doesn't prove Angel is evil," Xander said and wondered to himself at his defense of Dead Boy.

"No, and I never said he was evil, just more easily led into questionable choices, that's all," Anya reminded Xander. He didn't understand it wasn't just a matter of semantics. That was the problem with these humans and their ‘black/white, soul/no soul’ view of good and evil. Things were rarely that simple.

"He tried to suffocate his friend too, when Wesley got tricked into thinking he had to kidnap Angel's baby to keep it safe from him. Angel still hasn't really forgiven him, even though they are working together, in a way," Anya revealed.

"Wow, so you wrote the original curse, the one that blew up in all our faces?" Xander shuddered at the thought.

"Why do you think I never wanted Buffy to find out?" Anya shuddered along with Xander. "I never expected to know or care about anyone it would affect, so it's not like I did it on purpose."

Xander sat in silence, trying to take in all he had learned, and then asked, "What happens if Buffy and Angel figure out his soul is permanent and get together? From what you just told me, this kinda isn't the same Angel Buffy knew and loved before he lost the soul. This guy can be an even bigger jerk than that one, the kind of guy who could do major damage even with a soul. I think we should warn Buffy, tell her about the whole corrupt soul thing."

"NO!" Anya shouted in horror. "My God, Xander do you WANT her to run a sword through me again. I'm human this time and I don't think I'd be coming back from something like that. No! Besides, I don't think Angel really wants Buffy that way anymore. He's kinda moved on. I think he's crazy about Cordy now."

Xander blinked in amazement at that concept. "Buffy can be a strong lure. Angel might change his mind."

"Please, if he really wanted Buffy, he would never have rolled back that day when he became human again!" Anya snorted.

"Once more with the huh?" Xander prompted.

"Not long after Angel left town, he was turned human again. A Morah demon. Very rare, but it can work. Anyway, it was the day Buffy went to visit in L.A. after our first Thanksgiving. Angel had spent all that time trying to convince Buffy and himself that she needed some normal human guy to give her the life she should have and suddenly, by a miracle, he could be that guy. They spent the day with blissful orgasms and then Angel realized he wasn't so powerful anymore. Oh, he tried to tell himself it meant he couldn't help Buffy when she needed him, but you didn't see him show up when we had to fight Glory, did you? Where is he now, for that matter? No, that soul of Liam's didn't like giving up the power he has a vampire, being the weaker one in the relationship. He made a deal with the Powers and rolled time back to undo the cure," Anya revealed.

"Wow. I take it Buffy doesn't know?" Xander asked haltingly.

"Of course not, it never happened, not after it got rolled back. Oh, he told her just before time moved back. It was all Romeo and Juliet revisited, but it was too late for Buffy to change anything even if she wanted to," Anya rolled her eyes.

"And you found all this out when you became Anyanka again?" At Anya's nod, Xander asked, "So how come I don't remember Angel having a kid?"

Anya looked confused. "I really don't know why, but I swear on all the lower beings it's the truth."

"Wow," Xander breathed, "Wow. Still think Buffy should know. You know, when all this is over. She should know that Angel might go bad even with a soul. I really don't want to know how bad it could get if the worst happened."

"We'll see, okay? Let's just beat the First first. You know, that really is a silly name for the big bad." Xander and Anya giggled at the thought.

~~~
Back to the poolside chat

"Anyway, since we're headed to Angel Central, I think Anya would want you to know the whole deal," Xander finished. "I'm not telling you not to trust Angel. I guess I just thought you'd want to know all the facts, so YOU can make the decisions for a change where he's concerned."

Xander rose and yawned. "You know, I think maybe Anya wanted me to tell you, because for the first time since we left her back there, I think I can sleep. I feel like a little weight's been lifted, you know? Sometimes you have to do things when the time's right and I keep missing that boat. I'm going to try to change that." Xander started towards the iron gate of the pool fence. "How about you, Buff? You gonna get some sleep?"

"Maybe in a while. I have some ghosts of my own to deal with. You know, Spike was always honest with me, whether it was that he planned to kill me or whatever. He always let me make my own choices. I always thought that if I compared Angel and Spike that I'd never see Spike as the better man, but I guess I finally am seeing him. Bit too late."

Buffy sat up, trying to digest all she had learned about herself, Spike, and even Angel. Suddenly the idea of heading to L.A. and allowing Angel to be in a place where he could so easily manipulate her again didn't appeal. Maybe some distance was a better idea all around. Buffy decided to try for some sleep and maybe call Angel in the morning with a report on how the battle went down and how Spike died a champion, her champion.

Giles wanted to take the slayers to Europe and start rebuilding the Council. Perhaps that was the direction she should take. After all, her cookies had baked in that inferno of a Hellmouth earlier. Only problem was that the one she wanted to give them to had burnt in the same flames.


~*~
Epilogue
~*~

Buffy grimaced as she listened to Angel try to order her life over the telephone. He was making plans without even asking her what she wanted to do now that Sunnydale was gone. 'Typical,' she thought and rolled her eyes in irritation.

"Angel, NO, we are NOT coming to L.A. …I don't care how much room your unused hotel has." She sighed as he continued to list the reasons they should join him there. Somehow she just knew without asking that Giles would be in full agreement with her.

"No, Giles would NOT disagree with my decision," Buffy said, and thought, 'Not this time, not about this anyway.'

"Angel, Giles is very concerned to hear that you are working at Wolfram and Hart. He thinks Willow's re-ensouling may not have worked…No, I don't think that too…well, because there's no pile-up of bodies or rash of pet torture, that's why." She had decided not to reveal Anya's secret confession to Angel. No good could possibly come of it and it might be better if Angel felt he had to take some care to keep his soul intact.

Buffy hadn't wanted a long conversation, but it was turning into one against her will. Naturally, it would be as long as Angel wanted, on his terms, as with everything else.

Xander patted Buffy's shoulder in sympathy and motioned that he was headed back to his room. Knowing Dead Boy, Buffy might be in for a longer conversation than she needed to have after that battle.

"Look, just listen for a minute. You haven't even asked how it went down; you just started laying out plans for us, for me." Buffy was silent as Angel sputtered an argument and then promised to listen at last.

"Obviously, we won, or Spike won it for us with that doo-dad you brought to us. He didn't make it; neither did Anya and several of the girls. You'll notice a lot more slayers now than just me and Faith. Don't panic, we plan to find and train them. You might want to look over your shoulder for a while though, until we explain the exceptions to the rule of slayage." Buffy filed that thought away to discuss with Giles later.

Angel went off on a tangent about Spike that Buffy wisely tuned out. The last thing she wanted was another discussion about her feelings for Spike with Angel!

"Look, what you want for me doesn't matter now. No, it doesn't matter, period. Spike is dust. He died a hero, my hero. Let it go." Angel was like a dog with a bone and Buffy finally could see it. There was no future for them, even if her cookies were baked and she still felt the same about Angel as she had as a girl. His soul situation and Angelus' lack of lovability made that impossible, no matter how long she baked! Still, Angel didn't want anyone else to have her love, especially Spike.

"Angel, I'm not doing this with you, okay? I was wrong to let you think we had a possibility for a future. We both know that ship sailed a long time ago." Buffy waited as Angel professed his undying love and sorrow over their doomed romance yet again.

"We're going to Europe, Angel. I'd prefer not to be in touch with you, especially if you're going all 'Spike's evil and could never have loved you' all the time. You're the one with the evil bosses," Buffy said firmly.

Angel gave it one last try, reminding her of their glorious past and professions of eternal oneness. "Angel, I was a kid in love for the first time. I really loved you with my whole heart, but see, my heart hasn't been whole since you left. I said it would have to be never for me to stop being your girl. Well, Angel, never came. I'm going to hang up now. Don't try to hunt me down; I'm not yours to worry about anymore."

Luckily for Angel, Buffy wasn't able to hear his order that W&H put their best people on keeping an eye on her movements. Angel vowed to make sure Buffy had the life she deserved, whether she wanted his help or not! After all, he knew what she needed and deserved. Hadn't he rolled back time to make sure she got it?

As Angel barked orders into his phone, the mail clerk laid a bundle on the new CEO's desk and continued on his route. Once he had known the roar of a cheering crowd and now he didn't even get a 'thank you' from his newest boss. Ah, well, things were changing here at Wolfram and Hart. Numero Cinco would change with the times and continue to perform his duties. Still, he wondered at the large bulky envelope with no postmark. It had just appeared on his delivery pile with no explanation that morning before rounds. He had felt something when he handled it, placing it on the pile for Mr. Angel. There was power and something else…something like anticipation…destiny.

~fin