Disclaimer: I don't own anything, please don't sue me, I have no money. Some of the dialog is from Buffy episode The Replacement written by Jane Espenson.

Chapter 8: Like looking into a mirror

Angelus stepped inside her bedroom and without making a sound he neared her bed. His smirk only increased as he watched her sleeping form, completely unaware of his presence, just like all those years ago. He reached out his hand, slowly gliding his fingers down her cheek and he almost chuckled as she let out a soft sigh and leaned further into his touch. His fingers continued their journey downwards and lingered on his mark. She stirred but didn't wake up.

“Angel”, she whispered and let out a whimper of protest as he pulled his hand away. Low growl escaped his throat as he watched her angrily for saying the wrong name, but soon his grim expression was replaced with a triumphant grin as she moaned at the sound. His fingers returned to her skin, slowly making circles around the mark. She leaned closer to his touch, whispering his name but she didn't wake up.

“Don't be paranoid”, she told herself while making the coffee. She glanced at the clock, she'd let Dawn sleep for a little while longer. Her thoughts were interrupted by the final sounds of the coffee maker announcing it was done, with a sigh she turned to it, picked up a cup from the cabinet and filled it with the liquid. With another sigh, she leaned against the tabletop and started sipping the coffee. She needed to talk to Giles about the demon, how to track it and all that but she couldn't do it while babysitting Dawn, she really hated to drag Dawn into the meetings since she would be constantly asking when they would leave. And then there was the matter of her dream. Her hand drifted up to her neck on its own accord and she was so wrapped up in her thoughts she didn't even hear as Joyce walked into the kitchen.

“Morning, honey”, Joyce said making Buffy jump at the sudden sound. She spun to look at the door, nearly spilling the cup in her hand.

“Morning, mom”, she answered trying to steady her breathing and quickly drinking down the coffee. “Since you're back home, I'm gonna go”, she said and signed to the door before setting the empty cup to the sink.

“Go? Why?” Joyce questioned.

“I just need to talk to Angel.”

“I think you can survive one day with your family without spending all your time with Angel.”

“I'm sorry, mom. But I really have to talk to him and we have a new bad guy in town which I need to talk to Giles about”, Buffy explained and from the tired sigh her mother gave her, she knew Joyce wasn't happy. “I'm really sorry, mom, but this is important”, she said regretfully and finally with another sigh, Joyce nodded in understanding.

“I'll see you later”, Buffy said and gave her mother a kiss on the cheek before grabbing her jacket and heading towards the door.

“Remember to be careful, honey”, Joyce reminded her. Buffy stopped at the door and gave her mother a nod.

“I will”, she answered with a smile and left.

She hurried to the mansion, finding the main room empty and with no sounds of movement anywhere. She sneaked into the bedroom and a smirk rose to her lips as she found Angel still asleep. Quietly she neared the bed, fighting against the shivers coming from the similar situation with her dream. Once again he looked so peaceful that she couldn't wake him up and all she could do was to stare at him while thinking how beautiful he was. Quietly she took off her shoes and climbed into bed next to him. He didn't wake up, or at least he didn't open his eyes, just wrapped his arms around her protectively and pressed his face against the back of her neck.

After fifteen minutes of just contently laying there, he pressed a soft kiss to the crook of her neck and pulled her to lay on her back. “Morning”, she whispered with a small smile and pulled him into a quick kiss.

“Morning. I thought I'd see you later in the afternoon”, he said settling to lean on his other arm.

“Yeah, I thought so too but mom came home early. I didn't remember to ask why”, she said with a small frown, she had her suspicions but she didn't want to believe in them.

“We should stop by at Giles' to do some research on Toth, to know what the stick he used does, my demon has been strangely quiet after I got shot.”

“What you mean quiet?” she asked getting worried.

“I can still feel it's there but I usually can feel its...”, he paused to search for the right word. “...desires.”

“As in it screaming for bloody murder?” she asked tentatively and he nodded. She ran her hand over his forehead and down to his cheek before placing a soft kiss to his lips. “You're right. We need to research what it does, he was aiming at me but obviously it wouldn't kill me since Xander got hit and he's not dead. It must have some other purpose”, she conceded.

“The weather forecast promised some rain and clouds in the afternoon, think we could wait till then before going to Giles' apartment?” Angel asked and a crooked smile rose to her lips.

“I think we can find something to pass our time”, she said with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

“I'm sure we can”, he whispered and leaned closer to her, his lips hovering over hers.

“Like Scrabble”, she answered innocently but soon yelped in surprise as he attacked her lips with passion. He deepened the kiss, making her moan and pull him closer to her body.

They walked through the door, finding Giles already buried in his books. “Buffy, Angel. I wasn't expecting you two till later. I thought you had to look after your sister”, he said lifting his head from his book to look at the couple.

“Mom came home early”, Buffy answered.

“So what were you doing till now?” Giles asked innocently but then raised his hand as a sign to stop. “Wait, I would rather not know.”

Buffy chuckled shaking her head in amusement, it's not like she would tell him. “Then lets change the subject”, Buffy said happily but the smile faded away as she though she should tell them about her dream. “I had a dream that Angelus was back”, she stated and Angel's face turned into a frown while Giles turned to look at her in alarm.

“A prophetic dream?” he asked ready to go to study his books.

“No, this was different. But it's been bugging me all morning... or most of it”, she assured them and gave Angel a small smirk, he had done great job at keeping her mind off of it.

“So what kind of a nightmare was it? You are a Slayer, so we need to be certain of these things”, Giles asked and Buffy shifted on her feet, running her hand through her hair and glancing around awkwardly.

“Umm... It wasn't a nightmare exactly”, she said with a small voice, trying not to look at the two men.

“Could you elaborate that, please”, Giles requested. Buffy glanced at Angel whose attention was fixed on her but the frown was still in place on his forehead.

“I dreamed that he was in my room last night. But it's not possible, Angel's soul is bound so there's no chance for him to be running around anymore. Besides, the dream didn't send warning bells off, it just keeps bothering me, like there's something I missed”, she answered.

“It certainly is something worth looking into, we don't want to regret it later”, Giles stated and Angel looked away guiltily.

“Angel”, Buffy whispered as she saw the gesture he made. She made her way to him, ready to steer his thoughts away from the guilt he felt because of Angelus but there was a quick knock on the door and Xander breezed in.

“We've got a problem”, he said urgently and quickly looked around himself. “Is there something I'm missing, I'm having a heavy vibe here”, he added looking at everyone at turn.

“Why doesn't anyone ever knock?” Giles asked to himself looking heavenwards but was ignored.

“What kind of a problem?” Buffy asked going back to business.

“Some demon stole my face!”

“What do you mean, Xander?” Giles questioned.

“Just what I said, a demon attacked me and when I shook it off, it looked just like me, completely like me. We need to find it and kill it.”

“What ever it is, it doesn't know what it got into, we're going to deal with it”, Buffy promised but Xander didn't seem too comforted, he started pacing the small living room.

“Calm down, Xander”, Giles said softly and removed his glasses before starting to polish them.

“How can I calm down, there's a blood thirsty demon wearing my face!?”

“Xander, Giles is right. We need to find out what kind of a demon this is before we go jumping into battle. But why would it steal your face? No offense.”

“I would believe a demon with such power and a grudge against the Slayer might want to appear as Xander to get close to you without causing any suspicion”, Giles mused.

“Should I stay and help with the research? I promised Anya I'd meet her at the apartment, I signed the contract today by the way. She doesn't know there's a demon wearing my face!” Xander said just realizing it.

“Yeah, you go and stay with Anya. We'll look into the books and go searching for Toth and well, you. Don't worry, we'll deal with it”, Buffy assured him and with a grateful nod Xander left Giles' apartment.

“So we hit the books?” Buffy asked raising her eyebrow uncertainly after Xander was gone and Giles had locked the door.

“I believe that would be our best option”, Giles stated.

“We should look into Toth's weapon, Angel said he felt weird after the hit.”

“Strange how exactly?” Giles asked turning to look at Angel.

“My demon... it has been... quiet after the hit”, Angel answered awkwardly, he was even more uncomfortable talking about his demon to Giles than he was to Buffy.

“Maybe Buffy's dream has a connection with your demon being subdued”, Giles theorized and went to one of his bookshelves, picking a stack of books and setting them on the table. They were just starting to look into the books when Willow breezed in.

“This time I swear I had that door locked”, Giles said jumping to his feet and yanking his glasses off.

“Buffy, Toth is Xander!” Willow yelped going straight to the point. “I mean he looks like Xander”, she added quickly after.

“We know”, Buffy said.

“How do you know?”

“Xander stopped by and told us”, Giles answered, putting his glasses back on.

“No you didn't. I had Xander, yours wasn't our Xander”, Willow denied shaking her head.

“How do you know?” Buffy asked slightly confused.

“Because my Xander knew stuff, he even did the Snooby dance.”

“The Xander that was here, he did seem a little too confident”, Angel said thoughtfully.

“And he was pushy”, Buffy added frowning.

“But he smelled human”, Angel said and everyone turned to look at him, he gave them a pointed look reminding them he was a vampire.

“Oh dear Lord”, Giles said while reading a book but he was ignored.

“Despite the smelling, it wasn't our Xander”, Willow said and Giles turned to look at the group slightly annoyed.

“I said 'Oh dear Lord'”, he said pointedly finally gaining their attention.

“You always say that”, Buffy stated.

“And it is always important.”

“What is it, Giles?” Angel interrupted the argument.

“Neither Xander is a demon”, Giles answered.

“One of them is a robot?” Willow suggested innocently, remembering that Xander had come to the conclusion some time earlier.

“Well, no. The rod-device Toth used, it's called Ferula-Gemina, it splits one personality in half”, Giles explained.

“I've heard of it. I can't believe I didn't make the connection”, Angel said thoughtfully, his forehead wrinkling in a frown.

“Vampire or not, you're gonna get wrinkles if you keep that up”, Buffy whispered and smoothed his forehead with her palm.

“That would explain the whole human smelling thing”, Willow mused to herself.

“The device splits one personality into two, dividing the traits into two separate bodies, with the strongest points in the other and the weaker ones in the second”, Giles said and Buffy frowned.

“So Toth wanted two Buffy's?”

“Why would the demon want two Buffy's, I mean, wouldn't one of them be like all Slayer?” Willow asked as confused as Buffy was.

“Umm... while the other would have all the Slayer traits, the other would be completely normal human girl. If you kill one, the other dies as well”, Giles answered.

“And the same goes to Xander. The other one is at the apartment with Anya”, Buffy stated and Willow's eyes widened at the realization.

“And Xander went to warn Anya. He thinks the other one is evil!” she said frantically.

“Okay, we need to go there before something happens.”

“We have weapons in the car”, Angel stated as he noticed Buffy looking around herself for her weapons. She gave him a brief smile before turning to Willow.

“We need you to give us instructions, I don't know where the apartment is.”

“Okay”, Willow nodded.

“Xander... Gun toting Xander, give me the gun. And invite Angel in”, Buffy said with a authority voice without sounding commanding. The gun holding Xander glanced at the door and then brought his gaze back to Buffy.

“Why should I invite him in?”

“Xander”, Buffy said tiredly and he didn't look happy.

“Alright, alright. Angel, come in.”

“And now the gun.”

Xander hesitated for a moment before raising the gun and dropping the bullets out and handing it to Buffy. Buffy took it like it was infectious and handed it to Angel.

“Buffy, which one is the real Xander?” Anya asked looking at them both.

“I am”, they both insisted and soon tried to attack each other but Buffy stepped in between and pushed the scruffy Xander across the room. The other looked gleeful, so Buffy pushed him next to the other Xander. “Hey!” Xander protested of the rough handling.

“Okay, you're both Xander. Toth split you two in two and neither one of you is evil. You can't kill each other, or you can but it's full of badness if you do”, Buffy explained but the two didn't seem to believe her.

“No way, he's not me. He's all too... fancy. And he has the mind controlling thingy”, the disheveled Xander accused.

“What mind controlling thingy?” the other Xander asked, putting his hand in his pocket.

“The shiny disk that makes people bend into your will! Cover your eyes!” scruffy Xander yelled as he saw the other pulling his hand off his pocket.

“This?” the other asked showing his hand but scruffy Xander had already covered his eyes with his arms.

“It will melt your brain!” he warned. Buffy couldn't help but chuckle and Angel shook his head in amusement.

“Xander, look”, Buffy said taking the disk from clean Xander and offered it to the other who peaked through his fingers.

“It's a nickel, I found it on the construction site. Someone had flattened it on the railroad track”, the clean Xander explained as the other admired the flat coin.

“Cool. I always wanted to do that. Washington's still there, but he's all smushy. It may be Jefferson”, Xander said excitedly while examining the coin. Angel wanted to say who was on the coin but decided to let Xander have his moment.

“Can someone explain to me why there is two Xanders?” Anya insisted getting frustrated.

“I'll tell on the way to Giles'. We'll let him explain the details”, Buffy said and they turned to leave when the door blew open and Toth stepped in.

“Oh great, rod boy”, Buffy sighed while the scruffy Xander and Anya jumped behind the clean Xander.

“I will not miss again, Slayer”, the demon threatened and Buffy rolled her eyes at him. Toth raised the rod and Buffy and Angel dove into different directions as Toth fired at Buffy. The shot made a large hole into the carpet.

“Hey! I just made a small cleaning deposit on that!” the other Xander protested. Angel attacked Toth with lightning speed and kicked the rod out of its hand. He kicked the demon in the stomach before kneeing it in the head and punching it hard enough to send it staggering back. But the demon recovered quickly and backhanded Angel so he flew across the room.

“Angel!” Buffy screamed automatically and attacked the demon while Angel scrambled to his feet. She pounded her fists at the demon and glanced at Angel when the right moment came. Angel grabbed the sword and threw it to Buffy who easily caught it. She spun around and embedded the sword into Toth's chest.

“The cleaning deposit is gone”, stated the clean Xander.

“I was thinking the same thing”, the scruffy Xander said with a grin and a identical one formed to the others face. Buffy turned to look at Angel with a help-expression.

“Is anyone else a little weirded out that they're starting to act the same?” she asked and Angel nodded in conformation.

“We better go to Giles', see if he and Willow have found a spell to get you two together”, Buffy said to the Xanders.

“Just let me change first”, the clean Xander said and shared a grin with the scruffy one.

“I'm thinking this could be a lot quicker if we split up, you take the SunnyRest and I'll take the campus”, Buffy suggested and Angel frowned. “As much as I love patrolling with you but I want to spend the night with you, we both patrol different parts and we'll meet back at the mansion in an hour”, she suggested pressing herself against his body and pressing a soft kiss to his neck.

“Vixen”, he accused her and bent his neck to capture her lips. After while, she pulled back trying to steady her breath and as he was ready to dive into another kiss, she placed her hand on his chest and took a step back.

“If you do that again, we'll end up to the mansion. Remember, duty and all that. You'll go that way, and I'll go that way”, she said breathlessly and pointed at the different directions of the road.

“Alright, I'll see you in an hour”, he answered with dark eyes and before she could resist, he placed a urgent kiss to her lips and quickly started walking away, looking at her over his shoulder.

“Oh boy”, she whispered to herself and turned around to leave.

She walked through an alley close to the Bronze when a movement caught her eye. To someone else it might have looked like a couple making out but she knew better. Soundlessly she crept behind the vampire and with a stake in her hand she grabbed the vampires shoulder. The vampire pulled off the victim and Buffy couldn't stop the audible gasp as she was face to face with Angelus. His dark eyes bore into her and his lips formed into a smirk, baring his teeth dripping with the girls blood.

“Hello lover”, he said with a velvety voice.

“Angelus”, she choked out, only making his smile wider. He threw the girl down to the ground and stepped closer to Buffy who made herself not to take a step back.

“Did you miss me?” he asked lifting his hand and running his fingers down her neck, lingering on the mark. She shivered at his touch and she didn't seem to find the will to move.

“How can you be free?” she questioned, not really from him. And then it hit her, Toth, he shot Angel with the rod so it must have divided them in two as well, she couldn't believe she hadn't thought of that before.

“I don't know how this happened but after two yours on the bench, it's good to be back”, he answered flippantly. “You're still so pretty when you sleep”, he whispered huskily, his fingers trailing downwards to her neckline. Before they could go down further, she grabbed his hand, halting his movement and stared into his eyes.

“You were in my room that night, it wasn't a dream”, she said accusingly and he chuckled out loud.

“Heard every moan and whisper”, he answered challenging her with his eyes. She didn't break his gaze as suddenly she hit him hard enough to send him stumbling against the wall.

“Oh baby, I've been waiting for a rematch for a while now, at last we got to the good part”, he chuckled, wiping the blood off to his sleeve and licking the cut in his lip. He jumped at her, managing to get one good punch to her face before she retaliated. They kept blocking each others moves and the fight just got longer.

“We both know you can't kill me, but this is fun”, he said while fighting and Buffy managed to hit him straight in the face, sending him staggering backwards.

“Not for the reason you think. I can't kill you without killing Angel, he was shot by Toth and that split him in two. If one dies, you both die”, she said and hit him again.

“Damn, does this mean I can't kill soul boy?” he said, it wasn't really a question.

“Yes”, she stated, kicked him to his stomach before kneeing him to his chin and knocking him out with a punch. He dropped to the ground unconscious and cautiously she neared him, ready for any attack as she knelt next to him. She rolled him to his back and she couldn't help but think that he looked deliciously devious even unconscious but she shook the thought away.

“Smell of fear is addicting , makes the blood so much sweeter. But I don't know if I'll drink you Rupert, I always wanted to try the chainsaw and somehow I'm thinking that there won't be enough to drink after I'm through with you.”

“Shut up, Angelus”, Buffy ordered and stepped in front of him, blocking the view between him and Giles.

“Come on, lover. I was only making friendly conversation with the father in law”, he said innocently but the smirk on his lips was anything but. He tested the chains making Giles jump but then he just leaned against the wall like he wasn't even chained.

“I always imagined we would try some chains one day, although I wasn't the one tied down”, he continued but was interrupted by the angry growl. Angel crossed the room in a blink and pinned down his demon by the throat but didn't manage to wipe away the smirk from his face. Angelus giggled at the murderous looking Angel who was crushing his throat.

“Are you sure you've got the right one tide down?” Xander asked from the door as he, Anya, Willow and Dawn walked through the door.

“Dawn! What are you doing here?!” Buffy asked frantically and with long strides crossed the distance between them.

“I just wanted to stop by. Why is there two Angels? I didn't know he had a brother”, Dawn answered like Buffy was making a fuzz out of nothing.

“Dawn, what have I told you about going out after dark. And that's not two Angels, the one chained to the wall is Angelus”, Buffy said annoyed and seeing the look Dawn was giving her, she explained further. “Demon, personalities splitting in two, long story. You can't be here!”

“Why not?” Dawn questioned one step away from stomping her feet.

“I don't want you anywhere near Angelus. Xander, take Dawn home”, Buffy said sternly and despite her protests, Xander took Dawn with him.

As soon as the car was gone, Buffy turned and noticed the intense look on Angelus' face. She went to where Angel and Angelus were and she laid a calming hand to Angel's arm. He turned to look at her and she gave him a look with her eyes, asking him to leave her with Angelus for a while. He hesitated but finally pulled back not leaving the room. Angelus turned his gaze to Buffy's, not looking happy.

“Someone's been in my head”, he stated with a frosty anger and briefly looked at Willow.

“Isn't it crowded enough in there?” Buffy quipped and earned a dirty look from him.

“Someone's been messing with soul boys memories”, he said and turned to look at the door with a evil smirk. “She's not real”, he added almost with a singsong voice.

“What are you talking about? I'm not in the mood for your games, Angelus”, Buffy said tiredly.

“First I thought it was the witch, but she's not powerful enough to mess with everyone's heads. I bet the girl tastes like magic.”

“You leave my sister alone!” Buffy yelled angrily.

“You don't have a sister”, Angelus answered coolly and earned a punch to his face.

“I don't know what game you're playing but you lie.”

“Come on, Buff. You know I don't lie when the truth hurts more”, he smirked and as Buffy looked into his eyes, she could see the frightening truth that he wasn't lying. She took a step back shaking her head.

“Dawn is my sister”, she insisted vehemently.

“We're ready”, Willow interrupted with a small voice and Buffy walked to her, trying to suppress Angelus' words. “I did some extra work on the spell since they're not human”, Willow explained.

“Okay, then let's get started”, she said ignoring the growl coming from Angelus. Willow started to chant the spell while Angelus was screaming at them and pulling the chains without being able to break them. Then suddenly the growling and screaming stopped and there was only a slightly confused Angel standing in the chains. Buffy made her way to him, their eyes locked and she just stared into his eyes for a long while before breathing a sigh of relief.

“How does it feel to be unique again?” she asked but didn't make a move to unchain him.

“Really good”, he answered then looked down at his hands still confined in the manacles. “Are you going to unchain me?”

A smirk rose to Buffy's lips and she licked her lips. “I don't know, I can't be sure you'll behave yourself.”

“Buffy, people present”, Willow's voice reminded from behind her.

“Look, I'm sor...” he started but was cut off by Buffy.

“Don't you dare say you're sorry. There was nothing to prevent it, you didn't plan to get hit by the Gemina-thingy.”

Angel decided not to continue the topic and maybe it was better he didn't tell about all the people Angelus murdered while being free, he knew Buffy would feel guilty and he was the one with the burden to bear not her.

As soon as they stepped to the office area, Cordelia jumped to her feet followed by Doyle. “So how was your weekend?” she asked and Buffy shared a quick look with Angel before turning back to Cordelia.

“Oh, you know, the usual.”

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