Chapter 24: Aftermath Right after sundown the whole team headed to Sunnydale. After Cordelia had told about the vision, Buffy rushed to the phone and called Willow, relieved to find out that everything seemed to be alright. She ordered the redhead to go to Giles' place and get the gang together. The whole way there Buffy told Angel to drive faster, but he refused using her pregnancy as his excuse and wouldn't change his mind no matter what threats she gave him. Gunn drove past them with his truck before city limits, but despite that the rest of the gang hadn't arrived yet when Buffy and Angel finally got to Giles' place. Buffy climbed out of the car and headed to the apartment door without waiting for Angel. She gave the door a quick knock and just walked in, instantly calming down as she saw Willow sitting by the table with a pile of books in front of her. “Hey, Buff”, Xander greeted and lifted his gaze from the book he had been trying to read. “Wow! How many are you having, cause you're huge?” he questioned. He honestly didn't mean anything bad by it, but as usual he couldn't control his mouth and the words were out before he could stop them. And then he saw the tears rising to her eyes. “I know I'm huge! Do you think I need to be reminded of that!?” Buffy yelled through her tears. “Xander! You made the hormonally imbalanced slayer cry”, Anya said to her boyfriend in a disapproving tone. Faith looked at the scene with amusement when others thought it was wise not to interfere. “It's a reaction, I can't help it!” Xander defended himself. He didn't understand why he always fell for the same trap, but seeing Buffy's stomach growing with the child never stopped surprising him. Angel who had walked in a moment before, wrapped his arms around Buffy and shushed her, pressing a soft kiss to her neck. “Xander didn't mean it like that. You're beautiful”, he said to her and Xander couldn't believe it, dead boy... Angel had defended him. “But he's right. I am huge and ugly”, Buffy said with her lower lips sticking out and silent tears falling down her cheeks. “I never said that!” Xander protested, but Buffy didn't seem to listen. “Buffy”, Angel whispered her name, drawing her attention to him. “You are beautiful”, he swore and leaned down, pressing a kiss next to her ear. “And you're desirable. And once we get home, I will show you just how much you being heavy with my child has an affect on me”, he spoke quietly to her ear, sending shivers down her spine. She turned in his arms and raised her hot gaze to his face, tears forgotten. “I will hold you to that promise”, she answered huskily. Xander sat back down to his chair, wisely keeping quiet since his friend seemed to have forgotten him and his words. Cordelia, Gunn and Wesley rushed through the door, but the group came to a stop when they found Buffy and Angel in the doorway. “I see we missed the show. Bummer”, Cordelia said with fake disappointment and walked in past the couple. “What took you so long? You had a head start since Angel drove like an old lady”, Buffy asked, noticing that Gunn seemed to look strangely sheepish. “Gunn got lost. I never knew it was possible to get lost in Sunnydale but he did it. Can you believe it, the guy drives in LA without trouble and gets lost in a small town like this”, Cordelia answered shaking her head. “Come on, it could've happened to anyone. I can't believe how many alleyways this town has”, Gunn defended himself. “Did you have to take them all?” Cordelia questioned folding her arms in front of her. “You told me to turn right and that's where it started”, Gunn answered. Cordelia straightened her back, standing taller and took a step closer to him. “I said from the next turn.” “It was the next turn”, Gunn answered. Cordelia opened her mouth to retaliate, pointing her finger at the man, but she was interrupted by Angel. “Okay, kids, I think that's enough. You're here and that's what matters.” “You're gonna be a great father”, Buffy said with a smirk, looking at him adoringly and ran her hand up and down his arm. Angel turned his gaze to her and flashed her a small crooked smile. “Umm... why don't we concentrate on the matter at hand. Cordelia, why don't you tell us about your vision”, Giles steered the conversation to the reason why they all were there. He gestured to the sofa and chairs and the group moved to the living room. Giles and Wesley shared a look that went unnoticed by everyone else except for Cordelia who was just sitting down to the couch. Anya glared at the brunette, crossing her arms in front of her with a huff. “You're sitting too close to Xander. You're still not getting him back. He's mine”, she said bluntly and Cordelia spun to look at the strange woman. “And I still don't want him back”, she answered rolling her eyes. “You could be lying. Humans lie”, Anya stated and glared at the brunette suspiciously. “Take a pill”, Cordelia muttered and got up from the couch, moving to sit on the armrest of Wesley's chair. Anya kept glaring at her and clung to Xander's arm possessively. “Cordelia, please, go ahead and tell us what you saw in your vision”, Giles tried to steer the conversation back to the matter at hand. “Visions. I had two”, Cordelia corrected, then yelled at the ceiling, ”Thank you very much!” “Cordelia”, Giles sighed and removed his glasses, starting to rub the bridge of his nose. Cordelia sighed also and started to explained what had happened. xxx After several hours of research, Angel closed his book and put it into the pile of possibly useful books. He turned to look at the clock before turning his eyes to Buffy who was struggling to stay awake. “I think we should head to the mansion and continue tomorrow. Buffy should be in bed already”, he said and glanced around the group. Cordelia was sleeping on a pile of books with a thin line of drool running down to Giles' precious book cover. Even Wesley was yawning and rubbing his eyes. Buffy wanted to protest but she really was tired, as were everyone else. With a frustrated sigh she closed the book, since they didn't know what they were looking for, the research was even more tiring than usual. “Yeah, I think we all should go to sleep for a while”, she grudgingly agreed. “Especially us who have class tomorrow”, Willow added. Buffy spun around to look at her with a deep frown on her face. “You're going to class tomorrow?” she questioned. Was that safe? “I know what you're thinking, but it's perfectly safe. I don't want to miss classes just because some bad guy is after me. Which is another question, why me? Anyway, I'm gonna be perfectly safe in class, there's a bunch of people around me”, Willow said and gave her a tired, reassuring smile. But Buffy didn't feel reassured. “Still. I'll be your bodyguard tomorrow and I'll pick you up in the morning. Spend the night at Tara's”, Buffy instructed. Willow gave her a shy smile and looked at her girlfriend. “I was going to”, she stated and shared an affectionate smile with Tara. “Okay, we'll take you to the dorm house”, Buffy said to Willow and Tara, not leaving room for arguing and turned to look at the sleeping Cordelia. “And I think someone should wake Cordy”, she added. Everyone started to gather their things and move towards the door. Wesley woke Cordelia and guided her to the door, supporting the tired seer against his side. “I'll see you tomorrow”, Buffy said from the door and Giles nodded. “Goodnight all”, he said to the group. “Night, Giles”, Willow said through a yawn and the group left, leaving only Giles, Xander and Anya standing into the apartment. Anya was staring at the door with a deep frown on her face, her arms crossed over her chest. “She's taller than me. Why is she taller than me?” she demanded to know all but stomping her foot to the ground. Xander's ex was not allowed to be taller or prettier or better than her! xxx Buffy opened her eyes, finding the spot next to her empty. Slowly she shifted off the bed and slipped her bare feet to the slippers since the stone floor tended to be cold. She grabbed her robe and pulled it on while walking to the kitchen. Gunn was sitting at the table with a steaming cup of coffee and Angel was making breakfast. Both turned to look at the door to see who had stepped in, Angel already knowing who it was. “Morning”, she said through a yawn and headed to Angel. He handed her a cup of coffee, just the way she liked it and leaned into a kiss, but she turned her head away. “Morning breath”, she explained sheepishly. “Don't care”, he stated and brushed his lips against hers in a short, sweet kiss. His hands went down to her stomach, gently rubbing the bump. “Could you two stop to this? It's too early in the morning”, Gunn said from the table and tried to get himself to wake up by drinking more of the coffee in his hand. Buffy turned to look at the man with a amused smile playing on her lips. “Someone's cranky this morning”, she stated and went to sit on the table. “I had three hours of sleep last night”, he stated and got up from the table to fill the empty cup in his hand. For someone who didn't drink coffee, Angel made pretty good pot of it, especially compared to Cordelia's that could probably melt steel. “Who told you to get up this early?” Buffy smirked and Gunn gave her a dirty look. “Because I'll be babysitting Red with you. Why do the classes have to start so damn early?” he griped. Buffy turned her gaze to Angel, lifting a questioning eyebrow. “I asked Gunn to company you. You know you can't do it alone”, Angel explained and Buffy sighed, he did have a point. Gunn turned to look at the vampire, what he remembered of the talk they had, it didn't sound like asking, to him it sounded like an order. Cordelia breezed through the door and headed straight to the coffee pot. Everyone looked at her in surprise, none of them had expected to see her so early in the morning. “How can anyone sleep in here?! It's cold, drafty and my room smells like a old wine cellar”, she complained, then looked around herself while taking a sip from her coffee. “Where's Wesley?” “He's meeting Giles”, Angel answered and set the food to the table. “Again? What's with him and Giles these days? They used to be like little kids competing which is better and now they're all buddy-buddy”, Buffy wondered with a frown. “Yeah, I've noticed that too. I say we tie Wesley into a chair and torture him till he confesses what's going on, cause I don't like secrets”, Cordelia joined in. Everyone turned to look at her funny. “What?! I don't mean torture like sticking bamboo sticks under his fingernails-torture. I mean like dangling some old book over a fire”, she explained innocently. “I don't think we need to go that far. They'll tell us in time if there's anything to tell”, Angel said and set a plate in front of Buffy. xxx “The prophecy must be wrong”, Wesley said vehemently. “I certainly wish it were”, Giles answered with a sigh and took his glasses off, tiredly rubbing the bridge of his nose. The living room table was filled with papers and books, on top of them there was a rough translation of the prophecy Giles had sent to Wesley some weeks earlier. “We must be absolutely certain, with no doubt of what the prophecy says. The language is very difficult and considering it is practically extinct, we can't just confirm every word from a dictionary”, Wesley continued and Giles turned to look at him with irritation. “Don't you think I know that, man. I care about Buffy like she was my own daughter and I do not want that prophecy to come through any more than you do”, he said with a stinging edge in his voice. Wesley looked at him sheepishly and with a sigh he sat down to a chair. He rubbed his forehead with the tips of his fingers before grabbing the paper from the table, once again reading it through. “It could be wrong. We can not be certain the prophecy is about Buffy”, he said and they both knew they were grasping to straws. “All the signs indicate to her”, Giles stated. “No, it can not be. There are too many vague insinuations and it talks about things that are not true. For example, it says something about a form of a sister and if I am not mistaken, Mrs. Summers is not pregnant nor does she have more than one child. Buffy has defied prophecies before, why would this time be any different”, Wesley said, he wasn't sure if he was trying to convince Giles or himself. Despite her imbalanced hormones during the pregnancy, he had grown quite fond of the slayer and become to consider her as his friend, a sister that he never had. “Because of the source. These prophecies are not made by quacks”, Giles said almost loosing his temper, he wanted to find excuses like Wesley did, but he knew it wouldn't do any good. They needed to know for sure what the prophecy said and how to prevent it. He sighed, hanging his head low. “I only wish we could find someone who knows the language better than we do”, he stated tiredly, not lifting his gaze from the floor. “But no matter what, we must figure out something soon, we are running out of time. She will be giving birth in less than a month”, he added and finally lifted his gaze, locking his eyes with Wesley. The younger man could see the despair in them. There was nothing he could say to make the situation better and he only hoped they would have time to find a solution before it was too late. xxx Lilah walked down the hallway towards her office when she noticed Gavin talking to her secretary. A wolfish smile rose to her lips and she made her way to him. He didn't notice her until she spoke. “Trying to fish information from my secretary?” she questioned with a innocent look in her eyes that clashed with the crooked grin on her lips. “I don't need to lower myself into that. I'm doing just fine on my own”, he answered turning to her with his usual look of superiority on his face. “Yeah, I heard about that. I bet he must be shaking with fear while reading those building code violations”, she said sarcastically and faked a shiver. Gavin glared at the woman, just then noticing the papers in her hand. “I fight him with my own way”, he stated and grabbed the stack of papers from her hand. She just gave him a sardonic smile, she had practically won the game. “You do that”, she said and turned, walking to her office. She closed the door behind her and headed towards the desk. “Miss Morgan”, came a male voice from behind her and she spun around, taking a quick breath. She thought Angel was the only one that could do that. “Riley”, she answered with a polite smile and the man stepped out of the shadows. “I didn't know we had an appointment”, she stated and walked to stand behind her desk. She signed at the seat in the front. “No, we didn't have an appointment, I just wanted to once again thank you and your company for taking care of me. I feel the treatment is really helping”, Riley said and walked closer, taking a seat in the chair. He gave Lilah a charming smile. “It has been a pleasure, Riley. You needed help and our company was more than glad to give it to you”, Lilah said with the sweetest smile she could muster. She felt like puking from all the fake sincerity, but she was a professional after all. “Why I now wanted to thank you is because I'm going back home with Buffy. She has forgiven me for what happened and now that I'm better, I'll take her with me to Iowa. I'm going to raise the child as my own. Iowa will be a perfect place to raise a family and no disgusting demon is going to come between us”, Riley told her and Lilah just nodded her head with a smile. Those Initiative drugs really messed with his head, she thought to herself. But this was not going according to her plans, she didn't really care if the crazy soldier took the slayer with him to Ohio or wherever, but the Wolfram & Hart had plans for the baby. The prophecy was unclear like many others like it were, so not even the law firm was certain if it really meant the slayer or someone else, but she wasn't one to take unnecessary chances. “I guess congratulations are in order”, she said with a fake politeness and a smile. “Thank you. But I must be going now”, Riley said and got up from the chair, Lilah did the same. “I have to make travel arrangements and get some things sorted out before leaving”, he added. Lilah walked around the desk and extended her hand to him. “It was a pleasure doing business with you”, the lie had no trouble passing her lips. Again Riley gave her one of his college boy smiles and shook her hand. “Yes, it was nice meeting you, but I doubt we will be meeting again unless you decide to visit us in Iowa”, Riley said and inwardly Lilah grimaced, she'd rather join the AI team than voluntarily visit Riley Finn in Iowa. Riley left the office and she returned back to her seat behind the desk. There was a deep frown on her face, that crackpot was messing with her plans. She needed to think about her next move very carefully. xxx Later that morning Buffy and Gunn got Willow and Tara from their dorm room and walked them to every class. They waited by the door till the class was dismissed and followed to the next one. During the day Buffy only let Willow out of her sight when she had to wait in the hallway outside the classroom and the only time she got to come in was during the wiccan meeting. She was so bored out of her mind that she actually wished that the thing that was after Willow would try something so she could have something else to think about than which scented candle was the best. It was the end of the day and she and Gunn were walking the two women to their last class of the day. “Could you please stop worrying. You don't have to follow my every movement, you know”, Willow said with a lopsided smile. She had missed her friend's company since she moved to L.A and she was even jealous of the time Buffy spent with Cordelia, but following her everywhere like she was going to disappear wasn't her idea of quality time together. “Humor me”, Buffy answered wryly. They stopped in front of the classroom, moving to stand by the wall so they weren't in the way of people who were going inside. “I... I agree with Buffy. Cordelia saw in her vision that - that you're in danger, so I think it's better to be... safe t-than sorry. I don't want anything to happen to you”, Tara said and placed a gentle hand to Willow's arm. The redhead turned to look at her girlfriend with a soft smile and nodded, she didn't want them to worry because of her. “Alright, I see I'm outnumbered”, she sighed and turned to Buffy. “But you can't come to class with us. The professor is very strict and probably would ask you to enroll first. But don't worry, I'll be perfectly safe in a room full of people”, she assured, but Buffy didn't look convinced. “Buffy, Willow will be fine. Her girl is a witchy woman too, so stop worrying”, Gunn said stepping closer and Willow let out a sigh of relief, at least someone was on her side. She looked inside the classroom, it appeared only she and Tara were missing. “We need to go inside, but we'll see you later. Stop worrying”, Willow said and went inside with Tara, they closed the door behind them. “She's right, you need to stop worrying. Angel would have a fit if he knew”, Gunn said and guided the blonde to sit to the bench on the corridor. “Tell him and you'll be eating through a straw for weeks”, she threatened and gave the man a sweet smile that made her look like a saint. “And I believe you so I'm not telling Angel anything”, he stated raising his hands in surrender. She grinned at him. “Could you get me a sandwich or something from the cafeteria? Please”, she asked, again flashing the sweet smile that made it hard to say no to her. “I promised Angel I wouldn't leave you alone”, he stated, hesitating. “I just got into a comfortable position and who are you more afraid of, me or Angel?” she asked with a raised eyebrow and quirky grin. “Alright, alright. I'll get you a sandwich”, he said sighing in surrender and got up from the bench, heading down the hallway. There was no way he was going to argue against a hormonally imbalanced slayer, it was definitely bad for the health and at the moment she was scarier than the glowering vampire that was her hubby. xxx The class was dismissed. People started to gather their things and slowly pour out of the door. Willow turned to look at Tara with a crooked smile on her lips. “I think we better hurry out of here before Buffy comes to get us”, she said and Tara shared the smile with her. “I think you might be right. But she's just worried about you, we all are”, Tara said and bent down to pick up her bag from the floor. “I know”, Willow answered. Tara sat up straight and started to get up from her seat when she noticed Willow wasn't there. “Willow?” she questioned looking around. She jumped to her feet and spun around, frantically looking around the room. The seats were empty and a flock of students were making their way to the door, the redhead was not among them. Buffy and Gunn walked in, finding Tara searching the room in near panic. “Tara, where's Willow?” Buffy asked and Tara spun around, looking at her with frightened eyes. “I don't know”, she answered, tears forming in her blue eyes. “She didn't come out”, Buffy stated, dread creeping into her mind. Her eyes spotted Willow's bag on the floor. “And her bag is still here”, she added and picked it up. “I... I just... I just turned my back to - to her for few seconds. I heard her talking. And then... and then she just wasn't there”, Tara explained nearly crying. Her mind was going through different frightening scenarios, her lover had been taken away by something evil that was going to hurt her and she had done nothing to stop it. Fear and guilt invaded her body, she had heard what Cordelia had told about the vision and all that could be happening to Willow right at that moment. “It's gonna be alright, we'll find her”, Buffy assured the woman and gently placed her hand to her arm. She gave her a small understanding smile and then turned to look at Gunn. “Call Cordy and tell her to take the others and come here. We'll search the campus if there's any signs of her or if anyone saw anything, okay?” she said and Gunn nodded before leaving the room to make the phone call. Buffy turned back to the now silently crying woman. “We'll find her”, she said, her voice leaving no room for discussion. xxx After searching through the campus and every other possible place, the group except Xander and Anya who were checking a lead, returned to Giles' apartment. Angel turned to look at the door as they walked in and he didn't need to ask if they had any luck because the looks on their faces told everything. With a tired sigh Buffy sat down to the sofa, they had had no luck in finding Willow, nobody had seen her and she felt powerless, a feeling she truly didn't like. Angel sat down next to her and took a hold of her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze to let her know he was there for her. She turned to look at him and gave him a small smile, even though it was hard to come by. Tara glanced around the room, wringing her hands nervously and after gathering enough courage, she shyly approached Giles. “Uhmm... Mr Giles”, she said quietly and Giles turned to look at the young woman. “Uhmm... I... I could try a tracking spell to find Willow”, she suggested. ”That is worth a try. I have some ingredients in the pantry that might be helpful and if something is missing, I'll just pop in to the Magic Shop”, Giles said and guided Tara to the kitchen. Only moments later Xander and Anya walked in through the door. “Any luck? Cause we didn't have any”, he said and with a sigh sat down to a chair. Anya followed him and Buffy couldn't help but stare, the currently blonde was wearing the most ridiculous high heels she had ever seen. “Anya, can you actually walk in those heels?” Buffy asked and Anya gave her a strange look. “Of course I can walk. Why wouldn't I?” she questioned looking Buffy like she was blind. She turned her gaze to the brunette that was sitting on the other side of the room and glared at her. Of course her choice of shoes had everything to do with Cordelia, they made her look taller against the brunette who's presence was stirring strange feelings in her, feelings that she didn't like. “If you say so”, Buffy said quietly. The door flew open and Faith walked in, shutting it behind her with a loud noise. “So what did I miss?” she asked, ignoring the glared coming from Xander and Cordelia. She walked into the living room and fell down to the couch next to Buffy. “We couldn't find Willow”, Buffy answered quietly. “Don't worry, we'll find Red”, Faith assured, patting the top of her hand. Giles and Tara returned from the kitchen and set some things to the table. “Tara is going to perform a locator spell so there might be some electricity and odd smells in the air”, Giles warned and took a step back to give Tara room to work. She sat down to the table and mixed some ingredients together before starting to chant in a quiet voice. She added something into the bowl and a light blue smoke filled the room. Tara kept chanting till suddenly she cried out in pain. Her face twisted in agony and while gasping for breath she tried to continue chanting. She started convulsing and fell down from the chair. The smoke disappeared. Giles hurried to the fallen girl. “Tara?” he questioned and the girl in question opened her eyes, she was breathing heavily. “I... I couldn't find her. Something was stopping me from getting through”, she said and slowly sat up. “What ever took Willow must have been prepared for this”, Giles stated thoughtfully and helped Tara back into the chair. “Oh great, now I smell like sulfur”, Cordelia muttered wrinkling her nose, but everyone in the room just ignored her. “So what do we do now?” Buffy asked slowly getting up from the couch and turning to look at Giles. “Who ever it was that was blocking the spell, is very powerful. I could feel it”, Tara said and Giles' frown deepened. He took off his glasses and absently started to polish them. “I know a chap who I could call. He likes to keep himself up to date on what is going on underground, he might give us a clue of what we're dealing with”, he said. “Then call him”, Buffy ordered and without need to be told twice Giles picked up the phone and dialed a number. Fifteen minutes later he hung up with a sigh and turned to look at the others that were staring at him expectantly. “He said there's a power hungry sorcerer in town. Or at least that's the word”, he said and once again took off his glasses, starting to clean them. “Did he know anything specific? Like who the guy is?” Buffy asked and Giles shook his head. “I'm afraid not. This is second hand information for him also and he doesn't even know the sorcerer's name for sure.” Buffy let out a frustrated sigh. “So we have nothing.” Angel came to stand behind her and calmingly rubbed her lower back. “At least now we know what to look for. Don't worry, we'll find Willow”, he said with a soft voice. She turned her head to look at him over her shoulder. “Maybe we should go back to Willy's and ask him nicely”, he added and Buffy's face seemed to brighten instantly. “Can I come?” Angel shook his head and Buffy gave him a pout. “Why not? I'd let you do all the interrogating”, she promised, but he didn't seem to be wavering. “No”, was his firm answer. “Don't worry, B, I'll take good care of the hubby”, Faith said and patted the blonde's shoulder. “Not really helping”, Buffy singsonged, giving her a hard look. Faith just smirked. “One more month and you can handle rousting Willy and I'll look after the girly while mom's at work”, Faith said not loosing the smirk. “What, you gonna teach the girl how to dress like trailer trash?” Cordelia questioned with a raised eyebrow and folded her arms over her chest. Faith turned to look at her taking the same stance. “I don't think I need to since she can learn how to dress like a hooker from you”, she shot back. Buffy stepped in between the two women knowing soon it could get ugly. “Alright, draw your claws back in and calm down. Remember, the baby might be a boy and we have more important things to worry about. Like beating Willy till he tells us where Willow is”, she said sternly. “Okay, okay, don't get your panties in a twist. Angie and I will go talk to Willy and you can spend some quality time with Barbie here”, Faith said and Buffy gave her a chastising look. She turned to look at Cordelia who was clearly struggling to keep herself from retaliating, but somehow she managed to keep quiet. “Okay, be careful”, Buffy said and handed Angel a stake. “We will. And try not to worry”, he answered and brushed a soft kiss next to her lips. “I'll try”, she answered. Angel and Faith left and Buffy went back to sit on the couch. She was frowning and biting her lip, she hated it when she was left behind, but thankfully this time she wasn't bursting into tears. xxx Angel and Faith walked into the bar and Willy turned to look at the arrivals. A frown rose to his face, the boy and his strange girlfriend had stopped by earlier and now it seemed like they sent the big guns. “Angel! Slayer! What brings you here?” he asked loudly and some of the customers started to slink away. Angel walked across the room with Faith following and leaned against the counter, staring at Willy with undisguised scrutiny that would make anybody nervous. “So what brings you here? With the sister-in-law”, Willy questioned, nervously looking around himself. “Cut the crap, Willy. There's a new guy in town and he's got Red. Where is he hiding?” Faith questioned and grabbed Willy by his shirt, pulling him against the counter. “I know nothing!” he swore raising his hands up in surrender and with a roll of her eyes, Faith let go of his shirt. He straightened the shirt, taking a step back. “I don't believe you, Willy. So let's try again. What do you know?” Angel asked, placing the palms of his hands to the bar surface and leaned closer. Willy seemed to wither under the hard gaze. “Come on, Angel. I know nothin'”, he stammered. Suddenly without a warning, Angel grabbed him by the collar and lifted him off the floor, nearly pulling him to the other side of the bar. “I am not going to repeat the question”, he said, not only did he care about Willow, but the situation was causing Buffy stress and that was not good for the baby. “Okay, okay!” Willy cried out with his hands waving in the air. Angel set him back to the floor, but didn't let go of the shirt. “I've only heard stuff, gossip really. But the word is that there's a new player in town. A powerful guy, someone you don't want to mess with”, he explained, but was interrupted by Faith who was getting impatient. “We already know that. Get to the point.” “I was getting there. Anyway, the word is this guy has power, lots of it, but he wants more. He has a talk with the shady law firm on your turf and they signed him this way. I don't know where he's hiding, but I've heard he has an expensive taste, real snob, won't even drink in a joint like this”, Willy explained quickly, looking shiftily at Faith and Angel who finally let go of his shirt. Angel stared at the human with sharp eyes, trying to find out if he was lying, but as it appeared that he wasn't, he took a step back and nodded. “Let's go back and start to look into this”, he said and Faith frowned. “But I didn't even get to hit him”, she complained. “If the story doesn't check out, you'll get another chance”, Angel answered and started walking towards the door. Once they were outside, Faith turned to look at him carefully. “You know, you were getting really scary out there. I've only had one run in with your evil half and I was getting the chills in there.” Angel didn't say anything, just continued walking. Faith ran after him and grabbed his arm, stopping him. “Hey! What's going on? Cause you were rougher with Willy than you needed to be”, she questioned, staring at his face trying to find signs of what was going on in his head, but she got nothing. “It was easier that way. We don't have time to waste”, he answered shortly and tried to continue walking, but Faith didn't let go of his arm. “I don't think it's just that”, she said and Angel sighed deeply. “Fine. I care about Willow, but I care about Buffy more and this whole situation is not good for her. Or the baby. And right in there I heard that whatever is after Willow was sent here by Wolfram & Hart”, he answered, roughly signing towards the bar door. “The evil law firm?” Faith asked with a frown. “Yeah. And the reason they came after Willow is because it gets to Buffy and what gets to Buffy, gets to me.” “But your soul is bound. What's the use on messing you up? How are they gonna get Angelus out?” Faith questioned clearly not understanding the situation. “The curse is no longer an issue, my soul was bound by magic, but it can be taken away”, Angel answered and started walking towards the car. xxx Angel and Faith returned to Giles' apartment and shared the information Willy had spilled. Tara worked on the computer and tried to find possible hideouts where Willow might be kept. Since Willy had mentioned the sorcerer had expensive taste, they looked for large rented houses, leaving out the hotels since they had too many people. Tara printed three pages and grabbed the papers before approaching Angel who was packing weapons with Faith and Gunn. “Umm... Angel?” she said quietly and the man in question turned to look at her. “These three places were rented during the last seven days. They all are in secluded areas”, she added more confidently and handed the papers to Angel. “Thank you, Tara”, he said and started to read through the papers. “Okay, Faith, Gunn, Wesley, Giles, take your weapons. We need to check these places. We'll do them one by one, I don't think we should separate”, he ordered and handed the papers to Giles. “Please, let me come with you”, Tara said taking a step closer to Angel. She could see he was hesitant. “Please”, she begged and finally Angel nodded in consent. Everyone was gathering their weapons, including Xander. Angel went to him and took the battle axe from his hands. “You're not coming”, he stated and Xander glared at the vampire. “What you mean, I'm not coming?! You can't stop me, Willow is my best friend!” he protested trying to grab the axe back, but Angel didn't give it to him and pulled it back out of his reach. “I know you're worried about Willow, we all are, but you're still not coming. Stay here and we'll bring her back”, Angel said with his reasoning-voice. “Who died and made you the boss?!” Xander said angrily and again tried to take the axe from him, but it wouldn't move from his hands. “Hey! Why don't you just shut up, Xander”, Cordelia said and placed her hands on her hips. Xander turned his glare to her. “What are you doing here anyway? Shouldn't you be working on your regular street corner?” Xander shot back and Cordelia's eyes narrowed. She took a step forward and poked her finger to his chest. “Listen to me, Xander Harris”, Cordelia started, but was interrupted when Buffy stepped in between them. “Can't you behave even for one minute?!” she questioned and grabbed Xander, pushing him away from Cordelia. Angel used that moment to guide the brunette away from Xander. “Can you believe him?!” she huffed, still glaring at her former boyfriend who returned her gaze with equal force. “He's just concerned about Willow”, Angel stated and Cordelia turned her eyes to him, staring at him in surprise. “I can't believe you're defending him. You know he hated you even before you turned into Angelus.” “Just ignore him. I need you to look after Buffy while we're out, okay”, he said looking at the seer seriously and finally she nodded, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. Sure she didn't like babysitting a grown woman, but it wasn't like she wanted to go after the thing that had Willow, the vision had been enough. “Just be careful, okay. What I felt in that vision wasn't just a little prick under the skin”, she said with concern lacing her voice. “Hey, I'm not going to get hurt. I have too much to live for now”, he stated and turned to look at Buffy who was still trying to get Xander to calm down. “Just try to keep Buffy from worrying too much. This whole thing has been hard on her and she should avoid stress”, he continued, a deep frown forming to his face. “Of course she is stressed! Her best friend is kidnapped by some weirdo and about to be seriously tortured!” Cordelia said a bit too loudly and Angel gave her a hard look, that wasn't his idea of keeping Buffy calm. She just gave him a oops-look and shrugged her shoulders with a wide apologizing smile that showed all her pearly white teeth. Angel shook his head in exasperation and made his way to Buffy who now was alone since Xander had gone to sit with Anya and sulk. “We'll bring Willow back”, he assured her and gently rubbed her back. She turned to look at him and smiled softly. “I know.” “Try not...” he started, but she interrupted him. “...to worry too much”, she finished for him and smiled crookedly, resisting the need to roll her eyes. “I try not to”, she added and he gave her a small smile. “We need to get going now”, he stated. “I know. Be careful”, she said and grabbed him by the back of his neck, pulling him into a kiss. After a while he ended the kiss and pulled back, still keeping his forehead pressed against hers. “I will. I'll see you later”, he said and brushed his lips against her cheek before taking a step back. He grabbed a battle axe from the table and left with rest of the group following. xxx The group had checked one of the locations, but it wasn't the right one so they continued to the next one. Tara looked at the dark building and shivers ran through her. “This is the one”, she said quietly and the others turned to look at her. “Are you certain?” Giles asked and she nodded. “I can feel the power all the way from the house”, she answered, the dark power that radiated from the house was making her feel like something was crawling under her skin. Her instinct was to get as far away from the house as possible, but she couldn't, she needed to go inside. “Then lets give him a visit”, Angel stated and they continued their journey to the house. “You'd think he'd have someone at guard”, Wesley said as they reached the door. “He has”, Angel stated and everyone turned to look around, there was a group of vampires surrounding them. “Tara, stay in the background”, Angel ordered and handed her the stake Buffy had given him earlier in the evening, he was the one who had given her permission to join them so he also felt responsible for her safety. Both sides attacked and Angel staked the first one in surprise that caused the others to attack more fiercely once they realized they had underestimated their competition. One of the vampires struck Giles against the wall and as he was dazed, the vampire leaned in for a bite. Angel was battling against another vampire when he noticed what was happening, he kicked the vampire with a roundhouse kick, sending him staggering back and cut the head off from the vampire that was pinning Giles against the wall. With the same motion he decapitated the other vampire. Giles fell down to the ground, still dazed and Tara hurried to him, helping him back to his feet. In less than ten minutes they managed to dust all vampires except for two that escaped inside. “I'm sure there's more inside and now we don't have surprise attack”, Angel stated with a little annoyance as they walked inside. Despite being discovered, they moved quietly through the house, looking for a sign of Willow till the silence was broken by a painful scream and they sprinted into run, heading towards the voice. At the door they saw a dark figure looming over a frightened Willow, tears were running down her cheeks and her face was twisted in pain. The man's fingers were embedded into her skull. Tara gasped at the sight and it was enough to put a stop to the others as well. With an angry growl, Angel lunged at them and tackled the sorcerer off of Willow. She fell to the ground, gasping for air. It felt like life had been drained out of her, she was weak and even paler than usual, even her lips were cracked. Tara rushed to her girlfriend and smoothed her red hair back before helping her up to her feet. She was so weak that Tara had to practically carry her away from the fight. “Oh damn”, Giles muttered under his breath as a group of vampires burst into the room. Tara backed away from the fight that broke loose, she knew she didn't stand a chance against vampires in a hand to hand combat and she had Willow to worry about. The sight of her girlfriend, pale and weak was breaking her heart. She heard a threatening growl coming from near them and when she turned, she saw a vampire ready to attack her. Quickly she raised her hand in front of her and said with a soft, but commanding voice, “Thicken.” A protective field appeared around her and Willow, stopping the vampire dead on its tracks. It let out a angry growl and hit the barrier, not willing to accept that it was keeping it away from its prey. Gunn saw what was happening, he hit the vampire he was fighting with hard in the face and went after the one that was trying to get to Tara and Willow. As the vampire was busy trying to find a hole in the protective barrier, Gunn swung his axe and decapitated it, its dust falling along the invisible wall. Gunn grinned, but soon his smile faltered as he heard a growl behind him and as he spun around to continue his fight, he was hit hard in the face. The axe he was holding fell down to the floor and before he could pick it up, he was grabbed by the vampire he was fighting with before he went to help Willow and Tara. The vampire smiled, the victorious expression making him look grotesque, and started to lower his fangs into Gunn's neck. “Salivo!” Tara cried out and the vampire was torn away from Gunn and went flying across the room, landing on another vampire. “Cool”, Gunn said with a grin and turned to look at Tara. “Thanks.” “You're welcome”, she answered breathlessly and watched as the black man joined the fight with the others. She let out a ragged breath and heavily leaned against the wall next to Willow. The protective barrier around them disappeared. Angel was aware of the new arrivals and of the fight that was going on, but he put all his concentration on the sorcerer he himself was fighting against, the guy was strong and the power he had stolen from Willow was flowing through in his veins. They traded blows as the rest of the gang fought against the minions. Every time the sorcerer tried to start to chant something, Angel quieted him with a strong blow to the jaw, but not even that was enough when he lost his axe in the heat of a battle and was cornered against the wall. He tried to hit his aggressor, but the sorcerer just avoided his hit and grabbed him by the head with both hands. His fingers dug inside Angel's head and the vampire's face twisted in pain, it was worse than the time he lost his soul. Through the searing pain his thoughts went to Buffy and their unborn child, he would be no use to them if he was dust. And that was where he found the strength to move and manage to kick his leg out, hitting the sorcerer's knee and breaking it. The sorcerer lost the contact with his head and on wobbly legs Angel got up and with a quick move, snapped the man's neck. He fell back to his knees, gasping for air that he didn't need. He felt weak, but he couldn't just stay there, the others were still fighting against the remaining vampires. Slowly he climbed back to his feet and headed to where his axe was laying. By the time he got to it and lifted it off the ground, the last vampire had been dusted. “How exactly do you think you can help in the condition you are in?” Wesley questioned, wiping the sweat off his brow. “Don't really know”, Angel answered and fell back to his knees. Wesley and Gunn went to him and lifted him off the floor, he only stayed on his feet because they were holding him up. “You know Buffy isn't gonna like this”, Gunn stated and Angel grimaced at the thought of facing her. “I know”, he answered glumly. There was a loud whack and everyone turned around, in the process Gunn and Wesley lost their hold on Angel and he fell down to the floor. “I'm terribly sorry”, Wesley apologized to him as they stated that the sound came from Giles cutting the sorcerer's head off. He and Gunn lifted Angel back to his feet. “Was that really necessary?!” the vampire questioned, annoyance clear in his voice. “I believe it was, his eyes were moving”, Giles answered matter of factly. “Not you, I mean them”, Angel said and nodded to the both sides of his head. xxx Willow was sitting on her bed, propped against a pile of pillows. She was still feeling weak, but her strength was slowly coming back to her, very slowly. That was the reason she had skipped the classes and not many things got her to do that. Buffy returned back to the room, holding two steaming cups of tea. She sat to the edge of the bed, handing Willow the other cup. “Be careful, it's still hot”, she warned. “Thanks”, Willow said with a small smile and blew to the hot liquid. She glanced at Buffy who was staring into her own cup like there was something interesting in the bottom of it. Buffy felt her friend's stare and turned to look at her. “We were really scared, Will”, she said in a quiet voice. “I know. I was too. But I also knew you'd come and rescue me”, she answered. “But you shouldn't have been taken in the first place. I should have...” Buffy didn't get to finish when Willow interrupted her. “Hey, don't get all guilt tripping on me. I thought that was Angel's job. And I chose to go to classes, it wasn't your fault and it wasn't Tara's fault, so you both need to stop blaming yourselves”, she said sternly and took a sip of the tea. “Hot!” she breathed out as the liquid burned her tongue. “Do you want me to get you cold water?” Buffy asked and started to get up, but Willow placed her hand on her arm and shook her head. “No, I'm fine. Just sit with me”, she said and Buffy relaxed back to her seat. There was a long moment of silence till she was the one to break it. “How are you feeling?” she asked with concern clear in her voice. “I'm fine. A little weak, a little sore and a little tired with a little headache, but otherwise I'm fine. How's Angel?” she answered. “He's okay, gaining his strength back. Although not as quickly as I'd like to, plus he can't drink from me either because I'm pregnant”, Buffy answered with a frustrated sigh. “Well, that's good. I mean that he's okay. Not that he's weak or that he can't drink”, Willow said awkwardly, then frowned. “Uhm... Do you have to go back to LA right away?” she asked with a raised eyebrow, changing the subject. “Sorry but yeah, we do. Angel and I are meeting the midwife in Caritas tomorrow”, Buffy answered with a apologetic smile. “Caritas? The demon bar?” Willow questioned with her frown deepening. “It's in the afternoon when it's not open yet. Lorne suggested it since it's a violence free zone and he arranged the whole thing. He's practically the baby's fairy godfather”, Buffy explained with a small smile rising to her lips as she mentioned the baby. “Lorne's the green singing demon?” Willow questioned, again she felt the jealousy bubbling inside of herself, Buffy had told a lot about her new friends and she couldn't keep the feeling from surfacing. Wasn't it enough that Cordelia got to spend more time with Buffy than she did? And now some singing demon was hogging the baby as well. “Yeah, he's the one. I think you're gonna love him when you meet him.” “I'm sure”, Willow muttered, but Buffy didn't seem to notice it. She took a sip from her cup and her eyes landed on the clock on the bedside table. “I'm sorry, Willow, but I need to get going. I promised I'd meet mom for lunch. She would never forgive me if she heard I was here and didn't even see her”, she said and got up from the bed. “Okay, go meet your mother”, Willow said flashing a tiny, crooked small smile and set her cup to the table. Buffy grabbed her jacket and headed to the door, but turned to look at Willow before she opened it. “I'll come see you later, okay?” “Okay. I won't be going anywhere”, Willow answered with a small smile. “I'll see you later”, Buffy said and left the room, gently closing the door behind her. “Later”, Willow whispered to the empty room and laid down to the bed. To be continued... A/N: Salivo is to release in Latin, I looked it up from a dictionary so if it doesn't fit it's my fault cause I don't know Latin.

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