Warning: Remember, this story is rated NC-17. Just reminding you. Oh, none of the authors or the archiver have any legal hold on any copy-righted material in this page.

Willow slept alone. She was very, very tired. Between fighting off her feelings for Angel, her fear of Buffy, the hunger of the demon, and the longing for Xander, Willow felt she could not endure much longer. Why did she accept Angel's curse? She had to accept it, she was afraid to die, now she was afraid to live. It meant living under Buffy's shadow again, first with Xander, now with Angel. If only she hadn't slept with Angel. Here was another nasty truth. She wanted to, really wanted to. It felt wonderful, dangerous, loving. Why couldn't she believe how much Angel loved her? He fell in love with her not because she was just like him, no in SPITE of it.

Angel watched her sleep for a long time, thinking of how or where they could go to get away from all of this. If only he could tell Buffy what happened, get to her, explain. How do you explain to your girlfriend that you turned her best friend into a vampire, made love to her, AND fell in love with her. Perhaps Giles would understand. He fell asleep thinking, curled around Willow, protecting her even in his sleep.

***

"I'm not so sure we should be banging stuff around in here. What would the neighbors think?" Xander said, giving the duct an experimental thump. "This stuff looks like it could come down any second. And, I don't want to be around here when it starts raining vampires."

"Well then, step back." Buffy said giving Xander a "polite" shove. Smiling sweetly she punched a hole in the duct. Her fist came within inches of Willow's nose. Willow's eyes Popped open the same time as her mouth. Angel was already awake and aware that someone was around, and did not expect it to be Buffy. It was a rude awakening.

"Good shot! What do you do for an encore?" Xander said putting his hand inside the hole. Willow saw the hand come up and couldn't help herself, she bit it! Xander snatched his hand out yelling! Angel grabbed Willow and they crawled frantically down the duct. Buffy didn't stop to look in the hole, she pursued the noise down the corridor. Xander, still clutching his hand, followed her.

Her senses operating at maximum, Buffy chased after the noises not realizing where they were taking her. She stepped off the end of the corridor into open space just as Angel and Willow emerged above her. Willow, in the lead, jumped up into the grid work, and began making her way up. Buffy screamed as she hung in open space. Angel hanging above her, yelled out. "Buffy!"

For the briefest of moments the world stopped, and flowed again in slow motion. Buffy, tumbled over the railing, and Angel stretched out his hand, only to retract it again, and start climbing. The sound echoed around the hollow cavity the corridor emptied out into. Buffy only fell a couple of feet onto another landing. Xander, not very far behind, navigated the turn in the stairs, and met her. Buffy, looking up into the darkness grabbed Xander by the arm. "Did you hear that? Did you?"

"Hear what?" He looked up to see what she was looking at." I couldn't hear anything above the running." Xander said, shaking his hand. "What ever it is, it has teeth!"

Buffy started climbing the railing, up into the gridwork. "It was Angel, I heard him! It was him. It WAS him!"

Willow heard Angel call Buffy's name, saw him stop, turn and stretch out his arm. She didn't need any other explanation than his simple act. He loved Buffy, and not her. With all his caring, cooing, and kissing her, it just was a lie. Willow had the truth. Angel never said he loved her. Not once. She was living a "Fool's Paradise", as the head Fool. She had given him all of her, only to have him treat it like trash day. If she could only let go here, and drop to the ground to end it. But, she didn't want to give Buffy nor Angel the satisfaction. No, she would live, but how?

Willow was very high now. Angel was only a little ways below her. She kept climbing up to the top, ignoring Angel's cries to stop. She kept climbing, away from Angel, from Buffy, Xander, away from the pain. Up near the top of the dam, she saw another duct, and crawled in that one, and started to slide slowly down. She knew Angel, and quite possibly Buffy, was right behind them.

"Oh God! I just can't keep up!" Buffy said, out of breath. She stopped and saw Xander a few feet away, struggling to keep up. He went from one tottering metal pole to another. Looking up, she could see no other person, or whatever above her. Her resolve to find out if this was Angel crumbled. "Xander, hold on! I'm coming down." She yelled, making her way over to him.

"Great, cause I'm not cut out to be a Flying Welenda!" he said as one foot slipped off. He grabbed at the grid with his hand.

Willow made it to the bottom of the duct. The darkness was closing in on her, but she could still see enough to make her way down the lower shaft of the duct. Angel made a "chuff" noise when he got to the bottom. She did not wait for him, "Willow stop, please?" Angel barked again "Stop!" She never stopped, she just plowed on.

"Willow please!" Angel sat on the edge of the empty stairwell they had gone into. The ductwork had run out, and there was no where else to go. Willow was pacing up and down in front of the locked door, trying to figure out what to do. She felt she couldn't go on with Angel, the way things were. Angel had his head in his hands, exhausted from the day and night, without sleep. "You knew what you were doing all the time didn't you?"

"Huh?"

"You made me into vampire, cause you can't make Buffy into one right? There was a biting note in Willow's voice. "You did this on purpose! I thought you were so nice! What was I thinking?" She paced a bit more, mumbling to herself, contemplating out loud. "You love her for love, and want me for sex right?" she pushed at Angel with her hand. "You must have been laughing at me the whole time, thinking that you made a pushover whore for a girlfriend. All the time planning to return to Buffy the moment you saw her!"

Angel cringed at the use of the word "whore" knowing that Willow was in danger of losing her control. "Willow calm down. That's not it at all, and you know it!"

Willow had her "game face" on now, and was not backing down. Her anger and her misery all at once came to the surface. She was crying and swearing at the same time. She shoved Angel up against the wall, surprising him with her strength. "I was JUST a girl until you did this to me!" Willow pushed him again, harder. "I am in LOVE with you!"

Angel worried now about her state of mind, tried to grab her shoulders. "Willow get a hold of yourself!"

She quickly flung off his hands, the tears streaming down her face. "You don't love me! Xander didn't love me. What's left for me now?"

"Willow what are you talking about?" Angel said harshly. "Where are you going?"

She was already up the stairs. "I'm going to find a bit of heaven." She said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "Someplace you won't ever go!"

That hurt him more than a minute in the sun. He knew at that moment he had lost her forever. She was as dead to him as she was to everyone around her. As much as he knew she hated him now, Angel kept trying, climbing the stairs two at a time. she was prepared for him, and spun, around full in the "game" now. With a roar, she punched him hard, and he fell tumbling to the ground slamming into the door at the bottom. The last thought he had before he lost consciousness was Giles......

***

It's all a blur to me, the wall caving in beside Willow's head, us running throughout the corridors and ducts. I was so tired, so hungry. I could barely stay on my feet. It seemed as if we had been running forever. I barely knew what from. All I knew was that I had to keep Willow safe. So we ran.

And then I looked back and I saw Buffy fall. It was as if a part of me were wrenched away in that instant that I thought she was dead. Fear, I could smell it on myself. And I stretched out my hand, in a vain attempt to catch her as I watched her body fall in slow motion. Her name echoed on my lips. And then she was getting up, not dead, not even hurt, and I was climbing after Willow.

She wouldn't stop climbing and as long as she climbed I had to follow. I think I called her, told her to stop. I don't know. We ran. She kept just far enough ahead that I could not reach her. It was like those dreams where you keep running and running and you never get anywhere. I felt I would never reach her, and we would run until we both collapsed from exhaustion.

But then the ducts ended. And there was nowhere else for her to go. I sank to the floor, sure that my legs would give out if I tried to stand. But even sitting I could block her way out of the duct. Although she was out of places to run, she would not stop moving, pacing back and forth. I begged her to stop, still not understanding why she was so upset.

And then she began to scream. Yelling at me, accusing me with her voice and her eyes. My mind reeled as I began to understand what she was thinking. She didn't know that I loved her. She still thought that I was in love with Buffy. She thought I had used her and she hated me for it. Her misery hit me like a stake to the heart. But her misery was based on misunderstanding. Whore? The word glowed like neon among the rest of her tirade. I winced, silently screaming *No.* She would never be my whore. That she could think that badly of me hurt more than anything else.

I tried to tell her, tried to explain that I loved her. But she did not want to listen. She could not believe. She was hysterical, all her emotions pouring out at once in a tear-stained display. I had to stop this...somehow. And the she was attacking me, shoving me against the wall and saying that she loved me. The words I longed to hear became weapons in her mouth, used to berate me and bludgeon me with blame. My hands were on her shoulders as I tried to calm her, tried to make her quiet long enough to see the love in my eyes.

But she pushed me away, as if my hands were something dirty. And then she was gone and once again I tied to follow. But she would have none of it. If only I hadn't been so tired, maybe I could have found a way to make her listen. Maybe I could have forced her to stay. Maybe I could have avoided the punch that sent me reeling. And I fell, somehow strangely calm as the ground rushed toward me. My mind still whirling frantically, trying to figure out a way to get her back. But it was removed from me. It was a dream. The wind rushed up around my body and I landed on the floor. Pain exploding the length of my body.

And my sight slowly faded to gray. As I tried to hold on to reason, I thought of the one person that might be able to help me, Giles. And I thought of the one person that I could not live without, though she hated me more than anything else on earth... Willow.

***

Once on solid ground Buffy gave one last look at the gridwork above them, and sighed. She was so sure that it was Angel that yelled. There were so many unanswered questions. Why did it look and sound like Angel? Who was he with? Why did they run away from her? And if it was Angel, what happened to Willow?

Xander did not even look or speak to her until they were out in the sunshine. "Hey Xander!" she began. "We could go around to the other bunker. Maybe they went over to there?" Her eyes were full of hope, but there was also something else shining in them. Xander didn't like what he saw.

"Well?" she continued, staring at him.

Xander just looked at her. He looked tired, worn, like he had lived a million years, and only slept one night. "I've had enough." his voice was ragged. "If you want to chase the ghost of your past, go for it." He walked farther into the sunshine. "If you ask me, I think you're a Bitch!" he walked away, never looking back to see her reaction.

***

"You left her at the Dam?" Giles asked angrily, smacking the library table. Several books stacked on it fell on the floor.

Xander would ordinarily wince. This time he turned to Giles, and plopped down on the nearest chair. "Hey she's finally flipped her lid. All she goes on about is Angel, and not a word about Willow."

Giles pushed his glasses up. "She's feeling a bit lonely lately that's true."

Xander suddenly jumped up, " Lonely? If that's lonely I'm a .....a..... Well I'm something!" He said, waving his arms around He sat back down, exasperated. "You've seen her. She's not giving up. She's not a Slayer anymore, she's a mule!"

Giles patted him on the shoulder and regarded his cup of tea. "I must go and find her. Before she hurts herself."

Xander reluctantly got up, and headed towards the back entrance to the library. "I'll go find her. I called her something, and I want to add to it." He was gone before Giles could ask what it was. "Why do I bother?" He asked himself.

Just then a lonely hunched figure walked through the doors, and Giles dropped his tea cup, tea and all!

"Giles!" The figure, still in the shadows, managed to croak out. Giles knew who it was, and stepped back. The figure moved into the light, and Giles, stepped back again this time over a chair. "I won't hurt you. I need help..." The figure slumped to the floor.

"Angel!" Giles gasped quickly recovering, and kneeled beside the depleted man. "Willow?" he whispered, hoping against hope, for Buffy and Xander.

Angel looked at him, and then, bowed his head guiltily. "I don't know where she is." His voice breaking he continued. "It's a long story. Please Giles, Buffy can't find me here!"

"Willow's alive?" Giles asked, in a harsh voice, helping Angel up, into his office.

Angel stumbled a few times, but made it to Giles's small office and sank, gratefully down in the chair. "I think she's alive. Oh god what have I done!" The anguish rang out through the small room, and raised the hairs on Giles's neck.

He grabbed Angel by the arm and confronted the now sobbing man.. "What have you done?" he asked, the fear plainly evident in his voice.

Buffy obsessively searched Angel's apartment. But she only ended up upsetting herself more. She lay on the bed for nearly an hour crying her heart out. For the first time, since the accident that took her friends, wondered about her best friend, Willow. Buffy wiped her tear stained face, and wanted to go over to Willow's and have a good cry with her buddy. That sudden thought chilled Buffy to the soul. Willow wasn't there, would never, ever, BE there. In her mania to find Angel, she never gave a thought to Willow. Buffy went down on her knees in the middle of the apartment, flinging her hands to the ceiling, screaming her despair.

Willow hardly knew where she was going. She made herself stop several times, just to take some deep breaths, and to calm down. From where she was standing, her whole world felt like nothing. She knew everything wouldn't be "all right" not now, not ever.

At first she thought it was Buffy's fault. She was sure it was. Buffy seemed to have everything, Angel, Xander, Giles, looks, talent. It was hard not to be envious. Willow often sat in her room, and thought about how things could've been different. It was almost laughable now, how she chased after the men in Buffy's life. But, and this was hard to face, it was not Buffy's fault, it was her own.

Buffy told Xander that she loved only Angel. Giles always relied on Willow for the extra information. Xander relied on her for friendship and companionship. No, Buffy would always be her friend, and nothing would change that. The anger towards Buffy, that haunted her from the beginning of this whole episode, left Willow as soon as she saw her home.

Giles stood at the window of his small office, staring out into the night. Angel had fallen into a fitful sleep, after Giles had taken from him every scrap of information he had concerning Willow. Giles had very little knowledge about the Ritual of Souls. The Watcher books never mentioned it. "Probably because it is very hard to kill a vampire with a soul." He mused.

But now, to save Willow, for Giles was certain she intended to "fix" things by taking herself out of the picture. As a Watcher he should only be concerned for Buffy right? Everyone else should be considered expendable. The only thing to concentrate on was the extinction of the vampire. Giles turned and looked at Angel, who had helped them time after time risking his own life, and had made Willow into a vampire to save her life. And what about Willow, almost a mirror image of Giles in intellect, and knowledge. "Damn the Watchers! Full speed ahead." He mumbled to himself, slamming his fist on the windowsill.

***

Xander burst into the library, just as Giles and Angel were leaving. Upon seeing Angel, Xander had such a look of wrath on his face, that Giles stepped in front of Angel to protect him. "Move away Giles." Xander said, the anger contorting his face.

"Xander, you don't understand... Really, you should sit and calm down." Giles said, putting his hand out.

"No Giles, YOU don't understand. I am going to kill this mother fucker for what he's done to Buffy!"

Angel struggled to move out of Gile's shadow. "Bring it on human! I would love to take you out for what you've done to Willow." he said savagely

The three of them moved in a slow circle, two trying to kill one another, and one trying to save them both. "Willow's dead! You were with her, or I thought you were. You probably killed her too!"

Gile's tried to keep his voice as calm as he could. "She's alive, and in trouble. We need to help her."

Xander stopped, "Are you lying to me Giles? Just to save the piece of shit! If you are, I can kill you too!"

It broke Angel's control to hear him threaten Giles as well. He pushed Giles out of the way, flinging him against the cage. A howl split the silent air of the library and Angel launch himself at Xander.

***

Willow, clutching a note to her parents that she had hastily scrawled and planned to leave at the house, slipped though the window to her room. She was calm, almost serene. She had made her decision, and was happy with it. Or so she tried to convince herself. Willow kept her feelings of fear and hunger at bay. Fear she could deal with. The hunger? It was that gnawing, unrelenting, feeling in her mind, and in her stomach would not cease. It made her think of humans as food and not as allies.

Although Willow knew she would never take food that way, it was never far from her mind, that if she didn't do what she had to do, she would have to "feed" eventually. That she couldn't face, ever! Willow wondered how Angel kept control, now she would never have the chance to ask him. It was a pity, he had given her much to anguish over, but much to be thankful for.

Her room was much as she left it the other day. The other day, when she was innocent, still a girl, thinking of love in "girlish" ways. Now that she and Angel.....Willow smiled, thinking that when Angel loved her, she never felt so safe, so loved in her whole life. That, in itself was not a regret. The regret was that she would never have a chance to thank him.

Willow sat on her bed, and looked at the clock. It was late, and she mused on how many hours she would have to waste until dawn. Feeling guilty she looked again at the picture she didn't take, the one of her and Buffy, laughing. Buffy had loved Angel. But, did she love him because he was a vampire? Often Buffy would talk about his "past" and shudder, thinking over the violence he had done. Willow never did mind his past. It was now, the present, that made the man. Did Buffy understand that? Willow, as long as she had known Buffy, always thought that Buffy fell in love with love.

Willow would never again question love. With Xander it was always striving for the unattainable. With Angel she fell harder, longer, and deeper. He cared for her easily, even though he still clung to the love of Buffy, or so Willow thought. If she really knew, that right now Angel was fighting over her with Xander, her thoughts would have been different.

***

"Come on Dead Boy!" Xander said teasingly. "Come on! Bring it!"

If it had been other circumstances Angel would have smirked at Xander's pitiful saying. Now, that simple phrase burned at him. "Oh I am going to enjoy the taste of you!" Angel said, every word harsh and grating. "I can smell your blood and it's full of fear."

Giles, shaking his head, to clear it, slowly got to his feet. this was a dangerous situation, Angel already had his "game face" on and was considering taking Xander as a meal. Xander, a stake in his hand, was going to kill Angel, and die trying. "Stop this now!" He shouted. His normally quiet British voice resonating around the library. "Think of what you're doing!"

"Giles stay out of this! This human has hurt Willow for the last time!" Angel jumped at Xander. There was a sound of cracking as the two men hit the library table. Falling off, Angel quickly landed on his feet, while Xander sprawled on the floor. Angle, put his foot, on Xander's back, and pulled his head up. He crouched down with amazing agility, and sunk his teeth into Xander's neck. "Mmmmm my second taste in two hundred years. Not as wonderful as the first, but it will do....."

Xander struggled, breathing hard, while Angel watched. "I enjoy seeing you suffer. You've hurt my Willow for a long time, and now it's time to pay!" Angel laughed, and bent down for a final thrust into Xander's neck, when he was suddenly knocked off his feet, and slammed onto the ground. Xander seeing this to be his cue to stake Angel was also pinned down to the floor.

When Angel opened his eyes, he was going to burst off the floor and kill Xander. However, his progress was slowed somewhat by Giles. A sword point was snugly settling down in the middle of his chest. He looked up at Giles, anger in his heart. Giles, his face, placid, his eyes glittered dangerously, betraying an inner power, that Angel knew well. He had noticed that look in the Master's eyes, once.

***

Willow hopped off her bed wiping her face again. It would do no good to cry and cry. Thinking only brought fear to her troubled heart. Here she was supposed to be calm, resigned.

She forced herself to walk through her door to the other parts of the house. However, there was something that made her stop by her parent's room. A heartbeat? Was that the warmth of another human in the house?

She pulled the door open, and saw a man in there! Willow couldn't help herself, she squeaked in surprise!

***

"Now that I have your attention. Perhaps we can talk like civilized men?" Giles said increasing the pressure under his foot as Xander squirmed. "That's much better."

Giles, with one hand, lifted Xander up, and forcefully deposited him in a chair. And then, slowly backed Angel up to the stacks by putting pressure on the sword. "That was a stupid thing to do Angel" He drawled, "If you do it again, I will stake you myself."

"Yeah! You could have killed me!" Xander said from across the room.

Giles covered the distance between them and slapped Xander violently with his hand. "You also were very, very stupid. If you hurt Angel, You will join him in death."

This was a side of Giles, that Xander had heard of, but had never seen in action. He fell silent, not willing to anger him further. "Now we need to find Willow, before Buffy does."

Xander, his head bowed said in a sulky voice, "Willow's dead."

"She is not dead." Giles said matter-of-factly. "She is undead. And right now, according to Angel, trying to kill herself"

"Undead? You mean that bastard over there turned her into a vampire?" Xander propelled himself out of his chair only to be slammed back in it by Giles. He grabbed Xander by his chin and forced him to look in his eyes. "He did it to save her life, not to end it. She has her soul. He loves her."

"Yeah like he loved Buffy right?"

Xander was resentful, angry and tired. He had been though a lot in the past few days. Alternately hating and loving Buffy, trying to rid himself of the guilt of leaving Willow in the sewer, and now having to deal with her not dead, but a vampire. "And that makes it better? Tell Xander she's okay, but a vampire, and Angel loves her, and everything's going to be all right?"

Xander put his hand up to his neck and felt the smeared and drying blood there. "And I'm supposed to be okay about this?"

***

Buffy walked the dark streets, not caring if anyone was out, man nor beast. The moon, one day past full, still shone on the dark streets. The sun would come up tomorrow, and the day after that. She would go on, and on. Even if Xander understood how she was feeling, even if she could talk to Giles about how she was feeling, it would not erase the guilt. Not one inch. Only Willow would understand, or her mom, if her mom knew that Buffy was the Slayer, and accepted it.

Funny how one's thoughts direct your feet sometimes. Buffy found herself walking in Will's neighborhood. Almost to Willow's house, she decided to visit and commune with her old friend. "Better late than never." she mumbled to herself.

At the sound of breaking glass Buffy started to run. That sound was in the direction of Willow's house.

***

Giles quickly sorted out the two resentful men in his company. Xander took some patching up. Giles was efficient, bandaging up Xander's neck, while Xander traded angry looks with Angel.

"Hey that hurts!" Xander could not help yelling as Giles applied alcohol, to his wound. Angel had only tasted him to make him fearful. It had only increased Xander's anger. All the while Giles was bandaging Xander, he told him what had happened. How Angel and Willow had been trapped, because no one, (a slight tinge of guilt to Xander), held back and let the Slayer do her job. How, to save her life, Angel gave her the crossover option because the suffering of dehydration coupled with starvation, was more than Willow could endure. How the crossover had been done with the Ritual of Souls, and Giles was not sure if it took properly. Angel's head snapped up quickly at this. He knew Giles may have been keeping something from him. He didn't know that this could be it.

During Giles's long account, Xander become more and more quiet. He head bowed, it was as if he were walking in Willow's shoes. Giles explained how quite suddenly, Angel had fallen in love with Willow in a way he couldn't explain. Xander's head was down to his chest. "What about Buffy." Xander's voice was soft.

Angel, hesitated, and looked at Giles. "I don't know how I feel." Angel said simply. "Willow thinks I only use her for... sex."

"What?!" Xander half raised from his chair. Giles gently pushed him back down. "Giles, they had....had...sex!"

Giles smirked a bit at Xander's reaction, and turned to Angel. "Well? Do you?"

Angel was surprised at Giles's reaction. "No....no I don't." He said, averting Giles's gaze.

It was what Giles was expecting. He hoped to get some sort of commitment from Angel. Even though he had his soul, Angel could still be termed as feral.

***

The man, a buglar, was quicker then Willow could react! His arm snaked out and grabbed her by the hair, pulling her into the bedroom. He was big, with light blond hair, a stubbly beard covering his chin. He was strong enough to slam Willow onto the carpet. she gripped her head, still too shocked to say anything. The man, bent down close to her face, and breathed fumes into her face. It was a noxious combination of cigarettes and booze.

"Just stay there, and shut up!" he said, his voice high and excited. "You an me are gonna have some fun juss as soon as I find the fuckin stuff."

The bedclothes came off, flung to the ground. Willow just lay where she was, saying nothing. Too far past caring to do anything. The man noticing her lack of fear, came over and casually hit her on the head, knocking her to the carpet again. "What's that, Bitch?" Willow kept silent.

Again he hit her, this time, stopping to grab her by the back of her head. "Yeah you look real sweet. I'll tell ya, as soon as I find the gets, I'm gonna fuck you stupid!"

He ran his hand down the side of her face, giving her cheek a powerful pinch. "You gotta thank your mommy and daddy for leaving you home tonight!"

He shouldn't have said that. She could withstand the prodding, the violence. In her state of mind, it was nothing compared to what she had been through. But this brute's careless remark about her parents leaving her at home, brought all the misery bubbling up to the surface. It blazed anew. Willow looked him in the eyes as her face changed. "I should thank you for coming here tonight."

The man's sneer turned to fright. Willow's voice was low, as she felt the full force of the demon rise match her agony and anger. "I may even have you for dinner."

Letting go of her head, he, tried, TRIED to go out the door. Willow caught him easily letting him struggle in her grasp. The "sweet" Willow, who would not raise a hand to anyone, was just a passenger in this body consumed by rage.

The smell of his blood filled her with delight! How different the Willow was to the "Willow" of a few weeks ago. Why be like Angel and "control" it. Why not enjoy the power the blood gives one. The man was screaming, and Willow ignored it. The more he struggled, the more she relished in the smell of his blood. For one second, she loosened her grip, and he burst out of her hands, and went through the window of her parent's bedroom. Willow followed, enjoying the hunt.

***

Xander pulled his jacket closer to his body, "But you loved Buffy, and this is how you treat her?"

Angel was already down the flight of stairs going towards Giles's car. "You show precious little regard for Willow. You jerk!

"I love Willow!" Xander said, tugging on Angel's leather coat. His hand slipping off, the smooth leather

"Don't give me that crap Xander. You want to be with Buffy!" Angel said trying to get out of Xander's way.

"What do you care? You've already fucked Willow!" Giles's hand swiped across Xander's face with such force that his eyes teared.

"Gentlemen," Giles began, getting into the car. "This is getting us nowhere... If you continue to fight, I will lock you both in the cage and help Willow myself."

Xander rubbed his smarting cheek. "I will if he will. For both Buffy and Willow." He said squeezing into the back seat.

Angel's hand was on Giles's arm. He noticed how violent he became when Xander started lipping off about Willow. "Giles, she's mine" he said simply.

"Yes?" His reply was short, curt.

"She's mine."

"And your point being?" Giles's voice sounded impatient.

Angel gripped his arm tighter. "She doesn't belong to anyone else!"

"That's for her to decide." Giles said calmly shaking off Angel's hand.

"Not if I have anything to do with it." Angel's words were harsh, but his resolve was harsher.

"We'll see." Came Giles's cryptic reply.

***

Buffy sprinted towards the sound. In the distance, she could hear a man screaming. She could sense at least one vampire's signature. She couldn't place it. It had a weird kind of familiarity to it, but she could not concentrate on that. When she rounded the corner, at first she couldn't see anything. The only light was the moon, and it made surreal the landscape before her. In the distance, there was a constant drone of an automobile engine, and other assorted cars. Then Buffy realized, it was Willow's house she was looking at. It chilled her to the bone.

***

Willow leapt out of the window easily. Her face was grim as she ran the man to the ground, like prey. His blood was roaring in her ears. She grabbed him by his collar as he lay on the ground, and pulled his face inches from hers. The man wordlessly screamed, motionless, the fear pulsating through his body. Willow gently set him back down on the ground putting her hand on his chest feeling his heart beat. His eyes were wide open, his mouth large and pink. Then she pulled his head to one side, methodically, examining his neck, and the veins that popped out there. Now was the time, the sounds of the night faded, as she sunk her teeth into his neck.

***

"Can't you go faster?" Xander said ducking just in case Giles hit him again. They decided the best way to find Willow was to look in the one place she might go... her home. Giles coolly and calmly figured that if HE were in the same state of mind he would go to the one place that gave him peace, his home.

Xander clutched his aching head. Still smarting form the numerous little love taps that Giles laid on him with increasing frequency. And, what was Giles's problem anyway? Was he aware what Angel had done to Willow? Why was Giles so angry? The car jumbled his nerves. What did he feel anyway? Was it because Angel had the best of both worlds? He loved Buffy, and made love to Willow. He had almost everything that Xander once called his. But why could Angel have it and NOT him? Angel had the love of Buffy, and Willow AND Gile's obvious respect.

And then Xander hit on it. The reason his world had become so small. Xander was still a boy going after things, people, in typical boyish fashion. And, (and this was the hard part to face) he was selfish. Only thinking of how HE felt. How HE was going to deal with the loss of friends. And Xander just this day called Buffy a bitch. Yet, he was one too, Now that he knew Willow was alive, he could only think of how this was going to effect Buffy. He got angry with Angel for ignoring Buffy. But the man obviously loved Willow in a way that Xander couldn't. Shouldn't that be protected? Xander knew he had been going about it in the wrong way. He fought the one thing that could keep Willow alive... Angel.

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