Giles yanked his glasses off once again, indulging the old compulsive habit like the lifeline to sanity he often felt it was.
Willow watched, still shaking a little, and wondered if one day the ex-Watcher might rub the lenses right out of the frames.
"One last time," Giles said, replacing them, "You cast a spell to have your will done."
"Yes," she repeated.
"And yet, the only thing your will has accomplished thus far is teleporting Buffy to Los Angeles."
"I think so..." Willow said woefully. She hadn't meant for her spell to effect anyone else -- and she really hadn't meant to send Buffy barreling through the ether to land in Angel's lap.
Metaphorically speaking...
She knew it had been a mistake to leave out "For the good of all and with harm to none" at the end. Of course, the whole ritual was ethically questionable to begin with, so...
"Right," Giles concluded, and got up. He walked to one of his many overcrowded bookshelves, and scanned the titles, "Then we should act to reverse the spell before any real damage is done."
"Or any more of us disappear," Anya added, knowing intimately how the Witch felt about her.
"Shouldn't we be getting Buffy back?" Riley asked. He'd been quiet and sullen since all of this began, and was becoming increasingly annoyed that no one seemed concerned at all that Buffy had been sent across the state, into the arms of her "he whose name must not be mentioned" ex-boyfriend.
All eyes turned to him. As quiet as Riley had been, they had all completely forgotten he was there.
"Oh!" Willow said, "Oh..."
Spike laughed heartily, "OH, LORD! Hoo hoo! Poor Soldier Boy... hahahahahaha..."
Giles set a withering glare on the vampire, which did nothing to stop his hysterical laughter. He turned and looked at Riley.
"I... I'm not sure that we need to do anything. Buffy says she is fine, and she's certainly in no danger with... er... where she is. Conventional methods of travel will more than suffice for her return," he told the obviously worried young man. Pity. He would undoubtedly not be among their number for long.
Riley frowned, and said nothing.
***********************************************
Buffy sat, staring into her untouched tea, chewing her lip. Her head was pounding from the tension of being near him, and a million things she was fighting not to say.
Angel wasn't faring any better. He had managed to kill a few excruciating moments by preparing the tea as slowly as he could, but was unable to find any other way to prolong sitting down with her. The itch to spill his miserable guts was almost overwhelming.
"So..." he said.
Buffy looked up at him, "So."
Angel chuckled nervously, and shook his head, "I had no idea this would be so awkward."
Buffy's tension eased a little, "Yeah, I know... but... I guess you weren't really expecting me."
"And you weren't really expecting to be here," he added.
"I wasn't, no," she admitted, and took a sip of her now-cold tea.
Silence settled over them once again. It was going to be a long day.
***********************************************
"Honest... you said they should just be honest with one another," Xander reminded her.
Willow nodded sadly. What had she done?
"Honesty! Oh! That's classic! What I wouldn't give to be a fly on the wall of THAT little reunion!" Spike chuckled. He hadn't really stopped laughing for more than a few moments during the whole debacle. Thinking about the Slayer and his sire thrown unexpectedly together was giving him the giggles like he hadn't had since the 60's. And the look on Soldier Boy's face -- going from angry to shocked to hurt over and over again -- it was better than anything that could possibly be on the telly.
"Giles, have you found anything?" Willow asked, her voice tiny.
He shook his head, "No, I'm afraid not. Willow -- I can't believe you would cast such a spell without some failsafe! Or, at ALL, for that matter!"
Willow pouted, "I just..."
"We know what you just," Anya piped in, "You 'just' wanted to force Oz to come back."
Xander gave her a little shove, and a look that he always used to signal that she was being inappropriate. The ex-demon shrugged. She was only stating the obvious.
The red-headed Witch hung her head, saying nothing. It was true, after all. She had been trying to violate Oz's will by having her will done. She'd be lucky if all the gods and goddesses in the universe didn't just come down and strike her dead.
Riley looked around at all the faces in the room, completely taken aback at how completely bizarre Buffy's friends were. He'd known they were odd -- they'd have to be, to hang around with someone as unusual as he knew Buffy was. But this was just too much. Spells? Hanging around with vampires?
He got up. "I have to go," he announced to no one in particular.
Everyone stared at him. On his way out the door, Riley looked at Willow, the only person who seemed to be willing to show him any compassion at all.
"Have Buffy call me, okay?" he said to her.
"Okay," Willow squeaked.
He left, closing the door behind him.
"This is better than Showtime!" Spike snorted.
***********************************************
"And you just appeared here? Just like that?" Angel repeated.
It was a nice, neutral topic -- how had Buffy gotten there, and what ominous thing did it portend?
She nodded, "Just like that."
"But you're okay... I mean, you look okay..." he rambled, "You look fine. Great, actually..."
Suddenly, Angel couldn't seem to stop his mouth. His brain was slamming on the brakes, but apparently, the message wasn't getting through.
"It's good to see you too," Buffy said, finding herself smiling in spite of the awkwardness of the situation, "Really good."
"I miss you," Angel told her.
Buffy blinked. "I... I miss you too."
All at once, all of the thoughts, all of the feelings they'd been holding inside for the year they'd been apart spilled forth -- an uncontrollable torrent of love and longing... words about living ingenuine lives and practicing poor judgment... words of apology and forgiveness and wishes to make all the past go away.
Neither of them could fight the compulsion they had to tell the entire truth, no holds barred, of what they felt for one another. And about one another.
They talked, non-stop, for an hour, the magick of Willow's spell, and their own soul-deep bond crackling between them, driving them on.
Finally, the babbling slowed, then stopped, leaving vampire and Slayer staring at one another in shocked silence, once again.
"Wow," Buffy said after a moment, "I guess we had a lot to say." She smiled hesitantly, uncertain what response her unrestrained self-disclosure would elicit from him.
"I guess we did," Angel said, twice as surprised. He was not one to "over-share", as Buffy had once told him, and he had been babbling senselessly, like Xander Harris.
Their gazes locked.
"So I guess this means we still love each other," Buffy said, "Gods, that sounds so stupid..."
Angel got up from his chair, slowly stepping through the space between them, and looked down at her for a moment before he sat beside her on the couch. He examined her face carefully, watching her eyes... the slight blush on her cheek. He'd said a lot of things he probably should have left unsaid, if he wanted to continue being rational and practical. Things he should have kept to himself, if he expected to be able to let her walk away again.
Some part of him fully realized that it was magick that controlled them -- undoubtedly some wild spell of Willow's, knowing her. But, remembering how he and Buffy had almost missed that one day they had together by being logical, and knowing from experience that seemingly irrational, random events always happened for some reason, he suddenly just didn't care.
"I guess we do," he said softly, "Did you ever doubt it?"
His eyes nailed her in place.
"I... I don't..." Buffy wanted to lie -- to tell him that she never really had doubted their love. But predictably, in keeping with the moment, she couldn't, "Yes. I did," She said honestly, casting her eyes down.
Angel flinched. He shouldn't have been surprised -- in Buffy's estimation, he had abandoned her. She didn't' remember anything after that but their brief, tense meeting in his office at Thanksgiving.
"I guess I can understand how you would feel that way," he said, unable to keep the hurt from his voice. He lifted her chin with his fingers, raising her eyes back to his, "I know you think I've been unfair, Buffy. But I've only done what I thought had to be done, for you. So you could be happy. I do love you. I've never stopped, not even for a moment."
Buffy looked at him. She'd been wanting... no, dying... to hear those words for so long, but instead of the relief she expected they'd bring in her, she felt all of her pent up sorrow and rage burst to the surface, instead. She yanked her head away.
"How dare you?!" she shouted, leaping to her feet and glaring down at him, "How dare you say that???? You left me! After everything we've been through together, you just DUMPED me like some WHORE you picked up in a BAR!!!! Don't you dare say you did it for my sake! You never once asked me what *I* wanted! You just assumed that in your infinite wisdom, you knew what was best! I can't believe I'm even doing this!!! I have to go."
She turned on her heel and began to stomp away. It only took Angel a split second, with his preternatural reflexes, for him to jump up, grab her, and spin her around.
"Don't SAY that!" he shouted, "I didn't DUMP you! I wanted something better for you -- better than what I could give! Do you know how hard it was for me to turn and walk away from you? DO YOU?"
Buffy cringed visibly. She had never heard Angel raise his voice like that before... at least, not in anger.
Noticing her reaction, and feeling guilty for frightening her, Angel backed off. He hung his head, running his hand through his hair before looking up at her again. She felt a physical pain in her heart to see tears running down his face.
"It kills me to be without you, Buffy. Over and over again. A million times, every day. I constantly second guess my decision to leave... But it has to be this way. You should have..."
She held up her hand to cut him off.
"Stop. Stop telling me what I should have. I don't care what you think I should have. You don't get to decide that. If you don't want me anymore, that's one thing -- but don't presume to make that kind of decision for me!"
It was time for her to stop whining... time for her to stop letting fate, and all of the people in her life who thought they "knew better", make all her decisions for her. She was a grown woman -- and the Slayer -- it was time she took the bull of her life by the horns and decided what was best... for herself.
"I only have one question," she said, calm once again.
Angel stared at her, surprised at her sudden show of mature strength. And at the realization that maybe... just maybe... she was right.
"Okay," he said.
"Do you still want me? Do you want to be with me?" she asked, her eyes clear.
Angel didn't hesitate. He grabbed Buffy roughly, yanking her to him, and crushed his lips to hers.
Damn the implications. Screw the consequences. This was the only answer he had to give her. And if the Powers wanted to keep their two greatest warriors, they would have to worry about the details.
Buffy's brain objected, but the Truth that burned underneath her skin was stronger than any flimsy sense of logic she possessed. She clung to him, pulling him closer, years of desire crashing down on her like an exploding building of pain and longing. All the walls she'd so carefully built around herself, gone, just like that.
Angel devoured her warm, sweet lips, plunging his tongue between her teeth as it sought hers. They met, and danced, teased and explored, and there was no doubt in his mind or his body that this was where he should be. Whatever had brought Buffy here, whatever magick had forced all the long-repressed truth from them, it seemed that it drove their bodies, as well. There had never been any denying their desire for one another.
He smothered her face with cool kisses, tangling his hands in her long hair. He licked her ears and the soft skin of her throat, amazed at how familiar, and yet, how mind-numbingly new and wonderful, her body felt.
He growled, deep in his throat, and Buffy moaned softly in return. Angel wanted nothing more than to rip her dress off her amazing body, bend her over the couch, and just take her, right there, like an animal.
But... no. If this reunion was to be about Truth, then this also should be true.
Buffy moaned in objection as he stopped, and let her go. They stood, staring at one another, panting uncontrollably.
Angel caught his un-needed breath, and reached out his hand. Looking at her with passion and sincerity, he said:
"Yes, I want you. I always want to be with you."
Buffy took his hand, still out of breath, and struggled with the mixture of arousal, love, anger and confusion that coursed through her. He pulled her close, gently, this time, and softly kissed her.
"We should wait," he said when he pulled away again.
Buffy's smile immediately disappeared, "What? But... I thought you said..."
He took her other hand and looked deeply into her eyes.
"I do want you, Buffy. Right now... right here... like I've never wanted anything. But I want this to be..." he paused, looking for the right word, "I don't know what I want it to be. But I do know that I want to do this properly. I want us both to have clear heads and a clear purpose. When I make love to you again, I want it to only be about us... about our desire for one another. Not about some spell. Do you understand?"
"No," she said honestly.
Angel chuckled. "You will. I promise."
***********************************************
"Is Buffy alright?" Giles asked, surprised to hear Angel's voice on the other line.
"She's fine. I'm just calling to find out if you know yet what happened to her," Angel said. He hoped Giles wouldn't ask any questions that would require him to reveal embarrassing truths about the day's events.
Giles shot Willow a look, and then coughed at the cloud of incense smoke that drifted from the redhead's hastily-conjured circle.
"Yes, I believe we do. It would seem that Willow cast a rather unpredictable spell to enforce her will, and then was... shall we say, cavalier, about what, precisely, she willed," he told Angel.
Angel looked over at Buffy and nodded. She rolled her eyes -- she just knew this had been some wacky nonsense of Willow's.
"What did she wish?" Angel asked.
Giles hesitated, uncertain if it was appropriate to share Willow's pain with him. But... he and Buffy did deserve to hear the truth, so they might be prepared for its possible consequences.
"She said that you and Buffy should be honest with one another, and that Buffy should... visit you," he said.
"I see," Angel replied simply. That explained it. "Have you found a way to reverse the effects?"
"Yes, yes, thank God. Willow is performing the ritual as we speak."
Training his sensitive ears, Angel could hear Willow chanting softly in the background.
"Good," he said. Although he wanted he and Buffy to continue being open with one another, he also wanted them to be in control of that honesty.
"You should feel the effects momentarily," Giles said.
"Alright," Angel replied. Then, a disturbing thought began to dawn on him, "Will this return her to Sunnydale?"
Giles scowled a little. What, exactly, was going on there?
"No... it will simply end the magick. It will do nothing, physically."
"Hm. I don't know about that," Angel muttered under his breath, unable to take his eyes from Buffy, who had gotten up and begun pacing the living room once again.
"Pardon?"
"Nothing," Angel said.
"So... will, uh... will you be bringing Buffy home tonight, then? Or shall we come to fetch her?" Giles asked.
Buffy turned and looked at Angel, smiling slightly.
"Neither," he replied, locking his eyes to hers, "Buffy will be staying with me for a couple of days."
Buffy smiled broadly, a warm, happy, genuine smile.
Now she got it.
*****************************************************************
