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Summary: In an attempt to get Buffy to stop holding back, Angelus puts a spell on Buffy to make her stop loving him, but is careless… Set shortly after “Innocence”.


“I can’t believe it!” Angel pretty much summed up the feeling of every one in the room. “She just wouldn’t kill me!”

“Don’t be so hard on the girl, mate. She did have the courtesy to rearrange your nutsack…” Spike said with a chuckle and his signature grin, taking another puff out of his cigarette.

“You gave her dollies for christmas, but she just doesn’t want to play…” Drusilla explained the well known situation to the one who brought it up, “silly girl… ungrateful bitch!” Drusilla’s face twitched and she began clawing at her face.

“Now, now, there, pet…” Spike attempted to calm her down, “no need to get testy. You’re not the only one who’d wish the slayer would come to her senses…” He said and gave Angel a disgusted look.

“As tactless as Stephen Hawking the bloody is, he’s right. If she’s not in it…”

“We have to get her in it.” Spike completed his sentence.

“With lolly-pops and puffy clouds…” Drusilla exclaimed.

“Yup, that oughtta do it.” Spike agreed, “Get her on a cloud and give her a lolly pop, she’ll be ready for the killin’, alright!”

But Angel wasn’t laughing. This meant too much for him. He would finally have sweet revenge on the one that committed the worst crime of all. The one that made him love her. If only she would just stop loving him…

~~~

“Oh, Will, you’re a life saver!” Buffy shouted with gratitude.

“Jeez, Buff, it’s only trig notes…” Her humility not able to disguise her content with her new title.

It was their last period on Friday, and everyone was going home for the weekend. Everyone except Buffy and her friends.

“Hey, gang, what’s the happenin’?” Xander said as he met up with them on the way to the library, working hard to keep up with their pace and to ignore their baffled looks at his unexplainable slang.

“Giles said he needed to talk with us ASAP” Buffy informed them, “I’m guessing not to compare our new handbags”

“Probably a good thing” Cordelia said, coming towards them and meeting them in front of the library door, “’cause with this one? He’ll win.”

“I like it” Willow said in a half-whisper as they entered the library, making Buffy even more grateful than before.

“Yo, G-Man! Give us the 411!” This made Xander’s last remark seem tasteful, and Giles, who had was reading “Othello” when the gruesome interruptoin came, couldn’t agree more with Cordelia back-hand slapping him across the chest.

“What has gotten into you lately?” Cordelia implored.

“I don’t know, I guess the whole blowing stuff up with rocket launchers gets me all…wired up!”

Ignoring the event. Buffy Inquired; “So, who’s the new meanie?”

“Well, I don’t know if ‘new’ is a correct term—“

“Angel.” Buffy interpreted him before he could speak.

“Quite ri…yes.”

This didn’t come as a surprise. Buffy knew it would be Angel from the moment he asked her to come. The only reason she even asked was wishful thinking. From the disturbing and uncomfortable silence in the room, it was clear she wasn’t the only one. Xander opened his mouth to speak, but shut it again.

After the longest 30 seconds of their lives, Buffy broke the silence. “So what is it? What is Angel up to?”

“That’s exactly it, Buffy, nothing.”

“Wow. That was unpredictable.” Cordelia put into words the expression on everybody’s faces.

“What is?” Came a voice from the door that made everybody turn their heads. In the doorway stood Jenny Calendar.

“What’s unpredictable?” She repeated her question.

Cordelia, being the only one on speaking terms with Ms. Calendar, answered her. “Well, apparently Angel is planning to kill us all by waiting it out, so we all have to be on our highest alert or something.”

“What?” She asked after noticing that the group’s looks have turned to her, “What did *I* do wrong? It’s not like I didn’t tell you my ancestors or whatever made so Angel turns evil if he gets his bounce on!”

More out of lack of power to argue than of being convinced, Buffy, Willow and Xander turned back to Giles, urging him with their looks to continue as if nothing happened. “You see, Buffy, by laying low, I’m afraid Angel is gathering strength and I fear that when he comes back…”

“The gloves’ll come off” She completed his thoughts again, “I’ll have to kill him.”

Giles nodded.

“Don’t worry, Giles, I’ll kill him. If I have to…I’ll kill him.”

Ms. Calendar left the room without uttering a word.

~~~

At his and Spike and Drusilla’s lair, Angel was pacing angrily through the room, attempting to think, but to no avail.

“There’s got to be some way!”

“You git, there’re about twenty!” Spike spat, “Just kill one of her friends. The red head, maybe.”

“You just don’t understand it, do you, roller boy?” Angel said and slapped his forehead, “I want a slayer that doesn’t love me!”

“But you could use it to your advantage, you—“

“There is a way.” Drusilla interrupted.

Immediately they both went silent and turned to her.

“Oooooh, now it’s my turn to be the teacher…All eyes on the teacher now, children, or you’ll have to be punished!” She said as she danced, pulling her dress up her thighs.

“What” Angel said impatiently, forcefully trying to calm himself, “What way?”

“Well, The big doggy can make the little kitty stop with her eyes for him, eyes so full of…admiration. Bad, bad eyes! Oh, yes, now I see, those eyes can look for a new doggy, and leave the mouth to beautifully ravish the old one, and leave nothing but ashes…”

Angel’s eyes widened to the size of two cents as he longingly asked, “How?”

~~~

“Okay, Buffy, I’ll stop by tomorrow morning and we can stretch out those study bones a little” Willow said from the other side of the line, desperately trying to keep Buffy’s mind off of today’s events at the library.

“Okay” She said and after a quick ‘bye, Will’, shut the lights and prepared for bed.
As she lay in her bed, she couldn’t help but cry. How could she kill Angel? How could she kill the man she loved so much? But quickly her exhaustion caught up with her and she fell asleep, letting herself drift away in horrible and shockingly specific dreams.

As Angel climbed in through the window and entered Buffy’s room, he looked down at the tube of potion in his hand. It was surprisingly simple, this “Love-in-idleness” potion, and to Angel’s disappointment, demanded no sacrifice.
“I did get to kill the pharmacist, though” Angel thought happily, and a smile came about his face. All he had to do is drop a bit of this stuff on his ex-lover’s resting eyes, and he will have his desire. A Buffy who does not love him anymore, who won’t hold back. One drop and she’ll fall in love with whoever she sees first in the morning.

He approached her bed and gently placed two drops of the potion in each eye. Then, he dropped two more, just to make sure. If only he had known what a mistake that was…

The drops woke Buffy up, and upon seeing a figure crouched above her, she let her fist fly upward and connect with Angel’s eye. This made Angel drop the tube and Cover his eye with his hand. The now almost empty tube fell to the floor and shattered to pieces. Buffy got up to further punish her attacker, but saw Angel flinging himself out the window, still holding his eye. She looked down to the
floor and saw nothing but shattered glass.

“What did he do to me?”

~~~

“Buffy? Buffy, are you here?” Willow asked as she climbed up the stairs, “I thought you might need some cheering up…I brought brownies…Buffy? Buffy, what’s wrong?” she asked as she entered the room and saw Buffy crouched on her bed.

“Oh…It’s nothing, Will, it’s just that…”

“What?” Willow began to worry, watching her best friend’s eyes look up from her own toes up to her face.

“It’s just that…Wow, willow, did you do something with your hair?”

“Um, no, actually, what does that have to do with…”

“I guess I never noticed how beautiful it is.” Buffy got up from the bed and started walking towards Willow, which wasn’t sure what she should do.

“Er…thanks? Hey, Buffy, we really should get with the…studying…” Willow’s nervousness grew by the second, and when Buffy grabbed her by the hips she let out a shriek and almost dropped her brownies.
Suddenly, the look in Buffy’s eyes changed, as if she’s reached some sort of understanding.

“Y..You’re probably right, Will…” She said and turned back to her bed, not being able to look Willow in the eye. “We should study…”

“Oh, silly me!” Willow said, forcing an embaressed smile instead of a frightened one, “I forgot the…uh…thing on the…yeah, so we should probably do this another time, huh?”

“Okay” Buffy blurted, not watching Willow leave the room. When she finally heard the door slam, she looked up. “look at that…” she thought to herself, “she left the brownies…”

She let out a short giggle, but she felt awful. She was rejected by the one she loved, wait, the one she loved? Willow? How could that be, that’s impossible! And yet it made perfect sense. She couldn’t remember feeling like this about anyone, not even Angel.

“Oh, my god, Angel!” She shouted in her head, “I’ve got to tell Giles.”

She rushed to the phone and dialed his number. This couldn’t wait.

“Hello?” Giles’ voice came from the other line.

“Giles, it’s me.”

“Buffy, what’s wrong?” Giles said worriedly.

“It’s Angel, he was in my room last night…” she said, confirming his worries.

“Oh, my god, did he hurt you?”

“No…I don’t know, he had a glass thingy with him, a test tube I think…”

“Do you have it with you?”

“Pieces of it…It broke on my floor.” She was hoping he’d see the humor.

“I’ll come over, maybe there are remains of what was in the tube”

“Okay…” she barely uttered, battling with herself, “Oh, Giles, there’s one more thing…” He should know, she thought…

“Yes, what is it?”

She fell silent. “n-nothing, it’s nothing…” No, this didn’t concern him. She was mad at herself for even thinking about it. She’ll tell the others when she’s ready. When there’s not so much else going on. She desperately hoped for their acceptance, and as unlikely as it seemed, for her love.

~~~

“So, did ya do it?” Spike inquired, secretly and not-so-secretly hoping he’d say no.

“Yes, mini-rollercoaster, as a matter of fact I did” He replied with resentment.

“Great. So *now* can we kill the slayer?”

“No!” He replied swiftly, to everybody’s surprise.

“What?! What d’ya mean ‘no’?!” Spike bellowed furiously, “Have you gone completely mad? ‘cause we’ve already got one of those!”

“Because…”

“Come on, think fast, Angelus” he thought to himself, “you gotta give ‘em a reason…Of course *he* can’t do anything, but she’s a pretty powerful demon…”
That used to turn him on. Still does, but for some reason he can’t stop thinking of her. Buffy…The name alone sends shivers down his spine, he felt disgusted with himself. “She’s doin’ it to ya again, Angelus! Making you her puppy!”

But it’s not the same as before, sure, the intense feeling every time he thinks about her and the almost unbearable longing for her whenever they’re apart for 2 friggin’ seconds is pretty much the same…but everything else isn’t. He checked it, he killed that girl on the street…nothing. No remorse, no pain, but no pleasure either. It wasn’t worth it. Because he couldn’t share it with her.

He had to think fast, “You’re losin’ ‘em, man…” he said to himself, “quickly…think!”

“Uh, hello, Angel? Are you still with us or have you gone to a better place full of puppies and lego playsets?”

He hated the fact that a cripple made fun of him.

“Don’t get yourself excited, you sorry excuse for a Mary-Go-Round, I’m still here”

“Pity” Spike exclaimed and his grin twisted to reveal his gritted teeth, “but since you’re here, I don’t suppose you’d mind telling us why in the name of all that’s unholy we can’t kill the sodden slayer!” The last part of his sentence was so loud it woke Drusilla, who was sleeping nearby.

“Because, Spike” He emphasyzed his name to buy himself some time, disguising it as mockery, “there is no ‘us’. *I* get to kill Buffy. You get to spin around and around until your head pops out.” He accompanied these words with a spin of his finger. This time, out of sheer mockery.

Suddenly, Drusilla came into the room, rubbing her eyes.
“Naughty Spikey woke me up! He needs to be punished!” At this Spike gave out a grin. He was afraid she’d forget him now that Angel’s here. Then, she stopped on her tracks, and turned towards Angel.

“Angel!” She shouted and held her head between her hands.

“Jesus bloody Christ, what now!” Spike shouted, furious that his fears have been confirmed.

“Angel!” she repeated, pointing an accusing finger at him. “Our evil puppy has betrayed us.” She said, almost weepingly, “he took the poison for himself and turned again…to the slayer!”

Spike watched in disbelief as Drusilla lunged at Angelus, and was even more baffled when all he had to do to defeat her was to catch her in midjump and throw her at the wall.

“Hmm, Interesting” Angel proclaimed, “not as strong as I remember you.” Then he turned to Spike and the rest of the cronies, “Listen up, fellas, Angelus is here, and I’m not going anywhere. We proceed as planned. Tomorrow Drusilla and I will head to the docks to greet our new guest. Trust me, boys, you won’t be disappointed.”
He started to walk, but then stopped himself and turned back to his audience. “Oh, and in case any of you are wondering, there is nothing different about me, and if any of you disagree…” He looked at Drusilla unconscious on the floor, and then back at his minions, “just take your best shot”. He turned for the exit and started to walk towards it.

“And just where do you think you’re going?” asked Spike, still not entirely convinced he was telling the truth, though this wouldn’t be the first time his beloved Dru’s mad ramblings were confused with her genuine gift.

“I’ve got some business to take care of” he discharged, without even turning around to face him, and left. There was no doubt about it, he owned this place.

~~~

That night at the Bronze was terrible for Buffy. She couldn’t help but notice Willow was avoiding her, and even when she did talk to her, she always made sure there was someone else around too. She spent most of the night observing her, adoring her from afar. Examining each of her curves as she danced with Xander and Cordelia, longing to be there with her, but not being able to get herself to do it.

It took Buffy a while to gather the courage to ask Willow for a private talk, and even though she was reluctant to grant her one, to her dismay Xander thought it best to leave the two alone. Willow watched as Xander dragged a baffled Cordelia to the dance floor, hoping they would come back. When she finally realized they wouldn’t, she turned to look at Buffy and they both sat by a nearby table.

“So…” Willow fumbled, embaressed, “how ‘bout them Broncos?”

“Willow…” Buffy gave her a ‘this is serious’ look, “there’s something I want to talk to you about… and please let me finish before you freak” she added when she saw Willow open her mouth to speak, and she shut it. That mouth looked so appealing and inviting to her now. She couldn’t understand how she’d never noticed it before.

“Now, I know this is kind of new territory, for both of us, and I can’t blame you for trying to avoid me—“

“I wasn’t—“ Willow tried to lie, but Buffy interrupted her.

“Please, Will, this is hard enough as it is…” Willow closed her mouth, and Buffy resumed talking. “Listen, Will, this comes as a shock to me as it does to you, but I know that it’s real…” Now her eyes, which were constantly focused on the table, turned to meet Willow’s, which avoided them, “I love you.” This made Willow turn her head back to lock her gaze with Buffy’s. She knew where this was going even since that morning, but the words still took her by surprise.

“Buffy, I don’t—“

“Come on, Will!” Buffy interrupted her again, “you can’t say you’ve never thought about this…” She placed her hand on Willow’s, which pulled it back across the table, making Buffy feel as if two hundred red hot pokers were jabbing her at every possible inch of her body.

“Yes I can Buffy!” Willow said as a resolved and slightly offended face graced her features. “I love you Buffy, but not like this…” Her voice sounded almost pleading, Buffy was angry with herself, she didn’t want to hurt her. Not for the world. “And I got this thing with Oz that’s starting to be… and he’s here you know!” She pointed to the stage where Oz was performing with his band, “Dingoes ate my baby”. Oz, who thought she was waving at him, waved back.

“Listen, Buffy” Willow said in an apologetic voice, “I know this whole thing with Angel hurts real bad, but—“

“That’s the thing, Will, it doesn’t!”

Willow didn’t understand. “What do you mean?”
“I’m not hurting over Angel, I don’t care about Angel!” She raised her voice and a few heads started to turn in their direction.

“No, Buffy, don’t…You can’t deny—“

“I’m not denying anything! I could care less about Angel! Look, Angel, Angel, Angel! That name does *nothing* to me!” Willow just stared at her disbelievingly, as more and more strangers joined their conversation.
“It’s you, Will…It’s always been you…” she said in a half-whisper, and a tear trickled down her cheek.

Buffy watched as Willow got up from her chair silently and uttered a ‘sorry’ under her breath before she turned to leave. After gathering some strength in her legs she got up and head out. The moment she left the club she let her suppressed tears flow like a river as the lump in her throat grew to the size of a football.

She started to make her way home, she was in no mood for slaying right now. But not everything is up to her. She had barely covered any distance when she ran in to a tall man in a long black coat. She looked up to see the face of her former lover. She unseccessfully tried to hide her tears.

“What do you want?” she said impatiently.

“Are you crying there? Hope it’s not because of me…” He said it jokingly, yet he meant every word. What he felt for her was more than passion, more than lust. It was burning, all consuming love. He loathed it, he despised it, yet he couldn’t help it. Her tears hurt him more than any torture he’s ever come up with. “And I had some pretty good ones…” He thought fondly. But that feeling didn’t last. Everything about her kept calling to him, screaming. All he wanted to do now was to take her in his arms and console her, forever.

“Are you okay?” He said more seriosly now, with true concern in his voice and attempted to take her in an embrace. Buffy pushed him back in contempt.

“What is this? Some sort of sick joke?” There was more coolness in her voice than he was willing to bear.

“No, it’s not a joke, it’s just a—“ he let his fist finish his sentence. A swift blow to the face and Buffy was unconscious on the sidewalk.

~~~

“Well, she up yet?” Spike asked as patiently as he could.

“Almost there…” Angel said as he gently slapped Buffy, who was tied to a chair. “There you are!” he said, sounding excited, “thought you’d never wake up”.

In the background, Spike whispered to Drusilla, who was standing next to him. “remembered the antidote yet?” Drusilla nodded her head in denial, a detectable frown on her face.

Slowly, Buffy began to see a blurry vision of an empty room aside from three people, one of them in front of her, the other in a wheelchair, and the third, a female, standing next to him. She didn’t need for her vision to clear to realize who they were.

“She’s up, fellas!” Angel announced.

“Great, can we kill her now?” Spike, hoping Drusilla is wrong, neglected to hide his impatience.

“No,” Angel exclaimed happily, “she gets to kill you.”

“What?!” Spike and Buffy chimed in unison.

“Angel, what are you talking about?” Buffy asked as disbelievingly as Willow looked several hours ago.

“Us.” He replied. When he saw that she was even more confused, he continued. “I’ve been catching up on my reading lately, and you know what I’ve been reading?”

“kidnapping for dummies?” Buffy tried her luck.

“Romeo and Juliet” Angel answered his own question, ignoring Buffy’s remark, “And do you know what happens to them at the end, Buffy? They Die. Think about it, Buffy, that could be us!”

“huh?”

“Oh, I’ve had enough of this!” Spike declared, and decided the show’s over. He pushed himself up and started walking towards Angel.

“Y’know, I’m more of a Ceasar guy myself, You know, the way he gets betrayed by his most trusted friend?” Spike spat, fury in his eyes and voice.

“Spikey! You didn’t tell me you were all better, I was just going to lick your wounds. Bad doggy! I told you to tell mama everything!”

“And who knew you could read!” Angel added sarcastically.

“Stay out of this, Dru!” Spike commanded his girlfriend, ignoring Angel.

“You know, you should really listen to your own advice, Spikey” He said playfully.

“Oh yeah, and why is that?” At this, he took his last step towards Angel.

“Bacause of this!” As Angel said this, he drew a stake from his jacket and jammed it into Spike’s heart. After dusting him, he let the stake fall to the floor.

Buffy watched, amazed, from her chair at the pile of dust that was once Spike. Then she looked back at Angel. She still wasn’t sure what he was playing at. Then she got distracted. Behind him, Drusilla screamed at the top of her lungs.

At first it looked as if she was going to attack Angel, but then the shouting died down, and it turned to a giggle. That giggle quickly turned to laughter. That scary mad laughter you can only hear from a true maniac, in his time of deepest joy, or crisis.

Buffy and Angel watched mesmerised as Drusilla, still laughing, fumbled on the ground for the stake. For a while she stared at the weapon, as if examining it to be worthy, all the while laughing frantically. Then, as swiftly as lightening, she staked herself through the heart, dissolving to a pile of dust right next to her late lover.

There was a long silence between the two remaining in the room, until it was broken by Buffy. “So that’s what you want us to be?” she gestured towards the two piles of dust on the floor.

Angel let out a slight giggle. “You see, that’s what I love about you” Buffy flinched when she heard the word, “Just let me…just let me turn you, Buffy, and we could be together…forever” Angel got down on his knee and looked her in the eye.
“Just think about it, Buffy, the world will be our playground! We’ll rape and pillage cities, we’ll lay waste to the world, Buffy, think about it! You and me…You know my friend arriving tomorrow? With his power we could be… gods of destruction, our names will be a source of fear which no one dare speak, Buffy…” She gave him a disgusted look as he said the last words of his pitch, “now, doesn’t that sound like fun?”

As he said this, his face changed, and he brought his fangs to her neck. She lifted her legs to kick him, but found that they were tied to the chair. She fought as much as she could against the ropes now that her strength has finally returned to her, but she could already feel his fangs sink into her neck.

Everything turned dark in fron of her eyes, and yet, she saw more clearly than ever before. Life and death intertwined and became as one, after years of being blind, she could finally see. The pain was unbearable, but she didn’t want to stop it. Her mind gave flashes of resistance, but they weren’t nearly powerful enough as to make her body respond. She felt in touch with everything, the earth, the air, life… She felt so… empowered.

And then, just as quickly as it came, it hurled away like a horrible hurricane, and it was all gone. The world went dark again, and she was pulled away from the world faster than she could imagine, her connection turning to ditatchment, her power turning to weakness and incompetence.

“This is it” She thought to herself, “my life will never be the same. They will no longer be life. They will be so much more, but so much less. No more holding back, no more second thoughts. No more conscience, no more soul, no more love. No more Willow…”

“Oh, my god, Willow!” her mind cried to her, and with a shriek of pain, she hurled her arm upward and the rope gave in. She punched her would-be sire in the face and he fell to the ground.

With the same motion, she freed her other arm and her legs. Angelus used the time to get back up.

“Your pitch sucks, Angel!” She kicked him in the stomach.

“And I’d have a second look at those ropes, too” She punched him across the face.

“I don’t want to fight you, Buffy!” he shouted as he blocked her uppercut.

“Ah, who am I kidding, I’d love to fight you!” He launched himself at her and she kicked him in mid air and he fell to the ground.

“This is a new me, Angel!” she said as she drew her stake, “one who doesn’t love you!” At this Angelus looked up at her with sheer fury in his eyes, and with a single swift motion, caught her hand already heaving the stake in the direction of his heart, and pushed her backwards, landing her on the floor.

“Yes you do!” he implored, “You do love me!” He lifted her from the ground and pinned her to the wall, staring into her the eyes, “You love me and you know it!”

“Actually, Angel, no, I don’t” She kicked him in the stomach, which sent him backwards a little, fumbling for stability for a moment, “As a matter of fact…” She went on as she made his way to him, “ I don’t know what I saw in you in the first place!”

Angel let out a shout and charged. They exchanged blows for a few seconds, until he grabbed her stake, pinned her back to the wall, and aimed it at her heart. His gaze moved from Buffy, to the stake, to Buffy again, until he backed off. He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t take her life. And as much as he hated to admit it, he couldn’t make her love him, either.

“You have to go” Angel said softly, finally letting go of her. Buffy went for the attack, but Angel stopped her eith his hand, which wasn’t very far away from her, and pushed her back. “Don’t…”

Out of no reason she could understand, she began to leave.

“Oh, just out of curiosity…” Angel delayed her for a moment, making her stop dead on her tracks, and half turn to him, “who was the first person you saw this morning?”

Buffy didn’t understand this question. She began to move towards him, swiftly. “Why? Was this a trick? Have you done something to Willow, ‘cause if you—“

Angel chuckled slightly. “Willow, huh?… Didn’t see that one coming…”

“What do ou mean? Have you…?”

“Relax, Buffy, I haven’t done anything to her…yet” Buffy gave him a penetrating look that could cut through steel. “Okay, probably not the smartest thing to say right now…”

“I still don’t understand what you’re trying to say…”

“Don’t you get it, Buffy? You’ve been having feelings for her lately, haven’t you?”

Buffy remained silent.

“The point is, they’re not real. It’s a potion”

“A p…”

“A potion I gave you. So you won’t love me.” Angel said with the heaviest heart he’s ever had, “in retrospect, a mistake.”

“No, Angel, you’re lying! My feelings are real!” Her feelings were real. Sure, it seems odd, but there’s no way this wasn’t real. What she feels for Willow exceeds what she felt for Angel, or at least it seems that way. The thoughts kept racing through her mind. “This couldn’t be!” she thought to herself. “This is real!” she shouted out loud.

“No, it’s not, Buffy! What I feel for you…that’s real! I don’t know why it is, but it’s real! Your love…it’s just lust, just passion in a bottle. Just Drops of potion on your eyes that make you think…”

His thoughts ran faster than his mouth. He understood now. Everything. Buffy’s love for Willow, if it’s half as powerful as his love for her…then it’s real. No matter what the origin of it is. “You should go now” he said under his breath, and turned away.

She started to move towards him, but felt a strong jab in her neck, nearly dropping her to the ground, and a strong sense of weakness. Angel’s bite was beginning to take it’s toll. She turned to the exit and started making her way back home.

~~~

On Monday Buffy was beginning to feel better, and wearing a scarf, she rushed through the hallways of Sunnydale High School.

“I have to talk to Willow.” She had to explain her feelings to her, let her know that they’re real.

As she entered the school library she saw Giles and Xander deep in whispered conversation.

“Good morning, Buffy!” Giles beamed at her.

“Good morning…” Buffy answered unenthusiastically.

“Would you care for some coffee?” He stretched out his hand holding a cup.

Buffy hesitated for a moment. “What has Willow told you?” She asked suspiciously, a hint of anger in her voice. She felt betrayed. Not by Willow, but by the rest, who would not accept her feelings, and would rather dismiss it as a lowly magic trick.

“Nothing, Should she?” Giles inquired innocently.

“Don’t treat me like I’m stupid, Giles!” The hint turning to downright obvious rage.

Suddenly, from the direction of Giles’ office, she heard a shout. “Buffy!” It was Cordelia. Before she knew it, a small bouncy-ball was flying in her direction, fast. Her reflexes were faster than her, and she caught it before she could understand what was going on.

“Xander retrieved some of the potion from your bedroom floor” Giles began to explain before she had time to ask tha question. “as it turns out, you were bespelled by a potion called Love-in-idleness, which causes the affected to fall deeply in love with the first person he or she sees, in your case, Willow.”

The information was overflowing in her brain, and it was impossible to make any sense of it, yet she didn’t interrupt Giles. “It was fairly simple to create the antidote, and once the bespelled touches it with his hands, the spell is broken.” He said as he read in a thick brown book, gliding his finger across the passage from which he was reading. Buffy stared at the ball. Then Giles continued, “However, as simple as the potion is, it is quite different than any love spells or potions I’ve ever encountered.”

“How?” Buffy got herself to ask.

“Well, you see, most love spells are gravely misnamed, as they only evoke desire and lust, at the best obsession, with no actual care for that person or the consequences of their actions on him. This one, however, is said to carry the essence of true love” he returned to his book, his finger following closely after his mouth, “and all it’s repercussions.”

He looked up from his book at Buffy, when suddenly someone came through the door. The four of them turned their heads to see who it was. At the doorway Willow stood. Quite taken aback by the glaring, it took Willow a while to step into the room and approach Buffy. She gestured her to come aside and speak privately, and she followed her into Giles’ office.

“Listen, Buffy, I think we need to talk…”

“No, Willow, it’s okay” Buffy reassured her, humiliating her look to the floor, something she seemed to be doing quite often around Willow of late. “That wasn’t me… It’s not your fault, or mine…” She looked up at her, “I was under some spell, something Angel gave me, I’m not exactly sure why… The point is…”

“Yeah, no, I get it…” she dismissed her need for apology, “Let’s just…”

“Forget it ever happened” Buffy completed her sentance, and gave her one of her beautiful smiles.

“Yeah.” Willow agreed. “Whieu, what a relief!” she pretended to wipe sweat of her forehead and they both shared a laugh.

“You’re my best friend, Will.” Buffy returned the conversation to a serious path, “and it’s important that you know that I do love you. And I’ll always be there for you.”

Willow nodded slightly and lied about having to leave.

Outside the library, Willow broke into silent tears. The conversation hadn’t gone as she planned at all, and she remembered why she never shared these feelings with Buffy. “Oh, I was stupid to think it was ever real!” She rebuked herself and couldn’t control the flow of tears. But she could feel her touch, hear her words. She saw her cry for her. How could that not have been real? She walked into the ladies’ room and cursed her fate to be doomed forever to love someone who would never love her back.

Somewhere not too far from there, Angelus was doing the same thing.

THE END

The Challenge:
Angelus has HAD IT with the Slayer's insolence and is determined to "bring her to heel" no matter what it takes. Drusilla provides him with a simple potion, "Love-in-idleness," that, when dropped over a sleeping person's eyes, causes the person to fall madly, dotingly in love with the first being s/he sees upon waking. Angelus steels into the Slayer's room and applies the potion, intending that she should wake up and fall in love with whoever she first lays eyes on the next morning. Unfortunately he is careless and spills some of the potion on his fingers and inadvertantly rubs his own eyes with it before leaving her room. Angelus is now madly, adoringly in love with Buffy.
1) Buffy has no clue she is bespelled.
2) Angelus must set about "proving his love" to "win" Buffy over.
3) Drusilla realises Angelus is bespelled but can't remember the antidote to "Love-in-idleness."
4) This can be AU/AR or canon fic, any time frame the writer cares to use.
5)One of the characters must be reading Shakespear somewhere in the story.
6)Happy ending or Hellish? UP TO YOU!!!

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