AN: For this fic, Lorne, Gunn, and Fred don't really know too much about Angelus.
Rating: R for language and violence
Timeline: Early season 7. Angel's out of the coffin, Spike's in Sunnydale and Willow has recovered.
Summary: AI decide they need Angelus to defeat an evil no one else can defeat...but of course it backfires. This is based on a season 4 spoiler I read on the internet.
Disclaimer: Yeah, I'm Joss Whedon, I'm writing fanfic about characters I could just put together on my TV show. *g* They're not mine. The Spell of Restoration is straight from the Watcher's Guide Vol. 1
Feedback: Duh. It's always appreciated and expected!

Cordelia pulled a sheet of paper out of her pocket. Quickly, she scanned the Latin and looked over at Gunn, who held a Thessulan Orb in his right hand. Fred was busily lighting herbs.

Lorne held an English, translated copy of the spell and stood near Cordelia. Cordy looked up at Angel, who was bound to the check-in desk. Angel just gave a nod. Cordy looked down at the words.

"Nici mort, nici al flinçtei. Te invoc, spirit al trecerii. Reda trupului ce separa omul de animal. Cu ajutorul acestui magic glob de Cristal," read Cordelia.

"Not of the dead, nor not of the living. Spirits of the interregnum, I call. Restore to the corporal vessel that which separates us from the beast. Use this orb as your guide," added Lorne.

Cordelia continued to stumble over the Rumanian text. "Te implor Doamne, nu ignora accasta rugaminte. Lasa orbita sa fie vasul care-I va transporta sufletul la el. Este scris, aceasta putere este dreptul poporuil meu de a conduse...Asa sa die! Acum!"

Angel lurched against his chains. His body was wracked with pain that felt like a million knives ripping out his heart. Angel could feel his soul struggling with the demon and losing.

"Oh, no," he whispered fearfully. "No."

He gasped for air, his lungs contracted and his muscles tensed. Angel began to cry out for the only thing he could think of, the only thing that could save him from himself.

"Buffy!" he screamed, as he pulled against the chains.

"Buffy! Oh, god, *Buffy*!"

His tortured voice rang through the hotel. He was thrown against the desk, and gasped as if suffocating. A bright yellow light passed through his eyes and he slumped. For a moment Cordy, Gunn, Fred, and Lorne watched in curiosity. Then, slowly, Angel raised his head.

"Oh, shit," hissed Cordelia.

Angel broke into a grin- more of a sexy smirk. Cordelia froze. An image from her past was staring right at her. She nudged Gunn and Lorne.

"Run."

Gunn grabbed Fred's elbow. "What? Why?"

"I said *run,* damn it! Call Buffy!" shouted Cordelia as she backed up.

"Why?" mumbled Fred as Gunn dragged her closer to the door. Gunn latched onto the doorknob. "Charles, where are we going? What's wrong with Angel?"

"It's not Angel," bit out Cordelia as she continued to back away. "It's Angelus."

*

Cordelia looked up at Angel(us) with frightened eyes. She could tell that he was Angelus now. The look in his eyes gave it all away. There was bloodlust, love of the kill, and overriding arrogance in his dark eyes.

Angelus grinned. "Hello, Cordelia."

"An-Angelus," stammered Cordelia. "Look, we brought you back because-"

Angelus laughed and cut Cordelia off. "I don't *care* why you brought me back, air for brains. What matters is that I *am* back. As I once told the Mayor- 'Had a soul. Now I'm free.' And it didn't even take a good fuck from the Slayer to do it this time."

Cordelia looked pained. She stepped to her workstation and began to search for a stake in her desk drawers. She could feel Angelus watching every move she made.

"What, looking for a stake to kill me?" teased Angelus. "Last time, it took a portal to hell and a big, shiny sword, neither of which you have."

Cordelia found a stake in her desk drawer and wrapped her hand around the cool wood. She softly closed the drawer.

"Don't need a portal to hell. Angel taught me everything I needed to know about defending myself."

Angelus threw back his head and laughed again, loving how naïve Cordelia still was.

"Dream on, Cordelia! Your boyfriend is dead. No, wait, I've already used that one..hold on, give me a second." Angelus looked down. Cordelia heard the rattle of chains as Angelus strained against them. Queen C stepped forward, ready to make her move.

When the handsome vampire looked back up, his face had transformed and his arms were free of the chains. He reached forward and grabbed Cordelia by the throat. He gave a little laugh.

"You know, you did wonders for the soul," whispered Angelus as he slammed her against the check-in desk. "But..you just aren't Buffy." He picked her up and threw her against the wall behind the desk, climbing over the desk itself to join her. "Too bad for you."

Angelus ripped the stake from Cordelia's hand and enjoyed the look of disbelief and fear on the seer's face.

"No, well, I'm going to talk a little bit before I make your heart explode," said Angelus, heading over to the weapons locker.

He knew that Cordelia knew it was fruitless to try to escape. Angelus was the king of all predators. The only person he couldn't defeat was Buffy and Cordelia definitely was not a Slayer.

Angelus returned with a set of shackles. He pulled Cordelia up by her hair and dragged her to a pillar. He cuffed Cordelia once the shackles were tight around her wrists. He stepped back a few steps and grinned.

"As I was saying," said Angelus, hoisting himself onto a desk. "You did wonders for the soul. But, the thing that really kept you apart wasn't him, or even the Slayer, it was me."

Cordelia frowned for a moment, but the look soon passed. She didn't want Angelus to know what she was thinking.

Too late.

Angelus shrugged and ran an absent-minded hand through his dark brown hair. He smirked and ran a cold finger along Cordelia's jaw line. He brought his fist back and punched her, causing her neck to whip around. A dark mark was hurriedly spreading across her skin.

"You're confused. It was me, Cordelia. *I* stood in between you and the soul. I marked Buffy as my mate long before the soul even gave you a second look. She's my mate. I knew it, you knew it, and that moron Angel knew it, whether or not he cared to admit it."

Cordelia just stood silently, wishing he would just shut up and kill her already. She didn't remember Angelus being this much of a talker.

"Any last words, any comments you would like to make before I ram this through your heart?" asked Angelus, idly tapping the point of this stake with his index finger.

"Yeah. Burn in hell, you arrogant bastard."

Angelus roared and shoved the stake into Cordelia's chest. He rummaged through a desk drawer and found a cigarette. He lit up and turned back to the dying seer. "Ooh, harsh. You hurt my feelings." Angel took a final look at the body. "Bitch."

Angelus searched through the soul's walk in closet. He sure had a lot of clothes for someone who seemed to wear one color. Finally, he found exactly what he was looking for. A wine-colored silk shirt, a long black duster, and last but not least- leather pants.

"Now, where to go?" asked Angelus as he headed back downstairs after he had dressed. He stepped back into the lobby and looked at Cordelia.

"Should I stay here, or go to Sunnydale and fuck things up there." Cordelia's body was, not surprisingly, silent. "You're right. I have a mate waiting for me at home."

He swaggered out of the lobby and called out, "Don't wait up!" The lobby echoed with his cackle.

*

Sunnydale was a dangerous place to be at night, especially if you were being stalked by a vampire with a chip and a soul. Buffy Summers sat on a tombstone in Restfield Cemetery, waiting for a vampire to come across the wrong end of her stake. She sat upright as she felt a familiar and distinct tingle.

A vampire was near.

More importantly, that vampire was Angel.

Angelus stood in the shade of the pines that lined the cemetery, the moonlight creating hollows around his eyes and cheeks. His dark eyes scanned the cemetery, his sight locking on the small Slayer who was his sole desire. He wanted her, and a tiny part of him needed her.

He stood and watched as Spike swaggered up.

"Fuck," Angelus cursed as Spike walked up to Buffy.

Before Angelus could come near, Spike leapt in front of the Slayer. He grabbed her by the shoulders. Angelus watched with curiosity at what his grandchild was planning on doing with the Slayer- with *his* Slayer.

"Buffy," said Spike. "Please, I know I've done some wrong things-"

" Some *wrong things* Spike? You tried to rape me in my bathroom," shot back Buffy.

Angelus' eyes widened. Spike had tried to rape Angelus' mate. Spike would be seeing the inside of a vacuum cleaner in the near future.

Spike only gripped Buffy's shoulders harder. "I'm sorry, Buffy. My soul has made me see things in a new light."

A soul? William the Bloody Awful Poet had a soul? What was the world coming to?

Buffy tried her best to shove Spike away, but he pinned the Slayer against the tombstone she had been seated upon. Buffy cried out and tried to get away. Spike leaned in to kiss her. Before Spike could, he felt his shoulder being yanked back and it felt like his arm was being ripped from his body.

"Stay away from my mate, shit for brains, or I'll re-introduce you to the Scourge of Europe," snarled Angelus with a growl. He threw Spike back into a tree and loved the noise of his Grandchilde's body hitting the large oak with a thud.

"Bloody hell!" screamed Spike as he latched onto his arm. He looked up into the murderous eyes of Angelus.

"Angelus?" asked Buffy softly as she brushed herself off. She looked up at Angel and was shocked to see his murderous eyes gone slightly soft.

"Yeah, lover. Daddy's back." *

Buffy stood across from Angelus, not even ten feet from him. She fought the urge to jump on him, wrap her legs around his waist, and kiss him. Instead, she shuddered from the thought she had just had and wrapped her arms around her body.

"Cold?" asked Angelus, looking Buffy over. He nodded with approval.

"No," bit out Buffy, though her teeth were chattering.

Angelus took a step forward, then another. He reached out and touched Buffy's shivering arm; the shivering stopped immediately. "There. See, lover, your body knows what you want even if you don't. I want you-and you want me."

Buffy ripped her forearm from his grasp. "God! I'm twenty-one years old, Angelus! Quit the 'Mrs. Robinson' act."

Angelus looked...wounded?

"Look, baby," said Angelus. "Those moron friends of mine brought me back. Said they needed me to defeat some big evil. After I murdered Cordelia-"

Buffy leapt backwards. "You *murdered* Cordelia?" she asked in shock.

"Yeah?" asked Angelus. "So?"

Buffy looked at him. "You finally murdered her." She walked towards him, drinking in the sight of him in his form-fitting leather pants. She pulled him down to her by the collar of his wine-colored shirt and kissed him roughly, then grabbed his ass.

"I knew there was a reason I liked you," Buffy breathed into his neck.

Angelus kissed her forehead. "You want me?" he asked, sliding a hand beneath her shirt, tenderly touching the skin beneath. He locked eyes with the Slayer.

Buffy cocked her head and a slow smile spread across her features. She exposed her neck to him, and locked eyes with the evil vampire. "Think you can handle it?"

Angelus grinned and said, "You know I can."

*

Gunn, Fred, and Lorne hesitantly entered the hotel. Gunn called out, "Angel?"

"Oh, my Lord," said Fred, stopping suddenly. She pointed out Cordelia's body with her quivering finger. "Cordelia!"

Cordelia sat in a pool of blood at the base of the column Angelus had tied her to. The wooden stake was still protruding from her chest cavity. The lobby and weapons closet was ransacked, the doors hanging open and lock and chains thrown around the wall. A trail of Cordelia's blood went up the stairs and abruptly stopped in front of Angel's suite.

Lorne grabbed his ass and said, "Gunn, check her pulse. See if we can still save her." Gunn hurried towards Cordelia's bloody body and checked for a pulse. Fred gently tapped on the Host's arm.

"Lorne," she asked quietly. "Who would do this to Cordelia?"

Lorne looked down at Fred. "I don't know, Fred." Gunn looked up from Cordelia's body. "She's alive- barely. Lorne, do you have your cell?" asked Gunn, his voice shaky and unsteady.

Lorne nodded and dug through his pocket. He pulled out a small pink phone that played 'Achy Breaky Heart' when it rang. Gunn caught the phone with ease and dialed 911. He asked for an ambulance at the Hyperion Hotel and told them to hurry.

"I got a good question," said Gunn, still hovering over Cordy's body. "Where the hell is Angel?"

"Well, I've got a pretty good idea," spoke up a voice.

Fred, Gunn, and Lorne turned to the door. Fred was the first to speak.

"Who are you?" *

"Who are you?" queried Fred.

The man laughed and blew out a stream of putrid cigarette smoke. "I'm Spike. Angel's grandchilde."

"Do you know where he is?" asked Lorne as he took his cell phone back from Gunn.

Spike nodded. "Would I be here if I didn't? He's in Sunnydale; probably fucking the slayer into bleeding *oblivion*!"

"The Slayer?" repeated Gunn. "You mean, Buffy?"

"The girl with the funny name?" Fred asked, her forehead a mess of worried creases.

Spike laughed and said, "Yeah. That's the one. Anyway, I saw Peaches at Restfield with the Slayer, after he promptly kicked my ass a couple feet away from the bitch. I decided to come out here and warn the little kiddies."

"Warn us about what, Billy Idol?" Lorne asked, growing tired of the banter.

Spike snarled at Lorne. "If you people knew *anything at all* about Angel, you'd know that Buffy is his bloody *true love* people, and Angelus knows it."

"Who's Angelus?" twittered Fred.

"Oh, Christ! Who's Angelus? You really don't know much about Angel, do you? Angelus is who Angel becomes when he loses his soul!" Spike exclaimed. He took a moment to smell the air. "Or, when people take it from him. You didn't happen to perform a little spell, now didja?"

Before the conversation could continue, two Paramedics with a stretcher burst through the front door. Fred shakily directed them to Cordelia. The two EMT's hooked Cordelia up to an IV and put her on the stretcher. The female motioned for Fred to join Cordelia in the ambulance. She nodded and followed the Paramedics and Cordelia out of the hotel.

"As I was saying, Angel's demon is held back by the soul. When the soul is removed, a very unfriendly fellow named Angelus comes out. I had to deal with that prick for about a hundred years, so I know Angelus when I see him." Spike paused dramatically.

" He's back in Sunnydale, and he's got the Slayer on his side. Unless you're terribly fond of slow, torturous deaths, I recommend you come back to the Hellmouth with me."

In the cemetery, Angelus grabbed Buffy and held her tight against him. She littered his neck with kisses and was hurriedly unbuttoning his shirt, working her way down to the zipper on his sexy leather pants.

"Here?" he gasped as they fell to the cemetery floor, he underneath her. He kissed her, delaying her reply.

Buffy nodded negatively. "No," she gasped, pulling away from him. Angelus raised an eyebrow. "Here." Buffy brought her knee back and rammed it between the vampire's legs.

"If you *ever* try something like that again, I'll send your sorry, leather-clad ass back to hell!" shouted Buffy, rolling off of him. She quickly stood and looked down at Angelus for a second before running off.

"Bitch!" shouted Angelus. He slowly sat up and groaned. "You're mine, Buff. You always have been, always will be. I'll get you back if I have to kill every person on the face of this fucking planet to do it!" He got up and disappeared into the shadows

*

Buffy ran towards her house, trying desperately to fight off tears. As she reached her house, she collapsed on the front steps, sobs choking her. She wrapped her arms around her knees and pulled them towards her chest, slowly rocking.

"Buffy?" called Xander from inside the house. Buffy heard the door open and close.

"Buffy, what's-" started Xander as he joined her. He spied Buffy's tear-streaked face. "Buffy?"

"He's back, Xander."

"Who's back? Buffy, what's going on?" asked Xander, slipping a supportive arm around Buffy's shoulders. He pulled her close against him.

"Angelus is back," Buffy bit out, burying her face in his neck. She started to sob and clawed at him like a small child.

Xander paused for a moment. "Okay, be supportive, act mature." He exhaled. "I'm assuming he had a moment of true happiness."

Buffy nodded. Xander was touching on the rawest emotional spot; she was in constant fear that someone would make Angel happier than she had and that he'd return. She hated to admit it, but she was proud that only she could make Angel turn.

Xander sighed. "And it wasn't you that did it." He was replied to with a sob.

"Now he's b-back...and...after me!" choked out Buffy. "We... need to let the Gang know."

Xander pulled Buffy into a hug. "It'll be okay, Buffy. We will make it- all of us. I promise, even if he has to kill me to make me an honest man."

Buffy looked up at Xander gratefully and kissed his cheek.

In the shadows, Angelus seethed.

"Dead. You're a dead man, Harris."

*

Spike, Gunn, and Lorne sat in Spike's black DeSoto as they sped towards Sunnydale. Spike had the Sex Pistols blaring from the stereo and he was banging the stereo wheel in time with the music.

"So, what do we do when we get to Sunnydale?" asked Lorne, reaching forward. His green fingers gripped the volume knob and he turned the music down several decibels.

"Don't know."

Gunn looked at Spike. "You don't know? Then why the hell are we going to Sunnydale?"

"Because Buffy can't fight Angelus alone!" shouted Spike. "And she can't die again!"

Lorne took a moment, carefully selecting his question.

"Tell us about Angelus. Angel always said the best way to defeat your enemy is to know them."

Spike gave a bitter laugh. "Angelus told me something like that before, too. 'Spike, my boy, to kill this girl- you have to love her.'"

"When was this? I believed Angel hadn't been evil in hundreds of years!" exclaimed Lorne, worry rising in his voice.

"*Hundreds of years*? What have you all been smoking? Angelus came back in '98- as in Nineteen-ninety-eight, only to get his annoying ass Federal Expressed to Hell."

"Hell?" repeated Gunn. "I always wondered why he had so many issues."

"Hey," growled Spike. "You wanna hear the bloody story or not?"

"Yes," said Lorne.

"Well, it all started with this bitch named Darla..."

The DeSoto's other occupants gave loud, painful groans. *

Wesley Wyndam Pryce sat in Lilah Morgan's office, playing with the ornament on the woman's desk.

"Wes?" called Lilah.

Wesley promptly dropped the ornament. "Yes, Lilah?"

Lilah crossed the darkened office and sat down behind her desk. In her hand, she held a fax. She set it down on the tabletop and slid it towards Wesley. Wesley curiously picked it up and read it.

"Angelus has returned?" gasped Wesley. "Do you know what this means?" He grasped the fax in his hand.

Lilah looked excited, like a child who got the bike they wanted for Christmas. "Yes. Angelus can work *for* Wolfram and Hart instead of *against* it."

"You must be joking," said Wesley, shaking his head. "Obviously, your research is *greatly* lacking, Lilah. Angelus works for no one. I can understand the appeal- Wolfram and Hart has done much damage to Angel, and Angelus will probably get revenge."

"And?" interjected Lilah, her smile slowly sliding away.

Wesley's stone-set face finally broke into a smile. He stood up. "And he'll probably kill you to get it."

*

Fred sat nervously in the waiting room, folding and unfolding the piece of paper that held Lorne's cell phone number. She rolled it between her two fingers and glanced at the clock. Cordelia had been in surgery for an hour. Finally, a surgeon came in through the operating doors.

"Fred Burkle?" asked the doctor, pulling down his mask.

"Yes?" asked Fred, standing up.

"I'm Doctor Mason. We were able to remove the, er, stake from Miss Chase's chest. We are monitoring her left lung in case of puncture," explained the doctor.

"Will she be okay?" asked Fred softly, mentally calculating statistics for Cordelia's survival.

"She has a fair chance. We just need to give it time."

"May I make two telephone calls?" asked Fred, holding up the piece of paper. The surgeon grinned and pointed to a pay phone near the Nurse's desk.

"Hello, Lorne? This is Fred."

*

Spike parked in front of 1630 Revello Drive. Gunn and Lorne followed the chipped-and-ensouled vampire into Buffy's house. They found Xander, Willow, Buffy and Dawn sitting together in the living room, silently pouring over books.

"Buffy?" asked Spike softly.

Dawn turned and grabbed a stake.

"NO!" shouted Buffy. "We might need his help." Buffy noticed the guests for the first time. "Who are you?"

Gunn stepped forward. "I'm Charles Gunn. I work-worked with Angel in Los Angeles," said Gunn. He extended a hand and Buffy hesitantly shook it. She gave a small smile and turned to Lorne.

"I'm the Host, they call me Lorne."

"I'm the Slayer. They call me Buffy," replied Buffy. Lorne laughed and walked into the living room. "Your spunk rubbed off on Angel."

"Yeah, well."

"This is Willow," said Spike, pointing to the quiet redhead sitting between Xander and Dawn on the couch. "Beside Red is Xander Harris, a prick if I ever saw one. Then there's Dawn, Buffy's kid sister."

"Hey," said Gunn nervously.

Lorne added, "Tough crowd."

"What do we know research wise, Slayer?" asked Spike, standing in the corner.

"Can I speak to you in the kitchen, Spike?" Buffy asked, motioning angrily at the kitchen. She stood up and Spike followed her.

"We are *not* friends, Spike. If Angelus weren't lurking around Sunnydale trying to kill us all, you would not be here right now. The moment he is gone-" Buffy couldn't bring herself to say 'dead', "You will be, too."

"Buffy, please. You know about my soul!" protested Spike.

"I *don't care* Spike! I don't want you in my house and around my friends after it's done with Angelus!" shouted Buffy angrily.

Buffy heard the front door open and close. "Who could that be?"

She was replied to with an ear-piercing scream.

Buffy ran out of the kitchen, only to stop dead in her tracks. Angelus stood in the doorway, with Dawn's neck in the crook of his arm, her body hanging off the floor. It was eerily familiar to the scene he had pulled once before, in the hallway of Sunnydale High with Willow instead of Dawn.

Gunn and Lorne were protecting Willow while Xander had pulled out a cross and held it in front of his body protectively. Spike stood hesitantly in the doorway, unsure of what to do.

Buffy knew.

She walked towards Angelus, and pulled her hair up and to the side with a hand. The vampire's eyes flicked to the bite mark on her neck. Angelus growled.

"I'll go with you," Buffy said softly.

*

"What? Buffy! No!" shouted Xander.

Buffy ignored him. "You marked me as yours and so I'll go with you. Just don't hurt Dawn or my friends. It's me you want, lover."

Angelus promptly lets Dawn go, shoving her into Spike. He grabbed Buffy around the waist and crushed her against him. He kissed her roughly, drawing a bit of blood. "Smart move, Buff. Very smart." He pulled her towards the doorway and flung the door open. Buffy looked back at her friends and silently communicated with them. A moment later, they were gone.

Angelus and Buffy walked towards the mansion. He gripped her waist protectively. They stopped suddenly in the middle of the street. Angelus was about to speak when Buffy punched him. His head swung to the side. When he had recovered, he looked at her in surprise.

"You were with Cordelia!" she spat. "Didn't think I'd find out? I did!"

Angelus grabbed her arms. "No, Buff. Listen to me. You're my *mate* and she's not. She's dead! I need you!"

Buffy's face changed from angry to shocked. "You need me?"

The vampire in question nodded, hating the fact that he was telling the truth. "I need you. You need me. Together, Buff, we can be unbeatable."

Buffy grew angry again. "I won't help you kill people! I can't! I refuse to!"

Angelus shrugged, "All right then. I'll do it. Me, and my boy!"

"Your *what*?"

"Darla came back, I had sex with her-which was bad, mind you- we had a son. His name is Connor and he locked me in a coffin and dumped me into the ocean," said Angelus.

Buffy reached up and touched his face. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be- he's perfect. The image of his father- with a little bit of that bitch, his mother, thrown in for good measure. He'll help me take over this godforsaken hellhole! We'll rule, the three of us will," Angelus said, pulling Buffy against him.

"Do you want that?"

Buffy lost all control. "Want more than that, lover."

Angelus laughed and said, "Well, I'll see what I can do about that." He threw her bra into the dark and ripped off her shirt. They hastily undressed and he pulled her into the darkness by the side of the road. He stared at her for a moment.

"Once you do this, Buff-you're mine forever!" shouted Angelus.

Buffy kissed him and said, "I thought I already was."

Xander hit redial on Giles' phone number. There was no answer.

"Dammit! Buffy ran off with Angelus, Cordelia's in the hospital and Spike won't stop raiding the liquor cabinet!" shouted Xander. He angrily tossed the portable phone onto the couch.

Willow looked up from her book. She studied Lorne for a moment before speaking. "Lorne, what is this evil you were trying to fight by resurrecting Angelus?"

Lorne grew grim. He looked at the Redhead for a moment. "A very powerful law firm called Wolfram and Hart. They've been trying to get Angel to turn for several years."

"So you just played into the hands of a majorly evil law firm?" challenged Willow.

Xander gulped nervously and, after a moment, said: "I don't understand why you wanted Angelus, though."

Gunn scowled at Xander. He liked the carpenter, but it was clear that Xander didn't trust any of them and had an apparent hatred for Angel. "We thought that we could use Angelus against Wolfram and Hart to finally defeat them."

Spike had a moment of clarity through his drunken haze. "Are you people stoned? Angelus doesn't work for anyone, he sure as hell doesn't take orders. I don't know what you were trying to do by resurrecting Angelus, but it is certainly the dumbest thing I have ever heard in my entire life!"

"Buffybot," teased Willow.

"Okay, second most dumb thing I've ever heard in my life."

"Love spell on Dru," added Xander for good measure.

"I get your sodding point, all right? But it's still pretty stupid."

"What, uh, what were you trying to do by getting Angelus back?" asked Dawn, finally contributing to the conversation.

Gunn looked at the girl, thankful she had saved he and the others from a trip down memory lane. "The spell was supposed to be temporary."

"Temporary? You came down to Sunnydale because of some *temporary* spell?" roared Spike.

Lorne interjected, "It's not temporary. I reviewed the Rumanian liturgy and there's nothing temporary about the soul removal spell."

"Wait a minute!" shouted Willow, standing up. "I think I sent Angel the Spell of Restoration after he was affected by that Doxymal powder a few years ago. Do you think he still has it?"

"Probably," said Gunn. "We'd have to go to Los Angeles and look."

Xander looked at Willow. She wanted to re-curse Angel *again*? Sure, it had worked the first time, but now Angelus had Buffy and the Buffster didn't seem to upset about that. "Are you crazy? You want to re-curse Angel?"

"I never said I was doing it. I can't- I'm still recovering. But you will have to," said Willow. "And it's not about wanting to re-curse Angel. We need to."

"Yeah," agreed Gunn. "He has a shanshu to look forward to."

"What's a shanshu?" asked Dawn. *

Buffy pulled on her clothes in the darkness of the mansion. Dawn's early rays peeked through the heavy velvet curtains. Angelus lay sleeping in the bed, a blanket thrown over his lithe form. Buffy silently stepped from the bedroom and padded down the hall, looking for the bra Angelus had tossed somewhere. She saw it hooked around the head of a statue. Silently, she picked it up.

The Mansion was quiet; the only sound was that of the electricity humming through the old building. Buffy stood in front of the empty fireplace, her mind reeling back to better times when Angel would stand in front of that fire, just staring into the golden flames. She never disturbed him, she just watched as his hand gripped the mantle in silence.

Buffy sat down on the floor and continued to stare into the dark fireplace.

"Why am I with Angelus? I hate him...the Slayer part of me does. I know he's my enemy...but god help me, I can't stay away from him," muttered Buffy.

"It's wrong," a voice warned her. "What would Angel think?"

The Slayer tensed. "Angel wouldn't think anything! He doesn't care! At least Angelus cares!"

"Does he really?" the voice taunted. "He'll get over you eventually, like they all did."

Buffy lashed out, "Shut up! He'll never get over me! He marked me as his! I'll never be free."

The voice-without-a-form cackled. "Silly, stupid girl! He'll leave you! Angelus doesn't love you! Angel doesn't love you! Riley doesn't love you; Giles doesn't love you! If they had, they wouldn't have left you! Your friends don't love you! If they did, they wouldn't have ripped you out of heaven! Face it, Buffy! Nobody loves you!" The voice's scream echoed throughout the walls.

"STOP IT!" screamed Buffy. The shrill sound echoed in the Mansion's walls. Angelus ran out into the Grand Hall, clad only in a pair of sweatpants. He spied Buffy in a heap on the floor.

"Buff!" shouted Angelus. He ran towards her and kneeled next to her. He placed a finger beneath her chin and raised her face up to look at him. "What is it?" He asked, his voice almost tender.

Buffy ripped her face from his hands. "I'm leaving."

"NO!" replied Angelus, grabbing her by the elbow before she could stand up. "You said you'd stay with me and you are, damn it!"

She ripped her elbow from his fingers. "It was a mistake, all right! I'm leaving! I don't love you! It was never you!"

Angelus just stared at her for a minute. His hand fell to his lap. Buffy got up and turned to walk away. She hesitated by the door for a moment. Her vampire lover remained silent. Buffy opened the door and left the Mansion.

"Fuck you!" screamed Angelus to the door. "I don't need you anyway, you bitch! I'm gonna destroy the world." There was a pause. "AGAIN!"

*

Xander looked at Gunn. Gunn had just told the Scooby Gang about Angel's shanshu and Connor. Xander was processing the information Angel's co-worker had given him. "You mean to tell me that Angel will become human someday?"

"Yes," said Lorne. "That's exactly what we're telling you."

"And that Angel had a son with Darla?" added Dawn. "And then tried to murder Wesley after Wesley got Connor taken away?"

Gunn nodded stoically. "Yeah. I never seen him that angry before. If the others and I hadn't have ripped Angel away, he would have killed Wes."

"You think Angelus would go after Wesley cause the prick went after his kid?" slurred Spike from his seat on the living room floor. "'Course he will, what the hell am I talking about. Sodding bastard's got a taste for revenge, and a day without a good spot of torture wasn't worth waking up for."

Everyone looked at Spike with raised eyebrows. Spike shrugged and said, "Didn't say it was my motto."

"So, back to Los Angeles then?" asked Lorne. The group nodded.

Xander stifled a yawn and said sleepily, "Okay, here's the plan. Everybody take a nap. Just get some sleep and then we'll head out."

*

Buffy walked towards her house, hurriedly wiping away her tears with her sweater sleeve. She had wandered aimlessly around town, falling asleep at Angel's old apartment. The sun had just set and the bottom of the sky was still streaked with beautiful violet. She quickened her pace, knowing that now Angelus could come and get her.

"Buff! Still out and about, huh?" shouted a voice.

Buffy stopped and looked down the road. She could see her darkened house ahead. If she ran, she could make it inside, but then again- so could he. She turned to look at her lover, who had just stepped out of the shadows. He stood beneath a streetlight and leaned against Mrs. Johnson's white picket fence. It was symbolism if Buffy ever saw it.

The evil side of the man she loved and couldn't have leaning up against a white picket fence- the ultimate symbol of a happy, normal family. Angelus represented what lurked in the shadows, waiting to strike at any moment; he represented the predator. The fence represented everything Buffy had wanted with Angel; everything Joyce had wanted for Buffy.

Angelus stepped away from the fence and out of the streetlight's harsh glow. He touched her cheek. His soft touch turned to a harsh poking of her skin. "Why so glum?" His fingers pressed down on her cheek. Hard.

"Don't touch me," said Buffy, slapping his hand away from her face. Angelus' hand fell to his side and he gave a little laugh.

"You certainly liked it when I touched you earlier, Buff."

"You're disgusting," Buffy spat, stepping away from him.

Angelus grabbed her arms and pulled her up to him. He stared into her eyes for a long moment; the cold harshness melting from his gaze like a veil had been lifted. "You don't really think that, do you? If you did, I'd already be dust in the wind."

"Why don't you love me? I'm your husband," Asked Angelus, in a voice so tender and full of hurt that the vampire barely recognized it as his own.

Buffy froze.

Angelus wanted her to love him?

More importantly- they were *married*?

Buffy finally managed to stammer an answer, "M-married?"

"Yes, my beloved."

Buffy caught the glint off of Angelus' claddagh ring in the light. Suddenly, the pieces fell into place. Buffy reached up and caught his hand as it reached to tuck a lock of hair behind her ear. She gently took his finger and looked at the ring, noticing the heart was facing outward. Silently, she slipped the ring off, turned it around, and put it back on her 'husband's' hand so the heart faced inward.

"That's the way you wear it," Buffy told him playfully. She gave him a grin. Angelus smirked at her, but it slowly gave way to a small smile.

"Is it now?" Angelus said.

Buffy took his hand in her own. "Yeah." She reveled in the strong arm he placed around her waist. She leaned into his embrace and breathed him in. A voice inside her was screaming that it was wrong, that this man wasn't her beloved Angel.

They came across the mansion and she stopped him in the doorway. "Angel?" she asked.

The vampire stopped and turned to look at her. "What?" he snapped, clearly irritated with her calling him The Soul's nickname.

Buffy brought a hand to his face, cupping his cheek lovingly. "Make love to me." Silently, the vampire led her into the mansion. In a flurry of kisses and the hasty removal of clothing, they ended up in the master bedroom.

*

The bed was a tangle of arms, legs, and sheets. The vampire and Slayer lay, both awake, both exhausted. Buffy tried to ignore the fingers that twined in her blond hair, a silent signal that Angel always made; it was his way of telling her he loved her without saying it. That, and a gentle kiss on the crown of her head. Buffy shivered and pulled a corner of the bed sheet around her body.

"Buffy?"

The Slayer froze. Angelus hadn't called her 'Buff' or 'Lover' or 'Whore' or 'Slayer'. He called her Buffy. Before she could make a statement, or even form a coherent thought, her cell phone rang. With a thankful sigh, she climbed out of bed and walked to her purse, which held her small white cell phone. She hit the on button.

"Hello? Xander...what do you mean, alive? You're doing what? Willow's not helping, is she? At the hospital...room 818...yeah, I'll be there tonight...no, I haven't seen Angelus...I'm not lying! Dammit, Xander! I'll be there later!" Buffy yelled. She hit the off button.

"Lover?" asked Buffy. "Cordelia's alive."

"What?" said Angelus, sitting upright in bed.

"You wanna kill her?"

Angelus strode across the bedroom and picked her up. "Yeah, but I have something to do first." *

Xander, Fred, Gunn, Willow, Dawn, Spike, and Lorne sat in the lobby of the Hyperion. Various ingredients, spells, and books were scattered around the room. No one was making any progress towards restoring Angel's soul. Willow had combed every book in Angel's collection for a copy of the Spell of Restoration she had given him years earlier.

Xander angrily turned the cell phone off. "She's with him, I know she is!" He threw the phone down on the circular gray couch. "Why? Why Angelus, huh?" He looked upward and raised his arms. "Isn't there enough irony in this world?"

Everyone was silent. After a while, Fred suddenly spoke up.

"Lorne, do you remember when we were packing up Wesley's things a couple of months ago, and there was a little yellow floppy disk?" Fred asked. She looked up from her spell book.

"Yes. Why?"

"Wait!" exclaimed Willow. "Little yellow floppy disk? The Spell of Restoration is on a little yellow floppy disk! If we could possibly get the disk back from Wesley, we can restore Angel's soul." She sat down in her chair again and looked satisfied.

"Wait a minute. Just had a thought- a really, really bad thought. I just told Buffy that Cordelia's alive. If Buffy's with Angelus..." Xander said, his voice trailing off.

Gunn finished. "Then Angelus will go after Cordelia and finish the job."

Dawn reached up and smacked Xander on the back of the head. "God! You're so stupid!"

"Hey!" yelled Fred. "Let's, let's not resort to name calling here, folks. Charles is right, Angel will probably go after Cordelia. And what you have supplied about his profile, he'll probably kill her."

"So, what do we do then?" asked Lorne.

Spike shrugged. "We need to break up into two groups. One group goes over to Pryce's place and breaks in, hopefully finding the disk. The other group goes to make sure Cordelia is still in the hospital."

Everyone looked at him.

"Quite the rogue squadron leader there, Spike," noted Xander with a grin.

"Do I need to tell you people how much I hate Angelus *again? * I thought we already went over this on the way down."

* Buffy stood outside of Cordelia's hospital room. She looked in on the seer, who was still drugged. Cordelia looked so peaceful for a husband stealer. She had told Angelus that she would kidnap Cordelia, but she couldn't do it. Buffy wasn't like Faith, she couldn't kill and kidnap and torture. She just didn't have it in her.

"All dressed up in big sister's clothes," Buffy muttered. She shook her head and focused on the sound of footsteps behind her.

"So, did you do it yet?" asked Angelus, sliding an arm around his lover's waist.

Buffy snorted. "Do I look like I have Cordelia out here? No." She leaned up against his chest. "I can't do it." She took a moment, knowing his disappointment. "I'm sorry, baby."

Angelus sighed, and his frown turned into a smirk. He let Buffy go. "Don't worry about it, I'll kidnap the bitch and kill her." He stepped into the doorway of Cordelia's hospital room.

"Just one question."

Buffy locked eyes with her evil lover. "Shoot."

"You any good with a Polaroid?" *

Spike, Fred, and Willow led the way into Los Angeles Memorial Hospital. They took the elevator up to the sixth floor. Willow spotted the Nurse's station first and her hand rose to her mouth as she fought off the urge to vomit.

"Ohmygod," mumbled Willow against her hand.

A nurse lay over the computer workstation. She had been strangled with the phone cord and stabbed with a scalpel. The nurse was hog-tied with the phone line and attached jack, and she had been gagged with rubber operating gloves soaked in her own blood. She had probably choked nearly to death on the substance and had then been strangled.

"The handiwork of Angelus," noted Spike sullenly. "And, surprisingly, not his best. The man was in a hurry."

Fred arched an eyebrow. "This is...not his best?" She cast a disgusted gaze at the dead nurse that was still leaned over the computer keyboard.

Spike shook his head sadly as he stared at the nurse. "Angelus is a creative son of a bitch. He used to carve people up. He loved those little carrot peelers, loved how the skin would just peel off the body. Carrot peelers and ice picks- the man was good with his hands- he's an artist, you know. A sadistic artist, but an artist nonetheless."

"Can we just check on Cordelia?" asked Willow. "I don't want to know how much Angelus loves carrot peelers, because then I can picture him doing that to me."

"Well, he *did* kill your fish," Spike reminded her.

"Yeah, five years ago."

Fred spoke up. "May we *please* check on Cordelia and return to the hotel? I'm sure Charles was able to get hold of the disk we're looking for."

Willow glanced at Fred thoughtfully for a moment as the trio walked past the nurse's desk. "You love him, don't you?"

Fred simply nodded.

"Do...do you think maybe you could love him enough for Buffy and Angel?" she asked. "Do what they never got to do. Fate hasn't been kind to them. If you had seen them together, you would have known. It was like...Like..."

"Like a living miracle," finished Spike softly.

"Yes," echoed Willow. "A living miracle."

The three continued down the hallway. Fred slowly opened the door to Cordelia's room. The bed was empty, and the life support machines had been shut off- rather, they had been literally ripped from the wall. Sheets were strewn about the room, and on the wall, in blood was written, 'Catch us if you can.'

"Oh, bloody hell," muttered Spike. *

Cordelia slowly opened one eye. Then she opened another. Silently, she took in her surroundings. She recognized the room as her apartment, her captors as Angelus and Buffy?

'Figures', thought Cordelia. 'He never could get over her.'

Angelus sat, legs crossed, in a folding chair across from the dining room chair Cordelia was bound to. Buffy stood behind him, her arms lovingly draped around his shoulders. His hands reached up to hold hers and they looked almost normal.

'Okay, yeah. They're real normal, a vampire slayer and her sadistic, psychopathic vampire lover. And, let's not forget- the big metal tray full of sharp, dangerous instruments.'

"Morning, sleepyhead," Angelus sighed. He ran a finger along the tray's edge lovingly. A silky black cloth covered the tray's contents. "Where should we begin, Buff?" Angelus turned to his lover.

Buffy faked a long thought and said, "Hmm. Let's show Cordelia how many options she has." She whisked away the black silk cloth and Cordelia's stomach began to heave in horror as she eyed the tray's contents. Buffy moved to hold each one up.

"My baby's favorite- a carrot peeler," said Buffy.

Angelus added, "Nothing takes skin off better."

Cordelia fought down the bile rising in her throat. 'No use vomiting now, I'll just end up wearing it when I die.'

Buffy held up another object. "Blowtorch." "Pliers. Tongue depressor. Tweezers, razors, rope, barbed wire, and something I thought up- hydrochloric acid."

Cordelia's brain screamed, 'Hydrochloric acid?'

Angelus nodded. "Guaranteed to burn the skin right off your body." He smirked. He reached over and picked the tweezers off of the tray. "I was thinking, start small. With, maybe the fingernails and eyebrows." He came forward with the shining tweezers in his hand. He lowered the tweezers and Cordelia started to scream before they ever came into contact with her skin. Angelus shot Buffy a look. The Slayer quickly tied the black silk into a gag and tied it around Cordelia's mouth.

"Now, we can't have you screaming, can we?" asked Buffy as she tightened the knot.

A part of Buffy almost felt bad as the tears ran down the Seer's face.

*

Spike, Gunn, and Xander stood outside of Cordelia's apartment building. They had narrowed down the locations of where exactly Angelus and Buffy had taken Cordelia, and this was the only one remaining.

Fred and Dawn were attempting the Spell of Restoration. Gunn and Xander had whisked it out of Wesley's apartment and had brought it back to the Hotel. Willow had helpfully decoded the curse and they only had one shot to re-curse Angelus. They wanted to get it done before Angelus killed Cordelia, but time was running out.

Gunn led the way to Cordelia's apartment, with Xander and Spike (with a full armory) close behind him. Gunn found Cordy's apartment and kicked the door down. He stopped dead in his tracks.

Cordelia's dead (really, actually dead) and tortured body was still tied to the chair. Polaroids of the process were taped around the room in no particular pattern, but it was reminiscent of Kralik's room of photos that Buffy had seen during the cruciamentum.

Xander looked at the body. "We're too late."

"Yeah," agreed Spike sullenly. "But we can still save Angel before it's too late."

Outside of Cordelia's apartment building, in the dirty alleyway behind it, Angelus paused in his escape. He fell to his knees, his fingers scraping the ground. Buffy stood and looked at him, and silently thanked whatever god was watching for what she believed was happening. Angelus sucked in a lot of air and let out a scream.

A moment later, he was back on his feet. He looked at Buffy, awe-stricken.

"Buffy?" he asked through a teary haze. "What- what are you doing here?"

Buffy closed her eyes. "We were patrolling" she lied quickly, knowing that Angel would eventually remember what they had done to Cordelia.

"Oh."

"I better go," said Buffy. "Got that trip home in front of me."

"Yeah," agreed Angel softly. He watched in confusion as Buffy walked away.

Buffy was sobbing by the time she boarded the Greyhound bus for Sunnydale. Her actions were beginning to hit her.

'I killed someone. Angelus and I killed Cordelia. Why couldn't I just kill Angelus, or tie him up somewhere? Why did I have to...to help him do it? Because I'm lonely, and scared, and trying to live again and it's harder than I ever imagined.'

With a shaky breath, Buffy put her head on her lap and counted the seconds until she was home.

EPILOGUE

Angel sat in his darkened office. His hands were in front of him, outstretched, palms facing upward. After Buffy had stranded him in that alley, he came across Gunn and the others who helped him straighten everything out. They tried lying; they tried telling him he hadn't tortured Cordelia. Angel knew better. He retained every single one of Angelus' memories.

He remembered pressuring Buffy into helping him torture Cordelia. He remembered trying to kill Cordelia this first time and failing miserably. He didn't know why he went out to Sunnydale, or why he demanded Buffy come with him.

There was a knock on the door.

"It's open," mumbled Angel.

Fred and Gunn stepped into the office. Gunn spoke. "Are you okay, man?"

"No," said Angel. "I killed my best friend."

"We didn't know that the lifting of the curse wasn't temporary. If we had, we wouldn't have done it all," Fred told Angel. "She kind of got herself killed. We didn't think there was a threat by resurrecting Angelus."

"You were wrong," bit out Angel sourly. "And Cordelia had to pay because we were wrong. This is not entirely your fault. I should never have agreed to this. I thought maybe Angelus could finish off Wolfram and Hart once and for all, but he didn't even touch them."

"I don't forgive you, Angel," said Fred softly after Angel was done.

"Good. I don't forgive me, either," Angel told her.

Gunn spoke after a moment. "Uh, Xander called this morning."

Angel looked up at his friends for the first time. "And?"

Gunn looked at the vampire. "Buffy's gone. No one knows where she is."

Angel sat silently for a moment. "It's my fault she's gone"

"Yeah, it is," said Gunn without sympathy for Angel's pain. "She's gone- again, and she's covered her tracks well. She's not coming back."

Angel looked at Gunn, and then Fred. "I'd like to be alone." Gunn and Fred left, and Angel slowly put his head on his desk and cried.

*

Somewhere, a girl with long blond hair and just a duffel bag got onto a bus. She glanced behind her as she stepped onto the bus. A hint of sorrow passed through her eyes as she walked down the aisle. The strange girl put her bag at her feet and wrapped her petite frame up into a sweater.

The bus pulled away from the platform, and it carried the girl far from her home.

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