Part Four

Willow opened the door to her dorm room, tired from a long weekend study session. She was planning to go right to sleep. Instead, she found the television on some movie she didn't recognize and Buffy sitting in bed, wrapped in a blanket, eating ice cream out of the container and frowning.

Willow dropped her books on her desk and looked at Buffy worriedly. Since her roommate had returned from L.A. she'd been looking forward to spending long weekends with Angel. "What are you doing here?" Willow asked. "I thought you were coming back tomorrow."

Buffy's frown got even deeper. "I was. I wasn't feeling well, so I came back early."

"Dizzy spells again?" Willow asked in concern.

Buffy nodded. "Worse this time."

Willow bit her lip. This had been going on for weeks now. The first time had been minor, and Willow had only heard about it in retrospect when the dizziness had recurred a week later. "I really think you should see a doctor," Willow said, as she had a week before.

"But I feel fine now!" Buffy said back in exasperation. "It's not fair," she whined. "All I want is to spend a nice, romantic weekend with Angel. Instead, every time I go to see him I end up feeling sick. And minutes after I get back I feel right as rain again." She pouted. "How are we supposed to rebuild our relationship when I can't even stand up straight in his city?"

Willow sighed. "I don't know. Maybe it's the air or something in L.A?"

"Maybe," Buffy agreed reluctantly.

"You'll never know if you don't see a doctor," Willow said. "Or, tell Giles, if you think it's supernatural related."

"Okay, okay," Buffy agreed testily, closing up the ice cream. "I'll do it tomorrow." Buffy stood, put the ice cream away and began to put on her shoes.

"Where are you going?"

"You look like you want to go to bed," Buffy said. "I…need to go kill something. Don't wait up."

****

Buffy was feeling worse than she'd let Willow know. Not physically – physically she felt energized, alive, and ready for almost anything. Which was exactly why she was so miserable.

She wouldn't admit it, but this had been going on since well before the dizzy spells began. She could remember the way she'd felt over the summer, when she'd stayed in L.A. to take care of Angel. The longer she had been away from Sunnydale, the more dragged out and tired she had felt. She hid it well…and then the moment she got back to Sunnydale her energy returned.

It was beyond exasperating. If this got much worse, sooner or later she wouldn't be able to visit Angel at all. He'd have to exclusively visit her in Sunnydale.

Even worse still, it was taking longer each time for Buffy to recover. Even right this moment she wasn't feeling perfectly like herself.

Yup, no doubt about it – the situation sucked.

Buffy stalked through the cemetery, tapping a stake in her palm. Her mind wandered. She could feel Angel's arms around her as he supported her in her latest dizzy spell. She could see his worried face as he waited for her to regain her bearings. She could sense his hesitation at seeing her get in the car to head home. Then, as her mind wandered, the image shifted. Now she saw Angel as he looked when she first arrived at his apartment, the way his smiles lit up his entire face when he saw her. He never used to smile like that before. When he used to smile, and that was a rare event in itself, it had never quite wiped away the sadness that he lived with. Now, his smiles…god, she loved the way he smiled for her.

A rustle nearby made Buffy snap back to her surroundings. She was near the crypts now; they loomed ominously in the darkness. Not the best place to be distracted after dark. She could sense a presence nearby, hovering just out of sight. She knew it was just as aware of her as she was of it.

"Alright, come out," Buffy called, clutching her stake. "I'm really not in the mood for games tonight."

A vampire separated himself from the shadows to Buffy's right. "No games, Slayer," he said, and his face shifted to reveal the demon within. "Just death."

Buffy rolled her eyes. "Where do you get your lines?" she said in disgust. "I'll tell you, no one just shuts up and dies anymore."

"Oooh, she's feisty," another voice said from in front of her, revealing another vampire. "Will that make her blood taste better?"

"She's a Slayer," a third vampire said as if it was obvious. "It doesn't get better than that."

Buffy frowned as she noticed two more silent vampires standing nearby. Five against one wasn't good odds, especially since she only had two stakes with her. But she was one pissed off Slayer. There was no way they'd ever gone up against a Slayer as angry as she was at that moment.

She pulled out her stake in one swift movement. The second talker seemed like a fair enough target; Buffy was guessing she was a newbie. She registered the shock on the vampire's face a second before the stake impacted, and a second before her companion vampire barreled into Buffy's side. The blow tore the stake from Buffy's hand, and it turned to dust along with the vampire she'd hit.

In the split second before she fell with the second vampire on top, Buffy regretted the loss of her weapon. Then she hit the ground so hard the breath was momentarily knocked out of her. She wrestled for a second with the vampire on top of her before she managed to flip him off and spring back to her feet. Her battle stance was only regained for a second before another vampire was aiming a blow for her head. She dodged it, but that put her back in reach of the vampire that knocked her over. He grabbed her hard from behind, arms crossing over her chest and making it difficult for her to breathe. Another of the vampires approached her front menacingly.

Buffy waited a second, then in one movement shoved her feet out into the stomach of the vampire in front of her and her head back into the chin of the one behind her. He released her suddenly and all three of them fell to the ground. Buffy rolled, springing back to her feet quickly. They knew how to fight together. Not good.

"What is this?" she asked breathless. "Four against one? Whatever happened to playing fair?"

"I thought you said no games," the apparent leader retorted.

Buffy frowned. "Oh yeah. I did." She pulled out her second stake and rushed at him, hoping that taking out the leader would disperse the other three.

The leader surprised her. A second before she connected he spun aside, grabbed her by the shoulders, and used her own momentum to fling her several yards. Buffy would have gone further but she collided with one of the crypts first. Her head struck the stone with a resounding crack and her vision swam. Oh, eight vampires now. That can't be a good sign.

The vampires coalesced back into four, but before Buffy could take advantage of her regained focus two of them grabbed her and dragged her back into the fight. A third vampire struck her hard in the stomach, and she doubled over, her breath gone. In that second, while the leader strolled in for the final blow and Buffy hung there trying to catch her breath, she spotted the stake she had dropped seconds before.

She waited a moment more for the third vampire to be close, then sprang straight again. In the split second where the vampires hesitated, she kicked one of the two holding her. It released her, and Buffy dropped in the second vampire's grip, grabbed the stake, and watched the other turn to dust.

She rolled back to her feet, and her vision swam with the sudden movement. There were still three vampires left and Buffy wasn't doing so well. This would be a good time to make a strategic retreat.

Translation? Time to run.

Buffy stumbled to a run, sprinting away from the three remaining vampires. She dodged around the cemetery, knowing that she wasn't going to last against any sort of coordinated attack. Whether it was the dizzy spells she hadn't fully recovered from or the blow on the head, Buffy was feeling worse by the second. She was short of breath, her vision swam, and her balance was off. Not good at all.

She stumbled over a low headstone and was unable to regain her balance quickly enough. She went crashing to the ground, her legs still tangled on the headstone. A second later one of her opponents caught up with her and went for her throat while she was down. Buffy rolled to her back, pushing the vampire away with one hand. With the other she tried to shove her stake into its chest. The vampire wrestled with her for the stake, trying to tear it away from her. When he couldn't do that, he twisted her wrist, changing the stake's direction.

Buffy's wrist screamed in pain as she felt the bones grind together. The scream tore its way through her throat, but no one was there to hear it except the vampire. And, in that brief moment before the joy of unconsciousness, she felt the stake pierce her stomach at the exact same instant the fangs sank into her neck.

****

Part Five

"You're ignoring me," Jade said in disgust.

"I am not ignoring you," Angel retorted, but he didn't look at her. Instead, all of his focus was on the punching bag hanging in the corner of his apartment. Even as he spoke he punched it forcefully. "I know what I'm doing."

"Yes, Warrior, you know what you're doing," Jade replied, trying not to let her sarcasm show. On one hand she did have it easier than her predecessors. Her charge already knew how to fight, was in excellent physical condition, and was ready and willing to fight demons on a daily – or nightly – basis. But he also was over 250 years old. He was stubborn, *knew* he was knowledgeable, and when it came right down to it a very reluctant student. Jade sighed. "You know what you're doing *as a Warrior,*" she clarified. "That's not all you are anymore, and you refuse to listen to me when it comes to what else being the Phoenix means!"

"I do not refuse to listen to you!" Angel yelled back, stopping his workout. "I have done everything you've asked of me since you showed up to 'teach' me. So what have I done wrong this time?!"

It took an extreme act of willpower for Jade not to throw her hands up in the air and cry out 'why me?' "You've been ignoring your calling."

Angel's brow wrinkled in confusion. "I don't know what you mean. I've been fighting…"

Jade shook her head to interrupt him. "Your *Calling,* Angel." Seeing the look of confusion wasn't fading, she gestured for him to stop what he was doing and join her at the table. Didn't he listen to any of her lessons? "Sit down, please."

Angel did as she asked, bringing a glass of water over with him. He looked at her expectantly over the brim. "Well?"

"Calling," Jade clarified. "I mean that…sense that tells the Phoenix – you – where you are needed. You've always been a defender of one place, but that's not your job anymore. You need to be mobile, to destroy concentrations of evil wherever they may appear. Hence, your Calling."

Angel looked slightly less confused. "I haven't … sensed anything."

Jade sighed. On top of stubbornness, this was the biggest problem she'd been having with Angel. He had no problem at all with the physical components of what being the Phoenix entailed. It was the extra abilities and the…metaphysical components that he just couldn't get a hang of. He was only using half of his potential. The other abilities only popped up on accident, such as when he rescued the Slayer from being burned at the stake. "You should have," Jade snapped. "And if you did we would be in Seattle right now, but instead someone else had to be summoned to clean up that mess. It was…too close all call for several."

Angel looked distinctly guilty. He leaned back in his chair. "What do you want me to do?"

"Maybe…" She thought for a second. "You are familiar with meditation techniques, yes?"

"Yes."

"Then I want you to *really* listen to me for once. We're going to actively try and summon your Calling, so that you'll know what it feels like in the future. Okay?"

Angel nodded. "Alright." He shifted in his chair, obviously trying to get as comfortable as possible.

"Okay," Jade said easily. "Just listen to me, and do what I say. I want you to close your eyes, and breathe deeply." She waited for a moment as Angel did what she said. "Now, relax, calm your thoughts, and concentrate. I need you to focus on the Phoenix, on the spirit that lives in you."

"How…" Angel started.

"Shh," Jade said quickly. "Just listen. Relax and concentrate. Think back to when we actually met, yes? When you and the Slayer were captured. When she was going to be killed, you saved her. You put out the fires with the force of the Phoenix." Angel grimaced slightly, but she continued. "You did not know what you were harnessing at the time. Remember how that felt. Feel the power inside you. The Calling is connected to that. It's…"

Suddenly Angel gasped and his eyes snapped open. For a moment Jade was annoyed that he'd stopped when they were so close, but then she noticed the pain and panic in his expression. "Angel?" she asked urgently. "What is it?"

His eyes focused on her for a second, then he stood abruptly. "Buffy," he said quickly.

If that was supposed to be an explanation, it didn't help Jade much. "What about the Slayer?" But Angel was already moving again, rushing in and out of his bedroom…packing. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Sunnydale!" Angel called from the next room.

This time Jade did throw her hands up in the air. This was *not* what the result of that little exercise was supposed to be. That was not what their destination was supposed to be! "Why me?" she muttered helplessly.

But of course, no one answered.

****

Spike was sitting in a plastic hospital chair when the first of the gang arrived in a rush. Giles, Willow, and Mrs. Summers didn't take much time to think about the odd image he presented, but it was there none-the-less. He was resting his arms on his knees, his focus on nothing in particular, and he looked…worried. Thoughtful, maybe, and not in a pleasant way.

"How is she? Where is she?" Mrs. Summers asked frantically.

Spike looked up, seeming startled. "I don't know." He paused. "The doctors took her that way," he gestured.

"Is she alright?" Willow blurted.

Giles spoke right on top of her. "What happened?" he asked. There was a hint of danger in his tone that was impossible for Spike to miss.

He really looked at the three of them this time. "What is this? An inquisition or something?"

"Spike…" Giles said, the dangerous tone in his voice no longer suppressed.

"What? Are you suggesting *I* did this?"

"We're not…" Willow began, trying to make peace.

"Did you?" Giles asked.

"No! I *can't*, if you don't remember."

Giles looked skeptical.

Spike stood abruptly. A bloodstain showed dark on his shirt. Buffy's blood. "You know, I didn't have to bring her here! I could have left her to die and had a nice meal of Slayer blood!" Joyce gasped, and he glanced at her before continuing in a softer tone. "The point is, I didn't. I even called you lot knowing you'd probably accuse me! So I'd really appreciate the benefit of the doubt, here."

Giles nodded slowly. "You're right. Now, would you tell us what happened?"

"Aren't you going to say please?"

"Spike!" Joyce yelled. "I will not have you acting all…whatever, while my daughter may be…" Her voice cracked before she finished, but the word "dying" still hung in the air.

Spike sat back down slowly. "It was vampires. A group of them, probably, though she'd managed to kill off most of them before… I killed him, if you care. Staked him from behind while he was drinking her blood." Pride flashed across his face for a split second before he continued. "She was already unconscious, though. Bastard had decided to impale her with her own stake."

Willow gasped. "Oh my…"

"I don't understand," Joyce said slowly. "She should have been able to take care of herself. She always has before."

"These…things happen," Giles tried slowly.

Willow broke in the conversation in a whisper, and only her sob alerted them she was speaking. "She hasn't been feeling well," she said miserably. "On and off for weeks. She said she felt better…when she left. I shouldn't have let her…"

"You really think you could have stopped her, red?" Spike pointed out.

"But…I should have tried…."

Joyce turned away abruptly. "I'm going to find out what's going on with my baby," she said strongly, cutting off the rest of them.

"Of course," Giles agreed, and Willow nodded through her guilt. Spike's attention was down the hall instead.

"I don't think you need to do that," he said softly.

All eyes turned to see the doctor walking purposefully towards them. His gaze was carefully neutral…too carefully.

"Oh," Willow whispered. "I don't think that's a good thing…"

It seemed to take forever until the doctor made his way down the hallway and stopped in front of Spike. "You brought in Miss Summers?" he asked carefully. At Spike's nod he asked, "Are any of you family?"

"I'm her mother," Joyce said quickly. "Please, my baby…"

The doctor's expression was grim. "Why don't we talk about your daughter some place more private?"

"No!" Willow said quickly. "Private is bad! Private means bad news. Please…"

Joyce nodded. "Just say it, Doctor. Tell me what's going on. Tell *us,* because otherwise I'm just going to have to repeat it all anyway."

The doctor looked over the anxious group. "Why don't we have a seat, at least." At that the entire group dropped into the plastic chairs. The doctor began slowly. "Your daughter was seriously injured, Mrs. Summers. She sustained a broken wrist and a blow to the head, but those were minor injuries comparatively. A sharp piece of wood pierced her stomach and she had another wound on her neck. However, she lost far more blood than either wound can account for. I'm afraid…"

"*Don't* finish that sentence," Joyce said, cutting him off. "*Please.*"

"Mrs. Summers…" the doctor tried reluctantly.

A sharp cry down the hall interrupted him. "Doctor Daniels!" a woman still in sterile gloves called urgently, peaking out from around the door he had emerged from. "The girl…!"

The doctor sprang to attention. "Excuse me," he blurted, before taking off down the hall.

The four of them sat there for a moment in stunned silence.

"What the *hell* was that!?" Spike cried at last.

His sentiment was echoed by a new arrival. Xander stood awkwardly just inside the hospital doors with Anya close behind him. "Uh…what did we just miss?"

****

Part Six

"Nothing!" Willow declared in frustration.

"Well, wait a little bit and then try again."

"Giles!" she cried. "This was the *third* try! No one's there – I keep getting the answering machine."

"Did you leave a message?" Giles asked patiently. His voice was thick with fatigue.

Willow looked at him harshly. "What sort of message do you expect me to leave?" she asked, trying not to whine. "I mean, 'Hi, Angel, this is Willow. Buffy's hurt. Come to the hospital now. Bye.' Buffy would kill me if I left a message like that and he got into a hideous car wreck so soon after he came back to life!"

"Anyone know his cell phone number?" Anya suggested.

Everyone looked at her oddly.

"What? Everybody has a cell phone nowadays."

Willow looked surprised at the very idea, but she started back to the pay phone anyway. "Well, I suppose it's worth a try…"

"No need. I'm here."

Willow and the rest of the group turned in surprise to see the figure in the waiting room doorway. Angel stood there, his face lined with worry, a woman none of them knew walking reluctantly behind him. "Angel!" Willow greeted, pleasantly surprised. "But…how…I never reached you."

Angel shook his head, coming the rest of the way into the room. "You didn't need to. I already knew."

"Extraordinary," Giles murmured to himself. He stood to meet the ex-vampire. "It's good to see you again, Angel. Though I wish it had been under better circumstances."

Angel just nodded in greeting, then jumped to why he was there. "How is she? What happened?"

Giles sighed. "She was attacked by a group of vampires and…very seriously injured. Spike brought her here, but the doctors honestly don't know why she's alive."

"She's the Slayer," Angel said, as if that explained everything. Usually it did.

This time, though, Giles shook his head. "It's more than that. She…she died soon after she was brought here. The doctors tried to save her, but they were all ready to tell us the bad news."

"One doctor was like three words away," Willow added.

Angel looked stricken. "But…she's not…I *know* she's not…"

Giles nodded. "She's alive. She…came back. The doctors have no clue how. They'd…they'd given up."

"But she *is* alive."

"Yes."

Angel sighed in relief, and his whole body seemed to relax with it. Then abruptly he got a serious, thoughtful look on his face. "Wait…does this mean another Slayer is going to be called?"

"Oh!" Xander jumped in, catching the idea. "Are there going to be three Slayers? Because, you know, three tough girls…they could be like Charlie's Angels. Well, if Faith wasn't psycho…"

Giles glanced at him to stop his babble. In truth, Willow suspected both Xander's babbling and Giles' patient seriousness were only serving to cover up their concern. "I honestly have no idea," Giles answered Angel.

"I might."

Giles looked past Angel at the odd, white haired woman. Everyone else's attention was on her as well.

"Um, I don't know you," Xander managed to stutter.

"This is Jade," Angel introduced. He was frowning slightly, and Willow remembered some of the stories that Buffy had told her. Buffy did not trust this woman as far as she could throw her, and Angel didn't look much happier with her presence. "She…helps me."

Jade did not wait for any further response to be made. "You say she died and came back to life, but no one knows how?"

"Exactly," Giles replied.

"And…this has happened before? That is, I assume from your statements there are already two Slayers including her."

"There are two Slayers," Giles explained. "But this is not what happened before."

"She drowned," Xander spoke up. "I rescued her. CPR."

Angel shot him a look, but it went unnoticed by almost everyone. Jade was nodding to herself, thoughtful. Willow could almost hear the pieces fitting together in her head.

"Another Slayer will not be called," she said at last.

Giles looked startled at that. "What? How do you know?"

"I just do," Jade replied in a tone that indicated she would speak no further about it. Willow had the feeling that the woman knew more than she was telling, and both Giles' and Angel's expressions matched her suspicions.

"I must leave now," she said abruptly.

Angel looked very alarmed at that. "But…"

Jade shook her head. "Just me. I…have things I must discuss with others. Stay here and take care of your Slayer. She will be fine, do not fear that, but until she is…"

"I am needed here," Angel finished. He said that firmly, indicating that even if Jade had been about to say something else she could not have swayed him.

"Of course," Jade said easily. "I shall return in time to continue your training." Anger or something very similar washed over Angel's features for a moment, but Jade ignored it. She simply swept out of the hospital without another word.

Everyone looked at Angel oddly. It was Giles who spoke the question on everyone's minds. "Your training?"

Angel looked more than a bit annoyed. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Of course."

****

Angel hovered in the doorway of the hospital room, needing to enter and at the same time reluctant to do so. Mrs. Summers was in there, hovering by her daughter's bedside. From the doorway, Angel's heart ached to see Buffy looking so…frail. She was bruised, bandaged, and she hadn't woken up yet. Angel wished that he had been there. Maybe if he'd been there, fighting by her side, she wouldn't be here now. No, no maybe. He knew she would have been all right if only he had been there.

But he wasn't there. And he didn't know when or if he'd be able to stay at her side again.

Except for now. Now he was here, and until she healed Angel would do anything in his power to make sure that she was safe. If Spike hadn't already killed the one that had done this to her, Angel would have found that vampire and given him a slow death. As it was, any demon that wanted to harm her would have to get through him as long as he was here. And that just wasn't going to happen.

"Are you going to stand there all day? I know you don't need an invitation."

Angel looked a bit sheepishly at Buffy's mother, shaken out of his thoughts of guilt and revenge. He walked slowly into the room. "Hello, Joyce," he said softly. There was an awkward silence between them. Angel slowly realized that this was the first time they had seen each other since Joyce had convinced him to leave Sunnydale over a year before. "Do you mind…?" he asked at last, honestly not quite sure what he was asking for permission for.

"She'd want you here," Joyce replied calmly, gesturing at another chair by the bed. "She's been so happy, seeing you every weekend."

Angel sat down, pulling the chair as close to Buffy as he could. "It's been…nice seeing her, too." *Nice, how inadequate.* And it wasn't 'nice' seeing her like this, at all.

Silence stretched between boyfriend and mother once again, and Angel gently took the fingers of her uninjured hand in his own. He was so careful as not to disturb anything, not to hurt her. She made no movement or anything in response, but to hold her hand reassured Angel nonetheless.

"So," Joyce said at last, "I understand that you're…alive now. Not a vampire, Buffy said."

"Yes," Angel replied. He swallowed. "How is she?"

Joyce leaned back in her chair. "Alive. And healing, even if the doctors don't understand how either one could be. She hasn't woken up yet, but they say not to worry. That she'll be in a lot of pain when she wakes up, anyway, so perhaps it's best if she's still…asleep."

Angel nodded. "She'll be fine," he agreed.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Joyce smile sadly. "Are you trying to convince me or yourself?"

Angel looked at her. She looked…tired. "Both, perhaps," he said. "Or maybe I believe that she's so strong in spirit and flesh that nothing can stop her for long. Not even this."

Another silence between them, but not nearly as uncomfortable as the last. "Thank you," said Mrs. Summers finally. She stood. "I'm going to get some coffee. Would you like some?"

Angel shook his head. "No, thank you. I'm still a night person, I'm not tired." He looked up at Joyce seriously. "I'm…just going to stay with her."

She nodded and left the room, leaving Angel alone with unconscious Buffy and the machinery that told the doctors how she was doing. With Mrs. Summers gone, he could not take his eyes off her. With his free hand he gently ran his finger along her cheek, avoiding bruises and the bandage on her head. "I'm here, Buffy," he said in a whisper.

His voice sounded loud in the hotel room, but he did not stop speaking. "I'm so sorry," he whispered. "I'm sorry I wasn't there. Oh, what happened Buffy? How did he manage to get to you, to defeat you?" In his heart, she was undefeatable, even if logic told him otherwise. "I should have been there. I won't let this happen again. I promise. I'll be here as long as you need me."

And then, with an even softer whisper and a squeeze of her hand, Angel made a promise he knew he wouldn't be able to keep. "I'm not going anywhere."

Buffy squeezed his hand back.

"Buffy?" He wasn't whispering now.

She blinked for a second, unfocused, then saw him and smiled very slightly. "Hey."

Comforted and calmed, Angel smiled for her only as the room settled back into silence.

Go to the Part 7