Part Two

"These days you might feel a shaft of light
make its way across your face
and when you do
you'll know that's how it was meant to be"

~These Are Days to Remember

One week later

Exhausted, Buffy tossed in her bed. She was at that strange point where she was so tired she couldn't fall asleep. Though she didn't want to admit it, she was getting worried. The last several days had been crazy. Vampire activity was . . . well, nuts. She'd had to fight multiple vampires every night, two tonight just between her house and the mansion after she and Angel had finished patrolling.

It was all putting a damper on Buffy's good mood, and she was trying so hard to avoid that. She had tried to deny to herself that there was anything unusual going on when it came to the vampire activity, but it was getting to the point where she'd have to tell Giles.

Oh, well, perhaps tomorrow. Right now all Buffy wanted was to get to sleep. Trying to calm her troubled thoughts, Buffy rolled over in bed. A cool breeze entered through the window, open to help alleviate the summer heat.

She was startled for a moment by the sight of a dark silhouette outside, until she recognized who it was. "Angel?" Buffy asked in surprise, sitting up in bed.

"Hey," he said softly. "You couldn't sleep."

"Nope," she replied with a sigh. "What are you doing here?"

"I just wanted to make sure you just got home all right."

Buffy got out of bed and stood next to the window. "You couldn't sleep either, right?"

"Right."

"Hey," Buffy whispered, standing just inside and leaning out, "are you going to come in, or were you planning to stay out there all night?"

Angel smiled slightly and climbed through the window.

"You know," said Buffy once he was inside, "I walked home with you to make sure *you* got home all right. I wasn't expecting you to follow me home."

"I was worried about you," Angel replied.

"Yeah, well, I worry about you." Buffy stepped closer to him, concerned. "As much as I . . . appreciate your concern, you really ought to be getting some sleep. You alright?"

"Fine. I was just remembering other times watching you sleep, good and bad," Angel replied. Buffy knew this wasn't a complete explanation of what he was doing here, however, and let her face show that. Reluctantly, Angel continued. "I'm fine, I just still have trouble sleeping sometimes. Sleeping at night."

"Oh," said Buffy finally in understanding. She was going to say more, but standing so close she forgot what she'd been thinking. She reached up and kissed Angel deeply. He returned the embrace until both of them had to break for air. Buffy smiled, sighed, and leaned into Angel's chest. "What was I saying?" she asked softly.

"It's late," Angel said after a moment. "I should go." He pulled away and started to lean down to leave back through the window.

"Hey," said Buffy, hesitantly taking a hold of his arm. "You could . . . stay."

Angel stopped and looked at Buffy in surprise, saying nothing.

"I worry about you. It's crazy out there right now, and I don't want you getting hurt." She stepped close to him again, keeping a hold on his arm even as he straightened back up. "Besides," she said softly. "I think I'll sleep better with you beside me."

"Are you sure you want me to stay?" Angel asked softly.

"Yeah, I am," Buffy replied, smiling slightly. "I'm . . . not ready for . . . anything else to happen, not yet," Buffy added reluctantly, "but I want to fall asleep beside you, and have you still here when I wake up." She looked at her fiancé hopefully. In response, Angel kissed her tenderly for a moment. Buffy laid back down in her bed, and after a moment Angel took off his shoes and joined her. Buffy pillowed into his shoulder, comfortable.

"I love you," Angel whispered.

Sighing contentedly, Buffy allowed the unfamiliar sound of Angel's heartbeat to lull her finally to sleep.

*****

Sunlight filled the room as morning came, falling across the bed and its two sleeping occupants. As the sun rose into the sky, the sunlight fell across Angel's face, startling him awake. For a moment he was confused and didn't remember where he was. His bedroom was shut against the light, the habits of two centuries hard to break. It was only a moment, though, while his mind was still fogged with sleep, that the confusion lasted.

Buffy stirred ever so slightly beside him, and Angel smiled. On the night stand sat the engagement ring he had given Buffy, put aside for sleep, its diamond glinting in the sunlight. The sunlight shown off Buffy's hair as well. Angel lay there, not wanting to wake her, more content than he ever thought possible simply by studying her in her sleep. He could have laid there forever and been happy. Not for a moment did Angel forget how fortunate he was, and he knew he never would.

A stray hair fell across Buffy's face, and ever so gently Angel brushed it away. Stirring at his touch, Buffy opened her eyes. She smiled. "Hey," she said softly.

"Hey," Angel replied. "Sorry I woke you. Did you sleep well?"

"Yeah," Buffy said, snuggling into his shoulder, "very well. Thanks for staying."

Angel just smiled.

Smiling in return, Buffy sighed slightly. "You know," she said, "this is a nice change."

"Hmm?"

"Laying here, listening to your heartbeat, and waking up to you in sunlight . . . it's nice."

Holding her close, Angel continued to smile. "I was just thinking the same thing," he said softly. Then, after a moment, "Well, the sunlight part."

For several minutes they simply lay there, then Buffy spoke again. "What time is it?" she asked.

Angel rolled over slightly to look at the clock. "Nine o'clock."

"Oh," said Buffy reluctantly. "We'd better get up then. Mom's going to be wondering why I'm not downstairs." Sighing again, Buffy sat up and slid out of the covers. Angel got up a moment later, and after putting on his shoes and running a quick hand through his hair was relatively ready to go. At least, as ready as he could be until he got home and changed for the day.

Buffy turned around a moment later to find Angel prepared to leave. "You're going?" she asked.

"Yeah," Angel replied reluctantly. "I need to go home, get dressed . . . I didn't exactly bring an overnight bag."

Buffy nodded, a tad reluctant as well. "Stay until I go downstairs, alright?" she asked. "I want to kiss you goodbye."

"You'll see me later."

"What, you don't want me to kiss you?" Buffy asked with a smile.

"You could kiss me now."

"Yeah, I could do that." Buffy leaned up and kissed Angel gently. The kiss started tender, then became passionate . . . .

. . . just as Mrs. Summers knocked and entered the room.

Entering the room, she spoke. "Buffy, are you . . ." her voice faded out as her eyes fell upon the two of them, looking back at her in surprise. "Awake?" she finished her sentence.

"Mom!" Buffy exclaimed in startled response.

Angel dropped his arms from around Buffy and looked at her mother, embarrassed. "Joyce . . ." he began nervously.

"Angel," Mrs. Summers replied dryly.

"I . . . was just leaving." Unconsciously, Angel backed up a step towards the window.

"The same way you entered, I see."

Angel fidgeted nervously.

Buffy looked back and forth between Angel and her mother. She rested a hand on Angel's arm for a moment. "Mom, I . . . " she tried to begin.

Joyce silenced her with a look. "Angel," she said, "I need to speak with you downstairs. Buffy, get dressed and join us for breakfast. Afterwards, Angel, you will be leaving through the *front* door." She turned to go, and when no one made a move to follow she glanced at them again. "Angel?" she said impatiently.

Angel looked at Buffy, his face showing his nervousness and embarrassment. He did not want this confrontation with his future mother-in-law. Buffy smiled in sympathy. With a sigh, Angel followed Mrs. Summers down the stairs.

When they reached the kitchen, Joyce poured herself a cup of coffee. She glanced questioningly at Angel for a moment while she did so, but Angel shook his head, declining the offer. Then they both sat at the table in silence.

Finally, unable to bear the tension any more, Angel spoke. "I'm sorry-"

Joyce interrupted him sharply. "For what? I know this is awkward, but what good does apologizing do?"

Angel didn't know quite how to respond to that. He looked at Mrs. Summers blankly.

"Listen, Angel," she continued, more gently. "I know you think I don't like you very much, but the truth is I don't *know* you very well." She looked at him frankly. "I do know that you were a vampire for over 200 years. I know that you had a soul when Buffy met you, and that you lost your soul when you . . . slept together. I know that you hurt her greatly, killed people she knew. I know that Buffy had to send you to Hell, and I know that she took care of you for weeks when you returned. I know that you're human now." Her expression became intense. "But, most importantly, I know that Buffy loves you very much. And that's what's really important, isn't it?" She looked at Angel expectantly, waiting for him to reply.

"I love her," Angel said. "I love her more than anything, more than I ever thought possible." Slowly, he tried to explain his feelings. "For 90 years after my soul was returned, I . . . wallowed in my pain and guilt. I didn't think I could feel anything else anymore." He was looking down at his hands. "Buffy changed all that, with her heart and her energy for life. She reminded me of what it was like to feel human. . . . She taught me to love again." He forced himself to look Buffy's mother in the eye. "Your daughter is an amazing woman," he said.

Joyce looked at him appraisingly, then nodded. "Well," she said, "I wish someone had said something similar about me, and meant it, like you do." She smiled slightly. "That's also the most I think I've ever heard you say about anything."

Angel merely smiled.

"Have you ever told her . . . what you just told me?"

"Not in as many words, but yes, I have." He looked at Mrs. Summers questioningly. "Are you okay with this?" he asked. "With us?"

She shrugged in response. "Not quite, but I'm working on it. I'm having some trouble getting around the fact that my daughter plans to marry someone . . . fifteen times her age. And . . . you've hurt her so much in the past. I'm not quite sure what to think of that." She sighed and smiled slightly. "But in the long run, that's not the point. The point is, you also make her happy, like no one else can. As her mother, it's my job to see that she's happy. Now that nothing else stands in the way of the two of you being together, I can't either."

Angel looked at her in surprised pleasure. "Thank you," he said sincerely. Then, after another silent moment, he said, "You know, last night -"

He didn't manage to get any further, for at that moment he heard Buffy at the top of the stairs. For a moment he was relieved that he would be getting out of this awkward conversation, but then something went wrong. Angel felt a sudden chill, then Buffy made a sound of startled fear, a sound followed by that of something . . . someone falling down the stairs.

Angel sprang to his feet quickly, running for the stairs, followed by Mrs. Summers. He came around the corner to see Buffy sitting on the floor, dazed and rubbing the back of her head. He knelt at her side, concern etched on his face.

"Buffy! Are you alright?" called Mrs. Summers, joining them at the bottom of the stairs.

"I'm fine, Mom," she said. "Angel, really."

"What happened?" Angel asked.

"I . . . this is going to sound crazy, but . . . something pushed me."

Her mother looked at her oddly. "Pushed you? Buffy, are you sure? There's no one else here."

Buffy looked at her intently. "I know what I felt. Two hands on my shoulders, and they pushed me down the stairs." She started to stand, then hissed in pain and grabbed Angel's shoulder. He helped her to her feet. "We need to talk to Giles."

"What about breakfast?" Mrs. Summers asked.

"We'll have to miss it, Mom." She limped a couple of experimental steps, still leaning on Angel. "Come on. It looks like you're driving."

Part Three

"Listen as your day unfolds,
challenge what the future holds,
try to keep your head up to the sky."

~You Gotta Be
Des'ree

When Giles saw Buffy, Angel, and Joyce at his door early in the morning, he was surprised. When he opened the door and let Buffy- still limping - inside, he was astonished. He ushered the three of them into his house, and, when he discovered they had not eaten, was quick to offer them tea. All three of them quickly agreed.

Once they were seated with mugs of tea, Giles waited for an explanation. Buffy took a sip, then spoke. "We've got a problem, Giles," she said, "and I only want to explain it once. This is going to need the whole gang."

Giles looked at her curiously, but did not ask anything. He simply called Willow, Oz, and Xander in turn, who responded quickly to the summons.

By the time everyone arrived Buffy had almost completely recovered from her fall. They all waited patiently for her to explain what they were doing here and what had happened. To their surprise, she turned to speak, not to Giles, but to Willow.

"Do you remember last week at the Espresso Pump?" Buffy asked. "The girl with the coffee?"

Willow nodded. "I couldn't stop thinking about it," she said. At everyone else's looks of confusion, she explained, "A girl tripped and complained somebody pushed her, but no one was there."

"I didn't believe her," Buffy said. "I thought she was imagining things, but then, this morning . . . . I was coming down the stairs when the same thing happened to me. I felt someone push me down the stairs." Giles looked at her in surprise. "And no one else saw anything?"

"Oh, no," Willow said suddenly, "do you think we're dealing with another invisible girl?"

Mrs. Summers looked at her curiously. "Invisible girl?"

"Several years ago -" Giles began to explain, then faltered. "Um, it's not important. You didn't see anyone?"

Joyce shook her head, and Angel spoke up. "We didn't see anyone," he said.

Giles nodded thoughtfully, while Xander cast Angel an odd, amused look. "Weren't you wearing the same thing yesterday?" ha asked.

Angel merely shot him a cross look, then smiled and continued to speak to Giles. "I don't think it was an invisible person, though," he continued. "Not in the sense you mean, at least."

"Why do you think that?" Giles asked.

Angel looked thoughtful. "First, it would have had to have been in the house for quite a while and I don't think it would have waited so long to do something. But, more importantly, right before Buffy yelled, there was this unusual . . . cold in the house."

Giles looked thoughtful. "Unexplained cold spots have often been associated with haunting phenomenon," he said. "This could be a ghost or a poltergeist, though such things are usually confined to a specific location. It is very odd that two separate entities would exhibit the same behavior in such a manner."

Willow looked at Giles oddly. "What if it's not two entities?"

Everyone stared at Willow, then looked expectantly at Giles. Giles shook his head. "In order for it to be one entity there would need to be something tying the two events together."

"There is," Buffy said softly. "Me."

Silence greeted her statement.

"I was at both places," Buffy continued. "The girl at the Espresso Pump was standing right next to me. And, well, today . . . maybe I'm the target. It wouldn't be the first time."

Oz spoke up. "Why would something be haunting Buffy?" he asked.

Giles looked a bit flustered. "Well, if you're right, Buffy, and you are indeed the focus of this . . . creature's malice, then . . . we need to find out why. I shall need to do some research. If you would all assist me . . . ."

The entire group of them started talking at one.

"Everyone? I'm no good at research!"

"Why does something want to hurt my baby?"

"Man, it's summer vacation! I thought that meant freedom from school work."

"Great, Giles, but how do we defend against this in the meantime?"

"You know, I kinda had plans . . . ."

Only Willow held her peace. As everyone wound down, she spoke softly, just loud enough to be heard. "Why do we need to know why this ghost's after Buffy?"

Silence descended on the group again. When no one responded, she continued more forcefully. "Well, we've already said that this sounds like a ghost or a poltergeist. Not that this would do any harm if it was something else, like an invisible girl . . . but if it's not an invisible girl, if it's a ghost -"

Buffy was impatient. "What is it? What's your idea?"

Willow nodded. "If it's a ghost, then we can get rid of it. Exorcism. Right, Giles?"

Giles was about to answer, but Xander spoke instead. "I don't think so. That didn't go so well last time we tried. Remember the wasps?"

Giles managed to reply to that. "That was a different sort of case, Xander. Those were two powerful, angry spirits. This spirit, thus far, has shown no strength aside from this. . . pushing. There have been none of the potentially deadly manifestations we faced then."

Buffy frowned. "It's 'potentially deadly' enough for me. That 'pushing' nearly sent me down the stairs head first."

"Yes," Giles acknowledged, "but no one has been shot yet."

"Excuse me, but I'm confused . . . again," said Mrs. Summers, a touch annoyed. "What exactly are we talking about here?"

"It's not important -" Giles began.

"Oh, I think it is. If you're talking about a ghost attacking Buffy, then ghosts with guns, it's very important, at least to me."

Buffy sighed slightly and tried to explain as quickly as she could. "There were two ghosts haunting the school," she said. "It was a student who killed a teacher and then himself. They were possessing students to reenact their deaths."

"Oh, dear," murmured Joyce. "You stopped them, right?"

"Yeah, we stopped them," Buffy said softly, and volunteered no more information. Sitting next to her, Angel gave her hand a quick squeeze, understanding. He clearly didn't want to think about it too much either.

"Well," Giles said finally, "the important thing is that this situation does not compare. If we're correct, a traditional exorcism should work."

"And I'm much better at magic than I was then," Willow added enthusiastically.

Xander was not reassured.

*****

It did not take long to prepare. Though they were trying to get rid of a spirit that was not linked to a place, they decided to gather at the Summers' house. That was the site of the last manifestation, after all. Besides, this ghost did seem to be following Buffy, and this was Buffy's house.

They all arrived at her house around six. Those that needed an excuse for their parents said they had been invited for dinner. Not that they'd made that up; Mrs. Summers did indeed have a meal ready for them when they arrived. She had not cooked breakfast like she'd planned, and she'd used the late afternoon cooking to distract herself from the danger to her daughter.

Willow arrived last, having stopped at Uncle Bob's Magic Cabinet to pick up the necessary supplies on her way over. She found the mood in the house generally light. Xander was pigging out on the snack food Mrs. Summers had taken out. Giles was speaking to Oz about something, and Oz nodded every once in a while but said nothing. A quick look around showed the unexpected sight of Angel helping Mrs. Summers prepare dinner, while Buffy sat nearby, smiling and chatting.

Even knowing they were about to be attempting something that could be dangerous, the dinner was a cheerful affair. Smiling, they ate dinner together, then cast some small magic together. In the end, the ritual was anticlimactic. The ghost was banished without a disturbance.

*****

"They've defeated your pet spirit," the voice scolded.

The man relaxed in his chair. "I know."

"You know?! Not only did that little witch get rid of it, it barely had them worried! Is this the best you can do?"

The anger was palpable. "You mistake me, my lord," the man said. "I had no intention for this attempt to succeed to destroy the Slayer."

A long silence. "You didn't," the voice said, disbelieving.

"Not at all. This was a test."

Another silence. "Go on."

"I saw how she dealt with a direct threat. Those friends of hers will be a problem, but they are no concern of mine. No, I will continue to throw small threats at her and around her. Already my vampires have her stretched to her limits. I have more powerful, dangerous beings under my control. All your servants will do your bidding when faced with prophecy. They will overwhelm her before she even realizes the threat."

The silence was longer this time, then a low, dark chuckle like a roll of thunder built in the shadows. The darkness laughed. "Good."

Go to Part 4