Distribution: If you have permission for any of my other stories, feel free. Others, just ask and I will most likely give permission.
Feedback: Please!!! I live on the stuff! Pretty please!
Disclaimer: All characters belong to Joss, the WB, Mutant Enemy, (the evil)FOX, and whoever else came up with them. If they belonged to me the show would be drastically different. Please don't sue, I'm only a high-schooler without a job anyways.
Rating: Same as the TV show
Spoilers: This one takes place after "The Prom."
Concept: A post prom party at Willow's house. And, of course, Willow takes it upon herself to invite Angel.
Author's notes: This is fic number 15 in my S3 Rewrites Series. And yes, I'm aware that there are several B&A fics that use games of Truth or Dare, but that's really all I could think of for this episode so I apologize to those authors. Hopefully this one won't be too similar to any of the others that are out there. This story also uses a Ouija board. For those of you who don't believe in this sort of thing, remember this is a Buffy-universe and things work differently here. For those of you who think it sounds neat and want to try it; I would recommend against it. Ouija boards are not toys and even with precautions taken you never know what might happen if you don't have the experience and skill to use them. Okay, I'll get off my soap box now. Oh, and just assume that "Wild Horses" wasn't the last dance of the night, as it looked to be on the show. It was only the beginning...

Buffy remained in Angel's arms from one song to another to another. It was very much as if they were the only two people in the entire room.

Finally that illusion was broken when Willow and Xander appeared beside them.

"Think we can split you apart for one song here?" Willow asked the pair in a teasing voice.

"Well...." Angel looked down at Buffy.

"Just one song." Xander guaranteed.

"I suppose so." Buffy replied as her and Angel split, actually not the least surprised that Xander wanted to dance with her.

What did surprise both her and Angel was when Willow moved to take Angel's hand which Buffy had just dropped. Angel quickly overcame his surprise and took Willow into his arms, although not nearly as closely as he had been holding Buffy.

Buffy moved with a smile to Xander and they danced away, laughing and talking, Xander being sure to get her out of hearing range of the other pair.

"So, are you having fun tonight?" Angel asked Willow slightly awkwardly.

"Yeah. And so is Buffy, thanks to you." Willow said with a grin.

"Yeah, well...."

"Look Angel, Xander and I did what we did for a reason. And it's not just that he wanted to dance with Buffy. I was hoping I could ask you something." She said hesitantly.

"Anything." He said with a smile. "You know that."

"Well, see, I'm kinda having this little get together after prom and all. Me and Oz, Xander and Anya, you know. Games, food, sleepover, movies. And Buffy wasn't going to come, something about a fifth wheel, but now..." She trailed off, blushing.

"But now you want me and her to come." Angel finished for her.

"Well, yeah, I guess I do. She gave us the perfect prom tonight. And she got the recognition from the kids that she deserves. And you came for her big night. It'd be a shame for it to end, for her to have to go home alone when she knows her friends are still together and having fun." Willow tried a slight guilt trip on him.

It worked. "Well, I don't exactly have any other plans. I mean, if Buffy wants to..."

"If Buffy wants to what?" Buffy questioned as she appeared beside her friends. Xander had been reclaimed by Anya.

"I'll let Angel ask you." Willow said as she broke from the vampire's embrace, leaving them alone so she could find Oz again.

"Did it work?" Oz asked as she rejoined him.

"Yeah, I kinda guilted Angel into agreeing. Now we just have to hope she's not too stubborn. After all, he did kinda dump her already. Let's just hope this gets them back together." Willow said as Oz put an arm around her waist and they watched their friends dance.

A few hours later, around midnight, the dance finally broke-up. Xander and Anya waited around by the front doors until Willow and Oz met up with them. "You guys ready?"

"Yeah, we just have to wait for..."

"Us." Buffy chirped as her and Angel walked up.

"So you did decide to come. Cool." Oz commented as the six walked towards his van. Willow climbed in beside him and the others got into the back seats for the short ride over to Willow's house. They made brief stops at both Buffy's and Angel's places to pick up clothes for the two to change into and to let Buffy's mom know that she was going to Willow's after all.

"I still can't believe your parents are letting us do this." Buffy commented as Willow unlocked her front door.

"Actually, they're not. They're out of town for the weekend and think I'm staying over at your house after prom." Willow said with a small grimace. Everyone laughed as Willow opened her front door and said, "Come on in, everyone."

Buffy smiled at her friend gratefully. Angel now had his invitation back without the awkwardness of having to ask or of Willow inviting him specifically.

Everyone filed into the family room where Willow had a pile of sleeping bags, tons of munchies, a stack of board games, and a pile of videos.

"Wow Will. You really went all out." Xander commented as he looked around.

"Yeah, well, this is probably the only party I'll ever get to have. I wanted it to be good."

"Can I get out of this dress now?" Anya asked in her typical fashion. "I don't like it. It makes it hard to breath and it..."

"Yeah, you can change." Willow cut her off before she could say anything embarrassing. She pointed out the two bathrooms to Angel and Oz, saying they could change in there. She told Xander to change in her parents room and Anya to use the guest room. She then pulled Buffy with her into her own bedroom, saying something about needing help to get out of her dress.

"I don't really need help." Willow said as she started to unzip her dress. "I just wanted to make sure you weren't mad at me."

"For inviting Angel?" Buffy asked as she took of her own gown. "No way. Despite all the stuff I told you, I still want him more than anything. I understood his decision, I still do, but I certainly don't like it."

"So if we try to change his mind tonight you'll be okay with that?" Willow asked as she slipped into her blue and green stripped PJ's.

"I sure will." Buffy replied with a grin. "Thanks Willow." Buffy slipped into a pair of black pajama pants, then pulled on a silver tank top with black stars all over it.

"That's cute. Where'd you find it?" Willow asked as they headed back towards the living room.

"At Kohl's." Buffy responded as she plopped down on the floor beside a box of crackers. "Mom said that with college starting soon I'll need some more clothes and there was this huge sale and all."

"Cool." Willow commented as she reached for a bag of chips and grabbed a soda from the cooler she'd placed by the couch.

Xander soon walked in wearing a white tee-shirt and cartoon-covered pajama pants, causing Buffy to start to giggle.

She had just managed to stop when Anya walked in wearing a long white nightgown. Both Buffy and Willow burst into laughter. They were still laughing when Oz came in with sweats on, looking much more normal than the other two.

Buffy had just managed to stop laughing when Angel walked in and her mouth fell open. He wore black silk pajamas that looked simply amazing on him. Anya turned and was about to comment when Xander put a hand over her mouth and pulled her away from Angel to sit down on the couch.

"What?" Angel asked when the room was silent for a moment. Buffy's mouth still hung open and she gazed at him with total love. His eyes fell on her and he looked slightly awestruck as well.

"Nothing...uh..." Buffy finally tried to speak as she realized she was staring.

"So, what's first? Movie or games?" Willow broke in.

Buffy flashed her a look of gratitude, still unable to speak.

"What games?" Oz asked as he went over to the pile.

"How about Spin the Bottle?" Xander asked with a grin.

"I'm not sure that's a good idea Xand." Buffy said, looking uncomfortably at Angel, then glancing pointedly between Xander and Willow.

"Why on earth would you want to spin a bottle around? That's a game?" Anya asked.

"Well, it's kinda more than that." Willow told her. Angel looked confused as well so she decided to explain. "It's...um....Well, you sit in a circle and someone spins the bottle. Then whoever it points to...they...well.."

"Whoever the bottle is pointing at kisses the person who spun it." Buffy cut in for her friend. "Unless it's someone of the same sex. Then it's the person next to them who's not the same sex. Then they spin the bottle and kiss the person it lands on. It just goes on and on."

"But," Willow cut in. "It's not really a good game when people are gonna be uncomfortable if they have to kiss certain people."

Xander looked at her, finally getting her point. "Well, what about Truth or Dare?"

"Well, Xander..."

"What's that?" Angel asked. Xander and Willow explained, to Angel as well as Anya.

"That sounds fun." Anya said. "Cause if you don't wanna worry about a dare you just have to tell the truth."

"I don't know. Truths can be worse sometimes." Buffy said, remembering when she used to play Truth or Dare at Hemry.

"Yeah, but not between the six of us." Xander countered. "There's not a whole lot about each other we don't know anyway."

"I guess, but..." Buffy trailed off as a thought crossed her mind. "But I wanna set one groundrule."

"What is it?" Willow asked her friend.

"Truths can pertain only to who a person is right now."

"I don't get you..." Xander began.

"Nothing about Anyanka or Angelus." Buffy made herself perfectly clear, knowing that Xander might use the game to bring up some very embarrassing things about Angelus.

Anya shrugged her shoulders, she couldn't have cared one way or the other. Angel only looked at Buffy gratefully.

"Agreed?" Buffy asked, making eye contact with each of her friends.

There was a chorus of "agreed" and they all sat down to play.

"Why don't you go first Will. It's your party and all."

"Okay. Oz. Truth or Dare?" Willow turned to her boyfriend.

"Truth." Oz answered. He wasn't ready for a dare, at least not this early in the game.

"Okay. Um....if you could have one wish, what would it be?" Willow asked.

"That my little cousin had never bitten me." Oz said after a moment's thought. Everyone laughed a little bit. "Buffy. Truth or Dare?"

"Truth." Buffy responded hesitantly. She hoped Oz wouldn't come up with anything too bad.

"Okay....Describe your best kiss ever."

Buffy moaned and glared at him, but Oz hadn't been trying to be mean. That was just the only thing he could think of.

"Um...." Buffy tried to think. She could feel Angel's eyes on her and it threw her. Finally, she answered, "My best kiss was, um, was probably the very first time I kissed Angel." Both her and Angel thought back to that night in her bedroom and smiled a little. "He was trying to rationalize why we couldn't be together, I was acting like I couldn't care less, and we just kinda gravitated towards each other despite our words. They say that the first time you kiss someone is always special, well, it was more than that. It was incredible." Buffy said, her eyes locked on the bowl of candy in front of her. Her face was an interesting shade of red.

The room was oddly silent for a moment and Buffy finally looked up, right into Angel's eyes. He was staring at her with pure love.

"Ask someone else now." Anya interrupted their gaze with her usual tactlessness.

"Fine. Anya. Truth or Dare?"

"Dare." Anya replied, not sure what kind of truth Buffy would think up for her.

"Cool. Um...." Buffy tried to think of something. She finally whispered something in Willow's ear and they both broke out giggling. Willow nodded her head. "I dare you to lip-sync a song and dance for us."

Anya looked at her strangely. "What song?"

"This one." Willow found it in her stack of CD's and popped it into a player. She let everyone listen to it for a minute, whereupon both Xander and Oz started to grin.

"But she doesn't look like her." Xander commented sadly.

"Oh, but I know this song." Anya said. "I saw it on TV last week."

Willow went back to the beginning of the song and then sat down as Anya did a pretty good impression of Britany as she sang and danced to "Baby, One More Time."

Everyone, even Angel who had never heard or seen the song, was laughing by the time Anya was done. She sat back down with a flourish as the song ended.

"Angel. Truth or Dare." Anya said immediately.

"Dare." Despite Buffy's rule, he wasn't comfortable with truth. Besides, what could Anya come up with that would bother him?

"Have sex with Buffy."

Buffy choked on the soda she was drinking, almost spitting it out. Willow and Oz just stared at her. Xander burst out laughing and couldn't stop. Angel looked at her, his eyes wide.

"Um...Anya..." Willow started to say. She was interrupted by Buffy, who sat next to her, still having a coughing fit. Sitting on the other side of Buffy, Xander began to hit the Slayer lightly on the back.

When she finally stopped choking, Willow continued to explain. "Anya. That's not the kind of thing you can dare someone to do."

"Why not? It doesn't break Buffy's rule, and no one said there were any other rules in this game." Anya didn't understand what was wrong with her dare.

"Because that's not exactly something someone will want to do with other people watching." Xander tried to explain. "And the dares have to take place in front of everyone."

"But you wanted to play that kissing game."

"But kissing is a lot different from having sex." Xander said patiently. "Kissing can be done in public, and it doesn't have to mean anything. Friends can kiss. Friends don't have sex. And no one does in public."

"Fine then. Angel, kiss Buffy." Anya said with a bored tone, looking at Xander who sat next to her. "Is that a better dare?"

Xander didn't say anything, his eyes locked with Willow, then Oz, as they felt the tension in the room jump sky high. Angel and Buffy stared at each other across the circle without comment.

Finally, Angel sighed and scooted forward, essentially kneeling in the center of the circle.

His hand came up to Buffy's chin and he tilted her head as he leaned towards her. Buffy's eyes closed automatically, her hand moving to rest on his knee for better leverage.

Angel kissed her softly, gently. It was a careful kiss, partly because they were surrounded by others, partly because he knew if he truly got started he wouldn't be able to stop. He was starved for her. When Angel pulled back, he found himself staring into Buffy's eyes. They remained that way for almost a minute, neither them or anyone else knowing what to say.

Finally, Oz said, "Your turn to ask a question now Angel."

Angel reluctantly scooted back to his original spot between Anya and Oz and continued the game.

After thirty minutes, many secrets, and much laughing, the gang finally decided to play a different game. Since Anya had been the last one picked at Truth or Dare, they decided to let her pick what game to play. She came back with a box smaller than most of the games. The large lettering on the front of it spelled out "Ouija."

"Do you know what that is?" Buffy asked her uncertainly.

"No, but I don't know what any of the other ones are either." Anya said with a shrug. "I just grabbed one with a neat box."

"I kinda got my share of ghosts last year." Xander said.

"Ghosts?" Angel questioned. "I thought this was just a game."

"Well, some people call it just a game or a toy. Others call it the most dangerous game in the world. And still others call it an occult tool." Willow said quietly. "I got it because of the later."

Willow, with Buffy's help, then explained to Angel and Anya just exactly what a Ouija board was meant to do. She had gotten it as a magickal tool and found that it often worked for her.

"So do we still wanna do this?" Oz asked after everyone grasped what could happen.

"Have a seance? Why not?" Anya asked. "I've seen them done before. They're perfectly safe if you do them right."

"Yeah, just let me get some stuff to make sure it's safe." Willow said as she headed for her bedroom. She returned a moment later with six blue candles and a container of salt.

The group sat around a small table in the family room where they set up the board and the piece of wood that would be used as a pointer. Willow laid a circle of salt around the board itself, chanting softly to herself as she did so. She then placed the charged protection candles in a larger circle, one behind each of her friends.

She then sat in her place across from Anya and the two witches cast a circle of protection.

Their friends were startled when the candles flared to life as they finished casting the circle.

"Okay." Willow said as each of them put one finger on the pointer. "Are we going to call for anyone specifically?" Oz held a pad of paper and was ready to write since Willow had informed them that depending on the ghost the pointer could sometimes move too fast to make the words out unless they were written down.

"Let's just see if anyone wants to talk." Buffy suggested. That was how her and her friends in LA had always done it. Of course, it had never worked for them, probably because they had been giggling the entire time they tried to use it.

Willow nodded and said in a firm voice. "Are there any spirits of light here this night?" It was her traditional opening question anyway.

Nothing happened for a moment, then they moved the pointer slowly towards the word "yes."

Everyone except Willow and Anya gasped in shock. None of them had ever had it work before. Everyone looked at each other, somehow thinking that someone had made it do that.

"Are you willing to speak with us?" Willow asked.

The pointer shifted slightly, still pointing to the word "yes."

"What was your name in life?" Anya questioned. Both her and Willow knew that if a spirit wouldn't give it's name it was probably evil and should be banished.

The pointer moved slowly. Willow called out the letters as Oz wrote them down. "J.....A.....N.....N....A...."

Everyone but Anya locked eyes with someone in shock. This was impossible.

"But we knew you by another name, right?" Buffy finally had to ask. The pointed moved towards the "yes" again, then spelled out "J....E...N...N...Y..." It moved a little faster than it had the first time.

Angel's face took on a pained expression.

"Are you here for a specific reason?" Willow asked after they were all over the initial shock.

"Yes." Was pointed to again.

"What is it?" Xander spoke up.

"T...O...H...E...L...P.."

"To help who?" Oz asked. Angel was now the only one who hadn't spoken.

"A..N..G..E..L.."

No one knew what to say. The obvious question would have been "how?"

Instead, Angel asked Jenny softly, "Why?"

"B..E..C..A..U..S..E..Y..O..U..A.N.D.B.U.F.F.Y.N.E.E.D.EACHOTHER" The pointer continued to pick up speed as Jenny got the hang of communicating this way.

"Why?" This time Xander asked the question.

"TOFIGHTSUCCESSFULLY" Willow continued to call out letters as the pointer moved. Oz rapidly wrote them down, then told them all what Jenny had said.

"We do?" This from Buffy

"THATISWHYYOUARETHEMOSTSUCCESSFULSLAYERINHISTORYBECAUSEYOUDONOTFIGHTALONE"

"How can you help them?" Willow asked.

"YOUALREADYDIDJUSTNOONEKNOWSIT"

"I did? How?"

"THERITUALOFRESTORATION"

"My curse? But how does that help Buffy and I? We still can't be together."

"WILLOWDIDNOTPERFORMACURSESHEGAVEYOUYOURSOULWITHNOCONDITIONS"

"Whoa. That was a little too fast for me to catch." Buffy broke in.

"Willow did not perform a curse. She gave you your soul with no conditions." Oz read back to them.

The entire table was silent for a moment except for Anya, who asked what the heck they were all talking about. She was ignored.

Finally, Buffy spoke up, her voice barely a whisper. Her eyes were full of tears. "You're sure?"

"IAM"

"Why?" Angel asked again, meaning it in a different context

"BECAUSEONLYTOGETHERAREYOUSTRONGENOUGHTOFIGHTTHEEVILTHATWILLCOME"

Angel looked to Oz again. "Because only together are you strong enough to fight the evil that will come." He correctly spaced and punctuated the sentence.

"ANDBECAUSEYOUBOTHDESERVEHAPPINESS" The pointer moved again.

"We both deserve happiness." Buffy repeated in wonder. "Thank you so much."

"YOUAREWELCOMEIMUSTGONOW"

"Thank you Jenny. And I'm sorry." Angel said as a tear traced it's way down his cheek.

"TELLRUPERTILOVEHIM."

"We will." Willow said softly.

"GOODBYE"

Everyone simultaneously felt a slight chill move through them. The candles flickered wildly for a moment and then went out.

"Let no other beings use this board or be present in this house until I call for them." Willow chanted after a second. She then added a Latin incantation while Anya chanted a circle thanks and closing spell.

When they were done everyone remained sitting in shock for a moment.

Willow finally stood up. "Anya, can you grab some of these candles for me? Guys, there's some more food out in the kitchen...." She trailed off as Xander and Oz both headed for the kitchen. Anya picked up a few candles, Willow grabbed the others, and they headed back towards Willow's room.

Buffy and Angel had locked eyes over the table and didn't move a muscle as Willow cleared everyone out of the room.

Buffy slowly made her way around the table and sat next to Angel.

"We both deserve happiness." Buffy repeated to Angel.

"But you deserve a normal life."

"You heard Jenny. We're only strong when we're together. And I don't think she means just physically. We need each other Angel. I can't imagine what my life would be like if you weren't in it."

"Buffy, I..." Angel started to say.

"What would I have left to fight for?" She whispered as she burst into tears.

"I don't want to leave." He finally admitted as he drew her into his arms.

"But I knew I had to. Because being around you all the time and not being able to...."

"I know what you mean." Her voice was slightly muffled as she spoke into his chest. "I didn't want you to leave. I don't know what I would have done...but I knew why you had to. The temptation would have just been to strong one night and...."

"And it would have cost more of your friends their lives." Angel whispered as he stroked her hair. She was finally calming down.

"But we are talking past tense here, right?" Buffy whispered as she drew back to look him in the eyes.

"Well, yeah, I guess we are. If we can work together, fight together....be together and not have to worry about Angelus, how could I say no to that. I love you too much." Angel said. "But I'm almost too afraid." A tear trailed down his face and Buffy tenderly wiped it away.

"Of what?"

"That you'll hate me someday." Angel expressed his darkest fear, one that he thankfully hadn't been asked about in their game of Truth or Dare. "You'll look back and you'll wonder what kind of life you could have lived in the sunlight with a normal guy."

"I could never hate you Angel." Buffy whispered, taking both his hands in her own. "I'm the Slayer, I'm not exactly made to thrive in the sunlight. Besides, anyplace you aren't automatically loses a great deal of appeal to me."

Angel's face changed as she spoke, an expression of pure amazement coming unto his face. "How did I get to be so lucky?" He whispered as he leaned in to kiss her.

"The same way I did." Buffy said as their lips met.

The kiss continued to grow in intensity as Buffy shifted her position so that she sat on Angel's lap. Their arms went around each other and they pressed as close as possible.

They didn't even notice when Willow came in to grab some sleeping bags. Willow and Oz spent the night in her room. Xander and Anya took the guest room.

And Buffy and Angel remained right where they were, on the floor of the room where they had been given the best news in the entire world.

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