Distribution: Anyone who has permission for any of my other stories may have this too. Others, ask and I will most likely give permission.
Feedback: Please!!! This was the first Buffy fic I ever wrote (and I just realized I never sent it to a few of my lists) so I really wanna know what everyone thinks.
Disclaimer: Anala is mine. So are the spells.(Mostly) The three times three spell is from someone else, not sure who exactly. The first part of the wolf protection chant isn't mine, but I'm not sure who's it is. I added the last part, obviously. "When I Fall in Love" belongs to Celine Dion and whoever else. 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: Anything up to The Yoku Factor on Buffy, and Sanctuary on Angel. Nothing beyond those shows has happened.
This is a response to ObsessiveAngel's challenge:
Must haves:
Buffy/Angel reuniting
Buffy telling Riley off for hurting Angel
Spike being good, evilless-Spike
No fighting amongst the Scooby gang
Adam being killed
Giles drunk and singing
Cordy and Wesley being there too
Angel being able to be as "happy" as he wants
Try and include 5 of these:
Riley telling Buffy to choose between him and Angel, Buffy replying: Choose? There's no choice to make. And walking over to Angel.
The song "When I Fall in Love"
A get together at the Bronze
A competition over who looks better in leather pants
Sex in a public place (can be implied if you don't like writing it)
Someone being able to do magic naturally
The movie Sleepless in Seattle
Giles acting kinda like Ripper
This is a re-write of The Yoku Factor. It begins at the point that Angel, Riley, and Buffy are in her room. Spike is not in league with Adam, is not evil again, so therefor there is no fighting or division in the Scooby gang.

"Riley, I need to talk to Angel. Alone."

Riley stared at her, but didn't move a muscle. "I'm not going anywhere. After what that bastar.."

Buffy glared daggers at him and took a few steps towards him. Buffy spoke slowly, as if to a little child, "Go! I don't need protection from the big, bad vampire. I need to talk to him. Without you here. "

Riley looked into her eyes, and must have recognized the look he saw there. "I'll wait right outside."

Buffy just rolled her eyes and herded him out the door. She turned slowly to Angel. "Sorry about that. He's kinda..."

"An idiot?"

"I was gonna say overprotective, but..."

"Look, I didn't come here to disrupt your life. Riley <*he said the name with disgust> is not any of my business. I just wanted to say I was sorry. I was way out-of line..."

"It means a lot that you came here, but Angel, it wasn't just you. I had no right to say some of the things I did. "

"But no matter what, I shouldn't have hit yo..."

"I kinda hit you first." Buffy grinned.

"Doesn't matter."

" Yes, it does Angel. We were both wrong. Let's just move on with..."

" Our lives? Try even harder than we were to forget?"

Buffy looked at him curiously when he said that. She got a momentary sense of deja-vu. Something about forgetting... She reluctantly brought her mind back to the present, trying to concentrate on what he had said even though she was feeling overwhelmed just being near him again.

" Not forget, Angel. Just move on. I'll never forget you..."

Whoa! Buffy thought to herself, that same weird feeling. What was going on?

He didn't notice her discomfort, he was too preoccupied with his inner turmoil. He wanted to take her into his arms right there, but knew he no longer had that right. Besides, he knew how it would end.

" I won't forget either. But Buffy..."

Just then Angel was interrupted by the phone ringing.

Buffy looked at him apologetically and went to answer it. Buffy spoke "(to Angel) Hold that thought. (into phone) Hello?"

Angel watched her as her beautiful face creased with lines of worry. He couldn't hear what was being said, he only knew it was upsetting her. He wanted to kill whoever was upsetting her so.

Buffy said into the phone, "Go to Giles' place Will, I'll be there as soon as I can. Everything will be all right. I'll let Xand know to meet us there."

She hung up and quickly dialed another number. "Hey, Xander, are you with Anya? Okay, good, you two get your butts to Giles. Willow and Tara were at a Lowell party when a huge group of vampires crashed the place. Willow thinks they were working for Adam; they may be going after the Initiative, checking it's defenses, etc..,we gotta move fast."

She hung up, and turned to Angel, who was looking at her with puzzlement. He had no clue what Stevenson was or who Adam was. And all he knew of the Initiative was that they had tried to kill him and were pretty much bad. So why was Buffy worried about them?

She read the look in his face, so she explained. "Yeah, the Initiative may be bad, but they also have hundreds of cages with monsters, demons, vamps, and other creatures of the night. If Adam needs to build an army that would be a great place to go. There are secret ways in, but not enough to get a lot of vamps in at the same time to free everyone. They're probably looking for a direct entrance. "

As she had been talking, she had put on a lightweight coat and filled it's pockets with Slayer paraphernalia. She tossed him a few things and they were off. She hadn't even questioned that he would come with, she just knew he would.

As they opened the door, she had started to continue explaining, only to be blocked by Riley. "Where are you guys going?"

Mad beyond anything for him not understanding Angel and her's relationship even after all the time she had taken to explain, and for messing with her boyfriend, even though he no longer technically was, she brushed by him.

"Someplace that you don't need to be. Go back into hiding Riley, before the Initiative finds you."

And with that she breezed by him. Angel gave him a slight smirk before following in her wake.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Part 2

Willow, Tara, Xander, and Anya were already at Giles when Buffy and Angel arrived. Giles's looked at Angel rather strangely as he opened the door, but made no comment as he let the vampire in.

"Angel! Hi. I didn't know you were back in town. After the way Buffy acted when she came back after seeing you I...oh, Goddess..." Willow abruptly stopped talking as Buffy shot her a look. Obviously realizing she had said too much, Willow continued in a rush. "But that's not really why we're here, is it? Buffy..."

Giles cut her off this time, explaining to Buffy all that Willow had told him. "Put briefly; During a party at Lowell Hall, somewhere around a dozen vampires barged in and started tearing the place apart. Although the place was packed with people Willow recognizes as being in the Initiative, there were far to many college students around for them to get their stakes out. So they started a huge fist-fight that cleared most of the people out of the room, then discretely staked as many as possible before the vampires fled. They seemed to be looking for something in particular, however, as they had scanners that we've only seen used by the Initiative. So we assume Adam is the leader behind them. And they are very possibly looking for an easier access to the Initiative than the tunnels Adam and Spike escaped from."

"That's what you call briefly, G-man?"

"That was as brief as possible while still including all the bloody facts!"

"Sorry...." Xander looked down.

"As am I. I should not have yelled, but as always you choose to make a joke at the worst possible time. And do not call me G-man. " He added the last part almost as an afterthought.

Buffy cut into the tension by asking, "So, what do we do? I know exactly how to find the easy access that the vamps are looking for, but I can't use it anymore. And neither can Riley. And I don't think anyone else in the Initiative is gonna make nice and let us in"

She explained to Angel quickly what had happened with Oz, Riley, and the Initiative. She left out, of course, the part about Willow and Tara. As far as she knew she was the only one that knew about them and didn't want to say anything if Willow didn't want the others to know.

"So you can't get in? So what? Just call them up and tell them." Anya said with her usual flippantness.

"Well, I'd assume they've come to the same conclusions we have by now. But since working together is not an option, we'll mearly have to both do our best and stay out of each others way. Buffy, I suggest you patrol and try to kill as many vampires as possible. Don't just let them find you, actively hunt! The less vampires there are the less Adam can turn to his purposes. The rest of us will stay here and try to find a way to destroy Adam or at least find out where his 'headquarters' are."

"Could you use more help? Cause I've got..." Angel began

Just then Giles' phone rang. He excused himself to the other room and came back with the phone in hand, giving it to Angel.

Angel took the phone "Angel. Cordy, calm down. What happened? What did you see? Yeah, that would be Adam. We're working on the problem, I was just about to suggest you and Wes come up and help. We need more people, and Wesley could bring some of my older books. Maybe there's something on how to kill a demon-monster-vampire-hybrid or whatever the hell you would call Adam. Just hurry up you two. Things are probably gonna go down pretty fast." Angel hung up and told the group briefly about Doyle's death and how Cordy now got the visions from the powers that be. He also told them that she had seen Adam fighting with Buffy, and it looked as if the Slayer was losing the battle.

"Well, that's one vision that won't come to pass."

Angel didn't comment that all the visions came to pass and had never before been wrong. Maybe because he wanted so desperately to believe her.

"Well, worry about that later. I doubt you'll even run into Adam tonight, not until all his plans are set up which they obviously aren't. " Giles told them.

"Yeah, sure. I'm already loaded up on weapons. Let's go." She said the last to Angel, just as unconsciously as she had when she had headed for Giles. She knew Angel would go with her.

It seemed everyone in the group did as well, for Willow looked at both of them as she said "Be careful." and Xander said to Angel, "Don't fall on a stake now, Dead-boy." Anya mearly watched them, uninterested as always, and Tara smiled shyly, whispering, "Artemis and all her huntresses go with you and protect you."

Angel looked at her oddly for a moment, then said in return, "And Apollo, her brother, light your way."

Tara looked at him sharply, but him and Buffy had already turned to leave.

She turned to Willow "Is he a Witch too?"

"No, why would you say that?"

"Because that was a traditional blessing I said, and he replied with another traditional blessing that is the perfect response to it. "

Xander cut in, "No, he's not a Witch. He's something much older. He's a vampire."

"But he can't be! He had a soul; a very tormented, yet very positive aura."

"Yeah, he's a vampire with a soul. It's a long story, but it's the reason him and Buffy can't be together even though they love each other so much."

"Sorry to cut into this fascinating conversation, but we have to research." Giles said.He set books down on the table, and each of the teenagers took one. The search had begun.

****

Meanwhile, Buffy and Angel were leaving Giles's and heading for one of the local cemeteries.

"Willow's friend, she's a Witch too?"

"Yeah, that's how they met. Some Wicca group at school. Willow found out the group itself was a bunch of fakes, but Tara was the real McCoy. They've been practicing together ever since." Buffy told him.

"That's good. Slayer strength may not be enough for this job, we may just need a little magick."

Buffy shouted out a warning a second before three vampires jumped them. She spun and took the first one out easily, beheading him with the knife she carried. The other two charged her.

Angel spun and took one of them down with a round-horse, quickly staking him.

Buffy had the other one engaged in a punch-block, punch-block routine that she was thriving on. She loved to release some pent-up emotions this way. She was beating the pulp out of him when the vampire suddenly exploded. When the ashes cleared, she saw Angel behind where it had been, still holding a stake

"Spoil my fun..."

"Save some for the other vamps Buffy."

She looked at him slowly, emotions still running high.

"I just needed to release a little "hormonal angst" as Xander once said. I enjoy beating the crap out of these things every once in a while." Buffy said slowly.

Angel took a step closer, "I'm just saying to save your strength. There's plenty more out there that we can kill."

"I know, I know. It's just sometimes..."

"Sometimes what?" He asked.

Buffy changed the subject, "I kinda like having you along with me again. I mean, Willow or Xander patrol with me sometimes, but I always have to worry about them getting killed. With you I know that won't happen. I don't have to worry or watch out for you or..."

Buffy got that feeling of deja-vu again, only this time a picture came into her head along with it. He was facing her, they were both near tears. He was saying something about her worrying about him would get her killed. Or get other people killed. How he couldn't fight when he was like this....

Like what? The rational part of her mind asked.

She rapidly saw him standing in the sunlight, walking towards her. He kissed her, and....

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Chapter 3

"Buffy? Buffy? Are you okay?" Angel asked her, very worried.

"What?" She suddenly came back to the present, confused and disoriented.

"You kinda blanked out on me."

"Sorry, just daydreaming I guess. Weird though, I...." Buffy was very confused.

"It was not a daydream."

Angel spun around, trying to locate the source of the voice.

Finally, he saw it. Someone, hooded and dark, was walking slowly towards them.

"It was not a dream." The voice repeated. "You see what was."

"What was? But that never..."

"You see a day that never was, yet was. You see events that never happened, yet did."

Angel looked at the figure, now clearly a woman. "She remembers the day that...."

"Not completely yet, but she will. Her love is so strong it fights with everything in her to remember. And a Slayer is a great fighter. She will not lose this fight, she only needs time."

"Okay, who the heck are you, what are you talking about, and how do you know who I am?"

"Who I am is not important. Only that I can help you. As for what I speak of, you will remember in time. No one can tell you, you must remember for yourself. But you should not dwell on it now. You need all your strength for this battle. Adam is something like which you have never faced, and he has powerful magick on his side. You will not defeat him without help. Help I can give."

"Who are you?" Buffy repeated.

"You will know me in time. But if you need a name, you may call me Anala. For now, I need to see your Watcher. I believe he has a book I require." That was all the woman said, she mearly stopped talking and looked at Buffy expectantly, waiting to be taken to Giles.

"How do I know you're on our side? That you won't just kill all of us?"

The woman began chanting softly in a strange language. Buffy glanced to Angel quickly, but he indicated he didn't know what it was, which was rare. The woman gestured at Buffy, and she felt herself levitating in the air. She spun around and as she did so, felt a strange touch on her mind. "Because if I wanted to kill you, I would have done so by now. Or I would have killed or kidnapped your friends, the ones you name as Xander, Willow, Anya, Spike; should I go on?" Anala had read her mind.

" Spike!! Spike's not our friend...."

"Actually, he kinda is now." Buffy supplied. "The Initiative put a chip in his head so that he can't hurt or kill any mortal thing--so he's been helping us fight demons, vamps, and stuff. And can I please get down now?!?"

"Oh, sorry."

Anala gestured with her hand again, and the Slayer felt herself slowly lowered to the ground.

"What are you?"

"I am a Witch, much in the way your friend Willow is. But I also have natural magick, magick I was born with. It was part of my family's legacy, a family tree filled with powerful witches, spellcasters, and other Pagans. That is why I know of your problems, and am here to help you with them. All of them."

As she said the last part, she focused her attention on Angel. He looked at her curiously, and was about to ask what she meant when Buffy spoke.

"Fine, I'll take you to Giles. The whole gang should be there. Maybe then you'd care to explain a little more how you intend to help."

Buffy, Angel, and Anala walked back to Giles house to meet the rest of the gang.

When they arrived, Buffy opened the door and led the other two in. She noted that Cordelia and Wesley had arrived, and that Tara was gone. Xander, Anya, Willow, and Giles were still there.

Buffy spoke at once, "Giles, everyone; This is Anala. She's a really powerful Witch who for some reason wants to help us."

"I want to help because you fight for the same things I do. I am also here for another matter, but that can wait until this problem with Adam is settled."

Giles looked at Buffy, "How do you know she's really who she says?"

"Because she showed me and Angel her powers. And I got the feeling she was way holding back on us. I've got the feeling she's stronger than Willow, maybe even stronger than Amy or Tara."

"May I see for sure?" Willow asked Anala.

Anala glanced at her a moment, closed her eyes for a moment, then nodded her head. "What I have done is lowered my shielding to allow your magick to touch me. I still have all my mental shields, so you will not be able to enter my mind, only feel the power in my body." Anala told her.

Willow nodded and murmured in Latin, "Now is the time, Now is the hour, Show me her magick, Show me her power." A white glow began to form around Willow as she added more to the chant, and then the glow formed around Anala as well.

Willow suddenly stopped chanting, her eyes wide open in shock. "She....Wow! Most of her magick isn't learned, it's natural. She's in almost total alignment with the elements, and with that power she can do anything. Highlights would include reading minds, telekinesis, astral projection, clairvoyance, and discernment. Possibly more. And those are on top of all the normal powers any Witch can develop, which she has developed almost fully."

"In short, we're lucky she's on our side." Xander quipped.

"Exactly."

"If I may ask, how did you become so strong?" Giles questioned.

"Through my bloodlines. My whole family is spellcasters, witches, pagans, etc... Many were rather powerful. Some weren't at all. The power seemed to travel at random. My sister had only a little, she was more a researcher and such. I have more than anyone in my family ever. I'm told it's my calling. As Buffy is called to be Slayer, I've been called to use my magick for good. The Powers That Be have given me what they have for a specific reason." Anala recited like it was a speech.

"You know of The Powers?" Angel looked shocked.

"Yes, I know them and their oracles very well. But anyway..."

The oracles? Buffy wondered why that sounded familiar. She had a sudden flash-- Angel telling her that he went to the oracles and asked them to turn back the day. That they only had another minute. She remembered crying, and suddenly had her head on his chest. She heard his heart beating.

That sensation shocked Buffy out of her memories. She suddenly looked at Angel with a start.

He noticed her look and came slowly to her. Anala continued to talk to Giles and the others, but the lovers no longer heard her. "Buffy? What's wrong?"

"The things Anala said I'd remember in time? I'm remembering more and more. Like certain things people say remind me of them, and they come back in flashes. But it makes no sense....I...." Buffy told him.

Just then, Anala finished her story and Giles interrupted Buffy's words.

"Buffy?"

"Yeah? What?"

"Why don't you and Angel continue to patrol? It's still a few hours till sunrise. Then you can return home, don't worry about coming here. With Anala to help this should go much faster. We'll let you know if we find anything." Giles told his Slayer.

"Sounds good. I never was much in the book department."

With that, she and Angel turned to leave again. As they left, they heard Anala mention to Giles the title of a book she was looking for. She said it didn't have to do with Adam, but was part of the other reason she came.

"Why, yes. I do have that. It was Jenny's, but she said everything in it was too hard for her to do, that she didn't have the power. "

"But I do." Anala replied.

Part 4

Buffy and Angel walked another graveyard, still deep in conversation. She had been trying for the better part of hour, in-between stakings, to get him to tell her what happened, and still he refused.

"Anala said you'd remember in time, that no one could tell you. I was told no one but me was ever supposed to remember, but that's obviously changed somehow. I'm afraid if I tell you it will upset the oracles or the Powers themselves. If you're meant to remember, you will."

Buffy had told him parts of what she remembered, and while he had verified them, he wouldn't elaborate at all. He wouldn't even help her put them in order. And he must have said those last statements at least five times.

Angel knew Buffy probably thought he was being so mean, but he just couldn't tell her. His head wished she had never started to remember, so that he alone would have to suffer with the memory of that day. The other part of him, the "heart," if you would, was so happy that she had remembered. Even though they could never be together again, the memory of that day had already gotten him through many sleepless, aching nights. He knew it would be the same for her.

"I remember that somehow you were human. And that you gave it all up; for me, I think. I remember us making love, I remember eating and sleeping with you. I just can't remember how it happened or why it ended. But I..." She said slowly.

Riley choose just that moment to walk into the conversation. "Buffy, still hanging with the old bloodsucker? I thought you said you two were over."

"Riley, we were having a private conversation."

"Buffy, you can't have both him and me. You can't expect me to still be there after knowing you hung out with him all night. Especially after all the shit he's pulled on you. You have to choose between him and me."

Angel, though he wisely choose to stay out of the conversation, smirked as the man said this. Angel knew what a huge mistake he had just made.

"Choose? CHOOSE? There's no choice to make. There never was or will be. I love Angel." Buffy yelled.

"Buffy, you loved me enough to break me out of the Initiative, and suddenly you go all bitchy on me. Suddenly you love him?!?! A Slayer loves a Vampire!!! Do you know how stupid you sound? I can't do this anymore. You don't even have the decency to explain things to me. You just expect me to accept..." Riley was really pissed.

Buffy turned on him, "I don't need to explain anything to you! You're not the boss of me! Get out of my life!"

"You can't mean that. After all we've been through. I lo..."

"DON'T. Don't even say it. I really don't care how you feel. You attack Angel, you call him names, you ridicule me for hanging out with him...." Buffy looked like she might kill Riley.

"Buffy, I...."

"And do you know what the worst part is? The worst part is that you were actually a nice guy. I cared about you. I liked you. You were so nice to me. You could accept everything about my crazy life and still see me as a normal girl. You were fun and silly, and sometimes so corny it was funny. I thought you were exactly the kind of guy I needed. But now I realize you're the exact opposite of what I need. I guess now I see your true colors. You're controlling and mean, and all you care about is your ego. You can't see that I'm happy. Hell, you can't even acknowledge that I need Angel to help me defeat Adam because you and I couldn't. He's so much better than you, Riley, and any idiot could see that. God, I must have been rebounding like a ping-pong ball in a rubber room to consider you even his equal."

Riley is beginning to cry.

Buffy stops her tirade and delivers the final punch, her voice so calm and controlled she can barely be heard. "And you never knew me at all. Not my heart or soul. If you had, you would have known the difference between Faith and I in an instant. <*with absolute certainty> Angel would have." With that, she turned on her heel and rapidly began to walk away. Angel looked at her for a second in pure admiration at her spunk, then turned and followed her.

" So long, commando. "

At Angel's taunt, Riley's rage at being dumped like that exploded and he charged the vampire.

Not the brightest thing to do.

Angel turned in a second, pinning Riley to the ground by twisting his arm behind him. He punched him in the face a few times for good measure.

"Buffy!!!" Riley yelled in panic.

Buffy spoke without turning, "Angel, don't kill him. He doesn't deserve to die."

Angel twisted the arm a little harder, breaking the bone, "That's for touching my girl."

With that, he let go of Riley and walked away after his love.

Riley, left in a heap on the ground, cursed them both as he cried bitterly.

****

Buffy slowly put the key into the lock and opened the door to 1630 Revello Drive. She let Angel in, and then closed the door behind him.

"Mom's in Illinois with one of my aunts, so there's no one here. And with all that's going on, I'd just prefer not to be on campus. At least here I know no one can disturb us. No one will even find us." Buffy told him.

Angel looked slowly around, noting how the house had not changed since he had last been in it.

She looked at him, and then indicated that he should follow. The went up the stairs and into her room, exactly the way they had 3 years ago.

When they reached her room, she looked around and grinned, trying to lighten the atmosphere. "Two of us, one bed. That doesn't work." She echoed herself. Instead of lightening the atmosphere, her comment made it worse. The tension jumped sky-high.

He looked at her, every ounce of him burning for her. He should have made himself ignore those impulses, but he couldn't. He wanted her so badly. And after the way she had defended him and shown how much she loved him, he couldn't resist anymore.

"It doesn't?" Angel asked softly. He took a step closer to her, reaching out to stroke her face. As soon as he touched her, he lost all control. Like a dam breaking, all his emotions spilled out and he took her into his arms.

Buffy cried out softly as she went into Angel's arms. She put her head against his chest remembering what it was like to feel his heart beating there. She pulled away just enough to kiss him softly on the lips. The soft kiss soon turned into much more, each of them kissing the other hungrily. Their tongues roved into each other's mouth and their hands were all over the other. They kissed as they had never kissed before, as if the kiss was all that gave them life. As if they lived only for this moment in time.

Their rational minds told them what would happen, but neither of them was listening to their minds. They were totally following their hearts. Still kissing, they fell back unto Buffy's bed.

Buffy tried to pull away from him then, whispering, "Angel, no, we can't. Angelus..."

But her words lacked conviction. As much as she knew they had to stop, she wanted to continue.

"I can't live without you anymore. I'd rather be with you one last time and then have you kill me."

Buffy looked at him, "But Adam, the Initiative..." She spoke between kisses, for even as she tried to rationalize this she couldn't keep her hands off him.

"I'm sorry, but; I don't care." Angel said softly.

And as Buffy looked at him, she realized that, at the moment, she didn't care either. Not in the slightest. She didn't care about Adam, Riley, the world, or even her friends. She just needed him.

"I love you."

Angel looked into her eyes, "I love you too."

Buffy looked at him and echoed the words she had spoken the first time they made love, "Just kiss me."

He did so, and as they kissed they began pulling off each others clothes. They were going to be together one more time, even if it killed one or both of them. Their love could not be denied.

*****

When Buffy woke up hours later, it took her a moment to remember where she was. Then she remembered that she was in her old room. She snuggled deeper into the arms that surrounded her and turned slowly to face him. When she saw Angel's face, everything came back to her in a rush.

She jumped out of her bed and reached for her nightstand, grasping a stake.

Her sudden movement caused him to wake, and he looked at her sharply, "Buffy!"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Okay, this should be all we need." Anala looked at the arsenal that she and the Scoobies had assembled. It was a combination of weapons, old and new, and some very exotic and some very plain magickal implements. "Now, Willow, I'm going to need a second to help me with this spell. You're the only one here with the power and skill necessary. I'll also need a third person, but that might be a little harder, as they will have to speak Romani fluently.

"Romani? You mean Gypsy?" Willow asked. "Cause I did a spell in that language once."

"On your own? Cause those are powerful magicks..." Anala sounded like she already knew.

"Well, no, someone kinda helped me with it."

Giles looked at her in confusion. "Jenny?"

"Yeah, I could feel her with me. It's kinda like she possessed me, but just so I could do the spell. But maybe if I could contact her and get her to help me agai.."

"I speak Romani." Anya broke in, sounding bored as usual. "Heck, I knew half of them in the old days."

"You what, child?"

"Don't call me child. I'm hundreds of years older than you."

Anala looked at the others in confusion.

"Anala, meet the former-demon-of-woman-scorned, Anyanka." Xander introduced. "She made a little mistake, got her power source destroyed, and is stuck as a mortal."

"Do you know magick as well?"

"Yup, I sure do. Once, to help a princess get even with the man who..."

"Anya," Xander cut her off. "Stories about destroying men later. Spell, now."

"Fine." Anya said slowly.

"Actually, we can't do the spell until Buffy and Angel return." Anala told them. "Because as soon as the locator spell takes effect whatever witches Adam has on his side will probably know it. I'll be the one casting that spell, because it will have to be kept up the entire time until you reach Adam. And Adam's coven may try and throw up a shield to try and hide him from us. Now, with my power they won't be able to hide him for long, but if it's long enough for them to put their plan into action we'll be sunk. So, as soon as the locator spell works, Buffy, Angel, Xander, Giles and Wesley will go to where Adam is.

"Anya, the Romani spell you'll be using is very powerful, but will require complete concentration. You'll have to remain here because you'll need the perfect quiet and protection of a magick circle. Your spell is one of protection, to the point where none of those it's cast upon can be harmed. It will require an article of clothing from each of them to use in the making of poppets, which will focus the protection spell. "

"Are you sure you can handle that?" Xander asked his girlfriend in concern.

"I have to. There's no one else. It will take all Anala's power to locate Adam, to bypass the magick of his witches. And you all need to be protected from the moment you leave here, even as you're following the locator to Adam. So Anala can't do both spells. And Willow's needed for the other one. So, yeah, I can."

They all looked at her in admiration. For all her lack of concern about them and the world, on some level she really did care.

"Now, Willow and Cordelia will be the last magickal part of the plan. The last part needed to defeat Adam." Anala continued to explain her plan. "Cordelia, you have the eyes of the seer. The only use you know of them is getting visions from The Powers. But in the hands of a witch, the eyes of a seer can be used to see the present as well. Can be focused almost like a lens, allowing the witch to see actions going on somewhere else. You and Willow will accompany Buffy and the rest to Adam's lair, only find a safe place nearby to hide. For Willow's spell will also require too much concentration for her to be in the middle of the fight, yet she must be very close to it for her magick to work. I will concoct a potion to allow her to see through and focus your eyes."

"Someone else in my head? Ewww.."

"It is the only way." Anala said firmly. "Willow will watch the fight this way. Her spell will be a spell to freeze time. Alone she doesn't have the power for this, but I can charge a talisman with my power to allow her to focus and complete this spell. Even with my power, it will last only 15 or 20 seconds. But that should be enough. If she completes this at the proper time, which she will know because she's watching the fight, she should give Buffy the advantage she needs to kill Adam. The only way to kill him is to either deplete his power supply, which is almost impossible, or to strip him of it. In the seconds he is frozen, Buffy should be able to locate it and cut it out."

"Just one little problem with that. Won't Buffy be frozen?" Wesley asked.

"No, the spell only affects creatures of evil."

"So, you're basically turning me into Piper? Cool! I always thought that was the neatest of the three powers."

"Well, I know for a fact Phoebe's power isn't the neatest," Cordelia said with a grimace, "But what you're gonna do does sound pretty cool Will."

"What are you talking about?" Giles interrupted.

"Yet another pop-culture thing you wouldn't get." Xander told him. "Wes and Anala are probably pretty confused as well."

Anala grinned. "Not at all confused." She laughed then, saying, "I guess it's true about magick numbers. We need the power of three spells, and we also need the innate powers of three women." She grinned, and gestured with her hand. Three of the colas the group had been drinking rose magickly into the air and clinked together. "The Power of Three!" Anala spoke loudly, sending the drinks down to Cordy, Willow, and Anya. They all drank. "And think of me as your WhiteLighter, giving you the direction you need to succeed."

Laughing, the girls all sat back and settled in to wait for Buffy. Wesley and Giles, both very confused by the pop-culture references, looked at them and Xander curiously for a moment, then retreated to the kitchen to call Buffy's dorm room and let her know what was happening.

When the machine picked up, Giles said into it, "Buffy? Buffy are you there? Well, as soon as you get home, get Angel and come over to my place. We've found a way to defeat Adam, and we must implement the plan on tonight's full moon."

He hung up, looking out the window in surprise. The sun had been up for almost an hour, and yet Buffy and Angel weren't at her dorm. Where else could they be?

******

In her old bedroom on 1630 Revello Drive, Buffy stood next to her bed holding a stake, very aware that she had nothing on.

"Buffy?" Angel repeated again.

This time, she forced herself to look into his eyes, torn up inside knowing the cold look she would find there.

But she didn't see what she was expecting. The eyes she looked into were those of her Angel.

"Angel?" She asked, "You....you didn't change.?!?..."

"No, and I don't feel like I will. It's different this time Buffy."

A thought suddenly crossed her mind, and her eyes teared up, "Angel, didn't I...didn't I make you ha.."

"Shhh...of course you did. I'm still happy. And even happier than last time, cause it doesn't feel like I'm going to lose my soul. I don't know why. I can just tell."

"Oh, Angel!" Buffy dropped the stake and launched herself into his arms. They hugged tightly, the came together in an earth-stopping kiss. She peppered his face with kisses, then just held him tightly, repeating, "Angel, my Angel."

This went on for several minutes, until finally he extracted himself from her. "Not to put a damper on this, but it's well after sunrise. You should probably check in with Giles."

"Yeah, yeah, okay." She kissed him again, then reached over to pick up her phone.

"And Buffy..."

"I'm not gonna say anything about this, don't worry. If Giles found out I endangered all our lives because I couldn't keep my hands off you he'd probably save Adam the trouble and kill me himself. I'll tell him after this is all over, then ask him how the hell this is possible."

Still grinning like a little kid, knowing she had Angel back forever now, she picked up the phone to call Giles.

Angel heard only her part of the conversation, but got the idea that the gang had formed a plan during the night. He started to get dressed, ready to head over to Giles's to see what would happen next.

Buffy hung up a moment later, "They've got a plan, big time. All I got out of it was it requires me and you four guys to march right into Adam's lair, which will be found with magick. All the girls will be involved in various spells to keep us safe and allow us to destroy Adam. Giles said they'd explain the rest of the details when we got there. So let's go." As she had been speaking, she had gotten dressed.

They left her house quickly, Angel covered up by his duster. Thankfully, they had thought last night to raise the hood on his black convertible. Looking out through carefully blacked windows, Angel began to drive for Giles house. Buffy curled up against his arm and stayed that way until they reached Giles.

When they got there, they went into the house hand in hand, waiting to hear the plan to defeat Adam.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Are you sure all that's gonna work?" Buffy asked Anala after the witch had outlined the plan she had told to the Scoobies before Buffy & Angel arrived.

"It will work if everyone does their part." Anala replied. "If you and the guys can get into Adam's lair and stay alive until Buffy's close enough for Willow's spell to work, then we will win. Remember, Anya's protection spell can only work fully on one person, so that's gotta be Buffy. She cannot be harmed at all. The spell will affect the rest of you some, giving you more strength and making it so you can't die. But you can still be injured I'm afraid. And it won't work at all for Angel, there's no way this type of magick can be used on a vampire, I'm sorry." She looked at Angel, then at Buffy, as if she were really sorry. "If any part of this plan goes wrong, we will all end up dying."

"Well, that's really comforting." Xander said sarcastically.

"Do you have any better ideas?"

"Well...."

"Didn't think so. Now, is everyone ready?"

Buffy looked around at the gang. Giles, Wesley, Xander and Angel all stood ready with weapons, she also carried several. Anya knelt in the center of Giles's living room, going over the incantation she would need to chant and the actions she would use. Willow and Cordy stood hand in hand, already mentally linked by Anala's potion. Cordelia carried a bag with the extra spell material necessary, and Willow wore a talisman around her neck that Anala had charged.

"We're ready." Buffy said, and everyone nodded.

"Then let us begin. May Goddess and God be with us." Anala said. She then knelt down a few yards away from Anya. She began chanting a basic circle calling. When she had finished that, she called, "Hail to the North, West, South and East. Earth is my body. Water my blood. Air my breath. And Fire my spirit. Be with me now, Guardians of the Watchtowers. Hail to thee." As she had been calling the Quarters, she had lighted a candle at each point. She now lite a gold candle in the center of the circle. "I call to thee now; Apollo, the all-seeing sun God. As you see all creation, as you knew of Persephone's kidnapping, you know now what we need to know. Grant me your sight. Let me find what I seek. "

She began to chant louder then, using a language Buffy had never heard. "Este scris, aceasta putere este dreptul poporuil meu de a conduce... [It is written, this power is my people's right to wield...]

But Angel obviously had, for her looked at her sharply. "That's Romani."

"Yeah, so is the spell she gave Anya." Willow whispered.

Buffy suddenly got a strange feeling in her gut. She looked closely at Anala. It was obvious that the spell was taking a lot out of her, she looked so exhausted.

Suddenly, the area right around her began to shimmer and twist strangely.

"What's happening?" Everyone backed up a step.

"She....it looks like a glamour. I tried to cast one once, but..." Willow trailed off.

"It doesn't matter." Anala cut her off sharply, her face downcast so no one could see her. "It is working. Follow the trial to Adam. And hurry. Anya, begin."

The others looked at her a moment longer, but she wouldn't raise her head. Finally, they realized they were wasting time, and, as one, headed for the door.

As they left they heard Anya beginning to chant. "Thrice around and thrice repeat, all evil doth this ring defeat. Thrice around and thrice repeat, all evil doth this ring defeat. Thrice around and thrice repeat, all evil doth this ring defeat. As above, so below. This circle is sealed. Asa sa fie! [Let it be so.] I call upon the Guardian of the...."

As they marched off into the night, Wesley looked at Buffy. "How is the spell working? I don't...."

"I can feel it." Willow said. "Anala can sense Adam now, and her talisman lets me know what she feels. I can lead us right to him."

As much as Buffy disliked not taking point, she now had no choice. Willow took the lead position and began to lead them towards battle. Buffy and Angel followed her and Cordy, walking side by side. The other three guys brought up the rear. No one spoke. All were focusing on the coming battle.

All that is, except for Angel. He was still thinking about the girl who spoke the Romani's language and had disguised her appearance. He suddenly wondered who she really was and if they could really trust her. But then he also realized it didn't really matter. This was their last option.

Willow led them at a rapid pace, never changing from her course, never straying. She knew exactly where Adam was. Anala was showing her.

When they reached the caves several blocks away from town, she stopped suddenly. She pointed towards the largest one. "They're in there. They know we've found them. They're cooking up magick already, but I'm pretty sure ours is stronger."

Buffy nodded, then pointed to a smaller cave, it's entrance hidden from the other by brush. "You and Cordy go in there and set up. We'll give you two minutes, then we're going in. We can't afford to wait. As soon as I'm close enough to Adam, freeze him."

Willow nodded, then gave Buffy a quick hug. "Good luck."

"Don't need it. I've got the Power of Three, plus a few good men to back me up."

They both smiled a little, then quickly parted company.

They headed into the cave. Buffy gave them two minutes, using the time to check her weapons. The guys did the same. After time was up, she looked at them and nodded. "Let's do this."

Angel locked eyes with her for a moment, mouthing , "I love you."

"I love you." She mouthed back. "And I'm always your girl."

With that, she turned around and marched into the cave, her backup following her.

*****

Willow quickly placed four different colored candles around her and Cordy to form a square, then faced the East one. She rapidly called the Quarters, then knelt facing North with Cordelia in front of her. Her hands were on Cordy's temples. "In this night and in the hour, I call upon an Ancient Power. O Goddess Bride and Consort Bright, I ask you now to bring your light. Let me see through the seer's eyes. Grant me your sight, O ye most wise." She then began to chant in Latin, a spell she had memorized long ago to give her Second Sight. Magnified as if was now by the Seer's eyes, she saw as Buffy and the others began to enter the cave.

This was the easy part. Even as she continued to chant the Latin part, watching Buffy's movements, she mentally went over the spell Anala had given her to freeze time. It was much harder than anything she had ever done. Well, except for the Ritual of Restoration, but that didn't really count since Jenny had helped her with that one. She only hoped she was capable of doing this one by herself.

*****

Buffy slowly led the others into the cave, weapons raised and ready. They were going through a narrow tunnel. Then, abruptly, it opened up into a huge cavern. There they saw about a dozen vampires and a few dozen demons. In the far back was Adam, a witch kneeling to either side of him, both chanting.

As the group of five burst into the cavern, they were charged by demons. They fired crossbows into the first wave before they could reach them, killing five or six right off. The ones behind them met a similar fate.

Then the vampires came. There were too many this time, and the crossbows were lost. The hand to hand fighting began.

Suddenly, in the mist of staking a vamp, Buffy heard Angel yell. She looked up as the ashes in front of her cleared to see three vampires bearing down on him, one trying to turn his own stake against him.

She charged them, echoing words she had used two years ago. "You can attack me. You can send assassins after me, that's fine.....But NOBODY messes with MY boyfriend!!!" She yelled as she began to pummel the vamps. She was greatly outnumbered as two more charged in and it was now five against one. She was unarmed, having lost her stake in a previous struggle. She was also alone and outnumbered. She was tired from the strain of the day. But she was royally pissed that they had dared to touch Angel. And the spell Anya was working kept them from being able to hurt her. In other works, pity the poor vampires. All five of them were on the ground in a moment, and Angel tossed Buffy a stake. She did all five in a rapid succession. She was everywhere, helping her friends where it was needed, tossing out weapons, encouragement, and little puns. She was unstoppable, even more so than usual. And she was loving it.

Willow watched the fight with joy. Almost all the demons and vampires were gone. The few that were left, the Scooby gang was taking care of.

Buffy now approached Adam, who had been watching with disgust. "I told you to stop them!" He yelled to his demons. "Do I have to do it myself?"

"Try it!" Buffy yelled to him.

All of a sudden, a body came flying past her from out of nowhere. "I'll kill you!!!"

She looked on in shock as Riley charged Adam like a madman, "I'll show her who's the best man! I'll kill you like she said I couldn't."

He had quite clearly lost it, Willow noticed at one.

As he charged Adam, the two witches at his side looked up. Both focused their eyes on Riley for a moment, then whipped their heads toward the side. His body flew like lightning towards a large stalagmite on the floor, impaling him where-the-sun-don't-shine. He screamed in agony, laying on the floor bleeding. No one moved to help him, everyone was too busy.

But Willow didn't even notice. She had lost it also. For one of the two witches sitting at Adam's side was Tara.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Buffy recognized her as well. "Tara!?!" She yelled.

"Never guessed there was a traitor in your very midst? Did ya?" Tara grinned. "Boy, am I good."

Now even more pissed off, Buffy charged at Adam. Tara and her consort tried the same trick they had on Riley, but Anya's magick prevented it. They couldn't even lift Buffy off the ground. They then tried moving a heavy object at her, but it bounced off her harmlessly.

Done with the spell to find Adam, Anala had taken up the same chant as Anya. They were both chanting in unison from their separate circles, both in perfect Romani;

"Candles three, green and white,
Protect them there upon this night.
The Moon is full, the sky is clear,
Bane and evil disappear.
The mighty wolf shall guide their way,
and protect their spirits night and day.
Come hither! Come hither!
Spirits of the Wolf, strong and great!
Guard us in this circle and them in their fight.
The Slayer is untouchable.
Her friends are unkillable.
We will triumph.
As I will, so mote it be.
Candles three, green and white...."

"Never guessed I had better witches than you? Did ya?" Buffy taunted back. "Well, maybe they're better at that spell, but try this one on for size." Tara rapidly began a new chant, and her eyes began to glow.

Uh oh, Buffy thought. The last time she had seen glowing yellow eyes she had been turned into a rat.

"WILLOW!!!" Buffy screamed loudly, hoping her friend could hear as well as see her. It had to be done now, before Tara's spell was completed.

As soon as she had seen Tara, Willow had lost it. She kept the link with Cordy and the second sight by sheer force of habit and continued her chant, but her mind was totally elsewhere. She watched Buffy, but no longer saw her. She saw instead all of the things that her and Tara had been through. All the things Tara had helped her with. She remembered kissing her....giving up Oz for her.....She heard Buffy scream for her but was too numb to acknowledge it.

Suddenly Anala's voice pushed through her thoughts..."Buffy's going to die unless you do something! Do it now! FREEZE THEM!!!"

The voice literally screaming in her head woke her up, and she quickly brought the spell to completion. She said the final phrases and felt the talisman flare to life. Then she passed out.

****

Buffy stood in a room that was suddenly silent. At least silent except for Riley's moaning. There were only a few demons left, and all the vampires were gone. The demons were frozen. So were the witches. And so was Adam. And so, Buffy noticed in a passing glance, was Spike. Since he's technically evil, she assumed. But where the hell had he come from?

"Guess he wanted in on the action." Angel said, having noticed her glance. She nodded, and saw that the other Scoobies were already beheading the frozen demons.

She went quickly up to Adam, sticking her knife deep into his chest. She felt it catch on something hard, then reached her hand in and yanked it out. A power core throbbed hot in her hand. She pitched it to Angel who began to smash it.

She noticed the room beginning to waver, and knew the spell was about to break.

She quickly turned to Tara and turned her so she was facing Adam, her spell focused on him and the other witch beside him.

Willow's spell broke.

Tara screamed the last words of her spell, and fire shot out of her eyes. Adam went up in a ball of fire. He was gone in a second. The witch beside him caught only some of it, and took almost a minute to burn.

Tara slumped to the ground. That spell had taken all of her power, and had destroyed the person she served.

Buffy quickly charged her, tying her up, blindfolding her and then gagging her. She was taking no chances with magick.

*****

Back at Giles's, Anala and Anya both stopped chanting. They knew the fight was over! They had won.

Both quickly said prayers of thanks, then said farewell to the Quarters and released the circles. "May a piece of the Goddess be forever in my heart. In no way shall this spell reverse, or place upon me any curse. By my will, so mote it be." They ended together in ritual form.

Anya looked up then, about to tell Anala thanks, when she noticed she looked a little different. "What happened to you? I've never seen magick give a person a facelift!"

"This is how I have always looked. I am simply too tired now to project the glamour I was using. That is why Willow could not be here to do her spell. Distance had nothing to do with it. She would know me. You do not. And I don't want her to know before he does...."

"He?" Anya questioned.

"You will see. I must leave now though, tell them nothing. When I return tomorrow, you will see." Anala said mysteriously. And she walked out the door.

***

Back in the caves, all the demons and vampires were gone, Adam was gone, and Tara was trussed up and gagged.

The fight was over!

Buffy fell into Angel's arms, and they came together in a kiss. Angel was holding her tightly, when suddenly he felt the hair on his neck raise up. Something was weird.

He pulled back from her and looked around the caves. There was another person standing there.

"Jenny?" He asked in shock.

Buffy and Giles both spun around to see the Gypsy standing next to Tara.

Meanwhile; Spike, Xander, and Wesley approached a moaning Riley. Wesley stood back, not knowing who he was.

Xander approached him warily, but couldn't help laughing. "I'm sorry man, but you so deserve this. Screwing with Buffy! You're lucky Angel didn't do this himself."

"Fate sure picked a perfect, bloody end to you, mate." Spike said.

"Help....." Riley moaned weakly..."Help me..."

"Sure thing peaches." Spike took one of the daggers he was holding and threw it at Riley's chest. It impacted right in the heart. Riley looked at him in shock for a moment, and then he was dead.

Xander just stared at him.

"I...I....I'm bloody cured!!" He hadn't even noticed it, it had just happened.

"Must have been wired into Adam somehow. When he died, all the bugs went dead." Xander said nervously.

"Oh, I'm not gonna kill ya mate!" Spike laughed at him. "I don't think Red would forgive me that one."

****

Willow, aka Red, was slowly waking up as Cordy slapped her face. "I'm up!" She grabbed Cor's hand before it could hit her yet again.

"Did you....oh, good, we're still in the circle." She quickly closed it, using the same procedure and chant Anya and Anala had. Then she packed up the stuff and her and Cordy headed towards the big cave.

As they walked in, they saw everyone staring at a ghostly specter. As they got close, Willow gasped. "Miss Calendar?"

The ghost looked at her, then turned her attention back to Angel and Buffy.

"You both did well." Her voice floated to them.

"Thank you." Buffy said.

Angel just looked at the ground.

"Angel, look at me. It's all right. It wasn't you, I know that. And the creature that killed me will never take control again. So don't fear."

"You mean...."

"When my people cursed Angelus, they did it for revenge. When Willow did it, it wasn't a curse with a clause, it was mearly to restore your soul. There were no conditions. Not ever. You just didn't know it and there was no one who could tell you."

"Why didn't you??" Buffy felt that old anger returning.

"I couldn't. I couldn't come to Earth. I only can this night because it's a special day."

"What day?"

"It's the anniversary of your death." Giles whispered. "And I forgot you."

"No, Rupert, you never forgot me. You forgot the day because there were other things on your mind, but you've never forgotten me." The ghost soothed.

"Jenny....I love you. I just wanted to say it this once."

"And I love you Rupert. I always will."

"What about the witch??" Spike broke in rudely, looking at Tara.

"Willow?" Jenny asked.

"I can't. I...I'm too tired."

"Then I will. And Willow, keep up the magick. You're great at it."

"You really are, Will. We'd all be dead without you." Buffy added.

"Thank you." The girl whispered.

Jenny raised her arms and began chanting;

"Wind in the North, run through the trees
Three times three, let her see, let her see
Sands of the East, rich soils beneath
Three times three, set her free, set her free
Fires in the South, awake from sleep
Three times three, let her see let her see
Water of the West, flow to the seas
Three times three, set her free, set her free"

Tara began screaming in agony. Then her body began to burn, and she died as Adam had.

Jenny, her power gone, vanished; whispering, "I love you all. Goodbye."

"Whoa! What was that??" Xander asked.

"That was a three times three spell." Willow explained. "See, the universe operates on a Law of Three, where the energy you give out is eventually returned to you times three. That spell kinda speeds up the process, since the Law is what happens eventually, not immediately. So what she had done to others was returned to her. How she killed others is how she died, only in three times as much pain."

"Speaking of pain...." Giles looked to where Riley lay. Him, Buffy, and Angel had been so enraptured with Jenny that they hadn't seen Spike kill him.

"Well, he's kinda dead. My knife slipped." Spike drawled.

Buffy looked for a moment like she was about to pummel him, then shrugged her shoulders. "He's not even worth the effort of beating you up. But please don't kill people after..." She trailed off, realizing the same thing Xander had.

Spike shrugged. "Must have been hooked into Adam. When he died, I was un-neutered. But I won't kill any of you guys, don't worry." And with that comment, he sauntered out of the room, calling over his shoulder, "Told you that you and the pouf would get back together."

Buffy looked at Angel and laughed. "Why can't we ever fool Spike?"

They took one last look around, and left the caves hand in hand. The others followed.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

As everyone left the caves and headed back towards town, they began to talk. Giles said that he was exhausted and wanted to go home. Everyone could tell it was mostly from the strain of seeing Jenny again and having forgotten what day it was. So they left him to go to his home alone, with instructions to send Anya (and Anala if the girl wished) to the Bronze to meet up with them. The others agreed to meet there after going home and changing.

Buffy and Angel walked into her house hand in hand. He carried a leather backpack in his other hand.

Buffy went up to her room to change, leaving him to change in her bathroom. She looked all through her closet, wanting to find something really spectacular to wear. It kinda sucked that most of her clothes were in her dorm room.

She began to open her drawers, throwing things out of them in disgust, when she suddenly found her pair of black leather pants. She grinned devilishly and pulled them on. In the next drawer she found the top she had loaned Willow for Halloween two years ago, the red velvet midriff top. She pulled that on as well. She quickly did her hair and put on some make-up. Just as she was finishing, she heard a knock on the door, "Buffy?"

"You don't have to knock!" She called back, turning to face the closed door. Angel opened the door and walked in. He stared at her in shock. For a moment he was simply stunned at how beautiful she looked, then he looked, really looked, at the outfit. He began to laugh.

Buffy looked at him as he walked in, he looked so gorgeous. He was wearing black leather pants and a red silk shirt.

She started laughing. "Boy, great minds think alike."

"Guess so." He grinned. "Should one of us change?"

"I don't know, people might think we're kinda weird..."

"Yeah..."

"Well, you change. I look better in mine!" She said teasingly.

"No way! I look better in mine!"

"I do!"

"No, I do!"

"I do!"

"Why don't we take a vote?" Angel finally laughed.

"Ummm, there's only two of us." Buffy informed him.

"No, when we get to the Bronze. See what our friends think."

"No fair. There's gonna be more girls there than guys, you'll win." Buffy pouted.

Angel just laughed. "So?"

"Oh, you know what? Who cares what people think. Let's just both go like this. Show people we're together."

"Works for me." Angel said.

They kissed for a moment, then left her room and went to the Bronze.

When they arrived, the group was already assembled. Xander sat with his arm around Anya, Cordy and Willow were talking, and Wesley sat, rather uncomfortably, with a drink in his hand.

Angel pulled another chair up to the table the five were at, and Buffy plopped down in his lap.

"Wow! Aren't you guys cute with the matching." Cordy looked them over.

"Well, we both changed, then saw each other and laughed about it. We couldn't decide who looked better in them, so we just both wore them."

"I thought we should have you guys say who looks better in them." Angel laughed.

Cordy and Willow looked at each other suggestively. "Angel." They said at once.

Xander immediately said "Buffy. Owww..." As Anya hit him on the shoulder.

Eyes turned to Wesley, who was a peculiar shade of red, "I would have to say Buffy." He said.

They all waited for Anya, who said nothing at first "What?" she finally said. "Xander looks better than both of you."

Everyone laughed.

"I guess that's that." Buffy grinned. "Hey, where's Anala? Didn't she want to come?"

"She left as soon as the spells were done, she said she'd be back tomorrow. You were right about the glamour though Willow. She looked totally different when we were done." Anya said.

"I wonder why she would do that. Who was she?" Angel said, concerned.

"We'll have to wait and see. For now, let's just have fun." Buffy said, and no one objected.

"Let's dance." Angel took Buffy's hand and led her to the floor. They began their own form of dirty dancing, totally wrapped around each other, in perfect time with the music. As the fast song ended, they stayed locked together.

A slow song started up.

~When I fall in love~
~It will be forever~
~Or I'll never fall in love ~

Buffy and Angel wrapped themselves around each other, every inch of their bodies touching. Her head rested on his shoulder, and his head was on top her hers.

~In an restless world like this is~
~Love is ended before it's begun~
~And too many moonlight kisses~
~Seem to cool in the warmth of the sun~

The other's watched from the table, so very happy for the pair. They could finally be together

~When I give my heart~
~It will be completely~
~Or I'll never give my heart~
~And the moment I can feel that~
~You feel that way too~
~Is when I fall in love with you~

An instrumental bridge began, and Buffy looked up into Angel's chocolate eyes. "I love you."

Angel didn't reply with words, but bent down to kiss her, showing her just how much he loved her. His hands roamed along her bear sides and down to her butt, hers began to slide up under his shirt. Their tongues dueled. They melted into each other.

~And the moment I can feel that ~
~You feel that way too~
~Is when I fall in love with you~

Watching from the table, Xander moaned, "Oh, get a room."

As the song ended, Buffy and Angel locked eyes and headed off the dance floor. But instead of heading for the table, they headed back towards the band's dressing rooms. There was no band tonight, just the DJ; and the rooms, they knew, would be empty.

"What....Where are they going?" Xander asked.

"I'd guess they're doing what you told them to do." Willow blushed.

Xander looked at her, "Here? They're just gonna do it at the Bronze?"

"Well, they are going to a room at least. Hope they're not to loud." Cordy said matter-of-factly.

Xander just stared at her, then let his head fall to the table.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The following afternoon, Giles heard a knock on his door. "Oh, bloody hell." He moaned, holding his head in his hands. He had gone through nearly half a bottle of brandy the previous night in an effort to forget how much losing Jenny had hurt. His tongue was coated in an inch of fuzz. His head throbbed. "Go away." He called.

"Giles. It's Anala."

He stumbled to the door, and opened it to let the girl in. He squinted into the bright sunlight. He was hallucinating, he knew it. She looked different that she had before. She looked like... Pushing the illogical thoughts away, he let her in.

"You'll have to excuse me. I seem to be worse off than I thought....you look different to me...."

"I am. I no longer wear a glamour." Anala told the man.

"But you look like..." He trailed off, he couldn't even say it.

"Jenny?" She questioned.

He nodded wordlessly.

"Let me introduce myself. I'm Anala.....Kalderdash. Janna, your Jenny, was my older sister."

*******

Across town, Buffy and Angel woke up together in her bed. She looked over at him, smiled, and snuggled deeper into his arms.

"Good morning Princess." He whispered, kissing her hair.

"Good morning." She replied. Just waking up with him made the morning good. She glanced at her clock. "Actually, good afternoon."

"Really? Wow, I guess we really were tired."

"Yeah, you wore me out. But in a good way." She grinned, and rolled over to face him. They kissed softly, a kiss that quickly became deeper. In the middle of it, Buffy broke away. She got up and nonchalantly crossed the room.

"Hey!"

"I'm gonna get a shower. Care to join me?"

He got up and followed her, wearing nothing but a devilish grin.

That night, everyone assembled at Giles's home. Anala had opened the door for them all, explaining that Giles was just a little bit drunk. Apparently, after talking with Anala about Jenny he had missed her even more and finished the bottle of brandy he had started the other night. He was totally out of it, and totally happy. He stumbled around the room singing little ditties and songs, some in English and some not.

The gang looked at him in shock. They'd never seen him this way.

"He's just upset, that's all. Seeing her again was really hard on him. Finding out who I was didn't help."

"Yeah, what's up with the look." Cordelia said. "You look like...."

"Like Jenny." Angel finished. He had suspected that she was a Kalderdash once he began to think about it, but wasn't sure. Now he was.

"Anala Kalderdash, at your service." She confirmed. "Jenny was my sister."

"Your sister?" Buffy asked.

"Yes, and she was in constant communication with me while she was here. She told me all about you and Angel, and once he turned, I helped her with finding and translating the lost texts. I agreed with her that Angel should no longer be punished for what he had done. That's why we made sure the new soul would have no conditions. But then Jenny was killed before she could tell anyone that."

"You said that besides Adam, you were here for another reason." Willow remembered. "Is it something about Angel?"

"Yes, it is. I have been working on, and finally completed, a new spell. Do you remember the Gem of Amaria? The one in the ring that made it so Angel could walk in sunlight and all that? Well, Amaria was a Kalderdash also. And the power of the Gem can be used by any descendant of his. I am one of those people. I can put the power directly into Angel. He will have all the benefits that he did when he wore the ring, only it can never be taken from him."

"He won't be a vampire?" Buffy asked hopefully.

"Well, technically he will still be a vampire. But he will still have his soul, so he'll be as he is now. He'll still need to drink blood though. Food won't do anything for him. He'll still be immortal, have superstrength and all that, and now crosses, sunlight, Holy Water, nothing will harm him." Anala said.

"I'll still be immortal?" He looked at Buffy sadly.

"Yes, I'm afraid so. To take that away would be to take away the very thing that has kept you alive this long, that would kill you immediately."

"Oh..." Buffy and him looked at each other sadly.

"The only other thing I can do is to make Buffy immortal as well."

"Can you do that?" Buffy asked in awe.

"Yes, but think carefully about this. You will both live forever. Nothing, and I mean nothing, can ever kill either of you. You will not age. I cannot do this for any of your friends, you will outlive them and watch them die. You will see your children and grandchildren grow old and die. You will be the Slayer forever. As the second Slayer dies, a new one will be called, but you will always be a Slayer. You will always be targeted by evil. The world will change and you will not. Can you bear that?"

Buffy looked at Angel, and he met her eyes. She saw all his love there. She also saw that he would let her make this choice on her own. She thought about growing old. She saw her and Willow in their 70's sitting in rocking chairs and talking about the good-old days. She imagined Xander with a potbelly and gray hair, still calling Angel "Dead Boy." She saw Cordy in her 70's, still looking like she was 50, still dressing like she was 20 and giving her advice on how to cover wrinkles. She would miss all that. She'd never have those golden years.

But then she looked at Angel again. She saw him standing in the sunlight on the pier in LA. She remembered that whole day now. She remembered what it felt like to make love to him and wake up with him in the morning. She felt his kisses. She imagined it being like that forever.

And she made up her mind.

"Yes, I can bear that. Do it."

Angel looked at her. He wanted to talk her out of it, tell her not to lose her natural life for him. But then he thought of what it would be to watch her grow old and die. He imagined life without her. And found that he couldn't imagine it. He wouldn't even be able to kill himself if it became too unbearable. He knew she had done what she had to do. He loved her so much.

Anala looked at the others for a moment, everyone was shocked, but had known that was the choice Buffy would make. It was really her only choice. Anala told Angel to kneel on the floor in the living room, and to remove his shirt. He did so.

Then Anala got down on her knees in the center of the living room, facing him. She opened up her bag and pulled out 13 white candles as well as the 4 corner candles. She set the candles in a circle around them, the 4 candles further away in a box shape. She called a circle and then called to and lite the Quarters. When she had everything set, she began the invocation.

"Saint Amaria, my ancient father
Descend upon me now.
Your magick once powered a ring
Give me now that power."

The air around Anala began to glow bright crimson.

"I am thy scion.
I, the last who wields thy magick.
Give it now to me.
Give the fullness of thy power."

The white candles suddenly ignited, glowing with red flames. The flames rose higher and higher. They became even brighter as Anala began the next part of the spell, in Romani.

"This is the night, this is the hour.
I am the one, I am the power.
I call to me the powers of old.
All magick I now hold."

The light from the 13 candles suddenly changed direction, instead of growing higher, it zoomed toward the center of the circle. Anala glowed with it's power, and was so bright everyone looked away.

"Reform the Gem from the past
Make it in his heart so vast.
All normality possible is now his."

The light suddenly zipped from Anala, and all of it went into Angel. Everyone felt a burst of heat. Angel's chest, where his heart was, glowed red a moment longer, and then it was gone. The 13 white candles were now red, and were melted down into lumps.

Anala quickly released the Quarters and the circle itself. Angel stood up slowly.

Buffy walked to him. "Did it work?"

He looked at her, then brought his hand up to touch the cross on her neck. Nothing happened. He held the cross in wonder--it didn't burn him.

He went to the door and opened it. The sun was just setting. Her last rays fell on him, and he marveled at the warmth. He didn't burst into flame.

Buffy, who had been stunned into silence along with him, now shouted with joy. She threw herself into his arms and kissed him. He kissed her back in wonder.

"Buffy." Anala spoke quietly. "Your turn."

Buffy looked at the witch, then walked back into the house. She knelt in the place Angel had been only a moment ago. Anala had set up more candles and had a large censor with heavy smoking incense as well. She recast the circle and recalled the Quarters, relighting the Quarter candles.

She set a large silver candle between her and Buffy and instructed Buffy to put her hands on it. In a circle around them were 7 candles in the 7 colors of the rainbow.

Anala began to chant again.

"Goddess of Eternal Youth.
By Hebe, Idun,
And a hundred other names
You are known.
I invoke you now.
Give me your power.
I am thee."

The seven candles flared to life, each flame the color of it's candle. A white light descended from the ceiling, settling in Anala's outstretched arms. She then began to chant again, this time in a language older than any even Angel knew.

"What'd she do?" Xander whispered to Willow.

"She invoked the Goddess. Literally." Willow whispered. "She IS the Goddess of Eternal Youth now. I've never seen anyone who can do that. We normally invoke their power, but don't get their spiritual presence."

"Wow."

"Yeah," the young witch agreed, "Wow."

The light slowly filtered throughout Anala's body and then rested again in her arms. She reached out a hand and touched a finger to the silver candle's wick. It lite up, shining with a silver flame.

Buffy shuddered, then began to glow silver herself. Her hands drew the magick from the candle without even knowing it. The white light in Anala's body faded away, and her head slumped forward.

The candle still pulsed with Goddess power. It drew itself slowly into Buffy's body, and the candle went from silver to white. Buffy glowed brightly, and Angel realized she had never looked more beautiful.

Then the glow faded, and Buffy slumped forward as well. The 7 colored candles were also drained, and now sat in white piles.

Anala said slowly,

"And by all Goddess's power
I give to thee Eternal Youth:
Immortality."

She then said farewell to the Quarters and released the circle again. She stood up then, arms hung at her sides, head down, deep in concentration.

"She's grounding and centering herself." Willow said softly. "Getting rid of all the excess power of the two spells she's done today."

Meanwhile, Buffy was slowly standing up. "Did it work?"

"Sure looked like it." Wesley said. "We really won't know for years though. Not until it becomes obvious that you're not aging."

"It worked. Didn't you feel it?" Anala said.

"Yes, I suppose I did."

She looked at Angel slowly. He went to her and swept her up in his arms. They kissed passionately. They could be together forever now.

"Thank you." Buffy said to Anala. "Thank you so very much." Angel added his heartfelt thanks.

"You are welcome. Also, remember to thank my sister. She's the real reason I did all this. It's the last thing she told me she wanted." Anala looked at both of them.

Angel looked up towards heaven. "Thank you Jenny."

"Our eternal thanks." Buffy added.

And they kissed again. Nothing would ever separate them, they both knew that as clear as day.

"And love will always conquer all." Giles suddenly burst out into a song. "Love will stop us when we fall." He was very off-key.

Everyone began to laugh.

"Things always work out right in the end." Giles sang on from his laying position on the countertop. "Things are as they always should have been."

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