FEEDBACK: Yes please! Flames will be used to burn the pot roast.
DISTRIBUTION: Anyone that's been given permission to have any of this series may have it, but others please ask!
DISCLAIMER: I own nothing! It belongs to Joss!
SPOILERS: All seasons
RATING: PG
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Follows "Feelings of Heartache" and all other fics in this series:)

Buffy awoke early the next morning, yawning and stretching her arms above her head. Her clock read 6:30, and she could only imagine that her loyal slayerettes were busting their butts off researching any and every book in her watcher's apartment.

She could picture it perfectly. Willow would be sitting at her computer, alternating between reading articles on the internet or reading the text in a large tome sitting on her lap.

Xander would be halfheartedly reading a big, musty old book and munching on crackers and sipping a Coke, tiny crumbs falling unnoticed onto his reading material.

Spike would be pretending to research, occasionally lifting his eyes and glowering at them all, gulping down bits of his blood topped with crispy wheatie bits, then returning to his pretense of reading.

She winced at that particular thought, having previously sworn to *never* eat wheatie bits again, and climbed out of bed.

She performed her daily ritual of showering, brushing her teeth, doing her hair and makeup, and picking out an outfit to wear that day.

She chose a clingy lavender shirt with three-quarter-inch sleeves and a pair of midnight blue, tight-fitting jeans. She did her hair in two neat braids and applied a light layer of makeup.

For some reason, her appearance mattered to her today. She grinned as she thought that maybe her instincts were telling her she would be meeting up with Riley later on. She hoped so.

Slipping on a pair of black tennis shoes, she smiled brightly, highly anticipating the day's events, and headed for her watcher's house.

*

Inside of the apartment, bodies were strewn across the room, some on the floor, some propped up in chairs, some leaning on others.

They looked dead, but the snoring emanating from a few of the sleeping men diminished the thought.

Buffy carefully wound her way through the bodies of her friends, and came stopped beside Rupert Giles, who was languidly slumped in his chair, his glasses falling from his nose.

She sighed. Apparently they had found nothing. She looked confused for a moment, and halted in her tracks. What had they been trying to find, anyway? What had they been researching for?

Why had she left yesterday? She couldn't remember...

She began to move again, but stopped as she felt a tingling in her right side. She looked around, but did not see Spike anywhere, so she figured he must be in her watcher's bed.

Ooh, that sounded bad...

She pried her mind away from those rather gruesome thoughts, and honed her senses. The tingling feeling became stronger, her spider senses wide awake.

A vampire was in the house. It was lying on the floor amidst her loved ones... she panicked. For all she knew, her friends really *could* be dead!

She was afraid to find out, but the choice was taken away from her as instead, her eyes settled themselves on an unfamiliar person sitting dejectedly in the corner.

She began to move slowly, like a predator that has just spotted his prey would, and tiptoed across the floor, over her friends' bodies, and to the vampire.

Spotting a stake on the coffee table, she grinned. This would be an easy kill.

She picked it up gently, not making a sound, and clutched it tightly in her hand. She moved slowly, almost timidly, and waited for just the right moment..

A few seconds later, without any warning or fault, Buffy grabbed an unsuspecting Angel by the neck and hauled him off of the chair, throwing him to the ground.

He landed with a loud thud, immediately waking the others.

He scrambled up from the floor, holding his hands out in front of him, and stopped dead in his tracks as he saw who was attacking him.

Buffy.

*His* Buffy.

Up until now, he hadn't fully grasped the truth in the watcher's and Willow's words. But looking at her now, with such contempt and not even a single smidge of emotion for him - love, hate, longing - in her eyes, he knew that it was true.

Buffy had forgotten him.

The stake descended to his chest and slammed through it, sliding through bones and blood.

It missed the heart by two inches.

"Damn!" She managed to mutter as someone grabbed her from behind, pulling her away and restraining her.

She expected an ambush, a band of vampires forming together to capture or kill her, but apparently it wasn't so as she glared at the faces of Giles and Xander.

Cordelia and Willow ran to Angel's side.

Kneeling down beside him, Cordelia eyed him in worry as she carefully prodded his flesh for the end of the stake, and gently pulled it out, her hands becoming red with excess fluid.

He grunted and groaned in unspeakable agony as she reached back into the mess, checking for any remnants of the stake - chips or slivers.

"What are you doing?" Buffy screamed. "Have you all gone insane? Stake him!" She was upset that she missed her target, she barely *ever* missed, and if she did, she was way off her game. But to have her friends help this.. this vampire? It disgusted her to no end!

"I'm not.. going... to hurt you!" Angel attempted to reassure, which was a bit difficult at the moment. He was having more trouble keeping his temper in check, and also trying not to allow his vampire visage to appear.

Buffy wrenched herself away from the two men and launched herself at him, flying through the air and landing on top of him.

He winced in pain as her warm hands came into contact with his wound, and grabbed her by the shoulders, pushing her off.

Buffy jumped up and was prepared to battle and kill the vampire when Xander and Willow, two of her very best friends, blocked her.

"What are you doing?" She demanded.

Willow eyed the slayer sadly. "Saving our friend's life."

She widened her eyes in horror. "A vampire is not your friend, Will! How can you say something like that?"

Giles cautiously walked over to her and put an arm over her shoulders, guiding her to the couch. "We need to talk."

As the rest of the group helped Angel up from the ground, practically carrying him to the sofa and laying him down, they found various spots on the floor and chairs and made themselves comfortable.

It was going to be a long day.

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