******

"Angel?" Joyce pulls open the door to face the vampire, welcoming his newly freshened look and smiling face. "You're looking much better."

"Thank you..." he replies automatically, not exactly sure what she meant, but accepting the compliment nonetheless. "Are Buffy and Willow ready?"

"Ready?" she stares at him puzzled. "I- I thought they'd be with you."

"No...why would they be with me?"

"Well, when you took off earlier, Buffy was understandably worried, so she went after you- though you seem to be just fine now."

"Excuse me, Joyce, but...what are you talking about? I haven't seen Buffy since she left the mansion a few hours ago."

"Angel," she lets out a small laugh, "I may be old, but I'm not *that* old where I don't know what I see. You were just here a little while ago...a little shaken up. You'd said you'd run into a vampire. Must've been some vampire," she smiles, taking a sip of her tea.

"Joyce, I can assure you that I never-"

"Oh, Angel- it's alright, dear. You think I don't have a pretty good idea what you and Buffy do in your spare time," she beams at him. "Look- whenever you two want some...*alone* time, you don't have to go running off together, making some excuses that some big evil is going on."

Deciding against pushing the matter further, Angel tries getting as much information out of her as possible. "Well, in that case, uh...would you happen to know where Buffy said we were headed for the night?"

"Well, when Mr. Giles called, he said she was headed for the Bronze to meet up with you." Hearing enough, Angel takes off back out the door, his gut telling him that not only was something going on, but Buffy was in danger.

******

Unable to move, their faces permanently fixed on remorse, the two friends and the former watcher sit together on the library's stairs, trying to make some sense of recent events.

"This isn't real," Xander finally breathes out, his eyes still glazed over with the tears that, so far, he'd been able to hold back.

"I can't feel anything," Buffy whispers. "Arms, legs, anything..."

"She was truly the finest of all of us," Giles sighs, rubbing his forehead lightly.

"Way better than me," Xander casually remarks.

"Much, much better," the englishman is quick to agree with him, prompting the teen to begin placing blame.

"It's all my fault-"

"No-" Buffy speaks up. "It's me. I mean, it's *me*. I'm the one who called her reliable. She must've gone out and gotten attacked, which she never would've done if I hadn't called her reliable," the slayer's voice begins to crack, a small sob escaping her lips. "And now my best friend is-

"What's going on?" A smiling Willow comes bouncing through the library doors, quickly taken aback by her friends' miserable faces. "Jeez, who died?" Receiving only blank stares from them, she begins to turn serious. "Oh, god. Who died?"

Not believing what he was seeing, Xander is the first to react, springing to his feet, a cross stretched out in front of him. "Back! Get back demon!" After a few more shakes, he realizes that the holy symbol was having no effect on a clearly, very-much alive Willow.

"Willow..." grasping what little hope she had left, Buffy slowly approaches her friend. "You're alive."

"Aren't I usually?" Those three words were the last she was able to get out before being bombarded with a tight hug from Buffy, a jubilant Xander following right after.

"I love you guys too." As their grips increase, Willow tenses up. "Okay- oxygen becoming an issue." Not wanting to have her die twice in one day, Buffy and Xander swiftly pull away, their eyes still fixed on the wonderful sight of her. "Giles, what's going on with these-" She'd known her friends to be over emotional sometimes, but Willow never expected such a response from the usually serious and stern Giles. "Uggh..."

"Oh," Giles flinches back, "sorry, umm..."

"It's really nice that you guys missed me," her eyes lift as she notices the way Buffy was giving her a joyous look simliar to ones she'd seen her friend give Angel. "Say, you all didn't happen to do a bunch of drugs, did ya?"

"Will, we saw you at the Bronze," Xander tries explaining their reactions. "...a vampire."

"I'm not a vampire," Willow says, more confidence in that simple statement than in any she had made before.

"But you are," Buffy tells her. "I- I mean you *were*. Giles, plan on jumping in with an explanation anytime soon?"

"Well, uh...something, uh...very strange is going on," was the best the usually well-versed librarian could come up with. In typical fashion, Xander is the first to try and make light of the situation.

"Can you believe the watcher's council let this guy go?" As he expected, his humor wasn't much appreciated, and the four sit down at a nearby table to discuss things.

"Okay..." Willow begins, "let's back things up to when you saw a vampire who looked like me at the Bronze-"

"Will, she didn?t *look* like you..." Buffy restates her case, "she *was* you."

"Buffy- I was never at the Bronze tonight...remember? You asked me to stay with your mom until you found Angel. The only reason I even left your house now was because your mom sent me here after Giles called her saying you stopped by here and then was headed for the Bronze."

"When did you call my mom?" Buffy turns to her ex-watcher.

"After you were here earlier..."

"Giles, I *wasn't* here earlier!" the frustrated blonde assures him as she stands to her feet.

"Buffy, I know what I saw...you were here, going on about something having to do with the master-"

"The master? As in, already slayed, ashes to ashes master?" She pauses for a moment, thinking back to her earlier encounter with Angel2 from before. "Angel was saying something about me killing the master when he came over tonight. He was almost...surprised that I'd killed him."

"This was before you saw Willow at the Bronze?" Giles asks.

"I wasn't at the Bronze!" the redhead yells, surprised by her own reaction. The four were so caught up arguing amongst themselves, they never noticed the two individuals who had quietly crept in through the library doors.

"I don't know who you guys saw, but it wasn't me. I was at Buffy's the whole night doing what I do best- being old reliable- looking after her mom."

"A lot of good it did," Buffy sighs. "I haven't even found-" she turns her head, catching a glimpse of someone running at her with open arms, sweeping her up into his arms. "Angel!"

Angel2 says nothing, only falls to his knees, his arms still clutched tightly around the slayer's legs, as Giles2 comes walking over behind him.

"Giles??" the four friends shout in unison, their eyes racing between the two identical englishmen who had finally come face to face. Again, Xander was the first to respond.

"Okay...it's official...I'm having my first nervous breakdown..."

******

"Oz."

Hearing his name, the musician turns to find Angel. < Should've known it was him?never makes a sound. > "Hey man. You looking for Buffy?"

"As always," he smiles, though still worried about where his beloved and Willow had ran off to.

"Well, no sightings as of yet, but Willow said they'd both be here tonight with you."

As their eyes begin to search through the massive sea of people, Willow2 and Xander2's crew of vamps begin their attack through the crowd.

"That doesn't look good," Oz casually mentions to an already frantic Angel.

"Everybody shut up!" the head vamp yells. Tossing party goers left and right, the demons make a finite clearing for their leaders, slowly sauntering in behind them to enjoy the sights. "Alright. Nobody cause any trouble or try to leave, and nobody gets hurt."

"Why don't I believe him?" Angel whispers to his friend.

"Well, he lacks credibility." Seeing another few people being thrown about, Oz tries formulating a plan. "Can you get out of here?"

"Skylight in the roof- I can make it."

"I think we need some back up."

"I think I'm needed here..." Angel watches as Oz takes a moment to study the warfield.

"Ten to one...could get pretty pointless."

As Oz turns his head towards the sound of new footsteps approaching the stage, what he sees almost makes him wish he'd been born blind.

"Look...everyone's all afraid. It's just like old times," Willow2 grins. Wrapping his arms around her waist from behind, Xander2 pulls her into his embrace as he nuzzles her neck. ?Sure feels like home to me, baby.?

The fact that his supposed friend was almost to the point of mating with his girlfriend hardly fazed the usually calm Oz. That wasn't the whole trouble- that wasn't what made his belly crawl with horror and revulsion. The sight of their fang-filled grins, fierce yellow eyes, and almost translucent skin was another story.

"Get Buffy," he orders Angel. "Do it now." Trying to get over his own shock, Angel's feet are still locked in place, just long enough for Willow2 to catch a glimpse of him.

"Puppy..." she beams, pulling Xander2 along with her as she walks closer towards the stage. "I missed you..." Without thinking, Angel swiftly dashes up the nearby ladder, making his way to the roof, hoping to find Giles at the library to inform him of this new development.

"What's the matter?" she pouts, switching to game face along with her lover. "Don't ya wanna play with us!" she yells after him.

"Lemme tag the puppy," Xander2 pleads, receiving his approval from the redhead, giving her a hard kiss before dashing off after Angel.

Deciding that she would be able to deal with her pet later, she turns to grab a nearby young girl, addressing her soon-to-be new legion of subjects.

"Now...if you're all good boys and girls, we'll make you young and strong, forever and ever. We'll have fun. If you're not..." She yanks the poor girl's neck back, exposing her bare flesh and sinking her fangs in, reveling in the taste of her fresh young blood. After sending her dropping to the floor, she returns to her human visage, smiling proudly.

"Questions? Comments?" Out of the corner of her eye, she catches the sight of a young man sitting up in the nearby corner, stake in hand as he calls out to her.

"Willow!" The voice that calls seems to be echoed, and for good reason. Oz2 looks back at the stage, seeing his identical counterpart staring right back at him, mouth already opened from the yell they'd both shared.

"Oooo..." Willow2 begins grinning. "Double the whitehat dessert..."

******

Disconcerning the curious way Angel2 was still hugging her, Buffy leans back against the table Xander was sitting on, watching as Giles leans against his office's door frame, discussing his own, and Willow's supposed doubles.

"This is creepy," Willow sighs as she eyes Giles2 sitting down in a chair. "I don't like the thought that there's a vampire out there that looks like me."

"Not looks like- *is*," Xander clarifies.

"It was exactly you, Will," Buffy adds, struggling a bit against Angel2's grip. "Every detail. Except for your not being a dominatrix. As- as far as we know..."

"Oh right- me and Oz play mistress of pain every night," the still cheery redhead jokes.

"Did anyone else just go to a scary visual place?" Xander mutters.

"Oh yeah," Buffy, and both forms of Giles agree.

"Well- well about about this?" Giles points to his own double. "I mean, do you think I like the idea of having another me around?"

"Do you think *we* like the idea of having another you around?" Xander blurts out. Before any of them can yell at him, a loud yell can be heard coming down the hall.

"Giles!!!" comes a voice that they all recognized, though knew it couldn't be since it's owner was still clutching Buffy. "Giles!!!!" This time the yell is accompanied by a quick blur, dashing by the circular windows of the two swinging doors. The image goes rushing past again, making a brief pause in front of the doors.

"Xander- no! What are you- umph!!" The image is knocked down with a loud thud, another seemingly leather covered figure pouncing on top of him. Not being held down for long, the owner of the familiar voice overpowers his attacker, knocking him out with a hard right, then scampers in on his hands and knees, trying to get to his feet as he comes fumbling through the library doors.

Taking a few uneccesary breaths, Angel rushes over to Giles2. "Giles...we've got a problem."

"Um...Angel? I'm over here," Giles motions with his hand, drawing the vampire's attention.

"Oh- right," he nods, before apologizing to Giles2. "Sorry..." he blurts out without taking notice of seeing two Giles. Before he can continue, his eyes drift over to Buffy, who's jaw had found a permanent home on the floor as she stares awkwardly at her lover. "Buffy! Thank god you're alright!" he shouts, wrapping his arms around her in a tight hug.

He captures her lips in a passionate kiss before pulling away, finally taking notice of the new person who had his grubby hands still wrapped around *his* girlfriend. "Buffy, I...something's happened that- Willow and Xander are dead."

The others in the library nod, blank stares being passed around as Angel's eyes come to focus on the very-much alive frames of both Xander and Willow. "Hey guys..." Willow waves to him, while Xander nods, the young man's eyes being torn between the sight of two Angels and two Giles. "Wait a minute..." Angel's voice begins to crack as his mind finally catches up with what was going on.

"We're right there with ya, pal," Xander tries calming him.

"Yeah," Willow chimes in. "Buffy and Xander said they saw me at- umph!!" The redhead is cut off for the third time that night as Angel wraps her up into an even tighter hug than Buffy, Xander, and Giles did. Realizing he was probably hurting her, Angel retracts, already mumbling his apologies.

"Hey!" Xander pouts. "I'm alive too! Don't I get a hug?!" Angel can only glare at him as he shifts his eyes back to Giles for an explanation.

"Buffy and Xander said they saw Willow at the Bronze as a vampire," he begins. "However, Willow says she was at Buffy's all night waiting for her to come home after going after *you*. This was all after Buffy stopped by here to explain to me how she was going to kill the master, but that couldn't have happened because Buffy says she was out looking for you until she decided to stop by the Bronze, where she saw Willow as a vampire, which, as I said, Willow claims couldn't have been. Still with me?" he checks, hoping the vampire wasn't as confused by all of this as he now found himself to be.

"Okay..."

"Ooo-" Xander cuts in. "Tell him about the two of you," he points to Giles and Giles2, both of whom passed him exasperated stares.

"Right...umm...right before you came in now, I...or rather, *he* came walking in," he nods his head towards his counterpart. "Did I cover everything?" he checks with Buffy, receiving a small nod as a response.

"Okay...that answers all of my questions but one." Angel walks over to Buffy, staring down at the man who was still pooled around the slayer's feet. "Who the hell is this guy?!" he yells, grabbing the man by the neck, lifting him into the air.

"Funny..." Willow says meekly, "I was about to ask the same thing."

"Deadboy..." Xander hops down from the table to introduce the vampire to his own double. "Meet Deadboy..."

"What are you talking about?" Angel shouts, confused by his remark. "Who is this guy?!"

"Hello!" Xander makes a wave of his hands at his friend's exact duplicate. "You don't recognize your own...oh..." he stops himself before shoving his foot even further into his mouth. "Of course you wouldn't...how could you...I mean, it's been what? Over two-hundred years since you've seen yourself. I mean, how could you know that...this guy's...you..."

Staring the man he held above his head straight in the eyes, Angel slowly lowers Angel2 to the ground, watching as he jerks backwards against the table. Angel looks at himself thoughtfully for a moment, then shifts his gaze to Giles and Giles2 before finally regaining his voice.

"You know..." he begins with a nervous, bewildered, and utterly dazed laugh. "They say when you hit 240 you start to lose it, but I never took it seriously. Once I turned 243, I thought I was one of the lucky vampires to have not lost my mind...what the hell is going on around here?!?!"

******

Suppose I said
I am on my best behavior
And there are times
I lose my worried mind

Giles and Giles2, following their initial suspicions that magic was somehow involved in all of this, were busy in Giles' office, rooting through the usual books of choice, while Buffy and Angel began to drag the still-unconscious form of Xander2 into the library, headed for the metal frame of the ever-resourceful cage.

For the time being, Angel2 was having his burns treated to by Willow, the redhead stunned that the still-frightened vampire would come within five feet of her. She looks on from the table as Xander holds open the cage door, allowing the slayer and her lover to drag his vampire counterpart inside, shutting it closed.

"That's me?" Xander laughs, smiling almost proudly at his leather-clad double. "I mean- that's *me*!" he points to the doppleganger's prone form, beginning to laugh hysterically. "I'm totally buff! I mean- check it out...I'm a badass, supercool, mega-scary vampire! How awesome is that?!"

"Good thing Cordelia isn't here..." Buffy sighs, passing her friend a tired glare. "She might get all jealous over how you're drooling over *yourself*!"

"Oh come on-" he scoffs at her. "You've gotta admit it- I make one totally slick vamp- way cooler than Deadboy," he lifts his head towards Angel. "Who knows Buffy...if things would've been different-"

"Don't even waste your time dreaming about it-" the feisty blonde quickly stops where she knew his train of thought was going. Just the idea that he was thinking that a vampire version of himself could replace Angel was enough to make her leap out of her skin.

They walk over to where Angel2 was being fussed over by Willow, Buffy placing a comforting hand on his shoulder as she approaches him. She couldn't really explain it, but somehow, just as she was undeniably drawn to her own Angel, she felt some sort of a connection with this one. He had the same hints of remorse and pain lurking behind his eyes that her own lover did, but also something else. He had such a desperation and longing in his voice.

Would you want me
When I'm not myself?
Wait it out while
I am someone else?

"How are you feeling?"

"Better..." he finally whispers. "Thank you..." he says, directing his appreciation to both the blonde and redhead who'd been so kind. Unable to resist, he reaches up slowly to grab her chin in his hand, wanting so desperately to kiss her, but maintaining his resolve as he sees the total absence of any scar. "You're not her...are you...?"

"No..." Buffy tells him with a frown, saddened by just how much this version of her lover had depended on her own mirrored image in his own world.

"She's..." Angel2 lifts an eye towards Angel, a drawn out sigh escaping his lips. "She's yours..."

Suppose I said
Colors change for
No good reason
Suppose I said
You're my saving grace

"Yes..." Angel answers his twin, still amazed at what he saw to be his own appearance. He'd remembered faintly how he'd looked all those years ago before being turned, but without the luxury of having a reflection, he'd allowed his own image to be almost completely erased from his memory. Not that his mind would've had any room for it- Buffy's curves, the sweet outline and contours of her face, were the only images his mind had totally consumed and burned into his memory forever.

After checking in with the progress Giles and Giles2 were making- not surprisingly, the two brits were getting along splendidly- Buffy sits down next to Angel, leaning against her chest as he takes her into his arms.

"You okay?" she sighs into his red silk shirt.

"Mmm...still digesting some things..."

"Would those things be seeing Willow and Xander as vampires, having another Giles around, or trying to beat yourself up for touching me?"

"All of the above and then some," he smiles. "It's just really bizarre. I mean..." he throws a glance over to where Angel2 was buttoning up his shirt after having his last wound patched up, "...that's what I would've been like...if I'd never met you. If you'd never come to Sunnydale..."

"Well if that's how well off you would've been," she playfully teases him, pulling back to face him with a warm laugh, "I can only imagine what double would be like...wait a minute..."her mind flashes back to what Giles was going on about before. "When Giles said I was here earlier going on about the master...you don't think..."

"I wouldn't put it past things lately," Angel responds. "All of us probably have doubles here...only questions are how and why?" Seeing both Giles come out of the office, Angel stands, pulling Buffy alongside of him to see what they'd found out.

"Anything yet?" Buffy asks.

"Well..." Giles begins, "we've found quite a bit on individuals having alternate versions of themselves in different worlds and dimensions...dopplegangers they're called...but, umm...I'm more interested in what...um," he stutters a bit, trying to find the best way to address his own alternate version standing right beside him. "In what...Giles here, has been telling me. Why don't you, um..." he motions for his double to explain things to the rest of them.

"Oh- yes, of course...you see, in my world...actually," he throws a look towards Angel2, "in *our* world, you were never actually in Sunnydale. We sent for you after this young girl...Cordelia, she kept going on and on about how we needed to get Buffy, we needed to get the slayer to destroy the master and fix things."

"Is this *your* Cordelia or *our* Cordelia who was the cause of all this," Buffy checks, "because if it was *our* Cordelia, I'm gonna have a field day with her after we straighten things out.

"In any event," Giles2 picks up again, "you came to Sunnydale- or actually, *she* came to Sunnydale, though not as...refined and pleasant as you are, and was headed after the master to stop him before he had his factory completely up and running."

"Factory?" Angel raises an eye at the reference.

"Yes..." Angel2 chimes in. "The master...he built a factory line...efficient devices for draining humans in masses. Him and- him and Xander, and- and Willow...they're in charge-"

"Alright!" Xander cheers, though instantly wishing he'd kept his outburst to himself. "Oh, right- that's bad. Sorry, sorry..."

"They run the city...vampires outnumber humans by the hundreds...we weren't enough to stop them."

" 'We' as in..." Buffy tries drawing more information out of him.

"Giles, Oz, a few others, and myself...I- I was captured by...Willow. They hate me because of my soul...because I value human life..."

"We?d finally thought we'd be able to rid ourselves of this plague once Buffy arrived," Giles2 cuts in. "But there was this...this demon...she'd said something about another world. I was trying to find a way of whatever spell she'd said she'd cast when all of a sudden, Oz and I arrived here.

"And that's where we stand with things," Giles confirms. "We still nowhere closer to figuring out how all of this was actually caused, and Willow's double is still on the loose..."

"Yeah-" Angel sighs, "she's still at the Bronze with a cadre of vampires looking to party." Picking up his cue, Buffy grabs her jacket as the friends head out in full attack mode.

"We'll figure out who they all are after we stop the feeding frenzy. How many of them were there?"

"Eight or ten."

"Guys-" The friends turn to see Willow stopped in her tracks, a confused look on her face. "What are we gonna do with me- the *other* me, I mean?"

"I don't know, Will," Buffy answers her. "I mean, we just have to stop them."

"I get that. I just kinda wanted to know- oh!" finally an idea strikes her. "Hey- go...I'll catch up." The others waste no time in following her simple order, leaving the redhead alone in the school to do her own research.

As she leans over the library countertop to fetch a book, she finds herself being grabbed from behind, a familiar hand coming to stretch across her sweater as the sound of her own voice begins to spill into her ears.

"Alone at last..."

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