Sunnydale 1998

Xander was the first to his feet, running over to Willow and trying to pull her away from Angel’s grasp. Giles went to the table that Xander just vacated, grabbing the crossbow that was sitting there. Cordelia began to scream at the top of her lungs.

 "Get the hell away from her, you bastard," Oz growled, as he moved closer to the newly arrived pair. He noticed that Xander was having no luck in removing Willow from Angel’s side, but he wasn’t sure if it was due to Angel or Willow.

 "Willow, what are you doing with him? He’s a monster," Xander yelled. "Or have you forgotten the minor detail of him having tried to kill all of us on numerous occasions?" Xander quickly spared a glance at his now silent girlfriend. He saw the look of shock on Cordelia’s face, but was unable to go and comfort her. The anger he was feeling and concern over Willow’s well-being, having incapacitated him until all he could do was tremble with rage.

 "Angel’s not a monster," Willow stated firmly, "that was Angelus. Angel is our friend." Willow could feel Xander’s anger eminating through him, since his hand was still attached to her arm, but she refused to let go of Angel. For his part, Angel was holding onto Willow’s hand like it was his lifeline. Willow gave it a squeeze to let him know that she wouldn’t let anything happen to him. Giles slowly walked over to the group of teenagers, crossbow at the ready.

 "Willow, I want you to get away from Angel. Or should I saw Angelus?" Giles said, his anger uncontrollable. (That bastard killed Jenny and now he’s back. He should have stayed in hell where he belonged.)

 Willow saw the expressions on her friends’ faces, but what scared her the most was the look of absolute hatred coming from Giles, who still was aiming the crossbow at Angel’s heart. Angel also saw the look coming from the Watcher and readied himself for his death at the hands of the man whom he had hurt the most. (I’m so, so sorry Rupert for all that has happened. Jenny. Buffy. If there was any way that I could bring them back, I would gladly do it. If killing me will bring you some peace, then so be it.) Angel closed his eyes, prepared for the arrow, but when it never came, he opened them again to find Willow standing in front of him.

 "Willow, what do you think you’re doing?" Oz asked, worried about his girlfriend.

 "I won’t let you kill him, not for something that he did not have any control over," Willow stated simply, making sure to address everyone in the room. "Angel’s changed. He’s not the same man that we knew, but he is definitely not evil."

 Xander couldn’t deal with what his oldest friend was saying. "What are you doing? Excusing what he put us through? What about Buffy?"

 "What about Buffy, Xander?" Willow’s patience with her friends was beginning to run low. "Buffy’s not here Xander. And I’m beginning to doubt whether she’ll ever be coming back. But Angel is here, and if you kill him, than you are killing an innocent human being."

 "I have a question," Faith finally spoke up. Everyone jumped, having forgotten that she was even in the room.

 "What is it, Faith?" Giles said, starting to wonder why his new slayer hadn’t gone after Angel herself.

 "Why are you going after this guy?" Faith asked, genuinely puzzled. "Okay, I can tell that things are way so not five by five, and I know all about your troubles with a vamp named Angel, but what’s with wrong with this guy?"

 Giles looked at Faith, trying to understand why she even had to ask why they were so angry. (She’s the slayer, she should be able to tell that Angel’s a vampire.) As the others were waiting to see what would happen next, Cordelia began to move. Cordelia didn’t know what was wrong with the picture in front of her. She saw Xander trying to pull Willow away from Angel, Giles aiming the crossbow, and Willow standing in front of him, blocking the shot. But for some reason, she was not able to understand what they were saying. There was something wrong with the picture that had presented itself to her. Then she realized that there was something major league different with Angel. She slowly walked over to him, to get a better view. Willow was the first one to see her and stared at the girl as Cordelia finally figured out what was wrong.

 "Angel, since when do vampires get one really great tan?"

 "Geez Cordy, vamps can’t get tans," Xander said as he reached over to his girlfriend, still extremely wary of Angel. "You remember, the whole sun thing?"

 "I know that, you moron," she replied. "But look at Angel. He is definitely of the Hawaiian Tropic commercial."

More to appease his girlfriend than anything else, Xander looked closely at Angel and realized that she right. At the same moment Xander made the discovery, Giles had put together what Faith had stated earlier. (’Problems with a vampire named Angel, but what’s wrong with this guy?’)

 "Angel, you’re no longer a vampire!" Giles dropped the crossbow to his side at the same time as he made the statement. For though the anger he had allowed to reside within him, the anger that he had nutured until some days it consumed him, it had always existed with the knowledge that Angel was a vampire, a demon. Angel as a human was something of a setback. Willow released the breath she was holding when she saw the look of realization in Giles’ eyes, knowing that while he might not trust Angel right away, he wouldn’t hurt him either. Willow gave Angel another reassuring squeeze with her hand before releasing him. She grabbed Xander and Oz forcefully by the ear and led them over to the table.

 "Sit," she ordered and they both obeyed. Angel never moved away from the library doors. Willow went over to Giles and gave him a comforting hug. (I’m getting way good at this.) Willow also took his hand and brought him over to the table.

 "Faith, could you please get some tea for Giles, please?" Willow asked the brunette slayer. Faith bit off the sharp reply that was already forming on her lips when she saw the concern on the hacker’s face for the Watcher. Faith hadn’t been with the group long, but she knew that whatever was about to be said was big time major. She got up and went into Giles’ office to get the tea that Willow had asked for.

 Willow took a deep breath, centering and calming herself. She smiled over at Angel. (He looks so lost.) She gave him a smile and motioned for him to join her, which he did quickly. (He needs to know to trust me. I won’t let anyone hurt him. Not anymore.) She gave Angel a big hug and had him sit at the table facing the others. Once Faith joined them, giving Giles the tea, Willow began her story.

 "Okay, it all started when we got the letter from Buffy, telling us what happened with Angelus and Acathla," Willow started. She proceeded to tell the group about how she and Amy found the spell to get Angel out of hell and how they had done it. Then she got to the part that she knew they would have a problem with.

 "Well, when we finally finished the spell and Angel showed up, we got an unexpected side effect of the spell. Basically, Angel is human," Willow completed her story and waited for the questions to follow. She wasn’t surprised to see that Giles was back in Watcher mode and the first to ask.

 "What do you mean by ‘human’?" he asked, somewhat startled by what he was just told. It didn’t even occur to him to scold her for doing magick when he specifically told her not to.

 "I mean human. As in living, breathing, eating real food, having a heartbeat, going out in the sun kind of human. Hence the tanned look," Willow concluded.

 Giles looked at Angel, trying to take in all of the information that he had received in the last 20 minutes. First finding out that Willow had brought Angel back from hell and then discovering that he not only had a soul but that he was human as well sent him deep into thought. Xander sat in a stunned silence by Cordelia, holding her hand and trying his best to understand why his best friend had felt the need to bring back Angel. (Why Deadboy? Why couldn’t she have brought back Miss Calender? Or at least done some kind of spell to find out where Buffy was?) Oz sat back in his chair, watching Willow and Angel holding hands, trying to put a name to what he was feeling. (Something is going on here that I don’t know about. Wonder what it is and I wonder if I really want to know.) Faith looked over at the group and, realizing that they needed time to sort things out, silently left the library to go patrol. Giles removed his glasses and began to clean them.

 "Well, this is certainly unprecedented. Willow, if you wouldn’t mind, I would like to see this spell that you performed. See if there is anything else unusual that may occur." Willow nodded her head. "As for you, Angel," Giles continued, "how does it feel to be a member of the human race again?"

 Angel had stayed silent through everything, allowing Willow to do all the talking. He wasn’t sure if anyone would really want to talk to him, short of asking if he had any last words. He looked over at Giles, trying to gauge the man’s reaction to everything and, while there was hatred still in the Watcher’s eyes, Angel could also see acceptance.

 "Rupert, it’s something that I can’t even begin to describe," Angel began hesitantly. When he saw Giles nod his head to continue, Angel went on. "At first I had to remind myself how to breathe! The first time I heard my stomach growl, I had no idea what it meant. I love tasting food that I haven’t even thought about in over two hundred years. When I look in the mirror, I still can’t believe that it’s me that I see. And I still wake up early every morning to watch the sunrise."

 As Angel talked about the sunrise, he looked over at Willow. She had taken up his habit of early mornings with him and he loved being able to share all of his discoveries with the redhead.(She’s so amazing. I don’t know what I would have done if she hadn’t been around for me. Probably gone crazy with all I was experiencing.) Angel’s thoughts were broken as Oz loudly cleared his throat.

 "Willow, have you been with Angel the entire time that he’s been back?" Oz asked, jealousy in his voice. "Is that why I haven’t seen you all that much lately?" Willow looked over at her boyfriend and he saw the answer on her face.

 "I’m sorry, Oz," she said, guiltily. "It’s just that Angel has needed me so much over the past few weeks and I just didn’t feel all that comfortable in leaving him. And with my parents out of town, it was just easier staying with him." (Okay, guilt factor times ten right now. Gonna have to do some major making up with Oz after this.) Oz didn’t say anything.

Xander finally had enough of everyone being polite to each other. "So that’s it. Angel’s human now, so we just forgive him," he shouted. "Sorry if I don’t feel that way just yet."

 "I know that there is no way that I can make up for everything I did to you when I was a vampire, Xander," Angel said, turning to the boy, "but I would like to try and do something, anything that will help. Especially with Buffy not being here."

Xander just stared at the former vampire, shooting daggers at him with his eyes. Cordelia decided that it was time for her to try and calm her boyfriend down and she knew just what would do it. Cordelia stood up and grabbed Xander’s hand. Turning to Angel, she went and gave him a small hug.

"Welcome back and good luck. Come on, Xander," she said, dragging him reluctantly out the door. As he was protesting, she whispered something in his ear. He turned to the remaining people in the library and then followed her out the door.

 "Uhmmmmm….," Giles started, "I think it’s time for everyone to head home. Willow, please remember to bring that spell so I can see it. And Angel, I would appreciate it if you and I could talk about everything that happened."

 Angel looked at Giles, and saw what Giles was really offering. A chance for closure and forgiveness on both of their parts.

 "I’ll give a call tomorrow before coming over," Angel said as he stood to leave. Angel looked over at Willow to see if she wanted to go with him. Their hands were still entwined. She stood up and looked over at Oz.

 "Oz, I’ll call you tomorrow, Okay?" Oz just nodded his head. Angel and Willow left the library together, leaving only Oz and Giles.

 "Giles, I’ve lost her," Oz said. Giles just looked at the boy.

 "What do you mean? She is just concerned about Angel," he told the werewolf.

 "No, it’s more than that, even if they haven’t noticed it yet. I saw it in every look they gave each other," Oz sadly replied. "They’re in love." With this, Oz stood and left the library, Giles looking after him. Suddenly Giles knew that his charges during senior year were going to be even more difficult than he had anticipated.
 
 

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