"Okay, are you ready for this?" Angel asked, holding onto Willow’s hand, giving her some of his strength for the upcoming confrontation. She smiled as she noticed Spike doing the same thing Cordelia.

 "I’m as ready as I’m ever going to be." Angel leaned over and gave Willow a quick kiss. Willow took a deep breath and opened the library doors. The four walked in and were quickly separated by three very angry teenagers.

Oz grabbed Willow’s wrist, pulling her away from Angel, who had his hands full with Buffy dragging him away also. Xander had separated Cordelia from an angry Spike, who had to force himself not to attack the boy. Each pair went to a different corner of the library, leaving Spike alone with Giles, who just looked on confused at the antics of his charges.

 "Well, watcher man, it looks like it’s just you and me," Spike grinned, noticing Giles discomfort at the blonde’s presence in his library.

 "Yes, well…" Giles stammered. "Maybe then you would be able to tell me what is going on."

"Sure thing mate."

 Conversation One Buffy pleads her case.

 "Angel, we need to talk."

 "About what, Buffy. I think everything has been said between us, don’t you?" Angel glanced over to where Willow and Oz had disappeared behind the stacks of books. He was worried about what the boy might do to his Willow. Buffy noticed Angel’s gaze and wasn’t happy about his concern over Willow.

 "She’ll be fine, Oz is just going to make her understand that what we did, we did because of our love for you."

Angel’s head snapped around to face Buffy, a look of disbelief on it. "Did because of your love for us. And how did you come to that conclusion?"

 "Well, Oz didn’t want to pressure Willow for anything that she wasn’t ready for and I just needed a release after being with you. I mean, it hurt so much knowing how much I loved you and us not being able to do anything about it, so I didn’t want that kind of pressure on you. Oz and I just happened. It was only sex, nothing more. You are the one that holds my heart."

Buffy reached out to caress Angel’s cheek, only to be stopped by him. "Don’t Buffy. Things have changed. And your excuse for why you slept with your best friend’s boyfriend is rather perverse. Even you can’t be stupid enough to think that just because you love me, while still sleeping with another man, I could ever forgive you. That Willow could ever forgive you. It’s not that easy."

 "But it can be. Come on, Willow will forgive us, she’s that kind of person." Angel was surprised by Buffy’s belief that Willow and he would forgive their indiscretion. "As for things changing, I know they have. Willow told me about your soul being permanent and when I mentioned it to Giles, he did some research and discovered it was true, so now we can be together."

 "No Buffy, we can’t. I’m with Willow now. I love Willow."

 Buffy shook her head, refusing to hear Angel’s words. "No you don’t. I’m the only one for you. We are soul mates."

 "Buffy, you saw the bite marks. You know what they mean."

 "No," Buffy practically shouted, "you only did that so she could use them in her little game of revenge. They don’t mean anything. I’m the one that you should be with. Not her. Why would you want to be with her. She’s just plain mousy Willow."

 Angel was angry at Buffy’s insult to his girlfriend. "You have no right to talk about Willow that way. She is anything but plain or mousy. She is a beautiful, intelligent, sexy woman who is more than a match for me. I am proud that she has decided that she wants my love."

 "But you love me. We were meant to be," Buffy tried once more.

 "Loved, Buffy. Loved."

 Conversation Two Oz explains

 "Willow, we need to talk about what you saw?"

 "There’s nothing to talk about. I saw what I saw and that’s the end of it. I wasn’t enough to satisfy you." Willow glanced over to see Buffy and Angel talking. She caught his eye before Oz forced her to look at him.

 "There’s a lot to talk about. I only did what I did because I love you."

 "Love," Willow shouted. "What the hell do you know about love. Love isn’t sleeping with your girlfriend’s best friend."

 "I did it because I knew you weren’t ready to move on to the next step and Buffy offered because of not being able to do anything with Angel. But that’s changed now."

 "Yes it has," Willow agreed. "Now, neither of you have to worry about pressuring me or Angel, because the two of us are quite happy together."

 "Yeah, Buffy told me what happened earlier today," Oz spat out, angry at his girlfriend’s attitude and unwillingness to automatically forgive him. "How could you let him drink from you?"

 "I wasn’t actually thinking about it like that when it happened," Willow stated. "I had other things on my mind at the time." Willow’s look as she said that left no doubt in Oz’s mind exactly what was on Willow’s mind at the time.

"Why? How could you give yourself to him when you and I were meant to be together and you knew it."

 Willow looked at Oz in disbelief. "You are questioning my relationship with Angel. He’s the one person in my life that has never let me down, which is a hell of a lot more than I can say about my friends in here. Angel loves me and has spent every minute since that night to make sure that I feel special and loved."

 "Yeah, real big of him," Oz snorted. "He used you Willow. He convinced you of his love so you would sleep with him and you let him." Willow slapped Oz with a force that he never expected able to come from the red head that he loved.

 "Never," she hissed, "never talk about Angel like that. He is the man that I plan on spending the rest of my life with. He is the one that makes me feel special and he is the one that I love."

 Oz grabbed Willow’s arm, "I will never accept that."

 Willow pulled her arm out of his grasp. "You have no choice. It’s the truth."

 "No, you love me and I will make you see that. We were meant to be together, just as Buffy and Angel were meant to be. I won’t let him have you. Not without a fight."

 Conversation Three Xander begs for forgiveness

 "Cordelia, I wanted to say I’m sorry, for what happened with Faith."

 "It’s over, I’ve moved on," she said indifferently, noticing out of the corner of her eye, Spike talking to Giles.

 "Yeah, so I’ve noticed. How could you? With Spike yet?" Xander had noticed the possessiveness the blonde vampire had with Cordelia and he didn’t like it. He also didn’t like the fact that Buffy had said that Spike had bitten the brunette.

 "Spike’s fun to be around and he cares about me. He shows me how much he loves me, not just tells me."

 "Yeah, I’m sure he’ll love you, that is, until Drusilla returns." Cordelia’s eyes flashed with anger at the mention of Spike’s former lover.

 "Drusilla has no claims on Spike. None. She gave them up when she left him. He is mine, and that’s the way it is going to stay."

 "Give me a break, Cordelia. He’s a soulless monster. At least Deadboy feels something."

 "So does Spike. He feels a lot. He does things for me. When he hunts, he doesn’t kill anymore. Just leaves his victims slightly drier than before."

 "And you condone his hunting?" Xander nearly shouted.

 "He has to eat, Xander. You should understand the need to eat." Cordelia pointed out. "I love him, and that means accepting everything about him."

 "Including the fact that he apparently likes to bite you," Xander said, pointing to the fading bite marks on Cordelia’s neck. Her hand went up to feel them, a slight blush forming.

 "Yeah, well, he was a little hungry. I mean, we had worked off a lot of energy," she smiled as she remembered exactly how they had used that energy.

Xander was disgusted by the fact that Cordelia had apparently condoned Spike’s biting her. "What has happened to you, Cordy? I mean, what has he done to you?"

 "He hasn’t done anything to me Xander, except making me feel loved and cherished. That’s all I want. I’m a better person because of him and because of the others I have a family. One that I am proud to call my own."

 "Well, that family isn’t going to last. Buffy is going to get Angel back. Oz and Willow are meant to be. Just like the two of us."

 Cordelia gave the boy in front of her a sorrowful look. "No, Xander, none of that is going to happen. Willow and Angel were meant to be and if you truly looked at them, without anger, you would see that. Willow has finally grown into the person that we all knew she could be and Angel is much more lighthearted than he ever was with Buffy. No more broodboy for him. The two of them complete each other."

 "And you and Spike?"

 Cordelia shrugged her shoulders, "I love him Xander. He gives me his unconditional support and love. He understands me and accepts me. I can’t ask for anything else. And he makes me laugh. He holds me when I cry over a sad movie. He’s willing to go with me to see the sad movie, which is a lot more than I can for you."

 "But I love you," Xander pleaded.

 "But not enough Xander. You still cheated on me with Faith."

 "Only the one time. Only once."

 "Once was enough."

 "But you’re the one I love."

 Conversation Four Spike lets the watcher in on what happened.

 So, what exactly would you like to know, watcher?" Spike asked as he went into Giles office. He knew that his friends would be okay with their former other halfs and so wasn’t that worried about them.

 "A few things actually. Is what Buffy told me correct? Are Angel and Willow together?" Giles was surprised at how calmly he was taking in the sight of Spike and Angel with the two young girls, but he attributed part of that to knowing what the prophecy had foreseen.

 Spike grinned as he nodded his head. "Oh yeah, Peaches and Red are definitely an item. Damn good one too. She’s grown up a lot in the past month with him there helping her the entire time. And he loves her with his entire being."

 "What about you and Cordelia?"

 Spike smiled at the thought of the woman that had stolen his undead heart. "She’s amazing. She’s the reason that I get up in the morning. I would do anything for her and she for me, at least I hope. She challenges me to be something more than I am and I want to rise to the challenge." Giles noted the tone of affection that had taken form in Spike’s voice and inwardly smiled at the blonde in front of him. Granted, he and Spike had never gotten along, considering how many times Spike had tried to kill everyone in the library, but he could tell that the cheerleader’s influence on him was a good thing.

 "You love her." It wasn’t a question, but a simple statement of fact.

 "More than life itself."

"Buffy also mentioned about bite marks on Willow and Cordelia. Would you care to explain them?" Spike looked over at the librarian, surprised at his tone of voice. It was more of a concerned father looking out for his daughters’ well-being than a man who was trained to help the slayer kill vampires. Spike immediately decided that the librarian was a good man.

 "Yeah, well," Spike began sheepishly, "let’s just say that Angel and I kind of got carried away this weekend." Spike actually was surprised that he couldn’t look Giles in the eye as he said that. "We didn’t mean for it to happen, at least I didn’t, but I couldn’t help it. I lost control, which is something that I am not used to."

 "What happens if you lose control again and kill her?"

 Spike shook his head, "It wasn’t that kind of losing control. It was, like I wanted to claim her. Make her mine. Let others know that she was taken. I think that’s what happened with Angel also, but I wasn’t there when it happened." Giles nodded his head, taking in that bit of information.

 "If you don’t mind my asking, but how did Angel and Willow get together. The last time I checked, they were happily involved with Buffy and Oz."

 Spike snorted. "Yeah well, that’s an interesting question to ask. Let’s just say that Buffy and Oz’s devotion to the loves of their lives weren’t enough for them."

 "What do you mean," Giles asked confused.

 Spike took in an unneeded breathe before continuing. "Last month, Angel and Willow ran into each other on the way to the slayer’s," he explained. "Peaches had just come back from his trip and wanted to tell her about his soul being permanent. Willow hadn’t seen her in awhile and just wanted to hang out, since wolf boy was supposedly out of town. Well, they arrived and let themselves in when nobody answered the door. They made their way up to the slayer’s bedroom and saw her and the kid screwing on her bed. And then they realized that Xander knew about it too."

 "WHAT?" Giles shouted as he stood up, forcibly pushing his chair back, surprising Spike with the anger in his voice. Giles went over to the entrance of his office, ripping the door open.

 "BUFFY ANNE SUMMERS AND ALEXANDER LAVELLE HARRIS, GET YOUR ASSES IN MY OFFICE NOW. AND BRING WOLFBOY WITH YOU!"
 
 
 

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