Willow and Cordelia were laughing as they entered the library to help with
the research that Giles needed done.  They had just spent the day with Angel
and Spike, the two vampires having decided that they would make the girls
dinner, without much success.  It has taken all four of them almost an hour
to clean up the mess that the two men had made, but they all had to admit,
that they had had fun doing it.  It had been two days since Willow's
confrontation with Buffy and Xander, and she and Cordelia had both found
ways to avoid seeing the Slayer and her boyfriend, not wanting to deal with
anything that they might say.
      In those days, Cordelia had found herself spending most of her time at
Angel's, only going home to get some much needed sleep, after promising
Spike that she would be careful getting home, even is she was driving.  The
cheerleader enjoyed her time with the trio of roommates, finally feeling at
home someplace.  When she was with Spike, Angel and Willow, she felt as if
she was part of a family, all four people having become extremely close even
in such a short time.
      And in that short time, Cordelia had found herself alone with Spike often,
Willow and Angel going off on their on at times, and Cordelia's infatuation
with the vampire had turned into a full fledged crush.  There was something
about the bleached blonde that seemed to call out to her.  Granted, he was a
soulless demon that enjoyed killing people, but she knew that wasn't all
there was to him.  Whenever he would talk about his time with Drusilla, she
could see how much the pain of losing the vampiress had hurt him.   And when
he and Angel began to talk about the past, specifically the time of Angel's
cursing, she could see the pain in his blue eyes as he remembered how his
sire had turned his back on his childe.  She had wanted to do nothing but
reach out and hug him, but knew that it would not be appreciated.
      Willow and Cordelia stopped laughing as soon as they saw who was gathered
in the library.  Giles was standing in the doorway to his office, while
Buffy and Xander were looking at them from the table in the center of the
library, a scowl on their faces.  The two girls raised their heads high and
made their way into the library.
      "Hey Giles, what's up?" Willow asked cheerily as she sat her books down by
the computer.  "You needed some research done or something."
      "Yes, Willow, you're quite right," Giles said, glad to see that Willow
appeared to be fine.  Giles had been worried about how the young girl might
be around Buffy and Xander considering the way the couple had treated her,
and he was pleased to see that she was okay.  "I was wondering if you could
get onto that dread machine and do whatever it is you do."
      "No problem," she laughed at Giles belligerent attitude when it came to her
computer.  "What is it you wanted me to look up?"
      "Here's a list of things," the Watcher said, handing her a piece of paper.
Willow looked it over and had to stop herself from giggling at some of the
things that appeared on it, and gulped at the last thing on the list.
      "Ummm, why am I looking up something about it raining frogs?"
      "These are all some of the strange occurrence that have been happening
around Sunnydale lately, and I need to know if they are a sign of some kind
of prophecy that we haven't discovered yet."  Willow nodded her head and got
to work on the computer, leaving Giles to face the other teenagers in the
room.
      "Buffy, I want you, Xander and Cordelia to start going through the books to
see if there might be something that I missed regarding prophecies that
might be taking place."
      "No prob, G-man," Xander replied flippantly as he grabbed the first book on
the pile.
      "Xander I have repeatedly asked..."
      "For me to not call you that," the boy finished.  Giles just cleared his
throat and made his way back into his office, leaving the five teens to
themselves.  The silence in the room was broken only by the tapping of
Willow's fingers on the keyboard and the turning of pages.  Finally, when
the tension became to unbearable, Buffy opened her mouth to say something.
      "So, what's going on between you and Angel?"
      "Why do you care?" Willow questioned back, not even looking away from the
monitor.  "You're with Xander now."
      "So, what, does that mean I can't inquire as to why my best friend is
shacking up with my ex?" Buffy inquired.  "I mean, I think I have a right to
know if you're sleeping with him."  Willow's head shot around, her green
eyes meeting the piercing blue ones of the Slayer.
      "I am not sleeping with Angel and even if I were, it would be none of you
business," Willow replied tersely.  "You broke up with him, for Xander,
remember.  What Angel and I do are none of your concern."
      "None of my concern," Buffy shouted.  "How dare you.  I'm sorry if you were
hurt because Xander and I didn't tell you about us, but that's no reason to
go off and sleep with someone that you knew I love, loved," Buffy corrected
quickly.  "That's childish Willow."
      "Childish," Willow said, her voice even.  "You're calling me childish.
You're the one that felt the need to keep your relationship a secret.
You're the one that knew that Xander was involving himself with Cordelia and
never said anything.  You're the one the feels that need to be the center of
attention, not allowing anyone to do anything that you don't approve of.  I
don't mind being childish when compared to a...a..."  Willow searched for
the right word.
      "Self righteous slut?" Cordelia supplied happily.
      "Thank you," Willow replied.  "Although I was going for egotistical,
conceited, hypocritical bitch myself."
      "Well, that works too," Cordelia told her.
      "Cordelia, stay out of this," Buffy hissed at the cheerleader.  "This is
between Willow and me."
      "Wrong," came a deep voice from the stacks.  "This is between you, me and
Willow."
      "Angel," Buffy whispered as the souled vampire emerged from the bookcases
that had hidden him.  She watched as he walked over to Willow and placed his
arms around her, offering her some much needed comfort.  She nearly screamed
as she watched his lips take hers in a loving kiss.  "So the two of you are
together.  Tramp?"
      "Watch it Slayer," Angel ordered, his demon fighting for control at the
insult to Willow.  "I won't have you talking about Willow like that."
      "Why not.  It's true.  I mean, why else would you be interested in someone
like her?" Buffy sneered.  Willow turned away from Angel, her back against
him as she faced her former friend.
      "Why are you doing this/" Willow asked as she felt tears slowly make their
way down her face.  "I thought we were friends."
      "Friends?"  Buffy said incrediously.  "Friends don't stab other friends in
the back."
      "But I didn't," Willow denied.
      "Really.  Then what do you call going after Angel just to get back at me?"
      "She didn't mean for it to happen," Angel answered for Willow.  "She needed
a friend and I happened to be the one she turned to, considering her only
other friends at the time were too busy with their own lives to worry about
her.  Our caring about each other just happened.  We didn't plan it, but I
won't let you belittle it."
      "What in the name of heaven is going on out here?" Giles asked as he came
out of his office.  He had heard the shouting of arguing and had decided to
see what was the cause of the commotion.  He was surprised to see that Angel
had appeared in the library and was holding a crying Willow against him and
he suddenly had a very good idea of what had been said.  "Angel."
      "Rupert," Angel greeted the Watcher.  "Sorry to disturb you."
      "Not at all," he said.  "I am rather curious as to what is going on
though."
      "I'll tell you what is going on, Giles," Buffy spat.  "That slut went after
Angel because she was upset that Xander and I were together."  Angel's eyes
turned yellow at Buffy's continued verbal assault on the hacker.
      "I told you to watch what you say, Slayer," he growled.  Giles could see
that things were escalating out of control and stepped between Buffy and
Angel.
      "Angel, I think it would be best if maybe you took Willow home."  Angel
looked at the Englishman, his eyes returning to their chocolate brown.  He
nodded his head in silent thanks to the man before leading Willow out of the
library, Cordelia close at their heels.  Once they were gone, Giles turned
his attention to his Slayer and the boy at her side.  Buffy shrank back from
the glare that he was sending her way, suddenly afraid of the man that had
once been called Ripper.
      "Buffy Anne Summers, you have some explaining to do, and it sure as hell
better be good."  Buffy and Xander looked at each other and knew that they
were about to face somethine far worse than anything the Hellmouth might
throw at them.
 

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