~~part one~~

They were out hunting as a family, Dru wanted family time, all the while smiling a secret smile and not answering questions when asked why. In all the years they'd been together she'd gone hunting with Angelus and Spike only a handful of times and only when Angelus had forced the issue. This time she'd forced them all to go out and was leading the way. Halfway down a familiar street they heard screaming.

"Want to see Princess?" Angelus asked.

"Oh yes Daddy. Such delightful screams..." The scene that greeted them confused them as well.

"This is the moron's house." Angelus muttered. They watched from the trees across the street as Willow knelt over a bleeding Xander. Their vampiric hearing straining to catch her whispered words.

"What happened this time Xander?"

"Just woke him up" the youth gasped. "Now be quiet and leave Willow, he's not done yet, I don't want you to get hurt."

"BOY! GET YOUR ASS IN THIS HOUSE NOW, I AIN'T DONE WITH YOU YET!"

"NO!" Willow gasped. Both vampires cringed. They'd both had abusive fathers and remembered well what happened to friends who tried to help. Xander's father turned and glared at her.

"You little tramp, what right do you have to tell me what to do with my child!" His words slurred together. "I'll show you bitch!" He kicked Willow in the ribs and began raining kicks and punches on the now curled up hacker. "You fucking stay away from my boy you hear me!" He began muttering about getting a switch from the back yard and  walked away. Xander managed to roll on his side to get to his friend.

"Wills? Wills are you okay? You need to get out of here! HE'S GONNA COME BACK!" Xander's voice raised slightly from panic. Willow moved her hand out to touch Xander's chest.

"Xan, how bout I do some magick and you get me to the hospital and then we'll move you into my house and you'll never have to deal with him again." She groaned. A light blue glow settled over the hand on his chest. The vampires watched as the wounds visible on Xander healed to nothing. Xander looked down at Willow.

"How'd you do that?" He asked. He stood up, was about to pick Willow up when everyone heard her ribs break a second time. The wounds that had been on Xander opened up on Willow. "What did you do?" He yelled. His father came around from the back carrying a large branch.

"I taught that bitch a lesson! And it looks like you want another one." He swung the branch widely in Xander's direction it impacted his arm but it was Willow's arm that broke.

"Come on boy," Angelus said. Watching the beating had brought on memories that he'd prefer not to rehash, even though he was trying to kill them he wouldn't wish this abuse on his worst enemy. Sire and childe flew out of the trees. Angelus grabbed the branch and brought it down into the man's stomach. Spike picked Xander up and threw him over his shoulder as Angelus continued to rain blows down on Mr. Harris. Dru came out of the trees and picked Willow up.

"It's alright Little Tree," She whispered. "Daddy, Spikey and I are going to help you." That was the last thing she heard before the darkness claimed her.

`Since when do I have satin sheets?' She thought as she opened her eyes. She screamed in fright when she saw golden eyes staring at her and then again in pain when she tried to get away. The minion licked his lips as he moved closer to her.

"The master said there would be a surprise in the bedroom for me but he didn't tell me it would be you." She realized she was looking at Percy. One of the boys she tutored in calculus. "Always wondered what you would taste like." The door burst open.

"What the hell are you doing?" Angelus thundered. He grabbed the minion by the hair and staked him. "Willow, are you alright?" he asked gently. He helped her back down to the pillows. Red began staining the shirt she was wearing.

"What happened?" Spike asked from the doorway.

"Find out who in this house is creating minion's other than us. I just found one trying to make a snack out of Red. And get the doctor back in here, she tore her stitches." A warm hand fell on her shoulder and she looked into Xander's face.

"Hey Wills, you okay?" She nodded. "Good, you sleep some more, Angelus is gonna send some minions with us tonight to walk us to the meeting."

"What?"

"Confusing, I know, just sleep now and I'll explain later." He smiled his goofy Xander grin and she fell asleep again.

"It wasn't one of our minions, Xander." The boy looked over at Angelus.

"It's okay, I kinda figured it wasn't, saw him sneak out of one of the empty rooms. There were a couple of sleepers there." He'd been with Angelus' little family for the last two days. Druscilla had found a way to take back the injury's Willow had taken from him so they had both been recuperating. "It's Monday, I have to get to school today or the guys are going to think something's up. I can cover for Willow but if she wakes up while I'm gone..."

"Don't worry Whelp," Spike said dragging the doctor behind him. "The three of us will be here for her and nothing else is gonna happen."

"Thanks guys." Angelus followed Xander out to the door.

"I want you back here right after school, got it?"

"But.."

"No buts, you're not going back there, you're staying with us. We aren't even letting Willow go back to her house, there's no one there to take care of her. So straight after school." Xander smiled.

"Right, wont even stop in the park, mom" He grinned. He danced out the door into the sunlight before Angelus could grab him. Dru walked up to watch him go.

"How did they end up as part of our family?" He asked. Xander had quickly and quietly inserted himself into their lives and he had a feeling that Willow would do so as well.

"The Stars told me it would be so. Aren't they beautiful Daddy?" She asked whirling around. Angelus smiled.

"Xander!" Buffy shouted running down the halls towards them. "Where have you been? Cordelia and I have been trying to call you all day and where were you this weekend? Your mom said you deserved whatever the hell came to you and we've been so worried." Xander smiled at the rush of words flowing from the Slayer, then frowned as he realized their feelings of worry were directed at him. That was nice, but...

"Hey, Buff, have you seen Willow at all?"

"Willow? Oh, you know her, she's probably in the library with Giles' already, I called her at home on Saturday but she wasn't there."  Xander looked down at the petite blonde in shock. This was Willow, the girl Buffy claimed to be her best friend.  And she wasn't even worried that no one had heard from her in three days.  Okay, so what if he knew where she was.  That didn't mean Buffy did and since she didn't know Willow was perfectly safe then she should be worried!

Furious he shrugged his arm out of Buffy's and stomped towards the library.

The first day spent at the mansion with Angelus and his Childer had been about getting him to trust the vampires, and he'd discovered that he liked Angelus a lot more than he liked Angel and Buffy.  Sure they were murdering demons, but the need to torture everyone who walked by had left long before he was even cursed.  The second day had posed questions and concerns that Xander hadn't wanted to deal with but now they were shoved into his face.  How would his friends react when they found out about his new living arrangements? Would Buffy even care other than they were with Angelus?  Had Buffy always been this self-absorbed?  He watched as the Slayer in question walked into Giles' office.

"Hey Giles! I found Xander, I am officially off panic mode." Giles walked out of the office and glared at him disapprovingly.

"Yes, most fortunate, really Xander, what were you thinking, worrying Buffy like that, she has more important things to dwell on."

<Yep,> Xander thought to himself. <Not only has she always been self-absorbed but the watchers train them...I wonder if it's ingrained in all Slayers?> He was brought out of his wandering thoughts as Cordelia hit him over the head with her purse.
 

~~part two~~

"What?" He yelped.  Snatching the offending bag out of her hands.

"God, do you never pay attention?  I've only been trying to talk to you for the last five minutes." she huffed.  Everyone stared at him. The bell rang and he grinned. <Thank god> he thought < I don't think this day could have been any worse. >

First math class, he didn't have his homework, it was of course at his house, which he was no longer aloud to return to.  So he got detention which he planned on skipping.  Then he'd had to deal with Harmony and her sheep and their incredibly shrill voices all through Chem class. Then he hadn't been able to find Buffy, Cordelia, Oz or Giles all through lunch.  Then he'd had to listen to Cordelia blabbing all though English and now, during his one free moment he was realising that he much preferred the company of vampires (even the ones trying to kill him) over the company of these people who were supposed to be his friends.

"Well, there's the bell, I gotta go, I have detention for not doing math so I'll see you at the meeting tonight! Bye!"  He yelled as he practically ran from the library.

"What's up with him?" Buffy asked.  The rest just shrugged and went back to what they were doing.

He walked into the mansion and was caught around the throat before he'd crossed the threshold. Terror tried to take hold, but he forced it back as he recognised this as one of the vampires sleeping in that room where he'd seen Percy come from.  The minion smirked.

"Excellent, I was hoping for a quick snack." Xander rolled his eyes.

"Well that was really creative, 'a quick snack' what? The best you could come up with?"  Shaking his head as much as the hold would allow and regarding the vampire in front of him with pity Xander brought his foot down on the other mans instep.  Startled the vamp released his hold and Xander punched him in the gut, kneeing him in the face as he doubled over in pain.  Snickering the teenager grabbed the vampire, pushed the door open a little wider and walked into the sunlight.

<Wow> he thought < I never noticed a sadistic streak before, must be the company I keep> he grinned as the vampire screamed in pain when
the sun hit his flesh.  At the last moment Xander dragged him back into the now very crowded front hall of the mansion.  He shoved the burnt man to the floor and delivered a particularly nasty kick to his ribs.

"Next time, think before you grab you moron." Xander snapped.  He looked up at one of the minions, Darren, who he'd met yesterday.  "Darren, why don't you take him to, well, where ever you take them to be punished...'cause this boy's got a lot of secrets Angelus will be wanting to drag out of him."  Darren smiled and, even though he knew better, cautiously edged his way around the teen that was still radiating anger at being attacked.

Xander headed upstairs to the room he'd been sharing with Willow, knowing that the three vampires he was looking for would be there. One of the vampires in the hall had made it before he did and was telling Angelus what had occurred.  Spike grinned and threw an arm around Xander.

"Well done Whelp."  He grinned.  Xander grinned back then turned to Angelus.

"There's a bit of a problem.  The vamp that attacked me was one of the guys who was in the empty room Percy came out of."  The older vampire's face darkened.  He looked at his youngest Childe.

"Already taken care of," Spike answered the question in his Sire's eyes.  "The Pillocks, there were three of 'em, are already in the basement."  Any further conversation was interrupted by Dru informing them that Willow was waking up.

"No! You can't come with us, if you do we're so dead.  She'll kill you and then they'll spend the next five months trying to exorcise Xander and I!" Willow said panicking slightly.

"Willow, calm down.  You just woke up today and I really don't think it's a good idea for us to go out at night without some protection." Xander soothed.  "And really, I don't care if Buffy does try anything.  We both know she can't kill us and she won't be able to kill them, at least not all three of them."  A playful growl from Angelus interrupted him.

"And this way they can find out just how bad of friends they are, not thinking of my little tree at all!" Dru huffed.  They had been going over the same argument since 5 that afternoon.  Sighing she was finally admitting defeat four hours later.

"Fine, you can come, but you have to stay outside the library out of Buffy's range and if she stakes you I'm going to be really pissed." She had only been with them for four hours but as Angelus had predicted she already felt like a part of the family.

Smiling Angelus took her arm and led the way out of the mansion. They walked to the library listening to Spike and Xander bicker while Willow listened to Dru as she recounted everything she and Ms. Edith had done that day.

They reached the Library quickly where all compromises were thrown to the dogs when Cordelia spotted the five of them walking through the halls and ran screaming the other way.

"Well, this is going well." Willow moaned.  Seeming to finally realise the trouble they were in Xander let his head fall back against Spike's chest and looked up at his lover with a grin.

"Buffy's gonna kill us, if she doesn't get to you before you get out, can you make sure you turn me?  I don't really want to die this young."  The comment served to break the tension as they approached the library doors, which were flung open by Buffy and Oz ready to 'rescue' Xander and Willow from the evil vampires.

"Get away from them guys!" Buffy shouted.  Reacting immediately, having been playful all day, Dru jumped into Buffy's arms, startling her into dropping the stake she had been holding, away from Willow and Xander screaming 'Protect me from the scary humans Slayer! Please!'  Which sent Willow and Xander into hysterics, which ruined the image of 'Big Bad' Spike was trying to convey as he caught Xander before the teen could fall to the floor.

Just the image his family was giving off had Angelus laughing as Slayer and Werewolf looked on in confusion.  A sharp whistle broke through the laughter and everyone stared at Giles as he held a crossbow in Angelus' direction and lowered his fingers from his mouth.

"If everyone can contain themselves I would greatly appreciate an explanation…NOW!" using the crossbow he gestured for everyone to enter the library.

"It's really easy to explain Giles," Willow said as everyone took a seat at the table.  "Honestly!" She added seeing the look Buffy was giving her.  "But you can't interrupt Xander while he's explaining."

"Hey! Wait a minute!  Why do I have to be the one to explain?" Xander demanded.

"Well, 'cause I was kinda unconscious until, like, four hours ago?"

"Oh, yeah, that."  He rolled his eyes and sighed.  "Okay, On Friday night I woke my dad up by accident.  He didn't take to kindly to it and started beating me up.  Willow was on her way over 'cause we were going to rent videos and go over to her house to watch them.  Dad started beating her up too.  Angelus, Spike and Dru were out hunting and they came to see who was screaming and stuff.  Willow was bleeding pretty badly and I thought for sure that my dad was going to kill one or both of us.  Then she did this spell that took away my pain…"

"A spell?  Really Willow, I have asked you time and again not to…"

"No interruptions Watcher or we shall take Little Tree and Xan-pet away." Dru warned.

"Little Tree?  Xan-Pet?"  Cordelia snickered.

"Yeah, whatever may-queen," Xander snapped.  "Moving on, if I can" he looked at Giles and Cordelia who immediately shut their mouths.  "Now, Wills did this spell to take away my pain but dad came back and hit me with this branch and it ended up breaking her arm instead of mine.  Then Angelus and Spike got pissed off and they came in, beat the shit out of my dad and grabbed us.  We got back to the mansion where Dru managed to  reverse the spell and Willow and I spent the weekend recovering from our injuries."  He stopped there and Spike glowered.

"Aren't we forgetting something Pet," Spike prompted.  Xander coloured slightly.

"Oh yeah, um, Angelus decided that we weren't allowed to go back to our own places now.  That we're part of his family and, um, I'm Spike's mate or consort or whatever you want to call it and Dru's been insisting that Willow is her new mom."  He cringed waiting for the outburst.
 

~~part three~~

Spike grinned. <So much for letting them down easy> he thought.  His thoughts turned back to the previous night.  He had come in from a night of hunting and had heard the muffled screams as he walked down the hallway.  Peering into the room he saw Willow lying still on her bed and next to her was Xander in the midst of a nightmare.  He had woken the boy up and they had gone to his room to avoid waking Willow, Spike had dragged the details out of him.

Xander was replaying his father's beating in his mind.  Seeing the look on Willow's face over and over again as his father kicked and punched her and he'd been unable to help.  Seeking to make the teen feel less guilty about the hurt inflicted on his best friend Spike opened up, told him about his childhood.  They had more in common than anyone had thought.  Both had very abusive parents, Spike's father had almost killed him one night after a lost wager, taking his anger over losing out on his son.  One thing had led to another and the next thing he knew he was kissing the poor boy and cursing his poof of a sire for ruining him, but what a kiss it had been! And after...  A sharp jab to his stomach brought him back to reality.

"What the bloody hell was that for Pet?" He demanded looking down at Dru.  She grinned.

"Well, you were lost in your own little world and mummy didn't want to listen to the Slayer screaming anymore so she asked me to get your attention."  He stared at Dru.  Sometimes, just every once in a while she didn't seem crazy at all.  There were times he swore she knew exactly what she was doing.  Looking at the Slayer's group he realized they were still screaming at Xander and Willow.

"Would the lot of you sod off?  They aren't doing anything they don't want to do, we haven't done anything to hurt them, we promise not to and the reason we're here is to offer a truce.  That cover all the basis?" he demanded.  The room was quite for a second or two.

"A truce?" Buffy asked cautiously.  Looking over at Angelus.

"Yes, a truce, we don't want Willow or Xander getting hurt, hurting you would hurt them.  We wont hunt to kill any more, no more plans for destroying the world, no trying to kill you, no more leaving things outside your windows.  Good enough for now?" He asked.  Buffy looked over at Giles then back at her ex-boyfriend.

"Maybe, give us a few minutes to talk it over." The scooby gang, minus Willow and Xander, moved to Giles' office to talk it over.

"Do you think we can trust them?"  Oz asked.  "I mean, this is Angelus we're talking about."  Buffy's face showed concern.

"Yeah, what if they're just playing with us?" She asked Giles.  He removed his glasses and began polishing them with a handkerchief.

"I believe we can trust him.  Angelus has always kept his word, he prides himself on being a man of honour and as such would not break a truce."

"Alright, you're the Watcher.  I'll go tell them we have a truce." Buffy sighed as she started towards the main area of the library.

"So that's it? We just leave *my* boyfriend and Oz's girlfriend with them and we all live happily ever after?  I so don't think so!" Cordelia stomped out of Giles' office and out the library doors, grabbing Xander as she walked by.  "Come on Xander, we're leaving!" She snapped as she dragged the poor boy out the doors.  A growl was the only warning she had before she found herself pinned to the wall by a very angry vampire.

"CORDELIA!" Buffy shouted running towards them.  Giles grabbed her arm, bringing her up short.

"Buffy, I really do think you should let Spike handle this." He whispered to his Slayer.  "Cordelia needs to learn how things will be from now on, needs to accept that Xander is no longer hers.  Besides he isn't even trying to hurt her."  Cordelia swallowed nervously as fangs grazed her throat.

"I will only say this once" Spike hissed into Cordelia's ear.  "He is *mine* not yours, and I will bloody well not sit back and watch him be dragged around by the likes of you.  If you ever do that again, you'll regret it."

"What about the truce?" she stuttered.    His face twisted into a grotesque smile.

"There are ways to get around such silly things as truces." then he was gone and if she hadn't been leaning on the wall her knees would have given out and there would have been a puddle of Cordelia Chase and Armani lying on the floor.  Spike smiled knowingly from his place beside Xander.  Cordelia stood as straight as possible and walked out, head held high.  Oz followed behind her glaring angrily at Willow.

"What does she think she's doing with him?  She's mine! No one elses!" Oz seethed.  He was pissed.  It was unusual to see the guitarist betray any sort of emotion but at the moment he was definitely in a fine rage.

"I know, and Xander?  God can you believe him, letting Spike do that to me...I'm supposed to be his girlfriend.  What the hell was that all about." Oz sighed heavily and sat down beside Cordelia.

"I don't know Cordy, its just too weird, do you really think he and Spike are...together?"

"No, of course not.  Spike was making him say those things.  I've met his father.  He seemed very nice to me."  Oz nodded, having once met Mr. Harris as well.  To him, the man seemed to truly care about his child and even Social Services had agreed that Xander was well taken care of.

"Well, we just have to get them back.  Show them who they belong to."  Oz smiled at the thought of showing Willow exactly who she belonged to.  She never lasted more than an hour.
 

~~~part four~~~

"Okay, that's it.  Xander, can we please leave now?" Willow asked. They had insisted on going to school against the wishes of their new family and now Willow was definitely regretting it.  Cordelia and Oz kept giving her dirty looks, every time she turned around something was being thrown at her and now, to top it off.  Cordelia had somehow managed to get herself partnered up with Willow for Science and Oz was partnered with Xander.  There had been a near explosion at Willow's desk when Cordy dropped a beakerful of Acid into the solution Willow was mixing...if Mr. Pazerniak hadn't been there with the fire extinguisher...

"No, we can't leave.  Because if we leave then one: Spike and Angelus will never let us live it down with the `told you so's and two: if we do then it gives Oz and Cordelia the satisfaction of knowing they got to us.  Which isn't going to happen in this century."  Willow sighed and dropped her head onto his shoulder.

"You're right, one more class and neither of them are in it, we'll be okay."

"There's my little genius." He said with puppy dog eyes.  "And will the little genius let me borrow her English notes `cause Spike and I were umm...busy...and I didn't do the homework?" he asked hopefully. Willow snickered.  They had been busy all right.  She had played Linkin park at the highest volume the radio could go up to, and Angelus had been fine with it because anything that could drown Spike and Xander out was good in his books.  Who knew Xander was a screamer?

"Yes Xan, you can borrow my notes." They laughed as they entered the classroom.

***

"Cordelia? What are you doing out of class?" Giles asked.  The girl had startled him when she had walked in asking for the key to the book cage.

"I don't have a class right now Giles, geez, you'd think you would know that by now.  Anyway, can I have the key?  Oz wanted to check some things for his wolf gig next Thursday, but he didn't want to run into Willow and I could really care less if I run into either of them."

"Yes, yes, here it is!" Giles said anxious to get her away from him. To tell the truth the girl always made him a little nervous.  She was always talking but she never said a thing.  That and he wanted to get back to his book `Demons of the Pits of Hell and How to Kill Them.' Cordelia smiled at how easy that had been as she went into the cage.

***

"Home time now?" Willow asked.  English had dragged on and on.  Who knew Mr. Green could talk in a monotone for so long? She shuddered.

"Yes, Wills, we can go home now." He laughed as Willow cheered and ran for the schools' front doors when suddenly she disappeared.  "Willow!" He shouted running forward and then he two disappeared.

"Thank god that worked." Cordelia mumbled to Oz as they stared at the two unconscious teens on the floor of the basement.  Oz picked Willow up and slung her over his shoulder.

"Yeah, if the magick had gone weird, we'd never get to play." He dropped Willow onto the bed he and Cordelia had set up, then helped Cordelia drag Xander upstairs.

"Okay, explain this to me one more time?" She asked.  Oz sighed heavily.

"We've been over this all day Cordy, I'm going to do what I always do to make sure that Willow loves me and then you and I will work on making Xander jealous so he'll want you back."

"Right, and why did you have me grab the weapons from the book cage again?" He rolled his eyes.

"So that if the vampires show up and make it past the whole invite thing we'll be able to kill them."

"Right, okay, got it."  They had made it upstairs now and Oz dropped Xander on the living room couch.  They were at Cordelia's house.  It seemed best because her parents weren't around, the maid and the rest of the servants were off on a week long break and Oz's parents were home.  They had considered Willow's house but quickly realized that the vampires probably had invitations and that's the first place they would look.  They wouldn't look here at all, and if they did?  Well by that time Oz was confident his Willow would love him again.

***

"Daddy?" Dru cried running through the halls of the Mansion.  She found him in the study with Spike.

"What's wrong Dru baby?" Angelus drawled seeing the tear tracks on his childe's face.

"The little tree and Spikey's toy are hurting! They want to take them from us!"  Angelus' face darkened with anger.

"Who Dru?  The Slayer?"

"No and yes, they want to keep our pets away from us, they want to hurt them!  If we don't leave now they'll take them away for ever!" Her voice faded into that of a child's.  "All gone, forever and ever, no more little tree, blood runs thick over my little tree."  Angelus stomped out of the study with Spike at his heels.  He snapped a quick instruction to a minion to watch over Dru.

"Come on boy, let's go get our mates back." He growled as the two hit the sewers.

****

"Oz? You down here? I'm gonna order pizza what do you want on...AHHHHHHH" Cordelia screamed as she stood at the bottom of the basement stairs.  The sight before her made her want to retch.  There was Willow crying on the bed covered in blood and there was Oz wiping blood off a whip Cordelia hadn't seen before.  She also saw blood on one of the knives he'd asked her to take from the book cage.

"WHAT DID YOU DO??" She shrieked at him.

"Shut up you stupid bitch!" he snapped.  "Calm down, I didn't do anything she didn't really want herself did I baby?" He asked turning around to Willow.  She barely managed to whisper "No, you didn't" Cordelia felt the world shatter around her.

"This is how you did it? How you mader her love you?" She whispered horrified. "You beat her into it? You BRAINWASHED HER?"  She turned to run up the stairs but Oz grabbed her before she got too far.  He threw her back down into the basement and pounced on her, punching her in the face.

"I didn't do anything to her she didn't want bitch!" His words sent shivers down her spine as he leaned close to whisper.  "You'll see what I'm talking about, but I'm not finished with her just yet, you and I will start later."  He punched and kicked her a few times for good measure then left her there in a pile by the stairs and picked something off the table.  Cordelia forced herself up the stairs <need to get help, Oz has gone crazy> she thought to herself through the pain.  Willow's pain filled screams followed her out the door.

***

"Listen here Slayer! They're our mates! We agreed to a truce to keep them happy but if you don't hand them over right now we'll kill you all regardless!" Spike roared.

"For the last time.  We don't have them, we wanted to keep them away from you but this is what they really want, we're going to leave them
alone.  Even Giles thinks that's best.  I haven't seen either of them since Math this morning!" Buffy yelled right back.

"Please, do stop yelling," Giles sighed rubbing the bridge of his nose.  "We need to think of this logically, my first assumption is that they went to Willow's house for a stop, have you checked there?"

"That's the first place we looked."  Angelus answered.  He hadn't yelled yet but Giles could see his patience wearing thin.

"Well then maybe they're...Good LORD! CORDELIA!" HE gasped.  Giles pushed his way passed the still posturing Buffy and Spike to the girl who had collapsed through the library doors.

"Giles, have to go get them...at my house" She was rapidly losing consciousness. <have to tell them, have to!> she thought.  "Oz, he's hurting Willow, using the stuff I grabbed from the cage." She slumped unconscious into the Watcher's arms.  Buffy ran to the cage to take stock.

"He's got a lot of knives." She moaned looking at the almost empty cabinet they kept the weapons in to keep prying eyes out.  Angelus' eyes glinted dangerously.

"He's going to wish he'd never been born." He vowed.  Giles took Cordelia to the hospital as Buffy, Angelus and Spike headed towards the cheerleader's house.  All of them in the same frame of mind.

<He'll pay if he's hurt her>

Across town screams echoed through a sound proof basement as a knife lowered again.
 

~~~part five~~~

They moved into the house silently.  Spike could here someone downstairs but his eyes focussed immediately on the prone figure lying in on the couch.

"Go to him," his Sire whispered.  "The Slayer and I will go get Willow, you get Xan out of here."  Spike smiled gratefully at Angelus and was at Xander's side instantly.  They crept down the stairs and even Angelus was disgusted by the scene that greeted them. Willow was still tied down and was now apologizing to Oz for making him do this to her.  Anything to keep him from picking up that knife again.  She saw Angelus and Buffy on the stairs and Oz noticed the direction of her gaze.  He grabbed her from the table, wrenching her arms as the bonds broke.

"You won't take her away from me!" He hissed at Angelus. "She's mine, she's always been mine!"  He brought the knife up to her neck.  "If I can't have her I'll make sure no one will!" without a word Buffy and Angel moved towards him.

***

The doors of the library burst inwards and Spike came crashing through carrying Xander.

"Is our Xan-pet alright?" She asked cautiously.  Spike laid his lover down on the table.

"He's going to be Princess.  We just have to wait for him to wake up.  It doesn't look like anything happened to him.  How the bloody hell did they get them to the mansion anyway?  Xan knew better than that!"

"It was a spell," Giles' voice came from the doorway. "Oz and Cordelia that is.  They borrowed a book and some items from the cabinet and cast a spell that would teleport Willow and Xander to the Mansion, where they knocked them unconscious.  From what Cordelia was able to tell me at the hospital, she didn't know what Oz planned, she just wanted Xander back and then she would have dumped him.

She went downstairs when she heard Willow scream and Oz beat her up as a punishment for bothering him, he told her that she would love him just as much as Willow did when he was done.  But first he had a girlfriend to punish."  Dru snarled unhappily which made the just-waking-up Xander sit up too fast.

"Ooh, my poor, poor head." He moaned in pain.  The other occupants of the room rushed over to him.

"Xan, luv, are you alright?" Spike whispered.  He ran a hand through the boys dark hair, brushing it off his face.  "You had me so worried.  You're never allowed to do that again, in fact you're never leaving my side again." Spike pulled him closer and Xander laid his head on his lover's chest.

"I don't think I ever *want* to do that again.  What happened?  I remember a funny feeling outside of English and then Willow and I were in Cordelia's basement and then Oz hit me really, really hard." While Spike cooed over his love, Dru filled him in on what Cordelia had revealed.

"So what? She was just pissed that I dumped her first?  How is that even fair? Oh, god! Where is Wills?" Xander asked looking around wildly.  It was safe to say he didn't really want to know.

Especially when the question was answered by Buffy holding the library door opened for Angelus who carried Willow in and laid her on a table far away from everyone then sat down beside her and patiently began waiting for his newest childe to wake up.  Buffy looked up at them with tears in her eyes.

"He wouldn't let her go, when we got to the basement, there was just sooo much blood, and Oz said that she was his and if he couldn't have her then he would make sure no one would, and we tried to get there quicker but we just didn't make it and he slit her throat and she'd already lost so much blood…" Giles' face was a mask of pain and shock.

"Oh, Buffy,"

"There was nothing else to do." She whispered.  "We were too far away to get her to a hospital and she was lying there dying.  I couldn't let her die, you understand that right Giles?  I couldn't let her go?" Surprisingly it was Dru who pulled the teary eyed slayer into a hug.

"It's all right little one," She sing-songed.  "The Little Tree wanted this, she wouldn't leave daddy and now she wont, now she'll be part of our family forever and never fear again.  I promise" She said solemnly to Buffy who nodded in understanding and again buried her face against the insane vampire's shoulder.  Everyone stared in shock at the sight of Dru stroking Buffy's hair gently.

"Ugh, I don't think I ever want to see that again." Spike shuddered. Buffy looked up at the blonde.

"Get used to it," She muttered then closed her eyes and leaned on Dru.  "I'm not letting go of my friends, yeah, they're your mates but that doesn't mean they're not my best friends."  Giles heaved a sigh as he realised his Slayer had finally grown up.

"Speaking of best friends." Xander began.  He tilted his head to Spike.  "Wills and I never do anything without the other and I really don't want to leave you either so, get to it blondie."

Seven hours later, after being hidden in the darkened book cage to avoid the odd student and teacher who wandered into the library, Willow and Xander woke up to the strangest sight.  Buffy holding a sleeping Dru.

"So you and Dru huh?" Willow whispered as she felt her mate's arms surround her.  "Somehow I can see that."

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