------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spike smiled down at Anya as he wiped the sweat from her forehead. "It'll be
ok, luv," he said, running his hand through her hair. "A little while longer
and it'll all be over."

Anya breathed hard as another contraction came. Spike squeezed her hand. She
held onto it as if it were her life-line. "This is all your fault," she said
weakly. "You did this to me."

The blonde vampire glanced at Willow who was sitting in one of the chairs.
She smiled as she listened to Anya.

"Right, pet," Spike replied. "And you had nothing to do with it."

Spike had been waiting nine months for this day; the day his and Anya's
child was born. The day was finally here and the vampire was scared. He'd
checked Anya into the Sunnydale hospital, afraid that if he didn't something
would go wrong. And their friends were there. . .Willow was in the room with
them while Giles and Angel were down the hall in the waiting area.

A lot had changed in the last nine months. Xander had found out about Anya
and Spike being together. Then Buffy had found out that Willow was dating
Angel. Both of them had felt betrayed and had left Sunnydale together. No
one had heard anything from them since.

All three people in the room looked up when the doctor walked in. Anya
glared at him. "It's about time you got here," she said. "Just let me lie in
pain, why don't you?"

The doctor looked at the machines that Anya was hooked up to. "Looks like
you're about ten minutes away from delivering," he said. "The baby's coming
a little different than most. . .I don't know why."

'Maybe because we're not exactly human?' Spike thought.

Willow walked over to the bed and took Anya's hand, squeezing it. "I'm going
to go out to the waiting room and talk to Angel and Giles, ok? I'll be back
as soon as it's over."

Anya looked at Willow and nodded. "Thank you," she said.

"And hey, keep your fingers crossed that the baby doesn't act like Spike
here," Willow said.

Anya laughed and Spike rolled his eyes. "Funny, pet," Spike said as Willow
left to find the others.

The ex-demon placed a hand on her bulging stomach as another contraction
came this time; worse than any she'd ever experienced. 'It's time' she
realized. She moaned as pain washed over her. She began to push.

"The baby's coming," the doctor said, looking at Spike. "You need to step
away so we can work."

Anya held onto Spike's hand tightly. "No," she replied. "He's staying right
here."

Spike gripped both of her hands as she pushed. He hated how much pain Anya
was in. It tore him up to see her like this. 'She shouldn't have to go
through this' he thought. 'No one should' He still didn't understand how it
had happened. With all the was known about vampires, they weren't supposed
to have kids.

He was brought out of his thoughts as he heard the baby cry and saw a nurse
carry it over to a table. "Congratulations," the doctor said. "It's a boy."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Angel glanced at his watch for the hundredth time that day. 'What's taking
so long?' he wondered. He wanted to know that Anya and the baby were ok.

"No idea on how this happened?" Giles asked. "It's not normal for demons to
become parents."

The dark-haired vampire shook his head. "No clue," Angel replied. "I tried
to talk to the Oracles because I have a feeling that the Powers That Be are
behind this. But all they'd tell me is that all would become clear with
time."

"They're definately cryptic, aren't they?" Willow asked.

Before Angel could reply, a nurse appeared in the doorway. "Miss Rosenburg?"
she said, looking at Willow. Then she glanced at Angel and Giles. "You three
can come with me."

"She's had the baby?" Angel asked as the three of them stood up.

The nurse nodded as she led them down a long hallway. "Mother and son are
both doing fine," she replied. She paused outside a door. "If you're quiet,
all three of you can go in."

The three of them went inside, Angel leading the way. "Well this is
something I never thought I'd see," he said, causing Spike and Anya to look
at him.

Spike was sitting in a chair beside the hospital bed, holding the baby. Anya
was smiling at the two of them. Angel could tell that Spike felt
uncomfortable holding the baby. He shifted uneasily beneath it, moving the
baby into the nook of his bent elbow.

"Isn't he. . .beautiful?" Spike asked as he smiled down at the baby. he
still couldn't believe that he and Anya had made it. "And it's my son." A
tear rolled down his cheek.

Angel walked over and placed his hand on Spike's shoulder. "He really is,
Spike," he said.

"But he's *our* son," Anya pointed out.

Spike nodded. "I know," he replied. "It's just a lot to take in at one time.
I mean I. . .I used to kill babies. Now I have to take care of one."

"It'll be ok, Spike," Angel said. "And you have friends who will help."

The blonde vampire smiled at his sire in a silent thank you. He didn't think
he could speak. There had been a lot of hatred between the two vampires over
the years. But they were finally starting to work things out.

"Hey, Angel?" Anya said. "Since Spike is technically your childe, does that
make the baby your grandchilde?"

Spike and Angel looked at each other. "It guess it does make you a
grand-vampire, peaches," he said. He looked at Anya who nodded her consent
at what he was about to say.

"There's something else," he said, looking at Angel. "Little Ryker here
needs a godparent. Anya and I talked and we'd like you to have that title.
If anything happens to me and Anya. . ."

"I'll do it, but nothing's going to happen," Angel replied.

"You don't know that," Spike pointed out. "We all know what goes down here
in Sunnyhell." He sniffed the air when he smelt something. "Bloody hell!
What is that?!"

"Ryker's diaper," Anya replied with a laugh at the look on Spike's face.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cordelia looked up as Angel and Willow walked in the office that night. She
smiled when she saw them holding hands. 'A good thing definately came out of
everything that's happened' she thought.

"How's Anya?" she asked.

"Anya's fine. So's the baby," Angel replied. "She had a boy." He picked up
the mail that was laying on Cordelia's desk. "Anything happen?"

The dark-haired girl shook her head. "No visions or anything," she said. "Is
it a good thing that things are so quiet?"

"Probably not," Angel said, opening the electric bill. Then he looked at
Cordelia. "What are you doing here this late anyway?"

"I was so bored that I actually started reading one of your dusty old
books," she replied. "I got so into it that I lost track of the time." She
opened the book. "But I did find something interesting."

"What did you find?" Angel asked. He was curious to know what could have
captured Cordelia's attention in a book.

"Well, there's a spell in here to anchor Angel's soul," she said.

"What?" Willow and Angel said at the same time. Cordelia handed her boss the
book and he read the page. "How'd you find this?" Angel asked.

Cordelia shrugged. "I was just looking through the book and ran across
that," she replied, standing up and walking around the desk. She pointed at
the page. "It says that once your soul is anchored, you can experience
happiness. Doesn't look like those gypsies knew what they were doing, does
it?"

Willow grabbed the book and looked at it. "I have all the stuff we need for
the spell downstairs," she said. She disappeared and returned a few minutes
later with a bag.

By the time Angel realized what was happening, Willow was ready to do the
spell. 'This means I can experience happiness with Willow without worrying
about Angelus being unleashed' he thought.

"You ready?" Willow asked as she looked at her boyfriend.

She started reading the words on the page as a fog enveloped the room. The
fog surrounded Angel and seemed to pull at him. He screamed and fell the his
knees as he felt the pain deep within his bones.

Finally the pain subsided and Angel stood up. His soul was anchored, he
could feel it.

"Angel," Willow said, nodding behind him.

He turned around to see Cordelia gripping her head. "Get the aspirin," he
said to Willow as he grabbed Cordelia and sat her on the desk. Finally the
vision passed and Cordelia gratefully accepted the aspirin that Willow
handed her.

"A vampire," she said. "He was heading toward the park after a kid that
seemed to be lost."

****

Spike groaned as he woke up to a baby's crying. He watched as Anya turned
the lamp on and then got up. It had been two days since Anya and Ryker had
been allowed to come home. Spike smiled as he thought about his girlfriend
and his son.

He got up and walked into the next room. He leaned against the door and
watched as Anya carried the baby around, trying to get him to go back to
sleep.

"You two look good together," Spike said quietly. "What a vision." He walked
further into the room and took Ryker from Anya's arms.

Anya watched as Spike rocked the baby. 'I never thought I'd be able to have
this life' she thought. 'When I became a demon, I thought I'd given all this
up' Then her attention was drawn to the blue fog that was forming across the
room.

"Spike, what is that?" Anya whispered, pointing to the fog.

Spike glanced at where she was pointing. He shrugged. "I don't know, luv,"
he replied. "I've never seen anything like it."

All of a sudden, two figures appeared in the room. They were both dressed in
black robes and almost seemed inhuman. "Anyanka," the female said. "And
William the Bloody."

He sat the baby in the crib and then turned to the two intruders. "Yeah, and
if you're not careful, I'll show you where the nickname Spike came from," he
said. "Who are you and do you usually make it a habit to barge into people's
homes?"

"You're the Oracles, aren't you?" Anya asked, looking at the two people. She
remembered hearing about the Oracles back when she'd been a vengeance demon,
but this was the first time she'd seen them.

"The Oracles?" Spike repeated, glancing at Anya.

She nodded. "They're like messengers. From the higher powers," Anya
explained.

The Oracles looked at each other. "Got to say that the girl is smart," the
female Oracle said. Then he turned to the ex-vengeance demon and the
vampire. "We have some information. It's about your son."

Spike felt himself growing protective as he glanced at Ryker and then back
at the two Oracles. "What is it, mates?" he asked, hoping that it wasn't
anything bad.

The two messengers glanced at each other. "You two do realize that there was
a reason why you gave birth to a child, right?" the male Oracle said. "It's
not custom for two demons to have kids."

"Well we figured we wouldn't be lucky enough for this to have just been
overlooked for thousands of years in demon mytholgy," Spike replied.

The female Oracle walked over to the crib and looked down at the sleeping
Ryker. "This child is special," she said, turning back to Spike and Anya.
"It gained something from both of you. He'll have his mother's mortality and
his father's strength."

"Your son will one day become a demon hunter," the male Oracle continued.
"He'll be as strong as the Slayer herself and share her purpose."

Anya and Spike both sat down as they took the news in.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cordelia walked in the office the next morning to find Willow sitting on the
couch, eating a doughnut. Since Willow and Angel had started dating nine
months ago, the two girls had become close.

Willow had even transferred to UCLA and used the money her parents had given
her to get an apartment.

"Still putting that 'no happiness clause' to good use?" Cordelia asked,
setting her things on the desk.

Willow blushed, but tried to hide it. "No, actually I went home last night,"
she replied. "I just got here about twenty minutes ago." She would have been
embarassed if it had been anyone but Cordelia. After Buffy and Xander had
left together, the ex-cheerleader was the closest thing she had to a best
friend.

Angel walked into the office and stopped at the coffee machine. Then he
looked at the two girls. "Did I interrupt girl talk?" he asked. "Because I
can leave if you want me to."

The dark-haired vampire had learned that it was best if he was far away when
Willow and Cordelia were talking. Otherwise they tended to embarass him.

"No, unfortunately we were already finished before you came in," Cordelia
replied.

"Lucky for me," Angel mumbled as he took a drink of coffee.

"I heard that," Cordelia said. She sat down at her desk and opened the
morning paper. Something on the front page caught her eye. "Hey, look at
this." She spread the paper out on the desk.

Angel and Willow both walked over to the desk and looked at the paper. "Boy
stabbed in neck," Angel read. "Looked like a pitchfork. No one was around to
see who did it."

"What do you want to bet that a 'who' didn't do this?" Willow asked,
pointing at the paper.

"I'm right there with you," Angel replied. "This looked like the handy work
of a demon." he made a mental note of where the incident had taken place. 'I
plan to check out the crime scene tonight' he thought.

Willow glanced at her watch. 'I'm going to be late' she thought. "I have to
get to work," she said. After she'd moved to L.A, she'd taken a part-time
job at a magic store.

"We'll probably patrol tonight. Looking for this demon," Angel said,
pointing at the paper. He worried about the two girls getting hurt, but they
kept him company.

Angel and Willow kissed and she was gone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On the other side of the United States, in New York City to be exact, was
the new home to Buffy Summers and Xander Harris. The two of them had spent
the last nine months moving around, but had finally settled down in the Big
Apple.

Buffy had gotten a job as a waitress and Xander had taken a job at a nearby
grocery store. They had both been hurt back in Sunnydale, and that's how
they'd ended up here.

"Do you think they even wonder where we are?" Buffy asked as she got ready
for work. They had left Sunnydale without a word and hadn't even bother to
contact anyone since then.

Xander shrugged. "Probably. I'm sure they've wondered where we are. . .at
least Giles and Willow probably have," he replied.

Buffy nodded. "Giles is probably so angry with me," she said. "Like he was
when I left Sunnydale two years ago."

"You want to go back," Xander said, squeezing her hand. 'She's been wanting
to go home for awhile now' he thought. 'She feels guilty for abandoning
Giles and her mom, and for ignoring her duties as the Slayer'

"I do," she replied. "But I can't. At least not yet. I think I need to
figure things out first. . .we both do." She took his hand. "We were both
hurt, Xand. And I don't think we should go rushing back to the Hellmouth
before we're ready."

"Should we call Giles at least?" Xander asked.

"What good will it do?" she asked. "We left Sunnydale because our friends
hurt us. You do remember that your girlfriend was pregnant by a vampire when
we left, right?"

Xander nodded as a hurt look crossed his face. "You're right," he replied.
"And hey, maybe tonight we can go out. We might even find us a vampire to
dust."

Buffy smiled. "That's the Xander I know," she said. She kissed him. "Now I
have to get to work."

He watched as Buffy left, and then he went into his bedroom to get ready for
work.

****

"I can't believe that my son is a demon hunter," Spike said. 'Leave it to
those bloody Oracles to make my life even more complicated than it already
was' he thought.

Anya smiled. "Changes your opinion of things, doesn't it?" she asked. She
smiled down at the sleeping baby in her arms. "But I wouldn't trade this for
anything."

"I wouldn't either," Spike replied, wrapping his arm around Anya's waist and
touching Ryker's cheek. "But it really puts things in perspective when you
find out that your son is going to be killing your own kind."

"I know," Anya said. "But at least we know why I got pregnant in the first
place."

The Oracles had left about thirty minutes ago, leaving Anya and Spike to
deal with the fact that their son had such an important role in life.

Spike glanced at the clock. "I'm going to call Angel and tell him what's
going on," he said, leaving the room.

Anya put Ryker back in the crib and then went to bed herself. She went to
bed thinking about Spike. She was glad that he and Angel had managed to work
things out. 'They need each other whether they want to admit it or not' she
thought.

In the other room, Spike laughed as Angel told him about Cordelia sitting
down at her desk that morning and the chair breaking under her.

'I never thought I'd see the day when me and Angel would be able to talk
without wanting to kill each other' Spike thought.

"I know you didn't call to listen to me talk, though," Angel said. "What's
going on?"

Spike took a deep unneeded breath before he started talking. "I got a visit
from your friends, the Oracles, peaches," he explained. "Anya and I both did
actually."

"You did?" Angel asked. "And please don't call me that. I don't go around
giving you cute little nicknames."

"You better not either," Spike warned. "But anyway, the Oracles showed up
here a little while ago. They explained why Anya got pregnant. You'll never
believe why, pea- Angel."

"Wait. Let me sit down before you tell me," Angel said. Spike heard a chair
squeak as his sire sat down. "Alright."

"Funny, mate," Spike replied. "They said that there's a reason why we have
Ryker. They said that he'll be a demon hunter one day."

Angel didn't say anything for a minute. 'A demon hunter?' he thought. 'Did I
hear Spike right?' He knew he had, though. "Are you serious?" Angel asked.
"I've heard of people calling themselves demon hunters, but I never knew any
official ones."

"That's because Ryker will be the first one," Spike answered. "They said
he'd be as strong as the Slayer."

The two vampires talked for a few more minutes and then hung up. Spike
dialed Giles' number and left a message on his answering machine, telling
the ex-Watcher the same thing he'd told Angel. Then he went back to bed,
finding Anya already sound asleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
 

Three days later, Buffy and Xander found themselves back in California.
Buffy stretched in the passenger seat as they passed the sign that said
'Welcome to Sunnydale'

Neither of them said anything as they passed through the downtown area. They
were both exhausted from driving cross-country. 'At least we're finally
home' Buffy thought.

The two of them had tried to make things work in New York, but they found
themselves missing their old lives. So here they were. Back in Sunnydale.

Xander glanced at the clock. "It's 8 a.m," he said. "Do you think it's too
early to stop by Giles'?"

Buffy shook her head. "Giles gets up early, so he'll be awake," she replied.
"I can't say that I'm excited about this. You know he's going to yell at
both of us." 'He's going to be so angry' Buffy thought.

A few minutes later, Xander pulled up in front of Giles' condo. He turned
the car off and looked at Buffy. "You ready?" he asked.

"No," Buffy replied. "But it's now or never." She unbuckled her seatbelt and
she and Xander got out of the car. They walked to the door and Buffy took a
deep breath as Xander knocked.

Giles opened the door. "Buffy," he said when he saw the two teenagers.
"Xander." They both saw the relief on the ex-Watcher's face. That relief
disappeared almost as fast as it had appeared. Then Giles' face was void of
any emotion.

He stepped back to let Buffy and Xander inside. They both jumped as Giles
slammed the door closed. "What the hell did you two think you were doing?"
he asked, slamming a book down on the desk and taking his glasses off.

Buffy and Xander looked at each other. "Well, we-" she started to say.

"That was a rhetorical question, Buffy. It doesn't require an answer," Giles
replied. "The point is, you two couldn't have been thinking when you chose
to leave."

"We were thinking, Giles," Xander answered. "We were both hurt by the people
we loved."

Giles decided to ignore Xander's comment. "You've done this before, Buffy,
but it still didn't make it any less shocking," he said. "But I'm very
disappointed in you, Xander. You're not the type to run from your problems."

Xander looked at the ex-Watcher guiltily and then looked at the floor under
Giles' harsh gaze. 'I knew Giles would be mad' he thought. 'But I had no
idea he'd be this angry'

The two teenagers sighed and sat down on the couch. They knew they were
going to get a long lecture.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
 

Angel pulled a small box out of his drawer and opened it. He smiled as he
looked at the contents inside. 'I hope she likes it' he thought.

"What's that?" Cordelia asked. Angel jumped when he heard her voice. He'd
been so involved in his thoughts that he hadn't even heard Cordelia come in
the office.

She walked around the desk and Angel handed her the box. Cordelia's eyes
widened when she saw what was inside. "Wow," she said, looking at her boss.
"Is that what I think it is?"

Angel nodded as Cordelia handed him the box back. He stuck the box in his
pocket when he saw Willow standing in the doorway.

"Hey you," she said, walking over and kissing Angel. Cordelia excused
herself and went back out to her desk, leaving the two of them alone. Willow
raised an eyebrow at her boyfriend. "What's up?" She could tell he was up to
something, but she wasn't sure what.

The dark-haired vampire stood up. "We need to talk," he said. Willow sat
down in one of the chairs as Angel walked over and closed the door.

Then he walked over and knelt down in front of Willow's chair. He took her
hand and squeezed it. "I keep thinking about how you deserve someone who can
give you everything you deserve. . .like a normal life and kids," he said.

"Angel, I don't need that kind of life when I have you," she answered,
touching his face.

"I need you, Willow," Angel said. "And I want to be with you." He pulled the
box out of his pocket and handed it to her.

"Oh, Angel," Willow said when she opened the box and saw what was in it.
Angel took it out of the box.

"Willow Rosenburg, will you marry me?" Angel asked.

Tears came to Willow's eyes. "Of course I'll marry you," she answered. She
held out her hand and Angel slipped the ring on her finger.

Buffy took a deep breath before she walked into Giles' apartment. The ex-Watcher had lectured her and Xander for almost two hours about running from their problems. Finally she decided that she'd stood there long enough. She knocked on the door to the condo and then went inside. "Hi Giles," she said carefully, not sure if he would start yelling again or not.

"Buffy. Hi," Giles replied. He threw a few more weapons into his bag and slung it over his shoulder. "Are you ready?"

"You know it," Buffy answered. After Giles had stopped yelling at them, he'd made her agree that she'd focus on slaying for awhile. 'And I was quick to agree because I want to win Giles' trust back' she thought. The two of them left the apartment and walked toward the park in an uncomfortable silence.

Buffy glanced over at Giles, trying to figure out what he was thinking. Finally they reached the park. Buffy walked away from Giles to patrol the area. She sensed a vampire in the shadows. "Come on," she said to it. "Let's get this over with."

The vampire in question growled as he stepped from the shadows of the park. He swung at her, but Buffy grabbed his wrist, throwing him off his game. The vampire growled again and punched Buffy. She fell back a few steps but didn't fall down. Buffy heard a noise behind her and glanced around to see what it was. That's when she felt her feet fly out from under her as her opponent knocked her off her feet. The wind was knocked out of Buffy as her back made contact with the ground. She pulled a stake out.

Giles watched in horror as the vampire punched Buffy agan and grabbed the stake in her hand. The ex-Watcher wanted to save his Slayer, but he knew he was too far away. The vampire shoved the stake into Buffy's stomach. "Buffy!" Giles screamed.

The vampire ran as Giles rushed to her side. He knelt down beside Buffy and touched the blood that was seeping through her shirt. "Hold on, Buffy," he said. Giles picked the almost unconscious Slayer up and hurried to the hospital. He checked Buffy into the emergency room, and then he was forced to wait. He headed to a nearby pay phone. Giles called Buffy's mom, Xander, Anya and Spike, and even Willow and Angel in L.A to let them know what had happened.

Xander and Joyce showed up fifteen minutes later, but they weren't allowed to see Buffy. The three of them sat, wondering what the fate of Buffy Summers would be. Her dying wasn't far from any of their minds. It was an hour before Buffy was moved to a room.

"Giles," Buffy said weakly when he, Joyce, and Xander walked in the room. "I. . .I want to retire from slaying. It's too dangerous. Call the Council and tell them to find another Slayer because I'm quitting for good this time."

Spike left the grocery store that night and headed home. He glanced around as he walked, realizing how quiet Sunnydale was that night. 'It's not usually this quiet' he thought. He'd gotten stuck doing the shopping that night so Anya could stay home with the baby. Spike had tried to talk his way out of it, but it hadn't worked. Anya had handed him some money and pushed him out the door. The blonde vampire chuckled at the memory. That's when Spike felt a pair of eyes on him.

He stopped and rolled his eyes. "Oh please," he said. "What good does hiding do? Why don't you come out here and be all demony about stalking me." A growl sounded from the intruder as it stepped from the shadows. Spike raised an eyebrow when he saw who it was. . .it was a vampire who'd been one of his minions during his stay in Sunnyhell two years ago.

"Spike," the vampire said, a cruel smile crossing his vampire features.

"Yeah, that's my name the last time I checked," he said. Spike wondered what the minion was doing in his presence.

"You're a disgrace to the vampires, Spike. And to the darkness. Used to, you killed and fed, but now you don't even do that. No wonder Drusilla left you. . . you're an embarassment like your sire."

"Don't you bring Dru and Angel into this," Spike replied, throwing his bags to the ground.

"But why shouldn't I?" the vampire asked. "You had the chance to be one of the most evil vampires in history. . .and now look at you." That's when Spike realized that the minion had his hand behind his back. He drew his hand out to show that he had a spear in his hand. "You should die for what you've become," the vampire said.

Spike couldn't move as the minion threw the spear and it embedded itself in Spike's chest, narrowly missing his heart. Spike screamed in pain as he fell to the ground. He heard feet running and he watched as the vampire was hit by electrical waves.

Then Spike felt a warm hand on his shoulder. "Are you ok?" a male voice asked. The blonde vampire looked up to see Riley Finn staring down at him, concern in his eyes.

"Bloody hell," Spike moaned. "Do I look ok, mate?" Right now he was wishing for death to come quickly. Spike pulled the spear from his chest.

"Here," Riley said. He pulled a bandage from his pocket and lifted Spike's shirt up to put it over the wound.

Willow sighed as she hung up the phone. Angel gave his girlfriend a questioning look. He knew Giles had been the one calling, but he wasn't sure what the ex-Watcher had wanted. "He needs me to come to Sunnydale," Willow explained. "He needs to talk to me about something."

"It must be important," Angel said. "Giles wouldn't call otherwise."

He grabbed his car keys and he and Willow left the office. "I wonder what he wants?" Willow wondered as Angel drove down the highway to Sunnydale.

"I don't know, Willow," Angel replied. He was trying not to speed even thought he was curious as to what Giles wanted.

Willow sighed and leaned back in her seat. She closed her eyes, but all she saw was Giles giving her bad news. She woke up awhile later to find that she and Angel were already in Sunnydale. . .they were pulling up in front of Giles' apartment.

The two of them walked inside to find two people in Giles' condo. Giles was there, but so was a man that Willow had never seen before. The red-head raised an eyebrow and grabbed Angel's hand. Willow sat down on the couch and pulled Angel down beside her. "What's going on, Giles?" she asked. She tried to keep the nervousness out of her voice, but she knew she was failing.

"So you're Willow Rosenburg," the stranger said. He noticed the confusion on her face. "Oh, I haven't introduced myself, have I? I'm Adrian. I'm a part of the Council in England."

Angel and Willow both looked at Giles, waiting for him to explain what was happening. He took a deep breath before he began talking. "Well. . .Buffy quit slaying last night. For good this time I'm afraid. When I called the Council to tell them, they offered my job as a Watcher back. I agreed, even though I don't agree with their practices all the time," he explained.

Willow nodded. "I'm happy for you, Giles," she said. "But how does that concern me?" She had no idea where this conversation was going.

Adrian looked at her. "Don't think that your magic abilities have gone unnoticed by the Council, Willow," he said. "We've been watching you for some time now. And we think you'd make a great Watcher. We'd like you to offer a position. . . you can even assist Giles if you like."

Giles squeezed Willow's hand and she smiled at him. "I think you should consider it," he said. "You're an intelligent girl and you'd be helping the world."

The red-head turned to Angel. "I love you. And that's never going to change. But I agree with Giles; this is a great oppurtunity for you to do the things you love," he said. He squeezed her hand.

Willow nodded and looked at Adrian. "I'll do it. But I want to work with Giles," she replied.

Angel and Giles both hugged her as the Council member in the room explained what she'd have to do.

THE END.
 

go to the sequal

back