~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“So you’re Buffy,” Angel said. She flinched at his cold unfriendly tone. Buffy had never imagined Angel acting so hostile toward her, at least not while he had his soul. Even during the Faith mess he hadn’t been like this. Wesley had warned them that he was different, but it hadn’t sunk in until this moment.
“Hi Angel, how are you doing?” Buffy asked nervously.
“Well let’s see, you want me to go to Hell, a place I’ve been religiously avoiding for a very long time. Except, oh yeah, I’ve already been there once for you,” Angel said. “You know a human with my past is pretty much screwed, but I actually have the choice of not dying. The thought of Hell is one of my primary motivation in staying alive, no matter how miserable this world is.”
“We’ll bring you back,” Buffy promised in a small voice.
“As I understand it, you didn’t ever bother to try the last time you sent me to Hell,” Angel replied. “And the guy that’s in charge of this whole plan shot me the last time I saw him because he doesn’t think I have a right to live, very confidence inspiring. Do you know what happened the last time I tried to help anyone? The last time I remember anyway. My new friend turned me over to a mob composed of the people I was attempting to help. They hung me. I thought it was going to be hard to top that in the ‘no good deed goes unpunished’ category, but you’ve managed it.”
“Do you want to got to the Bronze?” Buffy asked. “We used to go there a lot when we were dating, I thought it might bring back memories.”
“I’m not sure I want those memories,” Angel replied. “As far as I can tell, I lost my mind at some point in the last fifty years.”
“Why do you say that?” Buffy asked.
“I tried to have a relationship with you, didn’t I?” Angel said. At Buffy’s crushed expression he softened slightly. “Look, it’s nothing against you, but my parents’ marriage was enough of a disaster because of religious differences. We aren’t even the same species; it would be like a deer and wolf trying to date. Except that your being the Slayer makes it questionable as to which of us is the prey and which is the predator.”
“We loved each other,” Buffy objected.
“So did my parents,” Angel replied. “And after my mother died my father married a nice Catholic girl who he didn’t love but who would never cause him the difficulties my mother did. Very like you and Finn actually.”
“Where the Hell did you get the idea I don’t love Riley?” Buffy demanded.
“Wesley, Cordelia and Xander told me everything they knew about my life here,” Angel said. “Including a conversation Wesley overheard at a police station last year. Xander said that I must have been aware that you had lied when you implied that your relationship with Riley was preferable to the one we had. Cordelia and Wesley were terribly surprised at that announcement.”
“Riley is exactly what I need,” Buffy said, turning and walking away. “According to you in any case.”
Surprised Angel followed after her.
Buffy didn’t speak to him again until they had arrived at the Bronze. “Welcome to Sunnydale’s one cool spot for High Schoolers to hang out,” she said. “We met in the alley behind the building. You were following me so I knocked you on your ass. You gave me a cryptic warning and a silver cross. For the next few months you used to find me here to deliver your warnings, until I found out about the part where you’re a vampire. We fought here, figured out that we didn’t hate each other and a few days later made up here. After we got over the whole avoiding each other thing we came here on dates. You and the guys held a surprise party for me here on my seventeenth birthday, I’ll save the rest of that story for later.”
“You used Xander to make me jealous here,” Angel added. “I told you, I’ve been told about us.”
“Well given how you’re acting, I had to wonder if they’d bothered to mention the good parts,” Buffy snapped.
With a smirk, Angel opened his mouth to comment.
“Don’t,” Buffy said warningly. “Let’s dance, it might stir up memories without us actually having to talk.”
Angel led her out onto the floor, leaving the comment unsaid. As they danced Buffy found herself thinking maybe it would have been better if she’d let him say it. Even if he’d had his memories there was no way Angel could know she’d spent the last year pretending to herself and her friends that her relationship with Angel had been all pain and misery, unless Xander had told him. Still considering what she had said, Buffy knew she shouldn’t be so bothered by the thought of hearing Angel say exactly the same things.
Without thinking Angel caressed Buffy’s back as they danced, soothing some of the tension from her muscles. Even though he’d been purposely antagonistic, Angel was disturbed at seeing her upset. He didn’t want to remember, he didn’t want to care, or to let anyone in again, it just left him hurting. It was bad enough that Kath… no Cordelia and Xander were already past his defenses. He didn’t need another hostage to fortune, someone else to betray him or to be lost.
A clatter of metal hitting the floor startled Angel. He looked at the ground expecting to see his mother’s ring, fallen from Buffy’s hand, instead he found one of the other dancers collecting the pendant from a broken necklace.
______________________________________________________________
Riley stood at the railing of the balcony overlooking the Bronze’s dance floor, glaring at Buffy and Angel.
Spike walked up beside him carrying a beer bottle and smirking. “It’s happening ain’t it?” he asked. “Angel’s back and the Slayer’s got eyes for only him.”
“You know they used to get so involved in making out while they patrolled the cemeteries that the vamps would sit around and watch the free show. I considered attacking them when they were all distracted, but wrote it off as a bad idea. Figured their resentment over being interrupted would off set any advantage I might gain by catching them off guard.”
“Go bug someone else, before I forget you’re helpless,” Riley said.
“Right, you’re so caught up in wallowing, wouldn’t want to interrupt that,” Spike said. “Going to go find another vamp to play with? If you’d open a vein I’d be happy to oblige you. You could watch them while you’re being drained, wouldn’t that be fun? Oh right, you only let the chits get their fangs in you. Cause it’s a sex thing for you. I hope you realize it’s just a food thing for them.”
“They’re a cute couple, don’t you think?” Spike continued, watching Buffy and Angel slide closer together. “From here you’d never guess they’ve been broken up for more than a year, let alone that she’s moved on to someone new.”
“She’s just helping him to remember,” Riley said. “It doesn’t mean anything.”
Spike leaned against the rail; laughing so hard he could hardly keep his balance. Riley glared at the peroxide blond. “They both know it can’t work,” he said. “She’ll forget him someday.”
“Because of the curse?” Spike gasped between bursts of laughter. “I forgot… you’ve only got mortal hearing… the curse… it can’t be broken.”
“What?” Riley demanded.
“The Watcher kept it from them, but the secrets coming out now,” Spike explained. “The happiness clause is history. When Angel remembers their love, and he will, that kind of love is deeper than brains, they’ll pick-up right where they left off three years ago. And you’ll be a footnote to the whole Buffy/Angel saga. Unless you’ve got the stones to do something about it.”
“Like what?” Riley demanded, wondering what he was thinking, asking for relationship advice from an HST.
“Member that little homing spell the Witches are going to cast on the Poof to get him back from hell?” Spike asked rhetorically. “Substitute willow bark for oak bark and the spell’ll wear off in under an hour. They’ll never get him back.”
“Why should I believe anything you say?” Riley asked.
“If it hadn’t been for Angelus, my Dru and I would be off celebrating somewhere far from here. But thanks to him, she won’t give me the time of day, so I came back here and got this lovely chip in me head. I’d love to see the Poof take another trip to Hell, and not come back this time,” Spike said.
“Then why aren’t you doing the switch?”
“Nobody trusts me, I get spotted anywhere near the spell components they’ll look into it. You they’d never think twice about, they think you’re just the boy scout/door mat type.”
“It would be murder,” Riley said.
“Oh no, it would be worse,” Spike replied. “But what do you care, Angel’s just another HST, isn’t he. You do worse than murder to us all the time. Well, I guess he’s not just any HST, Angel’s the one that’s going to get your girl.”
Riley backed away from the vampire, looking angry, looking eager, looking sickened. Spike watched the commando work his way awkwardly to the door, then the vampire turned back to watch his sire’s sire and the Slayer dance.
“You’ll do it soldier-boy,” Spike whispered. “I know you love her and love will make you do whatever it takes. Course what you don’t realize is the Slayer’s going to find out. When he doesn’t come back she’ll figure out what happened, then you’ll be in a fix won’t you soldier-boy? And after she’s done with you, well she’ll be all alone, and I’ll be here to pick-up the pieces. Love will make you do just about anything, so will loneliness.”
______________________________________________________________
“Well dancing had been a trip down memory lane for at least one of them,” Buffy thought. She hadn’t been in Angel’s arms since the prom; she’d forgotten how right it felt.
“Can we go now?” Angel asked as the song ended.
Buffy felt like she’d just been punched in the gut. He’d held her so carefully, how could he not remember? But Angel’s voice was as cold as it had been when the evening began.
“I hate you!” Buffy exclaimed with a sob.
Angel watched the angry, tearful girl rush from the Bronze. “I don’t care,” he told himself. “She’s a manipulative child who never could have really loved me.”
With a look of defeat on his face, Angel followed the tiny blond into the night. Slayer or not she was in no state to be wandering the Hellmouth at night. It wouldn’t kill him to see that she got home safely.
Keeping his distance, Angel trailed behind Buffy, on his guard against the dangers of the night. He watched her knock on an apartment door and waited until the red-haired witch admitted the sobbing blond into the apartment. Then Angel turned and disappeared into the night.
______________________________________________________________
“Angel hates me,” Buffy sobbed to Willow.
Discretely Tara slipped into the bedroom, leaving Willow to comfort her friend. Willow sat Buffy on the couch and prepared for a storm the likes of which she hadn’t seen since High School.
“I tried to talk to Angel, like Cordy and Xander asked, to help him remember,” Buffy said. “But they told him all sorts of stuff and now he hates me.”
“Angel could never hate you,” Willow protested.
“He does,” Buffy exclaimed. “He said he doesn’t trust me. You should have heard him Willow, he sounded so angry every time he talked to me.”
“Wesley told us Angel didn’t like or trust anybody in the fifties.” Willow said. “And he doesn’t remember you. It’s probably not personal, he just needs to finish healing.”
“No,” Buffy said. “Angel hates me because I left him in Hell.”
“Well that’s just not fair,” Willow proclaimed. “You didn’t have a choice, if you hadn’t sent him to Hell the whole world would have gone there, Angel included.”
“But I didn’t bring him back, I never even tried,” Buffy sobbed. “Now he doesn’t believe we’ll bring him back after he destroys the medallion thingy.”
“You were hurting,” Willow floundered. “And you didn’t know he could be brought back. You aren’t to blame.”
“I should of tried,” Buffy said tearfully. “Angel’s right to hate me.”
______________________________________________________________
Angel sat on a tombstone in a quiet, overgrown section of one of Sunnydale’s oldest cemeteries, holding a chain with a matched set of rings on it.
They were the only things he’d retained from his mortal life, from his childhood actually.
He didn’t doubt that the smaller ring had once graced the Slayer’s hand. He could tell that it had been resized, and when he had awakened from being shot and buried, he’d found the matching ring on his hand, worn to proclaim that his heart belonged to someone.
But even if he had given Buffy the ring, it was apparent she’d given it back.
Reflectively Angel traced the familiar surface of one of the rings. His father had hidden them away shortly after his mother’s death. It had taken the eight-year-old Liam months to locate them, but after that he had he’d carried them with him at all times.
Then they’d been a reminder that, once, things had been different. Once he’d had a mother whose laughter could make everything brighter, who saw the world as a wonderful place filled with magic. That once the exasperation in his father’s eyes had been tempered with affection.
After being made a vampire he carried the rings as a different sort of reminder. A reminder of how love had lured his mother from her family to a place where she was feared and despised for her beliefs, where they wouldn’t even bury her properly. A reminder that love had gotten his father a son who had never been able to be what the old man wanted and who had killed him in the end. A reminder the Liam’s love for his father was what had allowed his father to make him feel so worthless for so many years.
After he’d been cursed the rings had been treasured simply because they were all Angel had left of his mortal life. That he would have given one to Buffy was very nearly inconceivable.
______________________________________________________________
“Xander what is going on with Angel?” Willow whispered into the phone. Buffy had cried herself to sleep on the couch and Willow didn’t want to wake her.
“Shot in the head, only remembers up to 1950’ish, remember?” Xander replied. “Why?”
“He and Buffy fought or something,” Willow said. “She came over here and cried her eyes out because she thinks he blames her for the whole Hell thing. I thought she was over crying about Angel.”
“Oh damn it,” Xander exclaimed. “Angel promised not to talk to Buffy about that stuff until he had all his memories back. I’d better come over and explain the whole story to Buffy. Tell her it’s not her, and I’m sorry I didn’t warn her.”
______________________________________________________________
Riley stared at the neatly mislabeled packet of ground willow bark in his hand. He couldn’t believe he was doing this.
He was Riley Finn, from Iowa. His parents had raised him to be a good person. He went to church every Sunday. He’d joined the military because he wanted to make a difference. He’d given up his career when he realized what the Initiative was doing was morally wrong.
“That person wouldn’t be contemplating murder,” Riley thought. Of course, the person he used to be didn’t get drunk in low-life dives or get thrills out of being fed on by vampires. Female vampires, Spike wasn’t wrong when he claimed that the thrill was sexual.
“What’s happened to me,” Riley wondered. All he knew was that he couldn’t loose Buffy.
______________________________________________________________
“Okay, here’s the story,” Xander said sitting across from Buffy and Willow.
“It’s the fifties and everybody’s paranoid anyway because of the McCarthy trials, plus this girl Angel pretty much raised got murdered by her husband just a few years before this, so Angel isn’t exactly in an up with people mood.”
“Well Angel meets this girl, Judith, who’s in trouble. He starts identifying with the girl, cause neither of them fit in, Judith was racially mixed and Angel’s only pretending to be human. They were both between worlds. So he decides to help her, and boy does she need it. Judith has legal problems on account of her having robbed a bank and there’s a demonic entity living in the hotel with them driving everyone nuts.”
“A suicide, maybe a murder, starts everything unraveling. Just when Angel’s ready to confront the demon, the mob that’s formed decides that Judith is their killer. Angel shows up and she manages to turn them on him to save herself. Things get ugly, Angel gets hung, he leaves in a funk, letting the demon have everyone at the hotel.”
“Angel’s mad at everyone involved but most particularly at Judith. Personally I think he’s being a little unfair, she was scared and there was a demon influencing her toward utter paranoia, but Angel doesn’t want to cut her any slack. He thought of her as a friend and she betrayed him.”
“It cemented Angel’s bad opinion of people. We’ve been trying to figure out what changed it, without much luck. So right now he kind of tends to see everything anybody does in the worst possible light.”
“Like Buffy having to send him to Hell,” Willow said.
“Among other things,” Xander replied.
“What other things?” Buffy asked.
“Well, leaving him in Hell is the really big one, and not killing him the first time you got a chance to after the curse broke would be issue number two. The rest of it’s just stupid things,” Xander replied.
“What rest of it?” Buffy asked.
“Angel thinks that going to the frat party, your more than friendly dance with me and how you acted with Ford were manipulative and childish. And he thinks how you told him about Riley was spiteful, not to mention cruel,” Xander said in a rush. “It’s like he did with Judith, Angel’s not taking extenuating circumstances into account.”
“Wesley says Angel’s probably afraid if he lets people get close to him that they’ll hurt him again, by dying if nothing else. So he won’t forgive anybody anything, it gives him an excuse for not liking them. Cordy’s the only exception, and that’s only cause he still thinks of her as his little sister,” Xander explained.
______________________________________________________________
He’d loved her. The conclusion was inescapable. Angel sighed, dropping the chain with the two rings back over his head.
Even now, stripped of all true memory of the blond Slayer it was still true. He felt drawn to her, no matter how he tried to deny it.
Xander claimed that Buffy still loved him, even if she was sleeping with that Finn guy. Kathleen agreed that the Slayer probably had feelings for him, but his sister also felt that he was better off without her.
In Buffy’s defense, Kathy had never approved of his interest in any girl other than Anna. “No,” Angel corrected himself. “She’s Cordelia, you killed Kathy centuries ago, you followed Anna to the Colonies solely for the purpose of killing her as well. Cordelia doesn’t like the Slayer because she’s afraid of Buffy’s ability to turn you back to Angelus, and because seeing her makes you brood too much, in Cordelia’s opinion.”
Her concern for him was truly sisterly. “No wonder you can’t keep your memories of Kathleen separate from Cordelia,” Angel thought. The twentieth century girl had adopted him as her older brother, and in the process given him back his good memories of Kathy.
Which still didn’t solve the problem of Buffy. He had loved her, which broke the curse. As Angelus he’d wrecked havoc on Buffy’s life, killing her friends, threatening her family. Oh, and lets not forget trying to destroy the world.
Then he’d gotten his soul back, but she’d been forced to send him to Hell to save the world from the doom he’d unleashed upon it.
After that Buffy had run away from home, according to Cordelia and Xander because she’d been overwhelmed. Her friends in the hospital, her watcher tortured, her sister Slayer dead and her the primary suspect, kicked out of her home, expelled from school, and she’d just sent her lover to Hell. Where she left him.
Apparently the future version of himself had been very understanding. As far as anybody knew he’d never even asked Buffy why she hadn’t bothered to rescue him. But then again, maybe he knew why.
It didn’t seem likely that her love for him had survived his reversion to Angelus. It had probably been easier for her to have him out of her life. Angel wrote off her care after he returned as being guilt motivated. Their attempt to get back together was less easily dismissed, nostalgia perhaps. But the fact remained; Buffy had given back his ring. Taken back her heart and given it to another.
______________________________________________________________
“Hi mom, I really need to talk to you,” Riley said into the phone.
“Riley, honey, what’s happened?” His mother asked. “You haven’t called in almost a month.”
“I don’t know mom. God, I’ve been so confused lately. You remember I told you about Buffy? I love her so much mom, but I don’t think she loves me. And now her ex is back, and there’s still something between them. I just want to hurt the guy, and the scary thing is I could. I could do something that would get him out of her life forever and I don’t know what to do.”
“Has he done something wrong?” Riley’s mother asked. “This thing you could do, would it get him trouble with Buffy or with the police?”
Riley laughed bitterly, “It would get him dead, mom.”
“Riley, I don’t understand,” His mother said. “What is going on?”
“There are reasons, which I can’t explain, why this guy is major bad news,” Riley said. “There are things in his past that could really hurt Buffy, but she knows all about that and she was willing to risk it before. Only there was this one… detail… that neither of them knew about then. Because of that detail he left Buffy to protect her. That’s where I came in; I fell in love with her mom. I’ve never felt like this about anyone before. Angel, that’s the guy, he just found out that the detail isn’t a consideration anymore, and I think she’s going to go back to him.”
“Was he involved in the mob or something like that?” Riley’s mother asked. “If that’s it I want you to stay out of it, I don’t want you involved in any way. Do you understand me, Riley Sean Finn?”
“No mom,” Riley said. “Angel’s going to be doing something dangerous, I could do something that would pretty much insure that he wouldn’t make it. Then he’d be out of Buffy’s life for good.”
For a long moment the line was dead silent.
“Riley, I think you need to come home,” His mother said sounding like she was in shock. “Now, I don’t care what you feel for this girl, you can’t kill someone for her. If she gets hurt because of this Angel person, it’s her choice. I think you’re very overwrought; you’re loosing your way. I want you to get out of the situation. I want you to come home. Please come home Riley, before you do something that you will regret for the rest of your life.”
______________________________________________________________
Outside of the ruins of the old Sunnydale High, Angel pulled Cordelia aside as the others went in to begin preparing for his trip to Hell. “Cordelia, wait a minute,” he said.
“Sure Angel,” the brunette replied.
“I wanted to tell you, just in case this goes bad, you’ve been a real lifeline these last couple weeks. Probably longer than that, but it’s the last few weeks that I can remember. I know that you’re not really my sister, but I feel like you are,” Angel said awkwardly.
“Nothing’s going to go wrong!” Cordelia said fiercely, then gave Angel a quick hug. “I won’t let it, I need my big brother back.”
Together they walked into the burnt out ruins. The others, minus Riley, had gathered in what used to be the library.
“Where’s the ex-soldier-boy?” Spike asked. “I thought we were doing the strength in numbers thing in case something manages to stow-away with Peaches.”
“It looks like he flaked, again,” Willow said almost angrily.
“He has been rather undependable of late,” Giles admitted.
Seeing Buffy standing off to one side alone Angel went to join her. “I’m sorry for how I behaved last night,” he said.
“Yeah, well I guess I should cut you some slack,” Buffy replied. “I mean brain damage should excuse a whole lot of rudeness huh?”
“I don’t think I’m ready to remember us yet,” Angel admitted. “I was trying to keep you at a distance.”
Angel removed the chain around his neck with the two claddah rings on it. “Could you keep these safe for me?” he asked. “I image at least one of them’s already made it to Hell and back, but I wouldn’t want to push my luck. I’ve had them most of my life, I’d hate to loose them now.”
Buffy looked at the matched rings for a moment, when she started to ask Angel about them, about how he’d found hers, she saw he’d already walked away.
Angel stopped Wesley next, “Hi Wesley, I wanted to thank you for keeping the Agency together while I’ve been… indisposed. I’ve figured out that it’s pretty important to the person I became, so thanks.”
“That leaves just one more person to make peace with,” Angel thought.
______________________________________________________________
“Angel could I talk with you, in private, before we get into the whole “Here’s you life” in Sunnydale bit?” Xander had asked about a week earlier.
“Go ahead,” Angel replied.
“There’s some stuff I should have told you back in the 20’s,” Xander said. “Before you met me in Sunnydale. First off, I’ve been a real jerk toward you more than once. Actually it would be more accurate to say I was nice to you once or twice during the whole time you were in Sunnydale. There’s a whole lot of reasons for that and you’ll probably know most of them once you get your memory back, so I’m not going into them. The thing is I didn’t start thinking of you as a friend until after we met in Chicago. I know I implied otherwise, and I want you to know that it wasn’t just because I needed your help. I let you think that because I didn’t want to hurt you.”
“You felt sorry for me,” Angel said quietly. “Because of how I was then. Well, you don’t have to. If that’s why you’re here now, I’d just as soon you left.”
______________________________________________________________
“Xander, I know you wanted to wait until I had my memories back,” Angel said. “But I think now’s a good time for me to say this. After all, from everything I’ve heard, I became a much more understanding person in the last fifty years. So if I’m willing to say this now, I’m pretty sure I’d be saying it if I had my full memory.”
“I had no right to be angry with you about Sunnydale. For you it happened first. You were a true friend in Chicago and that didn’t change when you got back to this time.”
“Angel, don’t do this,” Xander objected. “You shouldn’t say goodbye. We aren’t going to let you get trapped there.”
“I’m planning on walking into Hell, I think that gives me cause to be pessimistic,” Angel replied.
“Yeah, but you’ve got all of us backing you up,” Xander said. “It’ll work out.”
Angel smiled a little, looking completely unconvinced, then Willow waved them over.
“Okay we’re all ready to do the spell,” the red head said.
After the retrieval spell had been cast Tara checked that it was functioning. Then Angel asked uncertainly, “So I just jump through the crack?”
“Exactly,” Giles said. “We’ve checked the Hellmouth, there are no spells on it. It’s your best chance for entering undetected. Once in, you’ll have two hours to destroy Yasar’s Medallion. Then we’ll open the portal to retrieve you.”
“Right,” Angel replied. “And if I don’t do this the Hellmouth opens, turning the Earth into the extended version of Hell, so not only am I in Hell, everyone I care about is there too.”
“Yes,” Giles said simply.
“I guess I don’t have much to loose by going,” Angel said with a shrug, then climbed down into the Hellmouth.
“Have fun!” Spike called cheerfully.
“In five minutes we’ll open the portal,” Giles said starting a stopwatch.
“This time differential this is convenient,” Cordelia remarked. “We don’t have to sit around worrying if he’s alright. Just poof he’s gone, poof he’s back, problem solved.”
“Um-hum,” Buffy agreed, staring at the Hellmouth.
Willow and Tara fussed over the spell components, checking one last time, that everything was ready to go. Wesley and Xander did a quick weapons check and Spike lit up a cigarette.
Cordelia stalked over to the peroxide blond vampire and flicked the cigarette out of his mouth then squashed it firmly into the ground.
“Hey, I just lit that,” Spike protested.
“Those of us that actually use our lungs would prefer that you don’t pollute the air,” Cordelia said tartly.
“I’m a vampire, a bad guy, I’m supposed to smoke,” Spike argued.
“But as I understand it, your little chip problem means I could beat you up, right?” Cordelia asked sweetly. “So you don’t get to smoke.”
“Stupid chit,” Spike snarled, stomping off to another corner of the burnt out library.
“It’s time,” Giles said.
Willow lit a fire under the bronze flash disk she had prepared ahead of time with the appropriate herbs then moved to stand at the third point of the triangle Tara had sketched on the floor. Giles and Tara had already taken the other two points.
The others arrayed themselves around the triangle, ready to confront anything that might take advantage of this breech in the barrier between worlds.
Slowly the air took on an opalescent, shimmery quality. Then a clear eye telescoped open in the center of the triangle providing a window on a blasted landscape.
“Angel!” Buffy called, spotting the souled vampire crouching beside an outcropping of volcanic rock.
Angel turned and started toward the portal at a job, looking highly relieved.
“Hurry!” Willow yelled, sweat running down her face.
Angel broke into a run, he was less than a meter from the portal when Tara let out a moan and collapsed in a dead faint. The portal telescoped closed and disappeared before the group’s horrified eyes, leaving Angel trapped on the other side.
“No, Angel!” Buffy shrieked, remembering the last time a portal from Hell had taken Angel from her.
“Open it again,” Cordelia demanded, turning to see that the other two spell casters had joined Tara in unconsciousness. The brunette girl ran to Giles and shook him violently. “Wake up already!”
“Something went wrong,” Xander said in a strained voice as he gently lifted Willow from the ground.
Buffy dropped to her knees staring blankly at the place where the portal had been only seconds earlier. Spike looked around the burnt out library with a satisfied smirk. “Who needs commando-boys any way?” he said too quietly for mortal ears to hear. Then he wiped the smirk off his face and replaced it with an expression of concern as he bent over Buffy, gripping her shoulder reassuringly.
Wesley went to check on Tara. He straightened her tangled limbs then dug through the witches’ supplies. “Aw yes, these should do the trick,” he said crushing a handful of herbs between his fingers then rubbing the pungent oils under the unconscious girl’s nose.
“Did he make it?” Tara asked groggily.
“No,” Wesley said solemnly, helping her to her feet then supporting her to Willow’s side. “What went wrong?”
“The strain was too much,” Tara said as Wesley handed his impromptu smelling salts to Xander. “The spell should have mitigated the strain, but the power waned almost immediately after the portal opened, we only held it as long as we did through sheer will power.”
“So something was really wrong with the spell,” Xander said supporting Willow as she sat up.
“Y-you okay?” Tara asked her lover.
“I think so, once the room stops moving,” Willow replied catching Tara’s hand and kissing it. “How are you doing?”
Wesley let Tara sink to the ground beside Willow, “I feel drained,” the blond witch said leaning against Willow.
“We’ve got three hours before we can cast the spell again,” Willow said watching Wesley walk over to Cordelia and Giles. “We should rest, we have to keep it open longer next time.”
“You should figure out what the problem was first,” Spike advised. “Wouldn’t want anything bad to happen, magic’s dangerous stuff.”
“I don’t want to leave Angel there a moment longer than necessary,” Buffy said, shaking off Spike’s comforting hand and going to check on Giles who was coming around slowly.
“He made it for months last time,” Spike said. “I wouldn’t worry much.”
“I think he’s more vulnerable now,” Xander objected. “We can’t trust that he’ll be able to deal again.”
“I promised we’d get him back,” Buffy said firmly. “Besides…” she continued more softly. “None of you saw how Angel was when he came back before. I won’t let that happen again.”
“The spell was off,” Giles said, resting his head on his knees. “We can’t just cast it again, the same thing would only reoccur, more quickly this time since our reserves are depleted.
“So what do we do?” Buffy asked.
“We should have another spell caster look it over,” Willow said. “Giles, Tara and I have all double and tripled checked it and we didn’t find anything.”
“Anya could do it,” Xander said.
“Go get her,” Wesley commanded. “I’ll start looking it over myself, I do have some training in magic.”
“What can I do?” Buffy asked.
“Right now, not much,” Giles replied. “But if all else fails we could tie your strength into the spell next time, it might be enough to hold it till Angel can cross the barrier.”
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“Here’s the problem,” Anya said. “You need to use fresh laurel leaves. They loose potency after being dried.”
“I’ll start calling the nurseries and greenhouse,” Cordelia volunteered. “I’m the expert when it come to shopping.”
“They won’t be open for another eight or nine hours,” Giles said.
“Which equals eight or nine days for Angel,” Wesley pointed out. “It’s too long, we’ll just have to break in.”
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Buffy held the rings Angel had entrusted to her tightly. “I feel so helpless,” she told Spike. “I’m the Slayer, I should be able to do something.”
“Sometimes there’s nothing to be done Pet,” Spike replied. “We’ll all do our best to get Peaches back, but it may not be enough. You can’t let it break you Buffy.”
“You won’t do your best,” Buffy said quietly. “You’re evil and you don’t like Angel.”
“Well no, but he’s still family,” Spike answered. “I couldn’t just let him die.”
“You tried to kill him before,” Buffy pointed out.
“For Drucillia,” Spike replied. “She was more than family, she was my life... Till she didn’t want me any more.”
“Angel must have found the ring where I left it at the mansion,” Buffy said distractedly. “Why didn’t he give it back to me?”
Spike glanced at the rings, noting the design. “Maybe he didn’t want you to have it anymore.”
“Why wouldn’t he have?” Buffy asked uncertainly.
“Those rings are wedding bands,” Spike explained. “Maybe he didn’t feel that way about you anymore.”
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“Why don’t they sell laurels in Sunnydale?” Cordelia complained to Xander. She picked up a phone and dialed Gunn’s number. “It’s Cordy,” she said. “Look I need you to go to the nursery on Clements street, number 10581, they’ve got everything. Get a laurel… just bring the whole plant. We need it in Sunnydale. I’ll meet you at the Welcome to town sign. Angel’s stuck in Hell so I don’t want to waste time cause you got lost. Thanks.”
“Best case scenario, we can do the spell in an two hours, that means leaving Angel in Hell for 5 days total,” Xander said. “That’s not that long is it?”
“Not compared to leaving him there for years like last time, but it’s Hell, I’m thinking any time spent there is of the bad,” Cordelia replied.
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Four and three quarters hours after the initial failure to retrieve Angel, a slightly larger group gathered on the Hellmouth for the second attempt.
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