Buffy got out of bed and dressed and got ready for school. Her mom dropped her off early enough for her to go to the library to talk to Giles for a while. As she neared the school doors, Willow’s bus pulled up, so she waited for her friend to come join her. She knew waiting for Xander in the morning was a random task at best so they headed straight for the library.

The two girls entered the library. "Giles? I need to talk to you." Buffy called out.

Giles popped out of his office with an old book in his hands. "What did you want to talk about? Oh, hello, Willow."

"Hi, Giles," Willow answered.

"Angel," said Buffy.

"Oh, yes, I should have guessed. Oh, Xander and Cordelia are around here somewhere. They headed into the stacks." Giles mentioned, with a hand gesture in that direction.

"Gees, aren’t there laws against that?" Willow said with exasperatedly.

"On far too many levels," Buffy replied.

"Laws against what?" Giles said, looking somewhat confused.

"Well, them," Willow replied.

"Oh, I chalk it up to the Hellmouth at work," Giles grinned. He turned to face Buffy. "Now what did you want to talk about in regards to Angel? Have you seen him around?"

"No I haven’t seen him. That’s what I want to talk about. What would be the best way to get him? I’m ready now. I know I can stake him," Buffy said.

"Now you’re talking," Xander said as he came out from the stacks with Cordelia close behind. "Giles, anything we can do to help her, let me know."

"Xander, are you wearing lipstick?" Willow asked.

"No, why?" He and Cordelia frantically look at each other searching for signs of their smooching on each others faces, but there isn’t a trace.

"Never mind, it must have been the lighting," Willow smirked, and Buffy tried to smother a laugh.

"To answer your question, after the fire, we don’t know where to look. The sewers are too dangerous for you to search through with Angel, Spike and Druscilla on the loose. He doesn’t follow the feeding patterns of most of the other vampires who will go to the easiest spot to find prey. He kills as mush for sport as he does for food. Most likely, he will find you before you find him." Giles explained.

"Or find one of you," Buffy added.

"Yes, or one of us," Giles replied. "He will try to get at you anyway he can. Hurting you bit by bit, slowly making his way towards his mark."

"So if there is one good thing about him trying to kill everyone else, then, that would be that you would be last, so you have more time to get him first," Cordelia said.

"Actually, she has a point," spoke Giles.

"So until he gets staked, we are pretty much permanent bait," Xander said. "That is what you’re getting at, right?"

Giles began to speak, "Well..."

"So, what do we do?" Buffy asked.

"I’m not sure. We continue to patrol, and see if we can turn up any clues as to their new lair. Once we find that out, we can see what we can do about it, but right now, all we can do is continue as we have up to now. But none of you should be alone at night, and all of you should carry a cross, and some holy water. I will patrol with Buffy. Xander can watch out for Cordelia," Giles told them.

"What about Willow?" Xander asked.

"Hey, she’s got Oz," Cordelia almost snapped.

"Yeah, I’ve got Oz," Willow responded, smiling at Xander’s displeasure with that remark.

"Well, I’m worried about everyone else. Like my mom and every other living person in Sunnydale. We’ve got to stop him, and soon." Buffy said.

"So you want to call this hell hole home?" Spike asked.

"Well, would you like to build us a nice cottage? Oh, wait, you can barely make a house of cards in your condition," Angelus mocked.

"I wouldn’t quit your day job, Angelus, those jokes are getting quite stale," Spike spat.

"Careful what you say, try to remember who is a guest of whom now. Okay, pet?" Angelus winked.

"I can feel my strength coming back every day," Spike seethed.

"Spike, I was never afraid of you before, why should I start now?" Angelus teased. "Ah, Dru, looking lovely as ever."

"Angel, you are too sweet. Has Spike been snippy again? You know how he hates it when we have to move. Right, Spike?" Dru asked.

"I don’t mind moving by choice. The Slayer is getting too close, and pretty boy won’t just kill the bitch and get it over with. Now that you’ve killed her friend, she isn’t going to hold back any longer." Spike said.

"Yes, she is frisky. I’m starting to enjoy this. Have you ever met a Slayer that you could hurt in so many ways? Now who should I kill next?" Angelus wondered.

"I suggest the Slayer," Spike added.

"You’re no fun, Spike. He wants to kill her soul and her spirit before he kills her." Dru turned to Angelus and continued. "Why don’t you start on the outside. I’m sure she isn’t as close to some friends as others." Dru flashed Angelus a wicked grin.

"Ah! Cordelia. Though Buffy might want to thank me. She annoyed me when I was cursed. She looks tasty though. A lovely neck." Angelus grinned back at Dru. "Tonight should be fun."

"So, it’s now your duty to watch over me tonight. Think you can handle it?" She grinned.

"Well, luckily, they can’t come into your house, so as long as you’re there, I don’t have to worry," Xander replied.

"Well yeah, I do," he said.

"And Willow and Buffy, too?" she added.

"Of course I do. They’re my friends," He said, confused.

"So what exactly am I then? You seem to care about them more than me," she asked.

"Cordelia," Xander tried to explain, "Willow’s my best friend. We’ve been friends for as long as I can remember. And Buffy, well, she’s special. She’s saved my life, and I hers many times. I can’t explain that, but we have a bond there. Yeah, I like her, I always have, but it’s not like I have a shot with her."

"But what am I?" she asked again.

"You...you are...well...you’re my girlfriend," he practically mumbled out.

Seeing this, Xander grabbed her arms just below the shoulder and pushed her gently up against the side of the car. "No. No, you’re not wasting your time with me. I care about you, I really do. It’s just that I’m not used to this. I’m used to us fighting and hating each other."

"I never hated you," she was practically crying now.

"Excuse me?" He said with a raised eyebrow.

"OK, so maybe I did. But I don’t anymore. I’m sorry," her tears stared to well up again.

"Hey, don’t be sorry. Remember, I hated you too. I think Willow might hate you even more now than then," he said with a wink. "But I don’t think she likes me that much anymore either."

"See, we can’t have a conversation without it turning to your feelings for Willow or Buffy. Why?" Now the tears started coming.

"I don’t know. But I do care about you," he tried to find an answer.

"No you don’t. You don’t care about me," she was bawling now. "You don’t love me. Not like I love you. And you don’t know how much that hurts." She tried to turn away from him.

"What? What did you say?" He took her right hand in his left, and tilted her face up towards his gently with his right hand under her chin. A state of shock on his face, and streaks of eyeliner on hers from her tears. "I’m not sure if I heard you right."

Cordelia pulled her face away. "See, you don’t care. You don’t. I’ve never felt like this before, and it really hurts that you don’t feel the same. I want to go home." She cried.

"I do care. I don’t know if I love you, but I really care about you. I didn’t know you felt this strongly about me." He tried to hold her but she pushed him away to try to get in and drive. "And I will drive you home. You drive bad enough when you’re paying attention. I’ll stay with you as long as you want."

"No. My mom, she’s sick. Just drop me off." She was trying to compose herself, but she did give in and give him the keys.

"Well, you’re more than welcome to come over my house. We can order Chinese or pizza or maybe get some ice-cream or something." He saw how hurt she was, but didn’t really know what to do. After what she said, he didn’t want to just drop her off. "What do you say? My treat?"

"You have money?" Cordy looked at him, somewhat shocked.

"Well, my mom will treat. You know, I would have gotten a job if it weren’t for the slaying." he tried to defend himself.

"Don’t talk about slaying, ok? Just don’t say anything." She got in the car.

He realized what she meant, and quietly got behind the wheel. "So where am I going?"

"To get ice-cream. Chocolate." She looked at him and tried to smile, then just stared off out the side window.

"Chocolate it is," he said and drove off.

Giles sat in his office, flipping though the book that Jenny gave him, thinking about that last conversation they had . "She loved me too," he thought. "Angel’s turning must have hurt her deeply. I have to find a way for Buffy to beat him before it is too late. I can’t fail her again."

He was angry at his loss of control after Jenny’s death, that he almost got himself killed. He was angry that he almost left Buffy alone to fight Angel. He was also very concerned for her, because Angel was no ordinary vampire. Not only was he one of the most viscous and unpredictable vampires on record, but he had once been her lover, and knew her much better than she knew this demon. He knew her intimately.

Giles wasn’t sure how much longer he could prevent Buffy from learning that Angel has fought and killed several Slayers before. As much a danger that Spike posed to Buffy, he appeared tame in comparison. And the worst of it all, was that Spike was still out there, and apparently Druscilla was healthy again. Three of the most dangerous vampires on the planet, all out to destroy all that he knew and loved. To lose both Jenny and Buffy? That was a thought best not contemplated.

He was startled out of his thoughts by a loud thump from in the library. As he raced around the corner he remembered that Buffy was trying to show Willow some self defense moves while they were waiting for Oz to pick Willow up after his band’s practice. It appeared that Oz had arrived, but at the wrong time.

"Oh my God! Oz, are you OK?" Willow practically squealed.

"What happened?" Giles asked.

"I showed Willow how to flip an assailant who sneaks up on you from behind. You can guess the rest," Buffy explained.

"I think I’m OK. Although I was worried about the danger starting after dark." Oz said, rubbing the back of his head while still sitting on the floor.

"I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to do it. But I did it right, though. Right, Buffy?" Willow said, mixed with sorrow for hurting Oz, but happy for flipping him correctly.

"Yeah, Will, you sure did it right." Buffy smiled back at her.

"Willow, maybe we should get going now, the movie starts in a little while." Oz said as he got to his feet.

"Oh, yeah. OK, bye!" Willow said as she walked with Oz out of the library.

"Later," said Oz.

"Bye guys." Buffy said.

"Be careful out there." Giles advised.

"Yeah, try not to hurt him too much," Buffy said under her breath as the door closed behind the red haired couple. "So, did you find out anything useful?"

"What? Oh, no," Giles said, but his eyes were far away. "I was looking, but I didn’t see anything particularly helpful."

"It’s OK, Giles. I’m here for you if you ever need anything," she offered.

"I think I’ll be OK. Thank you." He replied. "Is it that obvious?"

"Yeah, you’ve got that look in your eyes when you’re thinking of her. I know that look." And as she spoke those words, he saw that look mirrored in her eyes.

"It’ll be dark soon, let’s prepare for the evening." Giles said. "Let’s start with some warm up drills."

"OK, I’m ready. I hope we get lucky tonight." Buffy said as she began to stretch out.

"Better sooner than later. OK, let’s start with kicks." Giles instructed, as he led her into her training routine

Angelus sat at the table in the new lair awaiting sunset. He was playing with a rose that Druscilla had left on the table for him. He was trying to decide if tonight would be the end of Cordelia, or if this would simply be the set-up. He so enjoyed toying with his prey before the kill. Building the fear and tension in his victims ‘til they were just about to die from fright. Play with them until there was nothing else left to do but go for the kill. No, if all went well that evening, Cordy would never see another sunrise. It would be an added bonus if Xander were to be there. Oh, to have him watch as he slowly drained the life from her body. "Now that’s entertainment," he thought aloud.

"Show time," Angelus laughed as he stepped out into the newly arrived darkness.

"Want some more?" Xander asked.

"No thanks, two bowls are enough for the month. I’m sorry about before," Cordelia said.

They were sitting on Xander’s bed watching Airplane and eating chocolate ice-cream. Cordelia had just finished off two small bowls of ice-cream, and now that she refused more, Xander was about to finish off the quart.

"Don’t be sorry, I’m the one who should be sorry," Xander said.

"Well are you? And, God, you eat like such a pig!" Cordelia scrunched up her face in mild revulsion.

"Yes, but those comments make it hard to stay that way," he said and closed the lid on the ice-cream container. "Let me put this back in the freezer."

"OK," she replied.

He stood up, looked at her for a moment and took the empty bowls. Then he went to the kitchen to put what was left of the ice-cream in the mostly empty freezer. He thought, "She said she loved me."

"Me," he said aloud, startling himself slightly. He closed the freezer and returned to the room, placing the dirty dishes in the dishwasher on the way. He sat down next to her, and put his right arm around her back and his left hand on her knee.

"I’m sorry I haven’t always been as...focused as you would have liked. But I hope to make that up to you." He said as he leaned in to kiss her.

"You’ve got a lot of making up to do," she said as she turned her head to let him kiss her. Together they leaned back onto the bed as they made out. "Um, maybe you should close your door."

"Yaaah!" Xander said as he jumped out of the bed and shut the door quickly. His mother was working, but sometimes she would be able to leave her shift early. He wasn’t prepared to try to explain this to his mom. And really not ready to explain anything else that might happen. With that thought, he became really nervous. "Want me to turn the light off?"

"You don’t have to, but it would be more romantic," she purred.

"Come back over here," she whispered.

"Absolutely." Xander crossed back over to the bed and sat down. His face kept changing from serious to smiling to near laughter and back as every sexual thought he ever had raced through his mind. Until she kissed him again and pulled him towards her on the bed. "It’s nice not to be in a closet for a change." he mumbled into her ear.

"Do you have any protection?" Cordelia asked.

Once again he immediately tensed up. This brain freeze was not the ice-cream’s fault. "Um, well...I..."

"In other words, ‘No,’" she said for him.

"It was never something I had to be concerned about before," he explained.

"Oh, I’m sorry. I guess we can wait a little longer," she said as she went to kiss him again.

"There’s a 7-11 right down the street. I can be there and back in 15 minutes," Xander said, still reeling from her question.

"No. Stay here with me. I just want to be with you right now," she said and kissed his neck and shoulder.

"But I don’t have any...," he started.

"I didn’t mean that. I just meant that I want to stay with you for right now. We can worry about that another day. And there will be another day," she said, as they went back into making out again. Soon they would see each other in ways they never had before.

Barely audible though the slightly ajar window, Angelus could hear a woman’s voice.

"...and there will be another day," she said.

"I wouldn’t count on it honey. I wouldn’t count on it." Angelus whispered into the night air outside Xander’s window. "Better watch yourself, little buddy, look what happened to Angel when he did the deed." Angelus barely stifled some laughter on that thought. "Have fun, but sooner or later, she’s got to go home, and then, she’s all mine. All mine."

The vampire hit the ground with a thud, but rolled quickly out of the way of the stake. As the demon was jumping back to his feet, Buffy did a spin kick from her crouched position, hitting the vampire in the back of the legs. Once again the vampire hit the ground with a thud. This time, though, she was faster than the vampire, and staked it before it could finish it’s roll. She stood up and wiped the dust of her clothes.

"Well, another one bites the dust," she said.

"Yes, very good job tonight," Giles commended her. "You disposed of this creature rather quickly this evening, and you used good technique as well."

"Thanks Giles, I just know that I have to be my best to beat Angel," she replied. I wonder where he is tonight, she thought.

"Well, he knows where you usually patrol, so we should keep an eye out, incase he decides to pay you a visit. Do you want to step up your training?" Giles asked.

"I thought I had stepped it up," she said, wondering what it was he was holding back from her this time.

"Yes, you have, but as you said, to beat him, you will have to be at the top of your abilities. You’ve never fought a vampire as strong as him before," he explained.

"I had him once, I can take him again," she stated.

Buffy looked down, she felt the guilt over Jenny building up inside her, and she could feel his anger building as he spoke. "I can do it. I will do it. But am I ready? What if I fail?"

"I’m going to do everything that I can to make sure that won’t happen." He saw that it was too late to keep her from getting depressed, and his anger was probably showing. He wished he had her skills, but he didn’t. She would have to be the one to kill Angel, and he was going to make sure that she was ready, and that she wouldn’t fight him until she was.

"I’m sorry I let you down. I’m sorry I couldn’t stop him when I had the chance," she said, nearing tears.

"No, I’m sorry I almost got myself killed. I’m not the slayer, I don’t have the skills to beat him. You do. But we have to hone them to their sharpest. You won’t fail me, as long as I don’t fail you." Giles thought for a second, "We can add an extra half hour to your training after school, if you can do that."

"I can. I’ll tell my mom I’m staying after with Willow," Buffy said. "Tell me, is there anything about Angel that you know that you haven’t told me?"

"I had hoped that I wouldn’t have to tell you, but you deserve to know. There are a few holes in the watcher diaries about Angel’s life before the curse. These holes coincide with the death of at least two slayers, and," he added, lower, "their watchers. I don’t want you to fight him unprepared," he said.

"Thank you, Giles," she spoke. "I knew you were holding out on me again. Please don’t do that anymore."

Giles looked her right in the eye, "I won’t. I swear it."

"Thanks. Well, at least I know I’m not like other slayers," she sighed.

"No, you aren’t. And I do believe that will help you," he said reassuringly. "I genuinely do."

"Well, being the slayer, I better see if there are any other vampires hanging around here." Buffy looked around at the empty park. "Let’s go hit up the cemetery, see if we have any new recruits."

"Yes, let’s do that," Giles said, and together they walked towards his car in silence.

"I love that movie," Willow exclaimed. "It deserved to win all those awards."

"Well, it still sank," Oz said teasingly. "You hungry?" he asked as they stood in front of the theater.

"No, I just ate all that popcorn, are you still hungry?" she asked, surprised.

"Yeah, actually. I could use some pizza," Oz said. "I think it has to do with the werewolf thing. When it gets close to the full moon, my appetite goes through the roof."

"Oh," she said. "So we better get you some food. I’ll just watch though."

"I can buy you a soda?" he offered.

"And I could drink it, too," she replied and gave him a wide smile. They walked hand in hand over to his van. He opened her door for her, and kissed her when she got in. Then he walked around the other side of the van, and everything went black.

Xander lay there in the dark with his arms around her naked body, not believing that this had truly happened. He could hear the slow deep breathing that spoke of her sleep. He wondered how she could sleep. He wasn’t sure if he would be able to sleep this whole week, but he wasn’t going to wake her either. He leaned to look over her shoulder as he lifted the blankets slightly, then he pinched himself on the other arm. "Nope, I’m not dreaming," he thought. "Now I have to find a safe place to do a little shopping." He almost laughed out loud as the "Trojan Man" theme started playing in his head. They had come so close to actually doing it that he thought he might explode. But he worried about whether he would be good at it or not. He wondered if he would measure up to the others. "The others" now that was a thought he didn’t want to have.

Just then, his door opened. "Hi mom!" He practically yelled, waking Cordelia. "I was really tired so I thought I’d sleep early tonight." Luckily, his back was to the door, so his body shielded Cordy from his mother’s line of site. Also, thankfully, she didn’t try to turn on the light.

"OK, Xander, but next time you make a mess in the kitchen, I expect you to wash the dishes," she said. "By the way, is Cordelia over tonight?"

They both took in a sharp breath. "Um, why do you ask?"

"Well, her car is outside, and her jacket is in the living room. She isn’t still here is she?" she asked.

"No. We had some ice-cream, and she didn’t feel well, so I drove her home, and she let me hold onto the car for the night. So I can drive her back in the morning." He was surprised at how well this was coming out. "I guess she just forgot her jacket. I’ll take it with me in the morning."

There was a long pause, during which he spotted her purse on the chair next to his bed. Hopefully she wouldn’t see that.

"OK, I don’t think I like her letting you drive her car. But I still can’t figure out what you see in her after all those stories you and Willow have told me over the years. She just doesn’t seem like a nice girl, and you deserve a nice girl," she said as Cordy pinched his arm hard.

As he tried not to yell from the pinch, he tried to think of how to get out of this mess. "She is nice, mom. I’ve just got to get some sleep though. I have to get up earlier than normal, if I’m going to pick her up. Good night, mom."

"Good night, Xander. You be careful driving that car, and try to keep it down in the morning, you woke me up singing in the shower yesterday," she said and shut the door.

"Singing in the shower?" Cordy said barely containing a burst of laughter.

"Oh my God, that was close," he said and lay back flat on the bed. "I think I’m shaking."

Cordelia rolled over to face him, and lay across his side. "You are shaking," she said and kissed him. He stopped shaking immediately and returned the kiss.

Willow screamed as she saw the vampire hit Oz, and she saw Oz fly backwards onto the ground. He wasn’t moving. Willow know that she was safe inside the van, but she couldn’t watch this vampire attack Oz. She looked around the van and outside trying to decide what to do. It looked like the vamp was alone, and that Buffy was not around. She figured that Buffy, at closest, was a good ten blocks away at the school, but was probably a bit farther the other way at the cemetery.

Giles and Buffy drove silently past the school towards the cemetery. After their talk in the park, there really wasn’t much else to say. They both drifted away in their own thoughts, though they each thought of the same thing. Jenny and Angel. But they both still kept an eye out for any unusual activity as they drove along. As they neared the center of town, a familiar van drove towards them.

"Hey, isn’t that Oz’s van?" Buffy said.

"I believe so, but that looks like Willow driving," he answered.

"Never mind then, Willow can’t drive," Buffy said, brushing away the thought.

At that instant, the van swerved, heading straight for Giles’ car. Giles turned the wheel and hit the brakes. Buffy screamed at the top of her lungs, nearly deafening the two of them. Willow also turned the wheel and hit the brakes hard, but she had been screaming since she first hit the gas pedal. The two cars came to a stop along side each other, but too close for either Willow or Giles to exit their proper doors.

In a flash, Willow was out the passenger door and running around to Buffy’s side of the car. She was there before Buffy stood up.

Buffy started, "What..."

"Oz! He’s gone!" Willow yelled, crying hysterically.

"Gone? What do you mean gone?" Giles asked.

Buffy took both of Willow’s hands. "Try to calm down and tell us what happened."

"OK," Willow replied. "We. Got out. Of movie. I got in van. He went around. Side of van." She was spitting out fragments trying not to cry too much, or hyperventilate. "Big vamp. Hit Oz. Out cold. I got. A stake. But then. They were gone."

"Did you see where they went?" Buffy and Giles asked simultaneously.

"No. We can’t let them hurt Oz!" Willow officially broke down crying.

Giles had a quick thought. "Did you recognize the vampire?"

"No," Willow said through her tears.

"It wasn’t Angel? That’s good," Buffy said.

"Buffy, do you think you can move that van out of the road?" he asked.

"You want me to drive that?" she replied.

"Never mind. Shut the door please," he called back.

She shut the door, and he moved his car to the side of the road and got out. "Both of you, hop in my car. I’ll move the van out of the street."

"Where do we check first?" Buffy asked, sitting in the back to comfort Willow.

Angelus caught some movement out of the corner of his eye. "Well, my dear, maybe tonight isn’t the night for us, but I think I just found a replacement for the evening. Tonight might not be a wash after all." Angel silently hopped down from his perch outside of Xander’s window and made his way over to the figure near the corner.

The vampire noticed movement coming from behind him, but by then it was too late, and Angelus was upon him. "What are you doing here? This boy is mine."

Angel looked down and recognized the body. "I wouldn’t eat that if I were you. Maybe put it on a leash, but not eat it."

"What are you talking about?" the vampire asked.

"That boy right there is a werewolf." Angel continued, "You don’t want to mix that blood with yours. Might as well just watch the sunrise this morning. Except that would be less painful."

"I’ve never heard of that. And how do you know that he is a werewolf?" the vampire asked, disbelieving Angel.

"I’ve seen him in action. Do what you want, but don’t bother trying to kill him without a silver bullet." Angelus was getting a kick out of this conversation.

"Whatever," the vampire shrugged.

"If you do bite him though, I should let you know that the full moon is in two days. The first day of change is tomorrow. I don’t think your going to like that very much." Angelus smiled at the other vampire. "I’ve had two demons in me before, except I could kill at least one of them. These two demons cannot co-exist in one body. Basically, it’s gonna suck the next three days. If you survive them."

"Why wouldn’t I survive?" the vampire asked, curious, but still not entirely believing Angelus.

"Because you can’t kill that demon without a silver bullet, but it can kill you. It will live until the end of the full moon, then the demon retreats until the next full moon. The body returns to it’s natural state, which is dead. You’ll be a big pile of dust in four days." Angelus was tired of talking to this idiot, so he decided to do a little late night bargain hunting. "Enjoy your meal, but I’m off to find my own dinner."

They both heard some moaning and rustling from behind the younger vampire. Oz was starting to finally come to. The vampire knocked him out again. He turned back towards Angelus, but he was gone without a trace. He then looked back at his treat. "To eat, or not to eat. That is the question." He said to himself.

"Cordelia, are you asleep?" Xander asked, quietly.

"Cordy?" he said again, just slightly louder. When he heard nothing, he tried to slip his arm out from under her. He could no longer feel his right hand. "How do people do this everyday?" he thought to himself. He couldn’t slide it out though, so he tried to roll her off his arm.

Lucky she woke up at that point, and was able to prop herself up off the floor with her left arm. "Hey, watch that!" she almost yelled, now wide awake from the near fall. "What are you trying to do to me?"

"Sorry, I was trying to get my arm out from under you. It fell asleep," he explained.

"I have to get up early, too. I tried to wake you up, but you didn’t wake up. I forgot how small this bed is. And do you always have to mock my clothes?" he asked.

"Yes. I must take you shopping," she replied. "What time is it anyway?"

"12:37. When should I set the alarm?" he asked.

"Better make it 5:30, to give me enough time in the morning," she said.

She then continued, "Thanks, now I’m going back to sleep, so you keep your hands and arms to yourself, and don’t bother me ‘til 5:30." She rolled back over the other way.

"Do your parents know where you are?" he asked.

"Oh God, I forgot to call. Give me your phone!" she demanded.

"Sshh," he said. He reached over and passed her the phone.

She dialed the number and waited. "Hi Daddy. Sorry if I woke you up."

"I’m at Harmony’s house. We were studying and fell asleep. I’m still really tired so I’m going to crash over here, OK?" Another pause. "OK, thanks Daddy. Goodnight. Bye." She hung up the phone and passed it back. "I hope he doesn’t check the Caller ID before I get home."

"You never told him you would be with me today?" he asked.

"We came here right after school. That was the first time I spoke to him today," she said.

"Oh, OK," he said as he replaced the phone on the table.

"Goodnight, Xander," she said as she rolled back over again.

"Goodnight, Cordelia," he said and closed his eyes. That little spat took a lot out of him, it seemed.

A teenage girl sat crying outside of the Ice-cream Shop door. It was apparent that she was alone, so he came over to her. "Are you OK?" he asked with concern.

"Yeah, I’m fine," she replied.

He pulled the rose out of his jacket that he was saving for Cordelia, and held it out. "I’m glad to hear that you’re fine. But you still look like you could use this," he said, handing to her.

She reached out for it. "Thanks, that’s a beautiful rose. Do you usually hand roses to strangers?" She asked, the tears now almost stopped.

"No. This was for someone special, but we never got together. Turns out, she was with another man," Angelus said, pretending to hold back his anger and maybe a tear. "You seem much more worthy of it."

"I’m sorry to hear that," she hesitated a bit.

"Oh, I’m sorry, I haven’t introduced myself. I am Angel, and you are?" he asked, turning on the charm. He might actually have a little fun before his feast.

"I’m Stephanie. Nice to meet you," she said. "And thanks for the rose. It really is beautiful," she added with a smile.

"Almost as beautiful as you," he grinned right back.

"Oh, stop," she giggled.

"Are you here alone? I mean, do you have a safe way home?" Although this was amusing, it was just too easy, so he figured to get a move on it, before running into any snags, like Buffy.

"I did, but my friend ditched me for some guy, and didn’t even offer me a ride home. I’m going to kill her tomorrow!" She was obviously very angry, but no longer crying, which was good.

"Well, if you want, I can escort you home. I’m not exactly in the mood to head straight home anyway. What do you say?" he asked.

"It wouldn’t be a problem?" she asked back.

"Not at all, and it isn’t safe to walk around alone out here at night anyway. I’d feel more comfortable at least. Or should I call you a cab?" he asked, already knowing the answer to that one.

"No, walking is fine. Besides, you can never get a cab in this town. I think there are like three of them," she said with a slight laugh again.

"OK," he smiled and offered her his hand to stand up. "We probably should get going though. It is getting late, and there is school tomorrow," he said.

She took his hand and stood up with his assistance. "Yeah. Thanks again. You’re a great guy. She doesn’t realize what she missed," she said as she started to lead the way to her house, and still holding his hand.

"No, she probably doesn’t," he replied.

The bell woke Xander, but he couldn’t figure out what was wrong with the snooze button.

"Answer the phone, you idiot," was Cordelia’s gentle explanation for the din.

It was then that he realized that it was 1:35 am. He picked up the phone. "Hello?"

Cordy could hear a slightly panicked female voice on the other end, but couldn’t tell who it was.

"Oh, hi, Mrs. Rosenberg. Willow isn’t here, she was with Oz tonight." He replied to the voice.

After a pause he said, "They never came back from there?"

The rest of the conversation sounded like this to Cordelia’s ears. Judging by the tone of his voice and look on his face, she decided now might be a good time to get dressed. "Don’t worry, I’m sure they are fine.....I know it’s a school night.....She’s been taking self defense lessons with Buffy, so that she can handle herself......I trust Oz.....I’ll call Buffy to see if they went over there.....If I hear anything before you do, I’ll call you right away.....Goodnight, Mrs. Rosenberg."

"What’s wrong?" Cordelia asked.

"Willow and Oz never came back home tonight. I better beep Buffy," Xander said, now with part of a plan in his head. He was certainly no longer tired.

"Good idea," for once she didn’t mind him thinking of Willow and Buffy. She was upset too. "I hope that call didn’t wake up your mom."

"My mom hooked me up with my own line over the summer," he explained as he dialed Buffy’s beeper. "Shocked much? Guess I was on the phone more than I used to be, though."

He entered in his phone number, followed by "911" so that she would know it was an emergency for her to call him. He did turn down the ringer on his phone, after he thought about Cordy’s comment about his mom.

"Do you think Angel got them?" She asked.

"I don’t know. I’m trying not to think about that. I hope not," he said, staring at the phone.

"Somebody just beeped me," Buffy said from the back seat.

"Oz?!?" Willow pleaded.

"Oh, who?" Giles replied, simultaneously.

She looked at the number, "It’s Xander. He used the emergency code. I have to call him."

The look of hope on Willow’s face retreated back to pain after hearing it wasn’t Oz.

"Hopefully he has some news about Oz," Giles said for Willow’s benefit.

"I hope so," Buffy said. "There’s a payphone over there. Anyone have any change?"

"Buff, where’s Willow?" Xander spoke into the receiver before the first ring had even finished.

"She’s with me," Buffy answered.

"She’s with Buffy," he told Cordelia. They both let out a sigh of relief together.

"Have you heard from Oz? Who are you talking to?" Buffy asked.

"No, I haven’t heard from him. What’s up?" he asked, avoiding her second question.

"A vampire grabbed him outside the movie theater. We can’t find him," she explained.

He didn’t want to ask, but he had to, "Was it Angel?"

"No, Willow never saw this one before. He was big. Knocked Oz right out, then he must have carried him away or something," she told him.

"How’s Willow holding up?" he asked.

"She’s been crying all night. We were really hoping you had heard from him," she said wearily.

"No I haven’t. Hold on," he said as a thought came to him, "the theater’s right around the block from here, I can help look for him if you want."

"That would be great, but I don’t want you going out there alone. It’s not safe," she said. Now she was trying not to cry, because she, too, had hoped Xander knew something, because he did only live two blocks from the spot Oz vanished from.

"Don’t worry about me. I’ll be ok. I check around here, you guys go check wherever it is these guys go," he replied. He looked at Cordy and motioned to her that they were about to go out.

"Well, I wish I knew where that was," she said. "Beep me in 30 minutes at the latest. 411 means you have info for us."

"Gotcha. Good luck. Tell Will I’m on the case," he said with half a smile in his voice, if not on his face.

"OK, beep me in 30. Bye," and then the line went dead.

"Well?" Cordy asked.

"Oz got nabbed by some vamp right around the block. They can’t find him, now we’re gonna try," he told her.

"OK," she said. "Why can’t these things happen on a weekend?"

"Thank you Stephanie, I had a wonderful time," Angelus said as he lay her dead body down behind the bushes at the foot of her driveway. "Now maybe I should go back and check on the little lovebirds."

Angelus turned and headed back in the direction of Xander’s house.

Upon hearing the commotion upstairs, Spike turned his chair to face the cellar steps. He was sick of being stuck in this dank basement in this "house" Angelus had found for them. Now he heard an unfamiliar male’s voice coming from upstairs.

"Are you sure this is where you want to go?" the voice asked.

"Why yes, this is my special place," a much more familiar voice replied. "Come I want to show you something."

"What?" the man asked.

"And spoil the surprise? I think you’ll be very interested." She walked him to the basement door.

"Down here?" he asked, now sounding a bit nervous.

"Oh, is my precious frightened? You don’t have to be frightened of me," she said and pushed him down the stairs onto the basement floor.

"You might want to be frightened of me though," Spike said, in game face.

"What the hell...?" the visitor started to say.

"Hell is a good word," Spike said to the 20-something man. "Nice catch, Dru."

"Anything for you, Spike," Dru said, now also in game face.

"I’m hungry Dru, can you fetch me my dinner?" Spike asked with a leer.

"It’ll be a lovely feast, Spike," she replied and nearly danced over to the victim.

"Here’s your dinner, just the way you like it," Dru said. "Bloody." After she handed Spike his dinner, she licked the blood off of her hand. "I’m sorry he’s bleeding so much, I didn’t throw it that hard."

Spike, already feeding, "I think there should be plenty in this one. You’re too good to me."

"I like taking care of you for a change," Dru said and sat down to watch her lover feed.

Xander and Cordelia were sneaking around his next door neighbors yard, trying to make sure no one saw them. Xander was pretty sure the curfew was only in effect for children 15 and younger, but he wasn’t taking any chances, especially with a stake in one hand and a rather large cross in the other. Cordelia was right behind him, holding the same things. She was trying very hard not to step into anything that might mess up her shoes.

"What’s wrong with you?" she asked, annoyed by him stopping short.

"Did you hear that?" he asked back.

"What?" she replied.

"I don’t know," was Xander’s explanation. And that was not good enough for Cordy.

"OK, can we go know?" she asked, fear crawling through her voice.

"Well, I have to see what the heck that is," Xander replied. He grabbed her hand with the hand he held his cross in. "Come on. Don’t worry. We’re ready." He tried to reassure her.

"I think I can see something in that bush," Xander said, and started to cross the street, but Cordy wasn’t moving.

"I don’t know," she started to say.

"If that is Oz, and he’s hurt, we have to get moving right now. If he’s a vampire now, we still have to get moving," Xander said, pulling her again. This time she followed.

"That’s got to be him," Xander said, and got ready to pull him out.

"Wow, he has tiny feet," Cordy said.

Xander ignored that comment and slid Oz out. His neck was ripped open and covered with blood, but he was apparently still alive. "Go get you car," Xander instructed Cordy.

She just stood there in shock, staring at Oz’s neck. Imagining that could have been her or Xander. ‘Ouch,’ she thought to herself.

"Go!" he repeated, more firmly.

She snapped back to the world and ran to get her car. She didn’t even think about the car’s upholstery until they were putting him in the back. "I hope this doesn’t stain the seats."

"Nice priorities," he said.

"What if he becomes a vampire? He’s been bitten." She said as she was about to get in the car herself.

"Oh, I think this should take care of that," he said and put both of their crosses on top of Oz’s chest. "We’ve got to call Buffy and get to the hospital"

"We can call from the theater," she said.

"Now what?" Angelus said looking into Xander’s window and seeing nothing but an empty bed. "This is just not my night."

Angelus hopped down from the ledge and decided that it was time to head home. "At least I got something to eat."

"Get to a phone!" Willow shouted out.

Giles drove around a couple of blocks then finally found a pay phone and pulled over. "Xander’s probably checking in. It been almost a half hour," he said.

"When was the last time that Xander was early that didn’t include half naked women or food?" Willow replied.

"Good point," Buffy said.

When Buffy got out, she turned to Willow, who was almost out. "You should stay here. I want to get the whole story from him first. Who knows what he is going to say."

"But I want to go," Willow whimpered.

"I’ll be right back," she insisted.

"Willow, Buffy has a point. Stay here with me until she is done," Giles said, motioning to the front seat.

"That’s a good girl," Buffy said from outside the window, then ran off to call Xander.

Willow tried to close her eyes so she wouldn’t see Buffy’s reactions to the call, but all she saw was the vampire attacking Oz, and her eyes flew back open.

Giles attempted to comfort Willow. "Oz should be just fine. Vampires are not known for shooting people with silver bullets. Other than that, there really isn’t anyway to hurt him."

"But he can get hurt though. He still feels pain," she replied. "I pinched him the other day, and it hurt."

"The important thing is that he turns into a werewolf tomorrow. After that, any cuts, bruises or anything else that happened to him since his last change will be gone. He will be Oz all over again, as if nothing happened." Giles said, knowing that nothing he could say would help until they found him.

"That’s a good girl," Buffy said to Willow on the other side of the window, then ran off to call Xander. She reached the phone threw in some change then dialed the number. She hoped that this wasn’t a wrong number because she didn’t recognize it.

The phone rang once. "Buff, we’ve got him, but it’s not pretty," she heard Xander say over the phone.

"What happened?" she said not knowing whether to be excited or concerned.

"A vampire got him. He’s in the back of Cordy’s car. We’ve got crosses on him just in case, but his neck is a mess. He’s still alive though, but he sounds really bad. Should we take him to a hospital?" Xander asked.

"I don’t know," she replied. "They’ll want him to stay there, and if he changes there that would be bad."

"But he’s bleeding. What does Giles think?" he asked.

"Hold on, let me find out," she said. Buffy let the phone hang and ran back to the car.

"Um, could you come out here for a second?" she asked as quietly as she could.

"OK," he said and started to get out.

"Wait! What’s going on!" Willow yelled out.

"I don’t know. I’ll be right back," Giles said, trying his best to sound comforting. Though he was quite concerned because of Buffy’s actions.

"They found him, but he was bitten, and he is not looking good," Buffy explained to him after he got out of the car. "He wants to know if he should take him to the hospital."

"He’s that bad?," Giles mumbled more to himself that to Buffy. "No, no hospital. They can’t help him there. Tell them to take him to my place. We can take care of him. Whatever is wrong with him will be cured when he changes tomorrow night. Go tell them," he instructed.

She grabbed the phone, "Xander, take him to Giles’ place. We’ll be right there."

"OK. See you there," he replied then she heard the phone click off.

"Let’s go," she said. She could tell that Giles had told Willow what had happened. She seemed almost in a state of shock, but she wasn’t crying. Or talking or anything. That made Buffy nervous, but she was more worried about what would happen at Giles’ house.

"OK," Giles responded and drove home.

"Well, I don’t think she is going to just invite me into her house. Besides, there were some other things going on tonight. I did find myself a tasty little snack though," Angelus replied.

"It’s OK, Angel. I know you’ll find a...Ewww. It’s dirty. Something dirty is in our home!" Dru exclaimed.

"What’s wrong now, Dru? This whole place is filthy," Spike said, shooting a glare at Angelus during that second sentence.

"It’s dirty! Get it out. It’s unclean!" Dru demanded.

"She wants you to leave, I recommend immediately," Spike said to him.

"What did I do?" the vampire replied.

"You bit him, didn’t you?" Angelus said, then added to no-one, "What an idiot." He turned to Spike and Dru, who was practically hiding behind the wheelchair, "He bit a werewolf." Turning back to the vampire, "Who made you anyway?"

"Angel, make it go away," Dru asked.

"You better find a new place to stay. And if you happen to survive the next night, I hope you realize what else you have done," Angelus spoke.

The new vampire turned to leave, "What else did I do?"

"That boy is the Slayer’s best friend’s boyfriend. If you don’t kill yourself first, she’ll gladly do it for you. And let me tell you, you don’t stand a chance. Look at him," Angelus explained, pointing to Spike.

"Now, I thought I asked you to leave already," Spike seethed.

"I warned him," Angel said.

"It’s gone from our home," Druscilla said, and visibly relaxed.

Giles, Buffy and Willow had just gotten inside of Giles’ apartment when Xander and Cordelia arrived. There was no mistaking that she was driving. Giles threw a plastic tarp over his couch and set it up for Oz to lay on. A moment later, Xander came through the door carrying Oz, his shirt wrapped around Oz’s neck to absorb what blood was left. Oz was out, but still alive. Cordelia came in right behind Xander and closed the door.

"My God, Oz!" Willow cried.

"Buffy get me a pot of warm water." Giles asked. "Willow, I’m not very good at this. Do you think you can do the stitching?"

"I don’t know. I know how, but I’m shaking too much," Willow replied.

"You have to do it. Only you can do it. It will help him greatly. He’ll be ok either way, but if you stitch him up right, he’ll recover sooner," Giles explained.

"Giles, I don’t know," Willow said. Still looking at the shirt with the red stain wrapped around Oz’ neck.

"Will, I know you can do it. Remember the time you stitched my arm when I fell off the swings a few years ago?" Xander said, "I don’t even have a scar now." He sat down behind her and massaged her shoulders. "You’ll feel better if you do it, and you can do it." He kissed her on the back of the head.

Buffy was keep a close eye on Cordy to make sure she didn’t start to say anything that would blow what Xander was trying to do for Willow.

"Are you ready?" Giles asked Willow.

"OK," she said meekly.

Giles unwrapped the shirt from Oz’ neck. Willow immediately cringed. Giles wet one of the rags in the kit and wiped his neck down. The wound was not as bad as it had appeared under the bush. Just two small but slightly jagged holes.

Xander stepped up his massage as he felt Willow tighten back up again. She had seen those holes many times now, but just never on Oz. She had to look into the first aid kit to find the right tools, if only to look away from that neck. "Xander, you can stop now, I have to be still when I do this," she said.

Willow began to fix Oz with Giles’ help.

"Good job, Xander," Buffy whispered.

"Thanks," he replied.

"Why don’t you give me massages like that?" Cordy asked.

"When we’re together, I’m usually the one who gets tense," he replied.

"Guys," Buffy said, and motioned for them to go to the kitchen. She didn’t want them to fight in there, and she really didn’t want to watch what Willow and Giles were doing.

"OK," Xander said, and motioned for Cordy to follow Buffy into the kitchen. As she got in front of him, he started massaging her shoulders.

About thirty minutes later, Giles walked into the kitchen to wash his hands and let the others know what had happened. "We’re done."

"Great. How did she do?" Buffy asked, half asleep in one chair. Xander was also half asleep in a kitchen chair with a sleeping Cordelia sitting in his lap.

"She did an excellent job. I may never go to a hospital again," he replied, honestly. "She’s sitting with Oz now."

"Oh, hey," Xander said. "Her mom called my house right before I beeped Buffy. She’s got to be going crazy by now. She better call home."

"Oh, yes, good point," Giles said.

"What should she say?" Buffy asked.

"Well, she hadn’t called you yet, so I said I would do that. I said it was possible that they might have gone over to your place after the movie," Xander said.

"OK, but that was almost two hours ago. How do we explain that?" Buffy said.

"I don’t know," was Xander’s only answer. "Giles?"

"I’m not sure what to say either," Giles said, looking down. If things weren’t bad enough for Willow already, she would have to go home to a worried mother and father. He went over and washed his hands.

"What’s wrong?" Willow asked as she entered. Wanting to wash her hands as well. She finally felt better about Oz. She did a textbook perfect job on his wound, and she knew it. He would be OK.

"You have to call your mom and let her know you are alright. She’s been worried about you all night.," Xander said. "But we don’t know what to say."

"That’s OK," Willow replied, and walked to the sink and washed her hands. "I’ll take care of it," she said in an almost monotone caused by stress and fatigue. She was normally long asleep by now. She dried her hands and went to the phone.

"What are you going to say?" Cordelia asked, finally awake after all the commotion in the room.

"Who cares," was her reply.

"Hi, mom," she spoke into the receiver. "I’m fine. I’m at Oz’ and everything is OK. We went out for some food after the movie then went up the hill to eat it, and we fell asleep. I’ll be home soon. I’m sorry, I would have called.....Nothing happened, we just fell asleep, I’ll be home very soon, bye. I love you." She then hung up the phone.

"I have to go home now," Willow said.

"We’ll take you home," Xander said.

"What about the van?" Cordelia asked.

"Oh, well, we can all get into Cordelia’s car, go get Oz’ van, Giles can drive Willow home in it and bring it back here. Then we can drop off Buffy," Xander said.

"That’s actually a good plan, if we can all fit in her car," Buffy said.

"We’ll fit," Xander said.

"I don’t see what the big deal is. He’s just a kid," The vampire said to himself as he walked down the street. "And even if he is a werewolf, big deal."

"I think they were just trying to make fun of me. I hate being the new guy. They think they are so tough. I’ll show them who is tough. Just you wait."

"Just wait, I’ll show you all," he said as he dropped down into the hole. "I’m not scared of the Slayer. He’ll I’m bigger than the two of those guys put together." He replaced the cover and walked through the sewers ‘til daybreak.

"Who was that anyway, and what is this about him biting a werewolf?" Spike asked.

"He’s just a baby," Dru said. "Not three weeks old. He won’t last four."

"He’s not very smart either. Remember Oz, the guy with Willow? Well, it turns out he’s a werewolf. I ran into him one night. Well, this idiot decides he wants to have him for dinner." Angelus half laughs and shrugs his shoulders. "I found them before he fed and told him what would happen to him. But he ate anyway."

"What will happen?" Spike asked.

"All kinds of things can happen," Dru said. "He will change with tomorrow’s beautiful moon, and he cannot be killed then without a silver bullet. But you can still stake the vampire in him. He would last ‘til he changed back."

"If he decides to come out of the sun to sleep, that is." Angelus added.

"And if you do shoot him with a silver bullet?" Spike asked.

"Then he’ll just be a vampire again," Angelus said.

"He could live a very long life and be very powerful, but this one won’t," Dru spoke with a far off look in her eye. "He doesn’t have what it takes."

"Brains are usually helpful," Spike said with a chuckle.

"Yes, among other things," Dru replied with a smile.

Buffy was sitting on the steps in front of the school waiting for everyone else to arrive. Giles hadn’t even gotten to school yet, which was a shock, but she figured he was taking care of Oz. Then she heard the familiar sound of that thing Giles called his car. She was also surprised when Willow’s bus came and went without Willow. But she understood why Willow wouldn’t want to go to school that day.

Giles jogged across the street towards Buffy. He felt it was the safest thing to do, seeing Cordelia’s car coming up the road. As he neared her he said, "How are you feeling today?"

"I’m fine, you look a bit tired though," she replied.

"Yes, well, I was checking on Oz periodically throughout the night and morning to see how his condition was progressing, and I’m happy to say that, although he is still unconscious, he is breathing normally again. He appears to be improving slightly by the hour." Giles, said with a smile.

"That’s good to hear," Buffy said.

"We will have to get him back home tonight so he can be prepared for the change," he said. "The change will come regardless of his current condition. At which time, he will heal extremely quickly."

Xander and Cordelia walked up together then. Xander looked nearly comatose. "Hey, I forgot this last night, did anyone call Oz’ parents?" he asked.

"Oops," Buffy replied.

"Oh, Willow called a little after I got back home to tell me she had called his mother for him, and that everything was OK there. She hasn’t arrived to school yet?" Giles asked.

"I haven’t seen her, and she wasn’t on her bus," Buffy said.

"I’d hate to have been in that house last night," Xander said with a great yawn.

"Xander, did you actually go to sleep when you got back home?" Buffy asked.

"Yeah, but I had to get up a few hours early," he gave Cordelia a slightly miffed look while saying that.

Before either Buffy or Cordelia could respond to that look, they were all distracted by the sound of Willow’s voice. She was getting out of her mother’s car, and it was clear that her mother was yelling at her, but you couldn’t tell what she was saying. Nor could you figure out Willow’s replies. Willow shut the door and walked towards the rest of the group.

They all greeted her with hello’s, hey’s, and good mornings.

"Oz is getting better by the hour. You were magnificent last night," Giles said to her.

"That’s good to hear," she replied, sounding just about as bad as she did last night.

"How did things go at home?" Buffy asked as the first bell rang.

"We should go to class now," Willow said, and walked towards the school quickly.

Buffy stood still for a second. "That well, huh?" she said, mostly to herself. She then started walking after Willow, and the rest followed her.

Oz now lay in Giles’ bed. He was still out from a lack of blood but his spleen had been working overtime, and he was almost at a stable level again. The werewolf blood protected both his life and his mind. It was now able to keep his mind in a sluggish but active state. His eyelids flickered as he dreamt of his encounter with the vampire over and over, along with nightmares of his nights as a werewolf. For the moment, it was a nightmare he could not wake from.

On her way to lunch, Buffy stopped into the library. "Giles?" she called out as she entered. She looked around as she walked in. It appeared empty, but it usually did until Giles would pop out of his office or from behind the stacks. "Giles, are you here?" she asked again.

"Wow, he even used small words," she remarked and headed off to meet Willow and Xander for lunch.

"You really don’t want to wear that do you?" she asked.

"What’s wrong with this shirt, you picked it out for me," Xander said, opening his eyes.

"Um, no I didn’t, and I meant your lunch," Buffy clarified. Really wondering what was going on in Xander’s world last night.

Xander realized two things when he opened his eyes. That wasn’t Cordelia talking, and his face was about an inch and a half from his potatoes. He sat up quickly. "I so need sleep."

"So I see," Buffy said with a smirk as she sat down. "So what exactly did you do last night, hmmm? Inquiring minds want to know?" Her smile was getting bigger, as she watched him squirm. She looked over at Cordelia who was fast asleep on her arms on the other side of the table. "Maybe I’ll just ask her."

"I wasn’t doing anything last night. We hung out and ate ice-cream then she left and I went to bed. Then you called and I got her to come over and we found Oz. I couldn’t fall back asleep, and I guess she couldn’t either," he smiled thinking that came out well.

"It sounds like a story, but it smells like something else," she replied, still smiling.

"Nothing really happened," he said.

"Hey," Cordelia said, woken by Willow’s books.

"Hi guys," Willow said.

Buffy decided it would be a good idea to drop razzing Xander with Willow around. "You feeling OK, Willow?"

"Yeah, I’m just tired. I didn’t get much sleep last night," she said.

"None of us did," Buffy said. "Do you want to talk about what happened with your mom?"

"Not really," Willow replied.

"Do you want to help me with my math later," Xander said, trying to keep the subject away from his lack of sleep. He had been awake since Cordelia kicked him out of bed when his alarm went off at 5:30 that morning. He could practically fall asleep standing up at this point. Anything to keep Buffy from bugging him about his sleep was good.

"I can’t after school," Willow said.

"Why not?" he asked.

"Mom’s picking me up after school today and tomorrow. I’m grounded, and I’m not allowed to see Oz," she said, and looked like she was going to cry.

"Being grounded never stopped me from seeing my boyfriends before," Cordy said.

"Too bad we can’t tell her the truth. It’s not your fault, or his," Buffy said.

"I know. I don’t really want to talk about it anymore," she said and wiped a tear from her eye.

"Well, just so you know, Giles went home to check on Oz," Buffy said.

"I just read the note. I have to go work on my lesson plan for my class," Willow said as she stood up.

"I thought you had that done for the next few weeks?" Xander asked.

"I do, but I need to fix it a bit," she said and grabbed her books to leave. "Bye."

"Bye," the three responded.

"Now I know why she is still so upset. Her mom will get over it, though," Buffy said.

"Her parents are pretty strict, Buffy. Why do you think she is the way she is?" Xander said. "They are tough on her. I don’t think her mom will want her dating anyone again for a year."

"God, where to they find these parents?" Cordy said.

"Somewhere other than your house. You know, in the real world," Xander said, and the bell rang to end lunch.

Willow sat down in the empty computer classroom and cried in full force for the first time since before she left Giles’ house. Once again she cried about Oz, but now it was for a very different reason.

"Why don’t we go to watch the fireworks at night anymore, Spike?" Dru asked.

"Because there are no fireworks at night, Dru. Not ‘til July," Spike said, annoyed by her patter. Sometimes he felt he could really do without her, if it weren’t for her gift. He always wondered what it would be like to have her visions, but he was quite comfortable with his sanity. But he knew there was more to their relationship than that. She needed him, and he needed her.

"I can show you fireworks," Angelus said as he walked up behind her and put his arms around her. "Just like I used to. Spike, you’ve got to learn how to treat a lady," Angelus grinned.

"I remember, Angel," she purred.

"Well, rocket man, you went another night without killing anyone important. As soon as I’m better, I’m going to kill them all for you," Spike said, barely hiding his resentment of Angelus’ power over Dru.

"No chance. Even if I haven’t killed them by then, you don’t stand a chance against her. Funny how all I’ve ever gotten was a few bumps and bruises, and you’re in a wheelchair. Add it all up, and we would have one less vampire, if you were to face her," Angelus said.

"If you don’t get serious about her soon, there will be quite a few more gone. And maybe not all by her hand," Spike said.

"Is that a threat, Spike? You aren’t exactly in any position to threaten me," Angelus said, no longer grinning.

"No threat, just ‘adding it up’ as you said," Spike said, this time he was the one grinning. "If you keep playing things this way, you will hurt her more, but it won’t make it any easier to kill her. Slaying vampires is her job. With you, it’s personal, and that is much more dangerous for you."

"I’ll see you eat those words," Angelus growled.

"Happily," Spike replied, staring right back at Angelus from his chair.

"Hey Giles, how’s Oz?" Xander asked as he entered the library.

"He’s coming along as best as can be expected," Giles replied. "Hello, everyone," he said to Buffy and Cordelia as well.

"And that is?" Buffy asked.

"Breathing, stable, but still unconscious," Giles clarified.

"Willow will be here in a minute, I passed her in the hall," Cordelia said. "She had to get something from her classroom."

"I’m glad I don’t have her class. I can’t imagine saying, ‘Yes, Miss Rosenberg.’ It just feels weird. I feel like I’m talking to her mom," Xander said.

"How is she doing at that?" Buffy asked.

"Quite well, actually. Most of the faculty are greatly impressed by her. She is a fine teacher," Giles said with a proud smile.

"Can you say Watcher candidate?" Cordelia said.

"Well generally that is passed down from parent to child," Giles pointed out.

"Of which you have none," Buffy also pointed out. "You don’t, right?"

"No, I don’t," he said.

"Just checking," Buffy smirked.

"Well we’ve talked about that, and she wasn’t really interested," Xander said.

"I wasn’t interested in what," Willow asked as she walked towards the table.

"Watching," Cordelia said.

"Watching what?" Willow said, still confused.

"Being a watcher," Xander added. "You said you didn’t want to do it."

"Oh, OK, right," she replied.

"Well, I guess it is time to get him home. Will, you know where Oz goes during the full moon?" Buffy asked.

"He locks himself up in his basement," Willow said.

"OK, then if everyone is ready, we should lock him up," Buffy said.

"Lead the way, Giles," Xander said, and they all walked out of the library together.

Giles then led the way over to Oz’ house, praying the whole time that Willow was right and that Oz’ parents would not be home. He let out a sigh of relief as he pulled into the empty driveway. Now he just had to hope that the house was as empty as the driveway.

Xander came up to the van to help bring Oz inside. Willow took the keys this time. She was able to open the door with the second key she tried. She led Giles and Xander to Oz’ basement.

"Are we sure he just became a werewolf?" Xander asked after looking around the room.

"Yes, we are sure," Willow replied.

Xander walked over to the fence and grabbed it. He attempted to shake it, but it didn’t move. He looked back at Giles and Buffy, "What do you think?"

Giles and Buffy both walked over and also tested the fence. It didn’t budge, even with Buffy trying to move it. "This is good. They did that fast," Buffy said.

"Oz and his dad did it all actually. His dad is a contractor and builds stuff all the time," Willow explained. "I helped with the windows," she said with a faint smile.

Giles walked to the gate, but that was bolted shut. "Do you know which key opens this gate?"

"No, but it’s got to be one of these," Willow replied and brought the keys over to him. She then returned to her spot beside Oz on the couch.

"Thank you," he said. Giles searched throughout the surprisingly large set of keys and found a key that looked like it might do it. It worked. While searching for that key, he was pretty sure he figured out which keys worked the manacles. He entered and tried those keys on the cuffs, and once again, he chose the right ones. He just had to figure out which key worked with which manacle. Feeling comfortable he knew which key opened and locked what, Giles left the cage and headed towards Oz and Willow. "Xander, we can put him in the cage and lie him on the mattress. We can attach the manacles there."

"We can do that," Xander said and helped Giles carry him into the cage and placed him down on the mattress.

While the men were moving Oz around, Buffy went over and picked up the manacles. They were extremely heavy. Heavy enough that she was glad she grabbed them, and not Giles. No sense giving him a hernia. "Here you go," she said to them.

"Thank you, Buffy," Giles said.

As Giles started putting on the cuffs, Xander said, "You have the right to remain silent..." but he was cut off by an obviously fake cough. Giles was staring at him sternly, and Xander remained silent instead.

In a few moments, Oz was thoroughly shackled. "This basement cell should hold him quite adequately," Giles noted. "The days are getting longer, and it’s still about three and a half hours ‘til dusk. Then he will begin his change. He should be healthy within an hour or two afterwards."

"I guess we should go then," Cordelia said.

"You guys can go, I’m staying here," Willow said.

"What about your mom?" Buffy asked.

"I thought she was supposed to pick you up from school," Cordelia added.

"She’ll get over it, and she is probably still there for all I know," Willow said with that same weird tone she had when she called her mom last night.

"Yeah, she’ll get over it when you’re fifty," Xander said with a mixture of concern for her, and jealousy of him.

"I insist that you call her," Giles said firmly. "I’ll head back to the school to make sure she isn’t still there."

"I’m going to call your mother in a half hour, so you better call her when we leave here," Buffy said.

"OK, I’ll call her. You better go. His mom could come back at anytime," Willow instructed. "I’ll be OK here alone. Really."

"Are you sure?" Giles asked.

"Yes, I just want to be there when he comes to, even if it’s after the change," Willow said convincingly.

"OK, but I want you out of the cage, with the doors shut and locked before he goes though the change tonight," Giles demanded.

"Yes, I’ll do all of that," Willow promised.

And on that note, the rest of the gang headed up Oz’ basement stairs.

"I can’t believe I have to wait another 3 hours for darkness," the vampire who attacked Oz mumbled to himself. "I have to sit in this...muck for another few hours while those others get to sit in the basement of that old mansion. I’ll be with them soon enough." He continued to think out loud for a little while, but nothing seemed as coherent as that though. "Soon enough."

Willow’s eyes were still moist from her talk with her mother. She hung up fifteen minutes ago, but the conversation kept playing through her mind, making it seem like it just happened a minute ago. She had called her mother a few minutes after everyone left the house. That was over an hour ago. She had hoped that she really had convinced her mother that she was both mature and responsible enough to take care of herself. She only had to mention that Principal Snyder trusted her enough to let her teach the computer class about eight times. And she knew that she was probably breaking a few laws by doing that without a teacher’s certificate. Not even anything saying she was legal to substitute teach. But she was teaching the class, and she could see that the other students were learning.

She reminded her mother that her grades were still all A’s. She reminded her mother of how she turned down the computer company’s offer to work for them straight out of high school, and that she was going to go to college first. She told her she might even try to really become a teacher. But mostly, she reminded her mother how this was the first time that she had disobeyed her this way, and that it was because Oz was sick, and she wanted to be with him. She told her mother how important he was to her. She also told her mother that nothing happened between the two of them the night she came home late. She said she wasn’t ready for that. And she really wasn’t. They both cried many times. She told her mother that she loved her, and always would. And that she didn’t like disobeying her, but that she should be trusted enough not to be kept away from Oz.

She was sitting on the mattress next to Oz. He hadn’t moved once during that whole conversation, but she could hear him breathing now that she had calmed back down. Now she knew all she could do was wait. Wait until his parents came home. If they arrived before dark, she would tell them he was hurt but would be OK. If not, she would call Buffy for a ride. So she waited. Waited until darkness. Until the first night of the moon. Until Oz would wake again.

"It’s almost dark," Buffy said.

"Yes, we should pack for tonight’s patrol," Giles said.

"What should we do?" Cordelia asked.

"I would recommend heading home and staying indoors until the morning," Giles said. "If you leave now, you might make it home while it is still safe."

"In that case, we’ll see you both later," Xander said as he stood from the library table to leave. "You guys watch yourselves out there," he added, moving his index finger back and forth from Buffy to Giles and back. "Let’s go, Cordy."

"Cemetery or the park?" Buffy asked.

"The cemetery first. We can see if there are any new graves to watch out for," Giles said, putting the last few stakes in his bag.

"Actually, we should then head to the hill. What about the vamp that bit Oz?" She said.

"Yes, I almost forgot about him," Giles said and got a weird look from Buffy. "Well, in taking care of Oz, I hadn’t given too much thought to what had done it to him, just that he was injured."

"Oh," she said. "Will it become a werewolf?"

"Possibly. There isn’t much written about that, but I’ll pack the rifle as well just incase," Giles said. "If we see it, we can sedate it and see if we can pen it up until sunlight."

"Why don’t we just shoot it if we see it?" she asked.

"Well, this way we will know for sure that the werewolf is indeed a vampire and not another person," he explained. "Besides, I have no silver bullets." He headed into his office to get the rifle.

"You still have the extra darts from the last time?" she asked.

"Yes, you can never be too prepared," he said from his office. He came out with the rifle and darts a moment later.

"Lets roll," Buffy said and grabbed one of the bags of equipment. They walked out of the library together. Giles flicked off the lights on the way out, leaving the room in almost complete darkness. The sun had just gone under the horizon.

"Oh no, the sun just set," Cordelia said breaking off her kiss.

"Whatever," Xander said and went to kiss her again. They had been making out in Cordy’s car in front of his house for a few minutes and had forgotten how close it was to sunset.

"I have to go home once I drop you off," Cordelia said. "It’ll be dark, and I’ll be alone."

"Well, you can stay a while longer here," Xander offered with a mischievous grin.

She smiled right back at him, "But I’ll have to go home sooner or later. And I’ll be alone then. And you can’t stay at my house."

"Well, in that case, when you get out of your car, keep your cross and holy water handy. Anything jumps out at you, shove the cross in it’s face," Xander instructed.

"OK, I’ll do that. But first, I let me do this," and she kissed him again.

Xander finally got out of the car about twenty-five minutes later. Cordelia didn’t leave until he was safely in his house.

The werewolf stood and ran down the sewer trying to find a way out. After a few minutes of searching, it smelled fresh air and made it’s escape from the sewers.

Shortly before dusk, Willow had left Oz’ cage and locked the door. She now sat on the couch across from it. She held on to his guitar, since that was the closest thing to him. His parents still hadn’t come home. She had overheard a call home from his mother saying that his father had shown up at her office and was taking her out for dinner and that they wouldn’t be home until late. She figured she could always call Buffy for a ride home if she had to.

A noise from inside the cage snapped her out of her thoughts. He had moved slightly, causing the chain to rattle. At least she had seen him change once so she wouldn’t be as shocked when it happened. Just then, it started.

Other than a few moans though, it wasn’t very spectacular to watch. His body started to change and he only slid around as much as the new shape of his body demanded. She was nervous when the clothes ripped apart then mostly fell off his body. But by the time any of his body was naked, he had changed enough to not look human anymore. Even as a werewolf, he was still unconscious. But Giles had said that he wouldn’t get better until after the change. And he did moan. That was new.

She put the guitar back where she got it from and walked over to the gate of the cage. She made sure it was locked. She stood there for a while before returning to her seat. She looked at her watch, suddenly wanting him to get better quickly, just so she could go home. She hated disobeying her mother. But she wouldn’t leave until he was awake again. However long that would take.

"Ewe!!" Druscilla exclaimed.

"What’s wrong now, Dru?" Spike asked. He suddenly lost the peace that came when Angelus went out for the evening.

"The unclean thing is near. It wants to feed. It’s dirty," Druscilla whimpered.

"Come on now, Angel left almost twenty minutes ago. He isn’t near by now, I should hope," Spike said.

"No, Angel is meeting his date. She is a pretty one," Dru said, looking off into space briefly before looking disgusted again. "It’s outside, and it’s dirty. Make it go away, Spike."

"Are you talking about that idiot that came in here the other night? The git who bit the werewolf?" he asked.

"It’s dirty and it’s close," she replied.

"Well, if it’s dumb enough to come down here, we’ll take care of it, Dru," he said with a smile.

"You will, Spike?" she asked.

"For you I will, pet. For you I will," he said.

"Aww, Spike. That’s so sweet," she said as she crossed over to him. She stopped right in front of him and smiled. "It’s going away. Yeee!" she called out and spun down into his lap.

As if the chair itself wasn’t uncomfortable enough, he thought to himself. But he was happy to see her happy again, and she was acting like she was his again, and not Angel’s. Well, that problem would be solved soon enough, he thought. "Yes, it’s going away. Very good." He kissed her on the forehead and she giggled.

"The unclean thing went to get dirty somewhere else," she said and kissed him back.

"Long time no see," Angelus said as he stepped out from behind a bush in front of her house.

"Angel," she tried to scream but the sound barely came out.

"I’ve been looking for you for a while. Now that Buffy and I are no longer a thing, I was wondering if you might be interested. Or after last night, would Xander have gotten there before me for a change," he said and slowly walked towards her with a grin on his face.

"You were at Xander’s last night?" she said, more scared than before, and she also suddenly felt extremely vulnerable. She forgot she was holding the cross and water.

"I always like window seats. Such a lovely view," he winked.

"What happened to the girl who kept throwing herself on me?" he asked.

"That was then, this is now. It makes me sick to think I found you attractive," she said.

"What do you think now?" Angelus asked as he slipped into his game face.

"I think you should die," she said and raised the gun.

"You’re a bit late, I’m already dead. Now it’s your turn," Angelus said and was about to lunge towards her.

A growl and some movement caught their attention. The werewolf stood at the back of Cordelia’s car.

"I warned him," Angelus shook his head as he said that.

"Oh, go fight your own demon," Cordelia yelled out at the werewolf.

For once, being rich, for Sunnydale, hurt Cordelia instead of helping her. She screamed, but no one heard her. Her parents weren’t home, and her house was secluded enough from her neighbors that they either didn’t hear it, or dismissed the scream. She had dropped everything when she got knocked to the ground. She couldn’t see the cross, but the gun was right next to her. She grabbed that and tried to get back to her feet, but was knocked back the other way by the werewolf.

"Buffy told me what she did to you in the mall," Cordelia said.

"Oh yeah," he paused for a second. She couldn’t knee him from the position he was holding her in.

"How does this feel?" she said and unloaded the water pistol into his crotch, soaking his jeans.

"Now that’s gonna leave a mark," she said then burst out crying. She just realized that she almost died. Everything hit her at once just how close she came to death. But even though she was crying and her body didn’t want to move, she searched frantically for her keys. She found them and got in her house a fast as she could.

Willow was brought out of her daze by the sound of the chains moving again. But this time, it wasn’t because he was changing. He was actually starting to move. She had gotten into such a trance listening to his breathing that she didn’t even realize that she had been standing until she sat down on the couch in partial relief.

Angelus ran through Cordelia’s back yard, and along the backs of her neighbor’s house. Well, he did his best to run. It took him a minute to get the screaming taken care of. Four houses down, she made a sharp right and saw what he was looking for. At two feet out, he just dived forward into the creek. After a few minutes, he had rinsed off his wounds sufficiently. It still hurt like hell, but at least it wasn’t still continuing to burn him. He decided to just lie there for a while in the water. In his condition, there wasn’t much else he could do, and he really wasn’t looking forward to having to deal with Spike when he went back home. He swam down stream a few feet to where a log was lying half in the water and leaned back on it to keep his head out of water. The cold water running over his wound was really starting to feel good.

"Perfect time for a study break," Xander said as he closed the Science book he had been reading for the last three minutes. He reached over and picked up the phone.

"Hello," he said.

"Xander, oh God!" Cordelia cried into the phone.

"Cordy, what’s wrong? Are you OK?" Xander spun into a sitting position on his bed. He didn’t even notice that he knocked his book to the floor as he did so.

"No! Well, yes, but no," she said. She was so scared still that she really had no idea what she was even saying. She just had to talk to Xander.

"What? Was Angel there?" Xander asked.

"Yes! Both of them. They’re gone. I shot them with the gun. I can’t handle this anymore. No more vampires, werewolves, anything," she paused. "I just can’t do it, Xander."

"OK, but are you hurt. I need to know that you aren’t hurt," he said it, and he meant it.

"A little. But I wasn’t bit," she said, calming down. She was surprised how much better she felt just hearing his voice.

"You said them. Who else was there?" he asked.

"The werewolf," she replied.

"Did you get scratched?" he thought, really hoping she would say no. The thought of Cordelia as a werewolf really scared him.

"My leg and my elbow are scratched up," she said. "I’m scared, Xander. I almost died!" She began crying again. His voice wasn’t going to stop this wave of tears.

"Oh God. OK, let me get Giles and Buffy and we’ll be right over. OK?" he was coming even if she said no. "I don’t care how sick your mom is."

"She’s not here. Hurry, OK?" she pleaded.

"I’ll be there as soon as I can. You’re OK, OK? I’ll be right there," he said. He wanted to get Giles and Buffy for a few reasons. To let them know what happened, and just incase she was hurt more than she said. Or if something worse happened.

"OK," she said. She didn’t hang up. She just didn’t want to be away from his voice. She didn’t want to be alone.

"I have to call them now. I’ll be right there," he said and hung up the phone.

He immediately dialed Buffy’s pager number.

"Oh, I was wondering who beeped me," Buffy said after hearing the voice at the other end of the line. "How is he?"

"He’s a werewolf, but he’s OK. He’s moving around and all," Willow replied.

"Great!" Buffy said into the phone. "Oz is fine," she said to Giles.

"Excellent, let’s get back to work," Giles said. Not liking standing around outside in the dark, with the Slayer off her guard.

"How are you holding up?" she asked Willow.

"I’m fine. I’m a lot better now. Um, could you give me a ride home?" Willow asked, not really wanting to bother Buffy.

"No problem, but let me clear it with the boss first," Buffy replied. She was suddenly in a great mood.

"OK, thanks," Willow said, she too was in a better mood now. She could hear Buffy’s happy come back, and that helped her start to get hers back as well.

"Giles, Willow needs a ride back home," Buffy said. "It’ll only take a couple of minutes," she added as Giles started to get his, "But" look on his face. "We’re her only safe ride," she further added.

"OK, we’ll bring Willow home," Giles caved in. "But we must do it quickly, tonight is the first night of the moon."

‘Willow, we’ll be right over," Buffy said.

"Great," Willow said and hung up.

Buffy hung up her end of the line. "Hmm, now who’s beeping me?"

"You’ve got another beep thing?" Giles asked, starting to get flustered because of all the evil walking around somewhere out there. And here is Buffy, talking on the phone. "Can’t that wait?"

"Actually, no. It’s Xander and he used the emergency code again," Buffy lost her happy and picked up the phone to dial Xander. "I hope he doesn’t mind if I call collect."

"Angel attacked Cordelia," Xander announced into the receiver as the phone echoed it’s first ring. "Excuse me? Yes, I’ll except the charges. Thank you. Buffy?"

"What’s wrong Xander?" Buffy asked.

"Cordelia just called me. Angel and the werewolf both just attacked her. She says she’s OK, but she also said that she’s scratched up. She’s really freaked out," he told her.

"Oh my God," she replied.

"What’s wrong?" Giles asked.

"Where is she?" she asked Xander.

"She’s at home. I told her we’d be right over. Can you get me?" Xander asked.

"Yes, we’ll be right there," Buffy answered.

"Great, hurry," Xander said and hung up.

"Where are we going?" Giles asked.

"We’re getting Xander and going to Cordelia’s. Angel paid her a visit. As did the werewolf. He said she got scratched, but otherwise she’s OK," Buffy said.

"Scratched? We must hurry. What about Willow?" he asked.

"I guess we’ll pick her up on the way and fill her in," she replied. They walked off to Giles’ car.

The werewolf ran through the woods. It stopped at some tall grass and rubbed it’s face in it to try to get the pain to go away. It didn’t seem to help much. After a few moments of this, a squirrel ran near the werewolf. It didn’t get very far. In three leaps, it was caught, killed, and then quickly devoured. This also didn’t help the pain in it’s face, but it helped with it’s hunger.

Giles pulled his car into Oz’ driveway to pick Willow up. As Buffy started to get out to go get her, Willow came running out of the door. They met at the front of Giles’ car.

"How is he?" Buffy asked.

"He fine. Well he’s a werewolf, but he’s Ok for a werewolf, I guess. I have to get home," Willow said. She was looking very worried.

"We’ll get you home, but first we have to pick up Xander," Buffy said.

"Xander?" Willow asked as they walked the rest of the way around the car and got in.

"He needs a ride, and his place is on the way back to yours," Buffy said, not lying, but not wanting to add to Willow’s worries. She shut the door and Giles pulled away.

"Oh, OK," Willow replied. The rest of the ride over was silent.

Giles had barely gotten close enough to even see Xander’s house when Xander sprinted out towards them. He ran right around to Buffy’s side of the car, and almost ripped the door out of her hand. Luckily, she was a lot stronger. So instead, his feet slipped and he fell on his back. The three in the car broke out in laughter. Xander got back to his feet and climbed into the back next to Willow.

"Sorry I don’t exactly have much of a sense of humor right now," he said, wiping some grass off of his shirt.

"Xander, what’s wrong?" Willow asked.

"Just a bad day," Buffy tried to answer for him.

"Xander?" she asked again, now sure something bad was up.

"Like she said, just a bad day. How’s Oz?" he said, trying to change the subject.

Giles was driving as quickly as both his car and the law would allow to get to Willow’s house. She didn’t need anymore bad news right now.

"He’s fine," she replied. "Xander, you’re a lousy liar. What’s going on?" This time she looked around the car at everyone.

"OK, first of all, everything is OK. Cordelia is fine, but she got attacked by Angel and the werewolf guy. But she’s OK. I’m just going over there to talk to her," Xander said.

"You’re not just saying that’s she’s OK, are you?" Willow said, almost wishing she had believed his lies, but she just knew him too well. Right now, she thought he was still covering something up, but she wasn’t sure if she really wanted to know anymore.

"She’s just really shaken up, and wants me to come over. We’re just going to make sure that she’s OK. She just didn’t want to be alone," he said, doing his best to be truthful.

"Oh, I don’t blame her for that. I’m sorry. Should I come?" Willow asked.

"I think you should really go home. Your mom is probably going nuts as it is," Xander said, and winced as he realized what he said. "Besides, she thinks only I’m stopping by. I’m not sure how she’ll react to all of us showing up."

"Good point," she replied.

"Willow, here you go," Giles announced and pulled into her driveway.

"OK, thanks so much for the ride. I’ll talk to you all later. Xander, call me and let me know how she is, ok?" Willow asked.

"I will. Good night," Xander waved. "Say hi to your mom for me, OK?"

"OK," Willow said and leaned back in and gave him a hug. She then went around and hugged Buffy. "Thanks."

"No problem," Buffy said. "Night!"

"Thanks for the ride, Giles," Willow said, then walked towards the door.

"No bother, Willow. See you at school. have a good night," Giles said and returned to the car.

"We better get to Cordy’s before she has a heart attack," Xander said.

"Or worse," Giles mumbled and forced the machine into reverse.

Angelus came to shore under the little bridge a block from his home. He dragged himself to his knees, and with the greatest of effort, fought through the pain and stood. Slowly and carefully he walked through the shadows to his home, holding on to what ever he could find to help him on his way. One thought kept running through his mind. "She’s going to die. They’re all going to die." Though he wouldn’t be killing anyone for a few days.

Giles pulled up in front of Cordelia’s house and Xander was out of the car practically before he was done parking.

"Xander!" Buffy yelled to slow him down. Who knows who might still be around out there. Xander ignored her and quickly ran to the door.

"What took you so long?" she asked.

"I had to get a ride," Xander replied.

"Eeeh," Buffy said under her breath.

"Excuse me?" Giles asked.

"Oh, they almost look cute together. That just creeped me out a bit. Sorry," Buffy explained.

"I hadn’t noticed," he said.

"I’m here, everything’s OK. OK?" Xander whispered in her ear.

"Everything’s not OK," Cordy said, still holding him tight. "I’ve gotta get out of this place. There’s too many freaky things here. I want to live somewhere normal, like LA."

"Come on, lets sit down," Xander said, and went to lead her to a sofa, but realized he had never been in her house before and had no idea where to go. "Somewhere," he added.

"Why are they here?" Cordelia asked as Giles and Buffy came in her front door. "I thought they were just dropping you off."

"Hi. Cordelia," Buffy said.

"To see if you were alright," Xander said and turned to face Giles.

"Xander told us that you had been scratched. I wanted to look at your wounds to make sure they weren’t caused by the werewolf," Giles said.

"And to make sure you were OK," Buffy added.

"It didn’t bite me," Cordy said to Giles.

"A werewolf doesn’t always have to bite a victim to infect their blood. Sometimes a simple scratch can be enough," Giles explained.

"What? No," Cordelia was backing away from Xander now, shaking her head back and forth. "I’m not going to be a werewolf. No way!"

"He didn’t say you are going to be a werewolf, he just wants to make sure you wont be," Xander said. "Now, let’s sit down and show him your cuts," Xander added forcefully.

"OK," Cordelia said and went into the kitchen to sit down.

"Way to take charge," Buffy said to Xander.

Xander just shot Buffy a glance that said he wasn’t amused.

"Sorry," Buffy mumbled.

Spike was startled by a bang from upstairs. "Dru, back already?" he called out. He actually hoped she wasn’t back because he was working on his strength.

"Dru, I appreciate you getting me..." Spike began. "I’m sorry, Angel, I didn’t recognize you. You look like hell. I take it the Slayer is fine," Spike said, not even attempting to withhold his grin.

"Shut up, Spike," Angelus said and used the steps to help him stand again.

"Need a hand?" Spike leered. "You’re dripping all over the place. Funny, I didn’t know it was supposed to rain." Spike held back his laughter, but not his grin. He really wished he still had that camcorder. This was certainly a Kodak moment.

"The Slayer had nothing to do with this," Angelus said. "I’ll be in my room," he spoke and began to walk off.

"No? Don’t tell me that girl bested you. My my, my day just keeps getting better. Who needs cable," Spike mused.

Giles removed the horrendous bandage job that Cordelia had done. Actually all he did was remove the safety pin and the bandage just fell off her arm. "Come over to the sink so I can rinse the scratches down," Giles instructed.

Giles pulled her arm out right away. He just wanted to clean off the loose dirt, but he didn’t want to wash away anything that might be in the cuts. He turned off the water and led her back to her seat.

"I’m going to be stuck in long sleeves for a while," Cordelia frowned.

"Maybe a collar," Buffy said without thinking.

"If I’m a werewolf, I’m blaming you, Buffy," Cordelia said.

"What?" Buffy asked.

"Hey, this isn’t her fault," Xander said.

"Well, she got me involved in all of this," Cordy said.

"If you never met me, you’d be dead," Buffy said.

"At least I wouldn’t be a werewolf," Cordy replied.

"Ladies. Cordelia, could you please stop moving your arm?" Giles asked.

"So you’d rather be dead then?" Buffy asked. "Fine." Buffy got up and got ready to leave.

"Buffy, sit down. Cordy, we don’t..." Xander started.

"Fine, go! Leave me alone," Cordy said.

"No problem," Buffy said and turned towards the hallway to the door.

"Stop it, both of you! You are being childish. Cordelia, so far it looks like nothing but a sidewalk scrape, but you are going to have to stop moving if you want me to be sure. Buffy, please sit down," Giles said.

"Guys, chill, OK," Xander added. "OK?"

"OK," Cordelia said.

"OK," Buffy said and sat back down.

"Thank you," Giles said and resumed looking at her scratches. After a few moments Giles moved to examine her knee. He put his hands on either side of the small scratches.

"Hey, watch your hands," Cordy exclaimed.

"Hey," Xander said and stood up.

Cordelia’s comment also grabbed Buffy’s attention.

"Your knee is scratched and I am going to examine it," Giles said firmly. He had a sudden thought, and quickly pushed it out of his mind. No, he didn’t hope for Cordelia to be infected.

"Oh," Xander said and sat down.

"Oh, I forgot about that. And I was going to wear my leather mini tomorrow!" Cordelia frowned.

"That’s too bad. Sorry, Xander," Buffy said, with a slight smile. She saw the look on his face when Cordy mentioned the leather skirt.

"Huh?" was the general reaction from the other three.

"Nothing," Buffy replied.

"No, it appears all of your scratches were caused solely from falling on the driveway. You should go rinse them off again though, there is a little dirt in some of the scratches," Giles said.

"I’m not gonna be scarred, am I?" Cordelia asked with genuine concern on her face.

"You shouldn’t be. None appear to be that deep, though they will be visible for a week or so," Giles told her. "And, also, you won’t be a werewolf either."

"A week? OK, I guess I can deal with that," Cordelia sighed and went to go rinse off.

"So, Cordy, how did you get them to leave anyway?" Buffy asked as Cordelia reached the hallway door.

"Oh, the holy water. I shot the werewolf in the face and Angel somewhere else," Cordy said.

"And where was that," Xander asked.

Cordelia backed up a bit onto the wall next to the hallway she was about to walk into. She was actually looking a little embarrassed, which surprised the other three. "Um, OK, well, after the werewolf left, Angel grabbed me in a bear hug and was about to bite me." She paused.

"Yeah, and?" Xander said.

She gave Xander a look, but continued. "Well I couldn’t move but I still had the gun in my hand and I was stuck like this." Cordelia showed them how she was being held, with her shoulders pulled in and her arms straight down with her hands meeting below her waist. "Then I remembered what you told me you did to him at the mall. So I shot him there, until I was out of water. He dropped me and ran away screaming."

"Good shot," Buffy said almost smiling. Wishing she had seen that, or better yet had done it herself.

"Where did you shoot him?" Xander asked.

"Somewhere private," Buffy added for Cordelia.

"Ouch," Xander said and winced.

"I can see how that would work," Giles stuttered out, trying to mask his discomfort.

Buffy and Cordelia smiled at each other after seeing the men’s reactions to what Cordelia did.

"I’m going to rinse off now," Cordelia said and left the kitchen. She actually felt a little better. That was the first time that Buffy had ever approved of her. Not that she really felt she needed her approval, being a loser and all, but it still felt good. And Xander’s look was priceless. She forgot all about that, and her smile, when the water stung her scratches.

"This bandage should hold. Just change the bandages once a day and clean the scratches. Keep it on when you come to school on Monday. I’ll take a look at it again then, and if everything looks well, you should be able to go without starting then," Giles said as he checked the bandage one last time.

"I’m glad it’s Friday night," Cordelia said.

"I guess we should go now then, huh?" Buffy said.

"Right. Xander, do you need a ride back home?" Giles asked.

Xander glanced to Cordelia quickly and saw the answer in her eyes. "No, I think I’ll stay a little longer. I’ll get a ride later, thanks," Xander said.

"In that case, we should go try to find that werewolf. Come Buffy," Giles said.

"Night," Buffy said and walked out of the kitchen.

"Later, Buff. Later Giles," Xander said.

"Giles, and Buffy, um, thank you," Cordelia said.

Giles smiled and said, "Your welcome. We’re just happy that you are fine."

"And not a werewolf," Buffy added. "But we really should go now." She wanted to leave before someone (like Cordy) says something that would break up this happy moment.

"Right, good night," Giles said.

As Giles and Buffy left the room on their way out to Giles’ car, Cordelia sat down sideways on Xander’s lap, throwing her arms around him and resting her head on his shoulder.

"Thank you," she whispered in his ear, then quietly cried on his shoulder. This time from relief.

Dru sensed something was wrong when she entered the house. The walls spoke of pain. But it wasn’t a pleasant pain.

"Dru, isn’t it just a lovely evening," Spike said with a grin.

"It was beautiful. But now it’s all dark," Dru replied.

"Of course it’s dark. It’s night," Spike said. He only casually wondered what she was thinking now.

"Angel, he’s in pain," Dru realized. "I’m going to help his healing."

"You just do that, why don’t you," Spike said, finally losing his smile as she walked to Angelus’ room.

Upon hearing a knock on his door, Angelus said, "I said I don’t want to be bothered."

"Angel, you have a booboo. Do you want me to kiss it and make it all better?" Dru said.

Angelus just smirked and lay back down on the bed. "Not tonight, Dru. Not tonight."

"At least now we can concentrate on finding this vampiric werewolf," Giles said as he drove Buffy over to the hill.

"What do you mean?" Buffy asked.

"Well, after Cordelia’s description of what she did to Angel, I don’t think we will have to worry about running into him tonight," Giles explained.

"I think that might have been the only time I’ve ever come close to envying that girl," Buffy said. "I really wouldn’t mind doing that to him myself."

"Yes, but I’m sure that a stake to the heart will be sufficient," Giles said. He glanced over to her to see her reaction to that statement. He wanted to see if she truly was ready to stake him or not.

"I’ve got plenty of those," Buffy said. "Are we there yet?" she asked, in a little girl’s voice, to break the tension. And change the subject.

"Well, actually we have a few more..." Giles began.

"It’s a joke, Giles. Relax. I know where we are," she said nodding her head from side to side.

"Oh, I’m, um," Giles stammered out and made an embarrassed grin.

"Cool, we’re here. Let’s go poach the pooch!" Buffy exclaimed.

"Well, we shouldn’t run into anything. You are surprisingly chipper all of a sudden?" Giles asked, confused.

"Well, I only have one bad guy to worry about tonight, and I’m going to enjoy that fact for as long as I can. Besides, I want to get this guy for Willow and Oz," Buffy explained. "And if I don’t have to think about something right now, I’m not going to."

"I understand," Giles said and parked the car.

"Got the gun?" Buffy said as they got out.

"Yes, it’s in the trunk with the rest of..." he started.

"The supplies," Buffy finished for him. "Let’s give this guy one heck of a supplies."

"Are you sure you needed that second...coffee thing?" Giles asked.

"Frappucino. OK, stupid humor girl has retired for the evening," Buffy said. "It’s hunting time."

"Thank you," Giles said, relieved. One Xander was more than enough for him.

"Shh," Buffy said.

"What?" Giles asked.

"Be vewy vewy kwiet. It’s werewolf hunting season," Buffy said in a Fudd like voice.

"Are you sure you’re OK?" he asked. a tad concerned.

"I would heartily recommend that in the future," Giles muttered.

"My little Angel’s all in pain. What happened?" Dru asked and curled up next to him on the bed.

"I don’t want to talk about it," Angel replied.

"Oooh, poor baby," she said and rested her head on his shoulder. His pain told her everything she needed to know.

"I don’t want to die," Cordelia said to him.

"Neither do I, and I don’t want you to die either," Xander said and wiped away a tear from her cheek with his finger.

"If it wasn’t for Buffy this wouldn’t have happened," she said quietly.

"You’re right, because you would have been dead a long time ago. Do you remember when she saved you in the Bronze when she first came here?" Xander asked her.

"Oh my God. Oh God!" Cordelia exclaimed, for the first time it hit her what really happened that night. "I forgot about that. And your freakboy friend, what’s his name, he..."

"Jesse. His name was Jesse," Xander corrected her, getting a little upset.

"Yeah. He was one too then? How didn’t I know that?" she asked, her eyes welling up with fear and tears.

"Yeah, he they killed him and made him a vamp. Then I sort of staked him. He was my best friend," Xander said. He was still upset, but no longer upset with her.

"That’s horrible," she said, looking into his eyes and seeing the hurt there.

"It’s the Hellmouth. It’s got to be. It’s what made us not know about the vampires until Buffy opened our eyes," Xander said. He was now having a thought. "I don’t know what it is, but it messes with your memory."

"Huh?" Cordy asked, not knowing where he was heading with this comment, but definitely seeing that he was going somewhere with it.

"Well, Jesse was my best friend, and Willow was right after him. I had been friends with Willow for as long as I can remember, but at that time, I was closer to Jesse. But somehow I haven’t even thought about him once in," Xander paused to think about it. "In probably about a year. I mean, what’s up with that?"

"I hate this town!" Cordy yelled out but only with half a heart. She was too worn out for anything stronger.

"Home, sweet Hellmouth. Abandon all hope, ye who enter here," Xander said with a sweeping arm gesture.

"I can’t believe I just laughed. This place truly is evil," Cordelia said in bewilderment.

"I wonder if Stephen King owns property here?" Xander said, and looked right in her eyes.

"And you are evil, too," she said and then they kissed.

"Maybe we should check down the front of the hill first?" Giles suggested and started in that direction.

"It’s a good fifteen foot drop straight down from the edge. I don’t think we have to worry about that," she replied. She was now wide awake and alert from her frappucinos, but no longer giddy. Wired, but not jumpy. She was back in control and just wanted to get this over with.

"It is possible that a werewolf may just be able to make that jump, however unlikely that it would attempt to attack its prey in such a fashion," Giles said. "I suppose the woods are the better choice."

"See, I’m right from time to time," Buffy said and moved towards the tree line.

"Well, yes I do suppose..." Giles started to reply and began to follow her lead.

"Sshh," Buffy said and stopped suddenly.

"He’s learning," she whispered aloud. "Slowly, but he’s learning."

Finally she broke the silence, "I thought I heard something before, but I guess I was wrong."

"Buffy!" Giles shouted and moved towards her to kick the werewolf, but it moved too fast and knocked Giles to the ground.

"Hey, keep it down over there!" someone yelled out from their car.

"Just remember to shoot the big furry thing and not me!" Buffy shouted.

"I can’t get a clean shot," Giles replied.

"Will you people shut up!?!" that person yelled out again.

"Mind your own business," Giles yelled back.

"I’m running out of room, Giles," Buffy said as she neared the ledge.

"The gun jammed," Giles replied.

"Fix it!" Buffy yelled back.

"Shoot!" Buffy nearly screamed.

Giles rushed forward to Buffy’s side. "Are you OK?" he asked.

"I’m fine now," she said and quickly checked for scratches. She didn’t see any on her hands. "How many more darts do you have?"

"Three more in the car. Why?" Giles queried.

"Get them," Buffy instructed.

"This guy isn’t going anywhere tonight," she said as she took the darts and loaded the first into the rifle. She leaned back over the ledge and fired it into the drugged monster. She loaded and fired the other two as well. "I’m thinking he could use a good tan."

"We should get back. I want to make sure you haven’t been scratched," Giles said as he looked down upon the sleeping werewolf. As the light from the full moon glinted off the darts, he knew the sun would be up before it awakens, but he still didn’t feel comfortable leaving it there. "We should come back in the morning to check on it. Also, these darts aren’t easy to come by. We may need them again for Oz."

"OK. I just want to go to bed. I guess that caffeine finally wore off. Well, if I was scratched, a girl in my old school said that she named her dog Buffy, because it’s a good dog name. I’d be your pet werewolf, Buffy," she said and walked back to his car.

"I wouldn’t worry. In this light I can’t see any scratches, I just want to be sure," the watcher said as he followed her to his car. He put the weapon back in the trunk and they drove home.

"Hey, Will!" Buffy called out from the bench on her porch. She was drinking a lemonade.

Willow was walking up the path. "Hey Buffy." She came over and sat next to Buffy. "So, you got it, right?"

"Yep. We went back and picked up all the darts this morning. It’s nothing but a pile of dust now," Buffy said. "You look great."

"Well, it’s a beautiful day and Oz is OK and you’re OK and Oz is picking me up soon and there are no clouds in the sky and Oz is OK. I’m good," Willow said with a nod of her head. Actually, it would be more accurate to say she nodded with her whole body. The Willow everyone knew and loved was back in full force.

"And you might have actually breathed during that sentence," Buffy said with a smile. "I’m glad you are happy again. I was really worried about you."

"I was really scared, but I’m OK again. Wow, he’s early," Willow said as Oz pulled up in his van. She jumped up and waved frantically at him, with that smile only he can draw from her.

"You two go have fun," Buffy said.

Willow took a step and stopped. "What are you going to do today?"

"I’m going to sit here, sip my lemonade and enjoy the sun. It is a beautiful day. Go on," Buffy said, gesturing towards Oz, and smiled again.

Willow smiled back. "Ok, bye!" She turned and nearly ran to the van. She waved back to Buffy once she had hopped inside.

Once the van pulled away Buffy looked for a cloud in the sky and couldn’t find one. She took a sip of lemonade and smiled to herself.