Las Vegas May 13th 9 a.m.
Andrew looked at his watch and realized it was 5 PM in London. He
pulled out his cell phone, hoping to reach Giles at the office before
he left. He just hated to catch the man at home with the news he had to
deliver.
He couldn't help but think, "Well, at least I don't have to be the one
to call Buffy."
Rhonda Stone had called him 30 minutes ago with the news. Seemed the
Los Angeles based slayer had been trying to call him since early that
morning, but for some reason his phone had not picked up any of the
messages. She had finally remembered he was stopping off in Vegas, at
the Pink Flamingo, for a little R & R before returning to London.
He had an emergency to attend to in San Francisco concerning a watcher
and slayer dispute.
"When are they going to realize that it's all about team work?" He
mumbled, not realizing he sounded a bit like Giles.
He had been enjoying his time in Rome when he had gotten the call from
Giles to attend to the issues in San Fran. He was pretty sure it was
really the fact Buffy, Nick and Dawn wanted me out of the way. But he
didn't ask as Dawn drove him to the airport, having packed his bags for
him, smiling the entire time saying, "Sorry to see you go Andrew, was a
real treat, but work, work, work. We have to keep the world safe you
know."
"Well, a watcher's work is never done." He sighed as he dialed the head
of the watcher's council.
*******
London May 13th 5 p.m.
Giles glared at the phone as it rang, wishing it would just disappear
at least until tomorrow. He continued to gather his things, ignoring
the annoying ringing, wanting to go home and call it a night. He'd
spent the entire day trying to work out a training schedule that worked
for the different instructors and students.
"Giles, Mr. Giles." Andrew's voice sounded upset as his voice came over
the answering machine, "Please, Mr. Giles, pick up the phone if you're
there."
Rupert rolled his eyes and wondered what poor excuse of an emergency
the boy was calling about now. "I'm here Andrew, what is the matter?"
he asked as he picked up the phone.
"Were you ignoring me or just the phone?" Andrew squeaked.
Giles reached up, pinched the bridge of his nose, and then took a deep
breath before replying, "I was on my way home Andrew, now what is the
big emergency that has you frantically calling here?"
"Are you sitting down, but then maybe you aren't the one who needs to
sit down...now Buffy would need to sit down, but then maybe not since
she's with Nick now, and all," Andrew babbled.
The lead watcher bit his tongue to keep from voicing his lack of
patience with the younger man's ramblings. "Could you get to the point,
Andrew?"
"Oh, yeah...well I just got a call from Rhonda in L.A., you know the
slayer we left in charge to watch Angel and his gang since we found out
that he was working for evil law.com. I have to say that I am
surprised, well maybe not surprised after thinking about it."
Giles being tired, hungry, and just ready to go home lost his patience.
"Honestly, please get to the point, if there is a point to all of this."
"Oh, sorry...it seems Angel and his gang...well they're dead, if you
can
call Angel dead. Something about trying to go behind Wolfram and Hart's
back and try to take control, Angelus returning and wanting to use
their resources so he could take over the world." Andrew wondered to
himself if Spike was involved, and if so, to what extent.
Giles grew silent, his thoughts going to Buffy, wondering how this news
was going to affect her. It had taken a lot of convincing to get her to
believe that Angel was no longer trustworthy, well at least until they
found out more about his involvement with the evil law firm. "I see,
well, keep me informed. Maybe you should make a special trip to L.A.
and investigate this further."
"Sure, boss, I'll get right to it," Andrew started, but unable to
finish since the older watcher hung up the phone on him. "Well, he
shouldn't be the one involved in training phone etiquette to the
newbies."
Andrew had kept all reports about the leather-wearing, blonde, hunk of
a vampire out of all the L.A. Slayer's reports all these months for
Spike's sake. He knew and understood where the vampire was coming from
with wanting to keep Buffy from knowing he was alive for now. He didn't
think it was going to fair well for the Sunnydale Champion when Miss
Summers did find out, especially the part about how long Spike had been
back.
He regretted not telling Buffy of Angel and Spike's visit. He felt at
the time it was the last thing Buffy needed, having Spike's
resurrection sprung on her, on top of a Spike and Angel doing their
'who loves you more' and 'you love me more than him,' competitions.
The watcher couldn't help but think, "Well, it seemed logical at the
time to imply she loved them both but had moved on."
Andrew still never really fully understood why he had said that to both
the vampy boys. His statement made Angel cry like a baby, and had him
mumbling about baking cookies and someone eating said cookies. Spike
expression was first a sad acceptance and then shocked as he watched
his grandsire crumple before him.
The newly appointed watcher was now somewhat happy that maybe it was
for the best that Buffy didn't know Spike had come back, only for him
to die again. Only this time possibly, on the wrong side of good and
evil. He found it hard to believe that the blonde vamp had turned evil.
Sadly, he had heard the report that a blonde male fitting Spike's
description had been seen fighting beside Angel as part of his gang.
Andrew called and made airline reservations that would get him into
L.A. that evening. He planned on stopping by Spike's apartment and
making sure there were no mistakes concerning his involvement with
Angel/Angelus uprising silently praying to himself, 'Please Spike, be
there and tell me it's all a mistake.'
In his gut, he knew it was Spike, and that somehow his friend had been
seduced over to the dark side. "Just like Luke's father tried to bring
him over to the ways of the Sith, well except young Skywalker was able
to ward off the dark evil and stay in the light, Spike didn't." Andrew
reasoned the only way he knew how.
*******
Rome May 13 6:30 p.m.
Buffy and Dawn planned tonight as a movie night, since Nick was away on
a business trip and would return the next evening. It gave them some
sister bonding time.
Dawn had gone up to take a nap not too long ago, and she was left with
the job of setting everything up, instead of taking a little nap
herself, feeling unusually tired for some reason. She jumped when the
phone rang and a feeling of dread came over her.
"Damn Slayer intuition." She muttered to herself as she reluctantly
reached for the phone saying, "Hello."
"Buffy, it's me, Giles." The sound of his voice told her he called to
give her some bad news.
"Okay, what's wrong?" she sighed.
"Buffy, is Dawn or Nick there?" he asked, this time his words telling
her whatever news he had it was really bad.
"Dawn is, Nick is out on business. Why?" She felt her knees weaken.
"Has something happened to Willow or Xander?"
"No, nothing has happened to either of them. But could you have Dawn
come down and join you?"
"Giles, you're scaring me."
"Please, Buffy, call Dawn to join you." The sternness to his voice
telling her he would not continue unless she complied and called her
sister down.
"Fine, hold on." Buffy placed the receiver to her chest and yelled, "Dawn!
I need you to come down here, please."
She felt her heart begin to speed up as she waited for her sister to
come downstairs. "Dawn, did you hear me?"
"Yeah, I heard you." Dawn rubbed her eyes as she came down the stairs
giving her sister a look that said, 'this had better be good'.
"Dawn, Giles is on the phone and I think he has bad news." Buffy
returned the phone to her ear and spoke softly, "Okay, Dawn's here and
I warned her it's not good news."
Dawn's heart began to race as she moved closer to her sister, taking
her hand as she began to think. 'Just when things were looking up, bam,
and shit again hits the fan.'
Giles closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Buffy, I have sent
Andrew to L.A. to find out more about it."
"Get to the point Giles, please," Buffy whispered as she squeezed her
sister's hand tighter. With the mention of L.A., she had an idea it was
concerning Angel.
"It appears that Angelus may have returned and tried to take over
Wolfram and Hart in order to take over the world." Giles hated to be
the one to tell Buffy this news.
"Where is Angel, I mean Angelus, now?" Buffy asked, her voice wavering.
Dawn eyes grew big as she prayed that her sister would not have to deal
with taking down the vampire who had been her first love. Not now, just
when she's finally getting over the Spike thing. "Now this has to
happen, damn vampire assholes." She fumed quietly, not wanting to make
things harder on Buffy.
"Angelus is dead, as are the rest of his people it would seem," Giles
sighed. "That would mean Wesley and the others were involved as well."
"Are you sure about all of this?" Buffy asked as she started to cry.
"That's why Andrew is going there himself to get more detailed
information," Giles answered, wishing he were there in person instead
of telling her this over the phone.
"Please let me know what you find out," Buffy started feeling dizzy and
needing to lie down. "I'm going to hang up now.
"Okay, I will let you know something as soon as I know...I'm sorry,
Buffy. I know how much you wanted to believe he was doing something
good by working there."
Buffy stiffened and her voice hardened. "We don't know
everything yet. Goodbye," she said before hanging up.
Dawn stood quietly waiting for Buffy to tell her the details of what
was going on. She wished Nick were here, so her sister would have him
to lean on. The one thing she was glad about with Nick's involvement
with them was he cared about making sure Buffy was happy and safe.
"Dawn, Giles doesn't have all the details, but it would seem that
Angelus returned and was going to take over the world by using Wolf and
whoever." Buffy looked out the window, wondering what else could go
wrong. "Seems he and his gang were taken out by the partners or
something...Andrew is on his way now to L.A. to get more information."
The tall brunette moved closer to her sister and said, "I'm sorry about
Angel."
Buffy stiffened as she pulled slightly away. "Well, we don't know
everything, yet, so maybe it's not as bad as everyone is making it out
to be."
"Maybe," Dawn agreed, feeling hurt that again Buffy was pulling away
from her.
"Well, I'm tired and I'm going to try to get some sleep. See you in the
morning," Buffy stated as she let go of her sister's hand and moved
quickly to the stairs.
Dawn watched her sister until she was no longer visible, listening as
she opened up her bedroom door and then close it shut before going to
the phone to try to call Nick's cell phone number.
"Hello," a deep accented male voice answered.
"Nick, its me Dawn."
"Hello, Sweet One," Nick said as he wondered what would have Buffy's
sister calling his cell. "How is my Bella? Getting ready for movie
night?"
Dawn wasn't sure if she was doing the right thing, but she felt she had
to do something. "Nick, Buffy had some bad news today. Seems Angel may
have gone evil and is dead now. We're waiting for more information to
confirm it either way."
Nick sighed. "Where is she now?"
"Upstairs in her bedroom."
"Little one, don't let her know you called. I will be home soon and
will come over to see her tomorrow," he promised.
"Okay, Nick....just be careful."
"I will see you tomorrow, now go and get some rest yourself, little
one," he calmly instructed.
"Okay, until tomorrow," Dawn replied right before she hung up the
phone. She felt much better after calling him, knowing he would be here
tomorrow and would be here for Buffy. She always thought it funny he
would call her little one, when she was taller than Buffy.
"But he calls her Bella. Wish I had someone to call me Bella." She
sighed, wishing Buffy would appreciate what Nick did for her.
*******
Nick felt an urge to hurt something come over him. He had hoped to be
there when Buffy heard the news about Angel. It angered him when he
realized that for some reason she must have been monitoring the damn
pain in the ass vampire behind his back. They had discussed the
vampire's interference in her life when she had found out he had
someone watching her. She promised him that she was not going to worry
about her ex-lover, just concentrate on her future.
"I will not let the Slayer slip through my fingers." He chuckled as he
reminded himself the reason he was with Buffy to begin with. "She will
be very useful for when it's time for me to take over the world."
He was glad she never found out about Spike, but now with his death on
record, he didn't care if she found out or not. If she learned he'd had
come back, it would make it easier to manipulate her through her grief,
and become more dependent on him.
*******
London May 13th 7 p.m.
Giles sat at home with a glass of scotch in his hand. He had just hung
up from talking with Willow who had called Xander prior to tell them of
Angel's supposedly turning evil and of his demise. The next call he
figured was going to be the hardest, and he needed time to recoup.
Other than Buffy, this news would hit Faith the hardest. She had
developed some ties with Angel and his group.
Xander had taken the news without a tear, only saying, "And this
surprises you about Dead Boy?"
There had been no love lost between Harris or the brooding vampire, who
had lost his soul before and created havoc in their lives in the past.
The older watcher felt comfort in the fact that one other person had
felt toward Angel as he did- unforgiving hatred. Xander had also
expressed his understanding and agreement after hearing of his and
Wood's attempt to kill Spike that dreadful night.
Now Willow was a different story- she had ripped him up one side and
down another, when she had found out about it after leaving Sunnydale
behind. Reminding him of her evil past, and the fact she did have a
soul at the time. That with the help of the coven and her friends she
was able to reform and became good again.
She also explained they should not have judged Spike for what The First
had programmed him to do. Especially since when it came down to killing
Buffy, he had chosen to save her instead. Then he gave up his existence
on earth, to close the Hellmouth for good. For how do you really kill
someone who's already dead?
Tonight she had heard the happiness hidden in his voice concerning
Angel's death and had called him on it. Telling him that he had better
not have even hinted any of these thoughts to Buffy, and had better not
in the future. Telling him if he wanted to mend the wrongs between him
and his slayer, he had better keep his true feelings to himself and not
in any way gloat about them. She had even gone so far to inform him she
was going to issue the same warning to Xander and Robin.
Deep down he knew that Willow was right, that the only way for Buffy to
get over this was not to make it personal. To let her find closure he
needed to support her and be a friend. His concern was that she might
never let him get close to her again.
He was surprised when he had heard Buffy had become involved with the
Immortal. There had been whispers that he was secretly working for
evil, but could never find anything or anyone that would say anything
definitive or substantial. He had met him once on his last visit to
Rome and found him to be a good influence on both Buffy and Dawn. But
couldn't remember how he came to feel that way.
The scotch was having its usual effect, as he felt relaxed to make his
last call to Cleveland before retiring for the night. The news was
going to hit home to the Cleveland slayer hard. She held a special
place for Angel in her heart as well. It was a good thing that Robin
was going to be there for Faith and she was no longer alone. He knew
tomorrow was going to be full of his usual activities, and now with all
of this on top of it, well his day was going to be stressful to say the
least.
*******
Africa May 13th 9 p.m.
Xander sat and looked out into the night. Since coming to Africa, he
had learned more about evil than he cared to know. All this time he was
sure the Witchdoctors where truly a product of Hollywood film
industries overactive imagination. Lately, he found that they truly did
exist and so far, they were all were evil.
His first night looking for a new Slayer, his last report had her in a
small village in Kenya, brought him in contact with Morobee. The man
was the leader of a tribe of what he called devil worshippers, who had
just sacrificed the newly produced Slayer. The tribe wise man had said
he could feel the power inside her that would destroy them and what
they believed in. It had been a pleasure killing the man.
Hearing that Angel had indeed turned evil and died trying to take over
the world made him a happy man, but yet leery. He couldn't help but
think the undead had a way of coming back when you thought he was
finally in Hell to stay.
"Hell kicked him out once before," he mumbled to no one but himself.
He knew he would not be able to face Buffy for a while. Knowing his
hatred of Dead Boy would far exceed his ability to keep his mouth shut
on the subject of the bastard being truly evil, as they had suspected.
He was expecting a phone call from Willow telling him the same thing.
She would tell him to keep all contact with Buffy to only as needed and
vampire subject free. Especially avoid talking about vampires with
souls that she had intimate connections.
His need to be in Africa was about to end. There was only one more new
slayer to contact, and then he would be returning to England for some R
& R. This village was on the coastal region and one of the guides
had told him strong magic existed there. Various sources told him a
demon that could give you your hearts desire lived there and held
trials to see if you were worthy to receive such a gift.
It was time for him to retire; he would be leaving early in the morning
for the coast. He hoped that he would hear the great news of Angel's
demise come this time tomorrow. This was the one time he wished he had
Andrew's job. He would love being the one to be able to find the truth
that Angel was evil all along.
*******