From: buffyfic-owner@xmission.com (buffyfic Digest) To: buffyfic-digest@xmission.com Subject: buffyfic Digest V1 #37 Reply-To: buffyfic@xmission.com Sender: buffyfic-owner@xmission.com Errors-To: buffyfic-owner@xmission.com Precedence: buffyfic Digest Sunday, October 12 1997 Volume 01 : Number 037 In this issue: BUFFYFIC: The Stranger (1/8) BUFFYFIC: The Stranger (2/8) BUFFYFIC: The Stranger (3/8) BUFFYFIC: The Stranger (4/8) See the end of the digest for information on subscribing to the buffyfic or buffyfic-digest mailing lists and on how to retrieve back issues. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 11 Oct 1997 22:55:28 -0500 (CDT) From: perridox@enteract.com (Perri Smith) Subject: BUFFYFIC: The Stranger (1/8) This is part of the Chaos challenge that got started over on the Sunnydale Slayers list, to retell episodes from the point of view of someone other than Buffy. Chris Kamnikar started it with her stories 'Mad Moon in Scorpio' and 'Shadow of an Apocalypse' (blatent plug), so I got into the act. This would be 'Angel', from the POV of everyone's favorite redhead, Willow. This story (and the two mentioned above) are archived at http://www.enteract.com/~perridox/SunS/. Thanks to my beta readers, Lizbet, Chris, Dianne, Catherine, Tina, and the SunS. Dedicated to Chris, who finally has her revenge for my endless nagging about 'Prophecy Girl'; to Tina, who had absolutely *no* objections to endlessly re-watching 'Angel' to catch the dialogue we didn't already have memorized; and to Leslie, just because she appreciated it. If you recognize the dialogue, Mutant Enemy owns it, like they own all of the characters I'm using without permission. Anything you don't recognize is mine. The Stranger by Perri Smith Copyright 1997 "In lone and silent hours, When night makes a weird sound of its own stillness... Have I mixed awful talk and asking looks With my most innocent love, until strange tears Uniting with those breathless kiss, made Such magic as compels the charmed night To render up thy charge ..." -- Percy Byshe Shelley ***** For Chris, who finally has her revenge for my endless nagging about 'Prophecy Girl'; for Tina, who had absolutely *no* objections to endlessly re-watching 'Angel' to catch the dialogue we didn't already have memorized; and for Leslie, just because she appreciated it. If you recognize the dialogue, Mutant Enemy owns it, like they own all of the characters I'm using without permission. Anything you don't recognize is mine. The Stranger by Perri Smith Copyright 1997 "In lone and silent hours, When night makes a weird sound of its own stillness... Have I mixed awful talk and asking looks With my most innocent love, until strange tears Uniting with those breathless kiss, made Such magic as compels the charmed night To render up thy charge ..." -- Percy Byshe Shelley Willow Rosenberg had been fifteen years old the first night she stepped inside the Bronze. It had been the first night of freshman year of high school, and she and Xander and Jesse had had to spend most of the day collectively working up their courage before they could hand over their money and walk past the bouncer at the door of the teen club. It had been one of the great 'coming of age' moments of her life, for all that she'd spent most of her nights there holding down a seat at the bar, watching Jesse try to hit on Cordelia, and Xander try to hit on anything female and reasonably cute. Except Willow, of course. That had all changed when Buffy Summers moved to town. From that first night, when Buffy had ignored Willow's 'loser' status and stayed to talk -- and later saved Willow's life when she took Buffy's advice a bit too close to heart -- the Bronze had actually become a fun place to be. Willow didn't have to sit alone anymore; Buffy was there, ready to join her in commenting on the cute guys, teasing Xander, and discussing life, slaying, and everything. And if vampires occasionally wandered through now, looking for a midnight snack -- well, that was what being a Slayerette was all about. It wasn't such a bad deal. Of course, not every night was fun and games. Like tonight. Xander was off trying to pick up someone else's girlfriend, and Buffy might as well have been a million miles away, even if she was sitting just across the table, playing with her drink. She'd stirred herself earlier to use her Slaying talents against the cockroaches, and racked up enough free drinks to last the trio all night, setting a new Bronze record in the process. But at the moment, even the air of revelry around them wasn't enough to drag her back to the here and now. Willow gave it one more shot. "Ah, the Fumigation Party," she said as cheerfully as possible, pitching her voice to carry over the music. Buffy didn't seem to hear her; Willow continued determinedly. "It's an annual tradition - the closing of the Bronze for a few days to nuke the cockroaches." The only response was a distracted, "Oh." Willow shook her head, caught between amusement and a bit of worry. "It's a lot of fun," she told Buffy pointedly. "What's it like where you are?" The teasing apparently penetrated at last; Buffy blinked and focused on Willow's face for the first time. Willow smiled tolerantly at her bud, who had the grace to laugh at herself. "I'm... sorry. I was just... thinking about things." Among teenage girls, that particular inflection had only one meaning. "So, we're talking about a guy?" Willow asked knowingly. Buffy made a face. "Not exactly a guy. For us to have a conversation about a guy, there'd have to be a guy for us to have a conversation about." She paused, looking confused. "Was that a sentence?" Willow got the idea; it wasn't like they hadn't had this conversation a million times before. "You lack a guy." Buffy sighed and looked down at her half-melted Coke. "I do. Which is fine with me, most of the time. But..." Her voice trailed off and Willow nodded sympathetically. "What about Angel?" she asked carefully. This was tricky territory with Buffy, who generally either claimed to *really* hate her mystery man, or lapsed into detailed and poetic descriptions of his eyes. Which were pretty worthy of poetic description, Willow admitted, at least from the one time she'd seen Angel up close. "Angel?" No, not one of the poetic nights; if anything, Buffy looked more depressed. "I can just see him in a relationship. 'Hi honey, you're in grave danger. I'll see you next month.'" "He's not around much. That's true." "But when he is around..." Buffy's eyes got dreamy, and Willow tried to hide her grin. It was going to be a poetic night after all. "...it's like the lights dim everywhere else. You know how it's like that with some guys?" "Oh yeah," Willow sighed, letting her eyes trail back to the dance floor. She knew where Xander was, as if he was wearing a homing beacon only she could sense. It had been like that for a couple of years now, ever since the day when she'd looked up and discovered that her life-long friend was also cute, funny, and all-together perfect for her. She lived in hope that someday he'd realize the same thing -- but she wasn't counting on it. At the moment, the only thing Xander seemed to be aware of was Annie Vega, and shortly thereafter, Annie's boyfriend, Dino. Willow shook her head in disgust as Xander backed off so fast he almost ran over Cordelia, but couldn't stop smiling at him, even as a little, wistful jab of pain poked at her heart. He was even cute when he was being an idiot over another girl. Xander escaped from Cordelia with what must have been a pretty good parting shot for once, judging by the evil glare she sent at his back. "Boy, that Cordelia's a regular breath of vile air," he commented as he retreated to the safety of Willow and Buffy's table. "What are you vixens up to?" Willow shrugged. "Just sitting here watching our barren lives pass us by. Oh, look. A cockroach." She closed one eye to aim better, and stomped. Cockroach floor pizza. Who said Slayerettes never got to do any of the dirty work? Xander was less than impressed by her feat. "Whoa, let's stop this crazy whirligig of fun. I'm dizzy." Buffy almost laughed, changed it into a sigh, and got up. "All right, now I'm infecting those nearest and dear to me. I'm going to call it a night." "Oh, don't go," Willow protested. "Yeah!" Xander echoed her with way too much enthusiasm for Willow's taste. "It's early. We could, um..." he groped for something, anything, to say *other* than what he really wanted to say, which would involve close bodily contact if Willow was any judge. "...dance," he finally finished lamely. To Willow's somewhat guilty relief, Buffy wasn't pursuaded. "Raincheck? Good night." She left and Xander slumped at the table, staring after her with puppy dog eyes. Willow was torn between hitting him for being so dense and hugging him because he looked so adorable when he was being pathetic. She settled for offering him the squished contents of the bottom of her shoe. "Want a free drink?" He looked pained and shoved it away, slumping even lower with his chin on his fist. Willow rolled her eyes and gave up. It was going to be one of those nights. ***** Sure enough, Xander spent the rest of the evening sulking, and since no cute guys ever hung around looking for Willow, she escaped after another hour, retreating to the safety of her computer and her on-line friends. Even that wasn't much solace, though; she kept winding up staring at the picture of her and Xander on her desk next to the computer, and slipping into improbable, but highly entertaining, fantasies, involving kissing, and hugging, and declarations of unending love, and kissing.... After the third or fourth one of those, she flipped off her monitor in disgust, and flopped onto her back on the bed for a good, long bout of self-pity. She didn't indulge very often, but this seemed like as good a night as any. "It's not fair," she informed her battered old teddy bear. "I mean, I know it's not Buffy's fault; she can't help being gorgeous, and strong, and exciting, and generally Xander's dream come true. I'm just boring old Willow, no excitement or mystery about me." She tucked her teddy bear up under her chin, and rolled onto her side to gaze at the picture of her and Xander again. Jesse had taken it in ninth grade, on the annual zoo trip. She didn't remember why she and Xander had gotten into the wrestling match, she just remembered that it had been more or less a draw. "I'm glad I'm not the Slayer and all; I *really* don't want Buffy's job. I just wish *my* job was a little more exciting than Research Girl." She sighed. "Maybe then Xander would remember I'm alive." She sighed again, then kissed her bear on the head and forced herself to get up and get ready for bed. Thankfully, she didn't dream of Xander *or* vampires that night, just a good, old-fashioned 'trapped on stage and didn't learn the words to the song' nightmare. No problem. - --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Perri I *am* the Buffy Evangalist! NatPacker-*-Horsechick-*-Pretender-*-Cohenhead-*-DDEB2-*-AGA-*-SunS-*-CoJ "I'm putting a collar with a little bell on that guy." -- Xander ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 11 Oct 1997 22:55:49 -0500 (CDT) From: perridox@enteract.com (Perri Smith) Subject: BUFFYFIC: The Stranger (2/8) See disclaimer in part 1. The Stranger (Part 2) by Perri Smith Copyright 1997 ***** Willow had been intending to track Buffy down the instant she got to school, to see if her friend's mood had improved any. Before she got the chance, she found the normally *emphatically* anti-morning Slayer bouncing next to her locker, her face glowing and her eyes bright. "I got attacked by some really heavy-duty vampires last night," she announced gleefully. Willow's eyebrows went up; this was generally considered a Bad Thing. "And you won?" she guessed, opening her locker and starting to trade out books from her backpack. Biology, English, demonology, history.... "I'm assuming you won or we probably wouldn't be having this conversation. Well, unless Giles knows how to run a seance or something. Which he probably does, 'cause he's Giles." Willow realized she was babbling and stopped, but it didn't matter, since Buffy wasn't listening anyway. "There were three of them," she was saying enthusiastically, "really big and tough, too. They backed me up against a fence and I was sure I was totally toast!" This still didn't sound like cause for celebration. In fact, Willow was getting sick to her stomach at just the description. She stared at her friend, backpack dangling, forgotten, from one hand. "Buffy! You could have been killed! Why is this good?" "Because," Buffy looked deeply smug, "I was rescued." Someone rescuing the Slayer instead of vice versa. Concept. "By?" Willow asked cautiously. Then realization dawned. Cat with a canary smile, glowing eyes, color in the cheeks, bounce in the step.... "Angel?" If possible, Buffy's face got even brighter. "Yes!" "Oh, wow!" Willow closed her locker and leaned against it, wide-eyed and ready to hear all of the gory details. Which Buffy was more than happy to supply. "He came from out of nowhere. I thought it was all over and then, boom, there he was! He grabbed one of them by the hair and just pulled him away from me! I shook loose of the other two, and he kept the third one off me. Until he got slashed in the ribs," she remembered, her face darkening a bit. "That wasn't quite as cool." "Angel got hurt? Is he okay?" "Oh, he's fine." Better than fine, if Buffy's sappy, lovesick smile was anything to go by. "We made it to my house and I bandaged him up, then I was afraid to let him leave so he spent the night in my room." Buffy said the last part incredibly casually; Willow's jaw dropped another inch. "In your *room*? For real?" "For *totally* real!" Buffy dropped the nonchalant facade again in her enthusiasm. "Oh, Willow, he was so sweet! We talked a little bit, and he told me I was pretty, and then he went to sleep -- he's so *cute* when he's asleep!" Willow laughed at her friend, ignoring a faint stab of envy. Buffy looked so in love, and Angel seemed like such a cool guy. He'd helped with the vampires, and saved Buffy's life, and everything, and the fact that he looked like something out of a romance novel didn't hurt. "It sounds like you had a pretty terrific night." "Yeah." Buffy sighed, wrapping her arms around her books and leaning back against the lockers, staring happily at nothing in particular. She was totally gone. "Have you told Giles about the vampires who attacked you?" Willow asked, trying to keep *some* perspective, although what she really wanted to do was drag Buffy off to a corner for a blow-by-blow description of every second spent alone with Tall, Dark and Mysterious Guy. "I think he'll probably want to know." Buffy dragged herself back from the land of daydreams. "I woke up in the middle of the night and remembered to call him. Got him up around midnight; he was kind of, um, incoherent. But he said he'd work on it." "Did you tell him about, um...?" Buffy made a face. "Not yet, but I guess I'll have to. Angel makes him kinda nervous; Giles *hates* it when anyone has more information than he does about *anything*, especially vampires. " "And...?" Willow prompted; Buffy had the look that meant she was leaving something out. "And I'd kind of rather not tell him how close a call it was," Buffy admitted. "He tends to wig, and I don't want to stay after school for another practice session. Angel's staying at my house today so he can recover, and I don't want to, you know, leave him alone for too long. When he's wounded and all." "Better safe than sorry," Willow agreed, with a conspiratorial smile. Buffy smiled back, the two of them understanding each other perfectly. "Sorry about what?" The male voice popping into a such a girl moment surprised both of them, and almost got Xander flattened. "Hey, don't beat up on me," he defended himself, as Buffy lowered the fist she'd raised instinctively. "I didn't do it, whatever it is." Fortunately, both girls were now in too good of a mood to really let him have it. "Good morning, Xander," Buffy greeted him cheerfully, as if she hadn't just almost decked him. "And of course you didn't do anything, silly, except for sneaking up on us." "Oh. Well, good." Xander looked a little baffled, but recovered quickly, opening his locker and searching its terrifying depths -- for a textbook, Willow hoped, or he was going to flunk another math test fifth period. "So, what are we talking about?" "Coming to the library as soon as possible; at least, you should be." Another male almost bit the dust, and Willow fought back a giggle at the look Buffy's face as she realized it was Giles this time, and once again lowered her arm. The near miss last night must have Buffy's nerves more on edge than she thought, Angel or not. "You've got to stop doing that!" the Slayer told her Watcher with exasperation. "Sorry." He didn't look it, but then, Giles never did. He *did* look like he had been mainlining tea; there was a cup in his hand and it wasn't clean."I may have found some information; can you escape homeroom?" "If you write us passes, no problem," Buffy shrugged. "Lead the way." They trailed along behind Giles to the library, which was empty, as usual. The students at Sunnydale High avoided the place religiously -- or maybe they were just avoiding Giles, who had a tendency to eye anyone invading his domain with more than a little hostility. Except the Slayerettes, of course... well, most of the time. "So, what've you found out?" Buffy asked, boucing by the shelves, too wired to sit still. Willow elected to sit on the table, the better to hear the good parts. Xander roamed. "I believe I've discovered who your assailants were," Giles said over his shoulder, as he retreated into the stacks. "By the way, you neglected to tell me how you escaped their clutches." Willow and Buffy exchanged looks. Busted. "Well, I kind of had help," Buffy said reluctantly. "Angel showed up and sort of... gave me a hand." "Angel?" Xander straightened up so suddenly Willow was afraid he'd hurt himself. "Weird Guy was around?" "Yes, *Angel* was around." Buffy sounded a little miffed at the insult, never mind that she habitually referred to Angel as worse. "He was really great, Giles; he took on those vampire thugs without even flinching, even when he got hurt. I took him home to take care of him last night and he was all bloody and... um...." Willow had been frantically signalling her during the last part of the gushing, but Buffy didn't realize she'd said too much until it was too late. She shut up anyway, looking guilty. Fortunately, Giles had no more response than a raised eyebrow. Xander, on the other hand, looked close to having a conniption. "He spent the night in your room? In your bed?" "Not *in* my bed, *by* my bed," Buffy clarified impatiently. "That is so romantic," Willow sighed. Unable to resist, she asked what she *really* wanted to know. "Did you, uh.... I mean, did he...?" Buffy looked *incredibly* smug. "Perfect gentleman." Wow. Maybe Angel really *was* the perfect guy. Willow hoped so, for Buffy's sake. Willow's less-than-perfect-but-still-adorable guy looked even more unhappy than before. "Buffy! Come on, wake up and smell the seduction! It's the oldest trick in the book!" "What? Saving my life? Getting slashed in the ribs?" Buffy was starting to sound less than amused. Out of love or stupidity, Xander persisted. "Duh! I mean, guys'll do anything to impress a girl. I once drank an entire gallon of Gatorade without taking a breath." He looked proud of himself, and Willow admitted, "It was pretty impressive." And it had been, for about five minutes. "Although later, there was an ick factor." Which was putting it mildly. That party had ended on a *really* disgusting note, and Elizabeth Shay hadn't been all that impressed to begin with. "Can we steer this riveting conversation back to the events of last night?" Giles interrupted dryly, returning from the stacks with one of his ancient books in hand. Buffy sat down and Willow slid around on the table to face him as everyone shut up and paid attention, more or less. "You left the Bronze last night and were set upon by three unusually virile vampires. Did they look like this?" "Yeah." Buffy frowned down at the page Giles handed her and Willow craned her neck to see. Even Xander stopped sulking long enough to peer over Buffy's shoulder. "What's with the uniforms?" Willow studied the book upside down. The vampires pictured there seemed to be wearing Klingon uniforms. They would have looked silly if it wasn't for the menace glowing from their eyes, even in the pen and ink drawing. Definitely the bad guys. "It seems you encountered The Three," Giles told Buffy. "Warrior vampires, very proud and very strong." "How is it you always know this stuff?" Willow demanded. It got really frustrating sometimes, always having to have everything explained when she was used to being the one handing out the information. "You always know what's going on. I never know what's going on." Giles looked at her with a slight edge of irritation. "Well, you weren't here from midnight until six researching it," he pointed out, taking another long sip from his tea. Willow shrank back a little. "No. I was sleeping." He nodded as if that settled it -- which it did -- and returned to business. "Obviously, you're hurting the Master very much," he told Buffy, taking off his glasses and polishing them with his handkerchief in one of his habitual gestures. He looked younger without them, and much more tired. "He wouldn't send The Three for just anyone. We must step up our training with weapons." Buffy nodded, looking resigned, and Willow made a sympathetic face. Giles was getting predictable. So was Xander, actually. "Buffy, you should stay at my house until these samurai guys are history." Buffy turned on him with a 'what the heck are you bibbling about?' expression and Xander hurriedly added, "Don't worry about Angel, we'll look around your house and tell him to get out of town fast." I just bet you will, Willow thought, rolling her eyes at Buffy, who rolled hers in return. Boys. Xander was so jealous of Angel he couldn't stand it; he'd *love* an excuse to get rid of Buffy's mystery man for a while. Giles had apparently missed the whole thing. "Angel and Buffy are not in any immediate jeopardy," he said thoughtfully, replacing his glasses. "Eventually, the Master will send someone else. But in the meantime The Three, having failed, will offer their own lives in penance." "And on that cheerful note," Buffy said hastily, standing up and retrieving her bag, "it's about time for first period. Giles, can you give the cut slips for homeroom to Willow? I have to, um, be... somewhere." She headed for door at top speed, but wasn't quite fast enough. "As long as one of the places you have to be is here after school for training," Giles called after her. She slowed to a walk, her shoulders slumping, and turned around to argue. Giles wasn't having any of it. "I mean it, Buffy," he said sternly, before she could say a word. "Right after class." "But..." "Buffy, this is your life we're talking about." Giles had the look on his face that none of them bothered trying to argue with anymore, the serious 'It's for your own good and that's the end of it' look. They ignored that look sometimes, but they didn't argue with it. "If you won't train to protect yourself, then think of protecting those around you. Such as Angel, perhaps?" Ouch. Willow winced on Buffy's behalf; talk about hitting someone where they lived. Buffy looked simultaneously wounded and rebellious, then gave it up. "All right, Giles, I'll come right after sixth period. Promise. But I need to be home in time for dinner." "You will be," Giles assured her, before he was distracted by his book again. Buffy left, looking unhappy; Xander trailed behind her and Willow waited for Giles to look back up. "Um, Giles?" she said after a very long moment; he started as if just being reminded of her presence. All too used to being forgotten, she patiently asked, "Excuse slips? For homeroom? So Buffy doesn't wind up in detention instead of practice?" Giles wasn't the only one who knew how to make a point. "Ah. Yes." He blinked rapidly and put the book back down, careful not to lose his place. He had to search through his desk to find the excuse slips - -- why, Willow didn't know, since he had to use them practically every day to get either Buffy or Willow out of class -- and finally retrieved a stack of the forms from beneath two grimoires, a box of tea and a silver-hilted knife. He scribbled his illegible signature at the bottom of three of them; Willow accepted them, then retreated to let him get back to his research as first-period bell rang. As she left the library, he was already heading back to his office, reading as he walked and muttering something to himself under his breath. She hoped he didn't run into a wall or anything. - --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Perri I *am* the Buffy Evangalist! NatPacker-*-Horsechick-*-Pretender-*-Cohenhead-*-DDEB2-*-AGA-*-SunS-*-CoJ "I'm putting a collar with a little bell on that guy." -- Xander ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 12 Oct 1997 19:17:25 -0500 (CDT) From: perridox@enteract.com (Perri Smith) Subject: BUFFYFIC: The Stranger (3/8) See disclaimer in part 1. The Stranger (Part 3) by Perri Smith Copyright 1997 ***** Giles didn't allow the Slayerettes to attend Buffy's training sessions. He claimed that the fewer of them that were around school after hours, the less conspicuous they would be. Willow suspected that Giles just didn't want them to see how easily Buffy could beat him up. So Willow actually made it home in time for her own dinner, and realized how long it had been since that happened when her parents both greeted her appearance at the dinner table with looks of shock. "Excuse me, miss, you look a lot like my daughter," Mr. Rosenberg teased. "Except that it's been so long since I saw her, I'm not sure what she looks like any more." "Very funny, dad," Willow grinned sheepishly as she shoveled spaghetti onto her plate. "I was here just last week." "That recently?" her mom said with mock surprise. "And here you are again, without Xander. I was beginning to think you two were joined at the hip." Oh, I wish, Willow thought gloomily, keeping her smile on with an effort. "I think his mom was ordering pizza tonight; he didn't want to miss it." Her mom took salad and passed it on. "You know, honey," she said thoughtfully, "Xander really has turned into a very good-looking young man, and such a nice boy, too. Have the two of you ever thought of, I don't know, going out? Or whatever they call it these days?" Willow choked on a bite of garlic bread. "Um, no, Mom," she answered truthfully. "We've never thought of that." *She* had, but that wasn't a we. "We're just friends." "Too bad," Mrs. Rosenberg sighed. "I think the two of you would be a cute couple." Willow blushed furiously and concentrated on wrapping spaghetti around her fork in perfectly straight and even layers. Her mom took the hint and let the subject drop. She'd been half-expecting a call from Buffy to emote over Angel, but after the dishes had been done, her homework finished and all of her e-mail answered, there was still no word from the Slayer. *Oh well,* she sighed mentally. *I'm sure she'll tell me all about it tomorrow.* *One of these days, I really need to have something to tell her.* ***** Willow waited eagerly next to the curb until Buffy's mom dropped her off the next morning. "So, what happened?" she started to ask, before taking in the drained, exhausted look on Buffy's face. It was such a contrast to the energetic, happy Slayer of the day before that Willow stopped dead in her tracks, suddenly scared. "Buffy? What's wrong? What happened? Did The Three show up again?" "The Three?" Buffy smiled strangely, then started to chuckle, an odd, scary laugh with absolutely no humor. "No, they didn't show up. There was... another vampire problem, you could say." "I could?" Willow was totally lost now. "Buffy, you look like you saw a ghost. Did Angel do something? Did another vampire come after you? Tell me what happened!" Buffy's face twisted and for a second, Willow thought she was going to lose it right then and there. Fortunately, Giles showed up before the Slayer could start screaming and/or crying -- Willow wasn't quite sure which one it would have been. "Buffy, are you all right?" he asked, hurrying down the sidewalk towards them. He looked even more nervous than usual, at least until he gave Buffy a quick once-over and determined that, yes, she was all right, physically at least. Willow still didn't know about the mental part. "Why wouldn't Buffy be all right?" Xander asked from behind Willow, who was too focused on Buffy to even jump. There was something very wrong here, she was sure of it. "I'm fine," Buffy told them unconvincingly. " I'm fine, I just... had a really bad night." "I imagine so," Giles said, not without sympathy. "Discovering Angel's true nature must have been rather a bad shock, especially under... well, under the circumstances. You're sure he didn't hurt you? A vampire in your house, in your room...." "He didn't hurt me!" Buffy sounded like she was saying it for about the tenth time. "Honest, Giles, he just... fanged out, then bailed when I started screaming, like I told you." Willow was still stalled back at Giles' half of the conversation, seeing her own dawning shock reflected on Xander's face. They must have heard that wrong. Giles and Buffy couldn't possibly be talking about what she thought they were talking about. "Angel... is a vampire?" "Apparently so," Giles answered her absently. "Buffy, did he say anything, do anything...?" "No!" Buffy started walking towards the front doors; wandering, actually, as if in a daze. The Slayerettes trailed along beside and behind her. "I told you, Giles, he just.... Oh, God, this isn't happening. " "Angel's a vampire?" Willow couldn't quite get past that part. Vampires were Bad Things -- mean and vicious and scary. Angel was cool; he helped *fight* vampires, and gave Buffy his jacket, and made Buffy's face light up with happiness. He *couldn't* be a vampire, there was no way. But Buffy's heart-broken face left no doubt. "I can't believe this is happening," she repeated, going up the front steps towards the school. "One minute, we were kissing, and the next minute.... Can a vampire ever be a good person?" she suddenly demanded, whirling on Giles. "Couldn't it happen?" Giles looked taken aback. "A vampire isn't a person at all," he stuttered slightly. "It may have the movements, the memories, even the personality of the person it possessed, but it's still a demon at the core. There is no halfway." Willow mentally deciphered his sentance. "So, that'd be a no, huh?" she concluded unhappily. "Well, then, what was he doing? Why was he good to me?" Buffy asked no one in particular, sinking to one of the stone benches outside the school as if she didn't trust her knees to hold her up any more. "Was it all some part of the Master's plan? It doesn't make sense." She was looking to Giles for answers, like always, but it was Xander who carefully lowered himself to the bench next to her. "All right," he said, very deliberately, "you have a problem and it's not a small one. Let's take a breath, and look at this calmly and objectively. Angel's a vampire. You're the Slayer. I think it's obvious what you have to do." At that moment, Willow wanted, more than she'd ever wanted anything in her life, to hit Xander. He'd recovered from the shock, all right, and jumped right in with both feet in his mouth to try to get rid of his 'rival'. But he didn't know Buffy's feelings, Willow instantly corrected herself, with a surge of guilt. He couldn't know. And Xander *really* hated vampires, ever since Jesse.... So he couldn't know what he was saying, he was just being... practical. Logical. Right. Xander looked up at Giles for confirmation; both of the girls looked up to him begging for a denial. Giles couldn't quite look Buffy in the eyes. "It is a Slayer's duty," he confirmed reluctantly. "I mean, I know you have feelings for this guy," Xander rushed on, "but it's not like you're in love with him, right?" Willow didn't have to hit him this time; Buffy's face said it all. Even Xander, who'd been trying really, really hard to pretend Buffy's fascination with Angel was a passing, unsignificant thing, couldn't miss the deep, tragic emotions written in her eyes. "You're in love with a vampire?" he demanded loudly. "What, are you out of your mind?" Just a little bit too loudly, as it turned out. "What?" They swung, more or less in unison, to see Cordelia staring down at them with wide, traumatically shocked eyes. Xander gaped, then tried desperately to cover. "Not vampire," he fumbled, looking back at Buffy. "How could you love an umpire? Everyone hates them!" Willow winced, sure the game was up; even Cordelia wasn't going to believe anything that lame. Fortunately, Cordelia was now staring past them, with other things on her mind. "Where did you get that dress?" she demanded of a girl walking across the lawn, wearing the exact same tank dress Cordelia had on. "This is a one-of-a-kind Todd Oldham. Do you know how much this dress cost?" She left the Slayerettes without a backwards glance to catch up to and attack the girl who dared to have the same taste in clothing as the diva of Sunnydale High. As Cordelia's harangue trailed off into the distance, Buffy tried to smile. "Think we have problems," she said wryly. "Well, in point of fact, we do," Giles reminded her carefully. "We'll need to find out whatever we can about Angel. Just in case." "He wouldn't hurt her, would he?" Willow protested instinctively. "I mean, he hasn't before, like Buffy said, right?" "We can't take the chance," Giles said. "Whatever he is and whatever his motives, Angel knows far too much about Buffy; we must attempt to even that score." Homeroom bell rang even as he spoke; he looked at his watch and sighed. "I'll need all of you in the library at lunch; I'll do what I can until then. You had better get to class." They got up reluctantly, no one particularly enthusiastic about sitting through classes when they were having a (much more interesting) crisis. Giles headed for the library, and Xander and Willow flanked Buffy as they walked to homeroom, lending her as much moral support as they could. - --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Perri I *am* the Buffy Evangalist! NatPacker-*-Horsechick-*-Pretender-*-Cohenhead-*-DDEB2-*-AGA-*-SunS-*-CoJ "I'm putting a collar with a little bell on that guy." -- Xander ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 12 Oct 1997 19:17:49 -0500 (CDT) From: perridox@enteract.com (Perri Smith) Subject: BUFFYFIC: The Stranger (4/8) See disclaimer in part 1. The Stranger (Part 4) by Perri Smith Copyright 1997 ***** The morning was more or less a total waste, but Willow hadn't expected anything else. She paid enough attention during history and biology to cover for Buffy, who was still in a daze; Willow had to drag her off to the girls room between classes to talk. Buffy was bouncing between total, shocked disbelief, and equally shocked attempts at rationalization, babbling everything about the previous evening more or less incoherently . Willow listened silently, letting her friend vent enough to get her through the next class. She had to leave her in Xander's hands for third period, though; Buffy had her free period then, but Willow suspected she'd spend it anywhere but the library. Xander, of course, had no problems with cutting class to keep an eye on Buffy. Computer science, usually Willow's favorite part of the day, seemed to drag on forever. Ms. Calendar caught her staring off into space at least twice during the period, and stopped to ask if anything was wrong. Her teacher looked so concerned, Willow almost found herself spilling it all, but caught herself at the last second. "No," she lied, "nothing's wrong." Ms. Calendar looked completely unconvinced, but didn't push. "All right," she said calmly, "but if you need to talk to anyone about whatever's not wrong, you know where I am." Willow attempted a smile. "I know. Thanks." Ms Calendar studied her with knowing, sympathetic eyes for another long moment, then went off to look over Dave's shoulder at his current project. Willow tried to bury herself in programming, but found herself staring off into space again within a few minutes. It just seemed so unbelievable. She remembered the first time she'd seen Angel, that night at the Bronze when he'd come to warn Buffy about Fork Guy, as they still called the nameless clawed vampire Buffy had killed. He'd been hovering in the doorway, dressed in stark black and white and looking nothing like the super-annoying smart aleck Buffy had described in vivid (and irritated) detail. He'd looked serious, and intense... and alone, even in the crowd of people. Maybe that was why Willow had instinctively liked Angel -- even from across the crowded dance floor, she'd seen her own loneliness reflected in his dark, shadowed eyes. Then he'd given Buffy his jacket, settling it carefully around her shoulders to make sure she hadn't gotten cold, and won Willow's romantic heart over forever. And then there'd been the look he'd worn when Buffy had kissed Owen in front of him at the Bronze a few weeks later..... Why would a vampire give the Slayer his jacket, much less the cross he'd given her at their first meeting, the one Buffy almost never took off? Why would he care when she kissed another guy? Why would he warn her, why would he protect her from his own kind? It made no sense, none at all. She'd *liked* Angel, and Buffy was in love with him. They couldn't both be that wrong about him; it just wasn't possible. "Willow?" Willow jolted, then looked up guiltily at Ms. Calendar, who was looking down at her with worried eyes. "The bell just rang. You might want to try to get to fourth period sometime before lunch." "Oh. The bell. Right." Willow saved her program, retrieved her disk, then bolted for the door before her favorite teacher could ask any more questions Willow couldn't answer. ***** She made it to the library before Xander and Buffy did at lunch, and found Giles pouring over a stack of books, as usual. He didn't even look up when she came in, just gestured towards a smaller stack at the edge of the table - -- the books written in modern English that the Slayerettes could be trusted to read without missing anything or hurting the book. Giles' faith in them had its limits. Willow obeyed his silent order, pulling up a chair and taking the first book off the top of the stack. Someone's handwritten manuscript, yellowing paper bound into faded, patterned leather. She skimmed a few pages, without much interest. "Have you found anything yet?" "Not yet." "Oh." Another few pages. "Nothing about Angel, in any of these books?" "Not that I've discovered." "Oh." A few more pages. "Giles?" He sighed, and put his book down to look at her. "Yes, Willow?" Now that she had his attention, she wasn't quite sure what to do with it. Finally, she asked the question she'd been asking herself all day. "Giles, does Angel have to be a bad guy? I mean, are you sure he is?" Giles sighed again, taking off his glasses and rubbing his eyes. They were bloodshot from too much research and too little sleep. "I... wish he weren't, Willow -- for Buffy's sake, at least. I know she is fond of Angel and she.... Well, he has, perhaps, given her reason to be. As he has given you, I gather?" Willow blushed under his entirely-too-perceptive gaze, looking back down at her book. "But he *is* a vampire, and Buffy's emotions, like yours, may be clouding her judgment. A Slayerer cannot afford that luxury, nor can a Watcher. We must assume Angel is like the rest of his kind." "So all vampires are alike?" Willow persisted. "They're all the same?" "No, of course not," Giles said with more than a little exasperation. "They are individuals, but individual demons. And they are all evil." "How can you be sure?" Willow asked in a tiny voice, without looking up from her book. "How can you *know*?" It took Giles a long time to answer. "Because I *must* know," he said finally, turning his glasses over in his hands as if seeing them for the first time. "Because to assume otherwise, against all evidence to the contrary, would be risking the Slayer on nothing more than wishful thinking. And because I would far rather it was Buffy's heart that was broken than Buffy herself." Willow couldn't really think of anything to say to that. He was right, after all. Fortunately, Buffy and Xander chose that moment to come into the library, Xander talking a blue streak about nothing in particular in a transparent attempt to distract Buffy, who, judging by the far-off look on her face, wasn't distracting. "Any luck?" she came out of it enough to ask Giles. "None to speak of," he answered quickly, putting his glasses back on as if to hide any emotions he might be feeling. "Although I may have thought of a new approach. If you will begin looking through the pile by Willow...." He handed Xander a heavy volume before Xander could figure a way to wriggle out of having to actually read, and Buffy began leafing through another book by herself as Giles headed for the stacks. Not that it was going to do much good; she was looking at the pages, but not really focusing. Willow tried to think of words to comfort her friend, but what could she say? 'Gee, I'm sorry your boyfriend turned out to be a vampire?' She pulled a Giles and buried herself in her research, instead. ***** "Here's something at last," Giles announced barely half an hour later. Willow restrained a giggle as Xander jumped in surprise; at least the guys were scaring each other now, instead of her and Buffy. "Can you please warn us before you do that?" Xander asked the Watcher edgily. Giles ignored him. "There's nothing about Angel in the texts, but it suddenly occured to me that it's been ages since I read the diaries of any of the Watchers before me." "That must have been so embarrassing," Willow thought out loud, still dwelling on the romance of it all. "When you thought he had read your diary, but then it turned out he hadn't, but then he felt the same way..." Her voice trailed off as she realized what she was saying and looked up guiltily. Giles looked impatient, Xander looked... unhappy. "I'm listening," she finished in a very small voice. Giles went back to his book. "There's a mention some 200 years ago in Ireland of Angelus, 'one with the angelic face'." "They got that right," Buffy muttered. Xander coughed, and everyone looked at him. "I'm not saying anything," he said defensively. "I have nothing to say." Giles shook his head and got back to business. "Does, ah, Angel have a tattoo behind his right shoulder?" Buffy frowned thoughtfully. "Yeah, it's a bird or something." "*Now* I'm saying something," Xander blurted. "You saw him naked?" Everyone ignored him this time. Willow could have told him how Buffy had bandaged Angel's ribs after he'd been injured (since she'd been told the story in repeated, moment-by-moment playback), but it was more fun to let him stew. "So Angel's been around for a while," she said instead. Giles considered. "Not long for a vampire; 240 years or so." "240." Buffy shook her head ruefully. "Well, he said he was older." "Angelus leaves Ireland," Giles continued as he sat down, having apparently decided to ignore all side comments, "and wreaks havok in Europe for, well, several decades. Then, about eighty years ago, a most curious thing happens." Giles paged ahead in the diary, searching for something. When he found it, he continued, "He comes to America, shuns other vampires, and lives alone. There's... no record of him hunting here." And Giles sounded really puzzled by that. "So, he *is* a good vampire," Willow blurted, unable to stop herself. Buffy looked so unhappy, any hope was a Good Thing. "I mean, on a scale of one to ten, with ten being someone one's maiming and killing, and one being someone who's, um--" Words failed her. "--not." "As I said, there's no record," Giles confirmed dubiously. "But vampires hunt and kill; it's what they do." "Fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly," Xander said. "He could have fed on me," Buffy pointed out. "He didn't." "Question," Xander said grimly. Willow would have been proud of his concentration and clear thinking if she hadn't been so very suspicious of his motives. "A hundred years or so before he came to our shores -- what was he like then?" Giles took his glasses back off, as if to make it easier to look Buffy in the eyes. "Well, like all of them. A vicious, violent animal." Buffy swallowed, her eyes wide and haunted. Willow bit her lip, fighting back her own sinking heart. Those words didn't seem to apply to Angel, didn't fit with what she'd seen in his dark, lonely eyes. Vicious? Animal? It just felt so *wrong*. - --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Perri I *am* the Buffy Evangalist! NatPacker-*-Horsechick-*-Pretender-*-Cohenhead-*-DDEB2-*-AGA-*-SunS-*-CoJ "I'm putting a collar with a little bell on that guy." -- Xander ------------------------------ End of buffyfic Digest V1 #37 ***************************** To subscribe to buffyfic Digest, send the command: subscribe buffyfic-digest in the body of a message to "majordomo@xmission.com". 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