The next morning, as Willow entered the library, she was forced to endure the whistles and cheers of her grinning friends. Blushing furiously, she sat down in one of the library chairs and tried to look inconspicuous.
"Well, well," Xander smirked. "You mean you managed to make it to school today? Angel must not be as...skilled as we all thought."
"Xander!" Willow exclaimed.
"Look at the bags under her eyes, Xand," Buffy added evilly. "Does it look like she got much sleep?"
"Why is this conversation occurring?" Willow asked desperately. "Is it anyone's business?"
"Yes," Xander responded immediately.
"Oh, Willow, remember my relationship with Angel? Everyone not only knew about all the intimate details of our relationship, but brought them up as often as possible. Actually, I think it was Mr. Harris who derived the most joy from mentioning them again and again." She gave him the evil eye while he shrugged innocently.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"How many times did you forbid me to 'give him a happy', or 'get pelvic' with Angel?"
"Well, I guess that's Willow's department now."
"Xander! Angel and I did NOT sleep together!" Willow hissed.
Perhaps it was the Hellmouth's twisted sense of humor, or perhaps it was simply coincidence. Of course, the Slayer didn't believe in coincidence, so it was more likely the first. In any case, Giles and Whistler came out of the office just in time to hear Willow's announcement. Buffy couldn't do anything but laugh helplessly as Willow dropped her head to the table in embarrassment. "I used to think I had friends..." her muffled voice came from somewhere in the crook of her arm.
Giles rolled his eyes as Buffy and Xander dissolved into giggles. Whistler, however, was more direct. "Why not?"
Xander snorted at his question, while Buffy patted him on the back as he tried to find his misplaced breath. Willow slowly raised her head to give Whistler a look that consisted of horror, humiliation and more than a little incredulity. "What do you mean, why not?"
"Yeah, what exactly do you mean? I seem to remember you lecturing me about making Angel lose his soul, telling me that 'nobody saw me coming'," Buffy pointed out.
It's entirely possible that Xander made some comment along the lines of 'I bet Angel did', but the punch Buffy gave his still sore arm is one of the reasons he will never admit to it. Regardless, most of the room's inhabitants were focused on Whistler as he shook his head wearily. "I don't believe this. Communication is key, here. But no one ever listens, or even pretends to. You think Angel's curse was a pain? Try living with the one I got stuck with."
"That would be?" Buffy prompted.
"Nobody understands me. I told Angel that, the night I met him. So, that would mean even he doesn't remember. Anyway, are you telling me nobody told you about the curse?"
"Anyone else wanna join me in a duh?" Xander asked. "Hello, curse turned our lives into living hell, I think we know about it."
"Thanks, kid. Of course, since that wasn't what I was asking, let's try again. No one has told you about the current state of the curse?" Off everyone's blank looks, Whistler deduced that they had not heard anything new. "Great. Just fantastic. Well, let's see if I can boil it down for you. The First brought Angel back from Hell, but you have to know about that, right? Right. Okay. So, The First was pulling that whole Ebenezer Scrooge thing on him, but it wasn't working because he really loved Buffy too much to hurt her. So he's fighting all the influence of this incredibly strong power of evil, and let me tell you, when that happens, someone's bound to take notice. I can't explain much about where I come from or whose orders I follow, but it's the same sort of folks that made me find Angel the first time, three years ago. Well, my superiors are not, to put it lightly, overly fond of The First. They see this poor vamp with a soul holding his own against big bad evil, they decide he's gonna get another shot at redemption. Before you know it, Sunnydale is having it's first blizzard ever. But that's not all."
"It's not?" Buffy asked in surprise.
"No. Snow may have saved his life, but it wouldn't do him much good in the long run. It was more of a snow/soul double feature."
"Soul?" Willow echoed.
"Oh yeah. That tortured humanity is stuck to him with spiritual superglue. Are you sure no one told you? I swear, if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself." Muttering about the incompetency of bureaucracy, Whistler picked up his jacket. He put his hand on Buffy's shoulder, giving her a reassuring squeeze. "Sorry, kiddo. I knew how much it would have meant to you. That's why I tried to get you the message."
Rousing herself from her daze, Buffy tried to muster a smile. "No, it's okay. It would be nice to blame you, but not really fair. Although you should probably get some distance between us before I change my mind."
"Will do. And you should know-- Angel's not the only one they've noticed. You never let anything stop you either, and that's something they respect."
"If we ignore the three months when I was missing in action?" she asked ruefully.
"You were still fighting demons. They just happened to be inside you, that's all. And you still won." With a surprisingly gentle smile, he placed his hat on his head. "Keep up the good work, all of you. Maybe I'll come back for a visit sometime." As he reached the library doors, he turned for one moment. "As for you, Willow..." he stared at her for a moment, making her extremely uncomfortable.
"Yes?" she asked finally.
"You're lucky." With a final grin, Whistler exited the library. No one had the chance to discuss what he had said as the bell rang and they all filed out to get to class.
****
Later that day, Xander found Buffy sitting on a bench outside the school. Her shoulders were slumped and her eyes unseeing, and he couldn't help but wince. Buffy had always depended somewhat on bravado, and although it had occasionally halted Armageddon, it was never truthful. Sitting beside her, he put an arm around her shoulders.
"Oh, hey Xand," she said, smiling brightly. "What a day, huh? Guess all our arguments about the possibility of Angel losing his soul were pretty much moot. In fact-"
"Buffy," he interrupted her softly. "You don't need to."
Slowly the smile faded, and her eyes filled with tears. Pulling her into a hug, Xander didn't say anything as he rubbed her back.
"He- he didn't-"
"I know. I'm sorry."
She gulped, trying to stop crying. "I always..."
"You did."
Buffy gave a watery chuckle into the crook of his neck. "You sound like Oz."
"Okay." She could hear the smile in his voice, and she clutched at him tightly.
"Thank you, Xander."
"One of these days, Buffy, you're going to be happy because you really are happy. You won't have to pretend for your friends or your mom or your sanity. You'll just be happy. Of course, a good part of it will be the joy of my company, but you'll be happy."
Pulling away, she wiped her streaming eyes. "I hope so."
"In fact, we'll all be happy. And we'll have souls aplenty."
"Sounds like...soup or something," Buffy commented.
"Eww, demon soup, maybe. And speaking of food, how about I make you eat some? C'mon girl, can't have you wasting away to nothing."
"After the amount of chocolate delicacies I consumed last night, I don't think that will be a problem. Hey, I had a dream about chocolate last night. At first it was like Willy Wonka's factory, but then there were all these vampires, but they didn't want any blood. They just kept singing that Oompa Loompa song, and then one of the Oompa Loompas came over and it was Snyder, and he started kicking my shins..." Together, they headed inside.