Angel watched the man sitting at the desk with interest.

 

He was torn by the desire to see the man suffer. This man had been his best friend, knew the most intimate details of his life… had been so trusted that Angel had never imagined that the ex-Watcher would betray him.

 

And then he had.

 

Logically he understood that Wesley thought that he was protecting Connor at the time, but his heart couldn’t understand why Wesley had thought he would ever have hurt his own son.

 

He would have sent Connor away before he would have injured a hair on that innocent child’s head.

 

Of course fear for the child’s welfare, fear that Angel didn’t have his demon as firmly under control had most likely driven his friend to do what he thought best… and got his throat slit and Connor kidnapped into a demon dimension for his efforts.

 

Since he had been in this house, since he had found out the truth he’d had no time to talk to the man that had once been his best friend.

 

Or maybe he had put it deliberately off hoping that he wouldn’t have to actually speak to him.

 

He’d thought Wesley Wyndham-Pryce dead… killed in a freak fire that had demolished most of his apartment building and it had only been in the past few weeks that he and Cordelia had been given access to the police records for that fire.

 

They had discovered that the fire had been deliberately set… they had found out that the no body had been found within the carnage left behind. Just bones… that of course couldn’t be Wesley’s, there had been no hope of positively identifying them as Wesley’s.

 

The only reason that the coroner had listed them as Wesley was because it had been his apartment… and the ex-watcher had seemingly vanished.

 

But to find out that his death had been faked, a false-hood created by the powers to keep his friends… his family from finding out the truth had been something of a shock.

 

He was still in shock.

 

“You can come in Angel you don’t need to lurk behind the door,” Wesley called.

 

As Angel entered the room he was once more struck by the fact that the man sitting behind the desk did not know him. There was not a hint of recognition as Wesley stood, motioning for him to sit in the chair before the desk.

 

“I imagine you’re here to ask what I intend to do about Buffy?”

 

“Probably had quite a few people in here already insisting that she needed to be removed from this next job that you guys are planning.”

 

“You could say that,” Wes grinned ruefully. “Had a quite agitated Mr. Giles in here quite adamantly telling me that I should forbid Buffy to go… that her sister and family needed her here… no one has quite realized that poor Colin is in the same boat as Buffy at the moment.”

 

“She has a lot of friends… family,” Angel stated by way of explanation.

 

“Yes I can see that…”

 

“But you’re still not going to stop her from going.”

 

“You know her… supposedly better than anyone… do you really think that I, that anyone could keep her from going? Besides… your seers’ vision didn’t actually show Buffy or Colin being killed…”

 

“No but it showed them being captured… together…”

 

“I saw Buffy and Colin being crushed under a cavalcade of demons. Saw Colin strapped to a table, screaming… Buffy crying, begging the heavens for help.”

 

Angel could hear Cordy’s voice ringing in his ears… almost as if she was standing over his shoulder repeating the vision for the hundredth time to him.

 

“I saw you struggling to breathe.”

 

The last had served to remind Angel of his own dream, his own vision. The one that’d had him standing above a demon camp, human, with a very live Xander at his side… he would have known even without his dream self screaming her name that Buffy had been the one in that prison camp.

 

If Buffy was captured would that dream, that nightmare come true?

 

Would he become human only to have the person that he wanted to be human for stripped away for him?

 

What was the point of being human if Buffy wasn’t there to share it with him?

 

But that also led him to wonder if Xander wasn’t indeed alive somewhere…he hadn’t voiced that thought to anyone save Giles. For one he didn’t want to get Cordy’s hopes up and the other was he didn’t want to be staked for being insane.

 

“I don’t anything could make Buffy decide not to go once she has it in her head to do so,” Wesley’s voice interrupted Angel’s musings.

 

“No… but if it means saving her life…”

 

“If Buffy asked me to remove her from the mission I would of course do so… Colin as well. Every warrior has the right to refuse to join the battle… but I can’t forbid her to go, I wouldn’t want to.”

 

Angel cocked his head to one side and studied the man before him. This was most definitely not the Wesley that he remembered. The semi-quiet, bumbling ex-Watcher that had been his friend was no more, in his place was a man that Angel couldn’t even recognize.

 

Wesley had found his place, his niche in the world finally.

 

And all he’d had to do to make it happen was die. Casting aside his friends and family and embracing a new one he’d found another home...

 

The warriors here considered him one of their own, Buffy who had at one time considered him nothing more than an ill-advised attempt by the Watcher’s Council to replace Gile’s actually listened to him.

 

Took his advice.

 

At one time she would have laughed in his face and done whatever she pleased.

 

“I know that we used to be… friends, acquaintances of some kind before…” Wesley was saying as Angel forced himself to listen.

 

“Yes we were. How…? Did your memories come back as well?”

 

“Oh no,” he laughed. “Buffy and I were aware when we were called, even without our memories that we had at one time worked together. She couldn’t stand me and I thought her nothing more than a spoiled child.”

 

Angel frowned as he leaned back further in his chair, hands tapping out a rhythm on the sides. “But you two seem to work so well together… I mean she actually listens to you.”

 

“Didn’t always used to be that way… she thought me incompetent. Of course we worked through our differences, but it was a slow time coming,” Wes glanced down at the papers on his desk. Battle plans, building schematics… he was doing everything within his power to make sure his team, all the teams had the best possible information. “I know that you don’t want anything to happen to her. I don’t either… but if I pull her from this mission without her go ahead, without her asking me to she’ll never forgive me… and I don’t think she’ll forgive you either.”

 

Looking back up he focused his entire attention on the vampire before him. “Let her do what she needs to do Angel, this is her life now, our life now… and nothing anybody says is going to change that.”

 

**************************************************************************************

 

Damon watched with a small measure of amusement as Buffy stood at her dresser, a black duffel bag at her feet she was currently muttering to herself as she shoved the contents of what looked like her underwear drawer into it.

 

“Babe?” he queried with raised eyebrows, brows raising even more as she turned towards him a vicious expression on her face. Gesturing towards the bag, his hands in a defensive position grinned. “Planning on fighting in your underwear? Cause as much as I think we would all enjoy that I thought that you had some modesty left.”

 

“Well someone has to have some… you obviously checked yours at the door on your way in… and what the hell are you talking about anyway?”

 

“You just emptied your entire collection of lingerie into that bag… did the dress code change and someone forgot to tell me?”

 

Buffy stared at him in confusion before glancing down at her bag, her frown deepening. “Fuck,” she muttered as she picked the bag up and dumped the contents back into the drawer.

 

“Are you here to tell me to run away to?” she asked as she dropped the bag at her feet once more.

 

 With a knowing smile he walked into the room.

 

Obviously someone had already voiced their opinion to her. And she had not taken to kindly to the suggestion.

 

“Not run away,” he shook his head as he stood before her. “Just remove yourself from the situation.”

 

“Sounds suspiciously like running away to me,” she muttered under her breath as she crossed her arms over her chest. “What did Colin say when you told him to ‘remove himself from the situation’?”

 

“He told me that the only way he wouldn’t be on the transport was if he was ordered by Wes to stay off it… then told me to go fuck myself he had packing to do.”

 

“Well than that settles it… if Colin’s going I’m going.”

 

“Buffy…”

 

“Look you came, you told me your opinion…” she turned back to the dresser.

 

“We don’t want anything to happen to you guys.”

 

“And you think that we do?!” she whirled on him again. It was only then that Damon noticed that her hands were shaking. From fear, from agitation he wasn’t sure. “The thought of those… things touching me at all makes me want to throw up… but they have people just like us there.”

 

“Hunters, Slayers, Warriors… they’re us Damon. They’re fighters just like us, their only crime being that they’re not fighting on the other side. That could have been us. We could have been there instead of here… We could have been shackled, starved, beaten… instead we’ve been well-taken care of, clothed, fed… doing exactly what we were doing before we were called for Indaran… fighting. They haven’t even had that chance,” she cried, tears streaming down her face.

 

He drew a deep breath, he could remember the video. Could remember the sound of every blow that one of those prisoners had taken. He didn’t want Buffy and Colin in that place.

 

The idea of one of them in the same position as those they had seen made his stomach roll.

 

“Buffy…” he moved forward touching her shoulders gently he stared down at her. Pulling her into his arms he rocked her gently.

 

“I don’t want to die,” she sobbed into his shoulder. “But we can’t leave them there… promise me though.”

 

“Anything you know it.”

 

“If it does happen… if Colin and I…”

 

“You won’t be…”

 

“You can’t guarantee that,” she pulled away staring intently tat him. “Promise me that if it does happen that you’ll find a way out for us.”

 

“We’ll be planning it the moment…”

 

“We’ll all be planning a rescue if you’re taken,” Angel interrupted from the door. Buffy smiled at him, wiping at her tears as Damon turned. For a long moment the two males stared at each other and with identical nods they understood each other.

 

Until death they would both fight to keep Buffy alive.

 

**************************************************************************************

 

Buffy twisted her head slightly to glance over at the sleeping vampire at her side.

 

She unfortunately was no asleep. Her busy mind was intent on running battle plans and other scenarios. Running through the possible ways that she and Colin could be taken and trying to find alternative battle procedures that wouldn’t have them fighting together.

 

Cordy had seen them falling together, side by side.

 

So maybe if they were just not side by side during the ensuing fight it would eliminate the capture scenario.

 

She knew that was a long shot. She knew running any battle plans through her mind and coming up with alternatives was a long shot… in the heat of battle things happened. Even if Colin wasn’t scheduled to fight by her side, even if he was partnered with someone else something might happen that would cause them to be on the defensive together.

 

Reaching out a shaking hand, which she only paused to glare at momentarily, she stroked Angel’s cheek, a light purr emanating from his chest at her touch. Smiling she pressed a kiss to his cheek and slowly slid out of the bed.

 

As she slipped into her slippers she couldn’t keep herself from continuing to smile down at him.

 

He was hers once again… all hers.

 

**************************************************************************************

 

“Wesley,” Buffy slowly walked into her Watchers office, as she closed the door softly behind her, glancing around the room to make sure Jade wasn’t ensconced in one of the corners she walked to his desk.

 

“She’s in bed, asleep,” Wes said with a pointed expression that indicated that he felt she should be there as well.

 

“I wanted to run an idea by you…” she started. “I know it’s almost virtually impossible but…”

 

**************************************************************************************

 

To Angel it seemed as if the night had literally flown by.

 

One minute he was snuggling with Buffy in her rather large for one person bed and the next he’d been woken by the sound of his mate arguing in hushed tones in the hall with Damon.

 

And while he couldn’t quite make out what they were arguing about he figured that gist of it had to be the male Warrior making one more last ditch effort to convince Buffy and/or Colin to change their minds.

 

To stay back at the nifty warrior compound that they’d arrived at a few hours later and wait for their comrade in arms to return with the prisoners.

 

Of course Buffy had refused so now Angel was standing with a stoic expression in the second level observation room watching the proceedings with a detachment that he hadn’t felt in a long time.

 

Standing beside him Connor was a fidgeting with nervous energy, next to him Dawn was gnawing on her fingernails.

 

“Can’t believe you didn’t talk ‘er out of it Peaches,” Spike’s voice broke through the air of solitude that he’d erected around himself and he shot a glare at his ensouled counterpart

 

“What would you propose I do Spike? Chain her to her bed until it was over?”

 

“Whatever works for ya Peaches.”

 

“She’d never forgive me.”

 

“But at least the chit would be alive.”

 

“She’s not going to die,” Connor stated emphatically from the other side of him.

 

“Whatever you say kid,” Spike muttered. “When was the last time the cheerleader had a vision that didn’t come true if the lot of you weren’t in time to stop it.”

 

“Still doesn’t mean that she’s going to die.”

 

Angel tuned out the bickering happening around him and refocused his attention on the room below them.

 

He hadn’t felt a buzz like the one he was currently feeling in a long time. The one that indicated that he was in the presence of Slayers or Demon Hunters.

 

But as he stood there watching his skin was fairly crawling with the sensation, fifty of the best and brightest were assembled down there.

 

His mate.

 

His Buffy one of them. He could see her talking in with Jade, pressing every so often on the ear he knew contained a mini microphone.

 

“Is it my imagination or does our hope for the future look like they should all be back in high school?” Gunn mused as his eyes flitted around the room.

 

“Most Slayers and Hunters are called young,” Angel stated absently. “Most don’t live as long as half of these have,” he murmured before returning his gaze to those below them.

 

They did look young… innocent… even though most of them probably had lost that innocence upon battling their first demon.

 

Behind him he could hear the steady hum of the computers. Wesley’s cool voice running through a checklist of procedures, he hadn’t even realized that he’d drowned them out until he saw the Warriors below forming a circle.

 

Jade and four other witches within the circle he caught Buffy’s eye as she smiled softly at him, winking before she turned to face away from him.

 

“All teams report in and verify status,” he heard Wesley’s calm voice from behind him.

 

“Alpha team present and accounted for, status is go,” Buffy’s voice came across the radio. Sweet and cool as Angel trained his eyes on the back of her head.

 

Beside him Connor and Dawn were clutching hands now, Spike had his hands pressed against the glass as he watched intently.

 

“Beta team present and accounted for, status is go,” Brendan’s voice rang out from behind him.

 

Beta team was staying behind, as was usual for fights like this Buffy had assured him, manning radios and other computer equipment.

 

Various team Watchers ran those left unmanned, other Watchers would fly the helicopters that would deliver the Warriors safely to their destination… then fly them and the hopefully free prisoners back again, where the witches would once more cast a teleportation spell to bring them to the safety of the compound.

 

All hopefully to be accomplished in less than two hours.

 

And without losing either Buffy or Colin in battle.

 

As the teams continued their check ins, team leaders voices ringing loud and clear through the radio Angel watched the witches below set up the teleportation spell.

 

He remembered vaguely Willow and Giles talking about her magical addiction, that she’d been bound from using all but a tiny fraction of what her true power had been.

 

He had to wonder how these witches kept from facing the same problem… how did they keep themselves from crossing the line from white magic to black magic?

 

“It’s a constant battle,” a voice behind him stated. Moving between him and Spike a brown-haired young woman, Carmen watched the scene taking place.

 

“What?”

 

“You wondered how they kept from crossing the line between white magic and black magic,” Carmen shrugged oblivious to the fact that both vampires were staring at her. “It’s a constant battle, but they have positive reinforcers… they have people that ground them, knock them down when they’re rising above themselves…”

 

“How’d you…?” Angel sputtered eyes wide as he stared at her warily.

 

“Most witches are psychic to some degree.”

 

“Why are you here instead of down there?” Spike asked with narrowed eyes. “If you’re a witch shouldn’t you be workin’ the teleport spell with the lot of them?”

 

“Carmen is the anchor,” Brendan piped in from his position behind them. “The witches will use her to return back here.”

 

“Oh…”

 

“All teams standby,” Wes stated turning to the male warrior. “Brendan.”

 

With a sly grin Brendan pressed a button on the small box attached to the loop of his belt. “Warriors standby… teleport team please proceed with spell.”

 

**************************************************************************************

 

Buffy drew a deep breath as she clutched tightly to Colin and Damon’s hands. She wanted to turn around, take one last look at Angel and Dawn and Connor, her friends, her family but she didn’t.

 

She knew that if she looked up into that room above them that she would back out of the circle and she knew, without a doubt that if she did that this something would go horribly wrong with the mission.

 

She hadn’t even tried to explain the feeling of dread that she knew Colin felt just as sharply as she did to anyone… not even to Angel.

 

Staring resolutely at the back of Jade’s head she felt the beating of wind against her face and body, buffeting her even as she stood strong within the circle.

 

The five witches within the circle joined hands, voices raised as they cast the spell, white light circling around them, circling around the entire group and with a flash they were gone.

 

**************************************************************************************

 

“Status?” Wesley asked quietly his eyes never wavering from the monitor in front of him.

 

Angel slowly turned.

 

He’d known it was a teleportation spell, had thought he’d been prepared for the spell but a part of him had hoped that Buffy would withdraw from the circle before it’s casting could be completed.

 

Obviously he’d been wrong on that score.

 

In the room that the Warriors had stood now there was nothing but an achingly silent emptiness. Reaching along the line that connected him to Buffy he sought her out.

 

Trying to prove once more both to the soul and the demon that she was indeed alive.

 

On the other end of the bond he could feel her humming in readiness.

 

Ready for battle… ready to come home and she’d only just left.

 

“Warriors are on point, copters are ready and standing by,” Brendan stated.

 

“Proceed.”

 

**************************************************************************************

 

“What are you doing?” Riley narrowed his eyes at Xander in confusion. The other man was staring at the door, his entire being taut with anticipation as he waited.

 

“Something’s…” Xander started, walking to the door he touched it, on tiptoes he peered out into the inky blackness of the hall on the other side of that door.

 

“Something what?” Riley asked curiously pushing himself to his feet he let the blanket that he’d wrapped firmly around himself in an effort to block out the coldness of the cell to the ground. Walking slowly to Xander’s side he to peered out the small grated window at the top of the door. “What are we looking at?”

 

“You don’t feel it?”

 

“Feel what? I feel cold, wet… my back hurts like hell from sitting on the concrete and I’m starving… am I supposed to feel something else?”

 

Xander spared a glare at the other man before he resumed his position at the door, just as suddenly backing away eyes wide. Grabbing Riley’s arm he dragged him alongside him, Riley biting back a groan of protest as he felt the nails on Xander’s hand dig into his arm.

 

For a half-starved, supposedly dead Zeppo he was amazingly strong.

 

Hiding them in the darkness of the shadows Xander released Riley’s arm as he sank to the ground. Riley staring down at him in confusion as he rubbed his arm.

 

He would definitely have bruises in the morning.

 

“Xander what…?” he never even got the question out as the door slowly opened, a small figure sliding into the room from the hall. Riley backed against the wall, cursing himself for his size as he tried to slide into a crevice in the wall to hide himself.

 

The black clad figure slowly moved towards them and Riley’s eyes widened as he recognized another ghost.

 

“Buffy…” he breathed as the Warrior approached them.

 

He never thought he’d see her again once he was released from the compound. From the harsh indrawn breath that he heard emit from Xander he realized that the other man had thought the Slayer dead.

 

And was only now realizing that she wasn’t. Riley reached out to touch her, drawing his hand back as he realized that her gaze was intent on the male huddling in a ball on the floor, banging his head against his knees muttering incoherently as he did so.

 

He saw Buffy’s eyes widen in shock as she took in the dirty, gaunt remains of one of her best-friends.

 

“Xander?” the sound of her voice caused him to freeze.

 

“You’re not real,” Xander stated. “Not real.”

 

Buffy sank to her feet before him, not even sparing a glance at Riley as she reached out a shaking hand to touch his cheek.

 

Suddenly it all made so much sense.

 

“Yes I am,” she said softly. “And I’m going to get you out of here.”

 

**************************************************************************************

 

Angel paced the room like a caged lion intent on escaping.

 

Something was wrong he was sure of it. Even though they hadn’t said anything, even though all teams were reporting little to no resistance in their assault on the prison he could feel something out of place.

 

Dawn and Connor were sitting side by side across the room. Their backs pressed against the glass that they had watched the Warriors disappear from behind. Their gazes’ intent on the monitors lining the wall before them… as if they could see and therefore protect Buffy if something happened.

 

Brendan had shut the incoming speakers off as soon as he realized that every time a Warrior or Watcher checked  in it only made the small group left behind even more agitated.

 

Angel particularly.

 

“Angel why don’t you have a drink?” Cordy offered holding her half full glass up. “Maybe it’ll calm you down.”

 

“You think drinking is going to calm me down?” he asked incredulously.

 

“Couldn’t hurt peaches,” Spike muttered. “You’re pacin’ a damn hole in the carpet.”

 

“I’m just a little worried Spike… do you want to make something of it?” Angel growled. Here would be a perfect way for him to vent his frustration, at his weakness.

 

Pounding the crap out of Spike had always had a way of making him feel better.

 

“Spike do be quiet,” Giles sighed. “some of us…” the sound of Brendan’s voice rising cut him off.

 

“A2 what is your location?”

 

**************************************************************************************

 

“I’m enroute to A1,” Damon said soundlessly. Halting at a corridor he ventured a quick look around it before proceeding. “Why?”

 

“Silent alarms have been sounded, they know you’re there… all teams extricate now,” Brendan ordered.

 

“Copy.”

 

Damon moved briskly down the corridor, his eyes having no problem adjusting to the darkness. All around him he could see Warriors moving quickly, followed by the newly released prisoners… none of them could fight he had found. Most of them were so weak from starvation and inactivity that they could barely stand unaided.

 

“Buffy?” he called soundlessly at the door to the cell he knew was on her checklist.

 

He could see her in the back of the cell, crouched before a still figure, a familiar man standing over them his hands hanging at his sides uselessly.

 

Finn he grumbled to himself. “Didn’t we just rescue you?” he asked pointedly as he neared them. The figure on the floor let a sharp laugh loose and Damon stopped behind Buffy.

 

“We need to go… silent alarms are going off.”

 

“I heard,” Buffy murmured. Turning she stared up at him and Damon was struck by the hopefulness that he saw in them.

 

He didn’t think he’d see that look after Cordy had voiced the scenes displayed in her last vision.

 

But now…

 

“I can’t carry him,” Buffy was saying when he realized that she was talking once more and focused his attention on her.

 

“I don’t need anyone to carry me,” the still mass muttered.

 

Buffy rolled her eyes as she looked up at him imploringly.

 

“I got it,” Damon shrugged. “You’ll have to take point,” he said as she kneeled, one arm around the man’s shoulder and he easily lifted him to his feet.

 

“Not a problem…” Buffy smirked at him. “I’m feeling the need for some serious payback at the moment.”

 

Damon shrugged as the group moved quickly to the door, only pausing for a moment before they spilled into the hall.

 

“Command we’re moving to exit points… standby…”

 

**************************************************************************************

 

“Willow are you alright?” Giles asked quietly his eyes intent on the quiet redhead.

 

“Is it over yet?”

 

“They’ve just called for extrication; I’m assuming that means they’re withdrawing… just a little bit longer.”

 

“I don’t know why I’m so nervous,” Willow laughed nervously. “I mean Buffy’s gone off and fought stuff before and I’ve never been worried like this.”

 

“It’s understandable,” the Watcher kneeled in front of her. “You’re just getting used to the fact that she’s alive…”

 

“I was waiting for Cordy to say April Fools or something,” the former witch whispered. “I don’t understand why I feel like this… I mean she’s been dead for over a year, we’ve been dealing with her being dead for over a year… a couple of days and I’m a nervous wreck.”

 

“Willow,” Giles sighed patting her leg in a comforting. “It’s all been a bit much, maybe once they get back we can all sit down and talk about how we’re going to handle this.”

 

“She’s my best friend Giles,” she said softly. “Buffy was the Slayer and Xander and I were the Scooby’s and I thought it was going to be the three of us forever… You know we’d be naming each other our kids godparents,” tears leaked from her eyes as she focused on Giles. “But now Xander’s dead and Cordy’s having visions of Buffy dying for real this time and…”

 

“One day at a time Willow,” he said quietly his eyes full of quiet strength that he urged her to take from. “Just take it one day a time.”

 

**************************************************************************************

 

Damon kept one arm securely around the young mans shoulder… Xander he’d introduced himself and used the other to press the microphone in his ear.

 

“A2 and A1 in process of withdrawing… please advise of any obstructions.”

 

“You’ve a clear shot,” Brendan’s voice came loud and clear over the radio.

 

“Finn take a right here,” Damon said quietly, turning his head slightly he looked behind him where Buffy was bringing up the rear of their small caravan a worried frown on her face as she cast quick glances behind her. “Buff…” he started eyes widening as he what she was seeing. “Fuck… double time Finn,” he called, his voice ringing in the quiet hall as he gave up all pretense of hiding.

 

They’d been spotted after all.

 

Hazarding a glance over his shoulder, he was not checking on her progress, he wasn’t he told himself he skidded to a halt when he did not see Buffy behind him.

 

“No, no, no…” he muttered to himself as he fought to quell the rising sense of panic.

 

Colin wasn’t even in this area… Cordy had seen them falling together… this couldn’t be the vision.

 

“A1 this is A2 come in…” waiting only seconds, although it seemed as if hours had passed a sense of foreboding crept over him as there was only silence. “A1 this is A2 come in… Buffy answer me dammit,” he hissed.

 

“A2 what is your situation?” he heard Brendan’s calm how could he still be calm when the world was getting ready to end voice over the radio in his ear.

 

“I’ve lost her.”

 

**************************************************************************************

 

The entire room froze, Carmen turning to stare up at her team leader in shock as his movements stilled.

 

“Brendan…?” she started.

 

“Wes do we have a link into the cameras yet?” Brendan asked ignoring her.

 

“What happened?” Angel asked moving forward to stand beside him. He could feel the icy finger of fear creeping its way up his spine and for the first time in as many years as he could remember he prayed for his loves safety, for her life.

 

“Wes?”

 

Behind him Angel could feel Connor’s fear crawling over his skin, Dawn had gone pale, her face white as a sheet as she clung to her best friends hand.

 

Cordy had stood, entire body trembling, Willow shaking her head in denial as Giles put a comforting arm around both of their shoulders.

 

Spike had his back pressed to the glass, his eyes wide an expression of disbelief on his face… after all this time this was how it was going to end?

 

“I’ve got cameras,” Wes stated. “What sector were they in?”

 

“They were just coming out of 4, check there and pan out,” Brendan ordered.

 

Angel’s eyes glued themselves to the screens that Wesley was flitting past. “Got her… looks like she got cut off, doors are closing all around the facility…”

“A2 she has not been engaged… her exit route has been cut off she’s seeking an alternate exit route now… I’ll keep trying to get her on the radio keep moving.”

 

“Oh my god,” Wesley breathed. “What’s Colin doing there he’s supposed to be with Jade’s team.”

 

**************************************************************************************

 

“Damn doors are closing all over the place,” Colin grumbled as he caught sight of Buffy. “Where’s Damon?”

 

“Got cut off, door closed right in my face…”

 

“Ever have the feeling that it just wasn’t worth getting out of bed in the morning?”

 

“All the time Colin, all the freaking time,” Buffy muttered. “Your radio working?”

“Nope… have a feeling we should have listened to your vampires’ seer?”

 

“I’ve never listened to Cordy before why would I start now?” Buffy glanced over at him, shooting him a scowl when his hand shot out to stop her. “Wha…?” she started her eyes widening as they both halted. Eyes skittering down the hall she felt a sense of peace that she hadn’t felt in a long time.

 

So this was it then.

 

“So we’re thinking trap?” Colin murmured as his eyes surveyed the large amassed selection of demons in front of them… effectively blocking the exit they could clearly see.

 

“Oh yeah… they wouldn’t care about losing a bunch of uncalled Slayer, Warriors and a few Hunters if they could get their hands on two called Warriors.”

 

“Hey Buff… great working with ya.”

 

“You to,” she smiled softly at him. “Ready?”

 

“Yep.”

 

And with identical smirks they turned to their waiting captors and leapt…

 

**************************************************************************************

 

Carmen screamed, her body arching chair flying out from under her as she clutched at her stomach. Brendan’s hands clenched and unclenched as he bit back his own yell.

 

The pain vibrating through them as their counterparts took hit after hit.

 

Angel closed his eyes as he saw Buffy fighting for her life. The demon within him was howling at its confines. His face rippling between his human countenance and his vampiric visage.

 

He could feel the pain she was in, knew that she taken more hits then had been delivered even though on the screen she was like a whirlwind of energy, of fighting power.

 

“Do something!” Connor yelled frantically. He could clearly see the screen, could clearly see his mother battling for her life.

 

“Block it out Carmen,” Wes was kneeling by the fallen Warrior, the other four gasping for breath, trying to breath through the pain that seemed never-ending.

 

“A1, A4 this is command do you copy?” Brendan’s voice labored, a hint of fear could be heard.

 

And then silence, nothing heard but the sound of the Warriors panting breaths, the screen dark.

 

Angel fell to his knees his eyes locked on that black screen. Her name on the tip of his tongue.

 

“Buffy…”

 

**************************************************************************************

 

Angel stared at the dark monitor in front of him.

 

Moments ago it had held his last view of Buffy… and he certainly did not want seeing her falling in battle to be the last thing he remembered about her.

 

He should never have left her.

 

“I can stay for as long as you want.”

 

“How’s forever? Does forever work for you?”

 

He should never have left her.

 

The soul and the demon were in perfect accord with that thought.

 

They, neither of them, should have left her side. And now they were both insisting that he leap through that blackened screen and bring his mate back home where she belonged.

 

With him and their son and Dawn.

 

Of course logically he knew they couldn’t do that. That they were at that very moment powerless to intercede.

 

So he sat there, unmoving and closed his eyes.

 

He could still feel her… from their bond, as weak as it was at that very moment, he felt fear, pain… anguish.

 

“Anything?” Wesley murmured from where he was still kneeling by Carmen’s side.

 

Angel opened his eyes glancing up at Brendan who was still attempting to regain contact with the Buffy and Colin. Just noticing the beads of sweat that were gathering on his brow, curiously he glanced around the room and found that all five warriors looked as if they were running high grade fevers.

 

Confusion ran rampant as he took in the flushed faces, sweat… Brendan’s hands were shaking as he typed and he could scent fear in the room.

 

“Nothing,” Brendan muttered. “I’m sending signals to their radios and the system says that they’re picking it up but….”

 

“But they’re still working yes…” Wes pressed as he helped Carmen back into the chair that Spike had set right for her.

 

“Yeah they’re still working… but it’s like the signal I’m sending to them is hitting a wall.”

 

“Keep trying…”

 

“I hate to say this but,” Giles started, leaving Cordy and Willow side by side he moved forward to stand next to the still obviously shell-shocked vampire. “They could be dead.”

 

“No!” Angel stated vehemently, eying the Warriors in surprise when his vehement ‘No’ was echoed by the five of them.

 

“I’m just…”

 

“Trust me Mr. Giles… if Brendan and the others say that Buffy and Colin are still alive then they are still alive.”

 

“How can you be sure though? I mean if the…”

 

“Have you ever heard of a Web Circle?” Carmen asked quietly, pressing a hand to her forehead she drew a deep breath as she stared up at the Watcher who was Buffy’s surrogate father.

 

“A Web Circle?” Giles’ eyes widened as his eyes darted between the five, Angel was almost positive that if he listened hard enough he would be able to actually hear the wheels turning in the Watchers head. “You mean to tell me that you cast a successful Web Circle?!” he asked incredulously.

 

“Why is that so surprising?” Carmen asked. “We have seven of the most powerful, brightest witches who ever lived…”

 

“It’s just… I’ve never heard of a successful circle…” Giles shook his head in wonder.

 

“Okay for those of us who are not you… does someone want to explain it what this Web Circle thingie is to the rest of us?” Cordy tapped her foot impatiently.

 

“It’s a bonding,” Wes started.

 

“Much like the one that Angel shares with Buffy, it allows the bondee’s to ‘feel’ each other for lack of a better word,” Giles continued.

 

“Why would you want to be joined that way during battle?” Willow murmured. “I’d think it would be detrimental to the health of the rest of the group if they could feel the pain that Buffy and Colin are in.”

 

“Once their battle shields are activated there’s a spell that keeps the bond from affecting them until such time as the battle shields are dropped… It’s one of the reasons we keep a team back, it helps us determine injuries and the like,” Wesley stated.

 

“So you can really feel her?” Angel asked with narrowed eyes. He didn’t think he liked having these Warriors share a bond with Buffy. The possessive part of him that he had never been able to firmly quell as well as the demon that he shared his body with were both ranting at having to share anything let alone a bond that was supposed to be only his with these people that quite possibly could have gotten his mate killed.

 

“It’s like a humming,” Brendan muttered. “They’re still within the web though… they’re both in pain… but they’re alive.”

 

“What about the others David?” Wes turned to another Warrior, one that was still manning his station, hands flying at a furious pace over his keyboard.

 

“They’re standing by at the original teleport location… The witches are trying to contact Buffy and Colin,” he glanced over his shoulder at Wesley wincing as he saw the Watchers expression. “They’re not having much luck… whatever’s blocking the radios is blocking them as well, they can’t crack through it just yet.”

 

“Tell them to hold for one hour, if they can’t get through to them by then they’re to make the port back here and we’ll start planning rescue operations immediately.”

 

“Copy.”

 

Wesley turned to Angel and focusing on the man who was once his best-friend and was now his loves Watcher Angel could see the debate waging behind his eyes.

 

Buffy and Colin were his family, his friends as loathe as Angel was to actually admit it to himself. He genuinely cared about them and he could tell that everything within the Watcher was screaming to rescue them immediately.

 

Consequences and protocol be damned.

 

**************************************************************************************

 

Xander sat huddled on the floor much like the rest of those rescued from the Prison camp.

 

He was weak, he was tired and he was about a half second away from being cranky.

 

Plus he’d not had a moment to think, a moment alone since they’d been rescued.

 

Glancing up he saw Riley standing over him like an overprotective guard dog. He knew even without Riley having told him that his wife was dead.  He could hear it in the tone of his voice when Xander had asked about her… that I really can’t talk about that right now tone.

 

He’d taken that tone a lot since realizing that he was still in love with Cordy, realizing that Anya was trying to kill Buffy and Willow to retaliate against him.

 

Riley was covering it well though, burying his sadness, his heartache under his furious anger at the fact that his demands that they go back immediately and rescue Buffy had seemingly fallen on deaf ears.

 

Xander had wanted to tell him that the Indaran could care less about his opinion, that from what he could see they were attempting to at least contact Buffy and the Warrior that had fallen with her… but he was to tired to make the effort.

 

Noticing Damon standing nearby he focused what little energy he had and spoke, waving a hand in the general direction of the circle. “Are they trying to contact them psychically?” He winced as his voice came out somewhat strangled and weak.

 

“Yeah… hopefully they’ll make contact soon so we can make sure they’re okay.”

 

“They won’t be able to get through that way.”

 

Damon turned to him slowly, his eyes narrowing as he focused on the man on the floor. Buffy had asked him to protect him… not in so many words, but her reactions, the words she had said had indicated the importance of Xander Harris.

 

“What do you mean?” he asked his voice coming out colder than he’d anticipated he realized as he watched Xander literally shrink in on himself.

 

The damage done to these Hunters, Warriors, Slayers was going to take months, maybe even years to repair.

 

“There’s…” Xander mumbled. “There’s a shield over the whole facility, you can’t break through it psychically… the only way…”

 

“The only way what?” Damon’s eyes widened as realization hit. “How did you get through it?” he asked, knowing without a doubt that he had and he thought he had a feeling he knew who he’d been contacting.

 

“The only way you can punch through is while you’re sleeping, during REM sleep normally…” glancing around the room, none of those that had been trapped with him would make eye contact, all eyes focused on the floor.

 

They’d been punished for figuring out how to break through, but that hadn’t stopped them from doing it. From contacting their friends and families. And their captors hadn’t been able to stop them from doing it.

 

Sleep was the one time they had no control over them.

 

“Some of us found a way to punch through while awake that’s how…”

 

“That’s how you got through to Buffy… at the Hyperion,” Jade said softly, Xander and Riley both jumping as they realized that she had left the circle and was now kneeling beside him.

 

“Yeah,” Xander muttered sheepishly.

 

“Why’d you do that?” she asked gently her hand a light presence on his shoulder, eyes boring into his, filled with sympathy, understanding… sadness.

 

“I’m a Hunter now,” he said bitterly. “That comes complete with the prophetic dreams and all that shit…” running a hand through his hair he cursed himself for being unable to keep his hand steady while he did so. “I don’t know how Buff handled them…”

 

“Because she had to… because she had a calling,” Jade smiled softly at him. “Just like you do.”

 

“Anything?” Damon asked drowning out Xander’s snort, ignoring Riley’s surprise at the revelation that Xander was a Hunter.

 

“No he’s right… we can’t break through the shield,” she shook her head standing gracefully. “We’ll try the sleepwalking them tonight.”

 

“Why don’t we just go back and rescue them now?” Riley asked angrily, fists clenched at his sides.

 

Jade just stared at him before calling over her shoulder, “Sylvia?”

“Yeah,” a small red head moved up beside her rubbing her head as she looked between Jade and the angry, tall sandy-haired man.

 

“Probability of success if we go back in now instead of waiting?”

 

“30% chance of success… we’ll lose at least seven more Warriors.”

 

“Thanks,” Jade smiled thinly at Riley. “We have to wait until the time is right, if we don’t then we end up losing more than we gain.”

 

“You’re just going to leave them there?!”

 

“We have no choice,” Damon sighed. “Set up the teleport spell.”

 

**************************************************************************************

 

“So are you going to sit ‘ere the entire time and brood?” Spike finally asked from the door.

 

He’d been standing there for a good ten minutes staring at his grandsire, waiting for some sort of reaction from the older vampire. But all Angel had done was sit on the edge of Buffy’s bed, head in his hands.

 

“Go away Spike,” Angel ordered quietly. “I’m not in the mood to deal with you right now.”

 

“Never are, are ya Peaches,” the blonde stated as he sauntered into the room. If Angel had looked up he would have seen the lack of Spike’s trademark smirk, the lack of his cocky swagger. He sauntered only because it was ingrained within his nature to do so.

 

“I told you to go away,” the elder vampire finally looked up and Spike was momentarily taken aback by the look of defeat in his grandsire’s eyes.

 

Even at his lowest Angelus had never looked that defeated.

 

“Now when ‘ave I ever listened to you before… hmm,” Spike took his time, lazily eyeing the room that had served as Buffy’s private sanctuary for the last year.

 

“You’ve no one here to impress boy, Buffy’s gone, Hallie’s still in LA… so why are you still here?”

 

“Why are you?”

 

“What? You know why I’m here… Buffy’s my…”

 

“Mate. Yeah, yeah we all know that,” Spike waved his hand. “Where were you then when the Slayer died? When she sacrificed ‘erself for Dawn… or better yet where were you then when Anyanka was killing the whelp, sticking a knife in the Slayer’s gut… oh that’s right you were sticking it to the cheerleader,” he sneered.

 

“You have no right,” Angel started slowly pushing himself to his feet and moving across the room.

 

“I have every right Angelus… You see I was there… I saw her plummet off a tower to ‘er death, and once I got this damn soul I answered prophecies in Sunnydale that were obviously meant for you, ones that would have had you fighting by ‘er side. She called you for help, needed help to deal with Demon girl and you were to busy to come… came after she was dead… again… but to busy to come when she and Harris were still alive and maybe you could ‘ave done something.”

 

“You know why we weren’t there.”

 

“Oh yes, the spell… that just makes everything better,” Spike muttered sarcastically. “Slayer may ‘ave forgiven you, may love you but she trusts me…”

 

“Trusts you?! You tried to rape her boy, don’t think I haven’t forgotten that.”

 

“Slayer and I worked through that; we were friends of a sort when she died, when we thought she ‘ad died… So as ‘er friend mate I’m going to give you a warning…”

 

“A warning…?” Angel laughed, he tried to hold it back but the sheer idea that his grandchilde was attempting to put him on notice broke through his restraint.

 

“You hurt the Slayer again… Grandsire or not… I will challenge you.”

 

“Challenge me?” Angel leaned forward his face directly in the line of Spike’s, eyes flashing golden as he stared directly into the younger vampires. “You don’t have the balls to challenge me.”

 

“What’s going on in here?” Dawn asked from the door her eyes flitting between the two vampires who were all but baring their teeth and snarling at each other. “You two aren’t going to start fighting are you? I’d hate to have to have Connor kick your butts.”

 

“Now Dawn…” Connor started only to be drowned out by Spike’s belligerent “That boy?!” and Angel’s laughing.

 

“Did you need something bit?” Spike asked a smirk working its way across his face at the expression of irritation of anger on Connors.

 

He didn’t think you even needed to be a vampire in order to hear the boys muttered, “I could kick both their asses if I wanted to.”

 

“Wesley wanted me to come and let you know that they’re porting in soon. He thought Angel might want to be there as they’ll be going right into rescue scenarios or something.”

 

“Thank you Dawn… tell Wesley that we’ll be right down,” Angel smiled reassuringly at her.

 

It had to be as hard for her as it was for Connor, Buffy had been raising the younger Summers since their mother had died, had stood in as sister, mother and father for almost two years before she had ‘died’ the last time.

 

**************************************************************************************

 

Cordy pressed her hands against the glass in the observation room. Behind her she could hear Giles quietly murmuring to Willow.

 

No doubt he was offering words of comfort to the ex-witch.

 

Angel had vanished to Buffy’s room as soon as it became apparent that instead of helping the Warriors in tracking their missing comrades he was in fact hindering them.

 

She idly wondered if anyone was offering words of comfort to the vampire and once more found herself wishing for Xander’s presence. Then mentally berated herself for continuing to think of him when he was dead and gone and thus not able to offer her a shoulder to lean on.

 

Buffy Summers and she had never been friends. In fact the last words that Cordy had ever spoken to the former Slayer had been ones telling her to stay away. That Angel and she had both moved on together.

 

Looking back now, even with her normally tact free mind the words seemed bitter, cruel and ugly. How could she and Angel have not known that they were under a spell?

 

Even at her worst Cordelia Chase had never been that violently cruel, had never tried to draw actual blood from her words.

 

But she had.

 

She knew that now, just like she knew that Xander had loved her as much as she still loved him. Willow and Dawn had confirmed it upon their original arrival to Sunnydale. Too late for the funerals but not to late for the self-recriminations.

 

Angel beat himself up as much as she beat herself up for not being there when they needed them.

 

Xander had forgiven her… at least her dream Xander had.

 

The one that came to her when she was sleeping whispering words of uncompromising love, of unconditional devotion. In her dreams he touched her with softness, mixed with passion… in her dreams he was alive, full of life and love for only her.

 

If only she could live her life within her dreams.

 

A quiet presence at her side let her know that Angel had arrived within the room, the steady hum of the computers and soft mutterings of the Warriors manning them filtered through her system. Angel touched her hand softly… support from her big brother, she wrapped her fingers around his and squeezed back, more support from his little sister.

 

“Are you okay?” she asked softly.

 

A sharp sound escaped from his lips and Cordy glanced over at him in surprise. “I’m so far from okay I don’t know how to even contemplate getting back there again.”

 

“She’s going to be fine,” she murmured reassuringly. “She’s Buffy you know… and she’s made it through worse things than this.”

 

“Worse than being captured by demons that had been holding various types of warriors and quite possibly tortured endlessly?” Angel looked down at her an expression of bemusement covering the sadness in his eyes momentarily.

 

“Well death is pretty bad.”

 

Angel snorted as he turned his attention to the empty room below them. With his preternatural senses he could make out the shimmer that showed the incoming port, seconds later that shimmer solidified into the circle of Warriors, in front of them, within the circle but outside the circle that the Witches made were those warriors that had been obviously rescued.

 

He heard Cordy and Willow’s indrawn breaths, Giles ‘Dear Lord’, Spike’s ‘Doesn’t anybody stay dead?’ before his mind even registered the identity of the gaunt young man standing hunched over in front of Damon.

 

And even then it took him turning around; his eyes climbing the wall to the glass that separated them, his eyes scanning the group before they locked on Cordy’s still form her lips moving to form the name of the man that she thought she would never see again.

 

That should by all rights be dead

 

“Xander?”

 

**************************************************************************************

 

The feel of a warm body curving itself around hers brought her almost instantly to wakefulness, just as the owner of that body knew it would.

 

Blinking sleepily she smiled lazily as a familiar set of moist lips trailed down the curve of her neck, a quick flick of his tongue across the tip of her ear had her shivering.

 

As she relaxed back into him, allowing her body to curve deeper into his a set of adventurous hands stroked her stomach beginning a winding, discrete path up her body.  One hand cupped her breast lightly as he wrapped his arms tightly around her, holding her tight to him as if he were afraid that if he didn’t clutch her to him that she would vanish in a puff of smoke.

 

A breathy sigh escaped her lips and she could feel the smile forming on the lips pressing soft kisses to her the back of her neck.

 

She loved waking up like this.

 

Happy, safe, curled up in the arms of the man she loved more than her own life.

 

Stretching she rolled onto her back, smiling up at him she traced a hand down his chest, letting it hover for a moment over the fiercely beating heart.

 

She imagined that if she pressed a hand to her own chest that the rhythm being pounded out would be exactly the same as is.

 

It always amazed her that even after all this time the feel of the heart beating under her fingertips made her breath catch in her throat and an expression of awe cross her face.

 

“Morning,” she whispered, lifting her head she pressed her lips against his, arms twining around his neck as she pulled him even closer to her.

 

“Morning,” he whispered back his lips a hairs breadth from hers.

 

A crash from a room near theirs drew their attention from each other momentarily.

 

“Cordy,” he murmured as his hand began its lazy wanderings once more.

 

“I still can’t believe you offered to let them live here with us,” she muttered as she arched her neck, allowing him to nip the mark that he had left there oh so many years ago.

 

“We have more than enough room,” Angel grinned. “Plus I put them three floors below us.”

 

“Then what’s she doing next door?” Buffy grumbled as she wrapped one leg around his hip, locking him to her.

 

“She’s going through the stuff in the nursery that Tara doesn’t need anymore… I think Willow said she could take whatever she needed.”

 

“But what about us?” she whined, her lips pouting as he smirked at her. Holding her tightly he rolled, settling on his back he stroked her still flat stomach.

 

“We have time,” he grinned his eyes trained on that space where their second child was already growing. A pregnancy that both parents were ecstatic that they were going to be involved in the whole process with.

 

Life didn’t get much better than this she decided as she watched him from half-closed eyes.

 

And to think that at one time she thought that she was never going to have this. That she would rot in a prison and die without ever having had a second chance with her Angel.

 

“What are you think about?” he asked softly as she curled up on his chest, stroking her back lightly he waited. He’d seen the light fade in her eyes, seen them go hooded and blank much as they had for a while after she’d been rescued.

 

For a while he’d thought that he would never see happiness, joy light those eyes again.

 

“Just remembering…”

 

“Do you want to talk about it?” he asked, she rarely did. For days after she had been rescued she hadn’t said a word, so wrapped up in her pain, her fear, her anguish.

 

And even after she had spoken of what had transpired in those few short weeks she had been held in the Prison camp she had bottled most of it up. Even years later he still only knew the bare minimum of what had happened to her.

 

And the only thing that made his lack of knowledge okay with him was that Damon knew even less.

 

“No…” she mumbled her face buried in his neck. “Angel?”

 

“Love…”

 

“If it’s a boy…”

 

“We’ll name him Colin,” Angel promised.

 

“Buffy… Buff…” the woman in question winced as the sound of her name rocketed through her aching skull. Forcing her eyes open, then forcing them to focus she saw Colin staring worriedly down at her.

 

“Oh my god,” she groaned stars flashing before her eyes as Colin helped her sit, cradling her against his side they leaned side by side against the brick wall. “What happened?”

 

“No idea… one minute we were fighting, the next thing I know I’m coming to here,” Colin shook his head.

 

“Any idea where here is?”

 

“We’re still in the Prison Camp… One of the cells, reinforced doors and windows which means they probably had a hunter in here at one point.”

 

“Why are we still alive?”

 

“No clue… maybe they think if they kill us that two more will just be called to fill our places.”

 

Buffy turned confused eyes towards him. “If they kill us we will be replaced.”

 

“Jade explained how it worked… if one of the Warriors fell in battle, the spells… they’re complicated.”

 

“That they are my young man, that they are,” an elderly man pushed the door open, behind him two vampires waited. Male and female, Buffy squinted as she attempted to make out their features with the bright light shining behind them.

 

If she didn’t know better she could swear…

 

“The spells are complicated ones… but I have faith that your group will be able to pull them off.”

 

“Enough small talk old man… which one?”

 

“Now, now Samuel… patience is a virtue you know,” the old man tsked shaking his head with what Buffy could swear was amusement in his eyes.

 

“My patience is at an end, you told us to capture these two, we have them… now tell me which one is the one that will end this.”

 

The old man walked forward, his movements slow as he advanced on the two Warriors. Neither bothered to get to their feet, both knew if they even attempted it that the vampires and demons that flooded the room would force them once more to the ground.

 

With critical eyes he gazed at each one separately. A sad smile crossed his face as he gazed at Colin and the instant their eyes met Colin understood why he was here.

 

Why he had been taken alongside Buffy as opposed to the others.

 

Jade was their witch, Damon was their secondary leader when the former Slayer wasn’t available to lead and Colin… Colin was expendable.

 

He knew that whatever he could do to keep her safe, alive until help arrived would have to be enough because he knew without a doubt that they must not be allowed to harm her.

 

With a slight nod that only the old man noticed he turned to Buffy whose eyes were flickering between the two of them, she knew they were communicating silently. Signals exchanged through their eyes that she could not see, could not hear.

 

“The boy Samuel.”

 

“You’re sure?” the vampire asked doubtfully. “I thought you said it was a woman.”

 

The old man turned, glaring at the insolent vampire who had pulled him from his chosen task and forced him to turn on his own. Whatever he could do to hinder their fight, their killing of his comrades he would do until he found a way to free both them and himself.

 

“The picture has changed… the boy is the one.”

 

“Good…” Samuel smiled thinly. “I guess you get to play with the girl after all,” he turned to the female in the door. “Try not to hurt her to badly we may need her alive.”

 

**************************************************************************************

 

Angel crossed his arms over his chest as he watched Jade and Damon converse quietly with Wesley.

 

Both Warriors looked as if they had seen better days… their eyes were haunted, angry. Whatever the Watcher was currently saying to them was obviously not going over well.

 

On one side Connor was watching the scene avidly. He only vaguely remembered Wesley from before he had been ‘killed’. As Connor had been making slow baby steps in his relationship with his father Wesley had still been on the outs with Angel and the others.

 

Only Fred had even talked to Wesley in those days before his ‘death’.

 

“What’s going on?” Cordy asked as she came up behind them, slipping into the empty seat beside Angel she studied the scene before her.

 

Damon was so furious it looked as if he was getting ready to punch Wesley.

 

Angel cast a quick glance at her before turning back to the show before them. “Nothing yet… Thought you were going to try and get into see Xander.”

 

“They won’t let anyone down there yet,” Cordy muttered disgustedly. “They’ve quarantined the entire floor and Willow said they put up wards to keep people out.”

 

“You know this would be so much better if we ‘ad snacks,” Spike commented from the other side of Cordy.

 

“We’re not leaving them in there Wesley!” Damon finally erupted, his control breaking as he yelled at his Watcher, fists clenched at his side to keep from striking out. Jade laid a calm hand on his arm.

 

“Damon…” she started.

 

“Don’t even tell me that you agree with him,” he snarled turning on his fellow Warrior. Jade glared at him.

 

“No I don’t agree with him… but we can’t do anything…”

 

“And when will the right time to do something be?!” Angel asked coldly as he pushed his chair back, standing.  His expression was absolute livid, if they thought they were leaving Buffy where she was for any longer than a day than they were sorely mistaken.

 

He would take himself and go get her himself if need be.

 

“We have people in place on the inside…”

 

“And why didn’t these people let you all know that they had a bunch of your guys long before now?” Spike asked with narrowed eyes.

 

“Because they didn’t know… Senvil Prison Camp was a well kept secret, only those that worked out of it was even aware of its existence… the only reason we found out about is was because one of spies managed to weasel her way into the camps grounds… she slipped out a tape to us that showed us those that they were keeping prisoner within its walls.”

 

“And this source of yours… is she reliable? Can she be trusted?” Angel asked quietly his eyes locked with his former friends.

 

“She’s never let us down yet.”

 

“Besides…” Angel closed his eyes, heaving an unnecessary sigh as he heard the familiar voice. He had wondered how long it would take for the annoying little demon to make his appearance. Buffy had mentioned him in passing several times, as had the others. “She’s got motivation of a kind to succeed in her mission.”

 

“Motivation?”

 

“Well yeah. If she succeeds she won’t be dusted during the End of Days and we afford her the chance to have part of her family back… well as together as she can get them considering.”

 

“Who…?” Spike’s eyes widened as he realized just who the short little demon that was currently patting Connor on the back as he passed by was referring to. “She would never agree to that…”

 

“She took some persuading I admit,” Whistler shrugged. “But in the end we had something she wanted to reclaim so…”

 

“And what’s going to keep her from just killing Buffy and Colin? She’s not like Spike and I, she doesn’t have a soul that screams in horror at the things we’ve done in the past…”

 

“Speak for yourself peaches… ‘aven’t screamed in ‘orror at anything I’ve done,” Spike muttered.

 

Angel rolled his eyes as he continued. “Besides she hates Buffy why would she want to help her now?”

 

“Well kid it’s like this,” Whistler settled himself in a chair hands crossed on the table in front of him. “What better way to ingratiate herself to her sire and her missing mate? Both of which have chosen to fight on the side of light, now she could either do a Darla and try to pull you both back to the dark side, which has already proven unsuccessful with William and with you once before. Or she could do things our way and have the chance to show some redeeming qualities.”

 

“Why not just give her her soul back?” Connor asked.

 

“Because souls, with the exception of Angel’s normally have to be earned. They’re normally rewards for passing tests, for doing good for the sake of doing good… you know that type of stuff. Druscilla hasn’t yet passed all her tests… she’s close, but not quite.”

 

“So what, she keeps Buffy alive and you’re going to reward ‘er by restoring ‘er soul? Dru couldn’t ‘andle ‘aving a soul,” Spike growled, eyes flashing at the thought of the pain his poor black princess would be in the moment that happened. She’d be tormented much the way that he and Angelus had been tortured when their souls were first restored.

 

And with her visions, with a soul… nobody, no matter how evil or how deserving they were of it should have to go through what he had. What they had.

 

“Poor Dru couldn’t handle that… but if she manages to keep Buffy alive, if they, those that are working in tandem with us can help us get her out…”

 

“I notice that you’re conveniently forgetting Colin in all this,” Damon muttered with narrowed eyes. “Both were taken you know.”

 

“Colin will not survive… he knows this, Buffy knows this, the powers know this… the cycle has already begun, plans have already been made, unfortunately they can’t be implemented until… well…”

 

“Until Colin dies, is that what you’re hemming around?” Jade slowly sat in the chair beside Whistler burying her face in her hands. “So what? We’re just supposed to do nothing, we’re just supposed to let…” her voice cracking Wesley laid a comforting hand on her shoulders, Jade reaching up to with one hand to clutch it tightly.

 

“I know this will be hard for you,” Whistler said sympathetically. “But be honest with me… how many of you actually thought you were going to make it to the End of Days without a death within your ranks? That’s why we have alternates already chosen… things have to happen in a specific order first though.”

 

“So what exactly is Druscilla’s assignment?” Angel asked quietly his eyes intent on the small demon.

 

“Keep Buffy alive and out of harms way until such time as the pieces begin to fall into place,” Whistler stared at him, eyes boring seemingly through the vampire, studying what he saw within him. “You’re one of those puzzle pieces… or you will be.”

 

“What the hell are you talking about?”

 

“Have any strange dreams lately kid?”

 

“How’s that new heart working out for you?”

 

“What do you know?”

 

“Just the bare minimum…so keep your growling to yourself. I didn’t want to do things this way, told them that it was the wrong way to go about it… but they kept insisting that without you passing the tests that they couldn’t allow you to carry the mantle… so we had to… fudge things a little. Your childe, Druscilla,” he clarified when Angel glanced at Connor in confusion. “was part of that fudging… she wants her mate back, she wants her family back, and she’ll accept Buffy as part of that if it’ll get her what she wants…”

 

“I think you overestimate Druscilla’s capabilities.”

 

“And I think you underestimate them… she’s done good work for us in the last few months… she’ll come through… you’ll see.”

 

**************************************************************************************

 

“Dru,” Buffy murmured pushing herself to her feet she faced the female vampire. Back pressed against the wall as she fought dizziness back. “What…?”

 

“Shh…” Dru smiled serenely, pressing a finger to her lips as if she was shushing a small child. “When the cage is open, eyes can see,” she said in whisper as she seemingly floated even closer to the Warrior who was once her enemy and was now her most reluctant ally.

 

“What are you…?” Buffy began as understanding flooded her. There were cameras in the hall… but not in the cells. When the doors to the cells were open, as hers currently was the cameras could see within its confines.

 

“We wait… until the cage closes,” the vampiress danced around the room, coming to rest directly in front of the other woman. Taking Buffy by the hand she led her to the middle of the room as the door closed.

 

“What game are you playing Druscilla?” Buffy snarled pushing the dark-haired vampiress away from her violently. Staggering back she quickly regained her balance assuming a defensive position.

 

“Naughty Slayer who isn’t a Slayer anymore,” Dru murmured, reaching out one hand she traced a pale hand down Buffy’s cheek, down the side right side of her neck, her fingers lingering on the mark that Angel had left there so many years ago.

 

The mark that proclaimed her as his.

 

Her daddy’s mate, therefore her mummy. Even though she would have chosen someone else.

 

Someone more deserving of the title at least.

 

Back then she hadn’t seen anything special within the Slayer, maybe she hadn’t been trying hard enough back then… because she had no idea now how she’d missed the light that seemed to radiate from her mummy’s very center. If she wasn’t bound in promises she would have tried to taste that light as well.

 

It seemed to call to her.

 

Quite loudly at that.

 

No wonder her Spike had been most disrespectful. Trying to taste that which wasn’t his to taste. Daddy would have been very angry when he found out… if he’d been in his right mind when he’d found out.

 

Lucky for her Spike that daddy had been firmly entrenched in that vicious spell. As much as she disliked the blonde before her, anyone was better then the brunette that the spell had attempted to entwine her sire with.

 

Moving even closer to the former Slayer Dru’s mouth hovered directly over the mark that Angel had left there. Sniffing delicately she could still detect his scent within its markings.

 

Naughty, naughty Spike… she had taught him years ago how to detect ownership of another vampire.

 

Maybe he needed to be retaught. She would love to reteach him everything over again. That had been her best years.

 

Whips and chains, feathers and whispers of love and devotion from her sweet Spike.

 

When he had been only hers and the Slayer had not been floating around him daring him to touch that light that continued to call to her.

 

Buffy stiffened as she felt Dru’s lips hover at her neck, every instinct in her was screaming at her to back away, to flee, to smash the bed in the corner and stake the vampire that was currently to close for comfort.

 

But something else kept her firmly in place.

 

“Daddy would be most displeased if I harmed mummy,” Dru murmured. Drawing back she stared into the blondes eyes holding her gaze. “I can’t save the other but you…”

 

“You’re going to help me?” Buffy asked her voice filled with shock. “What’s in this for you Dru?”

 

“Spike, daddy,” Dru smiled a brilliant, childlike smile filled with white teeth and bright eyes. “My family… your family. Our family… will all be one family… soon.”

 

**************************************************************************************

 

Angel stood in the doorway watching his son, sitting on the bed in his room he was staring at the opposite wall.

 

Connor looked much like he imagined he himself did.

 

Depression and fear were running rampant through the Indaran compound. But even over-riding those was pain… it seemed to be the most prevalent emotion at the moment.

 

The Indaran were being assaulted through the ties that bound them to their missing two Warriors. Over the last 48 hours it had become commonplace to find Warriors collapsed throughout the compound. The pain rocketing through those bonds were never-ending and the only thing that gave Angel any sort of comfort was the fact that since he wasn’t incapacitated with pain at the moment that it wasn’t Buffy that it wasn’t her being tortured.

 

Although that meant that Colin was being tortured and the tiny bits of pain and fear that he could feel through his bond with mate were at times overpowering. For the first time in his life he was blocking out his bond with Buffy to keep from breaking down and sobbing in the halls.

 

He’d come across more than one Warrior in that state. Damon most recently had been just sitting in the hall across from his room obviously not able to make the few necessary steps to place himself within his sanctuary. He’d been propped up by the wall, staring unseeing at his door, tears streaming down his face, hands clenching and unclenching over his stomach. And for once Angel had put his animosity of the male Warrior aside and helped him to his room.

 

Sat with him for about an hour before he became semi-coherent and Angel had left. He didn’t think the Warrior would want to know who had dragged him to his room.

 

But it had still been 48 hours and they were still no closer to finding a way to free Buffy and Colin than they had before they had been taken.

 

To say it was frustrating would be an understatement. Tempers were flaring, anger was mounting.

 

Something would have to be done quickly.

 

Angel didn’t know how much longer he could take this and still stay sane. Because if the Warriors were slowly disintegrating his son was no better.

 

It had been over a year since he had felt anger and hatred rolling off his son directed at him.

 

“Connor,” he said softly as he entered the room. His son looked up at him only momentarily before turning away. That second was long enough for Angel to see the tears in his eyes, the pain on his face.

 

“What do you want?” Connor asked coldly. He’d been expecting anger, maybe sadness but the coldness in his voice so surprised was Angel that he took a small involuntary step backward.

 

“I… wanted to see how you were,” Angel said awkwardly. When Connor had been angry in the past he’d been unsure of how to deal with him. Because how did one break through walls that had been forged through years of hatred?

 

But Connor didn’t hate him anymore… at least he didn’t think he did.

 

“I’d be better if you’d stopped her from going.”

 

“Do you really think I wanted her to go… that I didn’t do everything within my power to get her to change her mind?”

 

“Then why did she go? She knew, knew that it was going to turn out badly, that she and Colin were going to be captured… but she still went.”

 

Angel sighed, sitting beside him. “Your mother’s kind of stubborn like that… but then she has this way of surviving even when prophecies say she won’t.”

 

“You’re talking about the Master.”

 

“How…? Dawn…” understanding flooded the vampire. He’d never had a younger sister that had kept a diary… but if he had he knew that its contents wouldn’t have been secret for very long.

 

“She… something about Buffy’s diary… or something…” Connor mumbled flushing slightly. Normally he would never even have noticed it but the tone of Connor’s voice, the acceleration of his heart rate…

 

“What else did she read in Buffy’s diary?” Angel asked suspiciously.

 

“Nothing… just… well I wanted to know how you two met and Dawn… she well, she had the diary with her… so we looked it up and…”

 

“And what?”

 

“Did you really attack her? I mean, well I thought that it was love at first sight for both of you and then…”

 

“Breathe Connor,” Angel ordered gently.

 

“So why did you attack her?”

 

“I didn’t.”

 

“But…” Connor frowned in confusion.

 

“I was following her… when I found out the Slayer was on the Hellmouth finally…”

 

“So it was love at first sight then…”

 

“I don’t think it was for her… she thought I was a stalker at first, then annoying… I tended to be… slightly cryptic back then.”

 

“And that’s changed?” Connor asked impishly a slight smile on his face as he imagined his mothers face. He’d seen the diary, seen her written words, the way she’d flipped the man that had been following her. She hadn’t known at the time that Angel was a vampire, just thought he was some pervert out trolling for a good time. When she’d finally let him up she’d thought him to tall, to devilishly handsome for his own good. And most definitely to cryptic.

 

His mother had waxed poetic about her mystery man for three pages, alternating between being infuriated and intrigued.

 

Intrigue had won out.

 

Angel mock-glared at him. “I really wish Buffy hadn’t passed on her sense of humor to you and I’d like to think I’m just a little less cryptic than I was back then.”

 

“Keep telling yourself that dad.”

 

“Anyway… that wasn’t the first time that I saw your mother…”

 

“What are you talking about… she had it written in her diary…”

 

“Whistler took me to see her… I laid eyes on her about a minute before she was called as the Slayer,” Angel smiled wistfully. “She was so beautiful and bright… God just sitting there she seemed to glow with life and I knew in that instant that I saw her that I wanted to help her, that I would do everything within my power to shelter her, to protect her.”

 

“So it was love at first sight then.”

 

“For me yes, for your mother… not so much I think…”

 

**************************************************************************************

 

Cordy walked slowly down the hallway, trepidation filling her with every step she took. She was stalling she knew that.

 

She was just a big fat coward.

 

Just because Xander Harris had loved her once didn’t mean he still did. Dreams, especially hers could be misleading. Although everything within her said that he did, when Jade had arrived in her room telling her that they were allowing visitors into the Medical wing she’d practically flown from the walls that had been seemingly closing in on her.

 

But as she got closer and closer to the door that would lead her either to her entire future or to more heartbreak she had faltered.

 

What if he didn’t want to see her? After all the last he’d know she was still with Angel, building a life with the vampire that he hated beyond anything else.

 

“Good morning,” a white clad nurse said brightly, Cordy frowned at her slightly wondering for a moment where the happy pills had come from… obviously she’d missed her dosage. It took her a moment to realize that this was a civilian not a Warrior… therefore she was untethered from the pain that she knew that others were feeling. “And who are you here to see this morning?” the nurses smile never faded even as Cordy scowled at her for her cheerfulness.

 

“Xander Harris.”

 

The nurse glanced down at the clipboard in her hands and then returned her never fading smiling countenance to Cordy. “He has a visitor at the moment… you’ll just have to wait a few minutes.”

 

“A visitor? But… they just allowed visitors down here how does he have a visitor already?” Cordy asked eyes narrowed as she glared at the woman who was attempting to keep her from Xander.

 

“There was a young lady waiting when we released the barrier… a redhead?”

 

“Willow,” the seer muttered. “Why that little tramp.”

 

“Anyway she has about another five minutes and then you can go in… we’re only allowing visitors ten minutes so we don’t tire the patients out… they’ve been through an extreme trauma you know.”

 

“I’m aware… I’ll just wait,” Cordy plastered a fake smile on her face and waited for the nurse to respond in kind.

 

“Okay. As soon as she comes out you can go right in,” she said with the same brightness that had started their whole conversation and then walked away.

 

“Right,” Cordy muttered. Glancing behind her she watched the nurse disappear into a room and then she walked down the hallway glancing at the plaques over the doors looking for the one that would lead her to Xander.

 

When she found it she hesitated for a moment, hand pressed to the door as she drew a deep breath.

 

“You can do this Cordy… it’s just Xander… talked to him plenty of times,” she murmured to herself before she pushed the door open.  For some reason a small part of her expected to see the two entwined on the bed together.

 

The last time she has opened her heart to him that had been the outcome. Xander had chosen Willow even if it had been for a short time, over her. And the pain that she had felt over that had been unimaginable. She had ached, she’d been heartsick for weeks before she’d buried whatever emotion she felt for him under cruel words and jibes.

 

She’d be damned if she’d let him see how much they’d hurt her. Because Xander Harris and Willow Rosenberg should never have had that power over her.

 

Ever.

 

But when that door opened she didn’t find the man she loved wrapped around his best friend. She found him pale and gaunt, a broken fragment of the man he’d been lying in bed.

 

What had happened to her Xander? The one that had been so full of life and love and humor. She found tears filling her eyes as she took in the two before her.

 

Obviously Willow was having the same problem she was in reconciling this broken shell of man to the one that he’d been before his ‘death’ because the former wtich, her former nemesis was sitting in a chair beside the bed. Tears streaming unendingly down her cheeks, her hand clutching his as they both stared at the unmoving brunette.

 

“Hey Cord… long time no see,” he said as brightly as he could manage and Cordy managed to quell the sob that rose as she flew across the room to him.

 

Wrapping her arms loosely around him, so as to not jar his injured body she clung to him. Feeling the warmth seep from his body into hers, feeling his heart beating against her chest, his arms weakly wrapping around her control waned and she began crying.

 

“You’re alive. Oh god you’re really alive,” she sobbed.

 

**************************************************************************************

 

Spike stared down at the brunette Warrior sitting in the chair silently. Spike slowly knelt before her chair.

 

“You okay luv?” he asked as gently as he could manage considering his raw emotions.

 

Buffy taken prisoner, he could care less about the other he didn’t know him. But Buffy… and then there was his dark princess. Somehow she had been drawn into this elaborate tangle that the Indaran had woven.

 

He had faith in his Druscilla, he knew she could do whatever she put her mind to… but if something should happen, if she should lose herself or her way he shuddered to think what would be the outcome.

 

“There’s so much pain,” Jade mumbled hands pressed to her stomach. “I don’t know how he stands it… why haven’t they stopped yet?” she asked pleadingly her tearstained face turning to stare directly at Spike’s.

 

“I don’t know… can I take you somewhere?” he asked uncomfortably. When she just looked at him blankly he said quietly, “that doesn’t look like the most comfortable of chairs.”

 

“I… he’s not even conscious anymore why don’t they stop,” Spike watched as her eyes went blank and he knew that she was no longer seeing him, that she was locked somewhere within the pain that her counterpart was enduring.

 

Stroking her hand gently Spike once more cursed the soul that caused him to care. “If ‘e’s not conscious then ‘e’s not feeling it anymore pet… you just ‘ave to hold on, ‘e’d want you to be strong right? For ‘im, for Sla… Buffy.”

 

“You forget sometimes,” Jade said softly her eyes focusing on him once more and he could tell that she was concentrating on the small movements of his fingers against hers.

 

“Forget?”

 

“That she’s not the Slayer anymore… you forget that’s she not that woman that you once knew, that she’s different, fights a different battle.”

 

“Same battle, different name.”

 

“She mentioned you once, when her memories first came back,” Jade smiled weakly. “She told me this story about how you and Xander and Willow… how you guys defeated this cadre of vampires using water guns filled with Holy water. She said it had…”

 

“It was a dare,” Spike grinned in remembrance. “Red and I ‘ad to come up with a way to take ‘er and the Whelps minds off the fact that their true loves were shacking up together… That was a great night, most fun I ‘ad in it seemed like forever. ‘Course than it all fell apart… always falls apart just when things are good. That was right before…” his grin faded as he remembered the rest.

 

“Right before they ‘died’.”

 

“Yeah… ‘course they didn’t die so…”

 

“But you remember their deaths, their lives.”

 

“I remember it all.”

 

“Sometimes I wish I did,” she said wistfully. “When we chose this life we lost what we had been, I don’t even remember what kind of demon hunter I was before… I don’t remember if I had family or friends. But then sometimes I’m glad I don’t… because I see you all, how you’re suffering because of Buffy, because of the choice that she made and I’m glad that I don’t have friends that have to go through that.”

 

“We go through this because we love her…”

 

“Even if she doesn’t love you back.”

 

“I think part of me knew she’d never love me anyway… but another part didn’t care.”

 

“Right,” Jade said softly her eyes searching his as if looking for something in particular.

 

“Jade… Sweet?” the Watcher’s voice interrupted Jade’s quiet searching of her companion and Spike turned grateful eyes towards the door. “Are you okay?”

 

“Yeah… just got a little dizzy, the pain,” she said by way of explanation. “Spike kept me company.”

 

“Thank you,” Wesley said shooting a weak smile at the vampire who was slowly coming to his feet. “Why don’t I take you to your room now?”

 

“I’m okay Wes,” she smiled touching his cheek gently as he helped her to her feet. “Just put a little food in me and I’ll…” her voice cut off abruptly as she doubled over in shock.

 

“Jade?” Wesley barely caught her in time as she crumpled to the floor. The sounds of multiple screams emanating throughout the compound caused Spike to whirl towards the door.

 

Were they being attacked? Had someone breached their safe haven?

 

“Jade? What’s happened?” Wes was holding her tightly to him, rocking her as she gasped for air her arms wrapped around her waist.

 

Spike stood, his posture still defensive as he waited for the inevitable onslaught of demons, listening with half an ear as he waited.

 

“Colin,” she mumbled clutching at Wes’ arms.

 

“What about Colin sweet?”

 

 “Colin’s dead.”

 

**************************************************************************************

 

Dru stroked her mummy’s hair as she slept. The tremors had finally subsided, the tears had finally stopped leaking from her closed eyes and she was at peace for the first time in over two days.

 

Of course she’d had to help mummy find that peace. The first day she had been wracked with pain, lashing out at everyone and everything that came near her. Finally she’d had to do the little hypnosis trick to calm her. Frowning to herself as she ran her fingers through the tangled blond hair before her she hoped that daddy wouldn’t be to upset with her.

 

She’d only wanted to help. She hadn’t wanted mummy to hurt anyone… if she did that she would draw attention to herself and Dru knew they needed her to be quiet as a mouse.

 

And patient.

 

The other Warrior was dead now, and for some unknown reason she felt sadness at his passing. He’d had only a short time on this plane before being called to the next, she’d felt his life slowly ebb away from his body even as mummy’s body had stopped shaking.

 

But his death had purpose and she knew that he would be reborn into a better life soon.

 

Now was daddy’s time and she needed to prepare for their coming.

 

 

TBC