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Mirror Images

By Amy Mina

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Disclaimer: As much as I wished these characters belong to me, they don't.

They belong to Joss Whedon. I'm not sure who Xena belongs to, but she doesn't belong to me either.

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Part 1

Willow sighed at Xander in exasperation. Before she could retaliate, Xander ran out of her yard and around the corner. Cordelia watched her boyfriend run and rolled her eyes. Willow looked at her shirt and screamed in anger.

"Xander! Xander, you are going to die!"

Picking up the water hose, she began to wash the mud from her shirt, then realized it was in her hair as well. Shouting a scream of frustration out, she threw the hose into the side of the house.

"Geez, Will, why don't you go inside and get cleaned up," said Cordelia.

"I'll clean this mess."

Willow gave Cordelia a grateful look. Looking around the backyard, she saw the broken water balloon pieces, a torn down volleyball net, and a bucket, which has been filled with mud a few minutes earlier. Willow knew her parent would be very upset if they came home to this mess. Reminder: Kill Xander.

"Thanks, Cordelia," she said. "I'll be out to help as soon as I look presentable."

"No problem. Then after we finish cleaning, we are going to look for my boyfriend and teach him a lesson."

Willow gave Cordelia a devilish grin.

"Sounds good."

She walked into her house, careful not to mark any of the walls with the mud. Once reaching her room, she used her index finger to open her closet and get out some new shorts and a shirt. Almost running to the bathroom, she quickly shut the door behind her and turned on the shower. Waiting for it to warm up, her thought drifted to Buffy and Angel.

Buffy had been gone for a little over a year, and there had been no sign of her or him. Willow had invited the last three slayerettes other than herself over to relax and spent time together. Oz hadn't been able to make it, but the other two had come. No matter how hard she tried though, she couldn't forget about Angel or Buffy, not even for a moment.

Willow massaged her temples, and moved to check the water. Liking the temperature, she began to get ready to get in, when a sudden dizzy spell hit her. Grabbing on to the wall, she bent her head down till it was over, and she was able to get into the tub without falling. Finishing the shower as quickly as possible, she got out and got dressed.

Brushing her now short hair, she checked her appearance in the mirror to make sure it was okay. Satisfied with what she found, she began to turn away when she thought she saw a glimpse of Angel in the mirror. Doing a double take, she stared at the mirror. When she saw nothing there, she shook her head, and let out a soft chuckle.

Heading down to the backyard, Willow was surprised to see that everything was already cleaned up. Cordelia was sitting on the back porch swing relaxing. Willow walked out and sat next to her in surprise.

"Wow, Cordelia, you cleaned that fast."

Cordelia smiled and looked at Willow. "Thanks. Feel better now?"

"Very much so. I think we need to think of something good to get back at Xander."

"I agree. No broom closet make out sessions with him any time soon." Willow and Cordelia both broke out into laughter.

"He'll just die!" said Willow, laughing again. "How will he survive without that?"

"I don't know," replied Cordelia. "Seriously, we need to think of something to do to him."

Willow thought for a minute before jumping up from the swinging and running back into her house.

"I've got it!"

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

Willow grabbed a tape and popped it in the VCR. Cordelia sat on the couch and waited for Willow to tell her what she wanted to do.

"A few days ago," began Willow, "there was this awesome episode of Xena on. It had to do about Xena dying and trying to come back. In order to do this, she had to take over the body of the 'King of Thieves' and used it to get her body back." "So what are you saying we should do?" questioned Cordelia.

"Something like that. No exactly like that, but what I was thinking was we're still not sure what happened to Buffy and Angel. What if I pretended that Angel was inside of me."

"What?"

"I could tell Xander that when I preformed the spell, Angel's soul never made it to him, and stopped in my body."

Cordelia appeared to be thinking for a moment. "That would really freak him out."

"I think so," replied Willow. "I think we should do that."

Cordelia slowly nodded her assent; not totally sure if it was a good idea to do this. Willow on the other hand, was all for it.

"Okay, good," replied Willow. "We can call Xander over in a few days. Tell him there is something wrong with me, and he has to see it for himself."

"Do you think this will work?" replied Cordelia.

"It sure will, no problem."

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

Willow closed the door to her room, and walked over to her bed. Lying down, she thought over everything that had happened that afternoon. ( What was I thinking? That is so disrespectful to Buffy and Angel. It's just WRONG to even consider that! ) Willow groaned and put her hand over her eyes. Feeling the tears began to slip through her fingers, she turned on her side, and her body began to shake with sobs.

*Why are you crying, Little One?*

Willow abruptly stopped her sobbing and looked around the room. Seeing no one there, she slowly got up and walked over to her window. Seeing no one there either, she went back to her bed, she wondered if she had just heard things. Taking a few tissues, she wiped her eyes. (Think happy thoughts, think happy thoughts..)

*Willow, I need your help*

Willow stiffened and looked around her room again. "Where are you?" she asked out loud. When no answer came, she began to think she was crazy again.

*I'm inside you,* came the voice.

"This is nuts," Willow said out loud. "There is no one inside me."

*I am.*

"Stop it," she screamed, putting her head between her hands and groaning.

*Willow, calm down.*

"Then leave me alone."

*Willow, it's me, Angel. I'm inside you.*

Willow's head shot up, and she began to shake it back and forth. "No, you're lying."

*No, I'm not. Look at you mirror.*

Willow jumped up from her bed and grabbed her hand mirror. Her face never appeared reflecting back at her. Instead she saw Angel's face.

"No, no, no, no. This isn't happening."

"Yes it is," the face responded.

Willow took her hand and slowly ran it over the mirror, taking in Angel's presence. She covered her mouth with her hand and began to cry. Angel's face showed his confusion, and that he wasn't sure how to react.

*Willow, don't cry, please.*

"I'm sorry," she replied. "I just never thought I would see you again, in person, or at all."

*I know, and I never thought I would be here again. I'm here to help you.*

Willow's confusion was apparent on her face, and she quickly pulled herself together.

"What can you help us with?"

*Buffy, I know where she is, and I know how to get her back..*

Willow gasped and dropped the mirror in shock. When it hit the floor, it broke into hundreds of pieces. Muttering a few words under her breath that would have Spike blushing, she ran to her mirror on her desk. Looking at it, Angel was staring back at her. He raised his eyebrow at her.

*Willow? Was that you with that filthy language?*

"No, it was the other girl whose head you're stuck in," she replied sarcastically. "Where is Buffy?"

*She's in Ohio, in a little town called Cedarville.*

"How do you know this?" she asked.

*I've been following her around since the moment she left.*

Willow pointed to the mirror. "Where's your body?" she asked.

*In hell, with the demon,* he replied, giving a small smile. *Don't ask me why I got out, I don't know, but I'm trying to help to make up for what I have done.*

Willow felt her face turn red, her thoughts about Angelus apparent in her mind.

*Yes Willow,* replied Angel. "I can read everything you think.*

"I'm sorry," apologized Willow softly, feeling guilt for her thoughts.

*Don't be,* said Angel. *You have the right to think that. I feel the same way.*

Willow looked at him in the mirror, and could still see the same guilt ridden Angel that she had always known. "So, you want to help bring Buffy back?"

*Yes,* he insisted. *She needs you guys, and you need her.*

"But what about you?" asked Willow. "I don't think you should be stuck like this forever."

*I'll be fine. I'm more than happy to watch.*

Willow shook her head. "No, you aren't going to stay like this forever. I'm going to get your body back before I help Buffy."

( Putting Angel over your best friend? What's going on here? ) *Willow-*

"No," she said again. "How can I bring you back? Where is Acathala?"

*I think that you should go get Buffy.*

"I'm not changing my mind. Where is he, I might be able to save you."

*The demon-*

"I don't care about the demon!" screamed Willow. "I miss you, I want you back!"

Angel silently looked at her in shock. He thought for a minute before giving her a small smile.

*Okay, I'll help you. Under one condition.*

"What?" asked Willow.

*I get to take over your body when you tell Xander that I am inside you.* Willow put on a big grin.

"I like that idea. But after that, you need to help me save your body."

*Agreed.*

Willow stood awkwardly in her room for a minute.

*What's wrong?* asked Angel.

"I need to go to the bathroom," she replied, her face turning bright red. Angel gave a little laugh, and she ran out of her room to go use the restroom.

"Mirror Images"

by LightLes

Disclaimer - The characters belong to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, Warner Bros., etc. I don’t own them. I am not making any money off this story. "Mirror Images" was started by the lovely and talented Amy Mina. However, she has allowed me to take her premise and run with it. I hope I do her proud.

SUMMARY - Angel soul is inhabiting Willow’s body. (For those of you who are fans of "Xena: Warrior Princess" think about the way that Xena’s soul was in Autolycus’ body).

< > indicates thought, * * indicates remarks made by either Willow or Angel that the others cannot hear..

SPOILERS - Up to and including "Becoming."

RATING - PG-13 for language.

****

Willow had finally gone back to sleep, leaving Angel in silence. He was still quite shaken by this latest turn of events. He hadn’t intended to end up inside Willow’s head <Although if I had to be in someone’s head, I can’t think of anyone better than Willow Rosenberg> he mused. She was definitely the smartest person he knew and if anyone could figure out how to find Buffy and get him back into his body, she could.

Meanwhile, Angel found himself inside one of the most fascinating minds he had ever known. Angel....well, his soul anyway....was standing in the center of what appeared to be a vast hall. He knew that this was only the image he was projecting but it seemed appropriate. He was surrounded by bright, shining globes that floated in the air. He gingerly touched one and gasped as the ball flattened to form a screen. From the images and sounds he saw and heard, Angel quickly deduced that this was one of Willow’s memories. He saw Willow, although it was obvious that this memory was several years old. Her hair was still long and her clothes were loose and plain. She was sitting at a table with Xander and a boy she called ‘Jessie.’ Angel’s attention was suddenly taken by the appearance of the petite blonde who walked up and asked if she could sit down.....*Buffy*. His heart hurt at how young and innocent she looked.....indeed, how innocent they all looked. <This must be Willow’s memory of the first time she met Buffy.> he realized. He could feel her surprise and joy at making this new friend and watched the memory several times.

Angel spent some time randomly touching globes, viewing Willow’s memories. He didn’t see it as an invasion of her privacy–after all, he couldn’t turn around without bumping into one. He watched her memory of their first meeting and the time she had bawled him out for not taking Buffy out for coffee. He chuckled, finally realizing what she had been talking about. He watched her interact with her parents and Xander, and witnessed the famous "Barbie" incident. He got a good idea about how she felt about the people in her life. In his life....and death....Angel had never met anyone with the capacity for love and forgiveness to match Willow Rosenberg’s.

Finally, he came to a group of globes that were separate from the others. These didn’t glow, and in fact seemed to be sucking light from the vicinity. He touched one, and was immediately overwhelmed by fear and pain. The screen before him showed Willow, looking absolutely terrified. A hand was wrapped around her neck, and at first Angel couldn’t see who the hand belonged to. Then the screen widened and he was sickened to see himself holding Willow captive. He could feel the pressure of his hand squeezing the breath out of her, could hear her strangled sobs, and the voices of the others as they called out to her to hang out and begged him to let her go.

He guardedly touched another globe and saw a heartbreaking scene. Some boy he didn’t recognize was telling Willow that he had found someone else, but that he still wanted to be her friend. She was crying as he walked away... Angel backed away from the horrible memory, then spun as he bumped into another one. He saw Willow and the others in the library. Willow was holding a ball that appeared to be made of glass or crystal...<The Orb of Thessaly> he realized with a shock. <This must be Willow’s memory of restoring my soul....He watched as Willow, Giles, Xander, Kendra, Cordelia, and a boy he didn’t recognize gathered around the table. The incantation had barely started when Dru and her friends burst through the doors. He watched as Willow ran towards the stacks, heard the snap of Xander’s arm (though, try as he might, he really couldn’t feel all that sorry for the kid) and felt Willow’s horror as the bookcase came towards her. He heard her scream, but it took a moment to realize that it was the real Willow, the here-and-now Willow who was making the noise.

*What is it, Willow?* he asked, worried that something might have come into her bedroom.....

"Sorry." she gasped. "I was having the most horrible dream...."

*About what?*

"It was so weird. One minute I was having happy dreams about the time I met Buffy, or the first time I remembered Cordy actually being nice to me....."

Realization dawned on Angel. *But then you started having nightmares about all the bad stuff that’s happened to you.*

"Yeah," she said, mystified. "How did you.....?"

*I’m sorry, Willow.* he admitted sheepishly. *I was sort of mucking around in your memories. I didn’t realize that you would see them too.*

"Oh!" She was silent for a minute. "Well, can you restrain yourself long enough for me to get back to sleep?" He was amazed that there was no anger in her voice. In fact, she seemed to be slightly amused.

*Absolutely.* he promised. *Good night.*

"Good night." Slowly she drifted back to sleep and Angel spent the rest of the night exploring the other facets of Willow’s mind, being careful not to touch anything. He found her center knowledge which, ironically, was represented as a huge computer and began to look at all the things Willow had learned in her 18 years of life.

****

Willow approached the school building, still trying to decide what to do.

"Angel," she said softly. "I think we should tell them the truth."

*You’re probably right.* he sighed. *I did kind of want to see the look on Xander’s face when you sprung your little ’joke’ on him, though.*

Willow giggled. "Think of the look on his face when he finds out that I’m not joking...that you really are inside of me."

*Good point.* he laughed. He then noticed that the yard was empty and that there was no sound other than her voice and the occasional car. *Where is everybody?*

"It’s summer, silly. No school."

*Then what are we doing here?*

"Giles works here, remember? I....I mean, we’re going to talk to him." She could feel dread creep over Angel. "Don’t worry." she said, firmly. "He won’t do anything to you."

*He has the right, you know....* Angel replied. Willow hesitated before answering.

"Yes, but I think he understands that Angel and Angelus aren’t the same person. It may be hard for him at first, but I believe he’ll get over his anger and hurt."

*I hope you’re right.* he sighed. *Let’s get this over with.*

******

"Giles?" The Watcher jumped when he heard the soft voice.

"Willow! You startled me. You’re early. I didn’t think that we were supposed to...." He saw the look on her face and knew that something was very wrong. "What happened?"

"Uh....this is going to be kind of hard to explain." She looked over his shoulder and an idea came to her. "Come over here. I’ll show you." She walked to his office windows and, curious, he followed.

"What is it?"

"Just stand behind me and watch." Then she said something extremely odd. "Show your face." At first, all Giles could see was her reflection in the glass. Suddenly, it changed. He was no longer staring at an image of Willow, he was looking into the face of a dead man.

"Angel?" he gasped. The reflection switched back to that of the red-headed hacker.

"Yeah." she sighed. "I’ll give you three guesses as to where his soul ended up and the first two don’t count."

"Are you trying to tell me that Angel’s soul is in your body?" Giles was aghast at the notion.

"So it would seem."

"But how....?"

"I haven’t got the vaguest idea. The important thing is that he knows where Buffy is and how we can get her back." Giles sat down heavily.

"I don’t believe this...." he muttered.

"Neither did I, at first." she said, sitting down next to him. "Especially since I came up with this idea to tell Xander that Angel was in my body....as a joke."

*Uh, Will...that was actually my idea.*

"Oh. Well you could have said that sooner." Giles stared at Willow as she began to talk to herself.

*It didn’t seem important.* Angel said sheepishly.

"Well, you’re going to have to be the one to explain to Cordelia that this is serious." she retorted, then saw the way Giles was looking at her. "Sorry. Giles, I’m not crazy, I’m not hearing voices, I’m not under any sort of spell."

"There has to be some explanation." the librarian practically shouted. "What if it’s one of Angelus’ tricks?"

"Angelus is in Hell." Willow quietly reminded him. "He’s got Angel’s body and we have to get that out."

"No!" Giles spat. "Getting Buffy back is one thing, but I will not be a party to bringing that monster back from Hell...."

*Let me talk to him.*

"Are you sure?"

"Yes!" *Yes!* Both Giles and Angel spoke at the same time. Willow sighed. This could get complicated.....

"Giles, that last remark was directed at Angel. He wants to talk to you." Willow closed her eyes, then opened them again. Giles couldn’t have said what was different about her, but he knew that he was no longer talking to the girl that he had known for the past four years. Her face was the same, but she sat a bit straighter, and had uncrossed her legs. She leaned forward in a very mannish fashion and began to speak. "Rupert, it’s me. Angel." It was Willow’s voice, yet it too was different.

"My God....."

"Listen to me, Rupert. I know that you don’t trust me and frankly, I don’t blame you. If I were in your position, I’d be skeptical too."

"Well, you’re not in my position are you?"

"True. I know that you’d like nothing better than for me to go away forever. But I can’t do that until we find Buffy and I get my body back."

"Why not?"

"I don’t know how I was sent back to Earth, or how I ended up in Willow’s body. More importantly, I don’t know how to get out. What I do know is why I came back. I’ve been sent to bring Buffy back to the Hellmouth where she is needed and wanted. I’m the only link you have to her and the only way to get me out of Willow’s head is to find my body and bring it back."

"Where is Buffy?" Giles asked, still not ready to trust his former ally.

"Cedarville, Ohio."

"All right, then. I’ll go fetch her while you and the others try to solve this....soul-swapping problem."

"It’s not going to be that easy, Rupert." Angel had been thinking over his promise to let Willow get his body out of Hell before going to find Buffy, and had realized that there was some merit to her plan.

"Why not?" If there was one thing Rupert Giles hated, it was being contradicted.

"Buffy left because of her guilt over sending me to Hell. She tried to escape her life as the Slayer and has now gotten herself involved in a.....situation that is rather sticky. The only way to get her out is to convince her that I am alive and well. Seeing me is probably the only thing that will do that, don’t you think?"

Giles refused to agree with the vampire, even though he knew that Angel was probably right. "What situation has Buffy gotten herself into?"

"It’s complicated.....I think you’d better see it for yourself." Giles knew Angel well enough to know that the vampire wasn’t going to volunteer any more information.

"All right then." he sighed. "I guess we have to do things your way, for now. But listen to me and listen well. You do anything to hurt Willow or anyone else and I swear I will go to Hell, find your body and beat the bloody shit out of it. Do I make myself clear?"

"Uh, Giles?" Both Giles and Angel/Willow started at the sound of Xander’s voice. "Who are you talking about?"

*Goody, goody, goody! Payback time!* Angel smirked at Willow’s comment.

"Harris." Willow/Angel said, menace practically dripping from her/his voice.

"Uh....hello, Willow." Xander didn’t particularly like his best friend’s tone. "You’re still mad about the mud, aren’t you?"

"Oh this is about much more than the mud, Harris." Willow/Angel bared her/his teeth in a feral smile. Cordelia stifled a giggle <Man, Willow is really playing this to the hilt, isn’t she?> the brunette thought.

"What’s going on, Will?" Xander was visibly nervous now.

"Perhaps I should explain...." Giles began, but Willow/Angel cut him off.

"Why don’t you let me handle it, Rupert? Harris and I have a few things to settle."

"Since when did you start calling me Harris?" Xander was thoroughly confused now "Or calling him Rupert?"

"Right about the same time you started calling me ‘Dead Boy.’"

"But I never called you ‘Dead Boy’" Xander protested. "That was a name reserved for Angel....Oh my God." His eyes widened in shock. "What have you done to Willow?"

"Relax, Harris. Willow’s fine. I’m just sort of...sharing space....with her for a while." Cordelia couldn’t help it, she laughed.

"What’s so funny?" Xander turned to her.

"Sorry Xander. Sorry, Will. I couldn’t help it. It’s a joke, Xander. Willow and I came up with it to get back at you for yesterday."

"Sorry, Cordy. This is no joke." Willow/Angel turned her/his gaze on the girl. She was immediately struck by the difference in Willow’s bearing and speech.

"But....it has to be. This is a joke, isn’t it Willow?"

"No."

"Prove it." Xander spoke with false bravado. "Tell me one of Angel’s secrets--something that Willow wouldn’t know."

"All right." Willow/Angel went into full intimidation mode as she/he stood up and walked over to the boy. Even though Willow was shorter than him, Xander got the distinct feeling that she was looming over him. "You want a secret? I’ll give you secrets. I was there when you saw Buffy outside the mansion right before that final fight." Xander scoffed. "You came to deliver a message from Willow. What was the message, Will?"

*I told him to tell Buffy that I was gonna try the curse again.....* Willow was totally mystified.

"You told Buffy that Willow wanted her to kick my ass. Isn’t that right, Harris?" Xander blanched and Willow/Angel suddenly let out a shriek.

"You WHAT?" Willow was back and she was furious. She grabbed Xander’s shirt and shoved him against a wall. "You didn’t give her the message? How could you, you jerk!" Cordelia and Giles were forced to physically separate them.

"We don’t have time for this!" the librarian barked. "Xander, Cordelia....Angel knows where Buffy is. He says that she’s got herself in a bit of trouble and that the only thing that will help is if we get his body out of Hell and put his soul back in it. That is our priority right now. Are we all agreed."

"Yes." Willow said reluctantly.

"Yeah." the others agreed.

"I still don’t like this." Xander said.

"Neither do I." Giles sighed. "But we don’t seem to have any alternatives."

"Uh, could I ask a favor?" They all turned to stare at Willow. "While we’re looking for ways to get Angel’s body back, could we also look for ways to uh....screen some stuff from his soul? Right now, he sees everything I see, hears everything I hear, knows everything I’m thinking.... Sorry, Angel, but I’m not getting in the shower until I’m sure you can’t see anything."

*Aw, come on!*

"No! Get your mind out of the gutter." They both laughed as she headed towards the stacks oblivious to the stares of her friends.

*******

Willow sighed and closed the book.

*No luck, huh?*

"No. There are plenty of ways to open a portal to Hell–in fact, there are so many, it’s scary–but there’s no way to locate a specific body and pull it out." It had been three days since Angel had shown up in Willow’s head and she was incredibly frustrated.

"Not a problem." Xander quipped. "We’ll just open the door to Hell, chuck Angel’s soul in, close the gate, and go for pizza." Willow gave him a withering look.

*Funny man.* Angel growled and Willow felt his surge of anger.

"Cool it." she ordered both of them.

*Sorry.* Angel could feel the tension radiating throughout her body and knew that getting irritated with Xander would only make things worse.

"I still think we should go with the ‘Eye’ spell." Willow said to no one in particular.

"I’m beginning to agree with you." Giles put down his book and removed his glasses to rub his eyes. "If we knew where Angel’s body was, it would make it that much easier to open the portal at the right place."

"What’s the big deal?" Cordelia asked. "I mean, why is it so important that we open the portal at exactly the right place?"

"Cordy, when we open the gate, whatever is on the other side is gonna be able to come through." Xander explained. "If it’s not Angelus....."

"Oh." Cordelia’s face showed that she understood the danger.

"Hey, everyone." Oz breezed through the library doors, but stopped when he saw the faces staring at him. "What?"

*HIM!* Angel recognized the kid from Willow’s memory. They had met, briefly, at Buffy’s party but had never been formally introduced. All he knew about the stranger with the purple hair was that he had hurt Willow badly. He instinctively reached for control of her body....

"Hey!" Willow gasped as she felt the surge of power "Stop that!"

*I’LL KILL HIM* Angel could still remember the pain and anguish of her memory.....

"You’re hurting me!" Willow cried out as he continued to struggle for dominance. Suddenly, to the amazement of Oz and those around the table, Willow burst out into tears and ran into Giles’ office, slamming the door shut behind her. Xander rose to follow, but Giles pulled him down.

"I’ll go. I think that your presence might make things worse." he said quietly, and followed Willow.

"What did I miss?" Oz asked, still stunned at the sight of his ex-girlfriend having what appeared to be a total mental meltdown.

"Sit down, Oz." Cordelia instructed.

"I don’t wanna sit. Someone tell me what’s going on." As succinctly as she could, Cordy explained the situation, with frequent interruptions from Xander.

******

*Willow?* When she had started to cry, Angel had realized his error and immediately ceased attempting to wrest command of her body away from her. *Willow, I’m so sorry.....*

"Willow, are you all right?" Giles opened his door and sat next to the shaking girl.

"Just....just don’t talk for a few minutes....either of you, ok?" she gasped, then grabbed a tissue to staunch her sudden nosebleed..

*Ok.*

"Of course." They sat in silence for a few minutes until her tears dried, the bleeding stopped, and she regained her composure.

*Are you all right?* Angel finally asked tentatively.

"I’ve got a migraine." she groaned.

"Lie down." Giles instructed. She did and he fetched a wet rag to put over her eyes. "What was that all about?"

"Angel recognized Oz from one of my memories. He got angry and....tried to take control."

"I don’t understand." Giles said. "Why would seeing Oz upset him so much?"

"Angel....accidentally found my memory of our bust-up. It’s hard to explain–heck, I don’t even really understand it–but apparently, Angel can feel the emotions I was feeling when it happened, so I guess he was just acting on them."

*Willow?* Angel decided to chance her wrath.

"Yes?" Her voice was small and weak. He could tell that the struggle had taken a good deal out of her.

*I’m very sorry, I never meant to hurt you.* Angel was mortified. <Even as a "good guy" I can’t help but hurt the people I care about....>

"Stop that!" she ordered, as soon as she detected the trail of his thoughts. "What’s done is done. I appreciate the thought, violent though it was."

*That was a bit overboard, wasn’t it?* he asked, sheepishly.

"Just a bit." she laughed, but winced at the pain it caused.

*I won’t do it again.* he promised.

"Good. Now let’s move on, shall we?"

*Agreed.* He could feel her forgiveness and it was a balm on his troubled conscience.

"Not so fast." They had both completely forgotten about Giles. "Willow, if it won’t hurt you, I’d like a word with Angel."

"Oh....okay."

*Don’t worry, I’ll be gentle.* Angel spoke in a soothing voice in an effort to calm her fears. Giles watched Willow, trying to pinpoint the exact moment Angel took over her body. The redhead slowly sat up and turned to face him.

"Ouch!" Angel hadn’t had a headache in almost two centuries and wasn’t liking the sensation much at all.

"Angel?" Giles asked, making sure he was talking to the right person.

"Rupert, I know what you’re going to say...."

"What the Hell were you trying to do?" The mild mannered librarian was gone and in his place stood a very angry man who had earned the nickname "Ripper."

"I lost control. It won’t happen again." Giles wanted to hit the vampire, but remembered that he was still inhabiting the body of an innocent young woman.

"I told you not to hurt Willow...."

"And I didn’t mean to. I would never intentionally harm her." Angel tried to put as much sincerity as he could into his voice. This was somewhat difficult, since he wasn’t used to having to draw breath--or to being a soprano.

"Why do I find that difficult to believe?"

Angel sighed. This was also a new experience for him and he took a moment to revel in it. "Rupert, you don’t like me. You don’t trust me. There’s no real reason you should. But, Willow, for some reason, does....."

*There’s lots of reasons....*

"Quiet, you." he ordered. "Where was I? Oh yes. Willow does trust me and I will do everything in my power to keep her safe. I promise you that." Giles didn’t want to admit it, but he believed Angel.

"Right then." He resigned himself to not being able to pummel Angel...yet, anyway. "About this spell Willow wants to cast...."

"Yes?" Willow/Angel leaned forward. "She hasn’t told me much about it."

"I thought you two shared thoughts....."

"Willow figured out a way to screen certain things from me." Angel admitted. "I only have full access when she’s asleep."

*Not any more you don’t, buster.* Angel winced when he realized what he’d done.

"Sorry, Will."

*I’ll bet.* He was surprised to feel her chuckle. *Listen, since we’re discussing the spell, let me take over.*

"Giles, Willow’s going to come out now." Angel said. Giles watched as the girl’s posture and attitude changed. Willow moaned and held her head in her hands as he silently handed her another cloth.

"I must say, all this two people, one body business is rather confusing."

"You have no idea." she whimpered. Finally, she sat up and looked him in the eye. "Giles, don’t give Angel a hard time, okay? He didn’t mean to hurt me, he just went into protective hyper-drive."

"All right." he sighed, giving up. "Now. About this spell–even with the ‘Eye’, how do you intend to find Angel’s body?"

"I can use Angel’s soul as a kind of tracking device. There is still slight connection between them and I should be able to follow it easily."

"You do realize how dangerous this is, don’t you?"

*Dangerous? What’s he talking about, Willow?*

"I understand." she said to Giles, ignoring the voice in her head. "Let’s do it now, before I lose my nerve."

"All right." Giles stood up.

*Willow.....* Angel was getting very nervous. <What is she planning?>

"Relax." she said. At Giles’ look, she hastened to explain. "That was meant for Angel." He merely shook his head and followed her out of the office.

Xander was pacing around the table and when he saw them come out he rushed over and grabbed Willow’s shirt.

"Listen, creep. You leave Willow alone, you hear me?"

"Xander..." Willow said.

*Can I hit him?* Angel was practically salivating at the prospect.

"No!" she snapped. "Xander, get your hands off of me."

*Why not?* Angel pouted.

"Why? What will you do if I don’t?" Xander asked, at almost exactly the same time.

"Xander, that’s Willow not Angel." Giles tried to pry the youth’s fingers off of his best friend.

"Angel, I am not going to bruise my knuckles because Xander’s being an idiot. Xander, you are being an idiot, you know. It’s me, Willow." Xander looked at her closely and realized she was telling the truth.

"Sorry Will." he said, stepping back. "I was just worried about you."

"Will someone please tell me what is happening here?" Oz was getting impatient. "Willow, Xander and Cordy said that somehow Angel is inside you? That can’t be right."

"It is." she sat down next to Cordelia. To forestall any further discussion, she pulled a book from the table and opened it in front of her. "We’re going to try the ‘Eye’ spell."

"What, now?" Cordy looked at Giles nervously.

"No time like the present." Willow muttered. She read a list of ingredients from the book. "I’ve got all of this stuff, but we’re going to have to move this little show to the bio lab." Without another word, she grabbed her bag and marched out. The others merely stared at each other for a moment, then reluctantly followed.

*****

Giles stood behind Willow watching anxiously for some sign of life. Although Willow’s body was upright and capable of basic motor function, her mind or soul or....whatever had been cast into the void of Hell in search of Angelus. She had been "gone" for nearly a half hour and he was starting to get very worried. There was the potential, however slight, that her soul could be trapped in Hell for eternity. That was why he had initially objected to her suggestion that they use the spell to find Angel’s body. <This is ridiculous!> he thought. <Why is this happening to Willow....to all of us?> Try as he might, he could not forget what Angel/Angelus had done to Jenny and the rest of them, and he certainly couldn’t forgive. Suddenly, Willow’s body jerked upright. Giles saw awareness in her eyes for a brief moment, then they closed as she lost consciousness and fell back into his arms.

A few minutes later, Willow came to on the couch in Giles’ office.

"Whoa....deja vu!" she chuckled as Giles placed another cloth on her forehead.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

"Yes." she closed her eyes again, but opened them quickly with a gasp. "Giles, we have a big problem."

"What is it?"

"Angel’s body... it’s not in Hell. Angelus has come back to Earth!"

*****

"All right Angel." Willow said sternly. "Truth time. Where’s Buffy?" She was sitting by herself in Giles’ office recovering from the after-effects of casting the "Eye" spell.

*Downey State Prison.*

"WHAT?" Willow shrieked. This brought Giles running. He had been out in the library explaining the situation to the others.

"What’s wrong?" he asked, expecting yet another crisis. He wasn’t disappointed.

"Buffy’s in jail!" Willow answered, staring at him with her big, green eyes.

"Good Lord, things just keep getting better, don’t they?" Giles sighed and removed his glasses to rub his eyes. "Why don’t you come out and Angel can tell us the whole story."

"All right." Willow stood and followed him to the table where the others sat. Xander noticed the expression on her face.

"What now?" he asked, apprehensively.

"Buffy’s in jail." Willow said again as she sat down and, had the situation been less serious, would have laughed at the expressions on her friends’ faces.

"Oh no." Xander moaned.

"Why am I not surprised?" Cordelia asked at the same time. Oz simply stared.

"Okay, Angel, do you want to tell this?" Willow asked.

*Yes.* Everyone saw the distinct shift in posture and expression that meant Angel was in control. Willow/Angel took a deep breath and began the story.

"When Buffy left Sunnydale, she was running away from the Hellmouth, her life as the Slayer, and anything that made her remember me." He paused to force down the lump that was forming in his/her throat. "She went to a little town in Ohio....I guess that was as far from Sunnydale as she could imagine.....Anyway, things were going well for about six months. She had a job and a place to live. She started making friends and even started dating." Angel was a bit surprised when this revelation didn’t spark its usual stabbing pains of jealousy.

"So what happened?" Xander couldn’t help but be riveted by the story.

"Well, to paraphrase an old saying, you can take the girl out of the Slayer, but you can’t take the Slayer out of the girl. One night, Buffy was walking home when she saw someone attacking a young woman. She assumed the guy was a vampire and drove a stake though his heart....."

"But he wasn’t a vampire, was he?" Giles winced.

"No. Just a common rapist wannabe." Willow was overcome by Angel’s feelings of helplessness.

*You couldn’t have done anything.....* she said, but Angel refused to be comforted.

"A stake through the heart is just as lethal for a man as for a vampire." he continued. "Buffy didn’t even try to fight for herself. She pled guilty and was sentenced to twenty years."

"Poor Buffy." Oz murmured.

"What about the other woman?" Giles asked. "Didn’t she testify that Buffy was only trying to help her?"

"Buffy wouldn’t let her."

"Great." Xander grumbled. "We’ve got to get her out of there. We can’t fight Angelus without her."

"Well, what do you suggest we do?" Cordelia asked, exasperated.

"Whatever we have to."

"You thinking jailbreak?" Oz raised an eyebrow.

"Before we rise to new heights of criminal activity," Giles interrupted "why don’t we see if there are some legal ways to free her. Angel, I need Willow."

"You got her." Once again, the transformation was startlingly obvious.

"Willow, I need you to get onto that blasted machine and find out what you can. Xander and Cordelia, you go through our newspapers and magazine collections. Oz, I need you to run to the university’s law library and pick up a few books for me."

****

Willow sighed as she flopped down onto her bed.

"I’m so tired."

*I’ll bet.* Angel could tell that the hours of research on top of the after-effects of casting the spell and the brief battle for control earlier had left her both physically and emotionally drained.

"At least we have some time to get Buffy back." When they had seen him, Angelus had been incredibly weak. Apparently the trip to and from Hell was difficult for any body, even if it was inhabited by a demon. Willow also had the impression that Angelus wasn’t in Sunnydale. "Angel, I’m going to change now so you’ll have to switch off for a few."

*Okay.* Usually, Angel could see and hear everything Willow did, but they had figured out a way for him to separate himself from her senses. She insisted that he do this whenever she changed or showered or did anything else that fell into the "personal" category. She always completed these tasks quickly, since he had once admitted that he was terrified of the complete absence of light and sound.

"All done." she said as she climbed under her covers. She nestled her head into her pillow and stared at her ceiling. "I’m sorry."

*For what?*

"I know I promised to get your body back, but...."

*Willow Rosenberg, how can you possibly blame yourself for this mess? Besides, if I recall, I wanted to get Buffy back first when all this started.*

"Yes, but if I had cast the spell right in the first place, we wouldn’t be having this conversation would we? You would be back in your body and Buffy would be back and..." Angel stopped her by the convenient method of closing off her vocal chords. He could exert this small amount of command over her body without hurting her.

*Listen to me and listen good. This is not your fault. You did everything right. You said all the right words and trust me, you have more than enough power to pull off a simple soul restoration.*

"How do you know that?"

*I was there.* She gasped.

"How is that possible?"

*It’s kind of hard to explain. When I.....lost my body, I guess, my soul went to a kind of waiting room. I could watch all of you, but I couldn’t affect what was happening. I saw myself try to kill you....*

Willow interrupted angrily. "Wait a minute! If you were watching, doesn’t that sort of mean that you weren’t responsible for anything that Angelus did? I mean, if you weren’t in your body, then the demon was in control, right?" Angel was about to say something, then paused.

*You know, I never really thought of it that way before.*

"All right then!" she crowed, triumphantly. "I don’t want to hear you beating yourself up about what happened." They were silent for a while.

"Angel?"

*Mmmm?*

"Do you think Angelus knows about us....I mean that you’re inside of me?"

*I don’t think so. How could he, really?* Angel thought about it for a moment. *He may know that you tried the spell, but he probably assumes it didn’t work.*

"Good." she sighed happily. "Now all we have to do is get Buffy out of jail and figure out how to get the demon out of your body and you back into it."

*Piece of cake.* his sarcasm was incredibly obvious.

"Absolutely." He was surprised at her optimism.

*Willow, how can you be so sure we’re going to win?*

"We’re the good guys."

*That’s not an answer!* He didn’t want to take away all of her hope, but she couldn’t afford to be naive, not now.

"Look, I know that we have some major problems to overcome, but we do have some major things going for us."

*Like what?* From where he was sitting, things looked pretty bleak.

She ticked them off on her fingers. "One, we do have some time before Angelus gets his strength back. Plus, he’s got to get back here and that’s gonna take a while, since he can only travel at night. Two, we have some fair warning this time. The first time Angelus showed up, we didn’t know what to expect. This time we do. Third, he doesn’t know what we’re up to unless he’s got his own pet seer or something, which I think is highly unlikely. He used to have Dru--although I don’t know how much help she was--but Spike and Dru left town right after Buffy did. Fourth, we’ve got six minds against his one....seven when we get Buffy back."

*Where are you coming up with six? There’s you, Xander, Cordelia, Oz, Giles......*

"And you, silly!" she giggled. "Or aren’t you planning on adding any contributions to our strategy sessions?" They both laughed. "These six, soon to be seven, minds will all be working on ways to get Buffy back and on ways to get your body and soul reunited. ‘Cuz frankly, I don’t intend to be sharing my body with you for the rest of my life."

*Don’t you like me anymore?* Angel used his most pathetic voice.

"Sure I do. But, I don’t want you critiquing my dates–if I ever have any–and I highly doubt you’d like college. I’ll be going in the fall, you know?"

*Really?* he was amazed. *I thought you were a junior.*

"Angel, I was a junior when you....uh....left. It’s been a year and half."

*Where are you going?*

"Erikson College. It’s a little school in upstate New York."

*Wow!* He took a moment to absorb the information. He wanted to continue the conversation, but realized that Willow had fallen asleep. He mentally smiled and settled down to another evening of exploring her vast store of knowledge.

*****

"Willow?" Both Willow and Angel were stunned at the change in Buffy’s appearance. Her hair had been cut short with what looked like a pair of garden shears. Her skin had lost it’s healthy glow and her eyes no longer sparkled. She had lost weight and looked positively gaunt. "My God, is it really you?"

"You were maybe expecting the Tooth Fairy?" Willow tried to sound cheerful, but was having a great deal of difficulty doing so.

"What.....Why.....How did you know I was here?" Willow’s eyes widened as her friend asked the one question she’d been hoping to avoid initially.

"Well, it’s kind of....uh....complicated." Fortunately, she had come prepared for such an emergency. She slipped a compact out of her purse, opened it, and held it up so that her face was reflected, but Buffy could still see the mirror’s surface. "Look at the mirror. This ought to explain a few things." Angel briefly showed his face and Willow heard Buffy gasp before she put the compact away.

"Will.....what’s going on?" Buffy’s voice was shaky.

"Uh....well, Angel’s soul is kind of currently in my body. Surprise!"

****

Willow sighed as she climbed into the motel bed. <Home!> she thought, wearily but happily, <I’m going home!> She had been Cedarville, Ohio for almost two months and, much as she liked the little town, she was anxious to get back to Sunnydale. She had been able to peek in on Angelus occasionally and knew that he was on his way back to the Hellmouth. Plus, she had less than two weeks until she was supposed to arrive at Erikson College for Freshman Orientation. One way or another, things had to be settled by then.

"Will?" Buffy came out of the bathroom clad only in a towel. Willow smiled at her friend and rejoiced, once again, in the fact that her friend was emancipated. She and Giles had discovered some major errors in the work done by the police and an under-the-table deal had been made. As far as the rest of the world knew, Buffy Summers was still in jail. However, Anne Gideon (a name made up of Buffy’s middle name and her mother’s maiden name) was a free woman. Willow thought that the new name actually suited the young woman who she had come to know over the last few weeks. For this woman was not the Buffy Summers that Willow had come to admire and love during her sophomore and junior years of high school. Anne was much tougher and angrier than Buffy had been. She lacked Buffy’s flexibility and ability to laugh at herself and the world around her and she was all business. Still, Willow liked her and envied her assertiveness and take-charge attitude. It had taken a while for all the arrangements to be made, so Willow had been forced to fend for herself until the Slayer was finally released.

"Yes, Anne?" Buffy had asked to be called Anne, in keeping with her new life.

"I need to talk to Angel."

"Sure thing." Willow nudged the part of her that was Angel. "Do you want me to disconnect?"

*Please.* When Angel and Buffy had started talking again, he had asked Willow if she minded detaching her soul from her senses to offer them a modicum of privacy. Willow had reluctantly agreed, and was surprised to find that it grew easier each time she did it. She prepared to hand control over to Angel, then had a thought.

"No hanky panky." she said mock-sternly. This was the first time that Angel and Anne were going to talk without a glass wall between them or the presence of guards. She trusted both of them, but Anne was still only clad in the towel....

*Don’t worry.* Angel said. *I’ll behave myself.*

"Oh good." Willow giggled as she suddenly remembered the last time they’d recited those particular lives. Her reverie was interrupted by Anne’s impatient cough and she meekly turned her body over to Angel’s control.

****

As Willow floated in the void that was total and complete sensory deprivation, she idly began to wonder what Anne and Angel were talking about. She quickly tried to distract herself from that thought, since it would inevitably lead to others that were far more painful. During the past two and a half months that she had shared her body with him, Willow had come to care very deeply for the vampire. At first, she had passed her feelings off as a result of the forced "quality time" they had shared, but had soon come to realize that this was not the case. She was pie-eyed, head over heels, to the moon in love with the man.

While in Ohio, most of her time had been spent with only Angel as company. Giles had come with her, initially, but had left after a week to supervise the effort to get Buffy out and to make the necessary preparations for Angelus’ arrival in Sunnydale. Willow was only allowed to visit Buffy three times a week, which left her with a lot of free time on her hand. She had introduced Angel to the wonders of the internet, and they had spent a good deal of time picking through the treasures in Cedarville’s used bookshop. They had taken in several movies and gone to the park almost every day. Still, most of their time was spent talking. She felt closer to him than to anyone else and she knew she would sorely miss his presence in her life

She knew he didn’t feel the same way....in the same way she had always known that Xander could never love her the way she had loved him a couple of years ago and that Oz’s feeling had never run as deeply as he claimed. Angel was still in love with Buffy, she was sure, and was probably telling her so right now. Neither Angel nor Anne told Willow what they discussed during their "private" conversations, but Willow could guess. Finding that she was, once again, treading down the well-worn path of sorrow and self-pity, Willow forcibly steered her thoughts in another direction. She decided to concentrate on the inevitable fight to come and on her secret plan to put Angel’s soul back into his body.

Once again, Willow was glad that Angel couldn’t read her thoughts anymore. If he knew what she was planning, he would certainly try to prevent it, which would probably mean the death of all of them. If her plan succeeded, Angel would have his body back and he and Buffy could be together, and if it didn’t......Willow shied away from that thought instinctively. She instead thought about how lucky she was that in his various and sundry explorations of her mind, Angel had stayed away from her knowledge of the occult. Everything hinged on one small little factoid she had gleamed from one of Giles’ books while doing research on a completely different subject. If Angel discovered that she had the knowledge and made the same intuitive leap she had–or chose to share the information with Giles–all would be lost. Willow ran over the procedure in her mind over and over again, making sure that she would be ready when the time came. She did this, until the mental nudge came telling her that Angel and Anne were finished talking.

*****

The plane landed shortly before noon. Willow and Anne walked off with the rest of the passengers and were met by a smiling crowd of people. Willow stood off to one side as Buffy’s mother hugged her and cried, while Xander, Cordelia, Giles, and Oz all swarmed around her talking at once. In fact, they were all so busy welcoming Buffy home that they started to walk off without acknowledging Willow’s presence. She squawked incoherently at this outrage and was rewarded with a sheepish look from Giles.

"Willow....ah, sorry." he stammered.

"Nice to see you too, Giles." she growled "I’m very glad to be home, thanks for asking."

"Yes....well, welcome." He regained enough of his composure to offer to carry her bag, which mollified Willow somewhat, but certainly excuse the behavior of the others who had completely ignored her presence.

*Poor baby.* Angel teased.

"Don’t start." she warned. Giles looked at her askance for a minute, before he remembered.

"Ah yes. And how is Angel?"

"He’s fine." she answered. "How are things here?" The minute she saw his expression, she knew that the news wasn’t going to be good. "What happened?"

"Angelus came back last week." Giles sighed, talking quietly so as not to be overheard by the others. "If I had to make a guess, I’d say he was on some sort of strict diet after getting out of Hell, and is making up for lost time."

"Oh no." Willow moaned softly. "Anyone I know?"

"No." Willow was relieved, but at the same time felt guilty for her sentiments.

"So when do we hunt?" she asked, ready to get back to business.

"As soon as possible. We’ll give Buffy....I mean Anne....a few days to get back into the swing of things and then...." his voice trailed off.

"Right then." Willow said, as they reached the parking lot. "We’ve got a lot of work to do and not much time, so let’s get started."

*******

"Willow?" Giles walked in to find his protégée dozing over her keyboard, as he had so many times before. She started and smiled at him.

"I’m sorry, I was just....."

"Resting your eyelids." he chuckled. "It’s all right. Listen, I need to speak with Angel for a moment, if you don’t mind."

"Oh. Okay." Willow obediently closed her eyes for a moment, and when they opened again, Giles knew that he was talking to a 240 some-odd year old vampire, rather than an 18 year old student.

"Rupert?" Willow’s eyebrow raised quizzically and Giles marveled at how much the slender hacker resembled Angel at that moment.

"I feel I owe you an apology." The Watcher stated baldly. Angel was taken aback by this announcement.

"For what?"

"I...I believe I’ve treated you unfairly. I’ve blamed you for Angelus’ actions and, over the past week, it has become abundantly clear that you were not and are not responsible for what he did."

*Told you so!* Willow crowed. Angel ignored at her and stared at the man who had held him responsible for a good number of the troubles that had plagued his charges over the past three years.

"What?" Angel was frankly flabbergasted at Giles’ sudden shift in attitude.

"Well, it’s fairly obvious that you couldn’t have caused all the mayhem that’s been happening around here since Angelus got back." Giles smiled wanly. "After all, you were on the other side of the continent, right?"

"Yes." Angel nodded weakly.

"So, I can’t reasonably blame you for what’s happening now....or for what happened last year, can I?"

"I....no." Willow had been trying to tell him the same thing for months, but he hadn’t wanted to believe it. Willow had always been his champion and he’d always assumed that her statements were more partisanship than actual fact. Coming from Giles–a man who, until very recently, had blamed him for the death of his love–the argument made a much larger impact.

"I just wanted to tell you that and tell you that I will do everything I can to help you get back in your own body." Giles smiled, then went back to his office. Meanwhile, Willow did a mental dance for joy.

*****

"Show time." Xander said. They were all there–Xander, Cordelia, Oz, Giles, Anne, and Willow/Angel. Angel was in control of Willow’s body, but was contriving to look as much like Willow as possible. He was their secret weapon. They had all agreed that Angel was a far superior fighter, but that it wouldn’t do to reveal his presence until the right time.

"You couldn’t think of anything more original?" Cordelia joked, nervously.

"I don’t do well under pressure, honey." he whined. "You know that."

"I certainly do." she muttered, casting a look at Willow that made her snicker inside. They were all in the park, waiting for Angelus’ inevitable arrival. Word had spread that the Slayer was back in town and everyone knew that Angelus would have to defeat her before he could truly be the ruler of Sunnydale.

"Well, well, well." He stepped out of the shadows, not even making an effort to sneak up on them. "Look who’s back. Enjoy your time in the slammer, Princess?"

"Enjoy your time in Hell?" Xander’s voice was overly loud.

"I did, actually." Angelus sat down on a headstone, as if he was carrying on a normal conversation. Willow could see the movement in the trees and knew that the others recognized the presence of the other vampires. "It’s fun when you’re a demon. So many people to torture, so little time and all that."

"So why’d you come back?" Cordelia asked. She wasn’t really curious, she was just trying to stall until they had a better idea of what sized army they were dealing with. From the looks of things, Angelus was being overconfident. There were only about six other vampires in the area.

"Because I missed you all so very, very much." Angelus sneered. He made a gesture and the vampire army–what there was of it, anyway–came rushing out. The first three were easily dispatched by crossbows, leaving three more, plus Angelus, who had yet to move from his seat. Anne staked one, without any of her usual witticisms or acrobatics. Neat, clean, and yet somehow passionless. Xander grabbed a second and held him, while Cordy staked him. Giles easily doused the third with holy water.

"I’m disappointed." Xander panted when the last was gone. "Is that the best you can do?"

"Well, you know it’s so hard to find good help these days." Angelus sighed melodramatically, then lunged for Xander. Xander easily avoided him, but grabbed his arm as he passed by. Giles grabbed the others.

*Hold him!* Willow yelled, and Angel passed her message along. *Angel, be ready to go on my signal.* she ordered.

"What are you talking about? Go where?"

*Back into your body.* Without another word, Willow separated her soul from her body and flung herself into Angelus. That had been her plan all along. Once she had learned how to disconnect her soul from her bodily senses, she had set about figuring out a way to separate her soul from her body. The connection between her soul and body was much stronger than Angel’s, and would act like a rubber band. She could only go out so far, then she would snap back. She had then recalled an obscure passage having to do with expelling demons from mortal beings.....

Willow’s soul slammed into Angelus with such force that she literally went through him, carrying the demon right along with her.

*Now!* she screamed as her soul began to race back towards her own body, but it was unnecessary. Once the demon was out of his body, Angel’s soul felt impelled to return to its natural home. Meanwhile, the demon had run into Anne Gideon and her trusty stakes, knives, and other assorted weaponry. Anne hadn’t been expecting to fight anything other than vampires, but made short work of it all the same. In an instant it was over. The demon exploded in a flash of light.

"Where the Hell did that come from?" Xander yelled.

"Me." The voice was strained and appeared to be gasping for air. It took them all a moment to realize that the voice was coming from Angelus. Xander instinctively raised a stake, but Giles stopped him.

"Wait." He knelt by the vampire, who was struggling to take in a lungful of air. "Angel?" The vampire merely nodded, since was too busy taking a crash course in the use of his lungs to talk. Giles instantly noticed the problem. "Slowly. Breathe slowly." he instructed. "In. Out. In. Out." Finally, Angel got the breathing thing down and looked up at the faces around him.

"Where’s Willow?" he asked, his voice still hoarse. Giles began to panic, then saw her lying on the ground nearby. He rushed over to her, followed quickly by Angel, and felt for a pulse. To his relief he found one, although it was very weak.

"She’s alive." he said. "What happened?"

"She did it." Angel said, his voice filled with awe. "She got rid of the demon."

"But how?" Anne stood behind them, scanning the horizon for more vamps.

"I think that the questions can wait until we get indoors, don’t you?" Giles removed his coat and wrapped it around the unconscious hacker. He carefully picked her up and began to walk towards his car. Angel stayed right beside him the entire way.

"Is she going to be all right?" he asked, anxiously.

"I don’t know." Giles answered. "I honestly don’t know."

*****

"Xander! Xander, you are going to die!" Xander tried to run, but tripped over Ira Rosenberg’s brand new sprinkler system and fell flat on his face. In a moment, Willow was beside him, knee pressed firmly into his spine. She looked up, spotted Cordelia and grinned evilly.

"Cordy, would you do me a favor?" She gestured to something near Cordelia’s feet. The brunette grinned and handed it to her. Hiding her new toy behind her back, Willow flipped Xander onto his back and straddled his chest.

"Uh....hi, Will." Xander chuckled weakly. "I guess I shouldn’t have tried the mud thing again, huh?" Willow smirked. <At least some things don’t change....> she thought happily. It had been four months since that final fight in the graveyard. Willow had been unconscious for a week, but upon awakening, had been assured that Angelus was gone for good. She still didn’t remember anything that had happened, and no one seemed particularly anxious to fill in the blank spots. Her last week at home had been spent packing frantically and spending quality time with her parents (who had never learned about their daughter’s "extracurricular" activities or that she had actually possessed two souls for several months). Willow hadn’t really had a chance to say goodbye to her friends, and hadn’t even seen Angel before she left. Giles had assured her that Angel was well, and subsequent correspondence via snail-mail (like the Watcher, Angel refused to communicate electronically) had proved this.

Buffy (a.k.a Anne Gideon) had left Sunnydale soon after Angelus had been defeated, and Willow hadn’t heard from her. Mrs. Summers still kept in touch, though, and said that Buffy had started a new life in Seattle. The Hellmouth had been relatively quiet lately, and she was close enough to come home in a pinch. Willow had been shocked when, in his letter, Angel had admitted that he and Buffy had never rekindled their romance after his return from Hell. While his soul was still in Willow’s body, he had attempted to help the Slayer heal her broken spirit, but had always known that any further relationship between them was impossible. Willow had been genuinely sorry at this news. Although her love for Angel had not died–had, in fact, grown stronger over the past few months–it saddened her to know that such a beautiful love story had ended so tragically. As for Willow herself, she had gone off to college and had recently completed the first semester of her freshman year. She had been back in town a whopping total of an hour, before Xander pulled the mud trick on her.

"Uh, Will?" Xander’s voice brought her back to the here-and-now.

"Yes?" she purred, stroking his cheek with one finger.

"What do you have behind your back?" Xander attempted to turn his head, but she held him firm.

"A present." Willow giggled and then, in one swift movement, brought the nozzle of the hose up so that it was inches away from his face and squeezed the trigger. Xander spluttered as he was hit by the jets of water and rolled. Willow easily slipped off of him and stood up. She continued to spray Xander, but was thrown off balance when he grabbed her around her knees and pulled. A wrestling match followed, with Cordelia getting in on the act, and the three were soon soaking wet and covered with mud. Finally, they stopped, and Willow lay back on the grass, laughing and gasping for air.

"Good to have you home, Will." Xander panted as he helped Cordelia stand. "Messy, but good."

"I’m going home to change." Cordelia stated. "Will we see you at the Bronze tonight?"

"Sure, why not?" Willow said as she picked herself up off the ground.

"But what about A...ow!" Xander yelped as his girlfriend punched him in the arm. She gave him a "look" and he shut his mouth hastily.

"Great! See you there!" Cordelia said quickly, then dragged Xander towards her car.

<Wonder what that was about.> Willow mused idly as she entered her house. Her parents were not due back from Phoenix until tomorrow, so she had the place all to herself. Willow bounded into her bedroom, grabbed some clean clothes and headed straight for the shower. When she came out of the bathroom a half hour later, she was dressed in clean jeans and a t-shirt. Her hair, which had grown long again, hung in front of her like a curtain. Willow felt her way to her chair and picked her brush up off her dresser. When she was done, she turned towards her mirror, pushed her auburn tresses out of her eyes and shrieked.

"I take it you’re surprised to see me." The voice hadn’t changed a bit. Willow gingerly touched the mirror’s surface, running her fingertips lightly over the faces reflected in the glass.

"This is impossible." she murmured.

"Oh, come on, Will. This is the Hellmouth. Nothing’s impossible." He was chuckling.

"But....but Giles said you were back in your body.....there were all those letters....." Willow wanted to cry in frustration, but chose instead to let loose a volley of curse words. Angel’s eyes widened at her vocabulary, then he realized what she was thinking. Gently, he placed his hands on the back of her chair and turned her around. Leaning forward, so his face was at her level, he placed his finger under her chin and raised her head until she was looking directly into his eyes.

"Willow, it’s me. Angel. Body and soul." She stared at him. Slowly, several facts worked their way into her brain. Angel was real...not a hallucination, and not merely a projection of his soul in her body. He was standing in her bedroom. He was directly in front of her French doors which weren’t covered.....and he had a tan. The numbers began to add up in her head, but the answer made absolutely no sense.

"But.....you.......Angel, you’re standing in sunlight!" she finally blurted out.

"Your perceptiveness never ceases to amaze me." he laughed as he sat on the edge of her bed. Reaching into his jacket pocket, he removed something and, keeping his fist closed, held it in front of her eyes. He teasingly uncurled his fingers, one by one, until Willow could see what lay in his palm. She gasped and slowly picked up the small silver cross. Holding his hand in hers, she examined his palm for any marks, but found none. She ran her fingers up to the pulse point on his wrist and felt the steady beat of blood flowing through his veins. Only then did she realize that his skin was no longer strangely cool.

"I don’t have any holy water handy, but if you like I can go get some...." Willow merely glared at him, then could no longer contain her smile of joy. Whooping, she jumped up and threw her arms around his neck. Laughing and crying at the same time, she held on to him for a solid five minutes. Angel finally tried to pry her fingers loose, with little success.

"Will.....Willow, I have to breathe!" he managed to choke out.

"What?" she said, letting go. "Oh! Sorry. I forgot about that part, I guess this is going to take some getting used to. What happened? When? How? Why? Why didn’t you *tell* me?" Angel raised his hand to still her barrage of questions.

"I thought you already knew. Didn’t the others tell you what happened?"

"No!" She sat back in her chair and simply stared at him for a few minutes. "All anyone said was that you were all right and that Angelus was gone. They never said anything about you being.....well.....what *are* you?"

"I’m a real boy!" he pronounced. "I’m an honest-to-God, flesh and blood, daylight walking, food eating, air breathing human!" At that moment, Willow wished more than anything that she had a camera so that she could capture the expression on Angel’s face.

"Wow!" was the only thing she could think of to say.

"Yeah." he grinned. "It is pretty amazing, isn’t it?"

"That’s the understatement of the century. But how did it happen? I mean, I remember you talking to Giles and...and going to the graveyard....and Angelus showing up.....then nothing." Willow’s brow creased in bafflement.

"There was a fight." Angel said, in a serious voice. "We managed to dust off Angelus’ army–what there was of it anyway–then Angelus made a grab for Xander. My memories are kind of fuzzy at this point, but I do remember you telling me to be ready to go and then......Willow, I was in control of your body and I felt you *leave*. Why did you do that?"

It took Willow a moment to realize what he was talking about. "Oh! I think I’m beginning to understand." She stood up and began to pace as she talked. "I read somewhere that once a demon enters a host body, it doesn’t like to share living quarters. That’s why vampires lose their souls, right?"

"Right."

"Well, the only way a soul can enter a body that houses a demon is if the demon is distracted. Kind of like a sneak attack. That’s what the Rom curse was, you know, a sneak attack. The demon wasn’t expecting it, so your soul was able to re-enter your body." Willow’s eyes widened in astonishment. "That’s probably why the spell went all screwy the second time! Think about it. The demon knew the warning signs, so was able to prevent your soul from re-entering your body!"

"That doesn’t explain why my soul ended up in your body, though....or how I got my life back." As usual, Angel was unable to follow Willow’s leaps of intuition.

She thought for a minute. "If I had to guess, I’d say that you ended up in my body because we were somehow connected during the spell. As for what happened during the final fight, I was *trying* to....I don’t know.....do the metaphysical equivalent of a body slam. I wanted to distract the demon long enough for the natural connection between your body and soul to kick in and pull you back to your rightful home. I take it that’s not exactly how it happened?"

"No." he chuckled. "From what I understand, you were so forceful that you managed to push the demon out of me completely. Buffy–I mean Anne–killed it. I don’t remember that part. All I remember is feeling you leave, then this really strong pulling sensation, then....all of a sudden, I was lying on the ground and I could see you, and I had this incredible need to breathe."

"Wow." she grinned at him. "I wish I could have been there to see it....I mean, I know I was there, but...."

"I understand. I wish you could have been there, too. It was quite a sight....Particularly the expression on Xander’s face when he figured out what was happening."

"I can’t believe they didn’t tell me." she murmured, coming to stand in front of him. He spread his knees, allowing her to come closer. She lightly placed her hand on his shoulder, and simply enjoyed looking at Angel’s face–the cheekbones subtly highlighted by the sun’s rays and the eyes no longer hidden in shadow.

"I guess they wanted it to be a surprise."

"Remind me to thank them properly." she said, using her most sarcastic voice.

Angel smiled wickedly. "Can I help?"

Willow snickered. "What did you have in mind?"

"Well...." he pretended to give the matter some thought "we could tell Xander that we were lovers." Willow laughed out loud at this, but Angel didn’t miss the slight flash of pain in her eyes.

"I don’t think so." she said.

"Why not?"

"He’d never buy it." There was no mistaking the sad look that passed across Willow’s features at that moment.

"He will because it’ll be true.." Angel said as he lightly began to stroke Willow’s cheek with his fingertips. She tried to back away, but discovered he had effectively confined her legs with his knees. Finally, she grasped his wrist and pulled his hand away.

"Please don’t joke about this." she said, hoping he would drop the subject.

"I’m being completely serious." He easily pulled his hand from her grasp and placed his palm on her cheek.

"Angel..." she managed to choke out past the quickly expanding lump in her throat.

"Did I ever tell you that you never really quite got the hang of your mental shields?"

"What do you mean?" she asked, apprehensively.

Angel spoke very gently. "I mean that, no matter how hard you tried to hide them from me, I was pretty much aware of what you were feeling most of the time." Willow moaned softly as the implications of his words sank in. She tried to move, but Angel’s knees held her in place. All she could do was jerk her head away from his palm. He lowered his hand to her arm to hold her steady. He watched as her expression changed from dismay to something that could best be described as determined resignation.

"All right." she said, through a clenched jaw. "Let’s get this over with."

Angel was confused. "What?"

"Well isn’t this the part where you tell me that I’m a really special person and that there’s some guy out there who’s going to be really lucky to snag me?" Angel flinched at the bitterness in her voice. "Just please don’t say anything about how you still want to ‘be friends’." Willow tried, but couldn’t keep her voice from quivering.

"I won’t." he said. "I don’t want to be your friend."

"What?" It was Willow’s turn to be bewildered.

"I want more. Much more."

"More? What are you talking about?"

"This." He cupped her face in his palms and pulled her down for a kiss. For the briefest of seconds, he felt her respond, then she braced her hands on his shoulders and pushed away. In her eyes, Angel could see fear warring with hope.

"Angel..." she whispered, but he placed his fingers over her mouth to silence her.

"Listen to me, Willow." He spoke calmly and clearly. "Last time we were together, you trusted me with your body and mind....even your life. Now, I’m asking you to trust me with your heart. I don’t know how or when it happened, but somewhere in the past seven months I fell in love with a beautiful, incredibly intelligent, compassionate, loving woman who, for reasons I cannot even begin to fathom, loves me back. I do love you, Willow. You have to believe me."

Willow was openly weeping. "This is all some dream, isn’t it?" she asked quietly. "Any minute now, I’m going to wake up and....and....this will all go away, won’t it?"

"No." He reached up and began to wipe the tears from her face. He felt her hand come to rest on his, but was surprised when she made no effort to pull him away. He turned his wrist until her fingers rested in his palm. Slowly, he brought her hand to his lips. He closed his eyes and concentrated on the softness of her skin and the way she trembled ever so slightly under his kisses. When he looked up at her again, her tears had stopped and her eyes were shining brightly. He pulled her down for another kiss, and this time she only pulled away when the awkward position began to put a strain on her back muscles.

"I love you, Angel." Her voice was so soft that he almost didn’t hear her.

"I love you too, Willow." he said, before kissing her again.

*****

"Do you think she’s seen him yet?" Xander asked casually, as he brought Cordelia her drink.

"I think Giles told him she was coming in today, so I’ll bet he stopped by." she said.

"Did you remember to tell him that we never told Willow about....you know." Xander winked in an exaggerated fashion. Cordelia gasped and smacked her forehead in a very un-cheerleader-esque movement.

"I completely forgot!" she groaned. "Poor Willow, she’s not going to know what’s going on. Why didn’t you tell him?"

" Cordy, you know I try to be around Angel as little as possible. Relax, maybe Giles told him." Xander reassured her. "Besides, there’s not much we can do about it now, unless he hasn’t been by to see her yet." He was facing Cordelia, and therefore did not see Willow and Angel enter the club. Cordelia, however, did see them.

"She knows." she smiled, and waved her arm to get their attention. Xander turned around and saw them.

"What did she bring *him* for?"

"Well, *duh*. He’s her friend." Cordelia moved over to make room for the new arrivals. "Hi guys!"

"Hey!" Willow sat down and gestured to Angel to take a seat.

"I’m going to get something to drink." the ex-vampire said. "Willow, do you want anything?"

"Just a Coke, thanks." she smiled at him. He leaned down, kissed her, and walked off. Willow and Cordelia then spent the next two minutes tending to Xander who had, unfortunately, been drinking soda at that moment and was having a merry time getting it to go down the right pipe.

"He *kissed* you." Xander wheezed, when he was finally able to talk again.

"Yeah, isn’t it great?" Willow’s smile could have lit up a room. Cordy squealed in delight and immediately began to plague Willow for all the juicy details.

"You let him *kiss* you?" Xander was having a great deal of trouble erasing the image from his head.

"We covered that already, Xander." Cordelia said impatiently. Just then, Angel came back to the table. He handed Willow her soda, sat down, and casually slung his arm over her shoulder. Willow moved her chair to be closer to him.

"You *kissed* her." Xander spluttered, not knowing whether to hit Angel, run screaming from the club, or both.

"Xander’s having a bit of trouble with the kissing thing." Willow explained, amusement in her voice.

"Get used to it, Harris." Angel smiled and mockingly saluted Xander with his drink. "I intend to do it quite often." He then proved this point by kissing Willow again. Xander continued to splutter, but they ignored him, preferring to be in their own little world. Their hands were entwined on top of the table, which made Cordelia smile and Xander scowl.

"Isn’t it sweet?" Cordy whispered into her boyfriend’s ear.

"Hardly." he scoffed. "What does she see in him?" What Willow saw, at that moment, was Angel’s eyes. They shone with love and trust and, she knew, were reflections of her own.