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Title: Silence Speaks
Author: Karen U
E-mail: ksu2@juno.com
Rating: PG-13 (just to be safe)
Disclaimer: All Buffy and Angel characters belong to Joss Whedon, 20th
Century Fox, and the WB
Distribution: Charity, Angel of Mine, Willow's Angel, Fever of Fate, and
anyone else who has stuff of mine (otherwise please ask first)
Summary: Something terrible has happened to Willow; can Angel and co. help
her?
Spoilers: Up to The Initiative on BtVS and The Bachelor Party on Angel.
Nothing else has happened
Feedback: Please

Part One

She hadn’t said a word in two days. It was all he could do to get her to
eat. He hated the way she flinched away when he came near her, and he
wished he knew what had happened to her. He also wished he could get in
touch with one of the others. He stared at the girl from the darkness of
the corner; he knew she couldn’t see him and that she had no idea that he
was there. Still, she didn’t move from the couch. She just sat there, her
knees pulled up to her chest, her chin resting on her knees. She looked so
pale, so fragile. Her hair, always so bright, was a shock of red against
her ghostly white skin. Her hair had grown longer since he had last seen
her, and it framed her face wildly. She would have been beautiful if she
hadn’t looked so haunted. He hated the blank look in her eyes. He’d seen
it too many times before on the faces of his victims. He jumped slightly as
the phone rang, forcing him out of his reverie. He stayed where he was,
knowing the machine would get it. He turned slightly as he heard the beep
and waited to hear the message. A familiar female voice met his ears.

"It’s me, damn it. Would you just pick up the phone? It’s daylight; I know
you’re there."

With a sigh of resignation, Angel left Willow alone in the room and went to
talk to Cordelia.

"What do we know?"

The brunette sighed, and Angel could practically feel her frustration
through the phone line.

"Nothing. Not a damn thing. I still can’t get in touch with anyone. I
just called to see how she’s doing."

"The same."

"She won’t speak?"

"She won’t even look at me unless I try to touch her. And even then, she
just looks through me. I don’t think she really sees me."

"Look, why don’t I come by... I can stay with her. Maybe she’ll talk to
me."

"Has she talked to you yet?"

Cordelia sighed. "No, she hasn’t. But she doesn’t seem as afraid of me.
Whatever happened to her... well, I’m not so sure that it was supernatural."
The girl paused, unsure of how to continue without freaking Angel out.

"What aren’t you saying, Cordelia?"

"She’s as scared of Doyle as she is of you. However, she’ll let me touch
her. You two are male; I’m most definitely female. What do you think I’m
saying?"

"Oh, God," was all Angel could manage.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

"How is she?"

Angel jumped slightly at Doyle’s question. He’d been so absorbed in his
thoughts that he hadn’t even noticed the other man’s arrival. He sighed,
then answered the half demon’s question.

"The same. Cordelia’s with her now."

Doyle wearily rubbed a hand over his face. It hurt to see the girl like
this, and he didn’t even know her. He couldn’t imagine how Angel and
Cordelia must feel. "You haven’t reached anyone yet?"

The vampire shook his head.

"Not even her parents?"

Angel snorted. "Yeah, right. Her parents are probably off in Europe or
something. They aren’t exactly attentive. What gets me is that no one else
seems to be looking for her... not Buffy, Giles... no one."

"Maybe that’s why we can’t get in touch with them. They’re looking for
her."

"It doesn’t explain why no one’s called me. I know I didn’t leave under the
best of circumstances, but this is Willow. If they were looking for her,
don’t you think they’d put aside differences long enough to find her? It’s
not like they don’t know how to reach me. I gave Giles the number."

"Maybe he lost it."

Angel just glared at Doyle, then turned to the door as he heard Cordelia
coming up the stairs.

"How is she?" Angel asked, a tension lending an edge to his voice.

"I got her to move off the couch, if that means anything."

"Where is she now? Did she say anything?"

"A big no to the speaking. She’s asleep now. In your bed, actually, which
means you’re Couch Man tonight."

Angel nodded. Movement. Movement was good. The only time she’d left the
couch in the past two days was to go to the bathroom, so going to his bed
and sleeping was a good sign. Hell, he’d sleep outside if it meant Willow
would show some improvement.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

The screaming woke him up. At first he thought it was just an after effect
of a dream; after regaining his soul, he’d had nightmares about his victims
so often that sometimes it had been difficult to gage where a dream ended
and reality began. The dreams had stopped when he’d gone to Sunnydale to
start helping the Slayer, but Willow’s condition had caused them to
resurface. After a moment, however, he realized it wasn’t a dream.

It was Willow.

Angel jumped off his couch and ran to his bedroom. The tiny redhead was
tossing and turning in her sleep, and tears were rolling down her face as
she cried out. Angel’s silent heart broke at the sight. With tears in his
own eyes, the vampire reached out to wake the girl up. Willow lashed out
when Angel touched her, but he managed to get a hold of her and shake her
awake. The redhead’s eyes flew open, and, for the first time since he had
found her, there was clarity in them. Instead of looking through him, she
was looking at him, shock evident on her face. After staring at him for
what had to be the longest moment of his unlife, the girl threw herself in
his arms, sobbing uncontrollably.

He was holding her. After more than two days of her flinching away whenever
he even attempted to touch her, she had sought out his embrace. Granted,
she was hysterical, but she had still willingly allowed him to touch her.
He pulled her closer, trying to comfort her, but not sure how to do it. She
was so fragile; he had always thought of her that way. She was someone who
needed to be protected. He cursed himself for not being there to protect
her from whatever it was that had seemingly broken her. Carefully, without
releasing her, Angel climbed into bed with Willow and lay back against the
pillows. He cradled the girl in his arms and began rubbing his hand up and
down her back in a soothing motion, hoping to calm her down. Her ragged
sobs shook her shoulders, and Angel was worried that Willow would cry
herself sick. Gradually, however, the redhead’s sobs died down until they
were no more than whimpers, and, eventually, Angel felt her breathing even
out into the slow, deep breathing of sleep. Angel released a sigh of relief
and cuddled the tiny girl even closer, wondering just what was going to
happen next.


Part Two

Angel opened his eyes to find Cordelia standing over him, a rather surprised
look on her face.

"It’s not what you think," the vampire hurried to explain.

The pretty brunette looked at Willow’s tearstained face and gave her boss a
slight smile. "How do you even know what I’m thinking, Angel? She looks
like she broke, and you tried to fix her. Did she say anything?"

Angel winced as he shifted. For the first time in a century, he’d woken up
with a crick in his neck. "Does screaming count?"

"Was it actual words?" When Angel shook his head, a look of disappointment
crossed Cordelia’s face. "It doesn’t count then. Oh, well, at least she
let you touch her. That’s a good sign, I guess."

"She looked at me, Cordelia."

"So?"

"As in at me, not through me. She was crying, and she looked at me, then...
well, this happened," he finished, gesturing to the exhausted redhead in his
arms.

"You mean you think she actually recognized you? Are you sure it wasn’t
just wishful thinking?"

Angel sat up, gently disentangling himself from Willow. He gestured toward
the next room, and Cordelia followed him out, a rather confused expression
on her face. "I didn’t want to wake her," the vampire explained. "She
really wore herself out last night; I want her to sleep as long as possible.
And no, I don’t think her recognizing me was wishful thinking. When she
looked at me, it was like she was shocked to see me. She knew exactly who I
was, Cordelia."

"So what now? We wait until she wakes up, ask her what the hell
happened, then get the bad guy?"

Angel shook his head sadly. "I’m not so sure it’ll be that easy. She was
pretty much gone for two days; she wasn’t even aware she was here, with us.
And we have no idea how long she was like that before we found her. Who
knows how much she’ll even remember? Besides, she still hasn’t spoken yet.
She still may not be ready to."

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

Willow stood silently, watching the coffee as it percolated. The redhead
had woken up an hour earlier, and she was now standing in Angel's office.
She was aware of Angel’s eyes on her, but it didn’t bother her. She was
grateful to the vampire for... whatever it was that he had done for her.
She couldn’t really remember what had happened recently; she remembered
being grabbed, then... no, she didn’t want to remember that just yet. And
what happened after that was a blur. Things had faded in and out until...
Angel. She’d been having a nightmare, running from the faceless men, when
someone had grabbed her. Angel. Angel had grabbed her, and he had somehow
managed to pull her back from wherever she had been. Thank God for the
brooding vampire. She wanted to know how long she’d been here among
friends, but she was afraid to ask. She wasn’t entirely sure she wanted to
know how long she’d been in that haze. Had it been a day? a week? a month?
Dear God, she hoped it hadn't been a month. Besides, she knew that if she
asked, Angel and Cordelia would start asking questions about what had
happened, and she wasn’t ready for that. With a sigh, Willow pushed at the
sleeves of the shirt she wore, but they just slid right back down. Her
clothes were currently being washed, so she was wearing one of Angel’s
shirts with a pair of jeans from the stash of clothes that Cordy kept at the
office in case of an emergency. Because she was so much shorter than the
brunette, the jeans, like the shirt, were rather large on her. Of course,
Willow reasoned, they were better than nothing.

Angel looked over at the door as Cordelia entered. The brunette sat down
next to him and spoke quietly. "Apparently, Buffy and Giles were out of
town killing some demon; they should be back in Sunnydale by this
afternoon."

"You got in touch with them?" Angel asked, shocked. He’d just about given
up on them.

Cordy shook her head. "Xander, actually. I’d left a couple messages with
his mom earlier, but he never got them." She shrugged at Angel’s skeptical
expression. "I think he was telling the truth. His mom always sucked at
relaying messages. That’s why I only called him a few times. The only
reason I actually got to talk to him was because he was the one that
answered this time. Apparently, Willow’s been missing for about four days.
He’s been searching everywhere... Anya’s been helping him. He would have
called here, but he didn’t have the number, and he didn’t know how to reach
Giles to ask for it." Cordelia paused, then decided to go ahead and tell
the vampire everything she’d found out. "Something really weird’s going on
in Sunnydale, Angel."

"What do you mean?"

"Xander said that Spike was helping him search for Willow. He also said
something about Spike not being able to feed off people; it hurts him to
even try... I didn’t really understand it."

Angel opened his mouth to respond to that revelation, but was interrupted
when Doyle burst in.

"Hello, hello! So, how’s the girl?" The half demon stopped short when he
saw the wide-eyed redhead. Willow was holding a cup of coffee, and her hand
had begun to shake the moment Doyle had come in. Angel jumped up from his
spot on the couch and reached for the coffee cup, taking it from her before
she could drop it. He put his hands on her shoulders, then ran them down
her arms soothingly.

"It’s okay, Willow. This is Doyle. He works with me and Cordelia. He
won’t hurt you, I promise."

Willow nodded, then looked at the other man. Doyle offered an apologetic
smile. "Sorry about that. I didn’t mean to scare you. I had no idea you’d
be up here. If I’d known, I would have... made a less noisy entrance, or
something."

Willow offered the man a tentative smile, then took her coffee back from
Angel.

"Still not talking, huh?" Doyle asked.

The redhead shrugged. She knew she couldn’t feign muteness forever;
eventually she would have to talk. She just hoped she could figure out the
answers to their question before that time came.


Part Three

Buffy was not in a good mood. She’d been gone five days, and in that span
of time Willow had gone missing, then shown up in LA, and Spike had somehow
miraculously joined the said of the good. That was one of the things about
living on the Hellmouth; you never knew what it was going to throw at you
next. The Slayer slammed her tray down on the table, then jumped when
someone put a hand on her shoulder. Buffy whirled around to find herself
face to face with Riley.

"Buffy, hi. Did you have a nice trip?" The teacher’s assistant paused, a
hint of concern creeping into his voice. "Did Willow go with you by any
chance?" He hadn’t seen the redhead since he’d gotten back from visiting
his older sister in San Francisco a few days before, and he was beginning to
worry about the girl.

"No, she didn’t," Buffy replied, oddly touched by the young man’s concern
about her friend. "She’s in LA."

"Oh... so, she went to visit a friend?"

"Something like that," Buffy answered, unable to keep the sadness and
uncertainty out of her voice. She wished she knew what had happened while
she was gone. She hated that she hadn’t been there to protect her friend.
Xander had told her everything he knew, and all Buffy could do was thank God
that Angel had found the redhead. She shuddered to think what could have
happened otherwise.

Riley watched Buffy closely; whatever had happened wasn’t as cut and dried
as Buffy wanted him to believe. Something had obviously happened to the
sweet redhead. A rather unpleasant thought pushed its way into his mind,
but he tried to ignore it.

"Um, when will she be back?"

"I’m not sure. I think I may go see her this weekend if she’s still up
there."

"Well, tell her hi for me. I’ve got a class in a minute, so I really should
go. I’ll see you later, though."

"Yeah, later," Buffy said to Riley’s rapidly retreating back. Sometimes she
just didn’t get him.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

Cordelia watched, amazed, as Willow levitated one of Angel’s paperweights
and began to rotate it in the air. She’d never really gotten to see any of
Willow’s magick before. The brunette vaguely remembered hearing something
about witchcraft requiring emotional control, and the thought was rather
comforting. If Willow could do
this, it probably meant that she was doing better. Of course, she still
hadn’t spoken, a fact that was beginning to bother Cordelia more and more.
It was different when the redhead had been in that trance, or whatever it
was. But now... the girl could talk, Cordelia was sure of it. Deciding to
just drop the bombshell, Cordy turned to the other girl.

"Willow, were you raped?"

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

Forrest could hardly breath. Riley had shoved him up against the wall, and
he now had his hand encircling the other man’s throat.

"Two days. I was gone for two lousy days. And when I come back, Willow
Rosenberg’s missing, and all of you are extremely quiet about it. What
happened while I was gone, Forrest? What was done to her?"

"She compromised us, Riley. She was with Hostile 17. We had to find out
what she knew."

Riley released Forrest, then shoved him to the ground.

"What the hell did you do to her?"

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

Cordelia had expected her question to be met with a round of tears, maybe a
denial. She wasn’t prepared for the pure disbelief that crossed Willow’s
face.

"Okay, apparently that’s a no."

"Why did you think that?"

The former cheerleader’s eyes widened as the redhead spoke for the first
time in three days. Without thinking, she pulled the other girl into a
giant hug.

"You talked! Oh, my gosh, this is so great! You spoke to me!"

"I never thought you’d be so happy to hear my voice," Willow managed.
Cordelia had quite a grip, and the hacker was afraid that the other girl
might accidently squeeze the life out of her.

Cordelia laughed as she released her friend. "I didn’t, either. I guess I
was just worried about you." The brunette’s face grew serious as she went
back to the task at hand. "What did happen to you, Willow? Can you talk
about it?"

Willow sighed. She had been dreading this, but she knew it had to be done.
She needed their help.

"Go get Angel and Doyle."

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

Riley looked at the people surrounding him. He was still reeling from the
shock of seeing Hostile 17 again. The others - Xander, Anya, Giles - their
presence confused him as well. He’d had no idea what kind of company Buffy
and Willow kept.

"Why exactly are we here, mate?" Hostile 17 - < not Hostile 17, his name is
Spike > Riley corrected himself mentally - asked.

"It’s about Willow." He paused, looked at the vampire. He didn’t seem so
evil now. Buffy had told him that the blonde had helped look for Willow.
What kind of demon went in search of a damsel in distress? Well, Riley
reasoned, apparently this one did. "It’s about you, too," he told the
bleached blonde. The vampire’s eyes
narrowed in response.

"What do you mean?" Buffy asked, thoroughly confused. Surely he couldn’t
mean...

"I know Spike’s a vampire, and I know why Spike can’t feed on, or even hurt,
a living creature."

"You’re one of the commandos," the Slayer realized. Spike’s gaze turned
murderous. Taking a deep breath, Riley continued, prepared to lay out all
his cards on the table.

"They’re called The Initiative."

Part Four

"...then someone grabbed me. Two men. I don’t know who they were. God, I
don’t even remember what they wanted. I was gagged..."

"Did you see their faces?" Angel asked, seething. He was dying to get his
hands on whoever had hurt Willow.

"They had ski masks on... I never saw their faces. I have no idea who they
were."

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

"Forrest and Graham."

"Excuse me?" Buffy yelled. "Your best buds grabbed Willow and... and... did
whatever it was that was done to her? Good God, what kind of people do you
hang out with?"

Riley glanced around the room at the people he was with. She was berating
him for things he’d known nothing about when she was knowingly hanging out
with a vampire? He raised his eyebrow at her. "Exactly what kind of people
do < you > hang out with?" he countered.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

"I’m not really sure what happened next. They didn’t just gag me, they
blindfolded me as well, so I never saw a thing. They put me in the trunk of
their car. I was so scared; I thought they were going to..." Willow broke
off, not wanting to complete the sentence. She knew that the others would
realize what she had thought; Cordelia had assumed that was what had
happened. Thank God it wasn’t. Willow looked over at Angel, who was on the
couch beside her. The vampire took her hand in his and gave it an
encouraging squeeze to let her know that she was doing just fine. After
taking a deep breath, she continued. "They took me... somewhere. I don’t
know where. I do know that it didn’t take long to get there, so it had be
close to the campus. It may have even been on campus."

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

"We have an underground laboratory on campus," Riley continued, trying to
avoid Buffy’s gaze. The two had been on the verge of a shouting match when
Mr. Giles had stepped in and firmly told them to stop fighting before he
hurt them both severely. Somehow, Riley believed that the man could and
would do it if he was pushed far enough. Riley glanced at the older man; he
wished he knew how Giles fit into Buffy’s little world. The others in the
group seemed to be near her age; she had probably gone to high school with
them. Well, not Spike, of course, but Xander and Anya. Giles, on the other
hand, was old enough to be her father.

"What exactly is done in this laboratory?" the former Watcher inquired.

"What the bloody hell do you think they do?" Spike demanded. "They de-fang
us, you imbecile." The vampire turned to glare at Riley. If he didn’t know
how much pain it would cause him, he would have torn the boy into bits.
Unfortunately, Spike knew he’d barely be able to land the first punch before
ending up on the floor in agony.

Riley sighed, then looked Giles in the eye. "We run tests on demons. There
are also some... experiments done."

"Experiments?" Giles asked, intrigued. "Like what was done to Spike?"

"If you run experiments on demons, why the hell did you attack Willow? She
is definitely not a demon!" Xander responded angrily. He was really
beginning to want to hit this guy. Hard. He glanced at Spike, and saw the
same murderous look in the demon’s eyes. Impossible as it may seem, Xander
and Spike had finally found some
common ground.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

"I’m not really clear on what happened after that. Everything’s just a big
blur. I’m pretty sure I was drugged. I think maybe that’s what scares me
the most, not knowing what they did to me." Willow brushed hastily at the
tears that were falling down her cheeks. Without hesitation, Angel drew the
young woman closer to him, resting his chin on her head. Willow turned into
his embrace, accepting his comfort. The vampire met Doyle’s eyes over
Willow’s head, and he knew the other man felt the same way he did. He
couldn’t wait to get his hands on these guys.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

"What do you know about what was done to Willow?"

Spike raised his eyebrow at the boy. If he’d had the ability to, he would
have eaten him. "Isn’t that what you’re supposed to tell us?"

Riley looked around, obviously confused. "Hasn’t she told you anything?"

Xander shot the other man a dirty look. "According to Cordelia, Willow
hasn’t spoken in nearly three days - ever since Angel found her."

Riley’s expression darkened at Xander’s words. He couldn’t believe that The
Initiative had done this. This wasn’t supposed to happen; innocent people
weren’t supposed to get hurt. Riley wearily rubbed his hands over his face
as he realized that everything he’d believed in for the past three years was
crumbling all around him.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

"I need to know what happened to me," Willow said as she pulled away from
Angel. All she really wanted to do was cry her eyes out in the vampire’s
arms, but she knew that wouldn’t solve anything. Although it might make her
feel better... no, now was not the time to fall apart. Willow resolutely
squared her shoulders. "I’ve got to know what was done to me, and why. I
need to go back to Sunnydale; that’s where it happened." The redhead looked
at the vampire beside her, an unspoken question in her eyes.

"I’ll go with you." Angel looked at Doyle and Cordelia, silently asking
them to come as well.

"Me, too," the half demon responded.

"I am so there. Just don’t make me work with Xander."

Willow smiled at the others, grateful for their willingness to help,
especially since Doyle hardly knew her. "I guess I should call everyone and
let them know we’re coming."

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

Buffy hung up the phone, then headed back to the living room. Giles looked
up as the girl entered.

"Who was that?"

"Yeah, who was so bloody important that you had to talk for fifteen minutes?
I want to know what the hell blondie’s army friends did to me," Spike
complained.

"Well, you’re just going to have to wait a little while longer. There’s
somebody else that needs to hear this."

"And just who the bloody hell would that be?"

The Slayer looked across the room and met Riley’s eyes. He stared back,
unflinching, as he waited for her to answer Spike’s question.

"Willow."

Part Five

Willow sat perched on the edge of the couch between Angel and Xander.
Cordelia was studiously ignoring her former boyfriend, and Xander was
returning the favor. Doyle was sitting on the floor next to Buffy, who was
trying to ignore the fact that Angel had hardly even looked at her; all his
attention was on Willow. She was also trying to ignore the fact that Angel
was holding Willow’s hand. Spike was standing, leaning against a bookcase,
and he alternated between glaring at Angel and Riley. He really didn’t care
for either one of them. Riley sat in the chair across from Willow, trying
to figure out what to say to her. He couldn’t exactly open with ‘hey, I’m
sorry my friends kidnapped you and nearly turned you into a vegetable... but
no hard feelings, okay?’

"Why?"

The single word broke the silence that had gathered in the room, causing
nearly everyone to jump. Only Willow and Angel remained motionless. Riley
looked at the girl; he didn’t really want to answer her question, but he
knew he owed it to her. "You were with him," he replied, gesturing to
Spike.

"Oh, bloody hell. I should have known you would try to blame me. Why does
everybody always blame me?"

"Well, Spike, it usually is you," Cordelia offered tentatively.

Spike glared at the former cheerleader, then ruined the effect with a grin.
He had to admit it; the girl had spunk.

"Why don’t you go back a little further, Riley? Start with the reason were
you even after Spike in the first place." Giles suggested.

"He was bagged and tagged on campus..."

"Excuse me?" Angel interrupted. "I think I’m lost."

"Commando boy here belongs to a group that gets their by jollies chasing
demons," Spike replied.

Doyle and Angel exchanged a glance. They both wondered if Riley had any
clue just how many demons he was in a room with. Angel returned his gaze to
the boy.

"Go on."

"Okay. I don’t know who bagged him; it wasn’t any of my men, and I never
saw the report."

"Your men?" Buffy broke in. "So you’re not just one of the army guys;
you’re one of their leaders?"

"Look, I had no idea they were going after Willow. If I had, I would have
never gone to visit my sister. I would have stayed here, and I would have
tried to stop them." He turned to the redhead. "God, Willow, I am so sorry
about this. About everything."

"It wasn’t your fault, Riley; you didn’t know what they were going to do
until after the fact. I’m just glad you’re telling us everything you can
now."

Riley looked down, not ready to accept the redhead’s forgiveness. He just
felt so damn guilty. If only he’d been there... with a sigh, the young man
continued. "Anyway, the implant was put in Spike; he can’t feed or hurt any
living creature," he said, glancing at the blonde vampire. Spike sent a
wicked grin his way.

"You do realize that this bloody implant is the only reason you’re alive,
don’t you?" he asked. "Otherwise, I’d rip you to shreds."

"Well," Willow interrupted, "it also happens to be the only reason Spike
didn’t eat me a couple weeks ago, so, you know, I’m kind of ‘big yay’ for
the implant. No offense, Spike. I’m just not ready to die."

"Spike tried to eat you?" Angel and Riley exclaimed simultaneously.

"Uh, yeah. But, you know, he didn’t. Obviously. Because I’m here and
everything. Um, Riley, please keep talking before Angel kills Spike.
Okay?"

"Sure. Anyway, after the implant was put in, Spike somehow managed to
escape... not clear on how that happened. We’d never had a demon escape
before."

"Yeah, well, you’d never caught William the Bloody before, either," the
blonde vampire said.

"Spike’s not really like other vampires," Buffy explained.

"I even helped save the world once," Spike announced with pride.

"You did have your own agenda, though. I recall something about ‘Happy
Meals with legs’ and Drusilla."

"But I still helped."

"Uh, guys? Willow, traumatic experience, Spike de-fanged... bit more
important than junior year, don’t you think?" Cordelia interrupted before
the Slayer and the vampire could really get into it.

"As I was saying, no one had ever escaped before. We went to find him... he
was at Willow’s. We went up to the room, and we tried to get Spike back."

"We?"

Riley glanced at Buffy and nodded slightly. "Yeah. We. Me, Forrest, and
Graham. They wanted to take her back as well, but I said no. I didn’t want
Willow to be involved. I figured Spike had known Willow when he was human,
and that was why he got invited in... I was hoping that she’d just forget
what she had seen."

"Well, Willow and I have known each other for a bit, but not when I was
human. I’m 126 years old."

"Whoa."

Spike smirked at Riley. "That’s nothing. Peaches over there is 246."

Riley turned his head to look at Angel in shock. Anya let out a derisive
snort.

"Oh, please. He’s still a child. I’m 1120."

Riley looked at Xander for confirmation; Anya was his girlfriend, after all.
The teen nodded.

"It’s true. She used to be a man-torturing demon, but she’s human now. No
evil testing on her, got that? Of course, I have no problem whatsoever if
you want to take Deadboy and Deadboy, Jr. and do terrible, horrible things
to them. In fact, I’d pay to watch."

"Xander..." Willow said warningly. She nodded to Riley. "Please continue."

"Not really sure what happened next... there was fighting, and someone
helped Spike escape."

Buffy raised her hand, cringing slightly. "I, uh, think that was me. I
thought you were after Willow."

"Um... okay," Riley replied, deciding to let the fact that Buffy apparently
had superhuman strength slide for the moment. He could ask later. "Anyway,
that’s all that happened with the Spike situation. I thought it was over
and that Willow was in the clear. I was wrong... apparently they decided to
wait until I left town to grab her."

"What exactly did they do to me? I don’t remember much of anything."

"They drugged you. I managed to get that much out of Forrest. Um, I think
they ran some tests... to make sure you were human, I guess. They tried to
find out what you knew."

"How?"

"The drugs. You’d be, um, easier to control... easier to get information
from."

"How much drugs are we talking about?"

"A lot, especially if you don’t remember anything. Damn them!" Riley stood
up and gave the coffee table a kick, tipping it onto its side. "They could
have turned you into a vegetable, or even killed you! And then they took
you to LA and just let you go. Did they want you to die? God, I want to
kill them! How could they even think about doing that?" They young man
went to the other side of the room and punched the wall. He was nearly
shaking from pent up anger. Willow stood and crossed the room silently,
placing her hand on Riley’s arm. After a moment, Riley took a deep breath
and turned to face the tiny redhead. He cringed at the tears in her eyes.
If only he hadn’t left...

"Riley, I really hate you ask you this right now, but there’s one more thing
I need to know... do you know what I told them?"

Part Six

Riley sighed and sat down on the floor, looking utterly defeated and feeling
completely useless.

"I don’t know... and I really don’t think they’d tell me now. I kind of
beat the crap out of Forrest. I doubt any of them are feeling very friendly
towards me right now."

"You’re one of them, though," Xander said. "Can’t you just look at the
files or whatever?"

"Walsh keeps those locked up... very few people ever get to see them. And
after what I did to Forrest... he probably went straight to her. My
clearance has most likely been revoked. In order to find out what you told
them, we’d have to find a way to break in." Riley looked around the room;
it was pretty obvious that all of them were more than ready for some
breaking and entering on Willow’s behalf. "What exactly could you have told
her that was so important?"

"Wait a minute. Did you say Walsh? As in, Professor Walsh, our psych
teacher?" Buffy asked, incredulous.

"Yeah. She runs The Initiative," Riley responded somewhat sheepishly. The
young man turned to Willow, silently asking her answer the question he had
posed.

Willow looked around at the others, and they nodded their consent. With a
sigh, the redhead went back to the couch and sat down next to Angel,
allowing him to take her hand. She looked at Riley. "Are you sure you
really want to know?"

"Not really. But tell me anyway."

"Well, I could have told her about Angel, for one thing."

"That’s another thing I don’t get. Why do you hang out with vampires? I
mean, they’re evil."

"Well... Spike’s usually trying to kill us, so actually, we only hang out
with one vampire... Angel. And he’s different than other vampires. Gosh,
he’s saved the lives of almost everyone in this room at one time or another:
Buffy, Cordelia, Xander... he’s saved me several times. Plus, he has a
soul."

Riley raised his eyebrows at the dark haired vampire, and Angel shrugged.
"It’s true. I fed off the wrong person about a century ago, and her people
- gypsies - cursed me with a soul. The curse was broken close to two years
ago, but, in the end, Willow managed to curse me again."

When Riley’s stunned gaze moved back to Willow, the redhead smiled slightly.
"I’m a witch. Not a very powerful one or anything, but I’m still a witch.
But that’s not all I could have told Professor Walsh... I mean, there’s
the whole Oz thing. Three nights a month, he’s a werewolf. And then
there’s Buffy..."

Riley turned to look at the blonde girl, shock prevalent on his face. "Just
what the hell are you?"

"The Slayer. I’m still human, but I have certain advantages... more
strength, better hearing, stuff like that."

"What does a Slayer do? How many of you are there?"

"Usually, only one. One dies, the next one is called, and so on. Of
course, this silly chit died and came back, so now there are two," Spike
replied before Buffy could answer.

"You died?" Riley asked.

"I drowned... briefly. I was only gone for a minute..."

"Anyway," Spike broke in, "as for what a Slayer does... well, she hunts and
kills vampires and demons and the like. Or, at least, she’s supposed to.
As you can see by the fact that Peaches and I are still alive - well, undead
- and kicking, the chit doesn’t always pay attention to what she’s supposed
to do."

"Well, Spike, I could always stake you if you really want me to," Buffy
offered.

"Oh, please. I’d like to see you try."

"Enough, you two. If Riley is correct about the implant, and I assume that
he is, then Spike does not pose a threat, and therefore does not need to be
eliminated. The important thing right now is finding out what Willow told
these people," Giles said.

"I’m suggesting some undercover work," Xander put in.

"Too slow," Angel replied. "It would take too long to gain access." The
vampire turned to Riley. "Are you willing to help us?"

"In any way I can."

"Okay. It’s only about a half an hour until dawn... not enough time to get
anything done before daylight, and I’d really like to be there when we go
in."

"Then we go tonight," Giles responded. He knew he’d feel better if the
vampire was there. If a fight broke out, Angel’s presence would be most
welcome. Besides, he knew Willow would want to be there, and the girl
seemed extremely comfortable with the dark haired vampire.

Riley ran his hand through his hair. "Okay, that sounds good. In the
meantime, I’ll try to figure out the best way to get in... we’ll need to
override the security system. Who here is good with computers?"

Willow and Doyle both raised their hand.

"Okay; we’ll get started on that as soon as I figure out what entrances need
to be disarmed. We’ll have to time it... and we shouldn’t have them go off
all at once. Too suspicious." Riley glanced at his watch, shocked to
discover that it was nearly six in the morning. "We should split up now,
rest, go about our daily business."

"You think The Initiative’s watching us, don’t you?" Anya asked.

"Me, definitely. If Willow said anything about Buffy being the Slayer, they
could be watching her as well, and I’m sure they’re keeping an eye out for
Willow... I made the mistake of mentioning that I knew she was in LA while I
was... interrogating Forrest." He turned to the redhead. "You should
probably stay out of sight. And, if there’s a chance that they know about
Anya, she should probably lay low, too. Same goes for Spike and Angel. I
know that they’re still looking for Spike, and I’m sure Angel would intrigue
them."

Angel nodded. "So we lay low until tonight, then we hit them."

"That’s the plan."

Part Seven

Cordelia sat at the kitchen table at the Rosenberg’s house, a rather
fascinated and slightly disgusted look on her face as she watched Spike
drink warmed pig’s blood from a mug.

"How do you do it?"

"Do what, pet? Drink blood? I am still a vampire, you know."

Cordy gave the blonde an exasperated look. "Duh. Of course I know that. I
mean, how do you keep from going grrr?"

"Going grrr?"

"Yeah, you know, all vampy."

Spike grinned. He’d never realized just how adorable the little chit could
be; he’d always considered her to be a bit annoying. "Why do you want to
know about that?"

"Well, most vamps are all demony all the time... but not you. Angel,
either. He usually just does it when he gets pissed. I don’t know about
when he eats; I’ve never actually seen him feed."

"Well, love, Peaches and I have been around for quite a while," Spike
replied as he took a seat next to the former cheerleader. The pretty
brunette had her arms crossed on the table and was resting her head on her
arms. Her head was turned so that she could look at the vampire, and her
eyes were full of interest. He smiled at her as he continued. "Older
vampires have more control over their demon, especially master vampires like
myself and the Great Poof. Most of the vampires you’ve seen are either
fledglings or minions."

"Did it take you a long time to learn control?"

Spike shrugged. "Not really, pet. I was a childe of Angelus; I was never a
fledging."

"What’s the difference between the two?"

"A childe gets more of his sire’s blood... it makes him stronger." Spike
watched as Cordelia got up from the table. "What, you’re leaving? All this
talk about the ways of vampires grossing you out, princess?" he asked with
mock innocence.

"Actually, I was just going for a bagel," she replied, grabbing a bakery bag
from the kitchen counter. She got one for herself, then offered the bag to
the vampire. "You want? I’m sure they go great with pig’s blood."

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

Angel sat in Willow’s desk chair, watching the petite redhead sleep. He
couldn’t take his eyes off of her; he was just so thrilled that she was
acting normally again. Besides, as much as he hated to admit it, he just
liked to watch her. She was so beautiful. As if sensing that the vampire
was watching her, Willow opened her eyes and turned to look at him.

"I won’t disappear, you know," she said with a tiny smile.

"I know," Angel replied. "It’s just... I’m so glad you’re okay."

Willow yawned and snuggled deeper under the covers. She looked at the
handsome vampire with a critical eye. "You’re tired," she announced with
sleepy confidence. "You know, you’re going to be worthless tonight if you
don’t rest." She lifted the covers, offering Angel the spot next to her.
She grinned when he raised his eyebrows in surprise. "If I’m not mistaken,
I cried myself to sleep in your arms the other night, so I don’t think
sleeping in the same bed’s a big deal."

After a momentary pause, Angel realized that Willow was right; they had
slept blameless in the same bed before. And he really was tired; the past
few days of worrying about Willow, coupled with concern about what the night
had in store for them, had all but exhausted him. With an unneeded sigh,
the vampire toed off his shoes, removed his jacket, and climbed into bed
with the little redhead. He lay down behind her, and, after debating for a
long moment, wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her back against
him. He waited to see if the girl would protest, but Willow just settled
herself back against him.

"G’night, Angel," she murmured sleepily.

Angel smiled against the redhead’s silky hair. "It’s seven in the morning,
little one."

"Goodnight sounds more like a bedtime phrase than good morning does... so
goodnight, Angel."

The vampire raised himself up on one elbow and leaned forward to kiss the
girl’s cheek. "Goodnight, Willow," he replied softly as he settled himself
in.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

Xander sat on his bed in the basement, watching as Anya idly painted her
toenails.

"Doesn’t it bother you that someone may be after you?" he asked.

"A bit. But where would they find me? Very few people know me - you,
Willow, Giles, and a few others - and none of them would help The
Initiative. So I figure I’m safe. Besides, one way or another, it’s going
to end tonight." Anya finished her toes and wiggled them slightly, admiring
the lavender polish. She’d never had the time to
indulge in such things as a demon. Being human didn’t entirely suck. "So,
what do you think of Willow and Angel?"

"What do you mean?"

"Please. You may be male, but you aren’t blind... although the two do
sometimes seem to go hand in hand. Didn’t you see the way he acted around
her?" At Xander’s blank look, the former demon elaborated. "He was all
protective of her, and he sat beside her, and they were holding hands. Not
to mention the fact that he went home with her. He could have stayed with
Giles, or spent some time with Buffy..."

"Buffy had to go to class. To keep up appearances..."

"Oh, please," Anya snorted. "Do you really think she would have gone to
class if Angel had shown the least bit of interest in spending time with
her?"

"No, I don’t," a rather stunned Xander responded, his mind racing for
reasons for the vampire’s attentiveness toward Willow. He wasn’t sure he
liked what he came up with.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

Doyle sat on the floor of Giles’ living room, looking through the older
man’s record collection.

"Find anything you like?"

The half demon looked up and smiled at the British man. "A few here and
there. So, what is it you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Excuse me?"

"Well, I could’ve easily gone over to Willow’s house with the two dead guys
and Cordy, but you seemed so reluctant to see me go..."

With a sigh, Giles relented. The younger man was right, and the former
Watcher knew it. "It’s Angel... the way he was acting towards Willow..."

"Because of The Initiative, the poor girl’s been through hell for the past
few days... not to mention that idiot werewolf leaving and Spike trying to
kill her... I don’t see anything weird about Angel being so protective of
her."

"He’s never ignored Buffy before."

"Yeah, well, if he’d ignored her in the first place, he may have never ended
up in Hell. I’m all for him staying as far away from her as possible."

"Yes, of course; that would be for the best. And you’re probably right,
Willow has had so much to deal with lately... perhaps Angel just feels like
he knows what she’s going through."

"Or he just thinks she’s pretty much the sweetest thing in the world, and he
wants to protect her from all the bad guys." The demon paused, then
continued. "You didn’t see her, Giles. She was like a ghost... a terrified
ghost. Sometimes I was afraid she would just fade away. And the way she
acted... it was almost like she was in a trance. Cordelia told me she’d
never seen Angel so worried... maybe he’s just happy she’s back. God... I
hope I never see someone in that bad a shape again." Doyle looked up at the
older man and held his eyes. "We’ve got to stop these people."

"I couldn’t agree more."

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

Buffy studiously avoided Professor Walsh’s gaze; she knew that the woman
would see hatred in her eyes if they made eye contact. With a sigh, the
Slayer turned the page of her notebook and began a fresh sheet of notes.
Her mind wasn’t really on her work, though; it was on Angel.

He had ignored her.

Even as Angelus, he had never done that. But this morning, he had been
completely indifferent to her. His sole focus had been Willow. What was
going on between them? Was he just worried about her? Or was there
something more? Buffy wearily ran a hand over her face as she realized that
none of that was important. If something had happened between Willow and
Angel in LA, she would have to deal with it later. Right now, she had
something else to deal with. As Professor Walsh’s words drifted through her
mind, Buffy was reminded of just what had happened to Willow. The pencil in
Buffy’s hand cracked in two as the anger began to build.

Nobody hurt a friend of the Slayer’s and got away with it.

Part Eight

Willow’s fingers flew over the keyboard, then stopped suddenly.

"Got it."

"You cracked the codes in less than fifteen minutes?" Riley exclaimed
incredulously.

The redhead shrugged. "What can I say? I’m good."

"Apparently," Riley conceded as he came to stand behind the girl. The codes
had definitely been cracked.

Angel looked up from the blueprints the young man had managed to swipe and
smiled. "I don’t think Willow’s ever actually been stumped; you get used to
it after a while."

Riley shook his head in disbelief as he went back to stand next to Angel.
"I don’t think that’s possible."

Buffy snorted as she stepped between the two men to take a look at the
blueprints. "This is the Hellmouth, Riley. Anything’s possible." The
Slayer tapped two places on the blueprints. "Are these the entrances we’re
using?"

Riley pointed to a third spot on the map. "That one, too. We’ll need to
break into three groups... one to clear the way, one to get the files..."

"And the third?"

"After what happened to Willow... we have to make sure The Initiative
doesn’t have any other innocent people."

Angel raised his eyebrows as he looked around the room. Everyone appeared
to be ready.

"Let’s get going."

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

Giles looked down at the hand drawn map he was carrying. Willow and Doyle
had managed to disable the alarms - the retinal scan system had been
permanently shut down thanks to a virus Doyle created - and Giles was
leading Anya and Xander deep into the lab, searching for the quarantine
area.

"This way," the former Watcher muttered, pointing down the hall.

With a quick glance behind them to make sure they hadn’t been spotted,
Xander and Anya followed the older man.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

Willow, Angel, Spike, and Cordelia made their way quietly towards Professor
Walsh’s office. Angel was holding Willow’s hand, determined to keep the
redhead close so he could protect her, and Cordelia had grasped onto the
back of Spike’s leather duster. A noise coming from the opposite end of the
hall had them all freezing in place, and Angel pulled the others into the
nearest room. Spike made a movement as if to confront the members of The
Initiative, but Angel stopped him with a glare; it wouldn’t do any good to
get into a fight before they got the information they needed. Besides, with
Spike out of commission for the time being, Angel was the only really good
fighter of the group, and he wasn’t sure if he could protect both Willow and
Cordelia.

With an unneeded sigh, the younger vampire nodded in understanding; he
wanted to fight, but he didn’t want the girls to get hurt either. Spike
stayed where he was, but murder was in his eyes. He really wanted to get
back at these idiots.

Cordelia saw the look on Spike’s face and reached for the vampire’s hand.
Somehow, now that he was helping them, he didn’t seem so evil or scary.
Plus, she felt kind of sorry for him.

Spike jumped slightly when he felt the former cheerleader’s hand in his,
but, after a moment, he squeezed her hand slightly, accepting the comfort
she offered. When he felt a small hand grasp his other hand, he turned his
head to see Willow watching him, understanding in her eyes.

She wanted to get The Initiative back as much as he did.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

Buffy, Doyle, and Riley crept silently down the hallway, on the lookout for
Initiative members. Their goal was to keep any members from going down to
the lower levels and finding the others.

Buffy paused outside a door labeled "Holding Area" and looked at Riley
curiously.

"That’s where we keep the creatures we capture," Riley whispered, trying to
avoid having anyone hear him.

Buffy looked at the sliding door; it, like the rest of the building, was
white and gleaming and looked like it fit in a laboratory. The whole
building had some surreal, villainous, ‘I’m taking over the world’ feeling
to it, and the Slayer didn’t like it.

"I want to go in."

"What?"

"I want to see the demons."

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

Giles quickly punched in the vocal override code, thankful Riley had
remembered it correctly. There was no telling what would have happened if
he hadn’t - Riley had mentioned some type of countermeasures to prevent
break-ins. It had been decided that, once they got inside, they would be
less likely to be found if they used codes whenever possible instead of
disabling the unit. Too many units going off-line at once would most likely
end up causing The Initiative to send someone down to check things out, and
although Angel, Spike, and Buffy for just waiting for a good fight, Giles
preferred to keep things as peaceful as possible.

Giles waited rather impatiently as the door slid open, hoping against hope
that he would find the quarantine area empty, that The Initiative hadn’t
gotten its hands on anyone else.

He didn’t get his wish.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

With a grunt, Spike and Angel broke down the door to Maggie Walsh’s office.
Spike looked down at the rather mangled door and grinned.

"That was fun; I’m glad Commando Boy didn’t have the code for the office."

Willow rolled her eyes at the vampire and headed to the computer terminal.
"His name’s Riley, Spike, and he got us in here... so be nice to him. Now
check the file cabinets."

Cordelia immediately headed for the first file cabinet, sliding the top
drawer open and glancing at the files.

"Uh... ew."

"What is it?" Angel asked, looking up from his position at Willow’s
shoulder.

"Autopsies."

Spike glanced at the picture Cordelia was looking at. "That’s not an
autopsy, pet."

"What do you mean?"

"If that creature was really dead, it would be dust. That’s a vampire."

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

Buffy walked down the corridor slowly, unable to believe what she was
seeing. The whole hallway was white, completely sterile. There were
glassed-in cages lining both sides of the hall, and every cage was filled.
She didn’t have a clue as to what most of the creatures were; she’d never
fought one before. Only a handful of the captives were vampires that the
Slayer easily identified as minions and fledglings... Spike was probably the
only master vampire the group had managed to catch. The Slayer turned to
inform Riley of that fact, but her words froze in her throat as she spotted
Doyle.

The man had morphed into his demon form, and it took Buffy a moment to get
over her shock. His blue-green skin... the spines that were all over his
face... the red eyes... it was quite a contrast to the handsome man he had
been just a moment before. Riley stood and stared as well, horror on his
features. However, he wasn’t just staring at Doyle; he was staring at the
creature in the cage as well.

The creature that looked like Doyle.

Part Nine

Her name was Taryn. That was virtually all Giles had been able to get out
of the terrified girl in the quarantine. She had no idea how long she’d
been there; she had no idea why she was there. She was so shaky and weak
she could hardly stand, and there were bruises on her arms from where he had
obviously been repeatedly been injected with something. Anya and Xander
were supporting the tiny blonde between
them. She was no more than eighteen, of that Giles was certain. The former
Watcher walked behind the trio, his fists clenched in rage.

He would give just about anything to go one on one with this Walsh person.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

Willow’s eyebrows furrowed as she looked at the pictures spread in front of
her. She didn’t think she had ever seen anything quite so revolting, and
that was saying quite a bit. There were dozens of photos documenting the
experiments that had taken place. Experiments on conscious subjects.
Vampires, demons she’d never seen before... all wide awake as horrible
things were done to them. The brunette beside her was obviously affected as
well. Cordelia’s hand was shaking as she began to stack the pictures; she
just couldn’t look at them anymore. The former cheerleader turned to Spike,
distress evident on her face.

"Were you conscious when they did whatever they did to you?"

Spike took the photographs from the his sire’s secretary and sent the girl a
reassuring look. "No, pet, I wasn’t. I have no idea what they did to me."

"But we do know what they did to Willow," Angel interjected triumphantly,
brandishing a slim file he had just retrieved from one of the file cabinets.
He walked over to the desk Willow was perched on and opened the file,
skimming it quickly.

Willow closed her eyes, not entirely sure she wanted to see what was in the
file. After a moment, she sighed. "What did I tell them?"

"Enough," Professor Walsh answered.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

"Oh, God."

It was all Riley could say. Doyle, nice, friendly Doyle, was a demon. And
the Initiative had captured another demon of his kind.

Buffy walked slowly over to the Irish man, curiosity on her face. She
gestured to the creature that had been captured. "What is it? What are
you?"

"A Brachen demon. I’m actually only half. On my father’s side. I’ve never
met an evil one, although, to tell you the truth, I’ve really met very few
of my kind," Doyle replied, returning to his human form.

Riley came to stand next to the others. He turned to looked at the cages,
all the creatures that the Initiative had proudly captured. That he had
proudly captured.

"They’re not evil, are they?" the young man asked.

"Not all of them. The vampires are, of course. As are a few others. But
many of them are about as evil as I am," Doyle answered sadly. He hated to
think what these creatures had been put through.

Buffy took a deep breath. "We have to release them."

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

Giles, Anya, Xander, and Taryn made there way out of the building, blessedly
undetected by anyone. Anya and Taryn sat on a nearby bench while Xander and
Giles paced, wanting to go back in to find the others, but knowing that they
couldn’t leave the girls - especially one as fragile as Taryn seemed to be -
alone. They had no choice but
to wait.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

The foursome whirled around to face the intruder. Or, more accurately,
intruders. Two members of the Initiative, in full combat regalia,
accompanied the professor. Angel nearly vamped only at the sight of his
foe. Good Lord, he wanted to rip her throat out for what she had done to
Willow. For what she had done to Spike.

"Looks like you brought something that belongs to us," the woman said,
nodding in Spike’s direction.

The blonde vampire immediately vamped out. "I belong to no one."

Walsh shook her head, a condescending look on her face. She glanced at the
two young men beside her. "Get them."

The two men came at them, and Angel vamped out, snarling menacingly. There
was no way they were going to get their hands on Willow again. He’d go back
to hell before he allowed that to happen.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

"Let them out? Are you crazy?" Riley cried, forgetting to keep his voice
down.

"What the hell do you mean? They’re not evil, and you people are doing
experiments on them. They do not belong here. We have to let them go,"
Buffy insisted. She couldn’t stand to see innocent creatures suffer. It
was her job to protect them, even if they did happen to be demons.

"Do you have any idea how long that would take? Opening each individual
cage?"

Buffy snorted. "Well, you jerks should have thought of that before you
captured innocent creatures. You can override the whole damn system for all
I care. We are letting these creatures go. I can force you to do it. And
I will if I have to. Trust me, Riley, you don’t want it to come to that."

"If I override the system, all of the creatures will be freed, including the
vampires."

Doyle reached into his jacket and retrieved a stake. He glanced and saw
that Buffy had done the same. The blonde girl was obviously aching for a
fight. He nodded to the boy.

"Do it."

Part Ten

Spike ducked the first punch, then blocked the second. He knew he could
only be on the defensive. If he threw a punch, he’d wind up rolling around
on the floor in agony. The idiot boy he was fighting with managed to tackle
him, and Spike suddenly found himself on the ground. He could see the boy
smile at the thought of taking down a vampire, but then the boy slumped
forward, unconscious, before he could do anything about it. Spike looked up
to find Cordelia standing above him, brandishing a fire extinguisher.

The vampire smiled as an idea came to him.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

Buffy winced as the alarm sounded, then crouched into a fighting stance.
She grabbed the first vampire as it escaped its cage and staked it
efficiently. Riley ran over to her and grabbed her arm.

"We don’t have time for this. We have to get out of here. They know we’re
here. Come on." Reluctantly, Buffy turned to follow Riley and Doyle out,
then stopped cold as she saw what was in the doorway.

The Initiative had already found them.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

Spike tossed a file cabinet across the room, knocking a commando out cold.
He snarled as the commandos' backup arrived. Grabbing Cordelia, he began to
make his way to the office’s second exit, making sure Willow and Angel were
following. He took another glance at the room, noticing that the files had
been tossed everywhere. They covered every available surface. With a
wicked grin, the blonde vampire grabbed a random file and used his lighter
to set it on fire. He tossed the flaming paper into the room, and watched
as the fire spread, creating a wall between the four members of the Scooby
Gang and most of the commandos present.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

They were outnumbered. Most of the demons had fled for their lives, and
only Riley, Doyle, and Buffy were left to face the very pissed off members
of the Initiative.

"This way!" Riley shouted as he headed for the only other way out of the
holding area. With a sigh, Buffy took Doyle’s hand and headed after Riley,
going deeper into the building.

She only hoped that the young man could get them out of there.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

"Not so fast, bitch."

Cordelia was grabbed from behind, and the brunette whirled around to face
her attacker. She glared at him, her fury building to a dangerous high.
She’d always wondered what the phrase ‘seeing red’ meant; now she knew .
Her mind drifted back to the pictures she had seen; the experiments that had
been done. If Spike hadn’t escaped, that could have been him in one of
those photographs. Or even Angel... he’d lived in Sunnydale at one time as
well. What if they’d captured him? What if they had done those terrible
experiments on Spike or Angel? With a strength she hadn’t known she
possessed, Cordelia wrenched her arm out of the young man’s grasp, then
punched him with all the force she could muster.

She broke his nose.

Spike turned at the sound of breaking bones and nearly grinned at the sight
that met his eyes. He knew Cordy’d had it in her. He had to admit it; he
was proud of the little chit. He took the girl’s hand and nodded toward the
ever-growing fire.

"We’ve got to get the hell out of here!" The girl nodded, and Spike turned
to see how the others were doing. His sire had just finished beating two
commandos to a pulp, and he was now scooping a rather exhausted redhead into
his arms. Spike could see a trickle of blood on the girl’s face, and he
fought the urge to rip somebody to pieces. Angel looked up from Willow and
met Spike’s gaze.

Without a word, the foursome headed down the hall.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

They were in the damn laboratory. The shiny, pristine, used for evil
laboratory. Buffy, Riley, and Doyle made their way through the empty room,
and Buffy realized that Riley was leading them to a set of stairs on the
opposite side of the room.

A noise from another direction made Buffy jump, and she whirled to find out
what it was. Her jaw dropped as she saw Spike and Cordelia - holding hands,
no less - burst into the room, followed by Angel carrying Willow.

And the room was now filling with commandos.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

The group fought as a team, trying to force their way to the stairs. There
was no way that the seven of them could take all the army guys on at once -
there were nearly thirty of them - and they knew it. Willow, on her feet
once again, looked around frantically, trying to find a way to help. Her
eyes landed on something, and a smile spread across her face as she realized
what she could do. She grabbed Spike, pulling him over to where the various
chemicals for the experiments were stored. She began to pull them out and
stack them, making sure to only grab the ones labeled "flammable."

"Just what the bloody hell do you think you’re doing, pet? This isn’t a
damn chemistry lab."

"I’m making a bomb, Spike. Now be a good vampire and roll those barrels
over here. They’ll explode rather nicely, I think."

Angel fought with savage force. He didn’t give a damn that they were human.
They had captured Willow, drugged her, then hypnotized her to get her to
tell them her secrets. They had nearly killed her with the excess of drugs;
according to the file, her heart had actually stopped at one point. The
only reason they had revived her was because she had yet to tell them
anything at that point. With a snarl, Angel broke the arm of the boy he was
fighting. He felt someone touch his shoulder, and he whirled around, ready
to fight. Willow merely raised her eyebrows at him.

"We have to get out of here before the place blows up."

Angel followed Willow’s gaze to the flaming trail of chemicals that led to a
stack of barrels that appeared to have been doused in even more chemicals.
Without saying a word, Angel scooped Willow into his arms and took off for
the stairs. The others, made aware of the impending explosion by Spike,
quickly followed.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

Xander and Giles jumped as Angel, carrying Willow in his arms, burst into
the clearing. The vampire didn’t even seem to notice Anya sitting on the
bench with Taryn.

"Get down now! The whole damn place is going to blow!"

Xander and Giles shoved the girls to the ground, and Angel lay down on top
of Willow, protecting her with his body. There was no time to get any
farther away before the place blew up.

Cordelia screamed as the underground building exploded; the force of the
blast knocked her to her knees. Spike grabbed the brunette and pulled her
underneath him, determined to protect her from the debris.

Buffy, Doyle, and Riley collapsed together in a rather undignified heap, and
Riley sent up a silent prayer that the others had gotten out okay.

After the dirt and metal stopped dropping onto him, Angel raised his head
and stared at the girl underneath him. Good Lord, she was beautiful.

"Are you okay?" he asked, gently wiping dirt and a trickle of blood from her
face.

"Yeah. Are you?"

"Umm-hmm," he replied softly, before catching her lips in a gentle kiss.
When he pulled away, Willow’s eyes were huge.

"What was that for? Not that I mind..."

"I just wanted to. I’ve wanted to ever since I climbed into that bed with
you this morning."

"Oh... would you mind doing it again?"

With a smile, Angel obliged her.

"Do you think you two could do that later? We should probably get out of
here."

Angel reluctantly lifted his head to find Cordelia and Spike standing a few
feet away, twin smirks on their faces. He smiled slightly when he saw that
Spike had his arm around the brunette and that she was wearing Spike’s
duster. Angel stood up slowly, then pulled Willow to her feet and picked
her up. He glanced around and saw that the others rising as well. Xander
and Anya, Giles and some girl he’d never seen before. Buffy, Doyle, and
Riley were untangling themselves and standing, and Angel could see that
Buffy was holding onto Doyle’s hand like it was a life preserver. He could
also see others running away, trying to escape the blaze that was spreading.
He knew that some of the Initiative had made it out, but he knew that
there had still been people in the building when the explosion had occurred.
With a sigh, he shifted Willow in his arms and faced the others.

"Let’s go home."

Epilogue

Riley put the paper back on the coffee table. Somehow, miraculously, nearly
everyone had survived the blast the night before. Over a dozen were injured
- some rather severely - but only three had died. One of those three had
been Professor Maggie Walsh. Riley tried to be sorry about that; it was a
human life, after all. But Angel had told them what was in the file: Willow
had told the Initiative everything, but only after she’d been pumped so full
of drugs she’d almost died. And even then, they’d had to resort to hypnosis
to get everything. And then there was Taryn. The Initiative had hurt her,
too. Riley’s gaze traveled over to the slight girl asleep in Giles’
armchair. He silently vowed to protect her from now on.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

Buffy sat at Giles’ table, listening as Doyle told her his story. His Irish
brogue was mesmerizing; she knew she would be happy to listen to it all
night. He was so sweet... so funny. She’d be sorry when he went back to
LA.

"When do you have to go back?"

Doyle paused in his story. He’d seen the way Spike and Cordelia had been
acting, the way Angel looked at Willow. He sincerely doubted the four of
them would need him in LA. He’d be of much more use here. Besides, he
didn’t want to go.

"Who said I was leaving?"

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

Willow headed outside and walked over to where Angel sat on the stairs that
led to the apartment complex’s second level. She sat down beside him, and
she smiled as the vampire took her hand.

"When are you going back to LA?"

"It depends."

"Depends on what?" the redhead asked, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"On whether or not I can convince you to come with me."

"You want me to, uh... to go to LA... with you?" Willow stammered out,
astonished.

Angel tipped her face up, forcing her to look at him. "Yes, little one, I
do. When I saw that file, I realized that I almost lost you... before I
even really found you. I want to see what’s between us... I just can’t
force myself to walk away."

"Like you did with Buffy."

Angel nodded, then sighed softly. How could he explain things to her? He
stood and began to pace. After a moment, he stopped and looked her in the
eye. "What I had with Buffy... I did love her. I admit that. But it was
wrong. What we had was all about pain and suffering, especially that last
year. After I came back from Hell... one minute we were together, the next
she was breaking up with me. Again. But you? With you, it feels right.
Like it’s where I’m supposed to be. I wanted Buffy... I want you. But the
difference is... I need you. I need you as much as I want you. You accept
me for who I am, for what I am... you don’t judge."

"But Buffy-"

Angel knelt down so that he was on eye level with Willow and took her hands
in his. "She didn’t mean to. I know that. But she did. You... you accept
everyone. Not many people could be best friends with the Slayer... or
friends with a vampire... or friends with Cordelia, for that matter," he
added, grinning when Willow laughed. After a moment, he grew serious once
more. "I’m falling in love with you, Willow. It excites me... but it
scares me as well. I want you to be with me. Can you accept that? Can you
accept my love?"

Willow raised her hand to his cheek as tears began to fill her eyes. How
could she say no to such vulnerability, especially when she felt the same
way he did? "Yes, Angel," she whispered. "I can accept your love. But
will you accept mine?"

Instead of telling her with words, Angel leaned forward and gently captured
her mouth with his, letting her know that he would do more than accept her
love; he would cherish it. After a moment, he pulled back, and he saw a
smile in Willow’s eyes.

"What?"

"Well, I was just thinking... how do you think Cordelia’s going to react to
me moving up to LA?"

Angel smiled, then turned to look in the direction of Giles’ apartment.
Through the window, he could see the brunette curled up against Spike on the
couch, and the vampire was stroking her hair. It was then that he knew
Cordy was in deep. She never let anyone touch her hair.

"I don’t think she’ll mind. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if she ended
up bringing someone back with her as well."

Willow followed Angel’s gaze and smiled at the sight of the pair on the
couch. "There will probably never be a dull moment with those two around."

"No, I guess there won’t. Are you up to it?"

Willow grinned again, that beautiful, shining smile that made his heart
melt. "Always."

The End