Love and everything that goes with it
by Bwriter
Part twelve
[reviews]
Part twelve
The gang all met in the library just like Giles had asked.
Willow had left Buffy that morning to go to school, but Buffy had heard from Faith and Xander, that Willow had been withdrawn all day.
Buffy and Angel were already there before sundown, having used Sunndale's tunnel system to move around during daylight hours.
Faith arrived next with Xander and Cordy with her.
Giles came out of his office just as Willow and Oz entered the library. Oz had his arm wrapped around Willow.
Buffy's eyes flashed but only Angel saw it. He really hoped she kept her temper. A jealous Buffy was not a good thing.
"Will?"
Willow looked up at the sound of her girlfriends voice.
"Hey." She made no move from where she was. All day she had been thinking about what had happened with her parents.
Turning to look at Oz, she couldn't help compare her parents reactions to both Buffy and Oz. They had liked him.
Buffy didn't know why, but she actually took a step back when she saw Willow turn to look at Oz and the frown that covered her face.
She felt a hand low on her back and turned to see Angel behind her.
"Keep calm." Only Buffy heard the muttered words.
"Will, what's wrong?" Seems the Slayer had snapped out of her conversation with Xander to see the look on Angel's face.
Willow looked at everyone staring at her, then she looked over at Buffy and Angel, and the way the latter seemed to be protecting Buffy. As she met Buffy's eyes, Willow realised that her girlfriend had picked up on if not what she was thinking, then what she was feeling.
Breaking away from Oz she walked over to Buffy, noting the look on Angel's face resembled one she had only seen that time he was Angelus.
"Nothing, just me being silly." Willow answered Faith's question but her eyes never left Buffy's.
Angel, happy that Buffy would be okay, backed away from her and moved over to Faith, sliding his arm around her.
Buffy noticed everyone staring, including Giles. She turned her attention to him.
"Why did you want us here?"
Buffy saw Willow's face drop but she focused on Giles.
Giles stood up straighter motioned everyone to sit. The all did apart from Angel and Buffy.
"The original reason was to go over everything we know and try to form a plan of attack-"
"Original?" The interruption came from Faith.
"Yes, well, I have good news and bad. The good is, we, that is to say Lou told me, we know when the fight is going to take place." Giles seemed to deflate.
Buffy looked at Angel before turning back to Giles.
"And the bad?" Faith hated it when he paused.
Giles took a deep breath and looked at his Slayer.
"It will happen tomorrow night."
No-one spoke but one person moved.
Buffy reached out and crushed Willow to her.
Five minutes later, Angel was pacing and growling, Buffy hadn't let go of Willow and still hadn't spoken, Faith was talking to Giles while throwing worrying glances at her lover, Xander was sitting at the table, his arm around Cordy and Oz was looking at the floor.
"Fuck!"
Everyone jumped at Angel's shout and looked over to see his arm buried in the wall beside the office entrance.
"Baby?" Faith walked over and gently pulled his hand and arm free.
"I'm okay."
He didn't look okay. In fact he looked a mixture of scared, angry and like he wanted to start killing things.
Buffy knew how he felt, she was right there with him, as was Faith.
"You might be now, but if you lot don't get your asses in gear, things are about to get hairy."
Seven sets of eyes turned to see Lou standing there with Fang, as ever, by her side.
"Lou, how the hell do you know this is going to happen so soon?"
Lou looked uncomfortable and shifted on her feet.
"The Powers told me. They were getting antsy I think."
Buffy pulled Willow tighter to her.
"Do you know anything else about the fight?"
This time Lou smiled.
"That I do. I can't tell you much, but what I can say is that the demon has a very large weakness, one that both Buffy and Angel share. It can only operate at night in this dimension."
Faith breathed a sigh of relief.
"So that means we have to stay alive for eight hours fighting this thing until the sun kills it." As she spoke, her confidence wavered.
"How are we supposed to last eight hours? And what about Angel and Buffy?"
Lou looked towards the two Vampires in question and they were able to read the look she was sending them before she turned back to Faith.
"They will be there of course. This was the reason they were given back their souls remember."
Buffy looked over at Angel and he nodded at her that he had understood what Lou wasn't saying. She lowered her head and kissed the top of Willow's, earning the first smile Willow had all day.
If Buffy was going to die the next day, all she wanted, was to spend her last one with Willow.
Tbc
Sorry about the lack of updates, but RL has decided to remind me I have papers due next week. I am working on all my stories so more updates will be out there once I get my life in some semblance of order.
p.s thanks for all the feedback, you guys are awesome.