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buffyfic Digest        Sunday, October 12 1997        Volume 01 : Number 037



In this issue:

    BUFFYFIC: The Stranger (1/8)
    BUFFYFIC: The Stranger (2/8)
    BUFFYFIC: The Stranger (3/8)
    BUFFYFIC: The Stranger (4/8)

See the end of the digest for information on subscribing to the buffyfic
or buffyfic-digest mailing lists and on how to retrieve back issues.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Sat, 11 Oct 1997 22:55:28 -0500 (CDT)
From: [e-mail] (Perri Smith)
Subject: BUFFYFIC: The Stranger (1/8)

This is part of the Chaos challenge that got started over on the Sunnydale
Slayers list, to retell episodes from the point of view of someone other
than Buffy. Chris Kamnikar started it with her stories 'Mad Moon in
Scorpio' and 'Shadow of an Apocalypse' (blatent plug), so I got into the
act. This would be 'Angel', from the POV of everyone's favorite redhead,
Willow. This story (and the two mentioned above) are archived at
http://www.enteract.com/~perridox/SunS/.

Thanks to my beta readers, Lizbet, Chris, Dianne, Catherine, Tina, and the
SunS. Dedicated to Chris, who finally has her revenge for my endless
nagging about 'Prophecy Girl'; to Tina, who had absolutely *no* objections
to endlessly re-watching 'Angel' to catch the dialogue we didn't already
have memorized; and to Leslie, just because she appreciated it.

If you recognize the dialogue, Mutant Enemy owns it, like they own all of
the characters I'm using without permission. Anything you don't recognize
is mine.

The Stranger
by Perri Smith
Copyright 1997

"In lone and silent hours,
When night makes a weird sound of its own stillness...
Have I mixed awful talk and asking looks
With my most innocent love, until strange tears
Uniting with those breathless kiss, made
Such magic as compels the charmed night
To render up thy charge ..."
        -- Percy Byshe Shelley

*****

For Chris, who finally has her revenge for my endless nagging about
'Prophecy Girl'; for Tina, who had absolutely *no* objections to endlessly
re-watching 'Angel' to catch the dialogue we didn't already have memorized;
and for Leslie, just because she appreciated it.

If you recognize the dialogue, Mutant Enemy owns it, like they own all of
the characters I'm using without permission. Anything you don't recognize
is mine.

The Stranger
by Perri Smith
Copyright 1997

"In lone and silent hours,
When night makes a weird sound of its own stillness...
Have I mixed awful talk and asking looks
With my most innocent love, until strange tears
Uniting with those breathless kiss, made
Such magic as compels the charmed night
To render up thy charge ..."
        -- Percy Byshe Shelley

Willow Rosenberg had been fifteen years old the first night she stepped
inside the Bronze. It had been the first night of freshman year of high
school, and she and Xander and Jesse had had to spend most of the day
collectively working up their courage before they could hand over their
money and walk past the bouncer at the door of the teen club.

It had been one of the great 'coming of age' moments of her life, for all
that she'd spent most of her nights there holding down a seat at the bar,
watching Jesse try to hit on Cordelia, and Xander try to hit on anything
female and reasonably cute. Except Willow, of course.

That had all changed when Buffy Summers moved to town. From that first
night, when Buffy had ignored Willow's 'loser' status and stayed to talk --
and later saved Willow's life when she took Buffy's advice a bit too close
to heart -- the Bronze had actually become a fun place to be.  Willow
didn't have to sit alone anymore; Buffy was there, ready to join her in
commenting on the cute guys, teasing Xander, and discussing life, slaying,
and everything.  And if vampires occasionally wandered through now, looking
for a midnight snack -- well, that was what being a Slayerette was all
about. It wasn't such a bad deal.

Of course, not every night was fun and games. Like tonight. Xander was off
trying to pick up someone else's girlfriend, and Buffy might as well have
been a million miles away, even if she was sitting just across the table,
playing with her drink. She'd stirred herself earlier to use her Slaying
talents against the cockroaches, and racked up enough free drinks to last
the trio all night, setting a new Bronze record in the process.

But at the moment, even the air of revelry around them wasn't enough to
drag her  back to the here and now.

 Willow gave it one more shot. "Ah, the Fumigation Party," she said as
cheerfully as possible, pitching her voice to carry over the music. Buffy
didn't seem to hear her; Willow continued determinedly. "It's an annual
tradition - the closing of the Bronze for a few days to nuke the
cockroaches."

The only response was a distracted, "Oh."

Willow shook her head, caught between amusement and a bit of
worry. "It's a lot of fun," she told Buffy pointedly. "What's it like where
you are?"

The teasing apparently penetrated at last; Buffy blinked and focused on
Willow's face for the first time. Willow smiled tolerantly at her bud, who
had the grace to laugh at herself. "I'm... sorry. I was just... thinking
about things."

Among teenage girls, that particular inflection had only one meaning. "So,
we're talking about a guy?" Willow asked knowingly.

Buffy made a face. "Not exactly a guy. For us to have a conversation about
a guy, there'd have to be a guy for us to have a conversation about." She
paused, looking confused. "Was that a sentence?"

Willow got the idea; it wasn't like they hadn't had this conversation a
million times before. "You lack a guy."

Buffy sighed and looked down at her half-melted Coke. "I do. Which is fine
with me, most of the time. But..."

Her voice trailed off and Willow nodded sympathetically. "What about
Angel?" she asked carefully. This was tricky territory with Buffy, who
generally either claimed to *really* hate her mystery man, or lapsed into
detailed and poetic descriptions of his eyes. Which were pretty worthy of
poetic description, Willow admitted, at least from the one time she'd seen
Angel up close.

"Angel?" No, not one of the poetic nights; if anything, Buffy looked more
depressed. "I can just see him in a relationship. 'Hi honey, you're in
grave danger. I'll see you next month.'"

"He's not around much. That's true."

"But when he is around..." Buffy's eyes got dreamy, and Willow tried to
hide her grin. It was going to be a poetic night after all. "...it's like
the lights dim everywhere else. You know how it's like that with some
guys?"

"Oh yeah," Willow sighed, letting her eyes trail back to the dance floor.
She knew where Xander was, as if he was wearing a homing beacon only she
could sense. It had been like that for a couple of years now, ever since
the day when she'd looked up and discovered that her life-long friend was
also cute, funny, and all-together perfect for her. She lived in hope that
someday he'd realize the same thing -- but she wasn't counting on it.

At the moment, the only thing Xander seemed to be aware of was Annie Vega,
and shortly thereafter, Annie's boyfriend, Dino. Willow shook her head in
disgust as Xander backed off so fast he almost ran over Cordelia, but
couldn't stop smiling at him, even as a little, wistful jab of pain poked
at her heart. He was even cute when he was being an idiot over another
girl.

Xander escaped from Cordelia with what must have been a pretty good parting
shot for once, judging by the evil glare she sent at his back. "Boy, that
Cordelia's a regular breath of vile air,"  he commented as he retreated to
the safety of Willow and Buffy's table. "What are you vixens up to?"

Willow shrugged. "Just sitting here watching our barren lives pass us by.
Oh, look. A cockroach." She closed one eye to aim better, and stomped.
Cockroach floor pizza. Who said Slayerettes never got to do any of the
dirty work?

Xander was less than impressed by her feat. "Whoa, let's stop this crazy
whirligig of fun. I'm dizzy."

Buffy almost laughed, changed it into a sigh, and got up. "All right, now
I'm infecting those nearest and dear to me. I'm going to call it a night."

"Oh, don't go," Willow protested.

"Yeah!" Xander echoed her with way too much enthusiasm for Willow's taste.
"It's early. We could, um..." he groped for something, anything, to say
*other* than what he really wanted to say, which would involve close bodily
contact if Willow was any judge. "...dance," he finally finished lamely.

To Willow's somewhat guilty relief, Buffy wasn't pursuaded. "Raincheck?
Good night."

She left and Xander slumped at the table, staring after her with puppy dog
eyes. Willow was torn between hitting him for being so dense and hugging
him because he looked so adorable when he was being pathetic. She settled
for offering him the squished contents of the bottom of her shoe. "Want a
free drink?"

He looked pained and shoved it away, slumping even lower with his chin on
his fist.  Willow rolled her eyes and gave up. It was going to be one of
those nights.

*****

Sure enough, Xander spent the rest of the evening sulking, and since no
cute guys ever hung around looking for Willow, she escaped after another
hour, retreating to the safety of her computer and her on-line friends.
Even that wasn't much solace, though; she kept winding up staring at the
picture of her and Xander on her desk next to the computer, and slipping
into improbable, but highly entertaining, fantasies, involving kissing, and
hugging, and declarations of unending love, and kissing....

After the third or fourth one of those, she flipped off her monitor in
disgust, and flopped onto her back on the bed for a good, long bout of
self-pity. She didn't indulge very often, but this seemed like as good a
night as any.

"It's not fair," she informed her battered old teddy bear. "I mean, I know
it's not Buffy's fault; she can't help being gorgeous, and strong, and
exciting, and generally Xander's dream come true. I'm just boring old
Willow, no excitement or mystery about me."

She tucked her teddy bear up under her chin, and rolled onto her side to
gaze at the picture of her and Xander again. Jesse had taken it in ninth
grade, on the annual zoo trip. She didn't remember why she and Xander had
gotten into the wrestling match, she just remembered that it had been more
or less a draw.

"I'm glad I'm not the Slayer and all; I *really* don't want Buffy's job. I
just wish *my* job was a little more exciting than Research Girl." She
sighed. "Maybe then Xander would remember I'm alive."

She sighed again, then kissed her bear on the head and forced herself to
get up and get ready for bed. Thankfully, she didn't dream of Xander *or*
vampires that night, just a good, old-fashioned 'trapped on stage and
didn't learn the words to the song' nightmare. No problem.

- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Perri <[e-mail]>      I *am* the Buffy Evangalist!
NatPacker-*-Horsechick-*-Pretender-*-Cohenhead-*-DDEB2-*-AGA-*-SunS-*-CoJ
"I'm putting a collar with a little bell on that guy." -- Xander

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 11 Oct 1997 22:55:49 -0500 (CDT)
From: [e-mail] (Perri Smith)
Subject: BUFFYFIC: The Stranger (2/8)

See disclaimer in part 1.

The Stranger (Part 2)
by Perri Smith
Copyright 1997

*****

Willow had been intending to track Buffy down the instant she got to
school, to see if her friend's mood had improved any. Before she got the
chance, she found the normally *emphatically* anti-morning Slayer bouncing
next to her locker, her face glowing and her eyes bright.

"I got attacked by some really heavy-duty vampires last night," she
announced gleefully.

Willow's eyebrows went up; this was generally considered a Bad Thing. "And
you won?" she guessed, opening her locker and starting to trade out books
from her backpack. Biology, English, demonology, history.... "I'm assuming
you won or we probably wouldn't be having this conversation. Well, unless
Giles knows how to run a seance or something. Which he probably does,
'cause he's Giles."

Willow realized she was babbling and stopped, but it didn't matter, since
Buffy wasn't listening anyway. "There were three of them," she was saying
enthusiastically, "really big and tough, too. They backed me up against a
fence and I was sure I was totally toast!"

This still didn't sound like cause for celebration. In fact, Willow was
getting sick to her stomach at just the description. She stared at her
friend, backpack dangling, forgotten, from one hand. "Buffy! You could have
been killed! Why is this good?"

"Because," Buffy looked deeply smug, "I was rescued."

Someone rescuing the Slayer instead of vice versa. Concept. "By?" Willow
asked cautiously. Then realization dawned. Cat with a canary smile, glowing
eyes, color in the cheeks, bounce in the step.... "Angel?"

If possible, Buffy's face got even brighter. "Yes!"

"Oh, wow!" Willow closed her locker and leaned against it, wide-eyed and
ready to hear all of the gory details.

Which Buffy was more than happy to supply. "He came from out of nowhere. I
thought it was all over and then, boom, there he was! He grabbed one of
them by the hair and just pulled him away from me! I shook loose of the
other two, and he kept the third one off me. Until he got slashed in the
ribs," she remembered, her face darkening a bit. "That wasn't quite as
cool."

"Angel got hurt? Is he okay?"

"Oh, he's fine." Better than fine, if Buffy's sappy, lovesick smile was
anything to go by. "We made it to my house and I bandaged him up, then I
was afraid to let him leave so he spent the night in my room."

Buffy said the last part incredibly casually; Willow's jaw dropped another
inch. "In your *room*? For real?"

"For *totally* real!" Buffy dropped the nonchalant facade again in her
enthusiasm. "Oh, Willow, he was so sweet! We talked a little bit, and he
told me I was pretty, and then he went to sleep -- he's so *cute* when he's
asleep!"

Willow laughed at her friend, ignoring a faint stab of envy. Buffy looked
so in love, and Angel seemed like such a cool guy. He'd helped with the
vampires, and saved Buffy's life, and everything, and the fact that he
looked like something out of a romance novel didn't hurt. "It sounds like
you had a pretty terrific night."

"Yeah." Buffy sighed, wrapping her arms around her books and leaning back
against the lockers, staring happily at nothing in particular. She was
totally gone.

"Have you told Giles about the vampires who attacked you?"  Willow asked,
trying to keep *some* perspective, although what she really wanted to do
was drag Buffy off to a corner for a blow-by-blow description of every
second spent alone with Tall, Dark and Mysterious Guy. "I think he'll
probably want to know."

Buffy dragged herself back from the land of daydreams. "I woke up in the
middle of the night and remembered to call him. Got him up around midnight;
he was kind of, um, incoherent. But he said he'd work on it."

"Did you tell him about, um...?"

Buffy made a face. "Not yet, but I guess I'll have to. Angel makes him
kinda nervous; Giles *hates* it when anyone has more information than he
does about *anything*, especially vampires. "

"And...?" Willow prompted; Buffy had the look that meant she was leaving
something out.

"And I'd kind of rather not tell him how close a call it was," Buffy
admitted. "He tends to wig, and I don't want to stay after school for
another practice session. Angel's staying at my house today so he can
recover, and I don't want to, you know, leave him alone for too long. When
he's wounded and all."

"Better safe than sorry," Willow agreed, with a conspiratorial smile. Buffy
smiled back, the two of them understanding each other perfectly.

"Sorry about what?" The male voice popping into a such a girl moment
surprised both of them, and almost got Xander flattened. "Hey, don't beat
up on me," he defended himself, as Buffy lowered the fist she'd raised
instinctively. "I didn't do it, whatever it is."

Fortunately, both girls were now in too good of a mood to really let him
have it. "Good morning, Xander," Buffy greeted him cheerfully, as if she
hadn't just almost decked him. "And of course you didn't do anything,
silly, except for sneaking up on us."

"Oh. Well, good." Xander looked a little baffled, but recovered quickly,
opening his locker and searching its terrifying depths -- for a textbook,
Willow hoped, or he was going to flunk another math test fifth period. "So,
what are we talking about?"

"Coming to the library as soon as possible; at least, you should be."
Another male almost bit the dust, and Willow fought back a giggle at the
look Buffy's face as she realized it was Giles this time, and once again
lowered her arm. The near miss last night must have Buffy's nerves more on
edge than she thought, Angel or not.

"You've got to stop doing that!" the Slayer told her Watcher with exasperation.

"Sorry." He didn't look it, but then, Giles never did. He *did* look like
he had been mainlining tea; there was a cup in his hand and it wasn't
clean."I may have found some information; can you escape homeroom?"

"If you write us passes, no problem," Buffy shrugged. "Lead the way."

They trailed along behind Giles to the library, which was empty, as usual.
The students at Sunnydale High avoided the place religiously -- or maybe
they were just avoiding Giles, who had a tendency to eye anyone invading
his domain with more than a little hostility. Except the Slayerettes, of
course... well, most of the time.

"So, what've you found out?" Buffy asked, boucing by the shelves, too wired
to sit still. Willow elected to sit on the table, the better to hear the
good parts. Xander roamed.

"I believe I've discovered who your assailants were," Giles said over his
shoulder, as he retreated into the stacks. "By the way, you neglected to
tell me how you escaped their clutches."

Willow and Buffy exchanged looks. Busted. "Well, I kind of had help," Buffy
said reluctantly. "Angel showed up and sort of... gave me a hand."

"Angel?" Xander straightened up so suddenly Willow was afraid he'd hurt
himself. "Weird Guy was around?"

"Yes, *Angel* was around." Buffy sounded a little miffed at the insult,
never mind that she habitually referred to Angel as worse. "He was really
great, Giles; he took on those vampire thugs without even flinching, even
when he got hurt. I took him home to take care of him last night and he was
all bloody and... um...."

Willow had been frantically signalling her during the last part of the
gushing, but Buffy didn't realize she'd said too much until it was too
late. She shut up anyway, looking guilty. Fortunately, Giles had no more
response than a raised eyebrow.

Xander, on the other hand, looked close to having a conniption. "He spent
the night in your room? In your bed?"

"Not *in* my bed, *by* my bed," Buffy clarified impatiently.

"That is so romantic," Willow sighed. Unable to resist, she asked what she
*really* wanted to know. "Did you, uh.... I mean, did he...?"

Buffy looked *incredibly* smug. "Perfect gentleman."

Wow. Maybe Angel really *was* the perfect guy. Willow hoped so, for Buffy's
sake.

Willow's less-than-perfect-but-still-adorable guy looked even more unhappy
than before. "Buffy! Come on, wake up and smell the seduction! It's the
oldest trick in the book!"

"What? Saving my life? Getting slashed in the ribs?"

Buffy was starting to sound less than amused.  Out of love or stupidity,
Xander persisted. "Duh! I mean, guys'll do anything to impress a girl. I
once drank an entire gallon of Gatorade without taking a breath."

He looked proud of himself, and Willow admitted, "It was pretty
impressive." And it had been, for about five minutes. "Although later,
there was an ick factor." Which was putting it mildly. That party had ended
on a *really* disgusting note, and Elizabeth Shay hadn't been all that
impressed to begin with.

"Can we steer this riveting conversation back to the events of last night?"
Giles interrupted dryly, returning from the stacks with one of his ancient
books in hand. Buffy sat down and Willow slid around on the table to face
him as everyone shut up and paid attention, more or less. "You left the
Bronze last night and were set upon by three unusually virile vampires. Did
they look like this?"

"Yeah." Buffy frowned down at the page Giles handed her and Willow craned
her neck to see. Even Xander stopped sulking long enough to peer over
Buffy's shoulder. "What's with the uniforms?"

Willow studied the book upside down. The vampires pictured there seemed to
be wearing Klingon uniforms. They would have looked silly if it wasn't for
the menace glowing from their eyes, even in the pen and ink drawing.
Definitely the bad guys.

"It seems you encountered The Three," Giles told Buffy. "Warrior vampires,
very proud and very strong."

"How is it you always know this stuff?" Willow demanded. It got really
frustrating sometimes, always having to have everything explained when she
was used to being the one handing out the information. "You always know
what's going on. I never know what's going on."

Giles looked at her with a slight edge of irritation. "Well, you weren't
here from midnight until six researching it," he pointed out, taking
another long sip from his tea.

Willow shrank back a little. "No. I was sleeping."

He nodded as if that settled it -- which it did -- and returned to
business. "Obviously, you're hurting the Master very much," he told Buffy,
taking off his glasses and polishing them with his handkerchief in one of
his habitual gestures. He looked younger without them, and much more tired.
"He wouldn't send The Three for just anyone. We must step up our training
with weapons."

Buffy nodded, looking resigned, and Willow made a sympathetic face. Giles
was getting predictable.

So was Xander, actually. "Buffy, you should stay at my house until these
samurai guys are history." Buffy turned on him with a 'what the heck are
you bibbling about?' expression and Xander hurriedly added, "Don't worry
about Angel, we'll look around your house and tell him to get out of town
fast."

I just bet you will, Willow thought, rolling her eyes at Buffy, who rolled
hers in return. Boys. Xander was so jealous of Angel he couldn't stand it;
he'd *love* an excuse to get rid of Buffy's mystery man for a while.

Giles had apparently missed the whole thing. "Angel and Buffy are not in
any immediate jeopardy," he said thoughtfully, replacing his glasses.
"Eventually, the Master will send someone else. But in the meantime The
Three, having failed, will offer their own lives in penance."

"And on that cheerful note," Buffy said hastily, standing up and retrieving
her bag, "it's about time for first period. Giles, can you give the cut
slips for homeroom to Willow? I have to, um, be... somewhere."

She headed for door at top speed, but wasn't quite fast enough. "As long as
one of the places you have to be is here after school for training," Giles
called after her. She slowed to a walk, her shoulders slumping, and turned
around to argue.

Giles wasn't having any of it.  "I mean it, Buffy," he said sternly, before
she could say a word. "Right after class."

"But..."

"Buffy, this is your life we're talking about." Giles had the look on his
face that none of them bothered trying to argue with anymore, the serious
'It's for your own good and that's the end of it' look. They ignored that
look sometimes, but they didn't argue with it. "If you won't train to
protect yourself, then think of protecting those around you. Such as Angel,
perhaps?"

Ouch. Willow winced on Buffy's behalf; talk about hitting someone where
they lived. Buffy looked simultaneously wounded and rebellious, then gave
it up. "All right, Giles, I'll come right after sixth period. Promise. But
I need to be home in time for dinner."

"You will be," Giles assured her, before he was distracted by his book
again. Buffy left, looking unhappy; Xander trailed behind her and Willow
waited for Giles to look back up.

"Um, Giles?" she said after a very long moment; he started as if just being
reminded of her presence. All too used to being forgotten, she patiently
asked, "Excuse slips? For homeroom? So Buffy doesn't wind up in detention
instead of practice?" Giles wasn't the only one who knew how to make a
point.

"Ah. Yes." He blinked rapidly and put the book back down, careful not to
lose his place. He had to search through his desk to find the excuse slips
- -- why, Willow didn't know, since he had to use them practically every day
to get either Buffy or Willow out of class -- and finally retrieved a stack
of the forms from beneath two grimoires, a box of tea and a silver-hilted
knife. He scribbled his illegible signature at the bottom of three of them;
Willow accepted them, then retreated to let him get back to his research as
first-period bell rang. As she left the library, he was already heading
back to his office, reading as he walked and muttering something to himself
under his breath.

She hoped he didn't run into a wall or anything.

- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Perri <[e-mail]>      I *am* the Buffy Evangalist!
NatPacker-*-Horsechick-*-Pretender-*-Cohenhead-*-DDEB2-*-AGA-*-SunS-*-CoJ
"I'm putting a collar with a little bell on that guy." -- Xander

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 12 Oct 1997 19:17:25 -0500 (CDT)
From: [e-mail] (Perri Smith)
Subject: BUFFYFIC: The Stranger (3/8)

See disclaimer in part 1.

The Stranger (Part 3)
by Perri Smith
Copyright 1997

*****

Giles didn't allow the Slayerettes to attend Buffy's training sessions. He
claimed that the fewer of them that were around school after hours, the
less conspicuous they would be. Willow suspected that Giles just didn't
want them to see how easily Buffy could beat him up.

So Willow actually made it home in time for her own dinner, and realized
how long it had been since that happened when her parents both greeted her
appearance at the dinner table with looks of shock.

"Excuse me, miss, you look a lot like my daughter," Mr. Rosenberg teased.
"Except that it's been so long since I saw her, I'm not sure what she looks
like any more."

"Very funny, dad," Willow grinned sheepishly as she shoveled spaghetti onto
her plate. "I was here just last week."

"That recently?" her mom said with mock surprise. "And here you are again,
without Xander. I was beginning to think you two were joined at the hip."

Oh, I wish, Willow thought gloomily, keeping her smile on with an effort.
"I think his mom was ordering pizza tonight; he didn't want to miss it."

Her mom took salad and passed it on. "You know, honey," she said
thoughtfully, "Xander really has turned into a very good-looking young man,
and such a nice boy, too. Have the two of you ever thought of, I don't
know, going out? Or whatever they call it these days?"

Willow choked on a bite of garlic bread. "Um, no, Mom," she answered
truthfully. "We've never thought of that." *She* had, but that wasn't a we.
"We're just friends."

"Too bad," Mrs. Rosenberg sighed. "I think the two of you would be a cute
couple."

Willow blushed furiously and concentrated on wrapping spaghetti around her
fork in perfectly straight and even layers.  Her mom took the hint and let
the subject drop.

She'd been half-expecting a call from Buffy to emote over Angel, but after
the dishes had been done, her homework finished and all of her e-mail
answered, there was still no word from the Slayer. *Oh well,* she sighed
mentally. *I'm sure she'll tell me all about it tomorrow.*

*One of these days, I really need to have something to tell her.*

*****

Willow waited eagerly next to the curb until Buffy's mom dropped her off
the next morning. "So, what happened?" she started to ask, before taking in
the drained, exhausted look on Buffy's face. It was such a contrast to the
energetic, happy Slayer of the day before that Willow stopped dead in her
tracks, suddenly scared. "Buffy? What's wrong? What happened? Did The Three
show up again?"

"The Three?" Buffy smiled strangely, then started to chuckle, an odd, scary
laugh with absolutely no humor. "No, they didn't show up. There was...
another vampire problem, you could say."

"I could?" Willow was totally lost now. "Buffy, you look like you saw a
ghost. Did Angel do something? Did another vampire come after you? Tell me
what happened!"

Buffy's face twisted and for a second, Willow thought she was going to lose
it right then and there. Fortunately, Giles showed up before the Slayer
could start screaming and/or crying -- Willow wasn't quite sure which one
it would have been.

"Buffy, are you all right?" he asked, hurrying down the sidewalk towards
them. He looked even more nervous than usual, at least until he gave Buffy
a quick once-over and determined that, yes, she was all right, physically
at least. Willow still didn't know about the mental part.

"Why wouldn't Buffy be all right?" Xander asked from behind Willow, who was
too focused on Buffy to even jump. There was something very wrong here, she
was sure of it.

"I'm fine," Buffy told them unconvincingly. " I'm fine, I just... had a
really bad night."

"I imagine so," Giles said, not without sympathy. "Discovering Angel's true
nature must have been rather a bad shock, especially under... well, under
the circumstances. You're sure he didn't hurt you? A vampire in your house,
in your room...."

"He didn't hurt me!" Buffy sounded like she was saying it for about the
tenth time. "Honest, Giles, he just... fanged out, then bailed when I
started screaming, like I told you."

Willow was still stalled back at Giles' half of the conversation, seeing
her own dawning shock reflected on Xander's face. They must have heard that
wrong. Giles and Buffy couldn't possibly be talking about what she thought
they were talking about. "Angel... is a vampire?"

"Apparently so," Giles answered her absently. "Buffy, did he say anything,
do anything...?"

"No!" Buffy started walking  towards the front doors; wandering, actually,
as if in a daze. The Slayerettes trailed along beside and behind her. "I
told you, Giles, he just.... Oh, God, this isn't happening. "

"Angel's a vampire?"  Willow couldn't quite get past that part. Vampires
were Bad Things -- mean and vicious and scary. Angel was cool; he helped
*fight* vampires, and gave Buffy his jacket, and made Buffy's face light up
with happiness. He *couldn't* be a vampire, there was no way.

But Buffy's heart-broken face left no doubt. "I can't believe this is
happening," she repeated, going up the front steps towards the school. "One
minute, we were kissing, and the next minute.... Can a vampire ever be a
good person?" she suddenly demanded, whirling on Giles. "Couldn't it
happen?"

Giles looked taken aback. "A vampire isn't a person at all," he stuttered
slightly. "It may have the movements, the memories, even the personality of
the person it possessed, but it's still a demon at the core. There is no
halfway."

Willow mentally deciphered his sentance. "So, that'd be a no, huh?" she
concluded unhappily.

"Well, then, what was he doing? Why was he good to me?" Buffy asked no one
in particular, sinking to one of the stone benches outside the school as if
she didn't trust her knees to hold her up any more. "Was it all some part
of the Master's plan? It doesn't make sense."

She was looking to Giles for answers, like always, but it was Xander who
carefully lowered himself to the bench next to her. "All right," he said,
very deliberately, "you have a problem and it's not a small one. Let's take
a breath, and look at this calmly and objectively.  Angel's a vampire.
You're the Slayer. I think it's obvious what you have to do."

At that moment, Willow wanted, more than she'd ever wanted anything in her
life, to hit Xander. He'd recovered from the shock, all right, and jumped
right in with both feet in his mouth to try to get rid of his 'rival'.

But he didn't know Buffy's feelings, Willow instantly corrected herself,
with a surge of guilt. He couldn't know. And Xander *really* hated
vampires, ever since Jesse.... So he couldn't know what he was saying, he
was just being... practical. Logical.

Right.

Xander looked up at Giles for confirmation; both of the girls looked up to
him begging for a denial. Giles couldn't quite look Buffy in the eyes. "It
is a Slayer's duty," he confirmed reluctantly.

"I mean, I know you have feelings for this guy," Xander rushed on, "but
it's not like you're in love with him, right?"

Willow didn't have to hit him this time; Buffy's face said it all. Even
Xander, who'd been trying really, really hard to pretend Buffy's
fascination with Angel was a passing, unsignificant thing, couldn't miss
the deep, tragic emotions written in her eyes. "You're in love with a
vampire?" he demanded loudly. "What, are you out of your mind?"

Just a little bit too loudly, as it turned out. "What?"

They swung, more or less in unison, to see Cordelia staring down at them
with wide, traumatically shocked eyes. Xander gaped, then tried desperately
to cover. "Not vampire," he fumbled, looking back at Buffy. "How could you
love an umpire? Everyone hates them!"

Willow winced, sure the game was up; even Cordelia wasn't going to believe
anything that lame. Fortunately, Cordelia was now staring past them, with
other things on her mind. "Where did you get that dress?" she demanded of a
girl walking across the lawn, wearing the exact same tank dress Cordelia
had on. "This is a one-of-a-kind Todd Oldham. Do you know how much this
dress cost?" She left the Slayerettes without a backwards glance to catch
up to and attack the girl who dared to have the same taste in clothing as
the diva of Sunnydale High.

As Cordelia's harangue trailed off into the distance, Buffy tried to smile.
"Think we have problems," she said wryly.

"Well, in point of fact, we do," Giles reminded her carefully. "We'll need
to find out whatever we can about Angel. Just in case."

"He wouldn't hurt her, would he?" Willow protested instinctively. "I mean,
he hasn't before, like Buffy said, right?"

"We can't take the chance," Giles said. "Whatever he is and whatever his
motives, Angel knows far too much about Buffy; we must attempt to even that
score." Homeroom bell rang even as he spoke; he looked at his watch and
sighed. "I'll need all of you in the library at lunch; I'll do what I can
until then. You had better get to class."

They got up reluctantly, no one particularly enthusiastic about sitting
through classes when they were having a (much more interesting) crisis.
Giles headed for the library, and Xander and Willow flanked Buffy as they
walked to homeroom, lending her as much moral support as they could.




- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Perri <[e-mail]>      I *am* the Buffy Evangalist!
NatPacker-*-Horsechick-*-Pretender-*-Cohenhead-*-DDEB2-*-AGA-*-SunS-*-CoJ
"I'm putting a collar with a little bell on that guy." -- Xander

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 12 Oct 1997 19:17:49 -0500 (CDT)
From: [e-mail] (Perri Smith)
Subject: BUFFYFIC: The Stranger (4/8)

See disclaimer in part 1.

The Stranger (Part 4)
by Perri Smith
Copyright 1997

*****

The morning was more or less a total waste, but Willow hadn't expected
anything else. She paid enough attention during history and biology to
cover for Buffy, who was still in a daze; Willow had to drag her off to the
girls room between classes to talk. Buffy was bouncing between total,
shocked disbelief, and equally shocked attempts at rationalization,
babbling everything about the previous evening more or less incoherently .
Willow listened silently, letting her friend vent enough to get her through
the next class.

She had to leave her in Xander's hands for third period, though; Buffy had
her free period then, but Willow suspected she'd spend it anywhere but the
library. Xander, of course, had no problems with cutting class to keep an
eye on Buffy.

Computer science, usually Willow's favorite part of the day, seemed to drag
on forever. Ms. Calendar caught her staring off into space at least twice
during the period, and stopped to ask if anything was wrong. Her teacher
looked so concerned, Willow almost found herself spilling it all, but
caught herself at the last second. "No," she lied, "nothing's wrong."

Ms. Calendar looked completely unconvinced, but didn't push. "All right,"
she said calmly, "but if you need to talk to anyone about whatever's not
wrong, you know where I am."

Willow attempted a smile. "I know. Thanks."

Ms Calendar studied her with knowing, sympathetic eyes for another long
moment, then went off to look over Dave's shoulder at his current project.
Willow tried to bury herself in programming, but found herself staring off
into space again within a few minutes.

It just seemed so unbelievable. She remembered the first time she'd seen
Angel, that night at the Bronze when he'd come to warn Buffy about Fork
Guy, as they still called the nameless clawed vampire Buffy had killed.
He'd been hovering in the doorway, dressed in stark black and white and
looking nothing like the super-annoying smart aleck Buffy had described in
vivid (and irritated) detail. He'd looked serious, and intense... and
alone, even in the crowd of people.

Maybe that was why Willow had instinctively liked Angel -- even from across
the crowded dance floor, she'd seen her own loneliness reflected in his
dark, shadowed eyes. Then he'd given Buffy his jacket, settling it
carefully around her shoulders to make sure she hadn't gotten cold, and won
Willow's romantic heart over forever.

And then there'd been the look he'd worn when Buffy had kissed Owen in
front of him at the Bronze a few weeks later.....

Why would a vampire give the Slayer his jacket, much less the cross he'd
given her at their first meeting, the one Buffy almost never took off? Why
would he care when she kissed another guy? Why would he warn her, why would
he protect her from his own kind? It made no sense, none at all. She'd
*liked* Angel, and Buffy was in love with him. They couldn't both be that
wrong about him; it just wasn't possible.

"Willow?" Willow jolted, then looked up guiltily at Ms. Calendar, who was
looking down at her with worried eyes. "The bell just rang. You might want
to try to get to fourth period sometime before lunch."

"Oh. The bell. Right." Willow saved her program, retrieved her disk, then
bolted for the door before her favorite teacher could ask any more
questions Willow couldn't answer.

*****

She made it to the library before Xander and Buffy did at lunch, and found
Giles pouring over a stack of books, as usual. He didn't even look up when
she came in, just gestured towards a smaller stack at the edge of the table
- -- the books written in modern English that the Slayerettes could be
trusted to read without missing anything or hurting the book. Giles' faith
in them had its limits.

Willow obeyed his silent order, pulling up a chair and taking the first
book off the top of the stack. Someone's handwritten manuscript, yellowing
paper bound into faded, patterned leather. She skimmed a few pages, without
much interest. "Have you found anything yet?"

"Not yet."

"Oh." Another few pages. "Nothing about Angel, in any of these books?"

"Not that I've discovered."

"Oh." A few more pages. "Giles?"

He sighed, and put his book down to look at her. "Yes, Willow?"

Now that she had his attention, she wasn't quite sure what to do with it.
Finally, she asked the question she'd been asking herself all day. "Giles,
does Angel have to be a bad guy? I mean, are you sure he is?"

Giles sighed again, taking off his glasses and rubbing his eyes. They were
bloodshot from too much research and too little sleep. "I... wish he
weren't, Willow -- for Buffy's sake, at least. I know she is fond of Angel
and she.... Well, he has, perhaps, given her reason to be. As he has given
you, I gather?" Willow blushed under his entirely-too-perceptive gaze,
looking back down at her book. "But he *is* a vampire, and Buffy's
emotions, like yours, may be clouding her judgment. A Slayerer cannot
afford that luxury, nor can a Watcher. We must assume Angel is like the
rest of his kind."

"So all vampires are alike?" Willow persisted. "They're all the same?"

"No, of course not," Giles said with more than a little exasperation. "They
are individuals, but individual demons. And they are all evil."

"How can you be sure?" Willow asked in a tiny voice, without looking up
from her book. "How can you *know*?"

It took Giles a long time to answer. "Because I *must* know," he said
finally, turning his glasses over in his hands as if seeing them for the
first time. "Because to assume otherwise, against all evidence to the
contrary, would be risking the Slayer on nothing more than wishful
thinking. And because I would far rather it was Buffy's heart that was
broken than Buffy herself."

Willow couldn't really think of anything to say to that. He was right,
after all.

Fortunately, Buffy and Xander chose that moment to come into the library,
Xander talking a blue streak about nothing in particular in a transparent
attempt to distract Buffy, who, judging by the far-off look on her face,
wasn't distracting.

"Any luck?" she came out of it enough to ask Giles.

"None to speak of," he answered quickly, putting his glasses back on as if
to hide any emotions he might be feeling. "Although I may have thought of a
new approach. If you will begin looking through the pile by Willow...."

He handed Xander a heavy volume before Xander could figure a way to wriggle
out of having to actually read, and Buffy began leafing through another
book by herself as Giles headed for the stacks. Not that it was going to do
much good; she was looking at the pages, but not really focusing. Willow
tried to think of words to comfort her friend, but what could she say?
'Gee, I'm sorry your boyfriend turned out to be a vampire?'

She pulled a Giles and buried herself in her research, instead.

*****

"Here's something at last," Giles announced barely half an hour later.
Willow restrained a giggle as Xander jumped in surprise; at least the guys
were scaring each other now, instead of her and Buffy.

"Can you please warn us before you do that?" Xander asked the Watcher edgily.

Giles ignored him. "There's nothing about Angel in the texts, but it
suddenly occured to me that it's been ages since I read the diaries of any
of the Watchers before me."

"That must have been so embarrassing," Willow thought out loud, still
dwelling on the romance of it all. "When you thought he had read your
diary, but then it turned out he hadn't, but then he felt the same way..."
Her voice trailed off as she realized what she was saying and looked up
guiltily. Giles looked impatient, Xander looked... unhappy. "I'm
listening," she finished in a very small voice.

Giles went back to his book. "There's a mention some 200 years ago in
Ireland of Angelus, 'one with the angelic face'."

"They got that right," Buffy muttered.

Xander coughed, and everyone looked at him. "I'm not saying anything," he
said defensively. "I have nothing to say."

Giles shook his head and got back to business. "Does, ah,  Angel have a
tattoo behind his right shoulder?"

Buffy frowned thoughtfully. "Yeah, it's a bird or something."

"*Now* I'm saying something," Xander blurted. "You saw him naked?"

Everyone ignored him this time. Willow could have told him how Buffy had
bandaged Angel's ribs after he'd been injured (since she'd been told the
story in repeated, moment-by-moment playback), but it was more fun to let
him stew.

"So Angel's been around for a while," she said instead.

Giles considered. "Not long for a vampire; 240 years or so."

"240." Buffy shook her head ruefully. "Well, he said he was older."

"Angelus leaves Ireland," Giles continued as he sat down, having apparently
decided to ignore all side comments, "and wreaks havok in Europe for, well,
several decades. Then, about eighty years ago, a most curious thing
happens."

Giles paged ahead in the diary, searching for something. When he found it,
he continued, "He comes to America, shuns other vampires, and lives alone.
There's... no record of him hunting here." And Giles sounded really puzzled
by that.

"So, he *is* a good vampire," Willow blurted, unable to stop herself. Buffy
looked so unhappy, any hope was a Good Thing. "I mean, on a scale of one to
ten, with ten being someone one's maiming and killing, and one being
someone who's, um--" Words failed her. "--not."

"As I said, there's no record," Giles confirmed dubiously. "But vampires
hunt and kill; it's what they do."

"Fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly," Xander said.

"He could have fed on me," Buffy pointed out. "He didn't."

"Question," Xander said grimly. Willow would have been proud of his
concentration and clear thinking if she hadn't been so very suspicious of
his motives. "A hundred years or so before he came to our shores -- what
was he like then?"

Giles took his glasses back off, as if to make it easier to look Buffy in
the eyes. "Well, like all of them. A vicious, violent animal."

Buffy swallowed, her eyes wide and haunted. Willow bit her lip, fighting
back her own sinking heart. Those words didn't seem to apply to Angel,
didn't fit with what she'd seen in his dark, lonely eyes. Vicious? Animal?
It just felt so *wrong*.


- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Perri <[e-mail]>      I *am* the Buffy Evangalist!
NatPacker-*-Horsechick-*-Pretender-*-Cohenhead-*-DDEB2-*-AGA-*-SunS-*-CoJ
"I'm putting a collar with a little bell on that guy." -- Xander

------------------------------

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