Uncertain Times
By Joanne Robitaille

DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything that has to do with the show except for the storyline. Dorion Frost and the city of Southshore are borrowed from another story of mine and I made up Shannon for this story.

Part One

It had taken Buffy all of two seconds to make her decision about who had Angel. There was only one other person who had any idea what had gone on that night. She had taken but one look at the letter before jumping into action. Buffy spun around on her heel and bolted for the doors as fast as she could. By the time that the others caught up with her, Buffy was in Giles’ car pulling out of the parking lot. She vaguely heard someone pounding on the window, but paid it no mind. Buffy had only one thought running through her mind: Find Angel now. Angel was barely out of the danger zone and he needed to be at the hospital where the doctors could take care of him.

The large seaside city zoomed by in a blur. Never in her whole life had Buffy felt so suffocated. The very buildings seemed to be closing in on her. Every time that she came across a black car, Buffy would glance in to see if a certain peroxide-blonde vampire was behind the wheel of his beloved car. It never was him, though. Not that she had expected it to be so easy.

“I am so going to kill you for this, Spike,” Buffy muttered to herself as she waited for the light to turn green. “If so much as one strand of hair is out of place your death is going to be even more painful.”

Rational thinking was beyond Buffy by now. She was running simply on emotions. The powerful emotions of a seventeen year old girl whose injured boyfriend was in the hands of a homicidal maniac. Since it had been barely ten minutes between when she had last seen Angel and when Dorion had come to tell them that Angel was missing, Buffy kept hoping that if she drove fast enough she might be able to overtake Spike’s car. She was sure that she could run Spike off the road without hurting Angel in the process.

So lost had she been in plotting her vengeance against Spike- for no doubt he was the one who had taken Angel -that Buffy failed to notice where it was that she was going until she had already arrived. It was a shock to Buffy for she hadn’t even realized that she was heading to the warehouse until she pulled up in front of it. A shiver ran down Buffy’s spine as she remembered what had happened a few hours before in that very place. She had nearly lost Angel forever in more ways than one. It was with great dread and apprehension that Buffy went back into the dark building.

Almost as soon as Buffy stormed into the warehouse she heard the sound of a phone ringing. Years of experience of searching for her own cordless phone amidst piles of clothing gave Buffy the ability to find this phone rather quickly. It was a cell phone located directly below where Angel had been during the ritual. Without thinking, Buffy picked up the phone and hit the talk button.

“Hullo, luv. You really didn’t think that you were finished with this game, did you?”

“Where’s Angel, Spike?” Buffy demanded, completely ignoring his question.

There was loud laughter on the other end. “Here you go, pet.”

A few seconds later, Buffy heard the sound of laboured breathing. Tears silently filled her eyes and began to slide down her cheeks. “Angel?”

“B-Buffy? Wha... What’s going on? How come I can’t see anything? Buffy, where are you?” Angel’s quiet voice breathed out.

Spike’s laughter was once again ringing in her ears before she had a chance to say anything to him. So instead, the Slayer turned her anger on the vampire. “If you hurt him, Spike, so help me I will...”

“I wouldn’t threatened me, Slayer,” the vampire warned. “I’ve got the greatest leverage against you now. Your precious Angel. If you don’t play this game by my rules, I’ll kill him. It’s as simple as that.”

“Okay, Spike, I’ll bite. What game?”

Spike let out another deep chuckle. “I’ll tell you next time. Keep this phone. I’ll get in touch when we’re ready to begin.”

Buffy started to say something else, but the vampire hung up before she got a chance. Screaming in frustration, the Slayer stormed back and forth for a few moments as she tried to think rationally. She needed to try and figure out where Spike would take Angel. Not the factory. Even Spike wasn’t stupid enough to hide one of her friends there twice. Not the mansion because that would be the first place that Buffy would look. The
only place that Buffy could come up with was the Master’s lair. It was the perfect place for vamps to hide out. Because of his age, Spike could easily kick out any unwanted vampires who had decided to take up residence there. Since Angel was no longer a vampire, Spike was now the oldest vampire in Sunnydale which made him the natural leader of all the others. Angel had never really been the leader because of the whole soul thing, but he technically had still been their master following the demise of the actual Master. That was why it had been so easy for him to take over following the return of Angelus the year before.

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

So far everything had been going according to his plan. Shannon had taken Angel and stripped him of his vampiric qualities. Then the Slayer had come and killed her before the mortal Angel could become the demonic Angelus. Now Spike had Angel when the former vampire was at his weakest. All of those drugs that he been injected into his blood would stay in his system for quite some time.

“Angelus, my friend, we are going to have some fun,” Spike told the semi-conscious man next to him. “Now wait! Scratch that! I’m going to have some fun. That Slayer girlfriend of yours will be going out of her mind worrying about you.”

“Buffy?” Angel whispered, trying to rouse himself from his drug-induced stupor.

Pulling up in front of their destination, Spike let out a deep chuckle. The Slayer would never think to look for them there. She believed that that place was destroyed. So did everyone else in Sunnyhell for that matter. But that was the funny thing about basement apartments; blowing up everything on the above floors did little to them. Angel’s former residence was exactly as it had been when he had last lived there, if a little dustier from lack of use.

With more gentleness than one would expect from William the Bloody, Spike helped Angel from the car and led him towards the nearby man hole. The only way into the apartment was through the sewer access that Angel had used so many times when he had been unable to venture out into the sun. As soon as the man hole was removed, all traces of the kindness disappeared as Spike dumped Angel into the putrid water below.

Groaning when he landed, Angel struggled to push himself up off the ground. About all that he managed to accomplish was to pull himself forward a few feet before Spike jumped down into the sewer. He made it another few feet before Spike hauled him upright.

“Don’t even think about it, Angelus,” Spike sneered, glaring angrily at his sire. Turning around, he saw that two of his fledgling had arrived on time. “Robert. Alexis. Take him and get him into some dry clothes. They’ll be in the wardrobe near the bed. Make sure that you tie him down, too. And don’t let him out of your sight. This bloke may not be one of us anymore, but I daresay that won’t stop him from trying to escape. You mess this up and Dru will be very upset with you.”

Like the rest of Spike’s goon squad, these two knew that it wasn’t a good idea to piss Drusilla off. She tended to get very irrational when she was angry. More so than usual. Not wanting to upset their master’s consort, the two young vampires grabbed hold of what had once been their master’s sire and dragged him towards the access hatch that led up to the door outside of buried apartment.

Angel faded in an out over the next couple of hours, barely aware of anything around him. The few times that he was able to focus in on his surroundings all that he could see was the ceiling. It wasn’t until Angel woke up the sixth and final time that he realized where he was. His old apartment. The one that Buffy said had been blown up about a week before his return. For a few moments, Angel let himself believe that everything that had happened since Buffy’s birthday had been a dream. All of that ended the instant that he tried to lower his arms from above his head.

Panicking, Angel tried to sit up, but found that he couldn’t do that either. He could still move his head, though. Taking advantage of this, Angel raised his head and began to scan the apartment. The only other beings in the room were two vampires who were sound asleep on his old couch. After being one of them for over two and a quarter centuries, Angel could tell a vampire when he saw one. After all, humans tended to breathe when they were asleep.

All right now. How to get out of here? Angel mused silently to himself as he glanced up to see the ropes that bound his arms to the headboard. The knots looked a little flimsy, so it wouldn’t be too hard to get himself untied. The only problem would come when he tried to leave. Angel wasn’t sure if these particular vamps were light sleepers or not. Some literally slept like the dead. Others, like him, were very light sleepers. At least when his blood wasn’t filled with a while lot of different drugs.

It took about fifteen minutes of careful finger manipulation for Angel to get the knots undone. His arms ached from the strain and he felt a little dizzy when he sat up, but at least he wasn’t tied to the bed any longer. Thankfully, neither of the vampires showed any signs of waking up in the soon to near future. But all that couldn’t change in a few seconds. One false move and he could make a noise that would wake his two guards up.

Getting silently off of the bed, Angel knelt down and peered under the bed where he knew he had left a pair of shoes the last time that he had lived here. Sure enough, the pair of black boots were right where he had left them. Angel quietly slipped them on and padded towards the door. Unfortunately, the door didn’t open as quietly as he would have liked. There was a loud screeching noise that was made by the rusted hinges. Cursing under his breath, Angel hurried out of the apartment and into the access tunnel below. He had almost made it to the manhole that led out into the street when he heard one of the two vampires slash down into sewer. Praying that it was daytime, Angel climbed the ladder and pushed the lid to the manhole up. Sure enough, a stream of sunlight shot down into the sewers, instantly nuking the two vamps who had just reached the bottom of the ladder.

Out of breath, but in good spirits, Angel climbed out of the manhole and into the deserted street. He stood there for a couple of minutes in shock. He was in the sun. For the first time in over two centuries, Angel was standing in the sun. Even though the brightness of it hurt his eyes, the feeling of the sun warming his pale skin was sensation that the former vampire delighted in. Angel had never thought to feel the sun on his skin again, but here he was. Standing in the sun.

Knowing that he would never be able to make it to either Buffy’s or his house on his own, Angel stumbled in the direction of the payphone which was located on the opposite side of the street. Perhaps if he called Giles, the Watcher would be able to get a message to her for him.

Part Two

Giles had gotten about an hour of sleep since Buffy had come pounding on his door to tell him that Angel was missing. That was nearly two days ago and Giles was now running on fumes... And several highly caffinated mochas thanks to the hacker.

When they had found Buffy following the shocking revelation at the hospital, she had been in the factory yelling at a cell phone which she held in her hands. She had been screaming for Spike to tell her what he had done with Angel. After they had gotten her to tell them what had happened, Buffy had insisted that they check all of the likely places that Spike would take Angel to. So after they dropped off Willow, Xander and Joyce, Giles and Buffy had set out in search of Angel. There had been no sign of them anywhere. That hadn’t improved Buffy’s temperament one bit. She had been frantic, scared that they wouldn’t find Angel before Spike did something terrible to him.

Giles was startled out of his attempt at a nap by the phone ringing right next to his head. Cursing under his breath, the librarian reached over to pick up the phone. “Um, yes...Hello?” Giles muttered, barely more than half awake.

“Will you accept a collect call from a Mr. Angel?” the operator asked emotionlessly.

In an instant, Giles was completely awake. “Angel? Yes, I’ll accept the call.” Secondslater, Giles heard the sound of laboured breathing. “Angel, is that you?”

“Giles?” the quiet voice whispered back.

“Yes, Angel, it’s me,” the Watcher confirmed. “Where are you? Are you all right?”

It was a few moments before Angel answered. “I’m at the phone booth... across from my old apartment. Buffy...?”

“I’ll bring her with me,” Giles promised him. “Just stay in the sun until we get there.”

“Okay,” the breathy whisper replied.

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English had never been so long or so boring. No matter how hard she tried to focus on what was being said, all that Buffy could see was Angel. Her Angel. She was terrified that she might lose him again. She had been devastated when he had lost his soul. A tiny part of her had been killed that day. Buffy had nearly died when she had been forced to send him to hell in order to save the world. She would never be able to erase that look on his face from her mind. Buffy had let Angel down then, but she was determined to save him this time. She was going to put him first this time. To hell with the world. Angel was more important to her than the world was.

Buffy came out of her daze when she felt Willow’s hand on her arm. She turned her head in the direction that the redhead was pointing and suddenly felt a wave of panic rushing through her. Giles wouldn’t come to her class unless it was an emergency. What if he had been watching the news and seen a report about finding the body of an unidentified male? What if Spike had sent another letter?

“Ms. Summers, could I please have a word with you?” Giles called, feverantly motioning her towards the door.

Grabbing her books and bag, Buffy quickly hurried out of the room and out into the hallway. “What’s going on, Giles? Did you find something out about Angel?”

Giles nodded his head and started towards the parking lot. “I’ve found Angel to be exact. I just got a call from him in my office. He’s at the phone booth across the street from his old apartment. Why or how he ended up there I have no clue. I only know that he’s there now. This may be a trap, Buffy so we-”

As soon as she heard that, Buffy grabbed the keys from Giles hand and bolted for the doors. She didn’t want to wait a second longer than necessary to get to Angel. She didn’t care if it was a trap or not. All that she cared about was Angel. She heard Giles trying desperately trying to catch up with her and slowed her pace down a bit so that the Watcher would make it to the car before she took off. Chances were she was going to need Giles help. If not to get her out of whatever trouble she was bound to get herself into then to check and make sure that Angel was all right. Her Watcher had always been better at first aid that she was.

Buffy would never be able to remember much of the drive to the area where Angel’s apartment had once been. With Giles in control of the vehicle, Buffy stared out the window, waiting rather impatiently to get where they were going. Using the cell phone that she had gotten from Spike, Buffy had dialed the number of the doctor in Southshore. Dorion had given Giles his number so that they could call him when Angel was found. The young doctor had promised to go to the Summers’ house as soon as possible in order to check up on his patient since it was highly unlikely that Angel would be visiting a hospital in the soon to near future. Not after what had happened the last time.

As soon as they pulled into the street, Buffy entire face lit up. Sitting on the ground next to the phone booth near the ruined apartment structure was Angel dressed in black jeans and a t-shirt. He was extremely pale and shivering slightly, but at least he was alive. Buffy barely waited long enough for Giles to stop the car before she got out and ran to Angel’s side.

Angel stirred slightly when he felt someone’s hands on his face, but didn’t actually open his eyes until he heard Buffy’s voice. When he saw her, a tiny smile lit up Angel’s face as Buffy gathered him up in her arms.

“You’re all right. You’re all right. You’re all right,” Buffy chanted over and over again as she ran her hands up and down Angel’s back.

Even though he really didn’t feel all right, Angel wasn’t about to admit that to Buffy. He was thrilled beyond belief simply by the fact that hew as there with her in the sun. How often was it a vampire, let alone one with his past, was granted their lost humanity? Not just their soul, but their very life. It was a second chance, so to speak. Another chance to live the life that had been taken from young Angelus O’Conor in Galaway, Ireland so long ago. True, Angel was nothing like the twenty-year-old mortal who had met his fate in the late 18th century, but it was still his life. He had witnessed too much in his long existence to be the man that he had been so long ago so he now had the chance to be a better man.

“We should probably get Angel back to your house now, Buffy,” Giles said as he watched the two young lovers embrace on the dirty sidewalk. Knowing what Angel had been through over the past couple of days erased all of the enmity that he had for the demon he had once been.

Hearing the Watcher’s voice took Buffy out of her little fantasy. That was what her mind had kept tell her that this was. Angel can’t go out in the sun, the rational part of her kept saying. She would go along with that voice, too. Right up until she felt his warm breath blowing against her neck. Pulling back slightly, Buffy smiled at Angel then moved to get up, bringing him with her. Her smile faded when Angel put his hand to his head and grimaced as though he was in pain.

“Angel, are you all right?” Buffy asked, a look of concern quickly overtaking her features.

After a few moments, Angel nodded his head. “The sun’s just hurting my eyes a bit... I guess that I’m not used to it anymore.”

Reaching into her purse, Buffy’s hand came out a few seconds later with a pair of sunglasses. “Here ya go, baby. Xander gave me these to watch last month and hasn’t come for them yet. You can use them now. Until we get you your own pair.”

After slipping the sunglasses on, Angel followed Buffy towards the car where Giles was waiting for them both. More than anything, the reformed vampire loved the sensation of being in the sun with the woman that he loved. He would have suggested that they walk back to her house had be not been aware of the fact that his legs were about ready to give out at any moment. Without his vampire healing abilities, Angel didn’t heal quite as fast as he used to which meant that he was going to be sore and tired for a few days.

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

“Where’s Giles? Giles never leave the library. He’s library guy. We come in Giles is here. That’s our system and now he’s gone and ruined it.”

Willow paid no attention to Xander as he rambled on and on about things that made no sense. She had an idea of where Giles was, but wasn’t about to share that with Xander considering he probably wouldn’t take it well. Instead, the hacker went over to her computer and booted herself up. There were some things that she needed to check on the Net before their free period was over.

“You just had class with Buffy. How come she’s not here with you?” Xander cried out in the midst of searching his bag for twinkies. “End of the day comes and you two get here at the same time. How come Buffy’s not here?”

“Probably because a homicidal maniac kidnapped her injured boyfriend,” Willow said logically.

Xander rolled his eyes and sat down with his find. “Who cares about Deadboy? If Spike kills him, I say good for him.”

“You self-righteous little prick!” Willow cried, disgusted with her friend. “How can you say that about Angel? He’s a human being, Xander. He literally went through hell because you didn’t tell Buffy what I asked you to. You didn’t tell her that I was trying the curse again. Why don’t you want them to be happy? Buffy loves Angel. Angel loves Buffy. Get over it and get on with your life!”

Xander was shocked by Willow’s outburst to say the least. She had never said anything like that to him. So startled by what Willow had said to him that it took Xander a minute to realize that she knew his secret. She knew that he hadn’t told Buffy about the second attempt at the curse.

When Willow saw his wide-eyed expression she began to laugh bitterly. “You really think that I didn’t know? All that I had to do was take one look at your face and I knew.”

“Then why didn’t you say anything?” Xander asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

After typing a few words into the computer, Willow turned back to her friend. “Because I figured that I’d let you be a man about it and come clean. Guess I was wrong about you.”

“I did the right thing,” Xander said quietly. It sounded more like he was trying to convince himself than he was Willow. “He deserved to suffer for killing Ms. Calendar.”

“How dare you,” a low voice hissed from behind them.

Xander quickly got to his feet and spun around only to see one incredibly brassed off Slayer glaring in his direction. “Hey, Buff. How’s it going?”

“If I ever see you again it will be too soon,” was all that Buffy said before turning in the direction of Giles’ office. She had forgotten her keys in the library that morning and Giles had told her that he put them on his desk.

Willow followed Buffy into the office, hoping that she could cheer her out of her extremely bad mood. “What did Giles want? It seemed kind of important.”

The corners of Buffy’s lips turned up slightly. “It was. Angel had called him. Spike had left him with two inept fledgling and Angel managed to sneak away while they were asleep. He’s out in Giles’ car right now and we’re taking him back to my house as soon as I can find my house keys... There they are!”

“That’s great!” Willow cried, genuinely happy that Angel was all right.

“It’s better than great, Will. It’s perfect. You have no idea how wonderful it is to finally see Angel in the sun,” Buffy mused as she headed back out into the library. “We definitely need to work on his tan, though.”

“Considering how long it’s been since he was out in the sun I think it’s safe to say that he’s a little pale.”

“Little doesn’t even begin to cover it. He’s white, Will.”

The two girls walked out of the library without even casting a glance in the direction of the dark-haired boy who was sitting there munching on twinkies and ho-ho’s. Xander had expected Buffy to be furious when she found out about what he had done, but he hadn’t thought that Willow would turn on him like that. She was Willow. His best bud. He had counted on her understanding what he had done. So, abandoned by both of his best friends, Xander drowned his sorrows in snack food.

Part Three

“Drusilla! I’m back, ducks!” Spike called as he entered the mansion that he had taken up residence in after leaving Sunnyhell following his drunken escapades there. This place was in northern Mexico where he had convinced his dark plum to stay and wait while he went to the Hellmouth to get her present ready.

“The stars told me a secret today,” the flighty vampire mused as she strolled down the main staircase. “They said that you were going to come and give me a party.”

Spike smiled as he watched his lover descend to his level. “That’s right, pet. I’ve got your daddy waiting for you back in Sunnyhell. His sister made him human.”

Drusilla delicate features twisted almost instantly into a frown. “The mean Slayer won’t let me play with him.”

“She can’t stop you this time, ducks. The Slayer doesn’t even know where I’ve hidden her Angel. If we leave now, we can get back to Sunnyhell by sunset and you can play with your daddy as much as you want.”

A smile crept to Drusilla’s face when she heard this. “I like to play games.”

“Don’t I know it, babe. Don’t I know it,” Spike said as he extended his hand to towards his eternal love. “Shall we, pet?”

“Let’s.”

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Buffy managed to remain downstairs long enough to watch Dorion Frost pull out of her driveway. The news that the doctor had given her took away all of her earlier fears. Angel was going to be fine. No lasting side effects from his late-night adventure with William the Bloody. Just a little exhaustion and a slight case of shock. Nothing that a few days in bed wouldn’t cure.

Once Dorion’s car was out of sight, Buffy turned and bolted up the stairs. Even though Dorion had said that Angel needed rest, she wasn’t about to pass up the chance to check up on him. Buffy loved watching Angel sleep. And if he wasn’t asleep, Buffy had plans to make him tell her how he had gotten away from Spike’s goons. There had to be some reason why Spike would go through so much trouble to kidnap Angel from the hospital so it wasn’t like he would leave him with a couple of lack-wits.

Giles couldn’t help but smile as he watched his Slayer bound up the stairs. The sight of Buffy acting like a normal teenager was something that he had always enjoyed seeing. Buffy was the first Slayer to ever have a life outside of slaying. It was probably the outside influences of her friends that gave Buffy the passion that was necessary to be a truly remarkable Slayer. It helped her to remember what she was fighting for.

“ANGEL!”

By the time that the words were out of the Slayer’s mouth, her Watcher and best friend were on their way to the stairs to see what had happened. The scream hadn’t been an anguished oh-my-god-he’s-dead! scream. It was more of a I’m-going-to-kill-you! scream. Neither of them could figure out what Angel could have done that would get Buffy mad at him so quickly.

When they reached the Slayer’s bedroom, they found her standing by her bed with a piece of paper in her hand. Without even looking up, Buffy read what was on the paper. “Buffy, I’m sorry but there’s something that I’ve got to do. Be back soon. Angel.”

“Where’s he going?” Willow asked as she walked into the room.

Buffy shrugged her shoulders. “To hell if I know. All that I do know is that I’m going to kill him the next time that I see him. Didn’t he hear Dr. Frost when he told Angel that he had to stay in bed? This is so like a guy. Too tough to stay in bed and get better. Noooo. He has to go out and do god knows what.”

“Buffy, I’m sure that Angel has a good reason for doing what he did,” Giles said in defense of the young man. “He’s been asleep all afternoon so maybe he’s starting to feel better.”

“I don’t care what his reason is. I’m going to kill him.”

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

Knowing that Buffy was probably going to kill him for this didn’t put much of a damper on Angel’s plans. He had heard Spike say the night before that he was going to get Drusilla and come back to town so that she could play with her daddy. While the idea made Angel sick to his stomach, he had every intention of meeting up with the two of them when the arrived back in Sunnydale. He had a bone to pick with the two of them. Spike most of all.

Angel reached the mansion about ten minutes before sunset. He quickly hurried to his room and began to search around in the back of his closet. Up until now, he had never thought to wear these clothes again. Slipping out of his jeans and t-shirt, Angel put on the form-fitting leather pants and silk shirt that was the trademark of the vampire Angelus. Spike may have known that he was human, but he didn’t know what the human Angel was like. Perhaps there was more of Angelus in him than Spike realized.

After putting on his long black trench coat Angel left the mansion in search of his vampiric children.

On to Part Four