Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Buffy characters, they belong to Joss Whedon, the WB Network , and Mutant Enemy.

Buffy looked at herself in the mirror. To anyone else she would like any other seventeen year-old. To herself she could see the strain of the last few months showing under her eyes. It still pained her to think that the night she was meant to remember for life will now be remembered for all the wrong reasons. She was so much in love with Angel, and he was with her, she was sure of that. They made love for the very first time; her first time and it took his soul away.

Not the act itself, but it was the trigger. Angel had lived his last eighty years with a curse. The curse had been put on him by a clan of gypsies as punishment for killing their most beloved daughter and her family. The curse was to restore his soul, so he would live out his eternal life in torment for what he had done. And he had shown remorse, he had spent most of the last year helping Buffy and her friends fight Vampires and demons. But then the real kicker came. The curse was meant to leave him in torment. He could not have one perfect moment of happiness for the rest of his life. If he did, his soul would be taken from him again. Of course no one had bothered to tell him about that.

Buffy could never understand that. If they wanted Angel to live in torment they should have told him. Then he would not of let himself get close to her. He would not have risked the taking away of his soul. But because they did not tell him, she and Angel had fallen in love. They made love. And now he is free of the curse. He's a vampire with out a soul again and he loved it.

Buffy however did not.

Buffy finished in the bedroom and turned the light off. She walked across the hall and into her bedroom. She knew there was something instantly wrong. She sensed him before she could see him. She turned her head frightened. She and Willow had cast a spell that was meant to keep him out of her house.

She turned towards the window; he was outside looking at her. At least she was safe. She looked straight at him.

"Sorry not today," she said

"Brings back memories doesn't it Buffy. You use to like it when I turned up unannounced. Don't tell me that you still don't get a rush of blood from seeing me." Angel almost laughed at her.

"Angel you can stay out there and die for all I care. I know you can't come in here. What do you want?"

Angel moved closer to the window, almost caressing it with his face, "C'mon Buffy, I just came for a little foreplay before I start with the little people. It so helps to bring the act to a satisfying conclusion."

He moved away from the window, as if to go, then turned towards her, "Buffy, just thought I would let you know, one of your friends dies tomorrow night, pleasant dreams" he smiled at her, although it seems more like a snarl. With that he disappeared.

Buffy stared at the window for a while and whispered to herself, "Over my dead body."

***

Xander lay motionless on Cordelia's bed. He wasn't just nervous he was scared. Not that he hadn't thought about what he was about to do, sometimes it was all he thought about, but thinking and doing are two different things. Now all he could think was that he was going to show Cordelia that he was a bigger failure than she originally thought she was.

Xander looked at the bathroom door and chuckled to himself. Here he was shaking on a summer's night and Cordelia was still taking her time in the bathroom. "Some things stay the same," he thought, "no matter what the circumstance". It reassured him that there was still normality in the world.

He had not bothered to get undressed. He rationalized it as not wanting to appear too eager. In reality it was the part of him, that was wishing he wasn't so scared, trying to delay the onset of pure terror. Suddenly the bedroom light went dark.

"Argh!!!" he screamed.

"I will try not to take that so personally" came the reply. It took Xander a while to adjust to the small amount of light, provided by a solitary candle on the dresser, that illuminated the room. When he did he saw Cordelia standing in front of him. He was relieved, she was wearing a nightgown. "Looks good too' he mused to himself.

"Move over Xander," Cordelia said as she sat down on the bed. Xander moved and Cordelia got in next to him, curling her body, backing into Xander's front. Xander reached around and held her to him. He started to feel a lot better. He moved his mouth to her ear.

"I love you."

"I love you," came the reply.

***

Buffy was glad Giles was an early starter. Not many librarians would be at school at 6.00am, but she knew he would be. She had found it difficult to get to sleep last night, she knew she was safe, but the knowledge that Angel could be outside anytime looking at her gave her the wig, in the worse way.

It didn't totally surprise her that he did not return, that she noticed at least. He was there for one reason. He wanted to move his little game along. Like moving pieces on a chessboard. She knew her move was next.

"Giles!" she shouted.

"Buffy" Giles replied, walking out of his office with a book in his hand. "You are early", his face changed, "what's wrong?"

"Oh nothing really, I just had a little visit from Angel last night. He just wanted to let me know the game had moved on," she said sitting down at the desk.

Giles moved over to her, "He didn't get in did he. The spell still works?"

"Yeah, no worries about that. Still creeps me out, knowing he could be watching me at any time. I used to like it when...." There was no need to say any more.

"Yes," Giles said quietly, putting his arm around her. "Did he say anything of importance?"

"He told me that one of my friends will die tonight," Buffy replied, patting Giles arm letting him know she appreciated his support.

"He must be really frustrated. He's trying to rattle you into making a mistake. O.K., we have to make plans for tonight" Giles started saying.

"We already have plans, we are going to the Bronze, remember?" Buffy looked at him, hoping he would agree. By the incredulous look on his face he did not.

"You can't. Look I know I agreed yesterday, but after his little calling card last night, well it changes everything."

Buffy got up out of her chair and moved over to face him. "It doesn't change anything Giles. The reasons I gave for going to the Bronze still stand."

"But Buffy...."

"But nothing. Look - Number One; Oz is playing there tonight. Without us there he's on his own. Number. Two and I know that this is not high on your list; we are all teenagers. We need to have some fun. Number Three; Where else do we go. If we run out of town, the Vampires take over. Number Four; If we stay in town, and we keep ourselves in our own houses every night, we will drive ourselves crazy. Going to the Bronze is the best of a bad situation. We will all be together, there will plenty of other people around to limit the chance of surprise and it might just convince us that we do have a normal life for a couple of hours. I was born into this Giles. My friends were not. They are in danger because of me. I have to do all I can to protect them, but we also have to live. Otherwise what's the point."

Giles listened to Buffy's reasoning. He thought about for a while. He still wasn't happy but he thought there was at least one thing he could suggest.

"O.K. But only if I come with you."

***

Xander looked up at the ceiling when he awoke. Not for any particular reason, that just happened to be the position his head was facing when he opened up his eyes. He could sense something was missing. He felt to his side....nothing. Then he looked Cordelia was gone.

A myriad of thoughts occurred to him at this point. What have I done, what did I do wrong, was I that bad, did I snore. He got himself out of bed and slipped into his shirt and jeans that were dumped on the floor. He looked first in the bathroom, not so much because he thought she would be in there, but he really wanted to splash down his face and clean his teeth. He looked in the mirror. It was true what they say...you do look like you are beaming.

He went down the hallway, calling her name.

"Oh good you are awake, I'm out here," came the reply from the balcony. Xander moved over to the balcony doors and opened them. He saw Cordelia lying on one of the lounges in her dressing gown. She beamed that perfect smile at him. "Good Morning"

Xander moved over to her and kissed her, "Good morning to you," he said between a non stop smile, "I was worried there for a bit. Thought I had done something."

Cordelia looked at him finding it hard to suppress a giggle, "Oh Xander. You know me. I would have told you if you had, probably in a biting way, but I would have told you." She grabbed his hand holding it tight to her chest, "I am sorry I wasn't there when you woke up. I woke up an hour or so ago and you looked so nice sleeping, I couldn't bear to wake you up."

Xander smiled "And believe me, you did nothing that would ever make me want to leave you."

"Cordy, thank you," Xander softly said.

"What for?"

"I had always hoped that my first time would be with someone I truly loved. Too many of my friends did not get the chance"

Cordelia reached over and hugged him. "Xander you don't have to tell me. I consider myself to be really lucky to have met you. My taste in boyfriends has been somewhat questionable. I feel even luckier that you could actually stand to be with me after the way I treated you. But not only did you put up with my crap...."

"Cordy, you know I love your crap."

Cordelia moved her hand and touched him on the face; "last night was very special for me to. I found out how it was to make love to someone I truly loved."

***

Xander and Cordelia came through the Library doors at the same time. They saw Buffy, Giles, Willow and Oz, sitting around a computer terminal.

Willow looked up from her computer terminal, "Here's the happy couple Giles."

Xander and Cordelia looked and each other, "nah" they both said. They went over to a couple of the spare seats.

"So what's up this morning?" Xander asked.

Giles answered, "Buffy had a visit from Angel last night."

"Oh God, are you O.K.?" Cordelia asked

"Yeah I'm Fine", still trying to come to grips that Cordelia actually showed concern these days, "It was more of a psychological meeting."

Xander leaned forward on the table, "So what did he want?"

Buffy looked him straight in the eye; "He wanted to tell me that one of my friends would die tonight."

Cordelia got up off her chair, "O.K. now look, is it only me that sees that we are all in danger here. I mean hello! We have been told one of us will die tonight, let's like get out of here"

"To where Cordelia?" Willow asked, not really expecting an answer, "We have lived with Angels death threat for months. So he said it again. It's not like he hasn't tried to kill us before."

"Yes, but why tempt fate?" she replied.

"Cordelia, no-one knows more than me the danger you are in. If you weren't friends of mine you wouldn't be in that danger. You would of course be in as much danger as the rest of the population. But I think we should still go out tonight. Let's face it we will all be together. And I really don't want to boast but my training job is coming along quite well," she looked at Giles, "... our training job."

Giles looked at Buffy and then at Cordelia, "Cordelia, you are of course free to stay at home, you will be safe there, but as Buffy has told me in no uncertain terms, you are teenagers, you need to go out occasionally."

Cordelia was looking at Xander wondering why he hadn't said anything. He noticed her staring and shrugged his shoulder, "I say we go out. I am sick of Angel trying to run our lives."

Giles sat down again, "Now look, there are a couple of things that you should all do. Number One; carry your crosses. It won't save you but it will give you a little time. Number Two; arrive there in daylight. That will eliminate one of the most obvious potential attack places. Number Three; stay together, it will be harder to attack you as a group. Number 4 do not go anywhere by yourself. We all know they can get into the Bronze so don't trust anyone. Lastly, take a stock of tools to use against them if you have to. Of course only things you can hide, otherwise you won't get in."

The group nodded in agreement.

"Well I think the School Bell has already rung, you better stay here till next class and hope Principal Snyder doesn't come looking for you."

***

Buffy felt a shiver as she closed the door to her house. "That was weird," she thought, as she wiped the sweat from your forehead. She had come to get use to the strange feeling in Sunnydale. Part of it was her slayer abilities, but she was sure it was almost as nature was sending clues to everyone, that there was something seriously wrong in this place.

She glanced at her watch; "good there's a couple of hours till I have to meet up with everybody". Buffy was tired more mentally than physically. She was tired of the constant battle with Angel, made worse by the knowledge that it's not his fault he's like he is. It took her a while but she was now certain she could kill him if the need arose. Of course she hadn't yet so there was always the doubt in her mind that she could follow through if she needed to.

What she wanted was to do nothing but soak in a bath for an hour or so, a reasonably normal thing to do for any teenager. "If only I was one," she whispered to herself.

***

Xander looked at himself in the mirror. "Oh god, the geek is back," he said, thinking it was to himself.

"Xander, please, it's not as if I love you for your fashion sense. That would be sick", Cordelia said as she came up behind him, putting her arms around his waist.

"And I see your fashion sense hasn't helped me, doesn't say much for your future in the industry" Xander returned.

"Xander, darling, If I thought I had a shot at helping I would have. Afraid my time was taken up with getting you to chew and talk at different times."

Xander took a last look at the mirror and turned to face Cordelia, "I thought you would be more happy I have learnt to breathe through my nose, it certainly makes kissing much more enjoyable"

"Yes it does," she replied just before her lips met his.

***

"The time approaches, Angel", Spike called from the other room, "Hurry Up"

Angel surveyed the room. He had spent the last hour making sure the room was exactly how he wanted it to be. "I'm almost done, Spike. I am just waiting for a special delivery from my old dwellings, then I will be ready."

Spike came from one of the entrances and looked around the room. He didn't understand Angel's need for this. He wanted to kill the Slayer, quickly. Get her out of the way and then they would be free to do as they please. "Mind you," he thought, "It would be good to punish the Slayer". Spike thought about it once more and came to the conclusion that if Angel's plan did not work tonight, then maybe it would be time to make a move. "Hmmm, I win both ways" he chuckled to himself, forgetting the fact that sound traveled in the warehouse.

"What's that Spike" Angel enquired moving towards him.

"Nothing Angel, just dreaming of dead Slayers," Spike replied hoping Angel didn't see in his eyes what he was planning. "So what are you bringing from your old apartment?"

Angel looked Spike straight in the eye, "something that will make the night complete."

The Story Goes On