Giles came to an abrupt halt as he entered the warehouse behind Buffy.
  She was standing looking at a sight they never thought they'd see.
  Sitting, about ten feet in front of Buffy, was Spike in a wheelchair.
  Druscilla was standing slightly behind him. Buffy and the group known that
  they weren't dead for a while now, what they didn't know was that Spike was
  so incapacitated. Even more shocking was the fact that he was slowly
  waving a white flag as he stared back at them.

  "Good evening Slayer," he began. "Or may I call you Buffy? Care to
  treat with me?"

  "Where's my friend?" She demanded, raising her crossbow threateningly
  and taking two steps forward.

  "Ah, yes," Spike said. "Herein lies the deal. I will tell you where
  Angel has taken your friend IF you guarantee that you will let us leave
  Sunnydale unmolested. We want to go back to England, and will leave
  tomorrow at sundown. As a bonus, if you promise not to follow us there,
  I'll tell you how to stop him."

  "I gave him a blanket when he asked," Druscilla supplied helpfully.
  Spike had impressed upon her how important it was not to get the Slayer
  mad
  at them tonight. And she wasn't supposed to mention feeding.

  Buffy paused and looked to Giles for direction. "Give me a sec," she
  said, stepping back to Giles.

  "Take your time," Spike suggested solicitously. "I'm not going
  anywhere in a hurry." He chuckled at his own joke.

  "Well, Giles, what do you think?" Buffy asked quietly, leaning in
  close to him.

  ***

  Willow stared at her own house morosely. Why couldn't they have just
  gone to bed? She could see her parents in their living room, sitting and
  talking. Okay, the hard way it is then. She carefully snuck around to the
  back of the house, careful not to make any noise. She looked up to the
  balcony to her room, and sighed. There's no place to go but up, she
  thought, grabbing a firm hold of the trellis that scaled the house. She
  really concentrated on maintaining her balance for the next few minutes.
  She refused to look down, but got dizzy once anyway and had to hold on to
  the trellis for dear life while she waited for it to pass. Finally, she
  was close enough to climb over the small railing around her balcony and she
  landed with a soft thud right in front of the door. She tested the door
  and was relieved that she had forgotten to lock it.

  Okay. I need to look at the printout and get my knapsack from the
  closet. She went to her computer desk and retrieved her desired printout..
  She scanned it quickly, making she hadn't missed anything. She'd recently
  discovered that Ms. Calendar had found a way to permanently restore Angel..
  And, it would make him human – Buffy always wanted to see Angel in
  sunlight. After finding this out, she'd gone to the Magic Shop in Ms.
  Calendar's computer's address book and bought the necessary orb. It had
  cost her a lot of money, but she thought that it was a small price to pay
  to end the cycle of terror that they all lived with now. She'd secretly
  studied the spell carefully for over a week now. She wasn't sure her
  Romanian accent was the greatest, but she'd memorized the intonations and
  words to the spell.

  She moved to her closet and grabbed her knapsack of 'supplies' from
  the back. She checked to make sure she had all the necessary ingredients
  for the spell as well as a couple of stakes before strapping it to her
  back, and then went back out on the balcony. She slid the door closed as
  quietly as possible, wincing and stopping once when it made a small squeak.
 

  Now, down. Okay. I can do this. Hold on Xander, I'm coming. She
  climbed over the railing and back onto the trellis. She looked down for her
  next foothold and was struck with a dizzy spell. Whoever said down was
  easier than up needs a good smack…

  ***

  "Well, Buffy," Giles began. "I don't see what other choice we have."

  Oz and Cordelia leaned in closer to get in on the conversation. Oz
  spoke up. "Letting them go now is the only way I can see to get to Xander
  in time, even with this Blood Token thing. So you have to give in on that
  one. And, you can promise not to follow them to England. That's easy."
  He lowered his voice considerably. "But Willow told me about a friend of
  yours named Kendra who COULD go to England."

  Giles almost smiled. "He's absolutely right. With a little training,
  you could show Kendra all their weaknesses and she could go hunt them."

  Cordelia spoke up. "We have to save Xander. Angel could have started
  that ceremony already. Please?" The sight of Cordelia pleading for
  someone else's life caused Buffy to decide.

  Decision made, Buffy turned back to Spike, who was waiting patiently..
  "Okay, you have a deal. You guys leave tomorrow and I'll back off. Now,
  we're in kind of a hurry, so could you…"

  "Do you promise not to follow us to England?" Spike interrupted.

  "Yes. Now--"

  "What guarantee do I have that you won't?" he demanded.

  Buffy looked around, impatiently. She glared at Spike and met his
  eyes. "I swear to you that I will not follow you to England on the life of
  my Watcher and the lives of my friends."

  A slow smile spread on Spike's lips. "Agreed."

  ***

  Xander blinked a few times in the semi-dark that now enveloped him.
  He was slightly warmed, but still much colder than was comfortable. He
  wanted to say something to Angel, something threatening or at least witty,
  but he could barely breathe, let alone speak. And he couldn't think very
  clearly. Most of his thoughts were very jumbled. It was more images than
  real thinking. But if that was all he could muster up right now, so be it.
  He tried to take in his surroundings. I want to know where I'm going to
  die, he thought absently. Finally he noticed a row of garbage cans. Oh,
  the alley. Damn alleys. Nothing good ever happens in an alley. I don't
  want to be a vampire. I'd rather be dead. Just plain old dead. He looked
  around for his friends, but they were nowhere to be seen. He thought of
  the three women in his life.

  He felt sad thinking about them. When he was gone, Willow would be so
  upset. Willow had already lost Jesse. She deserved better than to have
  her few friends die. He tried to comfort himself with the thought that Oz
  would take care of her. And Xander knew that if there was one thing he
  could count on in this world besides Willow being there for him, it was
  that Oz would look out for her when he himself no longer could. But deep
  in his soul he knew he would miss Willow the most. She'd always been there
  for him. Always. No matter how stupid or mean he was to her. She'd come
  right back to offer her support and friendship to him. He hoped she knew
  how much he loved her. He hoped she didn't blame herself for what was
  about to happen. Mostly he hoped she would find a way to stop this. He
  knew that Willow would try to save him. But he remembered how Angel had
  thrown her across the alley like a doll, and he remembered his own horror
  as she tried to trade her life for his. He realized abruptly that their
  friendship was still what he prized most in his life. He hoped he got the
  chance to tell her so. I know you're trying if you can, Will. I love you.

  He liked to think that Cordelia would be upset too, but he still
  wasn't sure how she felt about him. He wished that he had told her how
  much she meant to him. How proud he was that she was trying to improve
  herself and shed her bitchy image. He thought that with time, they really
  could have had something. Even with all the fighting. Cordy, I did love
  you. I really did.

  But oh, this would be hardest on Buffy. He hoped that if Angel failed
  at making him a vampire that Buffy didn't find his body. He hoped if Angel
  succeeded that he and Buffy would never have to fight. If they did, he
  prayed she would have the courage to stake him. She would never forgive
  herself. Especially since it was Angel who was going to kill him. She had
  been trying to get up the courage to kill Angel for a little over a month
  now. She would place the blame for his death squarely on herself and her
  inability to kill Angel before this happened. He could picture her over
  his empty grave, asking forgiveness. Am I prophetic now too? He wondered..
  I forgive you Buffy, he thought. Even if you can't forgive yourself. If I
  can somehow, I'll come back and tell you so. It was my own fault. I
  followed the vamps outside. I lost. It was my own fault, Buffy. Not
  yours. I forgive you for not being there. I forgive you for not being
  able to find me now. I forgive you. Please forgive yourself. It wasn't
  your fault. I love you Buffy. I forgive you. I forgive you. I forgive
  you.

  As Angel lit the black candles and prepared the to perform the
  ceremony to convert Xander, he thought he heard Xander say, "I forgive
  you."

  He smirked. "Forget forgiveness. Later you'll be thanking me."
 

  ***

  Willow crouched in a row of hedges across the street from the
  warehouse. She could see Giles' car out front. She had waited a full ten
  minutes after her arrival to cross the street and get closer. Okay, so
  they must be in there fighting Angel. Otherwise, they would have come out
  by now. Right? She told herself. Or maybe they had all been captured!
  Or maybe they found Xander and he was… Oh God!

  Unable to restrain herself any longer, and despite her good intentions
  about not letting Buffy see her, Willow approached the door to the
  warehouse and peeked in. She saw Giles and Buffy standing across the room

  -- leaning over SPIKE -- who was in a WHEELCHAIR – reading something.
  And
  on the other side of the room sat Oz and Cordelia, talking quietly and
  having tea with DRUSCILLA?! She really didn't mean to, but the shock
  knocked her already unsteady feet out from under her, and she fell through
  the doorway.

  Everyone looked up at her in surprise. She hastened to get up
  quickly, "I'm okay," she blurted.

  Oz and Giles hurried to her side, each taking an arm and supporting
  her. "Will, what are you doing here?" Buffy asked, bewildered, as they led
  her to a sofa.

  "I just thought I could help more here than in the hospital, you
  know…" she trailed off as she saw the absolutely venomous look Giles was
  giving her. "Well, I meant to hide, but then you were in here so long…"
  she started.

  "Nevermind that now," he sighed. "How are you? Dizzy, I bet."

  "Only when I see my friends having tea with our sworn enemy," she
  replied. "Up until then I was doing pretty well."

  "I see. Well, Spike and er, Druscilla are going to help us find
  Xander and stop the transformation in exchange for a favour."

  "We're working together? Oh dear. I think I'd better …Oh, I am
  sitting down. Good for me."

  Oz put his arm around Willow and held her steady while she digested
  this turn of events. "You okay?" he asked. He lightly traced the bruise
  on her cheek. She noticed his gauze bandage was gone, and noted the
  jagged scab partially hidden by his now-orange hair. She absently wondered
  if werewolves healed faster.

  "I guess so," she replied, not sounding certain at all.

  Oz planted a soft reassuring kiss on her lips. "I'm so sorry Angel
  hurt you, Willow. But we'll DO this. It will be okay. I'm sure Xander
  knows we're coming for him."

  Druscilla stopped in front of her with a tray. "Would you like some
  tea?" she offered.

  Willow's mouth dropped open again. Buffy and Giles returned to Spike.
 

  "So, if you're going to stop the ceremony, you have to blow out all
  the candles, and burn this book that contains the spell," he finished. He
  clapped the book closed and handed it to Giles.

  "And you're sure he's gone back to the alley?" Buffy prodded.

  "He was afraid you'd go to his apartment next. He wanted to perform
  it in the library – that's his idea of a good joke, you know – but he's
  been specifically uninvited there and can't get in. He told us he was
  going back to the scene of the crime." Spike paused. "There's two things
  he's counting on to make this happen. The first is that you and your
  friends here will be in no shape to find him and stop him tonight. The
  second is that you're still too weak to kill him."

  "Angel has no idea how strong he's actually made me," Buffy replied.
  She grabbed her discarded crossbow off the table and motioned to Giles.
  He followed her to the group at the sofa. "Okay, Cordelia you take Willow
  back to the hospital, and –"

  Willow jumped up so quickly she startled everyone. "No! I'm not
  going back. We do this together."

  "Will, you keep swaying from side to side and I'm really worried about
  you." Buffy grabbed her hands and looked at her intently.

  "But Buffy, it's XANDER." Willow's plea spoke volumes of her devotion
  to her friend.

  Buffy then put her arm around her, looked into her eyes. And saw her
  own concern and desperation mirrored there. She couldn't just turn her
  back on that. And she knew, without a doubt that if she'd been in Willow's
  position, she'd be doing the same thing Willow was. "I know, Will, I
  know." She handed her crossbow to Giles so she could envelop her friend in
  a hug. "Okay, you come with us. But you have to stay in the car."

  Giles began to protest, but Buffy silenced him with THAT look.

  They all trooped to the door and Buffy turned to Spike and Druscilla..
  "Thank you," she said.

  "Just remember our deal," Spike replied.

  Then they all piled into Giles' waiting car.

  They stopped at Buffy's house so she could get matches and lighter
  fluid to burn the book. Oz and Cordelia accompanied her into the house to
  grab extra stakes as well. Willow and Giles sat in silence in the car for
  a moment before Willow spoke. "I'm sorry Giles. I'm not sorry I'm here,
  but I am sorry you're mad at me."

  "Willow—" Giles began.

  "But, I have a way to stop Angel! I studied the spell I gave you from
  Ms. Calendar's disk. And I bought an orb! I have all the spell components
  right in my bag here, and I was –"

  Giles smiled at her slightly as he interrupted. "Willow, I had the
  exact same idea. And although I was disappointed that you decided to sneak
  out of the hospital, I'm glad you're here now."

  "You had the same idea? Do you have an orb?" Willow asked.

  "Yes," Giles replied, reaching down beside his seat and retrieving his
  satchel. He fished around in it for a moment. "Here." Willow studied the
  orb in the dim light. It was an orb of Thessulah. Just like hers. "I
  didn't have time to study or to gather the spell components," he admitted..
  "I was going to try and improvise in case of an emergency."

  "There are only three components, Giles, and I have them all here,"
  Willow informed him. "Did you get Buffy's permission?" she asked softly.

  "Well, yes, but only providing Xander's not in danger. If she doesn't
  have to fight Angel, she won't."

  They were suddenly distracted by the return of the others. They
  opened the small trunk and put as many supplies in there as they could.
  Giles' car barely fit the passengers, let alone room for pointy stakes.
  Giles started the engine, and with a groan, the car pulled away from the
  curb. Showtime, Buffy thought.