She had been waiting for Xander at the cemetery. She couldn't have
  been there for more than a few minutes when Angel showed up. It was
  obvious that he come to talk to her about whatever it was that he
  had been reluctant to bring up last night. They had only just
  greeted one another when she heard Xander. He shouted her name in a
  panicked way that warned her something was way wrong.

  In some remote part of her brain she watched as Xander ran toward
  her, his face registering fear and determination. Somehow, someway
  he reached them and pushed both her and Angel out of the way just
  as the vampire released the arrow.

  Everything froze for an instant as Buffy watched helplessly as the
  arrow, deprived of its primary target, proceeded to embed itself
  into Xander. With brutal clarity she saw it all happen - Xander's
  eyes widening with a mixture of pain and shock, his body thrown to
  the ground by the impact of the arrow slicing through him and then
  his still, unconscious body. Then time seemed to speed up again and
  the rest was a blur.

  "NO! Xander!" Buffy screamed.

  She wanted to rush over to him, but two more vampires joined the
  one that had missed Buffy with his arrow. They looked angry that
  their little ambush failed. A cold rage fell over Buffy and she
  didn't even await their attack. Buffy and Angel formed a kind of
  barrier between the fallen Xander and the vampires. Never with more
  speed did Buffy slay the vampires that came at her. She flew at
  them with cold efficiency and before Angel had even destroyed his
  one opponent, Buffy had killed her two and was already kneeling
  over Xander.

  Xander had managed to turn just enough to keep the arrow from
  entering his heart. Instead it had landed in his shoulder and was
  sticking out front and back in a manner that made Buffy blanche
  upon seeing his wound more closely. She felt a hand on her shoulder
  and saw Angel bending down to inspect Xander's wound.

  "Its a flesh wound. It's ugly, but not life-threatening," Angel
  pronounced. "Help me hold him up so that we can remove the arrow
  before he comes to," Angel instructed her. "We don't want him to be
  in any more pain than necessary."

  Trembling she gathered him gently in an embrace, careful not to
  move him abruptly, while Angel painstakingly ripped the end of the
  arrow off and withdrew the rest of it from the other side of
  Xander's shoulder. They needed something to staunch the blood so
  Angel balled up his jacket and applied pressure on the bleeding.

  "We have to get him to the hospital. He's losing blood. I'll go
  call the ambulance." He left quickly leaving Buffy murmuring
  mindless words of comfort in Xander's ear.

  Xander groaned starting to come to. "Buffy?"

  "I'm here, Xander. I'm right here," Buffy crooned to him. "You're
  going to be alright."

  "Wha…what happened?" Xander asked his mind clouded by the pain.

  "You saved me. Again," Buffy said shakily. "Angel's gone to get an
  ambulance. You're hurt but you're going to be o.k."

  Xander couldn't help but joke weakly, "Geez, I wonder how we're
  gonna explain this. Crazed, cross-bow accident?"

  *~*~*~*

  Fools!" the Anointed One screamed. "You were supposed to bring
  Angelus here to me."

  The vampires around him coward away from his deadly gaze. For all
  that he looked like a child, Colin exuded raw power.

  "You attacked Angelus right in front of the Slayer! Did I have to
  specifically tell you to avoid her? I have less than one week to
  bring the Unslayable One to the Hellmouth and all you idiots can do
  is fail at every task I give you."

  Colin - the Anointed One, took a page out of his old master's book
  and proceeded to rip the heart out of the messenger who had
  informed him of the ambush's failure. Screaming his victim fell to
  the ground writhing until Colin staked the heart he held in his
  hand. The vampires around him looked at one another in fear,
  wondering if they were next. Colin smiled. Intimidation and terror
  - they were a vampire leader's best tools.

  Besides, it made him feel better.

  He continued more calmly, "The Unslayable One has been remarkably
  elusive. But perhaps not all is lost yet. Darin!" He pointed to his
  most trusted servant, "Change of plans. Follow Angelus. Don't
  attack him. Just follow him. Got it?"

  "Yes my master."

  "I was going to torture him into telling me where she is, but he
  might have done something noble and died without giving her
  location. But I have a feeling that he'll lead us straight to her.
  Once you do find her, you can kill Angelus. But SHE comes to me
  alive. Take whatever resources necessary. Go now and do not fail
  me."

  Colin sat on the throne that used to be the Master's and pondered
  his strategy. < If we don't find her, then all my plans have been
  for nothing. But I won't fail. She will be brought to me and she
  will bind herself to me. It is written, so it shall be. >

  *~*~*~*

  It was well into the morning hours when Giles entered the library.
  Deeply absorbed in a manuscript that he was reading, he didn't see
  the vampire lurking in the shadows. Finally looking up, he noticed
  and literally jumped in surprise. "Oh goodness, gracious. Y-you
  startled me, Angel. I guess I'm not used to you just popping up
  anymore."

  "I'm sorry," Angel said apologetically.

  "No, quite alright." Giles waved his hands in a dismissive motion.
  "What are you doing here at this time of day?"

  "I came because I wanted to talk to you. I couldn't wait any more,"
  Angel started, then hesitated.

  For some reason, Angel hadn't been able to tell all of them the
  first night he arrived about Willow's disappearence. He had planned
  to, but then he hadn't known *how* to tell them. He dreaded seeing
  the condemnation in their eyes for the failure he saw in himself.
  So he had stayed silent. Now Giles was going to be the first one he
  told. Last night he tried to tell Buffy about it. Granted, he
  *hadn't* told Buffy, but that wasn't his fault. He had begun to and
  then after the attack and with Xander injured, it just had not the
  time for confessions. In a way he was most apprehensive about
  telling Giles. Angel respected him and knew him to be a fair man.
  But it was the promise to Giles before he had left Sunnydale, that
  he would do everything in his power to always watch over Willow,
  that gave an added sense of failure in Angel's mind.

  Still not looking Giles in the eye, Angel continued, "I didn't tell
  you everything the other night about Willow."

  Giles furrowed his brow, a look of worry came over his face. He
  waited apprehensively for Angel to go on.

  "Willow left Rome about a month ago. She just…left me. I don't know
  where she went. I've spent the last month searching for her all
  over Europe. But its like she vanished without a trace!" Angel's
  lips tightened in a thin line of frustration.

  Giles was disturbed by this news. He took off his glasses and
  rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Why didn't you tell this to us
  sooner?"

  "I…its my fault. She left because of me." Angel hung his head
  dejectedly at the admission. "Here." He handed Willow's letter over
  to Giles who read it intently.

  Finishing Giles rested his hand on Angel's shoulder to show his
  lack of condemnation. Giles said quietly, "Its not your fault.
  Willow is a very giving person. If she thought for one moment that
  you'd be happier here, even if you wouldn't be, then she'd do
  everything in her power to make sure that you'd be able to come
  back."

  "I have to find her Giles. She's all alone out there," Angel said
  passionately.

  Giles thought for a moment and then said, "Well, knowing Willow
  wouldn't you say that she probably used one of those infernal
  machines to plan where she was going to go. Or using one even now.
  We should ask Jenny. She'd be the only one able to track her."

  "Track who?"

  Fortuitously, Giles and Angel turned around to see Ms. Calendar
  coming into the library. Quickly they filled her in on the
  situation and she went to work immediately.

  With Giles leaning over Ms. Calendar's shoulder, both for curiosity
  and for other reasons that were none of Angel's business, Angel had
  nothing better to do than pace back and forth across the library.
  He happened to look in Giles office and a picture caught his eye.
  It was a picture of Buffy, Xander, Willow and Giles looking happy
  and carefree. Picking up the photo, his gaze was drawn to Willow.

  He felt his heart contract painfully. Angel could hardly believe
  that Willow had left him. He had barely finished reading her good-
  bye letter before he was out the door, desperately trying to see if
  he could find her and stop her. But he had already been too late.
  He had searched continuously for a month, but four days ago he
  returned back to Rome after criss-crossing Europe feeling defeated.

  Yet after only one night of imagining her in all the places they
  had been to together, after only one day of staying in what had
  become their home, he left again. It was then that he had decided
  to come back to Sunnydale. He didn't quite know why, but he felt
  the key to finding Willow was here.

  He glanced at the picture again and focused on Buffy. When he had
  left Sunnydale, it had felt like he was leaving a part of himself
  behind. She had been the first person he had cared about in so
  long. His love for Buffy had been a love in its beginning stages
  but desperate and very real. There would have been so much to
  overcome, yet it was dangerous and exciting to want what was denied
  them. It had been an intense relationship.

  But now coming back and seeing her only confirmed what he had
  already known. He would always care for Buffy and admire her
  courage, character and beauty, but he just didn't love her anymore.

  Not the way he loved Willow.

  He shifted his focus to look at Willow again. He looked ruefully at
  her image. Vampires didn't have reflections and they certainly
  didn't have their pictures taken. < There aren't going to be any
  more photos to capture her sweet smile, or the brightness of her
  eyes, or the red halo of her hair. >

  Angel laughed mockingly at himself for rhapsodizing over his love.

  Ever since Willow had kissed him with the most innocent, yet the
  most stirring kiss he'd ever been given, Angel realized that he had
  fallen in love with her. The kiss had deeply touched and awed him.
  It had been the spark that made him realize the truth. Somewhere
  along the line he had unknowingly fallen in love with her. For
  Willow was able to look at him with an almost piercing clarity.
  Really look at him. She had a way of seeing past years of carefully
  constructed defenses designed to protect his wounded heart, his
  battered soul. She had discovered a breach in his security and had
  slipped right in when he wasn't looking. And through her, he
  discovered that love was not only about fierce emotions and
  physical attraction, but also the day-to-day caring and quiet
  connection between two souls.

  < She loves Xander, though. > The thought knifed through Angel.

  Willow had always been very honest, almost transparent about her
  feelings for Xander. When it had come to Buffy, Angel had been a
  little jealous of Xander. The boy's patent crush on Buffy not
  withstanding, Xander could be there for Buffy in the daylight where
  Angel himself could not, in ways he could not. Now his jealousy of
  Xander threatened to choke Angel with its intensity. When he had
  first seen Xander the other day, Angel had wanted to thrash him for
  just existing.

  < That boy didn't even realize what was right under his nose.
  Willow's love for him was something he took for granted. I would
  never do that. Not if she loved me! >

  A girl like Willow would never love lightly. Her loves and her
  loyalties were constant. That was why despite Angel's love for her,
  he had not allowed himself to tell her.

  He closed his eyes. < I thought I had time, time for Willow to
  maybe change her feelings toward me. I didn't want to rush things.
  She had been through so much in the last year. I didn't want to add
  my love as a possible burden to her if she didn't return my
  feelings. Besides I was still happy being there for her, being with
  her. >

  Angel had had the expectation that they could just continue as they
  had in Rome. Because, although he wanted so much to show his love
  to Willow, for the first time in over 80 years and perhaps even in
  his whole long life-time, he had had a true friendship. Willow's
  companionship had lit his world with new and wonderous emotions.
  They had done everything together and could talk about anything.
  During their time together in Rome he had felt happier than in any
  time he could ever remember.

  Besides he had felt he could afford to be patient. They would have
  lifetimes together. So he thought he could wait and hope for her to
  develop deeper feelings. But then the week before Willow had left,
  he had known that something had changed and before he knew it she
  was gone. Her farewell letter to him was so bitterly ironic. His
  heart was not in Sunnydale.

  It was wherever Willow was.

  Angel whispered longingly at her image in the photograph, "Where
  are you Willow?"