The walk home was fairly pleasant as Buffy and Stefanie got to know each other a little more. By the time they reached the house, Stefanie had been filled in on the fact that Buffy's mom had been killed.
"I still miss her," Buffy said, fishing her key from her purse. "If it wasn't for all the wonderful friends I have, I don't know how I'd be able to go on."
Stefanie nodded, a pained look in her eyes. "I miss my family too," she said absently, watching as Buffy unlocked the kitchen door and stepped in.
Stefanie stood where she was for a moment in expectation. Finally, Buffy realized what she had forgotten and said, "I'm sorry. Come on in."
With that, Stefanie entered freely. "Forgot the old rule that vampires can't come in unless invited, huh?" she said.
"I tend to sometimes," Buffy explained. "I think that rule only applies to actual dwellings. As far as I know, apartment buildings, schools, and dance clubs do not apply."
Buffy threw her keys onto the kitchen counter, quickly hid the bags in the back of the refrigerator, and led her new friend to the living room. "Cordy, I'm home," Buffy called up the stairs. "Tell your boyfriend to leave!"
"Who's Cordy?" Stefanie asked, looking worried. "I was under the impression you lived alone."
Buffy smiled. "Relax, she's harmless... Cordelia's just another friend whose parents moved out of state a while back, leaving her without a place to crash. So I invited her to move in with me."
Stefanie relaxed at this. "What's she like?"
Buffy thought this over a moment. "I guess the best way to describe Cordy is to call her a stuck-up, boy-crazy snob. Reality rarely intrudes in her world, but she likes it that way. I suppose it's her only way of dealing with what she's seen in mine."
"How much does she know?" Stefanie asked.
Buffy gave a brief laugh. "Well, let's see... She knows that vampires in general are real, and... well, she first turned to me for help when an invisible girl was after her. It's a long story, so don't ask."
Buffy could have gone on and on had Cordelia Chase not descended the stairs at that moment, a scowl on her model-like face. "You're allowed to have a social life, so why can't I?" Cordelia asked disdainfully.
"Cordelia, you're allowed to have dates. Just don't let them into my house," Buffy replied. "Speaking of which, where is he?"
Cordelia went to look in a nearby mirror, preening her long dark brown hair. "He left the way they usually go," she said. "Out the bedroom window... Honestly, I do not know why they're so afraid of you."
"My reputation precedes me," Buffy answered. "Need I say more?" She paused, then added, "By the way, Cordy, I'd like you to meet Stefanie. She's going to be staying with us for a few days."
Cordelia threw a quick glance at Stefanie and said hello, then went back to her primping. But after half a minute, she stopped and spun around, her face turning white as a sheet.
"Buffy," Cordelia gasped. "She..."
"Has no reflection," Buffy finished. "I know... It's okay, Cordelia. Stefanie's one of our non-lethal residents. I promise there's going to be no neck-biting whatsoever."
Cordelia relaxed at this, then seemed to remember where Buffy had been. "By the way, how was the wedding?"
"Went off without a hitch," Buffy told her. "Except that Giles was disappointed when I told him you weren't coming. How's that migraine you claimed you had?"
Unfazed, Cordelia said, "Much better. Thanks... Well, I'm gonna go up to bed. I'll see you tomorrow morning, Buffy." With that, she fled upstairs, probably anxious to be rid of her friend's judging of her.
Buffy then led Stefanie to the basement, where she had previously boarded up the windows and set up a cot for those rare occasions that Angel would spend the day. "Hope you're comfortable," she said, leaving the other girl to rest.
Buffy then grabbed a few hours of sleep herself, exhausted by the night's events. Her slumber was fraught with dreams, making her toss and turn the whole night in discomfort. When Cordelia finally came to give her a wake up call, Buffy was extremely grateful.
The two girls spent the first three minutes of breakfast in silence, then Cordelia asked Buffy what she had been dreaming.
"Same old stuff," Buffy said, taking a bite of her pancakes. "While children get visions of sugarplums at Christmas, I get vampires and demons. This prophecy stuff sucks."
Cordelia nodded, sipping her juice. "I know what you mean. I'd hate having to be on call twenty-four hours a day."
At that point, Buffy's phone rang, making the slayer roll her eyes. But she got up to answer it anyway, finding that it was Willow. "Have you seen the news this morning?" were the first words Willow used. "If not, turn on channel 9 right now."
Buffy did so, watching with a numb feeling as the reporter described a fire that had taken place last night, supposedly arson. Behind him, in the background, she recognized the front of the charred building where Angel had been staying.
In shock, Buffy dropped the phone, putting one hand to the counter to steady herself. "God, no," she breathed, shaking her head. Cordelia was at her side in a second, helping her to her chair.
Then, Cordelia picked up the phone, telling Willow to come over, that Buffy was freaking out. With that done, she went to her friend's side, saying, "Maybe he wasn't there when it happened. I'm sure he's fine."
But Buffy simply sat there, tears bursting forth. "I always suspected I was going to lose him, but not like this," she said, too numb to be thinking rationally. "Cordelia, what am I going to do?"
"You're going to think positive, is what you're going to do," her friend said. "Angel lives on the basement level, remember? His odds of getting out through the underground tunnels were pretty good. So what you have to do is just sit and wait until he contacts you."
Buffy took a moment to pull herself together, then said, "I can't wait to find out. I have to go find him." She stood, getting the leather jacket Angel had given her from the front hall closet. "When Willow comes, tell her to meet me outside the library at Sunnydale High. And make sure she parks right by the main doors with the trunk open. Otherwise, Angel's not going to last long out there."
Cordelia followed her to the front door quickly. "Buffy, this is crazy. You don't even know where to look for him. You know how huge those tunnel systems are!"
Buffy ignored her, simply getting her crossbow and a dozen arrows and stuffing the latter in a backpack. "I'll be fine, Cordy," she said. "Odds are, Angel will find me... That's if he's still alive."
Cordelia eyed the backpack with a sinking feeling. "You think that some vamps caused that fire?" she asked.
"I don't think. I know," Buffy replied, turning to her concerned friend. "I should only be two hours, tops. And if Stefanie gets hungry, there's some food for her in the fridge." Buffy remained silent a moment, then hugged, then hugged Cordelia for comfort.
"Wish me luck," Buffy said over her shoulder, loading three arrows into a crossbow as she hurried down the driveway. And as she eventually made her way into the darkened, silent school, Buffy found herself praying that all three of them, her unborn child included, would make it out of here safely...
As Cordelia had said, the underground sewers were enormous and in fact ran underneath the entire town of Sunnydale. There were access points located all over, but Buffy chose the school because it was the safest above ground area she knew.
She descended the stairs into the passageway with caution, eyes alert for any hidden attack. When she was certain none was forthcoming, Buffy began to make her way through the maze.
It wasn't long before she stepped into the large cavernous chamber located directly beneath Giles' library. She felt a hint of anxiety as she entered, remembering how her life had very nearly ended in this room years ago. This was her first time coming back here since that day.
"Relax," Buffy told herself, hurrying to the passageway mounted in the far wall. "It's empty now. No vampires here." She had almost convinced herself of that, had almost reached the desired exit, when someone stepped out into her path, making her yell out.
Angel looked down at her in shock, holding her at arm's length. "Buffy?" he asked in disbelief. "What are you doing here?" But he cut her off before she could answer, saying, "Never mind! There's two leeches hot on my tail that need taking care of." He hurriedly took the crossbow she had brought and told her to get back.
It didn't take Angel long to knock off the two who were after him. Pursuit over, he settled onto the granite floor to calm himself, then looked at her.
"What do you think you were doing, coming here after me?" Angel asked after a moment. "You shouldn't have put yourself at risk like this... What if I had been one of them?"
Buffy crossed her arms over her stomach, as if to protect the baby inside her. "I thought I knew what I was doing," she answered simply. "I was scared for you, Angel, once I heard what happened." She paused, walking closer and sitting beside him. "Why don't you tell me? What occurred after Stefanie and I left?"
"Someone came looking for Stefanie, is my guess," Angel said. "I didn't stick around to find out. Just grabbed what I could and got out of there."
Buffy took his hand. "I'm sorry," she said. "I know how much you liked that apartment."
He shook his head, then moved to place the crossbow in her backpack. "At least it ends that argument we had about which one of us should move in with the other," he replied at a feeble attempt at humor.
Buffy didn't laugh though, instead helping him to his feet. "I'm just glad you're okay," she said, touching the side of his face lovingly. "We should get going, Angel. Just in case there are some more bad guys lurking down here."
He looked at her as if she had gone mad. "I can't... Sun's still out, remember?"
Buffy merely smiled. "Willow and I have got it covered. Don't worry," she said, leading him out of the cavern. It wasn't too long before they met Willow outside the library.
"Thanks for coming to pick us up," Buffy said, as casually as if Willow had just rescued her from a very long walk home.
"Oh, it's no problem," Willow replied quietly, beginning to unfold a black cotton blanket in her hands. "Always happy to help."
It didn't take long for Angel to figure out Buffy's plan on how to avoid the rays, especially when Willow handed him the blanket. He had to laugh at his girlfriend's cleverness though when she had him climb into the trunk of Willow's car.
"Do you think he'll be okay?" Willow asked worriedly after Buffy had closed the lid. "I mean, don't we have to worry about him suffocating?"
Buffy cracked a smile, green eyes twinkling behind her sunglasses. "Vampire, remember?" she said. "They don't need oxygen like we do... Think I would have suggested this scheme if that were true?"
Willow moved to get in the car, her friend right behind her. "You are the resident expert, not me," she replied, having never heard that fact before.
Buffy, ever the mind reader, quickly picked up on this. "Actually, Angel did mention it once in your presence, but I guess you were still unconcious at the time," Buffy said, recalling what Giles had told her about the occasion Angel had saved him, Xander, and Willow from a gas leak.
Willow started the car, growing somewhat wistful as she pulled from the parking lot. "So who was that girl at the Bronze last night?" she asked after a few moments. "You and Angel seemed to be in such a hurry to get her out of there." As an afterthought, Willow added, "Did she cause the fire?"
Buffy started by answering both questions in sequence. "Stefanie, and no, she did not do the arson act." Buffy removed her sunglasses, fixing Willow with her most serious look. "Don't freak out on me, but Stefanie's a vampire, and she's as nice as the one in your trunk."
Willow nearly ran off the road at Buffy's use of words, but quickly regained her composure. She listened to the rest of what Buffy had to say in silence, then whistled. "Well, maybe this is what you need," Willow said cheerfully. "You have been complaining the past two weeks that you need a break from slaying."
The complaints had been Buffy's subtle way of leading up to the news of her pregnancy, but there was no use telling Willow that just yet. "I suppose you're right... Can you drive us to Giles' place? I can't wait to tell him," Buffy said without thinking.
Willow lost her smile. "I would, but he and Miss Calender left for their honeymoon last night," she reminded. "They won't be back until next week."
"Right," Buffy said with a nod, missing her Watcher already. "Well... To my house it is, then..."
Buffy had Willow park in the garage, where the two of them, joined by Cordelia, proceeded to cover the windows with newspaper. Once that was done, Willow opened up the trunk to let Angel out. Within moments, he was safely in the basement with Stefanie.
"Just call me 'Efficiency Girl'," Buffy joked, watching as Willow dialed Xander's number to invite him over. Cordelia, on the other hand, announced she was going to spend the day with whichever boy she was dating and left.
If anything, Willow's brief conversation with Xander had him over in less than five minutes, and Buffy left it to her girlfriend to explain things this time around.
If Xander was less than thrilled with Angel, he was even more so about Stefanie. "You have two bloodsuckers staying here now!" Xander protested, completely ignoring the fact that Buffy favored both of her new houseguests. "How are you going to be able to sleep at night?"
Buffy threw a glance at Willow that said, why do I put up with him? "I think staying calm and relaxed will have something to do with it, Xander," she stated pointedly. "Of course, if you want to sleep over to protect me..."
Xander's eyes lit up, despite what he had just said. "Can I?" he asked eagerly.
Buffy gave him a strange look, silently admitting that he never ceased to amaze her. "Xander, I was kidding!" she said before this conversation went any further. "Besides which, Stefanie's a slayer like me. I'm sure she's not a threat."
"Can you be sure of that?" Xander asked. "We've never encountered a slayer who's truly become a vampire before. How can you have any idea she's telling the truth?"
Buffy crossed her arms, leaning against the kitchen counter. "It's all a matter of trust. Try it with someone other than Willow and I for once," she said frivolously.
"I'm sorry," Xander said. "But trust does not work for me, especially when it comes to vampires." He got his jacket from the table and put it on. "I'm going to Giles' library. Maybe one of his volumes could offer information on this... Until then, make sure you keep your stakes handy."
Buffy rolled her eyes as Xander walked out, then turned to Willow. "Go after him," she told her wide-eyed friend. "And please, try to keep him occupied as long as possible."
Willow, too, was gone seconds later, partly guessing why Buffy wanted to be alone. After a minute, Buffy called the florist to have him prepare a simple bouquet of black-eyed Susans, her mother's favorite flower.
Luckily, the flower arrangement didn't take long and was ready when Buffy got there. Afterwards, she drove to the cemetary, placing the bouquet on top of her mother's grave.
Strange, Buffy mused, that mourning could last so long, but this case was special. Once again, Buffy vowed to the unanswering headstone bearing her mother's name that, until the vampire who did this was gone, her sorrow would never begin to heal. And when she finally turned to leave, she wondered if, with Stefanie's arrival, the hunt would soon come to a close...
At the school library, Willow, too, was feeling miserable as she watched Xander scan pages of a book. But, for once, she was glad his eyes weren't on her, for they were all but boring a hole through the hardcover.
Sighing softly, Willow turned back to the computer in front of her, going through the usual web sites in her own search for information. But so far, she wasn't finding anything especially useful.
Finally, Xander gave up and slammed the volume shut in frustration, startling Willow. "I can't concentrate," he said loudly. "All I can think about is that I shouldn't have left her alone."
Willow looked over, feeling sympathetic to his plight. "Buffy can take care of herself, Xander," she said softly. "She doesn't need you defending her."
Xander, however, went on as if she hadn't spoken, naturally annoying her. She listened to him ranting for a few minutes, then thought up the perfect way to distract him. It was a very bold move for someone as shy as her, but it did the trick: Willow walked over, seized his face in her hands, and pressed her lips to his. It lasted a good ten seconds, then she pulled back and waited for his reaction.
Xander sat there in stunned silence a moment, then shook his head to clear it and looked up at her. "Okay, what just happened? Did you really just kiss me or was I daydreaming again?" he asked, clueless as ever.
That was the last thing Willow wanted to hear, but she did a good job of hiding her disappointment. "It got your attention, didn't it?" she asked with a goofy smile. "You needed something to take your mind off this."
With that, Willow began to fantasize that Xander might grab her and kiss her again, but it didn't happen that way. Instead, he shoved the book he'd been staring at her way and asked if she could take over the reading part. Then, he left the room, saying he'd be back in a minute.
Groaning, Willow sank down into a chair, pulling the volume closer and feeling totally bummed. "Maybe if I dyed my hair blonde and went through plastic surgery," she mused as a way to get Xander to notice her...
Around this same time, the individual on both Willow's and Xander's minds was just returning home after a long drive around Sunnydale. Buffy took a moment to brush her hair and dry her eyes in the nearby bathroom, then opened up the door and descended the stairs.
She smiled upon seeing that Angel had let Stefanie have the cot, while he lay dozing on the hard wooden floor. It reminded her once more of how generous and kind he was.
Moved by this, Buffy walked over and lay down beside her favorite vampire, casually placing one arm across his chest. Angel stirred at this, but didn't open his eyes. Nonetheless, Buffy knew he was aware of her presence.
"I love you," she whispered faintly, snuggling close to him. It wasn't long before she began to feel tired, which was compounded by her present condition.
Buffy had just begun to fall asleep when she became aware that the phone was ringing upstairs. She half-sobbed herself awake and rose to go answer it.
"Whoever you are, you better have a good reason for calling," Buffy said into the receiver, rubbing at her exhausted eyes.
"It's Giles," her Watcher informed her. "I'm calling to make sure you're all right."
Buffy took a deep breath. "I'm fine," she told him. "Just had kind of a long night. You know, the usual vampires." She paused, going to the window and peering out. "Where are you calling from?"
"Miss Calen... Mrs. Giles and I just arrived in Italy," he responded. "She's getting a room for us, so I can't talk long." There was a slight pause, then Giles added, "How is that girl from last night? Is she okay also?"
Buffy started to nod, then realized he couldn't see her over the phone. "Yes, everything's just peachy," she said, half jokingly. "Thanks for caring... But while I've got your recognition, there's something I want to ask."
She could imagine Giles was rolling his eyes on the other end. "Ask away, Buffy," he replied, not sounding very enthusiastic.
She began to twist the phone cord around her fingers. "What would happen if, say, a slayer became a vampire?" she asked indifferently.
There was a loud clatter on the other end, making Buffy wince and rub at her ear. An instant later, Giles was back on, sounding worried. "Buffy, you didn't do anything rash in the past twelve hours, did you?" he asked. "Angel didn't..."
Buffy cut him off. "No, we didn't. I'm just asking in general," she answered, not yet ready to tell him about Stefanie. It would only have him catching the next flight home. "So, what would happen, Giles?"
He was flustered by her remarks, to say the least. "I... I'm not sure," he stammered. "I suppose if you really want to know, you may try checking some of the volumes in my office, but other than that..."
"Thanks, Giles," she replied abruptly. "I'll see you when you get back. Have a good honeymoon. Bye now." With that, Buffy hung up, then went to get a glass of orange juice from the refriegerator.
She thought about going back to the cellar to sleep, then realized the right side of her body was hurting. She eventually decided with a twinge of regret that the floor might not be good for the baby and retreated to her bedroom upstairs.
As she fell asleep, Buffy wished, not for the first time, that Angel wasn't confined to dark places. She would love to have him here with her.
Once again, her nap was filled with dreams, some good, some bad. She slept almost the entire day away, and before she knew it, Angel had come to wake her.
Shocked at the sight of him hovering over her, Buffy glanced out the window to see that the sun had set. She rubbed at the sides of her head, then looked up at him. "I must have been really out of it," she commented.
"So have I," Angel replied, hesitating for a moment. "Bad news... Stefanie's gone."
Buffy sat up, hugging the blankets to her chest. "Gone?!? What do you mean she's gone?"
"She's not anywhere in the house. I looked. Buffy, she's just plain vanished. I don't know where to."
Buffy took a moment to collect her thoughts, then glanced at the clock on the nightstand. "Did you check messages?" When Angel shook his head, Buffy got up and started to get dressed. "We should," she added. "Maybe Xander and Willow called with some leads."
Angel waited until she finished dressing, then followed her downstairs to check the answering machine. Buffy had just moved to replay her messages when the phone rang. Startled, she stared at it a second, then reached out to pick up the receiver. "Hello?"
"Buffy, it's Xander," her friend told her hurriedly. "I can't talk long, but Willow and I are still at the library. You need to get over here right away. We're in trouble..."