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As Willow and Giles sat, Xander paced. Giles had informed the two of them of the meeting but had decided Oz and Cordelia should be left out of this one. As the doors to the library opened, Giles and Willow rose; and Xander stopped short. A young woman strode through, followed by a rather short man. Before anyone else could speak, the young woman held up a hand.
"My name is Alana Pevets. I assume you are Mr. Giles but I am afraid I do not know the two of you."
"I'm Willow and this is-"
Xander cut in, "Her friend who wants to know if Buffy is okay"
Alana tilted her head. "Of course. Buffy has been in Wilmington, North Carolina for the past 2 days. She is staying with the current Slayer, Audrey Arlin and her watcher. Mr. Williams is the one who informed us of Buffy's whereabouts."
"So that good for nothing bastard didn’t hurt her?" demanded Xander.
"If you are referring to Angel, on the contrary, Buffy was the one who hurt him." Alana pressed on, ignoring Xander's smile. "She sent him to hell, literally. But, not until after his soul was returned to him."
Willow gasped, "Poor Buffy." She murmured.
But Alana continued, "Now, we need to sit down and get the whole story straight so be can figure out how to best help our Slayer."
"I told that smart assed kid to stay away from her. In the shadows, where he belonged. But did he listen? No. Still…poor kid," Whistler murmured to himself.
"Pause please. Who exactly are you?" asked Xander, eyeing Whistler curiously.
"Long story kid. M'name's Whistler. Let's spare ourselves the trouble and leave it at that."
Finally, Giles spoke up. "We don't seem to be going anywhere at the present and I for one would be most gratified to hear some details. What I know is sketchy at best."
"Ya might wanna sit down for this one. I'm an immortal demon sent down to train and prepare the one person who could overcome evil and triumph for the side of good"
Willow looked confused. "But Buffy already has a watcher."
"Not Buffy. Angel"
An hour later, when the group finally felt like they had gotten the sequence of events down, Willow sat down at her computer and began to type.
Audrey brought up Alfred lunch a little late. About 2:30. That's when they got the message. From a Willow Rosenburg. After checking to make sure Buffy was still outside, they opened the file.
Mr. Williams,
My name is Willow Rosenburg. I am one of Buffy's very close friends. I am here with many people (including Buffy's watcher) We would have called but we were afraid Buffy might answer and, well, freak. How is she? Would she talk to us? Never mind. You must be terribly confused, Please call us a 1-307-598-4724 and we will try to explain.
Willow
"Audrey, check the window "
"Yep, she's still out there."
"I'll dial. H-hello. Ms. Rosenburg? This is Mr. Williams. Audrey's watcher. We got your message, and we are confused.
"Guys, guys, shut up. It's Mr. Williams. No, stop, put that phone on intercom. Yeah. Mr. Williams?"
"Yes?"
"Okay, let me introduce everybody."
Audrey made it to her room after hanging up with Buffy's California connections before she burst out into tears, The entry that had been submitted to the Watcher's Council about Buffy's career had been facts, with no deviation into the emotional level. Audrey had had no idea of the traumas Buffy had suffered through.
Even worse, the selfish side of Audrey spoke up, she was scared for herself. <If it can happen to Buffy, it can happen to me.> Audrey grabbed Gaby and held her tight.
At the sound of the door opening, Audrey looked up. Buffy's head popped in.
"Sorry, do you know where….hey! what's the matter?" Buffy crossed the room and sat at the foot of the bed, "Are you okay?"
Somehow, the fact that Buffy could still be concerned about anyone after the pain she had suffered undid Audrey completely. She threw her arms around the small 17 year old.
"Hey! Um, okay," said Buffy, gently. She slowly pulled back. "Audrey, what is it?"
"How can you care about me after what you've been through?"
Buffy face became a mask. No emotions could be seen. Her eyes however, were a sea of conflict. Pain and sadness warred against Buffy's control. A single tear rolled down Buffy's face.
"How do you know what I've been through?" she inquired in clipped, impersonal tones, as so to not give way to her emotions.
<Oops! Okay..think Audrey.>
"Ah, we just got the report for the last year on you from the Watcher's Council. Every watcher keeps one on his or her Slayer. On the Slayer's death, the watcher sends the journal to the Council who archives it and sends it on to the current Slayer. W-we, um, since you aren't dead, we haven't gotten your report, but since your disappearance, your watcher turned over the journal for the time being." Audrey realized she was rambling and quickly shut her mouth. She waited for Buffy's reaction.
"A Council? Man, I miss out on everything. First a handbook, now a council." Buffy said in a desperate attempt to change the subject. This conversation could quickly become too painful.
Audrey, although incredibly sweet, wasn't that great at taking a hint, and pressed on. "Is Angel the secret you've kept from us? Or is there more?"
"Fine, you wanna go there? Do you really want to hear the whole story? I'll tell you." Buffy's voice increased in volume and became shrill. "I put everyone I loved in danger. I hurt every single on of them. My watcher was tortured, Xander suffered a broken wrist, Willow went into a coma, my mom couldn't handle my slaying job and kicked me out of the house, my principal expelled me from high school, Kendra died! And Angel…" Buffy couldn't go on. She started to sob hysterically. Her breath coming out in pants. Finally, she managed to whisper through her tears, "I sent the kindest, most gentle, most loving man, the best thing that ever happened to me, to hell. And he thought I hated him. He held out his hand to me and I didn't go with him. I let him go by himself. He's alive, in darkness, and alone. But so am I. When he left, he took me with him. I'm not me without him. He was my better half, and I never got to tell him that."
"Buffy, if he loved you, then he knew. The same way your friends knew that you never meant to put them in those situations. That you love them."
"I may love them, but I can't let them love me. Its too dangerous."
"Maybe they know that. And maybe they don't care."
"Maybe they should care!" Buffy screamed.
Audrey, undaunted replied, "No matter what you think, they will continue to love you and be there for you. If you want to blame yourself, go right ahead, but let me tell you, there is plenty of blame in this world to go around without arguing for a greater share of it."
Buffy, somewhat subdued, let her gaze fall to the bed. She seemed to shake herself in an attempt to regain control of her emotions, her pain. "How'd you get to be so smart?"
"Well, I am older than you. That and years of soap operas."
Buffy laughed and looked around. Her gaze settled on Audrey's bear.
"Who's this?"
Audrey's cheeks began to glow a faint red. "Its just Gabrielle. She's kinda my security blanket. My parents gave her to me on my first birthday. I always keep her near me. Pretty stupid, huh?"
"Not really. Back home I have a stuffed pig. His name's Mister Gordo. See, 'gordo' means 'fat' in Spanish, so I thought the name fit. Anyways, he's always been there for me…and for others. I used to tell him all my problems, from when I was first called to be the Slayer to when my parents got divorced and I got kicked out of my old school. That's why mom and I moved to Sunnydale. Which, my luck, turned out to be a hellmouth. A regular vamp party town."
"Oh. Your parents are divorced?"
"Yeah, a couple of months after I was 'called'. Sometimes I think they broke up because of me. They couldn't handle everything. They didn't know the reason I got in fights and stuff. And then they would get into fights about my fights and…so, what about your folks?"
Audrey's eyes clouded. "They're dead. When I was 15. Vampires."
"Oh, I'm sorry. So this is like a vengeance gig for…." Her voice trailed off.
"What?"
"Nothing. I was just going to say the same thing to you that I said to someone else very special a while ago."
"Angel?"
"How did you..? Oh well, points to percepto girl."