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Disclaimer: The usual, I own nothing, ME & WB everything..

Thanks to Oracleholly and Alwaysjbj for their amazing job at betaing!

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Having been left to her own devices, Drusilla considers getting some rest, but the knowledge of what was about to happen to the Slayer prevents her.

Instead she decides to go out and rid Sunnydale of its latest threat by herself. She realizes that she should be plagued with guilt from her reign as a soulless vampire, but ironically she is not. Her special sight drives her forward into the night. She feels compelled to help those who have given her this new chance at happiness. How could she not? Considering what she knows was yet to come, this night's work is so small a token on her behalf.

With this in mind she leaves the Magic Box and makes her way across town.


Arriving at her destination she decides to settle in and lie in wait for her intended victim. So much easier a task to wait for her prey, instead of endless searching, and potentially alerting others to her intentions.

As she had expected, she must wait little more than an hour before her prey leaves the building. Once he passes her on the way to his car, she steps out of the shadows. The surprised man doesn't even have the time to wonder whether the frail-looking woman in front of him might be a threat before he has lost himself in her eyes.

Held firmly in the grip of Drusilla's strong thrall, he is unable to resist her orders to follow her, by way of the fire stairs onto the roof of the building he had just exited. He is equally unable to refuse her command to jump.

Looking down at the young doctor's shattered body Drusilla feels no guilt about her actions, newly souled or not. Knowing that her choice was between either him now or the Slayer later, the vampiress prides herself on having forced him into a death similar to the way she had seen the Slayer die in her visions. To her, the manner of his death seems fitting considering the pain the months ahead would have caused had she not taken action.

Not wasting any time she hurriedly makes her way back to the Magic Box, well aware that it wouldn't do for the others to notice her disappearance. She knows that the people she's already considering part of her new family wouldn't be able to understand the concept of killing one to save many, at least not if you're talking humans. Sometimes the forces of good simply wouldn't be able to win without the odd infusion of a little gray.

So silly really, the watcher would not have hesitated to do the deed once it was too late, but that was for her to know and for them to learn. For now she would amuse herself with preparations for the arrival of her Angel, and maybe she'd even figure out how to save the nice woman her William cared so much about. But that was a task for another day.

Had the Scoobies been able to hear her thoughts that moment, they would have wondered whether she really was insane or whether it was all an act. They wouldn't understand how she lived in a world where thoughts were like pictures that she was unable to describe to anyone.

With Drusilla, Angelus truly had crafted a masterpiece. In her time, a seer was considered an 'evil' thing, something that must be repressed or hidden. Angelus had preyed upon Drusilla, exploiting her visions before turning her and further corrupted her as a vampire. Although to a person who is truly insane, they do not perceive themselves as such. In their reality, they have simply receded so far into their own mind that no harm can reach them anymore. That might have been the fate of Drusilla had Angelus not turned her, the demon that was brought forth did not allow her insanity to fade instead it strengthened and darkened her gifts.

When Drusilla arrives back at the Magic Box, she goes straight into the training-room and lies down to sleep.

Upon opening his shop the next morning the first thing Giles does is check up on their guest, only to find the vampiress still fast asleep. Hesitating only briefly he decides to let her get some more rest, as they will not being needing her until Buffy arrives in the afternoon anyway.

**********************

While Drusilla spent the night doing what could be considered her first good deed in over a hundred years, Buffy didn't succeed in getting so much as a wink of sleep. Her mind was still too troubled by what had been implied by the seer's words the day before to rest.

The lack of rest combined with the continuing questions still whirling in her mind yields a cranky Slayer in the morning. Upon her announcement that she's going to visit Willow and Tara, her mother and sister give her relieved smiles and nods - so grateful to be rid of the decidedly cranky slayer that neither of them had any intention of questioning the need for such an early morning visit.

Despite the early hour, the two witches do not seem too surprised when they open the door to their friend. In fact their already made beds lead Buffy to the conclusion that they were in fact expecting company. However, Willow's question as to whether she had worked out what was bothering her, finally makes it clear to Buffy that the witches are well prepared to help her through these new revelations.

Grateful for having such insightful friends, the Slayer proceeds to work through her issues with the gentle help of the two girls. Willow's analytical mind and Tara's personal harrowing experiences with the twisted ways of human nature each assist her in making great strides towards understanding that adapting a different view of her calling and the creatures it brings her in contact with does not have to be a bad thing.

Slowly she begins to accept that just because demons follow their nature, as does anyone else, she has no reason to harbor this all-consuming hatred for everything demonic. Realization dawns that it might make her life a lot less stressful if she simply viewed her calling as a way to protect those near and dear to her.

In the end that's what every human does, it matters little if she fought demons and vampires instead of illness and poverty? She had the strength and the knowledge to do this; she should use her abilities the best she could, just like anyone else.

After talking for hours at the witches' place, the three girls finally arrive at the Magic Box late afternoon. They encounter an only recently awaken Drusilla, whose happy smile has them guessing that she's completely aware of the conclusions the girls have made from her revelations.

Seeing that Giles is occupied by a customer and won't be available for training for some time yet, Buffy recesses towards the research-table with her friends and the vampiress. Sensing the need for a change from the heavy conversations of the morning and the day before, Tara decides to lighten the mood by questioning Drusilla about the beautiful, old-fashioned dresses the vampiress always wears.

Soon Willow and Buffy enthusiastically join the conversation, after all which girl can resist discussing fashion. Especially if you have the chance to discuss it with someone who has seen all the changes it has undergone over almost two centuries.

To their astonishment the girls realize that they don't have any problems at all getting accustomed to Drusilla's odd way of speaking. It's not nearly as confusing if she talks about everyday stuff, instead of vague theories or the future she sees in her visions.

The dark haired vampiress even has them laughing out loud with her stories about some of the more embarrassing styles of dress Spike has tried over the years.

The group's laughing and giggling leads to Giles having one of the greatest shocks of his life in Sunnydale, when Anya approaches him and asks him to take care of the remaining customers so she can join the group at the table. No one had ever seen the ex-demoness letting anything, that wasn't Xander, come between her and earning money

His surprise is so enormous that the usually reserved watcher forgets all about his manners and asks his employee why she would want to do that. Her answer leaves him stuttering his agreement and cleaning his glasses, all the while seriously considering how he should change his treatment of the girl. Anya, in her usually blunt way, explains how satisfying it would be to have a conversation with someone who would not treat her as if she had oozed from under some rock every time she mentions her time as a demon.

Soon, Giles notices, Anya has become an active and vital part of the conversation, joining Drusilla in leaving the other girls in fits of hysterical giggles. He promises himself that at the next available opportunity, he will address each Scooby member's treatment of Anya. However, by the sounds and body language on display before him at the Scooby central table, the female Scoobies will not need his words of advice. That left only Xander, and as her boyfriend he really should know better, but still he would have a word with the young man.

Later that evening, shortly before Giles closing the Magic Box for the day, Spike arrives. At sunset, he had decided to make his way over to the shop. Now only Xander is missing; however Anya explains that he has to work late today. They agree to start the meeting without him, as Anya can fill him in on everything at home.

Giles starts the meeting by asking Willow how her phone call to LA went, making Buffy realize that she never once even thought of asking her friend this herself during the entire time they had spent talking all day. Maybe, she wonders, Angel isn't as important to her as she tends to believe. Instead of the disappointment she half expected to come with this revelation, she only feels relief and further accepts the truth in what Drusilla had told her.

This acceptance also helps her to digest what Willow tells them about her conversation with Cordelia.

It seems Angel had fired his team, throwing them out of the office and offering the hardship of his existence as pitiful excuse for his erratic behavior. Cordelia was not sure that Angel would come to Sunnydale to help, or in fact if it were safe to ask him to do so; however she would do her best. Cordy had gone on to assure Willow that the former Angel Investigations crew would be mobilized and on its way.

During the course of the conversation Buffy finds herself being friendlier with Spike than ever before. Instead of hurling insults at him every few minutes and dismissing everything he says, she begins treating him like one of the gang. His actions with Drusilla, as well as the vampires' words must have made more of an impression on her than she had realized.

While she contemplates whether this change in her is for the good or not, she nearly misses the worried looks Willow and Tara keep giving the blonde vampire, while whispering with each other. Finally Willow decides to voice their worries.

"Say guys, what are we gonna do about Spike? I don't think Angel is going to react too kindly to him being here, as Cordelia told me she never mentioned it to him. If Angel is as - uhm, I'm gonna go with angry, since there is no way I'm repeating what Cordy called him - as he seems to be, how can we be sure he won't seek Spike out and stake him as soon as he finds out?"

Giles surprises everyone by offering the vampire a place to stay at his apartment until Angel leaves town once more.

Her watcher's fast offer of safe harbor to Spike calms the Slayer's worries about her new acceptance of their local vampire. However, Giles' admission that Spike would be safe at his place since he uninvited Angel again after his last visit, triggers her guilt that she never really paid any attention to the resentment this man, who is like a father to her, still harbors against her former lover.

Seeing Giles like this, while at the same time realizing that maybe Angel hadn't really been everything that her young, romantic self, had believed him to be, she can't help but feel like the most self-centered bitch in the world. How selfish of her had it been, to expect her watcher to endure, for almost a year, the company of the man who had killed his girlfriend? And she would have continued to expect this of him if it had not been for Angel's leaving.

What the hell had she been thinking? Not about the feelings of anyone beside herself, that's for sure!

Spike's first reaction upon hearing the watcher's offer is to refuse, and explain to the witches that he could bloody well take care of himself. But not hearing anyone protesting the idea, not even a sarcastic comment about him being weak from the Slayer, stops him from voicing his refusal, and instead he takes the time to really think about it.

He isn't so dense that he doesn't realize how differently the Scoobies are suddenly treating him. Polite, even friendly and isn't that what he has wanted for quite some time now? Looking at their sincere faces he realizes they are not trying to mock him, but seem honestly concerned about his safety. Happy about this new development, he decides to forget about his pride just this once and take Giles up on his offer.

Besides, by staying at the watcher's he might be able to see the Slayer on non-slaying related occasions. What better way to convince her to look upon him as more than just a former enemy.

Not able to do more about the Angel-situation until the LA-gang shows up, the conversation turns to the matter of Glory, since no one except Drusilla knows that this threat has been eliminated as of the previous night.

The vampiress is aware that there are still problems surrounding Glory that the Scoobies need to take care of on their own, so she keeps quiet and only watches.





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