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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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As the spell is being lifted, Buffy looks warily at her friends before quickly nodding at Spike signaling to go and check on the newly souled vampiress in the training-room. To her relief nobody says anything about Spike being the first one to see her. Most of them agree he is the best one for the job, and even if Xander does think otherwise - he is still trying to recover from Anya's tirade.

Cautiously opening the door, Spike is relieved to find that Drusilla is none the worse for her recent re-ensoulment. He approaches her warily.

"Lo' pet, how's my princess?"

"My Spike, you've been a bad boy, to choose the Slayer over Mummy," suddenly Drusilla tilts her head and smiles blindingly at him, "but now they made it so Daddy will again love his Princess again and take her back. You must help me go to them my Spike. I have to thank them for this."

Laughing Spike releases her from the restraints; trust Dru to do the unexpected and actually want to thank the Slayer for giving her a soul.

Gathered in the main room of the Magic Box, the Scoobs have all taken turns watching the closed door, looking for any sign of what might be taking place within the training room. When the doors open revealing a happily smiling Drusilla and a still chuckling Spike, the gang feels an extreme release of the tension they each had been holding. However the gang's relief is temporary, as Dru rushes across the room towards Willow, Tara and Giles.

Not wanting to waste any time Drusilla instantly makes her way to the three spell-casters, enveloping the nervous girls in a hug before kissing Giles lightly on his cheek. She giggles wickedly at their surprise. She loves watching the charming Watcher blushing all sorts of pretty shades of pink remembering how she had gotten lost in their shared kisses while interrogating him about Alcaltha.

In the meantime Spike quickly turns toward Buffy, informing her in hushed tones about Dru's reaction to her new soul, in order to prevent the Slayer from stopping the vampiress. Buffy stares at him confused for a few seconds before she finds herself sharing his amused grin at the rather surreal situation. Her smile grows even bigger as she notices Dru has made Giles blush causing him to remove his glasses and making as if to clean them.

Having thanked the other three, Drusilla then joins the Slayer and Spike. Embracing Buffy in a hug, she whispers into her ear that soon she will receive the answers to all her questions.

Soon normal conversation starts up again as the novelty of having Drusilla amongst them begins to wear off, as she is keeping quiet for most of the time.

The dark haired vampiress, however, was easily picking up the Slayer's restlessness. She knew the other girl had questions she required answers for, questions that had been brought about by their earlier conversation. Approaching the troubled Slayer she fixes her with a deep intent stare. "There is much we should talk about. If you want answers, my sweet, then come with me" With that she drifts back towards the training room she had exited earlier.

Eager for the answers she hopes Drusilla will provide, Buffy quickly collects Willow and Tara and takes them to the training room with her to meet up with the vampiress. The witches, she feels, are the most likely to be open to what she believes they are about to hear.

"Alright Dru, I'm pretty sure you already know what's bothering me., So if you aren't going to be able to help me, then you should tell me now and not waste my time." the Slayer demands, cutting right to the chase as soon as the door closes behind them.

"Don't fear my lovely, I will, 'tis my present to you for making me so my Angel will like me again. You think I'm being a bad girl for giving you such a bad present, but when the time is right you'll see."

"All right then. Let's begin with what the hell you were talking about the other day. Do you really expect me to believe that a vampire still has the same personality they had as a human? 'Cause let me tell you, I am so not seeing it!" Buffy's words lash out viscously.

"Ah, Buffy…" Willow tries to interrupt, but Drusilla silences her with a wave of her hand. The red-headed witch's mouth snaps shut, deciding temporarily to keep her comment about the non-existing changes in Harmony's nature to herself.

"Daddy was a very bad boy, blinding you with his spark. Put ugly little lies in your pretty head. But he didn't mean to, you see, it hurts him and Daddy doesn't like to hurt - only in the good way."

The vampiress' dreamy expression causes a shudder of disgust to rush down Buffy's spine as she considers exactly what Drusilla means by the last past of that statement.

But before she can contemplate that unpleasant thought any further, she is brought out of her reverie as Drusilla shakes off her memories by uttering one sentence that will change the Slayer's world-view forever.

"The spark decides kin, no more, no less."

After her statement Drusilla waits expectantly. Seemingly certain that they must have understood exactly what it was she just revealed. She is disappointed, as Buffy turns a blank, bewildered stare upon her.

While the Slayer is still figuring out how to respond to her, Willows face lights up with understanding.

"Oh, oh, I know what she's talking about!" excitedly turning toward Drusilla she continues, "You're saying a soul lets you recognize all beings with the same kind of soul as being kindred. So you would feel differently about harming them, than say someone without one or with a different kind of soul. Like humans don't feel bad about killing and eating animals - that would be 'cause we have human-souls not cow-souls or chicken-souls. Right?"

After she finishes Drusilla begins enthusiastically clapping her hands "Yes, yes, the little witch has the answer!"

Buffy thinks she gets it now and tries to put it into words "I get it, so any vampire would feel bad about the humans he had killed if you gave him a human soul. Because suddenly he feels like he's one of them, instead of viewing them just as food. But I still don't see how it could change Angel's whole personality though? I mean, we where in love and then all of a sudden he wanted to torment and kill me..."

"No Buffy, see, what is the normal reaction if you feel guilty about something?" Tara questions silently.

"I'd try to make up for it of course."

Tara nodded. "Yes, anyone would, 'cause the feeling stays with you until you do. But you don't only try to make up for what you did wrong, at least not if you feel really bad. You try to change your whole behavior, so you don't unconsciously add to your guilt."

She looks hopefully at the slayer, trying to gauge if she comprehends before continuing. "So no matter how Angel treated other people before he was turned, he'd try to be as pleasant and helpful as possible once he got the soul. As for his feelings for you, we can only guess. Perhaps caring for others is originally a minor part of his personality. Maybe once the guilt stopped suppressing the not-so nice parts, it disappeared again. Willow told me Angelus was disgusted with the way he'd felt for you, so I'd guess the human-Angel was simply one of those people who view positive feelings of any kind as a weakness."

Tara's voice lowers and she glances over at Willow drawing strength and support from her presence. "I've seen that before. After my mom died I caught my dad actually crying. And I've never heard him say more horrible things about her than he did afterwards."

Before Buffy can even begin to question Tara's explanation, she sees Drusilla nodding happily in agreement. The Slayer is still not sure what to think about the latest revelations, but she decides it is best to just get on with the conversation and ponder the ramifications later.

"Ok, ok, I think understand all that. What you're telling me is a vampire has, in a way, the personality they had as a human. So now what? I should stop slaying?"

"Why?" Drusilla looks completely bewildered at Buffy's question "Humans are their food; a Slayer's purpose is protecting humans, why would you stop?"

"But, if not to get me to stop slaying, why are you telling me all this?"

"Why, to show you your destiny is not about hate, dearie. Hate is such a nasty thing, it destroyed our lovely family, it did. No…not about hate, but about protecting your kind. Didn't that nice watcher of yours teach you anything?"

"You know she's not wrong Buffy. There are tribes in Africa who have their fighters who protect them against lions and such. I don't think they need to hate the lions to do so." Willow feels compelled to point out.

Even though she has never mentioned it before, Willow has realized how much they had all changed over the years. She had made this discovery as she had witnessed her girlfriend's fear of the Scoobies' reaction to her during the time Tara had believed herself to be part-demon.

What the group had begun as a way to help save the world by fighting those who threatened it had rapidly degenerated into resenting and wanting to annihilate anything of demon kind, regardless of its intent.

This change had not been intentional, but something that could happen all too easily when one allowed oneself to forget the existence of two sides to any argument.

By now all the new ideas have Buffy massaging her temples in an attempt to fight off the massive headache she can feel approaching. She decides the best thing to do is to call it a night for now.

Upon returning to the main-room, the girls view with amazement the scene before them. While they had been having philosophical discussions, the others had solved a more practical problem, one that they had completely forgotten about. None of the girls had ever considered where Drusilla was gonna stay. Though the cot, with its neatly folded blankets now positioned near the door, makes it quite clear that the others must have decided to let her stay at the magic box.

As they are about to leave for their respective homes, and let Drusilla settle in for the night, Giles reminds them they have yet to inform Angel or his co-workers about the vampiress' change of status.

Before they can start an argument about who should make the call, Willow volunteers. She is the one who used to phone to exchange updates about recent threats with Cordelia, so it just seems easier that way.

With that problem solved, Spike and the rest of the Scoobies each make their way home. All of them immensely relieved that the night had gone so well.





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