An Interesting Twist
AN: Obviously some stuff taken from Chosen and Just Rewards, then maybe some later episodes of Angel S5 as we go along.
~Chapter One~
Sunnydale - Summers House - Basement
It was dark and quiet in the house, and yet Buffy couldn't sleep. She turned over and looked at Spike, tried to snuggle closer hoping it would help. Finally, she got up and wandered around the basement for awhile until she felt ready to go back to sleep on the cot with Spike. Of course, The First had to show its face... or rather, Caleb and her own face... But, in the end she was hit with an idea. She smirked and walked back over to the cot when Spike beckoned to her. This time more at peace now that she realized they were going to win. Good did win over evil, at least this time.
She could sleep now and she could thank The First. Odd.
She woke up early the next morning, and yet again lay there staring at the ceiling. This time for a whole new reason. She glanced over at Spike and sighed. Last night, with him so pissy about the kiss with Angel and hurt... she had given him the necklace to help boost his ego back up as she called him a Champion as well. She hadn't been lying, she truly thought him the type to use his soul for good and all that... and not just because he was cursed with it. That made him even better than Angel in her book, and it was a shame he couldn't see that for himself. But, now, she knew she couldn't make such an important decision on just how it would put a little smile on his face and spring in his step to be reminded he was a champion and could wear the amulet.
She had a soul and she was stronger than a human. They also didn't know what that thing would do to the person who wore it... or at least if Angel knew, he didn't share. She really wouldn't put it past him to have hinted at her giving it to Spike because he knew it would kill him. Really... the way he had acted right afterwards had proved it... and Spike had been no better... She glanced over at the punching bag with the funny caricature of Angel's face still on it.
A small sigh escaped her as she looked at Spike again. No, she had to wear it, not him... and it didn't matter if he gave her the hurt puppy face again. She couldn't give into it and risk so much just for that momentary ego boost for him.
So, her hand slid down his arm to his hand where the amulet was still clasped firmly. She took it and stuck it in her pocket, then got up to go gather the Scoobies. She needed to tell them the idea that had come to her the night before and boost their morale the way it had boosted hers. Also, they would be able to help her work out the logistics of the plan and put it into action. She nodded and headed upstairs after giving Spike a soft kiss.
Los Angeles - Wolfram and Hart - Angel's Office
"We need to be ready for whatever comes our way," Angel told his trusted few before turning towards his desk.
He saw the curious envelope on it and picked it up. No return address. Hmmm. He shook it and held it to his ear in a needless gesture because of his vampire hearing, then held it up to the light. Nope, too dark of envelope. Well, might as well take the risk and open it. He tore off the end and shook it out onto his desk.
Immediately, dust shot out and formed a small skeletal figure. The figure filled out until it became a petite blonde in a horrified pose looking upward. The slayer. Buffy. A scream erupted out of her lungs as soon as they finished forming and became functional. Then she stopped when she noticed there was a roof above her and not the shaft of light coming down through the stairs. She looked around the room slowly at the small crowd of people, somewhat familiar to her as her brain began to jog a bit.
"Buffy," Angel finally gasped as the air stilled again.
Her terrified gaze swung towards him swiftly when she heard his voice. "Wh-what am I doing here?" Her lips trembled and she looked down at herself in her dirty jeans and blouse. She lifted her hands in front of her and then looked at him again. "What happened to me?"
"You... you died... or at least we thought you died," he stepped towards her. "The Hellmouth collapsed in on itself. Sunnydale's completely gone... just a big hole." His hand reached out to touch her tentatively, but it passed right through her. "That can't be good."
"So we won...?" She swallowed and watched his hand pass through her arm. There was a slight tingling, but that was all either of them felt. "I'm... I'm a ghost... oh gawd... this is worse than the last time I died."
"I have all of Wolfram and Hart at my disposal... surely someone will be able to think of something." Angel turned to Fred and Wesley. "You guys take her to the lab and do some tests."
Buffy glanced shyly at them and wondered what sort of tests they would be running. The other two nodded and motioned for her to follow them. Angel walked beside her solemnly. She looked up at him, a little uneasy since the last time she had been there he had told her to take a hike and stay out of LA. Was he going to set her right and then send her on her way again? Where would she go if Sunnydale was gone... where were her friends? Oh gawd, were they even alive?
"Angel... the others... did they make it out okay?" She asked worriedly.
He looked down at her, thinking quickly. They had for the most part made it. Anya had died and so did half the potential slayers that she had been training, but besides that they had made it out okay. That included Spike, who she would surely run to the minute they figured out how to give her a solid form again. Cookie dough be damned, he wasn't going to give up the chance to have her to himself for awhile. So he thought up a lie quickly that he figured would keep her there. Not like she could check it out as a ghost.
"No, they didn't. We found out about the collapse and assumed it happened during your battle since it happened the day after I gave you that amulet. You stopped the first, but apparently didn't have time to get yourselves out of there. I told you to give it to Spike, but for once I'm glad you ignored what I said and wore it yourself or I'd have him here right now," he laughed faintly to lighten the heavy news he had just delivered.
She stopped and crumpled to her knees, clutching her chest at the pain that filled it. She felt like she couldn't breathe, which was funny since she was a ghost. But, all the feelings felt as real as if she were still alive. Her friends were dead... and Dawn... she let out a distraught cry and clawed at the carpet. Angel tried to pull her up to comfort her, forgetting that he couldn't touch her until his hands went right through the weeping figure of his former lover. He almost felt bad for lying to her, but once they got her body back he would be there to comfort her and help her move past this.
Wes pulled him away from Buffy as she sat there crying and looked up at him with a chastising frown. "Why have you lied to her?" He asked in a harsh whisper. "She'll surely find out about it eventually. This is beyond cruel."
"She won't be able to check the story out while as a ghost and I will make damn sure that continues. I want her to stay here, with us. You will make sure the others understand this as well. Once she is back to normal, she'll be able to help us here."
"Oh, and the fact that you can swoop in and comfort her, hopefully rekindling a relationship didn't sway your decision at all." He gave him a withering disappointed look.
"Just make sure everyone else knows not to tell her any different than what I have told her." Angel said firmly and then went to kneel in front of Buffy.
Buffy sat on a stool and watched Fred as the mousy looking woman scanned her with some handheld device. She reached up and brushed her hair out of her face, noticing how limp and grungy it looked. Same as her clothes, dusty as if she had just been in the battle under the school just moments before. It felt like just moments ago... She sighed and wondered if ghosts were allowed long hot showers.
She glanced over at Angel, who was watching as Fred scanned her. She remembered what he had said in the office when she first came back and glanced around the very expensive looking surroundings again. Her brain started to waken and work a bit more, like she had been sleeping deeply. She remembered that feeling from the last time she had died, it took her awhile to come back to herself.
"You said... Wolfram and Hart... that's where we are and... you're in charge? I thought they... you know, were the bad guys." She asked with a slight frown.
"They are, were, but I'm in charge now and that's all going to change." He crossed his arms and leaned his hip against the desk. "It'll give me more resources for the fight against evil. You'd be a great help. I'm hoping you'll stay once we figure out how to get you back."
"I'll think about it," she shrugged and looked back at Fred as the brunette finished scanning her.
Fred walked over to the computer to analyze the data she collected. "Okay then, that's weird." She blinked and tapped a few keys, but got the same result. She looked over at Buffy. "I'm getting electromagnetic readings which is normal around spiritual entities, but there's no ectoplasmic matrix. Very odd..."
"Okay, now in stupid people terms for the college dropout here..."
She rolled her eyes and pushed her glasses back up her nose. "Ectoplasm's what makes ghosts visible. If you're a ghost, we shouldn't be able to see you." She looked at Angel over her shoulder and pointed at the computer screen. "And I picked up brainwave activity of all things... very very odd..."
"At least we know it works." Buffy made a face.
"Anything else?" Wesley came up behind her to look over her shoulder. "You're getting a body temperature reading? But don't ghosts normally... I mean..."
"Yes," Fred nodded vigorously and motioned at Buffy. "That's another thing! Just like in ghost stories and stuff like that, there's talk of cold spots where the spirits are. That's because they absorb heat energy to keep them going since its not like they can eat. They also sometimes absorb light energy which is why sometimes they create a slight shadowy area or refract it to make orbs. But it's much the opposite with her! She gives off a body heat signature!"
"So, its like she's there, just not?" Angel looked confused and glanced past them at Buffy. "Is that good or bad news for the goal of making her solid again?"
"I won't know until I do some research on making beings like her corporeal again. We'll see what it says about making ghosts corporeal and then see what that might mean for her. We might still be able to treat her like a ghost in that respect, even if she is a very odd ghost."
"I always was special," the petite blonde rolled her eyes and slid off the stool.
Wesley was holding up the amulet and studying it. "I would say she's connected with the amulet, since it seems its been storing her essence since she wore it back at the Hellmouth. Destroying it might release her completely, but we do not know if it would do that or simply destroy her completely. I wouldn't want to do something so rash, so for now I will find a place down here to keep it safe." He walked off to find a storage unit to lock it in.
"Okay, so how did it go from being buried in the rubble deep inside the Hellmouth to being on my desk in an envelope?" Angel asked, looking over at Fred.
She shrugged. "The Powers... they think she still has work to do here... a destiny to fulfill?"
"I'm used to the whole not resting in peace by now..." Her fingers worried the end of her blouse. "Don't suppose a grubby ghost could take a shower? And how do I still have clothes... do my clothes have spirits too?" She lifted her hands in a spooky gesture and spoke in a eerie voice, "I am the ghost of the dress you wore last Tuuuuesdaaaaaay."
Fred giggled and straightened her glasses.
"I mean really, if its just because of some weird image thing... you think I would get CLEAN clothes and have ME be clean. Don't they usually appear with the whole ethereal light and long flowing white robe deal?"
"Actually, most entities appear the same way they were at the time of death... if they're tied to this plain. Usually with their death wound at times. It's very gruesome." Fred shook her head.
"Then shouldn't I be standing here with burnt crispy skin?"
"Is that how you... you know..." the brunette wrinkled her nose and waved a hand uncomfortably.
"There was this light that suddenly came down the shaft onto me... and the amulet reflected it out to kill all the uuber vamps that were crawling out. They just kept coming and coming... but the light and they started dusting, and the others started retreating when the place started shaking. Spike wanted to stay... but I... not like it mattered I guess..." She turned away to wipe away the tears that had started to fall. "The light burned... was so intense and eventually it felt like I was on fire... then I think I was... that's all I remember..."
Angel started to head towards her. "Buffy..."
"No, please-" she was cut off when she faded from view.
"Buffy!" He spun around, looking around for any sign of her. Then he looked to Fred again as Wesley came rushing back in after hearing Angel's yelling. "Fred, what happened... is she still here... are you getting any readings at all??"
"Let me just have a look see..." She picked up the scanner again, but froze same as the other two when Buffy appeared across the room from where she disappeared.
"I can't..." she trailed off when she noticed she had moved. She looked at them and her brows went up. "What with the huh?"
"Our thoughts, exactly." Wesley stated and looked over Fred's shoulder at the scanner to see if she had picked up anything when Buffy had reappeared. "I hope that's just a side effect of being a ghost... but we can't be too sure. Rest assured, we'll hurry our research along just in case that's a really bad sign of something."
The slayer swallowed and looked between the three. "Well I really hope it's not..." She looked down and wrinkled her nose at her appearance again. "So, whatever Fred said earlier about my appearance... does that mean I'm stuck looking like something that cat drug in?"
"Maybe if you work on concentrating? I mean, ghosts do little tricks all the time such as changing their appearance and sometimes if they're powerful they can take possession of people." Fred nodded, giving her a small hopeful smile. "But, for now, we'll be down here working on this little problem and Angel can show you around." She looked over at the silently brooding vampire and nodded.
"Oh, yeah... sure." He straightened and motioned for Buffy to follow him. "I can also have someone make you up one of the suites upstairs for your use."
"Thanks." Buffy offered them each a small smiled and then followed Angel out of the lab.
Angel knocked on the suite door softly before sticking his head inside. "Buffy?"
She came out of the bathroom and offered him a small smile. "I think I got the hang of that concentrating thing. Took me twenty-two years, but I got it." She chuckled and motioned to her now clean jeans and shirt. "Next, I'll work on my face and my hair."
"I think you look pretty even covered in dirt." He walked closer. "God Buffy, I wish I could touch you. This is torture."
"Oh yeah, and its peachy for me. I'm the one who's dead," Then she blinked as she realized who she said that to. "-er... deader... you know what I mean." She rolled her eyes.
"I know. I didn't mean to imply... I just meant," he swallowed and tried to collect what he wanted to say, his little practiced speech out the window now and forgotten. "You're in pain... hurting... and I want to comfort you... but I can't. It's hard... because I care for you so much and it's killing me to see you like that."
She offered a small, wavering smile. "I'm tough, I'll get on with it eventually. I just need some time... and no offense, but preferably alone."
"Oh, no problem." He glanced away to hide the disappointment. "But, I'll be here. I'm always here and you know where to find me if you need anything. I always got time for you." He looked at her again and gave her a small smile before leaving the suite again.
With him gone, she finally deflated and sat on the end of the bed. She put her face in her hands again and heaved a big sigh. She finally realized that she loved Spike, only to lose him and be stuck with the guy she had blown off. Was this some sort of cosmic joke? Were The Powers just resorting to cruel jokes now? She growled and grabbed a vase off the table, chucking it at the wall angrily. The crash brought her back to herself and she blinked at the broken shards. She had just touched something. Fred had mentioned concentrating... but wanting it bad enough must be a factor too... having a strong will for it to happen and the energy to do it. She smiled and momentarily felt a bit better as she figured out something for herself, meaning she could finish with the whole changing her appearance project and she headed into the bathroom to put her new knowledge to use.
She finally got the dirt off and she looked all shower fresh without the trouble of showering. Her hair looked better and she tilted her head. Maybe she should change her look up a bit then, if she could do more than just get herself clean. It would help the moving on process if she didn't have to constantly see herself as she looked that day.
The next night, Buffy wandered down to Angel's office after a day of exploring Wolfram and Hart. She even tried leaving the building a bit to take a look around outside, but the further she got from the law firm the more the uneasy feeling in her gut grew. So she didn't stay outside long and came back inside for more exploring.
She was bored and the day before Angel had mentioned briefly something about helping his people here. She figured she would see if there was anything up that she could lend her two cents to as that was about all she could do at the moment until they finally returned her to normal.
At Angel's office door she paused as Harmony motioned a couple men into the office who were carrying buckets of some viscous red fluid. Her mind refused to believe what it was at first and absurdly wondered why they were taking red pain into Angel's office, but the bucket with the yellow tie coming out of it hammered it home for her. Her stomach rolled and she felt like she was going to throw up, even if she wasn't sure it was possible she could anymore.
Harmony was watching her when she lifted her face, getting a grip on the nausea. The blonde vampire wrinkled her nose at the slayer. "They said you were back... also word was you and Spike were knocking boots. That is so... just so ew..." She turned to walk back towards her desk. "Just ew... that he would even touch you... slayer loving freak... I mean, that whole sick obsession was one thing... ugh..."
Buffy growled softly and nearly went to yell at her to shut up about Spike. That was the love of her life... who had died saving the world... and Harmony was bad talking them both as if she were better than them. She just shook her head instead, deciding to just ignore it... not like she could really give the brat the throttling she deserved anyways. Maybe concentrate enough to get one good hit in, but if Buffy did that she would only want to continue and work out her stress.
She stepped into Angel's office and avoided looking at the buckets on his desk. "Trouble in paradise?" She asked and leaned her hip against the wall.
He was looking at the file Gunn had handed him. "Been enacting reforms to this place to change it to my liking as best as I can. I shut down the Grave Robbing department that was supplying some local necromancer with bodies. I sent one of my employees to tell him that he was no longer represented by us... apparently he never heard that you shouldn't shoot the messenger... or eviscerate him..."
"Yuck much..." she wrinkled her nose.
"You changed you hair," he commented as he finally looked up again. "It's pretty."
She reached up to touch her shoulder length waves. "I kinda liked it about this length when I cut it short a year or so ago. Lot easier for the fighting and upkeep... and not so much weight for my head to lug around." She shrugged. "Wonder if when you guys turn me back... if you do... that I will take the form of however I am when you do your thing or I'll be like I was when I first came out of the amulet."
"I don't know. You can ask Fred that later, but for now, I have to go pay a visit to this necromancer guy." He looked over at Gunn. "Make sure he got the message loud and clear that we won't put up with this. His behavior proves he wasn't up to any good with the dead bodies he was receiving and I should go make sure whatever he's doing stops."
"Um, hello... am I the only one with brainwaves in the room?" She waved a hand at them. "Necromancer... guy with control over the dead... you're dead... that would only be dumber if you were taking me in as backup or Harmony. How about you think before you act for once and take some living back up at least. So they WON'T be a friggin' target for the necromancer guy!" She rolled her eyes at him and turned to leave the office.
Angel sighed and looked at Gunn. "Fine. You and Wes are coming with me." He turned and motioned them to follow him to the elevators.
Buffy headed for the lab to check on Fred's progress. Not like she had anything else to do but remind the girl what she was working towards and be there to answer any questions. Maybe she could help. It was a big maybe, but hey. She walked into the lab and headed over to the desk the mousy brunette was working at.
"Got anything good so far?" She asked.
Fred jerked. "Oh my! Please don't scare me like that again." She turned around in her seat and frowned, glancing around confused. Buffy wasn't there.
tbc...