disclaimer in part 1
Oz was making his way towards the library -- to find out if there had been any news about Buffy, a two or three times daily occurrence for all of Buffy's friends, and Oz supposed he counted -- when he collided with an extremely upset Cordelia. She stopped and snapped, "Watch where you're going! Oh. Oz." She started crying and hugged the guitarist; Oz's eyes widened to the size of saucers. He was about to make some crack, but then he got a good look at Cordelia's face and it died on his lips.
He said, sympathetically, "What's wrong?" He led the crying Cordelia outside to one of the benches and waited for her to stop crying. Her sobs lessened and she turned to him and said, "I heard Willow, in the closet, angry at someone. I thought it was you. But it wasn't. It was -- it was --"
As she seemed ready to break into tears again, Oz broke in. He should have known. "Xander. Right?" Who else would go dragging Willow into a closet to talk? Cordelia shook her head. "Well, why was she so angry at him. And what got you so upset?'
Sadness left Cordelia's eyes, to be replaced by a cold fire. "This is something you're not going to like either. Apparently, Willow was brought out of the coma by hearing someone say I love you. She woke up, saw you and assumed it was you."
Oz's eyes burned with the same intensity as Cordelia's now. "Xander. Xander told Willow that he loves her. After all he's put her through already." He sprang to his feet and stormed off towards the school building. Cordelia ran after him.
"Wait! Where are you going?"
"I'm going to kill Xander."
She nodded her head. "That's what I thought. I can't let you do that."
"Oh?" The erstwhile werewolf demanded.
"No. Because I'M going to kill him." Agreement on their faces, they went into the school. Oz suddenly realized he didn't know which closet Cordelia had mentioned, but as she led the way down the hall he saw that it didn't matter. Willow was rolling down the hall and Xander was walking dejectedly towards them. His eyes brightened when he saw Cordelia.
Not for long. She punched him in the face, sending him sprawling to the hallway floor. He got up, puzzledly saying, "Cordy, what was THAT for?" and just as he got to his feet Oz decked him again.
A voice from behind them said, "What's going on here?" Damn! Snyder! He strode up and looked at Xander, now getting up from the floor from the second time. "Oh. It's just YOU, Harris." He slapped Oz on the back. "Next time, save it for after school, Osgood. Not seemly to do these things in public." He walked off. Oz glared at Xander and raced down the hall after Willow. Cordelia turned on her heels and walked off haughtily, ignoring Xander's pleas.
Oz heard Xander say behind him, "What do I do now?" Oz quite frankly couldn't have cared . . .
* * * * *
Giles took a deep breath. Now was not the time for lying, dissembling, or half-truths. Buffy was missing, and perhaps dead. He led Joyce Summers into his office and they both sat down. First he needed to know what Buffy had already told her.
She said, "Well, the night before she disappeared she came home with someone named Spike."
"Spike?" Giles asked incredulously. "She was with Spike?" He wiped off his glasses,a nervous habit. "You didn't invite him in, did you?"
"Yes. Why? Is that important? " She shook her head. "Never mind. That can come later. She and Spike killed a man -- she said he was a vampire -- and he exploded into dust. They also said that someone named Dru killed Kendra, that she thought she was going to have to kill Angel -- I'm guessing here, was he a vampire too? -- and we had a big fight. I refused to accept what she was, threatened to disown her, and she stormed off. And except for this note, that was the last I saw of her." Suddenly she started crying. "I actually thought my own daughter was a murderer for a second. How could I do that?"
Giles was about to answer when Ms. Summers pulled a small liquor bottle out of her purse and took a swig. She looked up when she saw Giles' surprised look. "It settles my nerves. Do you mind?"
Giles had a blinding revelation at the source of Joyce's emotionalism -- and her cluelessness. Now that Buffy was gone, this problem could only get worse. He restrained himself from cautioning her about it and shook his head no. Then he began explaining to Ms. Summers exactly what a Vampire Slayer was. To her credit, she sat there and listened to the whole story, although she seemed distinctly unhappy with parts of it.
"But why MY daughter?" she asked when it was over. "Why Buffy?" Giles was trying to come up with an answer when displaying horrenous timing as usual, Xander burst into the room.
"Giles," he said, "We NEED to talk."
* * * * *
Buffy kept walking down the highway. Every once in a while a car would stop and offer her a ride. Some of the offers were undoubtedly sincere, and those that weren't sincere were certainly harmless given her Slayer powers, but she wasn't interested. She was trying to stay as undistinctive as possible to avoid tipping off the police to where she was.
So when another car pulled up beside her and slammed on its brakes, she prepared for another polite refusal. What she saw made her jaw drop.
Spike stepped out of the car and walked over to her. "Well, fancy meeting you here," he said. "Nice night for a stroll, ain't it?"
She backed up warily. He didn't SEEM hostile. "You're not surprised to see me alive?"
"Naaah. World's still here. When the place didn't go to hell, I figured you'd pulled off another miraculous save. Don't see Angel, though --"
She slammed him up against the car. "Say his name again and I'll rip your heart out through your throat. Got it?" He nodded calmly. "Now, What the hell do you want? I thought you'd promised to skip the country."
"And I plan on keeping that promise. There's just one problem."
"Oh?" Buffy said, not really caring.
"Yeah. Dru's skipped out on me."
"Oh?"
"Oh, this next part you're going to love, Slayer. She says she's headed back to Sunnydale."