A Perfect Fit, Chapter 15 of 19

[dawnofme]

Title: A Perfect Fit. Chapter 15 of 19
Genre: General, Romance, Humor, bit of action
Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel: the Series
Pairing: Spike/Other, Buffy/Angel
Rating: R for sexual situations and language.
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters from Buffy and Angel. Candy is my own original character and I do own her. This story is for entertainment purposes only. I'm not making any money off this.

Summary: Begins three months after the final battle in the alley in Angel, Not Fade Away. What's left of Angel's crew has moved back to The Hyperion, including a restless Spike. Someone interesting comes to LA, when Faith suggests that only Angel can help her. Many characters from both shows will make appearances. Angel, Harmony, Gunn, Illyria, Lorne, Buffy, Giles, Dawn, Angelus, Willow and others.
This chapter:  The whole gang meets with Willow to discuss her plans for Angel.  And Buffy and Angel find out what Willow wants them do.


(Previous Chapters Here)



This lovely new banner was made by the talented alwaysjbj


 

Chapter 15 ~ Earthquakes and Aftershocks

 Spike towered over a cringing Willow.

 “Are you daft?  You are, Red.  You've gone completely nutters!”

 “Sit down Spike,” ordered Candy.   He glared at the witch, but Willow was not afraid of him. 

 “I knew you wouldn't like it, but you need to hear me out,” argued Willow.  She could not believe his reaction.  It wasn't that bad and it had been done before.

 “No!  Don't you know what this will do to her?” he asked incredulously.

 “Oh course.  She gets her soul mate back for good.  I'm not just doing this for her though.  He can't walk this earth in such an unstable condition.  It must be fixed.  I'm going to fix it.  With out your help or hers,” she stubbornly announced.  When Spike tried to protest again, she held her hand up. “Listen, I have to do this.  I've done the research.  There are other ways, but each one endangers Angel's existence.  They will agree to this, I just know they will.”

 “If you bollucks this up, I lose a friend and will most likely have to be the one to kill Angelus.  Buffy will lose her sanity, you'll go into guilt mode that no cookies on earth can fix, and to top it all off, I'll get stuck being in charge of this run down hotel and bloody agency.”

 “What makes you think I'll mess it up?”  Willow asked indignantly.  “I'm a very powerful witch now.  You should see what I can do with balls of sun light in the dark.”  When his eyes opened wider in shock she quickly added, “No, I guess you wouldn't want to see that, would you?”

 Candy offered to give her objective opinion, but they decided to get everyone together the next day for a meeting.  With everyone assembled, they would go over her plan and see what they thought.  Spike insisted that Angel would protest and that Buffy would not be too keen on the idea either.

~*~*~*~*~

 Angel sat back in the chair and looked around the dinning room.  Spike was not kidding when he said he wanted everyone at an emergency meeting.

 Gunn sat with his arm loosely draped over Anne’s shoulder.  Anne had only agreed to work full time for them yesterday.  She sat in quiet curiosity. Gunn had a look of dread and he spoke quietly to Anne, “This has to be something big.  Even Lorne is here.”

He waved to Lorne and the demon waved back.  Lorne sat on the edge of the table and looked to Spike to start things off. 

Gunn whispered to Anne, “In time, meetings like this will cause a dread in the pit of your stomach so acute that you learn not to eat before one.” 

Illyria did not sit at the table, but back off a ways.  She appeared as she always did.  Bored.

 “Okay, Connor and I have a back-to-school party to be at in two hours.  Make this quick,” Dawn said as she sat down next to his son.  “I don't care if the world's ending.  I'm not missing my first college party.”

 Spike stood up.  “Okay, here's the thing.  I've asked you all here because what we decide will affect all of you.”

 “There is a decision to be made?”  Buffy asked Angel.  

 “Guess so,” he said back and folded his arms. He sat up straighter when Spike looked at him without smiling or smirking.  He was serious and Angel had a bad feeling about this. 

 Spike continued, “First off, I want to say that things have gone wonky already and I'm regretting that I got this in motion at all.” 

 Willow groaned at that.  This only got her a glare in return.

 “As I was saying.  I'm not for this, but it’s not my decision.”  Spike looked at everyone and sat down next to Candy before going on.  “A couple of weeks ago, I decided that I hadn't done enough for the world after I saved it from the First.  I wanted to do something for the people I care about.  Bloody ponce, I am.”  He had everyone's attention now.

 “I called Willow, because she's the most powerful witch I know.  Normally, I don't go in for magic, but I asked her to do some research and come up with a way to anchor Angel's soul.  Or for a better term, remove the curse for good.”

 Everyone started talking at once.  Angel hushed them.  He was thunder struck.  Spike would do this for him?  Impossible.  “Wesley did some research towards that end a few years back and came up with nothing.”

 “That's because he wasn't thinking the idea through right,” Willow said with excitement.  “He called me at the time, asking for help.  There is no precedence for fixing a cursed soul in the body of a vampire.   It’s never happened before.  I had to come up with my own spell,” she told them all proudly.

 “What?” Buffy asked. 

 “Just like with the multiple slayers getting activated, Buffy.  I can do this,” she pleaded with her.

 Gunn spoke up, “This sounds great.  Sign me up.  But really why would you need us here to approve such a thing.  It’s a win-win, right?”

 “What she's not telling you is what would be involved. She's going to need Angel to lose his soul in order to capture it, and then conduct an anchor spell, before recursing him.”

 “I wouldn't be recursing him.  It's a modified version of the curse.  Without a curse,” Willow argued.

 “Hold up.  Did you say his soul would have to be removed?”  Gunn asked.  “Cuz, I've been there, done that and got the damn t-shirt.  Uh uh and no way, Jose.”

 Angel watched Spike while he sat quiet and morose. Spike was trying to convey something to him with a look.  It was almost as if he wanted Angel to shoot the idea down and that puzzled him.  Why would he go through all the trouble to get Willow here and then be against his own idea?

 Willow argued further, “The key would be to keep Angelus restrained.  I just need about five hours with the soul before I can put it back in for good.”

 “We had him caged up the last time,” Gunn said.  “He messed with all of our heads and escaped.  It wasn't pretty, people.”

 “Magically enhanced chains are all we need.  Not that huge cage you guys had built.” 

 Angel watched Willow speak.  She was animated and confident. Buffy was sitting back quietly.  Could he possibly get the curse lifted and have a chance with her?

 “I'll do it,” Angel said quietly.  When there were protests all around, except from Buffy, he continued, “Connor and Dawn, you will stay away from the hotel until you hear from Spike.  Lorne same thing.  Gunn and Anne, you can stay at the Youth Center can't you?”  Anne nodded, but Gunn glared at him.

 “Look, I'm against this,” Gunn said.  “I'll take Anne and go to the center, but I better hear from someone, even if their dying,” he warned.  “If Angelus gets loose…”  He walked up to Angel who stood up.  Gunn held out his hand.  “I never thought I'd find myself working for a vamp, man.  I've been proud to call you boss.  I hope it works and Anne and I will be back if it does.  But know this; if Angelus comes near that center, he's dust.”  And then the two of them were gone. 

 Lorne got up and made his way to the exit. He shook his head with a grim look.  He turned to face Angel.  “What Gunn said, except for the boss part.  I am just a nightclub owner who is your friend.  Ta ta.  Call me.”  Then he was gone too.

 Dawn bit down on her lip and stared at her sister.  “Buffy, don't you have anything to say?” she said. “Don't you remember the hell he put us all through the first time?  You want to go through that again?”  She continued when they were all silent still.  “Where's Xander when you need him?  You know he would be having a conniption fit if he knew.   And...And Willow, what about you?  He killed your fish and...and not to mention the computer teacher.  Have we all lost our minds?”

 Connor put his arm around Dawn.  “When do you plan to do this?” he asked his father.
 
Angel was torn by this.  If it were successful, he would never have to worry about his son seeing the face of Angelus again.  If it didn't work, someone was going to have to kill him and he'd never see his son again. 

 “As soon as possible,” Willow answered for Angel.  “I have to get to Peru and meet up with my group.”

 Candy put her arms around Spike.  He was trying to conceal his emotions, but it was obvious he was upset.   

 Connor was at the other end of the table with his own thoughts.  He looked at Willow.  “I don’t know you very well, but I’ve heard stories.  If my dad has faith in you then so do I.  You’ve put his soul back twice already.”  He looked at his dad.  “If Angel is for this, than I will back him.”  He got up, gave Angel a quick squeeze on the shoulder, and then looked him in the eyes.  “I spent years against you.  Opposing everything and undermining you, but I'm behind you on this, Dad.”

 Angel visibly relaxed.  “That means a lot to me, Connor.  More than you could ever know.”

 “Call us before you start and when it’s over,” He grabbed Dawn's hand and pulled her, protesting, out of the room.

 Willow watched Illyria sitting by herself in the corner.  When they made eye contact Willow said, “You've been awful quiet over there.” 

 “What should I say, witch?”  She tilted her head in curiosity. 

 “Can I count on your help?”

 “Yes,” the blue goddess answered.  “Call me when you need me.”  She left the rest of them to work things out.

 “There's just one more thing,” Willow cringed as she said it and looked at Spike.  “Buffy what do you think of all this?”

 “Um...this is Angel's decision.” 

 “Actually this won't work without you.” 

 “Not true,” Spike injected.  He glared at Willow who glared back.  “There are other ways.”

 “Other ways that adds danger for Angel.  Buffy wouldn't want that.”

 Candy got up quickly.  She pointed at the doors.  “This really doesn’t concern me.  I’ll go…do something.”  She gave Spike a final squeeze of support and quietly left.

 “What are you talking about, Willow?  How can I help?”  Buffy asked.

 Spike looked after the way Candy had gone.  He looked very uncomfortable.  He got up and started for the door.  Willow ran after him and clamped his arm in a death grip.  “You stay here.  Help me,” she pleaded. 

 “What is going on here?”  Angel asked.

 “Here's the thing.  She wants me to be the one to tell you guys, when I'm completely against it to begin with,” Spike pouted.

 “Please tell me you’re not jealous,” Willow accused.

 “I'm the one who called you!” he yelled at the redhead.  “The whole bleeding purpose would be the end result.” 

 Willow blushed at that.  “Then what's the big deal?”

 Spike was exasperated at this point.  “You were there the last time.  I wasn't, but I know Buffy.  It would devastate her if you failed, Willow.”

 “Hey!”  Buffy yelled to end the argument.  “Right here, people.  Tell me what's going on.  What do you want me to do?”

 Spike saw the light bulb go off over Angel's head.  He stood up.  “Willow, find another way,” he said with finality.  “We're not doing it that way.”  He sat down and folded his arms across his chest.

 “I'm losing my patience,” the Slayer said as she loudly drummed her fingers on the table and looked from Willow to Spike.  “Somebody.“

 “Willow wants you to help Angel lose his soul again,” Spike said in disgust.  He ran his hand through his hair and looked down.

 Buffy reared back in shock.  Seeing her face, Willow plowed ahead.  “He needs to lose the soul according to the stipulations of the curse, in order for this to work for sure.  If we try to remove it with magic like the last time, it could cause all kinds of measurements to be off.  There is a big maybe that the anchor spell wouldn't work at all.”

 “I said no.  I will not put all this responsibility on Buffy again.”  Angel was determined…  He desperately wanted the curse removed, but not at the expense of the only woman he ever really loved.  “Take more time.  Do more research.  If this is the only way, then forget it.”  His eyes locked with Buffy's. 

 Buffy stood up.  “Willow would not have come all this way if she didn't think she could do this.”  She came up to Spike and Angel had to shake off the surge of jealously that hit him when she looked at the other vampire as if he was her hero.  “I can’t believe you called Willow about this,” she told him softly.

 Buffy turned quickly and said with determination, “Willow, I want to see the spell.”

 Willow spread out her notes and books on the table.  Buffy sat down with her and they started to go over details.  Angel and Spike slowly came closer to the table and shared a defeated look. 

 When she got to the part about removing Angel's soul, Willow said, “It’s like an earthquake.”  

 “What is?”  Spike asked.  “Them two shagging?  Cuz, I'd see it more like an apocalypse.” 

 “No, this situation is like an earthquake.”  She pointed at herself. “Born in California.  Yet each time there's an earthquake, I panic.  They come with no warning and you never know if it’s the “big one” or just a little shaker.  Things rattle and maybe they fall off shelves.  It’s frightening, because you not expecting it.  That's what the first time Angel lost his soul was like.”  Buffy nodded her head in agreement.

 “Then there are aftershocks.  They don't scare me because they are usually smaller than the first quake and you know they are coming.  Your mind is prepared for them.  The panic factor is gone.  That's what this is.  An aftershock.  You know what's coming this time and you can prepare mentally for it.”

 Buffy looked to Angel with her hopeful spirit and it was melting his resolve.  “Willow is right.  I can prepare myself for this.  When did you want to do this?” she asked Willow.

 Willow gave Spike a triumphant look before answering.   “I need supplies and a room that you wouldn't mind if it got dirty.  I need running water and electricity.  Also, a Bunsen burner and a bunch of stuff that a magic shop would sell.  So I'd say two days.   That will give us time to work out details.”

 “Buffy, are you sure?”  Angel asked her.  He wanted this, to be free of the curse, but the thought of causing Buffy more pain...

 “Yes.”  Buffy got up and they stood facing each other.     She grabbed both of his hands in hers.  “We have a chance now and I want to take it.”

Next: Chapter Sixteen: V.E.T.H.