itle: Happy New Year
Author: Kirsten Tapp
Feedback: [email protected]
Standard Disclaimer: Buffy, the vampire slayer doesn't not belong to the
author, but to Joss Whedon,
WB,etc. The characters of Cassandra, Jason, Chaos Trolls, Ivor The High
Priest of Treydon, Xycons and
Stephen however do belong to the author. No copyright infringement
intended.
Rating: PG - some graphical violence
HAPPY NEW YEAR
By Kirsten Tapp

New Year's Eve 2000

It was a beautiful day, more so for Buffy Summers as she knew that Angel
would be seeing the New Year
in with her. Cassandra had phoned this morning to let her know that Angel
and Cordellia had arrived
safely in the early hours of the morning.

For the first time since she had become the chosen one, Buffy was looking
forward to the sun setting and
the night coming. As she walked down the streets of Sunnydale, she smiled
at the living arrangements they
currently had. Angel would stay with Cassandra at her house. Buffy,
herself was sleeping on the sofa at
her mother's house as Joyce Summers had turned her daughter's bedroom into
an office. Cordellia was
staying at Giles' place and Willow was staying with Oz. Buffy and Willow
could have stayed at the dorm
but it was too far to travel. It was easier for Willow to stay with Oz as
his parents, who were as easy
going as he was, and had gone away for the holidays.

As she got closer to Giles' apartment, Buffy could smell the scent of
someone cooking something delicious
for breakfast. Letting herself into her former watcher's apartment, she saw
Giles rushing around the tiny
kitchen. Seated at the table was Cordellia reading a ancent looking book.
Even in blue jeans Cordellia
looked elegant, a talent Cassandra also had.

"Morning Cordy. Morning Giles." Buffy nodded to Giles as she took a seat
opposite Cordellia. "So did
you have a good trip?" Buffy turned back to Cordellia.

The attractive brunette looked up from the book and smiled. "I slept the
entire trip, Angel drove." She
frowned slightly. "Haven't you seen him yet?"

Buffy shook her head. "No. I figured he might be catching up on some
sleep. Cassandra phoned me this
morning. She said that you arrived early this morning. She sounded tired
so I thought it would be better if
I let them both sleep." It had been Buffy's first impulse to race across
the street to see Angel, but then she
remembered that Cassandra had been working at the museum all day and
fighting at Buffy's side for most
of the night. Cassandra would only need a few hours sleep, so Buffy had
decided to wait until later to
visit.

Cordellia nodded that she understood. "Yeah, Angel really isn't a morning
person is he?" As she realised
what she had just said, the expression on Cordellia's face changed. "I mean
except for the whole sun
turning him to a pile of ash thing."

Buffy smiled at Cordellia. "I know what you mean Cordellia." Buffy knew
Cordellia didn't mean to be
tactless, it just seemed to come naturally to her. She glanced over to
Giles. "So Giles, what's for
breakfast?"

Giles smiled at his former charge. "I gather last night's patrol gave you a
big appetite. What else brings
you here this morning?"

Buffy smiled back. "Yeah, Cassandra and I kicked some serious demon butt
last night." She chuckled.
"They might have stood a chance if they hadn't ruined Cass's shirt." Buffy
frowned. "Cassandra said they
were Xycons. They had razor blades for fingernails and an extra two arms,
not to mention really bad
breath. I think they are another in the exciting long line of lizard like
demons that we have all come to
know and love."

Giles smiled at Buffy's sacasium. "Yes, well, life in Sunnydale is never
boring, I suppose." He sat down at
the table with the two young women. "Xander phoned this morning. He
suggested that we all meet at the
Bronze tonight and then make up our minds where we are going to go from
there." To an outsider, it may
have seemed unusual for a man of Giles' maturity to be seen with a bunch of
college students. But few
knew that in that group of young people were two vampires, a werewolf
musician, a vampire slayer, a
witch, a barman / construction worker and a watcher and occasionally a demon
if Anya was allowed to tag
along as she would tonight.

Buffy nodded "Sounds like a plan." Although Giles could be a bit stuffy
sometimes, he was like a father
to her. Buffy enjoyed Giles' company most of the time and since her own
father refused to give her the
time of day, Giles was an excellent substitute. "Let's just hope we can all
see the New Year in without
having to fight something really disgusting."

Cordellia raised her glass of orange juice in a salute. "I'll drink to
that." She closed the book that she had
been reading and put it on the chair beside her. She looked over at Buffy
as she tucked into the scrambled
eggs on toast that Giles had put in front of her. "You don't think that we
are going to have trouble, do
you?"

Buffy shrugged her shoulders. "I don't think that we're going to have
trouble, but you never can tell when
you or Cassandra are going to have a vision." She sipped her orange juice.
Buffy frowned and looked
over at Giles. "You don't know about any demons that like to party at New
Year's, do you?"

Giles shook her head. "No. As far as I know, all we can expect are the
usual drunken louts that we
always encounter on public holidays."

New Year's should be spent with the people you love, but all it did for
Giles was remind him that Jenny
was no longer alive and the memory of Cassandra in demon form, a vision he
could not seem to shake.
Giles had to admire Buffy. She loved Angel so much that she could look past
the demon inside him.
Although Giles cared deeply about Cassandra, he could not forget for a
moment that she was a vampire.
What hurt Giles the most was everytime he looked into Cassandra's beautiful
blue eyes, he saw that she
knew why he rejected her as anything else other than a friend. He saw that
she understood as well.

Buffy waved her hand in front of Giles' face. "Hey. You still in there?"
She relaxed when Giles smiled at
her. "O.K. Let's all get into the party mood." She stood up. "Now, I hate
to eat and run but I have a
couple of vampires to visit."

They waved good bye to Buffy as she turned and walked out of the door and
headed for Cassandra's
house. Buffy made sure that she entered Cassandra's through the garage and
in the backdoor just in case
Cassandra or Angel were sitting near the front door or in the line of direct
sunlight. She stopped to put the
kettle on and she walked towards the living room. There was no sign of
Angel or Cassandra, so Buffy
assumed that they were both still asleep. Seating herself down on the sofa,
Buffy reached for the book on
the coffee table. The book had some interesting looking symbols on the
cover.

"Into the darkness: The Ultimate Book of Magic Spells and Curses. Well, at
least it has a gripping title."
As Buffy opened the book, an elegant arm reached over her shoulder and
gently took it off of her.

"Careful what you read, you could accidentally cast a spell." Cassandra
stood behind Buffy, holding the
book. She even looked good in her dressing gown. The Princess didn't have
one hair out of place.
"Angel is still asleep, but you know that you are welcome to wait."

Buffy smiled at her friend. "Powerful book."

Cassandra smiled back. "You have no idea." She looked over at the kitchen.
"Did you put the kettle on?"

Buffy got up and walked over to the kitchen and made a pot of tea. "Yeah,
I thought that you might like
something other than blood to drink when you woke up."

"That's very kind of you." Cassandra was touched that Buffy had been so
considerate. "This book could
be very dangerous in the wrong hands, or rather in inexperienced hands. I
am sort of hiding this particular
book from Willow."

Buffy understood. There were enough problems in Sunnydale as it was,
without anyone accidentally
bringing forth anymore weird and wonderful creatures. "So was the book a
gift?"

Cassandra shook her head. "No, actually there are a few curses that I
thought I might try to break." She
saw the look on Buffy's face. "Don't get your hopes up and I haven't told
Angel what I am trying to do
either. I didn't want anyone to know until I found something useful."

Buffy's expression changed to disappointment. "I'm guessing that you haven'
t found anything as yet."

Cassandra shook her head. "No. I'm sorry to say. I haven't found anything
that doesn't have an even
worse side effect than the curse already has."

"At least you're trying to find a cure." Buffy smiled her thanks. "I've
got to know, do you actually see
Angel and I having a future together." Buffy poured the Princess a cup of
tea.

Cassandra nodded. "I do now. When I first arrived in Sunnydale, I didn't.
Now I can see you both
having a long and happy future together. I don't, however, know when that
will begin and be warned, the
future can be changed, the past can't."

As Cassandra sat down and started to drink her tea, the door to the room
next to hers opened and out
walked Angel, dressed only in a pair of sweatpants. He was still half
asleep as he bent over the back of the
sofa to kiss Cassandra on the top of her head. "Morning Cass." He paused
long enough to see the
Princess nod good morning and smile before walking over to Buffy and
wrapping his arms around her. He
tenderly kissed her before taking a step backwards to admire the vision in
front of him. "For a moment
there I thought I was still dreaming." He pulled her back into his embrace.

"Angel, do want to use the bathroom first because I have to make an
appearance at the museum."
Cassandra waited until Angel shook his head, before putting the book into
her bedroom and walking into
the bathroom, shutting the door behind her.

Buffy clung onto Angel not wanting to let him go. "It seems like years
since I last saw you instead of a
week." It always felt so safe being in Angel's arms, but the reality was
that it was probably the most
dangerous place for either of them to be.

Angel smiled and kissed her forehead. "I know what you mean." It had
seemed as though the week had
stretched on forever.

They were still holding onto each other when the Princess emerged from the
bathroom. Careful not to
distrube them, Cassandra went into her room and changed, before leaving the
house via the garage. She
would spend a couple of hours at the museum and then go home and change for
the celebrations that night.
Cassandra had a sneaking suspicion that Buffy and Angel would still be in
the same place she had left them
when she got home. She pitied them. It was the closest they could get
until the curse was broken.
Cassandra had spent three incredible years with Stephen and the only
restrictions on their relationship were
the three nights that Stephen turned into a weretiger and the fact that
Cassandra couldn't go into the
sunlight. No outsiders had ever questioned as to why Stephen's girlfriend
was never seen during the day.
As the years went on, Cassandra had explained away her need to be kept in
the dark. Her excuse had been
a rare skin disorder and because of her innocent looks nobody had ever
thought to check her story.
Cassandra had managed to put on a cheerful face when she had people around
her. It was when she was
alone that the smile faded, but there were never tears. It was almost as if
it were programmed into her
from birth. Never cry, never show a weakness. It was a lesson she had
learned well, too well.

It had been decided at the last minute, that they would all meet at
Cassandra's house instead, then they
would move onto the Bronze. The women had dressed in brightly coloured
cocktail dresses. Buffy was
dressed in green, Cordellia in red, Willow in copper and Cassandra in
purple. The guys had dressed in
casual suits, so that they looked smart but comfortable. People looked
admiringly as the group made their
way along the darkened streets. They just looked like your average group of
young people instead of the
fighting unit they were. They paused briefly to make sure nothing was
rising from the cemetery. For
Buffy and Angel it was a rare chance to be like any other couple. Anya had
met them all at the Bronze and
now she and Xander were on the dance floor. Giles had danced with
Cassandra, but now sat at one of the
tables minding everyone's coats and purses. Cordellia hadn't stopped
dancing since they had all arrived.

Cassandra briefly disappeared out the back of the Bronze when she spotted a
vampire. She quickly
disposed of it and returned to the party. As she walked back into the
Bronze, the Princess walked straight
into Spike. "Good Evening, Your Royal Highness. Care to dance?" The white
haired vampire held out
his hand.

Cassandra raised an eyebrow. "And why would I want to dance with you?"

Spike looked slightly offended. "Well, I have some news, I think you might
want to hear." He looked
around him. "I don't think that it is something all of these nice people
want to hear."

Reluctantly, Cassandra allowed Spike to lead her to the dance floor. As
they swayed slowly to the music,
Cassandra tensed up. This was closer than she had ever wanted to be to
Spike. She looked him straight in
the eye. "So what is this news that you thought that I would be eager to
hear?"

Spike tried to move closer to the Princess, but he saw the dangerous look of
caution on her face and he
knew why. The last time he had got that close to her neck, he had killed
her. "Drusilla's back in town."
The Princess' face remained blank of any expression, but Spike knew that
this news troubled her. "There's
only one reason why Drusilla would come back here." Still no reaction from
the Princess. "That would be
that she has found a way to destroy you and the slayer."

Cassandra was troubled by this news, but there was no way she would allow
Spike to see it. "I don't
suppose you know what this plan is." Spike shook his head. "Well, if she
ruins another of my outfits there
will be hell to pay." With that she walked away from Spike and over to
Giles.

As Spike watched, Cassandra started to fill Giles in on what Spike had told
her. The countdown to
midnight had begun and Giles was having trouble hearing what Cassandra was
saying. Finally Cassandra
grabbed a pad and a pen off of a passing waiter. The horror of what he had
read on the piece of paper did
show on Giles' face. Couples around them were kissing each other Happy New
Year.

An explosion from outside instantly put a stop to the celebrations. "Well,
I suppose that's one way to see
the new year in with a bang." Giles searched the room for his young
friends, only to find that they were all
heading towards him. That was except for Buffy and Angel. "Has anyone seen
Buffy and Angel?" Giles
was worried that they were missing together.

Xander spotted them first. He reached out and tapped Giles on the shoulder.
"Relax man." He pointed
over to the stage. "They just haven't come up for air yet."

Sure enough, Buffy and Angel had been so wrapped up in each other that they
hadn't noticed that
everyone else had run outside to see what the explosion was. Cassandra
chuckled to herself. Slowly she
walked up to the couple and tapped Angel on the shoulder. "Sorry to
interrupt your celebrations, but
Drusilla's back in town." Another explosion outside made the walls shake.

Buffy rolled her eyes skyward. "Looks like a job for the noise police."
She marched towards the door,
grabbing her coat as she went.

"Here we go again." Angel grabbed his own coat and handed Cassandra hers
before marching after Buffy.

As they all followed Buffy out of the Bronze, Giles helped Cassandra with
her coat. The temperature had
cooled considerably since they had arrived at the Bronze. There were
explosions going off all around
them.

"Look." Willow grabbed hold of Oz's arm. "I think I have one of those in
my room." They all turned to
see what she was talking about. Running around in the darkness were trolls
the size of five year old
children. Each troll had different coloured hair just like the toys.

"This can't be good." Oz's words echoed everyone's thoughts. The trolls
seemed to have small
explosives that they were throwing about. They were having the time of
their lives, giggling madly.

Cordellia crossed her arms across her chest. "You'd think we could have at
least one day off in the year."
She screamed when a blue haired troll grabbed her leg. The troll soon let
go when Cordellia kicked it with
her free leg. "Ew. I can't believe that disgusting little thing touched
me."

Anya looked around her in disgust. "Who let the chaos trolls out?" She
inched closer to Xander, who put
his arm protectively around her shoulders.

"What do you mean let out." Xander looked down at his girlfriend. "Does
someone usually keep them in
a cage?"

"No. Chaos trolls dwell in caves under the ground." Anya realised that she
was the centre of attention and
she was starting to enjoy it. "Ivor, the high priest of Treydon had them
bound to their caves after they
almost destroyed an entire city."

"I think I know who released them." Cassandra's voice cut through the air
like a knife. Her eyes were
glowing an electric blue.

Spike looked over Cassandra's shoulder. "I told you Dru was back in town."
There had been a time when
Spike would have been overjoyed to see Drusilla. He, at one time would have
joined in without a
moments hesitation with her trouble making. But Dru had hurt him one time
too many and now he would
join in the fight against her.

Buffy took the stake from where she had strapped it to her thigh. "Let's
finish this quickly so that we can
go back to the party."

Angel noticed, as he followed Buffy, that Cassandra wasn't following him.
"Cass, what is it?" He
frowned at his friend, then he realised she was having a vision. When the
Princess looked up at him, he felt
fear gripping his unbeating heart.

"Buffy, wait. It's a trap." Cassandra raced towards Buffy with Angel just
behind her. A group of trolls
ran infront of Angel, increasing the distance between he and Cassandra.
Although Angel made short work
of the trolls, he was too late. An explosion brought a nearby monument
crashing down on the two
women. As they watched the giant tones fall on their friends, the group saw
Cassandra push Buffy to the
ground and raise her own hand, as what looked like a blue glob creating a
tomb around Buffy and
Cassandra.

"No!" Angel watched in horror as the two women he loved were buried alive.
He turned to face Drusilla,
his face transferred into it's demon form. The guilt that he felt for
Drusilla's insanity was overcome with
the rage that she was taking such pleasure in hurting Buffy and Cassandra.

Drusilla could see the rage in Angel's eyes and she realised that this time
she had pushed her luck too far.
The look of joy faded from her face. She turned to run but found her escape
route blocked by Xander and
Spike. "Traitor." She lunged at Spike, who easily back handed her, sending
her sprawling on the ground.
Drusilla banged her hands on the ground like a child having a tantrum. When
she looked up, she saw
Angel standing above her. "You're too late. They're dead." She spat the
words out.

"No, they're not." Cordellia walked up beside Angel. She looked down at
the surprised look on Drusilla's
face. "What. You think that you're the only one who has visions. Please."
She cast Drusilla an irritated
look. "It's not such an original gift these days."

"I have an idea." Giles had now joined them with Willow and Anya at his
side. "Willow and Anya can
bind the trolls back to their cave." He turned to Angel. "Why don't we
bind Drusilla with them."

Angel shook his head. "Not until Buffy and Cassandra are safe." He made
his way to the pile of stones.
One by one he started to move the stones, pausing for a moment when he saw
Xander, Giles, Oz and Spike
join him.

Drusilla saw a chance to escape. She knew that if Cordellia was wrong and
Buffy and Cassandra were
dead, Angel would rip her apart with his bare hands. As she made a run for
it, Drusilla felt her body slam
up against a wall, knocking her backwards.

"You didn't think that I would have already anticipated that you would do
that, did you?" Willow grinned
at Drusilla.

Inside their own private tomb Cassandra sat on the cold ground with Buffy's
head in her lap. Buffy had
been hit by a falling stone before Cassandra had managed to get a force
field up. Cassandra was getting
more and more concerned by the moment as Buffy hadn't regained
consciousness. "Come on Buffy, wake
up. Remember that long future that you and Angel have to look forward to,
you need to open your eyes if
you are going to enjoy it together. Damn it, wake up. Who the hell am I
going to get to look after Wolf
when I have to go out of town." The last part had been pure desperation on
Cassandra's part to get Buffy
to wake up.

Buffy coughed, gasping for air. "Angel." Her voice was barely a whisper.

"Open your eyes Buffy. Angel's coming for us." Cassandra stroked the hair
out of her friend's face. "I
need you to open your eyes." Cassandra could hear their friends frantically
digging them out.

Slowly Buffy opened her green eyes and looked up at Cassandra. "Cass, are
you in here. I can't see you."

Cassandra waved her hand in front of Buffy's face. Buffy didn't blink and
the glow from the dome that
Cassandra had created was lighting up the tomb. "Buffy, can you see
anything at all?"

Buffy's eyes darted around her. "No. I can't see anything. Oh God. I'm
blind." Her voice rose in panic.

Cassandra held onto Buffy's hand and tried to calm her down. "Buffy, I'm
sure that it's temporary. Just
lie still. I can hear the others digging us out. You just have to hang
on." Cassandra had no idea why
Buffy couldn't see, otherwise she would have healed her, herself. "You
know, Slayers naturally heal
quickly, so I'm sure that your eye sight will return shortly." But
Cassandra wasn't sure.

Buffy clung onto Cassandra's hand as if it were her life line. "You're
right. This is just temporary."

Cassandra closed her eyes and concentrated. For her to be able to keep the
dome around Buffy and herself
as well as get a message out to Angel she would have to have complete
concentration.

Angel and the others were moving the stones as fast as they could, but as
soon as they moved one stone,
another fell into it's place. "Angel." The voice seemed to be coming from
behind him. Angel turned to
see Cassandra's shimmering silhouette standing before him. "Oh my God,
Cass, are you..." He couldn't
even bring himself to say the word.

The silhouette raised an eyebrow at him in annoyance. "Dead? No. Will you
guys hurry up and get us
out." Cassandra's expression changed to concern. "Angel, Buffy can't see
and I don't know why, so I
can't fix it." The silhouette disappeared as quickly as she had appeared.

Angel turned back to the pile of stones. "OK guys, let's get them out
before the sun comes up." The
others nodded their agreement and sped up their efforts. Anya and Willow
joined in to speed things up.
They were all shocked to see Buffy lying on the ground with her head resting
in Cassandra's lap.

As soon as Cassandra saw that the stones were clear, she removed the dome
around them. She leaned
over so that she was closer to Buffy's ear. She spoke quietly and calmly so
as not to frighten Buffy.
"Buffy. Angel's here. I'm going to let him carry you out of here. OK?"

Buffy reached up with her spare hand and allowed Angel to help her up while
still holding on to Cassandra
with her other hand. Angel swung easily into his arms. Willow and Anya
started the binding spell while
the others watched, just incase Drusilla tried anything. Drusilla went
kicking and screaming, but Anya and
Willow managed to bind the trolls and Drusilla easily. They all headed to
the hospital and waited while the
doctor checked Buffy over. As expected the doctor sent her for a Cat scan.
Although the sun had risen
neither Angel nor Cassandra wanted to leave until they knew what was wrong
with Buffy.

It was nearly midday by the time the doctor finally came to tell them what
was going on. The knock to the
head that Buffy had taken, had caused some swelling. The doctor was sure
that once the swelling went
down, Buffy's eye sight would return. The doctor seemed more concerned
about the cuts and bruises on
Cassandra's body. What confused the doctor the most was the way nobody in
the group would allow the
doctor to check Cassandra's wounds.

Oz and Willow drove Cassandra's car into the ambulance bay so that Angel and
Cassandra could get out
of the hospital safely.

Buffy had not wanted to stay in the hospital, so Giles had led her out to
his car and drove her to
Cassandra's house. Buffy had not wanted to worry her mother, so everyone
had agreed the safest place
would be with the Princess.

Angel settled Buffy into the room that he used when he stayed with the
Princess. He sat by Buffy's side
holding her hand while she slept. Cassandra checked on them before soaking
herself in a hot bubble bath.
It had been a trying day for her. It had been unbearable for Cassandra when
she had lost Stephen. Last
night had been just as difficult, when, for a moment, Cassandra had thought
that she would loose a friend.
As she sunk deeper into the hot water, Cassandra heard the bathroom door
open. Angel walked over and
sat by the bathtub.

"You saved her life." Angel reached out for her hand. Slowly Cassandra
raised her hand out of the soapy
water and placed it in his. Angel raised her dainty hand to his lips and
kissed it. "Thank you. She is my
life."

Cassandra squeezed his hand. "You have much to do with your life, Angel.
Buffy will wait for you. I
know that there is a cure for your curse, I just haven't found it yet."

Angel nodded that he understood. He rose from his place on the floor and
went back to sit by Buffy's
side. He didn't want her to wake alone in her own private darkness. He
could only imagine what she was
going through at the moment.

Night fell on Sunnydale and Angel walked around the quiet house. Both
Cassandra and Buffy were
sleeping and Angel was feeling restless. There was nothing he could do for
Buffy, but be there for
support. The Princess' wounds had healed but she was tired from the events
of the previous night. They
had agreed that it would be best if Buffy gained her eye sight back
naturally. If Cassandra were to heal
Buffy with magic, there could be side effects. As intelligent as Cassandra
was, she had no idea of the
workings of the human brain which could cause problems with the healing
spell. The sound of the back
door opening pulled Angel back from his thoughts. However, Angel had not
been prepared to see Spike
standing in front of him. "What do you want?" Angel was not in the mood
for a debate with Spike.

Spike actually looked injured at the question. He had disappeared at the
hospital shortly before sun up. "I
came to see how the Slayer and the Princess are." Spike wondered if he
would get the same reaction from
Cassandra. He looked down at the ground. "She'll never forgive me for
killing her boyfriend, will she."
He looked back up at Angel, sorrow written across his face.

Angel took a deep breath. "I think that Cassy forgave you years ago."
Angel saw the look of hope on
Spike's face, but Angel shook his head. "She will never forget, Spike."

Spike nodded that he understood. "I gather the Slayer hasn't regained her
sight?" Angel shook his head.
Spike grinned at his former friend. "Not to worry. She's a tough little
thing, that one. She'll get her sight
back soon."

Strangely enough, Spike's words were very comforting. "Thanks. I'm sure
that you're right.' Angel
walked back into the bedroom where he could hear Buffy stirring. Angel
needed some sleep himself, but
he did not want to leave Buffy alone or with Spike. A few moments later,
the bedroom door opened and
Giles walked in.

"Why don't I sit with Buffy for a while, so that you can get some rest."
Giles saw the vampire hesitate.
"You won't do her any good, if you're exhausted."

"Go and get some rest Angel." Buffy opened her eyes and reached for his
hand. "Giles will keep an eye
on me." She reached her hand up to touch Angel's face. "Cassandra will be
awake soon. Anything Giles
can't help me with, I'm sure she will."

"Alright." Angel stood and kissed her on the forehead. "I won't be far
away." When Angel left the room
he found Willow, Oz, Cordellia, Xander and Anya, all sitting in the living
room, with Spike serving coffee
and biscuits which he had found in the cupboard. Angel would have found
this a highly amusing sight if he
hadn't been so worried about Buffy. He quietly walked into the Princess'
room. So as not to startle the
sleeping Princess, Angel moved carefully up beside her bed.

Cassandra slowly opened her eyes. "You look tired." Her face full of
concern for her friend. As always,
Cassandra moved with great elegance. She swung her long legs out of the bed
and put her dressing gown
on. "Here. Use my bed. I will wake you if we need you."

Angel kissed his friend on the cheek before toppling into the bed. He fell
asleep almost as soon as his head
touched the pillow. His dreams as always were filled with Buffy and the
hope that one day they would
both have the life together that they so desparately wanted.
"Angel. It's time to wake up." The soft English accented voice crept
through his dreams. "Angel.
Buffy's eye sight is returning." Angel opened his eyes to see Cassandra's
face framed by her long red hair.
She smiled down at him. "Time to wake up, sleepy head." Cassandra reached
out her hand and led Angel
out into the living room.

Buffy looked up from where she was seated surrounded by their friends. "Now
there is a sight for sore
eyes." Cautiously she stood and waked over to Angel. She smiled as she
touched his face to make sure
what she was seeing was actually there. "That has to be the scariest twenty
four hours of my life." Buffy
stood on tip toes to plant a kiss on Angel's lips. "Thanks for staying with
me."

Angel wrapped his arms around the tiny Slayer, never wanting to let her go.
"There's no place I'd rather
be." It was true even though Angel knew that he would have to go back to
LA. There had to be a way to
make it work.

The group decided to give Angel and Buffy some time alone, so they all armed
themselves and went out on
patrol. It was strange to have Spike and Anya helping them patrol, but
after last nights activities, they
needed all the help they could get. It turned out to be a quiet night so
they all headed to the Bronze. Oz
and Willow spent most of the evening on the dance floor. Xander and Anya
disappeared out the back of
the Bronze for a couple of hours but nobody asked where they had been,
mainly because the whole idea of
Xander's coupling with the demon made them cringe. Anya had caused more
than her fair share of trouble
for them.

"You don't look too bothered that your girlfriend is bound to a cave with a
group of trolls." It had been
bothering Giles since last night.

Spike shook his head. "There's only so many times that you can be hurt by
one person before you decide
the relationship isn't worth wasting the time and energy." He looked Giles
straight in the eye. "You didn't
think that I would let Dru use me as a door mat to wipe her feet on forever,
did you?"

Giles smiled. "No, but with you, you never can tell. You tend to be full
of surprises." Although the white
haired vampire had helped them all on several occasions, Giles couldn't
bring himself to trust him.

Cassandra and Cordellia excused themselves to go and join Willow and Oz on
the dancefloor. They were
instantly surrounded by would be dance partners.

Spike watched Cassandra move to the music. "Here's another surprise for
you. She is the reason I helped
out the other night, but" he turned back to Giles "She will never forget
that I killed the one man she ever
loved."

Giles knew how that felt. He had long ago forgiven Angel for killing Jenny,
but he could not forget. If it
weren't for the fact that Angel was like a brother to Cassandra and Buffy
loved Angel, then Giles would
have avoided Angel like the plague.

"Trouble's coming guys." Cordellia was standing by Giles and Spike, but she
was looking in Cassandra's
direction. "Isn't that Buffy's doctor?"

Willow and Oz had obviously noticed the same thing because Willow reached
out to grab Xander's arm as
he and Anya walked past them. Oz nodded in Cassandra's direction when
Xander shot them a questioning
look.

Before anyone could move towards Cassandra, where Buffy's doctor was
obviously questioning as to how
Cassandra had healed so quickly, Angel walked up to Cassandra and threw his
arm around her. "Hey Sis.
We were wondering where you all had gotten to." Buffy was holding onto his
other hand.

The doctor raised an eyebrow. "You two are brother and sister?"

Cassandra smiled sweetly. "I'm adopted." She turned and walked over to
Giles and Spike, dragging
Angel and Buffy with her. "I think it's time we left." Cassandra always
made an escape route sound like
friendly suggestion.

"Wait." The doctor's voice stopped them in their tracks. Slowly they all
turned around. He walked up to
Cassandra and extended his hand. "My name is James." Cassandra shook his
hand and waited for an
explanation. "Would you like to have dinner with me sometime?"

Cassandra looked at her friends before looking at James. "You're asking me
out on a date?" James
nodded. "That's very sweet, but I work unusual hours."

James smiled. "So do I."

Angel stepped in between Cassandra and James. "I'll bet." He waited until
Cassandra slipped her hand
into his and then they all walked out as a group. "Where do you find these
guys Princess." He grinned
down at his tiny friend.

"Hey, you're the one who's in love with your Slayer." Cassandra chuckled.
"So are you going to stay one
more day?"

Angel nodded. "If that's alright with you." He wanted to spend as much
time with Buffy as he could
before he and Cordellia had to head back to LA.

Cassandra smiled up at her friend. "Of course it is." She would miss him
almost as much as Buffy would
when he went back to LA. "It's a damn shame I will be at work all day.
Maybe Buffy can keep you
company."

Buffy chuckled. "It's a tough job but I think that I can manage." She was
grateful for anytime they could
spend together.

"Well, as trilling as I find watching men trying to pick the Princess up, I
think that it's time I went home."
Spike bowed to the Princess. "Good night Your Royal Highness." Then he
turned and disappeared into
the night.

"Is it just me or is he starting to bond with us." Cordellia's voice
pierced the air. "Ew. The mear thought
makes me cringe."

"Yes, well, we had an enlightening conversation tonight." Giles pushed his
glasses back up his nose. "I
must admit now that I think about it, it was rather strange."

"Well, we certainly brought the New Year in with a bang." Xander put his
arm around Anya's shoulders.
"I vote next year we see the New Year in quietly."

They all nodded in agreement. One by one they split up and went their
separate ways. For one night at
least, all was well with their world.

THE END