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Different Point of View

By Rach

"Are you okay?" Fred frowned, looking at Buffy. "You seem a little on edge."

Willow nodded. "Is there anything that's wrong?"

Buffy shook her head. "It's nothing." She looked up at Willow, who was staring intently at her. "It's nothing!" Willow continued to stare. "Alright, alright, stop with the third degree! It's Faith."

Fred shuffled out of her seat on the couch and sat down on the table in front of Buffy and Willow. "What about her?"

"I went to Angel's last night and Faith was there. They looked sort of ... intimate."

Willow looked shocked. "No way. I know what you're thinking and no way!" Fred looked from Buffy to Willow and back again, obviously missing something.

"You're right. Faith would never do that." Buffy spoke with a conviction she wished she felt.

"What would Faith never do?" The other two girls stared at her, until something clicked. "Oh. Oh! Sorry. Carry on."

Willow shook her head slightly and turned back to Buffy. "Faith would totally do that. Faith was built to do that. She's the do that girl."

"Comfort, remember comfort, here?" Buffy looked panicked.

"Please, does Angel come up to Faith's standards for a guy? Let's see, is he breathing?" Fred joined in.

Buffy looked at her. "Actually, no."

"Oh."

"But Buffy," Willow paused to make sure she had Buffy's full attention. "Buffy, this is Angel. There's no way he would ever do that."

"You're the only thing in the world to him." Fred stood up. "I'm sorry, I have to go help out in the library. Besides, I'm sure this conversation would go much better without me slowing it down. But Buffy, don't worry. I've seen how he looks at you, we all have. You just have to look at his actions."

"Thanks, Fred." Fred smiled and half-waved as she headed down the steps.

"Willow, what she said. About me being the only one for him. Sometimes I wonder. Angel and Faith have a lot in common. And there's so much he doesn't tell me."

"Well, what did he say?"

"Say? You mean when I straightforwardly asked him what was going on?"

"So you bailed?"

"I couldn't. I mean, not ..."

"Enough. Stop with the crazy. Go talk to Angel."

"But I ..."

"No. Go. I give you leave to go." Willow smiled and pointed towards the exit.

Buffy leaned down to give her best friend a hug. "Thank you."

Willow stood up as she watched Buffy leave, and then looked around her. She spotted Xander up ahead. "Hey Xander! Wait up!" She skipped down the steps towards him.

"Will, hey!" He looked around. "Where's Fred?"

"She said she was going to the library."

Xander nodded knowingly. "Gotta have Wes."

"She sure is spending a lot of time in there lately, and I'd like to think it's because there's some bigger than big evil to fight, which is something I never thought I'd hear myself say, but I'm pretty sure that's not it. Am I right?"

"I think you're right, Will."

"I mean, it's not that I can't see what she sees in him ..." Xander gave her a disbelieving look. "Well, okay, that's kinda what it is."

****

"Our enemy has us at a disadvantage. We seem to be consistently one step behind him. Now he has the Books of Ascension. We must take definitive action."

"By doing what? I mean, all we have from the Marenschadt text is one paragraph that would give the impression that this Ascension thing probably isn't all flowers and kittens." Fred slumped across the desk in despair.

Wesley sighed. "All we can do is, uh, research this thing until we come up with something, well, something else."

"Wesley, I've been researching so long my eyes are all blurry and I *think* there may be an army of ants about to take over the world."

Wesley smiled a little. "Ants?"

Fred giggled. "Either that, or I'm just way too tired. I'm putting my money on the second, although in this place, who knows!" She leaned back in her chair and hissed as her shoulders straightened out. "Ow."

"Is, uh, is something the matter?"

"I'm just a little stiff, is all." She paused for a second, before glancing up to meet his eyes and glancing away again just as quickly. "I don't suppose you could ... um, I mean ... I'd be really grateful if ..." she trailed off, and took a deep breath. She could feel her face burning. Wesley gently placed the book he'd been reading from onto the table, and stepped behind Fred's chair. Lowering his hands slowly onto her shoulders, he began to rub them.

"Was this what you had in mind?" He whispered, surprising himself.

"Mmm-hmm," she murmured in agreement, closing her eyes and relaxing into the chair as his fingers moved around her neck, working out the kinks and knots she'd felt building since she sat down. "And I said to him, 'you have the greatest voice. Have you ever thought about doing books on tape?' and then he -" Wesley visibly jumped away from Fred as Cordelia's voice floated down the corridor, and the library door swung open. "Oh. Are we interrupting? I mean, if the world's ending and all, I figured there'd be something important to do. But if you have time to go feeling up Fred, then..."

"Cordelia!" Wesley blushed furiously and hissed her name. Fred quickly pulled herself upright in her seat again and went back to studying the book in front of her.

"Nice and tactful, CC." Xander walked past her into the room, and was followed by Willow and Giles.

"Yes, let's, uh, let's try to stay on track. We need everyone working together here. Where's Buffy?" Wesley straightened his jacket, still shaken by how he'd let himself act.

"I'm here." She walked into the room, dropping her jacket over the back of a chair and sitting down.

"And Angel?" He queried, feeling the colour in his cheeks begin to fade.

"I don't know. I went to the mansion but he wasn't there."

"Faith?"

"She's missing too."

Willow spun around from the chair she was about to sit down in. "Which means nothing. Two unconnected events."

Fred let the babble of voices wash over her as she sunk back into her seat, pondering over what had just happened, and shivered. She wondered if he'd felt the spark she had, or if she was just imagining it. She shook her head slightly. This was ridiculous, she couldn't get involved with him even if he did feel it, which he probably didn't. He was Buffy's watcher, and he had duties. Plus she dreaded to think what her parents would say about the age difference. She tried to push the thoughts out of her head and concentrate on what was happening around her.

"Wesley, why don't you take the group and start looking?" Giles stood up.

"Right."

"Anyone mind if I skip the trip? I'm gonna cruise town, keep my ear to the ground, and I think five's a crowd." Xander looked at the couple and the would-be couple, and decided he was best out of it.

"Anyone finds anything, check in with me." Giles turned to Buffy. "Be careful."

****

"Hey, whoa." Oz called to the others, and pointed at the book he'd been holding.

"Whoa. Big hey whoa. Guys, check this out."

Fred came to stand behind Oz and looked at the picture Willow indicated. "Wow, like father, like son."

Oz pulled out a current picture of the Mayor. "How about like exact same guy, like exact same guy?" "Mayor Wilkins is over one hundred years old. He's not human." Wesley's face conveyed the worry he felt as he spoke.

"I, uh, hate to spoil the mood, but this is so much worse than you think." Willow turned as she heard Xander enter the room, and he crouched down beside Willow.

"Xander, what happened to you?" Fred asked.

Xander lowered his voice to a whisper. "You know how some people hate to say I told you so? Not me. I told you so. Angel's back, in the really bad sense, and uh, I told you so."

"Angelus has turned? Xander, this is terribly serious. Are you sure?"

"Gee, let me think. Kind of hard to tell. Last thing I remember was his fist."

"We must contact Giles immediately."

Xander looked at Wesley scornfully. "Good thinking. Let's waste time with a lively debate. Leave Buffy alone. See how dead she gets."

"Slow down, Xander. This isn't Wesley's fault." Fred hissed. She glanced up at him, and he gave her a half-smile for the support.

"Actually, it is. Faith was your responsibility. Guess who's Angel's new playmate?"

"Faith and Angel? Together?" Willow was shocked at how wrong she'd been about Angel.

"Imagine the possibilities."

*****

The gang burst into the library, startling Giles.

"What's wrong?" Everyone tried to answer him at once. "Okay, calm down! ONE at a TIME!"

"Big trouble." Fred began.

"See this?" Xander indicated his face. "It's thanks to Angel, or rather, thanks to Angelus."

"Angelus?"

"Yeah, Angelus. And, for the record," Xander smiled grimly. "I told you so."

Wesley watched the melee as everyone scrambled for weapons. He cleared his throat, only Fred paying attention. She smacked Xander on the arm.

"What?!" Fred pointed impatiently towards Wesley.

"Oh you gotta be kidding me," he groaned.

"Just listen to him, Xander."

"Thank you, Fred." Wesley turned to the others. "I know I can't stop you going after Angelus, and I'm also not saying I'd want to. But I just think it's important we have a plan."

"We do have a plan." Willow spoke sharply. "We go to the mansion, we find Faith and Angel - Angelus - and we kick some ass."

Xander nodded in agreement. "We leave it any longer, Buffy's gonna be dead, Wes. If there was ever a time for not planning ahead, this is it."

Giles stood up behind Wesley. "As much as I'm loathe to say it, I'm with him." Xander stopped dead. "I think this is exactly the time we should be planning. Who knows what Faith could be up to. Buffy can handle herself until we get there."

*****

Xander and Willow led the way up to the mansion, Wesley and Fred following behind with Oz. Xander flung the door open just as they heard Faith screaming.

"You played me. You played me!" She pushed Angel towards the gang, and they instinctively held him off with crosses. He stopped struggling, and everyone turned to look as Buffy and Faith fought. Fred held Wesley back as he started to go towards them, and he watched as his two Slayers reached a stand-off, each holding a knife to the other's throat.

"What are you gonna do, B, kill me? You become me. You're not ready for that, yet." Faith reached out and grabbed Buffy's neck, kissing her on the forehead before jumping out of the window and running out into the night.

Willow stepped cautiously to where Buffy now sat, exhausted, on the floor.

"Are you okay?"

****

Fred watched open-mouthed as Giles thanked the Mage.

"Peace with you." Giles smiled.

"And with you." The Mage nodded, and stepped backwards, fading into thin air.

"His debt to you is repaid? What did you do?" Willow asked, curiously.

"I introduced him to his wife." Fred smirked at the thought of Giles as a matchmaker.

"Well, I for one protest. You pitted Slayer against Slayer in a dangerous charade that could've gotten them both killed, without informing me!" Wesley looked the angriest Fred had seen him since he'd arrived. "I'm telling the Council!" He turned to leave the room, stopping when Giles' voice rang out.

"I think you should. We have a rogue Slayer on our hands. I can't think of anything more dangerous." Wesley looked down at his hands, embarrassed.

"At least now we know." Buffy looked around, still trying to sort out what had happened in her own head. Watching Angel with Faith had been a little too close to home, even though she'd known all throughout that it wasn't real.

Fred looked at Wesley, and smiled. "And we know a little bit more about the Ascension." She could tell he was relieved that someone was still on his side.

"Graduation day. There's a big scary un-fun. At least Angel's not bad, though. That's good, right?" Willow looked around, hopefully.

"Yes, I feel so much better knowing that he broke my face in a good way. It's a good bruise." Xander spat, angrily.

"He was only acting, Xander. It was just an act."

Chapter Four



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