The same Beginning…a different End.

“Hey!”
A fist plunged into Caleb’s face, sending him flattened to the ground.
Angel smirked as the preacher hit the floor.
“ I was never one for preachers,” he said smugly.
Buffy gasped, shocked – Angel was the last person on Earth she expected to see here.
“ Angel?”
“ You look good,” he said, and he meant it.
“ You look timely,” smiled Buffy, knowing that without him arriving at that exact moment, she might…
“ And also good.” Angel smiled at Buffy’s speech. He’d grown to miss it over the years.
“ Heard maybe you needed a hand.”
Caleb rose to his feet. Angel tensed himself to attack the preacher but Buffy stopped him.
“ Ah,” he said, smiling. “One of those things you have to finish yourself?”
She nodded. “Really kinda is.”
He backed away, leaning casually against a pillar; far enough away not to hinder Buffy but close enough to get a good view of the fight.
Caleb took a few steps towards Buffy.
Angel let out a breath of pure emotion – he couldn’t name it. Joy at seeing Buffy again, and the utter belief that everything was going to be just fine.
He looked over at Caleb. “You are so gonna lose!”
Angel didn’t even register them sparring. All he saw was Buffy.
“ God, I missed watching this,” he said dreamily.
Suddenly Buffy sliced the scythe she held at Caleb, tearing his stomach open.
He stumbled back, laughing heartily. He wagged a finger at Buffy, and for a second Angel thought he was just going to keep going. Like one of those pink rabbits he kept seeing.
But he collapsed backwards, dead.
“ See?” said Buffy. “Under control.” She smiled at him.
“ Well,” Angel said, feigning disinterest, “At least you could tell me you’re glad to see me.”
He took a step towards her, and she dropped the scythe, embracing him in a deep and passionate kiss.
After a couple of moments, Angel pulled away.
“ Well,” he said, the vampire equivalent of breathless. “I guess that qualifies as ‘happy to see me’.” He smiled at her.
She looked into his eyes. “Angel…what are you doing…?” She shook her head. “Don’t even. I just want to bask.” She looked at him for a few moments more, drinking in every feature of his face.
She shook her head, snapping herself out of it.
“ Okay, I’m basked. What are you doing here?”
Angel looked at the destroyed tomb. “Not saving the damsel in distress, that’s for sure.”
“ Oh, you know me.” She broke away from his embrace, knelt down and picked the scythe up from the cold, concrete floor. “Not much with the damseling.”
“ Got your share of distress, though.” He paced to the wall.
“ You heard?” Buffy asked, slightly despondent.
Angel stooped to pick up a folder from a bench near the wall.
“ I got coverage on the whole thing. It’s very gripping,” he said, then considered. “It needs a third act.”
Buffy shook her head at him. “You have to leave L.A.”
“ It’s the First, right?” asked Angel, rhetorically. “The First evil. The power that tried to convince me to kill myself.” Images still haunted him of that terrible encounter – he had succumbed to its will and wandered out to let the dawn take him. Buffy had found him, but too late for him to survive the sunrise…except it never came. Almost unnatural snow clouded the sky and he and Buffy wandered the streets in the daylight hours for the first time.
“ Yeah,” said Buffy. “It’s gotten a little more ambitious since then. It’s raising an army.”
“ Yeah,” said Angel with conviction, “Well, it failed once, and I’m here to tell you - ”
He fell, to the ground, stunned. Caleb stood above him with a statue in his hands, black blood dripping down his face.
“ Are you ready to finish this, bitch!?”

Buffy jumped, not expecting Caleb to be so…alive. Before she could register what had happened, he swung at her with the statue and instinct took over. She brought the scythe up to block his attack and they broke away. She swung at him but he blocked her attack with the statue. He pushed with the statue, sending her off balance and tumbling to the ground. He threw the statue, but missed. Buffy scrambled to her feet.
“ Okay,” she said, breathing heavily. “How many times do I have to kill you?”
Caleb scowled. “You understand nothing!”
She swung the scythe but he grabbed it mid swing and punched her in the face, hard, once and then again. He tensed and lifted her into the air, pressing her against the ceiling, Buffy struggling to free herself.
Caleb let go of her and she plummeted to the ground, and grabbed her by her lapels.
“ You think you have power over me?” She could tell he was enraged, maybe he had some kind of male superiority complex issues going on.
She broke free and swung out with her foot, sending him crashing to the floor. She scrambled up and wielded the scythe in a defensive position.
“ Stupid girl,” said Caleb, grunting now. “You’ll never stop me.” He rose to his feet and sneered in utter contempt. “You don’t have the ba-”
‘ Definitely a mall superiority thing,’ thought Buffy, and suddenly growing tired of all of the death and misery this hypocrite had imposed on her life in such a short amount of time, swung with all her strength and hate for this man and brought the scythe up where it’d really hurt.
Caleb’s eyes went wide.
Buffy gave him a sneer of her own.
“ Who does nowadays?”
Caleb looked down, incredulous, at the scythe, and Buffy brought it up through his body, and up through his head.
He fell down onto the ground.
She felt an overwhelming joy then, that this cruel and wicked man had finally been brought to justice.

Angel stumbled to his feet, asking groggily, “Okay, now I’m pissed, where is he?”
Buffy looked around the tomb. “He had to split,” she said with a wicked little giggle.
Angel smirked and picked up the folder again, bringing it to Buffy.
“ I’ll have the guys go through that. See if there’s anything new. Reliable source?” she asked.
“ Not remotely,” Angel replied, thinking of Lilah and the Devil’s Deal he’d just made with Wolfram and Hart.
Buffy nodded. “Any port in an Apocalypse…”
“ I, uh…” said Angel, reaching into his pocket. “I brought something else, too.” He held up a pendant for Buffy to see.
She looked at him, incredulity written all over her face. “I can tell you already, I have nothing that goes with that.”
“ It’s not for you,” said Angel.
“ Splainy?” asked Buffy.
“ I don’t know everything…It’s very powerful and probably very dangerous. It has a purifying power, a cleansing power, possibly scrubbing bubbles. The translation isn’t…” he paused, not wanting to bore her with the details. “Uh, anyway, it bestows strength to the right person who uses it.”
“ And the right person is?”
“ Someone ensouled, but stronger than human. A champion. As in me.”
“ Or me.”
Angel shook his head. “No. I don’t know nearly enough about this to risk you wearing it. Besides,” he said, looking at the scythe. “You’ve got that real cool…axe-thing going for you.”
“ So you’re gonna be with me in this?” asked Buffy.
“ Shoulder to shoulder,” said Angel proudly. “I’m yours.”
“ No,” said Buffy.
“ No?” asked Angel.
“ No,” reiterated Buffy. You’re not gonna be in this fight.” She started to walk away.
Angel stopped her. “Why the hell not?”
“ Because I can’t risk you,” said Buffy simply.
“ I think that should be my decision,” argued Angel. “Besides, you need me in this!”
“ No,” said Buffy, her temper starting to rise, “I need you gone.”
“ No,” said Angel, who also felt the heat of anger. “I trawl all the way down here, there’s no way I’m going back to L.A., do you even have any idea how difficult this has been, all the organising it’s taken?”
They looked each other eye to eye.
“ Huh?” asked Buffy after a beat.
Angel’s facial expression froze for a moment as he recalled their conversation. Then he thought of something.
“ Oh.”
“ Huh?” asked Buffy again.
Angel shrugged sheepishly. “I, uh…I kinda brought something else too, as well as…” he gestured towards the amulet.
“ What?” asked Buffy.
He gestured to the doorway.
She opened the door to the tomb.
A large military vehicle sat outside, with a couple of soldiers puttering around with something or other.
“ Wow,” said Buffy.
“ Yeah,” admitted Angel, “I kinda recently came into…uhm…a law firm, and - ”
“ You brought people!” she exclaimed.
“ Yeah,” said Angel.
“ And weapons?”
“ Yeah.”
“ Great. A law firm?” she asked, suddenly angry and anxious. “THE law firm?”
“ Yeah,” said Angel, a bit confused.
“ Oh. Well, I’m sure you had your reasons…” she said, admiring the weaponry the soldiers carried.
“ Are they..?” she asked suddenly.
“ Evil?” She nodded. “No. We only brought guys we knew were clean.”
“ We?” she asked.
“ Oh yeah, the whole gang’s here,” Angel grinned.
“ Great,” she whispered.
“ Now you just have to load me up into the Hellmouth, kick some ass, let that amulet do the trick and - ”
“ No, Angel, we don’t even know what that amulet is or what it’ll do. I can’t risk…I can’t risk losing you again.”
“ But it’s a pretty specific job description, Buffy.” He ticked off on his fingers. “Champion, ensouled, greater than human.” He pretended to think for a moment. “Yeah, that’s pretty much me and…hmm, me, to choose from.”
“ Well Spike - ” Buffy stopped herself.
“ Spike?” asked Angel. “What about Spike?”
“ Well…he has a soul now.”
“ Oh.”
There was a brief pause.
“ What’s wrong?”
“ Well, I mean I thought something was up, I smelled him on you before, are you going out or something? He your boyfriend? Are you in love with him even? I mean I remember a time when being a vampire with a soul was a fairly unique thing, but now - ”
“ – Are you quite finished?” interrupted Buffy.
Angel paused.
“ Yeah.”
“ Look, I know this is a lot to lump on you all at once, but let’s remember for a second that you’re in my town and - ”
Angel blinked in surprise. “ – What? I saved your life in there!”
Buffy put up her hands. “Look! I’m not going through this with you now. It’s too much all at once.”
They stepped apart from each other and gave each other a few seconds.
“ I will explain all of this to you later…just…give it time.”
Angel nodded, allowing the conversation to carry on past Spike, and not into an argument.
“ Who have you brought along?”
Angel smiled. “Why don’t you come and meet them?”

They walked towards the large vehicle and a mass of people tumbled out.
One of them a demon.
Buffy went on automatic attack mode, leaping forward to pummel the green skinned, red horned demon dressed in a fancy suit.
Angel felt her tense beside him and grappled her at the last second, pinning her arms to her side.
“ Buffy, he’s a friendly demon! He’s friendly!”
“ Friendly!” asked Buffy, although the word hadn’t registered on her mind.
“ Yeah, he’s…uh…nice. He sings too!”
Buffy stopped struggling. She untangled herself from his arms and found herself looking into his eyes, at a very close range. She lost herself in those eyes for what seemed to be an eternity…
A cough sounded from the group of people.
“ Would you two like to be alone?”
Buffy looked at the man who just spoke.
“ Uh, actually…” he looked at Angel. “Bad idea.” He reached forward, extending his hand to Buffy. “Charles Gunn, but everyone calls me Gunn. Nice to meet you.”
She took his hand and shook it, turning to the woman wearing glasses.
She smiled and also extended her hand. “I’m Fred,” she said cheerfully.
After shaking Fred’s hand, she looked at the other man who almost looked familiar…
“ Wesley?” she asked, completely incredulous.
He smiled. “It’s good to see you again, Buffy.”
“ Wow.” She looked him over. “Well, you’re looking…pretty good, Wes.”
He smiled again, and didn’t comment that Faith had said something similar when he helped her break out of prison.
The demon waved. “I’m Lorne, nice to meet you. Please don’t kill me?” He smiled meekly.
Buffy nodded and smiled back, fully aware that there were such things as friendly demons.
“ So, what kind of an operation have you guys got going here?” she asked.
Angel grinned. “Believe me, when we’re through with it, the First won’t be showing its face around here again. Ever.”
Buffy smiled, hope once again filling her heart.

******
Okay, half-and-half with new stuff, obviously the next chapter will be most if not completely new. I just typed this out so it’d be done and see how people react to it. So, review please!? Thanks!