•••

Gunn watched in disgust as Buffy stormed out of the Magic Box once again, off to wherever she went to dust vampires. This was the fourth time in the past week that she'd gone off in a huff, dropping everything to be the Slayer. At first it had simply annoyed him; now he was truly pissed.

"She'll be back. She always is," Anya said from behind the counter. The ex-demoness had shown back up just after Angel and Wil had left. Willow had been hard on her, so after Giles showed up and the situation had been diffused, Anya had left town for a few days. She'd returned, though, because Giles wanted to go back to England.

"Right. And while she's off playing Joan of Arc, we've got catatonic girl over there, drooling in her cheerios," Gunn snapped, looking over at Willow. Anya frowned. Willow wasn't actually drooling; her nose was running incessantly.

"Dawn, where are you? Willow needs to be wiped up!" Anya called. A few moments later, a panting and sweaty Dawn appeared out of the training room.

"What?" Dawn said, gasping for air.

Anya pointed at Willow. "She's got snot all over her face again. It's going to run off paying customers." Dawn rolled her eyes and padded over to the witch, picking up a box of Kleenex on the way. Willow didn't respond as the girl cleaned her up, but then again Dawn didn't expect her to. She hadn't so much as made eye contact with anyone ever since her brief breakdown in Buffy's kitchen when Xander had been there.

Fred came in from the training room as Dawn was finishing up. "That's all for today, Dawn. Don't forget your homework, though," Fred said, holding up Dawn's backpack. Dawn grinned and took the bag, slinging it over one shoulder.

"So where's Buffy? She was supposed to take me home," Dawn said, looking around.

"Gunn made her mad again, so she went off to commit genocide," Anya replied, closing out the register.

Gunn rolled his eyes. "Come on, I'll drive you home. We'll be back in a few, An."

After Gunn and Dawn had left with Willow in tow, Fred went over to talk to Anya. "What happened?"

Anya sighed. "Buffy's doing better, she really is. Gunn just doesn't see it. After all, he is one of Angel's people, and that's not sitting well with Buffy right now. He shouldn't have told her that Spike and Angel can have orgasms together. That just made her mad." Fred winced, remembering that scene with particular clarity.

~~~~~

Buffy snorted. "Why don't you just go back to L.A.? We don't need you here!"

"You don't? An hour ago when there were twenty vamps breathing down your throat you did," Gunn replied, leaning up against the counter.

"Only because you let them know I was there. Ever hear of subtlety?"

Gunn laughed. "Not from you, Miss 'Come on, gimme your best shot'. Damn, girl, can't you say something less stupid?"

Buffy rolled her eyes. "As if you're any better, Mr. 'I'm so gonna dust you,'" Buffy said in reply. Gunn ignored the jab to move on to more substantive topics.

"Face it, Slayer, you need our help. You're not getting the job done. You promised Wil and Angel that you'd take care of getting Willow better, training Dawn and protecting Sunnydale. As far as I can see, you're going precisely half of one of those, and it isn't the one they were really worried about," Gunn said.

"You have no idea what you're talking about. Dawn is doing fine, Willow is as good as anybody can expect her to be, and Sunnydale is always my first priority!" Buffy spat.

Gunn nodded. "Exactly what I mean. Dawn isn't 'fine.' She doesn't know enough about slaying and you aren't helping her. Willow could be a lot better. Trust me, I know what it's like to lose somebody—and so do you. And as for Sunnydale, that was the one they weren't very worried about."

"Why are you so concerned with Angel and Wil? They aren't here and this isn't their turf. Just go back, like I asked—and take nerd girl with you," Buffy retorted.

"I'm concerned with them because they're my friends and they asked me to come up here, though gods only know why. What did they even see in you? I certainly don't see anything to attract them, and they're certainly happy enough with each other. You're right. I should ask them why they're so concerned with keeping you safe," Gunn jabbed.

Buffy's eyes narrowed. "Leave them out of this. If a couple of old friends want to team up to work on my side, fine. If they want to send me help, even better. But if you're going to help, then help slay and stay out of my life! Dawn and Willow aren't your responsibility. Just dust vampires and go home."

Gunn choked back a laugh. He'd figured that she'd convinced herself that Wil and Angel weren't just friends, and he'd been holding back that piece of information for just this kind of situation. He figured it would do her good to get the stuffing knocked out of her, to learn that even when they could come back to her, Angel and Wil had chosen each other—former mortal enemies—over her. "Oh, they're friends all right, real close and all. You do know they're together, right?"

"Yeah, they said so. What do I care if they say that? It's not like it matters to me," Buffy said truthfully. It didn't matter to her. After all, they were a couple of pieces of her past, two ensouled and celibate vampires she might have cared for once.

"No, I mean together, as in doing the nasty together," Gunn said with great satisfaction.

"Yeah, right. Hello, curse? Besides, Angel's not gay," Buffy replied, smirking.

Gunn grinned widely. "Hello, magic?" He said in a fair imitation of Buffy. "Curse is gone, girl, like a million miles away. And as for Angel, he may not be gay, but he sure seems to like whatever Wil does to him, if the screams are any indication."

Buffy stared at Gunn for a long minute. There was no way…there was absolutely no way the curse was gone! Angel would've come back… "You're lying."

Gunn shrugged and gestured to Fred. "Ask her. She helped figure out how to do the spell—and the one that took Wil's chip out."

"Spike's chipless?!!!" Buffy screamed. "You dechipped him?"

Gunn nodded enthusiastically. "Oh, yeah! He was a liability, not being able to protect himself and all. Besides, by that point he and Angel were pretty tight, so he wasn't going to do anything to mess that up. They're so perfect together. It almost makes you want to gag, it's so sweet."

Buffy gnashed her teeth and stormed out of the Magic Box, picking up a stake along the way.

~~~~~

"Yeah, that was probably a mistake," Fred said. She'd enjoyed it at the time, since Buffy had been so intractable. However the action hadn't had its intended effect. Instead of blowing up and falling down, Buffy just kept on patrolling, leaving Dawn in Fred's care, and Willow in Dawn's. That was why, two days later, Dawn was getting trained by Fred and Willow was spending her days in the Magic Box.

"I wish Giles were still here. He could deal with this and make it go away," Anya said. She was tired of her shop being center stage for all the melodrama that followed the Slayer around. Why couldn't she have a nice, quiet, normal business day? One without all the storming, posing and shouting? It would also be nice if Willow would stop exuding bodily fluids all over the place.

Fred shook her head. "That's why he left, both times. She needs to learn this herself. If Wil hadn't called us, we wouldn't be her either. Actually, I think we would have left already if it weren't for Dawn." She thought a moment about something Anya had said earlier. "Do you have any suggestions for how to talk to Buffy? Cause whatever we're trying isn't working."

Anya thought a moment. "She doesn't respond well to threats, and that's what Gunn's doing. I don't think she'll ever even listen to you, because you remind her too much of Wesley. That may be a problem with Gunn as well—she remembers Cordelia and what she was like, and assumes Gunn will be like that too."

"Oh. That could be a problem," Fred replied softly. She knew that Buffy didn't like Wesley, but she had no idea that she would still have problems with him now. From what she knew, the Wesley she'd fallen for was very different from the one that had come to Sunnydale to take over Giles' work.

•••

"Woah!" Gunn yelled as Dawn stepped back too fast and almost tripped. They were carrying Willow inside, since the witch had not started walking on her own this time. Sometimes she would go where they wanted, and sometimes she just froze. Unfortunately this was one of the 'not moving' moments.

Dawn righted herself and stepped into the house, cradling Willow's legs. "Almost in," She said, directing them into the living room. Once there, they dumped Willow onto the couch and propped her up. "She's heavier than she looks."

Gunn turned from where he was closing the door. "Yeah, they always are after a few minutes of lugging them around. What do you have to feed her tonight?"

Dawn grimaced. "Willow baby-food. Carrots, green beans and chicken puree."

Gunn made similarly disgusted faces. "Man, that makes me want to never have kids. Well, the sooner we get started…"

"The sooner I can beat you at football!" Dawn finished. She and Gunn had set up a nightly Playstation battle, and she was seriously kicking ass. He cried foul, since he never went down to use Xander's in L.A., but she just waved him off. He was big vampire-hunter guy, so he could learn to use a silly little controller, right?

They'd been playing games for about an hour, with Willow sort of watching, when Dawn took a moment's rest to ask Gunn about something that had been bugging her. "So Angel and Wil really are together-together?"

Gunn nodded. Dawn hadn't actually been in the shop with him, Buffy, Fred and Anya, but he was sure that Buffy had let something slip. "Yeah, for a long time now, really."

"Are they happy?"

"Very. You don't see people that can hang on to each other like that very often. Even when they're fighting, they're still together," Gunn replied, thinking of the rough spots they'd been through.

"That's good. Buffy'll come around, but you've got to give her some time. Angel was her big love, and Riley just left her again, and she still thinks of Wil as Spike," Dawn said.

Gunn sighed. "I know, but she needs to shape up fast, 'cause we can't stay here forever."

•••

Buffy stalked through Restfield, looking for something to kill. She didn't like being this way, out on the hunt for no other reason than catharsis. Slayers slayed to protect people, not to vent their spleens, but it was the only way she had right now to let it all out. Unfortunately the vampires weren't doing their part, so she had nothing to stake or maul.

She knew what Gunn was trying to do, and she didn't like it. She knew how to take care of her sister and her best friend—and she didn't need the advice of one of Angel's little flunkies. He and that female version of Wesley needed to drive back to L.A. and play at Angel's feet, instead of pissing in her garden.

Thinking of Angel just made her mood worse. Oh, she was sure that Gunn had told her about them a few days ago just to get a rise out of her, and it had worked. When they'd told her they were together when they'd been here, it hadn't sunk in. Afterwards, she chalked it up to a professional relationship, since Angel still had the curse.

But due to some crafty magic, Angel was curse free, and not in her bed. She knew that they'd called it quits some time before, but she'd always thought of herself as Angel's true love—and Spike's, for that matter. Finding out that he was the reason she was alive only drove that point home. What a way to show your love! Why were they together, doing…well, whatever it was guys did, when she was here and lonely? Riley certainly hadn't seen her death and resurrection as anything exciting. He'd shown up because he'd *finally* gotten word of her death and wanted to make sure it was true. Of course, he'd found a living, breathing Slayer and had had trouble believing what had happened. And when the call had come in to do some sort of tour in Southeast Asia, off he'd gone without a by-your-leave. Damned men.

The more she thought about it, the madder she got. What were Angel and Wil trying to pull here? This 'we're together' crap was just that—crap, in all likelihood designed to mess with her head. For about the tenth time, she wondered if Angelus was back—but Giles had reassured her that they were both ensouled and on the up-and-up. Only her trust in Giles kept her from driving down there and staking them on sight.

And where did they get off telling her how to take care of her own? Angel was one to talk—she'd kept up with enough of the goings-on of Angel's crew before her death to know that he'd gone off the deep end some time back. Of course, her information had dried up when she'd died, and she had been unable to make contacts in L.A. since then. No one there was willing to rat on Angel now, even if they had been before. It didn't matter, though, because regardless they had no right to tell her she wasn't doing right by Dawn or Willow! What did they know about people grieving over lost loved ones? It wasn't like they'd lost anybody or anything—and certainly not a lover. How would they feel if all of a sudden, right before their eyes, their most precious thing in the world was just sucked away from them? They would have done the exact same thing Willow had, if they could have managed it.

Finally an unwary fledge began to dig himself up. Buffy sat on a tombstone and waited for it to rise. As soon as it had found its feet, she spun it around, kicking and punching. The thing never had a chance—its arms were ripped off and its face bashed to a pulp before Buffy got bored and staked it. She was gone before the dust hit the ground. There had to be more action somewhere. There just had to be.