Episode 1.7 "Destiny's Calling"

Angel felt Spike stiffen beside him and turned his head to look at their attacker, Spike blocked his view. He was about to ask who it was when he heard Spike growl. Angel sniffed the air trying to find a familiar scent. He found two. The Immortal and the other was Buffy. Her scent was all over him.

"What the hell did you do to her?" Angel yelled fearing the worst. He tried and failed against his bonds, but they wouldn’t break.

"I assume your talking about my Buffy" The Immortal said putting emphasis on ‘my’ . He chuckled at the expression he saw on the blonde vampire’s face and imagined Angel’s face held the same. "I did nothing to her. She’s quite well, actually. Back in England and beginning to forget about the two of you."

"You son of a bitch"

"Watch your language" the Immortal scolded "And as much as I’d like to sit here and watch you die, I have plans with a certain Slayer"

Spike watched him walk away, feeling Angel struggling to get free next to him. "It’s no use, mate"

"I can’t believe your giving up"

"I’m not talking about getting out of here. I’m talking about Buffy. I can’t believe she really. . ." Spike paused willing the words not to come out of his mouth because if they did it would really be true. If her kept them to himself there might be some way to change things. But the truth could not be kept hidden "She really chose him"

"Don’t listen to him, Spike. We can’t trust him"

"But I know he’s telling the truth. Buffy left me a letter before she went back to England. She told me that she was with him now, not us"

"You got a letter? How come I didn’t get a letter?"

* * *

Willow sat on her bed holding a cup of coffee. She remembered sitting here countless times with Kennedy talking and laughing. It took a lot trying to hide her true feeling from the rest of the gang. She tried to look like she was okay, that she was copping. But in truth she was torn up inside. She knew she wasn’t in love with Kennedy, but she did have feelings for her.

She was starting to go through the young girls things, finding pictures of them together, and notes they wrote each other during class when Giles was lecturing about different demons cults. They brought a smile to her face.

Willow set put the things back into the box and went into the closet to get another. As she reached for another box on the shelf, she knocked one down, spilling it’s contents over the floor. She cursed under her breath and bent down to pick up the box’s items. As she looked at the contents of the box she realized it wasn’t one of Kennedy’s. It was her own memory box the she started when she was a child. She would put anything in there that she wanted to never forget. Intrigued she took the box back with her and started to sort through the various items.

She smiled as she pulled out a red decoder ring that Xander had found in a Cracker Jack box when they were seven. He had given it to her and asked her to marry him. She had said yes, of course, but they broke up the next day when Xander stole her Barbie Dream House.

Next she pulled out a picture of her, Buffy, and Xander before Buffy went to L.A. to visit her dad. There were a lot of pictures of her and the Scoobies in their graduation gowns before they fought the Mayor.

At the bottom of the box was a white envelope. She picked it up and opened it. Inside was a piece of paper folded in half. She frowned, not remembering putting this item in the box. As she unfolded the paper a picture fell out. It was of her and Tara. It was the day they had all gone to the beach, trying to cheer Buffy up after bringing her back from the dead. At the time they thought she was just scarred after being in Hell. In the picture they seemed so happy. There were no monsters no apocalypses. It was just a normal day they could spend together. Willow turned her attention back to the note and read;

Dear Willow,

I remember you told me you kept this box for all of your memories. I found this picture the other day and it made me think of all the good times we had without the magick. I really want to get back to that. So I snuck this letter into your box so some day when we are old and gray we can look back at this picture and be reminded of how much we’ve been through together and we can still come out as strong and happy as ever.

Love,

Tara

A single tear ran down Willow’s cheek. The letter was dated the day before Tara was murdered. Murdered. Two people Willow cared about had been murdered. The wounds left open by Tara’s death still hadn’t healed and the new ones left by Kennedy’s were also fresh. The red head put Tara’s picture in a frame and set it on her table next to the one of Kennedy.

* * *

"Hey" Buffy said picking up the phone.

"Hey babe" The Immortal said from the other end

"Where are you? I haven’t seen you all day.

"I’m just taking care of some business. It was kind of urgent. But nothing to worry about."

"Oh, okay. I just called to see where you wanted to go for dinner."

"Sorry, but tonight isn’t a good night. I’m not even in England anymore. I had to leave this morning. But I’ll be back tomorrow"

"Where are you?" Buffy asked suspicious. He normally told her where he was going before he left. Most of the time he took her and Dawn with him so they could she the world. They had traveled to wonderful places like Paris and Japan. But this was different. This was business he didn’t want her to know about.

"Look I have to go. I’ll see you tomorrow." He hung up. He had never just hung up on her. Buffy was now very worried. She thought she heard yelling in the background. Setting her phone down Buffy grabbed her jacket and ran out of her room.

The closer Buffy got to Los Angeles the bigger the knot in her stomach grew. She got of her flight and grabbed a cab and headed to the Hotel. When she got there she was reminded of the recent battle and the lives lost. Shaking her head to clear the thoughts she entered the hotel, scanning the lobby for it’s inhabitants. She didn’t see anyone. In fact it was dark. Buffy glanced at the clock on the wall. It was 4:38 a.m. That explained why no one was around, but she still had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach.

She ran up the stairs, not caring who she woke up. The closet room was Angel’s so she headed for his door and flung it open. He wasn’t there. She then went to Spike’s room and found the same results. "Maybe they just went out" she thought. After all they were creatures of the night. She told herself to calm down and she quietly made her way over to Xander’s room. This time instead of pulling the door open she just quietly knocked. Hearing no response from the room inside she opened the door. Xander was laying in bed, fast asleep. Faith was seated in the chair next to him, also asleep. She walked over to Faith and tapped her on the shoulder. Nothing happened. Buffy rolled her eyes and punched the other Slayer in the face.

Faith jumped up from her seat after feeling a fist connect with her face. She was about to fight back, but noticed who her attacker was. Buffy just put her finger to her lips and pointed to Xander and motioned for Faith to follow her out the door.

"Damn, B. Did you have to hit me?"

"Where’s Spike and Angel?"

"I don’t know"

"Damn"

"Why are you so worried? They’re probably just out doing vamp stuff."

Buffy leaned against the wall and slid down to the floor, head in her hands.

"What’s up with you?" faith asked kneeling beside her concerned.

"I just have a bad feeling"

"Like a prophetic Slayer feeling or an I ate some really bad Chinese food feeling?"

Buffy looked up at the other Slayer annoyed. Faith just smiled at her. "Did you and your friends do the research thing?"

"We’re not friends" Buffy said quietly.

"I know, B. But I’m just trying to help.

"Not you, them. A-All of you" At Faith’s questioning look Buffy continued "They don’t care. To them Spike and Angel are evil. They worked for Wolfram and Hart and are against what we stand for. I thought that too, but it’s hard to hate someone when your in love with them."

"Okay, but that doesn’t explain why your not friends with the Scoobies"

"They all abandoned me. They don’t trust me anymore. After everything that happened with the First they don’t trust me anymore. We’re friends, but not as close as we were. So I ran. I took Dawn and headed off to Rome. They really didn’t like it when I got with the Immortal. I think I’m destined to be that person who they don’t trust forever. There has always been something they would find wrong with everything I did. From trying to curse Angel again to trying to help you."

"Look Buffy, I remember you saving our asses when we fought the First. I believe me choose our own destiny. If you want to be the person your friends don’t trust, then be that person. But I know they trust you and I know they love you. I also know that the person we all don’t trust is the Immortal. And you came all the way from England to find Spike and Angel so maybe you should go do that"

"I don’t know what I’m supposed to do" Buffy said as tears silently fell down her cheek.

"I can’t tell you that. All I know is your destiny’s calling. Go do something about it."