Return to Willow Index
Graduation came and went. Buffy, along with the help of the Slayerettes, Section and the rest of the students, defeated the mayor, stopping the Ascension and destroying the high school at the same time. There was still a lot of tension between the group from Sunnydale and the operatives from Section. It only increased when Buffy and the others found out about Willow, Nikita, Michael and Birkhoff’s roles in getting Angel and Cordelia to finally admit their feelings for each the night before. The Slayerettes were not happy about the changes that had taken place in their lives due to the interference of Section. Buffy felt personally betrayed by the hacker for her role when she realized that Willow was the one that instigated the whole match making scheme.
"Willow, can I talk to you a minute?" Buffy asked. Everyone was sitting around Giles’ living room, getting some much needed downtime before having to say good bye to Willow once more.
"Sure, Buff, what’s up?"
"Outside," Buffy opened the door, not even bothering to wait and see if Willow would be joining her. When she heard the door close behind her, Buffy turned to face Willow, anger in her eyes. "How could you?" She hissed at the surprised hacker.
"What?" Willow asked, confused. "What did I do?"
"Don’t act all innocent with me, miss anti-terrorist hacker witch," Buffy spat out. "I know it was your idea to hook up Angel and Cordelia. What, you don’t want me to be happy so you thought you should hook up the man I love with a girl I can barely tolerate."
"Buffy, you had nothing to do with my wanting Angel and Cordelia together," Willow tried to explain. "You never even entered the equation. All I saw were two people who cared about each other and I wanted to help them get together. I’m sorry if that upsets you, but last I heard, the two of you weren’t even a couple."
"That’s besides the point. Angel is mine, you had no right to try and take him away from me." Willow started to head back into the house, not wanting to listen to anymore of Buffy’s hysterics. "Don’t you dare walk away from me you bitch." Buffy grabbed Willow’s arm, intending on turning her around and making her listen to her. She didn’t expect Willow to fight back, pushing Buffy face first into the wall of the apartment.
"Don’t you ever call me a bitch," Willow hissed at her former friend. She had known that Buffy was angry about Cordelia and Angel’s blossoming relationship, but she refused to allow Buffy to take it out on her. "You have no right. You don’t know anything about me because you refuse to see me as anything as what I was. Your little follower. I am only going to tell you this once, so listen good. You had nothing to do with Angel and Cordelia getting together, except for the fact that she was there when you refused to be. She was able to distinguish the difference between Angel and Angelus, while you just held onto the hate. Both of them deserve to be happy, and whatever role I had in bringing them that happiness I am glad for."
Willow released Buffy’s arm, letting the girl fall away from the wall. Buffy looked at Willow, taking in the woman before her, suddenly realizing that no matter how much she wanted it, her friend was gone and there was no getting her back. Willow saw the recognition in Buffy’s eyes for what it was and smiled sadly.
"I’m sorry Buffy," Willow said softly, before turning and going back in and joining the others who had heard the argument outside. Birkhoff walked over to her, taking her in his arms and holding her close.
"You okay," he asked. She smiled up at him.
"I’ll be fine," she told him as she watched Buffy enter the room and walk over to Giles, a look of sadness on her face. "I’m just happy to be going home soon."
"When do you leave?" Xander asked, not happy about seeing Willow leave so soon but knowing that he had no choice in it. He just hoped that she wouldn’t e permanently gone from his life.
"First thing tomorrow. There are a few things that have to be taken care of and we are needed back there as quickly as possible," Willow told him.
"Will you be back," Giles wondered, "or is this the last time we will see you?"
"I don’t know, Giles," Willow replied. "I can’t make any promises."
"Well, things will definitely be dull around here without you and your friends causing so much tension," Faith quipped. She had loved watching the way Buffy and the others had gotten so angry and jealous at the easy friendship that had formed between the members of Section and Angel and Cordelia. Anything that upset Buffy made Faith a happy person.
"I don’t know, I think seeing Angel and Cordelia together will cause enough tension to last awhile," Anya said before being quieted by Xander. She just looked at him, "What? Like you all didn’t think of it."
"Actually," Angel started, "Cordelia and I won’t be around." The people from Sunnydale looked at Angel and Cordelia while the group from Section gathered around them, giving Angel the added support for telling them their plans, having already heard about them.
"What do you mean, Angel?" Buffy asked, scared. Even though she knew that Angel may have had feelings for Cordelia, although she wasn’t happy about them, she was still hoping that they would be able to work things out eventually.
"I mean, when Willow and the others leave tomorrow to go back to Section, Cordelia and I will be joining them." The room exploded as the five people who had not known of the plan screamed out questions.
"What?"
"Are you insane?"
"What were you thinking?"
"There is no way I’m letting you take her with you."
"How could you do this to me?"
Michael whistled, startling everyone into silence. "Go ahead Angel."
Angel looked over at the man, grateful to him. "I said, Cordelia and I are going back with them. I’ve already made the arrangements. I had already been planning on returning as soon as I heard that Willow was coming back. It you think about it, it is really for the best. None of you have been really comfortable around me since I returned from Hell, that is if you were ever really comfortable with me. Besides, I think I can do a lot of good with Section, especially since they now know about demons and everything. I can be a real asset."
"And Cordelia," Xander asked. While he may be dating Anya, he still cared about his ex-girlfriend and didn’t like the idea of her becoming involved with the organization that had already taken his best friend from him.
"I want to be with Angel," she stated simply. When Xander went to argue with her, she held up her hands, silencing him. "I know what being involved with Section means. Nikita and Willow, not to mention Birkhoff and Michael have gone to great lengths in informing me of what will be expected of me. And, before you blame Angel for me leaving with him, don’t. He did his best to try and convince me that I was insane, but it didn’t work. I think that I can do some good there and I want to try."
"And your superiors went for this?" Giles asked of Michael.
"Yes," he shook his head. "They are very pleased with having Liam back within the fold. They know that the only way to get him to come back was if he did so voluntarily. If that also means Cordelia comes with him, they are willing to work with that." Giles took Michael’s words for what they were. He knew that there was no way to stop any of this from happening, he just hoped that the two girls would be okay. He looked at them, both holding the hands of the men that they loved, and realized that they would be. Michael could see the emotions that were playing on the older man’s face. "They’ll be all right, Giles. You have my word on it." Giles nodded his head.
And that was the night that the scooby gang lost two more of their members. Buffy, Giles and the others left shortly after Angel’s announcement, telling their friends goodbye, knowing that by the morning they would be gone. Willow promised to keep in touch whenever she heard about something that she felt that Giles and the rest should know about, but knowing that the friendships that she had loved were truly dead. She looked over at the people in the living room. Nikita and Michael lay together, enjoying their last night of freedom, well not really freedom. Angel and Cordelia were cuddled on the couch, still exploring their feelings for each other, knowing that their relationship was going to take a lot of work but that it would be worth it. Willow settles back into Birkhoff’s arms, allowing him to envelop her with his arms, contentment on her face. She was happy. She couldn’t have asked for anything better. She couldn’t believe that all this came about because she had attracted the attention of Section and they felt the need to recruit her. It had to have been the best thing to happen to her, because if it hadn’t she wouldn’t be were she was now.
"Hey, what has you so deep in thought?" Birkhoff asked the girl in his arms.
"Just thinking about my life."
"What about it?"
"That I wouldn’t change it for anything. This is where I am meant to be," she told him. "This," she motioned to the other two couples, "is the family that I always wanted." Birkhoff smiled down at Willow before lowering his head to hers, giving her a kiss. Yes this was definitely how life was suppose to be.