Part Six
“Angel!”
Buffy’s voice had a note of panic in it that made the ex-vampire flinch. “I’m in the kitchen!” he called back.
She appeared in the doorway only a moment later. Her hair was still mussed from sleep, her eyes weren’t fully open, and she was still in her pajamas. “What are you doing?” she asked, confused.
Angel smiled at her. “I was hungry,” he said calmly.
She frowned at him, her forehead scrunching up. “You should be in bed,” she said sternly. She was definitely awake now, and was taking caring for Angel very seriously.
“I’m a lot better,” Angel protested.
Buffy would not be swayed. “I don’t care how fast you heal,” she said. “You’re not all better. And until you are all better, you are going to take it easy.”
“I’m not an invalid.”
She gave him a little smile. “If I say you’re an invalid, than you’re an invalid,” she teased. “Now go sit down.”
“You know, I can make breakfast for myself,” he pointed out, but even he had to know that he’s already lost the battle. He made his way to the couch.
“So,” she said from the kitchen, “what’s for breakfast?”
“You’re going to cook?” Angel asked, surprised.
“I had to learn some time,” Buffy pointed out. “So, what am I making?” She paused. “It’s nothing complicated, is it?”
Angel couldn’t help but smile. “Just eggs.”
“Scrambled?”
“Yeah.”
Buffy chuckled. “I can do that.”
They said nothing more as Buffy went to work on breakfast. Angel reclined in the couch, nearly drowsing. The smells and sounds of cooking filled the small apartment.
It was only a couple of minutes before Buffy, too, made her way to the couch. She carried a full plate of eggs and two forks. Balancing the plate on one hand, she curled up next to him, leaning into his side. “Is this alright?” she asked. “Am I hurting you?”
If there was a twinge, Angel wasn’t going to admit it. “I’m fine.”
She looked at him, a bit doubtful.
“Really, I’m healing,” Angel insisted, taking a fork.
“I just worry about you, is all,” Buffy said after a moment.
Angel smiled, touched by her concern. “I will be fine, really.”
She leaned into his side a bit more comfortably. “Yeah, well...you’re going to have to put up with me taking care of you for a bit longer.”
“I don’t mind,” he replied, his tone light.
She said nothing for a long while, slowly eating her breakfast. “Angel?” she said at last.
“Yeah?”
“When you’re healed.... If Jade and Willow don’t find anything....” She sighed. “What are we going to do?”
“Don’t worry about that now,” Angel urged her.
“Angel!” she said, exasperated. “We can’t just ignore this. This is a real problem.”
Angel swallowed. Her outburst had been unexpected. “Ssh,” he whispered. “I know.”
Buffy’s distress was not so easily soothed. “What are we going to do?” she repeated.
Angel had no answer for her besides the truth. “I don’t know.”
“I think...this might be it,” Willow said a bit hesitantly. All too often of late it had seemed that she might have found something, only to have it turn out to be useless.
Jade made her way from the upper shelves of the magic shop and leaned over Willow’s shoulder to take a look. Willow moved the open book a little closer to her. The white haired woman scanned the text carefully.
“No,” she declared.
“Why not?”
Jade shook her head and pointed. “See this? It’s for cases involving parasitic demons where for some reason the demon can’t be removed. It lessens the effects on the host without destroying the demon. We’re not dealing with a demon.”
Willow looked at her helplessly. “But...couldn’t we adapt it or something?”
“Won’t work,” Jade disagreed. “The line between who and what Angel is isn’t so defined. This isn’t a case of possession. Using this spell would be like...trying to harm the Slayer without harming Buffy. It’s not possible.”
“But...” Willow looked at her in confusion. “You’re saying that Angel and the Phoenix are one and the same.”
“Yes,” Jade agreed. “Sort of.”
“But I thought you said the Phoenix was sort of like an entity. An energy or something.”
“It is,” Jade agreed. “Look, I’m closer to the supernatural side of this than just about anyone, but even I do not understand it fully. What I do know...for all intents and purposes, while Angel is alive, he is the Phoenix. When he dies, that...entity or energy, as I said, passes on to another at birth. And so it goes – from birth to death.”
“So it’s not really like whatever makes Buffy the Slayer,” Willow said. “She wasn’t born the Slayer.”
“True,” Jade agreed. “Though aside from that, I suppose the situation would be rather similar.”
Something about that phrase caught Willow’s attention. “Could we use that?” she asked in a rush.
“What?” Jade was obviously startled by Willow’s tone. “What are you thinking?”
Willow looked up at Jade. An idea was clarifying in her mind, though without the means to implement it. “You said that originally you hoped that Angel’s emotional ties to Buffy would help prevent...what’s happening now. But what each of them is is causing the problem. Not who they are.”
“Yes,” Jade acknowledged, showing no clue that she knew where Willow was going with this.
“But you just said that, except for some obvious differences, whatever makes Buffy the Slayer and Guardian is similar to whatever makes Angel the Phoenix.” She shrugged. “You know, except that the Guardian is confined to one spot and the Phoenix just....”
“Has perpetual wanderlust. Yes,” Jade agreed once again.
“Well, could we...use that similarity to somehow...” she gestured vaguely, “create a balance between them? You know...connect the Guardian and the Phoenix in some way so that they can find some sort of equilibrium?”
“Equilibrium?”
“Yeah,” Willow said, nodding. “You know, like in high school science when you have two liquids of different concentrations and they run one into the other until they’re the same...and I’m babbling, aren’t I? Oh, this doesn’t help at all, does it?”
“No, I...” Jade thought for a moment. “You may be on to something, Willow.”
“You think so?”
Jade smiled. “I don’t know how we could manage it...but it’s a workable theory.”
Willow grinned, pleased with herself. “Then let’s make that theory a reality, shall we?”
On to Chapter Seven
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