Superheroes Gotta Look Out For Each Other Too
By: Rachel White (LuVnAnGeLNBuFfY@aol.com)
Rated: PG-13
Submitted: July 2001


This takes place sometime after forth season (if the show had continued running) 
for Lois and Clark (but with no "Family Hour"), and after the second season of 
Buffy The Vampire Slayer, which both took place in 1998.

For those of you who don't know what Buffy the Vampire Slayer is, it's my fave 
TV show ever. It's still running today, but second season took place around May 
1998. Buffy is the Slayer, the Chosen One who kills vampires and other demons. 
However, she is a good guy. Her watcher, Giles, is her guide. Her friends are 
there for her - Willow, Xander, Oz, and Cordelia. Angel was her boyfriend, who 
was a vampire, but a vampire with a soul (meaning that he had a conscience). 

At the end of season 2 Angel had lost his soul (therefore turning evil and very, 
very sadistic) from a night with Buffy. (You L & C 'shippers think - the end of 
"Soulmates"). If he experienced a moment of true happiness, then he would loose 
his soul and become Angelus, the scourge of Europe. Buffy had a hard time 
dealing with that, but she finally managed to almost kill him. However, Willow 
had worked a spell to restore his soul and Buffy had to send him to Hell to end 
a ritual that would destroy the world. Angel had his soul when Buffy sent him to 
hell, and she left her town, Sunnydale, from all the guilt and emotions 
overpowering her. This all took place over the season 2 finale, "Becoming 1 and 
2".

Feedback is much appreciated @ LuVnAnGeLNBuFfY@aol.com

Disclaimer: Oh yes...they are ALL MINE! (Sarcastic) Haha, right...like I'm gonna 
damn Buffy and Angel for all eternity and let Buffy sleep with Riley and Angel 
sleep with Darla. I'm THAT evil! (No...but Joss is!)  And I don't own anything 
related to Lois and Clark. TNT and a bunch of other affiliates own them

Spoilers: Definitely "Becoming" on BtVS and several other specific episodes. As 
for Lois and Clark...haven't you guys seen all the episodes by now?

Author's Notes: This is a major crossover between Lois and Clark and Buffy the 
Vampire Slayer, 2 of my 3 fave shows on TV right now. *______* Signifies 
emphases and <_______> signifies thoughts.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~


It had been weeks - almost a whole month - since the town of Sunnydale had last 
seen Buffy Summers. After the events that took place with Acathla and Angel, she 
had left town. And now, everyone was worried about her, mostly her mother and 
friends. 

In Sunnydale, no one really knew why she had left. However, that was because 
they didn't truly know what had happened that day that she faced off against 
Angelus. Well, actually...you could say Angel. Xander, Willow, Oz, Cordelia, and 
Giles had no clue that she actually had to send her one true love to hell.

"Willow?" Giles asked, walking out from his office. He looked at the small red 
head who sat at her laptop and typing furiously. 

"Hmm?" she asked back. Willow was trying to hack into the systems of some of the 
lower-rated hotels, hoping to find some kind of sign that Buffy had been there.

"Having any luck?" Giles asked, taking a sip of tea from the mug that was in his 
hands.

"No. There are some signs of an 'Anne' or 'Buffy' in a hotel or two, 
but...they're all like 50-year-old women. Not our Buffy," Willow replied sadly. 
"But I'm not giving up. I think we can find her, we just have to keep looking."

"Good, good. I think if we keep trying..." Giles started to say. "I don't know 
what to think." 

"Don't worry, Giles. We'll find her, and then we can drag her back home," Willow 
said before going back to the computer screen. 

Giles smiled at the girl in front of him. Buffy truly had some loyal and totally 
amazing friends. He knew that they would keep searching for Buffy until they had 
searched every state and island around them. As a Slayer, she was very lucky.

Meanwhile, as the days passed, Giles never once gave up looking for her. He had 
called places all over the state of California, asking if they had seen Buffy or 
a girl going by the name of "Anne", Buffy's middle name. However, time passed 
and Giles couldn't find anything. Even Willow, with all her computer skills, 
couldn't find a trace of the missing Slayer. It was as though she had 
disappeared off the face of the earth. 

However, no one knew that Buffy wasn't even on the West Coast any more. No, she 
was about as far away from Sunnydale as she could be without being in another 
country. After Buffy had run away from everything, she had headed for the East 
Coast. She had headed straight towards Metropolis. 


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

It was late at night in the city of Metropolis, however the streets were very 
alive. Somewhere in the middle of everyone stood a small blonde female. She was 
walking around the streets aimlessly, just trying to stay in the shadows and 
away from everyone so she wouldn't be seen. This blonde was Buffy Summers. 

After doing the one thing that she had nightmares about - sending Angel to hell 
- she had taken off. Not really intending to stay in California, she had left 
the state. Somehow, after hours and hours of riding trains and catching rides, 
she had ended up in Metropolis. She had only heard about this city, but was 
hoping that she could put her past behind her.

<Where should I stay?> Buffy asked as she walked around. She craned her neck 
towards the sky, looking at the tall skyscrapers around her. Sure, she had lived 
in LA. Buffy had seen her share of skyscrapers. But she loved the vibe that 
Metropolis was giving her. This time, she was really hoping that she could put 
her life as a Slayer behind her. Maybe she could start over as a single teenager 
in this big city.

Suddenly, Buffy got a weird vibe running down the back of her spine. <Damn,> she 
thought. <I can't even get away from them here.> It was her Spider sense, giving 
her that feeling of a total wig. <Definitely a vampire.> she thought once again, 
looking around her surrounds. She tried concentrating, honing in on the spot 
where it might have been. She continued walking down the sidewalk, only taking 
more cautious steps. She could feel the wood of her stake, which was hidden 
inside her right coat-arm and pressing up against her skin. She was almost 
burning for a fight tonight. <Time to take some rage out on the current un-dead 
members of society.> she thought. 

Buffy continued walking and turned down several more streets. Everything except 
the people around her was quiet. <Maybe I was wrong...> she thought. <Maybe I'm 
finally cracking up.> 

But to her left, Buffy heard a scream. <Vampire!> She thought. Picking up the 
pace, Buffy turned to the left and started running back into the alley where she 
heard the scream. Hopefully she could get one good kill in before the night was 
over.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Lois was sitting on the couch watching some mindless TV show when she heard that 
familiar 'whoosh' and the flowing sound of a cape from the back balcony. She 
turned back around to see Superman, AKA Clark and her husband, walk into the 
main living room. She gave him a large smile, which Clark returned immediately. 

"Hey honey," Lois greeted him. She muted the TV to pay attention to him.

"Hey," Clark responded. Clark stopped walking and began his spin-change out of 
his Superman suit, something that Lois always loved. When he stopped, Clark was 
dressed in some jeans and a dark blue shirt with his glasses held in his hands. 

"Rough day?" Lois asked after seeing Clark sigh and drag his hands through his 
hair. He seemed tired and drained, which automatically worried her. It was 
taking some time for Lois to get used to the fact that there was no danger right 
away. No New Krypton problems. No Lex Luthor relatives or Superman wanna-bes in 
the picture. Finally, it was just the two of them. 

"Well..." Clark paused and went to sit down on the couch beside Lois. He leaned 
over and quickly kissed Lois, something that always managed to send shivers down 
her spine. She just loved him so much. "There's the weirdest case going on."

"Oh really? What?" Lois asked, now fully interested. Being the Daily Planet's 
top reporter, besides her husband anyway, meant that she had to know about what 
was going around in Metropolis. 

"Superman was at this crime scene just a few minutes ago and he found the most 
eerie thing," Clark started. Lois smiled when she heard Clark talk about himself 
in the third person, something he had gotten used to doing. "Anyway, there were 
about seven bodies in an alley."

"Sounds bad," Lois commented, looking in his eyes. God, she loved his eyes.

"Yeah, no kidding, and that's not even the worse part," Clark continued. "All 
the victims had been drained of their blood."

"Blood?"

"Yeah...everything else was there. But there were sets of two holes on the 
victims' neck, arms, legs, and thighs where the blood had been...extracted." 
Clark said. He always hated cases like this. People were dying and he had no 
clue what was going on. He didn't know how to help them, and that inwardly tore 
him up.

"Well, we gotta get working on this. Who would want to do this and why?" Lois 
said, automatically going into reporter-mode.

"Well...I don't know if it's exactly a 'who.' I think it might be a..."

"A what, Clark?" Lois asked.

"That's it exactly. I think it's a 'what' that did this," Clark said. "I 
mean...what would suck people's blood and then leave the bodies there in the 
alley? Think about it Lois...twin sets of puncture wounds to the neck..."

"Are you saying that they're..." Lois started. She looked closer at Clark, 
watching him as his eyes drifted away from her and towards the sky. He was 
getting that 'someone is screaming for help' look. The same look on his face 
that he always got before he had to rush off to save someone. "What is it?"

"A girl...screaming for help..." Clark started. "A few feet away from Centennial 
Park."

"Go," Lois softly commanded.

"Gone," Clark replied. "I love you." He kissed his wife quickly and took off his 
glasses. He dropped them on the table before flying out the window and heading 
towards that scream for help. Lois turned her concentration back towards the 
television, now paying attention for any reports on the deaths that Clark had 
been talking about.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Buffy wandered down the alley towards where she had heard that scream. Her 
stake, which was in her right hand, was ready to go into action. Buffy scanned 
the area, a method that Merrick, her original watcher, had taught her a long 
time ago. "Come out, come out, come out wherever you are," Buffy taunted. 

Ahead of her this time, she heard a growl from a vampire in the darkness. She 
ran down towards the end of the alley, spotting a man and a woman standing 
together. "Aww, isn't this just a sweet picture," Buffy said.

The man turned back to look at her, his vampiric visage glowing in the darkness. 
"Go away," he snarled. He started turning back around to concentrate on the 
victim in his arms.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Am I interrupting this Kodak moment?" Buffy asked, taking a step 
closer towards the scene.

"You're asking for it," the vampire replied. "What? You want to be dessert or 
something?"

"Not a chance," she replied. With that, Buffy leaped, jumping onto the demon. 
The girl wriggled free, gasping for breath. "Go!" Buffy yelled to the girl, 
before she launched herself towards back towards the entrance of the alley. 
Buffy turned back around and started punching the vampire, throwing punches and 
kicks toward the bloodsucker. 

"What are you, the super bitch from hell?" the vampire muttered.

"Something like that," Buffy replied.  Buffy swung her right leg out, catching 
the vampire off guard. Buffy regained her posture and repeated the motion with 
her left leg. Suddenly, the vampire grabbed her leg and twisting it to the 
right. Buffy screamed in pain, unbelieving that he had now gotten the upper hand 
of the fight. The vampire swung around, lifting his leg and kicking her in the 
back. Buffy went flying, slamming against the wall. "Oh, you're so gonna get 
it." Buffy said before launching herself back into the fight.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Clark scanned the surface below him from the skies. He no longer heard the 
screaming, but thought that maybe the person could still be there. Spotting the 
area where he had heard the scream, he descended, landing in a badly lit alley.

The first thing he saw was a young blonde, beating the living daylights out of a 
man. <But the scream I heard *was* a female,> Clark thought, watching the fight 
and deciding what to do. The girl was strong, that was obvious from her style 
and technique. <Maybe I was wrong.>

Walking towards the two, Clark grabbed the blonde by her shoulder. "Hey!" she 
said. He looked at her. In her right hand was a wooden stick of wood. "Let go!"

"No way," Clark said. "Now, I think you should stop this." 

"You have no idea what you're getting yourself into, cape-boy," she shot back at 
him.

<Cape-boy? Now that's a new one on me,> Clark thought. "That's it. I'm taking 
you in." 

"Like hell you are," she said back to him, worming her way out of Clark's grasp. 
She ran back over to the man, pulling him back even deeper into the alley. 

For some reason, Clark held back. <What was she up to? Is she the one doing 
this?> Even with all the speed he could have summoned, Clark stood there, 
watching the event taking place in front of him. 

The girl grabbed the man and shoved him up against the wall. The bricks around 
him shook from the impact. She grabbed the stake in her hand and shoved it into 
his chest. <Oh God!> Clark thought. <She killed him!> But in the next second, 
the man started disintegrating, turning to dust right before his eyes. If he had 
blinked he would have missed it. In another second, the man was gone and there 
were only two people standing around in the alley.

"That was...*what* was..." Clark stuttered, forgetting for a second to be 
Superman. 

"That was a vampire," the girl in front of him said as she stuffed her stake 
back behind her jacket. She turned around and looked at him. "Whoa...Superman." 

"I take it then that you know me," Clark said, crossing his arms. 

"Yeah, by rumor only," the girl replied. "I'm Buffy."

"Buffy, huh? Well, I would say it's nice to meet you...but I don't know if it 
really is," Clark said. 

"That's okay. I think most people have that reaction when they see their first 
vamp get dusted," Buffy replied. "Well, I better be going." She started walking 
by him, very slowly. She was limping, trying to keep the pressure off her left 
leg. She bent down and grabbed her leather bag, preparing to leave. Without 
warning, Buffy started faltering. She grabbed hold of the wall, placing her hand 
on her head. 

"You're hurt," Clark said.

"Don't worry. Killer headache, they always happen," Buffy said. Then her weak 
knees gave out and she collapsed on the pavement, also hitting her head. 

Clark rushed over to her, feeling her pulse and then looking down at her ankle. 
With his x-ray vision he could see that her leg wasn't broken but it was 
definitely inflamed and swollen. She might have to stay off it for a few weeks. 
He could just take her to the police, but Clark thought that there was more to 
this girl than being a killer. Furthermore, if this girl was a strong as she 
seemed to be there was probably very little that the police could do. Scooping 
her up into his arms, Clark began flying her back to his brownstone.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Lois was waiting for Clark to come back home, something she had gotten used to 
by now. She would wait up for him as long as she possibly could just to make 
sure that he got home okay. She couldn't sleep without him anyway. If she 
weren't wrapped tightly inside his strong arms, she would be awake the whole 
night anyhow.

Several minutes passed when she heard Clark land outside. She opened the balcony 
doors for him. "Clark?" she asked. 

"Shh, Lois," Clark said, walking inside with a small blonde girl in his arms. He 
walked over and lay her out on the couch, trying to keep her injured leg 
straight.

"Cl...Superman, what happened?" she asked, switching back to her there-is-a-
stranger-around-so-talk-like-Clark-isn't-Superman tone. She looked at the girl 
who now lay on the couch. "Is she okay?"

"Yeah, I didn't want to bring her to a hospital, so I figured I could bring her 
here. She has a really badly inflamed and swollen ankle, so watch out for that," 
Clark told her.

"Really?" Lois asked, looking down at her leg. "Which leg?"

"Uh, the left one," Clark responded.

Lois walked down to the other end of Buffy, looking at her leg. "Superman, her 
leg is fine."

"What?" He looked at Buffy's leg with his x-ray vision again. "You're right."

"What's going on?" Lois asked.

Superman led Lois away from Buffy a few feet before talking. "Lois, it was the 
weirdest thing. I go to the scene and there she is, just beating up this guy. 
With a stake in her hand." 

"Stake? That seems...outdated," Lois said. 

"Right. And I grab her, but she manages to get loose. And when she goes back up 
to him, she shoves the stake into his chest. Right into his heart," Clark said. 
"And then...poof!"

"What do you mean...'poof'?" Lois asked.

"I mean, poof. He disappeared. He literally turned into dust right in front of 
my eyes. She told me her name was Buffy," Clark said.

"Buffy...hmm..." Lois murmured. <Maybe she is involved in those cases Clark has 
been looking into.>

"And she starts talking on and then walks away before collapsing. I mean, she 
just went on talking as if that was a normal type of thing for her-"

"That *was* a normal type of thing for me," Buffy said, sitting up. Lois and 
Clark turned around and saw the blonde beginning to wake up. "Where am I?"

"Oh...you're at my husband's and my apartment," Lois said. "And by the way, I'm 
Lois."

"Lois...okay..." Buffy held her head in between her hands. "Man, I feel like 
I've been hit by a truck. A small truck, but a truck nonetheless," Buffy said, 
rubbing her eyes. "I really need to start getting back in shape if I'm gonna 
slay."

"Slay?" Clark and Lois asked at the same time.

"Oh...uh, nothing. Just talking to myself," Buffy said, climbing to her feet. "I 
like your apartment," she said. 

"Oh, thank you," Lois said, always eager for a compliment. 

Buffy looked around at her surroundings. "Okay...maybe I better get out of 
here."

"You're not going anywhere," Clark said.

"Oh, you think you can stop me, cape-boy?" Buffy asked back at him. 

Lois stifled a laugh. Did this girl not know anything about Superman? "Cape-
boy?" she questioned, looking back at Clark. 

"Sorry...Superman," Buffy said. "Look, I'm sorry you saw what you saw, but I 
can't explain it...and...and I don't want to explain it...so..." Buffy sighed 
and started turning around to walk out of the apartment.

"What did you do to that man?" Clark asked.

Buffy stopped walking and turned back around. "I'm going to have to use my 
important Slayer voice, aren't I?" she asked herself. Sighing once more, she 
walked back into the main room and sat back down on the couch. "That wasn't a 
man. That was a vampire."

"Vampire?" the other two asked together. 

"Wait...you mean...blood sucking, killing, un-dead vampires?" Lois asked.

"Yeah, the very ones. Uncanny, isn't it?" Buffy asked sarcastically. 
"Apparently, your town has quite a few of them. I can just...feel them crawling 
over your town, which is the usual feeling I have in my own town. I mean, it was 
just one vampire but... I still should have been able to take it."

"Superman, that could be the explanation for all those murders that you've been 
spotting," Lois said, looking over at her husband.

"Murders?" Buffy asked.

"Yeah, we've been having some murders in the back alleys. They all have the same 
symptoms that a vampire could be the cause of," Superman said. 

"Damn, that means you have a nest somewhere," Buffy said, rising to her feet and 
beginning to pace. "And I'm not exactly up to par. I mean, it was *one* vamp. I 
should have been able to take that...but *no*. I have to get my leg all twisted 
and then saved by the Blue Wonder."

Lois chuckled at the way Buffy was thinking. <Blue Wonder and cape-boy...> she 
thought. <I'll have to keep those in mind.>

"And speaking of your leg..." Clark said. "I looked at it, and it was really 
banged up. Now you're just walking around on it like normal." 

"Well, that's just one of the major pluses...super fast healing," Buffy said. "I 
mean, nowhere near as fast as yours I guess...but...fast." 

"One of the pluses of *what*?" Clark asked, trying to be stern with the girl. 
She was obviously avoiding talking about what was going on. She was saying 
anything to start another conversation. "I still don't get what is going on."

"Look, I don't need your all-mighty, highness-upon-high, and *snotty* attitude," 
Buffy said. "You're Superman. Whatever happened to that justice thing?"

"Look, I'm just trying to figure out what is going on here. You are going to 
explain all of this," Clark demanded.

"I'm the Slayer. I don't have to listen to you, and I don't need all this from 
you," Buffy replied, crossing her arms also. She stood straight up, as if almost 
challenging Clark.

Lois looked around the room, nervously glancing between the two. She could 
literally feel the tension building as Clark and Buffy stared at each other. 
Frankly, she didn't want either of them to release their steam right here. 
"Okay, okay. Let's just calm down..." Lois started. "Superman, I think we're 
finished here -"

"But, Lois -"

"We're *finished*," Lois repeated, giving him that "shut up" look. "Go patrol 
the city or something."

Between the two, Buffy scoffed and exhaled loudly. "That *was* my job," She 
muttered. Buffy reached up to her neck, feeling for her silver cross that was 
suppose to be hanging by her neck. It wasn't there! All she felt was the nape of 
her neck." "Dammit! It's gone," Buffy cried out, looking around on the floor 
around her.

"What?" Lois asked.

"My...my cross. That vamp must have broken the chain. "Mrs..." Buffy faltered, 
not knowing what to call the woman across from her.

"Ms Lane...er," Lois stuttered. "Just call me Lois."

Buffy tried to smile but couldn't. Her cross and claddagh ring were the only 
connections to Angel that she had anymore. She treasured that and couldn't loose 
it. "Lois, I *can't* loose that necklace." Buffy said, feeling tears starting to 
form in her eyes.

"Superman...could you go scan the area for it?" Lois asked Clark.

"Lo-is..." he warned in a very CK way.

"Please?" She asked again. She knew that if she asked sweetly enough that Clark 
would give in and go search for it. Clark sighed in response, and in a flash was 
out the window, speeding back to where he had found Buffy.

"Good, now that he's gone..." Lois began. She walked over and sat down on the 
couch, turning her attention towards Buffy. "Would you like to spend the night 
here? I mean, unless you -"

"No, I don't have a place," Buffy said. She was beginning to really like Lois 
Lane. She had heard about her from the rare news reports about Metropolis that 
reached the West Coast. Apparently she and Superman were very close friends. 
"Thank you, I'd love to stay."

"It's no problem, honest," Lois said. She took another second and looked Buffy 
over again. "How old are you?"

"Oh...just over 17," Buffy replied. She thought back to the night of her 
seventeenth birthday...<No, no. Don't think about that,> she told herself.

"That's so young," Lois said in awe. What was the story behind this girl? Why 
did she look so happy one second and then in pain the next?

"Yeah, it is," Buffy replied distantly. "Too young..." she muttered under her 
breath.

"Well, you don't seem like a New Yorker to me. You're too tan," Lois said, 
making Buffy crack a small smile and laugh.

"This is true," Buffy replied, walking over and sitting on the other end of the 
couch.

"So, where are you from?" Lois asked. Although trying to be friendly towards the 
girl, she was also trying to get some information from her. Anything that Buffy 
said might be helpful in the case that Clark was interested in.

Instantly, Buffy's smile faded and she looked away from Lois. "I don't want to 
talk about it."

"Oh, okay," Lois said gently. "Well...if you ever need anyone to talk to or 
listen to you talk, I'm here."

"Thank you...but I-I can't talk about it," Buffy said.

Lois nodded, now feeling sorry for the girl. She seemed to have so much pain and 
guilt in her eyes. She swore that she heard Buffy whisper something about a 
"Sunnyhell." Before Lois could think of anything else to say, Clark flew back 
into the apartment. "Is this it?" he asked.

Buffy looked up at what Clark was holding. "Oh my God, yes. Yes it is," she 
grabbed it from him. "Thank you so much."

"You're welcome," Superman replied.

"It's very pretty," Lois remarked as Buffy put it around her neck again. "Is 
that silver?"

"Yeah..." Buffy replied. Lois noticed that she was getting that 'I don't want to 
talk about it' look in her eye. A tear rolled down her cheek, which she tried to 
hide but failed. Both Lois and Clark noticed it and were immediately worried. 
"God, I miss him..."

"Him?" Clark asked, hearing what Buffy had muttered under her breath.

More tears started rolling down her cheeks. "I'm sorry...I just - I can't talk 
about this." Buffy ran out of the living room and down the hall into the 
bathroom, slamming the door behind her.

"Good going, Clark," Lois hissed at him. 

"What? I mean, what was I supposed to say?" Clark asked back to her.

"Something is wrong here. She's not telling us a lot of stuff here," Lois said. 
"We were talking together while you were gone, and when I started talking about 
where she was from...and her age, for some reason, she just got this...this 
*look*. Clark, it was so sad...so full of guilt and anguish. I didn't even know 
17 year olds could possess that look."

"She's only 17?" Clark asked.

"I know, that's exactly what I was thinking," Lois replied. "She's so young. 
She's obviously been through a lot." She looked down the hall where Buffy had 
gone. "I'm letting her stay here with us. She doesn't have anywhere else 
anyway."

"Okay..." Clark said. "I'm gonna go on a quick patrol. I'll check around for 
anything weird."

"Like say...vampires?" Lois asked.

"We're going to have to get her to talk about this," Clark said forcefully.

"But I don't think she wants to, Clark," Lois said.

"Well, we'll just have to get her talking. We need answers with this, and we 
can't exactly go to the police saying that the cause of the murders is a huge 
nest of vampires," Clark said.

"You're right," Lois said. "All right, quick patrol. Then come *right* home."

"Yes ma'am!" Clark joked.

"I'm serious Clark. Vampires are different from people. We don't know what 
they're after, what they do, or can do to you...and I don't believe that we're 
actually talking about vampires," Lois said.

Clark chuckled. "Don't worry, honey. I won't be gone long." He bent down and 
kissed Lois on the lips before zipping out of the window.

"I love you," Lois whispered, knowing very well that he could hear whatever she 
had said to him. Turning around, she went back to wherever Buffy was, hoping 
that she could get her to talk. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

It was another bright and...well, sunny day in Sunnydale. Although summer had 
officially begun and school was now out, the main members of the Scooby gang - 
Oz, Willow, Xander, and Giles were all in the library continuing their never-
ending search for Buffy.

"What are we even looking for?" Xander asked. The brown-haired boy was lying out 
on the counter of the checkout section of the library. He was searching through 
some phone books, looking at the different hotels that they hadn't called yet.

"Anything that gives hint to any Slayer activity...Buffy's name being 
mentioned...hell, a leftover stake," Giles said. "Anything that could help us." 
He turned his attentions towards the phone, continuing to call places.

"This is hopeless," Xander complained again. "I mean, there are 50 states...49 
other places she could be. So what? We just call a few places and *there she 
is*?"

"Don't freak, Xander," Willow said. "I think we can find her." Willow was doing 
her best to remain hopeful and optimistic. "Maybe something will turn up..." Oz, 
her boyfriend, who was in a band, stood behind her. He watched in amazement as 
Willow continued hacking into hotel computer systems. She was absolutely amazing 
with computers.

"Willow is right. We mustn't give up," Giles said. 

The library quieted and everyone went back to making phone calls and checking 
the Internet files. They were so involved with what they were doing, they almost 
didn't heard the double library doors flying open. A shadow appeared and a 
darkly dressed figure stumbled inside, falling to the floor.

Willow, Xander, Giles, and Oz looked up at what had happened. "Oh God...ANGEL!" 
they all cried out.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Willow was shocked to say the least. "Oh god...oh god..." she muttered.

No one knew what to do. Was he or wasn't he evil? Why was he here? What was 
wrong with him? And...*how* did he get here? It was 2:30 PM and very bright 
outside. There was no way he could have gotten in without getting burned by the 
sun.

Xander was the first to move. "Let's stake the S-O-B," he said, rising to his 
feet after jumping down from the counter. "Stake him while we still can."

"What?" Willow asked in surprise. "No...maybe we should -"

"Willow...?" Angel asked, trying to rise to his feet. 

"What's wrong with him?" Willow asked Giles.

"I- I don't know..." Giles answered her. He took a small step towards Angel. 
When he made no motion to jump out and grab him, he took another step closer 
towards the figure. "Angel?" There was no response. "Angelus?"

Angel flinched and looked up at the watcher for one instant. "Don't call me 
that. I'm not him."

"*Angel*?!" Willow asked. <It worked? Did the curse really work?> She had a 
hundred questions she wanted to ask him.

"Come on, let's get him in a chair," Giles said. Willow, Oz, and Giles started 
moving him off of the floor. Xander didn't make a move. He was *not* happy that 
Angel was back. He had his soul and yet Buffy still left town. What had happened 
that morning she faced off against him?

Willow, Oz, and Giles moved Angel and sat him down in a wooden chair near the 
table. Willow's hand brushed across his chest for an instant, and she gave a 
small yelp of surprise.

"What?!" Everyone shouted.

"You guys..." Willow tried to speak. "He...he..."

"He what?" Xander asked. 

"He had a heartbeat!" Willow cried out. Angel was a vampire...something very 
weird was going on, and everyone had that same feeling.

The library was silent. Giles grabbed Angel's wrist to feel for a pulse. "Oh, 
dear God..." he whispered a minute later. "He's human."

"Human!?" everyone asked in surprise and awe.

Giles turned his attentions towards Angel. "Angel? Angel, open your eyes." 

Angel slowly obeyed Giles, looking at him for a second. Instantly, pain and 
anguish filled his chocolate orbs as he saw Giles standing in front of him. This 
was the man he had tortured as Angelus. There was no way he could look at him 
anymore. "I'm sorry...sorry...sorry..."

"Angel, I need you to tell me what happened," Giles said.

"I'm sorry..." was all Angel could say to the man.

"Don't be," Giles replied. "You said it yourself. You're not him. You're you."

Angel was silent for a second as if he was trying to find the right words that 
could describe what he had gone through. "I...Buffy...she had to kill me to 
close Acathla. So...she sent me -"

"Sent you to hell?" Giles finished for him.

"Right...but, uh, they said I wasn't suppose to be here. I had a soul and should 
be human and in heaven instead of hell." Angel licked his lips, giving a 
sarcastic chuckle as he thought about it. After all the crimes he had committed, 
the evil hell-gods thought that *he* deserved some peace and happiness. 
"So...they sent me back. As human."

"Wow..." Willow whispered. "But this is great! You're back! And Buffy...ooh..." 
Her voice died off. <Whoops,> she thought. Buffy wasn't here. They had no clue 
how to find her or how to contact her that Angel was no alive. 

"'Ooh' what?" Angel asked. He looked around the room. Phone books, computer 
printouts, and phones littered the library floor. Then he noticed everyone in 
her Scooby Gang - but not Buffy herself.

"Angel," Xander started, finally deciding to speak up to the man. "Now don't -"

"What's going on here?" Angel asked.

"Angel, now before you start -" Giles tried to say.

"Where is she?" Angel asked with a demanding tone in his voice.

"Angel, man -" Oz tried to speak to the taciturn man.

"Where. Is. Buffy?"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

It had been three days since Clark found Buffy in that alley and brought her 
back to his home. Since then, Buffy had practically become their temporary 
adopted daughter. They invited her to stay with them for as long as Buffy needed 
a place to stay. Buffy was grateful, and she was beginning to like the Kents' 
just a little bit more each passing day.

Lois told Buffy that she had spoken to Clark about everything. Now Lois and 
Clark had to go back to pretending about the whole Superman thing. But they were 
growing fond of the small blonde. Her lingo, style, abuse of the English 
language, and attitude were totally new for the couple. Both were enjoying 
having her around.

Since that night, no one had talked about Buffy being the Slayer or the fact 
that there was a vampire nest in Metropolis. Buffy had told them how to protect 
themselves against the vampires but didn't go into much detail about anything 
else. 

By now, both Lois and Clark could tell that there was something very 
traumatizing that constantly bothered her. For some reason, Buffy just couldn't 
let go of whatever that was. Every time Lois or Clark tried to get Buffy to open 
up, she would run off or simply ignore them. 

It was breakfast for Lois, Clark, and Buffy. Clark was running late, since he 
was only getting back only three hours ago from an oil spill somewhere up north. 
As Clark walked in, no one noticed how carefully Buffy was watching him. 
"Morning!" Clark said cheerfully.

"Morning," Buffy and Lois replied at the same time. 

Clark grabbed his coffee and sat down near Buffy as Lois cooked a light 
breakfast for everyone. Buffy watched Clark out of the corner of her eye, trying 
to prove her own private theory correct. 

"And breakfast is served!" Lois said happily. She placed down a couple of plates 
in front of Buffy and Clark, smiling and inwardly congratulating herself that 
she now knew how to cook an eatable meal.

Ten minutes into breakfast, Buffy finally had everything figured out. "Ah ha!" 
she cried out, surprising everyone around her. "I was *right*!"

"Right about what?" Lois asked her.

"Oh my God, I'm such an idiot. I can't believe it took me three days to figure 
out," Buffy said.

"Figure *what* out, sweetie?" Lois asked again.

"Your husband...is Superman," Buffy said.

Lois and Clark met eyes for a second before laughing. "That's twice some girl 
has figured out your secret, Clark." Lois commented.

"I'm gonna need a new secret identity soon."

"So, I guessed right?" Buffy asked. She glanced between the two that were 
sitting next to her.

"You guessed right," Clark confirmed.

"You forget that I know a thing or two about secret identities too," Buffy said. 
She lifted her right hand and made an imaginary staking motion with her fork. 
That was the first time she had made a reference to slaying since the night they 
had found her. She looked at Clark, noticing as he stopped eating. He looked 
distracted and looked around him.

"What is it?" Lois asked him. Buffy remained quiet, watching the way her two 
friends interacted. It was almost like watching Angel and herself...back in the 
old days.

"Oil ship collision...off the Alaska coast..." Clark said.

"Go. Meet me at work whenever you get done," Lois said immediately, trying to 
buy him as much time as possible. Clark got up after wiping his mouth. Since 
Buffy now knew about him and he wouldn't have to hide his secret any longer, 
Clark quickly spun into his suit in front of her. 

"Wow..." Buffy said.

Lois laughed. "Pretty much what I said too, sweetie."

Clark bent down and kissed Lois. "Love you...I'll see you later."

"Be careful," Lois replied. "Love you too." 

Before Buffy could even blink, Clark had disappeared in a flash. "Oh God, I 
can't believe you're married to Superman," Buffy said. "I mean, I *get* that 
he's just Clark. But...I can't believe a different hair style and glasses can 
fool the whole world."

Lois laughed. This had been exactly what she was thinking. "No kidding."

"I mean, he's so...goofy," Buffy said. "It's almost impossible to think about. 
He's just so normal."

"You look pretty normal too," Lois said.

"I...I don't want to talk about me," Buffy said. She paused, cutting into her 
eggs with her fork before diving into them. 

"Okay, not talking about it," Lois said, backing up off Buffy's back. So far, 
Buffy had managed to worm her way from Lois' attempts to find out more about 
her. She wanted to help Buffy, but as long as she couldn't find anything out 
about her, then she was helpless. 

"You must be...no, you are *so* lucky," Buffy said to Lois suddenly.

"What do you mean?" Lois asked.

"To have Clark," Buffy replied. She had seen the chemistry between the two. 
There was no way that anyone could not see how in love these two people always 
seemed to be. She remembered what that was like. With Angel in her life, all she 
saw was a future filled with him and their love. 

"I am. Well, I consider myself lucky to have him," Lois said. "And would you 
believe there was a time when I barely even liked the guy?"

Buffy's eyes widened. "For real? Today you wouldn't even be able to tell."

Lois chuckled. "No kidding. I...I teased him, told him to not get involved with 
me...and then there was that whole infatuation with Superman that I had." Lois 
shook her head, thinking back to how foolish she had once been. "But then...my 
eyes started opening and I saw Clark. The real loving and caring man, who just 
wore the cape to protect everyone."

"That's amazing," Buffy said. 

"How so?" Lois asked, wanting Buffy to continue talking to her.

"It's like...you fell in love with the same man. That's like...a double bonus. 
You got to fall in love two times with the same man, making the love that you 
two share even stronger."

Lois took a second to think over what Buffy had said. "You know? I never really 
thought of it quite that way. You're right."

"And he loves you just as much," Buffy continued. "I mean, I can see it in his 
eyes when he looks at you. That's how I kinda figured out it was he. He 
just...his eyes shine with love for you."

"It's that obvious, huh?" Lois asked jokingly. 

"Yes it is," Buffy replied seriously. "Your love is...well, I used to know what 
that was like."

"Really?" Lois asked.

"Yeah. Man, that seems like another lifetime ago," Buffy said, thinking back to 
those innocent days. The days where she and Angel were simply making out in the 
graveyard, attempting to patrol. 

Lois was instantly saddened by the tone Buffy was now talking in. She was so 
insightful with her love for Clark. It was almost as if she knew what Lois was 
going through. She found that hard to believe - the girl was only 17, but her 
eyes gave away the pain that she had experienced. Unconsciously, Lois looked 
down at her watch. <Dang, just when she was starting to open up.> Lois thought. 
"Buffy?"

"Hmm?"

"I've got to get into work. Perry's gonna kill me if I'm late again," Lois said. 
"You're okay with staying here, right?"

"Sure. If I get bored, maybe I'll go check some areas for any nests," Buffy 
replied. "And if Clark drops by here, I'll let him know where you are."

"Thanks," Lois replied, standing up. "Ooh! I'm gonna be late!" She grabbed her 
bag and started leaving. "Bye Buffy!"

"Bye!" Buffy replied, finishing up her breakfast. She cleared the table for Lois 
and Clark. It was the least she could do after all the hospitality they had 
shown to her over the past few days. She finished cleaning the kitchen and 
walked back out into the living room just in time to see Clark flying back 
through the window. 

"Hey," she said, acknowledging his presence. 

"Hi. Is Lois still here?" Clark asked.

"No, you missed her by like 5 minutes," Buffy replied. "Why? What's up?"

"Nothing...well, maybe you can help me at the Daily Planet," Clark said. He 
started walking up the stairs to quickly change into his work clothes.

"Whoa, what?" Buffy asked, standing up and walking up to the foot of the stairs 
where she could yell up at him. "Help? At your job? I don't think so. I 
failed...well, I failed *all* my classes, but I hated English."

Clark was back down the steps in a flash. "No, not writing. Jimmy was able to 
get some of the crime photos involving the...the vampire thing. I thought if I 
showed them to you, it might help you locate them."

"God, you talk like Giles," Buffy muttered.

"Hmm?" Clark asked, not listening to what she had said.

"Oh...uh, that sounds great," Buffy replied. "I mean, I'll take anything like 
that has to help us at least a little bit."

"That's what I was thinking," Clark said. He grabbed his briefcase, preparing to 
leave. "Ready?"

Buffy chuckled as she slipped on her jacket. "You're the most powerful man on 
the planet and you *fly*, and yet we're taking a cab to work," she commented. 

Clark smiled and quietly laughed. She was still new the whole idea that the man 
who she had formed a friendship with was really Superman. "C'mon, let's go."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Clark and Buffy arrived together at the Daily Planet in about twenty minutes 
from a traffic buildup. However, as soon as they walked into the building, Clark 
and everyone else seemed very serious with working on the deaths-case. Only 
Lois, Clark, and Buffy knew what was really going on. Right now, chances of 
finding the nest was fairly slim. 

"Jimmy!" Clark shouted as he spotted him several feet away.

"Oh, hey CK," Jimmy replied, walking up to him. Jimmy took a look at Buffy, 
totally taken back by her youth and beauty. "And hi..."

"Buffy," she said, holding out her hand. "It's Buffy."

"Nice to meet you, Buffy," Jimmy said, shaking her hand slowly. Buffy moved to 
let go, but Jimmy held onto her hand tightly.

"Buffy is staying with Lois and me for a few days," Clark said. He leaned closer 
to Jimmy, whispering, "she's seventeen." 

Instantly, Jimmy let go of Buffy's hand, backing up a step and swiping his hand 
through his hair. Buffy smiled, watching Jimmy squirm. "Well, it really was nice 
to, uh...meet you."

"You too," Buffy replied. She looked up at Clark, ready to start taking care of 
the business that was at hand.

"Jimmy, I need those crime scene photos," Clark said urgently. "And I need them 
now."

"Okay, CK." Jimmy held out a manila folder in front of him. "It was not easy 
getting these."

"Thanks Jimmy," Clark said, taking the folder. He opened it and sighed in 
frustration from the sight of the bodies in the photos. They were pale, blood 
covered, and their faces were frozen in fear. Buffy looked at the photos with 
him, totally unmoved. She had gotten used to seeing sights like these.

"Oh, CK," Jimmy started, "there seemed to be one small connection between all of 
these," Jimmy was also looking at the photos with the other two.

"What's that?" Clark said, flipping through the pages.

"Where they took place," Jimmy explained. "See, they all seem to be within a 
mile radius of the center of Centennial Park."

"Is there a sewer system in the park?" Buffy asked him. She knew from months of 
experience that vampires usually roamed the sewers. She was looking at the 
photos, knowing that if this wasn't stopped in time that these vampires wouldn't 
stop killing until they were all dead. 

"Uh...I don't know," Jimmy said.

"Well, you *need* to know!" Buffy said loudly. Several people stopped what they 
were doing to look at the three of them standing around. "Sorry...but this is 
important. Jimmy, can you pull up the files of the underground layout of the 
park?"

"Man, you sound just like CK doing this," Jimmy muttered. "Um...yeah, but that 
would involve breaking into the main system - "

"But can you do it?" Buffy asked again. She knew that nothing would happen if 
Jimmy did this. Willow had done this several times before for cases much like 
this one.

"Yeah. Give me a minute though," Jimmy said, walking over to his PC.

"Man, you've got him working," Clark said.

"It feels good to boss someone around again," Buffy said. "Oh, there's Lois."

Clark and Buffy walked up to Lois who was getting her coffee. "Hey honey," Clark 
said.

"Oh hey," Lois said, smiling up at him. "Hi Buffy." Buffy smiled in response. 
"How'd the ship thing go?" she asked Clark softly so no one would overhear.

"All right. Everyone is okay now," Clark said. "Jimmy got us the photos." He 
held up the manila folder for Lois to see.

"Oh good," Lois said, taking a sip of her coffee. "What did you think of them, 
Buffy?"

"Well...can we talk in a more private place?" Buffy asked.

"Sure," Clark replied. He led Lois and Buffy into the open conference room, 
closing the door behind them. Lois was looking at the photos with wide eyes. 
Never before had she seen anything so violent and bloody. "I know, horrible 
isn't it?" Clark asked her before quickly kissing her on the cheek to comfort 
her.

"This is definitely a nest," Buffy said. She pulled out a chair from the table 
and sat on the table, resting her feet in the chair. <Okay, it's not the 
library...but...>  "They're mass feeding. Damn, I hate when this happens."

"So, what do we do?" Lois asked.

"I got Jimmy getting maps of the underground sewer system in the park," Buffy 
said.

"Park?" Lois questioned.

"Centennial," Clark explained. "Jimmy said something about all the deaths taking 
place around there."

"Vamps just *love* sewers," Buffy explained. "They're just a big connected way 
for all of them to get around during the day. We have to find the main heart of 
the nest and then take them all out." 

"Okay...so, Jimmy gets us a map and...?" Lois started.

"And we go patrolling. Tonight, if possible," Buffy said. Inwardly, she was 
happy to be doing something so time-consuming. As long as she was doing 
something like this, she wouldn't have time to think about Angel or Sunnydale. 
There were possibly hundreds of peoples' lives at stake here if they couldn't 
get this settled in time. Since Metropolis was so huge, by the time people 
caught on, it might be too late. "And look, Clark. I like you, but I don't need 
any of your 'I'm an invincible hero' attitude tonight," Buffy told Clark.

"Okay, okay," Clark replied. He knew that this girl meant business. 

"I'm serious. These vampires are mean, heartless killers. I'm leading this 
tonight. Clear?" she asked.

"Crystal," Clark answered. 

There was a knock on the door and the three of them whirled around to see Jimmy 
holding some printouts. He opened the door and walked in. "Okay, new girl here 
asked for the sewer layouts. Here you go."

"This is great. Thanks Jimmy," Buffy answered distractedly, looking the sheets 
over. 

"Man, CK, it's like...a mini-you," Jimmy said jokingly before leaving.

Lois, Clark, and Buffy all leaned down together, looking at the sheets of the 
sewer system. Buffy started tracing her finger down a path where the main tunnel 
seemed to be going. "So, where do we start?" Lois asked, watching what Buffy was 
doing.

Buffy kept looking at the map, finally finding out a path where all the tunnels 
seemed to meet up. "Okay, the meet-up point his around here. So tonight after 
dusk, we start."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

That night, Clark, Buffy, and Lois were out in Centennial Park, walking around 
and searching for any signs of un-life. Buffy was leading out in front, twirling 
a stake around in her right hand. Lois was in the middle, holding out a homemade 
cross and a stick of wood. She was in the middle so Buffy would protect her 
front and Clark would back her up. Clark followed the two girls, keeping his 
hearing alert for any signs of vampires. 

"So...do this often?" Lois whispered up to Buffy.

"All the time," Buffy said. "I think they should make it into a sport. Who can 
patrol the quietest or something." No one answered to what she had said. By now, 
they knew that she just spoke witty and amusing remarks to keep her own spirits 
high and not depressed. 

"Well, it's fun," Clark said sarcastically. "So what? Do we do this every night 
until they're gone?"

"Well...if we can find the nest then we can get rid of all of them at the same 
time," Buffy replied. "And if we're lucky..." Her voice died off, her Slayer 
sense telling her that there was something in the area around them.

"If we're lucky what?" Lois asked.

"Shh," Buffy commanded. She stood upright the whole way, feeling the atmosphere 
around them. Lois and Clark stood next to her, looking at each other and 
wondering what was going on. "There's one here..." Lois and Clark looked 
worried. After everything that the two of them had gone through, fighting off 
vampires with a piece of wood was something very new for them.

Suddenly, a man about the age of 30 jumped down from the trees, jumping on top 
of Buffy and pushing her to the floor. When Buffy rolled out of the way and 
stood back up, she looked at the man, taking notice of the vampiric features on 
his face. Lois and Clark moved out of the way, watching as this thin, 5" 2' girl 
pummeled a demon that was about twice her size. 

Buffy punched the vampire over and over, kicking him in the side. When the 
vampire faltered, Buffy reached for her stake, only to grab air. "My stake!" She 
shouted. "Okay, where'd it go?" She started looking around for her stake that 
she had brought with her.

"Buffy!" Lois shouted, pointing to where the vampire had run off. 

"C'mon, give me a break." Buffy muttered. Quickly, she pulled off a small branch 
from a tree around her and took off after the vampire. Lois and Clark quickly 
followed her. 

Buffy ran around a tree just in time to see the vampire jump down through an 
open manhole. She always hated these scenarios. She could jump down into the 
hole, but she had no clue what was down there. For all she knew, it could have 
been the heart of the nest waiting down there for her. Or, she could just wait, 
but she always hated doing that also. A second later, she heard Lois and Clark 
run up behind her. 

"Well?" Lois asked. "Aren't you going to chase him?"

"I don't know if I should..." Buffy said. She quickly explained the problem she 
was having and whether to go along with her mind or simply instinct. 

"Well, I'll back you up," Clark said. "Can't I just...like, rip their heads 
off?"

Buffy thought about that for a second. "Well, that's a new method on me, but I 
guess it could work. Just don't let them get control of you." She started 
walking closer towards the dark hole. She didn't feel any vampires around, but 
that didn't mean there weren't any. "Remember, sewers are tightly enclosed, 
dark, shadowy places. See you down there!" She smiled at Clark before jumping 
down into the manhole.

"I'll be back in a flash," Clark said to Lois, quickly kissing her on the lips.

"Be careful," Lois responded.

"I always am," Clark said before jumping down after Buffy.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

It took almost half an hour to dust the nest of vampires underneath the park. 
Clark and Buffy quickly found the nest and both were amazed by the huge numbers 
of vampires. It was almost like they were planning a vampire army. They quickly 
went to work, killing all of the members of the undead society. With Clark's 
super speed and strength, both he and Buffy were able to finish off the haunt of 
vampires. 

"Well, that was fun," Buffy commented, wiping off her pants that were covered in 
vampire dust and sewer gunk.

"Well, it was definitely a new experience for me," Clark said. "And I guess I 
can't really report on this. Vampires in Metropolis. Who would have thought?" 

"You get used to the idea," Buffy said, thinking back to her and all of her 
friends' reactions. "Man, I'm never going to get clean." Buffy started walking 
back towards the entrance where they had come from. Grabbing onto the metal 
ladder, she started pulling herself up. A second later, after Buffy had made it 
to the surface, Clark floated himself up instead of climbing like Buffy had.

"Show off," Buffy replied when she saw him. Clark only grinned. 

"Let's get back to your home," Buffy said. "Man, I've had enough slaying."

"Sounds good to me," Clark replied. He looked around him and laughed. "Okay 
Lois, we're done. You can come out now." He figured that Lois was hiding behind 
some bushes. However, both Buffy and Clark waited for a second without hearing 
anything. "Lois?" he asked again.

"Lo-is!" Buffy started shouting.

"LOIS?" Clark asked. He started looking around for her. <Where is she?> He 
thought. Could they have missed a vampire? Worriedly, he looked over at Buffy. 
"She's not here."

Buffy sighed, trying to remain calm. She could see the fear and worry in Clark's 
eyes about his wife. "Okay, okay...we just need to find her. Do you hear 
anything?"

Clark looked around, trying to listen for anything that might sound like Lois. 
"Clark? CLARK?" he heard Lois shout. "Help me!"

"She's calling for me..." Clark said. Clark started running in the direction he 
heard Lois scream and Buffy quickly followed. He was worried to death about her 
right now. Luckily, she was still nearby and Clark quickly found her. Lois was 
being dragged off by a vampire. It was the same vampire who had attacked Buffy 
before jumping down into the manhole. He hadn't started feeding off her, 
however. He must have just wanted to drag her away from where Clark and Buffy 
were.  

"Hey!" Buffy shouted when she saw him. "Let her go."

The vampire whirled around and looked at the girl. She was holding a stake, 
twirling it around in her hand. This vampire was not a newbie. He had heard all 
the rumors about this type of person. "Slayer?" he growled questioningly. Clark 
was surprised. <Other vampires know who she is?>

"Slayee," Buffy commented. 

The vampire threw Lois aside and started walking up to Buffy. Clark instantly 
went over to Lois' side, comforting her. She was fine but visibly shaken by the 
experience. Clark gathered her up into his arms, rubbing his hands up and down 
her arms. "Clark...he just grabbed me..." Lois said shakily. 

"It's okay, Lois," he said soothingly. Clark kissed the top of her forehead 
lovingly.

The vampire swung a couple of punches at Buffy, but Buffy managed to block them 
all. She grabbed her stake and prepared to lunge towards him. "The Sunnydale 
Slayer?" the vampire questioned. Instantly, Buffy froze. <This vamp knows who I 
am?> she thought. "I thought the Slayer was in Sunnydale sleeping around with 
Angelus."

<Oh God...> Buffy thought. Instantaneously, she dropped her defenses. This one 
vampire had managed to get his way past her mental wall. <He said...Angel...> 
Buffy couldn't move. It was as if she had been frozen and was now powerless 
against the vampire standing in front of her.

Suddenly, the vampire lashed out, striking her face and knocking her to the 
ground. "Buffy!" Clark yelled to her, trying to snap her out of her trace. But 
Buffy simply sat there on the ground. All she could think about was Angel and 
Angelus. Two different beings in the same body. Both infatuated with her in two 
completely different ways. "Buffy!" he yelled again. Letting go of Lois for a 
second, Clark ran over to the vampire and ripped his head off in a rage. The 
vampire immediately turned into dust and blew away in the wind.

Lois walked up to where Buffy and Clark were. Clark was bending down on his 
knees to look at Buffy. "Buffy?" he asked. He waved his hand in front of her but 
she didn't even look up. It was as if she had gone comatose. That's when he saw 
her mouth moving, her lips forming the word "Angel" over and over again. Then 
tears started rolling down her cheeks uncontrollably. 

"Is she okay?" Lois asked, watching the young girl with worry in her eyes.

"I - I don't know. Let's get her home." Clark replied. He gathered her up into 
his arms and started walking her back to their apartment. Buffy was silent the 
whole time, her thoughts and mind only able to concentrate on her lover.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Lois, Clark, and Buffy had been sitting on the couch inside their apartment for 
almost twenty minutes. Buffy continued muttering some words about Angel, but 
refused to talk to Lois and Clark. Lois and Clark had tried to get Buffy talking 
again, but didn't have any type of response. 

The two reporters were very worried about Buffy. Since finding her that night, 
both of them had seen completely different sides of her. One minute she could be 
smiling and laughing along with everyone else. The next, she would be silent, 
with a glazed look of pain and agony in her eyes. But whatever she was dealing 
with now seemed to be the worst ever.

Lois looked at Clark, her eyes telling him to try and help her. Clark only 
shrugged, not really knowing what to do. He wasn't used to dealing with cases 
like this. But Buffy was now a friend, and both Lois and Clark wanted to do 
everything in their power to help her get over this.

"So..." Clark said. "The vampire said something about...a...Angelus?"

In a flash, Buffy burst into tears. She moved her legs and hugged them at her 
chest. "Don't say that name. It wasn't him...God, it was never him..."

Lois looked at the blonde with concern in her orbs. "What do you mean?"

Buffy sniffed back her tears. "God, he was *Angel*. He was good."

"Good?" Lois asked.

"I don't want to talk about it," Buffy said, lowering her eyes and looking away 
from Lois and Clark.  

Lois and Clark understood. If they had learned one thing about Buffy was that 
she really wouldn't talk about anything until she was ready. Buffy had to figure 
out how to say whatever had to be said first, which was fine for Lois and Clark. 
They wanted to be there for here, not jump onto her back and force her to answer 
anything.

"I killed him," Buffy whispered suddenly.

"Killed?" Clark asked. He was surprised. Buffy seemed so...honorable. She would 
never harm anything unless it was a vampire. 

"Angel, I killed him," Buffy said. "I sent my one true love...my lover...to 
hell. The literal hell."

Lois and Clark looked at each other worriedly. Obviously, this 17-year-old girl 
had experienced much more than she should have at this age. Lois inwardly 
thought that Buffy's situation had something to do with love ever since they 
talked about Clark and herself at breakfast. However, she had no clue that her 
pain ran this deep. No girl as young as she should be denied love.

"I think you better start at the beginning," Clark said. "Can you start from the 
beginning?"

"We really want to help you, Buffy. Honestly," Lois said truthfully. "But we 
can't do that if we don't know what is going on."

"Talk to us? Please?" Clark asked.

Buffy finally nodded, sucking in a deep breath to calm herself down enough to be 
able to talk. "I...I think I'm ready to tell you guys everything," Buffy finally 
spoke.

"We're listening," Lois assured her.

Buffy started from the very beginning of her life in Los Angeles. She told about 
her calling as a slayer and her few months spent at Hemery High school. Then, 
she moved onto her moving to Sunnydale.

"I came to the school library and there was Giles. He became my watcher and 
guide as a Slayer. I remember him giving me that 'Slayer' speech. 'Into each 
generation a Slayer is born. One girl in all the world, a Chosen One, born with 
the strength and skill to hunt the vampires to stop the spread of evil.'  He 
always got a kick out of that." And from there, Buffy began opening up to Lois 
and Clark in ways they never could have imagined as Buffy began to tell the 
story of her life.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

It was almost an hour later when Buffy started reaching the end of her story. 
Buffy had talked about meeting and befriending Willow and Xander. Buffy had 
talked about Angel. She said he was a vampire, but she had fallen hopelessly in 
love with him. With a red tint in her cheeks, Buffy told how Angel lost his soul 
and what he did as Angelus. 

Then, she moved onto her last meeting with Angel. The day that she sent him to 
hell. "And all of a sudden, he was Angel. The spell that Willow did on him 
worked, and he was...back," Buffy said with tears in her eyes. As she talked 
about it, it was as though she was reliving it all over again. "But - but it was 
too late. He didn't remember anything that he had done...but the portal had been 
opened and the only way to close it was to kill him.

"For one second, I thought... why should I even bother? To save a world and 
continue living in it without having my Angel in it just didn't seem worth it. 
But...but I had to kill him, because I'm so strong. I'm the Slayer...my job was 
to protect the world from vampires, which is what Angel is...was.

"So...I kissed him, pouring every loving motion into that kiss that I could." 
Buffy was having problems talking now. She could remember the way he had held 
her in those last few minutes together. "I touched his face one more time...god, 
I wanted to memorize each detail in his face. I told him that I loved him...and 
I sent him to hell."

Lois and Clark were stunned. Neither of them had any idea that Buffy's life had 
been quite like that. They looked at each other, thinking the same thing. If 
something like this had happened to one of them, they would probably be dealing 
the exact same way Buffy was. "Oh God...sweetie," Lois said to Buffy.

Buffy's shoulders shook from her crying. "How could I do that to him? The way he 
looked at me as the portal closed...god, I betrayed him..." Her voice died off 
as she sobbed.

"Buffy..." Lois said, as she moved closer to her. "I'm sure that you did 
everything that you could. You did what you had to do."

"No," Buffy said, looking at Lois. "If I had gotten there 5 minutes faster. If I 
could have staked that vampire 5 seconds quicker...Angelus never would have 
opened Acathla. If...if on the night of my birthday that I had just...just not 
slept with him, he would have never lost his soul."

"Buffy, there is nothing you can do if two people are simply in love," Lois 
said. 

"No, don't you see? This is *all* my fault," Buffy said. 

And there it was. Buffy was overcome with guilt. In her mind, everything that 
she had done to Angel was entirely her fault. If she hadn't done this...if she 
had never gone to do that...her life wouldn't be the way it was now. Angel would 
still be with her and she'd be slaying in Sunnydale instead of running away to 
the East Coast of the country.

"It's not your fault," Clark assured her. 

However, Buffy said nothing in response. No matter what Lois and Clark said to 
her, Buffy would never change her mind about this. She sighed heavily before 
speaking again. "Thank you for listening to me rant. I've...I've just been 
holding in it so long..."

"I told you that if you needed someone to listen to you, we'd be here for you," 
Lois said.

"If you guys don't mind, I'm going to go for a walk," Buffy said. "I need to 
cool off for a while. Let of some steam or something." She started walking 
towards the door to leave, wanting to be by herself for a while to think over 
everything she had just told Lois and Clark. 

"Clark, this is horrible!" Lois said after Buffy closed the door behind her. 
"Poor Buffy."

"I know, I know. I had no idea that all of *this* had happened to her," Clark 
replied. "I mean, she's only 17, so young to be going through all of this."

"We have to help her," Lois said. This much was obvious. Both Lois and Clark 
wanted to get Buffy back on her feet as quickly as possible. "She said something 
about a...Giles? And she's from Sunnydale."

"Maybe we can find this Giles' number and let him know what's going on," Clark 
said, getting up and turning on his laptop. He started searching on the Internet 
about any matches in a Sunnydale. "We'll just call and say that she's been 
staying here the whole time. I imagine they're worried sick about her."

"Okay," Lois agreed, walking over and sitting back down next to Clark. "I just 
feel so bad for her. I mean, you and I went through some bad times - "

"The clone, your amnesia, New Krypton..." Clark mentioned.

"Just to name a few," Lois quickly joked. "But we're still together. The things 
that happened to Buffy...she's never getting him back." She reached over and 
quickly kissed Clark. "It's bad enough that we were separated for months 
but...to have to kill the only person you have ever loved..." Lois' voice died 
off. "She's incredibly brave."

"And courageous...to be able to do the things she has done," Clark said. The two 
of them paused, both thinking of what it would be like if the two of them were 
in Buffy and Angel's place. "C'mon, let's get to work. Maybe we can find him." 
And together, the two of them went back to searching for Giles.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Back in Sunnydale, Giles, Willow, Xander, and Angel were in the library 
continuing their search for Buffy. Since Angel's return several days ago, he had 
once again joined the Scooby Gang. Xander had slowly come to terms with Angel 
and let him in. Giles helped Angel get back onto his feet and living in the 
human world. All the time, Angel wore his brooding features. His mind was 
constantly on Buffy, and wouldn't give up until she was safely back in Sunnydale 
with him.

As Willow, Xander, and Angel crowded around Willow's laptop, the phone rang in 
Giles' office. "Hello?" he asked, after picking the phone up.

"Hi. May I speak to a Mr. Giles?" the voice on the other line asked.

"This is he. Who is this?" he asked back.

"This is Clark Kent. I'm a reporter for the Daily Planet and I live in 
Metropolis. I think I may be able to help you with your problem."

"What problem is this, Mr. Kent?" Giles asked back. Years of experience and 
training to be a Watcher had taught him to always be careful in cases like this.

"Well, I don't know her last name...but her first name is Buffy," Clark said. 

Instantly, Giles' knees gave out and he collapsed in the chair next to him. 
<Buffy...Buffy is in Metropolis? On the East Coast?> he thought. Angel, Willow, 
and Xander, who heard his fall, came rushing into the office. 

"Giles?" the three of them asked as they watched the man sit up straight.

Giles blinked back his shock as he clutched the phone in his hand even tighter. 
"Buffy? Buffy Summers?"

"What about Buffy?" Angel asked immediately. "Is she okay?"

"Short blonde girl?" Clark asked Giles, hoping that he had called the right 
person. "Uh...the Slayer and person who kills vampires for a living?"

Now Giles was even more stunned. This man knew about Buffy and her calling. What 
had been going on? "Is this a trick?" Giles asked.

"No, sir. She's been living with us for almost a week now," Clark explained. 
"She's...she's doing really badly right now. She finally talked to us about it 
tonight and had a total breakdown. There was something about an Angel and 
Acathla that is just eating her to death."

"Angel?" Giles asked. He looked over at the ex-vampire, whose eyes immediately 
widened and shot open.

"Yes, she had to kill him and...it's really killing her now," Clark said. "I 
only found out about you tonight and had to get in touch with you. Lois, my 
wife, and I found your number."

"Th-thank you for that," Giles said. "We've been trying to find her."

"Well, from what she has told us, she has gone through a whirlwind amount of 
stuff in the last few months," Clark said. "I...I don't really know what to do 
in her case, but I think you and her friends should come get her, because she's 
not showing any signs of going back."

"Well, I think we have an excellent reason for Buffy to return home," Giles 
said, casting his eyes up to Angel. 

"Buffy's coming home?" Willow asked hopefully. 

"Good, good," Clark replied. "I'll give you an address and you can catch the 
next airplane out to Metropolis."

"Okay...okay..." Giles said distractedly as he wrote down Lois and Clark's 
address to their brownstone. "We're - we're right on our way." He slammed down 
the phone before sighing loudly. 

"What's going on?" Xander asked. "They've got Buffy?"

"She's been living with Mr. and Mrs. Kent for the past week," Giles explained. 
"And she's missing you terribly..." He nodded to Angel. 

"Well, then what are we still doing here?" Xander asked. "We should get going."

"No, no. Angel and I can go," Giles said. But he looked at the faces of Willow 
and Xander, Buffy's best friends that she had ever had, and quickly changed his 
mind. "All right. Go call your parents and tell them that you're...staying at 
each other's houses for a day or two."

Willow and Xander quickly smiled before walking out of the office. "What if she 
doesn't want to come home?" Angel asked quietly.

"Oh, I don't think that will be a problem," Giles replied, sliding on his tweed 
jacket quickly. "She takes one look at you and she'll be ready and willing to 
return to us." And with that, the two of them walked out of the library. They 
met up with Willow and Xander and went to the airport, eager to get to 
Metropolis.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

After that very emotional night in the Kent household, life had returned back to 
a fairly normal time. However, Buffy was even more depressed and quiet. She no 
longer had that spark in her eyes as she talked to Lois and Clark. Time was 
wearing her down, and there was only so much she could take. Lois and Clark 
hoped that Giles and her friends would arrive soon. Buffy needed them so much.

Early one morning, while Lois and Clark were getting ready for work and Buffy 
was sleeping in, such as she now did every morning, there was an urgent knock on 
their door. Lois and Clark, who thought that Giles had finally arrived, walked 
over together to open the door.

When they opened it, four unfamiliar faces greeted them. A small redhead; a 
tall, raggedy-haired boy; an even taller, dark haired man; and an older man 
stared back at them. "Hello," the oldest man spoke up. "Mr. and Mrs. Kent?"

"Yes, that's us." Clark replied. "Mr. Giles?"

"Yes, that's me," Giles said, extending his hand and quickly shaking hands with 
Clark. "We just got in this morning and came straight here."

"Well, come in please," Lois said politely. She opened the door the whole way 
and the small group walked inside. "I'm Lois, Clark's wife."

"Pleasure to meet you. And this is Willow...and Xander..." Giles pointed to each 
one as he introduced them all. "And this...this is Angel."

"Angel?!" Both Lois and Clark asked at the same time.

Angel chuckled, embarrassed. "Well, I see my reputation precedes me." 

"Are you...Buffy's Angel?" Lois asked bluntly. Angel slowly nodded. "Oh my gosh, 
she is going to freak out when she sees you. She's been...so miserable without 
you." Lois walked over and sat down on the couch, inviting everyone to sit down 
with her.

"I can understand that..." Angel said softly. Although he had put behind him his 
life as a vampire, he was also miserable without Buffy with him. He desperately 
wanted to be with her once again and simply hold her to reassure himself that 
she was still there. "Is she here?"

"Well, she's sleeping," Lois explained. "I - I can go get her..."

"No, let her sleep a little bit more." Giles said. "We...we can't thank you 
enough for taking care of her. She's gone through a lot."

"No kidding," Lois said. "I think that's fairly obvious. She's been going 
downhill emotionally because of Angel's...death." She looked around for the tall 
man with chocolate-brown eyes and couldn't find him. 

"Oh, he does that." Xander explained Angel's disappearance. "He's Angel...that's 
the norm for him. He's probably going upstairs to look for Buffy himself."

"Oh, well...that's good, I guess," Lois answered. She hadn't even heard him 
leave. "Hey, isn't he suppose to be a vampire? And how did he get back?" she 
asked.

"Honey, I'm sure that they'll explain everything to us eventually," Clark 
assured her.

"Yes, um...Angel's human now," Giles explained. 

"Human? How?" Clark asked.

"We don't even know," Giles said. 

"He just kinda showed up," Willow said shyly. "But we think that he was spit out 
of hell."

"Can you imagine that? A hell reject," Xander joked. Lois and Clark momentarily 
smiled. This boy obviously was a full-time prankster. 

"We're hoping that with Angel back..." Giles began. "Well, we want her to come 
back -"

"What the HELL is going on here?!" a loud voice asked. Giles, Willow, and Xander 
spun around to see Buffy standing by the steps in an oversized T-shirt and 
bathrobe loosely wrapped around her hips. Her arms were crossed in front of her; 
however, although she tried to look angry, she mostly looked tired and worn out. 

"Buffy!" Willow and Xander shouted. 

Buffy slowly walked into the room, millions of jumbled thoughts racing 
throughout her mind. "What...how...what...?" she stuttered. "What are you DOING 
here?"

"Buffy," Giles started. "The Kents called us and -"

"YOU two did this?" Buffy asked, pointing over to Lois and Clark, who were 
slowly rising to their feet. They looked surprised that Buffy would accuse them 
in such this way. "I don't believe this!"

"Buffy, we were only doing this to help you," Lois said. Over the past week she 
had earned Buffy's trust and respect. She didn't want to lose it now just over a 
small mishap like this.

"Help me?" Buffy asked, quickly growing hysterical. "You wanted to HELP me by 
calling the very three people that I just...I just can't deal with?"

"Buffy, give us a chance to explain - " Clark tried speaking.

"Explain?! I...I trusted you. I told you *everything* about my life and then you 
go do the one thing that I...that reminds me of exactly what I've done? What I 
lost?" Buffy said. Tears started rolling down her cheeks as she yelled at Clark, 
a man who she had once called her confidant. 

"Buff, c'mon. Give us a chance to explain," Xander said.

"Xander...stay out of this. You shouldn't have come," Buffy said. "None of you 
should have come here."

"WE have to get you to come back, Buffy!" Willow said desperately. Man, where 
was Angel when you needed him? 

"Come back?" Buffy asked.

"Yes, come back to Sunnydale with us," Giles said. "You have to. We all miss 
you. Your mother is worried sick -"

"My mother kicked me out," Buffy said flatly.

"She didn't know what was going on!" Giles said back to her. "She knows now. She 
needs you back at home. We all need you back home."

Buffy looked at all of her friends through her teary eyes. "God, I can't believe 
you guys came all the way across the country just to get me," she said, trying 
to keep the atmosphere light. 

"Come back with us, Buffy. Please?" Willow, her best friend that Buffy had ever 
had, asked. 

"No."

"What?" everyone in the room asked.

"No, I can't," Buffy repeated. "I can't go back to Sunnydale. Each thing 
there...the Bronze, the cemeteries, the window and tree just outside my bedroom 
window...everything in that town reminds me of him." 

"Him" was obviously Angel. "I just can't go back," she repeated. From behind all 
of them, Angel appeared in the doorway. 

Xander saw him out of the corner of his eye. "Even if...?" he started asking.

"Even if what?" Buffy asked Xander. She looked at him and watched as his eyes 
traveled past her to something behind her. 

The room was silent as Angel took a step towards her and said softly, "Hello, 
Buffy."

Instantly, Buffy froze. Her breath caught in her throat. Her eyes widened in 
surprise. <No...it can't be. It can't be him,> she thought desperately. "Angel?" 
she whispered. Buffy finally forced herself to turn around...

<God, she's beautiful,> Angel thought, drinking up the sight of his beloved 
standing in front of him. Buffy slowly turned around and the two of them met 
eyes. "Oh God..." both of them whispered at the same time. 

In a flash, Buffy had run up to Angel, jumping into his eternally open arms. She 
wrapped her arms around his neck, crying and kissing him all over. 
"Angel...Angel, you're here," she kept saying over and over again. She tightened 
her grip around his neck, telling herself to never let go of him again. 

"I'm here, beloved. And I'm never leaving you again," Angel whispered to her, 
kissing her cheek, chin, nose, and finally her soft lips. 

"I love you...god, I love you so much," Buffy whispered, looking up at him. She 
ran her fingers down the side of Angel's face, feeling the touch of his smooth 
skin - something she'd thought she'd never feel again.

Lois and Clark watched the reunion with a small smile on both of their faces. 
Both were delighted that Buffy had gotten Angel back. They had never seen such a 
large smile on her features as she looked up at Angel. The two of them 
remembered when they were reunited after the New Krypton problem, and distinctly 
remembered what it was like in those first few minutes of seeing each other 
again. 

Willow, Xander, and Giles were all happy for Buffy. They watched as she and 
Angel met lips, both of them having tears running down their cheeks and a smile 
on their face. Starting today, she was starting to get her life back on track. 
And there was now no doubt that Buffy was returning home to Sunnydale.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

After a tearful reunion with the rest of the Scooby gang members, Buffy ran 
upstairs to pack her single bag to return back to Sunnydale. Now, all she wanted 
to do was get home to her mom and restart her life with Angel. <A *human* 
Angel,> she had to keep telling herself. 

When she found out that Angel was human, she jumped up and down for joy. Within 
the last ten minutes, Buffy's life had turned a full 180 degrees. She was with 
the love of her life once again and her friends were all there for her. She was 
returning to a town she knew, and the vampires she loved to beat up, and a Mom 
who would love and care for her.

"Well, I guess that's about it," Buffy said, walking up to Lois and Clark. She 
was alone with the couple now. Willow, Giles, and Xander were out in the cab, 
ready to get back to the airport. Angel stood by the open door, watching as 
Buffy said goodbye to her new friends. "My bag is in the taxi...so, I guess 
we're done."

Lois stepped up to hug the small girl. "I'm gonna miss you sweetie." She said 
honestly. And Lois really would. She had gotten used to having Buffy around and 
would miss her when she left. "But I'm glad you got everything worked out. I'm 
glad you got him back."

Buffy took one more second to hug Lois back. "Thank you for being here for me. I 
couldn't have dealt without you and Clark here."

"You're welcome," Lois replied.


"And hey," Buffy said, casting a quick glance over to Clark. "Whatever you do, 
don't let him go. I may be like 15 years younger than you, but I know what I'm 
talking about."

"I don't think that will be a problem. I'm not planning to anytime soon," Lois 
replied to her. 

Buffy walked over to Clark, thinking back to everything she had learned about 
him. "And thank you, Clark," she said. She held out her hand in friendship.

Clark pulled her close to him, giving her a friendly hug. "Sure thing. And 
thanks for helping us with the vampire problem in the park and getting to Lois 
in time." 

"No problem," Buffy replied, taking a small step back. "After all, what are 
favors now and then from one superhero to another?" She smiled. "After all, even 
superheroes need help sometimes."

"I guess you're right," Clark replied. 

Buffy started walking back towards the door and where Angel stood waiting for 
her. Lois walked across the room and leaned into Clark's arms as the two of them 
watched Buffy start to leave. When Buffy reached Angel, she walked into his 
embrace, leaning on his shoulder as they started walking out. Even an act as 
small as this was beaming with the love that the two of them shared. 

"Bye Lois, bye Clark," Buffy said once more, before walking out the door. As the 
door closed, Clark and Lois saw Buffy and Angel meet lips, sweetly kissing 
before walking out to the taxi.

"Mmm," Lois sighed, turning around and looking up into Clark's eyes. She wrapped 
her arms around his neck and felt him wrap his arms around her waist. "Now see? 
That's how it's supposed to end."

"Happily ever after?" Clark asked, staring lovingly down at Lois.

"You bet," Lois said, quickly kissing Clark. "I mean, they worked hard and now 
they finally have each other."

"And we...we still have each other," Clark said warmly.

"Forever and always," Lois assured him. "I love you, Clark."

"And I will always love you," Clark replied. 

Slowly, Lois raised her head and met lips with Clark. Clark immediately 
responded, closing his eyes and soaking in the love that he felt from his wife. 
Lois' hands unconsciously played with the back of Clark's neck as they kissed. 
Each kiss that Clark planted on Lois' lips was filled with all the love and 
passion that he felt for her. Clark slid his hands up her side until they 
tangled in her short hair. The two stood there, thinking of nothing but each 
other. For an instant, time stood still and the only thing that existed were the 
touch of each other's hands, the taste of one another's mouths, and the feeling 
of the other's skin. And very slowly, the two of them floated off the floor 
several feet, so wrapped up with each other that they didn't even notice. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Hey honey!" Lois called out when she heard Clark walk in the front door. It had 
been a few weeks since Buffy had gone back to Sunnydale. Since then, the 
puzzling murders had mysteriously ended. Life in Metropolis had returned to 
normal - well, as normal as it could be for the two of them.

"Hi Lois," Clark responded, walking into the living room. Lois was sitting on 
the couch eating some ice cream as she watched TV. He walked over to her and 
bent down, kissing her lips quickly. "I got the mail."

"Ooh, anything good?" Lois asked. 

"Well, we got a package...from Sunnydale," Clark replied, throwing the manila 
package towards Lois.

"Really?" Lois asked, picking it up. She opened it, and a black videotape fell 
out. "Okay...well, this is interesting. Clark, it's a tape."

Clark sat down next to her a minute later. "I guess she wants us to watch it?" 
Clark grabbed the tape from Lois' hands and got up. After he placed it in the 
VCR, he went back over to the couch and sat back down. Lois leaned over into 
Clark's arms, and relaxed against his chest. 

When the tape started, the picture went all fuzzy before an image of Buffy 
appeared on the screen. She took a minute to adjust her hairstyle and to get a 
serious look on her face. "Hey Lois and Clark," Buffy started. "If you are 
watching this tape, it means I am dead."

Lois and Clark looked at each other in surprise. 

Buffy laughed suddenly. "Sorry, I was just joking. I've always wanted to say 
that." She made a face on the screen before continuing talking. 

"Well, it's been like three weeks since I was in Metropolis with you guys. 
And...okay, yeah, we said goodbye, but I thought I could do better than that. 
So, I thought to myself, I'd write a letter to them! But I have horrible 
penmanship, so that was out of the question." Buffy was outside her school as 
she talked into the camera. She walked along, telling Lois and Clark what she 
was doing. "So, I figured I could be unique and send you guys a tape of what my 
life is like now."

Buffy took a second and quickly panned out and showed the school behind her. 
"That's Sunnydale High. I'm trying to get back in, since I got expelled...Snyder 
is not too happy that I'm back." She turned the camera back around to her and 
cleared her throat. "Anyway...I'm doing a lot better now. Angel's here, so I'm 
dealing with everything else." On the screen, Buffy's eyes drifted past the 
video screen. "Hey! Willow, Xander!" 

A second later, other voices were heard off screen as Buffy talked to her two 
friends. "Well, she seems a lot happier." Lois commented. "More like the way a 
17-year-old should act." 

Both she and Clark laughed as they watched Xander show off his technique for 
eating a Twinkie - stuffing it all in his mouth at one time. They smiled when 
they saw Willow carefully avoid the camera each time Buffy whirled it around 
whenever she wasn't talking. In less than a month, Buffy had amazingly changed 
personalities greatly. 

"Hmm...I read that *Superman* saved a bridge from collapsing the other day." 
Buffy said, exaggerating her wink in her eye. "Not too shabby...not too shabby 
at all, really," she added jokingly. Lois and Clark looked at each other, 
knowing she was getting ready to say something else. "Now...let me think...what 
did I do?" Buffy's face changed into an expression of hard thinking as she 
looked up to the sky for a second. "Oh yeah...I just saved the world from ending 
by closing up the hell-mouth." Buffy laughed and smiled at the camera, but both 
Lois and Clark knew that she was serious. "And look! Not even a scar to prove 
it!"

Lois and Clark laughed at the light attitude Buffy was showing about all of 
this. Then, her eyes drifted off the screen again as she looked past the camera. 
Lois and Clark heard a voice call for Buffy off-screen, and they immediately 
knew who it was. Buffy lowered the camera to the ground as she walked up to 
Angel. "Hey Angel," Buffy said. It was hard to hear since the microphone was 
pointed to the ground. Although Lois and Clark couldn't see what was going on, 
they had a pretty good idea. After all, they were still newly-weds and 
constantly forgot about everyone else when they were together. 

Suddenly, the picture started spinning, and all Lois and Clark could hear was 
Buffy's screams of laughter. "Angel! Put me down!" she shouted. The camera 
seemed to go flying and landed in the grass. "Oh dang!" Buffy's voice said 
before the camera died and gray fuzz appeared on the screen.

A second later, the picture came back on and both Buffy and Angel were in the 
screen. Angel had his arms wrapped around Buffy's waist as the two stood under a 
tree. "Okay, well...now that Angel has officially *ruined* the camera, I need to 
finish this."

"I didn't ruin the camera, beloved," Angel said, bending down to kiss Buffy's 
neck. 

"Okay, okay. Down boy," Buffy joked. Lois and Clark burst out laughing. "Well, 
as you can see...I'm really doing okay. My mom is more understanding about all 
of this...and Angel's here." She looked up at him for one second. "So, as long 
as he's with me, I can do just about anything.

"I actually wouldn't mind seeing you guys again, so feel free to call me if you 
ever need some back-up. Trust me, having a Slayer, Watcher, Wiccan, ex-vampire, 
werewolf, and...well, Xander can be a big plus," Buffy said, smiling at the 
screen. "We have quite a little army established in Sunnydale, so get in touch 
if you need to." Buffy paused, trying to think up something witty to end her 
thank you tape. "After all, us superheroes gotta look out for each other too." 
Buffy finished. "Right, Angel?"

"Right, beloved," Angel replied, kissing her nose.

"So, bye Lois and Clark." Buffy said. "Say goodbye, Angel." She moved the camera 
up closer to him.

"Goodbye Angel," he said jokingly.

"Oh my God, you are *such* a dork!" Buffy screamed, punching him in the chest 
playfully. And with that, the camera faded to black and went off. 

Clark groaned as he stopped the tape. "The way she says that, I have this bad 
feeling that we'll be seeing them again."

Lois chuckled at her husband's complaints. "Well, I think it's really sweet. 
Buffy finally got whom she wanted, the Angel guy. We got the vampire case solved 
and there aren't any more vampires in Metropolis...or so we can hope." A new 
thought crossed her mind. "Come to think of it, what if there are more vampires 
in Metropolis? Do we call in our own Slayer? And what if the vampires overrun 
the city? Can they do that?" 

She looked across to where Clark was sitting, giving her that "Lo-is" look. 
"What?" She asked defensively.

"Lois? Shut up," Clark replied. And with that, he silenced his wife's complaints 
with a sweet kiss.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

T H E
E N D!