⚠️ WARNING: Mention if assault, mention of violence + explanation of detailed violence, death. If any of this is sensitive you then you are welcome to skip. ⚠️

3rd Person's POV

Jenny sits working at her computer diligently. She taps a few keys, then looks up at the screen. A percent complete window appears over the Rumanian text, and the bar zips across it.

"Come on, come on..." she mutters impatiently tapping her finger on the mouse lightly.

The bar disappears, and a translation scrolls up next to the original text.

"That's it!"

She exhales and smiles.

"It's gonna work! This... will work."

She saves the result and pops out an unlabeled yellow floppy disk. She sets it aside by some books near the edge of her desk. In the mean time a hardcopy has started to print out. She wheels her chair over to the printer and looks it over. She looks up and sees Angelus sitting in a desk at the back of the class. She gasps and jumps out of her seat.

"Angel..." She slowly moves toward the door, "How did you get in here?"

Angelus shrugs leaning back against a desk looking around bored, "I was invited. The sign in front of the school... 'Formatia trans sicere educatorum.'"

Jenny mumbles to herself, "'Enter all ye who seek knowledge.'"

Angelus chuckles and gets up, "What can I say? I'm a knowledge seeker."

He comes toward her slowly as she watches him frightened. She glances at the door and hopes to God and her ancestors that a certain someone wouldn't be on their way back.

"Angel, I-I-I've got good news."

"I heard. You went shopping at the local boogedy-boogedy store. You and the little slayerette." He sees the Orb on her desk and picks it up, "The Orb of Thesulah. If memory serves, this is supposed to summon a person's soul... from the ether... store it until it can be transferred."

The Orb begins to glow as he looks into it. He glances up at Jenny for an instant. She edges away from him.

"You know what I hate most about these things?"

Jenny screams as he heaves it across the room and into the chalkboard behind her. It shatters into hundreds of pieces and a lot of dust.

Angelus smiles, "They're so damn fragile."

In an instant he loses the smile and tilts his head to the side in an intimidating way, "Must be that shoddy gypsy craftsmanship, huh?"

Jenny has backed into the wall and trembles with fear. She starts to inch her way toward the door. Angelus reaches over to the PC and turns the monitor so he can see it.

"I never cease to be amazed how much the world has changed in just two and a half centuries."

Jenny has reached the door and tries to open it. It's locked. He turns the monitor back around.

"It's a miracle to me. You, you put the secrets to restoring my soul in here..."

He shoves the computer off her of desk and onto the floor. It breaks, and the monitor shatters and sparks and starts to burn. Angelus tears the printout from the printer.

"It comes out here." He looks over the entire paper and scoffs, "'The Ritual of Restoration.' Wow. This, this brings back memories."

He starts to tear the printout in half.

Jenny gasps lowly, "Wait. That's your..."

"Oh, my cure?" He pouts playfully as he finishes tearing it apart, "No, thanks. Been there, done that, and deja vu just isn't what it used to be."

Seeing the fire he smirks and holds the paper over the flames, "My... Isn't this my lucky day. The computer... and the pages."

Standing with his back to Jenny he warms his hands, "Looks like I get to kill two birds with one stone."

He crouches over the fire to warm himself more. Jenny starts toward the back door. Angelus looks back up at her sporting his game face.

"And teacher makes three."

She starts to run for it, but Angelus roars and quickly jumps and grabs hold of her.

"No!" Jenny screams.

He throws her back into the locked door, and it breaks open. She looks back at him, scrambles to her feet and begins to run.

Angelus steps out the classroom and laughs, "Oh, good. I need to work up an appetite first."

As he goes forward to follow after her, he feels his head snap to the side as heat hits his face. He glares with his vamp face as he looks down at the girl standing ready to fight.

"You want her... you gotta go through me."

Angelus smirks wiping the small bit of blood that leaked from the corner of his mouth, "With pleasure."

He takes a step towards her making her quickly snap her wrist forward hitting him in the nose. He curses feeling his nose crack as she then punches him in the gut. The wind is knocked out of him as he bends forward. She then grabs his head and pulls it into her lifted knee, then she throws his head out of her hands making him stumble away.

He growls frustrated, "You know little one, I don't really have time for this."

He catches her in coming fist and twists her arm slightly making her turn away from him as her arm was awkwardly twisted behind her back. She yelps in pain as he grabs a fist full of her hair and pulls her head into his chest.

"I told you, soon... but you just won't be patient."

Laney internally curses as she feels his teeth graze her neck. She quickly yanks her head from his grip and throws it back smacking her skull against his. He groans and lets her go allowing her to quickly run over to a fire hydrant on the wall. She hurls it across the hall hitting Angelus in the head. He falls onto the ground making Laney spin around and run after Jenny.

Angelus glares at the ceiling before sitting up and getting off the floor.

Laney sprints throughout the halls whispering for Jenny.

"Ms. Calendar... where are yo-"

A hand wraps around her mouth. She is about to scream until her eyes connect with a fearful Jenny's. The older woman shushes her and points to the door ahead of them that had been chained up.

"Shit..." Laney whispers.

"What are you doing? You should've gotten out of he-"

Laney frowns shaking her head, "You're important to Giles therefore you're important to me."

Jenny smiles painfully as she remembers the same words she had used on the girl.

"I'm not just going to leave you."

Jenny nods with a grateful look upon her face.

"Alright different plan... let's go back this way." Laney suggests.

They run back into the lounge, seeing Angelus coming.

"Fuck." Laney curses grabbing Jenny's hand pulling her further down the hall.

Angelus pulls open the doors and follows them at a fast walk. Outside to another hall exit, the two burst through the door and runs along the colonnade. Angelus is not far behind, and continues after them at a quick pace. Soon he starts to run as well.

Jenny and Laney keep running, checking behind them every so often. They reach the next building and struggle with the door. Jenny looks back and sees Angelus running toward her with an evil grin on his face. Laney pushes Jenny aside and yanks hard at the door several more times before it opens. Grabbing the teachers hand once more, Laney runs in with Jenny on her heels.

Inside the hall, Jenny pulls the door closed behind them and Angelus slams into it. The two starts to run down the hall. Angelus has to yank at the door a couple of times before it opens for him, too, and he runs in after them. A cleaning cart is in the hall by the stairs, and Jenny grabs it and pushes it into Angelus. He slams into it and flies over it and onto the floor while the two rush up the steps.

"Good one."

"Thanks. Let's go." Jenny pulls Laney up the stairs as she continue to look behind them for Angelus.

As the two run past a landing by a large arched window, Jenny runs up onto it and right into a waiting Angelus. Laney is grabbed and pushed down the hall. Jenny screams when Angelus grabs a tight hold of her.

"Sorry Jenny, this is where you get off."

"No!" Laney yells as she quickly gets up off the ground.

And like slow motion.

Angelus chuckles and looks into Jenny's face. He puts one hand around behind her head and touches her lips with the fingers of his other.

He takes his fingers from her lips and puts his hand under her chin. In one swift movement he twists her head and snaps her neck. Her body collapses to the floor. He looks up and around, breathing heavily from the running and the excitement.

"Ah... I never get tired of doing that."

Laney skids to a stop as she watches Jenny's head twist at an odd angle. She begins to hyperventilate as she watches the teacher fall to the ground unmoving.

Her eyes look up from Jenny's still body to Angelus who was looking at Laney licking his lips.

"Now for you slayerette..."

Laney turns around to run but Angelus uses his vampire speed to catch her. He holds her neck with one tight grip as she held onto his hand trying to pry his fingers off her.

She coughs and tries to take in a breath but can't as he squeezes tighter watching her struggle. He chuckles and loosens his grip as he sees her become redder. She gasps in a breath and tries to pull away from the sick vampire.

Angelus' free hand caresses her face as he smirks down at her scared face. A tear slides down her cheek as she looks at the face of what used to be her best friend.

"A-angel please... y-you have to be in there so-somewhere..."

Angelus chuckles shaking his head as his hand grips her neck tighter once more, "Angel is gone for good. What do you people not understand about that? I don't get why anyone wants the old sod back anyways."

"B-because he's not a m-monster like you..."

Angel smiles grabbing her chin, "Aw thank you. That's so sweet. I hope you finally realize that you can't stop me."

Laney pouts feeling her heart quicken as Angelus' pulls her closer. She could practically feel his breath as their faces were close with no space in between.

"W-what do you want with me? J-just get it over with. Kill me... end this little game... I'm done playing."

Angelus laughs letting his thumb graze her lips, "You think what I did to Drusilla was bad... you're in for a surprise."

Laney feels her eyes widen as her entire body goes into shock. Heat from lips pressed upon hers, made her immediately push away the insane vampire. She feels him bite her lip. The taste of metallic blood makes her whimper and try with all her might to push him away.

Angelus pulls away smirking, "I got big plans for you.. but for now..."

Laney is dragged over to the stairs as she tries to pry his fingers off her. He grabs the back of her head and slams her head into a locker nearby. She groans in pain as she then feels herself being pushed towards the stairs.

"Don't worry... you won't remember a thing."

Laney's blurry vision causes her to look around confused as she groans in pain. She goes to take a step away from the blurred figure of Angelus. But what she didn't realize was that her foot had not made contact with the concrete below. She feels herself float for a second before she begins to tumble down the stairs. Laney yells out in pain as she feels something crack in her arm. Her head hits the stair rail as she continues to roll down to the hallway.

Angelus looks down the stairs at Laney's now still body. He hears her heart slowly beat. She was barely breathing.

Phase 1 was done.

Now to make the perfect scene for the librarian.

...

Giles arrives at his door looking for his keys. He looks up and sees a red rose on the door and can hear the music of the opera "La Boheme", by Puccini, coming from inside. He takes the rose, inhales its aroma and smiles. He opens his door and goes in.

Giles pokes his head in, "Hello?"

He sees no one there, so he steps in and closes the door behind him.

"Jenny?"

He puts his briefcase aside and steps over to his coat rack.

"It's me!"

He takes off his coat and hangs it up. He looks around again and sees a chilled bottle of champagne and two long-stemmed glasses on his desk. On top of the crystal ice bucket is a folded piece of paper leaning against the bottle.

He sets down his keys and the rose and takes the note. He unfolds it and on it is one word: Upstairs. He smiles and looks up toward the loft. He takes off his glasses and sets them and the paper down. He runs his fingers through his hair then takes the bottle and looks at it, before picking up the two glasses and starting up the stairs. The opera music gets louder as he nears the loft. As he climbs the stairs his shoes step over rose petals and rose stems on each of the steps.

When he reaches the top he is smiling. He sees Jenny on the bed, but she isn't moving, and his smile quickly fades. The opera reaches a crescendo as he drops the bottle and glasses, and they shatter on the floor. He continues to look at Jenny's body. Her dead eyes stare back at him.

...

Giles stands leaning on the wall by his front door staring blankly into space. The coroners take Jenny's body away. A police officer approaches him.

"Mr. Giles, I need to ask you to come with us. Just to answer a few questions."

Giles still staring blankly nods looking at the officer, "Of course. Yes. Procedure. I need to make a phone call... if that's all right."

The officer looks over at the phone and back at him, giving him tacit permission.

Giles whispers, "Yes." before going over to the phone.

At Buffy's house, Angelus is outside looking into the dining room through the window from the porch. Buffy and Willow walk through it and into the living room.

Passion is the source of our finest moments. The joy of love... the clarity of hatred... and the ecstasy of grief.

The telephone rings, and Buffy runs back into the dining room to get it. She picks it up from the phone stand and turns so Angelus can see her face.

"Hello. Giles, hey! We did the, the thing. It worked. What?"

As she listens to Giles her expression becomes increasingly blank. She lowers the phone from her ear.

Willow is there now, too, and takes the phone from Buffy, "Giles?"

Buffy leans against the wall and slides down against it into a crouch.

"What? No!" Willow puts the phone down and begins to cry uncontrollably, "No! Noooo!"

Angelus gloats as he looks into the window. Joyce comes into the dining room when she hears the crying and holds Willow. Buffy looks off into space, then finally lowers her head onto her knees. Angelus smiles and leaves.

...

Cordelia and Xander drive up to Buffy and Willow, who are waiting for them. Xander opens the passenger door and gets out.

Buffy frowns, "Where's Giles?"

Xander shakes his head and closes the door, "No luck. By the time we got to the station, the cops said he'd already left."

Cordelia gets out closes her door. She has tear streaks down her face as she tries not to look at the group. She had begun to really like Ms. Calendar. And now the woman was gone.

Feeling a harsh wind blow, Cordelia closes her jacket and crosses her arms over her chest. She looks up at the moon shining bright in the dark sky and frowns. Her stomach was in knots. For some reason she felt like something was still wrong. But she couldn't think of anything that would be other than the death of a close friend.

"I guess they just wanted to ask him some questions." Xander continues as Cordelia finally begins to listen once more.

Buffy sighs and looks to the quiet brunette girl, "Cordelia, will you drive us to Giles' house?"

Cordelia nods, "Of course."

Willow bites her lip, "But don't you think he wants to be left alone?"

"I'm not worrying about what he wants. I'm worried about what he's gonna do."

They all get into the car.

At Giles apartment, the roses have all been trampled and broken. Giles' weapon chest is open and almost empty. He walks across the living room drawing a sword. His old Victrola, has the opera record played out but is still spinning. Giles has a large bag sitting open with various weapons stashed inside.

He adds a small can of gasoline, grabs the bag and heads out of the apartment. On the desk where he had just sat his bag, laid a pencil sketch of Jenny lying dead on the bed. And beside it... another sketch of Laney.

...

Xander pushes the door of Giles' apartment open. A piece of yellow crime scene tape is stretched across the doorway.

"Hello? Giles?"

He ducks under the tape and comes in. Willow and the others follow. Xander goes over to the desk and looks around.

"I guess Giles had a big night planned tonight."

Buffy picks up the sketch of Jenny. Feeling another sheet, Buffy pulls the paper from behind it and gasps slowly. The sketch was of what looked like Laney. However it didn't make any sense to Buffy. Where was this? Where was Laney? And why was she sprawled on the ground with a blood puddle coming from her head.

"Giles didn't set this up. Angel did." She hands Xander the sketches and runs up the stairs, "This is the wrapping for the gift."

"Oh, man." He exhales, "Poor Giles."

Xander looks at the second sheet and freezes, "What is this? Is this a joke?"

Willow and Cordelia both step forward to look at the sketch but Xander moves it out of their view, shaking his head.

"I don't think it's best you two see this one."

The two girls peek at each other and frown before looking back at Xander who is gulping lightly with pure fear on his face.

"Why?"

Buffy comes back down the stairs, "Because we don't know if that one is true or not. I'm hoping it's not. But we need to find Giles and fast. I have a feeling I know where he is."

Willow turns around and sees the nearly empty weapon chest.

"All his weapons are gone."

Cordelia frowns, "But I thought he kept his weapons at the library."

Xander shakes his head folding up the sketch, "No, those are his, uh, everyday weapons. These were his good weapons. The ones he, uh, breaks out when company comes to visit."

Butfy huffs, "Alright so Giles will go to wherever Angel is."

Xander turns to face the girls.

Willow frowns, "That means the factory, right?"

Cordelia raises her hand, "So Giles is gonna try to kill Angel then?"

"Well, it's about time somebody did."

Willow gasps, "Xander!"

"I'm sorry, but let's not forget that I hated Angel long before you guys jumped on the bandwagon. So I think I deserve a little something for not saying 'I told you so' long before now. And if Giles wants to go after the, uh," He looks up at Buffy and stares blankly, "fiend that murdered his girlfriend, I say, 'Faster, Pussycat! kill! kill!'"

Buffy sighs, "You're right."

Willow and Cordelia look up at Buffy.

"Thank you."

"There's only one thing wrong with Giles' little revenge scenario."

"And what's that?"

"It's gonna get him killed."

...

At Spike's warehouse, Angelus is being lectured.

Spike glares at the nonchalant vampire, "Are you insane?! We're supposed to kill the bitch, not leave gag gifts in the friends' beds."

Drusilla cuddles her puppy, "But, Spike, the bad teacher was going to restore Angel's soul."

"What if she did? If you ask me, I find myself preferring the old Buffy-whipped Angelus. This new, improved one is not playing with a full sack."

He gets a look from Angelus but continues on.

"I love a good slaughter as much as the next bloke, but his little pranks will only leave us with one incredibly brassed-off Slayer! Not to mention how pissed she'll be when they find out what you did to the little one."

Angelus shrugs, "Don't worry, roller boy. I've got everything under control."

A Molotov cocktail swooshes in and bursts on the table, setting it ablaze. Drusilla runs away with Spike wheeling right behind her. They stop out of reach of the flames.

Angelus cuts across at the end of the table and gets hit in the shoulder with a crossbow bolt. He grabs it to pull it out while looking to see who his attacker is. Giles walks toward him with a baseball bat. Angelus pulls the bolt out and throws it aside.

Giles puts the end of the bat into the flames, and it catches fire. He swings it and hits Angelus in the face, then again on the return swing.

Angelus staggers and bends down, "Jeez, whatever happened to wooden stakes?"

Giles whales on Angelus' back several times. Drusilla makes a move to intervene, but is held back by Spike.

"Uh-uh. No fair going into the ring unless he tags you first."

Angelus stands back up, but Giles swings the bat into his face twice again, making him fall once more. He continues bating on him, making Angelus collapse all the way to the floor.

"Where is she?" The broken man stammers out as he continues to beat down Angelus who just laughs.

"Oh the little slayerette... hmm you know I don't really remember. Just in case though, you might have to plan two funeral-"

Angelus tries to get up, but Giles swings into his jaw from underneath. He wields the still burning bat over his head, but as he brings it down Angelus catches it, and they begin to struggle. Angelus quickly gains the upper hand, and takes Giles by the throat, lifting him off of his feet. He drops the bat.

"All right. You've had your fun. But you know what it's time for now?"

He gets kicked in the back by Buffy and lets Giles fall to the floor. She pulls him back and slams him into the spiral staircase.

"My fun."

She kicks him in the face and then shoves him onto the floor. Drusilla quickly wheels Spike away.

Buffy kicks Angelus in the face again as he tries to get up, and then lunges at him. He grabs her, flips her over and tries to get away up the stairs. Buffy gets back to her feet fast with Giles' dropped baseball bat in hand and pushes it between the stair railings to trip Angelus up. He falls and she grabs one of his legs. He kicks out at her with it and knocks her off of him and onto the floor.

He scrambles up the stairs. Buffy gets up quickly. She sees a stack of crates, runs up it to the catwalk above, and meets Angelus there. He swings at her, but she ducks and kicks him in the back of the knee, making him collapse onto the railing.

She grabs a loop of rope, throws it around his neck and yanks him back and forth between the railings several times, then kicks him in the chest, making him stagger back and fall onto his butt.

"Where the hell is Laney?"

"Think of this as a fun game of hide and seek. I hid, now it's time for you to seek. Before you know she dies of course."

Angelus gets up fast and laughs, but she grabs onto a pipe above her head and swings with both feet into his chest again, making him fly back into a barrel and some ducting.

She waits on the catwalk for him to come at her again, ready to fight. He charges, and she takes him and diverts him past her and onto the catwalk grating, where he lands with his head against one of the vertical railing bars. She kicks his face, and follows up with several punches and another kick.

He starts to laugh as she grabs him by the coat and bangs his head into the railing a couple of times.

"Are you gonna let your old man just burn? That'll be three people lost in just one day... be smart about this slayer."

She looks down and sees the flames getting higher and nearer to Giles. Buffy curses internally feeling her eyes tear up.

She wanted to help Giles but she needed to get something out of Angelus about where Laney was.

Angelus takes advantage of the distraction and grabs her legs, lifts her and throws her over the railing. She manages to control her fall and land on her feet near Giles. Angelus takes off down the catwalk and out of the building. Buffy wakes Giles and gets him to his feet, and she supports him as they make their way from the building also.

They both come out the building coughing from the smoke. He pushes her away from him.

"Why did you come here?! This wasn't your fight!"

She punches him in the jaw, and he spins and falls to the pavement.

"Are you trying to get yourself killed?!"

She begins to cry and crouches down to hug him. He cries and hugs her back.

"You can't leave me. I can't do this alone."

...

Giles tears the crime scene police tape from his doorway and just stares at it for several seconds. He enters his apartment and sighs rubbing his temple as he looks around.

He gulps before picking up the picture of Jenny and feeling a tear slides down his cheek. He moves the second picture to view and shakes his head as he tries to figure out what the picture meant.

Buffy and the others were out looking everywhere around town for Laney. They thought about the bronze, somewhere around the warehouse, Angel's apartment... He had received from them that they had no luck.

He can't help but feel himself go back in time and think about earlier in the day when he last saw Laney. She was with Jenny at the school-

"The school..."

Without hesitation, Giles runs to his car and speeds down the road. He quickly skids the car to a stop in front of the parking lot of the building and jumps out the car.

He pulls on a side door and sees that it has been chained up. Cursing, he tries another door and is let in. Quickly running up the stairs to where Jenny's classroom was, Giles freezes seeing a bloody trail in the hallway. He gulps and follows the trail to the double doors of the library. He halts and takes a deep breath. But he wasn't prepared for what was on the opposite side of the door.

There laid Laney on the table as if on display while she bled from her head unmoving and pale.

Giles runs over and pulls her into his arms feeling tears run down his face.

"Oh no... please no..."

He pulls out his phone and dials 911 as he stares down at Laney in utter shock. If she didn't make it, he would lose two important people in his life. And if that happened, he wasn't sure if he wanted to even go another day.

...

"She has a terrible concussion. She probably won't remember anything from the past few weeks. Although I'm sure that will be a good thing seeing the position she is in. She has a broken arm as well. And she seems to be in a coma right now. My thoughts are that she may wake in a week or two. But this is the best we can do for her. Hopefully they catch the bastard who did this."

Giles nods staring ahead blankly as the Doctor leaves the room. Giles stares at Laney who is connected to hundreds of cords and a breathing tube. He listens to her steady heartbeat as he remembered how he had gotten to the hospital and heard her code.

She had died. For a whole minute. She was gone.

And it was all because of Angelus.

😭😩 are y'all crying because I definitely am!!

I'm gonna miss Jenny!! Just when I started to love her!!

Laney is alive! She's a strong one for sure! Don't worry after this season she gets a little bit of a break. Until college starts 😅😮‍💨

Poor Giles I literally felt my heart break this episode.

Future predictions?

Any special requests...