FanFiction Archive

Understanding

Part 9

Angel looked up from his perusal of his weapons cabinet at the sound of the phone. He carefully replaced the sword he had been polishing in the cabinet before throwing the cleaning rag onto the table. Quickly jogging for the phone, he rolled his eyes as he heard the answering machine click on. Cordelia's perky voice began to speak.

"Hi, you've reached Angel Investigations. We help the hopeless! We're away from our desks on a case, so if you leave your name and number at the sound of the beep, we'll be happy to get back to you. No case too small, all reward money accepted gracefully!" Beep.

"Um, hi, this is Willow," Willow said quickly, mentally cursing the fact that no one was at the hotel. "I-if Angel could call me as soon as possible, it's really important." Willow caught her breath, trying to stay calm. 'I can't get all panicky. It won't help,' she reminded herself. She looked down at her shaking right hand and winced. 'Damn. Too late.'

Angel's eyes widened to hear the suppressed terror in Willow's voice and lunged for the phone to catch her before she hung up. Quickly pressing the 'on' button, he said, "Hello? Willow?"

Willow felt her body relax minutely at the sound of Angel's voice. "Oh, Angel, you're here! I mean, you're there!" She said, relief evident in her voice.

"What's wrong?" He asked, his own usually stoic demeanor eclipsed by the worry he had for the tiny redheaded girl on the other end of the line. "You said it was important and you sound so..."

"It's Buffy! And I don't know what to do because if she is, we have to save her but I don't know if she is," Willow informed him quickly. She looked down as saw as the hand not clutching the phone began to shake more violently. She thrust her hand under her other arm in an attempt to hide the shaking from herself. She smiled wanly when she felt the tremors decrease.

"What about Buffy?" Angel asked, confusion marring his features. "Slow down. Take a deep breath and just explain what's wrong."

"That's just it! I can't slow down. She's already been there for two hundred and fifty years! And you were there for five hundred and you hardly knew who you were but you're a vampire and she's not. So how is she surviving?" Willow began to panic once again, her hand coming out to gesture wildly.

Angel felt his stomach drop as he tried to put together what Willow was trying to say. "Willow? You need to slow down. I don't understand what you're trying to say," Angel told her, as he sat down, concentrating intently on putting together the pieces of the puzzle of words that Willow had almost screamed at him.

Willow took a deep breath, trying to calm her rising fears. "Well, I was reading over my diary because I was putting away Tara's stuff. And I read the part where Buffy described the portal thing that took you to Hell and then I remembered what the portal to Glory's dimension was like and they seem a lot alike. At least I think so because I wasn't there when you went 'cause hello, hospital and soul restoration, but Buffy did tell me about it! And I was there when she... when she did what she did and I think they sound similar. So I was thinking, what if Buffy's in Hell and suffering and in pain?"

"But her body, isn't her body..." Angel began, grasping at the important pieces of information before Willow cut him off.

"Yes, her body's here. But I was thinking, different Hell dimensions, maybe they left her body here! What if her soul is in Hell, not her body? And you were there for over five hundred years, well, or three months depending on where you were. And Buffy's been gone from here for a month and a half! Who knows how long she's been gone from her perspective! She could be suffering and in pain and I've left her there for... who knows how long!" Willow wailed into the phone.

Angel clenched the phone in his hand, trying to stay calm. "Willow? Have you talked to Giles about this?" Angel managed to get out around his own increasing fear.

Willow shook her head, not realizing that Angel couldn't see her. "You're the first person I called," she admitted, her eyebrows furrowing as an abstract part of her mind began to scrutinize that piece of data.

Angel didn't bother to analyze the warm feeling that spread through him upon hearing this news. He nodded to himself while he quickly came up with a plan. "Okay, I'll get started with everyone here on some research. You call Giles and set it up at your end," Angel instructed, standing up quickly and beginning to gather some books for research.

"Okay," Willow said, somewhat relieved to have some of the pressure taken off. She swallowed. "Angel?" She asked.

"Yes?" Angel asked distractedly as he flipped through some of the relevant books. He had become quite the collector of ancient manuscripts and books dealing with the different Hell dimensions.

"Do you think... do you think she's suffering?" Willow asked quietly, letting the tears fill her eyes and roll down her cheeks.

Angel sighed, closing the book and returning his attention to the phone call. "I wish I knew. But just because you think it's the same doesn't mean that Buffy is in hell. I don't quite remember too much about the portal that took me there. I remember a lot of bright light, some colors and the sword in my stomach, but..." He trailed off somewhat awkwardly.

Willow winced and smacked herself on the forehead with her free hand. "Oh, I'm so sorry Angel! I didn't mean to make you feel bad," she whispered, horrified at the thought that she dredged up painful memories for the brunette vampire.

"No, you didn't," Angel assured her. "I mean, they're not exactly my preferred memories but I'll survive."

The two were silent for a moment, the feeling of urgency that had overwhelmed them both moments before quieted since they had a plan of action.

"What will we do if Buffy's in Hell? We still don't know precisely how you got out," Willow said forlornly. She picked up a pen and a piece of paper and began jotting down some notes of things to check for. She knew they'd probably need a location spell to determine which Hell Buffy was in. And that would probably require a lot of hard to get ingredients. 'But Giles shouldn't have too much of a problem, I hope,' Willow told herself.

"We'll get her out, somehow." Angel assured the redhead. "I promise."

Willow smiled. "Good. 'Cause I would be a real sucky best friend if I let her stay there!" She said. She bit her lip, knowing she had to tell Angel something she'd kept secret-even from her friends. "And if I had known that you were in Hell and I could've gotten you out, I would have."

Angel felt a shock run through him at that remark. "Oh, Willow," he
said softly. "Even after everything I did to you?"

"Even after all Angelus had done to me, yes," Willow assured him, stressing his alter ego's name. She stood up quickly, suddenly feeling the need to begin working on the problem at hand. "But I need to go. I'll call Xander and Anya and Dawn and I'll go down to the Magic Box. Giles should be there," she informed the vampire, grabbing her coat.

"Gotcha. I'll call everyone here and we'll begin working. Fred might have some ideas none of us have thought of," Angel told her.

Willow nodded, having been informed about the physicist's background in one of the many long talks she and Angel had shared. "Good! Call us if you find anything. We should probably keep in contact since we don't want to waste time by looking at the same texts, at least at first. We may need to cross-verify and stuff later though."

"Good idea," Angel answered.

"Talk to you soon, Angel," Willow said as she hurried toward Dawn's room.

"Bye Willow. Go careful," Angel said in return.

"I will. Bye Angel," Willow replied as she knocked on the teenager's door. She clicked the off button and opened the door at Dawn's greeting.

"Dawnie, we need to go to the Magic Box."

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