UnExpected

Chapter 37

It was quiet. The occasional sound of a page turning and the chirping of distant crickets, the only sounds breaking the silence. The only light coming from lamps, warding off the darkness that crept in through the windows and out of the corners. There was a calm feeling. Undisturbed silence that felt strange in the holiday season.

Turning the page, again, Xander rubbed his eyes. Too many words. Too many words! Settling on the next line of gibberish he couldn't understand, he was startled when a loud popping sound was heard. And when he heard Buffy's sudden voice, he did the most natural thing in the world, he fell backwards in his chair and collided with the floor.

"What the bloody hell is going?!"

"Buffy," Willow said, rising from her seat in shock. "How did you –?"

"Buffy," Giles greeted calmly, coming out of his office and not at all surprised.

"How long has he been back?" she demanded.

"Hey, Buffster!" Xander exclaimed after scrambling to his feet. "Long time no see."

"How long?" she demanded again.

The three of them looked at each other. She was not going to take this well.

"Two months," Giles answered.

The air left her in one loud breath. Her thoughts spinning out of control.

"Two months," she whispered to herself, and when her mind wrapped around how long that actually was, and more importantly that they didn't tell her, her anger rose to a whole other level. "Two months! TWO MONTHS!"

Behind her, a jar inexplicably shattered, and Willow, Xander, and Giles jumped in surprise.

"Whoa!" Xander cried. "How did –?"

"Why didn't anybody tell me?!"

"W-well, w-we wanted to, at first," Willow nervously explained. "But see, when Angel came back, he was...sick, sorta, a-and we decided to wait until he got better. And when he did, Angel kind of...sort of...told us not to."

"Sick?" What did that even mean?

"What Willow is trying to say," Giles stepped in, "is that upon his return, Angel was not particularly...himself. He was a bit...o-out of his mind, really."

An out of mind Angel running loose and no one told her? Buffy brushed off the many questions she had, for now, and focused on the matter at hand. "But he's better now, right?"

"In a manner of speaking," Giles replied.

They were shifty and suspicious. That did not bode well for her patience. "Giles, what is going on?"

Giles glanced at the others and noticed Xander and Willow were avoiding eye contact. They were as uncomfortable at telling Buffy as he was. But he was the adult; he needed to take the lead.

"When Angel returned, when we found him, he was...feral – wild, like a-a vicious animal," he said gently. "In time he was able to heal, both physically – m-mentally, and he was doing well. But lately, it seems that he is being plagued from past incidents, past victims he had slain as Angelus. And we fear that might cause him to slip back. It seems that, uh, that the apparitions of the dead have been following him. Taunting him of what he had done and –"

"We think he's being Christmas Caroled, but in an evil way," Xander simply stated, which earned him a reproachful look from Giles. "What?"

So much for being uncomfortable.