Divided Loyalties- Story 3 {BtVS/Supernatural}

3. Holiday Spirits

A/N: Characters don't belong to me, some content belongs to Twiz.tv. Call me butter cuz I'm on a roll man! lol here's the next update!

Giles and Buffy were in his office at the library the next day, and he looked at her sharply. “You had a dream about Angel.”

“I was in Angel's dream.” Buffy corrected and he took off his glasses.

“I'm not sure that's...” Giles stuttered uncertainly.

“Giles, there was stuff in this dream that I couldn't possibly know about. It was Angel's past, he was dreaming it, and somehow I got sucked in.” Buffy insisted as Giles looked back up at Buffy. “There's something wrong with him.” He looked down again, then drew and released a measured breath.

“I know. I've seen him. He wanted to know why he was back.” He confided, remembering the odd encounter with Angel the night before.

“Is there a way for us to find that out?” She asked, wondering the same question herself.

“Uh, possibly. I-I've been looking.” He put his glasses back on and she straightened with purpose.

“Well, let me look, too.” Giles met her gaze with an inquiring one of his own. Buffy, meeting Giles' coldly appraising eyes with her own steady gaze, said matter-of-factly.

“I'm not seeing him anymore. I'm trying to put all this behind me, and I'm not gonna be able to as long as we're both doing guest spots in each other's dreams.” Giles leaned back in his chair, considering the truth of that statement. “So we'll help him?” She pressed and he gave a resigned nod.

“Where do we start?” Xander announced, coming into the library and looking at the surprised Slayer and her Watcher. “Look, I'm aware I haven't been the greatest best friend to you when it comes to the whole Angel thing, and, um, I don't know, maybe I finally got the Chanukah spirit.”

“Well, we start, not surprisingly, with research.” Giles stood and went over to a small bookcase. “Xander, um,” he handed him a book. “The Black Chronicles. And, uh, Buffy,” Giles handed her another book. “The diary of Lucius Temple, an acolyte of Acathla, expert on demons. You can skip the passages on his garden unless you're keen on growing heartier beets.” Buffy and Xander head out into the main room.

“Are you sure this is how you wanna spend your Christmas vacation?” Buffy asked Xander though she was grateful for his help.

“Yeah, this is actually the most exciting thing I've got planned. Who else can claim that pathetic a social life?”

“Hey, guys. What are we doing?” Willow asked with a smile as she entered the library to see all three of them at the center table doing research. Giles dropped off a few more books for them to look through. Xander arrived with a pizza and dropped it on the table a few hours later it on the table. They continued researching with the pizza half eaten, and then later Willow and Buffy sat at the table, talking quietly.

“He's gonna come over on Christmas Eve 'cause my parents are out of town. We're gonna watch videos.” Willow told Buffy, telling her best friend about her plans with Oz.

“That's good, right?” Buffy asked with some hope and they exchanged a look. “You guys are back.”

“It's good. It's perfect. In an awkward, uncomfortable sort of way.” Buffy gave her a sympathetic look. “I just don't know how to make Oz trust me.”

“Xander has a piece of you that Oz just can't touch. I guess now it's just about showing Oz that he comes first.” Buffy told her, thinking of her relationship with Dean and feeling that little thrill at the thought of seeing him again in just a few hours.