I remember that I couldn't so much hear what the big cat was tryin' to tell me as I could feel it.

( Two of a Kind )

So there I was, Charles Gunn, late of the Hyperion Hotel and Angel Investigations, previously of various dark and rough parts of L.A. and the crew I'd started before I started shavin', now employee of Wolfram & Hart, Attorneys at Law, Los Angeles branch. I had an office. Didn't know a damn thing about what the hell I was supposed to be doin'.

I had an office, but no title, not like Fred or Lorne or Wes. Me, I didn't exactly fit the profile for the type who'd get a swank office and a pad like the one W&H had set up for me. I was more like the guy who'd come to this building to deliver the pizzas for the big lunch meeting. But, I was part of the AI crew, and so I was part of the package.

But what part was I?

Big desk with nothin' on it. Fancy phone and intercom with nobody to call. Computer, but I figured it and the phone probably had every kinda bug in the zoo on 'em. So, that's why I got out of my cushy leather chair and left my big, empty office and started walkin' down the hall. At least there, I found a familiar face.

"Yo, Fred--"

((Open to Fred))

I followed her gaze out the window of the plane, looking into the clouds of the never ending sky. It was a weird thought, I couldn’t quite believe what had happened in the past few months. I couldn’t quite place the fact that it was all over, that I was on my way to Rome. Rome. The weird part about the whole thing was the fact that the very objects that symbolize dreams, clouds, were the only things that were keeping my mind grounded. That were telling me all of this was real. The three-hundred mile an hour plane that we were on, that was actually passing through the clouds was telling me that this was real. Dawn was feeling the same way, the enlightened confusion. The part where we didn’t know whether to be happy or feel completely overwhelmed. We both decided to feel neither, just to sit on the plane that was taking us far away from what we’ve ever known.

( “Reminisce” )

Giles was going to set up a place for the slayers. He needed help, he needed recruiters. It’s where we came in, but what he didn’t say but implied was that this was the time for Dawn and I to break away for a while. This was the time to actually live, to breath without the feeling of being smothered by an intangible thing. It was exactly what our plan was to do. I had only wished that I could get the rest of the crew with us. I wanted them to see the incredible view that was before Dawn and I. I wanted, well, I wanted everything.

Dawn sure as hell wasn’t hiding her excitement for the trip. We were riding away from the crater of our lives, and I didn’t see why I couldn’t’ do the same. It’s what they all would have wanted.

”It’s so beautiful, isn’t it, Buffy?”

We looked out on the clouds, the sky, the water, like we had just seen it for the first time in our lives. It truly was beautiful.

"God, I missed watching this."
"See? Under control."
"Well...at least you could tell me you're glad to see me."

No. Don't. You bitch, fuckin' bitch don't you dare...

"That bitch."

It's what I already said now, innit? Buffy and Angel, all lip-locked and... shit, I need t'hit somethin'. Or drink somethin', only there's not much t'drink 'round the house, what with all the wannabes and all.

"So... where's tall, dark and forehead?"
"Let me guess. You can smell him."
"Yeah, that and I also used my enhanced vampire eyeballs t'watch you kissin' him."
"It was... a hello."
"Most people don't use their tongues t'say hello."

And when I go t'talk 'bout it all, this is what I get. Eyes lookin' left and right, but nowhere at each other. Fidgetin' and all, until she smiles at me and hands me it. It. The source of my endin' and beginnin', only I didn't know it at the time. Fire in her eyes was really what killed me, only I'd never tell her that. Not even while I was holdin' her hand as she lied t'me.

( The End and The Beginnin' )

"Hold on a tic," I whispered, smellin' the air and laughin' like a madman... Maybe I was one...

"There's no soul... there's nothin'. You're nothin' but the fuckin' monster what shagged Dru and tortured Buffy while I had t'deal with all the scraps, the leftovers."

"Angelus." Said it like it was somethin' dirty, practically spittin' out the word until the laughter died in my throat and I just shook my head at him and the entire situation, whatever the hell it was.

"Well... fuck."

Sometimes you're given a chance, one chance to make a difference in someone's life. And you're only given one small window of opportunity. In that split second, when opportunity knocks, choices are made, and as hard, and difficult as those choices may be, one way or another, those choices still need to be made. There is no gray area, no in between. You either take that opportunity or you don't. You either choose life, or you choose death. You either choose to keep fighting to make a difference, even if it's in one person's life, or you choose to do nothing and watch as the world around you changes, time after time, and watch it destroy itself. Choices... life's full of them.

As I saw the face of my son on the television screen, his eyes lost and empty- filled with cold rage, I made my choice. Didn't even have to think about it twice. Funny that. Lilah had spent the last thirty minutes trying to convince me about taking over Wolfram and Hart... trying to get me to see the 'bigger' picture and sell my soul to the devil, formerly known as the senior partners, in exchange for a big oval office with the best view in town, a penthouse with all the amenities and money to burn for as many life times as I lived. She saw it as a great 'opportunity' for me to move up in the food chain. "Just business..." I saw it as an opportunity to be part of the problem. They didn't want to help me. Since when does evil want to help the good guy by giving him the world in a silver platter? All they wanted was to get me to be the bastard that we all knew I could be... and if it had been on any other day, than the answer to that would have been simple. I would have laugh in their faces and walked out the door without a backwards glace. But this was today, and today, all it took for me to make my choice and accept all the 'terms' and 'conditions' of Wolfram and Hart was the picture of my son staring back at me on that big screen.

"This is a one-time offer only, Angel. Walk out that door, and there's no deal. Stay and the world is all yours." She paused, and stared at the screen a fucking smirk plastered on her face.

Yeah... the deal of a lifetime. My son's lifetime. These were the kind of choices you would think were the hardest to make, but as I turned my back to her, and stared at my son once more, I found that it was the one decision in my long life that I found the easiest to make. All I wanted to do now was get to him, talk to him... help him somehow. But something inside told me that he was beyond any words or any help that I could offer.

I could sit here and say, I had no choice, but the truth is I did.

I couldn't just stand there and stare at him any longer. I turned back to Lilah and stared at her, I could taste the hate, and rage, detesting everything that she stood for. "People like you— this place— that's what's wrong with the world, Lilah. I will never be a part of this." I paused and looked at the image of my son on the television screen before stepping closer to her- "Not the way you're hoping. Now let me tell you what the deal's going to be..."

And just like that, the bargain was struck, and the choice was made. My soul, for my son's life. A chance for him to live all over again, without the demons, and the memory of a hell dimension. The chance of a new life, a better life; one that I could never give him, not now, not even if I tried because, it was too late for us. The chance for a normal life, one where demons, and vampires didn't exist, a real life. Interesting how sometimes prophecies are fulfilled. Interesting. But that was only part of the deal. There were also others that I had to take into consideration. I had to make sure that they would be safe from everything that was about to happen... that they would be safe from me. There was also another apocalypse brewing up the coast and I couldn't turn my back on it either. Couldn't turn my back on her, not after everything that had happened between us.

Before I could sign on the dotted line, I had to make sure that my son was okay. I left Lilah and my soon to be office behind and headed for the parking structure where the company limo was waiting for me. The limo drove me towards the shopping center were Connor had barricaded himself along with the innocent people that had been at the store and I quickly found my way in. Every second felt like an eternity and as I turned the corner and turned the knob on the door, the atmosphere of the room hit me like a ton of bricks. The smell of fear filled the room, a smell that I knew all too well. And in the distance, with his back to me, I could see him... Connor.

( The father will kill the son... )

What I did for my son was one of the easiest and hardest things I ever had to do. And in the blink of an eye his life had changed... for the better. All my hopes and dreams would now lie in him, and I knew that no matter what happened to me from now on, as long as he was alive, as long as he was okay, then I would be okay too.

That same night, I headed towards Sunnydale, and as I drove down the familiar roads, I tried not to think about all that had happened and would happen after I signed on the dotted line. Still, I had no regrets. Wesley, Fred, Gunn, Lorne, they all knew what my decision was, they knew that I had taken Wolfram and Hart's offer- my soul, in exchange for the life of my only son, and in exchange for the last piece of the puzzle that Sunnydale needed to end their own apocalypse. I didn't know what their decision would be, but they could either be on board, and make sure that Angelus stayed in check from within the belly of the beast, or work from the outside in. It was their choice, I had already made my own deal with the devil. But I trusted them to do what was right... for their sakes and the sake of the world.

I made it to Sunnydale in record time. It was easier to see her this time around. Easy to talk to her, easy to see her kick ass the way she always did... but it was not so easy to say goodbye. I wanted to stay and help, I really did, but it seemed that she had all the help she needed. Not that Spike was ever any help to anyone, more like an annoyance if you asked me. But she wasn't asking. Her mind was already made up, and there was nothing I could do about that. I gave her the amulet and we said our goodbyes. She didn't need to know what I had done or was about to do the moment I returned to L.A... what I was going to become... we were both in very different worlds now- we had been for a very long time. It was all for the greater good, right? Right.

It was late when I returned to L.A and I walked across that lobby making my way towards the office where Lilah and I had first discussed the terms of their offer. It did feel strange to be inside the belly of the beast, but I guess in a few moments I wasn't going to care much one way or another where I was. Before I opened the door I took one last look around and saw Lorne walk out of one of the conference rooms, followed by Wesley, Gunn and then Fred. 'Hell is empty... all the devils are here' I thought. There was nothing more to say to them, I had already said it all... so I simply smiled and walked inside, where I signed my soul away in blood- along the dotted line.