"Welcome to the Doublemeat Palace," Buffy greeted the customer dully.
She was so tired she didn't even bother to look up at him. It was 11:50 PM and she was waiting for the clock to strike midnight so her shift would be over. She was too tired to think, but she couldn't help wondering about the tingling feeling she had felt all day.
"Buffy," the man on the other side of the counter replied.
The whole world stopped. She knew who it was, and she knew that he was the reason for the tingling feeling. She was lost all she could think about was his deep, gentle voice and how much hurt was in it.
"Buffy?" he repeated expectantly.
She snapped back into reality when she heard that familiar loving voice. It was the voice of her one true love.
"Angel?" she answered just above a whisper, "wh-what are you doing here?"
"I need to talk to you," he replied.
"Here? Now?"
"Yes, it's important. It's about a demon."
"A demon?"
Her mind froze, and she wandered into her imagination. She was scared. It was déjà vu. The same thing happened with Riley. She wanted to ask Angel all these questions. She wanted to ask him if he was going to break her heart like Riley had done. She wanted to know why he was here. She heard his voice again and snapped into full slayer mode.
"Demon? What kind of demon?" she asked.
" We can't talk about it here. We have to go somewhere else," he told her.
"Oh, umm… I need to finish my shift. I'll only be 3 more minutes."
Angel sat there for three minutes waiting for her shift to be over. He stared at her from one of the dark tables in the corner. He could just smell her perfume and could feel her soft, silky hair running between his fingers.
"Angel," Buffy softly called to him, "Angel," she repeated.
"What?" he said bewildered.
"Let's go. My shift is over."
" Oh. Sure. Let's go."
They walked out into the cool night on the way to her house.
"So," she said, " Why'd you think of coming to me for help? I mean, don't you have your own Scooby Gang in LA?"
"Well, I needed to tell you something," he replied solemnly.
"You aren't by any chance going to tell me that your married are you? Because if you are, let me ask you to tell me now instead of letting me find out later when I'm not expecting it."
"What? Where'd you get the idea that I was married?"
"Well it's just, the last time an ex-boyfriend came to me for help, he was all married and living a happy life, and here's poor little me working at a fast food restaurant and smelling like … like … I don't even know what that is."
"Actually, that's what I wanted to talk about."
Buffy's eyes welled with tears, and she tried to hold them back, but she couldn't help but cry.
"Oh, my God, you are married," she sobbed.
" No, no I'm not," he reassured her.
" Then what were you going to tell me?" She had stopped crying by now.
Angel hesitated to say what he wanted to say. He knew that if he couldn't convince her that what he was doing was right, then his heart would shatter.
" There's another apocalypse coming, and there's nothing that can stop it except," he grew silent.
"Except what?"
He stayed silent.
"Angel, what can stop it? Tell me," she pleaded.
"My death,"
"What?" she couldn't stop the tears, "No. What? How is that possible?"
"Wesley did the research. It's the worst apocalypse. There's only one way to stop it. The book told us that only the death of an ensouled vampire shall stop this apocalypse.
" No you can't die. There has to be another way. Some spell, a-a-a a ritual or something. You can't die. You can't leave me."
"Don't cry." He whispered in her ear while he took her into a tight but gentle hug.
" When?" she asked barely above a whisper.
" The day after tomorrow."
" No, no, NO!" she broke down in tears, " That's too soon. No!" She buried her face in his jacket.
He could feel the warm tear seeping through his shirt into his skin. It hurt him so much that he had to tell her this and break her heart.
" We have to get to the Magic Box and tell Giles. He has to find a way out of this. There has to be away out. You can't die. You won't die."
"There's no other way. We checked everything in LA."
" Then we'll check again!"
" No, Buffy, you can't get stressed over this. We've tried everything."
" NO! You're not going to die. You are not going to leave me again. I can't live without you, Angel," by now her voice was a whisper, "haven't you figured that out? I can't live without you. If you die, I die too. I can't let you die. It's not going to happen."
" Okay, but don't get your hopes up. I don't want you counting on something that might not be there. We might not find anything."
" I know," she whispered.
They walked hand in hand to the Magic Box with tears streaming down their cheeks. They both sobbed silently.
When they got to the Magic Box, the whole Scooby gang was there. Willow and Tara were sitting in a corner practicing a levitation spell, Anya was counting the money in the register, Dawn was doing her homework, Giles was arranging the items on the shelves, and Xander was watching Anya and eating a chocolate bar.
" Everyone, sit down," Buffy said in a blank, monotone voice.
Angel explained the situation to the whole gang while Buffy sat in silence crying. Angel took Buffy home while the rest of the gang was researching including Dawn.
When they got to her house, Angel brought her up to her room. He was about to go downstairs and stay on the couch. When Buffy whispered in between sobs.
" Stay with me."
" Okay, I'll just be downstairs."
" No, stay up here."
" We're not gonna do anything. I just need to know that your still here. Still safe. And still with me."
" Okay."