Saviors Trilogy 13 Saved

by shred01

Part three of the Saviors Trilogy. Buffy and gang move to Europe to pick up new slayers. But their trip takes an unscheduled surprise when their dead love ones comes to visit. Set after season 7. Read and Review.

Saviors Trilogy 1.3 Saved

Europe, Italy

Dawn clenched her fist and started banging on the door of Xander's and Andrew's bedroom. The door rattled under her persistent pounding as she yelled, "Andrew! Are you awake?"

It was seven in morning and she was the first one awake. The whole apartment was silent when she woke up at six – until now that is – and after washing up and grabbing a quick breakfast, she threw on some clothes and planted herself in front of the men's bedroom.

The door swung a minute of door thumping later. A disheveled, sleepy looking Xander glared at her but didn't greet her. Dawn gave him a bright smile. "Good morning, Xand! Is Andrew awake?"

"It's seven in the morning," Xander told her, like she needed to be told in the first place. She had been looking at the clock every five minutes to make sure she wasn't late.

"If I wanted the time I would have looked at the clock instead of knocking on your door. Is Andrew awake?" she asked again.

Xander didn't reply. He moved back into the room, leaving the door open for her to come in. Dawn rushed in and made a beeline towards Andrew's bed. "Andrew, your wake up call is here," Xander said before falling back into his bed. A moment later, he was sound asleep, snoring softly.

Andrew was curled up in a ball in his bed, not moving, completely covered with his blanket. Only his feet could be seen jutting out from under one end of the blanket. Dawn leaned forward and poked his shoulder, hard. "Andrew! Wake up! We got to go! NOW!

"Keep it down, Dawn! You don't want to end up like my alarm clock," Dawn heard Buffy hollered from her room.

"Sorry!" Dawn hollered back. She turned back to Andrew and smacked his shoulder, hard. "Andrew!" she hissed, "get your butt out of bed now."

Finally there was movement under the cotton and Andrew's head popped out from under the blanket. He squinted at Dawn, annoyance flashing across his features. "Ok, first of all I was having a great dream about Natalie Portman as Queen Amidala and I was just getting to the good part. And second of all, ow!" Andrew whispered, rubbing his sore shoulder.

"Look, I got no time for you to be in pain. We're going to be late if you don't get up right now." Dawn paused as her gaze ticked towards the immobile Xander. She lowered her voice and continued, "I've already called the cab and it will be here in 20 twenty minutes."

Andrew sighed as he rubbed his face with his hand. "Alright, fine. I'm up, I'm up."

"Finally! Get dressed and I'll wait for you out in the living room. Be out in 10 minutes." She turned and tipped-toed out of the room. She didn't want to make much noise and wake up Xander. As she padded into the hallway, she took a quick glance into her sister's room to see where her sister was. She started to panic when she saw that Buffy's bed was empty. Dawn took a step in to look around. Once she entered the room, the sound of running water caught Dawn's ears and guessed that Buffy was in the bathroom taking a shower.

Dawn breathed a sigh of relief. Now she had to make sure that she and Andrew left the house before her sister got out of the shower and comes out of the room.

She made a quick stop at her bedroom, grabbed her purse and jacket and headed back out into the living room. She flopped down on one of the couch and waited impatiently for Andrew. She glanced at the clock for the umpteenth time. The large hand ticked past the number ten and Dawn felt her heart squeeze in anxiousness. They still had an hour and a half left but it takes about an hour for them to get across town and out of it to reach the airport.

She got up, shrugged into her jacket and strapped her purse across her chest. She did this in order to safe time putting them on later when Andrew finally comes out. This way, they are able to leave the apartment as soon as Andrew steps into the living room. She sat back down. A minute later, she stood up and started pacing the length of the living room, unable to sit still any longer.

"Hey, Dawnie. What are you doing up this early – and all dressed up?"

Dawn jumped, startled, when she heard Willow's voice. She looked up and saw Willow coming out of the kitchen. Her redheaded friend was holding a bowl of cereal, a spoonful of Fruit-Loops hovered above the bowl, just below her chin.

"Oh, I was just going out to grab some breakfast for you guys."

"Oh that's so sweet of you. But as you can see I'm having mine so don't get anything for me. But I could tag along with you if you want?"

"That's alright. I got Andrew to go with me." That was something oddly wrong with Willow. She looked happy. Not there was anything wrong with looking happy but she looked too happy. Ecstatic even.

Who looks this happy at this time of the day?

"Well, while you're out, you mind getting Andrew to get a hair cut. He badly needs one and he's freaking me out with his so-called new look. The whole mature look doesn't exactly suit him."

Dawn forced a smile. "Sure, I'll try. I can't promise you anything though."

Willow returned her smile as she ate the spoonful of cereal. She didn't move from her place.

Dawn caught a glimpse of the clock again. Only five minutes had passed and that made them 5 minutes closer to being late.

"Andrew!"

"A minute please!" Andrew bellowed back at the impatient Dawn. He heard a murmur from Xander and he froze. He didn't want Xander to wake up and started questioning him on where he was going. He wasn't actually a good liar.

"Andrew?"

Damn!

"What are you doing up at this hour?"

Andrew turned and faced Xander. "Hey Xander."

"Where are you going?"

"Out," he replied. Please, don't ask me where.

"Where?"

Can he read minds now? "Just out. Sightseeing?"

"Sightseeing. Now. Alone."

"Well…we're going to the next town to sightsee. It's better if we leave early so we can do more."

Xander frowned. "We?"

Andrew gulped and cursed silently for saying 'we'. "Yeah, me and Dawn."

Comprehension shone in Xander's eyes as he nodded. "Right. Was that why she was here just now?"

"Yup."

"Where are you guys going to sightsee?"

Andrew rolled his eyes in impatience. He was still in his boxers. He was just about to put on his pants when Xander woke up. He couldn't exactly answer all of Xander's questions, put on his pants and leave the room in 5 minutes. Dawn will have his head.

And didn't he just say earlier they were going to the next town? Wasn't he listening to a word he said? "Xander, what's with the 20 twenty questions? Can't I go out without getting a third degree?"

"Yes you can. I was just curious as I never could understand how anybody can function this early in the morning. Hence, the questions."

Andrew got into his pants, buckled them and looked pointedly at Xander. "I'm going now." He turned and made his leave.

"Get me some donuts while you're out!" Xander called out as Andrew left.

"Finally you're out," Dawn said as he appeared in the living room, throwing her hands up in exasperation. "What were you doing in there? Making clothes?"

"Xander was up. Hey Willow," he said as he grabbed his shoes from the shoe rack and started to put them on. Willow flashed him a bright smile in response before continuing to eat her cereal. She didn't budge from her spot.

"What did he say?" Dawn asked Andrew as she came up beside him, her voice dropping to a whisper.

"He was just asking where I was going, that's all. He didn't seem suspicious or if he knew something was up if that's what you're getting at."

"Ok. Good. Come on, we gotta go. I think the cab's here."

"Oh we need to get donuts for Xander on our way back."

"We got no time for donuts," Dawn snapped. She grabbed his hand and started to pull him out of the apartment. It was then when Buffy stepped into the living, wrapped in a thick, white bathrobe, her blond hair damp around her shoulders.

"Hey, where are you guys off to at this hour?" Buffy asked.

"Breakfast!" Dawn answered over her shoulder – the same time Andrew said, "Sightseeing!"

Together they raced out of the apartment. Well, Dawn did most of the running. Andrew just let her haul him. They got into the cab and Dawn told the driver their destination and asked him to go as fast as he could. The non-English speaking driver just looked at her blankly for a minute before putting the car into gear and speeding down the street.

As Andrew settled in for the long drive, Dawn sat rigid beside him, fiddling nervously with a loose thread from her jacket.

"We're not late," he assured her.

"I know. But I'm not worried about that."

"Oh. So what are you worried about."

"About them finding out."

Andrew waved her off as if it was the most ridiculous thing he just heard. "They won't find out."

"No? This is too big to keep it as a secret. And besides, you suck at lying or keeping secrets."

Andrew blushed but he covered it by gazing out of the window. "We'll managed," he finally said.

"How can you be this calm? Doesn't this bug you one bit?" Dawn asked him incredulously.

"I try not to think about it too much. I got other things on my mind," he answered.

"Right. Like that little fantasy of yours of becoming a Watcher."

Andrew turned and shot her a look. "It's not a fantasy. It's a goal. Big diff."

"Yeah well, the end results probably going to be the same," Dawn murmured.

"What?"

"Nothing," she said with a forced smile.

"You don't think I can do this," he said when realization dawned on him. "You all don't think I can this."

"Of course not. We got faith in you…"

"That I would fail," he finished for her. "Well, that's just great!"

"I didn't say that. You did."

"But you were thinking it!"

"Oh come on, Andrew! Don't be such a baby. Why do you even care what we think? Just go become a Watcher and prove us wrong."

"I will," Andrew said, lifting his chin a little. He hoped that Dawn couldn't see him tearing up from where she sat. Hearing that all of his friends expected him to fail didn't exactly make one jump up with joy.

"I'm sorry," Dawn was saying. "It's not that we know that you're going to fail, it's just that we can't exactly see that happening. You in tweed?" She shook her head. "Nope, I can't picture it. You're too cool for that."

That's true, he thought with a small smile. He certainly could pull off a leather look but tweed? He didn't think so. "Maybe I can start a trend," he said thoughtfully. "I can be the first Watcher to move away from the tweed. It could happen."

"And I can't wait to see that to happen." This time her smile wasn't forced.

AIRPORT

When the cab pulled into the taxi stand at the arrival hall of the airport, Dawn sank into a deeper state of anxiousness. As soon as she paid the cabdriver, she climbed out of the car and started walking briskly towards the airport terminal. She didn't bother waiting for Andrew.

"Can you please slow down?" Andrew asked, huffing behind her.

"I don't want to be late."

"We're not late," Andrew said a tinge of frustration in his voice. "And besides if we were, it's not like it's the end of the world. We would still be able to catch him. He won't run away. He had no where to go."

Dawn ignored him as the two of them made their way through the crowd. The airport was unusually packed with tourist and locals and Dawn had a hard time seeing where she was going. The only time she was at the airport was when she and the others first arrived and that was in the departure hall. The arrival hall didn't look remotely like the departure hall.

"Do you even know where we are going?"

Of course she knew where she was going. What was she? Stupid? Hardly. "Gate 13," Dawn replied through gritted teeth. She wondered why she asked him to tag along in the first place. It was certainly make things easier if he didn't have him annoying her every single minute by asking stupid questions.

"Gate 13 is that way and we are going in the opposite direction."

Dawn stopped, almost causing Andrew to bump into her. She turned and realized that he was right. They were going the opposite direction. "Why didn't you tell me earlier?" she glared at Andrew and starting going back the way they came from.

"I didn't know where we were going."

"Well, you should have asked," Dawn said sharply. She craned her neck and noted from the sign above them that they had to turn right.

"I did."

Whatever. She didn't have time to back track on their conversation and see whether he did indeed asked. "Do you see the gate yet?"

"No," Andrew answered. "Maybe we should ask someone."

"We'll find it. Just keep a look out for any signs."

After ten minutes of twisting and turning around the arrival hall of the airport, Dawn and Andrew finally found gate 13. They still had about 10 minutes left before the plane touched down. Dawn breathed a sigh on relief as they planted themselves near the gate.

"Told you we weren't late," Andrew said with a smirk. He crossed his arms and looked around the area they were in. This part of the airport was as crowded as the entrance. There were many people walking to and fro, lugging various sizes of baggage with them. There were a few shops here and there – a gift shop, a book store, a bakery and a small place to process your vacation photos – and a long line of counters for money exchange, hotel booking and the likes.

Andrew looked at her and said, "I wonder why it's so crowded today. You think it's the vacation period or something?"

"Maybe."

"You know, I never realized how popular Italy is. Well, it is a beautiful country so I guess I can see why." He went silent as he continued to survey the surroundings. A minute later, he started to sing under his breath. Dawn shot him a look and he stopped. "Sorry. I was bored."

Then he said again, "I'm hungry. Can I go –"

"Andrew! For heaven's sake, can you please, for once, keep your mouth shut?" her voice came out louder than she intended to and she attracted attention from people who were a around her. They eyed her suspiciously and Dawn gave them an everything-is-alright-nothing-to-see-here smile.

Andrew stared at her in surprise. Then he started to blush a deep red. "Sorry," he murmured. He dropped his hands and stuffed them into the pocket of his jeans. He stared at the ground, not wanting to look at her.

Dawn felt a pang of guilt and before she could apologize, the overhead public announcement speakers dinged and a female voice blared throughout the airport. "British Airways, Flight 147H from London, England has landed at gate 13. Thank you!"

Dawn grabbed Andrew's hand and started to haul him nearer towards the gate. Ten minutes later, the gate opened and tired and pissed off looking passengers streamed out of the gate. Dawn stood on her toes to try to look over the onslaught on people that were coming towards her and Andrew.

There was no sign of Giles.

"Do you see him?" Dawn asked. She looked over at Andrew when he didn't answer. He wasn't looking for Giles like she expected. Instead, he was looking at the ground forlornly.

"Watchers don't sulk," Dawn stated as she continued her search for Giles.

"Friends don't bite each other's head off," he countered.

He got me there. "Look, Andrew, I'm sorry ok? I just got a lot on my mind and I'm –"

"Forget it. I'm over it." But his expression said otherwise.

Well, if he says he's over, I'll talk his word for it. A familiar figure caught her eye as she went back to her search for the ex-Watcher. "Giles! Giles, over here!"

Giles spotted her waving and slowly made his way through the crowd towards Dawn. It had been awhile since she last saw him and she got to admit that he looked good though he clearly looked tired. He was wearing a dark green turtleneck with khakis. His brown suede jacket was draped across one arm. He was pulling a small travel bag with him and that was the only luggage he had with him.

He wasn't wearing his glasses and Dawn could clearly see the dark circles under his eyes. He looked drained but she could see that he was working hard not to look that way. His face split into a huge grin, his eyes twinkling.

"Hello Dawn, it's good to see you."

She stepped up and pulled the other man into a hug. "I'm so glad you're here," she said against his shoulder.

Giles chuckled as they pulled away. His eyes flickered towards Andrew and he looked stunned. "Andrew?"

Andrew gave him a small wave. He shifted his weight from one foot and then back to the other. He appeared uncomfortable under Giles' scrutiny. "Hey, Giles."

"My, have you changed."

Andrew shrugged. "Just trying on a new look."

"Well…it's…nice," Giles said, hesitating a little.

"So did you have a good flight?" Dawn asked as she took his hand and led him towards the exit.

"No. The flight was terrible. The food was cold, the scotch wasn't strong enough and the in-flight entertainment wasn't entertaining at all."

"Oh. So I assume you want to get your rest? We can meet later in the day if you want."

"No, no. that's alright. We'll talk over breakfast.

"Finally!" Andrew exclaimed.

When they came out of the airport ten minutes later, they found a restaurant just outside the terminal and decided to go there for some much needed breakfast. It was a small diner that wasn't very crowded at this time of the day which was just what they needed. The place was mostly occupied with tourist who were about to leave the country or just came in. Their big luggage took up most of the space and the three of them had to maneuver around the bulky bags, suitcases and backpacks in search of an empty booth.

They found a secluded booth at the back of the diner and once they were settled in, they made their order. Once that was done, they waited for their food in silence. Andrew was staring at the tabletop looking sullen while Giles gaze out of the big window beside their table, commenting once in a while about something that interested him. Dawn nursed her hot chocolate silently.

Once they food arrived, they dug in. Giles had some bacon, eggs and a couple of harsh browns with a cup of strong black coffee. Andrew ordered pancakes while Dawn just ordered two strawberry Danishes. The food wasn't very good but at least they got something into their empty stomachs.

"Are Buffy and the others doing alright?" Giles asked around a mouthful of eggs after a few minutes of silent eating.

Dawn nodded. "Yeah." She paused as she thought over his question. "Well, I guess it depends in which area. In a general sense, they're doing fine."

"Xander has a new girlfriend," Andrew spoke up, surprising everybody at the table.

Giles smiled, the corners of his eyes crinkling when he did. "He does? Well, that's unexpected."

"It's good right? That he has a girlfriend?" Dawn asked.

"Well, of course. It just shows how he has accepted Anya's death and has moved on. It's a good sign."

"Good. Because with everything going on…" she shook her head. "I was just wondering."

"And Buffy? Is she dating anyone?"

Dawn shook her head. "Not that I know of. She seemed interested in this guy called Antonio. He was the boyfriend of Tessa."

"Ah, the slayer who shot herself."

Dawn nodded as she took a bite of her Danish. A glob of strawberry jam dribbled down her chin and she wiped it away with one of the napkins on the table.

"So what happened to him?"

"Not sure. Last I heard he didn't want us to speak or come near him again. I think he blames us for Tessa's death."

"How did Buffy take it?"

"She took it and ran away with it," Dawn replied grimly. "She came home one night, told us what happened and acted as if everything was alright but I could see that she believed him – that it was our fault. I thought she was smarter than that. Even I know it's not our fault."

"Well, technically, it is," Andrew remarked. "Willow was the one who did the spell and Buffy asked her to do the spell. We agreed to go ahead with the spell. So it is our fault."

Dawn blinked. She didn't thought of it that way. "It's not our fault that Tessa couldn't handle the burden of being a slayer."

"True," Andrew agreed as he chewed on his pancake. He pointed his fork at her in all seriousness and questioned, "However, would she even be handling the burdens of being the slayer we if didn't make her a slayer?"

"He…he has a point," Giles said slowly.

Dawn stared at the ex-Watcher incredulously. "Giles! You are not suppose to agree with him!"

"I'm not agreeing that it's our fault that Tessa couldn't handle being a slayer but I'm just agreeing that those consequences are resulted from our actions. Albeit, the action was something that had to be done in the name of good but all actions have consequences and this is no exception. We just have to deal with it and accept it. We can't control any of this so accepting and dealing with it is all we can do."

ALESSANDRA'S HOUSE

porch

night

"And then she shot herself."

"Just like that?"

"Just like that," Xander echoed. Then he added, "Well, no, not like that. She gave us this smile before she pulled the trigger. Like a save-me-if-you-can kind of smile."

Alessandra straightened and looked at him in astonishment. "She did that? That is just wrong."

"Ok…well, not exactly like that," Xander started.

"Ok, mister, you better stop now while you're ahead," Alessandra said, gently cutting him off. "You suck at lying."

Xander grinned as she sank back into the crock of his arm, her head against his shoulder. They were sitting on a worn out sofa that Alessandra's Mom had put out on the porch of their house. They both had just ended their date and Alessandra had asked him to stay with her for awhile when he sent her home. Since it was late and her mom was asleep, they decided to hang out on the porch so they would not disturb her.

"Hmmm, this is nice. It's a long time since we sat in silence with each other," Alessandra said, snuggling closer to him.

"Way to go ruining the moment," Xander responded in mock annoyance. She pinched him causing him to yelp.

"I'm serious Xander. You're place is crazy. The people there are crazy"

"Well, you're dating one of them."

"But you're a different kind of crazy. You're cute crazy. They are just crazy crazy, you know."

"Oh yeah, I definitely know," he replied sarcastically.

"I meant it in a good way," Alessandra assured him.

"They can fool you sometimes," was all he said.

"Oh! I almost forgot. There's something I need to tell you," Alessandra announced after a moment of silence. She moved away from him and sat up straight, facing him.

"What's up?"

"You remember the time where we told my mom about the slayer thing?"

"Yeah…"

"My mom finally got back to me – like finally."

"Finally. What she say?"

"She told me that she still doesn't understand the whole slayer story and that she doesn't want to understand it. But she said that she understands why I need to go to England and she told me to go."

"That's good."

"Alone," she added.

"Alone?" Xander frowned. "What do you mean by alone?"

"She's not coming with me."

Xander shifted in his seat so that he had his side leaning against the back of the sofa. He lifted his right leg up onto the seat of the couch. "She's not coming with you? Why not?"

"She said something about having some bad blood in England. I didn't really catch everything. I was still in a state of shock."

"So…what now?"

Alessandra shrugged as she ran a hand through her black hair. "I don't know. I still have to figure it out."

Xander chewed on his lower lip as he thought over her situation. He rubbed the back of his neck and spoke, "How about you come to England with me then?"

Alessandra cocked her head to one side, her nose and forehead coming together to form an adorable squint. "With you." It wasn't a question, Xander noted. More like a clarifying statement.

"Yeah. I'm not staying in Italy permanently. I'm just here with the rest to pick up the slayers. Once that's done, we'll go back to England and see where else the big people there want us to go to get more slayers. I'll be leaving Italy soon so you can come with me."

"You sure? I mean your friends won't mind?"

"Why would they?"

"Well, I don't exactly know them well and they don't know me well either."

"The flight there would give you guys time to know each other. So what do you say?"

"Aren't you going back to America?"

Ok. Not what expecting to hear her say that. Xander shrugged as his mind mulled over an answer. He and the others never talked about going back to America or about the future in general. They were too used in living in the now to really take the time and think about the later. The thought about going back never crossed his mind. He couldn't picture himself going back to America actually. He mostly saw himself trotting around the globe picking up teenage girls.

Boy, did that sounded wrong.

"I don't know about the rest but I don't think I will. There's nothing back home that is waiting for me. It's not like I have a hot, blond waiting for me or 5 children to go back to."

"You better don't," Alessandra said, wagging a finger at him.

"I don't," he assured her. "And besides, if I do go back, I have to start all over again you know. I have to find a new job, get a life. And with me having one good vision, I doubt it's going to be easy getting my old job back at the construction site."

"But in England?"

"I have my friends," he pointed out. "And I have a job – well, kind of. Willow and Buffy might stay at the School to help out. Andrew is dead set on being a Watcher so he'll be there as well. I'm not sure about Dawn but wherever Buffy is, she'll be there supporting her. I guess I could stay in England and help Giles out. He had given me some options to think over and I could take them if I wanted to do."

"You could be a Watcher."

Xander chuckled. "Eye-patch plus tweed is a big no-no."

"Sounds interesting," Alessandra said, looking down at her hands that were on her lap.

"Eye-patch and tweed?" he asked puzzled.

"No, silly. I mean the part about you going to England and helping out at the School."

"It could be more so if you were there," Xander said leaning forward a little, trying to get some eye contact. "I would love for you to come. And besides, a student dating one of the staff members? A good controversy don't you think? There will never be a dull moment."

Alessandra looked up and grinned. "Sounds liked fun." She leaned forward and brushed her lips with his. "I would love to go to England with you."

"Great. Now that that's settled how about we get back to that quiet moment we were enjoying earlier."

Alessandra grinned, her blue eyes twinkling visibly in the dark. "How about we replaced it with some making out?"

"Best idea I've heard all night."

"Second best," she corrected him.

Xander lowered his head and captured his lips with hers. Her lips sent short bolts of electricity through his body causing his head to spin and his body to hum. He placed his hand on her thigh and pulled her close – so close she was nearly on top of his lap.

"Hey, hey, hey! Watch the hands!"

Xander pulled back, alarmed. He saw her standing a few feet away from the two of them, leaning against the wooden railing. She had her hands crossed across her chest and she was tapping her foot impatiently. She reminded Xander of an annoyed parent who had just caught her kid sneaking a few cookies before dinner.

"I might be ok with the fact that you're going out with her," she continued, "but I'm not ok with the groping just yet."

Xander's face reddened at the comment. Alessandra touched his face and turned his head towards her, her thumb stroking his cheek lightly.

"Hey, you alright? You seem embarrassed."

Xander shook his head. He bent forward and resumed his kiss with her, trying his best to get back the moment they were both in earlier. He started to loosen up a little as Alessandra deepened the kiss.

All this while, Xander kept his hands pinned to his side.

NEXT DAY

morning

scoobies' apartment

Willow directed the cursor to the URL link and clicked on it. As she waited for the page to load, she took a sip of her hot chocolate that Xander bought. She made a face as the thick, sweet liquid hit her tongue and the back of her throat. The beverage was too sweet. It was like drinking a cup of sugar instead.

"Argh! Worst hot chocolate ever," Willow commented out loud. She set the mug down and reached for the computer's plastic mouse beside her computer screen. The page was finally loaded and she used the mouse to scroll down the page, her green eyes moving back and forth as she scanned the article. She disgusted as much information as possible before clicking on the back button and then clicking on another URL link.

She stood up as the computer took its time to display the article. Grabbing her mug with her, she headed towards the kitchen where the rest were having their breakfast.

"Xander, the hot chocolate sucks. Where did you get it from?" she asked. She went to the sink and dumped the contents in the mug into the sink. She rinsed the mug and set it aside.

"I don't know," Xander replied around a mouthful of food. "Some shop in town. Andrew told me about it."

"Well, don't go down there ever again. I probably get diabetes after drinking one cup of that."

"That's how Italians drink their hot chocolate," Andrew scowled.

"What? Who told you that?" Dawn asked. She was sitting beside Andrew with a huge bowl of cereal in front of her. Across from her was Buffy who had a piece of half eaten toast in her hand, engrossed in the morning's paper.

Andrew shrugged. "I don't know his name but it was the guy who sold me the hot chocolate the first time I went there."

"And you managed to drink it all up?" Willow asked in surprise.

"I can't remember. I took a sip and the next thing I knew I was running around some playground with a couple of kids."

"Well, there you go," Xander said. "That is one of the first signs of drinking a diabetes-inducing drink."

Andrew looked at him in surprise and betraying a bit of fright in his eyes. "Really?"

"Just eat your cookie, Andrew," Dawn told him.

"So Buffy. What's happening with the world today?" Xander queried as he took a bite from his toast.

Buffy didn't look up to respond. She didn't seem to have heard Xander as her eyes stayed glued to the paper.

"Buffy?"

Her head snapped up towards him, her eyes blinking in surprise. "Huh? What?"

"You seem pretty captivated by the newspaper there. Anything you want to share with us?"

"Oh that." She looked down at the page she was staring earlier. "I was just reading how screwed up the world is." She looked up again. "You know…war, murder, teenage suicides…the usual stuff."

"The world was always screwed up, Buff. Why the sudden interest in its screwy-ness?"

"Wait, did you say teenage suicides?" Willow asked coming up to her.

Buffy glanced over her shoulder and nodded at her. "Yeah, I was just reading how the authorities found bodies of two teenage girls in Germany." She shot a look at Xander. "That was what caught my attention."

Xander raised his hands up in an ok-don't-kill-me gesture and went back to his toast. Willow took the newspaper from Buffy and started reading through the article that grabbed slayer's attention.

"So what's so interesting about teenagers killing themselves," Xander asked as chewed on a piece of toast. "Don't teenagers die everyday?"

"But this is different," Buffy said.

Xander looked amused as he asked, "How so?"

"Guys, I'm gonna borrow this for a while," Willow told them as she picked up the newspaper and proceeded into her room with it. She didn't bother to wait around to hear what Buffy had to say. She has other important things to take care off.

Once inside her room, she shut the door and sat on her bed, the newspaper on her lap. Her eyes roamed the article, absorbing all the information that was there. "Two different cities, two girls, one night." She paused and looked at up at her. She was standing beside the computer, looking at Willow expectantly. "This is getting out of hand."

"I know," she replied softly. "And there's more here." She nodded towards the computer screen. There was a report loaded and waiting to be read on the screen. Willow folded up the paper and set it aside. She sat down in front of the computer and started reading the report.

"A girl was found brutally murder late last night in Colorado's St. Andrews cemetery. The girl was believed to be 15 year-old Kelly Robins, who lived a couple of blocks away. She was beaten up quite badly before her assailants murdered her with an unidentified sharp object. Her body was found early this morning by the cemetery's groundskeeper while he was doing his rounds.

"The cause of death was the severe rupture of Robins' throat and the excessive lost of blood as the result."

Willow used the mouse and scrolled down the page. A few seconds later, she found herself staring at a grainy, colored picture of a young, beautiful girl. She had long platinum blond hair and big blue eyes. She was smiling at the camera and Willow can't help marveling at what a huge engaging smile she had.

"She's so young," Willow muttered mostly to herself.

However, the person beside her had heard her and Willow could hear the comforting smile in her voice as she spoke, "She's at peace now. No more of life struggles to worry about."

"Yeah," Willow agreed grimly. "Life struggles like vampires."

"Willow…you don't know that."

Willow shot her a look. "'Severe rupture to the throat'," Willow quoted. "That can only mean one thing. Seven years fighting on the hellmouth would teach you that. And she was the fifth one in the last week in America alone. How many other girls do you think will die? Fifty? A hundred? A million?" She closed the window and clicked on the various buttons to shut the computer down.

"Now, you're just exaggerating."

"Am I?" Willow asked standing up and walking away from the computer. "We don't know how many slayers are out there and it's only a handful of us gathering them. What if all of them get killed or commit suicide before we can get to all?"

"That won't happen and you know it. Giles is already working on sending more people out to collect the slayers so you don't have to worry."

"But what if we are too late? From all the reports I've read, I say we already are too late."

"Things like this happen all the time. We just have to look at the bright side of this."

Willow whirled around and looked at her hard. "And what would that bright side be?" she asked with a bite in her voice. She didn't respond as she broke eye contact from her. Willow wasn't expecting an answer but part of her wished that the person before her did have one.

"There must be some way to stop all of this," Willow said.

She started walking towards Willow a beautiful smile on her face. A smile that almost made Willow believed her next sentence. "And you'll find it. You all will find it. Everything is going to be ok."

Of course it would be. She wouldn't be saying that if it would right? She had never lied to Willow before so what would make her to start now.

"Everything will be alright. And before you know it, you and I will be together again."

KITCHEN

"I'm just saying that things like this happen. You eat beef and a cow somewhere has to die. It's the same thing."

"Xander, it's not the same thing. Killing cows are necessary as we need the meat to survive."

"And making all potentials around the world slayers isn't? We need them to keep the citizens of planet earth safe, Buffy. It's for the greater good."

"Having hundreds of girls die is for the greater good? How is that even logical?"

"Damn it, Buffy! You don't get it. This is part of how things work. You take an action, you face the consequences."

"That sounded so familiar," Andrew piped up.

"Well, this is one consequence that I'm not going to face," Buffy said, ignoring Andrew's comment. "We'll get Giles on the phone and tell him about this. Maybe he can find a way to stop it."

"And how is he going to do that?"

"I'm sure he'll figure something out."

"Buffy, what's he going to do? There's only a few of us and hundreds of those girls. There's nothing we can do yet. We'll just have to wait till we have enough manpower."

"It's too late for that. I'm calling him now."

"But you can't call Giles!" Dawn blurted out, shooting right out of her chair. "Right, Andrew?" She reached out and gripped Andrew's shoulder."

"Er…Right," Andrew said his face etched with pain. "And ow!"

"And why can't I call Giles?" Buffy asked, narrowing her eyes suspiciously at Dawn.

"Yeah, why can't she call Giles?" Andrew asked. Buffy didn't miss the look her sister shot Andrew. "Oh! Right! Nope, sorry, you can't call Giles."

"And I ask again. Why the hell not?"

"Because…Xander's right," Dawn said. "What can Giles do if you tell him? It's not like he has the solution at his fingertips. So why waste our time and his by calling him?"

"He needs to know about this," Buffy insisted. "Whether or not he has a solution."

"But don't you think he would know by now? It's in the papers so my guess is that he knows."

"The little bit is hiding something from you, pet."

Buffy snapped her head towards the entrance of the kitchen and spotted him leaning casually against the door frame.

"Just look at Andrew," he continued.

And she did. Andrew was staring intently at his plate not making eye contact with anybody.

"I've never seen him this nervous before and I wonder what is making him this jumpy."

No! Don't let him get to you. He's just trying to mess with your head. Let him wonder all he wants. You don't have to wonder at all. Buffy tore her gaze away from Andrew and tried to focus on the conversation. Dawn was saying something and she was looking straight at her.

"So that's why we don't need to call Giles. It won't do much good."

"I got to agree with Dawnster on this one, Buff," Xander said.

"Oh bullocks!" he cried out. "That's the crappiest load of bull I've ever heard. It's obvious that they don't want you to call Giles because of something other than this."

Buffy glanced over at him.

"Are you going to stand there and believe what Dawn just said?" he asked incredulously.

Buffy didn't exactly hear what Dawn had just said with him yapping at her ear so she didn't know what to believe.

He cocked his head at her and asked, "What do you say, pet? Shall we have a go then?"

"Buffy?" Dawn's voice floated into her brain, pulling her attention away from him and back to her. Her gaze went back to Dawn, who was looking at her curiously. Andrew, Buffy saw, was still in his seat, staring at his empty plate.

"We'll talk to Willow and see what she thinks." Xander told her.

"Yeah," Dawn agreed. "We'll keep Giles out of this – for now. Xander, maybe we could do a bit of research, see how many girls have died over the past few weeks. We can see the statistics and see whether or not it's as bad as Buffy thinks."

"We are wasting time if we do this," Buffy said. "I still don't understand why we can't call Giles."

"Because there's no reason for him to get involve," Xander said.

Buffy looked at him incredulously. "Didn't you just hear what I said? We need him in this!"

"People! Shut up!"

Everyone in the kitchen did just that. The three of them stared at Andrew in surprise. He was on his feet with his hands on his hips, glaring at them. Buffy had never seen him get this angry before and now that she had she found it a bit scary.

And amusing.

"Can't you people just take a step back and look at the bigger picture for a moment?" Andrew asked, his gaze flickering from Buffy to Dawn and then to Xander.

Dawn rolled her eyes in exasperation. "We are looking at the big picture. We are even arguing about it."

Andrew shot her a look that was sweltering. "I said bigger picture."

"Sit down, Andrew," Xander told him. "Don't interrupt big people's arguments."

"No I won't! Not until you hear what I have to say."

Buffy folded her hands across her chest and look pointedly at Andrew. "Alright then. What bigger picture are you talking about?"

"Willow," Andrew answered.

"Willow?"

"The girls dying are just the tip of the iceberg, my fellow friends. Willow is the one that you should worry about."

"Andrew, your mouth's open and noise is coming out."

Andrew sighed in frustration. "Ok, I'm going to explain this as simply as I can. Willow did the spell and now we have girls who turned into slayers dying all around the world. What does that say to you?"

"A big huh?"

"People! Open your eyes! We have a witch in this apartment that thinks that she's responsible for all the death that has been happening."

Buffy stared at Andrew in disbelief. "But she's not responsible." She looked over at Xander and then to Dawn. "Is she?"

"Of course not," Xander said. "That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard."

"I think Andrew's right," Dawn said, so softly that Buffy almost didn't hear her.

Buffy looked at her sister hard. "Please don't imply what I think you're implying."

Dawn shook her head. "No, I'm not saying that Willow is responsible for their deaths. I think he's right about the part that Willow might be blaming herself."

"Oh come on!" Xander exclaimed. "She's know better than that. She's smarter than that."

"Maybe," Andrew said slowly. "But I'm not going to take my chances. You won't know what she'll do."

The three of them fell silent as they thought about Andrew just said. Andrew did have a point. Though having teenage girls die all around the world was tragic, having Willow taking the blame for the death is more of a concern. They might not be able to stop the girls dying everywhere but at least they could do something about Willow.

But Buffy was having a hard time believing that Willow would feel responsible. Like Xander said, wasn't she smart enough to know the difference? Didn't she know that it wasn't the spell that killed those girls?

And where does Andrew come off saying things like this? It's like he knows Willow better than she does.

"Well," Andrew spoke up a moment of silence later. "If you excuse me, I'm going to the video store to get the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. If anyone wants to join me, I'll be waiting outside."

With that, he moved away from the dining table and existed the kitchen.

"Well," Xander stated, going back to his seat.

"Well," Dawn echoed, sitting back down in her chair. "That was certainly interesting. I'm not liking the new Andrew too much."

"You think Andrew's right?" Xander asked. "He seemed pretty sure about this."

"I think the question is more of when was Andrew ever wrong?"

"So what do we do now?" Xander asked looking back and forth between the two girls.

"I guess we could talk to Willow about it," Dawn replied with a shrug.

"And how are we to do that?"

"I don't know. But I was thinking with our mouths and with words," Dawn answered with a smirk.

"We'll think of something," Buffy finally said. "But in the meantime, we'll keep an eye on her – just in case."

Xander nodded as he got to his feet. "Sounds like a plan. Well, I better be off. I need to pick some tools."

As Xander and then Dawn left the kitchen, Buffy started picking up the left behind dishes on the dining table. She dumped them into the sink, turned out the faucet and started scrubbing them. "I thought you left."

"In the middle of that dialogue? I don't think so," he replied coming up to her. "You alright, love?"

"I'm fine," she replied curtly.

"Could have fooled me with all the intense scrubbing you're doing to the dishes."

She stopped her scrubbing, dropping the sponge into the sink. "I just can't believe that a Watcher wannabe had to tell me that there's something wrong with one of my best friends. I think I'm losing touch with them."

"Well, you did have your plate full. It's understandable."

Buffy looked at him. "My plate shouldn't be blinding me from my friends. My friends are more important than that."

He smirked. "Is that right?"

"Yes because as far as I'm concern, my plate isn't here."

He grinned, leaning close. "For your sake, I hope you're right."

As soon as Dawn left the kitchen, she made a beeline towards Andrew's room, silently praying that he hadn't left for the video store yet. He so needed to be yelled at right now.

Dawn pushed the door open and slammed it shut, locking it behind her. Andrew looked at her in fright. He was bare-bodied and only had his boxers on. "Hey! Privacy!" Andrew cried out as she stalked up to him.

"Good, you're still here." She smacked him across his chest. "What they hell were you thinking back there?"

"What? What did I do?"

"You know very well what you did. Who gave you the permission to tell the others about your stupid Willow theory?"

"I was doing you a favor," Andrew yelled back. "They stopped thinking about calling Giles didn't they?"

Dawn hit him again, leaving a bright red spot on his chest. "Can you stop yelling? You're going to attract attention."

"Hey! You're the one who started the yelling – and the hitting. You should be thanking me for saving your ass back there."

"I am not! You shouldn't be telling them about your theory in the first place."

"But they need to know. They are so caught up in their own problems that they are not paying attention to their friends. Telling them would prevent them from getting caught of guard and from someone getting killed."

Dawn folded her arms across her chest, her anger slowly turning into irritation. A small voice at the back of her head was telling her that Andrew was right whether she liked it or not. "Did I ever tell you how much I hate you right now?"

Andrew puffed up his chest and raised his chin at her. "You might have mentioned it once or twice but I think it's ok to refresh my memory."

Dawn hit him again – hard.

CEMETERY

night

Alessandra wanted to go on a patrol.

She said that it would be a good idea if she went out to get a taste of what slayer life is like before she goes to England. That way she can be prepared and won't get killed on her first field trip to the cemetery that the School would bring her to. It certainly wouldn't look good in front of all the other students.

Surprisingly, Buffy said ok.

And now, here Willow was trudging through the cemetery in the middle of a chilly night. Buffy led them through the dark graveyard with a stake clutched tightly in her hand, her eyes roaming around the area before her. Xander and Alessandra followed closely behind. They were unusually quiet, all their focus on the task at than instead on each other.

Willow brought up the rear. She had two stakes with her. One tucked uncomfortably in the back of her jeans and another dangling loosely from her fingers at her side. Unlike the other three, her mind wasn't exactly focused on finding vampires. It was Xander idea to drag her along with this little trip to the cemetery. After a lot of persuasion from him, Buffy and oddly Andrew, Willow decided to come along.

Not because she wanted to but because she wanted them to stop bugging her.

She had countless trips to the cemetery before and all of them felt the same. However, this one didn't. The only difference was that this time they were looking for vampires. They weren't just going out for patrol and waiting for a vamp or two to attack them, they were looking for vamps.

That she wasn't use to.

An hour had came and gone and Willow was getting tired. They haven't come across a single vampire yet and Willow was starting to think that they wouldn't come across one at all tonight. Maybe luck was on her side.

"Buffy! I think you should head back," Willow called out to the former slayer in front of her. "I doubt we are going to find a vampire –"

The impact that hit her from behind knocked all wind out of her body. She hit the ground face first and something heavy landed on her back. Almost immediately, the weight was gone and she felt herself being flipped over. Spoke to soon!

Between the falling and the flipping, Willow had lost her stake and the only weapon she had was tucked out of reach between the ground and her back. She opened her mouth and sucked in all the air that she had lost.

The vampire straddled her, pinning her hips with his strong thighs. The creature grinned, bearing a row of ugly but sharp teeth. The vampire cocked his head and broke into a slew of Italians words that Willow didn't manage to get. But she wasn't going to bother trying to understand what he was saying to her. She reached out and clawed at his face.

The vampire moved faster than she expected. He grabbed her hands and pinned them above her head.

Willow gulped in enough air and chanted. A second later, smoke started to rise from the vampire. He looked at her in horror before screaming in pain. Willow used this moment of weakness to push it away from her. She scrambled to her feet and continued whispering a final spell under her breath.

The vampire burst into a cloud of flaming ashes as a result.

Willow spotted her fallen stake a few feet away and grabbed it. She turned around, wondering whether the others knew that she got attacked. And it looks like they did as they were busy defending themselves from a group vampires. She spotted Buffy fending of two vampires while Xander and Alessandra were surrounded by at least five vampires. Neither of them looked like they were making much progress.

Willow closed her eyes and concentrated. She blocked out all sounds and reached out with her mind. In her mind, she pictured Buffy's face and made a connection. Willow opened her eyes and stared intently at the blond slayer. Buffy, listen to me. I got a plan.

Buffy snapped her head towards Willow's direction briefly before returning her attention towards the two vampires. I'm listening, she replied.

Round up all the vampires together. I know a way to kill them off together. We can't take them out like this. There are too many of them.

Willow! Behind you!

Without a moment's hesitation, Willow murmured the same spell she did earlier and the vampire, who was coming up behind her, screamed loudly before bursting into hot ash.

That's your plan? Buffy asked.

Willow grinned. More or less.

Get in touch with Xander tell him about your plan. I'll round the vamps up.

Willow nodded, closed her eyes and reached out from Xander's mind. Xander, follow Buffy's lead. I got a plan.

Damn it, Willow! Do you have to go and invade my mind when I'm panicking?

Don't worry, Xand, I won't tell anyone that you were praying for your life.

So what's the plan?

Get the vamps together. I'm going to torch them.

Can't you do it now?

Can't. It's going to take a lot of energy to torch them one by one. And I don't think I have the energy. It's been awhile since I did this.

What about Alessandra?

Willow opened her eyes and frowned. What about her?

She wants to experience the life of a slayer. Killing the vamps at one go isn't going to help her in that department.

Xander, I got no time to satisfy some girl's needs. I'm saving your life and that's all that counts, Willow snapped. She broke off the connection before Xander had a change to reply.

I'm not liking this at all! Alessandra's mind screamed as another vampire came rushing towards her. She ducked the punch that was thrown at her and she gave one herself. The vampire jumped back and aimed a roundhouse kick at her chest. The kick connected and Alessandra felt herself flying backward. She landed hard on her back, pain jolting through her body like electricity.

She stared up into the sky, trying to catch her breath. She had no idea that fighting vampires was going to be this hard. If things were to continue at this rate, she didn't think she could survive.

"Alessandra! Get up! Now!"

She couldn't tell who it was that was yelling at her. The sounds of fighting were too loud for her to distinguish the voice. It could have been Xander or Willow or it could have been her mind.

Alessandra! Get up! Now!

That, she knew, was her mind. She could recognize the panic. Mustering all her strength, Alessandra did what her mind wanted and climbed to her feet. Her body wasn't feeling the pain anymore and she wondered whether that was part of the whole slayer deal. She gingerly touched her chest and was glad to note that she wasn't feeling sore at all.

Alessandra whirled around, stake gripped tightly in her hand. She spotted two vampires ganging up on Xander and she made a beeline towards them. As soon as she was within reach, she grabbed the collar of one of the vampires and yanked him back. Without hesitation, she plunged the stake she had into its chest and waited for it to become dust.

It didn't.

"Oh hell," Alessandra cursed. The vampire growled before smacking her stake away and grabbing her neck, choking her. The vampire lifted her off the ground as Alessandra clawed at its fingers, trying in vain to loosen them.

"You call yourself a slayer?" the vampire asked in Italian. A grin spread across its disfigured features. "I would like to see you try to stake me now."

How she wished she could do that as well.

A kick here, a punch there and a final stab into the heart and the female vampire was dust. Buffy took this moment to survey her surroundings. There were still at least 5 more vampires left. One for them was getting a little bit too cozy with Alessandra.

With a sudden burst of speed, Buffy ran towards Alessandra, stake high up in the air. Out of nowhere, a hand shot forward and slammed into her chest. The impact sent her sprawling to the ground. A second later a tall, female vampire towered over her. Buffy grunted in anger and swipe her legs at the blood sucker. Her legs connected and the vampire joined her on the ground.

Buffy didn't bother finishing the vampire off. She leapt to her feet and ran towards Alessandra. The younger slayer was her priority right now, not some Alanis Morisette wannabe vampire who wanted a piece of her.

"Willow!" Buffy yelled over her shoulder, hoping the redhead would be aware of Alessandra's situation. As soon as she was within a few feet of the Alessandra and her attacker, Buffy threw herself at them, tackling the vampire to the ground. The three of them tumbled to the ground in a heap.

As soon as the vampire hit the ground, he disintegrated into a cloud of burning ashes. Buffy looked over at Alessandra who stayed down on the ground, not moving. Buffy crawled over to her. Willow, finish off the other vampires. Alessandra's unconscious and I need to make sure she's alright.

But I can't. There's too many of them.

Yes, you can! Just do whatever you can to kill them. Get Xander to help or something. I don't care! Buffy broke connection before Willow could get the chance to argue. She grabbed Alessandra's wrist and check for a pulse. Buffy dropped her wrist and pressed two fingers on Alessandra's neck. Buffy's heart leapt in her throat when she couldn't find a pulse.

Buffy tilted Alessandra's neck skyward and started doing CPR.

Willow knew at once that Alessandra was in big trouble when Buffy started giving the unconscious slayer mouth-to-mouth. Willow looked around and realized that the vampires were still a problem.

Xander was a few feet away, trying his best to dust as many vampires as he possibly could. Sweat mingled with a tinged of blood poured down his face as he rushed up to another vampire. Willow wondered whether he noticed that his new girlfriend was not doing exactly well in this battle.

"Well, don't just stand there. Do something! Standing here and gawking isn't going to help them!"

"But I'm afraid," Willow told her as she watched the scene play out before her.

"Afraid?" she asked, confused. "Willow, you recently did the biggest spell on the entire earth by transforming all potentials to slayers and you're afraid that of a measly spell of torching vampires?"

"It's not that. Doing that spell harmed a lot of girls. What if this small spell harmed people too?"

"How would burning up a few vampires harm anybody? Standing here and doing nothing is causing more harm!"

Willow shook her head. "You don't understand."

"You're right, I don't. I don't understand how you can stand here and watch your friends die. Do you want more guilt than you already have?"

Willow snapped her head towards her, her eyes flashing with anger. "Don't talk to me like that."

"Like what?"

"Like I'm a criminal! I'm not. I've paid for what I've done. I don't need you or anybody else to remind me of what I did."

"I'm not reminding you. I'm just telling you that you will go through the same thing again if you stand here and do nothing. Help them, Willow."

Without much thought, Willow felt her hands rising and her lips mouthing the words to the spell. Her fingertips started to glow a white light. She could feel power building inside of her like a gathering storm. She brushed aside the small amount of fear that was creeping into her mind. She couldn't back down now. She needed to help her friends.

The white hot light grew brighter and engulfed her hands. She could feel the heat radiating from her hands but the heat didn't sear her flesh. With a slight flick of both wrists, the remaining vampires started screaming and yelling on top of their voices in Italian. A second later, they simultaneously burst into fiery ashes.

Xander looked at her in disbelief. "You did it."

Willow nodded and gave him a weak smile. The dark power was slowly dissipating, only leaving exhaustion behind. "Just giving a helping hand." She nodded towards where Buffy and Alessandra was. "She's hurt."

Xander glanced over and for the first time he finally realized that his girlfriend was in trouble. His eyes grew big with fear before scrambling towards the two girls. "Is she alright?" he asked Buffy, who was gently stroking Alessandra's hair.

Buffy nodded. "For a moment there I thought I lost her but she's ok now. She'll feel sore in the morning though."

"Let's get her to the hospital to make sure," Willow suggested.

Buffy flicked her gaze towards Willow. "Good idea." She smiled. "And thanks."

Xander slipped his hand under Alessandra and lifted her up. With Buffy by his side, he made his way out of the cemetery.

"This has to stop," Willow said as soon as she was sure they were out of earshot.

"You've done enough."

Willow shook her head violently. "No! It has to stop. Too many girls are dying and one nearly died in front of me. I can't let this happen to…to someone's daughter or friend or…"

"Willow, these things happen. You can't stop every bad thing that happens. Not every bad thing that happens is your fault."

"But I caused it!"

"The spell…"

"I did the spell."

"Willow…"

"No! I'll stop this. I'll do whatever I can to stop this." She turned away from her and looked at the disappearing figures of Buffy and Xander. "And I think I know how."

SCOOBY'S APARTMENT

night

The apartment was quiet. The only sound was from the ticking of the wall clock in the living room. And nothing moved in the apartment too. In the kitchen, the pale, yellow curtains that covered the small windows above the sink didn't rustled. Even the newspaper on the dining table left from this morning stayed still. Nothing moved and nothing made a sound.

Someone shifted in their seat and the chair budged, its legs scraping against the floor and causing a sharp screeching sound that made Dawn jump involuntarily. She looked up at Andrew and glared. Andrew rubbed the back of his neck, a sheepish grin on his face. Dawn shook her head in exasperation and shifted her attention away from him to the man sitting across from her.

Giles was staring at something just above Dawn's head. He had his glasses off with one pointy end stuck in his mouth, chewing on it a little. He seemed deep in thought. Or maybe he was bored – Dawn couldn't be sure.

Andrew took in a deep breath and let it out with a whoosh before speaking up. "So how do you like the apartment, Giles?"

Giles blinked before turning to the younger man. "What? Oh, yes, the apartment. I like it. I'm glad the Council can at least do one thing right."

"Well, it would have been better if we had an extra room," Andrew remarked. "I think Xander's starting to hate having me as a roommate."

"I'm sure he'll get use to it," Giles replied with a kind smile.

"Giles," Dawn said, interrupting them. "I think we should start on…things before the others get back."

"Yes, yes of course." He set down his glasses on the table top. He leaned down and picked up a briefcase that he had brought with him. He placed it on the table, clicked the latch open and flipped the lid up. "I've been doing a lot of thinking lately and I've decided to tell the others that I'm here and what we are up to."

Dawn frowned. That wasn't what she expected him to say. "Why? What happened?"

"Don't worry, nothing happened." He picked out something for his briefcase and set it on the table. He put away the case as Dawn studied the object. It was small, just a little bigger than her fist and had an irregular shape. It was wrapped in a black velvet cloth and it seems to sparkle, like it was sprinkled with sliver dust.

"What's that?" Andrew asked before Dawn had the chance to do so.

"It's a stone that I got from the Watchers' Council. There's only one of its kind that exists in this world and it contains a lot of power."

"In that tiny little thing?"

Giles chuckled. "Don't be fooled by its size. It had more power than…it has a lot of power."

"Does it have a name?" Dawn asked, not able to take her eyes of the rock. Something about it was mesmerizing. Even though she couldn't see the rock itself, she knew that this was one special stone – somehow she just knew.

"Nobody knows the exact name for it but it's more commonly known as the Dreamers' Stone."

"It makes people dream?"

"Something to that effect but not quite."

"This would make everything go back to normal." It wasn't a question.

"It would stop what I've done, if that's what you mean."

"That's what I mean."

Giles nodded. He placed his hands on the table, laced his fingers and leaned forward. "I know it feels like a rash decision but I've thought about it for quite sometime now and I believe that is it the right decision."

Dawn looked at Giles. "I'm not doubting that. I just can't help feeling suspicious on why you suddenly want to pull the plug on this. It seems out of the blue."

Giles gave a smile. "Trust me. I know what I'm doing."

"That's what you said before all of this started," Andrew quipped up.

Dawn and Giles ignored him. She watched as Giles started unwrapping the stone. Her breath caught in her throat as the velvet cloth dropped to the table, revealing a pale blue stone that looked like very much like a big diamond – a big, blue diamond. The smooth surface of the 'diamond' caught light from the bulb overhead and glinted. Dawn's jaw dropped in awe.

"That is a very nice stone," Andrew said, sounding a little breathless.

Giles brought the stone up close to his face and rotated it slowly, studying every inch. "Yes, it is. This stone was actually lost for a century before the one of the founding members of the Watcher's Council found it buried deep underground. The Watcher's Council now stood on that ground."

Andrew stroked his chin. "Interesting…"

Giles chuckled. "I guess it is."

"So who does it work?"

"A ritual has to be done with everyone involved around the stone. The usual stuff – blood, chanting, a bit of dance – and everything would be back to normal."

"Do they necessary have to know why they are standing around a stone for?" Dawn asked with a nervous smile.

"It's not like Buffy would do that without a good reason," Giles replied.

"Damn. Why does she have to be so smart?" she moaned.

Giles put the stone down and stood up. He went over to the sink and grabbed a chipped mug. "Why do we have to be so stupid?"

Dawn blinked at his words. "How dare you," Dawn whispered, anger laced in her tone. "How dare you come in here and call us stupid. It was your idea, damn it!"

"Dawn…"

Dawn stood up. "No! Don't 'Dawn' me! You told us that this would work. You promised me that this would work."

Giles rubbed the bridge of his nose. He suddenly looked very tired and five years older. "As far as I'm concerned it worked. But there were too many risks involve. Too many complications. And the Council –"

"That's all you think about – the Council. All you care is how the Council is going to do this or going to do that. You don't care about us or anything else."

"Oh, Dawn, that's not true. You all mean the world to me and I'm doing all I can to make sure that things go as smoothly as possible. After looking at the reports, I doubt this smooth journey would continue if we carried this any longer."

"Then why go through with it in the first place? Why can't you just let her live?"

Giles silent as his eyes dropped to the empty mug he held. A sad smile slowly appeared as he replied softly, "Maybe I did this to make sure she can live." He looked up at her and Dawn's heart almost broke. Here was a man trying his hardest to give them a normal life and all she could do to repay him was to yell at him? She should be the one looking at him begging for forgiveness with her eyes – not him.

"I wish that I could turn back time and undo what I did but I can't," he continued. "I've done the action and now I have to deal with the consequences."

"It's not his fault, Dawn," Andrew spoke up. "We did go along with it. We should take some of the blame too."

Dawn gaped at Andrew in surprise. Giles mirrored her expression. "Well…um…thank you Andrew," Giles said. "That's nice of you to say that."

Andrew shrugged, his face growing thoughtful. "I'm a nice person. I don't think many know that."

Willow shut the front door as softly as possible. Andrew's voice could be heard coming from the kitchen and she assumed that he and Dawn are in there. She tiptoed across the living room and silently dashed into her bedroom. What she was about to do needed to be kept away from Dawn, Andrew and the others. She knows they wouldn't approve for what she was going to do but this was something she had to do.

And she is already having an earful from someone and she didn't want to get more.

"Willow, you're crazy to even think about doing this."

Willow shut the door behind her and locked it. She didn't bother with the lights in case it attracted anybody's attention as they walked by.

"I know what I'm doing," Willow said, getting a bit defensive. "I'm responsible for my actions and I'm taking responsible."

Willow could hear the smirk in her voice as she remarked, "If only you were thinking that way two years ago."

Willow scowled at her. "Let's not focus on the past but on the future – on the now would be nice even."

She headed cautiously towards her bookshelf, her eyes not quite adjusting to the dark yet. Her bookshelf was at the other end of the room and it held all her books on magick, occult and anything else supernatural-y. She knelt down in front of the shelf and scanned the titles that were printed on the spine of the books.

"So, you think by doing a spell everything would be alright?" she asked.

"I know it would be alright. I got the prefect spell in mind."

"Willow, do you remember the time where you played with people minds?"

A memory of what happened with Buffy and the rest when she wiped out their memories flashed through her mind like a bad dream. It was also after that incident where Tara left her. Willow squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head slightly.

"I don't need to be reminded about that. I'm living with that memory everyday."

"And you'll live with this memory too if you do this."

Willow stood up and whirled around. "You think I would fail."

"I didn't say that…"

"I know you well enough. You can't trust me anymore, can you? Is this why you're always around me? Are you here because you want to keep an eye on me, to make sure that I won't go off the deep end and go all scary and veiny?"

"Of course not…" she started.

"Then why can't you trust me with this? Why can't you be supportive and just say "go on right ahead, Willow, I'm with you all the way."?"

"This isn't about you, Willow. This is about the thousands of lives you're going to affect."

"Ruin, you mean," Willow countered.

She threw her hands up in the air in exasperation. "You're not making this any easier."

"Then stay out of it." Willow turned back to the bookshelf and continued scanning the books. As soon as she spotted the one that she wanted, she grabbed it and stalked towards the bedroom door.

"I'm going to do this."

KITCHEN

"Will we remember everything that had happened?" Dawn asked.

"Yes, we will," Giles answered before taking a sip of coffee that he poured earlier. "But it would be like a blur to us – like a dream."

"Wow. So we are really going to do this."

Giles nodded. "I've made my decision, Dawn. I don't want to delay it any longer in case things turned for the worst."

Dawn wrapped her arms around her body and held herself. "You think they would be mad?"

Giles set the coffee away, grimacing a little. "I'm expecting the worst," he said, cracking a smile. "But we'll tell them everything – why we did it and why we didn't tell them. We won't hide anything from them. Hopefully that would take the sting out of it."

"Hopefully," Dawn echoed softly.

"What happens after that?" Andrew asked suddenly after a moment of silence.

Giles rubbed his forehead thoughtfully. "I'm not sure. I'll probably go back to England. I don't know about Buffy and the others. They can stay here if they want. Things are much settled in England so they are not really needed anymore. And you can come back to England with me if you want."

Andrew's eyes visibly brightened as he glanced up at the older man. "I so want!" He grew serious. "I've been thinking lately and I have decided to become a Watcher – just like you."

Giles looked at Andrew and blinked. He opened his mouth, looking like he wanted to say something but shut it close. He opened his mouth again. "Er…That's nice Andrew. I'm sure you'll make a great Watcher."

Andrew beamed.

The front door slammed shut and all three of them jumped, startled. Dawn looked wide-eyed at Giles and he stared back. "They're back," Dawn breathed. "I didn't expect them to be back so soon."

"Quick!" Andrew hissed, jumping out of his seat so fast his chair went tumbling back. "Get under the table! There's still a chance that they haven't seen you yet!"

Dawn glared at him. "Don't be ridiculous, Andrew. He's a grown man."

"Giles?"

Dawn froze. At the corner of her eye, she saw Giles turning to face Buffy. He stuffed his hands into his pockets and gave her a warm smile. "Hello, Buffy," he answered.

Dawn finally moved her body and turned towards her sister. Xander was standing behind Buffy peering at something under the table. Dawn pasted a bright smile on her face. "Hey Buffy! Glad you're back! Look who's here."

"Andrew, what are you doing under the table?"

"Buffy."

"Giles?"

"Xander."

"Giles."

Silence. An awkward one.

Buffy stared at Giles who kept avoiding her gaze. Thoughts were running a hundred miles through her brain – why was he here? Is there trouble back in England? Is there trouble here?

What is he up to?

Someone came up beside her. She glanced over for a brief moment before returning her gaze towards Giles.

"Something tells me that I'm right," the person beside her whispered.

Dawn was the first one to speak up. "So this is pretty neat, huh? Giles being here and all."

Xander came forward, arms outstretched. "Nice to see you, Giles." The two men hugged as Dawn and Buffy watched. Buffy eyed Dawn at the corner of her eyes. Was it just her or is her little sister looking a bit relieved?

Andrew, in the meantime, slowly crawled out from under the table, nervously looking around the kitchen. "No loud outbursts?"

The two men broke apart. Buffy stared at Giles. He stared back a small smile on his rugged face. "It's good to see you, Buffy."

Buffy didn't know how to reply. She didn't exactly want to lie to him and say that it was good to see him too. "I need to talk to you," she finally said, keeping her eyes on him, watching his reaction. "Alone."

Giles blinked but the surprise quickly vanished as his smile grew bigger. "Of course." His gaze flickered to the other occupants in the room. "Could you excuse us for a minute?"

Xander nodded and made his way towards the exit. Andrew quietly followed him out, avoiding Buffy's gaze. Dawn lingered for a moment.

"Dawn, please. It won't take long," Giles said.

Her sister nodded. "I'll be outside if you need anything." She was speaking to Giles. As she left, she too avoided Buffy's eyes. Giles sat down across from Buffy. She remained standing just in case that after all this, she needed to run away, from him or from a nightmare. He slipped off his glasses, pulled out a handkerchief out of his pocket and started cleaning them.

Buffy watched him, his actions reminding her of the many times he had done that exact same thing. So many things have changed but he still didn't. So how could she not trust him? How could she think that he had something going on behind her back?

"I'm sorry I didn't call to tell you about my arrival. It was a last minute thing. I'm staying at a nearby hotel so you don't have to worry about finding a place to stay of the night."

"Trust me, that's not what I'm worry about," she replied.

Giles stopped his cleaning and looked up. He cocked his head at her and asked, "Is something wrong?"

"You tell me, Giles"

"Buffy…"

"No, really. Cause something's telling me that things are not right."

"Something or someone, pet?" he chuckled.

Giles frowned. "What makes you think that?"

Buffy sighed in exasperation. "Didn't you just hear what I said? Something's making me think that. It's a feeling."

"And you think I'm involved."

Buffy felt a pang of guilty in her heart. He sounded accusing, like he couldn't believe she would even think that. Buffy couldn't believe she would think that so why was she surprise that he would think that way as well.

"I've been living in fear ever since we left Sunnydale. I'm so afraid that someone would end this vacation and I'm more afraid that that someone would be you."

Giles slipped his glasses back on. He ran a hand through his thinning gray hair, staying silent for a moment. "Buffy, I suggest you bring Xander and Willow in here. There's something I need to tell you all."

WILLOW'S BEDROOM

"Where are you going?"

"I can't do the spell here. The others can't know."

"Why not?"

"Cause just like you they'll try to stop me."

"So I'm not the only one who thinks this is wrong."

"They won't understand."

"Willow!" Her voice was soft but sharp, tinge with a slight anger that she rarely showed.

Willow stopped in her tracks and waited for her to continue. Her hand gripped the door knob so tightly that her knuckles started turning white.

"Just take a moment and think about what you're doing," she continued, this time more gently. "Please."

Willow shook her head. She can't take a moment and think. Every minute is precious and she can't waste it on thinking. She was done thinking. Thinking let her nowhere. Actions didn't. Thinking just makes you go into the 'what ifs' territory and make you feel all guilty about the choices you make. Without thinking, you can do things without the nagging guilt at the pit of your stomach especially during times where big decisions were involved.

Like now.

Willow threw the door open and hurried out of her room. She made her way towards the living room, mentally going through her check list. She got almost everything. There is only one thing left that she needed to get and she could only get in the hospital.

Willow looked up and stopped short. There, standing around in the living room, were Dawn, Xander and Andrew. Damn! What are they doing here?

"Willow! You're back," Dawn exclaimed in surprise. "How long have you been here?"

"Do you know that Giles' here?" Xander interjected.

"Did you hear our conversation?" Dawn continued asking.

Willow's mind reeled with the onslaught of questions. Giles? Here? The whole gang here? What's going on?

"What's going on?" Willow thought out loud.

"Giles' here." Xander repeated.

"Yes, I heard you the first time, Xander. But why is he here? Did something happen? Did more girls die?"

"No. Or I don't think so. I'm not sure why he's here actually," Xander answered. "Buffy's in the kitchen talking to him."

"What's that smell?" Andrew asked suddenly.

Willow froze. He knew what smell he was referring to – the large amount of sage that was stashed in her bag. "Smell?"

Andrew started sniffing the air like a dog. "It smells…it smells like sage."

Dawn peered into the kitchen. "Is Buffy cooking something for Giles?"

"I doubt it would smell this good or have sage involved," Xander replied, also sniffing the air.

"Then where is it coming from?"

"Guys, I gotta go out for awhile," Willow said quickly. "Have fun sniffing." As she walked past Andrew towards the front door, Andrew grabbed her bag and yanked it from her grip.

"You're not going anyway," he announced.

Willow started to panic. "Andrew, what are you doing?"

"Where are you going, Willow?"

Willow scowled. "What part of out don't you understand?"

"Where out? Somewhere you can do magick out? Or out out?"

"None of your business out. Now, give my bag back!"

"Andrew, stop being childish and give Willow back her bag," Xander said with a roll of his eyes.

The Watcher wannabe ignored Xander and continued his questioning. "What are you going to do with the sage? What kind of magick?"

"The kind that is none of your business." Willow stepped forward and snatched her bag before Andrew could react. "Now, I have to go." Without another word or a glance, Willow hurried out of the living and out of the apartment. She didn't slow her pace down as she exited the apartment building and went down the street that headed towards the cemetery.

"Why the hospital?" she asked as she tried to keep up with Willow.

"Alessandra's there," Willow replied, her eyes trained on the path before her.

"Alessandra?"

"She is the one that makes my spell work. I need her blood."

My Watcher senses are tingling.

The way Willow was acting, the large amount of sage in her bag. Things started to make more sense now. The conversation he, Dawn and Giles had at the diner when Giles first arrived started coming back to him.

Andrew's eyes widen in surprise. She's going to do something about it.

He grabbed Xander's arm and dragged him out of the apartment and into the hallway. "Dawn! Get Buffy!"

"What are you doing? Let me go!" Xander shouted as he struggled against Andrew's grip.

Andrew let go of the other man. "We have no time. We must get to Willow before she does that spell."

"What spell?"

"You know – the spell with the sage. Was I the only one who was paying attention to Willow and her sage?"

Xander sighed. "It was just sage Andrew, nothing life threatening."

"If it wasn't, she wouldn't have run out of here like that. Why didn't she tell us what she was up to? Why the big secret? Think back to the conversation we had about Willow in the kitchen. I think Willow's going to do something about the girls that have been dying."

Xander shook his head, amused. "Andy, I know Willow longer than I have so I should know whether Willow's in trouble or not."

"When was the last time things turned out good when Willow did a spell you don't know about?" Andrew knew he was taking a risk when he asked that question. He didn't exactly know about Willow and her experience with magick well so there was a high possibility that Xander would say no, give a sarcastic remark and forget this ever happened.

Instead Xander looked away. Andrew hid a smile. My Watcher senses! Oh, how I love you!

Dawn came into the hallway with Buffy in tow. "What's going on?" Buffy asked. She didn't look happy.

"It's Willow," Xander replied before Andrew could. "I think she's up to no good, in the magicks department."

"Willow can handle herself."

"Buffy, I know Willow longer than you have and I know that something's up. We need to find her now."

Andrew scowled at the tall brunette. Why that son of a b–

"Where did she go?"

Andrew jumped in. "I can do a locator spell and find her but we have to hurry if we want to stop her in time."

"Alright, let's go. Dawn, you stay here with Giles."

"What? Why?" Dawn asked incredulously. But Andrew was already tugging Xander and Buffy down the hallway.

"Dawn, for once, just listen to your sister," he yelled over his shoulder.

As the three of them left the apartment building, Andrew could still feel Dawn's eyes boring a hole in his back.

HOSPITAL

The hospital was dead quiet and deserted. For this, Willow was glad. She didn't want anyone seeing her or hearing her as she made her way towards Alessandra's room. Visiting hours were long over so Willow had to pose as Alessandra's worried sister who had just heard news about her unfortunate 'accident'.

It took awhile to convince the nurse at the nurse station but she managed to get through without calling much suspicion and attention to herself.

Alessandra was on the fourth floor in one of those private rooms. As she made her way towards Alessandra's room, Willow wondered if someone back at the apartment realized what she was up too. Knowing Andrew, she knew he wouldn't shut up about the sage she had until someone gave in to his theory and tried to find her.

She probably had half an hour the most.

Andrew said the necessary words under his breath and an image of the town's medical center popped into his mind. "The hospital!" Andrew exclaimed to Xander. Xander nodded before turning the car into the street that led to the hospital.

"The hospital? What is she doing there?" Buffy asked, glancing over her shoulder. She was sitting up front with Xander.

"Alessandra is there," Xander stated.

"Are you saying she needs Alessandra for her spell?"

Xander shrugged. "I have no idea. But this is far big of a coincidence to be a coincidence."

Ten minutes late, Xander pulled the car to a screeching halt in the hospital's parking lot. The three of them jumped out and dashed for the entrance. "Andrew, keep the nurse busy. Xander and I would take care of this."

Andrew stopped in his tracks in surprise. "What? Why?"

Buffy didn't bother looking at him nor bother stopping as she replied, "We don't need you anymore."

Willow turned the doorknob and pushed the door open as quietly as possible. She peered into the dimly lit room and was glad to note that the slayer was soundly asleep in her bed – probably heavily sedated. Willow stepped into the room and closed the door behind her gently.

She let her eyes adjust to the dimness before moving forward to where Alessandra's bed is. Once she was at the slayer's side, Willow opened up her back and rummaged through it, searching for her blade. After a few seconds of blind searching, her fingers finally brushed against something smooth and cool. She pulled out the blade and set her bag down.

The door to Alessandra's private room swung open and Buffy and Xander came strolling in. "Willow! Hey! I didn't know you were going to visit Alessandra."

Willow scowled. Andrew worked much quicker than she expected. She plastered a smile on her face as she asked, "What are you guys doing here?"

"Was just about to ask you the same thing, Will. And I didn't know you were bringing gifts." Xander gestured to the gleaming blade in her hand.

Willow dropped her smile. She didn't have time to pretend and lie anymore. They probably knew she was up to something so why pretend that she wasn't. Maybe they might surprise her and support her decision for doing this.

"Willow, whatever you're doing, it's…wrong," Buffy started.

Or maybe not.

"Wrong? How can helping be wrong?"

Buffy blinked. Then she looked at Xander. "What spell is she doing anyways?"

Willow rolled her eyes. "You don't even know what I'm doing and you still have the guts to say that I'm wrong in doing this? So whatever spell I'm doing without your knowledge is considered wrong? Is that it? Do I need to run it pass you first? Ask your permission?

Xander blushed visibly under the dim light. "But Andrew said that –"

"Oh, so now you trust a geek over me?"

"No, of course not. It's just that…I'm worried."

"You don't have to be. I know what I'm doing."

"Well, that blade isn't actually quelling any of the worry that I have. Maybe you should give that to me," Xander offered, reaching out for the blade.

"Or you could at least tell us what's going on," Buffy suggested. Willow could see that her best friend's eyes were on the blade and not on her. Her body was all tensed and Willow knew that Buffy was already calculating a move in that head of hers – waiting for Willow to make one wrong move before she unleashed herself on her.

What Buffy didn't know was that Willow had a move of her own. She knew exactly what to do if Buffy came at her. One flick of her wrist and the blond slayer wouldn't know what hit her.

"You're losing it, Willow."

Willow's gaze flickered away from Buffy and to the newcomer standing behind her. Willow glared at her. No, I'm not. I'm perfectly in control.

"You're now plotting to hurt your best friend. What next? World domination?"

Not funny!

"How about we head on home and talk about this?" Xander said, snapping her attention back to him. "You tell us what you're up to and we'll see how we can help. How's that?"

"This is something I need to do, Xander, and I need to do it now."

Xander raised his hands. "I understand. Do you want us to help?"

Willow grinned. "Of course you can. You can help me hold Alessandra down."

Andrew was getting impatient. The nurse that he was distracting went off to the bathroom five minutes ago and now he was sitting all alone in the deserted hallway staring at the blank wall. He shouldn't be here. He should be up in Alessandra's room bringing Willow down – and then gloating about how right he was.

But instead, he was stuck downstairs, sweet talking an underpaid, overworked nurse! Watchers are not suppose to do this kind of work. They are suppose to get right in where the action is and the action is in Alessandra's room.

Andrew stood up abruptly. No, he wasn't going to sit around here and entertaining some unattractive nurse. He should be helping Buffy and Xander. They don't have the slightest clue as to what is happening with Willow, what makes them thing that they are able to stop her?

Squaring his shoulders, he made his way towards the bank of elevators. He entered one, jabbed at the button with the number four on it and waited impatiently as the elevator brought him up to Alessandra's floor. As soon as the doors whooshed open, Andrew ran down the hallway towards her room.

"Willow! NOOO!" Andrew exclaimed as soon as he burst through the door. "DON'T DO IT!" He stopped short when he saw Buffy, Xander and Willow looking at him curiously. Andrew's eyes widen in surprise when he caught sight of the blade in the redhead's hand. "Put down the knife, Willow."

Buffy glared at him. "Andrew! I thought I told you to wait downstairs?"

Andrew looked at her. "Willow is holding a knife by Alessandra's bedside and you're worried about me not being downstairs? Where are your priorities people!"

"Relax, Andrew," Xander started. "Willow's not going to hurt anybody. Right Will?"

"Willow, I know how you feel," Andrew continued. "I know that you blame yourself for all the girls' deaths."

"You don't know anything Andrew so stay out of this," Willow snapped.

"No, I do know. I know that you can see her."

Willow stared at Andrew as if he had just grown two heads. "You know about her? How?"

SCOOBY'S APARTMENT

later

"Let me explain," Andrew started. He looked at everyone in the living room before continuing. "After the destruction of the Hellmouth and going to London, the Watcher's Council approached Mr. Rupert Giles with the procedure. There is this test that they wanted to do – a test they feel that it was important for Mr. Giles to do."

"What test?" Xander asked.

Andrew shushed him by raising a finger. "Xander, please. No questions while I'm speaking."

"Oh, sorry."

"Thank you." He returned his attention back to the group. "Now, as I was saying before I was rudely interrupted – there is this test that the Council wanted to do. They said that it's part of procedure. Mr. Giles reluctantly agreed to it and that is how you are able to see your dead loved ones. I don't want to go into much detail about the test but I'll just give a brief summary on what it's all about.

"The Council was worried that a big battle as the one fought in Sunnydale was going to be too traumatizing for all of you. Hence, this test was done in order to help you deal with it. The person that you're seeing isn't real. They are just your thoughts being real. Whatever thoughts that you wanted to be real, becomes real. So whatever is being said by that person you see are actually your thoughts – instead of hearing it in your brain, you're hearing it from that person.

"And here ends my explanation."

There was silence at the Buffy, Willow and Xander disgusted what was just said. Buffy stared at Giles, dumbfounded. Xander and Willow mirrored her expression. Giles looked guilty or maybe he looked worried, Buffy wasn't sure. He looked at her as he waited for her response. Dawn and Andrew stood on Giles' flanks. Dawn was staring at the ground intently while Andrew looked proud..

Buffy shook her head in disbelief. This can't be happening. Xander opened his mouth to speak but close it a moment later. He tried again. "Are you sure?"

"I know this is a lot to take in at the moment," Giles started to say. "But I assure you that –"

"You have got to be kidding me," Buffy said softly, cutting her former Watcher in mid sentence.

"Buffy…"

Buffy stood up, her fists clenched at her sides. "You messed with my mind! You made me see things that weren't there. You made me see him! How could you after everything that we've been through. Do you want us to suffer?"

"No, of course not! That's the last thing from my mind. I would never have gone through this if I knew I was putting you all in danger."

"Then why do this Giles? I'm really trying to see the aim of this test."

"What we went through was something that we shouldn't take lightly. We lost people that we know and loved and I couldn't let you all deal with the aftermath alone. I wanted to save you from whatever you're feeling. I knew you wouldn't talk to me about it so –"

"So you had us talking to ourselves. Real smart – really," Buffy spat sarcastically.

"So how do we get rid of them?" Willow asked after a moment of silence.

"We have to do another spell. Then everything would be back to normal," Giles replied.

Buffy scoffed. "Normal. I can't remember what that is anymore."

"It would be done fast. We'll do the spell now."

Buffy shook her head. "No."

"No?"

"What do you mean by no, Buff?" Xander asked. "I want her out of my head as soon as possible!"

"I just need time to…" Buffy looked away. "I just need time." Without another word, she left the living room and headed towards her bedroom. As soon as she was inside, she shut the door and leaned against it. She squeezed her eyes shut, Andrew's and Giles' words still swimming in her head.

"I'm sorry things turned out this way, love."

Buffy opened her eyes and spotted him sitting on her bed with a sympathetic smile on his face.

"You're not real," Buffy stated, her voice choking a little.

"No, I guess I'm not. A shame."

"They are going to take you away."

"Looks like."

Buffy let out a bitter laugh. "I knew. Deep down, I knew you weren't real. How could you be? You died for goodness sake."

"Yup. I'm not some ghost, running around trying to help people. But if you don't want me to go, I won't. You can make me stay, you know."

Buffy looked at him. "You can't stay. It's over."

XANDER'S ROOM

"I'm in shock!" Xander exclaimed. "Utter shock and guess what? And I'm not crazy!"

"Nobody said you were crazy, Xander," she responded in exasperation.

"And I don't get this "you're my thoughts" thing. Is it some kind of weird counseling technique?"

She shrugged as she studied her nails. "Maybe."

"I just want everything to be over. I don't think I can take anymore of this craziness."

She looked up at him sadly. "If you want this to be over, you won't be seeing me again."

"Isn't that a good thing?"

She looked away but not before him catching sight of a pain expression on her face.

Xander ran a hand through his hair. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it that way. I just want things to go back to the way it was. Things were so much easier."

"Yeah, I want it to be over too."

WILLOW'S ROOM

It's over.

All the things she has been seeing, all the things she has been feeling; it's all going to be over soon. And it's good. It's not really fun seeing your dead lover around you. It just brings back too much memories and feelings that she has long bottled up inside.

And now as she sat on her bed beside her, she wondered whether she'll feel this way again. This calm, this peace. She hasn't been feeling that since the day her lover died. There's always a constant torrent of emotions swirling within her, churning and swishing around, making her sick. She wanted it to stop so badly and though her relationship with Kennedy did little to calm the raging waters in her, she could still feel her emotions brewing slightly.

But now, as she sat silently beside her, all she could feel was nothing. Just peace. And calm. No raging or swirling or any violent movements that made her feel sick. She felt good.

She felt happy.

Doing the spell to stop this test might not make this feeling stay. She might go back feeling confused and ill again. Is that what she wants? Does she want to continue living her life in constant distress everyday? Or does she want to feel this happiness within her all the time. It would definitely be nice to feel that happiness again.

She thought back to the time in the hospital earlier when she was so adamant on doing that spell. She wanted to do it because she wanted to feel good about herself again, to feel that she had done something good. But as she sat here earlier, she realized that she did do something good. She turned all the potentials in the world into slayers. What so wrong about that?

It was something no one else could think of doing and she, Willow 'once a geek' Rosenberg did it and she did it well. Sure there are girls dying because they weren't able to cope with their new found powers but it wasn't her fault. She did what she had to do. You eat a cow, a cow dies somewhere. It's all part of life. Hopefully, once the Slayer School starts running, the number of girls dying would decrease and things would be good again.

"I'm sorry," Willow whispered.

"I'm proud of you Willow," she replied softly. "I'm really proud."

"I'll miss you."

"Me too. Just be good ok?"

Willow let out a small laugh. "I will."

"Good. It's over now."

LATER

living room

Buffy, Willow, Xander and the other occupants in the apartment stood in a circle around a beautiful stone that was set on the floor.

"So this is what would happen," Giles started to explain. "I'll say these lines and you have to repeat after me – all of you. Then Buffy, Willow and Xander have to draw blood from your wrist and let the blood fall on the stone. Another line and the spell would be broken and everything would be over."

"Will we remember everything that happened?" Willow asked, her blade gripped tightly in her hand.

"You will. If you forget everything, the purpose of this spell is defeated."

Willow nodded. "Ok."

"Alright!" Xander said, clapping his hands together. "Let's do this."

Giles stared at Buffy who regarded his gaze coldly. "I just wanted you to know again that I didn't do this to make you suffer. I did this to save you. To save you all."

"And now we are saved," Buffy replied.

THE NEXT DAY

morning

Buffy woke up with a start. Her head was throbbing with pain and the sunlight that was streaming through the windows wasn't helping one bit. She turned and grabbed her alarm clock off the table next to her bed. She groaned when she saw what time it was – it was nearly noon.

Buffy let the alarm clock tumble to the floor, kicked off her covers and trudged out of her room. She heard voices out in the hallway and wondered why she wasn't woken up by them.

"Hey Buffy," Willow greeted when she came into the living room. Xander gave her a smile.

"You feeling ok, sis?" Dawn asked coming up to her.

"I'm fine. Just a headache." Buffy replied. She was feeling confused now. Giles and Andrew stood in front of the front door with luggage around them.

"Don't worry too much about it," Dawn was saying. "Willow and Xander had headaches too. It's just side effects from the spell."

A constant reminder you mean. "I'll be fine," was all Buffy said. Dawn slipped her hands around Buffy's waist and gave her a hug.

"I love you," Dawn said.

Buffy blinked at Dawn's sudden act of affection. "Me too." She nodded towards Giles and Andrew. "What's going on here?"

"Giles is leaving for London," Xander said as he locked up one of the bags. "And Andrew is going with him."

"My job here is done," Andrew announced. "I'm off to do better things."

"He means become a Watcher," Willow told Buffy.

Buffy nodded. "That's nice."

Giles spoke up, "You can still stay here if you want. I have other assignments that you might be interested in but it's your choice. Just give me a call and I'll set you up."

"Well, I'm thinking off stay here permanently," Dawn said. She still had her arms around Buffy and she gazed up at her as she asked, "What do you think?"

"It sounds fine. Unless there's something else Giles wants me to do."

Giles smiled. "No, not at the moment. You need your vacation."

Dawn grinned. "Great!" She detached herself from Buffy and strolled towards Andrew and Giles. "Let's help you guys get loaded up."

Buffy stood in the background and watched as Willow, Xander, Andrew and Dawn grabbed a few of the luggage and lugged them to Xander's car. Giles moved away from them and came towards Buffy.

"Are you sure you're feeling alright?" he asked.

Buffy didn't look at him as she replied with a tinge of sarcasm, "I'm fine. It's just my mind. So no big deal right?"

"I know you're mad and I understand –"

"You should have told me Giles," Buffy said softly.

"But would you have said yes?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.

"If it means saying goodbye…"

"Then I'm truly sorry for what I did. I should have come to you first." He took a step forward and pulled her into a hug, surprising her. He dropped a kiss on her head and whispered, "It's over. You can rest now."

He let go of her and made his way towards the front door. With one last smile, he shut the door behind him.

Buffy stood rooted to the ground, tears blinding her eyes. She wanted to call out to him, to tell him that she was sorry for being mad and that she forgave him. But all she could do was stare at the door silently, not moving an inch.

It's over, her brain echoed. It's finally over.

And now she can rest.

END