Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Angel. They belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy. No money has been exchanged in the making of this fic.

Rating: Teen, for...I'm not sure yet, but I'm sure I'll think of something.

Summary: Wesley calls Buffy on that fateful day, and she becomes trapped in the fall of LA.

Author's Note: Well, it's not exactly the most original idea, but what is on this site? Maybe I can write it better. Maybe this story needs to be told in a different light.

This was it. This was the capital-A Apocalypse, no need to derive a plural form, end of the world. Wesley had imagined that he would feel frightened when the time came. Instead, he felt resigned. He knew that he would die, but it did not matter. Other, more worthy people have died in the past, many of them quite senselessly. His death would at least be for a noble cause.

These thoughts brought Wesley, like most these days, back to Fred. She had been so terrified as she died, shaking and crying in his arms. He was glad that he had been with her, no one deserved to die alone. And now, in a world without Fred, he was living alone, something, he suspected, that was much worse.

Perhaps that was why he was spending his last day on Earth in a phone booth, taking a break from watching Illyria, trying to contact Rome. Buffy was about to lose two lovers, and she deserved to know beforehand. Angel wouldn't approve, but, well, Wesley hadn't worried about Angel's approval since he had tried to kidnap his son. Buffy was his slayer not too long ago, and, although he had botched the job, he wanted to do something right for her, just this once.

Buffy Summers had only been half-lying when she told Giles that she needed a break from the slaying business.

The truth was something a bit more complicated. For the past 8 years, all she had wanted was to be normal, to be free of all the expectations and responsibilities she had been forced to handle. And now she was one of many.

She may have been the first, the most experienced, but now slayers were cropping up, some with skills superior to her own. Kennedy was better in unarmed combat, a new girl, Latisha, was physically stronger than her, and almost all the new slayers were better at sensing vampires than her.

Once, she all she wanted was to be normal...

Willow had become the strongest magic user in recorded history. Giles was now the most powerful watcher ever, commanding an army of slayers to accomplish more in a few months than the council had in centuries. Even Xander was doing well. Slayer Academies were growing all over the world, and Xander was making millions leading their construction.

And now she was no longer the chosen one.

She had tried, of course. Tried to accept her new position, to continue the good fight. She failed. Returning to slaying run-of-the mill vampires after slaughtering the First's army was impossible. Giles sent younger slayers after the big bads, claiming that Buffy was seen as a hero and a beacon of hope by the other slayers, and that risking her could be bad for morale.

Bullshit. Buffy knew that the only thing that had kept her alive had been her friends, and now all slayers had friends, friends who were slayers, who would keep themselves alive. She was obsolete.

So, she had to become special in other ways. She moved to Rome. How many girls got to live in Rome? Too many. She passed them each day outside in the crowded streets.

So she tried something else. Powerful men had always attracted her. The Immortal was no different. His attention made Buffy feel interesting and alive. For the first time since the collapse of Sunnydale, she was unique, special. Her heart wasn't really in it, but it didn't have to be. Her body could take over when her heart failed.

Thunder boomed outside her window. Buffy was lying on her bed, watching the muted weather report on her tiny television set. She could hear Dawn's faint snores coming from the room next door, sounding like her sister was sleeping right next to her. Super-hearing was not all it was cracked up to be.

The phone rang, startling Buffy out of her thoughts, and Dawn out of her sleep, if the break in her breathing was any sign. She picked it up by the second ring.

"Álo," Buffy said.

"Hello, Buffy," the voice said over the phone. Buffy nearly dropped it.

"Wesley! It's good to hear from you." It was. Buffy may not have liked her former watcher when she had known him, but now she was glad for any contact with the old gang, especially those in LA. Giles had kept her so far out of the loop that she was no longer sure there even was a loop. Besides, it was all water under the bridge, whatever that meant. And he had changed, enough to impress Faith.

"Buffy, I..." His voice sounded regretful. "I wish I had better news. The first thing I must tell you is that Spike is alive."

Stunned silence. Finally, Buffy found her voice.

"Better news? Wesley, that's great news."

"Not really. Tonight, he's probably going to die, again. We all are."

"What to you mean? You can't just-"

"Buffy, let me explain. Tonight, we are going to take out the Circle of the Black Thorn, a secret society that is responsible for much of the evil present today. This will make many demons very angry, and they will most likely kill us in revenge."

"What do you need me to do?"

"Do? Buffy, you misunderstand the nature of this call. You can't do anything. You doing anything will just lead to more senseless deaths."

"Then why did you call me?" Buffy didn't know why, but she felt like her world was collapsing. This was a group of people who she hadn't seen in a long time, and probably would never see again, but for some reason, their inevitable deaths seemed to be the most tragic thing in the entire world. She had felt that, whatever happened to her, at least Angel would be okay. As her life fell apart, his life had been coming together. He was the CEO of a major company. A major evil company, maybe, but you couldn't have everything.

"I just felt that you should know. I have to go now. It's been nice talking with you." Wesley hung up on her.

Buff stared at her phone for what must have been five minutes, calculating figures in her head. Finally, she got out of bed and knocked on Dawn's door.

"Dawn, I've got to go."

"Go where?" Dawn asked, bleary eyed.

"LA," Buffy replied. Dawn's eyes widened.

"Why?"

"You can take care of yourself for a few days, right? There's enough food in the pantry to last a month, and there is money hidden inside the biggest book on the bookcase. Use as much as you need. If I'm not back in a week, call Giles. He'll take care of you."

"But, Buffy! Why?"

"It's Angel, Dawnie, and Spike." With that, she turned around, closed the door, and locked the house behind her. In two hours she was on a plane to LAX.