"Angel?" came Buffy's voice from the other side of the door.
"Hold on!" he called back.
Angel pulled himself out of bed. He opened the door to see a rather distraught Buffy standing there.
"Hey… everything okay?" he asked.
"That was what I was going to ask you. You're okay, right?"
"Sure. I'm fine." Angel stepped out of the way so Buffy could enter. "What's up?" He grabbed a shirt and put it on.
"I had a dream that Spike and Drusilla were alive… and that Ted killed you. Right in front of me."
Angel stroked Buffy's face, trying to soothe her. "It was just a dream. It wasn't real."
"But it felt so real," Buffy's voice quavered.
"It wasn't," he reassured. "I'm right here."
Buffy moved away from him.
"This happened before, Angel. That dream I had about the Master, it came true."
"Still, not every dream you have comes true. I mean, what else did you dream last night? Can you remember?"
Buffy thought before answering: "That… Giles and I opened an office supply warehouse in Vegas."
Angel chuckled at the thought. Giles in retail? Maybe a bookstore…
"You see my point?"
"Yeah. But, I mean, what if Drusilla and Spike are alive? We never saw their bodies."
"They're not." Resolute. "But even if they were, we'd deal."
"But what if she's –"
Angel drew Buffy back into his arms and kissed her. She relaxed, and the kiss got intense. Finally…
"What if what?" he asked her.
"I'm sorry. Were we talking?"
They resumed kissing. Eventually, Buffy broke it off.
"I have to go to school."
"Right."
And they kissed some more. Buffy took a hold of Angel.
"God, you feel –"
"You have to go to school."
Still kissing, Angel moved her to the door. They continued kissing against the door before Buffy pulled back.
"Alright, this is me. I'm going."
They kissed one more time.
"You still haven't told me what you want for your birthday," Angel said under his breath.
Buffy smiled. "Surprise me."
"Okay. I will."
Neither said anything, not wanting to end the moment.
"This was nice," Buffy broke the non-awkward silence. "I like you first thing in the morning."
"It's bedtime for me," Angel shrugged.
"Then I like seeing you at bedtime."
Buffy realized how that sounded. "I mean… you – you know what I mean."
"I think so," Angel nodded, stopped, then asked: "What do you mean?"
"That I… I like seeing you. And the part at the end of the night when we say goodbye, its… getting harder."
"Yeah, it is," Angel replied.
"'I like you at bedtime?' You actually said that?" Willow asked, surprised.
Buffy had just filled her in on her encounter with Angel. One thing for sure – Buffy never skimped on details. At least not with Willow.
"Totally unplanned. It just came out," Buffy explained.
"And he was into it? He wants to see you at bedtime, too?"
Buffy stopped walking.
"Yeah. I think he does. I mean, he's cool about it –"
"Of course he is. Cause' he's cool. He would never, you know…"
"Push," Buffy filled in.
"Right. He's not the type."
Buffy and Willow sat down on a bench.
"Willow, what am I going to do?"
"What do you want to do?"
"Well… want isn't always the right thing… to do, I mean. To act on want can be wrong."
"True."
"But, to not act on want… you could watch your whole life pass you by."
Willow smiled. "Carpe diem. You told me that once."
"Fish of the day?" Buffy furrowed her brow.
"Not carp. Carpe! It means seize the day."
"Oh. Right." Buffy waited a minute before continuing.
"I think we're going to… seize it, Will. Sooner or later. Once you get to a certain point – seizing is sort of inevitable."
The meaning of this sunk in.
"Wow."
"Yeah."
"Wow."
They continued walking, while Willow tried to imagine Buffy and Angel actually making love. It would definitely be "making love" – Buffy and Angel couldn't simply have sex.
"Ooh, speaking of wow potential, there's Oz," Buffy pointed out. "What are we thinking? Any sparkage?"
Willow glowed. "He's nice. I like his hands."
"Ah. Fixation on insignificant detail is a definite crush sign," Buffy stated.
"I don't know, though. I mean, he is a senior…"
"You think he's too old because he's a senior? Please. My boyfriend had a bicentennial," Buffy scoffed.
"That's true, I guess… I just…"
"You can't spend the rest of your life waiting for Xander to wake up and smell the hottie. Make a move. Do the talking thing."
"What if the talking thing becomes the awkward silence thing?"
"You won't know unless you try."
Smiling, Buffy walked away, leaving Willow alone. Willow gathered her courage as she came over to Oz. Fortunately, he seemed pleased to see her, in his Ozian way.
"Hey," she said.
"Hey."
"Do you have a… a gig tonight?"
"Practice. The band's kind of moving towards this new sound where we suck. So, practice."
"I think you guys sound good," she replied. It might be the fact that Willow rarely paid attention to the other members of the band, but she honestly thought they were good. "I bet you've got a lot of groupies."
"It happens," he shrugged. "But I'm living groupie free nowadays. I'm clean."
"Oh."
Then Oz said about the last thing Willow expected to hear.
"I'm gonna ask you if you wanna go out tomorrow night. I'm actually kinda nervous about it. It's interesting."
"Oh. Well, if it helps at all, I'm gonna say yes."
"That helps. It adds a comfort zone. You wanna go out tomorrow night?"
Suddenly, Willow remembered that tomorrow night was Buffy's party.
"Oh! I can't!"
"I like that you're unpredictable," he replied.
"Well, it's Buffy's birthday and we're throwing her a surprise party."
"That's okay."
An idea came to her head. "But you could come. If you wanted."
"Don't wanna crash…"
"No, that's fine. You could be my… date."
"All right. I'm in."
Willow walked away, a shy smile on her face.
She said "date"!
Xander hung around next to Cordelia at her locker, trying to look like he wasn't hanging around.
"So, Buffy's party. Mañana."
"Right. Just because she's 'miss save the world' we have to make a big deal. I have to cook and everything."
Cook? Since when did Cordelia cook?
"You're cooking?"
"I'm chips-and-dips girl."
"Horrors. All that opening and stirring."
"And shopping. And carrying."
"You should have a person who does such things for you," Xander suggested.
"That's what I've been saying to my father. But does he listen?"
Xander leaned in.
"So, you're going. I'm going. Should we – you know – go?"
"Why?"
"I don't know…" Xander shrugged. "This thing. With us? Despite our better judgment, it keeps happening. Maybe we should just admit that we're dating."
"Groping in a broom closet is not dating. You don't call it a date until the guy spends money."
"Fine. I'll spend, then we'll grope. Whatever. It's just some kind of whacked that we feel we have to hide from all our friends."
"Well, of course you want to tell everybody. You have nothing to be ashamed of. I, on the other hand, have everything to be ashamed of."
Xander gave up.
"Know what? 'Nuff said. Forget it. Must have been my multiple personality guy talking. I call him Idiot Jed, Glutton for Punishment ."
Xander walked away, coming over to the student lounge where Giles was.
"Oh, good morning," Giles greeted him. He lowered his voice: "Is everything ready for the party?"
"Absolutely," Xander nodded. "You ready to get down, you funky party weasel?"
Giles looked at the stairs, where Buffy and Jenny were coming down.
"Here comes Buffy. Now remember: discretion is the better part of valor."
"You coulda just said, 'shh!' God, are all you Brits such drama queens?" To Buffy: "Buffy, I feel a pre-birthday spanking coming on."
"I'd curb that impulse if I were you, Xander," Jenny suggested as she sat down with Buffy at a table.
"Check, cancel spanking," Xander said into his shirt as if there was a microphone there.
Giles sat down with Buffy and Jenny. "You alright, Buffy? You seem a little fatigued."
"Rough night," Buffy replied. "I had a dream that Drusilla and Spike were alive – and that Ted killed Angel. I-it just really freaked me out."
"You fear it was more of a, a… a portent?"
"See, I don't know. I don't wanna start a big freakout over nothing."
"Still, best to be, uh, on the alert. If Spike and Drusilla are alive, it could be a fairly cataclysmic state of affairs."
"Again, so many words!" Xander said. "Couldn't you just say, 'we'd be in trouble'?"
Giles gave Xander a look. "Go to class, Xander."
"Gone." Xander started away, but stopped. "Notice the economy of phrasing: 'gone.' Simple. Direct." He pointed at Giles and left.
Buffy stood up. "Maybe I should get 'gone', too."
"Uh, don't worry unduly, Buffy. I'm sure it's nothing," Giles assured her.
"I know, I should keep my Slayer cool, but… it's Angel, which automatically equals maxi-wig."
Dalton entered the main room of the factory, carrying a large wooden box.
"I have your package."
"Just put it on the table near the other gifts," Spike instructed.
As Dalton placed the box on the table, Spike and Dru walked through the main room of the factory.
"Are you dead set on this, pet? Wouldn't you rather have your party in Vienna?"
"But the invitations are sent."
"Yeah. It's just I've had it with this place. Nothing ever comes off like it's supposed to."
Drusilla put her hands on his chest. "My gatherings are always perfect. Remember Spain? The bulls?" She walked her fingers along his chest and around his neck.
"I remember sweet," Spike took her hand. "But Sunnydale's cursed for us. Angel and the Slayer see to that."
"Shh…" she spoke into his ear and licked his cheek. "I've got good games for everyone. You'll see."
She wandered over to the table, inspecting the roses and flowers that were woven into the high backed-chairs.
"These flowers… are wrong. They're all wrong!" she moaned. "I can't abide them!" she screamed as she ripped them apart.
Spike took her in his arms and slowly rocked her. "Let's try something different with the flowers then."
She calmed down and kissed him passionately. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the boxes on the table. She broke the kiss and walked over to them.
"Can I open one? Can I?"
They exchanged a smile.
"Just a peek, love," Spike allowed. Drusilla reached for the latch on one of them and opened it.
"Do you like it, baby?" Spike asked.
"It reeks of death," she sighed and kneeled in front of Spike. "This will be the best party ever."
"Why is that?"
"Because…"
She looked back into the box.
"Because it will be the last."
