A/N There may indeed be historical or geographical inaccuracies in the flashbacks for this "episode". I wrote them the way I needed them to go for the story. Blame any such inaccuracies on this being AU. LOL.

Chapter Eight The Witch Pt 2

Flashback: US Army Base Hospital 21. Rouen France. Summer 1918.

Brittany Pierce went about her rounds, caring for the patients almost mechanically. All her patients got her best care, they always did, but her usual warmth was not there. Brittany was worried about her best friend, Santana Lopez.

Brittany and Santana had bonded almost immediately, each seeing something in the other. They'd become best friends, then lovers, doing their best to hide their relationship, as the army frowned on that sort of thing. Each were surprised to find out the others age. Santana, who was seventeen, could pass for 23 when she wore her hair and makeup right,and Brittany had always kept herself in good shape and looked young for her age. Santana revealed she thought Brittany was about 27. Brittany though, was twice Santana's age, at 35. Brittany was the daughter of a wealthy industrialist, Gordon Pierce, and had know about her own sexuality since she was 13. Her father loved and doted on her, so, he accepted this and never insisted she marry. Brittany, his only child, was set to inherit everything upon his death, her mother have passed a few years ago. She'd written her father about her love for the younger woman, telling him how she had no family of her own, and he'd insisted she bring Santana home with her when the war was over.

Then, earlier today, Santana had been assigned to accompany one of the doctors to another base hospital to learn a new surgical procedure. A few hours after they'd left, the hospital had gotten word that heavy fighting had erupted right along their path. Brittany was beside herself with worry. She was pulled away from her thoughts as the sirens started sounding. Wounded were arriving.

Brittany and the other nurses made their way to triage, as ambulances pulled in and corpsmen immediately started unloading patients on stretchers. Brittany quickly assessed a couple of patients, then saw her next patient was DR Micheal Harris, the doctor who Santana had accompanied. he was shot, and in great pain, but conscious. Brittany knelt beside him.

"Dr Harris!" she said as she examined the wound on his leg. She winced. He was probably going to lose it below the knee.

"Brittany!" he gasped in pain. Micheal was one of the nicer doctors, usually referring to each of the nurses by their first name. He was young with thick, unruly black hair. "God, the fighting came out of nowhere!"

"Santana?" asked Brittany, turning white, fearing she knew the answer. Michel looked sad and pointed to another stretcher, with a white sheet pulled over it.

"I don't think she suffered," was all Micheal could say.

In a daze, Brittany stood and walked over to the stretcher Micheal had indicated, totally ignoring the sharp admonishments from head nurse Morris to do her job. Brittany walked over and pulled the sheet back to reveal Santana's dead body, a bullet wound right over her heart. Tears sprang to Brittany's eyes as she looked down at her dead love. Santana looked every bit her age of seventeen in death.

"No," protested Brittany. "No. No. No. NOOOOOOOOOO!" she screamed and cried and, somewhat mercifully, fainted.

A few hours later, Brittany had awoke and immediately gone to the morgue. She sat there, looking down at the dead body of the woman she loved, holding her hand and softly crying. Mourning that her father would never get to meet Santana, mourning the loss of their future together, all their plans, all their dreams, gone.

Then, Brittany nearly lost control of her bodily functions when Santana sat up, squeezed her hand, and took a deep, gasping breath.

end flashback

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Sunnydale High School, Sunnydale California, 1997

"Penny for your thoughts?" came a voice from behind Santana. She turned to see Buffy there, again decked out in her old Hemry High cheerleading uniform, smiling at her. Ambers "accident" had led to tryouts being postponed until this morning.

Santana smiled back and reached up to cup the shorter blonde's cheek. "Just...visiting with an old friend," she said, that being their code for her having memories from her long past. She looked into Buffy's green eyes. In some ways, Buffy was so like Brittany. Sweet and beautiful and adorable and funny and quirky, and much smarter than most people thought she was. The two had a definite MOMENT as Buffy reached up and squeezed her hand, neither girls seeming to care if anybody noticed.

Then another memory hit Santana. A gravestone. She immediately put her walls back up, though, they were not as strong as they had once been, what with the Slayer chiseling away at them, and lowered her hand. Before Buffy could say anything, the head cheerleader, Lisa, called out.

"Ok," she said to the twelve or so girls who were gathered. "Despite the terrible thing that happened yesterday, we still have to pick new cheerleaders. If you make the team your name will be posted in the quad after lunch. let's begin with group performance." She consulted a clipboard. "Morgan, Cordelia, Lishanne, Buffy, Amy and Santana, you guys are up."

Santana and Buffy met up with Amy and Cordelia as they joined Morgan and Lishanne on the court. Amy glared at her own hands.

"Why do my hands have to seat whenever I get nervous?" she asked.

"Don't worry," said Santana, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"You'll do great," said Buffy.

The music cued up and the six girls started their routine, which included synchronized leaps, twirls and a cheer. Morgan did ok. Lishanne was amazing. Cordelia and Buffy were both great, though Buffy was a little rusty. Santana knew she was doing as well as they were with the moves, but, she really just wasn't as into it and was afraid that might affect the judges assessment. Amy, poor Amy, did well, but was trying way too hard, and missed a few of the synchronized moves. Then, as they were doing their big finish, each girl doing a cartwheel then sliding to their knees, Amy's hand slipped on the floor and she careened right into Cordelia, knocking her down.

Cordelia shot to her feet, a bit of the old Queen C coming to the front. She glared at Amy and yanked off a pink headband she'd been wearing, then turned to the judges. "That wasn't me!" she protested. "You saw that, right?"

Santana's mood lightened as tryouts progressed. She might not share Buffy or Cordelia's interest, but, tryouts had been fun. She'd always been a very physical person. her dark mood over her memories of Brittany vanished as she and Buffy made their way outside of the gym to find Amy, staring longingly at a trophy display case.

"That's my Mom," she said, indicating a photograph next to a trophy reading "1977 Tri County Best".

Buffy looked impressed. "No way," she said, reading the name. "Catherine Madison! Get out of here with your bad self!"

"Her nickname was "Catherine The Great"," said Amy a bit wistfully. "she took that team and made them tri-county champions. Nobody has ever done that, before or since. She and my Dad were homecoming king and queen, got married right after graduation."

"That's kinda romantic," said Buffy. Santana nodded.

"Yeah," scoffed Amy. "Well, he was a big loser. Never made any money. Took off with Miss Trailer Trash 1993 when I was 12."

"Ok," said Santana, exchanging an uncomfortable glance with Buffy. "That part is less romantic."

My folks are split up too," said Buffy with sympathy.

"Drag, huh," said Amy, still staring at the trophy. "He left my Mom with nothing. She put herself through cosmetology school, bought me everything i ever wanted, and never gained a single pound doing it."

Santana thought there was some thing a little bit strange about Amy's Ode To Catherine, but, couldn't put her finger on it, so, kept quiet as Buffy tried to console their new friend.

"She sounds great, Amy," said Buffy, also looking concerned. "But, that doesn't mean you have to, you know, lock step as far as the cheerleading thing goes. Just be...Amy."

Amy turned to them, her eyes filling with tears. "it's just..." she said. "she was the BEST, and I can't even get this body to move remotely like hers did. I choked in there. God, I choked so bad!"

Santana, again felt something was weird as Willow came up and joined them, saying "Hi Amy."

Amy wiped her eyes and tried to put on a brave face. "I gotta get changed," she said as she walked off into the girls locker room.

Willow turned to Buffy and Santana. "She ok?" she asked.

Both girls sighed and moved closer to each other unconsciously. "She's wigging about her mom," answered Buffy, indicating the photo. "the big cheer queen way back when."

Willow nodded. "Yeah, her mom's kinda..."

"Nazi like?" finished Santana for her.

"Seig heil," agreed Willow. "If she gains an ounce she padlocks the fridge and won't eat anything but broth."

"Geeze," said Buffy. It sounds like Mommie Dearest is REALLY... Mommie Dearest." Santana smiled at the adorable way Buffy put things.

Willow nodded again. "There's definitely a bitter streak,": she said. "but Amy's nice. We used to hang together in junior high. When her mom would go on a broth kick Amy'd sneak over to my house and we'd just stuff ourselves with brownies."

Buffy chuckled as Santana asked "So, any word on Amber?"

Willow pulled a paper from her bag. "Nothing thrilling," she said. "Average student, she got detention once for smoking. With a cigarette. Not all hands a smoking. Pretty normal."

Buffy looked at the paper thoughtfully. "Well, we'll just have to wait and see if anything else happens. Maybe nothing will."

Santana shook her head. "You're cute when you're optimistic,"she said making Buffy blush and Willow roll her eyes.

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Flashback: Park Avenue New York. Late Summer 1918

Santana sighed for the umpteenth time as she followed Brittany through the lobby of the upscale New York apartment building, then up to the penthouse. It had been a month since she'd been killed by a stray bullet, then risen right in front of Brittany. She'd been forced to tell the blonde her story, then been amazed at how accepting Brittany had been. The leggy blonde had, in fact, smiled and said she'd known there was something special about Santana. Britt had found her a place to hide, then, had been summoned before the base CO. Britt's reaction had cause some suspicion, and a nurse named Peggy Marshall has confirmed that she'd seen the two sneak off into a supply closet. The CO had explained to Britt she was being relieved of duty and sent home, as there was no place for that sort of immoral behavior in the army. Britt had managed to sneak Santana aboard the ship she was to return home on, and had snuck her food. Now, they were back in New York, about to meet Brittany's father.

"Don't worry," said Brittany squeezing Santana's hand as they stood together in the living room of the penthouse. Santana marveled at the place. The Lopez family had been rich,back in the early 1800's but this penthouse was luxurious even by their standards. "I told him all about us and our relationship,"said Brittany. "He's known i liked girls since I was 17. He's ok with it and he's going to love you."

"Does he know I'm Mexican?" asked Santana, having noted the decidedly black maid who had let them in and gone to fetch Mr. Pierce.

Brittany rolled her eyes. "No, Santana," she said sarcastically. "the last name "Lopez" was NO clue whatsoever. Now RELAX!"

Santana took a deep breath ad Mr. Pierce walked in. Santana could immediately see where Brittany had gotten her height, the man was nearly a full foot taller than Santana was. She judged the man must be nearly 60, his formerly blonde hair now white, his blue eyes intelligent, but, they also had a gentleness to them. Those eyes both lit up and filled with happy tears as he saw Brittany.

He stepped forward with his arms out "Come here, Baby," he choked out as Brittany threw herself into his arms.

"Daddy," was all she said as the two hugged. Santana, for a moment, considered leaving, feeling like she was intruding on a very private moment. But, the two disengaged and walked over towards her.

"You must be the lucky young lady who captured my Brittany's heart," he said, surprisingly warmly. He held out his hand and Santana shook it. "Gordon Pierce," he said. Their eyes met, and Santana saw that, in a way, they were kindred spirits.

Either would do anything for Brittany.

"It's nice to meet you, Sir," she said, but Brittany interrupted her.

"Daddy," she said, moving to stand next to Santana. "I want you to meet Santana Maria Bianca Lopez." She reached out and took Santana's hand and gazed adoringly at her. "The love of my life."

end flashback

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Sunnydale High School, Sunnydale California. 1997. The quad, just after lunch.

It was quite a crowd gathered just after lunch to see the results of the cheerleader tryouts. Buffy looked to Santana and Cordelia and said "Ready to step into the fray?" They all stepped up to Amy who was just standing there.

"I can't take this," she muttered to no one in particular.

Willow Xander and Jesse walked up to them. Willow looked a little irritated, Xander, nervous and Jesse amused. They saw the crowd and the four girls trying to worm their way in.

They shared a look and turned to the girls. "Spot us, we're going in," Xander gallantly told the girls.

Jesse turned to Cordelia. "If I don't make it out," he said dramatically, handing her something. "Keep this as a memory of me." He turned and he and Xander dove into the throng.

The other girls gathered around Cordelia to see what Jesse had given her. She shook her head. "it's a Popeye watch, you dork!" she called after him, her tone disdainful but her eyes full of an affectionate amusement.

Buffy shook her head as she marveled at the change in Cordelia's attitude about Jesse. "He's all yours," she said.

"And you can KEEP him," added Santana, bumping elbows with her.

Cordelia blushed. "Knock it off you two," she was pretty clear that she was still trying to determine if her new feelings for Jesse were gratitude for him saving her from Darryl, or if it was something more real.

Xander and Jesse came walking back, Xander rubbing his chest.

"Man,' said Jesse. "We gotta start testing for steroids. Those girls are DANGEROUS!"

"One of them punched me in the chest!" whined Xander.

"Oh hush," said Cordelia. "Count your blessings that you survived and tell us the results."

Jesse beamed at her. "You're in," he said. She squealed and jumped into his arms, the two sharing a tight hug.

The other three girls turned to Xander, who also beamed. "Not only did you three make it," he said. "But you're the first, second and third alternates." He indicated Buffy, Santana, and Amy in turn. He seemed totally astounded when Amy's face fell and she ran off. he just turned to Buffy and said," and what better way to celebrate than a romantic drive through for two at..."

"Excuse us,"said Buffy as she and Santana followed Amy.

"What?" asked Xander. Willow and Cordelia each whapped him on a shoulder.

"Xander," said Willow exasperatedly. "Alternates are the people who DIDN'T get in!"

"They just fill in if something happens to one of the girls that did," added Cordelia. "Like an understudy."

Xander looked totally disgusted with himself as he watched Buffy and Santana go off after Amy. "For I am Xander," he said. "King Of Cretins and all lesser Cretin's must kneel before me."

Jesse clapped him on the arm. "All hail the king," he said.

Cordelia scoffed. "Please, you're lucky to be the court Jester of Cretins!"

Buffy and Santana walked up to a crying Amy. Buffy put a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey,"said Santana, who was disappointed, but not as upset as the other two. "At least it's over."

"Know what I think we shoulld do about it?" asked Buffy. "Brownie pig out. My house. Now."

Amy shook her head. "How many more hours a day can I practice?" she asked, seeming to ramble. "What more can I do? This would NEVER have happened to my Mom!" She shook her head again and walked off.

Buffy and Santana shared a look and watched her go, both feeling helpless.

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That evening, in a darkened attic, a robed figure knelt before a bubbling cauldron. The walls were adorned with witchcraft paraphernalia. The floor was dominated by a large pentagram.

The robed figure reached over and picked up a brunette barbie style doll from a nearby table. The doll was in a cheerleader costume. The figure held a pink headband in the other hand, identical to the one Cordelia had worn earlier. "Lords of darkness," came a hissing voice from the figure. "Lords of night. Accept thy supplicants sacrifice..." The figure wrapped the headband around the dolls face, tighter and tighter. "Reap thy vengeance with keen and cruel might. Send thy sudden darkness out of darkest night."

With that, the figure threw the doll right into the boiling, viscous green liquid in the cauldron.

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The next morning, Santana knocked at the kitchen door to the Summers' house. Buffy opened the door with a surprised but happy look on her face. "Santana!" she said. Santana had walked her home after patrol one night so, Buffy was not surprised Santana knew where she lived, just, hadn't been expecting her. She motioned for her to come in. "I wasn't expecting you."

Santana smirked at Buffy's not giving her an actual invitation. "I was in the neighborhood and thought we'd walk to school together,'she said, not adding that the manor house she'd rented was not really on the way to school for her. Duncan had taught Santana how to build a new identity for herself every so often, and she'd made herself into 17 year old Santana Lopez, who had been left back a year when she missed too much school caring for her ailing grandmother, also named Santana. Santana had thought that bit was brilliant. The "ailing grandmother" was her previous identity, who had raised Santana, on paper at least, since her parents died when she was twelve. Santana managed to hack into some computers and establish this identity, having had the grandmother die and will everything to Santana, who was now an emancipated teen, as she had no other family. Luckily, she'd done this in Sunnydale, where people never seemed to check up on that stuff.

"Very cool," said Buffy heading to gather her books. Just then, her mother came in.

"Hey, look what I found," she said, carrying a book. She stopped and noticed Santana. "Oh, hello."

"Mom," said Buffy. "This is my new friend, Santana Lopez. San, this is my mom, Mrs. Joyce Summers."

Santana stepped forward and shook Joyce's hand. "It's nice to meet you Mrs. Summers," she said.

Joyce smiled. "You too, Santana," she said. "Buffy's told me a lot about your group. I understand you moved here about when we did. I'm glad you girls both had someone else who was new to sort of, latch onto."

Buffy rolled her eyes. "What have you got there, Mom?" she asked.

"Oh," said Joyce, remembering the book. "It's my junior year yearbook." She opened the book and sat it down on the table. "Oh look, there I am!"

Santana laughed softly as Buffy rolled her eyes at the picture. "Mom," she whined. "I've accepted that, for me to be here, you must have had sex at least one time in your life. But I am NOT ready to accept the fact that you had Farrah hair!"

"This is actually Gidget hair," said Santana looking at the picture. "You looked beautiful Mrs. Summers."

Joyce gave her a smile and a nod. "Thank you,"she said. She turned to Buffy. "I was just thinking that, since cheerleading didn't work out, maybe you should look into joining the yearbook staff. I did it and it was a lot of fun."

"Yeah," said Buffy, obviously not convinced. "NOT really my thing, Mom."

"I was photo editor," said Joyce. "I got to be on every page. It made me look a lot more popular than I actually was."

Buffy scoffed. "Mom, have you SEEN the yearbook kids?" she asked. "NERDS pick on them."

"Some of the best times I had in high school were on the yearbook staff," said Joyce,a bit defensively.

Santana looked back and forth, sensing a fight brewing.

"This just in, Mom," snapped Buffy. "I'm not YOU. I'm into my own thing!"

Joyce was also getting exasperated. "Well, you own thing got you kicked out pf your old school," she said without even thinking about Santana being in the room. And we had to move here to find a decent school that would take you."

Santana winced, both at the harsh words and the hurt look on Buffy's face as she grabbed up her books and left.

"Honey," Joyce said as Buffy turned to leave. She looked at Santana imploringly.

Santana was enraged. She knew Joyce had no idea about Buffy being the Slayer, but she couldn't believe Joyce had done that to her, and in front of Santana. "Mrs. Summers," she said. "I wasn't there in LA with you, but I DO know that disappointing you and Mr. Summers is the thing Buffy regrets most. Buffy is a wonderful, special girl. I know she's made some mistakes, but, maybe you should try and appreciate her a little more." She turned and went to try and do some damage control.

Joyce watched as Santana left. "I like her," she said to herself. Then she got disgusted with herself for how she'd treated Buffy. "Nice parenting form," she muttered. "A little shaky on the dismount!"

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Jesse was concerned. He hadn't seen Cordelia yet this morning. Granted, Cordy wasn't the worlds most enthusiastic student, but she was usually punctual. As he walked to the area where Cordy's locker was, he saw Xander and Willow up ahead of him. He sped up a bit to join them, they seemed to be having a conversation.

"You're not invisible to Buffy," Willow was saying.

Xander shook his head. "It's worse than that even," he said. Jesse stepped up to joining them, all three exchanging a quick "Hey" before Xander continued. "I don't know, it's like I'm part of the scenery. Like an old shoe or a rug that you walk on every day, but you never really see. Like a...a.." He didn't seem to be able to think of another metaphor.

Jesse shook his head, but, he wasn't sure if he was shaking his head at Xander or if it was more at himself because, just a couple of weeks ago, he was the same. Well, not exactly the same. He had managed to get up the gumption to ask Cordelia out, or to dance, and been repeatedly shot down. But now, well, he didn't know exactly WHAT he and Cordy were, but, they were at LEAST friends now. No, he was more shaking his head at Xander's apparent cluelessness. Jesse saw the sparks between Buffy and Santana, and had more exposure to Santana than Xander did. Every time they had a training session, the first thing Santana did was ask about Buffy. It was pretty clear to the newly risen immortal that the two girls were well on their way to becoming an item. Xander didn't have a chance. He sighed and returned his attention to the conversation.

Willow seemed to have picked her own metaphor as she held out a pen, one end of it well chewed, as Willow was one of those people who sometimes chewed her pen when she was concentrating. "Like an old pen," she was saying. "that's all chewed up, and you know you should throw it out, but you don't. Not because you like it all that much, but, you so used to it and..." Jesse snickered at another Willow Rant.

"Will," interrupted Xander. "That's exactly the point, and please, let's not drive it through my head like a railroad spike." He looked like he was making a decision. "What i need to do...what I'm going to do... is just what you said..."

Willow stepped over to one of the trash cans. "Throw the pen away?" she asked, dropping her pen in the trash. "Forget about Buffy?"

Jesse could see that Willow was into that idea. Huh. He'd never picked up on it before, but, now, it seemed like Willow had a thing for Xander. As he thought about it, the signs had always been there, but, he'd been as in the dark as his best bud had been.

"No," said Xander. "What i have to do...what I'm GOING to do...is man up and actually ask Buffy out. No more ID bracelets, subtle innuendo, or Polaroids outside her bedroom window late at night." Jesse and Willow both gave him a look. "THAT was a joke to relieve the tension because here she comes!" He indicated Buffy and Santana walking their way from the opposite end of the hallway. Jesse noticed that Cordelia was at a locker halfway between them, trying to work the lock. She seemed to miss it at first, then her fingers found it. Buffy and Santana walked past her distractedly, Buffy with an odd look on her face.

"I know I'M relieved," Willow muttered to him.

"At least this way he's not bothering US," said Jesse distractedly. There was something about the way Cordelia was moving that had him worried.

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Santana had tried to help, but Buffy was still reeling from what her mother had said before they'd left. She barely noticed Cordelia as they passed her, but, Santana's looking back made her look back and Cordy, confused. She was so distracted she practically walked right into Xander.

"Buffy, hey," Xander said he gave Santana a look. "Santana, can I talk to Buffy alone for a minute?" he said, Buffy thought he had an edge to his voice but was too busy watching Cordelia to really think about it.

"Sure," said Santana, shrugging, joining Willow and Jesse a short ways away."

"Buffy," said Xander. "Would you like to..."

"Is that even Cordelia's locker?" Buffy asked. Her Slayer hearing picking up Santana asking the same question.

"No," Jesse answered Santana. "it's not."

"I don't know," said Xander, not really caring. " What I'm asking here is, accompany me Friday night..."

Buffy wasn't really paying attention. She saw Cordelia give up on the locker in frustration and walk away, bumping into several other students as she did. "Hang on, Xander," she said, interrupting him. "I need to... look, we can pick this up later, right?" She didn't wait for an answer, she just took off after Cordelia. Santana and Jesse, obviously having noticed the same thing, were right in step with her.

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Santana was also worried about Cordelia. The girl was usually so graceful and today, she seemed totally clumsy and out of it. the three followed her from a distance, exiting the school and seeing her walk up to Mr Poole, the drivers ed teacher, and two other students. Cordelia and Mr. Poole seemed to have a discussion, and he motioned towards the car, then he climbed into the passenger seat as the other two students climbed into the back. Cordelia seemed to sigh and climbed into the drivers seat.

The car started, and suddenly shot backwards and into a pole. She heard shouting from within the car, then the car suddenly screeched forward, shouted instructions coming from Mr. Poole the whole time.

Now Santana was REALLY worried. According to Jesse, Santana had failed drivers ed twice, but, she couldn't be THIS bad. Could she? The car went into a skid, running over several pylons, the going onto the grass and heading towards the street. Santana exchanged a look with Buffy and Jesse and all three took off running as screams erupted from the car.

Wheels screeched and horns honked as Cordelia';s car careened into the busy street. The car went across the street and came to a skidding stop half on the sidewalk half in the road. Other cars swerved around it and honked. At some shouting from Mr. Poole, he and the other two students exited the car and ran. Cordelia stumbled her way out of the car and walked...

Right into the street! Santana saw a UPS truck heading towards her, too fast to stop in time.

"CORDY!" screamed Jesse as he put on a burst of speed and ran past Buffy and Santana. Both were faster than Jesse, but, adrenaline can do some wonderful things. Jess ran across the grass, and onto the sidewalk as the UPS drive hit his breaks, still heading right towards Cordelia. Jesse jumped onto the hood of a parked car and launched himself right at Cordelia, tackling her and sending them both out of harms way as the truck screeched past. Byt the time Santana and Buffy got there, they were both sitting on the ground, Jesse cradling Cordelia in his arms.

"What's happening?" Cordelia was sobbing as Jesse stroked her back. "I can;t see anything! Jesse, is that you?"

"It's me, Cordy," he answered. "it's ok.. you're gonna be ok."

"Oh God," said Buffy pointing to Cordelia. Santana looked to see Cordelia's eyes gaze over to a murky white.

"What's happening to me?" she sobbed.

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Hope you enjoyed the chapter. I was proud of it. It's similar to the episode, but, I THINK I kept it interesting. Please, read and review.