Author note: As promised, an extra chapter for Jacy's birthday and the awesome readers of the story. Big cliff-hanger at the bottom, so be warned. It's getting good people. Only six chapters left after this one!

…………………….

Draco and Buffy walked up the stairs slowly. It seemed with every step she took, Buffy's feet felt heavier and heavier. The urge to run down the stairs and out the door made her pause. Draco looked back at her when he noticed she wasn't behind him anymore.

iFor Dawn,/i she thought. iYou have to do this for her./i

She was snapped out of her thoughts when she saw Draco's hand held out to her.

"It's all right to be scared," he whispered.

Buffy told Dawn she'd die for her again, and she meant it. She would make that jump again and again if she had to, to keep her family and friends safe. With that knowledge, she calmed. A slow smile spread across her face.

"I know," she replied, equally as soft as she took his offered hand. They continued up the stairs together.

As they entered the bedroom, Harry was sitting at the foot of the bed, his legs crossed, facing the headboard. Buffy noticed that around the bed was a line of small white powder. She glanced at Pansy, who was standing outside the circle, but watching Harry. Part of her didn't want Pansy to be any part of this, since they hadn't really gotten off to a good start together. But Draco knew what he was doing, and she trusted him to do what was best.

"The salt is for protection and stabilization. Pansy's going to be monitoring Potter. He may be getting some emotional backlash from the two of us," Draco explained softly.

Buffy moved in front of him and observed Harry. His eyes were closed, and his face looked relaxed. His mouth was slightly open, and if she listened closely, she could hear him breathing. Harry's breathing was deep and even. Buffy would have thought he was sleeping sitting up until his eyes opened and turned to her.

"I'm ready," he said, and Buffy felt, more than saw, Draco nod. She did turn to look when she felt him move next to her. He was taking off his shirt and despite the serious nature of what they were doing, her eyebrows rose, making him smirk.

"I said skin on skin contact, remember? A heart to heart connection is one of the best grounding techniques, as is temple to temple."

Buffy watched as he entered the circle and sat on the bed, resting his back against the headboard and stretching his legs out a bit. She had to admire him for just a moment longer than necessary before she could almost feel the ocular fire Pansy was shooting at her. That didn't matter though, Pansy had made it more than clear that Draco was hers.

With a sigh, she put all her attention on Draco."Back to back then?"

"Having our bodies aligned is the best way to ground us."

She entered the circle and felt a tingling run up her spine. Assuming it was the magic and that it was normal, she climbed up on the bed and situated herself against Draco, her back against his front. Remembering her top, she leaned up and untied the string of her halter, but kept the cloth firmly against her front. After she repositioned herself, Draco brought his knees up.

"Put your feet on top of mine. Don't worry about them slipping; Harry's going to hold them there."

Buffy followed his instructions and like he said, Harry moved up on the bed, took their feet in his hands and rested them on his knees. She leaned against Draco, not realizing how tense she was until he rested her full weight against him. He took her hands in his, making fists with their combined fingers.

She let out a breath and tried to relax. Images of her dream came crashing into her mind. While they weren't in the same position, and they weren't even in the same bed, the contact between their skin still felt incredibly the same. Buffy didn't know if she'd be able to concentrate enough.

"Lean your head against my right shoulder," he whispered in her ear. They shuffled a bit on the bed until Buffy could rest her head against his right side. He brought his head down and touched their temples together, and immediately Buffy took in a breath.

She could tell the connection had started already. Their heartbeats started to beat together, quickly in nervousness and in fear of the unknown. Something seemed to melt over her. Almost as quickly as she felt it, she knew what it was - Draco's magic. Their feet felt like they were fused together, and Harry's hands felt heavy against them.

"Concentrate on your breathing, Buffy," Draco said in her ear. She closed her eyes and drew her thoughts to the meditation she went through the night before. "Nice and slow. Find your calm, and take me with you when you find it."

iThe calm… find the calm…/i

Draco knew the instant she was in her trance. It happened a lot sooner than he thought it would, and he took a quick breath in when he felt Harry tighten his hold on their feet. He sought out Pansy's eyes, and felt relief when she smiled at him.

………………………

Buffy still had her eyes closed, because the nauseous feeling wouldn't go away. When wind blew her hair, her brow furrowed, her eyes still shut tightly.

iMy hair was up earlier. /i

With a start, her eyes shot open and she took a deep breath through her nose when she saw the scene before her. She was on the tower.

Buffy's eyes widened when she looked straight in front of her. She really… was on the tower. Her first thought was that the robot hadn't been destroyed by Glory, and it was saving Dawn, because the other her was untying the ropes around Dawn's wrists.

A hand touched her shoulder and she quickly spun around, recognizing Draco. His face was expressionless.

"This is before the moment. This… this isn't my moment," she said numbly, shaking her head, watching the portal open. Buffy looked down. She was wearing the same clothes she had been wearing that night. The Buffy who had finally untied Dawn was so close… she only had to reach over Dawn's shoulder to touch her. "My moment is after. It's close, but not now."

Draco took her face in his hands and made her look at him. "It's disorienting, but just breathe." His eyes went from hers to the other Buffy, who had just moved closer to them. "They can't see you or hear you. You're looking in on the past, Buffy. Now turn around," he slowly spun her to face herself and her sister before leaning down to touch his temple to hers. "And tell me when the moment comes."

He didn't need to be told. It was clear by the look on Buffy's face when she turned to face Dawn again from staring at the portal. It was an awareness that cleared her eyes when she looked at Dawn. The teen's shoulders started to shake.

"Death is your gift," Buffy said as she started to take deep breaths in his arms. "Now," she whispered. Draco leaned forward to listen to what the other Buffy was telling her sister.

"Dawn, listen to me. Listen. I love you. I will ialways/i love you. But this is the work that I have to do."

The Buffy in front of him hugged herself, and kept taking deep breaths. He strained to hear her words over the lightning and wind around them. Even though part of this was in her memory, they were still technically in the past where Buffy had died. The magic was dancing along his skin. It wasn't necessarily dark, but just very powerful. He'd never encountered a hell-goddess, but she made Voldemort seem like a tiny puppy in comparison.

He focused back on the present and kept listening to the words Buffy was telling her sister. Seeing this had to be incredibly hard on her.

"Tell Giles… tell Giles I figured it out. And, and I'm okay. And give my love to my friends."

Draco looked down over Buffy's shoulder and saw a single tear go down her cheek. She was mouthing the words the other Buffy was saying to Dawn. He turned his attention back to them.

"You have to take care of them now. You have to take care of each other. You have to be strong. Dawn, the hardest thing in this world… is to live in it. Be brave. Live. For me."

He watched as Buffy kissed her younger sister's cheek, and then turned. Draco wanted to take a step forward and watch Dawn's face, but the teen's back was to them. He did see Buffy run and take a leap into the portal. He inched past the Buffy in front of him, and took her hand. He saw her eyes widen when he walked through Dawn as if she wasn't even there. Buffy followed him and they walked to the end of the tower walkway, staring down at Buffy's writhing body.

"It doesn't hurt," she said numbly, looking down on herself in the portal. She turned back to look at Dawn, and her heart broke when she saw her sister's crying face. The grief on Dawn's face was more painful than her memory of the portal.

"It will in a minute," Draco replied, turning to face her completely. He took both her hands in his and inched back to the edge. "Do you trust me?"

Buffy looked from her sister to Draco.

iFor Dawn./i

Nodding, she stepped into Draco's arms and took deep breaths when he wrapped his arms around her tightly. She didn't even notice the way they fit together as he tightened his hold on her.

"Remember, just breathe," he said. Buffy thought she felt him tremble a bit, before he started to lean back. "Breathe," he repeated. He didn't know if he was ready for this, but he would do it because Buffy needed it.

She let her weight fall with his, and there were two seconds of nothing but air, before pain erupted around them.

………………………

They both awoke at the same time. Taking in deep gasps of air, Draco winced when Buffy rolled off of him. Every bone in his body hurt. Even his teeth hurt. Breathing was hard as well, and he wasn't sure if moving would help the pain or just make it worse.

"Merlin. I'll never bitch about the Cruciatus again," he said, sitting up. So far, the pain hadn't gotten worse.

He turned to look at Buffy, who was staring in horror on his other side. The pain didn't seem to be affecting her like it had him. Draco spun around to see her friends gathered around her now lifeless body on the rubble.

"I don't, I don't remember this," she said, tears coming to her eyes. "Their faces, oh God, Giles."

Draco had to stand up quickly in order to grab her as she tried to rush past him. He leaned down to speak to her. If she at any time decided to push him away, she was sure to launch him across the lot. He hoped she was too emotionally exhausted.

"No, Buffy, this is not real. You're alive now, you know that. You've come back to them, and we are healing you."

Buffy still stared at her body. "Why am I still here? I'm dead now."

"But your aura is not," Draco explained. "Look at your body. See the light flashing over it? Your aura is trying to stay alive. It's still fighting. Until it dies we're here with it." He leaned down and made her turn around to face him. "You'll get sick of me saying this, but you need to be calm, and breathe."

He could see the hurt in her eyes, and tears fell down her cheeks. She turned around, still staring at her body. As she slowly walked towards it, Draco followed closely behind, holding onto one of her hands. Even though they couldn't feel or see her, she weaved through the people surrounding her body.

The flashing light over her body was more prominent now. Buffy turned around to look up at Draco.

"Can they not see it?"

He shook his head and she turned back around, her free hand outstretched. She kept inching toward her own body. Draco wasn't sure what would happen when she touched her current aura to her second one, but all he knew is he had to be ready to repair the aura before it shattered on her return to earth.

"I made the jump," Buffy said, starling Draco out of his thoughts. "I did it again and it hurt, but I think seeing their faces hurts more. Knowing that I have them to come back to helps." She looked confused for a moment, but never took her eyes off of her own face that was before her. "They'll be there, right? When I come back."

"Of course," he replied softly. Buffy nodded, and reached out, her hand touching her forehead. Draco was about to remind her that she couldn't touch anything here, but he didn't get the words out before both he felt something grab him around his middle and yank him hard… down.

………………………

The only thought going through Draco's head was that it ihurt/i being pulled through concrete like that, even though it wasn't real. Through layers and layers of dirt and rock—it felt like he was raked through each until he reached open air. He opened his eyes, and even though it was complete darkness, he knew through his senses he was definitely falling down.

There was a groan beside him and he looked over, his eyes widening when he saw Buffy, with a transparent replica next to her. Buffy just woke and saw the double, and through the veil of hair that was whipping up around her face from their fall, he saw her scared expression on her face.

"Your aura, Buffy, don't worry."

Draco was trying to figure out what to do. Should he cast lightening charms on them to slow the drop or fire a cushioning charm to where they were headed? He didn't want to go so fast the charm shot them right back up again, though. With a sigh, he pulled out his wand and was about to cast a spell when a line of fire shot up between them, and they met each other's eyes in shock.

"I thought you said you went to heaven?!" Draco shouted. The cushioning charm was out, and the lightening spell would just make it harder to move around in the arm.

"I did!" Buffy shouted, looking around for something to grab onto. She definitely didn't remember any of this.

"In case you haven't noticed, ithis isn't fucking heaven we're heading to!"/i

Another pillar of fire shot up on Draco's other side. He swore as he felt sweat beading on his brow. It was getting hot, much hotter than he had ever been in his entire life. The heat was affecting him more that it was affecting Buffy. He started to debate whether wandless magic would work here, when a shout from Buffy made him look over.

Her aura was starting to shimmer and fade. Draco's eyes widened in panic. This wasn't part of the plan. He had been planning on using the time in heaven to merge the two auras together so he could prevent the shatter when she returned. It would have given him time to properly align the old auras with her new aura.

"Well, I certainly hadn't planned on doing this en route to hell, but since nothing in my life seems to go the way I'd like it to…"

Draco grabbed Buffy's wrist in his own and pulled himself closer. He moved Buffy in front of her flickering aura and put his arms around both. It was hard to line them up properly since they were still in a freefall, but he managed to concentrate and start to merge the two auras. Closing his eyes, he started to take deep breaths.

His quickened his pace when the heat below him increased.

iAlign at the heart, working outwards. Anchor the head and the soles of the feet. Smooth out the cracks, cool the warm spots. Weave it in, fill the holes. /i

What he usually did in hours, he was trying to accomplish in seconds. Draco wasn't sure if it would help or hinder. He was starting to shake from the exertion, but Buffy's aura was nearly merged. His eyes were closed tightly and his teeth were clenched. The muscles of his back were tense.

iFind the dark spots; fill in the holes. Weave it in. /i

Buffy gasped, her eyes opening wide, when he was finished. He started to grin and check over his work when they both stopped falling.

Just as sudden as their descent downwards had been, they were both pulled up at double the pace they had been falling. The heat that had been at their backs was gone, replaced with a pleasant coolness.

Draco decided falling up was a very strange sensation, especially since they had been heading to hell with their backs to it, and now it felt the same way with heaven. He looked over his shoulder and saw they were heading towards a light glow.

"This is more like it," he said with a grin that Buffy mirrored when he glanced over at her.

Their ascent ended when their backs hit something firmly, but not hard enough to damage anything. Draco blinked and realized the light yellow glow had turned to a light blue… that was strangely familiar.

"The sky?" he asked. Turning his head, he saw they had landed on their backs on the ground. He blinked in confusion. "This has to be the strangest experience of my entire existence. I fell up onto the ground."

Rolling over, he looked for Buffy. His jaw dropped when he saw her standing in front of her house.. After he stood, he jogged over to her.

"It's different this time," she said, never taking her eyes off of the house in front of her.
"I'm… aware. When I left," Buffy paused to think. "When I left, I wasn't here. I was watching a movie in the old theatre downtown. I'm right where I was the first time. But where's the other me?"

Draco was speechless for a moment. "Your auras have merged. This is the first time you arrived, and there isn't a double. It's just you now." He looked around again before letting his eyes rest on Buffy. "This is your heaven? Your home?"

There was a serene look on Buffy's face as she stared at her house.

"Yeah, it is, with one exception."

The front door opened, and Draco's head quickly turned to see who it was. Half expecting Dawn or Giles to come through the door, he just blinked in shock when he saw the figure lean out the door.

"Buffy! Dinner! Oh, I didn't know you had a guest. I'll set the table for three."

The slayer smiled.

"Coming, Mom."

…………………….

… um, the end until next week. Don't hurt me. Please?