Night
Savouring the quiet for just one more night, knowing tomorrow would be either the end of days or something truly profound, Buffy and Xander wanted to spend it alone together wrapped in each other's arms.
Meanwhile, everyone else in the house played a board game, while others continued to gossip, much like Buffy and Xander, others decided to spend their last night alone.
Master Bedroom
Holding his love close to his body, Xander kissed her forehead and tightened his arm that was wrapped around her shoulders, their legs tangled together.
Mindlessly, Xander weaved his fingers through her blonde hair memorising the soft silky feel. He watched the strands slowly fall from his fingers. More often than not, Xander felt the need to pinch himself in disbelief that this was his life. Buffy was real and she was with him.
Tilting her chin upwards to look at him, Xander met her kiss halfway. He closed his eye, relishing the feel of her soft lips against his. Her small hand fisted the front of his t-shirt.
Letting the kiss come to its natural end, Buffy laid her head on his chest and ran her finger over his lips then around his chin. Xander snuggled his nose into her hair, breathing in her citrus scent.
"Tell me about them," Buffy whispered, closing her eyes wanting to hear about the dream she was fighting for.
Xander smiled at her hair and laid his cheek on the top of her head. "Sarah was a Sugarplum Fairy in a ballet recital. You are such a 'Mom'—only 'slightly' embarrassing our daughter trying to sneak your way to the front in order to videotape her dance. You never cared that you were in everyone else's way." His heart pounded hearing her laugh. "You're weren't any better when it came to Josh's baseball games—but I'm defiantly sure none of the boys—or they're dads," Xander rolled his eye with a lopsided smirk, "minded that you made your presence known. The boys on the team have a little crush on Josh's Mom." Xander chuckled and kissed her forehead.
"We always made sure," Xander continued, "that we made every baseball game, every dance recital, every talent show, every parent-teacher conference." He hugged the arm that was around her tightly. "In the world that we live in, we always tried to give our children as normal of a life as possible."
"Did they know?—About me and about vampires or demons?" Buffy asked, feeling a pang of worry that she kept that secret from her children like how she tried to keep it from her mother. It didn't work then and she knew it probably wouldn't have worked in the future, especially since she was close to her children—at least she was in Xander's stories.
"Eventually we told them." He told her. "We chose to wait until they were old enough to understand and had the ability to protect themselves if something were ever to happen to us. Our main priority was to give them a normal childhood."
Buffy nodded and hugged her arm around his body, "Good. That sounds reasonable." She mumbled into his chest, sleepily.
Xander started to laugh turning Buffy's attention.
"What?" Buffy lifted her chin upwards to look at him.
"I'm just thinking about, how you would race from work to pick up Sarah from dance to just catch the last inning of Josh's game. You and Sarah would come barrelling to the field. You would take out your 'Hurricane' baseball hat and wear it with your nice clothes."
"Baseball?"
"Yeah," Xander's smile widened, "you followed the game better than the dads."
Buffy grinned, "I wore a 'Hurricane' baseball hat?"
"Wore it to every game." He kissed the top of her head.
"And you? Did you also wear the team hat and the baseball jersey with 'Harris' written across the back?"
Xander smiled, "I'll have you know, I have a t-shirt and a jersey. I only wore the jersey during playoffs—It's a superstitious thing."
"Oh, of course," Buffy rolled her eyes.
Another comfortable silence washed over them.
Buffy frowned as her mind wandered trying to imagine what they could look like. Wanting to hear Xander's description to see if it matched her own, Buffy asked, "What do they look like?"
Xander ran a hand over her back and said, "Sarah defiantly takes after you. She has dark blonde hair, your eyes but hazel," Xander turned his eyes down to her face and traced her bottom lip with the pad of his finger, "your mouth," his finger slid down the bridge of her nose, "your nose, and chin… She looks so much like you."
Buffy softly smiled imaging the little girl.
"And Josh,"
Xander's voice broke Buffy from her thoughts. She tilted her chin upwards to look at him and smiled with excitement.
"He's the perfect mixture of the two of us. Except he has my dark hair and your green eyes. He took after my nose and mouth but he has your chin."
"Sounds like we made some good looking babies," Buffy smiled at the thought.
Xander kissed the top of her head, "They're gorgeous."
He turned his eye downward watching her as she closed her eyes feeling completely relaxed through the strain of the morning was hastily approaching. Xander ran his fingers through her hair, completely at ease. With his other hand, he wrapped it around hers that laid lazily at the centre of his chest and brought it to his lips, kissing her fingers.
No matter what happened tomorrow, Xander placed this conversation of imagining the children they hoped to one day have into his heart. He held Buffy just a little bit tighter, trying his best not to think about doomsday but the future they were determined to have.
Next Morning
Doomsday
Sunnydale High School
The makeshift army entered the empty new rebuilt high school.
Papers, books, backpacks, locker doors still open covered the eerily deserted hallways.
Buffy moved around the group stepping to the front beside Giles. She held the scythe tightly in her hand and said, "Okay, Potentials are in the basement. Follow Faith and Spike." Buffy looked at Willow and Tara, "You guys will go to the principal's office." She passed Willow the scythe in her hand then gave Tara the amulet. Buffy looked at Xander.
Xander stepped out from the group and faced them, holding an axe casually over his shoulder. "If you have to go to the bathroom, it's on the left." He waved his hand towards the left. "If you don't have to go to the bathroom, picture what you're about to face. Better go now."
Turning his eye to Buffy, he caught her eye roll then continued, "The vampires get upstairs we have three areas they could get through to another building and down into the sewers. If that happens… well… that's not good." He said, not bothering to sugarcoat the travesty if an übervamp was able to escape to the outside world. "Down the hall in the atrium, the north hall here, and the primary target, through the lounge to the science building. Odds are, most of them will head there. Easy to find, big, no sunlight."
Giles nodded, "Teams of two then, and I suggest, myself and Dawn will take the lounge. Xander, you should be the carrier of the scythe and amulet from the principal's office to Buffy."
Xander agreed, "I concur."
"So that leaves me and the dungeon master in the north hall," Anya said.
Andrew swallowed nervously, gripping he sword in his hands, "We will defend it with our very lives."
"Yes, we'll defeat it with his very life." Anya agreed.
Xander stepped towards his ex-fiancée, "Don't be afraid to use him as a human shield." He offered her a small smile.
Anya smirked, "Good, yes, thanks."
Buffy stepped over to Dawn wanting to say something profound without it sounding heartbreaking. "Dawn…"
"No," Dawn held up her hand before Buffy could continue. "Anything you say is gonna sound like a goodbye." She tossed her sister a small smile and joined the group heading to their placements.
Buffy drifted over to the last other small group standing together. It was the original four: Buffy, Giles, Willow, and Xander. They stood silently looking at one another before parting ways to fight yet another apocalypse.
"So… what do you guys wanna do tomorrow?" Buffy asked, breaking the tense silence.
"Nothing strenuous," Willow said.
"I thought we were finally gonna plan the wedding?" Xander looked at Buffy. "You said, as soon as—"
Buffy rolled her eyes, "—I know what I said. He's so impatient." She looked at Willow with a smile.
"I mean, he has been mooning for you for the last… seven years." Willow quickly counted.
"This is what we're doing tomorrow… planning your wedding?" Giles looked at his former charge.
Buffy frowned, "Why do you say it like that? I was hoping you'd not only walk me down the aisle but officiate the ceremony."
Giles looked at Buffy with his mouth open, honoured, "Buffy, I… That's so…" he gathered his thoughts and placed his hand on her shoulder and gave it a squeeze, "I'd be honoured."
A feeling of relief washed over her and Buffy smiled.
Xander leaned over and kissed the side of her hair, "See, I told ya he'd say yes."
Buffy wrapped her hand around his arm and leaned against him, resting her head on his shoulder.
"Oh!" Willow looked at Buffy with wild eyes and a megawatt grin, "We'll go dress shopping! It'll be so much fun! Me, you, Tara, and Dawn! We can do that tomorrow."
"So this is the plan?" Buffy began, "Save the world and go dress shopping? Ooh, can we hit Bloomingdales for the shoes—or just shoes in general? I'm having a wicked craving."
Xander frowned, "Whoa, aren't you not supposed to go to Bloomingdales without me?"
"That was you. You're not allowed to go to Bloomingdales without me, honey."
Xander slowly nodded, "Ah, that sounds about right. So you're going to Bloomingdales for shoes… I thought for a dress…"
"Oh, sweetie, you're so cute." Buffy pinched his cheek lovingly.
"And I'm just here, invisible to the eye, not having any vote…" Giles mumbled watching the three old friends chatter as they turned down the hallway.
Xander lifted his eye and looked at the girls, "Whoa, if you're going on a shoe shopping spree, who's paying for this?"
Buffy and Willow looked at him and said, "You."
Standing in the background with a proud smile on his face, Giles watched the friends. It was moments like this he wished he could freeze frame and relive over and over again. Despite everything they have ever gone through, the death, the heartbreak, the blood spilt, what had always remained was the sense of camaraderie in the Scoobies.
Unable to keep the smile on his lips, Giles muttered, "The earth is definitely doomed."
Walking down the empty hallway together, Willow tossed them a smile and peeled off into the principal's office where Tara waited.
Xander took Buffy's hand and brought it to his chest as they continued down the hallway.
Reaching the basement access door, Xander faced his fiancée. Silently, Buffy nodded understanding their unspoken conversation between them. She stepped towards him, moving to the tips of her toes to reach his mouth is a tender kiss.
Xander closed his eye, relishing the familiar taste of her lipgloss and softness of her heart-shaped mouth.
Slowly breaking away, Buffy opened her eyes and gave him a half smile she knew he loved. "I love you."
With a smirk, Xander brought her hand to his mouth and kissed her knuckles. "Tomorrow we'll set a date."
"Sounds good, I was thinking daytime spring ceremony."
"Outside?" Xander pictured Buffy standing in the sunlight on a beautiful springtime day in a white dress walking towards him. Her skin was shaded in a fresh suntan and the sunlight hitting her blonde hair gave her an angelic glow. "How about on the beach in Santa Monica?"
Buffy smiled, "Or the vineyards in Napa."
"Whatever you want." Xander bent his neck downward, catching her mouth a small kiss. "Go save the world."
Letting her hand go, Xander took a step back, separating himself from her knowing another minute with her, he'd snatch her away and take her far, far away from this hellhole.
Buffy softly smiled at him and turned away entering the basement and let the door close behind her.
The lopsided smile dancing across his mouth fell and he swallowed fearing the fight to soon come. He reminded himself that she now relied on him to get the scythe and amulet to her.
Xander gathered himself and went to the principal's office.
Basement
Standing at the front of the Seal which was the entrance of the Hellmouth, Buffy moved her eyes around the girls. She felt a sense of determination from the girls that had been lacking from the start. They were reasonably frightened but Buffy just knew, they were ready.
Faith nudged her elbow gently into Buffy's side, turning her attention. Buffy looked down to the knife Faith had taken from the weapons chest. "You're first, B."
Buffy took the knife and sliced a diagonal cut over her palm and held her hand over the seal.
"Pucker up, ladies," Faith sliced her hand, "we're goin' to Hell." She smirked holding out her bleeding hand beside Buffy's.
Buffy turned her eyes to Faith and said, "You're invited you know."
"To what?" Faith frowned, watching the blood drip from her palm.
"To the wedding."
Faith turned her eyes to her sister Slayer and smirked shaking her head.
"But you can't bring Spike," Buffy added.
Spike's head shot up from across the circle, "Bloody hell, I wouldn't want to go even if you paid me."
"Good, 'cause you're not coming."
"Why not?" Spike comically pouted.
"I thought you were being all supportive of the Spike thing?" Faith asked.
The Potential Slayer's surrounding the conversation tossed their eyes around amused by the mini and inappropriate argument happening.
Spike looked at the dark-haired Slayer, "What 'Spike thing'?"
Buffy ignored the vampire and replied to Faith, "Oh, please, you can do so much better."
"I'm standing right here." Spike's arms fell to his sides. "And I don't remember you complaining."
"Oh, please," Buffy rolled her eyes, "we are so passé."
"I'd still like an invite." Spike snobbishly demanded.
Buffy's nose scrunched, "No."
"Do I have to wear a dress?" Faith looked at Buffy feeling slightly uncomfortable with the thought of wearing a dress.
Buffy rolled her eyes with a smile, "I don't care. I just want you there."
The Slayers shared a smile for a moment but it was quickly broken when the Seal began to open up.
Previous Morning
1630 Revello Drive
Living Room
"So here's the part where you make a choice—Here and now," Buffy stood at the front of the living room with her hands clasped together. "What if you could have that power? Now—All of you. In every generation, a Slayer is born—because a bunch of guys that died a thousand years ago made up that rule. They were powerful." Buffy pointed her index finger to Willow and Tara still on the couch together. "These women are more powerful than all of those men combined. So I say we change the rules. I say, my power should be our power."
Xander smiled, feeling a burst of pride wash over him as he listened to her.
"… Tomorrow," Buffy continued, "Willow and Tara will use the essence of this Scythe," Buffy held the weapon in her hand, "that contains the energy and history of so many Slayers to change our destiny. From now on, every girl in the world, who might be a Slayer—will be a Slayer. Every girl, who could have the power—will have the power. Who can stand up—will stand up."
Buffy gave a short pause eying the sudden surge of energy in the room.
"Every one of you," Buffy looked at each face in surrounding her, "and girls we've never known—and generations to come… they will have the strength they've never dreamed of… and more than that, they will have each other. Slayers—Every one of us. Make your choice. Are you ready to be strong?"
Buffy's eyes went to Xander standing in the background of the living room. His arms folded across his chest.
Principal Office
Xander stood at the door waiting patiently as the girls sat face to face holding their hands flatly together over the scythe placed between them. Placed around the scythe's steelhead was the chain of the amulet.
Keeping her eyes on Tara, Willow reached of an urn of oil and drizzled the liquid over the amulet.
"Vocamus ordo in umbra homines (We call the order of the Shadow Men)," they began to whisper in unison.
Xander could not hear their spell but he watched with amazement as their hair turned white and they're mumbles at a rapid-fire pace. A white glow came from up above washed over the women.
Swallowing, in his entire life, Xander had never seen anything so pure, so good. He stood paralysed, unsure how to react to what he was witnessing.
As soon as the moment of transcendence appeared it ended, sucking the wind out of the Wiccan's.
Straining to catch her breath, Willow held out the scythe to Xander, along with the amulet. "Get this to Buffy."
Tara caught her breath and added, "With the amulet, you have to toss it to a vunerable place and say, 'Blessed be to the Powers That Be, show me the Warrior's light'."
Xander nodded, struggling to retain what Tara had just told him and swallowed.
"Go!" Willow said.
Jumping into action, Xander ran out of the principal's office with the scythe in one hand and the amulet in the other.
Left alone together, Willow and Tara fell to the floor facing each other. They busted out into laughter. Willow laid on her back taking Tara's hand. She still felt the rush of the Powers That Be's powerful tingle in her body. With a dopy giggle, Willow looked at Tara and said, "That was nifty."