"Thanks for inviting me..." Angel's voice trailed away and he ducked his head. "That sounded stupid. Let me start over."

"That's probably a good idea," Buffy said. They stood at the foot of the driveway leading to the deserted mansion.

"How about... it felt really good to do this. It felt clean. Thanks."

"Well, you're welcome." Buffy tapped her left fist with her right hand as she glanced around. "I, uh, I better go." She turned to leave.

"Why did you really come here tonight?"

The Slayer wheeled at Angel's question. "If you're suggesting that I wanted to see you-"

"No, I mean, not like that." Angel held up his hands in a warding-off gesture. "We've both watched every word since... ever since. We've circled each other like boxers. Now you show up at sundown and ask me to patrol. I'm glad, I'm happy you did, but why?"

Buffy's chin lifted. "This afternoon I went to see Xander in the hospital, and it was terrible. I realized that I've seen Willow unconscious in that hospital, and I've seen Cordelia, and now I've seen Xander. It felt... it felt like, like..." She looked at him, her eyes wide. "For a minute, it felt like it did after I stabbed you, and then I felt... mad. My friends shouldn't end up in ICU just because they're my friends. It's got to stop, and there's only one person who can stop it, and that's me." She took a deep breath. Her hands shook. "I can't wallow any more. Emo-Buffy has to take a back seat." A tear spilled from her eye. She felt its hot trail down her cheek. "I'm sorry for what happened to you, for what I did to you, Angel, sorrier than you could ever know. But it happened, it can't be undone. I've carried around a lot of guilt about it, but no more. If that... if you can't deal, I understand, but that's the way it has to be."

"You're right."

The Slayer blinked, astonished. "I'm right?"

Angel rubbed his hands together as he looked up at the night sky. "Yeah. Things were happening so fast, I was... I was trying to end the world."

Buffy swiped at her cheek with the heel of one hand. "True," she said, her voice wobbly.

"You had to make a terrible choice because of my stupidity and selfishness."

"Not you," she said. "Angelus."

He shook his head. "No, I mean before that."

Buffy frowned in concentration, then her eyes widened. "Oh, you mean... But you couldn't know that."

"Couldn't or didn't want to?" Angel cocked an eye in her direction. "It's not like Giles didn't have books I could have read. It's not like I couldn't have done the research or asked Willow to look up the curse for me. No, I didn't want to know any reason to not do exactly what I wanted to do. That's on me, and I've tried to throw it onto you, and that's wrong. I'm sorry. Is this too deep?"

Buffy shook her head, cheeks glittering. "Nope, you're gold, Pony Boy." When he looked confused, she said, "Forget it. And since we're clearing the decks here, I'll take a turn.

"I need you in this fight, Angel, and that's so hard for me to say, because when I see you, all my feelings get so mixed up and confused. I need to depend on you, I need your strength, but needing it makes me weak."

"And you hate being weak."

"And I hate being weak." The Slayer stared at the immortal vampire. "So where does that leave us?"

Angel exhaled, a long, slow breath. "I guess now's as good a time as any. Here's where I stand—I'm here until this business with the Seal is resolved, but after that, if we're still around, I'm leaving Sunnydale."

"I really don't want to do anything special," Buffy said. "My birthday hasn't exactly been good-luck day. I appreciate the thought, but I'd like to just let it slide."

"No," Willow said. "See my foot? It's down. I put it down. We are doing something for your birthday."

"What? Xander's in the hospital, Faith's only God knows where, and I don't think that we can really invite Cordelia over for nachos."

"Then let's just go to the movies. There's that new one, She's All That. It's supposed to be really good."

"Who's in it?" Buffy asked.

"Freddie Prinze, Jr."

"Yummy," Buffy said. "Easily the best thing about I Know What You Did Last Summer."

"Usher," said Oz. "Pretty good in The Faculty."

"Hmmmm," Buffy said. "Josh Hartnett might be yummier than Freddie."

Willow waved her hands. "Also Anna Paquin. The little girl in The Piano?"

"Blecchhhhh." Buffy stage-shuddered. "I liked that one until Harvey Keitel... ickkkkk." She shuddered again. "My mom may never recover."

"Okay, so he's inappropriately comfortable with his body," Willow said. "What about the movie? It's PG-13. I'm pretty sure we won't see Harvey Keitel's... doodle."

"Safe to say," Oz said. "He's not in it."

"Anything else to recommend this cinematic masterwork?" Buffy asked.

"Soundtrack's pretty good," Oz said. "Sixpence None the Richer, Fatboy Slim. Probably features an impromptu dance number with suspiciously proficient choreography."

"That's a plus, but I really don't want to be a third wheel, especially on my birthday." Buffy looked from Oz to Willow.

"That's an easy fix," Oz said. Buffy and Willow looked at him. Oz looked back and forth between them. "Trey can come. He likes the movies. He's a nice guy. We need to talk about band stuff anyway."

"Gee, you make quite the sales pitch for him," Buffy observed in a dry tone.

Buffy pushed through the library doors and looked around, searching for her Watcher. "Giles?"

His head appeared in the office doorway. "Yes?"

"Got a minute?" She hopped up on the counter.

He frowned. "Is that really appropriate?"

"I think it's just a tangible expression of how comfortable I feel here in the library." The Slayer swung her feet. "Aaaaaaaaaannnnyway, got a second?"

Giles came out of the office and stood with his hands in the pockets of his pants. "You've gone from a minute to a second. If I wait a little longer, will you soon need no time?"

Buffy feigned shock. "Meeow much, Giles?"

"As fascinating as your banter can be, I do have things to do. Could this conversation proceed in a straight line to whatever is the real subject?"

"Okay, if we're going to embrace the stick up our butt. We, Willow and me, went-"

"Willow and I," Giles said, his attention elsewhere.

The Slayer's eyes popped open and her voice tightened. "Willow and I. Giles, if you've got a prior engagement, just tell me."

Her Watcher looked down at the floor, then up at her. "I'm sorry. I, um, I have a lot on my mind, and perhaps my concentration is not all that it could be. Please continue."

Buffy stared at him, wary of this abashed version of Giles. "Ooookaaaay, anyway, Willow and I went to Cordelia's house day before yesterday."

Giles frowned. "Why would you go there?"

Buffy's jaw dropped. "Giles, has someone replaced you with a robot? Think about it. If Faith had something to do with..." She shook her head. "Screw it. I'm through with euphemism. If Faith beat up Xander, Cordelia would be a likely next target, don't you think? Plus, we thought she might not have heard about Xander."

"Yes, that's very sound reasoning. Did you learn anything?"

Buffy bit her lip. "Yeah, but nothing about Faith." Giles's eyebrows went up, questioning. The Slayer shrugged. "Everything sorta went full Jerry Springer on us. It was… so bizarre." She looked around as though trying to find an answer in midair. "I don't really know how…" She took a deep breath. "I'm just gonna say it. Willow and I went to Cordelia's house…"

A few moments later, after the Slayer finished her narrative, Giles removed his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose between thumb and forefinger. "Please, please don't misunderstand what I am about to say, but why are you telling me all of this?"

Buffy pulled back as though slapped. "Um, because you're my Watcher?"

Giles returned his glasses to their proper place. "True, but I am not Cordelia's Watcher, nor am I the guidance counselor. I believe that office is down the hall."

Buffy's face was a study in puzzlement. "What is with the harsh, Giles?"

The librarian leaned against his desk and stared at the Slayer. "Buffy, some things are even more dangerous than battling the forces of ancient evil. One of them is believing that you can fix another human being's broken psyche. If the only pain Cordelia felt was caused by what Xander did, that would be bad enough, but what you have shared, that is something else entirely. Cordelia doesn't need a shoulder to cry on, she needs therapy, intense, professional therapy. What she's living through scars a person, but she's young and resilient."

"And what about what we do?" The Slayer jumped off the counter and turned to face her Watcher. "Giles, how long can they be exposed to this, how many times can they go fight vampires and end up in the hospital before they're scarred from that, before they can't bounce back?"

The Watcher opened his mouth, but no sound came out. He looked around the counter as though the answer to her question might be printed on it.

The Slayer continued. "I've been asking who chose me to be the Slayer and why. It was the wrong question. I should be asking what can I do. And it's not just about fighting evil, at least not in a vacuum. It's about fighting evil to keep them safe. That's what I'm here to do, and that's why I'm worried about Cordelia.

"She's part of us, Giles. She's... she's... maybe she's our Shemp." Giles looked pained, but the Slayer warmed to her metaphor. "I mean, she's not Moe or Larry, she's not even Curly, but she's more than a Joe or, or a Curly Joe."

"This might be very touching if I had even the slightest inkling of what you're talking about," Giles said.

Buffy stared at him, mouth agape. "The Stooges, Giles. The Three Stooges?"

"Clea DuVall," Trey said. "She was Stokely in The Faculty and Jana in Can't Hardly Wait."

"I knew she looked familiar from somewhere," Buffy said.

"I liked Can't Hardly Wait," Willow said. She turned to Oz. "The guy who played Kenny reminded me of you." She ducked her head.

"That's cool." Oz nodded. "Still, I think this was better."

"Definitely." Trey drained his cup and placed it on the table, his long, slender fingers giving the vessel a graceful twirl. "Listen, I hate to be the first to bail, but someone must."

"True." Buffy tilted her head forward, staring at her own cup. "Otherwise we would be here all night."

Trey slid out of the booth, straightening to his full height. "We can't have that. Unfair to the staff." He looked at Oz and Willow. "Willow, great as always. Oz, see you at practice." He turned to Buffy. "I had a great time. Now I can say hi in the halls and not seem weird." He flicked a two-finger salute and made his way through the crowd.

"So?" Willow leaned toward Buffy. The redhead's eyes sparkled.

The Slayer leaned back against the cushioned seat. "That…. didn't suck." A slow smile crept across her face. "It was, in fact, a lot of fun." She looked at Willow. "Thank you for not listening to me and making me go out. Thanks for looking out for me."

Willow shrugged. "You look out for us plenty."

"Nnnnnk. Gack." A hacking cough erupted from the bed as convulsive shudder racked its occupant. Xander Harris blinked twice, his eyes gummy and dry. He looked up at the nurse approaching his bedside.

"What," he asked, "is that taste in my mouth?"