Author's notes: Don't worry, nobody actually dies in this story. Well, okay, they die, but they come back in the next chapter. Buffy's not really dead. Xander just thinks she is. Okay? So no worries. I'll shut up now.

September 12, Wednesday

A claxon screamed in his ear, demanding that he wake up immediately or hit the snooze button. He slammed his hand on it, and lifted his heavy head off the pillow in time to see the bus sail past his window. Muttering a few choice curses, he lurched to his feet and stumbled over to the closet.

As he was coming down the stairs, a sudden thought came to him, and he nearly cried out in shock. Oh god, Buffy was dead.

How could he have forgotten something so important? One of his best friends was dead. Dead. Not vampire undead or zombie semi-dead or even ghost incorporeal dead. Real dead. The kind of dead you read about in the papers.

He sat down on the step and struggled to hold back the tears, rocking himself to ease the pain in his chest. He sat like that for a long time, until finally he could no longer stand to be alone in his cold house, and trudged down the stairs.

He ignored his father's offer to drive him to school and just walked out the front door, not even bothering to get his books. He would have to walk to school, since his bike was totaled, but at the moment he didn't give a damn.

He marched along the darkened pre-dawn streets, his thoughts circling the morbid events of the day before. God, he could still remember Buffy's face when she died. She seemed so surprised, gazing down at the holes in her chest…

But how could he remember that? He had been at Willow's, hadn't he? He hadn't seen her die.

As he thought back, he realized that his memory of everything after the phone call was missing. How had he gotten back home? Had he seen Buffy's body, in a morgue or in the park where she died? He must have gone to the park, because otherwise he wouldn't have a mental picture of her lifeless body lying on soft mowed grass. Oh god, he wished he didn't have that memory.

Lost in his misery, he bumped into someone moving rather quickly and was nearly knocked down. Regaining his balance, he looked up to apologize, only to discover the person was a rather startled and grimacing Spike.

"Spike?"

The vampire tensed and jerked his head to look down at him, then visibly relaxed when he saw who it was. "Oy whelp, sorry, in rather a bit of a hurry. Got to get on." He made as if to run off, but paused as he got a clear look at Xander's face. "Bloody hell, you look terrible. You look as if something ate your dog."

Reminded of his loss, Xander gripped the collar of Spike's duster to keep from collapsing. "It's… it's Buffy… she…"

Spike frowned, his eyes gazing into Xander's as if he could read the thoughts there. "Lord, what happened to Summers?"

"She… she's dead."

Spike's skin went paler, if that was possible. "De… dead? Something killed Buffy?"

Xander nodded.

Spike opened his mouth to say something, then hesitated and looked up. "Erm, Xander, I'll talk to you later. Give my condolences to Giles and tell him I'll stop by." And with that he did run off.

Well, gee, even Spike is usually more tactful than that. Strange.

Some time and a couple of breaks to sit on benches and mourn later, Xander arrived at school just as the bell for lunch was ringing. Sighing, he went into the cafeteria and located Willow, who was standing in line. She looked absolutely miserable, and his heart went out to her. She must be taking Buffy's death as badly as he was. He went over to her and hugged her, praying that she wasn't mad at him. It was his fault, after all, that Buffy died. If he hadn't made Willow stay with him, it would have been her who died instead. He wasn't sure if he was supposed to feel guilty or relieved or both about that.

"Oh there you are Xander! I was so worried when you weren't at school. You missed the test. Do you have a sick note? If you do, the teacher will let you take it tomorrow."

Poor Willow. She was so upset about the tragedy, she was blocking it out. It must seem to her as if it were still yesterday. It sure felt like that to him.

"Um, why are you hugging me? Did something bad happen? Oh, the lunch lady just asked you if you want the tuna melt or the meatloaf."

"Doesn't matter."

Willow got him the meatloaf and sat down at a table, chattering away about her horrible grade on the test.

"A minus! I mean, I almost never get a minus. Minus means inadequate. It means-"

"-It means 'Oh, you only barely got an A, it's almost not an A, so we'll put this little dash next to it to remind you that if you had gotten any lower, it would have been a B+," he finished for her in monotone. Was she really reliving yesterday? She was even repeating the conversations. She never repeated herself.

"Xander, that was mean! I know how bad my grade was, you don't have to rub it in."

"I'm sorry Willow." He idly wondered if he should complain about his F--- to make her feel better, but luckily at that moment Cordelia walked over to do it for him.

"Gee Xander, you don't look sick. I bet you just faked it to miss the test. Couldn't handle how badly you would have flunked? You'd think since you hang around with Willow, some of her intelligence would rub off on you, but it only makes you look dumber."

Xander felt a little irked by that. Hello, one of my best friends died yesterday, do you care? "I don't give a flying fuck about a damn test." But, didn't he take the test?

Willow jumped in her seat, shocked by his language. Even Cordelia could think of nothing to say, and just walked back to her side of the cafeteria, leaving him with Willow giving him 'cute worried eyes'.

"Xander, did something happen? You almost never cuss."

Sighing, Xander didn't reply. Willow would accept reality eventually, and he would have to be there when she did to catch her.

Deciding that he wasn't hungry, he got up to put his tray away, and a mountain came out of nowhere and bumped into him. A mountain by the name of Varsity Quarterback Pete Conners, who now had Xander's lunch smeared all over his pants. And didn't look too pleased about it.

Yep, this day just kept getting worse. Xander couldn't bring himself to care about the angry Mr. 7ft in front of him, so he stood there and waited for his soon to be injuries.

But before his attacker could even swing, there was a short little blond girl standing between them, gripping his arm in a vise of a hand.

"Why don't you stay away from my friend, huh Pete? I doubt you'd be able to play football with a broken leg."

Pete backed away from the annoyed Ms. Summers, muttering something about hiding behind girls as he stalked away. Xander was too distracted by the fact that his friend was back from the dead to notice.

"Buffy! You're alive!" He was so happy, he felt like hugging her. So he did.

"Eyagh! Xander, what's wrong with you? Of course I'm alive." She peeled him off of her and backed up. "What would make you think otherwise?"

Willow came up behind him, frowning in confusion. "Um, are you okay Xander? Did you hit your head or something?"

Okay, Buffy was alive. Willow was alive. The test was today. Today? "What day is it?"

Buffy cocked her head in confusion. "Wednesday, duh."

"No, yesterday was Wednesday."

"No, today is Wednesday. Yesterday was Tuesday."

"Yeah, today is Wednesday, but yesterday was Wednesday too."

"Okay, that's it, you're going to see Giles." Buffy grabbed his arm and dragged him down the hall to the library, occasionally taking sips of the drink that was in her other hand. Willow tailed behind them, visibly worried about Xander's well-being.

Giles was there to meet them when they arrived, an expression of "There's a demon running loose and we have to kill it" on his face. He immediately launched into his mandatory British-guy explanation.

"Oh good, you're all here. I need to talk to you about a new demon that's shown up in town. Apparently it's been-"

"Yeah yeah, you can tell us in a minute. First you gotta take a look at Xander. He's acting weird."

"He might have hit his head," Willow offered helpfully.

Giles did the quirk-his-eyebrow thing, which translated as 'So Xander is acting weird. What else is new?' "Acting weird in what sort of way?"

Buffy nudged him. "Go on, tell him what you told me."

Xander took a deep breath. "Okay, yesterday was Wednesday and today is also Wednesday, and I think the day before yesterday which was also today was Wednesday too. Yesterday which was also today, Buffy died, and the day before yesterday which was also today, Willow died, and they were both killed by the green bug-eyed monster."

Giles blinked. "By a what?"

"A green bug-eyed monster."

Buffy nodded her head in satisfaction. "See? He's making no sense."

Giles frowned, then stared at Xander strangely. "Do you mean a green demon? With… ehm, eyestalks?"

"Yes! The one you were gonna tell us about!"

"I was?"

"Yes. You tell us every Wednesday."

"I do?"

"Yes! And it's going to kill Buffy and/or Willow! And I got fired from the same job twice."

Giles looked over at Buffy. "You're right. No sense whatsoever."

Xander huffed in frustration. "Look. For some reason, I'm reliving this day over and over. This is the third time. I think. It might be the second, if the first was a dream. Or it might be the first, and the last two were both part of a complicated dream."

"Complicated is right."

"But the point is Buffy and/or Willow are/is going to die!"

Everyone blinked at him. "What?"

"We can't hunt the demon. It's going to kill one of us."

Willow tapped her nose thoughtfully. "So you're saying you already know what's going to happen?"

"Yes!"

"Prove it."

"You have a crush on Mathew Simmerman."

Willow turned beet red. "How…how… did I tell you that earlier? If I did, you weren't supposed to tell anyone!"

"You told me last night. Which is tonight. I mean, you were going to tell me tonight. At the sleepover."

"What sleepover?"

"The sleepover that you and I are going to have. After I make the bet with you."

"What bet?"

Xander snapped his fingers. "Hey, I've got a great idea! Buffy can come to the sleepover too. That way the demon can't kill her."

"What bet?"

"The bet I made with you that I was going to get fired."

Buffy snorted. "You made a bet with Xander that he was going to get fired? That's lame. You had a 30% chance of losing anyway."

"That's what you said yesterday. Today."

Giles decided that this was far too much and sat down. "Xander, please stop, you're giving me a headache."

Great, they didn't believe him. Yeah, sure, just assume anything that Xander says has no relevance whatsoever. Typical. No matter what he said, they would just chalk it up to him letting his emotions run away with him.

Willow raised her hand timidly as if she were in class. "Well, maybe we should skip hunting tonight altogether."

Wow, cool, he got to see Giles do a double-take again. "What? But Willow, this demon needs to be destroyed. It's killing people."

"We can kill it tomorrow. It's not like it's going anywhere. And besides…" she did her 'aren't I cute?' eyes at him, guaranteed to break through his defenses. "Wouldn't we all feel really bad in the morning if he turned out to be right? You'd have to buy flowers for the funeral and everything."

That did it. "Oh, all right, I suppose it is best if we hold off until we're sure whether Xander is correct or not. We can hunt it down tomorrow."

Success! Xander glanced down to check where Buffy's drink was, and was pleased to notice its absence from the table. So he did a little happy dance, pumping his fist in the air. Which was a bad idea, because Buffy was right behind him with her drink and he bumped into her, spilling it all over the blue hardback. "Um, oops."

"Xander! Oh, I don't believe it. How could you be so clumsy? That was a-"

"-A priceless first edition in Gedroshan. I know, I know. Um, it was meant to happen?"

"Just, just get out, before you ruin something else. Out!"

"Fine fine. But first: Willow, give me your test. I need to memorize it."

After school he went to work, reasoning that he should at least pick up his last paycheck. He accepted the firing graciously, but afterwards paused in the parking lot to try and figure out what he could have done to prevent being fired. As he was pondering, Mark, the grill guy, came up to him and patted him consolingly on the shoulder.

"Man, heard about the firing. That's harsh, dude. Hey, lemme buy you dinner somewhere, yeah?"

"No thanks. It was meant to happen anyway."

"Yeah, nasty turnover these types of jobs have. Well, good luck with everything."

He arrived at Willow's house an hour after the sun had gone down, toting a tub of Cookies and Cream just in case. "Hey there Wills, got some ice cream and the required Mel Brooks movie. Oh hey Buffy, you're here already."

They watched the movies, chanting along with their favorite lines and adding in new ones. Xander came up with a few that he hadn't said last time, and repeated the good ones he had said before. Willow basically repeated her previous lines, word for word, but Buffy came up with some rather clever pieces. Around the middle of the third movie, they were bored enough to ignore the film and have a conversation.

"Willow, do you really have a crush on Matthew Simmerman? I mean, he's such a geek. Erm, not that geeks are bad or anything," Buffy hastily added.

"Yeah, I do. He's got the cutest eyes. Hey, Xander, do you have a crush on anyone?"

Xander sighed. "I told you Wills, I don't like guys."

Buffy and Willow blinked. Willow got a little red in the face. "Um, Xander, I meant a crush on a girl."

Buffy laughed nervously, then her eyes brightened. "Hey, yeah, guys! Xander, what guy do you think is hot?"

"Buffy!"

"Silly, you can't say me, I'm not a guy. Come on, I'll say a girl I think is hot. Willow will too."

"But I don't think girls are hot!"

Xander snorted in frustration. Apparently there was no getting out of this. "Fine. Spike."

Buffy stared at him for a moment, trying to decide on a facial expression. "Spike? As in, blond, snarky, evil undead Spike?"

Xander gave her a full blast of sarcasm. "No, Spike Zucherman from down the street."

Buffy chewed her lip thoughtfully. "Weird. Ya know, I ran into him today."

"Spike Zucherman?"

"No, evil undead Spike, of course. Is there really a Spike Zucherman?"

"Sorta. Mr. Zucherman's dog is named Spike."

"Ah. Well, I did run into Spike, our Spike, today. He seemed really surprised to see me. Said how glad he was that I wasn't dead. Had an ax. Xander, do you think he knows about that Multiple Wednesday thing you were talking about?"

Xander smiled sheepishly. "Only from hearsay. This morning I told him you were dead. That was before I realized you weren't anymore. He had an ax?"

"Yeah, a big one. Kinda rusty. So, why do you think Spike is cute?"

Xander sighed. Figures they'd get back to that embarrassing subject. "I dunno. Maybe it's the coat. It's kinda cool. Or his hair. I like his hair." As he said it, his mind started gleefully listing all the traits Spike had that Xander liked. The hair, the coat, the skin, the walk, the talk, the eyes… yeah, Spike had those really intense eyes. Xander wondered if it was a vampire thing or a Spike thing. Angel had intense eyes, sorta, but they were usually just intensely glaring. Where as Spike's eyes always had a bit of amusement in them, even when he was angry or annoyed. Except there had been no amusement in them that morning, when he discovered that Buffy was "dead". What had Spike been doing that morning, anyways? He seemed like he was in a hurry…

"-ander? Earth to Xander. Come in, Space Case. You're drifting."

"What?"

Buffy grinned. "You were totally lost in thought about Spike."

Xander was about to retort to that, when the phone rang. He grabbed the receiver before either of the girls could get up. "Space Case Headquarters. Xanderman speaking."

There was a pause, then a stranger's voice came on the line. "Who am I speaking to, please?"

"Xander Harris. You've reached the Rosenberg residence. Do you want to talk to Willow?"

Another pause. "No, that's alright, you're on the list of contacts as well. I'm Police Captain Wallace, with the Sunnydale Police Department."

A cold chill went up his spine, and suddenly Xander knew what happened. "Um, who's dead?"

A pause again, this time from surprise. "Actually… er, I'm sorry to have to tell you this, sir, but I'm afraid Rupert Giles was killed this evening. The report says it was some sort of wild animal attack."

"Holy fuck."