&&&&&&
Sunnydale Hospital
Sunday morning,
10:30 am

Charlotte entered Buffy's room again, saying, "Hey, Buffy. You
hollered?"

"You blew up my Bronze," Buffy said sternly, but her eyes were dancing
with laughter.

Charlotte replied, "Yes. Yes I did." She tried to keep a straight
face, but she didn't last long. A giggle escaped, and she soon gave
up as Buffy joined her in laughing.

"Seriously, though, I can't believe it's a pile of rubble. And it
didn't even kill Adam. That really, really sucks," Buffy said.

"Maybe they'll rebuild?" Charlotte suggested.

"I hope so. It's really the only cool place in this town. Anyway,
what I wanted to know is if Adam is truly dead. I don't want him
reappearing," Buffy said.

"He won't. I threw his head in the river, and then Oz and I had quite
a lot of fun chopping his body into little pieces. We spread those
pieces all over town, so unless someone has a whole lot of time and
superglue, he's so gone," Charlotte said with a grin.

"Good," Buffy said, more seriously. "I'm so relieved to know he's
dead."

"I'm sorry that happened to you, Buffy," Charlotte said. "I thought
everything was going so well--"

"That's usually a clue that there's something bad about to happen,"
Buffy replied. "At least in Sunnydale, anyway. So what are you going
to do now? You've done what the Watcher's Council sent you here to do.
What's next for you and Doyle?"

"Trying to get rid of me?" Charlotte teased.

"No!" Buffy said. "I could get used to having you around, Charlie. We
work well together, and it's nice to know that the other Slayer
_isn't_ trying to help the forces of evil, or kill you or your
boyfriend."

Charlie laughed in response, and said, "Thanks, Buffy. I like being
here, even if it is the strangest town I have ever been in. To answer
your question, though, I don't know what's next for me. I'm sure in
the next few days that Doyle will get in contact with the Watchers'
Council. So you'll know as soon as I do, okay?" Charlotte went for
the door, knowing Buffy had many other friends she needed to talk to.

"Okay," Buffy said. "And Charlie?"

"Yeah?" Charlie turned back at the door.

"Thanks," Buffy said. "For taking care of Adam, and for taking care of
the gang while I was out of it."

Charlie smiled, "No problem, it was definitely a challenge."

&&&&&&&&
Paris 7:30 pm

Drusilla exited the bedroom to find Spike and the others discussing
the best means of entry into the Watchers' Council Heaquarters. Spike
looked up to see her standing in the doorway watching them. "It's
okay, Pet," he said reassuringly, going to her and putting an arm
around her waist. "They're going to help us. Have you decided if
you're coming with us?"

"I don't like England," she said. "It's too wet."

"All right, then. See that boy over there?" he pointed to
Louis. "That's Louis. He's going to keep you safe until I return."

"No," Drusilla said, a distressed look on her face.

"He won't hurt you or Miss Edith," Spike replied calmly. "In fact he
won't even go near either of you. Will you, Louis?"

Louis looked to Brianna questioningly, and she said, "Louis, that's
Drusilla. You're going to protect her, but you aren't allowed to touch
her, do you understand me?" she walked over to him and looked into his
eyes.

"Protect," Louis said, nodding. "Don't touch."

"He gets it," Brianna told Spike.

"Dru?" Spike looked at her.

"You'll come back?"

"I promise," Spike replied. "You stay inside while I'm gone, and Louis
will bring you food."

She nodded, and got up, returning to the bedroom. Spike followed her,
and closed the door behind him. "Hey, where's my goodbye kiss," he
teased. She giggled and threw herself at him, kissing him
passionately.

"That good enough?" she asked, smiling.

"Uh...yeah," Spike said, "So good I can't remember why I was going."

"You're going to get the ring so you can kill the Slayer," Drusilla
reminded him.

"Oh, yeah. I'll be back soon," he said, and went back to the living
room. "Let's go," he said to Brianna and the others.

"I still think you've gone over the deep end," Brianna muttered, as
she followed him out the door, her childer close behind. "When are
you going to tell us what's so important at the Watcher's Council?"

"You don't need to know that," Spike said. "You just do your job, and
you'll get paid."

&&&&&&
Sunnydale
4 pm

The doctor had finally convinced everyone to let Buffy sleep, and most
of the gang had decided that sleep sounded like a good idea.

Giles and Wesley returned to Giles' apartment to deal with the damage
Adam had inflicted on the place.

"Oh, dear," was Giles' first remark on seeing what was left of his
front door. "I suppose I'll have to get that replaced. I'm amazed the
landlord hasn't thrown me out yet, this isn't the first time that the
apartment has suffered the wrath of an angry demon."

"Yes, well, you'll have all the help you need with getting the place
cleaned up," Wesley replied. "At least this time, you weren't the only
one to suffer property damage. Although from the news reports, the
Initiative did manage to subdue the remaining demons once Adam was
destroyed."

"Yes...although I can't say I'm too fond of their methods for subduing
them," Giles said. "I can't help wondering if they're just going to
create another Adam."

"One of him was enough, surely," Wesley said. "You don't really think
they'd repeat the same mistake twice?"

"We can never be sure, can we?" Giles replied. "Buffy had access to
the Initiative at one time, due to her relationship with Riley, but
now, I'm afraid they think of her as just another enemy. So as long
as they're in Sunnydale, I think the best assumption is that they're
going to cause trouble."

"Well, I do hope they'll let us have some down time," Wesley replied,
yawning. "Because I don't know about anyone else, but I need to catch
up on some much-needed sleep." He climbed over a few pieces of broken
furniture, and went to the spare room to do just that.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Willow's house

"Oz?" Willow walked into the living room and found him asleep on the
couch. Or so she thought, until he opened his eyes. "Hey, you didn't
have to stay," she said as she sat next to him.

"Yeah, right. You've got no doors on this house, Willow," Oz reminded
her. "Like I'm going to leave you when the demons still think it's
open season on humans."

"Oh, I think it's pretty safe now," Willow replied. At Oz' skeptical
look, she amended, "Sunnydale safe, anyway. At least I managed to get
a little sleep. Did you?"

"Enough to last me for a while," Oz said. "I'm in a band. We don't
sleep," he joked.

"Yeah, well, you won't be playing for a while either," Willow
said, "at least not at the Bronze."

"We'll figure something out," Oz shrugged. "I'd like to think that
people will come hear us even without the Bronze."

"Of course they will," Willow said. "At least your true fans will
anyway. And I hope we'll be able to do some fun normal stuff like that
now. Maybe we've done our demon fighting for the week, at least?"

"We can always hope," Oz said. "Buffy sure needs the break, and I
think we could all deal with some boredom."


&&&&&&&&&
Xander's House
5 pm

Xander and Anya had caught up on several hours of sleep, and were now
watching the local news reports. "Well, at least the demons are almost
gone," Xander said.

"For now anyway," Anya agreed. "I imagine the ones the Initiative
didn't catch have gone back underground."

"You know, Wills mentioned that Spike seems to have left town," Xander
said. "That's too good to be true, isn't it?"

"I think it's a lucky break for us," Anya replied. "He's definitely
not something that we needed to deal with on top of Adam."

"I doubt that we've seen the last of him, though," Xander said. "For
some reason, Spike has a real attachment to this town."

&&&&&&&&&&&
Doyles' Apartment
5 pm

Charlotte had mumbled something about demon blood in her hair and had
made a beeline for the bathroom and the shower.

"She sure is a tom-boy," Cordelia remarked, sitting on the couch.
"Chopping demons up into little pieces, well, I know _we've_ done that
before, but we got paid for it at least. She's just a sixteen year old
girl."

"Who happens to be a Slayer," Doyle said, as he sat next to her. "They
tend to grow up fast. But you're right, she never was much for the
ladylike behavior, much to Aunt Lorena's dismay. It turned out to be a
good trait though as a Slayer."

"Speaking of that," Cordelia said, "What's next for the two of you?"

"Dunno yet," Doyle replied. "I'll report back to the council first
thing in the morning, and then I'm sure they'll decide where we're
needed next."

"So you might be leaving the country again," Cordelia frowned.

"I guess that's possible," Doyle shrugged. "Look, Cordelia, I won't
pretend I don't want you to come with us. But I also won't expect you
to give up your life in L.A. either."

"Doyle, didn't we go over this already?" Cordelia replied, a puzzled
look on her face. "You know, like two months ago? Or did you forget?"

"A lot can happen in two months--"

"Doyle, do you _see_ me spending my weekends with anyone else?"
Cordelia said in exasperation.

"Well....no," Doyle replied slowlly

"Well, then, I guess the only real question is if you still want me
around," she said.

"_IF_ I want you????" Doyle asked in amazement. "How could you
possibly even ask that? Cordelia, ever since the moment I met you,
there's only been one thing I've wanted. And that was you. Hold on a
second," he stopped, and stood up, going into his bedroom. Cordelia
sent a bewildered look after him but waited.

"I'm not doing this right at all," he said, as he returned to the
living room. "But then again, I've never done this before, so I
shouldn't be surprised that I'm doing it so badly."

"Doyle, what on earth are you babbling about?" Cordelia asked him.

"Where was I?" he said as he came to a stop in front of her.

"Um.... there's only been one thing you've wanted, and that was me?"
Cordelia grinned at him.

"Oh, yeah," Doyle grinned back. "Silly me for losing my place." He
dropped to one knee in front of her, "Cordelia Chase, I love you,
and I can't imagine my life without you. If you'd do me the
unbelievable honor of becoming my wife, I'll spend the rest of my
life trying to show you just how much I love you." He reached into
his back jeans pocket and pulled out a ring box, which held a simple
yet beautiful diamond solitaire ring.

Cordelia looked at him for a moment stunned, before she could manage
to speak, "Of course I'll marry you," she finally managed, and
brushed the tears from her eyes.

"Yeah?" he said hopefully.

"Doyle, if you're going to make me repeat myself everytime we have a
conversation, I'm really going to have to hurt you," Cordelia said,
laughing. "Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes," she said, and pulled him to her
for a passionate kiss.

"Wait," Doyle pulled away, to Cordelia's dismay, and grabbed her hand.
"I want to get this on you before you change your mind," he explained
as he slipped the ring onto her finger.

"Not likely, Doyle. You're stuck with me," she replied with a smile,
before pulling him onto the couch next to her for another kiss.

"Hey, Cor-- Oh good grief!!!" Charlotte yelled and retreated to the
safety of her bedroom again.

&&&&&&&&&&&&
end 15