selfindulgence11altff William's voice silences. The tomb is so quiet, we can hear Buffy's heart pounding. The look in his eyes shows me he has no faith left in her opening that quickly beating heart to him, and the emptiness in his face moves me to tears. Just the thought of him feeling so alone and unfilled is too much for me to bear. I lay a comforting hand on his and our eyes meet. My expression tries to pass along my own strength and assure him that he will never be alone as long as I am around.

My gaze drifts over to the Slayer and I catch her doing it. She is staring at William, ascertaining the truth. Her eyes hold a fascination, curiosity and almost, dare I say it, desire. "I…" She chews on her lower lip, torn between what her head and what her soul tell her. "Thank you, Danielle. You've given me something to think about." Our jaws drop to our toes. Then, she changes gears and addresses Will. "But that doesn't mean I want you, Fang Boy! So don't get any bright ideas!"

The last thing we see is her golden hair flying through the air as she turns on her heels to leave. She slams the door and I hear a growl, "Oh, yeah. She wants me." He grows a sinister grin and continues to prance around like a king the rest of the day. I mean, who could blame him? That tiny 'thank you' was more than we've ever heard from her majesty for our troubles since we met her. Forget the offhanded remark about her not wanting him. Her body language betrayed her. And William knows it too.

"And you bitched at me about that chip. What do you think now, Romeo?" You just gotta love that smug expression.

"You're excused…this time."

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Giles had done everything he could, short of selling his soul, to discover a viable way of dispensing of the Goddess Glory. The solution had evaded him for these months and the Watcher was becoming painfully aware that they would soon be facing her essentially unarmed. His only consolation was there would be another Slayer called…if there were a world left to call her into.

**********************

It was no surprise when Glory showed up in the Summers' house again. Well, it wouldn't have been a surprise for anyone, had they actually known that she was there. "Damn Slayer! Who does she think she is? Standing me up like this? I mean…" She flipped her hair around between her thumb and forefinger, "I am Glorificus!" The Goddess continued to mumble to an empty house for hours, sure that the annoying blonde would return soon. And if she didn't, then the next person to walk in that door would be left a lifeless corpse as a nice little message. 'Nobody messes with me. I will get my Key.' Crickets chirped in the distance.