Part 53 - Preparations for the Future
****************

Next Morning
Sunday, 10 am

Buffy woke curled up against Xander's side, his arms wrapped around her. She
looked up at his face and saw that he was already awake, watching her.
"Morning," she said with a smile. "How long have you been awake?"

"Dunno," Xander shrugged as he ran a hand through her hair.

"Well, I'm sure watching me sleep wasn't all that fascinating," Buffy replied.
"You should've woken me up."

"I like watching you sleep," Xander said with a smile. "I wasn't bored at all."

"I love you," Buffy said, leaning up for a kiss.

She pulled away and laid her head back on his chest with a contented sigh. She
realized that this was very much a new experience, actually waking up and
finding the man she loved still there, holding her, the morning after they made
love. "I like waking up in your arms," she said softly.

"I should hope so," Xander said. "Because I want to always be here when you
wake up."

Buffy smiled up at him. It was scary sometimes how well he read her mind. She
kissed him again and said, "We should get dressed." With the Ascension coming
the following weekend, the day of graduation, the gang had agreed to meet at
Giles' place today to make plans. They'd finally found out what the Ascension
meant: the Mayor would turn into a demon and destroy the entire town of
Sunnydale and everyone in it would be killed... unless they stopped it.

"Yeah," Xander sighed. "I suppose you're right." He smiled and added, "And by
the way, I love you too."

Buffy grinned and sat up, stretching. "Good," she replied. "Because you're
stuck with me."

"Oh, damn," Xander teased. "I think I can deal with that."

Buffy rolled her eyes. "All right, I don't know about you, but need a shower."
She got out of bed and made it halfway to the bathroom, and realized Xander was
still lying in bed. "Xan, you really gotta learn to take a hint," she said.

"Oh," Xander's face lit up. "Coming," he replied as he jumped out of bed and
followed her to the bathroom.

**************
Two Hours Later
Giles' Apartment

Buffy and Xander had gotten separate taxis to take them back to their homes and
then had met up with the rest of the gang at Giles' place. They had been
discussing how to stop the Ascension for an hour, and Buffy was getting
frustrated by the lack of ideas. "Giles, why can't I just kill him, so he can't
turn into this demon?" Buffy asked.

"Because I don't want to visit my girlfriend in prison," Xander replied as he
walked over to sit next to her on the couch. "Come on, Buff. You know that's
one of the reasons why he's in such a high-profile position. Stopping the
Ascension is one thing, but being in jail for murder, that's another."

"I agree," Giles said, as he momentarily stopped his pacing. "Killing the mayor
while he's human is just not an option, Buffy. If we can eliminate the demon,
that's our best option."

"What about a spell?" Willow offered from where she sat at a nearby table with
Oz.

"We don't know enough about the type of demon he is going to become to be able
to use magic to destroy it," Giles replied.

"So...we're left with using weapons, but I'm thinking we need a lot more
weapons than a fewstakes and crossbows," Buffy said. "Not to mention quite a
few more powerful ones, too."

"Oh! Here's something else about the Ascension," Willow said, looking up from a
book she was paging through, "'Darkness will follow and day becomes night.'"

"A solar eclipse?" Giles frowned and walked to look over Willow's shoulder at
the book.

"Well, if that's true, then that means Angel _will_ be able to help, after
all," Buffy pointed out. She glanced over at Xander to see how he would react
to that. She couldn't see his face though, since he stood up and walked into
the kitchen.

"I agree we need his help, but we need more than that" Oz said. "This demon, by
all accounts, is really big and really nasty."

"So we'll talk to the people at school we know we can trust," Buffy said. "Get
some more help. If this is going to be a fight for all our lives, the more
people we have on our side the better."

"I don't know..." Giles said.

"Giles. Big, ugly demon, probably wants to eat us all," Buffy replied. "You
really think a slayer, her four human friends and a vampire can take him out?"

"I suppose not," Giles admitted.

"Good. So it's settled, then. The next few days, we'll talk to some of the
other kids and recruit the ones we can for the fight. But what about weapons?"

"I'll contact the Watchers Council," Giles replied. "Even though they don't
recognize me as your Watcher anymore, and supposedly they're working on sending
in a new Watcher, I can't see how they won't help us with procuring weapons to
stop an Ascension."

"I hope so," Buffy said. "Okay, so is there anything else for now?"

"I suppose not," Giles said. "We'll meet again tomorrow after sundown, so Angel
can be part of the plans."

"All right," Buffy nodded and went into the kitchen to find Xander. "Xan?"

He was leaning against the counter, with a bottle of Coke. "Hey," he said with
a small smile.

"You understand we need his help, Xan," Buffy said, walking over to him and
wrapping her arms around his waist. "Don't you?"

"Of course I do," Xander replied with a sigh.

"He's leaving after graduation, Xander. But even if he wasn't, you don't have
to worry about him. We're through."

"I know, Buffy," Xander said. "And I'm trying, really I am, not to be jealous
of the past you two share. But it's not easy."

"Just as long as you know that I want you to be my future," Buffy said,
reaching up to stroke his cheek with one hand.

"I do," Xander replied with a smile. He leaned down to kiss her tenderly and
added, "I don't know what I did to deserve it, but I know how lucky I am."

"I'm the lucky one," Buffy said. "Walk me home?"

"Of course," Xander said and they walked hand-in-hand out of the kitchen. "See
you later Giles," he said.

"See you tomorrow," Giles replied as Xander and Buffy left.

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