Chapter Twelve

Angel helped Buffy and Vi from the ground as the others surrounded Chloe's body. Giles and Wesley silently lifted the girl from her deathbed and carried her silently towards the house. Buffy leaned heavily on Angel as she sobbed. There was nothing Angel could say. He simply stroked her head and helped her back home.

Willow and Anya began moving the dead demons from the hallway and sighed as Fred tried to comfort the little girl. The three women looked horrified as Giles and Wesley entered carrying Chloe's body. They passed through the house and out the backdoor.

Xander found Oz at the side of the house, shivering as he turned back into human form, he handed Oz some clothes and nodded wordlessly. Little was said among the team.

Angel helped Buffy to the couch as the others poured into the house. Vi sobbed uncontrollably into Gunn's shoulder as he helped her into the house.

"She was my responsibility." Vi whispered. "I let her down."

Gunn leaned over, shook his head and whispered "No". He didn't know what else to say, how to comfort the sobbing girl. He simply let Vi rest against him as he rubbed her back.

Giles entered the living room after leaving Chloe's body in the yard. Wesley nodded at Giles and left the room.

The group sat silently as the minutes turned into hours.

Wesley sat on the bed in Willow's bedroom, silently sobbing as he dialed the phone. All of his training as a watcher had never prepared him for the call he had to make. The phone seemed to vibrate as he informed Chloe's family that she had died. Wesley's throat and stomach tied into knots as Chloe's mother cried into the phone. Wesley let go of his emotions and cried along with her.

Lorne began tucking the tired patrol units in for a night's rest. He spoke to as many as possible, trying to ease their pain, their fear and their loss.

Buffy sat in silence, eyes fixated on the wall.

-

The entire group, sans Spike, gathered in the cemetery in the morning sun. Buffy, Giles and Angel dug a plot while Willow, Anya and Xander prepared the body.

Wesley delivered a eulogy over Chloe's grave as the body was lowered carefully into the plot. Gunn pounded the wooden cross into the ground marking the grave of a brave warrior. Tears filled his eyes as he stopped. He leaned down over Chloe's grave and gently tossed in a handful of dirt.

Buffy stood over the grave and gently placed a bottle of holy water on top of Chloe's wrapped form. Dawn placed a favored stake in the grave, while Rona added a stuffed Tigger doll. Each member added their own tribute to Chloe before Angel began covering the body with dirt.

"We never forget." Buffy said, choking back the tears. "We never forget that they took one of us."

"And we make them pay." Faith added in a low growl.

Vi nodded and held on to Molly.

Kennedy passed the grave marker and placed her hand on the cross before moving on to an identical grave. She knelt down and placed her hand on the other wooden cross and sobbed.

Fred looked at Molly confused. "Annabelle." Molly whispered. Fred nodded.

Vi left the group and walked to Chloe's wooden grave marker and placed a silver cross over the wooden cross.

Buffy nodded as she remembered the day Chloe first put that silver cross on. Her eyes welled with tears again as the group trudged slowly back to the house. Sobs and wails echoed in the morning air as the team said goodbye to Chloe.

-

Buffy sat on the kitchen counter carving a stake and watched out the window as Giles and Wesley began training the girls. Both the morning and the evening patrols were in the backyard trying to push aside their fears and grief and get into battle mode. Angel, Gunn and Connor were out on the streets this morning while Lorne hit every demon-friendly place in Sunnydale looking for information on the vampire gang or The First.

Oz stood in the morning sun guarding the perimeter of the house in case of attack. A large group of young men and women walked up the street and approached the house.

Oz nodded as they walked toward him and stopped. Oz tightened his grip on the crossbow and offered a "Hello."

"We're looking for Charles Gunn." One of the men said.

"He's not here." Oz answered cautiously.

"Well, he called." The man offered. "He said you have a demon problem."

Oz nodded again. "Friends of his?"

"We're his posse." The man said. "I'm Rondell."