Chapter 66
Two nights later, everyone but Fred, Buffy, and Lorne all stood gathered in the lobby listening to the newscaster on TV. The whole gang had been fighting fiercely against the forces of darkness. Not to mention Buffy and Fred's quest to get the stain out of Jasmine's shirt. "After several weeks of skyrocketing homicide rates, finally this week, a dramatic decrease in Southland murders. The Sheriff's Department spokesman attributes the drop to their new 'tough on crime' policy instituted last month.."
Angel clicked off the TV. "A little credit for the 'divinity behind the scenes' policy wouldn't suck."
"It's not important who gets the credit. What matters is that we're winning." Jasmine said. They had decided to call her Jasmine because she had so admired the flowers outside.
"If we keep going at this rate.." Wesley said.
"L.A.'s going to be one big fat no-demon zone. Hello, garden city." Gunn said.
"You never doubted us. Not for a second." Angel said to Jasmine.
"There's no room for doubt, Angel. Only love."
Lorne came down the stairs and Connor said, "Hey, we made the news. Dramatic decrease in Southland murders this week."
"Well, hey! So much for that nagging apocalypse." Lorne said. He looked at Jasmine. "But hey, speaking of dramatic, I've got a smidge of a surprise for you. Upstairs."
"Surprises. They're one of my favorite things about being human." Jasmine said.
Lorne led Jasmine up the stairs and everyone sighed. Angel was the first to speak. "Isn't she.."
"Yeah." Connor said.
"A miracle." Gunn added.
Fred and Buffy came in carrying Jasmine's shirt. Fred held it up. "Well, I tried. What do you think?"
"It looks brand new." Wesley said.
Buffy started to cry. "It is. We bought a new one."
Fred sat down on the stairs crying with her. They both sobbed and Angel came over to hug Buffy as Wes said, "Even better."
"We know." Fred said.
"Well, what's the matter? She'll love it." Angel said soothingly to Buffy.
"She's not here." Buffy said.
"She's just upstairs." Gunn said.
"Yes, but when she's not around.. I hurt." Fred said.
"We hurt." Buffy corrected.
"Come on." Angel helped both women off the stairs and led them up to Jasmine's room. "She's in there. We'll let you two have some privacy."
Fred and Buffy nodded gratefully and walked in. Neither of them looked at Jasmine as they walked in. Fred was the one that talked. "Hi. We know it's not the exact same shirt but it's pretty close. Both of us scrubbed the other one till our fingers bled but we couldn't get out the.." Fred looked up. "Blood."
Buffy looked at Fred confused and then she looked at Jasmine. Instead of seeing the beautiful woman though, she saw a rotting corpse with maggots everywhere. They both stared in revulsion at Jasmine as maggots and worms squirmed in the rotting flesh of her face and twisted in her empty eye sockets. When she spoke, the vermin dropped out of her mouth onto the floor. No one else seemed to notice anything was wrong. Buffy guessed to them, Jasmine was still the beautiful and radiant woman she had always been. Recovering quickly, Buffy covered her eyes and pretended to cry. "We're sorry." Fred caught on and started to cry too.
"Fred? Buffy? Is something wrong?" Jasmine asked.
"I'll get them some water." Connor said.
"No, don't! I mean, we'll be fine." Buffy said.
Gunn, Lorne and Wesley came in response to all the commotion. Gunn smiled, "Sounds like someone's.."
"What's all the booin' and hooin', sweet pea?" Lorne asked Buffy.
"There's no reason to cry. She's right there." Wesley said.
Fred had left the room, but Buffy stuck it out and pretend nothing was wrong. She forced herself to look at Jasmine. "I.. I know.. I just.. started thinking about what it would be like if you weren't here and.. I guess I kind of lost it and that made Fred lose it. You know how she is."
"I'm not going anywhere, Buffy. You can trust in that." Jasmine said.
Buffy started edging toward the door. "I think.. I think I just need some time alone to.. You know, count my blessings cause there's so many and it's good to.. take stock." She burst into tears again and walked out, handing off the shirt to Wesley as she went. Angel was out there, but Buffy breezed past him in search for Fred. She found her in Cordy's room. She was sitting on the edge of the bed and staring.
Buffy walked over and sat on the other side. "Cordelia? It's me and Fred. We're here. Remember before the big brain suck thing, when Lorne read you and it was all bad news and headachy, puke-y-ness? Well, what if that's all true?"
"Only worse, cause we don't even know to fight back, not even Buffy or Angel. Cordelia, I wish you could.." Fred was cut off by Angel who had followed Buffy.
"I know what you two are thinking." He said.
"You do?" Buffy asked.
"Sometimes when I look in her eyes, I've seen it, too. It's overwhelming. The lies, the deceit.. It just melts away. Nothing left but the beauty."
"Yeah. It's.. incredible."
Angel looked at Cordy. "I can't believe we almost.. Seems like a lifetime ago."
"It's all so different from what we expected." Fred said.
"Big hideous evil trying to end the world? Nice to be wrong."
"Yeah, and now that she's here, everything just.."
"Seems so easy." Buffy finished.
"I know. Feels like a dream." Angel said, moving over to Buffy and kissing her forehead.
"Hey sweetheart? Have you noticed how we all just kind of.. do what she says? Don't ask questions?"
"Isn't it a relief? The constant questioning.. it's finally over."
Buffy sighed, completely crestfallen. She was never going to get through to Angel. Fred had seen it too, but neither of them knew why. Thinking quickly, Buffy looked at Fred. "Um, I have an idea. Let's take a drive and see all the good we've done in the past couple of days."
"I'd love to." Angel said.
"Not you. Just me and Fred. We've gotten to know each other a lot better since working on the shirt. It's been lots of fun. I think I have a craving for frozen yogurt and, let's face it sweetheart, you don't like to eat yogurt. You said it tastes icky."
"Ok." Angel kissed Buffy tenderly and handed her the keys to his convertible. "You two have fun."
"Oh, we will." Buffy took Fred's hand and they walked out. Once they were on the road, Fred turned to look at Buffy. "You saw it too!"
"Yeah. I'm a little depressed right now."
"Me too. What're we going to do?"
"I don't know!" Buffy slammed her hand on the dashboard. "This is really frustrating. Why are we the only ones who can see it?"
"I don't know." Fred looked out at the passing street lights. "Oh! We're not the only ones! That guy at the café a couple of nights ago saw it."
"He tried to attack her."
"Yeah."
"Where're they keeping him at? I know he's at a hospital."
"I think the papers said Cedar Sinai."
"Ok." Without even blinking, Buffy pulled a tight U-turn and cut about four cars off. Their horns blared, but Buffy ignored them. She sped to Cedar Sinai and she and Fred walked up to the ER front desk. "Hi. Yes, we're looking for a patient. A man. He was brought in Thursday, his name's Stover."
"Are you family members?" The nurse asked.
"Are we.. yes! We have a family. We're members. He's our brother.. father.. our father's brother."
"I have a Stoler.."
"Half-brother.. uncle.. half-uncle. Stoler! That's it. Please. We need to know if he's all right."
"Dr. Koelsch treated him."
"Is he still here?"
"He was transferred to.. oh."
"What?" Buffy and Fred asked.
"He's been transferred to the psychiatric unit."
"Thank you." Buffy said. Fred and Buffy walked up to the psych floor and found the door to the ward locked with an electronic keypad. As Fred examined it closely, trying to find a way past it, the door opened from the other side. Buffy and Fred ducked out of sight, as a nurse exited the ward, then Buffy quickly caught the door before it closed and she and Fred ducked inside. They found Stoler's room and entered. The only light came from an x-ray viewer hanging on the wall. Stoler lied in bed, facing away from them, his arms and legs in restraints.
"John? John Stoler?" Fred asked.
"Go away." John said.
"John, we kind of have to ask you.. do you have a history of mental.. what I mean to ask is.. have you been in this particular ward before?"
"You mean am I crazy?"
"Were you before Thursday?" Buffy asked.
"Leave me alone."
"We don't think you're crazy. We think we know what happened. We think we know what you saw because we saw it, too." Fred said. "The woman you attacked.."
"Not a woman."
"Her face.. it's horrible, isn't it? Decay, blood.."
"Things living there.." Buffy added.
"You did see it." John said.
"Yeah."
"Did it touch either of you?"
"What?"
He turned toward them, revealing his face. The entire left side where Jasmine had caressed him was twisted and deformed, as if the skin had melted like candle wax. His eye was gone, a useless socket. "Don't let it touch you."
"She did that to you?"
"Untie me, please. I have to get out of here. I have to finish it."
"Finish what?"
"She has to die. We have to kill it."
"We? No. I mean, maybe but.. no."
"You said you saw it."
"We did!"
"Then you've been called, too."
"Called?"
"Called to the mission."
"Called.. no. I've already been called for something else. Not this."
"It's our duty. Others won't see."
"You're wrong. If what we saw is true, there are people who will understand, who will help."
"You've been called."
"Established that already. But not for this." Buffy's cell phone trilled.
"Okay, that's just eerie." Fred said.
"It's Angel. They're probably wondering where we are."
"You have to do it." John said.
"We have to go. Thank you for your time. We're sorry to have disturbed you." Fred said.
"Don't trust her. Don't trust anyone!"
Buffy and Fred ran out of the hospital ward and out into the street. Buffy's cell trilled again. She picked it up as she started the car and pulled into the street. "Hey sweetheart." "Where were you? This is the second time I've called."
"Oh, you know me. I'm so forgetful sometimes. Fred and I were enjoying that yogurt and weren't paying attention to anything. I left the phone in the car. We're on our way home though."
"Ok. Maybe we can get away for a little while and have some alone time."
"That would be wonderful. Is Jasmine there with you?"
"Yeah. Do you want to talk to Her? She's really worried about you and Fred."
"No. No, we're ok. I was just checking. Don't want to disturb Her with our petty hormones. I guess it's about that time of the month for both of us. We'll see you when we get there, ok?"
"I love you."
"I love you too. Bye." Buffy hung up her cell and tossed it to Fred in the passenger's seat.
"What'd he want?" Fred asked.
"He's concerned husband guy. Never was like that before. He knows I can take care of myself."
"It's Jasmine's.. whatever."
"Glamour. She's making everyone see something beautiful where there's just ugly. Willow can do it too. Only this is worse. More like mass hysteria."
"I don't want to see it again."
"I don't either, but we've gotta go back. We've got to try and convince someone, anyone of what Jasmine is." Buffy sighed and took a hard left. "This sucks. One minute I was all 'yay' and then now it's all back to doom and gloom and misery."
"Tell me about it."
"There goes another light at the end of the really long tunnel." Buffy braked hard and parked in the parking garage. They got out and walked in through the garden. Two girls were on their way in giggling. "What is this?"
"I don't know."
They entered to find the lobby crowded with dozens of people, all milling about and talking amongst themselves excitedly. Lorne made his way among them, falling back into his role as host. "We are just excited head-over- teakettle about this entire event. I just can't even believe.." He spotted them. "Hey, hey, hey, pumpkins! Where you two been?"
"Out." Buffy said. "What happened?"
"She went out for a walk. It was like A Hard Day's Night. Everybody followed her back. Isn't it fabulous? Oh, hey, hey!" He called. Lorne looked back at them. "Excuse me, darlings."
Lorne headed off and Buffy spotted Wes through the crowd. She took Fred's hand and they walked over. Wesley smiled. "Can you believe this?" He looked at their solemn faces. "What is it?"
"I.. we need to talk to you." Fred said. She pulled him to the side. "If we told you something, you know, that maybe you didn't want to know even, you'd trust us, right?"
"Of course."
"We.. went to see that man. From the restaurant. The one who.."
"The attacker? Why?"
"That's what we wanted to know. Why he would do that. Wesley, he saw something. We all saw something. We needed to know if it was the same something."
"And?"
"It was. Wesley, I know you're going to find this hard to accept but.."
"Fred and I saw Jasmine's face rotting away and maggots were crawling everywhere. It was really disturbing and if we could just go back to not seeing it that way, then that would be perfectly fine by us." Buffy said in a rush.
"Rotting flesh? Really?" Wes asked.
"You don't believe us." Fred said.
"If you two say you saw it, I believe you."
"He told us not to tell anyone but we knew if we came to you.."
"You did the right thing."
The lobby suddenly filled with applause as Jasmine entered flanked by Angel and Connor. They strode across the upper balcony, then stopped and looked down on the crowd below. Angel smiled when he saw Buffy, but she pretended not to see him as she and Fred looked back at Wesley, anxious. "You'll help us?"
"Of course I'll help you. Wait here."
He moved off, heading for the stairs. The two women watched as he met Gunn halfway and whispered something to him. They both turned and stared coldly at Buffy and Fred, then Wesley continued on up toward Angel and Connor while Gunn circled the perimeter of the crowd toward Lorne.
"I don't think they wanna help." Buffy said. "Come on." She and Fred backed slowly toward the weapons cabinet as Wesley whispered to Angel and Jasmine and Gunn did the same for Lorne. Lorne turned around, his eyes searching Buffy and Fred out among the crowd, hatred on his face. Buffy opened the cabinet doors and slipped a dagger into her pocket then quickly loaded a crossbow and handed it to Fred. Fred spun around, crossbow raised and aimed directly at Jasmine.
"I'm sorry." She said, finger tightening on the trigger.
As the crossbow bolt shot across the lobby, Angel leapt over the railing and took it in the shoulder. He crashed to the lobby floor, followed by Connor who helped him up. Lorne stalked over to Buffy and Fred, furious. "Fred! Are you two crazy? I mean.." Buffy whipped out the dagger, flipped Lorne around, and held the knife to his throat, staring at Angel, Wesley and Connor who stopped in their tracks. "Buffy!"
"Don't come near us!" Buffy said.
"Put down the knife, Buffy." Angel said.
"I'll kill him."
"You don't know what you're doing." Gunn said.
"I think I know what I'm doing Gunn. I've been killing demons professionally for eight years."
"Easy, kiddo, huh?" Lorne said.
"There's nowhere you can go. My love will follow you everywhere." Jasmine said.
Buffy pushed Lorne down the steps and into Angel, grabbed Fred's hand, and then bolted out the front door. They expected everyone to come after them, but to their surprise, no one did. Fred leaned against the GTX and sighed.
"Get in." Buffy said.
"We're stealing Angel's car?" Fred asked.
"No. We're taking my car. This is as much mine as it is Angel's. We're married, remember?"
Fred got in and Buffy geared up the engine. They drove through the dark. Buffy was near tears because she felt so alone. Sure, she had Fred, but her husband, the love of her entire life, was under Jasmine's spell and she didn't know how to get him out of it. Buffy sighed and pulled over to the side of the road and stared out the window before breaking down in tears. Fred scooted over and hugged her tightly.
"It's hopeless." Buffy said.
"It's not completely hopeless. We'll just have to sit and think this out." Fred said,, trying to ease Buffy's nerve.
"I didn't mean that. I meant.. This! All of it! One minute I was incredibly happy and actually planning on another baby, but then.. And now all I know is hopelessness because that's all gone."
"Shh." Fred looked around at the darkened sky. Buffy was right, it did feel hopeless.
Two nights later, everyone but Fred, Buffy, and Lorne all stood gathered in the lobby listening to the newscaster on TV. The whole gang had been fighting fiercely against the forces of darkness. Not to mention Buffy and Fred's quest to get the stain out of Jasmine's shirt. "After several weeks of skyrocketing homicide rates, finally this week, a dramatic decrease in Southland murders. The Sheriff's Department spokesman attributes the drop to their new 'tough on crime' policy instituted last month.."
Angel clicked off the TV. "A little credit for the 'divinity behind the scenes' policy wouldn't suck."
"It's not important who gets the credit. What matters is that we're winning." Jasmine said. They had decided to call her Jasmine because she had so admired the flowers outside.
"If we keep going at this rate.." Wesley said.
"L.A.'s going to be one big fat no-demon zone. Hello, garden city." Gunn said.
"You never doubted us. Not for a second." Angel said to Jasmine.
"There's no room for doubt, Angel. Only love."
Lorne came down the stairs and Connor said, "Hey, we made the news. Dramatic decrease in Southland murders this week."
"Well, hey! So much for that nagging apocalypse." Lorne said. He looked at Jasmine. "But hey, speaking of dramatic, I've got a smidge of a surprise for you. Upstairs."
"Surprises. They're one of my favorite things about being human." Jasmine said.
Lorne led Jasmine up the stairs and everyone sighed. Angel was the first to speak. "Isn't she.."
"Yeah." Connor said.
"A miracle." Gunn added.
Fred and Buffy came in carrying Jasmine's shirt. Fred held it up. "Well, I tried. What do you think?"
"It looks brand new." Wesley said.
Buffy started to cry. "It is. We bought a new one."
Fred sat down on the stairs crying with her. They both sobbed and Angel came over to hug Buffy as Wes said, "Even better."
"We know." Fred said.
"Well, what's the matter? She'll love it." Angel said soothingly to Buffy.
"She's not here." Buffy said.
"She's just upstairs." Gunn said.
"Yes, but when she's not around.. I hurt." Fred said.
"We hurt." Buffy corrected.
"Come on." Angel helped both women off the stairs and led them up to Jasmine's room. "She's in there. We'll let you two have some privacy."
Fred and Buffy nodded gratefully and walked in. Neither of them looked at Jasmine as they walked in. Fred was the one that talked. "Hi. We know it's not the exact same shirt but it's pretty close. Both of us scrubbed the other one till our fingers bled but we couldn't get out the.." Fred looked up. "Blood."
Buffy looked at Fred confused and then she looked at Jasmine. Instead of seeing the beautiful woman though, she saw a rotting corpse with maggots everywhere. They both stared in revulsion at Jasmine as maggots and worms squirmed in the rotting flesh of her face and twisted in her empty eye sockets. When she spoke, the vermin dropped out of her mouth onto the floor. No one else seemed to notice anything was wrong. Buffy guessed to them, Jasmine was still the beautiful and radiant woman she had always been. Recovering quickly, Buffy covered her eyes and pretended to cry. "We're sorry." Fred caught on and started to cry too.
"Fred? Buffy? Is something wrong?" Jasmine asked.
"I'll get them some water." Connor said.
"No, don't! I mean, we'll be fine." Buffy said.
Gunn, Lorne and Wesley came in response to all the commotion. Gunn smiled, "Sounds like someone's.."
"What's all the booin' and hooin', sweet pea?" Lorne asked Buffy.
"There's no reason to cry. She's right there." Wesley said.
Fred had left the room, but Buffy stuck it out and pretend nothing was wrong. She forced herself to look at Jasmine. "I.. I know.. I just.. started thinking about what it would be like if you weren't here and.. I guess I kind of lost it and that made Fred lose it. You know how she is."
"I'm not going anywhere, Buffy. You can trust in that." Jasmine said.
Buffy started edging toward the door. "I think.. I think I just need some time alone to.. You know, count my blessings cause there's so many and it's good to.. take stock." She burst into tears again and walked out, handing off the shirt to Wesley as she went. Angel was out there, but Buffy breezed past him in search for Fred. She found her in Cordy's room. She was sitting on the edge of the bed and staring.
Buffy walked over and sat on the other side. "Cordelia? It's me and Fred. We're here. Remember before the big brain suck thing, when Lorne read you and it was all bad news and headachy, puke-y-ness? Well, what if that's all true?"
"Only worse, cause we don't even know to fight back, not even Buffy or Angel. Cordelia, I wish you could.." Fred was cut off by Angel who had followed Buffy.
"I know what you two are thinking." He said.
"You do?" Buffy asked.
"Sometimes when I look in her eyes, I've seen it, too. It's overwhelming. The lies, the deceit.. It just melts away. Nothing left but the beauty."
"Yeah. It's.. incredible."
Angel looked at Cordy. "I can't believe we almost.. Seems like a lifetime ago."
"It's all so different from what we expected." Fred said.
"Big hideous evil trying to end the world? Nice to be wrong."
"Yeah, and now that she's here, everything just.."
"Seems so easy." Buffy finished.
"I know. Feels like a dream." Angel said, moving over to Buffy and kissing her forehead.
"Hey sweetheart? Have you noticed how we all just kind of.. do what she says? Don't ask questions?"
"Isn't it a relief? The constant questioning.. it's finally over."
Buffy sighed, completely crestfallen. She was never going to get through to Angel. Fred had seen it too, but neither of them knew why. Thinking quickly, Buffy looked at Fred. "Um, I have an idea. Let's take a drive and see all the good we've done in the past couple of days."
"I'd love to." Angel said.
"Not you. Just me and Fred. We've gotten to know each other a lot better since working on the shirt. It's been lots of fun. I think I have a craving for frozen yogurt and, let's face it sweetheart, you don't like to eat yogurt. You said it tastes icky."
"Ok." Angel kissed Buffy tenderly and handed her the keys to his convertible. "You two have fun."
"Oh, we will." Buffy took Fred's hand and they walked out. Once they were on the road, Fred turned to look at Buffy. "You saw it too!"
"Yeah. I'm a little depressed right now."
"Me too. What're we going to do?"
"I don't know!" Buffy slammed her hand on the dashboard. "This is really frustrating. Why are we the only ones who can see it?"
"I don't know." Fred looked out at the passing street lights. "Oh! We're not the only ones! That guy at the café a couple of nights ago saw it."
"He tried to attack her."
"Yeah."
"Where're they keeping him at? I know he's at a hospital."
"I think the papers said Cedar Sinai."
"Ok." Without even blinking, Buffy pulled a tight U-turn and cut about four cars off. Their horns blared, but Buffy ignored them. She sped to Cedar Sinai and she and Fred walked up to the ER front desk. "Hi. Yes, we're looking for a patient. A man. He was brought in Thursday, his name's Stover."
"Are you family members?" The nurse asked.
"Are we.. yes! We have a family. We're members. He's our brother.. father.. our father's brother."
"I have a Stoler.."
"Half-brother.. uncle.. half-uncle. Stoler! That's it. Please. We need to know if he's all right."
"Dr. Koelsch treated him."
"Is he still here?"
"He was transferred to.. oh."
"What?" Buffy and Fred asked.
"He's been transferred to the psychiatric unit."
"Thank you." Buffy said. Fred and Buffy walked up to the psych floor and found the door to the ward locked with an electronic keypad. As Fred examined it closely, trying to find a way past it, the door opened from the other side. Buffy and Fred ducked out of sight, as a nurse exited the ward, then Buffy quickly caught the door before it closed and she and Fred ducked inside. They found Stoler's room and entered. The only light came from an x-ray viewer hanging on the wall. Stoler lied in bed, facing away from them, his arms and legs in restraints.
"John? John Stoler?" Fred asked.
"Go away." John said.
"John, we kind of have to ask you.. do you have a history of mental.. what I mean to ask is.. have you been in this particular ward before?"
"You mean am I crazy?"
"Were you before Thursday?" Buffy asked.
"Leave me alone."
"We don't think you're crazy. We think we know what happened. We think we know what you saw because we saw it, too." Fred said. "The woman you attacked.."
"Not a woman."
"Her face.. it's horrible, isn't it? Decay, blood.."
"Things living there.." Buffy added.
"You did see it." John said.
"Yeah."
"Did it touch either of you?"
"What?"
He turned toward them, revealing his face. The entire left side where Jasmine had caressed him was twisted and deformed, as if the skin had melted like candle wax. His eye was gone, a useless socket. "Don't let it touch you."
"She did that to you?"
"Untie me, please. I have to get out of here. I have to finish it."
"Finish what?"
"She has to die. We have to kill it."
"We? No. I mean, maybe but.. no."
"You said you saw it."
"We did!"
"Then you've been called, too."
"Called?"
"Called to the mission."
"Called.. no. I've already been called for something else. Not this."
"It's our duty. Others won't see."
"You're wrong. If what we saw is true, there are people who will understand, who will help."
"You've been called."
"Established that already. But not for this." Buffy's cell phone trilled.
"Okay, that's just eerie." Fred said.
"It's Angel. They're probably wondering where we are."
"You have to do it." John said.
"We have to go. Thank you for your time. We're sorry to have disturbed you." Fred said.
"Don't trust her. Don't trust anyone!"
Buffy and Fred ran out of the hospital ward and out into the street. Buffy's cell trilled again. She picked it up as she started the car and pulled into the street. "Hey sweetheart." "Where were you? This is the second time I've called."
"Oh, you know me. I'm so forgetful sometimes. Fred and I were enjoying that yogurt and weren't paying attention to anything. I left the phone in the car. We're on our way home though."
"Ok. Maybe we can get away for a little while and have some alone time."
"That would be wonderful. Is Jasmine there with you?"
"Yeah. Do you want to talk to Her? She's really worried about you and Fred."
"No. No, we're ok. I was just checking. Don't want to disturb Her with our petty hormones. I guess it's about that time of the month for both of us. We'll see you when we get there, ok?"
"I love you."
"I love you too. Bye." Buffy hung up her cell and tossed it to Fred in the passenger's seat.
"What'd he want?" Fred asked.
"He's concerned husband guy. Never was like that before. He knows I can take care of myself."
"It's Jasmine's.. whatever."
"Glamour. She's making everyone see something beautiful where there's just ugly. Willow can do it too. Only this is worse. More like mass hysteria."
"I don't want to see it again."
"I don't either, but we've gotta go back. We've got to try and convince someone, anyone of what Jasmine is." Buffy sighed and took a hard left. "This sucks. One minute I was all 'yay' and then now it's all back to doom and gloom and misery."
"Tell me about it."
"There goes another light at the end of the really long tunnel." Buffy braked hard and parked in the parking garage. They got out and walked in through the garden. Two girls were on their way in giggling. "What is this?"
"I don't know."
They entered to find the lobby crowded with dozens of people, all milling about and talking amongst themselves excitedly. Lorne made his way among them, falling back into his role as host. "We are just excited head-over- teakettle about this entire event. I just can't even believe.." He spotted them. "Hey, hey, hey, pumpkins! Where you two been?"
"Out." Buffy said. "What happened?"
"She went out for a walk. It was like A Hard Day's Night. Everybody followed her back. Isn't it fabulous? Oh, hey, hey!" He called. Lorne looked back at them. "Excuse me, darlings."
Lorne headed off and Buffy spotted Wes through the crowd. She took Fred's hand and they walked over. Wesley smiled. "Can you believe this?" He looked at their solemn faces. "What is it?"
"I.. we need to talk to you." Fred said. She pulled him to the side. "If we told you something, you know, that maybe you didn't want to know even, you'd trust us, right?"
"Of course."
"We.. went to see that man. From the restaurant. The one who.."
"The attacker? Why?"
"That's what we wanted to know. Why he would do that. Wesley, he saw something. We all saw something. We needed to know if it was the same something."
"And?"
"It was. Wesley, I know you're going to find this hard to accept but.."
"Fred and I saw Jasmine's face rotting away and maggots were crawling everywhere. It was really disturbing and if we could just go back to not seeing it that way, then that would be perfectly fine by us." Buffy said in a rush.
"Rotting flesh? Really?" Wes asked.
"You don't believe us." Fred said.
"If you two say you saw it, I believe you."
"He told us not to tell anyone but we knew if we came to you.."
"You did the right thing."
The lobby suddenly filled with applause as Jasmine entered flanked by Angel and Connor. They strode across the upper balcony, then stopped and looked down on the crowd below. Angel smiled when he saw Buffy, but she pretended not to see him as she and Fred looked back at Wesley, anxious. "You'll help us?"
"Of course I'll help you. Wait here."
He moved off, heading for the stairs. The two women watched as he met Gunn halfway and whispered something to him. They both turned and stared coldly at Buffy and Fred, then Wesley continued on up toward Angel and Connor while Gunn circled the perimeter of the crowd toward Lorne.
"I don't think they wanna help." Buffy said. "Come on." She and Fred backed slowly toward the weapons cabinet as Wesley whispered to Angel and Jasmine and Gunn did the same for Lorne. Lorne turned around, his eyes searching Buffy and Fred out among the crowd, hatred on his face. Buffy opened the cabinet doors and slipped a dagger into her pocket then quickly loaded a crossbow and handed it to Fred. Fred spun around, crossbow raised and aimed directly at Jasmine.
"I'm sorry." She said, finger tightening on the trigger.
As the crossbow bolt shot across the lobby, Angel leapt over the railing and took it in the shoulder. He crashed to the lobby floor, followed by Connor who helped him up. Lorne stalked over to Buffy and Fred, furious. "Fred! Are you two crazy? I mean.." Buffy whipped out the dagger, flipped Lorne around, and held the knife to his throat, staring at Angel, Wesley and Connor who stopped in their tracks. "Buffy!"
"Don't come near us!" Buffy said.
"Put down the knife, Buffy." Angel said.
"I'll kill him."
"You don't know what you're doing." Gunn said.
"I think I know what I'm doing Gunn. I've been killing demons professionally for eight years."
"Easy, kiddo, huh?" Lorne said.
"There's nowhere you can go. My love will follow you everywhere." Jasmine said.
Buffy pushed Lorne down the steps and into Angel, grabbed Fred's hand, and then bolted out the front door. They expected everyone to come after them, but to their surprise, no one did. Fred leaned against the GTX and sighed.
"Get in." Buffy said.
"We're stealing Angel's car?" Fred asked.
"No. We're taking my car. This is as much mine as it is Angel's. We're married, remember?"
Fred got in and Buffy geared up the engine. They drove through the dark. Buffy was near tears because she felt so alone. Sure, she had Fred, but her husband, the love of her entire life, was under Jasmine's spell and she didn't know how to get him out of it. Buffy sighed and pulled over to the side of the road and stared out the window before breaking down in tears. Fred scooted over and hugged her tightly.
"It's hopeless." Buffy said.
"It's not completely hopeless. We'll just have to sit and think this out." Fred said,, trying to ease Buffy's nerve.
"I didn't mean that. I meant.. This! All of it! One minute I was incredibly happy and actually planning on another baby, but then.. And now all I know is hopelessness because that's all gone."
"Shh." Fred looked around at the darkened sky. Buffy was right, it did feel hopeless.
