"ANGEL! LOOK OUT!" Buffy screamed as a large demon threw itself at her husband. Ignoring the vampire she was battling, Buffy jumped and knocked the demon off course. They rolled on the ground and the demon ended up on top. It took a second to realize this and then it started to pummel Buffy's face. She threw her arms up to try and block the punches, but they were too fast and hard. With a war cry, Buffy bucked and tossed the heavy demon off balance just enough so she could buck again and wriggle away from it.

"Mom!" Connor threw her a broadsword and she caught it mid-flight, twirling and cutting off the demon's head. "Cool. UH!" Connor was tackled to the ground while he watched his mom kill the demon.

"Connor!" Angel yelled, running over. A large vampire, probably a linebacker once, blocked Angel and knocked him to the ground. He fought hard and then suddenly, there was a huge burst of light and everyone covered their eyes. When the light faded, Dawn stood in the middle of the room, slightly glowing around the edges, and all the vampires save for Angel were dust in the wind.

Buffy stared wide eyed at her little sister. "Dawn.."

Dawn collapsed to the floor. Buffy ran over and Dawn smiled up at her. "That takes a lot out of me when I'm in a human body down here."

"So you do this kinda thing often?" Buffy asked.

"Only when someone needs rescuing from vampires."

"Uh, there's still demons to deal with." Connor said, staring at the nine demons forming a circle around Buffy, Angel, Connor, Dawn, Gunn, Xander, and Willow.

Willow started to chant and her eyes went black. Suddenly, random demons started to burn from the inside out. They screamed and grabbed at themselves, but Willow kept chanting. Her nose was starting to bleed and she was starting to shake. Xander grabbed her just before she collapsed too. There were only four demons out of the ten left and Buffy, Angel, Connor, and Gunn each took one on while Xander tended to Willow and Dawn.

By the time the last demon fell, everything was quiet in the school. It was a newly built high school, but it had been ruined by the demons now. There weren't many people left in Sunnydale and those who were, well, they were fighting to save the world, not going to get an education. Xander had taken Willow and Dawn out of the place and out to the Jeep. They were probably on their way back to base. Which left the rest of them to walk since all the others teams had been ordered to pull out and head back to base to prepare for the big battle in two days.

Buffy looked around at the destruction of the library. Xander, who had been in charge of building the new school a while back, had taken the plans from the old high school, made them more modern, and built an updated replica of the high school Buffy, Willow, and he had gone to. Now, there were dead demon and human bodies strewn everywhere covered with a layer of vamp dust. They had lost nine men in the process of storming the school. It made Buffy wonder how many of them were going to die in the final battle when the really big demons came out to play.

"Everyone ok?" Gunn asked.

Buffy rotated her arm painfully. "I may have slightly dislocated my arm, but other than that.. I'll heal."

Connor just looked completely excited. "Wow! That was crazy! I've never seen so many demons!"

"We never planned for you to." Angel said.

Connor just bounced on the balls of his feet. "Let's go out and find the ones that ran away."

"Uh, let's not." Buffy said. "We're exhausted."

"I'm not!"

"Well, you're new at this." Angel said. "We've been out of the game for a while now."

"20 something years." Buffy said. "I am starting to thank the Powers for not letting me age because I'd probably be a lot worse if I did have the body of a mid forties woman." She glanced at the direction Willow and Xander had gone with Dawn.

Connor chuckled. "Even though we look almost the same age."

"All right chuckles, we're going back to base. Head out." Buffy smiled as she watched her son walk out of the place. He was better than she had anticipated. Stronger too. He took out three demons with one swoop of his sword. And he did all of it with his hair in his face. Connor hadn't wanted his hair to do that "weird standup-py thing" his dad's hair did, so he had grown it out long. Buffy liked it. It made his blue eyes stand out.

"Want me to carry you?" Angel asked jokingly.

Buffy lightly punched his arm. "Shut up and walk."

"Ma'am, yes, ma'am."

Buffy took his hand and followed Connor out. Gunn brought up the rear. It was a long walk from the high school to the campus, but they made it just before sun up. That day and the next night and day would be for training while today was for sleeping for the main team made up of Buffy, Angel, Connor, Gunn, Willow, Xander, and Dawn. They were the big guns. They were the ones that went in first and got the party started.

When they arrived back at the Initiative, everyone was waiting for them. As the team desended the stairs, everyone applauded. Buffy gave out small smiles and waves, but for the most part avoided everyone. She and Angel headed back to their living quarters and plopped down on the couch next to each other. Buffy twisted her arm around a couple of times and Angel massaged her shoulders gently.

"I forgot what kind of toll this fighting stuff takes. That was one hell of a battle." Buffy sighed. "And it's only going to get worse."

"Buffy, how are we going to destory the Hellmouth without destroying everyone and everything?"

"I think I may have the answer." A familiar voice said behind them. Buffy turned to find Giles standing at the top of the stairs. He had aged considerably, but he still had the Giles glint in his eye. His hair was completely white and his posture was a bit stooped over as he held indigntily to his cane.

"Giles!?" Buffy shot to her feet and ran up the stairs, hugging her Watcher tightly, but gently. "What are you doing here?"

"I found some interesting things and I couldn't send them through that blasted palm thing because I couldn't see the bloody screen."

Buffy smiled. "Please, come in. It's not exactly what we call home, but.... well, it's our not so cozy home away from home."

Angel stood and greeted Giles with a handshake. "Hi. Long time no see. Here, have a seat."

"Thank you." Giles sat and then looked up at Buffy and Angel standing side by side. "You two haven't aged a bit since the last time I saw you."

"No."

"He wouldn't. But me, I should.... But I'm not." Buffy said.

"Yes, the Oracles' promise to you. And where is the young Connor?" Giles asked.

"You mean our 18 year old son who's going off to college as soon as we get back to Illinois? He's probably training right now."

"We could send for him if you want to see him." Angel offered.

"No. No need to bother him. I would actually like to talk to you two and Willow if that's all right." Giles said.

"Yeah. Sure. No problem." Buffy walked to the phone and punched 3. After a minute, Willow picked up.

"Hello?" She asked a little weakly.

"Hey Will, you ok?"

"I'll be fine. I just needed to rest."

"Well, we have a visitor that would like to speak to you, me, and Angel."

"Who?"

"Just get down here and you'll find out."

"Ok. Be there in a minute."

Buffy hung up. "She'll be here in a minute." The Slayer looked around uncomfortably for a minute. Angel took her hand and pulled her onto the couch next to him. It had been so long since she had talked to Giles that Buffy didn't know the right thing to say. You look good for your age? How've you been the last few years that we haven't talked or seen each other? How's Olivia and your kids? Yeah, that was the creepy part. Giles had a wife and kids. He had gotten married to Olivia two years after Connor was born. When Connor was four, Giles had announced that he had a baby girl that he had named after Dawn. Two years after that, he had a son that he named Rupert Jr. that every one called Giles Jr. Buffy had teased him about it. A year later, he had another girl he had named Anya. When Buffy had asked why none of his daughters were named after her, he replied simply, "Because I already have a daughter named Buffy."

Now Dawn, Giles Jr., and Anya were 14, 12, and 11. They were all as smart as Giles and Dawn at 13 had announced that she wanted to be a Watcher like her father. She was studying to be one in her spare time after school and homework. They all looked up to Buffy as their older sister and they understood why she and Angel never aged. Three years ago, Buffy and Giles had lost contact. They hadn't meant to. Buffy was busy with her career and Giles with his as head of the Watchers Council and they had just lost touch. Willow and Giles stayed in contact because of Sunnydale. It was no surprise to Willow when she walked in and found Giles sitting on the couch. His news didn't surprise her either.

"So, you finished it?" She asked.

"Yes. It's going to take a great deal of power." Giles said.

"Which I can provide."

"Willow...."

"Wait. Shouldn't Angel and I be in on this here?" Buffy asked. "Finished what?"

"A spell to close the Hellmouth once and for all." Willow said.

"How long have you been working on this spell?" Angel asked.

"Since sophmore year of college."

"Wow. How come I didn't know anything about it?" Buffy asked.

"Because we weren't finished and we were not sure it would work." Giles said.

"What makes you guys so sure now?" Angel asked.

"We're not 100 percent here, but it's the only thing we've got to go on." Willow said.

"Do we have a backup plan?" Buffy asked. "Cause if this doesn't work, then we've got to have something to fall back on."

"There's nothing."

"That's not good enough. We have to have something."

"Then think of something." Giles said.

"It's your guys' job to think. We're just supposed to kill the bad guys, remember?" Buffy motioned to her and Angel.

"Buffy, there's no need to get upset." Willow said.

"I think there is. We need more to go on than a magick trick and some combat."

"We're all working on it, but this deadline you gave us...."

"Dawn. Dawn told us when the Hellmouth was opening."

"Doesn't matter. Do you really think we can do this?"

Buffy looked at Angel and then back at Willow. "Angel and I are up for it, but I can't answer for anyone else. If they're not ready, too damn bad. They should have been."

"They've slacked off the whole time and never took any of it seriously." Angel said. "Even when men died around them, they still didn't take it seriously. That is until we stepped in. If those people out there aren't ready, there's no one but themselves to blame it on."

Willow bowed her head and then looked at Giles. "May I see the spell?" He handed her a slip of paper. The further she read, the more solumn her face became. "This takes more power than I've got."

"I know." Giles said.

"If I do this, I'll die."

"Then you don't do it." Buffy said. Her face became even more solumn than Willow's. "I can't lose you Will."

"Buffy, this is the only way. We can't fight all the demons that come out of the Hellmouth. When it opens tomorrow, I'll have this spell ready to go. You and Angel and Connor and the others will fight the bad things off and I'll seal the Hellmouth."

"But it'll kill you. And I don't have the power to be brought back."

"It's ok Buffy. I'm ready to go. My life has been hell for the past few years. Tara leaving and I haven't heard from Oz in years. I've lived my life out. I've known love and I've known the greatest friendships anyone could ask for. There's nothing else I want to do with my life now because I've done it all." Buffy smiled at the maturity that Willow exuded. "Trust me Buffy, you and Angel have a lot left to give to this world." She stood and the two friends embraced. "I'll go start getting things prepared. This is actually a number of spells that lead up to the big one." Buffy nodded and watched her go before turning back to Giles. "I want you out."

"What?" Giles asked.

"You're not going to be here when this all goes down."

"Buffy...."

"I'm not going to lose you too. I want you out of Sunnydale now. The Hellmouth is going to open tomorrow and I want you safe on a plane back to London. I'll call you when it's all over with."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

Giles nodded and stood. He and Buffy hugged. "There's no two people quite like you Buffy."

"I know."

"Goodbye."

"Don't say it like that. It sounds like we're not going to see each other again. Cause we are." Giles nodded and left.

Once he was gone, Buffy turned back to Angel. He smiled. "I think I like this dominatrix Buffy. Why hasn't she come out to play before?"

"Because she wasn't faced with horrible odds like she is now."

"Buffy, even though things look grim now, it'll all work out eventually."

"We're going to lose a lot of people. A lot of friends."

"I know. But we'll get through it together. It's you and me forever, right?"

"Always." Angel kissed her forehead as he wrapped her in his arms. "Angel?"

"Hmm?"

"I know this sounds like I'm preparing to die, but.... Will you make love to me? I want a great memory to hold onto as I fight."

"I thought you'd never ask." Angel swept her off her feet and then laid her on the bed. He locked the door to their private room in the back and then returned back to his wife.