Chapter 8

Disclaimer: Nope, nope, nope, and ehhh…yeah. (Buffy, Angel, etc, and Cassie/Miss Ford.)

Author's Notes: SEND FEEDBACK!!! I want to know if I'm wasting my time writing this or not!

            Also, I realize that the last chapter was probably not as well-written as those preceding it. Please forgive. I was really tired.

Dedications: To Tracey, who read my stories and offered support (staring contest), to Taylor, who listened to my very first 62-page-long fanfic over the telephone ("Someday, Simba, this will all be yours"), and to Kitty for offering her constructive criticism on the rewritten version of my first fanfic. (Buffy the Squirrel and jewel encrusted hardboiled eggs)

If you aren't Tracey, Taylor, or Kitty and you don't get those italicized phrases above, congratulations, you're sane! (and have no psychic abilities.)

            Cordelia sat uneasily as Giles picked up the brick. "Well?" she asked him, trying to pick glass out of her hair without cutting herself.

            "It says, "There's no way to stop us. The—"

***

            "—end of days is here." Miss Ford finished.

            "Well," Willow said. "I thought someone was trying to knock me out again."

            Buffy smiled at the weak joke Willow was making to ease the tension. Then a thought hit her. "But it won't be the end of days," she realized. "I'm from the future, and the world isn't overrun with demons or anything."

            "I think you were sent back for a reason," Willow said. "Maybe some greater power sent you back here to stop this from happening."

            "But it's never happened," Buffy pointed out. "There's no need. If I hadn't got sent back here, there wouldn't be an apocalypse in the first place."

            "Oh, no!" Willow said. Everything was falling into place. "Something evil's afoot, for lack of a better term."

            "When is something evil not afoot in Sunnydale?" Buffy asked.

            Willow shrugged. Cassie looked confused.

            "So you got sent to stop an apocalypse that never happened?"

            Willow shook her head frantically. "No, something evil sent Buffy back here, which means the present-day hellmouth is unguarded."

            Angel caught on. "Yeah, and anything that happens in the past, I mean now, will change the future, regardless of whether "— he winced—"Cordelia and Giles can stop the apocalypse in our normal time."

            "You guys left Cordelia and Giles in charge of the Hellmouth?!" Buffy asked incredulously. "What were you thinking?"

            "I don't believe we knew about any apocalypses," Willow informed her best friend irritably. "Did we, Angel?"

            "A big 'no' on that one," Angel confirmed. "Sorry, Buff."

            Buffy sighed. "Okay, let's stop this apocalypse so I can get back to the future and stop another one." She sighed. "It's times like these when I wish I got paid overtime."

***

Sunnydale, California 1999

            "Giles, why am I reading the Watcher's Diaries again?" Cordelia asked.

            "Because they were useful in keeping your mouth shut," Giles mumbled through his glasses, which he was holding in his teeth.

            "Oh that's it, is it? Fine," Cordelia said. "Two can play this game." She opened the diary and began to read. "'June 23, 1955. Cannot believe it has been more than a year since she was murdered.'" Cordelia looked up. "Are ya gettin' annoyed, Giles? Huh? Not yet? Okay. 'So brutally tortured, at the hands of those who were once her friends. The anniversary of her death was last week, and I sat alone all day. Roger tried to console me, but he could do nothing. He simply thought she was the neighbor girl. No, she was far more than that. My Slayer is gone. I have to accept it. I will put this chapter of my life behind me. I shall write no more. –H.D." Cordelia closed the book. "Not as useful as you thought, huh Giles? I can be very annoying."

            "I know."

            "You don't say, Cordelia."

            "I do say," Cordelia objected. "You, Giles, are a big pain in the—"

            "A-ha!" Giles exclaimed. "Here's something: 'The Slayer shall be absent, and her comrades shall not raise a finger, but hope lies in they who—'"

            "Cut the yada-yada and get to the point."

            Giles sighed. "Cordelia, has anyone eve told you patience is a virtue?"

             Cordelia thought for a moment. "They might've tried to, but I probably didn't let them finish. I mean, who cares?"

            How sad, Giles though, that she can prove my point so very well.

            "The general idea," he found himself saying, "is that the Slayer is gone, her friends are gone, and you and I have to defend the world by ourselves."

            Cordelia, who had had her feet propped up on the library table in a very unladylike fashion, sat up, planting her feet on the ground. "What? That's not my job! You can't make me! Aren't I doing enough to help already?"

            Giles looked at her. "Fine, but if the world is destroyed, don't forget, the mall is part of the world…"

            "Say no more," Queen C commanded, picking up a book in one hand and a crossbow in the other. "Just give me something to aim for."

***

Sunnydale, California 1954

"So, where do the demons hang out around here these days?" Buffy asked, swinging a mace.

            "Graveyards." Cassie was walking alongside her with a sword and a stake. "Shady bars. The usual."

            "So, what's our first stop?" Willow asked, clutching her bag of spell ingredients.

            "Definitely graveyard," Cassie said. "That's where we got attacked earlier."

            "Cassandra," Miss Ford called from behind them, "be careful with that sword."

            Cassie sighed. "Yes, Miss Ford." She turned to Buffy and whispered, "Miss Ford just got engaged to some man named Michael. Oh, I'm counting the days until she becomes Mrs. Henrietta Day. Maybe she won't worry so much." Cassie smiled happily. "I'm going to be a bridesmaid, too."

            "Does this Michael guy know about her Watcherliness?" Buffy asked.

            "Not at all," Cassie said. "We'll just have to work harder to keep the secret, that's all."

            "So, what do your parents think of Miss Ford's engagement? Are they happy for her?" Buffy asked. She instantly knew it was the wrong question.

            "My father's dead, and my mother is too. I live with my grandmother. I love Gram, but it's more like I'm her legal guardian instead of the other way around. She sleeps most of the time, and she's…she doesn't notice when things are amiss with the hours I'm out. I guess it works out well in that respect."

            "I'm sorry." Buffy found herself incredibly thankful for her own mother, and heck, even her father, God bless his deadbeat soul. At lest they had noticed she had burnt down her school. At the moment, she didn't know what was worse, negative attention or no attention at all.

            "It's okay," Cassie said, trying to inject some brightness into her voice. "We have to take what we get. Life doesn't give you second chances."

            Buffy though about that for a moment. Cassie was right.

            "And besides," Cassie said wisely, "Perfect love is loving imperfection."

            How true.

*****

Okay, another chapter done. Please forgive how long it took to update (*gasp!* two days!) but I had a teeny case of writer's block. Also, I needed to go shopping.

Thanks for reading, please review!!!!!! I thrive on feedback!