I woke up for the second time that day feeling much better than I had the first time. I was rested, refreshed, and hangover free. I looked at the clock before rolling out of bed for first the bathroom and then the kitchen to take care of my body's needs. I checked to make sure my phone hadn't gone off again and then rechecked my appearance quickly on my way to Buffy's house. I knocked hesitantly on the door and it was Dawn who answered. She gave me a big hug and then released me to see Willow and Tara around the dining room table going over papers, a book and some computer disks.

"How you doing?"

"I'm good, you just missed Buffy though. She said she was going over to find Xander." As we spoke Willow and Tara were whispering conspiratorially together and Willow looked up at me with a gleam in her eye.

'We're going upstairs to consult a book on some of this stuff.' I nodded in response as they stood. Sure they were.

'Good luck.' They both smiled at me as they turned and headed up the stairs. I closed the front door behind me and looked back at Dawn.

"So, what's going on today with you?"

"Not much, I'm heading over to Janice's in a little bit to give Willow and Tara time to, you know, reacquaint. How about you?"

"I still need to find Buffy. We still need to talk about... last night. You okay to go on your own, right?"

"Oh yeah, I think I can walk the three blocks to her house without getting killed."

"Alright then, have fun. I'll catch you later, maybe tomorrow." I gave her another hug and went back out the door. I almost thought a goodbye to Willow, but decided she'd be a little busy right about now. She confirmed that a minute later all on her own and I threw my walls up fast, trying to forget the smell of roses. Instead I waited till I was down the road a ways before trying to find Xander again. I didn't have any luck, though. I guess his pain had dwindled to the point of numb achyness. I searched out Buffy instead and found her waiting to start her patrol in one of the cemeteries as the last vestiges of sunlight slowly faded away. I drove over in her direction and made it just before we lost the sun to the night.

"Hey."

"Hey yourself. Can we talk?" She nodded and got in the car. "How did it go with Xander?"

"Not so good, but we talked. He's been drinking a lot, kinda like his dad; I'm worried about him."

"Well, I'm more worried about you right now."

"About me? I told you, it's over between me and Spike. Don't you believe me?"

"I know that. I'm worried because I got a call from Wesley yesterday. I wanted to tell you then, but we got kind of distracted."

"What did he say?"

"He said things would come to a head over the next few and the danger is definitely human in origin."

"Human? I think I can handle human."

"Buffy, it could mean anything. It could be something from one of your friends, or the geeks, or who knows what. It could even be you or me. The fact is, we just don't know."

"Okay, so I'll be careful. Did you want to come with me through this one or should we split up and get them done more quickly?" I considered staying by her side for the next week, but I wanted to get this done quickly so we could get back to her place. We divided the town between the both of us and kissed quickly before she climbed back out of the car and waved as I pulled off to take care of mine. I'd taken more because the car let me move faster and I only stopped once, but she still beat me back home. I felt it when she got kicked and broke through a tombstone, but otherwise she was fine and started on her way back home. I was in the middle of Spike's cemetery, of course, when I felt her pain and panic. I raced back to the car and slammed it in gear, peeling out. I felt her struggle and wondered who could have pinned her down. In an instant I realized it was Spike and I knew what he was trying to do. The pedal was floored and I squealed around every corner, recklessly dodging through and around traffic as I raced to my love. I didn't make it in time.

I pulled into the driveway and left the car running and the front door open on my way to her side. She was half curled up against the side of the tub, the rest of the bathroom in disarray. Her bathrobe hung open and tears streaked her face. That one look that passed between us was enough to tell me exactly what happened and I fell to my knees beside her, wrapping both arms around her.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm alright, he didn't, I mean I-"

"You stopped him. Where did he go?"

"I don't know." I kissed her forehead and stood to leave but she called me back. "Don't! Just don't, please."

"I knew I should have killed him last night."

"What do you mean you were going to kill him? I stopped Xander from..."

"Just what it sounded like. You're okay now; I'll be back after I take care of some unfinished business." She called for me down the stairs but tunnel vision was coming on in full effect. Xander came through the open door calling something about Warren, but I brushed past him, ignoring his questions and Spike's duster on the stair railing. I was gone into the night, hunting what would be the most satisfying prey I'd had in a long time. I ignored the car, stopping only to turn it off, and stalked off after the one man I had no problem killing for pleasure.

All was for naught. I found his crypt empty, but for Clem. I started looking around while he sat there with his wings watching TV. I ignored his questions as I found some shards of broken glass and the smell of vodka. I looked around some more, and as I came back upstairs Clem finally told me something worthwhile.

"If you're looking for Spike, he's gone."

"Where did he go?"

"I'm not sure, exactly. He was complaining about his chip and how he loved Buf..."

"Do not say her name. Where did he go?" I threw a chair across the room where it broke against the wall and Clem took a step back.

"I don't know. But he's gone, out of town, and I'm just here watching his place for him. That's all I know, I swear." I stormed out past him and turned back at the doorway.

"If you see him, you tell him his days are numbered." I kept walking for a few more hours but had no leads by the time I made it back to her house to find her waiting on the front steps. Waiting for me, I hoped, but she was silent as I leaned against the other pillar. She did fix me with a questioning gaze and I could only shake my head.

"Couldn't find him." I gave no credence whatsoever to Clem's story about him ditching town. I'd already promised myself that I'd find him over the next few days. In the meantime, Buffy had almost been raped. I smacked myself in the head and tried to get back to being the guy I was now instead of the young brash killer I'd been from before. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'll be okay. Xander saw, but the rest of them don't know. I'd like to keep it that way." She was quiet for a while but then started telling me about her fight with super Warren and how the other two got arrested after their attempted heist. She almost chuckled when she got to the part with the jet packs and the incredulous face I couldn't help but make. I mean... Jet packs? Finally she looked up into my eyes and asked me an important question, but by no means currently the most important. "So do you think they were the human threat from the prophecy?"

"I don't know, but according to Wesley we've still got a few days left. I think we should play it safe for a while." She nodded and stood up to walk to the door where she turned and looked back at me. I felt the distance between us symbolized the huge rift in our relationship. This was the whole reason I hadn't killed Spike before, because it might hurt Buffy and that is not something I want to do.

"Are you coming in?" I nodded and moved to her side, closing the door behind me as I followed her up the stairs. I shed my jacket and pants but kept my shirt and shorts on before we crawled into bed. I held her tightly against me, but not so tight she felt trapped. All of my concentration was on comforting her, now, and I didn't want to do anything to remind her of what she'd just been through. I didn't press and she didn't wait. She turned in my embrace to face me and lightly traced the line of my chest with the fingers of her left hand. She tilted her face forward and kissed me.

"He asked me about you, y'know."

"Oh yeah?" Not really sure who we were talking about, but I let her talk it out.

"He told me he loved me and that I should have let Xander kill him. He said that things like trust and comfort are for old married people and that real love was passionate and burning. We still have that, don't we?"

"You're not actually listening to anything he had to say, are you? And if our time together at the lodge didn't seem passionate to you then I need to work on my technique." Those thoughts made her smile, at least. "I love you, Buffy. I don't need to hear you tell me that yet, but I just need you to know that I do. We have trust and we have passion, right along with comfort and heat, but we're not married. That can come in its own time." Now she really smiled and her thoughts were wrapped up in romantic thought of marriage and flowers and dresses that drifted her off to sleep, distracting her from the entire ordeal.

The next morning started off normally enough. I hadn't gotten much sleep the night before and was a little groggy as I looked up at Buffy's retreating figure on her way to the bathroom. I sat up and stretched, yawning and popping my shoulders before standing and pulling on my pants. Buffy didn't let me tuck my pistol under the pillow when I spent the night so I kept it under the side of the bed I slept on. It got tucked back into its position, forward of my hip on my strong side, after I checked to make sure it was still loaded. I made my way past the girls' rooms, Dawn's was empty and Willow and Tara were making sounds of getting up. I went downstairs to use the bathroom and washed my face trying to fully wake up. I poured some juice into two glasses and held the one out for Buffy as she came through the door. We sat together, enjoying our liquid breakfast, and spoke of inconsequential subjects to keep the mood light. She put the empty glass in the sink and headed outside to the back yard. I stood at the window watching her for a few minutes, finishing the rest of my juice and wondering if she was really okay or if it was still just an act. I watched as she picked up a stick and started poking at the plants in the backyard and then as Xander came around from the side of the house to start talking with her. I saw them hug and grinned as I decided to join them. My eyes were on Xander as he nodded slightly to something Buffy said but then his eyes went wide as he pulled back and I followed where he was looking. Warren came around the side of the fence and started yelling. Warren... with a gun!

I kicked into overdrive. My hand found my pistol and started pulling it out as I ran toward Buffy. I watched Warren raise his gun in slow motion and fired a split second after he did. I fired three times to his five, tackling into Buffy and Xander as one of my rounds found his leg. Pain and fire spread through me in a freakily familiar sensation, centering on my chest. I tried to sit halfway up to index on the threat, but was suddenly too weak to do anything but breathe. Faintly I heard someone calling my name and saw Buffy looking down on me. My eyes were open but I saw very little and then even less as the world started to fade away. I came to, I think, in an ambulance but the only thing I saw was my hand being clutched in both of Buffy's. She leaned forward and said something but I couldn't hear a word she said, only marvel at her own spreading redness under a compress being held by Xander. The world went black again and I welcomed the freedom from pain, like a cool wave splashed against my back sending a chill down my spine.

Next thing I knew and I was again surrounded by pain. I pushed against it with my mind and tried to bring both hands to bear against it, but they were pushed back down against the bed easily. I tried to look around but my head was similarly restrained and then... nothing. Not quite nothing, though. Not only was the pain gone, it had never existed. I was warm but not too warm, and cool but not too cool. I was relaxed, I was welcome, and I was free. I was complete. I was whole. I had been here before. I opened my eyes and took in the wonder and beauty before me, what could only be described as perfection. I don't know how long I was here before, time had no meaning, but it was the same. I floated free of every worldly concern, lost in simple contentment for an eon or more. Without warning I felt a sharp tug and, ripping and tearing, I was slammed back into my body. I opened my eyes and took in a shuddering breath of agony. The lights blinded me as I looked up at Willow standing above me with her hand held open over my chest.

"What happened?" I turned my head looking around for clues to where I was. On the left were medical implements so that meant hospital. On my right was Willow and past her another ER table with Buffy sitting up looking at me. With a wave of Willow's hand in Buffy's direction, she looked down at the compress on her shoulder and pulled it off to reveal untouched flesh. I looked down at my own chest and saw mending well underway, but not completed. I poked my finger into the open wound and pulled it out quickly. The bleeding had stopped and the bullet was gone, but the hole remained.

"The flesh will take time to mend where the scar was already. You will heal." Willow's black hair billowed as she stalked out of the room, Xander heading after her leaving Buffy and I looking at each other.

"Human threat... you saved my life." She stood and moved easily, the blood on her shirt just a reminder of how close I'd come to losing her forever.

"Thank me later, if it sticks." I sat up fully, wincing at the effort and the pain. Buffy grabbed a small clean gauze pad and stuck it in place over my wound taping it down. I let her work on me and then caught her face in both hands and she stared into my eyes.

"How long was I gone?" She shook her head and the tear that had been waiting to fall finally did, followed by its comrades in trails down her cheeks.

"Too long; not more than a few minutes." I averted my eyes and crushed her to my chest, our close contact throwing wide the link between us. At her shocked intake of breath she pulled back and looked into my eyes. "You were there! Oh my God, how could she have... You were there!" I was still weak, a fact I soon realized as I tried to subdue the Slayer and failed.

"Buffy I'm alright. I'm fine, Buffy."

"She shouldn't, you didn't deserve..."

"It was worth it." I caught her about the shoulders and pulled my head to her chest, wrapping my arms around her waist. My own tears threatened to fall but I ignored them and tried to tell her what was real. "I'm here, with you and that's all that matters to me; Heaven can wait." She held me to her for a long moment.

"I thought I'd lost you. Jake I..."

"Don't, I can hear it later. It'll give me something to live for." As much as I wanted her to believe I was fine and alright, I knew she saw through the façade. What I needed now was hope that this world would get better. I needed anything that would take my mind off of the thought that maybe next time I could stay gone for good. No, for now I would live and love and fight, that's what I do; that's all I'll ever do. I squared my shoulders and kept one arm around her as we left that room and that idea behind. We caught up with Xander and Willow at the front of the hospital getting into his car. I wanted to go with them, but Buffy told me she'd be back for me, to stay here and heal. Before I could chase after her, a sharp pain almost brought me to my knees and it was all I could do to keep on my feet. I watched her as she got into the car with them and drove off. I walked back to the room to find an ER doctor and as soon as he saw me he went white as a ghost.

"You- you're dead."

"Not even remotely. I just need a little something for the pain." His eyes went to my cut open shirt and the covered wound that was now seeping blood slowly.

"You've been shot, you should have morphine."

"No! No morphine, just something that won't make me loopy." He was very helpful after I threatened to break his arm and in ten minutes I had my own room and had taken a handful of the extra strength pain relievers. I sat in lotus position on the bed and worked to repair my mind, shelling up the sides of my pain blocks and trying to brick up and lock away any thoughts of paradise. I cleaned house on my mind and when I was ordered enough to function again, finally opened my eyes. The orderly standing in the room ordered to watch me was not a problem, but the lack of sunlight outside was. I walked out the front door and I saw the orderly call someone, but I kept walking all the way back to where I belonged; back to Buffy's house. The cop car pulled up beside me and tried to talk to me, but I told him I was fine and what my name was, if he had a problem with me he could look me up. Apparently he did because he pulled off and let me walk back to the house in peace.

Xander's car was in the driveway next to mine and the front door was open so I walked in, closing it behind me. I walked through the first floor slowly and then made my way up the stairs one step at a time. I heard Buffy's voice before I saw it as she and Dawn came out of Willow's room. I let them move past me down the stairs and walked into the room to see Xander looking down at Tara's body on the floor. At least she must have gone quickly, I told myself. I looked back up at Xander's face and he stepped forward as my knee betrayed me, buckling as I took a step forward. I let him keep his hand on my back as I straightened and we made our way back downstairs. I sat on the other side of Dawn being cradled by Buffy and wrapped them both in my arms as Xander made a call. They came to take her away after maybe half an hour and he took care of all the paperwork and talking with the cops. Buffy and he had gotten cleaned up while I held Dawn, or she held me, on the couch and now I sat behind Buffy leaning against the back of the couch.

"We need to find Willow."

"Yeah, she's off the wagon big time. Warren's a dead man if she finds him."

"Good." The conviction in Dawn's voice would have sent chills down my spine if I hadn't have been so distracted by other concerns.

"Dawn, don't say that."

"Why not? I'd do it myself if I could." Now the chills came and I wasn't the only one they hit. Xander and Buffy exchanged looks and then all of their attentions on Dawn's face.

"Because you don't really feel that way."

"Yes I do. And you should too. He killed Tara and he nearly killed Jake. He shot you and tried to shoot Xander too. He needs to pay."

"Out of the mouths of babes."

"Shut up Xander, you're not helping." I leaned forward, my hands on Buffy's shoulders. "Dawn, leave the killing to those who are cursed to do it."

"Cursed..." Buffy's voice trailed away and I hoped she wouldn't tell them where I'd been.

"I'm just saying. He's as bad as any vampire you've sent to dustville."

"Being a slayer doesn't give me a license to kill. Warren's human."

"So?" Dawn's word spoke for me as well. Killing people like Warren is what I used to do for money.

"So the human world has its own rules for dealing with people like him." Buffy said.

"Yeah, we all know how well those rules work." Retorted Xander.

"Precisely why I got into the business in the first place." I reflected out loud.

"Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. We can't control the universe. If we were supposed to, then the magic wouldn't change Willow the way it does. And we'd be able to bring Tara back."

"And Mom." Dawn spoke with her head down.

"There are limits to what we can do. There should be. Willow doesn't want to believe that and now she's messing with forces that want to hurt her, all of us."

"I just... I've had blood on my hands all day. Blood from people I love." I felt for Xander, thankful that not all of Buffy's blood had been spilled.

"I know. And now it has to stop. Warren is going to get what he deserves, I promise. But I will not let Willow destroy herself." Xander shook his head and sighed before he asked what all of us wanted to know.

"Okay, where do we go? She could be anywhere."

"I don't know, maybe the Magic Box, some kind of locator spell. I could go myself." She looked back at me, worry in her eyes, but I smiled as reassuringly as I could.

"No, no. I'm cool. I'll go." Xander volunteered.

"Dawn can't stay here by herself." I said as I stood up and moved to the door so Buffy couldn't protest. I heard Dawn protest to Buffy behind me.

"Let me go with you. I want to."

"No, honey, it's too dangerous."

"But, it's Willow. She needs us."

"She does. And you'll help her, lots okay. But first we have to get her home in one piece."

"But..."

"Dawn! I'm serious. You've been through enough for more than one... ever. You should be someplace where you feel safe." I couldn't hear them as I walked outside and tried to concentrate on my link to Willow. I got a lot of grief and anger, some kind of plan, but I had no idea where she was. It was Xander's raised voice near the door that clued me something else was wrong, but as they all came down the steps he asked if he could ride with me to the Magic Box. I shrugged and tossed him the keys, but he hesitated and asked if we could take his car.

"Never learned how to drive stick, huh?"

"Haven't had much time with the death and all the fighting of evil going around." I saw the girls start walking down the sidewalk as we pulled out and asked him where they were going. "Buffy's gonna drop Dawn off at a... friend's she feels safe with while we go find Willow. First stop, the Magic Box." I was quiet the rest of the ride, trying to cope with the massive amount of rage and grief Willow was broadcasting all over town. We pulled up and we found Anya unable to move her feet or to talk, but waving her arms at us. Gradually it started to wear off and Xander helped her walk around and sit down. She told us how Willow had sucked the books dry of black arts magic and had left just as quickly, leaving her here. Xander asked if she could do a spell and was surprised when she told him she could feel her.

"What, is that like left over from your vengeance demon days?"

"Not left over, she is a demon." Xander whirled to face me where I stood next to the register leaning against the counter and then back at Anya, the question on his face. She nodded silently and he let it sink in.

"Oh."

"Yeah." She responded and the door chime went off as Buffy came in. She crossed to hug me first, and I nodded at her, a smile on my face, before she turned to her friends.

"Is everyone okay? Did Willow...?"

"Got her power boost and took off." Buffy sighed and I moved up behind her. I waited as they got her to finally tell us where Willow was and then we took off, piling into Xander's car and followed Anya's directions to the closes part of the woods we could park. We walked quickly through the woods, I hung back and could barely keep up but I managed somehow. We found them with Warren hung up by his wrists and ankles, grabbed by some kind of vines or roots from the trees around them.

"Willow!" Buffy called out as we rounded the last brush between us and them. We ran forward but were again too late; Willow waved her hand and tore his skin off his body. The girls and Xander pulled up shocked, but I kept going; yelling for her to stop, to wait. She ignored me and with a look incinerated his body into a puff of smoke.

"Willow, what did you do?" Buffy's voice came from behind me as I tried to grab Willow, but her eyes glowed orange and she disappeared in a flash of lightning and some swirling smoke.

"One down." Her last words to me echoed in the silence as I turned back to the group. We were running now, without a word, stopping occasionally for Xander to get sick or for me to catch my breath. During the last time we stopped for Xander, he wasn't sick but I could empathize with his first taste of that kind of torture. Anya explained the difference between what Willow did and what she could do.

"Teleporting." She said, and disappeared. We walked quickly back to the car but found it trashed. Buffy didn't have time for this; she had to go stop Willow.

"Meet me at the jail." She took off running. I badly wanted to be able to keep up with her, but not as badly as Xander who called out after her.

"Okay, then. I'll just catch up. She's only my best friend, you know. No big deal, just... glad I can help." I felt his pain as he hit the hood of his car and surveyed the damage.

"We might be able to get it rolling again, but it won't be pretty." We tried, but it only got us out of the woods. We split up, him heading directly for the police station and I raced to Buffy's house to try and drive my car. I managed to shift and steer with my right hand and did finally make it there just as Xander pulled away with Buffy scrambling into the police car. Looks like I was doomed to be one step behind tonight. They peeled out and away as I climbed out of the car and looked up at the hole in the building the cops were all looking at and the scream from inside it.

"Willow!" I called for her and pushed my presence back through our link. She didn't even falter once as she came back out the hole and floated down at me.

"No interference!" I got hit with a blast of dark purple energy that knocked me flat on my back. I looked at her as she floated away into the night and had to be helped to my feet by a random police officer. I thanked him and leaned against my car as I tried to follow Buffy with my thoughts. Willow had commandeered a semi truck and was chasing them down, but seemed to be draining. That meant she'd be looking for something to recharge her battery. I sat in my car for a long moment before starting it back up and heading for the Magic Box. If the guys got away from Willow they'd stop by here to see if Anya could help them again. They were already there, like I said; a step behind. Two young men I'd guess were Jonathon and Andrew were sitting at the table while Anya was puzzling out some kind of text.

"Everyone alright?" Xander nodded and Buffy turned to face me.

"We think she's draining. We need to go." I nodded and took her back to the car. She watched me in concern as I winced while I shifted.

"I'm okay, Buffy."

"No, you're not. But you will get there. Thank you." I smiled at her and the hand she put on my thigh. We drove by the cemetery and she told me to stop. I sat in silent shock as she ran in the direction of Spike's crypt. Is that where she had left Dawn? She told me she just wanted me to drop her off and wait in the car for her and Dawn, but came back alone.

"How could you leave her here?"

"Spike's gone, I left her with Clem. They're gone now too."

"Where would they go?" She thought about it for a second and then told me to head downtown.

"She'd look for Willow, so she'd go to Rack's. We need to hurry." I put the pedal down and we were on our way. I squealed around a corner and knew I was heading in the right direction. I pulled up to a stop in front of an alley to narrow to drive down and pointed. Buffy nodded, she felt it too. I waited again for her to go in and bring Dawn out, but it took a lot longer than I thought it would. In a flash of pain I realized they weren't there anymore, they were back at the Magic Box. I peeled out as I sped my way back over to the shop. I was about to rush in when a voice stopped me in my tracks.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." I looked at the dark figure as he stepped out of the shadows, power radiating from him.

"Giles?"

"Indeed." I would have shaken his hand, but he had to get inside, sounds of the scuffle were getting louder. He opened the door quietly and took a second to survey the scene before launching a ball of energy at Willow.

"I'd like to test that theory." Buffy stood up from where she'd been knocked down and couldn't seem to believe he was here.

"Giles?" I looked at Anya as she sat and then stood up, repeating Buffy's question.

"Uh oh, Daddy's home. I'm in wicked trouble now." Willow wasn't impressed, yet. I had the feeling she soon would be, but right now I was no match for her so held back.

"You have no idea. You have to stop what you're doing." Giles was walking slowly toward her now, his hands in front of him.

"Sorry, can't do that. I'm not finished yet."

"Neither am I." Willow went to stand up, but Giles wasn't done speaking. "Stay down." She fell back down, hard.

"How'd you do that?" Willow answered Anya's question.

"That's borrowed power. No way is it gonna be strong enough to..."

"I'm here to help you." Giles continued moving forward toward her.

"Thanks, but I think I can kill a couple geeks all by myself. But hey, if you'd like to watch; that is what you watchers are good at, right? Watching? Butting in on things that don't concern you?" There was a bitterness now that ran through Willow's voice. The rest of us were all stuck in tableau as we watched the scene play out between these two magic users.

"You concern me, Willow. Stay on this path and you'll wind up dead."

"Will, listen to him. I don't want to fight you anymore." Buffy spoke for the first time since Giles had taken control of the situation.

"I don't want to fight you either. I want to fight him." She magically rose to her feet and shrugged it off when Giles tried to make her stay down. "Remember that little spat we had before you left? When you were under the delusion that you were still relevant around here? You called me a rank arrogant amateur. Well buckle up, Rupert, cause I've turned pro." Her voice had changed and the air grew colder at her threat. I resisted the urge to step back out the door. She started trying to summon something but with a word and a gesture Giles threw a ball of energy that wrapped around Willow, stopping her motion and then her words.

"What did you do?" The field was now levitating her vertically as her neck went lax, letting her head fall backward.

"Contained her and her powers within a binding field. It puts her in a kind of stasis for the time- oh; you've cut your hair." Buffy wrapped herself into his embrace and Anya stepped forward almost nervously.

"I'm blond. I colored my hair, again. I'm blond."

"I can see that." He wrapped them both up in his arms and I bided my time through the group hug and then his apology to Willow and her response that it wouldn't hold her before I stepped forward to ask my question.

"This spell isn't dependant on your will to operate, is it?"

"Why no, it's not. Why do you ask?" I smiled and slugged him a good one across the jaw, instantly regretting the jar to my open wound. He looked up shocked from the floor and Anya rushed to his side while Buffy pulled my shoulder, turning me to face her.

"What did you do that for?"

"He knows why, babe. Don't worry, I'm finished." I offered my hand to Giles and he accepted it as I helped him to his feet.

"Quite. Sure you're finished? Alright then, now that that's done, Buffy if you don't mind." I watched them walk into the workout room to talk more privately and Anya walked up to me to smack me across the face.

"What'd you do that for?"

"You punched our rescuer. Why'd you do it anyway?"

"I told you, he knows why and I know why. Isn't that enough?"

"No."

"Alright, he left Buffy. It's as simple as that."

"So you just punch him? God, you're no better than Xander." I smirked at that one, and sat down in an intact chair I righted for the purpose. I sat down hard and leaned back. I didn't realize I'd fallen asleep. Can you blame me? I had a hard day, getting shot, making the long trip to heaven and back again, and then chasing Buffy across town a few times trying to find Willow. Not to mention the whole Buffy/Spike thing keeping me awake most of the night before. It's amazing to think of all the stuff that can happen in one day in this town.

I woke up to a hand touching my shoulder and Willow looking down into my tired eyes. For a second I forgot about all the mayhem and death that had happened before and just smiled up into her dark, dark eyes. Realization and memory came back with a snap as she threw me across the room, still smiling and winced herself as I broke through the rubble of a bookcase. My link with her was still open and she could feel the pain I felt both in my chest and my back as the new injuries took hold. With one more rush of energy from her fingertips I was out cold again, in an unpleasant way this time.

I came to as the wall came crashing in and the ceiling fell down. I rolled away from a large piece of timber careening toward my head and looked around for anyone else left alive. I saw Giles standing in the doorway to the training room and heard Willow before she walked over to stand facing him.

"That all you got Geeves?" They traded barbs back and forth as I watched Buffy peek her head around the corner of the hole in the wall. Willow waved her hand in front of her face, healing a small cut there, and then kept talking to Giles; launching an energy attack his direction. Buffy leaped forward knocking Giles out of the way and Willow's attack broke through a pillar and caused the upper level to come crashing down in a cloud of books and dust.

"You're always saving everyone, its kind of pesky." I stood from the wreckage surrounding me and took a step toward Willow as she stooped to scoop up some fire into her palm. "You probably even think you're buying escape time for Jonathon and the other one. Well I got a little secret for you. I can kill them from anywhere I want, with this. It'll find them; it'll bury them, along with anyone else helping those dead-men-walking." Buffy stood quickly and I pondered what exactly I was going to do. I thought about using my gun, but I didn't want to do that yet. Probably wouldn't do any good, anyway.

"Don't."

"Unless somebody, somehow, can get there in time to save them. Huh, oh well. Fly my pretty, fly." With a flick of her wrist she released the now larger fireball and it made a hole in the roof. I made a break for the front door and dove into my car, kicking the passenger door open. Buffy came running through the front door a second later and dove into my already moving car. I navigated by fireball and tried to guess where they were hiding / running to. I looked up with a start and almost ran into a pole, if Buffy hadn't yelled out in time. I felt a yank in a different direction, like my connection to Willow was a kind of black hole, sucking in anything, any connection, to this world she could. I felt a piece of myself go to her and grew diminished within myself. I looked around trying to get my bearings and Buffy shouted out.

"There it goes; it's ahead of us again!" I changed direction slightly and gained on my fiery beacon.

"Willow's going to end the world."

"What?!" I hadn't realized I'd said so out loud until she questioned me about it. I knew, beyond a shadow of doubt that she wanted to end the pain, her pain, my pain, everybody's pain all at once. I nodded my head at Buffy and looked up. The fireball was starting to come down into the cemetery in front of us. I ran the car up onto the grass and tore out running after Buffy. She ran yelling at them to move, but I couldn't see them yet and I wanted to stop running so badly. I forced myself onward, I didn't have a choice. I saw her jump and tackle the two punks as the fireball cut between me and them, creating a deep hole in the ground. Dawn started crawling, but something like an aftershock happened and the ground gave way beneath her screaming body. Buffy crawled to the edge and tried to catch her, but with another rumble she started to fall too. I dove and grabbed the heel of her boot, barely holding on. It wasn't even a rumble, more like a sigh of the ground, as I slipped down the hole headfirst, rolling to land on my back with an oomph.

Buffy got up first and looked around, barely moving out of the way of a sword falling from above. The sword impaled itself straight down in the dirt near where she was standing. I pulled myself to my feet with a groan as another sword fell to land flat on the dirt. Dawn joined us in looking around this cavern of rock and random coffins sticking out of the earth. We could probably climb up, but it wouldn't be easy. I reached into my change pocket of my pants and pulled out my old Zippo, a relic to my days spent smoking, and flicked it on to get a better view. Nothing really of use down there but the two swords and my pistol, and no rope we could use to climb out with. There were some roots down the side of one wall and I boosted Buffy up to try and climb. She grabbed a thin looking root and it broke causing her to lose her balance and fall. I reached out and caught her just like from cheerleading, but had to drop her feet as my chest pulled with her weight. She stumbled but stood up as I had to fall. I landed halfway against the rock wall of the cavern and pulled my knees up.

"God, it never gets any easier, does it." I pulled myself into a ball and willed the world to leave me alone for all of ten minutes, God damn it. I didn't realize I was walking back and forth humming to myself, but Buffy told me about it later. She wrapped her arms around me and pulled my head into her chest as I mumbled about things not being fair and pain and death. She told me I started talking about torture devices and saying things in Arabic. She told me about how I cried and tried to pull away from her, from Dawn, from the world. She wouldn't let me go and kept me with her, telling me everything was going to be okay and pulling my head into her lap so she could stroke my back and run her fingers through my hair. I fell asleep like that, she said, still mumbling parts of different sentences all run together. I woke up to the light peeking its way down the hole and Buffy trying to climb again.

"What happened?" Dawn spoke from behind me where she had curled up and looked like she was trying to sleep.

"You fell asleep and Buffy held you. Are you okay?" I didn't even think, just responded as all combat troops do on instinct.

"Good to go, why wouldn't I be?" She shook her head and closed her eyes again, pulling herself further against the wall. I looked up as Buffy fell again and I couldn't move to catch her in time. She landed on her feet and looked up at me. "Are you okay?"

"We need to get out of here." She turned her head skyward and yelled for Xander, but there was no response. She moved to a coffin sticking out of the wall and tried pulling on it, watching it move just a little. With a sigh she picked up a sword and tried breaking up the dirt around it.

"What are you doing?" Dawn stood up as she asked her question and Buffy answered over her shoulder.

"If we can pull these out we can use them for height and maybe get out of here." Dawn looked around again as if seeing the cave for the first time.

"This looks kinda like the tunnels Spike uses to get around. Maybe one of them connects with this somewhere."

"That's the last place on earth we need to be."

"Oh, but it was good enough for you to take me there after what he did to you?"

"What he..."

"Tried to do, whatever."

"Xander." Buffy stabbed the sword back into the ground and I walked a little down and around the corner so I could leave them to their sisterly talk they needed to do.

"So it's true."

"Dawn, you may not have noticed, we are in really big trouble here."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because you didn't need to know."

"Yes, I do. I need to know. I'm not a kid anymore."

"Dawn, I'm trying to protect you."

"Well you can't. Look around, Buffy; we're trapped in here. Willow's killing, and people I love keep dying. And you cannot protect me from that." I sensed Buffy was going to say something profound but she got cut off by Xander's voice ringing down from above.

"Hello?" He called down to ask if we were okay and where we all were. Buffy asked if Jonathon and Andrew were up there with him, but he said they must have left when he was knocked out.

"Xander you've gotta find some kind of rope or something and get us out of here."

"Right, okay I'll uh, take a look around." Buffy was yelling for him to hurry as I stepped out of the way of someone teleporting in. It was Anya, and her news was bad.

"Things just got a whole lot worse."

"How worse?"

"End of the world worse. Willow's going to destroy it."

"She can really do that?" I realized we hadn't told Dawn yet what I had inadvertently told Buffy in the car.

"You might be surprised, Dawnie." Anya turned to me and then back to Buffy as she explained about the temple on Kingman's Bluff.

"There's no temple on Kingman's Bluff."

"That just means there used to be or there will be soon. We need to get out of here." Buffy nodded at my suggestion and Anya started laying on the whole deal about the temple, something about draining the earth's life energy and focusing it to burn the whole world up.

"Not if I can help it."

"You can't; something else Giles said, no magic or supernatural force can stop her. I should get back to him; he's alone."

"Anya, is he okay?" Anya was silent for a drawn out moment before she answered, playing with her hands.

"I don't think he's got a lot of time left. I'm sorry." One last look around and she was gone. For a long moment, none of us wanted to say anything or could even look at each other. Buffy turned skyward in desperation and called again for a rope from Xander.

"You heard what Anya said, you heard what Giles said."

"I heard... and I don't care. I have to try." Her speech motivated me and I started on another coffin, trying desperately to pull it from the cavern wall, working though the pain and the renewed blood flowing down my shirt.

"I am not going to just sit here while Willow incinerates what I have chosen to protect. I have to stop her." For a second I thought it was just in my head, but then I saw Buffy and Dawn look up at the voice from the air.

"Always the slayer, great to the last."

"Willow?" Buffy stopped what she was doing and spoke to the air in front of us.

"And it is the last, you know? For all your fighting thinking you're saving the world, and in the end I'm the only one that can save it."

"By killing us?"

"It's the only way to stop the pain. I can't take it anymore. But I know you, Buffy; you're a warrior. You won't go out without a fight. I don't really have time for one, but you should go out fighting."

"Willow, what are you..."

"It was me that took you out of the earth, took you out of heaven. Well now, the earth wants you back." The cavern started to shake and these things started pulling themselves out of the walls around us. They didn't look like any demon I'd ever seen, but that didn't stop them from trying to kill us. Buffy grabbed the sword nearest her and I tried to move so we were back to back, but there were just too many of them and more on the way.

"They just keep coming. I can't take them all. Dawn, will you help me?"

"I got your back." She handed her younger sister the sword and they both attacked with a renewed vengeance. I wish I could say the same.

"What you think I never watched you?" Was her response as Buffy tried to help her and she saved herself. The whole time I was being attacked and barely scraped by through my part of the fight I was wishing it could just end, wishing I could just stop it all and go back to sleep. Don't get me wrong, I fought long and hard, and I took it out on each and every one of those demons I came across. To tell the truth, I didn't know whether to be happy or sad when the blade pierced my chest. In the next instant I heard Dawn yell out in fear and pain, looking back over my shoulder I saw the dirt-demon thing fighting her had shoved her blade arm forcing her to stab me. I didn't blame her, though; I knew it wasn't her fault. I fought through the pain as she pulled it out of me and put it into one of them. I fought it as much as I could as I beat it into them, ignoring the blood coming down my chest and back as I struggled against the three demons intent on killing the ones I love. I finally lost it and slipped in some mud, mud from my own blood, and landed on my back. I lay there looking up at the fight and tried not to distract Buffy. The earth was shaking and the fight grew rougher and I was proud of Dawn as she battled her way through the day, but the sparks in front of my eyes detracted somewhat from the experience. I felt something come back to myself, something from Willow, and found the strength to open my eyes again.

"What happened?" The demons dissolved back into the dirt that sprung them and the girls looked around.

"Willow. Xander's with her." My voice sounded wet even to me. I lay there on my back and realized that one side of my chest felt heavier than the other. In a flash Buffy was back by my side asking if I was okay. I tried to tell her that I was just fine, but couldn't get the words past my lips. My thoughts were with Willow and her returned grief, as she let go of her rage. I hoped she would be okay before I closed my eyes.

"Jake!" I opened my eyes and looked up at the woman I loved and knew I could not give up. "Don't leave me, Jake." My lips curved up in a shaky smile and I relaxed into peace at her next words. "I love you."