The Scooby Gang had assembled in Xander's basement and were waiting for Buffy to tell them what was on her mind.
"Er, Buffy? You're kinda making me nauseous with all the pacing. Any chance of telling all before I barf?" Xander said with a nervous smile.
Buffy looked up and stopped mid-pace. She looked at the ensembled group's concerned faces and offered them a half-smile. They stared back at her. "O-kay. Uh, remember how I said there was no way on earth I was ever gonna do anything the Watcher's Council demanded again?" They nodded, "Well, they asked if I could do them like a teeny, tiny favour and go fight this big…thing in England. And Mom kinda demanded I go, so…" Buffy shrugged. The group in front of her stared back. "Tough audience." She commented to herself, raising her eyebrows ever so slightly.
"Buffy, no." Willow said, breaking the silence. "Remember 'Killer of the dead'? Turning your back? Firing Wesley?"
"Yay." Said Xander. The others turned and stared at him. "What? The guy was a wimp. I can't be happy that he's not around any more?" He asked defensively.
"Guys, hundreds of people die if I don't go. And that's just England. What happens when this…thing moves on to America? We're talking millions. And by the time it reaches us it'll probably be so big I won't be able to kill it!"
"Question." Anya spoke up. "Do you actually know what you'll be fighting?"
"Well, not exactly. It's big. And it's in England."
"And?"
"It's big and it's in England." Buffy shrugged "And that's where I'm going to go."
"Are you out of your mind?" Xander exclaimed. "Not only are you doing precisely what the Watcher's Council want to you to do, which in case you've forgotten, is something you swore you'd never do again, but you're going to go do it in England?"
"He's right." Said Anya. "You're going to a foreign country, that you've never been to before, to fight something, but you're not sure what. I'll never understand humans."
"Giles is going with me. I've made up my mind. I'm going to England. Nothing any of you guys can say will change my mind." Buffy set her face, convinced she was doing the right thing.
"I don't believe this! You're just going to take off to England, leaving us behind I might add, to fight something but you don't know exactly what?" Willow shifted uneasily. "That's crazy Buffy, where's sane Buffy? I like sane Buffy, she talks sense. Oh God!" Willow sat down abruptly. "You're going to England."
"I leave tomorrow." Buffy avoided looking at them all. "They're paying for a first class ticket there and back,"
"Oh good, they do actually expect you to come back." Said Xander sarcastically.
"There and back," Buffy stressed. "I'll be briefed when I get there and then they'll put me up in a first class hotel right in the middle of all the action."
"What about college?" Asked Willow. "What'll you tell them?"
Buffy shrugged. "My grandmother died."
"Oh." Willow subsided, momentarily defeated.
"I'll send you all a postcard. I'll even bring you all back some of those scones Giles is always raving about!"
"I'm going with you." Xander stood up and prepared to defend his position.
Willow followed his example. "Me too." She told the Slayer defiantly.
Anya looked at all of them. "I'm not staying in Sunnydale by myself. It's not safe!"