AUTHOR'S NOTE Hey guys, as shown in this chapter, I am an Ethan/Theresa fan as well as a Xander/Cordy fan as opposed to a Xander/Anya fan. Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter! There's only one more! Thanks for reviewing.

DISCLAIMER Don't own em.

…

Saint Margaret Mary's Church stood alone in a tall pine forest. Buffy, Willow, and Xander emerged quietly from the woods. "Let's leave our stuff here," Buffy whispered. Her friends quickly agreed and dropped their bags in the snow.

They quickly joined the crowd of people gathered in front of the church. Sheridan had been right. It looked like all of Harmony really had come out for the service. Buffy and Xander stood awkwardly silent as Willow scanned the crowd. "Anything?" Buffy asked.

Willow screwed up her face in concentration. "Something really faint." She headed off in the direction of the church's graveyard.

"Oh great," Buffy mumbled as they entered the cemetery. "Home sweet home."

Willow led them to the corner of the cemetery, where a small grave was shrouded by dark trees. Gently etched into the granite was the name "Timmy Lenox."

"This is where it's coming from," Willow said after a moment of silence. "That's why it's so faint. That's it then. There's no one here anymore, except Tabitha and her daughter."

"What are you doing here?" came a voice behind them.

Willow whirled around to see Kay standing behind them, holding Maria. "Kay. I didn't expect to see you at Midnight Mass."

Kay shifted Maria to the other hip nervously. "Yeah, well, I didn't expect to see you either. What's a witch doing at church?"

Willow put her hands on her hips haughtily. "For your information, I wouldn't be at church anyway because I'm Jewish. I'm here looking for the source of the power that I've been feeling."

Kay's eyes flickered over to where Buffy and Xander watched them. "And did you find it?"

Motioning to the small stone behind her, Willow just nodded. "Some of it was in the house from your cousin Charity. And some of it was from Timmy."

With a small laugh, Kay said, "So I was right. Timmy had that power too, huh?"

Willow nodded again. Buffy spoke up. "Who was Timmy?"

It was Willow who answered. "You remember Sid?"

"The dummy?"

"Yeah. Timmy was a doll that Tabitha, Sam's neighbor, brought to life. He became a real boy just in time to be killed." She glanced at Kay, who looked at the ground in shame. "Anyway, this was the last bit of energy I sensed here. There's no one else in the town."

"So we can go?" Xander asked.

Willow nodded. "We can go."

Buffy turned her gaze back to the crowd of people milling around the church. "I'm just gonna, uh, go say goodbye to some people. Will, I'll catch up with you, okay?"

"Sure."

Xander too turned to leave. "Same here. Just want to make sure that no one's watching when we make our big getaway."

Kay looked at Willow curiously when they were left alone. "What did he mean?"

"Oh nothing," Willow said nervously. She and Kay stood in silence for a minute or two.

"Where're you going?" Kay finally asked.

"Europe," Willow replied. "That's where we live."

Kay looked at her closely. "You don't sound European."

She sighed. "We're not. We're from Sunnydale, California." Her expression sobered quickly. "Or, we were."

"Oh." Kay looked back at the ground. "Something happened, didn't it? I mean, you guys didn't just move away."

Staring Kay in the eye, Willow replied. "It was magic. Dark magic that swallowed the entire town of Sunnydale. There's nothing left there except a crater. I'm leaving Harmony and never coming back, Kay. Whatever you do with your life is up to you. But if you abuse magic – if you let it take you over and you use it to hurt people – I will come back and I will stop you." The redhead's eyes were stony. "I promise."

Kay didn't flinch under Willow's gaze. "You don't have to worry about me. All I'm trying to do is keep the man of my dreams by my side. I would never do anything dark."

'That's what I said,' Willow thought. But she only sighed and patted Maria's head. "Goodbye, Kay."

"Goodbye." Willow smiled as she left and Kay smiled back.

Xander saw Ethan and his family about to enter the church and jogged up to them. His blonde wife turned around and stared openly at him. "Can I help you?" she asked as she held the little boy close.

"Gwen, honey, it's okay." Ethan put a hand on her arm. "This is Xander. I met him earlier."

Gwen looked Xander up and down, focused on the eye patch quickly and nodded curtly. "Nice to meet you," she said before taking the boy in to the church.

"Sorry about that," Ethan apologized. "You do look a little fearsome in that eye patch, though. Why do you wear it anyway?"

Xander looked at him like he was sincerely stupid. "Why do you think?"

Ethan had the good sense to blush and stammer, "I'm sorry. I just wasn't sure if you wore it for some other reason or something."

"Nope. Just an unfortunate accident." Xander sighed. "So that was your wife, huh?" Ethan nodded. "Where's Theresa?"

"Oh, she's over – " Ethan started to point toward where Theresa waited with her mother, but stopped and looked at Xander crossly. "I know what you're doing."

Xander just looked innocent. "What do you mean?"

"I mean you're trying to make me admit that I have feelings for Theresa, just like everyone else in this damn town. I don't. I only love – "

Xander cut him off. "I only love my wife, blah, blah, blah. Look Ethan, I don't know anything about you or Gwen or Theresa or this whole town, but I do know something about being caught between women."

Ethan just glared at him. "Oh really."

"Yes, really. I watched the woman I loved fall through a floor and be impaled by a metal pipe. And you know what the worst part was?" Ethan shook his head. "The worst part was that she fell because she caught me with someone else…someone who didn't mean nearly as much to me."

"Yeah, well, looks like you made a mistake. But I'm not! I'm with the woman I love."

Xander laughed. "You keep telling yourself that. But you know something else? That woman, my beautiful Cordelia, who I may still be with if I wasn't so damn stupid, is dead now. She's gone forever. And yeah, I found someone else to love after Cordelia left me, but she's dead now too. There are a lot of things that I regret about my life, but there is nothing that I regret more than hurting Cordelia and losing her."

Ethan looked unmoved. "I don't understand what any of this has to do with me."

Throwing his hands up in the air, Xander just said, "I give up. All I'm saying is that if you ever figure out which one you really, truly love and you let her go, you will regret it for the rest of your life. Don't be with someone just because you think it's the right thing to do."

That finally seemed to get through to Ethan. Xander smiled and stuck out his hand. "It was nice to meet you, Ethan. Good luck with everything."

Ethan shook his hand. "Are you leaving?"

"Yeah. It's time for my friends and I to head on home. We don't belong in Harmony."

"Well thanks for…for everything," Ethan said. "I really did hear what you said."

Xander nodded. "I'm glad. I hope everything works out for you."

"Me too." Ethan smiled and turned around to disappear into the church.