Chapter 24

The Following takes place between 11 PM and 12 AM on the day of the autumnal equinox

Sahjhan tried not to give away any sign that the appearance of Connor had unsettled or unnerved him in any way, but it was clear that something had changed.

"I'm sorry, we've never been formally introduced," Connor said. "My name is Connor Stevenson. And, if I'm not mistaken, you're the demon responsible for sending me to a hell dimension." He gave a small smile. "How ya doin'?"

Sahjhan wasn't the only one unsettled by the turn of events. "Connor, what the hell are you doing here?" Angel asked, sounding angry to try and hide his nervousness at the situation..

"Gunn brought me here. He and that nice woman, Fred, they were kind enough to tell me exactly who was here. I have to admit, it's a pretty nasty story. I'm sure I would hate you even more if I could remember the last…um, seventeen years, was it?"

A look of puzzlement appeared on the demon's face. "What are you talking about?" he asked.

"It's a long story and it probably wouldn't interest you." Connor began walking towards him. "It washes out like this: You were released from your prison, I broke out of mine-- and we're here now. I was never one to believe in destiny or fate, but this is how it's played out."

Both Buffy and Angel had managed to get into Connor's line of sight-- not an easy trick considering the size of the demon. "Connor, are-- are you sure you can do this?" asked Buffy.

Connor gave a shaky smile. "I'm supposed to do this."

Sahjhan must have noticed the uncertainty in Connor's voice because he recovered some of his poise. "I should have knowndumping the kid in the Quor-tothwould come around and bite me in the ass." He looked the young man up and down. "Oh well."

Without warning he moved in and threw a left hook. Connor dodged it and threw a punch of his own.

The fight began. For almost a minute the others in the room just watched the demon and the son of two vampires engage each other. Connor was doing well in the fight-- better than Buffy or Faith had -- but it was also clear that he wasn't doing a great job of beating the huge demon. Which apparently occurred to Connor as well because, while sweeping around so that he was now within a few feet of Angel and Buffy, he began speaking rapidly:

"Quick question: in this prophecy--"

Connor threw a punch.

"--was there anything that said--"

He dodged a blow.

"--that the son of the vampire with a soul--"

He jumped backward

"--killed Sahjhan alone?"

Buffy and Angel looked at each other. "I'm pretty sure it didn't say anything about that," Buffy said.

"Well, what are you waiting for," said Connor a trifle huffily, "a written invitation?"

Angel needed no second bidding and began attacking Sahjhan.

Buffy took the opportunity to check on the others. First she ran over to Faith, who had recovered enough from her being tossed into a wall to stand.

"Was…wondering when…you'd get to me," Faith groaned as she worked out the kinks.

Buffy looked at Faith's left arm, hanging at an angle that couldn't be natural. "How's it feel?"

"Worse than it looks," Faith replied. "I think I'm done fighting." She looked over at the others. "What about the non-combatants?"

It took Buffy a few seconds to realize who she meant. "Shit! I forgot." Buffy negotiated the wreckage until she got to Andrew and Leonard who were being tended to by Kennedy, the only member of the first group to take on Sahjhan who was still in any condition to work. Leonard seemed all right, but Andrew looked like he was barely conscious. Still, considering that he'd been hit with a computer, he was probably lucky.

"I guess we're the walking wounded." Buffy said as she walked up to them.

"I can handle that," Kennedy said, "but if we don't figure out a way to put that Jabba the Hut wannabe down, we're gonna be walking dead.".

"Actually… Jabba… was twice the size of…Sahjhan," Andrew said faintly

Both Slayers looked at Andrew. "Good to know he's still with us," said Kennedy. "Doesn't change our problem."

Buffy thought for a couple of seconds before going over to Leonard. "The laser thingy? Where is it?"

Leonard thought for a moment before pointing. Buffy followed his finger and picked it out. It looked banged up, but it still looked like it could fire. "Okay I've got an idea. It's a bit out there, but it could work."

It had become clear that Sahjhan was taking a hell of beating, but he still looked like he could go ten rounds with Holyfield. "You know I'm beginning to wonder if maybe I went through all that shit with Holtz for no reason." The demon was clearly hurt but he was still breathing normally. "I mean this is tough, but I think I can wait you out."

Connor and Angel were becoming concerned themselves. "The prophecy…says I kill…this guy…" Connor managed.

"Yeah," Angel agreed.

"It didn't mention…how…by any…chance?"

Buffy looked ahead at what was happening several feet away from here. She realized that it was time to execute her plan, shaky as it was. "Faith! Willow's knife!

The dark-hared Slayer might have been badly hurt but she had her eyes and one working hand. She found the knife in a matter of seconds. She looked at the three circling figures, mentally measured the distance between them, then yelled: "Connor!" and threw the knife to him.

Connor caught it with one hand. Buffy readied the laser, aimed and fired.

The beam burned through the top of Sahjhan's head. He screamed and dropped his guard. The instant he did Connor buried the blade in the demon's chest.

In the end Sahjhan didn't even scream. He just went "Woof!" and collapsed at Connor's feet.

The young man stood there for a few seconds before Angel walked up and put an arm around his shoulders. "You okay?"

Connor looked at the disgusting mess Sahjhan had left on his shirt. "This stuff poisonous?" he finally asked.

Of all the things he thought Connor would ask, that was close to the bottom of Angel's list. "I--I don't think so."

"Hmmm." Connor thought it over. "Will it come out in the wash?" he asked.

"You're probably better off getting rid of the shirt," Buffy informed him as she and Kennedy rapidly closed the distance between them. "Unless you're considering doing this for a living, Then we have a good dry cleaner that we can recommend."

Connor considered. "I…I don't think so. I just…" He sighed. "I don't think I have the stomach for it."

"Probably a wise choice." said Buffy

"Yeah, the pay sucks and the hours are lousy," Kennedy said. "On the plus side, the dental plan's pretty good." No one laughed. Kennedy shrugged and kneeled to the ground to check on Andrew. "Hey, I thought it was funny."

Buffy walked over to Faith. "You should probably go to the hospital."

Memories that she had been keeping in all day suddenly overwhelmed Faith. "Robin. Oh my god. I gotta--"

"What's wrong?" Buffy asked. Faith looked as if she would collapse "What happened to Robin?"

"H-he's d-dying.

Though Buffy had suspected that something was wrong with Robin, it still hurt to hear.

She turned to Kennedy. "Get Fred on the phone. Tell her that Sahjhan's gone and we've got people down. I'll be--"

Suddenly Buffy looked up and saw that Angel was right behind her. "Something's wrong."

"Now what? Aren't we--" Suddenly she trailed off as she realized something. "Oh no. I completely forgot."

"What?" Despite her injuries Kennedy had walked over to the two champions. "What did you forget?'

"Cordelia," said Angel.

11:13:39/11:13:40/11:13:41

Even after she spotting the car following them, Patrice held out a faint hope that they might still be able to outrun her pursuers. She had, however, forgotten the power Angel-Slayer had at its disposal. After more than twenty minutes of pursuit, she and Harmoney had come to a road block of at least half a dozen cars. They had no more road to travel on.

Even Harmony seemed resigned to her fate: "I guess the idea of driving off the road into a gaping gulch is pretty much out of the question."

"The walls must be a foot of concrete," Patrice said, shaking her head. "If we were to even drive into it we'd be flattened like pancakes."

"And considering what we are, we'd probably survive the crash." Harmony sighed. "Well, I guess we have one last play."

"Which is?'

"Throw ourselves on their mercy." Off Patrice's incredulous look, she said: "Well, they are the good guys after all. They have compassion."

"We nearly brought about an apocalypse that would have killed them all. You think they'll let us live?"

Harmony looked at the flashing lights ahead of them. "They forgave Angel. And Faith. And Spike. Hell, they forgave Willow and she killed a man while trying to destroy the world." She turned back to Patrice. "Besides, they're going to want to know how we put this whole thing together." She put her hand to her forehead. "The good guys always need to know how they almost got beat."

Part of Patrice-- the Slayer part of her-- wanted to go out fighting. But part of her still believed what Harmony had talked about earlier. She still wanted to live. And right now, that part was stronger. She took a deep breath. "How do we do this?"

"When you get out of the car, make sure that you've got your hands over your head. Lacking a white flag, that's the universal symbol for 'we give up." Harmony looked out the windshield and took in the figures, who were clearly heavily armed. "Other than that, hope no one gets trigger happy." She looked back at Patrice. "On three." She put her hand on the door. "One. Two. Three."

They both got out of the car, each of them putting their hands over their head the second they stepped outside. Slowly they walked into the cool night air, to the figures on the road block. Patrice could see no familiar faces, and that was a mercy. She didn't think that she could take the stares of anger and betrayal of someone who they had trusted. Then she thought of the looks on Buffy and Angel's faces when they had nearly caught up with her at the ambulance, and realize that might have been the best result she could have hoped for from them.

They stopped when they were directly in front of the roadblock and had every gun trained on them "We surrender," said Harmony. "We'll tell you whatever it is you want to know. Just let us live."

"That's a rather misleading statement…"

Given their position neither woman dared turn around but they were both very surprised to hear the speaker.

"…considering that you're not alive any more."

"You know what I mean, Spike."

Listening to Harmony, Patrice realized that the gods of irony must have been having a field day with what was happening.

"I must say, given everything you went through today, the armies you raised, the magic you used, the people you dealt with, that you wouldn't just stop at a roadblock of guards and say: 'Oh. That's it then.'"

"Come on, Spike. Considering how much I've changed since you last saw me don't you believe that I might have finally learned to know when you're beaten?"

Spike was only a few feet away from Harmony. "Given everything I've seen today…" He hemmed and hawed for a few seconds. "…no."

"Smart boy."

Before Patrice realized what Harmony meant, the blond vampire was in motion. She kneed Spike in the groin and knocked him down seconds before guns started firing. Patrice hit the dirt, sure that it was too late, that she was going to die here.

She managed to look to her right and see Harmony make it to the car Spike had emerged from. "I still want to live," the blond. "But on my terms." With that she got in the car, shouted something else and sped away.

Patrice picked herself up and found out that she hadn't been hit after all. Then she saw Spike walk over to her and realized she was still in deep shit. Patrice put her hands up.

Spike walked up to her. "You going to get lively too?"

"No." Then despite all the trouble she was in, she asked: "What did Harmony say before she left?"

Spike looked a little preoccupied. "She said she was faking the whole time we were together."

Patrice knew something was up. No man would have voluntarily repeated that unless his mind was on something else.

He looked up at the blockade. "Have any of you blokes seen Willow?" There was a general negative response. "She was in the car with me. No way Harmony just walks off with it if Will's on her mark." He scratched his head. "Something's wrong."

He fumbled around in his jacket pockets and picked up a cell phone. "Something's happened at the building," he said as he dialed.

11:22:50/11:22:51/11:22:52

Something bad had happened at Angel-Slayer, something of such a magnitude that at Dawn's telephone call, Willow had teleported there without telling anyone else. She was hovering in the air around the roof while most of the board (those who weren't being treated for fighting Sahjhan)watched what was happening from the one still functioning camera.

"How the hell did she get up there?" Buffy asked.

"Didn't she leave the roof when Godzilla Junior started his rampage?"

Fred shrugged. "She teleported here. Maybe she teleported back. "

"She didn't bother to witness the devastation she let loose?" Angel asked.

"Why does that matter?" Gunn had only arrived half an hour earlier with Connor and thus missed all of the excitement.

"Jasmine's here now, she's going to destroy us now."

"Maybe. If that's really her."

Everyone whirled towards Lindsey. "You know," Angel said, getting in his face, "I'm getting real tired of you giving us the runaround. If you know something, quit bullshitting us and be straight."

"All right. I think there's a very good possibility that Cordelia might be more in control of her body then we think."

"Cordelia was always a queen bitch." Buffy said softly, "but she was never in favor of apocalypses in high school."

"That's not what I mean," said Lindsey. "Consider everything that she's done today. Or more precisely what she hasn't done. She's had numerous opportunities to kill us and she hasn't. Remember back at the hotel she could have easily killed you and Angel? She let both of you live."

Suddenly a part of Buffy's memory kicked in. "She had Wesley dead in her sights and she just wounded him," she added thoughtfully.

"She could have let Sahjhan loose back at the beach where we had less defenses and fewer weapons." Angel said, getting the picture. "Instead she does it here where we have a better chance of beating him."

"And then she doesn't even bother to watch him beat the shit out of you," said Lindsey. "Something is making her hold back."

"That may be true," said Fred, "but why is she doing this?" She gestured at the one flickering monitor that showed the roof. There Cordelia/Jasmine was floating a few inches off the ground. In front of her she was generating a lot of energy, much like she had back at the beach. But there was clearly something far more ominous being done. The vortex she was creating was already a good deal bigger than the one at the beach-- nearly nine feet in diameter already. And the sky, which had been perfectly clear half an hour ago, was alight with flashes of lightning. Every few seconds, a blast of thunder shook the night. Cordelia/Jasmine was casting some very black magic and God knew what the end result would be.

At that moment, Willow, who had been floating outside the building trying to get a good look at what Cordelia/Jasmine was doing, reappeared back in the room. "Well?" Buffy asked.

Willow did not look happy. "I worked my way completely around the perimeter of the roof and one of two things is happening: Either she's got a magic shield so good that the others were just paper bags by comparison, or I'm still weak from my last go-round with her. Either way it's going to take at least fifteen minutes for me to break it down."

"And we don't have that long," Angel guessed.

Willow shook her head. "She hasn't just created a magical vortex, she's created a magical time bomb. When the vortex gets big enough, not only will it swallow this building, it will release enough magical energy to make Hiroshima seem like a camera flash." She shook her head. "She must have drained some of my magical power when we were fighting at the beach to generate this…thing."

"Do you have any good news?" asked Gunn.

"Well, I just saved a bunch of money on my car insurance," said Willow. When everyone looked at her, she said: "Joke reflex. Must have come from hanging around Xander too long."

"Speaking of Xander, where the hell is he?" asked Buffy.

"I don't know," Fred answered her. "He showed up at the building a couple of hours ago but I haven't seen hide nor hair of him since."

"Maybe he's somewhere safe," said Gunn.

"No such luck." Angel had suddenly seen something on the monitor.

"What do you-- " Willow stopped short. "Oh my God, no!"

There on the monitor standing just a few feet away from Cordelia/Jasmine and the huge vortex was Xander.

11:31:06/11:31:07/11:31:08/11:31:09

Cordelia/Jasmine was so wrapped up in her magical mystery show that she hadn't noticed that Xander was so close to her for quite some time. In fact when Xander began what he called "the final approach" he thought that there was a very good chance he might be able to pull it off without Cordelia/Jasmine noticing him. For the rest of his life, despite the efforts of his friends, he would wonder if it would have made what followed easier or more difficult.

In any case Cordelia/Jasmine finally did notice him. It was hard to realize at first, as she didn't bother turning to face him, but she did react. "You! How the hell did you get here?" she demanded.

"Me? Oh, I've been here forever." Xander was less than ten feet away from her but only six or seven feet away from the vortex. He decided to halt his forward motion for now.

"How the hell did you get past my magical shield?" Cordelia/Jasmine seemed genuinely upset by the notion.

"Well, when I saw you set Goliath free an hour ago I figured you'd come back here eventually. I mean you always did like seeing things destroyed." Xander made sure his hands were still behind his back. "Besides, it's not like you ever cared about things that didn't involve you."

Cordelia/Jasmine didn't shift her attention from her vortex, but it was clear that she seemed a little more distracted. "You think you know me? You weren't even here when I first came onstage."

Something's getting to her, he thought to himself. Time to up the ante. "That wasn't the 'you' that I was talking about," he said very carefully.

"Oh I get it. You're talking about your old friend Cordelia Chase. Your first real girlfriend." She gave a disgusted laugh. "Let me see if I get your little plan here. You're going to lay that whole spiel about Cordelia still being here, that she wouldn't do this kind of thing, and bullshit along that line."

Don't give away anything, keep up the poker face. "That's the problem with all you omniscient types." Xander was still speaking calmly. "Can't get nothing past you."

"Let me guess. You were going to give a variation of that schtick that you gave when you managed to talk down Willow from her eve of destruction. One schlocky speech fits all deities." She seemed to be refocusing her energy. "Well, Willow didn't have the killer instinct for this kind of work. I do. You'd be wasting your breath."

"For one thing it's my breath to waste, and for another you're mistaken."

"Excuse me?" That distracted Cordelia/Jasmine for a couple of seconds-- almost long enough for her to lose control over her magic. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"I'm not trying to talk down Cordelia because Cordelia is dead." Xander hoped that she didn't notice the quiver in his voice as he said that. "As dead as Princess Diana, grunge and intelligent political discourse. You know how I know that?" He didn't wait for an answer. "Because as much of a bitch as Cordy could be, she would never throw in with something like this. If there was a spark of Cordy left in that body, she would be fighting you tooth and manicured nail to stop you from doing what you're doing."

He walked forward another few steps. "No, Cordelia is dead."

"Then why did you come up here?" She didn't look up but Jasmine sounded curious.

"To stop you."

Watching the monitor Angel saw what Xander was doing and shouted "NO!" but even as he saw the glint of the gun in Xander's hand, it was too late.

Xander fired three times. The first shot happened so quickly that Jasmine didn't have time to turn or block the bullet. She whirled around quickly but Xander didn't flinch and fired twice more. The second slug went into Jasmine's hand and shattered her wrist, while the third joined the first in her stomach.

For what seemed like a long time Jasmine just stood there, but was in reality only fifteen or twenty seconds. Then her knees gave out and she fell. As she fell there was a large flash knocking Xander backwards and the gun out of his hands.

Willow was the first to recover from her shock, realizing the potential consequences of what had happened. She quickly teleported out and onto the perimeter of the building. As she did so, Xander very slowly regained his feet, trying very hard not to look at the body of-- whoever it was she had been at the end.

"Xan… Xander?" a very weak voice called.

Willow and Xander heard it simultaneously and returned to the woman who was still bleeding from the bullets but was apparently not dead yet.

Xander would never be able to successfully explain how he had known that the person speaking was not the one that he had just confronted him. All he knew was that something was fundamentally different about the voice he was hearing. He crawled the few feet between them and said: "Cordelia? Sweet Jesus, is that you?"

"Cordelia? Goddess, Cordelia!" Even as she spoke Willow knew from her aura that this wasn't really Cordelia anymore-- just the shell-- the shell of a shell-- of what had once been the girl that she knew.

"What have I done?" Cordelia sounded so bereft. "God, what have I done?"

And even though she had nearly fought her to the death less than two hours ago, Willow found herself rushing to Cordelia's side and trying to see the damage the bullets had done.

Suddenly Cordelia was shaking violently. "No! Stay back, you parasitic bitch!" Her head snapped back and she was almost there again.

"Cordelia, we have to get down from here." Xander was speaking rapidly again.

Willow was about to add her own entreaty when suddenly she felt something tickle her elbow. She drew back in horror when she realized what it was. "Xander! The vortex!" she called out before propelling the three of them back against the rubble on the roof.

The vortex was well over twelve feet in diameter. Some of the stray rubble from the roof began to be drawn into it.

"Willow! Can you close that thing?" begged Xander.

"I can't!" said Willow. "My magic just doesn't work on it."

"Of course it won't." Suddenly Jasmine was in Cordelia's voice again. "My old magic is more powerful than yours ever will be, witch!" Then another seizure went through her. "Oh G-God, she won't st-stay go-gone."

"We have to get you out of here!" Xander was becoming frantic.

"Y-you can't." Cordelia's voice was getting fainter. Willow was amazed that she was still alive. "We have to stop this thing."

"I don't know how."

By some miracle Cordelia had managed to get to her feet. "I do." she said.

Xander got it a split second after Willow did. "No, no you can't do this!" he began to stammer and stutter "Y-you're back! We can't--"

"Stop simpering and listen to me."

That sounded enough like the old Cordelia to cause Xander to shut up. "All right."

"Jasmine told the truth about what happened to me. When she took over m-my body, she got rid of almost everything that was me." Cordelia was breathing hard again. "Only a fragment was left… Enough to stop her from killing all of you outright." She hesitated. "But I'm al-almost gone."

"We can bring you back!" said Willow without thinking.

"That's what got you into trouble last time." A small trail of blood was flowing from Cordelia's mouth, she ignored it. "Besides, what's happening here," she gestured to the vortex "It's my mess. Jasmine won't clean it up so that leaves me."

Xander would have argued more but the vortex was still expanding. He might have argued anyway but Willow walked up to him and said: "She's right. I-I don't want her to be…but she's right." She looked at Cordelia. "Are you sure you can do this?"

A ghost of a smile appeared on her face. " 'You never know until you're tested. I get that now.'" The smile faded. "Tell the others that…this was the way it had to be. And tell Angel…I am so sorry for everything."

Willow swallowed and nodded.

"Xander." The young man was barely holding it together. Cordelia put her arms around his shoulders. "Thank you for everything."

"For what?" he managed to get out.

"Letting me say goodbye." She paused and kissed his forehead. "Just in case."

Then she walked up to the border of the vortex and began to chant. Halfway through she jumped in. She began to shake and then there was a relatively small flash, like that of a burnt out camera bulb.

When the light cleared, the vortex and Cordelia were gone.

Xander walked up to the edge of the roof and said. "It's over."

Then he began to cry.

11:46:38/11:46:39/11:46:40/11:46:41

After the fall of the energy barrier Angel and Buffy had headed straight for the roof. They therefore missed most of Cordelia's brief return to normality and broke the door down just in time to see the vortex implode.

After seeing the burst of light, Angel had known in his soul that Cordelia was gone forever. He could not however stop himself from running to the edge of the building.

"You'd better stay where you are." There was a flatness in Willow's voice that was disturbing. "There might be some magical residue that could…could…"

Suddenly Willow's voice began to shake. "Oh goddess. W-why did she have to--" Angel turned around to see Willow go to Xander and embrace her friend.

Both were weeping. Angel was unnerved. He had never seen either of them cry like this before-- even when he had helped cause the pain.

Buffy had managed to walk over to her two best friends. She had only seen Willow cry like this once-- upon learning of Jenny Calendar's murder-- and she had never seen Xander cry at all. For some reason that bothered her more than Cordelia being gone forever. Buffy wanted to cry herself-- but couldn't. Because if she started crying for Cordelia, she would start crying for all of the others. Not just the ones who had died today, but all of the people that they had lost: Anya and Tara and Jonathan and Amanda, stretching back to all the nameless dozens that had died in Sunnydale and Los Angeles over the past seven years. Part of her knew that was stupid-- that part of her becoming one of hundreds of Slayer meant that she no longer had to carry the weight of the world on her shoulders. But the pain had been so much of a part of her for so long she didn't think she could give it up.

So she put one hand on Willow's shoulder and another on Xander's, squeezed and asked the question she had to. "Was it really Cordelia at the end?"

Xander managed to nod. "I-it might ha-have been e-easier if it hadn't b-been her." he said through his sobs.

"No," she reassured him. "It would have been hard no matter who she was at the end. Of that I'm absolutely sure."

Willow swallowed and managed to gain some control over herself. "I don't think I ever liked Cordelia," she said. "Even when we were working together I could barely stand her. I don't think I was ever able to accept her as one of the Scoobies. But now that she's really gone--" She shook her head. "I don't know if I'll be able to get past this."

"We will." All three of them looked up at Angel. "It hurts when somebody vital is gone. You feel hollow inside. But eventually you get past it. The important thing is not to get over it. " Angel was looking at the night sky. "People talk about heartbreak, but the heart is a muscle. You can strain it, maybe even pull it but it can't be broken. And strains and pulls can be gotten over easier than breaks."

They all took this in for several seconds. "That's really very deep" said Xander "considering that your heart hasn't worked properly in years."

"Xander, don't," Buffy started.

"I mean you talk about all these pains and anguishes but the fact of the matter is your own heart is--" Xander looked up to make a point.

Only to see that Angel had left the roof. "I hate when he does shit like that," said Xander, irritated.

"Shut up, Xander," said Willow. "Considering what happened I'd say he's earned his right to mourn."

Gunn and Fred took what had happened nearly as hard as Willow and Xander. However Gunn hadn't cried since his sister's funeral, so he expressed his frustration by taking out his aggression against a wall.

The wall won.

"I don't think anything's broken," Fred said as she checked his hand, "but you might have twisted or sprained something. You'd better have it looked at."

"I know." said Gunn. "The medical insurance business is getting rich off us tonight. Maybe if I hurry I can catch up with Faith and Cho-san's ambulance." He looked at Fred. "You should probably come over too."

"I will," Fred responded. "I've just got to finish up here."

"You've been doing this all day."

"I know, but I've put so much work into this I'd feel better if I, you know, put it to bed."

"Bed." said Gunn. "Man, that sounds like a good idea. I feel like I could sleep for a couple of months."

"Second that." Fred thought for a moment. "Of course, there are a couple of things that we're gonna have to handle when we get back."

"You mean like Lindsey?" He and Kennedy had put the ex-lawyer in one of the holding cells. "Man, I'd hoped that we were through with him when he drove off into the sunset two years ago. That guy's pure trouble."

"What about Connor? I mean, is he back in this too?" asked Fred

This Gunn thought he could handle. "I had a conversation with him on the way here. Basically told me that when it comes to being a champion, thanks but no thanks." Gunn shook his head. "I'm not sure whether that makes him a coward or incredibly brave."

Fred thought it over. "I think it makes him smart." She gave a sad smile. "Smarter than some, anyway."

"I guess so." Gunn turned around. "Sure you don't want to come to the hospital with me?"

"Go without me. I'll get a ride with someone else."

Gunn walked away. Fred waited until he was gone, then walked to her desk, picked up the phone and dialed. "Wesley? This is Fred. We're just about finished here. The world's not going to end today after all." Fred paused. "Anyway Wesley, a lot has happened today and some things in my mind have just become clearer." She took a deep breath. "My heart and my head have finally agreed and I know who I want to be with."

Spike shook his head as Dawn finished speaking. "I guess I was wrong about Cordelia one last time," he said.

"We all were," said Dawn. She sighed. "God we're going to be months getting over this."

"Shit! I almost forgot." Spike gathered himself. "Kate, that lady cop who was a friend of Angel's. "

"Yeah."

"She's dead. One of those suits--" Suddenly Spike trailed off as he saw something that he couldn't-- shouldn't have seem. "Hold on a second."

He walked very rapidly until he saw the woman he had missed. "Kate. How the--" He stopped. "Are you still alive?"

"Apparently so." The ex-cop turned around. When she did, Spike saw that there was a small hole in her shirt-- big enough for one thing.

This is crazy Spike said but he reached out and touched her shoulder regardless.

She remained corporeal. Now he got it. "I guess when you quit being the fuzz, you held on to a few things?"

Kate nodded and pulled back her shirt, revealing a Kevlar vest. "Special issues for prisons. Not only bulletproof but shank-proof, too. Considering the people I keep company with, I felt it would be wise to hold on to a few."

"But…won't this get you in trouble with whoever it is you work with?"

"Oh yeah." said Kate grimly. "In fact, as soon as I finish up here I'm going to have to disappear for awhile."

Spike looked puzzled. "So why'd you expose yourself?"

Kate shrugged. "I'm not. I was driving out of LA when I ran into this roadblock. I got out to see what was the matter and I find that you and your friends are still causing problems."

Spike was taken aback by the woman's hostility. "But…we've won. The apocalypse has been averted," he said a little dazedly.

"Congratulations. It doesn't change my situation with the government one bit or make my life any easier. Things are still tough and they're only going to get tougher." She looked at her watch. "Now if you'll excuse me I have to find a place to hide. Would you do me a huge favor and not tell any of your friends that you know what's happened to me?"

Kate walked away without waiting for an answer. It was just as well. Spike wasn't sure what he could have said to her.

"Spike? Spike?

Suddenly he realized that Dawn was still on the phone. "Sorry, Little Bit. Thought I saw something that wasn't there."

"Kate's dead?"

Spike thought for a second. "I didn't see for sure but I think so."

Dawn sighed. "So just to review. Harmony managed to get away, Thompson and whoever else in the Wolfram & Hart bureaucracy is working against us is still out there, and there's a government contingency working with them and against us." She put her hands on her forehead.

"You and your friends sure have complicated lives."

Despite herself Dawn smiled. "So what are you going to do?" she asked.

Spike thought about it. "Well I've never been much for the corporate life. And I don't think LA's a big enough town for two vampires with souls." He thought some more. "Still I did get a bit of satisfaction from helping kick evils ass. And I know that I need to do a lot more if I'm gonna have a chance of getting into heaven."

Dawn considered this. "You really think that any of us are going to get into heaven?"

A lot of things went through Spike's head, and even though it wasn't what he believed he said it anyway: "Course. God won't have the balls to keep us out."

As expected, Dawn chuckled. "All right. Have the drivers take you began to the main building. Once you get there, we'll find a place to stow Patrice until we can question her more intensely. After that we'll find you a place to crash for a while."

"Right then." Spike then asked a question he would not in a million years thought he would ever ask: "How's Angel holding up?"

"I… Why would…? Do you even care?" Dawn seemed flustered.

"Hey, I know what its like to lose a woman you love." Spike said softly. "And I also know that you can go to a pretty dark place when you do."

Dawn thought it over. "It won't be easy but I think that he'll get through it. I mean, he got over Buffy, didn't he?'

In an alley about a block away from Wolfram & Hart, Angel stood by himself. The night was a cool one for LA but that was not the reason he was shaking.

He knew that he could talk about hearts being strained or pulled or whatever stupid fucking metaphor he had used but he was feeling a world of hurt. Was it as bad as it had been when he heard Buffy had died again? Or when he had thought he had lost Connor forever? He didn't think so, but it was bad. Real bad.

"Cordy, Cordy." That was all that he seemed able to say. He wanted to ask for forgiveness or peace or mercy but the words just would not come. He knew that he had never loved her the way that he had loved Buffy-- or Darla, for that matter-- but he was feeling a grief that he didn't think he could get over.

He knew that he didn't have to be alone for this-- there were people in that building feeling as much pain as he was-- but somehow he just couldn't be with them now.

The worst part was he knew it wouldn't kill him. He'd be feeling all kinds of anguish for a while but he would be able to get past that and adjust to a world without Cordelia. And he wasn't sure how he'd manage to get through that.

After what seemed like an eternity he managed to gather his strength. He decided that he would go to the hospital-- check up on Wesley and Giles and Faith and find comfort with his friends. He started walking-- and then remembered his car was still out at the beach. He considered calling for another one, then decided that he would walk. The night air would wake him.

Even though he had been up for nearly two whole days, he had never felt less like sleeping in his life.

He put his hands in his duster and said a silent prayer, not just for Cordelia, but for all of them living and dead who had survived this struggle.

Then he started walking.

11:59:57/11:59:58/11:59:59/12:00:00