Epilogue

There was silence for a moment. Then Willow spoke softly. "Wow, there really was a school in Austria."

"She had the chance to stake..." Buffy paused, taking in what the redhead had said. "What did you say, Willow?"

Willow blushed. "Oh... nothing... it's just some school story books I have... um... had as a kid.. They've got a school in Austria... sounded kinda like the one Sarah went to."

"Well, it is highly possible that they are related." Giles interjected, removing his glasses and polishing them while he blinked his eyes several times, attempting to stop them from closing. "Presuming that your books were written by a Josephine M Bettany, Willow?" At her nod he continued. "Biographical information suggests that Ms Bettany did attend the Chalet School in Austria, so the similarity's are only to be expected."

"How come you know so much about school stories, anyway, Giles?" Xander asked, genuinely puzzled.

"Well, as a librarian of course I do have knowledge about a large cross-section of reading matter." Giles started, rather pompously.

"...and of course you needed to know about school stories for girls at the British Museum..." Buffy spoke seriously, but a smile was playing about her lips.

"Well, of course not." Giles blustered. "If you must know my Grandmother collected the books, used to go on for hours about how she'd nearly met Josephine M Bettany before she was famous. Of course that was very near the end..." he trailed off. Remembering the Grandmother whose diary he had turned to for inspiration so many times since he had been appointed Buffy's Watcher.

Buffy saw the change in his face, and decided it was time to change the subject. "So, what happened to Sarah after that?"

Bringing himself back to the present, Giles quickly picked up another volume and opened it. "Ah... Sarah travelled around Europe for the next year and a half with her new Watcher. They encountered many vampires, demons, and all other manner of evil, and Sarah defeated them all."

"So what killed her?" Xander asked the question which was on the tip of everyone's tongue.

"Nothing did." Giles replied, then, off the puzzled looks of the teenagers. "Well, not in the sense you are asking. Sarah and her Watcher were travelling to America by ship. The ship was caught in a storm and several passengers were tossed overboard. The pair did not disembark when the ship reached New York."

"So you can't be sure that she did die?" The words were out of Buffy's mouth before she could stop them. "I mean, I drowned... and I'm still here... and a Slayer could probably swim for shore."

"Another Slayer was called, Buffy. A young girl in Scandinavia. Sarah must have perished. There can be only one Slayer. You know that as well as I do."

"But..." the blonde girl started.

"No but's, Buffy." Giles interrupted. "Sarah died and that is the end of the conversation."

"'Kay, conversation finished... so what do we do about Spike?"

Buffy's eyes widened at the unusual sharpness in Giles' voice, and gave a wry smile of thanks towards Willow as she deftly changed the conversation.

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That night, Willow dug out her old school stories. She'd received most of them as presents from her Grandma, someone who she remembered as being more lively than any of her friends grandparents. Smiling at her memories, she turned to the frontispiece of Cecily Holds the Fort, the place where her Grandma had always written her special messages.

To my Willow

Remember that not everything in life is what it seems. But if you have friends, and are brave in the face of all things, then you will succeed.

All my Love

Grandma Sarah