Legal Disclaimer: I own nothing. All rights to the Terminator or Buffy characters belong to the respective companies. No money is being made from this. It's all for fun.

Spoilers: See any of the first 3 chapters.

Dream sequence: Italics

Thoughts: (Italics)

Scene opens: The Summers Residence where the emergency Scooby meeting will take place. Around noon time.

Review Responses: Ch2 Regarding the Tara/Terra mess see below.

Chapter Three

Count Down to Judgment Day:

T Minus Seven (pt3):

Gathering

"Looks like we'll have most of the gang here. I don't think Anya is going to be real pleased by us tricking her and Xander into the same house." Dawn observed to her mother. She was still wondering why they had run out and gotten new Boots and numerous canned goods earlier this morning. Was it tied to the yelling that came from Buffy's room this morning?.

"Xander won't be pleased either. But this meeting will be too important for petty jealousies to keep anyone in the dark." Joyce was being unusually firm for a Scooby matter.

"Can't you tell me even a little?" Dawn was once again trying to wheedle something of what was going on out of her mother.

Joyce was looking with exasperation at Dawn. "It wouldn't be fair. As it is I wish I didn't know. In a way, I wish we could all remain in ignorance. Whoever said ignorance was bliss sure wasn't kidding." Joyce said as she went to a particular kitchen cabinet door.

It finally occurred to Dawn that her mother had been drinking something harder than soft drinks in her glass. (The only time she drinks at this early of an hour is during an… Oh Shit, Shit, Shit! Not another friggin apocalypse. The major one's are supposed to be due in May. It's to damn soon.)

"I believe Buffy thought the same thing." Joyce was looking fondly at her youngest,. Being the Key made no difference in how she felt about her.

(Uh oh.) "Did I say that aloud?" (Oh great mom's going to lecture me on my language again.)

"No you didn't sweetie. But it was easy enough to read it on your face." (A mother's telepathic ability to read her daughters thoughts strikes again. Joyce had a triumphant tone to her thoughts. Now If I can just keep it up until she graduates. Oh hell if things go bad she wont graduate high school, we'll be lucky to be alive. Buck up Joyce I need to put up a brave face for my extended family.) "And if you said what I suspect you would have we'd have had yet another talk about lady like language."

Dawn started to speak. "I wis.."

Joyce hurriedly clamped her hand over Dawns mouth. "Honey never use that expression OK?"

Dawn was looking put upon to her mom. "I wasn't going to say anything that would hurt us. All I was going to say is that I'd like it if Spike was here. When Buffy died he was here helping take care of us."

"Don't you bring Spike up to me! He made himself unwelcome here. If he show's up I might just stake him myself.!" Joyce was desperately trying to change the subject since Dawn still didn't know the details of what Spike had tried to do to Buffy. "Angel and his group should be here soon why don't you go outside and wait for them. You'll have to re-invite Angel inside since Willow's not here to reset the wards."

(What did Spike do to piss mom off that much? She and him have always gotten along real well. Even before he switched sides. But at least I got her to stop drinking for a bit.) Dawn gave herself a mental pat upon the back she wandered off to mingle.

-Scene Break-

Buffy had stayed up in her room. Earlier she'd been in shock and denial, but now the horror of what she'd witnessed had settled into her. For now she could simply be human and mourn for the loss of the world. She could be strong for everyone else, once they'd arrived.

-End Scene Break-

(C'mon Buffster. You don't have to wait for Deadboy and his crew. Lets get this show on the road, before Anya decides to do something unpleasant to me.) Xander was getting pretty impatient. He wasn't scheduled to work today and had been looking forward to sleeping in today, as it was he'd been here for sometime just waiting.

(Why am I standing around in a room with Xander? I'd just as soon be wreaking vengeance on his still manly body. No I can't think that. He LEFT me when he promised he'd be with me until death do us part. I wish I could give him death do us part. Maybe a nice trip to the guillotine. No that would be to fast and not painful enough. He makes nice Orgasms. NO he left me! He needs to be punished. Maybe I could make it…) Anya almost happily kept up this train of thought on wreaking all sorts of vengeance on Xander, mentally reviewing some of her greatest hits. Except when she was thinking of money.

-A little while later-

A magical shockwave rolls through the house as Giles and Willow teleport into the basement. When they entered the kitchen Xander and Anya who had assumed battle stations, relaxed a bit when they knew who it was. They relaxed even more when they saw it was red head Willow. And not scary black haired Willow.

"Hey Will, G-Man how you doing?" Xander still loved Willow like a sister. Even after saving the world from her. "Hey everyone Willow and G-Man are here."

"How many times have I asked you not to call me that?" Giles would rather die than admit it. But he was glad to see Xander. Willow was looking around.

"Is it over?" Willow asked with some of her old nervousness that Xander hadn't seen in a while.

"Nope, hasn't even started yet. Deadboy was supposed to be here over an hour ago. But a couple of things came up and he's been held up. Buffy has refused to tell us what's going on until everyone is here. I think Joyce knows but not even the Dawnmeister can wheedle it out of her. She say's that Buffy's right and she can't play favorites. Joyce started off badly today with the drinking. But she seems to have come to some sort of grip with whatever it is. She's stayed sober since getting a buzz on earlier today. We're getting a little tired of hanging around and spinning our wheels, but Joyce is telling us that it is extremely important that we all be here for Buffy's sake. So we wait."

Anya wasn't about to let her ex monopolize the conversation. "Giles do you think whatever it is will keep the store from being repaired. We aren't making money when it's closed for repairs. But the contractors the insurance company insisted on are all chiselers. Not to mention that I've been here all day with him." Glaring at Xander, as she spoke

Giles took his glasses off and started cleaning them as he spoke. "Whatever it is I'm sure we can deal with it as any other apocalypse. Regardless of how dire Buffy feels it is."

Joyce was listening from around the corner. Thinking, (oh if only you could) as she walked away as Dawn came running to greet her friends. Even though she was still a bit nervous around Willow.

-Sunset-

Buffy was looking out her window at the start of the sunset. (This maybe one of the last ones I'll ever see. It's so beautiful. What will the world be like? How will we live? Angel should be here soon. He should have been here a long time ago. But he got held up. At least Willow and Giles are here.)

There was a knock at the locked door.

"Buffy you haven't eaten anything since this morning. Can't I get you something?" Joyce's voice came through as pleading, her heart was breaking for Buffy. Once again she'd been forced to deal with something that no rational human being should have to deal with.

"No mom I'm not hungry. Please let me know when Angel gets here. I can't do this more than once."

"Ok honey call me if you need anything." (I have to help Buffy. As long as I can concentrate on helping her get through this I can keep my sanity. Angel hurry up. I know you got held up, but you should have been here hours ago. The longer she keeps this bottled up the worse it's going to be.)

Dawn was waiting for her as she came down the stairs. "Is she coming down soon mom? You want me to fix her something to eat?"

"No she'll be fine. The news she has to tell us, is of the sort that she's not real interested in eating. I see the look on your face. Don't even ask for a hint, I can't tell you or even give you a hint. It wouldn't be fair to everyone else." Joyce repeated for the umpteenth time today after seeing the look on Dawns face.

"Hey guys tell Buffy that Deadboy is just pulling up." Xander's voice carried from the front porch.

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Once again my Spellchecker decided to change my typing to Terra instead of Tara in the previous chapter. I have to manually go back and redo it every blasted time, I got one reference corrected but the others slipped through. I'd adjust it, except that I use terra numerous times in other typing and I don't want to screw it up.

There have been some complaints as to Chapter length. I do each Chapter for an event. Each event will take as much time/space as it needs. Unless it gets so lengthy that I decide to do a split chapter. This chapter nearly increases the total story by roughly 50.

Hope everyone enjoys. Please Read and Review.