After she finished her shower, she frantically changed and with a reluctant hug goodbye, she fled the scene. How could this be happening? She'd sent Angel to hell…to think of it… she'd accidentally gone with him. Maybe this was her personal hell and she was bound to it. All she could conclude was that she had to talk to Giles. Stat.

"Buffy!" A female voice called from behind her as she walked into school. She turned and almost began to cry.

"Miss Calendar! How are you?" Her voice was shaking.

"Oh, you know, the usual. Rupert took me out for dinner last night, and we finally set the date." She said nonchalantly as she stuffed her keys into her handbag.

"What date?" She was caught off guard.

"The wedding date, silly!" Jenny laughed. "It's in July. The 23rd. Do you think you can come?"

"Oh…yeah, I'm sure I can." Buffy spoke without a thought.

"That's good. I know Rupert would appreciate you being there. Maybe you could give him away?" Jenny laughed again and walked to her classroom. Buffy saw the glimmeringdiamond engagement ringon her finger and sighed heavily.

"Bye, Jenny." She said, softly strangled, choked up.

Throughout the day, she avoided the entire gang whenever possible. She was driven to find out her predicament and how to fix it, whichever "reality" she chose. She had to avoid Angel as well, seeing him just made her heart shatter.

When she arrived home, it was dark and she turned on the lights. It looked the same, and she could hear her mom singing to the radio upstairs. It looked like some things never changed.

She sat on her bed and looked at the ring on her finger. It was the claddagh ring that he had given to her. She smiled softly and looked at the inscription on the underside of the ring: "always". It meant she belonged to him. For a moment, she felt at peace. But, it was fleeting and once again she found herself asking 'why? Why am I here?' Suddenly, she pulled out a pen and some paper and began to write.

She wrote out what could have happened to her. It included a list of theories and consequences. All she could think was that it was a good thing that she'd listened to Giles' lecture about meddling in other peoples' lives. With this paper, she took off for Sunnydale High School.

Entering the library, she felt a chill.

"Buffy!" Willow said to her, as if she were a ghost.

"Willow!" Buffy smiled and hugged her.

"Where have you been? I haven't seen you all day!" She said kindly and sat down.

"I've been busy." She sighed. "Hey, do you know where Giles keeps the books on alternate realities?"

"Yeah. They're in the back, near the stacks of all the books on dark magic and stuff. Y'know…the stuff we're not supposed to be looking at?" Willow gave Buffy a knowing look.

"Supposed to? Have you been sneaking peeks? Like a bad little witch?" Buffy teased.

"No." Willow said, confused by Buffy's statement.

"Oh." Buffy's eyes widened. Oops. "Okay…and Willow?"

"Yeah?" she looked up.

"I'm sorry,so sorry, and thanks for what you did." Buffy said softly and she knew this Willow would have no idea what she was talking about, but that was okay.

"Oh, it's no problem, Buffy." Willow replied with a smile.

Buffy walked away to the back and grabbed a bundle of books and left with them.

"Miss Summers. What are you doing at the school without a chaperone at a time like this?" She heard a rude voice behind her.

"Principal Snyder! How nice to see you." She said, surprised, as she turned around.

"Mr. Giles must stop these late study sessions. They encourage vandalism. You wouldn't know anything about that, would you?" He said rudely and pointed at a locker back at the end of the hall.

"No, sir."

"Sure, sure, Summers. I expect you here at seven, tomorrow morning, to clean it up. Don't be late." He walked away, leaving her in shock.

"Impotent little-" Buffy cursed under her breath and walked out the door.

"Hey, there you are." Buffy froze.

"Angel?" She turned back.

"Buffy." He said quietly.

"You know that whole appearing out of nowhere thing gets kind of creepy, right?" Her frown turned upwards slightly.

"So I've been told." A small smile flickered across his lips. He walked closer and her knees locked.

"Angel." She whispered, almost to herself.

"I'm right here." He whispered, tears rising in his eyes.

"You too, huh?" She hugged him.