"I Only Have Eyes for You"

Based on the Episode Written by Marti Noxon

The following story is copyright © 2022 by Mark Moore.


Splendid was the band tonight at the Bronze. They were on the stage, performing "Charge". Tara was looking around for Buffy. She turned around, looked up, and spotted her on the upper level, leaning against the railing and watching the band.

"Hey."

At the sound, Buffy turned to face the boy behind her, a little surprised.

"I'm Ben. We had Algebra II together last year."

Buffy shrugged. "Sorry, I don't remember you."

"Ms. Jackson? Second period? You sat in the seat three over and one behind."

"Oh! Yeah, I remember now; it's the one with the desks and the chalkboards and pencils and shit, right?" Buffy replied sarcastically.

"That's the one." Ben chuckled.

Buffy smiled and pointed at her head. "Like a steel trap."

"So...I was wondering...you know the dance two nights from now? Are you going?"

"You mean the Sadie Hawkins thing? The deal where the girls ask the boys?"

"Yeah. And I thought maybe, you know, if you're free, you might ask me."

Buffy made a face. "Oh, goddamn..." She sighed. "I-"

Ben held up his hand. "Oh, oh, hey, hey, no, don't - don't worry about it-"

"No, no, you seem like a really great guy; it's me. I-I'm gay."

"Oh. That's - That's too bad."

Buffy frowned. "I don't think so."

"Okay, well, I better..." Ben indicated away and went away.

Buffy glanced down at the band and then headed for the stairs. When Buffy reached the bottom of the stairs, Tara met her.

Tara grinned. "Hey!"

Buffy smiled. "Hey."

"Wanna dance?" Tara asked.

"Sure."

They joined hands, walked out onto the dance floor, hugged each other, and started dancing close with their arms around each other and smiling.

Buffy stared into Tara's eyes. "After, I'm gonna stop by the library and see if Giles wants me to patrol."

Tara was a bit disappointed. "Awww. I was hoping we could go back to your place and have some fun."

"Sorry, Mom's home early tonight. Rain check?" Buffy asked.

Tara smiled. "Sure."


Buffy walked around the corner into a hall at Sunnydale High School and saw a boy and a girl. The boy had a gun trained on the girl.

"Hey!" Buffy yelled.

"Oh, my God!" The girl turned and started walking away.

Buffy started running at the boy.

"Don't walk away from me, bitch!" the boy yelled.

Buffy ran at the boy full steam. He looked at her just as she grabbed his arm, raised it, and brought it down over her shoulder, making him drop the gun. She elbowed him hard in the gut, knocking the breath out of him. She turned around, grabbed him by the shirt, and yanked him hard to the floor. His spun a turn and a half on his way down and landed hard on his back. The girl just looked on in shock. Buffy bent down to pick the boy up by the collar. George the janitor arrived at a run and went over to the girl. They looked over at Buffy and the boy. She pushed him away.

He was in open-mouthed shock over what just happened. "What happened?"

"What happened?! You just went O.J. on your girlfriend!" Buffy told him.

His girlfriend looked down, away from him.

"This is nuts! I...I don't know why I got so mad."

"Because you're a fucking asshole?" Buffy suggested.

The girl shook her head. "He's not. We weren't even fighting a few minutes ago."

The boy shook his head. "We weren't, I-I swear to God!"

"If you weren't fighting, then why'd you have a gun?" Buffy asked him.

"I don't - I don't know. I don't even know where I got it."

George looked around the hall. "I don't see any gun."

Buffy looked at him, confused. The boy took a look around also.


The next day, Buffy was summoned to Principal Snyder's office. He came in and closed the door behind him.

Snyder headed to his desk. "I'm sure you know why I asked you here."

He passed Buffy as she took a seat.

"To thank me?" Buffy guessed.

Snyder walked around his desk. "That's right, I wanna thank you. What would Sunnydale High do without you around to incite mayhem, chaos, and disorder?"

"I don't incite! I stopped that boy from killing his girlfriend; ask him. Ask the janitor."

"People can be coerced, Summers. I'm no stranger to conspiracy. I saw JFK. I'm a truth seeker. I've got a missing gun and two confused kids on my hands. Pieces of the puzzle. And I'm gonna look at all the pieces carefully and rationally, and I'm gonna keep looking until I know exactly how this is all your fault."

Buffy was about to respond when his secretary buzzed him on his office intercom.

"Mr. Snyder, Billy Crandle chained himself to the snack machine again."

"Pathetic little no-life vegan." Snyder walked around his desk to go take care of Billy.

Buffy stood up to go also.

"Not so fast, missy. I'm not done with you yet. You stink of lies."

He pointed to her chair, and she sat back down and sighed. He left the office and closed the door behind him.

She heard something hit the floor and looked down at it. It was a book. She got up and bent down to pick it up. She looked at the cover. It was a Sunnydale High School yearbook from 1959. Over to Buffy's right was a bookcase with copies of all of the yearbooks since Sunnydale High opened. She looked over at its space on the shelf, shrugged, and put it back.


In the computer science class, Ms. Calendar walked along the front of the classroom. "So...for next time, read the chapters on information grouping and binary coding."

Giles looked into the classroom from the hall.

Jenny smiled. "I bet you'll think coding is pretty cool. I mean...if you find two-digit, multi-stacked conversions and primary number clusters a big hoot."

Everyone in the class laughed. The bell rang, and the students began to leave. Jenny watched them go and noticed Giles waiting just inside of the doorway.

"Rupert." Jenny went to him.

"I-I-I just stopped by to - to see how you were doing."

Jenny smiled. "That's sweet."

Giles looked down, away from her.

"I want to show you something." Jenny went to her desk, opened a drawer, took something out, walked back over to Giles, and held up a light pink quartz stone strung on a thin leather thong. "It's a rose quartz. It has healing powers."

Giles looked at her hands.

"I want you to have it."

Giles slowly took the necklace from her. He gently turned it over in his hand. "Oh, thank you, Jenny, that's, um...that's very thoughtful of you." He turned and left the classroom.

Jenny watched him go with a small smile on her face.


In history class, Buffy had her chin propped up in her hand, bored with the lecture and trying not to fall asleep to the drone of the male teacher's voice.

"Before 1935, the New Deal focused on revitalizing stricken business and agricultural communities. And the New Deal also tried to regulate the nation's financial hierarchy to avoid another disaster like the 1929 stock market crash."

Buffy couldn't help but close her eyes for a moment. The next thing that she knew, she heard a woman's voice, and she shook herself out of her reverie.

"Don't forget, your assignments are due on Friday, class."

The students began to leave. Buffy looked around and was taken aback by the sudden changed appearance of the classroom and the different dress and hairstyles of the other students.

"I told Ms. Hall we'd go help decorate the gym. Who are you taking?" A girl handed a flyer for the Sadie Hawkins Dance to another girl.

Buffy could see the year on it read 1959.

"David said yes."

"Oh, you're kidding! He's so dreamy!"

Buffy looked all around, confused.

The teacher was collecting papers. "Thank you."

A boy went up to the desk and handed in his paper also.

"Thank you, James. How are you enjoying that book I loaned you? The Hemingway."

Buffy observed and listened to the conversation.

"I like it. Very much. It's honest."

He slowly reached for the teacher's hand and gently took it.

She sighed. "Yes, it's, um...it's based on a true story, actually. He fell in love with his-"

They were interrupted by the door opening and let go of their hands.

Suddenly, Buffy found herself back in her history class as her teacher continued his lecture while writing on the board.

"Hours, child labor..."

Buffy stared in surprise at what the teacher was writing.

"...And collective bargaining."

The teacher looked back at the class. The students all started laughing. He looked back at the board and saw he'd just written "DON'T WALK AWAY FROM ME BITCH!" in huge letters.

"Oh, my God!" He quickly grabbed an eraser and frantically wiped it away.

"Did you see what he wrote?" a boy asked.


Later, in the library, Tara was at the table, studying. She looked up when she heard the doors open and saw Buffy walk in.

Buffy sat down next to her and kissed her on the lips. "Hi."

Tara smiled. "Hi."

Giles was kneeling and going through some books on a shelf.

Buffy looked at him. "Hey, Giles, my history teacher started doing some freaky channeling thing in class."

Giles stood up. "Ooh! Sounds like paranormal phenomena."

Tara smiled. "A ghost? Cool!"

Buffy frowned. "Maybe not. I sensed anger issues."

"What makes you say that?" Tara asked her.

"It made the teacher write a sentence with a wordy dird. In all caps. With a missing comma."

Tara mock-gasped.

Giles thought about it. "Well, that's a fairly accurate definition of a poltergeist."

"So we have some bad boo on our hands?" Buffy asked him.

"Yes."

"Well, why is it here? Does it just wanna scare people?" Tara asked him.

"Unfortunately, he doesn't know exactly what he wants. That's - That's the trouble. See, uh, many times, the spirit is plagued by all manner of worldly troubles. Being dead, it has no way to, uh, to make its peace. So it - it lashes out, growing ever more confused, ever more angry."

Buffy thought about that. "So it's a normal teenager, only dead."

"Well, what can we do? Is there any way to stop it?" Tara asked.

Giles sat on the table. "Uh, the only tried and true way is to work out what unresolved issues keep it here and - and - and, um, resolve them. Only if we can find out who this spirit is." He paused and considered. "Or was."


That evening, Giles was sitting in his office, researching. He could hear a conversation between two people in the hall faintly.

"I'm not afraid to use it, I swear! If I can't be with you-"

"Oh, my God!"

"Don't walk away from me, bitch!"

Giles looked up from his desk. He got up, took off his glasses, and walked out of his office to the area behind the checkout counter. There, he heard a faint male voice.

"I need you."

He looked around for a moment, then he went out into the hall and arrived at the hall intersection.

"Don't!"

Giles looked in the direction of George's voice and saw him out on the balcony, holding a gun up to Ms. Ellen Frank.

"Don't do that, damn it! Don't talk to me like I'm some dumb-"

The gun went off. Giles rushed to the other side of the intersection and hid behind the corner, watching the events as they unfolded. Outside, Ms. Frank went into shock from the bullet wound and began to fall backward. She tumbled over the balcony railing, down to the base of the stairs below. George panicked and ran into the hall. As he reached the intersection, Giles rushed out, grabbed him, and tackled him to the floor. George lost his grip on the gun, and it slid away. George raised his head as Giles got to his knees behind him and held him down.

"What's going on?" George asked.

"What's going on? You just shot a woman."

George was stunned by the realization that it actually happened.


The next morning, Giles was in his office, and Buffy and Tara were standing outside his door.

"It was just as with the - the couple you encountered two nights ago, Buffy. The - The janitor remembered everything. He - He knew he'd killed this poor woman, but he had no idea why. Well, they - they had no intimate relationship."

He came out with a few books and headed into the main area. They followed.

"What about the gun? Did you find it?" Tara asked.

"No, no. The police, everybody, we - we - we - we searched high and low." Giles went into the cage with the books and put them away.

Buffy was confused. "I'm still fuzzy about what's going on. These fights these couples keep having, it's sort of...specific."

Tara nodded. "She's right. It's a pattern." She sat at the table and typed at her laptop. "Let me do a crosscheck on other shootings at the school."

Buffy sat next to her. "Good idea. What do we know?"

Tara found something. "Oh, goddamn, we know plenty."

She scrolled through a newspaper article on her laptop. The title read "Sunnydale High Jock Kills Lover, Self".

"It says a student murdered a teacher on the night of the Sadie Hawkins Dance. The rumor was they were having an affair, and she tried to break it off. After he killed her, he went into the music room and shot himself."

Buffy took a deep breath and let it out. "Jesus Christ. It is one of those two, right?"

"It all fits: the gun, the Sadie Hawkins Dance."

"Which is tonight."

"How come we've never heard about this murder-suicide thing before? When did it happen?" Giles asked Tara.

"1959."

Tara and Giles both looked at Buffy, surprised.

"How did you know?" Tara asked her.


A short while later, Buffy set the 1959 Sunnydale High yearbook on the desk and opened it to a picture of the teacher. She pointed at it. "Okay, here's the new strangeness. I dreamt about this woman, Grace Newman, yesterday." She turned more pages. "Her and this guy." She pointed.

"Jim Stanley?" Tara asked. "He's the one. He did it. Your dreams are getting wicked accurate, Buff."

"He couldn't make her love him, so he killed her." Buffy turned away in disgust. "Fucking sicko." She stepped away.

Tara stared at his picture. "He looks so normal in this picture. He was smart, too. He made the honor roll."

Buffy looked back. "Smart. He killed a person and killed himself. Those are pretty much two of the dumbest fucking things you could do." She felt guilt anew and started crying.

Tara took Buffy's hand. "I know. I'm not excusing his behavior. And you-"

Buffy wiped away her tears. "I feel lousy. For her."

"Just her?" Tara asked her.

Buffy shook her head. "No." She cleared her head. "Anyway, let's focus on this, not me."

"Whose ghost do you think we're dealing with? His or hers?" Tara asked her.

"Well, considering how violent it is, I'm gonna say his."

Tara sat down. "Maybe Amy and I can find a way to communicate with them, and...we can find out what he wants."

"Who cares what he wants?" Buffy asked. "We need to shut him down before some other innocent guy goes and kills some poor nice girl and then blows his fucking brains out all over the music room wall."


Later, in the cafeteria, kraut dogs and spaghetti were on the menu for lunch. Cordelia opted for spaghetti and, after paying, walked over to Buffy and Tara's table with her tray.

"I hope you guys aren't going to the Sadie Hawkins Dance tonight, 'cause I'm organizing a boycott." Cordelia sat down. "Do you realize that the girls have to ask the guys? And pay and everything? I mean...whose genius idea was that?"

Buffy stared at her while slowly chewing her hot dog. "You do realize you were the one that got us the gig at the dance, right?"

Cordelia stared at Buffy for a moment in stunned confusion. "Whatever! We need to nip this thing in the bud. I mean, otherwise, things are going to get really scary."

Suddenly, they heard several students scream. The hot dogs and spaghetti had all turned into snakes. A boy pulled his snake dog away from his mouth. He had a snake protruding from his lips. He dropped the bun, spat out the snake, and quickly got up, backing away from his table. Buffy and the others looked back at their table and saw snakes all over it as well. They quickly got up, except for Cordelia, who was too busy screaming to think. When she finally looked at the table again, a snake lunged at her and bit her on the cheek. She reacted fast, throwing the snake off her and running. Buffy felt a piece of live snake squirming in her mouth and spat it out onto the floor. She stepped on it, squishing it under her shoe and splattering its blood.

Snyder came through the door and saw the mayhem. He stepped back just as a student came running by and fell over a table.

Moments later, the cafeteria was deserted.


That night, at Buffy's house, the gang was hanging out in her room. Buffy and Tara were on her bed, Amy was in her wicker chair, and Cordelia was kneeling and leaning against the bed.

Cordelia felt where a paramedic had dressed her snakebite. "Perfect. I'm gonna be scarred and swollen. Why didn't they just kill me?"

"Remember the plan to contact the spirit and talk to it?" Tara asked. "Fuck that plan. Buffy, you were right. The time for touchy-feely communication is passed. I've done some homework and found the only solution is the final solution."

"Genocide?" Amy asked sarcastically.

Tara shook her head. "Not quite. Exorcism."

"Are you crazy?" Cordelia asked her. "I saw that movie! Even the priest died."

"What's the deal?" Buffy asked Tara.

Tara laid down a map of the school building, and they all leaned in to look.

"Okay, see here, the balcony? That's where the original teacher died back in 1959 and that teacher last night. That's the hot spot where all the bad mojo is coming from. We need to create a Mangus-tripod."

"A what?" Cordelia asked her.

Tara pointed. "One person chants here on the hot spot. And the other three chant in other places around the school, forming a triangle. It's supposed to bind the bad spirit and keep it from doing any more harm."

"Well, I'll take the hot spot." Buffy took the map. "If there's trouble, that's where it'll be."

Tara nodded.

"This ghost, this James guy, is fixating on you, Buffy. The dreams, the yearbook..." Amy paused. "You sure you can handle it?"

"Well, I'm hoping he'll show. I truly am."


Later that night, at the school, they all went into the hall from outside.

"Okay, we all have our places. We do the chant and light the candle at midnight exactly. Any questions?" Buffy asked them.

"Yeah, what if this mangled triangle thingy doesn't work?" Cordelia asked her.

Buffy thought for a moment. "Bad things will come about."

Cordelia frowned.

Buffy nodded. "Okay, let's do this."

They all continued into the student lounge.

"No problem. This will be a piece of cake. Right?" Cordelia asked.

They heard a creaking and then a crashing noise. They jumped and looked in that direction and saw the doors at the end of the hall had slammed shut on their own. One by one, the other doors at the ends of the two intersecting halls slammed shut.

Tara left the lounge and entered the hall outside the school library. She walked along and slowed down to look down the other hall before continuing. Behind her, Giles opened the door, and she screamed out in fright. He started and yelled out, too.

"God, Tara, what are you doing here? You're not supposed to be inside."

"Me? What about you?" Tara asked him.

"I'm cataloging some volumes that just came in."

Tara nodded. Giles went back into the library, and the door swung shut behind him.


Cordelia walked into a girls' restroom with her candle and flashlight and looked around. The place was deserted. She saw her reflection in the mirror with a bandage on her cheek. She walked over to it and set the candle down on the shelf. She pulled off the bandage and winced at the pain. Leaning toward the mirror, she inspected the twin fang marks on her cheek.


In the hall, Buffy walked along and heard the song "I Only Have Eyes For You", by the Flamingos, playing somewhere. Down another hall, she could see shadows in a bright light dancing against a wall.

She walked toward the sound and through a pair of doors.

Beyond them was another set of doors to the music room. A Class of '59 Sadie Hawkins Dance flyer was taped to one of the door windows. She stepped over to the other door and looked in. There she saw James and Grace dancing slowly to the music.


Amy walked into the cafeteria and looked around. There were still a few snakes there.

Amy shuddered. "Ew, creepy."


Tara stepped up to the landing up the stairs from the student lounge and looked around nervously.


Buffy was watching James and Grace slowly turn as they danced. When James turned into view again, Buffy saw his face was all rotted. Buffy stared back in open-mouthed shock. James and Grace were suddenly gone.


In the girls' restroom, Cordelia dug in her purse for some makeup. When she looked back up and was about to put some on, the side of her face with the snakebite suddenly became rotten. She screamed at the top of her lungs.


On the landing, Tara set her candle down on the floor. Below her, the floor suddenly started to swirl, and a green demonic hand reached up and grabbed her, pulling her down. She screamed for all that she was worth and grabbed the stair railing to keep from being pulled in.

"Mr. Giles!" Tara screamed.

Giles heard her screams and came running. "Tara!"

"Mr. Giles! Mr. Giles!" Tara screamed.

The pull was too strong, and she lost her grip on the railing.

"Where are you?!" Giles ran into the lounge area.

"Please! Help! Help me!" Tara screamed.

He turned and saw her sinking into the floor. He scrambled up the stairs to her aid.

"Help! Help! Help! Help!" Tara screamed.

He grabbed her arms and started to pull. She screamed again as the pit continued to try to suck her in. Giles let out a grunt and managed to slowly lift her out. When she was free of the pit, she suddenly snapped into his arms, and they both went rolling down the stairs.


Buffy arrived at the balcony. Suddenly, she sensed something and stared off into space. She had a vision of Ms. Newman running out of the hall, onto the balcony, being chased by James with his gun.

"Stop!" James yelled.

Ms. Newman faced James. "Just calm down."

James shook the gun at her. It went off. Ms. Newman clutched her chest over the bullet wound. She pulled her hand away and looked at the blood. James walked into the music room and put on a record. He started crying, raised the gun to his head, and pulled the trigger.

James came up to Buffy with a rotted face and grabbed her by the arms. "Get out!"

The vision of him faded quickly, and she took a few steps back.


In the girls' restroom, Cordelia was panting with fear, covering her face with her hands. She looked into the mirror again and saw her face was suddenly normal again. She pulled her hands away, took a closer look, and began to calm down a bit.


In the lounge, Giles got up and went up a few steps to make sure that the pit was gone. He came back down to Tara. "Are you all right?"

Tara was still frightened and shook her head. Giles sat down. The town clock began to strike midnight.

"Oh, Goddess. Oh." Tara scrambled back up to the landing to light the candle.

Giles followed. "Careful up here!"


In the girls' restroom, Cordelia was nervous but ready with her candle and lighter.


On the balcony, Buffy struck a match and lit her candle.


On the landing, Tara struggled with her lighter. The flame wouldn't ignite. Giles crouched down, took it from her, and lit the candle.

Tara stared at the flame. "I shall confront and expel all evil."


In the girls' restroom, Cordelia lit her candle. "I shall totally confront and expel all evil."


In the cafeteria, Amy sat on a table with her lit candle before her. She had her legs crossed, hands folded, and eyes closed. "Out of marrow and bone..."


On the balcony, Buffy stared at the flame. "Out of house and home...never to come here again."


On the landing, Tara and Giles looked around. Nothing was happening.


In the cafeteria, Amy opened her eyes. Nothing happened there either.


In the restroom, Cordelia looked around also. All seemed quiet.


On the balcony, Buffy watched as a breeze blew out her candle. She looked in the direction of the gust.


On the landing, the candle there had been blown out, too. Tara and Giles exchanged a look.


In the cafeteria, Amy's candle was out also. She looked around nervously.


In the girls' restroom, Cordelia watched the smoke drift from the glowing wick.


In the lounge, Tara and Giles walked down the stairs and looked down the hall. They heard a faint buzzing. It steadily got louder. At the far end of the hall, they saw a huge, dark swarm of wasps coming toward them.

"Oh, my God!" Giles exclaimed.

They both broke into a dead run. As they rounded a corner, Buffy and Cordelia joined them from another hall.

"You all right?" Giles asked them.

Amy ran out of the cafeteria and kept pace. They reached the far end of the hall, where the doors were jammed shut.

"Get back!" Buffy told Giles.

Giles backed off, and Buffy kicked the door open, shattering the glass. They all immediately ran out. The wasps were right behind them.

When they reached the street, Amy looked back and stopped. "That's it."

The others all stopped and turned to look as well.

"I'd say school's out for good."

They all stared in amazement. Giles took off his glasses. The wasps had arranged themselves in a wall around the school, so nothing could get in or out.


In the living room at Buffy's house, Buffy leaned against the wall. The others were seated around the coffee table.

Giles poured some tea for himself. "The good news is none of you girls were shot. Well, we've established, based on all the parallels and - and - and Buffy's visions, that it's James' spirit."

"So what do we do, Mr. Giles?" Tara asked. "About James."

"Well, he's obviously reliving the night of the Sadie Hawkins Dance when he killed Ms. Newman. It-It's - It's common enough for a spirit to do this, to...recreate a-a tragedy."

Cordelia munched a cracker. "Hey. If Sunnydale High School shuts down forever, do we automatically graduate?"

Amy ignored her. "But why? What does he want?"

"He's - He's trying to...resolve whatever issues are keeping him in limbo. W-W-What, exactly, those are, I'm not-"

"He wants forgiveness."

Everyone looked at Buffy. Her head was lowered, and she was staring uncomfortably at the floor.

Giles leaned back. "Yes." He got up. "I imagine he does." He went to her. "But when James possesses people, they act out exactly what happened that night. So he's experiencing a form of purgatory instead. I mean...he's - he's doomed to - to kill his Ms. Newman over and over and over again, and...forgiveness is impossible."

Cordelia finished her cracker. "Good. He doesn't deserve it."

Giles looked at her. "To forgive is an act of compassion, Cordelia. It's - It's not done, because people deserve it. It's done, because they need it."

Cordelia stood up. "No. James destroyed the one person he loved the most in a moment of blind passion. And that's not something you forgive. No matter why he did what he did. And no matter if he knows now that it was wrong and selfish and stupid; it is just something he's gonna have to live with."

Buffy looked at her. "He can't live with it, Cordy. He's dead."

Cordelia just looked at them all for a moment, then stalked off into the kitchen.

"Okay. Over-identify much?" Amy munched her cracker.

Buffy sat down on the couch, put her hands over her eyes, and started crying. Tara gently rubbed her back.


Cordelia walked into the kitchen. She had her hands in her pockets and found a folded sheet of paper. She pulled it out and unfolded it. It was a Class of '59 Sadie Hawkins Dance flyer. She put down the flyer.

"I need you." It was a faint male voice.

Cordelia went out the kitchen door.


In the living room, Tara got up from the couch. "So what do we do next? Do we go in again?"

Giles shook his head. "Well, not now. No, the, uh...the spirit is too angry, too - too powerful. No, we have to work out exactly how and - and if this thing can be defeated."


The school was still surrounded by the swarm of wasps. Cordelia walked up to it, anyway. The swarm parted to let her in. When she reached the doors, they opened for her, and the swarm closed the gap behind her.


Tara walked into the kitchen. "Hey, Cordy, are you-" See saw the flyer lying on the island and picked it up. "Oh, Goddess. Mr. Giles!"

Giles came in.

Tara held up the flyer. "She went back."


They all went to the school and stood in front of it, looking at the swarm.

"So what now?" Amy asked.

Buffy was confused. "I don't get it. Is she trying to be a big loner hero or something?"

Giles looked at her. "No. I believe she's under the spirit's thrall. He's - He's calling her."

"But why?" Buffy asked.

"James needs her to re-enact everything that happened on the night that he - he killed Ms. Newman. He wants to change things, make - make a happy ending."

"But it can't ever happen!" Tara told him. "It always ends the same, which means Cordy just went in there to get shot, Mr. Giles."

"Yes. But the school's deserted. There's no way for James to...to play his part. There's - There's no man inside for him to possess."

Amy thought about that. "So Cordy should be safe until we find a way to get her out."

Tara looked at her. "In theory, yeah."


Inside the school, Cordelia walked idly through the halls. She stopped by the trophy case and turned around.

"Fun fact about wasps. They have no taste for the undead. Not that a sting would do me any damage; it's just...tonight's special. I wanted to look my best for you."

Cordelia had her back to Angelus. "You're the only one. The only person I can talk to."

"Goddamn, Cordy. That's really pathetic."

Cordelia faced him. "You can't make me disappear just because you say it's over."

Angelus approached her. "Actually...I can. In fact...I just want you to be able to have some kind of normal life. We can never have that, don't you see?"

"I don't give a damn about a normal life!" Cordelia cried. "I'm going crazy not seeing you. I think about you every minute."

Angelus put his hand on Cordelia's cheek. She looked down sadly.

"I know. But it's over. It has to be!" Angelus turned around and started to leave.

Cordelia looked up again and started to chase after him, angry. "Come back here! We're not finished!" She grabbed him by the arm and turned him around to face her. "You don't care anymore, is that it?"

Angelus was sobbing. "It doesn't matter; it doesn't matter what I feel."

"Then tell me you don't love me!" Cordelia cried. "Say it!"

"Is that what you need to hear? Will that help? I don't. I don't. Now, let me go." Angelus tried to go.

"No. A person doesn't just wake up and stop loving somebody!" Cordelia yelled.

Angelus looked at her. Cordelia took a step back, raised a revolver, pulled the hammer back, and aimed it at him. Angelus looked at the gun and then at Cordelia, frightened.

"Love is forever. I'm not afraid to use it, I swear!" Cordelia yelled. "If I can't be with you-"

"Oh, my God!" Angelus turned around and started walking out of the hall, toward the balcony.

"Don't walk away from me, bitch!" Cordelia yelled.

Angelus ran out of the hall. She ran after him. Angelus barged through the door, out onto the balcony.

"Stop it!" Cordelia walked out the door. "Stop it! Don't make me!"

Angelus stopped next to the balcony railing and breathed heavily with fear. "All right. Just..." He turned around to face Cordelia. "You know you don't want to do this. Let's both...just calm down. Now, give me the gun." He held out his hand.

"Don't! Don't do that, damn it!" Cordelia yelled. "Don't talk to me like I'm some stupid-"

The gun went off. Angelus flinched from the wound and clutched his hand to his chest. He pulled it away and saw the blood. He looked up at Cordelia. She stared back in open-mouthed shock at what she just did.

"James." Angelus went into shock from the bullet wound and began to fall backward. He tumbled over the balcony railing, down to the base of the stairs below.

Cordelia just stared in shock. She saw Angelus below, seemingly lying dead at the base of the stairs with his eyes closed. She slowly went back into the hall.


Cordelia slowly walked into the music room and over to the record player at the back of the room. She turned it on and began playing the record. She looked over into a mirror, and James looked back at her. Her eyes were full of tears as she looked at him. She looked down at the gun in her hand. She raised it slowly, but a hand took it and pushed it back down. She turned and found herself face to face with Angelus.

"Grace!" Cordelia exclaimed.

"Don't do this."

"But - But I killed you."

"It was an accident. It wasn't your fault."

"Oh, it is my fault. How could I-"

"Shhh. I'm the one who should be sorry, James. You thought I stopped loving you. But I never did. I loved you with my last breath."

Cordelia let out a few sobs.

"Shhh..." Angelus leaned close. "No more tears."

Cordelia and Angelus kissed. They held each other tightly as they continued kissing for a long time. Above them, in the ceiling, a bright light appeared, and the spirits of Grace and James left this world for the next. As quickly as it appeared, the light was gone. Cordelia and Angelus gently broke off their kiss and opened their eyes.

"Angel."

Suddenly, he growled, pushed her away, and ran from the room, leaving Cordelia there in shock.


Later, in the library, Giles paced behind the counter. The door opened, and Buffy, Tara, and Amy walked in.

Tara smiled. "Everything seems normal. Not a snake, not a wasp."

Buffy nodded. "Yep. School can open again tomorrow."

Amy nodded. "And they rescheduled the dance for tomorrow night, so we'll still get paid."

They all leaned against the counter.

Cordelia walked out of Giles' office, where she had been resting.

"Are you feeling any better?" Giles asked her.

Cordelia walked over to them, melancholy. "James picked me. I guess...I guess I was the one he could relate to. He was so sad."

"Well...they can both rest now."

"I still..." Cordelia sighed. "A part of me just doesn't understand why she would forgive him."

"Does it matter?" Giles asked her.

Cordelia thought about that. "No. I guess not."