"Okay," Buffy began, pacing back and forth nervously before meeting Spike's eyes with her own. "First of all, I've been wanting to tell you for a long time now that-when-" she smiled slightly ironically. "Well, during the last apocalypse, when you stood there and-"

"Turned to ash?" he supplied dryly with a lift of his eyebrows and she fought the urge to laugh out loud at his delivery, realizing how much she really had missed his dry sense of humor even as she shot him a warning look, continuing earnestly,

"Spike, it was the bravest thing I've ever seen and- I swear to you, I have never been prouder of anyone than I was of you in that moment-"

"Holy shit," Spike said softly, taking a slow step backward. "We ARE all going to die."

"No!" she cut him off sharply. "None of you are dying tonight."

He narrowed his eyes slightly before gazing intently at her, and after a few seconds his whole face fell as he murmured, "Oh, pet. Not again."

She looked away from him, shrugging as she questioned "Not again what?" just a little too flippantly, confirming what he suspected, and he reached out a gentle hand, tilting her chin so she would need to meet his eyes as he offered her a sad smile.

"You're sacrificing yourself to save the world."

She held his gaze reluctantly as she slowly nodded. "Something like that. But- I do need your help."

He looked for a minute like he was going to deny her and she tried to brace herself for an argument she wasn't sure she would be able to handle, not after everything that had already happened today- not when she was still dealing with all that she had been forced to acknowledge that she still wanted and still could never have- but to her surprise he just nodded shortly, face displeased but tone gentle as he said, almost as though she were a stupid child,

"I already told you I would help."

"Thank you," she whispered, visibly slumping in relief as she shakily held out an envelope. "First of all- when it's over, this is for him."

"Always Angel," Spike said darkly, but she saw the hurt in his eyes and averted her own gaze in something resembling shame as she said imploringly,

"Please. He's going to have a- hard time."

Spike frowned, hating that he was having such difficulty discerning what exactly was going on before she chanced a glance upward at him, eyes naked with pain and regret and he muttered unthinkingly,

"Lucky BASTARD! It is him!"

She blinked in genuine confusion. "Um- Spike? Come again?"

"The Shanshu prophesy-" and his face cleared further as the final step clicked into place for him, as he nearly sputtered incredulously "And you need to die to make it happen."

Her jaw dropped, then shut, and she smiled sadly at him, wondering how she could have forgotten how perceptive he was for all his bluster. "That about sums it up, yes. Questions? Comments? Concerns?" she demanded as flippantly as she was able continuing the fact that she felt like her heart might literally jump up to her throat and choke her at any second.

"Are you out of your bloody MIND? How's that for a question?" he demanded, running a frustrated hand through his hair as he paced back and forth once, looking as though he wanted to shake her. "Buffy, this is madness-"

"Spike," she said softly, meeting his eyes, and he snapped his mouth shut at the somber, imploring tone in her voice, "You aren't going to change my mind. All you can do is impact how hard my last few hours here are. Don't make them harder."

He swallowed with difficulty, trying with limited success to get a handle of any kind on his emotions. "How was your day?" she asked idly as she watched him struggle, trying to divert his attention, if just a little, and hated how simplistic the question seemed, surprised that the answer mattered to her even now, surprised as a smile lit up his face.

"Actually, it went quite well," he said almost smugly, and she grinned at the characteristic twinkle in his eye as he continued, "Read my poetry at a club and the suckers LOVED it. Effulgent is the new-"

She shot him a genuine smile, cutting him off kindly. "It's about time."

His smile dimmed slightly as he looked at hers, and he stared at her face intently for a long moment, as though memorizing it, before muttering, "I know I can't change your mind, and I don't suppose I can very well physically stop you. So I ask, yet again- how can I help?"

"I need information." Buffy said softly, her own gaze sobering.

He grinned. "Always happy to play the snitch."

--

Buffy nervously knocked on a plain wooden door, anxiously smoothing down the slightly sexy red tank top she'd hurriedly purchased on her way, having decided that, shallow as it was, she really didn't want to die in a black shirt and sweatpants, even if they did smell like Angel-

And then all her thoughts froze in place as the door swung open, revealing a young man who she knew at once must be Darla's son- must be Angel's-

"Connor?" she blurted weakly and his eyes narrowed suspiciously as he asked cautiously,

"Who wants to know?"

"My name is Buffy," she said slowly, hating how ridiculous all of this was going to sound. "I'm sort of a friend of your-"

"Wow," he cut her off, looking her thoroughly up and down, to her slight discomfort. "Anyone ever tell you you're small for a legend?"

She smirked slightly. "All the time. Can I come in?"

"That depends," he retorted with a smirk of his own. "Is the world ending?"

Her eyes narrowed slightly as she gave a small shrug. "That depends too."

"On what?"

She offered him a tiny smile and another shrug. "A lot of things. One of them is you."

His brow furrowed as he stepped aside to let her in. "How do I fit into this-"

"You're pretty strong, right?" she asked casually, frustrated as he only tilted his head to the side slightly.

"I guess so. I mean, I'm not as strong as-"

Deciding to just go for it she lashed out, punching him violently in the gut, pleased when he returned her blow with a strong uppercut to her jaw. He assumed a fighting stance, but she placed up a hand. "Save your energy. You'll need it." At his confused look she looked apologetic, explaining, "Never was big conventional methods, but I had to make sure you're strong enough-"

"Strong enough for what?" he enquired in confusion and she bit her lip, trying to determine the best way to convey what she needed to, at length deciding that given her time constraints and the fact that she knew next to nothing about the man standing before her, the best bet was probably just to spit it out.

"Your dad needs some help. I can't give it to him right now because I need to get ready for later-"

"I don't-" he began and she held up a hand.

"I know you and your dad aren't on the best of terms but I'm taking a leap of faith here and assuming you don't want him dead," she cut him off sharply, meeting his gaze unwaveringly for a long moment, relieved when he nodded.

"I don't."

She smiled fleetingly. "I didn't think so. I can't really tell you what's going on- you just need to get to his office NOW. And-" she paused, biting her lip before adding "you need to forget you saw me."

"He's gonna ask why I'm there-"

She shrugged. "Considering who your parents are I'm sure you're smart. You'll think of something. I'd go with some version of 'What? You drop by for a cup of coffee and the world's not ending?' She smirked sardonically. "But that's just me." She surveyed him closely, wished there were more time for explanations, for questions, even for idle chit chat about the weather- "You look a lot like your mom."

He shrugged. "So they tell me."

"It's a good thing," Buffy smiled with an open shrug. "I mean, whatever else I may have wanted to say about Darla, she did have awesome bone structure-"

He let out a brief snort of laughter. "You're different than I thought," he mused and she looked at him, face curious.

"How was I supposed to be?"

"Truthfully? Whenever you came up I always sort of got the idea that you were- selfish. But- I mean, do you believe that everyone has an energy?"

Her brow furrowed slightly, and she nodded. "I do."

"I do too. I didn't used to pay attention to it but- recently I've sort of had to realize there's sometimes more to people than there looks like there is, so I've been trying to be in tune with their energy- and yours isn't selfish. At all."

She shrugged self-depricatingly. "Maybe it used to be."

His eyes lit with something resembling fascination. "What were you like when my dad knew you?"

She smiled briefly, a genuine one. "Young. Kind of ditzy. Idealistic enough to fall in love with a vampire, even after thinking he'd tried to eat my mother-"

Connor's jaw dropped. "What?"

She laughed slightly. "Get him to tell you sometime." She looked wistful for a brief moment before asking awkwardly, "Did- he say I was selfish?"

Connor shook his head, not needing to ask who she was talking about. "No. He never mentioned you ever- it was how I knew how much he thought about you."

She smiled wistfully, and then her face sobered. "We have to go."

"Did you love him?" Connor blurted as she strode out the door, confident that he would follow her, but at the words she froze, turned to meet his eyes.

"More than I ever loved anything else in my whole life." Pain flashed across her face and she added softly. "If I- ever come up- after tonight- it would be okay with me if you remembered I said that. I- never know if he knows-"

The young man looked confused, but couldn't figure out what she was getting at as she whirled again and strode rapidly from the building.

--

"Buff!" Faith shouted the second Buffy ducked into the deserted warehouse they'd designated as a meeting place and Buffy felt gladder to see her than she ever would have dreamed was possible even a few years ago as they embraced tightly. "G-man is spitting FIRE about the fact that we took over his plan," Faith continued, rapidly ushering Buffy toward another room. "Would you believe he didn't call me either?"

"Sorta makes you long for the days when we were the chosen two, huh?" Buffy quipped with a smile before adding, "You look good."

"So do you, girlfriend!" Faith proclaimed enthusiastically. "Retirement and" she looked Buffy up and down appraisingly, "Vampire sex must really agree with you-"

"Faith!" Buffy hissed, sounding scandalized as she looked around, relieved to see that the few people who were milling around in the outer room didn't seem to have heard before she nudged Faith sharply. "How do you-"

Faith rolled her eyes. "How WAS Angel?" she asked pointedly and Buffy blushed, half squealing, half-moaning,

"FAITH!"

The girl smirked. "I'll take that as an 'excellent'-" before her expression sobered. "You and he must really think the world is ending if-"

"I don't," Buffy cut her off sharply, her own gaze becoming somber. "And neither should you. This is just another apocalypse to add to our belt."

"And just when you thought you were retired for good-" Faith began abut Buffy shrugged slightly, cutting her off.

"Truthfully- I mean, I thought I liked retirement. Got to do a lot of fun, normal things. But today- when I- it was like, suddenly I had a purpose again. And- even though I didn't want to miss it- I REALLY did."

"Know whatcha mean," Faith nodded, and in that moment Buffy knew that it was true and fought the urge to embrace the girl once more, fearful that it would make her worry even as Faith continued to quip, "Ready to talk to the troops?"

"Always," Buffy nodded grimly. "Spike was nothing if not helpful. He figures we have about-" she looked at her watch before shrugging, "Well, by now, 60 minutes to get to an alley-"

"That enough time?"

Buffy smiled sardonically. "I've had less."

--

Spike looked around the alley nervously, wondering for the first time if Buffy was actually going to be too late as he turned to Angel, trying to remain calm in the face of thousands of rapidly approaching, clearly blood-thirsty demons of all sorts. "In terms of a plan?" he inquired rapidly.

"We fight," Angel said with his typical stoic calm and for the first time Spike fully realized that the man did have a death wish tonight for some reason he himself could not fully understand-

"Be more specific," Spike requested sharply, stunned when Angel shrugged, saying with that same uncaring stoicism,

"Well, personally, I kind of want to slay the dragon."

"Sorry, lover," a determined voice came from behind them, and despite himself Spike's knees almost gave out in relief as he heard it and Buffy continued, "The dragon is mine."

"Buffy?" Angel questioned in disbelief, not even trusting himself to turn around as he felt the emotions he'd been fighting all night to repress bubbling to the surface, strongest among them the instinct to survive-

"And friends," Faith quipped, brandishing a broadsword as the first of the beasts reached them and with a vicious cry making the first kill of the night, slicing one of their heads cleanly off. "Let's go to work," she screamed.

--

As always, thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed, and feedback keeps me going (and is hugely appreciated!)