Chapter 47: Anne

The waves crash gloriously onto the bright and silent beach.

Buffy walks slowly, in a light sundress, bare feet digging into the sand. It's a warm and calming tableau and Buffy is soaking it up. She stops, looking off in the distance.

She shuts her eyes, letting the sun warm her face. Angel wraps his arms around her from behind as he buries his face in her neck. She reaches up behind her to caress his face. "How did you find me here?"

"If I was blind, I would see you," Angel says intimately.

"Stay with me," Buffy says.

Angel smiles, "Forever. That's the whole point. I'll never leave." He lowers his voice to a whisper, "Not even if you kill me."

Buffy awakens suddenly as she hears a screech and a siren outside. She gets wearily out of bed and walks slowly forward to the window. As she reaches it, she leans out and looks down at the street below.

The next day Buffy drops plates off at one table and proceeds to another. A few Roughnecks sit at it, finishing their meal. "Anything else?"

"That'll do us, peaches." A roughneck says as he looks at her nametag which says: Anne.

Buffy rips off a bill and puts it on the table, avoiding eye contact with the men. "Pay at the counter."

The roughneck leers at Buffy, "Sure you don't want me to work it off?"

Buffy turns away without comment and the man actually slaps her ass.

Buffy turns slightly - slayeresque intent in her eyes. After a moment, it flickers and fades. She moves on to the next table

There is a couple at the table, neither of them past twenty, both a bit strung out. But clearly into each other, and very friendly. They are giggling, examining their forearms for some reason.

"Are you guys ready?" Buffy asks.

Rickie nods, "Yeah, I think we're good, um..." He cranes to see the name tag. "...Anne.

"What'll you have?" Buffy asks.

"Well, okay..." Rickie says as he dumps a bunch of change onto the table, amounting to a couple of dollars at most. "What can we get with this?"

"Well..." Buffy says.

"Can we get cake?" Lily asks.

"Don't be stupid! We gotta eat healthy. Can't have cake." Rickie says before turning back to Buffy, "Can we get pie?"

"That's better. That's got fruit." Lily says.

Buffy nods, "We got peach pie. I can't guarantee there's a peach in it..."

"We shouldn't have blown all our money," Lily says.

Rickie smiles, "It was worth it." He looks to Buffy, "Check this out." He and Lily hold their forearms out and together. They've gotten two halves of a heart, his with "Lily" in it and hers with "Rickie". Put 'em together and they make a whole. The work is a little primitive, which makes it all the more endearing.

"It's nice." Buffy says. "I've got one myself."

Buffy got the triquetra tattooed to the inside of her wrist as a reminder of the family she had left behind."

Rickie smiles, "Then you understand the point of it all."

Buffy nods, "Yeah."

"Hey... do I know you?" Lily asks.

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

"Really?" Lily asks, curious. "Where're you from?"

"I'll get your pie." Buffy says and takes off as Lily watches her with a quizzical expression. After a moment Lily shrugs.

Buffy moves to the the swinging doors to the kitchen. She stops by another waitress. "Can you cover my station for a while? I'm not feeling great."

The waitress nods. Buffy looks briefly back at the couple, who are smooching. Buffy turns and leaves the diner.

Back at her apartment Buffy sits on the bed, a half opened can of spaghetti-o's with a can opener in her hand. Buffy never moves as she stares down at the triquetra on her wrist.

Later Buffy walks along in her waitress uniform, a coat over it. Heading for work. She silently takes in the urban tableaux around her. A clean cut young man, Ken, is handing a leaflet to a young runaway. A crazy old woman is huddled in the corner, swaying and mumbling.

As Buffy passes her, the old woman looks at her and says, "I'm no one... I'm no one..."

Buffy keeps walking and enters the diner.

In Giles' Office at Gateway High School Giles is on the phone in his office. "Yes, thank you." He hangs up and comes out into the library where Xander and Willow are looking over their new books. "I have a lead. A friend in Oakland has a sketchy report of a girl fending off a group of vampires a week ago. There's a flight out in an hour."

"And what makes this different from the last nine leads?" Xander asks.

"Well, I believe there is a meal on this flight." Giles says, they can hear a bit of defeat in his voice.

"I don't mean to poop the party, it's just, you get hopes all up and then it's a big fat raspberry and I feel bad." Xander says.

Willow nods, "It's still good that you're looking, though. You shouldn't give up."

"Oh, yeah. Definitely." Xander says.

Giles nods, "Well, one must try. In the meantime, you might want to take a slight vacation from your slaying."

"Hey, we're doing okay." Willow says, "Except that last guy totally threw off our stats..."

Giles nods, "I just don't want you getting into trouble while I'm away. You'll let Prue know about this latest lead?"

Willow nods, "Yeah I'll call now if you like."

"Please," Giles says. " I should go." He takes off. The kids watch him go.

"You don't think maybe he'll find her?" Willow asks.

"I think he will find her when she wants to be found." Xander says.

Willow nods as she gets up and walks into Giles office and dial the phone, "Prue, it's Willow."

In Los Angeles Buffy walks quietly by herself, a coat over her waitress outfit. Returning from work.

Lily appears behind her, catches up, calling to her. "Anne? Anne?" Buffy doesn't notice. "Payson?" Buffy stops and turns. "Don't be mad. I won't turn you in or nothing. I guess you don't recognize me."

"Lily?" Buffy asks.

Lily nods, "I mean from before. I was calling myself Chantarelle then. I used to... I was in that cult that worshipped vampires." She rolls her eyes. "So lame, I know..."

Buffy nods as she remembers, "Oh, yeah..."

Lily smiled, "You kind of saved us. I never thanked you or anything."

"Did you tell anyone who I was?" Buffy asks.

Lily shakes her head, "Oh, no! Not even Ricky. I was so surprised to see you here, Waiting tables . . . but I wouldn't tell. I know how it is when you gotta get lost." She points to the triquetra on Buffy's wrist, "But that might be a giveaway."

Buffy looks at her wrist and nods, "Your probably right there. But I needed something to remind me…" They fall into step together. "So, you live nearby?"

"There's a couple of places, they're abandoned and a lot of people stay there. Ricky knows all those places, he can always find somewhere to crash. He's pretty smart. So how come you came up with Anne?" Lily asks.

Buffy nods, "Not to many people know it but my birth name was Buffy Anne. When I moved in with my cousins I changed my name in honor of my mom, their aunt."

"That's nice… Lily's from a song. Ricky picked it. I'm always changing anyway. Chantarelle was part of my exotic phase." Lily says.

"It's nice. It's a mushroom." Buffy says.

"It is? That's really embarrassing." Lily says.

"It's an exotic mushroom, if that's any comfort." Buffy says.

Lily nods, "Well, before that I was following this loser Preacher and calling myself Sister Sunshine. There's nothing worse than that."

Buffy shakes her head, "Nothing springs to mind, it's true... What about at home, what'd they call you?" Lily doesn't answer - home not a welcome concept, and Buffy realizes it. "Well, I like Lily."

"It's cool for now. Hey, do you have any money?" Lily asks. Buffy stops, not sure what to say. "I don't mean that like... Well, I just mean, I know a guy, he's having like a rave kind of thing, in this basement, it's three dollars to get in and you have to know someone. We could go, I could show you if you had... 'cause I'm broke.

Buffy shakes her head, "I don't think so. I kind of want to be alone."

"Well, I didn't mean to bug you..." Lily says, hurt.

Buffy sighs, "No, I just mean a lot of people would be too much." She digs into her pocket. "Here, why don't you go with Rickie, and I'll see you some time -"

"No, that's okay, forget about it," Lily says.

"No, really, I -" Buffy says as an old man ploughs through them. "Whoah!"

"That's not very polite." Lily says.

The old man turns and looks at the two girls. Horror fills his eyes.

"Are you okay?" Buffy asks.

He just stares, finally emitting a cracked whisper, "I'm no one..."

"What?" Buffy asks.

The old man looks at them a moment more, then steps into the street - right in front of an oncoming pick-up.

Without hesitation, Buffy bolts, running right into the street and pushing the old man out of the way.

The truck slams into her. She flies back and hits the ground just as hard.

Lily rushes over to Buffy, who gets up. The driver of the truck also gets out, comes up to her. "Are you okay?"

"Jeez, I didn't see you!" the driver says.

"Maybe you shouldn't move . . ." Lily says.

But Buffy is standing, albeit a bit unsteadily.

"Yeah, you should lie down. Somebody call an ambulance!" the driver says.

Buffy shakes her head, "It's okay..." But more poeple are starting to crowd around. Buffy looks about her, unease rising. "I have to go..." And she takes off, running down the street and disappearing around the corner.

"You sure you don't want to sue?" the driver asks.

Buffy rounds the corner and runs right into Ken.

Ken's leaflets fly everywhere. "Whoah! Where are you running to?"

Buffy starts picking up leaflets. "I'm sorry..."

Ken shakes his head, "Maybe I should ask, where are you running from." Buffy hesitates, then continues picking up leaflets. Ken squats, helps. "You're pretty new around here. You've got the look, though."

"The look." Buffy says.

Ken nods, "Like you had to grow up way too fast. What's your name?"

Buffy hands him the flyers. "Anne."

Ken nods, "I'm Ken. Go ahead and keep one of these." He hands her back a flyer. "Don't be shy about stopping by. I guess you're not starving, but we're not just interested in feeding the body. You might find something you're missing."

"I'm all right." Buffy says.

Ken shakes his head, "Then why are you here?" She doesn't answer. He looks over at a couple of kids hanging out. "This isn't a good place for a kid to be. You get old fast here. The thing that does it, that drains the life out of them: despair. Kids come here, they got nothing to go home to and this is the last stop for a lot of them. Shouldn't have to be that way."

Buffy looks at the kids as well…

The next day Buffy is in the middle of her shift as Lily enters, a bit distraught.

"Pays - uh, Anne? Can I talk to you?" Lily asks.

Buffy leads her over to one side. "We got kind of a rush here, is there another time—"

"Rickie's gone," Lily says with concern. "I mean, I haven't seen him for more than a day, he's never left for that long, I think something's happened. Maybe something's happened."

"Well, did you talk to the police?" Buffy asks.

Lily shakes her head, "Rickie's skipped on his parole, they'd just..."

"Well, you could... I don't know, ask around and –" Buffy says.

"Can you help me?" Lily asks.

Buffy looks at her a moment. "I can't."

"But, but, that's who you are and stuff, right? I mean, you help people... and, you know..." Lily says.

Buffy sighs, "I can't get into this now, I'm sorry..."

"You know how to do stuff..." Lily says.

Buffy shakes her head, "I can't; not anymore..."

Lily is near tears, "But... I don't know what to do..."

Buffy doesn't answer for a moment. There is no relish in her voice as she offers, "I'm off at four."

At the Manor Prue sits in the living room, doing bills. The doorbell rings and her head snaps up. She moves quickly to the door, opening it to reveal Giles. She lets the tide of disappointment settle as she greets him. "Hey Giles."

"Hello. May I –" Giles says.

Prue nods, "Of course." She moves aside as she doesn't offer him a verbal invite. It had long been one of Buffy's rules she had been adamant about."

They head back to the living room.

"I've just come from Oakland." Giles says.

Prue nods, "Willow called and said a friend of yours had a lead. Stories about someone fighting vampires."

Giles nods, "It didn't pan out, I'm afraid."

Prue sighs, "No Buffy."

Giles shakes his head, "No vampires. Bunch of school kids in heavy mascara listening to extremely silly music."

Prue nods, "Well, thank you for going. Phoebe and I have been taking turns staying at the house. Hoping that she'll call, that she'll... need help..."

Giles nods, "Buffy is the most capable child I have ever known. She may Be confused, unhappy, but I honestly believe she's in no danger."

Prue nods, "I don't either. But it still doesn't keep us from worrying either."

That evening in Los Angeles Buffy and Lily walk into a bloodbank, looking about.

"We gave blood a lot of times 'cause you get a few bucks and they have cookies." Lily says.

Buffy nods, "You're a fan of the sugar rush, aren't you."

Lily smiles, "It's nice."

Joan, one of the nurses, crosses over to them, "Hi. Are you here to donate blood?"

"Oh, no. I mean, I can't. Needles. They make me woozy. Which is weird, 'cause I don't have a problem with battle axes, but needles... We're looking for a friend." Buffy says.

Lily nods, "Rickie T? We come in sometimes..."

Joan nods, "Rickie, sure. He's not here..."

"Has he been in, do you know? In the last day or so?" Buffy asks.

Joan nods, "Let me check the sheet." She walks over to a desk.

"This'll probably go faster if we split up." Buffy says.

"Can I come with you?" Lily asks.

Buffy sighs, "Okay, when did I lose you on the whole splitting up thing?"

"Sorry," Lily says.

Buffy nods, "We can both check out some of your hangouts and meet later. At my place."

"Okay," Lily says.

Joan walks back over shaking her head, "Sorry, guys. He hasn't been here."

"Thanks," Buffy says.

Joan nods, "I'll tell him you were looking..."

The girls go, Buffy hands Lily her spare key. "This is for the downstairs..."

Joan watches them, the smile draining from her face.

Later Buffy enters an abandoned building slowly, looking around. She makes her way from one room to the next - stepping over a few sleeping people, looking to make sure none is Rickie.

A figure suddenly moves at here - an old wino, who glares at Buffy before she moves on. She makes her way through a hole in the wall. Moves forward, then stops.

The Old Man who walked in front of the pick up lies very dead in the corner. An open bottle of drain cleaner beside him.

"Oh, goddess..." Buffy says as she moves to his side, grabbing his wrist to take his pulse. None. She stops, his wrist still in her hands. Stares down at his arm which bears a tattoo. Half a heart, with the name LILY in the middle. "Rickie..."

Back at Buffy's apartment Lily is sitting on the bed, she rises as Buffy walks in through the door. "Did you find Rickie?" Buffy takes off her coat. "I thought of, he likes to go to this movie house, you can get in the back -"

Buffy sighs, "Lily, I think . . . that he's dead."

Lily takes this in, eyes brimming. "But... he takes care of me..."

"I'm sorry..." Buffy says.

Lily nods, "We're gonna get a place, his cousin could get him a job at the car wash..."

"Lily." Buffy says, "Something's happening. The person I found was old, he looked about eighty –"

Lily shakes her head, "Well, that's not Rickie –"

"I'm sure it was. Lily, something drained the life out of him. Made him old. I don't know how, but... there could be something out there."

"Do you mean, like a vampire?" Lily asks.

Buffy thinks it through and then shakes her head, "They wouldn't accelerate the aging process, but maybe... maybe something in his blood... When was the last time you guys gave blood together?"

"I don't understand... maybe it's not Rickie, okay?" Lily says.

Buffy sighs, "Lily. You have to deal with this."

"But he didn't do anything wrong, why would –" Lily says.

Buffy shrugs, "That's not the point. These things happen, you can't close your eyes and hope they'll go away."

"Is it 'cause of you?" Lily asks.

"What?" Buffy asks confused.

Lily nods, "You know about... monsters and stuff, you could have brought this with you..."

"I didn't bring anything with me!" Buffy snaps at Lily, "And I didn't ask for you to come to me with your problems. I just wanted to be left alone. If you can't deal with what's happening, don't lay it off on me –" Lily rises, she really can't deal,as she heads out the door. "Lily –"

Buffy makes no move to stop Lily. She stands in the middle of the room, fuming. After a moment her anger deflates. She looks to the door - what should she do?

That evening Buffy forces the door to the bloodbank. She walks in and begins snooping about, looking over the chairs. She moves to behind the counter, looking through files by the light of a lighter. She riffles through several, and finds Rickie's file. "Candidate for what?"

The lights go on and Joan steps out from the back of the office. She eyes Buffy warily. Buffy looks at her. "What are you doing?"

Buffy doesn't look up from Rickie's file, "Breaking into your office and looking through your private files. Candidate for what?"

"I'm calling the police." Joan says as she moves forward - Buffy doesn't even look as she pulls the phone jack out of the wall.

Buffy looks over several files. "You've got a whole bunch of candidates here. I wonder if any of these kids are missing like Rickie. Gosh I'll bet they are."

"You're gonna get yourself in a lot of trouble." Joan says.

Buffy puts the files down, faces Joan. "I don't want any trouble. I just want to be alone and quiet, you know, with a chair, and a fireplace, and a tea cozy. I'm not even sure what a tea cozy is, but I want one. Instead, I get trouble. Which I am willing to share. What are you doing to these kids?"

"Nothing! I just . . . give him names." Joan says. "He likes to know who . . . I give him the names of the healthy ones."

"Give them to who?" Buffy says, steely eyed. "Or, wait - give them to whom? Or maybe it's who..."

Half an hour later Buffy is talking her way in, to a FAMILY HOME MEMBER. He is as large and thuggish as the one next to him, or she probably wouldn't be talking at all. "You know, I just looked in the mirror and thought, hey! What's with all the sin? I need to change. I'm dirty, I'm bad . . . with the sex, and the . . . envy, and that loud music we kids listen to nowadays . . ."

Buffy sighs, "I just suck at undercover. Where's Ken?"

One of them starts to close the door - and Buffy shoves it wide open, sending him tumbling.

Inside the cleansing chamber Lily reaches into the water, her hands gliding in, disappearing up to the elbow.

Buffy throws the door open. Ken moves between her and Lily. "This is a private moment, if you could just –"

Buffy shakes her head, "How do you make 'em old, Ken? You feed on youth, what's the deal?"

Ken drops his facade as easily as Buffy dropped hers. "Do you really want to know?"

"What's going on?" Lily asks.

Buffy frowns, "Lily?"

Lily's hand still trails in the water - and she is suddenly yanked in - screaming as she disappears below the surface.

Buffy runs to her, but Ken blocks the way. Buffy tries to throw him, but he is strong, locking her arms in his grip. After a moment of struggle, Buffy just throws all her weight into him and they both fall, wrapped like lovers, into the liquid as well.

Buffy and Ken come out the other side. That is, they fall out of an identical pool that happens to be on the ceiling of this small stone chamber. They hit the ground hard - but dry -, roll and separate.

Buffy looks around. "Lily?"

Lily is on the ground nearby, groggy. She groans and stirs. Buffy looks up at the pool above her.

"My face... Ow, my face..." Ken says as he clutches his head. Fury mounts in his voice, "Do you have any idea how hard it is to glue that thing on?" He spins around, revealing his human face hanging limply in his hands. The demon face beneath is glistening and scarred. He is seething with anger, staring at Buffy hatefully. "Guards!"

Several figures start running toward them from the shadows - blocking access to the portal. A cursory glance reveals their faces to be about as attractive as Ken's.

Still not completely on top of what's going on, Buffy nonetheless takes action. She scrambles toward Lily, helping her up – "Lily! Come on!"

Buffy heads Lily down a corridor.

Ken grabs a nasty looking cudgel off one of the guards, heads after the girls, but more slowly.

Buffy drags Lily along the corridor. "We got to find another exit, there's gotta be..." She stops talking, as the corridor ends at a sheer ledge. She looks down into an enormous room.

And it's Hell. Part factory, part prison camp, with more than a little Spanish Inquisition thrown in. HUMAN PRISONERS work at hauling enormous stones, doing metal work, any and all demeaning and backbreaking labor. Along the tops of the huge concrete pillars, people have been hung up to die for crimes of one kind or another. Molten metal runs along gutters into metal vats. Everything is covered with a layer of grime.

The people all wear the same kind of nondescript outfit that Lily has been put into, only dirtier. They are practically zombies, submissive and silent. Guards - demons all - patrol around, occasionally stopping to beat a prisoner.

Searchlights at either end constantly sweep the place.

Buffy stops, taking it all in.

Ken steps up behind Buffy, in control, since she has nowhere to run. "Welcome to my world. I hope you like it." Buffy turns, confusion and horror on her face. "You're never leaving." He smashes the cudgel across her face and she drops to the ground unconscious.

Later Buffy wakens in a cell. She sees Lily sitting with her back to the wall, terror on her face.

The Cell is dark, with a stone floor and a latticed iron grill at one wall. The girls share the cell with two others.

"Lily...?" Buffy asks. Just the effort of speaking makes Buffy's head hurt even more. She tries to sit up, takes it slow.

"I always knew I would come here..." Lily says "…sooner or later... I knew I belonged here..."

"Where?" Buffy asks.

Lily looks at Buffy for the first time since she woke up, "Hell."

Buffy shakes her head, "This... isn't Hell..."

"Isn't it?" Ken asks as he paces just behind the bars, grinning at the girls as he speaks. "What is Hell, but the total absence of Hope? The substance, the tactile proof of despair? You're right, Lily. This is where you've been heading all your life. You come from nothing, to become nothing."

Buffy shakes her head, "Don't listen to him..."

But Lily is rapt, and Buffy is too weak and bewildered to present much of a counter argument.

Ken nods, "Just like Rickie."

"Rickie..." Lily says.

Ken nods, "He forgot you. It took a long time - he remembered your name years after he'd forgotten his own. But in the end..."

Lily looks at Ken, confused, "Years? But..."

Ken smiles, "Time here moves more quickly than in your dimension. A hundred long years will pass here - on Earth, just a day."

"So you work us till we're too old, then spit us back out." Buffy says.

Ken nods, "Very good." He looks to Lily, "You see, Lily, you'll die of old age before anyone wonders where you went. Not that anyone will. That's why we chose you."

"You didn't choose me," Buffy says.

Ken shakes his head, "No, but I know you, "Anne". So afraid, so pathetically determined to run away from whatever you used to be. To disappear. Congratulations. You got your wish."

Buffy glares at him, hating him, hating the truth of his words.

Later Buffy is thrown to the ground by a couple of demon guards as a third addresses a cluster of seven prisoners, including Lily and Buffy.

Buffy stands, still shaky.

"You work, and you live. That is all. You do not complain, or laugh, or do anything besides work. Whatever you thought, whatever you were, does not matter. You are no one now, you mean nothing."

The demon guard approaches the first prisoner, a boy of eighteen. "Who are you?"

"Aaron . . ." the first prisoner says.

The guard swings his club with deadly speed and smashes the boy to the ground.

Buffy shakes off the last of her grogginess.

The guard moves to the second prisoner. Lily. "Who are you?"

"No one." Lily says.

The demon guard smiles, moves on. "Who are you?"

"No one."

"Who are you?"

"No one."

"Who are you?"

Buffy smiles, "I'm Payson Patricia Halliwell. But you can call me Buffy. I'm the Charmed Slayer. And you are...?"

The Demon guard swings his club. Buffy steps in, grabs his arm, breaks it at the elbow, grabs the club and continues its arc to hit the demon right in the chin. He flies back, unconscious.

The other two guards rush her. The first she bludgeons without looking at him as the second gets a heel to the face followed by knuckles to the throat.

It's all over in a matter of seconds. Everyone looks at her, stunned.

Buffy turns to the others. "Anyone who's not having fun here, follow me." She heads out of the area, club in hand. A moment, and the others follow.

Buffy and the others arrive at the lower corner, they stick to the shadows. She looks up to see across the chamber and all the way up is the ledge they'd been standing on before. Two guards stand at it, looking down.

Buffy nods, "There's no way we can get there without meeting new people. Okay, Lily, when those guards leave, and they will, you take these guys and get up there. Fast and quiet. Anybody else wants to come along, fine, but you don't stop for anything. Clear?"

"You're leaving me? But . . ." Lily says.

Buffy smiles, "Lily. You can handle this. 'Cause I say so." They hear voices, see the shadows of guards approaching at a run down the corridor. "Ooh, we've gone public. Get them out. Go!"

Lily starts out, then comes back. "I'm sorry I said this was your fault before."

Buffy nods, "This can wait!"

"Well – in case we die –"

"GO!" Buffy says with a tone of authority.

Lily takes off with the group.

The guards appear and Buffy runs into the main chamber with them on her heels. "Not yet, not yet..." She reaches the middle of the chamber, "Here's good."

Never slowing, she grabs a standing pole and swings around it to plant her feet in the first guard's face. She drops and takes out the other one just as quickly.

Buffy smiles, "Didn't I say I was Charmed!" She powers up a fireball.

Guards turn as siren sounds. They look about them to see what the trouble is.

Searchlights sweep across Buffy's face. She's waiting for the fun.

Four Demon Guards rush her. The first gets a fireball in the face vanquishing it. She spins and hurls another fireball into the chest of the second, vanquishing it also. She rains blows on the other two till they are lying unconscious at her feet.

Ken looks out at the fight, rage filling him. "Humans don't fight back. Humans don't fight back! THAT'S HOW THIS WORKS!"

Buffy is proving him wrong.

Ken looks to the guard next to him, "Get down there!"

The guard dispatches himself Buffyward. Ken watches her a moment, then stops, thinking. Takes off in another direction.

Buffy moves to a new place, a couple of guards following, a couple peeling off as they see prisoners leaving.

Buffy spars. She looks up as a demon dives at her from above, arms out, roaring with anger.

Buffy takes one step backward and the demon flies right by her, landing with a resolute thud. "Demons: not that bright."

Buffy is getting worn down a bit when she hears Ken. "One of you fights . . . and you all die!"

Buffy and the guards look up to see that Ken holds a blade to Lily.

Buffy stops. A couple of guards grab her. And then she smiles. "Bye boys." She flames out and up to the ledge. "Heya Ken."

Ken frowns and shoves Lily roughly aside. He points the knife at Buffy, furious but calm. "That . . . was not permitted."

"Yeah, but it was fun . . ." Buffy says.

Ken smiles, "You've got guts. I think I'd like to split you open and play with them. Let everyone know, this is the price of rebell –" Lily meekly shoves him off the ledge. "—llioOOAAAHHHHGHSCHRRGH!" He falls a long way and splats.

Buffy laughs. She turns and leads Lily down the hall towards the portal chamber.

There is a portcullis cutting off access to the mystical upside-down lap pool of freedom. About six people are gathered in front of it. Buffy and Lily join them.

"They'll be coming." Lily says.

Buffy nods, "Everyone grab hold. I've never tried doing seven before." Everyone looks at Buffy as if she's crazy but they do as told as they grab a hold of each other and her. Buffy flames out and back in on the otherside of the portcullis.

Ken runs up to the portcullis frowning as everyone helps each other up through the portal.

Buffy approaches him smiling, "Never ever mess with a Charmed Slayer." She powers up a fireball.

"You... ruined..." Ken says just as Buffy throws her fireball and he is vanquished.

Buffy turns back to Lily who is the last to go through. She hoists Lily up and then climbs up through the portal herself.

Lily helps Buffy out of the portal. Most of the others have left or are leaving. Lily looks back at the pool. "What do we do about –"

The pool flashes and the liquid disappears, replaced by solid stone.

Buffy kneels by it, touches it. "It's closed. It's gone."

Later back at her apartment Buffy is showing Lily around the place. "Let me give you the tour." They turn to the right. "This concludes our tour."

Lily laughs, "It's really nice."

Buffy nods, "The bathroom works a good part of the time. Don't bother to flip the mattress 'cause it doesn't get any better."

"I never had a place, you know, that I wasn't sharing." Lily says.

Buffy nods, "Well, it's paid up through the next three weeks." She pulls her waitress outfit out of the closet, throws it on the bed. "I talked to Mitch at the diner and he said you could start on Thursday. He's kind of, well, repulsive . . . but he won't give you a hard time. I'll be checking up on you, see how you're doing."

Lily sits on the bed, picks up the outfit. Pensive, a little worried. "I'm not great at taking care of myself."

"It gets easier. Takes practice." Buffy says.

Lily's eyes light up a bit. "Hey . . ." She hold's up Buffy's name tag . . . "Can I be Anne?"

Buffy smiles at her. "Sure why not."

Lily looks at the dress. "I don't think I'll fit in this."

"You could wear it as a hat . . ." Buffy says.

The next day Prue is in the kitchen, putting away some freshly washed pots in a low drawer. Phoebe is upstairs. The doorbell rings.

Prue pops up, anxious, then catches herself. Shakes her head. She walks toward the door, wiping her hands with a dishtowel. Something makes her pause, some instinct. She tosses the towel on the table, moves more slowly to the foyer. To the door.

Prue slowly opens the door to find Buffy standing there. She folds her cousin into her arms, and neither of them moves. "Phoebe!"

Phoebe come down the stairs. "What?" Then she sees who was at the door. She runs over and she too embraces Buffy, happy that she is finally home.