"Wait, what?" Matti Hollis looked at Giles, her expression incredulous. The Watcher stood at the end of her sofa, rubbing his mouth with a hand. Buffy and Willow huddled on the couch, pressed together, shell-shocked looks on their faces.

"Cordelia's parents are dead," Giles said, his voice shaky.

"How the f-" Matti bit off the word in mid-sentence.

"It's okay," Willow said, staring blankly at the floor. "We've heard the work fuck before."

"What?"

"It's kind of funny. We see so many terrible things. I've seen my classmates die, my best friends bleeding, dead bodies of all kinds, but everybody wigs about a four-letter word." Willow's voice rose in pitch and skittered off into a high-pitched giggle. Matti looked horrified; Giles reached over and touched Willow's shoulder. She clamped her lips shut and swallowed, hard, then looked up at the librarian. "Thanks," she said.

"Cordy's parents are dead," Buffy said, her voice dull and robotic.

"Well, what did it?" Matti demanded.

"Well, you see, there's the twist." Buffy raised her head and looked Matti Hollis in the eye. The Knight took an involuntary step back in the face of the blasted desolation in that gaze. "It wasn't vampires. Or demons. Or werewolves. Or anything."

"This is not making sense," Matti said, turning to Giles.

The Watcher took a deep breath and spoke in a shaky voice. "It appears that Cordelia's mother killed her father and then herself." His legs collapsed and he slumped onto the arm of the sofa.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Matti rubbed her forehead with both hands. "How can you… Are you…"

"She hit him over the head with a bottle and dumped him in the freezer," Willow recited blankly. "Then she went upstairs and drowned herself in the bathtub."

"Maybe," Buffy said.

"True," Willow replied, "There were three vodka bottles and about a half-dozen empty pill bottles on the floor. She could have been gone before she went under water."

"He wasn't dead when he went in the freezer," Buffy said. "That's why she put the screwdriver in the lock."

The girls' dead, toneless voices made Matti's stomach lurch. She staggered backward and sat down. "How can you say that?" she stammered.

"It's Occam's Razor," Willow said. "Simplest explanation that fits the facts."

"There were marks inside the freezer lid," Buffy said, tears running down her face, which was still as stone. "And he had bloody knuckles."

"And she was still dressed," Willow whispered. "So, seems pretty intentional."

Matti turned to Giles. "Rupert, how can you let them say these things?"

Giles shook his head like a man deep underwater. "They saw them. I don't think the trauma is in the telling."

Matti could handle no more. She rushed out of the room. A sound of retching, followed by running water, came from the bathroom. She returned to the living room, a towel in her hands. She wiped her mouth.

"Well, I, uh, what do we do now?" she asked, looking at Giles.

"Oh, we've already called the police." He took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Good God, will this rain ever stop?"

"The police know you were at the Chase's house?"

"What? No." Giles put on his glasses. "The call was anonymous."

Matti stared into space and took deep breaths. "Okay, so where are we? Now we know why Cordelia came here-"

"Oh no," WIllow looked up, stricken. "What if Cordelia killed her parents? We didn't think of that." She began to shake. Buffy threw her arms around the redhead.

"No!" Giles stood up, the snap in his voice drawing all the attention. "This has been quite horrible enough. We have seen things we will never, never unsee. I cannot, cannot believe that Cordelia would do this, that she is capable of such an action."

"But, Giles-" Willow began.

"No." The Watcher cut her off. "You are in shock. You have witnessed something so terrible that you are letting your worst fears run away with you." He stared down at the girls. "Look into your hearts. Willow, do you really believe Cordelia could have done this?"

Willow shook her head slightly. "No. She's thoughtless and selfish, but… no."

Giles nodded. "There are quite enough awful facts in evidence. Let's not allow panicked speculation any purchase."

Matti Hollis wrapped her arms around her own shoulders in a fierce hug. "This is… this is.." She exhaled a shaky breath and went into the kitchen. Giles turned to Buffy and Willow.

"Stay here," he said. "I need to talk to her."

Buffy's head described a slow arc back and forth. "Wasn't really planning on going anywhere."

Giles nodded and hurried to the kitchen. Matti leaned against the sink, rocking back and forth and shaking her head. She looked up and into Giles's eyes.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

"That's a stupid question," she answered in a fierce whisper. "Those girls discovered the corpses of their classmate's parents." Matti threw up her hands. "Do you hear me?"

Giles frowned. "But you're a Knight of the Cross-"

"Yes, I'm a Knight. I'm also a grown-up who volunteered for the job, and who got trained for it. They're children, Mr. Giles, children."

"They are children in age only." The Watcher pushed his glasses up with a forefinger. "This is not the worst thing they have experienced. I know that they are… shattered right now. I know because I am, like you, an adult, and I am… I am broken myself. But they will, I don't know how they do it, but they will, to use their jargon, deal."

Matti shook her head. "How much therapy are they going to need?"

Giles took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Probably not as much as me."

Mattie bowed her head, shoulders hunched. "I don't see how they are ever-"

"Giles." The adults whirled. Willow stood in the door. "I think I have an idea.."

"Okay." Willow paced the floor. "Remember when I asked you about the Golden Ratio? And you said something about how there's a theory that deep formulas like that are the foundation of our magic?" Giles nodded; the girl continued. "So, what if it's the rain?"

Giles's brow furrowed in concentration. "I don't know what kind of spell-"

"No, no." Willow waved her hands in the air. "It's not a spell. It's, it's older than that. It's like Fibonacci's sequence. Remember what you said about the early numbers?"

"Yes, that the early numbers are not exactly in line with the ratio-"

"Yes!" Willow cut him off. "The storm got… triggered by, by some sort of psychic event, some sort of critical mass… and, and that..." Her voice trailed off for a moment, then snapped back. "I don't have all of it figured out, but, look." Willow began to tick off points on her fingers. "Buffy says there's something weird in the rain, something we don't recognize. I told you how the rain is driving me crazy. It's not just the rain. It's got Oz on edge. Buffy said the vampires she staked last night were definitely down the rabbit hole."

"Wait." Giles turned to Buffy. "You patrolled last night? You killed vampires?"

The Slayer shrugged. "You could say that. It was slayage by way of Ren and Stimpy."

"What-"

"It's a cartoon on Nickelodeon." Matti Hollis explained for Giles.

"That's not all.. Think about all the weird murders and assaults around town. Remember what Oz said about Xander?."

"Well," Giles said, "he has gone through-"

"No! It's not like that. He's not upset about his injuries, he's not even ashamed over what he did with Faith. I mean, he is, but Oz says this is worse. He's sitting in his house and-" Willow stopped. Her eyes grew wide. "He thinks we've given up on him. Now, Cordelia's parents. How long has this been going on?"

Giles stammered, "I'm sure I don't know."

"Buffy says her dad's been screwing around for years." Willow turned to Matti. "Pardon my French. And we know her mom's been drinking. So why go all Burning Bed now?"

"I see." Giles rubbed a hand over his mouth. "You think it's some sort of… primeval disturbance?"

Willow nodded. "I can't explain it all, but I think I'm right."

Matti Hollis leaned forward. "How-"

Buffy cut her off. "Let it go. They've achieved nerd mind-meld. If you try to stop them, they'll hurt themselves."

Giles frowned in concentration. "So, your hypothesis is that we cannot detect any magical residue or signature because this isn't, technically, magic. There's no practitioner using a spell to create the storm, it is a manifestation of… what? Pure supernatural force?'

"Good a label as any." Willow raised her arms, palms up.

"But why? How?" Giles stood, hands on hips. "Your argument makes sense once events are in motion, but what started the sequence? People are suffering all over the world. Why hasn't it happened anywhere else?"

"Duh," Buffy said. "Hellmouth." There was a beat of silence.

"That's not bad," Matti said. "There was a guy in one of my bio classes in college. He was a hard-core creationist. He tried to argue that the second law of thermodynamics disproved evolution."

"Entropy increases over time in a closed system." Willow nodded.

"Yeah. He trotted that out in class, and I remember, the professor just walked over to the window and pointed outside."

"I don't get it," Buffy said.

"The sun." Willow nodded. "The earth's not really a closed system. The sun introduces huge amounts of energy every day."

Matti turned to Giles. "So, could the Hellmouth be the variable? Could it provide the extra oomph to do this?"

Giles looked around. His mouth opened and closed before he spoke. "I… I can't say it's not. The Hellmouth could quite possibly function as a… booster, or perhaps it allows elemental forces from the other dimension some access here." He looked around. "It's as good as any explanation I have."

"And that Hellmouth energy is like a, like a lever that, that pries open those gaps you told me about, and makes an opening for this to cross over, and it, it…" Willow's voice trailed away. "That one got away from me."

"So, the whatevers from last night are connected to the Hellmouth." Buffy stood up from the couch.

"The whatevers?" Matti looked at Giles. The Watcher shook his head.

"I saw them last night, in the storm. They looked like giant… giant…" Buffy's fingers wiggled as she searched for the right term.

"Slugs?" Willow suggested.

"Yeah. No, not really… Maggots. Like giant maggots."

"What?" Giles and Matti spoke simultaneously.

"Giant, squishy… whatevers. In the street. They disappeared down the storm drains, so maybe that's where they came from." She went to the door and grabbed her raincoat.

"Where are you going?" Giles asked.

"To fight them." Buffy faced them squarely. "I can't fight rain, but I can fight these things, and right now, I'm in the mood. You guys figure out the bigger picture, I'll go pour salt on some mega-maggots." She hesitated. "Does salt kill maggots?"

"Doesn't matter," Willow said.

"I'm going with you." Giles headed for the door.

"Me, too." Willow stood up.

"No, Will. You don't belong out there." Buffy shook her head.

"Don't tell me where I belong. You're not the boss of me." Willow's chin lifted. "I've made up my mind. See this? This is my resolute face."

Buffy stepped to her friend and put her hand on the teenage witch's shoulder. "There is nobody I would rather be Doc Brown to my Marty McFly, but I don't know what these things are. I don't know how to fight them."

"Then why are you doing this?" Matti asked.

"Because it's what I do." Buffy turned back to her friend. "I know I can't keep you from going with me, because you're brave and you're my friend, but I need you to sit this one out on your own."

"But you'll be alone," Willow protested. Giles cleared his throat. Willow glanced at him, then turned back to Buffy. "My resolute face is still in place, but I hear your argument." She took a deep breath. "Doc Brown?"

Buffy shrugged. "He's really super smart and Marty has no idea what's going on half the time. It seemed cromulent."

"Well, if I'm not going on the fight, what do I do?"

Buffy bit her lip. "We've got a while before sundown." She glanced out the window. "Or what'll pass for sundown. Let's hit the library and see if we can learn anything, then we'll bring you back here. You can stay with Cordelia."

WIllow frowned. "Why?"

"What Giles said. Oz is with Xander. GIles will be with me. Cordelia shouldn't be alone… no offense." The Slayer addressed Matti.

"None… taken?" the teacher said.

"I see that," Willow said. "Although it's pretty sketch of you to give me the job that requires more courage than fighting."

"That's why you're perfect for it. Let's go, then." Buffy and Willow left, shouldering into their raincoats as they went through the door. Giles nodded to Matti Hollis and made to follow them.

"Mr. Giles."

The Watcher turned back. Matti looked over his shoulder, through the door and into the pouring rain, watching the girls head for the Citroen.

"What was that? I mean, ten minutes ago they were basket cases, now they're ready to storm Omaha Beach."

Giles shrugged. "It's as I said earlier. They are… extraordinary." He placed his hand on the doorknob and looked back. "We will bring Willow back before we go after these…" He smiled. "Whatevers."

He left, pulling the door closed behind him. Matti watched the Citroen back out of her driveway and pull away, water eddying around its tires. As it vanished into the gray downpour, she picked up the phone.

"Yeah, I need you to do something tonight. I know you're the Harris kid's homebound teacher, so get your butt up and go keep an eye on the house. I don't know why, but something nasty could be afoot. Stop whining, you big baby. All you have to do is sit in the car. Honestly."

She hung up the phone. She glanced out the window at the gray curtain, then sat down on the sofa where she could see into the bedroom.