Buffy POV

"I can't stay here."

I knew this. It hurt, but I did. "Okay..."

He looks at me, "I can't stay here... so why do I feel like I did five years ago?"

I cup his head in my hands. "What are you talking about?"

He rips away from my grasp and stares out into the distance. What could be so interesting in the dessert? "I... I don't need this."

"Need what?"

He continues to stare, "I don't need another reason to feel like I'm burning."

For some reason, I felt like he was giving me a belated guilt trip for sending him to hell. "What do you mean?"

"I have lost too much this year, Buffy. Too much," he says, "Conner, Cordy..."

You can't blame me for feeling a little rebuff when he mentioned her name. "Who's Conner?" I ask, confused.

He looks back at, "No one." There is silence.

"What happened to Cordy?"

"She's... she's..." he sighs, "she's dead."

That's a bit of a shocker. I can tell from his face... he's hurting badly.

"My best friend," he sets his jaw, "gone."

I walk up to him and guide his face back to facing me. "So why are you guilty?"

He doesn't want to tell me. But his eyes are screaming. It's tearing him apart.

"Please. Tell me."

"Why am I feeling like I did five years ago?"
I whisper, "What does that mean?"

He leans into my shoulder. He groans to himself. My knees weaken a little from his breath unintentionally seeping down my shirt. It's shaky from him.

I take his hand. "What does it mean?"

Willow POV

"Ten bucks says Angel will start quoting Romeo's lament."

"As if. I'd say they're has to be at least an hour of sexual tension beforehand," Xander disagrees.

"That wouldn't be too much of a good idea," I point out, "he might end up losing his soul without getting an orgasm."

"Try to be sensitive, Wil," Dawnie says, "She has to sob first. And then after."

"Good point."

"And you might want to remember that she's going to have to change her mind a thousand times over before she figures out that she actually wants to listen to him," Faith walks up, "Or have I missed out on a couple of things?"

"She listens now. But she throws it out the window," Dawn explains.

"Hey. It's a step up," I explain, "and besides... at least their aren't tears."

"Yet," they all say at the same time.

"Yet," I nod.