Giles, Buffy and House stood and stared at each other as though in a Mexican standoff until House's beeper went off. As he looked down at it he announced, "More of your guests are arriving," House made his way to the Emergency Room. He saw Giles and Buffy look at each other nervously. He turned around to face them, "potentially how many patients are we going to receive?"

"We've been able to track down and identify 145 girls around the world; however that number may grow," Giles admitted.

"From that number exactly how many have died and how many have fallen ill?" House persisted.

"31 dead and another 15 have fallen ill," Giles answered.

"It's all my fault," Buffy admitted as her eyes started to tear up.

"Buffy it isn't your fault," Giles reassured her as he held her in his arms.

House's team joined them in the hospital hallway. They watched as the young blonde cuddled into the older man's arms and House stood looking at them thoughtfully.

"Come on House, we've got to move," Foreman urged.

As though a spell had been broken Buffy and Giles broke apart and continued to the emergency room followed by a grim faced House.

"Willow!" Buffy called as she noticed the roots of her friend's hair turning black, "snap out of it you aren't helping!"

"She's going to die Buffy, just like the others," Willow was holding Kennedy's hand in her own.

"And we are going to try and prevent that from happening Willow. When did Kennedy fall ill?"

"About three hours ago. We were talking and laughing and than she had a seizure."

"Dr. House, there is something wrong here. This might sound crazy but it seems like this girl is surrounded by some kind of force field." Dr. Cameron stood up beside the girl identified as Kennedy and looked at House beseechingly.

"Normally Cameron, I would agree that diagnosis sounds crazy but not today."

"You two we need to talk right now, and you too Elvira, come with me." He pointed at Willow whose eyes had started to turn black while they watched her. As he led the three Sunnydale survivors into a nearby empty examining room he stated, "I can't help them if I don't know the truth. How are these girls related? There does not appear to be any commonality between them but they are all sick with the same symptoms. If I don't know what's going on they are going to die! And as much as it pains me to admit it, if these girl's illnesses are related I will need to inform the CDC."

Buffy, Giles and Willow looked uncomfortably at each other; after a long moment both Giles and Willow gave Buffy a slight nod, both of them independently giving her permission to share their story with House.

"You want the truth?" Buffy fumed, "What if I was to tell you I'm a mystical warrior who was destined to fight the powers of darkness, and Willow", she indicated her friend, "is one of the most powerful wielders of magic here on Earth."

House looked over to Willow whose face had turned crimson at the praise Buffy lavished on her and gave him a finger wave. House noticed that all traces of black had left her hair and eyes.

"I died and Willow did a summoning spell bringing me back from Heaven. Unfortunately my returning in this manner caused havoc between good and evil, allowing the First Evil to rise again. The only way we were able to defeat the First Evil was by using a sacred scythe and activating all of the potential Slayers in the world. Only after the Slayers were given their ability were we able to overcome the powers of darkness. Each of these girls who are sick are Slayers who were called with the activation spell."

House was quiet as he listened to her account. He looked at each of the people in the room carefully after Buffy had finished her fanciful story; Willow looked embarrassed, Buffy defiant and Giles resigned.

"Bullshit. I don't know what you're on young lady but this isn't a game. Girls have died and it looks like more are going to die." House turned his anger to Giles, "Is this the mumbo jumbo you are filling their heads with? So when is it time for the red Kool-Aid? Or are you already poisoning them and this is the result of their belief in your false gods?"

The three friends stood together to form a united front to the sarcastic doctor.

Giles glared at the man, "She told you the truth."

"Yeah right, let's pretend that I believe you." They looked up angry at his tone of voice. "If this were the truth there would be no way that I could treat these girls. We would all just be wasting our time here and there would be nothing I could do medically except make them comfortable as they died."

"What do you mean?" demanded Buffy.

The hair of Willow's head once again darkened from the roots and her eyes went black, "I will not lose Kennedy to your arrogance," She thrust her arm out and House felt his body being slammed against the wall. He had been thrown backwards 5 feet and pinned to the wall by her will alone.

"Willow give him a moment to explain. The nice doctor can't help us if he gets flayed," Buffy bravely stepped in front of House to calm the witch down. Willow stared at Buffy and blinked releasing the magic she had gathered.

"My dear girl you give us such a scare when you do that," Giles commented as he walked over to Willow and hugged her to him tightly.

"Flay me?" chocked out House wide-eyed as he leaned against the wall.

Buffy looked over her shoulder and took pity on the crippled doctor, "Its not going to happen," she announced confidently. She walked over to him picking his cane off of the floor where it had landed and instructed her friend, "Willow try to play nice with the good doctor."

Willow stepped forward and knelt beside Dr. House who was sitting on the floor with his back to the wall as he frantically tried to open his Vicodin bottle. Guilt had started to set in and she decided to help the angry doctor, "with our help you won't need that anymore. Buffy come here; I need some of your strength."

"There is nothing you can do," House declared, "There is nothing anyone can do. The muscle is dead I'm lucky to have the use of my leg at all."

"It's not completely dead Dr. House." Willow reassured him putting one hand on his thigh muscles and her hand tightly gripped Buffy's hand. Willow concentrated and House could feel his leg muscles start to knit together and the dead cells regenerate. "At this moment it's the best I can do. After the girls have been taken care of we will work together and fix your leg."

When Willow sat back looking a little drained House gingerly tested his leg and found that it was no longer painful. He stared at them with wonder, "how did you do that?"

"Magic," answered Giles. There is more to this world than you are aware and the girls in our care fight the darkness to keep you safe. They are heroes but right now they are defenseless and need someone to save them."

"If you can perform miracles like this," House began indicating his leg, "Why do you need me?"

Looking frustrated Giles responded, "Do you think we haven't tried magic? We've had 31 girls die on us already. Three died in this very hospital but nothing seems to work. One moment you may be talking to a healthy young woman and the next thing you know she is convulsing on the floor. We are desperate!"