In the mortuary office, everyone was freaking out a little.
"What's goin' on?" Owen asked.
They backed away from the window slowly.
Andrew approached the window and smashed it with his forehead.
In the morgue, Buffy, Ms. Calendar, and Giles heard the window being smashed.
"Oh, no!" Buffy started running to the office.
In the office, Andrew laughed. "He is risen in me! He fills my head with song!"
Owen, Willow and Xander frantically began moving the furniture away from the door.
Andrew stepped through the opening. "Pork and beans. Pork and beans!"
"Gimme that!" Xander said to Willow.
"I can smell you," Andrew stated.
They got the furniture moved. Willow opened the door and they ran out.
Andrew followed at a quick pace. "You're the chaff, unblessed. I'll suck the blood from your hearts, he says I may!"
Buffy met the gang in the hall, save for Giles and Ms. Calendar.
"He's in there!" Xander said.
"Uh, go! Get out!"
"She'll be okay," Xander told Owen. "C'mon!"
They continued running. Buffy tried to find Andrew. She could hear him singing as he came down the hall toward her.
"Shall we gather at the river? / The beautiful, the beautiful river?"
She decided to try to head him off another way. Xander, Willow and Owen found the exit, but were blocked by the brethren. Willow screamed. Xander pulled her around and behind himself. Instead of attacking, the brethren closed the gates. The hall was empty, but they could hear Andrew singing.
"I think he's coming this way!" Willow cried.
They ran and found themselves at the same dead end as when they first got there.
"Oh, God, this is too much!" Owen wasn't sure he could take much more of being plopped into a horror movie.
Giles and Ms. Calendar were still in the morgue when Buffy rushed in.
"What've you got?"
"What?" Giles asked.
"What'd you bring? Do you have a stake?"
"Oh, uh..." He handed her a stake.
"Thank you!" She started back out the door.
"W-what should we do?" Giles asked.
Buffy faced them. "Um, go outside and make sure the others are okay."
Andrew came up behind Buffy, grabbed her, and threw her into a cabinet. She hit the floor, unconscious.
Ms. Calendar rushed to her aid. "Buffy!"
In the hall, Owen said, "Somebody's gotta help Buffy!" He started running to the morgue.
"Owen!" Willow called after him. She and Xander followed when he didn't stop.
In the morgue, Buffy had awaken, but was still on the floor.
Andrew approached Giles. "They told me about you while I was sleeping."
Giles held up his cross. It was painful to Andrew.
"Uh! Why does he hurt me?" Andrew slapped Giles' hand away and the cross went flying. He grabbed Giles and threw him into the crematory controls. The fires in the chamber lit. Giles fell unconscious.
"Rupert!" Ms. Calendar cried.
Andrew turned and grabbed her by the throat. He lifted her and threw her against the body drawers. The ones nearby opened upon impact. Ms. Calendar crumpled to the floor, unconscious as well.
Andrew turned to Buffy and bent down. He picked her up.
Owen came running in. "Buffy!"
Andrew raised her above his head.
"No!" Owen grabbed a tray and swung it into Andrew's back, stunning him. His knees buckled and he let go of Buffy. She staggered into an open body drawer door and fell down, unconscious. Andrew turned, grabbed Owen by the neck and growled as he moved in to bite. Owen grabbed an urn from a rack and smashed it over Andrew's head. He fell. Owen went over to help
Buffy. She woke up again and tried to get up.
"Did you see that?" Owen asked. "He tried to bite me!" He helped Buffy up. "What a sissy!"
Andrew got back up, grabbed Owen, and smashed a body drawer into the back of his head, knocking him out.
"No!"
"Dead!" Andrew let Owen fall. "He was found wanting!"
Buffy got him solidly in the gut with a front snap kick. He rolled over the autopsy gurney and onto the floor. She ran around to the far end of the gurney. Andrew quickly got up. She pushed the gurney into his gut, and then pushed down on her end so it pivoted up to hit him in the chin. He staggered back and fell. She jumped up onto the gurney and did a roundoff onto the floor as he got up. He swung widely at Buffy's face,
but she blocked it. He tried again with his other arm, hitting Buffy solidly in the face and knocking her to the ground. He taunted her as she quickly got up.
"You killed my date!" Buffy was pissed.
Willow and Xander appeared at the door.
Willow saw Owen wake up as Buffy and Andrew fought. "Buffy! Owen's..."
Xander pulled Willow back. "J-just give her a sec!"
Buffy blocked another punch, and then hit Andrew in the face with an open-hand punch. Blocking a second punch from him, she hit him in the gut with another open-hand punch. As he leaned forward from the pain, she kneed him in the gut, and then shoved him backward into a counter.
"You killed my date!"
Giles regained consciousness. His eyes wandered and he saw Ms. Calendar. "Jenny," he whispered. He made his way around the fighting and to Ms. Calendar. He slapped her face gently. "Come on, wake up," he whispered.
Andrew turned back to Buffy. "Your turn!" He lunged at Buffy, but she sidestepped him and used his forward momentum to launch him into the air. He landed on the gurney, and it rolled over to the crematory. The gurney stopped when it hit, but Andrew continued to slide through the open door. Giles reluctantly left Ms. Calendar's side. He dashed over and kicked the gurney away and slammed the crematory door shut. Andrew screamed. Buffy watched him burn through the small window. Then she noticed Owen trying to sit up.
"Does anyone have an aspirin? Or sixty?" Owen asked.
Buffy went to him. "Owen!" She crouched beside him.
Giles returned to Ms. Calendar, who was opening her eyes. "Come on." Giles grabbed her arms gently. "Up you get." He hauled her into a sitting position.
"What happened to that guy?" Owen asked Buffy.
"Oh... We scared him away."
"Oh, good. 'Cause, y'know, I would've..."
"I know. Here..." Buffy helped him up. "I'm sure this isn't exactly what you had in mind for our first date."
Owen rubbed his head. "Yeah! I was hoping maybe we'd finish at Ben & Jerry's."
"We still could..."
"No, I, I, I think I'll just walk home." He started to go, but then stopped. "Uh, which way's home?"
"I'll get you there."
"No, I'll, I'll go it alone."
Willow and Xander came over.
"We'll make sure he gets home safely," Xander promised.
They lead Owen away. Buffy watched them go. Giles came over, behind her.
"Buffy, if I might, uh..."
Buffy cut him off. "Don't!" She slowly walked out.
Giles turned to Ms. Calendar. "Can you walk?"
Ms. Calendar was slowly getting to her feet, using the body drawers as support. "Uh, I think?" She slipped and fell. "Ow! Or not..."
Giles sighed and went over to her, helping her gently to her feet. He slung one of her arms around his shoulders. "Lean on me."
Ms. Calendar flashed a smile his way. "Alright by me."
At school the next day, Buffy, Xander, and Willow were walking along the balcony.
"Well, did Owen say anything about me on the way home?" Buffy asked.
"Oh, you mean specifically about you?" Willow asked.
"Or generally... i-in the area, in the ballpark, any sort of indication?"
They rounded a corner and started down the stairs.
"Well, in that case, no," Xander answered.
"But he was pretty incoherent, so we might've missed it," Willow was trying to protect her feelings.
"You think?" Buffy asked.
"No," Xander answered.
"I knew it. I totally blew it last night!"
"No, see, what you need is a guy who already knows your deepest, darkest secrets and still says, 'Hey! I like that girl!' Someone like..."
Buffy saw Owen. "Owen!"
"Well, heh... This is our stop." Willow walked around Buffy and drug Xander away with her.
"Hi," Owen greeted.
"Hi." There was a long, awkward pause. "This is going well."
"I don't really know how to say this, but... about last night..."
"You don't even have to. I'm sure you were pretty freaked out."
"Totally."
Buffy looked down.
"And... I was wondering when I could see you again."
Buffy looked back up. "Um, that was my hopeful ear. Could you repeat that?"
"I think you're the coolest!"
Buffy smiled. "Really?"
"I mean, last night was incredible! I never thought nearly getting killed would make me feel so... alive!"
Buffy looked down and started to walk. "So that's why you wanna be with me."
Owen followed her. "Oh, absolutely! When can we do something like that again?"
"Something like..."
"Like, walk downtown at three in the morning, a-and pick a fight in a bar. How about tonight?" Owen asked.
"Tonight would..." They stopped walking. "Be... not a workable thing. Did I just say that?"
"Tomorrow, then. I-I'm free any night this week."
"I'm not. Please don't take this personally. It's not you, it's me."
Owen began to get it. "Right. It's you."
"And I was kinda hoping that... maybe you and I could still be..."
Owen was very disappointed. "I, I get it. You just wanna be friends."
"That'd be nice."
"Friends. Yeah. Great." Owen left.
"The world will keep on turning / It'll all be there come morning / So tonight..."
"Yeah. Great."
"Let the sun fall down all around you"
Giles came up behind her. They watched Owen leave. Buffy noticed Giles and looked at him. He was at a loss. She went over to sit on a bench. Giles followed her.
"I was ten years old when my father told me I was destined to be a Watcher." Giles sat next to her. "He was one, and his, uh, mother before him, and I was to be next."
"Were you thrilled beyond all measure?" Buffy asked sarcastically.
"No, I had very definite plans about my future. I was going to be a fighter pilot. Or possibly a grocer. Well, uh... My father gave me a very tiresome speech about, uh, responsibility and sacrifice."
"Sacrifice, huh?"
Giles looked toward Owen. "Seems like a nice lad."
"Yeah. But he wants to be danger man. You, Xander, Willow, Ms. Calendar, you guys... you guys know the score, you're careful - even if you hadn't wanted Ms. Calendar there last night for whatever reason. Two days in my world and Owen really would get himself killed. Or I'd get him killed." She faced him. "Or someone else."
"I, I went to the funeral home of my own free will. And as much as I dislike admitting it, so had Ms. Calendar."
"I think you can drop the formalities."
"Alright. Jenny. So had Jenny."
"And I should've been there."
"Buffy..."
"I blew it!"
"I have volumes of lore, of prophecies, of predictions. But I don't have an instruction manual. We feel our way as we go along. And, I must say, as a Slayer, you're, you're doing... pretty well."
Buffy smiled. "Well. At least I did stop that prophecy thing from coming true."
"You did! Handily. No more Anointed One. And I would imagine the Master, wherever he is, is having a fairly bad day himself."
He smiled and Buffy laughed.
The Master in his lair quoted scripture, "'And in this time will come the Anointed. And the Slayer will not know him. She will not stop him, and he will lead her into hell.'" He kneeled down next to Colin. "Welcome, my friend."
AN: Song lines toward the end by Kim Richey.
