A/N: Joss owns everything, praised be his name, etc.

Buffy struggled with the arm clutching her throat. Angel took hold of it, wrenched it off of her neck, and stuffed it back in the box. Giles slammed the lid shut while Buffy tried to catch her breath.

"Well, clearly the Hellmouth's answer to 'what do you get the Slayer who has everything?'. What the hell was that?" Xander said.

"Good heavens," Giles came over to Buffy and Angel. "Buffy, are you alright?"

"Man, that thing had major grip," Buffy coughed.

"W-what was that?" Willow asked, trembling.

"It looked like an arm," Oz offered. The boy was reacting much better than most did in these circumstances.

"It can't be. They wouldn't," Angel said. For the first time since they had met, Giles could see that Angel was scared. Not even the prophecy of Buffy's death had affected him this way.

"What, uh, vamp's version of 'snakes in a can', or do you care to share?" Xander asked.

"Angel?" Buffy asked, her voice still weak.

"It-it's a legend," Angel explained, "a few centuries before my time… of a demon brought forth to rid the Earth of the plague of humanity… to separate the righteous from the wicked, and to burn the righteous down. They call him the Judge."

"The Judge? This is he?" Giles inquired. If this was the Judge Giles had read about, then Angel had good reason to be scared.

"Not all of him," Angel shook his head.

Buffy raised her hand. "Um, still needing backstory here."

"Um…" Giles tried to recall, "He, he couldn't be killed, yes?" He looked to Angel for guidance. "Um, a-an army was sent against him. Most of them died… but, uh, finally they were able to dismember him, but… not kill him."

"The pieces were scattered," Angel continued, "buried in every corner of the Earth."

"You seem to know more than I do," Giles admitted.

"Darla," Angel replied. "She brought him forth the first time. Well – she, she and the Master. She told me about it."

"So all these parts are being brought here," Jenny said.

"By Spike and Drusilla," Buffy figured. "The vamps outside were Spike's men."

"Darla told them about it too, and Dru's just crazy enough to do it," Angel said.

"Do what, reassemble the Judge?" Cordelia asked.

"And bring forth Armageddon," Angel confirmed.

"So that would be not-good," she replied.

"We need to get this out of town," Giles concluded.

"Angel," Jenny declared.

"What?" Buffy said.

Jenny addressed Angel. "You have to do it. You're the only one that can protect this thing."

"What about me?" Buffy asked.

"What, you're just gonna skip town for a few months?"

"Months?"

"She's right," Angel started pacing. "I gotta get this to the remotest region possible."

"But that's not months!" Buffy protested.

"I can catch a cargo ship to Asia," Angel continued, "maybe trek to Nepal, or just drop it in the Pacific…"

"You know, those newfangled flying machines really are much safer than they used to be," Buffy said.

"I can't fly. There's no sure way to guard against the daylight!" Angel took Buffy's hands in his. "I-I-I don't like this any more than you do, Buffy. But there's no other choice."

"When?" she asked, her voice breaking.

"Tonight. As soon as possible."

"But it's my birthday."

"I'll drive you to the docks," Jenny offered.

"You lost it?" Drusilla glared right at Dalton. She wasn't nearly as violent as Spike, but somehow, she was even more terrifying, especially since she had been restored to health. Dalton sometimes regretted helping Spike with that.

"You… lost… my… present!"

"I know," Dalton admitted. "I'm sorry."

"It was a bad turn, man," Spike said. "She can't have her fun without the box."

"The Slayer," Dalton tried to offer. "She came out of nowhere. I didn't even see her. She -"

Drusilla put a finger to his lips. She stared at him and removed his glasses. She dropped them to the floor and crushed them under her shoe. She then lifted her head with her eyes closed.

"Make a wish," she intoned.

"What?"

She held two fingers up to his eyes. "I'm going to blow out the candles."

Ohshitohshitohshitohshit…

"You might give him a chance to find your lost treasure," Spike suggested. "He is a wanker, but he's the only one we've got with half a brain. If he fails, you can eat his eyes out of his sockets for all I care."

"I'll get it. Please. I swear," Dalton pleaded, meaning every word.

Drusilla thrust both her hands at him and pulled them back, clenching them into fists. She smiled evilly, then bent down and picked up his glasses.

"Okay," she unfolded them and set them back on his nose. "Hurry back then."

She patted him on the head. Which would have been strange for any other vampire, but with Drusilla, it was fairly normal.

At least she isn't eating my eyes.

Buffy and Angel walked toward the ship. Angel held the box on his shoulder with his right arm, and Buffy's arm with his left. Buffy leaned into him, and he kissed her on the head.

How would she deal with this? How could she go on not knowing where Angel was, how he was? Buffy wanted to go with him. She didn't care if she got expelled. In truth, the only thing keeping her here was the Hellmouth.

They reached the gangplank, and Angel set the box down. They both stepped away from the box.

"I should go the rest of the way alone," Angel said. "But I'll be back. I will."

"When?" Buffy asked him, pleading. "Six months? A year? You don't know how long it's gonna take or if we'll even…" she looked down.

"Hey," Angel raised her chin. "If we'll even what?"

Tears welled in Buffy's eyes. "Well, if you haven't noticed, someone pretty much always wants us dead."

"Don't say that," Angel chided. "We'll be fine."

"We don't know that."

"We can't know, Buffy. Nobody can. That's just the deal."

He reached into his pocket. "I have something for you. For your birthday. I… I was gonna give it to you earlier, but…"

He showed her a silver ring. The design was of two hands clasping a crowned heart.

"It's beautiful," she said.

"It's a claddagh ring," Angel explained. "My people – before I was changed – they exchanged this as a sign of devotion. The hands represent friendship, the crown represents loyalty, and the heart… well, you know. If you wear it," he slipped it onto the ring finger on her right hand, "with the heart pointing towards you, it means you belong to somebody. Like this."

He showed her an identical ring on his own hand. Buffy leaned over and kissed it.

"I don't wanna do this," she sobbed.

"Me either."

"So don't go."

They kissed, and Buffy put her arms around him. They kissed some more.

"Buffy… I…" Angel started to say something, but was interrupted by two vamps jumping at them from some netting. One pulled Buffy off of Angel and threw her back, while the other began fighting Angel. Buffy rolled to her feet, grabbed the vampire near her, and started pummeling him. While they were fighting, Klepto Glasses dropped out of the netting, and grabbed the box.

"Angel! The box!" she shouted.

Angel flipped his opponent onto his back, staked him, and took off after Klepto Glasses, tackling him. Buffy continued fighting, ducking a roundhouse kick. However, the vamp was able to grab a hold of her jacket, and fling her into the water.

When Angel pulled her out, the box was gone.

Xander yawned. Willow sighed. Giles looked up from his books.

"They should be back by now," he said.

"Maybe Buffy needed a few minutes to pull herself together," Willow suggested. "Poor Buffy, on her birthday and everything."

"You have no idea," came Buffy's reply from the doorway.

"Buffy!" Willow said.

"What happened?" Giles asked. "Where's Jenny?"

"Spike's guys ambushed us," Buffy said. "They got the box. Jenny took Angel to get clothing. I, I had some here."

"And we needed clothes because…" Xander asked.

"We got wet. Giles, what do we know?"

Giles shook his head. "The more I study the Judge, the less I like him. His touch can literally burn the humanity out of you. A true creature of evil can survive the process. No human ever has."

"What's the problem?" Xander asked. "We send Snyder to fight this guy, and we order pizza."

Everyone smiled for a moment. Buffy turned back to Giles.

"Can this guy be stopped? Without an army?"

"Um," Giles read from the book he was holding, "'no weapon forged can kill him.' Not very encouraging. If we could only stop them from assembling him."

"We need to find his weak spots, and we need to figure out where they'd be keeping him."

"Better do a round robin," Willow said. "Xander, you go first."

"Good call," Buffy agreed.

Xander headed for the phone.

"Round robin?" Giles inquired.

"It's when everybody calls everybody's mom and tells them they're staying at everyone else's house," Willow explained.

"Thus freeing us up for world saveage," Buffy said.

"And all-night keggers!" Willow added. On Buffy and Giles' looks: "What, only Xander gets to make dumb jokes?"

"I think I read this already," Xander pushed his book away.

"I can't get over how cool Oz was about all this," Willow smiled.

"Gee, I'm over it," Xander said.

"You're just jealous 'cause you didn't have a date for the party," Willow replied smugly.

"No, I sure didn't," Xander went back to reading.

Giles came into the main room. "Angel? Any luck?"

Angel came out of the stacks. As he approached Giles' office, Giles held up his hand.

"Sh-sh-sh," he hushed Angel. Angel followed Giles' gaze into the office, where Buffy was asleep with her head on the desk. Giles waved Angel to follow him.

"Seems Buffy needed some rest," Giles whispered.

"Yeah," Angel said. "She hasn't been sleeping well. Tossing and turning." Everyone looked at him. "She told me. Because of her dreams?"

Buffy wandered around a warehouse. It had been decorated for a party, with candles that were burning low. On the other side of the table, she saw Jenny walking the other way. She was about to address her when she was distracted by several boxes, including the one that had held the Judge's arm.

"Now, now," Drusilla said. Buffy whirled around to see her on the upper level holding Angel in front of her. Spike stood behind her.

"Hands off my presents," she said, pressing a sharp blade to Angel's neck.

"You have to make a choice, Buffy," came the voice of her mother. Buffy saw her standing in the doorway of their house, holding a kitchen knife to Willow's neck. Ted stood behind her.

"No!" she cried out.

"Buffy!" Angel came over.

"Angel!" Buffy realized that it had been a nightmare, and she was awake now. She was back in the library.

"Buffy, it's okay. I'm here." She hugged him close. "I'm right here."

Drusilla stood at the top of the staircase and clapped her hands.

"More music!" she commanded. She bobbed her head to the gothic beat as she descended the steps. Making her way to the head of the table, she began to dance.

Spike came over, holding the final box.

"Look what I have for you, ducks," he said.

Dru smiled and stepped over to him.

"Ahh… the best is saved for last."

She handed the box to two vampires. They took it to where the other boxes were being assembled into a humanoid shape. They raised it, setting the head into place.

Once in place, a bright light emanated through the cracks. The boxes fused and opened, allowing a figure to step out. He had blue skin, small horns, and wore armor.

He was the Judge.

"He's perfect, my darling," she cooed. "Just what I wanted."

A/N: Sorry for the wait!