The Judge stepped out of the box. An aura of menace surrounded him.

"You…" he pointed at Drusilla.

"What's that, mate?" Spike leapt to Dru's defense.

"You two stink of humanity," the Judge declared. "You share affection and jealousy."

Spike vamped out. "Yeah, what of it?" He tapped the Judge on his armored chest. "Do I have to remind you that we're the ones who brought you here?"

The Judge seemed to consider this for a moment. "You may live. You will help me serve my purpose," he said.

"Works for me," Spike replied, smiling.

Drusilla seemed to be keeping her cool. "Would you like a party favor?" she gestured to the other vamps. Good idea, Dru. That ought to satisfy him for now.

The Judge gazed at the vampires. His eyes settled on Dalton.

"This one is full of feeling. He reads. Bring him to me."

Michelle and Zach grabbed Dalton by his arms and carried him over to the Judge, ignoring his protests.

"What's with the bringing, mate? I thought you could just… zap people?" Spike asked.

"My full strength will return in time. Until then," the Judge grinned at Dalton, "I need contact."

The Judge placed his hand on Dalton's chest, which began to smoke. Dalton quickly combusted, leaving nothing behind.

"Do it again! Do it again! Do it again!" Dru cheered.

Buffy came striding out of Giles' office, with Angel right behind her.

"Buffy, what's happening?" Giles asked.

"She had another dream," Angel explained.

"I think I know where Spike and Drusilla are," Buffy said.

"That's very good," Giles came down the stairs, "however, you, you do need a plan. I-I know you're concerned, Buffy, but you can't just go off half-cocked."

"I have a plan" she said. "Angel and I go to the factory and do recon, figure out how far they've gotten assembling the Judge. You guys check any places the boxes could be coming into town. Shipping yards, airports, anything. We need to stop them from getting all the boxes in one place."

"Yes," Giles stepped back, "yes, well, um, actually, that's quite a good plan."

"This thing is nasty, and it's real, Giles. We can't wait for it to come get us."

"Right."

Buffy and Angel crept along the upper level of the warehouse. They looked down at the party going on below, and walked to the railing.

"I saw this," she whispered to Angel. "The party." She left out the part about her mother. That she couldn't explain.

They saw the Judge walk into view flanked by Spike and Drusilla. Crap. The Judge stopped, and looked in their direction.

"We gotta get outta here," Angel said. They ran, but Spike's vampires headed them off. They were surrounded. Double crap.

The vampires brought them down to Spike, Drusilla, and the Judge.

"Well, well," Spike sneered. "Look what we have here – crashers."

"I'm sure our invitations just got lost in the mail," Buffy replied.

"It's delicious." Drusilla licked her lips. "I only dreamed you'd come." She gave a playful growl that was obviously aimed at Angel.

Angel struggled to get free. "Leave her alone."

"Yeah, that'll work," Spike smiled. "Now say 'pretty please'."

"The girl," the Judge pointed at Buffy.

"Chilling, isn't it?" Drusilla stood behind Buffy. She leaned in uncomfortably close to Buffy's neck. "She's so full of good intention."

"Take me!" Angel maneuvered himself between the Judge and Buffy.

"No!" Buffy cried.

"Take me instead of her!" he repeated.

Spike raised his hand. "Uh, you're not clear on the concept, pal. There is no instead. Just first and second."

"And if you go first, you don't get to watch the Slayer die," Dru giggled.

Angel's captors pulled him back as the Judge moved toward Buffy.

This was the kind of situation where most people would pray, hoping for some higher power to intervene. But Buffy wasn't like that. In her world, the highest power of all was herself.

Well, then I had better get myself out of this.

She used her arms to lift herself up and kicked the Judge with both legs. When her feet made contact, pain shot through every nerve in her body. The Judge staggered back, but composed himself and stepped forward. Buffy steeled herself for the inevitable.

At this point, a set of televisions dropped onto the Judge.

Buffy looked behind her, and saw that Angel had shaken loose his captors and pulled the chain holding the TVs in place from the ground. Buffy used the confusion to break free herself.

"This way!" she called to him.

She jumped into a hole in the floor, with Angel close behind her. Drusilla shouted something, and soon they were being pursued by two more vampires. Angel pulled Buffy into an alcove, and they waited for the two vampires to go by. Once they were gone, Buffy climbed a nearby ladder to the surface.

It was pouring rain outside. Buffy helped Angel out of the manhole. They ran all the way to Angel's apartment. By the time they got there, Buffy was soaked through to her skin.

"You're shaking like a leaf," Angel said.

"Cold," she replied.

"Let me get you something."

Angel went to his wardrobe. He came back, handed Buffy a sweater and sweats, and led her to the bed.

"Put these on and get under the covers. Just to warm up."

Buffy nodded and waited for Angel to turn around. He figured it out after a second.

"Sorry."

Buffy started to take off her shirt, but winced at the pain in her shoulder.

"What?" Angel said.

"I-I got cut or something on my back."

"Let me see."

Angel turned back. Buffy held her unbuttoned shirt around her. Angel sat on the edge of the bed, and gently uncovered her shoulder so he could see.

"It's already closed. You're fine," he said.

They held still for a moment. Buffy finally let go, closed her eyes, and leaned back into him. She felt his arms go around her.

"You almost went away today," she said.

"We both did."

He held her tighter. Tears started to stream down her cheek.

"Angel," she sobbed, "I feel like I lost you."

"Shhhh. I -"

She turned and opened her eyes. They were face to face.

"You – what?"

After what seemed like forever, Angel spoke.

"I love you. I try not to, but I can't stop…"

"Me too. I can't either."

They kissed.

"Buffy," Angel started, "maybe we shouldn't…"

"Don't. Just… kiss me."

And he did. They kissed. Tenderly, passionately, the kiss of two people who had almost lost each other and never wanted to let the other go. They lay back on the bed.

For the first time since she had become a Slayer, Buffy was happy. Perfectly happy.

"She's still not home yet," Ted said, looking out the window.

"She said she probably wouldn't be coming home," Joyce reminded him. "She does this a lot – spend all night over with Willow or Xander."

"Still, we should probably check on her," Ted suggested. "It is her birthday."

"I suppose." Joyce got the phone book, and read off the Rosenbergs' number. Ted dialed.

"Yes, Mrs. Rosenberg? This is Ted, Ted Buchanan. Joyce's friend. I was just calling to check on Buffy… no, Willow isn't here… well, Buffy told us they were going to be studying at your house… thank you." He turned to Joyce.

"Buffy isn't at the Rosenbergs."

Supporting Cast:

Seth Green as Oz

Robia LaMorte as Jenny Calendar

Juliet Landau as Drusilla

James Marsters as Spike

Eric Saiet as Dalton

Vincent Schiavelli as Uncle Enyos

Kristine Sutherland as Joyce Summers

A/N: Finally! This last act was pretty short (as you can see), and I did enjoy writing The Scene. The pace should pick up from here.