Angel stood on a rooftop, looking at the events in an alley below. He saw three vampires charging a blond teenage girl.

"This is what you wanted me to see?" Angel said to Merrick. "Three vampires?"

"Not the vampires, Angel," Merrick replied. "The girl."

The girl dropped to the ground. She swung her leg around, taking out the first vampire's legs before performing a backflip and landing on her feet. He was dust before he could even recover.

"Who is she?" Angel asked.

"Buffy Anne Summers, fifteen years old, until recently a sophomore at Hemery High School here in Los Angeles," Merrick stated. Angel looked at him quizzically, to which Merrick added: "She is the Slayer."

"The Slayer," Angel breathed.

The two other vamps attacked together. One of them managed to knock the stake out of her hand. The Slayer – Buffy – drove her fist into a wooden door, punching a hole in it. Grasping a wooden shard, she swung around and drove it into the vampire's heart.

"When I was alive, I was her Watcher," Merrick explained. "Unfortunately, I died before I had a chance to train her properly. She is alone."

Buffy traded blows with the remaining vampire. She was falling into a trap Angel had observed – forming a predictable pattern. She could keep this up for a while, but the vamp would soon find a way around it.

But she knew what she was doing. Without warning, Buffy delivered an expertly-placed front kick to the vampire's groin. She drove her improvised stake into his back, and then she was alone in the alley.

God, she was beautiful.

Buffy was stunned.

Angel had proposed to her. Something which she never thought would happen outside of her fantasies. He had asked her to marry him.

Her head swam. This was all too much for her.

"Buffy?" Angel asked, still looking into her eyes.

"Yes," she said. "Yes. I will marry you."

"Buffy…" Angel got up, about to kiss her.

"But," Buffy stopped him, "I need to know why."

"What?"

"Why did you ask me to marry you? I know it's not just because you love me. I will marry you, I just need to know why."

"Alright," Angel said. "Buffy, you just got rejected by your mother. You've lost your only real family. And you need that. You need more than a place to sleep at night, you need a home. You need someone to take care of you. I can't be your mother, but I can be your husband."

Husband. For whatever reason, that word had never entered into Buffy's fantasies about marrying Angel. Neither, for that matter, had wife. But that's what would happen. There would be the wedding, and the wedding party, and the honeymoon, and then… Angel would be Buffy's husband. Buffy would be Angel's wife.

Some things wouldn't change. Buffy would still be the Slayer. She would go out at night to patrol. She would fight vampires. She would slay vampires. And then she would come home to her husband, and he'd take care of her.

"Thank you, Angel."

"So, you'll still marry me?"

Buffy put on her best "frustrated wife" imitation. "Of course I'll still marry you, Angel. I just wish we could do it soon."

"What?"

"I'm 17, Angel. And I don't see Mom giving me parental permission anytime soon."

"Then we'll do it the way we did it in my time," Angel said. "We'll be engaged for a year and a day."

"It's set, then." Buffy took a deep breath. "Let's go save the world."

"One more thing." Angel slipped the claddagh ring off of Buffy's right hand. He then put it on her left hand, with the heart pointing away from her.

"This means we're engaged," he explained.

Engaged. They were sort of married, but not quite. Angel wasn't her boyfriend anymore, but neither was he her husband.

He was her fiancé.

They walked out of the classroom, hand in hand, ready to take on the Judge. Together.

The first thing Jenny noticed about Buffy when she got back was that she had stopped crying. The second was that she was holding hands with Angel. She wasn't the broken, crying wreck of a few minutes ago. She was the Slayer.

"Buffy, are you okay?" Giles came out of his office.

"Fine." She turned to the group at large. "The Judge. Where do we stand?"

"On a pile of really boring books that say exactly the same thing," Xander said, gesturing to the aforementioned pile of really boring books.

Buffy's expression dropped. "Let me guess: 'no weapon forged'."

"'It took an army.'"

"Yeah, where's an army when you need one?" Angel sighed. He looked at Xander. "What?"

Xander looked thoughtful. "Whoa. Whoa!" he gasped. "I think I'm having a thought. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's a thought." He gasped again. "Now I'm having a plan!"

"What do we do?" Willow asked.

"I think, um…" he looked at Cordelia, then back at Willow. "I think I may need Cordelia for this one."

Willow lowered her eyes.

Cordelia spoke up. "Well, my car is…"

"It might have to be bigger," Xander interrupted.

"No problem, Willow said. "I'll get Oz. He has a van."

"Good." Xander looked at Cordelia again. "Okay."

"Care to let me in on the plan I'm a part of?" she asked.

"No."

"Why not?" She stood with her hands on her hips.

"Because if I tell you, then you won't do it. Just meet me at Willow's house in half an hour. And wear something trashy…" he looked at her clothes "…er."

Cordelia walked off in a huff. Xander and Willow left after her.

"I am almost ready," the Judge intoned.

"Good!" Spike shouted. "This had better work."

"You doubt my abilities?" the Judge asked.

"No, but I don't doubt the Slayer or her friends either."

The Judge turned to Spike.

"What do you mean?"

"I've killed two Slayers before. Both were tough. Both fought alone. Both died. But Buffy, she has allies. Not just Angel, she's got a whole gang with her. And everything I try, they manage to screw it up. I attacked her at school. I attacked her when she was weakened on Halloween. I even hired the Order of Taraka. All for nothing!"

He smashed a chair. "I swear, if this doesn't work, I'm giving up. I'm leaving Sunnydale."

"Do not worry," the Judge said. "It took an army to stop me last time. The Slayer does not have an army."

A black and white van pulled up outside Vandeburg Air Force Base. Xander got out, followed by Cordelia, who was wearing a jacket that looked like it was made out of aluminum foil. It was pretty trashy, and she couldn't remember how she had gotten it.

Xander led Cordelia to the fence. He found a weak spot, pushed the fence aside, and held it while Cordelia squeezed through.

"Security here really is a joke," he said as he followed through. "I should, uh, report it."

"Right. So you're a soldier, and I'm who?"

"You're supposed to be a girl. Think you can handle it?"

She slapped him. They sneaked alongside a building to some crates. Not seeing anything, they continued past a truck. Xander walked over to the door, and was reaching for the knob when he heard a voice from behind.

"Halt!"

Xander's arms shot into the air. As did Cordelia's.

"Identify yourself right the hell now!"

"Private Harris with the, uh… 33rd," Xander replied.

"33rd are on maneuvers," the soldier said.

"Right! I'm, uh, on leave." Xander turned around.

"You always spend your leave snooping around the armory, pal? And who is she?" The soldier pointed to Cordelia.

Cordelia kept her mouth shut. She figured it was the best way to avoid being shot.

"Look," Xander approached the guard, "I just want to give her the tour. You know what I'm saying."

"The tour."

"Well, you know the ladies. They like to see the big guns. Gets them all hot and bothered. Can you cut me some slack, gimme a blind eye?"

"And why should I?"

Somehow, Xander switched from being scared to being, well, scary.

"Well, if you do, I won't tell Colonel Newsome that your boots ain't regulation, your post wasn't covered," he grabbed the soldier's gun, positioned it differently, and handed it back to him, "and you hold your gun like a sissy girl."

The soldier looked at Xander. "You got 20 minutes, nimrod."

After they went inside, Cordelia finally said something.

"Okay, what was that? And who are you?"

"Remember Halloween, when I got turned into a soldier?"

"Yeah." She'd never say anything, but he'd looked really hot as a soldier.

"Well, I still remember all of it. I know procedure, ordnance, access codes, everything. I know the whole layout for this base, and I'm pretty sure I can put together an M-16 in 57 seconds."

Whoa. If Xander was telling the truth… then that made him Sunnydale High's reigning badass, ignoring Buffy.

"Well, I'm impressed. But let's just find the thing and get out of here."

"Okay." Xander started looking around.

Cordelia sat on a crate. "So, does looking at guns really make girls want to have sex? That's scary."

"Yeah, I guess," Xander replied, not looking up.

"Well, does looking at guns make you want to have sex?"

Xander turned around. "I'm seventeen. Looking at linoleum makes me want to have sex."

Oh, right. Dumb question.

"I wish they'd hurry," Willow said. A civilian van sitting outside a military base was bound to attract attention. Not that she didn't mind sitting in a van with Oz.

"So, do you guys steal weapons from the Army a lot?" Oz asked.

"Well, we don't have cable, so we have to make our own fun."

"I get you."

"Also, this is an Air Force base."

"Ah."

Willow looked at Oz for a minute.

"Do you wanna make out with me?" she asked.

"What?"

She looked away. "Forget it. I'm sorry." Then she decided that she wanted to know. "Well, do you?"

Oz took a moment before answering.

"Sometimes when I'm sitting in class… you know, I'm not thinking about class, 'cause that would never happen. I think about kissing you. And it's like… everything stops. It's like… it's like freeze frame. Willow kissage."

He smiled. Willow, who was officially in love at this point, smiled at him.

"Oh, I'm not gonna kiss you," he deadpanned.

Willow was confused. "What? But freeze frame!"

"Well," Oz explained, "to the casual observer, it would appear that you're trying to make Xander jealous or even the score or something. And that's on the empty side." He looked off into space. "See, in my fantasy, when I'm kissing you, you're kissing me."

Willow said nothing. Oz-logic was irrefutable.

He looked back at her. "It's okay. I can wait." The window of the building opened. "We're up."

"Angel?" Giles called.

Buffy and Angel, who had been sparring, stopped to look at him.

"A word in private."

Angel gave Buffy a quick kiss before coming over.

"I've been thinking, and I cannot figure out how you managed to restore Buffy's spirits so quickly."

"Her spirits?"

"Look at her."

Buffy was currently testing her knife-throwing skills. Compared to her other skills, she wasn't very good at it. Compared to almost any other human, she was a master.

"When Buffy returned from seeing her mother, she was devastated. She had just chosen to sacrifice her family ties, her home. You took her out of the room, and when you returned, she was confident and ready to fight the Judge. And I cannot imagine what could have brought about such a change."

"I… well… uh…" Angel hemmed and hawed, before dropping a bombshell.

"I asked her to marry me."

Giles stood there, not sure how to react.

Bloody hell!

"She said yes," Angel added.

"Angel, she's the Slayer!"

"I know, Giles. I know there's no happy ever after for us. There will always be something out there that she needs to stop. This week it's the Judge. Next week, Groxlar beasts. She'll go out there, fight it, save the day. We'll help."

"But what about after the battle, Giles? She's the Slayer, but she's also a person. She needs food, a place to sleep, someone to take care of her."

Giles thought about this.

"You're right, Angel. I believe that one of the reasons Buffy has survived this long is because she still had a family. But she has lost that now. I suppose I imagined myself filling that role, but you could do it just as well. Possibly better."

"So, I take it I have your permission?" Angel asked.

"My permission?"

"Sorry. I'm sorta stuck in the 18th century."

It took a moment before Giles realized what Angel was talking about. In his time, Angel would have needed permission from Buffy's father to marry her.

Angel saw Giles as Buffy's father – and, by extension, as his own future father-in-law. And in every respect apart from the law or genetics, he was.

"Yes, Angel, you do have my permission to marry Buffy."

"Thank you."

"Just remember that if you ever hurt her, I will stake you myself."

"Got it."