In the small health area in the Wolfram & Hart offices, Faith laid on a bed. She was unconscious, but not dead yet. She would be, soon, though, the doctor believed. The knife wound in her stomach was taken care of. Too much blood had been lost, still. Wesley, Fred, Buffy, and Willow were in the hospital-like room, listening to what this doctor had to say.

"She'll be gone soon," he told them. "But if you really want to save her, we have to act fast. She needs a blood transfusion. Given the amount of blood she's already lost, though, I'm not sure if we even have time for that."

"We have to try," Wes stated forcefully.

The doctor nodded. "We'll need to figure out her blood type and-"

"Here, you can take mine," Buffy stepped forward.

He frowned. "Are you her blood type?"

Buffy's eyes shifted nervously around. "Well…we definitely have something in common."

"Buffy, Slayer blood and the same blood type are two different things," Willow tried to warn Buffy. "We don't know if-"

"It's the only chance we have. It'll take too long to find someone else with her blood type." She looked at the doctor. "Take mine."

At first, he seemed hesitant. Seeing the look in Buffy's eyes that told him there was no way to convince her not to do this, he ushered everyone out of the room. Then, he started to get everything ready that would be necessary for the procedure.

Gunn and Connor (along with statue-like Anne) were the only ones left in Angel's office. Gunn couldn't bring himself to leave Anne just yet, and Connor was too weak to move around quite yet. They stayed in awkward silence, neither really looking at each other. Gunn's focus was on Anne, wanting to be 100% positive that she wouldn't move or anything. Connor just looked off around the office, thinking about everything he did as Illyria. That was the way he saw it. Not that Illyria did it, but that it was him. Everything that had happened was his fault.

"I'm sorry." His voice was quiet, almost inaudible.

Gunn took a glance at Connor, who had spoken, but he wasn't looking this way. "What?" Gunn questioned.

"About Anne. And Harmony. And all the other people I hurt."

Sighing, Gunn walked over to Connor, pulling himself away from Anne. "Connor, nothing is your fault. You didn't choose any of it or want it to happen."

"You loved her. If I hadn't been there and that small fraction of Illyria hadn't taken over me, she'd still be here. Maybe if I hadn't been born then-"

"Don't start with that again. The last thing we need is for you to go all suicidal and crazy again. Trust me; it wasn't exactly easy to deal with the last time. Besides, we all worked hard as hell to get you back, so there ain't no way we're gonna allow you to do something stupid."

Connor chuckled. "I won't."

"Good. And know that none of this is your fault. No deaths or pain or suffering or whatever should be on your shoulders."

"Thanks," he whispered, back to his quiet state. Gunn started walking away, but was stopped by Connor again. "None of it should be on your shoulders either. I know what you're thinking about. I remember hearing distantly about you and Fred and the sarcophagus when Illyria had control. It wasn't all your fault Fred got affected."

"Yeah," Gunn said, back to looking at Anne. "Yeah, I guess it wasn't."

Spike and Lilah were in the hall, far away from Wes, Fred, Willow, and Lorne (who'd only recently joined them). Neither Spike nor Lilah felt comfortable getting any closer. So, they stuck together.

"What are you gonna do?" Spike asked so they wouldn't be in silence.

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh, come on. What do you think? You have the option to become undead without being a vampire."

"Yeah," Lilah snorted, "but you're missing one major factor. Miss Higher Being wanted me to stay with Angel and practically look after him and his band of goody-goodies. Don't get me wrong, but that doesn't sound the most appealing."

"You know, for as much as you put them down, I'm not buying it. I think you like their little group. Deep inside, you know they do the right thing and you admire that."

"Don't get all sentimental on me, Spike."

He laughed. "Fine. I'm just sayin', maybe I don't mind it as much as I used to. Angel's still a pain to deal with, but those blokes are overall good, hard working people."

"You don't care about them. All you care about is Buffy."

Spike tried to shoot Lilah a dirty look, but saw she wasn't looking at him. She was staring at the group of Wes, Fred, Willow, and Lorne. More specifically, it looked like she was staring at Wes.

"I've caught you starin' at him before. What is it with you and him?"

Lilah bit her lower lip, contemplating. Then, finally, it just came out. "We slept together long before he started dating oh-so perfect Winifred."

Spike found himself laughing again. "You're kidding? You and Percy over there?"

"You don't understand all the factors that played into-"

"Oh, I don't care; this is just some good information. Don't think I'll be lettin' go of it any time soon."

"You're a jackass, Spike."

"No," he corrected her. "I'm a vampire with a soul. And if it means anything, I think you should stay. Maybe you could do some good. It's not as horrific as it sounds in the beginning, trust me."

She didn't respond. Was Spike right? Should she stay and try to do some good? Help Angel?

Either way, she still had about three days to think about her decision.

Angel laid Gwen down in a separate office to rest. When she woke up, that was when he was going to have to talk to her and try and help her, like he promised Cordelia he would. She had said that Gwen was very weak and could barely move and that her electricity was going crazy, going off at wild and random times.

As he laid her in the office, though, she groaned, and her eyes began to flutter. Tiny sparks of electricity were starting to sprout at her fingertips, but Angel wasn't particularly worried.

"Gwen," he called her lightly.

Her eyelids stopped moving halfway down, barely seeing Angel. She made a moaning sound but couldn't speak.

"I'm going to find a way to help you to get better," he told her. Her eyes fluttered and fell closed again. Her breathing was slow and heavy.

Angel wasn't sure what he was going to do. But Cordelia wanted him to help Gwen, so he would do anything in his power to help her become like she was before.

Later, Angel was standing in the hallway where Wes, Fred, Willow, and Lorne previously stood. Even Spike and Lilah were gone. They'd be back later, but for now Angel was standing outside of Faith's door, waiting, just waiting for Buffy or the doctor or anyone to come out and tell him what was going on. If Faith wasn't okay… Well, Angel didn't want to lose somebody else that mattered to him.

The door opened suddenly, and Buffy stepped out. She didn't see Angel at first. He immediately noticed how pale and weakened she seemed. In fact, she almost began to fall. With Angel's help, she steadied herself.

"Buffy, you should be resting," Angel told her. "What are you doing?"

Buffy shook her head slowly. "I can't sit in there. I'll be fine. I just need to be back on my feet and walk around."

Angel wasn't about to argue with Buffy. "Did-did it work? I mean, did she take it?"

"I don't think he's completely sure if she'll survive yet. But yeah, she took my blood. It all worked out, I guess."

"Thank God your theory was correct."

"Or maybe we just happen to have the same blood types."

Angel didn't respond, and Buffy didn't say anything for several seconds. Instead, she closed her eyes and allowed herself to take a few deep breaths. She was starting to feel better every second.

When she was ready, she began to speak again. "You know, about what Cordelia said to me. About-about my idea."

"Yeah," Angel nodded, remembering. "I wanted to ask you what that was about."

"Well, maybe it's stupid," Buffy looked down at the floor. "But come to Rome. Not just you, I mean everybody. The whole gang, everyone in this building, everyone still living in L.A. You guys can't stay here. Maybe one day when there are enough people—if there are ever enough people—this part of the world will be populated again, but not anytime soon. There-there's not a lot of room in my apartment anymore, but it's a big building. I'm sure there are some apartments for sale. Not that you'd have to stay there, or even stay in Rome. I'm just saying, maybe we should bring everyone over. Including you guys. What do you think?"

Angel couldn't argue with the logic. Plus, Buffy was right. They didn't need to stay in Rome, but it would be a good starting point. They really couldn't stay in this part of the world, and Angel could honestly say that he didn't want to stay in it anymore anyway.

"We have planes here," Angel said, beginning to plan. "And pilots. Enough to bring everyone to Rome in a short amount of time."

"So you're coming to Rome?"

"I'll talk about it with everyone else. But I'm sure we will. Thank you, Buffy. For everything."

"It's no problem. I was glad to help. Now come on. Let's go find everyone else."

Buffy and Angel started walking away.

It was night when the doctor officially confirmed that Faith would be okay; she just needed to rest for a couple days. Everyone was thankful and happy, and at the same time everyone couldn't help but think about the less fortunate people Illyria had killed.

Once they got that news, they all gathered and Angel and Buffy told everyone about going to Rome. Fortunately, it all went over pretty easy. It wasn't like they had any other options, really. Still, it was a good plan. They'd travel to Rome and then go from there. Who knew what was next? Anything was possible.

Then, Buffy and Willow decided they should leave. They'd leave Faith here for them to bring to Rome on a plane, but for the time being they needed to get back to Rome and prepare the Slayers and tell the whole story about what really went down the last few days.

They all shared hugs and goodbyes with Buffy and Willow, despite the fact that they'd be seeing each other again in a few short days, most likely.

Buffy shared an awkward hug with Spike, realizing that her and Spike and Angel would be kind of close together in Rome. It kind of worried her. But all those problems would be solved in the future. She shouldn't worry about it now.

Willow got ready with the teleportation spell, feeling comfortable enough with her magic to do this now.

It seemed like they were gone within an instant. Sadness came over everyone to see them go, but happiness came over them too. They'd see Buffy and Willow again soon. Things were going to be better than they ever were before.

Buffy and Willow's arrival in their apartment came very shocking to Kennedy, Oz, Dawn, and Andrew. They had no idea they were even coming home. It was still afternoon in Rome.

Dawn immediately ran up and gave them both hugs, followed by Andrew (although neither Buffy nor Willow was too enthusiastic about giving him hugs back). Then Buffy and Kennedy and Oz greeted, and then Willow.

"Hey," Willow said, hugging her girlfriend. Then she pulled away and looked at her and Oz. "You guys are in one piece! I was thinking there'd be some bruises or, uh, cuts or something."

Kennedy laughed. "No, we've been okay. In fact, earlier today, we decided to start over."

Oz nodded and smiled silently. He didn't have anything to say. What Kennedy said was right. They were going to try and be friends, be civil. Still, Oz couldn't say that it didn't hurt a little when Willow hugged and kissed Kennedy.

He wasn't here for that, though. He was here just to be here. Something that ended half the world brought them all together, and Oz wasn't going to let go of that, and neither were Willow or Buffy. In fact, Buffy even said everyone in L.A. was coming to Rome.

Oz was starting to feel like things were coming together.

"So, Rome," Fred said to Wesley. They entered his office, having separated with everyone else for the night. It was certainly a long day, and everyone could use some more sleep. "What do you think?"

"I think it's a good idea." Wes walked to Fred and took her in his arms, holding her, placing his forehead against hers. They were so close that it took all his strength and power not to kiss her. "Also, I hear Rome can be quite romantic," he whispered.

She giggled. "Yes."

"We could finally have an actual date together."

"Mmm, I can't wait."

"We're going to be happy, Fred. After everything that's been going on, it is the least we deserve."

They kissed. Softly at first, but then more forcefully. Hungrily. They pulled apart breathing heavily.

"And what do you think of Rome?" Wes asked, still holding Fred, her arms wrapped around him.

"I think anywhere where we can be with each other is a fantastic place."

"We made it through everything that's happened these last few years. I think that means we could make it through anything."

"We can make it through anything," Fred reiterated, smiling.

"I love you, Fred."

"I love you, Wesley."

And that was all Wesley needed to hear to send splurges of excitement through his chest and tell him that everything was going to be okay and him and Fred were going to be happy together for a long, long time.

"You think you'll be able to sleep?" Angel asked Connor. They were in Angel's apartment area.

"I don't know," Connor admitted. "I feel like I've been sleeping for a long time. All that time buried by Illyria, it really took its toll, I guess. I'm sorry," Connor added. He'd apologized to a lot of other people over the night, too.

"Connor-"

"I know; I don't have to be sorry. I just want to say that everything has made me learn. It gave me a lot of time to think, too. To think about everything I did when Illyria wasn't inside of me before you did the memory spell. With you and Cordelia and Jasmine… I don't want to be that way. You stood by me, no matter what, and still do. Now more than ever I realize how thankful I am for that. So I'll stay, if you're okay with it, of course. I want to help with anything as much as I can. I want to…redeem myself."

Angel couldn't help but smile. "Of course you can stay, Connor. I guess we'll be working towards redemption together."

"Yeah," Connor agreed. "Working together. The way it always should have been."

Three Days Later

Lilah liked to believe she knew what she was doing. It would happen soon, whatever "it" was, and she'd have to make the decision. Stay or go back to Hell? It seemed like something that would be an easy answer, but for Lilah, not so much. She had to think about Wolfram & Hart and the Senior Partners and what would happen after Angel or Spike got the Shanshu, because wasn't that the only reason she'd be sticking around?

The rest of the gang was bringing all the people in L.A. still alive together. There were a total of three planes and one jet located with pilots to fly each. Depending on exactly how many people were still alive, it wouldn't take too many trips to bring everyone to Rome. As far as Lilah knew, Gunn and Lorne were in a group finding people on one part of the still surviving L.A., and Wes and Fred were in another group in another part of L.A. It was daytime, so neither Angel nor Spike could go out and help yet. Faith was still recuperating, but getting better. Connor was with Angel, most likely. And who knew what Drogyn was doing?

"Lilah."

A voice; boomingly loud and yet seemingly silent. As if it wasn't a voice that could just be heard, you had to listen for it. It didn't seem to be coming from anywhere but Lilah's head. And it was the voice of a certain woman who worked for the Powers known as Cordelia.

"Where are you?" Lilah asked instinctively, looking around the otherwise empty office she was in.

"You can't see me. I'm pretty much just a voice in your head, we might as well say. I need your decision, Lilah. What are you doing?"

She closed her eyes and took a deep, unnecessary breath. At this point, she knew what she was going to do. Not too long ago she always thought her destiny was Wolfram & Hart. But what if it wasn't? What if she was always meant to work at this law firm for Angel and his band of goody-goodies? Ugh, since when did she even talk (much less think) about something like destiny?

Lilah was changing. Maybe there was no denying it.

"I'll stay," she said slowly.

The affect was immediate, unlike so many other things that had happened recently. Lilah knew it happened; she could almost feel herself become corporeal again. Her heart remained silent, but that was fine.

"For what it's worth, you made the right choice," Cordelia spoke. Then, suddenly, she was gone. Lilah could just feel her presence leave.

As stupid as it might've sounded, Lilah went over and opened the door, smiling at the fact that she would no longer be going through things.

Lorne and Gunn paused at the site of many dead bodies lying in the middle of the road. These were all the bodies that had been physically killed by Illyria. Back when Willow used her magic to knock all these people out, or whatever, they had been killed by Illyria. And no one had been here to save them.

Lorne's heart dropped. No, it didn't drop; it plummeted so hard he thought it wouldn't stay inside his body. Oh, gosh no. They were lucky enough to be there to save Faith, and yet no one was here to at least try and help any of these people. Lorne couldn't help but feel a little guilty. Not that it was his fault, but still; he or somebody should've thought about all these people here. Now, even more were dead then the amount of people who originally died.

They walked around the large cluster of bodies in the middle of the road. Both Gunn and Lorne tried to avoid the fact that there were people like this all over the entire USA; the only difference was these people had just died recently.

"Why didn't we think about these people?" Lorne asked Gunn.

"There was too much goin' on," he responded. "None of us were really thinking. Even if we were, there's no way we would've gotten here in time to help anybody."

"Is it bad that we only saved one person—who just happens to be a good friend and someone we all care about?"

Gunn didn't answer.

They made their way into a neighborhood with many houses and started knocking on doors. After the first couple of houses, Lorne realized he should stick back and let Gunn take care of everything, seeing as most people freaked out when they saw him on their doorstep. So he watched from afar as Gunn told people to go to the Wolfram & Hart building because there were planes there that would take them to Rome, where there were other people. Fortunately, nobody needed much convincing to go. Lorne smiled as he watched people walk towards the building, families sticking together and determined to stay alive. It reminded him of him, Angel, Gunn, Wes, Fred, and everyone else. Things were going to be a lot better after this. They've only grown stronger. They would be okay. It'd take a lot of time to get over everything that's happened, but eventually they'd move on. Lorne couldn't wait for humanity to start growing again.

At one house, Gunn was very surprised to see the door opened by a teenage boy, maybe fifteen or sixteen. Two little kids stood behind him (a boy and a girl) and they looked very frightened. It didn't take a genius to figure out that they were alone. No parents. The teenager had been forced to take care of two little kids all by himself. All the kids looked exhausted.

Gunn realized there'd be more like this. There were kids without parents probably all over the remaining part of L.A. And surely there were kids living on the streets or struggling in Rome or anywhere else in the world.

He watched the kids walk away, feeling his heart break. He decided that, once and for all, running a shelter was something he'd definitely be interested in doing, no matter if they still went and worked for a different Wolfram & Hart or not.

A shelter for homeless teens that needed help and kids would be extraordinary and helpful, right? Hell, it'd be kinda fun. It wouldn't be too difficult, either. Gunn even had the name of the shelter picked out already:

Anne's.

The first plane headed to Rome was packed. The feeling in the plane was one of pure excitement, though, and that was fantastic. Everyone couldn't wait to be around people again. In fact, to Fred, it didn't feel to her at all like these people were getting up and giving up their old lives. They were just starting new ones.

Fred, Wes, and Connor were on the first plane headed to Rome. Angel had insisted they go and, even though Connor didn't want to leave without him, Angel told Connor that he'd be fine and he'd see him soon.

There wasn't a single empty seat in the plane. It was almost a relief to look at all these people sitting around them and seeing that there really were other people alive in the world.

The flight was many, many hours. It didn't feel too long, though. Before they knew it, they were looking out the window and seeing down on buildings. The feeling in Fred's chest was great. She almost felt like in Rome nothing could go wrong.

"Are we still gonna work for Wolfram & Hart?" she couldn't help but ask Wes as the plane began to descend.

"I don't know," he admitted. "If I were to be honest, though, I really have no desire to go work for an evil law firm again."

"So you're saying that stage of your life is over?"

"Yes. Besides, wouldn't want you to be in danger again, would we? The last thing we need is another Knox to try and put a different Old One inside of you."

Fred looked out the window. "So then what are we going to do?"

Wes shrugged. "Maybe help with the Slayers? Or go on helping the helpless like usual? Whatever you'd like to do I'd be right by your side."

They leaned in for a kiss.

"Get a room," Connor groaned.

On the next plane, along with other L.A. survivors, were Faith, Lorne, and Gwen (although she was unconscious—they were going to find a way to help her in Rome). Faith was recovering nicely, and felt comfortable flying. Actually, she felt great. Being free from Illyria's hold and that constant back and forth caused her to feel the best she ever had.

Drogyn was planned to go on the flight, too, but he told everyone that he needed to get back to the Deeper Well, not Rome. It was his job, after all. So he left on his own.

"You know, he never mentioned how he traveled back and forth to the Deeper Well and here so quickly," Spike mentioned to Angel. Angel chuckled, realizing Spike was right. Just one more mystery, he supposed.

Later at night, on the last flight that would need to go to Rome, Angel, Spike, Lilah, and Gunn would get on the flight along with the remaining survivors, although most had been brought to Rome already.

For the most part, Angel was looking forward to going to Rome. It'd been a really long time since he'd been there.

He was still a little lost on what he was going to do in Rome, though. He still had a contract to Wolfram & Hart, didn't he? Did that mean he had to work at a different office? That was all stuff he'd just have to wait and figure out.

Before they were to get on the plane, Angel took one last walk around the Wolfram & Hart building. It was hauntingly empty. He passed by Harmony's desk which was covered with a few unicorn stickers and chuckled. All in all, he was sorry she was gone.

He saw one last light was still on. The light to his office.

In his office was Gunn. He was looking longingly at the "statue" that was Anne.

"I meant to ask you what you wanted to do," Angel spoke quietly so as not to startle Gunn. Gunn looked at Angel. "Now that she's trapped like this, I'm not really sure what to do. We could bring her with us. I don't know if she can still hear or think or see or anything like that. Or-"

"We leave her here," Gunn finished for Angel. "Because no one will be here to mess with her or somethin' anyway. Nobody will undo the spell with her here alone in L.A. because no one will know about her, not for a very long time."

"Yeah," Angel said, unsure of what else he could really say.

They stood in silence for a few more minutes, both thinking about Anne and her sacrifice. In a way, she'd saved them all. Angel (along with Gunn and everyone else) would always be thankful for that. They'd never forget about her. They'd never forget about anything they went through because it was a part of them, a part of their lives, a part of their souls.

She gave Angel his son back. For that, Angel would be forever grateful and would cherish every second he had with Connor, no matter what events might occur in the future.

"I guess we just leave her here," Gunn said. "Kinda creepy to just carry her around everywhere."

Angel put a hand on Gunn's shoulder for comfort. "We should get going. The plane will be leaving soon. Rome, here we come," he tried to say excitedly. It didn't come out as natural as he hoped it would, even though he was truly excited about going to Rome. Apparently, brooding came more natural than speaking excitedly. Angel couldn't help but smile at the thought and think about all the times everyone had told him to stop brooding. He couldn't wait for things to go back to normal, if there even was such thing as "normal" in their lives.

They turned and walked away. At the office door, they both turned and gave one last look at Anne. They both said goodbye, not even sure if she could hear them. Angel reached over and flipped the light switch, causing the office to be flooded with darkness.

But in that dark office, there was the faintest glow coming from Anne's eyes that still remained the poignant color of Illyria-blue.

THE END!