Author's Note: When I was working on this chapter. I realized there was a scene that I added to another chapter (Willow's movie night where they watched Silence of the Lambs) that would have gone great with the theme of the episode this chapter takes place in.


Chapter 11: Some Assembly Required

So much had happened between the end of the last school year and the beginning of the new one. Cordelia had been let in on the secret that Buffy is the Slayer, by Xander. Though he had said nothing that Buffy was transgender or what his preferred name was. One thing he and Willow had agreed on was letting Buffy determine who she would tell and when.

Then there had been the Master. Since Buffy had no place to go during the summer, unlike her sister who their father wanted to see and spend time with, she had participated in the ritual to bury his bones. She had even suggested, in part to let out her anguish at dying and in part to keep the vampires from finding a way to resurrect him had taken a sledgehammer and made mincemeat of the Master's bones.

Over the summer there had been little to no activity from the vampiric community. Sure, Buffy had patrolled and dusted a fair number of vampires. But it was nothing like it had been before she had taken out the Master. She was sure something was on the horizon, something that would test her.

September 22, 1997 – Monday

Restfield Cemetery

Buffy sat alone atop a gravestone…waiting. She'd been there most of the night, and now she was getting annoyed. She had an appointment—of sorts—with the newly deceased, soon to be undead, Stephan Korshak. But the newbie was late in rising.

Buffy reached into her pocket and pulled out a plastic yo-yo. She had to pass the time somehow. But the Slayer didn't lose her edge as she pulled the toy up and down; in her other hand she held a large wooden stake. "Come on, Stephan, rise and shine," she urged the corpse as she practiced her walk-the-dog. "Some of us have a ton of trig homework waiting."

"Hey!" A deep, smooth voice came from behind, catching Buffy completely off guard.

Buffy spun around, startled by the sound. "Ack!" she exclaimed.

Angel smiled slightly at her surprise. "Is this a bad time?" he asked.

Buffy leaped off the headstone and tried to regain her bearings. "Are you crazy?" she spat back. "You don't just sneak up on people in a graveyard. You…stomp…or yodel."

Angel shrugged off her anger. "I heard you were on the hunt."

Buffy nodded slowly. "Supposed to be," she admitted. Then she glanced over at Stephan's grave once again. "Lazy bones here don't want to come out and play."

Angel's eyes darted over toward the headstone. He noted the recent date of death carved into the gray rock. "When you first wake up, it's a little disorienting. He'll show."

Buffy looked into Angel's dark eyes. "It's weird to think of you going through that," she told him softly.

"It's weird to go through." Angel looked around the cemetery as though he were searching for someone else. "So…uh…you're here alone?" he asked her finally.

"Yeah. Why?"

Angel looked away. "I just thought you'd have somebody with you…Xander or someone."

Buffy seemed confused. "Xander?"

Angel looked slightly flustered. "Or someone."

Buffy smiled at Angel's obvious discomfort with this whole line of conversation. "No. Are you jealous?"

Angel stood a little taller and puffed his chest out. "Of Xander? Please. He's just a kid."

Buffy had to choke back a laugh. "Is it because I danced with him?" she teased. "Are you going to be jealous of Willow because I dance with her too."

"I am not jealous!"

"Oh, you're not jealous." Buffy countered. "What? Vampires don't get jealous?"

"See, whenever we fight, you always bring up the vampire thing."

"I didn't come here to fight," Buffy assured him as she was knocked to the ground.

Hello, Stephan Korshak.

"Oh, right…I did," Buffy reminded herself as she threw the vampire from her body and stood. Quickly, she glanced at her hand. She was still holding the yoyo, but that wouldn't do her much good now. "Where's my stake?"

There was no time to look for her stake now. Stephan was on the move.

He'd grabbed a nearby shovel and was about to whack Buffy in the skull.

But before the vampire could make his move, Angel charged at him.

Stephan slammed the older vampire in the head. Instinctively Buffy moved toward Stephan. Once again, Stephan raised the shovel and swung at Buffy.

But this time she was ready for him. She raised her arm high and with a single motion cracked the wooden handle in half, leaving a pointy, ragged edge. Presto, stake-o. Quickly she wrestled the shovel from Stephan's hands and shoved it into his heart. Instantly the vampire dissolved into dust.

Buffy grinned triumphantly. She looked over at Angel, who was currently rubbing the part of his head that had made contact with Stephan's shovel. He still looked angry, and Buffy had a feeling it wasn't at Stephan.

"You didn't answer my question," Buffy said, returning to their argument. "Are you going to be jealous of Willow also because I dance with her?"

Angel opened his mouth to speak, but then thought better of it. He shook his head sadly. "Look, obviously I made a mistake coming here tonight." He turned and walked away.

Buffy watched him for a moment and then hurried to catch up. "Oh, no you don't," she insisted as she worked to fall in step. "You can't just turn and walk away. It takes more than that to get rid of me."

Angel turned around as Buffy's voice dropped. But the Slayer was nowhere to be seen. He looked down by his feet. There, six feet below, in an empty silk-upholstered coffin, lay Buffy. "You okay?" he asked, barely choking back his amusement.

Buffy sat up stiffly. "I wish people wouldn't leave open graves lying around like this." She raised her hand to Angel, asking for help out of the grave, but his attention had already turned elsewhere.

"So, another vampire has risen tonight," he mused as he scanned the cemetery grounds.

Buffy shook her head soberly. "I don't think so." She felt around at the satin lining in the newly buried coffin and shivered a little. "Whoever was buried here didn't rise from this grave."

Using all her might, she pulled herself out of the hole and raced over toward two shallow depressions in the grass. She bent down and picked up a white woman's formal shoe and stared pointedly at Angel. "She was dragged from it."

September 23, 1997 – Tuesday

Sunnydale High School

Giles sat with his back to the open library door. He had no idea that he was being observed as he nervously fidgeted, gestured, waved his arms in the air, and asked a wooden library chair for a date. Or at least that's what it appeared he was doing to the two unnoticed onlookers.

"So, what I'm proposing…and I don't mean to appear indecorous…is a social engagement…a date if you will. If you're amenable…" He stopped himself and sighed. "Idiot!" he scolded himself.

"Boy, I guess we never realized how much you liked that chair," came a teasing voice from the doorway.

Giles jumped back, startled, to find Buffy and Xander gazing at him with amusement.

"Oh, I, uh…" Giles muttered nervously. "I was just working on…"

"Your pick up lines?" Buffy asked him.

Giles blushed fiercely. "In a manner of speaking, yes."

"Then if you don't mind a little Gene and Roger," she continued, "I would leave off the 'idiot' part. Being called an idiot tends to take a person out of the dating mood."

"Actually, it kind of turns me on," Xander interjected.

Buffy stared at Xander curiously. "I fear for you." Then, turning her attention to the clearly flustered librarian, she added, "You might also want to avoid words like 'amenable' and 'indecorous.' Just say, 'Hey, I got a thing, maybe you're feeling a thing, and there could be a thing. Then you say, 'How do you feel about Mexican?'"

"About Mexicans?" Giles was completely confused now.

"Mexican food," Buffy explained. "You take her for food…for which you then pay."

"Oh, right."

Xander looked at his friend. "So you are giving Giles advice about talking to people and telling them things," he said. "And yet you had…"

"I know how hard it was to admit to you and Will that I was trans," Buffy admitted looking at her friend. "I was after all afraid, especially after your reaction to my being bi."

Xander patted her shoulder. "Sorry about that," he said before looking back at the librarian and the chair Giles was speaking to. "So, this 'chair' woman, we are talking Ms. Calendar, right?"

Giles sighed. "What makes you ask that?" he asked quickly.

Xander smiled. "Simple deduction," he explained. "Ms. Calendar is reasonably dollsome, especially for someone in your age bracket; she already knows you're a school librarian, so you don't have to worry about how to break that embarrassing news to her…"

"And she's the only woman we've ever actually seen speaking to you," Buffy interrupted. "Add it all up, it spells 'duh.'"

Xander gave Giles a very fatherly look. "Now, is it time for us to talk about the facts of life?" he teased.

"You know, I am suddenly deciding that this is none of your business," Giles told Xander.

But Xander would not be put off. "Because you know," he continued, "that whole stork thing is a smoke screen."

Giles knew he had no choice but to change the subject. He turned to Buffy and asked pointedly, "So, how did things go last night? Did Mr. Korshack show up on schedule?"

"More or less. Angel and I took care of him," Buffy assured him.

"Angel." Xander snorted with disgust.

Buffy glanced at her friend. "I know you don't like him, Xander. But my dating pool is kind of limited. Even though you see me as a girl, you aren't interested because of what is between my legs. Willow also sees me as a girl and she's supposedly straight. Giles is likely interested in Ms. Calendar so even if I was interested that one is off the table. That kind of leaves Angel, who is interested in me."

"Sorry," Xander repeated.

"It's okay," Buffy said as she turned back to Giles. "Anyways there's something else. I found an empty grave."

"Grave robbing," Giles mused. "Well, that's new. Interesting."

Buffy grimaced. "I know that you meant to say 'gross' and 'disturbing.'"

"Yes, of course," Giles agreed sheepishly. "Terrible thing. Must put a stop to it." He paused for moment, fighting back the smile of excitement that was creeping back onto his face. Then he added a quick "Dammit" for effect.

"So why does someone dig up graves?" Xander asked.

Giles thought about that for a moment, but no immediate answers came to mind. "I'll collate some theories," he said finally. "Might help to know who the body belonged to."

"Meredith Todd," Buffy told him. She turned to Xander. "Ring a bell?"

Xander shook his head. The name meant nothing to him.

"She died recently," Buffy prodded, "and she was our age."

Xander thought for a while but could come up with nothing. "Drawing a blank," he admitted finally.

"Well, why don't we ask Willow to fire up this thing…" Giles pointed at a library computer, taking care not to actually touch the machine, "…and track Meredith down."

Buffy nodded. Then she wondered just where Willow had gotten to, anyhow.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

At that very moment Willow was standing in line in the school lounge, clipboard in hand. It was time to sign up for Sunnydale High's annual science fair, and Willow was very excited. She had a terrific project in mind—one that could finally win her first prize.

As Willow printed her name at the top of her entry form, a flash bulb went off nearby. "Look at those legs," a student named Eric remarked, breathing heavily as he advanced the film in his camera.

Willow turned and scowled at Eric.

Just then a slightly taller boy with light hair and a complex look in his eyes walked over toward Willow. "Eric, knock it off," Chris Epps told his friend.

Willow smiled and shyly glanced over Chris's shoulder to see what he was writing on his clipboard. Chris looked up suddenly, surprised to see Willow so engrossed in his entry blank.

"Hey, Chris," Willow said, trying to sound casual. "I was just wondering what you're going to do this year."

Chris smiled awkwardly. "Why?"

"Well, every year, you win and I place second," Willow explained. "I just thought I'd see what I was up against."

Chris smiled at Willow. "You know what the key is?" he confided. Willow shook her head. "If Dr. Clark doesn't understand your experiment, he gives it higher marks so it looks like he understands your experiment." He glanced over at Willow's entry sheet and read the name of her science project aloud. "'Effects of Sub-violet Light Spectrum Deprivation on the Development of Fruit Flies.'" He shot Willow a congratulatory smile. "That should do the trick."

Willow grinned. She loved everything about the science fair.

"Okay, I'm doing this under protest," Cordelia announced to no one in particular. "It's not fair that they're making participation in this year's science fair mandatory. I don't think anyone should have to do anything educational at school if they don't want to."

Willow glanced over Cordelia's shoulder and read the cheerleader's project name. "'The Tomato: Fruit or Vegetable?'" She rolled her eyes.

"I want something I can finish in a weekend, okay?" Cordelia told Willow. She blinked as a flash bulb went off in her eyes. "Stop it!" she ordered Eric. "What do you think you're doing?" She pointed up toward the ceiling. "We're under fluorescent lights, for God's sake!"

Eric smiled slyly, which only served to make him look sleazier and considerably more pathetic. "Come on. The camera loves you."

"I thought you yearbook nerds didn't come out of hibernation till the spring," Cordelia suggested.

Eric gave her an almost obscene grin. "It's for my private collection."

Chris walked over toward his friend. "Will you quit it?" he insisted.

"Coming through," Buffy said, as she literally pushed Eric aside to get to her friend. "Hey, Willow. Sorry to interrupt, but…it's the Bat Signal."

"Sure, okay," Willow replied. She turned and smiled gratefully toward Chris. "See you. Thanks for the tip."

Cordelia lingered a moment as Buffy and Willow wandered off. Then when she Eric leering in her direction, she scurried off after them.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Willow sat down in front of one of the library computers and typed in her password. "This shouldn't take long," she assured Buffy, Xander, and Giles. "I'm probably the only girl in school who has the coroner's office bookmarked as a favorite place."

Before Willow could even access the Web site, Cordelia came blasting through the library doors. "Hi," she greeted. "Sorry to interrupt your little undead playgroup, but I need to ask Willow if she'll help me with my science fair project."

"It's a fruit," Willow said, without looking away from her screen.

"I would ask Chris for help, but…" Cordelia clasped her hand to her mouth, becoming teary, "…it would bring back too many memories of Daryl."

Buffy was about to ask, 'Daryl who?' but she was interrupted by Willow's enthusiastic shout of, "I found it."

Buffy and Xander gathered around the computer screen, leaving Cordelia off to the side by herself. "According to this, Meredith Todd died in a car accident last week."

"Of course, I've learned to deal with my pain…" Cordelia continued mournfully.

Buffy was obviously focused elsewhere. "And how was her neck?" she asked Willow.

"Fine…except for being broken," Willow replied.

"Hello?" Cordelia interrupted. "Can we deal with my pain please?"

Xander rolled his eyes. "There, there," he replied in a flat voice, patting her shoulder apathetically. He turned back toward Willow.

"It says Meredith and two other girls in the car were killed instantly," Willow told them. "They were all on the pep squad at Fondren High, on the way to a game."

"You know what this means," Buffy began.

"That Fondren might actually beat Sunnydale in the crosstown body count competition this year?" Xander joked.

"It means she wasn't killed by vampires," Buffy informed him. "So, somebody did dig up her corpse."

Cordelia wrinkled her nose with a look of absolute disgust. "Ew! Why is it that every conversation you have has the word 'corpse' in it?"

Buffy and her friends paid Cordelia no mind. "So okay, we've got a body snatcher," Xander thought aloud. "What does that mean?"

Giles held up an old, musty book. "Here's what I've come up with: Demons who eat the flesh of the dead to absorb their souls. Or it could be a voodoo practitioner."

"You mean making a zombie?" Willow interrupted.

"More likely zombies," Giles explained. "For most traditional purposes, a voodoo priest would require more than one."

Buffy considered that for a moment. "So, we should see if the other girls from this accident are AWOL too," she suggested. "Might help figure out what this creep has in mind if we know whether he's dealing in volume."

Xander nodded. "So, we dig up some graves tonight?"

"Oh, wow!" Willow piped in excitedly. "A field trip." She turned to Buffy. "Are you going to call Angel?"

Buffy frowned and grew quiet. "I don't think so."

Xander couldn't hide his smile. "Yeah? Why bother him?"

"We've been sort of…never mind. As far as Angel knows, I'm taking the night off, okay?"

Xander had no problem with that. "So, we're all set then," he agreed. "Say nine-ish. B.Y.O. shovel."

"I'll pack some food. Who likes those little powdered donuts?" Willow asked. Xander's hand shot up. She smiled and looked over across the table. "Cordelia?"

Cordelia's eyes were large with amazement. "Darn, I have cheerleader practice tonight," she told them quickly. "Boy, I wish I'd known you were going to be digging up dead people sooner; I would have canceled."

Xander shrugged. "All right," he told Cordelia, "but if you run into the army of zombies, could you page us before they eat your flesh?"

Cordelia turned and hurried out of the library.

Giles looked sternly at Xander. "Xander, zombies don't eat the flesh of the living," he explained.

Xander laughed. "Yeah, I knew that. But did you see that look on her face?"

Restfield Cemetery

That night, Buffy, Willow, Xander and Giles met at the grave of Cathy Ryan, a seventeen-year-old who had died in the same car as Meredith Todd. Giles and Xander got straight to work digging up her grave, while Willow and Buffy sat propped up against a nearby headstone munching on powdered donuts and sipping hot coffee.

"He was getting all jealous and he wouldn't even admit it," Buffy told her best girlfriend, remembering Angel's behavior of the previous night.

"Jealous of what?" Willow asked.

Buffy shook her head in disbelief. "Of Xander. He saw me dancing with you guys. It surprises me he's not jealous of you, Will."

"Yeah given the fact your bisexual and attracted to both boys and girl," Willow agreed. "You would think he would have a problem with me too if he was going to be jealous of your friends. Especially after we were let into your personal world."

Just then, Xander looked up from the ever-increasing hole in Cathy Ryan's grave. "You know, this might go faster if you fems picked up a shovel too."

"Sorry," Buffy replied, laughing. "But I'm an old-fashioned girl. I was raised to believe the men dig up the corpses and the women have the babies."

Xander shook his head. "So says the girl who knows what its like to be a guy."

"Wishing you were me, are you?" Buffy teased. She then turned her attention back to Willow. "Speaking wacky things, what was Cordelia's whole riff about painful memories? Who's Daryl?"

"Daryl Epps," Willow explained. "Chris's older brother. He was a big football star. All-state two years ago. A running…" She thought a minute, trying to recall the name of the position Daryl had played. "A running…someone that runs and catches."

Buffy grinned. "Was he a studly?"

Willow's eyes opened wide, remembering. "Big time. All the girls were crazy for him. If you had been here before he died from a rock climbing accident and had been out of the closet, there is a chance you might have had a chance."

Buffy smiled at the thought of dating someone just as a girl, and not having to pretend like she had done with Owen that she was a gay boy. "Anyways, he broke Cordy's heart." She paused for a moment. "Thus, possibly proving its existence," she added wryly.

Willow nodded. "Ever since Daryl's death, Chris has been real…quiet. Kind of in his own world. And I hear his mother doesn't even leave the house anymore."

Buffy nodded. But before she could say anything, the girls heard a loud thunk coming from the open grave.

"I think we're there," Giles called up at them.

Buffy and Willow peered over the edge of the grave as Giles and Xander wiped the last bits of dirt away from Cathy's coffin.

"By the way, are we hoping to find a body or no body?" Willow asked.

"Call me an optimist, but I'm hoping to find a fortune in gold doubloons," Xander gibed.

Buffy carefully considered Willow's question. "Well, body could mean flesh-eating demon," she thought aloud. "No body points more toward the army-of-zombies thing. Take your pick, really."

Xander looked down at the lid of the coffin.

"Go ahead," Giles told him.

"You're closer," Xander disagreed.

Buffy rolled her eyes. "Pathetic much? Move over," she ordered as she dropped down into the grave and reached for the latch that opened the coffin.

Sunnydale High School

Buffy, Willow, Xander and Giles entered the library, shovels in hand. They were so focused on the information they'd just gathered at the graveyard, they didn't seem to notice that the lights in the room were on, although the school had been closed for hours.

"So, both coffins empty, that makes three girls signed up for the army of zombies," Xander remarked.

"Is it an army if you only have three?" Willow wondered.

Buffy opened her mouth to respond, but before she could say anything, a deep voice, calm, with only a trace of bitterness spoke from the doorway.

"You're back."

Angel was in the library, waiting. Buffy stared at him, her eyes registering so many emotions: the shame of being caught in a lie, the surprise of seeing him…and the shock of discovering Cordelia clinging to his arm, her head nearly buried in his chest.

"Angel…" Buffy began as she walked toward him. She stopped just beside Xander—a fact that wasn't lost on Angel.

"Xander," Angel greeted the teen for Buffy's benefit only.

"Angel," Xander replied, equally unenthused. Angel's eyes never left Buffy's. "I thought you were taking the night off," he alleged suspiciously.

"I was…going to," Buffy lied. "But at the last minute…"

Angel cut her off. "Cordelia told me the truth."

"As long as you're here, perhaps you can be of some help," Giles interrupted, trying to get back to business.

Buffy was grateful for the save. "We were investigating," she admitted. "Somebody's been stealing the bodies of dead girls."

"I know," Angel assured her. "We found some of them."

"Like two of the three?" Buffy asked.

Angel shook his head. "I mean like some of them, like parts."

"It was horrible," Cordelia told the others. She looked up at Angel gratefully. "Angel saved me from an arm. God, there were parts of everywhere. Why do these terrible things always happen to me?"

"Karma," Xander coughed the word into his fist.

Willow looked toward the others. "Well, so much for the zombie theory."

"So much for all our theories," Giles corrected.

"I don't get it," Buffy commented. "Why dig up three bodies just to chop them up and throw them away again? It doesn't make sense. Especially from a time management standpoint."

"What I saw didn't add up to three whole girls," Angel told her, all business. "I think they kept some parts."

Buffy grimaced. "Could this get yuckier?"

"They probably kept them to eat," Willow suggested.

'There you go. Definitely not something I am writing in my journal for Dawn to read later,' Buffy thought. "Question answered," she replied out loud.

"But why dispose of the remains here at the school?" Giles wondered.

Buffy considered that for a moment. "Maybe whoever did it had other business in the neighborhood. Like classes."

"Oh," Giles muttered, considering the consequences of that theory.

"This was no hatchet job," Angel told Buffy. "Whoever made those incisions really knew what they were doing."

"Yes, well, really, what student here would be that well-versed in physiology?" Giles wondered

"I can think of maybe five or six guys in the science club. And me," Willow offered.

Xander grinned. "Well, so come clean and promise never to do it again, and we'll call it a night."

The group stared at Xander with surprise.

"He joked," Xander assured them.

Buffy turned to Willow. "Why don't you get their locker numbers? We'll check them out."

"No," Cordelia moaned pitifully. "I want to go home now. I have to bathe and burn my clothes."

"You have to go?" Xander asked with relief and a decided lack of pity. "Ah. Keep in touch. Bye-bye."

"I don't want to go alone. I'm still fragile," Cordelia continued, looking up at Angel. "Can you take me?"

"I…" Angel glimpsed at Buffy, his eyes searching her face, waiting for her to object.

Buffy looked from Cordelia to Angel with surprise, but said nothing.

Cordelia took that opportunity to clutch Angel's arm even tighter. "Great! I'll drive!" she exclaimed as she led him from the library.

"How about that?" Xander pondered as they left. "I always pegged him as a one-woman vampire."

Willow nudged Xander, trying to instill some sensitivity into her friend.

But she needn't have bothered. Buffy was busy staring at the library door.

She hadn't heard a thing since Angel left the room.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Willow led Xander and Buffy down the empty hallways of Sunnydale High.

Giles hovered nervously behind them, watching as Willow stopped at the locker of one of her friends from the science club and used information from a computer printout to open the lock. "I hope you understand that as a school official, I cannot condone this unauthorized search," he exclaimed officiously.

"Okay, your butt's covered," Buffy assured him. "You want to grab a locker?"

"Yes, of course," Giles said, as he moved to open the next locker on Willow's list.

Buffy stood beside the next locker on her list and smirked. "Okay, Eric, let's see what's on your naughty little mind," she murmured as she turned the combination lock. As she opened Eric's locker, Willow peered into another one nearby.

Inside Willow's locker was nothing besides some textbooks and a stack of science and nature magazines. "Scientific American," she said as she pulled out one of the mags. Her eyes lit up. "Ooh. I haven't read this one!"

Giles peered into another locker. More textbooks, notebooks, and magazines. "Nothing remarkable here," he muttered.

Xander, however, was having a much more fruitful search through a locker across the hall. "Guys," he called out.

Willow put back the magazine and shut the locker door. She and Giles hurried to Xander's side. "Your friend, Chris Epps's locker," he told Willow as he opened the door wider so they could see inside.

Willow studied the stack of books inside the locker. "Gray's Anatomy, Mortician's Desk Reference, Robicheaux's Guide to Muscles and Tendons."

Giles reached into the locker and pulled out a folded piece of newspaper. As he read the headline, he knew they'd found at least part of the puzzle. 'Tragic Accident Kills Three.' It was an article about Meredith Todd and her friends. "Fair to say, Chris is involved," he commented.

"He's into corpses all right," Xander agreed. "But we still don't know why."

"Yes, we do," Buffy called from her spot beside Eric's locker with a shudder. She backed away completely repulsed by the idea of what Eric and Chris were likely doing. She hadn't been this repulsed since the day Willow's movie night when they were to watch 'Silence of the Lambs.'

Willow, Xander and Giles rushed over and Willow opened the locker door wider realizing why Buffy had taken a step back. She quietly moved to Buffy and wrapped an arm around her friend.

Xander and Giles saw what Willow and Buffy had, a picture of a girl that was taped to the inside of the door. But this was no ordinary sexy pinup. This was a collage of various body parts and facial features cut from various magazines. Separately, the picture's eyes, nose, mouth, and other body parts were absolutely perfect. But when they were pasted together, the creature they formed was absolutely grotesque.

"I know this is not a case of that movie Silence of the Lambs that turned being trans into something to be feared," Buffy whispered to Willow. "But…"

"I know, Buffy," Willow admitted sympathetically as she held her friend tightly.

September 24, 1997 – Wednesday

Sunnydale High School

Willow and Xander sat on the steps of the school, watching as a trio of totally geeky guys eyed one of Cordelia's Cordettes.

As Buffy arrived at the school she hurried to meet up with her friends.

"Any sign of our suspects?" Xander asked her.

"Not yet," Buffy replied. She sat down and took a look at the gaggle of gawking guys in the hallway. "I get it of course, after all it's kind of what I want to do to myself eventually. But why do it that way?"

Xander shrugged. "The things we do for love. Like you said, Buffy, you would love to have your body match how you feel inside. It's kind of the same for them."

Buffy sighed. "As far as they are concerned, love has nothing to do with this," she wanted to make that perfectly clear.

Xander nodded. "Maybe not, but I'll tell you this: People don't fall in love with what's right in front of them. People want the dream, what they can't have. The more unattainable, the more attractive."

"And for Eric, the unattainable would include everyone…that's alive," Willow continued.

"Well almost everything that's alive," Buffy informed Willow as they began to head down the stairs to class. "Not many people are interested in someone who is trans. I understand it's not for everyone. Anyways, Eric's sick enough to do something like this but what's up with Chris? He seems like a normal person."

"I don't know," Willow told her honestly. "The thing with his brother was really hard on him. He talked a lot about death. Maybe he just wants to get one up on it."

"But it's not…doable, is it?" Buffy wondered hesitantly. "I mean, making someone from scraps? Actually, making them live?"

Willow sighed. "If it is, my science project's definitely coming in second this year."

From the corner of his eye, Xander caught a glimpse of Giles standing alone by the door to the school building. He was obviously searching for someone special. "And speaking of love…" Xander said, nudging the others.

"We were talking about the reanimation of dead tissue," Willow corrected him. Xander scowled. "Do I deconstruct your segues? Yeesh."

Buffy marched over to the awkward librarian and smiled. "Hey, Giles."

"Oh. Yes. Hello," Giles replied, his eyes never leaving the sea of people.

"Still no sign of our mad doctors," Buffy reported.

"What?" Giles asked, distracted. "Oh. Corpses. Evil. Very good."

Suddenly Giles's face broke into a small nervous smile. Buffy followed his eyes until she saw what he saw. There was Ms. Calendar, coming down the hall with a student.

Buffy smiled encouragingly. "Okay Giles, just remember. 'I'm feeling a thing, you're feeling a thing.' But personalize it."

"Personalize it?" Giles repeated nervously.

"She's a techno pagan, right?" Buffy reminded Giles. "Ask her to bless your laptop or something."

Giles looked at her with a sense of panic in his eyes.

Buffy grinned as she walked off. "Have fun."

Xander and Willow followed behind, each giving their librarian a pat on the back for luck.

"No. Don't leave me," Giles called after them. But it was no use. In a matter of seconds, the trio was gone, and Giles was face-to-face with Ms. Calendar.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Willow sat in the school science room poring over anatomy books, trying to figure out just how Chris and Eric could possibly create a human life from—for lack of a better term—spare parts. "I still don't get how Chris could do it," Willow wondered. "Arresting cell deterioration is one thing, but…"

Xander frowned. He reached over and began to play with a plastic model of a human skull. "Hello…I want to get a head."

But Willow wasn't biting. "Maybe an electrical current combined with an adrenaline boost," she continued, as she turned the pages in the science book.

Xander moved the plastic skull closer to Willow. "For the love of God, somebody scratch my nose!" he joked.

Before Xander could go any further with his talking head comedy routine, Buffy whisked her way into the science room. Xander could tell by the look on her face that she was in no mood for goofing around. She was all business.

"Well, it's official," Buffy announced. "Chris and Eric didn't come to school today."

"That's not a coincidence," Xander suggested.

Willow gulped. "Maybe they finished their project."

The trio was quiet a moment, each of them considering what that could mean.

"God, what if it worked?" Buffy asked finally. "What if that poor girl is walking around?"

"Uh, poor girls, technically," Xander interrupted.

Buffy glared at Xander before asking, "What could she be thinking?"

"And what are they going to do with her?" Willow wondered.

"I don't think we have to worry about that just yet." The trio looked up as soon as they heard Giles's voice providing them with this new piece of information. Their eyes were all focused on his, waiting for him to explain. "I contacted the police this morning about the remains," he explained.

"They've just finished sorting through them. Apparently, they found three heads in the dumpster."

"And they only had three girls," Buffy recalled.

"So, they don't have the whole, uh, package," Willow deduced.

"Sounds like the heads must be no good," Xander suggested. He thought about that, recalling the girls' picture in the newspaper article they'd discovered in Chris's locker. "Hmmm. They seemed attractive enough to me."

Buffy, Giles, and Willow stared at Xander.

"Obviously, I'm not as sick as Chris and Eric," Xander finished quickly.

Giles turned his attention back to the case at hand. "Based on what the police put together, they're one step away from completing their masterpiece."

Willow glanced down at the plastic head Xander had been playing with. "One step," she murmured fearfully.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Buffy paced up and down the library floor. The stress was clearly getting to her. She knew that Chris and Eric were going to strike, and soon. The question was, could she stop them before they completed their ghoulish science project?

"Well, I've checked the obits," Willow told her as she scanned the computer screen. "Nothing that would make for a likely candidate."

"They're kind of picky for guys who had three heads to begin with," Xander noted.

"Formaldehyde," Willow muttered.

Xander stared at Willow. "Come again?"

"Yes, of course," Giles agreed. "It accelerates neural decay in the brain cells."

"A couple of days and they're useless," Willow told him. "They're going to need something really fresh."

"How fresh?" Buffy asked, her voice becoming quietly alarmed.

"As fresh as possible," Willow began matter-of-factly. Then, suddenly she caught Buffy's drift. She looked up at her friend with a new sense of panic. "Buffy, you don't think they'd…"

"I think anyone who cuts dead girls into pieces does not get the benefit of the doubt," Buffy informed her. "Let's end this thing, now."

"Seconded," Giles agreed.

Immediately Buffy took charge of the situation. She turned to Willow and Xander. "You two head to Eric's. I'll try Chris's."

Giles looked sheepishly at Buffy. "I'm supposed to be at the, uh, the 'big game,' I believe it's called," he stammered.

Buffy fought off a grin. "You go ahead. We can handle this."

But Giles wasn't sure. "Well, this is my…I really should…"

"It's okay," Buffy assured him. "We'll meet up there. Report back."

"All right," Giles agreed.

As Buffy headed for the door, Willow hurried to catch up with her.

"Buffy, don't be too hard on Chris," she asked her friend. "I mean, he's not a vampire."

But Buffy could find no pity for Chris in her heart. "No. He's just a ghoul."

Epps Home

Buffy was surprised when Chris's mother opened the door to the Eppses' home. The woman looked as though she hadn't bathed or brushed her hair in months. Her plaid flannel shirt was faded and wrinkled, much like her sad face. In the background, Buffy could hear a video of a high school football game playing on the TV.

"I'm a friend of Chris's," Buffy told Mrs. Epps. "I need to talk to him. Do you know if he's home?"

Without a word, Chris's mother turned and walked inside the house. Buffy followed her into a musty living room and watched as the woman settled into a well-worn easy chair and flicked her cigarette into an overflowing ashtray.

Mrs. Epps stared at the TV, seeming not to notice that Buffy was even there.

Buffy looked around the room. It had been turned into a shrine of sorts.

The walls were papered with photos of Daryl Epps in his football uniform, running across the field and leaping up to catch passes. Football trophies lined the mantle, and newspaper articles chronicling Daryl's on-field successes were framed and placed around the room. Buffy was struck by just how gorgeous Daryl had been. No wonder Willow had said she would have had a chance if she had been out of the closet and in Sunnydale before Daryl died.

"So…is Chris home?" Buffy asked Mrs. Epps again.

But Chris's mom didn't answer. Instead, she pointed toward the TV screen. "Westbury game. November 17, '95," she explained to Buffy. "Daryl was rushed 185 yards that night. Four TDs. He was MVP and made All-City that season."

Buffy glanced at the video and watched as Daryl ran across the field. A stack of videotapes sat atop the TV, each one labeled with the date and names of football teams.

"Yeah, that was a great one," Buffy agreed, trying not to upset Mrs. Epps. "But is Chris home?"

Mrs. Epps's eyes never left the screen. "I don't know," she said. "Is this a school day?" Before Buffy could reply, the woman leaned closer to the TV screen. "Watch this move," she told Buffy. "Daryl takes the kick off, sheds one-two-three defenders! He breaks into the open field for a ninety-five-yard touchdown."

Quietly Buffy backed out of the room. As she made her way toward the bedrooms, Buffy could hear Mrs. Epps's tragic voice. "He would have been nineteen next week, you know," she said in a strangely matter-of-fact voice.

The first door Buffy came to was papered in signs. Some read NO TRESPASSING, others KEEP OUT and NO ADMITTANCE. As far as Buffy was concerned, that was an open invitation to enter the room.

As she headed down the stairs toward the basement, Buffy's spidey senses went on high alert. She was ready for anything.

But there was no one in the basement. At least no one Buffy could see.

Just some old boxes and furniture. Quickly her eyes darted around the room, expertly searching for some clue that someone—or something—had been there.

As she looked over at a chest of drawers, she noticed a pile of photos on top. She went over and glanced at them. She flipped through them quickly. Then she came to the photo Eric had cut up. Buffy couldn't tell who she was—her head and hair were missing.

Then she noticed a drawing of a woman's body on the table. Every muscle, tendon, vein, and artery was expertly rendered, as though it had come straight from a textbook. And pasted to the top of the drawing was a teenage girl's head.

"Cordelia," Buffy whispered quietly to herself.

Sunnydale High School

Buffy raced up the stairs toward the girls' locker room, she wished she had Willow with her to run interference while she ran into the locker room to warn Cordelia about Eric and Chris's awful plan. As she was climbing up, two cheerleaders were on their way down toward the field. Buffy stopped them in their tracks. "Joy, Lisa, where's Cordelia?"

Joy shook her head. "Cordelia's got a game to think about. She doesn't need losers like you—"

Buffy didn't have time to debate. She powerfully slapped her hands against the wall, one on either side of the perky cheerleader, effectively fencing her in. Joy opened her eyes wide with surprise. "I'm sorry," Buffy said, her voice dripping with false sweetness. "Where did you say?"

That was all it took to get the information she needed.

"Ooh he's hot," Joy said to Lisa in reference to Buffy's forcefulness as the Slayer raced off toward the locker room. "A real man knows how to get what they want."

As Buffy entered the room, she discovered Cordelia struggling wildly on the floor as Eric attempted to tie her hands behind her back. She leapt up in the air and heel kicked Eric away from his prisoner.

Eric was not prepared for a fight. Instead he beat a quick retreat, dashing out a back door.

Buffy reached down and removed the cloth sack from Cordelia's face. "It's okay, you're okay," she assured her. "He's gone."

"Oh, my God! Rutherford!" Cordelia cried out.

"He's gone," Buffy assured her again, as she helped pull the cheerleader to her feet. "What happened?"

Cordelia struggled to catch her breath. "I don't know," she gasped. "I was just about to go to the field when Chris came in, and then somebody just jumped me."

Buffy's eyes scanned the locker room, but it seemed empty. "Well, it's okay now," she repeated. "You're fine. Just take your time."

Cordelia was silent for a moment, listening. The marching band was beginning to play. "Oh, my God! That's the fight song," she exclaimed. "It's time for the cheerleader pyramid at mid-field. I have to go."

"Are you sure you're okay to go out there?" Buffy asked incredulously.

"You don't understand. I have to go. I'm the apex." And with that, Cordelia grabbed her pom-poms and raced out onto the field.

"I wish I could be the apex," Buffy muttered to herself remembering her cheerleader tryouts last spring. It was at that moment her spidey senses told her someone else was there, listening…waiting. "I know what you're trying to do, Chris," she called out finally. "You and Eric." She waited a second, but no one answered. "I know about the bodies from the cemetery. But you haven't hurt anyone yet."

Slowly, quietly, Chris stepped out from behind a row of lockers. Buffy was amazed at just how small and vulnerable he seemed. His eyes looked tired and tortured.

"Listen, I don't know what it's like to lose someone close to you," Buffy admitted quietly. "But what you're trying to do is wrong."

"I have to do it for him. He needs someone." Chris seemed to be justifying everything to himself as well as to Buffy.

"Who? Eric?" Buffy asked. "He needs industrial strength therapy."

"He always looked out for me…stood up for me…He's all alone…Everybody loved him, and now he's all alone…"

Buffy listened to Chris for a moment, trying to make sense of what he was saying. Then, she began to put his words together. Words she had told herself since she had become the Slayer when talking about Dawn. How she would look out for her sister, how she would stand up for Dawn. And in that moment, she realized what Chris had done for his brother, just like what Dawn had done for her just few short months earlier. "Oh, my God."

Epps Home

By the time Buffy and Chris arrived in Daryl's basement lair, Daryl and Eric were long gone. The only sign that they'd been there were the piles of damaged books and broken shelves Daryl had left behind in his fit of anger.

"Okay, he's not here. Where else could he be?" Buffy demanded of Chris.

Chris shook his head. "But he would never go out," he assured Buffy.

Then the expression on his face changed to one of fear. "Unless…"

"He's going to pick up where you left off," Buffy finished his thought.

Sunnydale High School

Giles smiled uncomfortably as he and Ms. Calendar stumbled through the school's bleachers at the start of the football game.

"I don't know what it is about football that does it for me," Ms. Calendar mused out loud as she sat down in one of the seats. "I mean it lacks the grace of basketball, the poetry of baseball. At its best, it's unadorned aggression. It's just such a rugged contest."

Giles chuckled. "Rugged? American football?"

Ms. Calendar looked at him curiously. "And that's funny because?"

Giles shrugged. "I do find it odd that a nation that prides itself on its virility feels compelled to strap on forty pounds of protective gear just to play rugby."

"Is this your normal strategy for a first date? Dissing my country's national pastime?"

Giles was surprised at her statement. "Did you say 'date?'" he asked her with a sense of bewilderment.

Jenny leaned back triumphantly. "You noticed that, huh?" she remarked with a grin.

Suddenly Giles felt as inexperienced as a schoolboy. But he barely had a moment to enjoy the emotion before Willow and Xander appeared before him.

"Hi, Ms. Calendar," Willow greeted the computer teacher. "Hey, Giles."

"Hi, guys," Ms. Calendar replied. "What's up?"

"Eric's was a bust," Willow replied, reporting on their scouting expedition in Eric's room. "Nothing there."

"Yeah, nothing but a lot of computer equipment and a pornography collection so prodigious it even scared me," Xander noted.

"Buffy get back yet?" Willow asked Giles.

"No," he told her. Then he added hopefully, "Perhaps you should circulate down nearer the field to find her."

But if Willow and Xander got the hint, they weren't playing. Instantly the two took seats right in front of Giles and Ms. Calendar and settled in to watch the game.

"So…what's the score?" Xander asked as he grabbed the popcorn container from Giles's hands and scarfed down a handful.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

But Giles was right. Xander and Willow should have been closer to the field.

That was where Eric and Daryl were lying in wait, ready to capture Cordelia as soon as she left the field.

Daryl stood under the stands watching as the Sunnydale Razorbacks took the ball and ran toward the goal line. As he caught sight of Cordelia leaving the field in search of water, he moved quickly beneath the bleachers toward the side of the field. No sooner had Cordelia drawn herself a cup of water than he grabbed her from behind and jerked her into the darkness below the bleachers.

Cordelia screamed wildly, but no one heard her. The Razorbacks had just scored; the crowd's cheers drowned her out.

Instantly the other cheerleaders went into a new routine, not seeming to notice that Cordelia was gone. But Buffy noticed. She and Chris had arrived at the game and were scanning the field for Cordelia.

"I don't see her. Do you?" Buffy asked Chris hopefully.

But Chris didn't see Cordelia anywhere. And they both knew that could mean only one thing.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Cordelia lay on the white gurney in the old science lab, struggling wildly as Eric bound her hands to the sides of the bed. "Please…What's going on?" she begged. "Take off the blindfold. I won't scream. I promise."

But Eric didn't remove the black scarf from her eyes. Instead he let her lie there in the darkness, while he prepared things on the other side of the lab.

Daryl went over toward a second gurney and lifted the white sheet that covered the headless body Chris and Eric had created. "She's beautiful," he murmured.

Eric hurried over, took the sheet from Daryl's hands, and swiftly covered the torso. "No. It's bad luck for the groom to see the bride before the wedding," he reminded Daryl.

All this strange talk was making Cordelia more afraid than ever. "Please, just take off the blindfold. I promise I won't scream," she begged her captors once again.

Daryl turned toward the frightened cheerleader. "Cordelia," he said quietly as he removed the black scarf from her eyes.

Cordelia took one look at Daryl's hideously scarred face and let out a blood curdling cry.

Eric laughed. "You can scream all you want," he told her. "We're in an abandoned building."

Cordelia didn't disappoint. She screamed again. Her cries were louder and more painful this time. Eric picked up a heavy metal tray and waved it menacingly above her head. "Okay. That's enough," he ordered threateningly. Instantly Cordelia stopped yelling.

Daryl looked down at Cordelia. A sudden tenderness came over his mangled, stitched face. "You were always good to me. Always noticed me, but I ignored you," he told her as he gently stroked her silky, brown hair with his rough, patched hand. "I'm sorry. I'm glad that I got this second chance to tell you that."

Cordelia studied the tall, monster-like teen that stood before her. "Daryl?" she asked him, stunned.

"I was thoughtless," Daryl continued. "I know that now. But I've changed. I've learned to appreciate how much it meant that you wanted to be with me."

Eric walked over toward Cordelia's head. "We're ready," he told Daryl playfully.

"Ready? Ready for what?" Cordelia demanded.

Eric smiled. "You're going to feel a little pinch, maybe a little discomfort around the neck area," he said, sounding every bit like a mad doctor. "But when you wake up, you'll have the body of a seventeen-year-old."

Eric crossed over and lifted the sheet from the body he and Chris had created, making sure Cordelia had a clear view of the arms and limbs that would soon be hers. "In fact, you'll have the body of several."

Cordelia screamed even louder.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Buffy stood beside the bleachers just a few feet from where Cordelia had been kidnapped only minutes ago. Her trained eyes scanned the area, looking for some sort of clue as to where Cordelia could be. Then she saw two yellow and blue pom-poms lying on the dirt beside the water cooler. She bent down and picked one up. "He was here," she told Chris. "Where did he take her?"

"To the rest of the body. To the lab." Chris couldn't look Buffy in the eye.

"Where is that?" Buffy demanded.

Chris didn't want to answer. "I promised him," he tried to explain.

Buffy flung the pom-poms on the ground. She was losing patience. "He'll kill Cordelia." She eyed Chris desperately. "You can't just give and take lives like that. It's not your job."

For a moment, Chris didn't say anything. He wanted to help his brother.

And yet…"He's in the old science building. Everything is set up there," he admitted finally.

"Find Willow, Xander and Mr. Giles. Tell them what's going on," Buffy commanded as she raced off to stop Daryl from turning Cordelia into a modern-day bride of Frankenstein.

Chris waited only a second before he went in search of Buffy's friends.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Eric smiled as he emptied the contents of a five-gallon drum of gasoline into the lab generator. Within seconds the hum of machinery filled the room. It was time to finish what they'd started.

"Daryl, please," Cordelia begged. "You don't have to do this."

"I have to," Daryl told her, "so we can be together."

Cordelia was growing frantic now. Eric was already running a sharp blade through a Bunsen burner flame, sterilizing it for the operation. "We can be together anyway," she assured Daryl. "I'll be with you. I promise."

Daryl leaned over so Cordelia could get a good look at the patchwork quilt that was his face. "See anything you like?" he asked in a voice so cruel and cold it made her shiver.

When Cordelia didn't—couldn't—answer, Daryl turned toward the body of the unfinished girl on the next gurney. He lifted the sheet and showed Cordelia her new body. "When you're finished, you won't go out. You won't run away," he predicted. "We'll hide together."

Tears began to flow down Cordelia's face. "Please…" she begged.

But Eric wasn't one to show mercy. He walked over toward the gurney and showed the cheerleader the newly sterilized metal blade. "Sterile enough for government work," he assured Cordelia as he lowered the blade to her neck.

And then, suddenly, there was a loud crashing noise as Buffy kicked open the door and moved purposefully across the lab.

"Rutherford! Help me!" Cordelia cried out.

As Buffy stared down at Cordelia, Eric took his knife and threw it straight for Buffy's heart. But she was quick. In a single, swift motion she caught the knife by its handle in midair. Eric, ever the coward, fled into the corner and ducked down.

Buffy focused on Daryl, trying to appeal to whatever humanity was left inside him. "Daryl, listen, I know what you're doing," she explained. "Your brother sent me to stop you."

Daryl stared at her in complete disbelief. "No. He wouldn't do that."

"Rutherford, they're crazy!" Cordelia shouted from the gurney.

"It's okay, Cordelia," Buffy assured her, without ever taking her eyes from Daryl's. "I'm getting you out of here."

"No! I'm not done with her yet!" Daryl shouted. He picked up a sharp surgical saw from the tray and reached down toward Cordelia's neck. "I'M NOT FINISHED!"

Buffy leaped toward Daryl and kicked him away from Cordelia. But years of football had left Daryl strong and quick. He stood his ground and punched Buffy hard, sending her reeling into the Cordelia's gurney. She rolled over Cordelia and quickly regained her footing. She pulled back her arm, ready to punch. But Daryl was fast. He pounced Buffy. Cordelia's gurney rolled backward across the room, knocking over the can of gasoline. Instantly whatever gas was left in the jug spilled out onto the floor.

"Rutherford!" Cordelia cried out helplessly.

"I won't live alone!" Daryl declared as he made a move toward Buffy.

Just then Eric made a break for the door. "I'm getting out of here," he told himself as he ran.

But there was no way Daryl was letting that happen. They'd come too far to stop now. He needed Eric to fulfill Chris's promise. The former football star grabbed the scrawny science nerd by the scruff of the neck and lifted him in the air. "You have to help me," he demanded.

"Let go," Eric begged, as his legs dangled wildly over the floor.

Daryl was beyond reason. Furiously he hurled Eric across the room, slamming the boy's thin, meek body against a cement wall. Eric slid to the floor, unconscious.

Buffy made a quick lunge toward Cordelia. But before she could reach the gurney, Daryl dove at her. Instantly she raised her leg and landed a swift roundhouse kick to his gut. The powerful move sent Daryl reeling. He plowed into a nearby table and knocked Eric's Bunsen burner to the ground.

Daryl grabbed a bottle of chemicals and hurled it right at Buffy. He was so intent on killing her, he never noticed the flame of the Bunsen burner behind him as it lit the spilled gasoline into a raging fire.

But Buffy saw the flames—they were moving dangerously close to Cordelia.

It was then that Xander burst through the doors of the lab. "Buffy!" he cried out.

"Get Cordelia," Buffy ordered, as she focused her energy on Daryl, kicking him with blow after blow from her sharp boots.

It was only a moment more before Chris, Giles, Ms. Calendar, and Willow appeared at the lab. The flames were higher now, lapping up everything in their path. It was clear that the others could do nothing to help Cordelia; it was all up to Xander now.

Xander looked around for a way out, but flames blocked his path in all directions—like some sort of sick maze with no real complete pathway. There was only one thing for him to do. Quickly he grabbed the gurney, gave it a massive shove toward the door, and leaped on top of Cordelia.

"No!" Cordelia cried out as the flames rose up around her and Xander. She was certain they were both about to be burned alive. Miraculously they managed to roll their way to the door without a single burn. And Willow and Giles had managed to drag Eric to safety as well. Not that he deserved it or anything.

"Buffy, get out!" Ms. Calendar cried.

Before Buffy could make a dash toward the door, Daryl struck again, using a single motion to slam her to the floor. As she lay there, helpless, Daryl grabbed an old metal desk and waved it above her head. He was about to smash the metal into her head, when a voice cried out.

"Daryl! Don't!"

Daryl looked across the fiery lab at his younger brother. He knew what a sacrifice Chris had made for him. He had tried to save his life. But somehow Chris's heroic deed had turned him into a monster. And that was something Daryl could not bear being. A sudden last burst of humanity seemed to come over him. He moved away, rather than kill Buffy. Then he stared at the flames that were about to engulf his headless bride. He couldn't stand the pain of seeing his last hope for a partner burn away.

"No! She's mine!" the scarred teen cried out painfully as he barreled through the flames and fell onto the body, trying desperately to shield it from a fiery end.

But there was no chance of saving her now. In an instant the fire completely consumed Daryl, as well as the lifeless body beneath him.

Instinctively Chris tried to reach his brother, to save him one more time.

Buffy leaped to her feet and grabbed him, pulling him to safety.

As Buffy and Chris left the inferno, Daryl's huge body became motionless. This time, not even Chris's scientific mind would be able to save him.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Buffy sat beside Chris on the hood of a police car, watching the Sunnydale Fire Department struggle to put out the blaze. Chris stared at the flames, unable to turn away from where he'd last seen his brother alive.

"The first time he woke up, after…he said I shouldn't have brought him back," Chris explained to Buffy. "I was just trying to look out for him. Like he would have done for me."

"I know the feeling," Buffy admitted. "You are very much like my sister. And I am just like your brother. There is nothing she wouldn't do for me, or I for her," she told him as she rested a supportive hand on his shoulder.

As she looked out into the darkness, Buffy saw a familiar, muscular figure emerge from the night. "I saw the fire," Angel said as he approached her. "Figured you'd be here. Is everyone okay?"

"Yeah, we're okay," she said gently, looking into Angel's eyes, hoping that they, too, were okay now.

Restfield Cemetery

It was a little before dawn when the fire trucks finally pulled away from the old lab. Buffy and Angel left together and headed toward the quiet of the cemetery.

"The whole thing was creepy. But at the same time…I mean he did do it all for his brother," Buffy explained to Angel. "Just like I would have done for Dawn, or she for me."

"Not quite like your or her though," Angel countered. "He took it a little over the edge."

Buffy considered that for a moment. "Your right," she agreed. "But at the same time, you're not. Or have you forgotten what Dawn did a few months ago?"

"I've not forgotten," Angel admitted.

"She followed me because she loves me just as much as Chris loved his brother," Buffy said. "Love makes you do the wacky."

"The what?"

"Crazy stuff."

Angel sighed. "Oh. Crazy like a 241-year-old being jealous of a high school junior?"

Buffy smiled. "Are you fessing up?"

"I thought about it," Angel admitted. "Maybe he bothers me a little."

Buffy stopped walking and turned to face Angel. She needed to make him understand. "I don't love Xander," she assured him. "Or Willow. Not that way anyways."

"But they're both in your life. They both gets to be there when I can't. Take your classes, eat your meals, hear your jokes and complaints." He stopped and looked woefully at the dark sky above. "They get to see you in the sunlight."

"Have you forgotten I'm trans, I don't think I look great at all in the sunlight," Buffy countered.

"That is where you are wrong," Angel said as he smiled at her. "It doesn't matter if you were born a boy or a girl. It's not what you look like on the outside that matters. It's who you are inside that matters."

Buffy nodded as she smiled at him. "It is isn't it."

"Which means you are a beautiful young woman, because who you are on the inside shines brighter than any star." Angel looked up again at the sky. "It'll be morning soon."

Buffy knew what that meant. "I should probably go," she said quietly, looking up at him with painful eyes. She didn't want this moment to end.

And yet, she knew it had to.

"I could walk you home," Angel offered as he reached out and gently took Buffy's hand in his own. Slowly they strolled through the cemetery, so engrossed in each other they didn't even realize they'd just passed the grave of Daryl Epps.