A/N Whether Buffy actually loved Angel or he put spells on her doesn't really matter. In the end she still faced Angelus and fought for the world and succeeded. But she almost lost the battle as well. People hate Xander's Lie, they insist that it had to be jealousy that made him lie, because they were certain Buffy could handle it. Joss' insistence that it had nothing to do with jealousy upsets so many people, so much so that Xander's entire arc was changed because of it. Some say he denied Buffy much needed information that she deserved to have. I say he saved her life. He obviously struggled with that decision, he was going to tell her that Willow was attempting the curse again, that's why he started saying Willow's name. But he realized Buffy wasn't ready, just the day before she had been ready, finally, to deal with Angelus and Willow found the soul curse and Buffy lost focus because of the hope she could get Angel back. But you could see it in the battle against Angelus, it wasn't until she was disarmed and her back was literally against the wall that she truly started fighting. If Xander had told her about Willow's second attempt, Buffy would have died trying to buy time for it to work and the world with her.

No, Xander wasn't wrong and he didn't do it because of jealousy and if the network hadn't panicked and basically told Joss, do what you have to keep the audience happy or this show is OVER, we'd have seen the arc originally planned for Xander and a much bigger role for him.

No, the true villain is Giles, who is not a supportive father figure and goes beyond enabling. He allows Buffy to engage in an extremely dangerous relationship that had the potential to blow up in all of their faces and did. Worse, he made Buffy deal with the fallout. At best Giles is being influenced by an outside force to make choices that are horrifyingly bad for the individuals involved and for the world. At worst, he's a fanatic trying to bring about Twilight and willing to sacrifice anyone and everything to do it. Or he simply enjoys destroying teenagers, because there's no good explanation for his choices, aside from killing Ben to save the world.

Despite Buffy finally being able to fight all out the world nearly did end anyway, she was about to destroy Angelus when the curse went into effect and Willow did look possessed, someone stepped in and stopped it.

In the end, though, Buffy is a hero because she made the choice to sacrifice what she wanted for the world. It was a horrible choice that no one should ever have to make and would have been totally unnecessary if Giles had just been the adult he was supposed to be, responsible and not left it up to teenagers to make decisions that affected the fate of the world.

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Giles' departure from the Scooby Gang's life was unmourned, they hoped he got the help he needed but his condition had led to him making decisions that cost them all a lot of pain and misery. Mostly Buffy in the form of heartbreak and Xander in the form of a life turned upside down as he struggled to adjust to his new life. Without Cordelia's belief in him and his friends support, he wasn't certain he'd even still be sane, let alone about to take the second of the four tests required for his GED just a few days after Giles left.

Of course he wasn't sure what to do about the fact that he'd just run Jack O'Toole over as he was driving the gorgeous car he'd discovered at the factory where Spike had taken Willow. Or the fact that Jack was picking himself up off the ground.

"Okay, as if my life couldn't get any freakier." Xander stared at his former classmate, a guy who'd repeated three separate grades. "Jack, is there a reason you're not dead? Given that you walked right out in front of my car and let me hit you?"

"I want the car."

"No, see, this is my car. I found it abandoned and I claimed it and I'm keeping it. I'm not letting some, you haven't told me what you are yet, steal it from me."

Jack opened a couple of buttons on his shirt and showed him holes in his chest. "Died in a drive by shooting, my Grandpappy is a necromancer, he brought me back. Why aren't you freaking out over this?"

"I live in Sunnydale, man, after a while nothing surprises you anymore." Xander remembered his counterpart, condemned to be a necromancer. Ewww. "Well, at least I know I didn't kill a person and my non-existent insurance premiums won't be going through the roof. Bye, Jack." Xander gunned the engine and grabbed Jack as he sped passed him, holding his struggling body with one hand and driving with the other. "I really don't have time to deal with you, I'm on my way to take a test, but I can't leave a psycho zombie wondering the streets either, so that means I need to take care of you quickly and hope I'm not late for my test. So I'm thinking I can make this real quick, I'll drop you off at my friend's place and she can deal with you. What do you say, Jackie?"

"Who the Hell are you? Let me go, I'll carve you up!"

"Real original, Jack, real original." Xander parked in front of Buffy's place and got out and knocked on Buffy's door.

"Xander, what's up?" She eyed the struggling guy Xander was casually holding.

"A zombie brought back by a necromancer, I'm in a hurry, I'm on my way to take my test and not even hitting him with my car was enough to slow him down. Any chance you could deal with him?"

"Yeah sure, I'll just get a sword, hold on a second."

Jack froze at how casually the girl said that and than it was too late as she was swinging for his neck and his head plopped off.

"I'll deal with the leftovers, good luck on your test."

"Thanks, Buff, knew I could count on you."

Xander happily reported passing his test.