Authors Note; This is the last, already written, chapter I've got, but hopefully that won't last long.

No particular warnings here, but correct me if I'm wrong.

Monday, October 13th, 1997
Revello Dr., 1630
Sunnydale, California

Buffy opened the door to her Watcher. "Thanks for coming," she rasped out through her battered throat.

"Good Lord, Buffy, what happened to you?" Giles stepped past the threshold and set down his briefcase and the books he'd been carrying, to take her into his arms.

"I had a run in with Spike last night," she tried to shrug, but her entire body was aching and she ended up flinching instead.

As Buffy sat him down on the couch and went over last night's events, the Watcher became more and more horrified. The one thing he and the other two had not been expecting, had happened; Buffy and Spike had blamed each other for the deaths of Drusilla and Angel.

How had they been so blind?

He looked at his charge, who was like a daughter to him. Both her eyes were a dark blue, thanks to the broken nose she now sported. She was limping, obviously avoiding putting weight on one of her ankles. Her breathing was sporadic, leading him to wonder just how many broken ribs she was dealing with at the moment.

And that was just the tip of the iceberg.

"Anyway, that's not why I called you here," she said, bringing him back to the room with her words. "When I made it into the house, my mom must've heard something, cause she came down to check on the noise. There's no way I can explain this away, Giles, not without losing the last shred of trust she has left in me. I need you to help me prove to her the truth; it's time for her to learn what I am."

"Who, not what, Buffy," he said, absentmindedly, while he cleaned his glasses.

It was happening almost a year early, but he supposed it was for the best. Maybe this way they could keep Joyce from lashing out in shock and thus ensure that Buffy wouldn't be running away for five months, ever. His presence would also keep the older Summers woman from doing what she had done a year ago.

No one would be locking Buffy up in an asylum again, if he had anything to say about it.

As if summoned, Joyce stepped into the room, suspicion and worry in her tired eyes. She had accepted that Buffy wanted to wait to tell her what had happened until she'd gotten some rest, but the time for waiting was over. It was bad enough that her daughter had outright refused to let her take her to a hospital, but she was not going to just stand by and ignore what her child was going through.

Although, Joyce had to concede, it had looked a lot worse the night before. Since the woman didn't know about her daughter's enhanced healing, she convinced herself that it wasn't quite as bad as she had first thought, as she took a seat next to her beaten and battered child.

Not the least bit prepared for what the day would bring.

She sat in horrified interest, as her daughter's school librarian painted a picture she had heard once before. As time passed and she began slowly believing what she was hearing, she thought of last year and what she had needlessly put her only child through.

And she broke down.

"Mom, please don't cry. It's okay, you didn't know. I probably would've done the same if the roles were switched," Buffy tried to console her mother, even if her words were a lie.

She'd never truly been able to forgive her parents for locking her up in that place, even if she did manage to do some good there. One less Demon in the world, and all.

But her mother wasn't listening. All Joyce could think of, all she saw in her mind's eye, was the terrified look on Buffy's face as her and Hank watched the men in white take her away. She remembered visiting Buffy in the psych ward and worrying that her daughter would never be healthy again.

And all this time, she'd been speaking the truth.

The only time she actually lied, was when she said that she no longer believed in those 'hallucinations' and knew that they were false. She had swallowed everything she was and spoken a lie, just so she could leave a place she never should have been in, in the first place.

Joyce swallowed a thick bile in her throat and wondered how much alcohol it would take for her to feel better. She mentally calculated whether or not she would need a trip to the liquor store.

The blurry haze of drinking herself a hole in the ground was better than drowning in the truth, she was sure.

She didn't yet know that the time traveler sitting in front of her would not let that happen.

Giles knew what it was like to let yourself get lost in the high of getting wasted. He thought back on his first year after the school and both of his jobs were blown up in his face and shuddered. He would never become so pathetic and unhealthy again, and he'd be damned if he'd let the same thing happen to a woman as good and kind as Joyce Summers.

No matter what it took, he would help her.

But first he had a call to make.

Sunnydale High,
Sunnydale, California

"Can you believe they just whaled on each other like that?" Xander asked his friend as they walked down the school halls.

Since neither of them were aware of the beating Spike had taken one week before Buffy's twenty-first birthday, this was Willow's answer. "I know, it's so freaky. I never knew they could be so... extreme. Giles said he's never seen her this bad. Not even with Glory or that time the Turok Han wiped the floor with her."

The recently-returned teenager shook his head. "I just can't believe we didn't see this coming. And of course we have no way of proving that neither of them were responsible for Angel and Drusilla, cause then there'd be all kinds of questions we couldn't answer."

Willow nodded as she pushed open the school front doors and they walked out into the bright sunshine. "I know, it's so annoying. Do you think we've ruined it now?" Her voice was coated in worry and her innocence shone through in this moment.

Xander gave it only a moment's thought before answering. He leaned down to make sure no one overheard them. "Honestly, Will, if Buffy could forgive an attempted rape and Spike could forgive months of abuse, I don't think there's anything those two can't make it through. We just gotta give it some time, I think."

Willow nodded, though she wasn't as sure as her friend. After all, that had been adult Buffy and a Spike that had been in love with the blonde Slayer for a few years. These two were different and she was afraid they would all pay for that. Steeling herself for the possible future, she followed Xander down the steps and leaned against the railing.

"What else did Giles say when you spoke to him?" He asked, wanting a slight change of subject.

"Only that he would be busy today, telling Joyce all about the supernatural. He'd sent Buffy up to rest just before he called, but who knows how long she can sit still."

Xander nodded and then thought of something. "We really should make sure she doesn't go patrolling the next couple of nights. Spike might want to take advantage of the fact that she's not fully healed yet."

"Buffy can take care of herself," Willow said, having more faith in her friend than she probably should.

But Xander saw the reality. "Our Buffy, maybe. But this one hasn't been through all of those things, and probably won't now, if we have anything to say about it. I just think we should keep our eyes open, is all."

Before the redhead could respond, a hand wrapped around her arm and suddenly Cordelia was pulling her away from her male friend. They were halfway to a parked car in front of the school, before Willow finally realized what was happening and she pulled away from the brunette.

"Come on," Cordelia said, annoyance coating her tone. "Richard and his fraternity brother wanna meet you."

Willow's brows furrowed. "And don't I get any say in this?" She said, resisting when the girl tried to pull her again.

She rolled her eyes. "If I don't, neither do you. Look, if there was a God, this wouldn't be happening, but unfortunately I'm not that lucky. Now, come on."

Too shocked to respond, Willow lets herself be pulled over to the car, not interested in being rude to the brunette right now. She still feels guilty about the 'fluke' from her senior year.

"Hi, sweetheart. I'm Richard. And you are?" A sickeningly handsome college boy says and something nags at Willow.

A memory she can't quite capture right now.

"Sorry, not really interested. Bye," she hurries out, attempting to move back to a bewildered Xander.

But Cordelia is quicker and grabs her hand again. "Heh, she's such a little comedienne, isn't she," she laughs, glaring at Willow when the boys can't see.

"What, she likes to play hard to get?" Richard says, disgust and power in his voice.

A chill runs down Willow's spine and her Witchy senses tingle a bit. Before she can think any more about the sound in his voice, the second guy steps out of the car and walks to her side, keeping his eyes on his friend as he speaks.

"No, Richard. I think you're playing easy to resist." Before Willow can leave, the new man turns to her and smiles, awkwardly. "Ah, feel free to ignore him. I do all the time. I'm Tom Warner. I'm a senior at Crestwood college, and I... and I just feel like a complete dolt meeting you this way, so... here I stand in all my doltishness."

In the few seconds that pass, Willow manages to think an array of thoughts. Including the continuing nagging of a memory she can't capture in her mind. And then a familiar voice speaks inside her mind, as Xander opens the mental link between them, having been taught this years back, when they first began establishing the New Council.

I think I remember this, Will. Those are the frat guys who sacrifice three girls to a Demon snake, in return for money, glory and power. He frantically yelled at her, barely keeping from running to her side.

They both knew this was a fragile situation.

So, as Willow stepped up to the plate and introduced herself to Tom, flirting her way through an entire conversation, she was mentally wondering what girls saw in guys like him. At least Richard was an honest douche, not trying to hide his evil.

But this guy, Tom? He was worse than that. He was a pretender. Willow hated pretenders.

It's why she'd always liked Harmony least out of all the Cordettes, including Cordelia herself.

Nobody respected a pretender.

After agreeing to join Cordelia at a party that weekend, she was finally allowed to leave and returned to Xander's side. Being Monday, they knew they had plenty of time to plan, but that didn't matter.

They weren't waiting until Saturday.

Tuesday, October 14th, 1997
Revello Dr., 1630
Sunnydale, California

As carefully as possible, so as not to jostle all of her countless injuries, Buffy sat down at the kitchen island. Her mother had called up to her room a few minutes earlier, saying that was making her famous hot chocolate and it had, as Joyce had already known, been enough to get the Slayer out of her room.

Now, as her mother stood with her back to Buffy brewing the secret family recipe, the blonde could almost see the pink elephant in the room. Giles had left last night while Buffy was sleeping and by the time she woke up this morning, Joyce had already left for work.

Now was the first time they were spending any time together, since her mother had learned, and accepted, the truth.

She wasn't sure what to expect, but this silence was slowly freaking her out. It didn't help that her head already hurt, from all the fists it had taken on Sunday, from an angered Master Vampire. Not to mention the grief she was still dealing with, after learning what had happened to her boyfriend.

Once she was all healed, Spike was going down, she promised herself and the memory of Angel.

He would not get away with this.

Before her mind could spiral even further down this worn and broken path, her mother turned around and set two cups down in front of them. Her eyes wouldn't meet her daughter's and Buffy's heart began to beat really fast against her ribcage.

Joyce sighed, opened and closed her mouth a few times, before finding her courage. "I am having a really rough time, trying to wrap my head around this. But I want you to know that, no matter how difficult, I promise I will never react the way I did back in LA. I can't apologize enough for that, but I'm going to try. I'll also try and support you and your... destiny. It won't be easy and I will spend every single night worrying, knowing you are out there risking your life. But I will try, honey," glassy eyes looked into green and both women broke down into tears in each others arms.

"I promise to be a better daughter, mom. These past two years have been awful and I've missed our closeness. I'm so sorry for not realizing that you could handle this and telling you as soon as Giles became my Watcher."

Both women refused to address the fact that Joyce likely wouldn't have listened at any point, until now, when her daughter's 'job' stared her in the face, through the multiple bruising covering her entire body and face.

A half hour passed as the two Summers' reconnected on a much deeper level. They muddled through all of the issues of the past couple of years, including the divorce, the expulsion from Hemery High, the death of Buffy's first Watcher and recent boyfriend, the loneliness Joyce felt, starting over in a new town, and everything in between.

Buffy regaled her mother with a few stories of her time as the Slayer, choosing those that had a more humorous ending and leaving out her death a few months back. By the time the sun had left and the moon resided in the sky, the two women were closer than ever before.

And thanks to that, it only took two minutes to convince her mother that she had to patrol. She said that one night was long enough and innocents would die if she wasn't there to save them.

Only when she stepped outside and shut the door behind her, did she admit to herself the real reason. She wanted to track down Spike and end things, once and for all. Be it with his dust or her last breath, she didn't care.

She was done.

Wednesday, October 15th, 1997
Sunnydale High Library
Sunnydale, California

"We thought we could handle it differently this time and thus save that girl from several more days of torture, but it's not happening," Willow stated dejectedly, reporting last nights happenings to Giles.

Her and Xander had arrived at the frat house, after midnight, prepared to take care of the snake, Machida, quickly and cleanly, before any of the brothers could even realize what was going on. There was only one problem with that plan and it was a serious one.

Without the brothers there to summon Machida, he wouldn't come out of his cavern home and Willow just didn't have the kind of dark power it would take to bring him to them. At least not without risking a return of her black-haired, veiny former self.

So now they realized that they had to let things happen the same way. On Saturday, it would be dealt with, but until then they felt guilty for what the girl, Callie, was going through.

The only thing that made it any easier was the knowledge that she survived the last time, to return to a healthy state of mind. They'd just have to pray that it would be the same this time, as they weren't changing anything except switching Buffy out for Willow.

Giles agreed with her. "Don't worry, everything will work out fine. In the meantime, I will research this Machida and see what I can find. As Buffy took care of him last time, I didn't do much reading on him, except to identify him and report it to the Council."

"Sounds great, Giles," Xander said, from his relaxed perch on the counter. "While you're doing that, we'll go to classes we've already been through before and try not to die from boredom."

"At least you don't risk dying from boredom just because you can't show your face in school," a voice came from the stacks in the back.

"Buffy!" Three voices cried out, when the Slayer stepped out of the stacks.

There were new bruises on her face, she was favoring her left leg and her right arm was wrapped in a home-made sling, courtesy of her worried mother. Her nose was re-broken and a few blood vessels in her right eye had popped, leaving her with a black patch covering it to keep the light out.

At least her injuries weren't anything that wouldn't eventually heal, Xander thought, itching to reach up and make sure he still had two eyes.

Sensing her male friend's thoughts, Willow removed attention from him and moved forward to take her other friend into her arms. "What the hell happened, Buffy? I thought you were gonna stay in until you healed?"

Buffy shrugged, painfully. "Yeah, well, it didn't feel right to shirk my responsibilities just cause I got a few boo-boos." She said, downplaying her injuries.

Giles shook his head and began cleaning his glasses. "You and I know it's more than just, uh, boo-boos, as you say. You are seriously injured, Buffy, and by going out on patrol in your state, you risk taking a very talented fighter away from this town. What will happen to all of those innocents if you get yourself killed?" He stated, raising a brow in her direction.

Buffy flushed; she hadn't thought of it that way. She huffed and awkwardly tried to cross her arms over her chest. "Fine, maybe you're right. I guess I can stay in until I heal. I'm just so bored and..."

"And you want Spike to pay for what you think he did," Willow said, understanding where her friend was coming from.

There was no doubt in any of their minds, who was behind the fresh bruising on the Slayer.

Buffy's brows furrowed. "What do you mean, think, Will?"

Backtracking, she realized her slip-up. "Uh, I just mean that, from what you said that he said, he wasn't actually taking responsibility for Angel's disappearance, he just, uh, mentioned how happy he was that he was gone and I'm just gonna shut up now." As if she had run a marathon, Willow threw herself into a chair, exhausted.

Xander stepped forward, laying a hand on the redhead's shoulder. "What Willow is saying is, we can't be sure Spike actually... staked Angel. I mean, he's accusing you of taking out this Drusilla person and we all know that's not true."

Buffy glared at her friends; she wanted someone to blame, dammit, and putting that on Spike made it easier to fight back when he came for her, in revenge for what he thinks happened between her and his Sire. "Then how did he know Angel was gone, if he didn't do it himself?" She asked, sure she had just found the one thing they couldn't explain away.

And then Giles stepped forward. "Actually, there is another way. One you would know of if you read the things I'm constantly asking you to. Vampires have bonds with their makers, especially if they are created as Childer, instead of minions. As Angel was Spike's Grandsire, he would've 'felt' it when the older Vampire... dusted."

The blonde huffed, again. It wasn't that she thought her friends and Watcher were on the evil Vampire's side, she knew that wasn't the case, it just annoyed her that they continued to find reason and logic, when she wanted to stay mad.

Of course, she was still going to kill Spike. He was still an evil, soulless, Vampire and was also still after her blood. There was no way for her to convince him that she didn't stake Drusilla, even if she wanted to, so they would just have to continue fighting until one of them won.

Preferably her.

When the others realized that she was seeing it from their point of view, they relaxed and began talking of less stressful things. When the bell rang, sending Xander and Willow back to the life of two teenagers, Giles offered to drive Buffy back home before Snyder spotted her in all of her 'delinquent and injured' glory.

No one was aware of the bleached haired Vampire listening in on their conversation, from behind one row of the stacks.

Interesting, indeed.

Saturday, October 18th, 1997
Delta Zeta Kappa Fraternity
Sunnydale, California

The chanting grew louder in her ears, combined with the sound of crying from Callie and complaining from a frightened Cordelia. Where before it would have gotten on her nerves, now the redhead knew that this was just the brunette's way of dealing with everything that was happening.

Willow focused on the dozens of men in robes, standing all around the dark basement cavern. Rumblings began to build from the well in the corner and the Witch surreptitiously glanced at the stairs, wondering when Xander and Giles would be joining them all.

Hopefully Buffy was safely secured in her bed, and not out patrolling, as she had promised.

The voices had now grown to an overwhelming staccato and Willow knew it was only a matter of seconds, before they were joined by the presence of Machida. And just as those thoughts finished passing through her, the rumbling increased and a large snake burst forth from the stone and dirt well.

Wincing at the screams coming from her right, the redhead whispered an incantation under her breath and soon the shackles were lying on the floor beneath her. She rushed ahead and easily passed the frat boys, coming up to stand before Machida, murder in her eyes.

She wasn't the only one causing a ruckus anymore, as the door atop the basement stairs was kicked in and two men rushed the scene. Giles kept off most of the human men, while Xander ran to Callie and Cordelia and worked on getting them free.

There was nothing but hysteria and madness in the air as everything finally came to blows.

Willow sank her ax into the neck of Machida and Giles knocked out a fifth frat boy, just as Xander got Cordelia free.

And then, out of the shadows, Tom stepped forward and pushed Xander to the side. "Disrespectful!" He shouted, anger and hatred in his eyes and a sword in his grasp. "I will not stand for it!" Lifting up the sword, aimed at the scared cheerleader, he begins to swing it downwards.

When a dark, blurred shape hits him from the side and throws him to the ground, simultaneously beating his fist into the side of his head until Tom is finally unconscious.

The remainders of the room look on in silence as Xander rises from the ground, a fierce and feral glint in his eyes. Cordelia stares at her savior, for once left completely speechless at what the former dweeb just did.

He saved her life.

"Right, then," Giles says, breaking the silence and adjusting his glasses.

While he walks upstairs to contact the proper authorities and Willow begins the spell that will eradicate any and all evidence of Machida's corpse, Xander is assisting a confused and shaking Callie out of the basement while Cordelia simply watches, still standing in the spot where she was previously chained.

It boggled her mind and she didn't know what to think. While she had certainly witnessed the recent changes in both him and the redhead, it had never truly hit her, until now.

Not one to let herself be fooled, she had always remembered the events of the last year, even if she had outwardly been ignoring it. She had a feeling that it was the two teenagers introduction into the supernatural world of their third, blonde friend, that had started the serious change they were just now showing signs of.

But only now did she realize how severe those changes were. It wasn't just that they were dressing differently, or that Xander had gained a more serious outlook on his homework and school classes; on a much deeper, cellular level, they had become people to count on, on a night like this.

They had saved her and that other girl tonight, and, even more importantly in Cordelia's eyes, Xander had personally saved her, throwing himself into potential danger for the life of a girl who had made the last many years very difficult for him and his best friends.

Her head was beginning to thrum and she wished for ignorance, but it wasn't coming back. Not anymore.

She could no longer ignore what was right in front of her.

Xander Harris had changed.

Up on solid ground, surrounded by the bright lights of various ambulances and police cars, Xander and Giles stood off to the side and whispered to each other, about their success on this night.

It had gone fairly better than they had expected, even in light of their knowledge of the future.

Or in this case, the present.

"And Callie?" Giles asked, as Xander had been the one to escort her to an ambulance.

"She seems okay, all things considered. A few scrapes and bruises, but nothing serious. The cop that took my statement told me that her parents would be contacted first thing. I'm sure, with time, she'll forget this ever happened. Or, at least, the truth of it."

He didn't have to say, out loud, how awful it was to know that, even when the presence of Machida vanished from her memory, she would still remember being kidnapped and held prisoner for more than two weeks.

Poor girl.

"Well, let's hope so," the Watcher replied, backing up a bit when he saw Willow coming out of the fraternity front doors, holding up a silent and shaking Cordelia. "Why don't you go get the girls and we'll get out of here. We can come back for Cordelia's car in the morning."

Xander didn't question why Callie was handed over to the cops and Cordelia wouldn't be. It may be early on, but the brunette, for some reason, never truly let the ignorance of other Sunnydale residents get to her, not since her encounter with an invisible Marcie. Followed by the short-lived opening of the Hellmouth itself.

As Xander went off to get Willow and Cordelia, Giles walked the short path to his old Citroen, once more contemplating trading it out earlier. He got in and started up the engine, just as the doors opened and the others joined him, Xander in the front and the girls in the back.

As the four of them headed back toward town, all thoughts were on the blonde Slayer, if for varying reasons.

All wondering what she was doing, at this exact moment.

While Willow was breaking her chains...

Buffy sat in her window, staring out over Revello Drive, bored and annoyed. But she had promised her friends and Watcher that she wouldn't go patrolling until she was fully healed. Tomorrow, she was hoping.

It was Saturday and she was supposed to be doing something, even if it wasn't slaying. But Willow and Xander had made it very clear that they weren't going to the Bronze tonight, so she was pretty much screwed.

What were they doing, anyway?

She sighed and rubbed her arms; it was chilly out tonight. Her mind flashed to the black leather jacket, hanging in her closet. She hadn't worn it in a few months and she probably never would again. It reminded her too much of what she had lost.

Angel.

Would she ever find that again? Not just a handsome man to love her, but someone who knew and understood. She briefly thought of her date with Owen the previous year. Was there another man in the world who would accept who she was and be able to fight by her side.

Did he even exist?

Xander and Willow had their place by her side, through research and uplifting comedy, and Giles was her Watcher, but none of them could really handle themselves in true battle. She wanted a companion who could hold their own against the monsters of the Hellmouth.

Forgetting for a moment that Angel had never fought with her before.

Her traitorous mind formed an image of Spike and she grumbled under her breath, but she couldn't deny it. Not that she wanted to date the Vampire, not at all. No, what she wanted was someone like him. Capable fighter, enjoys the battle and understands the darkness that she has to live in.

Shaking her head with a small, ironic smile, she realized that a man like that probably didn't exist. And if he did, what would he want with her, anyway.

No, she was better of just keeping to her slaying, hanging with her friends and training with her Watcher.

Always hoping, in the back of her mind, that that special guy would show up some day.

"Buffy?" her mother called from the bottom of the stairs, pulling her out of her funk.

She turned away from the window, thus missing the appearance of a confused Master Vampire.

"What's up, mom?" Buffy asked, when she sat down on a stool in the kitchen.

"I was just gonna make some hot chocolate, thought you'd might like some," she replied, her back to her daughter.

But the Slayer heard the undertone in her voice. She sighed. "Giles told you, didn't he?" She said, raising a brow when her mother turned around to look at her.

Joyce gave up the pretense and nodded, not saying a word as she turned back to her task by the stove. She'd spent the last few days with the Watcher, learning all she could of this world and what her daughter's destiny entailed.

And last night, she had approached him about the situation with Buffy. After realizing that the recent bruises on the Slayer's body was not the norm, she wanted to find out why it was happening. Especially after creating the sling for her child's broken arm.

So she spoke with Mr. Giles. And learned about Angel.

Not the truth, mind you, the Watcher wasn't that dumb.

She was told about the dramatic love story between the two, the Vampiric status of the much older man and finally, the untimely and surprising dusting of said Vampire. And through that, she learned of Spike.

She shivered when reminded of her own close call with someone she had only thought a dangerous man; not a dangerous monster.

Thank the Lord for the invention of axes.

But what stuck with Joyce the most, was that her daughter was in pain. And, though unable to stop the hurt, she could do her best to be there for her; support her through the heartache. Which meant hot chocolate.

Perhaps some of those mini marshmallows the blonde teenager liked so much as a child?

"I thought we might have some time, just the two of us? What do you think, honey?" She finally said, avoiding the elephant in the room.

Buffy tried not to cry, for once not out of sadness, but instead the surprised joy of having her mother with her. Only now was she beginning to realize the positive in having the secret out there. "I think that sounds great, mom. Should I put a movie on?"

Unknown to either occupant on the house on Revello Drive, a creature of the night was prowling around the edge of the property, listening in and watching what he could.

Spike was... flummoxed. There really was no better word for it than that.

After the overheard conversation in the library he had been unable to deny the truth of their words, no matter how hard he tried. So he'd checked it out. Despite the pain it caused, he had returned to the factory and used his enhanced sense of smell.

There wasn't a single sign of a Slayer having been in the building; not one. Only the various minions, himself and Dru had been there in months, perhaps even years. It forced him to reconsider some things.

Ending in the conclusion that his beloved Sire must have been sicker than even he had realized.

The only explanation was that she had simply weakened until automatically dusting and that the only responsibility for that lay with those buggering humans that had attacked them in Prague.

And he'd already sought vengeance on those ponces.

Lighting yet another fag, he watched the Slayer and her mother sit down in the living room, chatting idly amongst each other. Thinking of Dru's untimely demise, made him think of his Grandsire.

Despite the pleasure he would get from dusting the poofter, he knew he hadn't done the deed and wondered, not for the first time, who had.

And in a moment of pure insight, he realized something; no one would ever learn the answer to that question.

Whatever, or whoever, had done their job and done it well. And again, not for the first time, did he wonder if the two surprise dustings were connected in any way.

And as he crushed the fag under his heavy boot, he wondered if their was a new player in time.

And who might be next on the list.

Authors Note; Before anyone points it out as a mistake... No, Buffy did not catch what Xander was saying fully, only the part about being bored. She was recently hit, repeatedly, in the head and is wearing an eye patch; she won't get most of what's happening around her, trust me. Also, Spike had not been listening in until after Buffy showed up.