Epilogue

2008

"They're going to be late."

"They're not going to be late, Xand."

"They are so going to be late," the carpenter reaffirmed, leaning back uncomfortably in his seat.  He winced a little, since there was no back and he couldn't rest it against anything.  Stupid stadium seating.  "They're going to be late and Dawn's going to be pissed."

Willow sighed deeply, turning her attention away from the man that sat behind her and briefly to the proceedings below.  The place was packed with relatives and friends who had traveled from all over the country to watch the big event.  Excitement and anticipation was in the air as names of different people were called out, which was generally followed by some polite clapping and one cheering section of the crowd. 

One could always tell where the family was.

Next to Xander, Giles began to fidget in his seat, glancing toward the entrance nervously.  "They really should have been here by now," the ex-Watcher agreed before turning back to the witch.  "They've already reached the M's."

"They'll be here," Willow repeated with just as much resolve.  Even if the others didn't have faith in their friends, she did.

"Well, there's no answer at the house," Anya spoke up from next to Xander, clicking off the cell with quite a bit of annoyance.

"She's not answering her cell, either," Tara sighed, turning her phone off too.  She turned her worried eyes to Willow, and squeezed her hand, as if preparing the redhead that they might not make it in time.

"W-well, maybe they, you know, got held up in traffic and-and she forgot to turn her cell phone on," she tried to defend, but she too was starting to falter in her belief that they would make it in time.  Her green eyes sparkled as another idea rose.  "Or they've run across some bad guys and are having to fight them off.  And-and her cell dropped out of her pocket and she doesn't know it's gone, so she can't answer it."

"Yeah, that or they're going at it like a couple of horny teenagers in the backseat of daddy's Camero," Anya offered plainly.

Both Tara and Willow blushed at the statement, having thought the very same thing but not said it.  Giles himself made a face, half from the truth the ex-demon had spoke, half from the lack of tack she had used to say it.  And Xander, being Xander, balked at his wife.

"Anya," he said in a warning tone, much like a parent does when a child says something they are not supposed too.

"What?  All I'm saying is that they're like a pair of hamsters.  You put the male and female together and, no matter what, they're going to go at it until they're both exhausted or they are forcibly separated."

From the seat next to her came a swooshing sound as a mother pulled her wide eyed son closer to her side, apparently not wanting him to hear anymore of the shopkeeper's analogies or comments.  Xander smiled and laughed nervously in the woman's direction, giving a sort of weary apology, then turned back to his bride.

"Anya, we talked about saying things like that in public, remember?" he said carefully.

"I was just saying what everyone was thinking."

"I know, honey.  But I don't think the people beside us want to hear you talk about-."

"Buffy!" Willow yelped excitedly upon seeing her friend nearby.  The redhead rose to her feet and waved, letting the blondes know where they were and that they had saved some seats for them.  Once they were spotted, the two quickly hurried over to join the Scoobies.

"Buffy!  You made it," Xander said happily, as Willow and Tara scooted over to make room.  Once the blonde smiled at him, the carpenter turned a much harder look to the man who was accompanying her, and said evenly, "Soul Man."

Spike's eyes narrowed a bit at the boy as a frown found its way to his lips.  God, he hated that nickname. 

"Harris," he practically hissed, taking his seat next to the slayer.

"We didn't miss it, did we?" Buffy asked a touch of worry to her tone.

"Just made it," Willow informed her happily as the S's began to be called out.

Seeing that they still had a little time, Tara leaned over her longtime girlfriend's body and asked, "Where were you guys?"

"Oh, um-we were busy with, ah…car trouble-." "Demon," Spike said at the same time.

The pair looked at one another, desperately trying to get their story straight.  Of course, generally the vampire wouldn't care, but he did, after all, have the ever-armed-with-a-stake Watcher sitting behind him.

"Demon." "Car trouble," they tried to amend their statements at the same time.

Buffy gave him a pointed look, then turned a nervous smile towards her friends again.  "Um, there was a demon and then we, you know, had car trouble, and-Oh, look, Dawn's turn!"

The slayer gratefully turned towards the platform as her sister came onto the stage with a large smile on her face.  The person ahead of her was handed their degree and the onetime Key drew in a deep breath.

"Dawn Summers," a voice announced, causing the young, smiling woman to head towards the professor that held her diploma.  That was it. She was a college graduate with a B.A. in Folk History.  What she was going to do with a degree in that, Buffy still didn't know, but she had done it nonetheless.

The polite cheer followed, along with the much more excited ones by the Scoobies, led by Xander.

"Way to go, Dawnie!" the carpenter yelled out loudly, the message echoing in the balcony and carrying around the stadium that had been relatively quiet.  The people around him winced from the suddenly scream.  God, who knew Xander's voice could boom like that?

The young brunette's face turned a few shades of red as she quickly hurried off the stage and back to her seat.

"Bloody hell, Harris.  I think you busted an eardrum," Spike complained.

"Yes, Xander, you could warn us next time you plan to scream like that," Giles agreed.

"Sorry, G-Man."

"Damn," Spike went on, hitting the side of his ear as if he had actually lost the ability to hear.  "Good to see all those years of screamin' like a girl finally paid off."

"Shut up, Captain Peroxide!"

"What?  I'm sorry.  I can't hear you!"

Buffy rolled her eyes as they got into it, and turned her attention back to the graduation going on.  God, she never thought she'd live to see this day.  Especially when she thought… when she thought of her, of who she was supposed to become.  She had been the age Buffy was now when she arrived, when she jumped that night to save Dawn. 

None of them ever did fully understand what happened in her life that would cause her to come and do such a thing.  They each had little pieces of the puzzle, things that she had said to them in their own time, but never enough to make a whole picture.  The only thing they knew for sure was that it had something to do with a resurrection, but whose they didn't know. 

Dawn?  It would have made sense, considering the ritual had started.  But then how had she been able to stop it?  Would Buffy have made it up there and realized that her blood would stop it too?  Was it her own resurrection that had caused the horror Summers had come back to stop?  Was that why she fought to keep her off the tower?

Willow looked over at her friend, studying her while she seemed lost in her own thoughts.

"Hey," the redhead said, leaning in close to the blonde.  "You okay?"

Buffy quickly pulled back to reality, and smiled at her friend.  "Yeah.  Just thinking is all."

"Oh," Willow said, forming a perfect 'O' with her mouth before turning her attention back to the graduation.  After several seconds, she spoke again, "Buffy."

"Yeah?"

"You have your shirt on inside-out."

***********

The End