You're just the best I ever had.

He was standing at the door of Angel Investigations, and no one was there. The place was unlocked, its computer on, the windows open, but no one was home. Not put off in the slightest, Giles calmly rifled through the desk bearing the name Cordelia Chase, administrative assistant until he found what he was looking for, an address.

Driving his rented van to Cordelia's current place of residence, Giles reflected that Sunnydale must have indeed been in dire straits to have brought him here.

When Xander had asked him to do this, he had agreed. It was so terribly important that he had to suffer through coming here. And seeing Angel and Wesley.

Every time he saw Angel, no matter the circumstances, Giles was always reminded of Jenny. He'd loved Jenny, and Angel, actually Angelus, had denied her to him for all eternity. Their long-awaited reconciliation had been cut off brutally and suddenly. He never had a chance to tell her that he loved her or that he forgave her for Angelus. He'd done his duty, and she'd done hers. The love he had given her had not protected her.

Duty. That was what separated him from Wesley. The Council had asked him to choose between them and his slayer. Giles had picked his charge over the Council. They had never forgiven him for it. First they'd fired him, and then they sent Wesley Wyndam-Pryce to take over his job. Regardless of the fact that Wesley had been fired later as well, Wesley still had some influence and standing whereas Giles was shunned by all.

It stung him to be asking those two for help. He couldn't forgive Angelus. Logically it was not Angel who had killed Jenny, but it didn't stop the blame, in his heart, despite the knowledge in his head. Wesley simply symbolized the world Giles had given up.

Yet, that was one choice he would make exactly the same way were he given a second chance. He was a watcher through and through. Whether he was official or not, he would always chose her first and everything else second. That was why he tolerated her relationship with Spike, and that was why he was in LA.

Thankful for Willow keeping in touch with Cordelia, Giles expected to be greeted by a ghost. He was not expecting the state of her apartment. It was a total shambles like someone had fought a war in there, smashing glass and spraying graffiti all over. The door had even been kicked down.

For a few seconds, Giles stood contemplating the possible causes. That was when he really looked at the wall. He saw the katra web symbol and then the words. He knew Latin, and his worst fears were confirmed. Initium conficio. Beginning of the end.

A phone book hit him in the chest. It had to be Dennis, the resident ghost. Invisible fingers perused through the pages opening to one specific section. Hospitals.

"Thanks, Dennis," Giles acknowledged and tore the page out. He called the closest hospital and got lucky. They had a C. Chase on the third floor. Taking a final glance, at the foreboding words on the wall, Giles left.

When he arrived at the LA General hospital room, visiting hours were long over, but there were two people outside who had refused to return home, Angel and Wesley. They looked like hell.

Catching his first glimpse of Cordelia through the door's glass, Giles was shocked to see how thin she was. It was as if she'd shrunk since he'd seen her last. Several tubes ran out of her body, her hands were heavily swathed in bandages, and her eyes were open, staring into space.

"Giles," Angel greeted him without moving his eyes off the door. "What brings you here?"

"How long?" Giles ignored the question and indicated Cordelia.

"How long what?" Wesley huffed.

"How long has she been catatonic or how long since we found her?" Angel said harshly. "We found her a week and a half ago. She's been like that since we brought her here." Angel leaned his arm on the glass. "They're feeding her through that tube in her arm because she won't eat. She hasn't said a word to anyone."

Wesley bristled, "So if you could not tell, we have a bit of our own situation here. What do you need.?"

"Apertus portam." Giles whispered and his vision bent slightly. He saw enough to know that all three, Angel, Wesley, and Cordelia were clean from the Blight, though Cordelia's katra was extremely tangled. "Claudo portam. I think I can help her."

"How?" Angel's tone was one of desperate hope.

"By first getting in there and getting her out of here," Giles caught a passing nurse. "Miss, we will be taking this patient now. Get me her chart."

The nurse wrinkled her brow, "I didn't know we were discharging her-"

"Miss," Giles focused his energy at her like Willow had told him. "Give me her chart. She is leaving now."

Opening and closing her mouth once, the nurse looked flustered.

"You're helping us." Giles informed her.

The nurse whitened for a second and stood straighter, "Sure, right away." She stiffly opened the door and walked to Cordelia's bedside. Giles began to follow, pulling a knife from his pocket so he could perform the spell on Cordelia in the room.

"What's going on here?" Angel pulled him back by the shoulders.

"What did you think? It is the beginning of the end. The initium conficio to end all initium conficium."

Wesley and Angel blanched with Wesley asking slowly, "What are you here for?"

Giles set his jaw and forced out the words. "I'm here to ask you for help." He took a deep breath and could sense that they understood how much this was costing him. "We need you to come back to Sunnydale to help us save the world."

Leaves me down and lonely

"So Angel walks in to you and Spike on your bed?" Willow asked Buffy as they walked through a woods outside of the campus.

"Yep. Fortunately all of my clothes were in the right places," Buffy confirmed. She had been filling in Willow on some of the details of her and Spike's relationship with the Angel subtitles included.

"How'd he take it?"

"He was a little surprised. He didn't have much time to deal though since Spike went all seerish right after that."

Willow brought up a new point, "How did you feel?"

Buffy sighed, "Honestly, Will. My first reaction was to be pissed off because he interrupted. My second one was something along the lines of 'I'd better protect Spike.' The reality of what it all meant was somewhere around number six."

"I see." They walked in silence for a few minutes.

Finally Willow asked a new sort of question, "Do-do you use anything?" she pushed a tree branch out of her way.

"Use what?" Buffy ducked as it came flying back.

"Use, well, you know-" Willow trailed of embarrassed, but Buffy apparently didn't know. "Protection."

Buffy got it. "Will, he's a corpse. A dead body."

"You could still get something. He's a few centuries old. Think of all the people-" Willow started uncertainly.

"No thanks, I'd rather not. And things like that don't live on dead bodies. It's reserved for live humans only. Think Parker," Buffy returned, a little too hotly.

"Well, what about the other worry? You two doing anything to keep from making any baby Spikes?"

"I don't know much about supernatural sex and slayer conception," Buffy paused for a second to briefly think on that. "No. I don't think it could happen with him dead and me alive. Him vampire. Me vampire slayer. If anything, my body just slays his little swimmers." Buffy stopped, "Why do you ask?" Her eyes narrowed, "Is there some Oz-ness in these questions.

Willow's face was red, "It's that when I started thinking about me and Oz being together, I did some research . . ."

"And?"

"Werewolves are really - - - prolific," The blush deepened. "So every time we did it-"

"You had the whole nine yards on," Buffy nodded. "That was smart. Really smart because as much as you loved Oz-" Buffy realized she might have been pushing a sore spot in her best friend.

"-Wolfy babies were not part of my plan," Willow agreed. "But you love Spike."

"I don't see that being a big problem," Buffy said, trying to ignore the dirty thoughts creeping into her mind from the mere mention of sleeping with Spike. "Between Angel and now Spike, if it hasn't happened yet, it won't. I mean, Slayer having a vampire baby is one of those apocalyptic things." Buffy whacked herself in the head. "And what are we going through now?"

"One of those apocalyptic things," Willow confirmed.

"Okay, protection could be in order in the future," Buffy smiled slyly at Willow. "But if he misses me anywhere as much as I miss him, I think we'll probably use the nearest flat surface."

"Buffy!" Willow was redder than her hair.

"It doesn't have to be flat. Vertical could be good too. You know, friction and all that." She looked at Willow. "What? I'm suffering from Spike withdrawal here." Buffy took pity on Willow, "Seriously though. I miss him."

"I thought you could feel him at all times."

"I can. Even though he hasn't called," Buffy was a little annoyed by that, "I know how he feels and that he's not in trouble, but I want to feel him, touch his skin, hear his voice, see his face, be with him. He's always around me, but he's not here."

"Wow," Willow whispered.

"Yes, 'wow.' I can't believe how much I miss him." Buffy breathed and then grimaced when she saw that they had reached their destination. "And I can't believe I am doing this!"

Willow smiled, "In the name of love, you promised him."

"Believe me, it doesn't give me a happy," Buffy stared unhappily at the oak door she had found as per Spike's instructions on how to get to his old lair. "Can you make sure she's inside?"

Opening her mind, Willow did a quick sweep of the area and nodded, "She's here."

"I can't believe I'm doing this. Spike so owes me." Buffy raised a hand and knocked, "Harmony Kendall!"

No answer.

"Harmony, it's Buffy. I really need to talk to you!"

Still no answer. Buffy glanced at Willow.

"She heard you," Willow answered her friend's silent question.

"Great," Buffy muttered. "Harmony. I'm not gonna hurt you. I need to talk to you. It's totally important."

Buffy leaned her head on the door in frustration when there was no response.

"Maybe a change of tactics," Willow suggested.

"Fine. I'm dropping the nice Slayer act." Buffy pounded on the door with both fists. "Harmony! Open up!"

"Harmony, I'm warning you. There are exactly two types vampires in Sunnydale. Those whose ass I kicked and those whose I'm about to. And believe me, if you don't open this door now, you're gonna move from the second type right to the first."

Willow gave her approval, "Very cool images." She 'listened' through the link. "And she isn't near the door."

"You're starting to tick me off!" Buffy shouted, her fists making dents in the door. "I didn't come all the way down here to ask you for help so I could talk to the door!"

"She's interested in that," Willow informed her.

"Harmony, the world is gonna end, and we need your help. You helped me before." Buffy stopped to check Harmony's reaction with Willow.

"Losing interest on that one," Willow warned.

"We're all gonna go to Hell!" Buffy yelled.

"Umm, Buffy. She's a demon now. Hell might not be as scary as it used to be."

"I've got it covered. Watch this," Buffy kicked the door four times, letting the thuds reverberate. "Harmony, you don't get it. If the world ends, and we go to Hell, there's no shopping in Hell." Buffy paused dramatically, "For all eternity."

There was the sound of someone running to the door, which swung wide open. A blonde head stuck its way out, "Did you say 'no shopping?'"

Make yourself feel better

Alone. Anya hated being alone.

When she'd been a demon, she hadn't minded so much; it was the nature of the job. Now though, when she was alone, she was vulnerable, afraid. Humans weren't strong enough to wander in the dark by themselves. Even as part of the web, without Xander, she was on her own.

As she crept through the streets, furtively checking over her shoulder, she realized this was the first time she had dared come here alone. She'd been by a few times with Xander, often in the company of the others. Xander, Giles, and Willow were recognizable as the Slayer's posse, so no one was gonna take pot shots at them.

It was very unlikely that all the newly escaped demons were aware of her status in the Slayerettes. All it would take was one dumb demon trying to add another point on its score card to ruin her night, and probably her life. Boy, she wished for a nice, strong man to help her-

*No! Get a hold of yourself. Women are just as good as men, better actually. Pull it together. You used to own these streets. Be fearless.*

Anya squared her shoulders with new resolve. She marched calmly through the doors of Willy's Alibi Room, passed a few patrons in the mostly empty bar, and went straight to Willy.

"Hey, I have a message for you," Anya said to him. "I need your help saving the world."

"Sure," Willy blinked. "Have you been to a few bars before this one?"

Seeing he wasn't taking her seriously, Anya upped the ante, "I have a message from the Slayer."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Prove it," Willy still thought she was drunk.

Anya shrugged and punched him with all her might in the nose.

Point proven.

You're just the best I ever had.

*You can do it.* Willow gave herself a pep talk. No room to be squeamish or scared, she had to do this.

*Come on. You're the leader of a coven and the most powerful witch in Sunnydale. You own the Hellmouth. This doesn't scare you.* It was the truth. Willow was the leader of the coven and the strongest witch. She had been in charge and was in control of the magic that now bound the Hellmouth closed tighter than Faith's clothes. She had convinced Amber, June, and Rowan, former not-so-wiccans, to join the web that Tara had joined without much protest. In the past week and a half, they had done acts of magical might that Willow hadn't believed she would ever even touch.

She wasn't just magical; she was smart too. Not only had she aced all her final exams, she had pushed Buffy through all of hers with a B average. Then, with Xander's help, she had incorporated all the technology they'd taken from Spike's house with her magic to put one heck of a security system on the mansion. Not nobody, not no how was anyone planning to do them ill gonna get within sight of the mansion. If they could see it anyway, since it was nearly invisible now to all physical and magical eyes.

She was the one who had experimented with the katra web and found out its now abilities. She had figured out the web members could affect the minds of others around them. It had been she that discovered both offensive and defensive techniques to use, and then she'd taught them to the rest of the web. All members could detect, predict, read, and influence people outside the web. They even could use her personal favorite that she called freeze, which could stop almost anything in its tracks. So what if Buffy completely impervious to all mental probes or attacks Willow had tried? That was to be expected. With Spike out of town, Willow had the strongest mental powers in all of Sunnydale. At last, she was a real force to be reckoned with.

So why was she so scared?

Didn't she want to find Oz?

Oz had been the first boy who had truly loved her. She had given him her virginity and never regretted it. He was her first real boyfriend, and the first person she had seriously entertained dreams of spending the rest of her life with.

Willow knew she was looking forward to seeing Angel a little too much. He'd been Buffy's at one point, and Willow's interest wasn't strictly professional. Honestly, she'd feared voicing her thoughts because of what Buffy and Angel had had. But now Buffy had made it so clear that she needed Spike.

Still, there was a part of her that wasn't ready for that. A big chunk of her heart missed Oz after all this time. Not as much as before, but it was still there. It wasn't until Angel had held her in his arms at that party that she could see it. He'd reminded her what it was like to be loved and held.

She missed that. She missed Oz.

She had her notes with perfectly logical reasons for him to come to Sunnydale, if she could find him. There was an explanation even prepared for his family to explain her questions. It was time for her to call, to see if she could find where he was.

She was calling because they needed his help to save the world. She wasn't doing it for herself; she was doing it for Buffy.

She would call and admit something to herself. Willow and Oz were over. They did not exist as a couple and never would. She hadn't called him when her emotional pain had been so strong. Instead she was calling because of a supernatural disaster. Everything they'd had was in the past, gone with the wind.

This would be a first. The very first time Willow ever gave up on their relationship. She'd never said good-bye to anything like this before.

That would be, of course, if his cousin Jeremy knew where Oz was. Oz had given her that number two years ago when he'd first went wolfy. Hopefully his family could point her in the right direction.

Maybe Oz had taken a trip overseas and found a way to control the wolf.

Willow dialed the number slowly. She took a deep breath as the phone rang, once, twice-

"Hello?"

The voice was so shatteringly familiar that Willow almost dropped the phone. She did drop her notecards.

Oz? She'd expected to have time to search out his location and find him. In no way was she ready to talk to him now.

Arguments and logic forgotten, Willow stammered, "Oz? It's - it's Willow."

A silence answered her, like he was trying to accept what his ears had just told him. "Willow. How are you?"

"Good," Willow managed to reply. "And you?"

"Fine."

"And the wolf?" The question just jumped out.

"He's still a problem." In Oz terms, she knew, that meant he had made no progress.

"Oh," Willow was slightly dazed by that. Somehow she'd thought he'd have gone and found some mystical answers to the wolf problem.

"Are you okay?" Oz asked, ever concerned for her welfare.

"Yeah. I'm - I thought you'd be, well, away. Not in Sacramento."

"I never made it past Jeremy's house. It's a lot like a werewolf commune here."

"Oz, you need to come back to Sunnydale," she burst out.

"You want me to come back?" Did she detect fear and hope in his tone?

"Buffy needs all of our help," Willow felt cruel to crush his hopes.

"I see." He saw.

"And Oz?" Willow dropped her eyes to her notecards, scattered on the floor. These words were a rush, "I may have found a way to control the wolf."

"I'm coming," Oz informed her. "Now."

"Wait. Bring anyone who you can trust," Willow extended the invitation to his family.

He understood, "It's that bad?"

"It's the worst." She divulged. "Can you be here in four days?"

"Yeah. I'll see you soon."

"See you."

*Click.*

Run away and hide.

"I'm sorry about the wait, Mr. Anderson. I just got the fax," the nurse said cheerfully as 'Mr. Anderson's' assistants pushed Faith down the hall toward the exit.

"LA General and a Mr. Pryce, her legal guardian have okayed this." She was too perky.

"Go file the chart," Xander told her, using a little mental reinforcement.

"I'll go file the chart," the nurse skipped off.

Ahead of him, the gurney stopped. Xander saw their path was blocked by a middle aged woman with short hair. A brief mental sweep confirmed his assumption that this nurse was the Watcher's Council agent that Giles had told him about.

Xander put his plan of action into play. Leave no witnesses. "Nurse, won't you help us load her?"

She sized him up and nodded, "The council decided to move her."

"Kind of," Xander acknowledged as they walked out of the swinging doors and into the darkened parking lot with Faith's bed going in front of them. The nurse stopped short at Xander's choice of transport vehicle, an RV, courtesy of his uncle Rory.

"You're not from the Council," she accused and began to speak loudly. "What are you doing?! I'm telling them!" She reached for the cell phone in her pocket.

Halting her hand, Xander caught her eyes, "No, you're not." His voice was hypnotic.

"No, I'm not." She agreed blankly.

"You aren't calling them."

"I'm not calling them."

"The Slayer is still in her room."

"The Slayer is still in her room."

"No retrieval team is necessary."

"No retrieval team is necessary."

"You never saw us."

"I never saw you."

"These aren't the droids you're looking for."

"These aren't the droids we're looking for," she mimicked perfectly.

One of the witches, Amber, sighed, "Can we hurry up?"

"I always wanted to do that." Xander placed a command in the nurse. "Go back inside. Everything is fine." Wordlessly, she turned and headed back into the hospital.

"Ahem," Rowan reminded him that he needed to help them lift Faith.

"I know," Xander helped them slide her into the position, maneuvering the IV.

His gaze fell on the Slayer. She seemed too young and peaceful, hair curling in all directions. Her ruby lips faced up, like a kiss could wake the dark princess any second. If he didn't know better, he'd have never believed she could harm a fly. No one could see her and think she killed people.

*But that is the way of things.* Xander reflected. *The way of the Force.* He choked back his laughter. He needed to get out more.

They pushed the gurney up into the side door, and a voice said, "Down now?"

Xander glanced up to the third witch, June, who had been calmly crouching on the roof of the RV with a shotgun trained on the hospital's doors.

Tara popped her head out of the window timidly, crossbows in either hand, "All clear?"

"All clear," Xander assured them. June stepped off the roof and floated to land on her feet. She handed Amber and Rowan their blessed daggers, and Xander pulled a stake from his back sheathe.

On second thought, maybe he'd want to get out less. There were dangerous things out here.

He nodded to his team, "Let's roll."

You're always right.

"Angel," Cordelia said weakly from her place in the back of the van. Giles had agreed to give her thirty minutes alone with Angel, and took Wesley with him.

They'd left the hospital and packed up almost everything at Angel Investigations into the van. The weapons, the books, the files, the computer, the electronics; it had been cleaned out. Wesley had gone to Cordelia's and picked up her make-up case and some random clothes from her trashed apartment while Angel and Giles had worked frantically through the night to remove any possible clue to the whereabouts.

Cordelia shuddered to imagine what clothes Wesley had brought.

At least she was that aware. Her head had cleared suddenly at the hospital, an event that Giles had explained only to her during the drive. Wesley was driving Angel's car with Angel in the trunk with her clothes during the day. Cordy got to ride with Giles in the van with all the stuff.

This was their first rest stop after the sun had set, and it was her chance to break the news to Angel. She didn't want Giles to be the one to do it. It had to be her because she was the only one other than Doyle who had known why this would hurt Angel so much.

"Are you okay?" he asked, sliding the door shut behind him. "Giles said you wanted to talk to me."

"I'm okay. Except for the whole pain part."

He felt her forehead, his cool hand against her warm skin. "I'm glad. You are so much better since we left the hospital."

"Thank Giles for that." Cordelia decided to go right into it. "Would you like to sit down? I think you should be sitting for this. In a comfortable position."

Angel gave her a strange look, "Thank Giles?"

"Are you going to sit down?"

Confused, he sat down. She motioned for him to come closer. He complied, stopping about two feet away. "Close enough." She leaned heavily against some boxes.

"What happened?"

"To me? That's not important. Well, it is important, but not like that."

Cordelia tried to form her words very carefully, "Giles filled me in on the situation in Sunnydale."

"Giles told me," he informed her.

"Giles didn't tell you the whole story." She reached out her right hand with some difficulty. "Yes, he told you about the war coming, but the things he didn't tell you are about Buffy and Spike."

"I already know," Angel said gruffly, unhappy that she had brought up that sore spot.

"Not this part," she held his hand, bracing herself. "Spike fed off Buffy."

Angel's faced paled as much as a vampire's physically could. "He fed off her?" His voice was deathly cool. "I thought he had a chip."

"It broke," Cordelia could feel the tension in his arm. "Then he tried to kill himself. I don't know how else to tell you this; the PTB's came to a dying Buffy."

"And?" Angel asked calmly as if he knew what was going to happen next. He knew Buffy was alive, so he planned on the PTB's folding time. However, he had no clue what was about to hit him.

"Buffy told them she'd let the world end if Spike died."

Cordelia could practically see the implications of her words sink in. First the shock, that Buffy had picked Spike over the world. Then came the betrayal, Buffy had given up everything for a soulless demon. And then the sudden despair as two trains of thought collided.

Thanksgiving. Loving Buffy and then waking away because it cost her too much. The sacrifice he'd given up, her tears for losing him as she found him at last. Killing the demon and trading his happiness for the good of all. The pain in his heart mirrored in her eyes as he told her their day never happened.

Buffy had been offered the same choice. Love or the world. She'd chosen love. She'd made the choice she'd have once made for him, only this time it was for Spike. It had happened. Spike was her one and only, true love, the person she'd defy everything for.

Then the realization. Buffy was beyond him. His sacrifice had been almost for naught. Everything he'd tried to protect her from she'd brought down on her head.

His head dropped, depression setting in.

"Umm . . . Angel," Cordelia began. "You look like you need a hug."

He glared at her.

"Hello? This is Cordy here. One time offer," she waved him over. "I'll even cry if you'd like."

Angel pulled her close, hiding his face in her shoulder. She held him awkwardly with her right arm. His body was shaking, but the tears weren't coming.

"Why?" he threw the question not to her, but to the world, the PTB's, everyone. Angel's pain was nearly tangible.

"I know it hurts." Cordy frowned, Doyle flashing through her head. "Believe me. Pain I know.

And she did know. She just held him. She could explain the blood bond thing later. This was important, the here and now.

She looked down at her left arm, still bound in a sling. Giles had examined her arm and told her the news there as well.

It wasn't good. She watched the blood soak through her fifth bandage of the day. She'd tell Angel about that, too. Later.

A tear slid down her cheek. The may queen turned seer cried. For Angel. For the World. For herself.

Into a grey sky morning.

Continue.....