"Willow!" Xander caught her up in a huge embrace. "I'm so glad to see you."

The others stood and slowly made their way over to the pair. Buffy wasn't sure what to say, so she stepped forward and rubbed her old friend's arm "Hey, Will."

"Buffy." Willow let go of Xander to hug her best friend. "I've missed you all so much."

"We've missed you too."

One by one they stepped up to greet her: Giles, Dawn, William, and finally Anya. "I'm not going to hug you Willow." She informed her. "We haven't been especially close in the past, and I'm afraid of you."

"That's OK Anya, I understand. I'm a little afraid of me too."

"Willow, how are you feeling?" Giles didn't mask his concern.

"I'm fine. Really." She noticed the shop "Wow! Major redecorating."

"And we have you to thank for that!" Xander threw his arm around her. "Come on over. We were just having dinner."

"Pizza! Is this heaven?"

"No, it's just Sunnydale" Dawn answered lightly. "Why didn't you tell us you were coming back?"

Willow picked up a slice of pizza and bit in. She rolled her eyes in ecstasy. "Umm. Oh that is so good." She swallowed and licked her top lip. "I knew that everyone would be busy here, and I didn't want a big scene at the airport either. Plus," she looked around shyly, "I wanted to take some time to get my nerve up before I walked back in here."

"And you did walk, right?" Anya asked pointedly.

"Oh, absolutely!" Willow assured them. "No swoosh and pop for me."

"So you're off magic again?" Xander passed her a cup of soda.

"Completely." Willow took a sip. "I'm off magic forever."

Buffy reached out to touch her friend's arm. "Can you be sure of that Will?"

"Yep." She reached out and wiggled her fingers. "See, no light displays. I'm clean." She noted their concerned expressions. "Really everyone. I've been stripped of every last trace of power. I couldn't do a pencil levitation if my life depended on it."

"Stripped, Willow? That sounds extreme." Buffy commented.

"It's OK, really. It's what I wanted. This way I know I can never hurt anyone again. You'll just have to take me as I am: plain old Willow."

Xander hugged her again. "She was always my favorite part anyway."

"Thanks Xander." She glanced around and waved her hands at the table. "Eat everyone! And tell me what's been happening. I want to know everything."

*****

"Thank you for walking me home Giles."

"My pleasure Anya. It's been a big day."

"Yes. And tomorrow is Sunday, so we can sleep in."

"Ah, yes. It was good planning to have the re-opening on a Saturday."

"And all the free help didn't hurt either."

Giles smiled in amusement. "Well then, I'll be off." He stepped away.

"You aren't coming in?" The dismay was clear in her tone.

"It's late dear, and I know you want to go to bed."

"That's right, I do. So come in now and I won't have to wait any longer."

"Anya," he braced his hand against her doorway and leaned over slightly to study her face. "Perhaps tonight is not the best time to get into this, but we probably need to talk about what happened yesterday."

"You mean the kissing."

"Yes, that is what I'm referring to." He adjusted his glasses on his nose. "I'm afraid I didn't use my best judgment when I allowed that to... to continue."

"You didn't like it? You said you liked it."

"Well, yes, it was very nice Anya... but most likely it shouldn't happen again."

"If I were to kiss you again, you don't think you'd enjoy it anymore?"

"I'm sure it would be a pleasant experience. You have very nice... lips."

"Thank you. I enjoyed your lips too."

Giles was flattered, in spite of himself. "It's very kind of you to say so." He roused himself from his bemused state. "Now wait, this is not what I intended..."

"What did you intend?"

"We are really not well suited, you and I." As a hurt look crept into her face, he rushed to explain. "Fir... first of all there is the age difference."

"There isn't much I can do about that, silly. Once you're over a thousand years old, the dating pool is narrowed considerably if you restrict yourself to staying inside your age bracket."

"Yes, of course. But that's not quite what I meant. It's just that I represent a sort of authority figure to all of you."

"You quit."

"Excuse me?"

"You quit. You left and went back to England so that Buffy could be her own authority figure. We still respect you, but you're simply not in charge any more."

"I suppose, in a way, that that's true."

"So if you don't have any more objections, come inside and we can kiss some more." Anya reached for his hand and tugged him into her apartment. She shut the door quickly behind him, then loosened his tie with a quick tug of her thumb and index finger. She pressed up against him and nuzzled his neck softly.

"Anya, this isn't right."

"Why not? Do you have a girlfriend back in England?" She kissed him behind his ear and nibbled on his earlobe.

"Um, actually, no."

"Are you gay?"

"Pardon me?"

"Impotent?" She slid her hand down his torso. "No. You're definitely not impotent." She brought her hand back up and removed his glasses. "So tell me why this is wrong."

His hand groped along the wall to find the door. He felt for the knob and tried to twist it. "Is this door locked?"

"Yes."

"Good."

*****

Buffy and Dawn took the long way home, cutting across two cemeteries in a mini-patrol. "Kind of slow tonight." Dawn commented.

"Huh?" Buffy's mind was elsewhere.

"Hello! Patrolling?" Dawn teased her. "Where are all the vamps?"

Buffy paused to consider the observation. "You're right. They've been thick as flies lately, and I haven't even seen one tonight."

The girls resumed walking. "Maybe you scared them off the other night."

"What other night?"

"In our back yard - with my teacher." She grinned.

"You saw that?"

"Oh, yeah!" Dawn smacked her on the arm. "Buffy, you were a freaking animal!"

"Stop it!" Buffy blushed. "It was a good fight, and there he was looking so."

"Terrified?" Now Buffy smacked Dawn's arm. "Ow!"

"So I guess you saw Angel, too?"

"It was better than Days of Our Lives."

"And then you lurked on the stairs and heard the rest?"

"So are you going to tell him?"

Buffy stopped. "I don't know what to say to him. I treated him so badly, I don't know if he would even want to get involved with me now."

"So then why don't you find out?"

~*~*~*~

William erased his white board, and rubbed at the green smudges on his fingers. This marker stuff didn't come off quite as easily as the old chalk used to. Then there was the smell. With his heightened vampire senses, there were times when he became almost light-headed when he wrote a lot. Today he had posted an outline, and now was trying to fight off a nasty headache. Too bad Cordelia wasn't around to zap his acetone allergy. He sat at his desk and reached for a student journal. It would take him a few hours to work through them and write his comments.

He heard a soft footfall at the doorway. "Hello, Buffy." He said without looking up.

"Hi." She shuffled from side to side uncertainly.

"Dawn's gone."

"I know. I thought that maybe we could. talk."

He sat back in his chair and rubbed his forehead with the thumb and fingers of one hand. "About what? More strange creepy-crawlies stirring things up?"

"Uh, no. Actually, it's been pretty quiet the last few days." She tilted her head thoughtfully. "Unusually quiet."

He motioned to a desk in the front row. "Have a seat."

Buffy walked over to the place he had indicated and lowered herself into the student desk. She looked around the room as memories of her own high school days came back to her: passing notes to Willow, sniping at Cordelia and Harmony, watching female vampires combust. She was glad those days were behind her. How odd that she was sitting here looking at a vampire who wasn't in danger of turning into tinder. "How do you like it?" she asked him.

"For the most part, teaching is very gratifying."

"I meant the daylight part."

"Oh." He smiled genuinely. "It's nice. I didn't realize how much I missed it."

"Did it bother Angel, that you can do this?"

His smile faded and he looked back down at the notebook on his desk. "So this is about Angel then, is it?" He sighed. "Didn't you two lovebirds hash everything out last week?"

"We're not lovebirds anymore, and besides," she tilted her head inquiringly, "Didn't he go by your place to stay?"

"He was sleeping when I left for work in the morning, and gone by the time I went home." He glanced up. "It was a long day - PTA meeting."

Amusement fluttered across her face. "You. and parents?"

"Who'd have thought?"

"Yeah." She laughed. "The last time you were here on a parent teacher night, you."

He scowled and slammed the notebook closed. "I remember."

She glanced down uncomfortably, unsure of what to say. Silence hung uneasily in the room. He was usually so upbeat that she tended to forget the weight of guilt he shouldered for his past crimes. The memory of their first fight was something he would have enjoyed rehashing with her before. Now it was overshadowed by all the deaths of innocents he had caused that night. She stood uncertainly, debating whether or not to leave.

Giggling from the doorway interrupted her somber thoughts. Buffy groaned inwardly. It was Dawn's friends from the lunchroom. "Are we interrupting?" The blond asked with an annoying little lilt.

"No, no. Not at all." William told them, and motioned for them to enter.

Chelsea appeared to be the spokesperson for the group. "We were wondering if you'd be willing to do something for us."

He sat back, seemingly at ease with the teens. Buffy envied his easy manner with them. He always seemed to be on guard with her. "And what would that be?"

"The student council has decided to have a Halloween Dance this year, and we wanted to know if you would be a chaperone."

"Ah. I see." He put on a show of considering the question seriously. "There would be costumes, I presume?"

"Yes. You could come as whatever you'd like."

Buffy couldn't resist. "You would make a great vampire!"

"No way!" Missy opined. "Vampires are all dark and creepy." She turned her adoring gaze back to William. "I was thinking rock star."

"Or a knight." A petite brunette piped up from the back.

"How about you?" Missy asked Buffy. "What will you wear?"

"Me?"

"Well, you'd be his date, since you're his girlfriend and all."

William made a coughing sound, and appeared to be choking. Buffy glared at him. Since when did vampires choke? "Urm, yes, Buffy. You could come as a damsel in distress."

She stared daggers at him. "Been there, done that. Remember honey?"

He walked around the desk and thew his arm across Buffy's shoulders then turned to the girls. "We'd be glad to help out, wouldn't we Sweetness." He gave her a firm squeeze.

"Delighted." She dug her elbow into his ribs.

"Great!" Chelsea gave a satisfied nod and turned to Buffy. "We'll see you then." The girls walked to the door. "Goodbye, Mr. Browning. Thanks!"

He waved and waited for the girls to leave, then dropped his arm from Buffy's shoulders and turned to her. "I told you this whole 'boyfriend' scheme of yours was a bloody stupid idea."

"I don't know." She pursed her lips thoughtfully. "A Halloween dance might be fun. It sure beats sitting around on the slowest slaying night of the year. Besides, what else do you have to do?"

"I was referring to us."

"What about us?"

"Standing around, forced to make with the googly eyes all night."

She tilted her head. "That might not be so awful."

He turned away from her. "Go home Slayer. These marker fumes are getting to you, too." He walked back to his chair and prepared to sit.

"Can't we at least talk about it?"

"About what?" He turned to face her again, with more than a hint of exasperation in his voice.

"About what happened the other night."

He closed his eyes, took a breath, then opened them again. "Like I told Angel, it won't happen again. I know what it was and I promise not to read anything more into it."

"This isn't like before."

"It's exactly like before, except I seem to have a conscience now and I really don't want to revisit being your dirty little secret." He sat down and reached for another notebook. "I have a lot of work to do here, so why don't you go on your merry way and find yourself a nice non-demon sort to scratch that itch of yours."

That did it. She grabbed the back of his chair and pulled it away from the desk, spun it around, and leaned over with her hands on the armrests.

"First of all, I have not been impaired by any mysterious classroom fumes. Second, since everybody knows about what happened between us last year, you can hardly be considered a secret anymore. And third." She leaned forward and pressed her lips to his, taking advantage of his surprise to deepen the kiss intimately so that he couldn't misconstrue her meaning. After a long, lingering moment, she disentangled her mouth from his and stood up. "You are the only one who can scratch my itch. Deal with it." She turned and strode out of the room.

He sat back in his chair, looking at the vacant doorway. A bemused smile touched his still wet mouth. His headache was gone.

*****

Dawn entered her house with her backpack slung over one shoulder.

"Hey Dawnie." Willow called from the couch.

"What'cha up to?" Dawn dropped her bag and walked into the room.

"Enjoying the nice day and watching some TV. Do you think Buffy will mind that I opened the window?"

"Nah." Dawn looked at the screen and brightened up. "Powerpuff Girls! Cool." And plopped down beside the reformed witch. "You know they have a movie coming out, don't you."

"I heard about that. Do you want to go?"

"Only if you promise we don't have to stop by any creepy magic crack houses."

Willow put her hand up. "I can definitely promise you that. Even if I did have an urge to go visit a place like that again, it wouldn't do any good, now that my powers are gone. By the way, what are you doing home already? I thought you were going to study at the Magic Box until Buffy got done with her errand."

"I was there, trying to study. Really, I was! But Anya kept humming and singing. It was hard to concentrate."

"She has been pretty chipper lately, hasn't she? Do you think it's because Xander is being nice?"

Dawn shrugged. "Who knows?" She noticed a catalogue on the coffee table. "Hey, Sunnydale U. Are you going back?"

Willow picked up the booklet with a look of uncertainty on her face. "I'd like to finish. I've got a meeting with a school counselor today. I'm hoping they will let me start late this semester." She dropped the book. "It won't be the same, going there without Tara."

"I know. I miss her too." The two girls hugged, and then Dawn pulled back. "Hey, since you're not busy doing anything yet, would you like to help with our Halloween dance at school? I'm in charge of decorations, and I'm clueless."

"Sure, I'll help out. Maybe Xander can do some stuff too, now that the store is done." Willow smiled. "It will be like old times, with the gang all doing something together."

Buffy walked in. "All the gang doing what together?"

"The Sunnydale Halloween party." Dawn said.

"Hey, I'm already signed on!"

"Great." Dawn enthused. "What will you be doing?"

"Chaperoning. with William." She chirped happily.

"Cool!"

Willow looked at her uncertainly. "Buffy, are you two. dating?"

Buffy plopped down beside her on the couch. "Not really. We're just sort of hanging out right now. You know, slaying and talking and research. Oh, and a little minor kissage."

"What?"

"It didn't look too minor the other night." Dawn chimed in.

"Well, it was." She turned to Willow. "And don't freak. We're taking it slow. Besides, we kind of have to keep up a show for the school kids." Willow gave her a confused look, so she continued. "I told them he was my boyfriend to explain why we were hanging around together so much. We can't have them finding out about the whole slayer/vampire thing."

"Uh. Ok. Right. Sure." Willow still had some reservations.

Buffy noticed the TV show. "You're watching the Powerpuff Girls?" She wrinkled her nose. "Ugh. Their big eyes just freak me out. And how lame is that crappy animation?"

*****

The large black bird flew across town, through the cemetery, and along the river until it came to the cave opening. It flew inside and landed on Doc's shoulder.

"Ah, my little friend. What bits of news might you have for me?"

The bird squawked and cawed.

"They will all be together for Halloween? That's perfect. And what of the witch?"

Again the bird voiced its observations.

"Powerless, you say? Well that is very good news. That means there will be nothing standing in my way. Thank you. There is some fresh meat for you down by the river. Hurry, there might not be much left if you tarry."

The bird flew out into the sunlight, leaving the man alone in his blanket of darkness.

~*~*~*~

Buffy glanced around her with a feeling of dread. She knew this place. The wind whipped through her hair, blowing the long strands across her face. The sky was dark all around her. She looked down and saw she was standing on the crudely built metal platform. She was alone. She turned to look around her, and saw the demon-man behind her, holding a knife that was covered with blood.

"Where is she?" Buffy asked.

"She will be here soon, and this time I will get it right." He said pleasantly, with a mild smile.

"Is that her blood?"

He held the knife up between them and the smile left his face. His eyes turned black and blinked strangely. "This blood is tainted. That will change too." He smiled evilly. "This time we will all receive our just reward."

Buffy sat up with a gasp. She was in her room, alone.

*****

Giles woke to the blare of the alarm clock. He reached his arm over to the bedside table to smack the button, but hit only bare wood. Where was that dratted radio? He opened his blurred eyes and quickly realized he was not in his apartment. A slender arm reached across his bare chest and the annoying buzzing noise stopped. Soft hair tickled his chest and chin as Anya laid her head down on his shoulder and stroked his arm with her hand.

"You stayed." She smiled into his chest. "You've always gone home before."

"Um. Yes, I was rather. worn out last night."

"Hmm. Me too." She lifted her head to kiss him softly. "This is nice."

Giles couldn't argue with that statement, so he told his internal schoolmaster to sod off. Being late for work once in a blue moon was not going to cause the world to end, even if that world was on the Hellmouth. He contented himself with returning her kiss. After a while she lifted her head and looked at him warmly.

"What is it?"

"You're very handsome in the morning. You don't look rumply at all." She frowned slightly. "As a matter of fact, you never look rumply. Why is that?"

She never failed to amuse him. Conversations with her tended to go in unexpected and uncharted directions. "Proper application of starch?" He speculated.

She made a face. "Ew, starch."

"What's wrong with starch?"

"It just made me think of a wish I once granted a woman from Michigan. She had four children and her husband insisted that she starch all of his shirts and iron them every morning. Finally one day he told her he was leaving her for his secretary, whom he was flying to Hawaii for a vacation. She summoned me and wished that fifty cans of the stuff be shoved up his."

"Enough!" Giles held his hand up. "I can't bear to think about it."

"It was pretty gruesome. In some ways it was even worse than the exploding head."

"Anya," he shook his head, "I know that you have learned to have more compassion for people. How can you continue to be a vengeance demon?"

"I can't stop."

"Surely you can call D'Hoffryn and get him to release you."

Anya sat up, pulling the sheet up to cover herself. "I can't."

"Are you afraid of what he will do."

She shook her head. "No! I just..."

"I'm afraid I don't understand." Now he sat up, anger showing in the set of his jaw. "Perhaps the problem is that you don't want to."

"Giles, please... I can't tell you anything and I can't do anything to get out from under this."

He turned to sit on the edge of the bed and found his trousers. "Yet you somehow managed before." He pulled the pants on angrily. "I would think that you would trust me by now to be able to help you out in supernatural matters."

She just sat and looked at him helplessly. "Giles, please don't go. Don't leave me when you're angry like this."

He sighed and sat on the bed beside her. "I am angry, but I'm not leaving you. I need to go home for some fresh clothes, and I will see you later at the store." He finished buttoning his shirt, then put him arm around her and kissed her forehead. "Perhaps we can discuss this then."

After he left, Anya reached down to sadly finger the pendant hanging around her neck.

*****

Willow and Buffy walked into The Magic Box together to find Anya alone, cleaning furiously. "Hi, Anya." Buffy called. "The shop's hasn't even been open a week. I didn't think you were due for a spring cleaning yet."

Anya continued dusting her sparkling shelves. "I find this activity to be therapeutic when I'm experiencing anger or frustration."

"Did you get into a fight with Xander?" Willow asked.

"No Willow. We're still getting along just fine. Sorry to disappoint you."

"I didn't mean..."

"I'm really not even upset with a man in this instance, even though one brought this on." She laid down her dust rag and picked up a broom to attack her baseboards. "How is it that they can make you think and want things that you didn't even know you thought you needed?"

Buffy and Willow exchanged confused glances. Buffy cleared her throat. "Anya, if you didn't mind, we thought we might see if we could do some studying to see what these new monsters have in common. Now that Willow's back we may be able to come up with something..."

"More concrete." Giles voice reached them from the doorway. He moved down to join the girls. "I was having similar thoughts myself."

"Well, good luck with that." Anya called over. "My reference library is severely limited, ever since Willow sucked out all the words. I'm still waiting for replacements."

Willow was amazed. "Anya, are you saying that the words never went back into the books?"

Giles cleared his throat. "Apparently they are still a part of you."

"Wow, Will." Buffy gave her an admiring look. "You're a walking magic reference library."

"Exactly." Giles pointed out. "So why don't we sit down and see what we can find out."

"O... Okay." Willow looked apprehensive, but sat down with Buffy and Giles. Anya continued to clean.

"Anya, I'm sure you could contribute to this as well." Giles invited her to join them.

"I'm agitated Giles, and I doubt that sitting down next to you right now is going to help with that."

"Very well. Just continue with whatever it is that you're doing."

"Fine, I will."

"Fine."

Again, Willow and Buffy exchanged a look. "OK." Willow began, "What have we got?"

Buffy and Giles outlined what they knew about Doc and his powers, plus the Ghora Demon, the dragon, the Leviathan, and the gangs of Fyarl demons and vampires. Finally Buffy noted the sudden drop in demonic activity.

"This worries me." Giles noted.

"Yes." Willow agreed. "It's like the calm before the storm."

"And there's one other thing." Buffy added. "I had a dream last night." She immediately had their attention, and proceeded to describe the dream in as much detail as she could.

"This time..." Giles mused. "He repeated that phrase 'This time'."

"I think he's going to try to re-open the hell dimension." Buffy stated. Everybody nodded. "And he's going to use Dawn again. He tried to take her with the Fyarl demons, then he sent the vampires to try and kill William and me. He was probably trying to get us out of the way so that he could try to take her again."

Giles frowned. "There is a problem with the theory." He lifted his head and looked around the table. "The timing of the event was crucial. Remember, we were trying to delay Glory, knowing that if we were successful she would miss her chance."

Willow nodded. "That's right. We did stop Glory, but we didn't know about Doc."

"If he's a time traveler, couldn't he just go back to change things?" Buffy speculated.

"No Buffy." Willow's voice was certain. "He can go back and change some of the things he did himself, but he can't change what anybody else did. You were still there to jump in Dawn's place, and Glory was still stopped. He can't be in two places at one time."

"Why not?"

"It's against the physical laws. If you have the exact same entity present in two forms at the same time..."

"They cease to exist." Giles finished.

"Then how can he travel through time without that happening to him?" She turned to Anya. "Do you know?"

"Yes." Anya replied. "A time wizard just pops back into the same space that he was in before. It's a special power they have. If he goes back in time there isn't suddenly two of him, just the one. But he keeps all the memories."

"I see." Buffy said. "Then he can't pop back and show up at a different place from where he was. He would be on the platform and I would still throw him off."

"Exactly." Anya nodded. "And we still have the question as to how he was able to teleport those other things through time." Anya walked over to the table and sat beside Giles.

"You're sure he couldn't manage it?" Giles questioned. "You also said that Willow wouldn't be able to teleport, but she eventually did."

"Only after I had absorbed enough magical energy." Willow told them. "Could he have boosted his powers in the same way?

Anya shrugged. "Maybe, but where would he have gotten that much power? Those are very large, nasty monsters."

"Maybe it was from me." Willow said quietly. "When I went all uber-witch last spring I was throwing magic around like confetti. I had to recharge a few times. He could have drained some off of me."

"Yes, Willow." Giles leaned forward. "It was after that happened that the creatures started appearing. Then perhaps at some point he went back and planted the Ghora using a power boost from Glory, hoping to kill Spike before the big event."

"Why would he want to kill Spike?" Buffy asked. "Spike failed to stop him, remember? Why would he try to go to so much trouble to get him out of the way?"

"I don't know, but there must be something we're missing."

"And why does he want Dawn?" Buffy wanted to know.

"What do you mean?" Willow asked. "She's the Key."

"But she isn't now." Giles added. "And if he travels back to that night when Buffy died, Dawn is already there."

"So now we're back at square one." Buffy mumbled. "What is he doing?"

"What is his reward?" Anya asked. They turned to look at her. "He said 'we will receive our just rewards'. If we find out what his reward is, then maybe we can figure out what he wants to do to get it."

Buffy considered this for a moment. "So maybe he had his own selfish purposes for opening the dimensions that went beyond what Glory wanted."

"He can't travel across dimensions." Anya informed them. Again everybody turned to stare at her. "I can, but he can't." She announced proudly. "If he wanted to reach a certain dimension for some reason, he would need to use a rift to enter it."

"Then it stands to reason," Giles added, "that once in, he would need a method to get back out."

Buffy straightened, excited. "That's it. He's not just trying to open the hell dimensions. Maybe Glory brought him here. We stopped her and now he's stuck, so he's trying to get home!"

"That takes care of the what and the why." Anya stated. "Now we just have to figure out the how."

~*~*~*~

Buffy arrived at the door of William's apartment. It was Saturday, and they had a date to meet Willow and Xander to pick out costumes for the Halloween dance on Thursday. This was the first time Buffy had been here and she felt strangely nervous. In older times she would have just barged in on him unannounced. Somehow busting through the door seemed inappropriate now. She raised her knuckles to knock, but the door opened before she could make contact.

"Hi." She said.

"Come in." He stood aside to let her pass. "You're early." He was wearing a pair of jeans. His hair was damp and he had a towel draped around his neck.

"I wasn't sure if I had the right place. I never pictured you in an apartment." She looked around. His place was very nice. The furnishings were modern, but comfortable looking. One entire wall was nothing but shelves that were filled with books.

"Just give me a minute to finish getting ready." He turned to walk toward what she assumed was his bedroom. "Make yourself comfortable. I'd tell you to get something out of the fridge, but I don't think what I have would suit your palate."

"That's OK." She called to him. "I'm fine." But he was gone behind a closed door. She wandered over to the shelves, curious about his reading habits. He had quite an eclectic collection, with everything from classics to thrillers. They were in alphabetical order by author. She smiled. Her own books were strewn around her house. She knew there were at least three paperbacks under her bed and the only hardcover books she owned were from the year and a half she attended Sunnydale U. She looked at some of the author's names: Chekov, Clancy, Crichton, and several others she was unfamiliar with.

He re-entered the room and stepped up behind her. "I don't even know you." She said.

"You know some parts of me."

She ran her hand over the spines of the books. "I don't know this part. It's new."

"No it's not. I just don't try to hide it anymore."

She moved down the shelves and looked at some more of the books. "I don't see any Nietzsche."

"That philosophical clap trap was always Angel's bag. It bores me to tears."

"I never really understood it myself." She admitted, turning to face him.

"You would. You just have to wade through the language."

"Maybe sometime you could show me."

"Maybe..." He studied her quietly for a moment, then stepped back. "But for now, we have more important fish to fry. Namely, costumes." He gestured toward the door. "After you."

She glanced at him coyly as she passed. "You're not going to be able to avoid me forever, you know."

"I wouldn't call it avoiding." He leaned over to open the door for her. "I call it looking out for your best interests."

She stopped short at that, then turned to glare at him. "Who are you to decide what's best for me?"

He raised his hands, as if to ward off her anger. "I just meant."

"It's not like I'm a starry eyed teenager anymore!" She continued, as if he hadn't spoken. "And it's not like I haven't learned from my mistakes. Believe me, I have learned lifetimes worth of lessons from my past screw- ups."

"Buffy, I just don't think that you and I."

"The last vampire I was involved with killed some of my friends, after he fell in love with me. And do you know what?" She barely stopped for breath. "I forgave him. God help me, I just let it slide."

"Well, you did stab him with."

"Then I let him convince me that we had no future. Now you tell me, what kind of a future do I have anyway? Huh? I could go out there and die any day. Hell, I'm even getting good at it! So what does it matter that I'll get old and that you won't? Who's to say I'll get the chance to get old?"

"You don't have to."

"And you want me to have normal? I've tried that out. I don't know why I ever thought that 'normal' would work for me. Normal guys get killed following me around. Normal guys have normal jobs and want normal wives to give them normal kids. Now look at me. Do I seem remotely normal to you?" She poked him in the chest. "What makes you think I would ever be happy with that? Everyone goes around saying."

He grasped her by her shoulders and kissed her. All of the tension magically drained out of her body. His hands moved up to hold her head gently as they explored each other's mouths and faces, rediscovering the taste and feel of one another. Her arms crept around his waist and up his back as she pressed herself closer to him. Finally, reluctantly, he dropped his hands and stepped back. He looked at her warily, as if expecting her to hit him in the nose or kick him. Instead, she just gazed at him softly.

"Why did you do that?" She asked.

"Had to shut you up somehow." He cocked his head toward the still-open doorway. "We've got places to go, people to see."

"That's right." She said. "I forgot." She stepped into the hall.

"Buffy." He stopped her. "You're right, you're not a normal girl. You're special."

He stepped into the hall to join her, pulling the door shut behind them. They walked to the elevator in companionable silence.

*****

Much later Buffy, William, Xander and Willow exited Mr. Kitten's Kostumes. Xander carried one bag and William held two. Neither bag was his. "I don't understand how we can spend three bloody hours shopping around for these ridiculous get-ups, and I still couldn't find anything!"

Willow patted him on the back. "You were just being too picky."

"Picky? Me?!"

"You got to admit, William, that you did turn your nose up at everything they showed you." Xander offered.

"Everything they showed me had bleedin' tights! There's got to be a shop around here that has something that isn't all nancy-boy."

"We went to all four costume shops in Sunnydale." Buffy reminded him. "Xander found his the first place we went."

"Well he doesn't have to wear pantyhose now, does he?"

Xander clapped an arm around William's shoulders. "Just got lucky with this one." Xander lifted his bag. "I even get a cool little attachment."

"I know you don't want to, but you really might just have to do the vampire thing." Buffy told him. "You could wear leather and then just 'Grrr'."

"No thank you. The fact that I spent over a century terrorizing people is not something I want to parade around in front of my students."

Buffy threw her hands up. "You're impossible!"

"Nothing new there." Willow said dryly. William glared at her. Buffy tried to hide her own smirk.

"I don't really take to this shopping business, anyway." William complained. "Back in my day people came by, you told them what you wanted, they took your measurements, and brought everything back to you a few weeks later. I can't believe that humans these days enjoy all this tramping around and scavenging."

"Let me clue you in on that buddy." Xander leaned toward him. "This is not a 'human thing'. This is a 'woman thing'. And if you think these two are bad, you should see Anya in action."

Tension filled the group at his words, and an uncomfortable silence followed. "Way to go Alexander Harris." Xander muttered. "Once again with the mouth opening and foot inserting."

"Look," William began. "I'm really, really sorry about that, and."

"Stop it right there." Xander interrupted. "We all screwed up royally last year, and we had the benefit of souls. What happened at The Magic Box was not entirely your fault, or Anya's. I have to take a lot of the blame for hurting her."

"Besides," Willow piped in. "Now you're back and you're all different and everything, and you've paid for our costumes. If I can get away with trying to end the world, we can forgive you for."

"We don't have to come right out and say it, do we?" Buffy asked. She looped her hand through William's bent arm. "I can think of lots better things to talk about, like the weather, or what we want for lunch. Is anyone else starved, because I could eat a."

"Holy cow." Xander said.

"That's a little more than what I had in mind." Buffy told him.

"No, I mean that." Xander pointed up. There was a huge creature flying overhead. Its wings made a sharp snapping sound as they flapped against the wind.

"And that would be Giles' dragon, I suppose." Buffy observed.

"Wow." Willow said. "That's really big."

"I've seen that somewhere before." Xander wrinkled his forehead in concentration. "Where, where.?"

"I think I'd remember that." Buffy said, as she watched the beast circle around the town.

"I've got it!" Xander snapped his fingers. "It was the night you died."

"Which time?"

"On the platform, before you jumped." Xander looked at her. "Don't you remember the things that came through the opening?"

"I was a little preoccupied."

"Me too." Willow said.

"I think my head was buried in bricks." William added.

"Well creatures came through the rift from some of the other dimensions before Buffy jumped and closed the hole." He pointed at the dragon, which had turned and was flying away from the town. "That was one of them."

"And now he's back." William said.

Buffy sighed. "That can't be good."

~*~*~*~

"Willow, are you ready?" Buffy called up the stairs.

"It will just be another minute." She yelled. "This dressing up stuff takes forever when you can't use magic."

"Xander and William will be here any minute."

"I know, I know. Hurrying now!"

Buffy stepped to a mirror hanging in the hallway to adjust her hair. It was parted in the middle, and she wore two french braids, one on each side. She pulled down on the bodice of her blue dress and fluffed her apron. She bent down to pick up the round basket that held a checkered cloth and a little toy dog. She couldn't wait to see what the others looked like. She caught a movement on the stairs out of the corner of her eye, and turned to watch a pair of green legs descend.

"Oh Willow, that looks great!"

Willow made a face. "Do you think I look like Kermit?"

"No way. You are Peter Pan all the way."

Willow stepped up to the same mirror that Buffy had just vacated. She wrinkled her nose at her reflection. "I'm not sure it's a good thing that a twenty-one year old woman can pass for a twelve year old boy."

"Relax!" Buffy laughed at Willow's expression. "You look adorable. Green is your color."

They both turned at the sound of a brief rap on the door, before it opened to reveal Captain Hook. "Wow, Xander, you look all mean and piratey!" Willow rushed over to admire him. "I like you with the big hair!"

"Hardy har, ye mateys." Xander said as he raised his hook into the air.

"I don't think Captain Hook talked like that." Buffy said.

"I know." Xander smiled. "But I couldn't resist. Are we ready?"

"No." Buffy said. "Where's William?"

"He's hiding out on the porch." Xander gestured outside with his thumb. " I don't think he's real thrilled with what Willow found for him on the Internet."

"Aw, come on!" Willow protested. "I thought he'd look cute. And he doesn't have to wear tights."

Xander lowered his voice. "No, but he keeps complaining about how much it itches. I never knew vampires could be such wimps."

"I heard that." An offended British accent rang from the porch.

"Come on in, William. We want to see you!" Buffy called out.

William stepped into the doorway, glowering. His nose was painted with a bright red triangle and straw stuck out from his floppy hat in all directions. There was also straw protruding from the neck, arms, and legs of the baggy tan costume. "I feel like a bleedin' idiot." He grumbled.

"You didn't want to look menacing." Buffy reminded him.

"Didn't want to look like a burlap sack either, now did I?"

"It's too bad you can't see your reflection." Willow told him. "This is just priceless. Hey!" She brightened at her thought. "Maybe we could take a picture."

"Over my dead body!"

Buffy giggled. "I thought that was the whole problem." She bit her lip at his glare, and tried her best to look contrite. "Oh, come on." She cajoled. "It's Halloween, and we're supposed to look dumb. Just look at me!" She held up her basket, and her eyes twinkled. "If you ask nicely, I'll let you pet my puppy."

"Slayer."

Xander interrupted. "On that note, I say it's time to leave." Laughing and chatting happily, they all left the house.

*****

Doc stood calmly before the motley assembly of demons, monsters and unsavory human dregs of society. His hands were laced behind his back and his tail swished leisurely from side to side. His plan was about to come to fruition and he savored this taste of power. It was just a glimmer of what awaited him.

"Finally we are at the threshold of our new day. You all know what you need to do. Soon I will release you to complete your appointed tasks. If you bring me what I need, we will see our reward this night."

One of the demons roared out a question.

Doc listened calmly and raised his hands. "Yes, yes. You can do what you like with the others. They are not my concern. I just want the three, preferably unharmed. They must be brought to me alive. Is this understood?"

The group muttered and snarled in assent.

"Very well. I thank you all for your loyal efforts. You may go now."

*****

The school gymnasium was festooned with orange and black banners, huge cotton spider webs, plastic jack-o-lanterns, a cauldron boiling with dry ice and inflated horror movie icons. Dawn was just setting Frankenstein in place by the doorway when Buffy and the gang arrived.

"What do you think?" Dawn rushed over to them. "Janice and I have been working on this all afternoon." She looked them over. "You guys look so cute! Will. I mean Mr. Browning, your costume is hysterical."

"Great." His tone was dry.

"Hey, Dawnie, you guys did a lot of work after I left." Willow noticed.

Dawn leaned in to whisper to her. "I tried to talk the other girls into not putting up the witch. I know how much you hate the black hat and warty nose thing." She turned to William. "And you might want to avoid the Dracula corner over there."

"Political correctness for the supernatural set." Xander joked.

"I'm going to go put my costume on now. I'm so excited, and I'm so glad you're all here!" Dawn squealed and hurried out the door.

William's eyes searched around the room, intrigued. "So this is how the human teeny-boppers do up a soiree these days." He commented.

"Is it much different from when you were young?" Buffy turned her braided head his way.

"When I was young." His eyes took on a far-away look. "When I was young these sorts of things weren't open to the general population. We received engraved invitations and everything was stiff and formal. You had to be somebody to even be invited, and even then there was no certainty you would be accepted." His face grew sad. "I attended a party the night Dru turned me."

"You never told me that." Buffy said. "Did you meet Drusilla at the party?"

"No. It was after I left." He shook himself out of his reverie and glanced down at Buffy. "That's a tale best left for another time."

Students began coming in through the doorways, elevating the noise level in the room. Somewhere, somebody turned on a sound system and "Monster Mash" began playing. "Come on!" Buffy yelled over the music and tugged on his sleeve. "We're supposed to be over by the punch table, right?"

*****

An hour later the party was in full swing. Everybody seemed to be having a good time. All around the gymnasium were groups of students talking, eating, and dancing. Some were playing games at booths while others just drifted around the room. Someone in a very convincing ogre costume brushed past Buffy. "Wow!" She nudged William. "I wonder where that kid found that outfit. We sure didn't see anything like that on Saturday."

He followed her gaze and frowned. "You're right. Actually, there are several of these get-ups that look."

"Hey Buffy!" She turned to see Dawn, looking beautiful as Sleeping Beauty.

"Are you having fun?" Buffy asked her sister.

"Oh yeah. It's going great." Dawn glowered and leaned in. "Did you see Chelsea? She's wearing the same freaking outfit!"

"With the wig and everything?"

"Oh no," Dawn clarified. "Chelsea has her own blond hair. She said that my wig looked like someone draped a Cocker Spaniel pelt on my head."

"She just jealous because you're prettier than her."

"Yeah, right."

The ogre walked by again. "Hey Dawn," Buffy asked. "Who is that guy?"

Dawn shrugged. "Beats me. Who can tell with that great mask?"

William was getting that disturbed look again as he searched around the room. "Does it seem like this room has gotten a lot more crowded?"

"You know, you're right." Buffy agreed. "Where are all these kids coming from?"

Dawn crossed her arms. "Claytonville!" She spat out. "Those geeks said they were going to crash. I'll be they even T.P.'d the outside."

Willow bumped up against Buffy's back. "Hey, excuse you!" She yelled over her shoulder at a Hell's Angel wannabe. She turned her attention to Buffy. "Some of these kids are just." She was jostled again. "Rude!"

Xander moved up behind her. "Maybe you could sprinkle them with fairy dust and feed them to the crocodile." Everybody stared at him blankly. "Hey William, how's it going with the punch over there?"

William lifted the plastic ladle in salute.

"That's good." Xander joked. "Gotta make sure that nobody spikes it!" He nudged Willow. "Get it? 'Spike' the punch?" Willow stifled a groan and Buffy rolled her eyes. "Wow, are you ever a tough crowd tonight!"

"Hey, Xander." Buffy's tone was serious. "Have you noticed that some of these students don't seem to be very studenty?"

"They're partycrashers!" Dawn huffed.

"You know, you're right." Xander took notice. He scanned the room. "Now that you mention it, most of these guys are pretty smelly."

"Yes." Buffy frowned. "And my Spidey-sense is on high alert."

"You're just noticing that now, Slayer?" William questioned her, his eyebrow arched under the straw sticking out of his hat.

"I've been standing by you all evening!" Buffy protested defensively. "Close proximity to a vampire tends to camouflage the ones who aren't so near. Especially being close to an irritating."

"And here, I thought we were getting along famously."

"There seems to be a time limit where you're concerned."

"Hey!" Willow piped in. "Can we all focus here and think this through with a little more."

"Harmony!" Xander exclaimed.

"Exactly." Willow nodded.

"No." Xander pointed to the doorway. "Isn't that Harmony?"

They all turned to stare at the heavily made-up blond girl standing in the doorway. She had her hands on her hips and tossed her head disdainfully before looking slowly around the room. When her eyes lit on Buffy, Willow and Xander, she pushed her lips out in her version of a sneer and began to walk toward them, her hips swaying exaggeratedly from side to side. Halfway across the floor, she noticed that she had lost her entourage. She turned and stamped her foot on the floor, then gestured to them to follow her. Satisfied that she had proper back up, she continued to approach her arch- nemesis: Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

"So. We meet again!" Harmony turned a creamy shoulder to Buffy and squinted her eyes.

"I see you haven't learned any new lines in your time away." Buffy told her drolly.

"And I see you're still hanging out with your band of losers." Harmony looked at Xander and Willow. She wrinkled her forehead at Willow's costume. "What is that thing you've got on anyway, Willow? It's so cliché for a red- head to wear green!"

"What are you doing here, Harmony?" Buffy's voice was all business.

"Well, aren't you little miss high and mighty in you're little blue dress?" Harmony paused to snarl and show some fang. "The last time I saw you, you were busy stealing my boyfriend!"

Buffy's voice rose in offense. "I was NOT stealing your boyfriend."

"Ha! You were having a threesome with my Pooky-Bear and that skanky Droodzilla."

"A threesome?!"

Xander looked at William over the top of Buffy's head and mouthed "Pooky- Bear?" to him. William glowered back.

"Yes. And don't try that big innocent act on me. I saw the chains and stuff!"

"Harmony, you'd better shut up right now or I'll stake you on the spot."

"I dare you to try." Harmony gestured over her shoulder with her thumb. "I have new minions, and they're smarter this time."

"Which is why they're taking orders from you."

"Exactly!" Harmony missed the sarcasm in Buffy's words. "You'd better watch your skinny little butt tonight Slayer. You're going down."

"And who's going to take me out you idiot? You?" Buffy leaned over into Harmony's face. "The only reason I didn't kill you before was that you were so stupidly pathetic. I'm over that now."

"I'm pathetic?" Harmony touched her chest with long red fingernails. "You can't even keep a man. Look at the dope you're with tonight!" She turned her eyes on William. "He's kind of short for your tastes, isn't he?"

Dawn giggled. "That didn't used to bother you, Vampira."

"Hey, you're the little sister, aren't you? Wow, you've really grown up." She paused and thought about Dawn's words. "What do you mean it didn't used to bother me?"

"Bloody hell!" William groaned.

Harmony's eyes widened. "Spikey? Is that you?"

He sighed heavily. "Yes, Harm."

"What has she done to you?"

Buffy interrupted. "That's nothing compared to what I'll do to you if you don't get out of this school right now." Buffy reached down and snapped a leg off the table. William hurried to hold up the corner so that the punch didn't crash to the floor. "Leave Harmony, and I might let you live another ten minutes."

"Fine, you scrawny little do-gooder. I'll go." She looked at William. "You are just so pathetic. I can't believe you chose her over me. She doesn't even have any boobs, and I know how much you always liked to."

"Harmony!" William's voice rose.

"OK. I'm leaving. But you haven't seen the last of me. You're all going to be so sorry you weren't a little bit nicer." She to leave.

"Harmony." Buffy stopped her. "If I hear of even one student with a bite mark tonight, I'll kill you."

"Ooh. Aren't you the tough one." Harmony stuck her tongue out at Buffy, then flounced out of the room, followed by her lackeys.

"She was awfully brave, to just walk in here like that tonight." Willow observed.

"I wonder what she really wanted." Xander commented.

"She's totally sleazoid." Dawn opined.

"I can't believe you used to date her." Buffy scowled at William.

"And I can't believe you broke the sodding table!" William griped. "What am I supposed to do, stand here and hold this up all night?"

Buffy handed the leg to Xander. "Here, you're a carpenter. Fix it."

"With what?" Xander held up his hook. "I didn't exactly come equipped for emergency furniture repair."

They were interrupted by screams from the doorway. A stream of vampires and other demons was pouring in, shoving students against the walls and onto the floor. Other creatures, already in the room, began grabbing teenagers and pulling them away.

"Oh my god, Buffy!" Dawn was panicked. "What's happening?"

"We've been waiting for something big." Buffy said grimly. "I'd say it's here."

~*~*~*~

"Dawn, get out of here now!" She turned to William. "You take her and keep her safe."

He let go of the table and everything crashed to the floor, drawing attention to their section of the room. It just emphasized the need for haste. "Come on Nibblet. We need to get you out of here." William grasped her arm and pulled her away.

"Wait." She protested. "I don't want to leave Buffy!"

"Big sis can take care of herself. You know that." He told her, then lifted her bodily to carry her toward the back of the room. "Where are the bloody doors out of here?"

Dawn looked around. "They're all blocked! Put me down."

"You're not getting away from me this time. I'm not letting you out of my sight."

"Look!" Dawn pointed to a section of the room between the bleachers and the wall. "There's Janice and some of the others. We can't leave them in here!"

"You're right." William acknowledged. He scanned the room, noting the hundreds of students whom he now felt responsible for. The escape routes all seemed to be blocked. He put Dawn down. "Give me your shoes, Li'l Bit, then go join your friends. I'm going to try to get you all out of here."

Dawn removed her shoes and handed the high-heeled pumps to William. She turned immediately and ran to join the group of girls cowering nearby. William took the first shoe and aimed at the small red fire alarm box mounted on the wall. He missed it by several inches. He took the second shoe and aimed again. Bingo! The clang of the alarm filled the room and the school, causing a momentary distraction. Demons dropped victims grabbed their ears at the sudden earsplitting noise. William ran to the side of the room where the bleachers were folded below the bank of windows. He shooed the cowering students out of the way, grabbing on to a few of the larger boys nearby. "Drag these things out from the wall!" He ordered them.

He judged the distance from the ground to the top riser, then jumped, catching it with his fingertips. The gloves he wore made it hard to hang on, but he needed them. He managed to swing his leg up on top of the riser just before the entire set began to move out from the wall. He quickly punched his covered fists and feet through the windows, taking time to break off the jagged pieces of glass that remained. "Come on!" He shouted to Dawn and her friends. "Get everybody you can and get out of here!"

The students began streaming up the bleachers. He grabbed two of the large boys who had helped to pull them out. "You, out first. It's a long drop, and you'll need to stay under the windows to catch the others." The boys did as ordered, and two-by-two the teens made their exits. William glanced over his shoulder to see how Buffy was faring.

Buffy had managed to break off the other three legs of the table and had armed Xander and Willow with the makeshift stakes. She quickly lost count of the numbers of vamps she dusted, but there were so many that they just kept coming. The stakes would be small protection against the myriad of demons flooding the room. Willow and Xander were losing ground, but fighting valiantly anyway. Xander was using his hook and his plastic sword to good avail, but Willow was nearly defenseless.

"Xander, stop!" Buffy screamed at him as he prepared to run his stake into the chest of an attacker lying on the floor. "That's a human!"

Xander pulled back and contented himself with kicking the guy in the stomach.

Buffy looked back and saw the escape route that William had fashioned. "Get Willow out of here! Go to the Magic Box and tell Giles what's happened."

Xander staked the vampire preparing to bite Willow, then reached for her hand. "Come on Peter Pan. It's time to fly!"

"But Buffy." She began to protest.

"We can't help now. Come on!"

The line of demons made their way to where the kids were making their way out of the room. Soon the wooden bleachers were on fire, blocking the only means of escape. William helped Willow and Xander out through the window, then jumped to the floor just in time to save himself from incineration. His fury fueled his strength as he quickly killed three nearby demons. The sprinkler system kicked in as the smoke detectors picked up on the fire. The floor became slick with water and the crepe paper decorations hung in tatters. The bleachers were now completely engulfed in flames, and the amount of water falling from the ceiling had little impact on the raging fire.

William made his way to Buffy's side. He began to yell for her to watch out for the huge Chirago demon that was about to throw its six-hundred odd pounds on her, but instead began to twitch.

"What's with him?" Buffy asked William.

"Big and smelly things," he sneered. "They hate the water."

Soon the Chirago was sneezing uncontrollably and it began to wail. Slipping and sliding across the floor, it fled the room.

"Big weenie." Buffy observed. She threw William a stake. "Did Dawn make it out?" she asked him as she continued to fight.

"Yeah. She's safe with your Scooby friends." He told her as he dusted a vampire.

"We can't fight them all." She kicked a demon in the neck, satisfied at the loud snap she heard.

"I know." He punched a track-marked junkie in the gut and followed it up with a blow to the nose. The man fell to the floor clutching both his stomach and his face.

"How did you do that?" Buffy asked in surprise.

"Chip doesn't work anymore."

"NOW you think to tell me that?"

"Subject never came up." He shrugged, then turned to take out another junkie. They were an easy group to defeat. Looking at the bloodied faces of their fallen comrades, they turned tail and ran. "Pathetic lot."

"Looks like they didn't need the extra help anyway." Buffy observed calmly.

William looked around at her words. They were completely surrounded by huge, hideous demons. Fyarls and M'Fashniks and Chaos demons were all closing in on them. "I've always hated those bleedin' Chaos demons." He told Buffy.

"Ugh. Slimy!" She said.

"That's my girl."

*****

The door of the Magic Box burst open, and Xander, Willow, and Dawn ran through. "Anya!" Xander called. "Anya, are you here?"

"Down here." She called from the basement steps. "I'll be right up."

"Hurry!" Willow implored.

"What is it?" Anya carried a jar that looked like deep fried beetles.

Xander tried to catch his breath. "Something big just went down at the high school. We need Giles."

"He's up in the loft, cataloguing the new books we just got in today." She turned and yelled up the stairs. "Giles!"

He moved to the railing and peered down at the group. "Were those your lyrical tones, my dear?"

"Yes." Anya said. "We need you down here. Something's wrong."

Giles deposited a stack of large tomes on a research table and walked down. "What seems to be the problem?"

"Demons!" Willow gasped. "Lots of them. They took the school hostage."

"Where's Buffy?"

"She's still inside, with William." Dawn's lower lip trembled. "They're trapped in there with all those." She broke off.

"Oh dear." Giles removed his glasses.

"I can help." Anya said. Giles turned to look at her questioningly. "There's bound to be a bunch of scared children. I'll get Hallie to go with me. They'll be wanting to go home."

Giles nodded to her and she disappeared.

"Now what?" Xander asked.

"I don't know." Giles said. "We've got to think of something."

~*~*~*~