Title: The End
Author: Paradox761
Email: Paradox761@mail.com

Website: members.tripod.com/~Paradox761
Disclaimer: Joss and co. own all things Buffy, no copyright infringement is intended. So please don’t sue, I don’t have any money anyway.
Summary: Post “Wrecked”, alt ending for season 6, and the series. B/W/X-friendship, Slight B/X and Ay/X.
Spoilers: “Wrecked”, and most of season 6.
Author’s note: For the purposes of characterization, in this story Spike did not attempt to rape Buffy. I am NOT a Spike fan, and this is NOT a fix-it fic. But I started this story before that happened, and I find it hard to write Spike as a sympathetic character after that scene. So to continue with the story as planned, that scene didn’t happen. Also, this story takes place before the Angel episode “Sleep Tight”. Also, I started this story after “Wrecked”, as I was starting to become unhappy with the way season six was turning out. I must say though, I couldn’t be happier with the way it ended. I could never top “Grave”, nor would I try. So I’ve gone in a different direction with this. But I did paraphrase some lines from Xander’s speech.
Dedication: To Jordan and Jessica, my angels. May they rest in peace.
Special thanks to: Wayne, Rob Clark, Ghostrider, Ozmandayus, Maggie C., Furious George, Bill, Calen, Chorlton, John, Wicked Raygun, DaBear, Cobra, Jeconais, Nathan Postmark, David, Drake Roberts, Angelus, Queen Boadicea, Scott, Malaskor, and The Crowe for the feedback and the encouragement with this story. I really appreciate it.

(7/12)

Xander looked across the table at three stunned faces.  “That’s my plan.”

It took a few moments for everything Xander had told them to sink in.  Finally Buffy spoke.  “I have a question.”

“Just one?” Spike commented.

“You’re telling me that Tara is a robot?” Buffy continued, ignoring Spike.  “How could you let Dawn leave with her!” Buffy yelled, rising to her feet.

“Buffy, calm down.  If the robot were here to hurt Dawn, it would have done it by now.  And if it’s programmed to act like Tara, which it appears that it is, it wouldn’t be capable of hurting her.  No, it’s here as a spy.”  Buffy sat back down, looking calmer but still a little upset with Xander.

“How do you know she’s a robot?” Anya asked.

“I noticed she was acting a little odd earlier today when I was at Buffy’s house.  Tara gave me a number where I could reach her before she left, in case of an emergency.  On a hunch, I called the number.  Tara answered the phone.  We figured it out together.  She’s on her way here now.”

Buffy shook her head.  “I can’t believe Willow would have a Tara robot built just to spy on us.”

“Something tells me that isn’t the only reason, Luv,” Spike said.

Xander let out a sigh.  “Sadly, I think Spike is right.  You saw how obsessed Willow became with Tara joining her.  Once Tara left town…well, it makes sense.”

“Why didn’t you just tell us what you were up to, mate?” Spike asked Xander.

“I needed your reactions to be real.  I’m sorry if I scared you guys.  And I’m sorry that I yelled at you Spike, but you were about to mention the protection amulet.  And that’s an advantage that we need, I couldn’t let Willow find out about it.”

“How did you know that Buffy would go for it?”

Xander glanced at Buffy nervously for a second.  “I just took a chance that I’d be able to convince her that it was our only choice.”  Spike and Xander exchanged a brief look.  Spike knew that wasn’t all of it, but Xander’s look convinced him that now wasn’t the time to bring it up.

“What I don’t understand is that your real plan isn’t that far from the one you told them,” Spike continued.

“It’s enough to give us an advantage.”

“But why tell them we’re coming at all?  Why not say that we’re going to attack next week?”

Xander shook his head.  “We’re talking about powerful magic here, they’re going to see us coming no matter when we attack.  The only way to get the element of surprise back, is to mislead them as to what’s coming.  Make them overconfident.”  Xander looked around at all three of them again.  “So, what do you guys think?”

“I think that Oz’s humus plan from graduation is starting to seem sensible,” Buffy said.

“I don’t know if I can do what you want me to,” Anya said.  “It’s been a while, I’m a little out of practice.”

“When you said *slightly* less crazy, you weren’t kidding,” Spike put in.  “It might not be suicidal, but it’s still damn foolhardy.”  He paused.  “But you’re right, it’s the best shot we have.”

“Agreed,” Buffy said flatly after a few seconds.

Xander smiled a little.  “Good,” he said, turning to Anya.  “Ahn, don’t worry.  I’m sure you’ll do fine, and you’ll have Tara to help you.  She’s going to be our biggest advantage.”

Anya nodded.  “I’ll start getting the ingredients we’ll need together,” she said, heading behind the counter to look through the shelves.”

“And I’ll go find Clem, see what kind of muscle I can scrounge up,” Spike said, heading for the door.

Xander nodded goodbye to the departing vampire before looking back across the table at Buffy.  She was looking down at the tabletop with a pensive look on her face.  “Are you going to be okay with this plan?  I know that it won’t be easy for you.”

Buffy waved him off.  “I’ll be fine,” she said.

Xander was torn.  On one hand, he didn’t want to bring up their argument from earlier, Buffy clearly seemed mad at him still.  But on the other hand, the battle to come required everyone at their peak, and he needed to make sure that Buffy would be able to deal.  Because if she walked into this battle distracted, she could get killed.

“Buffy, about earlier,” he started.  She looked up.  “I know that it probably doesn’t seem like it to you right now, but I said what I said because I care about you.”

“I know,” Buffy said after a moment.

She sounded almost like a scolded child, which surprised Xander.  “I just want to make sure that you’re going to be able to focus on what’s ahead.  I don’t want you to get hurt.”

After everything she had put him through, after everything she had said and did to him not four hours earlier, he was still worried for her safety.  He wasn’t even angry, not even a little bit.  Buffy looked into his eyes and all she saw was concern.  She just didn’t understand it.  Why wasn’t he still yelling at her?  Why hadn’t he just left, years ago?  She wanted to say she was sorry?  She wanted to tell him how important he was to her, and how thankful she was to him for everything he had done for her, and for Dawn.  But when she opened her mouth to speak, none of that came out.  “I’ll…I’ll be fine.  I know how to stay focused.”

Xander knew that she was right.  After everything that she had been through the fact that she was still alive attested to that.  He just needed to hear it.  He was having trouble reading her.  She didn’t seem mad anymore, just sad.  He wasn’t sure he knew why.  “Do you want to talk about it?  About…anything?”

“I…” she started.  But she stopped herself.  “Maybe later.”

Xander nodded.  “Okay.  Well, I guess I have a phone call I should make,” he said, rising from the table.

Buffy reached out and touched Xander’s hand.  “Wait.”  Xander stopped and looked down at her.  “I’ll call.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah.”

Xander just nodded.  He gave her a little half smile and turned, heading towards where Anya was looking through the shelves.

Buffy took a deep breath and made her way to the phone.  She needed to stay focused if they had any hope of surviving what was to come.  At least that’s what she told herself.  The truth was that she was just too afraid of what would happen if she went down that road, if she told Xander everything that she had been thinking.  She was afraid of his feelings, and of her own.  She told herself that she had time, she would wait until after tomorrow night.  She just hoped that they would both still be alive after tomorrow night.

She picked up the phone and dialed the numbed from memory.  It only rang twice before someone picked it up and spoke.

“Angel Investigations, we help the hopeless.”