Cordelia nervously rang the doorbell and turned to Buffy.

"Like I said, stay out of sight, until I explain to Giles what's going on, he's like old and a sudden shock can kill him."

Buffy silently nodded her head; she was having trouble taking all of what Cordelia had told her in. There seemed to be another Buffy Summers, who died. Giles was her watcher, she had terrific but lame friends according to Cordelia and her parents were alive! She and Cordelia had attended the same school for about 2 1/2 years before she died of a vamp attack outside the Bronze. Cordelia hinted at more but she said it would be better if Giles told her.

"Cordelia! What a surprise, what brings you here tonight? There's no trouble is there?" Giles was suddenly nervous, since Buffy's death, he was paranoid about the safety of the others, even Angel.

"Everything's great, Giles. I sort of ran into someone who is sort of like someone we already know or knew, and I was thinking that maybe you and this someone should sit down and talk." Cordelia was very proud of herself, there she told him without causing him a heart attack.

"Was that in English?" Giles looked perplexed. "Why don't you come in and explain exactly what's going on."

"Didn't I just do that...god some people you just have to draw a picture." With that Cordelia pulled Buffy out of the shadows to stand in front of Giles.

"Giles, meet Buffy the second."

"Oh dear...Oh...there must be some kind of mis..." Giles' eyes filled with tears, he stepped forward and pulled Buffy into a tight embrace. "Buffy...is it really you?"

"Back off, Jeeves!" Buffy quickly pushed the guy away. "I don't know about your Buffy but I don't get all touchy, feely with my watchers."

Giles seemed to collect himself, he realized now that there was more going on.

"You two better come in, I believe we have a long night ahead of us."

Buffy was getting tired of repeating her story to this Giles guy, talk about anal!

"So...Buffy," Giles seemed to choke everytime he said her name. "You saw a flash then you were pulled through a dark tunnel and ended up in back of the Bronze."

"Yep, that about covers it, though it wasn't exactly a tunnel, it was more like some sort of vacuum."

"Interesting." Giles stood and went for a book in his private library.

"Is he always this..." Buffy couldn't find the right word.

"Uptight?" Cordelia helpfully replied. "Yah, but you like him anyway."

"He's not so bad, he seems to really care. My watcher just gives me my assignments and takes off. I think he's scared of demons or something."

"Well, talking about scary, let's talk about your rapidly declining fashion sense. The last Buffy was miles from fashion city but you, well you're not even on the same planet. That Rambo look went out like in the eighties and that hair. When's the last time you trimmed those split ends?"

Buffy self-consciously grabbed the end of her braid, it was so long it brushed the small of her back.

Then she abruptly stood, suddenly angry at this girl for making her care about unimportant things like her appearance. She grabbed the girl by the collar.

"Who the hell do you think you are? Do you have any idea how easily I could crush you? Maybe this other Buffy tolerated your bitchiness, but sister let me tell you something." Buffy moved her face close to Cordelia's. "I'm not her, cross me and you'll regret it!"

Cordelia shook herself free. "Trauma much? No need to go all psycho girl on me, one wacked out slayer is enough! God, take a pill, a little fashion advice never hurt anyone. Besides you really don't want to run into Angel looking like that!"

"What do mean "one psycho slayer" and who's Angel?" Buffy could barely understand Cordelia but she understood enough to calm down. She had a feeling she already knew who or what Angel was but decided to play stupid until she had the whole story.

Giles walked back into the room, a book in his hands.

"I believe Cordelia is referring to Faith; in this time line there are two slayers. Faith couldn't emotionally deal with the stress of being a slayer and turned against us and is now working with our Mayor, who is really a demon. I'll explain more of that later."

"And Angel is..." Buffy wondered if this was the same vamp who the Master had held captive.

"Angel...well...Angel is...a vampire."

Cordelia rolled her eyes at Giles.

"Giles just tell her, she'll find out soon enough. Besides the old Buffy was in love with Angel, this one doesn't even seem to like anyone. What are the chances two Buffy's will fall for Angel?

"Wait one minute! " Buffy couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Are you saying that I, I mean my other me "fell" for him? That's disgusting!"

"That's what Xander always said but you were like...'Oh, Angel this and Angel that.' Cordelia was starting to have fun.

Buffy looked sick.

"Angel is a vampire with a soul..." Giles launched into Angel's history and gave Buffy a brief, dry account of her relationship with the vampire.

"So he lost his soul when he and I...I mean...the other Buffy did it?" Buffy's mind didn't seem to be able to get past the fact that she and a vampire "did it".

"Yah, but you two thought you were like "eternally connected" or something so you stayed together and lived unhappily ever after, well at least until you died."

"Cordelia is correct, Buffy and Angel had a very strong bond, I hate to think about how he's going to react to this." Giles was not only worrying about Angel but about Joyce, Willow and Xander.

"So why don't you just zap me back to my world and no one would ever have to know." Buffy wanted to be gone, this was too weird. Her mom alive, friends who cared and a vampire boyfriend. Her other self seemed to like breaking all the slayer rules.

"It's not as easy at that, it seems that in order to return you we must first find the power that brought you here. I found a reference to Alternate Universes and Time-Lines in this book and it is very specific about this point." Giles looked up at Buffy.

"Why can't you stay here?" Buffy and Giles both turned to look at Cordelia. "I mean, not for me of course but... I think this world might need you." Cordelia looked to Giles for support. "Giles, you were just saying how unusual it was that a new slayer wasn't called when Buffy died, we chalked it up to Faith being here, but what if Buffy, this Buffy, is the new slayer."

"I don't know Cordelia, it is plausible."

"It's totally plausible! Maybe this world needed her more than the other world...she even said how the other world was practically taken over by vamps anyway; maybe there was no hope for them. Maybe there's still hope for us."

"You people just don't get! I don't want to stay here! Granted my life wasn't much of a life but it was MY LIFE! Here I'm just a shadow of that other girl." Buffy was getting seriously upset at the thought of being trapped in this world.

"I don't want to see my mom again, I don't want friends and I don't want some vampire boyfriend! All I want is to go back and have the Master finally snap my neck!"

Giles looked at the girl in horror. "What did you just say?"

"What part didn't you catch, Einstein?!"

"You said the Master was going to snap your neck?"

"So...what of it?" Buffy didn't understand what point he was trying to make.

"Buffy, our Buffy, died when a vampire snapped her neck in that alley."

Buffy looked stunned. Cordelia had tears in her eyes as she remembered how her friend died.

"That's way too freaky a coincidence."

"My thoughts exactly, Cordelia."

"So it looks like maybe my being here isn't a random thing?"

"We don't know that yet, Buffy, but we will find out, I promise you."

"So what am I suppose to do?"

"You can stay here and out of sight until we settle this. Cordelia you mustn't tell the others, it would only be a painful reminder to them. Plus, Buffy here might not be staying long."

"OK. But it's going to be hard." Cordelia got up and walked toward the door. "Goodnight Giles."

"Good night, Cordelia."

"Buffy...goodnight...maybe if you're still around in a couple of days, I'll come back with some real clothes."

With that last comment she walked out the door.

"Giles?"

"Yes, Buffy?"

"Is your Buffy the same as me? I mean are we the same people? Will we like the same things?" For the first time in 3 years Buffy Summers felt vulnerable.

"Time will tell, Buffy. Go to bed, we'll talk more when I arrive back from work tomorrow. The spare room is through that door." Giles pointed to a closed door.

"Buffy, whatever you do, do not leave this house. I can't explain how painful it would be for anyone you were close to, to see you."

Buffy nodded and went into the spare room. Alone in the strange room she finally started to assimilate some of the facts she learned tonight. This Giles was way more organized than the Giles she had met briefly in her world. And that girl, Cordelia, she remembered now the other Giles saying something about a necklace and how the dead girl Cordelia had made some sort of wish; she'd have to look more into that. Maybe she should tell this Cordelia that she was dead in her world, maybe that would shut her up! How did her other self put up with her mouth? She supposed she meant well, but God! That attitude!

And Angel. This is where she had the most trouble understanding the other Buffy. She did notice his looks when she helped him out of his cage, but to actually kiss and do a lot more with a walking corpse! Yuck!

Buffy never dated, her last date was with a boy named Tyler back when she was a freshman at Hemery. How did the other Buffy handle slaying, a full social life with friends and an undead boyfriend? Didn't she realize her sacred duty? Didn't she know how much danger she was putting her friends and family in? What was wrong with that girl?! She supposed that this world's Buffy was still the selfish airhead only interested in boys and parties. That was the only explanation she could come up with, though it didn't explain Angel. Buffy knew she would never get to sleep that night.

*Maybe I'll take a stroll, check out the neighborhood. No harm in that, I'll be back before Jeeves even wakes up.* With that thought Buffy climbed out the bedroom window and hit the streets.