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"So we meet here at noon tomorrow." Giles said, pointing at the map he had drawn on a small piece of paper. "By that time the demon should be here and he should be chasing Taylor and Buffy." He looked up at both the girls.
Buffy was studying the paper he was pointing at and nodding slowly but Taylor had her eyes turned angrily on Wesley. He sat on the other side of the room with his arms crossed over his chest and her gaze was unwavering. Giles guessed he knew she was staring but refused to look up.
"And then what?" Xander asked.
"You don't need to know that." Buffy said. "You don't even have to be there."
Willow smiled. "You know we will be there no matter what you say."
Buffy nodded. "I know." She looked back at Giles. "So Taylor and I let this guy chase us to that point and ka-bam? You'll blow him up?"
"That's the plan." He answered.
"It's a good plan." Anya said. "I think it'll work."
Buffy looked at her sceptically. "You do?"
Anya nodded. "Sure. It worked last time. The only difference is that Wesley won't be crazy. And hopefully the two of you won't be killed."
Wesley chuckled slowly. "Won't be crazy huh?"
They looked at him in surprise and Taylor narrowed her eyes at him. "Don't start." She said.
The others in the room exchanged worried and confused glances before Giles stood up.
"That's it for now." He said. "Enjoy what's left of your day and night and don't forget to show up tomorrow."
* * *
Xander caught up with Taylor outside and placed his hand on her arm. She turned around with her mouth open, ready to say something mean when she saw it was Xander.
Her hard expression softened and she closed her mouth. "Sorry, I thought you were Wesley."
Xander let go of her. "Which is what I want to talk to you about. What's going on there? You two looked like you wanted to tear out each other's throats."
She shrugged. "Maybe we do."
"Taylor, what's wrong?"
She sighed. "Promise you're not going to tell everyone?"
He nodded. "Scouts' honour. Then again, I was never a scout, so that might not mean much."
She smiled at his joke, then frowned again. "This morning he told me," she paused and swallowed hard, "he told me that he loves me."
"And that made you want to kill him?" Xander asked.
"It's not that." Taylor took a seat on the steps that lead down to the terrace outside of Giles' door. "It's just that I couldn't say it back. I thought I loved him but when it came down to it, I was just too confused."
"And that made him want to kill you?" He asked, even more confused.
"I don't know. I don't think he wants me to be confused."
Xander sat beside her. "So since you're a little confused about your feelings you two want to kill each other?"
She shrugged. "I guess so."
Xander looked at her. "I think maybe you're both over reacting a little. I think he needs to give you some time to figure out what's going on in your heart. You're a very young woman, much younger than he is and I don't know if he quite gets that."
Taylor smiled at him. "Yes, but Giles did tell me once that he said Wesley had the emotional maturity of a blueberry scone." She chuckled. "I don't think I've ever laughed as hard as I did when he told me that. But it's true. Wesley isn't exactly the most experienced man out there. I realize he's older than me and maybe he's had more relationships but that doesn't mean he's told someone that he loved them before. I don't think he has."
"Maybe he hasn't." Xander agreed. "But maybe that's the reason he wants to tell you and he wants you to say it back. He needs to hear it from someone after not hearing it for so long."
Taylor placed her hands in her chin. "Maybe you're right. But I'm not sure if I'm ready to say it to him yet."
Xander stood up and squeezed her shoulder lightly. "You have until noon tomorrow to figure out if you are. That is, if we all die. If not, you have as long as you want. Just don't let it all float away because you're uncertain. Tell me what you told me."
Taylor smiled. "Thanks Xander. You've been a big help."
He grinned. "I aim to please. Speaking of which, you seen Anya?"
Taylor laughed and shook her head. "I think she might have gone home. You two spending the night together?"
He nodded. "I'd like my last night on earth to be a pleasant one."
* * *
Wesley paced the interior of his small apartment as he thought about Taylor and what he had done wrong. Had he really done anything wrong? He had just told her what he felt.
He sighed. He had also demanded that she figure out what was going on, he wouldn't her just be confused. That probably wasn't the best thing he could have done to her. And it probably wouldn't make her figure things out any faster. All he had done was make her feel bad and pressure her.
"Why did I do that?" He asked aloud, stopping his pacing and staring out the window. He paused as someone approached the apartment building he lived in and tried to see their face.
He wasn't sure but the person standing at the front door looked a lot like Taylor.
Wesley pressed his hands against the cool glass and stared directly at the woman that was standing at the door. She looked up for a moment and he caught a glimpse of her face. It was Taylor! He saw her sigh and then turn away.
"No." He murmured. "She can't leave."
As if she heard him she turned back to the building and suddenly seemed to make up her mind. She opened the front door and walked inside. Seconds later, Wesley's buzzer made a quick noise and he pressed the button that would open the door for her. He stood at the door, waiting for her to arrive and when he heard the knock he flew forward and yanked the door open.
"What are you doing here?" He asked, trying to slow his rapidly beating heart.
"I did a lot of thinking today. And I talked to Xander."
Wesley moved aside to let her in. "You talked to Xander? So, did you just come here to share a few sarcastic comments he gave to you?"
Taylor glanced up at him, startled. She had never heard Wesley talk like that to anyone, especially not her.
"I'm sorry." He said.
"Thank you." She answered.
"So, why did you really come here?"
"Because I had something to say to you." She stepped inside and closed the door behind her. "Talking to Xander helped a lot, he brought a lot of things into perspective for me."
"He did?" Wesley looked surprised.
"Yeah, he did. And after I talked to him I thought about what you said to me last night. I realized that maybe I wasn't being fair. It took a lot of guts for you to say that and I knew that maybe you hadn't said that to anyone before." She paused. "Have you?"
He shook his head slowly. "No, I never have."
"And I think I finally figured out what was wrong."
"And what was wrong?"
"It scared me." She answered simply. "I've never had someone tell me that before and it really scared me. I thought maybe you were just lying to tease me or something."
"I would never do that." Wesley said. "I really do love you Taylor."
"I love you too."
He glanced up. "What?"
"I said I love you Wesley. Xander helped me figure that much out."
He looked startled. "Xander helped you arrive at that? Are you sure we know the same Xander?"
She grinned. "Yeah, it's pretty amazing, I know." She moved toward him. "But it's true. And if things go the way this demon wants them to," she paused to look at him, "that means we only have one night left together. And I can't sit alone in my house knowing that we might die tomorrow."
"And what do you suggest we do?"
She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. "Take a guess."
* * *
The sun poured through Buffy and Willow's dorm room the next morning at eight o'clock. Buffy turned over and sighed before getting out of bed and rustling around in her closet for something to wear. Today was the day. Strangely enough, she wasn't at all nervous.
Willow murmured something from her bed and Buffy turned to see her friend's forehead creased in concentration.
"Willow." She called across the room. "Wake up, you're dreaming." She muttered something else and Buffy managed to catch Oz's name in the mix of unintelligible words. She sighed and walked over to her friend's bed, lightly shaking her shoulder.
"Will, wake up."
Willow rolled over and her eyes opened slowly, looking startled to see Buffy leaning over you.
"I had the weirdest dream." She said. "I dreamed that we all died and we went to this place that looked like a beautiful forest and Oz was there with us."
"Please don't Willow." Buffy begged.
Her friend sat up. "I'm sorry. It was just my dream."
"It was a creepy dream."
Willow slowly nodded her agreement. "It was kind of nice at the time but know that I think about it, it was creepy."
"I have to leave soon. I don't want Taylor to go out alone. We need to fight this together, but I'll see you at noon."
"And hopefully we won't die ten minutes after we see each other." Willow said.
"Hopefully." Buffy echoed the word.
* * *
Xander yawned widely and sat up in his bed. Anya was sleeping beside him and he grinned at her before getting out of bed and getting dressed.
He turned around to see her staring at him with wide eyes.
"Where are you going?" She asked. "We still have almost four hours before we have to die. That's lots of time."
Xander smiled. "Sorry Anya. I think I'm going to go see if Buffy and Taylor need any help. You up to it?"
"No, I want to stay here." She pouted. "I want to stay here with you."
He shook his head. "I'm taking off. If you're not coming then I'll see you later." He leaned down and kissed her lightly. "Bye."
She watched him walk up the stairs and close the door behind him. "Men are stupid." She muttered.
* * *
Giles sat in his living room, silently wondering if what they had planned was really good enough. Were they really strong enough to beat this demon? He was supposed to be more horrible than the Master.
*Whom Buffy beat by herself.* He reminded himself.
He stood up and began to pace in the late morning. They only had three more hours until they would all have to meet at their chosen place and hope their plan to kill him would work. That was about all they had at that moment, hope.
* * *
Taylor pulled her sweater over her head and turned to look at Wesley. He was still sleeping and she felt bad leaving him without saying goodbye. But she was scared that if she woke him, she wouldn't be able to leave again and she and Buffy had to get this demon to chase them to their location.
She pulled on her black boots and pulled her jeans down over them before making her way over to Wesley's bed and kissing him lightly on the forehead, then she turned toward his alarm clock. She set it for ten a.m. and left it beside Wesley's head.
They had a little under three hours before they were all supposed to meet up at the place their bomb was planted. She wanted to make sure he'd be there.
Taylor smiled at him, then turned and walked to the door, heading for the place she was going to meet Buffy.
* * *
"Ready?" Buffy asked as Taylor approached her.
The other slayer nodded. "I'm ready, are you?"
Buffy also nodded. "So, now all we have to do is fight some demons for a few hours until this guy shows up, then let him chase us to Giles' bomb."
"Sounds like fun." Taylor looked around. "What do we do now?"
Buffy shrugged. "I guess we wait."
* * *
Two hours later they were still waiting for any demon to show up. Taylor and Buffy sat side by side on a park bench, occasionally one of them would sigh but that was the only sound to be heard.
"I can't believe this." Taylor said. "All this talk and now, nothing! Absolutely nothing! I'm a little surprised."
"Why's that?" Buffy asked.
Taylor shrugged. "This guy is supposed to tear our flesh off our bones and eat our brains. I was expecting at least a little production."
"Hey girls, had any action?" Xander walked up to the bench and sat between them.
Buffy glanced at him in surprise. "What do you think you're doing here?"
"Waiting to lure some brain eater right into the palm of my hand."
Taylor tapped him on the shoulder. "Xander, are you a slayer?"
"No."
She nodded. "Okay, are you a Watcher?"
He shook his head.
"So, then why do you think the demon would follow you?"
Xander opened his mouth to respond, then paused and closed it. "Hm, you know, you're right. Maybe I should just go wait with Giles and the others."
Buffy patted him on the back. "I think that's a better plan Xand. Have fun and try not to blow yourself up before we get there."
They watched him leave, then Buffy turned to Taylor. "What time is it?" She asked.
"Twenty to twelve." She answered, after looking at her watch. "This is really getting boring. I just wish he'd get here already."
"Your wish, ladies, is my command." A gravelly voice spoke from behind them and they both jumped off the bench to stare at the demon that stood there.
Buffy shuddered. "Too terrible to be explained by words is right."
The demon loomed over them at a height of at least twelve feet. His long, red body was layered with muscles from his cloven feet to the curled horns on his head. His body was marked with small burns and indents, like he had been tortured numerous times leaving the scars to remind him.
"I am the End of Days." He said in a voice Buffy found too charming to belong to something that ugly. "I am truly sorry my young ones, but it is time."
"Truly sorry?" Taylor asked, staring at him in disbelief. "You're truly sorry?"
He nodded gravely. "To do this is not of my own free will and my own wishes. This is my punishment for betraying the dark lord."
Buffy's mouth opened then closed. "You betrayed the dark lord?" They both looked completely confused.
The demon sighed. "I can't harm a human. It's not in my blood and when he found this out, he made this my job. Every twelve years I am sent to earth to kill the slayers and all the Watchers that I can find."
"So, why don't you just come along with us and let us blow you up?" Taylor asked, trying to reason with him.
The demon smiled and shook his head. "I only wish it were that easy." Suddenly his body jerked and his eyes rolled back into his head.
"I think we made the dark lord angry." Buffy said, staring up at the demon as he twitched and fluttered his eyelids.
Suddenly he was staring at them again and this time the eyes weren't apologetic and the smile was definitely not gentle. It was pure evil.
"The dark lord has filled me." The gravelly voice was back, replacing the one Buffy had almost found soothing a moment ago. "He had made me realize the error of my ways and now I must do my job."
"Buffy run!" Taylor yelled, then dodged a hand that came down on top of her.
The demon roared with anger when he realized he had missed Taylor and he tried to grab her before she could escape. She darted away and turned to run in the direction Giles had told them to go. The demon snorted then turned on Buffy who was also running in that direction. He chased them down the street in broad daylight, people in buildings and cars were staring and pointed.
"Why doesn't anyone go home?" Taylor puffed as she sprinted down the sidewalk.
Buffy didn't answer her and they both continued running toward the outskirts of town.
"There!" Buffy yelled finally and pointed at a large mansion at the end of a winding road. When Giles had asked her where they should perform this explosion she had immediately suggested Angel's old mansion. There was no real reason, just to get rid of the memories.
The two slayers ran up to the house and inside where Wesley, Giles and the others were waiting.
"Is he following you?" Giles asked and Taylor nodded as they all ran toward the back of the house. The demon burst through the door, taking a few feet of the wall off with his head as he came through.
"That's him?" Anya asked, turning around in the middle of her running. "He's a lot bigger than I remembered."
"Go!" Buffy yelled, pushing against her and causing them both to stumble. The demon reached down and grabbed Buffy's arm, wrapping his fist around it. She yelped in pain as he pulled her off the ground and held her so she was dangling two feet above the ground.
"Put her down." Taylor yelled and spun into a kick she delivered to his leg. She realized that being less than half his height was useless for fighting. He barely glanced down when she kicked him. Instead she turned toward the others and grabbed the bag Giles held out of his hands. As she thought, there were weapons inside and she grabbed the nearest thing she could find. It turned out to be a mace. She swung it once over her head then let it go and it flew into his stomach.
The studded ball stuck to his body and he howled in protest, dropping Buffy in his moment of pain.
"Get up, get up!" Giles said and reached over to help her.
"We have to get out of here now!" Taylor yelled, backing up slowly. The others began to run again but Taylor continued to walk backward.
"Taylor, move!" Wesley screamed at her but she didn't hear him. He sighed and ran back for her when the demon's hand shot up and smacked her against a wall. She hit the hard surface, then fell to the ground unconscious.
Wesley looked toward the others. "Someone get her out of here!"
Xander ran back and grabbed her before the demon could do anymore damage as Wesley grabbed the detonator out of Giles' hands.
"Wesley what are you doing?" Giles asked.
"Get her out." He replied, then watched as they carried her away. Wesley picked up the mace that had fallen to the ground and threw it at the demon again.
"Oh, does that hurt?" He asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm when the demon grunted and tried to rip the weapon out of his already bloody stomach.
* * *
Taylor opened her eyes slowly to find herself staring up at five faces. She sat up and found that they were outside.
"Where's Wesley?" She asked. "Did we blow up the demon?"
Giles opened his mouth to speak when the mansion behind him exploded in a ball of flames.
"Where's Wesley?" Taylor asked again.
Buffy closed her eyes slowly then opened them again. "He was still in the house."
Taylor got to her feet. "What? You left him in there?"
"We didn't leave him there." Xander said. "He refused to leave himself. Maybe Anya was right, he did go crazy."
"But he killed the demon." Anya tried to point out helpfully.
"And himself." Taylor answered, then walked off to search the perimeter of the house.
"Do you think she'll find him Giles?" Buffy asked.
Her former watcher shook his head. "I don't think he got out."
"Hey!" They heard Taylor's voice call around from the front of the house. "Someone call an ambulance. He's still alive!"
As Giles rushed off to find a pay phone the others ran to where her voice was coming from. They found Wesley about fifty yards from the front door that had been blown off in the explosion. He was covered in soot and ash and one of his arms looked severely burnt but he was alive.
"Wesley, what were you thinking?" Buffy scolded, kneeling down beside him and Taylor.
"Of her." He said, staring into Taylor's eyes.
"What'd you do?" Xander asked, sounding impressed and inferior at the same time.
"Ran out the door before I set off our bomb." He coughed. "I didn't get far enough before it exploded obviously." He said, gesturing to his arm and how far he had been thrown.
"Is the demon dead?" Buffy asked.
He nodded.
"How do you know?"
Wesley sat up, then peeled a chunk of slimy red skin of his sweater. "Trust me, I know."
Taylor sat back with Wesley's head in her lap as they listened to the wailing ambulance approaching. "At least that's over." She said.
Buffy laughed. "Taylor, the way things are with us, this is only the beginning."
The End
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