They stood, together, as they had all night, staring at the flames, unsure what happened next. Buffy was still sniffing softly as Dawn murmured encouraging words in her ear. Willow looked on, grasping Tara’s hand in her own, glancing now and then to Anya and Xander. Cordelia moved to Wesley’s side, casting worried glances at Angel, who remained frozen, Gunn at his side.
“We’re done now,” Jackter said impassively.
“Done?” Buffy asked hollowly.
He nodded. “That’s it. It’s a one time go around, so…sorry kiddies. I’ll just be roasting some marshmallows here now and get some shut-eye.”
“Wait…what are we supposed to do now? Just go home?” Gunn asked him.
Jackter shrugged and turned his back to them, walking into the woods.
“Where’s he going?” Anya cried.
“Should we go after him?” Tara asked.
“I—I guess,” Buffy stammered.
“Or you could gather round the campfire for one more short story, if yer interested,” a voice came from behind them. They turned collectively and watched as Doyle appeared from no where and approached them.
“Doyle!” Cordelia gasped and rushed over to him. “You’re all…ghosty.”
He grinned at her. “Probably better that I’m not of the flesh, darlin’. I have the feelin’ you’d be slapping me right about now.”
“Damn right,” she agreed, but without much heat. “Why didn’t you come see me? Why did you visit Angel?”
He gave her a sad smile. “I wanted ta, ‘Delia. Believe me. But…I have ta do what I’m told.” He looked past her then and addressed the group. “You’re probably all wondering what the bloomin’ heck is going on here…”
“You could say that…mostly I’m wondering who you are,” Xander told him.
Doyle grinned. “Where are my manners?” he began when Cordy snorted.
“You never really had any," she reminded him with a smile.
He grinned more broadly and winked at her. “I’m Doyle…friend of Angel and the fiery Cordelia here. Used to work with them.” His eyes lit on Buffy.
“We’ve met,” Buffy told him softly. “Once.”
“So we have. Nice to see you again,” he nodded, then turned back to the group. “Anyway…I’m here for a little Q & A session…brief, and no math please.”
“Q & A?” Dawn asked. “Like…what?”
“Like…why was it so important we see this,” Gunn muttered.
Doyle nodded. “That’s what I’m talking about.”
“So?” Anya prodded.
The apparition took a seat on Jackter’s tree stump. “You all save the world. How many times have you done that now? You fight demons and you make choices in your lives based around that little vocation. Personal choices, life choices, major decisions in the grand scheme of things, and those decisions weigh on the brain. There’s not a one of you that couldn’t have spent the entire day here, prickin’ at the demon’s mind. So the Powers decided, for their best warriors, they’d clear some things up.”
“The Powers That Be just decided that we could use a little reassurance, so they sent us a demon?” Cordelia asked. “Right.”
“Something like that, though, you’ve put it in the simplest terms,” Doyle told her, eyes twinkling.
“How did they know we wouldn’t choose the other life?” Willow asked.
“They didn’t…exactly,” he told her. “But none of you did.”
“That’s kind of risky, don’t you think?” Gunn asked.
Doyle shrugged. “Something else maybe you all noticed when you were watching the Hi-Fi. Lots of your lives sorta ended up just as you are now.”
“What do you mean?” Xander asked. “Lots of stuff was worse. Really worse.”
“True…but…take Ms. Chase. Wished her parents hadn’t gone bottoms up…and yet she ended up running into you fools despite herself.”
The group was silent for a moment.
“I left the bleedin’ city…lived it up with Dru…and I still ended up back in this dump. Dusted,” Spike muttered, kicking at a rock.
They turned to him and stared before Wesley spoke. “Despite staying in England for all of my life, I ended up running into Mr. Giles and coming here to help you all.”
“And in mine, Giles still left…Mom still died…Glory still hunted down the Key…even though it was me,” Dawn whispered.
“Willow still got into magic…Angel still left Sunnydale…Faith still switched sides…the Mayor still attacked us…” Xander followed up.
“B-Buffy and Faith st-still switched bodies,” Tara remembered.
“I still worked with you guys,” Gunn spoke up, nodding to his co-workers, “on a free-lance basis, anyway.”
“Jenny still died,” Giles whispered sadly.
“I ended up in Los Angeles, met Gunn,” Angel murmured.
All eyes turned to Buffy.
“I think we get the point,” Doyle said, rising from the tree stump. “In some way, sometimes small ways, sometimes huge, in-your-face ways…your lives came completely around…Slayer here saw it more than any of you. Where you are now? That’s where you’re supposed to be.”
“Where—where we’re supposed to be,” Dawn repeated. “Mom’s supposed to be dead? Buffy was supposed to die?” she asked, her voice rising.
Doyle nodded. “I’m sorry, kiddo. But…yeah. There’s this saying, Fate works to correct itself. It’s kinda the theme for tonight’s slide show. No matter what you do in life…you can’t escape your natural path. It may be hard, it may not be what you want…but this is the way of things. Notice...none of you chose the other life? Why? If you could have been happier, why not pick the other?"
"Because it's not here...and..." Dawn offered.
"Because it's not just about our own happiness," Buffy finished softly.
“So are you saying that everything that happened in this world is exactly how it was supposed to happen?” Anya asked.
“Not necessarily. Some things just don’t matter. It’s the big things, or the small things that will lead up to a big something else. I mean, maybe you were supposed to have eggs for breakfast this morning, but it doesn’t matter whether ya did or not. It wasn’t gonna change yer life,” Doyle answered.
“So then, that’s it? This is life, deal with it, have a nice rest of it?” Xander said wryly.
“Yep,” Doyle said, his eyes twinkling.
“That’s a bit anticlimactic, don’t you think?” Anya piped up.
“Are you happy to be where you are?”
Anya paused for a moment, glancing at Xander. “Yes.”
Doyle smiled gently. “Then it’s not.”
“So, why is it that we needed to all come here and see this?” Wesley asked.
“Not all of you had to see it, but the Powers figured it wouldn’t hurt you. Just a few of you really needed it. The ones who are really floundering right now.” Doyle glanced at Buffy, Tara, Xander, and Cordelia. “Things may be tough…but, it’s a part of life, the life you chose. And now…maybe some of you can walk away feeling just a wee bit more secure about that.” He paused, letting them take that in. “Any more questions?”
Buffy took a deep breath. “This is where I’m supposed to be? Completely—completely…” she trailed off, looking around guiltily.
“You’re supposed to be alive, darlin,” Doyle replied, lifting her chin with his hand and staring into her eyes. “You think the Powers would have let your friends work such magics if it wasn’t to be?” They locked the gaze for a moment before Buffy offered him a tremulous smile.
“It’s time for me to go,” he told the group. Angel gave him a soft smile.
“Thank you,” said the souled vampire, looking gratefully at his friend.
“No problem, Boyo,” Doyle grinned cheekily. He approached Cordelia and whispered something in her ear that caused her to grin then tear up, before effectively vanishing into thin air.
The group sat in silence for a long time, watching the fire. Dawn finally looked up. “Um…who wants pancakes?” she asked weakly.
“I could go for some flapjacks right about now,” Gunn replied cheerfully, standing up.
“Food is good,” Xander agreed. The group stood, and moved as one back toward the Sunnydale town limits. The path to town was winding and long, but it was the best way to get to where they were going.
