Act Three

Buffy's apartment. Lily is there waiting for her to return. She finds Buffy's stuffed duck and picks it up to stroke it. Buffy opens the door, comes in and closes it behind her. Lily puts the duck down and steps closer to Buffy.

Lily: Did you find Rickie? I thought of... Well, he likes to go to this movie house, you can get in around the back...

Buffy: (interrupting) Lily... I think he's dead.

Lily: (very sad and lost) But... he takes care of me.

Buffy: I'm sorry.

Lily: We're gonna get a place. His cousin can get him a job at the car wash.

Buffy: Lily, there's... (exhales) there's something else. (sits on the bed) The, the person that I found... was old. He-he looked about eighty.

Lily: Well, that's not Rickie!

Buffy: I'm sure it was. I, I don't know how, but... it was like something drained the life out of him.

Lily: Do you mean like a vampire?

Buffy: No. A vampire couldn't accelerate the aging process. Maybe it was something in his blood. (has a thought) When was the last time you guys gave blood together?

Lily: I don't understand. Maybe it's not Rickie, okay?

Buffy: (stands up) Lily, this is something you're just gonna have to deal with.

Lily: (flustered) But he didn't do anything wrong! Why would this happen to him?

Buffy: That's *not* the point. (Lily calms a bit) These things happen all the time. You can't just... close your eyes and hope that they're gonna go away.

Lily: Is it 'cause of you?

Buffy: (confused) What?

Lily: You know about monsters and stuff. You could have brought this with you.

Buffy: (very annoyed) I didn't bring anything with me. And I didn't ask for you to come to me with your problems. I just wanted to be left alone. If you can't deal, then *don't* lay it off on me!

Lily can't take it. She holds up her hands to deny what she's hearing and walks out of the apartment. Buffy sighs, regretting raising her voice to Lily. Cut to the street. Lily stops walking and leans against the iron gates pulled across a storefront. Ken comes up behind her.

Ken: Are you okay?

Lily shakes her head, barely able to keep from crying.

Ken: Hey, it's okay. Maybe I can help.

Lily: (sniffles) You can't. (breathes deeply)

Ken: Look, I know you all think I'm a big square handing out leaflets about hope. But hope is a real thing, just like despair. And hope can fill up a part of you that's missing.

Lily: But Rickie is...

Ken: Rickie? Say, are you Lily? (smiles) Right! He was talking about you.

Lily: (faces him) You've seen Rickie?

Ken: Oh, sure! Rickie's with us now.

Lily: She said he was dead.

Ken: Well, someone's sure handed you a tall tale. Rickie's no more dead than I am. Why don't you come to Family Home? We'll get you taken care of.

Lily considers for a moment. Ken smiles at her, and she nods in agreement. He takes her by the arm and leads her away. Cut to the blood bank. A shadow appears on the other side of the frosted glass of the door. The camera pans down to the doorknob being jiggled. Suddenly it gets ripped out of the door. Cut to a filing cabinet. Buffy is looking through it to find Rickie's records. She grabs it and a few others, closes the cabinet and takes the folders over to a desk. She turns on a lamp and begins to go through them. First she pulls out Rickie's and opens it. She scans his latest donation form. It looks normal, except for the word "candidate" in the comments box.

Buffy: Candidate for what?

Behind her the nurse quietly walks in. Buffy opens another record and sees "candidate" again.

Nurse: What are you doing?

Buffy: Breaking into your office and going through your private files. (looks at another file) Candidate for what?

Nurse: I'm calling the police.

She steps toward Buffy to get to the phone. Buffy reaches over to the phone and yanks it off of the wall. It falls to the desk with its wires torn.

Buffy: Now, you've got a whole bunch of candidates here. I wonder if any of them are missing like Rickie. (faces the nurse) Gosh, I bet they are.

Nurse: You're getting yourself in a lot of trouble.

Buffy: I don't want any trouble. I just want to be alone and quiet in a room with a chair and a fireplace and a tea cozy. I don't even know what a tea cozy is, but I want one. Instead, I keep getting trouble, which I am more than willing to share. (the nurse looks at her nervously) What are you doing with these kids?

Nurse: Nothing. I just...I give him the names of the healthy ones.

Buffy: Give them to who?

Cut to Family Home. Ken looks at Lily, who is wearing only a simple long tunic.

Ken: Well, don't you look nice?

Lily: I guess.

Ken: Well, you don't want to wear your own outfit to the cleansing. It'll get soaked.

Lily: A cleansing is like a baptism? Right?

Ken: Not quite the same.

Indicates the way. She follows him.

Lily: Will I see Rickie after?

Ken: Oh, of course. He's waiting for you. He's very excited.

Cut to the Sunnydale cemetery. Xander, Cordelia, Willow and Oz walk along a pathway. Oz is twirling a stake.

Cordelia: Why do I have to be bait? I'm always bait. Why can't Willow be bait?

Xander: He's already seen Willow. And could you complain louder so that all the vampires leave?

Oz: I think this is a good spot.

They all stop and look around.

Oz: Is everybody packin'?

Willow and Xander each pull out a stake. Willow also has a cross.

Oz: Let's do it.

Willow, Oz and Xander split up and look for places to hide, leaving Cordelia alone out in the open. Cordelia is not liking this, and she quickly makes tracks after Xander.

Cordelia: I'm doing this for Buffy's sake. This has nothing to do with you.

Xander: Yeah, like I needed that cleared up. (finds a hiding place) Go away. This is my hiding spot.

Cordelia: Where do I hide?

Xander: You don't hide. You're bait. Go act baity.

Cordelia: What's the plan?

Xander: The vampire attacks you.

Cordelia: And then what?

Xander: The vampire kills you. We watch, we rejoice.

Willow overhears from her hiding place and sighs.

Cordelia: Everything's a joke with you.

Xander: No, just our relationship.

Cordelia: What relationship?

Willow looks down at her stake, contemplating using it on them. Andrew appears behind her and smiles evilly.

Xander: Oh, that's right, I forgot. We actually want to bury that piece of the past, don't we?

Andrew begins to sneak up on Willow. Cut to Family Home. The camera shows a small rectangular pool of what looks like black tar, and pans up from it to Ken and Lily walking into the room.

Ken: We come to this station to wash away the past. Go ahead, kneel.

He indicates the edge of the pool, and Lily kneels down. Ken squats next to her.

Ken: We let the water run over the sin and the pain and the uncertainty.

Lily: It looks kinda... dirty.

Ken: (smiles) Yeah.

Cut to the front door of Family Home. A man comes up to the door where another man is already listening to Buffy talk.

Buffy: You know, I just... I woke up, and I looked in the mirror, and I thought, hey, what's with all the sin? I need to change. I'm... I'm dirty. I'm, I'm bad with the... sex and the envy and that, that loud music us kids listen to nowadays. W... (sees that the guy isn't buying it) Oh, I just suck at undercover. Where's Ken?

The man tries to slam the door closed, but she kicks it open and it slams into his face instead. She marches in. Cut to Ken and Lily. She reaches down to the black water in the pool. For a moment she hesitates, but then puts her hand in. The liquid is thick and pitch-black, and her hand disappears in it. Buffy swings open the door, banging it loudly into the wall. Ken looks at her and stands up.

Ken: This is a private moment. If you could just...

Buffy: How do you make 'em old, Ken? Do you feed on youth? What's the deal?

Ken: Do you really wanna know?

Lily: (looks back) What's going on?

Buffy is surprised to see Lily there. Suddenly something grabs Lily. She screams as she is pulled into the pool and disappears into the black slime. Buffy runs to help, but Ken grabs her and chokes her with his arm around her neck. Buffy grabs his arm and tries to snap her body back to make him release her, but instead they just both fall into the pool as well. Cut to a dimly lit passageway. Buffy and Ken fall out of a black pool in the ceiling. Buffy briefly looks up at the pool, then looks around to see where she is. She sees Lily leaning against the wall holding her head.

Buffy: Lily...

She rolls over onto her hands and knees and quickly crawls over to Lily. Ken is faring worse, apparently hurt in the fall.

Lily: (in pain) Oh...

Buffy looks up at the pool in the ceiling. The waves from her fall through it are beginning to dissipate.

Ken: Oh, my face!

Buffy looks over at Ken.

Ken: Ow! My face!

He turns toward them and begins to pull it and his hair off.

Ken: Do you have any idea how hard it is to glue that thing on?!

Beneath his mask Ken's face is red and his head is bald. There appear to be pieces of skin missing from his forehead, revealing the even redder flesh beneath. Lily begins to panic. Buffy starts to get to her feet and tries to pull Lily up with her. Ken stands up.

Ken: (yells) Guards!

Buffy takes Lily's hand and begins to run, pulling her along. Two guards show up. Their faces are even more mangled and raw-looking than Ken's. One of the guards hands Ken a club. They begin to pursue the girls. Buffy and Lily run through a maze of halls and come out on a ledge that overlooks what looks like a large iron works. There are huge vats of molten metal, sparks are flying through the air from one side, and it is hot and smoky. Buffy looks closer, and in the shadows sees people being used as slave labor, kept in line by more guards with whips. The camera pans through the place showing zombie-like humans pounding the metal on anvils, pushing wheelbarrows from place to place and swinging sledgehammers. Some of them cough hard as they work. The guards watch and crack their whips every so often. Ken comes up behind Lily as she takes in the scene.

Ken: Welcome to my world. I hope you like it.

Buffy and Lily look back at him. He hits Buffy hard in the face with his club, knocking her out.

Ken: (to Lily) You're never leaving.

He smiles and licks his lips.

Act Four

The Sunnydale cemetery. Cordelia and Xander are still arguing.

Xander: Let me ask: how long did it take you to forget me? Were you still taxiing down the runway, or was it actually in the cab?

Cordelia: Oh, yeah! Mr. Faithful? You probably met up with some hot little Inca Mummy Girl. Yeah! I heard about her.

Xander raises his finger at her and is about to respond when they hear Willow get tackled to the ground and scream.

Willow: Help!

Their attention is immediately diverted to Willow, and they begin to run to her aid. Oz is quicker and beats them there. He jumps over Andrew and grabs him on the way, using his momentum to pull Andrew off of Willow and then throw him aside. Andrew and Willow both quickly get to their feet. Oz holds up his stake, ready to attack Andrew. Willow runs away. Oz lunges at Andrew, but he just diverts Oz to the side and sends him rolling to the ground. Next Xander comes at Andrew, stake held ready, but Andrew grabs his staking arm by the wrist with one hand and his shoulder with the other, and they begin to struggle. Cordelia watches them struggle, worried.

Cordelia: Xander!

She decides to join the fight, and attacks Andrew from behind, pushing him and Xander down to the ground. They end up with Andrew sandwiched between Xander on the bottom and Cordelia on the top. With Cordelia's weight on top of him and Xander's leverage against the ground, Andrew can't hold back the stake any longer, and it plunges into his chest. He explodes into ashes between them, and Cordelia falls down on top of Xander. The two of them look at each other for an instant, then grab each other and start kissing passionately. Cut to Ken's world. Buffy is lying on the floor in a cell. Lily is sitting on the floor behind her leaning against a pillar. Buffy regains consciousness, rolls onto her side and feels her head where Ken hit her. No blood, but she is still a bit dazed.

Buffy: Oh. Unh... (slowly sits up) Lily...

Lily: I always knew I would come here... sooner or later. I knew I belonged here.

Buffy: (looks around) Where?

Lily: Hell.

Buffy: (turns her head toward Lily) This isn't Hell.

Ken: (appears at the bars) Isn't it?

Buffy spins her head around to look at Ken, but quickly regrets moving it so fast.

Buffy: (in pain) Unh... (rubs her forehead)

Ken: What is Hell but the total absence of hope? The substance, the tactile proof of despair. You're right, Lily. This is where you've been heading all your life. Just like Rickie.

Lily: Rickie...?

Ken: He forgot you. Well, it took him a long time. He remembered your name years after he'd forgotten his own. But, in the end...

Lily: Years? But...

Ken: Oh. Uh, interesting thing: time moves more quickly here than in your reality. A hundred long years will pass here. On Earth, it's just a day.

Buffy: So you just work us till we're too old and spit us back out.

Ken: That's the plan. See, Lily, you'll die of old age before anyone wonders where you went. Not that anyone will, that's why we chose you.

Buffy: You didn't choose me.

Ken: No. But... I know you... *Anne*. So afraid. So pathetically determined to run away from whatever it is you used to be. (Buffy looks away) To disappear. Congratulations. (Buffy looks at him again) You got your wish.

Cut to a personnel elevator. The huge steel door splits open, the upper half rising, the lower half sinking. A group of young slaves including Buffy and Lily is herded out. Buffy trips and falls to the floor. The other slaves stop walking. A guard starts to explain things to the new recruits as Buffy slowly gets back to her feet.

Guard: You work, and you live. That is all.

The guard has even less skin on his head than Ken, just a few patches around his eyes and across the top of his head sewn together. His chin and cheeks are exposed flesh and muscle, and he has no lips covering his teeth. Buffy is standing again, holding her head in pain.

Guard: You do not complain or laugh or do anything besides work. Whatever you thought, whatever you were does not matter. You are no one now. You mean nothing.

The guard walks to one end of the group and faces the boy standing there. Behind them the elevator doors close with a slam.

Guard: Who are you?

Boy#1: (afraid) Aaron.

The guard whales hard on him with his club, and the boy grunts in pain and falls to the floor unconscious. Buffy immediately sobers, and stares intensely ahead. The guard advances to Lily.

Guard: Who are you?

Lily: (whimpers) No one.

The guard continues to the next person.

Guard: Who are you?

Boy#2: (fearfully) No one.

The guard reaches Buffy.

Guard: Who are you?

She looks up at him for a moment, and then smiles.

Buffy: (friendly) I'm Buffy. The Vampire Slayer. And you are...?

The guard is incensed at her insubordination, and roars as he wields back his club to strike her. He swings at Buffy, but she sidesteps him and grabs his arm as he bends over from his follow-through. Buffy slams her other forearm down on the guard's, breaking it. He falls to the floor in pain. She picks up his club and swings it at another guard, striking him in the head. She swings again the opposite way at a third guard, hitting him in the gut. They both fall unconscious. Buffy looks over at the group of would-be slaves.

Buffy: Anyone who's not having fun here, follow me.

She starts to run, and the group follows her. Cut to a shot of the main iron works from above. The vats of molten metal glow brightly. There are sparks flying everywhere. Cut to the slaves working below. The camera pans up to a ledge where two guards are watching them work. Cut to a guard walking down a metal staircase. Buffy and the small group are hiding beneath it.

Buffy: (looking up at the guards) There's no way we can get back up there without meeting new people. (looks at Lily) Okay. Lily, when those guards leave, and they will leave, I want you to take these people and get them up there, okay? Fast and quiet.

Lily: You're leaving me? But...

Buffy: Lily... You can handle this. 'Cause I say so.

Suddenly a siren begins to wail loudly.

Buffy: We've gone public. Okay, quick, get them up. Go! Quiet!

Lily begins to lead them away, but comes back.

Lily: I'm sorry I said this was your fault before.

Buffy: Lily, this can wait.

Lily: Well, in case we die...

Buffy: Go! Go!

Lily runs off to lead the group out. Buffy sees two guards coming for them and leads them away at a run. She winds around through the slaves still blindly working away. The guards are big and bulky compared to her small figure darting through the maze, but they manage to keep up. She sees a pole jutting out of the floor and grabs onto it, swings around once and knocks one of the guards out with an aerial side kick. She lets go of the pole and begins to run again. She reaches a platform, shoulder rolls onto it and rises to a standing position. Her pursuer jumps up onto the stage and tries a backhand swing at her with his sledgehammer, but she ducks and blocks his second swing. The guard kicks up with his knee and gets Buffy in the stomach, stunning her. He punches her, making her fall to the floor. He takes a swing at Buffy's head, but she clamps her hands around the hammer's handle and yanks him up and over her. He slams down hard onto his shoulder and rolls off of the platform. Buffy still has his hammer and quickly gets to her feet. The two other guards on the ledge leave their post and begin to approach her. Cut to Lily leading the group to a set of stairs. She ushers them up.

Lily: C'mon, c'mon, everybody go! Go!

One after the other they quickly climb the stairs. Lily brings up the rear. On the platform Buffy continues to fight another guard. She quickly hits him in the head with a full spinning out-to-in crescent kick. He takes the blow hard and falls off of the platform. Still another guard takes a swing at Buffy's legs with his sledgehammer, but she jumps high to avoid the swing. Buffy swings her hammer into the guard's face, knocking him down. As he tries to get up, Buffy knocks him down again with a snapping roundhouse kick to his arm, kicking his hammer away in the process. The guard gets to his feet. Buffy swings her hammer in an uppercut, striking him in the jaw and sending him flying off of the platform in a backflip. Yet another guard jumps up onto the platform and tackles Buffy, struggling to get the hammer out of her hands. Cut to a ledge. Ken and two more guards come out to see what's going on. Ken can't believe what he is seeing. Cut below. Buffy does a roundhouse kick to the guard's face, and he stumbles backwards. Another guard comes up to the edge of the platform holding a battle-ax with a curved blade. He looks at the fighting for a moment, then moves to jump up onto the platform. Cut to Ken on the ledge.

Ken: Humans don't fight back.

Cut below. The guard on the platform tries to pound Buffy's head with his club, but she holds her hammer high, blocking his attack and making him drop his weapon.

Ken: (enraged) Humans don't fight back!

Buffy swings down with her hands, carrying the guard's hands as well. She grabs him by the neck, spins around once and throws him through the air. He hits a steel beam and slumps to the ground. The guard with the battle-ax is up on the platform now and takes a wide swing with it at Buffy, but she leans aside and he misses.

Ken: That's how this works!

Buffy manages to duck the guard's next swing, avoiding decapitation. He swings again from above, but she blocks his attack with her hammer, and the head of the ax embeds itself in the handle. Buffy performs a front snap kick that dislodges the ax and knocks the weapon out of the guard's hands and spinning up into the air. She kneels down and knocks his legs out from under him with her hammer. While she's crouched, she looks up at the battle-ax as it falls and catches the airborne weapon. She gets to her feet, as does her assailant. Buffy does another roundhouse kick to his face, and he goes flying off of the platform.

Ken: (to the guards with him) Get down there!

The two guards run to obey. On the platform the camera pans in close to Buffy as she looks around, temporarily without an opponent. Suddenly a guard jumps up. Buffy swings a backhand punch at his head, but he blocks it and shoves her arm out of the way. He punches her with a backhand fist. She stumbles a little but recovers in time to duck his second swing at her head. She does a side kick to his rear that sends him off of the platform. Two more guards try to climb onto the platform. Buffy crouches and quickly throws her battle-ax spinning end over end at one of them. It slices deeply into his chest, and the power behind her throw sends him falling off of the platform. The other guard tries a wide swing, but Buffy blocks it, grabs onto his arm and sends him somersaulting through the air and off of the platform. Another guard attacks. Buffy smashes her elbow into his nose and follows it up with a full spin and a backhand punch to the head. He falls down awkwardly. Another one leaps up and catches Buffy unaware with a high punch to her face. She stumbles backwards but doesn't fall. Two more guards join him and try to surround her. Buffy snap kicks one in the face and side kicks another. Buffy does a full spinning hook kick to the third, smacking him soundly in the skull. Cut to the ledge. Ken is disgusted with what he sees and goes back through the door. Cut below. One of the guards punches Buffy hard in the face, and she staggers. He grabs her by the neck while she's trying to regain her balance and yanks her head up fast and hard. He holds her while two other guards punch her in the stomach. Cut to a dimly lit corridor. The group of slaves runs down it, trailed by Lily. They round a corner. As Lily is about to follow them, Ken grabs her from behind, pulls out a large knife and holds it to her neck. She doesn't struggle as he leads her off back to the ledge. Cut to the platform. The guards keep on punching Buffy. Finally she is able to retaliate and swings an arm out, backhand punching two of them and high punching the third, knocking him down. She swings her arm out in a wide arc and hits the first two with the one blow, knocking them down as well. A fourth guard roundhouse kicks her in the stomach, and she steps back to regain her balance. He latches onto her arm and tries to throw her, but Buffy reverses the move and manages to throw him off of the platform instead. A guard dives headfirst for Buffy's legs. She leaps up and pulls her legs up into a tuck jump over him. He dives right underneath her. Buffy runs and jumps off of the platform, grabbing a pole. It bends under her weight, and she rides it down to the floor below. She begins to run, and the chase is on again. She doesn't get very far when she looks up and sees Ken coming back out onto the ledge holding his knife to Lily's neck. Buffy stops in her tracks. The guards chasing her quickly catch up and grab her by the arms.

Ken: One of you fights... and you all die!

He lets go of Lily and pushes her aside. He stares intently down at Buffy.

Ken: That... was not... permitted.

Buffy: Yeah, but it was fun.

Ken: (smiles) You've got guts. I think I'd like to slice you open and play with them.

He holds up his knife and addresses everyone in the area.

Ken: Let everyone know!

Lily cowers behind him. Ken seems to have forgotten that she's there.

Ken: *This* is the price of rebellio...

Lily pushes him from behind, and he falls screaming from the high ledge to the floor below. The guards holding Buffy just watch as he hits bottom with a loud thud. Buffy gives Lily a surprised look, and then quickly takes advantage of the distraction and backhand punches her captors, one in the face and the other in the groin. While the second one is dazed, she shoves her weight against him, and he falls backward onto a barrel. The first one punches high, but she blocks, grabs his arm and flips him over onto a pile of burlap sacks. Buffy jumps up onto the pile and steps across her fallen attacker. He tries to grab her, but misses. She jumps high into the air and grabs hold of a heavy chain hanging from above. She climbs it hand-over-hand as quickly as she can to the ledge where Lily is still standing. The two of them run through the door and quickly find their way to the others, struggling with a heavy iron gate.

Lily: They'll be coming.

Buffy crouches down and takes hold of the gate, bracing herself for a very heavy lift. She begins to raise the gate, straining as she goes.

Buffy: (grunts) Okay... this... works... the abs... and... the glutes. (grunts)

As soon as she gets it high enough, Lily waves to the others to crawl underneath. They all scramble to the other side.

Buffy: I'm gonna feel this for a week!

She holds the gate up over her head and squeezes her head and shoulders between two of the bars to get to the other side. Suddenly Ken appears behind her, bloodied from his fall, and tackles her to the floor. His club goes flying. The gate falls down on him. He suddenly arches up and screams in pain. Buffy rolls to a stop out of his reach. She gets to her hands and knees and looks over at him as he continues to scream in pain. The camera pans from his bloody face over his back and to his legs, where two of the gate's bars have impaled themselves through his calves. The slaves help each other up through the black slime of the pool in the ceiling. Buffy gets to her feet and picks up Ken's club. She approaches him, and he arches his back to look up at her.

Ken: You've *ruined*... You...

Buffy: Hey, Ken, wanna see my impression of Gandhi?

She wields back the club and brings it down hard onto his head, crushing his skull. Lily comes up behind her and looks at him squeamishly.

Lily: Gandhi?

Buffy: Well, you know, if he was really pissed off.

Cut to the pool room at Family Home. The homeless people walk out of the room. Lily is kneeling by the pool helping Buffy out. She yanks her legs from the slime and rolls onto the floor. They both get up and look at the pool.

Lily: (points) What do we do about...?

With a flash of light, the pool mysteriously tiles itself over to match the tiles along the edges. It now appears to be a six-inch (15 cm) deep, empty ceremonial pool. The two girls just stare at it in wonder. Cut to Buffy's apartment. Buffy has finished cleaning herself up in the kitchen. Lily is looking at the folding doors that separate the kitchen from the rest of the apartment.

Buffy: Let me give you the tour.

She walks into the main room and slowly turns to face Lily.

Buffy: This concludes our tour.

Lily leans against the wall.

Lily: It's really nice.

Buffy leans against the dresser.

Buffy: All the rent's paid up for the next three weeks.

She turns around and opens one of the dresser drawers.

Buffy: I spoke to Mitch at the diner. (pulls out her uniform) He said you can start on Thursday. (steps over to the bed) He's, uh... (lays down the uniform) he's kind of... repulsive, but, uh, he won't give you a hard time.

Lily sits down on the bed and puts her hand on the uniform.

Buffy: Um... I'll call and check up on you.

Lily: I'm not... great (looks at Buffy) at taking care of myself.

Buffy: Gets easier. Takes practice.

She looks down sadly. Lily knows the feeling. She looks back down at the uniform and the nametag pinned to it.

Lily: Hey...

Buffy looks up at her.

Lily: Can I be 'Anne'?

She smiles at Buffy. Buffy smiles back. Cut to the kitchen at the Summers house. Joyce is trying to get a stuck utensil out of the dishwasher. There's a knock at the door, and Joyce looks up startled. She frowns at the fork she pulled out and puts it down. She gets up, grabs a towel and heads for the front door, wiping her hands. In the dining room she pauses and looks toward the door, suddenly wondering who might be there. She drapes the towel over a chair and slowly goes to the door. When she opens it, there stands Buffy, looking sad, tired and disheveled. For a long moment they just look at each other without saying a word. Then they step toward each other and hold each other close for a long, tight embrace.

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