She suddenly doesn't know what to say, so goes with, "It'll all be okay."

He smiles a little. "I gave up on okay awhile ago, but we can dream."

Sometimes he wished that he could tell his own stories, and neatly cut those powerful girls out and instead tell a sweet story with a happy ending, but he never did, because that wasn’t what he was here for, and because that was simply too much fiction for him to carry with him.

"Yes?" I know I'm not really Buffy but I have to respond to her name or everyone will know and they're not supposed to. Because I'm only--

"I came to talk to you," Buffy says, and delivers a flying roundhouse, landing on her feet with grace even Faith has to appreciate.

Tara gives her a little side-of-the-mouth smile and nods at her. "We'll stay safe together, okay?" Claire nods. "Okay."

That was the third one, the one where Faith found out why she'd stolen the first one back, why she wrote the second one in code.

I will, she answers but neither of them believes it and Willow wonders when lying to each other became so easy.

“I really must stop being so predictable,” Giles mutters.

The Schrutes have known about Slayers for a long time.

No, wait, you're not two hundred years old, iffy-Irish and dead.

Xander loved it all, because Xander Harris was the gayest person of all time.

"It's eerie, that's what. And kind of beautiful."

Hey, maybe that can be our new strategy. Confuse the big bad with our amazingly trendy hair styles.

"I can make waffles," she says brightly. "I'm good at making waffles. It's one of my skills."

"Also, take off your pants."

I know what he's thinking. We don't want another Giles.

Being Buffy's brother means he's good at things being freaktastic.

Even the most miniscule of distractions could result in a disaster so monstrous, it'd make the Cylon war look like kids play.

"The mall," he said. It was a straightforward answer, but he couldn't resent it when she burst out laughing.

There's something about being a librarian here that makes Buffy smile a little when she and Dawn walk into Sunnydale High every morning.

He turned away from her and sat on the bed. "Some thing about the whole family being slaughtered back in Ireland by vampires. I mean, vampires, right? Who believes in that? But," he turned and looked at her. "You're the first person to even notice."

They stop and they look back and she does too, at the place where her home used to be, and her body, and oh, there are no words for anything she's feeling.

Together we are all that's left of her.

These days the Council ensures psychological preparation, too: dealing with grief, the inevitability of this loss.

"You know this doesn’t mean anything, right?" Buffy says and Xander grins that crooked, self-deprecating smile.

My arms were around her, and she felt thin and hot like she always does – radiating warmth, I guess because she is so little, and her insides are closer to her outsides than most people’s.