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

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

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.

"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.