In a state of astonished bewilderment, Giles witnessed Buffy and her friends leaving for a night of music, lively gossip about boys, Cordelia�s latest fashion statements, the mall, or what they would do with their time once school let out for summer.  All the while, they would sip on drinks that would, to Giles, taste too sweet or lack complexity without alcohol. 

�Buffy!�  Giles raised an index finger, �Don�t forget your training!  Before first period tomorrow!�  But she was already out the door, laughing and talking with her friends.  Giles settled into a chair around the big table where all of this started just a few weeks ago.  He was exhausted.  There would be no night on the town for him.  Rather, he would retire to his quiet apartment with an Agatha Christie novel (which he had read three times before) and a steaming cup of Earl Grey laced with a splash or three of Brandy.  He probably wouldn�t last more than three or four pages before he nodded off.

While gathering up a few items � his worn, leather briefcase, his thermos, and a small, collapsible insulated bag that typically held his modest lunch � Mr. Giles wondered what the future would hold.  He was wary of the relationship between Buffy and Angel that was building like a summer thunderstorm over the moors of Scotland.  It could lead nowhere but disaster.  He�d been meaning to sit down and have a talk with Buffy, but first love was just about the most powerful force in the universe.  It would not be easily derailed.  And then there was his own future, which was uncertain at best.  The Council clearly did not trust him, and disapproved of his techniques for training Buffy, which were admittedly unconventional.  But she was no ordinary slayer, and these were far from ordinary times.  The Council elders failed to understand that the old ways were antiquated and a girl like Buffy couldn�t simply be leashed and told what to do.   Wesley was here to spy on him and report back to the Council.  Of that Giles was certain.

As Rupert Giles stepped into the late October evening, hoping his Citroen would start, he breathed in the cool night air, which tasted a little of the Pacific Ocean to the west, but also of the arid Mojave Desert to the east.  Two worlds clashing together.  He wished it were only two.  But at least the skies were crystalline clear on this fine evening.  The stars were burning bright and nary a hint of fog was lying in wait for him, not even in the darkest corners.

*******THE END*******

Angel watched as Faith departed and Willow and Buffy nonchalantly talked about heading out to the Bronze for some good times.  And right after saving all of Sunnydale from the walking, shambling, flying hordes of evil totems, which came in all shapes, sizes, and denominations.  In Angel�s mind, he knew that was the right response � to take everything in stride and to keep it light.  It was a survival skill.  But he also knew the adults, Giles included, would want to huddle around and analyze everything that had occurred over the last couple of weeks.  Chronicle it all, write it all down for future generations so if it happened again, folks would know what to do.  Angel could appreciate both approaches.  But he didn�t really fit into either category.  He wasn�t a human adult and he certainly wasn�t a high school human teenager.  In fact, he was so far from high school in experience and years that at times it felt massively wrong � voyeuristic � to hang with Buffy and her friends.  But at the same time, it was sort of a window on what he lost when Darla turned him at such a young age.  So didn�t he deserve to look through that window, just a little? 

But when Angel gazed deep into Buffy�s eyes, he could feel himself melting into her.  A love was growing there that he couldn�t deny, despite the chasm between them in years and life experience.  He was a vampire and she was the Slayer.  This couldn�t be more wrong. 

Willow was suggesting heading to the club. That was like already calling it a night. �What that�s it?  The party�s over? Screw that.  I still got an itch to scratch.  B, you can�t tell me after all that you don�t have some pent up frustration to work out,� Faith shrugged. Buffy probably hadn�t been on the side lines tonight. She had been a part of the real action. Look like she had enough entertainment with Angel by her side. Couldn�t say she blamed her. He was a taste morsel. It was too bad Buffy couldn�t have a taste without him getting all fangy. It probably help little miss tightly wound lighten up. �Catch you guys later,� she chuckled turning to head of the library. Before this night ends, she was either going to stake a few more vampires or tie someone to the bed post. Either way she was going to have some fun.  

Some time later, Willow, Wes, Xander, Dylan, Cordy, and Faith entered the school library where Giles, Buffy, and the others were waiting.  �Hey guys!�  Willow grinned cheerfully and waved at Buffy.  �Buffy the Vampire Slayer and her Slayerettes, aka the Scoobies, triumph over the forces of darkness once again.  That�ll teach those big bads to mess with us!�  Will wanted to brag about how her magical abilities had shined through there at the end, but she still wasn�t sure how much of it was her own skill and how much she was channeling either Taylor or Murdonesil.

Just then a portly woman, her gray hair in a bun, and dabbing her eyes with what must have been an antique, lace kerchief came rushing into the library.  When she spotted Taylor, she swept him up in her arms and pressed him to her ample bosom while showering the boy with kisses.  This was his grandmother, who they�d tracked down and called on the drive to the library.  So the poor kid wasn�t going to be an orphan after all.  She thanked everyone for saving the Taylor from that evil warlock � she mistakenly called him Murdersil � apparently she hadn�t been able to even get close to the house for almost two weeks.  When she tried, she�d end up back in her Lazy Boy recliner in front of the television.  She blustered her good byes and Taylor even waved to everyone and then they were gone.  So much for loose ends.

Dru�s plan had worked.  The slayer had smashed the jewel under the church in the model and then just like that all of them were back at the Sunnydale High School library.  Things were back to the way they ought to be.  Pretty much.  And as such, it was time for Spike and Dru to make their grand exit.

�Yeah, bloody good work there, Goldilocks.  Got us outa Smallville, you did.  And its been just a smashin good time, but me and Dru, we gotta run.  Got people to mutilate and high school girls to drink as dry as Rupert�s humor.�  Spike took the time to light up a Camel cigarette.  His pack had miraculously been refilled in the transition back to the real Sunnydale.  After blowing smoke rings towards the ceiling, he pointed at the Slayer.  �You and I have an appointment, Blondie.  And the time and place will be of my choosing.  I remember what Slayer blood tastes like.  And you�re gonna be number three in my collection.  I just haven�t decided what I�ll keep as a souvenir.  Didn�t know I kept souvenirs, did ya luv?�  He put his arm around Drusilla�s shoulders and they both headed for the door and into the night.    

Giles feared the worst when the darkness overtook them.  Could they have made a mistake?  Perhaps as the power of the model and the spell that hung over the real Sunnydale like a nightmare dispersed, they would simply cease to exist, because they were now a product of that magic � tiny inhabitants of a model of Sunnydale in a boy�s room.  Everything magical about that model, including themselves, might just vanish.

And so it happened.

But only for a moment.  Buffy, Angel, Giles, Spike, and Drusilla materialized in the school library where all of this began.  Or was it really the library?  Giles rushed to a book case, grabbed the spine of a book of poetry by Emily Dickinson, opened it up and thumbed through the pages.  This was a real book!  Not one of the look-a-likes that lacked pages from the model�s library.  He put his nose to the pages, closed his eyes, and breathed in that familiar scent of paper and ink, glue and age.

�Oh thank God!  We�re back, we�re really back!  I believe you have saved the day, once again, Buffy!�  But what of the others?  Wesley, Faith, Dylan, Willow, and everyone else in the real Sunnydale?  Had they all managed to make the transition back to a semblance of the Sunnydale that once was?  Knowing his cellphone was dead, he rushed to his desk and picked up the headset of the landline.  He called Wesley immediately.  On the third ring, the other Watcher picked up.  �Wesley!  Is everyone alright?  Buffy destroyed the warlock�s power center!  We�re back at the school library!  The real library!�

This was it, the do or die moment.  But Angel wasn�t sure he could help Buffy.  The light was blinding white and Angel was a creature of the darkness, the night.  It was not sunlight, but it shared some qualities with the rays of that lethal orb, because Angel could feel his skin tingling.  If they got through this, he was going to have a sun burn.  Or worse.  But when Buffy asked for his help, how could he refuse?  

So he boosted her up onto his shoulders, her legs dangling down over each side of his chest as he maneuvered her directly under the brightest, white hot blast of those mega rays.  When Buffy thrust her fist up through the rock, the recoil almost buckled Angel�s knees, but he held on and then it was done.  The blazing light went out leaving them mostly in darkness as Buffy jumped back down to the floor of the tunnel.  �Buffy, you did it!� 

Giles� pulse slowed from a gallop to a mere trot as the enormous cockroach ceased its investigation of them and skittered down the tunnel and out of site.  �Thank goodness!  I thought we were done for.� 

Angel led them all further into the tunnel.  The light became brighter as they approached the church, and it wasn�t light from above coming through grating in the streets.  It seemed to emanate from the stone surface of the tunnel itself.  The tunnel walls were glowing with a soft white light.  �The light is not electrical, its magical.  Buffy, Angel, we�re nearing the source of the warlock�s power.  This is what is powering the model and the totems inhabiting the real Sunnydale.�

They turned a corner and the light was almost overwhelming.  Giles had to shade his eyes, but he could see that the source of the light was a point on the ceiling.  �This must be it.  We must be directly beneath the church.  The jewel, the source of the magic and the light is right above our heads!�  But the ceiling was solid rock.  How could they possibly break through it?  

The marine dinosaur atop the church was the same one Buffy and Angel had encountered at the lake, and it looked as though it would defend the church and whatever was buried beneath it to the death.  And it probably wouldn�t be its death.  Besides the aquatic T-Rex, there were legions of straw men - scarecrow-like beasties walking around, and even some monsters that were more than straw.  Dracula and Frankenstein�s monster were there, along with the Wicked Witch of the West and a battalion of her creepy, grinning flying monkeys, plus a scattering of zombies � fast ones, a few werewolves, the Incredible Hulk, and something that looked like Chewbacca from Star Wars.

�I think we�re a little outgunned here, guys.  But I have an idea.  Follow me.�  They retraced their steps back half a block, away from the church and its unholy guardians, to a manhole cover, which Angel promptly pried up and threw aside.  �Assuming the sewer tunnels are laid out the same as in the real Sunnydale, then this will take us directly under the church.�  He didn�t know of any access from the tunnels into the church itself, but they�d cross that bridge when they got there.

So they all dropped down into the tunnel, which was thankfully pretty clean and without the odors of the real Sunnydale sewers.  Apparently scarecrows don�t produce much flushable waste.  Angel led the way back towards the church, but half way there they were confronted by a cockroach.  Not a small one either.  This looked like a cockroach from the real world, and it was real world size, almost filling the tunnel in front of them.  They wouldn�t be able to outrun it � cockroaches are wicked fast, so the 5 little people pressed up against the wall as the thing approached.  Its antennae swiveled around, searching, brushing their faces, while its chitinous mandibles clacked and mashed in gleeful anticipation. Its carapace was black and glistening with moisture, and the giant insect reeked of rot and decay.  Angel pressed himself as flat as he could against the wall of the sewer tunnel as the thing raised its head and brought those deadly mandibles, which were akin to a collection of snapping, black scissors, to his face.  He was prepared to smash his fist into the insect�s gross maw, but was hoping that wouldn�t be necessary, because it would certainly be the end of them all if they had to fight this creature. 

If Spike and Drusilla were right, that the warlock had been banished somehow, then Wesley, Willow, and the others on the outside, in the real Sunnydale, must have been successful.  The battery on Giles� cell phone had gone dead a few hours ago, otherwise he�d try to call Wesley to confirm his supposition. 

In response to Buffy, Giles proclaimed, �Of course I�ll help you, Buffy!  I am your watcher, and it is my sworn and sacred duty to assist you in every way possible!�  He realized that perhaps he was soapboxing it a little, so he toned it down some, �If Murdonesil is really gone, then there most definitely is some other mystical power source keeping the model in operation.  Based on our brief encounter with the boy, I do not believe he alone has the strength to maintain the model and the totems on the outside.  He was most likely a conduit for the warlock.  So I concur that some other source, perhaps this gem of which Spike and Drusilla speak, is maintaining the model.  Certainly there�s no harm in investigating it.  I propose we all go together.  Vampires and churches do not mix well, but let us not forget that monsters are afoot here, and we may yet have to battle them.�  

They all headed off in the direction of the church, which was Unitarian, of course, the only denomination brave enough to establish a place of worship in Sunnydale.  Being inclusive, they even accepted some breeds of monsters into their church, such as hapless zombies and harmless demons, including the flop-eared Clem. 

As they walked along, Giles offered this advice to his slayer, �Buffy, once we get to the church, you will need to focus your slayer sense of mystical perception.  You should be able to determine precisely where the gem is hidden.  Then all we have to do is find it and destroy it��  They turned a corner and the Unitarian Church came into view.  Probably every monster in the Sunnydale model was there, milling about, or perched like gargoyles on windowsills or atop spires that accented the architecture.  Something that looked like a terrible hybrid between the Loch Ness Monster and a Tyrannosaurus Rex was curled around the bell tower, and it roared at the comparatively tiny slayer and her group.