Introduction
Season:
First | Second | Third | Fourth | Fifth | Sixth | Seventh
Other Bodies | Episodes | Dramatis Personae
Ramblings | Links | Fanfic
| Teacher’s Pet | The Pack |
Buffy fights with a vampire in a Sunnydale cemetery. After a few quick kicks and punches she finishes it off with a stake to the heart.
Giles pops up from behind a headstone, making notes in a diary. “Poor technique.” He finds that Buffy is expending much too much energy. “It should simply be: plunge, and move on. Plunge and— Hello!” Giles has seen something on the ground. He bends down and picks up a ring with his pen.
“Oh, that’s great!” says Buffy. “I kill ’em, you fence their stuff.”
Giles just glares at her.
“What is it?” asks Buffy.
“I don’t know,” says Giles.
“But it bothers you.”
“Yes,” says Giles. “I thought this vampire was just on a random kill, but it may be something else.”
“Something big?” asks Buffy.
“Yes,” says Giles. “I’d best consult my books.”
The Master reads from an ancient book of prophecy in the buried church in which he is trapped: “‘And there will be a time of crisis, of worlds hanging in the balance. And in this time shall come the Anointed, the Master’s great warrior. And the Slayer will not know him, will not stop him, and he will lead her into hell.’ As it is written, so it shall be.”
The Master picks up the book and continues to read as he walks past the vampires lined up before him. “‘Five will die, and from their ashes the Anointed shall rise. The Brethren of Aurelius…’” He gestures to the vampires assembled before him. “‘…shall meet him and usher him to his immortal destiny.’ As it is written, so shall it be.”
The Master stops before the last vampire standing in the line. “And one of the brethren shall go out hunting the night before and get himself killed, because he couldn’t wait to finish his job before he ate. Oh, wait. That’s not written anywhere.”
The Master grabs the vampire by the throat, and lifts him off the ground. “The Anointed will be my greatest weapon against the Slayer! If you fail to bring him to me, if you allow that girl to stop you…” He tosses the vampire across the chamber, and slams the book shut. “Here endeth the lesson.”
Buffy and Giles research the ring in the library the next day. The symbol inscribed on the inside of it—a sun and three stars—looks familiar to Buffy. Giles takes a look at it, but it doesn’t represent anything he can recall.
While Giles looks at the ring, Buffy picks up a book, and finds the symbol. She hands Giles the book. “Check these guys out.”
“Oh, the Order of Aurelius,” says Giles. “Yes, you’re right.”
“Ooo!” says Buffy, “Two points for the Slayer, while the Watcher has yet to score!”
They are interrupted by Owen Thurman entering the library. Giles looks at him suspiciously. “What do you want?”
“A book,” says Owen.
Giles is somewhat surprised. “Oh!”
“See,” says Buffy. “This is a school, and we have students, and they check out books, and then they learn things.”
“I was beginning to suspect that was a myth,” says Giles.
Owen is looking for an Emily Dickinson book. He likes to always carry a volume of her poetry around with him as a kind of security blanket, but he has lost his.
“Emily Dickins, huh?” says Buffy. “She’s great!”
“Dickinson,” says Owen.
“She’s good also.”
Giles points Owen toward the poetry section of the stacks, and Buffy accompanies him as he goes to get his book.
“I didn’t think I’d find you here,” says Owen
“Why not?” asks Buffy.
Owen starts looking on the shelves for an Emily Dickinson book. “I, I didn’t mean… I mean… I think you can read. But you don’t seem bookwormy…” He finds what he’s looking for. “Uh, the type of person to lock themselves in a dark room with a lot of musty old books.” He looks up at Buffy. “Oh, and I’ve offended you.”
“No!” says Buffy. “No, I’m just surprised you gave any thought to what I’m like.”
“You shouldn’t be.” Owen starts back out of the stacks.
Buffy follows him. “Oh, well, I love books. I mean, I really love books.”
Owen sees the book Buffy and Giles had been consulting on the library table and heads for it. “What’s this?”
Buffy rushes to get to the book first, and slaps her hand down on it before Owen can pick it up. “Not this one.”
Giles slides the book out from under Buffy’s hand. “This one she doesn’t love.” He takes Owen’s book over to the checkout counter. “Emily Dickinson. She’s quite a good poet, I mean for a…”
“A girl?” asks Buffy.
“For an American,” says Giles.
Owen takes his book, and leaves the library. Buffy watches him go. After he’s gone Giles wants to get back to the matter at hand, but Buffy has something else on her mind. “Do you have any more copies of Emily Dickinson? I need one.”
“Buffy,” says Giles, “While the mere fact of you wanting to check out a book would be grounds for a national holiday, I think we should focus on the problem at hand.”
“Right,” says Buffy, “I’m sorry, you’re right. Vampires.” She looks down at herself. “Does this outfit make me look fat?”
Buffy meets Willow in the cafeteria and tells her about meeting Owen in the library. Willow wonders what they found to talk about.
Buffy carries her lunch tray to the table at which Xander is waiting for them. “Emily Dickinson.”
Willow follows Buffy. “He reads Emily Dickinson? He’s sensitive, yet manly! Wait, you’ve never even read her.”
Buffy pulls out a book an puts it down on the table with her lunch.
“You Vixen!” says Willow.
Xander is examining a mysterious green substance on his plate. He isn’t sure what it is. Buffy has some of it too. She doesn’t want to think about it.
Xander switches subjects. “So, Buffy, how’d the slaying go last night?” he asks, a bit too loudly. “I mean, how’d the laying go?” Buffy glares at him. “No, I don’t mean that either.”
Buffy tells Xander that the slaying went fine, but there is a new hoity-toity vampire sect in town.
Xander notices that Owen is sitting eating alone at a nearby table, reading a book. “Ooh, look at Mr. Excitement.”
Buffy immediately decides to go join Owen. She gets up, grabs her lunch tray and Emily Dickinson book, and leaves Xander with Willow.
“Okay, what just happened?” asks Xander.
Cordelia has spotted Owen too and had the same thought as Buffy. Buffy and Cordy collide as they converge on the empty chair beside him. Buffy’s lunch gets dumped on the floor, and Cordy snags the chair while she bends down to pick it up.
Owen gets out of his seat to help Buffy.
“Boy!” says Buffy. “Cordelia’s hips are wider than I thought!”
“At least you don’t have to eat your Soylent Green.”
Cordelia invites Owen to join her group at the Bronze that evening. Owen wants to know who else will be there.
“You mean besides me?” asks Cordy.
“Buffy, what about you?” asks Owen.
“No, no, no!” says Cordy. “She doesn’t like fun.”
“How about we meet there at eight?” asks Owen.
“Yeah! Eight!” says Buffy. She puts her lunch tray down on top of Cordelia’s. “There!”
Buffy and Willow talk about Buffy’s impending date as they head toward the library. Buffy doesn’t think it’s such a big deal.
“It’s a very big deal!” says Willow. They meet Giles just outside the doors. “It is. Tell her!”
Giles pushes open the library doors. “I’m afraid it’s very big.”
“Thank you!” says Willow, “Wait!” They follow Giles into the library. “What are you talking about?”
“What are you talking about?” asks Giles.
“Boys!” say Willow, and Buffy together.
“Yes, well, I’m talking about trouble. A violent and disturbing prophecy is about to be fulfilled.” Giles has been reading the writings of Aurelius. He prophesied that his order would bring the Anointed to the Master on the evening of the thousandth day after the advent of Septus.
“Well, we’ll be ready whenever it is,” says Buffy.
“Which is tonight,” says Giles.
“Tonight, okay.” Buffy realizes that she has a conflict. “Not okay! It can’t be tonight!”
“My calculations are precise,” says Giles.
“Nuh!” says Buffy. “They’re bad calculations! Bad!”
“Buffy has a really important date,” says Willow.
“Owen!” says Buffy.
“All right,” says Giles. “I’ll just jump in my time machine, go back to the twelfth century and ask the vampires to postpone their ancient prophecy for a few days while you take in dinner and a show.”
“Okay,” says Buffy, “At this point you’re abusing sarcasm.”
“Buffy, this is no ordinary vampire,” says Giles. “We have to stop him before he reaches the Master.”
“But… Cute guy!” says Buffy. “Teenager! Post-pubescent fantasies!”
“Those will just have to be put on hold!” says Giles. “The dark forces are aligning against us, and we have the chance to beat them back. Tonight we go into battle!”
Buffy and Giles wait for the Brethren to show up in the cemetery, or the Anointed, or anything, but nothing does. Eventually Giles admits that he may have miscalculated. “Well, you know what they say. 90% of the vampire slaying game is waiting.”
“You couldn’t have told me that 90% ago?” asks Buffy. She wants to go. Maybe she can still meet up with Owen.
“Oh, very well then,” says Giles. “Follow your hormones if you want, but I assume I don’t have to warn you about the hazards of becoming personally involved with someone who’s unaware of your unique condition. If your identity as the Slayer is revealed it could put you and all those around you in grave danger.”
“Well, in that case I won’t wear my button that says, ‘I’m the Slayer, ask me how!’” says Buffy, and goes.
Giles sighs, and takes a look in his book, rereading the passage there. “‘Five shall die, and from their ashes the Anointed shall rise.’ I was sure it was tonight.”
An airport shuttle bus, with four passengers and a driver is passing through Sunnydale. Among the passengers are a small boy and his mother, and a big scary looking guy in army fatigues, spouting apocalyptic predictions.
When Buffy arrives at the Bronze she sees Owen dancing with Cordelia. She watches them dance together for a while, and quietly leaves without being seen.
The man in the fatigues walks up and down the aisle of the bus. “That day’s going to bring fire. Fire coming down! Judgment! Don’t think you’re ready, ready to look upon him. If there’s sin in there, there’s sin all around. It’s a liquid. On that day there won’t be anyone telling us what to do or why we’re doing it. You can’t prepare. On that day…”
The bus driver looks up at his rear view mirror. “Now you gotta sit down, Okay?”
“Are you ready to stand with the righteous?” asks the man in the fatigues.
The driver looks back at the road too late to see the vampire step out in front of the bus. The bus hits it. The bus runs off the road, through a sign, and stops when it hits a telephone pole.
The driver checks that all his passengers are okay, and then gets out to check on the ‘man’ he hit. He’s surprised when the apparently dead person suddenly grabs him by the throat, while other members of the Brethren attack the bus passengers.
Buffy meets Xander by her locker the next morning. She tells him about what happened on her non-date with Owen. “What was I supposed to do? Say to Owen, ‘Sorry I was late, I was sitting in a cemetery with the librarian waiting for a vampire to rise so I could prevent an evil prophecy from coming to pass?’”
“Or…flat tire?” suggests Xander.
They proceed on to Xander’s locker, and he starts getting his books. He thinks that Buffy is overreacting to the whole Owen thing. “Sure, he’s got a certain Owenosity, but that’s not hard to find. I mean, a lot of guys read. I can read.”
Buffy has stopped paying any attention to Xander. She has spotted Owen approaching them.
“Hey, Buffy!” says Owen.
“Owen!” says Buffy.
“Oh, look, it’s Owen,” says Xander, which earns him a glare from Buffy. “Buffy and Owen. And Xander. That’d be me.”
Buffy and Owen have stopped paying any attention to Xander. “Where were you last night?” asks Owen.
“Oh. Well, um, my watch broke,” says Buffy, “and we don’t have any clocks in our house and so I didn’t know what time it was or even what day it was… “
“I thought I was the only one that happened to,” says Owen. “How about we try it again for tonight? I’ll even lend you my watch.” He hands over a pocket watch to her. Xander quickly takes a look at his own Tweety Bird watch.
“Tonight?” asks Buffy, “You and me?”
“Well, we could invite the chess club,” says Owen, “but they drink, and they start fights…”
“Oh, no, it’s just… Well, I sort of heard that you and Cordelia were, somewhat, all over each other. A little…” says Buffy.
“I danced with her a couple of times,” says Owen. “She’s kind of grabby.”
Buffy pretends to consider her schedule. She tells Owen she will have to move some things around, but yes, she can see him tonight. Owen tells her he will pick her up at seven.
“Um, seven!” says Buffy.
Owen points at his watch. “That’s when the little hand’s there.”
“Oh! Between the six and the eight.”
“I’ll see you then!” says Owen.
Buffy watches Owen leave. “Tonight! Isn’t that so!” she says to Xander, and walks off.
“Yeah, so it is.” Xander closes his locker. “It sure is so.”
Giles pours himself a cup of tea, and rubs at his temples. He has had another sleepless night researching.
Buffy bursts into Giles’ office. “I see we’re still working on that Anointed One problem. That’ll probably take you a few days, right? I mean, that’s one obscure prophecy.”
“Well yes,” says Giles. “There are a few interpretations.”
“So tonight’s looking slow, right?” asks Buffy. “Probably best to relax and regroup, no big disasters coming, that is so good, I will see you tomorrow then! Bye!” She goes.
“She is the strangest girl,” says Giles.
The Master addresses the Brethren of Aurelius. “You have done well. Everything is in place. When this night’s work is done, I will have a mighty ally. I’ll be one step closer to freeing myself from this mystical prison.” He feels the barrier that confines him. “I’ve been trapped down here so long I’ve nearly forgotten what it’s like on the surface. Well, there’ll be time enough to remember, when I rule it!
“If she tries to stop you, kill her. Give your own lives, but do not fail to bring the Anointed. I know you won’t disappoint me.”
Willow and Xander help Buffy prepare for her date with Owen. Buffy is dressed in a fuzzy bathrobe. Xander isn’t really being much help. When asked to chose between a pair of dresses, he reaches into her closet and pulls out an overcoat that he suggests that she wear instead, and a ski cap. “The earflaps bring out your eyes!”
Buffy asks his opinion on what colour lipstick to wear.
“Oh, you mean for kissing you and then telling all his friends how easy you are so the whole school loses respect for you and then talks behind your back?” asks Xander. “The red’s fine.”
Buffy goes with the peach.
Willow picks another dress out of Buffy’s closet, and tells her to put it on. Both girls look rather pointedly at Xander.
“You’re not bothering me!” says Xander.
Willow pushes Xander away, and he turns his back while Buffy changes out of the bathrobe into the dress Willow selected. He tries to catch a peek at her in a small mirror sitting on top of her dresser, but he knocks it over when he tries to adjust its position. Buffy has finished getting changed anyway.
The doorbell rings. “That’s Owen!” Buffy rushes to answer it.
Buffy opens the front door, and sees Giles on the porch. “That’s Giles.”
“We need to talk,” says Giles.
“Buffy’s not home.” She tries to shut the door.
Giles blocks the door, and holds up a newspaper. “My calculations may not have been as far off as I thought.”
Buffy reads the headline. “Five die in van accident?”
“‘Out of the ashes of five shall arise the one,’” says Giles. Buffy doesn’t think that traffic accidents count in ancient prophecy, but Giles isn’t so sure. One of the dead was Andrew Borba, who is a suspect in a double homicide. Giles thinks he could be the Anointed. He wants to go to the Sunnydale Funeral Home to examine the bodies.
“Giles, why do you want to hurt me?” asks Buffy.
“I beg your pardon?” asks Giles.
Owen picks that moment to show up. He’s surprised to see Giles there. Buffy tries to pass it off as Giles trying to collect some overdue book fees.
“Man, you really care about your work!” says Owen.
Xander and Willow grab Owen and drag him into the living room for a talk.
“Another date?” asks Giles quietly. “Don’t you ever do anything else?”
“This is the first date!” says Buffy. “There’s never been a date, okay? This is my maiden voyage!”
Xander thinks that there are a few things that Owen needs to know about Buffy before they leave for their date.
“What, she doesn’t like to dance?” asks Owen.
“Well, it’s a little too late to do anything about that,” says Xander. “You should probably know that Buffy doesn’t like to be kissed. Actually she doesn’t like to be touched.”
“Xander!” says Willow.
“As a matter of fact,” says Xander, “don’t even look at her.”
Back by the front door, Buffy is still arguing with Giles. “We don’t even know if this is anything!”
“No, we don’t,” says Giles.
“And I haven’t had a day off in a while.”
“True…” says Giles.
“And a cranky Slayer is a careless Slayer!”
“Buffy, maintaining a normal social life as a Slayer is problematic at best.”
“This is the 90s,” says Buffy, “The 1990s, in point of fact, and I can do both. Clark Kent has a job. I just want to go on a date.”
“Well, I suppose it was a fairly slim lead…”
“Thank you, thank you, thank you! And look, I won’t go very far, okay?” Buffy shows Giles her pager. “If the apocalypse comes, beep me.”
Owen comes back out of the living room, followed by Willow and Xander. He and Buffy leave for their date. Giles tells Willow and Xander that he plans to go check out the funeral home on his own. He leaves too.
Willow watches Giles leave. “This is bad. We should go along.”
“Yeah, you’re right,” says Xander. “I don’t trust that Owen guy. It’s the eyes. Crazy!
“Xander!” says Willow. “We should go with Giles! He could get in trouble!”
“Oh, he’s gone,” says Xander. “He’s going to be all right. He’s like Super Librarian, y’know? Everyone forgets, Willow, that knowledge is the ultimate weapon.”
Owen takes Buffy to the Bronze. They sit together in an alcove and he tells her about Emily Dickinson. She had a quiet, sequestered life, which is something Owen can relate to. He doesn’t get out much.
“I don’t get that,” says Buffy.
“It’s my fault,” says Owen. “I just find most girls pretty frivolous. I mean, there’s a lot more important things in life than dating, y’know?” Buffy checks her pager. There are no messages. “Oh. Did I say something wrong?”
“Uh, No!” says Buffy, but she has had enough conversation for now. She invites Owen to dance.
“It’s weird,” says Owen as they dance.
“What is?” asks Buffy.
“You! One minute you’re right there. I’ve got you figured. The next, it’s like you’re two people.”
“Really? Which one do you like better?” asks Buffy.
Owen smiles. “I’ll let you know.”
Cordelia comes into the Bronze with a couple of her Cordettes. She sees Buffy and Owen dancing. She is not pleased. She walks up to them and starts talking to Owen. “Look at you, here all alone!”
“Cordelia, I’m here with Buffy.”
“Oh! Okay,” says Cordy. “Do you want to dance?”
“No, I’m still here with Buffy.”
“You are so good to help the needy.”
“Cordelia,” says Buffy, “Owen and I would like to be alone right now, and for that to happen, you would have to go somewhere that’s away.”
“Well, when you’re ready for the big leagues, let me know.” Cordy tells Owen, and walks away.
Giles arrives at the Sunnydale Funeral Home (‘We’ll take care of the rest.’) A vampire from the Brethren of Aurelius steps into his path as he walks toward the entrance.
Giles turns back toward his car, but more vampires have appeared, cutting off his escape. They have him surrounded.
“Damn!” says Giles.
Giles wards off the vampires with a cross, forcing them to keep their distance. He retreats into the funeral home and looks for a place to hide.
Buffy and Owen dance together in the Bronze. He asks her if she’s having a good time.
“Yeah,” says Buffy. “I almost feel like a girl.”
Giles barricades himself in the morgue room. He looks around for another exit, but there isn’t one. The only window is barred. While he’s checking it he’s startled by the window suddenly opening. It’s Willow and Xander. They saw the vampires chase him in.
“Look, I hate to state the obvious,” says Xander, “but this looks like a job for Buffy?”
“Uh, she has her beeping thing!” Giles looks around. “Um, no phone, of course.”
“Look, we’ll get her,” says Xander. “just, uh, hang in there.” He and Willow leave.
“Do hurry,” says Giles.
Owen leaves Buffy to get something for them to eat.
Cordelia is still watching them. “What a disgusting display,” she tells her friend. “Is that really appropriate behaviour in a public forum? I mean, I’ve never see a girl throw herself at a guy like that.”
Cordy is distracted by the entrance of Angel. “Hello salty goodness!” She plots an intercept course. “Pick up the phone, call 911. That boy is going to need some serious oxygen after I’m through with him!”
Angel moves too fast for her. He spots Buffy and makes a bee line straight for her, leaving Cordy in his dust.
“Why is this happening to me?” Cordelia asks herself.
Angel is a little surprised to find Buffy at the Bronze. “Some serious stuff happening tonight. You need to be out there.”
Buffy is annoyed to hear this from Angel too. She tells him she already knows about it. “Prophecy, Anointed One, yada, yada, yada.”
“So you know. Fine,” says Angel “I just thought I’d warn you.”
“Warn me?” Buffy points toward Owen. “You see that guy over there at the bar? He came here to be with me.”
“You’re here on a date?”
“Yes!” says Buffy. “Why is that such a shock to everyone?”
Owen returns with a muffin for Buffy, and is introduced to Angel as someone Buffy knows ‘from work.’ Willow and Xander arrive before Owen can ask more about that. Owen is starting to get a little bothered by the way they keep turning up.
Xander wonders what Angel is doing there.
“My guess is the same thing you’re doing here,” says Angel.
Buffy wonders what any of them are doing there.
“Look,” says Xander, “we got to get to, uh…” Willow kicks him to keep him from saying too much. “Uh. We thought it’d be fun if, uh, we made this a double date!”
Willow makes the best of her opportunity and puts her arm around Xander, and hugs him tightly.
“I didn’t know you guys were seeing each other,” says Buffy.
“Oh, yeah, well, we knew it would happen eventually, so we figured, hey!” says Willow. “Why fight it?”
Owen is still pretty suspicious, with Xander and Willow suddenly wanting to turn this into a double date, and Angel being there because of work. Xander suggests that they should all go someplace together.
“Gee, that’s so nice of you to ask,” says Buffy, “but Owen and I were, well, sort of… Owen and I.”
Xander suggests that maybe they should all go someplace together. He thinks that the Sunnydale Funeral Home would be a fun place to visit. Owen actually seems to like that idea. It might be fun.
“We saw some guys in there before,” says Xander. “They seemed to be having fun!”
Buffy finally catches on. “Bite me!” She turns to Owen and tells him that she has got to go. He wants to come along, but she tells him he can’t, she promises to return as soon as she can.
“What’s the deal?” asks Owen. “Do you want to bail on me?”
“No!” says Buffy. “Do you remember when you said I was like two different people? Well, one of them has to go. But the other one is having a really, really good time, and will come back. I promise.” Buffy starts to go, but she suddenly comes back and gives him a quick kiss. She leaves with Willow and Xander.
Owen watches them go. Angel steps up beside him. “She’s the strangest girl!” says Owen.
Buffy, Willow and Xander arrive at the funeral home and start looking for Giles or the vampires. They don’t find any sign of either.
Owen appears behind them. “This is so cool!”
Buffy spins to face Owen. “You can’t be here!”
“Oh, and I suppose you guys are allowed?” Owen wonders if he’ll get to see a dead body.
“Possibly several,” says Buffy. She leaves Owen with Willow and Xander and goes to look for Giles on her own, Willow tells Owen that Buffy’s going to see if there are any security guards so they won’t get in trouble.
“Good thinking,” says Owen.
“Good thinking,” Xander tells Willow quietly.
Buffy finds the morgue room. The door has been broken open and it has been ransacked by the vampires. There is no sign of them, or Giles. She finds his cross.
Buffy is startled when one of the drawers opens. It’s Giles, he has been sharing a drawer with a body. “Two more of the brethren came in here,” says Giles. “They came after me. But I was more than a match for them.”
“Meaning…” asks Buffy.
“I hid,” says Giles. “This chap was good enough to bunk with me till they went away.”
Giles still doesn’t know exactly what the Brethren are looking for, or doing, but the Anointed One may still be there. Buffy tells him that she will help him look for the Anointed One as soon as she can get rid of Owen.
“Owen?” asks Giles. “You brought a date?”
“I didn’t bring him,” says Buffy. “He came.”
“Buffy, when I said you could slay vampires and have a social life, I didn’t mean at the same time.”
“I know,” says Buffy, “I’ll get rid of him.”
Giles doesn’t think that’s a good idea. They can’t send Owen off alone with so many vampires around. He figures that he will have to tell him something. Buffy doesn’t like that idea. If Owen sees Giles he’ll just have even more questions than he already has. She will take care of it.
Buffy goes back to where Owen, Willow and Xander are waiting. She tells them that everything’s okay.
“And we’ll be leaving?” asks Xander.
“We’re not done lookin’ around yet!” says Owen.
“No, he’s right,” says Buffy, “So let’s find a nice, safe, fun room to look around in.” She leads Owen down the hall toward the observation room.
“We tried the office here, but it’s locked,” says Owen
Buffy grabs the door handle, and breaks the lock. “No it’s not!” She goes in and has a quick look around.
“I don’t think we’ll find much in here,” says Owen.
“That’s the plan,” says Buffy. “I have to go now… Um, to the bathroom, I have to go to the bathroom. If you hear anything, like a security guard or something, just be really quiet.” Buffy starts out the door. “And barricade the door.” she whispers to Willow and Xander.
Buffy returns to Giles in the morgue. They check out all the other drawers, but they only find more dead bodies…and parts.
While Willow and Xander use the office furniture to barricade the door, Owen opens the curtains in the office, revealing a window into another room. Through the glass he sees a body covered by a sheet.
“I read a lot about death,” says Owen, “but I’ve never really seen a dead body before.”
Willow and Xander rather nervously join Owen at the window.
The body’s hand twitches. “Do they usually move?” asks Owen.
The vampire who had been Andrew Borba pulls the sheet that’s covering it down, and rises to its feet. “I have been judged!”
Willow, Xander and Owen back away from the window. “What’s going on?” asks Owen. The vampire smashes the window.
Buffy and Giles hear the sound of the breaking glass.
Willow, Xander and Owen start dismantling the barricade they had built over the door.
“He is risen in me!” says the vampire. “He fills my head with song!” It steps over the window sill into the office. “Pork and beans. Pork and Beans! I can smell you.”
Willow, Xander and Owen get the door open, and run from the room.
The vampire follows them. “You’re the chaff, I’m blessed. He sucked the blood from your hearts, he says I may!”
Buffy meets Willow, Xander and Owen in the hall. She directs them toward the front entrance while she dashes back to Giles in the morgue.
Owen, Willow and Xander reach the front door. Their exit is blocked by a couple of the Brethren of Aurelius, who shut the doors in front of them, trapping them inside.
Buffy reaches Giles and collects a stake from him. She starts to go again.
“What should I do?” asks Giles as Buffy reaches the door.
Buffy turns around. “Um, go outside and make sure the others are okay.”
The vampire grabs Buffy from behind, and tosses her across the room into the wall of morgue drawers. Buffy falls to the floor, unconscious. Giles rushes to her side.
“Somebody’s got to help Buffy!” says Owen. He leaves Xander and Willow to go back for her.
Giles briefly protects Buffy from the vampire with his cross. It knocks the cross aside and tosses Giles across the room, into the controls for the crematorium. The crematorium turns on, and Giles slumps to the floor, unconscious. The vampire picks up Buffy, who is starting to recover.
Owen runs into the morgue. He picks up a metal tray and hits the vampire on the back with it. The vampire tosses Buffy aside, knocking her out again, and turns to face this new annoyance. He grabs Owen by the throat, and tries to bite him.
Owen grabs an urn of ashes and smashes it over the vampire’s head, knocking it out. He goes to check on Buffy, who is just waking up again.
Owen helps Buffy back to her feet. “Did you see that? He tried to bite me! What a sissy!”
The vampire grabs Owen from behind, and smashes his head against one of the drawer doors. “Dead!” It drops Owen to the floor. “He was found wanting!”
Buffy kicks the vampire back against the metal examining table. “You killed my date!” She uses table to batter it some more.
Xander and Willow arrive at the door. Willow sees that Owen isn’t dead. She starts to tell Buffy, but Xander stops her. Buffy doesn’t need any distractions right now.
“You killed my date!” Buffy tells the vampire again, as she pummels it. Giles is starting to wake up.
“Your turn!” The vampire lunges at Buffy.
Buffy uses the momentum of its attack to toss the vampire into the open crematorium. Giles slams the door shut behind it.
Owen is starting to sit up, rubbing his head. “Does anyone have an aspirin? Or sixty?” Buffy rushes to check on him. “What happened to that guy?”
Buffy tells Owen that he scared him away. She helps him to his feet. “I’m sure this isn’t exactly what you had in mind for a first date.”
Owen rubs his head. “Yeah! I was hoping maybe we’d finish at Ben & Jerry’s.”
“We still could,” says Buffy.
“No, I, I, I think I’ll just walk home,” says Owen. “Uh, which way’s home?”
“I’ll get you there,” says Buffy.
“No, I’ll, I’ll go it alone,” says Owen
Willow and Xander come and take control of Owen. “We’ll make sure he gets home safely,” says Xander.
Buffy watches them go. Giles steps up behind her. “Buffy, if I might—”
Buffy holds up her hand to stop him. “Don’t.”
Buffy walks down the stairs from the balcony into the school courtyard with Xander and Willow. She asks them how Owen managed on the trip home. They tell her he was pretty incoherent. He didn’t say anything about Buffy.
“I knew it,” says Buffy. “I totally blew it last night!”
“No,” says Xander. “See, what you need is a guy who already knows your deepest, darkest secrets and still says, ‘Hey! I like that girl!’ Someone like—”
“Owen!” says Buffy. She’s seen him coming toward them.
Willow decides that she and Xander should leave Buffy and Owen alone together. She grabs Xander and pulls him away with her. Buffy and Owen walk off together.
“I don’t really know how to say this,” says Owen, “but, about last night—”
“You don’t even have to,” says Buffy. “I’m sure you were pretty freaked out.”
“Totally!” says Owen. “And… I was wondering when I could see you again.”
Buffy looks up at him. She can’t quite believe her ears. “Um, that was my hopeful ear. Could you repeat that?”
“I think you’re the coolest!” says Owen. “I mean, last night was incredible! I never thought nearly getting killed would make me feel so alive! When can we do something like that again?”
“Something like…?” asks Buffy.
“Like, walk downtown at three in the morning, and pick a fight in a bar. How about tonight?”
“Tonight…would be…not a workable thing,” says Buffy. “Did I just say that?”
Owen suggests tomorrow then, or any other night. He’s free all week.
“I’m not,” says Buffy. “Please don’t take this personally. It’s not you, it’s me.”
“Right,” says Owen. “It’s you.”
“And I was kinda hoping that… maybe you and I could still be…”
“I get it,” says Owen. “You just want to be friends.”
“That’d be nice,” says Buffy.
“Friends,” says Owen. “Yeah. Great.” He turns and walks away from her.
Giles has witnessed the tail end of this. Buffy goes and sits down on a bench, and he joins her. “I was ten years old when my father told me I was destined to be a Watcher. He was one, and his mother before him, and I was to be next.”
“Were you thrilled beyond all measure?” asks Buffy.
“No,” says Giles, “I had very definite plans about my future. I was going to be a fighter pilot. Or possibly a grocer. My father gave me a very tiresome speech about responsibility and sacrifice.”
Buffy looks off in the direction Owen left. “Sacrifice, huh?”
“Seems like a very nice lad,” says Giles.
“Yeah,” says Buffy, “But he wants to be Danger Man. You, Xander, Willow, you guys know the score. You’re careful. Two days in my world and Owen really would get himself killed. Or I’d get him killed.” She looks at Giles. “Or someone else.”
“I went to the funeral home of my own free will.”
“And I should’ve been there,” says Buffy. “I blew it!”
“I have volumes of lore, of prophesies, of predictions,” says Giles. “But I don’t have an instruction manual.1 We feel our way as we go along. And, I must say, as a Slayer, you’re doing…pretty well.”
Buffy smiles. “Well, at least I did stop that prophecy thing from coming true.”
“You did!” says Giles. “Handily. No more Anointed One. And I would imagine the Master, wherever his is, is having a fairly bad day himself.”
The Master recites the prophecy. “‘And in this time will come the Anointed. And the Slayer will not know him. She will not stop him, and he will lead her into hell.’” He looks down at the child who was killed on the bus with the others. “Welcome, my friend.” He laughs.
| Who or What | Where | How |
|---|---|---|
| Aurelius vampire | The cemetery | Staked by Buffy |
| Shuttle bus driver | A park | Killed by the Brethren of Aurelius |
| Collin | The shuttle bus | Killed and vamped by the Brethren of Aurelius |
| Collin’s mother | The shuttle bus | Killed by the Brethren of Aurelius |
| Andrew Borba | The shuttle bus | Killed and vamped by the Brethren of Aurelius |
| Woman on the bus | The shuttle bus | Killed by the Brethren of Aurelius |
| The vampire Andrew Borba | Sunnydale Funeral Home | Cremated by Buffy |