"Yeah," came the reply. "Come on in."

Buffy opened the door and walked in. Oz shared the room with Spike, but Spike
was in the living room drinking his blood. She sat down on his bed. "I kissed
Graham tonight. Well, I mean, I kissed his cheeks, but then he kissed me,
and..." She took a deep breath. "He asked me to save him."

"From what?"

"Before he was turned, he was tortured. We have less than two weeks to get
home and stop him from getting tortured to the point of death."

Oz nodded. "Do you think we'll be able to do it?"

"I don't know. I mean, tonight was a start, but we're going up against all
these...things...and I feel so lost." She leaned back onto the bed. "I wish
Giles was here, or Willow. At this point, I even wish Wesley was here."

Oz smiled slightly, then laid down next to Buffy. "I feel the same way."

She turned to look at him. "Do you think we can get home?"

"I don't know for sure, but as long as there's a chance, then I have hope."

Buffy nodded, then yawned. "I'm so tired."

"So am I," Oz said, her yawn causing a chain reaction. He shut his eyes, and
mumbled, "Buffy?"

"Yeah?"

"Everything's gonna be fine."

"If you say so." Buffy got up, pulled the sheet over Oz, then went into her
room, to find Graham already sleeping on the bed. She curled up next to him
and finally fell asleep.

***

"I'm an idiot," Xander said, looking at the ice on his knuckles. After
walking halfway towards his house, he decided he didn't want to deal with his
parents and then walked towards Willow's dorm, momentarily forgetting Willow
was at Tara's.

"No, you aren't," Willow said. They'd filled Xander in on what they referred
to as "The Burning Bush" message. "You were cheated on. Trust me, I know how
it feels."

"I just think of this as karma," Xander said. "You and I did it to Oz and
Cordy, then you got Oz back and he did it to you with what's-her-name."

"Veruca," Willow said absently.

"Yeah. And Cordy and I never got back together, and she never did it to me.
And then I got together with Anya, and she *did* do it to me," Xander said.

"Well," Tara began. "You *could* look at it as karma. Or dumb luck."

"Luck? This isn't luck," Xander muttered, looking at Graham. "Dude, are you
okay?"

"Yeah," he said, still in a mild state of shock. "Which book am I not
supposed to get? And how would they know about any of this?"

"You have to figure someone's still around," Willow said. "Probably bleached
blonde Brit boy. Or...maybe one of us."

The four of them visibly shuddered. "Well, then, I guess I have to go get a
book."

"Leave the spell book that we left there," Tara said. "Maybe that's the one
you have to leave there."

Graham nodded. "So, I'll grab something else."

"Hey, Graham?" Xander said, looking up.

"Yeah?"

"Be careful."

Graham nodded, then walked out of the relative safety of Tara's dorm.

***

The plan was simple: Tsar said grab the person who went into the dorm room
after the foursome left. It wasn't a hard job. No one could *possibly* screw
it up.

Except maybe Eddie, but since he was a newly risen vampire, Tsar kept him in
the tiny cramped sewer lair and sent others to complete the task. And it was
an easy task, and it meant to get their Master's praise.

Only they hadn't counted on Graham remembering Willow's passing comment, that
maybe the one who was giving the information to Buffy and Oz was one of them.
Why would they tell Graham to get a different book? Why not say not to get
the book at all?

Graham decided on a little test. He knew a vampire who owed him a favor. Time
to call in that little favor, he'd decided, and told the vampire to go into
Buffy's dorm and grab a textbook. Nothing else, just a textbook.

And then, he waited.

Just like he'd thought, the minute the vampire went into the room, twenty
vampires surrounded the dorm room, a few creeping inside and capturing the
vampiric decoy. They dragged him out, kicking and flailing about, and away
from the dorms in the general direction of the cemeteries.

When Graham was sure the coast was clear, he ran into her dorm room, picked
up the spell book, and hauled ass to Tara's dorm.

***

Graham awoke with a start. He knew in a very, very short time, he'd no longer
be in the future. He'd made a decision in the past, and it was affecting the
time now. There had to be a way to tell Buffy.

He grabbed a piece of paper and a pen, quickly, as he was beginning to fade
away. He had to let her know something...

As the last of him faded back into the past, he dropped the pen on the short
note.

The sudden lack of a body next to Buffy caused her to wake up. There was no
sign of Graham, but there was a note on top of the dresser.

"Buffy," she read out loud, "your spell saved me. I lived in the past. Stay
alive and come back to me. Love, Graham."

She smiled through the tears she began to have, glad that one of them was
able to go back home. Then she curled back into bed and went to sleep.