I stared at the door for a few more seconds before heading in after the
  others. Oz took my arm reassuringly. We walked inside together and I tried to
  prepare myself for what we were going to see. I fervently hoped Buffy was
  ali-- okay. I took a deep breath as we reached a desk, or something that
  could've passed as one, anyway. A leg was broken and held together with duct
  tape, and the stained white paint was chipped and peeling. I looked around.
  The walls were no better, almost worse. I shuddered.

  Giles rang the little desk bell. As a man with a cigar hanging loosely from
  his lips came out from behind a curtain, I noticed Giles's hesitant posture
  change. He suddenly became the Watcher, strong, brilliant and confident. I
  had never seen him more at his element, strange as though it may sound. His
  voice came out booming and made the cigarguy stand up straight.

  "A young woman registered here today. Tell me what room she's in. Now." The
  guy, Bob, as his nametag read, didn't like being ordered around and smirked at
  us.

  "Hey, yeah, I can't do that. It would be illegal. You know." He took a puff
  from his cigar and blew it near my face. I almost started to choke. His eyes
  wandered slowly down my body and I shivered, not liking what I saw in his
  eyes. He roamed over to Cordelia and did the same. She pressed herself
  against Xander and he wrapped his arms around he, giving Bob a dangerous
  look.
  Oz was doing the same thing and I breathed a sigh of relief when Giles spoke
  again, drawing the attention away from us.

  He spoke low and seriously. "Yes, I suppose it would be. With adults. But
  my daughter is a minor, and you could get arrested for this, if I should so
  choose. Take heed of this warning, it's the one chance you'll get." Bob
  looked at him nervously, and I could tell that he was wondering if her could
  really get arrested or not. He finally decided that it wasn't worth the risk
  and took a book out of the drawer. He handed it over quickly, and I noticed
  the tremor in his hands. Giles snatched it from him and flipped to the dates
  entry.

  "There!" He spoke loudly. Too loudly. Lowering his voice a little he
  pointed to the name. "Anne Winters, Room 5, 2:45 pm." I glanced over his
  arm and saw a glimpse of handwriting. Buffy's handwriting. My breath caught
  excitedly. He pinned Bob with another look. "Give me the key." Bob handed it
  over quickly.

  "She ain't in there. She left as soon as it got dark, said that she had some
  things to do. Not like I was hitting on her, or anything," he rushed to
  explain. He looked at Giles nervously before asking his next question. "Hey,
  you're not gonna, you know, call the cops or anything, right? I mean, I
  didn't know she was underage."

  "Consider yourself lucky that I don't," he said. Almost an afterthought, he
  added, "If you see her when she gets back, don't tell her that we're here.
  I'd like to talk to her before anyone else does." Bob nodded understandingly.

  "That's okay. I got a daughter, too. Ran away at sixteen to be with her
  boyfriend. Yours run away for something like that? Because of her boyfriend?"
  He sounded almost sympathetic.

  Giles lifted his head. "Yes, something like that..." He voice had gotten
  considerably softer. He turned to Bob again. "Well, thank you for your
  cooperation."

  Bob shrugged. "Sure. I just wish someone could help me to get my little girl
  back. Why don't you go in her room and wait for her? It's gotta be cooler in
  there than it is in here. We got air conditioning most of the time." He
  turned and went back behind the curtain.

  Giles gestured his arm and we followed him down to the last room in the hall.
  He unlocked the door and stepped inside. The rest of us followed suit. I
  looked around. The yellowed sheets were rumpled and Buffy's stakes lay
  everywhere. The room was a mess. Joyce sucked in her breath. It was scary
  to see how messed up she was. What little regard she still had for any of her
  things. Understandable, I guess, but scary.

  I looked at my watch. It was almost three. Assuming that Buffy had gone on
  the hunt, she wouldn't be too much longer, I surmised. I sat down hesitantly
  on her bed. The thing looked like it would break with too much pressure. I
  was right. Xander flopped down beside me declaring how bushed he was. It
  broke. His side crashed into the ground with a resounding thud. We all burst
  into laughter. It was slightly strained, but it took away the quiet fear we
  had all been feeling.

  Cordelia looked at his shocked face with a snicker. "Xander, keep gaining
  weight like you are, and I'll have to dump you," she teased. He chuckled in
  embarrassment and pointed to me.

  "I'm not the one who has been on that weird hospital diet. I'm only the straw
  that broke the camels back."

  Oz came to my defense, smiling. "Yeah, the straw that jumped with all of his
  weight onto the camel." The banter helped smooth my ruffled nerves. It
  almost seemed like home. Kind of.

  I got up and headed to the tiny bathroom near the door. I hadn't realized
  that we had been traveling for so long. My bladder started actually talking.
  Stuff like, "Help me. Help me now. You are going to die." I giggled at my
  absurd thoughts.

  When I came out, I stopped in the hallway for a moment to view my friends.
  They were talking quietly, Oz and Cordelia to Xander. Giles to Joyce. My
  heart filled for them all, with such love that I could hardly bear feeling
  it. It washed over me in waves and I felt my eyes feel with tears as I
  watched them. All but one of them. The missing equation. My happy thoughts
  were knocked down when I was. From behind.

  Someone rolled on top of me and my first thought was that it was Xander trying
  to protect me from something. I cried out as my arms were squished
  underneath
  my stomach.

  "Oh, God," came the startled reply. The pressure lifted off of me and I
  rubbed my arms as I got to my feet. The room was silent. I looked around.
  It was Buffy.

  No one took their eyes off of her. For having been gone for a day, she looked
  so different! My heart screamed in my chest against the differences. The
  unkempt, dirty hair. The scared, guilty expression. Her skin tone was dull
  and sallow where it had been so vibrant even three days ago. But the scariest
  thing were her eyes.

  Her eyes weren't simply solemn and sad. I think I could've handled that.
  They were dead. Utterly void of emotion. Except guilt. I knew that she was
  experiencing what Angel had felt when his soul had fist been restored so many
  years ago. Her eyes rested on her mother for a moment and I could see the
  remembrance of the harsh words flung at her. My heart tightened.

  I could feel everything she was going through all of a sudden and my tears
  escaped. The only difference in our emotions was that I felt hope. I pulled
  her into my arms silently as the understanding of it all passed between us.
  She stood rigidly for a minute while I sobbed and then melted, putting her
  arms around me. He tears leaked out and she was quiet at first, but soon all
  you could hear were her harsh sobs and rough crying. She hugged me tighter
  than I would've thought before that it was humanly possible to withstand, but
  I just held her closer and tried to croon comforting words in her ear through
  my own tears.

  I led the still weeping Slayer over to the bed and sat down on it. She sank
  to her knees on the ground and rested her head on my lap. Her words were
  incoherent, but I could somehow understand them. "I didn't think anyone would
  love me after this. Why do you still love me, Willow? I don't deserve
  anything..." she said brokenly.

  I smoothed her hair back with my hand, stroking it softly, giving her
  something to concentrate on. I leaned down so that she could hear me. "Shhh.
  Shhh, it's okay, Buffy. It's going to be okay, I promise. We all love you,
  we all love you and it will be all right." She lifted her head up and stared
  at me with a tearstained face. Her voice stopped contributing to her sorrow,
  but the tears continued, silently running over her cheeks and dripping off her
  chin.

  "Why?" That one word. That one word, that one question expressed to me
  everything I had not already known. Her loneliness, her heartache. Her
  complete hopelessness at her life. She was actually confused at why we would
  continue to love her after what had happened. I put my hand to my chest to
  try and stop the pain I was feeling there. I didn't know all of this was
  possible. I had been through more hurt and despair in the last two days than
  in my entire life.

  "Because you're you," I said softly. Everyone in the room was completely
  still, watching. "Because you're Buffy, and no matter what you think you did
  to not deserve it, we'll never stop loving you." She laid her head back on my
  knees and her shoulders started shaking with silent weeping. I lifted my eyes
  to Joyce. She nodded slowly, understanding finally why she would live with
  Buffy's life.

  Joyce reached her hand forward and placed it hesitantly on Buffy's back.
  Buffy jerked her head up at some spark of recognition at the touch and stared
  at her mother for a long moment. She got to her feet heavily and fell into
  her mothers open arms. Joyce wrapped her arms around her heartbroken
  daughter
  in the same fashion I had, but she was saying different words.

  "I'm sorry, baby. I'm so sorry. I'm sorry, Buffy..." Oz walked over to me
  and took my hand as we all stared, speechless, at the sight. A mother and
  daughter, reunited, paid no attention to the spectators. They simply held
  each other and cried, blocking out the rest of the world.

  I looked over at Giles who had taken off his glasses and was crying with the
  rest of us. Buffy lifted one of her arms and waved at him, inviting him into
  the embrace. I sucked in my breath at the touching sight. Giles launched
  himself across the little room in two strides and enfolded them both in his
  arms. The Watcher held the Slayer. It was the most moving thing I had ever
  seen in my life. And in the past few days, I had seen quite a few.

  He finally released them and looked at her seriously, needing to tell her.
  "Buffy. We can get Angel back."

  Her eyes widened and she stopped breathing for a second. She didn't even
  question how we knew what had happened.

  Her voice came out a breathy whisper. "How?"

  "We need to do it soon. The longer we wait, the less sure it will be that
  he'll make it." Xander's eyes darted to me for a moment before going back to
  Giles. "And it won't work. He will be stuck there. We need to do it by
  midnight." She nodded.

  "Okay. I'll do whatever I have to." She went around and collected her things
  hurriedly, giving my hand a squeeze as she passed by. We left the stuffy room
  quickly and headed for the car.

  I was shocked that so much time had past when I looked at my watch again.
  Time well spent, though, helping Buffy heal, letting her cry. The time was
  7:04 in the morning.