At night at the Bronze, Dingoes Ate My Baby was playing on stage. 

Buffy, Willow and I were sitting at a table.

"Hey, look," Willow told us. "Parker's here." She looked at Buffy. "You're not looking? He looks really cute in green."

"Teal," Buffy corrected. "He's reflected in the mirror."

Willow and I followed her gaze to a round security mirror that showed Parker shooting pool.

I looked at Buffy. "You know, when you spend all week with a boy, you are allowed to look at him directly."

"Not all week," Buffy told us. "We hung out. Moderately incessantly. But we're not here together tonight. You know, I don't want to crowd him."

Willow and I nodded understandingly.

The song came to an end.

The crowd applauded.

Oz took off his guitar, walking off stage toward us. "Hey. You guys ready to load up and go?"

"Almost," I answered. "Buffy's looking at Parker. Who it turns out has a reflection, so big plus there. Buffy's having lusty wrong feelings."

"No, I'm not," Buffy told us.

"No, you're not," Willow told her.

"Oh, I so am," Buffy told us.

"No, uh, they're not wrong feelings, 'cause you're free, you're both grown ups," Willow told her. "You are free, right?"

Parker walked over, putting a hand on Buffy's shoulder. "Hi."

"Hi," Buffy told him.

"I just wanted to let you know I'm headed out," Parker told her. "And it's not real safe here, so if you want to walk back to your dorm..."

"How silly of me not to have planned ahead," Buffy told him.

Willow and I smiled.

Buffy grabbed her jacket, standing.

"Bye," Willow told them.

"See you guys," I told them.

Buffy and Parker walked toward the door.

Buffy turned back, smiling.

Willow and I nodded, smiling.

  ~~~~  

Oz, Devon, Willow and I carried equipment out to Oz's van behind the Bronze.

"That was like the best set ever," Devon told us. "We'll do great in LA. We're gonna have them glued to their seats."

"Uh, Devon, aren't they supposed to dance?" Willow asked.

"Well, we can glue them to the dance floor," Oz told us.

Oz, Devon and I headed back inside.

"I didn't mean with real glue," Devon told us. "You got that, right?"

The other members of the band were trying to lift a heavy set.

"Come on, guys, lift with your legs," Oz told them.

I took the heavy set, picking it up on my own, receiving looks of surprised confusion. "Strong legs."

Oz smirked, shaking his head.

I smiled, walking out with the heavy set, leaving.

  ~~~~  

I heard Willow screaming outside, dropping the heavy set, running outside to see a blonde vampire feeding off of Willow, pulling the vampire off, pushing her back. "Back off!" The vampire let herself look human. I looked at her in shock. "Harmony?"

"Hi, Zoey," Harmony told me. "Just stopped by to see if we could have a bite."

I took a mic stand out of the back of the van, brandishing it at Harmony. "Sure. We can have it that way, if you want. See, this thing? It has a bit of a bite to it." I used it to hit Harmony in the face hard enough to make her spin through the air and land on the ground. "Don't you think?"

Harmony looked toward us, transformed angrily. She stood. "Go ahead. Show off your new-found super-powers. But guess what? I have a boyfriend, and he's gonna be mad that you were mean to me."

Harmony ran away as fast as she could.

I sighed, turning to face Willow. "You know, only if I had a freaking stake right now..."

"You sure that you would've been able to do it?" Willow asked. "I mean, kill Harmony? She was your friend all those years ago."

I nodded. "Yeah. Now she's a vampire. And unlike our favorite vamp, she doesn't have a soul." I hesitated in confusion. "What did she mean about a boyfriend?"

  ~~~~  

Outside the dorm room, Willow, Oz and I jogged toward Buffy and Parker out in the hallway.

"Hey," Oz told them. "Hi. Hi." He looked at Buffy. "Remember Harmony?"

"She's back from her summer vacation," Willow told her, holding a hand over her neck where Harmony had bit her to hide it. "And she's a little bit different."

"Different?" Buffy repeated.

"Paler," I told her.

Parker noticed Willow hiding her bite. "Is your neck okay?"

Buffy realized. "Neck. Paler. The puppy. The angry puppy."

"Yeah, we came to warn you about the... angry puppy," I told them.

Buffy looked at Parker. "I, um, should really take care of this now."

"I'll pick you up tomorrow night for the party," Parker told her.

"I can't wait," Buffy told him.

Parker walked away, leaving.

Willow looked at Buffy, her voice small. "Get in now?"

Buffy quickly unlocked the door, leading us into the room.

  ~~~~  

Willow was cleaning her neck bite.

Oz was leaning in the doorway.

Buffy and I were pacing.

"Harmony, a vampire?" Buffy asked. "She must be dying without a reflection."

Willow put on a neon green Band-Aid on her neck. "She just made me so mad." She contorted her face to mock Harmony. "'My boyfriend's gonna beat you up, Zoey'."

"'My boyfriend'?" Buffy repeated.

"Well, if you believe her," Willow told us. "She always lied about stuff like that. 'Oh, he goes to another school. You wouldn't know him.'"

"Well, Devon dated her for a while, but she was too flaky for him," Oz told us. "Which, stop and marvel at the concept."

Oz, Willow and Buffy chuckled.

I shook my head. "Guy dating Harmony dead. Must be like, the most tolerant guy in the world."

  ~~~~  

Oz and I had gone to the frat party that Parker and Buffy had been talking about, listening to Bif Naked on the stage.

"Some party, huh?" Oz asked. "Last day in Rome."

"Better," I told him. "No old Romans."

Oz smirked. "You want to dance?"

I shook my head sarcastically. "No. Let's have a meaningful talk instead." Oz smirked, taking my hand, spinning me around. I spun around to the other direction, seeing Harmony and Spike with an out of it guy unconscious with arms over their shoulders, stopping cold. "Spike." 

"Well, this is interesting," Spike told us. "Sort of a double date."

"Looks like your friend started the party a little early," Oz told them.

"Maybe a little," Spike agreed. "But I like him. He's got... what's the word? Venerability. Just... Good enough to eat."

"And you with Harmony," I told him. "What'd you do? Loose a bet?"

"Hey," Harmony told me in defense.

"Actually, how we met, it's a funny story," Spike told us.

"Yeah, well, I didn't forget my stake this time," I told them. Spike smirked, throwing the boy into me and Oz, leaping over the couch, running away, leaving. Harmony ran away in the opposite direction, leaving. I looked at Oz, pointing at the boy. "Help him."

"Yeah, I got it," Oz told me. "Just go."

I ran outside, taking out my stake, walking toward some shrubby. Spike was hiding there, backhand punching me in the face, getting into a defensive stance.

"What's the matter, Spike?" I asked. "Dru dump you again?"

I tried to backhand punch Spike in the face. Spike raised an arm to block the move. I tried to stake him in the heart. Spike caught my wrist. I punched Spike in the face, making him turn away.

Spike backed away, turning to face me. "Maybe I dumped her." I kicked Spike in the stomach, uppercutting his jaw, spinning around, backhand punching him in the face. Spike was amused, breathing slightly heavily. "You're a lot stronger now. Look who became a Slayer."

I stood ready.

Harmony arrived behind Spike. "Drusilla left him for a fungus demon. That's all he talks about most days."

Spike looked at Harmony in annoyance. "Harm!" He turned to face her fully. "We are going." He looked at me. "It isn't time yet."

Harmony looked at me. "Yeah, but as soon as we have the Gem of Amara..." Spike was seething, trying to stop her from speaking. "You're gonna be sorry--" Spike growled, grabbing Harmony. "What--" Spike pulled Harmony away. "Ow!"

They ran away, leaving.

I stood with my stake, lowering it, thinking about what Harmony had just let out.

  ~~~~  

I found a payphone, calling Giles. "Yeah, Spike with Harmony. If you can believe it. I couldn't figure out why he ran away, but Harmony said something. Why they were here. They were looking for the Gem of something... Amara."

"The Gem of Amara? Are you sure?"

"Yeah. What's up?"

"Uh, oh, it's just, uh, it's not real. It's, uh, the vampire equivalent of the Holy Grail. The source of some enormous power, was conveniently vague. Oh, here it is, yes. There was a great deal of vampiric interest in locating it during the, uh, oh, the 10th century. Question vampires combed the earth, but no one ever found anything. It was concluded that it never existed."

"Well, Spike seems to think it exists. And he's looking in Sunnydale."

"Yes, well, I'll research it as best I can."

I saw Oz walking closer. "All right. I'll be over if you find anything. Bye." I hung up, walking closer to Oz. "Hey. How's the guy?"

"Fine and stabilized," Oz answered. "They did get a few bites off him, but they took him to the hospital. They think it was some kind of stupid frat prank."

"Not too unbelievable," I told him.

"No, it is not," Oz agreed.

"All right, we've done all we can for tonight," I told him.

"All right," Oz told me. "Any place you wanna go?"

"Uh-huh," I answered. "To home, to my bed, to where I can sleep. Sleepy. Yawn."

Oz smiled a small smile, taking my hand, leading me away.

  ~~~~  

Giles came by the dorm room the next morning, sitting at the computer.

I was standing next to him, looking at the computer screen.

Willow was sitting on one of the beds.

Buffy walked in.

"Good morning," Giles told her.

"Giles," Buffy told him. "I--I didn't know you were here."

"Uh, really?" Giles asked.

I mouthed, 'How did it go?' to Buffy.

"I was studying at the library," Buffy told us. "All Saturday night." Giles gave her an unconvinced look. "Uh, you know what? I'm an adult now, and it's none of your business what I do."

"I'm sincerely relieved to hear that," Giles told her. "Now can we discuss the impending disaster?"

"Giles found something," Willow told her.

"A text," Giles told us. "It refers to the Gem of Amara as residing in the valley of the sun."

"Demon fancy talk for Sunnydale," Willow told us.

"It seems that Spike may know what it's about," Giles told us. "The gem may exist after all, in Sunnydale in a sealed underground crypt."

Buffy looked at Giles and Willow. "Why don't you guys try and locate the crypt, and Zo and I'll try to find Spike before he gets there?"

Giles stood, grabbing his jacket. "I'll get started."

"I'll go call Xander and have him meet at your place," Willow told him.

"Right," Giles told us, walking out, leaving, closing the door behind him.

Buffy sat on her bed.

Willow and I walked closer, sitting on my bed that was in the middle, facing Buffy.

"It happened, right?" Willow asked. "Did it happen? With Parker?"

"Yeah, it happened," Buffy answered.

"Well, and details," I told her. "I mean, not details. We don't need a diagram. But, you know... Like maybe a blurry watercolor."

"It was nice," Buffy told us. "It was really nice. He's going to call."

"I love this part," Willow told us. "Don't you love this part? Like when it's all new and everything's a discovery?"

"I don't know," Buffy told us. "I guess I do."

  ~~~~  

I was checking around campus with a Sunnydale year book, showing people Harmony's yearbook picture to see if anyone had seen her before, but everyone had said they had never met her.

  ~~~~  

Xander, Willow, Oz, Giles and I were in Giles' apartment.

Oz was sifting through some of Giles' old music records.

Giles was trying to study.

"Okay, either I'm borrowing all of your albums, or I'm moving in," Oz told him.

"Oz, there are more important things than records right now," Giles told him.

Oz held up a record. "More important than this one?"

"Well, I suppose an argument could be made for--" Giles started.

"Whoa, Giles has a TV," Xander told us, clearing boxes out of the way of the small TV to show us. "Everybody, Giles has a TV. He's shallow, like us."

I looked at Giles in amusements, putting hands on my hips. "I got to admit, I'm a little disappointed."

"I, ah, uh, uh..." Giles trailed off, unable to find words to say.

"Well, maybe it doesn't work," Willow told us. "Like a piece of art."

Xander turned the TV onto a news station.

Willow was in open-mouthed shock.

"Public television," Giles told us. "Come on, everyone, we have vital work to do. Watching television is not going to help us right now."

TV: "Near the UC Sunnydale campus. Officials attribute the unusual occurrence to weakening of the supporting topsoil nearby. City work crews denied any tunneling has been done in the area."

"Tunneling?" Oz asked.

I already knew who was behind this. "Spike."

"Zoey, find Buffy and meet us there," Giles told me.

I nodded, grabbing my jacket, leading the way out.

Willow, Oz and Giles followed.

Xander watched the TV for a second more, standing to leave.

  ~~~~  

I found Buffy and Spike fighting on a hidden part of campus in broad daylight, meaning Spike had the Gem of Amara.

Buffy was beaten and slightly bruised, favoring her right arm.

Spike threw Buffy down a few concrete steps. He turned to see me standing behind him. "Great. Two for one."

I grabbed Spike by his shoulders, kneeing him in the stomach, turning around, throwing him into a pole nearby, making him fall to the ground. Spike stood, bouncing off the nearby brick wall with one leg, kicking me in the side with the other, making me fall. I stood, punching Spike repeatedly, trying to kick him. Spike raised an arm to block the move. I spun to try to kick him with a roundhouse kick. Spike ducked, kicking me in the back, making me fall into the concrete steps. I stood, kicking Spike in the head, trying to punch him with one arm. Spike caught that arm. I tried to punch him with the other. Spike caught that arm. I elbowed him in the face, grabbing him by his shoulders, throwing him aside, making him roll across the fountain toward Buffy and fall to the ground.

Buffy stepped onto the ledge of the fountain, bouncing off with a foot, kicking Spike with the other, making him fall into a brick ledge and a large flower vase, making the vase fall and shatter against the ground. Buffy punched Spike repeatedly in the face. Spike punched Buffy in the face, kicking her in the side, making her back away. I took a flag pole from nearby, breaking the flag off, using it to hit Spike in the head, making him fall back onto the ledge, stabbing the wooden flag pole through his stomach to the ledge to pin him down, twisting, making him groan and yell in pain. Buffy grabbed the hand that had the Gem of Amara ring.

"Take it off me this way, we all burn," Spike told us.

"Really?" Buffy asked. "Let's see."

Buffy pulled the ring off.

Spike's skin started to sear in the sunlight, making him groan in pain. He ran away into the shadows, pulling the flag pole out of his stomach, falling below into a manhole into the tunnels.

Buffy gingerly held her arm.

I turned to face Buffy. "Are you okay?"

Buffy exhaled defeatedly. "I've been better."

  ~~~~  

Buffy and I met the others back at Giles' apartment.

The Gem of Amara was sitting on the wooden table.

"I like it," Willow told us.

"It's small," Oz told us.

"Really worth getting my ass kicked," Buffy told us.

"It's also very dangerous," Giles told us. "And we're destroying it."

"We don't destroy it," Buffy told us.

"Well, Buffy, any vampire that gets his hands on this is going to be essentially unkillable," Giles told her. He realized she meant giving it to Angel. "Oh."

Buffy looked down.

"I have that gig in LA," Oz told us. "I could swing by."

"I can go, too," I told them. "I've always wanted to go to LA."

"Thanks, guys," Buffy told us.

"What's going on?" Xander asked. "What's in LA?"

"She's giving the ring to Angel," Willow answered. "Don't make a fuss."

"Buffy, are you sure?" Giles asked.

"He should have it," Buffy told us.

We nodded.

  ~~~~  

After dark, Buffy, Willow and I were walking across campus.

Buffy had told us that Parker had only wanted 'fun' and used Buffy "So, what I'm wondering is, does this always happen? Sleep with a guy, and he goes all evil? God, I'm such a fool."

"Well, maybe you made a mistake," Willow told her. "But that's okay. Next time..." Buffy looked down. "What?"

"Parker said it's okay to make mistakes," Buffy told us. "It was sweet."

"No, it wasn't," I told her. "He was saying that so you would take a chance and sleep with him. He's manipulative and swallow."

"And why doesn't he want me?" Buffy asked. "Am I repulsive? If there was something repulsive about me, you two would tell me, right?"

"We're your friends," I told her. "We would..." I looked at Willow for a moment, reconsidering, looking at Buffy. "Well, I would call you repulsive in a second."

"Maybe Parker and I could still work it out," Buffy told us. "Do you think we could still work it out?"

"I think you're missing something about this whole poop head principal," Willow told her.

We reached Oz and his van.

Oz was packing up, walking closer, looking at me. "Hey. We ready to go?"

"Oh, yeah," I answered. I looked at Willow and Buffy. "Don't worry, guys. I'll be back before you know it."

"All right," Buffy told me. Oz and I turned toward the van. "Hey, Zo?" I turned back to them. Buffy hesitated. "Tell him hi for me, all right?"

I nodded. "You know I will."

Buffy nodded sadly.

Willow waved bye.

I smiled reassuringly, walking toward the passenger seat of Oz's van, getting inside.

Oz drove us away, leaving UC Sunnydale toward LA and Angel so we could give him the Gem of Amara.