3rd Person's POV

"I'm not finished!"

He takes the cleaver and turns back to Laney then tries to start hacking at her neck. Buffy rushes over, grabs Daryl's arm, knocks the cleaver away and punches him in the face. She scrambles around the table to continue the fight, but Daryl punches her hard in the face. He grabs her, slams her head into the instrument tray and throws her over Laney and onto the floor.

"I won't live alone!" He pushes Laney's gurney aside, and it knocks over the can of gasoline. The gas starts pouring out onto the floor.

Eric looks around at the chaotic situation, "I'm getting out of here!"

Daryl grabs Eric by the shirt, "You have to help me!"

Eric struggles, "Let go!"

Daryl grows furious at Eric for being a traitor and throws him aside then faces Buffy again. Eric slides into a barrel with his head and gets knocked out. Daryl comes at Buffy, she kicks him in the knee, making him collapse to the floor. She kicks him again in the gut as he tries to get up. He tries to get up once more, but she kicks him in the face.

He's not fazed, so he just gets up and tries to swing at her. She ducks it. He tries again, and she ducks yet again but this time she kicks him in the chest, sending him staggering backward and knocking the Bunsen burner to the floor, igniting the gasoline.

Xander shows up at the door looking around.

"Buffy!"

Buffy looks at him in relief and points to Laney's gurney, "Get Laney!"

Laney cranes her neck to see Xander hurrying over to her, "Xander! Get me out of here please!"

Xander runs over to Laney and tries to untie her.

"Please help! Hurry!"

Xander grabs her face and holds her cheeks gently, "I'm not letting him hurt you. Don't worry."

He kisses her forehead and works at the ties again. Daryl seeing this grows angrier. He grabs hold of Buffy and flips her over onto the floor. As she gets up he grabs a canister and throws it at her. She ducks it. The flames around Laney and Xander are starting to get higher. Buffy kicks Daryl twice in the side.

"C'mon! C'mon! Stupid knots!" Xander mumbles to himself as Laney starts to freak out seeing a tall fire in the room.

"We're gonna die. We're gonna burn to death... oh god..." Laney cries closing her eyes.

"We're not going to die Lane." Xander replies firmly.

Daryl grabs Buffy again, lifts her and holds on to her while she struggles to free herself. Xander is getting nowhere with Laney's bindings and tries to find a knife. Buffy continues to struggle in Daryl's grip just as Giles and Willow show up.

Xander gives up looking and decides to just wheel Laney out. Willow and Giles spot Eric, pick him up and get him out. Xander gives the gurney a good shove, hops on and they roll through the flames while Laney screams. He hops off as Jenny and Cordelia help him stop the gurney. They get Laney loose. Without hesitation, she leaps into Cordelia's arms, shaking and sobbing uncontrollably.

Buffy hits Daryl in the neck, and he lets go of her. She tries to kick him again, but he grabs her leg, lifts her up and throws her to the floor. Buffy is stunned and lies there while Daryl grabs a desk and raises it over his head.

"Daryl!"

Daryl looks behind him and sees his brother there.

Chris shakes his head, "Don't!"

Daryl looks back at Buffy and then notices the body surrounded by flames. He tosses the desk aside and rushes over to it.

"No! She's mine!"

"Daryl!"

Buffy gets up and stops Chris from running into the flames after Daryl. Jenny watches, stunned as Giles comes back into the room behind her and looks on as well.

"No. We'll be together always. No! Mine! "

The flames engulf Daryl and his bride-to-be.

...

There are fire engines and police all over. Chris and Buffy sit on the curb as Chris explains everything that happened.

"The first time he woke up after... He said I shouldn'ta brought him back. I-I was just... tryin' to look out for him. Like... he woulda done for me. But he was sad. He said he didn't want to be here if she was gone. I didn't want to tell him that Laney was still alive. It would be too much for him."

Angel suddenly shows up, "I saw the fire. I figured you'd be here. Is everyone okay?"

Buffy nods slowly, "Yeah. We're okay. Somewhat..."

She glances over at Laney who was unconscious on a gurney being put in an ambulance. Laney had completely gone into shock for almost ten minutes after crying in Cordelia's arms. When the police got here and the fire department they put of the fire on the building and wheeled out Daryl's charred one again dead body. No one meant for her to see it but she did. After that she just sat looking at nothing. Then out of nowhere she started screaming and crying. She was pushing everyone away from her as she scratched at her arms and throat. She had a panic attack and the emt's had to sedate her.

Willow and Xander stand nearby the ambulance. The emt's said Laney should be okay physically but mentally they weren't sure. She would be brought to the hospital for the night. Which took some of the worry away.

They both look over at Buffy talking to Angel then Giles talking to Jenny.

Xander sighs, "Well, I guess that makes it official. Everybody's paired off. Vampires get dates. Hell, even the school librarian sees more action than me. You ever think that the world is a giant game of musical chairs, and the music's stopped and we're the only ones who don't have a chair?"

Willow wanted to say, 'you had a chair... it's just not the chair you wanted.' referring to not only Laney but herself, yet instead she chose to say, "All the time."

Cordelia walks up and puts her hand on Xander's shoulder, "Xander? I just wanted to thank you for saving my best friends life. What you did in there was really brave and heroic, and I just wanted to tell you if there was anything that I could ever do to..."

Xander holds his hand up, "Do you mind? We're talking here."

Cordelia is taken aback, rolls her eyes and leaves.

Xander sighs, "So where were we?"

Willow chuckles, "Wondering why we never get dates."

"Yeah, so why do you think that is?"

...

In cemetery later that night, Angel and Buffy are strolling through.

"God, the whole thing was so creepy. Well, at the same time, I mean... he did do it all for his brother."

Angel frowns, "Sounds like he took it a little over the edge."

Angel knew something had happened between Laney and her ex. He could tell from the talk he witnessed between Laney and Cordelia that there was something she was hiding. Something that she wasn't speaking about.

Buffy sighs, "Chris loved his brother, Daryl loved Laney... Love makes you do the wacky."

"What?"

Buffy smiles realizing the old vampire didn't get the new age term, "Crazy stuff."

Angel nods, "Oh. Crazy, like a two-hundred-and-forty-one-year-old being jealous of a high school junior?"

Buffy smirks, "Are you fessing up?"

Angel shrugs, "I've thought about it. Maybe it bothers me a little."

"I don't love Xander."

"Yeah, but he's in your life. He gets to be there when I can't. Take your classes, eat your meals, hear your jokes and complaints. He gets to see you in the sunlight."

Buffy jokes, "I don't look that good in direct light."

Angel chuckles, "It'll be morning soon."

Buffy nods, "I should probably go."

"I could walk you home."

...

Laney wakes up startled. She looks around at the pure white room and sits up slowly. Holding her wrists she gently rubs them while being careful of the tubes connected to her body. Her wrists were raw red from the ties she remembered held her. Her stomach was in knots as she thought about what had happened.

She knew that Daryl was actually gone now but she couldn't help but see his figure in the corner of the room. Shaking her head, she closes her eyes and pulls her knees to her chest.

"It's not real. He's not here. He can't hurt you anymore."

Opening her eyes she sighs as she sees the figure had disappeared. She turns her head to the side and screams out as another figure stands beside her bed.

"I'm sorry. It's me. I didn't mean to scare you."

Laney catches her breath and rocks back and forth not looking at the guy in her room.

"It's okay. It's just me."

"I'm so scared Angel."

Angel carefully and cautiously sits down beside her while grabbing her hand. He squeezes it lightly while staring at her pale face.

"It's okay to be scared. But I promise you nothing is going to happen to you. He's gone. He can't hurt you anymore. I promise."

Laney hiccups as a tear slides down her cheek, "Can you stay? Please..."

Angel nods. He goes to move off the bed but Laney holds her grip.

"No... j-just... can you hold me?... platonically of course."

Angel chuckles, "You would make sure to point that out."

Laney smiles. Angel sits back against the bed and wraps his arm around Laney's shoulder. Laney holds onto his hand still as she snuggled into his side. She definitely knew how wrong this would look if any of the gang were to come in but she didn't care. She needed his comfort. He was growing to be someone she really cared about. A really good friend. She needed his support.

"Thank you Angel."

Angel nods once again and watches as Laney closes her eyes. He feels her heart slow down and beat normal once again. He couldn't help but stare at Laney as she made little mewling sounds as if she was a kitten snoring. He chuckles to himself before looking up at the ceiling.

She had been in the hospital longer than the emts thought she would be. After being sedated and taken to the hospital, everyone waited for her to wake up. But she didn't. The doctor said the shock was too much for her body and it chose to do the best thing for her and keep her in a less serious coma.

Everyone had been visiting her day and night for the week, wondering the same thing... what was so bad about her past. What happened to her?

Hours go by and Angel is still awake. He didn't sleep much as a vampire. Only when he was exhausted or needed to recharge but he didn't... no he couldn't sleep knowing the girl in his arms could awake at any moment and go into another panic attack or even shock once again.

Laney meant a lot to him. Whether he let her know that or not. Of course he didn't want anyone else to know. He had to keep up his bad boy leather jacket grimace wearing facade up. Well to everyone but Laney and Buffy. He really liked Buffy and as much as he wanted to be with her at this moment, he couldn't leave Laney to fend her demons alone.

The door creaking open startles Angel out of his head. He goes to sit up but freezes feeling Laney move with a frown. As he stops sitting up, Laney smiles once again and falls back into a deep sleep.

"Well well well what do we have here? I thought you were oh so in love with Buffy? Even though she is utterly tragic at moisturizing."

Angel rolls his eyes seeing Cordelia walk in with a smirk. She sits down beside the bed and stares at the two knowingly.

"It's not like that Cordelia and you know it."

Cordelia rolls her eyes chuckling, "I know I just love messing with people."

Cordelia knew that the relationship between Angel and Laney was nothing but a platonic friendship. Laney would never do anything to hurt her friends. Laney wasn't Cordelia. She didn't cheat with peoples' boyfriends or whatever Buffy and Angel were.

Laney and Angel were like unrequited lovers. Somewhere deep down they somewhat had feelings for one another but they would never ever act on them. They cared about each other and their friends too much. The two had grown closer and closer yet they never thought of one another in that way. Laney had said it was weird to think of Angel like that. Sure he was handsome and attractive but their friendship was just too strong to ever cross that line.

"She trusts you a lot. Don't break it."

Angel looks down at the snoring Laney with a hard face, "Never."

𝐹𝑎𝑣𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝑑𝑢𝑜 𝑜𝑟 𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑜 𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡?

𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑓𝑎𝑣𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡 𝑠𝑜 𝑓𝑎𝑟?

𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑡𝑜?

𝑊ℎ𝑜 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑤𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑦 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑒𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑜𝑓?