Parting
by Ducks

This is the way I would have ended GDII.

Set to I Love You by Sarah Mclachlan

Dedication: To the Naughty Slayer Archive for exploring the depths of passion, and the gifts of love...

Notes: I rewrote the end of Graduation Day, Part II. If the dialogue seems familiar, then Joss probably wrote it. Yay Joss! Then, Boo Joss! I take over where he dropped the ball... *grin*

She had looked for him since the explosion... watching each face, each movement in the crowd... she listened to the noises... radios, sirens, water splashing, wood crackling with fire... she searched to sounds for his step, for the sweep of his body as it cut the air... But she hadn't heard it yet...

Xander...Xander was talking to her. She heard the rhythm of his voice... a low mumble against the screaming of her tired body, her depleted blood... her weakened spirit... But she didn't hear what he said.

"He made it through the fight..." she caught, from the din. He was alright... he was gone...

Giles was talking now... Hm. Fire bad, tree pretty. She told him. He ignored her. She reminded him. He left.

She waited, feeling a change in the air... his step... his smell... his thoughts...

She turned. He was there, 20 yards away... apparently safe, healthy, and whole... he stood there, staring at her, his jaw clenching... his eyes filling with tears...

I'll never forget you... or anything we've shared. As long as I walk this Earth, I will remember. I swear.

She could hear his thoughts... her heart tore... the smoke stung her nostrils, but this was so much worse...

I love you. She told him. Please be safe... be happy...

She saw him close his eyes. A long eternity passed when they simply stood there and stared at one another, thinking, I have to move. I have to turn around. She couldn't do it... her eyes were riveted by his... her heart skipped a beat... no... no...

He had to. He had to. Turn. Right now. Turn and don't look back. He did. He could hear the echoes of his footsteps against the alleyway built between the fire trucks.

No. No, you can't go...

The echo of her footsteps, quicker... preternaturally quick... she'd caught up with him in an instant, grabbed his arm, forced him to turn around.

Her eyes were filled with crazed fear... rage... sorrow.

"You can't go." She said, looking deeply into him.

He opened his mouth to object...I have to go. I have to go. The imperative raged through his brain... he fought it, as hard as he fought his urge to just take her in his arms...

She saw the pain on his face... the confusion, the indecision.

"You can't go." She said again, and grabbed him. She crushed his neck in her strong embrace, and he felt the last bit of his resolve crumble as he fell, sobbing, into her arms.

"I can't go." He cried, throwing his arms around her and smashing her into his chest.

They stood there, clutching one another, crying...

"I need you." She said, finally, "I can't do this without you." She pulled away and looked seriously into his eyes.

He shook his head. "But..."

She silenced him with a quick kiss. "Don't argue. You know I'm right. Whatever else goes on between us, I need you beside me... to watch my back..."

A strategist, his Buffy... how could he argue?

He nodded. "Okay. To watch your back."

She nodded back. "Okay."

She flew once again into his arms.