Oh, I'm sorry. I... I didn't mean to interrupt.
That's all I had left in me anyway.
I didn't realize meditating was such hard work.
I'm healing. Growing new skin.
Wow. That's magic, right? I mean, when most people meditate, they don't get extra skin, right? 'Cause, Clem should, like, cut back.
It's magic. I'm drawing power from the earth to heal myself.
We're on the second floor.
[laughs] You know, Giles says everything's part of the earth-- this bed, the air, us.
Explains why my fingernails get dirty even when I don't do anything.
Plus, you stuck your thumbs in a demon.
True. You're wiped out. I-I should go.
No. Please stay. I missed you so much when I couldn't find you.
We missed you too. I missed you. Dawn's working on what caused the mutual no-see-ums, but so far we haven't--
I didn't mean to. I-I just remember, thinking how I wasn't ready to see you guys yet. I was afraid we wouldn't, you know, connect.
So you made it happen just by thinking it?
I guess I have a ways to go before I master my powers, huh?
It's okay. As long as you're all right.
It's nice to be forgiven. Too bad I need so much of it.
I have a confession to make. I thought it might be you, with the flaying.
I wanna be the kind of person that wouldn't think that. Xander never thought it.
He did a little. Heck, I did a little. Xander has the luxury of not saying it. But you're the Slayer. You have to say stuff like that. It's okay. It's okay too if... you still don't think I can recover from this magic stuff. Because honestly, I'm not that sure about it either. [sighs]
I thought you were too tired.
It hurts too much not to try.
And it just takes so much strength, I don't have that much.
Well, I got so much strength, I'm givin' it anyway.
Figuring out how to control your magic seems a lot like hammering a nail. At the end of the hammer, you have the power, but no control. It takes, like, two strokes to hit the nail in, or you could hit your thumb.
So you choke up. Control, but no power. It could take like ten strokes to knock the nail in. Power, control. It's a trade off.
That's actually not a bad analogy. Except, I'm less worried about hitting my thumb, and more worried about going all black-eyed baddy and bewitching that hammer into cracking my friends' skulls open like coconuts.
CCassie
You think I want this? You think I don't care? [cries] Believe me, I want to... be here, do things. I want to graduate from high school, and I want to go to the stupid winter formal... I have this friend, and it would be fun to go with him. Just to dance and hear lame music to wear a silly dress and laugh and stuff... I'd like to go. There's a lot of stuff I'd like to do. I'd love to ice skate at Rockefeller Center. And I'd love to see my cousins grow up and see how they turn out 'cause they're really mean and I think they're gonna be fat. I'd love to backpack across the country or, I don't know, fall in love, but I won't. I just never will.
Willow. How was her mom?
Okay. As okay as-- She told me their family had a history of heart irregularities. But she never told Cassie.
Cassie didn't know? Then it was fate?
Then she was going to die no matter what, wasn't she? It didn't matter what you did.
She just knew. She was special. I failed her.
Uh-uh. No. You didn't 'cause you tried. You listened and you tried. She died 'cause of her heart, not 'cause of you. She was my friend 'cause of you. I guess sometimes you can't help. [sniffles]
So what then? What do you do when you know that? When you know that maybe you can't help?
Spike, this basement is killing you. This is the Hellmouth. There is something bad down here, possibly everything bad.
Spike [laughs]: Can't hear you. Can't hear you.
You have a soul? Fine. Show me.
Scream "Montresor" all you like, pet.
Get up and get out of this basement.
I don't have anywhere else to go.
[Buffy, Xander and Willow argue about whether to kill the re-demonized Anya.]
You think we haven't seen all this before? The part where you just cut us all out. Just step away from everything human and act like you're the law. If you knew what I felt -
I killed Angel!! Do you even remember that?! I would have given up everything I had to be with... I loved him more than I will ever love anything in this life! And I put a sword through his heart because I had to.
And that all worked out OK.
Do you remember cheering me on? Both of you! Do you remember giving me Willow's message? "Kick his ass."
Willow [shocked]: I never said that!
It is always different! It's always complicated. And at some point, someone has to draw the line and that is always going to be me! You get down on me for cutting myself off but in the end, the Slayer is always cut off. There's no mystical guidebook, no all-knowing council. Human rules don't apply. There's only me. I am the law.
There has to be another way.
[Xander walks out the front door. Buffy turns to Willow, silently asking her help to dispatch Anya.]
I can't. I'm sorry. [Buffy grabs a sword and heads outside]
You don't understand. This isn't an intervention. Buffy's coming to kill you.
Xander [exasperated]: Did everybody have their Crazy Flakes today? You guys are friends! How could you talk like this?
I have a job to do. And so does Buffy. Xander, you've always seen what you wanted to but you knew, sooner or later, it would come to this.
My advice to you is do exactly what everyone else does, all the time.
Do what everyone else does, wear what everyone else wears, say what everyone else says.
People may say something to you, you don't understand. Just don't be afraid to keep your mouth shut and pretend like you know what they're saying.
You know, Dawn, I've been to college before.
People may say something like, "My protein window closes in an hour." Just nod and smile. "Mm-hmm." Turns out it has something to do with fitness.
Have you talked to her lately?
Not since that night with the Gnarl demon. And that wasn't exactly the kind of "How have you been?" kind of talking. More the "pierce its eye with something sharp" kind of talking. I'm thinking I should call her.
I just don't want you to get your hopes up.
"Hopes?" [scoffs] Oh, no, no, no, no, no. There are no hopes. Anya and I are done. I love being single. I'm a strong, successful male who's giddy at the thought, of all the women I will no doubt be dating in the near future.
Strong, successful males say "giddy"?
I just worry about her, that's all.
She should try acting like everybody else more.
Apparently, it's what all the kids are doin' nowadays.
Well, I'm not sure I get the sad vibe, but there's definitely a vengeance vibe worth worrying about.
Oh, that? No, no. I don't worry about that. She was hurt, and she just turned back to what she knew, when I, you know. But that's not her anymore.
Well, she turned that worm guy back before any real damage happened, right? It'll just take some time. I really think she's coming around.
