Author's Note: Dialogue has been taken from the original episode, of which this is follows closely, minus certain necessary changes concerning Spike and Elita. I have also added some additional scenes to change the arc of the story to more of a debate concerning humanity , which essentially is what Season Five is all about. Enjoy.

I Was Made TO Love You.

The town above the hellmouth had settled into night long ago when a car rounded the corner into the main street. Inside the driver brought the vehicle to a halt by the sidewalk, before clicking off the auto-lock to allow his passenger to exit. The young woman leaned in through the open window on his side to thank him.

"Thank you for picking me up," she said. "I'm very grateful for the ride."

"You sure you want to get out here?" The driver asked her. "I mean, this place is kinda ..." he glanced around, unsure of what word to use without unduly scaring her. "What are you looking for in Sunnydale, anyway?"

"True love," the woman replied before walking away.

The driver watched her for a while, making sure she was in no danger, then quietly drove way. He has places to go to, people to see.

As for the young woman, she continued to walk the streets, searching for the true love whom had accidentally left her behind.

She was certain she would find him soon.

"Willow's good at all that computer stuff, but me not so much," Tara remarked to her companion as they traversed the campus the next morning. "Do you really understand all that?" She asked curiously.

"Oh. Well, at first it was confusing," Anya confessed. "Just the idea of computers was like, 'whoa, I'm eleven hundred years old. I had trouble adjusting to the idea of Lutherans.'"

Tara nodded in semi-understanding. "I go online sometimes, but ... everyone's spelling is really bad, and it's ... depressing."

"But you have to try online trading, it's great!" Anya argued. "The secret is avoiding the tech companies everyone was jumping on, and, and going with the smaller firms that supply the basic components."

"Uh-huh," Tara nodded, mainly for empathy.

"Anyway, I took the money from working for Spike, and I tripled it," Anya continued.

"Tripled?" Tara queried. "Like, first money, then money, money, money?"

"Yes," the former vengeance demon confirmed. "I'm thinking about buying something very expensive. Maybe an antelope."

"Hi," a young woman remarked to them suddenly, making them come to a halt and look at the newcomer before them.

"Hi," Anya returned.

"I'm looking for Warren," the woman informed them. "Do you know where Warren is? And if you do, could you tell me?"

"Um, I, don't think we know a Warren," Tara replied, while Anya shook her head.

The young woman was not too disappointed. "Well, all righty, no harm in asking. Thanks!" She smiled them before walking away, heading to another student, seated on one of the benches, reading a newspaper.

"Hi, do you know Warren?" She asked. "I need to find him."

"Uh, sorry," the guy replied before the two slayerettes moved out of earshot.

"You, you can do all this stuff with a regular computer?" Tara asked.

Anya nodded. "I'll show you. You can also see the website I designed for the magic shop. Huge photo of me."

"You sure I should be here?"

Buffy glanced up at her boyfriend, a mixture of mild annoyance and mild bemusement crossing her features. "Angel, your perpetually youthful features make you look the same age as every other student here. Just because you're a professor doesn't mean you're banned from the dorm parties. Besides, I'm sure no one will recognise you."

Angel nodded, still gazing around the room in concern. Buffy sighed and yanked his hand, pulling his face level with her own, whereupon she kissed him thoroughly. By the time she stopped, he was looking at her with an entirely different expression.

"Ready to party?" She asked him.

"Depends what you had in mind." He smiled at her.

"Let's join the others," Buffy replied, "I want to chill for a few hours, then we can have the party you just suggested."

Angel smiled and let her lead him to the group of slayerettes congregated around the snacks.

"Look at these tiny grain patties," Anya remarked as she ate a Chex Mix. "They're woven. That's craftsmanship."

"They aren't hand-woven, you know," Xander informed her.

"Then how?" Anya asked.

"Well, it's a machine, and it's ... it sorta .. it presses," Xander replied distractedly, his attention caught by a strange young woman entering the room. "And there may be a mould of some sort ..." he trailed off to ask, "who's that?"

"Warren?" the young woman asked.

Unseen a guy looked up nervously, before quietly slipping away.

"Oh, that girl," Anya remarked. "Tara and I met her. She speaks with a strange evenness and selects her words a shade too precisely."

"Well, some of us like that kind of thing in a girl," Xander replied, smiling at her.

"Warren?" the young woman persisted.

The guy who nervously looked up before slipping away, now rejoined his date for the party, who was sitting with her friends, waiting for him to return.

"Hi, did you get me a drink?" She asked him.

"We gotta go, she's gonna see me," the guy replied.

"She who?" His date asked. "What's up, Warren?"

"It doesn't matter," Warren replied, anxious to escape. "Come on."

"Is Warren here?" the young woman continued to ask.

"I thought you were getting the crunchies," Willow asked as she joined Anya and Xander.

"Xander got hypnotised by the strange girl," Anya replied. "I am remaining calm, however."

"Uh-uh, no," Xander replied, unconvincingly. "I'm, right with you. You don't know what you're talking about."

The young woman approached them. "I heard that Warren was here. Is Warren here?"

"Um, Warren who?" Xander asked.

"He's ... Warren." the woman replied. "And he's looking for me. He lost me." She walked over to another group of students. "Is Warren here?"

"It's that girl again," Tara murmured to Buffy and Angel. "Is she still looking for Warren? Weird, it's been like all day."

"There's something strange about her," Cordelia remarked. "She talks funny."

"Some men find that appealing," Anya said, echoing her still distracted boyfriend.

"I just hope she finds him," Tara added.

"Somehow I don't think a girl that looks like that's gonna be lonely for too long," Xander remarked.

"Definitely not," Spike added, causing Tara to frown. "Oh, not me, I was just saying, a pretty girl like that, there's always someone lurking around, looking for some action."

"Speaking of lurking," Buffy began, "I think one of us ought to talk to that girl," she looked at Spike.

The chipped vampire appeared insulted. "Why me?" He asked.

"Because you're the one who can tell if she's human," Buffy replied.

"So can Angel," Spike retorted.

"We need your style of attack," Buffy continued. "Angel's more discreet."

"Hey, I can do discreet," Spike assured her.

"Maybe you should, Angel," Tara said.

"You're right," Angel replied, and made to move, before Spike stopped him.

"Watch me," he remarked before heading towards her.

"Have you seen Warren?" the girl asked another student.

"No, sorry," the student replied before walking away.

"And who are you, darlin'?" Spike asked her.

"I'm April," the woman replied. "I'm looking for my fella."

"Maybe you just found him," Spike replied.

"Really?" April cried. "Where?"

Spike leaned in to whisper in her ear.

"Oh!" April gasped, before grabbing his shirt and lifting him over her head.

"Hey! Hey! Hey!" Spike cried, causing the party to come to a complete stop as everyone looked at them.

"That would be wrong," April remarked. "You are not my boyfriend!" She added before throwing him through a window, shattering the glass.

Spike rose up from the ground. "Bloody hell! You threw me through a window! What's that about?"

"You do not make those suggestions to me," April replied. "I have a boyfriend. Warren is my boyfriend."

"You know what?" Spike returned. "My bleeding sympathies to Warren." He turned and walked away, heading to a concerned Tara at the entrance of the dorms.

April turned round. "No one but Warren can touch me," she remarked before walking away through the crowds.

Buffy calmly intercepted her. "Excuse me. Hi. Um, uh, maybe you and I could talk. You know, 'cause, throwing Spike through a window," she paused, catching Angel's half-hidden smirk, "well, that's really good... um, but, you know, generally speaking-"

"Do you know my boyfriend?" April interrupted her.

"Okay. I think you need to take a second and stop looking for your boyfriend," Buffy suggested.

April grabbed her arms and flung her backwards. "I have to find him," she added, as Angel caught his soulmate, helping her up from the floor.

"If I hurt you just now, I'm sorry," April apologised. "And I hope that your boyfriend will take good care of you," she added before walking away.

"Ow," Buffy groaned as she gently tested her injured arms a few moments later in the student lounge, where the slayerettes had called an emergency meeting. "I don't know about you guys, but I've had it with super-strong little women who aren't me."

"Well, at least she didn't do too much damage," Cordelia remarked.

"Are you kidding?" Xander queried. "Double-glazed windows ain't cheap. And the jamb needs to be completely repaired," he paused, coming to an internal revelation. "Oh dear god, I'm the grown up who sees the world through my job. I'm like my uncle Dave the plumber. I must be shunned."

"Happy to oblige, mate," Spike remarked.

"So, what do you guys think she is?" Buffy asked them. "I mean, this may sound nuts, but I kinda got the impression that she was a-"

"Robot," Tara finished, causing all of them to nod in agreement.

"Oh yeah, robot," Xander added.

Buffy sank into the sofa next to her boyfriend. "Yeah, I was gonna say robot. What do you think she wants?"

"Warren, whoever that is," Tara replied.

"It's gotta be the guy that built her," Xander added.

"It's an unusual name," Willow mused. "There's hardly any except ... Warren Beatty and, you know, President Harding. It's probably not either of them."

"Will, can you track down this guy with only a first name?" Buffy asked.

Her best friend nodded slowly. "Given enough time. I can get a list of the Sunnydale students named Warren tonight, but ... then we'll have to call them or go to their dorms, so we probably can't start narrowing it down till tomorrow."

"She could do a lot of damage by then," Anya remarked.

"She was looking for this Warren, but it didn't sound like she wanted to hurt him," Xander added. "She said he's her boyfriend."

"Okay. We'll track down Warren tomorrow," Buffy agreed. "Tonight, Angel and I better go rescue Giles. He's been watching Elita while we were out of the mansion, and I have a feeling there's only so much he can take."

"Oh, Giles and Elita?" Tara remarked. "I bet they ended up having a blast."

"Dear god, Buffy, there's only so much I can take," Giles declared to his daughter in all but blood and name when she and Angel returned to the mansion. "We're going to have to change the system. A fourteen-year-old's too old to be babysat, and it's not fair on her."

Angel smirked. "What'd she make you do?"

"Um, well, we listened to aggressively cheerful music sung by people chosen for their ability to dance," Giles replied, "Then we ate cookie dough and talked about boys."

Buffy laughed, until she caught his frown. "I'm sorry. I'm very very sorry, but if it makes you feel any better, my 'fun time Buffy party night' involved watching a robot throw Spike through a window, so if you wanna trade..." she paused, considering. "No ... wait ... I wouldn't give that memory up for anything."

"I would, luv," Spike replied behind them.

"A robot?" Giles queried. "Sounds interesting."

"We're gonna work on it in the morning," Buffy replied. "You need to get back to your wife and my godson."

"I do," Giles agreed, before walking past them into the night. He halted briefly by his car before getting in. "Seriously, Buffy, we need a system with Elita."

"I know, Giles," Buffy sighed. "I'm just not sure what will work."

"Yeah? What?" A guy asked wearily as he opened his front door across town.

April beamed at him. "Hi! Does Warren live here?"

The guy frowned. "What the hell - what are you doing, it's three-thirty am!"

"Yes, it is!" April replied, still smiling. "Does Warren live here?"

The guy glared at her, then slammed the door in her face.

"Okay then," April replied to the wooden barrier before walking away. "Bye."

She left the drive and walked to the next house to continue her enquiries.

"And you're certain she was a robot?" Giles asked in the more reasonable morning hours later at the Magic Box.

"Absolutely," Buffy replied.

"No blood in her at all," Spike added.

"She was looking for someone named Warren," Anya continued.

"Willow's already checked the Sunnydale enrolment," Buffy informed her watcher.

"And got nothing," her best friend replied. "I found one Warren, but he moved out of the country a year ago. I'm checking nearby schools."

"Whoever he is, he knows his stuff," Xander remarked. "That girl, well... that was a nice-looking girl."

"It's okay for him to say that, 'cause I know that he really loves me only," Anya said.

Willow tapped a few more keys on her laptop. "Hey! I think I found him. A Warren Mears. He went to Sunnydale High with us for a semester, and then he went to the tech college over in Dutton. I've got a local address where his folks still live."

"He's probably home for spring break," Oz deduced.

"Well, I'll go talk to him," Buffy decided, taking the address from Willow.

"No, wait, we don't know what you're walking into," Giles warned her. "We have no idea what his motive is for building this thing."

"She's a sexbot," Xander decided. "I mean, what guy doesn't dream about that? Beautiful girl with ... no other thought but to please you ... willing to do anything..."

"Why would anyone do that if they could have a real live person?" Anya asked.

"Maybe he couldn't," Oz replied. "Find a real person."

"Oh, come on," Buffy protested. "The guy's just a big wedge of sleaze, don't make excuses for him."

"I'm not," Oz replied. "I just think if he's this lonely, it's very sad."

Across town, Warren's girlfriend watched him pack, confused as to why he was in such a hurry to leave.

"But we just got here," she protested. "If you don't wanna be here, why didn't we just stay in Dutton? Or we could have gone to my sister's."

"Katrina, I don't wanna hear about your sister's place again," Warren replied. "Pack your stuff now."

"Why the rush?" Katrina persisted. "It's real early. Are we even gonna say goodbye to your mom?"

"Uh, you can call her," Warren decided hurriedly.

"Warren. Is something going on you don't want me to see?" Katrina asked him.

"Katrina, um, if you don't wanna pack, that's fine. We can buy new stuff. Now let's just go!" He grabbed his bag and her hand, heading for the door.

He opened the object just in time to find a unknown blonde woman, her hand raised to knock, standing outside.

"I have to talk to you," she informed him.

Katrina frowned. "Who's this?"

"Is this about her?" Warren guessed.

"Yes," the blonde replied.

"Her who?" Katrina asked. "Warren, something's going on here. Strange girls..."

"Katrina," Warren interrupted, "please be quiet, okay, this is important. Wait in the kitchen."

"And I'm not important?" Katrina retorted. "Warren, just tell her to go away."

"I can't," Warren replied.

"You're keeping secrets from me," Katrina realised. "Other girls, and who knows what else?"

Warren sighed. "Trina, shut up."

"That's it," Katrina replied. "Forget it, Warren. I'm gone." She walked past the blonde, down the street and away.

"No, Katrina! Ahhh...." Warren sighed before stepping back to let the blonde inside.

"My name is Buffy Summers," she informed him. "We were at Sunnydale High together. Do you know who I am?"

"Yes, I know," Warren replied. "Um, April, did she hurt someone?"

"Not yet," Buffy replied.

"She's looking for me," Warren revealed. "You know, uh, she followed me here."

Buffy nodded. "Okay, kind of figured that out."

Warren shook his head. "No, no, there's more. Uh, there's something you need to know about her."

"I know," Buffy replied.

"No, wait, this is important," Warren added.

"Believe me, I worked it out," Buffy tried to assure him.

"No, this is something, uh, that you can't possibly know." Warren took a deep breath. "She's a robot."

"Uh-huh," Buffy replied.

"I'm looking for my boyfriend Warren," April announced to the customers and staff of the Expresso Pump.

"What?" One asked.

"He comes from here and I need him," April replied. "But ... it's confusing, and I've already walked a really long way. I'm sure he's nearby."

"Oh, Warren!" The guy cried. "You're looking for Warren?"

April's face brightened. "Yes! Do you know him? Do you know where he is?"

"Man, let me think," the guy mused.

"Please think," April urged him.

"Geez, this is too bad, you, you just missed him," the guy remarked.

"Yes? Where did he go?" April asked.

"Warren? Uh, he headed out." the guy pointed in a random direction. "Uh, that way. Hurry, you might catch him."

"Oh, thank you," April answered. "I was getting very tired. Thank you."

The guy and his companion watched her hurry away.

"Who's Warren?" the former asked.

"Hell if I know," the guy replied, causing mutual amusement.

At Warren's house, Buffy was listening to April's creature with empathy.

"They're not talking to you, you're not getting dates ... you start thinking, 'hey, this isn't fair.'"

Warren nodded. "Yeah, I mean, I felt like I deserved to have someone. You know, I mean, everyone deserves to have someone."

"So naturally you turned to manufacturing," Buffy added.

"Kinda," Warren confirmed.

"And how long did it take to build yourself that little toy?" Buffy asked.

"Oh, no, she's not a toy," Warren replied. "I mean, I know what you're thinking, but she's more than that."

"I'm sure she has many exciting labour-saving attachments," Buffy remarked sarcastically.

"No, I made her to love me," Warren replied. "I mean, she cares about what I care about, and she wants to be with me. She listens to me and supports me. I didn't make a toy. I made a girlfriend."

"A girlfriend," Buffy echoed. "Are you saying ... are you in love with her?"

Warren sighed. "I really thought I would be. I mean, she's perfect. I don't know, I ... I guess it was too easy. And predictable. You know, she got boring. She was exactly what I wanted, and I didn't want her. I thought I was going crazy."

Buffy rolled her eyes. "Really? You?"

"Then something happened," Warren continued. "Katrina, was in my engineering seminar, and she was really funny and cool. You know, she was always giving me a hard time, real ... unpredictable. She builds these little model monorails that run with magnets, and ... Anyway. I fell in love with Katrina."

"Swell," Buffy mused. "Romance and magnetic trains. But first you decided to take April out of the box, play with her for five minutes, and then what? You got bored, decided to dump her, tell her to go away?"

"Kinda," Warren confirmed.

"And she got mad. She didn't go, huh?" Buffy guessed.

"Okay, I didn't really dump her, as much as I, uh, went out, and, uh, didn't come back," Warren confessed. "I left her, I ... left her in my dorm room."

"You left her in your dorm room?!" Buffy cried incredulously.

"Well, I figured I could just kinda get away until her batteries gave out," Warren replied. "Which should have been days ago."

"Did you even tell her?" Buffy asked. "I mean, did you even give her a chance to fix what was wrong?"

"I didn't need to fix anything," Warren protested. "I mean, her batteries were supposed to run down. Really, they should be completely dead by now."

"So why aren't they?" Buffy asked him.

"I don't know," Warren answered. "I mean, maybe ... uh, she must be recharging them somehow."

Buffy looked at him. "Warren, this is important. Is she dangerous?"

He shook his head. "She's only programmed to be in love."

"Then she's dangerous," Buffy realised. "Do you have any idea how to find her?"

"Well, she's looking for me, so my guess is she's probably pretty close," Warren speculated.

April was indeed nearby, infact, she ran into Katrina.

"Hi!" She cried. "Do you know where Warren is? I need to get to Warren."

"This is getting insane, how many of you are there?" Katrina asked her.

"There's only me. April."

"April. Fine. Listen up, April. Warren is my boyfriend. Mine. And you others probably oughta figure that out."

April grabbed her arm.

"Ow. Ow! Let go!" Katrina cried.

"Don't go," April commanded. "You have to stay and tell the truth." She pulled Katrina towards her, turning her around to wrap her arms around her, pinning Katrina's to her side. She locked her hands over Katrina's stomach and squeezed, making her gasp for air.

"You're lying," April remarked. "He cannot be your boyfriend. Say that he's my boyfriend."

"I can't ... I can't breathe. Let go!" Katrina pleaded.

"You have to stop lying," April continued.

"April! April, are you there?" Warren called out as he and Buffy walked up the street from his house in search of her. "If the batteries are still working and she hears my voice, then ... she'll answer," Warren explained.

"She's voice-activated?" Buffy asked.

"Well, I made it so that if she heard me and she didn't answer, it causes this kind of feedback," Warren replied.

"Wait, if you call her and she doesn't answer, it hurts her?" Buffy sought to confirm. "You' re one creepy little dweeb, Warren."

"April!" Warren cried out.

"Warren!" She answered.

Buffy and he came to a shocked halt as they took in the sight before them; April holding Katrina by the neck.

"April," Warren gasped.

"Where have you been?" April asked. "I couldn't find you, and this girl kept lying to me, and ... then she went to sleep."

"April, what did you do?" Warren asked her.

"Please don't be angry, Warren," April replied. "I'm trying very hard to make you happy."

"April," Buffy said. "I want you to put the girl down."

"Warren? What should I do?" April asked.

Buffy turned to the hesitant boy. "Talk to her!"

"Pu-put her down!" Warren cried.

"Okay," April complied.

"This is Buffy," Warren informed her. "Give Katrina to Buffy."

April handed the girl to Buffy, who carefully laid her on a nearby bench, checking her neck for a pulse.

"Is she broken?" April asked.

"She's alive," Buffy replied with relief.

"Warren, honey, what's going on?" April asked him. "Why did you go away? Is it a game?"

Warren shook his head. "No. No, this isn't a game."

"Did I do something wrong?" April asked. "I waited a long time and you never came back. A long time. I made you five sweaters."

Warren leapt on that mark of achievement. "That's great, you could go back and get them. So you could wait there, and-"

"Warren!" Buffy cried as she cradled Katrina's head in her lap, making him look at them. "You have to tell her. And do it right."

"What is she saying, Warren? What do you need to tell me?"

"April, I made a mistake," Warren continued.

April laughed. "You can't make mistakes."

"No, I did," Warren persisted. "I thought that I made you everything that I wanted, but it wasn't really what I wanted. I'm sorry, but it's over."

"But ... I can be whatever you want," April argued. "I love you. I'll do whatever you want. Would you like a neck rub?"

"No. See, I know that you love me, but the truth is, I can't love you. I mean, it's not your fault, but... I don't love you." Rapidly, Warren moved so April could see Buffy and Katrina. "I love her!"

April growled.

Buffy frowned. "She growls? You made her so she growls?"

"Well..." Warren began, before backing away.

Buffy turned to April, who grabbed her and flung her away. She rose from the grass she landed on, watching her opponent as she snapped off a piece of the seesaw nearby. She approached Buffy, swinging the wood at her. Slayer reflexes in control, she took hold of the weapon, causing them to wrestle for sovereignty. Buffy kicked her in the stomach, causing April to stumble backwards, clutching the bench for support.

Buffy aimed the wood at her opponent, but April dodged the hit, and the it impacted on the bench instead, causing Katrina to wake up. Buffy swung again, this time managing to hit April, tearing away her dress, exposing the complex machinery beneath her synthetic skin.

"What's going on?" Katrina asked.

"No, no, Trina- Get away," Warren urged.

Buffy swung the wood at April again, but she grabbed the weapon, pulling it out of the slayer's hands, tossing it away before punching her. Buffy turned the force of the punch to her advantage, executing a back flip before dodging another punch to land one on April.

Katrina stared at the girl in sudden understanding. "What is ... what ... that's a robot!"

"She wasn't just for sex," Warren hurriedly replied.

"Is that ... is that your ex-girlfriend?" Katrina asked him." He turned her, ready to reply, but she cut him off. "No, get the hell away from me!"

Warren followed her. "No, no, no, Trina, no, Trina, wait..."

Buffy kicked April into the sand next to the swings, before grabbing the chain supports of one to hit her opponent with it.

April grabbed her by the throat, lifting her into the sky. "You took my man. I'm going to kill you. I'm going to ..." she paused suddenly, "I can't, I can't crush! So ... tired." She let go of Buffy, staring at her hand. "Warren? Where are you? What's happening to me?"

Buffy slowly recovered. Gently she took April's hand. "You're running out of power," she informed her. "Do you know what that means?"

April nodded.

"Let's sit," Buffy suggested. indicating the swings. "Can you cry?" she asked her curiously. "Sometimes I feel better when I cry. But ... there might be rust issues."

April leaned against the chain support for the swing as she replied. "Crying is blackmail. Good girlfriends don't cry."

"Oh," Buffy replied, unsure what to say to that.

"I rechecked everything," April remarked. "I did everything I was supposed to do. I was a good girlfriend."

"I'm sure you were," Buffy uttered consolingly.

"I'm only supposed to love him," April added. "If I can't do that, what am I for? What do I exist for?"

"I don't know," Buffy answered honestly. "It isn't fair. He wasn't fair to you."

April glanced at the brightly sunny day surrounding them. "It's getting dark," she murmured. "It's so early to be dark."

"Yeah," Buffy replied sadly.

"What if he comes back and he can't find me in the dark?" April asked her.

"I'm here. I'll make sure that he finds you," Buffy promised.

April smiled in sudden thought. "Maybe this is a girlfriend test. If I wait here patiently this time, he'll come back."

Buffy decided to comfort her as best she could. "I'm sure he will. And he'll ... he'll tell you how sorry he is. You know, he told me ... how proud he was of you and ... how impressed he was with how much you loved him and how you tried to help him. He didn't mean to hurt you."

"He's going to take me home, and things will be right again," April decided.

Buffy nodded. "It'll be fine."

"When things are sad," April's speech pattern began to slow, "you just have to be patient. Because ... because every ... cloud has a silver lining. And ... when life ... gives you lemons ... make ... lemonade."

"Clouds and lemonade, huh?" Buffy mused.

"Yes. And ... and ... things are ... always ... darkest ... before...." she froze, a sort of peaceful smile fixed on her face.

Buffy watched her before turning to glance at the road, as a familiar car pulled up outside the playground. She watched her soulmate climb out of the vehicle and make his way over to them.

"How was she?" Angel asked her as he came to a halt by his beloved.

"Sad," Buffy replied. "She devoted everything to making this one person happy. And then it was like, with him gone, there was just ... no reason for her to exist any more." She sighed, rising from the swing to wrap her arms around him, seeking comfort. "In many ways, she was just a normal girl."

The End
To Be Continued In
Pavlof's Bell.

© Danielle Harwood-Atkinson 2021. All rights reserved.