"So Riley's a commando?" Willow questioned softly as the Initiative soldier moved into the darkness outside the charred ruins of Sunnydale High School. The remaining Scoobies and the vampire watched him disappear with varying levels of distrust and nervousness. None of them were very comfortable with the idea of the Initiative being active on the Hellmouth. Spike might have been the only one truly hurt by them so far but the others were still concerned about their ultimate purpose.

A pained expression passed over the Slayer's face as she offered a tiny shrug.

"I guess so," she murmured in response even though she had already known the teaching assistant's status for a couple days but hadn't shared the information with her friends or Watcher yet. Shame and annoyance pricked at her conscience. The entire situation with the commando was confusing, and she wished there was a simple solution. She was willing to admit that she liked the graduate psychology student, but she was so afraid of any type of real relationship after the disaster that was her love affair with Angel. Her heart and her mind were in agreement for once. She wasn't ready to be hurt again. She refused to think of herself as a coward though even after Riley had called her one earlier in the evening. She preferred to call her actions cautious. She didn't want her feelings to once more be the cause of any ones death or the precursor to the next apocalypse. As it was, they had quite enough of those without her adding to the mix.

"I'm off to check on Giles," Buffy stated to her companions as she shoved aside her guilty feelings about keeping secrets from the people closest to her. Now was not the time to be thinking about her non-existent love life or her penchants for encountering the end of the world scenarios. "He'll wanna know the doomage has passed."

The Slayer took a total of three steps before she reached out and grabbed the back of Xander's hideous Hawaiian shirt that Spike was currently sporting.

"Where do you think you're going?" Buffy questioned the vampire as he attempted to sneak off into the darkness.

Having just discovered that he was able to put a beating on demons, Spike had been intent on escaping into the night and discovering some destruction of the demonic kind but his plans were once more disrupted by the tiny hand of the Slayer. He attempted to shrug loose from her grip but the Slayer only tightened her hold.

"You're coming with me," Buffy ordered imperiously. "You can't be wandering around town unsupervised. Who knows what evil you'll get up to."

Spike grumbled but allowed himself to be pulled in the direction of Giles' flat. Willow and Xander trailed the two arguing enemies and shook their heads as the Slayer and Vampire slipped into a rude and childish snipping match. Neither one wanted to catch the attention of the two spatting combatants for fear of suffering some of the residual ill will.

Tired and grungy from their fight with the Vahral demons, the foursome finally reach Giles' home. Buffy and Spike coincidentally ended their verbal sparring with a poorly conceded draw at the same time. The group clamored into the apartment. Giles glanced up at the commotion and shifted with a groan. He still hurt all over from the earlier beating when the demons had stolen the Word of Valios from him. He swung his feet off the sofa and levered himself into an upright position. He retrieved his glassed from the book strewn coffee table so that he could better see his guests.

"I take it from your healthy return and the fact that the world hasn't been cast into a fiery hell that you were successful," the injured Brit stated proudly.

"Yup. Doomage all avoided," Buffy assured her mentor with an attempt at a perky grin slipping across her lips. Given her mood, it fell a bit flat of happy but none of her friends seemed to notice. On the other hand, her chipped enemy noticed the sad attempt at a cover. He smirked at the knowledge that the Slayer was not having a good day. Stripped of his ability to attack the girl, the vampire was left with enjoying her emotional pain instead of her physical injury.

As expected, Rupert requested a thorough retelling of the battle even though he wasn't up to writing the tale down at the time. He listened raptly as Buffy described the battle with the powerful demons and their attempts to complete the Sacrifice of Three ritual which would have opened the Hellmouth. Occasionally, Xander and Willow interrupted the telling in order to add their own contributions to the mix.

The three Scoobies glared at Spike when he broke into the story to crow about his ability to fight demons. Only hours ago, the vampire was ready to dust himself but now he was pumped to go save the world in a blaze of green blood and pink ooze. His demon had been caged for too long. He didn't care what he was killing; he just wanted something to hurt.

"Yeah, you were so helpful with the demon killing," Xander rebuked. "You tossed the second demon right into the Hellmouth. So not of the helpful."

Giles suddenly appeared very unhappy.

"Wait, one of the sacrifices actually made it into the Hellmouth?"

"Two actually," Willow confirmed timidly. She didn't like the panic that was edging into the Watcher's motions. "The first demon with the child bones and the other one with the man's blood both ended up in the rift in the floor."

Giles wearily pushed himself from the couch and reached for one of his ever present books.

"Components and sacrifices both went in the rift?" the Watcher questioned. "Please tell me you saved the Word of Valios. We will need to properly destroy it so it cannot be used again to complete the ritual."

The three Scoobies glanced uncomfortably at each other.

"Um, the talisman thing-y went into the hole with the third demon," Buffy admitted.

"Wait, but you said you stopped the ritual," Giles countered in a rising voice that ended in a shout.

"I stopped the third sacrifice," Buffy explained. "Dove in and caught him before he could end his life for the ritual. The demons still dead. Just not down the hole."

"But the Word of Valios still fell in the chasm?" Giles questioned harshly.

Buffy nodded.

"Good Lord..." the Watcher exclaimed as he clamored for a different book. "The ritual is still active but incomplete," Giles murmured as he began rapidly flipping through pages of the old tomb.

Spike chuckled.

"Someone didn't earn their Slayer cookie tonight," he teased.

"Shut up, Spike," Buffy snapped in return. "Even if I have no cookie I can still make you crumble."

"Oh yes, let's make light of the impending end of the world," Giles criticized as he glared at the arguing Slayer and Vampire.

Willow approached the coffee table and the pile of books they had previously been using for researching the Ritual of Three and the Vahral demons.

"How can we help?" she asked as she reached for a book.

Giles shifted his attention from the two snipping blondes to the redhead. He explained that they needed to find some sort of way to terminate the ritual. Willow nodded and settled on the couch and began to peruse her chosen book. Xander sighed deeply before joining them on the couch and picking up his own book. Reluctantly, Buffy also moved towards the pile of musty old books and grabbed two. She then stomped towards the dining room table and shoved the larger of the two books at Spike as she passed.

"Whots this for?" the vampire demanded.

"Make yourself useful," the Slayer replied as she settled at the table and opened her own book.

"I don't think so," Spike countered as he slammed the tome onto the table.

Buffy lifted her head and narrowed her eyes for a heartbeat. The two enemies held their gaze for a long moment before Buffy finally snorted.

"Fine, whatever. Not sure why I would have expected you could read anyway," she cut.

"Pft, I can read circles around your American public school educated self any day of the week. I read a number of human languages and even a couple demon ones," he bragged as he took a seat at the table and absently flipped through the heavy book Buffy had shoved into his hands.

The room was filled with little more than the sound of turning pages and bodies shifting to more comfortable positions for almost an hour before anyone actually discovered anything helpful.

"Umm, I think I found something," Xander claimed as he pressed his finger to a page and reread a short passage. "Yeah. Yeah. I found something."

Harris waved the book towards Giles who promptly snagged it from the younger man. Rupert quickly scanned the page. When he was halfway done, he hummed in agreement.

"I think you did at that," he offered in way of thanks to Xander who flopped back onto the couch with a happy sigh. Finding an answer meant he didn't need to read any more old books and his brain was currently protesting the work it had already done.

Everyone else in the room waited silently for Giles to share the answer to the problem. Both Buffy and Spike pushed aside their books and Willow gently laid hers on the large pile already on the coffee table.

"Yes, well it says here that there is only one way to nullify the Ritual of Three once it has been initiated and all components spent. The Ritual of the Expiation of Three can be performed to balance the powers amassed through the Ritual of Three."

"Do we know what the Ex-Patriot of Three is?" Buffy asked.

"Expiation and it is a sacrifice of body, mind and spirit," Giles answered promptly as he read from the passage. "The One of Light gives sacrifice of body, mind and spirit in honor of the Four and in the eyes of the Blessed Mother and the Great Father."

With trepidation clenching her stomach, Buffy asked who the One of Light was.

Giles stammered an apology along with the explanation that for their needs, she would have to be the One of Light.

Spike snickered.

"Too bad we all know she ain't a virgin sacrifice," the vampire harassed.

"Um, yes, that would be one type of sacrifice," Giles stammered as Buffy glared at the vampire. "There are, um, of course other types of sacrifices and gifts of atonement."

"So what? Buffy lops off a limb and tosses it into the Hellmouth and we all get on with our lives?" Xander joked in an attempt to cut the rising tension in the room.

Both Buffy and Giles glared at the joker in response.

"Closing my mouth now," the chastised youth replied as he sunk dejectedly into his seat.

Giles shook his head in frustration before he explained that the ritual needed sacred sacrifices and although a limb would meet the need of body it would not fulfill the mind or soul. He then turned back to the book and skimmed the section of possible rites. He sighed heavily.

"Unfortunately, only two of these rites are even possible given our restrictive time frame and the first one, well, since it ends in Buffy's death, I think we will skip that one."

"Ok... yeah, I am all for not doing that one," Buffy stressed.

"Too bad," muttered Spike only to be slapped in the arm by the Slayer.

"Uh, yes, then well, I guess we should prepare the other choice," Giles answered with a grimace as he glanced nervously between the book and his Slayer. He spared a single apprehensive glance at the chipped vampire before hiding his face back in the lines of the tome.

Everyone waited for the explanation of what the actual Expiation of Three would entail but Giles just continued to mutter to himself and flip between pages.

Finally, Buffy wasn't able to handle the delay any longer.

"Giles!" She yelled. "What exactly do I need to do?"

Giles finally stopped fussing with his reading. He pulled his glasses from his face and tapped them against his hip while offering his Slayer an expression mixed with sadness and pity.

"Giles, you're scaring me," Buffy murmured as she took a step towards her obviously upset Watcher. "What do I need to do?"

Giles sighed deeply.

"You need to get married."