Author’s Note: Hope everyone who celebrates had a great holiday. Major thanks to my fabulous beta Kar for returning this on her first day back from vacation. Thanks of course to my readers and reviewers; you make this all worth while. I hope to have the next chapter up this weekend, and that will bring Getting All Chosen to an end.

In our sixteenth installment the mystery of the evacuation is resolved, Joyce gives a pep talk, and Buffy prepares for the big day.


Chapter 16: The Eve of Battle

Faith stopped for a moment to catch her breath before leaping over to the next rooftop. On the ground people were moving and yelling. Cars flowed slowly down the street. She could feel others moving too. On the roads and under the roads, demons were heading out of town as well.

A covered army truck sped by in the other direction and she felt an unexpected wave of heat surge up her spine. She moved faster, trying to keep pace with the truck and quickly realized they were headed the same place she was.

Buffy must have found Willow, because she was there on the front porch with Giles, facing down a sea of girls in uniforms. A young woman in fatigues with a snotty voice was sneering at her sister slayer. "Why are you refusing to comply with the evacuation order?"

Buffy just rolled her eyes. "I want to speak to whoever is in charge of you people."

Faith strolled up through the ranks, feeling their eyes rake over her. It was like walking through a furnace. She took her place at Buffy's side. She heard the door opening, felt the blast of warmth as their six girls filed in behind them.

She turned to Buffy to tell her what was going on, but the stupid kid kept yelling. "If you do not evacuate--"

"That will do, Kennedy." The driver of the covered truck strolled up the sidewalk.

"Mr. Travers."

"Miss Summers."

There was a thick silence. Faith broke it. "They're slayers, all of them."

"Indeed, Miss Lehane. They are all slayers. All one-hundred thirty six of them."

"You brought me an army?" Buffy asked incredulously.

"As I understand it," the Travers guy replied in the most irritating tone possible, "you are about to engage one."

Giles cleared his throat. "Well, you certainly chose the most dramatic way to make your delivery, Quentin."

The older man lifted impressive eyebrows. "Our friends in the American military agreed that removing civilians was appropriate under the circumstances."

Faith and Buffy let Giles keep arguing with the old Council guy about the wisdom of this plan and how much training the girls had and who was really in charge. Faith smiled at the crowd of nervous girls on the lawn as she and her sister stepped forward, out of the shade cast by the porch.

"What do I say to them?" Buffy wondered in a whisper.

"Hell if I know, B. You're the one who makes the speeches around here." She punched her on the shoulder. "They're scared. Make them less scared."

"Hi!" Buffy's perky voice rang out. "We're really glad to have you. I'm Buffy and this is Faith. If the Council didn't tell you, she's got the essence of the First Slayer in her, so she's the biggest badass you'll ever meet."

Faith wasn't used to praise like that, especially not from Buffy. "Welcome to the Hellmouth." There were some nervous giggles. Faith decided to take her own advice. "I know you guys have some idea of what we're facing tomorrow and how dangerous it is, and you're probably scared. And you probably should be scared, because this is not joke. That said, just so you know, we're going to win."

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"Mom, I really think you should..."

Joyce looked up from her packing and finished her daughter's sentence, "Leave town?"

Buffy nodded solemnly and Joyce felt an intense urge to beg her to come along. There were a hundred girls bedding down in the Sunnydale Inn for the night and Faith had become some sort of super-slayer. Buffy could let someone else fight this time. She had died twice already. Wasn't that enough?

Instead she stuffed another photo album into her bag and avoided Buffy's eyes. "I already talked to your sister. She's in her room, either sulking or packing. Hopefully at least some of the latter."

She looked up to see her daughter nod. "Could I get you to take Anya too? And possibly Andrew? You can leave him at the nearest truck stop if he makes you insane, but I think keeping one of the First's former lackeys around for the big fight is not of the wise."

Joyce closed her bag and sighed. "So this happens tomorrow?"

Buffy shrugged. "That seems to be to majority opinion. We need a plan. Right now our plan seems to consist of 'destroy evil'. I think we need something more... specific."

"Destroy evil? That's a tall order, sweetie."

"Sorta my job description though."

"Buffy, no matter what your friends expect of you, evil is a part of us. All of us. It's natural. And no one can stop that. No one can stop nature, not even you."

Buffy frowned. "Major thanks for the big pep talk on the eve of battle, Mom."

Joyce rubbed her temples. She didn’t know why she was getting philosophical, and her daughter was right. That wasn’t what she needed to hear right then. "I'm sorry. I just... I wish you didn't have to do this."

Her daughter hugged her, just a touch too tightly, like always. "Me too. I love you, Mom."

Joyce blinked back a few tears. "You call me as soon as you've averted the apocalypse, okay?"

Buffy pulled back to smile at her with wet eyes. "Promise."

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It was cold out and she should sleep before the big battle. Still Buffy felt herself drawn to the porch and to the night beyond. The emptiness of the town felt like a physical presence of its own. They were going to make it safe again. Somehow.

But girls were going to die. Even with a pack of magicians to help, it was still basically a handful of girls who hadn't even been slayers for a year against an army of primordial vampires. Girls were going to die.

Maybe Faith too, since she was insisting on wearing that stupid amulet they didn’t know nearly enough about. Stupid Angel and his stupid secret contacts and their stupid translations of stupid prophecies. She squeezed her eyes shut tight against the anger rising in her gut. She wanted to try to take the necklace from Faith, but the other slayer’s argument made sense; Faith was the one with a demon-slash-god heart which made her the closest fit for what little they knew about who was supposed to wield it. If Buffy pulled rank, she might be dooming them all.

"Can't sleep, love?"

She scooted over to make room for him on the steps.

"Big day tomorrow, slayer. You should get some rest."

"Too many things to think about."

Spike gave her a look that told her he knew pretty well what she was going through. He pressed his shoulder against hers and just sat in the quiet with her for a while.

"I checked the website. Can you believe my econ professor posted homework during the evacuation?"

Spike made an amused noise. "Is that what's been troubling you this evening, pet? School work?"

She kicked at the stair railing. "No," she pouted. "But it's easier to think about than all the other stuff I'm trying not to think about right now." Like the carnage and the possibility of failure and the very real possibility that, despite her refusal to accept it as a possibility, she might be about to face her third death.

"Good tussle is what you need. Something to wear you out."

She knew it was a put on, the leer and the tongue and the fingers in the belt loops drawing a giant flashing arrow to his groin. He was just as nervous as she was. But the man had a point.

"All the demons cleared out of town," she teased with a brave smile.

"I'm still here," he teased back, all eyebrows.

Buffy reached up to stroke his cheek. It still surprised her sometimes that she'd actually found someone who was going to stick around. "I love you."

"I know," he said, bringing her hand around so he could kiss it. "But thanks for saying it anyway."

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Feedback, please! I intend to have the next and final chapter posted by the weekend, and then it’s on to other projects. Thank you all so much for your comments and encouragement.