Buffy: (dripping with sarcasm) Lemme guess. Is it... evil?
The apparition of Jenny shrinks and is replaced for an instant by an image of a huge horned and clawed beast coming at her, roaring and with eyes glowing red. It fades as quickly as it appeared. Buffy stares in shock at the place where it appeared. It screams a final warning.
The First: DEAD BY SUNRISE!
Buffy runs from the cave, terrified for Angel's life.
Cut to Angel's mansion. Buffy runs in.
Buffy: Angel!
She looks around, but he's nowhere to be seen. She walks toward the doorway to the atrium and looks out. She sees the steps leading up and runs toward them. Cut to the hills behind the mansion. Buffy runs through the bushes, frantically looking for Angel. She climbs further up the hill and finds him standing at the top looking out over a peaceful residential area of town.
Buffy: Angel.
He hears her say his name and briefly glances in her direction before looking back out over the rooftops. Buffy slowly walks over to him.
Angel: I bet half the kids down there are already awake. Lying in their beds... sneaking downstairs... waiting for day.
Buffy: (out of breath) Angel, please. I need for you to get inside. Th-there's only a few minutes left.
Angel: I know. I can smell the sunrise long before it comes.
Buffy: (anxiously and hurried) I don't have time to explain this. You just have to trust me. That thing that was haunting you...
Angel: (interrupts) It wasn't haunting me. It was showing me.
Buffy: (confused) Showing you?
Angel: What I am.
Buffy: (insistently) Were.
Angel: And ever shall be. I wanted to know why I was back. Now I do.
Buffy: You *don't* know. Some great evil takes credit for bringing you back and you buy it? You just give up?
Angel: (harshly) I can't do it again, Buffy. I can't become a killer.
Buffy: Then fight it.
Angel: It's too hard.
Buffy: (desperately) Angel, please, you *have* to get inside.
Angel: It told me to kill you. You were in the dream. You know. It told me to lose my soul in you and become a monster again.
Buffy: I know what it told you. What does it matter?
Angel: (raises his voice) Because I wanted to! Because I want you so badly! I want to take comfort in you, and I know it'll cost me my soul, and a part of me doesn't care.
He sobs. Buffy is at a loss for words.
Angel: Look, I'm weak. I've never been anything else. It's not the demon in me that needs killing, Buffy. It's the man.
Buffy: You're weak. Everybody is. Everybody fails. Maybe this evil did bring you back, but if it did, it's because it needs you. And that means that you can hurt it.
Angel doesn't want to believe her.
Buffy: (pleadingly) Angel, you have the power to do real good, to make amends. (raises her voice) But if you die now, then all that you ever were was a monster.
She looks out at the sky as it begins to lighten.
Buffy: (begging frantically) Angel, please, the sun is coming up!
Angel: Just go.
Buffy: I won't!
Angel: What, do you think this is simple? You think there's an easy answer? You can never understand what I've done! Now go!
Buffy: You are not staying here. (grabs his arm) I won't let you!
Angel: I said LEAVE!
He jerks his arm free of her grasp. In her anger and desperation Buffy punches him. He reacts by shoving her away from him roughly, making her fall face forward, hard to the ground.
Angel: (quietly to himself) Oh, my God...
He goes to her and crouches over her, grabbing her by the shoulders and turning her around to face him. Buffy fears his intentions and cries out.
Buffy: No! No!
He grabs her roughly by the arms and holds her firmly.
Angel: Am I a thing worth saving, huh? (shakes her) Am I a righteous man? (shakes her) The world wants me gone!
Buffy: (tearfully) What about me? I love you so much... And I tried to make you go away... I killed you and it didn't help.
She shoves him off of her and gets up.
Buffy: (crying) And I hate it! I hate that it's *so* hard... and that you can hurt me *so* much. (sobs, then harshly) I know everything that you did, because you did it to me. Oh, God! I wish that I wished you dead. I don't. (whispers) I can't.
Angel gets up now, too.
Angel: Buffy, please. Just this once... let me be strong.
Buffy: Strong is fighting! It's hard, and it's painful, and it's every day. It's what we have to do. And we can do it together.
Angel struggles with himself, knowing she's right.
Buffy: (resolvedly) But if you're too much of a coward for that, then burn. If I can't convince you that you belong in this world, then I don't know what can. But do *not* expect me to watch. And *don't* expect me to mourn for you, because...
She stops in mid-sentence because it has inexplicably begun to snow. She and Angel both look up at it coming down, lightly at first and gradually heavier. The camera pulls up above them and shows them standing there with the snowflakes swirling around them in the gentle morning breeze, and the ground around them starting to become white.
Cut to Angel, looking around in amazement. Buffy walks to the edge of the hill and looks out at the town as the roofs on the houses below also start to become white. She turns to Angel, and they look at each other, stunned by this apparent miracle.
Cut to Willow and Oz in her bedroom. They notice the snow outside and sit up on her bed. Willow is first to get up and walk to her balcony door to look out. Oz is right behind. They smile as they see it come down and notice the glass of her French doors begin to frost.
Cut to the Summers house. About an inch and a half (4cm) of snow has now collected on the roof. The camera pans down to the door. Faith opens it, and she and Joyce come out to watch it fall. Faith steps off the porch and lets a few flakes fall on her open hands and face. Joyce pulls her wrap tightly around her against the cold.
Cut to Giles' apartment. He notices that his window has become frosted, and goes over to it to have a look outside. He stares out in amazement.
Cut to Xander lying in his sleeping bag in his backyard. The light from his lantern glows blue. His unfinished dinner plate is covered with snow, as is a comic book he had put aside before retiring. He is sleeping with the top flap of his sleeping bag folded open under his arm. He stirs slightly and wipes at the snowflakes falling on his face.
That doesn't help, so he reflexively pulls the flap closed over his head, fallen snow and all. This wakes him up, and a moment later he pushes back the flap and looks up in wonder at the falling snow.
Cut to the shopping district. The camera pans from the green neon sign of the Sun Cinema down to where the movies now playing are listed. The
weatherman can be heard on the TV in the window of the audio/video store.
Weatherman: And while most of Southern California is enjoying a balmyChristmas, an extreme cold front has sprung up out of nowhere around Sunnydale, where they are reporting heavy snowfall for the first time in, well, ever.
Cut to the weatherman on TV. The camera pans from him out into the street.
Weatherman: Sunnydale residents shouldn't expect to see the sun at all today. That cold front isn't going anywhere. With temperatures in the high 30s (about 3C), means you better bundle up if you're planning to go outside and enjoy the change in the weather.
Cut to a view of the trees in the street aglow with Christmas lights.
The camera pans down into the street, which is deserted except for Buffy and Angel, who walk along hand-in-hand, still looking up at the snow as it comes down.
Cut to a view from above. The street and a few parked cars are covered with about two inches (5cm) of snow. The camera sinks down below a traffic light. Buffy and Angel continue walking in silence down the street.
Cut to a close-up of them walking. Buffy looks over at Angel. He looks exhausted but at peace. He notices her gaze and smiles at her. Together they walk out of view.
Cut to Willow and Oz in her bedroom. They notice the snow outside and sit up on her bed. Willow is first to get up and walk to her balcony door to look out. Oz is right behind. They smile as they see it come down and notice the glass of her French doors begin to frost.
Cut to the Summers house. About an inch and a half (4cm) of snow has now collected on the roof. The camera pans down to the door. Faith opens it, and she and Joyce come out to watch it fall. Faith steps off the porch and lets a few flakes fall on her open hands and face. Joyce pulls her wrap tightly around her against the cold.
Cut to Giles' apartment. He notices that his window has become frosted, and goes over to it to have a look outside. He stares out in amazement.
Cut to Xander lying in his sleeping bag in his backyard. The light from his lantern glows blue. His unfinished dinner plate is covered with snow, as is a comic book he had put aside before retiring. He is sleeping with the top flap of his sleeping bag folded open under his arm. He stirs slightly and wipes at the snowflakes falling on his face.
That doesn't help, so he reflexively pulls the flap closed over his head, fallen snow and all. This wakes him up, and a moment later he pushes back the flap and looks up in wonder at the falling snow.
Cut to the shopping district. The camera pans from the green neon sign of the Sun Cinema down to where the movies now playing are listed. The
weatherman can be heard on the TV in the window of the audio/video store.
Weatherman: And while most of Southern California is enjoying a balmyChristmas, an extreme cold front has sprung up out of nowhere around Sunnydale, where they are reporting heavy snowfall for the first time in, well, ever.
Cut to the weatherman on TV. The camera pans from him out into the street.
Weatherman: Sunnydale residents shouldn't expect to see the sun at all today. That cold front isn't going anywhere. With temperatures in the high 30s (about 3C), means you better bundle up if you're planning to go outside and enjoy the change in the weather.
Cut to a view of the trees in the street aglow with Christmas lights.
The camera pans down into the street, which is deserted except for Buffy and Angel, who walk along hand-in-hand, still looking up at the snow as it comes down.
Cut to a view from above. The street and a few parked cars are covered with about two inches (5cm) of snow. The camera sinks down below a traffic light. Buffy and Angel continue walking in silence down the street.
Cut to a close-up of them walking. Buffy looks over at Angel. He looks exhausted but at peace. He notices her gaze and smiles at her. Together they walk out of view.
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