Liz walked over with her food,"I was waiting so you could finish that,"She gestured to the paper,"I know how long it is."

"Thanks."Smiling she saw Max looking worriedly at Liz and told her,"Maybe you should talk to your boyfriend he looks anxious. Liz glanced back mouthing"What’s wrong." He looked at her, she gave Buffy a hurried good-bye, and rushed over to Max. Buffy looked away sadly, *I’ll never be able to feel that way about anyone else.*

She looked at the food in front of her, and realized she’d forgotten to ask for the Tabasco sauce again. Not wanting to bother Liz, she was about to get up and try to find some, when Maria came out of the kitchen."Hey, Maria, can I have a bottle of Tabasco sauce."Maria looked over at her,"A whole bottle?" She asked, eyebrow raised."Yeah,"Buffy said smiling, she knew how weird she sounded.

All of a sudden she realized that the other table had gone quiet, as Maria retrieved the bottle, she looked up Max, Liz, and Isabel were staring at her weirdly, but the guy with them still hadn’t turned around. She sighed inwardly, *Why does everyone stare at me when I eat, so I like my food spicy and sweet, so what?* But, she wasn’t used to this reaction, silence, just the never ending"Yucks" she had gotten her whole life.

Maria came over and handed her the bottle, and winked, then went over and started cleaning up a table. Buffy opened the bottle, and poured half of it onto her burger, then grabbed her smoothie and poured the other half in. She then proceeded to woof down all of it, just to get away from their eyes. When she looked up, they were still staring, they seemed amazed that she had actually eaten it.

She put $5 on the table, and got up to pay, they were still looking at her, she hated it, she just wanted to blend in, if they knew who she was....They couldn’t. She hated being different, she hated being The Slayer.

She went over to pay Liz and Maria, and they chatted for a few. She turned around, to leave and saw that the other three were leaving too. She saw the spiky-haired guy putting on a leather jacket, *Why does he seem so familiar?* She frowned, *I haven’t met him.*

Then he turned around, and her frown crumbled, the drink she was holding dropped out of her hands, and they slipped limply to her sides.

The others looked at her, they saw her face, Liz came up to her and asked her what was wrong, Maria grabbed her arm, Max and Isabel just stared at her closely and worriedly.

Buffy heard none of it, she felt the air flow out of her body, she felt her voice stop,

She felt her heart stop beating.

Because, standing right in front of her,