But that was what she was here for. It was what she had always done. She took the love and the pain and the tangles in her gut and shored them up into a kind of strength. An internal tower of certainty.

"I'd make sure you couldn't hurt anyone. If that means putting a s-stake in your heart? I can do that. I would do that. Have done that. Not in your heart, specifically. And I guess it wouldn't have to be a stake to the heart it could also be deca--"

Buffy's mouth snapped shut. "You can depend on me."