This story occurs right after "Once more with feeling."
"Shut up!" Andrew hisses as he trips over Jonathan. The Trio isn't exactly known for their stealth, so a plan that involves stealth was a little ill conceived. There is no way that Buffy would have slept through it if they hadn't left the window open, and the Trio hadn't blown knock out smoke through the window.
They waited until they were sure that the substance had enough time to take effect, Warren picked the lock and let themselves into the house. Everything so far had been according to plan, except for of course the tripping and the bickering.
Warren places the lotus flower soaked in a magical substance over her mouth and nose. Her eyes open, only to roll back in her head.
"I can't believe that worked," Andrew hisses.
I told you it was going to work," Warren says confidently.
"Buffy?" Dawn asks uncertainly, entering her sister's room. She sees the three boys and screams for all that she is worth.
Warren slaps the flower on her mouth, and she hits the ground.
"But we have to get them all tonight. Otherwise, you know they are just going to go around and rescue each other."
"Come on, pick them up and get them in the van," Warren commands.
"I don't understand why we have to take them with us," Jonathan grumbles. The idea of carrying the women down to his van is more physical labor than he would really like to do.
"We can't just leave them here," Warren says with a roll of his eyes, "Even if we take out all of their friends. The police or neighbor or someone is eventually going to look for them. I mean, they are going to be gone forever."
"If it goes according to plan," Andrew amends.
"It will," Warren says, glaring at him.
"It never has before," Jonathan says.
"Grab the girls, and go," Warren grumbles.
They don't so much carry the sisters down the stairs, as drag them, but one way or another they get them into the van.
-0-
"I can't believe it worked," Andrew says, staring at the magically immobilized bodies laying on the floor of their lair. The whole party is there: Buffy, Dawn, Giles, Willow, Xander, Tara, Anya and even Spike for good measure.
Warren glares at him for his lack of faith.
"Do you think they are having good dreams?" Jonathan asks.
"Of course!" Andrew says cheerfully. "That's the whole point. They're having dreams so good that they'll prefer them to reality."
"I wonder what they're dreaming about," Jonathan mutters.
"It doesn't matter, Sunnydale is ours," Warren says with a grin creeping onto his face. This whole super villain thing is easier than he thought it was going to be.
-0-
"Buffy! Are you going to sleep all day?" Her father's voice. No, that's not right, she doesn't live with her father. Wait, of course she does. She lives with her father, the British librarian. Yeah, she's always lived with him, ever since he divorced her mother when she was small.
She loved him.
"Seriously!" The voice on the other side of the door demands, "You've got to get some training in before you go to school."
She dropped out of school after her mother died, how does her father not know that? Wait, her mother never died, and she never dropped out of school. What is with her today?
"I'm up," she says, but she doesn't move.
"You're not fooling anyone," he says.
"Get Dawn up!" Buffy commands.
Who was Dawn? Giles wonders from the hall. Right…His other daughter. The young one. He enters her room, and brushes her hair off her face to wake her as gently as possible.
Dawn opens her eyes. What is Giles doing in her bedroom? Duh. He's her dad. He's woke her up every day of her life.
"Buffy, I got your breakfast, Love," Spike says, coming up the stairs carrying a tray full of breakfast, complete with a single rose.
Giles gives him a glare, which Spike ignores. He's not surprised that Giles is not his biggest fan. What Dad likes his daughter's live in boyfriend?
"Relax, mate. I made breakfast for the rest of you too. I just didn't plan on delivering it to you," Spikes says.
Giles blinks in surprise, and tries to remember why he hates this man. Well, his name is Spike, so that doesn't help, right? Not to mention the fact that he shares a room with Giles' baby girl. "Thank you, William," he says, purposely saying something that will make the other man flinch.
God how I must hate you, Spike thinks in his head. He can't exactly remember why he hates the man. A lot of things are a little bit fuzzy in his head.
Buffy opens the door to her bedroom fully dressed. Spikes kisses her. Buffy shoves him away in almost panic. He's a vampire, and she would never kiss a vampire. Except that's ridiculous, because vampires aren't real. Spike is her boyfriend, her very human boyfriend. And the kiss is sweet, and passionate, and tastes like flowers.
No seriously, did he eat a flower?
"I brought you breakfast in bed. I guess I was a little tardy," he says, smiling at her. He really loves her. She really wishes that she could love him as much as he loves her. Then she could be really happy. What was with her today? Of course she loved him as much as he loved her, maybe even more.
"I'll get back in bed," she offers. "You can join me."
Giles coughs.
Buffy casts him an apologetic look laced with innocence. "Where we will lay fully clothed."
"After breakfast, we need to train," Giles warns. "Dawn! Breakfast!" he calls.
-0-
Anya's eyes open and rest on the ring. Wait, how did that get on her finger? It's not the ring Xander gave her. Of course it is. He gave it to her on their wedding day. It's heavy though. It's weighing her finger down. Downright painful, but then suddenly, its light.
That's weird, but that's how the world works.
She stares at the ceiling of her mansion. She has a mansion? Well, of course she does. It has a vault full of money. She swims in it after lunch.
"Mommy?" the little girl says, peeking her head around the door.
"Come on in, honey," she says.
Then her daughter crawls into bed between her husband and herself. Xander rolls over, and wraps his arm around wife and daughter in one fell swoop.
His daughter is here. He'd always been worried that his kids might turn to be part demon. That was stupid though? Demons are fictional.
Then his daughter was born. She was perfect. Only he can't remember her name. Did he get drunk last night? Who was she?
"Sweetheart?" he says uncertainly.
"Yes Daddy," the girl says curling deeper into his chest.
He's sure he'll remember her name when he wakes up completely. She is his daughter after all.
-0-
The magic is bottomless. Willow always had limits before. No, that's not true. Magic has never had limits. Expect the British man who told her no.
Wait, that's not true. The British man is proud of her. He says she's the best witch ever.
Tara was a witch too. She turns to smile at the woman in bed next to her. Tara was mad at her though. No, she wasn't. Of course she wasn't. Tara had never been mad at her.
Willow used magic to call to her love, and Tara's eyes blink open.
The rush of magic feels better than it ever has before. Willow could get used to this.
Tara stares up at Willow. Too much magic. No, of course it's not. There is no such thing as too much magic. The danger is not enough. If you use just a little bit of magic you might get addicted. A lot is good. She needs to use a lot of magic.
So she uses the magic to wipe the strand of hair that has fallen in Willow's face away.
Willow grins. No scolding. Just lots and lots of power, and someone to share it with.
-0-
Dawn chews on her bacon and fells loneliness creep into her heart. Then Giles is there asking her how she slept. Spike comes into the room ruffling her hair, and calling her 'Little Bit.'
She hates to leave them all to go to school, and learn stupid stuff like algebra. It's not a school day though. Why did she think it was? She's going to spend the morning at the Magic Shop with Giles and Anya. Then in the afternoon, she is going to ride on the motorcycle with Spike. The thought that he can't be out before dark flits through her mind, but she quickly dismisses it as ridiculous.
Buffy? Yeah, she'll be there the whole time. Actually, Buffy is around so much that she's kind of sick of her big sister. She could do with a little more alone time. For sure.
Spike slips her a slice of his bacon, and she flashes him a grin.
Yeah, her family is pretty perfect.