Day 25: Session Log Started, 8:01am.

"I'm ready."

Buffy looked around. Everything was so different from the home that Buffy was starting to wonder if she would ever be able to see again - and starting to fear she wouldn't - that it was hard to really remember that she was here, sometimes. Here in this tiny room that could almost look normal, if she wasn't stuck in all white after Labor Day.

The Voice had started to show more emotion recently, smiling widely at her proclamation because there is no question of what she was talking about. "That's good, Ms. Summers."

Buffy looked away. She knew this would be hard, but she'd been told that the quicker she worked through all this stuff the quicker she might get out. "We already talked about Angel, and how Riley and I kinda had to break it off, but we didn't talk about why. I guess you know. He made life there first terrifying and then just annoying, and then, all of a sudden, we were on the same side, and it was like the unavoidable conclusion of the story that we got together. Didn't work out real well, then I was here. End of issue."

The Voice had listened to her monologues without expression, and while Buffy knew it appreciated her finally bringing him up - can we say skipping the issues much? "Ms. Summers, I understand that this is hard for you, but that is hardly the 'end of the issue,' as you put it."

Buffy shifted a little, looking around the new 'private' room. No mirrored walls for people to look through - the only way they would know how crazy she was is through The Voice's notes. "You know all of it," she accused, though it was soft and weak even to her own ears.

"No, not all of it."

Buffy pressed her head back against the chair and tried to pretend that she was here willingly. That she was on some normal soul-searching therapy kick. If she didn't face The Voice, it was easier - so she didn't have to look at someone from that other world. "Uh, okay. Vamp, out to kill me for like the first couple years of meeting me. Didn't succeed too well, obviously. Of course, I didn't kill him either, so no big yay for me. Then this government agency, the Initiative, got ahold of him and put this chip in so he couldn't hurt humans. He started helping us fight the bad guys. Of course there was him going on and on about being in love with me and some major creep action there because, vamps, not big on dating etiquette. But when I came back from... the summer away... he understood. What it was like - to be away. Then we realized that he could hurt me without the major headache, so yay for Buffy coming back wrong, I guess."

"Oww, oww, the pain, the pain… is gone."

"We kinda started sleeping together after that. Not in a relationship or friendship or anything ship-y, because I knew it was wrong. I was wrong. And then I was here. There's no end because it didn't end."

Buffy kept her eyes on the ceiling, not facing The Voice, but she could practically see the look, the clicking of the pen - she had it all memorized, so reminiscent of that other world - that other life. "Ms. Summers," it starts, "this is a very important part of your delusion, which we need to analyze. The fact that you put yourself in such an intimate position with someone who used to want to kill you, something that you felt such guilt about, shows that you were punishing yourself. That is understandable. Inevitably, every world becomes too complicated, too paranoid, and the maker of it has to destroy it and feels guilt for doing so. You cannot keep a reality running smoothly in your own head - the characters begin to fluctuate. That is probably the basis for your return to reality. The fluctuations came in many forms - the best friend being addicted to magic, for example. What is odd is the seeming genuine attempt at redemption from your lover. Typically, a relationship like that would have been strictly about pain and punishment. Do you understand what I'm trying to explain to you?"

"I love you…"

Buffy was sure The Voice couldn't see her shaking her head the way it was angled. She knew it would defeat all the 'progress' she'd made in the last month. Reality, all in her head. It wasn't in her head - it was real - they were real, and that's why nobody followed set rules for delusions. That's why he didn't follow the rules. "I'd like to go now. We got into it; you can be all analyze-y without me."

She was up and halfway to the door to call for someone to come get her when she heard it. A soft whisper of her name. "Buffy." It was so real that she spun back around, sure that it was who she'd heard. But still it was just The Voice gazing back at her in slight concern.

Staring wide-eyed, she watched The Voice clear their throat and say louder, more professionally, "Ms. Summers, I would like it if you stayed."

But she was already shaking her head, backing toward the door. No words would come. This was why she hadn't wanted to get into this - why she wouldn't look at The Voice. She was not crazy. She was not. They were real. Why else would people from her head be here? Or maybe she was that crazy. Taking real people and turning them into fiction in her head. It used to be so clear, but the longer she was here...

Buffy shook her head again, decidedly, and The Voice gave up, pressing the call button for someone to collect her.

But this time, walking back, Buffy felt a little more like Buffy. The Buffy she used to be - before she died. She felt like Buffy and Buffy couldn't stop wondering - if The Voice was here, who else was in this world from hers?