A/N: S6 E17 'Normal Again'

"So what's making you believe this world is real anyway? As in what's bringing you back there?" Spike prompted Buffy.

"Mom. My mom she's...alive." Buffy looked at Dawn. "And Dad...they're together. Like before."

"Really?" Dawn asked quietly. "Are they happy?"

"Yeah." Buffy nodded.

"But none of us a real? We're all some wacky hallucinations?" Xander waggled his hands around theatrically.

"Well logically, it makes more sense to be a mentally ill woman in an institution having hallucinations than being a supernaturally advanced woman who kills demons, lives on a Hellmouth, randomly obtained a younger sister a year ago and is sleeping with a vampire." Anya reasoned.

"Thanks. That's...really helpful." Buffy replied sarcastically.

"And on that note I say it's time for some R R." Willow announced. "We do the research. Buffy does the resting."

"Hmmm..." Buffy agreed, the exhaustion overtaking her again as she slumped against Spike's chest.

"Actually, pet, I was gonna help with the- she's already asleep." Spike realised, Buffy's slumbering form pressing him against the couch.

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Willow shot through the doorway of the living room, an old episode of some kind of British comedy was humming quietly in the room, Buffy still unconscious on Spike. Triumphantly, she waved a book in the air.

"I'm guessing you found the bastard that did this?" Spike raised an eyebrow.

"I think so. Let's see. Wake her up." Willow urged.

"Slayer." Spike nudged her a little. "Buffy. Buffy, pet. Time to wake up, luv."

Scrunching up her face, Buffy came to. "Wha...?"

"I'm Spike. Your boyfriend. I'm a vampire. You're in Sunnydale." Spike spoke clearly.

"Yeah..." Buffy whispered. "I'm...lost."

"I know." Willow said tenderly, while Spike pressed a kiss to her head. "But we got him, Buff." Willow opened up the book and showed Buffy a picture of the demon.

"So you just gotta make antidote?" Spike wondered.

"After you and Xander go out and hunt the demon. I need its pokey stinger thing." Willow explained.

"Do I have to bring the whelp?" Spike sighed, at Willow's nod, he stood up. "When I return I'll be with a demon."

"Thanks, Spike." Willow waved him off.

The vampire pressed another kiss to Buffy's forehead. "I love you, Buffy."

Still somewhat dazed, Buffy replied. "I love you too."

"It's okay, Buff. We'll get the antidote and...everything will be okay." Willow said firmly.

"I'm just...I don't know..."

"Buffy. Listen to me." Willow stared into her best friend's eyes. "You are not in an institution. You have never been in an institutuon."

"Yes I have."

"What?"

"Back when I saw my first vampires. I got so scared. I told my parents and they completely freaked out. They thought there was something seriously wrong with me. So they sent me to a clinic." Buffy admitted.

"You never said anything." Willow's jaw dropped.

"I was only there a couple weeks. I stopped talking about it and they let me go. Eventually my parents just...forgot." Buffy finished, tears welling in her eyes.

"That's horrible." Willow clutched Buffy's hand tightly.

"What if I'm still there? What if I never left that clinic?" Buffy wept.

"I'm sorry you had to go through that. But it's over." Willow assured Buffy, she stroked down her ponytail, causing Buffy to look up at her. "You have to trust me, trust us, Xander, Anya, Dawn, Spike. We're your friends. We're real. And we love you. You are not in a clinic. We will get you the antidote, Buffy. I promise."

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"She's had the antidote, right?" Anya checked before entering the Summers living room.

"An, we already talked about this. She's fine." Xander stressed.

"Well excuse me for not wanting to be tied up in the basement with a rabid demon again."

"I'm fine, Anya. But thanks for your concern." Buffy cut in to the arguing.

"I'm glad you're sane again. I like my sisters...lucid." Dawn smiled, nudging Buffy with her elbow.

"I dunno...she wasn't sooooo crazy." Spike interjected. At the raised eyebrows from every inhabitant of the room, he hurried to explain himself. "She...she wasn't..."

"This is from the guy who dated that nutbag Drusilla." Xander reminded everyone.

"Now she was bloody insane." Spike chuckled.