From: "Ryan Kinkor" kinkorknight@earthlink.net
Subject: FIC: Harsh Legacy: Brand New Day (Part 6)
Date: Saturday, October 26, 2002 3:33 PM
CONTINUED FROM PART FIVE
Part Six: The Rock, the Hard Place, and the Space Between Them
While the group was quickly becoming numb from all the revelations
Willow and Tara were leveling at them, the most recent bit of news managed
to blast through their sore minds and stun them even further. Xander was the
first to recover. "When you say 'bring back,' you're talking about a
resurrection, right? I may not be a magic guy, but I've dealt with enough
zombies to know that it's not a good idea."
"Yeah," said Spike. "I'd hate to put a crimp on your plan, but Buffy's
body has been underground for four months now. That's zombie country." He
looked guiltily over at Dawn, remembering his part in trying to raise
Buffy's deceased mother. He had never asked what had happened, but since
Joyce wasn't making coffee in her kitchen, he had assumed it hadn't worked
out.
Dawn was sullen, looking down at the table. Willow had thought that the
very idea of bringing Buffy back would have excited Dawn. Instead, she
looked frightened. Willow wanted to ask her what was wrong, but she had to
explain the plan first before the others started jumping to conclusions.
"This isn't a real resurrection," said Willow. "Resurrections take souls
back from Beyond, the afterlife, and sticks them back in their old bodies.
The body is dead, and the soul may or may not be the right one. It goes
badly almost all the time. But we're not doing a resurrection like that."
Willow got out her notes and started to pass them around the group.
She continued. "Buffy's soul, in dimensional terms, is very close to us.
It's a lot easier to visit the Astral Plane than to go to another physical
dimension, for many reasons. It won't be hard to find Buffy, especially
since Dawn should be able to find her very easily. She has been for the last
two weeks. What I have to do is go there again, find her, and drag her with
me back into our dimension."
Anya butted into Willow's speech. "That would take a full Astral
projection, you know. You'd have to create a tiny portal, throw your spirit
into it, hope you're anchored enough to your home dimension, and still hope
that you don't get lost before the spell ends or get caught by, well,
something unpleasant. It's not a safe spell, Willow."
"I know that," replied Willow. "But I've had a little experience in
out-of-body subjects. I think I can handle myself. And Dawn would be my
anchor, since she's able to go there partially already."
Spike raised his hand to draw everyone's attention. "Okay, suppose we
get her soul back. Remember her body? You'd just have the right soul in a
decomposing body. And that's not the kind of undeath that she deserves...
Not that she deserves any kind of undeath, mind you, " Spike added.
"I'm getting to that, Spike," Willow said. She focused her attention on
Dawn and spoke in a quieter tone. "Dawn, I don't mean to be talking about
you in the third person. But I can't do this without you. You aren't the
reason Buffy died, but you may be the only reason she has a chance to live
again. It won't be easy, and it may be painful, but I need you to want to do
this. We can't bring her back unless you're on board."
Dawn raised her head and looked at Willow. She was taking this about as
well as Willow had when she first found out it might be possible to bring
back Buffy from the dead. Hope and fear were warring against each other in
Dawn's eyes. Then Dawn said, "Willow, there's something I should tell you."
Spike cringed at the words. He knew what she was about to divulge.
Dawn's chin fell as she said, "You know when I asked you if it was
possible to raise the dead, after Mom's funeral? Well, I tried to...I
tried...."
Willow's eyes went wide. "Dawn, you didn't...?!"
Dawn faced Willow again, shame gracing her features. "I know it was a
stupid idea. And I canceled it before it went too far. I just... the idea of
living without Mom, it was too hard. I wanted her back so bad, I stopped
thinking and just did it."
Willow wanted to scold her for her recklessness, but decided against it.
It was obvious from Dawn's face that she realized the foolishness of her
actions. Tara, however, wasn't as silent. "But where did you get the
material parts? Some of the stuff needed to do that spell are rare, and
dangerous, to get a hold of."
"Me. I helped her." It was Spike, looking guiltily at the others. He was
trying to take some of the heat off Dawn. It worked.
"You know Spike," said Xander in a truly pissed-off tone, "every time I
get to the point where I can barely tolerate you, you manage to find some
way to push the line back to 'just above stake-bait.'"
"I only helped because the Summers women were in pain," Spike said,
weakly trying to defend himself. "I thought the spell might go well this
time. It was bound to happen eventually."
Xander was about to throw another insult, but Dawn intercepted him.
"It's not Spike's fault. He only helped me get the ingredients. I did the
spell. He didn't stay around for it."
"Yeah, give the minor a loaded gun and hope she doesn't blow off her
head with it," was Xander's reply. Spike didn't respond, except by looking
away from the group.
"Xander, enough," said Willow. To Spike, she said, "Spike, you should
have know better. And let's leave it at that. We don't have the time or
energy to keep arguing about it."
"Willow, I told you about this because I don't want Buffy coming back
like that," said Dawn. "I'd rather she be dead than coming back as some
shadow of herself. I miss her, I miss her more now than before, but I can't
have her..." She trailed off, the hope-fear war in her eyes replaced by
sadness.
"I'm not considering a Zombie Buffy, Dawn," said Willow. "If it came to
that, I'd find another way to release Buffy."
"But why don't we do that?" said Anya. "It would be a lot safer just to
get Buffy's soul out of the Astral Plane and just, well, let her soul go
Beyond than to play with this zombie business."
"It wouldn't work." Tara was up at bat now. "When Buffy went into the
portal, Buffy's soul was locked into the Astral Plane. It's now considered
her home dimension, since she doesn't have a body anymore. Any spell that
would allow her access to our dimension would return her back to the Plane
when it ended. The only way she could permanently escape is if she was
physically grounded to our world, in a body."
"So we're stuck on Zombie Buffy," said Xander, a bit morose.
"No, we're not." The way Willow had said it, with such conviction, made
everyone look at her intently. "We're going to give her a new body: her old
one, rebuilt."
Another round of shock to everyone. "You're not talking about doing a
Frankenstein on Buffy, right?" said Xander.
Willow shook her head. "The monks used a transmutation spell to turn the
Key from its energy state to Dawn. The spell itself is in our books, since
it's an alchemy spell similar to the one you use to turn lead into gold. I
can alter the effects a little so that instead of changing an object from
one thing into another, we can simply readjust an object to a slightly
different state. And I think I can do that with Buffy's body. I can repair
the damage four months of decomposition have done, and return her body to
the state it was in just before she died. And the act of her soul entering
her body should be enough to jumpstart her heart."
Willow could see it now, in their eyes. Concern and fear was starting to
turn to cautious optimism. Spike, though, wasn't as convinced. "Whoa, whoa,
whoa. If it was possible to do that kind of thing to bodies, wouldn't you
think we would have heard about it by now?"
"Well, normally, it isn't possible," said Willow, "But we have access to
the vital part." And she looked at Dawn.
Dawn looked surprised. "Me? I can't do... what you were talking about. I
don't even know how I'm projecting."
"It's your energy we need, Dawn," said Tara. "The only reason why the
monks were able to transform you is that the Key adjusts to the reality it's
in. It could be made into almost anything in any reality. A sliver of your
energy would be all we need to 'adjust' Buffy's body."
"Wait, couldn't that hurt Dawn?" said a concerned Anya.
"There might be some physical pain," said Tara. "We'd have to use a
little of Dawn's blood. But it wouldn't harm her in any permanent way. It's
like taking a bucket of water out of the Pacific Ocean."
"Are you totally sure about that?" said a more concerned Xander.
Willow took over. "I can't be one-hundred percent about any of this. I'm
going off hard data and dream stuff and gut instincts. But that's kind of
the way magic works. Faith and fact thrown together."
Anya's face scrunched up in hard thought, or hard confusion. "Okay, if
Buffy's body was 'readjusted,' but still lacked a soul, wouldn't it start
dying again?"
Willow nodded.
"So," Anya continued, "if we didn't get her soul back into her body
within a few minutes after her 'readjustment,' we'd be back to Zombie
Buffy."
Willow nodded.
"So," Anya still continued, "what you're saying is that we have to pull
off two complex and possibly dangerous spells within a window of a few
minutes. Any mistake means Buffy is still stuck in the Astral Plane, or gets
turned into a zombie. Not to mention the possibility of you getting trapped
in the Astral Plane with Buffy, or what all this might do to Dawn."
"If I get stuck in the Astral Plane with Buffy, at least she won't be
alone," said Willow. "Dawn's not the one in danger. I'm the one sticking her
neck out. Guys, we've faced far worse stuff than this. And it's always Buffy
that had to bear the brunt of all of it. I think we're overdue to pay off
our debt, don't you think?"
Willow's face grew sadder as she continued. "We all knew Buffy in
different ways, but I'm sure most of you know that one of her greatest fears
was ending up alone, cut off from everyone and everything. She thought that
being a Slayer would eventually drive her away from her friends, from
everyone she loved. I think that fear was one of the reasons that made her
jump into the Portal. She didn't... she couldn't lose anyone else. But now
her worst fear is real. She's doesn't even have the world anymore. She has
nothing. She's alone in a void, a place more empty and more cruel than Hell
could be, at least to Buffy. She's only been there a few months, but can you
imagine what it must feel like? Such utter emptiness, and the idea that she
may be stranded there forever?" Tears were in her eyes, and Tara placed a
hand on her shoulder in comfort.
"When do we start?" It was Dawn. She had tears as well, but she was
smiling.
"Dawn, are you sure?" asked Willow, though she already knew the answer.
"Never surer. I want her out of there... I want her home."
"Damn straight. We've taken down gods, so this should be a cakewalk,"
said Spike, abandoning his remaining skepticism.
"I'm not a great man of faith," said Xander. "I've skipped more Sundays
sermons than I've attended. But I'll put my faith with you, Willow,
because I know you can get the Buffster back."
"I'm with him," said Anya, putting her arm around Xander.
"And you know where I stand," said a beaming Tara.
It was a little overwhelming for Willow. After her argument with Giles,
she had half-expected to find more vehement opposition from the others. But
she shouldn't have doubted them. They all owed Buffy their lives. They all
loved Buffy. And they were ready to go once more into the unknown to find
their lost friend.
*Giles,* she thought. *God, she had to tell them about Giles.*
"We have to do this tonight," Willow said. "We can't put it off."
Tara seemed perplexed at Willow's comment. "But there isn't a real time
frame, Willow. We should get better prepared. If we rush this..."
"If we don't do it tonight, we may not be able to do it at all,"
interrupted Willow. "Giles or one of the other Watchers might intervene."
Xander was taken aback by the comment. "Willow, Giles is one of us. When
he hears what you just told the rest of us..."
"I already told him," she replied. "He's in Watcher mode right now. I
think it's easier for him that way. And they have a strict policy
about resurrected Slayers. He said he'll stop me if I tried to bring
Buffy back."
"Bloody hell!" exclaimed Spike.
"But how could the Watchers stop us?" asked Dawn. "They wouldn't know
when we were doing the spell."
"They could burn the body, for one thing," said Anya.
Anya's words sent Spike jumping from his spot on the floor and heading
for the door. "I'm going to get Buffy's body. It might take me a bit,
so get everything ready for when I return."
Xander shot up and headed for the door as well. "Hold it. I'm coming
with you. Four hands work quicker, plus I want to make sure you
don't screw up or something."
Spike flashed Xander a truly serious look. "I not screwing up this time,
Harris." And he turned and left the apartment, with Xander hot on
his heels.
Willow turned to the others and said, "Okay, they're going to be gone
for a few hours. And we've got a lot to do." And so they began the process
of moving furniture and preparing the room for a major spellfest.
********
*God, how long have I been staring at that wall calendar?* thought
Giles.
He checked his pocket watch. It was close to 8:00pm. He'd been sitting,
staring, and drinking for over two hours. He had thankfully stopped the
drinking after the fourth shot, and even more wisely put the bottle back in
its hiding spot. The only reason why he had stopped, though, was that the
idea of coming home drunk to Dawn hadn't been appealing. She deserved more
than an alcoholic Watcher for a guardian.
*Dawn,* he thought. He should have been home hours ago. He went to the
office phone and dialed his number. After a few rings, his answering machine
picked up. Dawn wasn't home, it seemed. *Perhaps it was a good thing,* he
thought, *since she needed to get out more and have some joy in her life
again.* Still, he would have to discuss the whole concept of letting him
know her whereabouts with her again when she got back.
He wasn't sure if he felt all that sober, so he decided that he needed
to stay a little while longer and let the brandy pass out of his system. And
that's when he remembered the journal. Willow had left it for him. It would
certainly help him pass the time. He'd have to grab his Latin-English
dictionary from the bookshelves for the hard words, but otherwise it should
be an interesting read.
As he went to grab the dictionary, he started to feel like he had blown
it with Willow. She hadn't deserved all that anger he had flung at her.
True, she had needed to be discouraged from any resurrection spells, but she
had gotten some of his own anger about the situation, and the Council, mixed
in with his genuine concern. He'd have to apologize to her, but not now. His
mood was a little too unsteady to try anything as important as an apology.
With dictionary in hand, he sat back down at his table, and picked up
the journal. As he started thinking in Latin and flowing with the words, he
found the journal a very intriguing piece of history. He was so intrigued by
the journal that by the time he finished it, and left the Magic Box, it was
close to 11:00pm. And he had decided that there was a lot more to discuss
with Willow than just an apology.
CONTINUED IN PART SEVEN
Subject: FIC: Harsh Legacy: Brand New Day (Part 6)
Date: Saturday, October 26, 2002 3:33 PM
CONTINUED FROM PART FIVE
Part Six: The Rock, the Hard Place, and the Space Between Them
While the group was quickly becoming numb from all the revelations
Willow and Tara were leveling at them, the most recent bit of news managed
to blast through their sore minds and stun them even further. Xander was the
first to recover. "When you say 'bring back,' you're talking about a
resurrection, right? I may not be a magic guy, but I've dealt with enough
zombies to know that it's not a good idea."
"Yeah," said Spike. "I'd hate to put a crimp on your plan, but Buffy's
body has been underground for four months now. That's zombie country." He
looked guiltily over at Dawn, remembering his part in trying to raise
Buffy's deceased mother. He had never asked what had happened, but since
Joyce wasn't making coffee in her kitchen, he had assumed it hadn't worked
out.
Dawn was sullen, looking down at the table. Willow had thought that the
very idea of bringing Buffy back would have excited Dawn. Instead, she
looked frightened. Willow wanted to ask her what was wrong, but she had to
explain the plan first before the others started jumping to conclusions.
"This isn't a real resurrection," said Willow. "Resurrections take souls
back from Beyond, the afterlife, and sticks them back in their old bodies.
The body is dead, and the soul may or may not be the right one. It goes
badly almost all the time. But we're not doing a resurrection like that."
Willow got out her notes and started to pass them around the group.
She continued. "Buffy's soul, in dimensional terms, is very close to us.
It's a lot easier to visit the Astral Plane than to go to another physical
dimension, for many reasons. It won't be hard to find Buffy, especially
since Dawn should be able to find her very easily. She has been for the last
two weeks. What I have to do is go there again, find her, and drag her with
me back into our dimension."
Anya butted into Willow's speech. "That would take a full Astral
projection, you know. You'd have to create a tiny portal, throw your spirit
into it, hope you're anchored enough to your home dimension, and still hope
that you don't get lost before the spell ends or get caught by, well,
something unpleasant. It's not a safe spell, Willow."
"I know that," replied Willow. "But I've had a little experience in
out-of-body subjects. I think I can handle myself. And Dawn would be my
anchor, since she's able to go there partially already."
Spike raised his hand to draw everyone's attention. "Okay, suppose we
get her soul back. Remember her body? You'd just have the right soul in a
decomposing body. And that's not the kind of undeath that she deserves...
Not that she deserves any kind of undeath, mind you, " Spike added.
"I'm getting to that, Spike," Willow said. She focused her attention on
Dawn and spoke in a quieter tone. "Dawn, I don't mean to be talking about
you in the third person. But I can't do this without you. You aren't the
reason Buffy died, but you may be the only reason she has a chance to live
again. It won't be easy, and it may be painful, but I need you to want to do
this. We can't bring her back unless you're on board."
Dawn raised her head and looked at Willow. She was taking this about as
well as Willow had when she first found out it might be possible to bring
back Buffy from the dead. Hope and fear were warring against each other in
Dawn's eyes. Then Dawn said, "Willow, there's something I should tell you."
Spike cringed at the words. He knew what she was about to divulge.
Dawn's chin fell as she said, "You know when I asked you if it was
possible to raise the dead, after Mom's funeral? Well, I tried to...I
tried...."
Willow's eyes went wide. "Dawn, you didn't...?!"
Dawn faced Willow again, shame gracing her features. "I know it was a
stupid idea. And I canceled it before it went too far. I just... the idea of
living without Mom, it was too hard. I wanted her back so bad, I stopped
thinking and just did it."
Willow wanted to scold her for her recklessness, but decided against it.
It was obvious from Dawn's face that she realized the foolishness of her
actions. Tara, however, wasn't as silent. "But where did you get the
material parts? Some of the stuff needed to do that spell are rare, and
dangerous, to get a hold of."
"Me. I helped her." It was Spike, looking guiltily at the others. He was
trying to take some of the heat off Dawn. It worked.
"You know Spike," said Xander in a truly pissed-off tone, "every time I
get to the point where I can barely tolerate you, you manage to find some
way to push the line back to 'just above stake-bait.'"
"I only helped because the Summers women were in pain," Spike said,
weakly trying to defend himself. "I thought the spell might go well this
time. It was bound to happen eventually."
Xander was about to throw another insult, but Dawn intercepted him.
"It's not Spike's fault. He only helped me get the ingredients. I did the
spell. He didn't stay around for it."
"Yeah, give the minor a loaded gun and hope she doesn't blow off her
head with it," was Xander's reply. Spike didn't respond, except by looking
away from the group.
"Xander, enough," said Willow. To Spike, she said, "Spike, you should
have know better. And let's leave it at that. We don't have the time or
energy to keep arguing about it."
"Willow, I told you about this because I don't want Buffy coming back
like that," said Dawn. "I'd rather she be dead than coming back as some
shadow of herself. I miss her, I miss her more now than before, but I can't
have her..." She trailed off, the hope-fear war in her eyes replaced by
sadness.
"I'm not considering a Zombie Buffy, Dawn," said Willow. "If it came to
that, I'd find another way to release Buffy."
"But why don't we do that?" said Anya. "It would be a lot safer just to
get Buffy's soul out of the Astral Plane and just, well, let her soul go
Beyond than to play with this zombie business."
"It wouldn't work." Tara was up at bat now. "When Buffy went into the
portal, Buffy's soul was locked into the Astral Plane. It's now considered
her home dimension, since she doesn't have a body anymore. Any spell that
would allow her access to our dimension would return her back to the Plane
when it ended. The only way she could permanently escape is if she was
physically grounded to our world, in a body."
"So we're stuck on Zombie Buffy," said Xander, a bit morose.
"No, we're not." The way Willow had said it, with such conviction, made
everyone look at her intently. "We're going to give her a new body: her old
one, rebuilt."
Another round of shock to everyone. "You're not talking about doing a
Frankenstein on Buffy, right?" said Xander.
Willow shook her head. "The monks used a transmutation spell to turn the
Key from its energy state to Dawn. The spell itself is in our books, since
it's an alchemy spell similar to the one you use to turn lead into gold. I
can alter the effects a little so that instead of changing an object from
one thing into another, we can simply readjust an object to a slightly
different state. And I think I can do that with Buffy's body. I can repair
the damage four months of decomposition have done, and return her body to
the state it was in just before she died. And the act of her soul entering
her body should be enough to jumpstart her heart."
Willow could see it now, in their eyes. Concern and fear was starting to
turn to cautious optimism. Spike, though, wasn't as convinced. "Whoa, whoa,
whoa. If it was possible to do that kind of thing to bodies, wouldn't you
think we would have heard about it by now?"
"Well, normally, it isn't possible," said Willow, "But we have access to
the vital part." And she looked at Dawn.
Dawn looked surprised. "Me? I can't do... what you were talking about. I
don't even know how I'm projecting."
"It's your energy we need, Dawn," said Tara. "The only reason why the
monks were able to transform you is that the Key adjusts to the reality it's
in. It could be made into almost anything in any reality. A sliver of your
energy would be all we need to 'adjust' Buffy's body."
"Wait, couldn't that hurt Dawn?" said a concerned Anya.
"There might be some physical pain," said Tara. "We'd have to use a
little of Dawn's blood. But it wouldn't harm her in any permanent way. It's
like taking a bucket of water out of the Pacific Ocean."
"Are you totally sure about that?" said a more concerned Xander.
Willow took over. "I can't be one-hundred percent about any of this. I'm
going off hard data and dream stuff and gut instincts. But that's kind of
the way magic works. Faith and fact thrown together."
Anya's face scrunched up in hard thought, or hard confusion. "Okay, if
Buffy's body was 'readjusted,' but still lacked a soul, wouldn't it start
dying again?"
Willow nodded.
"So," Anya continued, "if we didn't get her soul back into her body
within a few minutes after her 'readjustment,' we'd be back to Zombie
Buffy."
Willow nodded.
"So," Anya still continued, "what you're saying is that we have to pull
off two complex and possibly dangerous spells within a window of a few
minutes. Any mistake means Buffy is still stuck in the Astral Plane, or gets
turned into a zombie. Not to mention the possibility of you getting trapped
in the Astral Plane with Buffy, or what all this might do to Dawn."
"If I get stuck in the Astral Plane with Buffy, at least she won't be
alone," said Willow. "Dawn's not the one in danger. I'm the one sticking her
neck out. Guys, we've faced far worse stuff than this. And it's always Buffy
that had to bear the brunt of all of it. I think we're overdue to pay off
our debt, don't you think?"
Willow's face grew sadder as she continued. "We all knew Buffy in
different ways, but I'm sure most of you know that one of her greatest fears
was ending up alone, cut off from everyone and everything. She thought that
being a Slayer would eventually drive her away from her friends, from
everyone she loved. I think that fear was one of the reasons that made her
jump into the Portal. She didn't... she couldn't lose anyone else. But now
her worst fear is real. She's doesn't even have the world anymore. She has
nothing. She's alone in a void, a place more empty and more cruel than Hell
could be, at least to Buffy. She's only been there a few months, but can you
imagine what it must feel like? Such utter emptiness, and the idea that she
may be stranded there forever?" Tears were in her eyes, and Tara placed a
hand on her shoulder in comfort.
"When do we start?" It was Dawn. She had tears as well, but she was
smiling.
"Dawn, are you sure?" asked Willow, though she already knew the answer.
"Never surer. I want her out of there... I want her home."
"Damn straight. We've taken down gods, so this should be a cakewalk,"
said Spike, abandoning his remaining skepticism.
"I'm not a great man of faith," said Xander. "I've skipped more Sundays
sermons than I've attended. But I'll put my faith with you, Willow,
because I know you can get the Buffster back."
"I'm with him," said Anya, putting her arm around Xander.
"And you know where I stand," said a beaming Tara.
It was a little overwhelming for Willow. After her argument with Giles,
she had half-expected to find more vehement opposition from the others. But
she shouldn't have doubted them. They all owed Buffy their lives. They all
loved Buffy. And they were ready to go once more into the unknown to find
their lost friend.
*Giles,* she thought. *God, she had to tell them about Giles.*
"We have to do this tonight," Willow said. "We can't put it off."
Tara seemed perplexed at Willow's comment. "But there isn't a real time
frame, Willow. We should get better prepared. If we rush this..."
"If we don't do it tonight, we may not be able to do it at all,"
interrupted Willow. "Giles or one of the other Watchers might intervene."
Xander was taken aback by the comment. "Willow, Giles is one of us. When
he hears what you just told the rest of us..."
"I already told him," she replied. "He's in Watcher mode right now. I
think it's easier for him that way. And they have a strict policy
about resurrected Slayers. He said he'll stop me if I tried to bring
Buffy back."
"Bloody hell!" exclaimed Spike.
"But how could the Watchers stop us?" asked Dawn. "They wouldn't know
when we were doing the spell."
"They could burn the body, for one thing," said Anya.
Anya's words sent Spike jumping from his spot on the floor and heading
for the door. "I'm going to get Buffy's body. It might take me a bit,
so get everything ready for when I return."
Xander shot up and headed for the door as well. "Hold it. I'm coming
with you. Four hands work quicker, plus I want to make sure you
don't screw up or something."
Spike flashed Xander a truly serious look. "I not screwing up this time,
Harris." And he turned and left the apartment, with Xander hot on
his heels.
Willow turned to the others and said, "Okay, they're going to be gone
for a few hours. And we've got a lot to do." And so they began the process
of moving furniture and preparing the room for a major spellfest.
********
*God, how long have I been staring at that wall calendar?* thought
Giles.
He checked his pocket watch. It was close to 8:00pm. He'd been sitting,
staring, and drinking for over two hours. He had thankfully stopped the
drinking after the fourth shot, and even more wisely put the bottle back in
its hiding spot. The only reason why he had stopped, though, was that the
idea of coming home drunk to Dawn hadn't been appealing. She deserved more
than an alcoholic Watcher for a guardian.
*Dawn,* he thought. He should have been home hours ago. He went to the
office phone and dialed his number. After a few rings, his answering machine
picked up. Dawn wasn't home, it seemed. *Perhaps it was a good thing,* he
thought, *since she needed to get out more and have some joy in her life
again.* Still, he would have to discuss the whole concept of letting him
know her whereabouts with her again when she got back.
He wasn't sure if he felt all that sober, so he decided that he needed
to stay a little while longer and let the brandy pass out of his system. And
that's when he remembered the journal. Willow had left it for him. It would
certainly help him pass the time. He'd have to grab his Latin-English
dictionary from the bookshelves for the hard words, but otherwise it should
be an interesting read.
As he went to grab the dictionary, he started to feel like he had blown
it with Willow. She hadn't deserved all that anger he had flung at her.
True, she had needed to be discouraged from any resurrection spells, but she
had gotten some of his own anger about the situation, and the Council, mixed
in with his genuine concern. He'd have to apologize to her, but not now. His
mood was a little too unsteady to try anything as important as an apology.
With dictionary in hand, he sat back down at his table, and picked up
the journal. As he started thinking in Latin and flowing with the words, he
found the journal a very intriguing piece of history. He was so intrigued by
the journal that by the time he finished it, and left the Magic Box, it was
close to 11:00pm. And he had decided that there was a lot more to discuss
with Willow than just an apology.
CONTINUED IN PART SEVEN