Chapter 8
Dawn opened the door and the Scooby gang walked in, each giving her a subdued greeting.
Dawn looked at Willow and Tara, and asked Tara, "How is she today?"
"Better I think, " Tara said softly as Willow gave Dawn a watery half-smile.
Xander then grabbed Dawn into a bear hug.
When he let go, Dawn smiled up at him. "Thanks...I needed one of those."
"Me too," he replied.
The silent group sat down on the couch and Spike stood in front of the TV, waiting to begin.
When everyone was looking up at him, he smiled all around. And then told them all about his dream.
When he had finished, he gestured for Dawn to get up and she did, then she told them all of her dream.
When they were both done, they looked at Giles.
"Oh dear," was all Giles could say.
"She's coming back, she can be brought back, " Xander jumped up and did the Snoopy Dance.
Anya looked pleased. She thought, Yay. Now Xander will be happy and my friend is coming back and everything doesn't look so horrible anymore.
Tara smiled.
Willow, broke out in tears. But this time, they were happy tears. This time her thoughts were, "Buffy's dead...but she'll be back."
Buffy, silently watching, smiled and looked at all her friends lovingly.
Xander stopped doing the dance to ask a question,
"Hold up...how do we know Buffy's coming back?"
"Okay LackBrain, " Spike said with a playful grin, "I'll explain. If I may?" he asked Giles.
"Oh...d..do go ahead," Giles nodded.
"Okay...here's how it goes. In my dreams, I'm told that Dawn is the Key."
"But we already knew that," Xander butted in.
"Quiet...I'm talking," Spike glanced toward Xander, but his rebuttal still didn't have the sting in it that used to be there. It was a playful insult thing between the two of them now. Where as before it had been malicious, on both sides, now, it was just fun.
"As I was saying before Monkey boy interrupted, " he winked at Xander, " Buffy told me that Dawn was the key to her. She also told me to look in the Codex, which is why I had Giles bring it over. The scroll that mentions Shanshu is with Angel...so she said, which means that we'll have to go back down there to get it or at least to read it. Now I'm perfectly willing to make the trip down to LA, but someone, or many someone's, are going to have to come with me. On account of the last time I saw my dear old sire, I was playing Vamp on a stick...or was that vamp and chains?"
"What is it with you and chains?"
"What...and you don't like chains, Whelp? I bet if demon girl there put some chains on you, you'd be begging for more."
"Oh," Anya spoke up. "We've already played a Mistress of the Night and Spanky boy dominatrix game where we used chains. They were very arousing and Xander was begging me to do it again and again. I really think he found it most enjoya..."
"Anya!!"
The rest of the gang giggled and chuckled uncontrollably, except for Giles and Xander who both looked extremely uncomfortable and Anya, who didn't get what all the laughter was about. Spike and Dawn exchanged a look, and Dawn mouthed the words, episode twelve, which set Spike off on a whole extra tangent of chuckles. Dawn and Spike, could hear Buffy whoop with laughter.
When everyone had calmed down enough to precede...Spike continued.
"As I was saying..." he chuckled a bit over the memory and then continued again. "Once we find out the info from the scroll...we'll have most of what we need to have Buffy return. And we know Buffy can return, " he said, beating Xander from asking by seconds, "because of Dawn's dream. The river represents both life and death...as it always does. In Dawn's dream...it showed that the living, which was Dawn, and the truly dead, which was Joyce, could not cross sides. But Buffy could. Which means that Buffy could come back. She's in between realms at the moment. In order for her to cross back into the world of the living, we have to find a way to pull her back through.
"Didn't you say she was translucent? Doesn't that only happen with Ghosts and Angels," Tara asked.
"Almost translucent. I've seen ghosts, in London mostly, and a bunch here, and they're always completely see-thru. Besides, the light that shines behind them is usually very bright or very dark, depending on the person. Buffy's is bright, with rainbow colored fringes. Oh...and if she was an angel...she was missing her wings."
"Oh, " Tara said quietly.
"Well...and I can't believe I'm saying this," Xander said with enthusiasm, "lets hit the books. Research is good...where do we start?"
Everyone giggled as they picked up a book each and began looking for something that would bring their Buffy fully back to the land of the living.
TBC…