Disclaimer: Nothing is mine.

Rating: PG-13 for language

Pairing: B/A, W/T, X/A

Author's Note: This is based roughly on a little rp I did once. The concept is the same, but it is much more elaborate. This is going to be a fun one! It takes place immediately after the end of "Flooded." It will be mostly Dawn centric. Please not that this is different from The Good Life on the fact that I don't have it perfectly planned out before writing. It's more of a whim. Read and Review! The next chapter will be up very soon. See if you can figure out what's going on!

Chapter One: A Whole New World

Giles sat down on the couch and sighed. "Well I suppose that's settled."

Dawn sat down next to him. "I guess she just felt that she had to go now." There was a moment of silence. "Imagine what he's been going through. He loved her so much," she said quietly. They just sat there quietly for a moment.

After a few minutes Giles stood up. "I suppose I should get to work on 'taking care' of Buffy's bills," he said, with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

Dawn frowned slightly. "Giles, Buffy does need our help right now. I mean she just came back from....we don't even know where."

Giles faced Dawn. "I know she is in a very difficult place right now. But still, sometimes the easiest way to heal is to busy yourself, and besides I am not always going to be here."

Dawn's face fell slightly. "Oh." She crossed her arms. "I kind of forgot that you're not here for good."

Giles softened when he saw the young girl's expression. "I won't be leaving right away. I'll wait until Buffy has adjusted, until...until we've all adjusted," he added.

Dawn gave him a small smile. "Well, I guess I'll be in my room. I would try to help, but numbers are pretty much a foreign language to me," she said.

Giles smiled back. "Okay Dawn." She walked upstairs.

Dawn wandered into her room and sat on her bed. Once again, Buffy was gone. Dawn knew she would be back this time, but still she was tired of being alone.

She stood up and wandered over to her dresser. She pulled out the drawer of her jewelry box. She stared at the growing pile of stolen items. She didn't even know why she had taken them.

She lifted a necklace from the box. She remembered taking this from the Magic Box a few weeks ago, while Anya was with a customer. She fingered the blue pendant. She didn't know if it had any powers, it had just caught her eye. She put it around her neck and fastened the clasp. She admired herself in the mirror. She fingered the necklace. "I just wish everything were back to normal," she whispered.

A moment later a portal opened in the middle of Dawn's bedroom. Screaming, she was sucked into it.

Giles wiped his glasses. Buffy really did know how to get herself into a financial mess. All of a sudden he sat up straight when he heard Dawn scream. "Dawn!" he yelled, running for the stairs. He reached her room and threw the door open.

The room was empty. But it was also a mess. Everything was tossed around, seeming to end up in one area near the bed. He walked closer to examine it. He knew that something was not quite right in the room, but he couldn't put his finger on it. "Dawn!" he called, walking through the rest of the house. She wasn't anywhere to be found. Then he realized what had happened. "Dammit!" he swore. He ran downstairs and grabbed his jacket. Then he walked out the door and headed for the Magic Box.

The next thing Dawn knew she was laying on her bedroom floor. She stopped screaming.

She looked around, puzzled. "What the hell was that?" she said. She stood up and brushed herself off. Everything appeared to be the same. Then she felt her neck, and realized the necklace was gone.

"It's okay Dawn, it was probably just a dream," she said, beginning to pace around the room. "You just must have come up here and fell asleep." She walked over to her jewelry box and opened the bottom drawer.

It was empty.

Her mouth dropped open. "What the..." Then she heard music playing downstairs.

She walked into the hall. The music was playing pretty loud. "Giles?" she said, half to herself.

She couldn't believe the site when she entered the living room. Her mouth dropped open.

There was a party going on. A party. In her living room.

Dawn began to get the feeling that something was very wrong. Where was Giles? And even if she had fallen asleep, there wouldn't have been time for all of this. She also noticed changes in the room, like the lamp and the table that Buffy had broken in the fight earlier. Still there, good as new.

She looked around at the people. She guessed about twenty, most of them complete strangers. Then she spotted Willow, and her heart leapt. "Willow!" she said excitedly. She pushed through the people, hurrying toward the familiar face.

"Hey Dawnie!" Willow yelled over the music. She was dancing wildly. "Where did you go? This party is awesome!"

Dawn looked at her sideways. "What is the party for?" she yelled.

Willow looked at her like she was crazy. "Are you okay Dawnie?"

Dawn opened her mouth to speak again, but then closed it. She was pretty clear at this point on the fact that something was very wrong. She looked around for another familiar face. Unfamiliar blonde male, skinny brunette, nameless redhead, blonde haired girl dancing like crazy....Dawn snapped her head back to the blonde. "Tara?" she said incredulously.

The blonde haired girl was dancing wildly. "Hey Dawnie!" she yelled. "Isn't the party great? Too bad the guests of honor have disappeared." She paused from dancing a minute to glance around the room, then shrugged and went back to dancing.

Dawn blinked a few times. She had never seen Tara act this way. She decided to find Giles, he would know what to do. But first she asked the question she was dying to know the answer to.

"Why are we having this party? Who are these people?"

Tara frowned. "Are you alright? You know what the party's for, it was your idea. It's to celebrate the engagement."

"Who's engage-" Dawn was cut off when she heard Xander's voice across the room. "Xander!" she called. She saw him coming in the door with Anya.

Are Xander and Anya getting engaged? She thought. She pushed her way through the people until she was next to him. "Xander, do you know where Giles is?" she said, determined to get to the bottom of this.

Xander raised his eyebrows. "Who's Giles?"

Dawn took a deep breath. Maybe if I just go back to bed, I will realize that this was all a dream, she thought, heading back up to her room.

She was just about to turn down the hall when she heard noises coming from Buffy's room. Buffy! She thought excitedly. She'll be able to help me! She hurried to her sister's room and opened the door. Her mouth fell open. Her sister was sitting on the bed, making out with-

"Dawn, don't you knock?" her sister said, annoyed.

Angel gave her a strange look. "Yeah, really. We were kind of in the middle of something here."