Oh Crap, She's Four
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or the places mentioned. I am not
taking credit for making them up 'cause I didn't make them up. Joss and
all those other writer people made the characters up. I did not. So there
you have it. These aren't my characters. If they were my characters, I
doubt that they'd be acting *this* crazy.
Prologue
Buffy Summers sighed, walking through Restfield Cemetery, stake clutched tightly in her right hand, ready for any vampire or demon to come up from behind her. Ready for the action that would come along with fighting of evil fiends night after night. Normally, doing things like this would calm her down some, help her blow off extra steam in her that had been building up all day. But not this night.
This night there were quiet, a little too quiet for Sunnydale, California. So quiet that it was bordering on scary. And not the 'Something's Out To Get Me' type of scary. That was something that Buffy had gotten used to during her five and half years or so of being a Vampire Slayer. This was different.
She didn't know why it was different. She would have thought there would be more chaos. It was getting closer to springtime and that usually was when Sunnydale held its annual end of the world party, usually inviting powerful vampires or big, evil demons, or even the occasional robot thing or whatever Adam had been. It didn't exactly matter, all of the evil things have been stopped, due to her. She had gotten used to stopping it, it was part of her job.
But then again 'job' wouldn't exactly be the term to describe it. The word 'job' tends to imply that one gets paid for the work one does, which, sadly, in Buffy's case is far from true. The more appropriate term she would have to say would be 'calling', 'destiny', or 'fate'. Something along those lines, since she could never get out of it unless she died, which probably would not be the best thing to do, since that would leave all slaying to Faith. And Faith is still in jail and will be there for another couple of years.
She sighed, wondering how on Earth she could stop Glory, the hell goddess that had been stirring up trouble for a couple months now. She didn't have any ideas and the fact that every time she and Glory had faced eachother Glory had always won didn't help boost Buffy's self confidence. All the ways she knew to fight evil she had tried on Glory, but obviously none of them were working. The only thing she hadn't tried was blowing Glory up, but she guessed that Glory was too slick for something like that to happen.
The Scoobies were back at the Magic Box, presumably, finding out more information. That was the way things had been when Buffy had left them. She guessed that Giles was still sitting down on the stool in front of the cash register with some huge, ancient demon text or prophecy thing in front of him as he read on, wiping his glasses every now and then, an occasional 'Oh, dear Lord' slipping out of his mouth. Tara and Willow were probably sitting at the table, spell books open in front of them as they quickly leafed through them, looking for a spell that might weaken Glory or something. And Xander and Anya were probably there as well, Anya counting the money she and Giles had made once more while Xander jokes around with Dawn, opting to watch her instead of doing any research whatsoever.
Buffy sighed again, getting ready to call it a night. She had already been out for nearly an hour and had seen no demons and no vampires. It was just that eerie silence following her throughout the night. The only sound she could hear at all being the snapping sound of a stick here and there as she continued her way through the cemetery.
She stopped suddenly as she heard something, coming up from behind her. The sound of heavy boots hitting little sticks and the occasional leaf on the ground was only drawing closer to her. Once again ready for action, Buffy turned around quickly to face her attacker, her stake held out in front of her as though inviting whatever it was to come to its quick but painful death.
Or not.
"Gah!" she called out in a startled tone of voice as she glared at the blonde vampire in front of her. "Spike, what are you doing here?" she asked irritably, putting her stake back in the pocket of her leather coat. Not really caring about the answer, she turned around on the heal of her shoe as she began walking back towards the entrance of the cemetery, knowing it wouldn't be too long until she made her way to the street, ready to go home.
Spike shrugged as he ran a little bit to catch up with the Slayer. "Passing by," he told her, though he didn't exactly think it was her business. "Saw you and figured you could use a little bit of help, since I don't see the wicked witches around," he lied as he gestured around the cemetery at the lack of people there, only tombstones. "And certainly not the Enormous Hall Monitor," he added. He stopped, tilting his head up slightly as he thought about something for a second. "Oh yea, he's run off," he added as though he had just recalled the fact, just to make Buffy mad.
Buffy raised a thin eyebrow at him, her arms folded across her chest. "Really?" she asked doubtfully as she once again began walking away. It was getting late and if the Scooby Gang was doing as much research as she hoped they were doing, then they wouldn't notice that it was time for them to get Dawn home, since being a Monday, it was a school night and Dawn did have to go.
"The reception on the bloody telly isn't comin' in right," Spike finally admitted with a sigh as he ran, jumping in front of Buffy, preventing her from going any further.
"Ahh, so that's all then," Buffy said. "Whatever." She sighed as she tried to make her way past Spike, pushing him and shoving him, but nothing she could do was working on him. "What do you want?" she asked impatiently.
Spike tossed his arms out in front of him with a small groaning noise, moving out of the way. Could he admit that what he really wanted was for her to come home with him and make him happy? No. And since that was the only thing on his mind, he realized that there was nothing else for him to do. He knew that Buffy knew his feelings for her, and was just choosing to ignore them, but what could he do about it. Nothing. "Nothing," he said, turning around, heading the opposite way, going back to his crypt.
Buffy sighed, rolling her eyes as she continued making her way home. She smiled, turning onto Revello Drive, knowing that she was almost home. She had forgotten about the Magic Box, but figured that one of the Scoobies, probably Anya since she would want to get home to have sex with Xander, would notice that it was late, causing Giles to close up the Magic Box for the night and drive Dawn home. From there Willow, Tara, or Giles would stay with the youngest Summers girl until Buffy returned from her patrol. Buffy's thoughts were interrupted as a sharp pain erupted from the back of her head, like no other kind of physical pain she had felt before.
A little tiny noise of pain escaped from Buffy's mouth as the pain grew worse. She looked around the street, behind her and in front, searching for someone who could have hit her with something.
She frowned, seeing no one in sight. Thanking everything she had that Spike was not there to see her like this, Buffy fainted, her head hitting the concrete sidewalk hard.
Willow Rosenberg looked out the window expectantly for the millionth time that evening. "Where is she?" Willow asked, turning to Tara Maclay and Rupert Giles for an answer. The worried look had been on her face since ten thirty that night. "I'm really worried about her."
Tara placed her hand on Willow's arm comfortingly. "She'll be ok, Willow," Tara assured her girlfriend. "I promise," she added.
"I hope so," Willow said, turning over to look at Giles. "What's taking her so long? She never used to take this long? We should be out there looking for her." As Willow was talking, the panic in her voice was escalating to a point where Willow was near hyperventilating.
"Breathe!" Giles commanded the young witch, walking over to her and placing his hand on her shoulder. "I assure you that Buffy will be just fine, but if you don't start breathing, then you will not be as fine."
Willow nodded slowly, taking a deep breath to calm herself. She sighed, looking up at Giles. "Is that a promise?" she asked, the fear for her friend's safety still lingering in her voice.
Giles nodded confidently. "I promise," he told her. "Buffy will come home and she will be all right," he assured the redheaded girl. He sighed, walking out to the kitchen to make himself a cup of tea. "Anyone want anything?" he called into the living room.
There was a general chorus of "No, thank you"s coming from the room, started by Willow and followed shortly after by Tara. Giles sighed and began heating up the water on Buffy's stove.
Willow sighed as she began pacing back and forth in the room. "Where is she?" she asked for the thousandth time that hour. She hadn't been asking anyone in particular, but both Tara and Giles had been rushing to assure her that Buffy would be fine. She was the Slayer and could take care of herself in a fight. Before Tara could answer her, the front door handle began to turn and the door slowly opened.
"Thank god, Buffy, we were so worried!" Willow exclaimed, running over to the door as fast as she could, Giles meeting up with her in the hallway the two of them standing there, waiting for the door to open all the way. Waiting for Buffy to walk in safe and sound, with some information about something or the other.
But that didn't happen. Nothing on Earth, or any other demon dimension for that matter, could have prepared them for what they were about to see.
In walked Xander and Anya, each of them with one of Buffy's arms draped over their shoulders. The Slayer was apparently unconscious and it looked like she had been that way for at least half an hour. "We found Buffy," Xander announced exhaustedly as he made his way a little further inside, allowing Anya to be all the way in the house as she pushed the door shut with her foot.
"Is she alive?" Willow immediately blurted out in response to the horrid sight, the panic once again present in her voice. She stopped herself, drawing in a deep breath before coming to her senses a little. Buffy was in fact breathing, which would tend to mean that she is alive.
"What happened?" Tara asked in confusion as she joined up with the rest of the Scoobies in the hallway. "Is she going to be alright?" she asked, her eyes wide with concern, one hand going up to her mouth, which was wide open in shock.
Xander sighed, turning to face Anya. "Help me get her to the couch," he commanded her gently. His girlfriend nodded as the two of them slowly made their way over to the soft- cushioned couch. With Giles's help, they lowered Buffy carefully onto the couch without waking her up.
"W-what happened?" Tara repeated slowly, moving into the living room, Willow right behind her. She stood uncomfortable in the doorway of the room, nervously shifting her weight back and forth, not knowing exactly what she should be saying or doing at a time like this.
Xander shrugged as he slouched down on one of the chairs. "I don't know. We were driving home after closing up the Magic Box and decided to stop by. We found her lying on the sidewalk about three houses down from here."
Willow's green eyes were wide. "Wow," she stated in anxiety, looking down at her unconscious best friend. She sighed, trying to think of what they should do. She bent over, picking Buffy's head up a little. "She hit her head," the witch stated, looking up at all the Scoobies concerned and worried faces.
Dawn tiptoed down the stairs, moving as quietly as a cat would while sneaking up on a mouse, avoiding being seen until the moment when it makes its move. The stair creaked beneath her weight, and she stopped sudden, her face growing white with fear as she though for sure someone had heard that noise. When no one was replying, she continued down the stairs, successfully, since no one had noticed her presence there yet.
"What are you doing up this late?" Giles called into the hallway. He knew that he wasn't Dawn's legal guardian, that was Buffy. But Dawn shouldn't be up at this hour, especially on a school night. "You're supposed to be in bed." He sighed, turning to the Key, waiting for an answer.
Dawn sighed, walking into the living room, standing in the doorway to the left of Tara. "I was in bed," she stated bluntly. She glared at all the Scoobies around the room. "But some one woke me up," she stated angrily. Her frowns turned to a smile a second later. "And since I'm up, I might as well stay up!" she announced happily, walking over and sitting down by Willow's feet as the witch continued examining Buffy, making sure that there was no other serious injuries on her body.
Giles shook his head. "I don't think so," he told the fourteen- year- old girl honestly. He pointed at the stairs. "Go back to bed," he commanded gently.
Dawn made a face, but did stand up. She frowned, her eyes landing on her unconscious older sister on the couch. "What's wrong with her?" she asked, sounding a little worried. She had already lost her mother about a month ago. She didn't need to loose her sister as well.
Willow sighed, placing a small zip lock bag with a few ice cubes in it under Buffy's head. She didn't know if the Slayer actually was in pain, but she figured it couldn't hurt anything. She sighed, resting Buffy's head down on top of the ice as Anya put a red, wool blanket on top of Buffy, covering almost all of Buffy's petite body with it.
Willow sighed, turning to Dawn. "We don't know what happened," she told the young girl honestly. She sighed, taking in a deep breath. "Xander and Anya found her like that," she added, in case the young girl might find the information useful.
Dawn frowned, turning her gaze over at the Xander, now with Anya resting in his lap, the look on her face hinting that she was tired. Dawn wasn't stupid though; she figured it was just the crazy ex-demon's way of telling Xander that she was horny and wanted to go have sex. Dawn rolled her eyes at the thought before turning over to Xander. "What happened?" she demanded.
Xander sighed. "I only know what you know Dawnie," he told her honestly. He wanted desperately to console the girl, tell her that things would be alright, but then that would be lying. He didn't want to lie to Dawn. The best thing for him to do would be to just keep his mouth shut and hope that Giles could get Dawn up to bed.
Anya yawned, shaking her head as she forced herself to stay awake for a few more minutes. She didn't know if she could do it, but she would try. "She probably just ran into Glory again. She's not powerful enough to take her out yet," Anya suggested, her eyes growing heavier with each second. The more she forced herself to keep them open, the heavier they would get. Finally, Anya gave up, her head resting against Xander's soft shoulder, soft sighs in her sleep escaping her mouth.
"See there?" Giles began, gesturing at Anya with his left hand. "That is what you should be doing," he informed Dawn. "Buffy will be fine in the morning, ok. Now get some sleep."
Dawn sighed reluctantly. "Fine," she grumbled, heading up the stairs, stomping as she hit each one of them.
Xander sighed, looking down at his sleeping girlfriend. "Ok," he said, standing up carefully, as to keep her from waking up. He carefully moved her so that she was in his arms. "This would be my cue to go home and get some sleep," he whispered, motioning for Willow to get the door for him. He turned, looking around the room at Giles, Tara, and Willow. "Good luck with research on the bad guys. See ya tomorrow," he told them, heading out the door, slowly and carefully as to not wake Anya up.
Willow sighed, looking over at Tara, various demon books spread out in front of them. Giles had told them not to bother looking for the demon, since he didn't even know if there was a demon to be looking for. But he had also told the witches to stay with Buffy and Dawn for the night to see what - if anything- was wrong with Buffy.
Tara sighed, closing one of the demon books shut. She had been in charge of looking up demons who might want to come to Sunnydale to have a big Hellmouth party. Which pretty much meant any demon possible, with the possible exception of Gachnar, since he was kind of little to do anything. "Willow?" she called, getting her girlfriend's attention.
"Yea?" Willow asked, looking over at Tara again. "You feeling tired?" she asked, moving a little closer to Tara, wrapping her slender arm around her girlfriend's body in a comforting gesture.
Tara shook her head. "No, no, not at all," she exclaimed. "It's just, are we even sure if it's a demon we're looking for? 'Cause I mean, this could be anything. Demon, vampire, minion thing of Glory's, the l- list goes on and on."
Willow nodded understandingly. "You're right," she said, kissing Tara's forehead. The two of them smiled happily at eachother for a second before turning back to research.
Willow sighed, walking over to the couch, over to Buffy. She sighed again, moving the blanket so it wasn't covering Buffy's head. She gasped, looking at the couch at what she saw, rubbing her eyes twice to make sure that what she was seeing was real.
A young girl was there on the couch, lying there peacefully as she continued on in her slumber, visions of sugar plums probably dancing through her mind. Long, golden blonde curls flowed down her back gracefully before they were joined together in a huge knot a little above her waist. The clothes she had on vaguely resembled a younger child's version of the outfit Buffy had been sporting earlier consisting of a gray sweatshirt and a pair of light blue jeans
The girl's eyes opened slowly, revealing their color to be hazel. She smiled widely, looking up at Willow, admiring the witch's red hair in wonder and awe. "Can we trade hairs?" she asked excitedly as she tried to imagine what she would look like with red hair. She giggled at the thought before once again looking up at Willow. "What's your name?" she asked.
Willow smiled, looking down at the girl, shocked at how cute she was while at the same time wondering who she was. If it was in any way possible for her to be Buffy. She hadn't remembered the pictures Buffy had shown her from when she had been growing up, which would probably be of use right about then. "I'm Willow," she introduced as she extended her right hand out for the girl she presumed to be Buffy to shake.
The girl laughed, cutting Willow off. "That's a funny name!" she said as she launched into a fit of laughter like little children tend to do.
Willow frowned, a little hurt, but she tried to keep it from getting to her. "That's not very nice," she informed the girl.
The youngster shrugged. "Sorry," she apologized, though from the way she said it, Willow was guessing that she didn't really mean it. She giggled again, leaping up from the couch as she began jumping up and down happily.
Willow shrugged it off. "And that's Tara," she said, pointing over at Tara, who smiled and waved at the girl, giving a quick "Hello". Willow sighed, looking back at the girl, groaning as she tried to stop her from jumping, but failing. "What's your name?" she asked curiously.
The girl smiled, stopping for a second so she could catch her breath. "My name's Buffy!" she announced before going back to her jumping.
Willow frowned. "Oh crap," she muttered under her breath.
Prologue
Buffy Summers sighed, walking through Restfield Cemetery, stake clutched tightly in her right hand, ready for any vampire or demon to come up from behind her. Ready for the action that would come along with fighting of evil fiends night after night. Normally, doing things like this would calm her down some, help her blow off extra steam in her that had been building up all day. But not this night.
This night there were quiet, a little too quiet for Sunnydale, California. So quiet that it was bordering on scary. And not the 'Something's Out To Get Me' type of scary. That was something that Buffy had gotten used to during her five and half years or so of being a Vampire Slayer. This was different.
She didn't know why it was different. She would have thought there would be more chaos. It was getting closer to springtime and that usually was when Sunnydale held its annual end of the world party, usually inviting powerful vampires or big, evil demons, or even the occasional robot thing or whatever Adam had been. It didn't exactly matter, all of the evil things have been stopped, due to her. She had gotten used to stopping it, it was part of her job.
But then again 'job' wouldn't exactly be the term to describe it. The word 'job' tends to imply that one gets paid for the work one does, which, sadly, in Buffy's case is far from true. The more appropriate term she would have to say would be 'calling', 'destiny', or 'fate'. Something along those lines, since she could never get out of it unless she died, which probably would not be the best thing to do, since that would leave all slaying to Faith. And Faith is still in jail and will be there for another couple of years.
She sighed, wondering how on Earth she could stop Glory, the hell goddess that had been stirring up trouble for a couple months now. She didn't have any ideas and the fact that every time she and Glory had faced eachother Glory had always won didn't help boost Buffy's self confidence. All the ways she knew to fight evil she had tried on Glory, but obviously none of them were working. The only thing she hadn't tried was blowing Glory up, but she guessed that Glory was too slick for something like that to happen.
The Scoobies were back at the Magic Box, presumably, finding out more information. That was the way things had been when Buffy had left them. She guessed that Giles was still sitting down on the stool in front of the cash register with some huge, ancient demon text or prophecy thing in front of him as he read on, wiping his glasses every now and then, an occasional 'Oh, dear Lord' slipping out of his mouth. Tara and Willow were probably sitting at the table, spell books open in front of them as they quickly leafed through them, looking for a spell that might weaken Glory or something. And Xander and Anya were probably there as well, Anya counting the money she and Giles had made once more while Xander jokes around with Dawn, opting to watch her instead of doing any research whatsoever.
Buffy sighed again, getting ready to call it a night. She had already been out for nearly an hour and had seen no demons and no vampires. It was just that eerie silence following her throughout the night. The only sound she could hear at all being the snapping sound of a stick here and there as she continued her way through the cemetery.
She stopped suddenly as she heard something, coming up from behind her. The sound of heavy boots hitting little sticks and the occasional leaf on the ground was only drawing closer to her. Once again ready for action, Buffy turned around quickly to face her attacker, her stake held out in front of her as though inviting whatever it was to come to its quick but painful death.
Or not.
"Gah!" she called out in a startled tone of voice as she glared at the blonde vampire in front of her. "Spike, what are you doing here?" she asked irritably, putting her stake back in the pocket of her leather coat. Not really caring about the answer, she turned around on the heal of her shoe as she began walking back towards the entrance of the cemetery, knowing it wouldn't be too long until she made her way to the street, ready to go home.
Spike shrugged as he ran a little bit to catch up with the Slayer. "Passing by," he told her, though he didn't exactly think it was her business. "Saw you and figured you could use a little bit of help, since I don't see the wicked witches around," he lied as he gestured around the cemetery at the lack of people there, only tombstones. "And certainly not the Enormous Hall Monitor," he added. He stopped, tilting his head up slightly as he thought about something for a second. "Oh yea, he's run off," he added as though he had just recalled the fact, just to make Buffy mad.
Buffy raised a thin eyebrow at him, her arms folded across her chest. "Really?" she asked doubtfully as she once again began walking away. It was getting late and if the Scooby Gang was doing as much research as she hoped they were doing, then they wouldn't notice that it was time for them to get Dawn home, since being a Monday, it was a school night and Dawn did have to go.
"The reception on the bloody telly isn't comin' in right," Spike finally admitted with a sigh as he ran, jumping in front of Buffy, preventing her from going any further.
"Ahh, so that's all then," Buffy said. "Whatever." She sighed as she tried to make her way past Spike, pushing him and shoving him, but nothing she could do was working on him. "What do you want?" she asked impatiently.
Spike tossed his arms out in front of him with a small groaning noise, moving out of the way. Could he admit that what he really wanted was for her to come home with him and make him happy? No. And since that was the only thing on his mind, he realized that there was nothing else for him to do. He knew that Buffy knew his feelings for her, and was just choosing to ignore them, but what could he do about it. Nothing. "Nothing," he said, turning around, heading the opposite way, going back to his crypt.
Buffy sighed, rolling her eyes as she continued making her way home. She smiled, turning onto Revello Drive, knowing that she was almost home. She had forgotten about the Magic Box, but figured that one of the Scoobies, probably Anya since she would want to get home to have sex with Xander, would notice that it was late, causing Giles to close up the Magic Box for the night and drive Dawn home. From there Willow, Tara, or Giles would stay with the youngest Summers girl until Buffy returned from her patrol. Buffy's thoughts were interrupted as a sharp pain erupted from the back of her head, like no other kind of physical pain she had felt before.
A little tiny noise of pain escaped from Buffy's mouth as the pain grew worse. She looked around the street, behind her and in front, searching for someone who could have hit her with something.
She frowned, seeing no one in sight. Thanking everything she had that Spike was not there to see her like this, Buffy fainted, her head hitting the concrete sidewalk hard.
Willow Rosenberg looked out the window expectantly for the millionth time that evening. "Where is she?" Willow asked, turning to Tara Maclay and Rupert Giles for an answer. The worried look had been on her face since ten thirty that night. "I'm really worried about her."
Tara placed her hand on Willow's arm comfortingly. "She'll be ok, Willow," Tara assured her girlfriend. "I promise," she added.
"I hope so," Willow said, turning over to look at Giles. "What's taking her so long? She never used to take this long? We should be out there looking for her." As Willow was talking, the panic in her voice was escalating to a point where Willow was near hyperventilating.
"Breathe!" Giles commanded the young witch, walking over to her and placing his hand on her shoulder. "I assure you that Buffy will be just fine, but if you don't start breathing, then you will not be as fine."
Willow nodded slowly, taking a deep breath to calm herself. She sighed, looking up at Giles. "Is that a promise?" she asked, the fear for her friend's safety still lingering in her voice.
Giles nodded confidently. "I promise," he told her. "Buffy will come home and she will be all right," he assured the redheaded girl. He sighed, walking out to the kitchen to make himself a cup of tea. "Anyone want anything?" he called into the living room.
There was a general chorus of "No, thank you"s coming from the room, started by Willow and followed shortly after by Tara. Giles sighed and began heating up the water on Buffy's stove.
Willow sighed as she began pacing back and forth in the room. "Where is she?" she asked for the thousandth time that hour. She hadn't been asking anyone in particular, but both Tara and Giles had been rushing to assure her that Buffy would be fine. She was the Slayer and could take care of herself in a fight. Before Tara could answer her, the front door handle began to turn and the door slowly opened.
"Thank god, Buffy, we were so worried!" Willow exclaimed, running over to the door as fast as she could, Giles meeting up with her in the hallway the two of them standing there, waiting for the door to open all the way. Waiting for Buffy to walk in safe and sound, with some information about something or the other.
But that didn't happen. Nothing on Earth, or any other demon dimension for that matter, could have prepared them for what they were about to see.
In walked Xander and Anya, each of them with one of Buffy's arms draped over their shoulders. The Slayer was apparently unconscious and it looked like she had been that way for at least half an hour. "We found Buffy," Xander announced exhaustedly as he made his way a little further inside, allowing Anya to be all the way in the house as she pushed the door shut with her foot.
"Is she alive?" Willow immediately blurted out in response to the horrid sight, the panic once again present in her voice. She stopped herself, drawing in a deep breath before coming to her senses a little. Buffy was in fact breathing, which would tend to mean that she is alive.
"What happened?" Tara asked in confusion as she joined up with the rest of the Scoobies in the hallway. "Is she going to be alright?" she asked, her eyes wide with concern, one hand going up to her mouth, which was wide open in shock.
Xander sighed, turning to face Anya. "Help me get her to the couch," he commanded her gently. His girlfriend nodded as the two of them slowly made their way over to the soft- cushioned couch. With Giles's help, they lowered Buffy carefully onto the couch without waking her up.
"W-what happened?" Tara repeated slowly, moving into the living room, Willow right behind her. She stood uncomfortable in the doorway of the room, nervously shifting her weight back and forth, not knowing exactly what she should be saying or doing at a time like this.
Xander shrugged as he slouched down on one of the chairs. "I don't know. We were driving home after closing up the Magic Box and decided to stop by. We found her lying on the sidewalk about three houses down from here."
Willow's green eyes were wide. "Wow," she stated in anxiety, looking down at her unconscious best friend. She sighed, trying to think of what they should do. She bent over, picking Buffy's head up a little. "She hit her head," the witch stated, looking up at all the Scoobies concerned and worried faces.
Dawn tiptoed down the stairs, moving as quietly as a cat would while sneaking up on a mouse, avoiding being seen until the moment when it makes its move. The stair creaked beneath her weight, and she stopped sudden, her face growing white with fear as she though for sure someone had heard that noise. When no one was replying, she continued down the stairs, successfully, since no one had noticed her presence there yet.
"What are you doing up this late?" Giles called into the hallway. He knew that he wasn't Dawn's legal guardian, that was Buffy. But Dawn shouldn't be up at this hour, especially on a school night. "You're supposed to be in bed." He sighed, turning to the Key, waiting for an answer.
Dawn sighed, walking into the living room, standing in the doorway to the left of Tara. "I was in bed," she stated bluntly. She glared at all the Scoobies around the room. "But some one woke me up," she stated angrily. Her frowns turned to a smile a second later. "And since I'm up, I might as well stay up!" she announced happily, walking over and sitting down by Willow's feet as the witch continued examining Buffy, making sure that there was no other serious injuries on her body.
Giles shook his head. "I don't think so," he told the fourteen- year- old girl honestly. He pointed at the stairs. "Go back to bed," he commanded gently.
Dawn made a face, but did stand up. She frowned, her eyes landing on her unconscious older sister on the couch. "What's wrong with her?" she asked, sounding a little worried. She had already lost her mother about a month ago. She didn't need to loose her sister as well.
Willow sighed, placing a small zip lock bag with a few ice cubes in it under Buffy's head. She didn't know if the Slayer actually was in pain, but she figured it couldn't hurt anything. She sighed, resting Buffy's head down on top of the ice as Anya put a red, wool blanket on top of Buffy, covering almost all of Buffy's petite body with it.
Willow sighed, turning to Dawn. "We don't know what happened," she told the young girl honestly. She sighed, taking in a deep breath. "Xander and Anya found her like that," she added, in case the young girl might find the information useful.
Dawn frowned, turning her gaze over at the Xander, now with Anya resting in his lap, the look on her face hinting that she was tired. Dawn wasn't stupid though; she figured it was just the crazy ex-demon's way of telling Xander that she was horny and wanted to go have sex. Dawn rolled her eyes at the thought before turning over to Xander. "What happened?" she demanded.
Xander sighed. "I only know what you know Dawnie," he told her honestly. He wanted desperately to console the girl, tell her that things would be alright, but then that would be lying. He didn't want to lie to Dawn. The best thing for him to do would be to just keep his mouth shut and hope that Giles could get Dawn up to bed.
Anya yawned, shaking her head as she forced herself to stay awake for a few more minutes. She didn't know if she could do it, but she would try. "She probably just ran into Glory again. She's not powerful enough to take her out yet," Anya suggested, her eyes growing heavier with each second. The more she forced herself to keep them open, the heavier they would get. Finally, Anya gave up, her head resting against Xander's soft shoulder, soft sighs in her sleep escaping her mouth.
"See there?" Giles began, gesturing at Anya with his left hand. "That is what you should be doing," he informed Dawn. "Buffy will be fine in the morning, ok. Now get some sleep."
Dawn sighed reluctantly. "Fine," she grumbled, heading up the stairs, stomping as she hit each one of them.
Xander sighed, looking down at his sleeping girlfriend. "Ok," he said, standing up carefully, as to keep her from waking up. He carefully moved her so that she was in his arms. "This would be my cue to go home and get some sleep," he whispered, motioning for Willow to get the door for him. He turned, looking around the room at Giles, Tara, and Willow. "Good luck with research on the bad guys. See ya tomorrow," he told them, heading out the door, slowly and carefully as to not wake Anya up.
Willow sighed, looking over at Tara, various demon books spread out in front of them. Giles had told them not to bother looking for the demon, since he didn't even know if there was a demon to be looking for. But he had also told the witches to stay with Buffy and Dawn for the night to see what - if anything- was wrong with Buffy.
Tara sighed, closing one of the demon books shut. She had been in charge of looking up demons who might want to come to Sunnydale to have a big Hellmouth party. Which pretty much meant any demon possible, with the possible exception of Gachnar, since he was kind of little to do anything. "Willow?" she called, getting her girlfriend's attention.
"Yea?" Willow asked, looking over at Tara again. "You feeling tired?" she asked, moving a little closer to Tara, wrapping her slender arm around her girlfriend's body in a comforting gesture.
Tara shook her head. "No, no, not at all," she exclaimed. "It's just, are we even sure if it's a demon we're looking for? 'Cause I mean, this could be anything. Demon, vampire, minion thing of Glory's, the l- list goes on and on."
Willow nodded understandingly. "You're right," she said, kissing Tara's forehead. The two of them smiled happily at eachother for a second before turning back to research.
Willow sighed, walking over to the couch, over to Buffy. She sighed again, moving the blanket so it wasn't covering Buffy's head. She gasped, looking at the couch at what she saw, rubbing her eyes twice to make sure that what she was seeing was real.
A young girl was there on the couch, lying there peacefully as she continued on in her slumber, visions of sugar plums probably dancing through her mind. Long, golden blonde curls flowed down her back gracefully before they were joined together in a huge knot a little above her waist. The clothes she had on vaguely resembled a younger child's version of the outfit Buffy had been sporting earlier consisting of a gray sweatshirt and a pair of light blue jeans
The girl's eyes opened slowly, revealing their color to be hazel. She smiled widely, looking up at Willow, admiring the witch's red hair in wonder and awe. "Can we trade hairs?" she asked excitedly as she tried to imagine what she would look like with red hair. She giggled at the thought before once again looking up at Willow. "What's your name?" she asked.
Willow smiled, looking down at the girl, shocked at how cute she was while at the same time wondering who she was. If it was in any way possible for her to be Buffy. She hadn't remembered the pictures Buffy had shown her from when she had been growing up, which would probably be of use right about then. "I'm Willow," she introduced as she extended her right hand out for the girl she presumed to be Buffy to shake.
The girl laughed, cutting Willow off. "That's a funny name!" she said as she launched into a fit of laughter like little children tend to do.
Willow frowned, a little hurt, but she tried to keep it from getting to her. "That's not very nice," she informed the girl.
The youngster shrugged. "Sorry," she apologized, though from the way she said it, Willow was guessing that she didn't really mean it. She giggled again, leaping up from the couch as she began jumping up and down happily.
Willow shrugged it off. "And that's Tara," she said, pointing over at Tara, who smiled and waved at the girl, giving a quick "Hello". Willow sighed, looking back at the girl, groaning as she tried to stop her from jumping, but failing. "What's your name?" she asked curiously.
The girl smiled, stopping for a second so she could catch her breath. "My name's Buffy!" she announced before going back to her jumping.
Willow frowned. "Oh crap," she muttered under her breath.