ACT 1
CONTINUE SCENE.
Dawnie, are you all right?
Dawn rushes up to them and puts her arms tightly around both of them, still shaking.
What's wrong, Honey?
I had this strange nightmare! At least I think it was a nightmare....
Joyce and Hank both kiss her on the forehead.
Sweetheart, you're shaking like a leaf! I haven't seen you like this since you were a little girl. Since right after Buffy first went in the hospital!
That's what it was about! I can't explain it.... I'm not sure if it was a nightmare, or something more real... or even if it's over....
Can I sleep with you guys the rest of the night?
Sure, Dawnie.
INT THE MASTER BEDROOM. The three of them get into the king-sized bed, Dawn between her parents.
I know it's silly. I know I'm almost seventeen....
Joyce and Hank laugh softly.
It's okay, Dawnie. You're still our baby! Until you're married and have your own kids, you'll never be too old to sleep with us... once in a while.
The three of them pull up the covers and snuggle up.
Right now, a part of me feels like I'm only three years old....
She closes her eyes. She starts to calm down and relax, but not completely.
INT XANDER'S AND WILLOW'S APARTMENT-- MORNING. The two of them sit at the dining table, eating breakfast in a rather subdued mood. It's obvious that they haven't slept much.
It can happen. Mental health workers can become so involved with their patients that they get drawn into their delusions. Can't they?
Yeah. Especially when we're stressed out ourselves. From finals this semester.
Yeah, that's it. Remember, lack of sleep can cause temporary psychosis. Maybe we should have taken a break. We can still do that.
That's it. Sleep deprivation. All that lack of sleep studying for finals and writing theses drew us into Buffy's delusions about the three of us fighting vampires and demons together.
Except that Buffy didn't know us before high school. So how come our delusions include both of us having all these same memories of going to Petrie Avenue Elementary and Sunnydale Junior High?
Sleep deprivation caused us to embellish Buffy's delusions.
Right! Wrong! Different brains!
That's what I said to Tara after the spirit took Buffy's form and attacked us the morning after we resurrected her!
Oh, God! Tara? Resurrection?
Both of them are clearly losing it.
Oh, God! Now I know how Dawn felt when she learned she was the Key!
Xander!!!
EXT THE SUMMERS HOME-- MORNING. Dawn, Joyce and Hank walk out onto the driveway. Hank kisses Joyce and Dawn, then gets in his coupe, then Joyce and Dawn get into the Jeep. Dawn is slightly stooped over with glazed, baggy eyes; she too has had a sleepless night.
INT THE JEEP as Joyce pulls out of the driveway. Dawn yawns wearily.
Dawn, are you sure you don't want to stay home? I don't mind writing you an excuse slip.
I want to go, Mom. I want to keep my life as normal as possible.
But is it all right if I stop by the hospital and visit Buffy after school?
Oh, Sweetheart, you know you never have to ask permission to see Buffy. She needs us as much as ever, and she's lucky to have a sister who cares about her as much as you do! I'm proud of you!
I don't know about her, but I hope it'll do me some good.
INT A SMALL PRIVATE ROOM IN A MENTAL HOSPITAL-- DAY. Buffy sits on the bed in a hospital gown, her hair plainly combed with no makeup. Willow and Xander sit facing her.
(Note: This does not necessarily have to be the same set as the asylum in "Normal Again". In fact, it should have a much less institutional and more homelike atmosphere: bigger windows and more sunlight, paintings and decorations on the walls.)
It could be a girl. A Potential trying to get to us.
I'm going in anyway.
Everything she says makes more sense now. Even stuff she said before today that I can remember makes more sense now.
This sounds so familiar.
Then it's time we test 'em. We'll just take the ones who've been here the longest. The rest can stay here.
I know. That's why I want you to stay with them. You're my most powerful weapon, Will. You can keep these girls safe if something happens.
ANOTHER ANGLE shows Dawn standing in the doorway and listening in. As Buffy's monologue continues, Dawn's eyes open wide in disbelief.
He won't be expecting a full attack. Not this soon. That's why we have to move.
It's not just that it makes more sense! We've heard her say this before! Willow, what's today's date?
Friday, May 9th.
That's when she said it! I mean, that's when she said it in the other--
I know what you mean! In our other set of memories.
Oh, God! Friday, May 9th! How could I forget? That was the night that sonofabitch Caleb gouged my eye out!
He closes his right eye tightly and scans around the full field of view with his left, then sighs with relief.
Oh, thank God!
Giles, we don't have time. And you're not going into battle. I need you to stay behind with the others.... Help the girls who still need a teacher.
Xander, I think we should talk to Gi-- I mean Dr. Whedon about this.
Will, just because in Buffy's world, Dr. Whedon's her-- He'd have us committed here as patients!
Xander, I'm not crazy enough to start treating him like the guy in our dreams, but I think he needs to know about--
Oh, hi, Dawnie!
Willow! You haven't called me "Dawnie" since...
You've never called me "Dawnie" before... Or you call me that all the time....
She steps out of view.
Dawn?
INT THE HOSPITAL HALLWAY. The camera leads Dawn as she staggers along away from Buffy's room in absolute anguish and confusion, occasionally placing a hand against the wall to steady herself. In the receding background we see Willow and Xander step out of Buffy's room and stare at her.
I'm not crazy! I'm not crazy! This isn't really happening!
CLOSE ON WILLOW AND XANDER
This isn't real!
I'm not crazy! I just need some sleep!
ON DAWN as she walks up to a door marked:
Dawn opens the door. The camera follows her into an outer office waiting room. Thru the open door to the inner office, we see Giles sitting at a desk, peering intently at a patient's chart. He looks the same as usual except for a white lab coat over his normal clothes. He looks up at Dawn, a thin smile coming to his face.
Excuse me, Dr. Whedon?
Yes, Dawn?
Do you have a few minutes? Could I speak to you about my sister?
Sure, I'd be glad to. I was about to start my afternoon rounds, but they can wait. In fact, I was just reviewing your sister's records.
INT THE INNER OFFICE. Dawn steps inside.
Close the door and have a seat.
Dawn does so, sitting in a large couch.
Dr. Whedon, I know you barely know me, I know you haven't talked to me much about Buffy, always talked to my parents about her....
I've watched you grow up, Dawn. I've known you as long as I've known your sister.
Dr. Whedon, is Buffy's sickness genetic?
I see. You're afraid you might become like her.
Dawn nods her head slightly.
Most illnesses like Buffy's could have some sort of genetic predisposition, but it's never a predetermination. And your parents are almost certain that no one else in your family history has had anything like this, so I would put the likelihood of predisposition as rather low. I believe in Buffy's case, her illness was triggered by the emotional trauma of the attack that she'd experienced just before your parents brought her here. In order to cope with nearly being raped, she developed this fantasy that she'd been attacked by a vampire. And this fantasy world where she kills vampires and demons is her means of fighting back at her attacker. Have you heard of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder?
That's what some soldiers get after they've been in a war too long?
Yes. Or anyone with a severe emotional trauma. I believe your sister has an extreme case of PTSD rather than a true schizophrenia which is organically or genetically based. So unless you experience some kind of extreme trauma, your developing an illness like Buffy's is highly unlikely.
But I haven't experienced any trauma....
And you're experiencing some symptoms?
Dr. Whedon, promise me you won't tell my parents... and that you won't lock me up here if I tell you.
I'm only obliged to keep you here against your will if you present a danger to your self or others. And I'm only obliged to tell your parents anything under those same circumstances. In your sister's case, she's not a danger other than in the fact that she can't care for herself.
What's your name, what's your birthdate, where are you and what's today's date?
I'm Dawn Summers. I was born on October 11th, 1986. I'm in a mental hospital in Los Angeles visiting my older sister, Buffy, and it's May 9th, 2003.
That's a good start. Now, tell me what's going on.
I'm not sure exactly. It's not like I'm having my own hallucinations, it's like I've experienced Buffy's!
Go on.
He gets up from behind the desk and sits beside Dawn on the couch.
I woke up in the middle of the night last night, and it was like I had a nightmare, except that I couldn't tell which part was real and which part was the dream. It's like I lived through two separate pasts at the same time, starting from when Buffy first came here.
In one past, it's what I've known all along. Buffy's been here the whole time and I grew up here in LA with my Mom and Dad. I know that that's what my life has been the last seven years. But in the other past, it's like Buffy's hallucinations: she came home and then Mom caught Dad cheating with his secretary and they split up. Then we moved up the coast to the town of Sunnydale. And then after a couple of years Mom and I discovered that Buffy was really the Vampire Slayer and that Sunnydale was the Hellmouth where vampires and demons gathered. And then Mom died and Buffy and her friends became my guardians. And Dr. Whedon, you were...
Yes, Buffy has incorporated me into her reality.
So you went to bed last night with one set of memories and woke up in the middle of the night with two.
And if Mom and Dad hadn't been right there, I don't think I'd know that the other stuff hadn't just been a dream. I'm still not sure, even though I'm sitting right here and Buffy's in the room down the hall!
In other words, Dawn, you know intellectually that you've been here in LA the last seven years, but you can't understand why the realism of that dream won't go away.
I'm scared, Dr. Whedon! It's like I can't tell what's real and what's a dream! I haven't been this scared or confused about my own existence and reality since...
Since you and Spike snuck into the Magic Box that night, and read my notes about how the monks of the Order of Dagon turned you from an interdimensional key into the Slayer's sister!
Exactly!
Giles?
Yes, Dawn, it is I! Your sister's former Watcher!
Dawn shrinks back away from Giles, whimpering again.
Oh, God! I'm hallucinating again!
It's all right, Dawn!
After a thoughtful pause, he pushes Dawn's hair away from her face the way Buffy usually does to comfort her. Dawn smiles.
We hear SOFT BUT ANXIOUS MURMURING from the outer office.
ANOTHER ANGLE as Giles gets up, steps to the door and opens it. We see Willow and Xander anxiously standing in the outer office.
Come on in, you two! I've been expecting you!
Willow and Xander enter and close the door behind them.
Dr. Whedon, something very strange has been happening to me and Willow....
Have you ever heard of a case where mental health workers became so emotionally attached to a patient that they actually started experiencing the same hallucinations and delusions as the patient?
You guys, too? Buffy's hallucinations?
Dawnie, it's like we know you a lot better than we should! More than just a patient's kid sister who comes in to visit once a week or so!
Like we've been living in the same house?
Willow, Xander and Dawn ad lib simultaneous outbursts of shock, confusion and excitement.
Everyone! Calm down!
They silence.
You three are not crazy!
Either that or all four of us are bloody bonkers! And as Dr. R. Giles Whedon, Psychiatrist, I can't discount that as just a remote possibility.
But as Rupert Giles, former Watcher to Buffy Summers the Slayer, and mentor to the Sunnydale Scooby Gang, I am glad to see the three of you being your old selves!
Giles!!!
They grab Giles into a group hug. He smiles self-consciously.
Now, let's sort out what's going on! Dawn, you said your dual sets of parallel memories started last night.
Around midnight.
How about you two?
Around the same time. For both of us.
I came in a couple of days ago.
Giles, what's happened to us?
I've got a theory.
We're all dead!
The others gasp and look at him in alarm.
That may not be a bad thing. I think we may have all died and gone to Heaven!
Xander! That's exactly what you said when it happened!
Figure of speech!
No, come to think of it, I meant it!
He and Willow grin at each other as Giles and Dawn look curiously at them.
Right, then. I want all of you to sit down and think hard about our existence in the other universe, and answer this question as honestly as you can: If, in that universe, you died and went to Heaven, what would that Heaven be for you?
Willow and Xander join Dawn on the couch. A long moment of deep, pensive silence for all.
For me, that's easy!
To be in a romantic relationship with you, Willow!
Willow smiles and blinks mistily. She remains in deep thought.
I guess for me, it would be for Mom to be alive again, and for her and Dad to still be together and take care of me.
Which is exactly what I woke up to!
How about you, Giles? What's your idea of Heaven?
Well, when I arrived in this universe, I was having a quiet evening alone with Mrs. Whedon, the former Miss Jenny Calendar!
Jenny's alive?!? I mean I knew that you as Dr. Whedon were married, but we never met her so I had no idea!...
Yes, I met her at a Mensa convention here in LA six years ago. We've been married four years now, and as of this morning, I saw no sign of recollection in her of our other existence. Dawn, I presume it's the same for your mother?
Dawn nods.
I suspect it may have something to do with both of them having died in the other universe before the apocalypse at the Hellmouth. Or that they're both part of our heavenly visions. I just don't know at this point.
At any rate, for the rest of my idea of Heaven, I had always wanted to be a fighter pilot when I was younger, but after a lifetime of being a Watcher and fighting demons, I wanted all my fighting to be behind me.
He points to the wall above the others.
INSERT CLOSE SHOT of a framed photo of a young Giles sitting in the cockpit of a Harrier fighter plane.
So in this universe, I have complete memories of having attended flight school and flown Harriers in the Royal Navy before coming here to America and going to Harvard Medical School. I actually scored two kills against Argentinean fighters in the Falklands War.
All right, Giles!
Yes, quite.
How about you, Willow? What would your idea of Heaven be?
Well, I would have thought that it would be being with Tara again.
So maybe I haven't atoned enough for being evil, and for killing Warren and Rack, and for nearly destroying the world.
She pauses and looks into Xander's eyes and smiles with her eyes brimming.
Or maybe deep down inside, what I really wanted was to be in a romantic relationship with the person who loved me the most in the whole world. The one person who loved me unconditionally. Tara and I had a wonderful experience together, but she didn't love me unconditionally. Xander, you proved to me that you did, at Proserpexa's Temple!
She rests her head on his shoulder, letting her tears flow onto his shirt, as he puts his arms around her and kisses her. Dawn watches with her own eyes misting.
Yes. Well, to quote a couple of my fellow Englishmen, "You can't always get what you want... but you get what you need!"
So, Giles. You really think we've died and gone to a heavenly dimension?
It depends on one's perspective, of course. It's all relative. With regard to our previous existence, yes. Now, whether or not this is an eternal life, I rather tend to doubt it.
It does seem like dirty, smoggy old LA to me.
In this existence, people still seem to get old and die, as I suspect the four of us will, eventually. Perhaps we'll go on from here to a true Heaven.
Maybe our defeating The First and sealing the Hellmouth altered our old universe into this one. Caused Sunnydale to cease to exist and all its inhabitants to live the life they would have if it never had.
It could be. Again, it may be all relative, it depends on one's perspective, of course. Nevertheless, we each seem to have found a heavenly joy that we hadn't in our other lives. It does seem that the Powers That Be have sent us here to set things right, and even the balance sheet from what we went through in the other existence.
So why isn't Buffy here? I mean the old Buffy from the old world? If you talk about setting things right, Buffy of all people...
I'm hoping it's simply because she hasn't arrived yet, Dawn.
But she is here. And she's still the psychotic that she's been in this universe for the last seven years!
Yes, but Dawnie, what Willow and I were talking about when you walked in on us...
Giles, we noticed that she's been saying things today that she said on this date in the other universe.
Yes, Xander, I've noticed that, too. Remember, I've been here a couple of days already.
Oh, my God! I've been so freaked out by this experience, the fact that it's eleven days earlier than it was when the other world ended, just didn't even seem to matter that much!
Yes. We've all been moved back several days on this timeline. Myself further than the rest of you. I get the sense that I was sent ahead to make it easier for the three of you. And that you three were sent ahead of Buffy to make it easier for her. Her mind still seems to be at the same point in the timeline that she was in the other universe. So I'm just hoping that on Tuesday the 20th, she'll just snap to at the right moment and be right as rain.
You really think so?
I'm hoping. Taking it on faith and instinct. Dawn, as you pointed out, your sister has earned the right to "die and go to Heaven" more than any of us.
Now think about this: What would Buffy's concept of Heaven be?
I guess pretty much the same as mine, to be with Mom and Dad....
Yes, but also to be free of the Hellmouth, and of her calling as the Slayer. To be an ordinary 22 year old woman, living a normal life and growing old in happiness.
But definitely not an inpatient in a mental hospital like this!
Right. So I remind you all that in this universe, I call the shots on that one!
But what if she doesn't just "snap to and become right as rain"? This place could end up being Hell for her!
Oh, my God! Giles, did Buffy ever tell you about the time a demon injected her with a venom that made her hallucinate? You were back in England at the time, a little over a year ago. She hallucinated that she was in a mental hospital.
Yes. The Glarghk Guhl Kashma'nik demon.
The doctor in that hallucination had her believing that we were the hallucinations! Even me! And he talked Buffy into...
Yes, Buffy told me. The duct tape. Letting the Glarghk Guhl Kashma'nik attack you and try to kill you all.
Is there any chance that the Gargling Kalashnikov actually sent Buffy into this dimension? That this was the hallucination she thought she had?
I don't know, Xander. The thought has crossed my mind! And I can't rule that out as a possibility. We have no way of knowing for sure.
But none of us existed in that hallucination. Not even Dawn. And we're here. We've always been here in this parallel universe. At least in one incarnation.
Well, here's where the three of you might be able to help me on that. I'm trying to see if I can line things up. Oddly enough, in both universes, I was in England at the same time. As you may recall, here in this universe, Jenny and I went on sabbatical last year and my caseload was divided among the other psychiatrists. Buffy ended up with Dr. Hill.
Who is no longer with us.
And I have my suspicions as to why he resigned in such a hurry and left the country.
I think he's trying to stay a couple of steps ahead of a malpractice suit from your parents!
Malpractice?
Yes, Dawn. As I explained to you when you first came in, ever since Buffy came here, I've always held the opinion that she was not schizophrenic, but had an extreme case of PTSD. That is, long before Rupert Giles of the other world leaped in and started co-existing in this body, Giles Whedon always thought Buffy wasn't schizophrenic, and I made that bloody clear in her records.
In March of last year, Dr. Hill decided to disagree with my medical opinion and shoot Buffy full of Haldol. Which, if you're not schizophrenic to begin with, can actually cause hallucinations!
March of last year. That coincides with the Gargling Kalashnikov.
That's what I thought. Sheer coincidence? I just don't know. I was in England in both universes at the time. The three of you were with Buffy in both universes. I need you to fill in the blanks for me, if you can remember.
Actually, right around the time Dr. Hill started the Haldol, Dr. Fury had Xander and me working with patients in the other wing, so we didn't see Buffy at all at that time. After Dr. Hill resigned, Dr. Fury admitted to us that Dr. Hill thought we were becoming too familiar with Buffy and didn't like it that she had incorporated us into her delusions. Dr. Hill thought our being around her would interfere with his treatment plan. Then Buffy became completely catatonic and didn't come out of it until Dr. Fury let us see her and interact with her again.
That doesn't sound like coincidence. Dawn, what did you see from your end of it?
Dr. Hill told Mom and Dad to keep me home during the treatment. He told them he was worried that the whole thing would be too disturbing for me. So I never saw her that whole time either.
It's a little trite that Hill should do that to the three of you. He didn't keep very detailed notes, but he did mention how he wanted Buffy to erase from her mind all the people in her fantasy world that were keeping her there. But her own sister?
In the old world, Buffy said that in her hallucination, Mom and Dad told her I didn't exist.
Your parents would never do that in this or any other universe! Not even Hill could talk them into saying that.
Hey! Maybe you really didn't exist! Maybe all your memories in this universe are fake too!
Xander! That's not funny!
And maybe my memories are fake, too.... Like maybe all of our memories...
XANDER'S POV of Willow looking at him.
Still making jokes!...
FLASHBACK of scene from "Grave" with Evil Willow saying exactly the same line in the exact same tone.
ON XANDER as he turns white, his blood running cold.
Oh, God! I'm sorry, Dawnie! I'm sorry, Willow!
Gotcha! How does that feel?
Xander sighs with relief. Dawn smiles thinly but is still visibly upset. Giles brushes her hair back again.
Dawn, if it's any comfort at all, let's stipulate that the Glarghk Guhl Kashma'nik did somehow cause Buffy to cross over into this universe. Here, the Haldol could have given her any kind of hallucination, including making her think that your parents said you didn't exist.
Thanks.
But what difference does this all make anyway? Buffy's just going to come into this universe just like we did, right?
Yeah. On the 20th, Buffy's going to just zap into her body here and be her old self again, right?
We hope. But we don't know that for sure. And even if she does, I'm a bit concerned if there was actually a crossover of Buffy's consciousness last year. If that hypothesis is true, then according to her chart and what little notes Dr. Hill left, when Buffy finally did return to our old universe, she went into a catatonic state in this one for several weeks. Far longer than could be accounted for with improper medication. Her determination to return caused her mind to shut down here for that long.
And whether or not there had been an actual crossover, Buffy may likely remember the Glarghk Guhl Kashma'nik poisoning as such. And if she's convinced that she's entering a world where the three of you don't exist, that may drive her back into our old universe, where we really no longer exist. Into a void.
Which could cause her to go into a catatonic state permanently.
END ACT 1. INSERT COMMERCIAL BREAK
FEEDBACK/REVIEWS ARE INVITED!!!