Chapter 1: Dream A Little Dream
Buffy eyes snapped open in bed, her mind a jumble of images. It felt early, probably just after seven, dim morning light suffused the room. Looking out the window she groaned in annoyance, rain was streaming down the windowpane in random patterns, causing the scene of mist covered hills to blur and wobble through the glass. Shivering Buffy grabbed her robe and hopped her way into a pair of socks, pausing to think longingly of the heat of the desert. Buffy paused in middle of tumbling up her hair, trying to focus on the images of her dream but they had already fallen back out of reach, grumbling she shoved a hair stick violently through her loose bun and shuffled out into the hall. The hall was chilly, with the dim, spicy scent of cedar paneling permeating the air, Buffy stopped to trace her hand curiously over the small cat form carved into the wall and nearly tripped as she came upon the stairs. Rolling her eyes the grumpy Slayer creaked down the wooden steps sarcastically humming the tune to Hail Britannia under her breath. Stopping in the doorway to the pleasant sitting room Buffy smiled for the first time that morning, thanking the powers that Xander was an early riser. A fire was roaring merrily in the old stone fireplace, casting a delicious warmth on the room. Buffy hurried over to the hearth and stretched eager hands out to the flames basking in the warmth like a cat. Soaking up a bit more heat, Buffy turned towards the kitchen in hopes of hunting up Xander, and perhaps breakfast. Definitely breakfast. Buffy thought as her stomach let out a forceful set of growls.
"Cause I'm a woooooman w-o-m-a-nnn!" Buffy stifled a chuckle at the high nasal voice emanating from the kitchen. Andrew was obviously up. Detouring the kitchen, Buffy headed for the dining room, wincing at the coldness of the tile floor through her socks.
"Mornin Buffster." Xander chirped looking up from his paper. "How were things in the crazy Land of Nod."
Buffy smiled fondly at her friend we he sat half hidden by the morning paper. He was still the same old dependable Xander, a little more subdued, a little sadder behind the eyes, but still a rock of comfort and stability with shaggy black hair and a ready smile. The glass eye he'd gotten soon after they arrived in England helped add symmetry back to his face, though Buffy would always feel a pang of guilt when she noticed its lack of expression.
"They were kind of Slayery actually." she responded, settling down into one of the polished wood chairs with a small sigh. "How are things in the world of the grey and soggy?" She asked, gesturing to the paper with a jerk of her chin.
"Well the weather forecast calls for rain, rain, and more rain, with a slight chance of showers on Tuesday." Xander quipped. "Should be an exciting week for the brollies."
"Brollies?" Buffy asked with a quirk of her eyebrows.
"Yeah well, I'm trying to, what's the word, acculturate."
"Acculturate?"
"I think Willow used it the other day." Xander said with a sheepish grin. "So Slayery dreams eh?" Xander prodded. "Any big bad brewing on the horizon?"
"Not unless you count being drowned by this flood. "Buffy grumbled. "And that's already in motion. Though I think he did mention something about floods, or maybe it was rain?"
"He?" Xander questioned.
Buffy's eyes fell to the wood grain of the tabletop. "Spike." She said softly.
Xander shifted in his chair uncomfortably "Oh." he said awkwardly, nervously rustling his paper.
"Oh now I, I will survi--i've, hey hey hey!"
They both chuckled as the muffled chorus of the song emanated from the kitchen doorway.
"Andrew's turn to make breakfast?" Buffy queried, glad for the break in the tension. "What are we having."
Xander smiled indulgently. "I think waffles. He's decided to stick to the basics after the cantaloupe fondue attempt."
Buffy shuddered at the memory, one of Andrew's attempts at introducing some variety into their morning meals, at least that's what he'd said. The result had been somewhat cataclysmic.
"Fondue?" An anxious, sleepy voice queried from the doorway. "Is Andrew cooking?"
Buffy grinned at a tousled Willow who stood in the doorway. Her friend wore a long white nightgown paired with pink fuzzy slippers and green daisy patterned bathrobe, her growing red hair lay in rumpled waves around her shoulders.
"Yes, fondue. Blueberry. With frogs legs, and hoisin sauce." Buffy dead-panned, breaking into giggles at her friends dismayed face. "Its waffles Wills." She conceded, instantly catching the sugar dish that Willow threw at her from the side board.
"Hey!" Xander protested, "who would have to fix that if it broke. Carpenter Man, that's who!"
"Oh shush Xander she knew I'd catch it. And now I have the sugar!" Buffy grinned, dumping a few spoon fulls into her tea.
"Slayer reflexes, big deal." Willow mumbled sticking out her tongue at her friend, as she flopped into the chair next to Buffy.
"Well, looks like somebody woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning." Xander quipped. "Willow, were you biting the bed bugs again, cause I hear they don't like that."
"Bugs? There's bugs? Cause–" Willow looked up to see Xander's bemused expression and gave him a weak smile. "Oh. I just couldn't sleep. I've had a lot on my mind."
"You did the right thing with Kennedy Will." Buffy laid a comforting hand over the redhead's on the tabletop. "You know you did. She didn't understand, not what you needed her to, and you're still on good terms."
"I know," Willow gave her friend a one sided smile, "It's just hard to get used to sleeping alone again."
Buffy glanced down, "Yeah."
The clock ticked loudly on the wall as the three friends contemplated the intricacies of the tabletop.
"Woah. Depressing much?" The three glanced up startled to see a fully dressed and ridiculously chipper Dawn in the doorway. "Is Andrew cooking again?"
"Its waffles." Said an irritated voice from the kitchen doorway. "And I could hear you the whole time." An annoyed Andrew stumped into the room, radiating injured pride, the effect somewhat marred by his glaring X-men bathrobe, and the steaming platter of blueberry waffles in his hands.
"Oooh yummy!" Dawn squealed, placing an affectionate kiss on his cheek "thanks Andy."
Somewhat mollified the young man placed his burden of food on the table and traipsed back to kitchen for the bacon.
"You're looking ridiculously chipper this morning." said Buffy as Dawn kissed her cheek and moved into the chair next to Xander. The teenager was dressed in a soft blue sweater and jeans, her hair pulled back in a bouncy ponytail, her face shone with excitement.
"School today!" Dawn smiled.
Buffy quirked her eyebrows at her sister. "This is a happy thing? Who are you and what have you done to the Summer's gene pool?"
"Oh come on." Dawn said, glaring at her sister. "Like you can't say that going to a school with no monsters, demons, evil teachers, or a Hellmouth in the basement that tries to wipe us all out every other Tuesday isn't kind of exciting?" At the others bemused glances Dawn made a face, "Well okay maybe its not exactly exciting. You know what I mean right Willow? Come on, back up the academically stoked."
Willow just grinned across the table at the bouncy teen. Buffy smiled fondly at her sister.
"I'm so glad you're liking school Dawnie." She said, feeling slightly chokey at her sister's bright face.
"Uh oh. Misty Buffy Normalcy Moment." Dawn said in mock fear. "The last time you got this teary was when I was picking out my number pencils and talking about how I wouldn't have to use them for weapons." A honk sounded from outside the house, "That's Laurie, gotta go!" Dawn hastily rolled up the last bit of her waffle around a piece of bacon and bolted from her chair. "Love you, Bye, bye, bye." These said as Dawn hastily placed a kiss on the top of Xander's head and on Willow and Buffy's cheeks before careening towards the hall. "Be safe!" Buffy called after her sister,
"Mmmofumph!" A very waffley sounding reply echoed from the hall.
"And bring an umbrella!" Buff added, sighing as the front door closed with a slam in the middle of her sentence.
"They're brollies." Andrew corrected, wincing when Buffy gave him a look. "What we don't want to sound like nerdy tourists. Oh my gosh!" He yelled glancing at the clock. "I have to be at the tavern for D&D in two shakes!" Grabbing his plate the little man scurried from the room.
"So," Buffy asked hopefully once the general chuckles had subsided. "What do you guys want to do today?"
Xander leaned back in his chair and stretched. "Well I'm going into town. There's a carpentry shop there that specializes in fine wood carving, since its kinda hard for me to work on the big stuff now..." He let the rest of the statement trail off.
"Xander, you don't have to work you know." Said Buffy, feeling the familiar twinge of guilt.
He grinned sheepishly at her. "Yeah I know. But I like to keep busy. Which really goes to show how much I've lost it. See you lovely ladies later." With a slight creak he rose from his chair placing an affectionate kiss atop both the blonde head and the red on his way out.
"Will?" Buffy asked her friend hopefully.
"Sorry Buffy, I have plans with Satya and Mirly today. They're going to teach me some new ideas about protective magic, and then we're going to work on trancing. You're welcome to come." The redhead tacked on at the end, already guessing the answer.
"I think I'll stay in Will, not really my thing you know." Buffy smiled at her friend's anxious face.
"I'll stay in, watch some telly."
Willow grinned at the Spikeism. "Okay, well I better run if I'm gonna talk Xander into dropping me off on the way. Not really wanting to walk al the way across the property in this." She said with a gesture to the deluge outside the window.
"Right then, have, Fun? I guess." Buffy smiled at her freind, Willow swatted her playfully on the shoulder then gave her a quick hug and hurried from the room. Fuzzy slippers skuffing on the tile.
"Okay," Buffy murmured to the empty room, "let's get this party started."
Two hours later the Slayer had finished the breakfast dishes, and a workout of stretches in front of the fire, in lieu of her morning run which was not a possibility in the current weather. She added a few push ups and sit ups for good measure, Slaying might be down to a bare minimum but she saw that as no reason to let herself get soft. After that she was more then ready for a shower. Dressing in jeans and a warm white sweater, she grabbed her journal and headed back to the sitting room, flopping onto the sofa with a disconsolate sigh. It looked like another day of quality time with Buffy, something she'd been having far to much of lately. It wasn't that she didn't appreciate the peace of her new life it was just that well, everyone seemed to have a goal or purpose, something to do. And all she'd been doing lately was being Buffy. Of course it had taken her a while to figure out just who that was, but as soon as she's gotten a grasp on what the "normal" her was like, she'd realized it didn't leave her with much to do. Of course she appreciated her newfound sense of self, but she wanted something to do with it. Not that she was asking for a disaster to strike, quite the contrary, but she wanted—she wasn't quite sure, but something was missing, making her feel antsy and slightly depressed. It felt like waiting for something, like being on the edge of a storm.
A storm.
Flipping open her diary Buffy scanned her entries of the past few weeks.
"June 1st.
I dreamed it again. Spike. Burning. I can't reach him and he's burning. He didn't believe me. I did love him, just not the way he wanted."
Buffy closed her eyes, hastily flipping further into the journal. It was true she hadn't loved him, not in the way he'd so wished she would, but she could have maybe, if–Well, she'd never know.
I thought he needed to hear it. And maybe he had. But she couldn't help thinking that maybe if she'd told him something else, something closer to the truth, maybe things would have been different. And the truth was?
"You had your crumb Spike." She whispered to the empty house. And it was that, perhaps, that hurt most of all. On top of the dull ache loss of losing her partner, her confidant, her best friend, was also the searing crumb of what could have been, what might have been. What she would never get to find out. He hadn't known it. Of all her many regrets Buffy wished that she could have sent Spike on his way with something real. He had set her free, given her and Dawn a chance to build a life--
So stop moping around and do it Buff. You know what he'd say. Brushing a hand across her watering eyes Buffy read her entry from a several weeks back.
"The desert. A serpent open its mouth and coughed up a litter of kittens. I played with them in the sun, and the tree swayed in the wind, Spike and I were playing hopscotch in and out of the shadows. Weird."
A small frown line forming between her eyebrows Buffy read on. All dreams of the desert and cats and growing things, and a storm. And Spike, occasionally. Buffy finally threw the diary onto the couch rubbing her dry eyes. She was getting the uncomfortable tingly feeling that there was something significant about all this and brefly wondered if she should report it to Guiles.
No he's got enough on his mind. It could just weird subconsciousness stuff, I mean the night before last I dreamed about having sex with Spike in a Walmart while that weird guy with the cheese watched so......
Buffy wearily rested her head on her knee, staring into the glowing embers of the fire she let her thoughts drift into the haze of orange and gold.
Like the dazzling sun over the dunetops. A warm blazing world of sand and stunted trees.
She was watching a kitten stalk some unseen pray on the dune slope below. Looking down she saw she held her dream journal in her hands.
"I don't know what I'm supposed to do with this."Buffy she opened the book and peered at the page covered with strange carven runes. "I can't understand this."
There was swish and swoop of black wings as Buffy felt the diary yanked from her grasp. Sitting a few paces from her on the sand was a black crow, the slim purple book clenched firmly in its beak.
"Hey! Buffy yelled "That wasn't very polite." With a caw the bird took off flapping low across the dunes. "Not polite at all." Buffy muttered giving chase after it. She ran and ran and ran, blonde hair flying out behind her, skirts flapping around her pumping legs. The bird sometimes stopped, then quickly flapped off again just as she came within reach. It was on the crest of the next hill that she fell, tumbling down the slope of hot sand to land with a thud on hard rock.
"Ooof! Stupid bird." Muttered Buffy lurching unsteadily to her feet. She was in a ravine of blasted rock, silent and wind carved walls of stone, time worn outcropping fixed into fantastic shapes by weather and time.
"Caw caw caw."
Buffy whipped in the direction of the hoarse cry to go still. A familiar figure lounged in the shadow of the ravine wall, thumbs hooked nonchalantly in his belt.
"Spike, did you see where the bird went?"
He merely smirked at her jerking his chin to indicate behind him, where the shadows of the gorge deepened. Peering over his shoulder Buffy could just make out the opening of a cave.
"It's in there pet."
"The bird?" She asked nervously.
He smirked again. "What you need to know."
"I don't think that's something I'm supposed to know about."
A flash of light suddenly broke the stillness of the ravine, looking up Buffy saw dust rolling across the sky, flashes of heat lightning snaking through its depths. The wind was rising, bearing on it the smell of ash and death.
"Gotta go now lamb."
"Spike?"
"Sorry luv. Her place. Her rules." And he was gone. Another flash of lightning, lit the ravine, illuminating the cave in eery shadow, its entrance a gaping mouth into the darkness.
Buffy backed away, arms wrapped defensively around her stomach. "That's not something I'm supposed to know about." She whispered gain.
"You'll have to know." The voice was a dry rasp of dust and grinding bones. Somewhere in the dark she was being stalked. The angry toss of a dredlock maned head, the rasp of claws on stone. Buffy shook her head backing away. "You'll have to understand." There was a crash of thunder, and she was tackled flat on her back. The skull painted face and crazed eyes of the First Slayer staring into hers. "YOU HAVE TO KNOW!" Lightning flashed again, illuminating the cave in light.
Pop! Buffy woke with a strangled gasp staring into the fire as a log popped, emitting a shower of orange sparks. Grabbing the phone on the small coffee table Buffy hastily dialed in a familiar number. "Hi, Giles. I have to talk you. Right now!"
The clock was ticking noisily against the wall. "I don't believe this." Buffy grumbled for the upteenth time, rolling over and punching her pillow in annoyance. It was three thirty in the afternoon! Did they honestly expect her to sleep? How had she gotten into this position again? Oh yes, Willow her brilliant friend Willow and her Watcher.
Several hours of research into Gile's visit she remembered sighing impatiently as she watched Giles take off his glasses and wipe their lenses for the third time in the past two minutes.
"Giles? I don't think you really need 20/20 vision to respond to all this."
"What?" The older man looked up at her, startled. "Oh, sorry. Quite." Her former Watcher looked at her, a rather dazed expression in his eyes.
"Giles!" Buffy nearly squealed in exasperation.
Giles leaned his elbow on his knees, steepling his hands in front of him he took a deep breath before replying, "There is passage in one of the older Watcher texts, well a legend really, of cave where the first Slayer was made."
"I've been there." Buffy blinked. "I mean, that vision place, with the shadowbox. That must have been it right?"
"Its quite possible."Her Watcher's eyes had clouded over again, he was obviously lost in thought.
"So you know where to find it?" Buffy prodded.
"Yes, well, no."
"Giles!"
"It's a place that isn't a place Buffy," the Watcher explained. "it exists outside of time, outside of our world. It can only be reached through powerful magics, or the dream realm."
"Aha!"
The Slayer and Watcher turned to find an excited looking Willow grinning at them as she peered over the top of a large dusty book. She had been so quiet the last few hours that the two had literally forgotten she was there. Now Buffy looked at her friend hopefully. There's an aha? Because those are usually good news."
"It is." The redhead said smugly, "At least I think it is." An hour later Buffy had found herself lying in her bed while Giles lit candles and Willow chanted something in Latin while drawing a ring of smoking sage in circle around her body. Apparently this ritual would enable her to go into her dreams and bring back knowledge with her, which is why she held her dream journal open on her stomach her fingers pressed to the pages. Willow finished the last fraze of the spell, drawing the curtains so that the room was in muted darkness. The Slayer peered suspiciously at her friend.
"Now what."
Willow shrugged. "Now you sleep."
"Umm it's a spell, shouldn't I go pouf, or something?"
Willow smiled, before shutting the bedroom door after herslf and Giles. "You could try counting sheep.
Turning her gaze back to the ceiling Slayer sighed and began taking Willow's advice. Sheep, fluffy ones, with pink bows, the blonde giggled, slowly beginning to drowse.
"Buffy?"
The young woman clenched her pillow narrowly missing hurling at Gile's well meaning face that was poked around the corner of her door.
"What." She ground out between clenched teeth. The Watcher's face fell.
"Ah, then you're still awake?"
"Yes." Wow Buffy. And they say you don't have self control.
"Would you ah, maybe like some tea? I find that chamomile often helps me when–"
"No that's alright Giles, I still haven't finished the three cups that Willow brought up in the last hour."
Her waker actually had the grace to look slightly sheepish. "We are being a trifle overzealous aren't we? Is there anything I can—"
"Giles." Buffy said calmly. "Out."
"Right." The older man replied, beating a speedy retreat. Letting out her held breath in whoosh of air Buffy relaxed back down onto the bed. This was hopeless. Well whatever it is you want to tell me you had better find some other way,the Slayer growled her head, or do it soon because I'm going to die of boredom before I ever fall--Within seconds Buffy was asleep.
Before her was the cave's entrance, a black gaping maw into the unknown.
"I'm scared." She glanced imploringly at the blonde man beside her. "Can't you come with me?"
"Not my place, luv. She wouldn't like it, a beastie like me in her digs. Go on, I'll be waiting on the other side."
The Slayer swallowed, glancing apprehensively into the darkness. "Should I um, maybe knock, or something?"
Her companion smirked at her, blue eyes twinkling. "When have you ever knocked Slayer?"
With a small smile on her lips she took a deep breath and stepped inside he cave's entrance. Buffy found herself in a narrow passage, walls of smooth dun colored rock curving around and over her head. A cool current of air moved steadily past her, stirring the small tendrils of hair that had escaped from her braid. A strange tingle was passing through her body, causing the tiny hairs to prickle at the nape of her neck, it almost felt as if the stones themselves were watching her. The next passageway was set a strange angle in the wall of the tunnel, so narrow that she almost missed it, sighing Buffy wriggled through, wincing as the rough stone scraped against her skin.
The small enclave was almost like a cell: stark bare, devoid of warmth or life. In the corner was a jumbled pile of ancient bones, strange clawed hands, and grinning monstrous skulls, lying silent under the decaying remains of a rough woven blanket. Next to the gruesome bed was a small string of brightly colored beads, and child's doll. Feeling tears prick her eyes Buffy knelt down and softly traced her fingers over the doll's carved face, she flinched as it crumbled to dust beneath her touch. It was then that she saw it, carved into the stone just above the bed, a halting broken line of strange runes, scratched haphazardly, and with deep determination into the unyielding stone. Her breath quickening in her throat Buffy reached out trembling fingers to trace the strange words. There was flash in the back of her head that made her dizzy, and then the letters before her twisted and melted into lines she could understand.
Between dawn light and day you will find me
Between nightmares and dreams
I live in the action of death.
My world is shadow
The night
And the kill
And the dust of each sunrise
I can never go home
My companion is death
My heart is a cracking stone
I cannot walk in this world
Its light is blinding
Its darkness is my doom
My love is dust
Its bones fill my heart
And when the dawn breaks–
It hurts my eyes.
"I'm sorry." Buffy turned to look at the feral young woman beside her. The First Slayer was crouched a little to her side, head cocked as she surveyed the lines of her last words.
"Do not be sorry. Be ready." Buffy glanced up in startlement. "There is no time." The ebony woman shook her maned head, prowling restlessly back and forth across the narrow space.
"Let me guess," Buffy tossed at her nervously. "You want to offer me power? Well thanks but no thanks. It's already been offered and the answer's still no." She tilted her head defiantly. "I'm not like you."
" You have choices."
"You didn't." Buffy said feeling sadness well in her chest. "I'm sorry, it wasn't fair, what they did to you."
The warrior shook her head dismissively "Choices to make."
"Why? Why me? Why am I here?"
"You're asking the wrong questions."
Buffy glared. "As you may have noticed there are plenty of Slayers in the world now. Talk to one of them."
"You are the Elder, the last. To know the burden, to know the pain. Alone."
"I am not alone, and I'm not that old!"
The woman's lips quirked in the shadow of a bemused smile. "I do not offer power. Only knowledge." The warrior stepped in front of Buffy. "Will you accept the knowledge?"
Buffy wiped damp palms on her jeans"What will happen if I do."
"Nothing comes without a price."
The blonde Slayer swallowed. "And if I don't."
"That comes also with a price, and one to great to pay ."
"That doesn't leave me with much choice does it?" Buffy snapped blinking back tears of anger and hurt.
"It is a choice still. Will you accept."
The Slayer sighed feeling very, very tired. "Will it be important?"
The primitive nodded."It may teach the difference between Life and Death." Buffy took a deep breath, for some reason hearing those two words in capitals. She trusted this woman, her ancestor. There was a duty still, a duty to protect those she loved. And that meant the world as well. Looking the woman across from her square in the eye she answered "Yes."
Gently the ancient being placed a roughened palm to the side of the small woman's head. Her skin felt cool and dry, the palm's flesh stripped of softness, she held it pressed against her head for a moment, and then was removed."The knowledge has been given. You are free to go."
Buffy blinked. "That's it?" The primitive nodded. "I don't feel any different, aren't I supposed to be smarter now or something?"
"You will understand. Go now." The ebony female crouched next to the wall tracing gnarled fingertips over her writing on the stone. With a sigh, Buffy turned to go, then paused in the rough doorway. "Why did you come back to this place?"
Without turning her strange guide answered."It is mine. They never knew. They made me here, put the darkness in me, put the light. But I came back when it was done, came back to die. I was chained to the earth, in the end I returned to it. I cannot go home." Buffy shivered as she was pinned by a pair of agate eyes. "You must find–"
"Buffy?"
With a gasp the small woman sat up in bed. It was dark, the sun having gone down sometime while she slept. "Dawn?"
Her sister crushed her in an enthusiastic hug "You're awake!"
Before Buffy could reply Giles, Willow, and Xander all dashed into the room.
"Buffy." Giles gasped, his face awash with relief. "You're awake."
Xander ran a hand through his shaggy hair giving his friend a lopsided grin. "You had us worried for a while there Buffster."
Behind the three Willow had gone very still. "Buffy?" She queried shakily, her face pale.
The Slayer followed her friend's gaze down to her lap, and bit back a surge of bile. Her diary lay open across her knees, the pages scrawled with slanting lines of verse written in a deep red that looked like the carmine of blood. Buffy stared at her hands, they were unmarked. Then looked with wide eyes at her silent family. Giles was first to act, nervously clearing his throat he reached out a shaky hand towards the book on his charge's lap. "If I may." Lifting the diary carefully up to his face he began to read.
"The Warrior Queen stands alone,
The wheel has been re-bent.
The scales will tip spilling rivers of blood,
What can grow under the water?
What can grow under the flood?
The end or the beginning.
The Queen, her throne, the Crown of Bones.
Where does the Champion stand?
The dark will come obscuring night,
The flood will cover the land."
The sharp ring of the telephone jarred the perfect silence in the room. No one made a move to get it, each lost in their own thought's.
"Giles!" Andrew's high nasal voice reached their ears.
"Not now Andrew." The older man shouted towards the door, his eyes trained on Buffy's pale face.
"Gile's." Andrew yelled again. "He says its important." Rupert's blue eyes flicked towards the door.
"Who says its important?"
"He says his name is Spilling. He says you'll want to speak to him right away."
"Oh bloody hell!" Gile's swore, dropped the diary in Buffy's lap and strode quickly towards the stairs.
"Giles what–?" Willow started but he was gone. Smiling wanly she sank down next to Buffy and Dawn on the bed. Looking at her sister and friends Buffy noticed how tired and drawn they all looked, Dawn had once more placed her arms around her big sister's neck and didn't seem to be wanting to let go anytime soon. Buffy felt a horrible feeling of uncertainty begin to grow in her stomach.
"How long have I been asleep Willow?"
The witch brushed a curtain of red hair back from her face with an anxious hand. "A week Buffy. You've been asleep for a whole week."
Xander pulled up a chair next to the bed, staring at Buffy intently. "Buffy, " he began "What did you–"
"Buffy." Gile's equally tired voice interrupted Xander's question. They all turned to look at the Watcher who stood stiffly in the doorway, his mouth set in grim line. "It seems our presence has been requested elsewhere."
"What?"Buffy blinked stupidly at him, her mind still trying to process everything that had happened since she'd fallen asleep.
"I'm sorry Buffy, I know we have more pressing matters. But it's the Council, and I'm afraid it can't wait."