Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of the Buffy universe they belong to Joss Whedon and co. The lyrics are the property of Bill Withers

Chapter Two

Buffy was confused big time her singing? Now there must be evil involved.

She stopped in front of the door to shake off some of the dust on her clothes, she had really gone all slay-athon and some of the vampires dust still lingered on her jacket and jeans.

"Dawn" she called as she entered the house but the lights were off and the house still. She checked her watch 'One o'clock!" It was a school night so she summarized that her little sister must be in bed.

She leaned her axe against the wall deciding to clean it the morning as it was one of her favorite and after she checked on Dawn she turned in for the night still reeling from her musical experience.

Buffy was incredibly happy. The light was blinding and it was never night. She was surrounded by kind auras that were like herself- at peace.

She felt something yanking on her gently at first, then it ripped her away.

'Buffy no'

'Dawnie I have to'

She couldn't breathe she pulled helplessly on the fabric surrounding her, digging her nails into it. She tried to draw air but there was none she strained her lungs without result. Where was she?

She banged against her confines franticly then it dawned on her

She was in a coffin.

Helplessly she screamed and punched harder but to no avail

'Be brave live for me'

Buffy woke up with a strangled cry gasping for air. It was all a dream a dream similar to the ones she had been having every night since she had been back. She hadn't told many people of these dreams since that would raise questions that she did not want to answer.

These dreams were made worse that she was keeping the dreadful secret of her afterlife from her friends. She had told Spike on impulse but was now tremendously glad that she had it had made her burden lighter and he had not judged her but listened and even consoled her, and for that she was endlessly grateful.

She got up and began to get ready dressing in jeans and a white blouse. Today she had a Scooby meeting to attend.

"Dawn, are you ready for school?" she asked as she entered the kitchen to find the former key poking a bowl of cereal.

"Yeah Buffy, I just gotta finish my cereal" she said absent mindedly resuming her poking.

"Well if you keep stabbing your breakfast like that, it's gonna want revenge and that usually results in indigestion so I would advise against that"

"Eww," Dawn said screwing up her nose "It's just that I like it soggy and it refuses to go and get soggy. Should I add more milk?"

"No you should not you have 80 milk in that bowl already. I thought you liked your cereal crunchy?" Buffy said sitting down on a stool and pouring out a glass of milk for herself before Dawn used it all

"Crunchy? Me? No way you must, have me confused with some other Dawn

"Dawn, you used to add the milk individually to every spoonful of cereal to make sure it didn't go soggy"

"I call it a stage"

"Really now? Mom and I called it obsessive"

"Ha Ha" Dawn said sarcastically

"Xander will be here in a few minutes to take you to school so don't stall and be late ok."

"Ok" There was a knock at the door

"In fact there he is now, scoot!"

It had started out as a relatively normal Scooby meeting, well as normal as meeting about demons, monsters, magic and slayers could be. She had blurted out the fact that she had burst out into song and to her surprise everyone else had too. After the usual banter and speculation the group had begun to doubt its abilities and worried about what could be happening and how they could go about it.

Then Giles had burst out into song

Sometimes in our lives we all have pain
We all have sorrow
But if we are wise
We know that there's always tomorrow

Tara, Willow and Anya although still a bit confused sung after Giles

Lean on me, when you're not strong
And I'll be your friend
I'll help you carry on
For it won't be long
'Til I'm gonna need
Somebody to lean on

Buffy sincerely hoped there were no hidden messages behind the words that her friends were singing, she was not ready to tell her friends. If Buffy thought the song was over she was wrong as Xander opened his mouth next joining their little ditty

Please swallow your pride
If I have things you need to borrow
For no one can fill those of your needs
That you don't let show

Tara, Anya and Willow once again sung together and it was obvoius Anya was having a blast. Shes a strange one Buffy thought

Lean on me, when you're not strong
And I'll be your friend
I'll help you carry on
For it won't be long
'Til I'm gonna need
Somebody to lean on

Oh god Buffy thought why is my mouth opening Soon she too was singing

If there is a load you have to bear
That you can't carry
I'm right up the road
I'll share your load
If you just call me

Anya began to sing by herself with a wide grin on her face

So just call on me people, when you need a hand
We all need somebody to lean on
I just might have a problem that you'd understand
We all need somebody to lean on

And soon enough everyone was singing together as the song wound down

Lean on me when you're not strong
And I'll be your friend
I'll help you carry on
For it won't be long
Till I'm gonna need
Somebody to lean on

That was interesting she thought. She joined in the banter after she had determined it was not just them because a man singing about mustard and listened as the group made more positive suggestions (the song had been surprisingly uplifting) that would prove worth while to their cause and Willow and Tara left promising to look into their situation with some books they had at home. Some report of something-or-rather Buffy would be lying if she said she was paying complete attention to the less important aspects of the conversation. She just wanted something evil to kill.