Disclaimer: All Characters belong to J.W, and the plot is modeled after Jane Austin's novel Pride and Prejudice

Note: Thanks to all those who have reviewed my story and I'm very sorry for the long wait. Real life has just been hectic, but I hope you all enjoy this chapter. There isn't any real life B/A action in this chapter, but we do delve into Buffy's psyche some more and learn quite a bit. We are also introduced to new character that intrigues two of the Summers' sisters.

Thanks to my friends the Twins who helped me edit this so that I could post today.

Chapter Twelve

The Odd Dream

"Buffy…Buffy…time to wake up," Willow softly said as she tried to wake her sister up the next morning. Buffy ignored Willow and snuggled deeper into her bed. "Come on, Sleepyhead. Get up; you'll be late for work." Buffy did not move. "Oh come on, Buffy, don't make me do something drastic to wake you."

"Willow, save your voice for your students," said Dawn as she entered the room to rummage her sisters' closets. "Buffy sleeps like a log when she's like this. Just wait until Kendra comes in. She's already gone to the kitchen for a pitcher of water."

With a worried look on her face Willow responded, "But that's too drastic and a lot messier. I was just thinking about holding her nose until she awoke with the need to breathe."

Dawn laughed. "Yes, trying to kill our sister is much better than some wet sheets." Willow gave her a scathing look. "Just kidding, Will… anyway, do you think Buffy will mind if I borrow her purple blouse? It will go great with the new skirt I bought."

"I don't know, Dawn," said Willow as she began pinching Buffy's nose closed. "Ask her when she wakes, which should be now."

At that moment Buffy awoke sputtering and gasping for air, "Sh--! Willow what are you trying to do? Kill me?"

"Good morning, Buffy," Willow said unbothered by the murderous look in her sister's eyes. "You should really try getting to bed earlier so you would have more time to sleep. You only have ten minutes to get ready or you will be late for work."

"What?" said Buffy as she noted the clock on her bed stand. Rushing out of her bed Buffy said a quick thank you to Willow and rushed toward the bathroom as Kendra appeared at the bedroom door.

Kendra appeared quite disappointed. "Oh. Buffy's awake? That's too bad; it would have been so entertaining to…umm, anyway, I guess this pitcher will no longer be needed."

"Wait, no need to waste the water," Dawn said as she left the closet wearing Buffy's purple blouse and a cute green skirt. "Faith still hasn't waken up yet." With a mischievous twinkle in her eye, Kendra thanked her sister and went off to see Faith. Moving to the mirror, Dawn did a few spins before asking Willow if she liked the outfit.

Sighing, Willow responded, "Adorable, though you should still ask Buffy. So, are you and Faith okay? You usually don't sic Kendra on Faith unless you guys are fighting."

"It's nothing to worry about, Faith just got me mad the other night and I just wanted a little payback," Dawn answered back nonchalantly, though inside she was thinking, 'Faith's actions may have embarrassed me, but Willow and Buffy would just blow it out-of-proportions if they learned Faith did a strip-tease at the frat party on Saturday.'

"Anyway, Willow, can I borrow the earrings Aunt Anya gave you for Christmas?" Before Willow could answer, loud cursing was heard throughout the house. Giggling, Dawn said, "I guess Kendra woke Faith."

"Sure, Dawn, just remember to return them," Willow said just as the words 'I'll Kill you Kendra' could be heard from the hall with Kendra running past with Faith right behind her, nearly colliding with Buffy who was just getting out of the bathroom.

Walking into the bedroom and drying her hair with a towel, Buffy said, "What's the noise and the cha-…hey that's my shirt!"

With an over-exaggerated pout, Dawn asked, "Buffy, can I borrow this shirt?"

"Fine. Just make sure not to stain it like the last one," Buffy said as she made her way to the closet to get dressed.

"Hey, I didn't stain it! Faith did." Dawn huffed.

"Yeah, but I lent it to you, so it's your responsibility. There's a reason I don't lend clothes to Faith anymore," came Buffy's muffed reply from the closet.

"Let's not forget girls, that shirt was originally mine which I lent to you Buffy," said Willow, "which you neglected to return, by the way."

Laughing, Buffy responded, "You're the one being forgetful! You gave me that shirt to keep."

"No, I didn't!"

"Yes, you did."

"No, I didn't."

"Yes, you did."

"You're both being stupid," interjected Dawn.

"She's right," said Buffy as she left the closet. "Anyway it's ironic that when we were little we hated hand-me downs and now we fight over each others' wardrobes."

"I guess. Now come on you two. We'd better get going or we'll be late," Willow said as she ushered her sisters downstairs.

Later that Day

Although Buffy felt like the odd woman out with her best friends currently in relationships, her envy and jealousy were soon overcome by the happiness she saw radiating from Willow and Fred. She was delighted by how love-struck the girls seemed when she met the two for lunch. She listened as the two of them gushed non-stop throughout lunch about the wonders of Oz and Gunn. But after awhile it all got a bit tedious and, learning more than she ever wanted to know about the guys, Buffy tuned out of the conversation for her own sanity when Fred began to describe the cute little birthmark Gunn has. Instead Buffy's mind turned to deciphering the very bizarre dream she had last night.

I remember it hazily. I am with Uncle Xander and Aunt Anya on a tour around a field of sheep. As the tour guide drones on and on, a sudden howl can be heard throughout the area causing all living creatures to scatter in all directions. Separated from the others I find myself following a yellow brick road similar to the one in the Wizard of Oz. The sky darkens as I enter a forest area and can hear creatures moving about, distracted by the noise in the forest I nearly trip over a body in my path and scream. Looking down I find the bullet-filled body of Tara, Willow's Beloved. Though pale Tara looks just as peaceful and serene as she ever did in life, Suddenly her eyes open and she looks directly at me saying, "Beware the wolf in sheep's clothing who will cause your sister danger."

Tara's body fades away before I can ask any questions, but the sudden howl of a wolf causes me to run for my life. As I run I look back to see if the wolf is following me when I suddenly collide with another being. I begin to yell my head off but I am soon shushed and calmed by the gentle whispers coming from the being in front of me. The being which I can now tell is a man, but whose face I can not see, picks me up and carries me off, instead of feeling frightened I feel safe and secure cocooned in this man's arms.

Next thing I know I am alone in a large room lying on a sofa. A man enters looking quite peculiar with Green skin and red eyes wear the most hideous neon yellow suit. I pray this wasn't my savior and am relieved when the man states I was brought to his inn of Sanctuary by his nephew the Guardian of the Forest. The green man tells me I'm welcome to stay the night but I must earn my room by singing to the guest as the entertainer hired for the night was a no-show. Before I can even protest he pushes me on to a stage before a crowded room. I begin to sing some unknown song quite out of tune but I seem to be the only one who notices my horrible performance so I just continue on.

As I sing I feel the stare of a pair of eyes that seem to caress my body. Feeling the tingle of warmth fill my body I try to search the audience for the pair of eyes, finally finding them to belong to a man in the back whose entire face save his eyes was hidden by the shadows. They were the most beautiful dark brown eyes I had ever seen with specks of gold flickering about reminding me of the star-filled night sky. Our eyes meet and I can feel all the warmth, desire, lust, and love flowing through our linked eyes. The overwhelming amount of passion expressed in the depths of this man's eyes shocks me…confuses me…but most of all frightens me. I feel the need to run as far away as possible and I do.

I run as fast as I can and the next thing I know I'm back on the yellow brick road. The night sky is bleakly lacking in stars with the only light coming from the ominous full moon. Creatures of the night can be heard moving about but not scene, though the howls of the wolf seem to be moving farther away. I slow my pace to catch my breath and hear the gentle running of a stream. Feeling thirst I go looking for the water source and am surprised to find Dawn dancing melancholy around the edge. Feeling happy to see a familiar face I hug her and ask her if she has seen our Aunt and Uncle, but she ignores me. I try to get her to talk to me until I can't take it anymore and yell out, "What's your problem?"

Her eyes finally look at me and I'm surprised by the anger and sadness flowing in her eyes and she says, "Why did you not heed Tara's words about the wolf? Why weren't you here? Now are sister is lost forever." Not understanding but frightened by her words I turn to look at the direction she is pointed to and am dismayed to find a tombstone. The tombstone doesn't have a name on it just the inscription "Beloved daughter of Joyce and Giles Summers." No No No this can't be I scream. One of my sisters' dead, that's not possible, I turn to Dawn for answers but she is no longer there. I look back at the tombstone which seemed to mock me at my uselessness. I wonder is it Willow? Faith? Kendra? I start to beat and dig at the dirt trying to claw my way to the coffin but finally give up and cry.

Feeling such lost and loneliness I am surprised when arms wrap around me and I can hear the gentle whispers of a man's voice in my ears telling me all is well, I recognized the voice as the one belonging to the Guardian of the Forest; he speaks about hunting the wolf that has been terrorizing his realm. He continues to tell me how he will fix my troubles because he loves me and wants to always be there to help and protect me. I turn to look at him and though his face is still hidden I notice his eyes, the same eyes I saw while on stage, which continued to reveal the depths of his love and passion. No longer frightened, I slowly reach out my hand to his neck and pull his face closer until our lips meet. The kiss is short and sweet. I pull back surprised at my own daring, but my beautiful brown-eyed love just laughs and pulls me in for another kiss. We continue to softly kiss and caress each other until we are breathless and in need of air. I soon realize I really do need air and awake to find my sisters' faces staring down on me.

The dream left Buffy quite bewildered. While the veiled messages and images could be considered nonsense, the faceless lover intrigued Buffy to no end. The man was a mystery, though his sensitive and protective nature combined with the passionate way he expressed himself was all very alluring making it hard combination for a girl to resist. While Buffy would not mind finding such a man in real life she was quite ruffled that her sub-conscious wanted a man to be her Knight in shining armor. As a modern independent woman Buffy believes she should be ready and able to face anything that comes her way without a man to help her. 'Well I suppose it would be nice to have someone there to comfort me with kisses after a bad day,' Buffymused. She was brought out of her thoughts at a hand waving before her face.

"What?"

"Nice of you to join us back in the land of the living," Willow dryly stated.

Giggling, Fred added, "We've been trying to get your attention for several minutes now."

A deep red blush appeared on Buffy's face as she gave a small cough before responding. "Sorry my mind was a bit elsewhere."

"We noticed. What had you in such deep thoughts?" asked Willow curiously as she noticed Buffy's blush deepen at her question.

"Nothing much, just a silly dream I had last night. So why'd you guys need my attention? I thought you guys were comparing who had the cuter boyfriend story and things of that nature." Buffy said.

"Don't be silly, we were just discussing what our costumes should be for Halloween this year. I was thinking something bright and cheery," said Fred excitedly, her face filled with childlike enthusiasm.

"I didn't realize you liked Halloween so much Fred, but I'm sure the kids wouldn't mind if we wore the same costumes from last year."

"KIDS?"

Looking at her companions with a bit of reproach, Buffy answered, "Yeah the kids. You guys promised to be chaperones for The Center's Trick-or-treating activity for the kids, remember? You didn't forget did you?"

"Of course not," Willow said affronted. "I've already signed up most of my class and several parents as chaperones to come with us. But we're not talking about costumes for Trick-or-Treating, but for the Costume Ball Oz's having at his house later that night."

"Oz is having a what?"

"A Ball for Halloween. Haven't you been paying attention to our conversation at all?" Willow said, but at Buffy's shake she continued on. "Oz's sisters wanted to go to some Halloween party that some of his business associates are having in London, but since Oz didn't want to travel half-way around the globe just for a party he decided to throw one at the mansion. His sisters weren't exactly thrilled until Oz let them have free reign in organizing it and they decided to make it a Masquerade Ball."

"It's all so exciting," gushed Fred, "We'll have a real live Ball filled with people dancing waltzes, tangos, foxtrots, Cha cha. And we get to dress all fancy like movie stars, doesn't that sound amazing, Buffy? I wonder if I can talk Gunn into dressing up like Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers or maybe we should dress up as some famous couple like Romeo and Juliet or Cleopatra and Marc Anthony. No, wait. Those both ended in tragedy. Maybe Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne the famous theater couple instead. Perhaps we should…"

"Fred…" Buffy said while placing a hand on her friend's hand to stop her from rambling on, "I get that you're excited, but perhaps you should be discussing costume ideas with Gunn and not us." Sighing a bit in the disappointment that she tried to hide Buffy continued on, "The Ball sounds like it will be a lot of fun, but now I have to call the costume shop and tell them not to hold the Three Stooges getups we had planned to wear for the kids. Though I should have realized sooner that with you two having boyfriends this year you guys would wish for some more alluring costumes."

Looking at her sister a bit curiously Willow asked, "You don't look that excited about the Ball, Buffy. I thought you would be just as giddy as Fred at the thought of putting to use all those skills you have from years of dance lessons. Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Buffy simply said, but at their looks of disbelief she continued on. "It's silly, really, but I was looking forward to being as goofy and carefree as I want on Halloween, and as much as I'll enjoy being all glammed up for a Ball it means I'll have to look for a date, who preferably can dance. And I really don't want to go through that hassle."

"I don't get it, you've never needed dates for these kinds of things before, and this is no different. You can just go stag. You've done it before and had a good time," stated Fred slightly confused, while a look of understanding came upon Willow.

Willow turned to look at Fred and said, "But it will be different. The other times she has gone stag, one or both of us has been stag too. Plus Darla would never let her live it down if Buffy came by herself."

"Aw ha so you admit it! Darla's a bit!" said Buffy while thinking about how she wished her sister didn't know her so well.

"Buffy! There's no need for that type of language," scolded Willow. "I still don't think she's really all that bad, she's always been so kind and friendly with me, but I admit she wasn't very nice to you over the weekend. She seemed to get quite testy whenever you were in the room, but I'm sure it's all just a big misunderstanding."

'Dear sweet Willow always trying to look at the good in people no matter what,' thought Buffy. "Darla might be nice to you for Oz's sake, but she hates my guts. And that's fine, I don't like much myself. She's too much of a snob for my taste. You should have heard some of the veiled insults she directed at me when you and Oz were too into each other to hear. Anyway you're right Will, putting Darla aside; the Ball wouldn't be much fun without a date."

"It'll be okay Buffy," Fred said as she began picking up her things when she noted the time on the wall clock. "You still have several weeks to find a date. Maybe you should ask one of your old dance classmates. I have to get back to school now, Lilah's finally reinstated my lab privileges and I wouldn't want her to yank them away again because I'm late returning."

"I should be going, too, my lunch break is almost over," stated Willow as she began to pack up also. The girls said their goodbyes and Willow and Fred soon left, leaving Buffy alone as she still had half an hour before she had to head back to work.

Buffy tried to concentrate on some paper work she had brought with her, but her mind was quite distracted. It kept wandering to the date she needed to get and the dream guy she wished existed in real life. 'The guy seemed so familiar, like I had already met him somewhere. Those eyes…those beautiful deep brown eyes which had specks of gold in them…I know I have seen them somewhere before. But that's just silly, the guy's not real. Maybe he's just a fusion of all the elements I liked about my old boyfriends. He could always be a guy I meet in the future…someone to dance with at the Ball,' Buffy quietly laughed at her thoughts and shook her head. 'Speaking of the Ball who can I ask to go with me? Riley can't dance. Scott was always fun to go out dancing with, but he and Jake will be out of town that week. I haven't talked with any of my old dance friends in a while, but I think most of them are away on competitions. Maybe I should ask Robin?"

"Hey Buffy!"

At the voice calling for her, Buffy looked up to find Faith, sitting across her, drinking some blue concoction.

Surprised at the sight of her sister, Buffy said, "Faith, shouldn't you be in your biology class at the moment? And what in the world are you drinking?"

Scoffing, Faith said, "What's the point of going to some boring lecture if they're not even going to take attendance? As long as I show up for test days I'll be fine. And I'm drinking a Blue Temptation."

"Yes and you'll ace those exams with these habits," Buffy sarcastically said, "I hope that doesn't have alcohol in it."

"Then I guess I shouldn't tell you what's in this," Faith smirked while stirring her drink. At Buffy's look Faith sighed. "Oh, don't be so uptight. I haven't missed that many classes, besides I always get notes from the nerd in third row that has a thing for me."

"Faith, you're twenty years old when are you going to get serious about your life?"

"You're serious enough for the both of us," said Faith, not wanting to hear another 'Get you're act together Faith' lecture from her sister. "You need a man."

"Excuse me?"

"Sis, you need to loosen up. I say find a guy and screw him. How 'bout the blond at table five?" said Faith a bit louder than before, causing her voice to be heard by all occupants in the restaurant including the blond at table five.

'Faith, if you weren't my sister I would strangle you,' thought Buffy with a groan. "Unlike you, Faith, I do not need a man to relax. And while the guy is cute, he's a bit too pale for my taste."

"Cute! The man's sexy as hell, Buffy! You need some glasses."

"Perhaps," Buffy said as she snuck another glance at the man who had returned to writing in his journal. Though the man was quite pale, he had a handsome face with the most stunning blue eyes and platinum blond hair. He reminded Buffy of Billy Idol.

"I'm going to talk to him."

"Faith, don't bother the man. He looks deep in thought."

"Then I guess I need to get his mind on me instead," Faith said confidently as she walked over to table five.

Sighing at Faith's stubbornness, Buffy began packing up her things to go back to the center. Once she was done, she looked up to see how Faith was doing. Too Buffy's amusement and embarrassment Faith's less-than-subtle overtures had caused her to practically sit on blonde's lap. While the man seemed friendly enough back to Faith, Buffy could see the hints of annoyance in the man's eyes and posture. Deciding to intervene before Faith and the poor man were further embarrassed, Buffy walked up to the pair.

"Faith you better leave before Ms. Lucas realizes her bartender gave you a drink."

Surprised and angry at the interruption Faith cried out "What!"

"You know Ms. Lucas is a stickler to the rules and would ban you from the restaurant for tricking her new bartender."

"Oh come on I'm almost 21 anyway!"

"Almost doesn't count."

"Fine," Faith spat at her sister. Turning to the blond man she said, "I'll see you around?"

"Perhaps, love," the man said in sexy British accent, "it has been an interesting encounter."

"Not interesting enough," purred Faith before suddenly pulling the man into a fierce kiss. Before Buffy could even blink, Faith had left leaving a dazzled and thoroughly-kissed man behind.

Turning to the man Buffy said, "Are you alright, sir? I hope my sister's actions haven't offended you?"

"How can I be offended when a beautiful woman kisses me out of the blue," laughed the man, who was soon joined by Buffy. "You're sister's certainly a firecracker."

"Well that's one way of describing her. I'm glad you're not offended. I just thought that…"

"I was annoyed with her presence," the man finished. At Buffy's nod the man continued, "That's because I was. And I'm quite grateful for your help in ridding her." Buffy gave the man a puzzling look. "Not that I don't like your sister, but inspiration had finally hit me after a dry spell and I was writing it all down when Faith came over." Shaking her head at Faith's thoughtlessness Buffy apologized to the man for the disturbance and made a go to leave so the man could return to his work but was stopped by the man. "You don't have to go on my account, I would enjoy the company."

"No that's alright, you have to go back to your writing and I have to go back to work. It was nice meeting you." Before Buffy could leave her hand was captured by the man's.

"We haven't officially met yet, love," said the man as he softly gave a kiss to her captured hand, "I didn't catch your name?"

Feeling a bit flustered Buffy said, "I'm Buffy…Buffy Summers."

Giving her a megawatt smile the man said, "Well it's a pleasure to me you Buffy, my name's William G. Wickham, but my friends call me Spike."