Chapter Two
Hey, I'd like to daze away to a place no one has known,
In a state of mind I could call mine, that only I could own,
Where I could hum a tune any time I choose, and there's no such thing as time
Where I feel no pain, just calm and sane, what a place for one to find...
The music played softly in the car as Giles drove Buffy and Dawn home. Buffy was still hugging her sister around her shoulders as the car was intermittently lit by approaching street lights, casting dynamic shadows across their faces.
"Where did you go?" Dawn asked, almost as an afterthought, as she stared across her sister to the palm tree trunks as they passed by.
"Hmm?" Buffy responded.
"When you died." She added softly, "You said something then, I can't remember now. Where did you go?"
"I don't know," Buffy presently amended her story. She recalled having told Spike she had been in heaven until she had been resurrected. Now, however, she was not entirely sure she wanted that description open to interpretation.
"Describe it." Dawn closed her eyes, a peaceful expression on her periodically illuminated face. "It sounded nice."
"Well," Buffy began, deciding nothing but the truth would do, and getting comfortable beside her sister. "It was warm, and dark," she began, closing her eyes. "There was a kind of white noise that came from inside your own eardrums, like the sound of your own blood pumping, but not in beats, just constant."
"Mmm." Dawn responded, snuggling tighter against her sister.
"But I suppose the most important thing about it was the feeling." Buffy reminisced.
"What'd it feel like?" Her sister asked, trying to complete her mental picture.
"I felt loved. Like everyone I ever knew was there, and loved me, with no responsibilities or priorities. Just to be there. To be loved."
"Sounds perfect," Dawn said almost inaudibly. I wish I could have seen it.
"If we forget about tomorrow, then it's just like now," Buffy laid her cheek on Dawn's head.
"I love you," Dawn almost whispered as she drifted off towards sleep.
"I love you too," her sister answered, no louder.
Unbeknownst to either of them, Giles circled the block again on the cool starless night.