Chapter 33: The Eyes Have It Part 2
October 22, 2002 – Tuesday
Sunnydale High School
The followers of Avilas gathered after school had let out and the teachers had gone home for the day in the school library and began the rite that would bring them riches. In their red robes, their sacred coins ringing their ritual fire, the red-robed figures were giddy and up. Keith had set up a cool booby trap. No one was coming in . . . and nobody was getting out. Then Peter dragged in their sacrifice to Avilas . . . the girl Cassie Newton, bound, gagged, and terrified.
"It's nothing personal," Peter told her as her eyes bulged above her gag. "It's just that you have this death-chick suicide vibe going."
On his cue, the brothers extinguished their candles . . . and Peter brought a huge cleaver up against Cassie's throat. As he intoned the ritual, bright orbing lights appeared as Faith orbed in with Tara.
"Okay," Faith told Peter. "That is going on your permanent record."
He came at Faith, and she dropped him hard. As he lay writhing on the floor in agony, she shook her head at the lot of them. "Do you know how lame this is? Bored teenage boys trying to raise up a demon? Sorry it didn't show. I'll bet it's because you forgot the boom box playing some heavy metal thing, like Blue Clam Cult. I think that's the key to raising lame demons."
Despite his pain, Peter smiled triumphantly and said, "That lame demon?"
"Faith," Tara said causing Faith to turn.
The demon, Avilas, towered over Faith. He was actually quite impressive, with scaly brown demon skin, muscles, horns, and fins, and a strange, circular indentation in his stomach.
Faith lifted her hands and streams of ice came out of them hitting the demon and it roared in fury and pain. "Blondie," she called over to Tara and motioned toward Cassie.
Tara nodded as she ran toward Peter was approaching Cassie with the sacrificial knife in hand. The other followers began to scatter and flee, sensing that the battle was going against them. "You know," she smirked. "I don't like hitting," she admitted. "But in the time I've been friends with Buffy, Faith and Xander and in the time I have been Willow's girlfriend, well…" She hit him and hit him hard, knocking Peter out.
Faith switched tactics as she held her hands over her head and formed the largest ice ball she had ever created. The threw it into the hollow in Avilas' abdomen, and the demon exploded from her power.
With the sacrificial knife Tara cut Cassie's hands free and yanked the duct tape off her mouth. Cassie was crying, but she forced herself into composure long enough to say, "Your girlfriend…she'll ask you, soon."
The other demon worshippers had run away. Faith and Tara had no more work here. They prepared to leave as Peter crawled toward the charred remains of his demon god. "You can't be dead," he groaned. "Where are my infinite riches?"
Triumphantly Faith and Tara walked Cassie toward the main exit doors of the library.
"It's all okay now," Tara told Cassie, add wryly, and with great kindness, "I hope you're not too disappointed."
Then she opened the door . . . triggering the cool booby trap of demonworshipper Keith. It was a cross-bow, and it let a bolt fly . . . but Faith caught the bolt just in time to prevent it from shooting Cassie in the forehead, which would definitely have killed her.
"See?" Tara said as Faith broke the bolt in her fist. "You can make a difference."
With great tenderness Cassie pushed a strand of hair out of Tara's face. "And you will," she said. Then she took one sharp breath and collapsed to the floor.
"Leo!" Faith called out.
Tara knelt down next to Cassie and then looked up at Faith. "It's too late, she's…"
Faith nodded as she sighed. "Sorry, Tara. That we couldn't save your innocent," she said just as Leo orbed in. She looked at the Whitelighter. "It's too late."
Leo looked down at Tara and saw Cassie and nodded.
San Francisco Memorial
In the maternity ward Dawn, Buffy and Piper were watching a nurse hand new parents their newborn babies as Leo and Faith walked up to them. Leo put his arm around Piper as Faith put hers around Dawn.
"They even teach them to swaddle." Piper said.
"I can teach you both to swaddle." Buffy told her sister and daughter. "I'm an expert by now don't you think?"
Piper glanced at her mother and nodded. "I guess you would be, yeah."
"So," Dawn said glancing at her wife. "Did you help…"
"We lost Tara's innocent," Faith replied. "We saved her from these guys who were going to sacrifice her to a demon. Then she suddenly just keeled over and died. No warning nothing. Tara said that she had foreseen her death today. It sounds like her innocent may have been a witch."
"And she saw her own death," Buffy sighed. "That's got to be rough. Knowing your going to die but unable to stop it."
"Come on, we have another innocent to find," Leo said as they turned to leave as Piper held her stomach.
"Ooh, I need to find some help. I do not feel well," Piper said as she sat down on a nearby bench. "And I don't think this is normal. I need a doctor, a real doctor."
Leo nodded, "Well, what happens when they check the security camera to find out why the sonogram machine blew up like it did with Phoebe's baby."
"And what happens when they don't?" Faith said shaking her head. "Or did you forget that Dawn saw her OB/GYN yesterday and nothing bad happened. And our baby has actually a little extra compared to yours."
"Also, Leo," Buffy added. "I've pregnant four times. And the only baby that displayed powers from inside the womb was Phoebe. While both my grandbaby and my niece take after Phoebe. I seriously doubt that the sonogram machine will blow up. And technically speaking, the sonogram machine didn't blow up with Phoebe's. Phoebe's baby electrocuted Piper's doctor, remember?"
"I'll get those right away for you, Dr. Kalderash," they heard someone call out.
"Thanks, Bill," Eva said as she walked around the corner and past Dawn, Faith, Buffy, Piper and Leo.
"Eva?" Buffy said as Eva looked at they stood up. "Wait."
"Do I know you?" Eva asked as she looked towards the five of them.
"I'm a good friend of your mothers," Buffy said. "Well actually I was technically one of her students, even though I never had a class with her. And the five of us are friends of your Aunt Lydia."
"Is something wrong?" Eva asked suddenly worried about her aunt.
"Yeah, there kind of is," Piper said taking over from her mother. "See, there's this gypsy hunter..."
Eva sighed, "Oh, please. I-I don't mean to be rude, you guys look like normal people. My Aunt Lydia, she's just very superstitious and she shouldn't be sending you here to..."
"She's afraid for you," Faith admitted.
"People are dying," Leo added.
Eva motioned at all the people around her. "Look around you," she said, "that's why I'm here. I save lives using medicine, not magic."
"But magic is a part of who you are," Dawn said as Buffy shook her head. "What, Buffy?"
"Buffy…" Eva said as she looked at the blonde Slayer. "Your last name wouldn't be Summers would it?"
"Yeah," Buffy answered with a sigh.
"You are the reason my mother is dead," Eva snarled.
"Oh, uh, Eva," Piper said trying to draw Eva's attention away from her mother. "I know what it's like to lose your mom, believe me, I do. But still, you can't deny who you are."
"Dr. Kalderash, Dr. Kalderash to the emergency room, stat," a voice said over the intercom.
"I've gotta go," Eva said as she rushed off.
"Great, now what do we do?" Dawn wondered.
"We try again," Leo replied.
"That said, I wonder if I shouldn't be there," Buffy said with a sigh. "She obviously hates me."
"It wasn't your fault, Buffy," Dawn told her sister. Then she covered her mouth and held her stomach.
"Are you okay, babe?" Faith asked.
Dawn shook her head. "No, I am not. I think Piper has the right idea. Get us both to a doctor, any doctor."
Halliwell Manor
Phoebe and Paige stood watching as Lydia was making a potion. "Alright, add ice to thicken, I'd say we're done," Lydia said.
"I wouldn't have thought to add turmeric to anything but Indian food," Paige admitted.
Lydia smiled. "It's nice to finally have someone to share my magic with."
"Eva will come around," Phoebe told the woman. "Sometimes it takes longer for people to embrace their magic, right Paige?" she asked her sister who pulled a face.
"I hope you're right," Lydia sighed. "She's the last of our line. If she doesn't carry on the tradition, it dies with me."
"Mom said once that your sister sister rejected her heritage too," Phoebe said.
"Not really," Lydia replied thinking of her sister. "Janna just took a different path than the rest of the family. She didn't reject her heritage, she embrace the future. She combined her heritage with technology. I think she called it technopagan. She was a lot more forward thinking."
"Anyways," Paige said. "We're not going to let your families tradition die with you."
Phoebe bowed her head as a sad expression crossed her face.
Lydia smiled at Phoebe having seen the expression. "Oh, being so hard on yourself won't bring your powers back, you know."
Phoebe sighed. "Okay, what can't you see?"
"Maybe I can help," Lydia suggested as she walked over to the sink and put some tea in a cup.
"I think my stress level is beyond chamomile tea at this point," Phoebe told the gypsy woman.
Lydia smiled. "You're not going to drink it," she explained as she filled the cup with water. "You're going to swirl it. Come," she told Phoebe.
"Wait, you read tea leaves?" Paige asked as she and Phoebe walked over beside Lydia. "That is so amazing."
Lydia smiled as she handed the cup to Phoebe who swirled the water in the cup. "Now pour it out," she instructed as Phoebe tipped the water into the sink. She took the cup from the middle Halliwell sister and looked in it. "I see an axe, a thorn, broken spiral. You are way out of balance, just like your powers."
Phoebe sighed. "That's pretty much what Madame Theresa said."
Lydia nodded. "That's what happens when your brain overrides your heart," she explained. "If you want to regain your balance, to reconnect, you'll have to find out why."
"It's so crazy, I never would've seen those shapes in there," Paige said in awe.
Lydia smiled. "It just takes practice. Here, read mine," she said as she filled the cup and swirled it around again.
"Okay," Paige said as Lydia handed her the cup.
"What do you see?" Lydia asked.
"I see an X..." Paige said looking in the cup. "And that looks kind of like a lightning bolt."
Lydia took the cup from Paige and looked in it. She frowned. "Eva," she said as she walked over to the table. "I can't put you in anymore danger." She threw something in the potion and it exploded. Smoke filled the room obscuring her from view and allowing her to leave out the back door. and Lydia leaves through the back door.
Phoebe picked up the cup and looked into it hoping to get a premonition of what Lydia saw.
"Lydia," Paige called after the disappearing woman. "Well, that's an interesting disappearing act, I'll have to ask her how she does that. What are you doing?"
"I'm trying to see what Lydia saw," Phoebe told her baby sister.
"Uh, yeah, you can't read tea leaves," Paige reminded her.
Phoebe glanced at Paige and sighed. No, but I get premonitions, at least I'm supposed to," she said. "Okay, come on, please let me see something." Suddenly she was thrust into a premonition. "I saw Cree. He's after Eva."
"Where? When?" Paige asked both shocked and happy that her sister had gotten a premonition.
Phoebe shrugged. "I don't know, it's still all in pieces but, uh, I saw cars and a parking lot. Maybe, maybe it's the hospital?"
"The hospital?" Paige said concerned. "Why can't Aunt Faith, Aunt Dawn, Mom, Piper and Leo stop him?" she questioned.
San Francisco Memorial
"I wouldn't worry too much," a doctor said as he drew blood from Piper's arm, "some women are nauseous through their whole pregnancy. It's perfectly normal."
"That's what my OB/GYN said," Dawn sighed as she rubbed her arm where the doctor had already taken her blood. "Yet both Piper and I well we're first time moms, so…We're both kind of tired of going to the bathroom every five minutes to you know…throw up."
"That's a little bit of an exaggeration," Piper added. "But sadly, Dawn's right."
Leo and Faith looked at each other. They both had the feeling that Paige and Phoebe were calling for them. "Uhm, I'm getting paged," Leo said.
"So am I," Faith whispered to Buffy and Dawn who nodded.
The doctor looked at Leo as if to ask how come I don't hear a pager. "It's, uh, it's on vibrate," Leo told the doctor as he patted his pocket.
"Don't you want to see who it is?" the doctor questioned.
"The only people who have Leo's pager number," Dawn answered. "Is the family." She looked at the rest of her family. "Which means we probably ought to go. They wouldn't be paging if it wasn't important."
"Almost done," the doctor said as he pulled the needle out of Piper's arm. He turned to get a band-aid and when he turned back he saw that it had magically been healed. "Wow," he said looking back and forth between Piper and Dawn. "Fast healing must run in the family."
"It kind of does," Dawn admitted with a glance at Faith and Leo. "Thanks. You have our number right?"
"I do," the doctor answered.
"You will let us know the results then?" Faith wondered.
"Of course," the doctor said as he watched the five of them rush out of the room. "Must be really important."
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
In the hospital parking lot Phoebe and Paige waited as Piper, Faith, Dawn, Buffy and Leo orbed in. "Where's Eva?" Paige asked the rest of their family.
"She's in surgery," Leo answered. "What are you guys doing here?"
"We're trying to find Lydia," Paige explained with a sigh. "She ran out on us."
"She's after Cree." Phoebe added.
It was then that they heard a scream took off in the direction the sound came from. They ran around a corner just as Cree dropped Lydia to the ground. Phoebe threw her potion at Cree, vanquishing him on the spot. Leo dropped down next to Lydia and held his hands over her. The golden glow that signified he was healing her never materialized as Lydia was dead.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Eva stood in the operating room trying to revive her patient with a defibrillator. "No response," the nurse told her.
"Clear," Eva ordered as the nurse echoed the command. She then hit the patient with the defibrillator shocking the patient. "Give me two hundred Jules."
"Two hundred charged," the nurse replied when the defibrillator was charged to what Eva requested.
"Clear," Eva ordered as the nurse echoed the command. She put the paddles to the patient to shock him again when suddenly the patient morphed into Lydia. She jumped back in surprise. As she looked around she noticed she was the only one who had reacted to the change.
"Eva," Lydia said.
"Pressure's dropping," the nurse told Eva.
"Waffediyok, Eva," Lydia told her niece.
"Aunt Lydia?" Eva cried.
"Waffediyok," Lydia repeated as Eva moved back away from the table in shock.
"Dr. Kalderash?" the nurse asked looking at Eva with concern. "Are you alright?"
Eva watched as Lydia morphed back into her patient.
The nurse turned back to the patient and looked at the monitors. "No ventricular rhythm. She's flat. Call the code," she instructed Eva.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Eva slowly walked out into the emergency and leaned against the reception desk as Lydia wheeled by her.
"No," Eva sobbed upon seeing her aunt's body. "Aunt Lydia? Oh my god." Tears began to flow down her face as Lydia was wheeled off. "Oh my god."
Buffy walked over to Eva and took the woman into her arms as the mother within her told her to be there for the person who had lost the last remaining member of her family. She held Eva for a few moments as Eva sobbed into her shoulder. "Come on, sit down," she whispered as Eva nodded. She led the last of the Kalderash clan to a chair and helped her to sit down.
"I saw..." Eva said as she looked up at Buffy for the first time since she had yelled at the blonde Slayer earlier. She realized in that instance she had never been angry with Buffy. She had been angry that her mother had left her. "She came to me. Mulo," she told them as Dawn pulled a tissue out of her purse and handed it to Eva who smiled appreciatively.
"Mulo?" Paige wondered looking at her mother for an explanation.
"The living dead," Buffy answered. "I've never seen it myself. But from what I've heard if a Romani has a strong connection to someone they can astral project to that person at the very instance of death."
Eva nodded as she continued to stare at Buffy. "I never believed in it before," she admitted.
"It's okay, just tell us what happened," Piper said.
Eva nodded as she thought back to her patient. "It was a code blue. My patient, she died..." she explained. "And then it was Aunt Lydia. Nobody else saw. I thought I was going crazy."
"I am sorry," Buffy told the woman.
Eva shook her head as she looked at the blonde Slayer. "No, you have nothing to be sorry for, Buffy. For none of it. Not for this and not for my mom." She sighed and smiled at the blonde Slayer. "In this instance this is my fault. Aunt Lydia tried to warn me this morning, I didn't believe her."
Dawn shook her head, "No, it's not your fault," she admitted looking at her sister. She remembered when her mom had been much like Eva. It had been just before Buffy had runaway to L.A. for the entire summer. "You had your reasons to be skeptical. Believe me Buffy and I both know how that can be."
"Dawn's right," Buffy agreed. "When I told our mom that I was the Slayer, she reacted badly. She kicked me out of the house. It took her time to come to terms with it."
"So was she trying to tell you something?" Faith asked.
Eva shrugged. She wasn't sure as she couldn't clearly remember the experience due to her shock at the time of seeing Lydia's astral body. "I don't know, I don't remember much," she admitted. "I do know a Mulo is a bad omen. It means that something horrible is about to happen."
"Well, it shouldn't, we vanquished Cree," Paige said looking at her family.
"What about Oren?" Piper wondered.
"It has to be him," Eva admitted thinking about her aunt's warning. "I mean, that's what she was trying to tell me. She was trying to warn me again. My Romanian is weak but I think she was saying something about him trying to take her power away."
"Well, how can he take her power now that she's...?" Dawn said clearly confused.
Eva shrugged, she had no idea. "I don't know," she admitted. "I wish I knew what Waffediyok meant. She kept saying that."
"We should go to Lydia's apartment," Paige suggested as she looked at Phoebe. "Maybe you could get a prem..."
Phoebe shook her head. "No," she objected. "We need more vanquishing potion. I'm going to go back to the house and try to remember what she used."
"But Phoebe, we could really use your power." Paige countered.
"I'm not the only one who can get premonitions, Paige," Phoebe reminded her sister.
"The Slayer side of me tends to pick and choose what it shows me," Buffy replied with a sigh. "It surprises me that I even saw the same premonition you did."
"Well mom, it's worth a try anyways," Phoebe countered. She looked toward her brother-in-law and her aunt. "Aunt Faith, Leo, can one of you take me home?"
Leo nodded. "Sure," he said as he led Phoebe from the hospital.
"Aunt?" Eva said confused.
"It's kind of a complicated explanation," Buffy admitted. "You see in my past life, I was Piper, Phoebe and Paige's mother. They have come to see me as such despite the fact that I am not in reality related to them. And as a result since Dawn is my sister…"
"They see her as their aunt," Eva said in understanding.
"And because Faith is my wife," Dawn added as Eva nodded. "So what should we do now?"
Eva shrugged, she didn't have the foggiest idea. "Theresa would know."
Theresa's Apartment
Eva draped a black veil over a photo of Madame Theresa and Lydia. "Gypsy custom," she admitted. "Covering the photos of the dead."
Buffy smiled. Ever since they had arrived at the apartment she had not stepped one foot from Eva's side. The mother in her wanting to offer Eva as much comfort as she could. "Looks like you're remembering more and more of those customs," she said. "I know your mom was, I think I remember hearing her says she was technopagan…"
Eva laughed. "That sounds like her," she admitted. "She was always looking at how to take our heritage into the future." She looked at the blonde Slayer and smiled. "After mom died, all that was left was Theresa and Aunt Lydia. Aunt Lydia knew more about the customs than anyone. She was, I think the term used by Uncle Enyos was Elder Woman. She always made sure that traditions were passed down from mother to daughter. Of course my mom tried to pass them down in her own way, contrary to the way Uncle Enyos believed they should have been passed down."
"And then she was sent to keep watch over Angel." Buffy said and Eva nodded. "I know you said you don't blame me for her death. But I blame me for her death. I don't blame your family one bit. At the time sure I was angry at them, but it wasn't their fault. If I had been more responsible. I would not have given Angel is one moment of true happiness and he would not have lost his soul and he would not have killed your mother."
"You shouldn't blame yourself," Eva said as she smiled at the blonde Slayer. "My family is just as much at fault. From what Aunt Lydia told me, mom didn't even know about the clause in his curse. How could she tell you what she herself didn't know. So don't blame yourself, I don't. I never did. When I yelled at you earlier, it was because it brought up the pain and the anger that I held for my mom, leaving me."
"We all know that anger," Paige admitted. "I was angry at my adoptive parents for leaving me."
"I was angry for my big sister leaving me," Piper added.
"I was angry at Buffy for leaving me," Dawn said as Eva looking at her in confusion. "Technically speaking. Buffy has died twice. The first time she was revived by CPR and was only gone a minute. The second time a very powerful progenitor cast a personal gain spell that brought my sister back to me five months after she died. Our point is, it's alright to be angry at the ones you love for leaving you."
Eva nodded as she looked at the family before her. She turned to Buffy. "If you do not mind…"
"I would be happy to, Eva," Buffy told the woman knowing exactly what Eva wanted, a family. She looked at her sister. "That is if my sister doesn't mind being an aunt again."
"I think that is a greatidea, Buffy," Dawn replied smiling at her sister.
Eva smiled as she looked at the Summers sisters. She might not be able to carry on all of her family's traditions. But she could at least carry on her new adopted family's traditions.
It was then Paige found an antique chest while looking through a closet. "Look at this, it's so beautiful," she said as she pulled it out.
"Let me see that," Eva said as Paige handed her the chest. "It was my mother's. I can't believe Theresa kept it."
Paige smiled, "Yeah, well, maybe she was just saving it for a special kind of day."
Eva looked at Buffy and handed the chest to her adopted mother. "It would be fitting she said if you would do the honors." Buffy smiled as she opened the chest. "My mother called it her treasure chest. It's where she kept precious things," she explained as Buffy pulled out a photo.
"Is this you and Ms. Calendar?" Dawn asked looking at the picture from beside her sister.
Eva looked at the picture and smiled. "It is," she answered.
Buffy smiled. "She was so beautiful. I had almost forgotten what she looked like."
Eva nodded as she tears rolled down her cheeks as she took the picture from Buffy. "She made us matching dresses for Christmas. She worked so hard to finish them in time," she said as Buffy hugged her.
"I know it's hard. My mom and dad died ten years ago and there are still a lot of boxes that I can't open." Paige said.
"Mine and Buffy's mom passed away a little over a year a half ago," Dawn added as she reached across her sister to pat her adopted niece's hand. "I will agree with Paige it is hard to lose a parent. It's even harder when you lose them to something supernatural as you did, Eva."
Buffy pulled out a book from the chest and smiled before handing it to Eva. "I think you might be able to learn some of your family's traditions from this."
Eva flipped through the book and nodded, Buffy was right. "Recipes, herbal remedies and gypsy spells." She smiled at Buffy. "I think you're right."
"And I will help you learn anything you want." Buffy told her adopted daughter. "I don't know everything about being Romani but I did learn some stuff after your mother passed away, Eva."
"I would like that," Eva said as she wiped away a tear. "But since I want to see myself as part of your family. I hope you will teach me some of your traditions as well."
"I would like that," Buffy smiled.
Faith had been standing before her sister Slayer and pulled out a necklace from the chest. "B, doesn't this look familiar?" she asked as she held up the necklace.
Buffy looked at the necklace and nodded. "It does."
Eva smiled recognizing the necklace. "That's our family talisman, the evil eye." She looked at Buffy. "I would like you to have it."
Buffy smiled as she took the necklace from Faith. "I remember your mom used to wear one just like it."
"Your family symbol is evil?" Piper questioned in surprise.
Eva smiled. "Only to those who it wishes harm," she explained looking at the eldest Halliwell sister. "Many feared the evil eye but our family was said to be protected by it. The folklore said that the keeper of the eye could use it to magnify or channel her powers."
Buffy studied the necklace, turning it over in her hand. She saw the inscription on the back. "I don't think this is folklore," she told Eva as she handed the woman the necklace. "Look at this inscription."
"Waffediyok," Eva said reading the inscription. "That's the evil eye."
"I think Lydia was the keeper," Buffy admitted as Eva stood and moved behind her. She felt her hair pulled back and Eva hung the necklace around her neck. "I think she conjured up that dust storm and I think that is what Cree was after."
"So he wasn't taking Shuvanis eyes just out of revenge," Piper admitted. "He wanted the evil eye."
Eva nodded. "And Oren still wants it."
Halliwell Manor
Phoebe stood at the stove making a potion as her brother-in-law spoke to his wife on the phone.
"Okay, Piper, just be careful," Leo said as he ended the call. "They're going to the morgue."
Phoebe threw in some turmeric and the potion exploded. "Done," she said. "Can you pass me the ice?"
"Sure." He handed a container of ice. "Maybe we should follow them, see if you can get a premonition," Leo suggested.
"They have someone who can do that, Leo," Phoebe countered. "Mom can get them the premonition. After all it was my sorry excuse for a premonition that put Lydia in the morgue in the first place."
"First of all," Leo said shaking his head. "The Slayer side of Buffy isn't the most reliable for premonitions. How often since she became part of this family has she received a premonition from the Slayer side of her?"
"Twice," Phoebe answered with a sigh.
"Exactly," Leo replied. "And secondly, Phoebe, we lose innocents. As was the case with Faith and Tara earlier today." She looked at him surprised. "Yes, Tara's innocent died, Tara was unable to prevent her death. So in regards to our innocent, it's not your fault. I think if anyone's to blame, it's Cole."
"What?" she asked confused on how her ex-husband was at fault. "He's out of town. For the first time he's actually not plaguing my life."
"Which is what gave you the time to find out something was wrong with your powers to begin with," he explained. "You dove into your work originally to escape the pain and you dealt with it fine, but you haven't slowed down. You went from one obsession to another. The only person that would have likely truly noticed is…"
"Aunt Dawn," Phoebe answered knowing he was right. "Because she's my assistant. I wonder why she didn't say anything."
"Likely because she has something taking up her own time," Leo reminded his sister-in-law.
"Her daughter," Phoebe said in understanding as the phone rang.
Neither of them moved to answer the phone as the answering machine answered it instead.
"Phoebe, it's Elise! Where are you?! Phoebe?" came Elise's voice from the answering machine.
Phoebe raced over and picked up the phone. "Elise?" she said. "Okay, just listen to me for a second, okay? Look, I'm sorry but I have a major family emergency."
"More important than your career?" Elise asked.
"Well, yeah, of course my career is important to me but my family is more important," Phoebe told her boss.
"Get your butt in here now!"
Phoebe rolled her eyes as she hung up the phone. "Thank you," she told her brother-in-law.
Leo smiled. "You're welcome," he said as Paige and Faith orbed in with Buffy, Dawn, Piper and Eva.
"We were too late, Oren got the evil eye," Piper reluctantly admitted.
"The evil eye?" Phoebe asked confused.
Paige nodded. "Yeah, Lydia's eyes have the power," she explained.
"That's what she was trying to tell me," Eva said as she motioned toward the necklace that still hung around Buffy's neck.
"Wait, I hope you have that potion ready 'cause we're going to need it big time," Paige said.
Phoebe's touched the necklace that hung from her mother's neck and she was pulled into a premonition. And as she was pulled into it, Buffy was pulled into it as well thanks to the Slayer side of her powers.
"Phoebe, Buffy, are you okay?" Dawn said seeing the similar reactions.
"Premonition," Buffy admitted.
"Major premonition," Phoebe added. "Mom and I are in the future."
"Let them go." Leo said when he noticed to Piper and Dawn moving toward their respective sisters.
Buffy and Phoebe looked at each other and realized they were seeing through their own eyes in the premonition. They saw that Dawn, Piper, Faith and Leo were standing around the Book of Shadows.
Before them Oren appeared and Piper threw the potion vial at him. He caught it and then crushed it in his grasp. He then shot green beams of light at Piper and Dawn burning holes in their chests killing them.
Faith and Leo lunged at Oren, who grabbed first Faith and then Leo snapping their necks and killing them. He then turned toward Buffy and Phoebe and shot two more beams of light at them burning holes in their chests.
Buffy and Phoebe both fell backward into their respective sisters arms, holes burned into their chests.
"Leo!" Dawn cried as she saw the wounds.
Leo rushed to them and held one hand over Buffy's wound and the other hand over Phoebe's wound. The golden light of healing sprang forth from his hands and he healed them both. "It's okay, it's okay," he told them.
"What happened?" Faith asked looking at her sister-in-law.
"The Slayer hates me," Buffy sighed as she and Phoebe led them into the conservatory where they could sit down. "Three premonitions in the span of one month and each one has gotten worse than the one before it."
"It's been so long that my powers advanced," Phoebe said after she and Buffy had explained what they had seen. "And boy did they advance."
"To the point where they almost got you and Buffy killed," Leo said.
"I don't get it," Dawn said. "First of all how can Buffy keep seeing Phoebe's premonitions? And second how can they be at risk in the present when they were witnessing a future event?"
"I think I may know, on the second one," Buffy answered. "We astral projected into our future bodies."
"And on the first question," Faith said. "I think I understand. The Slayer is the culprit. It wanted Buffy to see them for a reason. Maybe it has something to do with the, From Beneath You it Devours?"
"So your saying Oren could be somehow working with whatever is happening in Sunnydale?" Buffy asked.
"I'd say that is possible," Leo agreed with Faith's thinking. "Maybe not even directly. Think about it. Whatever is going down there. Take you two out and …"
"It could turn the tide of the battle," Buffy said in agreement. "Which means it could be influencing, even indirectly, whatever comes after us."
"Okay, it's really great that Phoebe's powers have advanced," Paige said. "And we'll talk about that later, right after we make sure there is a later."
"Paige is right," Dawn agreed. "Because so far that premonition has shown none of us survive."
Eva sighed looking at her adopted mother and aunt. "Now that Oren has the evil eye, I'd say our best chances of survival is to run and hide," she told them.
"So the vanquishing potion had no effect?" Faith asked.
Phoebe nodded. "He didn't even flinch."
"Aunt Dawn is right you know," Piper sighed in resignation. "Your new and improved premonitions are just a more vivid way of telling us that we're screwed."
"No their not," Buffy countered. "The premonitions themselves may have changed. But the reason Phoebe gets hers hasn't changed. Even though mine kind of has. My Slayer dreams, which of late isn't so much just dreams anymore, has always just been about foreshadowing, warning me of what's to come. But Phoebe's has always been about changing the outcome."
"But how?" Eva asked.
"I think I have an idea," Dawn said as she led them upstairs to the attic.
"Isn't it a bit suicidal to be walking into the room Phoebe seen us die in?" Piper asked her aunt.
"Yes, except we have something Phoebe's premonition didn't," Dawn explained. "We have Eva."
"How am I supposed to make a difference?" Eva wondered.
Dawn smiled. "Well, my newest niece, in the premonition witchcraft alone wasn't enough to vanquish Oren, but I think witchcraft plus Romani magic will be."
Eva looked Dawn in complete confusion. "But I don't know any gypsy magic," she reminded her adopted aunt.
"Well, you have it inside you, you were born with it," Dawn reminded Eva. "After all your clan has had magic going back over a hundred at the very least. Why else would you have received Lydia's warning?"
"Even if you're right, Aunt Dawn, I can't defeat Oren on my own," Eva told the younger woman.
Dawn smiled, "You won't need to, you can just call upon your ancestors," she said as she flipped through the book to the Source vanquishing spell. "Here's a spell we've used before, just substitute the names listed here for those of your Romani family members."
"Um, okay. Here goes," Eva said as she began to chant. "Kalderash gypsies stand strong beside me..."
Oren appeared behind them as Piper turned and threw the potion at him. Just like in the premonition he caught and destroyed it. "Keep saying the spell," Piper ordered.
"Janna, Enyos, Theresa, Lydia..." Eva continued as Oren shot a green beam of light at Piper and Dawn burning a hole through their chests.
"Kalderash gypsies stand strong beside us, vanquish this evil from time and space." Buffy, Paige, Phoebe and Faith joined Eva in the chant. "Kalderash gypsies stand strong beside us, vanquish this evil from time and space. Kalderash gypsies stand strong beside us, vanquish this evil from time and space." In that instance Kalderash spirits began flying around Eva, her adopted mother and Phoebe, Paige and Faith. "Kalderash gypsies stand strong beside us, vanquish this evil from time and space."
Oren shot green beams of light at the them but the spirits shielded them reflecting the beams of light back at him vanquishing him.
"Piper, Aunt Dawn," Phoebe and Paige cried as they raced over to the two women just as Leo finished healing them.
Buffy smiled at her adult adopted. "I'm proud of you, you did it."
"My mother," Eva said looking at Buffy who nodded. "You felt her too, didn't you."
"I did," Buffy replied having felt the love and forgiveness that Jenny Calendar aka Janna Kalderash felt for the Slayer. "I think our dynamic might have changed just a tad."
Eva nodded in agreement. She had felt the love her mother held for the Slayer. "She saw you as a daughter."
"Which makes us, not mother and daughter, but sisters," Buffy said as she smiled. "Bound together by your mother's love for us both."
Dawn looked at her sister and smiled. "And here I was looking forward to having a new niece. But I think having a new sister would be much better," she admitted as Eva laughed and hugged her.
Eva looked to her former adopted mother turned adopted sister and smiled as she pulled Buffy into her arms. "Will you tell me about our mother?"
Buffy nodded. "What I know of her, yes, I would be happy too."
October 23, 2002 – Wednesday
Summers Home, Sunnydale
Tara, Willow, and Xander sat in the living room in silence, until Willow finally spoke, "How's her mom?"
"Okay," Tara replied. "As okay as...she told me that her family had a history of heart irregularities. But she never told Cassie."
"Cassie didn't know?" Willow repeated. "Then it was fate."
"I think she was going to die, no matter what, wasn't she?" Xander observed quietly. "Didn't matter what you did."
Racked with guilt, Tara murmured, "She just knew. She was special. I failed her."
"No, you didn't, baby," Willow told her girlfriend. "You listened and you tried. She died because of her heart, not because of you. As Faith said about their innocent in San Francisco, not all innocents can be saved."
"So what then?" Tara asked her girlfriend, her friend, asked the walls, asked her own heart. "What do you do when you know that? When you know that maybe you can't help?"
October 24, 2002 – Thursday
Sunnydale High School
In the morning, Tara got up, got dressed, and went to her office at the high school. She had realized that it didn't matter if she knew that she couldn't help. What mattered was she had to keep trying.
October 24, 2002 – Thursday
Gypsy Encampment
People were waiting outside a small building waiting their turn to see the doctor including Faith, Dawn, Piper and Phoebe. The door opened and Eva stepped out with her stethoscope around her neck. "Who's next?" she asked.
"We are!" Piper said as a pregnant woman beside her glared at her. "Well, not really but we'll make it super quick. Hey, how you doing?" And that was when she noticed what was stenciled onto Eva's scrubs…Eva Kalderash-Summers. It appeared to Piper that Eva was acknowledging both her birth family as well as her new adopted family.
"Fine. Hectic," Eva admitted. "I can only make it here after my hospital shift."
"Hectic is good, just as long as it's not too hectic," Phoebe said remembering how hectic her life had been.
Eva smiled. "Well, I think I have my priorities in order," she admitted. "And helping out gypsies who don't have health care is definitely one of them."
Dawn smiled. "Good for you," she said as her sister and Paige stepped out of the building.
"Eva, did Mrs. Vasila get her tetanus shot?" Paige asked looking at her clipboard.
"Paige? Maaa…" Piper started before looking at the other patients. "…Buffy." She was obviously surprised to see them there.
Buffy smiled. "Hey, Piper."
"What are you two doing?" Piper asked.
"Buffy's been helping our new sister learn about our family and teaching her about her own heritage," Dawn explained.
"And I've been, you know, just pitching in, helping out. Did I ever mention that I..." Paige said.
"Have no life. Yeah." Piper and Phoebe replied with a nod in understanding.
"I've actually been helping out a little too," Buffy said. "I've hired a manager…" She looked at Faith. "Speaking of, aren't you supposed to be there, right now?"
"I closed down the gallery, after all our next showing doesn't start till Monday," Faith answered.
Buffy nodded. The gallery might lose one of two customers from shutting down a few hours early. But Faith was right, the majority of their business will come from the showing next week.
Eva smiled. "Paige and Buffy have been great. Quick starters too," she explained.
"You should see all the folk remedies the gypsies have," Paige said excitedly. "Some of them are even better than western medicine."
"Really? Any of them help with my nauseousness?" Piper wondered.
"Ooh I would like to know the answer to that myself," Dawn added.
"Well, it's funny you both should ask," Faith said as she and Phoebe pulled Dawn and Piper toward the door.
"W-Where are you two going?" Piper asked looking at her aunt and sister.
"You both don't want to be late for your appointment now, do you?" Paige asked with a wry smile.
"What appointment?" Piper asked confused.
"Your appointment with Eva," Phoebe told her sister. "Meet your new doctor."
"O-O-Oh..." Piper laughed.
"I have a doctor though," Dawn reminded her wife as she looked at Faith's hand on her arm.
"Yes and Dr. Carpenter has been great," Faith told her wife. "But it doesn't hurt to have someone else on call as needed."
"Also, Eva is going to teach us how to be your midwives," Buffy added.
"Midwives? No! See, because I'm not having this thing naturally." Piper objected as Phoebe made breathing noises. "No. I need lots and lots of western medicine."
"I second that," Dawn agreed. "I want an epidural, I want a sterile hospital."
"Piper...Dawn…" Eva said as she, Faith, Phoebe, Buffy and Paige laughed.
"No offense," Piper and Dawn admitted.
Eva smiled. "Piper, you know, I trusted you to carry on my heritage, now you can trust me to carry on yours," she said. Then she turned and looked at her adopted sister. "And Dawn." She tapped the named stitched into her scrubs.
Dawn nodded and smiled. She looked at Faith who nodded as and released her arm. Dawn glanced at Phoebe as she took Piper's arm. She began pulling Piper into the trailer as Piper pointed at her sisters and Faith who smiled at them as Eva followed by Buffy entered the building and Buffy closed the door behind them.