I hate writing filler episodes and this, I'm afraid, is essentially what this is. The Sunnydale scenes are the filler for this episode's storyline and this episode's storyline is filler and set-up for the rest of the reason as I'm just reaffirming Tara's role in the events to come and where Spike's at and so on. But Same Time Same Place is much better, so much fun writing that one right now.

Rabidreject- Also happy to brighten up your work day, hehe. And yes, Wolfram and Hart will definitely be mucho showing with who else but Lilah. However, not coming into play for a while yet so you'll just have to wait it out, hehe. And don't worry, we get some Tara and Willow stuff in this chapte and they will be back on the Hellmouth same time, same place.

g120-Glad you liking it so far, even if it is only the opener. hehe. And yes, Buffy still grossed out by them on a basic parents-are-asexual level but other that, I think you're right. Buffy's very happy everything turned out the way it did (plus it means Giles mithers her less about traning...)

zigpal- Yay, my claps! And well, actually in this season Joyce, or rather the concept of Joyce if that makes sense, will end up being quite a key player so watch this space...

"Buffy, honey, wake up. Honey, it's just a dream"

Buffy slowly stirred from her nightmare, vaguely aware that she was being shook gently on the arm by her Mother and that it was still dark outside. Still the early hours of the morning.

"Hmm? What? Mom?" Buffy frowned in sleep ridden confusion. She could hear the sound of a baby crying. "What happened? I heard screaming"

"That was you," Joyce informed her, "You were having a nightmare"

"Oh...did I wake Lily up?" Buffy asked, realizing where the crying was coming from.

"Just a little," Joyce nodded, "But it's fine, Rupert's seeing to her. Are you okay?"

"Yeah...it's just..." Buffy shook her head as if it clear it, "It was bad..."

"What were you dreaming about?"

"That's just it," Buffy said, "I'm not sure it was a dream. It seemed so real"

"Dreams always do," Joyce told her knowingly, "You'll feel better about it in the morning"

"Mmm..." Buffy half-heartedly agreed, murmuring to herself the words the German girl had said to her after her grisly and untimely death, "From beneath you...it devours..."

Thousands and thousands and yet more thousands of miles away in a house in England, Tara woke up with a start in bed for the sixth night in a row.

"Oh goddess..." She gasped, trying to shake away the horrific images but knowing she would never be able to.

"Tara?" Willow asked, waking up also and seeing her lover's face, she instantly knew what was going on, "It happened again didn't it?"

"There's so many of them Willow..." Tara said sadly, "So many young girls...and they're all going to die...goddess...and no one knows how to stop it. No one will"

"Pancakes with a choice of syrups? Toast? With Jelly and Butter choices? Also Lucky Charms cereal, therefore better than average? Ooh, and also non breakfast foods. Sticky buns, donuts?" Buffy asked, sounding utterly intrigued as she came into the kitchen and saw the breakfast choicage, "What's the occasion?"

"You," Joyce replied simply, "This is the first day of your brand new job and I feel it should be celebrated accordingly,"

"With sticky buns?" Buffy checked, "I approve," She grinned, reaching for a bun eagerly, but stopped pulling it back towards her when she noticed Lily, only now just big enough to sit in her high chair- much to her parents' relief as, when in the kitchen they no longer needed to carry her constantly, thus freeing both their hands- watched Buffy bun-holding hand with intense curiosity. "Lily?" She asked, but her youngest sister's gaze remained fixed on the sticky bun and didn't even glance over at Buffy. Buffy, understandably unnerved by this attitude, turned to her Mom for answers, "Erm...Mom? What's the deal?"

"Oh," Joyce laughed a little as she saw what Lily was doing, "She just wants what you're having," She explained, "But she's not ready for solids yet, are you?" She reached round, kissing Lily on each side of her neck causing the baby to giggle and wriggle away, an action which only prompted Joyce to do it again, at which point Dawn, ready on time for once, came into the kitchen, her eyes lighting up as she saw the array of foods.

"Wow," She commented, "Banquet Breakfast"

"Yeah, and totally all mine," Buffy told her pointedly, but her younger sister completely ignored her, as usual, and reached for a bottle of syrup and a plate of warm pancakes.

"Let me guess," Dawn said, "New Job Breakfast?" She asked, putting down a half eaten pancake to walk around her Mom and over to Lily who had been looking in such an adorable way that she had found the attention irresistible and now went to lift her up out of her seat and pick her up.

"Totally," Buffy nodded in confirmation, eating another sticky bun. Thank god Slaying burned calories at a super quick rate otherwise Buffy, with her terrible 'eat what ever I feel like as much as I can' attitude, would be entirely screwed.

"You know," Joyce said looking at Dawn holding Lily and essentially mollycoddling her- playing with her and pulling faces to make her laugh, "You and Rupert are as bad as each other. Is it too much to ask for either of you to leave her in one place for more than sixty seconds?"

"Yep," Dawn told her simply, punctuating the statement with a sharp nod.

"So, looking forward to me joining you at school Dawnie?" Buffy teased, but her sister just smiled excitedly at the reminder.

"Yeah, I mean it's like cool," Dawn told her, "I mean you'll be like there with me, in case anything weird or bad or all of the above happens, you're like right there with me the whole time," Dawn's smile suddenly faded as she switched her tone entirely without warning and became deadly serious, "You understand you can never talk to me, look at me, or hang out anywhere near my friends, right?"

"What? You're just going to pretend you don't have a sister?" Buffy scoffed in disbelief.

"Between the hours of nine and three? Yes," Dawn nodded and Buffy was too shocked in response to actually verbalize a reply.

"Welcome to my world," Joyce grinned wryly, enjoying seeing someone else on the other end of 'admit to your existence at school and my world will dissolve' lecture.

"It's just you'll be there and it'll be so embarrassing if you talk to me," Dawn explained, "Coz friends, potential friends, enemies, potential enemies will all think I'm this big baby of a freak who needs parenting all the time..."

"What?" Buffy yelped at what her younger sister was implying, "I'm not Mom!"

"No," Dawn admitted as she put Lily carefully back in her seat, kissing her once she was settled so she wouldn't get that now-well-known expression of 'you're abandoning me now aren't you?', "but you're like Mini-Mom. Which means equal opportunity for you to embarrass me."

"Mini Mom?" Buffy squeaked in horror, "I'm not mini-mom. I'm cool sister person. The cool older sister whom everyone wants to be related to"

"Yeah," Dawn agreed sarcastically, "So cool she says 'whom'"

"Okay, shut up," Buffy mumbled sadly, looking forlornly down at her plate and, seeing it was empty and feeling in need of some comfort food, pulled some pancakes towards her.

"I'm sorry," Dawn apologized, "I just, you know, don't want my big sister humiliating me five days a week"

"Hey this job is only part time," Buffy pointed out, "If you wanna get humiliated Tuesdays and Thursdays you're on your own"

"So, are we going now?" Dawn asked her Mom, choosing to ignore Buffy's comment.

"Well, actually I'm not taking you," Joyce told her.

"What? Why not?"

"Well, Rupert had to sort something out at the store so he's taken the car. But erm, Xander should be here to pick you two up in a minute"

"Ooh, with his grown-up car and his ties?" Dawn grinned.

"Yeah," Buffy nodded, "Xander has definitely become all...adultish. He's not like Xander, guy who can build things. He's now Alexander Harris; Man with a Tie"

"Besides," Joyce said, referring back to how the two of them were going to get to Sunnydale High, "I'm sure one Mom in the car will be enough for you Dawn, without me there as well" She joked with an amused grin and Buffy just scowled at her.

"You're enjoying mocking me way too much" She told her, before whining again about what Dawn had called her, "I'm not Momish...is it the hair? Because I can change the hair"

"Tara...you look simply stunning,"

Tara looked down at her gown. It was white and gold- the exact color she remembered the magics being before they had been drained into her being, pouring through her. Other than that there was nothing special about the gown nothing at all.

She was stood outside in Giles' garden. The one at his flat in bath. Flat he had called it, but Tara really couldn't describe it as 'flat', she seriously couldn't. She looked around, searching through the shadows of the night, the stars above giving very little, as she tried to find the source of the voice. See the person who had paid her that compliment. She saw nothing.

"Show yourself," She commanded, waving a hand and all the bushes and trees parted in a spectacular pattern to reveal her admirer. And as he stepped into the open, revealing himself completely she gasped in shock and horror. It couldn't possibly be him. It couldn't.

"Warren..." She whispered the name. This was the man Willow had killed. The reason they were here in England at all.

"That's me, baby," Warren grinned, but there was none of the threatening undertone that he always carried with him when he was alive. This Warren was friendly, kind and that unnerved Tara more than anything else he could have done.

"You don't belong here," She told him simply.

"Everybody's gotta belong somewhere," He told her, walking forward, "And right now, I belong here. With you."

"A-are you coming on to me?" Tara asked, stuttering slightly, "Because I should tell you now that there are two things that erm, make that not work. One, I don't date murderers and two, I'm kinda gay"

"I'm not interested in you in that way," Warren laughed, "Though you're a hottie don't get me wrong. It's your power I'm into babes. It's coming off you in waves" He brushed along her arm with his hand lightly, but she shrugged away from him, disgusted by his touch.

"Get away from here," She commanded him, "You don't belong here."

"Aww," Warren pretended to pout, his menace from life coming back to him slightly now, "Why don't you like me?"

"Because you're a murderer," Tara replied, "And whatever punishment you're to get in the afterlife for that is what I think you're avoiding right now"

"I'm a murderer?" Warren seemed shocked by the title, "Me? Now there's the pot calling the kettle black. What about you?"

"What about me?"

"Well, hello? Murderer here too," He gestured at her in annoyance, "You're just as bad as me"

"I've never killed anyone." Tara said simply, "You intended to kill Buffy, you almost killed Dawn and I know that you killed Katrina"

"Killing someone, letting someone die- it's pretty much the same thing right?" Warren asked her in mock puzzlement, "Coz see," He laughed casually though it was evident it was only for pretense, "last time I checked you did exactly that"

"After all I did for you Tara..." A female voice said from behind and Tara spun around from Warren to see Joyce now stood on her other side. She looked sad and hurt. She looked betrayed, "I was always there for you. I know you didn't have the best upbringing, the best family and I always felt for you so much because of that. It just wasn't fair. You were such a lovely girl, yet so withdrawn because of your past." Joyce shrugged in slight embarrassment, "I know it was probably presumptuous of me- I know you did love your Mom- but I wanted to become a Mother to you, like I had for the others. I took you under my wing, I helped you through your separation from Willow. I was always there for you. I love you like I love my own daughters. That wasn't just me being silly was it?"

"No," Tara hurried to reassure her, "I do love you too- you are like a Mom to me. I trust you completely and everything-"

"Then when didn't you help me?" Joyce asked sadly, "When I needed it the most?"

"What?" Tara asked quietly with a frown.

"I was dying Tara," Joyce told her, "In fact, unless the doctors and everyone else are pulling my leg, I died that night...and you...you didn't help. When you could have. That hurt so much Tara. What if they hadn't have saved me? You would have had Buffy, Dawn and Lily all without a Mother? Just because you wouldn't help me" Too upset to speak anymore, Joyce sank into a seat in one of the garden benches, looking sadly at the ground, holding back tears of betrayal that seemed to wrench Tara apart with guilt.

"See," Warren said, coming up behind her as they both looked on at Joyce, "You and me- we're just alike"

Tara sat up straight in bed, having shocked herself awake. She wondered what a loud sound was for a moment, until she realized it was her own heavy breathing. Beside her, Willow stirred.

"Baby, did you have another dream about those girls?" She asked.

"No," Tara replied, "This was something else"

The first free, not-being-watched-by-Robin-Wood moment she had, Buffy had slipped out of her office, or rather, that is, her little cubicle and headed along the corridor swiftly until she reached the basement door. She knew Spike was down there, remembered the awful state he had been in when her Mom had found him and she made a decision there and then. She pulled open the door and slipped inside before any teachers or students could see her.

"Spike?" She called out gently, as she walked along the dark basement corridors. The place was a little wiggy admittedly, and not just because it was a dark and dank Hellmouth basement where she had fought fake zombies just last week. No, she could feel something here, something strong, powerful, brewing. Something evil. She shivered, pushing away the instinct to run and braved on, calling out Spike's name. Yet, no matter how far she looked, no matter how much she called, she couldn't find him. Realizing she had been gone almost twenty minutes, she knew she could no longer keep on looking and had to return to work.

"Tara? Tara?" Tara dimly heard her name being called, but she wasn't really paying attention. She was sat on the grass, exactly where she had been stood in her first dream, looking out on the fantastic view beyond. "Tara?" The person called again and she eventually turned to see Willow stood next to her. "Are you still thinking about those dreams?" She asked, taking a seat beside her. Ever since a few nights ago when Tara had first had that dream in which Warren had spoken to her, every time Tara fell asleep anywhere- even if she just drifted off on the bus into town- she fell back into the dream. But it was never the exact same dream, rather it was a continuation. But it always involved Warren, it always involved Joyce, mostly involved Dawn, sometimes Buffy and very rarely she would see Spike. It was the Spike ones that freaked her out the most; they were so unnerving. Those were the ones where power was the focal topic of the dream. Warren would speak of her own grand power, how it was borrowed and had no chance to stand against a greater thing that was coming, coming for them all.

"Something's coming for us Willow," Tara replied in answer to her question.

"Whatever it is we'll deal," Willow replied supportively, leaning her head lovingly on Tara's shoulder, "We always do. And the coven have been helping us...well you anyway. Me, they're just afraid of."

"They're not afraid of you," Tara instantly reassured her, but Willow was far from convinced.

"No, they just look at me that way because they're not sure how to ask me for a game of Life" Her voice dripped with sarcasm.

Tara gave Willow a look that was a mixture between lovingly amused and well-practiced patience. A moment later she became somber again.

"Willow, you rely a lot on those women don't you?" She asked, continuing to look out on the view and not at her girlfriend. Willow looked on in the same direction as though attempting to see the same view that Tara was experiencing would grant her access into her mind and her thoughts.

"I rely on you more," She finally answered honestly, but it evidently wasn't the answer Tara wished to hear as she shook her head in the negative.

"No, I mean...they've helped you a lot haven't they? Really helped you cope...to develop your powers"

"Well, yeah," Willow admitted with a nod, "Well they are the best in the biz," She grinned cheesily, but Tara didn't smile back but merely looked at her seriously, searching her face with more than just her eyes, her entire soul seemed to be looking for an answer in Willow.

"You still need their guidance, you're not finished here," She finally stated firmly.

"Then why are you going to tell me to get ready to leave?" Willow asked warmly, reading Tara like an well-read open book.

"Willow...whether I believe what they say about me in these dreams or not isn't really the point...because either way it says something's coming. You've felt it too, the seer told me"

"I haven't felt much...just an occasional hellmouthy grumble," Willow explained but she could tell Tara's mind was made up. She may appear shy and reserved most of the time to everyone else back in Sunnydale, but Willow knew the woman to be a lot more stubborn than any of them realized.

"Willow, if something is coming...and it's as bad as we all feel it is, then here's not where we need to be," Tara pointed, "We need to be back in Sunnydale, where we can really help"

"B-but..." Willow found it hard to make eye contact with Tara as she admitted to what her real fears were, and they were nothing to do with the big brewing evil, "what if I'm not ready to go back? What if I go within a mile radius of that place with the big gnashing evil teeth and I just go back to how I was? With the black hair, pale skin, veiny look- I mean you can't say that turns you on."

"Willow"

"Yes?" Will replied weakly at the simple statement of her name

"You're ready to go back"

It was moments like this that made the being woken up in the middle of the night barely an issue, the constant worry over going through it all again disappear and any other problems they were concerned about facing ceasing to exist. When things were very much simple and easy and your youngest child found the most amusing thing in the world to be chewing on her Father's glasses, or rather since Lily had only just begun teeth and had yet to show any little white teeth, she was sucking on the glasses which she had taken off Rupert while he had been holding before he had even the chance to do anything.

While she sat on his knee on the sofa doing this for over the past ten minutes, Joyce sat beside them dealing with some papers from the gallery that had been sent her way. However, she wasn't getting very much done as she kept getting distracted by the adorably domestic scene beside her. She eventually realized she had to get at least a little something done of the work so she pushed her glasses a little further up her nose so she could no longer look over them at her daughter, and resumed looking through the various invoices Carole had asked her to check over.

"You know it's almost like you're mocking me," Giles commented, and when Joyce looked up questioningly, he nodded at her glasses, "I've had mine confiscated while you are wearing yours as you wish"

"Yes, well, mine are designer and a gift from Arlene last time she was here and she caught sight of my old ones and so Lily, no matter how much I love her, is not getting her gums on them"

"Hmm, so mine is the sacrifice?" Rupert asked with a smile and Joyce merely nodded in confirmation. At that exact moment, breaking this so very rare moment of Sunnydale tranquility, Buffy burst through the front causing all three to jump, Lily dropping the glasses.

"Spike's gone" Buffy said simply as though that explained anything and everything.

"W-what do you mean Spike's gone?" Giles stuttered, whilst quickly handing Lily the glasses back as she looked close to a crying moment as in loud heartbreaking sobs. Given the item though the threatening tears disappeared and she smiled.

"As in I went to basement during my not-a-break and he's not there. In the basement. Which is where he should be"

"But where would he have gone?" Joyce asked, "His...crypt maybe? Did you try there?"

"Yeah," Buffy nodded, "But I only found Clem and a bag of cheesy chips"

"Buffy, you have to find him, he's not stable," Joyce insisted and Buffy nodded in agreement.

"I know, I know but where the hell is he gonna go? I mean even if he was sane I'd have no idea..." She trailed off as an idea suddenly came to her, "The Bronze," She said to them, "They've recently put that onion flower thingy back on the menu."

"Uh, how exactly is that relevant?" Giles questioned, not sure why Buffy was telling them this information

"He's practically obsessed with them when he's sanity guy- add in a dose of craziness and I'd say he's bound to go straight there. I'd better go find him," She went to leave but was called back by her Mother.

"Buffy...where's Dawn?"

"Coming home from school," Buffy instantly replied before realizing what her Mother was getting at, "Walking home alone because I'm not taking her home like I said I would...damn. I can go get her right now"

"No, it's fine," Joyce sighed, "You go. I'll call Dawn and tell her I'm coming to pick her up," She turned to Rupert as she stood up, grabbing her car keys and discarding her glasses, "Are you alright here?" Judging from how content he looked with Lily sat on his knee Joyce viewed the question a pointless one.

"Raining again," Willow commented, looking outside the window, "That's one thing Giles never thought to tell us about. How much it rains in England. He made it sound like we'd be riding ponies in sunshine valley..."

"Yeah," Tara agreed, "Maybe he was afraid we wouldn't come if he told us that"

"Maybe," Willow agreed half-heartedly, continuing to look out the window, "The taxi's here..."

"We should probably get in it then," Tara suggested calmly and kindly, but Willow didn't seem so sure and when Willow turned to look at her, her trusting expression made her look like a lost and helpless child.

"Am I really ready Tara?" She asked, almost pleadingly, "What if they don't want me back there now? No thanks, we've got enough evil ticking time bombs without adding another to the mix...you know?"

"Won't know till you try," Tara replied and Willow knew it was the truth. There were no guarantees either way, but there was only one singular way they could find out and that was to get in the cab to the airport, get on the plane, and go back to Sunnydale, to face whatever awaited them.

"Spike. In a bar. Drinking. What a surprise," Buffy commented, as she walked over to the vampire who was slouched over at the bar in the Bronze, a plate of demolished onion flower beside him. He just looked at her without saying a word but she saw he was stable now, or at least relatively so and his clothes and hair looked a little less insane, "You look better," She told him, "Not so much with the crazy. I like it"

"You'd think," He commented and Buffy frowned in genuine confusion as she took a seat beside him.

"What do you mean?"

"I figured it out you know," He told her, "What the problem with all this is" Buffy wasn't even given an opening to ask what 'this' he was referring to as he carried on talking, "You see, I used to be a really nice guy"

"You can be...at times..." Buffy agreed but he shook his head.

"No before all that. When my heart still beating it was a good heart...you know what?"

"What?" She asked, wondering if he was as stable as she had originally thought a minute ago.

"He should have warned me. Angel. If he'd warned me maybe I wouldn't have gone and done it in the first place," He laughed at his own private joke, "I can drink as much as I like help as many people, but the pain doesn't go away. Ever. It keeps humming, telling you things you did. It's only a little thing, a little spark, but dear god it burns. It burns right through me." He looked at Buffy with a crooked smile, "I did it for you pet. All for you" He finished his drink in one gulp while Buffy looked on in shock mingled with twisted horror as she realized what exactly had happened to Spike.

"You got your soul..."

"Hmm," Spike nodded, "That I do...and from beneath you it devours...and it devours me whole, Buffy, it devours me whole..." He told her sadly and Buffy realized she was quietly crying.