Zigpal- Hey thanks for review and those...damn..what are they called...claps! Hehe. Glad you're liking it so far
Jason Barnett Thanks for review and no, Giles and Joyce will not be leaving Buffy with Dawn so she'll grow up...because, well, it's Joyce's home- she's not exactly gonna be going anywhere is she? Hehe.
Rabidreject- Thanks for review and for what you said. Ego boost yet again, hehe. And well, I do have some plans for Seeing Red. Also, yes, I am writing new songs for Once More With Feeling. I've been working on them a while. They are a pain. Curse Joss for forcing me to write songs haha. I keep worrying I'm subconsciously plagerizing. Haha
"Buffy?" Joyce asked, not daring herself to believe it, but as she looked at her, she had to put her hand on the wall to hold herself upright, her knees almost giving way beneath her.
"It's r-really her Mom," Dawn told her, "I'm, I'm not sure how but she's back. Back home. See Buffy? Home"
"Oh my.." Joyce breathed, putting a hand to her chest in shock as she watched Buffy peer around the hall, taking in every detail, "Oh Buffy," Joyce stepped forward, and while Buffy seemed very wary she didn't step away when her Mother held her tightly. Joyce cried silent tears as she hugged her daughter, the daughter she'd thought she'd lost forever, but over her shoulder Giles saw Buffy's complete lack of emotion at this motherly contact.
Once Joyce eventually pulled away from Buffy, she took in her ragged appearance.
"Oh look at the state of...let's get you cleaned up huh?" Joyce smiled slightly as she took Buffy's hand gently and led her towards the stairs, "Come on"
Giles and Dawn followed after them and as they walked up the stairs Dawn gave Giles a hopeful smile which he tried to return, but his worry over Buffy's state prevented his smile from being truly genuine.
As they reached the bathroom, Joyce pushed open the door quietly so as not to startle her and led Buffy in.
"Okay, honey, it's okay," She assured her though she had no idea how it was going to be fine at all. No it was going to be fine, she was determined that it was. Buffy was back, she was no longer dead, she was here, alive and nothing could be more wonderful than that. Everything would be okay. "We'll just get you washed up, clean your hands and-" Joyce looked at the mud and dirt on Buffy's face and then saw the scratches on her cheek, "oh honey- what happened to your face?"
Buffy didn't answer, her face still sad and lost, but she put her hand to her cheek as though only just feeling any injuries there at all. Which was when Joyce saw her bloodied hands.
"Buffy," She gasped, "Your hands," Joyce took Buffy's hands in her own as she looked at the severe scrapes. "Dawn, Dawn honey could you go downstairs and get the First Aid kit out of the kitchen please?"
"Sure," Dawn nodded, not taking her eyes off Buffy until she had completely left the room.
"Oh my god, how did this...how did this happen Rupert?" Joyce asked and they both knew she wasn't really just referring to the scratches.
At Giles' name Buffy looked up slightly in his direction, recognition flitting across her face.
"Giles...?" She asked quietly, before seeming to retreat back in on her self once more, backing up into the far corner of the bathroom. Joyce looked at Buffy in concern a moment before returning her attention to Giles.
"Do you know..." She went to ask him to explain how Buffy came to be there, but then realized she wasn't ready for that answer yet. She was already close to collapsing at the sight of her alone, "Do you know how her hands got-"
"Her grave," Giles said before she could even finish the question. His expression was hard as though he was trying to not let his own emotions at seeing Buffy overcome him. Stiff-Upper-Lippy as Willow would describe it. "She had to dig her way out of her own grave"
Joyce's mouth dropped open in shock at Giles' words.
"She crawled out of her own..." Being buried alive had been Buffy's worst fear since she had been a little child and now she had actually experienced it...oh God. She headed over to Buffy, "Oh Buffy, my poor darling girl,"
"M-Mom?" Buffy looked at Joyce as though only just seeing it was her for the first time.
"Yes, sweetheart," Joyce nodded, tears coming to her eyes once more, "Oh, I can't imagine what you've been through baby, but it's okay, it's going to be okay now," She pulled Buffy into a hug which this time, Buffy returned at least slightly, "You're home, you're safe. And everything's going to be okay. I promise"
Buffy was the one to pull out of the hug first, looking slightly uncomfortable at the close contact.
"I need...clean. I need to be...I need to get clean...cleaned up," Buffy told her, rubbing at the dirt on her hands.
"I know honey, we are, we will," She brushed Buffy's matted hair out of her face lovingly, "Rupert, could you fill the sink with warm water please?" She asked before returning her attention to Buffy, "We'll just get your face and hands cleaned up first, okay? Okay sweetie?"
Buffy nodded silently, before her Mom helped her stand up.
"Mom, I got the bandages and stuff," Dawn said quietly as she walked back into the bathroom.
"Thanks sweetheart, could you just put them over, uh over there for a moment?" Joyce asked before returning her attention once more to Buffy.
She could barely believe she was able to function enough to get Buffy reasonably clean. Her hands were shaking as she wiped away the dirt with soap and warm water. Buffy was here. Stood. Alive. Breathing. Here. How she kept asking herself, but then she would ask why she was even asking. What did it matter? Why did she even care? She was here wasn't she?
"C-can I help?" Dawn asked warily and Joyce smiled warmly at her, "I could brush her hair..it's...it's kinda knotted"
"Of course honey," Joyce nodded before looking at Buffy, "Is that okay Buffy?"
Buffy nodded slightly, sparing a second-long glance in Dawn's direction.
So between the two of them, Giles just stood in the door evidently going over everything again and again in his head, they got Buffy cleaned up.
"There, isn't that better?" Joyce asked her as they both looked in the cabinet mirror. She pushed Buffy's now-smooth, if not clean, hair behind her ears so her face was fully visible. "All that dirt gone"
"Yeah," Dawn nodded encouragingly, "It's like Mom always says 'either wash that neck or plant potatoes'"
Buffy didn't so much as blink but carried on looking at her expressionless reflection.
"My Mother used to say it to me," Joyce exclaimed trying to smooth over the awkward atmosphere Buffy's non-reaction had created, "I never really understood it either..."
Again, no reaction from Buffy.
"I think we need to get you out of this now don't we?" Joyce asked, looking down at Buffy's tattered burial dress, "I'll just get you some clean clothes"
Joyce went to leave the room, but found she couldn't move very far as something was tugging her back. She looked down to see that although Buffy's expression hadn't changed and she wasn't even looking at her, her hand had gripped Joyce's wrist tightly.
"No" Buffy mumbled.
"I'll only be gone a minute sweetheart, I promise," Joyce assured her, "And Dawn's here. And Giles," Joyce told her using the name Buffy used for Giles in the hopes it would spark some recognition. It did, but not much.
"Mom..." Buffy said in a quietly pleading tone,still not letting go of Joyce's wrist.
"It's okay," Joyce told her in a reassuring voice, "I'm not going anywhere. I'm right here, okay?" Buffy nodded slightly and stiffly, letting go of Joyce's wrist. "Dawn, would you-"
"Sure," Her youngest said immediately, before leaving the room.
When Dawn returned with clothing, the white shirt draped over her arm, Giles, with one silent glance in Buffy and Joyce's direction, left the room to give Buffy some privacy, but a moment later Dawn joined him in the hallway.
"Buffy felt crowded with both of us there," She explained, even though Giles didn't ask. He could tell however, even from that one sentence, that Dawn was upset by this, "Guess coming back from the dead can make you traumatized..." Dawn reasoned, before looking at Giles, "How did this happen anyway? I mean, I'm trying to be all this-happens-everyday, but it doesn't. Not even to us. Why is she back?"
"It's the result Dawn, I believe, of a very powerful and dangerous spell," Giles told her, not actually specifying who had cast it.
"A spell?" Dawn repeated, "So this was done on purpose?"
"Yes," Giles nodded slowly.
"Does that mean she's here for good?" Dawn asked, hope in her expression and in her voice, "She's not going to go away again?"
"No, I don't believe so,"
The bathroom door opened and Buffy, now wearing trousers and a white shirt, was led out into the hall by Joyce. Giles noticed that the scratch on Buffy's cheek had been tended to, but the hands hadn't been touched at all. He could only assume that Buffy hadn't wanted them to be tended to yet, wasn't ready for them to be.
Buffy suddenly walked off from the three of them silently, walking along the corridor till she came to her Mom's room. She peered around, taking in every detail and soon Joyce and Dawn were beside her. Giles held back, waiting silently in the hallway.
"This is still...you and Giles?" Buffy asked her Mother with a confused frown as though Joyce confirming this would confirm the reality of everything around her.
"Yes," Joyce nodded, "Very little has changed since you...well, since you've been away"
Joyce had barely finished her sentence before Buffy had walked off again, peering in Dawn's room a moment before she carried on to her own room. She walked in, patrolling the perimeter, running her hands slightly along the walls.
"Everything's the same..." Buffy commented, sounding very distant as she ran her hands emotionlessly over her stuffed pig Mr Gordo. Joyce had ran her hands over that same stuffed animal over the past few months as she had remembered how Buffy had held it for comfort over the years. The one breach into childhood that her daughter had allowed. And now that same daughter was running her hands over it again, over her duvet cover, over her dresser, her mirror.
There was the sound of a door slamming downstairs and Buffy spun around,almost in a fighting pose as she glanced around the room, eyes darting to every corner nervously.
"What was that?"
"It's okay," Dawn told her.
"Dawn! You here?"
"See, it's just Spike," Joyce assured her and Buffy seemed to relax a little.
"I'm here!" Dawn called before leaving the room to head downstairs, which left Joyce alone in the room with Buffy as Giles was still stood out in the hall.
This made Joyce inexplicably uncomfortable. She didn't understand why. Why should standing in the room with her daughter make her feel uncomfortable? Shouldn't she be throwing her arms around her? But Buffy clearly wasn't ready for that...and Joyce realized it was that that was making her uncomfortable.
"I'd best go...see to it...as well," Joyce told her lamely before leaving the room. As she walked off, Buffy watched her go, and Giles came into her line of vision. The two just stood staring silently at one another, before Buffy left also, following on after her Mother. Giles followed on after her.
"You scared me half to death," Spike was saying, "Or...more to death. You- I could kill you"
"Spike," Dawn said in a quiet voice, trying to cut him off but he continued, undeterred.
"No, I mean it. I could rip your head off one handed and drink from your brain stem-" Spike stopped talking as he spotted Joyce walking down the stairs towards them, "Oh, Joyce. I don't mean it. It's just- she ran off and...well, you know"
Joyce nodded silently, and Spike frowned as he didn't get the lecture he usually received when she ever found him speaking like that in front of her daughter. In fact, on second thought, he realized Dawn was acting oddly too. What was wrong with the both of them.
Someone else started walking down the stairs- probably Giles- and so he intended to ask the Watcher that very question.
Then he saw it wasn't Giles. It was the Buffybot. But he saw her ripped to shreds only an hour ago so...
"Oh god," Spike looked on in shock.
"She's kinda...she's been through a lot," Dawn explained, "With the death...but I think she's okay"
Spike didn't say anything, he just kept on looking at Buffy.
"Spike?" Joyce asked in concern, "Are you okay?"
"All things considered..." He barely got out, his eyes still on Buffy. He tore them away to look at Dawn accusingly.
"What did you do?"
"Me? Nothing!" Dawn defended herself, "Giles said it was a spell or something..."
Spike looked up the stairs and saw Giles was stood at the back of them all now.
"You did this?" Spike asked in disbelief.
"No, it wasn't me, it was-"
"Her hands," Spike said, not even listening to Giles anymore as his attention returned to Buffy.
"She wasn't quite ready...she wasn't comfortable with me fixing those up just yet," Joyce explained, "I think they're still tender. But I think, Rupert said, that...well, she-"
"Clawed her way out of a coffin," Spike finished, looking on at Buffy in sympathy, "Isn't that right?"
"Yeah," Buffy nodded, looking down at her hands as though they belonged to someone else. Seconds later she put them behind her back, hiding them. "That's...th-that's what I had to do"
"Done it myself," Spike told her sincerely, "Do you think we should fix them up now?"
Buffy nodded, letting Spike lead her to the couch in the sitting room.
"Joyce, could we get some bandages, Mercurochrome?" He asked and Joyce nodded, and although the First Aid box was upstairs she knew there was still some things let in the kitchen, so she headed to there rather than walking back up the stairs, not trusting her legs to hold out for that long.
She got to the cupboard where she knew the supplies were kept, and saw her hand was shaking terribly as she reached for the cupboard door. She tried to hold it still with the other hand, but they were both shaking as badly as one another. She decided to ignore it, work past it as she opened the cupboard door and reached up for the gauze. As her hands shook though she knocked over the box of paracetamol and all the tablets clattered to the kitchen floor. She knelt down to pick them up, but a few seconds later Giles was there helping her.
"I'm such a klutz sometimes," She smiled slightly, trying to make like it was a normal situation when they both knew it wasn't.
When the couple eventually returned to the living with room with the bandages and Mercurochrome,Joyce saw that Spike and Buffy seemed to be sharing a very sentimental moment, despite Dawn's presence in the opposite chair and Joyce felt loathe to interrupt. She was saved this though by a big crowd of four people that seemed a lot louder than four people should be bursting in through the front door and rushing into the living room. Willow, Tara, Anya and Xander all talking at once.
"Is she here?" Willow asked excitedly and Buffy jumped, startled while Spike backed away from the crowd to the corner of the room.
"What do you remember?" Xander asked.
"Are you in pain?" Willow checked.
"What do you know about what happened?"
Joyce saw Buffy becoming increasingly overwhelmed and terrified by this onslaught of questions. She was about to say something, but Dawn, surprisingly said it first.
"Hey! Just back off. Let her breathe"
Everyone looked very startled by Dawn's outburst.
"Yes," Joyce agreed, "Let's. She's been through a lot...obviously and-" Joyce paused as something clicked, "Dawn said Rupert told her this was because of a spell-" She looked at the group, "You all did this?"
They nodded.
"We, we did a spell," Willow gave the least amount of explaining that could still be called an explanation.
"Why-How-Wh-" Joyce had so many questions. Instead she chose to ask none and just slowly sat down on the coffee table in front of Buffy, feeling incredibly overwhelmed.
"Is she going to be okay?" Dawn asked Willow, but it was Buffy that answered and everyone was suddenly rapt with attention, especially Joyce and Dawn as this was the first time they'd heard her even form a full sentence.
"I'm going to be fine. I remember- I was- you brought me back"
"How long were you gone?" Xander asked, "I mean, how long for you?"
"It...it seemed like forever," Buffy replied.
"Oh, Buffy, I'm so sorry," Tara said, sounding incredibly sympathetic for Buffy, true regret in her voice.
"What are you saying?" Dawn asked, since Giles didn't seem to be speaking at all and her Mom, for the time being, had lost her ability to speak, "Are you saying she was somewhere? Like in Hell?"
At this question, Joyce looked up, waiting for the answer.
"Hell Dimension," Anya explained, "Same torture, less religion," She turned to Buffy, "What was it like?"
Hell? Joyce thought. Her daughter had been in Hell? All this time she'd been...oh God. She knew she should stay there, support her newly risen daughter, but she couldn't. It was just too much. She stood up and rushed out the front door, closing it quietly behind her.
She had barely been on the sofa swing twenty seconds, when Giles came out also. As she turned to look at him, she was sure she caught sight of Spike near the trees, but then the flitting image was gone and she forgot.
"It was a resurrection spell," Giles explained in greeting, "Willow and the others cast it. It's a powerful spell, very dangerous for the caster...but no known side-effects"
"You make it sound like Buffy's having medication for hallucinations," Joyce said bitterly.
"What I mean is," Giles explained, taking a seat next to her, "Buffy is Buffy, she is herself. She's the very same girl, same Slayer that we buried in May."
"Why did they leave her to dig her way out of her own grave?" Joyce asked in disgust.
"I don't...I don't know," Giles thought that they probably had had hardly any clue of what they were doing at all.
"She's back, she's really back," Joyce said more to herself than anything, "I'm in shock. So's Dawn. The others are seemingly ecstatic. You though," She looked at him intently, "You've shown nothing. No happiness, no shock, no sympathy. You've just stood there. Watching, silently," She gave him a glance that looked as though she were challenging him, "But isn't that what Watchers do best? Watch? Watch their Slayers die- watch them come back to life. I suppose it's all the same really"
"That's unreasonable," Giles told in a calm voice that hit her more than if he had shouted, but she didn't back down though.
"Then why aren't you showing any emotion? Buffy's back. Express something"
"You haven't exactly been expressing pure happiness over her return either," Giles retorted and before she could reply he continued, "Perhaps we both know that this can't be as simple as it looks. We both know nothing is good as it seems- too good to be true. And that is why we can't be truly happy by her return. Because we both know there will be serious consequences"
"No, we don't," Joyce protested, standing up, "We don't know that. I'm just in shock at seeing her, but I am happy. And don't you even try to say otherwise" She warned him, before walking back into the house, closing the front door behind her.
It was about three a.m when Joyce woke up, but she wasn't sure. She didn't bother looking at the clock before she got out of bed. She walked out of the door very quietly, only opening the door merely enough for her slip through so it didn't creak wide open and wake Giles. She then walked just as quietly along the landing until she came to Buffy's room. She pushed the door open slightly so she could look in.
There Buffy lay, fast asleep in bed, breathing steadily. Breathing. Joyce just wanted to look at her, still unable to believe she was here, back home with them. Alive. Just watching her sleep made her want to cry. She really thought she'd lost her forever, she'd accepted that she'd lost her forever and then...she had come back and proven she hadn't.
The phone started ringing and Joyce jumped, startled. She rushed to the pick up the phone on the corner table next to the stairs, before the loud ringing woke anyone else up.
"Hello?"
It was Willow on the phone and she sounded very panicked.
"What is it? What's the matter? Just calm...breathe. Wait- what happened?"
Willow repeated her story of how Buffy had turned up in the dorm she and Tara shared at the University and how Buffy had thrown things at them, shouting nonsense.
"Well, it can't be her Willow. I just checked in on her now- she's fast asleep in bed"
"I think there's something here..." Willow told her after a moment of silence contemplating this fact, "A demon something...I don't know. Just be careful? Watch out huh?"
"O-okay, don't worry Willow,I will, but you two should be careful also"
"Believe me- I think we'll be getting minimum sleep tonight," Willow told her, "I'm gonna call Xander, see how it's going there as well. If he's seen anything research worthy."
After they both hung up, Joyce went back to her bedroom, and despite having sneaked out quietly so as not to wake him, she now nudged Giles gently to stir him awake.
"Mmm? What?" He murmured, not quite awake.
"Rupert," She said quiet enough so it didn't disturb Dawn in the next room, but loud enough to wake him up completely.
"What? What is it?"
"Willow just called," She told him, "They said something that... that looked like Buffy attacked them. While they were sleeping. They think there's some sort of demon on the loose..." She trailed off, clearly unsure of the facts he was telling him.
"Do they know what it is though?" Giles asked, sitting up.
"No," Joyce shook her head, "She only saw it looking like Buffy...they just said for us...well, to be careful"
Giles didn't say anything, but the expression on his face showed he was in deep thought.
"What?" Joyce prompted.
"I told you," He said somberly, giving her a knowing look, "I said there would be consequences"
"Consequ...wait, you think this is because of Buffy being brought back?"
Giles didn't say anything, but merely did that shrug that was as good as him saying 'yes'.
"No," Joyce shook her head, "Don't start with that again." She told him, getting back out of bed.
"Joyce, all magick, all powerful magick anyway, has consequences. No matter what. A spell such as this would, naturally, create a bigger consequence"
"No, I'm not listening to this," She told him, walking towards the door, "Why do you have to be so negative about this? Why do you constantly have to be the Watcher over everything? Can't you just be glad that she's..." She shook her head, "I am not listening to you talk about 'consequences' of having my daughter back anymore. I'm not"
"Joyce-" Giles began to say, but she'd already left the room and he deemed it better for both of them, and perhaps his own safety, if he didn't follow.
"Hello?" Xander called as he and his three ladies walked through the front door of Buffy's house. There was no one in the living room or dining room so they carried on through to the kitchen, where they found Joyce sat at the island reading the morning newspaper and still wearing her nightgown. "Hey," Xander nodded in greeting and Joyce jumped when she realized there were suddenly four people in the kitchen who didn't live there.
"Oh, Xander, hi everyone. You're here early"
"Well, we thought we'd check in and see if you guys had any creep outs...and then, get an early start on the research party," Willow told her with a smile that seemed a little forced.
"You look a wreck," Anya informed Joyce bluntly.
"Anya..." Xander said warningly and his girlfriend rolled her eyes.
"I'm sorry," Anya said to Joyce sounding less like she meant it and more as if she were just being made to follow the standard rules of politeness, "What I meant to say is you look very tired and worn out and," Anya sighed, "Are you okay?"
"It's nothing," Joyce told her and the others, "I just didn't sleep well," Not once she'd walked out of the bedroom, but she didn't tell them that.
"Because of the copycat ghost floating about?" Willow asked in concern.
"Something like that..." Joyce reasoned, "So were you all okay after that phone call?"
"We were," Tara told her, "But Anya got possessed by what we think is the same thing that made...that made, the, uh, manifestation of Buffy"
"It was very bad. Very very very very very very bad. Bad." Xander elaborated and Anya patted his arm soothingly while telling the others:
"He's still very traumatized,"
"Where's Giles?"Willow asked, "We were hoping he could have like book insight before we're like forced to hit the books ourselves" She laughed a little but it seemed more out of nerves than anything.
"I don't know," Joyce told her honestly, "I think he's up now, he might be just getting dressed but..." She trailed off. Loathe as she was to admit it even to herself, after her little storm-off, she had still been tired (as was normal for three in the morning) so she had forced herself to just have a little nap (that had lasted unfortunately no more than ninety minutes...so she had had an entirely separate short nap again later on) on the sofa, but since she woke up she hadn't returned to her room or gone to up the stairs once so she hadn't seen Giles since their little mini-argument in the early hours of the morning.
"But he was awake when you got up?" Willow asked, trying to estimate when Giles would be down.
"I,erm, probably...," Joyce struggled for a way to answer without revealing to the group that the couple had slept separately last night.
"I hate sofa prints on my neck," Anya said randomly and they all looked at her questioningly, "Or...pillow ones," She reasoned but they still looked at her oddly, "You know...because they look so annoying and..." They still looked at her, "Oh, sorry, I was just saying coz I just saw some on Joyce's neck"
Joyce instantly put her hand to her neck and fell the slight grooves of the sofa there, though it wasn't very large at all- how had Anya even noticed? Had she been inspecting her? Well, it was an Anya thing to do. She had a habit of scrutinizing everybody.
The other three in the group had fell sort of quiet at Anya's comment as they reasoned silently in their minds over the fact Joyce hadn't slept well and she had slight sofa marks on her neck. Joyce stood up, eager to get out of the room.
"I'll just go see how long he'll be," She told them, leaving the room and heading up the stairs.
Along the way she almost walked into Buffy who was walking down. She was already fully dressed in jeans and a top and her hair was tied up.
"Oh Buffy, I didn't- are you okay? Did you sleep well?"
"Fine," Buffy shrugged. Silence. Joyce noticed her hands, where the cuts had been on her knuckles, were bandaged.
"You fixed your hands," She commented and Buffy looked at them as only just noticing herself.
"Y-yeah...used little band aids," She smiled a little.
"I could have done...well, helped you with that," Joyce told her and Buffy shrugged.
"It's okay" Silence.
"Your friends are in the kitchen," Joyce told her, pointing in that direction as though Buffy may have forgotten the lay-out of the house, "If you want to go..."
Buffy was already walking off down the stairs and heading in that direction.
"...see them.." Joyce finished to no one in particular, before walking on to find Giles.
"So what's the list?" Dawn asked, peering over Tara's shoulder in the Magic Box later on. After Willow and the others had informed Giles of the big spooky that was hanging around, he had come up with some theories to explain the demon, but couldn't confirm anything without, and there was that famous phrase, 'consulting his books'.
So now they were all gathered in the Magic Box pouring over the numerous texts that held information that could potentially help them.
"Hitchhikers," Anya told her, "Poltergeists, Copycat demons, Possessors...the works"
Dawn just frowned.
"Demons that might have come out of hell the same time Buffy did," Xander explained.
"If it indeed it did come along with her," Giles reasoned, inadvertently trying to make it up to Joyce for what he had said to Joyce in the early hours of the morning, "It is possible that the two events are entirely coincidental"
Everyone but Buffy looked over at him, their expression entirely unconvinced.
"Oh alright, fair enough," He nodded. Coincidences in Sunnydale were as rare as leprechauns.
"Skaggmore demons," Dawn read off the list, "Trellbane demons...Skitterers...Large and small bone eaters..." Dawn paused in thought, "I say if we get to choose we go with the small bone eaters," She reasoned.
"Well, that just means they prefer to eat things with small bones," Anya informed her, "Like you"
"Unh?" Dawn gulped at Anya, her eyes wide.
"She doesn't mean it," Joyce told her, but then off a look from Anya she shrugged, "Well, she does, but don't worry about it."
"Yeah," Willow nodded in agreement, "No bone eaters, small or otherwise shall be getting near Dawnie, kay?" Dawn nodded in acceptance and Willow continued, "Besides that's just what we have so far."
"Yes," Giles agreed, though there was something in his voice that revealed he wasn't as enthusiastic about this research task as he could have been, "There's five species types of demons that have been know to move transdimensionally. That's just a few of each. Two of them have the potential to be invisible in this particular dimension, and another two have the ability to alter one's perception of them. All of those are reasonable possibilities for this particular manifestation."
"That's only four," Anya pointed out, "What's the other one like?"
"Pretty much the same as the others," Tara told her, "Only dripping viscous fluid"
"Eww," Dawn grimaced before looking at her Mother, "This is why you let me research tonight isn't it?" She asked, "So you can gross me away from it?"
"That's the idea," Joyce said, smiling as she flicked through the pages of the book she was searching through.
"Well, nice try," Dawn smiled back determinedly, taking a seat at the table and pulling a book toward her.
"So should we concentrate on how to kill those?" Xander asked, "Or should we try and find more?"
"I'm not sure.." Willow told him, "Perhaps some of us should do-"
"Giles," Buffy said simply and they all looked over at her, "Giles...erm...what do you think? Think they should do?"
Giles looked mildly surprised by Buffy's sudden request for him to take charge, when she'd never asked him to before. Ever. This made him even more concerned for her.
"Well, uh, perhaps we should split our focus amongst the group," He reasoned, "Xander, Anya, Tara- you research in to how to slay the demons we've already found, while Willow, Joyce, Buffy and I could search for more-"
"I think I should patrol," Buffy cut in, preventing Giles from continuing or Dawn protesting about how she wasn't involved in the research plan.
"A-are you sure?" Giles asked concerned, "I mean if-"
"No, I should," Buffy insisted, already standing up.
"Buffy, you will be careful won't you?" Joyce called after her as Buffy reached the shop door. She turned around as she got her hand on the door handle.
"Sure, I'll... Mom" She told her, not even forming a complete sentence
And she left without another word leaving the group remaining behind in the store feeling very uncomfortable.
"Joyce," Giles found her busying herself amongst the stacks of books near the back of the store, searching through the texts but apparently not looking for any particular one.
"What?" She asked, not stopping her search. He went to continue with what he was going to say anyway despite her obvious lack of keenness to talk, when she suddenly ceased her search to look at him, "What? You want me to listen to more of your doom speeches about Buffy's return? About how something isn't right? I know she's isn't herself, Rupert. She's been in hell the past four months for Christ's sake. She's going to struggle to return to normalcy. But that's what we're all here for. To help her. And neither she, myself or anyone else for that matter need your doom-and-gloom outlook." She snatched a random book off the shelf and headed back to the table.
Giles sighed in reluctant resignation before heading back to the table also.
"I'm back," Anya called out, walking through the front door with drinks in her hands, "I found a 24-hour place for coffee. Remember that bookstore? Well they became one of those books-and-coffee places and now they're just coffee. It's like evolution only without the getting better part"
"Coffee, Coffee, Coffee, Coffee, Coffee," She said, setting the drinks down on the table, "Some weird non-coffee thing for awkward," She grumbled, throwing Giles a look, "And ta-da! Hot chocolate for Dawn" She smiled at Joyce proudly like a child who'd just won a race on Sports Day, "I know Dawn's too young for coffee"
"Idiot," Dawn growled and Anya jumped in shock.
"You can have my coffee" She assured her, but Joyce just looked in Dawn's direction with disapproval.
"Dawn, don't speak like that to-" She stopped as she saw Dawn's eyes which were completely white as she looked on at them all venomously, "Oh my god, Dawn," She stood up in worry, half of her instincts telling her to run over to Dawn, the other half telling her this was a demon and she should stay well away.
"All of you did it," Dawn told them, her voice low and guttural. Demonic. "Stupid children. Did you think the blood wouldn't reach you? I smell the death on you. LOOK AT WHAT YOU'VE DONE!"
Suddenly and without any warning at all Dawn roared fire at the entire group, setting fire to the pile of books on the table, before she collapsed on the floor.
"Dawn!" Joyce exclaimed, running to Dawn, Giles not far behind.
"That was it," Willow pointed out, "Like with Buffy. Only with fire"
"Dawn, Dawn," Joyce was saying quietly, but urgently as her daughter wasn't opening her eyes.
"Is she okay?" Xander asked after he had put out the fire with a cushion Anya had been using.
"Did I look like that?" Anya asked him, "I hope I didn't look like that"
"No," Willow assured her sarcastically, "I'm sure you looked really glamorous cutting up your face"
Dawn's eyes finally fluttered open. They were normal again.
"Oh thank god," Joyce breathed a sigh of relief, holding Dawn close.
"What happened?" Dawn asked, "What's going on?"
"You'll be okay baby," Joyce said more to reassure herself than anything.
"You'll probably experience some dry mouth," Anya added and off everyone's looks explained, "From the fire"
"Was it...did the demon thing have me?" Dawn asked.
"Yes, but it's gone now sweetie. You're okay," Joyce told her soothingly, but again she wasn't sure whether it was to comfort herself or Dawn, "You'll be okay"
"Yeah it's gone," Xander told her.
"Yes, but where?" Giles questioned, standing up and looking around as though expecting the demon to peer out from it's hiding place, waving obviously.
"What do you mean?" Joyce asked, "I didn't see it go anywhere"
"No," Anya reasoned, "But that doesn't mean it didn't. I mean evil things have plans, they have things to do"
"Thank you Anya," Joyce said with a touch of sarcasm, "That won't have me worrying all night" She stood up before helping Dawn up also, "Right that's it. I'm taking you home."
"Are you sure that's wise?" Giles asked.
"Yes, I'm sure," Joyce told him more abruptly than she intended and she felt the reaction of the rest of the group and knew they had heard her snap at him slightly as well, including Dawn who looked between the two worriedly, "I just," Joyce said in a calmer voice, "She'll be safer at home"
"But it's been attacking everywhere," Giles reasoned, "No matter the environment"
"Well, it's relatively safer," Joyce countered, "At least she won't be...I'm not having her around all these books that just...seem to create an opening for these things"
"Mom..." Dawn whined but Joyce cut her off with the Mom Look.
"No, we're going home"
"Do you want me to drive you?" Giles offered.
"I can drive myself thank you," Joyce replied politely yet a little formally before she added, "You're needed more here. I'll see you at home"
Dawn was in bed, while Joyce was still sat up on the sofa when Buffy returned home.
"Buffy?" Joyce asked, sitting up straight in her seat.
"Yeah...yeah it's me," Buffy told her quietly.
"You didn't go back to the store?"
"No," Buffy shook her head, "A bit too crowded...right now"
Joyce nodded in understanding quietly. She then shifted aside on the sofa to make room for Buffy.
"Would you like to sit here?" She asked, "I just had some terrible 70s show re-run on" She smiled in embarassment, hoping Buffy would return it.
Buffy just looked about to relent, to nod and sit beside her Mom, just watching TV when a white mist suddenly formed behind her, which then formed a fist that knocked her back.
"Buffy" Joyce exclaimed, jumping up to head over to her.
You don't belong here the watery voice of a woman whispered from the mist and Joyce looked at it in even more confusion. What the hell was it? It couldn't be the demon the others were still researching at the Magic Box could it? That was invisible.
"Nyuh!" Buffy exclaimed as she tried to hit the white woman back, but all she connected with was mist.
Suddenly another solid fist formed and connectedly solidly with Joyce's jaw, knocking her unconscious to the ground. Buffy barely had time to look down with an expression that could be described as childlike confusion and horror, before the white mist knocked her down too, if not unconscious. Buffy was up in a second, spinning around, trying to figure out how to fight back.
Did they tell you you belonged here? The woman in the mist asked Buffy again, as the phone began to ring, Did they say this was your home again? Did they say there was room for you? Buffy got a hold on her, but it dissolved seconds later, before hitting her again, Were you offered pretty lies little girl? Buffy felt strong arms wrapped around her, choking the life out of her Or did they even give you a choice?
She's not picking up," Giles told the others as he called home from the back of Xander's car. Anya sat in the front passenger seat with Xander.
"Maybe coz it's already there," Anya reasoned, "And they're too busy being dead," Giles' look made Anya quickly add something else to her suggestion, "Or they're busy fighting it"
"Drive faster," Giles urged Xander.
"Hey," Xander countered, "Do I have to remind you about the Gilesmobile?" Giles didn't reply, "Besides Willow and Tara are doing a spell and soon Buffy will be able to kick it's newly corporeal ass"
The demon was partly corporeal, part mist which while it made it possible for Buffy to break free of it's vice-like grip, it didn't make her delivered punches anymore effective. She looked around the living room, before running over to the chest she knew the weapons were kept. She swung it open and grabbed an axe. She swept the axe through the air, but it didn't even touch the misty demon. It only caused it to laugh.
You're the one who's barely here. Set on this earth like a bubble. You won't even disturb the air when you go
At that point Anya, Xander and Giles burst in through the front door.
"See to Mom!" Buffy urged them as she swung the axe again at the almost solid demon. It was then that the three noticed Joyce's crumpled form on the floor for the first time. Giles went to run over, but was cut off by another swing from Buffy's axe.
"Watch out," Giles automatically told her, but she wasn't listening as she suddenly saw the demon solidify.
"I am here!" The demon exclaimed gleefully but a second later Buffy was chopping at her. Within moments she sliced off it's head. The body collapsed to the floor and it's head rolled away, leaving entrails trailing behind.
"Ewww..." Anya grimaced as Xander turned away from the sight. Giles was paying more attention to the still unconscious Joyce. However, she now seemed to be coming around slightly.
"Joyce?" He prompted gently as Buffy just watched from afar, clearly concerned but making no efforts to head forward and see for herself whether her Mom was okay.
The next morning, everyone was getting ready to drop Dawn off at school, before heading off to work. Buffy just stood in the hall watching them go from room to room, amazingly synchronized.
"Buffy?"
Buffy turned to see Dawn there looking at her in deep concern.
"Hmm?"
"Buffy, are you okay?"
Buffy managed to smile.
"I'm going to start charging people to ask me that"
"People been doing that a lot huh?" Dawn smiled and Buffy nodded.
"Little bit"
"It's because we care about you a lot," Dawn explained, "When you were gone...it was bad when you were gone. Everything changed...I mean Mom was hardly here anymore. She was always patrolling with others-"
"Sh-she patrolled?"
"Yeah," Dawn nodded, "And it wasn't right...it was just everything was falling apart without you here. But it'll get better now. Now that they can see you being happy. That's all they want"
Joyce walked past them, looking around for where she had put her car keys.
"Mom," Buffy stopped her in her tracks with a single word, "After you've dropped Dawn off can I come with you and Giles? To the Magic Box? Before you go to the gallery I mean"
"Of course honey," Joyce was slightly puzzled by Buffy's request but she didn't show it.
"So you did that," Buffy said, looking at Willow in the Magic Box after finally telling them all the fact that for that time she had been dead she had been stuck in a tortuous Hell Dimension, "And the world came rushing back. So...thank you. You guys gave me the world. Thank you. I can't tell you what it means to me."
Willow, Tara and Joyce were openly shedding tears, while Giles and Xander merely showed upset in a manly way. Anya just viewed the entire scene with interest tainted with concern.
"Oh Buffy," Joyce cried, not believing what horrors her daughter had been through. She gave Buffy a tight hug and seconds later Willow and Xander were joining in.
The hug was warm and loving, but after a while it was Buffy that tugged away first as though that had been too much emotion for her at once. She shrugged them off, giving the whole crowd in the Magic Box a little smile.
"I'm just...gonna get some air," She told them with a smile, before heading out back.
Once she was gone Joyce turned to Willow and the others.
"You...you all brought her back...f-from...you brought her back from hell," The gratefulness was tangible in her voice.
"Like we said though," Tara told her, "We couldn't have done it without Willow"
"Willow," Joyce said, her voice breaking as she tried to hold back from even more tears flowing. Instead she opted to hug Willow just as tightly as she had hugged Buffy, "Thank you," She said into her ear as they hugged, "You saved her. Thank you" She pulled out of the hug to look at the others, "All of you thank you. So much"
While they all talked together, discussing what had happened and how exactly they had saved Buffy, Joyce noticed how Giles was saying very little and he seemed less than impressed by this whole revelation.