rabidreject- thanks for the review
zigpal- thanken you for claps et review. Glad you liked, and yes you're right- Joyce and Lily are going to be the cause of much 'fun' haha. But first, alas, there is suspence and angst...hope you like.
A/N: So an update a little earlier than I expected but my time was of the free yesterday and today so I was able to scribble (or well whatever the typing equivalent of scribble is...) away and come up with Normal Again. Though because of timing and placement of chapters, this takes place the very next week after Parents, but just so we're clear on all things pregnant, Joyce is already coming to the end of the first month of the third trimester. Just so you're clear, coz like I got a PM of confusion about it yesterday haha.
"Ow! Bollocks!"
"Giles...what are you doing?" Dawn asked slowly as she came down the stairs and found him crouched near a plug socket on the floor, cursing because he had just banged his head on the side table.
"Baby-proofing the house apparently," He informed her, holding up a piece of paper and giving it to her. On it she saw her Mom had written an entire list of things that needed baby proofing. "I never knew there were so many plug sockets in this house"
"Hmm," Dawn nodded, giving him back the long list, "On films you never see all this. Its just woman pregnant then next shot- woman with baby"
"If only," Giles grumbled as he pushed in a socket cover into the plug.
"Where is Mom?" Dawn asked, "I kinda have art homework, but it's about some history thing. Figured she'd know"
"Oh she's just in the living room Dawn" He pointed the direction out as though Dawn didn't know her own way around her own house
"Thanks" Dawn smiled, before heading down the final stairs and heading into the living room. She found her Mom sat cross legged, an impressive feat for a woman slowly becoming the size of a house Dawn thought to herself, on the sofa with an immense pile of papers scattered around her. "Hey Mom, whatcha doing?"
"Realizing my life needs a serious overhaul," She looked at Dawn pleadingly, "Just let me go to sleep Dawn," She sighed, realizing that right now that wasn't an option and instead picked up more papers, "I'm just...trying to sort out things at the gallery for when I won't be there. When I go on maternity leave I do not want them calling me for anything. At all"
"At least you don't have to actually organize the leave," Dawn reasoned, "I mean you only have to ask yourself," She grinned.
"Very funny...so these are gallery things," She put a pile of papers on her left, "these are doctors appointments," she put a pile of papers on her right "and these...are...things I've never seen before. Rupert!" She called out, "What are these?"
"What are what?" He asked, walking over, and she handed him the pieces of paper which she flicked through, a look of recognition crossing his face, "This is the information you requested."
"On what?"
"Sunnydale General tours," He explained, "You said you wished to see the hospital and where you would be going, since you've never been to Sunnydale General before"
"Except you know when one of us has lost a limb," Dawn added semi-helpfully.
"I only said that in passing though..." Joyce said with a slight frown.
"I know," Giles agreed, "But I thought- just in case. I stopped by to pick up some information."
"That is so sweet," She smiling, gesturing for him to lean over and she gave him a kiss. However, mid-smooch she pulled away with a wince, a hand on her stomach. "Oof, sorry she's just...getting very active." She explained, "And now...now I feel nauseous" She groaned in frustration, "okay, why is everything about the third trimester painful?!"
"Wow, you really don't cope well with this do you?" Dawn stupidly asked and she got a look-that-could-kill for her trouble.
"Dawn," Joyce said calmly, "Go to Janice's. Call her Mom. See if she can pick you up" She said it in a way that brooked no argument so Dawn said 'okay' very quietly, before wandering off to call Janice.
"Are you okay?" Rupert asked Joyce slightly warily and she nodded with a wan smile.
"Yeah, I'll be fine...in a month or two," She smiled a weak smile, "Just come sit with me? Please?" She moved aside the gallery papers so there was room for him on the sofa and he sat down next to her. Once he was settled, she pulled her legs out from under her, uncrossing them, and shuffled across to him in a, in Giles' view, comical way that caused her to smirk at him in a semi-amused way when she saw him smiling at her movements. Eventually, she was happy with where she was and she rested on him. Giles sighed- this is what she had been using him as a lot lately; a human pillow. Even in bed. No more passionate kisses, no more, what Anya had so horrifyingly yet aptly called 'late-night kinkage', no more anything like that. No, in the past week or so Giles had become no more than a human pillow for Joyce. Who kept falling asleep when she should be awake, yet failing to sleep at all at times such as three am in the morning. "Doctors tomorrow..." She said sleepily as he wrapped his arm around her as she lay there and she started playing with his hand lovingly like a child.
"Yes," Giles acknowledged.
"...they're going to be drawing blood," She informed, "To check blood types..."
"Yes..." Giles acknowledged again, wondering where she was going with all this.
"...I don't like needles." She told him. "Remember?"
Yes, he remembered. The last time the doctor had tried to draw blood, nearly six months ago, Joyce had categorically refused to let him. Even going so far as to get up and rush out of the room. Giles, totally stunned by this reaction had been told by the doctor that her dislike or fear of needles had been amplified by the increase of hormones in the first trimester. And third was like the first to the power of ten...which meant tomorrow was going to be a very, very, very long day. Maybe he should bring Buffy with them...restrain her Mother if things got ridiculous.
"Where is Buffy?" Joyce asked, causing Giles to jump.
"It's like you read my mind," He told her, before becoming suddenly suspicious, "You aren't, are you?"
"Huh?"
"Well, there has been cases, in the history of the Council," Giles explained, "Wherein the Mother, when carrying a potential Slayer, has in fact developed unpredicted supernatural abilities, the only potential explanation being that the mystical energy the slayer carries causes some residual effect on the Mother"
Joyce just looked thoroughly confused by this 'explanation'.
"Well...erm no, no I'm not reading your thoughts," She told him, "I think perhaps we're just on the same wavelength. So where is Buffy? Shouldn't she be back by now?"
"She's looking into some potential locations for the ah, hide outs of the three boys causing a lot of our more pesky magical problems this year"
"Oh, I heard Dawn dub them the Nerd Herd the other night," She said with a smile, before becoming worried, "I know they're only three boys...but I still hope Buffy's okay."
"She'll be fine," Rupert assured her, stroking her arm with his thumb comfortingly. At least it consciously comforted her for a minute, before he realized her breathing had become very steady and even and her eyes were closed. She'd fallen asleep. "She'll be fine," He repeated, just in case Joyce could hear him. "Just fine"
Buffy faced off against the demon, hiding her nerves despite the fact this demon clearly had an advantage on her size wise and well, wicked-looking wise.
"You didn't by any chance eat a couple a nerds did ya?" She asked, and in reply the demon attacked. She gave as good as got with kicks, flips, ducks, punches. Just as she went to deliver another punch, it grabbed her and spun her around towards him before piercing her in the arm with a dripping needle that was protruding out of his arm.
Two orderlies held her against the wall as they tried to inject her with a hypodermic needle. She struggled against them just as she struggled against the demon.
"Buffy! Stop fighting! You're going to hurt yourself!" One of the nurses shouted and Buffy's eyes snapped open. She took in the surroundings. No longer in the alley. She was in a mental institution.
They were ten minutes away from the hospital, but that really wasn't close enough.
"Rupert, please hurry up," Joyce pleaded.
"Love, if I drive any faster we'll get pulled over, arrested and then we'll never make it the doctors"
"Yeah, well at least the police station would have a toilet," She grumbled and Buffy, sat in the back seat, smothered a laugh. She was only on this little trip to the Doctors by Giles' request who had claimed her Mother had the ability to become entirely unreasonable when there was the threat of needles...and well, he needed someone who could effortlessly stop her from leaving. Like last time. Buffy had agreed, somewhat reluctantly- going to the doctors with her pregnant mother was exactly high on her to do list, but so far the car trip alone had been highly amusing.
"Mom," She said, leaning forward, "It'll be fine. We're just a bit away from the doctors"
"Easy for you to say," Joyce told her, "You're not suffering from the incredible shrinking bladder."
"Ew"
"I swear...something has gotta give," Joyce sighed and Giles, unable to take his eyes off the presently busy road took one hand off the wheel to hold Joyce's and she smiled appreciatively.
Buffy looked at the hand holding before sighing herself and flopping back into her seat.
"Are we there yet?" She asked, sounding like a seven year old wanting to know when they reached their holiday destination.
"So, everything perfectly normal since I saw you last?" Doctor Cassandra Marshall asked as Joyce, Rupert and Buffy traipsed into the room.
"Yes," Joyce nodded, "Pain, aches, kicks, insomnia, tiredness, shrinking bladder and its becoming harder and harder to reach my feet. So yes, perfectly normal"
"Ah," Cass smiled, "You can always tell the second time Moms- much more cynical and a lot less worried"
"Third time Mom actually," Joyce informed her, "By the way, this is my eldest daughter, Buffy"
"Hi," Buffy smiled as she shook hands with the doctor.
"Hello," Cass greeted her briefly, before returning her attention back to the expecting parents, "So Joyce, no complaints? Contractions, headaches, swellings,anything?"
"Erm...actually, yes, I have been having-" Joyce looked nervously over at Rupert and Buffy for a moment as she took a seat, knowing she hadn't owned up to them about these symptoms, "I've been having a few headaches. I mean I've had them every now and then throughout, but recently they've been getting a little worse..."
"Joyce," Rupert didn't seem to know whether to feel concerned or offended so he settled for a little bit of both, "Why didn't you tell me?"
"I didn't want to worry you..." She told him, "It's probably nothing"
"It may just be stress," Their Practitioner assured him, "Or something else related to hormone imbalance perhaps. Just let me check your medical records Joyce...it may be related to some allergies you have- heightened by the late stage of pregnancy. Or it could simply be nothing" She sat at her desk and started clicking away at her computer, calling up Joyce's file while Giles and Buffy stood around Mommy (now thankfully sat down) as though they were guarding her from anything the headaches could mean. "Hmm..."
"What?" Buffy immediately picked up on Cassandra's 'hmm', "Good hmm or bad hmm?"
Cassandra turned around in her chair to face them all, but she was looking directly at Joyce.
"Mid last year, you were brought into the hospital weren't you after a collapse?"
"Yes, but-"
"And according to these x-rays you had all the symptoms of a potential brain tumor...but it was never treated?"
"I-it went away," Joyce told her nervously, "But I don't see what any of this has to do with..."
"Now, please don't be overly concerned by what I have to say," Cassandra said,putting on serious doctor face- both of these things immediately making all three worried, "But I have known in the past...for moms-to-be who have in the past had operable cancer or some other illness, to have what can only be called 'memory pains' prompted by the excess hormones produced in the third trimester. They are nothing harmful, nothing more than just that-memories. But erm, since you were never treated Joyce- I can't help but worry this may be something more"
"Something more?" Buffy asked, "What does that mean?"
"I'm not sure," Cassandra admitted, "It's not my particular area of expertise- let me just contact a friend of mine who works in that department...see what their opinion is on the matter then maybe we'll be better informed over what to do next..." She turned back to her computer and started typing. While she wrote the email, the Summers-Giles family looked at other in worry, no more so than Joyce who remembered not remembering Dawn, just like she had before Ethan, ironically, had saved her life.
"I keep not remembering Dawn," She whispered in intense worry to Rupert and he held her hand, giving it a comforting squeeze, silently telling her not to worry.
"Now," Cassandra said, walking back over to them, "While we're waiting for a reply, why not get back to basics"
Giles couldn't believe how she could announce the potential of something so devastating and then be back in normal everythings-great-mode so suddenly. It wasn't right.
"How's the baby been? Mobility wise? Kicking a lot?"
"Lots," Joyce nodded, wincing a little, "In fact...right now. I'm going to be bruised"
"Don't worry about it," Doctor Marshall smiled, "It just means she's healthy."
She went on to check the baby's heart beat, any swelling and any other number of things that needed to be checked until Joyce thought she was going to die of exhaustion from just being tested on. She, thankfully, retained her cool when it was time for blood pressure test followed directly by the needle business.
"Well, everything seems perfectly normal...now let's just check if I have an email back..." Cassandra headed back to her computer and Buffy watched her nervously when-
She was walking through the walls of an asylum. A nurse looked over at her.
"Come on Buffy. It's time for you drugs-"
Buffy shook her head, clearing away the images.
"What?" She asked in confusion and saw she was looking at the concerned expression of Cassandra Marshall. She was talking to Joyce.
"I'm sure it's nothing to worry about at this point, but just to be sure...he says...he's booking you in for an appointment at the hospital. For an MRI Scan"
Silence was the only response, the only response they could achieve.
"W-when?" Joyce finally asked as she found her voice.
"As soon as possible," Cassandra informed her somberly, "We want to be sure either way as soon as we can"
"I can't work this tilly thing," Willow complained from behind the counter at the Magic Box, "It has all these buttons, and it's just refusing to open for me" She pressed a few more buttons and suddenly the till shot out, "Argh! Ooh, there we go" She smiled, putting the customer's money in there and taking out the change, before handing it over to the man who had bought the tiger's eye chakra crystal. "Thank you for shopping at the Magic Box," She smiled as he left.
Since both Joyce and Giles were at the doctors today, Willow and Tara- in the absence of Anya and Xander- were looking after the Magic Box instead. Tara was the one dealing with magical things directly for obvious reasons, while Willow handled the till.
"We rock," Will grinned as she headed over to her girlfriend, pleased with her third sale of the day.
"That we do honey," Tara smiled warmly, as she organized the talisman display on of the cabinet shelves. At that moment there was the sound of the wind chimes at the door ringing and the two turned to see the latest customer, but instead found Buffy heading towards them, looking incredibly somber.
"Buffy," Willow said, suddenly serious, "Are you okay? Is everything alright with your Mom? Lily?"
Buffy was silent as she took a seat at the table.
"Giles- he's gone home with Mom. He, uh, he wants you to carry on looking after the shop"
"Of course sweetie," Tara assured her, looking at her with deep concern, "But what's the matter?"
"Mom..." Buffy whispered out, "She's been having, having headaches. L-like last year..."
"You think Ethan again-" Willow began to ask but Buffy shook her head adamantly.
"No, no it's not him," She took a deep breath that didn't seem to calm her in the slightest, "It's...the doctors think it could uh it c-could be a-" She gulped, unable to say the word, "Brain tumor. Developing . P-possibly. They've, uh they've booked her in for an MRI scan"
"Oh my god," Willow gasped, sinking into her seat, "Oh my god..."
"That's why...until she goes in...tomorrow...that he wants, he wants to be with her. He told me to come here and ask you to-"
"Of course honey," Tara told her, "Of course we'll look after the story. Don't worry about it"
"Also," Buffy said, only nodding a little to show she had acknowledged what Tara said, "erm...they both said not to tell Dawn. She can't know."
"Right," Willow nodded, lost in her own horrific thoughts at this alarming news.
"I need to patrol," Buffy said abruptly, suddenly standing up.
"But it's still daylight," Tara pointed out and Buffy seemed lost.
"But I have to do something...I have to...I can't just-"
"Buffy, do you know where you are?" The Doctor asked as Buffy glanced around in panic at what was no longer the Magic Box, but was in fact the same hospital she'd seen twice before in recent days.
"The Magic Box..." Buffy replied in confusion.
"No," The doctor said kindly, shaking his head, "Buffy none of that is real. None of it. You're in a mental institution, you're ill. You've been with us six years now, do you remember? It's gonna be okay...look, look who's here"
He stepped aside so Buffy could see her guests. Her Mom and Dad. Looking very much together and her Mom looking very much not-pregnant.
"Buffy?" Her Mom asked, stepping forward warily, not wishing to scare her, "Welcome home honey"
"Mom...?" Buffy asked, completely confused by what she was seeing, "Dad...?"
"She lucid," The doctor smiled in pleasant surprise, "Keep talking, maybe your voice can ground her"
"Sweetheart," Her Dad said, "We've missed you so much,honey, can you hear me?"
No, this wasn't right. Her parents weren't together anymore. She was in Sunnydale and they were divorced. This wasn't real. She needed to get back. Back to Sunnydale, back to the Magic Box.
"No honey," Her Mom said, sensing her will to leave, "Stay with us, plea-"
"Buffy? Are you okay?" Willow asked.
"I've been having these...flashes. Hallucinations I guess," Buffy admitted as Willow handed her a glass of water. She was sat in her living room talking to Willow, Tara, her Mom, Giles and Dawn. All of them looking at her as though she were an interesting project to be studied.
"Since when?" Giles asked.
"Night before last," She told him, taking a sip of the water, "When I was looking for the nerd herd. And then the demon poked me with some needle thingy...in the arm. And then it was like...no, not like. I was in a mental institution."
"I don't understand," Joyce frowned, "What do you mean you were-"
"I didn't know what had happened at first," Buffy told her, "But then it happened a couple more times. There were doctors, nurses, other patients...they told me I was sick. Crazy I guess. And all of this, none of it was real. Just part of some delusion in my head"
No one knew quite how to respond to that.
"Well, this sandwich tastes real enough to me," Dawn informed her, before taking a bite out of the chicken sandwich greedily.
"I know how it sounds," Buffy admitted, "But it felt so real"
"Did it hurt?" Willow asked, "The hallucination?"
"No it..." Buffy stopped to look at her Mom, "You were there."
"I was?"
"With Dad. You were together. Like you used to be...before Sunnydale..."
Buffy seemed to lose herself in her thoughts, causing the others to become slightly nervous.
"Buffy, it's not real," Joyce broke into them, "I'm not...we're in Sunnydale now, not L.A"
"I know..." Buffy nodded, but not sounding entirely convinced, "Too simple..."
Again, the others became nervous by Buffy's body language.
"I say research is in order," Giles announced, breaking into the moment and Willow stood up in eager agreement.
"Yes, book reading awaits"
Buffy started to feel her vision start to go, and only her Mom seemed to notice
"Buffy?"
"If we're not careful-"
"Wait," Her Mom broke into the Doctor's speech, "There's a chance Buffy might be like she was, before this all happened?"
"Mrs Summers," The doctor said gently and Buffy frowned. That name didn't sound right for her Mom anymore. It wasn't right.
"Giles..." She'd murmured, trying to bring her focus back, or better yet- bring Sunnydale back.
The sound of her voice drew her parents and the doctor's attention.
"Giles? That's the Watcher right?" Her Dad checked and the doctor nodded.
"Yes, and her stepfather. The father of her half-sister. She created Dawn for that same familial bond, but the inconsistencies...they created too many complications and didn't fulfill that need. So she created the birth of a real blood sister. One not formed of supernatural means."
"Lily," Buffy said, realizing who the doctor was talking about.
"Yes, already met her haven't you Buffy?" The doctor smiled understandingly, "So desperate was the need for that familial bond that she found a way to meet the sister before her time...because everyone else around her...they're not as reliable as they used to be are they Buffy? Not as comforting..."
"Joyce?" Giles called out, before walking into their bedroom. He found his wife lying down on their bed, her eyes were open so it was evident she wasn't sleeping. She was clearly worried about Buffy. As if she didn't have enough to worry about. "We've found the demon that is causing Buffy's hallucinations. Willow and Tara are working on the antidote"
"It's all my fault," Joyce whispered and Giles frowned in concerned confusion as he headed over to sit beside her on the bed.
"What?"
"It's all my fault she's seeing all this," Joyce semi-explained, not sitting up from being lay on her side on the bed.
"What do you mean?" He asked calmly.
"It's my fault she thinks she's in a mental institution,"
"Joyce, don't be ridiculous," He said kindly, "How on earth can this be your fault at all?"
"Because I put her there," Joyce admitted, her voice almost breaking.
"Pardon?"
"I put her in a mental institution...when she was about fifteen..." Giles wasn't even given time to ask why as Joyce carried on talking, "She came home one night, looking completely terrified. She started rambling about vampires, and a , a man called Merrick...saying she was the Chosen One. Destined to Slay vampires. Hank and I...we, we thought she was crazy. So we sent her to a clinic...after a couple of weeks she stopped talking about it...and she was released. And we all seemed to unanimously decide never to talk about it ever again"
"Joyce, I-"
"I put my daughter in a mental institution Rupert, rather than listen to her, I put her in an asylum..." Joyce started crying, "I put her in that awful place...and she thinks she's still there...it's all my fault..."
"No, it's not, shhh, it's not your fault," He told her, letting her slip into his arms soothingly where she lay, "Not in any reality. It's not..."
"Is Buffy...how...is Buffy going to be okay?" Joyce asked, sitting up, practically pleading for Giles to say yes. He nodded.
"Since the demon carries an antidote to it's own venom,we ah, dispatched Spike to bring the Glarghk Guhl Kashma'nik"
"Gesundheit" Joyce smiled ever so slightly at Giles pronouncing the complicated name of the demon.
"So the problem should be resolved very soon," He told her with a reassuring smile.
"One of the problems anyway..." She said, voice heavy with worry and Giles was reminded of the MRI scan scheduled for the very next day.
Buffy was so very confused. She was starting to doubt which was the reality and which wasn't. The one in the institution made so much more sense, sounded so much more normal. Her parents. Together. No problems. She was just an ordinary girl, with ordinary parents. Here- well her Mom had once been the one semblance of normal in her life, but now even Joyce wasn't exactly living the life of Joe Normal. The Doctor was right- everything was falling apart. Dawn- her very existence didn't make sense, did it? Willow trying to cope with an addiction to magic...how ridiculous did that sound? And her Mom- she could be seriously ill, something they wouldn't know for sure till tomorrow...and she had a husband who was part of The Watcher's Council- an organization of men and women trained so they themselves can train a girl born with supernatural strength. The Slayer. It just got more and more ridiculous. Buffy thought back on her parents and how they had been before they'd arrived in Sunnydale. Such different people than they were now. Then, her Mom would never have just forgiven a guy for beating her- which was, essentially what Giles had done months ago. That was something Buffy would never have believed of Giles. See, things were falling apart. They weren't like they should be. Not anymore.
"Buffy?"
Buffy looked up to see her sister in the door way, holding a cup of tea.
"Mom sent me up with this." Dawn told her, walking forward and taking a seat on the bed beside Buffy, "Make you feel better until we get the antidote"
"I'm okay Dawn,"
"Yeah, the thousand-yard stare really helps sell that," Dawn half-joked, handing her the tea.
"I should be taller than you," Buffy said suddenly, sounding completely detached.
"Maybe you're not done growing," Dawn smiled.
"Coming apart..."
"What's coming apart?" Dawn asked, wondering if she should call for Giles since Buffy seemed to be really, really out of it.
"Everything...doesn't make sense any more Dawn-"
"You don't have a sister Buffy," Her Mom said gently.
"Dawn..."
"No, honey," Her Mom said, holding her arm, "Say it. It'll help you believe it"
Buffy didn't want to say it. Dawn was real. But was this what was really real? She didn't know anymore. She was so confused.
"I don't have a sister..." Buffy tried it on her tongue, but a moment later it tasted of complete betrayal, "I know I didn't grow up with her, but these monks- they made her and-"
"Your mind." Her Dad told her kindly, "Playing tricks on you"
Her Mom gave her a gentle, loving kiss on Buffy's forehead that felt, to Buffy, all too much like the reality in Sunnydale. How could this here feel so real and be false? It couldn't be.
"You're our little girl Buffy," Her Mom told her lovingly, "Our one and only. We've missed you so much. We just want to take you home and take care of you"
"I'm not even there am I?" Dawn asked in angry hurt, "You said it a second ago. You don't have a sister" Buffy had nothing to say in reply, "It's your ideal reality and the only person in your entire life that's in it is Mom"
"Dawn, that doesn't mean-"
"I've gotta go. Help Mom." Dawn got up and left the room without waiting for another word from her sister.
Joyce's head was really hurting. A little headache. One of the biggish little ones she'd been having lately. It was then that the memories of Dawn became hazy and the memories of just her and Buffy became more prominent. She sat on the sofa in the living room, rubbing her temples, willing the painkillers to start working and make the headache go away as she tried to ignore the sounds of everyone in the basement trying to gain control of the demon that had done whatever it was that had been done to Buffy.
She heard someone come down the stairs and saw it was Dawn, looking quite upset. Joyce wanted to ask what was the matter, but she couldn't quite remember everything about Dawn at that moment, which made her uncomfortable around the teenager. She could remember the memories that weren't false, she could remember the past two years with Dawn, but before that she could barely remember at all. She knew it would pass. It always passed, but until it did she really didn't want Dawn talking to her. She didn't like feeling like she didn't know her own daughter.
God, she feared the MRI scan tomorrow, and what it was going to show.
It was an hour or so later when the antidote was finally completed, Tara revealing herself, with Willow's voiced tuition, to be quite a whiz at that sort if thing.
"I'll just take it up to Buffy," Willow smiled with proud relief, holding up the mug of antidote for all to see, before she headed up the stairs to Buffy. Everyone else remained gathered in the living room, clearly grateful and relieved that had found the solution,all of them obviously unnerved by Buffy's delusion of being in a mental institution. Spike, out of all them, was looking the most worst for wear as he had been the one fighting the demon long enough for the others to get the needle that had poisoned Buffy out of the demon.
"She'll be back flying the wings of sanity in no time," He stated, as though trying to convince himself more than anyone.
"You always come through for her don't you?" Joyce asked, a slight frown lining her face as she truly considered the answer to this question. A question that Spike seemed quite taken aback by.
"What?"
"You really do care about her don't you?" Joyce asked, eyes searching as she looked at Spike who seemed incredibly uncomfortable with the scrutiny, "Like really care"
Everyone seemed to be looking at him for an answer, Tara and Joyce looking understanding while the others were merely curious.
"As much as I love the introspective scene love, I've got myself a crypt to get back to if you don't mind," He excused himself uncomfortably, putting on his usual Spike bravado before leaving the house before either Joyce or Tara could question him further, making him look closely at his feelings for Buffy which were confusing at the best of times.
"You know Willow's taking an awfully long time to give Buffy that antidote," Giles said thoughtfully, looking in the direction of the stairs with concern.
"What's your point?" Dawn asked bluntly, still sore over what Buffy had said earlier on about she not existing in the other reality.
"I'm not sure to be honest," Giles admitted, "It's just..."
"I'll go check on them," Tara told him, "Maybe Buffy's too out of it to take it herself...and Willow's trying to help." She suggested, "I'll go lend a hand. Want to help Dawnie?"
Dawn looked very reluctant, but she eventually gave in- wishing to help her sister despite her hurt and the two headed upstairs to help Willow.
"Willow?" Tara called out softly, sensing something was wrong as she reached the top stair. She and Dawn walked on down the hall until they reached Buffy's room. Where they saw Buffy stood above an unconscious Willow, clearly having been knocked out.
"Willow!" Tara rushed forward to her lover, but Buffy grabbed her wrist, stopping her.
"Buffy what are you doing?" Dawn asked in worry that was slowly edging towards panic.
"I have to get well Dawn," Buffy told her, "This is the only way. You're just tricks for my mind"
"What?" Dawn was horrified, "Buffy, you're sick- I'm getting Mom. And Giles" She went to leave but, without letting of Tara, Buffy grabbed hold of Dawn which caused the teen to scream. "Mom!!"
Before she could say another thing though, Buffy threw her against the wall with enough force to knock her out completely. She fell to the floor, silent.
"Buffy," Tara said calmingly, "You need to calm down. Think about this. We're real"
"What's going on?" Giles asked, rushing into the room.
"Honey, don't worry," Her Mom told her, "Take your time. And you'll be well again. Your Dad and I are always here, we just want to take you home. Just take your time"
"Giles...I need to get well," Buffy told him, "After I take these downstairs, to the demon, you're joining them. You have to...you're just a trap. For my mind. I want things to be simple again. I want to be well"
"Buffy," He said, taking a slow step toward her, "Just think things over first. You're still not well- I am not going to let you carry on with this, you know that."
"I know," Buffy nodded in acceptance, "I know you won't" Giles seemed relieved for a moment, but a second later she met him with a mean left hook that knocked him to the ground, completely unconscious next to Willow.
"Buffy, please," Tara said, as she looked around at her unconscious friends "You have to listen to me."
Joyce had been unable to run upstairs at the shout of Dawn's cry, for obvious reasons, so Rupert had run up to see what was wrong. It was killing her waiting downstairs though. She needed to know what was going on...and no one was coming back downstairs. She decided to head up the stairs however slowly.
Buffy was just dragging a now unconscious Tara out of her room, when her Mom came along the landing.
"Oh my God, Tara," She gasped, "Buffy, what's going on?"
This was the hardest bit. Sure, she had her Mom back in the other reality, but this was her Mom here too. And she was going to have to get rid of her if she was going to be well again.
"I have to...you said it's the only way for me to be healthy again," Buffy told her, sounding so very confused and her Mom went over to her.
"Buffy, I didn't say that. That isn't me. It's not. This is me. Here. Now. Please, Buffy, listen to me"
"I don't know..." Buffy shook her head in confusion, "I don't know...I don't know..."
"I don't know...I don't know..." Buffy hit her head against the white wall in the hopes that it would bring sense to the entire situation.
"Buffy, look at me," Her Mom said to her, "Sweetheart, I believe in you. You're a survivor. You have what it-"
"-Takes. Buffy fight it! You can beat this thing, you're too good to give up" Joyce told her, holding onto her arms tightly to try and bring her back. Buffy shook her head in confusion. Her Mom in both realities were saying the exact same thing. This was just confusing her even more. What was right and what was wrong?
"Be strong honey. I know you're afraid. I know the world feels like a hard place sometimes, but you've got people that love you. Your Dad and I have all the Faith in the world in you. We'll always be with you. There's a-"
"- a world of strength in your heart honey. I know there is. You just have to find it again. I know we've been through some very bad times, sweetheart, but don't let that detract from the good. You're too strong for this"
"Believe in yourself"
And then it all made sense. Both were real. It was the only way they could both be saying the same thing. Anya's mostly senseless talk about alternate realities came back to her. If there was a world without shrimp, couldn't there be a world where she was just a sick girl in an institution? The point was, that wasn't her world. The Mom talking to her there was Buffy's Mom, but it wasn't her Mom. This was her Mom. The Mom who was presently looking at the unconscious bodies and frowning in disapproval as though she were merely a child who had crayoned all over the wall.
"Buffy, you've knocked everyone out," She said as though Buffy hadn't noticed this little fact. And Buffy broke down. Crying. From confusion. From the pain. From everything. "Oh sweetie, come here," Joyce said, instantly drawing her daughter into a comforting hug, inwardly relieved that she had come to her senses.
"Mom...I-I need the antidote..." She sniffled, pulling away to wipe her eyes.
"Do you still have the one that Willow brought up to you?" Joyce asked and Buffy nodded, "Go get that then. Drink it and then we'll...erm..." She looked at the unconscious bunch again with a wince, "see about waking these up"
Buffy looked on in horror at what she'd done.
"Buffy, this wasn't your fault. None of it. Okay? You weren't well. And you won't be until you have...have whatever it was that Willow and Tara made for you. Don't worry about any of this. Don't."
The next morning was the longest car ride to the hospital they'd had in a long time. Time just seemed to drag. Buffy had desperately wanted to go along with them, so, since Dawn didn't know anything, they had had to enlist Tara and Willow to look after her for the day, telling her that it was merely a check-up.
Checking in seemed to take even longer, as they filled in the relevant forms,did all the monotonous things doctors and hospitals seemed to require.
Then a doctor sporting the kind expression they all seemed to be trained to wear, came over and told them that everything was ready, and if Joyce would like to come through.
Giles and Buffy sat outside in the waiting room, nervously sat in the terribly plastic chairs, while Joyce had the MRI scan as she squeezed her eyes shut, trying to block out the unnerving, loud, banging noise the scan made. Giles and Buffy weren't even talking. They were just looking at the floor going over thoughts it wasn't healthy to go over.
Results usually took up to two weeks to be received, but fortunately with unfortunate implications, Joyce had been bumped to the top of the list due to the potential urgency. So when the scan was over an hour later, the three of them were told to wait in the corridor and the results would be ready in up to ninety minutes.
Ninety minutes was a long time.