Disclaimer: Still don't own anything. Just the plotline that I'm making up.

A/N: Yeah…I was viciously ill over the weekend, I had planned to write this chapter, but…oh darn. It's here now, so yay! Thanks to all the reviews :) I will try to answer some later.

I'm being really, really conservative with my AN, I've noticed that usually these are like a page and a half long, and who really wants to listen to me rant?

PLEASE CHECK MY PAGE FOR DAILY UPDATES. It will make your life easier if you know that I haven't died and am writing furiously :-P

Rawr.

On with the fanfic! (I apologize for a minor sorta-kinda swear coming up momentarily…and the extreme shortness of this chapter, but I'm sooooo busy all the time, and I felt too guilty to post another two-part chapter.)

A/N #2: Okay, this hasn't been updated over the weekend because A NOREASTER BLEW IN AND SNOWED ALL SATURDAY AND THEN I LOST POWER THROUGH SUNDAY AND MONDAY! Which is just so beyond frustrating :( I'm currently at a hotel where there IS wireless, thanks goodness. This should be posted sometime in the afternoon…unless my Dad decides we have to go home before the power is back so he won't have to drive us a billion miles to get to school (which got cancelled Monday and today!). Also, this will be a two-parter, despite any guilt on my behalf. December will make up for everything, though.

Echo struggled against the restraints, mumbling into the duct tape on her mouth. This was like the van in her memories, the one she always went away in when she needed a treatment. Echo had no idea what a treatment was or why the idea of one terrified her, but apparently that was where she was headed. The Dollhouse, for one of the mysterious treatments.

The man with her, who had introduced himself as Boyd, was now watching her from another corner. He kept sighing into his phone, trying to explain Echo's condition to someone named Topher, a name she felt she should know and trust, but didn't.

"She is fine, Topher, I swear!" Boyd said for the hundredth time. "Shaken up, maybe, but we're lucky we found her in this relatively good condition…Toper…yes, we're almost there. Then you can do whatever test you want, okay?"

He nodded and "Mmmm-hmmmed" a few more times before bidding Topher a good day and shutting the phone. He looked over at Echo. "How are you doing?"

"Mmmph…" she mumbled, meaning to say something much ruder. " 'Ooo…mmmph…'r…aaaa…bsssstrrrdddd…."

"I see." He said. "So I guess there's no point to un-taping your mouth because you clearly have no wish to help me. I am very sorry about doing all this to you, Echo, but it's for your own good. Whatever those people told you about who you might've been isn't true. You'll forget soon."

Forget?

"You see, you got out. I'm sure it was Alpha that let you go, but you're the only one of the escaped dolls that got anywhere. The others were just too confused, too scared to go very far. Why did you go to Sunnydale?"

Echo glared at him and shook her head.

"Alright. We're here, anyway."

Echo was dragged roughly out of the van by several men, wishing she wasn't so scared. She couldn't call up any of her fighting skills, and she was petrified. The Dollhouse, once inside, was eerily familiar. She remembered doing yoga on the little wooden floor with the other zombie-like people here. It was scary how well she could remember it compared to everything else. Sunnydale was getting foggier by the moment, along with all the other people in her head—Alice, Taffy, Faith—which meant she wouldn't be able to defend herself.

In a white room full of complicated machines Topher strapped her to a white chair that glowed blue and hummed. "I can't believe you're barely even hurt." He marveled. "So, where were you, anyway?"

"I don't know."Echo lied. She decided that the only thing she could to was play dumb and hope that they bought it.

Topher asked, "Really? Boyd said you got to this little town named Sunnyhell—"

"Sunnydale." Boyd corrected from the corner.

"Sunnydale." Topher said. "And you got along very well with the people there. They took you in, and it was because you look exactly like…"

Echo stared at him, wide-eyed.

"Don't give me that look." Said Topher. "Fine, you won't say it then I will; Faith. You look like Faith because you probably were Faith. Do you know anything about her?"

"I have no idea what you're saying." Echo said again. "I don't understand what is going on or where I am or who you are, but I'm feeling inclined to call the police."

"See?" Boyd said. "She doesn't want us to know something, but we can't torture her to give us information…"

Topher motioned for Boyd to follow him out of the room, and the two left Echo alone.

She looked around, trying to see if there was a single sane person in the entire building. She guessed that everyone here was either a doll or worked here feeding, clothing, and caring for the dolls. She could remember sitting in this chair before, and then after that she was always blank. Everything in the world was puppies and sunshine.

They were going to take away her memories as Echo, and all the things that she had remembered while at Sunnydale.

There was no way out. She struggled, tried to remember anything that would help, but Topher and Boyd were back in the room before she knew it.

"Please just relax and lean your head back." Topher instructed. He pressed a button, causing the chair to slowly recline.

"No…no! No, you can't do this!" Echo screamed, tugging at her restraints. She could feel pain growing in her head as it lowered, and she fought to keep it above the glowing blue rim that was going to be around her head in a second. "Please, don't! I can't forget—"

Then there was blackness, and all the things that had happened to her were whirling away until her head was empty.

"Hello, Echo." Topher said, smirking at Boyd.

"Did I fall asleep?"

"For a little while."

"Shall I go now?"

Topher knew that all it would take was a little memory wipe to fix her mind, making her remember the command words. "If you like."

Echo got up serenely, making her way out to see the other dolls. Sierra was the first. "Good day."

"Good day." Sierra replied, stopping to look closely at Echo. "You have been gone for a long time."

"I have?" Echo blinked. She had only been gone a few minutes, hadn't she?

"Yes. I saw you come in earlier, but you were tied up and upset. There was shouting upstairs."

"I have been here forever." Echo said, though she was starting to feel like she shouldn't be in the dollhouse. That was strange. She should want to be here so she could be her best.

"Oh. Okay. I have to go swim in the pool." Sierra said after a moment. She walked off, leaving Echo standing alone.

Echo nodded at Sierra's back. "…five by five."

O.o.O.o.O.

"This is all my fault!" Buffy moaned, massaging her head. "I'm so stupid, I just scared her off, it's all my fault—"

"Hey." Riley interjected. He was holding her on his lap, in Buffy's living room, surrounded by the other Scoobies. Echo had been missing for nearly three days since Buffy had accused her of being a killer. "You didn't mean to hurt her."

Buffy shook her head. "I did. I was just so angry because of what Faith did, what she has done in her past…I wanted to tell her what I really thought of her for once in my life, but I shouldn't have. She said she was sorry…"

"Echo said she was sorry?" Willow asked.

"No." said Buffy. "It was when she was all those different people, I think that Faith tried to tell me she was sorry. I…I went looking for her, and I saw her, and then some girl gave me a note from her. She said she was sorry."

"You WHAT?" Xander yelped. "Are you clinically insane?"

"She said she was sorry." Buffy retorted harshly. "And now because I had to be stupid and vindictive she's run off somewhere."

Anya asked, "Where? It's not like any of us have a clue where she's gone."

Dawn was sulking in the corner of the room, giving everyone death glares. "Of course you wouldn't, because nobody here actually cared about Echo."

"Dawn…" said Buffy, but she didn't know what to say. It was true. She had tried so hard to pretend that Echo wasn't there. "Maybe she's doing what she did last time..when she stole my body. She might have run to L.A. to Angel. Sure, she probably has no clue why she's going there, but she found us, so she can find him."

"That actually makes sense." Tara said. "Repeating an old pattern, trying to find that safest place to go."

"Should we go to L.A.?" Riley asked. "With your Mom still not feeling well?"

"I heard that." Joyce called from the other room. "And I'm fine. You need to find Echo." She appeared in the doorway. "She might be in trouble."

"Are you sure?" Buffy asked. The last thing she needed was a family emergency while she was in L.A.

"Yes, I'm sure. I can go visit your Grandmother for the weekend, if it makes you feel better."

"Sounds good to me." Buffy said. "Okay, I'll head to L.A. tomorrow and the rest of you can stay here incase anything turns up—"

"I'm coming with you." Riley said, his eyes shadowed with a hint of jealousy. "Wouldn't want any more Angel drama."

"Riley!"

"And you might need help of the magical type." Willow said. "So count me in."

"And me." Tara said.

"If they're coming, so am I." Xander said.

Anya nodded in agreement. "Me too."

Giles sighed. "I should come to keep you from tearing each other apart."

"Fine, but not Dawn." Buffy said as dawn opened her mouth. "I'm sorry, Dawn, but it just isn't a good idea.

"Fine." Dawn said darkly. "But you had better be nice to Echo, because this tim,e she might not come back if you say something worse to her."

"I won't." Buffy promised. "I'm not going to hurt her anymore."

O.o.O.o.O.

Echo was headed to get a treatment, wondering if it was because she was all confused again. The past couple of days she had continually felt like there was somewhere else she should be, but someone there was angry at her. She drew pictures of scary people with long, pointy teeth, she knew fighting moves that she couldn't remember learning, and she kept feeling this tugging in her gut, like she was going to be sick. Sometimes it made her feel sad, or guilty, or upset, and she had no clue why.

"Hello, Echo." Topher greeted her. He led her to the chair. "Are you ready for your treatment?"

"Yes." She hoped it would help.

Instead, a minute later, Emily sat up and looked around, confused for half a second before locking eyes with Topher and smiling cordially. "Topher." She glanced at the clock. "Oh, shoot! I'm going to be late, and I've left Jack with the babysitter! She's careless a lot of the time, so I generally bring him everywhere." She looked at Topher apologetically.

"It's not a problem." Topher said. "Boyd will go with you so you can get some clothes and then he'll give you a ride home, okay?"

"Sounds good."

O.o.O.o.O.

Exactly a day and a half later the gang had been in L.A. for an entire day, scouring the alleys, police stations, and asking around (Angel included) but there was no sign of Echo.

"Why are we even bothering with the police?" Buffy complained as they walked into yet another crowded police station. "Why would she come to the police?"

"Um, Buffy?" Willow said nervously, nudging Buffy's arm.

"It's not like she's even that smart—"

"Buffy?"

"What?"

Willow pointed to where everyone else was staring. Inside a small room with a baby next to her Echo was talking to a police officer.

"She has a baby?" was Buffy's first reaction, followed by, "Why is she even here?"

"I don't know." Riley said. "Maybe it's one of those weird people from in her head."

"Hey…what's she doing?"

Echo had gotten up and was out in the main office, staring down a man viciously. "You can't hurt me anymore." She told him.

The man looked outraged. "That is my son, but that is not my wife!" he shouted. Two men started coming at Echo, and she pulled the baby behind her.

"No one wants to hurt you." A woman told Echo, but she shook her head.

The next few minutes were horrible. The two men grabbed away the baby—Jack—from Echo. She started screaming and struggling with all her might. "Jack! No! Give me my baby back! Don't take him! Jack! JACK!"

"We have to do something!" Buffy shouted over the noise. She didn't know why, but she had never seen Echo or Faith ever act so protective of anyone. She couldn't just watch while Echo begged and screamed for her baby.

She ran across the room, tackling one of the men that held Echo back. "Ma'am, what are you doing? Stop!" he grunted as she twisted his arm behind his back.

"Jack!" Echo screamed. Buffy looked up in time to see her struggle free and try to chase after the man that said he was the baby's father. He was nearly out the door, being herded by more strange men in suits. She recognized one as Boyd, that man that had come looking for Echo earlier.

Echo barely made it more than a step or two when some the actual policemen came to the suited mens rescue and helped pin her to the ground. Buffy pretended that the man who had her had overpowered her, allowing him to drag her to a seta next to Echo.

"Echo?" she asked softly. The woman didn't respond. "Echo?"

"Jack…" she murmured. "I'm sorry, what are you saying?"

"You're not Echo." Buffy realized. "Okay, who are you?"

Echo wiped the tears from her face. "I'm Emily. Why are you trying to help me?"

"I…I know someone that's very, very, very, similar to you." Buffy said, hoping it would suffice. "She…she looks a lot like you, actually, and I just thought that maybe you needed someone to stand up for you."

"They keep…saying things." Emily/Echo—Buffy decided she was completely Emily right now, not a trace of Faith or Echo—confided in a low whisper. "They keep saying I need to be taken somewhere for a 'treatment', and that the man over there, Boyd Langeton, is my 'Handler'."

"That's what you—I mean….that's what this other person told me. They were in a similar situation." Buffy said. "Boyd…I met him, and he seems awfully suspicious of me."

"They're coming back!" Emily whimpered. Two me were walking towards her, steeling themselves to grab her. "I just want my baby back…"

"You'll get him back, I promise." Buffy assured her, gently placing a hand on Emily's arm. "When I count to three, you run that way." she gestured to the left of a less bulky man. "Try to get past him and you'll see a van outside, with those people—" she pointed out the other Scoobies and then motioned for them to get to the car "—in it. I'll try and keep the other men and police away from you."

"O-Okay." Emily said. Buffy was surprised by the trust shining in her eyes.

"Ready? One…two…three!"

A/N: NaNoWriMo, here I come! (If you'd like to read the novel I'm writing for NaNoWriMo I'd be happy to share it, just PM me)