Chapter 7: Listening to Fear
November 22, 2000 - Wednesday
Sunnydale Memorial
Joyce sat propped up in her hospital bed watching as her daughters cuddled up to her picking at the food on her tray. "Listen, you two, I know this creamed spinach is pretty delicious, but I promise I won't be offended if you both go out and get some real food-"
"Are you kidding me?" Buffy asked with a wry smile. "This is the good life. Relaxing in bed while people bring you food on trays—"
"And I like the Jell-O," Dawn jokingly added.
"Help yourself. There's something about a food that moves all by itself that gives me the heebie-jeebies," Joyce said as Dawn and Buffy both pick up small cubes of Jell-O with their fingers, pop them in their mouths.
"Mmm. Good 'n wiggly," Buffy said.
Joyce smiled, enjoying being with her daughters. She looked up just as Dr. Isaacs walked in. "Oh hello, Dr. Isaacs. You've met my girls, Buffy and Dawn."
"Yes, of course," the doctor replied. "You two are becoming part of the regular crew around here."
"Just keeping her company," Dawn said.
"Good for you. Just be careful you don't wear her out," he advised them.
"Don't worry about that. I woke up exhausted, there's really no more exhausted to get," Joyce told him.
"Well, maybe some good news will help," he said looking at the trio. "The bloodwork has come back from the lab and everything seems fine. So, we've gone ahead and scheduled your surgery for the day after tomorrow at ten in the a.m. How does that sound to you?"
"I think they have me scheduled for volleyball, but I'll work around it," Joyce joked as Buffy and Dawn chuckled.
"Alright then," he said with a chuckle of his own. "Joyce, you take care. Make sure to get some good solid rest. And I mean that." He smiled at them before leaving the room.
Joyce's face slowly dropped. She was slowly beginning to understand Buffy's fear of hospitals. "The day after tomorrow? I don't know if I can stand to be stuck here for two more days just waiting."
"Waiting? Give me a break—We've got tons to do—" Buffy started.
"Yeah, we've got soap operas to watch and trashy magazines to read ..." Dawn agreed.
Buffy looked around as she spotted the bed-controls. "Ooh, and an adjustable bed to fiddle with. That alone'll keep me going for the next four hours or so."
"Now, I really don't need you two to stay here all night. I know you've both got patrolling to do," Joyce told her daughters.
"Not tonight," Dawn countered. "Tonight, we have Mom taking-care-of to do."
"Dawn's right," Buffy agreed. "Besides, Riley and Lynn are filling in for us with the others." Since Lynn had revealed the truth to Buffy and Dawn, the sisters had coaxed the teen into also revealing the truth to Xander, Willow and Giles. And as a result, the teen had become the youngest member of the Scoocbies. It didn't hurt that Willow and Tara had taken the young part witch, part Whitelighter under their wing. "I'm sure they've got everything under control."
November 23, 2000 - Thursday
Joyce sat up in bed, a book on her lap as Willow entered walking over to Buffy and Dawn who sat at a small table near the window.
"Care package!" Willow said as she looked at the Summers family. "Special delivery for the Summers girls." She plopped a large tote bag on the table. "Now let's see what I have in this sack of mine...Oh, I feel just like Santa Claus. Except thinner, and younger, and female, and well, Jewish."
"Now for you Mrs. Summers, I knew you would need a ..." Willow told them as she pulled out a beer hat. "…beer hat! See, it's got cup holders and straws that go straight to your mouth and you can fill it with other things than beer...and somehow when I was in the store this seemed like the most important idea and now there's this whole part where I'm crazy..."
Joyce smiled. "It's perfect. Thank you, Willow. You're so sweet." She put the beer hat next to her on the bed and smiled.
"Let me see, who's next? Dawn, I believe I have something in here for you," Willow said as Joyce put her hand to her head and winced.
"Headache?" Buffy and Dawn asked simultaneously.
Joyce nodded. "A little one. A biggish little one," she said. She noticed that Buffy and Dawn looked at each other, look of concern crossing their faces. "I'm fine. Now go on, what else is in that sack of goodies, Willow?"
"Alright. Dawn," Willow said and then she hesitated. "Uh Dawn, did you tell your mom about you and Lynn?"
"I did," Dawn assured her redheaded friend.
"Yes, she did," Joyce said as she smiled at Dawn. "I'm happy for my little pum'kin belly." She looked back at Willow. "Now…"
Willow nodded. "I got this incase you know you had questions about Lynn being a witch and all," she explained as she pulled out a book that titled: SPELLS: AN INTRODUCTION.
"Thanks, Will," Dawn said. "Now I might actually have something to talk about that doesn't evolve around patrol and me being a Power Ranger."
"You just might," Willow agreed. "It has some history, anecdotes, stuff like that." She then turned toward her other best friend. She pulled a textbook out of her tote bag and handed it to the eldest Summers sister.
"Homework?" Buffy said. "Ugh. I don't believe in tiny Jewish Santa anymore."
Willow smiled apologetically and handed something else to Buffy. "And a yo-yo," she said as Buffy accepted the yo-yo and the textbook. "The book is just in case you get a chance to look it over. We're doing World War One now. The last exam was really pretty easy, all underlying causes and trench foot. It should be no hassle to make up—"
Buffy smiled at Willow. "Will. Thank you. But to tell you the truth, school is just about the last thing on my mind right now."
"Same here," Dawn agreed.
Willow smiled. "I know."
"I mean, I don't even know if I'll take that exam," Buffy said.
"I'd rip it in half and then put it in bed with me," Joyce said loudly as the sisters and Willow looked at Joyce as if wondering what did Joyce just say?
"Mom?" Buffy and Dawn said simultaneously.
Joyce looked at her daughters innocently, apparently not aware of what she had just said. "I think I'll take a rest now." She smiled at them and nestled into her pillow, closing her eyes.
"Okay. We'll be right outside if you need us," Buffy said as Joyce nodded into her pillow and the girls walk out of the room, flipping off the light as they go.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Buffy, Dawn and Willow walked down the corridor. "She seems...She's going to be fine," Willow said.
"That weird me out back there," Dawn said with a sigh. "I know the doctor told us…but it was…"
"I know," Buffy said as she wrapped an arm around her younger sister. "Once she has the surgery it'll be better."
"I know," Dawn replied as they pass a family walking in the opposite direction: A middle-aged mental patient, his concerned-looking wife and their two daughters.
The Patient was swerving a bit as he walked; he nearly crashed into Buffy. "Excuse me," Buffy said.
"Buffy," Dawn whispered having recognized the mental patient as the night watchman that had given them the Dagon's Sphere. "It's the guard."
Buffy glanced back at him and nodded. "It is," she said.
"Careful. The facts say a picnic is in order," he said as he swiveled his head to get a better look at the girls. Then he stopped and suddenly charged after them, waving his pointed finger at them. "What is this thing?" he asked scared. "There's no facts...no pictures on this one."
Dawn reached behind her back on instinct for her morpher as she, Buffy and Willow turned to face him.
"There... what is the data?" He asked.
Dawn glanced at Buffy, who looked at her. The same thing running through their heads. What exactly did the monks do to her when they made her the vessel for the Key.
Buffy put an arm around Dawn, shielding her a little bit as she steered her sister away from the man. "Come on, Dawn. No need to morph," she said having seen where Dawn's free hand had been reaching.
As his wife caught up to him, the night watchman whimpered. She put her hand on her husband's shoulder and steered him away. "I'm going home. Home, home, home."
The Night watchman's wife hustled him off, their two worried daughters trailing behind.
Dawn let out a sigh as she looked at Buffy. "What did they do to me?" she asked.
"I don't know," Buffy replied.
"Do what?" Willow asked confused.
Before Buffy or Dawn could respond Ben approached from behind them and spoke up. "I guess I missed that. Was he bothering you?"
"Oh hey, Ben. Um, this is my friend Willow," Buffy said as she introduced their friend. "And of course you know Dawn."
"Hi," Willow and Dawn said.
"Hi," Ben returned.
Buffy nodded. "And, yeah, the crazy guy was a little bit, you know...crazy. But it's okay now. Are they really sending him home?"
Ben glanced in the direction the night watchman went and then back at the sisters and Willow. "Don't get me started. The Mental Ward's booked way past capacity at this point. Literally nowhere to put 'em. So, the ones with families, they're sending 'em home. Like that guy's family's s'posed to be able to take care of him? He needs someone to watch him twenty-four seven. What was he saying to you anyway?"
"Just babbling," Dawn answered cryptically.
Ben shook his head.
Restfield Cemetery
"Dawn?" Buffy called as she ran toward the White Zeo Ranger.
"Yeah?" the Ranger replied as she let Buffy catch up to her.
"What are you doing out here?" Buffy asked her sister with a look of concern.
"Thinking mostly," the White Zeo Ranger answered. "I would love to know what the monks did to me when they made me the vessel for the Key."
"I wish we could find out for you, Dawnie," Buffy said as she wrapped an arm around her sister in comfort. "But Giles said they were all wiped out. There's no one left to ask. I wouldn't think too much about it, Dawn. Come on, let's go."
The White Zeo Ranger nodded with a sigh. "Power Down!" she said as a flash of white light transformed her into Dawn Summers. She took her sister's hand and the two of them disappeared in a beam of white light.
UC Sunnydale
"You know some of the stars we're looking at ... don't even exist anymore?" Willow said as she and Tara looked up at the night sky. "In the time that it takes for their light to reach us, they've died. Exploded. Poof."
Tara turned and looked at her girlfriend. "Were, um...were things rough at the hospital?" she asked.
Willow shrugged. "You know, I used to love to look up at them when I was little. They're supposed to make you feel all insignificant, but ... they made me feel like ... like I was in space ... part of the stars." She pointed up at one constellation. "There's ... Canis Minor ... and ...and Cassiopeia."
"And the big pineapple," Tara replied, pointing another.
Willow frowned. "Hmm. You know, I'm not sure I remember that one."
"Oh, it's, a major one. See those three bright stars right over there?" Tara said as she pressed her head close to Willow's so that they shared the same line of sight. She traced the outline of the three stars with her pointed finger.
Willow titled her head in the direction. "Yeah."
"And see those stars along there? That's the bottom of the pineapple."
"It's big," the redhead agreed.
"Hence the name. The real ones never made sense to me, I ... sort of have my own."
"Teach me?" Willow asked.
"See those stars over there? 'Cow with Three Udders'. And that's 'Moose Getting a Sponge Bath,' 'The Short Man Looking Uncomfortable'. 'The Little Pile 0' Crackers' ... That one's a bit of a stretch. You do it. What would you call that one?" She pointed to a particularly bright star.
"Hmm, let's see," murmured Willow as she gazed into the night sky.
Suddenly the bright star enlarged in size and began streaking into a comet shape, heading towards the earth.
"A huge flaming meteor about to crash into something!" Willow cried and they quickly called the impromptu stargazing session to an end.
Had they been on the scene immediately, they would have seen the meteorite crash open in the ground, and a strange, unknown demon slither its way out of the wreckage, it's vision and nose questing for prey.
Fortunately for the beast, its desires were soon satisfied.
Sunnydale Memorial
Joyce pressed the call button repeatedly. She sat in her hospital bed, looking agitated. Buffy and Dawn sat beside her. "This thing doesn't work!" she said. "It isn't working!"
Buffy gently pulled Joyce's hand away from the call button. "I'm sure they heard you, Mom."
"I bet it's not even hooked to anything," Joyce told her daughters. "Like those push-buttons at the crosswalks that are s'posed to make the signal change."
"I'm sure someone's on the way—" Buffy started and then she realized what her mother said. "The push-buttons at crosswalks aren't hooked to anything?" It was then that Dr. Kriegel walked through the door. "Doctor—"
"Tell him, Buffy…Dawn," Joyce insisted. "Tell him, okay?"
Buffy looked at Dawn and nodded indicating she would take care of it. She turned toward the doctor. "Dr. Kriegel, we want to go home."
"Well, of course. You can come back and visit your mother first thing in the morning," he said misinterpreting exactly what Buffy was saying.
"No," Dawn said. "Buffy means all of us, mom included."
The doctor nodded as he looked at the three of them. "Oh, well, I understand that," he said obviously against the idea. "But it's not necessarily the first thing I'd recommend—"
Joyce who was tired and frustrated, fussed at her hospital bracelet, halfheartedly trying to rip it off. "I can't, I can't wait here two days before the operation. I just can't... It makes my head hurt to be here, can't you tell that?"
"Joyce, there's no reason to get upset—" the doctor said trying to comfort his patient.
"No reason to get upset?!" Joyce said, clearly upset. "Oh, right, sorry, I must just think there is because of my brain tumor!" She sighed. "I'm sorry I said that. I'm just so tired."
"Listen, Dr. Kriegel, I don't see why we can't take Mom home until the...thing," Buffy said. "I mean, wouldn't it maybe be good to let her rest where she feels, you know, safe and comfortable?"
"Really safe," Dawn whispered to herself.
Dr. Kriegel paused, considering the request. "Even if it would mean some work for the two of you?" he asked looking at both Buffy and Dawn. "Taking care of her."
Joyce relaxed, realizing she's going to get to go home. "Oh, thank God."
"We can do it," Dawn said. "Right, Buffy?"
"Right, Dawn," Buffy agreed as she smiled at her sister. She looked back at the doctor. "Anything."
The doctor nodded. "There are medications to administer, I'd have to go over those with both of you. And I'd need you both to check her vitals, watch her pretty closely... I'm afraid neither of you will get a lot of sleep."
"Buffy doesn't sleep much anyways," Dawn said. "And I've actually gotten good of the last month and a half of not having as much sleep either."
"Let's go now. Can we go now?" Joyce said as she tugged at the blankets, ready to get up right now.
"Mom, wait, Dawn and I need the stuff... the medicine, and instructions how to do everything," Buffy told her mother.
"She's right. Let's do this right," the doctor agreed. "We don't want to forget anything."
Woods
Willow and Tara were leading Riley, Giles, Xander, and Anya out of the woods into a clearing. "Everyone stay close," Riley told them before looking at Xander. "Glad you called me in on this."
"Glad you answered," Xander said pointedly.
"Oh, yeah. Sorry 'bout last time," Riley said. "Heard I missed out on some fun."
"Oh yeah, fun was had. Also frolic, merriment and near-death hijinks," Xander retorted.
It was then that Riley spotted the meteorite. "There, look. There it is." He looked at the area and saw the ground around it was charred and the impact left it half buried.
"Wow." Tara said in awe.
"We have meteorite," Willow added as Riley moved in for a closer look.
"Is it hot?" Anya asked. "'Cause, uh, if there's radiation, you could like go all sterile."
Xander backed away, leaving Giles to join Riley resident Watchers as they examined the meteorite before them.
"No, it's not hot," Riley replied. "It's warm. And broken. It's sort of…"
Willow leaned over his shoulder. "Hollow. It's hollow."
"So, uh, we're all thinking the same thing, right?" Anya asked.
"Festive piñata? Delicious candy?" Xander mocked.
"Something evil crashed to earth in this and then broke out and ... slithered away to do badness," Willow remarked as everyone nodded in ad lib agreement.
"In all fairness, we don't really know about the slithered part," Giles added.
"Oh, no. I'm sure it frisked about like a fluffy lamb," Anya commented sarcastically.
"Let's look around," Tara began. "Maybe we can figure out where it went."
Giles, Tara, Willow and Xander separated from the strange gathering to delve deeper into the woods, searching for more evidence of the 'something evil.'
"It went here!" Willow cried, calling them all over.
Riley was the first to step forward and examine the victim. "No pulse," he announced grimly.
"Yup, the space lamb got him," Anya remarked.
"I don't see any marks on him," Xander uttered as he looked for marks.
"I know him," Willow announced as she studied the body. "He was at the hospital…a mental patient. They released him today."
"Riley?" Giles said watching Riley who had taken out a pen. "What are you doing?"
Riley poked open the victim's mouth with the pen. "I'm not sure. There's something…" he said. His investigation soon revealed a green slimy substance, which made everyone cover their noses and mouths at the sight and smell.
"It might be toxic, don't touch it," Riley advised.
"Oh yeah, touching it was my first impulse," Xander mocked. "Luckily, I've moved on to my second, which involves dry-heaving and running like hell. Oh, man, does that smell."
"So, what do we do now?" Anya asked.
"Well we can't call Buffy and Dawn," Willow replied. "I want to call Buffy and Dawn."
"We can't," Tara reminded her girlfriend. "They've got...life stuff. That has to come first."
"So, we'll figure this out ourselves," Willow said determinedly. "We're experienced."
"Yes, it seems like we're always dealing with creatures from outer space," Anya commented. "Except that we don't ever do that."
"This is definitely new territory," Riley agreed, almost to himself.
"Perhaps we should explore a bit more, head into the woods a bit," Giles offered.
Five heads turned to gaze at the dark and uninviting woods, remembering previous encounters of demons there.
"Who votes research?" Xander asked. With the exception of Riley, they all raised their hands.
"Much better idea," Giles agreed.
"Yeah, I think that's a good call. There could have been some other cases like this. And see if any more of these were reported in town. I'm going to stay here, examine the body some more, look around a little," Riley said as the others turned heading towards civilization.
"Don't do anything hunterly ..." Xander told the ex-army soldier.
"No, no," Riley agreed. "I'm just not great at research, which I'm pretty sure you guys have noticed. I like me a good crime scene."
"You'll call us if you need help?" Giles suggested.
Riley nodded. "Believe me, something jumps out at me in the dark...you'll hear me even without the communicators. Now, you guys go get that info, okay? Call me if you find anything."
"Okay. You got it," Willow said.
Riley watched them tramp noisily into the woods.
"I don't want to be the one who finds the evil anymore," Willow informed Giles.
Riley waited until they were out of sight and then unclipped his cell phone from his belt. He punched in a number and then put it to his ear. "I need to speak to the man at the desk. This is... this is Riley Finn. You have an agent Miller, Graham Miller. He'll tell you who-Yes. Emergency frequency."
Sunnydale Memorial
Dr. Kriegel stood at the Nurses' Station filling out forms. On the counter next to him was three prescription bottles. "Well, I guess we're all set then. You've got my phone number, pager number..." he said as he picked up the bottles and handed them to Buffy. "And here ... Those are the medications I talked to you both about. The sedative and so forth. Pain killers ..."
Buffy looked at the bottles, trying to remember which was which before handing them to Dawn. "Right," she said. "We remember ..." She looked at Dawn. "Right?"
"Right," Dawn agreed as she looked at the bottles, reading their labels.
"If this is going to be too much for the two of you," he said. "We can make your mom perfectly comfortable here ..."
"No, no. Dawn and I've got it," Buffy said. "And we really appre—"
"You look like your father when he cries," Joyce told Buffy harshly.
Dawn noticed the wounded look on Buffy's face as she wrapped an arm around her sister. "It's okay," she whispered.
Buffy nodded as she smiled at Dawn before turning back to the doctor. "She's... I told you she's been…"
He nodded. "I know," he said as he turned to Joyce. "Joyce? Joyce." He smiled as Joyce focused on her. "We're done here. Why don't you take your girls home now?"
"Yes," Joyce agreed. "Yes, thank you. Thanks for all your help, Doctor."
"I'll see you in a couple of days," he reminded her.
"Thank you," Joyce said as she looked at Buffy and Dawn with a smile on her face. "Let's get the hell out of here." They headed out of the hospital.
The moment they were out of sight from any curious onlookers, Buffy and Dawn grabbed hold of Joyce as Dawn hit the button calling for teleportation and they disappeared in a beam of white light.
Summers Home
They appeared in the foyer of the house. As Joyce rested with her arm around Dawn's shoulder, Buffy turned on the foyer light.
"It's nice to be home," Joyce said.
"Do you want to get in bed, Mom?" Dawn asked.
Joyce blinked as she shielded her eyes with her hand. Crouching away from the light. "Oh that light," she said as she began to panic. "Oh, Buffy no, it's too bright. It's too bright! It's too bright!"
"Okay, Mom—" Buffy said.
"Buffy it hurts, it hurts! It hurts my eyes!" Joyce continued.
Buffy turned off the foyer light. "Okay, hey, don't worry. Dawn, turn off the lights down here. I'll take Mom upstairs."
"Sure," Dawn agreed.
"We'll turn off the lights up there, too," Buffy told her mother as Joyce started to calm down.
"Okay," Joyce agreed.
Dawn started turning out lights as Buffy led Joyce up the stairs. She brought her wrist communicator to her lips. "Zordon," she said.
"Yes, Dawn," came Zordon's voice.
"I'm going to be out of action for a couple days," Dawn said with a sigh as she moved through the first floor of the house turning off the lights. "Mom has tumor. She couldn't stand being in the hospital for two days waiting for the surgery. So, we brought her home. Buffy and I are going to be helping her till the surgery."
"I understand, Dawn," Zordon said. "I will notify the other Rangers and we will monitor Sunnydale. Should the need arise they will take over for you and Buffy till you give us the all clear."
"Thank you, Zordon," Dawn said.
"You are welcome, Dawn. And Dawn, she'll be alright."
"I know," Dawn replied as she turned out the last light on the first floor.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Woods
Riley watched as a black stealth helicopter came in for a landing a couple feet before him. Three men dressed in black field uniforms leapt out. Graham walked over to Riley.
Major Ellis disembarked from the helicopter and he gave the pilot a thumbs up signal and the helicopter lifted off into the night sky. He turned and approached Riley. "You Finn?" he asked.
"Yeah," Riley said.
Ellis nodded as he extended his hand. Riley shook it. "Major Ellis. I'm in charge of this Op. What's the situation? Just the one civilian casualty?"
"That I know of. Over here." Riley said as he led them toward the scene.
Graham sidled up next to his friend. "Found a stiff in the woods and called us in. Don't you usually call your girlfriend or the Power Ranger for this kind of thing?" Riley shot him a side-ways glare. "Okay, okay ..."
As they come to the body, Ellis knelt by it and reached toward the guard's mouth.
"I wouldn't touch that stuff in his mouth if I were you," Riley interrupted, stopping Ellis.
"Toxic?" Ellis asked.
"No," Riley replied. "Just messy." He produced a corked vial containing some of the strange jelly-like substance and tossed it to Ellis, who shone his light on it, studying it.
"Don't think it's toxic," Riley said. "Guy seems to have simply choked on the stuff. Near as I can tell, it's some kind of protein alkaloid."
"This fit the profile of any Sub-T you're familiar with?" Ellis asked.
"Not a sub-terrestrial, Major," Riley said as he led Ellis toward the meteorite. "Extra-terrestrial. Came out of that." He motioned toward the meteorite as Graham and the other guys moved to examine it.
"Ellis eyed the vial. "Miller, set trackers for a protein signature."
"Yes, sir—" Graham agreed.
"No good, Major," Riley countered. "This alkaloid's breaking down at an accelerated rate. It's dissolving too fast to track."
"You got a better idea?" Ellis asked.
"Thing came from space... there's got to be some trace radiation," Riley suggested.
"The Power Ranger's enemies come from space," Ellis reminded Riley. "And they typically."
"That's because they come in the same way the Rangers do," Riley said. "Teleportation."
"Of course," Ellis said as he realized Riley was right. "We have Geiger counters in the packs."
"Shouldn't be too much background gamma noise out here," Riley said. "And you shouldn't have problems with Sunnydale's resident Power Ranger either. She's taking care of personal matters."
"I take it you have knowledge on who she is?" Ellis asked.
"I was let into her confidence," Riley confirmed. "And no, I won't be telling you who she is."
Ellis nodded as he turned to his men. "Break 'em out."
Summers Home
Buffy and Dawn sat on the on the couch, stony-faced, their untouched homework beside them as they watched the TV.
Suddenly they heard a bang and they jumped to their feet.
Dawn's hand instinctively went behind her back reaching for her morpher.
"Mom?" Buffy called out as they ran to the kitchen.
They found Joyce standing at the open refrigerator peering into it.
Dawn relaxed a little as she took in the room. "We really need to do something about those," she muttered to herself looking at the dirty dishes. She then noticed spilt orange juice on the counter and an empty frying pan smoking on the stove.
"Mom, what are you—" Buffy started.
Joyce spun around to face the girls, her face a mask of cold disdain. "I'm making breakfast," she told them. She looked Buffy up and down. "But you shouldn't eat anymore. You're disgustingly fat."
Buffy and Dawn glanced at each other and then approached Joyce slowly.
"Mom—" the sisters said as they touched their mother's arm.
Joyce looked at her daughters, then at the mess around her. She suddenly softened, appearing as bewildered as the girls. "Buffy...Dawn…I—I don't know what I'm doing."
"It's okay," Dawn said as she went to the stove and turned off the burner before moving the smoking pan to a cold burner.
"Oh God," Joyce said starting to panic. "I'm- I didn't mean to... I don't know what's happening to me."
"You need to rest. Let's just get you back to bed," Buffy said as she and Dawn took Joyce's arms and led their mother out of the kitchen and upstairs to her bedroom.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Buffy exited the master bathroom a glass of water in one hand, one of her mother's prescription bottles in the other. She poured out two pills and handed them to Joyce. "Here Mom, these will help you sleep," she said.
Joyce swallowed the pills with the water and then lay back as she slipped her legs under the covers. Together, Dawn and Buffy help tuck their mother into her bed like she's a sleepy little girl.
"There we go," Dawn said as she sat on the edge of the bed, stroking her mother's hair.
Joyce turned to look at Dawn. "Don't touch me, you-you thing!" she said harshly.
Dawn drew back as if stung by a bee. "Mom, it's me, Dawn."
"Get away from me! You're nothing!" Joyce snapped. "You're a shadow! I don't know what you are or how you got here."
"Mom," Dawn repeated knowing that it was her mother's tumor making her day these things. "It's me, Dawn. Your little pum'kin belly, remember?"
"Dawn?" Joyce said as recognition came to her.
"Yeah," Dawn said as she gave Joyce an encouraging smile that didn't reach her eyes. "You know I think I am going to go to bed."
"You know what," Buffy said. "We all are." She looked at her mother. "You get some rest. One of us will check on you in a bit." She turned and followed Dawn into her sister's room closing the door behind her. "Dawnie?"
"I hate being the vessel for the Key," Dawn said with a sigh. "Whatever they shoved in me is…"
"I know," Buffy said as she wrapped her arms around her sister. "We'll have Giles look into it, okay. Maybe once we have stopped Glory, there will be a way to take it out of you."
"That would be nice," Dawn admitted.
"But until then just don't listen if anyone says stuff like that, okay?" Buffy said.
"I still hate it, but your right," Dawn said as Buffy hugged her, holding her tight.
U.C. SUNNYDALE
"Look at how teeny Mercury is compared to, like, Saturn. Whereas in contrast, the cars of the same name..." Xander said looking at a large solar system mobile that hung from the ceiling.
Giles looked at him in exasperation. "Xander, please, we have work to do here."
"I still don't get why we had to come here to get info about a killer snot monster," Xander added as he came to sit beside the rest of the group.
"Because it's a killer snot monster from outer space," Giles replied. A momentary paused ensued as the words travelled from his ear to his brain. "I did not say that. Demons enter our world in all sorts of ways, this one came from above."
"And the university library's astronomy section is the home of aboveness," Xander added in sudden understanding. "Got it. Hey, take in the study material, too." He held up a book entitled 'Meteors & You.'
"We've been scouring all the international periodicals for any other meteorite landings in the last week," Tara informed Giles as she and Anya came up to the main table which the Scoobies had commandeered for the evening.
"Big zippo," Anya informed them.
"Well, then it would appear that the world is not being invaded," Giles concluded.
"I'm pretty pleased about that," Tara added.
"Uh, guys?" Willow called out, causing everyone to glance up from their books, "I've got some stuff. The most recent meteoric anomaly was the Tunguska blast in Russia in 1917. Some witnesses claimed the meteor was hollow."
"Hmm. Maybe with a chewy demon center like ours," Xander remarked.
"How far back does this list of anomalies go?" Giles asked.
"Pretty far. Back to the Queller impact in the twelfth century," Willow informed her.
"The what?" Tara asked.
"Queller," Willow repeated. "I don't know why they call it that, it didn't hit a place called Queller or anything. It landed just outside of Reykjavik in Iceland."
"Wait, I just saw..." Xander trailed off as he flipped back pages of the book before him. "Queller. Quell ... here, here! 'Primitive people used to believe that the moon was a cause of insanity. Sometimes they would pray to the moon to send a special meteor to fix the problem the moon had caused. These meteors were expected to 'quell' the madmen.'"
"Nicely read, honey," Anya said with obvious pride.
"Oh come, it's more likely to be named after someone called Queller," Giles said.
"The man in the woods. He was a mental patient," Tara added.
"And he got pretty well ... quelled," Xander continued.
Willow clicked her mouse a few times. "Okay, I'm looking in history right now. It says in the Middle Ages there were these sweeping plagues."
"Right. Like the Black Plague," Giles supplied.
"No, these were different. More like plagues of madness." Willow corrected. "People were losing their marbles everywhere. But then it would suddenly subside. And these dates look pretty close. Like maybe it happened after each one of the meteor events."
"So, something emerged from the meteors ... and quelled the madmen," Giles concluded.
" Seems like that's what happened here. Meteor go boom, crazy guy goes bye-bye," Xander added.
"Xander's little book made it sound like this Queller thing had to be summoned," Tara remarked. "So ... who summoned it?"
"Who else? My money's on Glory, our resident beastie summoner," Xander decided.
"We should call Buffy and Dawn," Willow said looking at her wrist communicator. Then she remembered that the sisters were dealing with their mom. "Except we can't call Buffy and Dawn." She looked at Giles. "Can we?"
"No, but we'd better call Riley," Giles said.
Sunnydale Memorial
"A Queller demon?" Riley said into his wrist communicator.
"Yep. That's our perp," Willow said. "It's a sort of a scavenger that can be summoned to kill—"
"Crazy people?" he asked as he and the Black Ops secure the mental ward.
"Yeah. How did you—" Willow said in surprise.
Riley looked at the mental patients, all five of them who were dead. "'Cause I got five corpses here in the mental ward at Sunnydale Memorial."
Under the watchful eye of Ellis, Graham and the others examined an open air duct, its grate having been torn away.
"You're at the hospital?" Willow asked. "Riley, listen... I saw Buffy and Dawn's mom before and she was acting kind of wacky. Insane wacky, if you know what I mean ..."
"It's okay. Joyce was released earlier today," Riley said. "That intern Ben told me. They're safe at home."
Willow let out a sigh of relief. "Oh, good. And the thing, the Queller, is it still there?"
Riley glanced over at Ellis, who signaled for him to hang up and join them. "We- I think I've got it cornered in the air ducts. Look, Willow... Keep at what you're doing. Call me if you find out how I can kill this thing."
U.C. Sunnydale
"Well, okay, but shouldn't we come help—" Willow asked. "Riley?" She sighed as she lowered her wrist. "Okay."
Summers Home
Joyce lay twisted in her sheets, her forehead damp with sweat. She twisted and turned, moaning and muttering to herself. Her eyes fixed on the ceiling. "I wish... I wish someone had bothered to tell me...because I didn't know there'd be tennis being played, I just didn't know...oh, why? Those eyes, they're like gasoline puddles...tell me because I need to know...why, why are you staring at me? I wish I knew..."
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Buffy was busy cleaning up the messy kitchen, listening to some random Spanish music station on the radio. She stood at the sink scrubbing at the burnt pan.
Suddenly, it was all just too much for Buffy. She lowered her head as she began to cry. She was about to turn up the radio so no one could hear her when her wrist communicator beeped.
"Dawn?" Buffy said as she brought the communicator to her lips.
"Are you okay?" Dawn asked.
"Are you morphed?" Buffy said, she was sure her sister had morphed and was using the helmet's sensors to spy on her.
"No," Dawn replied. "I just know you, Buffy. I know you feel, after all."
"I've been trying not show it," Buffy said with a sigh. "But its just been too much. We could lose her, Dawnie."
"I know," Dawn said with a sigh. "Go ahead and turn the music up so mom doesn't hear you. Then when your done, why don't you come sleep with me? We can chase the bad dreams away from each other."
"That sounds wonderful, Dawn, thanks," Buffy said as she did as Dawn instructed. She turned up the music and then she let the tears flow down her cheeks.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Joyce was starting to panic as the sheets bunch up around her. "No...don't do that! Stop! Stop staring! I don't like that. I have to rest now. I don't like the way you're looking at me..." She looked at the creature, her eyes wide with panic.
Sunnydale Memorial
Riley and the Black Ops charged down the hallway, following the Creature's invisible radiation trail along the ceiling and walls using a Geiger counter. The radiation trail led them to the Hospital Entrance.
Graham stepped outside. "The trail stops here, edge of the parking lot."
"It stops?" Ellis asked.
Riley looked around. "A car. It hitched a ride. Probably underneath. So much for containment."
"So some poor mental patient checks out of here today and drives away with this thing...took it right to his own home," Ellis said.
"Checked out today..." Riley said as things began to click together. Ben telling him Joyce had checked out. Willow saying that Joyce was going crazy because of her tumor.
"Get me a list of all patients discharged in the last—" Ellis ordered his people.
Riley cut him off, a dead certainty in his eyes. "No. I know where it's going. We've got to move. Now."
Summers Home
The Creature landed on Joyce, ooze dripping from its mouth like drool. Joyce began to hyperventilate as tears spilled from the corners of her eyes. She screamed as loud as she could and then screamed again. "It's on me! Help me! There's a bug!"
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Dawn listened to her mother screaming, unsure what to do. When she finally decided, she leapt out of bed and threw open the door that connected her bedroom to her mother's just in time to see the creature begin to vomit clear goop all over Joyce's face.
Dawn instinctively reached behind her back. "It's Morphin' Time!" she called out as she brought out her morpher. "Zeo Ranger Six White!"
The morphing sequence commenced and within a moment Dawn had become the White Zeo Ranger. "White Zeo Power Sword!" she called out as the Power Sword was beamed into her hands. She hefted it like a bayonet and charged the creature. She hit it squarely in the chest and knocked it off her mother and off the bed.
It fell back onto the floor, out of sight.
The White Zeo Ranger looked to her mother, who was desperately trying to pull the sticky bile off her face so she could breathe. The Creature suddenly jumped back onto the bed, scampering across Joyce's legs, and sprang at the Ranger.
Taking the sword, she swung it and hit the creature knocking it into the hallway. She closed the door before it could dart back in. She brought her wrist communicator to her lips.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Buffy, having cried herself out, turned the cold water on and splashed it on her face. She breathed in deeply to calm herself. When she turned the faucet off, she began to scrub the dishes with a new vigor, as if focusing on cleaning will keep her mind from thinking about anything else.
It was at that moment Buffy's wrist communicator beeped at her. She brought it to her lips. "Yeah, Dawn?"
"Buffy, there is something in the house. Whatever it is, its after mom. I'm currently morphed protecting her," came Dawn's voice.
"On my way," Buffy said as she ran out of the kitchen and charged up the stairs.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
The White Zeo Ranger had quickly moved to the door that led into her room and shut it before doing the same with the door leading into the master bathroom. A second later the hallway door opened and Buffy stepped inside.
"Where is it?" Buffy asked seeing that her sister held her Power Sword.
"Out there," the White Zeo Ranger said. "It's after mom, whatever it is."
"Make it stop looking at me girls...it chokes me ..." Joyce told her daughters.
"Buffy, stay with mom," the White Zeo Ranger told her sister. "I might…"
The Ranger didn't get a chance to finish what she was saying as the creature dropped on Buffy knocking the Slayer off her feet and onto her back. "As long as its on you this will do no good," the White Zeo Ranger said looking at her Power Sword.
"What about your Power Stakes?" Buffy suggested as she wrestled with the creature.
"Its shell might be too strong for them. Their meant for staking vampires not driving through a hard shell. I know, I'll get you a knife," the White Zeo Ranger told her sisters as they and the creature reached the stairs.
Buffy began to tumble down the stairs, still fighting the creature just as the Ranger disappeared in a beam of white light.
The White Zeo Ranger appeared in the kitchen and got a butcher knife. "Marco!" she called out."
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Buffy and the creature landed hard at the base of the stairs and Buffy lost her grip on it. It scrambled away, quick as lightning.
"Marco!" the White Zeo Ranger called out from the kitchen.
"Polo!" Buffy called out as she listened for the creature. Both she and the White Zeo Ranger entered the dining room from different doors. "Where is it?"
The White Zeo Ranger looked around, her helmet sensors trying to detect the creature's whereabouts. "I don't see it."
The sisters turned and entered the kitchen continuing to scan for the creature. "Here," the Ranger said handing her sister the knife.
Buffy took the knife and moved toward the stove as the White Zeo Ranger moved toward the doorway that led into the small sitting room. Suddenly something sprang out from the basement door to the Ranger's left.
The White Zeo Ranger instantly spun thinking the creature was attacking only to find Spike. "Spike," she said. "What the hell are you doing in our house?"
"Your house?" Spike asked and then things began to click for him. "Nibblet?"
"Just answer my question," the White Zeo Ranger told the vampire as she glared at him.
"Right then, you caught me. Your basement's full of junk and, me being in need of... junk ..." Spike said.
"You were stealing?" Buffy asked in surprise.
"Well, yeah," he admitted. "Can't exactly work the counter at Burger Barn, now can I?"
The White Zeo Ranger frowned as she noticed what Spike was slipping into his coat. "White Zeo Power Sword!" she called out as the sword was beamed into her hand. She pointed it at the vampire. "I can dust you with this. It causes vampires to burst into fire before dusting. Give me…"
The Ranger didn't get to finished as the Creature dropped onto Spike from above, knocking him to the ground. Spike let out a scream as he wriggled under the creature, kicking at it with his arms and legs.
"Dawn, catch," Buffy said as she tossed her sister the knife as the Ranger tossed her the sword.
The White Zeo Ranger readied the knife, waiting for a clear shot at the creature. But before she got her chance, one of Spike's thrashing legs kicked the knife out of her hand, sending it skittering across the kitchen floor.
"Sword," the White Zeo Ranger called as Buffy tossed the Power Sword back to her sister. "When I tell you, Spike. Duck."
"You got it, nibblet," Spike replied.
"Now!" the Ranger told him and Spike rolled away form the creature. Pointing the sword downward she thrust it into the creature, impaling it.
Suddenly, the front and back doors were kicked in simultaneously. The White Zeo Ranger, Spike and Buffy reacted in alarm as Riley and the Black Ops charged into the house, weapons drawn. The some of the Black Ops guys fan out into the living room while the others enter the dining room with Riley.
Riley took in everything…Spike, Buffy, the White Zeo Ranger and the creature…dead on the floor.
"Are you both okay?" Riley asked the Ranger and Buffy. Neither of them answered as they ran upstairs.
Spike looked at Riley. "You just missed a real nice time," he said as the Black Ops guys holster their guns.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
"Power Down!" the White Zeo Ranger called out and she de-morphed just before she and Buffy entered their mother's room. The sisters climbed onto the bed with Joyce and they embraced their mother, holding her tightly.
"It's gone," Dawn said. "I killed it."
"Oh, God..." Joyce said.
November 25, 2000 – Saturday
Sunnydale Memorial
Buffy and Dawn sat at their mother's side holding her hands as a nurse swabbed Joyce's arm with alcohol and inserted an intravenous needle. Joyce winced, keeps her focus on her daughters.
"Buffy?" Joyce said when the nurse left. "Dawn?"
"Um hum?" the sisters replied.
Joyce looked at her youngest daughter. "I have to ask. We know you're the vessel for the Key…but is it doing something to you, honey?"
"We don't know, mom," Buffy said answering for her sister.
"It could be though," Dawn added reluctantly. "For some reason some people who look at me when their…you know." Joyce nodded. "They don't see me; I think their seeing the Key instead of me. I think they can't seem to perceive me."
"Once we've dealt with Glory," Buffy said. "We're going to see if Giles can find a way of removing it from Dawn. If the monks could shove it in her, that means there has to be a way to remove it also."
Joyce nodded. She looked at Buffy. "You will protect your little sister, won't you?"
"Always," Buffy said.
"And I always protect, Buffy, mom," Dawn added.
"Good," Joyce said. "Good..." She pulled both Dawn and Buffy to her and held them tenderly. "My sweet, brave girls. What would I do without either of you?"
Buffy and Dawn looked at each other, they saw on each other's face mirrored looks of fear.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Buffy and Dawn stood in the corridor holding hands, watching as Joyce was wheeled away toward the operating room. Joyce smiled at them and they return her brave smile.
Author's Note: Despite the fact I had wanted to wait to see how this story was received before working on a sequel. I have actually already finished the second story in this series. Dawn the Power Ranger 2: Shift Into Turbo. It takes place during 'Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie,' which for this story takes place during the summer between BTVS seasons 5 and 6. I have also done bits and pieces of the third story (Dawn the Power Ranger 3: Return of the Slayer) and fourth and final story (Dawn the Power Ranger 4: Return of Zeo) in the series.
Next chapter is Into the Woods and yes Riley is leaving. I wanted to Dawn to experience first the loss of an ally and then other losses over the course of this story. Those losses will play into the sequel a little bit.