Chapter 134: Bargaining Pt. 1

Dawn is woken by Celia's cries; she sits there for a moment till she hears footsteps in the hall. She gets out of bed as Piper opens the door.

"Dawn?" Piper asks.

"I've got her, Piper." Dawn says. "Go back to bed."

"You sure?" Piper asks.

Dawn nods, "Yeah, I'm sure." She walks over to Celia and picks her up out of the bassinet as Piper closes the door before heading back to her room. She checks Celia's diaper and notices she needs to be changed.

Dawn sits Celia down on the changing table and changes Celia's diaper before picking her up again. She then shimmers out to the garden outside the conservatory and sits down in one of the lawn chairs. She sits there holding Celia, looking up at the stars. "I miss you, Buffy."

The next day Piper is in the living room looking at the envelope in her hands. "Dawn!" Piper calls out.

Dawn walks into the living room moments later carrying Celia, "Yeah Piper?"

Piper pats the couch, "I think it's time we go over something."

Dawn sighs, it had been three months since Buffy had died for her and she still wasn't sure if she wanted to deal with what was in Buffy's will. "Do we have to?"

Piper smiles, "I think it's time don't you sweetie?"

Dawn sighs and nods as she sits down next to Piper holding Celia in her lap.

Piper opens up the envelope she is holding and pulls out and begins reading the documents, "I Payson Patricia Halliwell, an adult residing at 1329 Prescott Street, San Francisco, California, being of sound mind, declare this to be my Last Will and Testament."

"I appoint Piper Halliwell as my Personal Representative to administer this Will, and ask that she be permitted to serve without Court supervision and without posting bond." Piper stops reading. "I'm going to skip down as some of this is just legalese giving me certain rights as the executor of her estate." Dawn nods. "I devise, bequeath, 50% ownership of Payson's P5, 50% of my remaining college education trust, and 50% ownership of the residence at 2244 Milano Street to my sister, Dawn Marie Summers. I devise, bequeath, 50% ownership of Payson's P5, 50% of my remaining college education trust, and 50% ownership of the residence at 2244 Milano Street to my daughter, Celia Prudence Halliwell." She stops again.

Piper looks up at Dawn, "That makes you and Celia the owners of Payson's P5. Of course legally both of you can't inherit your share of it till your 21."

Dawn shook her head, "Give Celia my half of Payson's P5 and Buffy's education money. I would like her to have 100% control when she turns 21. I think Buffy would have liked that."

Piper nods, "Well we can set that up when you turn 21. Till then my hands are tied."

Dawn nods, "I understand." And she did understand, she couldn't inherit her portion of the club till she turned 21 because of the liquor license.

"You remember the castle Dracula had brought over?" Piper asks.

Dawn nods, "Yeah."

"That's the house she's leaving you and Celia. It still needs some work. She was using what profit she could from the club to modernize it and bring it up to code. It's not ready to live in yet. By the time you graduate high school it might be." Piper says.

"Okay," Dawn said.

"There is one other thing, Dawn." Piper said. "As you know Prue named Buffy your legal guardian. Buffy in turn has named me legal guardian of both you and Celia. But only till you turn 18, at which point you become Celia's legal guardian."

"What?" Dawn asked. "She wanted me to raise Celia?"

Piper nods, "Yes she did. You are Celia's godmother after all."

Dawn smiled.

At Xander's apartment Willow, Tara, Anya and Xander are gathered in his couch area. The mood is somber and tense. Everyone is on edge.

Willow holds the urn, examines it gravely.

"The Urn of Osiris." Tara says.

Willow nods, "You really found it."

"It wasn't easy. I went through every supplier The Magic Box has." Anya says

"You used a Magic Box supplier? What if Giles finds out?" Willow says, alarmed.

"He's too busy not leaving to pay attention to me. Besides, I ended up getting it on eBay." Anya says.

"You found the last known Urn of Osiris on eBay?" Tara says, disbelieving.

"Yeah. From this Desert Gnome in Cairo. He drove a hard bargain, but I finally got him to throw in a limited edition Backstreet Boys lunch box for –" Anya says. Xander coughs very pointedly, cutting her off. "— a friend."

Tara looks at Xander. Willow doesn't seem to have heard.

"You got your somber on, Will. The urn not up to spec?" Xander says.

Willow looks to Tara. They share an understanding. "It's the one." She turns to Xander and Anya. "Which means it's time."

"It's time? Like, time… time? With the… timeliness?" Xander says.

"Are you sure?" Anya asks.

Willow nods, "I am."

"Mercury's in retrograde, and we have - do we have everything?" Tara says.

"Just about." Willow says.

"But why the sudden rushy-rush?" Xander asks.

"Tomorrow night. We'll meet here at—" Willow says.

"Whoah! Let's apply the brake and check rear and side mirrors here! This is deep stuff, Willow. We're talking about raising the dead." Xander says.

"And it's time to stop talking. Tomorrow night, we're bringing Buffy back." Willow says.

"Tomorrow." Anya says.

Xander shakes his head, "I don't know..."

"Discovery Channel has monkeys. And our tape machine's sorta wonky—" Anya says.

Willow sighs, "Guys. I need you guys on board here."

"It just ... it feels wrong." Xander says.

"It is wrong." Tara says. Willow shoots her a look - didn't expect that. "It's against all the laws of nature and practically impossible to do but it's what we agreed to. If you guys are changing your minds—"

"Nobody's changing their minds. Period." Willow says.

Xander shakes his head, "Excuse me. Who made you the boss of the group?"

"You did." Anya says.

Tara nods, "You said 'Willow should be boss.'"

"And then you said 'Let's vote' and it was unanimous." Anya says.

Tara nods, "You made her that little plaque that said 'BOSS OF US,' you put on sparkles—"

"Valid points all. But we - I mean, we were just talking then..." Xander says.

"I can do this, Xander. I promise. But not without you." Willow says.

"Should we maybe tell Giles? Now that we're really ready? It's not like he's going anywhere - ever..." Anya says.

Willow shakes her head, "No. No one else can know. Not Giles, not Spike, not Phoebe, not Piper, not Paige, not even Dawn. They might not understand. Especially Piper, Phoebe, Paige and Dawn. This goes against everything that Buffy taught me, everything they believe in. This is bordering on personal gain."

"Also if something does go wrong—" Tara says.

"I'm telling you it won't." Willow says.

"Scenario: We raise Buffy from the grave. She tries to eat our brains. Do we, 'A': congratulate ourselves on a job well done—" Xander says.

"This isn't Zombies, Xander." Willow says.

"Zombies don't eat brains anyway. Unless instructed to by their Zombie masters. Lotta people get that wrong." Anya says.

Willow nods, "This isn't like anything we've dealt with before . Buffy didn't die a natural death. She was killed by mystical energy."

Tara nods, "Which means we do have a shot."

"It means more than that. It means we don't know where she really is." Willow says.

"We saw her body, Will. Piper, Phoebe, Paige and Dawn buried it in that nice little Wiccan ceremony they had." Xander says.

"Her body, yeah, but her soul, her essence - that could be somewhere else, trapped in some Hell dimension like Angel was. Suffering some eternal torment that we can't even imagine just because she saved us and I am not gonna let her..." Willow says, near tears. "...I'm not gonna leave her there." She collects herself, faces off with Xander. "It's Buffy."

Xander nods, "What time do we meet?"

At the Manor that evening Dawn is awake, staring at the ceiling. She climbs out of bed and walks over to the bassinet and looks at Celia lying there for a moment. She shimmers out into the garden and looks up at the stars. Searching for some sign that Buffy is up there looking down on her.

The next day golden afternoon light sifts through the woods into a peaceful clearing. Willow walks into the clearing, holding a velvet satchel. Her expression is grave, focused. She kneels in the grass, opens the satchel ... Removes a small vial, which contains some mixture of spell ingredients. She scatters the contents of the vial on the ground, while chanting... "Adonai, Helomi, Pine... Adonai, Helomi, Pine... The gods do command thee from thy majesty..."

There is a rustling in the woods. Something moving there.

"O Mappa Laman, Adonai, Helomi ... Come forward, blessed one, know your calling..." Willow says.

Into the clearing, steps a beautiful young fawn. Drawn by the spell, it slowly walks to Willow and bows her head submissively. Willow, moved by the creature, reaches out and strokes her tenderly. Willow brings the knife up from beside her and buries it into the deer. The fawn cries and bucks in Willow's arms. Willow, holding on, can barely contain her own pained emotion as the creature dies ...

Once the creature is still, Willow, her clothing now red with blood, pulls another vial from the satchel and fills it with the blood of the deer. She chants, her voice shaky now, as she sprinkles the body of the fawn with another potion. "Adonai, Helomi, Pine... Divine creature, child of Elomina, accept our humble gratitude for your offering. In death, you give life. May you find wings to the kingdom."

Later Tara, Xander and Anya are gathered in the Magic Box. Tara turns at the sound of the shop bell to see Willow enter. Willow's changed clothes - no evidence of her earlier activity remains.

"Hey. You're late." Tara says.

Willow's attitude is completely casual. The others are clearly not aware of what she's just done. "Oh, I had to get that thing."

"Giles isn't around. You can dump the cryptic." Xander says.

"The last spell ingredient." Willow says.

"Okay. Right. What is "Vino de Madre" anyway?" Xander asks.

"Wine of the Mother. Kind of... black market stuff." Willow says.

"Black market? You didn't tell me that. You shouldn't have gone alone. It could have been dangerous." Tara says.

"Sorry. I didn't ... I was careful." Willow says.

"It must be something pretty intense. The black market is all baby teeth and spooky fluids." Anya says.

"All I know is - we have to have it to do the spell. Which makes it good stuff in my book." Willow says. She turns to Xander and Anya now, changing the subject. "How come you guys are here, anyway? I thought we weren't meeting up until later."

"We weren't, but it felt too weird hanging out on our own." Xander says.

"It's better that we're together." Tara says.

"You got butterflies, baby?" Willow asks.

Tara nods, "More like bats."

"Would you like to look at the money? I find it calms me." Anya says.

Tara shakes her head, "That's okay. Thanks."

Willow moves to Tara. Puts her arms around her. "Tell the bats it's going to be alright. I promise. We couldn't be more prepared."

"I know. I just wish it was time. I can't stand worrying about it anymore." Tara says.

Anya discovers something behind the counter. Looks up amazed. "Well, it's your lucky day then. I have something to distract you." She moves to them holding a piece of paper. She hands it to Xander, who reads it and reacts with surprise.

"What?" Willow asks.

"I've gone. Not one for good-byes, I thought it best to slip out quietly. Love to you all, Giles." Xander reads.

At the airport Giles waits for his flight in a typically sterile airport. He sits, hands folded. Lost in thought.

"You really think we'd let you get away with that?" Willow says.

Giles looks up to see Piper whose pushing Wyatt's stroller, Phoebe, Paige, Willow, Xander, Tara, Anya and Dawn whose pushing Celia's stroller are all lined up in front of him. He's touched, but contains it.

"Well. I was trying to avoid a scene." Giles says.

Willow holds up a hastily written sign with balloons taped to it. It has a big heart on it and it reads: BON VOYAGE, GILES!

"Like we'd make a scene." Phoebe says.

Giles smiles, but they can see how difficult this is for him. "Not you. Me."

Anya nods, "We brought you lovely parting gifts. See?" She hands him an apple snack pie. "It's American, get it? Apple pie. To remind you of all the good things you won't be eating."

Tara hands him a little plastic monster finger puppet. "And a monster. Kind of a San Francisco souvenir, we thought. Grrrr. Argggh."

Xander is next, all eyes go to him - but his hands are empty. "I wanted to buy you a can of Old English 800. 'Cause, you know, of England and you... And 'cause it sounded funny at the time, but Piper wouldn't buy it for me."

"I thought it was kinda cheesy myself," Piper says. "But I think that was the point wasn't it."

Xander nods.

"We got your presents at the gas station. We were kind of in a hurry." Dawn says and she gives him a card. "And we made this in the car. That's why the letters are all shaky."

Giles takes it. Reads it. Looks away. "This is ... impossible, really."

Piper smiles, "We just wanted you to know we'll be okay. We'll miss you - but we'll be okay."

Anya nods, "And I'll take very good care of your money."

Giles laughs. Grateful for the opportunity. "I have no doubt."

A voice over the P.A. system rings out, "Attention passengers, flight 3982, leaving for Los Angeles and continuing to London. Rows 20-30 are boarding from gate A6."

"That's me." Giles says.

"Now? God, we just made it..." Willow says.

Giles nods, "Just, yes." They all stand there awkwardly, not knowing what to do next. "Come on now, if we're going to do this, let's do it properly."

Giles hugs Anya, Xander and Tara each separately as another boarding announcement rings out.

"Attention passengers, final boarding for flight 3982 for Los Angeles and London at gate A6. Please come to the gate with your boarding passes ready."

Everyone's keeping it together, but there's an undercurrent of serious sadness here. Giles hugs Dawn, "I'm a phone call away, if you need anything. You must promise me."

"I do. I promise." Dawn says.

Giles turns to Piper, Phoebe and Paige hugging them each in turn, "You'll let me know how you all are doing."

Piper nods, "We'll write. Send you pictures of both Wyatt and Celia every so often."

Phoebe shakes her head, "I just can't believe you're leaving."

Paige nods in agreement, "Neither can I."

Finally, Giles turns to Willow. The hardest goodbye of all. They hug, "Willow. I don't know where to start..."

"Maybe you shouldn't. I'm trying to be stiff-upper-lippy." Willow says.

"Right. Right..." Giles says as he looks at them all, just as torn as he feared he would be.

Willow sees this, bails him out. "You'd better get going. Don't you have a life or something?"

"I suppose that's the question, isn't it?" Giles says as he starts hastily stuffing their gifts in his bag. Then he turns to the gang, tries to come up with any sufficient words. Can't. "Just - be careful. Please. All of you."

And he moves off to the gate - not looking back. The Scoobies and the Charmed Ones watch, wave... And when they can no longer see him, their expressions fall.

Moments later Giles' plane flies overhead. The gang watches it, now openly upset by his sudden departure.

"There he goes." Willow says.

"Good thing. My face hurts from faux smiling." Xander says.

"It was right, though, wasn't it? Giving him the no-tears send-off ... We don't want him going off all worried about us." Willow says.

Piper nods, "He'll still be all worried, just eight hours ahead."

Willow nods, "What's he going to do over there by himself? He never talks about people in England. What if he's lonely?"

"He won't be lonely. He lived there before, remember?" Tara says.

"And I'm sure we'll talk to him all the time. Right? It's not like he's..." Dawn says as she stops. Upset. Too much loss piling up.

Piper moves to Dawn, puts her arm around her. "We'll call him tomorrow. How about that? See how his flight was..." She leads Dawn off, still talking to Dawn softly. Paige and Phoebe follow behind pushing Celia and Wyatt's strollers as they get into Piper's car.

Tara, Willow, Xander and Anya head towards Xander's car.

"Can you believe the timing? He's leaving right when we're doing-" Xander says as he eyes Dawn, Piper, Phoebe and Paige. "The thing. Tonight."

"I know. I was hoping we'd figure it out before he left." Willow says.

"Maybe we should have said something to him. What if it works?" Anya says.

"He'll come back." Willow says.

Xander looks at the sky. "It'll be dark soon."

Willow nods, "I want to go over everything one more time. Nothing can go wrong tonight."

A few hours later Buffy's grave is nearly hidden in a stand of trees in the farthest reaches of the cemetery.

Tara, Xander and Anya all stand around the grave holding black candles. Willow holds Urn of Osiris and some spell ingredients. The mood is dark and tension is running high. They all tremble with a potent mix of fear, anticipation and cold.

"Does everybody have their candles?" Willow asks.

"Mine won't stay lit. It keeps going out." Anya says.

"Well, make it stay. It has to-" Willow says.

Anya struggles to light her candle as Tara cuts Willow off.

"What time is it?" Tara asks.

"One minute to midnight. Less." Xander says.

"Come on, Anya. Do you have it?" Willow asks.

"Oh God..." Anya says as she lights the candle. "Got it!"

"Start the circle. Now." Willow says and she kneels on the grave while Xander, Anya and Tara kneel around her in a circle - holding their candles aloft. She begins to mix spell ingredients into the urn, including the blood of the deer she slaughtered. She starts to chant. "Osiris, keeper of the gate, master of all fate, hear us." She dips her finger in the blood mixture and anoints herself with it. Forehead, cheeks ... In the light of the candle, the effect is somewhat nightmarish... She pours some of the blood on the ground, making a symbol. "Before time and after, before knowing and nothing..."

"Accept our offering. Know our prayer..." Willow says as she stiffens and catches her breath. Quick, deep cuts suddenly appear on her arms - as if an unseen knife is slicing her. Tara and the others react with horror.

"Willow!" Xander says as he starts to move to help her - but Tara stops him, despite her own obvious fear.

"No. She told me... She'd be tested. This is what's supposed to happen-" Tara says.

"Osiris! Here lies the warrior of the people! Let her cross over!" Willow says.

In Heaven… Buffy is with Joyce, Patty, Prue, Grams and a few of the Elders.

"A seer told her Whitelighter of a future in which the Charmed Ones died because you weren't there." An Elder says.

"How?" Buffy asks.

"She told us there are two battles on the horizon. Dawn will fight in your place in one and die. In the other Piper, Phoebe and Paige will fight and die as well." An Elder says.

"What does this have to do with me? I can't go back. I'm dead." Buffy says.

An Elder nods, "That is true. But your friend Willow has found a loophole, an ancient magic. By invoking Osiris she can bring back someone killed by mystical means. We can permit the spell to work, but you have to choose if you wish to return."

Buffy nods, "And if I don't they die right?"

An Elder nods, "Sadly yes that is what the seer foresaw."

Buffy looks to Prue, Grams, Joyce and Patty, "What do you guys think?"

Joyce nods, "It's up to you my darling. I will stand by anything you decide."

Patty nods, "As will I."

Prue sighs, "If it were me, I would return. I know my death was meant to happen though so that you guys could find Paige. But it if it were me I would return to protect our sisters. I wouldn't want them to join us up here till it's their time."

"I have to agree with Prue," Grams says. "Your destiny may yet still await."

Buffy sighs as she turns to the Elders and then nods, "I'll do it." She turns and hugs Joyce. "Bye mom." She then hugs Patty, "Bye Aunt Patty." She then hugs Grams, "Bye Grams." She then turns to Prue and hugs her the longest. "Bye Prue."

Prue smiles, "You take good care of my namesake. Both of them." She means Dawn and Celia. While Joyce had wanted to name Dawn after her great aunt Prudence. Prue still considered Dawn to be her namesake as well.

Buffy smiles, "I will." She turns to the Elders, "I'm ready."

"Osiris! Let her cross over!" They hear Willow say.

Buffy begins to fade away.

"Will she remember?" Joyce asks.

An Elder shakes his head, "We do not know. No one has returned to Earth in this fashion before. Not in many millennia. We don't think she will, but we do not know for sure."

At the Manor Dawn is asleep on the couch, a throw blanket tossed over her... Celia is in a bassinet nearby.

Piper sits in a chair nearby, only half watching the old movie that plays on the television. She has Wyatt in her arms rocking him.

Suddenly an ominous rumbling starts. Piper sits bolt upright, goes to the window.

Dawn wakes and sees Piper at the window, "Piper?"

Outside a number of demons. pass on their motorcycles. One of them tears up a neighbor's yard and shatters a window with a rock before riding on.

"What's going on?" Dawn asks.

Piper looks back at Dawn, "Wake Phoebe and Paige. Leo!"

At Buffy's grave the spell is gaining momentum. Tara, Xander and Anya are now huddled together - helpless as they watch something that is clearly out of their control.

Willow is bucking in the middle of a crackling red swirl of energy. It's clearly draining her life-force, taking everything out of her... But still, she shouts, "Osiris! Release her!"

Now a horrible rumbling sounds from the forest.

The Buffybot comes running out of the woods, "Willow - I need service!"

Everyone reacts as Razor, Mag and three other demons, all on motorcycles, crash through the woods. They are hyped, ready to rampage.

Chaos. The mystical energy continues to hold Willow as the demons, whooping and hollering, descend all over them, chasing Buffybot, tearing up the ground around the grave.

Then one of the motorcycle demons runs over the Urn of Osiris shattering it. The rest of the blood mixture from the urn seeps into grave.

"No!" Willow says.

Suddenly, the energy around her disappears. As if the spell has been stopped dead in it's tracks. Released, Willow crumples to the ground. Unconscious.

Tara reacts to Willow's collapse. "Willow-" She tries to run to Willow, but Mag rides in and blocks her path.

Mag circles Anya and Tara, cutting them off from Xander, shouts to the others, "Look what I found!"

Buffybot is too engaged fighting off demons to be of any help.

Xander sees that the fallen Willow is in the path of an oncoming motorcycle. He dives and grabs her out of the way in the nick of time. The he sweeps , her over his shoulder and runs into the woods for safety.

Tara and Anya have been chased deeper into the woods. Mag sweeps Anya into his arms and starts to ride off with her.

"Dissolvo!" Tara says.

A quick hit of magical energy makes Mag drop Anya. Tara grabs Anya and helps her run off in another direction.

Elsewhere Xander runs with Willow over his shoulder. He's laboring and stumbling in the dark. Finally, when he's a safe distance from the demons, he lays Willow down. She stirs, eyes half open. Xander sees this. "Willow, are you okay?"

"Did it work?" Willow asks.

Xander looks back toward the clearing, where the demons laugh and ride over Buffy's grave. "I - I'm sorry."

Willow takes this in. Closes her eyes. Disappears into unconsciousness.

Xander looks around desperately. Unsure what to do next.

Inside Buffy's coffin, the eyes of Buffy's corpse suddenly snap open and the corpse morphs back into a living breathing body. Then Buffy's breath starts to come fast, horrified...