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| Dead Things | As You Were |
Buffy packs up weapons in her living room, and apologises to Dawn for abandoning her in the middle of diner. There’s some new creature in town that needs Slaying right away.
Dawn says she understands. “Maybe when you get back, we can set up for your party tomorrow.”
Buffy thinks that she might not be back in time. Anyway, Willow is supposed to be in charge of the birthday party preparations. There’s nothing for them to do. She tells Dawn to finish her diner, do her homework, and not stay up too late.
Dawn smiles at her. “Okay.”
“Okay.” Buffy pulls on her coat, and goes out the door. Dawn’s smile fades.
Buffy searches through the cemetery, carrying a battle axe. A large ferocious demon appears behind her, snarls, and swings its sword at her. Buffy blocks the swing with her axe, but the sword nearly slices the handle in half and knocks the axe from her hands. Buffy punches at the demon but it vanishes, seeming to just melt away.
The demon reappears behind Buffy, and attacks again. Buffy kicks the sword out of its hands. It flies high into the air, and she catches it on the way down. The demon roars, and rushes her. Buffy stabs it through the chest.
A surge of power knocks Buffy back. She drops the sword and the demon melts again. This time it flows into its sword.
Buffy picks herself up, and looks around. She didn’t see what happened to the demon, she thinks it ran off. She sees the sword it left behind. “Oh, shiney!” Buffy picks the sword up, and gives it a few trial swings.
Anya, Willow and Xander discuss the preparations for Buffy’s party in the Magic Box. Anya wonders if they should have lots of candles. That’s fine with Xander, as long as they aren’t those horrible slug candles she keeps trying to unload. Xander is reminded of something he wanted to talk to Willow about.
“Slugs?” asks Willow.
“No, the party— or Tara at the party,” says Xander. “It’s just— Buffy really wants her there. It seems important to her, so I told her I’d ask you.”
“Oh. Yeah. Of course.” Willow smiles. “She should totally be there. It’ll be great!”
Dawn comes into the shop and Willow asks her if Buffy’s out patrolling already. Xander asks if there’s any news about Warren and the Nerd Herd. Dawn tells them that Buffy’s just out hunting a monster tonight. There has been no sign of Warren and the others. She asks if anyone wants to come with her to do a little birthday present shopping.
None of them can come. Willow has a meeting of her Spellcasters Anonymous group, (they’re looking for a better name) Anya has to work on the Magic Box books, and Xander has to have a new shift schedule prepared for his crew for the morning. Willow asks Dawn if she’ll be okay on her own.
“Yeah,” says Dawn. “Somehow I’ll manage to pull it off.”
Dawn returns home to a dark house. She calls out for Buffy, but she gets no answer. She goes upstairs to her room.
Dawn empties out her coat pockets onto her bed. They were full of bits of costume jewelry, and lipsticks and things. She takes off her coat. She’s wearing a leather jacket underneath it.
Dawn checks out how the jacket looks in the full length mirror on the inside of her closet door. The jacket still has the tags attached.
Dawn gets called out of English class the next day and sent to the guidance councilor’s office. She’s a little worried about why she’s there, but the councilor—the vengeance demon Halfrek, in human guise—quickly assures her that this is just a follow up after Dawn’s loss.
Halfrek says she’s new and wants to get better acquainted with Dawn. She has been looking through Dawn’s file, and noticed that her grades seem to be slipping. Dawn’s teachers say that she has been very distracted lately. Dawn says she’s fine.
“Okay,” says Halfrek. “It’s just, you know, I know it must seem weird, talking to a stranger about stuff, but, um, I want you to know that if something’s going on, something’s up, my job—the most important part of my job—is looking out for you.”
Dawn sits, and smiles nervously. Halfrek smiles back, and doesn’t say anything. She just waits.
“I’m really okay,” says Dawn.
Halfrek leans back in her chair. “I know there’s been a lot of loss.”
“Yeah, kind of,” says Dawn. “I mean, yes. People keep… People have a tendency to go away, and… I miss them. And sometimes… I wish I could just make them stop…going away. But seriously, it’s— it’s no big deal. I’m fine.”
Xander looks over the trays of food on the kitchen island, and asks just how many people are coming to the party. Buffy tells him it’s just the gang, plus a girl Sophie that she invited from work. Anya gives her a bit of a surprised look.
“What, like I’m one of those losers who can’t make friends outside her tight little circle?” asks Buffy. “No. I’m friendly. We bonded instantly. Peas in a pod. Bonded peas.”
“Really?” asks Anya. “Um… What’s Sophie’s last name?”
“Okay,” says Buffy. “Shut up.”
Xander tells Buffy not to worry about it, and Anya tells her that they invited a new friend for her too. A guy. Dawn overhears that as she’s coming into the kitchen and is excited by the news.
Buffy is much less so. Xander tells her not to worry, this isn’t a setup.
“Right. No,” says Anya. “Just an attractive single man with whom we hope you find much in common. And if you happen to form a romantic relationship leading to babies and many double dates with us, so we have someone else to talk to, yay!”
“I assume that this was an act of kindness?” asks Buffy. Xander just smiles and says nothing. “That’ll help with the not throttling.”
Xander decides it’s time to start moving food into the living room. People will be arriving soon.
The first to arrive is Tara. Buffy greets her with a hug at the door. Tara asks her how she’s doing. Buffy says she’s doing better, mostly, sometimes.
“So is, um, Spike coming?” asks Tara.
“No,” says Buffy. “He may be a chip head, but he still doesn’t play too well with others. Besides, I’m definitely not ready to…”
“Come out?”
“Yeah. I’m all stay-inny.”
Willow checks herself out in her mirror to make sure everything is perfect.
Buffy asks Tara how she’s doing. Tara is a little on the nervous side.
“Just remember,” says Buffy, “we’re all here to, uh—” She’s interrupted by Willow almost running down the stairs. “I have to— with the thing— that idea—” Buffy pretends to hear someone calling for her. “Coming!” She heads back to the kitchen.
Willow and Tara stand saying “Hey” back and forth, and looking awkward. They ask each other how they’re doing, and they both say they’re fine. They tell each other that they look good. Tara bails, telling Willow that she’s going to go get a drink.
“Oh, yeah. Great. You should,” says Willow. Tara is already on her way back to the kitchen. “You don’t want to get thirsty.”
Buffy is pouring a cup of water when Tara arrives in the kitchen. Buffy starts to ask how the meeting with Willow went.
Tara takes the cup out of Buffy’s hands. “Yes please.”
There’s a knock on the back door, and Spike enters, with a sixpack of beer under his arm. His right eye is still nearly swollen shut from the beating Buffy gave him a few days earlier. Willow mentioned the party to him, and he thought he’d swing by.
Spike’s followed by one of his kitten poker buddies, the demon with the loose skin, who looks like a sharpei. He waves at Buffy. “Hi, we met once before.” He waves to Tara. “Hi. I’m Clement. Clem.”
Xander comes into the kitchen and introduces Buffy to his friend Richard. He tells her that Richard needs to know where to park his car. Buffy starts to tell him, but Xander grabs her and pushes her toward Richard. “Buffy will show you.”
“Okay. Uh… I’ll be right back.” Buffy leads Richard out of the kitchen.
Richard pauses in the doorway. He looks back at Clem. “Um, the guy with the—”
“Skin condition,” says Buffy quietly. “He doesn’t like to talk about it.”
Spike watches them go. “Stupid git.”
“I don’t know. He seemed cute.” Tara smiles at Spike. “W-w-was he cute? I mean, I’m not a very good judge, but… I think he seemed cute.”
Clem nods. “Mmm. Mmm. I think he seemed cute. Yeah.”
Dawn stands in the living room looking over the pile of presents waiting to be opened. She’s anxious for Buffy to get started, but Anya tells her Buffy is off getting acquainted with a new grown-up friend.
“What, you mean the guy you invited to set her up with?” asks Dawn. Anya tries to deny it, but Dawn knows better. “It’s not like I don’t understand why you invited him. I was there, remember? I can hear you when I’m in the room, you know? I do understand these things.”
Anya rubs the top of Dawn’s head. “Yes, you do.”
“You know I’m in high school, right?” asks Dawn.
“Yes, you are,” says Anya.
Spike runs into Buffy in the hallway. “You want to slip away for a minute, Luv? I’ll let you blow out my candles.”
“Here? Now?” asks Buffy. “I don’t think so.”
“Oh, what, you worried about Richard? You don’t want to make your new boyfriend jealous, huh?”
“Shut up,” says Buffy. “He’s sweet.”
Spike’s voice drops into a mocking whisper. “Oh, shut up. He’s sweet.”
“Maybe he’s not the jealous one.” Buffy walks around Spike toward the living room.
“You think he’ll take you out on his 10-speed, Pet?” Buffy keeps walking, leaving Spike talking to himself. “Maybe he’ll let you ride in the little basket in front. Jealous my ass.”
Buffy sits on the sofa between Willow and Dawn and looks dubiously at her present from Willow. She’s not sure what to make of it.
“It’s a battery-operated back massager,” says Willow. “And it’s portable, so you can take it with you on patrol. It’s like, instant gratification for all your little acheys.”
Buffy glances at Spike, and he quirks an eyebrow at her. Buffy sets it aside. “Great. Thanks. Uh, what’s next?”
Dawn hands her a box. “Here. Do mine.”
Buffy takes the box from Dawn, unwraps it, and opens it up. She’s stunned by the leather jacket inside. She lifts it up for a better look. “Dawn! It’s…gorgeous.”
“I was so nervous,” says Dawn. “I was afraid you wouldn’t like it.”
Buffy notices something that puzzles her. “It—it still has the security tag on it.”
Dawn gets nervous. “Huh. That’s so weird. I can’t believe they didn’t take that off.”
Buffy is distracted by Xander wheeling a large object into the living room. “Happy birthday, Buffy!”
Buffy instantly forgets about her present from Dawn, and puts it back into Dawn’s lap as she gets up to examine Xander’s gift. “Oh, my god. Did you guys make that?” No one notices Dawn’s disappointment at being upstaged.
Buffy examines the ornate wooden chest that Xander has brought in while Anya tells her that Xander made it, while she offered helpful suggestions from a safe distance.
Xander opens the chest and quietly points out its features so Richard won’t overhear. “Holds basic weapons, plus a few non-basic ones, too. Plus, there’s a handsome CD holder.”
“He wanted you to have something no one else would have,” says Anya.
“A Xander Harris original. I love it. Thank you, guys.” Buffy gives Xander a kiss on the cheek, and Anya a hug.
The doorbell rings, and Tara answers it. It’s Buffy’s friend Sophie from the Doublemeat Palace. Buffy calls her in and tells her that they’re in between the presents and the cake.
Sophie steps nervously into the living room. “Hey. Uh, my mom told me to say ‘thank you’ right away, ’cause otherwise I usually forget. So, thank you. And also, um, I can’t have any—any chocolate or—or peanuts or egg yokes…and sometimes dairy.”
Anya quietly asks Buffy if this is her friend from work. She thinks the friend she and Xander brought is better.
Buffy starts introducing Sophie around, and asks Dawn to close the door.
Dawn goes to the door and closes it. She doesn’t see Halfrek standing in the shadows on the porch.
Halfrek transforms into her demonic form. “Wish granted.”
Sophie and Clem dance together in the living room to the music playing on the stereo. Xander and Willow are sitting together talking animatedly with each other. Anya sits on one end of the sofa grooving to the music.
Dawn sits at the other end of the sofa feeling alone and out of place. She tries to smile.
Buffy dances out of the dining room toward the living room, and runs into Richard by the base of the stairs. He tells her it’s a great party. “Look what time it is and no one’s even thinking about leaving. I know I can’t tear myself away.” He’s on his way to the kitchen to get himself a drink, and asks Buffy if she wants one.
Buffy sees Spike step into the hall behind Richard, and tells Richard that she’s just going back into the living room. He heads off through the dining room toward the kitchen.
“Ooh…Buffy. Can I get you a soda pop?” Spike backs Buffy up against the stairs. “I think I’m in love.”
Buffy pushes Spike away. “Stop it. Someone’s going to see.” She tries to retreat down the hall. Spike gets ahead of her and puts his hand against the wall to block her. He brushes his hand along her shoulder, pulling her top down a bit. He grabs her wrist, and pulls her hand toward his crotch.
Tara appears in the hallway, watching them. Buffy pulls herself away from Spike, and shrugs her top back up onto her shoulder. She moves into the living room. Tara stands looking at Spike, and smiling.
“I had a muscle cramp,” says Spike. “Buffy was, uh, helping.”
“A muscle cramp? In your…” Tara glances down. “…pants?”
“What? It’s a thing.”
Tara smiles and nods. “Right.”
Anya sits in Xander’s lap at the dining room table, arguing with him about who should go on a beer run. Willow volunteers, mainly just to shut them up.
“Oh. Well, I can’t really drink beer,” says Sophie, “’cause, you know, barley, but I’ll go with you to get some.”
“Perfect,” says Willow. “Here we go. The beer-gettin’.” She drops her head onto the dining room table and goes to sleep.
Buffy, Richard, Anya, and Dawn sit around the coffee table playing Monopoly. Spike, Xander, Tara and Clem have a card table set up, and are playing poker. Clem thinks it’s weird playing without kittens.
It’s two o’clock in the morning, and Buffy hands a couple of hundred dollars of Monopoly money over to Anya. She thinks she’s about done. Richard thinks she should keep playing. They’ve been at it for three hours, it’s silly for her to quit now. Anya wants Buffy to continue too. She wants to bankrupt someone.
Dawn suggests that they should just turn this into a slumber party, since no one seems to want to go. That’s okay with Buffy.
Spike looks toward Buffy. “Must be some late-night activities to keep us busy till morning.”
“How’s that cramp, Spike?” asks Tara. “Still bothering you? Maybe you, uh, want to put some ice on it.” She smiles.
Morning light fills the living room. Willow and Sophie are sleeping on the sofa. Xander, Dawn and Clem are sitting on the floor in front of the TV, watching morning cartoons. Buffy and Spike sit together on the floor playing cards.
Richard comes in from the kitchen. “Hey, Xander, we got to be at work in a few minutes.”
Xander doesn’t look away from the TV. “Okay.”
“I can’t be late today,” says Richard.
Spike looks up at Richard, and suggests that he get his coat, and go.
Richard doesn’t move. “I don’t know why I’m not leaving.”
“Me, either,” says Spike. “Besides, Richie, you can’t skip breakfast, a growing boy like you. Me? I used to love breakfast. In the old days, I probably would have eaten by now.” He keeps staring at Richard.
“Of course, with that new diet of yours, you want to be careful what you try putting in your mouth now, Spikey.” says Buffy.
Spike looks at Buffy. “Yeah? I don’t know. Tummy’s making all kinds of gurglies. Maybe I ought to just feed on whatever’s around even if it doesn’t go down well.” He looks at Richard again. “You, uh, work out?”
“Okey-dokey.” Buffy gets to her feet and grabs Spike by his coat sleave. “Excuse us.” She drags Spike toward the front door. Willow wakes up as they pass.
Buffy pushes Spike toward the door. “Hey, Mr. Passive Aggressive Guy. Seriously, you want to take it down a notch or two in there?”
“What? Poor, dainty Richard can’t take a joke?”
“We do not joke about eating people in this house!”
“What are you going to do?” asks Spike. “Beat me up again?”
“I should have thrown you out the second you got here,” says Buffy. “I was insane to ever think you could just hang out with my friends.”
“And I was insane to think—” Spike stops. “No, wait. You were right. You’re insane.”
Willow enters the kitchen and finds Tara preparing herself a bowl of breakfast cereal on the island. Tara hadn’t really meant to spend the entire night.
Willow sits in one of the stools by the island. She hadn’t planned for this either. “It’s weird. I— I have class. I know I should go.” She doesn’t get up.
“I know,” says Tara. “It’s like I want to leave…but I don’t want to.”
Buffy tells Spike that it’s time for him to go. Spike would, but it’s daylight now.
“Okay. I’ll go,” says Buffy.
“I’ll get the door,” says Spike. Neither of them moves.
“Fine,” says Buffy.
“Fine!”
They remain motionless.
“I’m actually trying to move right now!” says Buffy.
“Me, too.”
“Well…this can’t be good.”
Everyone gathers in the living room to discuss their problem. No one seems to be able to leave the house. Willow suggests that they try all rushing the door together.
“All right,” says Xander. “Count of three. One, two, three!” No one moves. “Here we go!” Everyone sits still.
“Hence the problem,” says Buffy.
Richard and Xander have to get to work, and Anya has to open the Magic Box. Sophie is due to start her shift at the Doublemeat…she’s actually fine staying in the house. Tara and Willow have classes to get to.
“I know. I know,” says Buffy. “We all have places that we’d rather be.”
Spike leers at Buffy. “Things we’d rather be doing.”
“I think the first priority has to be to find a way out,” says Buffy.
“Sure,” says Dawn. “Of course you all want to leave. ’Cause being stuck in here with me, that would really suck, right?”
“No, Dawnie,” says Willow. “It’s just we have more important things to do.”
“Yeah. I know. Important.” Dawn gets up off the sofa. “Whatever that means, right?” She runs out of the living room and up the stairs.
Dawn runs into her room and flops face down onto her bed. Buffy, Tara, Willow, Xander and Spike have all followed her. Buffy and Tara ask Dawn if she’s done something, or knows anything.
Dawn rolls over and sits up. “What would I know?”
Willow tells Dawn that they aren’t accusing her of anything, it’s just that she seemed to be taking things kind of personally.
“Oh, okay. So you’ve all just decided that somehow I’m responsible,” says Dawn. “Great. Here’s me basking in the love.”
“No,” says Xander, “it’s just, you know, you’re upset ’cause we all want to leave. And now we can’t leave. Only thing missing is a corn field. There—there isn’t a corn field, is there?”
Buffy tells Dawn that it’s okay. No one’s going to be mad if she did do something, they’re just trying to figure out what’s going on.
“Figure it out yourself!” says Dawn. “I’m done being talked to like a kid.” She looks away from them.
“Well, ’cause you know, sometimes we do something that seems like a good idea at the time, like, say, invoke the power of a musical amulet,” says Xander. “And it turns out, you know, not so much.”
Dawn glares at them. “God! I didn’t do anything! I wish I had! I’m glad you’re trapped. How else can I get anybody to spend any time with me?”
“Dawn,” says Buffy, “if you want us to spend time with you—”
“I don’t! Get out. Get out! Get out! Get out!”
Spike, Willow, Tara and Xander all leave. Dawn turns away and lies down on her bed. She buries her face in her duvet, holding back tears. Buffy stays behind for a moment, looking at Dawn, but then she goes too.
Most of the Scoobies reconvene in the living room. Sophie, Clem and Richard are elsewhere in the house. Tara comes in and reports that the phones aren’t working either. They’re totally cut off.
Anya thinks that maybe Dawn is possessed.
“She’s a teenager,” says Xander.
“She’s just so angry,” says Buffy.
“It happens,” says Tara. “We all went through it.”
“I know,” says Buffy. “I just can’t figure out why she didn’t come to me.”
“Well, you have been a little busy lately,” says Xander.
Spike thinks that they should save the group encounter session for later. Right now they have to figure out how to get out of the house. Tara thinks that even if Dawn did have something to do with what’s happening to them, it’s obvious they aren’t going to get any information out of her in the mood she’s in. Buffy suggests that it’s time to try some magic.
Xander glances at Willow. He doesn’t think that’s such a good idea. Tara quickly volunteers to try, but she didn’t bring any supplies with her, and Buffy got rid of everything in the house.
Willow starts to look very unhappy. “Actually…not everything. I, uh, might have kept one or two things. Sort of. Just in case.” It’s Tara and Buffy’s turn to look unhappy.
Tara stands up, and looks down at Willow. She’s very disappointed. “Just…bring me what you have. But then I’m doing this alone. You need to stay away from it.”
Buffy and Xander help Tara prepare her spell ingredients in the kitchen.
Anya, Spike and Willow stand facing the front door.
“So we’re supposed to just wait?” asks Anya.
Richard, Sophie and Clem enter from the dining room. “All right, does somebody want to tell me what’s— what’s going on here?” asks Richard. “We’re trapped in a house by— by what, some unseen force or something.” He points back toward the kitchen. “Who knows what she’s doing in there.” He looks at Clem, who’s scratching his head. “And I have to tell you… I don’t think that’s a skin condition.”
Tara lights her potion on fire. “Release!” Red smoke rises from it, and diffuses through the house. “Try the door!”
The smoke curls around the demon’s sword Buffy left leaning against the wall in the living room. The demon starts to flow out of it.
Spike rocks forward on his toes, and clenches his fists, but he still can’t move toward the door. “No. Can’t.”
Clem and Sophie leave and head toward the living room together.
The demon reforms in the living room, and picks up its sword.
The demon roars and attacks the group of people at the base of the stairs. Nearly everyone scrambles out of its way, but Richard is a little slow, and gets slashed across his belly by the sword.
Buffy runs in from the kitchen and tackles the demon. It vanishes again, melting into the floor. Buffy gets to her feet and looks around. The demon reforms behind her, and roars. Buffy spins around, and grabs its wrists as it tries to bring its sword down on her head. It pushes her away into Spike. Buffy and Spike fall to the floor, and the demon melts into the wall.
Spike gets back to his feet. “What the bloody hell was that?”
“That’s the demon I killed two nights ago,” says Buffy.
“The demon you thought you killed.”
Xander, Anya and Tara kneel beside Richard, and check out his wound. Tara thinks it looks pretty bad, and suggests that they carry him upstairs. They need to get him to a doctor soon.
Sophie is freaking out. “Oh god! Oh god!” She keeps repeating it over and over.
Buffy steps up to her. “Hey, it’s going to be okay. Just trust me. I promise we’ll be out of here soon.”
Night has fallen. Sophie stares at her reflection in the living room window. “Oh god! Oh god!”
“Okay, so maybe ‘soon’ was a bit of an overstatement,” says Buffy.
Buffy turns and sees Spike. “So, you ever think about not celebrating a birthday?1 Just to try it, I mean?” he asks.
Buffy tells Spike that she’s going to go check things out upstairs. She looks at Dawn sitting on the sofa, tells her to stay by Spike and leaves the living room.
Dawn looks around. “What’s that noise?” Spike listens too. “It’s in the walls, isn’t it?” A faint creaking noise can be heard as the demon moves through the walls of the house.
Richard lies on Willow’s bed. Tara cleans his wound with Willow looking over them. They can hear the creaking too.
Buffy moves slowly down the upstairs hall with a dagger in her hand, trying to find the source of the creaking. She and Clem startle each other when he comes out of the bathroom.
Xander and Anya sit on the floor in Buffy’s room, leaning against the closet doors. She’s feeling hot, and having trouble breathing. She doesn’t like this at all. “He’s going to die. He’s going to die, and we’re going to watch. And we’re just sitting here. Why are we just sitting here? Why aren’t we doing something?”
Xander tries to calm her. “We are. We will. We’ve been through worse.”
“Not like this. Not trapped like animals. Seriously, did someone turn on the heat? I can’t breathe. I just— I just can’t breathe. I can’t breathe.” Anya starts pulling at her blouse, trying to loosen it so she can breathe better.
Xander grabs her hands. “Ahn, stop. Stop. Ahn, stop.” She tries to pull away from him. “Ahn! Listen to me. You’re just freaking out, okay? It’s normal. You’re just— you’re just scared. We all are. We’ll come up with a plan, and we’ll get through it, all right? We’ll do something.”
“What?”
“I don’t know. Let me get you some water, okay? We’ll cool you down. I’ll be back in a second, okay? Stay here. Don’t move.” Xander gets up off the floor, and leaves the room.
Xander goes downstairs and moves through the dining room toward the kitchen. The demon comes out of the wall behind him.
Anya hears Xander scream.
Spike tries to pull the demon off Xander. The demon elbows Spike away and tosses Xander across the room. Buffy arrives. She ducks under the demon’s sword as it swings at her. She attacks with her dagger, but it kicks it out of her hand. The demon spins and slashes its sword across Xander’s arm. Buffy attacks it again. She yells for Spike to get the sword.
Spike grabs for the demon’s sword arm, and the demon throws him off. Buffy kicks it back against the wall, and it vanishes.
Buffy turns toward Xander and asks if he’s okay. She starts to move toward him, but she stops when she sees Anya arrive.
Xander struggles back to his feet and tells Anya he’s okay. It’s only a shallow cut on his arm. He rests his forehead against hers. “I’m okay, see? Shh. It’s all right. I’m okay.” He brushes his hand along her hair.
Buffy goes into the living room to check on Dawn. She asks her if she’s okay.
“Do you care?” asks Dawn.
“Fine.” Buffy turns away from her. “Stay with Spike.”
Buffy goes upstairs to her room.
Dawn follows Buffy into her room. “It’s not like I meant for this to happen.”
Buffy doesn’t turn around. “I never said that you did.”
“I didn’t want this,” says Dawn.
Buffy turns to face her sister. “What did you want?”
“Nothing.”
“Dawn, come on.”
“No. You don’t know,” says Dawn. “You have this thing you do. You have all these friends. You have no idea what it’s like.”
“What are you talking about? I don’t know what what’s—”
“Being alone.”
“You’re not alone.”
“Then why do I feel like this?” asks Dawn.
Willow, Xander, Anya, Spike and Tara discuss the situation in the dining room. Spike doesn’t like the idea of just waiting around for the demon to pop out whenever it feels like it. Tara’d do another spell, but she thinks she’s tried just about everything.
Anya looks up from the table. “Well, that’s not completely true, is it? I mean, not everything.” She looks at Willow. “Not exactly. We’re sitting here with an incredibly powerful witch. Much more powerful than you, Tara, I’m sorry. Only no one seems willing to say it.”
“I can’t,” says Willow.
Anya is getting angry. “No. See, that’s not exactly true, either. Not can’t. Won’t!”
“You don’t know how much I hate this,” says Willow. “I don’t know if there’s even anything I could do.”
“Yes, and a good way to find out is to sit around and try nothing. That was sarcasm, by the way.”
“It’s dangerous,” says Willow.
“And so is all of us dying.”
Xander thinks that Anya has a point. “We brought you back from it once. We’re all here. It’s just one little spell. Whatever happens, we can bring you back again.”
“No. I can’t!” says Willow. “If I start, I—I might not be able to stop.”
“And whose fault is that?” Anya gets up from the table and steps toward Willow. “If you hadn’t gotten so much of this in your system in the first place—”
Tara steps in front of Anya. “Hey! You’re going to back off. She said no, and that’s it. You’re not going to make her do something that she doesn’t want to, and if you try, you’re going to have to go through me first. Understood?” Willow smiles at Tara from behind her back.
“Fine. If you all aren’t willing to get us out of this, then I will do it myself.” Anya leaves the dining room.
Sophie and Clem are sitting together on the living room sofa. They watch Anya go upstairs.
Buffy and Dawn sit side by side on Buffy’s bed. Buffy wishes that Dawn had told her how she was feeling earlier.
“You haven’t really been…”
“What?” asks Buffy. “I haven’t been what?”
“Around.”
“Dawn, the most important job that I have, is looking out for you.”
“You sound like my guidance counselor,” says Dawn. “Did she give you a handbook or something? Talkin’ to the Troubled Teen?”
“Councilor?” asks Buffy.
“It wasn’t my idea. I didn’t even know we had guidance counselors. She called me out of class like I was a total J.D.”
Buffy is starting to smell a rat. “And you’d never met her before?”
“No. Not until yesterday.”
“And she got you to start talking about things that bothered you at home?”
“Uh…yeah?”
“You didn’t, by any chance, happen to…express, like, a wish, or something to her?” asks Buffy.
Dawn looks very uncomfortable. “Um, maybe just a little.”
They are interrupted by the sound of something crashing to the floor in Dawn’s room.
Anya is pulling things off Dawn’s shelves. Xander is trying to get her to calm down. Anya won’t be calmed. “She knows something. She knows something. We have to find out what it is. There’s got to be a clue in here somewhere.”
Buffy and Dawn come into the room, and try to tell Anya to stop too. Buffy is pretty sure she knows what’s happened, and it isn’t Dawn’s fault. Anya ignores them, and keeps rummaging through Dawn’s things. She picks up Dawn’s jewelry box off her desk.
Dawn gets scared. “No!” Buffy looks at her, surprised by the fear in her voice.
Anya dumps the box out on the floor, and stops, stunned by what she sees. “Half of this stuff is from the Magic Box.” She bends down, and starts picking things up. She looks up at Dawn. “How could you do this?”
Dawn runs out of her room.
Buffy, Anya, and Xander follow Dawn down to the living room.
“I work hard at that store, and I helped you.” Anya grabs Dawn’s arm, and spins her around to face her. “I took care of you. This is how you say ‘thank you?’”
Buffy tells Anya to hold on. She thinks this must all be some sort of misunderstanding. Then her gaze moves to her birthday present. “Oh.”
“How are we supposed to trust you, Dawn?” asks Anya. “You say you didn’t put us here, but look at this stuff. I mean how are we supposed to believe you?”
Buffy gathers herself together, and looks at Anya. “Look, I don’t think she— I don’t think it’s all her fault, okay? She— There was a guidance councilor, or someone pretending to be a guidance counselor. She made Dawn make a wish.”
“Guidance counselor?” Anya turns back to Dawn. “You made a wish to someone you’ve never seen before?”
“Yeah…” says Dawn in a tiny voice.
“Did she wear a pendant with a dark blue stone?”
“And little red flecks?” asks Dawn.
“Oh, for crying out loud!” Anya looks up at the ceiling. “Halfrek!” She looks back at Dawn. “It’s Halfrek, a vengeance demon. You made a wish to a vengeance demon!”
“I didn’t know.”
“Only a vengeance demon can break her own vengeance spell,” says Anya. “Nothing else will work. She’s the only one who can get us out of here. Hallie, get your ass down here!”
Halfrek appears from a cloud of smoke. “You rang?” She gasps as the demon stabs her though the back. The tip of its sword protrudes from her chest.
The demon pulls its sword free and Halfrek collapses onto the floor.
The demon swings its sword at Buffy. She catches its arm.
Anya attacks the demon from behind, and punches at its back, shoulders and head. “I hope you die, you stupid jerk face!” The demon sends her flying onto the sofa. Xander rushes to make sure she’s not hurt.
Buffy and Spike attack the demon. Buffy kicks it to the floor and it melts into the carpet. They look around. The demon appears behind Spike.
Spike grabs the demon’s arm, and knocks its sword loose. He yells for Buffy to grab it. Buffy sweeps it up.
When the demon sees Buffy has its sword, it runs. It runs straight for the living room wall and vanishes into it.
Buffy stabs the sword into the wall at the point where the demon vanished. There’s a flash of blue light and the demon is reabsorbed into the sword. Buffy snaps it over her knee.
Anya looks at Halfrek lying on the floor. “Her pendant! Get her pendant!” She makes a dive for it herself.
Halfrek sits up and holds out her hand toward Anya, It sends her flying back onto the sofa. “There will be no touching of the pendant.”
Halfrek gets to her feet, brushes herself off, and looks around. “What? Did you think I’d be stopped by a sword in the chest? Flesh wound.” She looks at the hole the sword made in her blouse. “Honestly, Anyanka, you used to know better.”
Anya really isn’t worried about that. She wants to know why Halfrek would curse them. Some of them are in the wedding party.
Halfrek looks around and says she just goes where she’s summoned. Her gaze stops on Spike. “William?”2
Spike takes a closer look at Halfrek. “Hey, wait a minute.” She looks familiar, but he doesn’t seem to be able to place her.
“You guys know each other?” asks Buffy.
Halfrek looks away from Spike. “Uh, no. No.” She preens her hair.
“Not really,” says Spike.
“I thought vengeance demons only punished men who wronged women,” says Tara.
“Oh, that was Anya’s little raison d’etre. Most of us try to be a little more well-rounded.” Halfrek looks around the room. “And actually, we prefer ‘justice demon.’ Okay? FYI.”
“Well-rounded, huh?” says Anya. “Is that how you explain your thing for bad parents?”
“It’s not a thing. The children need me.”
“Hmm.” Anya coughs. “Daddy issues.”
“Sling all the little barbs at me that you want, Anyanka.” Halfrek looks at Dawn. “It doesn’t change the fact that this girl was in pain, and none of you could hear it. I could hear her crying out everywhere I went in this town. It was unbearable, and none of you knew.” She looks around the room at everyone else. “You people deserve to be cursed. Enjoy your time together. From now on, all you have is time. Time, and each other. Good luck.”
Halfrek waves her arms in a grand exit gesture, and nothing happens. She’s puzzled. “Wait. Wait,” she tells herself. ”Time and each other.” She waves her arms again, and again nothing happens.
Anya rolls her eyes, and sighs. “It’s the curse, Hallie.”
“For crying out loud!” Halfrek looks disgusted with herself. “Fine, the curse is lifted. We can all leave now. Damn it.” She snaps her fingers, and vanishes in a cloud of smoke.
Willow and Tara clean up the magical supplies in the kitchen.
Willow thanks Tara for standing up to Anya for her, and for taking this stuff away. She tells Tara that she never really meant to use any of it. “I just kept it like a safety net ’cause there was always this thing in the back of my head. This, you know, voice, saying, like, ‘what if things get bad, really bad, and what if you can’t handle it?’ And it made me panic, so that’s why I kept a couple of things. I kept them so I didn’t have to think about it, so I could focus on getting better.”
Tara looks at Willow. “I get it. I really do, but it’s time to work without the net, Will. You know, I don’t know if you noticed, but it actually did get bad in there. Really bad and…you still said no.” She smiles.
Xander and Anya help Richard down the stairs. “You have some weird friends,” says Richard.
“News from the file marked ‘duh.’” says Xander. He wants to get Richard to the E.R.
Anya looks at Dawn. “And then we’re going to talk about payment. And Dawnie, there are two words that I want you to get used to: ‘punitive damages.’”
“You think it’s worn off?” Buffy asks Spike.
“Just one thing to do.” Spike reaches for the door, grabs the knob, and opens it.
Xander, Anya and Richard lead the rush out of the house. Sophie is so impatient that she pushes past them. They move out onto the lawn. Tara looks up at the night sky. “Oh, look at the stars!”
Clem gives a thumbs up sign back at Buffy as he goes out the door. “Good party!”
“I just want to run barefoot on the grass so I can feel the dewdrops between my—” Xander looks up. “God, look at the stars!”
Spike is the last one out the door. He doesn’t look back.
Buffy goes to the door and looks out at her friends. Dawn watches her nervously. Buffy looks back at Dawn, and swings the door shut. Dawn starts to smile.
| Who or What | Where | How |
|---|---|---|
| Demon | Buffy’s living room | Stabbed with a sword by Buffy |