Buffy and I were on patrol, searching for vampires, demons or the trio of geeks, coming along a house that we thought that the geeks would be. We heard a horn sound, exchanging a look, continuing to walk, rounding a corner, finding an alley, dark, containing a pickup truck and a car. 

Buffy looked from a piece of paper to the address on the house. "This is the place."

I heard someone hit the ground behind me, turning to see an ugly demon with waxy skin and weird marble-like eyes. "Yeah, I would say that it's the right place, all right. Oh, hi. You didn't by chance happen to just eat a couple of nerds, did you?"

The demon tried to punch me. I leaned back to avoid it. The demon tried to punch and kick me with a roundhouse that I ducked underneath to make him miss. The demon tried to punch me. I blocked the move, punching it in the stomach, spinning to kick it in the back. The demon picked me up, throwing me to the ground. 

Buffy ran closer to kick the demon back into a car, falling back onto the car so that she could use both legs to kick the demon, making it reel back, standing up on the hood of the car. The demon tried to punch her. Buffy leaped up onto the car's roof, making him punch the hood where she had just been. The demon tried to hit her legs, but she jumped up, crouching on the hood, kicking the demon again.

I stood, cartwheeling closer to kick the demon in the head twice, making it fall against the car. Buffy did a flip off of the car onto the ground, landing lightly on her feet. I picked up a metal garbage can, slamming it onto the demon. The demon stood. I raised the can for another blow. The demon shoved the can out of my hands, using it to hit me in the face. I spun around to kick him back toward Buffy. Buffy spun around in the opposite direction to backhand punch him in the face, making it reel backward toward me so that I could kick it in the back of the head, slamming his head through the car window, breaking it. The demon's hand was pressed against the car door. A long, thin, bony spike suddenly shot out of its knuckle. The demon struggled with its head and shoulders still inside the car. Buffy grabbed the demon. The demon elbowed her off, turning around, grabbing Buffy to turn around and throw into me, making us both fall to the ground, jumping down on top of Buffy, stabbing the spike on its hand through Buffy's shoulder before she could fight him off, making her scream in pain.

I stood, running closer to kick the demon off of Buffy, making it fly across the alley and hit the house, making it fall and land badly on the ground. I turned to Buffy, making sure she was okay. "Buffy?" Buffy was out of it, like she wasn't seeing me or anything in front of her, but something else entirely. "Buffy!"

I turned to see that the demon had already gotten away, sighing, turning to Buffy to get her out of here and home so that I could snap her out of the daze and make sure that she was okay.

  ••••••  

Buffy seemed fine by the time that I got her home, fine enough to go to work at the Doublemeat Palace the next day.

After that, I met up with Willow and Buffy at Buffy's house, seeing that they were sitting at the table in the living room, and Willow was on her laptop. "Whatcha doing?"

"I'm online, checking to see if Xander emailed," Willow answered.

I sat down with them. "Any luck?"

"No such," Willow answered.

I tried to be hopeful. "Well, maybe Anya found him, and they're trying to work it out." Willow shrugged. "How come you're all home, hearth and DSL anyway? I thought you were gonna go see Tara."

Willow looked unhappy. "Saw her. Saw her completely."

"Ouch," Buffy told her. "Just got a scratch from all that brittle."

"It's..." Willow trailed off, closing her laptop. "When I was seeing her, she was seeing someone else. A girl."

"You mean..." Buffy trailed off.

"I mean, not 'seeing' seeing," Willow told us. "Well, maybe. I don't know. It was inconclusive, and I didn't stick around to find out. Might have magicked my fist through a wall or something."

"Will, I'm sorry," Buffy told her.

"I mean, they're probably just friends," Willow told us, looking pouty. "I press my lips against my friends' all the time."

"I'm sure they're just friends," I told her. "Once you fall for Willow, you stay fallen."

Willow smiled a small smile. "Thanks, Zoey."

We heard the front door open, looking up.

Xander walked in, looking nervous. "Hi."

I looked at him in relief. "Xander?"

"I'm back," Xander told us.

"Xander?" Buffy asked.

"Xander, you're here," Willow told him excitedly. Willow, Buffy and I stood quickly to walk toward Xander instantly, hugging him. Xander returned the big group hug. "We missed you. Where were you?"

We all pulled away.

"I know, I tried calling," Xander told us. "But I couldn't without..."

"Hey, you don't need to explain to us," I told him.

We all walked into the dining room. Buffy, Willow and I took back our seats.

Xander stayed standing. "Right. Is she here?"

"Oh, n--no," Willow answered. "You... wanna find her?"

"I need to," Xander answered. "Her suitcase is gone and some of her stuff. There's a closed sign on the Magic Box, which, like, chills me to the bone."

"She left a couple days ago," I told him sadly.

"Was she looking for me?" Xander asked. We didn't answer, fidgeting, because the answer was no. "Before she left, did she say anything?"

"You mean, between sobs?" Willow asked. Xander looked incredibly guilty. "There was mostly just wheezing."

Buffy sighed. "She was a little... she was... kinda broken."

"I don't know how stuff got so mixed up," Xander told us, sighing. "I blew it."

I shook my head, concerned. "No."

"Well, maybe it wasn't the best time to break up with her, but..." Buffy trailed off. She gave me a significant look, but remained subtle so that Xander and Willow didn't pick up on anything. "There are some doomed relationships that need to end, but not like that."

I rolled my eyes.

"No, it wasn't about breaking up," Xander told us. "I love her, and God, I miss her so much."

"So, you left her at the alter, but you still wanna..." Willow trailed off in confusion.

"You still wanna date?" I finished.

"I guess," Xander answered. "I know that I'm a better person with her in my life. But things got so complicated with the wedding, and with my family, and with her... demons, and... what if it all goes to hell, a--and forever?" We looked at him sympathetically. "But then I left... and ever since... I've had this painful hole inside." I looked down pensively. "And I'm the idiot that dug it out." Xander took a deep breath, shaking his head softly. "I screwed up real bad."

Buffy looked at Xander and me. "Hey. We all screw up."

Xander didn't look comforted, and I was annoyed by the hints that she kept dropping about what she thought about me and Spike, even though she still kept it a secret because I asked her to, which she would only do if I ended things with Spike.

  ••••••  

That night, I was walking through the graveyard on patrol.

Spike was walking toward his crypt with a paper grocery bag, taking out a cigarette, putting it in his mouth. "You looking for me?"

"I'm patrolling," I answered, spinning my stake in the air in front of me, catching it to prove my point.

Spike smirked in amusement, putting down his bag, taking out his lighter. "Oh, right then. Girl on a mission. Off you go, savior of the universe." He lit up. "Did you cry?"

"What?" I asked in confusion.

"The wedding," Spike told me. "Two hearts joined for eternity, great pelting showers of nice and so forth."

I realized that he didn't know what happened, sighing. "You didn't hear."

"What?" Spike asked. "Families get out of hand? Tear the place apart?"

I was flustered. "No. Well, yes, absolutely. But... Xander left. The wedding didn't happen."

Spike was surprised. "Well. Gotta say... I didn't see that coming."

Spike sat down on a stone bench.

I sighed, sitting next to him. "It was awful. Anya was devastated."

"Is that right?" Spike asked.

"And Xander... thinks maybe they can still get back together, but... he hurt her a lot," I told him.

"Yeah, well, some people can't see a good thing when they've got it," Spike told me. "Luckily for you and me, we both can."

Spike gave me a meaningful look that I couldn't really help but smirk back at.

Buffy, Xander and Willow walked toward us, interrupting the moment.

"Spike," Xander told him. "I should've known you'd be tagging along."

I stood. "Hey, guys. I, uh... I found Spike, and was, uh, trying to figure out what kind of dangerous contraband he had."

Buffy gave us both a disgusted look.

Spike was as annoyed by her attitude toward us as much as I was, standing, sighing. "Tell you what, Slayers and Slayerettes." He dropped his cigarette, grinding it out with one foot. "Let me get out of your way." He picked up his grocery bag. "I'll stop bothering you."

"Yeah, maybe you should do that, Spike," Buffy told him. "Just run along."

"You know, I guess you know all about that, don't you?" Spike asked. "The queen of the big exits. You took off from Sunnydale after you killed Angel, and then a second time after Zoey died."

"And my mother," Buffy told him coldly. "I don't need this crap from you. And no matter what happened, how long I was gone, I came back."

"Because you had to," Spike told her. "Not because you wanted to." Buffy turned away in annoyance and anger.  She seemed to be getting dizzy and lightheaded. "Oh, right. Let's not listen to Spike. Might get a bit of the truth on you."

Buffy walked toward him to hit him.

Willow separated them. "Okay, okay. Calm down. Let's, uh, turn around and release this very supernatural thing the other way."

"You seem to forget something a lot, Spike," Buffy told him. "Willy Wannabite can't hurt me. Dumb to pick a fight."

Buffy punched Spike in the face.

I stood between them, just like Willow was doing. "Buffy."

Buffy was getting worse, weaker, falling to her knees. "Guys..."

Willow, Xander and I walked closer worriedly.

"Buffy?" Willow asked. "Are you okay?"

"What happened?" Xander asked.

Buffy slowly lifted her head. She placed her hands on her head, looking around. "Oh, no..."

"We need to get her home, now," I told them.

Xander, Willow and I helped Buffy stand.

"No, guys," Buffy told us. "I'm okay, I'm okay."

"Buffy, that was not okay," Willow told her. "We are taking you home."

Xander, Willow and I led Buffy away to get her home, but I looked back at Spike as we left, who looked confused and even a little concerned, though he was still annoyed.

  ••••••  

I was sitting next to Buffy on the couch in her living room. Xander and Dawn were sitting across from us.

Willow walked in with a glass of water to give to Buffy.

Mom was here, playing doctor to Buffy to see if she could find out what was wrong. "Can you tell me what's happening to you, Buffy?"

"I've been having these flashes," Buffy answered. "Hallucinations, I guess."

"Since when?" Mom asked.

"Uh, night before last," Buffy answered.

I sighed. "You mean when we were checking houses on that list Will gave us, looking for Warren and his pals when we ran into that gross waxy demon thing?" Buffy nodded. I looked at the others. "We were fighting that thing, and he poked Buffy."

"And when you say poke..." Xander trailed off.

I rolled my eyes. "In the arm." We all exchanged a look. "It was like thing bone claw thing that he stung or stabbed her with."

Mom looked at Buffy. "And then what happened?"

"Then I was like..." Buffy trailed off, rethinking. "No. It--it wasn't 'like'. I was in an institution. There were, um... doctors and... nurses and--and other patients. They--they told me that I was sick. I guess crazy. And that, um, Sunnydale, and--and all of this, it... none of it... was real."

"Oh, come on," Xander told her. "That's ridiculous. What? You think this isn't real, just because of all the vampires and demons and ex-vengeance demons and the teenager that used to be a big ball of universe-destroying energy?"

Xander frowned, realizing that all of that sounded too crazy for reality, given the circumstances of normal peoples' lives.

"I know how this must sound, but... it felt so real," Buffy told us. "My mom was there."

"She was?" Dawn asked.

Buffy nodded, a little emotional. "My dad, too. They were together... like they used to be... before Sunnydale."

Willow stood hastily, raising her hand. "Okay. All in favor of research?" Xander and I raised our hands. "Motion passed."

I stood. "All right, I'll go hit the demon bars, dig up any info on a new player in town. You guys do research. I'll be back when I can."

Xander, Willow and Dawn nodded in agreement.

Mom looked at me in concern. "Be careful out there. With that thing that did this to Buffy still out there..."

"I'll be careful," I told them. "Promise."

I walked out of the house to go hit up the demon bars to find out whatever I could find.

  ••••••  

The next morning, I went to go talk to Buffy, seeing that she was sitting on the sofa in the living room, looking at a picture of her, Hank and Joyce when she was a little kid, all smiling and happy together.

I sat next to Buffy, holding a piece of paper toward her. "Look. Will found the demon. Fits our description and symptoms perfectly. It's gonna be okay. Its pokey stinger carries an antidote to its own poison, so I will find that demon, and I will break off that thing to get that cure for you."

"I thought you were mad at me," Buffy told me.

"More annoyed than anything, but it doesn't matter right now," I told her. "What matters is that you get better. And I'm gonna make sure that you get better."

Buffy wasn't at all cheered up, looking at the photo, speaking very quietly. "I feel so lost."

"I know," I told her. "You're confused. It's--it's that crazy juice inside you. Buffy, look at me." Buffy looked at me, her lips quivering like she was about to cry. "You are not in an institution. You have never been in an institution."

"Yes, I have," Buffy whispered.

"What?" I asked.

Buffy sighed. "Back when I saw my first vampires... I got so scared. I told my parents... and they completely freaked out. They thought there was something seriously wrong with me. So they sent me to a clinic."

I looked at her in shock. "You never said anything."

"I was only there a couple of weeks," Buffy told me, tears in her eyes. "I stopped talking about it, and they let me go. Eventually, my parents just... forgot."

"God, that's horrible," I told her.

Buffy started to cry. "What if I'm still there? What if I never left that clinic?"

"Buffy..." I trailed off in concern. "Buffy, you're not. I'm... so sorry you had to go through that. But i--it's in the past. You've got to trust me. I'm gonna get you that antidote. I'll be right back. Okay?"

Buffy looked upset and not reassured, though she nodded anyway.

I sighed, standing, making sure that she seemed to be okay for the moment, walking out of the room and the house to go get the antidote.

  ••••••  

I was walking through the forest, hunting the demon.

Spike was walking with me. "So, she's having the wiggins, is she? Thinks none of us are real? Bloody self-centered, if you ask me."

"Spike, I need the antidote, not color commentary," I told him.

The demon from that night jumped out at us from out of nowhere, making us jump. 

Spike looked exasperated. "Oh, balls. You didn't say he was a glarghk guhl kashmas'nik."

"'Cause I can't say glar--" I started, cutting myself off when the demon started to attack.

The demon punched Spike in the face, making him fall. I punched the demon in the face three times, kicking him in the chest, making him reel back. Spike lunged up from behind the demon to stab him with a sedative dart, making him slow down. The demon fought through the sedative, spinning to kick Spike down. I kicked the demon in the face, punching him with either arm, grabbing them to spin behind his back, restraining him from behind, so that Spike could hit him with another tranq dart. I slammed the demon's head on the tree next to us, and in combination with the sedatives running through him, it finally knocked him out. I let the demon fall to the ground, unconscious.

Spike stood next to me, looking down at the unconscious body of the demon, smirking smugly in amusement. "We altered his reality."

  ••••••  

Spike and I had the demon chained to a tree in the forest, who was awake now and struggling while I was trying to get the antidote that we needed for Buffy.

I looked at Spike. "Hold it. I'll need its arm." I used a glass jar and a knife to stab the demon with the blade, causing its bone to come out of his hand, grabbing the stinger like bone, breaking it off. "All right, now I need to go to the Magic Shop, to get alkent root and a handful of nettle leaf, just for medicinal properties, no magic. Tara can help me make the antidote with magic so we can get back to the others at the house and cure Buffy."

"Sounds like a chore," Spike told me. 

"Yeah, in return, you get to kill the demon," I told him. Spike smiled. "Bye."

Spike waved slightly.

I walked away with what I needed to get this done.

  ••••••  

Tara and I had finished making the antidote, getting back to Buffy's house, looking around. 

"Hello?" Tara called. "Anybody here?"

"Buffy?" I called. "Xander?"

"Willow?" Tara called. "Didn't you say that Dawn and Layla were here with them, too?"

"They should be," I answered. "Mom was taking care of Buffy, and they were all here when I left."

We heard sounds of fighting downstairs, exchanging a look, running down there.

Buffy was completely losing her mind at the time, having Mom, Dawn, Willow and Xander all tied up and helpless while she was slowly beating them.

Tara pointed at them, using magic to dissolve the ropes binding them. "Eximete." 

I ran down the stairs to push Buffy against the wall to stop her from hurting anyone or herself. "Buffy, stop! Buffy? Buffy!" Buffy was struggling to distinguish fantasy and reality, not sure what to believe anymore, taking my arms to try and throw me into the wall. I walked across the wall to reach the other side, flipping Buffy to the floor by the arms that still held hers. "Buffy, fight it!"

Buffy flipped up to a standing position. I kicked her in the chest, punching her in the face, shoving her back against the wall, turning to push her against the washer/dryer, taking the antidote serum in a needle, injecting it directly into Buffy's heart, making her gasp in pain and relief. Buffy started to relax and come back to herself, very slowly, but not as slow as we thought it would be.

Tara, Dawn, Mom, Xander and Willow looked at us in relief. I sighed, hanging my head.

"I'm so sorry," Buffy told us in a horrified whisper.

"Buffy?" Willow asked. "We're okay. It's all okay."

"Come on," I told her. "Let's get you upstairs."

Finally, it was over, and she was okay, and so was everyone else.

But it wouldn't be long before something else went wrong.

As usual for our lives.