It was Halloween.

The Magic Box was filled with customers, including many laughing children.

There was a banner reading "Halloween Bone-Anza" with the letters spelled out in paper bones and the O in 'Bone' a paper skull.

Anya was going through the store on roller skates, wearing very short candy-striped shorts, a red blouse and Farrah Fawcett hair, looking at a customer. "Um, everything on this table's half off. Including the table." She skated on, looking at a second customer. "Buy one eyeball, get the second one free."

Giles was working the cash register, wearing a wizard robe. 

Xander was dressed as a pirate, talking to some children, holding a jar, giving a pirate growl. "Careful, me mateys! These be fireflies spat from a volcano off the coast of Katmandu. Arr!"

A little boy was dressed as a fireman. "You're not a real pirate! Real pirates live on boats and don't look stupid."

Xander gave a fake laugh. "Oh, a salty swabbie. Maybe you be fishing for the taste... of me hook."

Giles shook his hook-hand.

The boy was unimpressed.

Giles called out to Xander. "Uh, hello, Ahab, a little help please?"

"Arr, and help ye shall have, sir," Xander told him, giving the boy a menacing look, walking off, scratching his neck with the hook.

Dawn walked across the store, dressed normally, putting something down on the table next to Anya. "So, what are you supposed to be?"

"An angel," Anya answered.

"Oh, shouldn't you have wings?" Dawn asked.

"Oh, no," Anya answered. "This is a special kind of angel called a Charlie. We don't have wings. We just skate around with perfect hair fighting crime. Where's your costume?"

Anya skated away.

Dawn followed. "Like I'm six years old? Halloween's so lame."

"But you get to dress up, and play games," Anya told her. "Xander's gonna teach me a new one after work called Shiver Me Timbers. Ever play?"

Tara appeared just in time to hear this and intervene. "Uh, Dawn, Willow could use some help in magical texts."

Dawn smiled. "I'm all over it."

Dawn walked away.

Anya looked at Tara. "How about you? Ever play Shiver Me Timbers?"

"I'm not really much for the timber," Tara told her.

Willow on the other side of the room, holding up a book on witchcraft., looking at a woman in a traditional Halloween witch costume with a hooked nose, pointy black hat, green makeup, warts, etc. Will was angry. "I'm just saying you might wanna rethink the stereotype before someone turns you into a toad." The woman looked annoyed, grabbing the book, walking away. "And while you're at it, why don't you try to removing that broomstick from you--" Dawn approached Willow. Willow caught herself from saying anything else. "Dawn!"

"Hey," Dawn told her. "Don't stop the invective on account of me."

"If I see one more idiot that thinks witches are all hairy moles and rotted teeth--" Willow started.

A little girl dressed in a black witch outfit with sparkly makeup, looking cute and pretty instead of ugly and mean approached them. "Excuse me. Do you have any candy corn?"

Willow smiled. "Oh, look at you." She knelt in front of the girl. "You are just the cutest thing."

Dawn was confused and amused. "I--I thought you said--"

"I know, but look, with the hat, and the--that wart," Willow told her. She looked at the girl, smiling. "Let's go fill your tummy up with sugary niblets, okay?"

Willow led the cute little witch away.

Dawn watched them go, smiling.

Buffy and Xander were helping Giles at the counter.

I was carrying a large cardboard box.

Anya skated toward me. "Zoey! We're running low on mandrake root. Check the basement."

Anya skated away.

I sighed, muttering to myself. "Don't blame me if we have this conversation over and over..." I walked into the basement, still holding the box. "And over... and over, and over." I reached the bottom of the stairs, turning to go around them. Spike emerged from underneath them. I jumped in surprise, sighing. "Bell. Neck. Look into it."

"Come with a nice leather collar, does it?" Spike asked.

"What are you doing lurking down here?" I asked.

Spike sighed. "Came through the tunnels." He held up a handful of vines. "Running low on burba weed. Stir it in with the blood. Makes it all hot and spicy." I made a face in disgust, turning away to put the box down. "What? I was gonna pay for it." I turned toward him, giving him a skeptical look. "I mean, no. I was gonna nick it, 'cause that's what I do." Spike sighed. "I go where I please and I take what I want. And what's your excuse, anyway?" He nodded toward upstairs. "I thought you'd had it to the brim with customer disservice."

"One-time deal to help out," I told him. "And I mean straight time. No loop-de-loop mummy hand repeat-o-vision." Spike nodded in understanding. I looked around, a little embarrassed. "Where's the mandrake root?"

Spike looked around, walking toward a shelf covered with jars. "Um... here." He took down a jar. "Only three to a jar." He handed me the jar. "Tend to... go a bit wonky if you cram them too close."

I took the jar. "Thanks."

"Feel like a bit of the rough and tumble?" Spike asked.

I raised my eyebrows in surprise. "What?"

"Me, you," Spike told me. "Patrolling? Hello?"

I sighed. "Oh. Uh..." Spike smirked, knowing what else I thought he meant, and he meant to do that on purpose. "I... should stay. Maybe tomorrow." Spike nodded, turning toward the direction he came from, walking out, leaving. I turned to walk back upstairs, shaking my head. "So much easier to talk to when he wanted to kill me."

I walked upstairs, still carrying the jar of mandrake root, closing the basement door.

Anya skated closer, taking the jar. "Ooh. Go help Buffy and Giles."

Anya skated away, leaving.

I turned around, walking through the swing-door that separated the area behind the cash register from the rest of the store.

Giles was busily ringing up a customer at the cash register.

Buffy was busy wrapping gifts and objects for sale.

There was a long line of other customers waiting.

"What happened to Xander?" I asked.

"He kept poking me with his hook," Giles told me. I picked up an item from the counter. "I sent him over to charmed objects. With any luck, he'll poke the wrong one and end up in an alternative dimension inhabited by a 50-foot Giles that squishes away teeny pirates." 

"Giles!" Buffy told him teasingly. "You kiss your mother with that mouth?"

Giles continued to ring up customers.

Buffy continued to wrap up purchases. She took the item I was holding, wrapping it, handing it to Giles.

Giles handed it to a customer. "We've got a ton of bagging to do here."

"Actually, Spike had a really good idea," I told them. "You know, maybe I should..." I whispered. "Patrol."

"Zoey, we've been patrolling every night this week," Buffy told me. Giles took an item from a customer, ringing it up, handing it to Buffy for her to wrap. Buffy started to wrap it up. "Besides, it's Halloween. It's the one time of the year that supernatural threats give it a well-deserved rest. As should I. As should you."

"Yeah, what about costumes that take over your personality?" I asked. "Or, wee little Irish fear-demon-y thingies?"

Buffy handed the gift-wrapped item to Giles.

Giles handed it to the customer.

The customer walked away, leaving.

Another customer walked up, handing an item to Giles.

Giles rang it up. "Yes, well, if anything calamitous should happen, history suggests it'll happen to one of us."

"Right, exactly," I told them. "So, I should patrol to avoid any of that." Giles handed the item to me. I sighed. "And I'm bagging."

I put the item in a bag, handing it to Giles.

Giles handed the bag to the customer.

  ••••••  

It was after dark.

A few people walked outside.

Dawn stood at the door, waving the last customers out. "Come again!" She gave a weak laugh, closing the door, leaning against it, grimacing. "In a zillion years."

The rest of us were sitting around, very tired after the busy day. 

Xander was laying on his back on the floor. "Store go boom." He waved his hook hand weakly. "Arr."

Anya was behind the counter, the only one of us who wasn't tired. "That was the most incredible thing I have ever experienced." Xander lifted his head to look at her. "Except for that." Dawn walked across the room to join Anya behind the counter. "What you all did for me tonight... the astounding heaps of money you helped me--" Xander cleared his throat. "Us acquire. All I can say is, I hope we make as much tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" I repeated in dismay.

"Oh, post-holiday clearance," Anya told us, smiling. "The cornerstone of retail."

Everyone groaned.

Giles stood, grimacing. "Brooms all around, then."

"Or I could whip up a jaunty self-cleaning incantation," Willow told us. "It'll be like Fantasia."

"We all know how splendidly that turned out for Mickey," Giles told her, handing Willow a broom and dustpan.

"I think I'm a little more adept than a cartoon mouse," Willow told us.

"And you have more fingers, which is good, 'cause there's no need to wear those big white gloves to overcompensate," Tara told her.

Buffy looked at Xander. "You know, if you had a real peg leg, you couldn't just have a lame costume. You'd actually be lame. Which is completely different."

Xander wasn't listening, looking at Anya.

Anya and Dawn were behind the counter, doing a little dance with money in their hands.

Dawn smiled. "You do this every night?"

"Every time I close out the cash register," Anya answered. "The dance of capitalist superiority."

Anya continued dancing.

Dawn copied her movement.

Xander continued watching, speaking softly. "I'm gonna marry that girl."

I looked at him incredulously. "What? She's 15, and my sister, so don't ev--" I realized he meant Anya. "Oh."

"Hey, everybody," Xander told us, standing. "Can, I, um... uh, there's something Anya and I... wanna tell you."

Xander walked over to the counter.

Anya came to his side, holding a stack of money. "Now?"

"Now," Xander answered, putting his arm around Anya's shoulders, turning to face the rest of us. "We're getting married."

Dawn smiled. "Oh, my God."

"Congratulations!" Tara told them.

Buffy, Giles and I walked closer.

Willow was in shock. "That... that's... wow."

"It's a big wow," I told them.

Anya looked at Xander. "I... I thought you were waiting for the right moment."

Xander looked at her fondly. "I did."

Anya and Xander kissed for a long moment, pulling away.

Anya smiled, tossing money at Dawn. "Here, have some money!"

Dawn caught some of the falling money, smiling.

Anya and Xander resumed kissing.

Buffy looked at Giles. "Did you know about this?"

"No," Giles answered. "Unless I blocked it from my memory." He glanced at Anya and Xander as they continued to kiss. "Much as I will Xander's vigorous use of his tongue."

Giles removed his glasses, cleaning them.

I looked at him in shock. "Is that why you're always cleaning your glasses? So you don't have to see what we're doing?"

"Tell no one," Giles told us, putting his glasses on.

Buffy and I exchanged a look, looking at Anya and Xander.

They were still kissing.

Buffy smiled. "This is... we have to do something."

  ••••••  

We were sitting in Dawn, Mom's and my house, in the living room.

Willow, Tara and Dawn were sitting on the floor around the basket with the kittens, letting them all out, playing with them, smiling happily.

I sat down next to Dawn, picking one up, petting it.

Dawn was playing with the kittens, smiling. She looked at me. "You really stole these from Spike and three demons?"

"I was drunk, and I would rather think of it as saving them from the demons," I told her. "They were going to eat them."

Dawn looked horrified, holding two kittens close to her chest worriedly. "No! Who would do that to kittens?"

"Demons, apparently," Tara answered.

Dawn looked at Mom. "Can we keep them, Mom, please?"

"Dawn..." Mom trailed off.

"Please?" Dawn asked.

"If it's no trouble, Willow and I can take some of them off of your hands and take care of them," Tara told her. "We don't mind at all. It gets a little boring around the house."

Buffy nodded. "Yes, it does. Maybe some kittens will brighten up the mood."

"I think there's enough kittens to go around," Xander told us. "Why don't we all take one?"

"I, for one, will definitely not," Giles told us.

"Well, that's fine," I told him. "More for us."

Dawn smiled, leaning her head against my shoulder, still holding two kittens while I held another.

Mom sighed. "What have you all gotten me into?" We laughed. Mom looked at Anya. "So, tell me more."

Anya smiled, showing Mom her engagement ring. "And he said he couldn't imagine the rest of his life without me, and then he gave me this."

Xander held her other hand

"Which I'll be paying for the rest of my life," Xander told us.

Dawn looked at Anya, gesturing to her ring. "Can I try it on?"

Anya smiled. "Oh, absolutely not."

Giles and Mom handed us all a cup with something to drink.

"Where I come from, this sort of thing requires much in the way of libation," Giles told us.

"God save the queen," Xander told us.

"Sorry we couldn't do the big fancy," Mom told them. "You two kinda caught us with our parties down."

"Oh, that's okay," Anya told us. "This is just the first premarital celebration. There'll be lots more. With gifts."

Tara and Willow picked up bowls of snacks. 

"Sure, maybe we'll even have time to decorate for the next one," Tara told us.

"Why wait?" Willow asked, chanting.

A shimmer went through the room. When it passed, the room was decorated with paper lanterns and streamers.

Dawn laughed in shock.

We all looked around.

Tara looked unhappy.

The kittens started to play with the streamers that were on the floor.

Dawn laughed at the adorableness. "Aw!"

Anya looked at Willow. "This is so much better than the way it usually looks. Thank you."

Anya hugged Willow.

Giles and Tara exchanged a disapproving look.

  ••••••  

Buffy and Xander were in an embrace.

"You're getting married!" Buffy told him excitedly. "You!"

Xander coughed hoarsely. "Me. Choking."

"Oh, sorry," Buffy told him, letting go. "I just--I can't believe it. Seems like only yesterday you had to pay a girl to date you."

"Like I'd ever pay," Xander told us. He chuckled nervously. "Define 'date'."

Mom and Dawn walked toward us with bowls of snacks.

"I was only out of commission for three months," I told them. "How many other things have changed since I've been away?"

Dawn smiled. "Ooh, I got a tattoo!"

I looked at her in shock. "What?"

"Which is why I told her no," Mom told me.

"Just a little one?" Dawn asked.

"Over my dead body," Mom told her. "The kind that doesn't come back."

I smiled a small smile.

Anya walked in.

Dawn pouted. "Fine." She saw Anya. "Congratulations." She and Anya hugged, pulling away. "You're very lucky. Finding a guy like him."

"Not as lucky as me," Xander told us, kissing Anya on the cheek. 

Buffy smiled.

"See you guys tomorrow?" Dawn asked, turning toward the door.

"Whoa," Mom told her, grabbing Dawn's arm. "Tomorrow?"

Dawn nodded. "Yeah. I'm sleeping over at Janice's, remember?"

"That's tonight?" Mom asked.

"No, it's not the other Halloween," Dawn told her sarcastically. "Come on, Mom. You said I could."

"Uh..." Mom trailed off, glancing at me. "Well, I know I did. It's just, you know, now with Xander's party, I..."

"Ah, we're good," Xander told us. "But you have to get us some extra gifts for our reception."

"Yes, please," Anya told us.

"Come on, Mom," Dawn told her. "It's four blocks away. I'll walk straight over. Not like I'm gonna be roaming the streets. Please?"

Mom looked at me.

I shrugged, looking at Dawn. "Go."

Dawn smiled, wrapping an arm around me in a hug. "Thanks, Zo."

Dawn walked out, leaving.

I sighed, watching her go.

  ••••••  

Xander, Anya, Buffy, Giles and I were sitting in the living room.

"So, I was thinking maybe a June wedding," Anya told us. "But then I remembered that they always had the highest percentage of calls for vengeance. So now I'm leaning towards as soon as damn possible. I mean, mortal life being so short, we gotta get in as much marital bliss as we can before we wither and die." Xander nodded, but he looked more and more nervous. "I mean, there's just so much to consider, though. I mean, planning the wedding, and--and new cars, house and babies. You have to plan for babies, or they just run roughshod over your entire existence."

"Yeah, y--you gotta know what to call them before they hit college," Xander told us nervously.

"Ah, Rupert is an exceptionally strong name," Giles told them.

Anya laughed. "Yeah, if we want our progeny to eat paste and have their lunch money stolen."

I tried to keep from laughing.

Giles looked insulted.

Buffy smiled a small smile.

Anya stopped laughing, clearing her throat awkwardly.

Giles gave me a look.

"Look, all that matters is that they're happy," Buffy told us. "Everything else is thick gravy goodness."

"I know," Anya told us. Xander's smile looked at little glazed. "I mean, I am the luckiest ex-demon in the world. I mean, to be able to find the one person in all dimensions that I was meant to be with, and have everything work out exactly as I dreamed." Xander smiled. "I mean, how often does the universe allow that to happen?"

I gazed off pensively.

  ••••••  

Xander and I walked outside to the front porch.

Xander took a deep breath, fanning himself with his pirate hat. "Air. Sweet mother oxygen."

We walked toward the edge of the porch.

"You okay?" I asked.

"Yeah," Xander answered. "I just... it's just, I didn't think it would be so much."

We sat on the railing.

"But this is good," I told him. "I mean, this is... love and celebration and moving forward. Anya's right. This is the way life's supposed to work out."

Xander nodded. "Right. Deep pools of ooey delight. I'm wallowing, not drowning."

"Define wallow action," I told him.

"Okay," Xander told us, standing. "So, once more into the breach?"

"Oh, I think my breaches are wearing a little thin," I told him, standing. "I'm gonna take Spike up on that offer to patrol. Gotta be something out there cruising for a smackdown."

We walked toward the door.

I walked down the stairs.

Xander walked inside.

I walked away from my house, leaving.

 ••••••

I walked down a street that was crowded by kids in costume, pausing, watching a couple walking with arms around each other, continuing to walk.

An ambulance went by, sirens wailing.

I stopped walking, frowning in confusion. I followed it to a crime scene.

A small crowd had gathered.

I saw paramedics loading a woman onto a gurney.

"I'm losing her pulse," Paramedic 1 told them.

"Let's get her in," Paramedic 2 told them.

I watched with concern, looking at the woman's neck, seeing vampire bites clearly visible in her torn and bleeding skin. I scowled, walking away, leaving.

  ••••••  

I walked into Spike's crypt, holding my stake. "Get your gear together. We need to..." Spike was nowhere to be seen. The TV was on, playing a black and white horror movie. I looked around. "Spike?"

I heard his voice right behind me. "You know..." I turned to face him. "In civilized cultures, that's called trespassing."

"Good thing this is an uncivilized culture," I told him. "We got trouble."

"Layla found you?" Spike asked.

I frowned in confusion. "My mom? No. Was she looking for me?"

"Yeah," Spike answered. "It's Dawn."

"Dawn?" I repeated, alarmed. "Why, what happened?"

"No, it's okay," Spike told me. "Layla was by here earlier looking for you. Dawn and her little friend pulled a Houdini. Up to a bit of candy-corn mischief, I suspect."

"Wait," I told him. "She's out there running around by herself?"

Spike nodded. "Yeah. Kids these days, eh?" I walked past him. "I did a sweep of the tunnels. Layla went back home. Giles and Buffy are poking about the cemetery. Tara and Willow are checking out the Bronze."

"We have to find her," I told him, opening a trunk by the wall.

"I don't think she's in there," Spike told me.

I took out some weapons, tossing a crossbow toward Spike.

Spike caught it, frowning a little.

   ••••••

Spike and I found Giles, Buffy, Dawn, and a crowd of vampires in a parking/making out spot.

A vampire was holding Dawn by her neck from behind.

Spike put a hand on Giles' shoulder. "So. This a private game, or, uh, can anyone join in?"

I ran up. "Dawn, are you..." I paused, looking at the scene. Vampire 1 let go of Dawn. Dawn stepped a foot or two away from him. I looked at Dawn incredulously. "Were you parking? With a vamp?"

"I--I didn't know he was dead," Dawn told me.

"Living dead," Vampire 1 corrected.

"Shut up," Dawn told him.

"How could you not know?" I asked.

"I just met him," Dawn answered.

"Oh!" I told her sarcastically. "Oh, so you were parking in the woods with a boy you just met."

"We've seen each other at parties," Vampire 1 told me.

"Shut up," I told him. I looked at Dawn. "I don't believe you."

Spike looked around with a frown.

"Uh, excuse me," Vampire 2 told us. "Can we fight now?"

"Hey, didn't anyone come here just to make out?" Buffy asked. One guy and girl in the back, not vampires, raised their hands. "Aw, that's sweet. You run."

The guy and girl ran away, leaving.

I looked at Vampire 1. "You scream."

Buffy, Spike, Giles and I took off in different directions to fight the surrounding vampires.

Spike punched Vampire 2 in the face. Vampire 2 turned back, kicking him in the stomach, trying to punch him. Spike blocked the move, backhand punching him in the face, punching him again.

Giles backhand punched Vampire 3 in the face. 

Vampire 4 pushed me against a car. "Die, Slayer."

Vampire 5 ran toward Buffy. Buffy staked him in the heart, killing him, making him explode into ash.

Vampire 1 turned Dawn to face him. "Your sister's a Slayer? I totally get it. I knew there was something about you."

Dawn kneed Vampire 1 in the stomach, turning around, running away.

I pushed Vampire 4 off of me, staking him in the heart, making him fall into ashes.

Vampire 6 jumped onto Giles' back. Giles threw her off into Vampire 7, making them both fall to the ground.

"Giles!" Buffy told him, throwing him her stake.

Giles caught it, staking Vampire 6 and Vampire 7 in the heart, killing them, making them explode into ashes.

Vampire 8 ran toward me, tackling me over a nearby car, making us slide over the hood and fall to the ground on the other side. 

Vampire 2 kicked Spike in the face, making him fall. "What is your malfunction, man?"

Spike stood, punching Vampire 2 underneath his chin hard enough to make him fall. "It's Halloween, you nit. We take the night off. Those are the rules."

Vampire 2 stood. "Me and mine don't follow no stinking rules. We're rebels."

Vampire 2 tried to punch Spike twice.

Spike caught either of his arms, headbutting him, making him back away, kicking him back into the tree behind him. "No. I'm a rebel. You're an idiot." He took out his crossbow, shooting Vampire 2 in the heart with a wooden spike, killing him, making him fall into dust. "Give the lot of us a bad name."

Spike set up the crossbow with another wooden spike.

Vampire 9 tackled Spike to the ground while he had been distracted.

I kicked Vampire 8 off of me. We both stood. Vampire 8 tried to punch me. I ducked, kicking him in the face, backhand punching him in the face, trying to punch him again. Vampire 8 caught my arm, grabbing me, flipping me onto the hood of the car, trying to punch me in the face. I rolled out of the way, making him punch through the hood of the car into the engine instead, kicking him in the face, making him back away, kicking up into a standing position on the car. Vampire 8 lunged for me. I jumped up slightly to make him miss, trying to kick him. Vampire 8 caught my leg, grabbing my other, pulling them out from under me, making me fall back onto the car hood. I kicked him in the face, making him back away, standing. Vampire 8 backhand punched me in the face, pushing me face first against the car, restraining me against it, ripping the antenna wire from the hood of the car, trying to wrap it around my neck to strangle me from behind. I grabbed the wire and elbowed him in the stomach, to get him to let go, running up the side of the car to flip over his head and land on the ground behind him, kicking him face first against the car, using the wire to wrap around his neck from behind, restraining him long enough for me to stake him in the heart, killing him, making him fall into ashes.

Vampire 10 pushed Buffy into another car, punching her in the face, trying to punch her again. Buffy caught his arm, punching him in the face, kicking him in the stomach, making him stumble back away. Vampire 10 ran toward her. Buffy opened the car door next to her for him to run right into rather than him get to her. Vampire 10 tried to kick her. Buffy ducked out of the way, making him kick the car window behind her, making the glass shatter and rain down to the ground. Vampire 10 pulled his foot free, standing straight, trying to punch Buffy in the face. Buffy ducked, reaching through the broken window to grab him by his shirt, pulling him face first against the open car door. She grabbed him, pushing him down, making him bend over the car door, pushing him all the way down to the ground. Vampire 10 groaned in pain, starting to sit up, his head between the door frame of the car. Buffy kicked him in the face, making him fall back to where his torso was in the middle of the open car doorway. She slammed the car door hard enough to cut Vampire 10 in half, making him fall into ash.

Dawn was walking along alone in the woods. She heard a light thud, gasping, turning to look behind her, but she saw nothing. She continued to back away in fear. 

Vampire 1 appeared behind her, leaning his head over her shoulder to speak in her ear, his face changed. "Trick or treat." Dawn screamed, running away a short distance. Vampire 1 ran after her, grabbing her, pulling her down to the ground. Dawn tried to crawl away. Vampire 1 pulled her back, turning her onto her back to look at her, straddling her, pinning her wrists to the ground. "Give me something good to eat."

Dawn breathed heavily. "I thought you really liked me."

"I do," Vampire 1 told her. "And you like me, too."

Dawn sighed, nodding. "I do."

Vampire 1 leaned down to bite her.

Dawn saw me from over his shoulder.

I staked Vampire 1 in the back through his heart, killing him, turning him to dust.

Dawn laid there, looking upset.

I didn't know how to react.

  ••••••  

We went back home.

I looked at Xander and Anya. "Sorry about the party."

"Ah, don't worry about it," Xander told me.

"It gave me more time to plan the bridal shower," Anya told me. "Where do we order obscenely muscular male strippers?"

"Anya," Xander told her.

"Well, I'm kidding," Anya told him. "Jeez." Xander walked out, leaving. Anya looked at me, mouthing the words. 'We'll talk.'

Anya walked out, leaving.

Spike walked up behind me. "Guess I should bugger off." I turned to face him. "Something about big bads not venturing far from their crypts on Halloween."

"Good fight," I told him. "Thank you, Spike."

Spike nodded, walking out, leaving.

I watched him go. I looked toward the dining room where Dawn and Mom were talking, walking in.

"We need to have a conversation," Mom told her.

Dawn looked down, speaking quietly. "This the part where you tell me you're not angry? Just disappointed?"

Dawn looked at us anxiously.

"Pretty much," I answered. "Except for the bit about not being angry."

Dawn looked like she knew she deserved this, but was still scared.

"Dawn, I don't want to be too hard on you," Mom told her. "But I can't ignore this kind of behavior. Something needs to be done before it spins out of control. Please, Dawn. This has to stop."

Dawn nodded tentatively, looking down in shame.