Hope through Dawn:
Dawn sits cross legged on the floor, her back is up against the edge of the sofa and the coffee table is before her. She shuffles her deck of Tarot cards in her hands then sets them down and looks at Andrew who’s also on the floor across the table from her. After finding her cards in her drawer days earlier Dawn has been using them often to read the fortunes of the potentials and kill boredom. Buffy and Spike are still asleep upstairs and after seeing how badly injured her sister was the night before Dawn has been trying to keep as busy as possible and keep her mind distracted.
“Okay now what?” Andrew asks.
“Now you ask a question and cut the deck.”
“Ok, um… I wanna know… hmm… Oh! I got it… will I ever redeem myself for the horrible crimes I have committed, like murder and training flying demon monkeys, and oh and stealing the last pop tart this morning even though I had two yesterday.” Andrew cuts the deck while Dawn rolls her eyes then starts to flip cards for Andrew.
--
In the dining room Kennedy has taken a moment away from working out in the back yard with the other girls to help Willow and Giles with research. Kennedy eyes up the redhead beside her watching as she reads. Willow is completely engrossed in her book and the mission before her, but Kennedy feels like they’re on the wrong track. Giles then leans back in his chair, takes his glasses off and cleans them.
“I’m going to take a break; can I get either of you anything from the kitchen?”
“No, thanks Giles,” Willow says without looking up. Giles gets up from the table and Kennedy watches him leave.
“Willow, what are we doing?” Kennedy asks once Giles is out of the room. Willow looks up. “What I mean is… Why… why are we trying to help the First?”
“We’re not trying to help the First; we’re trying to help Buffy.” Kennedy lets out an exasperated sigh.
“Willow… I know Buffy’s your friend and all, but are you sure we’re doing the right thing here?”
“Yes, I am.” Willow says sternly. Kennedy doesn’t know what to believe but she loves this stubborn red-head before her and for now she will stand by her side.
--
Giles walks into the kitchen to see Xander and Anya sitting at the breakfast counter. They munch on potato chips, and Giles watches as Xander sticks his hand into the crinkled yellow bag to pull out another handful of greasy ruffled chips. He makes his way to the coffee pot, pulls out a mug and pours himself a glass. Giles leans back against the counter and looks at Xander and Anya as he takes a sip then cringes at the stale taste of what must certainly be week old coffee.
“How’s it going g-man? Anything new?”
“Not as of yet.” Giles looks down into his mug then pours his coffee out into the sink.
“Since bringing Buffy back tipped the scales it’s too bad Willow can’t just do another spell to bring someone back and tip them some more.” Anya’s voice is flippant, but her words make Giles think.
“Actually Anya, you may be on to something there.”
“What?” Xander says. “We can’t bring anyone else back from the dead; we don’t even have that urn thingy anymore... besides after Buffy I think we’ve all learned that resurrections are of the bad.”
“No, not back from the dead, just back into our dimension.”
“Kay, you lost me.”
“The first is able to appear here in this dimension and this dimension only because of what we did. If we can pull someone from another dimension into this plane of existence…”
“Oh I got you,” Anya jumps in. “Like when Willow and I did that spell and accidentally brought that evil Willow here.”
“Precisely.”
“Precisely what?” Buffy asks as she rounds the corner and walks into the kitchen. Spike walks in after her and goes straight to the fridge to pull out a carton of blood. All those in the room look her up and down and are glad to see how much she’s healed since the night before.
“I had a brilliant idea,” Anya says proudly.
--
The gang is once again gathered in the living room for a scoobie meeting. Giles has just explained the theory that Anya helped him come to and now everyone sits in silence thinking it over. Buffy sits between Dawn and Spike on the sofa while Willow and Xander hover in the doorway and Anya sits in one of the chairs, all of them are facing Giles who stands at the front of the room with a pensive look across his face.
“So who do we bring back?” Buffy asks then watches as Dawn shuffles her cards from beside her.
“I’m not quite sure on that part yet.”
“It’s gotta be someone important… someone who has a lot of good energy about them,” Willow says.
“I’ve got it!” Xander says with excitement. “Gandhi.”
“Gandhi?” Spike scoffs. “He was a demon.”
“Well… a peaceful demon though right?”
“Still… don’t think he qualifies.”
Dawn cuts the deck of cards in her hands and then flips over the first card. Her movements are in part absentminded but she’s also very aware of them. Something then clicks in Dawn’s brain as she looks down at the overturned card before her. A woman in blue sitting on a thrown. The card is the High Priestess and there is only one person in her mind of who this card could ever represent.
“Tara,” Dawn whispers and all eyes fall on her. She looks up as the pieces start to come together in her mind.
“What,” Willow says weakly.
“Tara had more good energy then anyone.” The room is silent. Everyone seems to agree but with understanding of Willow's loss, with memory of how the grief drove her to the dark, no one says anything. Eyes glance at the red witch and then fall to the ground. “She was in my dream… and I pulled this card just now… I think… I think this is what she was trying to tell me… fate is written in the cards.”
“This won’t be like when we brought Buffy back Will,” Xander adds knowing full well that bringing Tara back is the key to all of this. Something about Dawn’s suggestion just feels right to him.
“Right yes, she won’t be dragged back into her body like Buffy was…" Giles explains. "And it will only be temporary… we’ll have to send her back once the First is defeated to return things to their balance.” Giles’s comment seems to make Willow pale even more. Now not only will she have to deal with seeing her lover again, but she will also have to deal with loosing her again. In that moment it’s too much for Willow to think about.
“I… I just think I need a minute,” Willow says and then rushes up the stairs to her room.
--
Buffy stands in the bathroom and picks at her bandages, after the meeting with the gang she just couldn’t simply sit around; she felt the need to do something. So now she has her shirt pulled up and is changing the wrapping around her abdomen. Once she has a new bandage in place, although it’s barely needed now, she looks up and notices for the first time the empty mirror before her. Buffy stands there in awe for a moment. She’s not exactly sure how she should feel. Buffy raises her cold pale fingers up to the glass and touches its surface.
“Strange isn’t it?” Spike’s voice sounds from the door way. Buffy jumps in shock then turns to face him. “Like everything else you get used to it.”
“Yeah…”
“How are you holding up… this battle with the First seems to be coming up pretty fast.”
“I’m fine… mostly I’m just feeling bad for Willow right now.” Spike steps into the room while Buffy stares down at her fingernails for a moment. “How are you?” Buffy asks meeting Spike’s gaze once again.
“I’m alright… I’ll be better once we all make it out of this alive, or well undead in our case.” Again Buffy is reminded of her immortality and the fact that Spike is the only one who will be by her side for the rest of her life, or so she hopes.
“Yeah… Spike?”
“Yeah pet?”
“When this is over… what’s gonna happen?”
“What do you mean?”
“Will you stay?” Spike thinks over her question.
“As long as you want me here that’s where I’ll be, you know that… why?” Buffy pauses for a moment.
“It’s just… things are different now, you know,” their eyes lock on each others.
“Different how?” Spike asks in a low voice, but he can feel what she’s talking about. Things have changed between them since he came back from Africa and since Buffy’s been a vampire those changes have been even more obvious.
“I don’t want to be away from you,” her words are soft and with each syllable she’s drawn closer to Spike.
Eyes flutter down to lips and unneeded breath catches in each of their throats. Spike leans in and Buffy reaches up to meet his mouth with hers. Their lips move gently and cautiously at first, then Buffy brings a hand up to Spike’s arm and his hands move to her waist. Their kiss deepens ever so slightly. Then Buffy’s grasp on Spike’s arm loosens and she pulls away. She lets out a deep unneeded breath and stares down at Spike’s chest without backing away from him.
“Sorry,” Spike says then pulls away.
“Don’t be.” Buffy’s green eyes meet blue and she holds Spike’s gaze.
“Buffy…” Spike’s eyes search Buffy’s face for an explanation, for something to tell him what she’s thinking or what he means to her.
“Things are different now Spike.”
“I think you need to explain a little better what exactly you mean by that.” Spike’s mind is spinning; he doesn’t know what’s real. Buffy takes a deep useless breath and sits down on the edge of the tub.
“I just… I’m just going with how I feel… all my emotions are so much stronger now and I… I don’t… I just know that when you’re around everything’s a little easier, but I guess it’s always been that way with you…”
“So what is this between us?”
“I don’t know yet, but… I know something’s there, and I know that I felt like kissing you, and I know that it’s not because I needed comfort or needed to feel, it’s because… it’s because I wanted to.” Spike searches her eyes and finds honesty within them. He nods and then runs a hand through his blonde locks to calm himself.
“So what now?”
“I don’t know exactly yet… I need to focus on things with the First.” Spike’s hope fades a little. “But once it’s all over I’m willing to spend eternity to figure it out.” At that Spike meets her eyes again and knows that she’s serious. It’s not an I love you, but its something and he can wait to see where things go.
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