REPLAY

That's the thing about magic. There's always consequences. Always! ~Spike, AfterLife


Chapter 5- Too Many Maybes

When Buffy returned she was greeted by the entire household. Dawn stood near the living room entrance, dressed in her cloud pajamas and pink slippers. Tara and Willow sat next to each other on the couch. The red-head was huddled in Tara’s arms, the other witch shushing soothingly. Buffy furrowed her brow at the sight of Willow’s swollen eyes.

“What’d I miss?” Buffy asked.

Dawn’s head whipped toward her. “Buffy? Where have you been?”

“I-I went out to patrol. Couldn’t sleep.”

Dawn nodded. Buffy knew her sister was aware of where she had really been.

Tara glanced up from her troubled lover. “Willow had a bad dream.”

The slayer narrowed her eyes at that. A dream shouldn’t have caused this kind of commotion. It had to have been more than a mere nightmare to coax the wiccans downstairs and arouse her sister. She sent Tara a look that said ‘Please elaborate’.

“It. . . It was bad,” Tara said.

Willow lifted her head. “It seemed so real.”

Buffy took a step further into the room. “What’d you dream, Wills?”

“I . . .” She looked over at Tara. “We were in our room. We had just woken up, I think. We were smiling and laughing and . . . then . . .” Her voice wavered. She clutched onto Tara.

“I got shot,” Tara finished.

The dim light was just enough for Buffy to catch the shimmering in her best friend’s eyes. She turned toward Dawn, who must have been thinking the same thing. This all sounded too familiar.

“Buffy, what do your slayer dreams feel like?”

“Wh-What?”

“It was so real, Buffy. I could smell the blood. I could see her eyes go dark as I cradled-” She let out a sob.

Buffy came over and sat on the other side of Willow. She touched her shoulder. She felt Willow shake.

“No. It wasn’t a premonition. It was only a dream. It meant nothing,” Buffy lied.

“I’ll put her back to bed,” Tara offered.

Buffy nodded.

She watched as Tara helped Willow off the couch and toward the upstairs. Then she shifted her gaze to fall on Dawn. The teenager had a frown on her face. They were silent for a long time.

“Do you think -?” Dawn started.

“I don’t know, Dawnie. Maybe.”

A paused passed between them.

“It doesn’t mean we can’t prevent it,” Buffy said.

“Should we tell them?”

The question hit hard. Buffy mulled it over. She had decided that keeping things secret was bad. Telling her friends might help them to make better choices. But it would also cause grief. Lots of grief.

“Let’s hold off. We will if we have to.”

“Okay.”

Buffy glanced at the clock. “It’s late. You have school tomorrow.”

“Do I have to go? My brain has two years more knowledge than what it is supposed –“

“No,” Buffy interrupted, sternly.

Pouting, she said, “Thought so.”

She came over to give Buffy a hug. The two siblings embraced, taking their time about it.

“Goodnight,” Dawn said.

“Goodnight,” Buffy reiterated.

Dawn headed toward her room, Buffy behind her. Suddenly she halted. She spun around.

“Hey, where’s the demon?”

“Huh?”

“That demon Willow created. It didn’t show up.”

Buffy blinked, holding onto the banister. This all wasn’t settling right.

Dawn shrugged. “Maybe the universe knows what we did. It knows that you already were brought back before and so it didn’t make us pay a price.”

Buffy didn’t know what to think. She was at a total loss.

“Maybe,” Buffy said.

They continued on their way to bed.


I know this is short, but it is a good place to stop. I’m off to write the next part so don’t worry.