Season 6
A large, black vampire runs through a cemetery with Spike in pursuit, followed further behind by a tired Tara and more tired Giles. They lose sight of their prey and stop to gather themselves. Spike starts to blame the others for their failure. But Giles makes a dumb joke and they are all soon laughing together.
Willow interrupts them. From some distance away she stands on top of a crypt with literally a commanding view of the grounds. Her voice is clear and strong in their heads. She warns them that their prey is circling and preparing to attack them. She instructs them in which direction to drive the vamp and he runs straight into a fist. Buffy stands over him and seems to welcome the action. But he manages to fend off her stake and knock her away. Spike, Giles and Tara jump the monster.
Xander and Anya are running to join their friends when Willow's telepathic voice stops them cold and gives them the creeps. She warns the couple of another vampire hiding in wait and instructs them on how to ambush the fiend.
The big vamp is giving the entire crew a hard time, including throwing Buffy aside again. He chokes Giles as Spike casually lights a cigarette. Willow urges Spike to do something, but Spike already has. The big vamp suddenly erupts in flames and, releasing his grip on Giles, vanishes in a cloud of dust.
Willow mentally commands them to help Xander and Anya. That vamp gets the advantage on Buffy, but Spike attacks him and Buffy finally stakes him. She utters a complete non-sequester instead of a clever line and everyone looks to Willow to fix the Buffy-bot. Giles reminds her how important it is to keep the illusion that Buffy is alive, so the wide variety of evil forces around the Hellmouth will not erupt in her absence. Trying to figure out ways to make the robot more like Buffy, only reminds them of how great their loss is.
The next day, Willow looks for shoes, but Tara reveals that Dawn has borrowed them. Willow and Tara are apparently living in Joyce's old room. They share a couples' moment and Willow goes in search of shoes, that Dawn denies having. The Buffy-amation proves she needs more work by making a dozen sandwiches for Dawn's lunch. Fortunately, Xander arrives to eat his share. Everyone jumps to stop the Buffy-atron from answering the phone. Dawn thinks their dad might be calling, apparently they have been in touch and he promised a call. Instead it's Anya letting Willow know that she has obtained something they need for tonight. Dawn is curious, as always, but they tell her its nothing and Spike will be watching her tonight.
They explain to Buffy-oid that they can only keep Dawn in Willow and Tara's custody if everyone, especially her father, thinks that Buffy is alive and Dawn's guardian. The Buffy-bot gladly agrees to help in the deception, after all, Dawn is her sister. Everyone is again painfully aware that the Robo-Buffy is a pale replacement.
Everyone is worried how Electro-Buffy will do in her next test, attending a Parent-Teacher Day celebration. At the event, Dawn has to cover for Buffy-oid's awkward replies by calling it bad humor. In a classroom of parents, Buffy makes the most simplistic of statements and everyone reads their own relative meaning to her words, making her sound like a genius - a la Chance the Gardener.
At the Magic Box, Anya thinks that Giles' torturous review of the books before turning the shop over to Anya reminds her of something a Vengeance Demon would do. She also accuses him of looting the shop of its most valuable pieces for his private collection. She ends up in a slap-fight with him over ownership of a small idol. Even Xander thinks they're being childish.
Xander reminds Anya that she's getting the store and should be grateful. Giles reminds them that he is only making Anya a partner for running the store, Giles still retains some ownership. Anya reminds Giles, under her breath, that he will be a very silent partner. And Xander reminds her that the deal still isn't signed yet and she could be talking herself out of it.
She leaves, but Xander follows to scold her. She tries to explain that the anticipation of controlling the store is driving her crazy. That and the fact that no one is talking about rather Giles should be leaving for England. Mostly she's mad that Xander hasn't announced their engagement. It's been three months and she thinks some good news is long overdue. Xander wants to wait until they know if everything is going to change.
That night, Dawn is telling Spike about the Buffy-ator buffaloing the parents and faculty. Cynical Spike goes on about the failed school system, until her remembers that he should be encouraging Dawn to believe in schools. His trump card is that Buffy would want her to work hard in school and they both know that that is the way it will be then. Dawn tries to convince Spike that she doesn't need a guardian every minute since her critical time as The Key has come and gone. Even if she still is The Key, there is no longer a use for those energies. Her teen-age scheme to get away from supervision persists until it angers Spike. He tells her in no uncertain terms that he will never again allow her to get hurt, perhaps thinking to the time on the tower when he was defeated by Doc, who went on to open the portal that Buffy died closing (#100 The Gift).
A young woman walks a dark street, unsure if someone is following her. She quickens her pace, but is grabbed by a vampire. Buffy-matic is there to save her. The victim flees and so does the vamp, but Buffy-ette quickly catches him. She pounds him, until he gets lucky with a broken bottle, cutting the Buffy-verks' forehead and causing an electrical spark across the damage. He realizes that Buffy is a fake and runs. The badly confused Buffy-doll can't follow.
Meanwhile, Willow and Tara are marveling over the fact the Anya was able to find the last existing Urn of Osiris on e-bay, the Internet auction site. A solemn Willow announces that they are ready. Xander seems concerned. Willow plans for tomorrow night and Xander reminds them that they are talking about bringing Buffy back from the dead.
Xander seems unsure. Anya tries to back him up. Willow presses them and Tara agrees that it is wrong, but they all agreed to do it for Buffy. Willow won't hear of anyone backing out. Xander protests, but everyone reminds him that he was all for Willow being in charge of the group, as were they all. Now that the time has come, Xander wants to at least re-open the discussion. Anya wonders if they should consult Giles and Willow insists that no one else must know.
Tara wonders what could go wrong, but Willow dismisses any concern. Xander thinks of this as zombies, but Willow tells him that they can bring Buffy back because she was killed by magic, so magic can restore her completely. Besides, Willow imagines Buffy's soul suffering in some hell dimension and she is close to tears as she vows to save her friend. Xander agrees.
When Willow arrives home, she finds the damaged Buffy-bot. Robo-Buffy explains to Willow that she followed her programming to seek out Willow when she is damaged. Electro-Buffy makes a pass at Spike and he quietly fumes. He tells Willow that this affection the machine has for him must stop. Willow promises to do all she can to de-program it from the robot. Upset, Spike storms from the house. Buffy-atron has noticed that Spike never looks at her anymore, no matter what, not even a glance her way. Willow promises to make the fake Buffy all better.
Later that night, Willow and Tara are tucked in and Dawn lies wide-eyed in bed. She goes silently to her sister's room and the wired up Mecho-Buffy lying, unblinking, in the bed. She gets into the bed and cuddles close with the Pseudo-Buffy.
The next day, the Buffy-oid and Giles practice in the gym. Giles has to remind the machine to simulate breathing more convincingly. Giles gets philosophical about the breath of life and Anya, just arriving, begins to argue with him that the concept is way beyond the robot and Giles is wasting his time woolgathering. After Anya leaves, Giles ends the practice session and wonders if Anya is right, perhaps his teachings aren't much use after all. After a few moments, he gets around to blaming himself for Buffy's death. The Buffy-bot tries to argue with him, but Giles is a Watcher who lost his Slayer. He knows that that is always, eventually, the natural order of things but he still suffers from the loss and wonders what his function in life is now.
At a demon motorcycle bar, the vamp that escaped from the Buffy-atron is telling a skeptical demon how he beat the Slayer. The demon becomes angry with the obvious liar, until the vampire reveals that he was only able to beat Buffy because she is a fake. The demon takes the wimpy vamp to tell the tale to his gang-leader. At the news, the demon gang-leader decides to make Sunnydale theirs after pulling the head off of the vampire.
On a bright calm day, in a grassy meadow, Willow does some conjuring. Looking around she sees a tiny doe approaching her. She refers to it as "the blessed one" and calls it to her. As the young dear nuzzles Willow's hand, Willow reaches with the other hand for a shiny blade and plunges it into the fawn. Willow thanks the creature for it's sacrifice and looks around to make sure no one saw her.
Back at the Magic Box, she tells Xander, Anya and Tara that she retrieved the last ingredient they need for the resurrection spell. She tells them that she got it on the black market. Anya comments that the black market means all kinds of evil and vile objects. Willow thinks that anything that helps them complete the spell is a good thing. Suddenly Anya finds a note from Giles that he has left instead of saying good-bye. He is gone.
Giles is sitting at the airport gate trying to read when Willow, Xander, Dawn, Anya and Tara catch up to him. They've had time to make up a "Bon Voyage" sign with balloons. Giles admits that it wasn't their emotional display that he was trying to avoid. They managed to buy a few presents at a gas station and make up a card on the way to the airport. Giles is touched almost to the point of being unable to speak. They try to reassure him that they will be fine and Anya promises to safeguard the money from the shop. His flight is called. After a couple of awkward seconds, Giles hugs them one after another. As always, Anya's grip on him is surprisingly strong and emotional. He reminds Dawn that she can always call him if she needs anything. He finally asks them all to, please, be careful. And then he is gone.
After he leaves, the gang wonders if the quiet, low-key send-off was right instead of allowing themselves to cry. Willow wonders what Giles is returning to, since they know so little of his life in England. Dawn wants to make sure that they don't loose touch with him. Away from Dawn, Willow tells Xander and Anya that if they are successful in raising Buffy tonight that Giles will return.
At dusk, about a dozen motorcycle demons drive into Sunnydale.
At Buffy's grave, Willow, Xander, Anya and Tara gather. Willow dabs blood on her face from the urn and begins the spell. Suddenly, Willow is grabbed by unseen forces. Tara tells the others that it is part of the ceremony that Willow will be tested. They cannot interfere or help her. Large cuts appear on Willow's arms and bubbles form under her skin that move about as if alive. In the distance, the others can hear the roar of engines.
The demon gang rides right onto Main Street wrecking havoc. The assult the people and fire-bomb the shops.
Willow is obviously suffering and begins to choke. She falls forward in a fit of coughing and gagging. A live rattlesnake emerges from her mouth.
Spike is watching the telly as Dawn sleeps on the couch. As the demon gang begins to reach their neighborhood Dawn awakes and Spike instructs her to stay in the house while he checks things out.
Buffy-verks challenges one of the gang on Main Street and he lets out a screech that summons the other demons and their leader. She offers them a chance to leave, but the leader orders some demons to hold her while he extends steel blades from his fingertips. He slashes the mechanoid and sparks fly. The Buffy-oid fights back to escape so she can return to Willow for repairs.
Willow, meanwhile, is in the grip of a flowing red light, like a mystic flame around her that reaches to the heavens. She is still obviously suffering from the spell. The gang arrives to circle the group around Buffy's grave. One of them rides over the urn, shattering it. Willow screams and collapses as the flames disappear. Tara tries to reach her, but the buzzing motorcycles have her cut off. Xander manages to slip past the roaring machines and reach Willow. He yells to other women to run and picks Willow up.
Anya and Tara are pursued closely by one motorcycle. The rider snatches Anya, but a glowing ball of blue light from Tara breaks Anya free from him. Like Xander, Anya and Tara seeks shelter in denser parts of the woods surrounding the graveyard.
Willow recovers just long enough to question Xander and find out that the spell failed before she passes out again.
Deep in the ground, Buffy's shriveled body lies in her coffin. Mists flow around her and seem to settle in her body. Her flesh fills out, her eyes emerge from sunken sockets and Buffy is alive inside her coffin.
To Be Continued...
Continued from #101 Bargaining, Part I
The Buffy-bot, meanwhile, is on the verge of total failure. The gang closes in on her to finish the job.
Anya and Tara find Xander and the unconscious Willow. Xander insists that their chances, of escaping through the woods undetected, will be better if they split up. He will carry Willow and meet them at the Magic Box. When Anya asks, Xander decides that they can do nothing to recover the Buffy robot.
The demon gang is having a good time kicking the Buffy-amatic senseless. A few feet under their feet, Buffy slaps at the sides of her coffin and begins to claw and rip at the lining.
Willow begins to waken and Xander pauses to rest. Xander brings her up to date. Willow wants to go back to re-try the ritual. Willow is distressed almost to the point of obsession that she is Buffy's only hope and she won't fail her friend no matter what it takes. Xander reminds her that the urn is destroyed. Willow must face the truth for the first time that Buffy is gone and there is nothing anyone can do about it.
Meanwhile, Buffy reaches the wooden top of her coffin and smashes it with her fists. As dirt pours in, she continues to struggle upward.
Anya and Tara hide from some searchers. They can overhear the demon's talk about missing the carnage back in town. They decide to quit looking and go looting. Anya is distracted by the parting comments about looting shops, but Tara leads them to a safe route out of the woods.
Despite Spike's instructions, Dawn sits in the big picture window of the Summers' house watching the rampage. Spike is upset that Buffy's weapons are mostly good only on vampires and that Dawn won't follow his instructions. He tells her that the demons are Hellions. They are a gang of scavengers and raiders more than predators; opportunists more than fighters. Dawn and Spike realize that the demons must know Buffy is gone and Sunnydale is defenseless. Spike wants to retreat, but Dawn is scared and wants to hide until help comes. Spike reminds her that he is in charge and that no one and nothing is going to hurt her while she's with him. Besides, no one is coming to save them.
A woman's hand explodes from the ground. Buffy bursts from her grave, gasping for air and falls on all fours. She gazes in amazement and fear at the world around her.
She rises and reads her own gravestone, at first confused and then awe-struck at its meaning.
She walks the streets of Sunnydale, seeing the fire and destruction as if through a haze. A demon rides by, shattering a bottle at her feet.
Anya and Tara arrive at the Magic Box. They quickly check for their loved ones and in Anya's case that also means checking the store for damage. The shop is unharmed but they can see demons looting a store across the street. Anya begins to panic over the lost Xander, but Tara assures her that if Willow were dead, Tara would sense it and surely Anya would know instinctively if something had happened to Xander. The two women hug and try to embrace this belief. Tara realizes that she can send a mystic signal light for Willow and Xander to follow.
Willow and Xander are deeply lost. Willow must rest and try to recover from the spell. Xander mentions how disturbing it was to watch and wonders what kinds of forces were involved. Willow tries to avoid discussing it further and sees a small bright light, like a super-charged firefly or Tinkerbell. Willow and Xander begin to follow the light.
Buffy tries to rest by leaning against a car in a quiet driveway. The car alarm goes off, bringing a frightened elderly man to the door with a shotgun. He drives Buffy off, although she can barely see or hear him through the haze.
Spike and Dawn continue to avoid the rampaging demons and Spike is reminded of how fun rampaging used to be. Spike makes a decision and enters the street. The next motorcycle that comes by tries to buzz him, but Spike kicks the driver off of the bike and, with Dawn, in a football helmet for protection, they take off down the street.
Willow and Xander reach the Magic Box and their loved ones. As soon as Willow hears that Spike and, especially Dawn, are unaccounted for, she wants to go looking for them. Anya objects that with Willow weakened, the others don't really stand a chance out in the open. They are again reminded of how badly they need the real Slayer. Willow tells them that Buffy is lost to them and they are the only ones they can depend on. She instructs Xander to collect weapons and painfully rises to her feet. The sounds of destruction get louder and Xander hopes that they will soon tire of destroying Sunnydale.
Down the street, the demon leader is announcing that the gang is here to stay. Buffy sees the gathering and approaches to hear the leader announce that they will stay and take a break from the road for a while. To celebrate they use motorcycle chains to rip the Slayer-bot into pieces. Buffy screams and the leader tells his gang to enjoy destroying this new imitation Slayer. Buffy runs.
Willow and her team walk through the alleys. Tara wonders if the arrival of the demons was a way for fate or some higher power to prevent them from completing Buffy's resurrection. Willow thinks that means that their arrival is her fault.
Buffy manages to allude her demon pursuers.
Anya tries to convince Xander to tell the others right now about their engagement. Buffy leaps a fence and lands in front of them. The others are convinced that it's the missing Buffy-bot, but Willow seems to know right away that she's real. Buffy runs from them. They find her cowering in an alley. She's severely traumatized, but Willow insists that she's fine, just in shock. They notice her bleeding hands and Xander is the first to realize what happened. He explains that their spell worked, but they were stupid enough to leave Buffy in her grave and force her to claw her way out. Willow weeps at the idea. Xander cautiously approaches Buffy and tries to talk to her. Anya tries to slip in the news of their engagement, but Xander stops her. He talks quietly and reassuringly to the recovering Slayer. He explains that they restored her and she has returned home.
The demon leader interrupts, pleased to have found the real Slayer so vulnerable. Xander tries to strike a strong defense and they suggest that the demons leave. The demon leader is unconvinced that they have the power to stop his entire gang. Willow tries to challenge him into backing down, but he slaps Willow and Xander aside. He threatens the horrors of being raped by a demon gang. Buffy rises and comes closer. The demon leader slaps her, but in a few seconds he is flat on his back. Other members of the gang attack, but Buffy is in her old form and with her friends helping, they fight the gang. At one point, Buffy is surrounded by four demons pounding on her with pipes and bats, but after a few seconds of covering, she shrugs the mob aside and beats each one of them.
Spike and Dawn find the Buffy-bot's head and trunk still attached. The robot tells them that she saw the other Buffy and then stops dead. Dawn runs off on foot before Spike can notice. He yells after her.
The demon gang is defeated and Buffy's friends are convinced by her fighting that she is going to be all right. But she seems scared of them and confused. She runs from her friends and they decide not to follow. Behind them, the demon leader awakes and bares his metal claws. The leader attacks Xander.
Down the alley, Buffy kills another demon and then sees the tower that Glory had built, where Buffy died. Buffy runs toward it.
The women with Xander attack the demon with bats and pipes, but he shrugs them off. Willow magically forms a clay-like ball and throws it at the demon's face where it clings, cutting off his breath.
Dawn finds the demon in the alley that Buffy killed and Glory's tower. Buffy stops under the construct and looks at the upper platform from which she jumped.
The demon leader is not seriously threatened by any of his opponents. Willow uses magic to protect Tara from his finger blades and he turns his attention to Willow. Which gives Tara a chance to drive an ax into his back.
Buffy is at the top of the tower remembering the last moments of her life. Dawn finds Buffy there. They stand in almost the exact same spots they did three months ago when Buffy died so the world could live (#100 The Gift). Dawn is amazed and unsure of what she sees. Suddenly the tower shudders. Buffy looks down at the ground below. Dawn screams for her to stop and begins to beg her to come back from the edge, to come to her.
Dawn recounts for Buffy their last moments together and reminds her that the tower was built by lunatics for Glory and wasn't meant to stand for long. Buffy wonders if she is in hell. When Dawn tells her that they must leave the tower, Buffy again looks over the edge. Dawn reminds Buffy that her last words were for Dawn to be strong, but she is finding it hard to live on without Buffy. She begs for Buffy to live for Dawn's sake.
The tower again lurches and Dawn is knocked from her feet. She hollers for Buffy's help and the Slayer instantly runs to her sister's side and helps her down the shaking stairs. They reach a rope and pulley. Buffy grabs Dawn and leaps for the rope, catching it with one hand. The pulley jars loose and the two women free-fall some distance. The pulley overheats and freezes, the cable coming to a stop. The frame holding the pulley breaks free and the women fall to the ground. Buffy sees the platform falling and about to crush them. She pulls herself and Dawn out of the way of the collapsing tower as it is reduced to rubble.
Dawn starts crying from joy and hugs her sister. Buffy seems unsure of how to react.
Willow is convinced that Buffy must have gone home following her resurrection and her fight with the demon motorcycle gang (#102 Bargaining, Part II). She leads Xander, Anya and Tara through the alleyways. A trio of demon riders shakes them up, but the demons are fleeing Sunnydale, since the Slayer has returned and killed their leader. Anya wonders if they messed up the spell and Buffy has returned brain-damaged, but Willow insists that Buffy is just suffering from shock due to her horrible experiences on the other side. Willow reminds her that they know that time runs differently in some dimensions. Buffy may have been trapped for years. Then Willow wonders if Buffy can ever recover from such an experience. Anya wonders if Willow shouldn't have thought of such things sooner and Tara wonders if Buffy is dangerous.
Dawn stands with her restored sister in front of the Summers' home.
Inside, Buffy notices that some things have changed. Dawn tells her that Willow and Tara live there now. Willow's computer paraphernalia rests on one end of the dining room table.
Dawn takes Buffy upstairs and helps her clean up. Buffy can only stare at her reflection in the mirror. Buffy wanders into Joyce's old room, which is filled with Willow and Tara's things. Dawn wants to sit with Buffy and talk. Buffy wonders what else has changed, but hardly seems interested in the answer. Dawn tells her about Giles. Buffy jumps at a noise, but it's just Spike at the front door calling for Dawn.
They come down the stairs and at first Spike thinks Buffy is a robot, but in a few seconds he realizes who she is and for once is speechless. He notices her injured hands and realizes how she hurt them, by clawing her way out of her coffin (#102 Bargaining, Part II), because he's done it before. He quietly takes her into the living room and instructs Dawn to get some medical supplies. When she asks how long she has been dead, Spike tells her it's been 148 days. Buffy says that it seemed longer where she was.
Dawn returns and the Scooby gang runs into the house. They are a bunch of questions, but Dawn stops them and asks them what they did. They confess to doing a spell to return Buffy. They are eager to help, but Dawn again overrules them and insists that Buffy will tell them what she needs. Buffy decides to sleep. Willow is overjoyed that they were successful, but Buffy doesn't seem happy. After she leaves the room, the others exchange looks of uncertainty.
Later, as Xander and Anya leave, Anya doubts that everything is fine with Buffy. Xander tries to be optimistic. They notice Spike lurking behind a tree, smoking. The vampire wipes his eyes before coming out and seizing Xander. Pushing him up against the tree, Spike is angry that he treated them as allies and they kept their plan to restore Buffy a secret from him. Xander can't explain why, but Spike thinks he knows. He blames Willow. Spike knows that she kept him away because they might have had to destroy the results of their spell if it turned out horribly wrong. Willow was afraid that Spike wouldn't go along with that part of the plan. Xander can't believe that Willow would be like that, but Spike is certain of it. Xander challenges Spike to admit that he is the happiest he has ever been because of Buffy's return. Spike walks to the demon motorcycle he stole earlier and warns them that such magic always has consequences, before riding off into the night.
In their room, Willow tells Tara that Giles promised to return soon as well. Willow is still sure that everything is all right. Tara encourages Willow to share what she is really thinking. They are lovers and Willow doesn't have to keep up a brave front with Tara. Willow is awed at what they have done and worried when she considers how animalistic Angel was when he first returned from his stay in a hell dimension (#038 Beauty and the Beasts). Tara thinks that they may just be anticipating trouble because they didn't believe it would work. But Willow thinks that if everything is fine then Buffy should be happy. Tara thinks that Willow is looking for some gratitude for saving her friend and Willow admits to some desire for recognition.
Buffy hasn't gone to bed yet. She looks at her collection of photographs of her and her friends. Suddenly, all the faces in the pictures, fade into grinning skulls. The effect only lasts a few seconds.
The sound of something breaking wakes Willow and Tara. Buffy stands in the shadows at the foot of their bed and angrily accuses them of being children. She seems to be talking to Willow when she tells them that their hands smell like death and asks with surprising detail about the sacrifice that Willow made of the deer without enough to give it away to Tara. Buffy picks up a crystal ball and hurls it with shattering force against the wall over their heads. She tells Willow that she is stained because of her actions. Willow manages to reach a light switch, but with the light, Buffy has vanished. There are no glass fragments from the broken crystal.
They find Buffy asleep in her bed. Back in their room, Tara wonders about the things that the Buffy vision said to them. Willow denies knowing what the accusations were about. A bulge suddenly moves across one wall of the room. Willow decides to call Xander for help.
Anya is trying to get a sleepy Xander to stay up and keep her company during her sleeplessness. The ringing phone instantly has Xander awake. Willow tells him about what has happened while Anya goes to the kitchen. When she returns, her eyes are totally white, she is laughing maniacally and she is using the knife to cut deep gashes in her face. Xander drops the phone and grabs her, but she collapses and there is no evidence of the cuts on her face. A bulge in the floor moves away from her.
The next day as they meet with Willow and Tara, Xander is still upset over the bloody vision. Anya wonders if some entity may have found a way to follow Buffy into our world, which sometimes happens with dimensional travel. Surprised by this new bit of information, Willow suggests that their problem is as simple as killing the hitchhiker. Buffy overhears talk of killing. Anya abruptly tells Buffy that she may have brought a monster into the world. Willow is all smiles as she tries to trivialize the danger and Tara supports her. Buffy tells them about the pictures changing into dead people. Everyone tries to convince her that this is a minor problem and it's still worth it to have her back. They tell her how happy they are to be with her again, but she doesn't take the hint and instead of joining them in happiness, decides its time to do the research.
After some time they have five suspect demons. Dawn has joined them at the Magic Box's round table. Willow is unsure how they should focus their research and Buffy suddenly tells them that she misses Giles. Willow tells her that he will return and that they can cope without him. Buffy decides that she wants to patrol alone for a while. Dawn calls after her that she will stay with the others where she is safe, but Buffy doesn't seem to notice her. Dawn's eyes are pure white and she has an evil smile.
As Buffy walks through a cemetery, Anya returns to the Magic Box after a coffee run. When she offers Dawn hot chocolate, Dawn faces them and calls them idiots and children. She can smell the death on the group. She roars and a jet of flame shoots from her mouth. Everyone manages to dive out of the way and the only casualties are a couple of the books. Dawn then collapses. As they rush to her, the bulge moves across the floor.
When Dawn revives, she cannot recall what happened. Everyone assumes that the demon has left, but Anya wonders where to and tells them that despite the old saying, evil doesn't have idle hands.
Spike is pacing the underground beneath his crypt and drives his fist into the wall. His hand bleeds in a fashion similar to Buffy's and it makes him laugh ironically. He hears someone in his home above and is surprised to find Buffy. After a few awkward moments, he jokes that Willow is too powerful for even the dead to get any rest. He offers her a seat and brags about how he has furnished the mausoleum. Buffy is silent for a time and Spike tries to fill the silence with his guilt. He tells her that he failed to protect Dawn as he promised and that's why Buffy had to die. Since then he has replayed it in his mind every day, over and over.
It's dawn and the gang is still working. Xander talks to Tara about whether Spike was right about the spell having dire consequences. He wonders if Tara knew of the danger ahead of time. She denies knowing. When he presses, she knows that Xander is really asking about Willow and Tara defends her. Xander quickly backs down and appears to try another approach, but he is interrupted by Willow's cry of discovery, "Thaumogenesis". Willow has found that by performing the spell they created a demon - it's a negative side-effect to balance out the mystical scales of successfully raising Buffy. Xander is disturbed by the idea that now they are creating monsters. Willow believes that the creature hasn't fully crossed over into our world, so it can only manifest by possessing people.
Willow thinks that if they destroy it, then the spell that brought Buffy back will be reversed. Dawn is horrified at the idea of losing Buffy again and will allow no talk of such a thing. Willlow is happy to find that the being will eventually return to the other side. The only way it can stay in our world permanently is if it manages to kill the subject of the original spell - Buffy. Xander's eyes are totally white as he thanks them for telling him how to save himself. Xander then collapses as the demon leaves his body.
Buffy returns home, followed by a misty cloud with a roughly-formed face.
The cloud confronts Buffy in her room upstairs. Buffy swings but cannot make contact with the form. But the cloud can hit her, knocking her about. The cloud engulfs her and begins to squeeze.
Xander, Anya and Dawn race to Buffy's rescue, but the women nag Xander to drive faster. He reminds them that their hope really lies with Willow and Tara, back at the Magic Box, trying a spell to make the demon physical so Buffy can fight it. Dawn is still scared at the prospect of losing Buffy.
Willow and Tara, face each other, sitting on the floor, chanting a spell in unison.
Buffy manages to break free of the cloud. As the witches' spell continues, the mist in a gravelly voice says that Buffy is the one that lives on the earth as if she were a cloud, not allowing it to touch her and giving no indication of her passing through it. Xander, Anya and Dawn arrive, but Buffy immediately tells them to take Dawn away to safety.
A light shines down on Willow. Tara releases her hands. After a moment, Willow opens her eyes and the pupil and iris have merged into one large black dot. With a word, "Solid.", the spell is complete.
Buffy fights with an axe from under her bed. After a brief struggle, she manages to cut the demon's head off. Dawn is disgusted and knows now why they are always trying to hide this stuff from her.
The next day, Dawn is happily surprised to find that Buffy is managing to cope with life to the point of making her sister lunch. They hug and Buffy warns that the next person to ask her if she is okay is going to have to pay a fine. Dawn tells her that things were terrible without her and everyone just wants to see Buffy happy. As she walks away, Buffy's face is thoughtful, but definitely not happy.
At the Magic Box, Buffy tells Willow, Xander, Anya and Tara that she is grateful to them for saving her from hell. She felt lost and abandoned before they saved her. Tara is quick to give Willow credit. Buffy thanks them and tells them that they will never know how much what they did means to her. Willow and Xander do the group hug with Buffy and welcome her home.
Leaving through the back door, Buffy finds Spike in the shadows of the alley. He was headed to the magic shop, but overheard the group scene inside and decided to pass. When he wonders why she isn't inside still hugging, she confesses to wanting to be alone. Taking the hint he tries to leave, but is stymied by the sunshine. Buffy sits on some boxes, obviously sad and depressed. She tries to put on a brave face, but even Spike can tell something is wrong and offers any help he can give.
He offers to share some stories of torment and Hell, but Buffy suddenly says that she was happy before she came back to Earth. She had made the world safe for her sister and friends; she had no more battles to fight; she was at peace. Even though she can't describe it fully, she believes that she was in Heaven - her final reward for fighting evil and living a good life. She was pulled from that place and brought back to our world - a world full of strife, conflict and sadness. From her point of view, her friends have condemned to a life in the Hell that is our world. It's all she can do to go on living, knowing what her afterlife was like. Before she leaves, she tells Spike that her friends must never find out the truth of what they have done.
Buffy stalks the basement looking for her opponent. She finally finds it, in the form of a dripping overhead pipe. Her sister, Dawn, awaits what appears to be a safe distance away and offers to call for help. Dismissing the need for a plumber, Buffy attacks the drip with a wrench. Slaying the drip, Buffy pauses for a satisfactory moment, before there is a groan and jets of water break out all over the basement, causing a wet Dawn to run in fear.
While Willow, Tara and Dawn make clever remarks about the basement disaster, Buffy seems absorbed watching water flow down the drain of the kitchen sink. Buffy's level of concentration on the trivial unsettles the others until Willow walks over and shuts off the water. Xander emerges from the basement with his favorite plumber, Tito. Tito tells them that the house's plumbing needs a major overhaul. After he leaves, Dawn thinks the bill's total looks more like a phone number. Xander explains that he got the best possible price from Tito. Buffy thinks that they should just pay it, but Willow has to explain the realities of Buffy's financial situation.
Sitting on the living room couch with a pile of bills on the coffee table, Buffy is faced with a looming financial disaster. Their mother's insurance was wiped out by the medical bills from before she died and payments on the house since. Buffy doesn't seem threatened by the money trouble, but she doesn't yet know how she's going to deal with it. Anya suggests finding a way to charge people for saving their lives. No one else thinks that this is a good idea. Anya argues with Dawn and thinks that Spider-Man charges people. Xander is forced to tell his beloved that she is totally wrong about that. Upset with him, she walks out of the house.
Xander follows. Anya accuses him of never supporting her, but finally admits that she's really mad that he hasn't yet told everyone that they are engaged to be married. Xander admits to being reluctant to step over a line that he can never return to. Anya wonders if he is reconsidering marrying her, but he tells her that he has gone through so many changes lately in his personal life, such as his new construction career and moving out of his parent's house, that he wants to be sure that their future goes just right. They kiss passionately and it takes Anya a few seconds to realize that she has fallen for one of Xander's many stalling tactics. She yells at him to grow up and walks away. Xander watches her leave, in stunned silence, and you can't help but think that part of him is just enjoying watching Anya's backside walk away.
Buffy practices asking for a loan before the loan officer for the bank arrives at his desk. Buffy has collected a bunch of papers that she thinks are important, but most of them are character references, including school report cards. In his banker way, he explains that the only asset she has is her house, but the real estate prices in Sunnydale are depressed (go figure). He can't help her, especially since Buffy has no income and no job.
Just then a fishy demon attacks the bank and Buffy goes to work. Buffy tries to make the first move, but suddenly realizes that she can't fight in the mid-length skirt that she wore to make a good impression. The monster knocks her across the room. She borrows the loan officer's letter opener to slit her skirt and free her legs. While she fights the demon, someone steals the money from the tellers' drawers. A security guard tries to stop the creature, but the beast flings Buffy at him. Getting up, Buffy disarms the guard and tells him that guns never make these situations better. She almost kills them when she throws the gun away, only to have it go off. Before she can face the creature again, it escapes. Buffy tries to get the loan officer to reconsider turning her down.
Later at the shop, Willow sympathizes with Buffy, who still didn't get the loan. Buffy practices at the body bag. Willow thinks that Buffy is pounding the bag out of anger and is happy to see Buffy exhibiting her first strong emotion since her return from death (#102 Bargaining, Part II). Buffy calms and Willow tries to fan the flames by claiming to have had affairs with Riley and Angel. A confused Buffy wonders what Willow is talking about. Willow tries to explain that Buffy has been pretty emotionless since her resurrection, but she can barely get the words out under Buffy's stare and finally gives up.
Anya and Xander sit at the round table watching Tara and Dawn organizing books. Anya continues to goad Xander into announcing their engagement and he continues to resist. Anya complains that even she doesn't like to hear her own "nagging voice". Tara and Dawn join them at the table and Dawn complains that she should be allowed to do research with the team. She compares it to sex education and thinks it's better to learn the truth than to believe rumors on the street, but the first demon she sees in the books has a pretty disturbing anatomy that Dawn at first mistakes for a horn.
Dawn quickly spots the demon that robbed the bank, a M'Fashnik. Buffy and Willow join the group. Buffy isn't happy that Dawn is now reading the ancient lore. Buffy starts to give more details about the beast, but her voice trails off. The others follow her gaze and see Giles just inside the front door. He and Buffy approach and they end up hugging in the middle of the store. Giles has to remind her that her hug is much stronger than his body. He is amazed and overjoyed.
The M'Fashnik walks the street of Sunnydale.
Later, in the training room, Buffy and Giles catch up. He tells her that he had a meeting with the Watcher's Council, got a flat in Bath and has been seeing old friends. He doesn't seem glad to be back and tells Buffy that he thought he had put Sunnydale behind him for good. He tries to get Buffy to open up about what she is feeling, but she is light about things. She does tell him that her dreams are bothering her. Giles is impressed with her ability to cope with such an unearthly situation. Buffy begins to prepare for her warm-up routine and Giles leaves, but reluctantly.
In the store, Giles is greeted with a crushing hug, as usual, by Anya, but she makes clear that he can't have the store back. Asking about the demon, Giles quickly recognizes it. M'Fashnik are mercenary killers. He wonders who has the kind of power necessary to control a M'Fashnik.
The M'Fashnik demands his employers pay him with Buffy's head. They quickly agree. His employers are Jonathan (yes, that Jonathan #073 Superstar), the robot-building Warren (#093 I Was Made To Love You) and Andrew, brother of Tucker, who trained devil dogs to attack the prom (#054 The Prom). Andrew's claim to fame is that he trained flying monkeys to attack the school play.
The demon demands blood and even though the three cretins decide not to surrender Buffy, Warren slips the demon Buffy's address to save them, well mostly to save himself, from the demon's rage.
Buffy tries to make a comfortable couch for Giles to sleep on when she begins to tell him about her money troubles and how much she worries about them. Giles plays the supportive, fatherly figure. He gives her an opening and drops some hints, but Buffy doesn't tell him about where she was when she was dead, letting him think she was in a hell. At the end of their talk, Giles reaches for her hand, but she leaves without any sign of affection, which worries Giles.
Giles goes into the kitchen and encounters Willow. Willow begins to brag about bringing back Buffy. Giles is incredibly angry with her for crossing a moral line and tampering with natural forces that are best left in place. He is bitterly disappointed that he couldn't trust her to be the levelheaded one. He can comprehend how bad things could have turned out, even bringing about widespread doom.
She begins to argue back that she knows best, she was only trying to do good and he should be grateful. She reminds him that he wasn't there, but he knows that she kept him away because he would have stopped it and that makes him even madder. Before he leaves, Willow reminds him that she has become very powerful and he shouldn't be getting her mad. The threat is clear, but she immediately tries to smooth things over. She only wants to celebrate Buffy's return, but Giles reminds her that they know nothing of where she's returned from or in what condition.
Outside Buffy meets Spike. They have both overheard the conversation inside. She knows that they all care for her and that makes it harder on her. She worries too much that she might worry them. Spike offers to suffer the pain of the chip if Buffy wants him to kill them all. He succeeds in making her smile. She wonders why he's always there when she's sad and he thinks it's because that's when she's alone. They both decide they have had enough of people for a while.
Later, Dawn comes downstairs and talks briefly with Giles in the foyer. Someone tries to get into the house. The demon smashes through the door and knocks Giles aside. He goes for Dawn, but Buffy arrives in time. She fights the demon inside the house, ever mindful of how much the damage is costing her. She and Spike manage to take the demon into the basement, which is under about a foot of water. The demon pulls out a pipe to use as a weapon and drives Buffy mad with anger. She takes the pipe and beats the demon to death.
The evil nerds are hatching more criminal plans and decide to capture Buffy when she comes after them and turn her into their hypnotic slave.
The Scooby gang tries, but most of the stuff that was damaged in the fight can't be saved. Anya prepares a sobering tally of just how much Buffy owes. Giles reflects that no homecoming to Sunnydale is complete without being knocked out. In order to find out who hired the demon Willow offers to do a spell, but a stern look from Giles discourages her. The others take out the debris leaving Giles, Buffy and Dawn. Buffy is depressed and unsure of herself. Giles again tries to raise her spirits and her confidence in herself.
The phone rings and Buffy reflects that everyone she knows is already at the house. A few moments later she returns and tells them that Angel called her and she must meet him. She won't tell them where she is going, but they're meeting somewhere between Sunnydale and LA. Giles reminds her that her bills must be dealt with before she leaves, but she insists that she must go right now. Before she exits, she thanks Giles for taking care of everything for her, leaving Giles and Dawn in awkward silence.
Buffy returns home unexpectedly bearing fried chicken only to find that Willow, Giles, Dawn and Tara have just finished dinner. To avoid the awkwardness of the moment, they all decide to finish off dinner with a piece of chicken. Dawn gets right to the point, questioning Buffy about her meeting with Angel. Buffy tells them it was intense but prefers to keep the details to herself and even Dawn agrees.
Giles hesitantly brings up the subject of the rest of Buffy's new life. Buffy is unsure about the future. She thought about returning to school, but it's mid-semester. Willow and Tara suggest that she audit some of their classes until the next registration. Giles has a hard time coming up with a response to her plans.
Jonathan is warning his allies that the Slayer is a formidable opponent, as they finish work on a van designed to carry out their evil plans. Warren reminds Jonathan that their plan to test their skills against Buffy will help determine the best way to attack her. He shows off the nine spy-cameras and begins to detail the sophisticated electronic equipment installed in the rear of the van, but quickly loses Jonathan. They plan to use the black van for covert surveillance of Buffy.
They round the corner of the vehicle to find Andrew, the third of the Evil Nerds, airbrushing a detailed picture of a shattered Star Wars Deathstar across the entire side of the spy van. Jonathan begins to argue with him about the trivial details of the drawing, when Warren interrupts them to remind them that they are supposed to go unnoticed. Andrew agrees to paint over the artwork and Warren looks forward to tomorrow when they hatch their plan against Buffy.
Buffy joins Willow's Sociology class for a discussion of the "Social Construction of Reality" and is surprised to hear Willow refer to her Professor as "Mike". The class begins a rapid-fire, polysyllabic discussion of the individual's perception of reality as it is influenced by the society of which the individual is a member. Buffy is lost in the first five seconds. She is awed at the brainpower that Willow and her classmates are casually throwing around. Willow tries to encourage Buffy, but it does little good.
Tara meets them in the hallway after class and Willow still tries to sound upbeat about Buffy's abilities, only that she is out of the rhythm of college. A man bumps into Buffy hard and plants a small disc on her, before running off into the crowd. Down the hall, Warren speaks into a microphone on his lapel, while his two partners, in the van, tap into the school security cameras. As Warren waves to them over the monitors, he tells them that he has successfully tagged Buffy and they can begin. A satellite-like dish rises from the roof of the van and begins a high-pitched hum.
Buffy and Tara pause on the way to Art Appreciation class. Tara gives Buffy the large, illustrated textbook for the class. Buffy looks at the book for a few seconds. There is a strange humming sound and when Buffy looks up, Tara is in the middle of telling a story and some time has passed. Tara just thinks that Buffy got lost in thought about the book. Confused, Buffy bends to take a drink at the water fountain as Tara begins another story. Buffy hears the noise again and suddenly Tara is all the way down the hallway, calling to Buffy to hurry up. Buffy's cursing confirms that she knows something is very wrong.
Warren joins his accomplices in the van and they confirm that his device is working.
Buffy rushes to catch up to Tara, but the classroom doors close in her face. The same noise occurs and Tara's class is over, the students file out past Buffy. Buffy tries to explain what happened to Tara, but as she looks at the clock on the wall, the hands begin to race around it's face. Buffy finds herself alone in the hallway. For some reason, Tara isn't even there. Buffy rushes from the class building, calling after Tara, who doesn't hear her. Suddenly, the people walking on the grounds begin to speed up until they are just a blur. Buffy gets hit by a couple of these fast-moving students and seeks shelter under a cement picnic table.
In the van, the Nerds can hear over their microphone, that Buffy realizes that something is wrong with her. She begins to search her body for any clues to the sudden phenomenon. They watch through the bug's "eye" as Buffy finds the device. She pulls it from her clothes, but before she can examine it closely, Warren hits the self-destruct, causing the bug to vanish. A confused Buffy emerges from other the table to a normal world again.
Warren's teammates confer and award his scheme a score of 220. Warren challenges Andrew to beat him and Andrew eagerly accepts.
Buffy walks with Xander to the construction site. Xander has managed to get Buffy a low-level job with the building company he works for. If it weren't for him, she would have to work retail at Giles' store, which she dreads. Along the way, she explains that since she had no proof of what happened to her at the college, Giles isn't even sure that what she saw was real. Buffy meets a cold reception from the foreman that she will work for. He gives Xander grief about recommending a small girl for the job. The other men on the crew are clearly not happy with Buffy joining them. Everyone thinks that she is not up to the hard labor of the job. Despite Buffy's nervousness, Xander must leave to supervise a sheet-rock crew in another part of the building.
The supervisor hands out assignments, but the men told to haul the steel inside begin to complain that they wouldn't want to be unfair to women, maybe Buffy should haul the steel. The foreman agrees. One member of the crew tries to give Buffy friendly advice to not overexert herself, just to prove that she's tough. He warns her that the steel I-beams are several hundred pounds each. He and the other men are struck speechless when Buffy casually hefts one of the beams and carries it easily on her shoulder.
Later, Buffy is explaining to one of the other men that she might consider pursuing construction work as a career. She wants more than just a job and it makes a certain kind of sense for her. The man is short with her, telling her that she works too hard on a job where you get paid by the hour. She needs to slow down before she endangers their paychecks.
The Evil Nerds spy on Buffy again from their van. Andrew takes up panpipe and begins to blow a few notes.
On the job site, Buffy stops for water, but hears a noise without seeing anyone. It puts her on guard so, when the foreman approaches her, she is startled. Before they have time to talk, Buffy must shove him out of the way of a gray demon with two eyes and large mouth composed of several layers of flaps. It also has two soft tentacle-like protrusion from each side of the head, like soft horns. The foreman hits a cement wall hard and falls unconscious but safe from the fight. Two more creatures join the attack on Buffy.
She manages well against them, using the tools on the job as weapons and knocking a couple of the demons through the fresh walls. While Buffy stabs one to death with a shovel, the others threaten a couple of Buffy's co-workers. She manages to distract them and crushes the neck of one with coiled metal electrical conduit. Each time she kills one, the body turns into a foam-like substance and "evaporates" in a couple of seconds. She finally manages to force the head of the last demon between the legs of a collapsible elevated platform. Buffy rips out the equipment's hydraulic lines, causing the platform to slowly lower, decapitating the demon with it's collapsing legs.
In the van, Andrew is disappointed in how quickly Buffy was able to defeat his demon plan. He begins an argument with Warren over who gets to look through the huge "Big Eye" binoculars. Warren shoves him and Andrew fails against the car horn. The van suddenly erupts into the beginning notes of the Star Wars theme song, which catches Buffy's attention. The other evildoers look angrily at Andrew who reminds them that he only agreed to paint over the mural.
Before Buffy has time to investigate the van, Xander runs up and assumes that Buffy had a fight with the jerks she works with. The foreman assumes that Buffy attacked him, when she shoved him into the wall. Buffy tries to explain to Xander that she was fighting off a demon attack. Xander is upset that Buffy's presence has brought demons onto his job site, that there is a lot of costly damage done to the site and that there is no proof left behind that demons were even there. Buffy tries to get the threatened men to back up her story, but they won't admit that they were terrified and had to be rescued by a girl.
Xander tells Buffy that he believes her. He suggests that she is obviously being targeted by someone and that she should see Giles immediately and begin to work on the problem. Buffy realizes that this is Xander's polite way of firing her and she leaves quietly.
Buffy tries to sound upbeat as she begins her job at the Magic Box. Giles has dragged out a ton of books to begin research on Buffy's latest clues. Anya and Giles give Buffy some reminders on procedures at the store, as the Evil Nerds watch and listen through a skull with a lens in it's eye socket, secreted on one of the shelves. The bad guys are bored watching the routine at the store and begin to wonder what Buffy is doing by trying all these different jobs. Warren and Andrew wonder if they should try to tap into a cable channel with pornography, when Jonathan announces that he is ready for his plan to begin.
His partners in evil can't help but laugh every time Jonathan refers to his Magic Bone, which is a part of his spell. He manages to calm them down enough to begin a spell in Latin over a burning parchment. The parchment begins to smoke and quickly fills the van with choking white smoke.
The bell over the door rings and a woman enters the Magic Box. Giles gives Buffy one last helpful tip to concentrate on customer service, instead of just selling stuff. Anya tells Buffy to go make a sale to the woman that just entered. On her way across the store a man asks Buffy, which candle is more romantic. Buffy quickly chooses the lemon-scented one over the slug-scented.
The woman is looking for a mummy's hand to do a prosperity spell. She called ahead to make sure that they had one and she wants to buy it. Buffy makes a lame mummy-daddy joke before going into the basement to find the hand. As she reaches for it, the hand leaps from the counter and chokes her. Instinctively, Buffy flings the hand away and stabs it with a nearby knife. The woman is horrified that Buffy would try to sell her a dead mummy's hand and worse, Buffy pretends that it's not really dead, just playing dead.
The bell over the door rings and a woman enters the Magic Box. Giles gives Buffy one last helpful tip to concentrate on customer service, instead of just selling stuff. Buffy is confused and tries to tell Giles that this already happened, but he isn't listening.
In the van, Jonathan explains that Buffy will relive the same time until she satisfies a customer.
Anya tells Buffy to go make a sale to the woman that just entered. She suggests that if Buffy is nervous, she should just picture herself naked. On her way across the store a man tries to ask Buffy, which candle is more romantic, but she hands him the lemon-scented one before he can finish the question. The woman is surprised to find that Buffy already knows she is looking for a mummy's hand. Buffy tries to tell the woman that they don't have one, but she called ahead to make sure that they had one and she wants to buy it. The woman insists and Buffy seems to realize that she is going to be forced to follow out the events to a satisfactory conclusion.
Inside the van, Warren teases Jonathan that Buffy figured out the way out of the spell real fast, but Jonathan is convinced that Buffy will be stumped for a while anyway.
In the basement, the mummy's hand is tense and pensive as Buffy approaches with ice cube tongs and a knife. The woman is horrified that Buffy would try to sell her a dismembered mummy's hand.
The bell over the door rings and a woman enters the Magic Box. Anya is surprised that Buffy already knows the woman needs a mummy's hand. Buffy tells her that even if she explained Anya wouldn't remember it later. Anya worries that things are moving too fast for Buffy, but Buffy assures her that's not a problem. Giles gives Buffy one last helpful tip to concentrate on customer service, instead of just selling stuff. Buffy tells him that she is going to marry Bob Dole and raise penguins in Guam, but he isn't listening. On her way across the store Buffy slaps a lemon-scented candle into the man's hand, before he can ask for help. Buffy goes to the basement and soon she is trying to pull the mummy's hand off of the woman's throat.
The bell over the door rings and a woman enters the Magic Box. On her way across the store Buffy ignores the man and the woman and walks out the door of the Magic Box. But instead of finding herself on the street, she only comes out through the doorway from the back room, to find herself, once more, on the sales floor of the Magic Box.
Buffy stares dully at the mummy's hand as it threatens her with ice cube tongs. From the basement she can hear the bell over the door ring, as a woman enters the Magic Box.
Buffy goes to the door and rips the bell off the wall.
The bell over the door rings and a woman enters the Magic Box. On her way across the store Buffy throws the man a slug-scented candle and tells him that he hasn't got a chance with his date anyway.
The villains in the van watch, with delight, as the woman is horrified that Buffy would try to sell her (another) dead mummy's hand.
The bell over the door rings and a woman enters the Magic Box. Giles tries to give Buffy one last helpful tip to concentrate on customer service, but instead she rips his glasses from his hand and stomps on them.
The bell over the door rings and a woman enters the Magic Box. Buffy grabs the woman and tries to make her confess to being the cause of the time-looping.
The bell over the door rings and a woman enters the Magic Box. Buffy hits the man below the belt with a thrown candle.
The bell over the door rings and a woman enters the Magic Box. Buffy can only stand there sobbing.
The bell over the door rings and a woman enters the Magic Box. Buffy tries to convince the woman that there is something wrong with the mummy's hand. She then offers to order another mummy's hand and have it delivered directly to the woman's home. Buffy then rings up the sale and satisfies the customer.
The Evil Three begin to tally up Jonathan's score. He tries to get points for how long he tormented Buffy, but Andrew reminds him that, in the real world, very little actual time passed.
Inside, Giles and Anya congratulate Buffy on her first sale... until Anya notices that Buffy failed to charge a delivery fee. Giles is ready to shrug it off due to Buffy's inexperience, but Anya suggests that they deduct the cost from Buffy paycheck and Giles thinks that that is fair. Buffy puts her nametag on the counter. The bell over the door rings as Buffy leaves the Magic Box.
Buffy is doing shots with Spike in the lower level of his crypt as she explains the weird trouble she has been having lately. She also mentions the others troubles of school and money. Spike wonders how long Buffy is going to let someone keep trying to destroy her and scoffs at the idea that Giles books are going to help. He suggests that they knock heads in the underworld until someone tells them the answers. He sees life as much simpler that way and thinks that Buffy would enjoy it too. She tells him that he's drunk as they finish the booze in his flask. He thinks that Buffy is an underworld being like him, destined to work in the shadows. Buffy wonders if there is more alcohol in this underworld world where Spike lives.
The demon bar is jumping as Buffy and Spike arrive. Buffy grabs a bottle of Tequila from the bartenders hand and drinks a shot from it, making a face at the taste. Spike leads her to a back room where four demons are playing cards. One of them objects to letting a demon-killer into the game, but Spike convinces him to leave instead. Buffy is surprised that Spike wants to sit in on a card game and asks him privately what happened to the plan to kill demons until they got answers. Spike suggests being sneaky instead and pumping the card players for information.
Spike joins the table. Buffy is then shocked to find out that the currency in this game is kittens. Spike tries to cajole one of the demons into giving him a stake and is irritated when Buffy playfully offers to give him one of hers. Buffy takes another pull on the Tequila.
The Three Nerds cruise the night in their van. A discussion of their new "super-villain" status quickly leads to an argument over which actor was the best James Bond.
Spike is finished winning everyone's kittens and they begin to accuse him of cheating. Spike reminds them that one of them has X-ray vision, but the demon claims to not be cheating. A wrinkly demon gets upset until an ace peeks out from the folds of his skin. The demon claims the card got lost in his skin a long time ago. The tension rises as the wrinkly demon tells Spike that Buffy's smooth skin makes her ugly.
Another demon suggests that Spike can leave peacefully if he leaves his winnings behind. Spike then accuses them of trying to cheat him. Spike warns them that if they want to start trouble they will face both him and the Slayer. Buffy quickly says no to that idea, leaving Spike on his own. She doesn't mind beating up people for information, but not over who gets to eat the kittens. She tips over the "purse" and the demons scurry to retrieve the tiny felines. Buffy leaves and Spike follows.
Spike catches up to her in the bar. She's angry at him, but mostly angry at what a lousy day of failures she has had. She is upset that the only company she can find when she wants to go out for drink is a cheating, toothless, kitten-hoarding vampire. Spike is chagrined that Buffy knows he was cheating. She also accuses him of being drunk. Then she storms out.
Inside the evil super-villains' van, the James Bond argument continues.
Outside the bar, Buffy spots the van.
In the van, Warren and Andrew get physical in the heat of the argument, until Jonathan points out that, on one of the video monitors, Buffy is approaching the van. Warren tells Jonathan to grab his Magic Bone and then Warren and Andrew giggle uncontrollably.
As Buffy draws closer a large, devil-like demon with big skin-covered wings comes around the front of the van. The demon tries to convince Buffy that he is much more powerful than her and she should retreat. He is distracted when the black van drives off and Buffy attacks him. She kicks him in the chest, but falls backward, off-balance. As Spike helps her up, the demon claims that he has been mortally wounded and will return to his home dimension to die. He throws a smoke bomb on the ground. In the smoke and their drunken state, Buffy and Spike fail to notice that the demon simply runs away. Besides Buffy is feeling too sick to fight anymore.
The demon runs up to the van complaining about how badly Buffy injured him. Warren and Andrew quickly tell him to change and hide in the back of the van. With a few words, Jonathan ends the spell and changes back into his normal small, weak form. He's too small for the demon's loincloth to fit him and is greeted with a sheet as he climbs into the back of the van. He grimaces because even though he had a demon's form, he didn't have any extra strength or ability to withstand the Slayer's kick.
Warren calls their attention to the fact that they now have a lot of computer telemetry on Buffy's abilities. They can analyze her, looking for a weakness that they can exploit. Besides that they also have made a major discovery with their sophisticated equipment - free cable pornography!
Giles gives Buffy a glass of water as she emerges from the bathroom, suffering mightly from her hard drinking. Giles apologizes for not finding any answers in his books, but Buffy assures him everything turned out okay for now. Through the pain of her hangover, she feels the pain of her failure. Giles tries to reassure her that she was being tested but she didn't falter. Buffy regrets not finding a way to take control of the situation and blames herself. Giles thinks that she is expecting too much of herself to defeat a new demon and find a job all in one day. But Buffy reminds him that her creditors are expecting a payment and now.
Giles has a difficult time with the words, but gives Buffy a check for apparently a large amount of money. Buffy is amazed at Giles generosity. She is obviously very moved by his actions. She tells him that his attempt to care for her brings back feelings of security that she hasn't felt since her mother died. Giles kids about being compared to a mother, but Buffy assures him that he doesn't deserve to be compared to her uncaring father. Giles suggests that he would make a good handsome Uncle. Before she goes to tell Dawn the good news, she tells Giles that it makes her feel much safer to know that he'll always be around to help her.
Sweet, innocent Dawn - isn't. She sets out on Halloween to find forbidden adventures and may even go.... well, all the way.
The Musical - Our heroes (and even the villains) can't help but burst into song.
Willow casts a forget Spell on Tara, but it goes wrong. It ends up making all of the scoobies forget everything they knew...even who they were or where they were. It is hilarious to watch Giles and Anya go at it! They wake up next to each other and piece together that they are engaged (Anya's ring) and that they own the magic shop togehter. And, even though they forget everything, Anya can still remember one thing...she's deathly afraid of bunnies!
Willow magically restores Amy from a rat to her normal life. Amy thinks she has been gone for weeks when really it's been years. We also find out that Buffy and Spike can "dance" again...and we all know what that can lead to...
Never trust a witch who has trouble controlling her impulses. Amy brings Willow to a strange place where she gets wrapped up in magic and becomes addicted. Consequently, she ends up endagering the life of Buffy's sister, Dawn.
Buffy's new hairdo is outta sight and so is Buffy when the nerd herd accidentally turn her invisible.
In order to survive, Buffy takes a job slinging burgers, but will she survive the mystery of the mystery meat?
The nerd herd frame Buffy for a deadly crime she didn't commit.
Buffy's birthday party is an event you can't tear yourself away from. Literally. When Dawn accidentally makes a wish to a Vengence demon, Halfrek, the party guests can't leave the house.
Riley Finn, Buffy's former boyfriend, returns and he brought his wife.
It's time for Anya and Xanders' wedding...or is it?
Buffy goes insane when a demon's poison causes her to see into another "alternate reality" where she is told that her slayer world is fake, that she created it in her own mind, and that she must break free from her fantasy.
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Bargaining, Part I
Bargaining, Part II
After Life
Flooded
Life Serial
All The Way
Once More, With Feeling
Tabula Rasa
Smashed
Wrecked
Gone
Doublemeat Palace
Dead Things
Older And Far Away
As You Were
Hell's Bells
Normal Again
Entropy
Seeing Red
Villains
Two To Go
Grave