The Xander Gander: May 30th, 2001
by slayerfest
We just had a mighty scare. Dawn was nowhere to be found. Not at Spike’s, not in the training room behind the Magic Box, nowhere. Plus her suitcase was missing, as were several of her outfits. Finally in a panic I looked under the bed just to make sure she wasn’t there and found a note.

Apparently, she couldn’t deal with it all; the being kicked out of the house, the being expelled, the having to kill her lover…
“Wait a second!” proclaimed my super-sleuthing abilities. “This sounds familiar!”

So Giles, Willow and I drove down to L. A. as quickly as possible and waited for the bus to arrive. The poor girl really had had enough. She got off the bus, took one look at us, and passed out.

So, back to the hospital for Dawnie.
They claim it was the three-month anniversary of her mother’s death that just set her off. We more informed noticed it also happened to be the one-month anniversary of Buffy’s death. She’ll be… well, not fine, but better, and back in Willow’s custody by tomorrow.
Willow ran home and programmed the Buffybot to be very concerned so the hospital wouldn’t get suspicious and take Dawn out of “Buffy’s” custody. To the world, Buffy’s still alive and kicking.

Sometimes when I walk into the house, I think the Buffybot is the real deal.
Spike won’t come to the house at all for that very reason. If he wants to see Dawn, he stands outside until she notices.

We’re all really screwed up, still. But we function pretty normally. It’s just the intermittent sobbing breaks that sort of shatter our “we’re okay!” façade.
Anya and I talked it over. We are engaged. She’s my beautiful, perfect rock again, and a main contributing reason for which I’m much more okay than either Giles or Spike.
Have I mentioned how much I hate that I’m relating to Spike? I keep mentioning him like he’s a thing worth mentioning.

I can say Buffy’s name without stammering now.
I just still can’t go anywhere near the Bronze.

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