The Solution

Buffy and Oz walked quickly to her house, dumbfounded at the cruelty their friends seemed to possess out of nowhere. It was scary. They found Joyce in the kitchen, and proceeded to fill her in. Almost as soon as they had finished, the phone rang. Joyce went to answer it.

"Hello," she said. Then "Pat! Pat, how are you?"

"Pat?" Buffy said in confusion. Then she remembered. "Oh no! Mom. MOM!!!"

"Buffy, I'm on the phone. It's…" Joyce trailed off as she saw the tears start to build up in her daughter's eyes. She realized that except for Oz, Buffy had no one else to turn to. She needed her mother. "Pat, I'll have to call you back later," said Joyce, hanging up the phone. Buffy hugged her mother gladly. "Now, who could have caused this?"

"I did," claimed an unfamiliar voice from outside. The three of them saw the face of a weary old man looking back at them. He entered the house and stood proudly.

"Who are you?" asked Buffy.

"My name is Samuel, and I have been watching you for awhile. I performed this spell as a gift for you."

"Great gift. Next time, why don't you just wish a plague on my house?"

"I'm afraid that I don't understand."

"You don't have the right to play God," answered Buffy. "I know that you were trying to be good and helpful and all, but you really screwed things up. The people I care about all hate me because you gave them what they want. Ever heard of 'be careful what you wish for?'"

"Freud once said that good cannot exist without evil," Oz spoke up. "You tried to remove some of the evil from Buffy's life, but it didn't disappear. It just went somewhere else. Without darkness, there can be no light."

"I see," answered Samuel. "My sincere apologies." With that, he yelled a few words in some foreign language, then smiled. "The spell is broken," he told them. Then, he was gone.

"Well," replied Joyce. "That was easy." She then went upstairs, as Buffy dashed over to the phone.

"Hello, Giles. Is everything… It's all good? That's great. Yeah, we're on our way over. Bye." She hung up, then looked at Oz. "Thanks for all of your help."

"You know, Buffy, I know sometimes it seems like we only hang out because I'm dating Willow, but I really care about you. You're one of my best friends." They shared a nice hug, then walked out of the house, ready to really start their vacation.

Samuel watched them from the bushes, smiling. That slayer was one smart cookie. Very smart indeed.

The End