•••

Willow looked up as the tinkling of doorbells rang through the magic shop. She and Tara were pouring over the ancient texts Giles had in the store, trying desperately to improve their magickal abilities. With Buffy gone, there was no one to defend the Hellmouth from the waves of evil that were perpetually attracted to it.

The young witch looked over at Giles, who was helping a customer with some herbs. He’d taken Buffy’s death very hard—not surprising, really. He was her Watcher; he had had to write up a report of her death and endure a grilling by the Council. The entire thing had nearly broken the man; at least the Council had agreed to not call him back to England. He would be allowed to fade quietly into the background. Well, sort of. He had agreed to stay on the Hellmouth until the Council decided if it was going to put another Slayer there.

Xander was suffering the most of any of them. Despite their occasional disagreements, he had considered Buffy a close friend. Like the rest of them, he was continually wondering what he could have done that might have saved Buffy’s life. Anya wasn’t helping much. She, too, was saddened by the loss; but like Tara, Anya wasn’t really close to Buffy. The two girls felt the loss of the Slayer more from the perspective of the suffering of their loved ones. Unfortunately for Xander, Anya was not good at consoling the bereaved. The two lovers hardly ever talked anymore. Xander showed up for patrols and diligently assisted the witches in their research. He and Giles had grown closer during the past months; the older man seemed to appreciate having the younger one around, even though neither man was very good company.

Willow sighed, stretching her arms wide. She needed a break from bending over musty old books. Pushing her chair back, she walked back into the training room, retrieving a bottle of water from the minifridge there. Returning to the table, she shared the water with a grateful Tara. The two girls smiled as Xander walked into the store, carrying a large paper bag.

“Hey Wills. Brought the new stakes.” Xander set down the bag of freshly carved wooden stakes. “Let’s see. Oak, pine, maple, poplar, myrtle, ash, and even a few gingko.”

“Gingko?” Tara asked.

“Ah, they are quite effective against several types of demons,” Giles said from behind the counter.

“Oh. Where did you find the wood?” Tara asked.

“Here and there—the cemeteries and parks mostly. There are also a bunch of ornamental trees on campus that were mysteriously trimmed overnight,” Xander said, the humor of the statement buried by his lack of enthusiasm. The young man had lost most of his good humor and easy joking nature when his friend had died.

The witches and Xander turned quickly at the sound of shattering glass. Giles was standing behind the counter, where a large jar of dried herbs had slipped unnoticed from his hands. He was staring at the door. The youths turned to see what had so shocked him.

•••

“Buffy?” Willow was the first to recover. Xander was staring much like Giles was. Tara was as well, her eyes wide and unblinking.

“Hey guys! You all are here awfully early! What’s going on?”

Giles finally found his tongue. “Dear God. Who are you?” He said, unable to take his eyes off the young girl.

“Are you all ok? You look kind of funny. Why are you staring at me like that?” Buffy said, concerned by her friends’ behavior.

“Y-you’re alive!” Xander said, pointing at her.

“Um, yeah?”

“But you died!” Willow screeched. “We saw you die! We carried you home and watched them bury you. You have a grave. Are you a vampire? No, it’s sunny outside. Why are you alive? I don’t understand. You died. You jumped and died so that Dawn would still be alive. Glory died and then you died to close the portal.” Willow’s frantic rambling ceased as she began gasping for air.

“What are you talking about? I’m not dead. At least, I don’t feel dead,” Buffy said, utterly confused.

“Where did you come from?” Giles asked slowly.

“I was just patrolling the cemetery and figured I’d head over here before the meeting,” Buffy responded, scrunching her face in confusion. “Why was I patrolling the cemetery during the day?”

“Um, could someone tell me what’s going on?” Xander asked. He had moved closer to Buffy, circling her. She turned to follow him, tracking him as he examined her.

“Quit that!” Buffy snapped, unnerved by the young man’s odd behavior.

“It’s just…you’re dead!” Xander whispered.

“I’m not dead!” Buffy repeated, more forcefully this time.

“We must find out what has happened here. Buffy, we buried you more than three months ago,” Giles said, leaning heavily on the counter.

“What?” Buffy shouted. “What are you talking about?”

“Buffy, you died in April. It’s the end of June now. We saw you die.”

“June? Are you kidding? What is this, some kind of joke?” Buffy said weakly.

“Buffy, what is the last thing you remember?” Xander asked.

“Um…We were fighting Glory, and then—“ Buffy stopped, scrunching up her face. “And then…I…” She stopped, unable to continue.

“Then what? What is the next thing you remember?” Giles asked.

Buffy stared at the floor. “Patrolling the cemetery today,” She whispered. Her face fell. “What is going on? What happened?” She looked around frantically. “Where’s Dawn? What happened to Dawn? Oh, my God! Where’s Dawn?” Buffy began shouting.

“Calm down, Dawn’s fine. She’s at the movies with a friend of hers. They’re fine, her friend’s mother is dropping her off here when they’re through, in an hour or so,” Willow said softly, trying to calm the upset Slayer.

“She’s ok?” Buffy asked.

“Dawn’s ok. She’s been staying at home. Willow and Tara are staying there with her for now,” Xander added.

“What happened, with Glory I mean?” Buffy asked, again confused.

The group looked at each other. Finally, Willow spoke. “Do you remember Ben and her being the same?” Buffy nodded. “Well, Glory got Dawn, “ Buffy again nodded. She remembered this. “Then Glory managed to use Dawn’s blood. We killed Glory when she was Ben, but the portal was still open. You figured out that you could stop it if you jumped in. So you did.” Buffy stared at her in shock.

“I what?” She asked.

“Dawn and Spike were there. They said that you thought that your blood would work like Dawn’s to stop the portal. I guess it did, since when you died the thing closed up.”

“Oh. Where’s Spike?” Buffy asked distractedly.

Giles answered her. “He, well, he did not take your death lightly. We haven’t seen him since the funeral. We believe he is still at the cemetery, but our attempts to contact him have failed. He did make sure that we were protecting Dawn, however.” Giles reassured Buffy that the vampire had kept up the promise he’d made.

“This is seriously weird. You all are sure I died?”

“Absolutely. You were dead.” Giles said. “I do not understand why you are alive now, unless…”

“Unless what, Giles?” Willow asked.

“Unless there is some aspect of how Buffy died that made her come back to life. Hers was not a natural death,” He replied, moving to the shelves of books.

“Do you think there’s something in there about it?” Xander asked, following the Watcher.

“I do not know, Xander, but we must look. This is highly unusual.”

“It’s the Hellmouth. I’m just happy she’s back,” Xander said.

That statement made everyone pause. Up to that point, they had been treating Buffy’s return as a supernatural oddity. Buffy was back from the dead. The group moved to her, enveloping the petite girl in a huge hug. After a few seconds, she returned it.

“I’m glad to see you guys too. I just wish I knew what was going on.”

“As do we. I believe we should start looking at once,” Giles said.

Tara finally found the courage to speak again. “What are we going to tell Dawn?”

“Oh, shit,” Xander cried. What were they going to tell Dawn?

Giles looked up. “We can only tell her what we know, which is pitifully little right now.”

“Yeah,” Xander said. “Hey, I’ve got an idea! Why don’t I order pizza? We’re gonna be here a while, and Buffy’s back! Kind of a welcome back-Buffy’s alive-what the hell is going on party?”

Willow grinned. It was the first flash of old Xander she’d seen in ages. “I’m up for it!” The rest quickly agreed.

The next hour was filled with animated discussion, the research forgotten. Everyone was consumed with telling Buffy what had gone on for the last three months. They all were still in shock that she was back, and no one would let her out of their sight. They were all afraid that she might disappear, that it was all some elaborate dream like the ones they’d had in the past.

All conversation stopped when the door to the shop opened.

“Dawn?”

“Buffy?”