- Previously on Buffy the Vampire Slayer: - I love you.
The only chance you had with me was when I was unconscious.
Buffy. No.
No.
- Raising the dead, it feels wrong. - It is wrong.
She could be trapped. I'm not gonna leave her there.
Osiris, master of all fate...
Let her cross over.
- Buffy? - What's wrong with her?
- She's in shock. - Who are they?
Road pirates. They raid towns, use 'em up, burn 'em down.
You're alive, and you're home.
You're home.
She's at home. She has to be. We need to get there, and she'll be there.
- This is the fastest way? - Absolutely.
I've done a lot of fleeing. I know all the shortcuts.
Look, fire. Fire is rarely a sign of imminent safety.
- I wish we were there already. - Don't worry, I'll get us there just fine.
My senses are primed for danger. Nothing is gonna...
I'm OK. Four. Four limbs.
At least the demons almost hit you on their way out of town.
Yeah, now that their leader's gone they seem to be making with the big skedaddle.
It was Buffy, right? We saw her and it was really Buffy?
I think we screwed it up. She's broken.
No. She's not broken.
She's just disoriented from being tormented in some hell dimension.
Probably tortured and... It's, like,
we don't even know how much time has passed there for her, possibly years.
That's not something you just get over.
Oh, my God. What if she never gets over it?
- And you think of this now? - What are you thinking?
That she's not right, or maybe, like, dangerous?
Home. See? You're back home.
We're all OK now.
- It's different. - A little.
Willow and Tara live here now, and we didn't do much.
We moved some of the chairs, and took out some of the little tables, but...
This is the same. Except the computer stuff.
That's Willow's, obviously. We eat at the other end...
Obviously.
There you are.
Knew you were under that dirt somewhere.
You remember what Mom used to say? "Either wash that neck or plant potatoes. "
Yeah, I never thought it was funny either.
You want to button that, or...?
- We'll take care of that after. - OK.
Here, I'll do the shirt.
And then we'll do your hands.
See how nice you look?
Mom's room.
I know. It's really different now.
Willow and Tara. This is their room?
Yeah, well, it seemed to make the most sense. No one was using it, and it's the biggest.
But, you know, now that you're here, we'll have to figure out something to do.
Buffy.
You wanna, like, stop?
We can sit down and talk.
What else is different?
Do you mean about the house, or...?
Let's see. Giles.
It's so weird. He left today.
Because you were... He'll come right back. I'll call him. Someone'll call him.
- What...? - What what?
What will you say to him?
- What was that? - It's OK. It's OK.
Dawn! Dawn! Are you there?
It's just Spike. I'm here!
Thank God. You scared me half to death - or more to death.
- You... I could kill you. - Spike.
I mean it. I could rip your head off one-handed and drink from your brain stem.
- Look. - Yeah?
I've seen the bloody bot before. Didn't think she'd patch up so...
She's kind of...
She's been through a lot
with the death.
But I think she's OK.
Spike? Are you OK?
I'm...
- What did you do? - Me?
Nothing.
Her hands.
I was gonna fix 'em. I don't know how they got like that.
I do. Clawed her way out of a coffin, that's how.
Isn't that right?
Yeah.
That's what I had to do.
Done it myself.
We'll take care of you. Come here.
- Get some stuff. Mercurochrome, bandages. - OK.
How long was I gone?
- 147 days, yesterday.
- 148 today.
Except today doesn't count, does it?
How long was it for you, where you were?
Longer.
- I got the stuff. - Is she here?
- She's here. - We didn't know where you were.
- You ran away. - Buffy, are you OK?
You knew she was back?
- How did you know? - You're not a zombie, are you?
Anya!
- What do you know about what happened? - Hey! Back off!
You did this. What did you do?
- A spell. We did a spell. - We didn't think it worked.
- Is she going to be OK? - I'm OK. I'm gonna be fine.
I remember. You brought me back.
- What was it like? - I can't...
It's OK. You don't have to talk about this, Buff.
Hey, do you want somethin'? Anything. Pizza. I'll get you pizza.
- Buffy likes pizza. - She doesn't want pizza.
Guys! Back off.
Right. Dawn's right. We should just be quiet,
and let Buffy tell us what she needs.
I think I just wanna go to sleep.
- That's a good idea. You should sleep. - Right. Long day.
But, Buffy, be happy.
We got you out. We really did it.
- Tired. - Well, yeah.
I mean, jet lag from Hell has gotta be, you know, jet lag from Hell.
- My room is still...? - Yeah. Yes. It's your room.
Well, she's fine. Normal. She used to go to bed all the time.
I think Willow's wrong.
I don't think she's particularly normal at all.
Well, she just got back. Give it time.
I bet in a week she'll be our little Bufferin again.
Oh, yes. Six or seven days is all you really need to get over eternal hell experiences.
Who's that? Spike?
What are you doin' out here?
I hope you're not gonna start your little obsession now that she's around again.
- Hey! - You didn't tell me.
You brought her back and you didn't tell me.
- Well, now you know. - I worked beside you all summer.
We didn't tell you.
It was just... We didn't, OK?
Listen. I've figured it out.
Maybe you haven't, but I have.
Willow knew there was a chance that she'd come back wrong.
So wrong that you'd have to...
That she would have to get rid of what came back. And I wouldn't let her.
If any part of that was Buffy, I wouldn't let her.
And that's why she shut me out.
What are you talkin' about? Willow wouldn't do that.
Oh. Is that right?
Look... You're just covering. Don't tell me you're not happy.
Look me in the eyes, and tell me when you saw Buffy alive,
that wasn't the happiest moment of your entire existence.
That's the thing about magic.
There's always consequences.
Always!
- Hey. - So did you get through to London?
Yeah. He's gonna head back as soon as he can.
I'm not sure, like, maybe a couple of days.
How did he take it?
I'm not sure. I mean, glad,
but kinda weirded out. Which I get, you know?
Lots of "dear Lords".
And I think I actually heard him clean his glasses.
Are you worried?
Worried? Tara, it worked fine. It's all good.
Hey, Will, this is me.
It doesn't all have to be "good" and "fine".
This is the room where you don't have to be brave.
And I still love you. If you're worried, you can be worried.
Well, I'm not unworried.
I mean, what happened, that was intense.
That's gotta change you.
When Angel came back, Buffy said he was wild.
Like an animal.
Buffy's not like that.
- Yeah. - But?
It's just kinda noisy up here tonight, you know?
Yeah?
Is this better?
Yeah. I think it makes things quieter in here.
You know what I think?
I think we all just assumed crash positions.
It's like...
we were all tensed up, like we were expecting it to screw up.
We weren't prepared for it to actually go right.
Yeah.
- Tara? - Yeah?
If things did go right,
wouldn't you think she'd be
happier?
Like, wouldn't you think she would be so happy that we brought her out?
Sure she is.
You thought she'd say thanks.
Be more grateful.
Would I be a terrible person if I said "yes"?
Give her time. She'll get there.
Right.
No need to be in a big furry hurry.
Exactly.
I'm sure it's OK.
- Buffy? - What did you do?
Do you know what you did? You're like children.
Your hands smell of death. Bitches!
Filthy little bitches, rattling the bones.
Did you cut the throat? Did you pat its head?
- The blood dried on your hands, didn't it? - Oh, my God. Oh, my God.
You were stained! You still are. I know what you did!
The glass. There's no glass.
- OK, what in the frilly heck is goin' on? - Maybe we dreamed it.
Right. Right.
- Wrong. Different brains. - Oh, yeah.
Well, what was it talking about? Did you understand it?
Well, I understood the words, but... No.
- What was that? - There's something in the house.
What is it after? Is it Buffy?
I don't know.
That's it, I'm gonna call. I hope Xander's up.
Xander, are you up? I can't sleep.
Play a word game with me.
Xander, are you awake?
OK, I'm gonna describe an adjective with accurate but misleading clues,
and then you have to guess what it is.
Xander? Xander?
Huh? What? Do what?
That oughta do it.
- Hello? - Xander, it's me, Willow.
We were just attacked.
Attacked? A vampire?
No, it was Buffy. Or something that looked like her.
Like she was possessed. Then she just disappeared, and we saw something a bit...
- There's something in the house. - In the house?
All right, Willow, you need to get outta there. Just get everyone out.
Wake up Buffy and Dawn. Don't make a big deal...
Anya!
- Anya! - Xander?
Xander!
Very bad. Very, very, very bad. Bad.
He's all traumatised.
Whatever it is, it's not the traditional haunting,
because it's not limited to one specific place,
and there's not, you know, a dead person.
- Not any more. - I bet it's a hitchhiker.
- A hitchhiker? - Standard way to travel through dimensions.
Some demon-thing sees someone moving between worlds, and grabs on for the ride.
You mean like some hell-beastie rode in with Buffy?
Like we're responsible for this?
- Assume crash positions. - We shouldn't have brought Buffy back.
I knew it was gonna end badly. I should've said so.
OK, fine, but what are we gonna do?
I'm feelin' the need for some vigorous doin'.
It's OK. We just kill the beastie and then all is good. We're rolling in puppies!
- Right? - Can we do that? Kill it?
- Are we killing somethin'? - Buffy! You're not supposed to be up.
How are you feeling? Are you OK?
- So what are we killing? - A demon you brought back with you.
- Oh. - It's not like she's making it sound.
A little haunting-type stuff. Boo, scary. Everything's normal.
You shouldn't worry about it.
I remembered something last night.
Buff?
The photographs. Of us.
- They changed. - How did they change?
They were dead.
I mean, we were dead.
Like, dead bodies?
But then they were OK.
So, I just, you know, figured it was me. That I was going crazy.
Well, maybe you are. Going crazy. From Hell.
No. You're fine.
You are. And, Buffy, we're so glad.
Yeah. This thing, this haunting thing, we'll fix it,
and then we'll still have you back, which is...
- It's so important. - Yes.
It's wonderful.
We should get to work.
- What's the list? - Possible hitchhikers.
Demons that might have come outta Hell at the same time Buffy did.
"Skaggmore demons, Trellbane demons, Skitterers, Large and Small Bone-Eaters".
I say we go with the Small Bone-Eaters.
Well, that just means they prefer to eat things with small bones, like you.
That's just what we have so far: five species of demons
that have been known to move transdimensionally.
Two of them may be invisible in this dimension,
and two others can perform spells to alter perception.
That's four. What's the other one like?
Like the others, only dripping with viscous fluid.
So, should we concentrate on how to kill those, or should we try to find more?
I'm not sure. Maybe some of us can keep going finding more, and the others...
I miss Giles.
He's coming back. I talked to him.
I know I'm a kind of poor substitute, but until then, we'll get it done.
I think I should patrol.
I know we'll find something soon.
Yeah.
- Do you want us to go with you? - We can do that.
No. I need to go.
- Sorry. - You should go.
I'll be safe here with the others. Don't worry about me.
I found one of those 24-hour places for coffee. Remember that bookstore?
They became one of those books-and-coffee places, and now they're just coffee.
It's like evolution without the getting-better part.
Coffee, coffee, coffee, hot chocolate for Dawn.
- You're too young for coffee. - Idiot.
You can have my coffee.
All of you did it. You stupid children. Did you think the blood wouldn't reach you?
I smell the death on you. Look at what you've done!
- Fire! Fire! Fire! - Dawn!
Oh, my God. Oh, my God.
That was it. Like Buffy, with fire.
- Is she OK? - Did I look like that? I hope I didn't.
No, I'm sure you looked really glamorous cutting up your face.
What is it? What's happening?
- You'll be OK. - I bet you'll experience some dry-mouth.
Fire.
Was it...? Did the demon thing have me?
It's OK. It's OK.
- Yeah, it's gone. - Yes, but where did it go?
I mean, evil things have plans. They have things to do.
Buffy?
You should be careful.
You never know what kind of villain's got a knife at your back.
Your hand is hurt.
Same to you.
Right.
Willow's getting pretty strong, isn't she?
Bringing you back. It's hard to get a good night's death around her.
You can sit down. Your furniture.
You should see the downstairs, too. It's quite posh.
I do remember what I said.
The promise.
To protect her.
If I'd have done that, even if I didn't make it,
you wouldn't have had to jump.
But I want you to know I did save you.
Not when it counted, of course, but after that.
Every night after that.
I'd see it all again.
I'd do something different.
Faster, more clever, you know?
Dozens of times, lots of different ways.
Every night I save you.
It's getting light out. Buffy's probably on her way home from patrolling.
I like sunrise better when I'm getting up early than...
when I'm staying up late, you know?
It's like I'm seeing it from the wrong side.
Hey, Tara, this is probably crazy, but Spike got me to thinkin'.
This spell we did, it's having consequences, isn't it? I mean, it sure seems like it.
And I was just wonderin'...
- Did you know that this might happen? - No.
Do you think...? Could someone have known?
Willow is a talented witch. She'd never do anything to hurt anyone.
I know, I know, huh? Backin' up quickly, hands in the air.
- I just meant that... - Thaumogenesis!
- She's possessed. - Thaumogenesis.
You're right.
I'm not possessed. I think I figured it out.
This demon, it's not a demon we let out. It's a demon that we made.
We made a demon? Bad us.
Thaumogenesis is when doing a spell actually creates a being.
In this case it was like a side effect, I guess. Like a price.
What?
Think of it like, the world doesn't like you getting something for free,
and we asked for this huge gift - Buffy.
And so the world said "Fine, but if you have that, you have to take this too. "
And it made the demon.
Well, technically, that's not a price. That's a gift with purchase.
But if we made the demon, how come we can't see it?
I mean, all we see is us doing stuff.
Well, I think it's out of phase with this dimension.
Its consciousness is here, but its body is caught in the ether
between existing and not existing.
It doesn't have a body, so it's borrowing ours. It borrowed Dawn and Anya.
Or it's manifesting copies of them, like it did when Buffy came at us.
It's using them to do stuff. To scare us, attack us.
So we need to uncreate it, right?
We need to send it the rest of the way out of our world.
Except that it's linked to the spell.
So if we sent it away, it would be like the spell didn't exist.
Like it never happened.
Like it never brought Buffy back.
Yes.
You can't do that. You can't think for a second that you're going to do that.
Dawn...
If you think you can give her back to me and then take her away again?
No. That's worse than if you'd never brought her back.
You can't mess with people's lives this way!
- Dawn, we're not going to do it that way. - How can you let her do this?
How can you even talk about letting her go?
Honey, you weren't listening. We will find another way.
- We will. - Then do it.
Wait. OK, wait. Dawn, everybody, hold on.
What? Why are you smiling? That's inappropriate.
- Because it's temporary. - What is?
The demon. It's gonna dissipate. The only way for it to survive on this plane
is if it were to kill the subject of the original spell.
It would live if it killed Buffy?
Thanks for the tip.
You don't belong here.
Did they tell you that you belonged here?
Did they say this was your home again?
Were you offered pretty lies, little girl?
Or did they even give you a choice?
- Xander! Drive faster! - I can't!
- I could drive faster and I can't drive! - She's right, you're like a snail.
A snail driving a car very slowly.
Give it the left foot! We've gotta help Buffy with the demon you sent her.
I did not send the demon, I was possessed.
- The demon used me to eavesdrop on us. - Great, so now what?
We have to talk in some sort of anti-demon secret code?
Ood-gay idea-yay, An-yay.
Stop talking wrong in Pig Latin and drive! Buffy's in trouble!
It's OK, Dawnie. Willow and Tara are doin' a spell.
- You sure it won't send Buffy back? - No, of course not.
It's just that she can't fight it if it's all misty,
so they'll make it more solid, so Buffy can kick its fully embodied ass.
You sure it'll work?
Child of words, hear thy makers.
Child of words, we entreat.
With our actions did we make thee, to our voices wilt thou bend.
With our potions thou took motive, with our motions came to pass.
We rescind no past devotions, give thee substance, give thee mass.
You're the one who's barely here, set on this earth like a bubble.
You won't even disturb the air when you go.
Go! Take Dawn out of here!
Child of words, hear thy makers.
Child of words, we entreat...
Solid.
That's probably the sort of thing I'm not supposed to see, right?
- Dawn! - What's wrong?
Lunch.
You made me lunch?
Wow. Thanks.
You'd better go. You've been outta school since I got back.
And you know what they say. Those of us who fail history?
Doomed to repeat it in summer school.
Thank you.
You OK?
I'll start charging money for every person that asks me that.
- Everyone's been doin' that, huh? - A little bit.
It's because they care about you a lot.
When you were gone...
It was bad when you were gone.
But it'll be better now.
Now that they can see you being happy.
That's all they want.
- Buffy! Hey! - Hey, you get Dawn off to school all right?
Cos I was thinkin', if you need help picking her up, I...
It's OK. I got it.
Look, you guys, there's this thing,
so I'm just gonna say it.
You brought me back.
I was in a...
I was in Hell.
I can't think too much about what it was like.
But it felt like the world abandoned me there.
And then suddenly you guys did what you did.
It was Willow. She knew what to do.
OK. So you did that.
And the world came rushing back.
Thank you.
You guys gave me the world.
I can't tell you what it means to me.
And I should have said it before.
You're welcome.
Welcome home, Buffy.
Buffy.
- Spike, it's daylight and you're... - Not on fire?
Sun's low enough. It's shady enough here.
I was gonna go in, but I overheard you lot exchanging a special moment.
I came over a bit queasy.
Say, aren't you leaving a hole in the middle of some soggy group hug?
I just wanted a little time alone.
Oh. Right, then.
It's OK. I can be alone with you here.
Thanks ever so.
Right.
Buff?
Slayer?
Are you OK?
I'm here. I'm good.
Buffy, if you're in...
if you're in pain, or if you need anything,
or if I can do anything for you...
You can't.
I haven't been to a hell dimension just of late,
but I do know a thing or two about torment.
I was happy.
Wherever I was,
I was happy.
At peace.
I knew that everyone I cared about was all right.
I knew it.
Time didn't mean anything.
Nothing had form, but I was still me, you know?
And I was warm.
And I was loved.
And I was finished.
Complete.
I don't understand theology, or...
dimensions, or any of it, really,
but I think I was in heaven.
And now I'm not.
I was torn out of there.
Pulled out by my friends.
Everything here is
hard, and bright, and violent.
Everything I feel, everything I touch.
This is Hell.
Just getting through the next moment, and the one after that.
Knowing what I've lost.
They can never know.
Never.