The sun was just setting as they left the apartment, looking exhausted.

g. "Well, *that* was... remarkably anticlimactic."

x. "Okay, that in American?"

w. "Too easy. Kinda disappointing."

x. "Well, after blowing up a school, and that whole First Slayer thing, anything's going to seem a *little* small on the ol' potatoes scale."

That seemed to give everyone pause.

b. "Speak of the, uh, mysterious force for what we all really hope is good, do we have any idea what's going on with that?"

A chorus of shaken heads. Buffy held her breath, unsure of how to go on.

b. "Uh... I talked to..." She still had trouble not spitting the word. "Faith. She said... you know, when we had all those weirdass nightmares, at the beginning of summer?"

Vaguely affirmative nods and grunts from the group.

b. "Well, she said she kinda got the same thing. Except hers had... something about the First."

g. "So she has something new on the First Slayer?"

b. "No, the First Evil."

A pause.

x. "*Oh.*"

g. "Yes, 'oh' about sums it up." He waited, as if gathering his thoughts, and continued, "But since I assume it's almost a year since these dreams occurred, I think any concern on our part can wait until tomorrow morning. At least."

That one was a crowd-pleaser, if the grunts and sighs of relief were anything to go by.

Xander and Giles reached their cars.

x. "Buffy, Willow's gonna be sleeping with you, isn't she? Um, wait... you know what I mean."

w. "I'm sorry, dearest Buffy, but my heart belongs to another!"

Buffy just shook her head, smiling tiredly. The two males drove off.

As they got closer to home, Willow turned to Buffy.

w. "You know my mom wants to have dinner with yours tomorrow night, don't you?"

b. "Oh, God, she does. What are we going to tell her? Sorry, I'm beat, had to save the world from an evil bitch goddess last night, what? Oh no, that God doesn't exist in that way, sorry to knock over your every spiritual foundation, oh, and you might want to start carrying a crucifix around town at night, less chance of getting killed." She sighed as they turned a corner.

w. "Well, we've got a good twenty-four hours to figure something out."

b. "And I intend to spend most of those sleeping."

w. "You know, there's this spell Tara and I have been working on... but you need a whole lot of tagas root and about an hour."

b. "I think I'd be unconscious before you lit the first candle. Thanks anyway."

They reached the front door. Buffy pulled out her keys, pushed them in the lock, and watched the door swing open. She blinked a couple of times, trying to clear her head, and went on in.

b. "Mom? You there?"

w. "Mrs Summers?"

Dawn came down the stairs, a faintly worried, half-relieved look on her face.

"Buffy? Did you kill her?"

The blonde spun around.

b. "Who. In. The hell. Are. You?"

"B-buffy?"

w. "Now, look, we're not going to--"

Buffy cut her off, staring coldly at the younger girl. "How did you get in here? How did you know my name?"

"Buffy? What's goi... Buffy?"