"Hey Dawnie." "So, uh, anything new about Warren and the Nerd Herd?" "No." "Man, a nerd goes into hiding, he really goes into hiding." "Big wedding coming up..." "lots of date possibilities... you and Tara are speaking again." "You wanna call her?" "No." "But if I did call?" "She wouldn't hang up on me." "You can't even stand to be around me." "That is not true." "You didn't wanna come back." "It's over." "I've memorized this tune, luv." "I'm using you." "And it's killing me." "I'm sorry, William." "This is it." "Are you ready to go?" "He's gone." "Xander's gone?" "Xander's missing?" "What do you mean Xander's missing?" "Oh man, your face was priceless." "Yeah, real funny." "It serves you right for taking Z's on lookout again." "What do you expect?" "I haven't had a decent night's sleep since..." "I mean, I'm going Jack Torrence in here, you know?" "Stuck in this basement for weeks!" "I mean, we rented the whole house, can't we at least sleep upstairs?" "We're on the lam." "We have to lay low." "Underground?" "It's figurative, doofus!" "Did you even read Legion of Doom?" "Enough!" "Midgetor, get back to the monitors." "The last thing we need is to be surprised by ..." "Holy Geez Louise." "The ... the ..." "The fricking Slayer." "She's right there!" "All right, don't panic." "Andrew... deploy your little friend." "Oh." "Hi." "You didn't by chance happen to just eat a couple of nerds, did you?" "You're gonna hurt yourself!" "She's gonna break the needle." "We gotta strap her down!" "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" "Season 6 Episode 17 Normal Again" "Hi, um, Tara, how are you?" "W- well, I was wondering, maybe, you would wanna go out sometime?" "For coffee... food... kisses and gay love?" "Hi Tara." "Guess what?" "Magic-free now for, insert number, days now." "Buffy." "Buffy." "Come on, it's time for your drugs." "What?" "I said, if I didn't know any better, I'd think you were on drugs." "Okay." "Good." "Whatcha doin'?" "I'm online, checking to see if Xander emailed." "Any luck?" "No such." "Well, maybe Anya found him and they're trying to work it out." "How come you're all, home, hearth, and DSL anyway?" "I thought you were gonna go see Tara." "Saw her." "Saw her completely." "Ouch." "Just got a scratch from all that brittle." "It's...... when I was seeing her, she was seeing someone else." "A girl." "You mean ..." "I mean... not "seeing" seeing." "Well, maybe." "I don't know, it was inconclusive, and I didn't stick around to find out." "Might have magicked my fist through a wall or something," "Will, I'm sorry." "I mean, they're probably just friends." "I press my lips against my friends' all the time." "I'm sure they're just friends." "Once you fall for Willow, you stay fallen." "Thanks, Buffy." "Hi." "Xander?" "I'm back." "Xander, you're here!" "We missed you, where were you?" "I know, I tried calling, but I couldn't without..." "Hey." "You don't need to explain to us." "Right." "Is she here?" "Oh... no, you... wanna find her?" "I need to." "Her suitcase is gone and some of her stuff." "There's a Closed sign on the Magic Box, which, like, chills me to the bone." "She left a couple days ago." "Was she looking for me?" "Before she left, did she say anything?" "You mean, between sobs?" "There was mostly just wheezing." "She was a little... she was... kinda broken." "I don't know how stuff got so mixed up!" "I blew it." "No." "Well... maybe it wasn't the best time to break up with her, but..." "No." "It wasn't about breaking up." "I love her, and god, I miss her so much." "So, you left her at the altar, but you still wanna..." "You still wanna date?" "I guess." "I know that I'm a better person with her in my life." "But things got so complicated with the wedding, and with my family, and with her... demons, and... what if it all goes to hell, and forever?" "But then I left... and ever since..." "I've had this painful hole inside." "And I'm the idiot that dug it out." "I screwed up real bad." "Hey." "We all screw up." "You looking for me?" "Really not." "Oh." "Right then." "Off you go." "Did you cry?" "What?" "The wedding." "Two hearts joined for eternity, great pelting showers of rice and so forth." "You didn't hear." "What?" "Families get out of hand?" "Tear the place apart?" "No." "Well, yes, absolutely." "But..." "Xander left." "The wedding didn't happen." "Well." "Gotta say..." "I didn't see that coming." "It was awful." "Anya was devastated." "Is that right." "And, Xander... thinks maybe they can still get back together, but... he hurt her a lot." "Yeah, well... some people can't see a good thing when they've got it." "Spike." "I shoulda known you'd be tagging along." "Hey, guys." "I, uh..." "I found Spike and was, uh, trying to figure out what kind of dangerous contraband he had." "Tell you what, Slayer." "Let me get out of your way." "I'll stop bothering you." "Yeah, maybe you should do that, Spike, just run along." "You know, I guess you know all about that, don't you?" "The king of the big exit." "Heard it brought the house down." "I don't need this crap from you." "Right." "Let's not listen to Spike." "Might get a bit of the truth on you." "Okay, okay." "Heh." "Calm now." "Let's, uh, turn around and release this very manly thing the other way." "I forgot." "Willy Wannabite can't hurt me." "Dumb to pick a fight, I guess." "Xander." "More than happy to beat you right through the pain, you pathetic poof." "Guys, don't." "Buffy, can you hear me?" "What is this?" "Do you know where you are, Buffy?" "Sunnydale." "No, none of that's real, none of it." "You're in a mental institution." "You've been with us now for six years." "Do you remember?" "Buffy?" "Are you okay?" "What happened?" "It's okay, Buffy." "Buffy, it's okay." "Look." "Look who's here." "Buffy?" "Welcome home, sweetie." "Mom?" "Oh, baby, you're really here." "Dad?" "She's lucid." "Keep talking, maybe the sound of your voice will ground her." "Sweetheart... we've missed you very much." "Honey, can you hear me?" "Oh, Buffy, stay with us, please." "Oh... no!" "Here, let's get her back to my crypt." "Spike, just go, okay?" "She's our friend, we'll take care of her." "No, guys, I'm okay." "I'm okay." "Come on, Xander, help me get her home." "Put a little ice on the back of her neck." "She likes that." "I've been having these flashes." "Hallucinations, I guess." "Since when?" "Uh... night before last." "I was, uh, checking houses on that list you gave me, and looking for Warren and his pals... and then, bam!" "Some kind of gross, waxy demon-thing poked me." "And when you say poke..." "In the arm." "It stung me or something, and... then I was like... no." "It, it wasn't "like. " I *was* in an institution." "There were, um... doctors and... nurses and, and other patients." "They, they told me that I was sick." "I guess crazy." "And that, um, Sunnydale and, and all of this, it... none of it... was real." "Oh, come on, that's ridiculous!" "What?" "You think this isn't real just because of all the vampires and demons and ex-vengeance demons" "And the sister that used to be a big ball of universe-destroying energy?" "I know how this must sound, but... it felt so real." "Mom was there." "She was?" "Dad, too." "They were together..." "like they used to be... before Sunnydale." "Okay!" "All in favor of research?" "Motion passed." "All right, Xander, you hit the demon bars." "Dig up any info on a new player in town." "Dawnie, you can help me research." "We'll hop on-line," "Check all possibilities for a full recovery, but we have to proceed cautiously." "If we're not careful..." "Wait." "Are you saying that Buffy could be like she was before any of this happened?" "Mrs. Summers, you have to understand the severity of what's happened to your daughter." "For the last six years, she's been in an undifferentiated type of schizophrenia." "We know what her condition is." "That's not what we're asking." "Buffy's delusions are multi-layered." "She believes she's some type of hero." "The Slayer." "The Slayer, right, but that's only one level." "She's also created an intricate latticework to support her primary delusion." "In her mind, she's the central figure in a fantastic world beyond imagination." "She's surrounded herself with friends, most with their own superpowers... who are as real to her as you or me." "Moreso, unfortunately." "Together they face grand overblown conflicts against an assortment of monsters both imaginary" "And rooted in actual myth." "Every time we think we're getting through to her, more fanciful enemies magically appear..." " How did I miss?" " ... and she's..." "Warren and Jonathan, they did this to me!" "Buffy, it's all right." "They can't hurt you here." "You're with your family." "Dawn?" "That's the sister, right?" "A magical key." "Buffy inserted Dawn into her delusion, actually rewriting the entire history of it to accommodate a need for a familial bond." "Buffy, but that created inconsistencies, didn't it?" "Your sister, your friends, all of those people you created in Sunnydale, they aren't as comforting as they once were." "Are they?" "They're coming apart." "Buffy, listen to what the doctor's saying, it's important." "Buffy, you used to create these grand villains to battle against," "And now what is it?" "Just ordinary students you went to high school with." "No gods or monsters ... just three pathetic little men... who like playing with toys." "Dude, that poison has got her drooling like a, some kind of..." "Where have you guys been?" "Uh... picking up some stuff." "And checking out Buffy on the van's remote surveillance." "Andrew's demon pet has done some number on the slayer." "Got her tripping like a Ken Russell film festival." "Well, what kind of stuff?" "What?" "The packages." "What's in them?" "Well, what do you think, Spanky, you think we're plotting against you?" "Better not be." "It's just stuff, big man." "All right, you'll be in the know just as soon as you stop being all freakazoid." "Ah, now, there's the vault." "I still say we're gonna need eight other guys to pull this off." "I never should have let you see that movie." "Wha, uh, where you going?" "Out." "Getting stuff I need." "You know, I don't really think that's such a good idea." "Why not?" "Well, it's..." "It's just not safe out there... alone." "You saw how close the slayer got." "Look, we're, we're a team." "Something happens to you, it happens to all of us." "Right?" "Look, I know, I know you're antsy, we all are, but you see, things, they're about to pick up." "Big, big time." "Just gotta be careful." "Right?" "All right?" "Stick together." "Okay?" "Look, Buffy, I found the demon." "Fits your description and symptoms perfectly." "Look, is this it?" "See, it's gonna be okay." "Its pokey stinger carries an antidote to its own poison." "I feel so lost." "I know." "You're confused." "It's, it's that crazy juice inside you." "It's more than that." "Even before the demon..." "I've been so detached." "We've... all been kind of slumming." "Every day I try to... snap out of it." "Figure out why I'm like that." "Buffy, look at me." "You are not in an institution." "You have never been in an institution." "Yes, I have." "What?" "Back when I saw my first vampires..." "I got so scared." "I told my parents... and they completely freaked out." "They thought there was something seriously wrong with me." "So they sent me to a clinic." "You never said anything." "I was only there a couple of weeks." "I stopped talking about it, and they let me go." "Eventually... my parents just... forgot." "God." "That's horrible." "What if I'm still there?" "What if I never left that clinic?" "Buffy..." "Buffy, you're not." "I'm so sorry you had to go through that." "But, it's the past." "You've got to trust me." "We're gonna get you that antidote." "Xander's hunting the demon right now." "Alone?" "Will, he can't." "It's too strong." "Oh, it's okay." "We got help." "So, she's having the wiggins, is she?" "Thinks none of us are real." "Bloody self-centered, if you ask me." "Spike, we need muscle, not color commentary." "On the other hand, it might explain some things this all being in that twisted brain of hers." "Yeah." "Thinks up some chip in my head." "Make me soft, fall in love with her, then turn me into her sodding sex slave..." "What?" "!" "Nothing." "Alternative realities." "Where we're all little figments of Buffy's funny-farm delusion." "You know, in a different reality, you might not have left your bride at the altar." "You might have gone through with it like a man." "Okay, one more syllable about Anya..." "Oh, balls." "You didn't say he was a glarghk guhl kashma'nik(?" ")" "'Cause I can't say glar..." "I altered his reality." "Get it, I..." "Never mind." "I made you some tea." "Thanks." "I'm okay, Dawn." "The, uh, thousand-yard stare really helps sell that." "You're burning up." "I should be taller than you." "Maybe you're not done growing." "Coming apart." "What's coming apart?" "We have to try harder, make things better." " I'm trying." " Your grades... stealing." "Willow's been doing your chores, hasn't she?" "What?" "No, it's... it's the fever." "It's cooking your brain." "We have to deal with these things, Dawn, we..." "You don't have a sister, Buffy." "Dawn?" "No, honey." "Say it." "It'll help you believe it." "I... don't... have a sister." "I know I, I didn't grow up with her." "These monks, they made her." "It's your mind, just playing tricks on you." "You're our little girl, Buffy." "Our one and only." "We've missed you so much." "Mom and Dad just want to take you home and take care of you." "I'm not even there, am I?" "What?" "You said it a second ago." "You don't have a sister." "It's your ideal reality, and I'm not even a part of it." "Dawn, I..." "I didn't mean..." "I have to go finish my chores." "Hold it." "Hold it!" "I'll need its arm." "Yeah, I'd like both my arms too." "Thanks, Spike." "I'll help when the... blistering pain subsides." "Ready?" "Xander, go to the magic shop." "I'll need alkanet root and a handful of nettle leaf." "Just for the medicinal properties." "No magic." "When you've got them, meet me at the campus lab." "I'll see if I can brew up an antidote the old-fashioned way." "I'll hold here, keep an eye on the wax job." "Make sure that's all you're ogling." "Xander!" "Buffy?" "Wake up." "Got yummy antidote goodness for you." "What happened?" "It took a little longer than I'd hoped." "No magic and all." "Went boom twice, but then I got it." "Just... when it's cool, drink it all down, and... everything should go back to normal." "You never stop coming through." "Thank you, Willow." "How is she?" "Make sure she drinks all that." "I'm gonna let Dawn know that everything's gonna be okay." "You all right?" "You need to leave me alone." "You're not part of my life." "Fine, then." "You know, but I hope you don't think this an..." "I hope you don't think this antidote's gonna rid you of that nasty martyrdom." "See, I figured it out, luv." "You can't help yourself." "You're not drawn to the dark like I thought." "You're addicted to the misery." "It's why you won't tell your pals about us." "Might actually have to be happy if you did." "They'd either understand and help you, god forbid... or drive you out... where you can finally be at peace, in the dark." "With me." "Either way, you'd be better off for it, but you're too twisted for that." "Let yourself live, already." "And stop with the bloody hero trip for a sec." "We'd all be the better for it." "You either tell your friends about us... or I will." "Buffy." "I don't wanna go back there." "I wanna be healthy again." "What do I have to do?" "Oh... please, help me." "I wanna go home, with you and dad." "I know, Buffy." "But first you've gotta get better." "It's not gonna be easy, Buffy." "You have to take it one step at a time." "You have to start ridding your mind of those things that support your hallucinations." "You understand?" "There are things in that world that you cling to." "For your delusion, they're safe-holds, but for your mind they're traps." "We have to break those down." "Slaying?" "Yes... but I'm talking about those things you want there." "What keeps you going back." "My friends." "That's right." "Last summer, when you had a momentary awakening, it was them that pulled you back in." "They're not really your friends, Buffy." "They're just... tricks keeping you from getting healthy." "You have to do whatever it takes to convince yourself of that, Buffy." "Whatever it takes." "Oh, Buffy, I, I didn't see you." "I was just coming to check on you." "You feeling better?" "Did the antidote work?" "I'm... still pretty dazed, but, uh, better." "No more cuckoo's nest?" "Well, we still have the big bad all tranked out down in the basement." "In case it didn't work and we need more parts." "It'll be nice to see you all better." "Thanks." "I can make you some food, something big with energy, help you clear your noggin." "Come on." "Hello!" "I'm back!" "Clean and with the better smell now." "Friends?" "Romans?" "Anyone?" "Hey." "Hey, there, sane girl." "So did Willow get that antidote to you all right?" "Yeah." "I'm better now." "Great." "So, it's settled." "We're, uh, we're real, right?" "Guess we should finish off that demon and drag it out of the basement." "And tell me you're up for that." "I so don't wanna see Spike right now." "I mean, talk about losing touch." "Hate to say it, but I almost... feel sorry for the guy." "Almost." "The things the poor guy was saying..." "I mean, I get it, you know." "Been a part of the Buffy obsess..." "Buffy..." "Willow, what..." "Dawn?" "Don't you knock?" "I called for you." "Buffy, are you okay?" "Where are you going?" "I'm going over to Janice's, where they actually like having me around." "You're not going anywhere." "Why not?" "You want me gone anyway." "What do you care?" "I care." "You're going downstairs with the others." "It's the only way I can get healthy." "What are you talking about?" "Buffy, you look sick." "What are you doing?" "What's wrong with you?" "Stay away from me!" "Willow, help!" "Buffy, please!" "You can't hide, Dawn." "Talk to me." "You're hallucinating." "I know." "You're just a trap for my mind." "Buffy, please, listen to me." "That asylum and those people, they're not real!" "Buffy..." "look at me." "I'm right here." "You're my sister." "I need you and love you." "Somewhere inside you must know that's real." "Sure it is. 'Cause what's more real?" "A sick girl in an institution..." "Don't." "Please." "Listen to me." "Or some kind of supergirl... chosen to... fight demons and... save the world." "That's ridiculous." "A girl who sleeps with the vampire she hates?" "!" "Yeah, that makes sense." "No!" "Buffy, stop!" "I'm real!" "Buffy, stop it." "I'll be good!" "I promise." "You're not thinking." "I'll..." "It's okay, Buffy." "Don't stress yourself." "Honey, take your time." "Make it as easy on yourself as possible." "There's nothing wrong with that." "Buffy... what are you doing?" "Oh my god." "Buffy, help me!" "I need my hands!" "Hello?" "Anybody home?" "Buffy?" "It's gonna be okay, sweetheart." "Whatever it is, it's not real, remember?" "Just keep concentrating." "I'm right here, sweetie." "Buffy, help me!" "Buffy, help!" "Willow?" "Eximete!" "Vis zenobia!" "Solvere!" "No!" "Tara!" " I don't know..." " Buffy, look at me." "I don't know." "I don't know." "I believe in you." "You're a survivor, you can do this." "Xander." "No." "Willow!" "Buffy?" "Buffy!" "Buffy, fight it." "You're too good to give in, you can beat this thing." "Be strong, baby, ok?" "I know you're afraid." "I know the world feels like a hard place sometimes, but you've got people who love you." "Your dad and I, we have all the faith in the world in you." "We'll always be with you." "You've got... a world of strength in your heart." "I know you do." "You just have to find it again." "Believe in yourself." "You're right." "Thank you." "Good ... bye." "Buffy." "I'm so sorry." "Buffy?" "We're okay." "It's all okay." "Buffy, sit down." "You'll fall over." "No..." "I can't." "Not until I have the antidote." "Okay." "We'll make more, we'll take care of it." "Everything's gonna be okay, Buffy." "I'm sorry, there's no reaction at all." "I'm afraid we lost her." "THE END"