A/N: Thanks again for the lovely reviews!

Chapter Six

“Buffy? Have you seen my summoning crystals?”

“The hills are alive, with the sound of music! With songs they have sung for a thousand years!”

“What, Will?” Buffy asked, trying to ignore Ned’s impersonation of Julie Andrews as he pranced about the living room.

“My summoning crystals. Have you seen them? I could have sworn I left them in the basket on my dresser…”

“Sorry,” Buffy said. “I haven’t seen them. Maybe Tara used them for something?” The witches had started to patch things up, with tentative steps being made towards reconciliation.

“Maybe…” Willow looked doubtful, her teeth worrying her upper lip and her forehead scrunched in confusion. “She usually puts things back after using them, though.”

“The hills fill my heart, with the sound of music! My heart wants to sing every song it hears!”

Buffy rolled her eyes and wished she had some earplugs on hand. Her Imaginary Friend could not carry a tune.

“Shoot,” Willow put the phone back in the cradle. “She’s not answering her cell. This sucks, I really need to use them.”

“Anything I can help you with?” Buffy set her magazine down on the coffee table. Between Ned’s singing and Willow’s chatter, there was no way she could concentrate on the love lives of celebrities.

“I lost my earrings,” Willow said, coming to sit next to Buffy on the couch. “You know, the ones Tara gave me for our anniversary? I wore them to the movies the other day, and I’m pretty sure I put them back in my jewellery box.”

“So wait,” Buffy frowned. “You lost your earrings, so you want to do a spell to find them, but you’ve lost the crystals you need for the spell? Getting a little careless there, arent’cha?”

Willow shot Buffy a hurt look. “It’s not like I lost them on purpose. I know I put both the earrings and the crystals back in their proper places… someone must have taken them.”

Buffy frowned, then her eyes narrowed. She had a pretty good idea who might have taken Willow’s things, and he was currently twirling and dancing through the room without a care.

“My heart wants to sigh, like a chime that flies from a church on the breeze!”

“Maybe I could help you look for them?” Buffy suggested, wanting to get Willow out of the room so she could talk to Ned. “You go back upstairs and have a good look there, and I’ll stay down here.”

“No…” Willow said, “I have a better idea. Remember when Anya first showed up in Sunnydale, back in high school? She wanted me to help her find her Vengeance Demon necklace using a temporal fold. I bet I could make that work.”

“I don’t think that’s such a good idea,” Buffy said, “remember skanky Vampire Willow? That way lies badness.”

“I think I’m a little more advanced now, Buffy,” Willow stood up and made her way to the coat rack. “Got a resurrection under my belt, now, remember?”

“How could I forget,” Buffy murmured. “Look, Will, don’t you think you’re taking this whole magic thing too far? I bet you’d find the earrings and the crystals if you just spent some more time looking.”

“It won’t hurt anyone,” Willow replied breezily. “I have to go to the Magic Box, I’m all out of chicken feet. See you later, Buffy.”

She was gone before Buffy could say anything more, slamming the door behind her and walking jauntily down the drive.

“I go to the hills, when my heart is lonely. I know I will hear what I’ve heard before!”

“Oh, shut up!” Buffy shouted, and Ned cut off his singing abruptly. Buffy sank back down on the couch and pressed the palms of her hands into her eyes.

“Hey there, darlin’, didn’t mean to give you a headache.”

“Well, sucks for you, ‘cos you did.” Buffy rolled her eyes, and slumped backwards. “I have work later, too. God, could this day get any worse?”

“You should never say stuff like that,” Ned grinned. “It’s sod’s law. Now something really bad will happen.”

“Like it hasn’t already, Mr. Sticky Thumbs?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Ned turned away slightly, not wanting to meet her eye.

“You know exactly what I’m talking about. You may have been all Von-Trappy when me and Will were making with the conversation, but you heard us, I know you did. Come on, tell me what you did with her earrings and crystals?”

Ned sighed and reached into the pockets of his brightly-coloured pants, and pulled out a handful of dark blue crystals, and dropped them onto the coffee table.

“And the earrings?”

“Didn’t take the earrings, I swear on my Great Aunt Bertha’s life. And I only took the crystals to stop her from doing the summoning spell. Uses too much magic, that one. Makes me nervous.”

“Tell me about it,” Buffy said. “But you’ve made things worse, she’s going to try some weird temporal fold thing instead, and who knows what that will do.”

“Gah.”

“Gah is right,” Buffy sighed, then stood up. “I’d better go shower before work. No one likes a stinky Buffy. Hey, why don’t you make yourself useful and look for Willow’s earrings?”

“No need,” Ned said. “I know where they are.”

“You do? Well why didn’t you say before? My God, you have to be the most infuriating person I’ve ever met!”

Ned shrugged, then grinned.

“Well? Where are they?”

Ned opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted by the front door being opened. Dawn sauntered in, throwing her rucksack on the floor and hanging her jacket on the hook.

“You should probably ask Little Miss Lightfingers, here,” Ned said, then winked out of existence.

“Huh?” Buffy frowned, then turned to look at Dawn, her mouth dropping open slightly as she realised what Ned meant.

“What?” Dawn asked, “Do I have something on my face?”

Buffy folded her arms and glared at her sister. “I don’t know, you tell me.”

“You’re so weird lately, you know that? First it was talking to thin air, and now random staring? Geez.”

“That’s so not the point right now, Dawn. Fess up, where are Willow’s earrings?”

“What?” Dawn replied, her eyes dropping guiltily to the floor.

“Willow’s earrings. I know you have them.”

Dawn pouted, but didn’t say anything. Buffy raised her eyebrow, hands on her hips and waited.

Eventually Dawn sighed, and started to stomp up the stairs. “I only borrowed them! I was going to put them back, I swear.”

“Dawnie, you can’t just take other people’s things like that,” Buffy followed her sister up to the first floor.

“Well, duh! I’m not stupid.”

“So why did you?” Buffy sighed as she followed her sister into her bedroom. “I thought things were getting better?”

“They are… were,” Dawn sat down on her bed. “I just… I don’t know, Buffy. I know you’re trying hard to get over the whole death thing, but half the time it feels like you’re not even here at all. I mean, I get it. Being in a hell dimension can’t have been fun, but can’t you at least pretend like you’re happy to be back? For me?”

“So this is an attention thing?” Buffy sat down next to her sister, and Dawn leaned her head on her shoulder. “Dawn… I need to tell you something. About… where I was. It wasn’t a hell dimension… not- not even close. The opposite, in fact.”

Dawn’s eyes widened. “Oh God… you mean…”

“Yeah,” Buffy smiled wryly. “I think I was in heaven. It was warm, and peaceful, and quiet. Then Willow meddled in magics she didn’t understand and brought me back. This is... for a long time, being back felt like living in hell.”

“And now it doesn’t? What changed?”

“I don’t know. Stuff. People.”

“Spike-shaped people?” Dawn grinned.

“No!” Buffy flushed. “Well, yeah. I guess. He’s helped. He listens. I don’t have to be anyone other than Buffy with him.”

“That’s good,” Dawn smiled, then nudged Buffy with her elbow. “So, you like him, huh?”

“I didn’t… I didn’t say that!”

“Oh come on, you so do! I saw you the other day at his crypt, with the hands and the blushing. You liiike him, you want to kiiiss him.”

“Dawn! Aren’t we a little old for stupid chants?” Buffy tried to keep the smile from her face, and failed.

“Buffy and Spike, sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g!”

“Oh! You!”

Dawn leapt up, cackling as she dodged Buffy, who was red-faced and throwing soft toys at her head.

“Stop! I’ll stop if you do!” Dawn collapsed in a fit of giggles at the foot of the bed. Her laughter slowly subsided as she looked up at Buffy.

“It’s okay with me if you want to date Spike,” she said. “He’s cool.”

“I don’t know what I want,” Buffy mumbled, then sighed. “Sometimes, I think that I do want him. Then he’ll open his mouth and say something obnoxious to remind me that he’s a soulless vampire.”

“Does that matter?” Dawn asked, standing up again and moving to sit on the bed once more. “Spike doesn’t do evil things anymore. He’s totally good now. And he loves you.”

“I know. But who’s to say that if he ever gets the chip out, he won’t start killing again? There’s no safety-net with him.”

Dawn shrugged. “Then maybe you should just take the chance.”

“Maybe. The others will hate me for it.”

“Who cares what they think?” Dawn scoffed. “They brought you back to life, but that doesn’t mean they should get a say in how you live it.”

“Hmm.” Buffy made a non-committal noise, then remembered the reason she’d followed Dawn up to her room. “Dawnie, where are Willow’s earrings? And is there anything else I need to know about?”

Dawn flushed, and dropped her head forwards, the sides of her long hair falling in a curtain and hiding her face. “There might be a few things that I took from the Magic Box.”

“Dawn.” Buffy’s tone signalled disappointment, rather than anger.

“Sorry. I swear, I won’t do it again. I’ll return everything.”

“And you’ll tell Anya and Willow what you did, and you’ll apologise. Oh, and you’re grounded.”

“What! No, please, can’t I just sneak the things back? They don’t have to know.” Dawn pouted.

“You’re telling them,” Buffy’s voice was firm. “Damn, I have to go shower or I’ll be late for work. I’ll walk you to the Magic Box on my way and you can return everything then.”

“Fine.”

“Good girl,” Buffy grinned as she stood up and patted Dawn on the head.

“Geez, Buffy. I’m not a little kid.”

“You sure about that?” Buffy laughed, “Who was the girl singing childish playground chants not so long ago?”

“Pshaw, and you weren’t throwing soft toys around, huh?”

“They’re a valid source of weaponry!” Buffy said.

“Yeah, if you’re fighting Barney the dinosaur,” Dawn replied.

“That thing creeps me out,” Buffy shuddered. “Okay! Really need to go shower now. You find all the stuff you took, and get ready to go.”

Dawn nodded, and Buffy turned to leave the room. “Hey, Buffy?”

Buffy paused in the doorway.

“I’m sorry that you were taken out of heaven and everything, but I’m glad they did it. I’m happy you’re back. Do you think, maybe, you can be too?”

Buffy smiled. “I’m getting there.”