A/N: Anya's song is Thank Goodness from "Wicked." It's a long scene - the first part of the song I'm using starts around 1:00, and the second part starts around 4:30.

*****

Chapter 6: Planning

When Xander and Willow came back to the Magic Box after their talk, they found the gang intent on researching Sweet. Willow silently took a seat at the table next to Buffy, sending her friend an apologetic glance before pulling one of the books towards her and delving in.

Xander went behind the counter and slipped his arms around Anya’s waist, peering over her shoulder at the book she was reading. “That’s a funny-looking demon,” he remarked.

Anya quickly shuffled her book, and the bridal magazine hidden inside it, as though she could convince her fiancé that she hadn’t been planning her wedding instead of researching.

“Good to see you’re hard at work, sweetie,” he said, planting a kiss on her temple.

“Well, I have a wedding to plan!” she replied. “And I don’t have a mother to do it for me, and you’re certainly not interested! So, I’m sorry you’ve got a demon problem, but I have problems, too!”

Dawn glanced up from her text at the ex-demon’s outburst. “Are things not working out like they’re supposed to?” she asked.

“Oh, no!” Anya exclaimed, suddenly adopting an overly cheerful attitude as she spontaneously began to sing. “Why – We couldn't be happier. Right, dear?”

Xander looked up, startled, a brief expression of panic on his face before he nodded assertively. Anya barreled on, not really paying attention to his response as she was swept away by the lilting melody.

“Couldn't be happier
Right here
Look what we've got
A fairy-tale plot
Our very own happy ending
Where we couldn't be happier
True, dear?”

She looked to Xander again, who gave her a timid smile.

“Couldn't be happier
And we're happy to share
Our ending vicariously
With all of you”

She gestured magnanimously to the rest of them, encouraging them to join in her cheer. Other than Dawn, who perked up at the tune, the group just stared at her, still somewhat taken aback at the random bursting into song. Xander, for his part, was trying to look as excited as his fiancée while resisting the sudden urge to run out the door, when Anya suddenly spun around, pulling him into an embrace.

“He couldn't look handsomer
I couldn't feel humbler
We couldn't be happier
Because happy is what happens
When all your dreams come true!”

As the mystical trumpets played their final flourish, she planted a kiss on Xander’s lips and turned back to the group with a grin.

“Right – ah, well… yes,” Giles stuttered, taking off his glasses and polishing them with relish. “But perhaps if we focused on research…”

“Oh, what difference does it make?” Anya asked. “We’re not gonna find out any more about Sweet than we knew last night, right?”

The others glanced around worriedly, realizing she had a point.

“Ooh!” said Willow. “We do know one thing.”

“What’s that, Will?” Buffy asked.

“We know Sweet was summoned, right? Using that talisman Dawn had?”

Xander groaned. “I said I was sorry, guys.”

Willow shook her head, gaining excitement as she fleshed out the idea in her head. “No, that’s not it. What I’m saying is, we have the talisman. So we can summon him whenever we want.”

“And whoever does it gets to play queen of the damned in the musical from hell,” Buffy pointed out, a note of doubt in her voice.

“Not if we did a – a binding spell, or – or an entrapment spell, or something. We could keep him here, so Buffy could, you know, kick his ass until he makes the music stop.”

Spike raised his eyebrows. “That’s not a bad idea. I think Red might be on to something.”

“Ooh, hmm… ah, do we, uh, do we really need to do the whole spell thing?” Xander asked nervously, his eye on Willow as he recalled their earlier conversation. “I’m just saying, you know, magic is a very dangerous tool, and you never really know what is going to happen.” He broke off in a self-conscious laugh. “Believe me, I know. So, maybe it’d just be best to, you know, stay away from anything too –”

“Boy, boy, crazy boy. Stay cool, boy.” Spike cut off his babbling by singing a riff from West Side Story, snapping his fingers in rhythm. When he realized the others were looking at him, he rubbed the back of his neck. “Oh. That… wasn’t the spell. I just like the… gang violence,” he finished with a shrug.

“Yes, well, I do tend to agree with Xander,” said Giles, before giving his glasses another furious polish. Remembering his own conversation with Tara, he was just as hesitant to encourage Willow in any further magic.

“Do we have any alternatives?” Buffy asked.

“Well, no,” Giles admitted. “Perhaps we should, ah, speak to Tara about this spell?”

“I can handle this, Giles,” said Willow, an underlying icy tone to her voice.

“I’m sure that you can. But you’re dealing with a spell that will violate the demon’s will, holding him involuntarily. Any mistakes could be quite disastrous.”

“Fine,” said Buffy, eager to have a plan to get rid of Sweet. Hopefully, that would keep any more… incidents like last night’s lapse of judgment from happening. “Then we consult with Tara, we do the spell, and I kick some serious tap-dancing ass.”

“Long as that’s all right with Officer Krupke here,” Spike said, gesturing toward Giles.

Buffy wrinkled her nose. “Who’s Officer Cupcake?”

Spike rolled his eyes. “Okay, you’re seeing a musical. When this is over.” Buffy didn’t miss the implied date in that statement, but she thought it best to just let it go in light of the audience present.

“When this is over, I don’t think I’m gonna ever want to see a musical again,” Dawn said, making a face.

With a solution settled upon, the Scoobies gathered up their belongings and placed the books back on the shelves. Once the others had filtered out and they were the only two left in the Magic Box, Anya said, “Xander, sweetie, can we go over the seating arrangements for your –”

“Sorry, Ahn, not right now,” he replied hurriedly, giving her a quick kiss on the forehead before dashing out of the shop.

Anya sighed, watching his retreating form, and began to sing again, more hesitantly, as though trying to convince herself.

“That's why I couldn't be happier
No, I couldn't be happier
Though it is, I admit
The tiniest bit
Unlike I anticipated
But I couldn't be happier
Simply couldn't be happier”

She paused in thought. “Well – not ‘simply,’” she said.

“’Cause getting your dreams
It's strange, but it seems
A little – well – complicated
There's a kind of a sort of… cost
There's a couple of things get… lost
There are bridges you cross
You didn't know you crossed
Until you've crossed”

The swell of music accompanied a twirl up onto the stairs, one hand holding on to the railing, the other extended above her head, hitting the big moment with flourish. But then, as the music wound its way back to a tiny melody, she sank down on the step, deflated.

“And if that joy, that thrill
Doesn't thrill you like you think it will
Still –
With this perfect finale
The cheers and ballyhoo”

She stood up with renewed determination.

“Who…
Wouldn't be happier?
So, I couldn't be happier
Because happy is what happens
When all your dreams come true
Well, isn't it?
Happy is what happens
When your dreams come true!”