When the sky had sealed itself, and the ocean quieted, the silence was oppressive. Several stunned minutes passed, and then suddenly the night was broken by a scream. Allison was torn from her shock, and began to cry out for her friend. Willow tried to soothe her, but Allison paid her no attention. Allison screamed out to the heavens. "Nooooooooooo! Carolee?!" Then she was lost in uncontrolled sobbing.

Giles was shocked, silent, and still. He was too stunned by what had just happened to be of any help in soothing Allison. Buffy was comforting Dawn. Dawn looked up into her sister's face with big eyes. "She saved me."

Buffy held her sister close, stroking her back and neck. They rocked together on the cold, hard jetty. "Yes, she did. She sure did. It's okay Dawn. We'll find her. We will get her back."

Xander came and stood beside Giles, placing a comforting hand on his arm. Giles didn't notice. His gaze was still upward, searching for any sign that the rip still cracked the sky, or that Carolee would suddenly drop from the heavens. But all he saw was a normal night sky, dark and foreboding.

Buffy helped Dawn stand. "Come on everyone. We need to head back. Get off this jetty. We need to collect ourselves."

"Yes, we need a plan." Xander squeezed Giles's arm, and the Watcher turned, nodding.

Allison refused to budge. "NO! We can't just leave. We can't leave her there! We have to get her back. Now!" Then she fell, sitting down on one of the rocks, shaking her head. "I can't believe this. This isn't supposed to be how it goes. We were having fun. It's an adventure. I don’t want this anymore. Send me back home. Send us both back!"

Spike crouched down before her, laying his fingers against her teary cheek. He lifted her eyes to his. "Allison, pet, we must not look back. Life is about going forward, not backwards. We have to leave this place now. But we'll find your friend. We will get her back. Carolee would want you to move on. There is nothing now that we can do here." She knew Spike was right. He helped her to her feet, and the soggy group made the forlorn trek back to the beach.

They did not even think to retrieve the book that had fallen between the cracks of the jetty rocks. It fell deeper into the crevice, forgotten and unnoticed.

Xander took over driving the Suburban. Giles barely hesitated in handing over the keys. "Where to?" Xander asked, as he pulled out of the parking lot.

Buffy sat between Dawn and Giles in the back seat. Willow and Spike had Allison between them, comforting her as best they could. She seemed shell shocked again, fallen into silence, lost in her thoughts. A lone tear ran down her cheek, unbidden. Spike wiped it away with a cold fingertip.

"Let's go into town and get a couple motel rooms for the night. After we get some rest, we'll research first thing in the morning." Buffy turned and looked at Giles. His eyes were closed, and he was slumped in his seat. "We'll get her back, Giles. I promise." Giles just frowned and nodded. Buffy watched the beach pass them by outside the window of the Suburban. She mourned for Giles. He had lost so many close to him, because of her. First he left England to come to Sunnydale and be her Watcher. And he never complained. Then Jenny had died at the hands of Angelus, all because of her selfishness. And then Olivia had never returned after the Gentlemen had spooked her. Since then, Giles had been all alone. Buffy had a hint of what that felt like, and she didn't like it one bit. She didn't want that for her Watcher. She wanted him to be happy, and she had seen a spark of that in his eyes when he had looked at Carolee that very evening. Whatever it took, Buffy would bring Carolee back to him. After all, Carolee had risked her own life and saved her sister. It was the very least she could do to return the favor.

"Let's look on the bright side," Xander quipped. "No apocalypse. Evidently we won."

No one answered. He caught all their downcast looks in the rearview mirror before pulling into the parking lot of a Motel 6. "Doesn't feel like much of a win though." He muttered under his breath.

They ended up getting two rooms: girls in one, boys in the other. Giles immediately went and lay down on the bed, clothes and all. Even his glasses were still on his nose, but he shut his eyes tight and tried to sleep. Xander joined him on the other side of the bed, leaving Spike alone in the second bed. Spike smirked, bowed, and then jumped on to his mattress. Sometimes it paid to be bad.

In the next room over, Dawn convinced Allison to take a nice hot bubble bath, while Willow and Buffy changed and tried to formulate some kind of plan.

"Actually, Buffy, I sort of have an idea, but I'm not sure how you'll like it."

Buffy pulled on some gray sweat pants out of the bag she had packed that morning. They all had brought extra changes of clothes, just in case. After all these years, they knew to be prepared for anything. And in their line of work, they went through clothes at an alarming rate. "I'm game for just about anything right now, Will."

Willow looked at her friend, and then sat beside her on the foot of the bed with a giant flop. The mattress bounced and almost knocked Buffy off to the floor. They both giggled. It was a relief they both needed.

Once the giggling had stopped, Willow composed herself enough to speak. "I think that perhaps we should call Angel and Wes. You know, they have experience at these dimension things, with Pylea and Fred and all. They might have some ideas or suggestions or extra research that we don't have. I know you don't really trust them now, with Wolfram and Hart and all that, and the Dana situation didn't go over well, and Angel's probably mad or glad that Spike is here, I'm not sure which, but maybe we should call him?" Willow finally stopped her ramble and took a breath. The way the wicca spoke always brought Buffy pause.

Buffy stood up and paced the room for a minute, thinking over Willow's suggestion. It couldn't hurt to at least call them in LA, she thought. And Angel owed Giles big time. Sure, their last phone conversation hadn't gone well, with Angel hanging up on Giles over the Fred situation. And the LA troupe were currently working night and day on finding some way to restore Fred. Would they even listen? Buffy stopped pacing and looked at Willow. "Make the phone call. See if they know anything and what you can find out regarding alternate dimensions. Maybe you should talk to Wes, if he's available."

Willow went over to the phone and dialed.

Meanwhile, Dawn was sitting on the toilet seat brushing her hair. Allison was soaking in the tub, bubbles practically overflowing on to the floor. Even though her body was immersed in the hot water, she was cold to the bone. It was a chill that wouldn't leave.

How had everything gone so terribly wrong?

It was noon the next day when a loud knocking came on Buffy's motel door. The girls all jumped in their beds, and were amazed to see what time the clock displayed. How had they all slept so late?

Buffy leapt up and ran towards the door, throwing it open. She expected Giles or Xander to be on the threshold, but the subject before her was a complete surprise.

"Hey, peach pie, how are you this fine morning?" Lorne had a huge grin on his face, and wore a neon orange suit with a bright blue tie, and a matching blue fedora. He was a sight with his green skin and horns.

Willow stepped up behind the surprised slayer, and smiled and waved at the demon. "Hi, Lorne."

"Hi yourself, precious. Can I come in, or is she going to gape at me all morning? It was a long drive, and we have work to do. And? I have to pee."

"Oh, sorry, Lorne. I'm just surprised to see you." Buffy opened the door further and Lorne strolled into the room. "Good morning, ladies. Be with you all in a moment. And why don't you get the boys in here? I didn't speed drive non stop from LA for a slumber party."

Buffy still held the door open, the afternoon sunshine filtering in. It looked to be a nice morning outside, in contrast with their moods inside. "Angel sent Lorne?"

Willow nodded. "I guess so. He said he'd do what he could to help us. And Lorne is a native from Pylea, and did the dimension traveling thing. I'm sure it will help, him being here and all."

Buffy didn't know what to think but she knew she intended to research every avenue. She instructed the others to get dressed while she went to wake the men. Lorne hung out in the bathroom until Willow pounded on the door, his cue that they were all decent. By that time, Xander and Giles had thrown a blanket over Spike and they all gathered in the girls' room to confer.

Lorne had introduced himself to Allison and Dawn. "Don't worry. I can assure you that Carolee is most likely fine. We'll bring her back. I have no doubts about it." He frowned and couldn't meet their eyes as the rest of the group sat and waited. He couldn’t lie to the girls, but he didn't really know what would come to pass. Wherever Carolee had been sucked into, odds were that it wasn't a good place. There were hell dimensions out there that made Pylea look like the Garden of Eden.

Buffy and Willow described the events leading up to last night's journey, the spell that had been said, and the actions that occurred. Lorne listened patiently, nodding and asking questions when necessary. When they had all talked themselves out, Lorne turned to Giles. "Sing for me." He commanded.

"Pardon?" Giles took his glasses off and wiped them vigorously on the hem of his shirt.

"Oh," Willow began, sitting on her hands and rocking back in forth in an excited manner. "I know, I know! Empath demon. You can read Giles when he sings, and maybe figure out where Carolee is by seeing her through Giles's eyes?"

"Something like that, yes." He turned back to Giles. "Sing for me."

Giles looked embarrassed, blushing and opening his mouth but no words emerged. "Oh come on, G Man, it's not like some of us haven't heard you sing before. Just close your eyes and pretend you are at the Espresso Pump or something."

Spike grinned. "Yeah, come on mate. Out with it."

"Oh, for bloody sakes. Fine." Giles pushed his glasses back on, sat rigid in his seat, closed his eyes tightly, and began to sing.

Everyone in the room was entranced by his wonderful voice. Allison almost swooned, and knew Carolee was going to be pissed when she heard that Giles had sung, and she wasn't here to hear it.

"She's got a way about her
I don't know what it is
But I know that I can't live without her

She's got a way of pleasin'
I don't know what it is
But there doesn't have to be a reason
Anyway

She's got a smile that heals me
I don't know why it is
But I have to laugh when she reveals me.."

Suddenly he stopped, his eyes opened wide, meeting Lorne's compassionate look. "She must be quite the girl, to capture your heart so quickly." Giles flushed, and bent his head to study his shoes. Spike and Allison shared a small smile, Buffy patted her Watcher's arm with her hand, and Willow frowned, hoping for the best for Giles.

"Did it help? I mean, did you see anything relevant to the search?" Giles stood up, trying to expend some of his nervous energy, and he was ready to bloody do something, besides sit in a room singing for this Liberace wanna be.

Lorne felt sad for this tall, stern, British man. He needed some loving, and he needed it in a bad way. Soon. He clapped his hands together, startling them all. "I think I know where she is, and what we need to do. Willow? Where is that spell book you used last night? I'm sure what we need to open that portal again, and hopefully in a more pleasant way, is in that book."

"Um…where is the book?" Willow looked lost for a second, and all eyes turned towards her. "The book is…ah…well…that is…I think I left it…when it dropped…between the rocks." Her frown increased as she saw them all look numbly at her.

"Guess we'll all be making another bleedin' trip out there tonight, won't we?" Spike grumbled, grabbed the television remote, and the sounds of Passions filled the room.

Chapter 11