A cell phone rang in the dark, smoky bar. It came from a corner booth. If it wasn’t so dark, the other patrons would have seen a green demon, wearing a loud orange suit, sipping on a Seabreeze, a bright fedora pushed down on his head to hide the small horns which protruded from his forehead. But in this small coastal town, no one noticed, or probably wouldn’t have even cared. He had hoped to find a nice karaoke bar, but had no luck in this one stop sign of a town.

Lorne set down his drink and grabbed the small cell phone out of the inside jacket pocket, flipping it open after reading the small screen which displayed that Cordelia was on the line. “Hey gorgeous, what’s up? And please tell me it’s sun shining there in LA, because I’m getting quite depressed in this gloomy Oregon rain.”

“We have a problem, Lorne.”

He frowned. “What’s the what?”

“I just got off the phone from Andrew in London where they were monitoring the robots. The Allisonbot lost it’s head in front of the family, and now we’ve lost them.”

“Lost them? You mean someone took them, as in kidnapped the family?”

Cordelia shook her head, even though she was on the phone so Lorne wouldn’t see her distress. He could hear it in her voice, however. “No, I think they just left, but we can’t find them.”

“Well, honey bunches, this isn’t good.” He took another swallow of his Seabreeze, and then traced the condensation on the outside of his glass with his fingers as he listened to Cordelia’s squeal. He had to hold the phone back an inch from his ear at her high pitched yelling, and he grimaced as pain shot into his head from the loud decibels of her voice.

“Of course it isn’t good. I know this. I said it was a problem. You need to tell Willow about the malfunction. But, see, there is a slight other problem, besides the robot explosion and missing family.”

Lorne sighed. How did he get this messenger job? Sometimes he even missed Pylea, though he would never admit that out loud. “As if those two things were not enough. What’s the other ‘slight problem’ as you said?”

“Well, um, see, Allison wasn’t too excited about the Allisonbot replacing her. She wouldn’t leave on the mission, if that was the only option. So I told her and Willow that The Powers That Be could do a time fold, so that Allison’s family would be held in an exact moment, never missing Allison physically.”

“Wait a minute. Let me get this straight. You lied to this poor woman to get her to leave her family? And now she is here, where it may not be safe, and her friend is stuck in between dimensions, maybe never to be heard from again, and you want me to tell her that you lied, and the Allisonbot thingy is dead, and her family is missing?” Lorne was in shock, and his dander was starting to get up, which was really a moment for him. He didn’t usually have a mad bone or anger streak in his make up, but this was too much!

“I didn’t lie!” Cordelia cried, causing Lorne to again hold the phone back from his delicate hearing. “I tried the time fold thingy, but the Powers wouldn’t do it, and by then it was too late to turn back, and Allison was already on her way, so Plan B had to take effect.”

“Plan B meaning the robot was put in place, unbeknownst by Allison.”

“And Willow.” Cordelia said quietly.

Lorne gasped, and then slammed down the rest of his drink before loudly banging down the empty glass on the table. “Willow doesn’t know, which means Buffy doesn’t know, that the Allisonbot was left, which is now not functioning, and Allison’s family now knows this, and is now missing.” He closed his eyes, falling back against the booth. “This is what you need me to tell them?”

“That pretty much sums it up, yes.”

A cocktail waitress started to approach the table, but Lorne waved her off, hiding behind the shadows in the booth as best he could. The waitress left his check as he turned from her, hiding his face in his hat. She wondered about his odd skin condition, but then shrugged and left the table. She hated waiting on people as they talked on their cell phones. What could be so important that they couldn’t wait until leaving the bar to yack on their phones? She thought it was quite rude.

Cordelia continued to tell Lorne that Andrew and his men were on the hunt for Allison’s family, and they had already retrieved the now defunct Allisonbot. They also had sent men to guarantee that the Caroleebot would not have the same issues. Lorne was not to cause mass panic, but to inform Willow and Buffy quietly as to the predicament, assuring them that everything was under control.

“Under control?” Lorne shouted into the phone as he threw money on the table. “How is it under control? It’s a mess, girl. It’s so messy that Martha Stewart can’t even clean it up.”

“That’s because she’s in jail, Lorne.”

Now he was really riled. No one dished his Martha. “She is not. Nor does she belong there. It’s a conspiracy, I tell you. I need to get some men on that.” He scratched at his horn idly, momentarily distracted.

Cordelia sighed. “Worry about Martha later.”

Lorne frowned and then stood up out of the booth. “Quite right. I’ll think of something. Lorne is on it, sweetie, so no worries.” He flipped the phone shut and left the bar, his mind running a mile a minute as he thought of different ways to drop this bomb on Willow and the gang.

* * *

As soon as Carolee had flung the door open, the room disappeared. Giles found himself standing beside Carolee’s body as he had first found it, lying in the fetal position on the hard ground. But this time things were different. He still felt that connection with her, and the pull of Willow and the others.

Carolee groaned as her mind was again flooded with the deafening noises and oppressive darkness, and she shivered in the cold. She could no longer see Giles, but she felt his presence.

“I’m right here, Carolee.” She heard his comforting voice. “You must hurry. Willow and the others can’t hold on for much longer. It’s time! Concentrate on my voice, and focus on their strength pulling you. Can you feel it? Can you feel them? Focus on us, and the darkness and noise will fade. You must get up, and fight this now!”

His voice was gentle, yet commanding. She could feel…something…out there. It was strong and unwavering. It was her friends. She gritted her teeth, opened her eyes to the darkness, and slowly stood up.

A strong wind roared, and she doubled over, almost losing her balance. It was the other dimension, pushing her toward it’s opening. But she wouldn’t look back at it’s gaping maw. She concentrated on moving forward. Giles coaxed her all the way, never leaving her as he had promised. “That’s it, Carolee. Keep putting one foot in front of the other.”

She bent her head against the wind. Thunder clapped and lightening erupted out of the darkness. She staggered, and fell to one knee. “Get up. You can do it.”

Carolee paused, not giving up, but trying to find that quiet place within her, as in her meditation practices. She inhaled deeply, held her breath for a minute, and then slowly exhaled. This calmed her clamoring heart. She concentrated on the breathing, and Giles words of encouragement, which he never stopped uttering. A few more exhales, and she got back up on her feet.

It seemed as if it was miles away, but on the horizon she could see a bright light. That was where she had to go. She took another step forward.

Lightning forked above her, and screaming filled her ears, drowning out Giles’s voice. She pressed both hands to her ears, and squeezed her eyes tightly shut. Something swarmed down at her. It felt like millions of bat wings, fluttering against her exposed face. She bent at the waist and tried to press her face against her chest to protect herself as best she could. She waved her hands, punching at the wings that tried to envelop her. Giles’s voice was now so faint, she couldn’t make out his words. But he was there, in the background, underlying all the other terrible screams. She took another step forward towards the light.

Suddenly something grabbed her from behind with such force, her shoulders almost came out of their sockets. She yelped in pain, struggling in it’s grip. Then her body took over, instinct coming to the forefront. In her martial arts training, self defense moves were practiced over and over again so that the body remembered the moves and not just the mind. When she was grabbed from behind, her body remembered what to do. She quickly crouched her body down into a “horse riding stance,” taking her attacker by surprise. His grip loosened on her shoulders as she fell closer to the ground, her knees now bent. Then she clutched her hands together into a single fist, her elbows sticking out parallel with her collarbone. Carolee then rammed her elbow into her attackers side and belly. Who or whatever it was grunted in pain, and released it’s grip from around her enough that she could get away. She stomped down on the top of it’s foot for good measure. She never turned around to see the beast, but she did see the purple talon on it’s toe break off when her heel crushed it. The beast roared out in pain and frustration, and Carolee bolted, running towards the light.

A stitch in her side slowed her somewhat, but she kept pounding her feet on the hard ground, running as fast as she could. Screams and thumps followed closely behind her, but she never turned around. Instead, she concentrated on that thread of light. It was growing and pulsing as she ran. Finally, when she couldn’t run anymore, she leaped head first into the light.

Falling and falling again. She pressed her arms to her side, and torpedoed into the light. It enveloped her, warmed her, and sheltered her. Her eyes were tightly closed to protect them from the brightness of the light. Then she fell into a heap onto a hard floor, banging her head. Then, darkness. Stunned, she slowly opened her eyes, and found herself surrounded by her friends, on the floor of a motel room. Their faces peered down at her with worried expressions. Willow, Buffy, Spike, Allison, and Giles. She smiled, and they smiled back.