A/N: Okay so another chapter that was supposed to have more. But I figured I should get this out to you all before you assumed I just quit writing. I hope you like it.

Disclaimer: I own nothing and I used a few lines of dialogue from and actual episode of Buffy.

Ruby bandaged her arm and cursed her human host for being such a profuse bleeder. The ritual required far too much of her blood and she was going to make someone pay, after she took a nap.

Laying down she thought about all the ways she was going to hurt the slayer and her band merry followers. It would be fun. Perhaps she would save the kill for when her father got back. He would surely be even more pleased with her. Sam would be his vessel and she would be his right hand.

"Mmmm." She moaned sleepily. The anger she felt earlier was melting away as she remembered that all her arduous planning and scheming was going to mean something.

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Sam took only a small swig from the bottle he had hidden before creeping back into the house to sleep. He just had to keep the urges at bay for the moment. He'd drink more when he actually needed the power.

Stepping into the house he stopped to look up the stairs. He remembered the way Buffy looked at him earlier and a chill went down his spine.

So much had been put into that one look. How on earth had they gotten to this point?

Deciding not to dwell too much on the events of the night he went up the stairs to Buffy's room. She lay still for the most part twitching only every so often. He couldn't tell from the look on her face if she was having a nightmare or not.

After a few of seemingly peaceful minutes he resigned himself to the floor downstairs (the couch was simply not big enough) knowing that if she had a bad dream that at least one person in the house would hear and wake up.

Sam lay down thinking sleep would be impossible with all the events of the day rushing around his mind but as soon as his head hit pillow, he was out.

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Everyone was dreaming except for Ruby. Her demon sleep was simply a way for the frail human host to recuperate. She didn't need much sleep but when she did sleep she was entirely too vulnerable for her liking.

The dream she had created for Sam was playing across his subconscious mixed the whatever his subconscious wanted to see that night.

She hadn't done the spell perfectly, hardly anyone could, but she knew that Sam wouldn't be able to tell if it was part of his psychic power or not and he'd end up leaving town just in case. Sammy was so human in the way he worried about others that it sickened her.

Sam was dreaming good things when a flash of Ruby's magic crossed into it. He was on a beach that he often went to in his dreams. He was alone and the sun was shining and he was allowed to sit and relax without someone calling him to duty, when suddenly a spot of red showed out of the corner of his eye. He turned his head in a slow dream like manner to find nothing. So he relaxed back onto the sand.

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"Dawn Summers." Dawn looked at the odd figure in front of her. "You were not always called by that name."

"So? It's the name I have now and that's all that matters." She couldn't remember where she got that. Seems to me that it doesn't matter what you start out as.

"I suppose you are correct."

"Am I dreaming?"

"In a way, but it is not a normal dream."

"Yea I got that part. How is it not normal?"

"An Angel of the Lord is speaking to you through it."

"Oh. Well what do you want?"

"I have been sent to tell you that you need to stay away from Dean and Sam Winchester."

"Newsflash: Dean Winchester is dead." Castiel responded by merely looking solemn. "And I've waited a long time for Sam so I don't think I'm just going to stay away from him now. Where do you get off thinking you have any right to tell me what to do anyway?" Dawn had enough people telling her what to do and she wasn't about to start letting some guy in a dream pitch in his two cents.

"I am an Angel of the Lord."

"You said that." She crossed her arms and looked annoyed which caused the angel to chuckle slightly. "What's so funny?"

"They were hoping you'd follow orders better than your sister. I tried to tell them it was unlikely."

"Who was hoping? What are you talking about? Why are you in my dream?" Dawn was getting angry at the invasion and could feel something stirring inside of her.

"Please calm down and I'll explain everything that I am permitted." The angel looked slightly worried.

"What the hell do you mean you'll explain 'everything you're permitted'?" She felt a sensation in her chest as her anger grew.

"Dawn please. I will explain. You're feeling something different right now. Something you've never felt before. Correct?" Castiel was bracing himself for the power in the girl held to erupt. For her own part, Dawn was suddenly hyper aware that something was happening to her and couldn't figure out how to make it stop. The feeling in her chest was growing, and she looked down to see a glow coming from her fingertips. All of her Summers' bravado was lost as she looked up at the angel with wide helpless eyes.

"What's happening?" Her voice was panicked and small. The angel made to reach out to her but hesitated. Would he be able to touch her without harming her? She wasn't a mere human so perhaps his angelic fingers wouldn't burn her skin. Slowly his hand found itself on her arm.

"Dawn. My name is Castiel. I am here to help you. The power of the key is still inside of you. It's what is causing the disturbance with-in you. You need to calm down." Dawn looked up into the angel's eyes and tried to force herself into being calm.

Then, in a burst of light, Castiel was thrown from her subconscious and Dawn woke up with a gasp.

Looking around she saw that she was in her own room, there was no one else in it, and she wasn't glowing. An assessment of her body told her she wasn't in danger of bursting into a sun beam.

She had had a dream. She couldn't remember exactly what had happened but it had been significant.

However her body told her that it wanted to go back to sleep and she obliged it, resolving to figure out what had happened to her in the morning.

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Sam. Did he just imagine a voice? "Sammy." No someone was definitely saying his name. He stood up on the beach and looked around. Upon seeing Dawn, a smile stretched across his face. "I love you Sam. Isn't it good to be loved?" He squinted in confusion were they up to the 'I love you' stage of the relationship? He felt as though he was missing something.

A flash of red to his left. When he looked he saw nothing.

"Hey did you see…" He turned to ask Dawn about the red but she was gone.

Sam was once more alone on the beach but clouds were starting to role in. "Looks like rain little brother."

"Dean?" Sam turned to see his brother standing behind him. Dean smile was cocky as always but something was happening to his face. It appeared to be melting.

"Rain would be nice. Hell is really hot."

Another flash of red and this time when Sam looked, a giant hole pulled him into its center.

The images he began to see were a tangled web of memories and things to come. There was the first kiss that he had shared with Dawn while under a spell and it cut to them in a church surrounded by friends. Someone was blessing their marriage.

Dean was there smiling, and Buffy, with a large round belly, was standing beside him. The love of the image was palpable.

Then it was gone. Replaced by a giant wall of faces, all people he loved. All of their faces were melting. Suddenly the faces were gone and Dawn was standing in front of him once more. As she reached out a hand to Sam a demon came from behind and plunged a knife into her back.

"DAWN!" He couldn't get to her in time. And then Buffy's fist came across his face.

"You knew!" She screamed, "You knew and you stayed. You should've taken the demon bitch and left." Her rage faltered for a moment as she drew a knife from her belt. Her face was the face of someone who had lost too much and was about to lose more at her own hand. "We all loved you." Then Sam noticed Dean's body lying not far from him. He didn't even fight back as Buffy sunk the blade into his stomach.

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Dean slept, but only because his body was too exhausted to even think about fighting it. While he slept he dreamt of terrible things. Hell, as you can imagine, does things to the mind. He had spent years there.

As images of blood and gore and suffering flashed through his mind he barely noticed the girl that was watching him. She had appeared in his hell. Or at least something that looked like her had been standing over his shoulder many times. The fact that she was there bothered him but he learned that if he begged her to leave the thing would only begin to taunt.

As he cut into the first soul that lay on his rack she let out a small gasp. "Don't get squeamish on me now." He said grimly.

Buffy didn't know what was happening. She was supposed to save him, and yet she couldn't bring herself to move. Shouldn't she have been fighting something? And where was Castiel?

"Ow." She said absently as she rubbed at her left shoulder.

"Oh you feel pain now? Give me a break."

"Dean…" He stopped what he was doing. Her voice had sounded so very much like her. Demons could do fantastic imitations of humans, but after being around them for decades you began to realize the tiny things that made them inhuman. This Buffy didn't have any of those tiny things. Her voice was pure.

"Dean please… Let me save you." The way the words wavered on her lips caused his breathing to hitch.

"You don't have to save me from everything." Buffy finally found a way to control her body and began taking steps toward Dean.

"I know. But I want to. It doesn't even have to be real right now."

"I'm coming to you. Just wait where you are."

"Dean, you're not making sense...I'm right here." Dean's mind gave him a sharp jolt and suddenly he realized that this was Buffy Summers. The hand shaped glow on her left arm, mimicked the one on his right. He didn't understand but he knew that this meant there were connected. She was actually in front of him. Well maybe not her actual body, but her mind was connecting with his.

He looked back to find the rack with the soul on it was gone. Dean held up the knife in his hand and it disappeared. If this was an illusion he wasn't sure he cared. Crossing to stand in front of Buffy he lifted his hand to her face.

"My subconscious gets trickier all the time." She murmured before he pressed his lips to hers. He held it for a moment before pulling back slightly. "I'm sorry I didn't come for you sooner." A tear escaped her eye and he reached his thumb over to wipe it away.

Dean wondered at the statement. Why hadn't she come sooner? If there was anyone who could've saved him it was this girl. Not that he was angry. He knew there had to be a reason, but at the moment he couldn't remember what it was.

"I'm not sure if you're real or not, but if you are just know that I am headed your way. I'll be with you as soon as I can." Buffy frowned. Her dream Dean wasn't supposed to say such things. He was supposed to hold her and tell her how much he loved her, but he wasn't supposed to say he'd see her soon.

She decided to ignore it for the moment and reached up for another kiss. Before their lips met, however, they both felt a tug and Buffy was pulled away. "Dean!"

"Buffy! What's happening?"

"I don't know! I think something's wrong at my house." Dean reached for her, but couldn't get to her.

"I'll be there!" He yelled some other stuff but Buffy couldn't hear as the power of the Key broke through the dream worlds that surrounded her.

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Buffy tip-toed through the house checking on all of its guests and residents. Dawn was asleep and looking peaceful. She didn't linger there for fear of waking her little sis. Dawn had school in the morning and Buffy didn't want her sleeping in again.

A look into Willow's room showed the witch squeezed into a tight ball on one side of the bed. Her face showed stress and pain. Buffy wished she still attained the ability to know how to make her best friend feel better, but it was something she was still re-learning.

Amy was sprawled out next to Willow looking comfortable and pleased. The former rat was glad to have her body back. For some reason Buffy reached out with a slayer sense, and found… Darkness? There was something inside the new house mate. It was very small, but there nonetheless. Buffy resolved to keep an eye on the woman.

Finally she made her way downstairs to Sam. His large form had opted to sleep on the floor this night because the couch had simply scrunched him too much.

She couldn't get an exact read on his face, but she knew he was in pain. However since it wasn't really anything she could hit, she wasn't exactly sure how to handle it at the moment.

Sam coming back was supposed to have made everything better, but it seemed as though he'd only brought problems of his own. She took one step toward him before turning back to the stairs.

She heard him gasp behind her. Turning around Buffy saw Sam sitting upright and clutching at his stomach.

"Sam?" He whipped around to see who had said his name.

"Oh God. Buffy… I just had a dream that I was stabbed and…" He took a deep breath as he remembered the dream.

"Was it one of those prophecy type things you have?" Buffy moved to kneel by his side.

"I don't know. I mean I don't think so. It felt… different." He let out a groan and closed his eyes tightly. When he opened them Buffy saw that they were a little shiny, as though he were trying to hold back tears. "Why can't I just be normal? Why can't we all have met under normal circumstances and then grown up together like normal kids? You and Dean would probably have been married by now. Dawn and I could've-"

"Okay stop. Dean and I would never have found anything in common if not for this life. He might have hit on me a couple times but after a date or two I would've ditched him for a quarterback type. Then I would've gotten married and become fat and miserable in my old age." They both cracked a small smile. "As for you and Dawn… she would've been a girl who had a crush on you in grade school then you would've gone off to Stanford and married Jess. I'm not saying I'm happy Jess died, far from it, but I am happy that my little sister gets to be happy with you now, and I'm happy that you could find comfort in her.

"Without this life we wouldn't have the tangled, messed up, complicated family, we have today. It's far from perfect, but I wouldn't change a thing…. Well I might change a few things." She pulled Sam into a hug. "I'm sorry for being so angry earlier."

"No don't be. I was wrong. I never should've trusted Ruby with something like that. My life is one thing but Dawn's… I should've known better."

"Yeah, you should've. I'm still sorry I was so harsh." There was a small silence as they just held onto one another. Then Sam realized something he needed to know.

"You'd do it. You'd do what Dad said if it came down to it?" He pulled back to look her in the face.

"It won't come down to that."

"IF it does, I need you to do it."

"Sam, I-"

"Let me finish please." He put a hand on her shoulder, "Buffy I trust you with everything." He thought of his brother and Dawn lying there dead as Buffy stuck the knife into him. "If you have any reason to believe that I'll hurt someone, any reason at all, kill me. Don't wait until it's too late. Can you promise me that?"

"I… yes Sam. I promise." Really Buffy? You think you'll be able to make that call? What if you make it too early? What if you decide and it's too late? She did her best to ignore her inner voice. "Now can we go to sleep? This has been an extremely exhausting couple of days and this conversation has just taken the last of it out of me. I just recently got pulled out of heaven you know." She flinched inwardly as she tried to sound casual. To say 'heaven' was almost enough to make her shut down completely.

"Did you wanna sleep next to me on the floor?" Sam asked when he noticed Buffy made no move to get up. "It kinda seems like we sleep better if the other is near." She thought about that and managed a small smile.

"Yea, you're right." As she laid down next to Sam, she wondered why that was. She could barely stand to look at Dawn or any of her friends without feeling guilty or regret, but when it came to Sam he made her feel at ease. Perhaps it was because he didn't expect anything from her. He wasn't waiting for her to break down or to be joyful about life. He simply offered her what he could and allowed himself to take comfort in a friend.

Sam's head was running over the dream. Could he trust it as prophecy? Or should he discount it entirely? Buffy had said that he should have taken the demon and left.

Did that mean that he and Ruby should leave and continue with what they had been working on?

"Hey Sam?"

"Yea?"

"Any chance you want to go patrol?"

"That sounds like a great idea." They both got up and dressed to kill some evil creatures.

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Castiel watched all of them. The Key's magic had only banished him from her dream. She didn't know how to harness the power enough to send him all the way back to heaven. He was not sure how to proceed.

There were a lot of strong willed people involved in this battle. The Winchester brothers had been given to him to watch over. After retrieving Dean from the pit he thought it would've been fairly simple to keep them all away from one another, but it looked like the Winchester's and the group from Sunnydale, California would find a way to one another no matter who wanted them apart.

How they had even met was beyond him. Powerful forces had been at work to keep them seperated and yet they had found a way to each other. They were constantly rushing into the next apocalypse in order to save one another. It made Castiel wonder about his mission to keep them apart. Why would God ask such a thing?

Of course it wasn't his place to question God's will. He would do as he was asked, for that is what angels are supposed to do, although most angels were unaware that the orders were not coming directly from the Most High.

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Dean shot up out of his bed. "Bobby!"

"What?" Bobby grumbled from his pillow.

"We have to go! I saw Buffy. I need to get to her!"

"It was just a dream Dean. Go back to sleep." Dean didn't feel like arguing.

"I'm leaving. You can come if you want." And he was out the door before Bobby had time to even think about what was happening. He got up and scrambled after Dean.

"Wait son. Let me just check out." Bobby was unhappy about being woken up but it was hard to argue with a boy who had just recently returned from hell.

When they finally got on the road Bobby asked what had happened. Dean recounted the dream and Bobby made mental note to contact a few of his friends about Dean's case.

Dean drove trying to shut everything out of his mind. He needed to get to Buffy and that was all that mattered at the moment.

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Sam and Buffy came across a scene at the Sunnydale Museum. After seeing the yellow crime scene they shared a look and broke off to see if they could find out what was going on.

Buffy ran into Spike after seeing a man who was frozen solid wheeled out of the building. "Great."

"Well, well, well look who decided to show up."

"What are you doing here Spike?"

"You know a man was frozen alive in there. Might try showing some compassion." Truthfully he'd been on his way to find a demon when the cop cars had gotten his attention. He'd figured Buffy would be there shortly so he decided to stick around.

"You know as long as we're both here, might as well tag along. You know as a team we could-"

"Yea that never really ends well does it?"

"It did the other night." He smirked. She rolled her eyes.

"You really seem awfully fixated on a couple of kisses Spike." She made to walk away from him.

"And you seem awfully quick to forget about em." Buffy turned around to face him again.

"Look I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry if you thought that it meant more."

"But?" Spike quirked an eyebrow.

"But when I kissed you, you know I was thinking about Dean. Right?" Spike sighed. "I was depressed cus he's not around and Giles is gone. But that's all that it was. You have to let it go." Spike shook his head. She was never going to let that boy go.

"Did it work?"

"What?" She was confused.

"Did you convince yourself?" Buffy closed her eyes in frustration.

"Please stop." With that she turned to walk away, but Spike followed.

"A man can change."

"You're not a man." Buffy stopped to look at him, trying to impress her point, "You're a thing." And she turned her back on him again.

"Quit walking away from me!" Spike grabbed her shoulder.

"Don't touch me!" She turned and punched him. Before Spike could get a hold of his own anger, he hit back and braced himself for the headache that was supposed to come. When it didn't he let out a strangled yell anyway so she wouldn't know the chip had malfunctioned.

A fist slammed across Spike's jaw and then Sam was there helping Buffy up.

"You're a thing. An evil disgusting thing." Buffy spat before turning to Sam. "Did you get what we need?" He nodded. "Then let's go." Sam gave a final glare in Spike's direction and let Buffy lead him away.

"What was that about?"

"He was just… being Spike." That was a satisfactory answer enough for Sam. He really didn't need a reason to hit Spike. As they walked he told her what he had learned concerning the security guard that had been turned to ice.

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Ruby woke up to a curious smell invading her room. "Hello vampire."

"Demon." Spike said from the chair next to the bed. "I didn't think demons needed to sleep." Ruby sat up and stretched.

"It's rare, but after certain rituals it's necessary."

"Rituals eh? What kind of ritual did you do?"

"I should really kill you for this intrusion."

"But then you won't get to hear my proposition." He smiled. Ruby looked at the vampire. Noted the slick blonde hair, the English accent, and the cocky attitude.

"You're Spike. The slayers little puppy." She smirked.

"Hey I am no one's puppy!" He leaned forward and looked menacing.

"Well you can't hurt anyone, and I've heard that that you wept for the slayers death. Didn't you used to kill her kind?"

"I can hurt you." He chose to ignore that part about the Buffy dying.

"You could try." They were both on guard now. Neither one remembering that Spike had a proposition.

"Little girl I'm the vampire that causes demons to tremble." Ruby yawned. "Hey! Quit that. I'm bad! To the bone even. Why else would I be here trying to offer you a deal?"

"Haven't you heard? I'm working for the good guys now. I want Lilith dead as much as anyone. Sam and I are… friends." She grinned slyly.

"Rubbish. A demon screwing a human doesn't make em friends. It means the demon is being manipulative." Ruby's eyes narrowed. She didn't like people who tried spoiling her plans.

"You know if I killed you no one would care. Sam would only be more convinced that I'm trying to help him. Especially when I tell him you were trying to cut a deal with me."

"Arg! You bloody demons don't even stop to look at it from every angle! I don't care about Sam. You obviously need him for whatever you're doing and I'm assuming that involves all the demon blood he's drinking." Ruby shot up off the bed.

"How do you know about that?" Spike smiled at having stuck a nerve.

"Demon's talk, love. Generally not to me, but I hear what I can. Now that I have your attention let me tell you why I came here. I'm sick of being viewed as the slayers lap dog. Just cus I'm in love with her everyone thinks I've gone soft. And yea I've got a small soft spot for the niblet, but those monks made her just so damn… adorable. "

"Monks?" Ruby questioned. She had clearly missed something about Dawn Summers.

"Yea she used to be this key thing and a bunch of monks made her into a little girl. There was this whole drama with a hell god a couple months back. Anyway, I'm assuming you want Sammy boy away from the Dudley-Do-Rights. I can help drive him out." Spike didn't notice the look in Ruby's eye after he had mentioned that Dawn was the Key.

"And how do you think you can help?" Ruby wasn't going to make any sudden moves. Clearly this vampire thought the Key was out of commission and she didn't want him to find out that she knew otherwise.

"I hold a certain fascination for the slayer. Ever since she came back, there's been a dark side in her that needs satisfying." He gave his trademark evil smile.

"So you're proposing that seducing the slayer will drive Sam out of town?" She also didn't want to let him know that she already had a plan for getting Sam to leave.

"Well… he'll be so upset that… Okay I haven't really thought this one through but I know I can help you." Ruby rolled her eyes. He was dense, but he could probably be used to lure the slayer away from the Key long enough for Lilith, or herself, to make a grab for it. Then there was the witch to worry about. She flopped back down on the bed in frustration. This would have to be a very carefully thought out plan and she would have to be careful not to let the vampire in on any of it. She closed her eyes for a moment before it all came to her. This could work. But there was one thing she didn't understand.

"What's in it for you?"

"Chaos. I miss being able to cause chaos." He pouted like a child and Ruby rolled her eyes again. It might be exhausting, but when all was said and done there was a good chance they wouldn't have to worry about tricking Sam into doing anything else. They could just bleed the Key.

So what did you think? I'm trying to keep some of the actual show in there but there's going to be a lot I'll need to cut. This is the only season of supernatural that I don't have on hand so it's a little more difficult to keep everything straight with that show. Let me know if there's something you want to see more of and I'll work it in. Also I promise to dedicate a whole chapter to Buffy and Dean once I can actually get his butt into the picture.

I tried to make sure Spike wasn't just evil. He didn't actually mean to give information to Ruby, it just slipped because everyone assumes that the key is no longer active since Buffy closed the gate.