aired on: April 17, 2001

written by: David Fury

directed by: David Grossman

Buffy is at the funeral home, selecting a casket for Joyce, accompanied by Dawn and Giles. Dawn is clearly a little freaked by the experience, and Buffy is worried that maybe she shouldn't have come along. As Buffy and Giles leave to talk to the funeral director, Dawn stays behind and stares at the casket.

At the Summers home, Buffy and Giles make funeral arrangements while Xander, Willow, and Dawn sit at the table and basically listen in. Before Joyce's operation, she and Buffy had discussed what should be done if she died, and Joyce was clear that she didn't want a wake or anything like that. Dawn was not privy to this conversation, and she seems hurt at being left out. Since there won't be any post-funeral activities, Dawn asks to stay with Willow and Tara that night, so she won't have to go home. Also, they apparently can't get hold of Buffy's dad. The number they had for him in Spain isn't working, so they've just been leaving messages all over the place, hoping he'll get word somehow.

Xander and Willow head home, and run into Spike on the sidewalk in front of Buffy's house. He's got flowers, but Xander accuses him of trying to score points with Buffy and tells him to go away. Spike insists that this is for Joyce, because he truly liked her, but Xander's not listening. Spike throws the flowers down and storms off. As he leaves, Willow picks up the flowers. Spike didn't leave a card - the gift was going to be anonymous.

The next day is the funeral, and it's as depressing as you'd expect (and quick, thank goodness). When it's over, Buffy decides to stay at the grave alone for a while. She ends up being there for several hours, until it turns dark. Someone walks up beside her. "I'm sorry I couldn't come sooner," Angel says, and she grabs his hand. Willow and Tara try to talk to Dawn, but she's in rough shape right now and not interested in their feeble words of comfort. Instead, she gets an idea. A really, really bad idea. In the history of bad ideas......you get the point. Xander and Anya finish up a rather intense lovemaking session, and Anya thinks she knows why it was even better than usual this time. Joyce's death has made her think about life.....and about making life. Xander gets a horrified look on his face, but she assures him she doesn't mean right now. But they could make life together, and it makes her feel like they're part of something bigger. It's a nice, peaceful sort of feeling. Xander understands.

Back at the dorm, Willow and Tara are taking in Dawn's request, and they're not exactly thrilled about it. In case you hadn't guessed yet, Dawn wants to revive Joyce. Willow is mostly concerned with how often such spells go wrong, but for Tara, it's a matter of Wiccan ethics - they're not allowed to mess with life and death like that. It's risky and wrong, and she's adamant about not doing it. Dawn storms off to bed in a huff.

Buffy and Angel sit under a tree in the cemetery all night, talking. Buffy isn't sure how she can go on without Joyce. Everyone thinks Buffy's the strong one, but it was really her mom who held things together. Angel reminds Buffy that she's stronger than she thinks, and she's not alone in this, either. He offers to stay in town as long as she wants. "How's forever?", Buffy asks, only half-joking, "Does forever work for you?" They both realize this is not a good plan, and Buffy admits she's very "needy" right now. Needy enough to kiss Angel, in fact, which quickly reminds both of them that he really should get going. Soon. He does decide to wait a few more minutes, though.

At the hospital, Ben finds Jinx skulking around in the bushes. Glory wants her minion to encourage Ben's "courtship" of the Slayer, in order to get information out of her. Ben again refuses to cooperate, saying he "would never do that to an innocent...". He stops himself as he realizes he's just tipped his hand to Jinx, then makes things worse by insisting that it's "not a person". Ben simply can't let Glory have the Key, since doing so would result in so many deaths. He drives the point home by stabbing Jinx in the gut before he can run and tell Her Silkiness what he's just learned.

The next morning, Willow and Tara go to breakfast. Dawn says she wants to sleep in, and Giles will pick her up later. As she's leaving, Willow secretly makes a book slide partway out of a shelf. Dawn notices this and picks up the book, which is a history of witchcraft. There's a chapter on resurrection spells, which she eagerly reads.

Later, Dawn's at the magic shop, pretending to make herself useful by dusting and offering to help with customers (much to Anya's dismay). Giles, wanting to keep her occupied and happy, shows her around, and answers her questions about the "off-limits" material that she should keep people away from. Giles takes a box into the back room while Anya rings up a sale, giving Dawn just enough time to grab a couple of those items nobody's supposed to touch. That night, Dawn kneels at her mother's grave and tries to do the spell. It's not working, and Spike walks up behind her and reminds her how dangerous this stuff is. He's not planning to tell Buffy, however - he's going to help.

Meanwhile, Giles goes home and finally has his own time to think about Joyce's passing. He puts on "Tales of Brave Ulysses" (which he played for her back when they were teenage hoodlums in "Band Candy"), settles down with a drink, and remembers.

Spike takes Dawn to the home of some creepy old guy who's an expert on resurrection spells. Dawn thinks Spike is trying to impress Buffy again, but he warns her not to tell Big Sis about this. He's doing it because he doesn't like to see the Summers women suffer, that's all.

Jinx survives Ben's attack and makes it back to Glory's place in time to reveal the, um, good news. Glory's thrilled that they finally have a clue about the Key's identity, but she's furious when she learns that Ben was the one who stabbed Jinx. Jinx dies, and Glory instructs the other minions to "fix him up". I'm not sure if I want to know what that means.

Dawn and Spike arrive at the creepy guy's house, and it's none other than Oscar-winner(tm) Joel Grey who greets them. He's some old sorcerer or something, and Dawn notices that he has a tail and his eyes go black once in a while (okay, yuck). He's reluctant to help her, since she's not a witch and these spells tend to go awry a lot, but she insists. He tells her she needs an egg from the nest of some local demon, and a picture or painting of the dearly departed. He gives her an incantation to repeat three times, and tells her the only way to reverse the spell is to destroy the image of the deceased. He also adds the caveat that he can't guarantee Joyce will come back exactly right. "She'll still be my mother, won't she?", Dawn asks hesitantly. "More or less" is the not-entirely-comforting reply. Spike and Dawn find the demon's lair, and it's a three-headed dinosaur/dragon lookin' thing. Spike distracts the demon while Dawn gets the egg, which she promptly breaks. She rushes back in, and they try again. This time, it works, and Dawn goes home to perform the spell.

Willow is writing in her new journal, which she's decided to start keeping since Joyce's death - she wants to record everything, especially about her time with Tara. Tara notices the empty space on the bookshelf, and figures out that Dawn must be responsible. Willow thinks it's just a harmless history book that might answer some of Dawn's questions, but Tara is worried that it could provide enough info for Dawn to do some damage. She quickly calls Buffy. Who is just getting home as the phone rings. She catches Dawn as she finishes the spell, and they run downstairs, where Dawn eagerly awaits her mother's arrival, clutching her photo. Buffy is furious, but Dawn has her own grievances. She thinks she's truly alone in all this, because she's convinced Buffy doesn't want her around. She even accuses Buffy of not seeming to care that Joyce is dead. Buffy breaks down and tells her why she's been trying so hard to keep it together. "I have to do these things," she says, "Because when I stop, she's really gone". She has no idea what she's doing, but she has to take over. If she doesn't, "Who's gonna make things better? Who's gonna take care of us?"

As the girls are talking, a Joyce-shaped shadow passes in front of the living room window. Then there's a slow, steady knock on the door. Buffy and Dawn freeze, and Buffy can't help but grasp at that last, faint sliver of hope. She rushes to the door, but Dawn realizes what's really about to happen, and rips up the picture of Joyce. Buffy opens the door, but there's no longer anyone - or anything - there.

Buffy looks out into the empty night, then turns back to Dawn. The sisters embrace and fall to the floor, sobbing in each other's arms.