Buffy wakes up

"Buffy,"said Xander, "I know you would like to be called Anne right now but if you're still in there, now would be a good time to come out."

"Come out?" asked Buffy. "Come out where? Are you saying that I'm gay now? Because I could be -- if you wanted me to be."

Buffy looked at Drusilla. "But not with her. I'm sorry, Xander, but she isn't my type."

"No," said Xander. "I mean go back to being the old Buffy."

"But my name is--"

"I don't care about your name right now. Just be your old self. Be the Slayer. Please."

"What's a Slayer?"

Spike just grinned. He and Drusilla started advancing in Xander's direction, neither of them feeling the need to hurry what would appear to be an easy kill.

"Goddamnit, Buffy," said Xander. "The two of us are most likely going to die if you don't snap out of it. So please. Snap out of it."

Buffy heard the desperation in Xander's voice but was not sure what she could do about it. She felt very removed from the situation as if she was sitting in a mental hospital located miles away from Sunnydale and wearing a strait jacket. But no, that can't be right. Besides, Xander kept calling her Buffy. And there was no Buffy. Everyone knew that the Master had killed her two years ago. There was only Anne now. Only Anne. And she was just a waitress.

No, wait. She was naked right now. In public. So she wasn't a waitress. So what was she?

She had drowned, hadn't she? No, she didn't. She remembered now. Someone had revived her. Someone had given her mouth-to-mouth and literally brought her back to life. But who? Xander?

Was it Xander who had saved her life?

But if that was true, then she never died. That meant Buffy never died and so Anne must be a myth. But she was Anne. A voice in her head said so. But whose voice? Hers? No, Buffy was pretty sure she'd recognize her own voice. Perhaps it belonged to this woman she had talked to earlier that day. This woman she called... Amelia?... Anita?... Annabella?... Anastasia? Amy? Yes, Amy.

Amy had called her something. "Not a rat," she had said. So she was not a rat. But why Amy needed to tell her that, Buffy did not know. She already knew she wasn't a rat. Then Amy had said some words that were a spell and then...

Buffy woke up. And remembered everything.

Everything she had done. Everything she had been prepared to do. And everything she should be doing right now before Spike and Drusilla saw the expression in her eyes and realized...

"Damnit, Dru, she's awake!"