I wonder how long it's going to take them.

I play with my gloves, trying to find some kind of way to get them off.

I'm guessing that they sent in Xander, Connor and Kennedy because they thought I wouldn't have my guard up around them. That I wouldn't attack them like I would my sister or the bitch. Like they were trying to figure me out or something. Almost like they were trying to find a way into my head so they can fix me somehow. What they don't see is that I'm not the one who needs to be fixed. It's everyone else who does.

And I can and will do it, because it's the only way to make everything better. They just don't see it yet. But they will, and I'm going to make them see it. All it is, is a matter of time. The problem is that they are so set in their ways and believe so strongly in the idea that this is the only life they can have that they don't see how good it could be.

They don't see that I know them as well as they think they know me. But what they don't see is how I've changed. How I'm not the naive young girl they keep clinging to. Hoping against hope that I can somehow be saved and made into that little girl again. The one they can at least pretend to love because that girl needed to be protected. She needed other people's help to walk down the street in the middle of the day. She could barely tie her shoes without someone else's help.

I'm not that girl anymore.

The door opens and I just know that this is going to be fun. I keep my focus on my gloves, trying to get things figured out.

"Hey Dawn..."

Seriously? This is what they're going with?

I actually look up eventually at her.

"Wow, they really are scraping the bottom of the barrel aren't they?"

Candy moves closer to me cautiously.

"They?"

"My idiot sister and her friends. If they actually think you're going to help me, they're clearly out of ideas."

"It wasn't their idea."

I scoff at that.

"Sure it wasn't."

She gets hurt by the suggestion.

"It's true, I just... I wanted to see how my friend was doing."

I can't help but chuckle at her words.

"We were friends?"

There's a silence before she responds.

"I thought so."

"Do you usually kiss Carmen or Tess like that?"

She gets this sad look on her face for a moment.

Yeah, I'm guessing that's because of Carmen, what with her still being dead and all.

"I didn't think so... I'm guessing it's because the last time we had a conversation, it didn't exactly end on the best of terms. In fact, I'm pretty sure I specifically told you that we weren't friends anymore. And you agreed with me, didn't you?"

It takes her a second to respond.

"At the time, yes... but I've grown up since then Dawn. I realize now how important the people I care about are. I said I was sorry about how things went down between us, and I meant it. I still mean it."

Did she?

"Then or now?"

"Both."

She's so transparent.

"Of course you do. Everyone's always sorry in retrospect. They always feel bad after doing something wrong. They never just either don't do the wrong thing or enjoy being the one that's wrong."

"We're human. Mistakes are part of what we do."

"Is that what my sister and the bitch taught you?"

There's a long silence in the room.

"No, you did."

Aww, isn't that adorable?

"I was a terrible person to you basically since I met you. Being a slayer made me arrogant, selfish, and a bully. You were the one who taught me that I didn't have to be mean to people to get what I wanted. That I could be nice to people and still be happy."

"Well maybe I shouldn't have bothered in the first place. I mean, it turns out you were right all along. The rest of the world is selfish and mean to each other, why not you? Why shouldn't all of us just be exactly like everybody else? Especially if you're actually better than other people."

She starts to get upset at what I'm saying.

"But we don't have to be. We can be better than the worst of us. We can be an example to others for them to look up to."

"Or we can stop expecting them to live up to some standard that is impossible to meet. Instead we can work to actually fix people by fixing the world. Make it what it should be. A world where Carmen didn't die needlessly because of some stupid demon that came after me. Where you never were the bitch you were and honestly still are."

That really starts to get her upset.

"I just... I want you to know that it doesn't have to be this way."

"Okay then, you've said that. Thank you very much for your cute little platitudes. You can go now."

I turn away from her and start putting my focus back on the gloves I'm trying to get off. There's a long silence that follows. Eventually, I hear her head back towards the door and leave.

Damn these things are really hard to get off. There's definitely some kind of magical spell at work here. I should've been able to get them off by now. I've had more than enough time alone to work at it. Which means that Willow is probably the one that did it to me. She's going to have to come in here for me to have any chance of getting them off, which is probably why she hasn't come in yet.

I sit back.

But I guess it's only a matter of time.