Episode 12 - Remedial Measures
ACT THREE
EXT. CONSTRUCTION SITE - DAY
from where we left off. Hathos and Buffy facing off.
BUFFY
Let me guess, you'll be my assassin.
HATHOS
And you'll be my first slayer.
Hathos swings his scythe at Buffy. Buffy leaps over
the path of the scythe and into Hathos. She slams her
stake into Hathos' chest where it sticks. Hathos
hardly flinches. She knocks Buffy away, sending her
flying into a pile of bricks.
Hathos approaches Buffy. Buffy spots a jackhammer
lying on the ground behind Hathos. She immediately
runs towards it, staying clear of Hathos as he swings
his scythe again. She evades the scythe and then dives
over Hathos' spiked tail as it lashes out at her.
Buffy lands next to the jackhammer and picks it up
mid-roll. She gets back up and flings the jackhammer
towards Hathos.
Hathos sees it coming and, using its powerful legs,
jumps straight up in a vertical leap, ending up at the
second story of the half-completed building behind
him.
Buffy looks up at Hathos.
BUFFY
You gonna come down and play?
ANGLE : HATHOS
looking down at Buffy. He takes a deep breath in and
then lets out an ear-piercing roar.
Buffy covers her ears and looks away, crumpling to her
knees.
Hathos leaps down, over Buffy, landing next to the
crane with the wrecking ball. With a mighty push, he
swings the ball towards Buffy.
Buffy turns and sees the ball coming at the last
second. She dives for cover, just managing to evade
the ball. Hathos leaps forward, ending up opposite
Buffy, the wrecking ball continuing to swing between
them.
ANGLE : BUFFY
We see Buffy backed up against a building, the
wrecking ball swinging by in the foreground. She eyes
off Hathos, waiting for him to make his move,
occasionally keeping an eye on the swinging wrecking
ball.
ANGLE : HATHOS
as he readies his scythe, waiting for Buffy to make
her move, the wrecking ball swinging back past in the
foreground.
Buffy tries to duck right. Hathos swings down with his
scythe, the blade striking just in front of Buffy. She
tries to duck left. Hathos swings down again, blocking
her path in that direction as well.
Buffy considers her options. She sees the wrecking
ball coming back down in its downswing out of the
corner of her eyes. She waits, and waits, then fakes
right. Hathos swings down again with his scythe again,
but this time, the wrecking ball catches his weapon,
flinging it away from his grasp and landing a few
metres away.
A beat as Buffy and Hathos eye each other off, letting
this new development sink in. Suddenly, Buffy starts
running towards the weapon. Hathos follows. The two
race towards the weapon.
Buffy reaches the weapon first but instead of picking
it up, she dives straight down to the ground. Hathos
leaps towards Buffy and the weapon, landing near her.
He pauses, confused. He turns around and sees the
wrecking ball swinging towards him.
The ball smashes into Hathos and knocks him through
the air, sending him flying into a steel beam
protuding from a building, impaling him. Buffy gets
up, picking up the scythe. Buffy slowly approaches the
demon.
HATHOS
(weakly)
Spare me.
Buffy's face hardens. She looks at Hathos for a beat,
then swings the scythe, burying it in the demon's
chest. The demons slouches down, lifeless. She stares
at the body for a beat, then turns and leaves, exiting
off-screen.
We see the elven girl emerge from the shadows, her
hands chained to a pipe. She looks up at Hathos, then
at Buffy. She takes a few tentative steps towards the
departing Buffy. We hear a loud snarl behind her. She
turns to look.
ANGLE : HATHOS
coming back to life. His head lifts. With a mighty
effort, he pulls himself free from the beam. He pulls
the scythe from his chest and takes a step forward and
lets out an angry snarl.
EXT. BUFFY'S HOUSE - DAY
to establish.
INT. BUFFY'S HOUSE/LIVING ROOM - DAY
ANGLE : TERI AND VINNIE
on the couch, serious kissage. We PAN over to Dawn on
the other end of the couch, uncomfortably watching the
two. We see Scott sitting next to her, eyes down on a
book.
Dawn shifts her attention to Scott, totally checking
him out. Scott catches her looking.
DAWN
(quickly shifting her eyes
away to the book)
So, you see, he's like a metaphor
for, you know, the crumbling
society.. or whatever.
SCOTT
(eyes back to the book)
No, no. I think I get it. I think I
actually understand.
(calling out to Vinnie)
Hey Vin! I got it!
ANGLE : VINNIE AND TERI
still making out. We see a preoccupied Vinnie, without
looking, give Scott a thumbs up while he continues to
kiss Teri.
SCOTT
(to Dawn)
Wow! You're like amazing. How do you
know so much about this stuff?
DAWN
(nervous, smiling)
Oh, you know, it helps if you
don't.. have a life.
As Scott begins putting his books away, a mortified
Dawn immediately regrets that last comment. Her smile
dissapears as she shakes her head when Scott isn't
looking. Scott turns back to look at Dawn. Dawn
reproduces her smile.
SCOTT
It's really cool to help me out like
this Summers.
DAWN
It's Dawn. You can call me Dawn.
SCOTT
(smiling)
Dawn.
The two share a moment, rudely interrupted when..
BUFFY (O.S.)
Hey Dawn! Guess what! Looks like I
can spend today with you after all.
ANGLE : THE FOUR TEENAGERS ON THE COUCH
from behind as we look into the living room from the
foyer. We see the four turn towards the camera and
peer over the couch.
REVERSE ANGLE:
Buffy in the foyer, searching through a bag in her
hands.
BUFFY
(not looking up, dragging
out a videotape)
Look, I managed to get hold of the
highlights from the 2001 Worlds. We
can pop this baby in the VCR, pop
some popcorn, and..
(looking up to see
company)
totally have complete strangers pop
over and plop themselves on the
couch.
A silent beat as everyone looks at each other. Dawn
gets up and walks towards Buffy.
DAWN
Buffy, these are my friends. That's
Teri, Vinnie..
Teri and Vinnie give little 'Hi' signals.
DAWN
and that's Scott.
Scott looks more than a little interested in Buffy.
SCOTT
(his best impression of a
much older guy)
Hey.
DAWN
Everyone, this is Buffy..
(a beat, Buffy stares at
Dawn)
Oh! My sister.
BUFFY
(to everyone)
Hey.
Another beat as Buffy and Dawn stand uncomfortably,
unsure of what to do.
BUFFY
So, any of you guys wanna watch some
figure skating? You totally haven't
lived until you've seen Yevgeny
Plushenko do the Bielmann spin.
Dawn, sensing she is rapidly losing her cool factor,
quickly rushes up to Buffy and drags her away by the
arm.
DAWN
(faux nice)
Buffy? Can I talk to you in the
kitchen for a moment?
BUFFY
(as she is being dragged,
to the three in the living
room)
It was nice to meet..
INT. BUFFY'S HOUSE/KITCHEN - DAY
as Dawn drags Buffy into the kitchen.
BUFFY
you.
DAWN
What are you doing back? I thought
you were spending the day with
Giles?
BUFFY
That got shortened. Things kinda
wrapped up surprisingly early with
today's monster of the week. Giles
is gonna go all researchy with this
amulet deal that Harmony mentioned
so, I thought I'd take a break from
training and patrolling, you know,
what with the General laying low and
all. I thought I'd spend some time
with my favourite sis. Didn't
realise you had friends coming over.
(suspiciously)
What is this? You havin' a party? A
secret Summers soiree?
DAWN
(nervous laughing)
Summers soiree.
(more laughs)
That's a good one. No, this is like
a study group, you know.. for
studying. Nothing doing here but the
three R's..
(off Buffy's look)
the good three Rs.
BUFFY
(takes a second look into
the living room)
Study group huh? Like one of those
special boy-girl, boy-girl study
groups?
Dawn shrugs, the jig is up.
BUFFY
Listen Dawn, it's totally okay if
you want to invite some friends
over, so long as you tell me.
Dawn nods.
BUFFY
And so long as they're not
vampires.. or bikies.. or, you know,
tatooed in places of naughty.
DAWN
Got it.
Buffy takes a look at Scott in the living room.
BUFFY
So, what happened to Kevin?
DAWN
Buffy, I don't pry into your
personal life.
BUFFY
(giving Dawn a
disbelieving look, slowly
and flatly)
Every single day of my life.
DAWN
Okay, bad example. Look, I'm trying
to make an impression on the guy,
and I get a feeling one of us is
making far too much of an
impression.
Buffy and Dawn turn to look into the living room.
ANGLE : SCOTT
checking himself out in the mirror, tidying his
collar, etc.
DAWN
Plus, of course, there's the whole
older sister thing..
BUFFY
Say no more. Far be it for me to go
all Aunt Buffy on your emerging
social life. Just tell me one thing.
DAWN
What?
BUFFY
(taking a look at Scott)
Tell me that you're not planning
to.. um.. run the bases?
DAWN
Buffy! No! Trust me okay?
BUFFY
(not entirely convinced)
Okay.. I'll be back before it gets
dark..
(then giving Dawn another
suspicious look)
enough for anything really serious
to develop.
Buffy smiles and turns to go.
DAWN
It's cool, you know, that you wanna
hang. I mean, maybe we can do this
next week, if you're not patrolling.
BUFFY
(smiling)
Yeah, maybe. But right now, I'll
just take my quirky figure skating
obsession, and of course, my
sizzling sex appeal, to a place
that's more welcomy.
We prelap:
XANDER (V.O.)
Of course we're happy to have you
here.
INT. XANDER'S APARTMENT - DAY
Where we see Xander and Anya sitting opposite Buffy in
the living room. The two of them look a bit
dishevelled (as if hastily dressed), a little red and
slightly breathless.
XANDER
I mean, it's the happy world of
Buff, right here in our living room.
ANYA
(flatly)
I too am pleased that you have come
calling.. unannounced.
BUFFY
I hope that I wasn't cutting into
anything important.
XANDER
What? No.
ANYA
At least nothing we couldn't quickly
pull out of.
XANDER
Yeah, it's just another normal,
uneventful, lazy afternoon at chez
Harris.
ANYA
(offering a tray to Buffy)
Oysters?
Buffy declines, a slightly confused look on her face.
Anya puts the tray down and sits back next to Xander.
BUFFY
So.. You guys are with the good? I
mean, everything ship-shapy?
ANYA
It was a few minutes ago.
XANDER
(quietly)
An..
BUFFY
(to Xander)
You alright?
XANDER
(nervous)
Yeah.. Why? Shouldn't I be alright?
BUFFY
You're all flustery.
XANDER
No, I'm not. Totally with the
serene. Graduated head of the class
in the school of zen.
To prove his point, Xander puts his hands behind his
head and leans back onto the couch. He sticks his feet
up on the table but knocks over a glass of water on
the table. In trying to catch the falling glass,
Xander knocks over the tray of oysters to the floor. A
total mess.
XANDER
(embarrassed, to Buffy)
Of course, I also snuck into the top
15 percentile at clown school.
ANYA
(to Buffy, impatient)
Why are you here?
XANDER
An. Remember what we discussed?
About how we treat our friends
differently from census takers?
Anya makes an apolegetic face, then turns to Buffy.
ANYA
(flat, practised)
Sorry Buffy. Please accept my
heartfelt apologies.
Buffy smiles. An awkward silence as the three run out
of things to say. Buffy looking around the room,
searching for a topic. Anya looking increasingly
antsy, wanting very much to be doing something else.
BUFFY
(to Xander)
Ever think about changing the wall
colour?
XANDER
(takes a look)
Not really. Kinda like the muted
look myself.
Anya looks like she's about to explode.
BUFFY
I'm partial to purple, you know,
cause..
ANYA
(can't hold it anymore, to
Buffy)
Why are you here?
BUFFY
No big. Just wanted to partake in
some quality Scooby hang time. I
know I've been all out of charactery
recently, you know, with the slayage
and everything? Ebenizer with the
fun?
ANYA
I haven't noticed a change.
BUFFY
(a little stung)
You haven't?
Buffy turns to Xander.
XANDER
No..
(noticing Buffy's look)
but not that that's bad or anything.
We totally understand what you have
to do.. what you're going through? I
mean, you've got all this
responsibility.
BUFFY
Well, responsibility be damned.
(getting the tape out of
her bag)
I wanna spend today just watching
salchows and flips.
ANYA
Are those demons?
Buffy notices the blank expressions on Xander and Anya
and casually replaces the tape in the bag.
BUFFY
Or we could do something else. What
were you two up to before I came? I
mean, I'm totally flexible.
A look between Xander and Anya as they allow the word
imagery to sink in.
ANYA
We were having s..
XANDER
(panicy, jumping in)
Singing lessons.
BUFFY
(disbelieving)
Singing lessons?
XANDER
What? Like that's a strange thing?
Haven't you ever just wanted to
burst into song?
ANYA
We were having a lovely duet just
before you came. In fact, I was just
hitting a high note when you
knocked.
XANDER
(quick change of subject)
Buff, you sure you don't want to
munch on something? Cause, we're
stacked with the edibles.
BUFFY
Nah. I wouldn't mind a drink though.
ANYA
(starts to get up,
smiling)
I got just the thing to perk you up.
Xander jumps to his feet, suddenly realising.
XANDER
(to Anya)
Whoa. Why don't I get something for
Buffy.
ANYA
(dissapointed)
She might like it.
Xander heads off to the kitchen. Anya sits back down.
Anya and Buffy share an awkward, silent beat. Anya
still looking very worked up and fidgety.
BUFFY
So..
ANYA
Yup..
Another beat.
BUFFY
So, you guys were having sex?
ANYA
Oh yes.
We abruptly cut to:
INT. OUTSIDE XANDER'S APARTMENT/HALLWAY - DAY
Buffy is now outside Xander's apartment. Xander and
Anya are at the doorway, seeing Buffy off.
XANDER
You don't have to go.
BUFFY
I so have to go.
XANDER
I hope you don't think we do this
every minute we're together. I mean,
it's just that today, we were..
BUFFY
Please, I don't wanna imagine the
wheres and whats of you two ten
minutes ago. You guys go back and..
um.. get back to what you were
doing. Just give me five minutes
headstart okay?
Buffy smiles and leaves. Xander and Anya, still
coupled together at the doorway look on. They then
turn to each other and start to work themselves up
again. Beginning to kiss.
ANYA
You think she'll be okay?
More kisses.
XANDER
Yeah, she's Buffy..
(kisses)
she can deal.
(kisses)
it's like..
(kisses)
she's on top of everything these
days. Totally in control.
Still kissing, Anya pulls Xander from the doorway as
Xander kicks the door shut.
INT. WILLOW AND TARA'S ROOM - NIGHT
CLOSE ON : BUFFY
BUFFY
So, what am I doing again?
WIDEN :
to reveal Buffy, Willow and Tara sitting cross-legged
on the floor in a circle. Willow and Tara on either
side of Buffy. Their hands are joined and Buffy is
touching two glasses with her hands; one empty, one
full.
WILLOW
You're a conduit.
BUFFY
I'm a what now?
TARA
A conduit.. for the vessel spell.
Don't worry, it's harmless. Just let
the magic flow through you.
WILLOW
You might feel a tiny tingly
sensation.
BUFFY
Bet you say that to all the girls.
Willow smiles. She closes her eyes. Tara closes her
eyes. Buffy, following their lead, closes her eyes. We
slowly TRACK around the three sitting figures as
Willow and Tara chant.
WILLOW/TARA
Vessel to vessel, water and sand,
the essence shall flow, through my
heart to my hand.
Vessel to vessel, water and sand,
the essence shall flow, through my
heart to my hand.
Silence. Buffy opens an eye to peek out. Willow and
Tara are still deep in concentration, eyes closed.
BUFFY
Listen, for after, I brought along
this tape..
WILLOW
Shh.
BUFFY
(contrite)
Sorry. Bad conduit girl.
Buffy closes her eyes again, waiting, Nothing happens
for a beat.
BUFFY
Okay, I'm ready.
WILLOW
We did it already.
BUFFY
You have?
Buffy opens her eyes and takes a look at the still
empty empty glass.
WILLOW
(eyes still closed)
Did it work?
Buffy strains to see, leaning close to the cup.
BUFFY
I think I see a drop.. but.. it
could be a stain.
Willow and Tara open their eyes. They examine the cup.
All three girls still have their hands joined.
WILLOW
(to Tara, dissapointed)
It didn't work.
TARA
You have to expect this Will. We
can't just pick it up from where we
left off.
WILLOW
(closes her eyes,
determined)
We'll go again.
TARA
Maybe we should take a break. I'm
sure Buffy doesn't want to spend all
night..
WILLOW
(eyes open)
But.. we have to try again. I mean,
we have to keep working on it. Get
things back the way it was before.
TARA
We will, but we have time.
Buffy follows the conversation silently and awkwardly
with her eyes, to and fro as if watching a tennis
match.
WILLOW
Why can't we work on it now?
TARA
You can't rush things. Things have
to follow a certain time frame.
Progress naturally? You can't just
will things to happen the way you
want them to, just like that.
There're no shortcuts Will.
WILLOW
You think that's what I'm doing?
With us?
Buffy notices the water in the full glass beginning to
bubble.
BUFFY
Um.. guys. Is that part of the
spell?
Willow and Tara don't hear Buffy; focused on each
other.
TARA
I just want things to be right.
Trust me. We'll get there, but you
have to let me lead you.
WILLOW
You don't think I listen to you?
Buffy takes another worried look at the glass in her
hand. The water now bubbles furiously in the glass
until.. CRASH. The glass breaks, the water spilling
onto the carpet.
The three look at the broken glass on the floor.
BUFFY
Okay, that wasn't tingly.
We abruptly cut to:
INT. OUTSIDE WILLOW AND TARA'S ROOM/HALLWAY - NIGHT
A familiar scene. Buffy outside in the hallway. Willow
and Tara at the doorway.
BUFFY
No, I so have to go. You guys
obviously need some time together to
work on your.. spells.
TARA
Maybe we could do this properly some
other time, you know, without the
exploding glass.
BUFFY
(smiling)
Count on it.
Tara smiles and returns back into the room. Willow
remains at the doorway, looking on at Tara. Buffy
notices the look of concern on Willow's face.
BUFFY
You guys will work it out. Trust me,
I know how the story ends.
Little smile from Willow. She then turns back to look
at Tara.
REVERSE ANGLE : TARA
putting clothes away into a closet.
ANGLE : WILLOW
a slightly worried look on her face.
WILLOW
(to Buffy, but still
looking at Tara)
Tell me again.
INT. CHRISTOPHER'S APARTMENT - NIGHT
We see Christopher at his table, sitting back in his
chair, looking very solemn. The open black case
containing the syringe and the four small bottles is
on the table in front of him. Christopher stares
intently at the bottles for a long beat.
He looks like he's about to reach for the
case, then sinks back into his chair, looking very
indecisive. Another beat as he considers. He then
slowly gets up, picks the four bottles up one by one
and heads for the bathroom.
INT. CHRISTOPHER'S APARTMENT/BATHROOM - NIGHT
He places the four bottles on the sink counter. He
turns on the faucet. He takes the first bottle, opens
it and pours it down the sink. He picks up the second
bottle, opens it and pours it down the sink. He picks
up the third bottle.. when he hears a knock off-
screen.
Christopher looks towards the door, a little
concerned. He carries the third bottle in his hand as
he heads for the door.
ANGLE ON : THE DOOR
as he opens it to reveal.. Buffy standing in the
hallway.
CHRISTOPHER
(a little stunned)
Buffy.
BUFFY
Hey.
ANGLE : CHRISTOPHER'S HAND
as he palms the bottle in his hand.
BLACKOUT
END OF ACT THREE
CONTINUE TO ACT FOUR