dawn comforts buffy, who dazedly notes that dawn has been misbehaving and the problems need to be dealt with before 'coming to' in the hospital, where her mother reminds buffy that dawn does not exist. dawn realizes through buffy's babbling that she's considering this, and rushes from the room. xander and spike manhandle the demon into buffy's basement chaining it while willow breaks off its stinger to make the antidote, which she must synthesize without using magic.