WWDD: S1E10 “NIGHTMARES”

Dawn is downstairs eating breakfast with Joyce, who confirms that her dad is visiting. Joyce stresses because Buffy is still asleep and rushes off to wake her up. That night, Dawn hears Buffy screaming and she launches out of bed and into Buffy’s room clutching her pink bedside lamp as a weapon. Fortunately, Buffy was just having a nightmare.

Dawn can hardly concentrate the next day at school knowing that her dad is picking her up after school. By mid-afternoon, Dawn is still waiting. Heartbroken, she asks her teacher to call her mom, but her teacher acts like she doesn’t recognize her. Dawn is eventually able to call Joyce, but her mom insists that she doesn’t know Dawn and that she only has one daughter--Buffy.

Dawn starts to realize that things are not quite right. Her first instinct is that Buffy will know what to do, so Dawn walks from the elementary school through Sunnydale's intricate labyrinth of back alleyways to Sunnydale High. Dawn spots Buffy with a boy stepping into some shrubs, so she follows, but finds herself in a dark graveyard, alone. She wanders around terrified until she spots a familiar group surrounding a headstone. She hides behind a headstone when Buffy emerges from a grave! Dawn sees Buffy’s face and stifles a scream. When she is sure everyone is gone, she approaches the grave. She reads Buffy’s headstone and tears well up. Buffy is dead. And a vampire.

A sudden flash of light pulls Dawn back to her classroom, like she just woke up from a nightmare. Her teacher calls on her, using her name, which confirms for Dawn that whatever happened wasn’t real. When Buffy and her dad pick up Dawn after school (on time), Dawn gives Buffy a big hug and tells her she loves her.