~Early morning, Sunnydale~
Gunn tenderly swept some of his girlfriend's dark hair away from her eyes. Cordelia smiled sleepily, before stretching, her arms reaching overhead.
"Feeling better?", he asked.
"Mmm hmmm.......", the former May Queen murmured, blinking the sleep from her eyes. The large hazel orbs settled on Gunn's handsome face.
The young man sighed, closing his eyes in relief. Cordelia eyes watered at the worry and fatigue that still seemed visible to her sharp gaze. Tenderly she settled her palm gently on his cheek.
"You okay?"
Gunn's eyes opened. "Me? I'm not worried about me here, Delia. I'm worried about you. These visions are scaring me babe. I have these nightmares... I can't stand not being able to help you--"
Unshed tears flooded the lovely brunette's eyes, and she pressed a single finger to her love's lips, stilling his flow of words. She moved closer, settling her forehead to his in silence for a second, before kissing him lingeringly on the mouth.
"I love you Charles Gunn."
"Makes me the luckiest bastard on the planet", he said, grinning against her full mouth.
Whatever Cordelia was going to say was lost when three sudden sharp knocks sounded at the door.
Gunn hazarded a quick glance at the clock on the bedside table and frowned. "Its kind of early for a visit."
"Maybe its Willow and Angel, maybe something happened", the Seer said, an edge to her voice. "Gawd! You don't think anything happened to Wesley and Faith, do you? Did anyone check on them?"
Her boyfriend shook his head, and climbed from the bed. "I don't know, I haven't talked to anybody since I brought you back here." He walked towards the door, unaware of the patently hungry look Cordelia was giving his boxer-clad backside.
Gunn looked through the peep hole and frowned. It couldn't be... He opened the door, a sarcastic comment on the tip of his tongue. "Damn Xander, you really have a knack for showing up at the absolute WORST possible moments, you know that?"
The dark haired male gave him a lopsided grin. "Sorry about that, but we--", he looked behind him.
"Hey Anya", Gunn greeted, his curiosity growing exponentially.
"Hello", the former vengeance demon said brightly.
By this time Cordelia had wrapped a robe around her and walked to Gunn's side.
"What's going on?", she asked.
"Well that's kind of a long story", Xander began hesitatingly. "I--" He sighed and began again. "You guys wanna get breakfast?"
Confused and a bit perturbed, the ex-cheerleader huffed in annoyance before looking in Gunn's direction. The black man shrugged. Looking back at Xander, Cordelia nodded shortly.
"Sure, we'll do breakfast. Give us ten minutes to get dressed."
Xander snorted in disbelief. "Ten minutes!? You?"
Cordelia narrowed her eyes, glaring at her ex-boyfriend. "Yes", she reiterated in a low voice, "ten minutes." And then she slammed the door in Xander Harris' face.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Dawn", Buffy called, as she slapped a piece of lettuce down on the turkey sandwich she was making. She frowned, staring at it. Why didn't it look as good as when mom made it? Her lip trembled for a moment, before she decisively pulled herself away from that particular topic and bit her lower lip.
She looked back up. Her sister was nowhere to be seen.
"DAWN!!"
"I'm right here."
Buffy started in surprise and glanced over her shoulder. She smiled at the younger girl almost shyly, combing blond hair behind her ear. "Hey, there's scrambled eggs in the pan, and I made you a turkey sandwich for lunch."
Dawn frowned, looking from the pan to the counter top. "Oh. Thanks." She walked to the fridge and got out a glass, pouring herself some orange juice with her back to her sister.
"I don't really eat breakfast though."
The Slayer blinked. "Oh. You should though, most important meal of the day and all that."
Her sister rolled her eyes. "Yeah, whatever." She opened the fridge to put the orange juice away. "I hope you didn't put tomatoes on the sandwich, I hate tomatoes."
"You do", Buffy squeaked. "Of course you do", she said quickly, grabbing the sandwich off the counter. "I remembered that", she managed weakly as she fumbled to get the bread off and throw out the tomato before Dawn could spot her.
She turned around the sandwich in hand to find the darker haired girl staring at her the glass of orange juice to her mouth.
"You gonna wrap that?", Dawn asked, "I have to get to school."
"Yeah, I was. Right", Buffy murmured turning back to the counter and grabbing one of the plastic baggies. At that moment, the doorbell ran.
"I'll get it", the youngest Summers said, placing her now empty glass on the counter.
Preoccupied, the tiny Slayer waved her on, still trying to figure out how to use the plastic cling wrap.
Dawn's voice broke the stillness. "Buffy! Buffy!! BUFFY!!!"
The utter fear in her sister's voice cut Buffy to the core. In an instant she ran from the kitchen and through the house.
"Dawn!"
"Here."
Mid-stride, Buffy changed her destination. Dawn's voice had come from the living room. She ran into the room and spotted her sister immediately, standing stiffly by the fireplace her back to the mantel.
"Hello Slayer."
Unadulterated horror filled her, her head swiveling with the sound. The curly haired hell god sat almost primly on the couch, her legs crossed at the knees.
"Glory."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Willow awoke with a start, jerking to a sitting position, her breath coming in fast pants.
"Willow?", her mate said.
"Willow, what's wrong?"
The redhead looked at her handsome vampire, and shook her head almost imperceptibly. Large unshed pools of moisture collected in her eyes.
Her brow furrowed in concentration, and finally she shook her head again. "I don't know", she whispered in misery her arms going around her love's strong neck.
~Part: 52~
The foursome walked into the diner and sat in a booth. The place was relatively quiet and they purposefully chose seats far away from the other customers. A tired looking waitress asked them what they wanted to drink, and Cordelia, Gunn and Xander got cups of coffee. Anya opted for herbal tea.
They stared at each other in awkward silence until they're hot beverages came.
Thankful for the respite, Xander made sure to pour in lots of sugar in his coffee. He stirred and stirred, putting off what he had to say.
"Xander."
"Hmmm..."
"Xander."
Blinking, the dark haired man put down the teaspoon and turned to his girlfriend.
"Aren't you going to tell them what I did, so they can thank me?", Anya asked.
"Thank you?", Cordelia murmured in confusion, her hazel eyes turning towards her ex. "Huh?"
"I second her 'huh', and raise a 'what the hell is she talking about Xander?'", Gunn intoned seriously, his dark eyes on the construction worker's face as he took a sip of his black coffee.
Xander sighed.
"I don't know if you know the whole story Gunn, but Anya used to be a demon."
"Yeah a vengeance demon, Delia told me", Charles Gunn replied.
"I suppose she must've considering she's the reason I came here", Anya said matter of factly.
"What?", Gunn said looking at his girlfriend. "You didn't tell me that."
Cordelia's eyes widened. "Well I didn't think it was important", she managed, her foot slamming into Xander's shin under the table.
"Oh, oh, OH", the construction worker yelped. "Anya!"
"What?", Anya queried, looking confused.
The Seer scowled at her.
"Anyway, Anya was a vengeance demon for over a thousand years", Xander continued.
"One thousand, three hundred and twenty-four to be exact", the former demon in question supplied helpfully.
"And...", Gunn prompted.
Xander frowned and took another sip of his coffee. "Well she knows a lot of things, because of that experience. She's picked up a lot--"
"Alexander Harris, is there a point to this?", Cordelia interrupted.
"Yes, there is", Anya said. "You're visions, they will kill you eventually. You have maybe another year or two before they make your head explode."
"WHAT??", Gunn shouted.
Cordelia sighed. "Tell me something I don't know", she said quietly.
The black man turned towards his girlfriend. "You knew about this??!", he shouted.
At that moment, the waitress chose to return. "So you guys ready to order?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Angel kissed Willow's forehead and hung up the phone. If Willow felt something was wrong, then something had to be wrong. Although he'd called Wesley and Faith the night before to make sure they were okay, he'd felt the need to do it again.
Wesley had answered the phone promptly. As far as the Englishman knew everything was fine. Faith was well, her ribs already feeling better after a good night's rest.
"Give me the phone, I wanna try Xander", Willow said.
The vampire handed the redhead the appliance and then stood. His chiseled nakedness a study in shadow and diffused light, with the little bit of sun that escaped the hotel room's shades.
Pulling her eyes away, the witch dialed her friend's number. After six rings she hung up in frustration. No one was home. Which made some sense afterall both Anya and Xander had jobs, but....
"No one home?", Angel asked as he pulled on a pair of black slacks.
Willow shook her head, a growl rumbling from her throat.
Angel arched an eyebrow at his mate. "I'm going to check on Delia and Gunn."
"Good idea, I'll going to try calling Giles next."
The tall, dark haired male opened the door, and closed it behind him, while Willow dialed a number that was still engraved in her mind after a year of disuse. Giles picked up after two rings.
"Amy, I'll be in in fifteen minutes", the Englishman said quickly, he sounded a bit winded.
"Giles, its Willow."
"Oh hello Willow, I thought you were Amy. I'm running a bit late this morning it seems", he said.
"Then you're okay?"
"Why yes, I'm fine", the former Watcher stated. "Are you alright?"
"I just got a really bad feeling this morning... I think something's wrong", the redheaded witch told the older man.
"Well I think Anya and Xander are okay. She called this morning to tell me that they had something to do and would be in later."
Willow sighed. "Oh thank the Goddess..."
"Well I'm headed to the store now", Giles said. "I will call you as soon as I get there if anything is amiss, or Amy isn't there."
"Thanks Giles", she said, hanging up.
At that moment, Angel walked in slamming the door behind him. His body was tense.
"They're gone."
"What?"
"Cordelia and Gunn, they're gone. The front desk clerk said that she saw them leave with another couple. They didn't leave a note."
Willow stood from the bed. She groaned. "Maybe they went off with Anya and Xander", she guessed lamely.
"That makes as good a sense as any I guess", the vampire allowed.
"There's only one person I haven't called", the green-eyed witch admitted.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The sudden ringing of the phone broke Dawn from her frozen pose by the fireplace and in a flash, the girl ran towards her sister, trying to dart past the seated hell god to the hallway.
"Not so fast little girl", Glory said snidely, grabbing at Dawn's long hair and yanking, hard.
"Ow!!", the girl screamed, her hands clutching at her head as she reeled back. "Let go!!"
Buffy gasped. She couldn't lose Dawn, she just couldn't. "Let her go", she demanded.
"I would. I don't want her. I'm here for my Key. Give it to me", Glory said.
"I told you before I don't know what you're talking about", Buffy told the other woman coldly, her face betraying nothing.
"Liar, liar, liar", Glory singsonged, standing up. "You're lying, I know the priests sent the Key to you, I know you're protecting it."
"Well if they did, they didn't bother letting me in on the secret", the petite young woman lied.
Glory's eyes narrowed, cruelly she yanked Dawn again, this time pulling her against her.
"Buffy!!", her sister screamed.
Automatically Buffy sprang over the couch. "Dawn!"
"Stop!!", the insane god hissed, her lips grazing Dawn's ear's, her eyes trained on the Slayer. "Or I'll just snap little Dawnie's neck."
Instantly, Buffy stilled, her eyes clung to her sister's.
"Dawn", the Slayer said calmly, "remember that class you begged and begged mom to enroll you in? And then when she finally did you quit after the very first one?"
Dawn's eyes flashed. "Hey! Its not my fault I sucked at--" Understanding suddenly bloomed in the younger girl's eyes and the heel of her boot came down forcefully on Glory's instep. "-- tap dancing", she finished, pulling away from the hell god's loosening grip. Her sister grabbed her arm, pulling her bodily away from the insane hell god.
"Run!!", Buffy screamed at her as she shoved her behind her, and lobbed a powerful punch at Glory's scowling face.
Dawn ran around the sofa, only to be confronted by one of Glory's ugly little minions. "Buffy", she cried.
Her sister's voice pulled the Slayer's focus away from her adversary. She spun around, her leg snapping up and connecting with Glory's head, the move allowing her to see what was going on behind her. She spotted the minion threatening her sister and rushed towards him, just as Dawn grabbed a lamp off the side table and smashed it onto the hapless demon's head.
"Slayer!", the hell god screamed hysterically. Buffy turned dropping into an tense fighting stance, ready to end this one way or the other, once and for all.
"No! Buffy!", Dawn shouted from where she stood by the open door. "Come with me, forget Glory! Come with me!!"
The blond blinked her eyes straying from where Glory stood in the disaster area that had been their living room, to where Dawn stood bathed in the sunlight from the open door.
"Please Buffy, you can't win", Dawn pleaded, "I can't lose you too..."
Decision abruptly made, Buffy did something she could not ever remember doing before. She turned, and taking her sister's hand, she ran and never looked back.
~Part: 53~
Anya stared at the arguing couple in growing annoyance. Xander sunk in his chair as Cordelia and Gunn went at it. He almost wished the earth would open up and swallow him up, until he remembered he was on the Hellmouth, and that their was an actual chance it would do that.
The ex-vengeance demon sighed. When that got no reaction, she cleared her throat. Unused to being ignored, and exasperated by the lack of gratefulness aimed in her direction, Anya slapped her hand on the table forcefully.
Gunn and Cordelia jumped and turned startled eyes in her direction.
"Hello!!", Anya exclaimed sarcasm evident in her tone. "Forget about us?"
Xander groaned, and sunk further in his chair. Now he really did wish the earth would swallow him whole.
In her usual brash way, the shopkeeper summarized the other couple's disagreement. She turned to the demon hunter. "Gunn, Cordelia didn't want you to worry needlessly about something she knew you couldn't do anything about." Turning to Cordelia she said, "Cordelia, Gunn is angry because he loves you and can't believe you kept something so important from him. He wants to be there for you. Did I get all of that? Fine, moving on--"
The Seer's mouth dropped open. She couldn't believe Anya's nerve, and opened her mouth to tell her so.
"--Anyway there is a way for you to survive", Anya announced, cutting through whatever it was the Seer was about to say.
"What?", the taller woman croaked. "But how?"
"The visions were meant for demons or half demons, humans can't survive them for long, so--"
"If you're going to tell us that all Delia has to do is get turned by a vampire, you're out of your cotton pickin' minds", Gunn said harshly.
Anya rolled her eyes and sighed loudly. "No. Can I finish?"
The Seer nodded slightly. "Go on Anya."
"The Powers are going to send an emissary to you. You're going to be given a choice. It turns out, they sort of let it slide that you got the visions for a while because they were impressed. Apparently you're doing a great job with them."
Cordelia smiled, the Powers that she was doing a good job. "Really?" The smile faded as the rest of Anya's statement permeated her skull. "Wait, what kind of choice? They're not going to take them away from me are they? Are they?", panicked edge snuck into the ex-cheerleader's voice. Tears pinpricked her eyes.
"Delia?", Gunn said softly, his hand reaching out across the table to clutch at his girlfriend's.
"Wait", Xander began, "you want to keep the visions? But I thought they were like humongously painful and knocked you flat? Why wouldn't you want to get rid of them?"
"Because they helped make me who I am now, and I like that person so much more than the person I was here, or the person I was when I first got to L.A.", Cordelia replied, her eyes falling to where her hand and Gunn's were joined. "I can help people with them, and they make me an important part of Angel's team. They wouldn't need me without them."
"That's not true", Gunn began.
"It is", Cordelia insisted. "I'm not a fighter like you or Faith or Angel. I'm not magically inclined or a brain like Willow and Wesley. I'm just hot, but hot doesn't cut it in the demon hacking business."
Xander shook his head, "but if you don't, they'll kill you..."
Gunn couldn't believe that was all his love thought of her importance to them all. They were a family. She was the heart of their group. The glue. "Cordelia--"
"Gunn, I don't want to talk about this right now", she interrupted. "Continue Anya."
The former demon nodded. "I summoned my old boss D'Hoffryn. Turns out the Powers had decided they couldn't put this off anymore and were going to address this issue on your birthday anyway.... but I managed to move up the timetable."
Cordelia leaned forward, her mouth dry. "What's the choice?"
"You will have to choose between losing the visions and living as a normal human being, or you will have to choose to become a half-demon in order to keep the visions and live."
Gunn's dark eyes shone. His woman would live. Suddenly his mind was filled with images of the future. Maybe getting married, having kids... all the things he never thought he wanted, all the things he never thought he'd live to even consider, with Cordelia, it could all be possible.
"That's easy", he rushed, joy shooting through his vein as he looked over at the beautiful brunette at his side, "you can be human and live pain free. This is great."
"No", Cordelia said quietly.
Charles Gunn's brow furrowed. He had to have heard her wrong. "What?"
"No", the Seer repeated. "I won't lose the visions. Without them Angel loses his link to the PTB. We wouldn't be able to help as many people. I won't lose them."
"But to keep them you have to choose to be a demon..."
Cordelia turned, her large hazel eyes latching onto her lover's gaze. "Then I will become a demon. There is no other option."
"There's no other option because you won't consider any other option", Gunn said hotly.
The young woman squared her jaw, and looked away.
"Well, now that that's settled", Anya began, "maybe we can eat." She opened the menu. "Anyway, I hope they give an attractive demon's attributes cause there are some real uglies."
She looked up from the menu, suddenly aware that everyone's horrified eyes were on her. "What? I'm hungry."
~Part: 54~
Willow and Angel sped through Sunnydale in his convertible. No one had answered at Buffy's house, and the growing gnawing uneasiness in Willow's stomach had become a great big rock.
Her small hand clenched and unclenched against her slender thigh, bunching the material of her hastily donned skirt.
Angel could feel his mate's distress, the tension in her lithe frame making him extremely antsy. He navigated a sharp turn easily, passing a passenger car on the two lane street at a high rate of speed, even as his right hand reached over and gave his beloved witch a reassuring squeeze.
"Angel....", Willow gasped. "Stop the car. There they are!", she shouted.
Immediately, the souled vampire pulled off to the curb, hitting the breaks so hard he could smell the nauseating scent of burning rubber.
"Buffy! Dawn!", Willow called, as she pushed open the car door and ran towards the two sisters who were walking slowly but purposefully towards the center of town.
"Wills?"
"Oh Goddess, are you two okay?", the redhead asked, taking in the Slayer's bruised lip. Whatever had happened had to have happened very recently, or else an inconsequential wound like that would have already disappeared thanks to the Slayer's healing ability.
"We're fine", the petite blond replied, her hazel eyes still bright with anger.
"Glory busted her way into our house", Dawn told the redhead.
"Angel and I tried calling, I could feel that something was wrong. You two were the only ones we didn't have accounted for in one way or another... we were just headed to check on you guys", Willow explained.
Watching the three women for a moment, Angel did a u-turn and pulled up next to them.
"Need a ride?"
"That'd be nice honey", Willow murmured semi-sarcastically.
Wordlessly, Buffy and Dawn jumped into the backseat.
Angel looked over at Willow. "So I take it I can't take them home."
The redhead shook her head.
"Magic Box then?", the vampire asked.
"Yeah, we've got to regroup", Buffy said, finally pulling her attention away from the hypnotic sight of the moving asphalt. She blinked, realizing for the first time, that Angel was driving top down in the bright light of day.
She stared at the back of her ex-boyfriend's head, unable to help herself from quietly murmuring under her breath. "Wow."
"Yeah", Dawn said quietly, elbowing her sister, "he's even got some golden highlights in there. Isn't it trippy?"
Buffy nodded. "Trippy... yeah", the Slayer managed, her voice petering out.
Angel could hear their conversation easily. "I still can't get used to it", he admitted. "It was a sort of side effect of Willow's and my bond."
"I get that now", Buffy said, a small smile finally finding it way on her face.
Willow turned to look at her former best friend, and was shocked by the earnestness of her expression.
"Its really cool Wills."
"Yeah", the witch whispered, looking up at the handsome visage of her mate, "it is isn't it?"
After a moment of silence, Dawn spoke. "So, I'm not going to school?"
"I don't know if that would be a good idea Dawnie", Buffy said.
"But--"
"She knows too much about us now Dawn", her older sister interrupted, "and right now Glory's probably ransacking our house looking for her key."
"Its not like she's going to find anything", Dawn mumbled stubbornly.
Buffy sighed. "Dawn, Glory and her little demon midgets are in our house. I'm relatively sure they're not going to neat and tidy as they destroy our house, and you don't exactly keep your diary in the most secure place. I mean, how long have you been keeping it under your bed anyhow?"
Dawn's eyed widened in horror. "My diary!!! Glory can't get her hands on that, I wrote everything down in there... wait, you KNOW about that?!", the teenager cried.
"I've known about that since you were ten", Buffy said matter of factly. She turned her gaze to her sister, fear roiling in her belly. "And what do you mean you wrote everything in your diary?"
The youngest Summers swallowed nervously. "I mean--", she squeaked, "that I wrote everything."
The Slayer squeezed her eyes shut and slumped against the car's seat. Now, they were really in trouble.
~~~~~~~~
The group got to Giles' and Anya's store relatively quickly and found everyone inside waiting for them except Cordelia and Gunn. Xander and Anya assured them that they were fine. They'd gone into the back of The Magic Box to discuss something important.
Xander was deliberately vague, and Willow could tell he was holding back something big. And yet, whatever it was would have to wait in the light of what had happened that morning.
"Glory knows where I live", Buffy announced. "She showed up at our house this morning." She raised her hand to stifle the flow of questions she knew that statement would illicit, and continued. "We can't put this off anymore. Something has to be done about Glory."
"We realize that, but it doesn't seem as if we can", Giles told the Slayer. "There seems to be no way to kill her short of finding out who her human host is, and apparently we can't even do that."
"What if we take another tack?", Amy volunteered, thinking back to the conversation she and Spike had had the night before. She wished he was there.
"What do you mean?", Giles asked, turning to his employee.
"If Glory's here to rip open a gate to her dimension using the Key", she smiled at Dawn apologetically, "... what if we send it somewhere else?"
"No way we have to stick together", Xander argued immediately
"I don't want to go", Dawn said angrily. "What about my friends? And school? And all of you? I don't want to run."
Everyone exploded into talking at once. Tossing out their opinions in a rapidly building crescendo of noise.
Buffy stood rigidly, her arms crossed, head bowed and her eyes closed. She had feared it would come to this.
Slowly realizing that the golden Slayer hadn't said a word, had slowly caused the group's arguing to die down.
Personally, Willow thought it was a good idea to hide Dawn, but she wondered what was going through the Slayer's mind. "What do you think Buffy?"
"I think Amy's right", she uttered quietly.
Shock traveled through the group of allies. Xander for one, had not expected that answer from his best friend. It felt like giving up.
"Buffy, you can't just send her away", the dark haired youth stated.
"I can and I will", Buffy said harshly. "I would rather Dawn be somewhere far away and safe, than trapped here with me, doomed to an early death."
Dawn stared at her older sister, and blinked back tears. It appeared there was nothing left to say.
~Part: 55~
~That afternoon~
Ben came to himself in the middle of Glory's luxurious suite of rooms. He looked down at himself and spotted yet another whorish red dress. Grumbling under his breath, the doctor kicked off the ridiculously high heels he was wearing, and unzipped the dress shrugging out of it with only a little difficulty.
After threatening Glory's minions with various horrible deaths, they left him alone and he was able to find a pair of his own sweat pants and a t-shirt.
He left hurriedly, unable to wait to get the hell out there, never noticing lavender and green book which lay on his alter ego's bed. The book with a large, rounded girlish script on the cover which read 'Property of Dawn Summers'.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~ The Magic Shop ~
Dawn sat pouting unhappily. She couldn't believe they were just shipping her off this way. She snorted disdainfully and turned the full force of her glare at the couple who walked into the front of the store from the back.
Cordelia and Gunn walked stiffly into the room. The couple was studiously avoiding each other's gazes and curiously silent. Something which was very disturbing to Angel. He knew his friend's very well and neither were exactly tight lipped when something was bothering them. He wished furtively that he could help them work through whatever it was they were going through. Two facts stymied that desire, however. One was that he didn't know what his Seer and the vampire hunter were fighting about, and two, they didn't have the time. Glory had upped the ante by bursting in on Buffy and her sister at home.
The tall brunette woman avoided Angel's questioning gaze, aware that her boss and friend wanted to know what was going on. As she looked at the those assembled in the room, her hazel eyes finally landed on Dawn's obviously angry features. Realizing that while they had been arguing, something very important had happened, Cordelia shook her head, and tried to relegate the argument she just had with the man she loved to the back of her mind. She opened her mouth to speak, but her boyfriend's voice sounded first. She clenched her jaw, picking at imaginary lint on the bell sleeves of her gauzy, peasant style shirt.
"What's with the unscheduled group meeting?", Gunn asked, his eyes roving the room and noting that Xander still hadn't gone to work and Dawn had evidently not gone to school. Considering the time, something had to be up.
It was Willow who answered. "How do you and Delia feel about taking Dawn to L.A. for safe keeping?"
Gunn kept the momentary surprise off of his face, and shrugged. "Works for me. How soon?"
"The sooner the better", Buffy told him, unaware of how her words sounded to a certain pair of impressionable ears.
Furious, Dawn jumped up and ran to the bathroom. The sound of the slamming door reverberated throughout the room.
Startled and certain she understood, Amy followed slowly behind and knocked on the bathroom door.
"Go away", was the only response.
Sighing Amy walked back to the others and took a deep breath. "I'm going with them. If anything happens I may be able to help with magic. And I'm certain if we wait until sunset, Spike will want to go to."
"Spike!", Buffy growled.
"Its only logical", Amy patiently told the Slayer. "Spike is very attached to her and won't let anything happen to her if he can help it, and neither will I."
"Fine", the Slayer agreed, unconsciously rubbing the back of her neck. "I suppose the more protectors she has, the better."
Cordelia frowned, not exactly looking forward to being trapped in a car with the bleached blond vampire. It was bad enough she had to be there with Gunn now that they weren't exactly on speaking terms.
"Does anyone have any objections?", Willow asked after a long moment of silence, her eyes touching upon everyone in turn.
No one answered. Privately Giles was relieved. This solution was a lot more palatable than the one which had been swimming around in his brain. What was the life of one girl, as compared to the end of the world? Taking off his glasses, the Watcher slowly began to polish the lenses, watching as Angel went to the phone to warn those in the Hyperion that they would be having a guest.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~L.A.~
Wesley's face was a mask of concentration. He turned the page, and scanned the typeface, searching for something very specific and coming up empty.
"Wes..., hurry up", Faith urged.
"I'm trying", he retorted between grit teeth, his concentration breaking as he peeked over the top of the newspaper and spotted the raven haired Slayer lying on the grass, Max lying on her toned belly.
He sighed, and glanced back at the newspaper.
"Well?"
"Ahhh.. here it is."
"So what movies are playing?", Faith asked. "You owe me a date."
Wesley smiled, his eyes roving over the selection for a likely candidate; something not too romantic, or overly violent. That's when the phone rang.
Rolling over, Faith leapt to her feet and lunged for the portable phone by the ex-Watcher's chair.
"Angel Investigations, we help the hopeless", the rogue Slayer sing-songed in a perfect imitation of Cordelia's cheerful tone. Wesley shook his head ruefully.
"Hey Angel..."
Wesley paused, placing the paper on his lap and gazing up at Faith as she spoke to the souled vampire.
"Okay, can do", Faith said finally, hanging up.
"Can do what, may I ask?" The former Watcher asked, bending to pick up the demon dog puppy as it yipped at them and grabbed onto the edge of the newspaper in his lap with tiny, sharp teeth.
"Take in Buffy's sister. I guess we'll have to take a rain check on that date Wes", the Slayer told him.
Disappointed, Wesley nodded. "Yes of course, you're right. I suppose we should prepare a room for the girl." Placing Max back on the ground, he stood gracefully, his gaze on his Slayer's face.
Faith shrugged and rolled her eyes. "I guess", she said nothing for a moment. "Ummm... Wes?"
"Yes?"
"She's going to hate me isn't she?"
"She may, yes", he allowed. "Apparently, because we were out of the Sunnydale area when the monks cast the spell that created Dawn, we don't have the manufactured memories that Buffy's group have. According to Willow, she's noticed that the memories are seamlessly woven into one's existing memories the minute you set eyes on Dawn. So far it's happened to her, Angel and Cordelia. Only Willow appears to be conscious of both the real timeline and the one in which Dawn was suddenly inserted, however."
"Oh."
"What's wrong Faith?", Wesley asked her, coming to a stand and tilting her face upwards.
"She's gonna hate me for stuff I did to Buffy and maybe even stuff she remembers I did to her, that I actually didn't do.... That bites. I'm not gonna have a clean slate with this girl, and technically I don't even know her", Faith said dispiritedly.
"I know, and its completely unfair, but I'm going to be standing right there beside you", the Englishman said quietly, before gently pressing his lips to her own.
The kiss was warm and completely without sexual overtones. It made Faith feel comforted and safe, and when he held out his hand, she took it happily and walked into the Hyperion together. They had a room to get ready.