Family Ties-Part II

*This is just a summary of the first part of the series. The true first chapter will be uploaded Monday, August 19th.

*Disclaimer: I own none of the characters (except for Seth and several other creations)--The others are the property of Joss Whedon & Mutant Enemy

**This story takes place roughly two weeks after the big breakup in "As You Were"

A/N: This is a very bare summary of the first part. I wrote this for those who have read it and want to be refreshed as to the goings on. A lot has been left out, however, and if you haven't read it before, I strongly suggest you read the first part, lest you miss important plot points and character attributes and behavior not mentioned in here.

Drinking on a hillside, lamenting Buffy casting him aside, Spike comes across a naked woman who looks very similar to Buffy. Sure that it is his love, Spike rushes the feverish woman to the Summers' place where he runs into Willow. They take care of the woman and Tara comes by briefly, and leaves to pick up Dawn. Buffy comes upon Willow and Spike in her room in time to see the woman kiss Spike on the cheek. She turns to Willow and is attacked by the woman who glares at her with hatred before falling into Spike's arms, still weak. They all have questions as to why she not only looks like Buffy but appears to hate the slayer as well.

Changing out of her work clothes in Willow's room, Buffy is approached by a flirtatious Spike who realizes that she was jealous of the kiss. When Willow leaves to see to Tara and Dawn downstairs, Spike puts the moves on Buffy, who can't seem to resist. She admits that she really believes he loves her and that she is scared of feeling. Lost in their groping, they fail to notice Tara come up the steps. As Buffy leaves, embarrassed, Tara teases Spike before following the blonde slayer. Spike shakes his head, giddy at Buffy's semi-acceptance of his love and the strange behavior of Tara.

Meanwhile, a new stranger has entered the town. Going by the name of Seth, this vampire enters Willie's, wrecks shop, recruits a vamp to organize a hit party on the slayer. There, he meets up with two familiar faces, Rack and a woman by the name of Jennifer and they form an uneasy alliance, with Rack wanting Willow and Jennifer wanting Dawn.

Now all assembled (save for Anya) the Scoobies discuss the woman with the familiar face. As they are talking, she saunters down the steps, announcing that she is Faith Joyce Summers, Buffy's daughter.

She tells them that she is from the future, 40 something years and is also a slayer (with some vampiric traits). She tells how Buffy had a child by a vampire, but never says his name--everyone assumes it's Angel. She tells how Buffy is immortal and that a new warlock vampire by the name of Gabriel has all but taken over the world. She shows obvious affection for Spike and hatred for Buffy. Spike, not Angel, was the one whom she called father and she tells everyone that Buffy staked him. Buffy, Spike, Faith and Gabriel are linked by a prophecy and Gabriel can only be defeated by Faith. The problem is that Seth, his greatest warrior, is unbeatable due, in part by the Gift Gabriel bestowed upon Seth. The prophecy states that the only way to kill Seth is for the Mark that he carries to be disengaged by the one person who placed it on him…

Buffy and Spike go on a mission to find Faith's locket, her only way home, as well as the last vestige of her family together. They are attacked by the gang Seth put together and Spike almost gets staked. Finding that he isnt, Buffy ravages him and asks him to make love to her. They do in the woods and go back to his crypt where they go at it several more times. They have a discussion about feelings and Buffy is at war with herself, wanting to accept Spike while part of her is adamant about his history of killing. She realizes, however, how bad they have all treated him and she wants to make amends but is not sure how. Angst ensues as assumptions are made before Buffy makes Spike understand that he is a true friend. She also admits that she is glad that he loves her. With a surge of hope, he heads, hand in hand with his slayer, back to her house.

During Spike and Buffy's patrol, Faith went to talk to Dawn. She had told the Scoobies that Dawn was the woman, Emerald, who had sent her back. Dawn had disappeared when Faith was 10 and appeared years later, at the side of Gabriel. For an unknown reason, she sent Faith back, only telling her about different choices people may make if they know certain things. Dawn had thought that, since the Glory thing and now this, she was responsible for the death of her mother. Faith calms her and goes outside when she senses several demons. Putting a stop to them, she is accosted by Seth and is so terrified, she cannot fight back. Seth molests her and we find, later, that when she had been captured by Gabriel, he had raped her frequently. She tells this to Tara and Willow, after Seth takes Dawn to Jennifer.

Jennifer tells Seth about a ritual she needs to perform as the First with Dawn but never specifies. Upon further investigation, Seth sees Dawn and he knows that she is Emerald. He met Emerald before he was turned and was in love with her. They spent 9 months together before Emerald, fearing for Seth's life, brought him to Gabriel to be turned. He still wants to be with her but knows it's impossible. A history of their time together is told sporadically by use of flashbacks.

As Tara & Willow comfort her, Willow puts many of her observations about Faith together and realizes that it's Spike, and not Angel, that is her father. Buffy hears this and is shocked. Spike doesn’t and when Faith and Buffy have a heart to heart, she begs Buffy not to tell because the prophecy said that if he does find out, he will die.

Upset at Dawn's kidnapping, Spike smokes outside where Tara confronts him. She sees through his guilt and self-pity and does not let him feel it. She tells him that he is not evil and things (buffy dying, Dawn kidnapped) are not his fault.

Leaving Spike to his own devices, Tara decides to stay and she gets to talking to Willow. They talk about their relationship. Tara lets Willow know that she will continue to make mistakes but she will have to deal with them and not take the easy way out. For the first time, Tara lets Willow know that, despite the redhead's actions, she is forgiven and that there may be greener pastures for the two of them just around the corner.

Feeling a little better, Spike enters the room and sees Buffy and Faith sleep on the floor together. He and Buffy talk for a minute before taking Faith upstairs. Faith tells Spike that he is a "Good Daddy and I love you." He and Buffy go to bed (after she asks him to stay) and talk and Buffy kisses Spike, thanking him for everything. They don’t make love but nestle before trying to finish their earlier talk. She doesn’t know where to go in life and Spike gives her confidence in the things that she can do, instead of focusing on what she can't do. During the talk, Buffy realizes that Spike still blames himself for her death. She alleviates his fears and tells him that she is proud of him. He cries in her arms, releasing the guilt he had pent-up for so long.

After an unpleasant run-in with Dawn where she singes his arm (she doesn’t know how she did it) Seth realizes that it has been Gabriel all along keeping him from Emerald and he decides to change history.

Jennifer is so drawn to Seth and she doesn’t know why. As she is pleasuring herself thinking about him, he comes in and helps her finish the job. Afterwards, she tells him that she, too, is Emerald. The Enjoining is what she wants to have with Dawn. She tells him how she is the First Evil--the harbourer of demon souls and Dawn is the First Light. The Enjoining will create the One. Their personalities will mesh within Dawn's body but Jennifer's essence will be in charge after a gestation period because she knows what she is doing and Dawn doesn’t know how to defend against it.

As the first part comes to a close, several things become evident. Seth whispers three words to Jennifer and she returns his love plea. Tara realizes that time is short and those 'greener pastures' are right in front of her before she and Willow reconcile (hehe). Giles is on his way back, heart heavy from leaving Buffy as well as news of the prophecies that he carries. Buffy breaks down after realizing the danger that her sister is in and Spike is there to comfort her. Dawn feels in her spirit that, no matter what, after the ritual, nothing will ever be the same.

**Below is the tentative schedule for updates for the first three chapters of Part Two (subject to change)

**Note: There will be approximately 17 chapters in this part, definitely not as long as Part One. Hold on, because I have one doozy of a climax waiting.

Prophecies, Pacings & Pastries (Monday, August 19th)

My future Lover (Friday, August 23rd)

The Gang's All Here (Wednesday, August 28th)

***As I said before, this is a brief summary. There has been a lot of important information about the characters (and interactions) left out. Read Part One to get clued in on the other details.

**Thanks to the faithful reviewers. Annastasia, Trisha, Spikeschiphead, Stumbeleine, Kay and others. Make sure everyone stays on me to finish this one.

Family Ties

Part II

Chapter 1

Three hours.

For three hours, they had sat, huddled around the round table, scouring every single book on prophecies, dimensional gates and the garden-variety apocalypses. The only sounds made were the constant flipping of pages, the occasional questions and note comparisons as well as frequent grunts of disgust by one bored and weary vampire.

"Bloody hell," Spike muttered in disgust, rising from the chair in a flash of black leather. The others at the table-Willow, Tara, Buffy and Faith-glared at him with a mixture of annoyance and barely contained amusement.

"Spike," came Anya's irritated voice from the door. She had just sold a woman two dozen eye of newt and pound of minx weed and, suffice to say, she was giddy with excitement for the two hundred dollars she had taken in. Still, that was not enough to curb her displeasure with Spike.

"I said that you guys could use the table, providing that you did not distract the customers," her hands were now resting on her hips.

Despite his frustration, Spike had the grace to look sheepish. "Sorry, luv," he muttered and began fishing his pockets for a fag.

Anya relaxed a bit and sighed understandingly. "It's okay. I don’t like researching either. I'm glad that I have to run the store where I can sit behind the counter and collect my money and daydream about the orgasms Xander will give me when we get home tonight." Spike blanched while Tara and Willow bowed their heads as a bright red flush crept across their faces. Buffy and Faith chuckled under their breaths, shaking their heads at the ex-vengeance demon.

"What?" Anya asked, and put a finger to her temple. "Oh, I forgot. I wasn’t supposed to be so honest about things like that, right?" She shrugged her shoulders dismissively before walking up to Spike and pointing a finger in his chest. "Just make sure you are quiet, okay? I don’t want you to distract the customers because they need all their concentration so they can make wise and expensive purchases that will be profitable for me." She smiled wistfully before the chiming of the bell turned her attention to the door where another patron had entered.

Spike watched Anya scamper away and shook his head. Walking back over to the table, he plopped into the chair. "That, " he said and jerked a thumb in Anya's direction, "is one lively chit. Harris'll never get bored with her."

Reaching into his duster, Spike was oblivious to the slight twinge of jealously that flashed in Buffy's eyes. Not three hours as my boyfriend and already he's flirting, she thought to herself. She had almost said it aloud but considering that the others--save for Faith--didn’t know about the new development in the slayer and vampire's relationship, she had to bite her tongue.

My boyfriend, Buffy thought wonderingly. What was that saying? --‘What a difference a day makes’. Not twenty-four hours ago, Buffy had been in the midst of a two-week hiatus--permanent hiatus--from one William the Bloody. And now, they were an item, something she still had trouble believing. And not the raucous sex in every position, hiding it from everyone type item, she reminded herself. Well, the raucous sex didn’t have to go, but the secrecy did. She watched him from across the table, still shuffling in his pockets for something that obviously wasn't there.

"You know Spike," Buffy said, her voice lively despite the situation, "whatever you are looking for--unless you have a bottomless pocket or something--is not there." She smiled serenely when his blue eyes pierced into her.

"Can't find my bloody fags," he muttered after rolling his eyes at the beautiful slayer in front of him. His slayer. He still couldn’t fathom why fate had given him this chance. After her breakdown in bed earlier, she had told him that she was tired of it all. Tired of the fighting. Tired of the little things. She said that she was tired of being alone…

"Hello?" the woman next to him sing-songed and snapped her fingers in front of him. Startled, Spike jerked his head toward the voice and saw Faith’s lopsided grin staring back at him. It was only the three of them at the table now, as Willow and Tara had decided to go for a walk, to clear their heads.

"Lost in thought?" she teased as she ran her fingers through his hair. She laughed mirthfully at the death gaze he shot her, definitely displeased at her wandering hand.

"Whatever," he muttered and doubled his efforts to finding a fag.

"You know," Faith said and plastered an innocent look on her face before reaching to the side and pulling a pack of cigarettes into view, "these things’ll kill you."

"Bloody hell, Bitlet, when did you pinch those," she smiled at him, noting the awe in his voice.

"Well," she said, twirling the pack deftly between her fingers, "remember how I came in behind you earlier?" She trailed off, letting him figure out the rest.

Buffy watched with a smile at the interaction between father and daughter. Though Spike did not know his true relation to Faith, their bond was nothing short of spectacular as they both complimented each other quite well. It reminded her so much of the playful banter he exchanged routinely with Dawn. Several times Spike had wilted under Faith’s annoyed gaze when the researching was turning up nothing without so much as a single utterance of disdain. And earlier, before they had left the house, the vampire was being his usually irritating self and where Buffy herself began to get perturbed by his childlike behavior, Faith only smiled at him, eliciting the same from him.

Wish it worked that well for me, Buffy thought but she knew that it wouldn’t. It was obvious, by the way Faith had taken up the seat next to him and how she laid her head on his shoulders a few times during the research (oblivious to everyone else) that she was Daddy’s little girl.

"So, who taught you how to nick people’s pockets?" Buffy heard Spike ask and it jumbled her from her thoughts.

"I learned from the best, ya know?" she replied and snaked her arms around his, her head once more resting on his shoulder. When Spike didn’t answer right away, Faith rolled her eyes in exasperation. "You, dork," she said and slapped him across his chest.

"Great," Buffy said, rolling her eyes as well, "good to know that you’ll be teaching our daughter the finer arts of juvenile delinquency at such an early age," Buffy laughed but stopped as she noticed the wide eyes staring back at her. Spike’s were filled with shock and confusion while Faith’s were mortified.

"Our daughter?" Spike asked and was interrupted by Faith before he could ask anymore.

"You know," she said looking to Buffy, "you did raise me and I really think of you as my dad." She paused, allowing herself to express the same thing she had told him last night. "You’re the only one I’ve ever seen as my dad, and that will never change."

Spike tore his eyes from Buffy and back to the petite woman. The sincerity of her statement had totally disengaged him from Buffy’s slip and he cursed his eyes as moisture began to rise behind them.

The vampire opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by the familiar jingle of a bell.

"Never fear, ladies," Xander said and glared at Spike, "Junior; Pastry man is here." The brunette strode to the table, his arms full with a box full of donuts and a holder carrying everyone’s expressos.

"Well," Spike said as Xander set the treats in the middle of the table, "I guess the whelp here is useful after all." He looked the man up and down derisively. "And here I thought taking up space required all your concentration."

"Spike," Buffy admonished, though she was fighting to hide her grin, "play nice."

"What?" the vampire huffed dramatically, "not like I said anything about his mug looking like it had a misunderstanding with someone’s fist. Fine, I’ll be quiet," He said after Buffy’s glare bore even further into him.

"Cheer up, old man," Faith sung as she wrapped her arm around Spike’s shoulders, "you can always listen to me make fun of him." She smiled sweetly before lunging for the donuts. "The jellies are mine!"

Two hours, a dozen donuts and several cups of Expresso later, the five researchers had yet to turn up anything new.

"Bloody hell," Faith cursed as she ran her fingers through her frazzled locks. Buffy couldn’t help but smirk at the definitive Spike trait. Whether it was frustration or nervousness that triggered it, she often found Spike doing the exact same thing, usually followed by his irresistible urge to light a fag.

"I’m starting to agree with Faith over here," Willow said and laid her head on top of the pile of open books in front of her. "I mean, we’ve been at this for five hours and we still haven’t learned anything. We haven’t even found half the stuff that Faith was talking about."

"Told you it was a waste of our soddin’ time," Spike muttered, flicking his Zippo on and off. He was greeted by a slap on the shoulder by his daughter.

"What was that for?" He demanded, rubbing his shoulder.

Faith gave him a disgusted look before breaking into a wide grin. "I don’t know, just felt like doin' it." Everyone at the table burst into giggles and as bristled, as he was being the brunt of the joke, Spike couldn’t help but grin slightly, especially when he looked at Buffy.

Although the situation was dire (Dawn kidnapped by a virtually unbeatable vampire) her laughter still held a lilt he had rarely been privy to. He wasn't sure whether he was the reason for this, but it didn’t matter. She was nothing like the shell that had been sleeping with him for months. This was a Buffy who was now taking back the fire that she had lost after her resurrection. She was almost complete and once they got Dawn back all safe and sound, he knew there would be no 'almost' to that.

"So," Tara spoke up. Her cheeks were flushed from the laughter as well as some rather suggestive whispers Willow had spilled into her ear during the laughter. "What should we do. We only have," she glanced at her watch, "about eleven hours."

"Yeah," Willow interceded and smiled as Tara brushed aside a lock of her red hair, "I mean a whole five hours turned up big with the nothings…"

"Except a bite by an overactive slayer," Buffy muttered as she scowled playfully at Faith.

"Hey," Buffy's daughter replied, "I told you that the jellies were mine. Spike listened, didn’t you?" she nudged the vampire playfully in the ribs.

Ignoring the jab, Spike spoke up. "Glinda's right. Five hours and not a bloody thing on this Harbinger bloke or why he would want the Nibblet," He slammed a book closed for emphasis.

"Bleach boy has a point, Buff. If we haven't so much as had a sniff of anything useful in the past five hours, another half day probably won't help, either. Plus, we still gotta formulate a plan to take the kryptonite to this Superman wannabe."

"Where's the Watcher when you need him," Spike muttered and began twirling a cigarette between his fingers.

"Spike is right," Buffy said, resigning defeat, "we need to call Giles. Maybe he can…"

"That won't be necessary," a familiar voice called from the doorway.

All eyes turned toward the voice to reveal the man none of them had expected.

"Giles?" Buffy whispered as she stood up, tears immediately welling in her eyes.

"Buffy," he began, "I…" but he never finished the sentence as two blonde blurs excitedly tackled him to the ground.

Chapter 2

My Future Lover

‘Restless’ was not the word to describe Seth’s mood.

It was twelve hours until show time, plenty of time for him to get another round in with his love on the island of a bed. He lay there in all his naked glory, silk sheets barely covering his aroused member. Sprawled out enticingly with his fingers linked behind his head, he waited impatiently for his pose to strike a cord of desire into Jennifer.

The only problem, however, was that she wasn’t around.

And laying in bed, alone, trapped in the house for the next several hours, was number one on the vampire’s list of ‘Things that bore me to tears-Revision 2.0’.

After five minutes of fruitless waiting, the vampire sighed in frustration, and threw the sheets aside, striding over to his discarded clothes. He slipped into his pants, deciding that topless and barefoot was the choice of the day. She was somewhere in the penthouse, he could sense that, but he also knew she was not alone; the black pull of the warlock, Rack polluted the air as well.

Running a hand through his disheveled locks, Seth followed the aura of his two co-conspirators. He paid no attention to the architecture or the priceless works of art that littered the halls, intent on Jennifer. Truth be told, he didn’t like her being alone with Rack. It wasn’t like the warlock could do her any harm --that would be a simple enough task for her--but his natural tendency to mark what was his that drove him.

Don’t think she'd like that thought, he mused to himself. No, he already knew that the evil within her, as well as the woman, wouldn’t take to kindly to being looked at as a territory to be claimed and the funny thing about that was that he didn’t know which side he had more reservations about.

He chuckled at that and decided to take a detour, leaving Jennifer and Rack to their own devices. Even if he couldn’t see her, there were other ways to entertain himself, mainly screwing around with the cute, little hostage. Making his way to the northern corner of the house, he came upon the oaken door of the office. Turning the key, Seth unlocked it and slowly pressed the door open, not wanting to disturb the room's lone inhabitant. Though the lights were off, he could see clearly enough. He leaned against the doorframe, his arms crossed and head cocked to the side, watching the rise and fall of the girl that, in forty years, would become his woman.

A slight smile rose within him as he thought of all the things that there were to each other, all the places they went, the love they had made. Saying that the whole situation was freaky was an understatement but here she was, sleeping on the couch, her hair strewn across her face. Looking at Dawn made him realize how much he truly loved Emerald. It wasn’t that Jennifer wasn’t beautiful--she was more than beautiful, not to mention the fact that much of what Emerald was originated within Jennifer. But it was the teenager, Dawn, who had Emerald's body and despite several distinctive traits gathered from Jennifer, most of Emerald's physical make-up was from the slayer's sister. He didn’t know if it was that or Dawn’s innocence that drew him in.

Seth flicked on the light and casually strode over to the sleeping form of Dawn and stopped not five feet from her.

"I know you're awake, little one," he cooed. Her heartbeat and breathing had quickened as soon as he entered the room.

At Seth's confession, Dawn cursed internally. She had hoped for him to get close enough to flash her makeshift cross in front of him long enough for her to scamper through the door and to her freedom. Of course, the best laid plans of mice and men…

"C'mon, cutie," his voice was playful, "no need to be shy. The Big Bad Seth's not gonna hurt you. I promise." When she looked up at him, he placed his left hand over his chest and held up three fingers on his right hand. "Scout's honor."

Dawn’s eyes widened as she took in the alabaster form of her capture. The smooth lines of his defined muscles reminded her of Spike, though he was a few pounds heavier. The detailed lines of his abdominals garnered a lingering glance from the teen and she couldn’t help but lick her lips at them. She was vaguely aware of the tattoos that coursed up and down his arm though the Japanese symbols sketched into the inside of his right bicep and the small, eloquent block of writing on the inside of his left arm.

Realizing that she was staring, Dawn fought the burning desire to turn away, instead covering up her embarrassment with a contemptuous snort. "Scout's honor? And tell me, Mr. Scout," sarcasm clung to every word, "why should I trust you?" She swung her legs off the couch and sat up, mindful of keeping the cross out of sight until the right time.

Seth stared at her, a look of hurt passing over him before he smiled broadly, a light chuckle rumbling at the back of his throat. "You know," he said, hands clasped behind his back, "if I knew you didn’t mean that, I'd say that you hurt my feelings." He advanced slowly with exaggerated steps, his eyes never leaving Dawn's frightened yet resolute face.

"And I should be sorry for that?" she asked, her eyebrow arched in the trademark teenage look of annoyance.

Seth stopped and regarded her for a moment with hooded eyes as an indescribable feeling overcame him and, before his mind could comprehend his actions, the vampire lunged at her with preternatural speed.

Dawn screamed as Seth's cool hands clamped down on her forearms, effectively pinning them to her sides, the cross dropping useless from her grasp. Her screams, however, were cut off as his mouth descended upon hers and his tongue plundered her ruthlessly.

Though she fought it at first, Dawn finally conceded to Seth's probing, as an unexpected wave of passion she had never experienced coursed through her at the simple touch of his lips. This had been only the third kiss that she had been a part of (well, two, since the one she had given Spike really didn’t count, him being sleep and all, thus not quite what one would call a willing participant) Her body melted against him and she was lost in the moment. Her arms, locked at her sides began struggling anew, but this time it was not for escape but in her body's apparent desire to wrap them around his neck.

Sensing Dawn's more than willing attitude Seth released her arms, letting his encircle her waist as he fell to his knees in front of her, never breaking contact with her lips. He had not thought it possible for anything other than Emerald could stimulate him more than Jennifer had last night. Oh, how wrong he was.

In honesty, he had no fuckin' clue what possessed him to attack the girl's lips like he had but, as their tongues performed an exquisite ballet it was evident to him that the feel of the young girl's lips on his was everything. It was as if what he was sharing now with Dawn somehow brought him back to the times of his mortal life before being turned. Holding Dawn in his arms like this made him feel whole, complete; a feeling only experienced during his short time with Emerald.

Dawn could not think and her lungs burned, screaming for oxygen. But she refused the call as that would require breaking contact with the man in front of her. Not a man a voice in her head shouted, but a demon. But she ignored the voice, letting her body take over despite knowing that it was wrong on the cosmic scale of wrongness. Then again, how could something be wrong if it felt this right?

The coherent part of her wanted to laugh at that. In the kitchen earlier, Buffy had briefly highlighted her relationship with Spike to a wide-eyed Dawn, admitting that the two had, on their first sexual encounter, been 'lost in the moment'. She hadn't gotten the full story, but the slightly dazed look on her older sister's face led Dawn to believe that Buffy was more than confused at her post-patrol rendezvous' with William the Bloody. Although Dawn herself had been giddy at the prospect of the two getting together--after dealing with a little post-crush jealousy, of course--she could empathize, though not quite understand, Buffy's confusion. Now, locked in this heartless demon's embrace, Dawn could totally see where her sister was coming from.

Despite groaning protests from his own body, as well as Dawn's, Seth finally relinquished his hold on her and pulled out of the kiss. He smiled as Dawn eagerly followed his lips even as her lungs greedily devoured the air they had been deprived. Her breath was warm against his skin and her arousal intoxicating to his nostrils. His hands had found their way underneath her shirt and they almost burned from the naked contact with her flesh. He laughed as he focused on her heart pounding against her ribcage as she muffled sighs by biting her lower lip.

Dawn didn’t want to open her eyes because to do so would mean focusing and that would only increase her lightheadedness tenfold. As it was now, she could keep her arms wrapped around the neck of the body in front of her and pretend--pretend this was someone she loved, someone who loved her back. Someone she could actually spend her life…

"I love you," the words whispered in her ear were enough to shock her eyes open even as her body went rigid. Before she knew what happened, Seth was sprawled on the floor, a look of utter confusion etched across his handsome features as she stood over him.

"Gee," he said sarcastically, masking his confusion, "was it something said?" He stood, brushing off his jeans and stared at the quivering and flushed teenager standing before him, her fists balled tightly at her sides.

"What did you do to me?" She demanded and was proud that her voice didn’t crack one bit.

Seth frowned, not quite getting it himself. True, she did look like Emerald and, yes, she smelled somewhat like her too, but that still didn’t explain why his reaction to her had been so strong. As bewildered as she obviously was, he was a touch past that now. Of course, there was no way in hell that he was going to let her know that.

"Me?" he went with the incredulous approach. "Why does it have to be me that did something? For all I know, you pulled some witchcraft mojo on me that made me want to do that." Okay, so that didn’t sound as convincing as he had first thought. Her expression of disdain confirmed his supposition.

"Whatever," Dawn sighed at she flopped back down in the chair, wrapping her arms around herself. Her whole body was on fire and yet goosebumps littered her skin.

"Oh, I see," Seth laughed out, fingering the black stubble of hair on his chin, "it's a guy thing, right?" On Dawn's cross look, he sighed before sitting next to her on the couch and languidly threw his arm around her shoulders. To both their surprises, Dawn merely flinched but didn’t attempt to remove his arm.

"I know how you women are. Like to blame the guy for everything. And hey, in my case, that’s usually true. But then there are times like this where we’re the innocent party but you still whine about how it's our fault that you feel this way. Comfort you in a time of need and we are taking advantage of you. You never think that we can feel or care about you as much as you do about us." He took his arm away and leaned against the arm of the couch, his eyes focused intently on Dawn. "Maybe, instead of blaming me, what you should be asking yourself is, 'Why didn’t I fight back when he was kissing me?'"

Dawn could only stare at the vampire in disgust and a resigned awe. Though she had been thoroughly bored by some of the stuff he had said, his last comments did ring true. Why didn’t she fight back? Here he was, a vampire that had obviously, by his boasts, done some horrible things to her future niece and she was kissing him like it was natural. Come to think of it, when he had touched her, the only reason she had screamed was from surprise. The confusion started to weigh her down like iron shoes and the tickling of pain just behind her eyes let her know it was there-the beginnings of a wonderful headache.

"Why did you kidnap me?" she asked quietly, trying hard to ignore the pang in her chest as if she already knew the answer was not going to be to her liking.

Seth's smugness faded and he looked at her before finding a spot on the couch to study.

"Jennifer wanted you."

"Miss Calendar? But why? And how? She was killed like four years ago." Dawn remembered that day and the heart wrenching sobs of Willow echoing through the house as Buffy slid to the ground in shock at the news.

"Well," Seth stood quickly, "doesn’t look like she's dead, now does it? As for why she wants you--well, I would tell you but then I'd have to do a little entry and exit into your jugular." He smiled at her but seeing her less than cheerful glare he raised his hands in defense. "Easy there, wildcat. Just a little vampire humor. But since you won't be getting away, I guess I could tell you what's going to happen. S'not like this is the movies or anything and you'll escape to tell the heroes about our nefarious plans…

"Anyway, you and Miss Jennifer in there," he thumbed behind him, trying to keep the growing apprehension from filtering into his voice, "are going to be very much into each other. And I mean that quite literally."

"What are you talking about?" Dawn asked, her heartbeat rising. Whatever it was that Seth was hinting at, didn’t sit too well with her. In fact, she was quite sure that it was going to be bad, as in Glory bad.

"Seems to be that you and her are on two opposite ends of the spectrum. The Yin and the Yang, so to speak."

"English, please," Dawn snapped, frustration clouding her mind.

"Touchy, touchy. Well, I guess you already know that there's more than meets the eye to you," he raised his arm and displayed the scarred flesh of his forearm to her. "Turns out that you are some sort of cosmic sparkplug."
"What in the hell are you talking about?" She was starting to sweat at the implications of what he was saying. It was different than what Glory had said, but eerily familiar, too.

"She called you the First Light. And though she didn’t say straight out, I think you were the light that sparked Creation." He looked her up and down appreciatively. "Quite a nice package for a big, bright light."

Dawn shivered as Seth's eyes raked across her. It wasn’t the fact that he looked at her with restrained lust that bothered her, but the mention of her other existence, her existence as the Key that had her insides churning.

Even after the ordeal with Glory, Dawn often joked with the Scoobies about her former life as a Key but that had only been because they didn’t look at her as such. They saw her as Dawn Summers, walking teenage hormone whose proclivity to screech “Get Out! Get Out! GET OUT!’ was still a feared weapon in the ears of the Scoobies. Here was this stranger--though she could not deny the eerie connection his kiss had sparked within her--that gazed at her in wonder, as if trying to envision her as the Key and Dawn hated it.

"What's wrong, sweets?" Seth asked. When Dawn didn’t answer, he shrugged and continued his explanation. "Anyway, just like you are that nice bright light of the big bang or whatever, she is that first Darkness--actually the First Evil is her title. The little ritual she's gonna perform will join you two like peas in a pod. Of course," he knelt in front of her and brushed a hand across her thigh, causing her to shiver, "as stunning as Jennifer is, I'll be glad that you'll be the pod portion of that little mix."

"What do you mean?" Dawn's heart was beating even faster and despite her question, she had the sinking feeling she knew exactly where this plan was heading.

"Well, it's something called…"

"The Enjoining," Dawn said aloud, more to herself than anything.

"How did you know?" Seth couldn’t hide the surprise from his voice.

Dawn stared at him for a moment, her vision blurring before several images rapidly flashed through her mind.

The moment where she had first blinked into existence, surrounded by nothing, not even the darkness of space…

The content of nothing becoming something, that something becoming space and stars and planets…

The pull of an unseen force--a force that was in direct contradiction to her Light, to her purity…

The content was torn away from her as all that she was had been diminished--she had been sent…where?

The memories of eons past faded and were replaced with broken images of, not the past, but the future--of things to come.

The pain ripped through her as a silver light flew through the air and into the light that enveloped her and her adversary…

The pain of losing her again, her life seeping out of the gaping wounds in her neck…

The helplessness as she watched him hold her, promises of tomorrow fading in the night…

Then she saw the man that she now shared the couch with. He was the same, yet his eyes were…brown and his hair dark. The flood of visions showed him laughing with her at his side and other things Dawn knew she had never done. Hell, she never knew the things she was seeing could even be done.

Then he was with her again, but it was different. His skin was darker; eyes brighter, but what was his life's essence had not changed though his name and purpose had…

Her hands shot up to her face, trying to cover her mind from seeing the visions and feeling the things she was feeling for this man. She opened her eyes and saw him before her, his face full of concern. She tentatively reached a hand out to him and cupped his face. His skin was cool, not warm like she remembered. But one thing she would never forget was the look that he was giving her now. It was one full of love and adoration and all she wanted to do was bathe in that affection.

But as quickly as they appeared, the feelings were gone and Dawn stared at Seth as if for the first time. When she realized she was touching him, she pulled back as if her hand was scalded. This was not a man before her: this was a vampire that wanted to kill her friends and had no qualms with someone using her as a mystic tool. It was Glory all over again and Dawn could do nothing to staunch the tears that began to flow.

Seth was torn inside. The feelings that he had for this young girl was something he didn’t even feel for Jennifer and it was more than enough to weird him out. Her tears cut into him, reminding him of the few times he watched the love of his life cry when she had known that their time was limited. The hoarse cries from Dawn tugged at him the same way and all he wanted to do was comfort her, so he did the only thing he could think of.

Dawn felt the cool arms surround her and her first reaction was to pull away. But as she listened to the comforting whispers of Seth, she leaned further into him, feeling the protection of his embrace as his hands rubbed her back tenderly. She didn’t know what to think. On the one hand, this vampire had brought her to be used by another evil force and yet…and yet, here he was, comforting her with words he had spoken to her before, albeit in another life. It was too much to think about and she refused to let thoughts pervade her fragile mind. So intent on that task, Dawn didn’t feel her own arms wrap tightly around Seth's neck.

She was also too absorbed to notice the tears that soaked her shirt.

…tears that were not her own.

Chapter 3

The Gang's All Here

Rupert Giles had never been one for American sports as they still lacked the particular grace of the gentlemanly sports of his native lands. Even baseball, which resembled Cricket and Golf in its almost inhuman requirement of patience, wasn't particularly to his fancy. It was, however, much more acceptable than the mind numbing and primal histrionics that was American football.

Men dressed as gladiators, whose sole purpose was to carry an oblong ball across the opponents' goal line (though, in honesty, that was not the difficulty had with the game). What had always irked him about said sports was the brutality of it. Tackling men, driving them into the ground to prevent them from scoring required no skill, just mindless beasts jacked up on steroids or the newest enhancement drug. It didn’t require the skill and patience of true futbol, or what Americans called soccer. Being an avid fan of the latter, it was difficult for the Watcher to appreciate the bodily sacrifices made by football players.

But as he lay on the floor, gasping for the air as the weight of two supernaturally strong women lay on top of him, Rupert Giles had to admit that he had discovered a new appreciation for football players and their bodily sacrifices.

"Though I don’t mean to be rude," he choked out as the feeling of impending death began to dissipate, "I would remind you that being quite unlike Spike and undead, I do require an adequate supply of oxygen to function."

Both women looked at one another with tears in their eyes, tears of joy, before then scrambled off the toppled ex-librarian and helped him up. Taking several deep breaths with his eyes clothed, Giles was able to stand on his own and focus on the two women in front of him.

Which promptly led to the polishing of his glasses in a furious storm of befuddlement before he placed them back onto his face.

"Buffy?" He asked, perplexed, as his head swiveled from the left to the right.

"It's me, Giles," the one on his left said as she traded smiles with her daughter. She saw Giles about to say something but she put a hand up to silence him. "Maybe you should sit down," she suggested and gently grabbed him by the elbow.

"Yes, I think that is the proper course of action," he replied absently as he shuffled down the steps, escorted by Buffy.

"I've got your bags, Gra…Giles," Faith said and smiled sheepishly at her near slip. Giles craned his neck to look at her and he smiled mechanically, still in too much shock for anything to register. Before he reached the table, however, another blonde crashed into him, her arms stiff, yet not without affection as they clung around his neck. Only through Buffy's support did he keep his feet.

"Giles," Anya said before releasing the embrace. She looked at him with excitement before saying, "You can't take anymore books, you know."

Despite his own utter bewilderment, Giles had the presence to smile warmly at the shopkeeper. "Yes, Anya, I know…"

"And the books you did take, I'd really like them back. That is, unless they are yours. And if they are, I need to see a proof of purchase for…"

"Ahn," Xander interrupted before shaking his head at his fiancée. She looked at Xander as if for the first time then back to Giles before patting the Brit on the shoulder somewhat awkwardly before returning to the cash register.

"At least there are some things that haven't changed," Giles remarked as he took a seat between Buffy and Willow. The two Wiccas greeted him warmly and sandwiched him in an easy yet firm hug before returning to their seats while Xander and Spike acknowledged him with a nod.

"So, Rupes," Spike said, putting an arm around Faith as she sat down next to him, "what brings you here?"

"Not that we don’t appreciate…and love that you're back," Willow smoothed over, glancing sharply at Spike.

"Yeah, G-man," Xander quipped, "good ole SunnyHell just doesn’t quite feel the same without everyone's friendly neighborhood Watcher."

"Well, thank you all for the…warm welcome," Giles replied, casting nervous glances at the woman that Spike had his arm around. The woman that bore a striking resemblance to his slayer. "But I am afraid that I didn’t actually come for the bonding experience with you, as much as I would enjoy that."

"Let me guess," Buffy said dryly, "another apocalypse having to do with Sunnydale's resident one year old that curiously reminds us of a hormonally charged, gym shoe wearing, ‘Get out’ swearing, sixteen-year-old by the name of Dawn Summers." She capped off her diatribe with a stifled yawn.

Giles stared at Buffy for several seconds before noticing that said Summers was not currently in the confines of the Magic Box.

"Little Bit's been nabbed," Spike said, almost nonchalantly. Though his words were casual, Giles saw that his body language was anything but. The way his jaw clenched and his eyes were contaminated with tiny flecks of gold told the Watcher that the vampire was definitely pissed about the subject. He also noticed the woman beside him drop her eyes at the mention of Dawn and that only piqued his curiosity more.

"Dear lord. By whom?"

"Seth," the woman next to Spike said and Giles was startled at the venom in her tone and the glaring hatred in her eyes. Eyes that were an eclectic blend of blue and green.

"Right, Seth. And while I don’t mean to belittle the importance of the issue--partially because there is a lot I have to bring you up to speed on--but may I ask who you are?" Giles couldn’t hide the confusion and utter fascination in his voice. But he did hide the chill that hiked up his spine when she smirked--not smiled--smirked at him; her dimples clear in the light.

Faith stared lovingly up at Spike before casting her eyes toward Buffy. "So, which one of you two wants to tell him?"

"Tell me what?" Giles said, slightly irritated. It wasn’t that he was an impatient man but with everything coming to a head, he didn’t have time to play guessing games.

"Well, Giles," Buffy said, turning to face him fully. "It's kind of funny, if I don’t say so myself. But Faith here…"

"Faith?" He cut in and removed his glasses, trying to get a better look at the blond sitting across from him.

"Faith," the future slayer replied, a wicked grin on her face, "as in Faith Joyce Summers, vampire slayer." She buried the giggle that threatened to spill at the look of astonishment on Giles' face. But she wasn’t quite finished yet. Spike always taught her to, when the opportunity presented itself, go for the jugular.

"Did I get everything, Mum?" She gave a poignant look at Buffy who only shook her head. Giles could only gape at the news, casting incredulous glances at everyone at the table, searching for the joke that had to be in progress. But his fruitful search for finding the truth in the faces of those he looked at as his children only confirmed that what the young woman had said.

"Oh dear," were the only words he could muster as he began another thorough cleansing of his spectacles.

***

Though he was shocked by what Buffy and Faith had to say, Giles believed that he took it rather well. Aside from wiping any and all traces of dirt from his glasses into oblivion, he hardly moved or spoke save for the sporadic 'I see'.

After all the explanations were out of the way, everyone sat silently, waiting for it all to sink into Giles' head. Conveniently omitted was the true identity of Faith's father as well as Spike and Buffy's newly minted relationship.

"So," Buffy said, a little nervous at her father figure's silence, "how's England? Still rainy? I mean, it's not like I've been there or anything, just that from what Spike says and…" Buffy stopped when she noticed everyone staring at her. She blushed as she caught Spike's eyes; they were lit with his adoration and something else that she didn’t quite know.

"Well, Rupes," Spike said, never taking his eyes off Buffy, "now that the wittering slayer is finished, why don’t you tell us why you came from weather-friendly England to SunnyHell. I suppose you know there is this invention--rings before you answer it..." He gave Giles his best smirk before returning his gaze to his love, who stared at him with less than friendly eyes.

He knew she hadn't been too keen on the whole 'wittering slayer' jilt but he knew how to smooth that over. Giving her a genuine, smirk-free smile, Spike mouthed the words 'I love you' which quickly had the desired effect, causing Buffy to blush deeply and drop her eyes, all the while she hid a sheepish smile.

The interaction had not been lost on Tara and Willow, and the two traded knowing looks. Although Tara knew the two blondes were sleeping together, what they had just exchanged was something much more and it wasn’t the first time today that she wondered what changes yesterday had brought for the slayer and vampire's relationship.

As far as Willow was concerned, the lover's exchange between the two blondes was enough to confirm her earlier suspicions. After all this was over, she would definitely have to corner Buffy and make her spill the beans.

"Well," Giles began and consciously forced his hand away from his face, "to make a long story short…"

"That'll be the day," Spike muttered and was properly reprimanded by Faith.

Giles rolled his eyes in exasperation at the vampire but bit back the scathing retort he had been salivating to hurl.

"As I was saying, to make a long story short, you were right, Buffy. About the prophecy. It does, in fact involve Dawn in a ritual called the Enjoining."

"The Enjoining?" Buffy asked, her heartbeat rising at the words Dawn and ritual in the same sentence. "Is that anything like what Glory wanted her for?"

Giles smiled weakly, hoping to reassure his slayer, somewhat at least. She returned the smile and Giles knew it was all for naught. What was planned for Dawn was decidedly worse than opening up the gates of a hell dimension. Well, maybe not, but for Dawn it would be.

"No, not quite. The Enjoining is more along the lines of a binding."

"A binding of what?" Buffy asked as she unconsciously wrung her hands together.

"Well," Giles offered, "that depends on the ritual. For instance…"

"Bloody hell, Watcher," Spike interrupted disdainfully, "I'd almost forgotten how bloody long-winded you could be. Just give us the low down on the soddin’ ritual Dawn has been volunteered for so we can get to the rescuing."

Again, Giles reigned in whatever Ripper-esque comment that was bubbling from within. He had almost forgotten how annoying and rude the blond vampire could be.

"Spike's right, Giles," Buffy said softly. She was turned toward Giles so she didn’t notice the genuine smile that crept across Spike's angled features. "As exciting as the explanation may be, all we really need to know is what Seth wants with Dawn," she finished by patting him lightly on the arm, eliciting a right and proper British smile (tight and reserved) from him.

Taking a deep breath, the Watcher began. He told them of Dawn's true nature as the First Light, a fact that brought a collective gasp from all in the group except for Spike, who only acknowledged the information with a mutter of 'Knew Nibblet was special'…

"Now," he continued, "The ritual of Enjoining, for all intents and purposes, is a one-time thing."

"But I thought you said that there were several kinds," Willow began, "I mean I thought you were going to list all the different types, like 'hello, cornucopia of Enjoining mojo'--or something."

"I apologize for the confusion. All rituals have others that are similar to them; they can be viewed as cousins, perhaps. The Enjoining is no different. It is comparable to the planets of our solar system," he smiled briefly at Willow's exuberance as he delved into her field of expertise, which, for all intents and purposes, was anything listed under the heading of academia.

"Each of the nine planets shares similarities, some by mass, others by atmospheric consistency. With that said, no two are alike and standing apart from the other eight, of course, is our own, with its unique ability to sustain life."

"Which is false, G-man," Xander interrupted, oblivious to the stairs that were willing him to shut up. "I was surfing the net the other day and stumbled upon a site with more than a little information on the probe they sent to Mars and its findings. Did you know…" but his brain finally caught on at the death glares that bore through his body.

"Are you talking about that site again, Xander," Anya chirped as she walked toward the table. She had twisted the CLOSED sign around, shutting the shop down for the time being. Of course, an addendum was attached to the sign stating that the shop would return to normal business hours the following day and those that mentioned the sign would receive a ten percent discount on items purchasing on said day.

"You know you weren't looking for that. You were searching for pornographic material," she was oblivious to unhealthy pale tint her fiancé’s skin turned or the slap of several hands against foreheads in resigned disbelief. Giles rubbed the bridge of his nose tiredly, wondering how this could be the same woman that had produced such profitable results for the Magic Box. It was almost a statistical impossibility for it to be the same person. Maybe she was infected by some capitalistic symbiotic entity whose only function was to pilfer every ounce of money from patrons as humanly possible, totally ignorant of the other mundane aspects of human interaction.

Anya sat down next to the sickly brunette, her eyebrows scrunched in reproach. "I don’t know why you were looking at it--and don’t deny it, I saw the history--How could you? I mean, don’t we have sexual relations three times a day like the average American?" Several coughs filtered through the air and Spike whispered 'you may be half a man yet, Harris' to the thoroughly embarrassed Scoobie.

Finally, Faith leaned back in her chair in order to see past Spike and Xander to the ex-vengeance demon. "Anya," she said placating, as if talking to a young child.

"What?"

"As eager as we are to hear about the sexual exploits of Xander the Hammer, there are slightly more pressing matters at hand here." Anya's eyebrow furrowed in confusion before the light went off.

"Oh. Sorry," she turned back to Xander, slapping him on shoulder. "Why didn’t you stop me from talking? Now I'm getting reprimanded by Buffy’s daughter." Xander shook his head, a buried it in his hands, desperately praying that a hole would swallow him up.

"Thank you, Faith," Giles said, nodding in the blonde's direction. Though he still had not come to terms with Faith, she was right--there were more pressing matters at hand.

"As I was saying, like the Earth is the only planet pure enough for complex life, this Enjoining involving Dawn is the only true Enjoining."

"Still," Buffy stated, trying to hide the apprehension she was feeling. "That doesn’t tell us what's going to happen to Dawnie. Is it…is it going to…" she trailed off and had to fight the tears that threatened to spill. She was grateful when she felt Willow's thin arm around her shoulders but it was Spike's soothing blue eyes that steeled her resolve, telling her that it was going to be okay.

"No, no," Giles assured, "the Enjoining is not invoked to kill. As its namesake, it fuses two beings together, and they become one."

"Sort of like when we called on the First Slayer to defeat Adam," Willow supplied as she rubbed circles across Buffy's back.

"It's…it's not dissimilar as they both merge the life forces of the entities involved. However, whereas the invocation we did was only a temporary binding, once invoked, the two participants of the Enjoining are bound together permanently."

The silence that filtered through the room was deafening as a million thoughts zipped through the minds of all the room's inhabitants. They all thought back to last year when they had first discovered that Dawn was, in fact, not real. But that wasn’t true. She was as real to them as any other sixteen year-old girl that walked and talked and complained about being treated like a child. They couldn’t imagine their life without her now, or then, and the prospect of losing her was too painful to express.

Finally a muffled sob shattered the silence as Buffy buried her face in her hands. She had wanted to be strong, for Faith, for them all, but it was too much. Losing Dawn would be hard enough, but to have her walking around but as someone--something--else tore the slayer's heart into pieces.

Spike had to choke back his own tears at the prospect of losing his Nibblet. No one knew how much he loved that girl and after their summer bonding, she was, in some ways, more a part of him than Buffy was. Losing her was not an option--it was simply unacceptable.

With a speed that couldn’t be followed by the human eye, Spike vaulted over the space that separated him from Buffy. He gently wrapped his arms around her and she melted into his chest, comforted in the strength of his arms and the scent of his duster.

The Scoobies watched the scene, words failing them all. Giles was the most surprised at the current display of affection by the vampire and the willingness of Buffy to be comforted by the presence of her once mortal enemy. To say that it was disconcerting would have done a grave injustice to the anxiety that churned in the Watcher's stomach. But he could say nothing, for he saw the body-shuddering sobs of his former charge dissipate under the soothing words and tender strokes of the platinum blond.

"Everything's gonna be peachy, luv" Spike whispered and kissed Buffy on the top of the head. "You'll see. Nibblet always gets herself into something and we always get her out. She never comes out of with more than a scraped knee. S'gonna be fine, pet."

"How do you know?" she challenged after the tears subsided, her voice weary.

"Isn't it always?" He smiled wryly.

Despite her pain, Buffy found that she couldn’t help but smile back. She ran her fingers through his hair before cupping his cheek. His potent blue eyes drilled into her soul, caressing her worries and doubts away and before she knew it, her lips were on his.

Spike had not been prepared for the kiss. Though his attention was only on her, he couldn’t help but sense the dread that clung to the others like a foul odor. Instincts had taken over when he saw her crying and he acted accordingly. Though the others may have dismissed his desire to comfort her as a remnant of his stalkerish fixation on the slayer, there was no way in hell they could do anything to explain this away.

As Buffy's tongue found his, Spike cast all concerns aside and joined his slayer in their familiar dance. Taking into Giles' earlier accounts, Spike was aware of the similarities of this kiss with the thousands of others that they had shared. It contained the passion and want of their tumble in the abandoned building, along with the gratitude of the one she bestowed upon him after his run-in with Glory. A myriad of other kisses crossed his mind, but nowhere in his memory could he discern what this kiss more or less stood for.

It was a show of possession…not to him, but to others.

And, more importantly, it was one of comfort.

The ministrations of Buffy's tongue as it discovered his mouth again, translated her understanding of how bad this was tearing him up inside and just as his cool lips soothed her, she knew her heat acted as a balm for him and his demon. She had believed that he had no soul; that his humanity was enough and although she still believed the latter to be true, she now understood, with crystal clarity, the knowledge slamming into her with the impact of a hell-god's fist, that he did have a soul.

Hers.

Spike would never know how he came to his senses, but he did, pulling away from the kiss, resting his forehead upon hers as he watched her sleepily force her eyes open. He smiled and she returned the gesture, mouthing a 'Thank you' as his fingers raked through her golden locks.

For the second time that day, Buffy felt the words at the tip of her tongue, begging to be released. Though she was still frightened to speak them, she now knew that she had to or else she would burst. The six others occupying the room was the only thing holding her back from saying it to him. She would let them know how she felt about this man before her, but first she had to tell him. And that moment was one that she was not going to share with anyone.

I'll tell him, she promised herself, right after we rescue Dawn, kick some ass and get home. I'll tell him as I make love to him in my own bed.

Her resolve strengthened, Buffy patted Spike once more on the cheek before turning her eyes to her Watcher. She saw the questions in his eyes but ignored it for the time being.

"Later," she said and he nodded his understanding. "What we need now is to find out how to stop Seth from joining with Dawn."

"It's not Seth, whomever he is, that will partake in the ritual," Giles informed.

"Then who is it?" Buffy questioned.

"Not who, Buffy, but what," he removed his glasses but refrained from his usual cleaning ritual. "And that what is the problem."

"Giles," Xander huffed, "you should direct a movie. I mean with the suspense and all you'd make a killing. But now, suspense so not of the good."

"He's right, Giles," Willow affirmed, "what are we dealing with? It can't be worse than Glory, right?" She smiled but it quickly faltered when she noticed the grave expression on his face. "Right?"

"I am sorry Willow, but this threat is on another plateau 'of the bad', " the Watcher informed. Replacing his glasses, his gaze settled on Buffy. "I believe you faced it before, though that was a mere shadow of what it truly is…"

"Giles," Anya burst in, "will you tell us already, and I have to count the money." She looked over at Xander. "And play the Colonial damsel to his General…"

"Ahn," Xander pled, "could we please be more discreet?" She nodded curtly before fixing her eyes on the books in front of her.

"Yes, well," Giles ran his hands through his hair; something he rarely did and it wasn't lost on the group. "Guess I should get to the crux of the matter, shall I not?"

"Bout bloody time," both Faith and Spike muttered and stole a glance at one another. They both smiled minutely before sensing the eyes of the slayer upon them.

"I'm pretty sure that was a rhetorical question, guys," Buffy chided though she bit the inside of her cheek to suppress her own smile at the near-identical personalities of father and daughter.

Turning back to Giles, Buffy adorned her 'no-nonsense' face. "Giles, just tell us straight out, we can handle it. Hell, we've handled Glory, the Master…"

"The First Evil," the Watcher said.

"The First Evil. Well, that really wasn't hard, you know. All I had to do was…" then she saw the lines of worry that creased his forehead and Buffy knew…

"She's back." It wasn’t a question.

Giles tiredly nodded, massaging his brow. "Yes, I'm afraid so."

"Well," Buffy said, as she continued to stroke the silent vampire's hair, "shouldn’t be too hard to deal with. I mean, last time…okay Giles, you have that look that says I have no idea what I'm talking about."

"Last time you faced the First, Buffy, it was only a shadow, quite literally. It was capable of only a fraction of its ability to corrupt. Even now, it isn't capable of its full potential for it is encased in a mortal body. It was necessary to complete the ritual that both Dawn and the First were housed in the same vessel."

"So she's trying to turn the Nibblet evil?" Spike asked. "That won't happen, not if I have any say in it."

"I'm sorry, Spike," Giles said, "but you don’t have any say in this. The…"

"What the fuck?!" The vampire roared, and he stood. His body shook from rage as he stared down into the eyes of the Watcher and it took all his self-control not to wail on his fellow countryman. "How the bloody hell do you think you are going to stop me? Do you know what the Nibblet means to me, Ripper? Do you?" He moved to leave, but a gentle yet firm hand on his forearm calmed the vampire down.

"Spike is right, Giles," Buffy said, her voice full of concern and authority, "you can't just leave him out in the cold with this. He loves Dawn as much as any of us here and…" she stopped when Giles held up a weary hand.

"No, you misunderstand me, Buffy." He stared pointedly at Spike. "Whatever misgivings I have about you Spike, the one thing I do trust you with is the safety of Dawn. You have already proven beyond any doubt that you would do anything for her this summer. While I am on that subject," the Watcher added semi-reluctantly, "I must express my gratitude for what you did this past summer." He stared at the other Scoobies, "in fact, all of us owe you a debt of gratitude. I doubt we would have made it through those months without you by are side."

"Then why can't I help with the Nibblet?" Spike's voice was filled with desperation as well as confusion.

"It's not just you, Spike, but all of us."

"Okay," Xander gestured for a timeout, "stop. Rewind. Push play. It's all of us? Is this another ‘Buffy-has-to-do-it-alone test’? Cuz if it is, I don’t think I can deal.”

"Giles…" Buffy croaked, the weight on her heart growing like a cancerous cell. Whatever it was, she knew it was bad.

"Why can't we just do a spell," Willow said before hastily adding, "that I would not do or be a part of. Or research in the slightest instance of the word. I mean Buffy faced it before, why can't she get rid of it now?"

"Because, Willow," he said tiredly "it is foretold in the prophecy."
"Again with the 'huh'?" Xander questioned.

"The prophecy is not what you think…"

"Then tell us," Buffy demanded, her words clipped with dread.

"The prophecy tells us that if Dawn and this First Evil are not merged by the Enjoining, then the world will end." The Watcher waited for the response to the news and was greeted by the unbelieving stares of seven pairs of eyes. They were all asking the same question though none could form the words to express it.

Finally, after several minutes, Faith laughed humorlessly before saying.

"Ain't this a bitch."

Next