I appeared on a street and was surrounded by utter chaos. At least, that's what it seemed like. It only took me a few minutes to realize where I actually was. You see, I had been here before. In spirit, anyway. I was sure that wasn't possible, until I remembered that only my mind had been here and not my physical body. I wasn't sure how that worked, magic or no magic.

Luckily, I still had the illusion of wings on my back and no one gave me a second glance. It was Halloween and little demons and monsters were running around and terrorizing the place. I used small Ki energy blasts to knock out and gather up the little gremlins and cast a notice-me-not on the floating pile, just so no one would ask me what I was doing with the pile of floating bodies.

I moved along the streets and gathered up more of the kids, leaving any adults unconscious and in safe places. There was no need to leave them out to be easy pickings for the vampires, whom I dusted with conjured wooden stakes when I found any. It was like shooting fish in a barrel, since they were confident about being out and about on the only night their scary demon faces didn't scare people.

I soon came across the people I was looking for, Xander the soldier and Willow the sexy ghost. The difference was there was another girl with them and she was an angel like me. Her wings were only half my span and her eyes lit up when she saw me.

“JOHN!” She yelled and ran over to me and jumped into the air.

I caught her in my arms and stared into her eyes. “Gloria?”

“YES!” She yelled and kissed me deeply.

I hugged her tightly and kissed her back.

“Dawn, no!” Willow shouted and ran over to try and pull us apart, except she was a ghost and her hands went through our shoulders. “Hands, Dawn! No hands! Don't grab him there!”

Gloria giggled while kissing me and I laughed as well. We had to break the kiss to catch our breaths.

“It's so great to see you again.” I said and caressed her cheek.

Gloria almost purred at my touch. “It really is. I've been through so much...”

“Me, too. A lot of it good, some of it bad, and the last...”

“We don't have time for this.” Xander the soldier said.

“Right, right. Let's go save Buffy from herself.” I said and Willow stared at me.

“How do you know Buffy?” Willow asked.

I had to think quick about how to respond to that. “I'm from her old school in LA.”

Willow's eyes squinted. “How can you be your costume and still remember who you are?”

I looked down at her cleavage and back at her face. “Have you looked in a mirror lately, Miss Ghost?”

Willow blushed and started to cover her chest with her arm as she stepped back.

“Please, don't do that. You're gorgeous and there's no shame in showing off sometimes.” I said and that just made her blush more.

“Geez, John. I'm right here.” Gloria said and smacked me.

I chuckled. “Don't worry, you still have my attention.”

“Good.” Gloria said as a scream pierced the air. “That's our cue.”

I nodded and we ran a street over and found Buffy dressed as a French debutante being harassed by two little demons. I shot them to knock them out and tossed them onto the pile.

“What did you just do?!?” Willow shouted and tried to hit me. She missed because she was a ghost.

“I'm collecting them.” I said and held a hand down for Buffy. “My lady, are you all right?”

“Je vais bien, merci.” Buffy said and took my hand.

I helped her stand and cast cleaning spells on her and fixed her dress.

“Merci.” Buffy said with a beaming smile and latched onto my arm.

“Come on, Romeo. We need to get to somewhere safe.” Gloria said.

“We can go to Buffy's.” Willow said and tried to not stare at how Buffy was clinging to my arm. “It's not that far away.”

“Lead the way.” I said and looked at Xander. “Take up the flank position and keep an eye on our six.”

“Yessir.” Xander said, understanding it was an order, and did exactly that.

As we moved along, I picked up a few more of the kids that were affected by the spell and Xander shot at the ground to scare off the older demons and monsters. It was a little surprising how many of them had bits and pieces of their costume from Ethan's store. Thankfully, the normal kids had already run off and hopefully were either home or somewhere safe.

I knew what was coming next when we reached Buffy's, so I quickly had everyone settled in the living room and went to the kitchen. As soon as Angel appeared and broke the protections on the threshold of the house, I shoved a conjured stake through his heart. He looked shocked for a second, then dusted. I took care of the next vampire that had been following him and secured the kitchen door.

I went back through the house and went out the front door, with Gloria right behind me. She knew what was going to happen as well and we ran down the street and found Cordelia being assaulted by a sasquatch. I blasted him and knocked him out while Gloria helped Cordelia up.

“Dawn? Where's your sister, Buffy?” Cordelia asked and then eyed me. “Why are you hanging around an old guy?”

“Matching costumes.” Gloria said and took her hand. “Come on. The house is just over there.”

Cordelia nodded and we ran back to Buffy's place. I took care of the vampires on the way and Cordelia gave me an appreciative look. Old guy or not, I moved quick and my simple shirt and pants didn't hide my muscles at all. We entered Buffy's and I secured the front door.

“Where did you g... oh.” Willow started to ask and saw Cordelia.

“She's not affected by her costume.” Gloria said and sat Cordelia on the couch near Buffy.

“Who is she dressed as?” Cordelia asked and pointed at Buffy.

“Eighteenth century french debutante.” I said and Cordelia looked surprised. “She was dressing up to impress her new boyfriend, Angel.”

“The stuck-up jerk that can't take a hint that I'm available?” Cordelia asked.

“That's the one.” I said and didn't tell anyone I had already dusted him. I also didn't tell them that his soul was being tortured inside the dead body that the demon was animating. That wasn't really necessary information.

“Angel isn't a jerk.” Willow said in his defense.

Gloria, Cordelia, and I gave her raised eyebrows while Buffy and Xander looked confused.

“He's not.” Willow said and crossed her arms.

“Oh, why don't you go to Giles and see what he knows about this?” Gloria asked when she remembered part of the plot.

“Great idea, Dawn! I'll do that right now!” Willow exclaimed and ran at the wall and disappeared.

Buffy screamed and fainted. Cordelia jerked from the scare and stared at Buffy, then at the wall that Willow had gone through as if it wasn't there. I stunned her and she fainted and I stunned Xander, too.

“She's who you spent the night with before?” Gloria asked and poked Cordelia's shoulder.

I took out a wand and cast repair on Cordelia's costume. “It was a different Cordelia.”

Gloria gave me a look. “Wait a second...”

“This isn't the same universe. I was Xander last time, remember?” I asked and moved Soldier Xander from the floor to sit him on the couch beside Cordelia.

“You're right. He's not dressed as you this time.” Gloria said and came over to hug me.

“You weren't here last time, either. There wasn't a Dawn Summers or another costume among their friends.” I said and held her as I kissed her tenderly. After a few minutes, Gloria broke the kiss.

“I'm sorry, this body's not feeling it.” Gloria said, disappointed.

I had to chuckle at that. “Well, according to my detection spell, Dawn is only 13.”

“WHAT?!?” Gloria squeaked and hopped away from me. “She's only... and we... I can't ask you to age me up, either!”

“Yes, you could.” I said and she gave me a squinted look. “I'm not encouraging you. We have...” I checked my watch. “...three hours left before Giles breaks the spell.”

Gloria dropped her head and sighed, sadly. “That's not nearly enough time.”

I stepped close to her. “Love. Dearest.” I put my arms back around her. “Three hours could become all the time in the world if you want.”

Gloria gave me a pointed look. “You are encouraging me.”

I laughed and gave her a quick kiss. “Three or four years isn't long to wait for you to mature, is it?”

Gloria's pointed look changed to a thoughtful one. “Well, if we do that...”

“When. I'll be de-aging myself and I'll be right there with you, then I'll hack the school's records and add both myself and Dawn to Buffy and Willow's year at high school.”

Gloria caught her breath. “You're not shunted into a costume?”

“No, this is all natural.” I said and patted my chest. “The wings are just an illusion I used when I left the last universe. I kept them when I realized where I was.”

“Wow. That... well...” Gloria looked around. “Upstairs. We can't do the dimension expansion thing here.”

“The doors and windows are secured, so I'll cast a modified notice-me-not spell on the house and we can go upstairs.” I said and apparated outside and did that, then came back inside again. “I'm sure there's a closet or something we can use.”

Gloria took my hand and led me up the stairs and we checked several rooms, then found Dawn's and entered. The closet was barely a foot wide and was stuffed full of things, so we chose to do the entire room. After all the experimentation I had done with Dr. Fate, it was child's play to expand the space and add a specific time ratio to let us age up to the right age to have some fun.

Was it a jerk move to force Dawn to grow up a little early? Maybe. You see, I knew a lot about the Scoobies and I was sure that if Buffy had a little sister, she would be worrying about her instead of concentrating on the baddie of the week. If her sister was her age instead, her objections would be superfluous. Also, I won't leave Dawn uneducated when the spell ends.

I made Dawn's room the size of a stadium and then added all the things we would need to live, some of my experiments, computer banks galore, bacta setups, and a Stargate, just for the hell of it. I also took out a heavily modified Go'auld Sarcophagus, set the age to be healed to, and hopped in.

The next day, I stepped out and I was 13 again. Gloria squealed about how cute I was and kissed me passionately. There was no real heat between us, now that we were preteens, and it was just fun to play and have fun.

So, that's what we did. We acted like kids and I made all the things we could ever need on a playground. I didn't go all out with an amusement park, though. I'd have to expand the space and that would change the time ratio again. Our time limit was 16 or 17 and I didn't want to screw up the time we had or wanted us to grow too old.

We spent our time enjoying ourselves as we did normal things, watched television, played around, and laughed and giggled a lot as we grew up together. We also talked a lot. Growing up was a novel experience for the both of us and we would treasure these moments for the rest of our very long lives.

When we had a month left, we both felt like we were ready. We didn't rush or pressured each other to do more than what we were ready for, so when we eventually ended up in bed together, we had reaffirmed our love for each other and shared each other completely... after a lot of awkward fumbling and laughing, on both our parts.

A month later when it was time to leave, Gloria and I agreed to restore Dawn's hymen. We didn't want to deny her falling for a guy and having her first time, because she might not remember everything Gloria did in her body. The thing was, we both hoped she did remember, because the three year long date was a great time and it ended in the best way.

It also gave me a better perspective over the mistakes I made in the last world. I had severely overreacted to the situation and blamed Honor for the same things I did in other worlds. I had told her that I was there for her and then told her about all of my relationships, being completely open with her.

That had been a mistake, because Gloria gave me another perspective. Honor must have assumed I would be moving on at some point, since my power worked without me having to almost die first, and she wanted to have someone to be with when I did. That made me both angry and sad, because I would have stayed with her forever, or until she was bored with life and wanted to move on.

Still, my time with Gloria healed those wounds. I had made a concerted effort to stop my philandering ways and to stick with one girl, even if it didn't work out. Otherwise, I would have bedded both Allison Harrington and Emily Alexander, and damned the consequences.

With those final thoughts, I recreated false walls for Dawn's room and cancelled the dimensional time exception on this part of the room, just so Dawn wasn't sleeping for a night and only seconds would pass in real time. I took Gloria's hand and led her out of the room and down the stairs, then checked the time. We only had a few minutes left.

“I love you even more now, John.” Gloria whispered and pulled me in to give me a soft and tender kiss. “Thank you for growing up with me.” She said, gratefully. “Thank you for everything.”

“I love you, too.” I said and gave her one last kiss. “Goodbye, love.”

“Goodb-” Gloria was interrupted when a wave of dispelling magic flowed over everything.

I dispelled the illusion wings on my back and Dawn blinked her eyes at me several times. “Hi, there. My name's John Hansen. It's nice to finally meet you, Dawn.”

Dawn gave me a wide-eyed look for several seconds, then she made an odd sound and pulled me in to kiss me. It was rushed and a little sloppy and I didn't mind it at all. I kissed her back and we hugged each other and kept making out for several minutes.

“DAWNIE!” Buffy shouted and leapt to her feet as she pulled off her black wig and revealed her dirty blonde hair. “Stop macking on the pervy stranger!”

We broke the kiss and Dawn blushed from embarrassment, so I gave her a wink to let her know it was more than okay. She shyly smiled and kept the blush.

“Who's yelling?” Xander asked and tried to rub his eyes, only to whack himself in the face with his toy assault rifle. “Ow.”

Cordelia woke up, as did the pile of kids stacked like firewood in the corner of the room. Apparently, the chaos spell ending had also ended the knocked out conditions on them all.

“Let's get the rugrats sorted out and back to the school. We can deal with what happened later.” I suggested.

The teens were still a bit out of it and agreed without argument. We helped the kids up and left the house to bring them back to the high school. I took out Eye as we waited for all of the parents to arrive to pick up their children. I quietly beeped at him with instructions and put him into the pocket at the small of my back as he altered the school records for me and Dawn.

It was the weekend, so I had a couple of days to get Dawn up to speed on the current curriculum and then I could keep teaching her to give her a solid basis to work from. I had aged her up and I wasn't going to let her suffer in an unfamiliar situation and would be right there with her.

“Who are you?” Buffy asked me, unable or unwilling to wait until we were alone for an explanation.

“When the kids are gone, we can go to the library or back to your house like I said before.” I deflected and Buffy took a deep breath to probably yell at me.

“He said he's from your old school in LA.” Willow said and Buffy paused and looked confused.

“You wouldn't remember me. I didn't go to the prom.” I said and she gave me a searching look. “I had a mullet at the time. Good luck picking me out of the crowd of thousands.”

Dawn snorted and covered her mouth with both hands to stop her loud laughs.

“It was pretty bad, wasn't it?” Buffy said with a smile.

“Even the rednecks were jealous.” I joked and that was enough to make Xander laugh, which broke the underlying tension of the whole group.

“I'm so glad that fad died out.” Cordelia said and they all nodded.

Half an hour later, all of the kids were in the custody of grateful parents for keeping the kids safe from the hallucinogenic gas leak. I had secretly filled their bags with candy, chips, and chocolate bars, too. We couldn't have the kids sad after an event like that, could we?

Cordelia was feeling generous and offered to drive us back to Buffy's. She had discovered her costume wasn't torn and was in a good mood, so we all piled in and she dropped us off. When I offered for her to come inside with us, she politely refused before the others could vehemently refuse. I thanked her for the ride and said I hoped to see her on Monday at school.

“If you're lucky.” Cordelia said and her eyes gave me a once over and then gave Dawn a once over. “I doubt you're going to be free, though.”

I waved as she drove away.

“What did she mean by that?” Buffy asked and gave me the stink eye, which meant annoyance, disapproval, and resentment.

“Let's talk about it inside.” I said and ushered the group through the front door.

“Okay, we're inside! Now spill!” Buffy almost shouted.

I sighed. “I'd tell you to calm down, except you always do the opposite of whatever good advice people give you.”

“No, I don't!” Buffy shouted.

I tried to not roll my eyes at her. It was difficult, though. “Have you noticed anything different about your sister, Dawn?”

“Nothing besides the fake wings.” Buffy said and barely glanced at her.

Dawn unlocked the harness and carefully folded the fake wings up and put them down beside the couch. She didn't say anything and walked over to Willow and easily put an arm over the other girl's shoulders.

Buffy watched her and it took her a minute to see it. “What the hell, Dawnie! You're tall!”

“She's three years older, too.” I said and Buffy and Willow gasped. “When the spell effects ended, I changed from a 25 year old man to a 16 year old and Dawn changed from a 13 year old to a 16 year old.”

“Why?” “How?” Buffy and Willow said at the same time.

I lifted my hands and wiggled my fingers at them. “Maaagic! Ooooo!”

Dawn and Xander laughed.

“Ha ha. You're a comedian.” Buffy said, completely deadpan.

“Seriously, though. It was magic.” I said and sat down on the couch. “I'm not sure how much Dawn will remember about what happened...”

“I remember most of it.” Dawn said and walked over to the couch and sat down next to me, then cuddled in. “This feels right, you know? Like a comfy blanket wrapped all around me.”

I smiled warmly at her remembering how I dealt with Gloria's touch problem before I fixed her. I put my arm over her shoulders and she put her head on my shoulder.

“Hey! Hands off my sister!” Buffy said and took a step towards us.

I sighed and moved my hand to put it on the back of the couch. “I'll never do anything Dawn won't approve of. If she remembers most of what happened while she was Gloria, then she knows I waited a long time before we did anything close to hanky-panky.”

“Hanky-panky! Ha ha!” Dawn laughed and turned her head into my neck and kept laughing.

I had to chuckle at that. “I've got a touch of old-man speak. Sorry.”

“S'okay.” Dawn said and laughed a bit more, then lifted her head to look at my face. “I'm not sure what to tell mom, though.”

“The truth.” I said and disapproving sounds came from Buffy, Willow, and Xander. “You can lie and say the gas leak aged her up and no one else. She'll believe that just as much as anything else you tell her.”

That brought them up short.

“We can... tell the truth... and she won't believe it.” Buffy said, as if just realizing the truth was so much worse than fiction.

“We can even play it off as a joke.” Xander said. “Believe me, I know.”

“He would.” Willow agreed and gave me a searching look. “I'm not sure what we're going to say about you.”

I looked at Dawn and saw her pleading look. “I was just visiting, then I met a fantastic girl and decided to stick around for a while.”

“Really?” Dawn asked, her bright smile almost lighting up the room.

“After what just happened, I need to take it easy. No more self-imposed crusades for this guy. Not for a while. I'll buy a house or something nearby, too.” I said and Dawn put her head back down on my shoulder and her soft lips kissed my neck a few times.

“Just like that?” Buffy asked, clearly surprised.

“Just like that.” I said and Eye beeped at me. I reached behind my back and pulled him out. “Thanks, Eye. That's a nice one. I'll pop over there tonight to check it out.”

The others in the room stared at me and then at the thing in my hand.

“I probably should have kept this secret.” I said and Eye beeped at me. “Because Willow's going to freak out about seeing a fully functioning AI, of course.”

“EEEE!” Willow squealed and dove for me, snatched Eye out of my hand, and curled up on the couch as she hugged him. “My dreams are coming true!”

“Beep beep.” Eye responded.

I laughed. “Not until she adjusts to the fact you exist.”

“What did he say?” Dawn asked.

“He wants me to give Willow the skill Droid-speak, so they can talk.” I said and Buffy, Dawn and Xander looked surprised.

“Beeee-ooooo...” Eye's sounds trailed off and his screen went dark.

“NO! Don't die!” Willow gasped.

“Hit the red button twice and the green once.” I said and Willow did that.

A few seconds later, Eye started to light back up.

“What happened to him?” Willow asked and caressed the screen.

“Apparently, higher technology drains faster around the Hellmouth. You switched him to a magic storage crystal for power instead of his normal power cell.”

“Beep!” Eye exclaimed.

“Well, now we know.” I said and everyone looked at me. “He said I should have switched it an hour ago.” I tapped his screen. “You can text Willow for now. Give her a few hours to enjoy your interface and then I'll give her the ability, all right?”

“Boop.” Eye agreed.

“You really can talk to him.” Willow said and looked at me with a smile, then looked down at Eye. “Show me what you can do, little guy!”

“Beep.” Eye responded and started to teach her some of his functions.

“And now we lost her.” Xander said with a chuckle.

“Only for a few hours. It's getting late and she'll have to sleep sometime.” I said and turned my head to look at Dawn. “I need to ask...”

“Of course you can stay.” Dawn interrupted me with a grin on her face.

“NOT ON YOUR LIFE!” Buffy yelled.

Dawn laughed. “I'd say on the couch, except Willow's claimed it. Xander can stay here with her.”

“I need to go check on my new property anyway.” I said.

Buffy nodded and grabbed my shoulder to haul me to my feet. “Yes! Go do that! Like now! Bye!”

“Buffy!” Dawn shouted as I was pretty much shoved out of the house and the door slammed in my face.

“Look, we can deal with the creep tomorrow. It's late and we all need to get to bed.” Buffy said and picked Willow up in a bridal carry. “Xander, the blankets are in the closet. Help yourself.”

“Right.” Xander said and left the room.

“Buffy.” Dawn said and slowly stood. Surprisingly, she was four inches taller than her older sister and Buffy had to look up from her own 5 feet 3 inches of height. “John helped us get through last night. You were rude and...”

“I'm not letting a guy from my old school date my little sister! He's my age! That's four years older than you!” Buffy defended herself.

Dawn thought about telling her that John intentionally de-aged himself to be with her, well technically her, and he chose to wait for her to grow up to be with her. Besides that being really flattering, he wasn't pushing her away after Gloria had left. It looked like he actually liked her and wanted to get to know her, too.

“You really want to pull the age card, Buff?” Dawn asked and didn't wait for her sister to react. “Angel is 242 years old! He's older than America and you're only 17! I'm not letting you date an older man!”

“That's not the same thing!” Buffy exclaimed.

Dawn laughed. “You are such a hypocrite. At least the guy I'm interested in has a pulse.”

“Angel has a pulse! I felt it!” Buffy said and then blushed.

“Oh... that... I did not want to know that a vampire demon can get it up.” Dawn said and ignored Willow's blush. “I'm going to bed and I'm going to hope John calls when... dammit, he doesn't have my number!”

Since I was listening right outside, I created a communicator and used another Eye to connect it to the phone lines before I tapped it. “Call Dawn Summers.”

The phone rang inside and Dawn lunged for it, thankful that Buffy had her arms full of Willow.

“Hello?” Dawn asked.

“Hi, Dawn. It's John. I'll give you a communicator tomorrow morning when I show up to bring everyone breakfast. I also forgot to say goodnight when I was there, so goodnight.”

“Thanks, John. I'll see you in the morning. Goodnight.” Dawn said and hung up. She gave Buffy a smug look and then skipped up the stairs to go back to her room. She was tempted to go into the expanded dimensional space and chose not to. She would need a lot more experience before she felt comfortable handling anything except for the movies and the wall-sized television.

I left a few monitoring devices to keep an eye on things and then used Eye to find the cheap property that he had electronically appropriated. The funds had been transferred from a crime lord's Swiss bank account and it was such a small amount that no one would ever find out. I'd have Eye slowly transfer everything out into a numbered account that no one would ever trace, just because he could.

“Beep.” Eye said as I walked a block away.

I held in my laugh at his disappointment. “I'm not jumping to NASA to let you raid their database again, just because there's nothing local to give you a challenge!”

“Boop beep.”

I had to laugh at that. “The IRS database is supposed to be untouchable, you lush!”

“Beep.” Eye said, a bit proudly.

“Ha hahaha! All right, go ahead and check it while you put my name in there, too.” I said and came to a stop at a modest two storey house. It was a little run down and looked like it had been vacant for a long time, if the broken front door and smashed windows were any indication. “So, do we fix it up or do we replace it?”

“Beep.”

“An outer wall first? Good point. If people see it's blocked off, they'll think construction is going on. I can replace it with the house from the farm and expand it inside.” I said and quickly surrounded the property with tall concrete barriers with disguised crosses and holy items embedded in it.

I had been tempted to add traps and chose not to, mostly because teenagers were stupid and I'd have a few random deaths on my conscience when they tried to break in. When the walls were finished, I converted the lot into the same house that was on the Kent farm in Smallville. I really loved this house. My house. I had a lot of great memories here.

I went inside and expanded the living room slightly, expanded the kitchen a lot, then went into the basement and only reproduced my main research lab. I didn't bother with a Stargate this time, because I left one at Buffy's. I chuckled at the thought of the Slayer, because I was sure that Buffy was jealous of Dawn. Her sister was almost as old as her now and taller, and soon she would be stronger, faster, and smarter.

That is, assuming Miracle would work properly here. My thoughts went over everything that went on over the Hellmouth and I decided that if I did do any experimentation, it would not be in Sunnydale. That meant a visit to the desert outside of town and then a quick mission to space. Being off the planet would give me the safest environment to work in.

I went upstairs and expanded it to fit in a bedroom for each of the Scoobies, gave each an attached bathroom, and decorated it in a close approximation of what an expensive hotel would have. It was kind of fun doing that and Eye and I spent several hours playing around with different beds and room decorations.

We couldn't do that all night, since I was going to Buffy's for breakfast. So, I went to bed in the master bedroom and slept, with Eye keeping watch for me. Thankfully, I didn't dream anything and woke up at 6 am. I showered and carried Eye when I went down to the kitchen.

“Boop?” Eye asked.

“I doubt a drone will work. There's too much magic in the air for it to last long.” I said and started cooking as Eye beeped at me. “We can work on it, sure. The magic circuits converted from the magic generator should give it some lasting power, as long as you don't go too far away from the main power source.”

Since I didn't know who liked what food in the mornings, I made a huge mix of every breakfast dish I knew. I packed it all up in heated containers and put Eye in the pocket at the small of my back. We left the house and I made an enclosed walkway to the wall and created a secured door.

I stepped outside and made sure no one was looking and formed a Hummer, then climbed in and secured Eye to the dash. It was a quick drive over to Buffy's and I parked on the street and crossed the small walk and knocked on Buffy's front door.

Xander opened up the door and stared at me with blurry eyes. “Whoozat?”

“Food delivery.” I said and held up the stuffed bags.

Xander woke up immediately and grabbed my arm to pull me inside. I chuckled and went to the kitchen to start dishing them out and he grabbed the one filled with fluffy waffles. He had one half swallowed before I could pass him the butter and maple syrup.

“Fangs.” Xander said and kept eating. He didn't bother with a plate and only switched to a fork when I added a small pile of silverware to the middle of the table. His fingers had started getting sticky and it was interfering with him stuffing his face with delicious fluffiness.

“What smells so good?” Buffy asked and rubbed her eyes, then froze when she saw me. “What are you doing here?!?”

“Breakfast.” I said and pointed at the different containers. “I wasn't sure what everyone liked, so there's a mix of everything. Help yourself.”

Buffy looked at each container and she drooled a little, then saw Xander had commandeered the fluffy waffles. I held in my laugh at her wanting the only thing Xander was eating and handed her another container of them and a plate. She made a kind of grunt sound and sat down, then did the same thing as Xander and ignored the plate as she scarfed down syrup laden waffles right from the container.

“Morning.” Willow said and stretched, then blushed when I was the only one to turn and look at her.

“It's definitely a good morning for me.” I commented and her blush flowed down her neck. I put a plate across from Buffy, where I was going to sit, and one beside that and one beside Buffy.

“Stop hitting on the brainiac.” Buffy mumbled because she had opted for a fork, too.

“Hey, you can't tell me Willow isn't cute wearing pyjamas.” I said and sat down on the other side of the kitchen table to serve myself a mix of eggs, sausages, toast, and bacon.

“Eep.” Willow squeaked and sat beside Buffy.

“That's not me teasing you. I'm just telling it like it is.” I said to ease her discomfort and lifted my head to smile behind them. “Good morning, Dawn.”

“Morning.” Dawn said as she walked into the kitchen. She came right over to me and bent down to give me a quick peck on the lips and sat down beside me.

“DAWN!” Buffy and Willow gasped.

“What? I was thanking him for making all this for us.” Dawn said and served herself the same food as I had.

“Wait, you MADE this?” Xander asked, his mouth slathered with syrup.

“Just before coming over here, actually. I wasn't sure if you wanted me to dirty up the kitchen here and cooking can be pretty noisy, so I made it at home and brought it over.”

“Home?” Dawn asked.

“Yeah, Eye bought a property on the next block, remember? It should be livable next week and you're invited over for a Welcome to Sunnydale party.” I said and saw the disapproval on the three faces across the table. “I meant all of you, not just Dawn.” I clarified and they lost the look. “In fact, your mom is invited as well.”

That seemed to surprise them and they looked like they didn't know what to say.

“You can pick out your own rooms to stay in, too. The place is huge inside.” I said and they didn't react. “Yep, I still have trouble delivering news like that.” I said and fake gasped. “Oh, look! Free food!”

Xander was the first to bark a laugh and started eating again. The girls started eating again, too. A short time later, the meal was done and Xander, Buffy, Willow, and Dawn looked stuffed.

“Maybe the food was too good.” I joked and they groaned. I closed everything up and cancelled the warming charms as I piled everything into the refrigerator.

“You're leaving all that here?” Buffy asked, surprised.

“Sure. I have tons of it and can easily make more.” I said and closed the refrigerator. “I assumed the Scoobies are staying here while Joyce is away for the weekend?” I asked and she nodded. “Then they don't have to take any home until Sunday night and I'll have a lot more made by then. As long as I'm around, none of you will ever starve.”

“Marry me!” Dawn exclaimed.

“DAWNIE!” Buffy and Willow yelled.

Xander and I laughed at her getting that reaction.

“It's at least two years before she can make that choice for herself without parental consent.” I told them and Xander nodded. “Until then, you can be reassured that I won't take her multiple proposals seriously.”

“Multiple?” Willow asked.

“Well, it's not like I'm done being awesome.” I said cockily with my nose in the air.

Dawn laughed and slapped my arm. “Don't joke about being conceited. They'll think you're serious.”

“True, true.” I said and kissed her cheek. “When are we heading over to the school to talk to Giles about last night?”

“We need to shower.” Buffy said and stood, smiled, and ran out of the kitchen. “I'm first!”

“She always does that.” Dawn said and rolled her eyes.

Willow nodded. “She really does.”

“I'll head home and...” Xander started to say.

“I'll give you a lift.” I said and the three of them looked at me. “I have a Hummer outside.”

The three teens exchanged looks and then scrambled out of the kitchen and ran through the living room.

Xander opened the front door and saw the large black vehicle. “He really does.”

“We'll be back before you know it.” I said and stepped out and Xander followed me. “Your outfit fits better than mine, too.”

Xander chuckled and we climbed inside. I waved to Dawn and Willow as I started it up, then I drove us away. He gave me the address and Eye changed to a GPS and showed me where to go. Xander didn't comment on it and we soon pulled up to his place.

“Want me to come in with you?” I asked.

Xander gave me wide eyes and didn't say anything.

“I'll take that as a yes.” I said and climbed out.

Xander followed me and we went to his front door. He unlocked it and stepped inside, then had to duck a punch.

I caught it and frowned. “Go clean up, Xander. I'll handle this.”

Xander gave his father a look and then looked at me.

“Trust me. You won't have any more problems.” I said and Xander nodded and went up the stairs. I tossed his drunk father into Azkaban and created a magical clone.

“Something... is wrong.” Anthony said and his face scrunched up. His head started to twist and his neck cracked as his skin started to melt. His hands contracted like he had rigormortis and his finger bones broke.

I sighed and dismissed him, only for it to not work. I cursed and grabbed him by the arm that started to grow scales and I cast apparate on him and sent him into the sun. I felt our connection sever after Anthony sent me a silent thank you and I tried to not think about what just happened.

Apparently, magical clones could be taken over by whatever random demon was sitting at the edge of the Hellmouth and waiting for a vessel to take over. That sucked, because it made me lose one of my best moves to deal with the bad guys. I wouldn't be replacing anyone while in this universe and my plans to do experiments in space took a much higher priority.

I brought the real Anthony out of Azkaban and he looked haunted. “Can you guess what's going to happen to you again if you don't stop punishing your only son for your failed life?”

Anthony Harris stared at me like I was the Boogeyman.

“Tell your wife the same thing when she bothers getting her ass out of bed.” I whispered.

The shaken man nodded and tottered back into the living room. He sat down in his ratty recliner and took a warm beer from the box at his feet and downed the whole thing. The television wasn't on and he stared at it like it was the most interesting thing he had ever seen.

Xander came down the stairs wearing the ugliest Hawaiian shirt to ever exist. “Let's go.”

“Are you sure you don't have something else that a fruit salad threw up on?” I asked with a grin as we left the house.

Xander laughed and punched my arm. “You know why I wear them, don't you?”

“Yeah, bright and colorful draws the vamp's eyes. It's a great distraction and gives Buffy a breather when she might be overwhelmed.” I said and he nodded. “It's too bad she doesn't realize that.”

“None of them do.” Xander said and we climbed into the Hummer.

I gave him a searching look. “You're too deep into playing your goofy character.”

Xander gave me a look back, then sighed. “I can't stop, you know? It won't be believable.”

“They'll think you're mastered or under a vamp's thrall?” I asked and drove us back to Buffy's.

“Or I'm a copy that's infested with a demon possession.” Xander said. “If I dress normally, everyone will think something's wrong and not just the gang.”

I nodded. “Yeah, I get it. You get caught up acting a certain way and it's what everyone expects. If you do something different, they freak out, because you can't be who you are because of it.”

Xander nodded, too. “I wore pants that fit last month and I was teased all day because they weren't baggy jeans like I usually wear. I had to make the excuse that they were my dads and I didn't have anything clean. They laughed even more.”

I held in my sigh at that. I couldn't really help, either. Even a gradual change wouldn't work, because as soon as one person noticed the difference, everyone would. Xander was right about that.

We parked by Buffy's and I honked the horn. The front door opened and Buffy, Willow, and Dawn came out. All three were dressed in slayer casual, tight jeans, nice tops under jackets, and their hair done. Willow had a thick sweater on as well. The three of them climbed into the back and made appreciative sounds at all the space.

“Sunnydale High.” I said and Eye changed to show the straight route. “With buildings, please.”

Willow softly laughed and her own Eye beeped in amusement.

I drove off and the others chatted as I watched the early morning traffic. I didn't bother asking why Giles would go into school on the weekends, since I knew he had no life outside being the Watcher for the Slayer. He had an apartment and that was only because he wasn't allowed to sleep where he wanted to. Among all of his books.

I parked in the student area of the parking lot and the five of us went inside the school through a side entrance that employees always used. Buffy led the way to the library and we entered and saw Giles reclining on a chair with his feet up on one of the tables. Without shoes, of course. No scuffs on the nice tables was allowed.

“Good morning.” Giles said and took his feet off of the table and slipped them into a pair of Oxfords.

“We're here to report on all the weird.” Buffy said and flopped down onto a chair across from Giles.

“Of course.” Giles said and glanced over us and paused at Dawn and raised his eyebrows. “Weird is one word to describe what happened.” He said and looked at me. “And who might you be?”

“Just an interdimensional traveller caught by the Hellmouth as I was passing by.” I said in a joking manner and everyone looked at me for a second before laughing. I did not remind them about my comment last night about telling Joyce the unbelievable truth and playing it off as a joke.

“He's from LA and was in the area last night. Dawn had a similar costume and they were angels for a few hours.” Willow said and sat beside Buffy as I sat down between Dawn and Xander. “When the spell ended, both Dawn and he ended up as 16 years old.”

“Interesting.” Giles said and took off his glasses to clean them. We all knew he did that as he was thinking. “It could have been the nature of the chaos spell or the fact you were angels interacting with the spell that caused the change.”

“What are we going to do about it?” Buffy asked. “Dawn's not really 16 and she can't go back to junior high looking like that.”

“It's all right.” I said before either Giles or Willow could offer to cast magic to fix her. “I'll teach Dawn a few things to get her up to speed and she'll join us in classes here starting Monday.”

“WHAT?!?” Buffy and Willow exclaimed. Giles gave me a searching look and Xander shrugged. Dawn looked very pleased by my comment and put an arm around my back.

“I've already added her as a transfer student and we'll fit right in together.” I added and turned my head to look at her. “I know a few tricks that will get you by for now and I'll keep tutoring you in the evenings. You'll be in the same AP courses as Willow and Xander and no one will doubt that you're supposed to be there.”

Dawn beamed a smile at me. “Thanks, John.”

I shook my head. “There's no need to thank me, especially if you remember most of what happened last night. You know we took advantage of you and our time together, because it's so rare. I'm going to do everything I can to make it up to you.”

Dawn blushed and ducked her head a little.

“What happened last night?” Buffy asked, pointedly.

“Gloria and I relived our childhoods. We had two very different upbringings while growing up and last night was the first time we had a chance to live them together, knowing full well how special it was.” I explained and Dawn nodded. “It was great, and wonderful, and I hope that wherever Gloria is now, she remembers it as fondly as I do. As I always will.”

Only Giles caught the meaning of what I said and looked sad. “I am sorry for your loss, Mister Hansen.”

Everyone else got it and understood that Gloria was not in this world. Xander and Buffy looked pale. Willow had tears in her eyes. Dawn leaned in and gave my cheek a tender kiss.

“It's all right. My time with her healed me more than I ever expected it to. It's going to be a long time before I see her again, and that's okay.” I told them and they nodded.

Giles put his glasses back on. “Let's begin with Buffy. How much do you remember about last night?”

“Not as much as I did when the spell ended.” Buffy said and then explained that she was herself in the back of her mind, kind of along for the ride, and her costume's personality was driving her body.

Xander went next and he said he remembers a lot of military procedures and handling weapons. He even went into details about his unit and doing patrols and skirmishes. The funniest one was Willow. She claimed she only tried to walk through a door twice and a wall once, and that was within the first few minutes of waking up that morning. We all laughed.

Dawn went next and she chose to not explain how we relived our childhoods, just that we did. She kept the secret of the dimensional space in her room and how she had felt while Gloria was in the driver's seat of her body. She also admitted that she liked me and wanted to try and have the same kind of relationship with me that Gloria had. That shocked everyone except me.

“I won't be treating you the same, because you're not.” I said and Buffy, Willow, and Dawn nodded. “I do want to get to know you, though. Since we'll be spending a lot of time together as I teach you, we'll both get the chance to see who we are and if a relationship can happen on its own.”

“No forcing it. Got it.” Dawn said and then her eyes danced a little. “Professor Hansen, can you give me a lesson on proper etiquette in a classroom?”

“Of course I can. I have a lot of experience...” I started to say.

Dawn stood up and took my hand. “There's a table in the back. We don't want to bore the others.”

“Good point.” I said and stood. “Ladies, gentlemen. Excuse us.”

“Of course.” Giles said and waved us off.

“I don't like him.” Buffy said and I wasn't even out of earshot.

“You don't like that he's not fawning over you.” Xander said.

“Hey, you do enough fawning.” Buffy groused.

“How do you know what fawning means?” Willow asked him.

Both Giles and Xander groaned.

I silenced the space around the table as Dawn pushed me down into the chair against the wall.

“Are you?” Dawn asked me.

“Am I what?” I asked instead of answering.

“Fawning over me and not Buffy.” Dawn answered.

I looked into her eyes and knew she wanted the truth. “Honestly, I think she's a bit off her rocker. Dying at the Master's hand and then coming back has changed something in her. She's... darker? Less living oriented? I can't really explain it.”

Dawn straddled my lap and looked deep into my eyes. “So, I'm the second choice?”

I chuckled. “No, you're not. As soon as I came here, I chose to not get involved with the Slayer. I'll help, yes. Date her? Hell no. That's like a whole bunch of problems I don't want to get into.”

Dawn saw the truth in my eyes and smiled.

“That you were here, someone I never met before, and you had the woman I love possessing you? There wasn't even a choice to be made.” I said and her smile became a grin.

“And you've already had me.” Dawn whispered and lightly kissed me.

“I fixed that and you know why.” I said and she nodded. “Can you remember much about her?”

Dawn had to think about that. “Kind of. It's not like she downloaded a bunch of stuff into my brain.”

I caught my breath and Dawn's smile became predatory.

“Spill.” Dawn whispered and lightly kissed me again.

“I can add a telepathic node to your frontal cortex... after some rigorous testing.”

Dawn tilted her head to stare at me. “You're scared something will go wrong?”

I nodded. “I already tried something I'm used to doing and it was warped and twisted by the Hellmouth. If I do any experimentation, it has to be well away from here. There's too much magic and corruption to do things willy-nilly.”

Dawn snorted and laughed. “Willy-nilly! Ha haha!”

“Old-man speak.” I said with a smirk.

Dawn smirked back and leaned down to kiss me. I didn't resist or told her to stop, so she didn't. We stayed there for a good fifteen minutes before Dawn broke the kiss with a satisfied smile on her face.

“What's the look for?” I asked.

“You're not kissing me the same way.” Dawn answered.

“Why would I? You're a different person.” I responded.

Dawn gave me a piercing look and nodded before she slid off of my lap and tapped the table. I took the hint and took out a study guide for high school. I had several of them and this one was a more generic one, so it would have to do for now. I started teaching her a few memorizing tricks and then delved into the subjects we would be taking.

We took a break for lunch and I offered to pay for everyone, which gained me odd looks. I didn't bother telling them I was rich, because I wasn't sure if me creating local money right on the Hellmouth would be corrupted in some way, since it was magically generated. I had Eye create a debit card at the local bank and picked it up on the way.

Thankfully, I did not gain the land with the bank on it, which was a relief. Hellmouth corrupted lands could be really bad and might cause random evil effects when used. I did not want those kinds of things in my head. I did have Eye transfer bits of money skimmed from millions of accounts and had it trickle into my own account, which made me a millionaire by the time lunch arrived.

The group chose a burger joint for lunch and it was an okay time. Buffy was giving me and Dawn squinted looks occasionally and we ignored her. We talked about our lessons and both Willow and Xander were interested. I explained I had a standard study guide and Willow demanded I hand it over for her to check.

“It's back at the library.” I lied and Dawn gave me a knowing look. She knew I had stored it and how, which meant she wasn't losing the things she had learned about yesterday, which was great. I could build off of that a lot easier than starting from scratch. I was pretty much reminding her that I taught Gloria as well and the information easily came to the forefront of her mind.

We went back to the library and Willow stole the study guide and tucked herself into the corner as she devoured it. I didn't object, mostly because I could make as many of them as I wanted. I handed one to Xander and he gave me a grateful look and went to his own corner.

Since I didn't want to ostracize Buffy, I handed her a book on Paris fashion. She squealed like a little girl and happily scurried away and ignored the rest of us. Giles gave me a pointed look, probably because I had suborned his captured audience (by bribing them to leave us alone), so I did the only thing I could. I took out an alchemy book from the Harry Potter universe and gave it to him.

The older man's eyes widened at the topic and strode off to his office to devour the book.

“Okay, I'm impressed.” Dawn said and looked around the pretty much empty library.

“Me, too.” I said and lightly laughed. “I didn't think it would have been that easy to have more alone time with you.”

Dawn blushed a little and then led me over to the last corner of the room that just happened to be the table in the back. “Well, we can't let this opportunity go to waste.”

“No, no we shouldn't.” I said and sat.

Dawn smiled as she straddled my waist and she kissed me like there was no tomorrow.

*

It didn't take me long to set up the entire town with cameras and hooked them into the town's power grid. It let Eye monitor everything and he could let me know what was going on around the town, day or night. Willow wouldn't give back the Eye she had, so I had to make another one to handle the task permanently and set up more servers and things so he wouldn't get bored. Who knew that keeping AIs happy was so hard?

School started on Monday and it was high school. Even on the Hellmouth, it didn't twist and change things, which was both weird and fitting. High school was a hell all on its own, with cliques, hierarchy, a pecking order, jocks, nerds, cheerleaders, the popular kids (both male and female), and all the rest. The lowest of the low on the totem pole were the newbies, of which Dawn and I were.

I had driven everyone in my Hummer and that gained a lot of attention. Some of it bad. Dawn and I walked hand-in-hand into the school, a short ways behind Buffy and her friends, only to have the jocks step out from where they waited and blocked our way. Buffy, Willow, and Xander were down the hallway before they noticed we weren't with them.

“You don't want to do this.” I warned the jocks and let Dawn's hand go to move her back.

The lead jock, the Quarterback of the football team, smiled smugly at me. “Boys, put him in his place.”

I waited for them to try and tackle me before I moved and took each of them down. I touched them while making it look like I punched their lights out, except I stunned them instead. I dealt with the seven bigger guys easily and walked over to stand in front of the head jock, whom looked scared.

“Thanks for showing me my place. At the top.” I said to his face and then punched him. I had him spin comically twice before I stunned him and he fell to the floor, unconscious.

“What is going on here?!?” A short and quite ugly man with large ears asked as he tromped over.

“I was assaulted, Principal Snyder. I defended myself from these thugs with minimal force and I'm not hurt. Thanks for asking.” I said, magnanimously.

Snyder looked down at the pile of unconscious football players and looked back at me.

I knew what he was thinking, so I slid off my jacket to hand to Dawn and everyone saw the tight t-shirt I wore and it showed off all my muscles. A few whistles came from the popular girls and Cordelia looked surprised, then disappointed. I thought I heard her curse at missed opportunities, too.

“Do you play football?” Snyder asked me.

“Sorry, sir. I can't qualify until next year. I'm a fresh transfer student.” I said and Dawn handed me my jacket back. I put it on and ignored the disappointed sounds from the girls.

Snyder sighed and looked back down at the jocks. “I have to give you detention for fighting on school grounds.”

“That's fair, sir. I told them not to do it and they didn't listen.” I said and reached down to pull the jocks out of the way and sat them by the wall. “I only knocked them out and didn't hurt them, sir. They'll be awake in an hour or so.”

Snyder smiled and nodded. “Detention is in the gym after school.”

“Yes, sir.” I responded and the other students kept their muttering comments low as the principal walked away.

“You are so getting a tongue lashing at lunch.” Dawn whispered and kissed my cheek.

“I'm not sure you understand what that's supposed to mean.” I joked and she laughed.

We went to the school office for our supplies, class schedules, and locker assignments. Then classes. Dawn stuck right beside me the whole morning and tried to not show that she was nervous. It mostly worked and she started to relax when she realized she was actually keeping up with the classwork.

At lunch, I was dragged into an alcove and kissed pretty soundly for several minutes, then we went to our lockers to drop off our stuff and I grabbed a backpack to go to the cafeteria. I had brought lunch for everyone and Buffy, Xander, and Willow perked up when they saw us enter the room.

“You're a pack of vultures.” I said and pulled a bunch of different containers from the backpack.

“Ooo, extra crispy fried chicken!” Xander said and claimed it, then fought off Willow as she tried to steal a few pieces from him. Duelling chicken legs was kinda funny to watch, because they both won and started eating their weapons.

Dawn laughed at them and took the macaroni and cheese with hamburger.

“Any pizza?” Buffy asked and pushed the spaghetti, beef stew, and pork chop containers aside.

“How about Biscotti?” I asked and handed her a large container.

“Close enough.” Buffy said and opened it, took in a huge sniff, and lifted the sub-like bread covered in spicy sauce, melted cheese, diced tomatoes, and peppers. She took several huge bites and moaned. “Yeah, that's the stuff.”

Of course, this gained a lot of attention, especially from the popular girls. Cordelia steeled herself and led the way over to our table. I was sure she had a great excuse to bother us and bum some food; but, I didn't want her lowering her standing with the other girls.

“There's more than enough to share. Have a seat and enjoy.” I said and took out a box of plastic utensils to put on the table. I added a few more dishes and the girls sat down and happily dug in.

“It's too bad you're taken already.” The ditzy blonde named Harmony said and twirled her fork in the spaghetti bolognese. “I'd totally go down on you for another feed of this.”

Everyone at the table stopped eating at her words and watched as she put the large amount of twirled spaghetti and half the fork into her mouth. She tilted her head back and pulled the fork out, licking it the whole time, then she swallowed without chewing.

More than a few of the guys in the cafeteria had to adjust themselves, Xander included.

“Now that's talent.” I said into the complete silence.

Someone choked and another barked a laugh, which seemed to shake everyone out of their stunned states, then a round of applause and more laughter came from the other students. Not surprisingly, Harmony was quite pleased with the attention and waved to a few people before she started eating the spaghetti normally.

I chose the stew as my main and opened a container of garlic bread covered in mozzarella cheese. I barely had one piece lifted out when every other piece was immediately scabbed. The container was mostly empty, except for some crumbs and dribbles of cheese, which Xander claimed and tried to dig out with his finger after he had shoved his entire piece of garlic bread into his mouth.

“I'll make more tomorrow.” I promised. Sounds of happiness came from everyone and we all kept eating.

Afternoon classes seemed a lot easier and passed fairly quickly, which had everyone happy, and we all met at the lockers to drop off our books and things. While there, Willow and Buffy chatted about their last class as a new kid started walking towards us. Eye warned me who it was, Billy 'Ford' Fordham, and I couldn't use the Force to touch him discreetly.

I excused myself to go use the bathroom and intercepted the kid and manhandled him into the bathroom and then tossed him into Azkaban. I wasn't going to let the idiot try to guilt Buffy into falling for his fake friendship, just because he was an old friend from LA, and then letting him set Buffy up to be killed by the vampires.

That did mean I had a group of wannabees in a fake club downtown that were begging to be made into vamps, not realizing they were committing suicide and giving their dead bodies to possessing demons. It also meant that I'd have to deal with them, one way or another.

That meant I was going to monitor Buffy's slaying a bit closer than usual starting tonight and probably for a few days... right after I spent a boring after school detention running laps in the gym.

*

It took me two days and nights to find the place they had claimed. The vampire appreciation club were all suffering with delusions of vampirism being a higher state of being, which is actually the complete opposite. None of them could be convinced that giving up their lives was worth it, especially with their idiot of a leader professing their virtues as I tried to tell them they were killers.

Rather than let them be eaten and converted into an entire pack of new vampires, I tossed the lot into Azkaban's minimum security wing. They were going to disappear anyway, so I didn't feel guilty about it. At least this way, they wouldn't hunt down their families to kill them and make them into vampires, too.

*

I hung out with the Scoobies in the afternoons after teaching Dawn and then we all did our own thing on the weekend. For me, it was travelling out of Sunnydale and into the desert for several miles. I could almost feel the Hellmouth trying to force me to stay when I was finally out of its reach and felt like there was a kind of obliviation spell that stopped people from remembering anything about the place.

Once I was far enough away, I attempted to create a Firefly and it mostly worked, so I spent several hours fixing the damage after converting it from the built-in reactors to run from magical naquedah reactors. Whatever magic the Hellmouth was emitting was also affecting things outside of it. Was someone doing that intentionally and keeping the population technologically repressed?

When the repairs were done, I didn't take the chance of going up inside the ship myself. I copied it and sent it on it's own with a payload of near-space harvesters and had them dropped off. Eye watched the ship's progress and saw the moment that containment failed and it exploded. It was both the normal reactor and the magical one, too.

Something was definitely stopping the inhabitants of Earth from leaving, either because their influence couldn't reach that far or having anyone leaving gave people hope for the future and that was not what the Powers That Be wanted. Tight control of their world was what they wanted and would probably stop everything from disrupting their plans.

That really limited my options. I couldn't set up an automated factory in space to start making Crybaby mappers, which meant I was bound to the planet. I also couldn't do what I did the last time I was in a similar situation, because I didn't have the God of Chaos named Janus to cover for my actions.

I had a feeling that as soon as I tried to cast that massive sunlight spell to kill all the vampires, it would explode and kill me. Since I was smart enough to not ignore my feelings, I spent the next few hours converting and fixing satellites to have a magical power source and loaded them into a Firefly to seed them around the planet. It was the most I could do within my enforced limitations and the ship exploded right after it dropped the last satellite.

With a sigh, I hopped back into my Hummer and drove back to Sunnydale. There was no way to put a space station into orbit, because it would just become a huge bomb and kill anyone on it. It also meant that I wouldn't be experimenting with Miracle, even under the best magical protections I could make.

I met up with Dawn and she was pretty disappointed with what I had to tell her, mostly because she had looked forward to being just as good as Buffy. That made me reconsider experimentation, mostly because I hadn't tried simply copying skills. It was an inherent ability of mine and I was sure that it wouldn't deviate too much from the established rules, because I wasn't making another Slayer.

Dawn chose to be the guinea pig and she encouraged me to copy as many skills as possible from Buffy to her, just because she was sure that only taking the skills and nothing else, would be okay. Despite my reluctance, I did what she wanted that night while Buffy was asleep. Thankfully, nothing bad happened. Well, with Buffy, anyway.

Giles on the other hand, had been arrested and brought to the police station, because two murders had implicated him. He knew the two victims and had met them in Europe. It didn't take much to get him to spill the proverbial beans and he told us about the group he had been involved with in his youth and the demon he and his friends had summoned. The group shared tattoos and the demon could track them with it and was hunting them down.

Since I could copy skills successfully, I copied Giles' summon demon skill and tattoo onto a cadaver and dispelled his own connection. It mostly worked and Giles lost a lot of magical power because of it. He was quite grateful and promised to repent and abstain from the darker rituals, like he had since he left the group.

Ethan Rayne showed up that evening at the library and tried to kidnap Buffy, only for Dawn to beat the crap out of the Chaos Mage and then held him for the demon, Eyghon. The other Scoobies argued about it until the demon himself showed up in the body of Giles' childhood friend. He looked right at me and I gave him the same wave and salute that I had when I had been in the other instance of Halloween and the demon smiled and claimed the soul of the last member of the group.

“What the hell was that about?” Buffy asked me accusingly as the demon's current body reduced to a puddle and Ethan's body dropped to the floor.

“Professional courtesy.” I said and everyone looked at me with surprise. “Demons have contracts to fulfill. If you stand in their way, they get antsy and...” I looked at Giles. “What's the word I'm looking for?”

“Deviation.” Giles said and took off his glasses to clean them. “They will come for what they are due and will deviate as much as possible to claim what is theirs. If they gain a few extra souls on the way to their goal, it's just a bonus for them.”

“How many?” Buffy asked as she looked down at the dead body of Ethan Rayne.

“I have no doubt he kept Eyghon well fed over the years while trying to escape his fate.” Giles said and put his glasses on.

“A least it's over.” Dawn said with finality.

That reminded Buffy about what she just saw. “Hey! How are you doing the whole slayage thing?”

Dawn smiled and lied her cute little ass off. “I'm not a Slayer. I just learned a few things from you.”

“A few!” Buffy almost yelled.

“Okay, everything I could.” Dawn said and walked over to me. “Thanks for letting me handle that.”

“You've been getting better at studying, so I figured it was about time to let you fight.”

Dawn gave me a quick kiss. “I hope you can teach me a few things, too.”

“Of course. You've got the basics of unarmed fighting down and I can show you a few things with weapons.” I agreed.

“Me, too!” Buffy exclaimed.

“You have your own Watcher to teach you.” Giles pointed out and didn't say that she wasn't that eager to learn when she didn't have any competition. We all knew it, though.

“Maybe a joint training session?” I asked and everyone looked at me. “Xander can get in on this, too.”

“Really?” Xander asked, surprised.

“Why not? You're always right there with the slaying. Making you a better fighter can only help you.” I said and then smiled. “Plus, I have a few ideas for some better weaponry and tactics that you should get a kick out of.”

Xander grinned and gave me a high five and then a fist bump.

“I'll take care of the... ahem... disposal.” Giles said.

“Allow me.” I said and reached down to touch Ethan and transfigured the body to look like the dead friend of Giles that started this whole thing. “I can put him into the morgue too, if you want.”

Everyone stared at me again.

“It's a basic magic transfiguration on dead flesh. There's no way for it to be corrupted or altered, since it's not harmful or benefiting who's being changed.” I explained.

“You know magic?” Willow asked, intrigued.

“Technically, yes.” I said and she frowned. “I can't really do much, because the rules on the Hellmouth about using magic are so skewed for evil and corruption that any significant spell cast has a huge chance of going bad, no matter what it is.”

Giles looked thoughtful and had to nod. “I have to agree. Even simple diagnostic spells need a lot of preparation and then a cleansing ritual afterwards to clear the taint.”

“Cleansing rituals?” Willow asked and both Giles and I stared at her. “What's the look for?”

“Willow, you and I need to have a long talk about proper magic practises on the Hellmouth...” Giles started to say and took her hand to lead her to his office. “...and there's no time like the present.”

“Hey, wait! I don't need...” Willow's words were cut off when the door shut.

“She's not going to enjoy being talked down to or told what to do.” Xander warned us.

“No doubt, since they're going to be a while.” I said, knowing that Giles talked for a long time when he was in lecture mode. “Does anyone need a drive home?”

“I'll stay with Willow and escort her home if she doesn't stay over.” Buffy offered.

“Then I'm out.” Xander said and walked over to me and Dawn. “Do you mind if I crash at your place tonight?”

“I told you that you all have rooms at my house. You can stay over all the time if you want.” I said and held Dawn's hand as the three of us left the library. “It's a huge house, too. You might not even see me until meals are served.”

Xander looked a little guilty as he considered it. “I can't impose like that, John.”

“Dude, I live alone and have tons of money. I could support everyone in school and it won't put a dent in my spending money, let alone my savings.”

“Then I'm moving in.” Dawn said with a sexy smile.

“NO, YOU'RE NOT!” Buffy yelled.

“I think Buffy might object to that. Maybe.” I joked and the three of us laughed. We climbed into the Hummer and I dropped Dawn off at her home and made sure she went inside and then drove a block away to the house.

Xander's eyes were wide as I pulled into the driveway and parked. “How did I miss seeing a farm house being built?”

“It was behind a barrier for a week and it didn't take that long to change the outside.” I said and led him to the porch and to the front door. I created a key on a simple key ring for him and handed it to him. “Here you go. Welcome to Casa Hansen. Make yourself at home and you never have to leave.”

Xander looked close to crying, so I did the manly thing and patted his back and ignored it. I opened the door and stepped inside with him still on the front step.

“You want to try the key?” I asked and he nodded. I shut the door and locked it for him and stepped back. It opened a minute later and Xander looked surprised. “You thought it was a joke?”

Xander nodded. “Not even Willow offered me a key to her house and we've been friends since we were toddlers.”

I chuckled and waved him inside. “If you need help moving your stuff, I just so happen to have a vehicle with a huge cargo area in the back.”

Xander looked stunned. “You're seriously letting me move in?”

“I'd suggest picking the biggest room upstairs; but, that's mine. Owner's rights.” I said and closed the front door and locked it. “The rest of them are big enough and you won't be complaining, trust me. Even the walk-in closets are huge.”

“Really?” Xander asked and I led him up the stairs.

“The master bedroom is at the end of the hall. When I sleep, that's where it happens.” I opened the first door on the left to show him inside. “Outside wall with a huge window overlooking the street.” I said and closed it, then opened the first door on the right. “Also an outside wall with a huge window overlooking the backyard and the house on the next street. I'm waiting for them to put it up for sale and then I'll tear it down to put a pool in.”

Xander stared at me like I was crazy.

I barked a laugh and walked down the long hallway. I showed him each of the six available rooms and he stared in each one. He definitely noticed the high quality of everything and didn't comment until I remembered to show him the attached bathrooms that each room had.

Xander gave me a manly hug and quickly let go and wouldn't look at me. “I could use a hand grabbing my stuff tomorrow night.”

“I have two hands, so that's not a problem.” I responded. “I'll have a sign made up for your room and I'll install a key lock that only you will have the key for. Privacy is important.”

Xander nodded and chose the first room on the left, because he liked the view.

“You can borrow a few things from my closet in the morning. If you need any extra linen, pillows, or blankets, everything's in the hall closet.” I informed him and left him alone in his room. I didn't install cameras, because I didn't want them to think I didn't trust them and I also didn't want them thinking I was going to perv on them.

I went to bed with a smile on my face, because I was sure that Xander would be gushing about the house tomorrow to the rest of the Scoobies.

*

Bringing breakfast to Buffy's every morning was a normal thing, since I also drove everyone to school. It had become a routine almost immediately and everyone was relaxed, even Buffy. She did keep harping on about why she hadn't seen Angel in a couple of weeks and was getting worried about him.

I wisely kept my mouth shut and silently thanked Xander when he called him Deadboy and said he disappeared for weeks before, so it wasn't anything new. Buffy frowned at him and then sighed, because Xander was right. Some weeks Angel was never there to help, even though he promised he always would be.

We entered the library before classes and greeted Giles, only for him to say something similar. Jenny Calendar hadn't been seen in a few days and he was worried about her. That made all of the Scoobies interested as they investigated the mystery.

That night after her patrol and reporting in to Giles, Buffy saw a vampire stealing a book from Giles' private library. Unfortunately, she chased him and he got away. The next morning, she told us about it and Giles checked and found out which book was missing. It was one authored by a man named Josephus du Lac and it was written in code that no one could decipher without a code key.

After we all filled out a form on future job prospects, Willow was taken aside and given a sales pitch by a leading software company, where she met Oz, a budding programmer and a guitarist in a local band called Dingoes Ate My Baby. They occasionally played at The Bronze, the teenage club downtown.

I had been tempted to interfere and stop the burgeoning romance, then chose not to. If Willow couldn't gather up the courage to confront Xander about how she felt, especially after how he saw her dressed on Halloween, that was not my problem. I learned my lesson the hard way about trying to interfere in other people's relationships.

However, I did know what was going on with the book and the code key, so I had Eye monitor the mausoleums in the area. I knew that same vampire was going to raid one of the unmarked tombs for a golden cross that contained the code key.

Buffy just happened to be on patrol in the same area when she came across the vampire stealing the cross. Unfortunately, she was jumped by two other vamps and had to fight them off. By the time she dusted them, the other vampire was gone. What she didn't know was that I had intercepted him just outside of the graveyard and rescued the cross and dusted the vampire.

My attempts at tracking Spike and Drucilla over the last few weeks failed, mostly because they kept moving their lair. I thought about letting the vampire go to follow him, only I was sure he wouldn't lead me to their lair and only to a meeting place. It was never that easy to find a vampire's sleeping place... unless you were Angel. Everyone knew he used to live in the old mansion at the edge of town.

I started to walk back to my house when a dark skinned Caribbean beauty stepped out of the shadows in front of me. She had long dark hair done up in a complicated ponytail that was puffed up like squirrel's tail. She wore a midriff bearing thin top and pants that almost looked like silk, which made her stand out even more than her muscles and tough demeanor did.

“Whut you be doing robbin' da creature?” She asked in her thick Caribbean accent and posed to fight with a hammer and stake in her hands.

I wasn't going to lie to the girl, because she would attack if I tried. “This is a code key to a book stolen from the local Watcher's library. It decodes a ritual to bring an ill vampire back to their full strength.”

The dark skinned girl looked surprised. “You told me da truth.”

I chuckled and tucked the cross away. “You're welcome to come with me. I'll deliver the cross to Giles tomorrow and he'll no doubt send it off to the Watcher's Council for safe keeping.”

She seemed to think about that for a moment, then nodded hard enough to bob her fluffy ponytail and she tucked the hammer and stake into her boots.

“You're quite trusting when you choose to be.” I said and walked over to her with my hand out.

“I can handle meself.” She said and gave me a searching look as she accepted my hand to shake. “I be known as Kendra.”

“John Hansen. I'm dating the Slayer's sister.” I said and turned her hand over and lightly kissed the back of it. “It's nice to meet you.”

Kendra looked a little flustered and then straightened her back. “It is.”

I chuckled and let her hand go. “My vehicle is right over there.”

Kendra nodded and we went over to where I had parked. “That is big as me house!”

I laughed and opened the passenger door for her and helped her climb in. “You're going to love where I actually live.”

Kendra sat on the front seat and her eyes took in everything as I climbed in the driver's side. “You be takin' me home, den?”

I could tell from her tone that she wasn't trying to tease me, just stating a fact. “Only to stay. Dawn would skin me alive if I dared bring anyone home to my bed that wasn't her.”

Kendra smiled and nodded hard, bobbing her ponytail again. I smiled back and drove us over to my house and parked in the driveway. I hopped out and came around to her side and helped her down, because she didn't have any experience with such a large vehicle. She looked appreciative, too.

I took her inside and shut and locked the door, then I hung up my leather jacket. “Are you hungry? When was the last time you ate?”

Kendra looked guilty and didn't say anything.

“Right, you're the strong and silent type. Follow me, please.” I said and she followed me across the living room and into the spacious kitchen.

“You weren' kiddin'. Dis place be huge.” Kendra whispered and sat at the kitchen table.

“I like being comfortable when I'm at home.” I said and pulled things from the refrigerator to start cooking. “What's your preference? Beef? Vegetables? Poultry?”

“Anyting be good.” Kendra said.

I took Eye out. “Any chance you can dig up a nice Caribbean dish? Authentic, please.”

“Beep.” Eye said and after a few seconds, showed me a good recipe for jerk chicken in a spicy pasta.

“Nice and easy.” I said and put Eye in front of Kendra to show her. “I'll have it ready in twenty minutes.”

Kendra stared at Eye's display and her mouth watered at the picture.

“It's going to taste even better than it looks.” I told her and quickly prepped what I needed and cooked it up. Thankfully, whatever the Hellmouth was doing to corrupt magic, didn't affect my cooking.

The smell of the food filled the kitchen and Kendra was drooling freely. I quietly handed her a napkin and she held it to her mouth without bothering to wipe up what had already spilled out. It was quite the compliment, since I was making her a traditional Caribbean dish and she couldn't wait to taste it.

I plated up a double portion for her and put it in front of her, only for her to inhale it like a vacuum. I wasn't even sure she tasted it as she poured the entire plate's contents into her mouth and down her throat.

That's two girls I've met that can swallow everything. I thought and sat down across from her with my own plate. I took a single spoonful and chewed it as Kendra let out a very satisfied sigh. “More?”

Kendra beamed a smile at me and handed me her empty plate. I filled it and she ate it normally this time, then asked for thirds. I obliged, since I had made a lot. I figured she wasn't as reserved as Buffy and would eat to fill her reserves and not be constrained by modern thinking like diets. She was a hefty and healthy girl with most of it being muscle.

I cleaned up and put the remains into a container and put it into the refrigerator. “I'll show you your room at the top of the stairs and I'll hand you some better clothing than what you're wearing.”

“What be wrong wit me clothes?” Kendra asked, insulted.

I held up a hand to stop her from ranting. “It's cold at night in California. You need denim pants and a leather jacket at least. Your top is fine if you want it washed.”

Kendra gave me an odd look. “You be doin' women's work?”

I laughed. “You just saw me cooking up a storm. What do you think?”

“I tink you be confusin'.” Kendra answered.

“Fair enough.” I said and led her through the house to the stairs. We reached the top and I opened the right-side door. “The bathroom is the second door and is fully stocked, so help yourself. A bathrobe is hung on the back of the door. If you want your things cleaned, leave them out here in the hall.” I walked to the closet and pretended to grab a suitcase of women's clothing. “Pick through that and take what you want.”

Kendra looked in the suitcase and was doubtful. “Who owns dem?”

“No one. I keep some clothes on hand in case any of my friends stay over and they forgot anything.” I said and shooed her into her room. “I'll add a lock to your door tomorrow and give you a key that only you'll have.”

Kendra looked shocked. “You be givin' me dis room?”

“Of course. The new Slayer is always welcome in my home and you can stay for as long as you want.” I said and closed her door. I heard the normal lock click and nodded at her being cautious.

Xander's door opened and he tried to not look shocked. “A new Slayer?”

“Apparently. When you saved Buffy from the Master, the magic of the Slayer registered her as dead for just long enough to activate the next Chosen.” I explained and Xander leaned against his door. “I'll be bring her with us in the morning and we're going right to Giles before class. He's a Watcher and should know about it.”

“Right. Good idea.” Xander said and took in a sniff.

“Jerk chicken and pasta in the top container, second shelf in the fridge.” I said before he could ask.

“Thanks!” Xander said and ran down the stairs.

I closed his door and went to my own room to wait for Kendra to shower and drop off her clothing in the hallway. Half an hour later, I heard her door and went out to grab her things. It was just the clothing, including her lacy underthings. No, I didn't sniff them or play with them. I took them to the laundry room on the first floor and set the bra and panties into the sink to soak in cleaning suds.

Her top and pants were washed in the washing machine on the right settings and then only the top was put in the dryer. The pants had to air dry, because the fabric couldn't take the dryer's hot settings. I couldn't use magic to dry them, either. I suspected they would catch fire, just as if they had been in the dryer. I hung them up and did the same with the bra and panties.

With that done, I stood there and waited as I thought about the current situation. I knew that Spike needed that cross to decode the book. I also knew that the ritual was completely useless to him, since Drusilla's sire was dust. There would be no way to use Angel's blood to heal her. Even if they somehow summoned Angelus back from the Hellmouth, it wouldn't be the same body or blood.

I would have to deal with them soon, though. I couldn't let Spike call in that order of assassins to get rid of Buffy. If I recall correctly, he had the book and the cross for a few days and deciphered the ritual to find out the requirements before he called for assistance. It made me wonder where he was getting the money to pay for them.

I shook that thought off when the dryer dinged and I took out Kendra's top. It was dried and I folded it up and left it on the dryer. I poked her pants and her bra, only to feel they were still wet. I carefully gathered them and the top and went to her room to lightly knock on her door.

Kendra opened the door wearing a bathrobe and her long black hair was still damp and cascaded over her shoulders and down her back to her backside. I kind of froze at the sight of her, because her darker skin and her hair looked so much like Gloria's that it caught me off-guard.

Kendra smiled at my stunned expression. “What you be wantin'?”

“Top is dry. Hang rest in bathroom.” I said, because my mouth was not quite up to making full sentences, apparently.

Kendra's smile grew and she took her clothes from my hands. “Tank you, John.”

“Welcome.” I said and just stood there and stared at her.

“Me remind, you have a mate.” Kendra said with a smirk.

I shook myself like a dog shaking off water. “Yes, I do. I'm sorry for staring. You remind me of the greatest love of my life and she was gorgeous, too.”

Kendra blushed. “I accept yer apology and da compliment.”

I smiled at that. “I'm glad, because it really is a compliment. Have a good night and sleep well.”

Kendra nodded and closed the door.

I stood there or another few moments and took several breaths.

“I won't tell Dawnie.” Xander said.

I turned to look at him and he was standing on the stair eating the container of jerk chicken and pasta with a salad serving spoon. I couldn't help but laugh at that. “You know, a normal size spoon fits in your mouth easier.”

“Eh.” Xander said and shrugged as he shoved another huge spoonful of chicken and pasta in his mouth.

“I'll tell Dawn about this tomorrow. I also have to be careful. I can't let my previous loves affect me like that.” I resolved and took another deep breath. “It's just, after Halloween, she's right there at the front of my mind, you know?”

Xander nodded and patted my shoulder as he passed by and went into his room. His door clicked as well, the lock engaging, and I smiled and went to my own room. I took a shower, even though I didn't really need one, and went to bed with thoughts of Gloria and Dawn mixing in my head.

It was kind of surprising how easy it was for Dawn to bypass my reluctance to get involved with her. She wasn't even guilt-tripping me into being with her with how I had already been, and she could have. Instead, she was letting me get to know her and she was getting to know me right back. Our lessons every day were also giving us a lot of time together and she was a great girl.

I should thank her by getting her a nice bracelet or something. No, a pendant. It would take a bit of reworking to get something so small as a protective shield amulet to charge magically; but, it would be worth the effort to get it to work. For her. Maybe I could give it a remote charger and link it to the large magic generator in her bedroom?

I hopped out of bed and went down into my basement to start working on it. I could sleep later.

*

I knocked on the front door of Buffy's place and her mother opened the door. “Hello, beautiful!”

Joyce laughed and stepped back. “Do you have to say that every morning?”

“Only until it's not true.” I said and stepped in and kissed her cheek. “Are they up yet?”

“They'll be down in a minute.” Joyce said. “Morning, Xander.”

“Hey, Mrs. Summers.” Xander said and stepped in.

Joyce saw Kendra and gave me a look.

“Let me introduce the Caribbean beauty before you, Miss Kendra Young.” I said and motioned for her to come in and Joyce shut the front door. “I met her last night and found out she's staying for a few days. It might be longer, depending on what Giles has to say.”

“What? Why?” Joyce asked.

“She's the protege of one of his old work colleagues from Britain and he sent her here for some additional information and maybe some training. She lost the address he gave her, though.” I explained and Kendra looked happy at my explanation. “Since we meet in the library and visit Giles every morning before classes anyway, I offered to bring her along.”

“She also gets to enjoy your cooking.” Xander said and carried the large bag into the kitchen.

Joyce followed him and we went behind her. “You don't have to do this every morning, John.”

“I don't have to, no.” I said and sat her at the head of the table and sat Kendra cross from her, leaving the two chairs on either side of Joyce for Buffy and Dawn. “I like cooking and it saves you from having to get up early to cook it... and do the dishes afterwards.” I said with a grin.

“Okay, okay. Stop badgering me.” Joyce said with a laugh. “I hate dishes, so I'll stop arguing.”

“I told you she was smart and beautiful.” I said in a loud whisper to Kendra as I sat beside her.

Xander started handing out the heated containers and spread them over the table.

“Oh, shut up.” Joyce said with a blush.

“I made you blush!” I said and pointed at her. “I knew it would happen some day!”

“What happened?” Buffy asked as she and Willow entered the kitchen.

“I made your tough as nails and loving mother blush.” I said, proudly.

“I'll ban you from the house if you don't keep quiet.” Joyce threatened as Dawn came into the room behind Willow.

I held my hands up in surrender. “I've already made it perfectly clear that if I wasn't dating your daughter, I'd totally make a pass at you.”

“EW!” Buffy exclaimed and swatted at me. “You are never hitting on my mom! You'll get mom cooties!”

Everyone but Kendra laughed as I dodged Buffy's slaps. Kendra saw me moving and looked at me with approval. Dawn sat beside Joyce and gave me a warm smile instead of acting like Buffy, because she knew I meant what I said. I was with her now and I wasn't going to go for anyone else, not even teasingly.

After breakfast, Joyce thanked me for the extra food and the lunch I made for her. I told her I would always accept payments in cheek kisses and hugs and she could feel free to make as many instalments as she wanted.

That earned me a smack from Buffy, a laugh from Willow, and a knowing look from Dawn. Joyce was a good sport about it and gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek, then she shoved me hard out the front door and I stumbled and fell on my ass.

“Owwww! My tushie!” I whined.

Everyone laughed, even Kendra.

I gathered the remains of my dignity and climbed to my feet as I wiped at my butt to get the dirt off of it. We went to the Hummer and I drove us to school. It was still a little early, so I didn't have to hunt for a good parking spot. We entered the school and went right to the library.

Giles was more than surprised to see that there was a second Slayer, until I told him what I told Xander the night before. Kendra was the new Slayer and the magic had moved on and activated her when Buffy was drowned and Xander saved her.

“Angel was the one that saved me.” Buffy interjected.

“No, he wasn't.” Dawn, Xander, and I said.

“Xander had to threaten him to make Angel lead him to the master's lair.” I said and Buffy shook her head. “Then who gave you the breath of life with CPR? Your alive friend or the animated corpse that doesn't breathe?”

Buffy shook her head again in denial.

“It's okay, John. She only ever had eyes for Deadboy. She didn't even realize I was there.” Xander said, his voice dejected.

“That's not true. I saw... you... there.” Buffy said, haltingly.

“She did just die and came back to life. You have to forgive her for not being completely aware.” Willow said to defend her.

“Yeah. That.” Buffy said in agreement.

“I think it's kind of immaterial at this point. We have a second Slayer of prophecy and...” Giles started to say.

“No, there's only one.” I interrupted and everyone looked at me. “Yes, there are two Slayers. One is A Slayer and the other is The Slayer.” I said and pointed at Buffy and then pointed at Kendra.

“What are you trying to say?” Dawn asked me.

“It's simple, isn't it?” I asked and no one got it. “I doubt that if Buffy is killed again that another girl would activate as the next Slayer, because that already happened and the magic has moved on. It's only if Kendra is killed that the magic will move on again and will activate the next potential Slayer.”

That made everyone fall silent and actually think about it.

“It might take some research to confirm that; but, I believe you are right, John.” Giles said. “On the positive side, with two Slayers, they can split the responsibility of saving the world.”

“I think you meant burden.” I corrected and he looked affronted. “Heavy is the weight of the world upon their shoulders, if only one person can save it.”

Again, silence fell as they thought about that.

I did not tell them that I'd done it myself several times, only for some of them to ruin my life.

“In the meantime, I'll contact the Watcher's Council about it and about securing this Du Lac decoder.” Giles said and picked up the golden cross.

“Don't think we won't be discussing that later.” Buffy said and glared at me.

I gave her my best smile. “Just give the word and I won't shadow you anymore to make sure you're okay.”

Buffy's glare lessened somewhat, because she knew if she did ask me that, she would be in a lot more danger and we would have lost the cross to Spike and Drusilla.

“Once I get confirmation, we can start expanding patrols to look for William the Bloody and Drusilla the Seer.” Giles said.

Kendra looked a little scared. “William da Bloody? He be here?”

“You know him?” Buffy asked, surprised.

“No. He da first lesson I get 'bout survivin'. He took out 2 of da Slayers an' me Watcher said to run if I meet him.” Kendra told us and everyone but me looked surprised.

“Buffy's fought him off several times.” Willow said proudly and patted Buffy's shoulder, making the ex-cheerleader preen.

Kendra gave Buffy an appraising look. “Den maybe it time to stop runnin' if we go togeder.”

“That's what we'll do starting tonight. Patrolling together.” Buffy said, a little relieved that she would have someone to have her back in a fight, completely forgetting that Dawn was just as good as her in a fight.

Xander was also getting there, even if I couldn't copy Buffy's or Dawn's skills over to him. They were apparently locked to females only and he had to do things the long way. He was excelling with the new weapons, the stun gun and handheld crossbow that shot wooden stakes. I wasn't sure why Buffy refused to use them, though.

The down side was that I couldn't modify a laser to emit ultraviolet light, despite being able to make the light invisible. The inherent rules in this universe were weird to hinder specific scientific things that hurt demons. Magic would work; but, only because it would corrupt the caster. Go figure.

We went to class after that and Kendra stayed in the library to talk to Giles. It finally gave me the opportunity to tell Dawn about what happened with Kendra surprising me with how much she looked like Gloria the night before. Dawn wasn't angry, thankfully. She whispered that I was lucky I hadn't done anything, because she would have had to deal with me if I had.

I whispered back that I wouldn't make that mistake, not after my recent breakup caused by exactly that. It opened up a whole avenue about what happened and Dawn nodded along, since it was pretty much reminding her about me discussing it with Gloria. Since I already had Gloria's help dealing with it, I admitted my own mistakes and complacency, which made Dawn smile.

We met for lunch and picked Kendra up at the library before going to the cafeteria. Not surprisingly, Cordelia and the Cordettes joined us and chatted with everyone and not just Buffy or myself. Genuine friendships had blossomed when everyone started to get to know one another.

There was still snark and insults exchanged, since that was inherent in their personalities, except it was with a teasing tone and no one took it personally. Except Willow. She seemed to take everything personally, especially Xander and Cordelia sitting together and getting closer emotionally.

I would have to take her aside and warn her about overreacting, then Oz came over and sat next to her. He engaged her perfectly with tech talk and she dove into the conversation. Without me interfering, things were progressing about the same as I remembered in the show. Would it still work out, though?

My warning to Willow would have to change to tell her that she should be happy with what she had and not get lost in a fantasy with a guy that loved her like a sister, because she never explicitly told him otherwise. I wasn't going to blame her, though. It wasn't her fault she was shy for years and it wasn't Xander's fault he never had a loving home life to figure out how people felt about him.

That afternoon was the career seminar with various people representing each profession and they gave presentations to entice the people that tested for them would be interested. Buffy had the same police and military result as Xander, too. The woman giving the lecture did not try to shoot at her and only gave a normal sales pitch for the police academy, so she wasn't a disguised assassin.

My result of 'stay at home dad' made everyone laugh, even Dawn. She kissed me deeply when everyone wasn't looking and whispered that she didn't mind letting me have that responsibility. It made me smile for the rest of the day.

*

“I'm getting worried.” Giles said and put several pieces of parchment on the table in the library. “I had a friend send me a picture of several pages from a copy of Du Lac's journal. With the cross to decode it, I discovered they are dark rituals to enhance demons. Some are to heal grievous wounds, some to grow limbs, and some to restore them to their full power.”

“How does that affect us?” Buffy asked.

“Most of them require the blood of the demon that created them. In the case of vampires...” Giles let his voice trail off.

“No!” Buffy gasped.

“What is it?” Xander asked.

“He's politely saying that Angel is Spike's sire.” Dawn said. “Since Angel hasn't been around for a while...”

“Miss Calendar has been missing, too.” Willow said. “I took over teaching her computer class and no one noticed.”

“I noticed.” Giles said and slid the papers to the middle of the table. “I also investigated her more thoroughly.”

“Well, crap.” I said and everyone looked at me. “What? It's not suspicious at all that Angel disappears and the new staff member at school this year disappears not long afterwards?”

“He's right.” Giles said. “Miss Calendar is a descendant from the Gypsy Clan that cursed Angelus.”

Buffy let out a long groan and dropped her head into her hands.

“I don't think it's that dire, Buffy.” Giles consoled her and put a hand on her shoulder. “She was here to monitor him to make sure the curse isn't broken or lifted.”

“Oh, thank god.” Buffy said, hope in her voice, and lifted her head to smile.

“We just have to worry that Spike captured him and is using his blood to boost himself.” Xander said.

Buffy groaned and dropped her head into her hands again.

“Hey, it's okay. Kendra's here now. The two of you should be able to search the town quickly to find their lair.” Xander said to try and reassure her.

I doubt it. I thought. On the positive side, still no assassins.

“We'll help, too. With all of us working together, we'll find Spike and then we'll find Angel.” Dawn offered.

“We've got your backs. Both of you.” I said and Kendra gave me a searching look, then nodded.

We all prepped for the late night of slaying and headed out. I followed with my Hummer and Eye kept an eye on everything. With luck, we would stumble across Spike's lair quickly.

*

Six days. It took six days of scouring the entire town before we found Spike's lair. I had been right and they moved it every night, because they had normal people following Buffy to find out where she would be heading to slay vampires. It was a surprisingly effective way to avoid being found and unfortunately, Buffy was extremely frustrated and beat the hell out of him and then Kendra staked him before he could tell them anything.

Drusilla, being the crazy vampire seer she always was, told them a lot of nonsense that would eventually make sense later. She died at Buffy's hand when she wouldn't tell her what they had done with Angel. We searched the lair and found the Du Lac book, among a bunch of others, and we cleared the place out and brought the books to Giles. He was quite happy to have such rare books to add to his library.

Buffy fell into a bit of depression that we hadn't found Angel and all of her friends gathered together to support her. It took a lot of convincing to remind her that they hadn't even had their first date when he disappeared and then for her to believe that he might have not been as interested in her as she thought. Cordelia even took a reputation hit by admitting she made a pass at Angel and he shut her down.

Out of all the talking, that was what made Buffy feel better about the whole thing. When she went home, Cordelia received many hugs and thanks from us and she blushed and tried to play it off. We all knew she really appreciated it, though. Having real friends was much better than fake ones.

*

Eye beeped at me the next Saturday morning and I checked his display, only to see an android signature show up on the city map we had constructed together. Constantly replacing the monitoring devices was becoming a chore and now it was all worth it.

“I'm pretty sure it's that evil android, Ted. Let's go raid his lab.” I said and Eye beeped happily at me.

So, that's what we did. Ted had recently activated and his programming was to make a woman happy and then keep her that way, which he interpreted as killing her as soon as she said she loved him. It was fun deactivating his security protocols and then combing through his computers.

They were fairly advanced for the time and I saw how the man who created Ted had bypassed the higher-tech block on the world. He went retro with everything and it didn't count. It still had all the same functions, only it used older mechanical technology. It was pure genius.

Unfortunately, I couldn't do the same thing with all of my tech. Just like with the science in the last world, it just wasn't compatible. If I wanted to replicate Eye's AI, he would be the size of a small shed. Ted wasn't a true AI and only had set parameters and instructions with decision trees. Again, pure genius to simulate real life with such primitive things; but, ultimately a dead end and useless.

I destroyed everything and created a fake blank body, transfigured it into Ted, and set him up in his bedroom to show that he died of natural causes. The four bodies of his previous victims stored in the house were left exposed and Eye sent an anonymous call to the police. Eye also raided Ted's accounts and spread the wealth to the families of the murdered women, essentially returning what he stole from them.

No one mentioned the breaking news story of a secret mass murderer being found in Sunnydale or four missing person cases being solved. The people really had accepted that bad things happened in their town and didn't bat an eye whenever something weird or outrageous happened.

*

With Kendra sticking around and the whole gang helping out like they promised, Buffy's slaying in the evenings became an easy routine. They take down vampires, defeat demons, rescue hostages, and prevent a lot of new vampires from being created.

There was even an incident with a large subterranean creature that was taking people over with eggs and its spawn. Buffy chopped the creature up, Kendra beat up those already infected, and the rest of the gang hard-boiled the eggs. It was barely an hour's work and they easily dealt with a huge terror that could have taken over the entire school.

Although, one disturbing thing came out when there were reports of a werewolf roaming around the town and attacking people. It's Oz. He and Willow had already had their first date and it was quite the blow to their budding relationship, because he hadn't been honest with her. After he left her alone to let her think about things, he never came back.

A werewolf hunter showed up to skin Oz and made a big show of setting elaborate traps, then he disappeared, too. It was kind of scary that anyone that came to Sunnydale and threatened to harm the Scoobies or the people they knew, would suddenly disappear. No one questioned it, though.

Sunnydale Syndrome was a thing and people just accepted that bad things happened and moved on with their lives.

The funny thing about it was that Xander and Cordelia started openly dating and no one questioned it. Harmony even joked that it was about time they got past the fake arguing to get to the sexual tension part of their relationship, which according to her, was the best part. After a visit to a janitor's closet with a smug Cordelia, Xander wholeheartedly agreed.

*

It took me a month to work out how to ward a home and not have the thing magically eat anything that passed through it. It was really frustrating that I couldn't use a standard ward stone and enchant it normally or set up electronic forcefields and motion sensors to block things. Or shoot them with auto-turrets from the Matrix universe. That would have made everything so much easier!

Of course, once I had done it once successfully, I went around to every public building in town and set the wards. Secretly, of course. I knew that if anyone saw me doing it, they would wreck it, because they could. Not because they were evil or had plans the wards would stop, they just couldn't leave it alone if they knew about it.

Let me tell you, hearing possessing demons and spirits scream and yell as they were destroyed, warmed my heart and made all the effort worth it. There was no telling how many people could have died if I hadn't figured things out.

Funnily enough, the wards did not work on open lots or on plots of lands without a building. That meant all the graveyards, parking lots, streets, alleyways, commercial districts, and every other open space couldn't be protected. That left a lot of wiggle room for things to still come into existence.

I also couldn't ward other people's private residences. It was like the same protections that kept out vampires also worked on my wards. Unless I was invited to ward the place, I couldn't do it. Joyce let me do it, thankfully. Neither Buffy nor Dawn could give me permission, since they didn't own the place. I almost laughed because I actually had stricter conditions than vampires.

*

When a member of the swim team was found dead, I knew this was when Xander gets infected and altered with fish DNA. Unlike some of the other things that happened, I chose to intervene this time. It never helped him like it was supposed to and I also wanted to see if I could use the process to change my Miracle serum to let it work without mutation.

I tossed the swim coach and the nurse into Azkaban and copied their research, then brought the originals to Giles as Buffy and Kendra fought against the monster supposedly killing the rest of the swim team, when all it was really doing was activating their altered genes to transform them and save their lives.

With the information a week before he would have normally gotten it, Giles easily devised a magical way to cleanse and cure the infected students. Buffy and Kendra brought the bound monster and the rest of the swim team to him and they are quickly fixed and released. None of them remembered anything happening, thanks to Giles altering their memories.

The swim team was disbanded and everyone went on with their lives as if nothing happened.

*

An ancient block of stone mysteriously arrived at the Sunnydale Museum and it became an immediate curiosity for all the supernatural creatures in the area. Giles was worried at first, until he read a transcribed translation of the markings on the outside of the thing. Only the blood of an ensouled demon could release the high demon called Acathla from his prison.

That was good, because Acathla had the power to 'swallow the earth', or open a portal large enough to pull the entire planet into the Hell dimension that the Hellmouth was connected to. It was the first time in a long time that Buffy felt relieved that Angel was no longer around, because as long as he wasn't there, the end of the world was never going to happen.

I helped carry the thing out to the middle of the desert and the Scoobies buried it. I returned that night and used an automated Firefly to fly it towards the moon. Eye lost contact with the ship when it was three-quarters of the way there and we knew the ancient stone prison would eventually land there, so our work was done.

*

The summer was one of the best the Scoobies ever had. With two Slayers and the whole gang easily able to handle the vampires and clearing out nests before they were established, it was like an actual vacation from school. We all had a great time hanging out with our friends.

At one point, the Cordettes found out that I had rooms set side for people to stay over. That wouldn't have been much of a thing, until they found out that they were done up like an expensive hotel with all the amenities, including free meals and a huge heated pool in the backyard. The month of August was declared Sleepover Month and the four Cordettes essentially moved in.

Have you ever been tempted by temptresses that knew they were tempting you? It really tested my resolve to remain monogamous while having four mostly-naked, barely legal, and extremely hot girls strutting around the place all the time. On purpose. Usually only wearing tiny panties.

The worst part, or the best depending on how you looked at it, was that Kendra saw nothing wrong with this behavior and joined in their antics. The first time I saw her strutting around the living room half-naked and she flashed her rock-hard and very dark nipples at me, I popped a boner. Since I was wearing shorts at the time, all of the Cordettes giggled and made fun of me.

Instead of commenting that none of them ever got a rise out of me, I dressed and left. It annoyed the hell out of me that Kendra used her similarity to Gloria to do that to me. I ended up at Buffy's and knocked on the front door.

Joyce opened it a moment later and saw my face. “Dawn's in her room.”

“Thanks.” I said and walked by her with a purpose and went up the stairs. I went to knock and the door opened before I could.

Dawn saw my face as well. She pulled me into her room and shut the door, then brought me into the expanded dimensional space. “Tell me what happened.”

So, I did. I told her everything. I even told her my feelings about how I had successfully avoided being tempted by the girls, until Kendra decided to join in. I resisted as much as I could and today had been too much and I had an erection. I also explained how annoyed I was that she used her similarities to Gloria against me.

It took Dawn a good half an hour to calm me down after I started ranting. She knew I reacted poorly sometimes and she praised me for not lashing out and being mean to the Cordettes, despite me really wanting to. She said that coming to her was the smartest thing I could have done and she thanked me. I was being an ass and telling her another girl got me hard... and she... she thanked me. She. Thanked. Me.

“Good god, I love you so much.” I professed and kissed her passionately.

Dawn kissed me back just as enthusiastically. We were soon naked and on the bed and I was inside of her. I had taken her virginity again and we had some pretty great sex that first time. The first of many. We did it many many times.

Once we had crossed that line, Dawn couldn't get enough of me. She remembered what it had been like when Gloria and I had been together; but, experiencing it for herself had given her a completely different perspective. It was exciting, and fun, and a little mind blowing.

A week later, still in the expanded dimensional time, Dawn told me she loved me, too. It wasn't because of the fantastic sex, either. She said she had fallen for me months ago and because I never pushed her or asked her to go further or made her think I was wasting my time with her.

I countered that I loved her as well, because she did the same thing. She easily could have used Gloria's knowledge to manipulate me like Kendra tried to do and she never did. She took things slow, made sure we were both as invested into this relationship as the other was, and then took steps to deepen it instead of getting nervous or scared and tossing it away.

Dawn blushed hard at my words and we went to bed again to make love. It was slow, and a little maddening, because we should have railed into each other to get off quickly. Instead, we stared into each other's eyes and made sure the other knew that we were going to be there for as long as possible.

When we finished, we both had huge orgasms and locked up, still staring at each other, then we relaxed and kissed deeply. I pulled out and laid beside her and Dawn cuddled up to my side.

“So, when do we tell mom?” I asked and Dawn laughed. “Hey, as soon as she sees you, she's going to know we slept together. Mothers always know.”

“Geez, John. Why don't you ask me to marry you, too?” Dawn asked.

I lifted my hand and held up a ring box with a four carat diamond in it. “Miss Dawn Summers, will you marry me?”

Dawn made a squeak sound and fainted. I chuckled and put the ring away and waited. She woke up a few minutes later and gave me a piercing look.

“Yes, I did. I know we have another year of school left to graduate. I know you want to go to college. I know you want kids before having a career. I know. I know. I know.” I said with a smile.

Dawn laughed. “If you know all that, you also know my answer.”

“You don't have to accept right now. I can wait until tomorrow.” I joked and she kissed me.

“Give me the damn ring.” Dawn said and I took it out and slipped it on her finger. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.” I said and kissed her again.

I moved in and never went back to my house.

*

The first day of school was completely awkward, because the Cordettes felt too guilty about what happened to even look at me, let alone talk to me or apologize for forcing me out of my own home. The fact that I didn't abandon them and kept sending over food deliveries for every meal, despite not living there, really drove home that they made a huge mistake by ostracizing me.

Kendra still helped with slaying vamps and demons, except she also never once talked to me or would meet my eyes. Apparently, Dawn had words with her about it and Kendra was too embarrassed about trying to make a play for me to do anything but stay silent.

*

A month after school started, Joyce came home from the art gallery she was the manager of and carried an ornate wooden mask of a demon. As soon as she crossed the ward line with it, there was a loud crack, the thing split right down the middle, and an unholy scream came from it as a black cloud dissipated.

“I'm really glad you're here, John.” Joyce said and tossed the thing into the trash.

“Me, too.” I said and kissed her cheek. I had finally healed her brain tumor using a mix of bacta, Miracle, and the prolong formula from the last universe I had been in. It took me two years in expanded time to get it to work without any mystical screw-ups. My apparate spell had a lot of use and the sun had a lot of failed experiments added to it.

*

On the first long weekend, I finally had the chance to travel to where Faith Lehane lived in Boston and I tossed her drunk mother into Azkaban and showed her adoption papers that made her my sister. She didn't believe me at first, which was typical for her personality.

So, I did the responsible thing and offered to buy her a place to live and would give her an allowance, so she would never have to work, steal, or be beholden to anyone else ever again. That definitely gained her attention and she finally agreed to talk to me. I gave her my speech about wanting to save her, because that's what she expected, and then showed her a picture of my fiancee so that she wouldn't think I was trying to buy her.

Faith gave Dawn's picture several long looks and then looked at my face. “You love her.”

“I really do.” I said and took my phone back. “I also have someone else to visit, if you'd like to come along.”

Faith looked around the rundown apartment that hadn't been cleaned in years. “Fuck it, why not?”

I smiled and I led her to my Hummer.

“This is a sweet ride, John.” Faith said and climbed in.

“If you need the incentive, get your driver's license and I'll give you one.” I said and she looked stunned. “I already told you I'm rich.”

“Yeah, but... fuck, you can get another one of these things? It's like a fucking tank!”

I laughed and drove down the street. “It can drive over a lot of terrain, including cars.”

Faith beamed a smile at me. “You have got to show me that! Let's hit the gangers selling my peeps drugs and then laugh in their faces for wasting all that money pimping their rides!”

I nodded and asked for directions. Luckily, their cars were low riders and Faith laughed pretty hard as we drove over them and pancaked them. I may have added a thousand pounds of weight in the back of the Hummer to help, too. We both hopped out and beat the hell out of them, rolled them for their cash and weapons, and torched the drugs.

Faith had the best time in her life and we drove away with her sitting in the back seat and tossing piles and piles of cash in the air. We had apparently hit their main drug house and it had their stash of capital, mostly in small untraceable bills.

I created a metal suitcase and pulled it out from under the front seat. I passed it back to her. “Gather it up and count it if you want. Or sort it. Or whatever. It's your money now.”

Faith looked in the rearview mirror at me. “You're not shitting me, are you?”

“Not even a little bit. You earned that money by putting yourself in danger. If they didn't want you taking it, they should have guarded it better.” I said as an explanation.

“You did it, too.” Faith said and held a wad of cash up.

“If you want to give me half, I'll drop it off at a food bank or something.” I said and she frowned and then looked thoughtful. “Or you can hand out twenty bucks to every homeless person you see. A good drink will keep them warm for a night at least.”

“Yeah.” Faith said and smiled. “Yeah, let's do that. At least giving the money directly to them lets us know they're actually getting it.”

I slowed down at the next corner and we saw a bum sitting on a step and Faith rolled down the back window.

“Hey, bud! Want money for a drink?” Faith asked and held out a twenty dollar bill.

The bum looked skeptical. “What do you want for it?”

Faith grinned at him. “Make sure you piss some of it on a police car or some rich asshole's lawn.”

The bum grinned back and took the money. “Consider it done, lady!”

“Have fun!” Faith said and the bum waved as we pulled away. “Fuck that felt great!”

I chuckled at her liking to spread the chaos while also helping a little.

We drove out of town an hour later, laughing our asses off, because we left behind over a hundred homeless drunks pissing all over the place.

*

Tara Maclay grew up believing she was a demon, because of her inherent magic. Her family had beaten it into her from a young age that she needed to keep a handle on her powers or she would become a true monster and kill everyone. She was terrified every day of her life that she would somehow succumb to temptation and her inner demon would be revealed.

The knock on the front door scared her, because no one came to the Maclay house. No one. They all knew that her father and brother were angry men and would make you pay for disturbing them or talking to her. It was the main reason Tara didn't have any friends.

“Who the fuck is that?” Her father asked angrily as he stomped over to the front door. He yanked it open and glared at the young man and woman on his front step. “You better have a good reason to...”

The pretty girl kicked a high kick and her foot slammed into her father's chin, lifting him from the floor slightly, and he crumpled to the floor unconscious. “Fucking asshole.”

“Nice one, Faith.” The handsome boy said and patted her shoulder as he handed her a tire iron. “Check for the brother in the backyard.”

Faith grinned at him. “If you weren't already taken, I'd fuck you right now, John.”

John laughed. “Likewise. Go get your mad on while I talk to Tara.”

Faith nodded and ran out the front door.

“Hi, there.” John said and slowly walked towards her with his hands up in a surrender pose.

“What... what do you want?” Tara asked. She felt both scared and reassured, for some reason.

“Long story short, I came here to save you from yourself.” John said.

“Wh-wh-what?!?” Tara asked, shocked.

“I'm here to stop your inner demon from taking you over. I worked for a long time to get the formula to work. As soon as it was ready and I had the chance to sneak away from home, I came right here.” John explained and took out a small needle with glowing blue liquid.

Tara's eyes focused right on it. She could feel a touch of magic in it. “H-h-how... how...”

“A lot of trial and error, tons of mistakes, and thousands of dollars in ingredients. I've already healed someone with it and it was a success, so I know it'll work for you without question.”

“But... my mother...” Tara started to say.

“She's been poisoned and indoctrinated. I can fix the damage to her body; but, the mind isn't so easily healed. It's going to take time and probably a lot of effort in a special hospital to help her.”

Tara started to cry. “But... mom...”

John walked forward and took her into his arms. “Shh. It's okay, Tara. I'm sorry I couldn't come before now. It wouldn't have helped either of you if I didn't have the medicine ready and saving you wouldn't have worked. Now it will.”

Tara clung to the handsome and very nice smelling young man. She felt things stirring inside and she gasped as she tried to push him away.

John held on and she struggled to escape. “It's all right, Tara. What you're feeling is your body trying to tell you to accept my help.”

Tara stopped moving and lifted her head to look into his eyes. “How could you know that?”

“I'm a doctor.” John said and took out the needle. “I won't give this to you if you don't want me to. It's your choice. Do you want to remain as you are and forever be afraid that you'll become what you fear the most, or do you accept my help and let me give you the medicine that will fix you?”

Tara was conflicted. She had been raised to never accept help from strangers or talk to strangers or even look at strangers.

As if he could read her thoughts, John smiled. “I haven't introduced myself. My name is John Hansen. I'm a wandering soul and I try to help those I meet along my journey. Sometimes it works out and sometimes it's a disaster. I'm doing my best to make sure this is not one of the times it's a disaster.”

Tara believed him. She somehow knew he wasn't lying and she held up her arm for him.

“Thank you.” John said and injected her.

Tara gasped as whatever it was shot up her arm and went through her entire body. As soon as whatever it was hit her brain, her eyes widened and she sucked in a sharp breath. For the first time in her life, she could see. SHE COULD SEE IT ALL!

John watched as Tara entered a trance-like state and he wondered if it was because of the demon blood she had ingested from the forced feedings or if it was her own abilities coming forth to help her.

Faith dragged the roughed up brother in through the still open front door. “The bastard put up a good fight.”

John nodded and tossed the brother and the father into Azkaban. He took out another needle and handed it to Faith. “Tara's mother is going to fight, too. Magic, though. Be careful.”

Faith grinned again and tucked the needle into her belt as she pulled out the tire iron. “One thrown distraction coming right up.”

John nodded and Faith ran up the stairs. He held Tara and hoped that she came out of it before they had to leave. He didn't want her to think he had kidnapped her, because that wouldn't help him convince her that he didn't have ulterior motives. That reminded him to take out the right documents and laid them on the coffee table, including a typed note saying the Maclays fled instead of being arrested.

There were loud bangs and stomping feet from upstairs and John hoped Faith didn't have too much trouble. Tara's mother might be mentally altered and partially restrained physically; but, she was a formidable witch and had been delving into dark magic for years. A taint like that wasn't going to go away after a single injection. She would need months of cleansing rituals to fix her magic.

Ten minutes later, a bedraggled and limping Faith dragged an unconscious woman down the stairs. “Fuck, she was a hard one to beat.”

“I did warn you.” John said with a smirk.

Faith smirked back. “You're such a pussy to let me do all the fighting.”

“A pussy can take a pounding and keeps coming back for more.” John joked and grinned at her.

“Fucking right it does.” Faith said with a laugh and dropped the woman by his feet. “Hit me up.”

John handed her another needle and Faith injected it right into her own neck.

“Ohhhh, fuuuuck. That's good shit.” Faith shivered as all her cuts, bruises, and aches faded away.

“It has diminishing returns if taken too soon after the last dose.” John said and they stayed here for twenty minutes. With a sigh, he easily picked up Tara's mother to put over his shoulder. “We need to go before anyone shows up. We've been here too long already.”

Faith looked down at the papers on the coffee table and back at John. “Really? Another sister? Isn't my sexy ass enough for you to secretly lust over?”

John chuckled and carried Tara and her mother out the front door. “You're more than enough for any guy to lust over. Tara is like the older sister we never had.”

Faith gave him a searching look and then did the same to the girl in his arms. “Are you sure?”

“Positive. She's so sweet that you'll feel your teeth rotting when you talk to her.” John said.

Faith laughed. “Okay, that's definitely too sweet for a normal sister.”

John carefully put Tara's mother in the back seat and sat Tara beside her, then strapped both in securely. “Faith, you're riding shotgun until we hit LA. If they aren't awake by then, we'll stop off at a mall or something to buy you a new wardrobe.”

Faith climbed into the front. “You're really doing the whole buying me everything shtick?”

“You can spend the rest of your own cash if you want.” John said and climbed into the driver's side.

“Fuck, no! We're having more fun getting the bums to drown everything the long and stinky way!” Faith said with a laugh.

John laughed, too. “You make an excellent point. More fun it is.”

The news that evening reported the rash of homeless people in Los Angeles suffering from indecent exposure and urinating on everything. The police couldn't figure out what caused it or how it all started.

*

Tara's mother was surprisingly lucid when she woke up. She knew she was in dire straits and needed magical healing and cleansing as soon as possible, so we brought her right to Giles. Tara was still unconscious and her mother said she was caught in a meditative trance. Whatever she was seeing was world-changing, either for her or for everyone, and we shouldn't forcibly wake her.

In preparation for them staying in Sunnydale, I bought the tourist magic shop near the edge of town and the attached house. It had a nice plot of land behind it for growing local ingredients, as long as you were careful. Some of it could mutate at random and it couldn't be used.

We were all gathered in the school's library to talk about it. I ended up selling it to Tara's mother for a dollar a day and she could pay it off over the next 69 years. It made the woman laugh pretty hard, especially because of the sexual inference from the time limit. She agreed and signed the contract and added Tara's name as a co-owner. It was almost fated to happen, because Tara woke at that instant and gasped.

“John, ambush the Mayor within the next two days and deal with him. You can't let him complete gathering what he needs for the final ascendance ritual.” Tara said to me and Giles looked shocked.

“I knew there was something I was forgetting.” I said. “I'll do that as soon as possible.”

Tara nodded and looked at Faith. “Let John help you as much as you can stand. We can be who you have always wanted. A family. We will love you and care for you and hug you and call you George.”

Everyone laughed.

Faith gave her a pointed look and then looked at me. “You were right. My teeth are already sore from her being so sweet.”

I saluted her and Tara's mother smiled.

Tara turned to Buffy. “Stop thinking your life is only slaying. You have friends. You have family. You have a life outside the graveyards. You even have another slayer here to help and a potential to help ease your burden.”

Buffy blushed from embarrassment and turned her head away to not look at anyone.

Tara looked at Xander. “You're waiting too long. Stop dithering. Ask soon or you'll be too late.” She turned away from his embarrassed face and looked at Willow. “You shouldn't be confused about how you feel, because you waited way too long to do anything about it. You can't keep wallowing in regret and waiting for something to happen. Move forward and look for your own happiness.”

Willow blushed and looked away, too.

Tara turned and looked at Giles. “You're both strict and too lax. You can't decide if you should stay impartial or go all in. If you don't choose soon, it will be made for you and you won't like it.”

Giles took off his glasses and cleaned them as he considered her words.

Tara looked at Kendra. “You made a mistake and you've never apologized. Avoiding it can't make it go away or make it better. You only hurt yourself the longer you don't make a decision.”

Kendra glanced at me and blushed as she looked away.

Tara looked at me again. “John, you did the same thing. Avoiding the problem won't make it go away.”

I sighed. “I know. I just didn't want to deal with it. It was easier to leave and I explained everything to Dawn. She knows and she understands. She also didn't push me to confront them about it.”

“That hurt your friendships more than what happened. It wasn't their fault they felt jealous that only Kendra could get a reaction out of you. Every time you didn't look, you insulted them and hurt their feelings. They retaliated in the only way they could.” Tara told me.

I sighed again. “Why does me being monogamous and happy hurt other people? It's none of their business.”

Tara smiled. “People aren't logical. Out of everyone, you should know that better than anyone.”

I could only nod. “I'll talk to the Cordettes tomorrow.”

Tara nodded back and wrote out an address before she handed it to me. “Stop by the science lab and destroy one of the experiments in the side cabinet. The green goo. Pete is using it to beat up his girlfriend. He'll kill her if you don't stop him.”

I blinked my eyes at her, because the address was for Benjamin Wilkinson, or Glory's mortal body. She was an evil goddess that would kill Dawn to use her magical energy to open a portal to her own personal Hell dimension and regain her full powers.

I had expected to wait years before finding her to stop her. “Um. Yeah. Okay. I'll do that and I'll check Pete, too. It might not be the potion that's causing it.”

“It's not.” Tara said with a knowing smile. “Also, your wards are awesome. Thank you.”

“You're welcome.” I said automatically. I wasn't sure why she was thanking me for that, though.

*

Across town at the Mayor's office, a black man and his entourage moved through the renovated sewers to enter the building. As soon as the group stepped across the ward line, they dropped to their knees and started screaming. The possessing blood demons that made them vampires, were torn out of the animated dead bodies and were sent back to hell. Mr. Trick and his toadies were no more.

The next day, because the vampires he hired hadn't been around to protect him, Mayor Wilkins disappeared and no one ever found out what happened to him.

*

With no Ethan Rayne around, there was no controversy over students selling chocolate bars to raise money for the school's marching band. No adults were controlled, no babies were kidnapped, and no demon was released to torment the people of Sunnydale. All in all, it was a nice week with nothing happening for once.

*

A rogue Watcher named Gwendolyn Post showed up in town and claimed to be Kendra's replacement Watcher while she stayed in Sunnydale, and no one believe her. They played along until she told them a warning about the Glove of Myhnegon that shoots lightning like the Emperor from Star Wars.

Once they knew about that, they knew what she was really after. They found the glove and the Scoobies hold her as Giles destroyed it, ruining her plans. She's taken into custody by a Watcher's Council representative and they leave to go to the airport. No one noticed that they never boarded the plane and disappeared.

*

Everyone at high school sat for their S.A.T.s and the results came back. It surprised almost everyone that Buffy's were so high, considering she barely studied and was busy most nights slaying vampires with Kendra and Faith. They all started thinking about having lives outside of Sunnydale when high school ends and it's another calm week as they all consider their options.

With no one having relationship drama, when a Women Scorned Wish Demon showed up, there's no one for her to prey on. Xander and Cordelia are deliriously happy going steady, Willow and Tara are hitting it off, John and Dawn are going to get married when they turn 18, and Joyce and Giles are starting to date and enjoy each other's company.

Buffy, Kendra, and Faith all knew that it's too dangerous to have a lasting relationship in their line of work and settled for a few one night stands that let them scratch that itch. It was relaxing, too. No drama in their lives let them concentrate on everything else, like friends and their future.

Christmas was a great time and they all had a wonderful holiday.

*

It becomes a regular thing to hear howls and screams occasionally, usually every few weeks, and mostly near the school, the mayor's office, and the police station. No one questions it and accept that something is being dealt with and they don't have to worry. They would never know that John Hansen's wards protected a lot of people from spirits, possessions, and mental influences taking hold.

*

The Head Watcher of the Watcher's Council shows up to put The Slayer through her paces with a test of courage and bravery. After he ordered Giles to drug and betray Buffy, I touched him and he disappeared. Everyone gasped and stared at me. I just shrugged at the scrutiny.

“It was you!” Buffy exclaimed and pointed an accusing finger at me.

“Yes, it was me. Anytime someone threatened my friends and family, I make them disappear.” I admitted.

“You mean...” Xander started to say.

“Yep.” I answered.

“What about...” Willow started to say.

“Yes.” I responded.

“Did you...”

“That was me, too.” I said and sat down. “I always waited until no one was around. Plausible deniability. If anyone came looking, none of you had to lie about it.”

Dawn briefly hugged me and kissed my cheek. “A secret protector is better than none at all.”

“I've been trying to not really interfere in anything, because I don't really have that right, unless it's obvious and I have to step in to save people. I figured it's my job to make sure everyone has as normal of a life as possible.”

“You're hurting my teeth, you bastard.” Faith joked and moved over to behind my chair and leaned over to hug my neck from behind.

I chuckled. “It's not my fault you love that I can be there for you and not be in your way. No, wait! Yes, it is.”

Faith kissed my cheek and let me go. “Are you sure I can't borrow him for a night or three, Dawnie?”

Dawn shook her head. “He's all mine and no one can...”

*

The world suddenly stopped and everyone froze, except for me and a shadowy figure in the corner that walked out and formed into Whistler, the Balance Demon.

“Well, fuck.” I said, knowing who he was.

“Righto, bucko.” Whistler said and sat down on the table in front of me. “I'm glad I don't have to go through the whole spiel about everything, blah blah blah, saving the world isn't your job, blah blah blah.”

I huffed. “Even the small things I did ended up changing a lot, didn't they?”

“Like dominoes, my friend.” Whistler said and kicked his feet as if he was a kid on a swing.

I looked at the faces of my friends and then ended with staring at Dawn. “You're not going to let me say goodbye, are you?”

“I would let you if it would make any difference.” Whistler said. “Stopping the Mayor's ascension, dusting Angel years before he could be used to fulfill a prophecy, making multiple slayers without activating their bloodlines...”

I sighed. “Can I at least leave letters for everyone? Just disappearing in the middle of a conversation isn't going to sit well with the Scoobies.”

Whistler looked up and was quiet for a minute. “Huh. It seems after some consideration, a few other plans are still viable.” He looked back at my face. “Instead of wiping their memories of you, which is a lot of work with everything you've done while here, letting you explain with letters that fate has chosen you to move on is acceptable by The Powers That Be.”

I took several deep breaths and nodded. I sat there and wrote out a dozen letters and laid them onto the table, then wrote a special one and put it into Dawn's hands. I gave her a kiss on the lips and stood up.

“Are you going to send me along or should I do it?” I asked.

Whistler touched my shoulder and we faded away as time resumed.

*

“...take him away from me.” Dawn said with adoration and then gasped. “JOHN!”

Everyone jumped from that, because the young man sitting beside Dawn had disappeared.

“You must have tempted fate by saying it like that.” Giles said and took off his glasses to clean them.

Dawn let out a sob and realized she had a thick letter in her hands. She tore it open and her tears flowed as she read it. The others picked up their letters and left the few for the others that weren't there, like Joyce and the Cordettes.

“He really did love us.” Faith said in a soft voice and put a hand on Dawn's shoulder. “I kind of thought he was just playing along with the whole family thing, you know?”

“He tries his best when dealing with family, either by blood or adopted. He's made mistakes before and he knows the price is high if he screws up.” Tara said and hugged her letter. “He didn't screw up this time and he still couldn't stay.”

Dawn nodded and folded her letter up. She would follow in her love's footsteps and she would do everything she could to make sure his help wasn't wasted or forgotten. Her eyes went to her sister Buffy, then to Kendra, then to Faith. Yes, she would help find other potentials and treat them with the Miracle serum.

This world was never going to lose to the demons if Dawn Summers-Hansen had anything to say about it.