Title: Touched by Destiny

Author: Mira

Rated: FR15

Pairing: Liz/Max, so far in this fic these are the only really important ones may change later...

Disclaimer: Buffy and Co belong to Joss and his posse and the aliens from Roswell beamed in from the binding legal ownership of Jason Katims and his cronies. I do not have any stake in their characters and nothing I write is for profit and will not be finding its way into the official canon, so no worries, I'll put the poor things back when I'm done. The kids are the only things that are mine, as even Buffy's sunglasses belong to Chanel and her heart to Ralph Lauren. If you want the kids (who have yet to develop too much in this fic but will be featured in greater length in the other fic) please ask.

Notes:
This is a little plot bunny that got trapped in my writers block a little while ago. It takes place within the backstory of the universe of another story I am currently not writing, as I have no idea how to move beyond the first chapter of it. I hope to make progress soon.

Thanks to my brother who read this over for me, any remaining errors are entirely mine.

Spoilers for both shows all seasons, story takes place way after the end of BtVS and a few years after Roswell ended too.

A/N: June 3 I'm re-uploading this chapter to reflect certain storytelling changes that I felt made the story much better per my one review on

Feedback: This is my first time posting here and and only my second ever time posting anywhere so yes please! No, seriously folks please feed the muse! Even if you hate it, love it, are indifferent to it, please let me know as it's the only way I'll improve.

On with the show...

Chapter the First

She realized that the odds weren't in her favour this time. She had tried to reach for help of any sort, but her limbs refused to obey her brain's frantic commands. The weakness in her limbs continued to spread until she would have been hard-pressed to stave off a puppy, even one with really bad teeth. She could feel her life seeping away again and though her enhanced healing was valiantly trying to stave off the inevitable end, but she knew that it just might not be fast enough to save her this time. Then again, her life was proof that the odds didn't ever really seem to matter. She grimaced, sad that she may never get the chance to break in her new shoes, and tried to remember if today was Tuesday.

Earlier that day…

Buffy grinned, green eyes sparkling behind her favorite sunglasses as she soaked in the California sun and sipped on her mochachino. For the moment, she indulged in the illusion that she was just another blonde coffee drinking urbanite with nothing more on her mind than her credit card statement and the latest sale at the mall and to watch the oblivious masses pass by her perch in front of the local coffee shop. Later, when the sun went down she would go out and patrol; though she really wasn't expecting to have to do any heavy slayage since the area was routinely looked after by a team of very bored slayers.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw something that seemed slightly out of place. Not sure immediately, what it was that was giving her the wiggins, Buffy tried to figure out whether or not, the situation was a matter for the Slayer or one for local law enforcement. A little ways down the street, two men were attempting to corral a little girl and boy into a dark coloured Government Issue sedan. The men had the children by the wrists and were trying to get them to get inside quickly, their patience clearly waning. The children seemed to be highly reluctant to leave the pretty sights and sounds surrounding them, and it sort of reminded her of Willow and Xander when they saw something shiny. She almost laughed at the thought of these totally inept males taking care of children when the little girl looked straight at her.

Buffy suddenly knew that this was the situation that was causing her mental discomfort and thinking that it was a heinous though sadly non-demony kidnapping, she was about to contact the police when Buffy looked into the solemn little girl's huge dark eyes and froze. Her mind was suddenly assaulted with a barrage of flashing images and feelings. She knew that this was most definitely NOT a matter for the police or even the FBI, although she wouldn't object if they sent that yummy agent from that show Andrew had roped her into watching a couple of times, named Weasel or Rat, some sort of beady eyed critter name... and only if they sent him in his Speedo. She sighed and took one last glance at her mochachino. She wasn't exactly wearing the most practical clothes for slaying, but she had also slayed in worse. She was just thankful that she'd managed to drop off the fruits of her latest shopping session at the hotel before she'd stopped for her delicious frosty treat that would now be going to waste.

Buffy stood up and started to head in the direction of the small strange group. Whoever they were, she was pretty sure that not a one of them was full on human. She decided that she would give the men the opportunity to explain themselves before she brought the pain... unless of course they decided to bolt at the sight of her as many of the more demony types did upon seeing her approach.

The male type creatures saw her heading their way and abandoned all remaining patience and shoved the tiny children into the backseat and took off. This merely confirmed her suspicions about the big badness of the situation. Like on 'Cops' when the suspect runs, it looks pretty suspicious. Weighing her options she ran to her borrowed car, hopped in and started to follow, her superior slayer senses allowing her to stay fairly well behind. She really hated when baddies messed with little kids. Even if the kids weren't all that human either. This whole situation was getting stinkier and stinkier, and she had no idea what she might be up against. As the men in black led her steadily further into the predictably seedier part of town, Buffy maneuvered the steering wheel with one hand and fished through her handbag for her cell phone with the other. After what seemed like an eternity, her hand wrapped around the smooth exterior of her cute little mobile phone and she speed dialed the 24/7 Research Hotline, otherwise known as whoever was still awake in the library to answer her call.

Her quarry were definitely sneaky, they had led her on a merry chase through winding loops and crazy driving techniques finally deciding after nearly an hour that she either hadn't followed or had become hopelessly lost. Buffy laughed, thinking that they would not be so careless had they known exactly who they were dealing with. Unfortunately she still wasn't quite sure who she was dealing with either. Willow, who had been happily reading some obscure manuscript in an even more obscure language, had been unable from the sketchy information available to come to any conclusive identification of the bad guys but had several promising candidates. Their drab sedan finally came to a stop outside an abandoned looking warehouse. After looking around and deciding the coast was clear they each roughly grabbed a child and started to go inside the predictably dilapidated building. For maybe the thousandth time, Buffy wondered, 'why is it always a warehouse?' Buffy didn't see any other signs of life around so she waited a minute or two to allow them to feel overconfident. She parked her car out of sight and opened the trunk to retrieve a couple of handy weapons, Willow had said might be useful and headed towards the hideously clichéd building and the children.

tbc
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