Author's Note: It's been awhile since I've written any fanfiction, but I hope that you guys enjoy this! Please review.

Disclaimer: I do not own the show Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Angel.

Prologue

And the tombstone read:

Buffy Anne Summers

1981-2001

She saved the world a lot.

The end of the slayer and all of her friends were left to mourn her death. Xander and Anya carried on, pretending as though nothing had happened, too ashamed to admit their engagement during such dreary times. Willow and Tara clung to one another and moved into the Summers' home to look after Dawn who experienced crying fits so often that she did hardly anything else. And Willow was delving deeper and deeper into the magicks that would most assuredly kill her. Giles was called back to England by the council, leaving the group without their father figure, but it was Giles who needed the group. The grief was destroying him, he had lost his only daughter.

And then there was Spike, the outsider looking in on something that he would never have, just as he always had. No one cared about him, no one ever gave him a single thought. He had lost something, something that had made him whole, and now left him a shell of a thing. He had once told her that he knew that she had never loved him, and that he knew he was a monster, but she had treated him like a man... The hope that had been hovering just beneath the surface dimmed until it was just a tiny flicker, like a firefly fighting against the darkness, captive within a glass where air was growing thin. The firefly knew that it would die and Spike knew that he would too without the hope that Buffy had brought him, but for Dawn, and for a promise that he made, he would stake his life, however empty it was.

The phone in Giles' flat rang, shrill and boisterous, splitting through his single malt scotch induced migraine. "Bloody hell..." Tripping over a stray ottoman, he grabbed onto the receiver and clutched his aching head with his other hand. "Hello?"

"Rupert, this is Quentin, we have a new assignment for you. Hopefully you handle this one better than you did the last. It is your last chance after all."

"What the bloody hell are you blabbering about Quentin?"

"A slayer. Into each generation a slayer is born. Your last slayer died, a new one was called. Do you understand Rupert? We want you to be her watcher, perhaps pull you out of your habitual doldrums."

"The was only one slayer, and that was Buffy. She's dead now. No one can replace her Quentin!" Anger seethed through his body like fire, licking at his skin, feeding the fuel. How could they ever think that he would be able to take on another slayer after Buffy?

"Don't be daft Rupert. You are the only one qualified to teach her, you know it just as well as the rest of us do. Do you want to let her die too?" Quentin let the question hang on the air for only a second before continuing on. "She lives in the US, so you will have to go back again, and persuade her to relocate to Sunnydale, that is after all where all of the centrales of evil are. I'll send someone over with all of the information. And Rupert... I am sorry for your loss, but you do need to get over it." With that he hung up and Giles sat there, the loud thrum of the phone echoing in his ear.

A new slayer?

Arrangements made and all preparations needed in order, including quite a few calls to Sunnydale, Giles boarded the plane that would take him back across the ocean to the United States and to his new charge.

"Welcome to Denver. Hope that you enjoy your stay," the flight attendant smiled warmly at Giles as he walked off the plane. He nodded and continued out into the bright day, sun blazing down, low humidity and mountains off in the distance threatening of winter.

Sydney lay on her bed, feet in the air, reading, a vampire novel that she'd read over and over. Music was pumping through the stereo and her laptop lay next to her, screen up and blinking in technological fashion at her. Setting down her book for a second she typed a few words into her computer, fingers flashing along the keys as she bounced her head along with the beat of the punky rock group, not noticing the knocking on her door. She was wearing little more than her underwear. A white tank top and pale purple girl boxers that clung to her body left very little to the imagination.

The CD paused to switch to another song and she caught the knocking on her door. Jumping off of her bed, she paused the player and jogged to the door, opening it quickly.

A smile spread across her lips as she saw Rupert Giles standing there, complete in tweed. She leaned against the door jam and crossed her legs casually. "Well well, look what the Folgers dragged in. Did I win a year supply of tea?" She ran a hand through her long dark golden brown hair, pulling it away from her face a little, showing her bright blue eyes.

"I am Rupert..."

"Giles," she finished for him. "Yeah, the council or whatever already called me and told me that you would be coming. Something about some big legendary birthright, they said you'd explain in more depth, but what I did get was that I'm supposed to follow your orders... right?"

"Well um... Quentin contacted you?"

"Yeah, stiff upper lip British speak and all. You don't seem too bad, little British, but a bit more domesticated. Come on in, you can explain to me just what this is all about and then you can explain why they wanted me to pack. I'll go get some coffee."

"Well, you're a slayer, The Vampire Slayer. One girl in all the world chosen to fight to the vampires and the demons."

Sydney looked back over her shoulder as she was making coffee and furrowed her eyebrows. "Whoa, wait a minute here, council guys said that there was another one, Faith something or other."

"Yes... well..."

"Look," she sat a cup of coffee down in front of him and sat on her bed cross legged. "From what I get, I've got this whole slaying thing, apparently I get all these neat super powers and I get to kick some demon ass. Some things go wrong, we work through them. You're just like... my Jiminy Cricket, tell me wrong from right and I don't die."

"Well..."

"Giles..." She laid a hand on his shoulder. "I've got nothing going on here, and don't get all flabbergasted, I know this is a big thing, but I figure if we get all the big stuff outta the way, then you can explain the rest of the big thing on the way to... what was it? Sunnydale?"

"Yeah."

"Alright then. No problem." She threw on a lavender blouse, leaving it unbuttoned and pulled on a pair of big baggy jeans that rode low on her hips. "Give me a few minutes to pack and then we'll be outta here." She flashed him a brilliant smile. The council had told her more than she was planning on letting on, besides, her psychic sense was going off the charts with this guy; he was in pain.

"What do you mean there's a new slayer?" said Dawn.

Willow sat down next to her and patted her on the shoulder. "Buffy died, the whole mystical thing, another one got called."

"I get that, but what does that have to do with us?"

"Well... she's gonna be moving here... they appointed Giles her watcher."

"NO! He's Buffy's watcher! She's not going to replace Buffy.!"

"Dawnie... no one is trying to replace Buffy, but we do need a slayer here. Things are just going to get way outta hand and the Buffy bot isn't going to be able to keep saving us, because there's going to be something too big for it to handle."

"Spike can take care of it!" Dawn looked at her with a stubborn face.

"Honey, Spike can't do everything, he's just one vampire and he's been kinda off his game too..." She glanced over at Tara, pleading for help.

"Dawn, try and give it a chance. She's not going to be living here with us, but well, she will be in this town." Tara gave a shy smile as she finished.

"So I don't have to like her?"

"I don't think so, but we don't want to make her feel unwelcome." Tara sat down on the other side of Dawn and smiled over at Willow. "I felt like I was just a replacement for Oz when I first met Willow, but I'm not Oz, am I? Well, this girl isn't Buffy and she's not going to try to be, but she does have some awfully big slayer shoes to fill and it's gonna be rough on her, you know?"

Dawn sighed and looked between the two witches. "I still miss Buffy."

"We all do sweetie, we all do."

Spike took another swig of the near empty bottle of Jack Daniels that would soon join the others around his feet. Blonde hair, he always saw blonde hair. She didn't even love him, why was he so bloody hung up on the bitch? The nagging voice in his head kept saying was because she considered him a friend; a real friend.

His phone started to ring, he'd picked up the blasted contraption after Buffy had died and he'd needed to protect the niblet, can't do that if he couldn't be reached. "Bloody hell." Dropping the bottle to the ground with a clunk he picked up the receiver of the yellowed phone. "Wha?"

"Spike, it's Giles. You need to do me a favor."

"Bloody hell Giles, what do you want? What could you possibly need me for when your in bloody merry ole England?"

"Spike, I've been assigned a new slayer... and I'm gonna need your help..."

"BLOODY HELL!!"