Leon stepped out of his room into the living room/kitchen. Jake sat on the couch. Both were dressed in formal clothes that would get them into dress-code restaurants.

Leon straightened the tie he was wearing on his date with Lyra. "Where are you going to take Lara? I'm treating Lyra to dinner, then we're going to go to her house to watch Buffy and Angel. That is, if Lara managed to bring the videos over to Lyra's and Kristin's apartment. Then after that, well…" He let the rest of that sentence trail off, knowing it was enough to give anyone a clue. "Do you think my tie's tied correct?" Leon asked, turning to look in the mirror.

"It's fine," Jake said without looking up. He was staring at something he held between his fingers.

Hearing his roommate's distracted tone, Leon turned to look at Jake. He noticed the little band of metal Jake held. "What is it?" he asked, walking over.

Jake looked up at him then back down at the ring. "Do you think it's too soon? I mean, should I wait until her birthday, or maybe next Valentine's Day?"

Leon smiled. "It's not too soon at all. I know she'll say yes. Both of you have got it bad."

Jake smiled uncertainly before looking back down at the ring. Leon was right about the last part. Jake had been in love with Lara ever since they met in their freshman year of high school. It had taken almost two years before Jake had worked up the nerve to ask Lara out, but before he got the chance to, she did it for him. Her boldness had made him fall even more in love with her, and he'd been extremely pleased when she told him she had the same feelings for him. He wasn't sure if Lara wanted to get married, however. It was a subject they'd rarely talked about, and Jake was afraid she was the kind of person who wanted to stay single.

He sighed, stood up, and placed the ring in a box before slipping it into his pocket. "I guess I'll just have to find out from her, won't I?"

Leon gave him an encouraging smile. "Come on. We'd better pick up our dates before they're angry with us for being late. If we are late, Lara may not marry you at all."

Jake gave him a look. "Ha, ha."

They walked outside, down the second-story balcony stairs and into the fenced-off parking area for their apartment building. Their cars were right next to each other, so both walked in the same direction.

Leon and Jake were unlocking their cars when Leon said, "Good luck."

Jake looked over at him and smiled a little. "Thanks."

Suddenly, lightning struck across the sky, lighting it up.

"There's a storm?" Leon said, worried. "Great. There goes some of my plans for the evening. The table I reserved at the restaurant is outdoors."

Jake frowned up at the sky. "The news didn't mention a storm," he commented.

Suddenly, they heard screams coming from the middle of the parking lot. Jake and Leon turned toward the sounds and walked forward until they were standing next to each other behind Leon's car. Neither of them dared to get closer, because what they could see already shocked them enough.

They saw two women standing apart from the parked cars. A light that got dimmer as the two men watched surrounded both of the women. When the light disappeared, both women stopped screaming and looked around, puzzled.

"Where the hell are we?" the blonde woman asked.

The other was shaking a little. "The shadows, they whisper to me. They say we don't belong. They don't want us to be here." A smiled crossed her face. "Let's make them scream, grandmother. Then they wouldn't be so cruel."

Leon frowned. "They sound familiar."

Jake looked at him, surprised. "You know people that can just appear like that? 'Cause as far as I knew, that sort of thing only happens on Star Trek or on the Tomorrow People."

The blonde woman spotted Leon and Jake and smiled cruelly. Both men took a step back, trying to get as far away as possible from that evil expression.

Leon gasped. "I do know her, and the other person. They're Juliet Landau and Julie Benz. They play Darla and Drusilla on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel!"

"They do?" Jake asked. "How'd they get here, then?"

"I don't know. Why don't you ask them?" Leon asked him in exasperation.

"They know about us, grandmother," the brown-haired woman, whom Leon thought was Juliet Landau, said. "Although our roles may be different in this world."

"Why don't we find out?" Julie Benz asked.

They advanced on Jake and Leon. Their features suddenly changed, replaced by the vampire visage commonly seen on Angel.

"This is not good," Leon stated. Jake, who was just as confused, shocked, and scared as Leon was, could only stare at the advancing women.

"Uh, Jake?"

"Yeah?"

"Can we get out of here?"

"Okay."

Leon turned and ran toward his car door, and Jake raced for the passenger seat. Before Jake could go two feet, however, he felt a hand hit his back and push.

Jake fell on to the ground and rolled over. Looking up, he found himself staring directly up at the vampire visage of Benz, or Darla, or whoever she was. He heard a body collide with the other side of the car, and knew the other woman had pushed Leon against the car.

Jake gazed up at Darla. She smiled hungrily at him.

"Hey! Leave them alone!"

The voice came from behind him, but although the owner had come to help them, it didn't reassure him. He didn't watch Buffy, but he'd recognize Sarah Michelle Gellar's voice anywhere.

What the hell is going on? he wondered

"Well, if it isn't the Slayer," Darla said with disgust.

Jake hastily got to his feet and took a few steps back. Standing about the same place where Darla and Drusilla had just appeared was Sarah Gellar, although he was starting to suspect that these weren't the actors he'd heard about. If they were, there would be cameras everywhere, and Darla and Drusilla would have to put on makeup just to have those vampire visages.

That suspicion was confirmed when Buffy raised her stake. "Hello, Darla. Long time no see."

*****

Ben got up from the floor of his sister's apartment. They'd just switched places, so he was still wearing what she wore last: a red and gold dress. Ben sighed. Did his sister have to wear red dresses all the time?

After he changed into some pants and a shirt, lightning flashed outside. Ben staggered to his knees and stayed there. Everytime another lightning bolt struck outside the window, he would shiver uncontrollably.

Thankfully, the storm lasted only a few minutes. Ben stood up from the floor, relieved. He hadn't felt that way in a long time. That was no ordinary lightning. It was filled with negative magic that made any God or relative to a God want to curl up into a ball until it was over.

Whoever had cast the spell to make the lightning bolts had used powerful magic, and he was willing to bet his sister, Glory, was behind it.

*****

PART TWO - NEW WORLDS

Lara stared at the teen nightclub's sign only a few yards away from her car. This has got to be some big joke, she thought. Someone with money set up the town, or something. She started to suspect that wasn't it, but she still tried to deny it. After all, she may be the fan of a supernatural show but her everyday life was based in science.

There's only one way to find out if this is real or not, she decided.

Lara stepped out of her car and walked toward the entrance to the Bronze. If they were in there, she'd know then if she had been the first person to travel to an alternate universe from her world.

Inside the Bronze, Xander, Willow, Tara, and Anya sat at a table near the stage. The band on the stage had been performing for a week, and it drew a crowd. The four of them could care less about the band at that moment, because they were scanning the crowd for Buffy. Willow tried to see the door, but with a crowd this big, it was hard to pick anyone out.

"Where is she?" she asked for the tenth time. Buffy should have shown up by now.

"Yeah, I'm wondering that myself," Xander said.

He tried to see the door again. Suddenly, it opened, letting in light from street lamps outside. Xander hoped it was Buffy, because he was really worried for her, and was slightly disappointed when he saw it was another girl.

He found he couldn't take his eyes off of her, however. There was something different about her. Maybe it was because she stared at everything in the Bronze with wide eyes. She must be visiting Sunnydale, Xander decided. He didn't really think that was the wisest choice she could have made, though.

"Xander. Xander!" Anya yelled impatiently.

"Huh?" Xander said, reverting his attention back to his girlfriend.

"Why are you staring at that girl? Don't you like me anymore?" Anya asked, anger and hurt in her expression.

"Of course I like you, sweetie," Xander said, pulling her close. Reassured, Anya smiled.

"Hey, guys, that girl is coming over here," Tara said.

Xander and Anya looked over and saw that Tara was right. The girl who seemed to be incredulous of everything in the Bronze had spotted them, and was making her way through the crowd to their table.

"I wonder what she wants," Willow said.

"You think she knows where Buffy is?" Xander asked, suspicious.

"She doesn't look like a vampire," Tara observed.

"She certainly isn't acting like one," Xander said. Vampires were usually confident, and she didn't look that way at all.

Anya looked from Xander to the approaching girl and crossed her arms.

The girl reached their table and stopped. She cleared her throat and said, "Hi. I'm new here. Can anyone point me to where I can buy an expresso?"

Xander cleared his throat and the girl looked at him. He could have sworn that he saw recognition there, although it could have just been the lighting. "Um, it's over there." He pointed to the counter.

The girl smiled at him. "Thanks," she said before walking over to the counter.

As soon as Lara reached the counter, she sat down on one of the stools and burried her face in her hands. She somehow got transported to an alternate universe, where Buffy Summers, her friends, vampires, and demons are real, and the first thing she could think of to say was where she could get some coffee. Well, at least one good thing had come out of that. She did find the counter, after all, and she felt like ordering something heavier than an expresso.

She paused in the middle of calling the bartender. She couldn't get drunk now. She had to figure out how the hell any of this could possibly be happening, and how she was going to get home. To do that, she should talk to Giles and the others. To do that, she needed to work up the courage, and stop repeating to herself a mantra of four words that had been going through her head for a while now: this is not real, this is not real, this is not real…

*****

Buffy launched herself onto the top of the car. Seemingly in the same swift motion, she kicked Drusilla in the face, knocking the vampire away from Leon.

Darla abandoned Jake and opted to jump onto the hood of the car instead. She threw a roundhouse punch at Buffy, but the Slayer ducked.

Jake saw Leon on the other side of the car. "Leon, let's move!"

Leon said, "Yeah."

The two started to run, but Drusilla caught Leon by the back of his collar. "Not so fast, little boy," she said.

Jake came around the car and saw the bag of supplies Buffy had dropped on the ground. He dug through it quickly and took out a cross. Hoping it would work, he ran over to Leon and stuck the cross in Drusilla's face.

Drusilla growled, let go of Leon, and took a few steps back. Jake couldn't believe it. She was a real vampire. Leon couldn't believe it had worked either.

On top of the car, they heard Buffy say, "Run!"

Startled out of their reverie, the two took off. They ran to the other end of the parking lot, where they stopped to watch. Neither of them wanted to stop watching.

When the two guys ran off, Buffy punched Darla in the stomach, causing the vampire to double over, and used the opportunity to kick Drusilla in the face. Distracted by the two departing young men, Drusilla didn't see it coming until it was too late to stop from falling to the ground. Drusilla then turned to Buffy and jumped onto the car to help Darla.

Great, Buffy thought as she ducked another punch from Darla and another one from Drusilla. She almost wished the two guys would come back to provide a distraction. Why did that law firm have to bring Darla back anyway? She'd heard about that from Cordelia earlier that year, about the same time Buffy found out about Dawn's true origins. Now, not only did she have to deal with Angel's sire and childe, but she had to figure out how she was going to get home, and if she didn't kill these two, she had to figure out how she would get these two to come with her. Buffy didn't know if there were vampires in this reality, but she wasn't about to give them two more.

Darla threw another punch at her. Buffy was unable to prevent it, and it knocked her down. She immediately kicked upwards, catching both vampires in the face, then snap-kicked back onto her feet.

Another lightning bolt flashed across the sky. The three women ignored it and kept fighting. In the same moment that Buffy got back on her feet, Darla rushed her, pushing both of them to the ground. Buffy pushed Darla off of her forcefully, sending the blonde vampire flying backwards and into the apartment building wall.

Darla slid to the ground and got up unsteadily. Blood ran from her nose and her mouth, but she snarled and tried to jump back onto the car hood, which was at least eight feet away…

…and succeeded in hopping less than a foot.

Buffy, Drusilla, and Darla stared. All three knew that a vampire could jump an unheard of distance easily. So could the Slayer.

Buffy looked up at the sky when another lightning bolt flashed across the sky. It was further away now, indicating the storm had ended in this region. Buffy looked back at the vampires. It's this world, she decided. It's effecting their vampiric powers. She wondered if it would effect her the same way.

Suddenly, crossbow bolts flew past her. One hit Drusilla in the shoulder because she twisted just in time to avoid getting stabbed in the heart, and the other missed Darla's head by less than an inch.

Buffy looked and saw the two men she'd saved. They'd come back to help, although it was a little late.

More bolts flew, and the two vampires ran out of the parking lot.

Buffy considered going after them, but decided not to. This place was unfamiliar to her, and she could get lost. She needed answers, too. The two guys were taking this all pretty well, so they were as good as anyone to ask.

She turned and jumped easily off the top of the car. My powers aren't gone yet, she observed, relieved. She'd been freaked enough when the Watchers had done that to her. Maybe it only worked on vampires. That would be a very big help while she was here.

"Um," one of the guys said. Buffy looked at them. "Are you Sarah Gellar or Buffy Summers?"

"Who's Sarah Gellar? And how do you know my name?"

The two guys just looked at each other. Buffy wondered what kind of world this was. "Well?" she asked.

"We'd better go to Lyra's and Kristin's," one of the guys, who had blonde hair, decided. "She'd be a big help."

"Yeah, and we'd better call Lara while we're there," the red-head said. "In case she starts to wonder where I am. Besides, I think she'd want to know about this, too. So would the rest of their friends."

"Know about what?" Buffy was still confused. "And how come you guys aren't even asking about the vampires?"

"Darla and Drusilla?" the redhead asked. "We know them the same way we know you."

She was beginning to lose her patience. "How?"

"Well," the blonde said, "you just happen to be the star of a TV show called Buffy the Vampire Slayer."

Buffy stared at them. That bit of news made her mind work overtime. A million questions came to mind, but in the end the only word she could form was, "Huh?"

*****

PART THREE - SMALL TALK

Dreg peered into Glory's room. Seeing that it was empty, he picked up the dress Ben had dropped on the floor. Then he began to tidy things up a bit.

Jinx wandered into the room just as cautiously. Dreg ordered, "Find a suitable mortal for her Excellency's next meal."

"Yes, Dreg," Jinx answered before leaving the room.

Another of their kind entered. "Dreg, I have news concerning the transfer spell."

"Yes?" Dreg asked, slightly impatiently.

"It worked magnificently. Buffy is now in an alternate universe, and two vampires were taken there as well to keep her busy. Only a powerless mortal girl has been brought here. There is no way either girl will switch places again unless Glory wishes it."

"Good," Dreg said, smiling as he always did. "Continue your search for the Key. It should be easier to find now that the Slayer cannot protect it."

"Yes, sir." The demon left the room.

Dreg carried the dress over to the small dressing room connected to the bedroom. He picked up a hanger and put the dress on it when an arm reached around and grabbed him by the neck.

"Hello, Dreg," he heard Ben say. Dreg felt instant fear, although he tried to calm down. If Ben turned him around, he did not want to give the god satisfaction of seeing fear on Dreg's face. If he did, his future job as a courier between Ben and Glory would be fruitless, and Glory would have no more use for him.

"My lordship sounds displeased," Dreg said. "Perhaps there is something I may offer him?"

The razor-sharp blade of a knife pressed against his neck. "Yes, there is. Tell me how to reverse the transfer spell."

After attempting to talk to Buffy's friends and failing, Lara decided to try a different front. She recalled from her many conversations with Lyra what Giles' address was. Because she always watched every episode five times and had been to a few Buffy conventions, Lyra had managed to find out little facts like that. The problem was, Lara didn't know where in the town of Sunnydale the street was, so it wasn't a very good option to have. She'd stop the car and buy a map if only she knew where to find a map. Asking for directions was out of the question, since most of the town seemed to be indoors. The only people still out at the moment would be the teenagers at the Bronze, people walking their dogs in the park, or the homeless. She recalled that Weatherly Park was a normal place to find vampires. Well, that and the graveyards. Lara figured it would be best if she avoided going to those places, or any other place if her run-in with those vampires earlier was any indication. This town is definitely dangerous. Why are people so oblivious to it?

She decided to find downtown and look for the Magic Box. Hopefully, Giles would still be there. If not, she'd at least know where to look the next morning.

She glanced at her watch as she sped towards the center of town. Her watch, as it turned out, was not broken. It was simply displaying the current time in her world. Over there, it was now eight thirty. She'd been in a television show for three hours now. No, not a television show. Buffy the Vampire Slayer is real here. But if so, where was the Slayer? Either she was out on patrol, or they switched places. Lara hoped it was the former, but anything was possible in this town.

She glanced at the storefronts as she drove by. She couldn't find it on this street. She turned the corner. At the end of this street, she found it. It was a blue building with a sign that said "Magic Box," just like in the TV show. Lara breathed in relief, and then saw the sign on the store right next door. It read 'A Sunnydale World: The Place to go for local and regional maps and for vacation planning.'

"Well, that's just convenient," she muttered as she parked the car and got out. Her eyes traveled back to the magic shop. Although the 'closed' sign was out, there was a light on inside. She said a quick prayer and walked up to the door. Hopefully, she wouldn't become a babbling idiot and Giles would listen to her.

She went to the door and knocked.

A few minutes later, she saw a dark shape behind the door. Giles, in his English accent, called out, "We're closed. Please come back tomorrow."

"Giles!" Lara called. Realizing that may be a bit too personal, she added hastily, "Mr. Giles! I need to talk to you. It's about something supernatural. Sort of like that incident with vamp Willow."

There was a pause, then a lock turned and the door opened. Rupert Giles leaned out. "Who are you and how much do you know?" he asked, his face set in an emotionless mask.

"Please, Mr. Giles," Lara said, "I'll explain it all if I could I come in?"

Giles pushed the door open even more and Lara stepped in. She looked around. The actually shop looked different than it did on a TV screen. It still had blue-painted walls, a wide staircase in the middle of the floor leading to the second level, and everything else she'd seen before on screen. It just looked less like a TV set and more like an actual store now.

"So," Giles began, gentler now. He must have notice how nervous she looked. "What is it that you want? And may I ask who you are?"

Lara turned back to him and held out her hand. "Lara McIntyre."

Giles shook it and seemed relieved. He must realize my body's warm, meaning I'm not a vampire. Although he's probably not impressed by the coat of sweat on my palm.

"Rupert-"

"-Giles. Yes, I know."

Giles looked at her curiously. "So, Ms. McIntyre," he said, indicating the table. They sat down. "What brings you here? And what is it that you wanted to tell me?"

"What brings me here?" Lara repeated. "I'm not sure, really. Because I'm not from this world."

She told him everything that had happened that afternoon, or evening, or whatever time it was. Giles took off his glasses and cleaned them several times in those few minutes. Used to seeing it every Tuesday night in her living room, it relieved Lara a little to see the habit again here.

"So you know me in that world?"

"Not exactly," Lara said, uncertain if she should tell him everything. She decided she'd better tell him some of it and continued, "But I know all about you. I also know all about Buffy being the Slayer, and Dawn being the Key, and Tara and Willow being a couple and witches, and Xander being a carpenter, and Anya being an ex-demon, although I've never met any of you personally in my world."

"And how could that be?" Giles asked, a little wide-eyed and excited. Lara remember that the last time he'd encountered someone from an alternate universe was vamp Willow in 'Doppelgangland,' which was too years ago, so it was no wonder that he would be excited by it now.

"Well…" Lara said, still uncertain if she should tell him. Finally she gave in and said, "You're one of the main characters-

*****

" -on a TV show named Buffy the Vampire Slayer," Leon repeated. He, Buffy, and Jake were in the latter's car, driving toward Lyra's and Kristin's apartment complex. Jake had been unsuccessful in reaching Lara, and hoped to be able to reach her at their destination. He hoped she hadn't decided to drive herself to the restaurant and wait there for him, because even though he was concerned for her, he didn't want to let Buffy out of his sight. He felt that if he did, he'd be able to convince himself it was all a dream, so he clung to the only evidence he had. Well, not the only evidence. He could always look under Leon's car's hood again and see all the pressure the vampires had put on the engine. Or he could just look at the hood or the top of the car and see the dents. That was why they weren't in Leon's car.

In the back seat, Leon explained to Buffy for the tenth time, "You're played by Sarah Michelle Gellar. Spike is played by a human actor. He eats normal food and can go out in the sunlight without any special rings, Oracles who turn back time, or Mohra Demons. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the show you star, is on every week. This last Tuesday's episode was when Dawn told you that Spike had a crush on you and then, later on in the episode, we saw Spike tie you and Dru up."

"How do you know all that?" Jake asked him. "You haven't even seen it."

"Lyra told me."

"And you thought that was entertainment?" Buffy said, the disbelief and disgust in her voice. "My life gives you thrills?"

Both Leon and Jake winced. Jake answered, "We didn't know it was real. We thought it was fake, that no one died because they were really actors who got paid to do that stuff and went on to play other roles on other shows afterwards. That was why we were entertained. Now we know that a world exists where Slayers and all the other things are real and it's starting to get scary."

They turned onto a highway and saw several police cars and other trucks parked everywhere. Two officers were telling traffic to turn around.

"What's going on?" Buffy wondered.

"It looks like a tree fell on the road," Leon answered. A few people were chopping the tree into several pieces, because it was too long to drag off the road intact. A car with a smashed-in hood sat not far away. Part of the tree still rested on top of the car's hood. An ambulance was nearby. Its medics were treating the survivors of the car wreck, but they didn't look like they were injured badly.

There were a few officers talking to pedestrians. From the looks of it, the pedestrians were recalling an outlandish story.

"Pull over," Buffy said. "This looks bad."

"Why?" Leon asked. "The tree was probably hit by lightning. We should just go down a different street."

"Just trust me," she insisted. "There's something about all this that is making my spidey-sense tingle." She considered her words and added, "Um, you have Spiderman in this world, right?"

"Right." Leon smiled. "The comic exists here."

Jake parked the car on the curb and they got out. They approached one of the witnesses an officer had just left. "Excuse me," Buffy asked, "but we're curious as to what happened. Could you tell us?"

"What's the use," the woman replied. "The cops already think I'm crazy. I'm already bound for a mental institution. Why feed the fire even more?"

"We won't judge you," Jake said honestly. Now that an entire world had opened up to him, he doubted there was very little he wouldn't believe. Well, he may be an X-Files fan, but he didn't really believe in aliens. He froze. Didn't Lara mention an alien appearing in a Buffy episode?

"Yeah," Leon agreed. "Just tell us what happened, please."

"All right," the woman said, resigned. "But you'll think I'm a raving lunatic when I'm done. I was out walking when that lightning storm started. Then, all of a sudden a bolt hit that tree over there. A few cars managed to swerve around it but that car over there didn't. Then one of the cars that had swerved out of its way began to glow. The light covered the entire car before it and the driver just disappeared."

"Disappeared?" Leon questioned.

"I told you that you'd think I was crazy."

"Did you see what car it was, or did you recognize the driver?" Buffy asked.

"I didn't recognize the driver, but she was about the same age as all of you, and she had brown hair and eyes." She told them the type of car it had been and then left them.

"That's the kind of car that Lara has," Jake stated, worried.

"You think it was her?" Leon asked.

"I hope not."

"The light show was what happened to me," Buffy added thoughtfully. She looked up at Jake and smiled reassuringly at him. "If that was Lara, she can find Giles and then she'll be safe."

Jake looked back at the wrecked car as the tree was removed from the hood and a tow truck was attached to the car. Buffy's comment did not reassure him as much as he would have liked.