Sorry this took a while. I have logistics to work out in chapter 4. All BTVS/AtS characters belong to Joss.
This fic is dedicated to Rabid Reject, hsloanx16, CarolM, and Celeste Avonne for requesting a sequel to the original Choices.
Chapter 3
"What did you see?" Simon asked Charlotte, once she had composed herself.
"You knew, didn't you? What's to come?" she accused.
He shook his head. "I was told I could be useful. All a soldier needs to know, really. You're the compass."
"Right now, I don't wanna be." She felt she might throw up.
Simon shrugged, unconcerned. "Right…end of the world again, is it? Seen a lot of those in my time. All flash, no payoff. Quite boring, really."
"Oh, it's not the end of the world…not yet. Just the end of the good guys. People I care about. It's just phase 1…" Charlotte scrambled to her feet and ran to her desk. "I need to write it down…"
He sprawled on the couch while she scribbled on a pad. "So, what are you going to tell your little friends? There are rules of disclosure, you know."
"I'll point them in the right direction and tell them as much as I can. The Powers can smite me later if they have to. Don't distract me."
-------
"Is there anything we can do for them?" Xander asked Giles.
The Watcher shook his head. "No…not until we know there are even a 'them' to help. Reinforcements were sent…all we can do is wait for news."
"Then don't tell Buffy tonight. Not unless we have to," Willow said. "She needs this holiday."
"Willow, she'll only be upset that we didn't tell her right away…"
"Just wait until we have concrete information. They're going to call back, anyway. We're all here."
"I agree, G-man. The Buffster is already on edge."
"Fine…but this is not my idea."
--------
Charlotte didn't want to be that girl in this situation. The Powers had just put all this crap in her head, some that needed to be changed and some that had to pass, and she had to decide which was which. It was going to be a hard, uphill road for everyone, and she was not looking forward to having this conversation. Why me?
"Because you have a connection, and they'll follow your lead."
She scowled at Simon. "I didn't say anything."
He grinned widely. "No, but it's written all over your face. Stalling won't really delay the inevitable. Your friends are on a timetable."
"I'm not stalling. It's New Year's Eve. I'm not going to break up their party."
"Is it really? How time flies. You get to be my age, you stop glancing at the calendar."
"What, older thandirt?" she teased.
"Please. I'm barely over a millennium."
"Well, you don't look a day over 800."
"Oh, now you're just patronizing me."
-------
Somewhere in the air…
April Simms sent a coded message to her superiors, then smiled at her team.
"Good work, ladies. Another group bagged and tagged for HQ. Any of you need medical attention?"
"Nothing a first aid kit can't handle. I wonder how many of these cells we're going to have to take out?"
"Don't know, don't care. As long as we get paid. It's for the good of the country."
"Of the world," the rest chorused.
--------
Charlotte waited until two hours after midnight to contact anyone, going over the information she had written down, and searching her memory for anything possibly missed. First stop, the Hyperion.
"Stay here, and don't let anyone in. No one knows where I live."
"Oh, so that's how it is. Ashamed to have me meet the family?"
Charlotte gave him a withering glare. Simon held his hands up in surrender.
"Yes, mum. I'll be good."
She locked the door from the outside and stomped down the hall towards the elevators, grumbling about facetious Englishman and their smart mouths.
The doors to the hotel were unlocked. Very sloppy, Angel, unless you're still down here. She came in through the front entrance, passing between the staircases and walking down the few steps towards the front desk on the left. She pressed the buzzer that alerted them of clients. Angel came down a few minutes later, his t-shirt on backwards, and with bare feet. He looked good these days, not so grim as when she'd first met him. She smirked.
"Did I interrupt something?"
"Charlotte?" He quickened his pace down the stairs.
"In the flesh." She smiled as he hastily turned his shirt around to the right side. "You left the door unlocked."
If he could blush, he probably would be. "Oh. Well, I was going to be back down here later…"
"Uh-huh. You, um, might want to get comfortable somewhere…I had a vision."
Angel's eyes lit up with a mix of curiosity and dread. "Okay…"
Charlotte paced. "A big one. Big enough that most of it is on 'need to know'. It's going to take everyone working together…"
"Alright, but why come to me first? Wouldn't it save time to tell everyone once?"
She squirmed. "It would, but…Buffy's group doesn't know me very well, and I need them to believe me. You already know how the visions go."
He leaned against the counter. "Tell me what you saw."
"A lot of dead Slayers, maybe all of them. The Senior Partners want the balance back in their favor."
Angel straightened his stance, ready for business. "Then let's go."
Charlotte shook her head. "It's the middle of the night, Angel. It can wait until morning. I just…want back-up when I do this."
"How are you holding up? Really." In the months they'd been searching for her cure, they'd developed a unique bond, and he still cared.
She sighed. "It's surreal…I'm not a part of anything I knew before, but I'm part of something so much more huge. The visions don't hurt physically, at least not in the skull-splitting migraine sense…but I know more now than I ever wanted to in a lifetime…" She trailed off, as words didn't do it all justice.
"What exactly did they give you, about us?"
"A lot. Your thoughts are still private, if it's any comfort. The knowledge came in handy, believe it or not, while I was making my way here."
"Can't be easy for you, knowing what we've done, and coming here…"
Charlotte searched for the right words. "It's…weird. But in spite of what's up here." She tapped her temple. "I also have what I know, how you both have treated me. And seeing everything means that I've seen the recent good, too. You didn't have to help me, Angel, but you did."
He shrugged. "I owed you."
She smiled. "And I'm grateful." She glanced at her watch. "I'll let you get back to…whatever. You'll be awake still come daylight?"
He rolled his eyes. "We can do that, you know. It's a misconception that we have to sleep all day."
She winked. "I know."
--------
Dawn and Connor were walking back to the dorms after the party.
"Do you ever get the feeling things are going too well?" Dawn asked.
"You mean, with us?"
She squeezed his hand tighter. "No! I mean supernatural-wise. In Sunnydale, this would be the calm before the storm that becomes Hurricane Hellmouth of Badness. Set to go boom in May or June. This time, that last year, Buffy was rescuing Spike from the First and killing her first Ubervamp. He could barely stand. I didn't know what to think about it then."
"How are they, Buffy and Spike?"
"I don't know. They make out a lot, and thankfully, I'm not hearing noises at night… I guess they're good, but they never fight. Is that normal? Maybe I just haven't heard one, but they used to fight all the time before."
"Maybe they worked out the cause of the arguments," Connor suggested.
"Maybe…it's not like either one is going to share, anyway. Ya think we can avoid the apocalypse indefinitely?"
"With our families, I'm thinking no."
"Bummer."
---------
This time, the call came on Giles' cell. It was already past 4:00AM, and he was back at his hotel room.
"Tell me."
"The girls are gone, sir. There are definite signs of a struggle, but it's unknown if they left alive or deceased. It was an extremely professional operation. The neighboring house didn't hear a sound."
"Very well. Gather the girls' property. The Coven might be able to discern their fates."
"Yes, sir."
Giles ended the call and placed the phone back on the nightstand, running a hand over his face. A random demon attack would have left casualties or bodies. Same with mercenaries. It appeared that Wolfram and Hart were no longer content with picking up stragglers here and there. By striking at an established Slayer cell, they'd just openly declared war.
--------
January 1st, 2006…
"Good morning."
"Did you get any sleep?" Angel asked, as Charlotte ventured further into the lobby.
"Not really. I don't need much these days, though."
"How do you want to do this, call Buffy and have her gather the others?"
She shook her head and handed him an address. "There are things Mr. Giles needs to hear first."
Though it was cloudy, Angel was thankful he'd had the windows in the Plymouth necro-treated.
An hour later, in a hotel room…
"You're absolutely certain there's no other way?" Giles asked.
"As a heart attack. If there's another solution, they haven't revealed it to me. For this to be over, balance must be restored," Charlotte replied. "But we have time. The important thing right now is to find those girls and bring them to safety. Wolfram and Hart has them scattered around the globe, so you'll need several teams, preferably with at least one member that can sense Slayers."
"You'll need people good with magic, too. Wolfram and Hart won't just use physical protection for those buildings," Angel added.
"How fortunate that we have your wealth of experience with them, then," Giles coolly replied.
"Hey! It's crucial that everyone works together on this! Save the personal grievances for after we save the world, huh?!"
"My apologies, Miss Taylor. Please continue."
She handed him a slip of paper. "These are the locations I saw. Form the teams as you see best, but do it soon. They'll keep kidnapping your girls."
Angel and Charlotte left the Head Watcher to make his plans. She told her companion he could go back to the Hyperion.
"Thanks for your help. Get some sleep."
"And then what?"
"We see what Mr. Giles has to report."
---------
Charlotte entered her darkened apartment to the sounds of show tunes from a boisterous Englishman.
"Finish your errand, dear? I made waffles."
She shook her head as she sat down. "You are the weirdest British vampire I've ever met, Simon."
"Out of how many?" He set a plate with a fried blob on it in front of her.
"That's not a waffle. And two."
"Well, it would be if you had one of those press irons. I thought every American had one of those things? How ever have you survived?" he cheekily replied.
"I ate out. And Mom has one. What recipe did you use?"
That charming, irascible grin was still in place. "It was in the book. I'm not completely inept in a kitchen, you know. Kept you fed."
"With meat kabobs and stolen fruit. Doesn't make you a culinary genius." Charlotte hesitantly took a small bite. "Could be worse. I hope you cleaned up the mess…"
He winked. "Yes, Mum. Can I fetch your slippers, perhaps, or the latest news edition?"
She grinned. "I rather like the idea of you being the house boy."
"You would."
--------
After dark, Charlotte suddenly stood and went to the closet to grab her coat.
"Where are you going?" Simon asked.
"It's time for the meeting."
Thoughts? Complaints? I know you guys are reading, out there, but there have been no reviews. They feed the muse, hmm, so please?
