The Future is Black

by Country fan 7

Sequel to "Future Complications" - The time has come for Liam to finish what came to the past to do. The apocalypse is about to commence unless he gets his family, Buffy and Angel, to help. Throw in an Archer, a Swordsman, a Goddess, a Slayer, a Destroyer, a Demon, and an Angel and you have one good recipe for an apocalypse. And it's a good apocalypse.

4. Lessons

Chapter 1: Lessons

Late September, 2002

Istanbul

Night Time

A dark-haired girl of about fifteen was running through an arched hallway, looking over her shoulder and panting from the exertion of running so fast. She slipped down an embankment. She was being chased. A man on the street sees her through his front door, and closes it rather than help her. Two people in hooded cloaks were chasing her. After trying various alleys looking for an escape route, she finds herself trapped in a dead-end. She sees a drain pipe next to her and decides to use it to scale the building. The people chasing her grab her foot, but she manages to escape their grip and easily climbs up to the roof. There, another hooded figure is waiting and pushes her off the building. She screams, but she lands on the ground alive, on her back. Two hooded figures hold her down, and she fights back with all her might. A third figure raises an arched, shiny, silver dagger and thrusts down at her.

…

A newly sired vampire was rising from his grave. His arms come out first and then his face, already yellow-eyed and fanged.

"It's about power." Buffy said. She sat on the ground while Angel leaned against a tree a ways away. Dawn stood in front of Buffy and listened intently to her while a vampire rose from its grave. "Who's got it? Who knows how to use it? So..." Buffy tossed a stake to the teenager. "Who's got the power, Dawn?"

"Well, I've got the stake." Dawn said.

"The stake is not the power." Buffy said.

"But he's new. He doesn't know his strength. H-he might not know all those fancy martial arts skills they inevitably seem to pick up." Dawn protested.

"Who's got the power?" Buffy said ignoring Dawn's protest.

"He does." Dawn said.

"Never forget it. Doesn't matter how well prepped you are or how well armed you are. You're a little girl Dawn."

"Woman." Dawn corrected.

"Little woman."

"I'm taller than you."

"He's a vampire, OK? Demon. Preternaturally strong. Skilled with powers no human could possibly ever..."

"Excuse me. I think I'm stuck." The vampire said behind them. He was halfway out of the ground as Buffy, Dawn, and Angel all turned to it.

"You're stuck?" Buffy asked.

"My foot's caught on a root or something, and… I don't even know how I got down there. If you girls could just give me a hand..."

"Hmm. So, he's got the power?" Dawn asked sarcastically.

"Zip it." Buffy said. Angel snickered behind his tree and Buffy gave him a dirty look.

"I really appreciate it. It's just, it's so dark, and I don't even know what I'm doing here." The vamp said. Buffy picked him up by his suit collar and put him down standing on his feet. "Whoa. Ooh. Thanks. That was a help. Unfortunately it was the last..." Buffy grabbed his throat and squeezed. "…thing you'll ever do."

"Listen up. I'm the slayer. You don't want to get into it with me. You want blood? You can have hers." Buffy said, motioning towards Dawn. The vamp turned and ran after Dawn. "Power. He's got it. He's going to use it. You don't have it, so..." Dawn bent and flipped him over her back. "...use that. Perfect." Buffy walked over to Angel and stood next to him while she watched Dawn fight the vamp.

"She's doing well." Angel said.

"Yeah. Considering it's Dawn's first time out." Buffy said.

"Yup." Dawn staked the vamp, and thought she defeated him, but she missed the heart. She got a panicked look on her face. He pushed Dawn down, got up, and got away from her. She tried to stake him again, but the vamp overpowered her and threw her down start to bite her on the neck.

"Buffy! Angel!" Dawn screamed. Buffy walked up behind the vampire and grabbed its coat from behind. The vamp dropped Dawn. Buffy fought with swings, kicks, and punches. Finally, she grabbed a nearby sword, and cut off its head.

"It's real. It's the only lesson, Dawn. It's always real. Let me see." Buffy said.

"It's nothing, it's just a scrape. Plus, I had a plan the whole time." Dawn said.

"Really?" Angel asked, coming up next to Buffy taking her hand. "And what would that be?"

"I planned to get killed, come back as a vampire, and bite you." Dawn said to Buffy.

"You wanted to be trained since…" Buffy retorted but stopped before she said Faith's name. Faith and Spike leaving all of a sudden without warning did hurt the Summers family. They had finally gotten to a point where both of them had been allies and family to them. Now they were gone and Buffy, Angel or Dawn all felt sad and worried for the both of them. Buffy sighed. "…since you didn't have a teacher anymore."

"Buffy, its ok. You can say Faith's name. She and Spike had a fight and they're busy cooling off I guess."

"Ok."

"Just the next time when you're gonna disa..."

"You did pretty well."

"I did?"

"Yeah."

"Cause, you know, with the whole rolling thing, I was actually using his strength, and it was very Tai Chi. Right Angel? Plus I nearly got the heart."

"My first time out, I missed the heart too."

"No way!" Dawn said.

Angel chuckled and nodded for conformation. "She did. I saw the whole thing."

"Just the once." Buffy said defensively.

"Well, the next vampire I meet..." Dawn started.

"The next vampire you meet, you run away. I just wish that was all we had to worry about. Vampires, demons… they're nothing compared to what's coming." Buffy said.

"I know. I just can't believe its back." Dawn said as they started to walk home.

"Believe me, I thought I was long past it. I guess you never are. Just a few more days 'til it starts. Then we'll never know what's coming next."

"Glad things are getting back to normal." Angel deadpanned.

…

A man held a large pair of scissors and used them to cut a huge red ribbon. A press conference was happening with a grand opening ceremony with reporters and city officials standing around.

"It is my great pleasure and privilege to announce the official opening—on the very ground that it first stood upon—of the brand new state of the art Sunnydale High!" The new principle announced. The cloud clapped as they looked upon the new Sunnydale High School.

…

Parking Garage, LA

Nighttime

Four men walked through a parking garage together. Two stood tall in suits and acted as body guards walking behind the other two men. The third man was in a suit and carrying a briefcase with the letters HW on it. The fourth man was balding, wore a designer suit and coat, and seemed to be mad about something. This man's name was Daniel Bordeaux. A wealthy business man who was being charged for multiple accounts of fraud, scamming middle and lower class people out of their money. He was guilty of course. But he didn't care.

"I want these charges against me to be dropped." Bordeaux said to the Wolfram and Hart lawyer.

"Yes Sir Mr. Bordeaux." The lawyer said. "Wolfram and Hart will make sure everything is taken care of."

"Really? Cause last time I checked, you people were still being looked at for your involvement in the Corbin Fries smuggling affair. I don't want the same thing happen to me."

"We've managed to convince the Attorney General's office that the documents recovered about our involvement were false. We won't have a problem anymore."

"What about the woman in the hood Fries was talking about?"

"She hasn't been seen since. But we are keeping our staff on alert for anything suspicious in nature."

"Whatever. Just get these charges dropped."

"Yes sir." The four men stopped at a car and one of the bodyguards went to open the door for Daniel Bordeaux. Suddenly, the light above them burst and broke. A few lights in the parking garage flickered. The men looked around for a cause. Then an arrow appeared in the lawyer's chest and he fell down, dead.

"Get in the car." One of the bodyguards led Bordeaux to his car and closed the door. Both guards took out their guns and fired in the direction of where the arrow originated. They couldn't see where exactly their shots were going in the dark but hoped for a hit somewhere.

"Hey." They heard a voice say from the darkness. "You missed." Bordeaux listened to the activity outside of the car. He didn't hear anything since the mysterious voice spoke. Then he heard two bodies fall on the ground outside and then his window shattered. Bordeaux covered himself from glass and looked to his right to see a black arrow sticking out of the seat. It was the source of the glass shattering. Now the only question was, who shot it? The answer came quickly as Bordeaux was grabbed from outside of the car and pulled through the broken window. He looked up to see a dark clothed figure in a white hood kneeling on the roof of his car. At first Bordeaux thought it was the woman like before, but instead it was a man. He could tell from the black beard on the man's face. He couldn't see his eyes as the man's hood silhouetted them. He wore a black skin suit with armored plated boots, thigh plates, knee pads, shoulder plates, vambraces on his forearms with the left one carrying four arrow shaped flechettes, and a chest plate. He carried a large quiver on his back filled with arrows. The man pointed a bow and arrow at him.

"Whoa. Whoa! Look just…just tell me what you want?" Bordeaux said. The man jumped down from on top of his car and hauled him up to his feet.

"You're going to transfer 50 million dollars into Los Angeles Citibank account 7601 by 10 P.M. tomorrow night." The man demanded.

"Or what?" Bordeaux asked.

"Or I'm going to take it. And you won't like how." The man let go of Bordeaux, turned, and started to leave.

"If I see you again you're dead!" Bordeaux shouted. The man turned back and pulled an arrow back on his bow, shooting it and making a hole in the back window of Bordeaux's car. Bordeaux turned to see it and looked back to find the man nowhere in sight.

…

London, England

Liam and Delia's apartment

Early Morning (Same time)

Liam was entering his apartment after visiting Giles and Willow very quick. Delia didn't come because she felt sick this morning and Liam left her to rest while he visited. She had been feeling kind of sick the past few days and hoped she would feel better soon. Giles was doing well. He was getting a kick out of the Watcher's Council still baffled by the break in they did over a month prior. Willow was doing well in her studies thanks to Liam giving her courage and reassuring her of how great she would become with magic, if only she paced herself. The coven wasn't scared of her anymore but they still kept a watchful eye in case of anything. Things seemed to be looking better for the family.

Liam walked to the kitchen and poured himself a cup of coffee. And took a sip and sighed happily. He liked coffee. "Delia." He called to his wife but received no response. He looked around the apartment for her but didn't find her. Her entered the bedroom where he saw their suitcases open but empty on the bed. Liam and Delia were going back home today and they're flight would be leaving at 7:30, that way they would arrive in LA at around 9:30 Los Angeles time and meet up with Buffy and the rest in Sunnydale around noon. They had their tickets ready and everything. All they were missing was their packed luggage. "Delia." Liam called again. He heard heaving coming from the bathroom. "Honey, you feeling any better?" Liam asked the obvious question coming next to the door of the bathroom. He heard Delia groan. It was very rare that Liam saw her sick. Practically never. The only other time was when she caught some magic disease after a mission in the future but even then they had an antidote ready. "I'll take that as a no."

"Really? What was your first clue?" Delia asked sarcastically from the bathroom.

"Well, dry heaving was my first clue." He heard Delia groan again. "Do you think you'll be ok enough for our flight later tonight?"

"Yes, cause I'll be dead." Delia said sickly.

"I think you might have the flu."

"Great observation, jackass." Delia shot back. She really wasn't feeling well. Practically everything made her sick to her stomach. Liam didn't like being insulted for trying to help her out. So he settled for payback.

"You know there is a great remedy for a flu bug." Liam smiled. "It's a, it's a juicy cheeseburger topped with tabasco sauce, served in a bowl of chili fries." Liam heard more heaving coming from the bathroom and snickered to himself.

"Oh god, I hate you." Delia moaned.

"Love you too, honey." Liam went over to the nightstand and set his coffee down. Delia came out of the bathroom looking just like how she sounded in there. Liam saw this and felt bad about getting at her. "Geez Delia. You look like crap."

"Thanks, every wife likes to hear that." Delia deadpanned, leaning on the bathroom door.

"I just mean that you don't look like you should be doing a lot for the moment. How about I pack up our things and you just rest."

"You'll do that for me?" Delia asked sounding relieved.

"What are husbands for?" Liam said with a smile. Delia gave a weak smile to him before she got sick again and went to the bathroom to puke more.

Later that morning, Liam and Delia had arrived at the London airport where they met up with Giles and Willow to say good-bye. Willow wasn't coming with the couple just yet. She wanted to finish up the last of her training with the Coven before she felt she was ready to go home. Also, Liam thought it would be best to check out the mood of everyone at home to see if they are ready to have Willow back first. It was agreed upon unanimously. Delia still wasn't feeling any better but at least she had stopped heaving for the time being.

Liam and Delia's flight was boarding and the couple were saying their last good bye's and see you soon's to Giles and Willow. Willow and Liam hugged each other. "Gosh. I wish I could come with you." Willow said.

"Willow, we talked about this." Liam said and looked at her. "Finish what you have here and then come back. I speak for everyone when I say that we want you to be at your best when you come back. Alright?"

"Ok." Willow complied but didn't like it. "It's just…I got through a lot with you giving me encouragement and telling me about me in the future."

"I barely told you anything aside from you were in complete control of your magic in the future."

"And that's what got me through it. That and you…" Willow lowered her voice. "You telling me about my daughter."

"I told you enough to let you know that you are not evil inside. You are good. As so is she." Liam smiled at Willow and hugged her again. "Just finish up before you come back. Promise?"

"Promise."

Giles and Delia gave each other a hug. "Please, come back with Willow." Delia begged.

"I will try to make it happen. But I see that I might be needed at the Watcher's Council due to our little adventure there." Delia smiled, thinking back to their heist one month prior.

"At least try to visit more often. You're really fun to have around." Giles smiled at the slayer for the compliment.

"I promise I will visit as often as time allows." Giles said. Delia smiled at him before turning to hug Willow. Liam came over and hugged his grandfather. "Please, do be safe." Giles told him.

"Aren't I always?" Liam joked. Giles looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "I promise to try and be safe. Safe-er."

"Good. And do tell your parents about your little time in…."

"I promise to tell them about my time in hell." Liam promised his grandfather for the hundredth time. "I will also tell them about the deals and our little break in. No secrets."

"Good. And tell Buffy that I love her and I do miss her and everyone there."

"I promise grandpa." Liam said and gave his grandfather one last hug before he and Delia had to board the plan, otherwise they would miss their flight. They waved to Willow and Giles before boarding the plane and they got to their seats. Giles decided that they needed a relaxing flight so he gave them first class, which they didn't argue with. Liam and Delia sat in their seats and as soon as Delia got settled, she started feeling sick again. She put her hand to her mouth one hand over her stomach. Liam noticed this. "Delia are you alright?"

"I…I think I'm gonna be sick again."

"Again? We just got on the plane."

"I know. I'm sorry I just…" Delia held her mouth, trying to not let herself throw up again.

Liam sighed. "Maybe we should wait until this bug passes."

"No. No. I'm ok." Delia lied and took in a much needed breath. She didn't want to delay them from going home, especially since they were both getting sick of London and they missed California. Not to mention that they needed to start their work on finding the Orb of Danzalthar now that they had the book about it. Liam looked suspiciously at her before deciding that it was what she wanted.

"OK." He said and leaned back in his seat, ready for the ten hour flight and nap he was looking forward to. Just as he closed his eyes and prepared for it, Delia jumped out of her seat, almost knocking over a flight attendant and headed straight into the lavatory. Liam saw it happen and leaned back and sighed. "She had better not make me sick."

…

In Sunnydale, the Summers household was busy this morning. Angel was in the kitchen, feeding a ten month old Connor in his high chair. Connor was nearly eleven months old now and started to be doing a lot of developing that brought smiles to Buffy and Angel's faces. He was already grabbing things and sticking his hands into his cereal and grabbing it. Buffy nearly had a heart attack when she first saw Connor stand up, albeit with support from the furniture but it was still a big development. It seemed like he was understanding what people were saying around him because he laughed and smiled during appropriate times and half the time it seemed like he was trying to say something. Buffy was really eager to hear Connor's first words. Angel however was very patient with everything.

While Angel was help feeding Connor, Buffy busied herself with getting Dawn ready for school. It was her first day at the new Sunnydale High and she didn't want to take any chances with her sister going to the school that gave her hell for three years. Buffy walked to the window and saw Xander pull up in his new car.

"Dawn! Xander's here." Buffy yelled to her sister.

"Just a minute!" Dawn called back.

"You're gonna be late."

"I'm comfortable with that."

"Good morning!" Xander said when Angel opened the door.

"Well, you gotta eat something. I made cereal." Buffy called.

"Ok." Dawn called.

"You're unconscionably spiffy." Angel said to Xander.

"Client meeting." Xander said. Then to Buffy, "How exactly do you make cereal?"

"Ah, you put the box near the milk. I saw it on the food channel. Want something?" Buffy asked.

"I ate. I'm good. How are you guys?"

"My sister's about to go to the same high school that tried to kill me for three years. I can't change districts, I can't afford private school, and I can't begin to prepare for what could possibly come out of there. So, peachy with a side of keen, that would be me."

"Well here's a little something for what ails ya."

"You got the rest." Angel said as they followed Xander into the dining room.

"Take a look."

Dawn came in and saw Xander in his suit. "Hey. Check out double-O Xander." Dawn said.

"Go. Talk with your mouth full." Buffy said and pointed to the kitchen.

"I've got two crews working on this diabolical yet lucrative new campus. One here, finishing the Science building, and one here, reinforcing the Gym. There are no pentagrams, no secret passageways. Everything's up to code and safe as houses." Xander said.

"Nothing creepy or strange from beyond?" Angel asked cleaning Connor's messy chin.

"Maybe you guys are just paranoid." Dawn said through a mouthful of cereal.

"Well, there is one interesting detail. I managed to scare up the plan from the old high school. You remember the very center of Sunnydale's own hell mouth?" Xander asked, putting two separate plans up to the window.

"Under the library." Angel said.

"Right. So I lined up the plans, new and old. And right exactly where the library was, we now have…" Xander pointed to where the two plans lined up the Hellmouth and it showed the principal's office.

"The principal's office." Buffy said.

"So the principal's evil?" Dawn asked.

"Or in a boatload of danger." Buffy answered.

"Well the last two principals were eaten. Who would even apply for that job?" Angel asked.

"Guess we'll see. Ooh, we have to leave though. You have everything?" Buffy asked Dawn. "Books, lunch, stakes?"

"Checked thrice." Dawn said.

"Did you give her the..." Xander asked.

"No, we were saving it." Buffy said.

"What is it?" Dawn asked.

"Back to school gift."

"It's a weapon, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is." Angel said. Buffy handed Dawn a wrapped present. She sat down and started to open it.

"It's a cell phone!" Dawn squealed.

"Hold it." Angel said.

"What?"

"It's only for emergencies." Buffy said. "There will be no calling your friends on this phone. The bill is going to be high enough as it is. You're always in danger here in Sunnydale."

"Buffy and I got this so you can be out at night and if something happens, you can call us and we'll come help you." Angel said as he and Buffy pulled out their identical cell phones.

"Thank you." Dawn said and meant it.

"You're welcome." The home phone started to ring and Angel went to answer it.

"Hello." Angel said. "Giles! Hey. How's it going?"

"Giles?" Buffy asked.

"Yeah. He says hi by the way." Angel confirmed.

"Hi Giles." Everyone said a loud. Connor giggled at the group. Angel smiled and returned to the phone.

"So how's everything? Willow ok?...Oh that's great. Glad to hear it…..Yeah….Oh they did?...Ok, we'll expect them soon. OK. Bye." Angel hung up the phone.

"I didn't get to talk to him." Buffy pouted.

"None of us did. Way to hog the phone dead boy." Xander complained.

"He had to get back to the Council. Apparently there's some situation and they need him."

"What else did he say?" Dawn asked.

"He said Willow's doing very well in her studies to control her magic."

"Oh good. Glad to know Willow's ok." Xander said.

"Did he say anything about Liam?" Buffy asked.

"He said that he and Delia got on a plane hours ago and will arrive soon in LA. We're to expect them somewhere close to lunch."

"That's great." Dawn said happily.

"Yes it is. And speaking of lunch, we gotta go. You don't want to be late for your first day." Buffy said. She, Dawn, and Xander all headed for the door. Angel lifted Connor out of his high chair and followed. He stopped at the door as he couldn't go out in daylight. "I'll be back soon. Tell Liam not to worry that much when he hears I went back to school." Buffy told Angel and kissed him. "Bye, bye Connor." Buffy hugged her infant son. "I'll see you soon." She gave him a kiss on his head and he smiled at her. Buffy loved seeing him smile.

…

Daniel Bordeaux was in his office with Lilah Morgan and Gavin Park from Wolfram and Hart and some men from his security team. He called for them specifically because it was the second time in the past month that a white hooded figure had attacked and killed a Wolfram and Hart Lawyer. Bordeaux was walking around his office explaining to Lilah and Gavin the events that transpired last night.

"He was in all black and wearing some kind of armor." Bordeaux told them and came to the front of his desk. "And he wore a white hood and carried a bow and arrow." Lilah looked stunned at Bordeaux and starred in disbelief. "What, you don't believe me?" Bordeaux picked up the arrow from his car and held it. "That maniac took out your lawyer and two of my men." He handed the arrow to Gavin who looked at. It was a black arrow with the shaft made of a specialized polymer with white fletching's at the end.

"Well Mr. Bordeaux, we will take everything that you have said here and consult with our assets to find…" Lilah took the arrow from Gavin and looked at it. "Robin Hood?"

Bordeaux didn't believe that Lilah was taking this seriously. "Listen sweetheart, I'm not some grosser who got taken for his register. I bring in a lot of money to your firm. I go to the front of the line. Now he said he would be back here by 10 P.M. Make sure you're here first." Lilah nodded to Bordeaux. "You can coordinate with Mr. Vincent Holden, my new head of security." Bordeaux pointed behind Gavin and Lilah and they looked to see a brown skinned, tall, well-built man in a leather jacket with a gun showing at his side. He looked mean. Lilah and Gavin starred at him and looked back at Bordeaux who went around his desk and sat in his chair.

"Alright then. Thank you for your time." Lilah and Gavin left the office and headed to the office elevator through the hall.

"That's twice now a vigilante in a white hood attacked one of our clients. Can't be mere coincidence." Gavin said.

"There's no such thing. First a woman. Now a man. We're not just dealing with a new player." Lilah said as they reached the elevator and pushed the button.

"No. We're dealing with a new team." They stepped into the elevator as it arrived and pushed the button to go down.

"Now we have more questions than answers. Like, who are they?"

"And what do they want?"

"But more importantly, which team are they on?" Lilah looked at the arrow again and looked specifically at the head. It was a flat headed arrow with a symbol of some kind on it. She looked closer and saw that the symbol was a stake with the tip pointing towards the tip of the arrow, and two angelic like wings coming out of the stake. Lilah had never seen a symbol like it before and wondered where it came from.

…

Xander's car pulled up to the new Sunnydale high building and Buffy and Dawn piled out. Buffy peered through the passenger side window at Xander. "I'm gonna take Dawn and Conner to class, have a look around." Buffy said.

"Ok. I'm gonna be on-site here all day, so if you have any needs…" Xander said.

"Thanks." Buffy and Dawn waved as Xander drove off before they started walking to the building. "Now remember: if you see anything strange or you know dead…."

"I got it." Dawn said.

"And stay away from hyena people, or any lizardy-type athletes, you know, or if you see anyone that's invisible." Buffy added.

"Hey, Buffy, I think it's pretty safe to say we're not going to see anybody that's invisible."

"You could still drop out. Only nerds finish high school."

"You know, I don't really think it's fair for you to try and scare me on my first day of high school. Cause it is so redundant."

"The place is evil." They entered an archway into a courtyard where a tall black man greeted them.

"Tough to let 'em go, huh?" he asked.

"Hi." Buffy said.

"I'm Robin Wood. New principal." He shook hands with Buffy.

"Oh, uh, Buffy Summers. This is Dawn."

"Nice to meet you."

"Hi." Dawn said.

"So you're the new principal. I expected you to be more… Aged." Buffy said.

"Huh. You seem a bit young to have such a gown-up daughter." Mr. Wood said.

"Oh. Uh, uh, no. She's my sister."

"Oh, right, um, of course."

"You didn't really think she's my... it's my hair. I have mom hair."

"Well you do have a son." Dawn pointed out. Buffy looked at her, alarmed.

"I actually have heard of you, Miss Summers. Graduated from the old high school, am I right?" Mr. Wood asked.

"Uh, yeah. It's Mrs. Summers now. How did you..?" Buffy asked.

"Well, I better get back to work. Gotta start deadening young minds. It's really nice to meet you all. You have fun." The principal left, and Buffy eyed him carefully as he walked away.

"That was suspicious."

"You betcha. Bye." Dawn said and walked away from Buffy through the school's courtyard to go to class.

"Oh, Dawn..."

"I know! You never know what's coming. The stake is not the power. To Serve Man is a cookbook. I love you. Go away." Dawn walked off. Buffy sighed and crossed her arms. Then she got an idea and walked to the school.

…

The terminal at the Los Angeles airport was busy. People were getting on and off planes and many of them were rushing. Bags came out and rotated around at the baggage claim. Liam walked over and grabbed his and Delia's bags. He carried them over to some seats and set them down. They had three bags with them. Two were suitcases, each belonged to Liam and Delia. Both suitcases were all the couple brought on their trip to England. Coming back, they had a third. Liam unzipped the third bag to reveal an assortment of different souvenirs both of them picked up in England. There were some books they 'borrowed' from the Watchers Council, including the book about the Orb, a bobble head policeman doll Liam thought was cool, a snow globe of Big Ben Delia picket up, and lastly three jars of the dragons blood Liam kept for himself. Since he heard about what the blood could do, he decided to keep some for a rainy day. Cause you just never know.

Liam walked with the bags to where Delia was sitting hunched over and holding her stomach. Her flu bug hadn't gotten better. Half the flight she spent in the lavatory, puking her guts out. Liam felt sorry for because she was so sick. "Hey, you ready?" he asked. Delia looked up at him and Liam saw how pale she looked.

"To die? Then, yes." Delia said and lowered her head again.

"Well, sorry to hear that. But I got our bags and everyone is waiting for us."

"Can't they wait till tomorrow?" Delia moaned. "I really need to rest."

"You can rest on the ride over. Now, I wouldn't mind carrying you but my hands are currently full." Delia looked up at Liam and saw he was carrying all the bags.

Delia sighed. "Fine." She got up and immediate felt nauseous again.

They took a cab ride from the airport and arrived at a storage facility not that long later. Liam had rented one out before they left for England and was picking up something special before they went back to Sunnydale. He went to the man in charge and finished with paperwork to get everything out of his locker.

"Ok, let's go." He told Delia and he held up the key and they walked to his locker.

"I don't see why you couldn't just have left it in Sunnydale and we get a flight there." Delia said. "They have their own airport."

"I know. But I knew when we got back that we would need her again and it's been four months since last I saw her." They arrived at Liam's locker. "I want the time we spend together to be a while." Liam said with a smile.

"Liam, it's just a…"

"Do not say it." Liam told Delia and he set the bags down. "Don't ever say it. She's more than that." Delia threw her hands up in surrender. She was feeling too bad to get into an argument. Liam took the key and unlocked the storage locker. He opened it up to reveal nothing but his newly restored 1969 Dodge Charger R/T that Willow shredded four months earlier. Liam had it fixed up right before he left and had it stored for when he would return. Liam's smile grew wider and he entered into the locker, roaming his hands over the car. "Whoa. Hey sweetheart. You miss me?" he talked to the Charger.

"Should I leave the two of you to have a moment?" Delia asked.

"Oh, we are going to have one big of a moment." Liam said eyeing the Charger. He took the bags and opened up the trunk. Before he placed a bag in, he thought about checking something first. He pulled open a false board on the floor of the trunk and revealed his stash of weapons. He had two types of axes and two broadswords on the false board and in the space beneath were assortments of weapons. A model 1887 Winchester lever-action shotgun, a model 1894 Winchester lever-action rifle, two identical Colt Single Action Army revolvers, his own M1911 pistol he got after being raised from the dead a year ago, a compound crossbow, and number of different sized knives, and color coded boxes filled with ammo for each weapon. Delia came over and starred at the arsenal, eyes wide open. "Did you always have this?" She asked him.

"Yep." Liam said and pulled out his M1911 pistol and setting it on the back of his belt.

"How come I've never seen it?"

"I never had to use it before. It was always threatening and using my scythe." Liam put the false board back and placed the bags in the back.

"How did you get the money to get all this?" Liam starred at her with a raise eyebrow.

"Don't think I didn't come to the past without some financial means." He told her. "Now come on. We got a ways to go." Liam opened up his door and got in. Delia did the same and leaned back in her seat. She was ready for a nice quite ride back. She was only going to get half of that as Liam turned on the radio and Back in Black started to play. "Perfect timing." Liam smiled. Delia sighed and let Liam drive happily with the music playing.

…

Buffy was roaming the quiet hallways, checking out the new school. Suddenly a basketball was thrown at a locker by a kid who was not in class. She went to check it out, and saw the kid walk away down another hall out of sight. While following him, Buffy passed a door with a sign that said 'Basement. No student access.' She continued passed it, checking out the halls. She walked into a bathroom and looked at herself in the mirror, fondling her hair and pouted.

"It's not mom hair." Buffy said. She went to wash her hands and noticed a small bundle of feathers, twigs, crystals, and such bound together with string. Buffy picked them up, and when she looked in the mirror, she saw a woman who wasn't there before. The woman looked very dead.

"You can't protect her. You couldn't protect me." The girl said. Buffy spun on her heel to find a very dead janitor behind her. She backed into the wall and closed her eyes.

"Get out! Get out! Get out!" the janitor yelled. Buffy opened her eyes and the two dead people were gone. She ran out of the bathroom and headed down the hall. Buffy slammed through a door and into the classroom that Dawn was in.

"Dawn!" Buffy yelled.

"What!?" Dawn asked agitated. She was standing while the rest of the class was sitting.

"We have to go. It's not safe." Buffy said.

"But..."

"We, um. I mean I saw..."

"Can I help you?" the teacher asked.

"No, I uh. Dawn, I just thought you were, um, in danger… of smoking. I'll be around." Buffy turned on her heel and went out of the classroom.

…

Xander stood in front of the entrance of an almost done building and turned to see Buffy walking towards him.

"So, how's it looking? Does the place pass inspection?" Xander asked.

"Oh, it's great... if you're a zombie ghost thing!" Buffy said.

"So school's back in session, huh?"

"Seems like old times."

"So, zombies or ghosts?"

"I'm not sure. They were in the mirror, but they disappeared. Um, but they touched me, I think. Well, let's just start with dead and pissed."

"They were after you personally?" Xander asked Buffy.

"They talked about protecting people. Told me to leave." Buffy said.

"No damage though?"

"I think I may have destroyed Dawn's social life in all of about 30 seconds, but apart from that, no."

"Ah, being popular isn't so great. Or so I've read in books."

"This isn't a coincidence, you know, the school being rebuilt. It means something."

"As in what?"

"I don't know! I'm are going to keep lurking and I'll call Angel and let him know what's going on. You, um… You watch out for creepy stuff like ghosts."

"Will do." Buff turned away and pulled out her cellphone and dialed the house number. She listened to it ring a couple of times before Angel picket it up.

"Hello?" Angel said.

"Angel, it's me. School is diffidently back in session." Buffy told him.

"Meaning?"

"Meaning that whatever caused hell for us those three years, is happening again."

"What happened?"

"I saw two dead ghost zombie like people in the bathroom. Then they disappeared. Something's up."

"Do you need help?"

"Not at the moment. And besides, there isn't anyone that can take care of Connor while you race through the sewers. Just hang tight till I know more."

"Ok. Let me know if anything comes up."

"I will." Buffy hung up her phone and decided to do some investigating.

…

Liam's Charger roared down the highway on its way to Sunnydale. Slow Ride was playing on the radio and Delia was leaning her head on the window, wishing it really was a slow ride. Her nausea was getting worse and if she didn't find a plastic bag or a trashcan soon, they were going to have a mess. Liam was paying just a little too much attention to driving and the music to notice Delia's sick look. Suddenly it was all coming to Delia. She was going to throw up and she wasn't going to be able to stop it.

"Pull over." She said to Liam holding her mouth.

"What?" Liam said.

"Pull over. I'm gonna throw up."

"Not in the car!" Liam said and pulled to the side of the road. Delia jumped out and threw up what little contents of her stomach she had. Liam turned off his car and walked over to Delia to check on her. "You good, now?"

"Define good?" Delia said and spat out what she could from her mouth.

"Ok, when we get home, you're going to rest until this bug passes. I don't wanna have to pull over to the side of the road every few miles just for this." He indicated to her upchucked stomach contents on the ground.

"I just need some water." Delia said.

"Doable." Liam went to the trunk and took out a couple of water bottles. "I may need something to eat."

"What? So you can just upchuck those too?"

"If I don't get something, I'll feel worse."

"Well, I don't have anything to eat so you're just gonna have to deal until we get there."

"How far away are we?"

"About a half hour."

"Make it fifteen."

"I'll be speeding." Liam warned. Delia gave him an evil look. "Speeding it is." They went back to the Charger and Delia took a couple of sips of her water. Liam was about to start the car again, when he heard something. It was a small fluttering sound. It sounded familiar to Liam but he couldn't place it. "You hear that?" he asked Delia.

"Hear what?" she asked.

"That fluttering noise." Delia listened carefully but couldn't hear anything.

"I don't hear anything." Liam pondered why he could only hear the noise but shrugged it off as he needed to get moving. He started up the car again but didn't turn the radio on for Delia's sake. He put the car in drive and drove off at a fast speed.

…

Buffy was practically running through the hallways of the new Sunnydale High School. She was in a hurry and wasn't looking where she was going. Which is how she ended up bumping into the new principle.

"Whoa!" Mr. Wood said.

"Ooh, sorry." Buffy said.

"Mrs. Summers. I didn't know you were still about."

"Uh, yeah, I were just looking for..."

"I thought in general it was customary for a person who's graduated to, um, you know, go somewhere else."

"Well, it's a new campus. I'm just getting to know it. You know, make sure it's safe for my sister."

"You know, I, um, have to be honest. I actually know a little bit more about you than I let on before."

"Isn't that interesting?"

"Oh, it really is. The school board recommended I spend a little time reading your record. It's, um, quite a page-turner. Kind of a checkered past..."

"Huh. More like a plaid. Kind of a clan tartan of badness, really. You know, but there were factors."

"Well, it's clear your sister looks up to you, which I think is great." Mr. Wood said.

"No, she's much, much worse than me. Troublemaker. Expulsion is really the only way to go. You know, or you can suspend her for… three years." Buffy said.

"Well, how 'bout we give her a chance first. Just as long as they keep their grades up, and…" Mr. Wood was cut off by a cell phone ringing.

"Boy, that's loud." Buffy said and pulled out her cellphone.

"That's a part of the reason we don't allow cell phones in..."

"Excuse me. Yeah. Oh, sorry. My dog. Uh, dog walker." Buffy said to Principal Wood. Then to the cell phone, "Three dead?"

"Oh my God." Principal Wood said.

"Uh, no, I'll be right there."

"Your dogs are dead?"

"And, Buffy? Isn't this reception amazing? We're in the freakin' basement!" Dawn said a little too loud through the phone.

Buffy slammed the phone shut. "Ok. Sorry about that. I… I have to..."

"Yeah. No, of course. And good luck with that…dog tragedy." Principal Wood called after Buffy.

…

Liam drove up in front of the Summers house and parked. It had been awhile since he'd last scene it and he was glad to see it again. Delia got out on the other side and decide to walk towards the house, hoping to lie down on the couch or in a bed. Liam went to the trunk and pulled out all the luggage and followed Delia. Delia opened the door and stepped aside to let Liam in. Liam set the luggage down at the foot of the stairs.

"Hello? Mom? Dad?" Liam called. Angel came out of the kitchen with a towel over his shoulder and smiled at his returned son.

"Liam." Angel said and they both enveloped each other in a hug. "It's great that you're back."

"It's so good to be back." Liam said and they parted. Liam was about to say something when he felt something grab his leg. He looked down to see Connor standing up on his own two feet and using Liam's leg as support. Liam was overjoyed with happiness and surprise seeing Connor standing. "Hey Connor!" Liam said bending down and picking Connor up. Connor giggled. "Did I just see you stand? Did I just see you stand?" Liam gushed which only made Connor giggle more.

"Oh my god, that was so cute." Delia said coming up next to Liam and starring at Connor with a smile.

Angel was smiling at his two sons. "Yeah, he started doing that about a week ago. Buffy almost had a heart attack."

"Where is mom anyway?" Liam asked.

"She's at school with Dawn. Apparently there some kind of ghost zombie thing happening."

"Does she need any help?" Liam asked sounding concerned and giving Connor to his father.

"She said she would call if needed. I would go, but I have Connor and suns out."

"I can go." Liam offered himself.

"I'll go too." Delia said then felt nauseous again. "Right after this." Delia ran to the kitchen and threw up into the sink. Angel and Liam came in to check on her.

"Is she ok?" Angel asked.

"Just the flu." Liam answered. "She should be ok in the next few days."

"Until then, I will lay on the couch and pray for death." Delia said and went to the pantry to get a glass for water and some crackers. Angel eyed her suspiciously as she grabbed her food. Then he heard it. The fluttering sound that Liam had heard earlier.

"Do you guys hear that?" Angel asked.

"Hear what?" Delia asked.

"That fluttering sound."

"You hear it too?" Liam asked. Angel turned to look at him. "I've been hearing it all the way over here. It sounds familiar but I can't put my finger on it." Angel and Liam listened carefully at the fluttering sound. Delia stood watching them. Angel looked at Delia and heard the sound coming from her. Combine that with the crackers, the water, and the vomit in the sink…

"Um, Delia, when did you start throwing up?" Angel asked.

"About two days ago. Why?" Delia asked.

Angel smiled. "Because I think you're pregnant." The room went completely silent. So silent in fact that one could hear a pin drop. Delia starred wide eyed at Angel. Liam starred wide eyed at Delia. Of all the sources in the world for the fluttering noise, neither of them expected it to be the heartbeat of a baby.

"I'm…I'm pregnant?" Delia asked in disbelief.

"I remember when Buffy was pregnant with Connor. She about where you are now when I heard the fluttering noise. It was Connor's heartbeat." Angel answered. Liam remembered now. He remembered hearing the heartbeat of his brother on top of the tower right before he jumped into the portal two years ago. He went over to Delia and felt her stomach and had it confirmed. She was pregnant, with his child. If his eyes could grow any wider, they would fall out of his head.

"I'm pregnant." Delia admitted to herself in disbelief. Liam withdrew his hand and contemplated everything that had just transpired.

"How do you know that I'm the…" Liam started out.

"Liam!" Delia chastised. This was not a time for jokes of any kind. Liam rubbed a hand over his mouth as he tried to deal. He always assumed that he would have a family. Just not in the past. This brought a whole new definition to having at the wrong time.

"Ok Delia. You're pregnant. Let's deal with this." Liam said. "How could you do this to us?!" Delia turned to Liam in disbelief at what he said.

"Me? This isn't my fault." She defended herself.

" 'I know my body Liam. I know when I'm ovulating.' "Liam mocked Delia's exact words to him whenever they decided to go without protection. Delia looked sheepish as she realized in retrospect, it was her fault. "Woman, you don't know when you're ovulating. Dammit, I got two in school in one on the oven." Liam turned to leave the house to go help his mother.

"Liam where are you going?" His father asked. Liam stopped and turned to him.

"To help out mom. Something I can actually handle right now. This…" he indicated to Delia. "I can't handle." He turned and went out the door. Angel turned to Delia who was starring after Liam, then she put her hand to her head, not being able to deal with anything, grabbed her crackers and went into the living room. Angel looked to Connor.

"Promise me when you're older and about to have a baby, you don't freak out?" Angel asked him.

Liam went to his car and popped open the trunk. If he was going to go up against ghosts of some kind, he was going to need the right tools forth job. He pulled out the Winchester shotgun and halfcocked it. He opened a black box with a white stripe on it and took out eight shotgun shell casings that were white. He loaded them up and cocked the shotgun ready. He got into his car and drove off towards the school. Now he was going to see the place that gave his mother hell for three years.

…

Buffy went into the restroom where was before and saw the hole in the floor. She jumped down in it and started roaming the basement halls, which seemed to go on forever. "Dawn?" Buffy called. She received no reply. Buffy pulled out her cell phone and speed dialed Dawn's number. She heard the other phone ring which went she was close by, but no one picked it up. "Dawn? I'm close by."

"Too late. But then, you're always too late, aren't you? Sure as hell didn't save me." Buffy spun to find the dead Janitor guy, the dead girl, and a dead nerd behind them.

"Where's my sister?" Buffy asked.

"I think they're lost."

"If I'm the one who let you die, why take it out on her? I'm right here. C'mon, what're you after? Fear? Revenge? Tasty brains?" Buffy asked.

"I think I'd like Dawn to be my girlfriend." The dead nerd said.

"Wrong sister. I'm the one that dates and marries dead guys. And, no offense, but he's a hottie. I mean, I'm sure you had a great personality, but..."

"Busy making out with your dead boyfriend while I was ripped to death by a werewolf? Is that why you let me die?" Dead girl said.

"I was screaming for help when they pulled me down..." Dead nerd said.

Buffy cut him off by making a T with her hands and saying, "Hello! Not making myself clear. I don't care how you died. I'm sorry for your loss, but where is my sister? Dawn!

"They're not gonna hear you. This place is like a maze." Dead janitor said.

"This place is ours now. It was built on our graves." Dead girl said.

"All we want is for you to leave so we can rest again."

"Actually, I'm thinking all you want is to get between us and that door. Who's for finding out why?" Buffy said. Dead nerd lunged at Buffy, who pushed him out of the way. Then dead girl jumped on her back, and they fell to the ground and Buffy knocked her off. When she got up, all three dead people are standing in front of the door again, like they had reappeared there supernaturally.

"If at first you don't succeed..." Buffy leapt over the dead people. "Cheat." The dead people jumped on her again and Buffy tossed them off. "Dawnie, we have to get out..." When she opened the door, much to her surprise, it wasn't Dawn behind the door after all. She was staring into the face of a longer-haired Spike. He looked grim, and not the least bit happy to see her. Buffy was astonished.

…

Liam pulled up to the new school and got out. He took his shotgun and hid it under his coat. He walked into the building and started to roam around for any signs of dead people or even his family. Family. A word that now Liam seemed to fear. He was starting a family. He was going to have a baby. He was from the future and he was going to have a baby in the past. So many things were wrong in this scenario.

Liam wondered around aimlessly trying to find his family, but they were nowhere in sight. Liam crossed a door that had a sign that said 'Basement. No Student Access.' Where else would dead people hide? Liam starred at it for a breath second before kicking it open and walking through. He took out his shotgun and started searching the halls.

…

"Spike? Are you real?" Buffy asked. Spike laughed and looked funny at her. He stopped laughing, and touched his hand tenderly to her face.

"Buffy, duck." He said.

"What? Duck? There's a duck?" From behind, the dead janitor hit her over the head with a pipe.

"No visitors today. Terribly busy." Spike mumbled.

"Told you to get out." Dead Nerd said as the dead janitor started to wail on Buffy with the pipe.

Buffy tripped the janitor, making him fall to the floor. She jumped up and used the door where she had found Spike to hit the dead janitor's head. She went into the room and latched the door behind her.

"He'll probably show up in a sec." Buffy said.

"Nobody comes in here. It's just the three of us." Spike said.

"Spike, have you seen Dawn? She came down here with some kids." Buffy asked.

"Don't you think I'm trying? I'm not fast. I'm not a quick study." Spike yelled. Then, suddenly, he was crying. "I got my board in the water and the chalk all ran. Sure to be caned." Now he started to laugh. "Should've seen that coming."

He moved away from Buffy into a corner, but she followed. His unbuttoned shirt was loose, but he covered his chest with it, crossed his arms, and leaned his back against the wall. She reached for his shirt to see what he was hiding. He looked away. There were numerous deep gashes on the upper left side of his chest, like he had been clawed.

"What did you do?" Buffy asked.

"I tried... I... tried to cut it out." Spike said.

Buffy didn't understand what was going on with Spike. He was clearly acting strange, but her cell phone rung before she could figure it out. She turned away from him to answer it.

"Dawn?" Buffy asked into the cell phone.

"Buffy, where are you?" Dawn asked on the other end.

"I..." Buffy was distracted by Spike's barely audible mumbling. He had crouched down on the floor on his tiptoes. "Look, where are you?"

"I don't know. In a room by the furnace. Near where we fell in. They dragged us in here, and then they disappeared."

"Yeah, they came after me too."

"What do they want?"

"So far, to piss me off."

"Is it working?"

"Oh, I'm damage-bound. I just can't figure them out. Ghosts can't touch you and zombies can't disappear, so I don't know what..."

"Not ghosts." Spike said.

"Who's that? Dawn asked.

"Hold on." Buffy said. "You know what they are?" She asked Spike.

"Manifest spirits controlled by a talisman, raised to seek vengeance. A 4- year-old could figure it." Spike said.

"Hang tight. I'll find you. These things can hurt you. You can hurt them too. Find a weapon. We'll come for you guys." Buffy said to Dawn before she hung up. "Spike, you gonna help us out?"

"This is my home. I belong here. Always been here. Cheers for stopping by." Spike muttered. He turned to the wall and put his hand on it. "It's in the wall."

"I'll get back to you." Buffy said. She kicked the door open and walked out into the seemingly deserted corridor. "Guys? Resentful dead guys? This can't be good. Come on, manifest spirits, raised up, controlled by a… talisman." Buffy pulled out her cell phone and dialed Xander's number. "Xander?" Buffy asked when he picked up.

…

Dawn, Kit, and Carlos, the kids Dawn met up with, were in a different area of the basement than Buffy.

"We need to find some kind of weapon just to hold them off." Dawn told them. Carlos found some bricks on a nearby utility shelf.

"I got these." He said holding them up.

"Kit, gimme your bag." Kit obeyed and Dawn emptied the contents of Kit's purse on the floor and replaced them with the bricks.

"Do you think they're gonna come back? Kit asked.

"Think they're gonna come back? We never left. We'll always be here. Just like you." Dead girl said.

"No."

"Why do you think we picked you? The ones no one will miss. The ones that don't belong. You spend all your time trying to get out of high school, and now you'll never ever leave." Dawn swung the brick-bag at the Dead Girl's knees and knocked her down. The Dead Janitor was about to knock Dawn back with a punch to the face, but Liam appeared and fired his shotgun at the dead janitor and he disappeared with a scream as the shot hit him. Buffy heard the shot and went straight for the source. Liam cocked his shotgun and shot at the dead girl, then at the dead nerd, both disappearing with screams as the shots hit them. Dawn and her friends stared at Liam.

"Liam!" Dawn said happily and hugged him. He hugged back with one arm as the other one was holding the shotgun. Buffy appeared and saw Dawn hugging Liam and a smile spread across her face.

"Liam!" Buffy said happily and hugged him too as he and Dawn parted.

"Great to see you both." He said to them.

"When did you get back?" Dawn asked.

"About a half hour ago. Heard you two might need some help."

"You thought right." Buffy said and looked at his shotgun. "What's that?"

"My shotgun." Liam lifted it up so they could see. He cocked back the lever to spit out a shell casing and held it up. "Specially made shells. Salt rock. Things can repel spirits and demon of nature."

"Really? How?"

"Salt was used as a purifying agent in older times. You put salt over thresholds and window sills, it keeps out all forms of bad. Better for keeping out vampires." Buffy and Dawn looked impressed by the salt.

"But it doesn't kill us." They all turned to see the three dead spirits before them again.

"I thought you said you killed them." Dawn said.

"Not how it works." Liam said, loading up the shell and firing three more rounds at the spirits, making them disappear. "But I know it hurts them."

"We just need to keep them at bay." Buffy said.

"The bag!" Dawn yelled. Dawn handed Buffy the bag and Liam moved Dawn away. The dead people appeared again and Buffy moved fluidly, knocking the dead people back and away. Liam fired his last two rounds at the dead students and threw his shotgun down, grabbing the metal pipe instead.

"Mom." Liam said. Buffy turned and caught the pipe mid-flight. "Do you really want to keep this up?"

"What're you going to do, kill us?" dead janitor guy asked. Suddenly, they were gone. Buffy lowered the pipe and looked around. The kids looked in awe.

"Are they gone?" Carlos asked.

"Yeah. The talisman must have been destroyed." Buffy said.

"How'd you know it was a talisman?" Dawn asked.

"There's always a talisman. The real question is who put it there. C'mon, you guys, let's go find a way upstairs, assuming there is one."

"Oh, just follow me." Liam pointed to where he entered from and everyone followed him.

"You really weren't kidding about this place. I guess it hasn't changed." Dawn said.

"I don't know. Seems smaller." Buffy said.

"Never been. Can't have an opinion yet." Liam commented.

"Well, give it time. You'll have one." Buffy looked around for another individual. "Where's Delia?" Liam didn't answer right away. He sighed.

"She's at home. She wasn't feeling well."

"Oh. That's too bad. Bet she would have loved this." Dawn said.

"She wouldn't have come anyway."

"Why not?"

"She's sick."

"Sick with what?" Buffy asked. Liam decided to just go ahead and say it to get it over with.

"Morning sickness." This cause Buffy and Dawn to stop and stare at Liam in disbelief. Liam turned to face them.

"Delia's pregnant?"

"Baby, puking, and everything." Liam confirmed. Dawn squealed in delight and hugged Liam.

"Congratulations." She said. Buffy was in shock. Her whole head was spinning. Her second son who wasn't even technically born yet was having a baby which would make her a grandmother and she was barely into her twenty's. But she was none the less happy for Liam.

"That's fantastic." Buffy said happily and hugged Liam.

"Thanks." Liam said unenthusiastically. Buffy pulled away with confusion.

"You don't seem happy." Liam sighed and pointed down the hall.

"Go down there and take a right. Follow the footsteps to the ground floor." He told everyone. Carlos, Kit, and Dawn moved on while Liam talked to his mother. "Mom, this can't happen."

"What do you mean?"

"Mom, who am I? I'm your son and from the future. I don't exist yet. Delia doesn't exist yet. But we're having baby in the past. How can I take care of a pregnant Delia and then a baby while we are here trying to save the future so that we can have a baby? Tell me how this is the least bit normal or even supernaturally normal? This isn't right." Buffy heard her son and understood his reasoning. It seemed impractical from Liam's point of view to have a baby now. But Buffy was still his mother.

"Boo-fucking-who." She said sternly which caught Liam by surprise. "You think because you are on a mission that you can't have any happiness? Liam, you have been in the past for two years and in that time, I have seen nothing but you being hurt and having a whole bunch of crazy shit happen. This is a blessing. Whether it is happening in the past or not. This is a blessing. Embrace it. Enjoy it. Believe me, I've had a kid and I don't want to give him up for anything. I'm glad I have your brother and you'll be glad about our baby. So stop bring so stubborn and stupid and logical. Be happy that something this wonderful has happen to you for once. Ok?" Liam was taken aback by his mother's stern lecture. He never received this much, mostly because she was dead and he didn't get on her bad side while in the past, but this was a very rare opportunity that Liam was glad rarely happened. She was always right in these situations. This included. It was true. Liam had had a hard two years and was given a glorious opportunity for happiness. Liam wanted to take it.

"Ok." He told her. "You're right. I've had a lot of shit happened to me. Between my future going to hell, dying and going to hell, and coming back as a demon, it's time I start being happy."

"Good. Now let's…Wait. You were in hell?" Buffy asked. Liam didn't mean to tell his mother just yet that he went to hell, but now it seemed he couldn't take it back.

"Uh, I meant to tell you that."

"You were in hell when you were dead."

"Technically my body wasn't dead and my soul was in hell." Liam said.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I didn't want to worry you. I know it should be the other way around but I just wanted to see you happy. Also, the hell I was in was more torture and not a spec of pain. Believe me, I was thrilled to get out."

"Liam you can't keep something like this bottled up. You have to tell someone about these things."

"I waited in line." Liam told her.

"Hunh?" Buffy asked not getting it.

"That was the hell I was in. I waited in line for 40 years. I couldn't get out, I couldn't do anything other than bang my head against the wall as I waited. Believe me, I was glad to have gotten to the front and Willow brought me out." Buffy starred at her son stunned at his description of his time in hell.

"Wow that sounds horrible."

"It was. Can we get out of here and talk about it later?" Liam asked. Buffy nodded and they both left. Eventually they found the stairs and headed out. They stopped at a corner. Buffy turned to Kit and Carlos who were talking to Dawn.

"You guys are gonna be Ok. School is intense, but you'll do all right as long as you're careful. And you might want to think about sticking together." Buffy said.

"Thank you." Kit said. She hugged Buffy.

"Yeah, I mean it. You are the coolest mom ever." Carlos said. Buffy looked self-conscious and played with her hair. Liam smiled and agreed with Carlos. Dawn saved Buffy from further embarrassment by ushering her friends away.

"Ok. Come on, we still have a few more classes to live through." Dawn said. She kissed Buffy's cheek and hugged Liam before they walk off. Buffy and Liam watched for a few seconds before Principal Wood approached them.

"Curiouser and curiouser." He said.

"What is?" Buffy asked.

"Carlos Trejo and Kit Holburn, right? Possibly the only two students in this school whose files are as thick as yours was."

"You really did your homework, didn't you?"

"I was looking for one or both of them to actually implode in a fearsome way right before midterms. And now I see that you got 'em socializing and hugging and actually, if I'm not mistaken, headed to class."

"Well, we shared an, uh..."

"Encounter." Liam finished.

"I'm sorry. I don't believe we've met." Mr. Wood said. Liam held out his hand.

"Angel Summers. I'm Buffy's husband." Liam said making Buffy stare at him in shock.

"Well, you have a remarkable wife."

"Thank you."

"Look, I know you're probably more than happy to get out of this place. But I gotta tell you, Mrs. Summers, I think you belong here." Principal Wood said.

"Hmm, new?" Buffy asked.

"Listen, I know this school's reputation. What, you think I got this job based on seniority? We got a lot of troubled students here, and just enough money to keep this place from caving in."

"Yeah, you might need a little extra there."

"Well, we do have a community outreach program. And the money we could pay you… wouldn't even fold. But it would just be a couple of days a week."

"Are you asking me to be a counselor?"

"Well, we have a guidance counselor, but I was thinking the kids could use someone, you know, closer to their age who still..."

"I'm in!"

"What, you serious? You-you did hear the part about the money, right?"

"Yeah, I heard. My schedule might be a little funtastic, but, uh, I'll work it out. I'd like to keep an eye on this place."

"Well, that's great. Look at that. It's not even noon, and I've already bullied my first family member into helping out. I'm going to be the best principal ever." The Principal walked away. Buffy looked pleased like maybe things will be working out after all. She turned to Liam and squealed.

"Oh my God!" Buffy almost screamed as they started to walk out to Liam's car. "Can you believe that!?"

"Wow. You're only here for a few hours and you wind up with a job." Liam said.

"Way better than Giles' ever was!"

"Yes. Because you're not a stuffy librarian."

"Wait till I tell your father!"

"He'll be proud."

"Wait till I tell Willow!"

"She'll be psyched."

"Wait till I tell Gunn! He's going to be so impressed!"

"Yup."

…

Liam and Buffy arrived at the Summers house a little while later. Liam opened the door and Buffy practically ran around searching for Angel and found him in the living room. She jumped into his arms and squealed.

"I got a job!" She squeaked.

"A job?" Angel asked. Delia sat up from the couch to listen.

"Yeah. Helped save some kids, got them to go to class, and the new principle offered me a job."

"That's great." Angel hugged Buffy. Connor giggled at the scene form his crib. Buffy saw and let go of Angel to see her infant.

"Did you hear Connor? Mommy got a job. It's fantastic."

"And speaking off fantastic and babies…." Liam said. He went over to Delia and hauled her up to her feet. Angel and Buffy looked at them. "We need to talk." Liam said.

Delia looked at Delia with concern. "Liam, I know that having this baby is wrong considering where we come from, and I know it's irresponsible, but we should really…" She didn't finish as Liam kissed her passionately. She was surprised but kissed back anyway. He parted from her and smiled. Delia still looked surprise. "Kiss. I thought you didn't like the idea of us having a baby in the past."

"Oh, it's completely crazy." Liam agreed with her. "But to quote you, I specialize in the crazy. We are having a baby and we are going to be happy about it." Liam kissed her passionately again.

"But what about…" Liam cut her off with another kiss. "Don't you think that…." Liam kissed her again.

"Delia….shut up and be happy." Liam said. Delia stared at him and a smile began to grow on her face.

"We're having a baby." She whispered.

"That's right."

"We're having a baby." She said louder.

"Right again."

"We're having a baby!" she yelled.

"I know." Liam hugged her, lifted her up and spun her around. He set her down and kissed her again, then kissed her stomach and hugged it. Delia hugged his head and smiled. Buffy was smiling with tears in her eyes, happy to see her son looking so happy. Angel saw this and came over to her, wrapping her in his arms and they both looked at their son and daughter-in-law.

…

Los Angeles

Daniel Bordeaux's office

Later that night

Vincent Holden came from the elevator leading into Daniel Bordeaux's office and met up with six armed security men. "You two cover the elevator." He indicated to two of the men. "Hang back and be ready. Stay in the corners and stay alert." He indicted to the four other men. He went into Bordeaux's office and closed the stained glass doors, locking it with the new security lock and combination. He wasn't taking any chances with this hood guy. He heard about Corbin Fries and the woman and didn't want the same thing to happen here. He looked to Bordeaux and nodded. Bordeaux nodded and went to look out the window. "It's past ten. He's not getting in here." Holden informed him. Bordeaux looked out of his office window at the dark streets of LA. He didn't notice the arrow that was shot at the concrete next to his window with a rope attached to the end and it locked itself in place.

Down on the street below, two vans were parked next to each other. One had the special ops team of Wolfram and Hart. Lilah called them in, not trusting the security team of Bordeaux's. The leading commander was Agent Hauser, a hard-nosed commander who had no remorse for any collateral damage or anyone who he hurt. He and his men readied themselves by cocking and checking weapons. As soon as they had eyes on the archer, they would move in.

In the other van, Lilah and Gavin were sitting, looking at security monitors. They had hacked into the camera systems to look for any signs of the archer. They weren't taking anything up to chance either. These white hoods have already caused enough damage to let them roam free.

"All seems clear." Gavin told his colleague.

"Sure it does." Lilah said sounding unconvinced.

Up in Bordeaux's office, Bordeaux was still looking out of his window, partly hoping that the archer would arrive so that he could personally see him taken down. He would be relieved if he didn't show, but that would mean that he would still be out there and would plan another meeting with him, only at the end with an arrow through his chest. The lights went out and everyone in the office looked around. Bordeaux and Holden looked towards the locked glass door and a few men got their guns out, ready. The lights went out in the hallway leading to the elevator too. The men readied themselves and looked towards the elevator. The elevator dinged and they raised their weapons. The elevator doors only opened a little bit before an arrow was shot out and hit one of the guards at the door leading to Bordeaux's office. He fired his gun aimlessly in the air as he was hit. He fell to the floor dead. The two man at the elevator were hit multiple times by the archer's bow and fell to the floor unconscious. The archer took cover behind a column and threw his bow, hitting another guard. The archer scaled the walls and grabbed another guard with his arms and legs, bringing him down and knocking him out. The archer rolled and retrieved his bow, taking cover behind another column as the last guard fired at him. The archer didn't look at all scared.

Inside the office, Bordeaux heard the gunfire outside his stained glass door and listened to it stop. There was a deadly silence in the office. The guards held their weapons, ready for anything. The silence was broken by a body going through the stained glass door. A guard fired and killed his fellow guard who was the one that went through the door. The archer peered around a corner and fired an arrow, hitting the guard that killed his fellow guard in the chest. The last guard came at him and he was quickly incapacitated by the archer hitting him a number of times and finally hitting him in the jugular. The archer aimed his bow and fired an arrow towards Bordeaux, missing him. He pulled out another arrow and aimed it at him. Bordeaux looked to the arrow in the wall and back at the archer.

"You missed." Bordeaux said.

"Really." The archer replied. Bordeaux looked alarmed. Suddenly the archer bow was grabbed by Holden and he punched the archer. He lost his bow and the two engage in hand to hand combat. In the scuffle, Bordeaux made his way out of the office and called Lilah on his phone.

"He's here." He told her.

…

In the van, Lilah was wondering how the archer managed to evade all security cameras. Even the cameras in Bordeaux office should the guards and Bordeaux in their positions before the lights went out. They were on a loop. Lilah received the call from Bordeaux and called the ops team. Hauser and his team moved out of the van and hurried into the building.

…

Holden slammed the archer into the glass table and the archer grabbed his arm and held his head with his legs. He pulled and kept Holden in an arm lock. Holden got himself out and they both stood up ready for to go again. The archer placed his hand on the ground and spun kicked Holden. He used the couch as support and grabbed Holden around the neck with his legs again and flipped him over. Holden pulled out a knife and tried to stab the archer but he side-stepped him and Holden slammed into a vase. They reengaged. The archer seemed more skilled as he kept dodging, blocking and punching Holden in key points on his body, making him tired. As this was going on, Hauser and his team were moving up the stairs to Bordeaux's office. The archer and Holden continued to do their special dance in Bordeaux's office. Holden stabbed and the archer blocked it, grabbed his arm, and punched him in the face. Then he knocked him down with another punch. Holden saw a machine pistol and grabbed it. The archer ran towards Bordeaux's desk. Holden got up and fired the gun as the archer jumped over the desk and threw one of his arrow shaped flechettes at Holden, hitting him in the chest. Holden went down and so did the archer. He landed on the ground and rolled over. He laid still.

Hauser and his men came out of the stair well and with guns raised and tactical lights on the rifles on. They saw the damage the archer caused. Dead and unconscious bodies littered the floor. Up ahead, in Bordeaux's office, they saw Holden lying on the ground with the flechette in his chest. The archer stirred from behind Bordeaux's desk and gasped. He rolled over and took out the bullet from his chest plate.

"Lay down your weapons or we will open fire." He heard one of the ops members say. The archer grabbed his discarded bow and waited. Two team members entered the office. "I repeat, lay down your weapons." They looked around the office. The archer popped his head out and fired an arrow at the tactical light of one of the rifles. Hauser and the rest of his men came in and started firing their weapons. The archer ran to the windows. The bullets that missed him broke the windows and the archer jumped right out of one. They were on the tenth floor of a twelve story building. Hauser was stunned at what just happened and looked out the window, just in time to see the archer zip lining down the rope of the arrow he fired into the concrete wall before he went into the building.

"Tell me you just saw that." Lilah said looking at the security monitor. Gavin was also stunned at the archer zip lining out of the building.

"All units, the archer is across the street from the building. All units converge." Gavin said into a radio. Another van filled with an ops team was parked down the street. All the members got out and saw the archer land on the pavement. They raised their rifles and fired. The archer dodged the bullets and ran into an alley. The ops team followed suit but when they reached the alley, the archer was nowhere in sight. They went into the alley and saw that there were no exits out of the alley. Lilah and Gavin came into the alley and saw only the ops team.

"Where is he?" Lilah asked.

"He disappeared ma'am." One of them said.

"Like magic disappeared?"

"Not sure. He came in. We came after. He wasn't here."

"Linwood is not going to be happy about this." Gavin told Lilah.

"We may not have gotten the guy, but we did stop him from killing and stealing from Bordeaux. That's something." Lilah said.

…

The next morning, Bordeaux's office was being repaired from the attack the previous night. But Bordeaux wasn't too happy about something. He was on the phone with Lilah and was shouting at her.

"What the hell are you talking about?!" Bordeaux shouted into his phone. "50 million dollars doesn't just up and vanish." Bordeaux checked his account today and saw that the exact amount of money that archer demanded form him was missing.

"I'm sorry sir, but we can't seem to find it. It's untraceable." Lilah told him.

"Untraceable? Its 50 million dollars! Find it!" Bordeaux slammed his phone on his desk and sat in his chair with his head in his hands. "How did he do it?" Bordeaux asked to no one. He didn't notice that just to his right was the arrow that the archer missed at him from last night. It had a device on it and a light on it was blinking green.

…

On a computer screen a pop-up said Transferring Funds with a dollar amount in the millions and increasing. The money was being taken out of Bordeaux Multinational and intoa Trust Account. On another screen were different organizations and bank accounts Bordeaux scammed with a certain amount of money that was being transferred into the accounts. They transfers started saying complete on them and finally finished. The archer was sitting in a chair and had his hood down. He had long shoulder length black hair and watched the transfers happen. A women, in the same type of suit and armor with fiery red hair, came up behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder. Another man with shoulder length dirty blonde hair wearing a leather coat came up too and watched the progress. All three were in some kind of concrete room lit by lights on the walls. On the desk they were at, lay a circular path with the same symbol that was on the arrow head. A stake with two angelic wings coming out of it. Around the edges of the patch were words that read Nothing Wrong With Killing As Long As the Right People Are Killed.