It was three in the morning and we were on a train to New Jersey. I can tell Giles and Faith were in deep concentration, probably about the prophecy. Jordan stayed looking for more information at the house, but I wish he had came with me instead. I sat here helplessly thinking of useless things I wouldn't need. Like, why did trains run at three in the morning? Or how fast could they actually travel? Or what was the name of the driver or why the word caboose was another word for a person's behind. The thoughts of trains felt totally useless to me.

I think my subconscious was trying to come up with things to talk about to compensate for the loud screaming my heart was making. In the past three days I have taken a lot in, including Giles and Faith and this whole end of the world thing. Everything that's surrounding this ordeal just feels so different. When I was a kid, I would listen to the speeches and do what I was told. Then, I'd worry about the end of the world but I knew it really wouldn't be. Then, I had a mother and a Sister. Then, I had a family. The only difference about now is that I'm in the drivers seat. I'm the one whose taking this all in my hands. I'm the one whose responsible.

I turned my head to the other side of the train to see Faith looking out of the window. I think she thought the same thing that I did; how were we supposed to defeat this with no real strategy. I think she felt my eyes on her when she turned to me. She gave me a shabby smile and then looked back out the window. Giles sat two seats away from her, consulting his books. I haven't been around him in seven years and he still seems the same.

I banged my head against the back of the chair and let out a big breath. I can feel my throat vibrating nervously. I cleared my throat because I knew if I didn't it would crack. "Why couldn't we just call?" I didn't want to sound whinny. I tried to not put too much attention on myself.

"Oh you know us," Faith said flatly, "we never do things the easy way."

Giles let out a quick smile as he closed his book. "Besides, Faith hasn't seen him in seven years, and I haven't seen him in five. I also think it would be nice for him to see you. You were like a sister to him."

I gritted my teeth muttering underneath my breath, "...Don't remind me."

Faith turned to me all the while not disconnecting her head from the window glass. The corner of Faith's mouth rose up almost like a snarl, "Why are you–" She stopped herself. She jerked forward in a quick motion as she grinned deviously. "I remember now! When you were a kid you had a huge crush on Xander!"

My heart dropped.

I tried to cover it up with rolling my eyes and staring out the window. "That's not true."

"Yes you did! You used to totally drool over him like piece of meat!" She said while she stood up and scooted passed Giles and onto the seat next to me like an over zealous teenager.

"That's not true, Faith." I said as dryly as I could. I tried to not look at her but even with that, she wouldn't give it up.

She chuckled as she pointed at me. "I remember you had this notebook and inside it said Mrs. Harris. Mrs. Dawn Harris–"

"YesIHadACrushOnHim!" I snapped. I confessed now than her screaming it in front of him, something I had wished he forgotten. Just as I snapped my head had sunk into my shoulders like a turtle in fear. She still had that ridiculous smile on her face. I can hear my voice softening with each syllable. "I'm nervous, okay? So can we just drop it?"

She moved around and sat in the seat next to me quietly still with what seemed like a permanent smile on her face. I looked back out the window trying to control my anger and anticipation to get this over with.

I glanced at her to see she was still smiling. She parted her lips, "You know... you shouldn't be so nervous. You know he'd be happy to see you."

I felt the blood go all the way to my cheeks while I tried to fight a smile from sitting on my face. I turned to her and looked at the ground momentarily before I looked into her hazel brown eyes. "You think so?"

She softly attached the back of her head to the seat and chuckled again. "Yeah with those melons stapled onto your chest, I think he'd be thrilled."

XX

Hoboken. If this wasn't a reincarnation of Sunnydale then I don't know what is. The walk from the train to wherever we were going was a long and difficult destination. The dark covered this city very well and made it hard to see without the street lights. Giles thought it would be very manly to walk in front of Faith and I a couple of times until he would hear a cat jumping out of a trash can, then in that case Faith would walk in front of us. I could only suspect that this place looked as dark and demonic as it did only because it was nightfall. Giles then explained to me that this was New Jersey. Hellmouth or no Hellmouth.

We walked for maybe an hour until we stood in front of what seemed like a hotel. At least that's the only way I could put it. Giles made us wait until he could speak to the guard protecting the door. With my sensitive hearing, he told the guard that we were family and that he should be expecting us and not to call him because it was late. Giles then gave us the signal that we could come in and we did.

Walking into the elevator was fine, but with each ding of each floor passing by it felt like someone was preventing me from breathing. Faith looked at the numbers glowing one by one and then looked at me. "D, you need to calm down. You're freaking me out."

The door opened and Giles went out first. We followed him as he was the only one who knew where he had lived.

6B.

Giles knocked on the door as Faith leaned on the frame of it. I stood behind Giles trying to breathe the correct way.

We waited.

Giles knocked again.

We continued to wait.

Giles almost knocked a third time before he heard some shuffling inside.

"I heard you the first time!" I heard someone say, sounding like we interrupted a good dream.

I heard the sound of one lock and then the sound of the other. Slowly, the door opened and there he was.

Xander Harris.

He opened the door slightly and peeked his head to see who it was. "Giles!" He said rubbing his only visible eye. He opened the door a little bit more. "What did I tell you about these Late Night Calls? You have to buy me dinner first."

Giles chuckled, "Ah yes." he played with his glasses and then continued. "I am terribly sorry for not calling you. But you see, this is urgent. May we come in?"

He nodded but then froze. "Wait, we?" He opened the door all the way exposing him in his bathrobe and saw Faith leaning there. He turned away and under his breath he muttered. "Oh boy, this is like junior year all over again."

"We uh also have a surprise for you." Faith said while she walked in. I saw him stare at Giles as Giles walked passed him as well leaving me the only one in the hallway. I looked down afraid to see his face.

"Dawn," he almost said in a whisper. I looked up very carefully because I knew that somehow I would end up falling on the ground before I entered his house. As I looked up his eyes locked with mine, binding me in some sort of spell which I didn't mind to be in.

The corners of my mouth raised as I spoke. "Hello, Xander."

It was silent between us both and without breaking eye contact I can see Faith and Giles smiling behind him. I waited for him to speak, something I waited for almost seven years. His arms slapped to his side as he gaped at me.

"... You forgot to write." He said softly before he coughed out a nervous chuckle.

I looked down for a moment to catch my breath and then back up. I parted my lips but before I could speak I heard Faith clear her throat He and I both looked at her.

"We have to get to Cleveland before sunrise, y'know."

"Oh right!" He said abruptly. He then proceeded to look at me and once again no words were shared. I don't think he noticed that I was still outside in the hallway, so he continued to stare.

My head slowly lowered keeping eye contact with him, waiting for him to move to the side. His head followed mine, oblivious as to what I wanted.

"Can I come in?" I didn't want to sound rude, but Xander was never the brightest nail in the tool box.

Embarrassed, he moved to the side and I entered his humble abode. Along with Faith and Giles I sat in the dinning room. He closed and locked his door as he walked to us. Silence covered the room almost as if it were a velvet rope, all of us trying to get a word in. The glow on Giles' face glimmered with a red, as he and I tried to avoid Xander in this little mini robe that he was wearing.

Faith sucked her teeth as she looked at him with a disgusted look.. "So you uh, gonna put some pants on there, buddy?"

I can only describe this as a shock, because it seemed like he was loose in the head tonight. Yes, we did wake him up from what could be a wondrous sleep but something tonight seems off. Could it be me? A part of me wishes he wouldn't act so weird around me, but another piece of me is more than happy that this is how he's acting around me.

I turned my head to look at him and smiled as he backed out of the room slowly, only embarrassing himself more. As he went off into his room, I can feel Faith's eyes and smile on me. But I didn't care. My heart raced irregularly upon arriving here, something I didn't feel since high school. But when his eyes locked with mine, everything felt like it should have been – peaceful.

He came back into the room and all I could do is stare. He glanced by me and shot his eyes somewhere else, surprised that I was even looking at him. I saw him take the seat across from me, sitting next to Giles. It's amazing how his face seemed as perfect as the day I left him. The way he talks, the way he jokes – just everything was right like it should have been.

"So why come all the way to Jersey for a night cap." He said clapping his hands together. I looked at Faith looking at Giles.

"Well we," he bent over grabbing his leather suitcase and pulling out blueprints Jordan printed for him. "We need your help, being that you still are a contractor."

"Wella, I dabble a bit here and there."

"Good. Then you could read this crap." Faith said Flatly putting her feet on the next vacant chair.

Giles and Xander stood up, unraveling the prints and studying hard. Faith and I just looked at each other, letting the boys do their work. I watched as Xander's jaw clenched.

"This isn't right." He said.

"How so" Giles replied almost immediately.

He touched his lips with his fingers, lost in thought. He blinked his eyes and then looked at Giles and grunted, "These blueprints are on-top of each other. Like there's something below this. And something below that and so forth."

"Is there any way to isolate each of those blueprints?"

"Yeah any computer wiz can do that with their computer nowadays."

"I can get Jordan to do that," I said trying to intervene in the conversation. I just wanted him to hear my voice again.

He and Giles looked up at me. "You sure he can handle something like this?" Giles pushed up his glasses and Xander curiously just looked at me.

"Well I've known him for a long time and he's done things more complicated than this."

He squared his shoulders. "Whose Jordan?"

"That's her friend" Faith said with a smirk on her face.

My ears burned hot. "No he's not! Well, he is my friend but he's not my friend."

He made an O shape with his mouth.

Suddenly the door slammed shut and I heard it lock. Everyone looked at each other while Xander just put his hung down lowly.

"You live with someone?" Faith sang. I think she was just as surprised as we were.

The footsteps were hard and cold walking slowly to the diner. They wrestled with their jacket and threw it on the couch that was located across from the dinning room.

Faith jolted up as her eyebrows rose. She pointed to the jacket. "Is that who I think it is?"

He tipped forward, "See about that..."

Then at that moment no words were shared. The deep footsteps became louder as they creeped into the room.

He stopped, looking at us and then looking back. He pointed his thumb behind him, "Did I go back in time?"

His heavy accent coming to life made my spine shiver in many ways. He ran his fingers through his ultra blonde hair and clenched his jaw. "Well am I in one of those universes where I don't exist? Am I dead?"

The corners of my mouth raised almost immediately. "Hi Spike."

"Hey Dawn. So can anyone tell– " He stopped himself. He took a long look at me and smiled. "Well I'll be damned. Dawn-Bloody-Summers. I thought you died way back. No one knew where you were."

I pooched my lips out, "Yeah well, here I am."

He took out a cigarette and lit it while keeping his eyes on me. He inhaled and blew the smoke to the side. He put his hands in front of him. "I like what you did there. Are those real?"

I rolled my eyes as I lurched to the side. Faith intervened, "Alright, Spike. Why don't you tell us why you're here... and not dead."

He inhaled the cigarette again. "Well for the dead part, my soul lingered around a couple of times until somehow it found my body. And as for why I'm here ask your buddy over there why I'm in his apartment."

We all turned to Xander who still had his head down the whole entire time. Faith took one step closer to him and put her hands on her hips, "How long he's been living with you, Xander."

He looked up at the ceiling recalling something, "Take away the hour, you've been here – Four years."

Giles and Faith growled and scowled Xander. His head sunk into his shoulders. "Why didn't you contact us," Giles said disappointed and upset.

"Because," he said protectively. "I thought everyone was out of the saving the world business!"

Spike pointed at us after he stuck a cigarette out his face, "Wait there's another apocalypse?"

"You should have told someone, Harris!" Faith punched him square in the shoulder.

"Ow! I bruise easily!"

"I don't think you heard me. Is there another apocalypse going on right now?"

"I would figure you would be the first to know," Faith snapped.

His eyebrows furrowed, "Whoa Whoa Whoa! What is that supposed to mean?"

She pushed Xander into Giles and walked to Spike with her finger on his chest. "It means that somehow when the weird and freaky happens, you're always behind it. You always know something and we never know until the day of the weird and freaky!"

He slapped her hand away, "Well if you must know I have a reputation with the down under now. Since I helped you in the last apocalypse they feel I'm not trust worthy... Which is fine by me, because I ride alone!"

"Yes. That is why you live with Xander." Faith laughed at Giles' remark.

"Well I'm sorry I didn't come looking for you, Prince Charles! Although I did and you went off the radar."

Although this was amusing to me, I thought it should have been stopped. I walked inbetween Spike and Faith pushing them away. Faith walked back to Giles while spike leaned on the frame of the entrance and finished his cigarette.

"If you want to kill each other," I said in a calm voice, "You can do that. But let's save the world so you can."

"Whatever mate, just tell your friend King-Kong to calm down."

"What!" Faith said as her upper lip rose.

Xander put his pointer finger up, ready to answer that question. "That's the only movie he watches... Sometimes I wonder why too."

"Oh." I said trailing off. I wasn't quite sure was happening. "Well... I think it's time we leave. I think it's gonna take Jordan a couple of days to decode those blueprints."

Faith gave Xander and Spike a dirty look before she walked out of the dining room. Giles picked up his briefcase and walked out. I looked at Xander one more time and walked behind them. Faith opened the door and held it open for me and Giles. We got into the elevator and rode down quietly until Faith cleared her throat.

"I'm sorry it went down like that, D."

I looked her way briefly and then back to the glowing lights decreasing. "Don't worry about it. At least I saw him."

She nudged me, "If you are so happy why don't you look it?"

I frowned as I chewed the inside of my lower lip. "I don't know. I just wish it wasn't the last time I would see him."

DING!

The elevator doors were about to open so I tottered toward the door. As the doors parted, I see Xander venturing toward us. He grasped the frame of the elevator door, almost out of breath and let a heaved sigh out.

"I...wanna..help.." he finally said.

I tilted my head to the side slightly, "You want to help us?"

"Yeah...I figured... you could need another pair of hands and... you know... another eye."

I stood quiet feeling my mouth working but no sounds would creep out. Giles stammered, giving more voice than I could at the moment. "We'd love the help, Xander."

I grimaced as I secretly gulped.

Well Whaddaya know. Wishes do come true. . .


Authors Note: Well this is Chapter Seven. I have it written out for the rest of the story but I would appreciate constructive criticism. I'd like to know if it's good so far, or bad? I'd love to hear from you.