Disclaimers: I do not own Buffy, MASH, Stargate, Charmed, NCIS, Bones. I can not even claim any original characters for this story.

This is purely written for fun and not for profit. Just my take on a what if.

And a HUGE DEBT of gratitude to DavidEmpey. He has graciously volunteered to help Beta. Any mistakes found they're all on me.

Also Please leave a review if you like the story. It really is encouraging, at least to me.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Chapter 9 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Cordelia looked at everyone, "Well that went well."

Angel looked like he wanted to leave, but the mystery of who Booth was kept him from leaving.

"I take it from Buffy's reactions," Bones said, "she was not aware of your past?"

Angel didn't answer.

"I don't believe she ever really wanted to know," Giles said. "She has never wanted to understand the true nature of Angelus. Who he was, what he did, she refused to see it. She also had built up an ideal of who Angel was. I am afraid that has been shattered."

"I see," Bones said. "Still," Bones turned to Angel, "Is it possible you had children that you were unaware of?"

A frustrated Angel said, "Yes, it's, I was a rake. I didn't care about any of the women I slept with. So it's possible I missed some when I was killing my children."

"I see what Xander meant," Bones said. "Angel obviously can not distinguish between the actions of the vampire and the original personality." Turning to Angel, "You do at least understand, that based on what I have been told the original personality of Liam O'Connelly was not responsible for any of the deaths that the vampire Angelus would have caused. Since the original personality was not present to prevent those deaths if you are Liam why are you claiming responsibility?"

Angel opened his mouth, unsure of how to respond, finally, he said. "I see everything Angelus did. I know everything he felt when he was killing, and torturing, how good it felt to kill a child while its parents watch. I can feel what he felt and it sickens me at the same time it feels good." Angel thought that would shut her up.

"I understand," Bones said. "You're reacting like many rape victims. They hated what was done to them, but at times their bodies physical reactions indicated taking pleasure from being raped. You haven't disassociated the different aspects of the situation. While normally I frown upon psychology, I believe you might benefit from discussing this with someone."

Xander came back as Bones finished speaking, "Booth found it very useful in overcoming his irrational hatred of clowns."

"Bones," Booth cried out in protest.

"There is nothing irrational about hating clowns," Xander declared. "All Clowns are evil." Booth was silently shaking his head in agreement.

"So what did I miss?" Xander asked.

"Not much kid, Bones over there just took Angel apart for feeling guilty about what his counterpart did," Jack said.

"What! No," Xander said. "I was looking forward to seeing that." Turning to Bones, Xander asked, "Could you do it again?"

Bones ignored him and turned to Angel, "I would like to try and take a DNA sample from you. None of the vampires remains we have tested have shown any DNA. It's possible that the vampiric state destroys the DNA but since we have never taken any DNA from an animated Vampire we can't test that. With you, we can test that and then test it against Booth to see if there is a familial connection."

"Yo, what'd white girl say?" Gunn asked.

"She wants to try and check if we're related," Booth said. "Because being related to one crazy murderer wouldn't be enough for me I guess."

Seeing everyone looking at him Bones said, "Booth is a related to John Wilkes Booth. Really though Booth, ancestry has no bearing on who a person is. It will affect physical characteristics, but you are who you choose to be."

"Yeah Bones," Booth said. "I know. I know."

Gunn decided now might be a good time to change the subject. "So Princess Barbie, you finally back?"

"Princess Barbie," Faith and Xander asked as they turned to Cordelia.

"I don't know, I can kind of see it," Xander said.

"Well she definitely has the Barbie look," Faith added.

Cordelia glared at all of them, "No Gunn, just visiting. We're still working on things. And once we're done with this current job, Giles and everyone are going to be trying to fix the pain my visions cause."

"Fix?" Angel said, panic in his voice. "They're going to try and get rid of your visions? But how will we know who to help?"

"Is that all you're worried about, Deadboy?" Xander's voice was filled with contempt. "Those visions are killing Cordy. Every time she has one it destroys part of her brain. So Fuck You and the Powers, your redemption is not worth Cordy's life!"

"What are you talking about?" Angel demanded.

"Cordelia," Wesley said. "Is this true? Are the visions killing you?"

"Yo how are we going to stop this?" Gunn asked. "Ain't worth Barbie's life."

Jack noticed the different reactions, Gunn's he approved of, Wesley's wasn't bad. But Angel's reaction was downright pitiful.

"Everybody shut up," Cordelia yelled. "Angel, we're talking about the fact that every time I get one of those visions, it destroys part of my brain. Yes, Wesley, it's true. And we're working on figuring it out, Gunn."

Angel shut his mouth, he didn't know what to say. Wesley immediately got up and went over to Cordelia, Gunn was right beside him. "What do you need?" Wesley asked. "Gunn and I will help you in any way we can. If you need research or even just someone to talk to we're here."

"Thanks, Wes, Gunn," Cordelia said.

Angel looked at Giles. "Can you cure her? Xander's right; my redemption isn't worth her death."

"We will be working on it," Giles said. "Right now we have the means to prevent further damage, and we are looking into ways to repair what was already damaged. But either way, we will save Cordelia. Even if it means that Gods have to die, we will find a way to save her." The air seemed to shimmer as Giles spoke. It was so slight an event and for such a brief moment that everyone who saw it thought it was nothing. A momentary blinking of the eyes and their vision was clear again. In Africa Drusilla shivered and cried in her sleep.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Xander had dropped Buffy and Joyce off at the Summers house. Although they might have to start calling it the Summers-Giles house soon. Buffy had gone up to her room, Joyce followed. Opening Buffy's bedroom door her oldest daughter was just sitting on her bed, silent tears falling from her eyes.

Entering the room Joyce said, "Do you want to talk about it?"

Buffy looked at her Mom, "I always thought he was so noble," she cried. "That he had always been good. And that had to be why he was brought back. But he wasn't," Buffy was sobbing by now. "He was just like Parker! Did he ever really love me?" Buffy asked her Mother.

Joyce sat down and held Buffy, "Buffy, I love you," She knew this would be hard. "But I think you need honesty right now. I think Angel thought he loved you."

"What?" Buffy sniffled. "What do you mean, does that mean he did love me?"

Joyce shook her head, "He thought he loved you, that's different than saying he loved you. Buffy if you really loved someone you always try to be your best with them. You sacrifice for them. You protect them. You support them. But in order to do any of those things, you have to feel some kind of love for yourself. I don't know what Angels life was like before he became a Vampire. But it's plain to see that he despises what he is now. If he can't even accept himself how can he really love you?"

Buffy held onto her Mother as she cried.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

When Captain Lee reported what had happened while at the Museum, Jack was glad he had assigned backup for Joyce and the girls. All of the other males except Angel were ready to go down to the LA precinct to teach Mr. Avram a lesson. Even Booth was wanting to go and he had just met Joyce.

When Bones asked about what painting and they showed it to her she was impressed. "I believe this is something Angela could easily authenticate," Bones said. "And right now she's not very busy with anything else so it wouldn't take her away from anything else."

"You think it's real Bones," Booth asked.

"On a cursory examination just taking into account Rubens previous works, and the known history of the painting," Bones began. "It is either the best forgery ever seen or it's the authentic painting."

"Wow," Xander said. "You can tell all of that from just looking at it? I thought you just did dead bodies."

"I am a cultural and forensic anthropologist," Bones explained. "Art is part of a culture."

"So how much would that thing be worth," Gunn asked.

"Because of its unique status as a lost masterpiece? I would guess it would sell at auction for over fifty million dollars," Bones quickly added, "However, I am not an expert appraiser it could go for much more than that."

"Holy Shit," Faith said. "And Shemp just gave that to Mom?"

Bones wanted to ask who Shemp was but Xander cut her off. "Look as fun as this is we have a meeting in a little while and unless you guys want to be stuck here I need to orb you back to Sunnydale."

"Xander would it be permitted for Gunn and I to come and assist Cordelia," Wesley asked.

"Once we're ready to start researching I'll make sure you're part of it," Cordelia said. While still disappointed in Angel. Wesley and Gunn were both showing they were true friends.

"Cordy," Angel said. "I'm going to try to find out anything I can from the demon community. We'll make sure you get better from this."

Cordelia nodded as she left with Xander. It wasn't the initial reaction she had hoped for from Angel, but at least it was something.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Arriving back at the base Bones and Booth were left behind as the Scoobies were beamed up to the Bautarsteinn. The Asgard had set up a large room so that all the parties could easily fit at the table.

As everyone sat down Brian Moreland asked to be allowed to speak first. Once everyone had agreed to that he started out. "Over the last several days we have tried to iron out what we could agree to between ourselves and the Furling Descendants. As I'm sure Ms. Chase and the others would attest to we have at times been stuck on certain points. With the arrival of the Tok'ra and the Free Jaffa, we realized," He smiled "We realized we probably wouldn't be the only game in town."

"With that in mind last night Lord Reginald, and I met with the President and had a conference call with the Prime Minister and Her Majesty. We now have an offer we would like to present to the Furlings which we believe will satisfy all of your requirements."

A stack of papers were passed around. Lord Reginald took up the presentation at that point. "Our main problems had to do with what was effectively diplomatic immunity, and you're being exempt from the Taxes that all of our citizens are required to pay. The patent and technology rights were minor compared to the other two. In these packets, you will see information on three islands. All are currently uninhabited."

"Why are they uninhabited," Interrupted Cordelia.

"All three islands are rather close together in what is known as the Horse Latitudes. This area was often the bane of wind-powered sailing. Because ships were subjected to extended periods of calm weather. That is probably why these islands were never populated. Or if they had people at one time, there was no trade to make them sustainable. We have narrowed the prospects down to the three Islands we believe would work best. All of them are over ten thousand acres, and could support a large city without any smallest Island is sixteen square miles. The largest is twenty-eight square miles. All three are within five miles of each other. What we are proposing is that we establish one of the three islands as your nation. This way we could enter into a treaty with you as an independent nation."

"Wait so you want us to live on some deserted Island," Willow asked.

"Actually yes and no," Moreland replied. "They're deserted right now. But they are covered in vegetation. And have some wildlife, we would need to build the infrastructure. Adding a military base and city to the island. We also thought it would be the perfect place for the school you wanted to create. It has the added bonus of being a place that we can create a legal fiction; to explain any of the Jaffa or Tok'ra, who do not have identities here on Earth. They could have passports from your nation."

"And you expect us to give up our current citizenships," Giles asked.

"Again no, In fact, her Majesty was rather insistent that you all be allowed to keep your other citizenships. However, we would require that you list your earnings under your new nationality as per our treaty we would have no right to tax those earnings."

"So you're proposing we would be two people legally," Joyce asked. "One the person we are now subject to all the laws we currently live by. And the other citizenship would be for this new nation. And any money we earned would be subject to whichever nation we wanted to report it under?"

"Exactly," Reginald said. "It's a legal fiction but it has been used many times in the past. And we believe it would cover everything you have requested. In fact, we would like to set up a military base and large research center on whichever island you choose. This would act as a place for the new technologies to be studied. We would also set up an airfield and marina to try and ensure that your new nation had everything it would need to move forward."

"It's a very interesting idea," Jacob said. "I believe the Tok'ra could help in setting up parts of a base for you. They've long been masters of very quick construction. Most of it would be underground but that might be a good thing, it would add to the usable land available to you."

"If you would welcome the Free Jaffa, we would be pleased to send people to you to learn and to teach." Master Bra'tac said.

"All the other points we have gone over would be put into an actual treaty between your new nation and both Great Britain and the United States," Moreland said.

"What about Sunnydale," Buffy asked. "We can't leave the Hellmouth unprotected."

"Nothing would require you to live on your island. It would legally be your place of residence, you could even open an embassy in Sunnydale if you wanted to. In fact, we could stipulate that in the treaty as well." Moreland replied.

"In the end, this will allow us to maintain a legal fiction as to why your people are treated differently under the laws of our countries. To make sure this fiction becomes a reality we would have to build the infrastructure of the island so that if anyone tried to verify the presence of your nation there would be something there for them to find. We would like you to seriously consider this offer. We believe it is the best we can do to meet all of your requirements."

Moreland and Thompson sat down. The Scoobies looked at each other. Cordelia stood, "I think I speak for all of us when I say your offer has taken us by complete surprise. We need to discuss this. I'd like to ask Baldur for a private room, where we can talk. I'd also like to ask the rest of you to please stay. We may have some additional questions that need to be answered."

Baldur readily provided them with a room, and the other delegations agreed to wait. Once in the room, Cordelia was the first to speak, "Holy Crap! What are we going to do?"

"Um," Tara began "It sounds like a really good deal."

"After everything that happened this morning, with that jackass," Cordelia said. "It would get us everything we've asked for."

"I personally am struggling with the idea that we would essentially be founding our own nation," Giles said. "The things we would need to have in place, a legal code and what form of government would we establish. I am afraid I have never thought of these things."

"So aside from us having to create the institutions we are all familiar with," Willow said. "Are there any downsides? I mean both Britain and the US would help us build up the island. Can you imagine it getting to create a city that would live for hundreds of years? To build a truly free society. Oh, Tara and I could legally be married there."

"It could be a place where none of us would have to hide our unique abilities," Joyce said. She was thinking about how Buffy had struggled for so many years hiding the fact that she was the slayer. "But I also think it would take years to build. It wouldn't be something that would be ready next week."

"Yes but we could create schools and universities, and when we start learning from the Asgard and the Tok'ra it would be really easy to say that our schools had been working on the technology for years and no one would be able to say we were lying." Willow was getting very excited about the idea of creating their own nation.

"And having the Jaffa come would mean even more people," Buffy said. "We could have a school that taught all about demons, vampires, and aliens. And we could teach people how to fight them."

"It sounds like everyone is in favor," Giles said. "Xander, Faith you haven't said anything. Please, we need your opinions as well."

"Ah," Faith began, "Shi-shoot I don't know it sounds too good to be true. But I think it's a cool idea."

"I like it," Xander said. "But our national symbol would have to be a Great Dane, so we'd have to buy some for the island. The other thing is which island? I mean they're all sort of small."

"Yeah," Faith said. "Too bad we can't take em all." Everyone looked at Faith, could they?

"Why can't we," Buffy asked. "I mean they said their all like close to each other. So why not get all three. Then we could have more choices."

"I doubt that they would want to develop all three islands," Giles pointed out. He refrained from pointing out that only to Americans would any of the offered islands seem really small.

"But they wouldn't need to," Tara said. "Once we start producing technology we should make a lot of money, so we could do that on our own. It would just be the first island that we'd need help with."

"And if we have three islands we could call ourselves the Federation," Xander said. Willow looked excited by the idea.

"You dork," Cordelia said. "You just want to call the ship the Federation Starship Enterprise."

Xander grinned, "Yeah isn't it cool!"

"You do know Roddenberry could sue you?" Cordelia said.

"Right because he'd be upset to learn about an actual Enterprise with transporters and everything she has?" Xander shook his head. "He'd be asking for a tour of her. Plus we'd be our own country, he couldn't sue us."

"I believe we have an answer," Giles said. "God help us, we are going to do this."

"So what are we going to call our country?" Willow asked. "I mean legally we're already the Furling Descendants, sort of, so we could call the islands the Furling Islands. Oh, we could even name them like one Asgard, the other Tau'ri, and the third Free Jaffa. That way it would make sense if anyone heard us talking. Maybe name the first city Tok'ra, which would be sort of cool since we would really be against Ra since he killed the whitelighters and elders."

"What we really need," Xander said, "Is someone who's really good at like gaming to plan everything out." When everyone except Willow and Faith looked at him like he was crazy he added. "Look any really good GM is planning all the little details of the game, we need someone like that."

"Well, I know David Nabbit is," Cordelia said. "He loves this stuff, but he might be busy running his international business."

"Don't you mean a really nerdy GM," Buffy asked.

"Hey," Willow protested. "I always thought that was the really fun part."

"So what other gaming geeks do we know who could do it for us?" Buffy asked. "Because as much as it sound like Willow wants to do this, I think she would need help." Everyone agreed that Willow would be in charge of designing their new home if she could find the time.

Returning to the conference room, Cordelia addressed the group. "We discussed your offer and we believe it has merit." She had really thought about trying to sound as regal as possible. "However, when discussing everything we decided that we would like to have all three islands. We want to rename them the Furling Islands. the area between all three of them would be considered our country's waters."

Both Moreland and Thompson looked at each other, "That should be something we can do, However, we would only be helping to build up one of the islands."

"We thought of that," Cordelia said. "We also thought that once we began producing technology; we would be able to develop the other islands. However, we have talked about what we would be known as; We decided we would officially be the Federation of the Furling Descendants. And we will rename the three islands, they will be Asgard, Tau'ri and Free Jaffa. Together the three islands would be the Furling Islands. Our first city will be Tok'ra. So really we would only want your help in building Tok'ra."

Jacob started to laugh, turning to Xander he said, "This was your idea wasn't it?"

"What was my idea," Xander asked.

"The Federation," Jacob said. "Your ship is going to be the Federation Starship Enterprise." All the humans in the room quickly got the point.

"That seems to be a noble name Alexander of Furling," Master Bra'tac said. "The Federation Starship Enterprise, it is a fine name for a ship."

The rest of the meeting was dedicated to finalizing the treaty, before the night was over they had a broad agreement outlined. The largest Island would be Tau'ri with the Capital city named Tok'ra. The next largest island would be Free Jaffa, and the final island would be Asgard. The US and Great Britain would be allowed one square mile for a joint base. The base would be located as part of the main harbor for the island. And would have an airfield next to it, capable of landing even the largest aircraft that was currently in use. They asked the Tok'ra to help plan the city, Selmak and Lantesh agreed, both said it would be an interesting challenge.

By the time the meeting was over, the Scoobies felt wrung out. They knew something momentous had just happened but couldn't imagine how this would alter their future. It would take at least the rest of the week for the diplomats to finish the final wording of the treaty. Then they would present it to the Scoobies.

The Free Jaffa were welcomed as friends and allies, in fact, Buffy requested that Bra'tac choose forty families with children to come live on the island. Once they were ready to have people living there. Bra'tac was moved by the obvious desire of the Furlings to make sure the Free Jaffa were welcomed in the Furlings new home.

The next day Giles received a call from Lord Reginald asking if they could meet. Giles agreed replying that currently he was free, and could have Xander bring him. An hour later and Giles and Xander were sitting down with Lord Reginald.

"Thank you for coming so quickly," Lord Reginald said. "As I am sure your son informed you, during his meeting with Her Majesty, she informed him that she will be elevating you to the Peerage. Whilst it is uncommon, Her Majesty is rather insistent that we begin planning the event. She would like you to present yourself and your family to her as soon as possible."

"How soon, is as soon as possible," Xander asked. "I mean I could orb everyone over to England now."

"Um, perhaps not that soon," Lord Reginald said. "You will have to be kitted out in clothing appropriate for meeting the Queen, formal gowns for the Ladies and Suits for both yourself and your Father."

"And you must realize Xander," Giles said. "If we failed to allow Buffy and Cordelia the chance to be formally attired, I believe they might kill us." Turning to Lord Reginald, "Would you be able to set up some appointments for us? I realize that Xander and I really will only need new suits, however, I would not know where to start for formal gowns for the Ladies."

"I would be pleased to do so. I can arrange for several showings at our Los Angeles Embassy, that way all of the Ladies can have a pleasant afternoon whilst seeing what is being offered.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Faith had been enjoying a quiet morning with her Dad. Even thinking those words, brought a rush to her. Faith had cornered Sam and explained that she wanted to do something with her Dad but wasn't sure what to do. Sam had explained about Jack's love of fishing. She had asked Xander if he would take them to the pond, after finding out Jack loved to fish. She wasn't sure about fishing but figured it would be a place to start.

The entire morning had been great, Dad had shown her how to bait the hook. They had sat and talked. Jack had even told her about Charlie. She had told him about Diane when she cried he held her. When they did catch a fish Jack would just release it back into the pond. He had explained that fishing was about enjoying the quiet, not really about the fish.

"So," Jack began, "Tell me about you and Xander." He was enjoying getting to know his daughter and this was one of the subjects he knew he needed to ask about.

"Well," Faith said. "It's weird. I mean shit, I never thought I would be with anyone real. I mean he really loves me. And when we were in Heaven the other Xander explained how much Boytoy loved me. Not like just wanting the bod. But real love, he like came every week to visit me when I was in a coma, and he would read to me. He even brought me a stuffed Snoopy dressed up like a biker." Faith smiled, she now had the same stuffed animal on her bed at home.

"And even with me being so messed up," Faith paused. "He doesn't care about wa-what was done to me. Mom was right when he found out about, How, how I was raped, he didn't blame me. He wanted to go after the guys that had done it." Jack was livid, he wanted to go after them as well, but right now wasn't the time to indulge in those thoughts.

"And when I freaked out and ran away," Faith said. "Mom sent him to bring me back. And he figured out how to find me with his powers. He said it didn't matter where I go he would always find me, and be there for me." Faith was smiling now. "He kissed me for the first time when he found out I liked comics too. I mean we had kissed before but it was always, yeah know me kissing him. When I said I liked comics cause their cool he kissed me.

And when Mom wanted to talk to both of us about sex," Faith started laughing. "Boytoy was like panicking, that was the second time he orbed. He wanted out of there so bad, cause mom was talking about how she knew we had slept together before, but wanted us to not have any sex for like six months." Faith paused as she remembered that talk. "I told her no way, I'm mean six months that's crazy. But Mom she said she wanted us to have time to just be together without sex. I told her no, no way I was waiting six months to sleep with Boytoy again. I told her I'd wait three months, max! And when I told her I really wanted to know what it was like to wake up with Xander holding me, Mom laughed. She said she said no sex, not no sleeping together, but X still doesn't know that part." Faith stopped speaking and looked at Jack.

"So you really love him then," Jack stated.

"Well yeah I mean I've never been in Love, so I think so," Faith was suddenly acting much more like the sixteen-year-old girl she was than her normal personality. "But I know for a fact he loves me! Even had an Angel say so!"

Jack smiled, "I get it Faith," he said. "And I'm OK with you loving him. I'm also going to go on record saying your Mom's right. Keep sex out of it for now. Sleeping together is, well not ok because you're my Daughter. But I understand what you're saying. I only want to ask you to do one thing," Jack asked.

"What's that," Faith asked.

Jack smiled, "When you do just sleep together, without any sex, mind you. I want to know so I can wake him up in the morning." Jack's smile looked almost predatory. "After all from what I've seen the kid has a pretty good sense of humor, I'm sure he'll eventually get the Joke."

Faith looked at her Dad, "You're evil you know that right? And no way I'm doing that the first time we sleep together." Seeing Jack's disappointed look Faith added. "But I could be talked into calling you for the second time."

Jack smiled again, "So what would it take to convince you?"

"Well," Faith drawled. "I really like your leather jacket. Maybe if you were going to be bringing me one when you found Xander I might help ya out."

Jack grinned, "Done."
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Willow and Tara were spending their day together. With everything that had happened, they wanted time alone. Tara was amazed at how excited Willow was. Everyone had agreed that she could be in charge of designing Tok'ra, she was so excited. Either that or it was the three double cappuccino mochas she had had this morning.

Tara had finally pulled Willow away from her notes and they were walking down Sunnydale Main Street. It was weird even with the entire town being quarantined the people acted like nothing was going on. Willow was still going off about what type of government system they should set up. Seeing a group of tables up ahead, Tara pulled Willow to one of them. When a waitress came out to take their order they quickly order a couple of sodas and some sandwiches.

"Because," Willow said. "Democracy isn't really a good idea when you get too many people. It can become a mob rules type of situation. But a republic and even a monarchy have their own problems. I mean how do we balance everything? We want to make sure that someone doesn't eventually come in and try and take over."

Tara nodded, "Um hum, I think I see what you mean."

"But what are we going to do we need like the perfect kind of Government so that we can protect the people but still keep control?" Willow was getting louder as she spoke.

Jonathan had been sitting down to eat. Since he left Warren and Andrew he wasn't sure what he should do. It wasn't like he had other friends to hang out with. And he just knew Warren was going to get him killed if he stayed around him. He heard Willow shout her question. He hadn't been eavesdropping but she had been really loud.

Looking over at the two women he recognized Willow Rosenberg. Something said "What do you have to lose?" He decided why not? "That's easy Willow."

Willow heard someone say it was easy and call her by name. Turning around she saw Jono. "Jono?" Willow, "How can you say that it's easy. And you shouldn't listen to other people's conversations. It's rude!"

"Willow, honey," Tara took Willow's hand in her own. "You were really loud. I don't think it was his fault."

Willow blushed and said to Jono, "Sorry, I guess I was loud. But how can you say designing a government is easy?"

"Well," Jono said. "Because it is. But it might take some time to explain."

"Please," Tara said. She knew how important this was to Willow. "Why don't you come join us. And tell us why it's easy." Tara really didn't notice how her normal stuttering and shyness had been going away. If she had she wouldn't have minded it in the least.

Jono smiled two really hot babes, were asking him to join them. Jono moved over to their table. "Like I said it's easy. So many great writers have done it already. But I think the best one would be David Weber."

Willow thought for a moment, "Oh like Honor Harrington, David Weber?" Tara recognized the name Honor Harrington she had read a few of the books when she was younger.

"Yeah," Jono said. "But I like the Armageddon Inheritance better."

"I don't know that one," Willow said.

"It's really good," Jono said. "But not as popular as his other books. But the Government is what you wanted to know about right?" When Willow nodded he continued. "So in the book, you have the Emperor, he has like his own armies and planets, but he can't control the entire army because that's controlled by the government. And they are mixed between hereditary lords and lifetime appointments. You can earn a lordship for different things like discovering something or doing some really big heroic thing. And the lifetime appointees, the Emperor can appoint twenty percent of them, and the house of lords and the commons the other eighty percent. Then there are the elected representatives. They control things like taxes. And the Lords and the Elected people balance each other. But the Emperor can veto laws even if they all want it passed. They can call for a referendum and vote for a new emperor but he has to be somebody in the succession and if the Emperor loses the vote all the computers stop taking orders from him."

Willow was listening, this sounded really interesting, "OK but how do they decide who can vote?"

"Ah," Jono thought for a moment, "I don't remember."

"Maybe," Tara said. "You could do it like in Honor Harrington, as long as someone pays more taxes than they take in benefits they can vote?"

Willow had a far away look in her eyes, "Oh that could work," she said. Looking at Jono she reached out, "Come on you have to loan me that book, you have it right?"

"Willow," Tara put her hand on Willow's arm. "We haven't even eaten yet. How about we eat first?"

"Oh, sorry," Willow said. "You're right we should eat then get the book and Jono can come help with the project."

Tara looked at Willow, she knew she was excited, but she didn't know this Jono guy. "Are you sure Willow?"

Willow shook her head, "Me and Xander have known Jono forever, he's cool." Turning to Jono, "Oh do you still like gaming? Because we may need some help."

Jono nodded his head, he wasn't sure whether he was in Heaven of Hell. A hot girl had just called him 'cool' but she was also friends with Xander. But he couldn't recall seeing her with Xander anytime he had seen her recently. So maybe it would be ok, "I yeah, I still like to game but I left the group I was gaming with a few days ago." Jono said, "Why do you need someone to run a game."

Willow smiled, "Oh no, we need someone to help create something much bigger!"

"What are you like writing your own world?" Jono asked. "And what type of system are you going to be playing? Magic, future tech, superheroes?"

Tara smiled, Jono's aura was basically good, but he had been hurt a lot in the past. "If you want to know," she said. "After we're done eating we'll go back to my Dad's store and explain. But you'll have to promise not to tell anyone until everything is out in the open."

"Where's your Dad's store?" Jono would have gone anywhere with the two of them, but he still asked the question.

"Do you know the Magic Box," Tara asked. When Jono shook his head that he did know it, "That's my Dad's store."

"But I thought Mr. Giles the librarian owned the Magic Box," Jono said.

"Yup," Willow confirmed. "He's Tara and Xander's dad."

"Wait Xander's Dad?" Jono asked. "I thought Xander was a Harris?"

"No," Tara said, amazed at how easy it was becoming to tell their cover stories. "Dad, he fooled around a lot when he was younger. And well Xander and I are half brother and sister. His mom was Dad's girlfriend for a while before she married Tony Harris."

"But, but," Jono didn't know how to say it," Aren't you like the same age as Xander?"

Tara smiled, a slight blush on her cheeks, "Well like I said Dad played around...a lot. So yeah we're almost the same age."

"Oh," Jono didn't know what to say. "Well I guess that's ok, I mean it's not like your Dad is still going out and getting girls pregnant right?" Willow started laughing and Tara snickered. "What he is?" Jono asked he would have never pictured Mr. Giles as a playboy.

"We'll explain some other time," Willow said. "But if you want the job, come with us. We can explain more at the store."

Jono figured he had nothing to lose, it was already afternoon and he didn't have anything else to do. So he decided to go with the girls. When they got to the store he stopped, "Whoa, what happened?" Both the girls looked at him. "The Magic Box it's got massive wards on it, it wasn't like this the last time I came here."

"You can do magic," Tara asked.

"Um," Jono said. "Well a little, I mean I can do some spells. But I'm not super powerful."

"Hm," Willow said. "This might be better. Come on in."

Once inside the wards, Jono was amazed it felt so clean here. He had never realized it but stepping outside the store he could tell the difference the wards made. When he commented on it, Mr. Giles said, "Well it could be the presence of the Hellmouth. It would affect everything in Sunnydale."

"Hellmouth," Jono asked. He had read about those but never realized that Sunnydale had one.

Willow started explaining things to him. It all made sense. Then came the really weird part. Willow asked him to promise not to tell anyone what they were going to tell him. "Are you going to put like a magical geas on me?" Jono asked. "To make sure I can't tell anyone?"

"No," Tara said. "We don't like forcing anyone to do something and a geas does that. We'd rather trust someone. Plus your aura is really nice. You've been hurt before but I can tell you're a good guy."

Jono was surprised to hear her say that. "OK, I promise I won't tell anyone what you tell me." Jono was amazed he learned about aliens, Roswell Greys they existed. And other kinds of aliens did too. And all of their group were actually aliens. "This is so COOL," he exclaimed at one point.

And they were creating their own Nation, they had three islands that would be there home. This was the coolest thing ever. Then Willow explained about the ship that Xander had, and he was going to name it the Federation Starship Enterprise.

When Xander orbed in with an older guy and Faith he looked at him, and in an awed tone of voice said, "You are so cool."

Xander looked at Jono, he was sitting at the table with Willow and Tara. "Ah thanks, Jono," Xander said. "But why am I so cool?"

"You, you are the Captain of the Federation Starship Enterprise," Jono said as if that should explain everything.

"Oh come on," Jack protested. "Are you telling everyone?"

"Really Jack," Giles said. "Tara checked Jonathan's aura before we asked his help. And from listening to him talk with Willow we may have a viable form of Government set up before too long."

"OK, Pretend I know what that means," Jack said.

"When Tara looks at someone's aura she can see what kind of a person they are and tell how they will likely react," Willow explained. "Jono's aura is clean he's a good guy. And he knows about gaming and different systems of governing we think we have a really good idea of what we can do for a Government."

"So do you think I could be a citizen of your country," Jono asked. "I mean once it's all set up. That would be so cool."

"Jonathan," Giles said. "If you help us setting everything up. I believe you would have earned the right to be a citizen."

"Oh wow," Jono gushed. "Thank you so much. I'm so glad I didn't go with those guys now."

"Uhm," Giles said, "Yes you're very welcome Jonathan. Where were you going?" Giles hoped that changing the subject would stop the young man's overly emotional display.

Jono stopped his face blanked out, "Oh um Warren and Andrew, the other night they saw, well we all saw Xander and the weird soldiers attacking Lowell House. Warren wanted me to go through the caves with Andrew to get whatever was down there."

"WHAT," Yelled Jack, "Tell me everything kid."

Jono looked at the much scarier old guy. "Um yeah, we saw it happen and then he wanted to send Andrew and me into the caves beneath Sunnydale. But I know about demons and vampires. I told him no way. Then I had to threaten Andrew with my magic to get them to let me go. I took all my stuff from Warren's lab and left. Oh hey, I bet I still have the video."

"Video," Jack asked. "And I thought people wouldn't pay attention, Rupert?"

"Yes," Giles said. "Normal people pay no attention. Those who know about demons are not fooled. Since Jonathan is aware of the truth, he and I assume his friends. Would not have tried to rationalize everything away. But at the same time, those who are aware do not go spreading it around."

"Ah we made a video," Jonathan said. "Of the first part of the attack, when the tank came and you were using those plasma blasters. And when Warren saw Xander teleport he started saying how we should kidnap him to learn all of his secrets."

Faith drew in a sharp breath. Willow turned on Jono. "Jono and these were your Friends?"

Jono looked down at the ground, "No not really but everyone else either moved away or died or ignored me, so I hung out with Warren and Andrew."

"Well," Willow said. "I guess I can see that, but no more mister." Willow was wagging her finger at Jono. "You will be our friend and that means no evil kidnapping guys."

"Dad," Faith said. "What about those guys? Can you do anything to make sure they can't do anything? I mean I know Xander can take care of himself and everything."

"Sure Faith," Jack said kissing her head. "Maybe I'll have Gibbs go interrogate him. After all, we have a report that he was going to try kidnapping a foreign," Jack paused. "You guys decided what you're going to be in your new country?"

Willow piped up, "We're still working on it but Jono's ideas of a nobility are pretty good, they'd be balanced by a house of Lord's and a commons and if the people didn't like the king they could vote him out."

"OK," Jack said. He was a fan of the Constitution, but he could see where it might not work for everyone. "So does that mean my daughter gets to be a princess?" Jack grinned.

"Shit," Faith said. "I don't need to be a princess."

"You know Buffy is going to want to be a princess," Xander said. "And I think it would be nice for everyone to know you're one too." Xander pulled Faith into a kiss as he finished.

"You are definitely my princess," Jack agreed. He understood what Joyce had warned him about. But he honestly didn't care Faith was his daughter.

Breaking the kiss Faith said, "If I gotta be a princess you have to be a prince," she informed Xander. "You can be my Prince Charming." Faith was smiling, her face looked young and carefree as some more of the past dropped off of her.

"Hey, Dad's only going to be an Earl," Xander protested. "I can't be outranking my Dad." Xander's statement had everyone clamoring for clarification.

Giles sighed, he knew he would have to tell everyone, but he had hoped to wait till later to explain everything. "Very well," Giles said. "Before I begin explaining. Xander, would you please call Joyce, Buffy, and Cordelia. I would rather not explain myself twice." Xander nodded as he called Cordelia, Faith called Joyce and Willow called Buffy.

Once the rest of the Scoobies had arrived Giles began explaining about how the Queen had decided that he would be elevated to the peerage of the United Kingdom. When he said, that all of them would be expected to be there as well because they were his family, Buffy started to cry. She still missed her dad.

The news that they were going to LA tomorrow to be fitted for gowns at the British consul was met with excitement over all. Along with Joyce teasing Giles about expecting a woman to drop everything at a moment's notice. Xander complained about having to wear a suit.

"Hey Dad," Xander said. "This is supposed to be for friends and family right?"

Giles nodded, what was Xander going on about.

Turning to Jack, "You'd better make sure Sam, goes with the girls tomorrow. The rest of the team can be with me, Dad and Jono getting fitted for suits."

Jack was surprised by Xander's desire to include SG-1, "Kid as a military officer I have my dress uniform and so does Carter."

"Yeah, but if you go as Colonel O'Neill you can't see her in an incredible dress." Xander had a point Jack thought. "And would you want to deprive her of that opportunity?" Jack couldn't find a good argument against what Xander had said.

Jono had to ask, "You're joking right?" When everyone looked at him, "About me going too. You were joking, right?"

"Jono," Xander began. "If you're going to join the Scoobies it's an all the way deal. We don't leave anyone on the outside."

"Amy!" Willow cried. "We've forgotten about Amy."

"Well we try not to," Xander clarified, before explaining Amy's situation. Willow managed to pull Giles away for the rest of the night. Together with Tara the three witches worked on a spell to help reverse Amy's condition. Because Giles had done it before, during the love spell fiasco it actually did not take that long.

That night Jono turned over the video that the former Trio had made to Jack. He was also there to watch as Amy Madison became human again. No one had thought about the fact that she would be naked, so he was also able to appreciate her very fit form. He found himself wondering if she liked short guys.

Tara looked over Amy's aura she could see the girl was messed up. Her time as a rat and her dabbling in magic had left stains. But underneath it all she had potential. "Dad," Tara said. "We need to see about doing some cleansing ceremonies for Amy, Cordy, and Jono. They've all been exposed to things that could hurt them. When can we do one?"

Giles sighed, Tara was right and putting it off would not help. "Well, it would depend on where we would do them? I don't know if Xander could orb us back to heaven. And if he can't, it would need to be someplace that is filled with clean natural energy. A natural spring would probably work best. If it was a hot spring it would actually be even better as we would have the four elements combined."

Everyone turned to Xander, "What?" he asked looking at himself.

"Well," Buffy demanded. "Can you get back to heaven?"

"Oh," Xander looked down, "Ah no, I tried the other day. And it was like everything was fuzzy. I tried to orb and just ended up bouncing off of something. I um actually landed um somewhere."

"Where did you land?" A suspicious Buffy asked.

"Ah someplace look it's not really important." Xander tried to brush off this line of questioning.

"Where did you land dweeb?" Now Cordelia was joining in.

"Look," Xander said. All the women were looking at him now. "Ok it was somewhere I think in Japan. OK, no big deal." Please just drop it he prayed.

"Where in Japan, Xander," Giles asked.

"Look I don't know OK," an exasperated Xander said. "I just know I'm waking up in hot water surrounded by naked Japanese people. OK!" Everyone started to laugh.

"Only you Xander," Tara said. "You bounce off of Heaven and orb in on naked people. I really think you need to stop doing that." Xander glared at his sister, it really wasn't his fault.

Willow spoke up, "OK I've been researching the cleansing rituals." Everyone was now looking at her, asking why. "Well because Cordy needed it, and I wanted to make sure she was alright."

Cordelia got a tear in her eyes. "You did that for me?"

"Well yeah," Willow said. "I mean you're family like Buffy said. And I don't want some skanky goddess to kill you." Cordelia didn't know what to say to that. "But I have a ritual like what we did, but a little different, I couldn't find the one we did in any books. But if we use this one that I think will work it should be close." Pulling out a paper, Willow passed it to Giles.

After reading the ritual Giles said, "Excellent work Willow. I think it might do the job, however, I would like to do it at dawn tomorrow. If we can find a place. Xander could orb us where we need to go. Although I must insist that he leave until we are done. I would rather not risk any more unknown pregnancies." Everyone except Jono and Amy laughed. They promised to explain later.

Willow was able to find a hot spring in California that should work and Xander agreed to Orb everyone just before Dawn. Then come back for them when they called. Joyce suggested that the three of them use the robes provided by the Elder Xander. Even if nothing else they were created in Heaven and that might affect the ritual. Cordelia was just happy she wouldn't have to be naked for the thing. Xander gave Jono, his robe, Faith gave her's to Cordelia and Joyce provided Amy with hers.

The next morning after the ritual was completed, all three felt cleaner than they ever had. Giles had decided they needed the warding crystal with them just in case Cordelia's stalker tried anything. They were all pleased when they saw nothing happen.

In the higher realms the being known as Jasmine was angry. Something had happened that snapped her connection to the mother. What's more, her sight was blocked. She had tried watching Cordelia and couldn't see her. She summoned Skip to her. "Find her!" she ordered him. When he asked how if she couldn't she beat him unconscious. When Skip finally came to he decided it might be a good time to take a vacation, somewhere far away where he wouldn't be easy to find. Arashmaharr had a few fun places and some of those Justice Demons were real party animals.

At the Summers house, everyone was busy getting ready for the day. They had decided to drive to the British Embassy. Sam had been shocked when Jack said she was going. He had told her they had been invited in a non-military capacity so they would both be in civilian dress.

Once the entire group arrived the women were taken to a separate area. They were shocked to see the dresses waiting for them. Even more amazing were the designers who were there. It seemed Lord Reginald had neglected to tell Giles that the Queen had asked for special treatment for the woman. There would be a formal dinner with the Queen after the ceremony. So it was decided that they would all be paired up for the ceremony. Buffy and Teal'c, Sam and Jack, Jono and Amy, and Cordelia and Daniel, Willow and Tara, Faith and Xander, with Giles escorting Joyce.

Sam and Faith both felt almost the same about the dresses, normally they could have cared less. But these dresses were works of art. The designers took the group as a challenge, they knew that if their designs were used at a ceremony involving royalty, it would be all over the front page of the papers. They had no idea that most people probably wouldn't even know what had happened, due to security around the event.

The ceremony was scheduled for the following week. So all of the designers felt they would have plenty of time to prepare everything. The Scoobies were all enjoying the next several days where the world was not trying to kill them.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Grd; When I started writing everything and decided where in the Angel timeline I was, I honestly thought the that episode hadn't happened yet. So even though it would have happened. It will be written. I already have my base outline ready for it.

PikaMew1288; Honestly while WR&H are bad, Cordelia just hasn't thought about them too much yet. They will be coming into more of the story, especially since they have clients like Senator Kinsey.