A few hours later, he pulled over; the car needing gas, and the three of them needing to eat. The three of them sat awkwardly around the table in a small diner in the middle of Nowheresville, America. Food sat in front of all of them, but nobody did anything but uncomfortably pick at their meals. Finally Buffy sighed, sitting back in her seat.

"Just ask. I'll make with the 'splainy as much as I can. I can't tell you everything now, but I'll do my best." She looked up at Dom and then at Brian. He felt a slight twinge of guilt at the resigned fear in her eyes, but he leaned forwards anyways. He started off slow, trying desperately to assuage his own guilt and concerns. Nothing so far that his sister was involved in seemed even remotely legal. And if Buffy was in trouble of the illegal kind, Brian needed to know. He would betray the badge in a heartbeat for his sister. But he needed all the facts first. He started off slow.

"While you were in the desert, I called the last number you dialed. Someone named Faith picked up. Who is she?" Buffy glared at him halfheartedly before picked at her food a little more.

"Faith is… well Faith is Faith. She's complicated, but right now Faith has my back. And she's important." Her not-an-answer answer irritated him. Buffy had always known that she could trust him, knew that he would always help her. The fact that she seemed so uncertain of that fact now stung. Dom broke in.

"The underground is talking a lot about new slayers popping up everywhere; you have something to do with that?" Dom rumbled softly. Buffy gave his friend a hard look, green eyes calculating something.

"You know about that?" Dom shrugged.

"You grow up on the rough side of LA, you see things. Hear things. We keep our ear to the ground. Something big happened when Sunnydale went down." Brian was completely and utterly bewildered by the conversation between his sister and his friend. Buffy seemed to come to a decision, and she slowly nodded while answering.

"Yeah, I had everything to do with all the newbies popping up. We're taking care of them though, we're going to do it right this time around. If you can, try and help get them to the Hyperion. Angel will help them until we have time to get them ourselves." Brian finally broke in.

"What the hell are the two of you talking about? Newbies? Slayers? How do you two know each other?" Buffy shook her head.

"We don't know each other. But Brian in my world, I'm…. it's complicated. Once you know about it, I'm hard to miss. Look, I can't tell you everything. Partly because it's dangerous, partly because I never wanted you to learn about this part of my life. And the rest of it? Well my work is so classified, that the organization that I work for doesn't technically exist. I promise you'll get a full explanation once we are in Cleveland. But I'll tell you what I can now." Brian tensed at the word classified. Somehow his little sister had gotten mixed up in something dangerous. Something that government was afraid of. Something so dangerous that she didn't want to tell him about it, so dangerous that it was it's own 'world' and had an underground. or was one. Brian wasn't clear on any of it; only that it sounded dangerous. It was world where Buffy clearly held a prominent place in, and he had no idea if that was good or bad. He flashed back to the phone conversation with the mysterious Faith. She'd called his sister her queen.

A Queen.

Like it was a title Buffy had earned. He had a bad feeling that complicated didn't even begin to cover it. Brian picked at his own food before asking his next question.

"Faith asked how much you slept. Then told me to tell you to sleep more, that you won't survive quote, 'this kiddie sized trainwreck if she won't sleep.' Buffy what is happening? What happened last year? Who is Sineya? Why did you stop us in the middle of the road to talk to her? What are you involved in? Buffy do you need help? I can get you out of this I swear to god. But you need to talk to me." Words just suddenly poured out of him, begging his sister to let him in. Begging her for answers, begging to be given the chance to protect her. Keep her alive. Buffy snorted.

"Faith has a big mouth. And she should mind her own goddamn business. Everything else... god, I don't even remember the last time I had to give this talk. Giles. You need to talk with Giles, he can explain everything." Brain fixed his sister with a glare. He latched onto the first problem, dismissing the rest of her statement for the time being. But he wasn't going to forget the name Giles. It kept coming up.

"Buffy, even I could tell from that car ride that you need to sleep more. Especially if what you're doing is dangerous." Buffy sighed, rubbing her temples. Shattered green eyes looked up at him.

"This last year, the past few months… it's been a world of badness Brian. We've been dealing with a lot. I've been dealing with a lot. And it's not something you can fix, or change or get me out of Brian. Even though you're-" Brian interrupted before Buffy could accidentally blow his cover.

"There's always a way out Buff. Is it money? I can get you money, I have a few savings, I could race and try to get some more. God I would even hunt down Hank and get some from him." Buffy was already shaking her head.

"It's not money Brian. Not anymore. No, this is just something I have to do. It's important; lives are at stake." Confusion whirled through him, as he tried to put pieces of a puzzle together even though he had no idea what the picture was supposed to look like.

"Buffy you said you would explain, but you aren't actually giving me any answers." Buffy shook her head, tears swimming in her eyes.

"Brian, do you remember when I was seventeen and Mom kicked me out? So I ran away to LA and you covered for me even though I didn't tell you everything? I need you to trust me now like you did then ok? It's similar, and I just can't explain everything by myself, or right now. If I try, I'll just screw it all up and you're going to hate me." Brian stood up and moved to the other side of the table, wrapping up his half sister in a tight hug.

"Ok. I can wait until we get to Cleveland to get the story." Buffy nodded gratefully into his shoulder.

"Thank you."

"And Buffy?" He asked her gently. She pulled back, turning her broken shattered eyes towards him.

"Yeah?"

"I could never hate you." Buffy just hugged him tighter.