Disclaimer, etc., in first chapter

"Let me in here," Erica said. She brushed past Otis and Allison to look at Xander. They had torn his shirt off and were holding bandages to his arm. "How is he?" she asked.

"The bullet wound isn't horrible," Sam said, grabbing another bandage and holding it to Xander's arm. "It's just like a long gash, his arm must have been extended. But we need to stop the bleeding before we see to his other injuries."

"Like what?" Erica asked.

"His leg," said Luis. "His other arm. I think a couple of ribs."

"Cauterize it," Erica said.

"How?" asked Allison. "We don't have anything that can –"

"Yes we do," Erica said. "Sam, give me your gun."

Sam looked up at her. "What?"

"Your gun, your gun. Give it to me. I also need a pair of pliers. And a match."

"What are you going to do?" Dawn asked.

Erica looked up. She hadn't even seen Dawn. The girl had drawn into herself and seemed to be hiding in the corner.

"I'm going to use the gunpowder to stop the bleeding," Erica said. Otis handed her a set of pliers. She looked up at Sam, who looked at Dawn. Dawn nodded once, slowly, and Sam handed Erica his pistol. She ejected the clip that was in it and pulled out a couple of bullets. She used the pliers to unscrew the casing.

"Hold his arm up," she said. Luis turned Xander's arm as best he could so the wound was facing upward. Erica winced at seeing the full length of the wound – it looked like the bullet had ripped into his flesh from the middle of his forearm to his bicep. Luckily, it appeared to have missed any major veins.

Erica slowly tapped out the gunpowder into the wound, making sure there was no break in the line she poured. The gash was so long that she had to empty the other bullet as well.

"Match, anyone?" she asked.

Otis handed her a lighter, as well. She grabbed a piece of paper and rolled it up.

She looked at Sam. "Do we have any morphine?"

"Why?"

"Because this is going to hurt like hell, and it might wake him up."

"In the fridge," she said. She grabbed a small key from the desk, unlocked and opened the fridge and took out some morphine. She drew a small amount into a syringe, and nodded.

"Everybody stand back," Erica said. "This won't be pretty."

She struck the lighter lit the rolled up paper. She held the fire as far away from herself as she could, and barely touched the flame to the edge of the gunpowder. There was a loud bang, and smoke filled the room. Xander sat straight up, screaming in pain.

"Hold him down!" Allison said. Sam and Luis pressed Xander back down to the table. Allison stepped up and injected the morphine into his arm. Xander slowly stopped screaming, but he stayed awake. His breath was ragged, and shallow.

"What," he said between breaths, "what… happened?"

Dawn was by his side in an instant. "You saved me," she said, brushing some hair from his face. "You always do."

"Didn't know… needed… to." He groaned a little more.

Dawn looked at Allison, and then glanced at the morphine. Allison nodded, and drew half as much morphine from the bottle as she had the first time. She injected this into Xander's arm as well, and he smiled as he passed out.

"We need to set his breaks now," Sam said.

"I know how to do this," Allison said. "We learned this."

Sam nodded. "Erica. Can you take Dawn and get her some clean clothes?"

"Of course," Erica said. She took Dawn's arm, but Dawn resisted.

"I need to stay with him," she said.

"Dawn," Sam said, placing his hand on her shoulder. She shied away from his touch, and he pulled his hand back. "Dawn, you need to go take care of yourself. We're going to take care of him. Once you've cleaned up, you can come right back. Okay?"

"Dawn?" Erica said, pulling Dawn's arm. "Come on, honey, let's go get you cleaned up."

Dawn nodded, and allowed Erica to lead her out of the clinic. She walked backwards, keeping her eyes on Xander as long as she could.

"This place is a mess."

Dean looked up from the papers he was reading and saw Sam, covered in blood, standing at the administrative office door.

"Speak for yourself," Dean said.

Sam looked down at his clothes and his hands. "Fair point. What'd you do with Jason?"

"Nothing," Dean said. "Is it true he, you know… was doing things to Dawn?"

Sam nodded. "Right in front of me. It was the most disgusting, vile… I can't even think about it. What do you mean nothing?"

"Jerry figured it out," Dean said, ignoring the question. "He saw Dawn, he heard Jason attacked, and put two and two together."

"That's how you found out?"

Dean nodded.

"So where's Jason now?" Sam asked.

"Zombie food."

"What?"

Dean put the papers down on the desk. "Jerry got to him before I did."

"And he just killed him?"

"Sent him over the edge, apparently. Said he couldn't let a guy who could do things like that be anywhere near his daughter. How's Xander?"

Sam sighed. "Unconscious, for now. Dawn's with him. Erica managed to get his gunshot wound closed, and we set and splinted his broken arm and leg, and wrapped his ribs. That's… about the best we can do. Well, Erica stitched up his arm, too. I guess… she knows how to sew up a turkey or something, I don't really know. She's good with a needle, though."

"Should move him somewhere more comfortable, now that the bleeding's done," Dean said. He picked up the papers again. "Dawn's gonna want to sleep near him. Should see about getting him somewhere that'll be easier on her. Not like this place is sterile, anyway."

"I don't really think we should move him, but we'll see what Dawn says. What are you reading?"

"Jason's file," said Dean.

"We already went through it. There's nothing there."

"I already went through it, you mean," Dean said. "And it turns out there is something there, it just slipped out of the fucking folder." He smacked the paper on the desk, hard, and stood up. "God, this should never have happened. If I'd just been a little more careful, looked a little harder, we could have known –"

"This isn't your fault, Dean," Sam said.

"Isn't it? Really? Then tell me, little brother, who else here missed the fact that the kid spent time in juvie for assault? Huh? And who else didn't see that he was brought up on three separate attempted rape charges? Or that the reason he looks like a football player is because he walked on at Ohio State and was a promising talent until he was kicked off the team because of steroids. Did you miss that Sam? Or was it me? Exactly who was it who didn't see these things?"

"Anybody could have missed it," Sam said.

"Yeah, well anybody didn't. I did. And now he's dead, and Xander's shot, and Dawn is just…" Dean shook his head and tossed the papers on the desk and flopped back into the chair. "I messed up."

"Where did he get the gun, that's what I want to know," Sam said.

"What are you talking about? We gave it to him yesterday," said Dean.

Sam shook his head. "I took that one back after we were done getting gas."

"Oh, hell," Dean said. "Gloria."

"What?"

"Gloria. Remember? Right after we all got here, Xander said he thought she had snuck in and taken a gun."

"You're saying Jason did it?" Sam asked.

"Or he found the one she took and never said anything."

"What'd you do with the gun?" Sam asked.

"Me? I didn't do anything with it, the gun was gone when I got there."

"So where –?"

"Fuck," Dean said, rising from the desk and heading out the door. "Jerry."

Dean approached Jerry like a raging storm, throwing things out of his way and knocking things down to get to him, ignoring Sam's pleas to calm down and slow down. He was on a mission.

"What did you do with it?" Dean said. He stalked up to Jerry, who was getting a drink from one of the soda fountains, grabbed him by the collar and slammed him against the wall. "What the hell did you do with it?"

"With what?" Jerry asked, wide eyes showing his fear.

"With the gun, Jerry. The gun Jason shot Xander with. Where is it?"

"What's going on?"

Dean looked over his shoulder and saw Allison staring at him. He released Jerry and stepped back from him.

"Just asking your dad a question," Dean said. "Got a little overexcited."

"It's all right, sweetie," Jerry said. "We're just talking. Go see what Erica's doing."

"No, Dad," she said. "I'm tired of you trying to keep me ignorant of what's going on. I'm seventeen, and I know I'm not the smartest girl in the world, or even in this mall, but I'm old enough to know that things are crappy. People are dying here, and I'm old enough to know what's going on, and I'm not going anywhere until you tell me what's happening."

"Allison," Dean said, "this is really not the time for you to –"

"What the hell do you know about it?" Allison said, stepping up to Dean. "You're so busy playing monster hunter that you don't know what's going on in here. You don't know that Erica and Luis have taken up with each other, or that Jason cried himself to sleep the first three days, or that while you guys are up there sitting in your office like you run the place, the rest of us are making sure that this place isn't falling apart! That Otis wanders around all hours of the day muttering about losing control, and my dad and I are now the only family we have left in the world. So don't tell me when it is and is not time for me to do something, because you don't know anything!" Allison stomped her foot for emphasis.

Dean took a step back. "Uh, yeah. Okay." He glanced down at the floor.

"Oh, shit," she said.

"Um," said Dean.

Sam looked at the floor. He looked at Allison. He looked at Jerry. "But…"

"It's not her fault," Jerry said. "She can control it most of the time. Please don't… don't hurt her. Don't tell… anyone."

"Hurt her? Hurt HER?" Dean asked. "You're joking, right?"

"It's been… so hard. For all of us," Jerry said. "I couldn't let anything…"

Dean held up a hand to stop Jerry. "First, answer my question. We'll deal with this in a minute."

Jerry rolled his eyes. "I kicked it over the edge."

Dean sighed. "Okay. Now the three of us need to go see Dawn."

Allison, Jerry and Sam looked at each other.

"Uh," said Sam, "which three."

"Me and them," said Dean. "No offense, little brother, but if I were Dawn, I wouldn't want to see your face for about a year."

"What?" Allison said. "Why not?"

"Later, honey," Jerry said, taking her hand. "I'll tell you, I promise, just… later."

"How are they?" Dean asked.

Erica shrugged. "I can't tell about him, he's just out of it. And she just sits there, holding his hand and waiting for him to wake up. Half the time I can't tell if she's awake or not."

Dean nodded. "Well, look, we have to talk to her about some kinda sensitive stuff. Do you mind, uh…"

"Making myself scarce? Not at all."

"Thanks," Dean said. He held the door open and allowed Erica to slip past him, then let Jerry and Allison in and shut the door. "Let me do the talking," he told them. He leaned down across from Dawn and looked at her, studying her face for any sign she was aware of his presence.

"You can stop staring," Dawn said, startling Dean. She glanced at him, and then let her eyes drift back to Xander.

"I don't want to interrupt anything," he said. "I know you want to stay here with him, and I get that, I do. But I think we might have a situation."

"I don't care," Dawn said.

"Yeah, but –"

Dawn looked into his eyes. "Xander means more to me than the rest of you people combined, so if you think I'm going anywhere, you're stupider than you look."

"I'm not asking you to go anywhere," Dean said, ignoring the dig. "You can stay here the whole time, I – that is, we, just need to ask you… something."

"What?" Dawn asked.

"I think Allison might be a Slayer."

"You what?" Jerry said.

"I what?" asked Allison.

Dawn sighed. "Why do you think that?"

"I pissed her off, and she stomped on the floor in the food court. The floor cracked."

"Maybe it's cheap tiling. Maybe it's old."

Dean shrugged. "Maybe. But I don't think so."

Dawn looked at Allison. "Do you have dreams? Dreams in which you are girls from different time periods? Always strong, always fighting, always with monsters that you never dreamed were real?"

"I… yeah."

"Tell me some of them."

Allison looked at her father for permission.

"Don't ask him," Dawn said. "This is your choice."

"I um… I've been this black girl. Dirty hair. Rags for clothes. White face paint. Savage."

Dawn nodded.

"And an Asian girl. Beautiful and graceful, but it looked like she was in the middle of a war. And there was this man."

"You were a man?" Dean asked.

"There was a man in her dream," Dawn said. "Average height. Blonde hair. He wore a brown wool trench coat. You fought him with swords, in a room filled with candles, during the Boxer Rebellion."

"I… yes."

"He killed you."

"Yes."

"His name was Spike," Dawn said. She looked back at Xander. "I thought he was a friend, once upon a time."

Dawn glanced down, and with her free hand reached into her boot. She tapped something metallic on the side of the bed a couple of times. "Do you really want to know if you're a Slayer?"

"Now wait a minute," Jerry said. "We need to discuss –"

"The knowledge is her right," Dawn said. "What she does with it, or doesn't do, that's open for discussion. But knowing what she is? What she can do?" Dawn shook her head. "You don't have a say in that part."

Allison licked her lips. "I want to know."

Dawn lifted her arm and flung a knife as hard as she could at Allison. The girl stepped back, but caught the knife in one hand, almost a foot from her face.

"Congratulations," Dawn said. "You're a Slayer."

"*That* is how you tell?" Dean asked.

"Not unless we're already sure," said Dawn. "And not unless they need convincing."

"So what does this mean?" Allison asked.

"For the moment, nothing," said Dawn. "You know nothing, and you're untrained, and I'm not qualified to teach you. The only person here who is…" she nodded at Xander and squeezed his hand a little tighter.

"Okay," Dean said. "Um… well, thanks. For the confirmation. We'll let you get back to… sitting."

Dean shuffled Jerry and Allison out of the room, and was about to follow them when Dawn called him back.

"Yeah?" he said, poking his head back in the clinic.

"What happened to Jason?"

Dean considered his options. There was the truth, and then there was what was important.

"Jerry told me he slipped. Off the roof."

Dawn looked up at Dean. "Jerry?"

"That's what he told me."

Dawn stared at him for a moment before turning back to Xander. "Allison's a very pretty girl."

"Yeah."

Dawn nodded. "Thank you."

Dean closed the door and left her to her sitting.

"So what does this mean?" Luis asked. The entire group, sans Dawn and Xander, had gathered for an early dinner in the food court. Candle light provided most of the illumination – they wanted to preserve the gas in the generator as long as possible.

"I'm not entirely sure," Dean said. "I mean, we know the basics, but none of the history or the mythology."

"Right," said Sam. "It's… okay, incredible speed and strength, innate fighting ability. Historically, of course, vampires are the biggest enemy."

"Hence Vampire Slayer," said Dean. "But I'm pretty sure Dad told us that they've become kind of an all around demon fighter."

"And world saver, if the rumors are to be believed."

"World saver?" Allison asked.

Dean nodded and cut into the chicken breast in front of him. "Erica, this is delicious," he said. Erica smiled, and nodded her thanks. "Listen – and this is all just rumor – you all know about Sunnydale, right?"

The whole group nodded.

"Well, the way I heard it – again, just a rumor – is that there was this huge, ancient evil that was trying to basically end the world. The Slayer was the one who beat it. Slayer and her posse, anyway."

"Posse?" Otis asked.

Dean pointed over his shoulder toward the clinic. "Those two were there, I know that much. The whole group of 'em, they're like… the Impossible Mission Force of the supernatural world. All sorts of stories came out of that place over the course of a few years."

"How come I never heard about this?" Sam asked.

Dean shrugged. "You were in college. And you weren't interested for a while before that."

"So how did I become a Slayer?" Allison asked.

"No idea," said Dean. "It used to be that it took the last Slayer dying to create a new one. But you said you've been like this for a while, and Buffy was definitely a Slayer. That's something they're going to have to answer."

"Speaking of them," Erica said. "I'm going to take Dawn some food."

"So," Jerry said, "what do we, you know… do?"

Dean shrugged. "Look, I don't know that much about them, but you've seen what's gone on here. They've got friends in the military, they've got a lot of good quality weapons – which means they've got resources – and they're good at what they do. I'm willing to bet they've got, you know, options. Things they can suggest. What those things are, I have no idea."

"I gotta go check on things," Otis said. He got up from the table and hobbled off toward his warehouse.

"So I can beat you up?" Allison asked.

Dean nodded. "Just on pure speed and strength, you can probably kick the ass of everyone in this mall."

They all kept discussing Allison's situation, what it might mean, what it would change. It was all speculation, but it kept their minds off of more worrisome topics.

Then Erica screamed.

End Chapter 11