Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo Hilton.
"This is the life Lil 'D. I could get used to this." Faith and Dawn were enjoying a bubble bath in the giant sized hot tub. Faith looked at Dawn and said, "I wonder what a bubble bath in there would be like?" and that was it. Both girls were beyond prune-y at this point.
Faith drank straight from the champagne bottle and Dawn from her juice pop concoction. "Pull me out before I drown." Faith closed her eyes and took a nap.
"What? No!" Dawn lunged at the sleeping slayer before she went under. "You-you stupid bitch!" Dawn was upset. Faith just about ruined her best day ever. She forced herself out of the hot tub and made sure that at least half of Faith's body was out of the hot bubbly water.
Dawn looked around and found what she needed. She grabbed four huge fluffy white towels and laid two of them on the bathroom floor. She put the other two around her shoulders.
She grabbed Faith under her arms and lifted. "Huh. I guess she's a lot lighter than I thought. That or I got stronger. Nah..." she put Faith on the towels and stripped her naked. She then used the towels to dry her out. When she was happy with the results she picked up a much lighter Faith and put her across her shoulders. She took her to the bedroom and dumped her, with the towels on the bed.
She took the top one for herself, and used the other one to complete dry the older girl. When both she and Faith were dry, "She's like a sleeping doll. Let's see what mom got me for make up." she clapped her hands and ran to the dresser she shared with her mother and Faith. "Ooh there's so many to choose from. I guess I'll just have to use them all." She put everything in the case the makeup came in, and raced back to bed.
"She needs clothes. I don't want to look at that smiling at me all night." she raced back to the dresser and got underwear for both her and Faith.
She got dressed first. Under things and Jammies. On Faith she put panties first and then a nighty, she wouldn't need a bra. She was already asleep.
She pulled up the makeup case next to her and went to work. A couple of hours later she was done. She put everything back into the case and left it beside the bed, and went to sleep next to the Slayer. She felt exhausted and quickly fell asleep.
Tokyo, Japan. Downtown Tokyo.
"Xander was looking for a place to get out of the streets for a while. He and Joyce were checking out the last ten sighting of the Sailor Scouts. As the only magical operators in the area, they were the groups' best option to make it out of this dimension and back home.
He craned his neck and started to check out the second and third story levels. The ground level stores didn't have what they needed. His scan stopped at an out of place sigh.
Joyce became aware immediately when Xander stopped moving. She saw where his eyes were focused on, "A Tango Club?" Joyce asked.
"A Tango Club. We stand out too much on the street. Everyone starring at the beautiful and classy blonde woman. Tell me Joyce, just between the two of us..." Xander moved in close and whispered next to her ear, "Do you Tango?"
Joyce was suddenly aware of the clean sent of a powerful male. Something deep within her loins stirred, his breathing into her ear didn't help any. A delightful tingle ran from the top of her head to the bottom of her toes, 'Wooooo-Nelly. Whoever winds up with this man, will be one lucky Lady.' a sudden thought struck her. 'I have got to get Buffy to stop using bleach. Her brains are leaking out of her ears. Who the hell prefers a dead cold moving body over this?' she took a deep breath and his scent hit her hard, Joyce however, was a full grown woman tested by life, she was the one in control and not her body. She knew that if Xander waited, then most likely Dawn would get her wish, and become Mrs. Xander Harris. She gathered her wits and replied, "Xander dear..." she whispered back, sending a tingle down Xander's body, 'Dear god it takes so little to wind him up. If only...Damn conscious...' she blew gently into his ear as she continued, "...I am a woman of many talents." her eyes twinkled.
"Of that Joyce I have no doubt." he whispered right back, blowing in her ear tit-for-tat.
"What do you have in mind Casanova?" she asked seductively.
"I'm thinking a little dance, get down tonight..." he did his Groucho Marx imitation.
"That's terrible..."
"Are you sayin' you don't want to get down tonight?"
"No, that was a really bad Groucho. You should be ashamed of yourself." she giggled.
"I'm confused...You're upset about the imitation and not about the over the top flirtation with my best friend's mother...weird. Oh well, c'mon." He gave her his hand in invitation. She accepted and he led her up to the dance club.
Joyce laughed and followed him up the stairs to the third floor. When they entered through the door, they were met by a hostess. She took the price of admission from Xander.
"Would milady, honor me with the first dance?" he asked.
"Milady would..." she laughed at his outrageous accent.
Xander held her right hand up and pulled her closer with the other hand. The music was slow at first and Xander closed his eyes and channeled his inner Harry. He opened them and stared deeply into Joyce's deep blue eyes until there was nothing else in his universe.
Joyce gasped, as she felt him connect with her very soul. He led her though the first few agonizingly slow steps. He was both strong and masterful, then the beat picked up and he started to twirl, and dip her in the most sensual dance she'd ever been a part of, her entire life. He may as well have made love to her on the floor. It was that intimate and sensual, 'I so have to get Buffy a psychiatrist. She's ignoring this...for that...'
The other dancers stepped back and gave them room. They recognized that a master was among them, and his partner did justice to the seduction he was carrying out on the dance floor.
For fifteen minutes, no one else dared join them. They dominated the floor with their high octane energy, and their slow seductive full body caresses.
Then another pair joined them on the floor. Joyce was the first one to notice. Xander was still lost in the movement. A movement and dance that came closest to imitating another sexual act, that's usually preformed in bed or other places if you were feeling adventurous. Joyce thanked God that she was divorced; otherwise she would have been committing adultery in her mind.
"May I cut in?" asked a large man as he tapped Xander's shoulder.
"Not now Harry?" Xander replied automatically. It took him a few seconds until that statement brought him out of his fugue state.
"Harry...?" Xander turned around stunned at seeing a man he knew better than he almost knew himself.
"Hi Xander. Joyce." Helen waved her hand and smiled at the pair.
"Hi Helen." Joyce didn't miss a beat. The way her life had been going lately this wasn't all that out of the realm of possibility.
"May I cut in?" Harry asked again.
Xander looked at Joyce and said, "It's your choice really..."
"Sure. I would love a dance Harry." Joyce smiled and accepted Harry's hand.
"Well?" asked Helen her eyes pointing at the dance floor.
Xander dropped to his knees and asked, "Doh'. Helen may I have the pleasure of dancing with one of the most beautiful women on the planet?"
"Did he just propose to your wife?" Joyce laughed, and Harry shrugged.
"I don't share." and that was that.
Xander and Helen joined Harry and Joyce in a intricate dance that now had four people involved. Partners changed often and at one time Harry wound up with Xander. Harry insisted on leading and Xander being the easy going guy that he was let him, but it only lasted for ten seconds of mechanical steps at arms length.
Everyone laughed and clapped until the entire club got into the spirit of the moment. Harry and Xander rejoined the laughing ladies. They were both smiling. They found a table and Xander pulled a chair for Helen and Harry did the same for Joyce.
"Wanna tell me why my Dana got turned into a Slayer?" Harry began.
"Is Buffy okay?" asked Helen.
"She was fine and in Sunnydale the last time I saw her." Joyce reassured the other woman.
"Oh thank God. I thought something happened to her. I was so worried."
"It wasn't Buffy. Faith the Slayer travelling with us got hit by this bean of pure, almost holy energy, and it was so intense that it left a few changes in all of us." Xander explained.
"What kind of changes?" Harry asked.
"The Slayer spirit ran away with the spoon, to-to Dana apparently, and Faith's energy was replaced by this other source, and Joyce and Dawn got their Potential energized to Slayer levels, without the possession. I'm not sure, but I think the Slayer Jumped into Joyce first, and fled again when it saw that it was still under attack by the beam. I'm not sure what the deal is, with Dawn, but something happened..."
"Is this like the Hyena thing?" Harry guessed.
"It has to be Harry. My Hyena almost took over, but something in Dawn drowned hers almost completely and mine was weakened enough, that I wasn't totally overwhelmed."
"Then, it's just the four of you?" Helen asked.
Xander looked at her for a second and grinned, "It was the guy I used to get the ID's from wasn't it Harry?"
"It was. You not only used current codes, but codes that haven't been activated yet. How far into the future do you get?" Harry asked.
"Hmm, I think maybe October 31, 1997. It's the only thing that makes sense. Dawn kept an awful amount of skills. Skills that Helen didn't have by the time that you guys had that dance at the Whitehouse a year after the deal in the Keys." Xander guessed again.
"The Keys were about a week ago Xander." Helen explained.
"Oh. How's Dana?" he asked.
"Having a problem with the nightmares." Helen told him.
"Xander eyed the two agents closely, "She's with you..." Harry's eyes narrowed, "...only thing that makes sense. You guys probably got my picture from the guy I used, and Spense flashed it on the screen when he brought you and Dutch in for a brief and debrief session..." Harry's eyes narrowed some more. Xander continued. "You're in luck..." he pulled a picture out of his wallet, and passed it to Harry.
Harry looked at it and Helen gasped when he passed it to her, "That's Dana! Harry, that's our daughter..."
"No that's Faith, and as Harry already noticed, she's a few years older..." Xander corrected Helen's misassumption.
Helen looked back at the picture and this time she saw the differences. This was a Dana, if she'd been through hell and back. This was a girl who'd survived on the Hellmouth for a while. 'Oh God! My Dana's gonna be just like her...' she thought.
"She's not gonna wind up like Faith." Xander had read Helen's reaction when she looked closer at the picture. First of all, no Vampires in your universe, or demons for that matter, Youma on the other hand..."
"How did you find us so fast?" Joyce asked.
Harry looked at Xander. Xander smiled and inclined his head in acceptance. "Harry did what we did. He asked himself, what would Xander do if he wants to go back home again? The rest of the world Harry's aware of has no answers for us. These girls are a new thing, aren't they Harry?" Xander asked, "I mean I could only go back about six month not much more; information becomes real scarce before that, Hell I couldn't even find a peep."
"They're a new thing. Omega Sector is looking into every Data base in Japan. Nothing. There's more spies in Tokyo looking into these girls than there's any where else on the planet." Harry replied.
"I was afraid of that." Xander sighed.
"Why?" both Joyce and Helen asked.
"It means that we have a long way to go before we can go home. This world was bland, before that...Now that the girls and their opponents are on the scene it means things will get a hell of a lot worse before they get better. Any idea where the Guy in the 'Tux and Mask' might be? There hasn't been a word about him in the press for a while. I hope the government isn't responsible for his disappearance."
"What a terrible thing to say Xander..." Helen looked from Xander's gaze to her husbands' eyes and saw that Harry agreed with Xander, "What?"
"He's right. Those girls are powerful, and getting more so every encounter, more capabilities and equipment keeps showing up in their repertoire, that means they have backing." Harry explained.
"Yeah pretty much what I guessed. Buffy has the Watchers, these guys..." Xander began, but Harry continued.
"...Have someone or something unseen in the background providing support, very advanced support. They use a communications network no one has been able to break into. One of the girls was seen using a very small but powerful laptop in battle with some kind of radio frequency communications capability. Other weapons, they could have one or two people making them, but a communications network speaks of a more in depth organization."
"You still didn't answer my question Harry. How did you find us, after you did what Xander did. We pounded the streets, not the dance club." Joyce asked again.
"It's a Tango Dance club, in the middle of all this madness, with a view from three different windows, on two different sides of the building, that's located on a corner. I may as well have mailed him an invitation, but in my defense, I didn't know this was Harry's world. Someones having a good laugh at this joke." Xander explained.
"More of those powers..."
"No, more like someone who appreciates a joke, Janus, or someone like him. I very much doubt that the powers have a sense of humor." Xander added.
"Are you saying we're insignificant playthings to these powers..." Joyce was aghast at how helpless they were.
"I doubt that, that's the case now." Harry told her.
"I think it's worse. I've probably pissed off the powers. The shit..."
"Xander!" the two mothers said together.
"Sorry. My bad." Harry rolled his eyes. Xander smirked unrepentant. "The things..." Xander looked at Helen and Joyce and they nodded. That was acceptable. Harry laughed.
'Unbelievable.' he thought.
"The things I've read in Giles' books, paint the powers as balance fanatics. I don't know what might be running around this universe, but my gut tells me that something is. It's also telling me that they're just waking up."
"I thought it might be something like that." Harry sighed, 'Not good. These assholes are going to pull me and my family into this. I can just feel it.' Harry thought. He saw Xander looking at him and he figured the other man guessed the same thing he just realized. He probably also figured that he and his girls are in the same boat.
"Oh this is so not of the good. Joyce I'm sorry for dragging you and Dawn into this..."
"Stop right there Xander. No ones dragging me anywhere. I came down to join you in Mexico. I also knew that you were going to do something, and there would be danger when Cordelia brought me over. I'm not a helpless victim waiting for the Knight to come around and save her. I'll be saving myself...with a little help from my friends." Joyce declared.
"Amen sister." Helen agreed with her, and gave her her support.
Xander looked at Harry.
"Don't look at me. She's your future Mother-In-Law." Harry put up his hands and backed up a bit in his chair.
"Wuss...What? How much do you know?" Xander asked.
"You ready to reciprocate?" Harry asked. After all part of the mission was to find out how much of Omega Sector's secret Xander knew. And a look ahead at the future, at least by five years was one hell of an advantage.
