"Well I'll be damned," Dean said as he looked through a pair of binoculars. "Batgirl does have supersonic hearing."

"Yeah," Dawn agreed, sounding less than impressed. "Just try sneaking out with her around. But, on the plus side, it did teach me some serious stealth skills. I'm practically a ninja."

"You never got past me," Buffy stated confidently. "Did you?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Dawn said coyly. "Too bad a ninja never reveals her secrets."

Sam squinted into the distance, trying to make out the tiny specks his brother was gazing at. "So, what have we got?" he asked. "Park Rangers or Feds?"

"Civilians," Dean answered happily. "Looks like about six of 'em, plus a dog. Volunteer search and rescue team I'm guessin'. Here," he said, handing the binoculars to his brother. "Check it out."

"Good deal," Sam said as he peered through the lenses, confirming Dean's conclusion. "That should simple things up for us. We might even be able to avoid the whole prison thing entirely."

"We might," Dean commented. "Lucky for us, most of the pros are too busy strong-arming Latinos to bother with the Canyon. They have to stake out that southern border. Cause obviously, this was the work of renegade field hands."

"Obviously," Buffy agreed sarcastically. "After all, the popular theory is international child sex traffickers. Ugh," she groaned. "It makes me feel dirty to even say that out loud. Personally, I'd rather hang with the mutant bug-people."

"Amen," said Dean. "The human monsters are way scarier."

"Oh yeah," Buffy agreed, before holding out her hand to Sam expectantly. "I wanna see too," she said.

"Aren't you rockin' the x-ray vision?" Dean asked teasingly.

"Don't be ridiculous," she answered as she adjusted the binoculars Sam had handed her. "X-ray vision is Superman's thing. You need to get your superpowers straight if you're gonna work undercover."

The Slayer gazed at the scene below them for a few moments. "Cute doggie," she commented. "Looks like a Labrador Retriever. They're cool dogs… be nice to have one someday," she said wistfully. "Ooh, turn around again," she ordered, obviously speaking to one of the distant searchers. "I thought so… Bandage on his head and everything. I knew I recognized him from the news."

"Is it my dad?" Brian asked excitedly.

Laura looked up hopefully from where she'd been sitting, idly picking at the grass. She had perked up quite a bit since leaving the cave and had even allowed Dean to place her on the ground so he could retrieve his binoculars.

"Let me see," Dean said, snatching the binoculars away from Buffy's face.

"Rude much?" Buffy commented, giving him a sharp slap to the arm.

"Ouch! That stings," he exclaimed, rubbing his bicep. "Shouldn't you have a rule against hitting people?"

"I do," Buffy stated smugly. "But you're a special case."

Dean returned the Slayer's smirk before checking out the search group again. "I think you're on to something," he admitted. "Hey Brian," he called out to the boy. "Come here, buddy, I want you to take a look at this."

Dean helped the boy adjust the binoculars to his face and pointed out where he should look.

"That is my dad!" Brian exclaimed. "I knew he'd find us."

"He's a smart man," Dean commented. "The cops are all off chasing their tails, looking for some mysterious band of pervs, but he knew what he saw. Good for him."

Brian beamed proudly at Dean's observation while the rest of the children erupted into excited chatter. Emma and Rachel wanted to see their Uncle Scott for themselves and Laura was on the verge of a full-blown tantrum. She jumped up and down trying to snatch the binoculars out of her brother's hand and furiously demanded to see her daddy NOW.

Dean retrieved the binoculars from Brian and set about attempting to show the little girl her father. It wasn't easy since there was no way to adjust them to properly fit her tiny face. She had to peer through only one of the lenses, plus she kept fidgeting and trying to take hold of the binoculars herself. All the while she was becoming more and more frustrated. Dean finally succeeded after he sat Laura on his lap, found her father in the sights, and somehow managed to hold the lenses steady while she bounced around and tried to snatch them out of his hands. He then had to attempt to convince the girl that there was no way her father could see her waving to him from such a distance.

Once Laura had been satisfied (sort of) Sam and Dawn helped Emma and Rachel to see the search group. They were disappointed that their dad wasn't with them as well. Sam explained that there were dozens of different searches going on, all over the state, and their father was likely in one of those. What he didn't mention was that Emma and Rachel's dad probably thought that Mr. Kelly was on a wild goose chase. Sam knew that the 'normal' people all believed the man was either completely delusional and/or suffering from brain damage.

"So, how do we want to play this?" Dean asked.

"No offense," Dawn stated, "but I don't think it's such a hot idea to have two shirtless men turning up with a shirtless 8-year-old boy. That would look a little shady."

"I agree," Sam said. "It's best if they don't see us at all. I say we stay upwind of that dog, get as close as we can, then stand back and let the kids accidentally run into the search team."

"Sounds like a plan," Dean agreed.

"I don't want them seeing any of us," Buffy stressed. "Best case scenario - we wind up as big heroes and get our faces plastered all over the tabloids. Giles would kill me and then I'd never get another vacation."

"Yeah," her sister agreed. "Not to mention how hideous your hair would look in a picture right now. Even I don't want to see you humiliated that badly."

"Thanks, Dawn. That was almost sweet."

XXXXXXXXXX

The four managed to find a large outcropping of rock that was close enough to the search and rescue team to ensure that the kids didn't have far to go - yet far enough away to hopefully avoid discovery.

"You be good, sweetheart," Dean told Laura as he affectionately tousled her hair. "Your big brother is going to take you to your dad now." The little girl gave Dean one last squeeze around the neck and waved at him shyly before eagerly holding out her arms to Brian.

"Nuh uh. She can walk." her brother said, looking completely disgusted as he directed he gaze at her pants area.

"Well, she's not going to," Dean replied as he handed Laura over to the reluctant boy. "If Batman can handle a little bit of pee, then so can you. It's not all fun and games in this business, so man-up and deal."

Brian accepted his little sister without any further complaints. After all, he didn't want his new heroes to think he was being a baby - but that didn't mean he had to like it.

Buffy knelt down in front of Rachel (the possible future Slayer) and took one of her hands. "Sweetie, I want you to promise me something before you go," she said sincerely.

"What?" Rachel asked curiously.

"I need you to promise me that you'll enjoy your childhood."

"Huh?" The little girl asked, her brow crinkled in confusion.

"I'm serious," Buffy continued. "I want you to live your life to the fullest. Take some dance lessons or I don't know… cooking lessons or something. Heck, you could even learn origami. Anyway, the point is to have fun and don't have any regrets. Because, when you get older, things just might get a whole lot more complicated."

"Uh, okay… I promise," Rachel replied, suddenly looking at Buffy like she was a crazy person. "Can I go now?"

"Sure," Buffy said, sounding less sure of herself. "Fly free. I've imparted my sage advice."

"Great job," Dean said quietly. "I don't know what the hell that was all about, but now they all want some words of wisdom."

"Uh oh," Buffy said after taking in the expectant faces of Emma and Brian. Even little Laura was looking at her curiously. "I don't have any words of wisdom," she replied to Dean under her breath.

"Well, you better come up with some quick, before the wind changes and your cute little doggie gets our asses tossed in the clink."

Buffy bit her lip and turned to face the children, raising her hand in a tentative Vulcan salute. "Uh… May the force be with you?"

The kids shrugged and turned their faces to Dean, apparently expecting some advice from Batman as well. The hunter gave the Vulcan salute himself and searched his mind desperately for some wisdom of his own. "And don't forget to floss," he finally said.

"Hugs not drugs," Buffy offered.

"Absolutely," Dean agreed. "Crack is whack. Now get your asses out of here."

Sam looked over at Dawn, an astonished expression on his face. "Jesus Christ," he whispered. "What the hell just happened?"

"I don't know," Dawn replied with a groan. "That was horrible! They totally just bitch-slapped the entire sci-fi community." Sam raised an eyebrow at that comment, but Dawn continued on undeterred. "Maybe we should have left those kids with the ants," she said. "I mean, it might not be such a bad life. Who are we to judge?"

Sam shrugged. "At least they wouldn't have had to witness that."

XXXXXXXXXX

They watched the kids until they were "found" by the search team.

Scott Kelly nearly collapsed in tears at the sight of his children. Buffy was afraid she might have to rush out and prevent him from actually squeezing them to death - which would have totally blown their cover. It was a close call, but in the end she decided that the situation didn't call for a Slayer.

Buffy was more than a little moved herself. It wasn't often that she got to see the fruits of her labor, so to speak. There were the random drunken club-hoppers that she saved from vamp attacks, but those didn't seem to pack the same emotional punch. It wasn't like they deserved to die or anything, but she had to wonder at the sheer number of idiots who thought it was a good idea to stumble around drunk in dark alleys - on a hellmouth. It was mind boggling.

And then there was Dean. He had barely held it together when the family had been reunited and had spent the last ten minutes not looking directly at anyone, most likely afraid that someone would see tears in his eyes. It was completely adorable. Something that Buffy was one-hundred percent sure he didn't want to hear. So, she held her tongue and pretended to be really interested in the scenery, which was pretty cool.

Dean had deliberately lingered at the rear of the pack when they'd started the journey back toward their vehicles. He wanted to savor the fact that a job had actually gone right for a change. Not just right, but almost freakishly perfect. He was waiting for the other shoe to drop, to be honest. They had actually prevented not just one, but two families from being torn apart. Something he'd never been able to have with his own family. It was all a little overwhelming. Once he was sure he had regained his composure, he sped up his pace a little and fell in line beside Buffy.

"That's what this job should be about," he remarked thoughtfully.

"Very true," Buffy agreed. "How sad is it that happy endings are a rare bonus in this business?"

"They're a bonus in other businesses too," Dean said. "But you usually have to pay extra."

"What?" Buffy asked curiously before taking in the sight of the hunter's leering grin. "Oh," she replied. "You mean that happy ending. I should have known. And here I was thinking you were deep-thought guy."

"I can't afford to have deep thoughts," he said a little sadly. "There's always some bullshit going on these days. A lot of the time… I don't think I'm helping anybody," he admitted.

Buffy was a little surprised to hear Dean say that, because it sounded a whole lot like sharing a feeling. She figured she'd best keep her reply short and sweet, however, because the man didn't seem too comfortable with emotion.

"You helped those kids," she stated simply, "and that counts for a lot."

"Yeah," Dean sighed, smiling a little and rolling the tension from his shoulders. "I guess it was a pretty good day."

"I think it's been a great day," Buffy said smiling.

"You were impaled by an arrow," Dean pointed out dryly.

"I didn't say there weren't some bumps in the road. Like, for instance, that time I tried to KO one of the heavenly hosts."

Dean laughed. "Are you kidding? That was awesome! Definitely one of the high points of the day."

"You're twisted," she teased. "Besides, I'm hoping the best is yet to come."

"Oh really," Dean said, raising his eyebrows.

"Down boy," Buffy said smiling. "I just meant I'm looking forward to us all going out. We should celebrate our big win, have some Mexican food… do a little dancing." Maybe she was thinking about some other goodness, but she didn't have to tell him that.

"I don't dance," Dean stated firmly, "and I think we're going to have to make-do with hospital food tonight."

"Why?"

"Did you get whacked in the head today, too?" he asked incredulously. "Does 'impaled by an arrow' even ring a bell?"

"Oh that," Buffy said, sounding like she may have actually have forgotten. "I don't need a hospital for that. Super healing powers, remember? I'll be sore for a couple of days, but it's really no big. Besides, you already fixed me up."

"A couple days?" Dean scoffed. "Even if I did believe that, you're forgettin' how germy that cave was. I was gonna salt-n-burn that shirt."

"I'm not worried," she replied brightly. "I'm pretty sure that the Powers fully considered germs when they created the Slayer. I mean, have you ever really looked at a vamp nest? The average vampire isn't exactly Martha Stewart. A petri dish could have a field day in one of those places. And I still haven't caught the flesh-eating bacteria."

Dean shook his head, deciding that reasoning with Buffy was a whole lot like reasoning with a Winchester – completely pointless. "You have an answer for everything don't you?" he asked in exasperation.

"Yep. I'm a walking, talking encyclopedia of all things Slayer."

"Fine. But I hope you know you won't be so pretty once the gangrene sets in."

"Hey," Buffy said, giving Dean a light push. "That was uncalled for. I'll be pretty. I might smell a little funky if that happens, but I'll still be pretty. I hope."

XXXXXXXXXX

"Three hours?" Dean exclaimed. "Why the hell do you need three hours?"

"To get ready," Dawn said with a clearly implied 'duh'.

"At least, three hours," Buffy corrected. "We only have one shower."

"Do you realize how long it's been since lunch?" Dean asked with a groan. "Sam, do you believe this crap?"

"It's okay, Dean," his brother answered patiently. "We'll get you a snack."

"That's just freakin' ridiculous," Dean groused as he pulled a scrap of paper from the Impala's glove box and jotted down his cell number. "Here," he said, shoving the paper into Buffy's hand. "Call us when you get ready. Hopefully I won't starve to death before then."

"Jeez," Dawn said. "Are you diabetic or something?"

"He takes food very seriously," Sam replied before Dean could get in his own smart answer.

Buffy searched her pockets for her cell phone so she could program in Dean's number. She kept her head down while she searched, so he couldn't see that she was about to crack up. His cranky act was getting more and more amusing – something that was probably a good indicator that she was falling for him. You had to really like a guy to find his annoying habits endearing. After checking her pockets for the third time she realized it was a lost cause and uttered a deep sigh.

"I lost my phone in the cave," Buffy said sadly. This was getting embarrassing. She just couldn't seem to keep up with a phone.

"How many is that this year?" Dawn asked, her voice dripping with exasperation.

"Only two," Buffy said defensively. "I have extenuating circumstances," she stressed. "It's hard to worry about a phone when you're busy trying not to get eaten."

"Do we need to go back?" Dean asked, hoping he sounded patient. The sad truth was that he would go back if she wanted him to. He hoped that didn't mean he was turning into Sam.

"Hell no," Buffy said quickly. "Dawn has hers. I'll just have to get another one… again."

"So, three hours then?" Dean asked.

"Give or take," Buffy said smiling. "I promise we'll get you some dinner before malnutrition sets in."