Author's note: SteveKratz brought up something I should mention (Thanks for the review, too, you and others.). My plan isn't to go much farther with the group/s talking things out. The plan was to make clear that how the Scoobies handled things was highly dysfunctional and not the way things work in every group. The action's going to be picking up coming up so there won't be time for our folks to do too much touchy-feely communicating.

My desire when I starting this work was to bring a little more "reality" and less angst-filled, straw man attacking, to a great foundation. It always struck me that many characters were clownishly overblown (hard not to do I'd imagine) and I wanted to put these great characters in a more realistic setting. I appreciate y'all coming along with me.

—

Wendell and his family, the four he'd called, and Derek went into the kitchen to talk. Derek passed keys to Angel, Faith, and Giles. He reached into his pocket and gave Wes his truck keys.

"After we've finished talking, you four figure out which direction you'll start in. There are maps in the drawer over there," Derek said, pointing to a drawer across the room, "so get a good idea. Don't write anything down, don't make copies of anything. Be as creative as you can. Change your appearance if you want, do whatever you can think of to throw someone off your trail, double back on yourselves. Check your mirrors. If you even suspect you're being tailed, take the appropriate steps to lose them. Fight only if you're provoked. Keep your heads down but your eyes up. All cash transactions from now until this is over; credit cards leave a trail. Let's plan on meeting, just the five of us, at the Espresso Pump one month from now, at 9:00PM."

Each person nodded, and Josie asked a question. "What about you? Where are you going?"

Derek smiled. "You don't need to know the where, but just know that I'll be safe. I'm heading to try to find some help with this. The less you know the better, Josie. I'm not just winging this." This seemed to keep her calm, for now, at least.

Wendell chimed in. "Josie, Derek's going to spend the morning with us, have lunch, then leave, so you'll have some time together before he goes."

Josie smiled, and the others chuckled a little bit. Faith had one question. "D, what about our cover stories?"

"What about 'em? I'd say you better come up with one, or better yet, come up with a couple and get your stories straight. If I don't know the stories then I can't give 'em up."

Having finished the final preps for his people, Derek got everyone back together into the living room. "Alright, partner up and snag a vehicle. I want to be out of here in ten minutes. You leaders, brief your people as you get on the road. Stagger your departure times by about fifteen minutes."

People began moving and getting together according to the pairs Derek had chosen. Bags were packed, goodbyes were said, and each group took off according to plan. Left by themselves, Derek, Wendell, and his family finished cleaning up the food and plates.

"Derek, the boys will come over and sanitize this place once you're gone. Just relax before the trip."

Derek smiled and nodded, but he couldn't help but have a few butterflies in his stomach. He was relaxed, but he couldn't help but be a bit concerned about how the conversation would go once he arrived in L.A. and found his intended target.

—

Xander and Faith were the first pair to leave Derek's property. They had decided to develop the cover of newly graduated high schoolers taking a cross country road trip. Not too original, but it seemed to work for starters. Giles and Joyce had chosen the "college professors on sabbatical" cover, Wes and Willow were brother and sister, and Angel and Buffy were newlyweds; Xander smiled at the thought of each of them trying to play their respective roles, should the need arise.

As they'd looked through the bags Wendell had given them, they saw the thoroughness with which Derek and Wendell operated. They had food, money, and weapons to get them back to Sunnydale. They figured they could get clothes along the way if they needed them. Faith had briefed Xander about what Derek had told them, including the meeting that was scheduled at the Espresso Pump.

"Faith, what do you think about this plan? It seems weird to split up and go in separate directions."

Faith looked over as she drove. "Well, think of it this way. It's a whole lot harder to find two people than find eight or more, right? If we were holing up at D's place, then you'd be right. We'd have to stand together and fight. But on the road, we'd need at the very least an SUV or RV, and at most a convoy of cars. Nah, D's right on this one, we've gotta split up to make it back to Sunny D."

Xander took that in for a few moments. So much of what happened in the last few days had simply overwhelmed him, so it was hard to focus on any one particular thing. When he considered what Faith had said about Derek's plan, he had to admit that it made sense.

"Yeah, you've got a good point. What do you think about the pairings? I mean, no one has it as good as you do, of course, but other than that?"

Faith smiled. "Modest much? They aren't bad; Derek made the best of a bad hand, I think. Putting Buffy and Angel together made sense, same with Giles and Joyce. I wouldn't have waited ten seconds before I knocked Willow out; sorry, but that's oil and water. So what choice did he have, really? I don't think Derek, as much patience as the man has, and trust me, he had the patience of Job with me last year, could handle Willow's nagging and bitching about the whole preacher thing. It'd be a big distraction, and a distracted fighter is a dead fighter."

"You're right, I think. Willow can be like a dog with a bone sometimes. Wesley's probably the best one to deal with her moods. Any word about where Derek was headed?"

"Nope, he didn't say. Just that he was going to try to rustle up some help for us."

The two lapsed into a comfortable silence for the next few hours. They'd decided beforehand to drive for a few hours, sticking to the backroads, stopping only to gas up. They'd take turns driving, to minimize the exposure to the public. Their direction was generally south, working back to Sunnydale gradually as the map showed them that the roads would allow.

—

Derek sat at Wendell's kitchen table, sipping a cup of coffee and listening to Josie go on about how he shouldn't be going anywhere by himself.

"Listen, Josie, I'm only going from here to L.A. alone. I'm about 99% sure that I'll be heading to Sunnydale with someone."

"Who? Who do you know in Los Angeles, Derek?" Josie wouldn't let it go, and Derek decided that it couldn't hurt to share some of this thoughts.

"Josie, I'm going to find my wife's sister. She lives in L.A. and it's been too long since we've spent any time together. We all used to be really close and when I joined the Legion I didn't spend as much time with her as I would have liked. She's a great woman and I think that now's a good time to reconnect and see if she's up to help us out. She's a lot like my wife, strong and smart."

The mention of Derek's past brought Josie up short a bit, and calmed her down some. "Oh. I didn't mean to pry into..."

"No problem, Josie. I don't mind talking about it, I just didn't want to put you in a tough spot in case anyone came by asking questions."

Wendell spoke up for the first time in the conversation. "We'll make sure no one finds out anything, Derek. Josie knows how to keep a secret, right, sweetheart?" He looked over to Josie as though his question was a statement.

"Yes, daddy," Josie said, smiling sweetly. There must have been an inside joke there but Derek didn't pry.

Lois walked over to the table and sat down with a glass of water. "Derek, why do you think that your sister-in-law can or will help you with this?"

Derek smiled as he answered. "I just have a feeling she'll want to help out, once she knows the score. She's never liked bullies, and I know she has a clear sense of good versus evil. She's not without skills, too."

"Skills?" Wendell smiled at the vague nature of Derek's answer.

"Yeah, skills. Not as good as my skill set but she'll get the job done. She and her sisters were great shots and good in a fight. Their daddy was a Vietnam vet and a woodsman; he wouldn't have dainty girls that needed a man to take care of them so he taught 'em all that stuff."

"What's she doing out in L.A. then? I'd have figured she'd be out in a place like this."

Derek smiled again. "Work. She got a pretty good job a few years back and has made some good career choices, so she's kind of stuck there, at least until I show up with a tall tale of demons and vampires and, hopefully, pull her away from the job."