Title: The Scooby Gang 3/5
Disclaimer: If you recognize the name, it belongs to Joss
Whedon, his allies, Warner Brothers, Cartoon Network, or
Hanna-Barbera...
Spoiler: None


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Before anyone could respond, a cold chill ran through
the room. An eerie voice resonated through the building.
"Leave now. This is your only warning!"

The young people all turned as one to look at the
source of the voice.

"What?" asked Spike. "I just fixed that bloody air
conditioner. May have fixed it too well. Can't turn it
off. It's going to get cold in here, so if you can't take
the chill, get out. Can't say I never warned you."

Xander stepped up to the blond vamp and grabbed the
megaphone out of his hands. "Spike! What the hell are
you doing with this?"

"Found it behind some boxes up there," he answered,
pointing to the loft area. "Whoa! Nice look, Slayer."
He was the only one who didn't know he was talking to
Buffy's look alike cousin.

"Excuse me?" Daphne looked behind herself to see if
Buffy had returned.

It dawned on Spike that it wasn't his secret mate that
he was talking to. "Bloody hell! You- you're Daphne!
a-and Velma! And Fred? Fred! The real bleeding Scooby
gang! I watch your show all the time. Where's Scooby?
And Shaggy for that matter?"

"Spike, shut up. You're acting like some silly
teenager."

Spike whirled around to face Dawn. "Dawn, it's Mystery
Inc! We have real life celebrities here." He stopped for
a second, as though he just realized something. "Hey..."

Everyone watched as he grabbed a handful of Daphne's
hair and pulled. The moment it caused her pain, Spike let
go and grabbed his own head. "Christ! I was just
checking! It's not like I was going to feed on her."

Daphne reached up to smooth down her hair. "It's
alright, I guess. I've never been molested by a vampire."

The vampire of topic grinned. "I can show you
molesting. Might be fun."

Fred stepped between the two. "No thank you, sir. She
doesn't need to be molested by you. I mean, she doesn't
need to be molested by anybody. I don't think molest is
the word we should be using. I think...um..."

"Fondled," Velma said.

"Fondled," Fred confirmed.

Xander cleared his throat. "No molesting, no fondling,
no groping, no nothing. Look guys, it's time to close up.
I've got everything put away. You ready to go ?"

"We're ready. Dawn, you can ride up front and show us
how to get to your house."

Dawn was out the door before anyone could say boo.
Minutes later, the van was full. Anya, Shaggy, Scooby,
and Roxy had returned just as Xander locked the shop door
behind him.

At the Summer's house, Dawn showed everyone where they
would be sleeping. Daphne and Velma were getting settled
into Willow's room when Buffy walked in.

"Buffy, are you sure Willow doesn't mind us sleeping in
here?"

"It's ok, Velma. She can sleep with me while you're
here. Listen, I want to tell you guys I'm sorry. I
shouldn't have blown up like that earlier. It's not your
fault, Daphne, that they picked you instead of me. I
really wanted to be part of Mystery, Inc. They could only
choose one. You look more like the original Daphne. I
could've colored my hair to look like that, but red just
isn't my color. Anyway, I'm over it. I think. So, if
you guys want to fill me in on why you're here, we can
give you some help."

Velma spoke before Daphne could open her mouth.
"Buffy, can you do us a favor? We don't want the world to
know that she's not the first Daphne. How would it look
if everyone knew that we lost Daphne to one of those
spooks we always run into?"

"Oh. Makes sense. I guess."

"We were lucky to run into you and your cousin when we
did. Jenkies, the resemblance between you guys and Daphne
One was incredible. I don't know what we would have done
if we hadn't met you. How could we have explained how we
lost her? Thank goodness we bumped into you when we did."

Daphne, or Daphne Two (we'll just call her Daphne to
avoid confusion), gave Buffy a hug. "I'm glad you aren't
mad at me anymore."

Buffy returned the embrace. "Me, too. So, tell me why
you guys are here."

"I can answer that."

The female trio turned to see Fred enter.

"We got an invitation to visit the Ancient Master
Journals before they went public with them. When we got
to the museum in Pasadena, the Journals were gone and Mr
Rendrop was missing."

"Who's Mr Rendrop?" the slayer asked.

"He's the caretaker of the books," Daphne offered.

Fred continued. "We did some investigating and
discovered that Sunnydale was the last place he was seen."

"Ok. So, we need to find Mr Rendrop?"

"That's about it."

"Can it wait until tomorrow morning? It's getting
late, and you really don't want to be roaming around here
at night."

"Oh, it's ok. We aren't afraid of the dark."

"Um, neither are the vampires."

Fred laughed. "You believe in vampires?"

Spike walked in just about that point. "You don't
believe in vampires, mate? With all the monsters and
ghouls you run into, you don't believe in vampires?"

"No. It always turns out that the spooks we find are
really just the so called bad guy trying to get rich
quick."

Spike smiled. "Try this on, then."

Mystery, Inc gasped as Spike's face transformed into
his demonic persona and back again.

Daphne reached out and touched Spike's face. "Wow,
cool. So there are vampires!"

Fred went weak in the knees. "I guess that means
monsters are real, too."

Buffy just sighed. "Dinner'll be ready in a few
minutes. I'll meet you guys downstairs."

When she entered her bedroom, Willow was waiting.
"Buffy? Can I ask you a question?"

"Yeah."

"I was walking by my room. I wasn't eavesdropping,
really, but I heard something you guys said. What
happened to the first Daphne? The real Daphne?"

"Don't ask Willow. Don't ask."

Back in Willow's bedroom, three members of Mystery, Inc
were talking to Spike.

"You were all talking about me being a vampire earlier.
Remember? Daphne said 'I've never been molested by a
vampire before.'"

"Well, yeah," Fred explained, "but we just never
thought you were a REAL vampire. We run into gothic types
who call themselves vampires and all other sorts who call
themselves vampires. Even met one once who actually tried
to bite my neck. But I never thought there were REAL
vampires, the monster type."

"You have now, Sunshine, you have now. Don't worry
though, the bleeding US government has seen to it that I
can't hurt anyone anymore."

Spike explained his chip while in the other room, Buffy
continued to fend off Willow's questions...