Dawn leaned up against the wall, panting.
"Think we lost them?" She asked.
"NO!" Emma squeaked as a burly man in black leather thundered toward them. The girls started to run again. Dawn was starting to sound winded, and Emma began wondering why she herself didn't seem to feel tired.
*Must be adrenaline and a good physical fitness program.*
A taxi skidded to a stop in front of the two young girls who suddenly dashed out into the middle of downtown London traffic. The driver slammed on the horn.
"Sorry! " Emma called to him. "Excuse me, pardon me, sorry!" as she pushed her way through the crowds of stunned commuters and shoppers.
"Em? I can't -" Dawn cried as her breath came in asthmatic gasps. Emma knew they had to stop running. She stopped, and turned around to face the man who loomed over them.
"You're not a very nice little girl, to do this to your father. He only wants what's best for you."
"I'm not going back and you can't make me!" Emma yelled.
He reached out to grab her and Emma reacted on what she later decided must have been instinct. She blocked his arm, and brought up her knee to slam it into his groin. Then she spun around on one foot and gave him the same roundhouse kick she'd seen Faith use that night outside the club.
He sank to the pavement, gasping in pain.
"What did you do?" Dawn gaped.
"I-I don't know-som-something just took-took over!"
"I think you broke some stuff."
"Are you alright?" Em asked the man with concern.
"No!" He growled.
"We'll call you an ambulance." She decided as she fished around in her pockets for some change. "I didn't mean to hurt you, I just don't want to go back."
"Wow." said Dawn as they walked away after their pursuor was loaded into an ambulance. "That was like-slayer stuff!"
"I can't do that-I'm not a slayer, I'm just a normal girl." Emma insisted. "What happened back there was really scary."
******
"And you're saying that there were two girls alone in the room while you were gone?" The police officer asked. He was industriously scribbling on a yellow legal pad.
"Yes, " said Wesley. "Our little sisters (gesturing at himself and Buffy). One is seventeen and the other is 14. They aren't the types to sneak out."
"Can you give us some kind of description?"
"The seventeen year old is about 100 pounds, very dark hair and blue eyes, olive skin tone. The fourteen year old is also thin, with extremely long light brown hair, blue eyes and freckles."
"She might be wearing a red cardigan and tan cargo pants." Buffy interjected worriedly. "Mom's gonna flip!" She muttered to herself.
The officer bent down to examine the door.
"It looks as though someone picked the lock, presumably our friend here on the floor. " He looked to his partner for confirmation.
"And the girls did a wonderful job of defending themselves - unless," and they all moved aside to make way for the paramedic, "he had an accomplice who may have taken them."
"Em and Dawn would have called the police, I KNOW they would have." Buffy fretted.
Gunn was slowly and silently punching the fist of his right hand into the open palm of his left.
"Well, I say we go find the slimebag who we know did this and put iz head through the wall!" Faith made a few punching motions in the air.
"I thought you were the new and improved Mature Faith." Cordy smirked.
"Not that mature." Faith said darkly.
"You believe you know who did this?" The officer asked.
"My father is..." Wesley found the words difficult to say after all these years.
"His father is kinda abusive and controlling." Cordy explained. "Em keeps running away from home and her daddy keeps dragging her back."
"He has - a lot of power and influence, and he uses it to keep track of his children."
"Gives new meaning to the phrase *Oxford Don*" Angel mumbled.
"We'll have a bulletin put out, and we'll contact you if anything should come up." said the officer.
******
A Few Hours Later
Richard Wyndham-Pryce handed the phone back to the maid.
"One of our men, Hobbs, was brought to hospital last night." He told his wife, who was deep into reading In Style magazine as she sunned herself in front of the window.
"Oh dear, is he all right?" Lauren asked as she politely tried to place the name. "Was he important?"
"Not in the grand scheme of things, no." Richard sighed. "He was admitted with four broken ribs and a-er-groin injury. "
"Our daughter isn't capable of breaking a man's ribs and-ah-incapacitating him."
Richard was quiet. His wife looked up from her magazine and stared at him.
"Actually - she is." He admitted, looking slightly sheepish and contrite which was an expression seldom seen on his face.
"She's my daughter too, what have you not told me?"
"There was a reason why Emma's training program was as intense as I made it, why I drive her as hard as I do. She has to be ready if she is ever called."
"Called?" Lauren struggled to understand.
"The Watcher's Council is a tradition in my family - Watchers are destined. I had expected my children to become Watchers. Susan and I had only boys, and we believed that we would not have more children, therefore I thought this situation could never arise."
Light was beginning to dawn in Lauren's mind.
"We met, darling, and when Emma was born I realized what she was - what she was destined to be. "Seeing the angry look on his wife's face, he continued quickly. "It's all very random, there is no choice in the matter, for her or for us."
******
"Are you SURE you're not a slayer?" Dawn pestered as she and Emma walked down the street.
"I'm sure." Emma said. "A slayer has the strength of ten men, and I don't even have the strength of one very strong girl."
"You could if you tried. I bet you could. I bet you five - uh - pounds or something - that you can't do something slayery. Go on, try!"
"You don't have five pounds." Emma reminded her.
"So, do it just to see if you can." The younger girl challenged.
"I can't." said Emma.
"Why not?"
Two Watchers were coming towards them, determined looks on their faces.
"Because we have to start running again."
"I think you're a slayer." said Dawn as they ran. "I think you only THINK you're not strong, and I think your dad wants you to believe that so he can control you."
"Dawn?"
"Yeah?"
"Can we not talk about this right now?"
******
"Darla?" Angel asked quietly. "Can you stay with Buffy and Spike while they look for Dawn? Wes and Cordy and Faith are going to take the train to the country house in case they make it there - Gunn and I are going to see if we can get Nabbit's plane back."
"Fine." Darla grumbled. "But Muffy better not push me too far."
"Please try to be nice to her - if you can't - at least make an attempt to be civil? We're all on the same side now."
"To tell you the truth, Angel, I don't know what side anyone's on anymore."
A few minutes later, Angel and Gunn had driven away in the rental car, and Wesley was seated uncomfortably in between Faith and Cordelia on the train. Cordelia was holding his hand posssesively and looking daggers at Faith.
Spike held out two crooked elbows.
"Shall we, ladies?"
Instead of his usual one smack, this time he got two.
Gunn saw Angel watching the trio.
"That bother you?" He asked. "Both your exes?"
"Freaks me out a little." Angel admitted. "Buffy and Darla, together in the same place? It's almost like some kind of nightmare. I hope they don't suddenly bond and start comparing notes. Speaking of girlfriends - how are you holding up?"
"Huh?" The look of shock on Gunn's face was almost comical. Angel tapped his nose.
"At the hospital. When you came in, you hadn't showered yet. She did, but you didn't. I was sure your normal scent isn't Vanilla."
"Oh yeah, your super smell thing. Kinda unnervin' to know you can do that. Yeah, I was actually with Faith on the side of findin' that bastard and beatin' him down."
"Emma wouldn't like that."
"I know." Gunn agreed. "Which is why I haven't done it yet."
******
"So what's the plan?" Darla asked. "I mean, if either of you actually has one. Or we could walk around in a circle."
"Sounds good to me." said Spike.
"Yet another graduate of Angel's University of Dumb Planning." Buffy groused. "How big is this city again?"
"LOOK!" Spike cried. "There they are!" Emma and Dawn were about 200 feet away, holding hands and standing in the middle of the sidewalk, looking terrified. "Nibblin!" He shouted, waving his arms.
The girls ran toward them.
"Are you okay?" Buffy asked.
"We're fine. " said Dawn. "Emma did this cool fighting thing that saved us from the Watchers."
Emma blushed.
"Really, it wasn't that big."
Tires screeched on the pavement as a large white van came out of nowhere and skidded to a halt. The back doors flew open and a group of Special Ops men jumped out. One of them grabbed Emma and started dragging her back to the vehicle. Another one hit Darla with a black jack, knocking her down. He grabbed her by the hair and hauled her back to her feet. Darla lashed out, but they surrounded her and tried to hold her down while one of them pulled a syringe from his pocket. Spike screamed and launched himself at them, only to fall to the ground clutching his head. Buffy ran to him, as the men began to beat him with bats and chains. She felt her stitches rip open and collapsed as she reached him. Through a haze of red, Buffy saw Darla slump in the arms of her attackers, and saw both Spike and Darla thrown into the back of the truck. Then she felt herself lifted up and placed inside. Dawn and Emma were marched around to the front and shoved into the frontseat.
******
"Did you know that *Cotswolds* is derived from the word for the stone sheep shelters or *cots* plus the word *wold* for rolling hills? That tells us about a time in the past when sheep were the mainstay of the economy. Geologically they were created from a large block of oolitic tilting up at its western end to form today's escarpment, with a gentle slope tilting to the east." Wesley explained as the train chug a chugged along.
"Oh, Lord, take me now!" Faith groaned, sliding down in her seat.
"Historically the land has been farmed for thousands of years. Flint arrowheads from the hunter gatherers of 6000 years ago have been found. Stone and Bronze age forts, the work of Neolithic man around 35, 00 BC. Am I boring you?"
"No, sweety." Cordy lied. "It's facinating."
"I think I know too much for my own good."
"You can say that again." said Faith. Seeing the hurt look on his face - "I - uh - didn't mean that the way it sounded. At all. Really."
"You don't have to be fake, Faith." Wesley said quietly. "I want you to be honest with me."
"Sorry." Faith smiled sheepishly. Wesley smiled back, relieved.
When they got to the house, Rogers greeted them with some suprise.
"Didn't expect you back so soon, Sir."
"We're just stopping on our way to meet some friends, we'll only be stopping a day or two. By the way, Rogers, has my sister arrived yet?"
"Didn't know she was supposed to be visiting."
"Thank you, Rogers."
"Shall I take your bags up to your rooms?" Wesley asked Faith and Cordelia. He knew they would never want to share.
"Aren't I going to be sharing with you?" Cordy asked coyly. Wesley's cheeks turned pink.
"Ah - um - uh - I hadn't -"
*Poor guy.* Cordy thought to herself. *You'd almost think it never entered his mind.*
Faith snickered and reached for the suitcases.
"Are you sure?" Wesley whispered to Cordelia. There was serious nervousness and aprehension in his eyes.
"Never been surer." Cordy whispered back, giving his hand an encouraging squeeze.
Go to Part 11a
