TITLE: Summer Daze

AUTHOR: Silence

DISCLAIMER: Joss, Fox, UPN and whoever, own all things Buffy. TNT and them own The Pretender. *Sigh* I wish I did, but I don't. Everyone else is owned by the rightful owners and what not. Kay?

NOTES: First of all, I've had this written out to part 4 (and half of part 5) since like mid summer, posting what I have here, is kind of a hope to get me working on it again. (And yeah, it's working. Kind of. Slowly. Lol)

For anyone who needs/wants to know about Ranma here's a couple of sites:

http://www.furinkan.com/

http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/3433/Ranma/ranma.htm

http://www.wot-club.org.uk/RanmaFAQ/

__________

PART 2

Later that afternoon, Jarod was still looking through books in the shop. Strangely enough Ranma hadn't bothered him once to insist he buy something or get out.

Jarod glanced up to see Ranma sitting behind the counter, arms behind his head, feet propped on the counter, and snoring blissfully. The pretender arched an eyebrow at that and the entrance opened again.

"Hey, Ranma, wake up, I have brought nourishment from beyond."

Ranma's eyes opened and he stared at Xander who was heading towards him, a wicker basket in tow, "A picnic? Gee thanks."

Xander smirked as he pulled out a container and placed it on the counter. "You aren't going on the picnic. I'm just dropping something off for you."

Ranma narrowed his eyes and snatched the basket with lightning speed. He started looking through it, "Uh huh. All this.. man either you eat like dad or you have a date."

"Not a date." Xander said as he grabbed the basket back. "I've been helping Buffy stare at a computer all morning for some research she's doing and I thought she needed a break."

Ranma burst out laughing. "Buffy? Research? That tomboy? She couldn't find her way into a library let alone find a way to turn on computer!"

Xander glared at him. "Hey, I'll have you know we spent plenty of time in libraries."

"Before or after you blew them up?"

Xander cast a glance around the shop and noticed Jarod. He winced. "Ranma, will you keep it down?"

"Why?" Ranma asked. "It's not like no one knows. You SAID the mayor turned into a giant snake. No one's going to deny that."

"This is Sunnydale." Xander whispered. "Everyone lives in denial."

Ranma snorted, "Just like home. What else is new." The phone chose that moment to ring so Ranma picked it up. "Magic Box."

As Ranma was distracted by the phone, Xander wandered over to Jarod a look of concern on his face. He'd seen the books he was looking at and it didn't bode well for the young man. "Good reading?"

Jarod stared at him and gave him a slight smile. "Research." He paused, "The two of you were talking about a Buffy. That wouldn't happen to be Buffy Summers would it?"

Xander narrowed his eyes, "And you would be..?"

Jarod held out his hand, "Professor Taylor."

Xander's eyes widened in recognition and he took his hand. "Oh. Yeah! Nice to meet you." He motioned to the books, "So what are you looking for?"

"Just some things that could be important to some people I know." Jarod replied.

"Ah." Xander said with a nod. He felt strangely nervous around him and decided he'd better make a quick retreat. "Nice meeting you. I've got to pick up Buffy."

Jarod nodded, "Nice to meet you too."

As Xander walked away Ranma called out to him, "Hey, Harris, Spike's back in town."

Jarod watched as Xander tensed up. "Keep him away from here, Ranma."

Ranma nodded, "No problem. The last thing I need is the stench of death around my place."

Jarod leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes in thought. **The mayor changed into a giant snake? What is wrong with this town?**

______________

1:15 PM June 8 The Centre Blue Cove, Delaware

Miss Parker stood in Mr. Lyle's office her face cold and empty. "What do you want?"

Lyle stood up from his desk, "We have a problem."

"Did you eat someone who didn't agree with you?" Parker said snidely.

"No." Lyle said, "Someone's been hacking into our files."

Her eyebrow rose, "Really."

"You wouldn't happen to have any idea who, would you.. sis?"

"Not a clue." She replied.

"I didn't think so." Lyle nodded to himself. "Raines is looking for a scapegoat. It's time to figure out where your loyalties are sis.

Parker turned on her heel and spoke as she left, "Oh, I know exactly where my loyalties go."

As she walked down the halls Sydney joined her, "We found something."

"What?"

"You'd better see this."

_____________

"Oh my god." Miss Parker whispered as she watched the DSA.

"Execution style." Broots said. "Just like.."

"My mother." Parker said as she twisted the ring on her finger. "This is the kid's mother?"

Sydney nodded. "Another unlucky victim of Raines."

Parker shook her head as the DSA turned to static. "Did you find anything else?"

Broots shook his head. "No more DSAs anyway." He pulled out a folder. "I did get this before I got caught." He started talking excitedly, "Apparently the kid didn't have the same gene as Jarod so they deemed it useless. They got rid of it."

"Bastards." Parker murmured as she skimmed it.

"That's not the best part." Broots said. "Well not that there's anything good about this, but anyway.. They didn't just get rid of it. They sent it to NuGenisis."

"Someone adopted it." Sydney added, a wry smile on his face.

"So this kid is still alive?" Parker asked. "Do we have any ideas who adopted it?"

"I'm working on it." Broots said. His voice filled with nervousness, "But I think the Triumverate knows someone's digging."

"They always know someone's digging, Broots." Parker snapped and slapped the folder against his chest hard. "The key is not getting caught." She glared at him. "Now keep digging. I want to know everything about this kid. Where it is, who it is and if it's a god damn transsexual. EVERYTHING."

She stalked off with Broots trailing after her.

Sydney sat down with a thoughtful look on his face. His cell phone rang and he instinctively knew who it was. He put it to his ear and answered, "Sydney."

"Hello, Sydney."

"Hello, Jarod."

Jarod was silent a moment before he spoke, his voice clenched tight, "Why didn't you tell me?"

Sydney sighed inwardly, "I didn't know. Believe me, Jarod, if I had, I would have done something." He paused. "Have you found anything?"

"I'm working on it."

There was a strained uncomfortable silence.

"How are you doing, Jarod?"

"How do you think I'm doing?" His voice was filled with pain, "I'm a father. I've never met my child, I don't even know what they're like. I missed out on 20 years of their life. How the hell am I supposed to feel?"

Sydney let him rant, after all he knew exactly how Jarod felt.

Jarod let out a tired sigh, "I'm sorry. It's... now... I know what you went through."

The phone clicked off. And Sydney was left with a feeling of pain for his protégé.

______________

Meanwhile in Sunnydale, Buffy and Xander were sitting under a tree in her backyard. A blanket was spread out beneath them, various kinds of food scattered around them.

"Do you think we'll have to slay any ants?" Xander asked her.

Buffy frowned in concentration as she poked at the ground with a toothpick. She barely looked up. "Huh?"

Xander watched her curiously and formed a smile. "Nevermind. I see you're already hard at work."

"Work." Buffy mumbled. "Mhm. That's me. Worker girl Buffy. Gotta keep busy or the quiet gets too loud." She stopped her slayage of the picnic vampires and stretched before leaning against the tree.

"Loud quiet. Nope. We can't have that." Xander said. He watched her face as she closed her eyes. "Did you find anything while I was gone?"

Buffy sighed. "Not really. I have no clue what I'm doing." She opened her eyes again, "But right now I don't care. Can we just enjoy the day?"

Xander grinned at her, "Well I have a few ideas-"

Buffy chuckled, "PG rated ideas, Xand."

"Damn, there goes that."

She let out a laugh and smiled, "Don't get cute on me Xander."

"Too late." Xander's grin grew wider, "I'm as cute as they come, Miss Summers."

"Thank you, Xand." Buffy said suddenly.

"For what?"

"For being here." She said softly. She reached over and hugged him tightly. "I don't say it enough.. Thank you."

Xander returned her hug. "You're welcome."

___________

Ranma yawned as he picked at his lunch. It was good, Xander wasn't the worst cook by far, Akane had that title. But Ranma couldn't help but miss Kasumi's cooking sometimes. So intent on wishing for her cooking, he didn't notice the bell as a young woman entered the store.

She was pretty, with longish chestnut hair. She wore a simple pair of jeans and a peasant blouse. A pair of Oakleys sat on her head and she walked over to the counter with a determined look, her small black leather bag swinging at her side. The young woman reached the counter and Ranma barely registered her presence as he ate.

She drummed her fingers on the counter waiting. Still nothing. Finally she made a grab at his food and his hand shot out and smacked her hand away. She glared at Ranma. "You psycho!"

Ranma blinked at her, "Jen. What do YOU want, you crazy tomboy?"

Jen rolled her eyes, "Moron, you called me this morning. My Dagger of Ceres is in. Remember?" She tapped him on the head, "Or did that tiny brain of yours finally dissolve into a pile of goo?"

"Whatever." He shrugged, "I'll go get it."

"You do that." Jen ordered. As he left, she looked around and noticed Jarod at the table. She walked over and started looking over his shoulder. "Those books are in Sumerian."

Jarod looked up to see a girl around Buffy's age hovering beside him. "I know that."

She tapped the cover of another tome. "And this is Babylonian. Pretty harsh reading. You sure you can understand it?"

"As a matter of fact, I can." Jarod gave her a curious look, "Can you?"

With a shrug, Jen replied, "I'm only the best dressed, most knowledgeable, and IN CONTROL, wicca in all of Sunnydale."

"Wicca?" Jarod asked, "You mean the pagan religion?"

"Something like that." Jen tossed her hair over a shoulder and picked up one of his books and began flipping through it. "Hey, Ranma told me he didn't have this book in stock. Why that little son of a-"

"Stop hassling my customers you psycho witch." Ranma called out as he headed for the counter.

Jen suck her tongue out at him, "I can hassle who I want." She tossed the book back at Jarod's table and walked over to Ranma, "I'm your best customer."

Ranma handed her the dagger as he began hitting buttons on the cash register, "You realize this is $500."

"What's your point, oh mighty half a man?"

"I had that fixed." Ranma growled at her, "So how do you afford it?"

Jen rolled her eyes, "I sell term papers on campus." She handed him a credit card, "Does it matter how I afford it? You aren't my mother." She glanced once more at Jarod as Ranma worked, "Now HE, is a hottie."

"Oh wonderful, now you not only hassle my customers, you drool over them." Ranma muttered and handed her the credit card and dagger.

Jen slipped the card into her bag along with the dagger. "Are you sure that's not your own drool, Saotome?"

"Over you?" Ranma snorted, "You wish."

"I never implied who you were drooling for." Jen said as she walked away, "Ciao girlfriend."

Ranma frowned, "What the heck was that supposed to mean?!"