A/n: I'd like to thank everybody for all the kind words! If I'd known it was going to be this popular, I wouldn't have posted the first part without some idea of where I was going with it. But I am thinking about it and writing when I can. Here's a short part to whet your appetites, and you have my word I'll be much more diligent in the future!



"I'd like to see you try," Buffy smirked at him and then said, "C'mon, we were walking you to your van."

Half a block away inspiration struck Fawkes and he grabbed his friend's arm. "Hold up a sec, Hobbes." They dropped back a few steps and Darien continued in a low voice. "Maybe the mission's not a total bust after all. What if that agent was down here investigating vampires?"

"Don't be ridiculous Fawkes, the FBI has no interest in va...va..."

"Vampires," Darien offered.

"Thanks."

"Why not?"

"Because they're not real." Darien raised an eyebrow. "Well up to fifteen minutes ago they weren't real," Hobbes grumbled. "Besides what would the Bureau care about...about...you know what?"

"I've heard rumors about a super-secret department in the FBI that investigates the unexplainable. This would be right up their alley."

"Urban myth my friend. Doesn't exist. Don't believe the ramblings of Internet conspiracy junkies, still living in their mothers' basements, who insist on the existence of alien life just to make theirs less pathetic."

"How can you be sure?"

"I am. Trust me."

"Well fine, but why don't you just ask them?"

"Ask them what?"

"If they've seen Mulder. What would it hurt?"

"What would it hurt?" Hobbes echoed.

"What would it hurt?" Darien pressed the point.

Hobbes shook his head in disgust as he reached into his jacket for the missing agent's photo. "You know my friend half an hour ago you couldn't wait to get out of this burg. The only reason you're so gung-ho to pursue the case now is because you think the blonde's hot."

"Who, Buffy?"

"Yes, *Buffy*," Hobbes sneered.

Darien smiled. "She is kind of cute isn't she?"

"Way out of your league partner. She's practically still in diapers."

"Nah, she's in college. Gotta be at least 19 or 20."

"Well I've got two words for you: 'Death Wish'."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"That means you put the wrong moves on her and you're likely to end up with a wooden stick growing out of your chest."

"She's not like that."

"How can you be so sure? Didn't you see what she did to those...those..."

"Vampires, and that was different. Now come on they're waiting for us."

Buffy, Willow, and Xander were standing at the end of the block as they jogged up to them. "I thought you were in a hurry to get home?" Buffy asked.

"Ah we were, but we were just wondering if you'd ever seen this man?" Fawkes asked her as Hobbes held out the photo to each one, letting them get a good look.

After a few seconds of contemplation, Willow exclaimed, "Ooh yeah! I saw him just the other day."

"Where?" Hobbes asked.

"At the University library."

"Do you know what he was looking at?"

"Um, old city plans I think. There's a whole section dedicated to Sunnydale's diverse history. There's actually a pretty good biography of the founder and..."

"Will, let's save that for another day, 'kay?" Xander said softly, with a hand on her shoulder.

"Oh yeah, sorry about that."

"That's okay," Fawkes said, smiling at her. "Do you have any idea where he may have gone afterwards?"

"Uh, no. Sorry." She shrugged.

"I'm calling the Official," Hobbes announced, pulling out his cell phone.

"Looks like we're going to be around for a little longer," Darien said to Buffy. "Know any good places to stay that won't be crawling with creatures of the night out to suck our blood?"

"You should be pretty safe indoors..." she started to say, when Hobbes gave a yell of frustration.

"Damn thing won't work at all. Battery's fully charged and," he raised his head to look heavenward, "nothing around to block the signal, but it's completely dead."

"That's just the Hellmouth. Cell phones never work around here," Buffy explained.

"Hellmouth?" Darien and Hobbes said in unison.

"Center of great mystical energy, portal to another dimension - you know the same old stuff."

"Where would this thing be by chance?" Hobbes ventured to ask.

"You're standing over it," Xander supplied with a smile.

As one, they both took a step backwards, wearing twin expressions of horror.

"Actually," Buffy corrected, giving her friend a look, "it's centered under the high school, just over there," she pointed towards the west. "But it's been sealed off, not that it doesn't still give off an aura of evil that attracts the baddies from all over."

"Yeah," Xander grinned. "Welcome to Sunnydale, Club Med for Demons."

"De...De...Demons?" Hobbes sputtered. "You're telling me that in addition to va...va..."

"Vampires," Fawkes sighed.

"Right. And you got demons as well? Anything else we should know about?"

"Well my friend," Xander replied, patting the older man on the back, "We got bug ladies, lizard boys, and the occasional walking dead."

"This being different from the vampires?" Fawkes inquired.

"Sure, vampires suck the blood, zombies eat the flesh."

"Ah, zombies. How silly of me." He turned to Buffy. "Speaking of eating, I'm starving. Any good places to catch a bite around here?"

"Look why don't you just come back to my place? We've got a phone you can use, food, and you can crash on the living room floor."

Darien smiled wolfishly. "Sounds like heaven."

"Down boy," she said firmly. "My mom's home."



"Mom!" Buffy called out as she and the agents entered the residence. Xander and Willow had already gone home for the evening, with promises of meeting up the following day.

"Oh hello Buffy," Joyce Summers said cheerily as she came out of the kitchen wiping her hands on a dishtowel. "You're home early." She stopped as she saw the two men. "What do you have here?" she inquired with a small smile.

"Mom, I'd like to introduce Darien Fawkes and..." Buffy started, but Hobbes stepped in front of her with hand outstretched.

"Bobby Hobbes, ma'am," he said with a slick expression and shook her hand eagerly. "And can I just say what a pleasure it is to meet you. The loveliness of your daughter didn't prepare me for just how delectable you are." He placed the other hand on her shoulder.

Buffy's expression of horror was matched only by Fawkes' look of glee. "Ahem," she said loudly. "The fondling of my mother can cease and desist now."

The two adults separated with red-faced looks. "So what do you gentlemen do?" Joyce asked as she self-consciously pushed a lock of hair behind her ear.

"We're with the government," Hobbes replied grandly.

"The government," Joyce repeated in awe. "That must be dangerous work."

"Oh it is. Our lives are on the line everyday."

"Like how I'm going to end it in about two seconds if you don't stop hitting on my mother," Buffy said through gritted teeth as she pulled Hobbes into the living room.

"Oh Buffy, he didn't mean anything by it. Are you staying for dinner, Mr..Fawkes, is it?"

"Sure, yeah, and it's just Darien. Thanks a lot, Mrs. Summers."

"You can just call me Joyce," she replied with a smile.

A small cry of pain was heard in the other room, and then Buffy reappeared, pretending to brush dirt from her palms. "Hey Mom, these guys are spending the night, okay?"

"Really? Is there a run on hotels?"

"I'm helping them with something," Buffy said, lowering her voice and arching an eyebrow to get her point across.

"We won't be any trouble, I promise," Darien said politely. "And we'd really appreciate it."

"Yeah," Hobbes said as he emerged from the living room, rubbing his upper arm. "Cause, it's either here or we sleep in the van."

"Well, I can't have that. Make yourselves comfortable. I've got homemade chili on the stove. We'll be eating in about fifteen minutes, all right?"

"Sounds perfect. Thanks Mom," Buffy said with a smile and Joyce went back to the kitchen. "C'mon you two. I'll grab some blankets and pillows. You can crash in here," she indicated the living room and then disappeared to the linen closet.

Hobbes and Fawkes wandered into the living room and looked around until she returned, arms full. She set the bedding down on the end of the couch. "So, uh, about that phone?" Hobbes asked hesitantly.

"Right in there," she pointed to an alcove around the corner. When he was gone she faced Darien. "So spill."

"Excuse me?" he asked with a shocked expression.

"The thing you did," she wiggled her fingers up and down her body, "you know with disappearing and all."

"Ooooh, that," he replied, and dropped down into a comfy chair. She perched on the edge of the couch. "It's a gland."

"A gland?" she echoed skeptically.

"Yep." He tapped himself on the head, at the base of the skull. "A scientifically engineered gland that secretes a compound called Quicksilver. It bends light and makes me appear invisible."

"That's all?" She wrinkled her nose.

"All? What were you expecting?"

"I dunno. Something magick or even demony. Science is just so...blah." She shrugged. "So you can do it at will?"

"Pretty much. It also works as a fear response involuntarily."

"How does one go about getting this special gland installed?"

"Well, you see, I was in jail," he began and told her the story of how the team of government-funded scientists headed up by his brother, Kevin, needed a human experiment and he was between a rock and a hard place. Then he told her how his brother's colleague betrayed them, resulting in the death of the entire team, including Kevin.

"Wow," she said and sat back to process the information.

"That isn't even the worst part," he continued. "That SOB, Renaud, altered the gland without Kevin's knowledge, so now the Quicksilver builds up in my system until I turn psychotic if I don't receive a shot of Counteragent, and the only people who have the formula are the government, so basically I've become their pet agent for as long as I've got this thing in my head."

"Telling tales out of school, my friend," Bobby Hobbes quipped as he came back into the room.

"She's the Slayer, Hobbes, I don't think she's going to run to the tabloids."

"Whatever," he returned as he took another chair. "Spoke with the Official and gave him the story."

"And?"

"And we're out of here tomorrow. The Feebs are sending another agent in; she should be flying in in the morning. We're supposed to meet her at the airport and fill her in on all the pertinent data before hustling back home."

"You're kidding."

"Nope."

Fawkes looked at Buffy and then at Hobbes. "You know that old van didn't sound so good on the way down," he said nonchalantly.

Hobbes nodded sagely. "Carburetor I'd say. Or maybe the fan belt."

"So if we couldn't meet the FBI lady..."

"And we were stuck around here with nothing to do, except maybe doing some snooping of our own..."

"We couldn't really be held responsible," Fawkes finished and both men smiled, then turned to Buffy.

"Hey, I'm always up to bucking authority," she said with a shrug.