"Oh my God." Peggy gasped when she walked into Declan's office. "What happened?"

Declan looked up to see his dark haired friend standing in the doorway, her hand to her mouth, taking in the chaos. "Hey Peg! Down here."

Peggy looked down to find Declan crushed under his large desk with a strange girl lying on top of him, also obstructed by the piece of wood. "Declan, what happened? Are you ok?"

Declan moved slightly, arousing Hope from an awkward sleep. She moaned a little and tried to move, wincing when she found that it was impossible. Declan sighed and looked up at his friend. "Would you be able to get this desk of us? It's sort of cramping our style."

Peggy nodded, kneeling down beside her friend. "Are you hurt?"

Declan shook his head, but contradicted himself with a wince. "Fine. Just a bit bruised I think. Not sure about her though." He nodded towards Hope who lay passed out on top of him, her breathing in time with his.

"Who's this?"

"Hope Andrews." Declan explained, trying to move. "Former student of mine."

Peggy nodded. "Ok. Just don't move. I don't want you doing any more damage."

"The only damage around here is to my lovely filing system." Declan responded, nudging Hope a little to try and wake her up.

"Yeah, well, maybe this will give you a push in the right direction."

Declan raised his eyebrows. "Hey! I'm organised. It may not look that way, but I know where everything is."

This time it was Peggy's turn to raise her eyebrows. "Ok, well, you stay here and I'll get someone to help get this desk off." Peggy smiled reassuringly, getting up from the ground and making her way towards the door. A dark headed teen appeared in front of her, making her jump. He smiled a hello before his large brown eyes widened when he saw the mess that was Declans office.

"Wow! What happened in here?"

"There was an accident." Peggy explained, looking around the room.

"Some accident."

"Xander?" Hope mumbled, recognising her friends voice.

"Hope? Where the heck are you?"

Declan raised his hand and pointed to the lass on his belly. "Down here."

Xander rushed past Peggy, jumping over books and papers that littered the floor and kneeled beside the two parties. He nodded courteously at Declan before laying his eyes on his Australian friend, sprawled on top of the professor.

"What the hell happened Hope? Are you ok? Is the baby ok?"

Hope shifted her head so she could look at Xander and smiled. "I'm ok. Why don't you be a doll and help Declans friend get this desk off our arses."

"It's Peggy." The doctor informed, walking back over to the desk. "Xander, why don't you get on that end of the desk and pull it up." Peggy ordered grabbing one side herself and waiting for Xander to make his way around and grab the other. On the count of three, the desk was lifted from the captives and with a wince and a groan, they were free.

Hope let out a long breath and rolled off Declan onto the cold floorboards. "Thank god. No offence, but you were starting to get a bit uncomfortable."

Declan sat up and rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. "None taken."

"I think we should take you in for an x-ray. Or at least a once over."

Declan shook his head and placed his glasses firmly back on his nose. "I'm fine."

Peggy shook her black curls. "I insist. You too Hope."

Hope responded with a wince as she tried to sit up. "I'll be good in a minute."

"No buts with you. What is it with you Australians?" Xander quipped, smiling down at his friend and holding out a hand.

Hope grabbed it firmly and pulled her large frame to her feet. "What is it with you Americans huh? Always so pushy." She smiled and pushed her glasses back into her hair. "I'm fine, really. Declan had a bigger knock than me."

"Yeah, but I'm not pregnant am I?" Declan answered, looking over at the girl he had just been entangled with. He saw her wince and sigh at the same time before looking around his office.

"What are you doing here Xander?" Hope asked, changing the subject quickly.

"Giles sent me. I thought you would have finished your mission by now?"

Declan raised his eyebrows. "Mission?"

Hope waved him away. "No. We got a visit."

"I can see. By who?"

Hope shrugged. "One of the big bad. They took the key."

"Ok. Hold it." Declan stated, walking towards the two slayerettes. "This was your mission? To steal MY key?"

Hope nodded. "Yes. And to save you from all of this." She waved her arms around the chaotic room. "We're lucky they didn't kill us."

"What the hell is this all about?" Declan asked, astounded with the situation. "First vampires… next a key to the box of hell…what the hell is next?"

"I could give you a list." Hope answered, turning to him, arms crossed over her chest. "But we don't have time. I don't know how you found out about this stuff, but you need to forget it. It's better for everyone."

Declan shook his head. "Forget it? No way. You're a vampire slayer. Vampires are real. Wait till Miranda hears this…"

"Miranda won't hear anything." Peggy cut in, anger slicing their dispute. "This is crazy."

Hope nodded. "Listen to your friend. She seems very rational."

Declan shook his head. "I can't forget what I've seen."

"Why not? Everyone else does."

"I think I should get you both to hospital." Peggy insisted. "Now."

"She won't let up will she?" Hope asked, turning to her old professor.

He shook his head and smiled over at Peg. "Nope. She just won't let go."

"Like someone I know." she answered back, making her way towards the door.

"So yeah, Xander, why did Giles send you to find me?" Hope asked, nursing her bruises as they headed towards the door.

Xander stopped and burrowed his hands into his cargo pockets. He turned to his friend, concern washing away his usual carefree expression. "Your father."

"What about him? Being a pain in the arse is he?"

"Something like that." Xander nodded, biting his lip before continuing. "The Council is here."

"Who's the council?" Declan asked.

Hope sucked in a large breath of air. "The Watchers Council."

"They're looking for you. Giles wanted me to tell you. They want to 'discuss' some 'issues' with you."

"Discuss? Last time they wanted to do that they threw me down a flight of stairs. I'm sick of discussing. They aren't changing my mind. It's to late anyway."

"To late for what?" Peggy asked.

Hope rubbed her hands over her face, causing worry to shadow over her companions. "Everything." She looked around the room once more before sighed and motioning towards the door. "Lets go."

There you are. I've been looking all over for you." Miranda exclaimed, walking into the examination room to find Declan seated on the large white bed, while Peggy hovering above him, shining a thin white light into his dark pupils.

"Oh hey Miranda." Declan replied, shifting his gaze from the light to his lovely young friend.

"Are you alright? Peggy rang me and told me there had been an accident."

"He's fine." Peggy informed, switching off the light and placing it back in her jacket pocket. "Some bruising here and there, and a minor concussion. You're very lucky. It could have ended up a lot worse."

"What happened?" Miranda asked, looking over to her friend with concern.

Declan placed his glasses back on and looked over at his friend. "Some weird armoured guys stole the key. Just came in and 'wallop'" Declan clapped his hands together in emphasis. "Knocked us out, trashed the joint and took the key."

"Us?" Miranda asked.

"A former student of mine was with me. Funny though, I caught her just a few minutes before hand trying to do the same thing."

"Trash your office?" Miranda asked.

"No. Steal the key."

"What for?"

Declan shrugged. "She didn't say. Just that it was dangerous. She's involved with this vampire stuff."

"How do you know?" Miranda asked.

"Apparently, she's a slayer too."

"Like the girl the other night?"

Declan nodded. "Yep."

Peggy had stayed silent up till this point and could not hold in her aversion any longer. "Please. You can't tell me you believe any of this? Vampires? It's outrageous."

"Come on Peg. You saw my office."

"So, some guys came in and trashed it? Probably thought the key was valuable, and so they took it. You were robbed. Nothing more."

"How come they only took the key then?"

Peggy looked across from Declan to Miranda and shrugged. "I don't know Declan. But all this talk about vampires, it's crazy."

"Yeah well, not when you see these people turn to dust it isn't." Declan reminded her, jumping from the table.

"Why do you think they took the key?" Miranda asked again, getting back to the point.

"I have no idea, but it seems to be very popular."

"And you think the girl could be involved?"

"Hope? Oh yeah. No question about it?"

"Where is she now? Did she come into hospital with you?"

Declan nodded before turning to Peggy, who stood in the corner, silently disregarding any of the conversation her two pals had just taken part in. "Where abouts is Hope?"

"Down the hall last time I checked." Peggy answered quickly.

"Good. I might go see how she is." Declan headed for the door, followed by the others.

"Declan. You don't seriously think she is a vampire slayer?" Peggy's voice resounded from behind him.

"Only one way to find out."

"This girl is disturbed Declan. I checked out her file. She's had a lot of problems." Peggy informed again, has they walked down the hall.

"We all have problems Peg. What are you saying? She's nuts?"

Peggy shook her head and continued in her fast paced gait. "No. Just that she's not stable."

"She seemed to be able to hold things together from where I was…" Declan stopped, greeted by a room identical to the one he had just been in, with a crisply made bed and bare grey walls. "Where'd she go?"