Stuck With You

Chapter Two - Missing

By Crow Skywalker

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Disclaimer – Don't own BtVS or its characters. They all belong to Joss, etc.

Author's Notes – Hey, me again with my weird story! Sorry this chapter isn't as long as the other one – but I had to get this in before I went on with Buffy and Warren. Anyway, for anyone who's interested, I've made a Buffy/Warren group. Anyone can join, the address is below.

Buffy/Warren Group - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/buffywarren/

Crow's Update List – http://groups.yahoo.com/group/crowskywalker/

Buffy/Jonathan (Although not mine, still a cute group) - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Buffy_and_Jonathan/

Other notes – Rated PG-13 for normal violence, and Buffy/Warren moments. May contain spoilers.

Chapter Summary – With Warren and Buffy gone, Jonathan and Andrew have no one else to turn to but the Scooby gang for help.

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Sitting at the table in the Summer's residence, time ticked slowly for Xander, Tara, Willow and Dawn, who were waiting patiently for Buffy to return home so they could eat the lovely meal Willow and Tara had cooked together. However, as another hour passed, all was not turning out so good.

Checking her watch every minute, Dawn finally got up from the table in a fury. "It's almost 8:00 – obviously she's not coming home!"

"Oh Dawny, I'm sure she has a good reason –" Tara started, but was interrupted by Dawn herself.

"It's not good enough...it seems she never has enough time for me..she's always busy with something else." Dawn said softly, tears coming to her eyes.

"Buffy's had a lot to deal with recently, Dawnster." Xander put in, "She's trying hard to keep everything running smoothly. She has her job, Slaying...and she's been working hard to keep the house, and to keep you."

"Come on Dawn," Willow said soothingly, putting an arm around her shoulder, "Lets sit down and eat. We don't have to wait any longer – it'll just be us. Okay?"

Dawn reluctantly sat back down, nodding slowly. Picking up her fork she had had only a mouthful before she found she wasn't hungry anymore, and began to push the food around her plate absent-mindedly. As for the rest of the group, they too, ate in silence.

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Coming out of his hiding place Andrew was amazed to find the machine missing, and the room in a mess. "Jonathan? Warren...Buffy?" A noise caught his attention and he headed in that direction, slowly making his way through the ruins of what used to be the living room. "Anyone here?"

Once again the noise – someone speaking. "Jonathan is that you?" He listened closer.

"You're...standing...on me..."

Looking down Andrew found himself on top of a door, which must have blown out of its hinges. It tilted sideways and he jumped off, helping Jonathan lift it off himself.

Sucking in fresh air he coughed. "Thanks."

"What exactly...just happened here?" Andrew asked.

Jonathan continued to cough as the dust arose around him. "I'm..not sure. I think...the machine worked."

"Do you think they're alive?"

"Most likely."

"Do you think...they made it? I mean, where do you think they are?"

"It was set for 1997, so I'm assuming that's where they would be right now." Jonathan finally stopped coughing and sneezing and managed to stand. "Man, it sure made a mess of this place, didn't it?"

"Yeah." Andrew observed. "Sooo...when do you think they'll be back? Do you think Warren will really kill the Slayer when she's like, with him right now?"

Jonathan shrugged, not sure of what to do or say. In reality they didn't have a clue if Warren and the Slayer were still alive, or if the machine had even worked right. He kept these thoughts to himself. They could be in orbit for all we know right now. He watched in silence as Andrew made his way over to where the machine once stood, pulling things out of the way. What're we supposed to do now?

"Uh, Jonathan," Andrew's voice brought him out of his thoughts, "Was the crystal supposed to uh...break?"

"No." He watched as Andrew bent down to retrieve something, and turned towards him holding what looked like shards of red glass. His thoughts were confirmed. Something had gone wrong.

"I think it did..." He continued, "Is this bad?"

"Definitely." Jonathan made his way across the room, taking a few shards of what used to be part of the crystal and studying them. "We must have hooked something up wrong...and when Warren and Buffy got transported, it shattered the crystal." He looked up at his friend. "They could be anywhere."

"Like...in prehistoric times or something?"

"That's included in anywhere...or whenever."

"Oh...crap..." Andrew shifted uncomfortably. "Don't they need the crystal to get back?"

Jonathan nodded. "Wherever they are, they won't be returning for a long time – if ever."

"What are we going to do now? We're minus one and now the Slayer is gone."

Dropping the shards of crystal, Jonathan wiped his hands. "I think maybe we should go talk to the Slayer's friends"

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Supper was over and Willow and Tara were busily talking while they washed up the dirty dishes. Out in the living room Xander was keeping Dawn company and was watching a bit of television with her. All in all, the night had gone pretty quietly, and Buffy was still yet to show up. Hearing a knock on the door Xander quickly got to his feet, expecting it to be Buffy, who seemed to forget her keys a lot. Opening the door, he found some very unexpected guests. "Jonathan and...?"

Andrew sighed. Out of the three evil minds, he was the lesser known. "Andrew – my brother was the one to ruin the prom and all?" He explained, remembering he had had to tell Buffy the same thing before she remembered him.

Xander glared at the two, quite aware of the things they had done and were up to. "What do you two want?"

"We uh.." Jonathan started, before backing up and putting his arms up to protect himself, watching as Andrew did the same. "Need your help because Warren and Buffy were sent back into the past and now they're stuck there and you guys are the only people who can help us get Warren and uh...Buffy..back?" He said fast, taking another step back.

Xander just stared at them with a confused look on his face. "Say what?"

"Xander? Who's at the door?" Called Willow, before she finally appeared behind him. "Oh...it's...them." She said slowly, before looking up at Xander. "What are they here for? Shouldn't you be out annoying other people? Perhaps, killing more young girls?"

"Hey! That was an accident!" Stuttered Andrew.

"And I bet making Buffy think she did it was an accident too. So what exactly do you want?"

Taking a big breath Jonathan told them briefly what had happened – this time more slowly. The whole time they both stared at him as if he grew three heads.

"You expect us to believe some cooked up story like that? Time transporter? Right – like we're supposed to believe that. Go take it to the Star Trek producers or something." Xander scoffed, starting to close the door on them.

"Wait!" Jonathan stopped him. "Where is Buffy right now?"

"I don't know – but I'm assuming she's out patrolling and forgot the time." Xander answered.

"But you don't know that, you're just assuming since she hasn't returned home yet!" He argued, "You have to believe us!"

"We have no reason to." Said Xander, once again trying to close the door.

"Willow! You're a witch! The crystal – the Crystal of Ramiar...it has the ability of time and space! You should know!" Andrew tried, remembering what he learned about it before they stole it.

Willow stopped Xander from closing the door and stepped foreword. "How would you know..?"

"I'm into that kind of thing, okay?" Andrew said hurriedly. "It's the crystal we used for our machine."

"You used..."

"Yes! We stole it from the museum earlier today...and when Warren used it in the machine it broke in half, and now him and Buffy are stuck in God knows when. Do you believe us now?"

Glancing up at Xander, Willow could tell that he didn't trust them one bit. Neither did she – but after hearing about the crystal she had reason to believe that they may be telling the truth. Every good witch knew that the Crystal of Ramiar was a powerful gem – one that shouldn't be played with. Obviously these guys didn't know that, she thought, before moving out of the way for them to enter, much to Xander's distaste. "Come in – I want to hear this story right down to every detail of what happened."

They stepped in, anxious looks on their faces as Willow led them into the Summer's living room.

"What're they doing here?" Damn asked curiously as they entered, turning off the television. She caught Willow's gaze and immediately started to panic. "Does it have to do with Buffy? Where is she?? What did you jerks do to her now???"

"They sent her back in time." Willow sighed, heading to the kitchen to get Tara. She soon returned and motioned for Jonathan and Andrew to have a seat. "Start from the beginning – the whole story."

Jonathan and Andrew sat, wondering if coming to the Slayer's friends had been a good idea. There's no one else we can ask for help, Jonathan reminded himself as he told them the story – Andrew adding in bits and pieces every now and then. When he finished telling all that he knew, they all sat in silence. Dawn was the first to speak, jumping up from her sitting place with a look of shock and anger on her face.

"You sent my sister back in time and she's stuck there with one of you losers?"

"Dawn, please." Willow gave her a look, and she quickly sat back down, her arms crossed and a glare focused at the two boys.

"Didn't you read up on the crystal at all?" Willow turned her attention back to Jonathan and Andrew, "Everyone who's into magic and things know that the Crystal of Ramiar isn't something to be toyed with. It's powers are hard to control."

"That's what the machine was for...but it seems we must have made a mistake when building it." Said Andrew, his eyes on the floor. He certainly wasn't enjoying hanging around here with his enemies.

"Obviously." Dawn muttered, rolling her eyes. "So what are we going to do now?"

"W-well, there's not much that we can do." Tara answered, looking at her friend's solemn faces. "There is only one crystal – it was taken from a Omar demon and placed in our museum for safe keeping. Now it's broken."

"Sooo...we're just going to sit here?" Xander asked. "There's nothing we can do?"

Dawn's eyes lowered as she realized what was going through all their minds. "Buffy's not coming back."

"Dawn, I'm sure we'll figure out something." Willow half smiled, trying to cheer the young teen up. "We just need some help.." She paused for a second and her face brightened, "I know!" Before anyone could question her she ran to get the phone and started dialing a number off the top of her head.

"Willow..who're you phoning?" Asked Tara.

Willow flashed her a 'Don't worry, I know what I'm doing' look as the phone on the other side rang. Finally she heard someone pick up.

"Hey, Giles – it's Willow. We need your help."

To Be Continued...