A/N: The final chapter in this round. I'm writing a prequel to this, as well as a sequel. I honestly don't know when they'll be up, but I'm writing as fast as I can in between summer sun, work and other essential things.

Thanks to all reviewers, it would still be a story without you, but not nearly as much fun.

Chapter 9.

Donna let Sam drive when they left a Sunnydale bathed in sunlight two days later. It seemed like the epitome of tranquility. "I still can't believe it," she murmured. "Sunnydale always seemed like the typical Californian small town, sunny all the time and close to a beach. And now I'm figuring out that not everything is the way it seems. I mean, Sam," she glanced at the "You are now leaving Sunnydale" sign. "Would you ever have figured vampires and demons for real?"

"Well, I've always had some nasty suspicions about Mary Marsh," he grinned. "But no. Not really. And your sister fights them on a daily basis in addition to attending college." He was no less awed today than he had been after he'd got over the initial shock when she'd told them.

"Yes," she sighed. "We talked. She can't leave Sunnydale, for a long period of time. Did you know she got accepted to Northwestern? I studied hard in High School, she didn't. Her SAT scores were 1430. And she can't leave Sunnydale."

"I know. The upside has got to be that there would be no world for us to be together in if Buffy had left Sunnydale to go to college." He looked blankly at the road. "It's not like she can't ever leave either. She'll just be back in time for the apocalypse."

"We talked about Dawn. She's been having trouble at school since Mom died. It doesn't help that Dad is out of the country most of the time either."

"Wait," Sam looked troubled. "You're not planning on quitting your job and moving to Sunnydale to take care of her? Are you?"

"I would have, if I thought I could get a job that wouldn't include saying: 'Do you want fries with that?' Besides, I like Washington. It has the President, politics, the joys of working at the White House and of course there is always you." She smiled at him, and he smiled back.

"So, what are you going to do then?"

"Depends on what Dawnie wants. The Social Services have been murmuring that Buffy isn't old enough to take properly care of Dawn, but if she wants to stay in Sunnydale then I'll do my best to make that happen. Another option, that Buffy's talking to Dawn about soon is that she comes to Washington to live with me and starts the second semester of school there or come after its. But Dawnie's got to decide."

"Your schedule wouldn't be horribly overfilled with work and me already?" She grinned at the teasing tone in his voice. When they'd first begun dating he'd been weary of using it, having burnt himself on it several times.

"Nah, I'll just skip the sleep in favor of my Sam-time."

"Oh, that's alright then."

And laughing they drove into the sunset.