The men had tromped back inside and a round of showers started as they cleaned up and changed. Jon came down to the kitchen to see Giles standing pensively in the middle of the floor staring into space.

"Giles?"

The older man looked over at him, "I'm trying to figure out what to do for dinner. With this many people in the house we have a fairly tight budget."

Jon nodded, "I saw that you have a couple of boxes of macaroni, do you have cheese?"

"Yes, we have cheddar and colby and some excellent brie."

Rubbing his hands together Jon smiled, "How about homemade mac and cheese, salads and apple crisp?"

Eyeing the younger man with mild respect Giles asked, "You can do that?"

"Yeahsureyoubetcha."

As Xander and Jay came down they were set to work. Xander was peeling apples, Jay was slicing them and tossing them in lemon juice while Giles was watching the macaroni boil. Jon was grating cheeses, keeping an eagle eye on everyone and in short time they had a large dish of mac and cheese and a pan of apple crisp baking in the oven. Jay was then assigned to salad duty and Jon made a quick vinaigrette, Giles and Xander setting the table, just in time for the front door to open and the girls to come home.

Buffy and Faith paused on the threshold and sniffed, "What is that?" Faith exclaimed, then grunted as Dawn pushed her out of the way so she, Willow and Cassie could come in.

Buffy's eyes were wide as she took in the devilish grins of the men, "Somebody cooked, are we gonna die?"

Jon snorted, "Ok, now I'm insulted. 'Are we gonna die!' Sheesh." The resulting laughter was contagious.

Jay shook his head, giving Buffy a kiss, "Jon has surprising talent. The 'Colonel' martialed his troops and we made dinner and desert."

Jon had walked over to Dawn and gently took her bags, then cupped her face and kissed her sweetly. Buffy's mouth dropped and she looked over at Giles who shrugged. Cassie looked smug, and Jay covered his eyes. He and Jack were going to have a long conversation about his clone when he got home. He didn't notice Cassie and Xander holding hands underneath the table.

The meal was fun and relaxed, the girls chatting about the shopping trip and raving about the meal, making Jon blush. Afterwards Jay teased the girls into a game of Fox and Hounds. This involves the 'Fox' making trails through the knee high snow, while the 'Hounds' try to find him, but with the added dimension of the dark.

SGC-

Jack was cursing up a storm, Daniel and Sam standing back as he ranted at the guard that had let Simon Ireland escape.

"Sir, he was innocent!" came the airman's defiant voice. "He was imprisoned unlawfully."

"Christ! Spare me from brainwashed guards! What in the hell do they teach you guys at Lackland anyway? He was in prison, OF COURSE he would lie to get your sympathy!"

The door opened and General Hammond swept in, "What's the situation Colonel?"

"This idiot helped Ireland escape." Jack stopped and pinned the airman with a glare that could scorch steel, "It appears that Ireland has been missing for two days, and Tech Sgt. Allison is dead Sir."

General Hammond sat down with a sigh, "Get Major Ferretti and put him in charge of Security. Call Colonel Daniels in here so I can relieve him of duty and Jack, shouldn't you make some phone calls?"

Jack's eyes widened, "Yes Sir. Daniel, Carter, with me." And Jack quickly walked out of the General's office, picked up a phone, barked several orders, looking up when Teal'c came in.

"T, watch that little bastard in Hammond's office until Ferretti gets here would ya?"

"I will O'Neill." Teal'c said and walked into the office.

Daniel and Sam followed Jack as he stormed down the hallway to the elevator. They all got on and Daniel spoke, "What was the General talking about when he said you should make some phone calls?"

"Who does Ireland have a hard on for Danny?"

Both Sam and Daniel gasped as it suddenly hit them, "Jay and Buffy!"

Jack nodded grimly, "And Cassie and Jon are with them."

CLEVELAND

Jon was loading the dishwasher when he heard a cellphone ring. He stood and listened and followed the trail until he reached Jay's heavy sheepskin jacket.

"Hello, Jay's phone."

"Jon?" came Jack's puzzled voice.

"Hey old man, what's up?"

"It's an emergency, where's Jay?"

Jon stiffened, "He's outside with Giles, Xander and the girls. Why, what's up Jack?" He demanded.

Thinking swiftly, and knowing that he could trust Jon, he spoke, "We have an escapee that is hellbent on killing Jay and probably Buffy. He's been in the wind for two days, he could be there even now. You need to get everyone inside and do what we do best. Got it?"

"Who is it?" Jon asked.

"His name is Simon Ireland. Keep them safe and be careful. I'm sending a team to Cleveland even as we speak."

"You got it." Jon

He straightened his shoulders, thought for a minute and went to the door, "Hey you guys, something's come up, I need everyone in here. Now." He called, his voice getting sharper, almost a command tone towards the end and Jay knew something was up.

"You got it." Jay called back and he grabbed Buffy's hand, "We need to round everyone up Buff, now."

It took a good anxious five minutes on Jon's part until he was sure that everyone was inside the house. He took Dawn's hand and pulled her to him for a brief hug before turning to everyone, "I'll explain in just a minute. Jay, a word?"

Buffy shook her head, "Oh, no. You can't leave us out."

"I'm not, Jay and I have to do something."

He made a certain hand motion and Jay's eyes went wide and they immediately got to work looking for bugs. Jon motioned for everyone to keep talking as he and Jay made a complete sweep of the house. They met in the front room and Jay sighed, "Ok, no bugs, now what's up."

"I just talked to Jack. Ireland's escaped."

Buffy paled, "What? When?"

"2 days ago but they just found out a little while ago. I don't know that whole story so how serious is this?"

"He was one of my team members. He killed another one of my guys, and left me and my 2IC to die on a planet controlled by the goa'uld." Jay said frankly.

"Shit. That mean's he's desperate. We'll need to stay in tonight."

Faith shook her head, "B and I need to patrol." She held up a hand as Jon began to protest, "Vamps and demons don't take a day off. B and I can take care of ourselves."

Buffy looked at Willow, "You need to stay here and protect the house, Faith and I will patrol and keep an eye out. He'll follow us, I'm pretty sure."

Jay snorted, "Jon and I will go too. No," shaking his head at the protests, "We know how a military guy like Ireland thinks. Everyone else will be safe here in the house with Will. I don't want anyone to leave the house for any reason, Ireland is desperate and dangerous."

Buffy looked at her watch and nodded at Faith, "Let's get ready."

Jon looked over at Jay, "We're going to see them slay? Cool." Dawn came over to him and looked him in the eyes, "Don't do anything stupid, ok?"

"Moi?"

Jay snorted.

Jon rolled his eyes, "We'll be careful, remember what Jay said." He looked over at Cassie, "He knows that you're here too, stay inside."

"Don't worry, I didn't like Ireland even before he revealed his true colors."

"I hate when teenagers are smarter about people than I am." Jay grumbled. He went upstairs to Buffy's room and pulled out his 9mm, automatically checking to see if it was loaded. Buffy came in and smiled, "Won't work on vamps."

He looked at her seriously, "Will work on Ireland." When he came downstairs Jon looked at him expectantly, "Sorry kid, I only brought one."

"Damn, I'm gonna feel naked."

Jay tossed Jon the cell phone, "Keep this. Hope we won't need it."

Willow stood on the front porch and they left to go to the cemetery. As they reached the end of the street she stepped back inside and began her protection spell, very aware of the malevolent shadow that was hovering over them.

Buffy and Faith chatted cheerfully as Jon and Jay kept a careful eye on their surroundings. As cars passed them in the dark the men hurried the women along, knowing that Ireland was out there and waiting for just the right moment.

Entering the snowy graveyard Faith and Buffy split up before Jay could protest. As Faith trotted off into the darkness Buffy turned to Jay, "Find somewhere comfortable." And Jon melted into the trees, keeping an eye on Buffy and Jay.

Suddenly the clearing was full of vamps and Jon watched as Buffy dispatched them with ease. He was impressed as hell when he suddenly saw movement about 100 yards behind the slayer. A sharp whistle alerted Jay and Buffy and they both spun around to see Ireland, a P-90 in his hands as he advanced towards them.

Buffy regarded the man with some pity. It was obvious he hadn't slept, bathed or shaved while he was on the run, and the look in his eyes was manic.

"Gee Simon, you look like shit." She said, moving towards him, making sure his attention was on her.

The P90 swung towards her, "Shut up Buffy. I told you that I would finish this and here I am." Before anyone could read his intentions the P90 started spewing out bullets, hitting Buffy. Jon and Jay dropped to the ground, Jay crawling toward the wounded Buffy, bullets still flying.

"Buffy?" Jay shouted, but Ireland moved quickly to stand between them. "Not so fast Colonel." He nudged Jay to stand with his weapon.

"Simon, she's wounded, I have to go to her." Jay said desperately, looking into the eyes of his former teammate and not recognizing the man inside anymore.

"She's going to die Colonel, and so are you." Simon said quietly, his eyes were wild. He lifted the P90, at this close range Jay would be cut in half. Jon was cursing quietly as he quickly made his way through the trees, trying to get close enough to take Ireland out. He stopped in shock when he got a clear view of the men and saw the third man in the clearing.

Jay suddenly stiffened, "Ireland, behind you!"

"Like I'm going to fall for that old gag." Ireland said, before the vamp behind him reached out, grabbed him by the neck, snapping it and began to drink.

"Shit." Jon breathed, he got up and sprinted towards Jay when suddenly the vamp exploded into dust and Ireland's limp body fell to the snow in a spray of blood, the P90 covered by snow. Faith came out of the dark, her face white. "B? Are you ok?"

Buffy sat up shakily, feeling her stomach, her hand coming away bloody. "This hurts." She said, her eyes looking confused as Jay fell to his knees beside her. "Lay down babe, let me check you out."

Faith came up and knelt beside them, Jon keeping an eye out for anything else bad. His attention was caught by Jay's stifled cry as Buffy went limp. Kneeling quickly he helped Jay lay her flat, and quickly checked her wounds, finding at least two belly wounds, but being reassured by the color of the blood.

"Take off her jacket and pack snow around her while I call 911." He commanded and pulled out his phone.

"Snow? She'll go into shock, we need to keep her warm." Jay protested.

Jon looked at Faith, "Slayers heal quick right?" she nodded. "Jay, she'll heal faster from cold than loss of blood. The cold will slow the blood loss, now do it!" Jon said firmly.

Faith and Jay started to work and Faith looked up, "Don't call 911, call Willow. Tell her I'll meet her at the front gate."

"What can Willow do?" Jon asked.

"Just do it." Jay snapped.

Jon nodded and dialed. "Giles? Ireland's dead and we need Willow, Buffy's been shot. Faith will meet her at the front gate to the cemetery."

"Right away." Giles hung up, "Willow, Buffy's been shot, you need to go to her. Faith will meet you at the gate to lead you in."

Xander stood, "I'll drive you Will." And they both grabbed their coats and dashed out of the house.

Dawn was pale, "Will she be ok?"

His face very serious, "I'm sure Willow will get there in time." Giles said.

Cassie put an arm around her friend, "She'll be ok Dawn."

Dawn whispered, "She can't die again. She can't."