ANs: Ok, here are what I hope to be the final deviations from canon that I need to do to get this story to work: No nookie with the slimey Parker, Riley leaves Buffy to return to the Initative after Adam dies, Spike and Buffy only have sex once, as a result of their fight in the crumbling building (sorry Spike fans, I love him too and feel your pain), and the night Spike holds Buffy before the last battle doesn't happen as she'll be with Logan instead.

In this chapter, at last, the spell: discovered and explained! Enjoy! sita:)

Anna: Thanks for saying so! I hope you really like the latest update:)

Alex97: I'm not sure that I'm going to write that. In trying to focus on the summers between the episodes, I've found that it's much easier just to gloss over her world in California. I'm debating whether to bring Logan to Sunnydale for Joyce's funeral. If I do, there may be a confrontation. We'll see. I really don't know yet:)

Prophetess of Hearts: Logan definitely will feel the loss of Buffy at her death. As you'll see in this chapter, they are fated to be together and are therefore technically mates for life, or will be when they actually mate;)

Lexi; Hey doll! Glad to see you back. I really hope you enjoy this one, as it took a long time to put all of the pieces together:)

Pay-day1999: Did I say slow? Don't worry about bad feelings, they're almost together... It's coming up faster than I realized. I just did a count and I've only got about 9 chapters left to write. I forgot that I could condense the summer of season 5 down to one fairly short chapter, as Buffy is dead. Thanks again for sticking around to see what happens next!

Hey lee! I know. I know. It is crazy;) I started on the 3rd and I'm at chapter 18 today. Nineteen is written, it just needs some polish and there are others that are partially done. The truth is, I just feel as if I've got this story in my head and if I don't keep writing, if I put it down, then I'll never finish. I have a HG/SS story languishing – Ok, so it's so dead it's decomposing over at AFF. I just need to get this done and out of my system. Hope that it doesn't get on your nerves too badly.

Mere Mortals, The Fates, and the Powers That Be

Sunnydale

May 5, 2000 4 PM

It was a quiet Friday afternoon at The Magic Shop. Dawn was at the table pretending to work on her history report. Anya was pressuring a young couple into buying knotted toad's tongue. Buffy was in the back room beating on the Xander dummy, which coincidentally housed Xander at the time. Giles was sitting behind his desk reading, surrounded by old books and parchments, in the small business office adjacent to the sales floor.

Giles stood abruptly, tore off his glasses and tossed them on the desk. "Dear God, they've done the werewolf mating spell!" Rubbing the bridge of his nose, he sighed morosely, collapsing back down into his chair.

"Giles, are you alright?" Buffy asked, as she ran into his office.

"What?" Giles asked, glasses back in place, as he headed for the shop's front door. "Oh right... sorry. It's just... some... old friends of mine have done something incredibly foolish. I need to get to... I need to go and see if I can sort this all out. Help Anya look after the store while I'm gone, would you?"

Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters May 6, 2000 7PM

Logan and Professor Charles Xavier sat at the conference table in Xavier's office. Logan had just finished reading Giles' letter from the previous year, and sat in stunned silence.

"Logan, I know you're angry that we didn't tell the two of you right away. But we really didn't know what we were dealing with. Giles believes that he has found the correct spell and he should be here any moment to discuss the ramifications," Xavier said.

"I'm shocked. Angry, yes that too, and frustrated. It's like I'll never be able to move on from Alkali Lake because what happened there keeps coming back to haunt me... I don't have any memory of any of this, Professor."

"That's no surprise. I'm sure you weren't in the room when the spell was cast. It may have been mentioned to you at some point, but... that was a traumatic time, Logan. It's perfectly healthy that your mind is still shielding you from most of it."

Xavier looked toward the door, "Giles is here."

Giles entered the room moments later, clearly surprised that Logan was present.

Xavier gestured for Giles to sit. "I felt that it was best for the three of us to go over your information together, Rupert."

"Of course-of course," Giles stammered. "I was only a bit... It was my intention that we tell Logan this tonight as well..."

Giles sat down at the table next to Xavier, clearly trying his best to avoid eye contact with Logan. "The changes to Buffy and Logan's DNA are a side effect of an arcane dark magic ritual known as the werewolf mating spell."

Then, looking to Logan, he explained, "You and Buffy are obviously not werewolves per se, but let me give you some background so that you understand what has happened. There are three ways to create a new werewolf: 1) a werewolf bites a human, 2) a different, extremely difficult dark magic spell is cast, or 3) by... erm... two werewolves mating."

Giles stood and slowly started ambling around the room. Glancing back, he saw both men watching him carefully. "Sorry, I think best on my feet. Ok, making a werewolf... No, wait, let me share this with you first... There are similarities and differences between the reproductive 'inclinations' if you will, of wolves and werewolves. For example, both wolves and werewolves mate for life. The drive to mate is as strong in a werewolf as it is in a wolf. However, in a wolf pack, only the alpha pair is allowed to mate. That is not the case with werewolves and their packs, which are a much more loosely linked group."

Giles pulled off his glasses and cleaned them with his handkerchief. "The spell we're talking about is an obscure and ancient spell used by Watchers centuries ago to pacify werewolves and limit their offspring. It was created to minimize the spread of Lycanthropy and human deaths caused by male werewolves roaming over large distances, looking for mates. This spell does three things: it creates a connection between the designated male and female werewolf, curbing the desire to roam; it sterilizes the couple, and it has a calming effect on the male werewolf. While he remains fiercely protective of his mate, he is pacified, unless... erm... challenged for her attentions."

Giles paused again, clearly thinking about where to take his explanation next. "Experimentation with this spell has proven that separation from the female causes extreme agitation in the male, but her return to him eases his anxiety. One could say that this is akin to an unimaginably powerful drug addiction, which may have been its appeal for Stryker. Eventually, the male would do anything... he would literally kill his own mother... to be reunited with his mate."

"It is very possible that had Buffy been an adult at the time the spell was cast, she could have been given to you and then kept from you in order to ensure your obedience. The Watcher or Watchers whom no doubt sold this spell and something of Buffy's... some item that would have held her scent... to Stryker, would have known that. I'd like to think that they may have been planning to end the spell in time, leaving Buffy virtually unscathed."

"But Buffy and Logan are not werewolves. This won't affect them in the same way, will it?" Xavier asked.

Giles continued, "The Counsel learned long ago that the spell deposits an aspect of the werewolf in each mate if they are human. The last time it was used was in the thirteenth century in Romania, to curb the spread of a very large pack. The Watcher's Counsel stopped using it because it was accidentally cast on non-werewolf humans who were having an affair."

Accidentally?" Logan asked.

"The Watcher who cast it was attempting to protect his assigned Potential. It was a case of the humans being in the wrong place and time. He mistakenly thought he was casting the spell on a local werewolf couple, romantically linked in their human lives as well. Rather, they were humans having a affair and married to other people in different villages. The woman, not knowing a spell had been cast, returned to her husband's bed the next night. The following day, her lover smelled her husband's scent on her, and the combination of her and her husband's... sexual fluids. In a feral rage, the man beat his lover's husband to death with his bare hands. That only after a few days of the spell being cast... but the lovers had apparently been intimate for quite a while, so the bond was stronger."

Sitting down again, Giles sighed. "Buffy and Logan have lived under this spell for almost twenty years. I imagine that the only thing that has slowed down the progression of the... addiction is Buffy's age and the fact that they haven't actually been intimate yet. Also, you should know that if there is a reversal spell, thus far I have been unable to find it."

"I will continue to look for it, if that is what you wish, Logan. But, I must beg you not to ask me to. As I'm sure you've learned from my earlier findings and the aspect of the werewolf," Giles said, gesturing to the papers in the middle of the table. "I have no doubt that ending this spell will mean that your healing powers, sense of smell, and perhaps other traits would be diminished, and Buffy will no longer have her strength, speed, stamina, and healing power. But she will still look the same. She will be a normal young woman with the face of a Slayer. She is known to many demons and rumors flow through the demon community very quickly. Over the years she has slain hundreds of vampires, and they are not a forgiving lot. Many would relish the opportunity to torture and kill her. She would never be able to open her front door and walk outside after sunset again. She would never be able to arrive home after dark again."

Giles looked at Logan for a long moment, "In addition, knowing Buffy as you do, you can have no doubt that if she is told, she will want to do the noble thing and set you free. Therefore, I must also ask that if you choose not to end this spell, you keep this from her."

Xavier regarded Logan somberly. "I am very sorry, my friend. This is a monumental decision Rupert has asked you to make. Perhaps you would like to take a break for a while to gather your thoughts?

Logan nodded numbly. "This actually makes a lot of sense. I've been thinking about Buffy constantly since she left..."

Xavier moved his chair toward the door. "We will leave you to it, then."

When Giles and Xavier returned to the office an hour later, Logan was so lost in thought he didn't hear them come through the door. He was leaning against a floor to ceiling window. Looking out into the gardens, his arms were folded across his chest, one boot was crossed over the other, and his head and shoulder were pressed against the side of the deep window sill. To Giles, it seemed as if Logan carried the weight of the world on his back. Snap out of it, man, Giles told himself. Logan was the luckiest bastard in the world. He just didn't realize it yet. He was getting the most amazing woman handed to him on a platter, if he could only be patient...

Please Logan, Giles begged him silently, make the right choice.

"Logan?" Xavier asked.

Logan nodded once and made his way back to the table. "Ok, you're right. We shouldn't end the spell."

"Thank God," Giles exclaimed softly.

Suddenly, no one seemed to know what to say. Then Giles heard a faint whisper inside his head. It was Xavier's voice. He said, "Tell him... tell him he must not feel guilty about being so strongly attracted to her."

Giles cleared his throat. "Logan, the attraction you feel for Buffy is natural. Even were it not for the spell, she is a beautiful, wonderful young woman."

Momentarily giddy with relief, Giles thought, this must be what it's like to be the father of the bride.

Fixing his eyes on Logan he continued, "Logan, I have been privileged to know four Slayers in my lifetime and none of them has Buffy's intelligence, drive, strength of character, compassion, or capacity for love. I don't know if you have faith in the Powers That Be, but since becoming her Watcher and friend, I have seen too many apocalypses averted against literally impossible odds, not to have faith in the simple truth that Buffy was born to be the Slayer. I firmly believe that it was her fate from the beginning. And, if this is true, then it is also true that she was born to be your wife."

Xavier spoke to Giles' mind again, "Tell him to be patient..."

"It's true that she's still very young and because of that you will need to try to be patient with her. Try to give her reason and room to love you. Try not to rush this process. She, like you, has serious responsibilities. Hers are in Sunnydale. I have been receiving periodic updates from Wesley Wyndham-Price regarding Faith's rehabilitation, and I think that within a few more years, she will be ready to come to Sunnydale to protect the Hellmouth."

Logan frowned, "Years?"

Giles sighed, "I know it will be hard to wait that long, but if someone were to promise me complete and utter happiness in two to three years, because that's really what we're talking about here, I would do whatever was necessary to ensure that it came to pass."

Logan looked at Giles and Xavier skeptically.

Seemingly frustrated, Xavier asserted, "Logan, she is worth the wait."

Logan knew that they were right, but years... And knowing what was had happened was making the pull he felt toward Buffy stronger. He was so tired of fighting it. When Giles had told him that he didn't have to struggle against himself any longer, and talked about Buffy becoming his wife, Logan had assumed that he and Buffy would be married immediately. He had forgotten that she would never know any of this.

"What can I expect?" Logan asked Giles finally.

"It won't be easy. You will become increasingly protective as well as territorial and Buffy won't know why. She is an independent young woman and if you push her she will fight you or she will seek to escape. You must be her friend first and always. You must draw her along slowly. I feel I must caution you to wait to engage in intercourse until after you are assured of her commitment, perhaps until after you are legally married. After you make love to her, you will be mated... married... for all practical purposes. It will be torturously painful for you to be apart. It will be painful for her as well, but again, she won't know the reason. If either of you were to die, the other would follow within days."

"Also, as long as the spell is in place, it is unlikely that you will be able to have children of your own. This has never before been tested, but sterility is part of the spell. However, such a limitation will not hurt her as much as you might think. As you have experienced first hand at this school, there are many children in the world who need love. And Buffy has lived for a long time with the understanding that every new day may be her last one on Earth."

Logan sat still for several moments, his face impossible to read. Then, as if an idea sparked amusement in him, he smirked at the other men at the table.

"Anybody else feel like getting drunk?"

(end chapter)