Disclaimer and description: see prologue

AN#1: I apologize for the poor formatting of the prologue, it was my first posting and I'm still learning. Anyhow, in order to avoid any confusion Cathy is in no related to any Cathy's mentioned in the show (Angel's sister, or Buffy's roommate in at the beginning of college).

Reviews would be much appreciated. Who knows, it might even help me get over the writers block that I am struggling with for a few scenes at the end of the story.

Summary: They discover how Cathy got there and Cathy get's introduced to the gang. Spike shows up with some information to sell to Giles.

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Cathy slowly awakened, to the murmur of voices. The voices sounded vaguely familiar.

As she opened her eyes, she saw the cast of Buffy gathered around her, all except for Anthony Head. "Giles," Alyson called "She's awake." /Giles?/

"Excellent," Giles replied as he entered the room. "Perhaps now we can get some answers. How do you feel?" He asked as he stopped at the foot of the couch.

Cathy found that she's was fine, expect for a headache. "I'm okay, except for a headache. Where am I? What happened? Why am I on the set?"

"The set?" Giles replied sounding puzzled. Finally, Cathy noticed that there were no cameras and the room appeared to be real. "This is no set. I'm Rupert Giles and you're in my home. Willow found you collapsed on the ground and noticed the box of videos with our friend Buffy's name on it. We brought you here to rest and ask you about the videos."

"Huh? What do you mean this is no set? How can it be real? The last time I checked, this was a T.V. show! Oh my gosh, the lights, it must have been a portal that brought me here. The videos!" She cried suddenly realizing what mishaps could happen if they saw them. "Where are my videos?"

"It's okay," Giles assured her. "They are safe in the trunk of my car. What do you mean this is a TV show? It's Sunnydale California, not the set of a TV show. Here, let me introduce our other friends," Giles added, remembering suddenly that in the confusion he'd only introduced himself.

"No need," she shook her head and paused as she swallowed the pain killer that Anya handed her. "I know who you are." She decided to have some fun. She sat up and pointed at each one in turn as she identified them. "Buffy Anne Summers, the Vampire Slayer. Willow Rosenberg, witch and best friend to Buffy and Xander. Anya, Xander's girlfriend and formerly known as Anyanka, vengeance demon. Tara, witch and girlfriend to Willow. Alexander LaVelle Harris, food guy and Scooby member. Finally, Rupert Giles, former member of the Watcher's council and once high school librarian." They all stared at her, surprised that she knew who they were.

/Great/, she muttered to herself in the moment of quiet that ensued. /I walk through a portal and end up on the Hellmouth/. She shook her head, a little scared but also excited. She realized that something big was happening. She was actually speaking to them, it was too cool!

Giles finally put two and two together. Willow's identification of the portal and Cathy's insistence that they were a T.V. show the last time she checked. "Quite astonishing," he remarked. At the blank looks of the others, he explained: "You appear to have somehow passed through a portal from your reality, where we are characters on a television show, into our reality."

"Yeah, quite astonishing, indeed! Any clue as to how and why that portal opened?" Cathy asked. /Halleluja, he finally got it!/ She thought drily.

"No," replied Willow. "We were hoping you could shed some light on it. You dropped out of the portal right onto the sidewalk in front of me. When I saw that your box was labeled ' Buffy tapes', I called in Giles and we brought you back here."

Cathy shrugged. "I don't have a clue. One minute I was carrying my box of Buffy and Angel tapes out to the car, I'm moving you see. Next thing I knew, I felt a blast of warm air and saw some swirling lights then I was pulled off my feet. After that it's all a blank until I woke up here."

"Why aren't you freaking?" Xander demanded. "If you know about the Hellmouth then you know it's full of monsters, right?"

"Well, yes," Cathy replied. "But as Buffy once put it, I 'know the score.' I couldn't be any safer then with the Slayer and her Slayerettes. Besides, I'm gonna enjoy meeting the characters from my favorite TV show and panicking certainly won't get me home any faster, will it? Also, I think I'm in shock."

The others nodded their understanding, then, all except for Giles who remembered it as a key milestone, turned to Buffy looking for an explanation. " 'know the score'?" repeated Willow questioningly.

"Oh," Buffy shrugged, "it's nothing really. After breaking up with Owen, I told Giles that it was necessary because he would probably be killed since he didn't know the score the way he, you and Xander did. Giles," Buffy demanded, "Did you tell her about that?"

Giles shook his head. "Certainly not! I'm not in the habit of repeating private conversations to strangers. Although, if what Cathy says is true, and it's beginning to appear that way, we haven't had any private conversations in her world." Buffy nodded, then suddenly realized what that meant. /Oh, God. On my seventeenth birthday when Angel and I..../

"Ah, Cathy," Buffy asked. "Those tapes of yours, do they show everything? I mean..?" Cathy understood, although the others didn't quite get it.

"I know what you mean, Buffy," Cathy cut her off kindly. "Yes, we did see some, but not that much, just enough to get the idea, really. It's not a porn show after all." With that last bit, everyone except for Anya finally got it. Xander whispered the explanation to Anya who blurted out "Oh! You mean when you and Angel had sex.."

Xander replied quickly, "Yes, Anya. What did I say about not repeating secrets?"

"But, Xander," Anya protested, "it's not a secret. Everyone already knows that they had sex."

Xander just shook his head. "Forget it. Just please, if I whisper something to you, don't repeat it aloud with other people present. I whispered it for a reason."

Anya replied. "Fine," slightly miffed since she didn't see that she'd done anything wrong. /Why couldn't she say something that everyone already knew?/

"Ah, Buffy?" Cathy interjected, "What was your last major battle? I wouldn't want to reveal anything unintentionally because you're at a different time then what I've seen on the show."

Giles nodded at Buffy, feeling that with all of their strengths and talents combined, Cathy was unlikely to pose a serious threat. Besides, she appeared perfectly human. It was certainly a reasonable request.

Buffy responded, "A few months ago we destroyed Adam and took down the Initiative."

/Good grief!/ Cathy cursed mildly to herself. "Good lord! I was brought backwards a year!"

Just as the gang was about to question Cathy further, there was a loud knock at the door. As Cathy looked up, she realized that it was already shortly after sunset. Giles opened the door and demanded, "Spike, what the hell do YOU want?"

Spike replied, "I need some cash and I've got some information for you. How 'bout a trade?"

Giles stepped aside, "Oh, very well. Come in."

"So," Giles demanded, "What have you got for us?"

Spike replied, "All the demons are talking. Something big is coming. Now what are you gonna give me?"

Giles responded, "Give us some more information then we'll see."

Spike stared at him and Giles sighed then took out a twenty and handed it him. "Actually," Spike admitted, "that's all I know."

Not wanting to let Spike feel left out, Cathy greeted him, "William the Bloody, hello."

Spike retorted, slightly irritated, "The name is Spike, damn it! And who are you?" He repeated to the room at large,"What's she doing here?"

Cathy replied, with a slight grin, "I'm Cathy. As of yet we don't know why I'm here. I dropped out of a portal from an alternate dimension at Willow's feet. She brought me here cause I was carrying Buffy tapes. Enough info?"

Spike's interest was piqued. "Yeah. Ah, Buffy tapes?" he queried.

Buffy interjected, "Need we be in total share mode, Cathy?"

Cathy laughed. "Relax. Who's he gonna tell anyway? He's not exactly on speaking terms with demonkind, remember? Oh, Buffy tapes. In my reality you guys were characters on a tv show. So I know all kinds of stuff. For instance, I know why you hate the name 'William the Bloody'."

Spike gave her a glare. "Don't you dare..." Everyone's attention perked up, curious about whatever Spike didn't want Cathy to say.

"Don't worry, I won't tell them." Cathy replied. Then she added, "At least, not if you behave yourself."

"How the hell do you know about that anyway? I never even told Dru," Spike demanded.

"Flashback," Cathy explained. "It was added onto this coming year, actually. Part of your character development after being removed from the side of evil."

"Hey." Spike complained. "I'm evil still!"

"Right. It's important that you believe that." Faint glimmers of recognition appeared on Xander and Buffy's faces, but they couldn't quite place it.

Cathy reminded them helpfully "Incan Mummy girl incident? About Buffy's use of force?"

They nodded. "My goodness," Anya put in. "Do you like have everything they've said memorized?"

"Well," she prevaricated, "Not EVERYTHING. It just seemed appropriate and I'd already heard it phrased that way so..."

After a short pause Giles spoke up. "Alright, enough chitchat. We'll assume for the moment that Cathy was brought here for a reason. Time to hit the books and see if we can figure out what that reason might be. Xander and Anya, keep our guest company will you? Willow and Tara, assist me please. Buffy, why don't you hit the streets and while you're on patrol, see if you can find out anything about this 'something big' which Spike mentioned."

Anya queried, "Why can't we leave her alone?"

Xander sighed. "Because we just met her and she has inside knowledge about us. We have no idea why she's here. Besides she could be in danger." He turned to Cathy, "No offense."

She nodded, "None taken. If I were you I'd want to keep an eye on me too."

As everyone dispersed, Giles demanded, "Spike, get out. You got what you came for."

Spike refused to, he was having way too much fun. "I'm not going anywhere, I haven't had this much fun since they put that bloody chip in my head."

Giles shook his head and gave it up as a lost cause. As he collected the appropriate books, Spike asked Cathy "What exactly is on those tapes of yours?"

Cathy replied. "The last five years of the gangs life, since Buffy started school at Sunnydale High, plus flashbacks. Of course, Spike, we only see you when you are in Sunnydale and in flashbacks, most of which are from this year actually. Also, the first two years of Angel's life in LA, and more flashbacks of him as well."

Xander did some quick mental math and frowned in puzzlement. "But Buffy moved here four years ago and Angel only left last year."

Cathy sighed. "I told you already that I was brought back a year. Therefore, I know what's going to happen next year."

Spike added, "Hold on. Is this like the Buffy and Angelus show? How come you still see him in LA?"

Cathy explained, "Actually, the reason why Angel moved to LA, according to the producer, Joss Whedon, is because he was going to get his own show- a spinoff. Since Angel is my favorite next to Buffy, I naturally watch that show now too."

Spike nodded. "You LIKE Angelus? He's a bleedin' pansy now and he terrorized these people you like so much."

"Yeah," Xander put in. "You like him more then the rest of us? Hello he's the bad guy? By the way, what is going to happen next year?"

"Look,"Cathy replied. "I like those two more, Xander, cause they're the heroes, okay? You others are just the hero's sidekicks. Besides, they aren't blockheads towards their supposed friends the way you and Willow are. Spike, Angelus tormented them, NOT Angel."

"Excuse me?! Willow and I are NOT blockheads towards our friends. What the hell are you talking about?" Xander protested.

"Xander, I'm not getting into that now, it's way too complicated. Leave it be."

Spike queried, "Why are you using both his names?"

Cathy explained: "Among my friends who are fans of the show, we now look at Angel as being three people. There was Liam, the human he was back in eighteenth century Ireland; Angelus, the one with the angelic face, as he came to be known as a vampire, and then, Angel the mix of Angelus and Liam which arose after he was cursed with a soul by those gypsies. We knew him first as Angel which is how he introduced himself to Buffy in that first episode. Later on, with the flashbacks, we began making the distinctions between Angel, Angelus and Liam."

Spike nodded. "Never knew him as a human myself, that was a bit before my time, but I can see where you're going with that. Makes it easy to specify who you're talking about."

"Exactly. I'm sure you noticed how different Angel is with a soul."Cathy remarked.

"Angelus is quite insane by the way. Well, temporarily at least."

"Huh? How do you know that?" Spike replied, treating the comment on how different Angelus is with a soul as self-evident.

Cathy explained, "Oh, an idiot actress who wanted to be young and beautiful forever, drugged Angel which took away his inhibitions, essentially allowing Angelus to resurface. Thankfully, it was only temporary. Don't tell me you couldn't see it coming? After all, he went from terrorizing Buffy to engineering bringing hell to earth. This is the same guy who criticized the Master for living underground when it's nice on the surface."

Spike queried, "Angelus actually said that? You know, you're right, I really shouldn't be surprised to hear that Angelus is crazy!"

Xander broke in, "Enough about Angel already. What's going to happen next year?"

Cathy shook her head. "No, Xander, I'm not going to tell you guys about next year. Particularly when we still don't know what I'm doing here. Maybe a few hints though, to help head off the worst of the angst. But not yet."

Xander demanded, "What angst? Dammit, what bad stuff happens?"

Cathy replied simply, "Lots, of course. When doesn't bad stuff happen to you guys? Now, stop bothering me or do I need to tell everyone how well you understood Larry."

Xander blanched slightly, and realizing by the determination in her expression that she was serious, he hastily promised, "Okay, okay, I'll be good."

Anya looked at Xander, puzzled. "What does Larry have to do with you? What do you understand?"

Xander shook his head. "Nothing, it's not important. Not now!" he added as Anya opened her mouth to speak again. "I don't want to talk about it."

End Part 1