Chapter 2: Concern and Worry

Disclaimer: I don't own DotM or Buffy. I owe my thanks to Joss, God of Good TV, and Lynne, Goddess of Good Books. All praise Joss Whedon and Lynne Ewing!!!

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Buffy stepped off the bus to meet her to friends in front of it. It was the average day in Los Angeles: hot, dry, and over-hyped. She squinted at the brightness of the city, remembering the sights, the sounds, and the scents. Not to mention the ex from hell....literally. Same old LA. She and the others stood in front of the, once again, abandoned Hyperion hotel. Angel told the Slayer he owned Wolfram & Hart, and although she knew he was hiding something (he was never a good liar), she asked if the Scoobies and new Slayers could use the old hotel, and left it at that. She knew she would find out before she left. She sat down on the front steps.

"I can't believe it. Another poten-...Slayer in LA?" She asked her best friend Willow.

Xander sat next to her and placed his hand on her shoulder. "I hear they breed the best."

He smiled warmly at her which she returned, neither of them noticing the more-than-usual worry on Willow's face. She thrummed her fingers nervously against the strap of her duffel bag on her shoulder as she still stood ahead of them. "Hey! Lets not forget my very own calling!"

Buffy tried unsuccessfully to comfort her friend. "Will, don't worry. I'm sure this moon thing will go over great."

"But....Buffy...How am I supposed to mentor teenagers? I wouldn't even listen to me." She replied with more worry seeping into her voice. She sat down next to Xander, plopping the bag down.

"Well, Buffy did the same thing last year." Xander responded whole-heartedly.

Faith, just coming off the beaten and worn out school bus, intervened. "Yeah, Red. If B can do it, you must be more than qualified."

Buffy glared up at Faith for a moment, returning her attention to her friends. Willow tensed nervously. "What if they don't like me? Besides, this is different. These girls possess power that could lead them to the good side or to corruption."

Xander directed his attention to both Buffy and Faith. "That sound familiar to you girls?"

"A: You will lead them to the good side. B: What's not to like? " Buffy smiled to the witch.

Just at the precise moment, Andrew stomped off the bus, anxiously walking past them and inside. "Guys, I need to use the little Jedi's room! Where's the closest rest room?"

Ignoring him and answering Buffy's question, Willow replied, "Oh there's the wacky notion of HIM." She pointed to Andrew. "Well, I DO know about the Moon and it's goddesses. And who knows more about abusing their powers and learning from it than me?"

"Me." Faith spoke up, with a scary bit of pride in saying it.

"Really?" Willow raised and eyebrow, unimpressed. "Pretty sure you never flayed a guy."

Faith crossed her arms intimidatingly. "Yeah, but you killed ONE guy. I killed a bunch of guys. Ya know-"

"Okay! Enough with the psycho-killer talkage!" Buffy shouted and stood up, a bit freaked out. She turned in Faith's direction. "We need to find this girl, ASAP." She turned to Willow. "Will, can you do a locater spell? We not only need to find this 'Castillo' girl, but we need to find these 'Daughters'."

Willow nodded, standing as well. "I'm on it." She entered the old building with her bag of equipment. Buffy turned to Xander next, ready to give the orders.

"Xand, get the girls set in the Hyperion and call Gunn or Wes. Just in case anything tries to kill the new Slayers." She said.

Xander shrugged. "Am I protecting them or are they protecting me?"

Buffy rolled her eyes. "Xander. Please just call one of them. Hey! You could move stuff around and make it more...homey."

"Alright, alright. Onto slayer-sitter duty." Xander turned and went inside as well, a line of girls coming in behind him. Robin(Principal Wood) came in after with Buffy's weapon chest.

As Dawn was about to enter last, Buffy called out, "Dawn!"

Dawn spun around, various weapons in her arms. Confused, she faced her sister. "Uh, yeah?"

"Put those weapons inside and hurry up. You're coming with me and Faith." Buffy grabbed a battle axe from her sister.

Before being told twice, Dawn rushed inside. Then, the two original Slayers heard Willow yell, 'I found the Daughters!' and entered at last.

Faith smiled. "Now comes the fun part."

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Jimena sat at Serena's table, sipping her tea slowly. Catty and Vanessa sat to either side of her, Tianna leaned against a wall, and Serena stood near her chair. It had been a month since it all had happen outside that cafe. Jimena hadn't been acting anything like herself ever since. Feeling uncomfortable from all the staring her friend were doing, she stood up. "I'm good, guys. Really."

"Are you sure? You won't tell us what happened!" Vanessa replied concerned.

"Like I've been saying, I DON'T KNOW. What is with you guys? This is basically all we've talked about! Have you all gone loco?" Jimena asked, irritated. Truthfully, the girls thought it might be an attack by the Atrox or his Followers. They had no idea what to do or who to turn to. One of the Daughters has already made her choice and Maggie was gone.

Serena looked to the ground, and closed her eyes. There's nowhere left to turn. We don't know what to expect or even if we'll see another day. Maggie...what do we do? She thought....O Mater Luna, Regina nocis, adiuvo me nunc. She prayed under her breath.

Catty looked at Serena and saw her murmuring something. "Serena? What are you..." She trailed off as a slow knocking came from the door. Colin wasn't to be home for a few hours, and none of them were expecting anyone.

Serena's eyes shot open, and she stared wide-eyed at the door. Jimena turned to her best friend. "Shouldn't you get that?"

"Uh....I..." She stammered as the knocking came louder. She waited a few seconds before moving. She stepped closer until she was inches away. She touched the doorknob finally turning it hard and swinging it open quickly. No one. The wind moved stronger now as a small, folded paper flew through the air straight to her. She snatched it as it started to sway to the ground. She unfolded it and read the contents. 'el Lectum haec como'.

Serena mouthed the words, knowing immediately it was Latin. She turned to the others, putting on a fake smile. "Guess it was just a prank or something."

"I'm gonna go. It's getting too extraño here. See you later." Jimena told them, walking out the door, closing it behind her. Serena sighed heavily. It was hard not to tell Jimena about her and the other's powers.

Vanessa went over to Serena, freaked by the way Serena responded to the tiny piece of paper. "Okay, now what's really going on?"

The other girls closed in, curious. Serena handed the paper to Vanessa. Vanessa's eyes widened, as Catty and Tianna read over her shoulder. The meaning to the words came to them all at once. Tianna looked to Serena. "What does this mean for us?"

"It means we wait." She responded firmly. Vanessa stared at the note once again.

'The Chosen will come.'

TBC

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A/N: Here it is! Well, whaddya think? I looked those Latin words up which took me about a half hour. Hope you guys like it! REVIEW! I'll give you a cookie if you do! C ya.