The two women walked toward 'home' hand in hand, smiling, laughing, and talking, stopping occasionally to steal a kiss or two.

"Willow...I gotta ask you something."

"Ok."

"Last night—what did you dream about?"

"I don't' remember dreaming. I slept really well. I woke up with lots of energy."

"Oh. Ok." Faith smiled on the outside. Her mind formed a million questions, but she just let it go.

"Why?" Willow looked at her slayer.

"Just asking." Faith began to worry about her red head.

The twosome arrived at the Summers' residence to find a living room full of potential slayers, one watcher, two boys, an ex-demon and a watcher junior who seemed to be running the whole shindig.

"Where's B?" Faith asked.

"She'll be here in a minute." Dawn said flatly. "You two should stick around for this."

"You know I never miss the action." Faith smirked.

Willow shot her a playful glare. Kennedy watched on in disgust.

Buffy busted through the front door, out of breath.

"So this is where everyone is. I thought we were supposed to meet at the park after patrolling."

"Dawn called a meeting." Giles said, cleaning his glasses.

"And nobody told me?"

"Guess not," Dawn looked at her sister. "But now that you're all here I can get started."

"Dawn what is this all about?" Buffy was confused, but so was everyone else.

"While everyone has been busy, robbing malls, (she looked at Buffy and Willow) and fighting over petty things (she looked at Kennedy and Faith and some of the potentials) and falling in love (she looked at Faith and Willow) and reading comic books (she looked and Andrew and Xander), I have been research-o girl."

Giles looked up at Dawn.

"Giles too. Minus the girl part."

The room was silent. Dawn needed a minute to formulate in her head how she was going to tell everyone the things she'd been discovering.

-----------------

Meanwhile:

Cut to: Spike.

He's wearing his duster, walking through the streets of SD. It's just become dark enough not to worry about the sun anymore. At least, for a couple of hours. Spike turned down an alley and saw a little girl, crying on the ground.

"Are you alright luv? Isn't it time you get home?"

"It's ok m-m-mister. I don't have a home anymore."

"How is that ok?"

"Because I'm DEAD!" She shouted. The little girl stood now, and appeared not to be hurt anymore. She started walking toward Spike.

"Hey- where are you going?"

"Home." She walked right through Spike.

"What the bloody hell do you think you're—"She was gone. Disappeared. Spike continued walking to his destination. Spike walked with his head down, eyes pointed at his feet.

"Oof." He blurted out as his body slammed into someone...

"Sorry mate...Oh, it's you." Spike felt no remorse, and kept walking.

"That's all I get? I mean not even a hello for your favorite grandsire?"

"Angel, leave me alone."

"Buffy gave it to you didn't she?"

"I didn't sleep with the slayer."

"No, I mean the necklace. She gave you the necklace."

"Why do you care?"

"Because it's not yours."

"Well, it's certainly not yours." Spike kept walking away from Angel.

"Don't ignore me. Don't ignore this."

"You're just jealous, Angel, because she didn't choose you."

"It's not that. It's not like I can have her anyway."

"What is it then? You think this one last battle will restore your humanity?"

"Maybe, I don't know, but if thew world ends, I wanna be by her side."

"That's all you care about isn't it? Making yourself worthy, not of humanity, or whatever prophecy, but of the slayer."

"Are you saying you have a better chance at that?"

"No, point is- I don't care. I'm not here to prove myself. I did that already. Now it's time to fight."

-----------------------

Cut to: Summers' living room.

The room was silent. Dawn stood and spoke as everyone listened.

"All the things you've been doing these past few days...little encounters with the First. It's nothing. It's all nothing. Sure, it seemed real, seemed scary enough. That was a war tactic; a big pile of distractions. While we've all been dealing with that, something's been brewing inside the earth and some day, soon, it's going to kill us all."

No one said anything. Partly because they were scared she was right.

Several moments later, Giles stood and addressed the room.

"I know you're all scared, and rightly so, but we do have to be strong. We can't let little distractions get in our way. We have to focus..."

"Stop! Giles... Dawn... Everyone... I know this is hard, waiting and training. Not knowing what's going to happen next. Sure, something bigger is coming. Something that we'll have to fight. But it's been seven years of fighting for me. And if this is the last battle, I'm going out kicking and screaming. So, Dawn, tell me how to not get dead." Buffy looked at her sister, her eyes pleading for a response.

"A long time ago there was a race of people, women, and they were known as Guardians."

"Yes, I've read about them..." Giles began.

"No, these are different from anything written about. Their story was never recorded. They were there when the first slayer was created. They were there through it all, from the beginning of the earth."

"How does that help me?"

"They watched the slayers, made sure they had the resources they needed to fight their battles."

"Then why hasn't any slayer lived past 18?" Kennedy asked.

"I have. B has, what makes us different?"

"I think it has a little something to do with the fact that you won't take death for an answer." Andrew stated flatly.

"The Guardians had powers, like those of a witch. They were mocked and looked upon as outcasts, so they went into hiding. They still watched the slayers, by forming a group of informants, and called them watchers."

"So, they're the ones responsible for the watcher's who tried to kill me?!" Buffy shouted.

"No. Those... were rebel watchers, who formed what is currently the Watcher's Council. The first Council made it their mission to kill off the original watchers, so the slayers would strictly be in their control."

"Giles?" Buffy looked at her former watcher.

"I hadn't the faintest idea. This is news even to me." Gils said, taking off his glasses and wiping them with a cloth.

"What are these guardians about? How can they help?" Buffy asked her younger sister.

"The Guardians did a spell, to form a weapon. It's powerful, and it's meant for the current slayer."

"Guess that's you, B." Faith looked at the floor.

"It's us. The chosen two." Buffy looked at the dark slayer. They shared a smile. "So, where is it? How do I get it?"

"I don't know. It's not written anywhere. None of it is."

"What? Dawn...then how do you know..."

"Buffy. I'm the Key. You may have been human longer, but I've been a ball of energy for thousands of years. And now, I'm just starting to discover some of the power I behold. The weapon will turn up. But you should know, the Guardians still exist."

"How do I find them?"

"I don't know. Everyone should get some rest." Dawn looked around the room once more before walking up the stairs to her room.