Chapter 1

The Photograph

- - - - -

Take a journey to find your dream

It's not as far as it may seem

Every day is another step

So don't get down if you're not there yet

- Brave New Girl

- - - - -

"Hey, Mom."

Dawn Summers nearly spilled the soup she'd been eating into her lap at the sound of Hope's voice in her ear. The teenager must have crept up behind her quite silently to do that. Dropping her spoon back into her bowl, Dawn turned and gave her a fierce glare. Her hard expression melted at the sight of Hope and her mirthless giggles.

"Oh, dear," Dawn finally said, shaking her head. "To what do I owe the pleasure of such a visit?"

"I can't believe I'm going to California!" Hope squealed as she and Alex ran around the side of the table and sat down across from Dawn, who was wiping up the dribbles of soup which had spilled out when she'd dropped the spoon.

"All those shoes," Alex said with a slight swoon.

"Oh, and those designers," Hope said in a faint voice, lifting a hand and pressing it dramatically to her forehead. "Be still my Summers heart."

"I can already tell you that you're going to be disappointed," Dawn said, resuming eating her late dinner. It was Sunday night, the week of Thanksgiving. In two days, Dawn and Hope would be boarding a plane at LaGuardia and returning back to Sunnydale, Dawn's first visit in over a decade.

"What?" Hope asked, her eyes widening.

"Sunnydale is rather known for its lack of malls," Dawn said with a wry smile.

"No... malls?" Alex asked, her jaw dropping.

Hope let out a tiny wail and buried her head in her arms. "I'm being stuck in the country in the best state in the world and I'm going to the one city in that state without a mall?"

"It has a mall," Dawn said, protesting. "At least it did when I was growing up there."

Hope recovered rather quickly from her tantrum. "You grew up in California and didn't even bother mentioning it to me?"

"I have my reasons," Dawn said with a sad smile.

"How far is Sunny-hell from L.A.?" Alex asked her.

Dawn nearly dropped her spoon again. "Far enough that we won't be going."

"Oh, come on!" Hope said, her face brightening. "Rodeo Drive, Mom? Hollywood? You cannot deny me that!"

"From someone who has spent the last few years being pampered in countries around the world, my dear girl, you are hardly lacking in culture."

"That's just because Grandpa took me to Italy over the summer," Hope said with a smug smile.

"It's a hell of a lot better than me spending time with my grandparents at their corn fields in Iowa," Alex pointed out.

"True," Hope said with a slight grin.

"Did you girls finish your homework?" Dawn asked sharply as she finished her dinner.

"Um, almost!" Hope said with her bright smile. But Dawn wasn't fooled. She had done this to her mother and to Buffy on so many occasions that she knew every trick in the book.

"It's a really boring project for our social issues class," Alex explained, rolling her eyes.

"Say no more," Dawn said with a patient smile. "The whole family study, eh?"

"My family's pretty boring," Alex said with a grin. "There's me and Robbie. And then there are my parents. And Uncle Ri and Aunt Sam. My grandparents and Aunt Jules. No one really impressive. I was thinking of using one of my Uncles for my project, him being all military and all."

"That sounds like a plan," Dawn told her before switching her gaze back to Hope. "How about you, dumpling?"

"Mo-om, don't call me that!" Hope said, wrinkling her nose in a very Buffy-like manner. "You know we don't have a whole lot of family other than you and Grandpa."

Dawn kept her face perfectly neutral. How wrong this poor little girl was.

"I was sort of hoping I could do it on my Mother."

"That's... that's flattering, Hope, but..."

"But, what, Mom? You're totally my hero! Who helps me in the eleventh hour time crunch when I need help studying for a Calculus test? You. Who helps me out when I have to research the fall of Berlin at two in the morning? Let me think... you. You're so my hero."

"As I've said before," Dawn started again, "I'm flattered, but--"

"Oh, stop being all noble, Miss Summers," Alex snapped. "She already handed in the project proposal and it was already accepted. So there's not a lot you can do to change it."

"Right," Dawn said, pushing her tray aside. "I'm sorry, Hope."

Hope gave her a charming smile. "It's okay, Mum. I know that the stress of this job is all going to your head." She stood up and walked around the table, kissing the top of Dawn's head. "I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Good night, girls," Dawn said, waving after them.

After they'd left, Dawn turned her attention to her laptop lying next to the tray. She clicked on the touchpad and her virtual connection reappeared.

"I don't know what to do, Giles," she said, turning to a distinguished British man in his mid-seventies, sitting in an armchair in Sunnydale, where he had returned just the day before.

"She's spent the last sixteen years in her little bubble," Giles replied. "I suggest we let her proceed with the project."

"I don't like lying to her like that," Dawn said with a sad smile. "It isn't what Buffy would have wanted."

"It's a crying shame Angel turned out the way he did," Giles said bitterly. Dawn gave him a dark smile. Had it only been a decade before that Angel had lost his soul to fight an apocalypse? His swing to the dark side made it almost essential for Dawn to protect her niece, even if it meant calling Hope her own.

"Buffy wouldn't have wanted that either," Dawn said, sniffling. "I just think we should tell her. For one thing, you're not her Grandfather. And I'm really not ready to be a Mother yet."

"I hear your relationship with Doctor Laven is progressing more rapidly than you expected," Giles told her gently.

"I'd hardly call the best two years of my life progress," Dawn said with a bittersweet smile. "I mean, he's nice. But... I just feel so separated because he doesn't know who I really am, you know? He just thinks I'm some dopey single mother with a weird daughter."

"She keeps reminding me more and more of her Mother each day," Giles said brightly.

"She does, doesn't she?" Dawn said wistfully. "I don't think anyone could throw a temper tantrum like she could."

"Considering how many of Hope's I have had to endure..." Giles said with a smile.

Dawn grinned at him. "I don't why you've stuck with me all these years."

"I suppose I've had to, since that little girl considers me her Grandfather," Giles replied.

"She's not a little girl anymore," Dawn said with a wicked grin. "She's always in far too much trouble to be considered a little girl."

"Speaking of little girls, I spoke with Xander yesterday," Giles said, smiling. "He and Anya bought the house."

"They didn't!" Dawn squealed.

"It looks like we'll soon have Harris's running around in Boston, too," Giles said with his quiet sarcasm.

"Oh, they must be getting so old!" Dawn said happily.

"All four of them?" Giles asked, pinching the bridge of his nose. "No wonder Xander wants to move out there... he wants a free baby-sitter."

"I cannot believe that Nicolai is almost thirteen!" Dawn said, giving her hands a little clap.

"The world is most definitely doomed," Giles said, rolling his eyes.

Dawn just laughed.

- - - - -

"What'cha doin'?"

"My grandparents sent me these old yearbooks from Dad and Uncle Ri's high schools and colleges," Alex replied, holding up a thick stack of books. "And you'll never believe this..." With a wicked grin, she pulled out a University of California-Sunnydale yearbook. "Ta-da!"

"What?" Hope gasped as she sat down next to her best friend, trying to ignore the hushing noises around them. She didn't really want to attract her Mother's attention now. "Where did this come from? I thought colleges didn't have yearbooks."

"Uncle Ri spent a year there in his graduate studies," Alex said cheerfully. "Grandma said that there were pictures in here before he was sent overseas. And Uncle Ri told me the only reason why UC-Sunnydale had a yearbook was something about the mortality rate and the pictures being used for police scans. He could have been joking, too... but that's just Uncle Ri."

"Really?" Hope asked, lovingly going through the bright pages. "Oh, look at all these happy people! Isn't this campus beautiful? Look at all the palm trees, Alex!" She let out a tiny whimper as she caressed the pages.

Alex glanced at the book, and suddenly paused, flipping back several pages.

"What?" Hope asked, sounding slightly annoyed.

"I just saw..." Alex replied, finally stopping with a triumphant grin. "There he is!"

"That's your uncle?" Hope asked, peering at the image of a very tall and quite hot young man talking to a younger-looking blonde. "He's totally cute!" Her eyes moved to the image of the blonde. "Is that your aunt?"

"Uh, no... you've met her, remember?" Alex asked, rolling her eyes. "She's tall, dark-haired and goes by the name of Sam."

"Oh, right," Hope said, brushing her hand over the picture. "Well, I'd say your aunt got herself quite a catch."

Just before she turned the page, her eye caught onto the caption.

"Did your uncle ever have any other girlfriends?" she asked Alex curiously.

"He'd never tell me if he did," Alex replied sarcastically. "Why?"

"This girl," Hope said, tapping the photograph. "Look at her. He's totally into her."

"She's like our age, Hope, maybe a year or two older. A freshman. The lowest of the low. The bottom of the chain... do you get where I'm going with this?"

"Point well taken, but still... there's just something about her."

"What does the caption say?"

"Oh, it says 'Graduate student Riley Finn assists two young freshmen with their psychology course'."

"That sounds like Uncle Ri. He was a teaching assistant there for about a year until his transfer."

"Sounds like you picked a winner, Alex."

"Wanna cut out the picture?"

"You're going to cut your uncle's yearbook?" Hope asked her incredulously. "Mom would kill me if I even touched hers."

"Did she even give you anything to touch?" Alex asked, handing Hope a pair of scissors.

"Not yet," Hope said with a dramatic sigh. "I'm hoping Grandpa will give me something. Or, now that we're going back to California, I can go to Mom's old, old school and see if I can find anything for myself!"

Alex laughed at the determined look on Hope's face. That was her best friend, she thought to herself with a smirk. Once Hope set her mind on something, there was little to deter her.

Hope busied herself by cutting out images from the college yearbook. Most of them were little scenery pictures she'd keep for herself, since she was trying to talk her Mother into letting her go to college on the West Coast, instead of staying and going to Boston College, her Mother's alma mater. Someplace like Stanford, or UCLA. Maybe even Arizona. But UC-Sunnydale looked pretty swell, too. San Francisco wouldn't be so bad. But it was the thought of being around lots of exquisite malls packed with beautiful shoes that won UCLA over in Hope's heart.

"What are you doing?" Alex asked a half hour later, laughing as Hope was lovingly flipping through pictures of happy students posing in front of landscapes.

"I'm trying to talk Mom into letting me go to UCLA," Hope said dryly. "Remember? I've only told you like a thousand times, Alex."

"Your Mom still wants you to go to Boston College, huh?" Alex asked sympathetically. "Well, my Dad is dead-set on me going to Iowa State, which is death to all of us who don't want to be corn farmers... so I was trying to talk him into Colorado. But California might not be so bad. OH!" She gasped, lunging for her backpack and pulling out her cellular telephone.

Pressing some buttons, she stopped with a grin and handed the phone to Hope. "Dad sent me some pictures of the blizzard."

Hope's eyes widened when she noticed all of the tractors and horse trailers buried under three feet of fluffy white powder. "Crap," she muttered under her breath. "How the hell did you survive for fourteen years in Iowa?"

"I must have something wrong with my head," Alex said with a chuckle as she pushed her phone back inside her bag. "Did I tell you that Dad invited you to spend Christmas with us?"

Hope had spent her very first Christmas at this school with the Finn family. Well, since Alex's Aunt Julie lived on the Cape, the entire Finn family flew out for a wonderful Christmas endeavor. Dawn had been fine with it, considering that someone from her past had come to visit for Christmas. Hope had spent a week with her roommate and best friend on the Cape.

Hope summers and Alexandra Finn had been kindred ever since they'd met up at freshman orientation. Hope's mother had wanted her to go to the same private high school she'd gone to. And Alex's aunt had petitioned at the only female in the family get away from the corn husks and cow tracks and get a real-time education, actually volunteering to sponsor Alex's four-year education at the toney Silver Crest Academy. They'd been roommates, always talking about boys and clothes, their favorite topic definitely the runway shows. They both lived for Gucci, even if retro, because it completely highlighted their style.

Dawn had encouraged the friendship, since she had had many problems making friends. She had been an exchange student. Giles had taken care of Hope while Dawn was in school, so having the baby around hadn't been the problem. The problem was that Dawn had seen and done far too much before coming to Boston to actually fit in with the crowd. She had strived to be a teacher and finally a Librarian, knowing that setting down in a role best suited for Giles would be the best thing she could do with her life. Besides, Giles had always been there for Buffy, Willow, Xander and the rest of their gang. Dawn was there equally as much for Hope, Alex, and theirs.

Now at sixteen and in their third year at the SCA, the two girls were notorious trouble makers. It amused Dawn for the most part, because Buffy had gotten away with some serious shit. Even at this expensive private academy, Hope still got away with a lot. It probably didn't help that Dawn was seeing the Vice Principal, Doctor Laven.

Hope's second Christmas had been spent in London with Dawn and Giles. It had been a wonderful two weeks, except the fact that Hope returned with a wardrobe three times the capacity of the tiny closet allowed in her dormitory.

For her third Christmas, Hope really wanted to spend it with Alex. She didn't have much family, and she was spending Thanksgiving with them, anyway. Her Mother and Grandfather could wait. She had always wanted to go cross-country skiing and sledding on the Iowa cornfields. It just seemed... exciting, somehow.

She had yet to ask her Mother, though. That was probably the downfall of the entire vacation she had dreamt up for herself. Besides, she would finally get to meet Alex's Uncle Riley and Aunt Sam, two people that Alex swore she wanted to be like. Despite Alex's touchy record and her mediocre grades, she had joined the junior-ROTC program. She wanted to be like her Uncle, a hero.

Hope's goal in life was to not be a librarian or a teacher. Her mother and grandfather had been both, and it was annoying. Her dream job was to be either an actress or a model, but she knew she didn't have a chance at either, having no talent or really any body to fathom modeling with. She would have to settle with being a fashion-savvy writer or something. She was remarkably strong, but being an athlete wasn't really Hope's ambition. She was a bi-athlete, both in cheerleading and dance, but it really didn't matter to her. For some odd reason, Hope was convinced it was a family calling.

She was, however, excellent at arguing. She was pretty good at research, too. From what her career aptitude tests had said, she would make a damned good lawyer. That wouldn't be so bad, Hope mused. She wondered if she could get away with going to law school in a tankini, since she was dead-set on getting away from her home-life in Boston and breaking into the freedom that was UCLA. Or anywhere in California, really.

The bell above them rang, signaling the end of their study period. Jumping up, Hope gathered the mess of pictures she'd cut up and stuffed them unceremoniously into her binder. Alex rose and carefully stacked the books, but left them where they were. One of the perks of having a friend's mom as a librarian was the privilege of being a complete slob.

The two girls rushed out, Alex on her way to German and Hope on her way to Chemistry.

"See you at lunch?" Alex shouted out. Hope waved to her as she was swallowed up by her dance line teammates.

Dawn moved out from her corner where she'd been archiving a new stack of periodicals and found the pile of yearbooks. She smiled when she came across the UC-Sunnydale one. She sat down and began going through it, page by page.

Buffy had loved it there. She had said it was a home away from the one she had.

She paused when she noticed a picture. She stared at it a moment before smiling. Willow. It was the picture next to the one that had been cut out. And, in the corner of the image, was a flash of blonde hair. Buffy.

Dawn read the caption and let out a small gasp. Riley Finn. How could she have forgotten?

It hadn't been a coincidence, Dawn mused. It was sort of ironic that Riley's niece and Buffy's daughter had found each other at one school and out of the blue had become best friends.

Buffy had liked Riley. Nothing had ever come of it, because suddenly Buffy's pregnancy had caused her to eventually drop out of school, but Dawn had heard enough. Riley had been a crush for awhile, until Angel came back into the picture.

Riley had come to Buffy's apartment once, Dawn remembered. Anya, who had been homeless until Buffy had taken pity on her, had opened the door. After one of Anya's famous talks, Riley had backed out, completely red-faced and at a loss for words. He was never seen again.

Dawn had met him a grand total of three times. She wondered if he'd even remember her. He had to be at least forty. According to Alex, he never had children, because his life was wrapped up in the military, where he was supposedly a Colonel now.

And there he was, in his twenty-three-year-old glory, talking to Willow and Buffy, both eighteen. Dawn could see the similarities now, between Hope and Buffy. They both had the same determined eyes and the same set jaw line. Although Hope had dark hair, if she ever dyed it blonde (and Dawn would seriously ground her if she even attempted something that extreme), they would be dead ringers. Almost. Hope had to be a few inches taller than Buffy. She was also proportionally curvier. Apparently she had some of her father's curves. She definitely had his hair. And his nose and quite possibly the forehead. The thought made Dawn smirk. Spike would love it.

Spike. She was going to see him again after thirteen years of silence. He'd come to Boston twice, only to have Giles slam the door shut in his face. Twice.

She felt almost guilty at throwing these people out of her life, but who were they to show up and confuse Hope? Buffy had wanted to keep Hope away from the strange world she'd been brought into. The Oracles must have kept her life for a reason and Dawn wasn't about to throw that reasoning away for Spike or anyone.

She was just about to close the book when the cut-up photograph fell onto the table. It was the first picture she'd actually seen of her sister in over a decade.

Eighteen-year-old Buffy was still gorgeous. Just as she'd been at twenty one when she died. Dawn lovingly touched the photograph and slipped it into her pocket. Closing the yearbook, she stacked them up and continued on to do her work.

- - - - -

Tuesday night was loud and crowded at the airport. Dawn slipped her computer bag over her shoulder and held out her ticket to the agent. Turning, she saw Alex and Hope clinging to each other as though Hope was just about to volunteer for a suicide mission in some war.

"I'll see you Sunday," Alex whimpered as she pulled back. "Be careful. Both of you."

"We will," Hope said with her small grin as she broke away. "Have fun in Iowa!"

"I will!"

Dawn grabbed Hope's arm and dragged her to the security line. "Do you realize you've been holding us up all afternoon saying goodbye?"

"What?" Hope snapped as she, too, pulled out her ticket. "Alex is like my best friend. You do know what it's like to have those, don't you?"

Dawn didn't respond. She just calmly walked through the checkpoint before pulling her computer bag over her shoulder. "Let's get going. We can stop for a bite before we reach our gate if we hurry."

This cheered up Hope some.

Tuesday had been a rather windy and rainy day in Boston. It wasn't ideal traveling weather, and Dawn was beginning to take it as an omen. Hope was just as nonchalant and oblivious as usual, something Dawn was really starting to take for granted. She was getting used to this, and it scared her.

They managed to make a quick stop at one of the few marketplace stands and get a sandwich before pulling a total "Home Alone" in rushing to their gate on time. Once they were aboard the plane, crammed near the end with Hope complaining loudly all the way, Dawn began to feel even more tense. The coffee wasn't helping.

Hope wasn't doing so well either, apparently. She started gasping and wheezing, saying she was just moments away from a panic attack. Two flight attendants took pity on the both of them and moved them from coach to first class. Dawn glared at Hope as the two took their new seats in the front of the plane.

"What?" Hope choked as she managed a tiny sip of orange juice.

"Are you feeling better now?" Dawn asked sharply as she stowed her laptop bag and tucked the latest issue of Cosmo in the compartment in front of her.

Hope gave a dramatic sigh and placed a hand over her heart. "Yes, Mommy dearest."

Dawn was going to have to work on that. She could just imagine the looks on everyone's faces when they heard Buffy's daughter calling Dawn mommy. It normally didn't bother Dawn, but if she did this in front of Angel, they'd be in trouble.

The plane took off without any more of Hope's histrionics and soon Dawn was relaxing in her comfortable seat, the noisy, crowded section behind them closed off. Hope leaned over and plucked out the Cosmo and was reading it with great interest. Dawn watched her daughter snort and comment smarmily as she read, and finally dozed.

She was shook awake by Hope, who had an agitated look on her face. "Geez, Mom! I thought you were never going to wake up!"

Dawn reached for the jacket someone had thrown across her upper body and pulled it away, yawning. "Where are we?"

"We just landed in Sunnydale, Mom," Hope said quietly. Dawn could see the tension on the younger girl's face. But there was something else in her searching look. Dawn's eyes grew startled as she noticed that Hope held something in her hand.

"What is it?" Dawn asked, trying to play the part of the oblivious mother. But Hope's eyes narrowed and Dawn knew something was up.

"Where did you find this?" Hope asked casually, showing Dawn the picture. "I cut it out of Alex's yearbook collection yesterday."

"I know," Dawn said, with her patented smile of understanding. It seemed to tick off Hope the most, and sure enough, the brunette in front of her started ranting.

"Do you know anything about it? Do you know who she is? Where did you get this? Were you snooping through our stuff? Alex is going to kill me if I lose this!"

"Relax, Hope," Dawn said, clearing her throat as she pulled on her coat. "And to answer your questions, I know about the photograph and I know who she is. I got it from your stash and the only reason I took it was to show your... grandfather. He might want to see this, too."

"So you know who the girl is?" Hope asked her.

"The redheaded one, yeah," Dawn replied, pointing her out. "You've talked to her on the phone a few times. It's Willow."

"That's Willow?" Hope gasped, seizing back the photograph and staring at the tiny part of Willow she could see. "Wow."

"Tell me about it," Dawn said softly. The seatbelt light had finally turned off and there was a mad rush to get off of the plane. Hope was waiting for Dawn in the entry.

"Are you coming?" Hope asked eagerly.

"Yeah," Dawn said, trying to force her weak legs forward.

And here she was again. In Sunnydale. It was so strange to be back in a city so familiar and yet so very different.

"Grandpa?!" Hope squealed as she brushed past Dawn and launched herself into Giles, nearly knocking both of them over.

"Why, Hope... it's quite good to see you... and you, too, Dawnie."

Dawn came up behind Hope with a patient look of incredulity on her face. She looked as though she were trying not to laugh.

But there was a voice from behind them that echoed with a slight amount of sarcasm. "Grandpa?"

Dawn froze as a pale hand dropped onto her shoulder. Hope turned, her eyes sparkling with laughter and mirth and then widening in horror as she took in the person standing behind Dawn.

"Spike," Dawn whispered, a few emotions crossing her face as she quickly threw his hand aside and stepped away from him.

But he wasn't staring at her. He was looking at Hope, recognition dawning in his eyes. "Hey, isn't that--"

"My daughter's all grown up now, isn't she, Spike?" Dawn asked sharply, her eyes begging him to play along.

Spike looked confused for a moment and shook his head, rolling his eyes. "Should have figured that one out myself."

Dawn knew she was going to have to explain everything. Giles just stood there, pinching the bridge of his nose, while Hope stared curiously at this Spike.

"Who are you?" Hope asked with a slight smirk. It was her signature flirting gesture, but Dawn wasn't about to let Buffy's daughter flirt with one of her mortal enemies, no way, no how.

"A friend of a friend," Spike said softly. "You really have grown up, haven't you, bit?"

"Are you in love with my mother?" Hope asked suddenly.

Both Dawn and Spike turned to her, looking put out. Spike was going to forget he was playing along if she kept firing these extremely uncomfortable questions at him.

"Let's go down to baggage, okay?" Dawn asked, taking Hope's arm and practically dragging her away from Spike.

"He's cute!" Hope squealed as they hurried away.

"He's too old for you," Dawn protested.

Spike was still standing in the same spot, looking extremely lost. "Did I miss something?"

Giles released his nose and sighed heavily. "Just try and play along, Spike. This is what Buffy wanted; Hope to grow up without knowing about vampires and demons and Slayers."

"Oh, so you're supposedly her long-lost Grandfather and the bit gets to play the Mother?" Spike asked slowly.

"You catch on fast."

"Maybe I should play the bit's brother, too, Grandpa."

"Considering you're old enough to be mine, be my guest."

"Bugger... spoil my fun."

"That's my goal in life."

"Bloody right it is."

It was going to be a long trip.

- - - - -

Well, well. I'm glad that you're enjoying this. It's been a fun story to write, and it's nearly completed (praise someone). It has required a lot of patience and a lot of planning, but in the end, it works rather nicely. Thank you for taking the time to review!

I've made this a habit, I bloody well know that. But, I like responding to the reviewer's comments…

Juzblue:Thank you. Truly. Thank you also for your review for my Anya-centric story.

Buff: Thanks :) It's shorter than the stuff I normally write, but… it works. I think. Sometimes.

A2zmom: Thank you muchly. I hope it stays interesting. It's taken a lot of work to get as far as it has!

Illuminatimage:Thank you! Well, the original was written in late 2003 actually (about the same time Epitaph was written), so I hope my writing has progressed since. Then again, I normally look at my earlier stories and cringe.

OWL: It really wasn't my intention. I love using characters that already exist. It's just that… I have to redeem Dawn in my own eyes, and I think this just about does it.

So… what do you think? Thanksgiving is about to get a hell of a lot more interesting, especially since Angel is about to send his own "spy" from Los Angeles to visit Dawn… in the form of his son, Connor.

Also, I'll probably include a bit of the continuation to "Epiphany", which I have finally decided to begin writing after it got nominated. How about that? I abandoned it last year and now… wow. What I was thinking was just incorporating a lot of what I had planned for "Guardians" into it. Therefore it will become "Guardians", eventually. But I loved the prospect of "Epiphany", and in the end, I think it'll work out. I hope. I kind of miss writing my Anya-centric stuff!