Epilogue: Two Months Later

Dawn had just logged on the computer when a soft 'ping' alerted her that a friend was online. She grinned, and contacted him via IM.

Dawn's Early Light: Hey, Jack!

WonderBoy: Hey, Dawn!

Dawn's Early Light: Whatcha doin'?

WonderBoy: Research. You?

Dawn's Early Light: Just surfing. I'm not bothering you, am I:(

WonderBoy: Nope. This is just for me. How are things on your end?

Dawn's Early Light: Where do I begin? Let's see- Buffy's still taking me to 'work,' sometimes. She still only lets me handle the 'easy' problems.

WonderBoy: You still getting bruises?

Dawn's Early Light: What do you think:(

WonderBoy: (hugs Dawn) Ouch! I still remember the first couple months of my training. It gets better.

Dawn's Early Light: (hugs back) Really?

WonderBoy: Ha-ha, no! (points and laughs)

Dawn's Early Light: (picks up shovel and beats Jack with it!)

WonderBoy: (no, Dawn only tries to beat Jack with a shovel. Jack is much too fast for her!)

Dawn's Early Light: (Dawn picks up bazooka and fires it at Jack, blowing him up!)

WonderBoy: (No, Jack dodges missile, because Jack rox!)

Dawn's Early Light: (Dawn tells Uncle Matches that Jack has been mean to her!)

WonderBoy: … Truce.

Dawn's Early Light: LOL!

Dawn's Early Light:p

WonderBoy: Yeah, rub it in.

Dawn's Early Light: I will.

Dawn's Early Light:D

WonderBoy: Seriously- that all on your end?

Dawn's Early Light: No. The Xander/Anya saga progresses on its merry way.

WonderBoy: (winces) Don't like the sound of that…

Dawn's Early Light: Xander's backbone is almost what it was, so the two are arguing a lot, when they aren't making eyes at each other's backs.

WonderBoy: In other words, more of the same?

Dawn's Early Light: Yup. One of these days one of them is going to time it wrong and look at the other's face. Then they'll end up 'playing checkers'. Spike's started a betting pool for how long it will take for that to happen.

WonderBoy: (grins) If I ever see her in person again, I have to thank Tara for giving you that phrase.

Dawn's Early Light: It's not that funny.

WonderBoy: I've been using it at the Tower, and one my friends finally got what it meant!

Dawn's Early Light: Little-S or Bigfoot?

WonderBoy: Bigfoot.

Dawn's Early Light: Oh.

WonderBoy: Anything else on your end?

Dawn's Early Light: Willow and Tara are still cute together.

WonderBoy: (drools)

Dawn's Early Light: (provides bucket) They're still doing the witch-teaching thing. Willow's never gonna do it the way Tara does, but she's learning. And Tara says she's learning too.

WonderBoy: Cool. Anything else?

Dawn's Early Light: That's all on my front. The big mouth has been super quiet, but that's standard for this time of year. I think that the clown scared away whatever big bad was scheduled to appear. Yours?

WonderBoy: Let's see… R2 is still in therapy- he's down to three hours a day every day with JJ.

Dawn's Early Light: (winces) So he's getting better?

WonderBoy: He's still pretty screwed up, but he's starting to get better. Emphasis on starting. I hear he has some wicked nightmares.

Dawn's Early Light: That's understandable. I wish we were able to put Buffy in therapy after she came back.

WonderBoy: You need the right therapist, and you really can't do better than JJ.

Dawn's Early Light: If you say so.

Dawn's Early Light: Anything else?

WonderBoy: I told you about Robbie's love life, right?

Dawn's Early Light: You mean about that girl he crushed on as a kid, went on to date as an adult, and who dumped him a while back?

WonderBoy: Yup. Well, after a lot of groveling he's finally talked her into going out together as friends.

Dawn's Early Light: Go Robbie!

WonderBoy: Go Robbie! However, the woman in question is really strong willed. Just because she's agreed to be friends means that he's got a long ways to go to get her to take him back. If he even can.

Dawn's Early Light: Is Candy still OD'ing on Snoopy?

WonderBoy: I caught myself humming the theme song just now. What does that tell you?

Dawn's Early Light: lol!

WonderBoy: It's starting to drive you-know-who up the wall, but Grandpa is delighted that her interests are expanding, and how can you not love a dancing beagle?

Dawn's Early Light: Exactly!

Dawn's Early Light: Hello?

Dawn's Early Light: Are you there?

Dawn's Early Light: Yoo-Hoo, Wonder Boy!

WonderBoy: Sorry. Urgent message. G2G. Bye!

Dawn's Early Light: Bye!

Buffy stared down at it. She was in her washroom, checking the results of a test. What she was impossible- except it wasn't. Not really. She knew how it had to have happened. (Oh. My. God. This has to be wrong, I mean, these things can be wrong! They're wrong all the time, aren't they?)

She started pacing. (I have to see a doctor- no, I have to call Giles! He'll know what to do! Giles knows everything! He's a great, big, knowing person! He has to know what to do!) She glanced back at the results. (Oh God!) She continued to pace, and tried not to look back at the results, or what it said on the box: two lines means the test is positive. She was… pregnant. (Oh God!)

The End (For Now)

Doza: Well, I'm sorry that I didn't e-mail the chapters to you, but I think you know that that wouldn't be very fair. 1: I don't think that she's caused nothing but grief, but her spells do have a tendency to backfire when she isn't careful about what she's doing- which is far too often. She definitely likes the praise, though. 2: Really? Cool! I'll be on the lookout. 3: My plans for Jason are shaping up. He's gonna need a lot of help before anything happens. As for the rest: Thanks! I'm flattered! I hope that the last two chapters live up to your expectations.

Damia- Queen of the Gypsi's: I'm also glad that Tara's not dead. I wanted Willow to go all Darth but I didn't want anybody to die, so I'm happy that I found a way to achieve both of my goals! As for Buffy talking to Jason: eventually. In the sequel, if I can swing it. As for Buffy and Nightwing- well, I think you have an idea about how awkward things will become!

phoenix83ad: Thanks! I'm glad you like the story! I'm also glad that I did a good job with the inter-group interaction. Putting aside Batman being- well, Batman, and Buffy's natural reaction to somebody like him, I think that the others would mostly get along. I wasn't sure about Tarawhen the showfirst made her Willow's girlfriend- I love Oz- but she won me over (and then some) so writing Willow/Tara scenes is a treat. About the Scoobies and how they handle Batman: I think that they've seen too much for one of the good guys to scare them unless he (in this case) actively tried, which he didn't (and even then he'd have to work at it a bit). As for Jason, he's spent a few years in Heaven before undergoing resurrection and physical/psychological/spiritual torture. That changes a guy. He won't be going back into a costume for the near future, but I don't know whether or not he ever will (yet). Robin and Dawn: they have similar personalities and interests, and their both hormonal, so who knows whether they will just be good friends or become something else? And Oracle- it is definitely a matter of when and how, not if. I hope the ending lives up to your expectations!

funmonkey: Thanks! It was a bit of work figuring out how these two universes would fit into a whole (without smashing whole pieces of each), but I think I have a handle on it.

RogueFanKC: I know I said I'd use that line if I ever dida Misfit story, but I came to the perfect place and I just couldn't resist. I'm glad it got a smile out of you! Double YAY! about Tara not being dead! I'm glad you like Willow's discovery of the light. I wanted to make that part convincing, and I'm glad that I succeeded! I'm also glad that you like that all four of the Monk's victims took him down together. I definitely agree about reuniting separated lovers. As for Oracle- well, if she did want to kill them, her being in a wheelchair wouldn't stop her. Yeah, I'm Xander/Anya at heart. Those two went well together. I'm glad that they reunited in the series finale, although I'm really pissed about Anya's death. But hey- fanfiction + AU equals 'I don't have to go the show's route' right? I am certainly glad that you like the story, and I hope that the last two chapters don't let you down! This project has surpassed my expectations and the reviews are an absolute thrill for me, just like the reviewers! I only hope that the sequel keeps this up!

w1cked angel: I'm sorry I made you cry, and I'm happy that you like the story! I hope you like the rest as well!

This has been a great ride for me. First of all, I want to thank all of my kind readers for taking the time to read this story. Big thanks go to my reviewers, whose kind words and helpful constructive criticism were a source of great joy to me. Finally, I would like to once again thank my beta, Scott Claybrook, for taking the time to help me make this story into something worthy of all the praise.

Keep a lookout for the (as yet) unnamedsequel! I should warn you- it will be (at least) afew weeks before you first see it. The reason is that I want to make sure that it is as good as this is, and that will take sometime. I can only hope that the end result justifies the wait.

Once again, thank you for reading this story. I hope it was worth it.