Chapter 3

So this was it. The great portal that they were going to use for traveling through time. It didn't really look like much, did it? It was kinda, well greenish. Weren't things like this supposed to be blue? Every movie and series he'd seen with portals for traveling through space or time had them blue.

"Why is it green?" For a moment Xander thought that he'd voiced his question out loud, but immediately after he realized it was Faith who'd asked it.

"Why not?" Willow asked in reply, still sweating from the mental effort of actually opening the portal.

"Because those things are always blue. It's like an unwritten rule or something."

"I'm green," Dawn told them. "The Key, I mean. Which makes the portal green as well because it's used to travel to another dimension."

"I thought you were going back in time?" Allan asked. Obviously Allan still didn't really believe that they'd actually be doing the time travel stuff. Neither did he for that matter, but that was more the anticipation kind of unbelief. This was going to be so incredibly cool.

"Time is a dimension," Dawn answered distractedly. Obviously she'd considered that question a lot since it was last asked, and in a way her reply made sense.

"Yes, but a different kind of dimension. Don't you think more people would have figured this out if it was possible?"

"No. And it's only different if you look at it like that."

Allan sighed, but remained quiet. During their research in how to actually do the traveling thing all these issues had been raised already, and were then shot down. It was Mrs. Summers who spoke up next. "Are you sure that it's safe? And that you can come back here? To me?"

"Yes mom," Buffy answered.

"We should leave now," Giles suddenly spoke up. "This is draining our strength, and if we keep it up for very long we might not have the strength that we need to open a portal back."

"Oh," Mrs. Summers exclaimed. "I'll be quick then. Dawn?"

The girl practically jumped into Mrs. Summers' arms and hugged her mother hard enough that Xander could see a momentary flash of discomfort on Mrs. Summers' face. "I'll miss you so much."

"I'll miss you too honey. I know it's selfish, but I wish you'd stay here."

Even to him, it was obvious how much the two loved each other. They might have only met nine days ago, but in that time Dawn had wormed her way into each of their hearts. And for Mrs. Summers it had been a new, younger, daughter who was utterly devoted to her. A devotion she happily returned.

"I can't. They'll be so worried about me, and I miss them too."

"I understand," Mrs. Summers sighed while a tear trailed down her face. "But that doesn't mean I won't miss you anyway."

By the way that Dawn was pressing her eyes shut, Xander figured that she was trying to hide her own tears. A suspicion that was confirmed when the tears wouldn't be contained. Nevertheless, she let go and stepping back she spoke in a wavering voice. "Goodbye mom, I love you."

"Goodbye."

Turning away, Dawn then quickly stepped into the shimmering portal and disappeared out of sight. "Okay, well it seems my sister decided to be the first. Let's follow her before the portal closes," Buffy said before saying her own goodbye to her mother and stepping through the portal.

One by one, the others followed. Except for Allen and Mrs. Summers—he really should remember to call her Joyce now—they were all going. Even Faith had been convinced. Although he had a sneaking suspicion that might have something to do with the fact that she didn't trust Dawn and him alone. Because that's what they would've been. After talking to their, or rather his, counterpart for a while they would follow the young Xander and Dawn until they'd have a chance to take the letter and set things right again.

If that would set it right. He knew that he wasn't the only one who had doubts concerning that, but he didn't know what could possibly go wrong. And why was he trying to jinx the situation? There were so many things that could go wrong. The one thing they all feared, or at least he did, was that taking the letter would mean that this universe would no longer exist. Or never existed in the first place. But Willow had said that was unlikely, and Dawn had explained about the world where he and Willow were vampires, and how it had still existed after the spell had been broken.

An entire world created just for a spell, Xander shivered at the sheer power that would be needed for something like that. And apparently he'd been engaged to this Anya despite the fact that she'd once been a vengeance demon. That was definitely something he wanted to ask his other self about, and maybe this Anya could explain the problems with their plan a bit better as well.

By now, his turn had arrived. Only Willow and Tara hadn't gone through yet and they would have to go last to keep the spell running as long as possible. Alright. Taking a deep breath he faced the portal, and hesitated a moment. Only a moment though, and nobody else should have been able to notice it. In that short moment he wondered what this was going to feel like. Would it hurt, wouldn't he really notice it, what?

Only one way to find out.

As he stepped into the portal, the world turned green. Everything ceased to exist, except for the green. It was almost as if he was serenely floating in a green room. A pretty green with some flashing green lightning or something, but still not the blue that science fiction always showed. Which he was sorely disappointed about.

But floating wasn't enough as he had to go back in time. To where the others were. But how did he do that? Dawn had said that it was the easiest thing possible and that he wouldn't even have to think about it, but she'd also said that this led everywhere. That this was a way to reach every world world in existence, barely contained within that temporary portal.

So much power: a single being who could destroy the world by using her own blood in a ritual. Sure, the ritual was pretty specific—although he wondered how anyone could have ever written it down when it hadn't even been possible before the Key was turned into a human being—but it was still incredible that it was even possible.

Suddenly, through his musings, there was a sensation of speeding up. Without any resistance from air—how was he breathing then?—he didn't have any idea of how fast he was going. Nothing here was even the least bit like back on earth, leaving him without any way to determine anything. How did he know he was going in the right direction? How did he know if he wasn't going too fast? And most of all, how would he know that he'd arrived at his destination?

Although he still couldn't really feel it—it was more the fact that he knew he was moving—Xander thought he was speeding up. Moving faster, and faster, and faster, until in the end he believed he was moving fast enough to break orbit. Well, except for issues like the lack of oxygen, cosmic radiation, and other stuff like that.

Then he stopped. Well, he thought he stopped. Something that looked very much like the portal he'd just stepped through appeared in his path, and he was slowed down until he was floating right in front of it. Something that lasted only a second as suddenly it felt as if he was given a great push and flew through it.

But he didn't fall. He had been almost horizontal when he went through it, at least that's what it had felt like to him. Of course, without any gravity he couldn't really be sure which way was up. Anyway, instead of diving through the portal, crashing to the ground, and hurting himself, he was suddenly simply standing there. Standing on the ground, as if he'd been standing still.

It wasn't even as if he'd taken a step back in the other world and finished the step in this one. No, he was just standing there with his legs straight and no idea how he'd gotten into that position. Despite the weirdness of that however, he clearly understood the comment Dawn had made when they'd first met her. This really was a trip. "Wow."

"Yeah," Faith agreed. "That was really wicked."

Suddenly first Tara and then Willow appeared out of thin air as well. Turning around for the first time, Xander noticed that there was no portal on this side. "Did it go away already?"

"It was never there," Dawn explained in a far away voice. "This portal doesn't have any single exit that can be seen on this side. That's also why you didn't see any of the others."

"How do you know?" Willow asked curiously.

"The other you came up with that explanation. Don't worry I'm sure you'd have figured it out in a couple of minutes as well."

Something wasn't clear to Xander. "But what does that have to do with us not seeing each other?"

"None of us used the same exit. We each went to a slightly different place, in time and space. The differences aren't all that big on this side, but the inside of the portal was probably so big that the differences there were bigger," Willow said in a thoughtful voice.

"See?" Dawn said to Willow. "Didn't I tell you that you'd figure it out? A dimensional portal works in more dimensions than just the regular three. Well four actually, if you count time, which you should in this case. Anyway, that's why it seemed so endless."

"And green. I still think it's wrong that it was green," Xander said.

"I thought it looked pretty," Buffy voiced her opinion.

"Nah B, I have to agree with X here. It should've been blue."

"Don't complain about the color, it might've been pink you know."

"Wow D, that's harsh."

Dawn shrugged. "We probably should find out what time it is so that we have an idea of how long we can spend with the other yous. "

True, and that was actually something most movies and series never considered. If you could travel through time, why should you leave at the same time as you arrived? Sure, it helped with the jet-lag, or time-lag, or whatever you wanted to call it, but in a town like Sunnydale it was rather stupid.

They had to arrive during the night, and doing an extensive ritual that might draw the attention of every vampire, demon, and other creepy thing wasn't the smartest thing to do while it was dark. Luckily for them, Willow had realized that there was no need for that, and as far as Xander's body knew he had gotten out of bed only a couple of hours ago. Which meant he was pretty fit, even though it was far too dark for his liking, and ready to face the other him.

….…

Due to the fact that Dawn already knew where her sister and friends would be, it didn't take them very long to find them. Still, the scene that greeted them was a lot stranger than he'd expected.

"You look so young," Tara whispered to Willow.

"Well, I'm only fifteen here. But the old other me, she looks so sad."

"She is sad, but she had a good reason for it."

"Where are the others?" Faith asked. "I only see mini-Red and mini-B there. Shouldn't there be a mini-G-man, mini-Wolfboy, and mini-Mrs. Tweed be there as well? I know mini-X is going to be picked up by the beautiful angel in the Bronze, but where are all the other minis?"

"You just had to call us that, didn't you?" Buffy asked with a sigh. "Is that why you came along?"

"Of course not B, but you know I can't resist an easy opening like that. Oh, and mini-Fang of course. Shouldn't he be here as well?"

"We were on our way to the Bronze when they intercepted us. Giles didn't come, Oz wasn't around yet, Jenny wasn't really either, and Angel was probably going to meet us at the Bronze. Or not, you never knew with him. Is that a good enough explanation?"

"Sure, I can live with that. Although I still don't understand what they needed the minis for."

"Huh?" Xander asked, not understanding what Faith meant. "What are you talking about?"

"They were you right?"

"Yes."

"Then what did they need the mini-you for? It's not like they couldn't do everything themselves."

Xander had to think about that, and he noticed that the others did so as well. Except for Dawn, who didn't seem to care. And why would they have to think about it when they could simply ask her? "Dawn, would you mind answering this question? 'Cause Faith has a point: you didn't need us."

"It was an accident. You weren't meant to see us, but when we ran into Buffy and Willow I was sent to get you as well. If we hadn't done that you probably would have gone looking for them and that way we wouldn't have been able to control the situation."

"You mean the whole meeting was an accident? They don't act like it was an accident," he said while indicating the group that was busy discussing things.

"Good acting. At least on our part. The young ones believe it was planned this way."

"And with young ones you mean...?" Buffy asked.

"Oh, the young you. The potentials know what's going on as well. Too bad we missed the part where you tried to stake Spike and was stopped by yourself. That was pretty funny to watch."

Okay. Like everyone else since Dawn had arrived, Xander had gotten a headache from the whole talking about time travel thing. And the fact that this sentence didn't seem to make any sense only made it worse. No, it wasn't that bad. It just sounded weird. "Alright, how about we go meet ourselves?"

"Not yet," Willow quietly said.

"Why not Red? Let's get this over with so that we can go home."

"I'd prefer if the younger usses didn't see us."

"Why? They'll lose their memories of tonight anyway."

Willow shook her head though. "If what Dawn says is true, the reason for the way the time-line changed is because of this meeting."

"I thought it was because of the letter Dawn left?" Buffy asked.

"No," Giles answered, while shaking his head. "I think that Willow might have a point here. This is where things went wrong, and it also gives a better reason for the memory spell as the other Willow must have tried to restore the time line."

"But that wasn't enough."

"No, the spell didn't have as great an effect on Xander as they believed, which may have been helped by Dawn's actions."

"Are you saying that it wasn't all my fault?" Dawn asked; relief and suspicion warring on her face.

"Yes, that is what I'm saying," Giles confirmed. Which wasn't something Xander was very happy about. Did this mean that taking the note wouldn't be enough? He asked the question, and it was Willow who answered it.

"It might be. Without it you might not remember what had happened, or at least you won't know what to change."

Okay. She had a point there. "Are you sure, because I think I would've written some things down myself."

"That, or you would've looked all over town for your pretty angel," Faith pointed out.

"Maybe, but I knew she was- No wait. I wouldn't know, would I?"

"Nope. You wouldn't have a clue about what happened to her."

"Guys, this is giving me a headache," Buffy said while getting to her feet. "I'm going to meet the other me."

"But Buffy, you could mess up the time-line even more," Willow whispered worriedly.

"I don't think I will. It's probably as messed up as it could be, and I really want to talk to her."

"I don't think-"

"Oh cheer up Rupert, the danger isn't all that big if we take care."

Not paying anymore attention to the resulting argument between Giles and Jenny, Xander looked at Dawn, who was frowning while she stared at the group from her own world. "What's wrong Dawn?"

"When I got back with Xander, they told me that they'd been attacked. The risk of that happening was the reason all of us traveled back in time—or at least one of the reasons—so it didn't really bother me. But they used that as an excuse to send the two of us to look for the amulet."

"And?"

"They haven't been attacked yet, and I don't think that's actually going to happen either."

"You mean they lied to you? Why would they do that?"

It was obvious that tearing her eyes away from the scene wasn't easy, but Dawn looked at him anyway. "Because they needed me out of the way."

"Why would they? Oh." Xander suddenly realized the obvious reason for it.

"Exactly. I was already there, or at least a version of me was. One from several days in the future. That would also explain why they gave me so much time with you."

"I thought that was because they couldn't find us?"

"So did I, but when you think about it there weren't many places we could've gone."

"Well-"

Dawn shook her head to cut him off. "No, they knew I wouldn't endanger you and they also probably knew what I'd do."

"True," Xander admitted. "Especially if they already heard about it from you. This you, not the other one. I think."

"Right. So, let's face the music." And without paying any more attention to the ongoing argument, Dawn quickly ran after Buffy. Stopping her only moments before she would have stepped out to confront the other time travelers.

Watching the vigorous hand waving and shaking of heads, Xander couldn't resist the smile. Those two were always fighting. Not in a bad way of course, but Buffy had taken up the mantle of big sister just when Dawn believed she no longer had to worry about that. In other words: Buffy went to extremes to set a good example for her newfound sister, while Dawn tried to do the things she otherwise couldn't.

For some reason those two goals conflicted. Gee, why would that be?

It made for some funny scenes though, and he knew that he wasn't the only one who'd had to suppress a smile every now and then. Even now, thinking about a particular scene that took place in the Magic Shop where- Hey that was interesting. Tearing himself away from the memory he noticed that Buffy had actually listened to whatever Dawn had to say. Now that was a surprising development.

….…

When they reached the others, the other Buffy had sent the unknowns—potentials Xander remembered Dawn calling them—off with the young Buffy and Willow. The excuse had apparently been to do some scouting. Not exactly what he would call a decent excuse, but it worked in getting them out of the way.

"So, you're the other usses," the other Buffy said with an incredulous look on her face. "Kinda weird, I didn't expect to meet two different versions of me in my entire life, let alone on the same day."

"Hey, you're the ones who messed up the time-line in the first place."

"Dawn did, by having her fun with Xander."

"Do we have to talk about that?" the other Xander asked. "I don't think this is the right place or time to be playing the blame game."

"You're right," Buffy answered. "Something happened that caused us to exist, and we're here to make sure that Dawn can get back. By the way, why isn't the vampire dust?"

"What?" the other Buffy asked confused.

"Spike: why haven't you dusted him? Do you want me to do it?"

"Not bloody likely! I'm a member of this team so you can forget about dusting me. If you even could."

"That's right, he's working with us. And he has his soul."

"So? He's still a vampire, isn't he? One who has killed, and did whatever it was that Dawn refused to tell me about."

"What did she refuse to tell you about?"

"If I knew, I wouldn't be wondering, now would I? But it seemed pretty bad," Buffy answered. His Buffy. Man, this was weird: if it hadn't been for the fact that the two were at least wearing different clothes Xander had a feeling he would have been quite confused. Well, more confused was probably a more accurate description.

The other Buffy turned to look at Dawn with a questioning frown. "What are you- Oh! But that wasn't completely his fault, and he got his soul because of it."

"Whatever," Dawn replied, obviously not agreeing with her sister.

"So, are you going to tell us, or will we have to take a guess?"

"It's not import-" the other Buffy started, but was interrupted by her Xander.

"He tried to rape Buffy."

Right. Okay. The vampire tried to rape one of his best friends. The moment he fully understood the words, Xander was disappointed that he was so slow. That lack of speed meant that he wasn't the first to reach Spike, but he wasn't that far behind Faith either.

"Get out of the way B." Unfortunately, the other Buffy had been even faster.

"We need him. I need him."

"Nobody messes with my friends and gets to live. Sorry B, but that ain't gonna happen."

"Let her come, I'll kick her ass," Spike muttered from where he was hiding behind the other Buffy. As if he'd stand a chance against a Slayer.

"Than you'll have to fight me, Faith. Something you weren't too successful in the last couple of times we did."

"I'm not her."

"Faith! You can't kill him!" Dawn interrupted.

"Why not, D? It's what you told X to do in your letter, isn't it?"

"He was here when I got back. We can't make the time-line any worse than it already is."

"'Course we can, and besides, maybe it solves the problems."

"No, it would be totally different. It would really destroy any chance of fixing this, and I want to go home." Faith was wavering, and Xander knew that Dawn could see it as well. "Please Faith? You wouldn't want me to come back with you and take Xander from you, would you?"

Faith laughed at that, but stepped back from the vampire as well. "As if you could. Anyway D, because you asked so nicely I won't dust him. Just keep him away from me, and he'll be able to enjoy another sunset."

"Xander?"

Damn. No matter how much he wanted to stake the vampire, or preferably pin its body to the ground with blessed silver stakes in order to enjoy the sight when the sun rose, he knew that he wouldn't stand a chance against the other Buffy. And his own Buffy didn't appear to want to help either. Alright, she probably felt the same way as Dawn in this regard, and had some more distance. No matter how strange that last part sounded.

Stepping back, Xander took a deep breath of the fresh night air, and looked over at the group who had been at the source of their existence. "Alright, I won't even try to fight a Slayer, but there is no way that I'd pass up an opportunity to stake the vampire. Like Faith said, keep it away and it might just survive. If a corpse can survive that is."

"I wouldn't be so cocky, droops," Spike growled. "You wouldn't stand a chance against me."

"Is that why you're hiding behind Buffy? The strong brave creature that needs to hide behind his protector?"

That pushed the button Xander had been hoping for, and Spike flew past Buffy to teach him a lesson. A lesson he was more than prepared to receive as he had a stake with Spike's name on it. Except that Spike never reached him. Buffy, his Buffy, had intercepted the vampire before it had taken more than three steps, tackled it to the ground, and pressed a stake into the skin covering its dead heart.

"Try that again, and I won't care about time-lines anymore," Buffy hissed at the vampire. "No vampire, soul or no soul, hurts my friends and lives. Consider this your one and only warning."

Having said what she wanted to say, Buffy got back on her feet and turned to her counterpart. "Take that away, and we can talk about some more important things. I'm pretty sure that there are some things we can discuss."

"Spike wasn't the only one at fault here," the other Buffy protested, although even she seemed surprised at how quickly his Buffy had intercepted Spike.

"I know. I'll handle these two," Buffy said with a nod at both Faith and him. "You take this filth away, but still somewhere you can keep an eye on it."

With those words, and an angry look on her face, she then turned to Faith and him. "B-" Faith tried to calm her down.

"Don't B me Faith. I may not like the choices she's made: Spike should never have been allowed to live after he had given her all the information she really needed, but it's not our place to correct those mistakes. They have to do that themselves."

"But Buffy-" Xander tried as well.

"No Xander. It's not our place. Free will, remember? Look, why don't you two go talk to the other Xander for a bit? I'm pretty sure he feels the same way about Spike as you do, and you can give him some tips on how to go about ridding himself of Spike."

"I thought you said?"

"They have to do it themselves, but I don't see any reason why we shouldn't help them a bit. Anyway, you only have a couple of minutes to talk to him before the young Xander and Dawn will arrive. They are the most important ones here. Keep them out of trouble, and make sure you get the chance to take that letter before he wakes up." Having said what she needed to say, Buffy turned away to join Willow and Tara in talking to the other Willow.

Xander looked at Faith for a moment, before shrugging and moving to his counterpart. "Hey."

"Hey. Shame huh?"

"Why haven't you staked him yourself?" Faith asked. Apparently the other Xander hadn't quite forgotten what Faith had done to him as there was a barely visible flinch when she spoke.

Like the other Buffy though, this Xander did try to ignore his own feelings. Or maybe Dawn had overestimated the hatred they still felt for their Faith. Whichever the case, the other Xander answered Faith's question in as normal a tone as he could manage. "He has been useful to us, and after a while we got used to having him around. Besides, staking someone who can't fight back isn't something I'd feel good about."

"Trust me, you wouldn't lose a night's sleep over it," Xander told his counterpart. "But enough about the walking corpse, tell me something about yourself. I understand from Dawn that you've been engaged."

"He ran out on me, but I decided not to curse him for it. Yet." the blond girl who joined them said.

"You're Anya right?" Faith spoke up.

"Yes, and you're the Slayer who likes to kill people."

Ouch. Even after having experienced both Cordelia's and Faith's ideas of tact, this Anya was pretty crude. "That's the other me."

"Oh right. Well, you've never tried to hurt me so I can forgive you. If you don't go around killing people in your world, what do you do for fun then?"

"Having my way with Xander."

"Oh, you have orgasms with him too? That is so great. We don't have a lot of time, but there should be enough time to compare some notes. Tell me, how many orgasms does he give you each day on average?"

Seeing the wicked grin appear on Faith's face, Xander turned to his counterpart who looked the way he felt. "Do you think it's time we started running?"

….…

He remembered the search as going very easy, but then he'd believed at the time that the demons would be held off by the other group of time travelers. Now that he knew that they weren't concerned with demons, but instead would spend at least some of that time talking with their counterparts he was on alert in case a vampire or demon would try to stop the young Xander and Dawn.

So far they had managed to retrieve the amulet, and deliver it back to the other group, without anything particularly dangerous showing up. The worst was a single newborn vampire that had been dispatched by Faith before it had even managed to completely dig out of its grave. Which meant that following the two around might have been called a boring job. Of course, being outside, during the night, in Sunnydale could never actually be seen as boring, but in this case it was his companions who made it even more interesting.

"See how close they are?" Dawn pointed out with a smug smile.

"Just because he hasn't met a real woman yet, doesn't mean you should confuse desperation with interest D."

"Hey! I wasn't desperate!" Xander whispered in defense of his younger self.

"Yeah, he wasn't desperate. He was in love."

"Love doesn't happen that fast. I'll grant you he's in lust, but you've actively set out to seduce him and from what I understand of your world you probably asked that Anya chick for pointers."

"I would've figured that all out by myself!"

Faith smiled at that, and Xander was starting to feel like he really should have been somewhere else. Somewhere he couldn't hear these two talking about him as if he were a side of beef. Weren't they supposed to be in love with him or something? This wasn't how you talked about someone you loved, was it?

"After the fact maybe, but I gotta say you're not doing too bad for someone without any experience."

"Not too bad? I've got him eating out of my hand."

"But that's not what you want him to eat, is it?"

Oh god. "Please stop this," Xander whispered against all hope. Why did women always think it was alright to discuss his sex life while he was standing next to them? Didn't they understand that maybe he didn't want to let the entire world know about everything he did?

They didn't listen though. "Well no. But he starts eating more interesting things once we, I mean they, reach the motel room."

"Where you'll bring all your theoretical experience to bear," Faith pointed out.

That didn't seem to sit well with Dawn, and she countered with her own point. "At least it wasn't the 'Wam, bam, thank you Xan' thing you did to him back in my world."

"I did that? Damn, that sucks. You know X-man, once we get home I'll make it up to you all night long."

Now that did sound interesting, but it was Dawn who spoke up next. "Hush, they've gotten to the alley."

"What's so special about that alley?"

"Watch and learn," Dawn smiled at Faith.

Watching his younger self be thrown against the wall and ravished was a weird experience. He had no real recollection of this moment, but he sure wished he did remember. Over the past couple of days they'd all started to regain some of their memories of this night, and Xander really hoped that this was one of the memories that would come back. Not that he planned to let Faith know about that, but still...

"Okay D, I gotta admit you're not doing too bad here. You're moving a bit too fast in some places, and too slow in others, but overall you're doing pretty good. Like I said though, your technique needs work. Mini-X doesn't know any better, but if you plan to seduce the older one from your world you really should get a bit better. From what that Anya chick told me, he's pretty good. At least as good as my Xander."

"Uh, Faith? Could we perhaps not talk about that?"

"In any case, because of what you did for me with Allan and all, I told him that he might want to pay some more attention to you. Consider it my way of thanking you. Just remember to scream my name at least once while you're busy. Oh, and I'd really love it if you did that while your sister could hear you."

"I'm not going to shout the name of any girl during sex," Dawn hissed back.

Deciding that it really was time to change the subject, Xander was relieved when a distraction came along. "Aren't those two of the potentials?"

Dawn cast a glance at the scene. "Oh yeah, they don't know about us. Well you, the younger usses, or whatever. Buffy probably send them out to look for us so they wouldn't get in the way."

"Why not simply tell them about it?" Xander wondered.

Dawn shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe she did and all this is just for the younger usses benefit so that we don't get suspicious. Hmm, now that I think about it, that actually makes more sense as it explains the Anya comment."

As they watched the young Dawn lead the potentials away, Xander decided to ask another question that had been bugging him. "So, why don't you ever tell me your name? The others had no problems telling us theirs, but you never did. Including-"

"You and B?" Faith suddenly interrupted, doing her best not to laugh. "I didn't know you were that kinky X."

"What?" A bit annoyed that he was distracted from asking Dawn his question, Xander tried to figure out what Faith was talking about.

"Mini-X was just imagining a threesome with B and D here."

"I didn't know they were sisters!" he hissed at her, trying not to blush too hard. Damn, had he known that the young him was going to say something like that, he'd have tried to keep Faith away from here. No doubt he'd be hearing about this for years to come. Time to change the subject. "Anyway, what I tried to ask is why you never tell me your name while the others do."

"They're leaving, but we know where they'll end up so we don't have to follow them very closely. There won't be any danger here," Dawn said before answering his answering. "I don't tell any of you my name because Willow thought it was dangerous if I did."

"Why?" Faith wanted to know.

"Because of who and what I am. If any of you would remember my name when I'm made it might have an effect on that and change the time-line."

"Oh, okay."

Not entirely sure he followed that reasoning himself, Xander decided to point out that the other him and Dawn had enough of a lead now. "Do you have any idea how long-" Okay, that didn't work, let's try again. "I mean do you know- How long will they-"

"What he wants to ask is how long will the two of you be fucking before the other D leaves?" Faith helped him out. Well, helped wasn't exactly the right word as he wouldn't have put it like that. It was his sex life after all, and he shouldn't be talking about that with these two—at least not at the same time. Having had to listen while Faith was talking with Anya had been bad enough.

"I'm not sure actually," Dawn said while frowning in thought and licking her lips. A gesture that made her look even cuter and more beautiful than ever. And also served to remind him clearly why he'd been attracted to her in the first place. "We could wait outside until we see her come out, and then move in to take the note."

"I don't know," Faith said with a lecherous smile. "I think it would be better if we followed them to their room and waited until they were done."

Yeah that made se- Wait a minute. The walls in that motel weren't exactly thick. "What?"

"You heard me X. I'd love to hear you two working out, so to speak. When you told us about this, you were far too light on the details, and now I have a chance to find out firsthand. If you don't want to come, that's your problem. You know how I get when..." Trailing off she raised her eyebrows in a manner he was very familiar with, and looking into her eyes he knew exactly how she wanted to spend that time.

She knew he couldn't resist her when she was like this. "But Dawn..."

"I won't mind," Dawn said. Which definitely wasn't what he'd expected.

"What? But you were..."

"As long as I get some quality time myself, I can live with it."

"Quality time?" Faith growled a bit, acting all territorial. Oh god, she really was pushing all his buttons, wasn't she?

"Not like that," Dawn smiled. "I'll have my own Xander to do that with when I get back. But I do want some kissing and stuff. I won't sit by, watch you ravish him, and hear the other me have sex without doing anything myself. I think that would drive me crazy. Although it is pretty hot. Too bad my Xander didn't come along as well."

Okay, that was a disturbing thought. Even if it was himself, having another guy around wouldn't have been something he liked. And that thought was enough to snap him out of his aroused state. Well, not entirely, but enough for him to think the situation over. "I think I'll wait outside though."

"X?" Faith smiled sweetly at him.

Oh, oh. This wasn't good. "Yes?"

"Do you remember what I am?"

"Of course," Xander replied with a sinking feeling.

The teasing grin on her face told him what she was going to say before she even opened her mouth. "Then what makes you think you've got a choice?"

….…

Before stepping through the shimmering portal, Dawn said something to her sister that made Buffy laugh. This was their cue. It was time. Turning to the Dawn he'd gotten to know these past days, Xander had to admit that he was sorry to see her go. Especially now that he'd been forcefully reminded of how her mouth tasted.

"I guess this is it, huh?"

Dawn only nodded in reply, although there was the suspicion of tears in her eyes.

It was Buffy who spoke up then. "Come on, we wouldn't want you to miss your ride, now would we? Isn't there a Xander on that world who you need to seduce?"

Considering Buffy's initial reaction to that whole thing, Xander thought this was pretty much out of character for his friend. Until he looked at her, and saw the same barely contained tears that were in Dawn's eyes. Oh boy, they weren't going to cry were they? Not that he had anything against being emotional, but his shoulders always got wet when his friends cried.

"Yeah, I guess," Dawn muttered. "I'll miss you guys."

"Hey, you've got other versions of us there. And they like you too."

"Not for all of you," Dawn replied to Willow's attempt at comforting her, before doing a little teasing of herself. "Well, some of you I won't miss quite as much."

"Yeah, you wouldn't want there to be real competition for the X-man, would you?" Faith shot back.

"Competition? Hah! If you weren't already dating him you wouldn't stand a chance."

"Too bad we can't find out if you're right about that," Faith smirked.

Unfortunately, this crossed the line a bit too much. "Okay, that's enough. I'm not a piece of beef you know."

"Oh come on X, you know you'd love to see us fighting over you."

"No I wouldn't," Xander vehemently denied, while quickly shutting away all thoughts of a mudfight between the two. Or even a pillow fight where they were both wearing close to nothing and sitting on a large bed with feathers flying all around. Bad Xander! He shouldn't be thinking about stuff like that, especially now that Dawn was leaving again. Still, he couldn't let out a soft groan as he imagined exactly what would happen when-

"Damn X, I didn't know you'd be that interested," Faith said huskily, causing him to open his eyes again in shock. When had he closed them? Horrified he looked at the others, who either looked at him exasperated, were close to laughing, or—in the case of Dawn and Faith—horny. Damn, that wasn't what he'd wanted to do while saying goodbye.

"I-" he started, but was cut off by Dawn.

Placing a finger on his lips, she smiled at him. "It's alright. I'm happy that you think of me like that, but Buffy was right and I really should be going now. They are waiting for me."

She said the last part with a nod in the direction of the portal where Buffy and Willow were patiently waiting for her to return. Well, he'd never seen Buffy wait patiently for anyone, and he doubted this was an exception, but thinking of it like that prevented him from having to feel any guilt. "Yes. It was..."

"Yeah, me too," she smiled, before gathering her courage and taking his head in her hands she made him bend down so she could kiss him.

Unlike in the motel, where she'd jumped him when Faith had her back turned for a moment, there was no sense of urgency to this kiss. This meant that for the first time in six years he was able to lose himself in her taste. It was very good, something he was sure he'd be able to enjoy and made him wonder why he hadn't done so earlier during her stay. A cough from Faith immediately reminded him of the reason. He was seeing someone, and there was no place in that relationship for Dawn. Even if she'd want to share.

Hmm... share. No! Disengaging from her, he smiled while once again trying to banish the thoughts of both Dawn and Faith doing all sorts of things that he'd dreamed about what seemed all his life. Hey, he was a guy, and therefore entitled to fantasies like that. At least, he thought so.

"I'll miss you too," Xander told Dawn as he noticed the flash of disappointment in her eyes when he broke off the kiss. "You were unlike anyone I've ever met, and I think that's pretty cool. If you manage to get the other me, he's a very lucky guy."

"Of course he is," she smiled back while the tears were finally starting to trail down her face. "And I'll get him. He's mine after all."

"Right," Xander smiled, while trying to swallow away the lump that was growing in his throat.

Dawn had already said her goodbyes to the others earlier, which meant that this time she only gave a short wave before running over to the other Buffy and Willow. Even this short goodbye was probably a bit too long, as he could see the strain on the other Willow's face, but nobody complained. Aside from the fact that the other Dawn wasn't supposed to know about them, it had been deemed safer if they stayed away from the portal. It was a kind of magic unlike any they were familiar with, and the Willows had decided there was no sense in taking any risks.

As Dawn hurried over to her own family and friends, they could see as the other Buffy gathered her in her arms, almost as if she wanted to say goodbye as well. That was weird. They would be together again, wouldn't they?

Xander shrugged it off. Buffy was probably afraid something might go wrong again, and she didn't want that to happen without saying goodbye to her sister. Once Dawn—his Dawn, if he could call her that—had stepped through the portal Buffy turned back to them with a little wave, and a shout that he couldn't really make out. Apparently Buffy and Faith could though, and they looked at each other strangely. "Did she just?"

"She probably meant to say-"

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Faith nodded. "What else could it be?"

They didn't explain it any further, and his Buffy replied with a staking motion that he did understand very well. Although judging by the way the other Buffy shook her head he doubted it was going to happen. Too bad. And then, without wasting anymore time, the two stepped through the portal.

"Well," Buffy started with a sad expression on her face as the portal closed behind Willow. "I guess it's over then. Dawn is back with her own family, and we can go home again."

"Yeah," Willow sighed. "I was really starting to like her, but at least this taught us something."

"Always with the learning, Red. Don't you think about the fun part of it?"

"I do, but talking to the other me was..." Willow trailed off, but Xander already knew what she wanted to say. And he agreed. While his own counterpart hadn't tried to end the world, there was more than enough for him to think about.

"Yeah, gotta admit that seeing the others afraid of me wasn't exactly my idea of a vacation either. But cheer up, it's not like Blondie's ever gonna let you do something like that."

"But what if-"

Willow's rebuttal was quickly silenced by Faith. "No buts. It's not gonna happen. You're the good gal, remember? The sweet and innocent one. Well, maybe not quite so innocent anymore. Right, Blondie?"

"Faith!" Tara said in a shocked, and highly embarrassed tone. Although Xander couldn't say if it was because of Faith's words, or the lecherous tone she said it in. Not that Tara shouldn't be used to that by now. After all, Faith hadn't based the girl's nickname on the color of her hair. Well, not the hair most people got to see at least. He still hadn't figured out what Willow actually had said when Faith had managed to get her drunk, but Tara hadn't been happy with it.

Turning away from where Faith kept trying to cheer the two up, he looked at Buffy who had a smirk on her face that was undoubtedly very similar to his own. "She always gets them out of a funky mood, doesn't she?"

"Yeah," Xander smiled. "She can pretend to be as hard as she wants, but she cares deeply about us all. We're her family, and keeping us safe and happy is all that matters to her. She's kinda like you in that regard."

"Flatterer."

"Hey! I'm serious. Both of you always make sure that the rest of us are safe."

"Yeah, and you never do anything. Right?" Buffy shook her head. "No buster, we both know that you've done as much as me. Anyway, are you going to show me that letter my sister wrote? We have to wait while the others do the whole ritual anyway. And can I say again that I think that using Dawn's blood is really icky?"

"Well, Willow said it would work with just that. Otherwise we couldn't have returned without Dawn."

"Yeah, yeah," Buffy impatiently said before returning to the subject that really interested her. "I've heard the story too. Now, are you going to let me read the letter, or is it full of stuff I really don't want to know?"

"It's not that bad."

Faith had apparently heard what they were talking about, as she spoke up. "Really X? I thought it was full of tips about the things you should practice before she got back."

"Hey! Not everything in life revolves around sex."

"The interesting stuff does," Faith countered with a smirk.

"Well, maybe, but- Hey, that's weird."

"What is?" Buffy asked him.

Instead of answering her, Xander turned the letter around. He'd read this letter dozens, if not hundreds, of times during the past six years and knew every single word and smudge by heart. Which was why he was so surprised now that he took the time to look at the letter that they had retrieved.

"It's different."

"Whadda'ya mean, different? Different how?"

"The handwriting looks a bit different: not much, but it's not quite what I remember either. Some of the words are written differently as well, and it's not complete. The part about when I could tell you about everything is missing."

"You probably just missed it," Buffy exclaimed, although he could hear the doubt in her voice.

Of course, he might have missed it, if he hadn't known where it was. But he did. "No Buff, I've seen this letter so many times that I can dream what it says."

"Is that when you make those weird noises in your sleep?" Faith attempted to bring some levity into the situation.

Ignoring his girlfriend, Xander continued. "This is the letter I've had for all these years, not as old of course but still that letter. Except for that small part that's missing."

"Are you certain?" Giles now asked as well, although he looked more puzzled than disbelieving.

"Yes, I'm certain. No, I haven't made a mistake. Yes, I know exactly what it said and where. And that spot is empty."

"But that doesn't make any sense," Willow cried out, getting close to panic. "This could mess up the entire time-line again. We have to do something."

"Yes we do."

The words were spoken softly, and for a moment Xander almost didn't recognize who'd spoken them. But when he did, his eyes went wide in surprise. "Dawn? How?"

"You're holding the original letter, we need to add some things and put it back," the girl said from the shadows where he could now barely make her out.

"How did you get here? We just watched you leave."

"Can you believe that it went wrong again? Apparently the Powers that Be, or the cosmos, or God, or whoever, believes that I'm not allowed to return to my original world. From what we discovered it has something to do with how we used the Key. Although I should still be able to get back to your world, if you still want me."

"Of course we do," Buffy immediately spoke up. "Why wouldn't we? And why are you hiding in the dark anyway?"

"I'm scared," Dawn whispered just loud enough for them to hear.

"Scared? Of what? I don't plan on hurting you D," Faith attempted to calm Dawn down.

"I know Faith. For the past year you've been my only friend, even going so far as to-" Dawn cut herself off. She wasn't crying. He had enough experience with one of his friends crying to know that that wasn't what was happening, but he had a feeling that crying was actually what Dawn wanted to do more than anything else.

"Dawn? Are you alright?"

"I'll be fine Buffy, I only need some time to pull myself together, and then I'll be right as rain. It probably won't take more than a couple of weeks." At that she left out a sharp barking laugh, and Xander had to do his best to repress the shivers that it caused to run down his back.

What had she gone through? It had probably been pretty bad for her to act like this. "Dawn, you're scaring me."

"Me, scaring you?" She laughed again, as if it was ridiculous to think that she might be scaring him. "No, I have to remember that I'm back here. I've been watching you for most of the night. Well, I also talked to the other Buffy so that I could tell her what happened this time. She was so surprised when I explained the theory Faith, the one from where I was, and I came up with, but after talking it over with Willow they agreed that it was probably right."

"Theory? What the two of us came up with a theory?" Faith asked with a frown on her face. "And how come I never noticed you watching us?" Good questions, certainly the second one because she'd never been able to sneak up on any of them before.

"Yes we came up with a theory. It was you and me against the world. Don't worry though, I won't bother you with the details. And as for watching you, well it wasn't all that hard as I knew where you'd be, remember? Besides," she suddenly whispered, "I didn't have much choice about getting better at not being noticed."

"Dawn, is there anything we can do for you?" Jenny asked, probably feeling responsible for the young girl.

"Not unless you can stop everything from happening. We have to put that letter back. Without it everything will go wrong, and the other world will happen."

"Dawn, you're safe here," Tara spoke up. "None of us is any danger to you. You trust me, don't you?"

"Yes," came the slow reply. "I trust you, but..."

"It's alright. You're safe. You can rest now."

"No, first the letter. The letter needs to be replaced, and I have to write the date thing on it."

"Then come out of the shadows, let us help you."

"I'm so scared," Dawn once again whispered. "I don't understand it. I know that you're safe, and that they aren't here, but I'm scared of what you'll think of me."

"We wouldn't say anything bad, you know that."

It worked. Tara's soft, comforting, words actually had the desired result and he watched as Dawn detached herself from the shadows she'd been hiding in. It was bad. There were similarities to the girl he'd just watched jump through the portal, but there were a lot of differences as well.

At first glance, she didn't look all that different. Sure, she looked a bit older, her hair was cut by someone who wasn't very good at it, and she had a scar above her right eye, but that wasn't all that bad. It wasn't the first time one of them had been wounded, and while most of their scars were hidden by the clothes they wore, they were still present.

No, the thing that bothered him the most were her eyes. She looked scared. She looked as if she was ready to fight even now that she was safe among them. But somewhere inside that obviously tormented girl was the Dawn he'd gotten to know over the past days. A Dawn who was just waiting to get out again. Silently he vowed to himself that he'd help her get her life back.

Then she had reached them, and after first hugging Buffy almost to death, while whispering things he couldn't hear, she moved on to Faith, who she was just as happy to see, and then on to everyone else. When she reached him though, she hesitated.

Slowly, and warily, she extended her arm until she reached his throat where she put her fingers against the pulse point. The relief that was evident on her face when she felt his heartbeat was something he really didn't want to think about. Not that he had the time, because the next moment his arms were filled with a crying Dawn who kept saying she was sorry.

Sorry for what, he didn't know. And he had a feeling that it would be a long time before he ever found that out. Disentangling herself from him again, Dawn collected herself. "All right, let's do the letter thing and go home. I want to see mom again."

Allen Pitt, charmedloverloes, and dogbertcarroll: Thank you for the feedback. Now, let's do the answer thing.

You're right: these scoobies haven't gone through all the hardships that the others have and that would probably mean there are certain things they wouldn't be able to handle as well as the others. On the other hand, quite a few of the problems the others had were caused by themselves, and if mistakes like that are prevented it might not teach them as much, but would prevent people from being killed.About Spike, while it might not have been very clear in the story, as I only hinted at it, Dawn only found out about it shortly before they did the whole time travel thing. Which means she was still very angry at him, and if it was my sister who it happened to I would have done my best to stop it from ever happening.
Now, the big question: Glory. I'm sorry, but that won't be discussed in this story. On the other hand, by now you'll know that there is a chance for sequels so who knows?