Shy sat in the dark, sulking over his destroyed arm. The vampire and his son had brutally ripped it off of him while he was trying to get to the little room where the Slayer was hiding. He heard the door downstairs open and someone stepped inside. "Dad?" The boy called. Shy listened to the footsteps of his son ascend the stairs and then light poured into his room and Elijah walked in. "You're still in here sulking?"
"I'm not sulking. Where have you been?"
"Out with Dawn."
"You're spending too much time with that girl. She's the sister of the Slayer. Sooner or later she'll catch on to you if you're not careful."
"You know, you really don't have to give me the drill here. I know all of this. The Powers came to me, remember? They obviously thought that you couldn't do the job. They found you out."
"And they'll find you out if you don't watch your back."
Elijah sighed and rolled his eyes. A year ago he didn't even know his father existed. His mother had always told him that he was dead. Elijah didn't think he was because of certain feelings he got. He also knew that his mom was a wonderful person and that the evil he felt was inside of him that he had always felt had to have come from his father. Then, on his 21st birthday, he started having these weird dreams. When he asked his mom about them, she just sighed and told him to ignore them. A week later, a guy... Well, not really a guy... showed up to him out in the parking lot of a bar after a night of drinking. Elijah had been so drunk, he had thought it was just a hallucination. Then the demon had told him that he was his father and that he needed his help. When Elijah asked his mother the next day, she had confessed everything. Elijah was half demon.
A Garshundik demon to be exact. Then, the dreams he had been having became clear. It was the Powers revealing everything to him. And he meant everything. The Powers showed him a world beyond his wildest dreams and showed him the way to get there. They managed to pull some metaphorical strings and got him into UCLA for free. He didn't have to attend classes or read books or listen to boring professors lecture for three hours. All he had to do was woo the Slayer's younger sister into listening to him. Eventually, the Powers said, she will come to our side and destroy the inner circle of the Slayer. At the time it sounded like an easy task, but once he had met Dawn and gotten to know her, he wasn't so sure. The bonds between everyone in that little group were deeper than what the Powers had let on to. Not only was there respect and friendship and love between them, they considered themselves family. All of them having come from some form of a dysfunctional family background made their bond with each other pretty much unbreakable. This was going to take more time than the Powers had thought.
Dawn shut the door behind her quietly and started to head up the stairs. "You're home late." Buffy said from the shadows of the living room.
"Who are you, mom?" Dawn asked, flipping on the lamp on the table. "It's not even midnight." Buffy pointed at the clock. It was 1:15. "Oh."
"So where were you?"
"Out."
"Dawn, come on. What's so bad about this guy that you don't want me to know about him?"
"Nothing's bad about him."
"Then why didn't you tell me you two were seeing each other?"
"Cause I knew you'd wig if I told you how he was."
"I didn't wig."
"You did. You started to embarass me."
"I did not." Buffy sighed. "Look, I'm pregnant and I can't keep my hormones in check. Things pop out of my mouth that I really can't control. So, would you just come here and talk to me?"
Dawn sighed. "He's a nice guy."
"And?"
"That's all you need to know."
"Dawn, come on! What does he study? Who does he hang out with? Is he a demon?"
"He isn't a demon!"
"How do you know?"
"I just do! God, you need to get unpregnant soon if this is how you're going to be."
"Why are you acting like this? I just wanna know about your boyfriend. The last one you had was a vampire."
"He wasn't my boyfriend."
"Oh that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy seeing as how you were making out with him in his stolen car."
"I didn't know he was a vampire."
"And you don't know if this boy is a demon."
"Well, I know he's not a vampire. He goes in the sun. Can I go to bed now?"
Buffy sighed. "Dawn, I'm just looking out for you. I don't want to see you get hurt."
"Well, I won't. Contrary to popular belief, I'm a big girl now and I can take care of myself." Dawdn turned and headed up the stairs.
Buffy watched her go, fighting to hold back the tears. These stupid hormones were really working overtime. Buffy wanted to admit that this Elijah guy was nice, but there was something off about him. He didn't feel right to Buffy. She couldn't place her finger on it and try as she might, she just couldn't get past it. But everyone just chalked it up to raging hormones and went about their business. In Buffy's mind, Elijah's timing was too perfect. Shy was in remission, so there weren't any new bad guys a brewin that they knew of. Why wouldn't the Powers send someone in to infiltrate their little circle and tell them everything that went on? But of course, no one would listen to her. Maybe these babies weren't the workings of the Ancients. Maybe the Powers gave them to her now so they could make everyone ignore her. That was it. She wanted to find out the truth.
"Willow." Buffy said, walking into the Hyperion the next day.
"Hey Buff, where's Angel?" Willow asked.
"At home asleep. Listen, I need to ask you something."
"Sure."
"Is there any way to use that key to temporarily get into the Ancients' deimension?"
"I haven't tried. In fact, I don't even know if this key is any good. Everything I've tried has gone kapluey. And I mean that literally for a few of the tries."
"Try again."
"Why? What's up?"
"I need answers and I think these Ancient Ones could be the ones to provide me with them."
"I don't know if I can."
"If at first you don't succeed..."
"Try until your brain falls out. Are you sure this is safe?"
"No. But I know its the only way I'm going to be able to put my mind at ease."
"About what?"
"Everything." Buffy started to head to her office, but stopped before she got to the door. "And Willow? No one else is to know about this."
"Uh, yeah. Ok Buffy."
Buffy sat down in her chair behind her desk and moved to pick up some files on two Slayers when suddenly the room went completely white and a bright light blinded her. She shielded her eyes and looked around as best she could for signs of an attack. Then Buffy got the feeling that she was floating. When she blinked her eyes, the light had dimmed to reveal a beautiful, breathtaking landscape. There was a waterfall across a large, clear blue lake and gorgeous willow trees surrounding the lake.
"Welcome beautiful Slayer, to our home." A voice echoed around her. It was soft and twinkling sounding.
"Where am I?" Buffy called. "What is this place?"
"You are in the land of the Ancients. Welcome."
"How did I get here?"
"We summoned you here."
"You can do that?"
"You have made it possible."
"Willow did it?"
There was a soft chuckling sound. "No, young Slayer, through your battle for all that is good, you have increased our powers enough to come back to your world periodically."
"And you brought me here why?"
This time it was a female voice that spoke up. "To answer your questions, of course."
"You heard that?"
"Yes, we heard that." The female voice said. It sounded like she was smiling.
"Ok then, so... Is it you guys that got me pregnant?"
"Yes. We knew this would give you hope for a better future."
"But I don't understand how. One good hit could kill my babies."
"No, Slayer, just like your first born, these are protected."
"That was you guys? With Connor I mean?"
"Yes. That was us." There was a soft laughing sound. "Did you think the Powers would bestoy upon you such a gift?"
"Well, not after I found out they're bad." More soft laughing. "What about the SahJahn prophecy with Connor?"
"That was not us. That was the Powers' way of trying to kill your son."
"That's not fair."
"The Powers are not fair young one."
"And what about me and Angel?"
"We are responsible for bringing you together. The Powers are the reason you had so much heartache and despair in your lives."
"Figures."
"We only wished to bring you peace in times of trouble. That is why Angel was sent to you. He was to fight at your side and protect you and love you."
"How did the Powers take over?"
"It was a slow and tedious process. The demons of this world, the ones now known as the Powers That Be, swore their legeance to us. They served us and did our bidding on Earth, but behind our backs, so to speak, they plotted our demise. While under our care they stole our secrets and found a way to bind us so that evil could prevail."
"Why is it taking so long?"
"They have to reverse the good we did before the demons."
"There was good?"
"Yes, young Slayer. They erased all references of the good before the bad."
"Because they erased the references to you?"
"Yes."
"Why did you choose me to be the Slayer?"
"Because we knew you would change the world. When you came into this world with the potential of a Chosen One, there was something different from the other potential Slayers."
"Can you look into the future?"
There was laughing again. "Not in the way you believe."
"We can only feel the future."
"Oh." Buffy sighed and sat down on a large, flat rock. "And when I died... Did I come here?"
And again with the laughing. "No, young Slayer, you went to a dimension similar to this one."
"How come I can't remember it all anymore? It used to be so clear."
"It is still inside of your mind, just look deeper. If you just concentrate and believe, the possibilities are infinite."
"Now you sound like an ad for the army... or possibly Disney."
More laughing. "You are very amusing Slayer."
"I try."
"I wish we could spend more time answering your questions, but our powers grow weak. We do not want to wear out the spell protecting your babies."
"Yeah, no... That would be bad."
"Remember, young Slayer, you can win this war." The voice echoed lower and then the white light came again.
"Buffy." Willow's voice said. "Wake up, Buffy."
Buffy lifted her head off the desk. "I'm awake."
"Are you ok?"
Buffy blinked and looked around the office. She felt fully rejuvinated and ready for the war ahead. "Yeah." Buffy nodded. "Yeah."
"Um, and about that thing you asked earlier... I still can't figure it out."
Buffy smiled and patted Willow's shoulder. "Don't worry. You will."
"Are you sure you're ok? You didn't, like, eat Ted's cookies again, did you?"
"I'm fine, Wills. For the first time in a long time, I think everything's going to work out ok."
"You sure about those cookies?"
Buffy laughed. "Yeah. I'm sure."
That night, when Dawn returned home with Connor, Buffy was in the dining room setting up the table for dinner. "Hey guys. Get cleaned up, supper will be ready in fifteen."
"What's going on?" Connor asked, hanging his coat in the closet.
"Nothing. Why?"
"You're cooking, mom."
"Yeah, that's just not normal." Dawn said, laying her bookbag in the closet.
"Well, I feel great. So, I figured, why not pull out one of mom's old cookbooks and bake?" Buffy said, heading towards the kitchen.
Angel walked in and looked at Connor and Dawn. "What are you guys staring at?"
"Mom's lost it, dad." Connor said.
"Why?" Angel saw the dining room table all set up for dinner and smelled food cooking. "Oh."
"Is she gonna be ok? I don't remember her being this giddy last time around." Dawn said.
Angel looked at Connor and then Dawn and smiled. "She's gonna be fine, guys." He headed upstairs and left Dawn and Connor bewildered in the foyer.
Connor shook his head. "Well, I guess I'll go get cleaned up too." He followed his dad up the stairs.
Dawn headed into the kitchen. "Are you sure you're all right?"
"I'm fine, why?" Buffy said. She turned to look at Dawn and Dawn realized just how much like their mother Buffy really was.
"It's just, you don't cook."
"I cook. Just not all the time." Buffy sighed. "Mom was the best cook and I wanted to slip into her shoes. Try out the mommy role."
"Why?"
"Because, this time I get to BE a mom."
"You ARE a mom."
"I only meant this time I get to raise my kids. I get to witness their childhood and be there for their firsts. I didn't get that with Connor."
"That's cause he got taken to a hell dimension."
"Don't remind me."
"Well, I wish I could stay, but I have a date with Elijah tonight."
"Another one? Ah, Dawnie, I cooked!"
"I know, but…."
"You can cancel this one date. I promise, it's not the end of the world."
"Buffy…."
"No buts. You're eating with your family tonight."
Dawn huffed. "This is only because you don't like him, isn't it?"
"No, it's because I want to sit down and have a family dinner for once. And no shady boy is going to ruin that."
"He's not shady!"
"Dawn, I don't want to fight."
"Then don't. I'm going out with Elijah and you can't stop me." With that Dawn, turned and ran out the front door.
Angel walked into the kitchen. "What happened?"
"It's that boy, Elijah. He's got Dawn wrapped around his little finger." Buffy sighed. "There's something off about him. I can just feel it."
Dawn cried into Elijah's arms. She had taken a taxi to his apartment and ran up to him in tears. He held her tightly and shushed her gently. "She's trying to ruin my life!" Dawn sobbed.
"I know." Elijah said. "It's ok now, you're here…. With me."
"I don't want to go back there. I knew I couldn't tell her about you. She always gets like this."
"Then don't go back."
"What?"
"Don't go back. Stay here with me."
Dawn looked confused. "You mean, move in with you?"
Elijah laughed. "No, silly. Just stay here. You don't have to go back there right now. You can stay with me as long as you want."
"Are you sure?"
"Would I ask if I wasn't?"
Dawn looked at her boyfriend. Buffy was wrong. Elijah was the sweetest guy she had ever met. There wasn't anything wrong or evil about him. She nodded and moved back into Elijah's embrace.
Elijah smiled to himself. Tonight was a victory for the Powers. Dawn was ready to break away from Buffy. Now he just had to get to the others somehow. Soon, hell on earth would finally begin and he would be a god. With Dawn at my side.