Legal Disclaimer: I own nothing. All rights to the Terminator or Buffy characters belong to the respective companies. No money is being made from this. It's all for fun.

Spoilers: See any of the first 3 chapters For Spoiler warnings.

Dream sequence: Italics

Thoughts: (Italics)

Scene opens: The group had just decided on dealing with John Conner.

Chapter Thirteen

Count Down to Judgment Day:

T Minus Six (pt7):

(Point: Friends and Relatives):

Giles stood up from his chair and walked to the kitchen window. He took his glasses off and started to clean them. He then started speaking while facing away from the gathering of friends. "This will be the hardest thing we've ever done. By not warning someone we virtually sentence them to death. Before anyone says anything. How will we explain what we know? If they don't believe us what will the person we've told do? Will they simply say we are kook's, or will they call the authorities on us. And possibly leave a trail for Skynet. Would they even want to live through Judgment Day, when so many others will not. Will they be strong enough to deal with the guilt. Heavens knows I'm feeling guiltily even before we discuss names."

Giles words cast a pall across the room. Who would they tell. How would they tell them.

Cordelia: (Daddy dearest is in tax prison. Mom's dropped off the face of the world. I always could have tracked her down. But I never did. It was all from spite. Now there's simply not enough time.)

Fred: (I have to tell my parents.)

Gunn: (How can I tell my crew? Would they even believe me?)

Wesley: (Father would never leave the council. Mother doesn't even know about fathers job. Even if she did. There's no realistic way for me to get to England convince them and get back in time.)

Joyce: (Hank would never go along with it. I still care for him. But I can't trust him. Not for this. From the little I've let slip about Buffy I can tell he'd never believe us. I can't take the chance that he would get us all killed. I can't tell him.) Even though the love had left the marriage Joyce still felt something for Hank.

Willow: (The coven needs to know. But there's no way my parents would never believe me. They'd think it was some kind of breakdown.)

Dawn: (It wasn't real. It was all going to go away. Just like every other time. Buffy was going to save us. Now all the friends I've made are going to die.)

Xander: (Maybe Anya will forgive me. But I'll never forgive myself for running out on her. Just like my damned parents. Uncle Rory is the only one that gave a damn. I "know" he knows something's up in good ol' SunnyHell. Can I trust him enough to risk my girls.) As he looked over all his female friends.

Giles had turned around while listening to the deafening silence. "I can see many of you are now considering the difficulties involved. We don't dare use any form of communication that could be intercepted. And most of those we could try to save wouldn't or couldn't believe what we would tell them."

Buffy saw that it was really sinking in that this time was different. They weren't planning to stop an apocalypse. But how to survive one. "Those of us who don't have anyone to warn should concentrate on getting supplies. We need to pick a place to meet up. Not the safe house. But someplace those who are leaving can meet us."

Wesley spoke up. "We will need weapons other than the traditional ones we've always employed. I doubt a stake would impress a Terminator. Besides weapons we will need warriors. People we can trust. We should consider getting Faith out of prison."

There was an immediate hub bub.

Buffy: "Are you kidding?"

Willow: "How can we trust her?"

Dawn: "That … (looking over at mom) skank."

Xander and Cordelia went: "Good idea Wes." Much to their mutual surprise.

Gunn: "Isn't that the chick who tried to off Angel?"

"Just a minute please. Angel and I have both been visiting her in prison. Faith has changed. Do you think if she hadn't she'd still be in prison? Being a Slayer she could escape whenever she wanted to. She's there of her own free will. Considering what she put me through. If anyone other than Buffy should object it should be me. But I trust her."

Buffy muttered under her breath. "I'll trust her as far as Dawn can throw her." She then spoke up. "Do you know what she did to me? To us."

"Yes I do she's confessed it to me and Angel. I'm not asking for you to be best friends with her. Just give her a chance." Wesley's voice was pleading with Buffy to accept his judgment.

"You do realize that's going to have to be one of the last things we do right? A man hunt for an escaped self professed murderer would be a great way to remain unnoticed. If we could even get her to go along with us" Xander liked Faith. Hell she'd even taken his virginity. But this was simply a bad idea in his opinion. 'As to weapons. Let me check on some stuff after we break up. Soldier guy might prove to be useful."

"Ooh can the melodrama. If it's escaped your attention. We have two count 'em two teleporter's. I can't take anything big with me. But I could deliver messages that would be untraceable by technological means. Willow could even take someone with her for the difficult convincing jobs." Anya smiled at the gob smacked expression on the surrounding faces. "It'll be easy for me to port into Faiths cell and tell her what's going on without letting anyone know. I'd need something to get her to listen to me though. Because I'm not going to let her pummel me or kill me."

"An excellent idea Mrs. Jenkins. I think Angel and I could arrange something. Speaking of which when in the deuce will he be getting back.'

Cordelia nodded towards the yard. "Uhm. Wes it's kinda bright out ya think"

Wes simply looked abashed at Cordelia's obvious correction.

"Ok now that G-man junior has had his say. Lets talk about family. I could possibly tell my uncle Rory. I don't know if he'd believe it. But I'm sure he knows something about what goes bump in the night, so it wouldn't be too far fetched."

"I have to go to Texas. I have to tell my parents. I can't lose them again. Not after losing everything in Pylea." Fred was adamant.

"I need to tell my crew. But I have no idea of how to do it. They won't listen to me anymore." Gunn explained to those who didn't know his situation

"We need to let Sam and Riley know." Dawn put in. "Sam was so cool, when she and Riley were here"

"Good idea Dawn patrol. Riley is bound to have contacts we can use." Xander reached over and hugged Dawn.

Buffy shook her head in exasperation. "Ok I know when I'm beaten. I'll call the flower shop. Let Riley know I needs to see him and that it's work related." Buffy got up and left the kitchen.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Well that's the end of this chapter. Most authors skip right over the planning stage. And I'm not going into great detail either. Like G-Man mentioned this is all preliminary. Just so everyone is on the same page. But what's happened to Angel? Hummm? You'll see in a few chapters. The next batch of chapters will be back to the 1-2 per weekend.

Please Read and Review.