Chapter 8. There is No Place Like Home.

"I can't believe it," says Dawn. She heads over to one of the tables and sets the book down that she is carrying. "Why didn't you tell me before?"

"I didn't know that he was your sister's boyfriend," replies Connor. "I knew my dad had a girl he loved a lot that was a Slayer and her name was Buffy, but I couldn't believe it was the same person."

"How many Buffy's do you think there are in the world?"

"Two." Connor shrugs. "Why do you hate my dad so much?"

"I don't hate him. He just hurt Buffy a lot. I mean, I guess she was looking for heartache trying to date a vampire. How did he have you? He's dead." Dawn turns to him.

"I haven't the slightest idea. It just happened."

"You said that Angel was a great dad."

"Yeah, he gave me a chance to have a normal life, even though I would never be normal."

"You look normal to me. You're not a vampire, are you?"

"No, I still find that strange. I do have their physical strength and all their cool qualities."

"That's cool. At least you got that. I've got nothing."

"What are you talking about? You're smart and if I'm not mistaken, you did help your sister save the world a couple of times."

"I guess."

"I've helped, but not all the way through the end. My dad wouldn't let me."

"Maybe if I see him again, I'll thank him for having you."

"He might get choked up."

"Think he might cry?"

"Don't know."

At the other side of the library, Kat and Spike are checking out some books and they see Connor and Dawn talk. Spike nods his head and looks at Kat.

"He told her," says Spike. "Told him to wait."

"When you love someone, you can't keep things from them," says Kat.

"I see you have some experience in that."

"Sort of."

"So, what secrets have you told Harris about your world and you?"

"Many, but I'm not going to tell you." Kat walks away from Spike. Spike rolls his eyes at Kat and follows her.

"Wait a minute, I think I found something," says Giles. "Yes." They all look at him. "Um, well, I believe that the random occurrences of portals opening are the cause of the guardian, a special being that controls time and space."

"Oh, like a head master who controls the dimensions and all of time all over the universe," says Kat. Everyone looks at her. "What? Am I right?"

"Yes."

"Yeah, for me. So, what's up with this guardian?"

"Yes, um. The guardian could possibly be controlled by someone else or…"

"Dead."

"Precisely."

"Isn't there a way to get there?" says Dawn walking over to Giles' table. "The place where the guardian works."

"If we can it is our best bet. Portals are however very tricky."

"We need to try," says Kat. "I predict that this guardian is dead and whoever has taken its place does not have a sense of humor."

"You have been around Xander far too much, Kat."

"So, what? You know you miss him." Giles nods his head and smiles.

"The guardian has an octagonal crystal like stone that opens and closes portals through time and space. If we can get our hands on that, we might be able to stop the portals from opening in random places and get everyone else back into their worlds."

"Wow, that crystal can do all that? Must be powerful stuff."

"Alright, so how do we get there, jeeves?" asks Spike.

"I haven't the slightest idea," replies Giles as he sits down.

"We can call Willo…" Kat says and stops when Giles gives her a stern look. "More research. Got that loud and clear." Everyone smiles at the whole scene and continues to look through the books again.

Back in Kat's world, Tammy is already online looking for demons and other sorts of beings that are able to open portals. She finds someone that fit's the profile.

"The Guardian of Time and Space?" says Buffy as she reads it over Tammy's shoulder. "Didn't know that there is a person who guards time and space."

"Yeah, neither did I," says Tammy. "But there she is. Her name is Tessa and she is 1100 years old."

"How do we get to see Tessa?"

"We can't. The location is heavily guarded from intruders, magical and all."

"How did you get this from the internet?" asks Cordy.

"Oh, you can get anything on the internet," says Tammy. "There was this one time that Xander got this baseball cap online from a pop band he liked and still does, by the way. Didn't you get their latest album?"

"Tammy, zip it," says Xander. Tammy grins at Xander and continues to read more information on the guardian.

"Well, it says here that Tessa guards time and space using an octagonal crystal. I'm thinking that she's our gal. Either she's gone evil, or something evil had gotten her."

"I remember a little bit about portals from my higher being days," says Cordy. "We need to try to catch one and try to find our way into the guardian's place."

"How do we do that?" asks Buffy.

"We need a witch." The two girls look at Tammy.

"Whoa, hold the phone," says Tammy. "I was high and mighty in your world, but here I'm just me."

"You brought us back to our world before," says Buffy.

"I was lucky and besides, Willow helped and with you with your Slayer powers putting in some juice. I got no juice."

"Yeah, cause you drank it all," Xander mumbles. Tammy glares at him.

"You are such a baby."

"Alright, cool it you two," says Buffy. "What if I help you out again? Can you come up with a spell or something?"

"I guess I can give it a shot." Tammy then heads over to the third room of the house that they use for storage.

"Why don't you guys keep looking up more about this guardian, while I help Tammy?" says Xander as he follows Tammy into the room. He closes it quickly. "Tammy, turn on the light. You're not going to fool me this time."

"Ah, come on, you know you liked it."

"No, I didn't. Only Kat can grab my ass." Tammy turns on the lights and then walks over to the book shelf on the other side of the room. "So, you think you can pull this off.?"

"Maybe. Just need the right spell." Tammy begins to look through some old books.

Suddenly they hear someone knock on the door. Both Xander and Tammy quickly look at the door and realize that they didn't lock it when they came in.

"Hey, you guys?" says Buffy. "Cordy and I think we should try to contact the others and see if they can shine some light on the situation."

"Sounds like a plan, Buff," says Xander as he walks over to the door.

"Can I come in?"

"No!" both Tammy and Xander say. Xander gets to the door and opens it a little. He peeks out.

"Gee, why not?"

"Cause it's a mess in here," Xander replies. "Kind of dangerous."

"Really?"

"Hey, I think I found what we're looking for," says Tammy. "Seriously, Kat thinks that she isn't good at any type of witchcraft, but she's great at writing spells."

"Buff, why don't you try to contact them?" says Xander. "We'll be out in a minute." Xander closes the door and locks it. He then heads over to Tammy. "What ya got?"

"Three great spells that can totally be used for our little predicament. One for taking us to the guardian's place, another to restore the order of things, and the other to return us back from the guardian's place. "

"Well, it looks like we're covered."