Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot, which is now almost entirely mine.

Special thanks to my betas Winterd and Fallenstar2 for all of their help and support.

Episode 3 Chapter 13

London Calling

Cuz we came here to set this party off
Right - let's bounce tonight
And if they don't let us in through the front
We'll come through the side
Cuz I don't ever wanna leave again
Without - at least saying goodbye
So All my people on the left, all my people on the right
Swing one last time

Rupert Giles rubbed his forehead, wishing away the headache that had plagued him since earlier that afternoon when the Slayers returned from their training with Faith.

"What is that ghastly noise they're playing?" Giles asked brusquely to Xander, who was lounging on the couch across from his desk.

"It's called music, Giles," Xander deadpanned without looking at him. "You know… music? Has a beat, usually played loud, girls like to dance to it?"

"I know music, Xander," Giles retorted, "and that ruckus, shouted by some bloke who named himself after a chocolate candy is most certainly not music. Now Led Zeppelin, the Who, the Rolling Stones… that's music."

"The Rolling Stones are zombies."

"The Stones are not zombies!" Giles protested.

"Oh, please!" Xander shot back. "Any band that's toured that long can't be normal. I'd say vampires, but they've been seen in daylight…"

Giles shook his head and tuned the younger man out as he looked down onto his desk at the report a young Slayer named Belle had delivered this morning. Finding it impossible to concentrate, Giles sat back and reflected on the past three years.

Life had been hard after Buffy and Willow's apparent deaths. Tara, whose mind had only just been recovered mere minutes before, was left heartbroken at the loss of her girlfriend. And Dawn, whose father was no where to be found, was left an orphan. Tara's situation was helped by Anya of all people, who became Tara's closest friend and confidant next to Dawn. As for Dawn, the Watcher's Council finally did something right by the Summers' family and pulled some strings, giving custody of Dawn over to Giles.

The first few months were the hardest for all of them. While Xander and Anya helped Tara work through her grief, Giles became the father that Dawn had always wanted. Tara moved in to the Summers' residence on Revello Drive and the two grieving women spent their time talking with each other working though their grief.

It was two months after the incident at the tower when the Council arrived once more - with Faith, recently released with her record expunged. After some initial hostilities, Quentin Travers finally managed to convince the Scoobies that a Slayer was needed on the Hellmouth and that Faith had shown she was willing to face up to what she had done and had earned a second chance. Of all the people, it was Dawn who finally welcomed her into her home, giving her that second chance and convincing the others to do the same.

If Dawn's ready acceptance of Faith was surprising, the real shocker came three months after Buffy and Willow disappearance when Spike returned-disheveled, rambling and newly ensouled. His reason became clear once he became more coherent - he had made a promise to Buffy to look after Dawn, but he realized he couldn't do that as the monster. To fulfill his promise, he had to become a man once more. Even Xander was moved at the admission. And Spike was given a cot in the basement.

In an odd turn, that first year without Buffy and Willow turned out to be strangely quiet. The only thing that qualified as a threat turned out to be, of all people, Jonathan who, along with fellow nerds Andrew and Warren, dubbed themselves the Troika and decided to rule the world.

Faith and Spike managed to nip that one in the bud fairly easily - Spike through fear and intimidation, and Faith through a little brute force. Jonathan and Andrew took the hint and headed for the Mexican border but Warren refused to be beaten by a woman and came after Faith with a gun.

His first mistake was trying to kill Faith in the house or Revello Drive.

His second mistake was coming in when the entire Scooby gang was present.

His final mistake was pointing a gun at Dawn.

Spike immediately leapt at the homicidal nerd, taking several bullets to the chest as he tackled Warren through the living room windows. The move proved nearly fatal for both - Warren ended up with large shards of glass embedded in his back and Spike's chip overloaded, putting the master vampire into a coma for a month. He eventually recovered as did Warren - though he recovered in a prison hospital. Warren was eventually tried for the murder of his girlfriend and the attempted murder of Faith Lehane and Dawn Summers and was sentenced to life without parole.

Things started to get worse around Sunnydale the next year, however. And it soon became apparent that something evil was at work. This fact was proven when the Watchers Council was destroyed and blind assassins came after Faith and Giles who were luckily able to defeat them. Giles felt there was something familiar about the would-be killers - which were confirmed when Angel arrived with most his crew and identified them as harbingers of the First Evil, the so-called source of all evil that Angel had become acquainted with four years previous.

The First Evil's plans soon became apparent as young girls from all over the world were brought to Sunnydale by Wesley. He informed everyone that the Bringers were killing off all of the Potentials - girls who may become the Slayer one day - in order to bring the Slayer line to a halt. When this was done, the First would raise its army of Turok-Han vampires and become corporeal. Wesley had brought he girls to Faith so she could both protect them from the First's Bringers and train them for the coming battle.

Faith took the challenge with relish, seeing it as opportunity to prevent any future Slayers from making her mistakes. Soon all of the Scoobies, along with Angel's team, were helping to train and defend the Potentials while Giles, Wesley and Tara worked on ways to foil the First's plan. Eventually they found it, in the forms of an ancient amulet and a mysterious scythe. Tara had used the scythe to activate all of the Potentials who, with Faith, had stormed the Hellmouth to take the fight to the First's Turok-Han, while the witch Amy utilized the power of the amulet to destroy the remaining troops and close the Hellmouth while the others got away at the cost of her own life.

After the destruction of Sunnydale, the survivors headed for Los Angeles and the Hyperion Hotel for some well-deserved rest. It was there that Robson had contacted Giles and Wesley, telling them that the Watcher's Council had been reconstituted to deal with the influx of several hundred Slayers and that Giles, Wesley and their Slayers had been ordered back to London by Lord Nigel Ambrose-Bellairs, newly named head of the Council. Faith hadn't been happy with that as even though they had facilitated her release, she still didn't trust them because of the times they had tried to kill her. Nevertheless, Giles and Wesley managed to convince her that it was a good thing that the Council had been restored, seeing as there were now so many new Slayers that needed to be trained.

The optimistic feelings had disappeared upon their arrival to the new Council headquarters in Bristol, where they found the 'Old Guard' was basically using the new Slayers like slaves, housing them in the servant's quarters and having them do servant's work.

Giles still smiled when he thought about Faith's ultimatum to Sir Nigel, particularly her comment about a very inventive place she would stick her crossbow if the treatment continued.

Since that day nearly eight months ago, Giles and Wesley had worked tirelessly to change how the Council treated the Slayers. The girls now operated in groups, outfitted in the latest slaying gear designed by, of all people, Andrew and Jonathan, who had been saved by a couple of Slayers in Mexico. While Wesley worked more with the girls in the field, Giles had been named the second in command by virtually all of the Slayers (much to the older Watchers' chagrin). And he worked as hard as ever to change the Council from within. Xander had been given the task of organizing a construction crew to build all new facilities on the grounds to house the new Slayers. Tara, who had recently begun a relationship with a young Slayer named Kennedy, had enlisted the aid of a coven of witches from Devon to aid the Slayer with magical support. And Dawn-

Dawn had taken to being taught by private tutors provided by the Council. She also worked as a Watcher-in-Training, her skills with languages unparalleled, despite her age. And in her spare time, she devoted her research to finding a way to bring her sister and Willow home. And endeavor that annoyed Sir Nigel to no end, as he felt it was a waste of time.

Giles rubbed his temple as the music thankfully came to a sudden stop. "Thank the Lord…"

"Actually, you can probably thank Spike," Xander replied. "He hates Eminem. Anyways, as I was saying before we were interrupted by the battle of the bands… construction of the new dorms is proceeding ahead of schedule, thanks mostly to the Council's judicious allowance of overtime and a twenty-four hour rotating schedule for the crew. The buildings themselves will be done by next Tuesday, but making them livable will take a little bit longer."

"How much longer?" Giles asked wearily. He really couldn't stand anymore of this music.

"Several weeks," Xander replied ruefully. Giles was about to say something, but a knock on the door put a stop to their conversation. "Enter!" they both called out and the door opened to find two Slayers - a Sunnydale survivor named Vi and a newer, England-native Slayer named Belle.

"Pardon the interruption, sir," Belle said in her Cockney accent, "But we thought we'd best tell you tha' Sir Nigel is lookin' for you."

"And he seems kind of irate," Vi added nervously. While not as shy and withdrawn as she had been in Sunnydale, Vi still found herself intimidated by some of the higher ranking members of the Council like Sir Nigel and Giles.

"Any idea what he's irate about?" Xander asked, though he already knew the answer. Vi shrugged her shoulders apologetically.

"I'll give you two guesses, though you'll only need one."

Giles sighed. "I guess we could make a run for it…"

"You're not scared of this pompous blow-hard, are you?" Xander asked, unbelieving. Giles shook his head.

"No, but I really don't feel like dealing with him today…" he sighed and smiled wearily at the two Slayers. "Thank you for the heads up, ladies. But you'd best be off - you have patrol tonight."

"Righ' then, sir," Bell nodded, then headed out of the room, followed by Vi, who threw a 'Good luck!' over her shoulder. Giles looked over to Xander, who was still reclining on the couch. "You still have time to get away."

"Nah, I'm good."

"Mr. Giles!" a voice called from the hallway in a distinguished British accent. Giles looked up to see the head of the Council bearing down on him.

"And what seems to be the problem today, Sir Nigel? Upset that the girls won't shine your shoes anymore?" Giles asked in a mildly sarcastic tone. Lord Ambrose-Bellairs stalked into the office and came to a halt before Giles' desk and glowered at the man.

"We need to talk about your young charge."

"Which one, he has so many now," Xander said teasingly. Sir Nigel glared at the young carpenter.

"You may go now, carpenter."

"Yeah, and you can kiss my rosy red a-"

"Xander, that's enough," Giles cut in sharply, before returning his attention to Lord Ambrose-Bellairs. "As for Dawn, she is keeping up in her studies and her Watcher's training is proceeding apace. I see no problem."

"She continues to squander her times, as well as the Council's resources, on a pipe-dream!" he exclaimed hotly. Giles abruptly stood up from his chair.

"It has never been proven that Buffy is dead!" he retorted angrily. "As little as a few months ago, Faith reported to me that she had a Slayer dream with Buffy in it!"

"Slayer dreams can mean many things!" Sir Nigel shot back. "It does not mean that Buffy Summers is alive!"

"I will not tell Dawn to give up hope!"

"Buffy Summers and Willow Rosenberg are dead, Rupert! Accept it-"

"I did it!"

The voice startled the three men, who looked out the door to see the object of the discussion running towards them. "I did it! I've figured out how to locate them!" Dawn screamed excitedly, then turned and headed down the corridor. The three men looked at each other in confusion for a few moments, before Dawn appeared back at the door. "Follow me," she said and moved off again. The three Watchers hurriedly followed after the teenage girl.

"I've been having the same problem for three years," Dawn explained as they walked. "How do you find people trapped in an alternate dimension, when there are an infinite number of dimensions they could have ended up in? You can only open a portal to one dimension at a time - at least, that's the common conception."

"It's a magical certainty," Sir Nigel pointed out. Dawn shook her head.

"There are no certainties in magic, Sir Nigel," Dawn pointed out. "Just look at me - the Key was designed to open a doorway to all possible dimensions simultaneously."

"Surely you're not suggesting-"

"Of course not," Dawn interrupted, knowing where he was going. "The Key was made to be used once every couple million years or so and it would be too dangerous to even attempt to use it in any case. No, the answer is much simpler. Answer me this - what is a portal?"

"A mystical doorway to another dimension," Giles responded at once, but Dawn shook her head.

"Think simpler."

"Energy," Xander responded at once and Dawn nodded.

"Exactly," Dawn said, beaming. "A portal is nothing more than energy tuned to a specific field, or frequency. Now, I was talking with Fred about her research into portals and we started talking about this and we figured out how to access multiple dimensions at once."

"How?" Sir Nigel asked, clearly intrigued.

"Simple. We open a portal to any place, but manipulate its energy field to switch the point of destination. Like….switching channels."

"But how would this help you locate Buffy and Willow?" Giles asked. Dawn smiled.

"That's the easy part," she responded. "We do a simple locating spell, modified to be continuous and scan each dimension. Fred and the nerds are working on a device to rapidly change the energy frequency to expedite the search. It could take minutes or it could take weeks, but this is the best chance we have of ever finding them. And I know it will work."

"And what would you use to find Buffy?" Sir Nigel prodded. "All of your personal belongings were destroyed with Sunnydale."

"That's even easier. I'll use me," Dawn said. "I was made out of Buffy, Sir Nigel. Her blood, her DNA. If I use my blood with the locator spell, the results will show up in two places - here and wherever Buffy is. And Willow is bound to be there, too."

"Let me get this straight," Xander interrupted. "Three years of research. Three years of frustration, stress and agonizing and in the end it all came down to 'rotate shield frequencies'?"

Dawn shrugged and Xander laughed. Sir Nigel looked the girl dead in the eye.

"You really think this will work?" he asked.

"I do."

There was a moment as the three Sunnydale survivors waited to hear what the Council Head would say. What he said, it turned out, surprised them.

"Very well, then. Do it."

"I'm sorry?" Dawn asked, expecting a fight.

"This Council has lost a lot of good people these past few years," Sir Nigel explained. "Any opportunity we have to get some back… well, I say we take it. You have the full backing of the Council on this, Ms. Summers. Take whatever personnel or materials you need and make this happen. Bring them home."

Dawn smiled happily at the elder Watcher for the first time since she had arrived. "Yes, sir!" she said, then turned and rushed down the hall to find Fred and the nerds.

Things moved rapidly from that point. Dawn worked with Tara and the Devon Coven to perfect the locator spell they would use. Meanwhile Fred, Andrew and Jonathan managed to design a device that could not only house a small portal but also automatically shift its frequency at a rapid pace. While this was happening, Giles worked with Wesley to form a retrieval plan.

"Assuming we are successful in finding them, I suggest a four-man team go through to bring them home," Wesley aid during one of their planning sessions.

"Agreed," Giles replied. "We also have to allow for the fact that the passage of time may be different wherever they are. Many years may have passed or it may have seemed like a blink of the eye to them. We need friendly faces there…"

"You're worried about Willow, aren't you?" Wesley asked. Giles looked back at his friend and colleague.

"You aren't?"

The night before they ran the search, Tara sat in her private room meditating.

"Something wrong, sweetie?" Kennedy asked as she slipped into the room. Tara sighed and opened her eyes to look at her girlfriend.

"Three years, Kennedy," she said at length, all traces of her former stutter gone now. "It's been three years and I've only just begun to put Willow behind me. Now we're hours away from possibly finding her…"

"And you're scared?" Kennedy supplied, sitting down besides Tara on the floor. The blonde nodded.

"Things have changed so much and not just us - what about Willow? How has she changed? What has she gone through? And how can we - how can I - possible help her?"

Kennedy put a reassuring arm around her girlfriend and laid her head on Tara's shoulder. "Don't worry, baby. We'll figure it out."

The next day Sir Nigel, along with the Sunnydale survivors and the AI crew stood in Fred's lab, staring at the machine she and the nerdy duo had created.

"So, here's how this works," Fred started, making adjustments as she talked. "Tara opens a small portal inside the device and then does the locator spell. The machine will cycle through different frequencies every few seconds until we get a lock. Once that happens, the computer will store the frequency so we can open up a larger portal directly to the correct dimension."

"What if something comes through?" Sir Nigel asked.

"Nothing will," Fred responded. "The portal will only be open on the end for a few seconds, and will be too small for anything to get through. On top of that, I have magnetically shielded the portal so anything that did manage to get through would be contained. And finally, Faith and some of the Slayers will be present here to deal with anything nasty."

"We're all set over here, Fred!" Andrew called out. Sir Nigel nodded.

"Proceed with the operation," he said. Tara and Althenea from the Devon Coven started chanting and soon a small portal flickered to existence. Once it was stabilized, Dawn pulled a small silver dagger from her belt and quickly slid it across the palm of her hand, cutting her palm open and covering the blade in her (and Buffy's) blood. She passed the dagger over to Tara, who quickly performed the locator spell. As expected, a bright dot appeared on the map over Bristol.

Meanwhile, the spell settled over and into the portal, searching for the other owner of the blood. At Fred's direction, Andrew hit the controls that started the frequency search, causing the portal to flash and change colors every few seconds.

"And now, we wait," Fred murmured, as they all settled in for the long haul.

It was well after midnight when Dawn was woken by an incessant beeping noise. Groggily she pushed herself up out of the chair she had fallen asleep and looked over to the 'portal jumper', as Andrew had taken to call it and saw immediately that the portal was gone and the machine was silent. Frowning, she walked over to the computer to check the readings. What she saw brought a smile to her face and tears to her eyes.

"We've found her!"

A few hours later, everybody was gathered once more in the lab. Giles, Dawn, Xander and Faith were all dressed for patrol - jeans and combat boots (though Faith wore her leather pants). The girls wore black tank tops covered by dark leather jackets and the guys wore dark, heavy shirts under their own leather jackets. All four were outfitted for slaying and Faith had the Scythe strapped to her back.

"All right, listen up everybody!" Andrew yelled in an authoritative voice. At the assorted glares he received in return, he meekly added, "Uh, please? Um…okay! In a few moments we will open the portal and adjust the frequency. How will we do that, you ask? Simple! We use this small device," Andrew held up a small black rectangle about the size of a TV remote, "A GDO. This is the only way you have of getting home, ladies and gentlemen."

"Andrew?" Xander spoke.

"Yes, Xander?"

"Any more Stargate references and I'll sick Spike on you."

Andrew gulped as Spike growled maliciously.

"Anyway," Fred continued, "the…GDO, as Andrew called it, fires a small energy pulse. The first button will tune the portal to the destination dimension and the second will set the portal for home. I tried to make something to open a portal, but I haven't been able to mesh the magic and machine and I haven't quite perfected it yet, so it will be up to our magic users." Fred pointed to the mechanical archway she had constructed. "The portal will be opened in this archway. Andrew will then input the frequency into the computer which will instruct the arch to change the frequency. After that, you merely have to step through."

"It's been decided to use a four-person team," Giles announced. "Dawn and myself will be going as we both know Buffy the best. Xander will be the third due to his closeness with both Buffy and especially Willow. Faith will be the fourth and provide Slayer back up. Tara," he turned to the witch, "I know you want to come to help bring Willow home but I need you here. The Coven has graciously supplied me with some borrowed magic in order to be able to open the portal. If we don't return in forty-eight hours, you will need to open another portal to send a team in to retrieve us."

Tara sighed, nodding. "Very well. We'll be waiting here."

Spike moved into the circle and gave Dawn a hug. "Be safe, lil Bit."

"I will, Spike," she said, returning the hug.

"Mr. Giles," Sir Nigel said, extending a hand, which Giles shook. "Good luck. Bring them home."

Giles nodded and then motioned to Althenea, who dutifully opened a large portal in the archway. Fred motioned to Andrew, who began to slowly entered commands into the computer.

"Chevron one, encoded!" he called out. "Chevron one-"

"Andrew, you stupid git!" Spike growled. "Get on with it!"

Andrew swallowed. "Sorry," he apologized, rapidly entering codes into the computers. There was a flash as the portal shifted, ending in brilliant blue color. "Portal stabilized. Team has a go."

Giles took a deep breath. "I have a bad feeling about this…" he muttered as he stepped through the portal.

"One small step for man," Xander quipped, closing his eyes and holding his breath as he jumped through.

"One giant leap for Slayer-kind," Faith finished, stepping through after the carpenter, leaving Dawn standing before the portal.

"Here I come, Buffy," she whispered as she stepped through the portal.

Light seemed to bend, space spun and Dawn got the impression that she was being flung through space at high speed. And suddenly it ended as she stepped through the other side of the portal onto hard, dry earth. She looked around, horror blossoming on her face as she took in the surroundings - a land of ash, rocks, and volcanoes; rivers of lava-

Suddenly Dawn seized up, her eyes rolled back into her head, and then she dropped to the ground, unconscious.

"Dawn!" Faith cried, rushing over to the girl's side. She rolled Dawn onto her back and felt for a pulse. "She's alive," she told the two men who had come rushing over. "Pulse is strong, breathing is steady. Looks like she's just knocked out."

"But why?" Xander asked. "What happened?"

"Well, the Key was designed to open portals," Giles surmised. "Perhaps because of that, Dawn can't easily travel through portals?"

"We'll figure out the why's after we find our girls," Faith decided. "We'll split up. Xander, take Dawn with you. Hopefully she'll wake up soon or we'll be going back soon. I'll head north; Giles, you head west to that ridge over there. The locator spell should have put us down somewhere near them but I'm not sure how close we'll be." Faith withdrew the Scythe from her back. "Let's get them out of this hell."

Xander gently picked Dawn up and headed off to the east near the base of a volcano. Faith headed off to the north, her Scythe held at the ready. And Giles headed off to the ridge in the west. As he approached, he heard the unmistakable sounds of battle coming from the other side. Cautiously he approached and peered over the edge and saw his worst nightmare come to life.

Buffy, looking far older than he would ever have imagined seeing her, was fighting a raven-haired Willow with some kind of glowing sword. It was painfully obvious to Giles that Willow had fallen to the dark magicks she had toyed with in Sunnydale and he felt a pang of regret that he hadn't been stricter in restricting her from them. He paused in his remembrance as Buffy slammed her blade down onto Willow's, clearly expecting something and looking shocked when nothing happened.

"Come now, Buffy. You didn't expect me to not prepare for that old trick, did you?" Willow asked his Slayer mockingly, before she released one hand from her lightsaber and pointed it at Buffy, letting loose with a blast of purple lightening that caught Buffy in the chest and blew her back twenty feet where she landed on her back, writhing in pain. She couldn't help screaming as she felt as though her very blood was boiling within her skin.

"That's right, Buffy! Feel the burn!" Willow shouted with malice as Buffy convulsed on the ground. After a few moments she relented in her attack and Buffy rolled over onto her stomach, groaning in pain. Giles saw how powerful she had become and instantly prayed the magicks the Coven had provided him with would be enough to stop her.

"How did you think this was going to go, Buffy? You'd defeat me, maybe even bring back Willow?" Giles started at that. Was this even Willow, he wondered. Or was Willow buried so deep down inside of that woman that she, perhaps, no longer existed? "That Anakin would snap out of my spell and beg for forgiveness?" Who was Anakin? Another prisoner in this hell dimension, perhaps? "Please. You were never going to defeat me. I will kill you here and then go on to kill Palpatine and rule over this Empire, remaking it in my image." Dear god, Willow. What have you become? "Why? Because I have the power to do so. Because I have power that no one could ever dream of! And because there's no one in this galaxy with the power to stop me now…"

Giles had heard enough. He stepped over the ridge and raised his hand to Willow and then let loose a powerful blast of magic at the witch. The power of the blast sent Willow rocketing off of her feet and into an outcropping of rock, where she landed in a heap. He ignored Buffy's shocked look as his calm brown eyes met Willow's onyx eyes.

"I'd like to test that theory," he said.

TBC...

You have no idea. You have no idea how hard it has been for me to keep this a secret. For nearly a year now, I've been writing up to this point with that last scene of Chapter 12 firmly imbedded in my brain. That scene, along with Buffy's conversation with Dawn at the end of Episode 1 and Willow's decent at the end of Episode 2 have always been in my head, and it has been a pain not to reveal them to anybody. Not even my Beta's knew what I was planning in regards to Giles. So now I want to say that I was blown away by the response to Chapter 12, and I want to thank all of those who reviewed for giving me the reaction that I ws hoping I would get.

A/N: Lord Nigel Ambrose-Bellairs is an actual cannon character, first seen in the post-series Buffy novel 'Queen of the Slayers', written by one of the most aggravating writers in history, Nancy Holder. If you think my battle scenes are weak, try reading her Buffy work - she'll spend the entire book building up to a major battle, only to show it in one paragraph - in a flashback

Also, remember that 'Battle of the Heroes' by John Williams is available on my Yahoo group.

Next chapter - Willow vs. Giles! And the escape from Mustafar! Also, we find out the aftermath of Yoda's fight, Buffy and Dawn are finally reunited and possibly Anakin and Faith will go to Coruscant to rescue the younglings-in-hiding!