Although Buffy would miss Joe and Duncan, she was eager to get to Italy. It was almost comforting to have an apocalypse to prevent. Unlike her personal life, the end of the world was something she felt fairly competent handling. Dawn sensed her eagerness as well, but if she had been watching the dance between her and Methos the night before, she didn't say anything.

Xander hadn't said much during the flight and even less once they arrived at Methos' villa. Every time Bufy attempted to talk to him, she was met with a wall of stony silence, which only re-enforced her worry that she had indeed driven him even further into himself.

Methos' villa was deceptively modest. It was a fair size, but sparse enough for him to play the part of a man who had to pay the bills if he had to. She noticed that he made it a habit of never living outside the means of the average man, even if it meant skimping on personal luxury. It gave her some insight on his ability to survive for so long, to remain hidden and unnoticed by the immortal world.

He had not tried to broach the topic of the previous night's conversation again and that surprised Buffy slightly. She had expected him to brood, or to behave in some way that betrayed his emotions over what had transpired, but instead he had reverted with disturbing ease to that of the supportive good friend-the man she had met five years ago. It made her wonder whether any of his emotions had ever been real if he could shut them off so easily. She knew that she was being unfair with that line of thought, as a man his age would have learned to suppress emotion in order to deal with century after century of pain and loss. Still, it bothered her that she still felt fairly raw about the whole thing and he seemed perfectly fine.

She attempted to call the Watcher's Headquarters when they arrived, but got no answer. She left the number for Methos' villa on the machine, hoping it was Giles or Willow who checked it and proceeded to outline a list of things that needed to be done in order to find the slayer.

Dawn was actually an integral part of this, as she was the only one of them young enough to still attend high school. If this girl was in the typical slayer age range, she would be either Dawn's age or older. The odds were in their favour that she wouldn't be any younger than that. It was by no means the only high school in Rome, but it was a high school nonetheless and Dawn would be in a prime position to observe her classmates around her and keep an eye out for anything odd, or slayer-like. She knew, better than anyone what to look for.

Richie had instructions to keep an eye on Dawn any time she was in any sort of potentially dangerous situation. Although Buffy knew that Dawn was not incapable of handling herself in a fight, she was still a rather small teenaged girl without any super powers whatsoever. Richie was immortal and not likely to die if faced with a vampire or demon of any kind. Immortals were another story, and Buffy realized she was taking a risk by entrusting Dawn to Richie's care, but she had no other option. This turned out to be the lesser of the two evils.

Xander offered to patrol, looking both for the slayer and any signs of the First attempting its return any time soon. Buffy agreed, knowing that his forays into the Paris night had not been for the fresh air alone. Xander might be on the edge emotionally, but physically he had never been a better fighter. It was as if his fear had disappeared entirely leaving only one thing in its wake: a killer. Buffy was saddened by this, but also smart enough to use it to their advantage. She would work on Xander's mental health after they saved the world.

Buffy had decided that she would begin her own search by going to the local library and looking through various newspapers from the past four months in the hopes of finding articles with mentions of freak occurrences involving girls with amazing strength. Normally, she would search for the slayers hoping they had managed to keep a low profile, but accidents did happen and in this case an accident might be the only hope she had of finding the girl. It was more than likely she didn't know who she was either, and that made her less likely to be discreet in the use of her strength. A simple task like throwing a baseball could be more than the girl bargained for and hopefully it would be enough to warrant a newspaper article.

Methos would have to come with her to help her look. He was the only one who knew Italian. When she broached the subject to him, he agreed without question, but stipulated they have a day or two to settle in and search for schools for Dawn as the first day was fast approaching. Buffy agreed, and the next day she, Dawn, Richie and Methos all set out to find a high school that had both a comprehensive English program as well as the slight possibility of a slayer being located there. Buffy wasn't sure what to look for specifically, but she kept her eyes open for anything unique or out of the ordinary, prepared to use it to her advantage if need be.

Eventually they found a school with a name Buffy couldn't pronounce. There was no evidence of a possible slayer there from the questions Buffy had asked the Principal but that didn't mean there couldn't be. She had to be subtle with what she asked her so it was harder to glean the information she needed. It was a small school, but it had a separate English program that helped integrate the student into Italian life, and Dawn seemed to like it so Buffy was satisfied.

That night, for the first time in a long while, Buffy patrolled but with little in the way of results. There were demons in Rome, that much was not in question. She did manage to kill two vampires as well as a Locknar demon, but they weren't what she was looking for.

Eventually she headed home in defeat, hoping she had better luck in the coming nights. Methos had offered to patrol with her that night, but Buffy knew it was only out of his care for her. Being an immortal, he tended to avoid Hellmouths whenever possible. The only reason he even kept a place in Rome was because until the Sunnydale Hellmouth was closed by Buffy in defeating the First, the Rome Hellmouth was for all intents and purposes, inactive. Now that the Sunnydale Hellmouth was gone, the Rome Hellmouth was the new big evil and that meant demons and vamps would be flocking to the city to get their piece of things. Methos would want to stay as far away from that kind of danger as much as possible.

And Buffy wanted him far away as well. Immortal blood was poisonous to vampires, and they would not go anywhere near an immortal if they could help it. Although the purpose of the patrol was the find the young slayer, she was still a slayer herself and killing vampires was part of the job. If Methos were with her, they would not even show themselves and people might die as a result. Better to have him stay home and be able to fight without hindrance.

Of course, there was also the matter of her confusing feelings toward the world's oldest man, but she had managed to convince herself that was not the reason she turned down his offer. It was simply less complicated this way.

The house was asleep as she entered it. She made as little noise as possible not wanting to disturb the others. Xander was not back yet, but the others were as far as she knew in their beds fast asleep. Dawn was starting school the next day and she knew her sister was nervous about that. Richie had offered to take her so that Buffy could hit the local libraries and search for the girl.

They were acting more and more like a couple as the days went by, which Buffy found interesting as they hadn't actually gone out on an official date yet, and as far as Buffy knew hadn't done anything in the physical sense. She still had reservations about the entire thing, but was attempting to stay on the positive side for the sake of her sister.

She began creeping up to her room, when she felt the immortal buzz hit her, signaling that Methos was close by. Sure enough, seconds later the door to the back patio opened and the tall silhouette entered turning on a light and smiling mildly as she jumped in surprise.

"There's no reason I should have frightened you." He said with that annoying blaze logic of his. "You knew I was coming."

"Doesn't mean that immortal sense-y buzz gets any less creepy you know." She immediately regretted her choice of words as his gaze flickered with buried emotion. He shook it off.

"Thought I'd wait for you to get back." He told her. "I was worried. Newly active Hellmouths can sometimes be more dangerous than you anticipate."

She didn't ask him how he knew this. She had a feeling she didn't want to. Instead she smiled in a way that hopefully showed everything was fine.

"Patrol was peachy." She told him. "Just fine."

"I'm glad," he said earnestly. "I didn't mean to scare you. I'll head to bed now."

"Yea, I'll do the same." She wondered briefly if this awkwardness would ever go away. Was he even feeling it? He didn't seem to be.

"Good night," he said softly. She swallowed heavily, returned the statement and headed upstairs towards her new bedroom.

Isabel woke up that night, feeling the hair on the back of her neck standing on end. Somehow, something was wrong in the city. She didn't know why, but she could feel it. Tonight something had changed.

The fact that she could feel this newness in her bones frightened her. She had thought that the only power her parents had given her after their death was her strength. Now, she wondered if she had inherited some sort of psychic abilities as well.

She had been having odd dreams, some of them nightmares. All of them had to do with Methos, and with the coming danger her parents had warned her about. She didn't know what he looked like in the dreams, but somehow she automatically knew who he was. The odd thing was that in the dreams instead of Methos being a figure of menace, her parents were the ones whose presence gave her the chills.

Many people would find that normal. They were after all spirits come back from the beyond to help her to avenge their deaths. In terms of reality she had handled their re-appearance in her life fairly well. But then, she had thought them indestructible to begin with, so the idea that they would find their way back to her-while ridiculous and impossible to most-to her seemed entirely logical.

They hadn't frightened her in any way, shape or form when they first appeared. In fact, she had been relieved, seeking their guidance as she had so often as a child.

She wasn't a child anymore, so technically she didn't need them. Still, without them she had felt adrift. She wasn't a teenager, but she wasn't an adult either. They had been very wealthy in their immortal lives, so she hadn't had to worry about money after their deaths, but that isn't always the sort of guidance one needs.

They had always been truthful with her, never hiding their immortal status or their powers. So why had they given her these powers in secret? And why did it seem now that they were keeping something from her after their deaths, when they never would have thought to do so in life.

Why was she having sinister nightmares involving them? And who was the blonde haired girl that kept appearing night after night? Why did tonight feel like the beginning of something major and unavoidable?

She shivered slightly and pulled the covers around her more for comfort than warmth.

She wished she had some way to call her parents, to get them to appear to her so that she could talk to them, ask them about the dreams. But they always appeared to her when they were able to. She was not able to call them, or summon them. The idea that they cold appear to her at any time without notice or warning was a little unfair, but if the alternative was never seeing them again, Isabel could live with the inconvenience.

It was nights like this she wished she had someone else in her life though. Someone that she could not only trust with every secret about herself, the way she trusted her parents, but someone her age, someone that understood all she was going through. Someone she could reach out to and touch when one of her nightmares became too much.

She had never really had many friends. She had gone to school knowing she was different than everybody else and her parents had warned her at a very early age, not to get too close to people. Being immortal and constantly hunted, they tended to move a lot. She had lived all around the world, but they always managed to make their way back to Italy once whoever was hunting them at the time either gave up, or was disposed of.

It was a harsh life, as making friends could possibly endanger them as well. Consequently she had never been truly close to anyone her own age. Her parents were all she had. She was thought of among her classmates as stuck up and snobby. Those who paid any attention to her at all, usually made fun of her or went out of their way to make her miserable.

She told herself it didn't matter, that as long as her parents were there for her she had all she needed, but now even they were gone, save for the all too short visits she received whenever they could manifest themselves.

She had never wished for friends as fervently as she did now. The idea of waking up alone night after night until she found her parents' killer terrified her, and yet it was the only possible solution. She couldn't afford to get close to anybody, not when she had a mission like finding Methos in front of her. What if she got close to somebody and Methos killed them for it? She could never forgive herself if something like that were to happen.

Thinking that way helped to calm her slightly and harden her resolve. It was Methos' fault-all of it. If it weren't for him, her parents would still be alive and she wouldn't feel nearly as lonely as she did now.

She sighed and lay back down in her bed, trying to remember just what it was she had been dreaming, knowing that somehow even though it was just a dream it was of significant importance, but she couldn't seem to make the images in her head clear.

Her window was gone; lost in a sea of melancholy and self pity. She grit her teeth in anger and vowed to keep a notebook by her bed in case of another dream she felt was important so she could write it down immediately.

Sighing, she closed her eyes, trying to shake of the unease and fear that remained with her, long after the images of the dream itself had faded. She made a mental note to ask her parents the next time they appeared to her if the dreams meant something and how she could better harness them to her advantage just before her eyes closed and a troubled sleep overtook her.

Something had changed in the city tonight, and Isabel was certain that for better or worse, she would soon find out what it was.