Chapter 7

After a beat while everyone digested what Sam had said chaos ensued.

"I think I speak for everyone when I say What the Fuck." Dean exclaimed once he could breath again.

"Dean I need you to calm down." Sam said trying to keep his brother from overreacting. The problem he soon found out wasn't just from Dean. The slayer had also jumped out of her chair yet again with a fierce look on her face that reminded Sam of Dean when he was protecting Sam.

"Over my dead body, is the key taking on Glory. I don't know who's sending you those messages but I will kill everyone in this room before I let that happen." Buffy exclaimed.

"Dean breath. Sammy are you sure about this." John yelled grabbing his youngest by his shoulders.

"Put your head between you legs sweetie." Tara said to a hyperventilating Willow.

"Buffy this might be the way to get rid of Glory for good you must not dismiss it out of hand." Giles told an overwrought slayer.

"Uh am I the only one who wants to know how the killing is supposed to happen. I mean Glory's a hell goddess, and this demon sounds like a badass. How's that going to work?" Xander said trying to look at the situation rationally.

"If you think I'm going to allow you to go up against this demon alone those visions have fried your brains." Dean yelled. "This key can damn well do it alone."

"Hey my little sister's not going to be fighting Glory period. So you can let that go jackass!" An irate slayer screamed at Dean having heard the last comment.

"Look I don't know what the hell your talking about. What does you sister have to do with this anyway? This is about my little brother thinking he's getting anywhere near that demon alone. It's not going to fucking happen. I don't care about the world. The world can go to hell!" Dean growled right back to the slayer.

"Screw the world I'm talking about my little sister as well. She's the key moron and there is no way she's taking on Glory." Yelled Buffy as she advanced on Dean.

John and Giles tried to get between the two overprotective siblings, but were quickly moved out of the way. In fact it looked like it was going to come to blows until Sam stepped in between the two warriors and holding up his hands held them in place with his mind.

Finding themselves unable to move all of a sudden did nothing to alleviate the fury coursing through the two fighters, but it did shock them momentarily into silence.

"Be quiet both of you. NOW!" An equally furious Sam boomed to the two stubborn siblings.

Everyone else in the room was shocked into silence at the sudden turn of events until John looking at his youngest managed to get out "Left something out didn't you son?"

"Yeah sorry about that dad. It's only happened once before now, and I kind of thought it was a fluke." Sam told his father wryly.

"Well I guess that answers my question." Xander said looking at the younger hunter with no small amount of awe.

Shooting a smile to Xander in acknowledgement of the truth of that statement Sam turned his attention back to Buffy and Dean. "If I release you will you two promise to not yell and listen to me for another moment?" Sam said staring at the two letting them know he would hold them there as long as it took.

Getting nods finally from both Sam released the two from his mental hold and continued "Now first of all Buffy, did you say your sister was the key?" Sam said looking at the slayer sympathetically.

Covering her hand with her mouth and dropping into the nearest chair the slayer let out a sob and said, "I can't believe I said that. I'm supposed to be protecting her and I go around shouting out her identity."

Giles quickly wrapped his arms around Buffy and told her sternly "Buffy stop that this instance. You are with people you trust and they would have needed to be informed anyway of Dawn's special situation. You take excellent care of Dawn never doubt that."

Ironically it was Dean who seemed to be able to offer the most comfort to the distraught slayer knelling before her chair and saying "Look I know what it's like. Trust me I would rather chew on glass then let Sammy face this thing. The very idea makes me want to rip someone's head off. I didn't exactly take the news well either you know. I was going toe to toe with someone I KNEW could kick my ass, and you didn't see me backing down did you?" Dean finished with a smirk.

Seeing the same look in Dean's eyes that she saw in her own Buffy realized she had a kindred spirit in Dean Winchester. In that instant Buffy knew that she and Dean might have no say in letting their siblings fight in this battle, but they could protect them as much as humanly possible. Seeing the answering recognition in Dean's eyes Buffy turned to Sam and said "Look Sam bottom line is Dawn's a 14 year old kid. She may have once been this mystical key, but we have no idea how to access that power, or even if she can."

"Don't worry Buffy." Sam said smiling at the girl who reminded him so much of his big brother. "I've got that covered." Holding up his hands to ward off the barrage of upcoming questions Sam told the group. "Now's not the time for that. Don't worry though it won't hurt Dawn or myself. Look we've gone over the Winchester family history, so right now I need you to fill in everything you know about Dawn and Glory. Then I need to meet Dawn. We have a lot to discuss." Sam finished mysteriously staring out the window of the magic shop seeing who knows what in his minds eye.

Taking a deep breath and making a decision to go ahead and trust the Winchester's Buffy began her story. She told them of how her mother's illness made her do a spell to see what was making her sick. She cried as she told them how instead of finding out what was hurting her mother she found out that Dawn wasn't real. She told them about finding the globe, and the monk and fighting Glory for the first time and learning the truth about Dawn. Buffy spoke for three hours relating the last harrowing year of her life. How the monks made Dawn from Buffy. How Dawn was the best thing that ever came from being a slayer and how Dawn reacted to finding out she wasn't real. Buffy told them everything, and at the end of those three hours the slayer was mentally and physically exhausted.

Dean summed it all up with "Well damn and I thought Sammy boy was a trouble magnet."

Letting out a laugh Buffy told him "I'll see you trouble magnet and raise you a teenager any day mister."

"No no no no no…" John and Dean said simultaneously.

"Not going through that again. He hated everything." John said wincing at the memory of his youngest child's rebellion years.

"Hey I wasn't that bad!" Sam exclaimed with a mock glare. "You weren't exactly father of the year you know."

"See comments like that are why I always got the last cookie." Dean laughed.

"You're on the cookie reward system as well huh?" Buffy asked Dean. "My favorite is oatmeal raison."

"I'll give you both a cookie if you shut up." John joked back to Buffy and Dean.

"See just you wait, cause I'm going to meet Dawn soon and then it'll be two on two people."

Looking at each other then back at Sam, Buffy said to Dean "Whatta you think?"

Smirking Dean said, "No doubt we can still take'em."

"Absolutely." Buffy smiled back at Dean.

"We'll see." Sam told the two annoying older siblings. "Anyway Buffy, where's Dawn I'd like to go ahead and meet her if I could?" Sam said getting back down to business.

Realizing how late it was the slayer exclaimed "Oh my god it's 8:30pm. My mom's probably having a fit. We better head over to my house. Dawn should be at home. You guys can stay with us tonight I'm sure my mom won't mind. You'll have to sleep on the floor, but at least you won't have to look for a place to stay at night in Sunnydale."

"Sounds fine Buffy don't worry we've slept in worse places then the floor. I do think you should call your mother and make sure it's okay first. We don't want to put her out." John said.

"Then I would suggest we all retire for the evening. We can reconvene here in the morning. Say around 10:00?" Giles said gathering up his books to take home.

"I'll be by in the afternoon I have to work tomorrow." Xander told the group as he and Anya prepared to head out.

"Come on Xander let's go home and have sex. It's been 12 hours already." Anya shared loudly as she dragged Xander out the door.

"And on that note Tara and I will be leaving as well." Willow said rolling her eyes at the ex-vengeance demon's antics. "My first class isn't until 2:00 tomorrow, so I'll be here at 10."

"I don't have class on Wednesdays, so I'll be here all day if you need me." Tara told Giles with a soft smile. "It was nice to meet you." She said to the Winchesters.

"Nice to meet you as well Tara." Sam said as they left the shop.

"Well I'll let Buffy take care of you gentlemen and I'll see you in the morning. Have a good evening. Here's my card in case of an emergency feel free to call if you have any questions." Giles told John as he walked out. Calling over his shoulder to Buffy who was on the phone with her mom "Be a dear and lock up on your way out okay?"

Raising a hand to let her watcher know she'd heard him she quickly turned back to the conversation with her mother. "So is that okay mom?" she asked hoping her mother would be all right with the idea of sudden houseguests. "It's only for one night." "Thanks mom I knew you'd say that. We'll see you in about 10 minutes. Love you. Bye."

Turning to the Winchester's she said, "Okay we're all set. Dawn's at home waiting for us, and mom's saving some dinner for everyone, and I don't know about you guys, but I'm starved."

"Home cooked meal sounds great to me. Let's go" Dean said opening the door and walking out of the shop.

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Walking into the house Buffy yelled out "Mom we're here." Towards the kitchen then grabbed the stair railing to yell up to Dawn saying, "Dawnie get down here there's some people you need to meet."

Joyce Summers came in from the kitchen and gave her daughter a hug, then turned to the Winchesters. "Hello it's so nice to meet you I'm Joyce Summers." She said extending a hand to John.

"Ma'm it's a pleasure I'm John Winchester and these are my two boys Dean and Sam. Thank you for allowing us to stay the night." John told her sincerely.

"My pleasure anyone who's willing to fight beside my daughter can camp out in my house. Buffy didn't have a chance to give me to many details on the phone, but I understand you're here to help with Glory?" Joyce asked John as she led him and the boys into the living room and motioned for them to sit down.

"Mom hang on a sec we need to get Dawn down here first and then we'll explain everything." Buffy said before yelling back up the stairs. "Dawn NOW! It's really important."

A muffled "I'm on the phone." Came drifting down the hall much to the consternation of the slayer.

Picking up the line in the hallway she said into the receiver "Dawn I'm serious it's very important. You can call Amber back later please come to the living room." Buffy took the grunt of annoyance as the affirmative and hung up the phone and walked into the living room.

Taking a seat she glanced at Sam and couldn't help but be concerned at the look of fear on his face. "Hey Sam are you all right?" she asked.

Jumping as if startled Sam pasted a smile on his face and tried to reassure everyone in the room "Yeah I'm fine. Just a little nervous. I don't know how to explain it, but ever since I had the vision I've felt connected to the key. Like we were meant to work together, and I guess I'm a little antsy about meeting her now. I wasn't expecting her to be a 14-year-old teenager. I'm not making any sense am I?" The younger man asked laughing at his inability to put his nerves into words.

"Visions? The key? Buffy honey what exactly have you told them?" Joyce asked alarmed at the thought of anyone knowing the truth about her youngest child.

"Don't worry mom their completely trustworthy." Buffy told her mom earnestly.

It was at that moment that Dawn came running down the stairs. "God Buffy could you be more rude. I mean I was on the phone. What's so important that I had to rush down here…?" She stopped however when she reached the living room and saw Sam. "Oh my god." She exclaimed frozen in place.

Sam rose to meet her a look of utter recognition and wonderment crossing his face. Smiling tentivealy he said "Hey Dawn I'm Sam."

Breaking out of her paralysis Dawn ran across the room and threw her arms around Sam in a hug as she started sobbing. "I thought you were lost, I thought you'd never get here. Where have you been? I've been so worried. I was so scared." Came pouring out of mouth.

Wrapping his arms around the crying child and lifting her up Sam answered back with his own stream of reassurances. "It's okay. I'm sorry I didn't know. The awakening just happened. I've been so confused. Please forgive me, I'm here now, I'm not going anywhere."

The rest of the room just looked on in utter confusion at what was happening.

"Uhm Sam what's going on?" Dean asked looking at his dad and Joyce and Buffy to see if they had any clue as to what was happening.

Not releasing the girl in his arms Sam said, "I told you I knew her, it just wasn't till I saw her that I knew I knew her. I mean there are still some holes, but we're connected, we've always been connected." Sam told the room almost as confused as they were with the turn of events.

"He's the lock." Dawn piped up smiling up at Sam. "Don't ask me how I know, but it's like I've known him forever. I didn't even know I was missing something until there he was. Nice to meet you by the way." She added with a smirk at the absurdity of the situation.

"What do you mean lock?" Joyce said looking ten steps behind everyone else and not liking it one bit. "Would someone please explain to me what in the world is going on?" She asked exasperated.

"Damned if I know." Dean said still looking at his brother and the girl in his arms like he wasn't entirely sure he wasn't hallucinating or something.

"Right there with you son." John told Dean. Having never seen anything like this in all his years of hunting. "But I'm thinking of giving Missouri a call in the morning." He added.

"Hey where are you going?" Buffy asked Sam and Dawn as they began to walk hand in hand out of the living room.

"We're going to catch up silly." Dawn answered over her shoulder. "Explain what you can to mom and hopefully by then we'll be done and able to fill in the blanks."

"Done with what?" The slayer exclaimed not just a little confused herself.

"Trust us!" Was shouted back into the room by the retreating figures.

"Trust them trust them. I'm so confused." Buffy said taking a seat. Looking at John and Dean she asked, "Has anything like this ever happened to Sam before?"

"Not that I'm aware of." John answered back "Dean?"

"This is a first for me." Dean said still staring at the doorway that Sam and Dawn had left through.

"Anything at all would be good for me!" Joyce said looking like she'd just found out the world was flat.

"Sorry mom. Uhm guys where do you want to start?" queried the slayer.

Letting out a deep sign John said, "Might as well start at the begging" and for he second time in 24 hours began to explain his family and their mission to eradicate evil.

Chiming in where needed Buffy and Dean helped John tell Joyce all that had transpired since John came to town. Everyone's mind was still on the two people missing from the room and the curiosity of what was going on upstairs.

To be continued.

Ha ha. I know what a mean person I am for leaving a cliffhanger like that. Well if you want more you'd better review. I want to thank everyone for their support during this difficult period. You've all been so great and I can't thank you enough for the prayers and kind words. This story has been a release for me and I'm having so much fun writing it. I hope it is bringing a bit of imagination alive in your lives as well. Thanks again.

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