Chapter Text Disclaimer - I don't own Buffy or her friends, or the Winchesters and their respective world. - They belong to their respective owners.

A/N – OK clarification on something, in this Buffy and Dean are born in the same year (1979) with Buffy being born seven months before Dean, this means that all the Scoobies including Dawn are a couple of years older.

Dawn admitted that she knew a little more than the particulars of what was involved. Thanks to the little visit to the medical centre the other day, and a little time on the net, Dawn was now aware of which facilities within the Lawrence city limits performed paternity testing. This had lead to a few choice words from her sister along the lines of Dawn should stop getting ahead of herself and the possible removal of phone and computer privileges, to which Dawn had pointed out she almost twenty-one years old and not four, so grounding was no longer an option.

John couldn't help but smile inwardly at this; it was like watching Dean and Sam when they were younger.

It turned out that one of the places Dawn had contacted was the same medical centre that Dean had his doctor. This lead to Dawn enthusiastically going on about, "killing two birds with one stone."

As Xander and the Summers left the house, John wasn't sure if he was impressed or just plain dumbfounded.

"They seemed nice," said Sam.

"They're something alright," said John, as he walked away from they front door.

"This test, how long do you think before the results come back? You know, once it gets done?" asked Dean.

"Couple of days, I should think," answered Sam.

"She said it should take a couple of days," confirmed John.

Sam broke out into a little smile, "You know what? I've just thought, her birthday's January right?"

"That's what she said," replied John, "She's got her timing about right, though I'm not saying that means anything."

"Well that would make you her little brother!" said the amused Sam.

Dean drew his eyebrows together, "So?"

"It'll just be nice not having to put up with your 'I 'm right 'cause I'm the oldest' crap anymore," said Sam.

"Excuse me?" asked Dean.

"Oh, cheer up bro, if she is our big sis you won't be the shortest anymore,"

Dean punched his brother in the arm in response.

Missouri just stood there watching the front door slightly distracted, as the two brothers joked about their visitors.

"What's up?" John asked, "Did you feel anything 'bout them?"

"You said they were okay," said Dean, "You picking up vibes now?"

"I'm not sure. They covered it well, but there was something."

Sam didn't like the sound of where this was going, "Like what?"

"It is like they have stood in front of the dark and returned to the light, and that girl. When she first saw you John, I felt, well I'm not sure," she fell silent for a second.

"What?" John asked.

Both boys looked at their father, whose heart was creeping into his throat. The last thing he wanted was the Demon singling out another person like his Sam, especially if she was a Winchester.

"No John, but there was something. Power, raw power."

"So I think congratulations are in order," said Dawn.

"Shut up Dawn."

Xander smiled, "She's right, I think it could be said that you conducted yourself with something Giles would say was ladylike decorum. So what do you think?"

"Seems okay. You can't really say much on a five minute meeting," said Buffy, "What do you guys think?"

"He seems tired, but considering what he and his sons have been through lately you can't be surprised," answered Dawn.

"From what Missouri said, and good God can that woman talk by the way, Sam was the luckiest, a couple of broken ribs. The Dad had a broken leg, but Dean was on a ventilator for a few days, only got out of hospital last week." said Xander.

"No wonder he couldn't hold Sam when Will passed through him."

"He shouldn't have been running around last night."

Dawn nodded in agreement with her sister.

"No he shouldn't, both his brother and Miss Mosley had some words to say about his little disappearing act."

"Got the same respect for authority that you do Dawnie," said Buffy, smiling at her sister.

"Please, I respect authority!" Dawn protested

Buffy just looked at her littler sister, which caused Dawn to respond, "What, that policeman in Paris deserved that!"

"It's just, I'm suppose to be the delinquent in this family."

"Well Buffy, looks like you and Dawn could have some competition."

"Great do I have to bail another one out of trouble on a regular basis?" Buffy asked.

Dawn huffed, "Knock it off will you."

Buffy looked at her sister, "Sorry Dawnie."

"So what day in my week do you think I'll have to clear?" Xander said smiling as he posed the question to Buffy.

"You find out where they've been for the past twenty years?" Dawn said trying to change the subject.

Xander shook his head, "From what I could pick up they've been on the road since their Mom died, not sure what doing. But they didn't seem to stay in the same place to long."

"We'll just have to see what Giles comes up with then." Dawn said as they drove off.

Sam walked into the bedroom he and his brother were sharing with a couple of cups of coffee.

"Here you go."

He handed the cup of hot liquid to his brother, who had barely looked up from the laptop.

"Thanks. What are the olds up to?"

"Missouri's out, Dad's downstairs. What you doing?"

"Looking stuff up."

"Right okay, I'll leave you alone to your downloading." Sam said, as he quickly turned to face the door, "You have been out of commission for a while; probably best you take things slow, ease back into things."

Dean looked up at his little brother, "Very funny."

"Well you're in no shape to go hunting, and since I'm the only one who can stand for more than twenty minutes without assistance, I'm saying no to anything that means me bailing your ass out of trouble!"

"Heart wrenching speech Sam. No, I'm sure I've heard of that town before."

"Sunnydale. Sounds perky."

"Large earthquake caused it to collapse into a sinkhole. Most of the town had been evacuated previously, though a lot of people didn't get out."

"Just like Xander said."

Dean looked back at the screen, "Well a few years before the plunge, High School was ranked as one of the highest mortality rates for students in Southern California."

"Really?"

"Put down to drugs, PCP mostly. Kids getting high and then bleeding themselves to death playing vampire. Victims found with bit marks in the neck, bled quick, not like the ones we took out. "

"Sick, but plausible. With bored suburban teens, who knows what, goes through their minds, so what happened to change that, or are we paying a visit to a crater in the near future?"

"Someone blew up the school."

"Wow!" said Sam, as he sat down on the bed.

"Well, officially it was a gas leak, but stories in the papers don't gel right."

"Anything else?

"A couple of years before the school blew, principle was eaten," said Dean, as he continued to flicked between websites.

"What do you meant eaten?"

"Yeah, torn clothes, blood found, no body. Well not a whole one anyway. Looks like a pack of stray dogs got the school mascot, came back for more, got the principle"

"You sure?"

Dean nodded, "Well they destroyed a load of strays afterwards and there was no similar reports after that, so looks like guy was just unlucky."

"What else?"

"Mass hysteria, adults acting as children due to a weird food additive reaction, frat boys scaring the crap out Halloween party goers by spiking the punch, then there was a town wide epidemic of viral laryngitis. Outbreak of madness, but that was put down to a toxic waste leak, though there were reports of people seeing something falling from the sky towards the end of that one, but no reports of ET showing up. Everything seems to have an official explanation or just stops," said Dean sounded slightly frustrated, "They even had a few cases of people going up in smoke."

"Spontaneous combustion?"

"Reports saying people were happy, even accounts of victims singing and next minute poof - fire ball. But, as I said then it stops. It's definitely weird, things start but before there is a real pattern gets going, it ends. It's like before anything got too serious it got shut down."

Sam thought for a second, before asking, "Do you think someone was there to stop things getting too out of hand?"

"Possible, I suppose," replied Dean.

"So it was a freaky town. Anything about the Summers?"

"Joyce and her daughters moved there from L.A. in the late nineties. She worked in an art gallery and died of aneurysm after the removal of a brain tumour. Looks like Buffy dropped out of school when her Mom got sick. Hank Summers stayed in L.A. before moving to Spain. With his secretary by the looks of it."

"Isn't that a little cliché?" asked Sam.

"Yup, screams mid-life crisis, probably got the shiny sports car first," Dean took a drink from the cup.

"That's tough though, loosing their Mom like that. I don't know what's worse loosing her quick or knowing it's going to happen."

"Sam, I am too tired to go there."

"So you think that this could be a good thing, in spite of what Dad said?"

"Sam, please," Dean pleaded with his brother not to go down that road.

"Look I'm just thinking if she's family that her and Dawn…."

"Let's hope for their sakes that she's not alright?."

As Dean waited for the nurse to call him, he patiently flicked through old magazines.

From what he and Sam had pieced together the night before, this possible new addition to the Winchester family was not the typical valley girl that they'd expected; even with the freaky town. She had been mentioned in a couple of police reports and had disappeared for a few months at seventeen.

Turned out she had been wanted for questioning in connection with the death of a fellow teen. However, later reports, as well as statements from her mother and a number of friends, including Xander and her school's librarian, had mentioned a psycho stalker ex who had been terrorising her for months as being the probable culprit.

This may account for Missouri's dark to light thing, but how would she cope with a psycho demon, and the possibility of being collateral damage if it came after family and friends again.

But, right now, Sam paced the floor while grating on his father's nerves.

"Sam will you please stand still or sit down," said John.

Dean peered over the article he'd been half reading; he could see it starting. The two of them had been cooped up together too long, their truce was ending.

A bit of him thought if he let his Dad and Sam go for it, she'd see how bad it could be and she'd leave voluntarily, but right now, there was a large part of him that didn't. He wanted a real connection to the normal world, one without rock salt shells and silver bullets; the world that Sam always talked of.

"Sorry, I just want this to be over with," said Sam.

Dean put down his magazine, "Dude it's my appointment, so stop getting your panties in a bunch."

"I just want to know you're okay," said Sam.

"So do I! But driving Dad up the wall won't make the Doc see me any sooner."

John turned to the elder of his boys, "Dean your brother is not driving me up the wall, it's just we are all a little on edge."

Dean was about to reply when the nurse came over to call him in. He stood up to go and mouthed to Sam "Play nice."

Buffy stood at the main entrance of centre.

"Last chance, we can runaway and no one will think any less of you," said Xander.

"Thanks, but this needs to be done," replied Buffy, "Right?"

Dawn nodded as her sister looked at her.

"And this won't involve anything more than a cue-tip?" Buffy asked.

"That's what the leaflet said," Dawn replied.

"Then put in some solvent stuff, spin it down, put it on that gel thing and hey presto you get the read out with the bars on it." Xander said.

Both girls looked at him, "Xander you been watching Discovery channel again?"

"Well Will ain't here, someone has to do the science bit."

Dawn smiled, "Only if I get to do the Snoopy dance at Christmas this year."

"Hey get your own party piece!"

As they walked down the hall, they saw Sam standing there with his hands in the pockets and John sitting in the chairs.

After waiting for a while Dawn went over to the vending machine to grab something for everyone to drink, Sam followed her, seemly volunteering himself to help.

"Dean okay?" asked Dawn, as she punched in her selection.

"In with the Doctor now, he'll be out soon"

"Good," she picked up the cup and handed it to him.

"This is kinda awkward," said Sam.

"Yeah, it is really," she gave him a little smile, as she punched in more numbers, "Though she's calmed down a bit. You should have seen her last night."

"Nervous then?"

"Mr Gordo put in an appearance."

Sam looked confused, "Mr Gordo?"

"Stuffed pig, she's had it forever."

Dawn passed him another drink, "Well I say pig, he's lost an ear and eye and he's a little squashed but he's just well loved. Generally makes an appearance when she has man trouble, and during end of the world scenarios."

Sam smiled, "Dean used to have this little green gorilla thing when we were growing up."

"Really?"

"Yeah, hid it from everyone … think he called it Tharl."

"That's sweet," said Dawn.

"Don't know what happened to it"

"Could still have it?"

Sam thought for a second, it could be buried in the back of the car somewhere, "Maybe, but I'm not asking. He'd kick my ass from here to next week."

Dawn giggled, "Maybe now is the right time to ask, while he's incapacitated. He could use it as a therapeutic aid."

"Yeah, I can see that happening… But, maybe we can use it to wean him off of that mullet rock collection of his."

"Mullet rock?" asked Dawn.

"Metallica, Black Sabbath."

"Oh, if it is any consolation she's gone through some weird musical tastes."

"Yeah?"

"You heard Euro pop?" asked Dawn, causing Sam to grin.

"What is taking you two so long?" asked Xander, who was getting impatient.

"Nothing much," Sam replied.

"Just talking about European cultural differences," said Dawn.

"Euro pop?" asked Xander.

Dawn shrugged her shoulders.

"Can't understand it," stated Xander shaking his head.

As the three of them returned to the waiting area, they saw both Buffy and John go to a small side room close by.

The nurse inside picked up the swab kit and turned to Buffy.

"Don't worry it won't hurt a bit and we should have the results in a couple of days."

"Great," said the young woman sitting in the chair before the swab was stuck in her mouth.

Dawn continued to watch the door of the examine room where her sister was, as Dean came back from his appointment.

"So what have I missed?" asked Dean.

"Not much, we came, Sam and Dawnie got coffee and now they've gone into a room," answered Xander.

"So no film at eleven," said Dean.

"Not yet. What did the Doc say?" asked Sam.

"Lung capacity back to normal, heart OK, don't overdo thing, yada, yada, yada. You and Dad?"

"Dean."

"Just asking dude."

"We're doing okay," said Sam.

The door opened and Buffy walked out as John limped behind.

"You guys good?" asked Xander.

Buffy nodded in reply, "So what now?"

"You know she'll skin us alive if they don't come back for lunch," said Sam.

"Bet she has the implements," said Dean.

The next few days passed as they waited for the results. John had to admit that he liked having the girls around; they lightened the mood and made it easier to try with the boys. Though Missouri still couldn't put her finger on what she felt when Buffy was around.

He watched the kids, as Missouri called them. The youngest two seemed to bounce off each other and Dean had begun to fuss round both Buffy and Dawn, as he did Sam. Though, it was funny to see Buffy shoot him down without denting his ego too much. Even their friend seemed to fit in.

Dean and Xander seemed to be taking the brunt of Missouri's motherly instincts in all of this. Sam had said it was because Dean couldn't run away and she could creep up on Xander's blind side. However, the two of them had seemed to develop a tag team version of dealing with her.

He knew the boy was just a friend, but he could not help but ask him questions about Buffy, though he could not fathom why. Dean had said it was just paternal side of him coming out, but Sam had overheard a comment between Xander and Dawn, "If he's asking me these questions what is going to make of blondie?"

It was nice normality of it, as it should have been like for his sons, instead if the transient lifestyle he'd given them.

As for Buffy, she was full of life and seemed to be bright and resourceful, someone who could make you proud. He had always wondered if Mary had lived would they have had a girl of their own?

She seemed to make him want to act softer, a side of him that he hadn't really allowed to see the light of day since he'd packed up, strapped baby Sammy into his car seat, and watched little Dean proudly put on his own seatbelt. The three of them drove out of Lawrence in the Impala with barely a backwards glance.

Buffy also had to admit, it was nice to get to know people in a non-life and death situation, even if she had to watch herself round Missouri.

John was a nice guy, even if he was more than a little rough around the edges. It was obvious that he wasn't use to dealing with anything like this, but he was trying hard. Dawn had bonded with the guys and Missouri. Christ, Dean and Xander were fast becoming a comedy act, with Sam as the straight man. As for Sam, it was sweet to watch Dean be overprotective and Sam's blatant disregard of it; it was like watching Dawn in one of her stubborn moods. Dean even had tried to do the same thing to her but she had set him straight. It was nice that he was trying to do the brotherly thing, but she kinda had Xander for that; also, there was the fact that she could probably break him in two.

Giles had been in touch, he asked how things were going but he didn't have anything new to tell them as the seers had been more concerned about the rise of an Aztec jaguar god, which he'd contacted Faith about. Though he had confirmed that Sam wasn't a fire starter, which was something.

Willow and Kennedy were still on their honeymoon but they had still emailed to ask for the gossip. Kennedy had informed Dawn that Willow still wanted to get on a plane and if that happened, she had half the mind to stick Buffy with the bill and the Russian detail if they had to take a make up break.

It was a good few days if a little mind rattling doing the waiting thing for all of them. Nevertheless, Buffy was still unsure of how they would react to finding out about whom she was and what she really did.