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

Sam stood at his brother's side at the bottom of the stairs as Dean put on his normal brash and confident façade. They had discussed it, and decided to wait until this was over before explaining Sam's vision to their Dad and Missouri.

They both knew their father too well; if they told him now he would lock the house up tight, the girls would freak and run and then they would not get the chance to stop what Sam had seen.

"So you two gonna open that or what?" asked Dean.

"Tension, killing us here," added Dawn.

John, held the small envelope in his hands, "Right, you sure you want to do this?" he asked Buffy.

"Look I know we don't have to, but I need to. But, if you guys don't want this opened then we won't. Alright?" replied Buffy, looking at all the three Winchester men.

John glanced over at his sons standing on the stairs. They looked on as he turned over the envelope in his hand and unsealed the gummed edge. Time seemed to slow down for everyone, as he pulled out the paper from its casing. It seemed silly but this little bit of paper would change the lives of everyone in that room.

He turned it over and looked at it for what seemed like an eternity before handing it to the little blonde woman standing in front of him as he took a step back. She in turn looked at it in silence.

She let out a deep breath.

"Well?" asked Missouri, "You two still with us?"

"Huh?" asked Buffy

"Suspense, much!"

"Dawn, time to process," said Xander

"Dad?" said Sam, "We can give you a minute?"

"No Sammy, it's okay."

"So?" asked Dean.

"It's positive," said Buffy in a neutral tone.

"Yeah," said John.

"And that means?" asked Dean

"It's official, bro," answered Sam, though Dean's expression continued to remain blank.

"You're related," said Xander.

"Oh," The realisation of this slowly spread across Dean's face, "Do you two want some time?"

His father looked up at him. He looked as if he was just hit by a train.

Dean nodded, "We'll be outside."

As John watched Buffy's reaction, random thoughts flooded into his mind. The past few days had been good, though it had been as Missouri said, he'd been kind of treating this as a kind of vacation. She was also right about the girl walking out of there without knowing the truth.

But, the girl was innocent of it all; she was a little bit of him that wasn't frightened to go to sleep at night, or scared to wake up in the morning. She didn't know what was out there; did he really want to be the one to spoil all that?

She was pacing the floor as Sam did when things were getting to him, and he'd seen bits of Dean in her; the way she took care of her sister and could always be relied upon for a smart remark. He had noted them before but he hadn't really connected things, he hadn't wanted to see it. But, they were there, and now he had the bit of paper saying she was his.

"So you doing okay over there?" he asked.

She continued on her march, "Copage going on here. You?"

"Can I get back to you on that?"

"Both on same page. I can deal. Boy, big changes afloat; life, death, weirdage alert!"

"Think I'm getting you."

"Calls to make, people to be informed, and incorporation to be thought of here."

"Sorry?"

"Us into your lives, you guys into ours; if you're alright with that? It is alright if you're not though. But, if you are, that would probably mean a lot of blood, guts and gore being involved. And at some point someone is going to demand a psychiatric evaluation, which trust me, will not be good."

"Right," he said, trying to keep up.

"Words flowing out here; but not getting put in the correct order."

"Really?" he said, with a slight smile on his face.

"Gives a bad impression - should engage brain first then talk."

"No. Well you should think before you speak, but it's okay about the impression thing right now."

"Oh good 'cause you know impressions can be deceptive. We've been on our best behaviour here, but when you meet the real Buffy I wouldn't blame you if you ran for the hills."

"Trust me it will be you that will be doing the running."

She stopped to face him, "You say that now, but the world of Scoobiage is not one to be entered lightly."

"Pardon?" John said, completely stumped about the seemingly profound but nonsensical statement she had just made.

"Sorry, I sound like Andrew, no Xander - Andrew is more melodramatic. I think it's the whole geek thing really. Not that I'm against geeky nerd thing per se, but it gets to a point where enough is enough. You cannot compare the whole world to Star Trek or Lord of the Rings, and when he get started on Star Wars you just want to…, he's a grown man, well he's older than Dawn anyway. The man thing is debatable, though he has given up the squealing like a little girl recently."

He stared blankly at her unsure what to do or say to the girl in front of him, should he try to interrupt her strange tangent or just let her continue?

"Do you want me to get your sister?"

"Dawn, what about Dawn? ...We really have to talk about Dawn, but not before…" she suddenly stopped speaking and covered her face with her hands in shock, before continuing.

"Oh God, she's right even if you can handle the rest, when you find out about what happen with… Oh, you will think I am the world's biggest freak! Can I just say that people change you know, even after they … and they did, even though they were… and with Angel, I was young and in love. A bit of me will always be, first love, true love really even if it's doomed, but he was right and so was my Mom, can't build a life on that even if you dream about the what mights at times, you can't dwell, especially seeing as he's now gone. Then when it all happened with, well Spike just seemed to follow me round like a confused, though deranged and very irritating, lost puppy. And Riley was so, and then… It was not planned; no way on earth was it planned! He was in a bad place, then I was in a bad place and he was the only one who understood. Then we were all in a bad place, mentally and geographically speaking, and now well it's hard to put a finger on what is going on, but he's still there for me and I'm rambling aren't I? I ramble on occasion, but you might have guessed that. Usually I'm all with the witty and being composed but today is not an everyday occurrence for me, getting it confirmed that you have a new father and whole new family, so I ramble. I think I am allowed a little bit of a meltdown, not a biggie just a little one, five minutes and then normal business will resume. Do you understand? "

She looked at him waiting for him to reply.

"Sure. Xander? I can go get Xander?" He said turned to go to the kitchen, to get at least one person who might have a clue what she was going on about.

As he limped through the back door, five expectant faces met him.

"Everything going alright in there?" asked Dean.

"I'm not sure, I got lost halfway," replied John, still dazed from the conversation he just had.

"Verbal confusion sounds about right," said Dawn, "Don't worry; it tends to fade with time."

"What is Scoobiage?"

Xander and Dawn looked at each other, and Missouri could sense their collective "Uh oh"

John sat down on the back steps, "Yes, that and a geek called Andrew."

"Andrew, well he has to be seen to be believed," said Xander.

"What does a puppy called Spike have to do with who she's seeing?"

Xander looked at the serious expression on John's face and stifled a laugh, "We best go and…" he started to snigger.

Dawn looked at Xander before turning to John, "Yes, we'd better go and see what is going on."

"Puppy called Spike! Oh you can't make that up," Xander muttered, while smiling, as he followed Dawn into the house.

John put his head in his hands as Sam sat down beside him. Even though he had expected today to be tough, he never expected to feel so lost.

"So how are you holding up?" asked Sam.

"As well as can be expected. She thinks that once we get to know her we'll run, can you believe that?"

Sam looked up at his brother, before trying to explain his vision.

"Dad, there's something you should know," said Sam tentatively.

"What?"

"Well," Sam looked downward, feeling uncomfortable about sharing his vision.

"Sam?" asked Missouri.

"We need to keep little Dawn close," responded Dean.

"Why?" asked John, looking seriously at his younger son.

"You saw something, didn't you?" said Missouri to Sam.

John clenched his jaw, all previous thoughts about trying to understand his daughter gone, the hunter in him taking over, "When?"

"When I went to get Dean sir; and we didn't say sooner as we didn't want you to scare them when you locked down the house."

John nodded, "What did you see - exactly?"

"It was dark, Dawn was up against a wall, she was saying something, but I couldn't make out what. I don't know if that's important."

"Sam, get to the point," interrupted Dean.

"Yeah, a demon had its hands round her throat. But, it wasn't The Demon before you ask. It seemed to be an old woman but there was another one there as well just watching and I couldn't really say, if…"

"Can you describe it - the other one?" asked John.

"Young man, brown hair, sir."

John stood up, "Any idea how soon?"

"When he gets them they usually happen within a few hours," said Dean.

"What about where?" asked Missouri.

Sam shook his head, "As I said it was dark and I mostly got Dawn and the demon attacking her."

"Right, so I'm thinking that we keep them close. Try not to freak them out," Dean said to his father.

"So you aren't going to tell them?" asked Missouri.

John shook his head, "Not now - the way she's talking it won't go in."

Sam looked at his father, "So you aren't going to explain things to them at all?"

"Not today - today we just keep them safe, we keep Dawn and your sister safe."

Dawn stuck her head round the door.

"Look don't take this the wrong way, but we're gonna get some air." she disappeared inside briefly before again popping her head round the doorjamb, "But, we will be back!"

The Winchesters and Missouri looked at each other, before Dean rushed inside after her, "Hey Dawn."

"Your brother will keep them here," said John to the concerned Sam.

Sam paced as he watched the back door waiting for his brother to return.

"OK, I thought I understood English pretty well but that's a whole different language they were speaking," said Dean as he walked out to join them.

John looked at his eldest son and in a heartbeat both men were in unspoken but complete agreement.

"What do you mean?" asked Missouri.

"You don't want to know - trust me, you don't!" reiterated Dean, "I've been to Cali, but that, that was; I don't know what that was."

"And?" asked Sam.

"Got Dawn to stay, told her that all of them going would be crowding Buffy, and Xander was handling her better."

"You couldn't get the other two to stay?" asked John,

"Dad, she was going on about worlds of shrimp," Dean said, in all seriousness, "I think getting through to her about anything right now would have been difficult."

John looked up at Sam, hoping that he would be able to translate. Sam just shrugged his shoulders to which John nodded - it wasn't just a generational thing.

"At least getting Dawn to stay is something; it was her that Sam saw, John," Missouri said, "The other two will have to come back here to get her."

He nodded, "Right, you're right. We'd better get started."

"Reinforce the salt lines and shells?" asked Sam.

"I've got some other things that will work as well," said Missouri, "Besides we start sprinkling that stuff about, gonna make that girl think we're all five shades of crazy."

Sam nodded and followed Missouri inside.

"And Sam," said John.

"Yes sir."

"Be subtle."

Sam nodded, acknowledging his father.

He sat down again, and looked towards the backyard rubbing the stubble on his face and not even turning to his remaining companion, "So what are you thinking?"

"Stick to the plan, lockdown and get the other two inside before it hits the fan." said Dean.

John looked up at his boy from where he was sitting, "That's not what I'm asking son."

Dean looked puzzled, "What are you asking?"

"What are you feeling, 'bout all of this?"

Dean stood there for a second and tentatively replied, "I don't know, but if you want feelings Sammy's really the one to ask."

"Dean, I'm asking how you're doing?" said John.

He was stunned, unsure how to respond, "Okay considering."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, the whole new side of the family threw me for a loop, and we really could do without the vision thing but…"

"That's not what I meant. Dean I… shit, this isn't how I wanted to do this, it messes everything up and we don't really have the time. But, if they are coming, I'm not…I don't want- Jesus this is hard; and I couldn't talk to her," John took a breath; "I'm not having you think that what I said or it said to you about being proud of you when we were in the cabin before was just bull."

"Dad? You aren't going all chick flick on me, are you?"

Sam looked through the back window to see his brother sit down beside his father.

"I think we should leave them to it, don't you?" said Missouri, as she handed Sam a small bag.

"I don't…"

"Don't you think this is long overdue?"

"Yes, but."

"I know the timing isn't great but the speed your father was taking, thought hell itself might freeze over before he got round to this. Anyway once you put that where it needs to be, you should go entertain our guest."

Sam looked at her and nodded.

She was sitting in the reading room flicking through one of them many out of date magazines Missouri left for her customers.

"Hey - how are you holding up?" asked Sam, as he entered the room.

"Fine, you?"

"Fine."

"There has been a lot of asking of that today hasn't there?" said Dawn.

Sam smiled, "Yeah there has been."

"They maybe a little while. I could go back to the motel, you know," offered Dawn.

Sam shook his head, "Wouldn't hear of it, neither would Missouri. Anyway, guess you're family too now. I think?"

"Just think of me of the annoying little sister you never had."

"Alright," he said, giving her a wry smile, "Never really thought of it like that. To be honest never really thought too far ahead on this whole situation."

"Oh, well I'm everyone's little sis. But, not those that are younger than me."

"That would cancel out the little part."

"Except when they are very, very tall," Dawn grinned at him, glad that the comment seemed to break the tension.

"Two sisters for the price of one?"

"You have no idea," she muttered as she put down the magazine.

She smiled at him as she sat up, "But before you get ahead of yourself the whole overprotective thing with regard to the guys I date, that role is taken!"

"Better tell Dean that."

"Why?"

"You tell him he has free rein on the big brother deal and I can just imagine what he'll be like with both of you."

"Both of you are Buffy's younger brothers remember and if you think he's bad, oh I'll raise you her."

"But I've got my Dad, who can be a little overbearing at times." ("To put mildly," he thought).

"True but on their worst days they can't hope to match her," replied Dawn.

Intrigued, Sam sat forward in his chair, "So I should be worried?"

"Oh you'll see."

"What does she do?"

"Oh please like I am so not going to spoil this," said Dawn with a slight twinkle in her eye, "But I will say that God help any poor girl that you bring over or try to pick up in her presence."

"Dean's going love that, though as I said he'll do the same to you guys."

"Ahh, but with the exception of your Dad does he have the support squad?"

Sam looked a little confused, "The support squad?"

"Glare convincingly in the back. Though since I turned eighteen it's just really Spike that gives my boyfriends the whole 'I'll flay the skin from your flesh while you're still alive if anything happens to her' look, while Buffy does her thing."

"Spike the puppy?" Sam said, making the connection.

"Yes, the puppy." Dawn replied, heartily amused at the image.

"So is his name really Spike? Did his parents not like him or something?"

"No it's William, but he's always been Spike to us."

"So you think we'll be in for the treatment then."

She sat for a second and looked at him. With those innocent eyes and with the mop of shaggy hair, he looked like a little boy lost, especially when he did that sweet furrowed brow thing whenever he got confused or had his resolved face on. The girls would eat him alive, Buffy's brother or not!

"Yeah but I think they'll be on your side," Dawn drew her eyebrows together, "Yep, you'll need them on your side."

"OK and what about Dean?"

"From the stories you've told me over the past couple of days; just tell the walking gland that he'd better be careful when he comes to visit."

"Why, what's he got to watch out for?"

"Jail bait!" stated Dawn.

Sam burst into laughter as Missouri watched the two of them from the doorway. It gave her hope, for all of them, that someday that they could have some chance of a normal life even if they could never fully walk away from this one.

Sam swallowed to allow himself to get the words out, "You're serious, aren't you?"

Dawn nodded, "Buffy, Xander and the rest of us; we look after a lot of mixed up kids, very forcefully minded, very resourceful teenagers, who aren't afraid to put their point of view across."

"And you're saying we have to be careful around them?"

"Well no. It's just the girls have been known to…. What were you like at that age when someone told you shouldn't do something?"

He pictured himself at fourteen/fifteen, covered in bruises from the first few times he had been taken along as an active participant in the hunt, hating his Dad for making him be there, and his only real escape involved him sticking his nose in a book, "I don't know."

"OK put it this way. Up to twenty teenage girls in a house with one or two possibly three adults at most."

"Frightening?"

Dawn's eyes widened, "You haven't witnessed the horror!"

Buffy stared blankly at the swing set as Xander returned with two coffees. After hours of walking, he'd finally gotten her to sit down.

"Penny for them?" he said, as he offered her the paper cup.

"What?"

"Penny, thoughts, want to trade?"

She took the coffee from his hand, "You think leaving Dawn with them was a good idea?"

"Suppose it's their first real test."

She gave him a little smile, "Test, that doesn't seem fair."

He cocked his head to side, "Well throwing them into a nest full of fledges probably would have been less scary for them, but she's all we have to hand," he said, "Anyway they are family to the Slayer."

"What? So now they get to know that they may get to be collateral damage in the war between good and evil?" asked Buffy.

"Better than keeping them in the dark."

"I just keep wondering how he'll react, and how the guys will take it."

Xander took a sip from his cup, "He's tough, he'll cope; your Mom did."

"He's wounded you know, that makes him unpredictable which could make him dangerous."

"Worse case scenario is he'll think you're crazy and throw you out. Then it'll be his loss."

"I don't know," she said, sounding unsure, "Especially when we mention Sam."

"It's not like we are planning to take him away or anything, we have no real idea what he can do. Anyway we could give it some time before we bring it up, give the five of you a moment to actually let everything sink in."

She looked over at him, with an expression of "as if".

"Please, everyone finds out I have a new family and that one of them is capable is wigging out Willow even though she was physically on the other side of the world and they not going to hit him with everything they've got. Or they…." She broke off from his gaze.

"You're worried about another Cordy aren't you?" Xander asked, trying to catch Buffy's eye.

"Yes," she said quietly continuing to look at the ground.

She looked up at him, as the tears started to well, "I'm going to lose them before I get to know them aren't I?"

"Oh come here," he held her in his arms as she let out her pain, "You know we could talk to Will and see if there is anyway we could hide them, just for a bit; till we find out what he can actually do, you know. We could find someone, so he knows the pit falls and show the other two what to look out for if the worst happens."

"You think?" she asked, resting her head on his chest.

"Sure, and if Willow doesn't know someone over here, I'm sure Giles could arrange for someone to come over. But in the mean time we do this slow, introduce ourselves one at a time, one bit of info at a time give them a chance to assimilate."

She looked up for a second, "What about Dawn?"

"We know the theory here, but are we 100 percent sure? Anyway, I think she's a little afraid of freaking them out herself. Last thing she wants is a repeat of Hank."

"Dad's disappearing act was never her fault, it's his! It's not like we even told him, he never gave us the chance." she wiped her tear stained cheek with the back of her hand, "My blood, her blood - this is one big mess!"

Xander reached into his pocket for tissue for her, "Those monks of her's sure knew how to screw things up."

"You're right though, one shock at a time," she looked up at her best friend who was still holding her in his arms, "When did you get so good at this."

"Your Mom gave me some pointers, though I missed the memo that I had to take her over from her on the whole emotional support front."

"She was good at that."

"That and the cookies and the hot chocolate and most other things snack related; but, I'm not taking up the baking."

Buffy smiled at his remark, "Think we should head back?"

"You sure you're ready?"

She dried her eyes and nodded, "Puffy?"

He took a second to look at her, "Much with the puffiness and the panda effect suits you so well."

"Jeez, thanks," she said continuing to rub away at the remains of her mascara.

"Well you did ask. There's a rest room over there," he said, pointing to a small hut at the side of the play park.

She handed him the coffee, "Five minutes and then we go back."

"Sure, and I'll check in with the tweed master general."

"He hates when you call him that."

"I know that's why I've stopped calling him that to his face."

"G-man it irritates him enough as it is."

As he watched her leave to freshen up, he reached into his jacket pocket and proceeded to turn on his cell. Within seconds, it started to bleep and flash, acknowledging the missed calls and messages that were noted on the display. A slightly perturbed Xander started to pick up his calls.

She walked out to find him almost standing inside the doorway. She could see a look of panic in his eye.

"We've got to get back now!" Xander stated.

"What?"

"Andrew called; Giles is on his way here!"

Still confused and now very concerned, "Why?"

"The seers, they came back. They're hunters Buffy."

"No way! You have got to be kidding me."

"John Winchester is a hunter; got himself an impressive reputation in their world, and the guys' well they're starting to catch up themselves."

She wasn't having this, she had enough big revelations dropped on top of her, "They've gotta be wrong."

"The story goes that John's wife, the guys' Mom got killed by a nasty and he saw the whole thing. Been looking for it ever since."

"Revenge?"

"Oh yeah, big time!"

"How could we miss this?"

"You know what that lot are like, paranoid as hell, never staying in one place too long," explained Xander, "and I lost my one decent contact for the Midwest a few months back."

"Knew we should have taken our time on this."

Xander stopped for a second, "There's something else; their little accident wasn't an accident. They pissed something off Buff, something big."

"We left Dawn there," the colour drained from Buffy's face, "We left Dawn there by herself and she doesn't know."

Buffy took off running as fast as she could, leaving her friend behind even though he was trying to keep up with the slayer.