Chapter 5: Catching Up

Warning: I don't know; maybe language and innuendo somewhere along the way.

Disclaimer: BtVS characters belong to Joss Whedon / Mutant Enemy. characters belong to . I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission. Blade characters belong to Marvel Comics and New Line Cinema.

A/N: Thanks to my betas…zigpal and AshDawnSoulmates.

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Sunnydale High School

Halloween night 1997

Blade glanced at the closed library doors as he questioned his mentor/big sister-figure, "Have you figured out how you're going to convince them who you are?"

"Were. I'm not that girl anymore," Nya corrected him. She shrugged indifferently, "All I can do is try. If they don't want to believe me, that's their problem."

Whistler knew that this was Nya's past, and she just wanted to close this chapter for the sake of the people who cared for Buffy, but he guessed that she really didn't want to deal with a big dramatic scene either. "Just remember, you've got us – no matter what happens," he gently reminded her.

Nya smiled at her boys. "Thanks, guys." She peeked in the library window. "I only see one of them in there. Maybe it would be better if I went in alone. You know, less chance of him freaking out."

"We'll wait out here until you call for us then. Be careful. He may think you're a regular vamp," Blade said. Whistler might be his father-figure, but it was the talks with Nya that helped him realize he could choose his future, despite what he was. He didn't want to risk losing her anytime soon – especially to people she once cared about in another lifetime.

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"Hey, Watcher! Whatcha doing?" Nya called out with a hint of her Buffy persona.

Giles looked up from the text he was studying to see a vaguely familiar woman standing there. "Do I know you?" he inquired, grabbing his cross and stake out of sight.

She shook her head, "Not the way I currently look, but you did when I was a different blonde."

"Buffy?" he asked hopefully. That's where he saw this woman – in the book with the sketching of that vampire Darla.

"Good job! Got it in one!" Nya grinned. She sat down, but not too closely as to alarm her former Watcher.

Giles looked around the empty room, then felt the need to tell her why he was alone, "The others went home for the evening. Willow told your mom you were staying overnight at her place. We hoped to find a way to bring you back before she noticed you were gone," he explained.

Nya scrunched her face in concentration, trying to place the name. In all honesty, the only one she remembered that well was the man in front of her, and even that was spotty. "Willow. That was one of my friends, right?" she guessed.

"Buffy, What's the matter? Have you lost your memory somehow?" Giles looked concerned.

"No, it's just been so long that without look it up, I can't remember stuff from that long ago," she replied casually. Then she added, wanting to make it clear from the get-go how this was going to happen, "By the way, call me Nya."

Giles stood and started towards her, wanting to assure himself of her safety. Something was obviously wrong. "What do you mean? It was less than twelve hours ago. Why are you going by a different name?"

"It's only been that long for you. For me it's been 200…244 years," she did the math in her head. "When I arrived back then, I couldn't really tell anyone the truth, so I let the family that let me stay the night with them name me."

He recoiled at her words, the implication clear to him. "244 years? Then you did become a vampire!" He stuck the cross in her face and gripped his stake even harder.

Nya chuckled softly as she grabbed the cross. When he saw that it wasn't even burning her, he was confused. Even Master vampires couldn't stop the burning; all they could do was not react to it. "Not exactly. But before I explain this, I need your word you won't put this in your diaries or tell the Council."

Giles shook his head to clear it. "What?" he blurted in confusion.

"Promise!" she said vehemently.

Desperate for answers, he agreed, "Alright. I promise. What are you?"

She leaned back in her chair and put her feet up on the table. "I'm not sure there's a term for me. When I went back into Darla's body, the Slayer changed the vampire." Then she went on to explain the changes, and as she was finishing, the sun started to peek in through the window.

Giles was startled to see her sitting in the sunlight without bursting into flames. "Oh, dear lord!" he declared.

Figuring that she had made some progress with him, she decided to invite the others in. "I have a couple friends with me to introduce you to. Hey, guys! Get your asses in here!" she yelled.

When they came in, Nya pointed to Giles and said, "This is my old Watcher, Giles-- I can't remember the rest of the name, sorry." Then she repeated the process the other way, "Giles, these are my students, Abraham Whistler and Blade. Blade is a daywalker, but happens to be a good guy. Whis and I have been together close to 40 years now, and we picked up Blade about 20 years ago."

Reaching out his hand warily, Giles introduced himself fully, "Rupert Giles." He took off his glasses and scrubbed at them – causing a memory to surface for Nya that made her smile softly. "I'm sorry, I can't wrap my head around the idea that you've been around that long – much less taking on students to fight with."

"Yeah." Nya figured it was time to bite the bullet, so to speak. They'd deal with her not staying later. "Well, I suppose we'd better figure out how much I've screwed up the timeline when I went back. I've kept track of the kills that I got names for, and descriptions for the rest. When computers became all the rage, I transferred the info. The originals are stored someplace safe, but I brought a copy for you to look at. I need you to keep it from the Council, though."

Almost drooling over the possibility to have firsthand accounts from his Slayer – however she now looked – Giles readily acquiesced, "Yes, but why do you distrust the Council so much?"

Nya sighed, "Because until 1860, they would perform this test on any Slayer fortunate enough to survive until her 18th birthday."

Even though he read a mention of the Cruciamentum earlier, Giles was sickened by her description of what the test entailed, and even worse, the idea that he might have had to do that to her in just over a year. "What changed then?" he asked.

"The seer I brought to them told them what would happen if they continued to use it," she replied.

Guessing that the seer was Drusilla, who was originally turned by Angelus, Giles prompted, "What's that?"

"The Slayers would stop fighting with the Council; they'd get their support elsewhere," Nya declared bluntly.

"Was that the truth?" he inquired, thinking there was something more to her statement than she was saying.

"In this reality? No clue," she admitted, before amending her comment, "Probably eventually. What Drusilla actually saw, though, was what happened in the original timeline after you did the test on me. Except, you didn't pass the test because you told me when your guilt overwhelmed you. They fired you and sent a new Watcher. I fired him a few months later, then fired the Council. I had you and the others to help me; the Council didn't mean squat to me."

Blade cleared his throat to get Nya's attention, then pointed to the clock.

"Oops. Almost forgot. We have a prophecy to fulfill, but this one's about him, not me," she explained, jerking her thumb in Blade's direction.

"Hey! Why are you sharing my secrets?" the dark daywalker growled. He didn't especially care about her talking, except for she was looking very cozy with this guy, and he was worried she might change her mind about staying.

Nya rolled her eyes. "Oh, please! You're just gonna kill a demon. It's not like I'm sharing your most embarrassing moment or anything," she said with a look that clearly said she might if he continued to push her.

Giles stood as if to stop her. He settled for just asking, "You will be back, though? Xander and Willow are very worried about you."

She appeared conflicted. Nya knew they needed the closure to get on with their lives, but she also didn't want to hurt them anymore than necessary. "Think that's a good idea? I don't look like Buffy; I don't think like her anymore; and I'm not staying here. I only came so you would know what happened to me."

"They'll want to say goodbye, if nothing else," Giles pointed out, trying his best to hide his pain that she would be leaving them.

Against her better judgment, Nya caved, "Alright. But make sure they understand it's the new Slayer's job to come here if there's a need, not mine. Kendra Moore, I think her name is. Watcher's Sam Zabuto," she informed her Watcher, much to his surprise. He didn't know there was a new Slayer – much less what her name was.

But he put that aside for later. "I'll tell them. When will you be back?" he asked.

Nya shrugged, "Not sure. Maybe tonight, tomorrow." She handed the disks to him for them to peruse while they did their prophecy thing – as well as copies of her journals from Whistler onward.

The information was magically protected by some witches she knew – in case anyone else tried to sneak a peek or copy it. Even if they copied it by hand, the words would disappear. She only asked for his promise as a sign of faith in him.

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Between LA & Sunnydale

4 ½ hours later…

"Well, that certainly was a letdown. Are all prophecies that lame?" Blade remarked with a manly version of a pout.

Whistler smirked at the young daywalker. No matter how scary he was to other creatures, he and Nya had a hard time picturing Blade as anything other than that 13 year old kid they took in all those years ago. "I think it had something to do with the fact he was expecting someone else. Do you know who that Connor was, Nya?"

"Sahjhan mentioned him being the child of Angelus and Darla. Since I became Darla and didn't turn Liam into Angelus, there was no chance for them to create this Connor kid. So, the prophecy shifted from that vamp offspring to Blade. Not an exact match, but still unique enough," Nya offered. Then she scoffed, "Kinda foolish of him not to keep track of the changes in the timeline, though."

"Who knows, maybe it looks different from the outside," Whistler defended, not really caring either way.

Blade gave them his trademark sneer. "I will admit it was funny to see the look on the sucka's face when he realized that I fatally injured him. He was so sure I couldn't even hurt him."

To which Nya replied proudly, "Congrats on surviving your first prophecy, Blade. Much better than I managed. I had to die before I beat my baddie."

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A/N: Okay, this is just annoying me. I really planned on this reunion chapter being the last one, but Musie got an idea that is dragging it out a bit longer. So, no more guessing – on my part – how many chapters are left. When it happens, it happens.

A/N2: Next…Goodbye to Sunnydale and the Scoobies.