Chapter One

Note: This chapter takes place sixteen years after the prologue.

The disclaimer can be found in the prologue.

* * *

Music blared from a room on the second floor of the Hyperion, making the adults working downstairs glance toward the stairs then towards the brunette working at the counter. Dawn Summers was resolutely not looking up. If Natasha wanted to act like a spoilt princess then she could. Dawn refused to give in to her. She also refused that maybe Tash had a reasonable excuse for acting the way she was but Dawn wasn't going to think about it. Nope. No sirree.

Someone cleared their throat. Loudly. In her ear. Dawn threw a glare at Buffy who was smirking. "Go talk to her, Dawnie."

"No. If she's not going to act like a mature adult, then she doesn't get treated like one."

"She's not a mature adult. She's a sixteen year old girl who feels rejected. Go talk to her." Dawn pouted and Buffy raised an eyebrow. "You know what? Before you go, how about you start acting like a mature adult." Dawn stuck her tongue out at her sister's retreating back, knowing the blonde had a point. She took a deep breath and quickly closed the windows on her computer before she lost her resolve.

Xander patted her on the arm as she passed and she smiled at him. Someone who knew what she was going through, though the old saying 'it takes a village to raise a child' was extremely accurate in this case. Almost every adult who worked for the LA branch of the Watcher's Council had had a hand in raising Tash from the moment Dawn had walked through those double doors sixteen years ago. If it hadn't been for them... well, she didn't want to think about it.

She stopped at the closed door and smirked at the message written on the whiteboard her daughter had installed once she got into her teens.

Go away.

Yes Mom, this means YOU.

Completely disregarding her daughter's wishes, she knocked on the door. Loudly. "Tash, open up." Silence answered. Dawn scowled. "Natasha Joyce Summers, you get this door open NOW or you're in deep trouble."

This time an angry voice, similar to her own, replied, "What more trouble could I be in? You're sending me to England!"

"I'm not going to argue with a wooden door. Please?" Dawn waited, silently counting to thirty in her head. There was shuffling inside and the music was turned down but Dawn wasn't sure whether Tash was moving to open the door or teasing her. At 29 seconds, she opened, a scowl on her face. Dawn was struck by the blue eyes that were not hers at all, no matter what Willow told her. Those were pure Charlie. She pulled her mind and raised an eyebrow at her daughter.

Her shoulder length auburn hair had obviously been abused by fingers many a time and her eyes were red and puffy, something that had been inherited from Dawn. She always looked terrible after she'd been crying. Her hands were on her hips and she had long since perfected the apathetic waiting pose. "You're talking to a face now. What did you want to say?"

Dawn sighed. "You wanted to go to this camp a week ago. What changed?"

"You did, Mom. You should have told me you were going away in the first place. There are dozens of camps in the US and you pipe up with this random one in England and I thought, great, I get to go away and leave the prying eyes of my family. Oh, but wait, no I'm not because my mother is going to be a day's drive away because she's doing a 'work thing' with some random Scottish bloke!" Tash's cheeks were red with anger and she glared meanly at her mother.

"Tash..." Dawn tried to hug her daughter and Tash pushed her away, retreating into her room but leaving her door open. Dawn closed the door behind her and sat on the purple bedspread. "I have to go away, I have no choice. If I don't I'll get fired."

"It's not like you don't work for the Council anyway."

"But this is normal, everyday work. It keeps me focused, you know that." Tash did. It didn't mean she wanted to admit it. "I just wanted to stay close. I thought it would be nice."

Tash was trying very hard to stay angry but it was hard when her mom was looking so dejected. "Mom, this whole mess could have been avoided if you'd just told me. I wouldn't have cared. I'm angry because you don't think I'm old enough to be trusted to know that you are still keeping an eye on me. I'm sixteen. I'm going to a wizard camp in England. It's not exactly abnormal for us. There's going to be adult supervision the entire time and you're still smothering me."

"What else do you want me to do, Tash?"

"Tell me the freaking truth, mom!" Dawn was having flashbacks to similar conversations between herself and Buffy. Goddess, no wonder Buffy had thought she was a brat but at the same time she understood because she'd been on the smothered end once.

"Fine. Ian, I and a couple of friends are going to an excavation in Scotland. They need me for my language skills. I will be there for a maximum of two weeks. I'll leave after you do and I'll be back before you. You won't even know I've been gone. Anything else?"

"Ian? Ian the Annoying?" The glare was back but for an entirely different reason. Tash didn't approve of Ian.

"It's a work thing, Tash."

Tash snorted and muttered something under her breath.

"Would you like to repeat that?"

"Nope. I'm good." Dawn smiled and shook her head at her daughter. She opened her arms and Tash didn't hesitate in joining her on the bed and hugging her. "I don't like being angry at you, Mom."

"I don't like it when you're angry either. You're scary for a kid." Tash poked Dawn in the side and Dawn couldn't help the yelp that escaped from her mouth and jumped up, glaring at Tash. "No. No tickling the mom."

"Fine. I'll just sick Xander on you."

"Xander and I are mature adults," Dawn reported primly and Tash gave her a weird look. "What?"

"Are we talking about the same Xander? The Xander who still plays with his food?"

Dawn shrugged. "It was worth a shot."

Tash smiled and shook her head, mimicking her mother from moments before. "Shoo, get back to your work. You've got to prepare for the ordeal."

"It's just an excavation, Tash."

"I was talking about Ian." Dawn poked her tongue out and exited, feeling lighter now that her and Tash weren't fighting. Xander gave her a thumbs up as she went by and Dawn nodded. All was well in Dawnverse.

* * *

Tash frowned as she made sure her mother was gone. She pulled an old photograph out from under her pillow and stared at it. It was old, older than she was though obviously not by much. It was of her pregnant mother and a redhaired man. She looked young, around 20 or so. He had a huge grin and a hand on her mom's belly. He was solid, a stocky build and barely taller than Dawn, who was pretty tall for a girl. They looked happy. The gold marriage bands winked merrily in the sun and Tash touched the man's face. This had to be her father. No wonder this had been hidden under several heavy things in her mother's closet.

She'd gone in to sift through her clothes because for a mom, Dawn dressed well. It didn't hurt that they were the same shoe size. She'd been searching for shoes and she'd found this. She just knew that she wasn't meant to have this but she couldn't help it. What had happened? They looked so happy, so in love, if body language was anything to go by. Surely something like that didn't just die.

Her door opened before she was able to hide the photo and her eyes were wide as she stared at the person in the doorway. Connor Angel. Crap. Practically her mother's best friend and Tash's pseudo-uncle. "Hi Connor."

"Give it here." His tone brooked no room for argument.

She let her hand fall down to the mattress and slipped the photo under her leg. "Give what here?"

"I know you have a photo of your father. I saw you slip out of her room yesterday. I won't tell her you saw it if you just give it back."

"So it is him? That's my dad?"

Connor sighed. "I never met him but I drove your mom home from the airport with Giles. I heard the story. It wasn't pretty."

"He's my dad, Connor. I just want to know him."

"Tash-"

"I have his eyes," she blurted out. Everyone had told her that she was the spitting image of her mother and it was true to a degree, but for her eyes: the colour was Dawn's but the shape was all Charlie's. She'd spent an hour in the mirror yesterday checking. "Everyone says I look like mom but I have his eyes."

Connor really didn't feel comfortable discussing emotional issues with an emotional teenage girl. He had been made to fight and he did it well but put him with a teary sixteen year old girl and he was helpless. "Tash, it was hard on your mom. You'll just make it harder."

Tash's eyes flash. "Fine, have the stupid photo. I didn't want it anyway." She got up and shoved it in his chest. The usually steadfast Connor was caught off guard and stumbled, allowing Tash to slip past and down the hallway. Connor scowled and looked at the photo. Huh, she was right. She had this man's eyes.

* * *

Tash was on the roof, staring at the sky, listening to the hustle and bustle of the LA life below. She closed her eyes and tried to absorb the sun into her skin. What would England be like? She had this image of hundreds of Giles walking around, commenting about the weather. Then again, Rach's dad was from Britain and so was Uncle Spike and they weren't all stiff and upper-lippish. Looking at Wesley Wyndam-Pryce or his daughter, you wouldn't think he came from a strict, traditional Watcher family. While Wesley was still very much British, he had nothing on Giles. Likewise, in the freedom he'd given Rachael, it was obvious that stiff and upper-lippish, Wesley was not.

She heard a guitar start up and knew that Mick was in his room below. She knew that he knew that she was up here. It was made certain when he began playing the Rubber Ducky song off Sesame Street. She laughed and the music stopped. Moments later, she saw arms and a head peek over the edge of the roof before climbing up. There was a convenient ledge on Mick's balcony that, if you were tall or agile enough, gave easy access to the roof. Awesome for privacy or just enjoying nice weather when you were grounded.

"Heard the fight with your ma," Michael Harris commented, lying down next to her and flicking his shaggy brown hair out of his eyes. He really needed a cut but he insisted it was part of his bad-boy, guitarist image. She insisted that it would hurt when someone tried to rip it out one day in a drunken bar fight. He was a trouble magnet, almost more so than her. Being the son of a Slayer probably attracted trouble, even if his dad hadn't been a demon magnet.

"Who didn't?"

"I dunno but I think they're probably anticipating you in merry ole' England now."

Tash punched him, laughing. "Shut your face."

He punched her back and Tash knew he was holding back because if he'd let loose, he might have pushed her off the side of the building. Even so, it still stung a little but Mick got all antsy if it was mentioned so she didn't comment. "I'm gonna miss you, T."

"Oh, chill. You'll have Jess and Bryan."

"But I always have them. I'm sick of them. You, Rach and C are disappearing off into the wilderness without me." The joking tone couldn't hide the bitterness underneath it. Tash turned on her side to look at her best friend. He was always jealous that Tash, Rachael and Clay had been accepted into Salem Academy, the leading American wizarding school and he was stuck at the local high school. It killed him that once the school term started, he didn't see them until Christmas. It hurt even more that during the summer break, when Mick saw them most, they were leaving for eight weeks.

"I'll miss you too, Mick." She hugged him and lay her head on his shoulder. "You know you're my favourite Mick-shaped friend."

"Oh well, I suppose I'll just have to train Jessie to replace you."

"Nah, it'll never happen."

It was silent until Mick whispered, "Nah, it won't," and patted her arm.

They stayed like that until Faith came and got them. "Yo, double trouble. Dinner's ready."

"Coming, ma." Tash stopped him from getting up and kissed his cheek. He made a gagging noise and she slapped him. He threw an arm around her shoulders once they got into his room. "Love you too, T."

* * *

The next week was full of preparation: Tash, Rachael and Clay were headed to summer camp and Dawn was headed to her excavation. The Hyperion was a buzz and Tash and Rach were trying to cram Mick into every spare moment they had. They left the Hyperion when they could but when they couldn't, they hid from the adults and Jessie and Bryan.

They now only had two days and the girls were starting to freak out. Rachael pulled on one of her dreadlocks. "Do you think we could fit him in our luggage?" They looked speculatively at the bewildered Mick then shook their heads.

"He's put on too much muscle. Besides, then we wouldn't have any room for clothes." Rachael conceded the point but was frustrated. Much like Xander had been the heart of the Scoobies, so was Mick among the Scrappies.

"Guys, forget it. I don't even want to go to England and get hexed by a bunch of wand-waving pansies." At the incredulous looks of Tash and Rach, he shrugged. "Can't you just stay here?" They sighed and sat on either side of him. Tash rested her head on his shoulder and Rach threaded her arm through his.

"This isn't going to work. I'm going to end up Flooing back, I know it. It'd be so much easier if we could Apparate."

"No," Rachael said sensibly, "because they've banned it. You'd just get caught."

"And get sent home, Rach, duh," Tash pointed out.

Mick smiled sadly. They used to fights like cats when they were younger. Tash had told Rach she was a know-it-all and Tash had been too bossy. Somewhere along the lines at Salem, they teamed up and came out swinging. Literally sometimes. Tash certainly had taken after her mother in her self-defense. Hit first and curse later was Tash's motto. Only the Goddess really knew how many duels and fist-fights Tash had started while at school. Rach was slightly more level-headed but only so far in that she cursed first and asked questions later. Lots of questions. Mick didn't think it was possible to be a Wyndam-Pryce without inheriting a big brain, not to mention who her mother was. Winifred Burkle was probably the smartest person he knew, that was until Rach grew up and combined the braininess of both her parents into one giant brain.

"Mick," Tash whined. "You're not helping. Me and Rach are gonna miss you heaps and you don't even care." Mick just looked at her and grinned. "You're being a big poopyhead."

"You want a poopyhead? I'll give you a poopyhead." With inherited Slayer precision, he whipped his arm out from Rachael's and launched his attack on Tash. They both crashed to the floor of the atrium and Tash started giggling uncontrollably as Mick tickled her sides.

"Noooooo. Goddess, Mick, stop. Stop stop stop. Ah! I'm gonna pee my pants. No. I'm gonna kick your butt, Harris!"

"Not if you can't reach it, pee girl. Come on, T. Don't pee, don't pee." Rach was rolling on the previously-occupied couch, cackling at the two and it wasn't until Giles came and cleared his throat that Mick shot off Tash and pulled her up with him, the brunette gasping for breath.

Giles raised an eyebrow and they simply grinned. "Hey Grandpa G-man."

"Mick, how many times have I told you not to call me that?"

"And how many times has it not worked?" Giles was the surrogate grandfather to them all. He'd read them bedtime stories and looked after them when their parents were hurt or away. Despite Mick's obvious disregard for his name, he respected the older man a great deal, especially after all the stories of his Ripper days.

"Well, carry on, children. I just wanted to mention that Gunn and Cordelia are here." Mick grinned and went to find his uncle, his tickle attack on Tash forgotten. He was still trying to get Gunn to get him into the security business he was running. It hadn't worked so far but just because Xander had pulled Gunn aside and made him promise not until Mick had finished school. It was bad enough he was out patrolling, they didn't need to worry about him during the day as well.

Tash saw Jayden and Alonna, Gunn and Cordy's kids, take the steps two at a time to meet Jessie and Bryan. The four of them were a little too close for comfort, despite the rare occurrences that Gunn and Cordy came around when it wasn't apocalypse season. They got into enough mischief that their parents didn't miss it when they were apart.

Cordy came down and Tash and Rachael both gave her hugs and got each other caught up on gossip. The one good thing about 'Aunt' Cordelia was she was always up for a good bit of gossip. Just as they were almost done, Buffy came in and they got talking in code about things they obviously didn't want the kids knowing. Tash and Rach rolled their eyes at each other and went to find Clay.

The Scoobies had rescued Clay from a clan of demons when he was little, but had been too late to save his family. Willow had grown attached to him while they were looking for someone to care for him so by the time they had found someone, Willow changed her mind and adopted him. He was quiet but that just hid the biting wit and ferocious loyalty lurking beneath the surface. He didn't quite like the physical... altercations the other three got into but he was as much family as Mick was. That was to say, family of the heart.

* * *

The two days practically vanished and Tash was standing near the gate at the airport, teary with her arms were wrapped around Mick's neck. "I'm sorry you can't come. I'll bring you back something cool, I promise."

"It's cool, witchy girl. Go have fun." Despite his words, his arms tightened. They both knew it was only eight weeks and they'd dealt with worse every year before the three headed off to Salem but it was still hard. Mick grudgingly pried Tash's arms from around his neck and passed her on to Dawn, who was just as teary as Tash.

"I won't drop by and embarrass you but one word and I'll be there as soon as I can, all right? It'll be fine, you'll have fun."

"Please don't do anything stupid, Mom."

"Shouldn't I be saying that to you?" Dawn said, pulling back and wiping the tears from Tash's eyes. "Now go, you'll miss your flight otherwise." Rach and Clay, who had already said their goodbyes, were waiting behind her.

Tash nodded and kissed her mother once more on the cheek. "Talk soon."

"You betcha."

Dawn waved goodbye until she couldn't see them anymore. Faith shook her head but understood. Dawn had difficulty letting go. She didn't want to lose Tash like she had Susanna. She still cried about her other little girl but she was still strong about it. Stubborn that Tash not know about her twin in case she went chasing her, which she would, because she was just like her ma and Tuesday was only two days away.