Title: Distinction of Species
Author: Jmaria
Rating: FR-18
Disclaimer: Joss owns his people, Lora Leigh owns the Breeds (Kripke owns the Winchesters)
Summary: While the Watchers Council created Slayers out of necessity, the Genetics Council created the Breeds out of greed. When the New Council learns what happened, what will they do to help the Breeds survive?
Spoilers: General series through Bengals Heart, and the anthology Hot for the Holidays. Series for Buffy.
A/N: Oh my god, the angst in my head over this story. Also, I'm working on a few manips of who's who - and figuring out who the genetic donors are for the two males (Blay and Remi). As it stands right now Jocasta (Buffy & a Winchesters kid) is being portrayed by Mika Boorem, Melina by Clara Barret (the girl who played Molly in season seven), Jamie by K.D. Aubert (the second Nikki Wood), Kelsi by Bianca Lawson (Kendra), Ivan by Eric Balfour (Jesse), Lucian by Bailey Chase (Graham), Maxi by Michelle Morgan (Faith & a Winchesters kid), and you can guess who Sampson's donor is.

Distinction of Species

Every Hit We Take

Oz stared up at the cloudless blue morning, soaking up the sun. Ten years of synthesized sunlight didn't make up for the real thing. And he was avoiding his kids. They'd pestered him half the night trying to figure out where they came from. And he'd willingly told him all he knew or remembered about the people that they were made from. Jamie had slipped out at some point, and that made him nervous. As far as he knew, the rest of them had connections to this world - either from his group or from part of their wider net of connections. Jamie had no one - Nikki Wood's only child Robin had been killed three years ago.

Jamie had been acting off since they'd arrived at Sanctuary. She'd been acting like a girl with her first crush - and it was directed at him. Oz loved the younger Breed, but he loved her like a daughter. It was alarming. A shadow crossed over him, and Oz ticked one eye open to glance up at the pretty Breed Doctor Ely.

"You missed your appointment, Mr. Osborne," Ely crossed her arms under her chest, her light jacket ruffling in the breeze.

"Wasn't aware I had one, Doc," Oz closed his eye, hoping she'd get the hint that he wasn't going to move from the lounge chair.

"You do now," Ely snapped.

Oz's eyes popped open, his wolf catching the scent of her worry. Over the years, and with the continued druggings, he'd gotten to know the beast that lived in his skin. His senses had enhanced enough that he could scent nearly every emotion. He still wasn't sure if it was a side effect of the drugging and his lowered guard or something the Genetics Council had given to him. Ely's worry was enough that he was up and moving. Slow and painfully, but he was moving. She waited on him without making much noise, her hands clenching as if she wanted to physically move him faster but knew thar she couldn't. Once they reached her lab, he tensed - reacting to her tension.

"What I say here cannot leave this office. Do you understand me?" Ely said quietly.

"Why?"

"Because if it does, you not only endanger me, you endanger the entire Breed species. Including the ten Breeds you brought out of Asia," Ely's jaw tightened.

"Fine. You have my word," Oz said it without hesitation.

"You've heard about the mating heat?" Ely asked, relaxing a bit in her seat.

"Urban legend," Oz shook his head.

"Not so much," Ely waited for the look of disbelief to cross his face. "And one of your girls thinks she's going through it."

"Jamie," Oz hissed, running a hand through his hair. "Is she?"

"No," Ely licked her lips and took a deep breath. "But she's convinced herself she is. Which is why I want to run a few tests to see if her instincts are correct - or if it's just wishful thinking."

"What kind of tests?"

"I've got control samples of her bodily fluids, I'd like to combine samples of the male she believes to be her mate with them and see the reaction."

"What do you need me for?" Oz frowned.

"She thinks you're her mate."

"Dammit, Jamie," Oz dropped his head into his hands.

Ely bit her lip, not liking the instinct in her that made her want to go and comfort the man who was obviously hurting because of her revelation. It was bad enough the glands in her own mouth had been throbbing since the moment she'd scented him across the yard of the Ten's cabin. She should have let Jonas deal with this one.

"For her sake, I really hope she's wrong," Oz muttered under his breath. "No one deserves me for their mate."

Ely tightened her own jaw at the pained words coming from this man. She would not let his pain affect her, and she would pray that he was right. She was fairly sure he wasn't Jamie's mate - but she was just as sure he might be her own. And no one deserved a broken Breed as their mate, not even a broken werewolf.

"I don't fuckin' care, you get that scrawny ass down here or I'm sending Connor after you," Faith snapped her phone shut and stormed out of her office. God, she loved irritating him.

"You get a hold of the Winchesters?" Xander grinned up at her from where he was sitting with Letty and Dawn - who flinched at the mention of the Hunters.

"Yeah, I got a hold of those sons of -" Faith's eyes ticked down to her daughter. "Guns. They're in Reno working a case, but they'll be here as soon as they can."

"You talked to the older one?" Dawn looked away from her as she said it, but Faith could see her breath hitch a bit.

"Who else would I spar with?" Faith smirked. She turned to Xander. "When's Jonas letting us into the Magical Kingdom?"

"Buffy said we're all cleared to go back day after tomorrow," Xander pointed to the coloring book. "You missed a spot."

"I see it, Uncle Xan," Letty rolled her eyes. "I need the purple crayon Aunt Dawn has."

"Oh, sorry, kiddo," Dawn let up her death grip on the crayon.

"They're driving, so they'll be a few days behind," Faith shook her head.

"Did you tell them over the phone?" Dawn frowned.

"Yeah, dropping a bomb about their DNA being hijacked to make Breed babies isn't something you do over the phone, D," Faith shook her head.

"I can't believe the old Council did this," Dawn sounded disgusted.

"Those kids were way messed up," Faith edited what she was going to say. Letty had a good memory where cuss words were concerned.

"Momma?"

"Yeah, babe?"

"They're our babies now, aren't they Momma?" Letty asked, turning around to face her. Her dark eyes were wide with the possibilities of kids her age who weren't Slayer legacies.

"They're not babies, Letty-sweet," Faith crouched down beside her little girl. "We told you that, remember?"

"I know. But they're still ours, right?"

"In a way," Xander said quietly.

"Then everything's gonna be golden," Letty shrugged.

"What makes you say that, brat?" Dawn smiled at her.

"We take care of our own, and when people hurt 'em, we hurt 'em back," Letty shrugged.

Oz felt like his skin was crawling, and he wasn't sure why. Okay, that was bullshit. He did know why. The Scooby Gang was arriving in ten minutes, and the Ten were freaking out - except Jamie, who'd been in a funk for a few days. He knew why, but she'd been testy with everyone else - including Melina who never wanted anything but to be loved. As the youngest, she normally got it. They protected the youngest as best as they could - as they always had.

He'd wondered why that was. He knew the Trainers and the Doctors had too. The reason their lab had been mixed Breeds was because they'd had issues with labs that were species specific. The Felines had been the first to escape. They'd lost whole Wolf and Coyote labs over the years. They'd thought by creating rifts in the Breeds at a young age based on species would keep that down. But the older Breeds had protected the young - it was the same in any pack or pride found in the wild. Why wouldn't it hold true for Breeds?

Oz knew Jamie was hurting that the tests were telling her she wasn't his mate. He was glad with the results, but part of him hurt to think of her hurting. She'd gotten them out of the labs because his life was on the line.

A knock on the cabin door jarred him out of his thoughts. Luc was the first up, prodded on by a look from Jo, no doubt. He was the biggest of them all, Remi and Ivan just a few inches shorter each. Luc would be damned intimidating to anyone, except of course for the petite blonde and brunette who strode into the room like they owned it.

Oz smiled as Faith caught sight of him.

"Look at you, Wolfboy," Faith grinned, the same grin he remembered from before she went crazy and darkside on them years ago. She strode over to him, ignoring the stiffening spines of the Breeds around her as she wrapped her arms around him. "We'll be hunting those bastards down and I'll be using my knives."

"You still five by five, Faith?" Oz asked as she quickly stepped back.

"Most days, you?"

"I'm not humping anyone's leg or getting bite happy," he shrugged.

"'Atta boy," She glanced around the room. "These your kids?"

"Yeah."

Jocasta was the first one at his side, Maxi flanking his other side as the rest of the Scoobies piled in. Xander, Buffy, Willow and a brunette he didn't recognize. He was shocked when she squealed and ran over to hug him.

"Oz, we're so glad youre alive!"

"Uh, who are you?"

She jerked back from him, her eyes huge and scared. She threw a look back at Buffy, who only frowned at him.

"You don't recognize Buffy's little sister Dawn?" Faith frowned.

"Buffy didn't have a sister," Oz narrowed his eyes.

"Who the hell is she?" Sampson demanded, pushing past them all and crowding Dawn, who stumbled backwards, her eyes going wider.

"Sam?" she whispered.

"How about we all take five real deep breaths five steps back," Xander cleared his throat, gently pulling Dawn away from Sampson. "Why don't you go wait outside with Gray and Letty?"

"But -" Dawn shook her head and mutely retreated.

Willow, who'd been looking so pained the minute she'd laid eyes on him - was the first to speak in the thick silence of the room after Dawn's departure.

"Dawn came to us after you left Sunnydale," Willow's eyes shifted a bit to the side, indicating the lie in her words. "We forgot that you two never really met."

"She is my sister, Oz," Buffy backed up the witch's words.

"How'd she know my name?" Sampson demanded.

"That's easy, kid," Faith answered, her eyes flicking between him and Maxi. "You're a dead ringer for your donor. It just figures that you'd share his name just like Nikki's girl took her name, and my girl chose my middle name."

Quentin was staring out at the group of six year olds. They'd finally perfected the Breeding process - a lot of crucial information had been lost in the twenty years of their initial escape and come-out. Things had been lost when they had lost the first Lion Breed - Leo - and more had been lost with Callan Lyons' escape.

This new batch - and those that had been made to create better soldiers with rarer species - was leading them closer to the hive mentality they needed to quell all of the rebellions.

Of course, this batch was better because of the Key's involvement. Summers' and Giles' were complete idiots if they thought he hadn't realized the sister was the Key. And they were even more stupid if they didn't think he had found a way to make that work for him.

He was a survivor, after all. And he'd only become a survivor by using whatever slight leverage he had in his possession.

Graham held Faith's daughter in his arms when Dawn stormed past him, not even making eye contact with him and ignoring Letty's call to her. The eight year old huffed in indignation as she was ignored by her favorite Aunt.

"Shh, Let," Graham soothed her down with a quick grin.

"Aunt Dawnie never ignores me," Letty pouted.

"Something must have happened in there to get her all riled up," Graham said without thinking.

"I'll cut 'em if they hurt my Aunt Dawnie," Letty wiggled free of his grasp and raced to the door before he could react.

She jerked it open and slipped through her aunts' and uncle before coming to stand in front of a pretty girl who looked a little bit like her Momma. Hands on her hips, and a glare that she'd perfected in her mirror every night, she stared down at the girl.

"What did you do to my Aunt?"

The Breed girl frowned down on her, and Letty just jerked her chin up in defiance. She kept eye contact even when her mother dragged her back.

"Reign it in, killer," Faith muttered quietly to her.

"They made Aunt Dawnie ignore me! Cute loveable me," Letty huffed.

"You do realize the kid's a Breed, right?" the dark-haired Breed crossed her own arms.

"What?"