Chuck began his background searches the moment he got into Castle. Although their actions had seemed peaceful, anyone with that many blacked-out files was worrisome; it didn't help one of them was codenamed, The Slayer. Unwilling to distract him, Sarah walked into an adjacent room before making the call to Casey and informing him of the situation. By the time Sarah returned, Chuck had already pulled up preliminary backgrounds for all three. Looking over the dossiers on the screen Chuck felt his worries continue to mount.

"What do we know?" Sarah asked, interrupting his thoughts.

Displaying each dossier as he spoke, Chuck recited, "Buffy Summers 27, Dawn Summers 22, and Alexander Harris 27. None of them has a criminal record or any run-ins at all with the police. On the surface, they appear perfectly clean."

"Too clean?" Sarah asked knowingly.

"Exactly," Chuck nodded in response, "The problem is they all seem to have spent time in Sunnydale, up until the fall."

Sarah's considered it for a moment, "The Sunnydale Sinkhole was a counterfeiter's dream come true."

Chuck nodded, "Too many records were lost, and it gave a lot of people a lot of leeway."

"How many agents have we come across using false Sunnydale ID?"

Chuck sighed, "Too many."

"There's a reason the CIA doesn't use Sunnydale as cover anymore. Anything else?"

"You mean beyond the many blacked-out and redacted files in my head?" Chuck asked.

Sarah simply raised an eyebrow at Chuck's self-depreciating tone.

Chuck smiled, "Actually, I found something interesting. All 3 of them work for a group known as the IWC. I haven't managed to get that far into their network, but I have found some background on the IWC."

"Really?" Sarah asked, smiling at Chuck's obvious enthusiasm.

"They have no background!" Chuck exclaimed, "It's almost like there's an informational dead zone around anything involving the IWC, except their own servers and website."

"That shouldn't be possible," Sarah replied, considering the problem.

"It's amazing, they're hiding in plain sight, but not," Chuck's mind was in overdrive.

"Amazing or not, they are a potential threat we know nothing about," Sarah chastised, barely suppressing her smile, "We need more intel before we do anything."

Chuck frowned, "But Buffy will be coming back tomorrow to pick up her phone."

"We're conferencing with Beckman when Casey comes back," Sarah said.

"Where was he, by the way?"

"He said it was personal."

Chuck rolled his eyes, "I know what that means."

Sarah smiled again, "I'm sure you do."

Chuck continued to fiddle with the computer, no longer devoted to the task. Distracted by thoughts of Casey and his personal business Chuck was about to ask Sarah another question when Casey conveniently walked into Castle. Like a preconceived plot device.

Casey immediately asked, "What's the situation?"

"I flashed, on some people in the Buy-More earlier today." Chuck explained.

"You think possible agents visited the Buy-More earlier?" Casey asked.

Despite the seriousness of the issue, Chuck decided to satisfy his curiosity first and side-stepped the question.

"What were you doing earlier?"

Casey grunted, "It's personal."

"You shouldn't keep secrets from the team," Chuck gestured to himself and Sarah. Sarah wore an exasperated smile.

"Can it Bartowski. Focus on the mission. Buy-More. Agents. Now." Casey punctuated each word with pause.

"Just a little hint?"

"Drop it before I drop you."

Feeling slightly intimidated, Chuck began his explanation of the afternoon's events.

With the Buy-More well behind them, Buffy, Dawn and Xander decidedly avoided shop-talk by recollecting memories of the good o'le days. Ironically, the good o'le days were full of supernatural events. Interrupting Xander mid-speech, the Scooby-Doo theme song rang out. Grinning at each other, Dawn and Buffy watched as Xander sheepishly closed his mouth and answered his phone.

"Yello," Xander greeted, before exclaiming, "Hey!"

Buffy figured it had likely been Willow, considering Xander's chosen ring tone. She felt her previous happiness ebb as Xander's phone call continued. Watching his response, Buffy began to prepare for the worst. Dawn cottoning on only moments later, took on a somber appearance.

"I got. Alright. Thanks. Love you too," Xander finished the call, a grim demeanour taking over.

"Willow?" Buffy asked.

Xander nodded, "Yeah."

Dawn sighed with Xander's nod, "Another apocalypse?"

The blase of Dawn's question made Xander laugh a little. Buffy unaware as to the situation, did not find it as funny.

"No not quite," Xander began.

"Well what's the sitch?" Buffy demanded, cutting off Xander before he could explain.

"Well, if I could explain," Xander began again.

"You can."

"I will."

"So do it."

"I'm doing it."

Buffy noticed Dawn smothering a laugh and glared at her. After a moment's notice Dawn shrugged her shoulders.

"Well, it's obviously not that bad," Dawn explained, "Or Xander would be running around screaming 'The sky is falling! The sky is falling!'"

"Hey! I would totally not be doing a Chicken Little impersonation!," Xander exclaimed, "I'd just get all Nick Fury and make with 'assemble the Avengers!"

"Of course you would-" Dawn began.

Buffy interrupted, "Xander what's going on. Now."

Xander's brief levity disappeared, "Our files just got pinged."

"Pinged?" Dawn asked.

"Well not actually pinged, in the navy sense," Xander explained, "But someone was doing some digging on us."

Slightly relieved, Buffy asked, "Do we know who?"

"That's the thing it took Willow a bit of work to figure it out. And she wasn't happy when she followed the trial.."

Dawn asked anxiously, "Who pinged us?"

"From what Willow tells me, a joint NSA/CIA project."

Dawn gasped. Buffy mentally concurred. After discovering the NSA's involvement in the Initiative, the IWC took extra care to avoid becoming blips on the NSA's radar.

Buffy frowned, "Don't they have completely different jurisdictions? Riley mentioned something a while back..."

Xander nodded, "That's part of the reason Willow thought a call would be important. They don't normally get along, never mind work together. At all. Except this project."

"And they've started looking into our pasts," Buffy finished grimly.

"They're not going to find anything," Dawn reminded them, "Willow completely wiped our records clean."

Xander grimaced, "That's part of the problem. I've argued with Willow about it a few times, but she's set on us getting a 'clean slate'. Problem is, we're so clean it looks wrong."

"Make with the splainey," Buffy requested.

Rubbing his hand on the back of his neck, Xander explained, "Look our records look great and all for everyday stuff. But if someone is looking into us because they think they know something? Our records are just going to make them look harder."

"Too much of a good thing?" Buffy suggested.

"Pretty much," Xander sighed, "Every time I bring it up, Willow argues the necessity of appearing like every day peaceable citizens. I just can't win."

Dawn raised an eyebrow knowingly, "Resolve face?"

Xander agreed, "Resolve face. The problem is I also kinda see where she's coming from. For any small stuff with the cops, a previous record would increase the hassle. But big investigations, with smart people? They're going to be all over us if we're not careful."

Thinking, Buffy asked out loud, "Why now?"

"About that," Xander began, "Willow traced the location of the NSA/CIA join project."

"Where is it?" Dawn asked.

Xander indicated over his shoulder, "Below the Buy-More."

Buffy gave him a startled look, "Chuck?"

"Not for sure," Xander began, before concluding, "But he's likely involved somehow"

"He didn't seem like he'd be much of a spy," Dawn said.

"Maybe, maybe not," Buffy stated, before cocking her head to the side, "But his girlfriend? I'd believe it."

"I'm not sure if Chuck is a spy, but I'm willing to bet he's involved because of Sarah," Xander offered his own opinion.

"So is Chuck a spy or isn't he a spy?" Dawn demanded incredulously.

"He is." "He isn't." Buffy and Xander looked at each other before correcting themselves.

"He isn't." "He is" Another shared look.

"No idea." "No clue."

"Great help you two are," Dawn joked, before frowning, "What about Chuck's friend. The bearded guy... Morgan?"

Without missing a beat, Buffy and Xander answered simultaneously, "No."

"Or at the very least he isn't a spy," Xander amended, "He may know something about the operation, based on his reaction today."

"He could be a great actor," Dawn pointed out.

Buffy decided to offer her own explanation, "I didn't feel anything extra or hidden about him. Except when he was lying terribly. Sarah and Chuck? Definitely."

"Slayer-senses?" Dawn asked sceptically.

Buffy shook her head, "More like slayer experience."

Dawn couldn't help but smile, "So this is something unique to only the grandma slayer?"

"Who's the grandma slayer? Wait... Hey! I'm not that old," exclaimed Buffy, clearly agitated at the thought of being grandma.

"Relax Buffy, it's just a joke," Xander consoled.

"Just a joke?" Buffy spoke upset, "My sister thinks I'm old enough to be a grandma!"

"Actually Buffy," Dawn corrected, "Some of the slayerettes came up with the term."

Wailing softly, Buffy pouted before pulling Xander into a bone-crushing hug, "I'm only 27!"

"I know, Buff, I know," Xander consoled, trying to worm his hands into a comforting pat. Unfortunately, his arms were pinioned to his side and unable to complete the motion.

Silently laughing at Xander's predicament, Dawn was obviously tempted to let the moment last. However, Buffy was glad Dawn's pragmatic side took over as Dawn returned their focus on the larger issues on hand.

"Did Willow manage to get us any info about the project itself?" Dawn asked.

Buffy released Xander, allowing him to shake his head freely, "She's worried about setting off any alarms. For now we got a location and she said with time she would be able to get us more. She also suggested we do some digging of our own."

Receiving Xander's look, Buffy nodded, "We need to find out more about this joint project. About Chuck, Sarah, and Morgan."

Looking slightly despondent, Xander asked, "Research time?"

Dawn grinned, while Buffy frowned, "Research time."

AN: Reviews and feedback are what motivate me to keep posting! Let me know what you think.