I apologize for the delay. I have been doing significant overtime at work and my time for writing has been circumscribed.

Also, I initially intended to have season 5 end with this chapter, but I've reached the point in the story where it would have made this chapter too bloated. Apologies.

Triangle:

Does not happen. Miss Summers still grieves the end of her relationship with Mr. Finn, but as it was significantly less traumatic than in the original timeline, she is not as devastated. Mr. Giles has been to England to Watcher's Council headquarters and has returned; he and Ms. Calendar went over the Christmas holiday as a combination working vacation/anniversary vacation. The higher-ups at the Watchers' council were most put out to have her make suggestions on how they could automate the place.

The Council is not let in on who or what the Key is.

He came back with the news about Glorificus not learned in the original timeline until Checkpoint: That she is, in fact, a goddess. He also says that the Council "insists" on sending the other active Slayer here to assist in the battle. Privately, he suspects that there are other reasons as well.

This is not the replacement for Faith; that Slayer was killed a few months back by a chaos demon in South America. This will be the new Slayer

Mr. Snyder, incidentally, was fired over this break as well; not by Ms. Calendar, but by the new mayor herself, who had already discovered plenty of evidence implicating him in supernatural corruption but had just now been able to put together enough of a case to get him fired without having to resort to that.

He does not bother fighting his dismissal, knowing that, in a sense, he was fortunate to keep his job as long as he did.'

["Are we going to see him again?"

"All in due time, Miss Mars."

I'd say, what's to worry, it's Snyder, but I know the rule: As soon as you say "what could possibly go wrong," something goes wrong. It's one of the few immutable rules of fiction.]

Checkpoint:

Does not happen, for the most part. Glorificus' actions (up to and including entering Miss Summers' home to threaten her), Summers' and the professor's argument (though she gives, in this case, as good as she gets), and the attack by the Knights of Byzantium do occur, however.

The discussion with Glorificus goes a bit differently; to Glorificus' question whether the younger Miss Summers knows anything about the Key, the young woman rolls her eyes and says, "Yeah, right. Like she'd tell me anything."

Miss Summers then attempts to send her mother and her sister to Los Angeles, but settles for sending them to visit Mrs. Echolls, and while her security might not be capable of holding off a hellgod, she at least does not live in a place most people would think to look.

[I'm standing just outside the Echolls house and I'd almost completely forgotten that the Echolls and the Kanes were still part of this timeline. This isn't my story, as I said. Still, I wondered how Duncan was doing – how Backup was doing. I didn't give a shit, of course, about Jake, Celeste, or Clarence Weidman, and I was pretty much actively wishing for something bad to happen to Don Lamb.

I am not a particularly forgiving woman.]

Then Miss Rosenberg and Miss MacLay draw their magical protection circles around the Summers home and Sunnydale High. This takes them quite a while.

While this is going on, we meet the new Slayer and her Watcher for the first time.

Actually, Miss Summers and her friends meet them for the first time. You, Miss Mars, however . . .

["Let me guess," I said. "Wesley Wyndham-Price and Kennedy."

He smiled. "You are exactly half right."]

Miss Summers, Miss Chase, Mr. Harris, Ms. Calendar and Mr. Giles are in the library. Mr. Giles is going over the details of what they learned about Glorificus – earlier, he had given them all a summary only, but given her recent actions everyone felt it was time to go into as much depth as possible – when there's a polite throat-clearing.

"Mr. Giles?" the man said. "I'm Wesley Wyndham-Price. You were told we'd be coming?"

The young woman next to him rushes forward. "This is so cool. This is so freaking cool, you have no idea. I've wanted to meet you for, well, ever since I became a Slayer." She reaches out and shakes Miss Summers' hand.

"And this is my Slayer," he says, a touch aggrievedly. "Violet."

"Call me Vi," she says chipperly.

Blood Ties:

A significant portion takes place, though much of it, such as Mr. Giles briefing everyone on the Watchers' Council's findings on Glorificus, and Miss MacLay and Miss Rosenberg protecting the "Scooby Gang"'s headquarters, has happened prior to when it did in the original timeline.

As Miss Summers did not come to a conclusion about who had power and who did not, Mrs. and the younger Miss Summers are still staying at the Echolls estate. Lynn Echolls is happy to have them there, and even to hosting Miss Summers' birthday party. You, Miss Kelly, and Mr. Echolls are also in attendance, as is Vi.

The younger Slayer – a month or so past her fifteenth birthday – is thrilled beyond the telling to just be breathing the same air as Buffy Summers, leading Miss Summers to wonder exactly what she was told about her. "I've done some good, yeah – okay, a lot of good. But I'm hardly superwoman."

"I'll tell you as much as you want to know about the bad side of Buffy Summers," Miss Chase tells her. "By the time I'm done, you'll hate her as much as I do."

Mr. Wyndham-Price, we discover, has learned in the course of mentoring an active Slayer, particularly one as chipper and upbeat as Vi, that "the book" is a good place to start, but not necessarily a good place to stay. He is still somewhat stuffy and priggish, but not nearly so as he was when Faith and Miss Summers met him for the first time.

He also has a definite fondness for Vi.

As the younger Miss Summers has been included in many of the discussions about her nature, and about Glorificus, she has no need to sneak out to find things out. She does not much care for this newcomer her sister seems to be spending so much time with, however, and eventually sneaks out and makes her way to the hospital.

The remainder of the episode is similar to the original timeline, except that Vi joins the battle – and for all of her enthusiasm and energy, is far too canny to simply rush Glorificus, instead standing back and throwing things at her until Miss MacLay and Miss Rosenberg can perform their teleportation spell.

At the end, Mr. Giles and Miss Summers inform Vi and Mr. Wyndham-Price of what they know about Glorificus, and of the "Key" she is trying to find. They do not, however, tell them who the Key is; they only know that it is somewhere in Sunnydale.

Crush:

Does not happen in any form.

I Was Made to Love You:

Happens with some minor differences.

Before the events of the episode, the Misses Summers have a talk, subject: Vi, the upshot of which is Miss Summers reassuring her younger sister that whether created or born, she is her sister and will protect her with her life.

"If it comes to that, can I have your room?" the younger woman asks, but immediately apologizes and says she has "been hanging around Xander too long."

"There are worse crimes," Miss Summers says.

In the meantime, Miss Summers and Vi have been sparring and patrolling, with and without their respective Watchers, and they are indeed getting along quite well. For all of Vi's chipper perkiness, she is completely serious about her duty. "Though I'm going to be like you, Buffy," she says. "I'm not going to give up living my life because of this."

"Good attitude," Miss Summers says. "'cause dying? Not the party you might have heard."

"Oh, don't worry," Vi says. "I plan on being around for a while."

["Oh, God."

"Yes, Miss Mars?" The Adversary asked.

"That's ironic dramatic foreshadowing if I ever heard it."

"Not everything has a dramatic echo."

"I'll believe it when I see it. Or when I don't see it."]

Miss MacLay is with Miss Chase when they meet April.

April later shows up at the party – Miss Chase is present and recognizes her, but there is no Spike to provoke her, so she simply continues to ask people where Warren is. After a few minutes Miss Chase goes over to Miss Summers and says, "I hate to break up you and whoever this is -"

"Ben," he said. "I'm an intern at Sunnydale General."

Miss Chase says, "A doctor? Moving up in the world from Army brats and the terminally pale, I see. Though still older guys. You really need to work on that. Anyway, I have some Sunnydale business to discuss with you." She raises her eyebrows meaningfully, and then when they are alone, she explains the odd feeling she receives from April.

Miss Summers trusts Miss Chase's judgment and follows April; after a few minutes and three more people approached. April notices her, a brief fight ensues, and Miss Summers is thrown into a wall; by the time she gets up, April has lost herself in a crowd.

Most of the remainder of the episode takes place as in the original timeline, except that Miss Summers enlists Vi's assistance and therefore the final battle ends sooner, and Mr. Mears leaves Sunnydale to return to college and pursue and attempt to apologize to Katrina.

Shortly thereafter Miss Summers and Vi enter Mr. Giles' house; as Mr. Wyndham-Price awkwardly leads Vi away for "training," Mr. Giles informs her that he just received a frantic call from Mrs. Echolls . . .

The Body:

Despite the change to the place of death and the discoverer of the body, there are no major differences. Quibbling over these details would be crass, and nothing of plot-shaking importance occurs.

Forever:

Happens with noteworthy changes. Though Mrs. Echolls extends her offer to stay, the younger Miss Summers decides she would rather be with family at the moment and moves back home.

Vi and Mr. Wyndham-Price agree to handle the regular business of patrolling the town for vampires.

You, Mr. Echolls, Miss Kelly, Mr. Osbourne and your father come to town for the funeral. Angel again shows up at sunset; so, shortly thereafter, does Riley Finn. The two of them nod as if to say that any issues they might have are being set aside for the moment, and Miss Summers and the two of them sit there and talk for quite a while.

The younger Miss Summers attempts to enlist first Miss MacLay and Miss Rosenberg, and then Miss Kelly (all of you are staying at Mrs. Echolls' house, at her insistence), but they all tell her the same thing, encapsulated in Miss Kelly's response: "'re kidding, right? I know your mom was one of the good ones, but this? ''mnot that crazy or that stupid. Bad idea. You won't get a person back. You'll get a zombie."

"Really?"

"Really," Miss Kelly says. "Wouldn't lie to you about this."

And the younger woman decides, at this point, to give up, and begins to cry, at which point Miss Kelly passes her off to your father.

Eventually both Misses Summers return to their home on Revello Drive; Miss Chase and Mr. Harris absent themselves from the area, and the two sisters sit down for a long talk.

Intervention:

Does not happen, for the most part; there is no "vision quest" and no robot. Glorificus, however, is still intent on finding one of the Slayer's friends and finding out where her Key is, and the minions focus on –

Wesley Wyndham-Price, due to one of the minions mishearing a critical piece of information. It is clear that they suspect the key to be "the young woman with you who has been spending so much time with the Slayer-" in other words, Vi.

Mr. Wyndham-Price is not his tough-as-nails incarnation from late-season Angel, but neither is he the stuffed-shirt barely effectual prig from the third season of Buffy. While he is not as inventive as Spike would have been under similar circumstances, he repeatedly tells her, "All I know about the Key is that you are looking for it and you think it's around here" until he passes out from the pain.

At this point, the hellgoddess decides that Mr. Wyndham-Price genuinely does not know more than this and decides to get rid of him. First she feeds – and then she tells the minions to find some "nice vampires" and give them the body to feed on.

As the minions are leaving, they run into Miss Summers, Vi, and a raiding party. Seeing Mr. Wyndham-Price in his current state, Vi angrily begins to disembowel minions left and right, while Miss Rosenberg and Miss MacLay keep the elevator open and Miss Summers and Mr. Giles get what happened out of a couple of them before Vi can slaughter them all.

Then, despite Vi's desire to immediately attack Glorificus, they retreat and regroup, and at the meeting that evening – having gotten some medicine for Mr. Wyndham-Price at the hospital – Miss Summers comes to a conclusion.

"She's going to attack everyone, here, until she gets what she wants. I trust all of you not to tell. But I can't have your lives at risk. Any of your lives. So here's what we're going to do. Anyone who's a noncombatant leaves town."

"That's pretty much just me and Dawn," Miss Chase says.

Miss Summers sighs. "Wrong. It's you, and Dawn, and Tara, and Wesley, and Xander -"

"Hey!" Mr. Harris says, while Miss MacLay nods in agreement.

"Let me finish. I was going to say, "And Xander, I'm going to put you in charge of keeping everyone safe -"

"Well, all right then," Mr. Harris says.

"Again, let me finish. Safe, until you make it to Angel."

"Oh."

"It's important," Miss Summers says. "I'm relying on you to keep Dawn safe."

"Do I get to say anything about this?" The younger Miss Summers says.

"Is that something, 'Yes, wonderful sister, I'll agree to do what you say because you're trying to keep me alive?"

"Not even close."

"Then, no. Xander, Tara: You have the available cars. Convoy it. Get packed and get back here in two hours."

After everyone but Vi, Mr. Giles, the Misses Summers and Ms. Calendar leave, Mr. Giles says, "While I approve of your motive, I wonder how we are to successfully fight Glorificus with our numbers significantly reduced."

"They won't be," Miss Summers says, "After I make a few calls."

Tough Love:

Does not happen as scripted, with the exception of Miss Summers being forced to drop out of college.

Mr. Harris, the younger Miss Summers, Ms. MacLay, Miss Chase and Mr. Wyndham-Price leave, though the younger Miss Summers is not particularly happy about it.

That leaves Mr. Giles, Ms. Calendar, Miss Rosenberg, Mr. Giles, and Vi. And Miss Summers herself. You and Mr. Echolls have been notified of what is occurring, but advised that you are to get involved only if "all hell breaks loose."

"Sunnydale, still, right?" you say. "So I guess I'd better make plans to be there in about ten minutes."

"Ha ha," Miss Summers says, and hangs up.

Some of the minions notice the two-car convoy leaving the area, but, as Miss Summers and Vi are watching, none of them make it back alive.

The Knights of Byzantium also notice, and send some of their members to chase after the departing. Not nearly as many as in the original timeline, however.

["I believe an 'oh, shit,' is called for," I said.

"Noted, Miss Mars."]

In the meantime, Miss Summers and Mr. Giles have made some phone calls and are otherwise busy planning assaults and defenses. Miss Rosenberg has set up alarms around Miss Summers' House, Mr. Giles' house, Mrs. Echolls' house, and the school – alarms that are to serve more to track Glorificus and mislead her than they are to protect the Slayer and her friends, for reasons you will soon see.

While Miss Summers and her friends are waiting for their reinforcements to arrive, Mr. Harris and his convoy are set upon by a Knights of Byzantium ambush when approaching Costa Mesa. They call Angel – and you are aware how badly things must be going if Mr. Harris voluntarily suggests phoning him – Miss Summers, and you, Miss Mars.

["What do they think I'm going to be able to do against men on horseback?" I asked.

"You have a taser by now," was his response.

"Oh, good. That's one one thousandth of a percent better,"

"Every infinitesimal bit helps, Miss Mars."]

They manage to escape by pulling into the parking lot of John Wayne Airport. The Knights have no desire for a public siege and break away when things get too public. There are scattered reports of men on horseback but nothing that reaches the local authorities.

The situation ends before Miss Summers can leave Sunnydale; Mr. Gunn and Mr. Doyle come down from Los Angeles to escort everyone to the Hyperion hotel. Everyone includes you and Mr. Echolls, Miss Mars, to your father's annoyance.

Back in Sunnydale, Miss Summers and her friends have gone to ground, taking whatever magical accoutrements they could find and retreating to the site of the former Initiative – not actually filled in with concrete – and leaving Ms. Mistwood as their eyes and ears, while they await their reinforcements and plan how they're going to take down a Hellgod.

Glorificus, frustrated at not being able to find hide nor hair of the Slayer or any of her friends, slaughters a minion or two before one of them brings in a Knight of Byzantium.

"So," the hellgod says, "Either you tell me what I want to know, or – well, actually, I'm going to kill you anyway; no point in lying to you. But how much it'll hurt, well, that's entirely up to you."

The Knight of Byzantium defies her, and Glorificus grins. "I was hoping you'd do something like that," she says.

The planning is still in its earlier stages when there is a knock at the hidden entrance to the Slayers' hideaway. After receiving a nod from Miss Rosenberg, Miss Summers opens it and finds –

her reinforcements. Riley Finn, complete with a handful of other former Initiative members, including Forrest Gates and Graham Miller.

And standing behind them, Daniel Osbourne.

In the meantime, Mr. Harris comes down the stairway at the Hyperion. "The Knights have caught up to us again," he says. "And this time they've come in force."

Angel says, "I know."

"You know?" Mr. Harris says. "Then why aren't you doing anything about it?"

"We're waiting for one thing," the vampire says.

"Yeah? What's that?"

"Sunset."