Chapter 21: Confrontation

Buffy and Dawn left Stonehaven after everyone had gone to bed. They dressed in the dark and teleported away to find Olson. After repeatedly teleporting they began to realize how big a task finding Olson was. There were only two subdivisions, but each contained a dozen or more streets with at least a hundred homes. They only had several hours before dawn. After two hours, they finished both subdivisions. No sign of Olson.

They were teleporting through the second subdivision one last time when they saw a lone car in the parking lot of a convenience store, now conveniently closed for the night. They teleported as close as they could without revealing they were there. Then Buffy looked at the car with her werewolf enhanced Slayer vision and saw a rental sticker on the car's rear bumper. They walked toward the car knowing it was very likely Olson's. They didn't even make it halfway to the convenience store when Dawn caught the scent of an unfamiliar werewolf.

Dawn looked to Buffy and tapped the side of her nose. Buffy nodded as she sniffed and caught the scent. They jogged around the corner and stopped short. A heavyset, middle-aged man in a windbreaker walked along the sidewalk, less than twenty feet from the corner. Fortunately, Olson had his back to them. He was heading toward his car. They watched as he got in and drove past them. Dawn grabbed Buffy's hand and teleported them onto a neighboring roof. They could follow now without being seen in his rearview mirror.

He drove out of Bear Valley as they teleported after him trying to keep to the trees and out of sight of Olson as he lead them right to the others. They'd been heading northwest for almost twenty minutes when Olson turned into an overgrown drive carved into deep forest. He stopped the car past the edge of the woods. They stayed well back, when Olson didn't get out of his car. Ten minutes passed.

Buffy and Dawn crept to the end of the drive. The forest was black. Buffy was thankful that the werewolf had improved her Slayer eyesight for she saw no sign of a house that the driveway where Olson parked was only a turnaround or a one-car parking spot for a nature trail beyond.

Buffy made motion for Dawn to stay put. She moved into the woods and snuck closer to the car. When she was parallel to the driver's side, she stopped and looked at Olson. His head was resting against the headrest. His eyes were closed. Asleep. Buffy realized that Victor Olson wasn't leading them back to Clay.

A plan formed in Buffy's head, a plan she would not have even considered if Olson had still been human. But luckily for her he no longer was. She crept to the side of the car, then pulled her fist back and smashed the driver's side window. Even as Olson was bolting awake, Buffy was reaching through the window. She jerked the seat belt. It slid through her fingers as it tightened around him. He snapped his head back, away from her hand, but she was already reaching past him. Leaning into the car, she grabbed the seat belt buckle, twisting the metal and breaking the plastic, jamming the buckle closed. Then she pulled her head out of the car.

Olson whipped his head around, following Buffy's hand as it moved past him. He looked up at her. For a moment, he just stared, fixing her with the wide eyes of a coward bracing for the first blow. Even as she stepped away, he flinched. When he realized Buffy was backing off, his brow furrowed, then his eyes lit up with a flash of malevolent cunning and he started to smile. Keeping his eyes on her, he lowered his right hand to the seat belt lock. He pushed the release button, but nothing happened. Realizing what she'd done, he grabbed the seat belt strap and yanked, but it was locked tight against his chest.

Olson struggled against the seat belt, but it held, the fabric made to withstand more punishment than even a werewolf could deal out. Buffy ignored him and focused all her energy into her left hand, thankful that Dawn had taught her this trick. It started to throb, then twist, the pain shooting up her arm. When her hand was half changed, she stopped. With her right hand, she reached into the car and grabbed Olson's right wrist. She slashed it with the claws on her left. He screamed, a high-pitched rabbity squeal. A red line opened on the underside of his wrist. Blood gushed. She grabbed his left hand and did the same. He screamed again and squirmed wildly. Blood sprayed the steering wheel and dashboard.

"Moving will only make it worse," Buffy said, keeping her voice calm and willing her hand back to normal. "If you want the bleeding to slow down, hold your hands up."

"Wh—wh—?"

Buffy smirked. "Why? Why am I doing this? Or why am I telling you how to slow it down? I shouldn't need to answer the first. Obviously you know who I am. That's answer enough. As for the second, I'm not trying to kill you. I just want information. If you give it to me, I'll undo the seat belt. You can bind your wrists and probably have time to get to the hospital. If you don't tell me what I want to know, you'll be killing yourself."

"Wh—" Olson gulped. "What do you wa—want to know?"

"Again, I shouldn't have to answer that," Buffy said. "But since you might be going into shock and not thinking too clearly, I'll humor you. Where's Clayton?"

Olson was in no shape to bargain or argue and he knew it. He told her everything and more, babbling madly as if every word he spoke would improve his chance of survival.

When he was done, Buffy left him sitting in his car. Olson's eyes went wide as he realized that she had lied. She was after all the Slayer and he was a werewolf out to kill humans, humans she was meant to protect.

Buffy walked toward Dawn who grabbed her hand and they disappeared in a flash of green.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Buffy and Dawn teleported to a gas station and called Stonehaven. The first two times, the machine picked up. On the third round, Nick answered. They gave him instructions, and then as he realized what was going on. They hung up as he started yelling.

Ten minutes later, Buffy was knocking on the front door of the mutts' hideaway. Several minutes passed without a response. Buffy knocked again. Finally the barest shimmer of light shone from between heavy front drapes. Footsteps sounded on a wooden plank floor.

Dawn looked down at the door handle and saw it was broken. She nudged her sister who nodded having noticed it also. Above it was a hole and fresh splinters where a dead bolt had been.

The door opened. They glanced up. It took a second to recognize the man standing there was Karl Marsten. He squinted and blinked at them, then swore under his breath and quickstepped out the door, closing it behind him.

"What the hell are you two doing here?" he said in a whispery growl.

Dawn looked around him at the closed door. "Afraid we'll wake up your wife?"

"My—?" He glanced over his shoulder at the door. "I'm sure this is a wonderful plan, but I really must advise against it. If you two go in there, you'll both leave in chains or a body bag. Neither would suit either of you."

"So you came out here to warn us?" Buffy asked as she looked over at her sister. "Wow, chivalry isn't dead after all."

Dawn rolled her eyes.

"You two know me better than that," Marsten said. "I see an opportunity, I take advantage of it."

"So you'll let us leave in return for …?" Dawn asked.

"What I came for." His eyes glittered. "Territory. Promise me that and I'll let you both go. I'll leave, too. One less 'mutt' for the Pack to worry about."

"To hell with the others?" Buffy asked.

"Daniel would do the same to me," Marsten said. "I didn't hear my name being bandied about in that deal he offered you two at the coffee shop."

Dawn shook her head. "It doesn't matter. We're not leaving."

Buffy reached around him for the door handle. Marsten grabbed her wrist, squeezing hard enough to bruise a normal werewolf. But a Slayer/werewolf hybrid? Big mistake on his part.

"Don't be stupid. You two are not getting him out that way," he said.

Buffy grabbed his wrist and he grimaced. He knew if Buffy wanted to she could shatter the bones in his wrist with little effort as he released her.

"What way?" Daniel said as he swung open the door. "What way, Karl?"

"Sleeping soundly enough, Danny-boy? Christ, the whole Pack could be howling on your doorstep before you woke up." Marsten threw Daniel a contemptuous look and moved aside as the sisters walked into the cabin. "It's an ambush, you moron. Dawn and Buffy wouldn't show up alone. Get your flunky out there searching the woods. Make himself useful for once."

"Olson's gone," Daniel said.

"Gone for good, I would assume," Marsten said. "How else did you think they found us? It's a great loss for the cause, though. One never knows when a kiddie raper would come in handy."

"He had other—" Daniel began, then snapped his mouth shut. "Thomas, outside. Look for the others."

The front door slammed behind LeBlanc.

"That's one loyal pup you've got there," Dawn said. "You know he tried to kill me at the airport. Before Buffy and I left for Toronto."

A moment of silence. Then Daniel laughed. "Nice try, Dawnie. Sowing dissension?"

"Doesn't seem like we need to," Buffy said. "And by the way. She's not lying. Because if he had succeeded you two would have found yourselves instantly dead the moment Marsten opened the door here."

"Now, now, Buffy," Marsten said. "As much as we all admire that tongue of yours, this is not the time to use it."

"Don't forget who's downstairs," Daniel said. "You two are in no position to defend him now."

"I'm not so sure of that," Dawn said. "But you know what, what the hey let's see how this plays out. It's not like you can keep us against our will. Right Danny-boy?"

Daniel glared at Dawn. While he would not say it out loud her little display at the donut shop had shown him that she was correct. This for them was all for show. They could take Clay and disappear before he, Marsten or LeBlanc knew what was happening.

LeBlanc came in after ten minutes, he hadn't found anyone. The others wouldn't have arrived yet, Buffy and Dawn were sure. "No one out there," he said, knocking dirt off his boots.

"Take the car," Daniel said. "Drive around and make sure. Look for a vehicle by the side of the road. They would have driven."

"Are you sure about that?" Dawn asked.

For a moment, LeBlanc didn't move for a moment. Then he grabbed a ring of keys and tramped out the door. This time he was gone at least twenty minutes, during which neither Daniel nor Marsten said a word. When LeBlanc finally returned, he was grinning.

"What?" Daniel said.

"Oh, you're gonna love this. The cavalry has been detained." LeBlanc turned his shark's grin at the sisters. "They're on Pinecrest, just off the highway, enjoying the hospitality of the local P.D. Cops nailed them. Don't know what for, but they're taking the car apart bolt by bolt. What do you think of that?"

"I think its bullshit," Dawn said.

His grin broadened. "Green Ford Explorer? Three guys? All dark-haired. Two over six foot, thin? Oldest shorter than me, quarterback shoulders? When I drove by, the young guy was trying to slip into the woods. Cops grabbed him and had him spread-eagled when I circled back."

"Bullshit," Dawn said as she like Buffy recognized the descriptions of Jeremy, Nick and Antonio.

LeBlanc laughed. "Not quite the same air of certainty that time."

"Enough," Marsten said. "They won't be detained forever." He moved to jerk Buffy's wrists behind her back and she let him and he clamped one hand around them. He looked at Dawn who put her own wrists behind her back. "Tommy, bring our other guest upstairs. Time to move."

LeBlanc turned to stare at him. "Move? This is what you guys wanted, isn't it? To take down this 'pack'? We've got three here. The last three are on the way. Three against three and we've already been forewarned. We have the upper hand."

"Bring Clayton upstairs," Daniel said.

"What the fuck?" LeBlanc looked from Marsten to Daniel. "This is it. Showdown at the OK Corral. Killing time. Don't tell me you guys don't have the balls—"

"We have more brains than balls," Marsten said. "That's why we're still alive. Now get Clayton. We have him and we have Dawn and Buffy. That guarantees you'll get your fight soon, with odds of our making, not theirs."

LeBlanc shot a glare of pure contempt at Marsten, marched into a side hall, and vanished.

Marsten swung Buffy around. Daniel sat on the arm of an overstuffed recliner that stank of mildew. Two figures emerged from another room. One stumbled forward and tripped.

A flash of gold curls glinted in the dim light.

"Clay!" Buffy and Dawn said. Buffy broke out of Marsten's grasp as she and Dawn both dove toward Clay. Marsten grabbed them and swung them backward.

Clay was forced down on his knees, hands bound behind him. He struggled to lift his head. He met the sisters' eyes. "No," he whispered, his voice paper-thin. "No." He made a move. Behind him, LeBlanc's foot came up and kicked him square in the back, sending him sprawling face first to the floor.

Buffy lunged at LeBlanc and Marsten yanked her back, nearly dislocating her shoulder. LeBlanc grabbed Clay by the handcuffs and dragged him to his feet.

"Leave him there," Marsten said. As LeBlanc sauntered by, Marsten whipped out his free hand and snagged something from LeBlanc's waist band. His gun. "Aren't you ever going to outgrow your security blanket?"

LeBlanc grabbed for the pistol. Marsten held it out of reach.

"A werewolf with a handgun?" Marsten said. "This is a sorry day. Brilliant idea, Daniel. Turn a bunch of human killers into werewolves. Now why didn't I think of that? Maybe because … it's stupid. You're never going to wean him off his weapons, Danny-boy."

As Marsten and Daniel discussed their next move, Dawn cast a surreptitious glance at her watch. "Five-fifty," Dawn mouthed at her sister who nodded. Buffy knew they were running out of time. If Jeremy had been delayed they might not make it in time. They couldn't wait any longer.

"We had a deal," Buffy said, turning to Daniel. "Dawn and I are here. Let him go."

No one answered. Marsten and Daniel stared at Buffy as if she'd lost her mind.

"Don't. You. Dare." Clay's whisper floated up from the floor. He raised his head enough to glare at the sisters.

Buffy turned back to Daniel. "You wanted us, you have us," she said. "You wanted Clay on his knees. You have that. Now live up to your end of the bargain. Let him go and Dawn and I'll go with you willingly. Right now." She looked at Marsten. "Make sure he leaves Clay here and you'll get your territory. When Jeremy shows up, Clay will tell him that we made the deal. He'll honor it."

More silence. Marsten and Daniel were thinking. Buffy was offering exactly what they wanted—territory for Marsten and the sisters willing selves for Daniel, sealing his revenge against Clay and the Pack.

"No deal," LeBlanc said as he stepped forward, hands in his pockets. "No deal."

Marsten gave a low chuckle. "Ah, the peasants revolt. I suppose—"

Before he could finish, LeBlanc's hand darted from his pocket. Silver winked in the lamplight. His hand shot in front of Daniel's throat and sliced his throat open in a slash of crimson. Daniel's hands flew to his neck. His eyes bugged disbelieving. The blood gushed over his fingers and streamed down his arms. His mouth opened. He blew a bubble of pink, like some macabre bubblegum, then slid to the floor.

As Daniel lay gasping and dying on the floor, LeBlanc stepped over him as if he were a fallen log. He held up the switchblade. It was almost clean, discolored only by specks of crimson.

"No deal," he said, advancing on Marsten.

Marsten snatched the gun from the table and pointed it at LeBlanc.

"Yes, I know. I said real werewolves don't use weapons. But you'll find I'm quite adaptable, particularly when it comes to saving my own hide." Marsten smiled. "Is this your 'showdown at the OK Corral'? Knife versus gun? Any bets on the outcome?"

LeBlanc jiggled the knife, as if contemplating throwing it. Then he stopped.

"Smart man," Marsten said. "What do you say we save ourselves some bloodshed and make a deal? I get Clayton. You get Dawn and Buffy. We go our separate ways from here."

When LeBlanc didn't respond, Marsten continued, "That's what you want, isn't it? That's why you killed Daniel, because Buffy humiliated you and you want revenge. You want revenge so much upon her that you want to make her watch as Dawn dies first? Am I right?"

From the look that flashed across LeBlanc's face, Dawn and Buffy knew he hadn't killed Daniel to get them. He hadn't killed him to get anything at all. LeBlanc had joined this battle because he liked to kill. Now as a cease-fire had been nearing, he'd turned on his comrades, not out of anger or greed, but simply because they were there, more lives to take before the fun came to an end. Now he was weighing his options. Should he take Buffy and Dawn and be satisfied? Or could he get Marsten and Clay in the bargain?

"You don't want them?" LeBlanc asked. "I thought all you guys wanted them."

"I've never been one for following the crowd," Marsten said. "While Dawn and Buffy certainly have their attractions, they wouldn't suit my lifestyle. I want territory. Clayton is the better bargaining chip. And I'm sure you'll have more fun with Buffy and Dawn."

"You son-of-a-bitch," Dawn snarled as she whipped around and aimed a fist at his stomach, but he twisted at the last moment as her knuckles only grazed his abs. His foot shot out and hooked hers, flipping her toward the floor.

Dawn's head struck the corner of an empty gun rack and she blacked out for a moment. When she came to, Marsten's gray eyes were boring into hers. Dawn blinked and tried to get up, but he held her down. He pushed her chin forward so she faced the wall.

"She's unconscious," he said, getting to his knees. "All the better. We're getting low on sedatives."

Buffy looked to her sister even from a couple feet away she could hear her sister's heartbeat. Hear Dawn's breathing. And they were not the sounds of someone unconscious. She glanced at Marsten and wondered what he was playing at?

Marsten stood as Buffy quickly moved beside Dawn; he didn't try and stop her.

"What are you doing?" LeBlanc asked sharply.

Marsten said as he started to untie Clay. "Taking my booty and getting the hell out of here, which is what I suggest you do as well. If Buffy and Dawn aren't enough of a reward, you're more than welcome to take any money you can find in Daniel's and Vic's belongings."

"Stop untying him," LeBlanc said.

Marsten sighed. "Don't tell me Daniel made you paranoid, too. Clayton is barely breathing. He wouldn't be a threat to a Chihuahua. I'm in a hurry. If he can walk, I want him walking."

"I haven't agreed to the deal yet."

Dawn slowly felt Buffy's hand in her own as she felt her sister lean over her. "Dawn, you okay?" Buffy whispered low enough so that LeBlanc would not hear. Dawn gave the slightest of nods. "When I make my move you need to get Clay and get him out of here."

"But—" Dawn whispered.

"No buts," Buffy whispered back.

"I said, stop untying him," LeBlanc said.

"Oh, for Christ's sake," Marsten muttered. "Fine." He straightened up. Then, before Marsten was even fully standing, he lunged at LeBlanc. Marsten and LeBlanc fell to the floor.

While the two fought, Dawn got to her hands and knees and crept toward Clay. As she took hold of his handcuffs, his head jolted up. He looked over his shoulder at her.

"Go," Clay rasped.

Across the room Buffy began her Change.

"What's Buffy doing?" Clay asked as Dawn looked up still trying to break the links.

Dawn looked over at Buffy and understood what her sister had intended to do. This was Buffy's move. "The Slayer protects the ones it loves," she told him.

Clay looked back at Dawn and then at Buffy and he understood. "She knows?" he asked.

"We saw the presents in closet when we were doing laundry," Dawn said. "We figured that …"

"That I saw her as a sister," Clay nodded. He understood what Dawn meant for he had been on the receiving end enough times when the Slayer part of Buffy had thought he was threatening Dawn. The Slayer did protect the ones it loved. And it seemed that she saw him as her brother just as he saw her as his sister.

Buffy stood as her Change finished. Ahead, she saw LeBlanc bent over Marsten's prone form. He lifted his hand. The switchblade flashed. She growled. LeBlanc stopped in mid-strike and looked back at her. Buffy flew at him. He dropped the knife and rolled out of the way. She'd put too much into the leap and hit the floor crooked, somersaulting into the wall. By the time she recovered, LeBlanc was gone.

"Buffy!" Dawn shouted as she pointed to the open back door.

Buffy dove out the door. LeBlanc's trail was easy to find. She didn't even have to track his scent. She could hear him thundering through the thick brush. She dove into the forest and started to run.

Night had passed. Early morning light lightened the thick blanket of trees overhead, sending shards of sun through to the forest floor. As Buffy stepped in one pool of light, she could feel it warm her back with the promise of a sultry late spring day. As she enjoyed the warmth she heard LeBlanc's breathing. She tilted her head and listened. She pushed her muzzle through the fern and drank in the mead of his fear. It warmed her, fanning the spark of excitement into near-lust. The lust for the kill. Both wolf and Slayer were working in tandem. They both itched for the kill. They both wanted to protect what was theirs. The Slayer saw Dawn as its mate, while the wolf saw Clay. And both had been threatened by LeBlanc.

Buffy wove through the bushes and trees, jumping logs, trampling wildflowers, as she chased LeBlanc. He kept going deeper and deeper into the forest. Finally, he stopped running. As she realized she couldn't hear him any longer, she was bursting through into a clearing. Something slashed across her hind leg. Buffy tumbled forward into the long grass. As she fell, she twisted around to see LeBlanc standing behind her, legs apart, switchblade raised, poised like a fighter waiting for the next round. He sneered and said something. She didn't need to hear the words to know what he said. Come and get me. A shudder of pleasure ran through her.

Buffy crouched and leapt at him. She felt the blade nick the side of her neck and slide across her shoulder. Blood welled up, hot against her skin. But there was no gushing, no pain worse than an irritating tingle. Her fur was too thick. The knife had only scratched her. LeBlanc's arm went back to stab again, but it was too late. Buffy was already on him. He flew backward, the blade arcing from his hand and vanishing in the trees. As her face came down to his, his eyes widened. Shock. Disbelief. Fear. She allowed herself one long moment to drink in his defeat. Then she ripped out his throat.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Jeremy, Antonio, and Nick came through the door as Dawn was using Clay's bindings to tie up Marsten. Then they spotted Buffy coming in through the back door, quite naked. "LeBlanc's dead," she said. She looked to Marsten and Jeremy stepped forward understanding what she wanted.

"Marsten," Jeremy said as the man looked up at him. "I think you have two options right now. You can deal with me or you can deal with Buffy. And I believe she wants you dead. You are the reason after all that she is now a werewolf. For you created the mutt who bit her."

Marsten wasn't stupid and dealt with Jeremy who gave him his territory. Wyoming, to be exact. When Marsten complained, Jeremy reminded him of his only other option, death at Buffy's hands. Marsten wisely shut up and took what was offered.

Clay took a while to heal. A long while, actually. He had a broken leg, four broken ribs, and a dislocated shoulder. He was so bruised and battered that he was in pain lying down, sitting, standing—basically every moment he was awake. He was exhausted, starved, dehydrated, and pumped full of enough drugs to fell a rhino for days.

Buffy and Dawn talked. For the next few years at least, till they returned to Sunnydale, they had decided they would call Stonehaven home. Buffy knew she couldn't tear her sister away from Clay.

The first two weeks Clay was recovering was hell for Dawn, some days not knowing if he'd make it to the next. Near the end of the third week, Dawn came back from her shower to find Jeremy in her post next to Buffy by Clay's bed. She stood in the door, watching them, taking in the circles under their eyes.

"Feeling better?" Jeremy asked without turning.

"Much," Dawn said.

Buffy reached back as Dawn, approached, took her sister's. "Jeremy was just saying he'll be awake soon. His stomach's growling."

"God forbid he should miss dinner," Dawn said with a laugh.

"Speaking of which, we're going out tonight. You two and I. Someplace requiring a suit and tie and a shave—at least for me. Antonio is driving in with Nick. They'll look after Clay."

"That's not neces—" Dawn said.

"It's very necessary," Jeremy said. "You both need to get out, get your minds off this. Clay will be fine. We'll take your cell phone, Dawn, in case anything happens."

Dawn looked at Buffy who nodded.

"Jeremy," Buffy said as she opened Clay's closet and pulled out one of the presents with the label with her name on it and handed it to him. "Did you know about this?"

Jeremy nodded. "Kept his secrets well, didn't he. I knew from the moment he saw you, Buffy. That he loved you. Not in the same way as Dawn of course. He loved her as his mate. But you, you are the one person he saw as a sister. He was the reason you were allowed to officially join the Pack after Dawn was bitten. He fought me tooth and nail on your joining the Pack till I finally relented. In a way it made me proud how much he fought for you."

After five weeks Buffy and Dawn decided to return to Toronto. They packed up their apartment turned in their resignations for their jobs and cancelled their lease. They and Jeremy had already planned to fake their deaths. Buffy and Dawn Sparrow were going to die. Buffy and Dawn Danvers, the wives of Jeremy and Clayton Danvers were about to be born. Jeremy had laughed when he had revealed that on paper that Buffy was going to be his wife. He said that it would bring up fewer questions that way.

On their way back to Stonehaven Buffy and Dawn swapped their stuff into a second rental truck that Jeremy had rented in Bear Valley. That way the truck from Toronto when it was found would be discovered burnt to a crisp, no survivors.

"You two are here," Clay said as when they returned to Stonehaven. Jeremy left Buffy, Dawn and Clay alone as he went to unload the rental. Stuff like furniture was going into a storage building Jeremy had erected on the property for them. Their clothes were going into their room.

The sisters watched as Clay stepped forward, his left leg dragging, not completely healed after his ordeal. "Didn't you get my note?" Dawn asked.

"Note?"

"You shouldn't be out here," Buffy said. "You're supposed to be in bed."

Clay nodded. "I just had to talk to you two."

"And what did you want to say to us?" Dawn asked.

Clay stepped forward, putting his arms around both Buffy and Dawn's waists. "I love you both. Yes, you've heard that before, Dawn, heard it a million times, but I don't know what else to say. You haven't Buffy, but you heard me say it to Dawn enough." He lifted a hand to first Dawn's face and then Buffy's and touched their cheeks. "I need you both. When you two were gone, it was hell. I made up my mind that when you both came back, I'd do whatever it took to get you back, Dawn. Even though I thought of you as a sister long time ago, Buffy, the matter sank home when you were bitten. No more tricks. No more tantrums. I know I didn't do a great job. Hell, you both probably never even noticed the difference. But I was trying. I'll keep trying. Stay with me. Please."

Dawn and Buffy glanced at each other and smiled before looking back at Clay.

"While we can't promise that we will remain here forever," Buffy said. "Because we can't. For the next few years we're not leaving."

"Which you'd know if you'd bothered to read my note before charging all the way down here," Dawn added.

"You—" He stopped, threw back his head, and laughed, then caught first Dawn and then Buffy up in a bone-jarring kiss and hug. "I guess I deserved that."

"That and more." Buffy grinned as he released her. She smiled as she watched Dawn kiss him..

"What is it?" he asked when Dawn had pulled back.

"When you were gone," Dawn said, "I was thinking this story wouldn't have a happily ever after ending. Maybe I was wrong."

"Happily, ever after?" He grinned. "As in 'forever after'?"

"Well, maybe not 'forever after.' Maybe 'happily ever after for a little while,'" Dawn said.

"I could live with that."

"Happily ever after for a day or two, at least," Dawn added.

"A day or two?" He made a face. "I was thinking of a bit longer. Not forever, of course. Because well I can't live as long as the two of you. But maybe eight, maybe nine decades."

Buffy and Dawn smiled. "Don't push your luck," Dawn said

He laughed and lifted Dawn up in another hug. "We'll work on it."

"Yes," Dawn said, as she saw over Clay's shoulder that her sister was smiling at them. "I think I'm ready to work on it."