Cordelia smiled as she felt lips moving up her spine, waking her up. She was currently lying on a bed in a nice hotel. Yesterday had been Homecoming and she'd won the crown. Xander had surprised her with a hotel key. It was their first time making love both for each of them and with each other. But it had most definitely been a satisfying experience. And now he was waking her up, in more ways then one. As he reached her neck, she rolled over and welcomed him with a kiss. After they finished, they lay holding each other for awhile and then a rumble from Xander's belly reminded them that love required fuel, so they got up to get some breakfast. When Cordelia's stomach rumbled too, they decided on a quick shower together. As she was drying off, Cordelia noticed something, she hadn't seen before. Xander had given her a hickey. She wasn't sure why she hadn't seen it before, considering it was right above her right breast. It wasn't hurting and would heal. So she didn't worry about it. Maybe she should have, after all, the bite of a werewolf can transmit a virus that turns someone else into a werewolf. It hadn't occured to anyone that Xander might be capable of doing the same thing. The hickey barely scratched the surface, but it was enough to start a process, much slower in Cordelia's case, because Magic wasn't involved, that would lead to her being a hybrid as well.
Because it would be a slower process, it would take time, not as much time as with Xander, but still time, before this change was known. In the meantime, life in Sunnydale went on. And something happened that Buffy had been dreading for a long time. Joyce found out the truth.
It started with the gang being forced to sell band candy by Principal Snyder. Which led to the gang seeing adults behaving like teenagers, which was scary for the teenagers. Followed by getting Snyder to tell them where the candy came from. As Buffy, Willow, Xander and Cordelia, with Snyder trailing along behind them, raced towards the factory where the candy had been made and distributed, they passed a sight that would give them all the wiggins. Giles, Jenny and Joyce being naughty. Together. Faith would probably have been cheering, but they hadn't had time to stop and pick her up. Looking totally grossed out, Buffy managed to pry them apart and reported the candy being a problem. Trying to pretend they hadn't seen what they'd seen, the gang charged into the factory and found Ethan Rayne. Xander finally got to explain why Ethan's Halloween 'prank' and kids getting hurt hadn't been funny. Xander enjoyed explaining it. Ethan didn't enjoy the explanation. He confessed that the candy was spiked as a distraction. Because his client, who had hired him thru an intermediary, wanted people distracted so he could have four babies kidnapped from the hospital and fed to a demon named Lurconis. You can imagine Xander's reaction to the idea of babies in danger and Ethan knowing about it and helping, instead of stopping it. Ethan's still alive. And walking. But only because Xander stopped short of killing him. They missed stopping the kidnapping, but Giles realized where Lurconis was. Grabbing Faith on their way, the Slayers killed Lurconis, while the rest dusted the vampires, who refused to give up their boss, insisting that there was nothing the gang could do that was more painful then what their boss would do if they talked.
And then Joyce needed an explanation. They could have blown her off with the spiked candy explanation, but it was decided, she deserved the truth.
"Vampires, demons, Magic? Are you kids insane? None of that is real!"
So they took Joyce to a cemetery and Xander caught a vampire. It's game face was on and Buffy dusted it while Xander held it.
"It's real Joyce, all of it. You're not imagining things. There are literal gateways to Hell scattered all over the world and things come out of those gates. Most of them want to eat us. Now that you know, you can take precautions. Don't be out alone at night. Carry holy water with you, as well as a cell phone, at all times and if you need to talk about it, we've got a therapist in the know, who we all talk to. I'm sure she'd be willing to help you deal too. But pretending it's not real isn't going to help anybody. I'm sorry, but the world just went sideways on you. But you're not alone, we're here and we'll help you." Xander told her.
"This is all real? Monsters? How does no one know?"
"Because most people don't want to know. They tell themselves it's animals or that they're hallucinating. Anything other then the truth. Because the truth is scary."
"Damn right it's scary! What are you kids doing knowing about all this?"
"Trying to survive. Vampires got my best friend, made him one of them. Magic made Buffy and Faith into vampire magnets and gave them the strength to fight them, it made me part human, part animal. It made Oz a werewolf. None of us asked for it, it was done to us. Now we could go one of two ways. Be a part of the problem or try to use our abilities and help people. We choose to help people. Just like Connie, our therapist, chooses to use her knowledge to help us. Giles and Jenny also choose to use their knowledge to help us. We've succeeded in helping alot of people. We've stopped alot of monsters. Like the one tonight. Some people choose to help the monsters. That's what we were dealing with tonight. People who chose to help the monsters. Now it's your turn to choose. Do you forget, like so many others or do you find a way to help? It's a decision every person has to make for themselves."
And Joyce made her decision.