The doctors whisked the three girls away as soon as Xander and Cordelia arrived at the hospital, something that made Xander uncomfortable as he remembered that the head of the hospital worked for the Mayor, covering up the supernatural. Did he know more than Snyder seemed to?

"Xander, now that the battle is over and we survived, we need to think about changing me and talking to my parents."

"Yeah, we do, don't we? And it'll distract us from thinking about the girls. We should head to my place so we can talk in private and so I can grab a blood bag, I'm feeling really hungry and that's always a sign that the nanites are working."

"I agree." Cordelia nodded. "And we both need a shower and a change of clothes because we're both a mess."

"Yeah, you can have the shower first because I'm fighting my teeth right now, the blood on the girls and the hunger the nanites cause triggers them."

"I had a question, something that's not exactly clear in the books."

"Go ahead, I'll answer it if I can." He answered, as he drove toward his place.

"Is there a difference between thrall, control and reading?"

"Yes, definitely. Thrall is giving orders, like beaming a command into someone's brain. Control is holding their mind, like using your hand to grip something. Reading, is just that, reading, well more like a tv show, seeing and hearing what's going on in their minds. I've only read Spike's mind and that was accidentally. I thralled the store manager and I controlled Balthazar and the demon snake. Which looked a lot smaller than I expected it to look."

"Which could mean the Magic you guys cast over the last few days had an effect or that he was the equivalent of a kid demon and would have grown."

"Which is an absolutely terrifying thought."

"Nightmare inducing." Cordelia agreed, as they pulled up at the abandoned house Xander was currently living in. Odd how the water, electricity and sewer were kept on even in abandoned houses. But than the Mayor let vampires run around and most of them lived in abandoned places. Great, the people he kept sheep like were paying for their murderers to live rent and bill free. Xander vowed to get an apartment as soon he had a full time job now that he'd passed the last test for his GED. He noticed a small, paper wrapped package on the front step and carefully picked it up.

"What's this?" He examined it looking for any writing and found none.

"I don't know, are you sensing any Magic?"

"No, nothing." He pulled the paper off and found a video tape. "Huh, someone left me a tape. I don't have a VCR, we'll have to take it to Wesley's and see what it is. Come in, let's get cleaned up and then we can talk and make plans."

While Cordelia was taking a shower, Xander popped a blood bag and then a second, before putting together a couple of sandwiches and eating them. When Cordelia emerged from the bathroom wearing his robe, he smirked at her.

"Whether you're wearing one of my t-shirts or my robe, seeing you in my clothes is hot."

"The other way around, you in my clothes, wouldn't be." She joked back.

"Eww." Xander grimaced at that thought and headed into the bathroom to have his own shower as Cordelia made herself something to eat. About twenty minutes later Xander emerged in sleep pants and handed Cordelia a t-shirt. "Have you called your parents to let them know you're alright?" He asked.

"Crap, I should have done that already!" She pulled out her cell phone snd quickly called her father and told him she'd escaped harm and was currently at her boyfriend's place.

"Yes, I know I promised to introduce you, Daddy and I will. We were just planning to have a discussion on when that would work for us. Yes, I'm staying the night, Daddy, I'm a big girl and I love him. Yes, I'm sure he loves me, I wouldn't be staying the night if I didn't. I'll see you tomorrow, Daddy. Give Mom a kiss for me and let her know I'm fine and I'm glad you are too. Bye, Daddy." She hung up and looked sadly at the phone.

"They've already forgotten what they saw, haven't they?" Xander asked.

"Yeah, they have. Gang on PCP is all they know. How are we going to do this, Xander? How are we going to make them believe?"

"I'll start by putting a protection spell around their place, it might block out the effect of whatever the Mayor's done that keeps people sheep like."

"If it's even Magic he's using. For all we know it could be drugs in the water. Like Ted used on Mrs. Summers."

"The drugs he used did put her in a suggestible state, it's possible. You mostly drink bottled water and so does Willow, she keeps it on hand so can take her medication. Wesley mostly drinks tea, which might reduce the effects. The nanites would deal with anything I have been exposed to. Oz's werewolf nature might protect him and Buffy and Faith are Slayers, nothing affects them the same as it does a normal human. And Amy channels Hecate, who would probably protect her as long as she does. Might explain why we've all been able to see it, once we knew it was there. Plus, we wanted to know the truth, in Magic force of will can overcome a lot. We might never know for sure, but we could have Willow test the city's water supply, just to be sure."

"Well, let's table that for now and discuss plans for changing me into a techno vamp and talking to Mom and Daddy." The two continued to talk and plan for their future, the odd videotape forgotten for the moment.