Rupert Giles paused for a moment and rubbed his eyes, reading newspapers on microfiche for long periods of time could be painful. He sighed and then reached for his tea, thinking about the recent revelations Dr. Dormer's own investigation into the altered timeline had produced and apparently how badly he'd bungled the strange gift the Council had, for some unknown reason, given him, a Slayer to guide. He couldn't understand how his other self could allow the Slayer he'd been guiding to become involved with a vampire. How could he have possibly justified it to himself? He was saved from further recriminations as the cup he was reaching for began to jiggle, and he looked at it curiously. A few seconds later and the whole building began to shake, and he realized he was experiencing his first earthquake. He got up and looked around the shaking building, having no idea what to do. His teacup vibrated off of the desk and smashed to pieces on the floor, as books began to fall off the shelves around him. "Get under the desk!" The Public Library Librarian yelled and Rupert Giles obeyed the command as more books fell. Fortunately the shelves were bolted to the floor.
Below Sunnydale in the Master's lair, an ancient vampire who no longer had a human mask, stood with his arms stretched out above him. "Yes! YES! Shake, Earth! This is a sign! We are in the final days! My time has come! Glory! GLORY!"
The quake was over as quickly as it started and the Master looked over at Collin, a child of power he'd made a vampire, to lure the Slayer to him and Darla, once his favorite for over four hundred years, now a shamed and scarred creature, bested by a human child.
"Whadaya think?" The Master casually asked. "5.1?" Colin smirked and Darla snarled.
In his office Mayor Wilkins carefully picked himself up off the floor, he was not nearly as happy as the ancient vampire. "An unscheduled earthquake is not a good thing, Allen." He complained. "I'd very much like to have a word with Mother Nature, she appears to be in a mood right now."
Allen Finch gulped and wondered if Mother Nature was real then maybe she'd be able to best the insane sorcerer that ran Sunnydale behind the scenes. One could hope, right?
In Chase Manor, Cordelia sat in her room where'd she'd been thinking about Faith's question. 'Was she, Cordelia Chase, someone who could be trusted?' It was a question she'd never been asked before and had never thought about either. It had simply never occured to her to wonder if she could be trusted. Cordelia was aware there only three people she'd ever trusted, her parents and Lupe, the housekeeper/nanny who'd helped raise her. Her Cordettes could only be trusted to stab her in the back as they tried to climb over her on their way to the top of the pyramid. A pyramid she'd apparently willingly jumped off of to be with Xander in another timeline. She must have trusted Xander a lot to be willing to do that. She was saved from further introspection as the house began to shake from an earthquake and plaster from the ceiling shook loose and fell on her. A feeling of dread spread through her, something was very wrong and it wasn't an earthquake.
Out in Sunnydale four men marked the location of a nest they'd just discovered and needed to study before hitting it when the earthquake started. "Oh crap, this is what we have to look forward to in California?" One of them yelped as they struggled to stay on their feet, fortunately it ended as quickly as it had begun.
"Welcome to California, boys!" Mason quipped. "Where the attractions include vampire nests and earthquakes!"
"Oh, joy." Was the sarcastic response.
Xander and Jesse had been sunk deep in thought themselves, each nursing a pop at the Bronze. "Were you serious about not having a problem with it if Cordelia and I decided to try? Some day, maybe. When I'm not scared out of my mind worrying about being a Dad and the fact that there's some kind of prophecy about a Slayer dying and that Slayer could be Faith and -."
"Xander, breath!" Jesse ordered. "You're starting to sound like Willow and that is not a comparison I like, because frankly, I'm still blaming myself for what happened to her, same as part of you is blaming yourself for what happened to Cordelia in another timeline. Logically, it was neither of our faults. It was a vampire, in both cases, that took people that mattered from us. But, as for your question, yes I was serious. I want my best friend to be happy and whether it's Cordelia or Faith that ultimately makes you happy, I say go for it. If either one showed any interest in me, I'm sure you'd be happy for me."
"Well, yeah, mostly." Xander admitted. "And you know it's mostly in your case too, you're still a little hung up on Cordelia after all. I'd try to be happy for you."
"Hey, it's not like this is a be all, end all thing, Xan. We're only sixteen, no one's commiting to the rest of their lives here yet."
"Except for the Dad part." Xander muttered. "That's forever and the part I've really got to get right."
"Don't scare yourself, man." Jesse advised. "Half the battle is commiting to not being like that ass, the other half is figuring out how to do that."
Xander nodded. "I know you're right, it's just a huge deal and -." He stopped as the Bronze started shaking and the two friends ducked under the nearby stairs and a feeling of dread raced through Xander. Something was very wrong.