Previous Chapter Summary: Spike and Buffy had a visit in their dreams from Charmand and Antoinette. What did their cryptic messages mean? Faith and Wesley found that there was at least a little bit of physical attraction or comfort sought between them in their sleep. Will they act on it?

Current Chapter Summary: It's time for Wesley and Faith to meet up with Giles and other Scoobies. What is going on in everyone's mind as they get ready for the meeting? How much has word spread throughout the demon world about Sunnydale's protectors? Who might it lure to the Hellmouth?

Author's Note: I would like to thank Kevin for putting a little plot bunny in my ear for this story. I really liked it, and I hope that he likes what I will do with it.

Faith brushed out her long nearly black hair. She wasn't a vain young woman, but she liked her hair long. It tended to get in the way when she fought. After she brushed it out, she braided it in one long piece down her back. She wanted to be ready for the worst even though she had a feeling the precaution was unnecessary.

Across the room from Faith, Wesley prepared his leather attaché for the meeting. He straightened a stack of papers with his notes, clipped them together, and arranged them in one of the pockets of the container. Ever since his earlier wake up snuggled close to Faith, he'd been on edge. Not being able to release the tension that her nearness created only added to his frustration levels. He tried to keep himself focused, but his brain was overloaded with all of the information, realizations, and disappointments of the last few days.

Faith picked up a leather tie from her dresser. She secured the end of the braid in a rubber band, covered the band with a wide leather strip, and zig zagged the ties of the leather piece up her braid. She pulled the braid up to fold it in half and tie the top and bottom of it together securely with the leather ties attached to the band.

Wesley glanced sideways at Faith. She seemed even more beautiful to him today than she was yesterday. He tried to wipe those thoughts from his mind. Those kinds of thoughts would only lead to trouble for them both. She got under his skin in an annoying way with her different mannerisms and habits, but there was something about this feisty woman that drew him to her. He tried to tell himself that it was just because he felt a desire to protect his Slayer. He drew in a deep breath.

Faith took in a deep breath and looked at herself in the mirror. 'Am I ready for this?' She snuck a sidelong glance at Wesley. 'Are we ready for this?'

'Are we ready for this?' Wesley tucked a couple stakes and a flask of holy water into his attaché. He opened a wood box that he removed from his luggage earlier. Although it looked a bit uncharacteristic for the stuffy Watcher, he picked up a gold rope style necklace with a heavy solid gold cross that dangled from it. He opened the top buttons of his shirt, attached the necklace, and rebuttoned his shirt to hide the necklace. He snuck another glance at Faith. 'Will I ever truly be ready for this?'

Joyce handed a cup of tea to Giles over the kitchen island. Lunch times were usually an informal affair at their household. Giles insisted on a "proper cup of tea" with his lunch, and Joyce had been willing to cater to Giles' desires for a "taste of home".

Giles kissed Joyce's cheek. "Thank you, Dove." He sipped from the teacup. He set the cup down next to his plate once he'd finished his first taste. "I could almost forget that you are American with how well you make a cup of tea now," He teased.

Joyce grinned. She waggled a finger at Giles with a hand on her hips. "Don't you go getting all British on me, Ripper." Her pose mimicked the same one her daughter used on Spike a lot of times. "We "bloody colonials" are not entirely uncivilized," She mangled Giles' accent on purpose.

"Good heavens, woman. That was bloody horrible." Giles stared at Joyce in mock disgust. They enjoyed teasing each other. The love they shared rivaled that of the most infatuated young teenagers. They may be older, but they were still playful and very much in love with each other.

Joyce walked around the island, and she slid into Giles' lap. She wrapped her arms around his neck, resting her elbows on his shoulders. She leaned her forehead against his and rubbed their noses together in an Eskimo kiss. "I love you, Rupert."

"And I you, Joyce." Giles closed his eyes and sighed. Despite what he told Spike and Buffy earlier in the morning, he was a bit worried about Wesley Wyndham-Pryce's reactions. Much depended on what the Council told the young Watcher when he called them last night. His connections in Sunnydale told him that an overseas call had gone out last night from the hotel.

"I know that look, Rupert." Joyce sat back and rubbed the pads of her fingers over the furrowed lines of her fiancé's brow. "You're bothered by something. I can feel the tension rolling off of you."

"You should know by now that I worry about everything, Dove." Giles tried to assuage his future wife's worries. "I'm sure the meeting will go well, but I won't relax until it is over."

Joyce raised a disbelieving brow. She decided to keep her thoughts to herself for the moment. Rupert needed her support. If he wanted to hold his thoughts in for now, she wouldn't push. After the meeting, she would ask him what was bothering him though. "It's almost time to go."

Giles nodded. "I know." With one arm firmly wrapped around Joyce's waist, Giles enjoyed the feeling of the woman he loved sitting in his lap while he finished his lunch.

Buffy slapped the textbook on the table closed. She attempted to get some last minute studying in before they left for the meeting. "I don't know why I let you talk me into taking French again as one of my electives." She pouted. She'd tried to take the language class the year before, and she failed it.

"Maybe because you have a more interesting tutor this time around," Spike curled his tongue behind is teeth and waggled his eyebrows playfully at Buffy. "No offense to Red of course, but I think I am a bit more persuasive."

Buffy giggled. "Yes, you are a bit more of a hands on tutor." She wrapped her arms around Spike's waist. "I love those practical labs, but it still doesn't help me speak the language any better." She flickered her tongue out to lick her lips to indicate just what practical labs she meant. 'I'll always love French with those kinds of kisses.'

"Minx," Spike bent his head slightly. He quickly snatched Buffy's tongue into his own mouth, suckling it. His tongue continued to pull hers into his mouth, and the two appendages twisted and rolled around and over each other.

Buffy broke free from their kiss, breathless. His eyes were glazed over with lust. "If we don't leave now, I don't think we will leave." She panted. 'How is it that something I don't need any more, you still manage to steal from me as if I do?' She teased.

"You're right," Spike grunted unhappily. "They'd better not cause problems this time, pet. I'm in too good of a mood to have it ruined by that pillock."

"Hey, you guys were the ones that wanted to give them a chance. Not my fault you all voted to let them into town in the first place." Buffy placed her hands on her hips and waggled a finger of chastisement at Spike just as her mother was doing to Giles at the same moment in time.

Spike snapped his teeth at Buffy's finger. Only her lightning fast reflexes kept it from being pricked by his fangs. "You can't tell me that you didn't admire the chit, pet."

Buffy smirked. "All right, I won't deny that I felt a pull towards her last night." She chuckled. "The way she put that wimpy Watcher in his place was pretty funny too. It was like she had him on a leash."

Spike joined in the mirth of Buffy's laughter. "I think he's more of a wild card than the Slayer. Not that I think he's some wild rebel, but I think he is our unpredictable factor."

Buffy remembered the call they'd received from Giles earlier in the morning. "Giles seems confident about a change of heart in the new Watcher. We have to trust Giles' instincts on this one. He knows Watchers better than we do."

"I specialized in Slayers not Watchers," Spike answered with a nod. "Now that Rupes has his head out of the sand, I trust his instincts too."

"You just say that because you know he is your blood family," Buffy poked Spike in the chest.

"It doesn't hurt that I know Jamison blood flows through his veins." Spike playfully puffed out his chest. "At least that is where he gets his dashing good looks from."

"We've managed to snag two of the most beautiful women in the world who happen to both be from the same family, haven't we?" Spike raised a curious brow. He dared her to refute his statement.

Buffy made a motion of zipping her lips sealed and throwing away the key. She yelped when Spike started to tickle her waist mercilessly.

Xander raised his hand to knock on the opened door to Buffy and Spike's house. His hand hovered near the door when he heard the ruckus going on through the living room into the kitchen. He turned to Willow and rolled his eyes. "Do they ever stop?"

"Oh leave them be." Willow walked into the house. She was sure that Buffy and Spike were expecting them, or they wouldn't have left the door open. The entrance was warded for only specific invites or blood bonds. All of the current Scoobies shared a familial blood link that coincided with the safety wards. So Willow and Xander were both able to just walk in.

Xander walked alongside Willow. He stared at the tickling match that was before them in the kitchen. He couldn't resist the chance to tease the two daywalkers, "Is this a private party or a group thing?"

Spike jerked up from the floor and hit his head on the counter. "Bloody Hell, Whelp!" He rubbed the top of his head.

Buffy went off into another fit of giggles. She pointed to Spike and laughed harder.

Spike growled. Before he was able to dive down and attack Buffy, Willow stepped in between them. "Meeting anyone?"

Spike huffed, stood up, and offered his hand to Buffy to help her up. "I'll get you back for that, Harris."

"Don't leave the door open next time then, Bleach Boy," Xander teased. He loved any chance that he got to catch Spike unaware. He respected the vampire now for many reasons. He was proud to call Spike his friend, but that didn't mean they didn't still playfully insult and tease each other.

The four of them walked out in the bright afternoon sunshine. Walking down the middle of the street side by side, the group almost looked like they were heading out for a high noon fight at the OK Corral.

Buffy felt Dalton secure his link with his Master and Mistress. "Dalton's on the move too. What does he think he's doing?"

Willow and Xander nodded. "He said that he would stay in the tunnels around the area of the park in case we needed an exit route."

Spike squeezed Buffy's hand. "He knows what he's doing, Buffy. Have faith in him."

"Oy! Watch it Slayer!" Spike held his hand over his heart as if he'd been staked. "You wound me!"

Faith sat on a swing in the Sunnydale Park. Wesley paced back and forth in front of her. A few times she had to divert her swing to avoid hitting the nervous Watcher in the head with her feet.

Wesley Wyndham-Pryce looked down at his pocket watch for the tenth time. It was still only 1:30 pm. Because he and Faith had to walk, they'd left the hotel at 1 o'clock. Sunnydale wasn't a huge town, and they found the park with relative ease. Consequently, they had over a half hour to wait for the appointed meeting time. Time to wait gave Wesley time to question his sanity about meeting with the rebel Watcher and his group.

Joyce entered the park from the side opposite where Giles was coming in. They kept their eyes open for any sign of the Council's men. Joyce stifled a laugh when she saw Wesley and Faith. "At least they are punctual," She spoke into her walkie-talkie. "You should appreciate that, love."

Giles groaned. He loved her dearly, but Joyce loved to tease him about his habits. Being nearly at least a half hour early for every event was one of them. It was one of the reasons why they arrived at the park at 1:30 pm. "Maybe he isn't as bad as we thought then," He snarked back at Joyce.

Faith heard the voices in the distance and the echo of the walkie-talkies. She flew off the swing in mid-air and stood in a fighting stance. She scanned all sides of them to find out why the voices were coming from two directions.

"What is it?" Wesley hadn't heard anything, but Faith's posture told him that something or someone was near.

"There is no need for concern, Faith." Joyce stepped around the jungle gym. She held up the walkie-talkie in her hand. "We had to be sure that the Council didn't send anyone else to this little meeting of ours." She closed the distance between herself and the two newcomers.

Giles darted around the merry-go-round at the same time. He looked closely at the tweed covered young man. He pointed at Wesley, but his comments were directed at Joyce, "Was I ever that tweedy, Dove?"

Joyce chuckled. "Fraid so, beloved." She turned to face Wesley. "Nothing wrong with tweed mind you, but we are a bit less formal here in Sunnydale." Now that she was close enough for Faith and Wesley to follow her actions without alarming them, she hooked the walkie-talkie back to her belt with the transmission button locked down for the others to hear.

Giles turned off his walkie-talkie. Then, he clipped his to the leather belt that held up his dark blue jeans. "Sunnydale tends to be a lot warmer than London. I have found that your form of clothing is not practical for the climate."

Faith watched the pair interact. She was still on her guard, but the threat level had gone down. The two of them were definitely a couple. There was something familiar to her about the woman. She wasn't able to put her finger on the source of that familiarity.

Wesley gulped hard. He was used to being the butt of everyone's jokes, but the man before him intimidated him in a different way than others. He'd revered Rupert Giles as he went through his own Watcher training. The Giles family was a well documented Council fixture over the last one hundred years or more. "Mr. Giles?" He questioned.

Giles nodded. "I had a feeling that you would recognize me, but forgive my manners. I should have introduced myself and my fiancé." He wrapped Joyce's hand around his arm. "Mr. Wesley Wyndham-Pryce, please meet my fiancé Joyce Summers. Joyce, this is Wesley Wyndham-Pryce."

"That's why she looked familiar!" Faith burst out in a shout. "You're B's mother."

"B's?" Joyce looked perplexed for a moment. "Oh, I see. Yes, I am Buffy's mother." She smiled at the young woman.

"Why don't we sit down over there?" Giles pointed to a nearby grouping of picnic tables. "The rest will be here shortly." He escorted Joyce over to the tables, and he sat down.

Wesley followed the ex-Watcher and the previous Slayer's mother over to the picnic tables. He hefted his leather attaché onto the top of the table in front of him. In a measure of good faith he opened it up facing Rupert Giles and Joyce Summers. Then, he slowly removed a pen and some paper, along with his notes, from the inside.

Giles nodded to Wesley. "I supposed we should just get right down to it. Shall we?"

Willow, Xander, Spike and Buffy listened to everything that was happening at the park through the walkie-talkies each of them had. Spike and Buffy's devices had earplugs attached to them. They'd been helpful while the pair was out on patrol. They were able to keep their hands free to fight while at the same time keeping in touch with the rest of the Scoobies.

Giles had decided that it would be best for Buffy and Spike to arrive a little bit after the meeting was supposed to begin. With the early arrival of the other parties, the foursome started to walk faster across town. None of them liked leaving Giles and Joyce "unguarded" amongst strangers.

Spike felt the trepidation radiating from Buffy. "They have the conversation open to us, luv. We'll know if we need to do something."

"That won't matter if we aren't close enough," Buffy replied with a frown. She picked up the pace a little bit more.

Willow and Xander scrambled to keep up with Buffy and Spike. If the two daywalkers took off, there would be no way for them to keep up. For now, they did their best to follow at the same pace. They hoped a burst of speed wouldn't' be necessary.

"G-Man knows what he's doing, Buffster," Xander offered his own support. "He wouldn't have started the meeting at all, if he had any fear for their safety.

Buffy nodded, but she sent a sense of urgency to Dalton through their vampiric claim to hasten him along on his journey. Since he lived at the mansion with the other "minions", he was closer to the park than they were. He should be able to get there sooner.

Dalton sent waves of calm through to his Mistress and Master. He was already at the scene, having the forethought to leave early himself, and he reassured them that all was well at the park.

Giles set a worn tome on the tabletop. "This is Louis' original diary. It goes way beyond when his Slayer, Antoinette, was killed then turned." He kept his hands firmly on the tome to prevent it from being stolen from him.

"I found some of the photocopied entries quite fascinating to read, but you must admit it all sounded pretty far fetched." Wesley's blind support of the Council was wavering, but he was still a man who liked to secure facts before he believed anything.

"I was skeptical as well to begin with." Giles nodded his head in understanding. "I'd received the news of my Slayer's death and turning from a strange vampire who brought the book to me."

Faith listened intently to every word. She wasn't big on the research end of her destiny, but this went beyond the normal prattle and knowledge her previous Watchers tried to force on her. Her life changed dramatically the day she woke up as a Slayer. Instead of finding a purpose, she felt even more like an outsider. She wanted to belong to something important. Despite her tough girl exterior, she longed to be accepted and loved.

Giles and Wesley droned on back and forth. Questions were raised, answers given, scenarios designed and theories discussed. Everything came back to one simple question that everyone had to answer for themselves. Did anyone trust the Council to never lie to them?

Giles asked the question point blank, "Do you believe that the Council will never lie to you?" His gaze wandered from Wesley to Faith and back to Wesley.

"They would nev ..." Wesley started to answer. He felt the automatic response to that question try to force its way out of his mouth, but his heart stopped it.

Faith was ready to cover her Watcher's mouth with her hand if he started to upset Rupert Giles. She was surprised when Wesley stopped himself from spitting out the same rhetoric that her other Watchers fed her. She smiled inwardly. 'Maybe he is finally getting it.'

"Do you have anything to say, Miss ... I mean Faith?" Giles directed the conversation to the Slayer who had remained silent during most of the meeting.

Faith grinned. She fingered the edges of the envelope in her pocket. She thought about the woman in England who gave it to her. She wondered if now would be the right time to bring it up.

In Los Angeles, California a teenage vampire woke up after a shorter sleep schedule than she normally had. The sun was still fairly high in the sky. Despite that fact, she and her Sire had to be on the move again. They'd heard rumors about some vampires in Sunnydale, California who might be able to protect them from the master of their clan, who happened to be her Sire's Sire, who was chasing after them.

The young vampire's long brown hair flowed down her back and fluttered in the wind that traveled down the tunnels of their hiding place in Los Angeles' sewer system. She looked down at the dead body of the older gentleman that she'd fed on shortly before the sunrise. She shivered in disgust from feeding off a human, but this one had begged her and her Sire to end his pain. It seemed that the homeless man was dying of a very painful and terminal disease.

Constance, the young girl's Sire, walked up behind her. She rubbed the teenage vampire's shoulders. "It was a mercy killing, Childe."

"That still doesn't take away all the pain, Sire." The blue eyes of the girl were filled with tears when she turned to face her Sire. "Why do I have to be so different from the rest of you?"

Constance wrapped the girl in her arms. "We're both different, remember?" She cooed nonsensical words into her Childe's ears in an attempt to sooth her Childe's guilt. "You did nothing wrong."

Constance found a young girl being attacked by a rival clan's member. Anger coursed through her at seeing a larger vampire attacking someone so thin and so young. Without thought she twisted off the vampire's head. She was too late to save the girl completely though.

With every soft tap of the teenager's heartbeat, Constance felt an even stronger desire to make the girl hers. Against her Sire's orders that she not Sire anyone, she took the last bit of blood that the girl had and offered her own slit wrist to her. Surprisingly the girl accepted the blood readily, and a new vampire was born.

In the fear that her Sire would kill her Childe before she awakened, Constance hid the girl away from him. Her Sire was the master of their clan, and he knew what she'd done. He'd punished her severely for going against his orders. He beat her so severely that she wasn't able to leave their lair for days. The master hoped that Constance's Childe would awaken alone and end up getting herself killed before his Childe could reach her.

When Constance snuck out of the lair to find her Childe, she found the young girl weeping in an alley next to a couple dead bodies. Blood stained the newly risen vampire's lips. No wounds were visible on the girl, but she sounded like her heart was being ripped out of her body. The moment the girl's eyes looked up into Constance's, the vampire gasped.

"Your soul?" Constance rushed to her Childe's side. Most vampires would have run away from such an abomination, but not Constance. It had taken many years for her Sire to beat the guilt out of her own system when she was turned.

"Sire?" The young woman, about 17 when she was turned, pulled her knees closer to her body. "It hurts." She continued to cry. "I needed to ... but ... I can't stand it ... it hurts." She hiccupped with each phrase that she uttered, and her body shuddered.

Constance had nearly forgotten the pain that she always felt with each kill in the beginning. Now, decades later the pain was pushed back by the rationalization that she had to kill to eat. It was the only way she kept from going insane herself. She now knew why her Sire didn't want her to turn anyone. He knew this would happen.

The two bonded immediately with a common ground. It seemed that the girl, "Mouse" as others affectionately called her on the street, had kept a great deal of her soul intact even after turning. Now they were both on the run. Constance only hoped that the rumors she'd heard about Sunnydale were true. Word about vampires who forbade the killing of innocents no matter if they were human or demon spread through the communities like wild fire. Her Sire would catch up with them, and she'd need all the help she could get to keep her little "Mouse" safe.

"I don't know, but I'll protect you until my dust blows in the breeze." Constance ran her fingers through her Childe's hair. "Let's get moving. With all luck we'll be in Sunnydale before sunrise tomorrow. Walking takes a lot longer than driving."

"Yes, Sire." The teenage vampire gathered up the last of their belongings in the backpack and satchel that they pilfered from a local Army surplus store.

Constance stood in front of her Childe once they were ready to move. "Never give up hope, Dawn. Remember what I told you about your true name?"

Constance nodded. She squeezed Dawn's hand, which was now in hers, and the pair walked through the sewers of L.A. to their future and hopefully a new beginning.

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