Order of Business

Anna McIntyre was filling out her duty logs, Jaime would be here soon to relieve her and she wanted to get in a swim down at the pool before it was light's out. She had three teams off-world, simple stuff, and the only one that was due back before her shift ended, should be arriving any second.

Her mind wandered to her upcoming date with Lewis. She had been his sister's partner since she first came to SDW a year and a half ago and Sasha had finally given her the green light, with a healthy warning that while he was a complete nimrod, he was her only brother and she'd get medieval if he got hurt.

She heard the portal door open and hurried to bring the Arrival Log up on her computer screen. The Security Box on her desktop showed that a proper slayer code was used to activate the inner door. She was about to start the debriefing as several drops of blood landed on her forearms. She froze for a second and looked up.

She screamed...and screamed.

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"Stabilize her head."

The lights were fuzzy and it seemed like she could hear only the echos of the actual sounds. She was fascinated by the effect.

"On three..."

She felt a sudden change in how she was laying and now she could see the ceiling tiles as blurry faces danced in her vision. She felt people touching her and it seemed like they were talking to her but her ability to understand them came and went. The tiles were rushing by and the ceiling lights seemed like they were way too dim.

"Trauma code Emergency..."

She heard the P.A. and wondered why she didn't recognize the voice. She felt doors slam open as she was rushed through them and she guessed that she was on a gurney.

"On three, one..."

She felt another upheaval and as soon as her back hit the new surface, she could feel her clothes being taken or cut off of her. She tried to tell them not to wreak her outfit but lost the train of thought when one of her arms was strapped down and a pain shot up through it.

"Move it people! Get me an ABG, CBC, and a EKG...hold it! Her lungs are full of fluid. Call them now! We're on our way!"

She felt a little clearer in her mind and was annoyed that there were too many red bandages on her to see her wounds. Somebody was yelling at her again and she felt another change of bedding and they were rolling again. She wanted to ask why they didn't just come to this room first but couldn't get it out. She thought she heard somebody yelling for Willow but she wasn't sure.

Her sharpness started to fade and she saw Giles's face over her as the ceiling lights raced by. She hoped that she wasn't still naked. She was sure when they turned the corner and crashed through another set of doors that he wasn't with them because she had a glimpse of him standing there, taking his glasses off to clean them as a tear fell from his eyes.

Holy Hell, I'm going to die, she thought as the mask on her face was taken off and a tube was being pushed down her throat.

She tried to tell them that she had to see Dawn, that she couldn't go without...

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He paused when he saw the wash of blood leading in a thick trail out of the portal door. He felt Princess squeeze his shoulder and he started forward again. Dawn had called through the portal relay they had set up but she had broken down and dropped the receiver and he was left screaming into the phone until Xander picked it up and told him...told him that she was barely alive. He said half of...half of her face was gone. Walker and Princess wouldn't let him come alone and anyway all of the lions liked their future queen so he had let Walker drive him to the portal site in the woods while Princess kept telling him over and over how strong she was and how powerful her slayer was. But didn't her own know that? They knew all of that and still it sounded like they were readying themselves for her loss.

His mind was deep in turmoil as he practically ran down the hall, dodging the crowds of teenage girls and company employees that were filling it up. Everyone looked like they were in shock, pale faces and wide eyes. Her new assistant Ty came and pulled him past the security at the Medical Wing's entryway. He didn't say a word, just ran ahead of him and led them to a waiting area outside of the Operating Room.

Everyone was there. Dawn was pacing and Xander followed right behind her. As soon as she seen him, she ran and slammed into his chest, her large eyes sobbing huge tears onto his shirt. As he wrapped his arms around her, he had a moment of panic, she was already dead...no, they wouldn't be here if she was dead. He calmed himself and tried to catch up to what Xander was saying.

"..is Hiram Vickers, and he's one of the best," Xander said. "We had him move here from Connecticut. Once Buffy saw him in action, she wouldn't accept anyone else for this job." He squeezed his wife's shoulder, still in Haven's embrace.

"What do we..?" he stuttered, not knowing how to ask what the odds were that the only woman he had ever truly loved in his life was about to die.

Giles walked over and helped peel Dawn away from him and Xander made her sit down. Buffy's only real father was pale and his eyes were deeply inset but Haven got the feeling of inner fortitude, inner will that he knew that she would be okay. "Do we know what happened?" he asked the room.

Giles answered him, "She went back to Paris, in your world."

"What! Why!" Why would she go back without the army she had the first time? Why would they let her do that? He felt more than a little rage start to build and Walker and Princess moved up to let him feel the hum of their beasts in an effort to leech some of the anger away.

"She was just...She made up her mind, there was nothing to do after that," Giles said with somberness.

"What if I infected her?"

"Willow and I talked about that. Her slayer is as powerful as any shapeshifter beast and the risk that the two would fight and tear her apart is too great. If it would have been a possibility I would have recommended it. I know her feelings on the issue but she would have accepted it." His Slayer didn't want to be anything but normal, but he knew that if it would save her life, she'd pick lion.

"What about a spell?" Haven asked with desperation. "Like a healing spell or something?" There had to be something they could do. She had been out there alone, but she wasn't alone now. If he had anything to say about it, she sure as hell wouldn't ever be alone again.

Xander answered from his chair next to Dawn, "Willow has her whole division up and they're running the best probability spells the world has ever seen but direct healing is impossible during the surgery and you can't just stop it to do the spell without...and there's a balance to those spells, Buffy wouldn't want it anyway."

He just stood there as his mind raced. He half listened as Giles told him not to panic, that the doctor could very well have great news when he came through those doors. He had a flash of memory from another hospital and inspiration struck. "What if we could be sure that the beast wouldn't fight her Slayer? Then either they'd get along and it would help her heal or the slayer would just kill it, right?"

"Well...yes, but how would..," he stopped as the impersonal gray doors slowly opened and Dr. Hiram Vickers came out, blood splattered all over his scrubs.

Haven didn't wait for him to say a word, he was already on his way back to his world as soon as he seen the doctor's face. It dawned on him for a moment that she might be dead, might have died on the operating table, but he shook it off, refusing that possibility as he started to jog, and then he started to run, and then he just stopped thinking and ran.

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"Well, why don't you just...I don't know, Bite me!" Faith said to Padma, the annoying master of annoying beasts.

"Be calm, child," the dragon said as she laid her hand on Faith's shoulder. They were sitting together in front of the rest of the Council and the accusations were flying.

"Meyer was my vampire!" Morte D'Amour called out with anger, he was sick of these meetings degenerating into petty squabbles. "Our friend in the Police Nationale reports that rumors are rampant but several of the stories from the mayhem have a woman being spotted riding on the top of the vehicle that he had apparently stolen. Why he would do this when we had a car here for him, I do not know. I want to know Destroyer if you are that woman. Before you answer, know that his murderer's blood was found in plentiful quantities and is even now at the police laboratory. Did you kill Meyer?" He stared at her, still stunned that his connection to the black market for modern U.S. weaponry was gone. He thought about sending someone to find the daughter Julie to pay the Marine back for this abandonment.

The Dragon answered before Faith could say something insulting, "I am her master. I already testified that she had no part in it. I do not understand why my word is no longer good enough for the Council."

"With all do respect," Belle Morte whispered with venom. "You are acting out of sorts lately. Belle Morte does not, but some might wonder about your mental...what is the word? Oh, Competency."

The praetor almost broke his current gavel trying to keep this from going any further. Personally, he knew that the Dragon had been feeding the girl information about Meyer and he believed that the girl likely did kill him. It was in fact, his idea. He had to protect Marcus from her retribution and so he let the idea float during a meeting with the Dragon that she could imprint the sole blame to the American marine. Morte had a bunch of those soldiers anyway. He was only angry that she had so totally failed at using the Destroyer in a subtle and anonymous manner.

"Tell me, Dark Knight...excuse me, Destroyer, do you recognize this item?" Padma said with a sneer, the Dragon was losing influence by the minute and as she fell, he planned on rising in her place.

"Hey!" Faith yelled out before her mistress could stop her. "That's my knife, Mr. Frenchie. I want that back, it was gift from a friend." .

"Interesting," Padma said as he twirled the black blade in his hands. "This is the weapon used to murder Meyer. One of my animals in the police force stole it from the evidence room for me." His surprise announcement caused exactly what he had hoped. Morte was yelling for restitution. Belle was scheming a new plan but it looked like she was measuring the Dragon for the first time and Traveler templed his fingers in front of his face as he stared at the slayer.

The dragon stood and pulled Faith to her feet. "This hearing is a farce. We are leaving," she announced and ignored the Praetor's commands as they left. She immediately went to her chambers and told Rollo and Varden to be ready for an invasion. It was possible that one of her council mates would try to take what was hers by force now that her standing and the protection garnered from that was lacking.

"I better get that knife back," Faith said with child-like sullenness.

The impact of the Dragon's slap cracked through the hall and everyone stopped what they were doing to watch.
"Shut up you stupid whore! I told you to leave him til I was ready!" she screamed at the girl. "I should have never marked you, death would have been a mercy for your stupidity." She walked away in a rage and slumped down into her throne. How the girl had hidden her actions, she had no clue, but she would find out. No more sugar and sweetness, the markings could be ruled through hatred and pain, she vowed as Jessica came to her hand and cried again as the enraged Dragon tore at her neck and fed on her.

"I think it's time we had a little talk...Mommy," Faith said with dark intent, causing everyone to look at her. She watched the Dragon...Enys raise her bloody face from her pomme as she realized the marks had snapped with the slap. Faith could still feel them but it barely took any effort to stop Enys's attempt to regain control. She went to the wall the bitch's other trophies were on and took down the Scythe. She smiled as Enys stood and pushed Jessica away from her. Faith walked to a shelf and slid her repaired jacket on to cover her nakedness.

"Faith, you do not want to do this," the Dragon said as she slowly walked towards the slayer. "I will see your intentions as you think them. You can not win. Faith, child, what I said was in anger and I am sorry. Come to me, child, come to your mother."

"Go fuck yourself, Mommy. Let's do this."