A Matter of Family

Chapter Two


The pair arrived at Giles' apartment seconds before Willow and Tara. When the four entered they were met with a very frustrated Watcher and an unhappy Dawn demanding answers.

"Dawn, please," he said, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I promise I will explain everything, and answer all of your questions. But I would really prefer to do it only once, and there just is not time right now. Once we have you and Xander protected, then and only then will I answer all your questions."

"Listen to the Watcher, Bit. This is going to be very long and complicated, and right now there just isn't the time to get into it. We have to get out of here, we have no way of knowing how much other people know right now. We can't take any chances."

"Quiet right. Thank you Spike. Now if you will just give me a minute, I will hopefully be able to contact someone to help in this matter." Giles walked to his fireplace and picked a soft leather pouch from the mantle.

"Um, Giles. Not to sound totally stupid or anything, but why do you have a fire place? We're in California. And, ya know what...I don't remember ever seeing it before. I would think that I would remember something like that," Xander commented while the others, except Spike, nodded in agreement.

A twinkle came to Giles' eye. "Just wait and see, my dear boy." Giles removed a handful of powder from the pouch and threw it into the fireplace, while he yelled "Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!"

A few seconds later, green fire leaped from the fire place and in its center was an old man with long hair, and a long flowing beard. "Damn, my father looks like Gandalf," Dawn said in a stage whisper. Spike snorted, while the others chuckled quietly.

"I do say, who is this? Who activated the floo?" the floating head inquired.

"I did headmaster," Giles answered, standing directly in front of the apparition.

"Rupert Giles. My look at you. Not the rebellious young teen anymore I see. Looks like you have produced quiet the family. Congratulations."

Giles paled. "No...no...these are not my children. Well, rather they are my children, but they are not MY children," he babbled, polishing his glasses feverishly while the "children" all chuckled.

"It is quiet all right, young man. But I am afraid that I do not have the time to chat at the moment. Some rather disturbing situations have just arisen and we have our hands full. I will contact as soon as I can Rupert."

"Oi! Albus, that disturbing situation wouldn't have something to do with names suddenly appearing on a few rather prestigious family trees, now would it?"

"What?...How did?...Who said that?" the head asked looking around at the group.

"I did," Spike answered stepping to the front.

"By Merlin. William is that you?"

"Yay, its me Alb. We have a bit of a situation here ourselves, which relates directly to your current situation."

"But, how? You disappeared completely a few years after we graduated. The last anyone ever heard of you, you were chasing after some muggle girl in London. You don't look like you've aged a day."

Spike flinched at the reminder of his past. "Things didn't work out with the girl. Was found by a vampire."

"Oh my dear boy. Why didn't you come to us when it happened?" Dumbledore inquired gently. "You know you would have been protected."

Spike shook his head. "Wasn't that simple. But its a long story that we do not have time to get into. I'll explain it all later. Right now, we have some long lost relatives that need protecting, more so than you even imagine. And it's going to take even longer to explain everything to them, than my own story. We need to get to Hogwart's as soon as possible, they need protection. We're on the Hellmouth Alb. One of them was born and raised here, and has no training. We only discovered today that he is a wizard." Spike was visibly twitching in his nervousness.

The rest of the group would swear that the green of the fire paled at that announcement. "I'll be there immediately. Please step away from the fireplace." No sooner had the group stepped back than an old man suddenly emerged. He was fairly tall, with a long silver beard and long silver hair. He was wearing a shiny silver and purple robe with a matching pointy hat. His blue eyes twinkled behind half moon glasses, as he took in the group.

"Now that's a truly neat trick. Why haven't we had that trick, Giles? It would sure as hell cut down on all the running all over that we have to do around here. And did I mention that it is just neat?"

Giles sighed in exasperation. "Yes, that is 'neat', Xander. We have not had use of it, because as far as I know, this is the only fireplace here connected to the floo network. Plus, none of you were wizards, at least that's what I thought, and there are rules about non-wizards knowing."

Xander stiffened at the reminder of the isolationist attitude of the wizards. "We will discuss the whole secrecy thing later Giles. You know how I feel about shit like that. Especially after the birthday from hell Buffy had. We will definitely be discussing this. But right now, it seems we have more urgent things to take care of. But, I won't forget." He said, in a cold hard voice.

"Damn, soldier boy is in control," Willow mumbled. Dawn nodded, Tara looked confused, while Giles and Spike both looked uncomfortable.

Albus watched the by-play with a calculating look in his blue eyes. This was going to prove to be very interesting indeed. There was obviously a great deal of history within the group. From the dates that appeared on his family tapestry, it was not hard for him to determine that the youngest girl, Dawn her name was, was his 'daughter'. While the young woman radiated wizard power, there was something under that that he could not figure out, something much more powerful. The young man called Xander was undoubtedly the one that had appeared on the Black tapestry that had sent Sirius into a fit. The young man was emitting a typhoon of controlled anger, hurt, and betrayal, but under all of that was love, concern, and protectiveness for those in this room, and a determination Albus had rarely seen before, let alone in someone so young. William he knew well from their days as students, and he remembered Rupert as a very intelligent student, even if he did pick rather questionable friends, in particular Ethan Rayne. That left the redhead and the blonde. He had yet to catch their names, and while he could tell they were not wand witches, power flowed off the two in waves.

"Well, it seems that we should move as quickly as possible. Rupert, I am going to disconnect your floo. We can not take the chance of anyone being able to follow us from here. I'll make a portkey and we can return to Hogwart's immediately, and then we can all get some questions answered," Dumbledore said.

"What's a portkey?" Willow asked. Three other pairs of anxious eyes were glued to the Headmaster, waiting for an answer.

"Its a way of travel for wizards. Anyone holding the portkey will be delivered to a designated location. It is like the floo. However, to move this many people by floo would leave a rather large magical signature. It will be much safer to disable Rupert's floo, and then travel as a group by portkey."

The group all considered this for a moment, and then nodded in agreement. Before Dumbledore could say anything else however, Xander spoke up.

"Sir, were you having any trouble finding us?"

Dumbledore actually looked embarrassed at the question. "Well, young man, we had not been able to find you before Rupert contacted us, if that is what you mean."

"No, that's not what I mean. Obviously you hadn't found us before hand. That was not what I asked. I asked if you were having trouble finding us. Did it feel like you were being blocked, or just hadn't found us yet?" Xander's dark chocolate eyes never left the face of the wizard in front of him.

Dumbledore actually felt some of his calm fleeing him, trapped by the glare of the young man before him. He was much to astute. Dumbledore did not want to answer the very direct question, but had a defeating feeling that if he tried to avoid it, he would not like the outcome. With a sigh he answered, "Yes, we were having trouble. It felt as if the locating spell KNEW you were there, just not where THERE was. Why do you ask?"

"So, do you think that Moldy and anyone else that would be looking for us would have the same problem?" Xander questioned.

"Most likely. Yes, they would be having the same problem as we were. We simply could not find you."

"So, do you think we might have an hour or so?"

Dumbledore assessed the young man curiously. "Most likely, young man. If not longer. Why do you ask? The sooner we get you behind the wards at Hogwart's the better."

"Because we can't leave yet."

"W...w...why not, Xan?" Tara asked. Everyone one else held the same puzzled expression as her.

"Come on guys. You know the answer to this. We CANNOT leave the Hellmouth unguarded. We've done a good job the last couple of months covering for her, but if we leave.....we all know what's going to happen. Plus, there is a problem with Anya right now, and there is no way in hell I'm leaving here until I know its protected."

The rest of the group all shared nervous glances. With the revelation of their current crisis no one had given the Hellmouth a second though. No one save Xander that is.

"I guess we could contact...contact Angel and his people," Willow suggested.

"Sure, that will work, until he gets all groiny with someone," Xander replied. He held up his hand to stop Willow's reply. "Its not because its Angel. Yeah, I can't stand him, but I do know that he's on the good side, for now. He's not reliable, Wills. Who's to say he won't give in at a moment of weakness and loose the soul again. Plus, the soul is there by a spell, spells can be broken, and then its Angelus on the hellmouth with no Slayer. I as much as I don't like Deadboy, he is an ally. But he is only as good an ally as the person ready to take him out if need be. You know I'm right on this Wills...Giles you too. Its NOT personal, its common sense. He's a great ally as long as he's leashed, but the leash is just to easy to slip to leave him here alone."

"Oh, and you are just so willing to accept Spike's help now?" Giles inquired.

Xander studied Spike for a long, hard minute before replying. "Yes I am Giles. And I'll tell you why. Spike is pure demon. Sure, he has that chip, but it only prevents him from attacking us directly. He could have gotten other demons to try to take us out, but he hasn't. Even in the beginning, with the chip he didn't send anyone after us. Yeah, he aligned with Adam, but he thought he was gonna get the chip out. I think, I'm starting to question that actually....the alliance, not the trying to get de-chipped," he gazed at Spike again, Spike avoided making eye contact. "The point is, Spike could have arranged to have us taken out. He didn't. He could have just left. He's a Master Vampire, he would not have starved. But, he stayed. He could have stayed and avoided us. He fought with us. Sure, he said it was for money and blood...but I'm not so sure anymore, 'cause I just really can't see being around for as long as he has and having not money stashed somewhere. After the Adam thing, he could have ran, but again he didn't. He stayed, he fought by our side. He was kidnapped and tortured by Glory, and didn't betray us. He has gone above and beyond to protect Dawn. And now, he's protecting us as a whole. He's doing all of this as a demon. I don't care if he has the fucking chip in his brain. That just stops him attacking directly, it doesn't stop and indirect attack and it doesn't make him help. Angel's SOUL is aligned with us. Once the soul slips...well, we all know what happens then. Spike is different. Spike, the demon, has aligned himself with us. And if I'm not mistaken, has pretty much claimed us as family. With Spike, I know what I'm getting, so yeah, I'm gonna trust him for now. And, much to my horror, he is quickly becoming part of my family as well."

The group turned shocked gazes on the vampire, while Spike gazed at Xander awe-struck. "Thanks pet. That means more than you could know."

Xander barely nodded in acknowledgment of the statement before he continued, "The Hellmouth MUST be protected by a Slayer. Nothing else will do."

"And just what do you propose we do, Xander?" Giles asked, mollified by the blunt response to his questioning of Spike.

"Simple, we get Faith."

"Xander, are you sure that's a good idea?" Willow asked.

"Yeah, Wills, I am. She screwed up royally. But she had problems before she ever came here. Things weren't all that great for her here either. We never really did make her part of the group. Then, she staked Finch and panicked. Can you blame her for that? We all pretty much condemned her for it, being the stupid cliquish teens we were. But, it was an accident. Buffy didn't tell her she was throwing a human at her, right in the middle of fighting vamps. Gotta remember Slayer reflexes. She was probably bringing the stake down before the guy ever landed. Then we just treat her like a pariah, while Wilkinson was playing on her need to be part of something, to be loved and accepted. I tried to reach out to her, but I was just to close to the problem, she couldn't let me in. Then she comes out of that coma, sure it had been months for us, but it wouldn't have felt like that to her. It's no wonder she went after Buffster like she did. I would too in her position, trying to find vengeance for the death of my pseudo-father-figure. But, somehow Angel was able to reach her; she won't tell me what happened there. She's trying to make up for what she's done."

"There is a rather large problem with your plan, pet. The Slayer bint your building up is in prison."

"And let's not forget that she's there for a reason, Xander. We have no way of knowing if she is truly trying to make amends," Giles intoned.

Xander studied the people in the room, and caught Willow's nod of silent agreement with his idea. "Giles, think about that for a minute. She's a Slayer. Do you really think that any prison could hold her if she did not want to be there?"

"Well, I suppose you do have a point in that."

"I know I do," Xander smirked. "Plus, I've been writing to her since a few months after she turned herself in. I really think she wants to do the right thing. Now, you just said that you could transport us to this Wart Hog place just by holding onto something, right."

"It's Hogwart's. And yes, we can transport there by using a portkey."

"Ok. Is there anyway you could use one of those things to transport directly into Faith's cell and then grab her?"

Albus answered, "Yes that would be possible as long as you know which cell she is in. I can make a portkey to go there, and have it set for a thirty second return."

Xander eyed the man suspiciously before nodding. "Thanks, I appreciate that. How soon can you have it ready?"

Giles interrupted before Dumbledore could reply, "Xander, while I understand that you feel Faith has changed, are you sure this is wise? I agree that the Hellmouth needs protecting, but maybe we should take some time to find a more well suited person to put in that position. And not go with the first thing that comes to mind. Not to mention, if we do go through with this, Faith will be hunted as an escaped felon."

"Giles," Xander sighed tiredly. "I have been trying to figure a way to get Faith out since Buffy died. Think for a second. Buffy is gone. The only other Slayer in the world is locked in prison. What do you think the Council will do?"

Giles removed his glasses and starting polishing them. "Dear lord. They will...they will try to have her eliminated so another Slayer can be called. Dear lord. Why didn't I think about that before now?"

"Don't worry about it Giles. We've all been distracted, dealing with everything. And the Council have already made two attempts on Faith since May. There have been four since she first went in. As far as her being wanted as an escapee, well they can't really go after someone if there is no record of them, can they?"

"And just how would you accomplish this, may I ask?"

"Oh, that's where Tara and I come in," Willow said. "I've hacked into all of the policing agencies and have a virus in place that will destroy all records that mention Faith Lehane. Tara has a spell ready that will take care of all paper records of her. Xan asked us months ago to figure something out. We've just been waiting for a way to get her out of the prison. We can have all records of her taken care of within fifteen minutes. I don't like Faith, and I probably never will. But to get me to help with this Xan let me read the letters she's been sending him. I really think she is trying to do things right now. Plus, I agree with Xan, the Hellmouth is just too dangerous. We've been doing fairly well, but its always quiet during the summer. We need a Slayer here, and she's the only one there is now."

Giles smiled proudly at his two charges. "Despite all of my protests in the beginning the two of you have proven to be a great help in the fight against the darkness. I have been so wrapped up in Buffy's death that I didn't even pause to think of the Hellmouth needing more protection. And yet, the two of you, barely more than children, have not only realized that the area needs more protection, but have made plans to obtain it. I cannot say how proud I am of the two of you at this moment."

Willow and Xander both ducked their heads, blushing hotly, and offering a quiet 'thanks'. Tara and Dawn beamed at the two, pride obvious in their eyes, while Spike nodded approvingly.

Dumbledore listened to the conversation intently. These young people worked with the Slayer. That in itself was astonishing. He had of course head the tales of the Slayer that had friends helping with the fight, but he had not realized that Rupert was her Watcher, and these were the young people all of the rumors were about. This was quite a surprise. And apparently Slayer Summers was dead, and yet word of this had not spread. He had no doubt it was due to the actions of the people in this room. They could prove quiet useful in the fight against Voldemort. Most astonishing was the young Xander, however. He had realized the need of a Slayer here, and had set about to make it happen. He also realized the Council of Watchers would take action to have her eliminated. The fact that the two young women had come up with a way to erase Slayer Lehane from all records was quiet impressive, especially a spell that would destroy all written record. Yes, these young people could be quite helpful indeed.

Finally, Dumbledore spoke up. "Yes, well, if you could tell me where Slayer Lehane is located, I will make the portkey."

"Ok, just a sec. Giles you're going. You're the only one with experience with one of those things. When you get there just tell her "Xander says its time" and she'll come with, no problem. And don't worry about whether or not she'll be there. They have lock down right now for a head check. Her section is always first, and they would have gone by her by now. Did I mention she is very thorough in her descriptions of her schedule?" Turning to Dumbledore he said, "She is located at the California Institution for Women in Corona, California: block D, cell number 43A."

"Thank you young man." Dumbledore produced a rather large key from his robe along with a wand. Aiming the wand at the key he said the word 'Portus' and handed the key to Giles. "I thought a key for freedom would be quiet appropriate for this. It will activate in two minutes. It will return here thirty seconds after you arrive at your destination. Make sure you are both holding the key before it activates."

"Thank you, Professor," Giles said, taking the key.

"Alright. Good luck G-man. See ya in a few," he said turning to face the witches. "Okay guys you know what to do. Willow get that laptop booted and launch the virus. Tara start your spell. Do you have everything you need for it with you?" At her shy nod, he smiled at her, then turned to Spike. "Alright, Blondie. Go gather all of the weapons stashed around here. Make sure we're stocked well, but be sure to leave plenty for Faith, especially the heavy hitter weapons. She'll need those more than we will. Down in the basement there is a large box that says Property of United States Army. That's coming with us. I trust Faith to take care of things here, but there is no way I'm leaving THAT for her. Dawn, you get the most important job. Make sure we are well stocked with chocolate and Twinkies. We're going somewhere that doesn't associate with us normal folks, we don't know how long before we can get more. Go to the store at the end of the block, but be back in fifteen minutes. Oh, here ya go," he finished handing Dawn a fifty dollar bill.

"We're on it." "Sure thing, Xan." and "Oi, who died and made you boss?" were all uttered as the others moved off to complete their tasks.

"And may I ask what you are going to be doing young man?"

Xander faced Dumbledore. "Me? I'm going to get in contact with back up for the Slayer. While a Slayer my be a force to be reckoned with they are not invincible. Until we started helping Buffy, the average life-span of a slayer was about a year, if they were good. Buffy lasted for five years, and even then she wasn't killed. She sacrificed herself so Dawn, and the rest of the world, could live. Slayers lose sight of what they are fighting for if they are kept isolated, forced to fight alone. It's something the Council has forced them to do for generations, that's why they last such a short time once they've been called. They don't see a reason to fight, all they see is the death they cause and start to welcome it. The Scoobies, that's us, we gave Buffy a reason to fight and kept her in this world. We were there every step of the way to remind her that she was a person, not just a weapon in a war. Faith needs the same kind of back up, if not more so. The Council hate that people are helping the Slayer, and that these two have cut all ties with them. Another reason to make sure Faith has back up. Not only is she fighting against demons, but she will have to watch her back from the attacks of the Council who want a new Slayer that they can control. If you'll excuse me, I have a phone call to make."

With that Xander left the room as a blue light surrounded a very proud Giles. Dumbledore listened to the boy in wonder. The youth could barely be out of his teens, and yet in less than twenty minutes he had explained his reasons for trusting a chipped vampire, for distrusting a souled vampire, for giving a rogue Slayer a second chance, and why Slayers needed to have people in their lives for support; Dumbledore could not find fault with any of his argurments. He stated a plan for retrieving said Slayer and had it implemented in moments, then sent the others off to be sure they had plenty of supplies while he was going to arrange for back up of the Slayer. The boy was quiet remarkable, and definitely a Black. Sirius was definitely in for a shock when he met his young nephew. But most importantly and most unsettling of all, Dumbledore was sure that Xander would be a great influence on his young cousin Harry. He also wondered idly what influence his 'daughter' would have on Mr. Potter. She had been quiet this whole time, but he could sense a determination in her, and the rest of this group as well for that matter, that made it very obvious she would not back down once she set her mind to something. Add in his best friend from when he attended Hogwart's, Mr. Giles, known mostly as Ripper among the wizarding world, and what he had deuced were two very powerful followers of Wicca, Wills and Tara, they were in for very interesting times indeed.


Xander returned to the living room ten minutes later to find Spike, Willow, and Tara standing well away from and arguing Slayer and Watcher. He noticed even the old wizard had retreated to a far corner of the room.

"Xander, thank god. Perhaps you can reason with her," Giles said, as soon as he spotted Xander.

Hearing his name, the dark Slayer spun to confront him. "What the hell is going on Boytoy? I'm sitting my cell, on my best behavior and the next thing I know there's this blue light and G is standing there. All he says is "Xander says its time, grab this key" and less than a minute later I'm here. THEN he tells me that ALL of you are leaving. What the fuck is going on?!"

"Hi Faith. Good to see you too. You look good, although I gotta say, prison chick is not the best look for you. Willow how's that virus going?" he asked, turning to the redhead.

"Just a few more minutes Xan. Everything recent is already taken care of. Right now its going through files in Boston."

"Good. Tara, how did the magical paper shredder go?"

Tara smiles shyly. "Good. Ev..every recorded doc...document that has th...the name Faith Le...Lehane has been destroyed. Unfor...unfortunately, I think her bir...birth certificate and soc...social security documents were des...destroyed too."

Growling, Faith grabbed his arm and spun him around to face her. "What the fuck is going on here Boytoy?! If I don't get some answers soon I'm gonna get pissed."

Xander placed his hands on her shoulders and squeezed reassuringly. "Chill. We don't have time for a meltdown. I'll tell you what I can, but it isn't much because honestly we don't know much. But ya gotta relax and listen to me, we're in a hurry here. First off Willow and Tara just destroyed every record with your name on it, whether it was on a computer or one hard file....."

Faith nodded and allowed herself to relax. Xander had become a good friend to her since she had turned herself in, and she was beginning to trust him. At least, she didn't think he was out to get her at any rate. So she focused on his words as he told her the events of the last two hours.

"Oh, I get it. You gotta take care of family and can't leave the place unguarded. I get that. I understand why you would leave me here, I don't think I would trust the lives of my family with me either," she was unable to keep the hurt out of her voice.

"Don't you fucking dare do that," Xander growled at her. "I trust you to protect the lives of all of my family, which includes everyone in this room, including yourself. If we were going up against anything else you had better believe I would be taking you with us Faith. But we're not going up against demons or vampires this time. We're going up against humans Faith."

She flinched and pulled away from him. Panic filled eyes settled on his calm, understanding face.

"Understand now? There is no way I would ever ask you to go against, and possibly have to eliminate another human. I know there is no way you could handle that. Not to mention Slayers are meant to fight the supernatural evil, not the regular human evil. What's to keep a Slayer from going over to the other side if they start killing what they were made to protect?"

Tears started to fill the dark Slayer's eyes.

"I'm not trying to be hurtful Faith. The last thing I want to do is hurt you. You've went down that path once before, and I am not going to be the cause of it happening again. Slayers can't fight human evil, you're not made for it. You fight the demonic evil to save humans, if you suddenly start going after what you are supposed to protect being a Slayer becomes meaningless. It doesn't matter if some of the worst atrocities in the world are committed by humans, a Slayer can't take the person out. You maybe able to bring them to the authorities or something, but not take them out. I have every intention of taking this asshole out Faith. You can't be part of that. You know that you can't."

A lone tear was quickly wiped of the girl's face. "Yeah, I get ya Boytoy. Thanks for understanding. But I still want more info on what's going on, and at the first sign that this guy is using demons you had better let me know. I'll be fine here on my own until you get back. Oh, and Red...Red's girl...thanks for the...well what ever it was." The two witches nodded and smiled at her.

"Don't you know me at all Faith? You're not going to be on your own. I called the AI team. They will be here tonight to stay for as long as needed to give you back up."

"I don't need back up, X."

"Bullshit. You know as well as I do you need something to keep you in the real world. Cordy bitched a blue streak about it, saying L.A. needed to be protected, but when I pointed out that if you get taken out and some evil whatsit got the hellmouth open, then there wouldn't be an L.A. to protect, she agreed, she wasn't happy about it, but she agreed. Faith, asking you to stay here to gaurd the Hellmouth....I'm not just asking you to protect my family, I'm asking you to protect the entire world. Don't forget that. I have...hehe...faith in you. I trust you."

She didn't respond for a long minute, then nodded her head slightly in thanks before saying, "Ok. It won't be so bad with Fang here. I don't know if I could handle the cheerleader alone."

"Um, yeah about that. Sir Broods-Alot took off right after Willow went to tell them about Buffy. He hasn't been seen or heard from for almost two months now. So, its just gonna be Cordy, Wes, and a guy that works with them by the name of Gunn."

"Oh it just figures that Peaches would take off with out a word. Was exactly what he did when he got the bleedin' soul. Bloody poof, who knows when he'll be back. Mean time his little minions are left to do his job for him. Great work at redemption that is," Spike ranted. Dawn placed a comforting hand on his shoulders, as she heard the rant on her return from her supply run.

"Um, excuse me, but I may be of some assistance on this issue," Dumbledore spoke up from his position along the wall.

"How?" Xander asked.

"About six weeks ago a vampire wandered into Hogsmeade, the town closest to the school. He seemed to be rather upset about something, and wasn't posing a threat to anyone at the time. Our gamekeeper, Rubeus Hagrid, took him in. He has been staying at the school helping with the care of the animals."

"Really?" Xander asked as a feral grin spread across his face. "Oh that's perfect. I'll have Angel here in a couple of days for you, Faith. Alright, we got everything we need?" Everyone nodded their head. "Alright, lets load up. Grab everything you can. Spike make sure you have a good hold on that crate. Professor, do you have a portkey ready for us?"

"Yes, I prepared it while you were in the other room. I also disable Rupert's floo. The portkey will activate in one minute. Please make sure you are touching the coffee table and whatever you are bringing held secure."

There was a quick scramble as everyone gathered round the coffee table and placed one hand on it, while the other was clutching to whatever they were bringing.

"I'll get more info to you as soon as I can Faith, I promise. By the way, under not circumstance are you to trust Anya. Don't even speak to her if you can avoid it. I told her to leave town, Giles is gonna buy out her half of the Magic Box. Or at least he is once I tell him about it. Hopefully she won't be a problem for you, but keep an eye and ear out. Remember that the AI crew will be here tonight. And don't worry about money or anything. You'll be staying here while we are gone, the rent is all paid up. You have free reign. Cordy will fill you in on some other things when she gets here. I'll be in touch as soon as possible."

"Sure thing Boytoy. Umm, just what is in the crate the bleached wonder is clinging too?"

A blue light formed around the group and they all felt a tugging sensation in their navels. Before they completely disappeared from the room Xander answered, "Rocket launcher," and was gone.

Faith stood stock still for a moment, the only words she was able to utter were, "Holy shit. I want one of those things."




AN: MY Xan wouldn't let them leave until he knew the Hellmouth was taken care off. Next chapter.....Hogwart's. Lets see...what else did I mess with. Oh yeah...portkeys can be used to return with, and I set up the floo as not only a way to "call" someone, but as a "pager" system as well. Basically, I just had Giles page Dumbledore, and then he anwered. HEY! Its my fic and I need the old geezer to be able to look around....not just see the one with their head in the fire.