The ten thirty bus from LA pulled into the station in Sunnydale. The driver who ran this shift at least five times a week relaxed as everyone walked into the bus without the slightest hint of discomfort. A few of the passengers were curious about the crosses that were hanging around the entrance of the bus, but those few who were didn't ask the driver.
After everyone had boarded he locked the door and he prepared to leave the station. As the bus started to move a passenger in the back woke up and yelled, "Is this the Sunnydale stop?"
Stopping the bus the driver shouted back. "If this is your stop you have sixty seconds to get your stuff. If you take longer you're going to be taking a trip to Oxnard." The longer the bus stayed in Sunnydale the more danger the bus driver and his passengers were in.
The man grabbed his bag and walked up to the front. As he passed the driver he handed him a hundred dollars. "Thanks for stopping again. By the way you have a nice protection system on the entrance."
Eric Hunter walked away from the bus he was busy thinking about what he had to do in this town. 'First, I've got to find a place to stay at. After that I should probably go see how the lieutenant is doing. The last time I heard from him his wife was pregnant. Of course that was about seventeen years ago. Then I have to find that pair the killed Shelley.' At the thought of his wife he stopped himself and pulled out her picture from his bag.
A voice from the shadows interrupted his musings. "Ah, it looks like dinner has decided come to us tonight. Isn't that right, Di?"
Eric quickly put the picture of his dead wife back into the bag. As he looked up he saw two vampires coming out of the alley in front of him. "Now make this easy on yourself blood bag and just let us get what we want."
"Sorry Fang but laying down and playing dead ain't my style." Eric pulled his gun from the hostler in the top of his travel bag. Aiming fast he shot twice at the loud mouth. Both hollow round shots impacted the vampire's ribcage and shattered the bones. Pieces of the bullet and the ribs shredded the vampire's heart.
Before Eric could shift his aim to Di, she kicked the gun out of his hands. For two minutes the pair exchanged blows but it was clear to Eric that if he didn't think of something fast he would die. Feigning a sweep kick he jumped towards his duffle bag. Grabbing a spray can he lit his lighter and had a makeshift flamethrower. Using this he let a blast go into Di's face.
The flames spread quickly and Di vanished into ashes. Picking his supplies up Eric left behind him two piles of ash and an empty spray can. "Tomorrow it's your turn Spike! I owe that much to Shelly."
Xander Harris watched as his parents' coffins slowly disappeared in to the cold dark hole. His parents murdered by the vamipress, Drusilla in revenge, because of his assistance in killing her lover Spike.
He had hunted her down the next night and dusted her before she could cause more harm to him or his friends. That night also saw the return of Jesse McNally, Xander's childhood friend.
Jesse had left town to find where his parents had moved. He would return to Sunnydale High. The class of 99 would have its old class clown back. While this had helped his sense of justice he knew that in the end the death of his parents couldn't have been predicted or stopped. All he could do was keep fighting against the darkness to prevent something like this from happening to someone else.
As the people that had attended the funeral drift away, Xander's grandfather Robert Smith went to his daughter's grave. "Jean we might not have agreed on your choice for a husband, but we shouldn't have ignored you because of it. If' you'll let me I will try to make up for it with your son."
Soon the only people left besides Xander and John Smith was a man neither had seen before. The man waited his turn then approached the grave of Anthony Harris. "Hey Lieutenant, it's Hunter. Who would've guessed that after everything we went through you would have bought it from a vamp? While I'm in town I'll keep an eye on your kid. Figure it's the least I can do for you. Tell Shelly Eric says 'I LOVE YOU' when you see her."
After the funeral Xander walked around the town. Now that he had finished with the funeral he knew he must decide what he would do with his situation. He could probably get a part time job and have himself legally emancipated. His grandparents had offered to let him move in with them but they lived in LA. He could also move into a group home in Sunnydale but he wouldn't be able to help on patrol much. As he got nearer to Giles' apartment he decided that maybe Giles could help him decide what to do.
Rupert Giles was enjoying a nigh of relaxation for the first time in a week. For now he was in his favorite chair reading a book. He was just starting to lose himself in the book when the phone rang, He sighed, put down his book, picked up the phone and answered, "Rupert Giles speaking."
"Mr. Giles, this is Ian Quinn from London and Barnes regarding the paperwork you asked prepared. The paper work for the options that you have asked for are ready, and all that we need to start either process is your signature and that of the concerned party. If the boy chooses to be legally emancipated he would need to be employed and have the grandparents sign those forms."
In the past week Giles had taken the liberty of having one of the local law offices draw up papers to either legally emancipate Xander or to allow him to become Xander's guardian until his eighteenth birthday.
"Yes, I am certain that if Alexander chooses to be emancipated he will be employed very rapidly. Thank you for your swiftness in this matter. I will have to discuss the options with Xander tonight. Most likely we will have decided which option to choose and be in your offices around noon." Giles knew that Xander would have to decide on which option he would take, if he didn't he could very well be taken from Sunnydale by Social Services.
"Your welcome, Mr. Giles. I will be looking forward to meeting you in person tomorrow. I hope that you have a good afternoon sir." With that the connection terminated.
As he returned to reading his book he thought 'Well Xander I've set up your options so that you can stay in Sunnydale. Now if you would get here so I can tell you which options you have to stay here without going to the Martin's group home. Only you can decide which option you want to take, I know which one I would prefer. Now I'll just read until you return and hopefully Kendra will be patrolling long enough for us to talk.'
After twenty minutes of reading his phone rang again. This time the voice on the other end of the line was very familiar to him. "Mr. Giles, I believe you know my name already. Just calling to give you a little warning about what is being said in the council. Since you now have two slayers under your guidance the Inner circle has decided that you should have an assistant to help you train them. Three weeks after the assistant arrives Mr. Travers will visit to decide how effective your training of the slayers is."
"May I ask the name of my assistant then?" Giles asked one of his oldest friends.
"No, even I don't know whom has been selected to that position. Just so you know if something should happen to Mr. Travers in Sunnydale, our bosses wouldn't frown upon it. Good bye and good luck in your test my old friend." With that the voice on the other end hung up.
"Well this is just bloody great." Giles knew that any assistant the Council would assign would be a tradition bound automaton unwilling to accept that both of the slayers would be aided by their friends and family. Giles started to polish his glasses as he thought of ways to force a positive result of what he had just been told.
The power structure of the vampire population of Sunnydale was in chaos. In the past six months three master vampires had perished before the slayers. In this chaos a war between would be masters was being fought. More vampires were gathering forces to attack others of their kind that wouldn't fight with them. Many ordinary vampires were taking advantage of the chaos and gathering followers of their own. In this chaos an ordinary vampire by the name of Marcus knew that his time to rise had finally come.
Marcus looked at the three vampires that had attended this meeting. The deaths of three previous master vampires at the hands of the slayer had scared away many of his kind from Sunnydale. The three vampires that had chosen to attend this meeting knew that Marcus planned to do something with the slayer. They decided to see what their chances would be before pledging their loyalty to him.
"The slayer and her friends have become a true threat to all the vampires in Sunnydale. Not only have they managed to eliminate William the Bloody and Drusilla, they have utterly destroyed the master. With the four of us here what can we do against those who have a success record like this. The answer is nothing. We need more of our kind and we need to learn to fight together. The slayer and her friends win through their teamwork, while all those that fight them fight as individuals."
"You know that right now out there vampires are fighting for control of this town. Let the others distract the slayer from us. Let us build our numbers and let us learn to fight together. Are their any questions?"
"Yeah, why should we follow you?" A dark skinned vampire named Leroy asked. They had both been turned about the same time and he didn't like Marcus's attitude of superiority that much.
Marcus approached Leroy slowly with a smile on his face. "First, I'm the one who came up with the plan. Second, I'm the one who will beat the slayer and drink her blood." With a blinding speed he reached out and snapped Leroy's neck. "Third, I'll kill anyone who challenges my authority. Is that understood?" Turning to see the remaining two vampires nodding their heads in fear Marcus turned and walked out the room. "You two your goal is to turn twenty fighters into vampires. You have two weeks. We attack in three. After that we will run this town."
Mayor Richard Wilkins III was in the middle of a put when his aid Allan Finch barged into the office with a tape and a file folder. "Mr. Mayor we might have a little problem.
"Well, Allan since you ruined my attempt at making par, why don't you tell me what is so important. I just hope it is as important as you made it sound." The mayor didn't really like to be interrupted when he was practicing his golf game and his annoyance at it clearly showed to his long time aid.
"Mr. Mayor you asked me to tell you if any vampire hunters of good measure come to town. Recently there have been rumors that the one called the Hunter has moved his latest base of operations to Sunnydale. About a couple weeks ago he was seen in Los Angeles. I dug a little deeper and tracked him through San Francisco, Phoenix, and Dallas. The first records we have on him come from the Boston area though. In every city that we have confirmed sightings of him he leaves behind a small group of well trained hunters to fight when he leaves." Allan hated having to tell his boss news like this. It always ended up with something unpleasant having to be done.
Richard Wilkins knew that Allan was a good aid, but the way he delivered his reports on the activities of the slayer and her friends could sometimes be a little boring. "So you're saying that the Hunter could be in town? If so what is he here for and who is he after?"
"Sir, it's a rough guess but it could be possible that he is after Spike and Drusilla. In most of the places we have confirmed reports of him being those two had been there recently."
"Well Allan, we could inform the Hunter that his prey was taken out in the past two weeks. But if we do tell him it would cause him to stay in Sunnydale to verify this. Best to let him search the town and find nothing. If he happens to make contact with the slayer that would be unfortunate but we can deal with that. Anything else important that I should know about?"
"No Mr. Mayor that's all that I have so far. There is some new vampire trying to assert his position over others but I don't think it is very important to us yet. If it becomes serious perhaps we could inform the slayer about it discretely."
"Well, shucks, you've done a good job Allan. Guess I won't have to use your daughter as this months sacrifice to my pet Lurconis. If we have to tell the slayer about this new vampire make sure she can't trace it back to us. We can't afford for her to find out about my ascension next year can we? You can go now Allan." The mayor turned back to his game as Finch walked out of the room.
Xander stood outside the door to the place he had called home for the past week and even though he didn't want to go inside he slowly opened the door and walked inside. Giles had been extremely helpful to him in the year and a half that he had known the British man. Xander knew that this would be one of the most serious conversations that he would have with him. Moving into the living room he sat down in the couch before speaking. "Giles, can we talk? It's kinda important."
Giles was surprised when he heard Xander's voice, since he was engrossed in his book. "Yes, Xander what about?" He had a very good idea about what Xander wanted to talk about, but decided that Xander should be the one to broach the subject.
"Well, Giles since my parents died I've been thinking about what I should do. It's not like Social Services would allow me to stay with you permanently. I know that I could get legally emancipated, but then I would have to get a job at night and that would cut back into the time I have with the Scoobs. Other than that there is the Sunnydale Children's Home, but if I did that I wouldn't be able to patrol or research with you guys at all. I can't really think of any other things that I could do that would allow me to at least stay in Sunnydale."
"Well, Xander I have been thinking along those lines also but I have another option that you could consider. Besides being emancipated, you and your grandparent's could appoint a temporary guardian for you. If you want I would be your guardian until your eighteenth birthday. If you don't but would like a different guardian, we could probably convince Mrs. Summers to take you in. I took the liberty of having papers prepared for either option." Finishing the prepared speech Giles looked at Xander, the young man was in a state of shock.
"You mean that I could stay here if I wanted to?" Xander asked when he had recovered enough.
"If you do choose to stay here there is one condition that I have. I have looked at your transcripts and I know that you can do better than what is indicated in them. Other than that I will make rules as we go."
"What about Kendra? I thought that she was staying with you." Xander wondered what would happen to his friend if he accepted the offer to stay with Giles. If the both of them could stay then he would accept the offer. Otherwise there was always Buffy's house."
"Kendra will be staying in the room that the two of you have shared for the past week. Since I have no other bedrooms right now you will share the room with her until the three of us can change the study upstairs into a bedroom for you. I hope the two of you will not abuse my trust in you."
In the past week Giles had watched the pair help each other through the hard times that both were experiencing. While they weren't a couple yet Giles knew that someday soon they would be.
"Giles right now abusing your trust is the farthest thing from my mind right now." Xander was shocked by what Giles had just said again. True he had started to feel attached to Kendra right now he had to many other things on his mind to think about a relationship with her. Besides in his opinion it would take a miracle for her to return any of feelings he could have for here. He'd probably end up as her best male friend. It would be his relationship with Buffy all over again.
"Sorry, Xander but I felt that it had to be said. Am I to assume that you wish to stay here?"
"Yeah, Giles as long as I don't have to call you dad or anything. So what do we need to get the paper work to go through?"
"All that we would need from you would be your signature. I will also need you to contact your grandparents and let them know what you wish to do. Since they are currently your legal guardians I would have to have them sign the papers. Other than that I think everything else is done."
"Well, in that case I guess that I should call my grandparents. Do you mind if I use your phone?" When Giles nodded Xander went into the kitchen and dialed in his grandparents number.
Since Giles couldn't here much of what was being said in the kitchen he decided to wait and see what the Smith's reaction would be to the situation. After five minutes Xander poked his head around the corner. "Giles they want to talk with you."
Handing the phone to Giles Xander walked out of the apartment to sit outside and watch people enjoy the afternoon. That and he needed some time to himself. It seemed unreal that he would be living with Giles, but he could get used to it. In the past week he had been on an emotional roller coaster. Now that he had a place to stay maybe things would calm down enough that he could tell the group what happened the night he got his revenge.
A ringing in his pocket distracted him. One of the things that he had managed to talk Giles into was a way that the group could get help from the others if they ever got into trouble. Pulling out an older cell phone he wondered who could be calling. 'Right now only two people know this number. Kendra wouldn't use it unless it was an emergency so it has to be Jesse.'
Answering the phone he spoke first. "Hey Jesse, where are you at man?"
"How'd you know it was me Xand?"
"Easy Kendra wouldn't call unless she ran into something she couldn't handle and since it's still daytime I doubt it would be her."
"Oh. Anyway I'm on my way back. My folks are glad to see that I'm still kicking around. Don't think they'll move back to the hellmouth though. Anyway I'll be back in about an hour. I'll meet you and the others at Giles place?"
"So what's the plan on letting Buffy and Willow know your back?"
"Figure just seeing me will be a surprise enough for them. Just make sure that Buffy doesn't try to attack me. The last time we saw each other wasn't one of the best times."
"Jesse, that wasn't you man it was the demon."
"Yeah, I know. Being a vampire for a day though was a big reason why I chose to come back though. Was surprised when He asked if I would help you though. Anyway I'll call Kendra and let her know what's up. See you in an hour, Xand."
While Xander and Giles were talking another pair of teenagers were talking about Xander. "Willow, didn't you see the way that Xander acted at the earlier? He's been acting weird all week."
"Buffy, don't you think that Xander is entitled to acting a little weird considering what he's been though in the last week? Besides what's wrong with the way he's been acting?"
"He hasn't been mourning. His parent's died and he's hardly shed a tear over it. That's what I think is a little weird. I know if it was my mom I would be destroyed, but he's not." Buffy asked her best friend.
"Simple Buffy if it was your mom that died Xander would be destroyed also. His parents weren't even close to being in your mom's league." Willow replied.
Buffy thought about Willow's answer for a second and decided to change the subject. "So what do you think of Kendra?"
"I don't like her Buffy, she's to much of a robot for the council, besides with her around Xander barely even talks with me."
"Wills she's loosened up some in the past week. Give it some time and she'll be all right. Sounds like you jealous that she might take Xander's away from you. Look at it this way Willow; Kendra is most definitely not Cordelia. Anyway lets see what my mom's doing."
The pair walked into the house of Joyce Summers and looked around for Joyce. Finding her in the kitchen they found that she wasn't alone, Kendra was with her. Normally this wouldn't be an unusual sight, but the pair were both wearing aprons. "Now, Kendra we just have to wait for about ten minutes and then the cookies should be done. Hopefully they'll turn out better than Buffy's do, the last time she tried she cooked them so long they nearly caught fire."
"Mom, why did you have to tell Kendra about that? What my mother failed to mention is that I was only seven at the time." About this time Kendra's phone started to ring cutting Buffy little rant off.
Answering the phone Kendra walked into the living room so the others could talk for a little while. Willow was glaring at her until she walked out the door. "So Mrs. Summers, how come you never told me any of Buffy's cooking stories?"
"Well Willow, I would but you never came over to try to cook anything. That's usually the best time to tell those stories. Since Kendra moved here she wanted to be able to cook for Giles sometimes. If you girls want I could teach you both how to cook. Now Buffy, how was patrol last night."
"I swear mom you find out about what I do at night and you turn into another Giles. The Vampires have been awfully quite since last week. Just a couple new vamps last night."
Kendra walked back into the room after her call was finished. "Buffy, Willow apparently there is a meeting at Giles apartment in thirty minutes. Do you wish to walk there together?" Buffy and Willow both agreed and walked outside. Turning around in the doorway Kendra asked Joyce to tell her how the cookies turned out.
"If they are good I'll bring some over to your meeting. That way you kids will have something to snack on."
"Thanks Joyce, we'll see you there." Joining the other to teens they started to walk towards Giles apartment. About halfway to their destination Buffy and Kendra both felt someone or something watching them. Slowly looking around them they both couldn't find anything near them. Since they couldn't find anything they continued towards Giles.
Two blocks away a figure sat in a tree muttering to himself. "That was to fricken close. How the hell did those girls get a hit that I was here?" Since he had found those two fighting five vampires and winning hands down three nights ago he had been curious about them. "Oh well, guess it's just another one of the mysteries of this damn town that I'll find out." Five minutes after the girls had turned a corner the figure jumped out of the tree silently.
"So Kendra what is the meeting going to be about? You know give your fellow slayer a heads up on anything that could happen." Buffy was nervous about the meeting for some reason that she couldn't quite pin down.
"Apparently, Xander and Giles have decided that what happened the night Drusilla died should be told. Just do me a favor and think before you do anything. Sometimes our instincts are wrong about things."
"Ok, Kendra you know more about what's going on than your letting me know. Tell me."
"I can't Buffy. I told them that I would keep everything a secret until they decided to tell you and Willow."
"Ok, fine then. Willow you have something to say?"
"Why is Xander telling you his secrets and not me? You've only been here a week."
"Because, I was there when it happened Willow. If you were there then you would know to." Kendra was beginning to be annoyed by all the questions they were asking. Thankfully it only took five more minutes of interrogation before they arrived at Giles. Since she lived there she just walked in leaving Willow and Buffy behind.
"Geez, Willow you could have backed off on the questions a little. I think that you were a little harsh with her. Think about this Willow would you rather not have Xander as a friend because of the way you act towards her?"
"You don't think that Xander would let our friendship die over her do you?" Willow was shocked at Buffy's suggestion that Xander would pick Kendra instead of her.
"Right now Willow I don't know who Xander would pick, but they are friends so I would be careful. Would you take the chance to get to know her before you put her into the same class as Cordelia? Who knows you two might get along?"
Xander was waiting just inside the door for them to get inside. Since Kendra had gone directly to her bedroom without saying a word he was curious about what had been said on the way there. Listening to Buffy and Willow talk Xander was beginning to get angry at Willow.
When Buffy finished talking with Willow she went inside leaving the redhead alone for a little bit. She saw that Xander was waiting for them to come inside and wondered how much of what they had said. "Hey Buff, how's it going?"
"Not bad Xander. What about you?" Buffy noticed that Xander was not looking at her but at Kendra's room.
"I'm fine. I don't know about Kendra though. When she got here she was about to hit something or someone. What did Willow say to get her so wound up?"
"She just asked a lot of questions about the secret that you are going to be telling us today and why you told it to Kendra and not her. She was about to try her resolve face when we got here."
"Hey Buff, why don't you go into the living room and sit down. I've got to talk with Willow for a second." With that Xander walked outside and waited until his friend since kindergarten noticed that he was watching her. "Why did you have to push it Willow? Is it because she's the new one to the gang or what?"
"Yes, Xander it is because she's only been here a little over a week and I've only been your friend since we were six! Why couldn't you tell me what's been going on the past week? Why the secrets?" Willow was almost yelling now.
"Willow calm down, your right that I kept secrets from you. As for how Kendra knew them well she was there when it happened. I asked her to keep it a secret until I could tell you what happened. Which if you didn't notice was what this little meeting is all about." Xander heard the sound of a car approaching and looked at his watch. 'Ah, crap Jesse, of all the times to show up early it had to be now.'
"Willow it wasn't just my secret to be kept, whatever you see just relax ok." The car that Xander had heard pulled up to the curb and the engine turned off. Willow was to busy wondering what was going on to notice that the person in the car was slowly walking up to the two of them. "Hey Willow, Xand, long time no see." Jesse said to his friends.
Willow hearing a familiar voice turned around to see who it was. After about five seconds reality kicked in. "Jesse?" That's all she could say before she fainted from shock and was caught by her best friends.
"Welcome back Jesse." Xander said. "How was your trip?" That was all Xander got out before he noticed the form of Buffy Summers running out the door towards them.