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Author's Chapter Notes:
many many thanks to dusty, cordy kitten and ariadne for rreviewing, they make my day better and my fingers work faster
Rona and Viv sat on Rona’s bed thinking, talking about what had been offered.

‘I don’t think I want this, the immortality,’ Viv said quietly. ‘It’s not for me at all.’

‘I don’t think it will be for many of us, we’re not dark or light enough. I think that there will be few who say yes to it and even fewer who will be accepted. I think it’s the chosen few only. The rest of us will stay human, thank goodness. It’s not what I want either. I love this life, but when I’m thirty? Forty, seventy? Do I still want to be facing demons every time I walk out the door? Don’t know how Buffy’s done it for so long, I mean it was great at the start but it’s getting old now. I want college, boyfriends; you know, a life.’

‘Yeh, I know what you mean.’ Viv nodded her agreement.

Xander lay on his own bed. He’d made the call through to Riley Finn, who wasn’t happy at the news that there was another big bad on the way. He and Sam had hoped that they could at least have the baby in peace. They would be arriving in just a few hours. Sam was coming as well: she had another two months to go but it would be safer for her to be surrounded by people who knew what was coming and how to defend themselves, than sitting in some high security prison where a mage could just pop in and kill her.
Cathy and Mary would be in LA by morning. It was all coming together. They would need a medic though, a good one; Cordy had promised that one would arrive. Xander was disturbed by the sound of shouting in the main foyer, and put his head out of the doorway. No, just voices: he could hear Willow, Dawn and Buffy. The best thing was that Buffy was laughing, real, proper laughing. It sounded great, it sounded strange, weird, definitely unusual, but great.

Willow was preparing for the spells that were needed. Stage one was to regain the Ring of Amara and the argument that had disturbed Xander was simple…Buffy wanted to be the one to go through the gates, but she couldn’t. If she walked through, the gate would close behind her and they would need another spell at the other end to re-open it. It was far simpler for one of the others to drop through, do what was needed and come back, then Willow could close the gate from this side.

Morgana wandered up to Willow. ‘There is another way,’ she pointed out. ‘They share blood and it is a simple spell: we could teach Buffy how to open her own doorway. She just needs a few drops of Dawn’s enchanted red stuff and she can step to wherever she wants.’

The next three days were spent wasted try to teach Buffy to cast the simple spell.

Buffy was getting angrier and angrier at the pronunciation of the Latin, she just could not do it, it was impossible. Her tongue wouldn’t shape the words, her mind couldn’t concentrate, this was definitely not her skill.
Buffy picked up a sofa and threw it across the room as she got more and more frustrated at something that should have been so easy. The sofa flew across the room and smashed against the far wall as though thrown by a hurricane.

Riley and Sam had arrived to see the final act of destruction with pieces of wood flying all around the foyer of the Hotel. What ever had annoyed the Slayer, it was a biggy.

‘Stupid Latin, stupid portals, stupid magic!’ They could hear Buffy cursing from the front door. Sam and Riley gave each other a ‘look’: they knew better than to distract Buffy when she was venting and in Sam’s condition they didn’t want the possibility of an accidental mistake.

‘Colonel Finn?’ One of the soldiers said to get his attention. Riley Finn was more interested in watching Buffy lose her temper than listening to his very junior officer. She was far stronger than he ever realised. Even when he’d been on the drugs from the Initiative he’d never have been able to pick up the furniture and throw it around like that.

‘Colonel, I can stun her if you want, she looks loco, but it’s only a little girl. Is she some kind of demon? Should I shoot her?’

‘No, just leave her alone Johnson, she’s just mad at the moment.’ Finn said quietly, not wanting to draw attention to their arrival just yet.

‘Crazy more like it,’ he replied.

‘Johnson.’ Finn was getting a little annoyed. ‘That little girl, as you called her, has kept this world safe for nearly ten years. She was the one that took down the atrocity of the Initiative: she took out Adam on her own. That is Buffy Summers.’

Dawn had been watching Buffy’s temper tantrum with a grin on her face; at last, something she could be better at than big sister!! She held a small knife to her finger, one drop of blood fell on the floor and she whispered the words she’d heard Buffy try again and again to say. The portal opened immediately, the swirling colours hypnotising the irate slayer.

‘Seems all those language lessons paid off!’ she laughed in delight at her success.

Buffy looked offended at the portal. If it had been alive the look on her face alone would have turned it to stone.

‘So you can open them, how does that help?’

‘Simple, we go together. I step through first, and open the next portal home as you’re coming through closing the things behind you.’

‘No, no way, you are not putting yourself in danger like that.’ Buffy started shouting, still unaware they had an audience. Willow stood to one side quietly, not wanting to interfere between sister and sister.

‘Buffy, I’m older now than you were when you were called. Anyway, Sister, it’s not your choice, I go. SAM!!!!’ she yelled, noticing the newcomers entering the front doors. There were quite a nice bunch of soldiers with her old friends: Dawn really liked the look of some of the scenery now. They were all young and fit, in every sense of the word.

Sam opened her arms wide and hugged the girl. Willow and Buffy hugged onto Riley Finn tightly.

‘Breathing becoming a problem here Slayer,’ he managed to gasp.
‘Sorry Riley, forgot, glad you’ve come though, things are getting hot here.’

‘Yep, we know. Orders were that I have to report to you and help in any way we can.’

‘You’re taking orders from me?’ She giggled, ‘that’d be a first.’

‘Yeh well I’ve learnt my lesson, but I think you may have to teach it to some of the newbies.’ He nodded his head in the direction of the twenty or so men who had entered behind him.

‘One at a time or all together?’ Buffy asked cheekily. She then yelled at the top of her voice, ‘Xander, Kennedy, Viv, Rona: company!!!’

Riley winced. He had no doubt that Buffy could take on all his men in one go, he just didn’t want their egos that badly bruised.

‘Sam, wonderful to see you. We have set up a room for you and Riley, but didn’t make any up for your crew; we didn’t realise you were bringing re-enforcements,’ Dawn said, still hanging on to her email friend.

‘It’s alright little lady, we'll look after you.’ said Johnson, the soldier that had first spoken.

Sam and Riley looked at one another and started laughing. ‘I think we've got our first volunteer to give the 'little lady' a work out, then we’ll let big sister take over,’ whispered Sam to her husband. Riley thought back to the days in Sunnydale when Buffy whipped the Initiative on her own and a grin spread across his face. This was going to be good, and was he ever that stupid? So cocky as to judge someone by how they looked? He must have been at one time, an arrogant jerk who knew all the answers. He was glad Sam had gotten that out of him.

The three slayers, hearing Buffy’s shout, came thundering down the stairs, weapons drawn, they were sure who had arrived but they weren’t going to get caught by surprise.
Xander followed, carrying a semi automatic. It wouldn’t kill all demons but would hurt ‘em enough to let the girls take over.

‘At ease men,’ shouted Riley before any trouble started ‘Good to see you all,’ he said towards the warriors on the stairs.

The gang relaxed and as they did so, so did the soldiers in the doorway.

‘We need to get unloaded Buffy, so much for black-ops-sneaky if we set up shop outside.’

Buffy nodded. ‘Drive your vans round to the rear, there is an entrance to an underground car park, and we can unload straight into the lifts. We’ll make up what, twelve rooms for everyone?’

‘The men can do that themselves,’ Sam said, ‘you’re not here to wait on them, but if you can show our Doc where he can set up shop and where we can dump our weapons I’d be grateful.’

‘Personnel weapons to be kept on you at all times, but we have a weapon store in what was the bar.’ Viv said, leading the way into the back room which had been piled high with any resources the Scoobies had found.
Ten minutes later two large vans were being unloaded of weaponry and a third of what looked like a miniature hospital. There was even a delivery kit in case Sam went into early labour.

Two of the men were struggling to lift down what appeared to be a rocket launcher from the back of the truck, it was no where near as portable as the one Buffy had used to get rid of the judge. They jumped down and lifted the box onto the floor. Johnson came across to help and they were edging it towards the elevator when Buffy and Rona turned up. Buffy picked up the box in one hand and walked towards the opening doors ready to go upstairs. Johnson was speechless. When Buffy had gone, he whispered to his friends that ‘he didn’t want to annoy the little lady, but next time he said something stupid, would they knock him out before she killed him.’ The laughter was all round when Xander and Riley joined them. They wouldn’t share the joke.





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