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Chapter 8
The younger Scoobies left the library reluctantly, but they had school in the morning. Xander was just happy to be going home to shower and sleep in a warm bed again. He had covertly watched Anyanka, and he had decided she was a very beautiful woman. He saw how condescending his future counterpart was towards her. Xander didn't like that at all. He decided if he got a chance to meet the version of her here that he wouldn't be such an ass.

Giles and Jenny did a truth spell on the dimension traveling Xander to find out the exact location he had entered this dimension. Dee and Demonic Giles left to check out not only that location, but the one where that particular Watcher had entered, too. They came back within thirty minutes to report that Xander's portal was still open, but D.G's, as they were starting to call him, was closed and opening it was impossible. The gang made plans for Anyanka to wipe Xander's memory of his visit, filling it instead with memories of Drac's brides. They would return him to him home and seal the portal on the way back to Anne and William's house.

Those that remained gathered around the table where the dimension travelers outlined the events that could happen in Sunnydale in the foreseeable future. From the detailed accounts of Angelus' actions in Anne and William's dimension, Giles knew they had to work swiftly to get the spell to reensoul Angel working. Safeguarding the gypsy was of the highest priority. Giles decided that telling Snyder there was a 'symposium' that both he and Jenny wanted to attend was the best bet. They both could travel out of Sunnydale, and out of Angelus' reach, to work on the spell.

"I want to know why they picked William to be half my DNA," Dee said. She glanced over that the blond vampire. He had let the hair grow out, so that only the tips of his hair were blond now. Dee decided she liked the look much better than the total peroxide look. "Not that I'm complaining or anything, because I'm happy it's you."

"He is the Dark Paladin, isn't he?" Anyanka announced. "The monks must have taken that into account. Otherwise, we fall back on convenience. No one else in the Slayer's circle was as powerful as Spike."

"Convenient. Where have I heard that before?" William muttered.

William, do I have to bite you, again? Anne whispered into the blond vampire's mind.

Please do, Slayer. William shivered in anticipation.

"Somehow I don't think that you were a random pick of chance, William," Giles said. "What brought you to Sunnydale in the first place?"

"Dru was sick." William shrugged his shoulders. "The mob in Prague almost killed her. I thought the Hellmouth might heal her." He acted as if nothing affected him.

"There are other Hellmouths in the world. Why Sunnydale?" Giles tapped the table to emphasize his words.

William glanced at Anne before answering Giles, "The Slayer was in Sunnydale. Figured I'd kill two birds with one stone."

"My point exactly." Giles sat back in his chair. "As Anyanka has said, your destiny is to be with Buffy. I think even if you hadn't come to Sunnydale when you did, that eventually you would have found each other."

"But would it be the same? Our 'dance', as William likes to call it, was slow and at times immensely painful," Anne said. She took William's hand in her own. "If our counterparts are as stubborn, or in as much denial, how will we be able to help them?"

"You must do your best, just as you always do, Anne." Giles smiled gently at the older version of his Slayer. "I have confidence in you, my dear. Now, Jenny and I are going to leave town while we work on the curse."

"I'll go to Buffy's house tomorrow and perform a disinvite," Anyanka said.

"No, it's better if I wish that all of Angelus' invites be revoked," Anne muttered. "Willow invited him when Ford was in town and he'll kill her fish if we don't do something about it."

"Wish granted."

"Good, one thing out of the way," Dee said in the middle of yawn. "So how many more do we have to deal with? I'm pooped. Can we send butt monkey back to his own dimension and go home?" She was happy when the others agreed with her.

The dimensional travelers made sure that Giles and Jenny got into the Watcher's car and on their way out of town with no problems. Then, William and D.G. made sure that Xander was secured between them. The group made their way to the spot where he had entered the dimension. William got great satisfaction in knocking Xander out and Anyanka in messing with his memories. After the vampire and the Fyarl demon pushed Xander through the rip, Dee used a droplet of her blood to seal the hole.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Whose car is that in the driveway?" Dee asked as the group approached the house.

"No clue," Anne answered. "One way to find out."

Anne and William entered the house first, on the alert for any threats. What they found astonished them, though; Buffy sat on the couch cuddled between Spike and ... Dawn, an eleven year old Dawn. On the armchair opposite the vampire, Slayer, and little sister was perched a petite woman wearing a business suit. She stood when she saw the other vampire/Slayer couple enter the house.

"Immortal Guardians." She stuck her hand out to Anne and William. "My name is RoseSeri Hassib. I have been hired by the Sultana to ensure that you have a place to stay during your travels."

"How'd she know to do that?" Anyanka asked, her voice tinged with suspicion.

"The Conduit advised her and her mate to do this," RoseSeri answered. She took no offense to the question. "She and her mate have made it so that this house belongs to the Immortal Guardians in every dimension. They are each keyed to your blood."

"So, what you're saying is that this house belongs to Spike and Buffy everywhere?" Dee asked.

"This house, your mother's house, the Jamison house in London, a penthouse in New York City, and a hotel called the Hyperion in Los Angeles," RoseSeri replied.

"Oh, Peaches is gonna be brassed off for that one," William chortled. "He bought it several years ago where we come from."

"Be that as it may, it now belongs to you." RoseSeri turned to Spike and Buffy. "This also means that these buildings belong to you."

"Us?" Buffy squeaked. "I'm not sure if mom's gonna be too happy about that."

"It'll be fine, luv," Spike assured the girl beside him. He put his arm around her shoulders, and he pulled her close to him. Spike was so busy with Buffy, he failed to notice the look that passed between Anne and William. "Now what's all this Immortal Guardian stuff?"

"And how do I remember everything about Dawnie, but I know she wasn't here when you guys showed up?" Buffy asked.

"Here are copies of the paperwork for both ... sets of you." RoseSeri handed each of the blond vampires. "I also added a box of business cards for you to give to others so that they can contact me if they so desire. Now, I really must be going, it's late, even for us lawyers."

The group sat down as soon as the lawyer had left, and Anyanka once again launched into her explanation of the Immortal Guardians again. By the end, Buffy had a better understanding of what her life was supposed to be like. For the first time since she was called she felt good about things. Okay, sure, the thought of a painful death because she was bitten by the Master or a painful death because she leaped from a tower to save the world didn't sound all that wonderful, but still at least now there were other options. Not to mention, Dee and Anyanka were both sure that her Dawnie wasn't the key anymore.

"So, what you're saying is that what makes Dawn the Key is going to slowly leave all the other Dawns and pour into you?" Buffy asked. "How's that gonna affect that hell-god thing that suppose to happen in the future?"

"If and when Glory shows up, you just tell her that her Key is in a different dimension," Dee replied. "This isn't an exact science you know. Paradoxes are bound to happen. It's the nature of things."

"Yes, and because of my status as Justice demon to Anne and William, my counterparts will start emerging in the dimensions, too," Anya said. "Although, their powers will only be retained if they are claimed by the Immortal Guardians."

"You seem awfully calm about all this, Buffy." Anne eyed her younger counterpart. "What..."

"That's cuz she was busy playing kissy face with Spike," Dawn interrupted. "I saw them after Angelus was here." The young girl scrunched up her nose in disgust.

"Angelus was here?" William growled. He got out of his seat, and he went to the window to look outside. "Not sure I like that. At least his invites are revoked. Dawn and Buffy should stay here tonight."

"Of course," Anne said. "It'll be like having the potentials again. Dee, take Dawn up to your room. Anyanka and Buffy can bed down here in the living room. Giles and Miss Calendar will call us as soon as they get the spell to recurse Angelus done."

"How come you don't just dust tall, dark and forehead?" Spike asked.

"In our dimension, Willow gave him back his soul, but he already opened the portal to Hell. So, I stuck a sword through him and closed it," Anne sighed. "The Powers brought him back a few months later. That allowed the First Evil to get its first toehold in our dimension. What guarantee do we have that they wouldn't bring him back if we dusted him? I think bringing him back from dust would be worse than dropping him naked through a portal."

"Ewwww." Dee grimaced in disgust. "You just had to go with the nasty mental images, didn't you? Gah." She herded Dawn out of the room in front of her.

"Point taken," Spike said. He turned to Buffy, and he placed a light kiss on her lips before he stood. "I'll see you in the morning, luv."

"How'd that happen?" Anne asked. She watched the blond vampire proudly walk down the hallway to the first floor bedroom. "He wasn't walking at all earlier. Anyanka, the extra bedding is in the same place it was at home." She directed the justice demon to the linen closet.

"Oh, we kinda got pissed off at Angel," Buffy said softly. "He was harassing Spike about you two, and I just kinda offered him some blood. He was more mobile after that."

"Biting during sex can be quite pleasurable," Anyanka said as she entered the room. "Not that Xander liked the biting, he was much more into playing naughty nurse and the pervie patient."

"TMI, Anyanka," William muttered. "You two have a good night." He caught Anne's arm. Before she could protest, he had her upside down over his shoulder, and he was half way up the stairs.

Buffy and Anyanka looked at each other for a moment. Then, Buffy took half of the blankets from the other female, and she spread them out on one of the two couches. Anya laid her blankets out on the other couch, and she turned out the lights. The house quieted down as the occupants, but one, fell asleep.

Spike padded to the front room to stare at the petite blond Slayer sleeping on the couch. He knew he would do anything for her, even be her willing slave. Her capacity to love and forgive flowed from her heart, and he was going to make sure that nothing ever changed that. Spike wanted to make her path easier, rather than harder from that moment forward. That meant making sure that no one snuck up on the house while the others were sleeping. The blond vampire continued his solitary sentry duty until the sun rose in the east.

"You're already in love with her."

Spike whirled to see William coming down the stairs. The other vampire was shirtless, and Spike could see the scratches and bite marks on his shoulders. He followed William into the kitchen where he sat at the bar while William went to the fridge.

"Dru told me that, in about 6 months, but of course I scoffed at her." William pulled two packets of blood out of the fridge. "Wish I had listened. I could still be walkin' in the sun if I had."

"Walkin' in the sun? Are you as barmy as Dru?"

"Let me give you a little clue, mate." William opened the packets, and he put the blood in mugs. "The Gem of Amara is real and it's here in good ole Sunnyhell."

"What?" Spike stared at his counterpart. "You're kiddin', right?"

"Would never kid about something that important, mate." William put the mugs in the microwave, and he set it for just the right amount of time. "Get used to this, too. Slayer won't like you munchin' on the natives."

"Figured as much when I threw in with you lot," Spike muttered. "So, how'd you lose the gem?"

"Slayer kicked my ass, of course." William smirked. "She's pretty good at that. Only time I ever got close was that first time. Can't tell you how glad I am that Joyce whacked me with that bloody axe."

"You like the Slayer's mum, don't you?"

"First time I really met Joyce, I was making the deal with the Slayer to help take down Angelus." The microwave dinged, and William took the mugs out. He handed one to Spike. "We sat in her living room and made awkward small talk while Anne called the hospital to check on Red. The next time, she let me cry about Dru and made me hot chocolate. She was a grand lady."

"Tell me what I need to know about what's to come."





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