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Author's Chapter Notes:
Again, thanks to everyone for reading and a special thanks to those who reviewed. Keep an eye out for another Akoshta.
Reintroduction

Spike eyed the crowd now staring blank faced at him with amusement. He smiled at them, giving nods to the kids he remembered, and even a few of the Watchers he recognized. All seemed to have that same ridiculous reaction that bloody guard had that first day. Freeze and stare.

Randall looked over the heads of the crowd at the blonde standing on a chair on the far side of the room. "The Vampire!" Randall yelped, pointing at Spike, trying to urge someone to go after him.

Spike snorted. “And that will complete our reenactment of ‘The Scoobs visit the Council : Day One‘.” He mumbled to himself.

The young Watcher surveyed the room. There was movement to his left. A few people were headed towards ‘The Vampire‘. A smile spread across Randall's face until he recognized the group. It was Mr. Giles and the rest of The Slayer's followers. Shaking his head, Randall began to crawl down from the stand that held the video equipment.

The young teen sitting in front of the DVD player watched as the crowd slowly separated. They thought they were prepared but this whole situation was a little beyond his specified job for the little insurrection.

Most of the other children went to the front standing with Spike, Dawn, Anya, Tara, Willow, Xander and Giles.

Randall stopped walking towards the front when he saw Christian, Michelle, Richard, Joel, Anthony and Haden all walk up to The Vampire's area. They were soon followed by several other young teens and children.

The Watchers all stopped in the back of the room, watching the gathering of their sons and daughters grow.

"Children!" A voice called from the back. "Children, what are you doing?"

Everyone turned to see where the voice came from. There stood Randall atop his own chair. "He is an evil beast. You can not protect him. You should be protecting yourselves!" He was point towards Spike and yelling for all he was worth. If nothing else could be said of the man, he had passion in his beliefs.

Spike nodded at him. "You tell 'em Randy!"

The giggles went around the room. The children had obviously already formed another opinion of the blonde they now surrounded.

Joel took a few steps ahead of the group. "We promised each other you would see what The Slayer had to say. That means all of you" He looked behind him and up at Spike, then back to The Watcher. "And we intend to make sure everyone in this room watches."

"Anthony! Haden!" A deep voice called from the Watcher's group.

The red head's shot up. There, nestled in the center of the crowd was a tall, broad man with flaming red hair. "Boys!

The twins both raised their hands to greet him. "Hi dad."

"Someone had better explain this." Another man’s voice from the crowd pleaded. "Richard. Where are you son?"

The blonde looked past the faces and saw his parent. "Father." He nodded with respect to the man who had raised him. "It is important. On my life I swear it is."

The crowd began to call out names of the children at random. Each parent pleading with their child to explain, or give up this nonsense.

Rupert came up behind Joel and placed a hand on the young man's shoulder. Then he smiled at the Watchers. "Please!" He called to them, raising his hands. "Please!" He said more loudly. He paused as the random complaints of the other adults quieted.

"I ask that you listen. These are your children. You have raised them. Not only that but you raised them to be protectors. You’ve taught them to do what they think is right and good for humanity. Would they go to so much trouble if it wasn't for something they believed was vital?"

The Watchers became quiet enough for Giles to continue. "I do know what will be said on that screen." He pointed towards the evenings entertainment, now standing blank and silent. "And I can tell you, even if you believe everything I have done in my duties as a Watcher have been wrong, let this be the one thing you will remember I did right."

Most of the Watchers had been told that Giles was far from a perfect example, but even at that, he was a Watcher. One of their peers.

Giles thought he may have gotten through to them.

"And The Vampire?!" Randall couldn't let them find out anymore than they had. The Slayer on the screen was a recording, and not alive. If he could get rid of the Vampire, perhaps he could still resolve the upset in The Council without the prophecy becoming known. There was still a chance.

Spike perked up when he heard the word 'Vampire'. He scanned the room looking for something. Anything that could give a good show. Finally he eyed Michelle's neck. "Hey there, pet. Could I borrow your necklace for a tic?"

Michelle fingered the cross around her neck. "Are you sure."

"Won't be until you agree." Spike answered.

She undid the clasp, and carefully handed the chain to him.

"Hey Randy!" Spike held up the necklace so the whole room could see it. "You know what this is?"

"A crucifix." Randall said wondering what The Vampire was up to.

"I'll let you in on a secret, Randy." Spike grasped the cross in his fist. "There are no Vampires here."

The young Watcher's eyes bugged out just before he fainted.

Spike handed the necklace back to Michelle careful not to tangle the chain it hung from and asked her, "You think that means we can get on with the show now?"

Joel heard the comment. "Right. Everyone. Take a seat. No one will be harmed, all we want you to do is listen."

Many of the children began seating themselves. The Scoobs returned to their seats, while Spike remained standing.

"Richard!" The Watcher in training's father called from the crowd now moving into seats.

"Just trust us. Please?" He pleaded with is dad.

The older blonde sighed, then acquiesced. Slowly, he moved to a seat as well.

Randall came to, and sat on the floor as everyone else took their seats. He decided that at this point he may as well face the music. He climbed onto a vacant chair.

Anthony walked past his father, and to the stand that a shaking teen sat waiting for a sign to start the disk. Once the crowd was again stilled, and seated, the lights went down.

~~`~~

Buffy walked beside Quinton, holding his arm tightly, although she was fairly sure he had nowhere to run to. He was about to be 'found out' you might say.

They walked silently through the halls as Buffy retraced the steps that had brought her to his office unseen.

Quinton looked ahead at nothing. Having composed himself a few halls ago, his mind was now sure of two things. The Slayer and The Vampire had gone to Akoshta, and he was in deep shit.

He wanted to find out, see where he'd gone wrong. He had to know how this had happened, and how she had known? While he thought of the thirty or more questions he had, her voice came from all around.

"So where were we. Oh yea, I'm in love with a Vampire. So I was wondering why." The voice came from all around. Each room that had one of the Watcher's radios was now filled with Buffy's recorded voice.

Buffy looked around the halls. "I guess the technical difficulties have been taken care of. No picture, but I was having a bad hair day anyway." She walked him down the hall in silence as her voice continued to come from each room as they made their way to the rugby room.

"You see, I was lead to believe that all Vampires, no matter what, were evil." Her echoing voice continued coming from rooms and speakers placed at every 4th corner. "No chance of being good. The one exception I could make was Angel. He had a soul, and so obviously he must be a good guy, or at least could make the choice." There was a pause, and a grumbling about 'poofters' and ‘Angelus’ was heard in the background. "And then came Spike. Evil to his undead bones, until he had a little push in the 'good guy' direction."

Quinton listened as he passed the painted faces of Watchers that had come and gone before him. He said a silent prayer to each of them begging them to forgive him for not doing his duty, and allowing her to go to the sisters.

Buffy's voice continued through anonymous radios "What I found out from those Diaries was just too unbelievable to… well… believe. See, I read one or two where a Slayer didn't kill a Vampire and vice versa, but none where A Slayer loved a Vampire. At least not until I read Samantha's Diary." Buffy's voice went on to explain her meeting of the oldest Slayer she had ever heard of. She had lived and loved and looked really good for her age. Then there was Sam‘s visit to Akoshta, or at least what Sam could tell her about it. "Of course this all happened when Spike was missing, for about 7 days, visiting the twins." Her happy voice concluded.

Quinton watched the smile on the Slayer's face widen as she stared at his shocked face.

"What Quinton? Didn't I tell you?” She mocked him even as she continued dragging the completely broken Head of the Council. “Spike already completed his first visit with the sisters before we ever came here." She shook her head at herself. "Silly me. I did forget to tell you."

Quentin’s color was not looking good. Pale was in this season but his looked nothing like a make-up look. He was devoid of hope. That tended to take the color from one’s rosy complexion.

They walked through the halls while Buffy's voice went over the events on the surface of London. The recorded voice shared with him the encounter with the Vampiress who warned Buffy and Spike that they were being hunted. That an old man, easily fitting Quinton's description, had offered asylum to the Vampire that killed The Slayer or The Vampire.

~~`~~

Once again, echoing gasps were heard. The crowd murmured while on the screen, Buffy explained how she and Spike had found out they were in danger in London.

"That threat along with the discovery of these lovely cameras all over our homes kinda' made us wonder. Got to tell you Quinton, the cameras, not original."

The voices of the gathered Watchers filled the large room. Most of the children were aware of the cameras, but the adults couldn't fathom it.

"And when Willow's disks turned up out of nowhere, that was of course after Spike and I heard your computer specialist trying to crack her coding." Buffy's head shook as though she was chastising a child. "I mean really Quinton. You didn't think you could get away with that and not have us wonder why." She sighed deeply.

"And that." Buffy said shifting in her seat at the kitchen table. "Brings us back to these."

She held up the papers, and three scrolls. "I'll give you the short version though."

She laid out the scrolls, then the torn pages. "Thanks to a crack research team, and a Vamp's prophetic dreams, we found out that the last pure Vamps to walk on Earth were mates. They were alone, and began to bring other Vampires back from the dimension they had fled, to walk with them here on good ol‘ planet earth. Unfortunately the new Vampires, didn't really want to be here, so they turned on T'mure, he was The Pure's mate.

That left only her. She was the last after T'mure was killed."

Buffy picked up the first of the pages. "The Pure made a deal with The Powers That Be to help diminish the now growing Vampire population, in exchange, she would be reunited with T'mure. Seems the demons in pure form don't die, they simply go to there dimension.

She was supposed to fight against the turned humans for seven years, but was killed before she could complete her term of service." She shuffled the pages. "Then The Powers revised their deal, and her Vampiric strengths were siphoned from her and passed to a human, one who would be chosen to fight. The Slayer."

The murmuring began again, but died down when Buffy continued.

"Unfortunately, part of this deal included locking T'mure in an unknown dimension, and there was only one key."

"It wasn't long after that when The Council was formed, but it's not like this one. The Council started out as a support system for the Slayer. Unfortunately, they became controlling, and The Slayer's lifespan shortened." She shuffled the papers again.

"That brings us to this." She held up the last of the torn pages. "A Slayer was turned." She sat forward in her seat. "You see, T'mure couldn't be released by The Key until a Slayer served for 7 full years. A Complete impossibility. The only other way The Pure could free her love, was if she was in her purest form, she had to be one with a Slayer, and as a turned Slayer, she freed T'mure."

She sat back in her seat, and pulled out the scrolls. "The demon that makes up T'mure is in Spike. He is in fact the very same demon." She held up the final part of the scrolls, "And according to these, I'm The Pure." She looked in earnest at the camera. "To tell you the truth I'm not real sure how that all fits in, but you have the blood tests. Well, no , actually we do." She smiled, "But my guess, you'll never know there gone."

Randall winced when he remembered the lost folder. He had decided not to mention they were missing, thinking he had misplaced them. They had shown that whatever changes were supposed to happen, had started, but they had no idea how close those changes were to completing.

Buffy set the papers down. "And after all the tests, after all of the ridiculous rules, you're still too late." Buffy stood up. "I have this problem with death you see. Every time I think I'm dead, one of my friends proves me wrong." She winked to the group off camera. "This last time, a little magic brought me back, and in the process sped up a few things. Those changes I'm sure you were hoping to avoid for instance." She put her hands on her hips, and crinkled her nose. "But so far it's just hearing."

Spike chuckled at the vision of her on the screen, still amazed the others were paying attention.

Buffy sat back in her seat and adjusted the mini mic. "Well, Mr. Travers. I think that just about covers it. Oh, no. One more little detail. Spike and I are going to see the sisters soon. So instead of assuming we're dead, assume we just took a seven day vacation."

Buffy lead Quinton through the open door to the commons, straight to the rugby room. They heard the last of her speech echo through the hall just as she opened the door.

All heads turned when the light from the commons flooded the room. Buffy stood silhouetted by the light behind her. Randall stood up slowly when he saw his mentor being held by his arm.

The young man on the stand turned off the video equipment, and raised the lights.

"Buffy!" Dawn squeezed and pushed her way past everyone. When she reached her sister she flung her arms around her. "I'm so glad your back."

Buffy returned the embrace. "Me too." She pulled herself back so she could see her sister. "We have some things to do yet."

The brunette nodded, suddenly all business. "Right."

The girls walked to the front of the room, Quinton in tow. Buffy smiled at her family all standing and waiting. Spike met the Summers girls in the front of the screen. "How was the trip, luv."

"Entertaining. How about here?"

"Took some doing, but they heard it. Every last word."

Randall walked to the front. "What are you doing?" He asked the older man who was being moved with little choice in the matter.

Quinton looked up and surveyed not only the young man, but the faces of the Watchers. He received blank stares and looks of disdain. "Do shut up, Randall."

Buffy saw the smiling faces of the children. Nearly all had helped. It was the faces of the Watchers that bothered her. She wasn't sure what to make of them. Many looked confused, several were angry, other's lack emotion of any kind.

With Spike at her side Buffy leapt onto a chair. Her love followed suit.

Not knowing exactly how to start, she shrugged. "Any questions?"

No one moved. She was hoping that someone, anyone would ask something. But the moment passed in silence. People jus stared at her, her friends, their children and at Quentin, who for all his power and pull on this group under normal circumstances, could only stand close mouthed and empty.

"How is it… how is it he isn't a Vampire?" Richard's father asked.

Not the question she expected. She turned her head slowly quietly asking with her eyes, “Why is that the first thing?”

Spike shrugged when he got the evil eye from the Slayer. "Had to tell them. They were getting rowdy."

Buffy looked back over the crowd. Then instinctively felt the puncture wounds on her neck. Again she looked at Spike, then pulled the collar away from his neck. A cool shiver went down her spine.

Spike looked back at her and arched an eyebrow before bringing his hand to the wound on his neck.

Buffy looked back at him. "I'd forgotten about that."

"That's not really a compliment." He smiled and winked at her, knowing it was the effects of Akoshta.

She took a deep breath shared a smile with him and faced the crowd. "What you just saw was recorded a week ago… to the day. The prophecy has been fulfilled, and the sister's of Akoshta gifted both of us." She turned to Spike, then looked at her extended family. Her sister smiled brightly at her. Buffy looked back over the crowd. "He's alive."

The murmurs were deafening. Buffy's senses were overwhelmed as her nostrils were filled with too many scents. The brightness of the room suddenly overwhelmed her along with the screams in the crowd. Spike saw her waver and quickly helped her to sit. He held her, rocking her until she gained control.

When she did she looked back at him. "This is going to take awhile to get used to."

"Tell me about it. I think I'm either hungry... or I need to use the toilet." Spike shook his head, "Just not sure which.

Buffy smiled. "You might want to figure it out before you find out on accident."

The Scoobs, who were all gathered around the couple, shaking their heads.

"Ok." Buffy said taking a cleansing breath before standing back up on the chair. "Alright! Everyone. What happened to Spike and me isn't what you need to be talking about. I need you to understand some things. Some changes need to be made." She looked over the crowd. "Since when did you learn that your duty was to spy on the Slayer, to shorten her life and to make sure her death comes before her seventh year?"

The crowd was silent as they looked over each other.

"Miss Summers?"

Buffy saw a young woman raising her hand. "Yea?"

"No offence, but we were never taught to do such a thing."

Buffy glared down at Quinton and Randall who were being held by Xander and Giles. "Then when did you decide?"

Quinton pushed his chest out, "I was told that if the prophecy happened, that the Slayer would be lost forever, and the demon would control The Slayer that allowed it to happen to her."

Randall cut in. "That's exactly what he told me, and when I saw the blood tests..."

Buffy rolled her eyes. "You were told?"

"Yes." Both men answered.

"Did you ever bother to read the prophecy...the whole thing?"

Both men shook their heads no. Quinton tried to explain. "They were lost..."

"Ignorance is no excuse." Buffy looked back at the crowd. "Look. I am not the last Slayer. Faith still carries the line, but she is in no condition to fight. Even when she is released she's going to need to take some time to realize who she really is."

Buffy turned towards the crowd. "What Quinton said is partly right. The demon…The Pure is in me. Will be for the rest of my life, but she doesn't control me. She is only along for the ride. I'm still The Slayer. I'm still Buffy."

She looked down again at Quinton. "But this can't be The Council. Not anymore. Not when I have enough things to worry about other that trying to make sure you guys aren't trying to kill me."

There was silence again.

"What do you propose?" A large red head asked. Haden and Anthony smiled at their father.

Buffy smiled back at her family, then out to the crowd. "It's not major. Just a few new ideas, like the fact that The Slayer is actually a living breathing human being. Not a tool."

~~`~~

Buffy sat next to her bags in the commons. Tara ,Dawn ,Willow and Spike were with her, all waiting for Anya and Xander.

"Were going to miss the bloody flight!" Spike complained.

Buffy laughed. "You just want to go out in the sun. Admit it."

They had spent the last 4 days of their stay outlining the ideas and suggestions for The Council to instill. Several of the children had been promoted to fill positions that the adults didn't wish to.

Despite all that had happened, only a handful of the Watchers had resigned.

Quinton was encouraged to retire, and was even given an allowance that would keep him in earl grey and single malt until the day he died.

Randall stayed. He would never be The Head of The Council, nor any position of authority, but when it came down to it, he wanted to fight against the evils of the world.

Giles was astounded and showed great humility when he was nominated, and inducted as the new Head of The Council. Richard would be trained by him, and hopefully would be prepared for Faith upon her release.

Michelle and Christian would continue with their studies, as would the special ops trainees. Willow had given the computer class several of her crack codes, along with book listings and sites that would help them to continue what they had been learning from her.

She and Fredrick, the local computer expert, had a long talk about the advances that had been made in the last 5 or so years.

Xander and Anya took great pride in yanking the cameras from the walls, and locked themselves in their apartment. Who says there's no sex after marriage?

Tara went to Christian's class each of their last days to show the class a few spells that had come in handy for The Scoobies over the years.

Buffy wished Giles would come back, but was so glad that he would be who she would call when she needed The Council.

Giles laughingly gave her a folder. Inside was a notebook with "Slayer Handbook" written in black ink. The word "Revised" was written just below the title. She smiled and hugged him.

"I'll be sending you a copy as soon as we have it printed."

"Promise?" Tears were in her eyes.

"Of course." His tears flowed easily.

For Dawn, leaving was harder. She had made so many friends, and was no longer thought of as just The Slayer's sister. She and Michelle swore they would write. Christian gave her a kiss on the cheek, and nearly ran off. Richard complimented her on how she handled herself during everything. She was going to miss everything, and everyone.

~~`~~

"Well." Giles said at the airport. "This is where I say goodbye to you all." The noise of other groups saying farewell while engines rumbled every few minutes.

Anya looked at him. "I will take good care of our store." And she hugged him.

"Yes. I expect you will." He smiled at her. Then looked at Xander. "I still have trouble thinking of you as this ‘man‘."

"Yea well, don't be fooled, G-man." Xander hugged him. Then stepped back with his hands in his pockets.

Tara and Willow were next. "W-were really going t-to miss you."

"And I you." He hugged the Wicca.

"Don't you go become an evil Council guy or we'll have to hop on a plane and fly right back here mister." He smiled at the red head, then hugged her as well.

When he released her his eyes went to the Summers sisters. He walked up to both and hugged them at the same time. "You girls watch out for each other. Take care of yourselves."

They stepped back from him and looked at each other. "You got it." Dawn said looking back at him.

"Yea, yea... another sacred duty." Buffy teased.

He smiled at the girls again, then looked up to see the blonde man behind them. "Spike."

"Don't go getting' all mushy on me too Rupert. You know I'll take care of them."

Giles couldn't help but laugh. "Right then. Off with you or you will miss your flight."

The Scoobs walked away, looking over their shoulders as they waved.

Giles was left standing alone. He smiled at himself. His family, as strange as they were, was growing up. He sighed to himself. "And I'm off to raise another." He said heading for the van, and back to The Council's headquarters.





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