FIC: The Circle of Scooby (BtVS/Robert A Heinlein's Future History)

STORY TITLE: The Circle of Scooby
PART: 01 of ??
AUTHOR: Red Jacobson (red.jacobson@gmail.com)
DISTRIBUTION: FanFiction.net, Archive of Our Own, Twisting the Hellmouth
DISCLAIMER: None of the Characters You Recognize belong to me, the Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel Characters belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy (Grrr! Argh!), and the Boondock characters belong to the Estate of Robert A Heinlein and his publishers.
SUMMARY: The activation of the world's slayers has caused massive destruction throughout the multi-verse, and the Circle of Ouroborus is determined to prevent that happening and recruit three natives of the critical timeline to save the multi-verse!
FEEDBACK: Of course! It Makes Me Write Faster
RELATIONSHIPS: Xander/Cordelia/Tara
RATING: R
WORD COUNT: <4,764>
SPOILERS: A Crossover with RAH's Lazarus Long Books. I'm afraid that, while I'm going to do my best to explain things, at least a passing familiarity with Time Enough For Love, The Number of the Beast, The Cat Who Walks Through Walls, and To Sail Beyond the Sunset would help you understand who these characters are. None, but if you don't know how the Buffy the Vampire Slayer story goes by now, why are you reading this story?
AUTHORS NOTES: Something I've been playing with for years, and decided to dust it off and post it. I'm already working on the second chapter, so there won't be a huge delay. Also, I'm going to try something unusual for this story, no lemons. Frankly, they've gotten to be a bore to write, and I imagine they've become boring to read as well. Hope this goes well.

Prologue:

Another Time Another Place

“So, we are agreed, the Circle is closed on this issue?”

“No need to be so formal, Sharpie, we've been over this a dozen times at least. The so called Powers That Be buggered that dimension so badly that it's cascading over to the multi-verse. And, from what we've seen, the one time that anything even resembling a good outcome was achieved, it was these three that managed to change the Cusp event by working together. We've all agreed that this is worth the risk of discovery, we also know what will happen if we don't act. Not only this world, but all the other worlds where the Slayer arose will suffer the same fate, allowing the Enemy to consume those dimensions as well. We know we are going to do this, Hell, we've already got the clone bodies growing, why do we need to put it to the formalities?”

“Jubal, you know as well as I do why we put it to a vote, if the Circle is not unanimous, we don't act! I appreciate your affection for this world, but we have to be concerned with all the worlds, not just this particular creator's playground.”

“Alright, Sharpie, go ahead and get it formalized. I vote Aye!”

“Colonel Campbell?”

“Aye”

“Woodrow?”

“Aye”

“Manuel?”

“Aye”

“Wyoming?”

“Of Course”

“Anne?”

“Yes”

“Commander Rico?”

“Aye!”

“And I vote Aye as well, the Circle is Unanimous, we will initiate retrieval of the three of them immediately.”

Sunnydale California, May 7^th, 2002

The body was laying on the floor of the bedroom, her distraught lover already gone on her quest for vengeance, when the back wall of the room seemed to fade away, showing a car hovering where the wall used to be. The rear hatch opened and two figures moved into the room. “Okay, the house is clear, let's move it!”

One of the figures lowered a duplicate of the body onto the ground, making sure to position it exactly the same way, at the same time as the other figure was lifting Tara onto a stretcher. “We got here in time, there is still time to revive her. Let's get going!” Picking up the other end of the stretcher, the figures moved back to the car and slid the stretcher inside before climbing after it. A few seconds later, the wall was back in place, and there was no sign that anyone had ever been there.

Los Angeles Wolfram and Hart Medical Wing - February 4^th, 2004

Nearly the exact same scene was repeated in the hospital room where Cordelia Chase had spent the last several months.

May 20^th, 2017

Xander coughed, wincing as the movement jarred his broken ribs. He had managed to prop himself up against the rock, trying to keep the blood out of his lungs, but he could tell it was a lost cause. Lifting the recorder to his mouth, he wet his lips again, “and that's what happened! We really screwed the pooch when the Slayers were activated without any warning. I'm just as guilty as anybody, we didn't think what would happen to all the girls who's lives were changed dramatically. Cough! Cough! Jesus that hurts! And those poor girls were just sitting ducks for any tin pot dictator or televangelist that had an ax to grind, they became the 21^st Century version of WMDs, and there were border wars breaking out all over the place. And then the big boys got into it! I don't know what the fuck President Stillson was thinking, launching the nukes like that! What a fuckin' mess! As far as I know, I'm last of us left, I don't even know why I'm bothering to record this entry, but, I guess Giles trained me too well. Well, whoever finds my carcass, now you know the sordid tale of how a group of people in desperate circumstances banded together with the best of intentions and condemned the world to destruction. Heh! Oh hell, it hurts to laugh! I don't think I've got much time left, it's getting darker, this is Xander Harris, signing off...”

Xander closed his eye, thinking that at least he would see his friends again and a slight smile crossed his face as his breathing slowed. He didn't feel the ground shake as something landed next to him, or the female hand slapping his face, saying 'No you don't Doofus! We've come too far, and have way too much to do for you to be dying on us like this!”

Chapter One

Another Time Another Place

The first thing Xander noticed was that he was laying on something soft, and he sighed in contentment before he started picking up the sounds from around him. Everything was muted, except for a soft feminine voice crooning in his ear. It took him a while to recognize the song, considering it had been old even before he was born, but it was one that he and Cordy had danced to back before everything went to hell back in Senior Year. He smiled as he remembered the night that Cordy had sung it to him, but then the smile faded as he remembered the badness that happened not long afterward. He felt a soft pressure on his hand and he reflexively squeezed back, and heard a voice he never expected to hear again say excitedly, "He squeezed back, he's coming back to us!"

Forcing his eyes open, he blinked as they started focusing, he could tell he was in a room somewhere, and there were figures by his bed. Turning toward the voice, he cracked a grin, and still half asleep, murmured, “Queen C is here to greet me? I'm not sure if this is Heaven or Hell.” He heard a giggle from the other figure next to him and his eyes widened in surprise. “Tara? Okay, I know this is Heaven, because there's no way you went anywhere else!”

Before Tara could react, a male voice interrupted, “Actually, Xander, all of you are still quite alive, and, if you'll give us a minute or so to wash the rest of the Lethe field from your system, and get you cleaned up, we will be happy to answer your questions.” Turning to the figures sitting to the side of the bed, “Cordy, Tara, if you would give us a couple of minutes, I'll send Teena to get you when we're ready.”

“Okay, Galahad, we'll be down in the lounge. See you in a few minutes Xander” Cordelia smiled, leaning down and kissing him firmly. While Xander was still processing the fact that Cordy had kissed him with the passion she used to, Tara leaned down and did exactly the same thing!

“Uh, Doc? What the hell just happened? I mean, sure, it's not totally outside the realm of possibility for Cordy to have kissed me like that, but, last I heard, Tara was strictly a girl's girl! And why do they look like they are still 21 years old? I know I was close to 40 my last birthday, and they were the same age.”

The doctor chuckled, and said, “Let's just say it's one of the benefits of Very modern medicine. Here, take a look at yourself. Teena, can Xander have a mirror please?”

The voice that had been singing in his ear moments ago replied, “Sure thing, Doc, but Xander, have to let you know, those two have first claim on you, but I want a shot too!”

“Hush, Teena, he's still waking up, you can seduce him later.”

"Oh, all right!" And a mirror appeared in front of Xander, he wasn't as surprised as he expected to be, based on Cordy and Tara's appearances, but it was still nice to see his 21-year-old face, with both eyes looking back at him from the mirror. "My eye! It's back, but how? They had to scoop the whole thing out!"

“Give me another minute, Xander, and we'll get you some answers, but, first, I'd imagine you are rather hungry, aren't you?”

As if hearing the word hungry had woken his stomach, it gurgled angrily, causing Xander to laugh, joined by the doctor. “Well, I guess that answers that question. Teena, can you go get Cordy and Tara and ask them to join us for breakfast?”

“Aw, do I have to? I'm going to have share him with them soon enough!”

“Teena, you are supposed to be a professional, and if you can't do that, I'll have to suppress your personality until you can control yourself! Xander has been through a lot, and he needs a lot more information before you can try to seduce him. Besides, you know that Cordy would flay you alive if you tried to poach without permission.”

“Oh, I've already talked to Cordy and Tara, and they told me once everything is situated, I can take my shot at him! But, I'll behave for now.”

Xander had been listening to the conversation with a bemused smile on his face, while he was looking around for the source of the other voice, since, as far as he could tell, he and the doctor were the only ones in the room.

“Um, Teena? While I'm certainly flattered by your interest, this is an awful lot for me to try and take it at once. The last thing I remember was bleeding out in the desert in Africa, and now I wake up here, wherever here is, and I'm greeted by two very dear friends who I was certain were dead! Hell, I went to their funerals, and yet they were sitting there, alive and well! I think it's time I got some answers, doc!”

“And you will get them, Xander, the girls will be here in a minute, along with your breakfast, and, after you've eaten, I promise you we'll explain everything.” The doctor said, soothingly.

“Okay, I suppose there's no harm in waiting a bit longer.” But then he noticed something, “Uh, Doc? This may seem like a strange question, but why are you naked?”

An amused laugh came from the doorway, as he turned his head to see Cordy and Tara standing there, dressed exactly the same as the doctor! “You just now noticed, Doofus? You must have been out of it!”

“Huh Buh-wha?” He said, intelligently.

“Don't worry about it, Xander, you'll get used to it. Cordy and I have had a lot longer to get used to the idea than you have.” Tara said gently.

“Tara's right, babe, here in Boondock, we only dress for formal occasions, or if the weather requires it. The body modesty we grew up with is a thing of the past here. Of course, it does take some of the fun out of power shopping, but we find other things to do with our time.”

"And I believe that's my cue," A voice came from the doorway to the room. A sandy-haired man dressed, to Xander's relief, in a kilt and shirt walked into the room. "Hello Xander, my name is Woodrow Wilson Smith, but most folks around here call me Lazarus..."

He was interrupted by Xander's “Long? Also known as Corporal Ted Bronson of Kansas City Missouri? Or Doctor Lafe Hubert? And, if that's the Galahad from the books, where is Ishtar? Or Hamadryad? I thought they were joined at the hips!” He laughed, “I don't know why I'm not more surprised, I've seen vampires and demons and other things that are supposed to be fictional, why shouldn't some of the more friendly and pleasant fictional beings exist somewhere too?”

Lazarus grinned at him, “Okay, that makes it a bit easier. Let me ask you, do the names Jake or Hilda Burroughs, or Richard Ames or Gwen Novak mean anything to you?”

“Yeah, Jake and Hilda, along with Zeb and Deety and Gay Deceiver were the ones that helped you rescue Mama Maureen, and Richard and Gwen, or Colin Campbell and Hazel Stone had their own adventures before signing up to rescue Mike from Luna. That reminds me, how did they ever get out of that mess? Last I heard they were both shot to hell, including Pixel. I know that there was another book but could never get my hands on it at the library.”

“Blert?”

Xander blinked, “Pixel? Okay, I guess that means that others got out as well?”

Lazarus nodded as the kitten, attracted to the new voice in the room, jumped onto Xander's bed and curled up in his lap, purring happily as Xander scratched behind his ears. “Okay, I've got to accept that I'm actually in a place I read about years ago, along with people I was certain were dead, but the question is, why? Not that I'm complaining about being alive, or seeing Cordy and Tara again, but why are we here?”

"To put it bluntly, you and these two lovely ladies were rescued to prevent the activation of all the Slayers, because, unfortunately, what happens in one world echoes in the worlds that are similar, specifically, when Buffy had Willow cast that spell to activate all the slayers on your Earth, it caused the same thing to happen in every world where there was a Slayer. And, sadly, the same thing happened on those worlds as happened on yours. Within three years of the day that you died in that desert, the Earth was a burnt cinder. It would be billions of years before even the smallest forms of life would reappear. This is a loss of life that is unacceptable! We, that is, the Command Staff of the Time Corps, have investigated countless hundreds of timelines, and the only ones that don't end with a destroyed planet, have the three of you working together to prevent the activation.

“Also, by rescuing you, we have a chance to really bugger up the Adversary's plans on your world in another way. Do you remember the “Jasmine” incident? Preventing that disaster would set back their plans drastically, and anything that causes those bastards problems is good for us.”

Lazarus stood, “I think I've given you enough to chew on right now, so I'll let you eat your breakfast, but try not to let Pixel have too much syrup, it gives him gas.” Pixel raised his head at that, and glared at Lazarus, as though the very idea of such a dignified feline having gas offended him!

Xander's laughter was stopped when three trays appeared in the room, and the three of them, with help from Pixel, quietly ate their breakfasts. Xander, to Pixel's disgust, steered him away from the syrupy goodness until he jumped down in annoyance and left the room.

After they finished, Tara said, “I suppose I should be the one to start, since I've changed the most from the person you knew. The last thing I remembered before waking up here, was looking at Willow and seeing blood splashed across her shirt. I don't think I even realized that I'd been shot, but then everything went black. I woke up some time later here in Boondock, and Mama Maureen was sitting there waiting for me to wake up. She was the healer in charge of my recovery, just like Galahad was for you, and Ishtar and the Hamadear did for Cordy.”

Smiling gently, Tara continued; "Anyway, after making sure I was awake and clear-headed, Maureen introduced me to Deety and Libby, of course, still being at the time, what did you call it Cordy, "A Great Big Lesbo?" she grinned at Cordelia, who snickered, "The sight of those two women sitting there gloriously naked was a bit distracting at first, but I got used to it."

“That was five years ago, by my personal time line. I found out a little later that, while my body was healing, a team of empathetic healers was working with me, dealing with the problems that being raised by my Father caused me, with the whole believing I was a demon garbage. I'm really looking forward to seeing him again, and expressing my displeasure personally!”

She shook her head, and continued, “Anyway, Deety and Libby introduced me to the World As Myth, and showed me how our lives had been manipulated for years by the Powers That Be, those supposedly benign beings who use their Champions to fight against the Darkness. Hah! Benign my ass! If they are benign, I'm the next Tamara Sperling! What they learned, and showed me, were that the PTB were actually aspects of the First Evil, who, in every written and oral history, is shown to be first, and foremost, a deceiver. I don't mind saying, now, that it was a shock, to learn that almost everything I believed true about myself was a lie! I had been basically programmed by those bastards to be Willow's lover and die tragically, so she could go on her vengeance tear. Don't get me wrong, I am still attracted to women, right Cordy?”

She smirked at the brunette, who just said, “Shush you! We don't want to break him yet, we just got him back!”

“True, but, as I was saying, once I was free of their manipulations, I learned that it's the person, not the plumbing that I'm attracted to, and I can get just as much pleasure from a good man as I can from a woman. Needless to say, that took quite a bit to get used to, but, eventually I was able to come to terms with the idea. One thing that I kept coming back to, was my feelings for you, I thought they were just friendship, when I was convinced I was girls only. But they were a lot stronger than that, I realized that I had fallen in love with you at some point, and I was heartbroken, because you were so far away. It wasn't until they rescued Cordy, and showed me the one timeline where the Slayers weren't activated, that I began to have hope.”

Pausing to take a drink, Tara continued; “You see, the one time line they found where the earth wasn't destroyed, it was because the three of us worked together to prevent the problem entirely. I wasn't too sure how we could do that, but we've found a way. I know this is a lot to take in, but, what do you say, want to save the world again?” She finished with an impish grin.

“Leaving aside for the minute the idea of the three of us working together, and more, based on the kisses you each gave me, I will do anything, give anything to prevent what I witnessed from happening again.”

“Why did you say that you were leaving the idea of us as a trio aside, Xan?” Cordelia asked, “If you are still concerned about what happened in school with “The Fluke”, don't be, we learned that both you and Willow had been the victims of a lust spell by one of the PTB's agents. You and Willow both fought against it, and they had to keep hitting you over and over with the spell. That crap with Spike was a set up from the very beginning, he was directed to kidnap the two of you so that Oz and I would find you. I know now that you were in love with me, just as I was in love with you, in fact, I was planning to give you my virginity the night that we found you! The Bastards That Be couldn't have that, so they sent Skip to screw things up, and ended up running me out of town.”

Xander had been getting angrier and angrier as he heard how they all had been manipulated, he wasn't surprised that they had been screwing him over, it was just what he expected from life, but when they started fucking with his girls, well, that was an entirely different story and he wasn't going to stand for it if there was a way to do anything about it! Biting back his fury, he took a deep breath and said,

“Alright, that answers part of my question, and I'm actually very relieved to find out that it wasn't Willow who caused the Fluke, because she was starting to get pretty deep in the magic then, and it was giving me a wiggins! But, Tara, are you sure about this? It's not just because I was the closest thing to a decent male you knew, is it? Because, while I certainly find you attractive, and love you as friend, I'm not in love with you. I'm not saying that it couldn't change, hell, if what Cordy and I had could become love, anything could happen!”

Tara chuckled, "Xander, one thing I've learned in the time I've been here, is that Love comes in the strangest ways. I'm not asking for you to fall in love with me, but I do want you as a lover. I spent 21 years afraid of my shadow, and too timid to stand up for myself most of the time. Not anymore! I've spent the last five years studying healing, as well as getting coaching from Lazarus and Zebbie in armed and unarmed combat, because I've got a whole new shot at life, and I'm not going to let it pass me by!

“The Time Corps is doing really good work, and I'm proud to be a part of it. They are the ones who gave all of us this new chance, and, I've already gone on dozens of missions, some of them to worlds you would know, like the time my team prevented the death of the oldest Halliwell witch, so the Charmed Ones weren't fractured by the schemes of the Source. I even went on a mission to attempt to prevent Angelus encountering the Kalderash clan, but we ran into interference by the fucking Powers, and Spike and Dru killed three of our team and I had to abort before they could be turned. I swear, if I ever get the chance, I'm going to drown the two of them in Holy Water!”

Cordy reached over and put her hand on Tara's shoulder, “You won't be alone, babe, you know that. Xander and I have just as much reason to hate Spike as you do, and we'll help you give the two of them their final bath.”

Xander caught Tara's eyes and nodded, “You don't even have to ask, you know I'll have your back. But, if we're supposed to be fixing things, how is it going to work since our original versions are still walking around? Or, are you talking about sending our memories back? If Tara was in Sunnydale, I'd say that Halloween would be about perfect, but you were still back home for another year, weren't you Tara?”

Tara nodded, “I was living on a ranch in Death Valley until mama died, and then I took everything I could carry and headed toward civilization. Mama had told me that she had gone to USC Sunnydale for a year when she was younger, before they brought her back, and I was determined to do what she wasn't able to do, in her memory.”

Cordy added, "You're actually right about the memories and when it will happen, the Time Corps will make copies of our memories and put them in three rings, putting them where we will find them the day before Halloween so that when the costumed chaos goes off, we can start making the changes we need to, starting with capturing and securing Spike and his loony bitch. Tara will be making her way to Sunnydale, so we can meet up the day after Halloween, which is a Saturday so we don't have school.

“Once we meet up and give the vampires their bath, we can start making plans, but one of the first things we need to do is getting our bodies into shape, and then we can arrange Tara's transfer into Sunnydale High. You and I will start dating right after Halloween, and Tara is going to be our mutual friend. I'm sorry to say you're going to find yourself subject to suspicion on Buffy and Willow's part, probably more Willow than Buffy, because she can't stand anybody getting close to Xander, but that will pass for the most part.”

Xander cut in, “Okay, that's fine for a beginning, but what are we going to be doing to prevent the activation of the Slayers? Toying around at the margins is all well and good, but we need to either go big or go home, and I'm not going back home, it's a wasteland.”

Cordy smiled at him, “I love it when you use your brain, Doofus, and to start with, the minute Joyce starts getting sick, we are getting her to Boondock and get the brain tumor and other problems taken care of. We're also going to track down a certain intern at the hospital named Ben and make sure he has a short, sharp accident one night, so that demented Hell Goddess will be trapped in her dimension for another millennium or so. Preventing Joyce's death, and the Glorificus situation should resolve the problem, since Buffy won't be driven to kill herself. Then Willow and the others won't make the mistake of bringing her back, which opened the door for the First Evil to start screwing around with people.”

“Okay, I'll go along with that, but I want to at least try and keep Faith from going off the rails, Willow away from the magic addiction, and Buffy from fucking Spike if at all possible.”

Tara made a face, “I still don't understand how she could have gone with him in the first place? Even ignoring the fact that he's a demon wearing a corpse, he was creepy as hell the way he stalked her.”

He shrugged, “From what you're both saying, it was probably more of the Powers arranging things. So we've got the beginning of a plan, when do we start?”

Lazarus had walked in as he was speaking and said, “You won't start the mission for quite a while yet, your personal time, because you need to catch up to where Tara and Cordy are in their training, and then we will be going over each of your memories with a fine toothed comb to make sure we don't miss anything, we've only got one shot at this and if it goes belly up, we're all screwed.”

“What are we waiting for? Let's get started!” Xander said, sliding his legs over the side of the bed and standing.

End Chapter One

 

STORY TITLE: The Circle of Scooby
PART: 02 of ??
AUTHOR: Red Jacobson (red.jacobson@gmail.com)
DISTRIBUTION: FanFiction.net, Archive of Our Own, Twisting the Hellmouth
DISCLAIMER: None of the Characters You Recognize belong to me, the Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel Characters belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy (Grrr! Argh!), and the Boondock characters belong to the Estate of Robert A Heinlein and his publishers.
SUMMARY: The activation of the world's slayers has caused massive destruction throughout the multi-verse, and the Circle of Ouroborus is determined to prevent that happening and recruit three natives of the critical timeline to save the multi-verse!
FEEDBACK: Of course! It Makes Me Write Faster
RELATIONSHIPS: Xander/Cordelia/Tara
RATING: R
WORD COUNT: <4,654>
SPOILERS: A Crossover with RAH's Lazarus Long Books. I'm afraid that, while I'm going to do my best to explain things, at least a passing familiarity with Time Enough For Love, The Number of the Beast, The Cat Who Walks Through Walls, and To Sail Beyond the Sunset would help you understand who these characters are. None, but if you don't know how the Buffy the Vampire Slayer story goes by now, why are you reading this story?
CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE DEPARTMENT: I'm borrowing a bit of Cordy's childhood background from my buddy IronBear's stories, specifically Rio Blanco on the Mouth of Hell, and the Hell-er-nator Stories. If you want some amazing Xander/Cordelia stories, do yourself a favor and check him out!
AUTHORS NOTES: I'm going to try something unusual for this story, no lemons. Frankly, they've gotten to be a bore to write, and I imagine they've become boring to read as well. Hope this goes well.

Boondock
Time Corps Physical Training Center
Time Immaterial

“What are we waiting for? Let's get started!”

There were hundreds of times during his training that Xander cursed himself for his eagerness. He'd actually thought he was in pretty decent shape when he was 21 years old the first time, between working construction during the day, and hunting vampires and demons at night. Not to mention having to keep up the stamina to ensure that Anya was satisfied. Hah! Compared to where he was now, he was a damned potato back then, but he still had a long way to go. Which was why he was pushing himself up off the mat again, and accepting the towel and a bottle of water from the man who was currently in charge of his training. He wanted to hate the man for what he was doing, but instead, Zeb Carter was currently one of his best friends.

The same Zeb Carter who was currently bouncing on his feet, keeping the blood pumping to resume the spar, that damnable crooked grin on his face, just waiting to knock him on his ass again. 'No! Not going to happen this time, especially since we've actually got an audience, and I could swear I just heard Sharpie making a bet with Deety that I would take Zeb this time. And Sharpie never, never loses a bet, so if she's betting on me, I'm going to knock that 'clean-limbed fighting man' on his ass, just to see the look on his face!'

Keeping that thought in front of him, Xander moved back a couple of steps and got himself into position. Giving a nod to Zeb, the two of them started moving again, but this time it was different, he could feel every lesson that Zeb had pounded into him since they started, every punch, every kick, every damned fall, and it all flowed together, and he suddenly felt like Daniel at the end of the first Karate Kid movie, only it was Mister Miyagi that he was going to end up on the mat this time!

He blocked out the sounds of the audience, the sound of the same damn song that played every time he walked onto the mat, the feel of the punches and kicks, just letting them brush him before diverting them away from his body, they didn't matter, nothing mattered, just focus on your opponent, pay attention to what he's doing to see what he's going to do, and keep moving, land your blows and keep moving. Ignore the look of surprise on his face, don't worry about the glimmer of pride in his eyes, keep punching and kicking, keep moving until you're the last one standing, then you can think again.

Xander didn't think, he just kept moving, not even wasting his breath on a wisecrack, ignoring the hit to his side that had to have cracked a couple of ribs, he just kept punching, until his opponent wasn't in front of him any longer. Blinking, he looked around as saw that Zeb was flat on his back on the mat, his eyes closed and his body a mass of bruises. He stared at the man dumbly, before grabbing the water bottle and a cloth. Kneeling, he started washing some of the wounds that had started bleeding. Zeb's eyes fluttered open and the man had the nerve to grin at him, "Not bad, Xander, you're finally getting somewhere. But I think we're both done for the day, don't you?"

Xander tried to laugh but winced instead as all the pain he'd been ignoring hit him all at once. Gripping Zeb's hand, he forced himself to his feet, pulling Zeb up as well. Zeb nodded in thanks and threw his arm over Xander's shoulders, the two of them supporting each other as they made their way out of the ring.

He could see Tara and Cordy watching him, concern on their faces, and he tried to grin at them, but his face just hurt too damned much. He did manage to get Zeb over to Deety, who took him away, fussing the whole way. Stopping to look at Sharpie, he said “I hope you got real good odds on that bet of yours, because I want at least half, understood?”

The woman looked surprised for a second, before laughing, “Oh, that won't be a problem at all, I'll see you tomorrow to take care of it. Now, your ladies are about to come rushing over here, so you'd better not keep them waiting.”

Glancing over, Xander could easily see that she was right, so he just gave her a nod and turned toward Cordy and Tara, moving as quickly as he could, until the two of them literally forced him into a hoverchair and took him to see Galahad, not that Xander protested all that much.

Fortunately, the two of them were healed in time for dinner, which Xander greatly enjoyed. It was nice being congratulated on taking Zeb down. He could tell that Zeb didn't seem to enjoy the gibes quite as much, and so he didn't add to them, but it was still sweet to hear.

It wasn't until he stepped into the training area the next afternoon and saw Sharpie standing on the mat, a predator's grin on her face, that Xander started getting the idea that the dinner conversation had been part of setting him up. Seeing Zeb standing beside the mat with a huge smile on his face made Xander want to quote Han Solo because he really had a bad feeling about this!

Less than five minutes later, he was proven right, as water splashed in his face waking him. Zeb and Sharpie both gave him friendly smiles as they helped him to his feet, and Zeb said, “Congratulations, you've survived the ego-busting portion of the training, now we can get to the good stuff. And, you should know that you lasted almost a full minute longer on your feet than the previous record holder, which was me, by the way.”

Taking a drink of water, Xander managed to say, “So the bet, and last night at dinner was all a set up? Why?”

Sharpie shook her head, “The bet wasn't, I really didn't expect you to hear me. I've been watching your training, and so has Lazarus and Colonel Campbell, and we were all sure that you were close to a breakthrough, and I could see something in your eyes yesterday that told me that it would happen.”

Zeb picked up, “And yeah, the dinner conversation was a bit of a set up, to keep your confidence up. The reason we do this, and everyone has experienced the same thing, is after beating me, there's a tendency to get cocky, and Sharpie, all five foot nothing and 90 pounds soaking wet is there to bring your ego down to manageable size again, because cockiness in the field gets people killed.”

Xander nodded, “Okay, I'll buy that for a dollar, but I do have another question. Why is it that every time I step onto the mat, 'Eye of the Tiger' starts playing?”

Zeb looked surprised, “Isn't that the traditional training song on your timeline? Cordy swore that it was always used during training.”

He groaned, closing his eyes and shaking his head, “Zeb, we've both been had by my brat of a wife, let me tell you about something you see in movies called a 'training montage'...”

TCOS & TCOS & TCOS

Thursday, October 30^th, 1997
Various Locations

Spahn Ranch
Death Valley, California

Tara groaned, her tired body resisting the movement as she bent down to kneel on the bathroom floor. One of her chores was to make sure that the entire room was spotless, including the floor under the toilet tank, and she didn't want another whipping for missing a spot, not after the last one!

Reaching around, she brushed her hand over the tile, checking to see if anything had fallen back there, and paused when she felt something metallic. Putting her hand over the object, she slowly pulled it from behind the toilet and picked it up. She looked at it curiously, it was a ring of some kind, and Tara knew she hadn't seen it before. It didn't have a gem on it, but a carving of what looked like a snake eating its own tail. Drawn by something she couldn't describe, she reaches out and touched her finger to the carving, only to gasp as the ring started changing, flowing around her ring finger and looking like an ordinary ring.

Her eyes shot open as years of memories hit her, of mama dying and her escape to Sunnydale, Willow, and the magic, Buffy dying, and the shock as her blood splashed across Willow's shirt. Then came everything else, including the knowledge that her lovers would be getting their memories back today. Giving her older self permission to take over, she faded into the background to watch her future self get the revenge on Daddy and Donnie that she had wanted to inflict on them.

Tara smiled as she felt herself take full control, although she wasn't happy about the aches and pains in her younger body, she could deal with them later, she had things to do before heading to Sunnydale. But she did decide to make things extra-painful for the two monsters in the house before she left.

Checking the time, she nodded, a plan forming in her mind. First, take care of her sperm donor, then his spawn, and then she could get mama the hell out of here. Standing, she started flexing her fingers, getting them used to the exercise, and cursing her lack of conditioning. Her mind knew exactly what to do, but getting her body back to that level was going to be a lot of work. At least she would have Cordy and Xander going through it with her, that would make the pain worth it. Once she got her fingers loosened up, she practiced forming them into the shape for the strike she was going to use. Fortunately, this attack didn't require strength, just accuracy, and she could manage that.

Leaving the cleaning supplies behind, she quietly slipped out the door and down the hall, passed her mama's room, but she would be back there soon, toward her sperm donor's 'den'. She whispered a spell to silence the hinges of the door and eased it open. Once she was inside, she smiled, the bastard had his back to her, watching something on the beat-up old television. It didn't really matter, as long as he was distracted for the next minute, that's all she needed.

Closing the door quietly, Tara walked up behind him, her fingers forming the perfect triangle needed for the blow. She was less than six inches away when he noticed something, and by then it was far too late. Her hand hit the nerve cluster at the base of his neck, and the beast stiffened, before collapsing unconscious in the chair. Reaching into his pockets, she took all the money and his bank card out of his wallet, before dropping it on his lap. Sneering at him, she whispered, “I hope you enjoy being Bubba's bitch in whatever prison you end up in, but you will never see me or mama again.”

Quickly scanning the room, she didn't see anything of value that she could take so she opened the door and closed it behind her, heading for Donnie's room.

Her brother was even easier, although a lot more disgusting, she found him sitting on the edge of his bed, pants around his ankles and a magazine in one hand while the other hand was busy. Tara didn't bother to look at the magazine, she did not need to find out what the disgusting creep found exciting. One quick strike and Donnie was unconscious on the bed. Looking around the room, she whistled softly at the pile of cash, and the baggies of white powder. Taking the cash, she checked the time again and saw that it would be at least an hour and a half before 'dear daddy' woke up, and he wouldn't be able to do anything but moan in pain for an hour after that. Tara had plenty of time to finish looting the house of anything she wanted.

Forty-five minutes later, she had all the money in the house, including the hidden stashes, in the bottom of her backpack, as well as some personal items she wanted to keep, and a couple of changes of clothes until she could get Cordy's help getting a new wardrobe.

Slipping into Mama's room, Tara winced at how much pain she was in, and cast a mild sleep spell to let her rest comfortably for a little while. While her mother was sleeping, Tara gathered up everything that she thought her mother would want to have with her in her new home, including her family grimoire and the other books of magic, and teachings of the Goddess that had been carefully hidden by the women of her family going back generations. Once everything was ready, she used the ring to contact Boondock.

“This is Deety, go ahead Tara.”

Tara smiled at hearing her friend's voice again but kept her tone businesslike, even if the code made her want to giggle.

“Base, this is Ellie Mae, Uncle Jed and Jethro are out hunting for oil, and Granny and I would enjoy a trip to the cement pond.”

Tara heard the humor in Deety's voice as she acknowledged the message, and told her that her ride would be there in 3 seconds. As Deety reached the end of her countdown, the wall in her mama's room dissolved, and the open door of Gay Deceiver was hanging there. She blinked as Ishtar stepped into the room, followed by Zeb and the double twins, Laz and Lor, and Castor and Pollux, who floated Mama out of the bed while she and Ishtar carried Mama's personal items and got everything into the car. Climbing in behind them, Tara waited until they were sealed up and said,

“Okay, we're out of there, now, will you please tell me who came up with the damned Beverly Hillbillies for the code? Was it you Zebbie? It would fit your sense of humor to a tee!”

He shook his head, “Nope, wasn't me Tinkerbell, that was all your ever-loving husband and wife's idea, something about getting you back for planting the 'Eye of the Tiger' idea in Cordy's brain.”

Tara snickered, remembering the look on Xander's face when he found out about it, and the spankings he gave her and Cordy, and the fun they had apologizing. But she could remember that later, after she had a nice hot shower with decent soap.

“Okay, fair enough. Now, are you sure you don't want me to take the trip to Boondock with you? I still think Mama would be more comfortable waking up to a friendly face.”

Zeb shook his head, “No Tara, we can handle it just fine. Seeing you there when she woke in strange surroundings would just confuse her more. Once we get her healed and able to wake up completely, we can have you there when we explain things. But this was only part of the mission. I know and understand how personal this is for you and your loves, but you need to focus, we're only getting one shot at this before the Adversary becomes aware of things and moves to stop us. It's only the waves of Chaos flowing out from Ethan's spell preparation that's letting us mask what we are doing now.”

Tara frowned, she didn't like it, but knew that Zeb was right, she would just have to let it go and focus on the next steps. “Okay, then I need you to let me out at the Love's Travel Stop in Boron, and pick me up 30 minutes later, I'm going to buy a burner phone and bring down a world of trouble on Cletus the Slacked Jawed Yokel and his spawn. Then I need to get to the Greyhound station in Parumph, Nevada. I'll take a bus to Sunnydale from there, and, if I'm lucky I'll see news of the raid on the tube when I get to my destination.”

TCOS & TCOS & TCOS

Chase Manor
Sunnydale, California

“I can't believe the nerve of that damned troll!” Cordelia grumbled, “It's taken me weeks of maneuvering to get the invitation to the Grauman's Theater Halloween Party, and now I've got to change everything! Doesn't that moron understand that the agents and producers I would meet are far more important to my future than escorting all these brats around to scrounge candy?”

She looked around the empty house with a frown, “And of course Daddy and his wife are in New York until next week, so I can't get him to talk to Snyder, if he was even willing to help.” She stood there silently, searching for a possible solution, only to sigh, “Crap! I'm going to have to rethink my costume for the party, there's no way I can use the cat costume if I've been wearing it traipsing around Sunnydale with those grubby little monsters.”

Running different possibilities through her mind, she wasn't finding anything that really felt right, so she decided to do what's done before, and it never let her down. Walking into her bedroom, she pulled out the box of costume jewelry her mom had given her when she was little, before mommy went away when she didn't have to worry about 'being a Chase' all the time, and could have the friends she wanted, not the ones her father and his latest wife thought were appropriate. She still missed the times when she had been friends with Xander and Willow, and even Jesse, although he was more than a little annoying at times.

Growling just like she did when she was Raksha, the Mother Wolf as she ran with Xander, her mate Akela by her side through the jungles of Seonee, Cordelia pushed aside the memories and opened the box. Closing her eyes she shoved her hand into the jumble of rings, necklaces, broaches, and earrings until her hand closed around something that felt right. With a soft cry of triumph, she pulled her hand back and opened her eyes, taking a look at what she'd found.

She examined the ring closely, wondering where it had come from, because she knew her mother never had anything like it, not with the carving of the snake eating its tail. Mommy had always hated snakes and didn't even like hearing her talking about the Jungle Book adventures she and the others shared because Amy was Kaa the python.

Reaching out, she ran her finger over the carving, when she froze, images of her life hitting her, and memories of things that hadn't happened, can't have happened, poured into her brain, overwhelming her until she was just sitting there, staring at nothing. She didn't notice that the ring had changed, flowing over her hand until it wrapped snugly around her ring finger, looking like nothing unusual at all.

Eventually, the flood of images, emotions, and memories slowed and then stopped, and she heard adult Cordy asking permission to take over and change things, which she eagerly allowed.

Opening her eyes she looked around the room, smiling softly at the memories of her childhood before the real world tore it away. She knew, through the ring, that Tara had already come back, but not Xander, so she couldn't drive over and give her husband the kiss she longed to do. Well, there would be time for that tomorrow.

Looking at the costume she had rented from Party Town, she shook her head, that just wouldn't do, not at all. However, they did have a decent G.I. Jane costume, and while the movie was a mess, Demi did look good in the uniform! Too bad they didn't have any Navy Whites because A Few Good Men was a much better movie. Oh well, she would work with what they had, and starting in the morning she and her husband were going to kick the so-called Powers in the balls so hard their creators would feel it!

Standing, she looked at the mirror, Cordy was seized by an impulse she couldn't explain, but if questioned, she'd claim it was Xander's influence, and, smiling widely at her reflection yelling, in her worst Desi Arnez voice, "Hey Luci! I'm Hooooooooooommmmmmmmmmme!" before laughing and grabbing the bag from Party Town. She had work to do and wanted to get done before it got dark.

TCOS & TCOS & TCOS

Harris House
15 minutes later

Something very similar happened to Xander when he went digging for the dog-tags he was planning on wearing with the old fatigues for his costume. Although, when the ring started showing him the memories, he felt a brief feeling of happiness that some of his favorite characters were actually real, and he'd met them before the horror of the next several years hit him, and he understood exactly what he and the others would be preventing.

It was more than a little strange to realize that he and Cordy were married, both to each other, and this Tara girl, but it was clear they were all in love with each other, so he wasn't going to worry about it. Once the memories finished, and his future self got permission to take over, he felt himself fading into the background. Once the adult was fully in control, he went searching for the memories of him and Cordy having sex, sure, he had just seen memories that scared the crap out of him, but he was still a 16-year-old boy and Cordy was the hottest girl in school!

Xander smiled to himself when he felt younger him going for the naughty bits, hoping he didn't shock the kid with his memories of Anya, and then finding out just how kinky both Cordy and Tara are. But he had work to do if he ever wanted to enjoy their kinks in the flesh again. The ring told him that both Cordy and Tara were awake now, so tomorrow morning was going to be extremely interesting.

Grabbing his dog tags, he changed out of his school clothes and left the house. It was a long bike ride out to Uncle Rory's, but the man had the metalworking kit he would need to change the information on the tags. He trusted Jake, Libby, and Deety for programming the rings, and was sure they did their best to make sure they prevented possession, but he was a big believer in giving his team as much of a boost as he could, which is why, under their costumes, he and Cordy were going to be wearing the Identification of Commander Alexander Chase-Maclay-Harris, and Cordy would be wearing Lt Commander Cordelia Harris-Maclay-Chase, both of the Inter-Universal Time Corps, 'Kicking Ass and Taking Names Since Three Weeks from Tomorrow'

Lazarus had wanted to kick his ass for coming up with that motto, but everybody else thought it was hilarious, and he eventually saw the humor in it, but still refused to allow it on their uniform patches, the crotchety old fart.

TCOS & TCOS & TCOS

Greyhound Station
Parumph, Nevada
Thursday, October 30^th, 1997
8:30 pm

Tara relaxed into the seat as the bus finally pulled away from the terminal. Things had been almost too well so far, but she wouldn't feel completely comfortable until she was back in her lover's arms again. She had been thrilled when the ring told her that Cordy and Xander had both arrived, and she could feel that they were missing her too. It had actually only been, at most 24 hours since they had been together, but with the disorientation of copying her memories into the ring, and then adjusting to the new/old body, it felt like so much longer.

At least the first part of the plan was going well, there was a news report when she arrived at the bus station, showing a film of dozens of police cars and ATF Vans pouring into the ranch. It surprised her to find out that the ranch used to be home to Charles Manson and his cult, but it explained the feeling of evil in certain places. She always tried to avoid those spots, and now she wondered if there were murders done there? The TV report said they were working from an anonymous tip that the men at the ranch were stockpiling weapons and threatening President and Mrs. Clinton, as well as Attorney General Reno.

Tara smiled to herself, there was enough truth to what she told the police that all of the men at the ranch will find themselves behind bars tonight, and that's even without the bags of cocaine in Donnie's room. She had told the police who she was and that she and her mother were going into hiding until all of them were in prison, out of fear for their lives. She had ended the call and tossed the phone in the sewer before Gay Deceiver came back and was miles away before the first police car arrived trying to track her down.

She watched the highway go by for a while until the movement of the wheels lulled her to sleep, and she reclined the seat-back and closed her eyes, sliding into dreams.

End Chapter Two

Wow! The scenes sure expanded from my original outline, I've got enough for another chapter already, but I'm going to wait to start working on that tomorrow. Hope you enjoy the chapter, and as I told you above, check out my buddy IronBear's stories on FF.Net and Twisting the Hellmouth, they are some of the best Xander/Cordy stories I've ever read. Anyway, hope you enjoyed the latest chapter and, to steal a line from a Bette Davis movie, "Buckle your seat-belts, it's gonna be a bumpy ride."

See you soon

 

STORY TITLE: The Circle of Scooby
PART: 03 of ??
AUTHOR: Red Jacobson (red.jacobson@gmail.com)
DISTRIBUTION: FanFiction.net, Archive of Our Own, Twisting the Hellmouth
DISCLAIMER: None of the Characters You Recognize belong to me, the Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel Characters belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy (Grrr! Argh!), and the Boondock characters belong to the Estate of Robert A Heinlein and his publishers.
SUMMARY: The activation of the world's slayers has caused massive destruction throughout the multi-verse, and the Circle of Ouroborus is determined to prevent that happening and recruit three natives of the critical timeline to save the multi-verse!
FEEDBACK: Of course! It Makes Me Write Faster
RELATIONSHIPS: Xander/Cordelia/Tara
RATING: R
WORD COUNT: <4,444>
SPOILERS: A Crossover with RAH's Lazarus Long Books. I'm afraid that, while I'm going to do my best to explain things, at least a passing familiarity with Time Enough For Love, The Number of the Beast, The Cat Who Walks Through Walls, and To Sail Beyond the Sunset would help you understand who these characters are. None, but if you don't know how the Buffy the Vampire Slayer story goes by now, why are you reading this story?
CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE DEPARTMENT: I'm borrowing a bit of Cordy's childhood background from my buddy IronBear's stories, specifically Rio Blanco on the Mouth of Hell, and the Hell-er-nator Stories. If you want some amazing Xander/Cordelia stories, do yourself a favor and check him out!
AUTHORS NOTES: I'm going to try something unusual for this story, no lemons. Frankly, they've gotten to be a bore to write, and I imagine they've become boring to read as well. Hope this goes well.
A QUICK NOTE ON ANONYMOUS REVIEWS: It doesn't do either of any good if you ask me questions about the story, but don't sign in so I can reply. The guest who left an unsigned review for the first chapter asked some fairly interesting questions about the story that I would have enjoyed discussing with him or her, but as it is, there's no way that can happen. So please, if you have questions or concerns about the direction the story is going, please do us both a favor and sign in so I can respond to you. Thanks!
SPECIAL THANKS TO PAX HUMANA: For Beta and Typo-busting services.

Sunnydale High School
Parking Lot Entrance
Friday, October 31^st, 1997
7:55 am

Xander stood at the top of the stairs, scanning the parking lot for Cordy's red Lexus convertible, doing his best not to show his eagerness as he waited. He did notice a couple of strange looks from the students who walked by him to get into the school, but he figured that was due to the way he was dressed. He had taken care when he dressed that morning, putting away the eye-bleeding Hawaiian shirts, he wasn't going to a Jimmy Buffett concert for Zeus's sake! He'd pulled out the dark khaki pants that were hanging in the back of the closet, and the Wolf's Head T-Shirt, just because he knew that Cordy would enjoy it.

The two of them had spent hours telling Tara about their adventures as Akela and Raksha under the moon of Seonee as they struggled to protect their cub Mowgli from Lungri, the Lame One, the tiger men called Shere Khan. He had to admit that those were some of his happiest memories as well, until Cordy's mom died and her father remarried the first of a series of women, who wanted Cordy to only associate with children of acceptable families. He didn't like remembering those days, but they were in the past and the two of them were back together, shoulder to shoulder as they protected their pack, the way it was supposed to be. And when their wife got here, then the world could watch out. He'd already thought of a way to let Willow and the others know about him and Cordy, he just needed to let her know about it ahead of time.

It was one minute to eight o'clock when the Lexus pulled into the parking lot and took a spot in the front row. He had to force himself not to rush down the stairs and take her into his arms when she got out of the car. Cordy had looked up as soon as she felt his eyes on hers, and her smile changed until it was the one she saved just for him and Tara, when she saw how he was dressed, especially the Wolf's Head shirt. She shifted slightly, letting him see the Wolf's Eye necklace and he grinned at her, knowing she understood.

Holding the door for her, Xander followed his wife inside, before sliding the dog tags he made for her into her hand. "You know how I feel about magic, but I'll take any chance to increase the odds in our favor, wear them under your costume tonight, okay?"

Cordy's eyes widened slightly when she read what was inscribed on the tags, and nodded, “Definitely, and if it wouldn't cause talk before we were ready, I'd ask you to put them on me right here. But thank you, even if we don't need it, I still felt a little naked without having them.”

She gave him a look before he could even open his mouth, “And not the fun kind of naked either.” She lowered her voice and said, “Trust me, I'm just as horny as I ever was, and we'll take care of that after we get the kids back to the school tonight. My father and his wife are gone for a week, so make sure you have lots of condoms and lube! And tomorrow, when we meet up with Tara? I'd eat a lot of high energy foods until you can get this body into shape.”

He scowled slightly but nodded. "Yeah, already got plans for fixing that, I was going through the phone book and writing down some possibilities. We can check them out later, the bell is going to ring soon so we'd better get to class."

TCOS & TCOS & TCOS

Greyhound Station
Sunnydale, California
Friday, October 31^st, 1997
10:00 am

'Home Sweet Hellmouth,' Tara thought with a smile as she stepped out of the air-conditioned bus terminal. She was doing her best to hold in her laughter until she got to somewhere private, but all the TV stations in the building were showing the 'Special Report' about the arrests at Spahn Ranch, and the weapons and drugs they found in several of the buildings. Best of all, there were mugshot pictures of the sperm donor and his spawn and several others, even dear Cousin Beth got arrested for assaulting an officer, served the bitch right!

Blinking against the sun, Tara found an open cab and got a ride to the Ramada Inn downtown. Ten minutes later she was checking in, the desk clerk not even blinking at the magically altered ID card, showing that she was 18 years old. Things were a lot simpler before 9/11, and she briefly wished they could do something to prevent it, but Lazarus, Zeb, and Colonel Campbell had shown her what happened in the timeline that they tried, the death and destruction were so much worse because the terrorists used the capture of their agents as a recruiting tool and the next attack included three times as many planes crashing. So, no, they would have to let things proceed normally. Unless maybe they could find a way to improve the political situation in the Middle East? Marginalize the terror groups somehow?

Tara shook her head, that was so far beyond her capabilities that she couldn't even think of where to start, especially since there were thousands of years of conflict going on over there. Turning her attention back to the clerk, she signed the register and took her room key.

She went into the room just long enough to drop off the backpack and use the facilities before she was closing the door behind her and heading back to the lobby. Stopping to pick up a pair of sunglasses at the gift shop, she left the hotel. Walking down the street, Tara almost froze when she realized she was walking past the Sunnydale Gallery, and she saw Joyce through the window, showing a painting to a couple of customers. Seeing the woman who had become her second mother standing there, alive and well was a bolt of pain to her heart, and she had to keep moving or she would rush into the Gallery and start hugging the woman. Not a good thing, since Joyce had no idea who she was yet.

Forcing herself to keep moving, she had her emotions under control and understood what the other Time Corps members tried to tell her about returning to her own past. They had all warned her that it would hurt, but she didn't understand how much. She just hoped Cordy and Xander were doing better, but they had each other to lean on, and she would too, as soon as they could meet up. It was too bad they were both in school now, and Tara knew from her memories how closely they were watched, Xander by the Troll principal, and Cordy by the sheep she was surrounded by, so it would have to be tomorrow morning, since everything was going to happen tonight.

Stopping at the Verizon store, Tara purchased a basic phone with a prepaid plan and was soon programming Cordy's cell number into her contacts. Cordy had made sure she had the number memorized before they copied their memories into the rings.

Leaving the shop, she saw a sign for a woman's clothing store opening that day, it was a local store, not a chain. She really would prefer going naked, after the last several years of not needing to worry about modesty, but that would draw far too much attention to her in the here and now. And she was extremely tired of the Earth Mother look. Of course, she still worshiped Gaea, but looking like a refuge from Haight Ashbury would make people in the know think she was a vampire after dark, and that's not how she wanted to meet Buffy again.

Looking further down the street, she saw a crowd gathered in front of one of the stores, and a tall, friendly-looking man was holding up a huge pair of scissors as he made some kind of a speech. In a blink, Tara realized that the man must be Mayor Richard Wilkins, the First, Second and Third, and she was struck by how ordinary he looked. She moved closer, wanting to get a look at one of their primary objectives, but stayed far enough back that he didn't notice her.

Eventually, he finished his speech and cut the ribbon that was hung across the door, and pushed the door open for the people to walk in. Once the crowd thinned out and the Mayor stepped out of the doorway, Tara joined the crowd and was soon taking a look at the selections. She was pleased to see that they were comfortable looking clothes, including shorts and t-shirts. Checking the prices, she knew that she wouldn't have a problem buying as much as she wanted, and soon had a half dozen pairs of shorts and the same number of T-shirts in her basket and was heading toward the changing room.

A few minutes later, after trying everything on to see if it fit, she walked out in some tan shorts and a Sunnydale Razorbacks T-shirt, the dress bundled under her arm and the rest of her purchases in the basket. Making her way through the crowd, she got to the register and, after handing over the tags from the clothes she was wearing, unloaded the basket, enjoying the pleased smile on the woman's face. When she finished paying and gave the woman an extra five dollars for good luck, Tara took her bags and left the store.

Seeing a sidewalk cafe, she stopped for a bite of breakfast and pulled out her phone. Tapping Cordy's number, she hit the text icon and started typing.

"Hey lovers! Guess who? I'm in town now, arrived a couple of hours ago and got a room at the Ramada Inn. I already know that you are going to be busy with school and the children until later, and then I'm sure you're planning to drag our husband away for some private time. Normally I'd suggest the two of you coming to my room, but I'm too exhausted to be a good pet tonight, plus I need to deal with the emotional shock I got earlier, seeing Joyce alive. I almost broke down, and I need to get the reactions under control, especially when I meet Willow this time around.

“So I'm going to be meditating and resting most of the day and evening, so why don't we meet at Rebecca's Cafe on Wilkins tomorrow morning around 9 o'clock. It's across the street and about a block toward midtown from Joyce's Gallery. That's where I am right now, and it's a cozy little place.”

Sending the text, she picked up the menu and gave the waitress her order, apologizing for the delay, “But I just got into town this morning and needed to let my family know where I was staying.”

The girl just smiled, “That's understandable, in a place like Sunnydale it's always best to have people know where you are. Just to be safe, you know?”

Tara gave the girl a look, her hand casually brushing the crucifix she was wearing around her neck. The girl looked at her and nodded, giving a slight smile before turning in the order.

Her breakfast had just arrived when her phone chirped, letting her know she had a message. It was from Cordy and Xander both, and they were beyond thrilled she was there already, and Xander was more than willing to ditch school to see her. Cordy vetoed the idea, unfortunately, pointing out that Snyder would have both of them in detention until Christmas.

Tara scowled at the mention of the Principal, but he wouldn't be around that much longer if they had anything to say about it. Once the Mayor was visiting his patron demons in person, they could move against his flunkies like Snyder and the Police Chief, Munroe, or something. They all needed to go!

She did laugh when Xander took over the conversation, telling her to make sure she took care of her grooming and to leave her underwear behind when they met for breakfast because the three of them would be going back to Cordy's place for dessert. She nearly moaned at the last line, remembering other times when she was their dessert. Tara had never realized just how much fun being a Tara Sundae could be, but now she really didn't want to wait until morning to see them.

The two of them ended the text by telling her they loved her and would show it tomorrow morning before signing off. Tara was in a happy daze as she finished her breakfast. Paying the bill and leaving a good tip, she grabbed her bags and hurried back to the hotel.

Once she was in the room, she stripped out of the shorts and T-shirt, she had a date with the massaging showerhead and her memories of the last time she was dessert!

TCOS & TCOS & TCOS

Sunnydale High School
Friday, October 31^st, 1997
12:15 pm

Xander was heading toward the cafeteria to join Willow and Buffy for lunch when he heard his name being hissed from behind him. Turning, he saw that Cordy was trying to get his attention. Walking over to her, he started to ask what was going on, but she just shoved her phone into his hands, with a text message showing on the screen.

He gave his wife a happy grin when he read the text, and said: "Have you responded yet?"

Cordy shook her head, “I just had a chance to check the phone a couple of minutes ago. What say we go off campus for lunch? We can say I took pity on you and let your win a bet with me, so I'm paying it off.”

His grin turned into a genuine smile, “Spending time with my wife and not have to pretend we can't stand each other? Lead the way!”

She gave him a throaty chuckle, “Easy there Akela, it's not time for you to claim me as your mate, not until tomorrow anyway.”

He nodded, following her to her car, “About that, I think I've got a good way to tell the gang how and why we got together, as well as some of the future bombs we're going to be dropping on them.”

She looked at him curiously, “Okay, I'll bite, what have you come up with in that devious mind of yours?”

“That the soldier I dressed as, and put my name on the fatigues and dog-tags, was a version of me from several years in the future, a future where you and I are happily married with four children, 2 sons, Jesse and Kelly, and two daughters, Hilda and Maureen. I'd love to give one of them the name Deety, but even Willow wouldn't believe I could convince you to name a girl Dejah Thoris.”

Cordy nodded and laughed, “No, not if I hadn't met Deety and visited Barsoom, I wouldn't have let you give a daughter of ours a name like that. But, I like it, and I'll just say that you told me enough things about my life I'd never shared with anybody, to convince me we were, if not married, at least extremely close friends. And that I finally admitted to myself that I was feeling an attraction to you, and decided to take a risk and see how it goes.”

He laughed, “And sometime next week your going to complain that I'm like a puppy, cute and cuddly and all kinds of adorable, until I pee on the carpet, right?”

His once and future wife almost had to pull over she started laughing so hard but got herself under control and they made their way to McDonald's. Taking their order and sitting at one of the picnic benches, he said, "So how are you dealing with being back, not just seeing the others, but classes? I know I'm having a bastard of a time paying attention in Physics, because I know that so much of what they are teaching us is wrong, but it won't be proven for decades, if that!"

Cordy smiled slightly, “I had the same problem, and I almost started arguing with Mrs Bletchly in History this morning. She was spewing the garbage about JFK and what a wonderful president he was, and I wanted to set her straight, but those records weren't found until around 10 years after Teddy died, and he's still kicking around in the Senate for several more years.”

Xander shrugged, “Guess we've just got to grin and bare it, the tests don't care how well you can think, only how well you can repeat the information forced into you for the last 12 years. Once we've finished our mission and give the kids a good shot at the future, then we can work on changing the education system if you really want a challenge.”

She looked at him thoughtfully, stealing some of his fries and putting them in her mouth. After she finished chewing and swallowed, she said, “That's not a bad idea, unless we get another mission right away. But, thinking about a good shot at the future, what are we going to do to get you out of that house? Even with your maturity and emotional strength, that place is not good for you, at all!”

“Already thought about that, even before coming back. I talked to Jake and got his permission to invent and patent some of his more useful gadgets. That will give me a demonstrated source of income and I can file to be an emancipated minor. By the time that goes through, I should have enough for a good down payment on a place, especially with the way real estate is so cheap around here.”

Cordy nodded approvingly, “That works, and since I've already spoken to my lawyer about making sure that I transfer everything that's mine into my name, using part of the trust fund to pay my Father and wife number whatever a fair price. I'm not going to caught off guard like I was last time. Damn it, I know it's petty and I've mostly gotten past it, but I like being rich and hated being poor with a passion.”

“I was never exactly poor, but not much more than lower middle class growing up, and that was bad enough. From what I remember, things really weren't that bad before the bottle got it's hooks into Tony and he couldn't keep a job for more than a few months at at time, that's when it got ugly. I'm not sure what I can do to help him or Jessica, other than shipping them off to Boondock for treatment, but the two of them are too closed minded to understand and accept the offer, so I'm just going to let them go. I'll still keep trying to find a way to help them, they are my parents and they did the best they could, even if they weren't successful at it, I never went hungry or without clean clothes, so it could have been a lot worse.”

“You're a lot more generous than I would be, Xan, I'd just walk out and say good riddance as I was leaving.”

He shook his head, “When I was first rescued, I probably would have done the same, but you know how many hours I spent with Tamara and her team, the way I grew up had to be dealt with before we even started on losing Jesse, then Ampata and Jenny and all the others. It took a long time, but I can look back at it dispassionately and understand that they do love me but they are just crap at showing it. It wasn't fun, by any definition of the word, but it's dealt with and can't hurt anymore. But, it's getting close to time to leave, want to get a couple of milkshakes to make the freshmen jealous?”

They just barely made it back to school on time, but he already wasn't looking forward to the interrogation that was coming from Buffy and Willow who saw the two of them walking in from the parking lot.

TCOS & TCOS & TCOS

Sunnydale High School Library
Later that afternoon

The two girls didn't even let him sit down before starting the interrogation, jumping on him as he walked through the double doors. He stopped and tried to answer, but they were so busy asking questions he couldn't get a word in, so he just walked around them and sat down at their table, giving Giles a nod. He had just opened his backpack and pulled out his Physics assignment when the girls realized he wasn't answering them and came over glaring at him.

Before they could open their mouths, he held up a finger,

“So, is it my turn to speak? The two of you were shooting questions and accusing me of all sorts of things so fast that I couldn't get your attention to try and answer. Now, yes I went to lunch with Cordelia, the two of us had made a bet a couple of days ago that she lost, and she was paying the forfeit. And yes, we were having a friendly conversation as we walked in.

"I know it's hard to believe Willow, but there's actually a fairly nice girl underneath the 'Queen C' mask, but you've let your hate for her, from when we were little, blind you to the fact that since she started helping out last year, she hasn't actually been as vicious in her comments to either of us. I'm not addressing you, Buffy, because so much of this is rooted in incidents that you weren't around for. And Will, you can't tell me that the sniping and comments were all coming from Cordy, we both got plenty of good shots in, remember the 'deliver' key? Do you know how much work the two of them had to redo because you thought it was funny?

“So, just to be perfectly clear, if I chose to be friendly with Cordelia Chase, I do not need your permission or approval, understood? Now that I've wasted nearly eight minutes of my free period, do you mind leaving me alone so I can get a start on my homework?”

Xander felt a bit of regret at the flash of hurt in Willow's eyes, but she needed to hear the truth, and also stop thinking that he would someday fall in love with her so they could get married, have 2.5 kids and a house with a white picket fence in the suburbs. He snorted, for all her later 'rebel lesbian witch' who-rah, Willow was even more conventional than Anya, although Anya was much more direct and open about her view of the American Dream.

Shaking his head, he opened the text to the chapter they were working on and started to read.

TCOS & TCOS & TCOS

Sunnydale High School
6:30 pm

Xander stood, his hands behind his back as he explained the best way to score more candy, keeping his group of kids mesmerized. Cordelia had brought her group over, supposedly to listen, but the two of them had planned to be close together when the spell hit. He was just wrapping up his lecture when he felt of wave of something pass him, and the children began to change.

Shooting a look at Cordy, he saw that she was still herself and he grinned, “Okay Sunnydale, it's showtime!”

End Chapter Three

You know, I honestly thought that I could get through Halloween and on to the next day in this chapter, but the Characters had things to say and do and insisted on telling me about them. It seems that I've completely failed the primary rule in Strunk and White's 'The Elements of Style' which is 'Omit Needless Words' Sorry Charlie. GRIN

See you soon with the next chapter

 

STORY TITLE: The Circle of Scooby
PART: 04 of ??
AUTHOR: Red Jacobson (red.jacobson@gmail.com)
DISTRIBUTION: FanFiction.net, Archive of Our Own, Twisting the Hellmouth
DISCLAIMER: None of the Characters You Recognize belong to me, the Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel Characters belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy (Grrr! Argh!), and the Boondock characters belong to the Estate of Robert A Heinlein and his publishers.
SUMMARY: The activation of the world's slayers has caused massive destruction throughout the multi-verse, and the Circle of Ouroborus is determined to prevent that happening and recruit three natives of the critical timeline to save the multi-verse!
FEEDBACK: Of course! It Makes Me Write Faster
RELATIONSHIPS: Xander/Cordelia/Tara
RATING: PG-13 (I rated it too high at first, there's nothing worse than what you would see on network television in prime time)
WORD COUNT: <4,762>
SPOILERS: A Crossover with RAH's Lazarus Long Books. I'm afraid that, while I'm going to do my best to explain things, at least a passing familiarity with Time Enough For Love, The Number of the Beast, The Cat Who Walks Through Walls, and To Sail Beyond the Sunset would help you understand who these characters are. None, but if you don't know how the Buffy the Vampire Slayer story goes by now, why are you reading this story?
CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE DEPARTMENT: I'm borrowing a bit of Cordy's childhood background from my buddy IronBear's stories, specifically Rio Blanco on the Mouth of Hell, and the Hell-er-nator Stories. If you want some amazing Xander/Cordelia stories, do yourself a favor and check him out!
AUTHORS NOTES: I'm going to try something unusual for this story, no lemons. Frankly, they've gotten to be a bore to write, and I imagine they've become boring to read as well. Hope this goes well.
A QUICK NOTE ON ANONYMOUS REVIEWS: It doesn't do either of us any good if you ask me questions about the story, but don't sign in so I can reply. The guest who left an unsigned review for the first chapter asked some fairly interesting questions about the story that I would have enjoyed discussing with him or her, but as it is, there's no way that can happen. So please, if you have questions or concerns about the direction the story is going, please do us both a favor and sign in so I can respond to you. Thanks!
SPECIAL THANKS TO PAX HUMANA: For Beta and Typo-busting services.

Sunnydale High School
Five Seconds after the Previous Scene

Chaos, absolute chaos surrounded them but, fortunately, they were prepared and immediately went into action. As soon as the children started changing, they used flashing colored lights to distract them, the two of them clipped the electronic collar to their costumes and herded them behind the invisible fence they had set up earlier. It had taken him until nearly eleven o'clock last night to adapt the collar technology to be put into a button shape. He had used Jake's ideas to manufacture nearly 100 of the buttons, so they could put as many kids as possible out of danger.

He had explained his plan on the way back from lunch, and Cordy had purchased the fence right after school. It was simple enough to pair the buttons with the fence so they couldn't leave the area. Cordy had added her own twist, a music player that had soothing music, to calm the monsters down and get them to sleep.

Once the children were safe, he gave his wife a kiss and a quick squeeze before taking off to find Willow and Buffy. Willow was the easy one, she was running around in ghost form, and found him as he was heading in her direction.

She seemed surprised that he recognized her, but he just grinned, “Typical Xander luck, Wills, I'm Xander Harris, but not the same one you saw in the library earlier. I've got several years of experience behind me, and I've lived through this before. What you need to do is get to the library, and tell Giles that the chaos is being caused by his old friend Ethan Rayne, he's the one who opened Ethan's Costume Shop, where all of us got at least part of our costumes. Can you tell Giles that? Because I've got to go rescue Buffy and get her home. And boy am I going to tease her about being Lady Useless the next time I see her!”

Willow looked scandalized at first at the idea of teasing Buffy, but then she grinned, “It is a change, her having to be rescued, isn't it? And sure, I'll go see Giles, you get our hero home safe, okay?”

“No problem, Wills, but we are all going to need to talk tomorrow, I'm going to write down what I remember before going to sleep in case the memories fade. There's a whole world of badness just waiting to crash on us, and unfortunately, one of the worst, if I can't prevent it, is Angel losing his soul and unleashing Angelus. The body count from that mess was close to 200 before we stopped it, and some of those were friends of ours.”

If a ghost could go pale, Willow would have managed it but instead she just swallowed thickly and nodded, before turning toward the school. Hopefully, that will get her off the whole 'so romantic' attitude when it came to Buffy and Angel. He really didn't want to have to deal with Jenny's death again or losing Kendra to Drusilla's claws.

Once Willow was out of sight, he hurried toward where Buffy should be about now and was looking forward to belting Larry again. Sure, the guy became close to a friend after he came out of the closet but right now, he was just a typical asshole jock.

A few minutes later, he heard the sounds of a struggle coming from an alley ahead of him and Xander quickened his stride until he could see what was going on. Yep, it was Pirate Larry pinning Lady Useless against the wall and pulling up her dress.

Xander didn't waste any time, gliding up behind Larry and grabbing him by the shoulder. The football player was off-balance already from trying to hold Buffy down, so it was easy to whirl him around and slam him against the brick wall. A quick shot to the belly and an uppercut to the nose left Larry whimpering on the ground and Xander nodded, "Yep! Still satisfying," before turning to Buffy and saying softly, "Lady Elizabeth, I'm here to escort you to a place of safety until you return home. Will you let me escort you?"

She looked up at him trustingly, before nodding, “Thank you, Sir Knight, my father will reward you greatly for your service this night. But I'm confused, this is very different from my home, and I have no knowledge of how I arrived here. Do you know?”

He nodded, having prepared an answer she would understand and accept. “Aye, Lady Elizabeth, I do, a demon-cursed magician worked his foul arts on a village many years from our time, to summon our souls to possess the bodies of innocents. I don't yet know why he did this but when does one find sense in the actions of wizards? I know more of what is going on because the young man this body belongs to was partially protected from the effects of the spell and is able to communicate with me. He is the one who convinced several of his allies to seek the magician out to end the madness, while myself and some other local allies seek out innocents in danger to provide succor for them. Now, we do need to get moving, my host knows your host, and where she lives. I will guide you there.”

She looked at him thoughtfully, before nodding and taking his arm as they walked. She was mostly quiet as they walked toward Revello Drive, and she found a key to the door on a chain around her neck. Unlocking the door, Xander froze because there were sounds of a struggle coming from the kitchen. Bringing her into the house, he closed the door and gestured for Lady Elizabeth to wait by the door. Her eyes had gone wide at the sound of the fight but nodded.

Opening the holster on his hip, Xander pulled out the water pistol, with the expanded reservoir of Holy Water, and moved quietly toward the doorway to the kitchen. As he saw what was going on, he almost breathed a sigh of relief when he recognized Angel fighting another vampire. Raising the water pistol, he aimed it at the other vampire's face and fired, making the vamp scream as the water burned his face like acid. Angel looked up in surprise, but just nodded when he saw Xander's face. Xander pulled a stake from his belt and handed it to Angel, and the screaming vamp was a dust pile.

Angel was handing the stake back when he froze, staring at him, and Xander nodded, “Yeah, I'm not the Xander Harris you know, an idiot chaos mage cast a spell and turned everybody into their costumes. By a streak of typical Harris luck, I dressed in my uncle's fatigues and created my own dog tags. I just bought a toy gun at the idiot's shop, and I ended up being possessed by Xander Harris from several years in the future. I've already lived the next several years, and I've got something very important to tell you and you are going to hate me for it.” Angel looked worried suddenly, and Xander continued,

“When the Kalderash cursed that soul into you, they left a way to end it in the curse itself. If you ever experience a moment of true happiness, the curse breaks and the soul goes off to it's final reward. In the original timeline, the curse broke after you had sex with Buffy because it made you feel human again. The death count was close to 200 before Angelus was stopped. I won't let that happen again, I lost too many friends because Buffy couldn't see beyond the face of the man she thought she loved, to realize that Angel was gone, never to return.”

Angel staggered back, leaning against the counter as he closed his eyes and shook his head, “No, no! I can't let that happen, not again! Got to get out of here, avoid temptation.”

Xander moved closer and put his hand on the shaken vampire's shoulder, “Look, you know about what can happen now, so you can avoid it. But I also know where the Kalderash who is assigned to watch you is, and I'll try to convince them to get the details on the curse, so we can remove the ability to break it, and, I'll explain things to Buffy and Giles if it's too uncomfortable for you. Okay?”

Angel looked at him, his eyes wide in wonder, “Why are you being so helpful? Harris hates me and wants to fuck Buffy.”

Xander grinned, "Well, I'm still not overly fond of you, really dude, you were born in 1727 and had your drink with Darla in 1753, when you were 26, so either you are 9 years older if you just count the years you were alive, or you 254 years older and either way, that's really sick! And even if we just count the 99 years you've been cursed with your soul, then you are only 82 years older than her. I've heard of 'robbing the cradle' but isn't that a bit much?

“And leaving all that aside, you really haven't been all that helpful to us, just showing up to spew cryptic bits of information and disappearing again, when you could have been helping with research, I'm sure you can still read and speak Gaelic, can't you? And you know Latin from growing up in the Church, so why aren't you helping us out by translating some of Giles' texts?”

Angel was looking almost embarrassed as he opened his mouth to say something, but whatever he was going to say was interrupted when there was a shriek from the living room, followed by the opening chords to 'A Hard Day's Night' but at a volume, you'd need to be at Shea Stadium to hear normally.

Rushing toward the noise, Xander wanted to laugh at the way Lady Elizabeth was cowering in the corner of the room, as far from the stereo as she could get, with her hands clapped over her ears. He kept his laughter from showing as he lowered the volume down to almost zero and walked over to her. "It's alright, Lady Elizabeth, the noise is harmless to you, but it's much better enjoyed at a lower volume. What seems to have happened is you brushed up against a device the people in these times use to listen to music."

Holding out his hand, he pulled her to her feet and led her to where Angel was standing, although she glared at the stereo set, so he used his free hand to turn off the music. When they reached Angel, Xander said,

"Lady Elizabeth, this is Sir Angel, one of the allies I told you about. He is also friendly with the person whose body you are borrowing. He was here to check on her safety and encountered an intruder. That was the sounds of combat we heard earlier. I helped Sir Angel remove the intruder and took the time to explain that your host was affected by the spell and he has agreed to watch over you until you are returned to your home. I must seek out others who need my assistance." Bowing to her, and damn wasn't he going to have fun teasing the Buffster about this tomorrow, he said, "It's been an honor and a privilege to meet you, Lady Elizabeth, and I wish you safe travels."

He slipped away before she could react, although he heard something he'd never expected to hear, Angel almost choking on his laughter, but he could find out what that was about tomorrow, there were a couple of Sid and Nancy wannabes who had a date with several gallons of Holy Water, and he was going to make sure they got there!

TCOS & TCOS & TCOS

Elsewhere

“Shit! This ain't good, not good at all! How the hell did those meddling bastards get one of their agents into town without us noticing? And he knows way too much for it to be accidental. Rat Boy wasn't supposed to know about the get out of jail card on the curse, this is way above my pay grade, gotta tell the bosses!”

The Balance Demon known by some on Earth as Whistler concentrated and vanished from his location in front of the scrying pool, where he had just watched the human he had always dismissed give the Champion knowledge that he wasn't ever to receive.

The uproar this caused among the lower dimensions hadn't been seen since Orpheus had traveled to the underworld to retrieve his wife, Eurydice, only to falter at the last moment. This caused hundreds of souls to change hands to pay off the wagers on the young Godling's success or failure.

TCOS & TCOS & TCOS

Spike and Drusilla's Lair
457 Crawford Street
Sunnydale, CA
After the Previous Scene

Drusilla froze in mid-dance, her eyes staring at something only she could see, until she was able to move again and started talking. “No, no, Bad Kitten! You shouldn't be playing with other people’s toys. Have to be punished, you do, and not just by missing out on tea and cakes. Oh, no, you are far too naughty for such a simple punishment. No, you play with other people's toys, then we will play with your pretty pretties, it will be so much fun, all the screams and yummy blood!”

She stepped into the main room and gave the orders, sending one of her better minions to locate Spike and bring him back to the lair, he was being hunted by unforeseen danger. Sending several minions to get the Kitten's soldier girl and bring her back unharmed, she made her way out of the house, the stars guiding her to the pretty little witch. Oh yes, Kitten would be suitably punished when he discovered their bodies, naughty Kitten. Maybe she would teach him, before turning him, that it's not only kittens that have claws.

TCOS & TCOS & TCOS

Mt Olympus
Temple of Apollo
Time Immaterial

It had been an entertaining interlude, observing the young mortal that his counterpart Janus had found so intriguing, but it quickly ceased being entertaining when he idly wondered how the adversary would react. Sitting up quickly, he cursed at those damned demons tainting his gift and generated a prophetic dream to warn the witch.

Summoning his son, Orpheus, Apollo gave the God of Dreams his instructions and watched as he faded away. Looking closer at the sleeping witch, he saw her connection to the Earth Mother and sent a message to her domain, if the demons were interfering with one of her followers, she would want to be informed.

Having done what he was able, within the limits of his authority, Apollo sat back and focused his attention on one of the modern bards. Relaxing as the sweet sounds of the music drifted to his ears, he was pleased with the young woman's use of his gift and left a portion of his awareness on the bard as he looked over the rest of his areas of responsibility.

TCOS & TCOS & TCOS

Ramada Inn
Sunnydale
Earlier

Tara woke with a start, the dream so vivid and urgent, she scrambled out of bed and checked the peephole in the door. There was no one there, and she gave a sigh of relief. Double checking that the door was locked, she also turned the deadbolt and hooked the chain across the opening. It wasn't the best, but it would do for the next couple of minutes before she could fix the problem. Picking up her phone, she hit the speed dial and held it to her ear. To her relief, her wife picked up on the first ring.

“Cordy, I just got a dream vision. Somehow, the bastards found out and sent a vision to Dru. She’s sent a group of minions to capture you and she's coming to get me personally. I'm going to set up as much of a threshold on the room as I can, but, I really don't think I'd want to spend the night here.”

“Of course not, who the hell would. Honestly, girl, if you'd let me know before you checked in, I would have gotten you a much better hotel than the Ramada. Hell, the Boondock Rent-a-Bed is still better than that. But seriously, as soon as Doofus gets back from hunting Spike, we'll drop off the kids and pick you up. Even if we don't spend the night playing, we'll all sleep better being together. Oops, I need to go, about a half dozen fashion victims are heading my way. I'll call you back.”

Tara closed the phone and slipped it into the pocket of her shorts and picked up her pouch of different herbs. Offering the opening prayer to Gaea to approve of her efforts, she combined the herbs she needed and set them in the small brazier before lighting them on fire. Once the smoke was drifting around the room, she moved from the door to the windows and chanted the second part of the prayer, and smiled to see the green glow surrounding all the entryways. Completing the third circle of the room, she knelt in front of the brazier and breathed in the smoke as she offered the third and final part of the prayer to her Goddess, and smiled when the rest of the offered herbs burned up instantly, and the smoke disappeared, not even leaving a smell behind.

With the room protected, Tara started going through the rest of the supplies to see what she could use to defend herself. The cross she wore was only slightly helpful since she had no faith in the Christian icons and the Goddess didn't have anything considered a holy icon. There were some spells she could cast with the ingredients she had available, that could disable the demon, but they took time to cast and couldn't be prepared in advance, so not the best choice when facing a vampire on your own.

"It looks like it's the old standby for tonight but tomorrow I'm hitting the magic shop and stocking up on different herbs until we can send all the damned things to hell." Opening another section of her bag, she pulled out the thick woolen scarf and four stakes carved from the Ash tree. Her mother had brought the stakes with her when they took her from the school and kept them hidden until she showed them to Tara, and taught her how to use them and take care of them.

Picking up the scarf, she took the small jar of Holy Water that her mother had taken the last time she'd been healthy enough to attend church. Pouring it over the scarf, she smiled slightly remembering how Mama had explained that, unlike the icons, the Holy Water worked whether you believed in it or not. She had speculated that it was because the water was originally part of Gaea's world and not something formed like the crosses and other icons. It didn't matter to Tara because it worked just fine in hurting the demons.

Wrapping the wet scarf around her neck, she picked up the stakes and set them on the bed beside her. Pulling the phone out of her pocket, she looked at it, willing it to ring, but it sat silent, taunting her. “Come on, Cordy, let me know you're alright, don't keep me waiting!”

TCOS & TCOS & TCOS

Wilkins Blvd near Crawford Street
Fifteen Minutes prior

There were times, like now, that Xander would have loved to have access to a flame thrower. He'd been tracking Spike ever since he left Buffy's house and caught up with him near Ethan's shop. Xander had pulled his taser and was moving closer when the sound of screeching tires distracted him and he saw Giles climbing out of his little car. Turning back to Spike, he swore because the bastard had vanished again.

Keeping the taser ready, he started heading toward Crawford Street, hoping to catch up with the Bloody Awful Poet. Xander almost had him but he couldn't get close enough before something interrupted him, again! Xander cursed silently but he wasn't going to let a Fyarl Demon make a meal out of a group of kids. It took him longer than he would have wanted to kill the thing but at least the kids got away during the fight.

And now, he was finally getting close to his target when he felt the wave of magic wash over him again, and he heard kids screaming in terror. Swearing to get Spike the next time, he put the taser away and started running toward the kids, he had to get them to safety before anything else.

Fortunately, the kids calmed down immediately when he approached them, he looked like a grown-up to them, and so they followed him when he told them he'd get them back to the school.

It took nearly 20 minutes to get back to the high school because now that the kids weren’t scared, they wanted to explore someplace they hadn't seen before. But at least Xander had help as some of the other high school students found them and helped keep everything together. He smiled when his group reached the spot where he and Cordy had secured their kids and there was no sign of the kids or Cordy. 'She must have taken them back to the school already, I'll catch up with her there.'

But when he got to the high school, the kids were there, but no sign of Cordy. Trying to hide his concern, he approached one of the older kids in the group. "Hey, did you see where the Soldier Lady that was with us went to? I need to talk to her."

The boy shook his head, “Sorry, it was just as we were waking up and I saw a bunch of men approach her, but she argued with them, and turned and ran in the direction of the water tower, making them chase her. I hope she got away, because the men started looking like scary monsters, and they frightened the little kids. We figured out how to get out of the place we were in and hurried back to the school.”

Xander felt his blood run cold but he managed to thank the kid before he turned and started running, swearing he would burn every demon in this town if she was hurt!

But before he could even get ten feet, he heard the voice he would always hate calling him. “Harris! Just where do you think you are going? You haven't been dismissed and where is Miss Chase?”
Forcing himself to at least try to be polite, Xander turned and softly said, “Principal Snyder, I was just informed that Cordelia had been accosted by a group of 'gang members on PCP', and I'm going to find her and help her, however I can. All of our children are accounted for but if you know anything about these 'gang members' you know that Cordelia is in deadly peril. May I please be excused?” He put a bit of his true self into his voice and Snyder stared at him for a second, before something changed.
The man nodded and said, in a softer voice. “After you rescue Cordelia, I want the two of you to speak to the Librarian. You can do it tomorrow, it's getting late. But ask Mister Giles for any information he has in his records about a girl named Heather MacLeod, and the group she had helping her. They called themselves the Misfits, and not the Scooby Gang, but I think you'll both find it interesting.”

TCOS & TCOS & TCOS

Ramada Inn
Tara's Room
Same Time

Tara was nearly frantic with worry about Cordy, it had been over half an hour and Cordy wouldn't have that much problem dealing with six vamps in that time. And there was no answer when she called her cell phone. And now, she could hear a woman's voice singing coming down the corridor toward her room and she knew in her heart that it was Drusilla. Standing, she picked up the stakes and put two of them in the belt on her shorts, and held one in each hand. Taking a deep breath, she did her best to calm and center herself, before moving to the wall next to the door hinges.

Hours later, or maybe just a minute, there was a sharp knock on the door, and she heard Drusilla's voice, “Open up, witchy girl, Dru needs to speak to you about your naughty kitten. Don't keep me waiting, Dru is already quite cross with all three of you, don't make her get angry.”

Tara said nothing, trying not to breathe, but then Dru's voice came through the door. “I'm sorry, pretty little witch, but you've gone and made Dru rather angry because of your naughtiness. So I have to take sterner measures.”

A second later, there was a heavy blow on the door, and it shook in the frame, bending inward, and being pulled off the hinges.

The next blow knocked the door out of the frame entirely, sending it flying across the room, and Dru stood in the doorway, her eyes yellow and fangs showing, her claws gleaming as the vampire reached for her.

End Chapter Four

You know, I wonder why I bother outlining my chapters. The only part of my outline that made it to the story is part of the first scene, up until Xander decked Larry. Everything else was the characters taking over the story. Granted, the story they're telling is a lot more exciting than the one I had plotted but it does make my life interesting as I try to keep up. See you soon with the next chapter.

 

STORY TITLE: The Circle of Scooby
PART: 05 of ??
AUTHOR: Red Jacobson (red.jacobson@gmail.com)
DISTRIBUTION: FanFiction.net, Archive of Our Own, Twisting the Hellmouth
DISCLAIMER: None of the Characters You Recognize belong to me, the Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel Characters belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy (Grrr! Argh!), and the Boondock characters belong to the Estate of Robert A Heinlein and his publishers.
SUMMARY: The activation of the world's slayers has caused massive destruction throughout the multi-verse, and the Circle of Ouroborus is determined to prevent that happening and recruit three natives of the critical timeline to save the multi-verse!
FEEDBACK: Of course! It Makes Me Write Faster
RELATIONSHIPS: Xander/Cordelia/Tara
RATING: PG-13
WORD COUNT: <4,269>
SPOILERS: A Crossover with RAH's Lazarus Long Books. I'm afraid that, while I'm going to do my best to explain things, at least a passing familiarity with Time Enough For Love, The Number of the Beast, The Cat Who Walks Through Walls, and To Sail Beyond the Sunset would help you understand who these characters are. None, but if you don't know how the Buffy the Vampire Slayer story goes by now, why are you reading this story?
CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE DEPARTMENT: I'm borrowing a bit of Cordy's childhood background from my buddy IronBear's stories, specifically Rio Blanco on the Mouth of Hell, and the Hell-er-nator Stories. If you want some amazing Xander/Cordelia stories, do yourself a favor and check him out!
A QUICK NOTE ON ANONYMOUS REVIEWS: It doesn't do either of us any good if you ask me questions about the story, but don't sign in so I can reply. The guest who left an unsigned review for the first chapter asked some fairly interesting questions about the story that I would have enjoyed discussing with him or her, but as it is, there's no way that can happen. So please, if you have questions or concerns about the direction the story is going, please do us both a favor and sign in so I can respond to you. Thanks!
SPECIAL THANKS TO PAX HUMANA: For Beta and Typo-busting services.

Sunnydale Streets
Forty-Five Minutes Ago

“Oops, I need to go, about a half dozen fashion victims are heading my way. I'll call you back." Cordy heard Tara's phone disconnect and she moved to confront the bloodsuckers. "Hey! Fang boys, what the hell are you doing out here? Isn't Halloween too commercial for you types?" Come on Chase, get them focused on you, not on the sleeping kids, you can take these dipshits. "Hey! I'm talking to you, you idiots, what the hell do you think you're doing out here tonight? Get out and go back to Dru, maybe she and Miss Edith will have some tea and cakes ready for you?"

'Oh! That got a reaction, but then who'd want to work for that loony-toon? Yeah, they don't like that at all, time to get my luscious ass out of here!'

The next several minutes would always be a blur to her, her legs pounding as she ran, using the Cheerleading leaps and jumps to keep just ahead of the demon gang. Finally, she saw the fence surrounding the water tower and put on a burst of speed as she scrambled up and over the fence. Pushing off, she landed 12 feet inside the fence and scrambled to her feet. She grinned as the vampires ran straight into the fence, and bounced back, the reinforced steel too much for them to just tear through. Okay, she had a minute or two, let's get ready and dust some of the leeches, and then she can call Tara and find out what's going on. Giving a quick count, she saw that it was only five of them, not the six she thought. One less target doesn't bother her at all.

Reaching into the pockets on the side of her pants, she pulled out the metal slingshot and seated it along her arm, then grabbing the small glass vials with wax seals. Putting one of the Holy Water vials in the slingshot pouch, she put the rest in her breast pocket where she could reach them easily.

Pulling back the pouch, she sighted on the lead vamp and pulled back, hoping her body remembered enough from growing up, letting the rubber snap and shoot the vial directly into the vamp's eyes where it shattered. The demon's anguished screams were very satisfying, but she was already reloading and firing at the next vamp. The two of them were screaming and clawing at their faces as they fell to the ground. She got one more before the last two started showing some intelligence, backing away from the fence and starting to move around the outside, splitting up so she couldn't track them both.

The next twenty minutes were the most tedious game of cat and mouse she could imagine, but at last, she was able to get to the ladder on the tower and climb up to the walkway that was about 20 feet or so off the ground, giving her a much better view of her prey. One of them was walking cautiously around, trying to find a way through the fence, but not seeming to figure it out. Not exactly a Mensa candidate then. Taking advantage of his distraction, she pulled back and whistled sharply as she released, making the moron look up, only to catch a face full of holy water. She snickered, "Oh, I love listening to the music of the night," before moving around the walkway, trying to find the last target.

It took Cordy a moment to realize that she was only hearing one screaming vampire, not four of them, so she hurried around to where she had come in. The sight she saw had her giving a cheer, as her beautiful, wonderful husband was dusting off his hands, as the last of the vampires was falling apart.

“Damn it, Xander, it's good to see you! Now, Tara's got problems too, let me get down and we can get to my car and rescue her!”

TCOS & TCOS & TCOS

Five Minutes Later

Xander knew his grin looked ridiculous, but he really didn't give a damn, he'd been scared shitless that he'd be too late, and find Cordy either injured or turned. So hearing her voice and seeing her unharmed, the cross hanging out of the front of her fatigues, made him happier than he'd been since waking up on Boondock.

When they got to the parking lot, he saw Snyder standing in the window of his office. When Snyder saw them as they crossed under the lights, Xander saw his body relax and turn away, lowering the blinds on the window. He really wasn't sure what that was all about, because he was acting a lot different than the last time. But there wasn't time to think about that, Tara needed them.

Cordy had told him about Tara's call, and the Dru was coming after her, and he just prayed that they were on time. He climbed in the back of Cordy's convertible and started refilling their water guns from the bottle of Holy Water, swearing as some of it splashed during the sharp turns. Cordy pushed her car to the limit, narrowly avoiding a couple of accidents, but they were pulling up at the Ramada and he was handing Cordy her guns, and he lifted his super-soaker as they ran through the lobby. The clerk tried to stop them, but Cordy gutted him with a glare. They didn't have time for this right now!

Running up the stairs to the second floor, he could hear Dru's voice from the end of the hallway and then heard the door being broken in. He was running toward the bitch, raising his weapon, but Cordy beat him to it. With a yell of "Stay away from her, you bitch!" She started spraying Dru with Holy Water, making the psycho vamp back away from the door, screaming in pain. He started forward, a stake in his hand, Spike may have got away from him, but nobody threatens his family, nobody!

He was almost in range to shove his stake in her heart when her flailing hands hit the fire extinguisher and sent it flying into him, and Xander had no room to duck so it hit him in the stomach, knocking him down and shoving all the oxygen from his lungs. All he could do was cough and watch Dru run blindly down the hallway and through the stairway door.

Rolling over on his side, he would have laughed if he could catch his breath. Cordy had Tara wrapped in her arms, looking like she was trying to take their witch's tonsils out with her tongue. Managing to cough loud enough to get their attention and his wives broke apart, and Cordy looked embarrassed at the distraction.

Between the two of them, they got him on his feet and into Tara's room. Before he could object, Tara was casting one of her healing spells, and the pain in his ribs faded away, leaving him able to breathe again. Tara was turning away, but Xander put his hand on her shoulder, pulling her against him as he claimed his kisses as well. He wasn't liking the way Tara was trembling in his arms, and looked over at Cordy and saw the same concern. They would need to get to the bottom of the problem, because their wife was always cool-headed, both in the scrum and afterward, so this was unusual. Pulling back, he kept his arm around Tara as he looked around.

“'Fraid there's not much I can do about the door babe, the damage is too great. Don't worry, I'm sure we can cover the repair, but we really need to get out of here so we can snuggle and figure out what the fuck went wrong, because the Enemy figured things out way too quickly.”

The three of them spent the next few minutes while gathering Tara's belongings, agreeing on what they would tell the clerk.

TCOS & TCOS & TCOS

Cordy was surprised at how easy it was to get Tara out of there. A mention of 'gang members on PCP' and the clerk would have done just about anything to see the last of them. But, to make sure that things were covered, she handed him her Platinum Card and told him to use it to cover the damages. The greedy look faded when she told him to send the itemized bill to her father at Chase Investments. She knew that the bill would be correct and completely itemized when Daddy received it. Charles Chase had a well-deserved reputation for taking care of his money. Which made it strange, thinking about it, that he would have run into such trouble with the IRS. Was this something else that the Powers did?

That was something else to look into, but she was worried about Tara, this reaction wasn't normal, not at all. They would have to talk to her when they got home and snuggled in.

TCOS & TCOS & TCOS

1630 Revello Drive
Sunnydale, California
10 minutes after Ethan's spell breaks

There were dozens of thoughts rushing around her brain right now, but the one Buffy was holding onto, was that she was going to tear into Giles the next time she saw him. 'A quiet night for the supernatural, yeah right! If tonight was quiet, she really didn't want to see a busy night.'

Looking up at Angel, she almost winced at the look of sadness in his eyes and wanted to punch Xander, not a slayer strength punch, just a normal one, for the bombshells he dropped on Angel, and now her, tonight.

“He, he really said that you would lose your soul if we were together, that way?” She tried not to think about the images her brain supplied at the thought of her and Angel getting naked together, even though she had spent a lot of time recently thinking about it. “Are you sure it wasn't jealousy, because he did try and ask me out a few times last year.”

Angel shook his head, “He wasn't jealous, not at all, I watched the way he was with you, he cares for you, a great deal, but it's a protective caring, almost like I looked at my sisters when I was alive. He's your big brother, whether you knew it or not. Believe me, this would be a lot easier to take if I could convince myself it was just jealousy. Even though pointing out the age difference would have still hurt, either way. No, he's your big brother, and that makes him a very dangerous man.”

Buffy laughed, “Xander? Dangerous? No way! He's Xander, my Xander shaped friend, he's not dangerous to anybody, unless they try to take his Twinkies anyway.”

She didn't like the look on Angel's face, like he couldn't believe what she was saying, “Not dangerous? Are we talking about the same Xander Harris? The Xander Harris who found the courage to follow you into the Bronze during the Harvest, and ended up staking the body of his best friend since childhood, that Xander?

"Or the one who showed up on my doorstep the night you faced the Master and forced me, with his strength of personality alone, to lead him into the Master's cavern and arriving in time to save your life by giving you CPR until you were breathing on your own. He did what I didn't dare to do.

“There were several other instances I can remember, such as the night that the Anointed One had Willow, Giles, Jenny Calendar and Cordelia captured and was going to sacrifice them to bring back the Master. Didn't I hear something about him threatening to kill you if they were harmed? Are you sure he's not dangerous? Because if you do, I don't want to know what you consider dangerous. It would probably be something to give Lovecraft nightmares.”

Buffy listened in surprise, but then she sat back against the couch and she started thinking about the last two years since she arrived in Sunnydale. She couldn't believe she'd been so blind, and then there were other times that Angel didn't mention, like when he was possessed by the Hyena and had her pinned down in that classroom. She'd been less than a minute from giving in before she managed to knock him out, he was really getting inside her head. If he really was her brother, maybe that was a good thing, because she could see that he would be extremely protective of her.

She shook her head, smiling wryly, “Okay, yeah, I guess I missed a whole lot, I just put him in the normal guy, perfectly harmless category and didn't think about it again.” Sitting up on the couch and leaning forward she said, a bright smile on her face, “So, now that we aren't going to be dating, are you going to take Xander's suggestion about helping us with Latin and Gaelic or any other languages you know?”

TCOS & TCOS & TCOS

Chase Manor
Cordelia's Bedroom
Five minutes after they arrived

The bedroom door was closed, and the three of them had stripped out of everything before sliding under the quilt on Cordy's bed. Xander gave Tara a couple of minutes to get comfortable before he moved closer, wrapping his arms around the trembling witch, with Cordy holding her from behind.

Softly, he asked, “Are you ready to talk about what's bothering you, Tara? Because this is really out of character for you, and it's worrying us. You know whatever it is, we'll be there with you, don't you?”

Tara nodded, but then started crying, “Damn it! I don't know what the hell is wrong with me, I've been through far more dangerous situations than tonight, and it never bothered me before. It just seems like, ever since I arrived, my emotions are all over the place, and I can't control them. I'm either stupidly happy, or worried about nothing, or even just falling apart at the drop of a hat, I don't understand it.”

Xander had been listening intently as Tara let it out, and the way she was describing how she was feeling, it suddenly hit him. Hearing Cordy gasp, he caught her eyes and saw the same understanding. Pulling Tara tighter, "Lover, I think I might know what is causing your problems. This is kind of an embarrassing question, but, when did you start going through puberty, do you remember?"

Tara frowned, “I think I started when I just turned 14, but why would that matter, I'm almost 27 now, I should be done with puberty by now.”

He shook his head, "No Tara, you're mentally almost 27, how old is your body?

She stared at him, before she understood what he was saying, and groaned, closing her eyes. “Fuck! I thought I was through this crap already, now you mean I've got another year at least to put up with it?”

Cordy leaned closer and planted a kiss on Tara's neck before saying, “I'm afraid so, babe. Xan and I started when we were almost 11, so these bodies are done with the nonsense. But, we'll help you as much as we can to keep you steady, and there are some vitamin and other supplements that will help level things out. It's not going to be pleasant, but we'll get through it. Now, you said something strange happened with Snyder?”

He sat up, “Yeah, it was really weird, one minute he was his normal self, but when I mentioned that Cordy was being chased by 'gang members' and asked him to let me go help her, he looked at me and then nodded, but then he said we should talk to the librarian, and ask him for all the information he has on a Heather MacLeod, and her group of friends. Then he said, they called themselves 'the misfits' not the Scooby Gang.”

Cordy sat up, swearing, “What the hell? How the hell would even know that name? And the way he was talking, it sounds like he was part of these 'misfits'. Yeah, I think we need to have quite a conversation with Giles.”

“Agreed, but there's something else to discuss, bringing Tara into the library with us. I've got an idea of the story we can use, and it has the bonus of being impossible to disprove. We can say that you, Cordy, saw Tara using a flame spell to fight a vampire. And since you can do the flame spell almost in your sleep with the time you spent learning and meditating, I'm sure that Giles and Jenny will be very interested in talking to you. And the fact that you know about vampires means that we don't have to hide things from you.”

Tara nodded, a lot calmer, “Okay, that's a good idea, but what about my identification? If he pays attention to the news, he's going to make a connection between me and what happened in Death Valley.”

Cordy said, “Actually, this is something that I think he can help you with. You could register as a home school student, to keep your information out of the records until Cletus and Donnie and the others are locked away in a deep hole. I'm sure that he and Jenny would be willing and able to tutor you between their other duties. And if, strange as it seems, Snyder is actually going to be helpful, we can feel him out as well. Hell, if nothing else, we can visit the 'Alibi Room' and bribe Willie to put us in touch with somebody who can put together a new identify for you. It won't be cheap, but I've already got stupid money or my own, and Xander is going to invent and patent some of Jake's simpler gadgets, so the money won't be a problem.”

Xander stretched, before laying back down, “Okay, we've got some possible plans to bring Tara in, but there's something we need to think about, but we can't talk about it, not yet. We need to figure out how the Enemy found out what we were active, and if we can make sure they can't see or hear us.”

The girls nodded, and Cordy leaned over to turn out the lights. They were all asleep in minutes.

TCOS & TCOS & TCOS

Carpinteria Coffee Shop
Carpinteria, CA
11:45 pm

Rom Snyder pulled his car into the slot in front of the door and shut off the engine. Taking a deep breath, he stroked the watch on his wrist slowly, before opening the car door and stepping out. His eyes were casually scanning his surroundings as he walked to the front of the shop.

Opening the door, he saw that the counterman noticed him and he gave the signal, tapping his fingers on his leg as he walked to the counter. Okay, good, nothing had changed since the last time he was here. Rom didn't think that he would have let anything happen, not after Rom saved his sister from the Chaos Demon all those years ago. Too bad the girl couldn't deal with the real world and just blocked it out, she was cute and definitely interested, but it wouldn't have been fair to bring somebody into his life that couldn't handle knowing the truth. He snorted, he may have the same hairline, but he wasn't Jack Nicholson, and he certainly wasn't Colonel Jessup!

Taking a seat at the end of the counter, his back to the wall, he ordered a coffee and a blueberry muffin, heated. A few minutes later the man brought his order and they exchanged a smile before he went back to the other customer, looked like a doctor just finishing his shift from the rumpled uniform and the exhaustion on his face.

Finishing his snack, Rom wiped his face and hands and paid the ticket, leaving a good tip as always. Leaning over he said, “Where's the men's room here?”

The counterman pointed out the door, “Around the side of the building, let me get you the key.”

He came back a few minutes later with a key attached to a yardstick, and Rom grinned, remembering the key in Summer School all those years ago. Taking the key, he walked steadily to the back of the building and unlocked the door. Pulling the key from the slot, he opened the door and closed it behind him. After using the toilet and washing his hands, he pulled his keys from his pocket and moved to the supply closet. Unlocking the door, he inched it open, his hand turning on the light. He looked through the gap in the door until he was satisfied that the 'tells' were in place. Pushing the door open, he stepped in and closed the door behind him. Turning the lock and listening for the 'click'.

He grimaced as he looked around the tiny room, the closet he was in. There was just enough room for the desk and the chair, and the computer on top of the desk. Moving behind the computer, he took the keys and removed the lock on the power cord, and then on the phone line. Plugging the two cords into the outlet on the wall, he moved to the front of the desk and sat down. Turning on the computer and monitor, he waited until it was booted up and logged into his AOL account to connect to the internet.
As the lights flickered silently across the modem he was very happy he had disconnected the speaker ages ago.

While the computer was connecting, he opened the bottom drawer of the desk, pulling out a dry erase whiteboard, a marker, and a magnifying glass. Taking off his wristwatch, he flipped it over, showing the false back. Popped off the back, he removed the tiny booklet and set it next to the magnifying glass.

Sitting silently, he put together the message he needed to send to the others and wrote it as concisely as possible on the whiteboard. Open the tiny book, he picked up the magnifying glass and started searching for the matching code phrase. Once he was finished, he double-checked the message and opened up the different email programs, so that each recipient got a message from a different address, with an innocuous subject.

Opening the first email, the one from Heather@WallStreetJournal.com, he typed in Charles' address and entered the message. The one to Paul Stein was Heather@PolicemansBenevolentAssociation, and he sent Paul the same message. He hesitated over the last one, but with their son involved, Tony and Jessica had to know as well, so he searched and found the email address he was using to contact them. Once the messages were typed and sent, he sat back, rubbing his eyes. “I hope the others remember their codebooks, otherwise they are going to be blindsided when the shit hits the fan."

End Chapter Five

I know, I know a bit shorter than usual, but it was a good place to end it. And this will be the last chapter until Sunday or Monday, I've got a few other stories that I have to pay attention to, and I'm celebrating my birthday on Sunday, so I'm going to be busy. See you soon!

 

STORY TITLE: The Circle of Scooby
PART: 06 of ??
AUTHOR: Red Jacobson (red.jacobson@gmail.com)
DISTRIBUTION: FanFiction.net, Archive of Our Own, Twisting the Hellmouth
DISCLAIMER: None of the Characters You Recognize belong to me, the Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel Characters belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy (Grrr! Argh!), and the Boondock characters belong to the Estate of Robert A Heinlein and his publishers.
SUMMARY: The activation of the world's slayers has caused massive destruction throughout the multi-verse, and the Circle of Ouroborus is determined to prevent that happening and recruit three natives of the critical timeline to save the multi-verse!
FEEDBACK: Of course! It Makes Me Write Faster
RELATIONSHIPS: Xander/Cordelia/Tara
RATING: PG-13
WORD COUNT: <4,340>
SPOILERS: A Crossover with RAH's Lazarus Long Books. I'm afraid that, while I'm going to do my best to explain things, at least a passing familiarity with Time Enough For Love, The Number of the Beast, The Cat Who Walks Through Walls, and To Sail Beyond the Sunset would help you understand who these characters are. None, but if you don't know how the Buffy the Vampire Slayer story goes by now, why are you reading this story?
CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE DEPARTMENT: I'm borrowing a bit of Cordy's childhood background from my buddy IronBear's stories, specifically Rio Blanco on the Mouth of Hell, and the Hell-er-nator Stories. If you want some amazing Xander/Cordelia stories, do yourself a favor and check him out!
A QUICK NOTE ON ANONYMOUS REVIEWS: It doesn't do either of us any good if you ask me questions about the story, but don't sign in so I can reply. The guest who left an unsigned review for the first chapter asked some fairly interesting questions about the story that I would have enjoyed discussing with him or her, but as it is, there's no way that can happen. So please, if you have questions or concerns about the direction the story is going, please do us both a favor and sign in so I can respond to you. Thanks!
SPECIAL THANKS TO PAX HUMANA: For Beta and Typo-busting services.

Streets of Sunnydale
Friday, October 31^st, 1997
Minutes after Escaping from Xander and Cordelia

Pain, the entire universe was pain, drowning out the voice of Miss Edith, even drowning out the singing of the stars. She didn't know how long she had been running, trying to escape the pain that was burning her face and eyes, she could barely see in front of her. All she could think about was getting to Spike, he would make things better, stop the hurting, so the two of them could really punish the naughty kitten and his girls. They would scream for years, such beautiful songs of agony before she would let them die, oh yes, they would suffer, they would suffer so badly. They would burn-

It was too bad that the Holy Water had damaged Drusilla's ears and her eyesight and she didn't realize it as the pain driving her was too overwhelming. Dru wasn't alone on the streets that night.

Coming toward her, moving far too fast for safety, was a Chevrolet convertible with Jack O'Toole behind the wheel. Jack had just made bail for the latest of his run-ins with the police and had wasted no time picking up Parker, Dickie, and Bob and robbing the closest liquor store.

That was about an hour ago and the four of them had wasted no time in enjoying their score. Jack had just turned around to grab another beer when his speeding car hit something. It took Jack almost 30 seconds to realize something was wrong because he couldn't get the car under control! It was swerving all over the road and when he tried to turn the wheel or his feet fumbled for the brake pedal nothing happened.

It was only when the car left the road entirely and collided with the gas pump at the 7-11 that he realized he and the others were going to die and there was nothing he could do about it. The car knocked the pump over and burst into flames, engulfing the car and everybody inside it.

When the fire was eventually extinguished, no notice was paid to the vaguely woman-shaped ashes underneath the car.

The Mayor used the deaths of the four young men to emphasize the dangers of drinking and driving and his popularity increased a point or two, briefly.

TCOS & TCOS & TCOS

Chase Manor
Cordelia's Bedroom
Saturday, November 1^st, 1997
9:00 am

“Yeah, Wills, I'm fine, I promise. It was freaky as hell, I'm not gonna lie, but we all survived. And yes, I do still have all the memories. No, I'm not going to talk about them right now. Why? Because they are ugly, real ugly, Will, and I don't want to think about them more than I absolutely have to. Just let Buffy and Giles know that I'll be at the library at 1:00 o'clock, and make sure that Angel and Miss Calendar are there too, this affects them just as much, okay? One o'clock, Will, I'm not going to rush in there too early, I'm just barely awake, and need to get some breakfast. Okay? Alright, I'll see all of you at 1 o'clock.”

Putting down the phone, he handed it back to Tara, who was sitting up in bed, her arms around Cordy as they both grinned at him. “Geez! How did I manage to forget just how annoying she could be when she wanted to know something? Anyway, I wasn't kidding about breakfast, let's get cleaned up and dressed so we can hit the IHOP or something.”

Tara chuckled, sounding far more like herself than she had last night, “Yeah, we did manage to get kind of sticky last night, and we probably ought to at least change the sheets so the maid doesn't faint or, worse, tell Cordy's parents.”

Cordy shrugged, “That won't bother my father much, and his wife will be more unhappy that I had sex with Xander, and not a boy from one of the 'good families'. And neither of them would blink at Tara, after all, 'experimenting with other girls' is considered almost expected in the upper classes, don't you know?”

They laughed at Cordy's over-the-top 'posh' accent but managed to get all three of them into Cordy's shower and, eventually, they were all clean and dressed.

TCOS & TCOS & TCOS

The Harris House
10:45 am

Tony Harris stumbled out of bed, his hands fumbling for the glass of water and the two aspirin that he had put on the nightstand last night. Tossing back the pills, he emptied the glass in three swallows, praying for the pain to go away.

He held himself very still for the next several minutes before the pain started receding and he was able to open his eyes without the room spinning around him. Forcing himself to walk, using the bed and then the chair to steady himself, he reached the door to the bathroom. Turning the shower on as hot as he could stand it, he stripped out of his clothes as he stepped under the water. The heat punished him for his weakness, for not being able to keep her safe, for the way he treated his son, and Jessica. Eventually, he was able to tolerate the water and started cleaning himself, hoping to find a way to turn himself around, to be the father his son needed, and the man his wife married.

Finding clean underwear and pants, he got dressed and headed toward the stairs, hoping that somehow Jess was feeling better than he was. Hearing the sobs from what used to be her bedroom, he tried to hold down the violent upheaval in his stomach. Rushing into the room, he saw his wife sitting at the computer, tears rolling down her face as she stared at the screen. He must have made a noise because she turned to look at him, her eyes sharper than he'd seen in years, and wondered what the hell had happened.

He didn't have to wait for an answer, because she said, “We both got emails this morning. From Heather!”

The world collapsed around him, it was impossible, Heather had been dead for nearly 18 years! Was this some kind of sick joke?

Jessica was on her feet, and putting her arms around him, holding him tightly as he trembled. She was saying something, it took a few minutes to sink in, and he remembered, the code they established when the Misfits were hatching their grand plans to carry on Heather's work.

“Who? Who sent the message? And do you know where the code key is?” He managed to croak out, his throat dry again.

Jess nodded, “It was Rom, and I had the code book taped inside the drawer of the desk. Strange how easy it was to transfer from what we used to use to email isn't it? It was the only reason we bought the computer after, well, after, and kept it up to date. But the main thing is, we're going to have to get our shit together, Tony. The message said that Xander and Charles and Cynthia's daughter Cordelia, as well as little Willow are all involved in the same thing we were, and he told Xander to ask the fucking Watcher about Heather. So we are going to have to tell him everything, even about our daughter. I honestly think he's forgotten he ever had a sister, the poor kid.”

Tony managed to sit down in the other chair in the room, dropping his head into his hands and closing his eyes. Well, he was trying to find a real reason to get help for him and Jess, this was about as good as it was gonna get. Looking at his wife, he quirked a grin at her, "Well, I guess we need to see when the next meetings are scheduled. If we're going to support our son and his friends, we can't do it drunk, agreed?"

Jess nodded, “I'm going to contact Paul, let him know we're both getting it together and getting back in the saddle. Nobody would think twice about a girl contacting her brother, after all.” She paused, “You know, it's been almost 100 years since he became Mayor, do you think he might have something 'special' planned for the anniversary?”

Tony thought about it, nodding, "He always has seemed to be focusing on a long-term plan, maybe that's part of it?" Standing, he continued, “if we are going to have a conversation like this, we need to get this place cleaned up, and pour those damn bottles down the sink! It's too bad Catherine fell to the darkness, we could have had her cast an alcohol aversion on us until we could get into the program again."

Jessica grinned, “Well, we can check if Xander knows anybody who's a trustworthy practitioner, or we can take a trip to LA and see what we can find there.”

The two of them were moving with an actual sense of purpose as they gathered up all the half-empty bottles of booze and poured them down the sink. Jess had all the windows in the house open, trying to get the fresh air in and to push out the smell of drinking and neglect. It wouldn't fix everything, but it was a start.

TCOS & TCOS & TCOS

Sunnydale High School
Library
Saturday, November 1^st, 1997
12:15 pm

Willow was starting to get annoyed with Giles, he kept asking the same questions over and over. Questions she'd already answered with all that she knew. Did he honestly think that wording the question differently was going to change her answers? She didn't have the patience to deal with him being a poopy-head, and she was going to tell him! Didn't he understand that she was worried about her best friend since she was five years old more than whatever information he might have?

Turning to face the older man, her resolve face firmly in place, she said, “Giles! I've already told you everything I know. Xander told me that he was possessed by a Xander Harris from several years in the future, and that there was a lot of bad stuff coming our way. The only thing he mentioned was that somehow Angel would lose his soul and unleash Angelus, killing over 200 people, including people we are friends with, before he was stopped. I don't know anything more than that, and if you don't like my answer, well, why don't you go and stuff it up your jumper?”

Willow almost snickered at the expression on Giles' face, but she'd actually looked up different British phrases to use. Although she wasn't sure what it meant.

Before he could say anything, the doors to the library opened and Buffy strode in, looking very unhappy. “Actually, I can give you a bit more information about the curse, since Xander actually told Angel about it last night.” Turning to Willow, she smiled, “I was outside the doors and heard what you said to Giles. Way to go with the Brit-speak!”

Looking back at her Watcher, Buffy said, “Yeah, basically, if Angel experiences a single moment of happiness, Angel goes bye-bye and we are dealing with the Scourge of Europe again. Not something I'm eager to see happen, personally. So, Xander said he'll be here at 1 o'clock, so we can all sit and wait for answers.”

They were all so focused on their argument, that they had no idea they weren't alone at the moment. No, back in the depths of the stacks, listening to every word they said, stood Rom Snyder, just waiting for the moment to make his presence known.

TCOS & TCOS & TCOS

Library
1:00 pm

Exactly as the clock clicked one o'clock, Xander pushed the library door open and walked through, flanked by Cordy and Tara. Their entrance put a stop to the argument just long enough for the three of them to start firing questions at him again. Shaking his head, he moved to the end of the table and sat down, gesturing for Cordy and Tara to join them.

He let them babble at him for as long as he could stand it, before putting his fingers at his mouth and gave a piercing whistle, making Buffy wince and the others glare at him.

When there was silence, he looked at Giles, “I said that Jenny Calendar needed to be here, and so did Angel, so where are they? I didn't say who needed to be here because I enjoy the sound of my own voice, you know. So where are they?”

“I'm here, Xander,” came a voice from the shadows, as Angel walked forward. Buffy looked up at him, but then looked away, an unhappy expression on her face. Xander nodded at the vampire before turning back to Giles, a questioning look on his face.”

Giles started stammering and polishing his glasses, “Well, I, I, uh, didn't think it was necessary to involve Miss Calendar in this, she's not really involved with Buffy's group, and it didn't seem wise to spread this information too widely...”

The Watcher didn't get to keep making excuses because Xander had moved from his chair and was standing directly in front of the man, a furious look on her face. “You damned idiot! Jenny Calendar is involved down to her Romany roots! She's one of the people whose life I'm trying to save. Call her, call her now, or I will cut you out, you won't get a drop of information. And incidentally, if word one of this gets to those murderous blue-blood bastards sitting on their fat arses in England, they will never find your body, am I understood?”

Giles paled but went to the phone and after a few attempts, managed to dial Jenny's number and ask her to join them in the library as soon as possible. When he hung up the phone, he turned to Xander and tried to glare at him, "I really don't appreciate your tone or your threats, Xander, may I ask why you are suddenly so hostile to me? I don't recall doing anything to justify this treatment."

Xander laughed, bitterly, "Oh, I can think of quite a few things you've done that justify it, Ripper! To start with, you carry the mark of the Sleepwalker on your arm, and it's going to wake up within the next few weeks and kill all of your friends except for that scumbag Ethan. But I'm going to give you a bit of a break on that one, you were all young, dumb, and looking to get laid, people do stupid things for that. No, I want you to look me dead in the eye and tell me you won't be participating in the
'Tento de Cruciamentum' on Buffy's 18^th birthday and I'll shake your hand and call you friend. Can you do that?”

The silence stretched between them for an eternity until Giles looked down, and Xander nodded, “I thought so. Do you understand just why I have no particular use for you, or those bastards in England?”

“Xander, please, you must understand, these traditions have stood for thousands of years, almost since the first Slayer picked up a stake. Yes, to an outsider it looks horrible, but the Slayers who pass the test, are often stronger and more resilient than they were before. And if I were to refuse to administer the test, I would be replaced by somebody who would, and quite likely killed. Do you think I like what I'll be forced to do? Damn it, I don't, but if I am here, I can try to protect all of you from the reactionaries on the Council, who see you and Miss Rosenberg, and Miss Chase and this young lady I don't know, as an impediment and interference in the Slayer's sacred duty. They would have no compunction at all in having you all killed.”

The library was completely quiet, until Buffy stood and ran out the room, with Willow right behind her, a stricken look on her face.

“And you still work for those fuckers? There's going to come a time when you're going to need to make a decision, Giles. Don't make the wrong one, it will not turn out well for you.”

Turning to walk back to his seat, he saw Jenny standing just inside the doorway, a shocked expression on her face. "Okay, what the fuck is going on here? Rupert? Xander? Will you explain why two teenage girls ran out of here with tears in their eyes, and both of them looking like they were going to be sick?"

Xander sighed, “I'm afraid I had to rip the blinders from their eyes about the true nature of the Watcher's Council. You are aware that Buffy is the Slayer, aren't you?”

Jenny nodded, and he continued, “I'm sorry I couldn't have been more gentle with them but there just wasn't time and Giles pissed me off with his attitude of knowing what is best for everyone without having all of the necessary information he needed.”

“Now, Willow, Buffy, Angel and Cordy know this next bit, so hopefully Willow and Buffy will be back by the time I finish. Last night, in a typical display of Harris Luck, I was possessed by a Xander Harris from several years further down the timeline, and I've lived through the next several years and buried every person in this room, those of you who left enough to be buried, anyway.”

Jenny gasped and Giles paled, and Xander said, “Now, are you willing to listen to me? Personally I would have loved it if my future self hadn't given me anything but future lottery numbers, but he didn't, so if I have these memories, I'm going to do my damnedest to prevent the death and destruction he saw.”

Buffy and Willow had come back to the library and walked on shaky legs to the table. Both of them showed signs that they had been crying and, as pale as they were, they probably had been sick as well. He gave them a look of pity, before saying, "Okay, we are all here, so it's time for some introductions. Cordy?" She stood and walked over to him, taking his hand, "One of the memories that I have from future me is that I was married to Cordelia Chase and we had been together for many happy years, long enough to have four healthy children. Two boys, Jesse and Kelly, and two girls, Hilda and Maureen. So when I found myself back in my 16 year old body again, the first thing I did, after we made sure our kids were safe, was to convince Cordy to go out with me.”

Cordy took over, spinning the fiction they had come up with. “He told me things about me that nobody, but nobody knew, not even my father or any of his wives, and that was enough to convince me that, if we weren't actually married, we still knew and trusted each other beyond any limits. And, well, I'd actually been thinking I was enjoying my time with him in school and helping out, so I decided to take the leap. We're not going to get married anytime soon, but we are dating and will see how it goes.”

Xander smiled at her and squeezed her hand lightly. "And that brings us to Tara, Miss Tara Maclay, and yes, you have heard her name on the news in the last couple of days for turning in her father and several others. But her being here is something we want to keep quiet, for her safety if nothing else. Her mother is receiving medical treatment in a secure location but Tara needs a place to stay hidden. Ironically, she chose Sunnydale because her mother told her she had been happy here. But the reason she is with us, is that Cordy saw her fighting three vampires last night and Tara was using magic to burn them. Cordy helped her with the last vamp, and the two of them started talking, and when I caught up with them after helping Angel with Lady Useless," he gave Buffy a grin, and she smiled back, a little wanly,

“When I caught up with them, I was shocked as hell, but also very happy, because Tara was one of us starting not long after high school graduation, until she was killed by a stray bullet a few years later.” Looking directly at Tara, he said, “Don't worry, Tare, that's not going to happen this time, I promise you that.” Turning to the others, “That's why I trusted Tara enough to bring her with us.

“Now, for the important stuff. When Buffy faced the Master last spring, she actually did die, briefly, until I was able to revive her with CPR. This was enough to activate Kendra Young, a potential in Jamaica who is currently being trained by Sam Zabuto, a very traditional Watcher. And Giles? Ask yourself this: why weren't you informed of Kendra's activation, when I'm sure you informed Quentin Travers and the others that Buffy had survived her encounter with Nest.

"Kendra died in the spring, during a whole mess that I hope we've short-circuited by telling Buffy and Angel about the escape clause to the curse. In the original timeline, after Kendra died, a girl named Faith Lehane was activated, at the worst possible moment. She and her Watcher, Diana Dormer were captured by an ancient vampire who called himself Kakistos.

“Faith saw her Watcher, a woman who had actually taken her in and fostered her, giving her the first stable home she could remember, Faith saw her being literally torn to pieces as the woman screamed in agony. And Faith knew that she was next, but she was activated as the Slayer and was able to escape. Running scared out of her mind, she traveled from Boston all the way to Sunnydale, looking for help from Buffy to fight Kakistos.”

He looked at Buffy and the others, “Cordy and I are going to be flying to Boston either over Christmas if we can arrange it, or at the end of the school year, but that may be too late to prevent Diana's death and Faith's torture, which would not be good. What I need from you, Giles, if you are willing, is a letter of introduction to Faith's Watcher, so she will give us a fair listen. Will you do that?”

Giles nodded, “Of course. Xander, I am not perfect, and you've forced me to look at the Council with fresh eyes, but I am a Watcher, and protecting and helping the Slayer is my duty.”

They all jumped as music started playing loudly from the upper stacks, and they stood, only for all of them but Xander, Cordy and Tara to stare in confusion as Principal Snyder walked out of the stacks, a portable CD player in his hands. “Your duty, Watcher? Just like Patrick Remington-Travers did his duty to Heather MacLeod?”

Walking down the stairs, he set the CD Player on the table and gave Xander a nod, "Sorry to interrupt, but I am so sick of the man's sanctimonious twaddle that I can’t stand it any more." Gesturing toward the music player he said, "Just in case somebody is listening to your conversation. And Harris, you really need to think about Opsec when you are tearing someone apart. I picked up enough from what you were shouting to have a very good idea what your memories are like. Now, Watcher, unlock your files and bring out everything you have on Heather MacLeod, and her friends that called themselves the Misfits. I have a feeling a couple of people will find the information enlightening."

End Chapter Six

 

STORY TITLE: The Circle of Scooby
PART: 07 of ??
AUTHOR: Red Jacobson (red.jacobson@gmail.com)
DISTRIBUTION: FanFiction.net, Archive of Our Own, Twisting the Hellmouth
DISCLAIMER: None of the Characters You Recognize belong to me, the Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel Characters belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy (Grrr! Argh!), and the Boondock characters belong to the Estate of Robert A Heinlein and his publishers.
SUMMARY: The activation of the world's slayers has caused massive destruction throughout the multi-verse, and the Circle of Ouroborus is determined to prevent that happening and recruit three natives of the critical timeline to save the multi-verse!
FEEDBACK: Of course! It Makes Me Write Faster
RELATIONSHIPS: Xander/Cordelia/Tara
RATING: PG-13
WORD COUNT: <4,174>
SPOILERS: A Crossover with RAH's Lazarus Long Books. I'm afraid that, while I'm going to do my best to explain things, at least a passing familiarity with Time Enough For Love, The Number of the Beast, The Cat Who Walks Through Walls, and To Sail Beyond the Sunset would help you understand who these characters are. None, but if you don't know how the Buffy the Vampire Slayer story goes by now, why are you reading this story?
CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE DEPARTMENT: I'm borrowing a bit of Cordy's childhood background from my buddy IronBear's stories, specifically Rio Blanco on the Mouth of Hell, and the Hell-er-nator Stories. If you want some amazing Xander/Cordelia stories, do yourself a favor and check him out!
A QUICK NOTE ON ANONYMOUS REVIEWS: It doesn't do either of us any good if you ask me questions about the story, but don't sign in so I can reply. The guest who left an unsigned review for the first chapter asked some fairly interesting questions about the story that I would have enjoyed discussing with him or her, but as it is, there's no way that can happen. So please, if you have questions or concerns about the direction the story is going, please do us both a favor and sign in so I can respond to you. Thanks!
SPECIAL THANKS TO PAX HUMANA: For Beta and Typo-busting services.

Spike and Drusilla's Lair
457 Crawford Street
Sunnydale, CA
Late Halloween Night

The minion trembled as Spike raged in front of him. He knew that Spike was going to be furious at the news but he couldn't get anybody else to tell Spike what he saw.

After cursing and swearing vengeance on everything and everyone in the universe, Spike started to calm down and said, “Alright, go over it one more time for me. What exactly did you see? And what did you do?”

The minion nodded and started talking, “I was coming back to the lair after trying to find you and could see Dru running in the middle of the street, screaming about burning. I started moving faster, so I could get her out of the street and get her back here, when a big car, a convertible came up behind her going really fast, and it hit her, knocking her under the car. I chased after them because Dru was under the car as it started swerving. By the time I was within 50 feet or so, the car left the road and crashed into a pump at the 7-11. The whole thing burst into flames and exploded. I hit the ground and was lucky that I was only burned on my back. I'm sorry Spike but there was no way I could have gotten her free before the fire got us.”

Spike sat there staring at him, before putting a cigarette in his mouth and lighting it. He thought he was going to actually manage to walk out of there when Spike gave him a nod but then Spike was standing again, his game face showing, and he felt the claws of Spike's hand hitting his neck, and then he knew no more.

TCOS & TCOS & TCOS

Five minutes Later

Spike stared at nothing, still trying to understand how his Dru could have been taken from him, and by the whelp and his bitches. Oh, they were going to pay! How they were going to pay! He would break the mutt's back before using his favorite spikes to hang him on the wall. Then he would take both of his bitches, and all of his minions would take them, while he watched and couldn't do anything. And after all three of them were just about dead, he would dump them on the lawn of the Slayer's house and set them on fire. He was going to laugh as they burned, then the whole fucking world will burn!

Standing, he walked to the stairs to the dungeons. He was too angry to hunt and needed to work it out.
Looking into the pens, he spotted a teenage girl, dark haired and stacked. He saw her and immediately thought of the rich girl. Yes, she'll do just fine!

Reaching into the pen, he grabbed her by the hair and, when she was close enough, he ripped off the remains of her clothes. She was screaming in terror and pleading as he dragged her up the stairs to his room.

It took her nearly six hours to die.

TCOS & TCOS & TCOS

Sunnydale High School
Library
Saturday, November 1^st, 1997
1:25 pm

“Now, Watcher, unlock your files and bring out everything you have on Heather MacLeod and her friends that called themselves the Misfits. I have a feeling a couple of people will find the information enlightening."

Giles had to admit he was taken aback by the venom in Principal Snyder's voice; it seemed far more personal than the almost indifferent malice the man displayed to everyone since he had taken Bob Flutie's place. He also did not like the casual reference to Patrick Remington-Travers, who had been a fairly well-respected Watcher until his disappearance.

He froze in place as he suddenly remembered when Remington-Travers had disappeared, as well as the entire team sent to perform the Tento de Cruciamentum on Heather MacLeod, the Slayer who was activated in Sunnydale. They had all either died or disappeared within 3 days of the Slayer's death. Forcing himself to move smoothly into his office, Giles realized that he was in extreme peril, and if he even attempted to contact the Council there was no doubt his body would never be found!

Contrary to what Xander and apparently Principal Snyder believed, he absolutely abhorred the way the Senior Council Members treated the Slayers and was already planning ways to make sure Buffy survived her 18^th birthday. He couldn't say anything here, because the Principal wasn't the only one concerned about being monitored, but maybe, with the help of Snyder and whoever his allies were, they could find a way?

Finding the copy of Remington-Travers' Watchers diaries, he scanned through the first one, covering his contact with Miss MacLeod. His eyes widened as he saw her initial reaction to being told to keep her calling a secret from her friends. He couldn't imagine the man appreciating being told, and he quoted her directly, “Blow it out your Limey arse, Sassanach! My friends have had my back since I was 6 years old and I trust them a fuck of a lot more than some cock washer from who knows where. You can accept that my friends are going to know everything or you can try to cause trouble. If you do that, you'll find out what being arrested and deported from the US of A, never allowed to return, feels like. Your move, English.”

While part of him was appalled at the way the girl spoke to the Watcher assigned to guide and assist her, a much larger part, the part who delighted, along with Ethan and the others, in tweaking the noses of pompous authority, wanted to cheer the girl on!

With a grin at her audacity, he continued reading, until he came to the names of Heather's friends and support group. His grin dropped when he recognized several of the names, starting with Tony Harris and Jessica Stein and Paul Stein, who was Jessica's brother, and now a detective with the Sunnydale Police Department. Romulus Snyder was no surprise but seeing the name of Charles Chase made his eyes go wide. It was no surprise when he found that the group referred to themselves as 'the misfits' since Principal Snyder had already identified the name of the group.

Taking the journal to the copier in his office, he made copies of the first pages and, with shaking hands, he moved to the last entry, which confirmed that the man had injected his Slayer with the necessary drugs. There was no entry beyond that, and the team sent to investigate wasn't able to find any sign of the man. Copying that page as well, Giles was struck by a sudden inspiration, and wrote on the top of Xander and Snyder's copy, “Please help me save her!”

Grouping the copies together, he walked out of the office and handed Xander and Principal Snyder their copies first, because he put the page with the message on top. He didn't stop to look at their reactions as he handed out copies to Buffy, Willow, and Miss Chase. Even though Xander vouched for Miss Maclay, he didn't know her and this didn't really apply to her, and Jenny seemed to be more interested in the girl as a practicing witch. Giles admitted he was curious as well because she would be an asset to the group. If he managed to retain any influence over any of them when they finished reading.

Sitting down at the end of the table, Giles looked up and his eyes met the Principal's, who seemed to be measuring him, before giving a short nod. Turning to Xander, the young man stared at him, before the ice-brown eyes warmed again and he grinned. With a mental sigh of relief, he sat back and waited until Xander and Miss Chase came to the information that would surprise them.

TCOS & TCOS & TCOS

Rom was honestly surprised, and rather impressed, that the Watcher actually asked for his help and seemingly Tony's boy's help in keeping his Slayer alive. If it was a legitimate request, and something told him that it was, the man could possibly be turned into an asset, if not an ally, when the time came to explain everything.

But that could wait, he was watching Harris and Cordelia for their reactions. He wasn't disappointed when first he and then she slammed the papers down with identical expressions of disbelief, Harris looked up and stared at him, “Are you shittin' me? Them, and you? And these other two? What the fuck happened?”

But Cordelia's reaction was more interesting, she gasped and went pale before she steeled herself and said, “Actually, Xander, I believe him. I just remembered something, a picture that Daddy had in his office of him with his friends in High School, and there was a couple there that looked a lot like your parents, and now that I'm thinking about it, I recognize the other two as well.

“I found Daddy staring at the picture once, and it looked like he was crying. I didn't understand, I couldn't have been more than six but I asked him why he was crying and he showed me the picture. He pointed out a red haired girl who was standing in the middle of the group, a smile on her face. Daddy said her name was Heather and she had been one of his best friends all through school. He said that it was the anniversary of the day she died. He didn't say any more and I didn't see the picture again.”

Rom leaned forward, “There is a lot of history to be told but it's just for the two of you right now. I'll be in contact with you to tell you what I can. But, and this applies to all of you, I will not look, act, speak or treat you any differently once I walk out this door. And you must not, if you value your immortal souls, act any differently around me, or refer to me acting differently, no matter how safe you think you are. You don't understand, yet, just what a risk I'm taking breaking cover like this, although I suspect, based on Mister Harris' comment, he might have a very good idea who the local adversary is?”

The young man nodded and held out three fingers against the table before retracting them. Rom gave him a nod as well in return but nobody else seemed to notice. Turning to the librarian, he said, "Leave the CD player in here when you leave, I'll pick it up later."

Standing, he made sure his mask was in place until he was outside the library and heading toward his office. Putting a scowl on his face, he stalked through the halls until he reached his office. He could think about how to tell the kids the whole story later. Right now he needed to see if anyone besides Jess and Tony had replied. It would be good to have them back in the game and the rest of the misfits would offer the help the two of them refused before.

TCOS & TCOS & TCOS

Xander looked around at the others and saw the same shock on Cordy, Tara, Willow, and Buffy's faces that he was sure was showing on his. Giles and Jenny didn't seem to have any reaction and Angel was curious but not very much so. He shook his head, "Okay, that was something I never expected but I can't deal with it right now, okay? Cordy and I will talk, since we were the ones directly affected."

Grimacing, he continued, “I'm not going to be using names, and I don't want any of you to use names either, but I can confirm that he is correct about the enemy and, if he suspects anything, being killed is the least of our worries. But for this year, last time it was Angelus, but hopefully we've avoided that. I need you, Angel, and you, Giles, to keep an ear out for rumors that the statue of Acathla has been found or that attempts are being made to put the Judge back together. I'm planning on removing Spike and Dru before they contact the Terrakans because we had to deal with three of them attempting to kill Buffy.” He grinned at Cordy, “Of course, according to the memories I was left, it was while the two of us were escaping from one of the assassins that Cordy and I kissed the first time, so it wasn't all bad.”

Cordy grinned back, and Buffy rolled her eyes, but Willow looked stricken. Deciding to give his best friend a break, he said, “Will? There's somebody that you will meet fairly soon, and the two of you will be very happy together for quite a while, so don't worry. Cordy and I are together, but you'll always be my Willow, even if you keep breaking Yellow crayons.”

Willow giggled, and her expression lightened up. Turning to Buffy, he said, “Buff, sometime in the next few weeks, an old friend of yours from Hemery is going to show up suddenly. His name is Billy Fordham and he's not what he seems. I'm not going to lie, he's in a really bad situation, and I'm going to talk to him, to see if there's anything worth saving. If there is, I'll do my best to help him. I can't promise anything.”

Buffy had lit up at Ford's name but subsided glumly when Xander finished. It couldn't be helped. If Ford was redeemable, he'd figure out how to get him to Boondock to be treated and have his memories adjusted.

“Giles, I wasn't kidding about that tattoo on your arm, the Sleepwalker is going to wake up very soon, and he's going to kill all of your old gang, except for Ethan. You need to find a way to break the connection all of you share with that thing, okay? I've heard of something called a 'Ritual of Disavowal' but I don't have the knowledge of anything more than that. I hope you can find something.”

“Janna, secrets get people killed, if you are serious, tell him everything you can. I've done what I can to short-circuit your reason for being here, so there's no reason to keep the secret.”

Jenny had gone pale when he used her true name, while Giles and Angel stared at her, Giles in surprise, but Angel was looking angry. “Hey! Angel, what they did to you was over 75 years before she was born. You want to get angry? Fine, but get angry at those who deserve it. She doesn't even know why she is here, she was just told to watch for certain things and report to her uncle. She wasn't the one who cursed you, so lose the anger, okay?”

Looking around at the rest of them, Xander stood, “I'm sorry, I can't deal with this right now, I'm still trying to deal with the bombshells that he dropped on us earlier. Cordy? Tare? Let's boogie. Guys? I'll talk to you when I've dealt with things.”

The two girls followed him out of the library, leaving the others sitting silently.

When they got to the parking lot, Cordy squeezed his hand, “Where do you want to go, babe? My parents are still in New York but I'm planning to have quite a conversation with him when they get back.”

He shook his head, “Actually, I think I need to try and talk to my parents, to see what happened. And then, the three of us need to evac to Boondock to get help dealing with this crap, and maybe finding a way for Tara to get through the changes quickly.”

Tara gave a bitter laugh, “That would be appreciated, it took every ounce of concentration to keep from reacting to what he had to tell us, when I just wanted to curl up and cry hearing about what happened to Heather, and that Giles knew it was being planned for Buffy.”

Xander shook his head, “Don't write off Giles yet, he put a note on the copy he handed me, asking for help to keep Buffy alive through it. If he's serious, then I'll help him as much as he'll let me. Including locking Travers and the watchers he brought with him into the house with Kralik and setting it on fire!”

Cordy nodded, “We'll be right beside you, you know that. But, do you want Tara and I with you when you meet with your parents? For emotional support if nothing else.”

He looked at the two of them, and nodded, “Everything inside me screams to handle this on my own, but I know better. Please. It would help for the two of you to be there with me.”

Tara and Cordy both hugged him before they got into the car.

TCOS & TCOS & TCOS

The Library
A few minutes later

Buffy sat, the damning page in her hands, and she didn't know what to do. She'd trusted Giles, she'd trusted him, and that bastard was planning on drugging her to see if she survived a vampire without her powers! How could he? No! No, she couldn't take this, she had to get out, get away, she couldn't breathe, no, she didn't want to die, maybe Xander would help her?

She stumbled to her feet, barely registering that Giles was reaching for her, she shoved him away, “NO! Stay away from me! I won't let you kill me, I'll kill you first! Gotta get out of here! Xander! Where's Xander? Gotta get to him, gotta get out of here!”

She was still yelling and crying as she ran out of the library, blinded by tears, she stumbled toward the exit to the parking lot, hoping to catch Xander. When she got to the parking lot, she looked around desperately for Cordelia's car but there was nothing there, no sign of her car or even any tire tracks that she could follow...

She fell to her knees, still crying, until she heard Willow's voice, and felt her friend's arms around her, and she clung to Willow, as the rest of her world fell apart around her.

Eventually, the tears stopped and she hugged Willow, “Thanks, Will, I needed that. Now, let's go find a bathroom, I need to clean my face, then we can gorge ourselves on ice cream, what do you say? I really don't want to be alone right now.”

Willow forced a smile and nodded, “Whatever you need, Buffy, whatever you need.”

Climbing to her feet, Buffy wiped her eyes and walked back into the school, making sure she stayed far away from the library.

Washing her face and doing her best to repair her makeup, she wondered just how many more shocks she was supposed to take? Finding out that she and Angel had no chance of anything was rough but she could deal with it. She wasn't happy but she could deal. And then finding out that the Watchers, who were supposed to be the good guys, wouldn't have a problem killing her friends, or even her mom if they were in the way? She was still trying to deal with that, when those damned journals and what Xander and Principal Snyder said became just too much. She knew that there was always a chance that a vampire or demon could get lucky some night but to die because Giles stripped her powers away? In the name of fucking tradition? Hell no! She didn't even want to try and deal with that, her anger just might keep her alive.

TCOS & TCOS & TCOS

Giles groaned as he grabbed the chair and pulled himself off the floor. He landed heavily in the seat and reached up to touch his jaw. It hurt like hell, but at least it didn't seem to be broken, thank heavens!

He looked around and saw Angel staring at him in disgust, which just added to the pain he was feeling. How low do you have to be when the Scourge of Europe looked down on you?

Forcing himself to speak, he opened his mouth and gagged, tasting blood on his tongue. Reaching for his handkerchief, he tried to spit the blood out of his mouth, only to feel a tooth coming along with it. He was trying to wipe the blood off his lips when Jenny approached him, some wet paper towels in her hand. He sat back and closed his eyes, letting her fuss over him as he tried to find something to say that would help.

When she was done, he tried to smile but it hurt too much. Looking back at Angel, he managed to croak, "I would never have gone through with it, and I asked Xander and our guest for their help to avoid it. But how do I get Buffy to believe me?"

Angel shrugged, “I honestly don't know, Giles, but I'd try to find a way. I'll stop by her house later, tell her what you said, but other than that, it's up to you. Now, if you don't mind, for the first time in years I feel the need to get blind stinking drunk and try to forget this whole day!”

With that, the vampire stood and stalked into the stacks, heading for the sewer entrance.

Jenny looked at him sadly, and said, “Come on, English, let's go back to my place, I've got a first aid kit and a couple of bottles of good booze. We need to have a serious conversation, and I'm far too sober for that right now.”

He nodded, “I think that's a damn good idea, getting bloody legless won't fix the problems, but at least I'll be too drunk to care and tomorrow I'll hurt too much.”

TCOS & TCOS & TCOS

Boondock
Time Corps Headquarters
Mission Central
Time Immaterial

Commander Dejah Thoris Burroughs-Carter, known to one and all as 'Deety', reached for the connect button as it started flashing red. She frowned, wondering what had gone wrong with the Sunnydale mission?

“Mission Control, Commander Carter, do you need assistance?”

“Hell, yes, we need assistance!” Cordelia's frantic voice came over her headphone, “We need an immediate extraction for five of us. Xander's gone catatonic, and his parents are hysterical. Tara and I are barely holding it together, but we need help, ASAP!”

Pressing the button to alert Jake and Sharpie, Deety said, “Hang on, Cordy, help is on the way. It should be there in 3, 2, 1, Now!”

“They're here, we'll see you soon!”

End Chapter Seven

I told you things weren't always going to go our heroes’ way, didn't I?

 

STORY TITLE: The Circle of Scooby
PART: 08 of ??
AUTHOR: Red Jacobson (red.jacobson@gmail.com)
DISTRIBUTION: FanFiction.net, Archive of Our Own, Twisting the Hellmouth
DISCLAIMER: None of the Characters You Recognize belong to me, the Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel Characters belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy (Grrr! Argh!), and the Boondock characters belong to the Estate of Robert A Heinlein and his publishers.
SUMMARY: The activation of the world's slayers has caused massive destruction throughout the multi-verse, and the Circle of Ouroborus is determined to prevent that happening and recruit three natives of the critical timeline to save the multi-verse!
FEEDBACK: Of course! It Makes Me Write Faster
RELATIONSHIPS: Xander/Cordelia/Tara
RATING: PG-13
WORD COUNT: <4,144>
SPOILERS: A Crossover with RAH's Lazarus Long Books. I'm afraid that, while I'm going to do my best to explain things, at least a passing familiarity with Time Enough For Love, The Number of the Beast, The Cat Who Walks Through Walls, and To Sail Beyond the Sunset would help you understand who these characters are. None, but if you don't know how the Buffy the Vampire Slayer story goes by now, why are you reading this story?
CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE DEPARTMENT: I'm borrowing a bit of Cordy's childhood background from my buddy IronBear's stories, specifically Rio Blanco on the Mouth of Hell, and the Hell-er-nator Stories. If you want some amazing Xander/Cordelia stories, do yourself a favor and check him out!
A QUICK NOTE ON ANONYMOUS REVIEWS: It doesn't do either of us any good if you ask me questions about the story, but don't sign in so I can reply. The guest who left an unsigned review for the first chapter asked some fairly interesting questions about the story that I would have enjoyed discussing with him or her, but as it is, there's no way that can happen. So please, if you have questions or concerns about the direction the story is going, please do us both a favor and sign in so I can respond to you. Thanks!
SPECIAL THANKS TO PAX HUMANA: For Beta and Typo-busting services.

Boondock
Time Corps Headquarters
Medical Wing
Two Minutes after Prior Scene

Jake and Hilda helped Castor and Pollux get Xander into a hoverchair while Tara and Cordelia helped another man and woman out of the hatch of Gay Deceiver when Lazarus, Maureen, Ishtar, and Deety hurried into the room.

Lazarus looked at Cordy and Tara and saw that Cordelia was holding it together slightly better than the other youngster so he walked up to her. "Okay, Cordy, Ishtar and her team will help Xander. Can you tell us what happened?"

By this point, Tara had walked over and put her arms around Cordy who drew strength from her wife's presence. Taking a breath, she nodded and said, "Okay, to start with, our guests are Tony and Jessica Harris, Xander's parents, and they are in this up to their ears. There's a lot to cover, so can we get some seats, Teena?"

"Sure thing, Cordy, and Xander's already starting to come around. It's going to be just fine." Tony and Jessica looked around for the source of the voice and missed the table and seven chairs that appeared in the corner of the room.

Lazarus looked at the two newcomers, obviously out of their depth and showing it, and said, “Mr and Mrs Harris? I'm sorry that you've been dumped into this without warning, and I promise that you will have your questions answered, but it's important that we understand what happened to Xander so we can help him.”

They both nodded at him, the man a little shakily, and the woman with more assurance. After they were all sitting down around the table, Lazarus nodded to Cordy to speak, when Xander's mother spoke up, “Actually, I think it might be better for me to give you the background, since Cordelia doesn't know what happened and why it was such a shock to our son. Is that alright?”

Cordy smiled weakly, “That would be great because Tara and I are still having a hard time understanding what made our husband fall apart like that. Oh, and Jessica, Tony? This is Lazarus Long, Maureen Johnson and Deety Carter. We'll do proper introductions when we get done.”

Tony just looked blank at the introductions but Jessica stared at them in shock, before blinking and shaking her head, “I'm sorry Cordelia, but could you please repeat that? I could have sworn you just introduced me to three people who I know are fictional characters! What the hell is going on here, and what are you and Xander mixed up in?”

Cordy looked surprised then gave a strained laugh, “I guess Xander had to get his taste in reading from somewhere, didn't he? Yes, Jessica, these three and most of the other people you will meet here, are fictional characters in our universe, just like Xander, Tara and I, and all Sunnydale are fictional in other universes, and wasn't that fun to get my head around. We can go over World as Myth in depth when we get finished, but please, if you can help us help Xander, isn't that more urgent?”

Jessica nodded, “Yes, yes, sorry, but it was just a shock. Anyway, Tony and I got married in September 1979, right after we graduated High School, and had a baby girl in February 1980. We named her Heather, you understand the significance of her name? We loved that little girl to death, just as much as we loved Alexander when he came along in January of the next year.”

Lazarus noticed the way the woman was tensing up and leaned forward slightly, he already suspected what he was going to hear and he could tell that Mama Maureen was ready to help the woman when she needed it. He was pleased to see that Tony had reached over and put his arm around her, and took her hand to support her. That was good, there was more to Xander's parents than his memories had suggested.

Jessica continued, “Things were good for a couple of years, I was busy raising the kids and Tony was working his way up the ladder in City Hall when things went bad in mid '83. I was sitting in the backyard in the early evening, the sun was still out, when Alexander came up to me, he was just over two years old, holding up his sippy cup and asking me for a drink.” Her voice started quivering, and tears pooled in her eyes, as she whispered, “I got up and went inside to get him some water and when I came back outside, my baby was gone! It was less than a minute, less than a fucking minute and my baby girl was gone! Why? Why did something take her? She was just a baby!”

She was sobbing by this point and Maureen had moved around the table, her arms around Tony and Jessica both as they cried. Lazarus didn't know what to say to help, even after thousands of years, some things there just weren't words for.

He was distracted by a strangled sob from Cordelia and he turned to look at her. The girl was paler than he had ever seen her, and she was saying to herself, “Oh my God! That's why he started talking like that! 'D'ink, mamma? D'ink?'” before she and Tara were both stumbling to their feet and rushing from the room.

A quick glance at Deety, she was already following the women, and Lazarus softly said, “Did Ishtar and the Hamadear get that, Teena?”

She responded in his ear, “They did, and Ish says that she isn't going to let any of them go back until this has been healed and dealt with. They are going to put the family back together and she's put out a call for Tamara to join us, she would be the best to help, with Mama Maureen of course.”

He nodded, “Agreed, if getting the family back together will improve the chances of this mission succeeding, I'm all for it.”

Lazarus heard Ishtar's voice in his ear, approval in her tone, “You're getting better, Lazarus, not even trying to argue with us. When we get home tonight, the Hamadear and I are going to reward you quite nicely. For now, concentrate on Xander's parents, they deserve some answers.”

He chuckled quietly and said, “I'm looking forward to it, you big arsed bitch!”

The connection closed on Ishtar's delighted laughter, and he turned to Tony and Jessica, who were cuddling against Maureen. “Okay, I think you could use a break and we promised you some answers.
To start with, yes, I am that Lazarus Long, born Woodrow Wilson Smith in Kansas City, Missouri in 1912...”

TCOS & TCOS & TCOS

Tara held Cordy as she shook, her head over the toilet. She could understand, she wanted to be sick too when she realized exactly what had happened to Xander and his sister. But she could break down later, her wife was depending on her to hold it together and that was all that mattered right now.

Hearing rushing footsteps, she looked up and saw Deety coming toward them and smiled at her, grateful for the help, especially since Deety was probably her and Cordy's closest friend, both in Boondock or back in Sunnydale. Deety knelt down on the other side and was rubbing Cordy's back and speaking soothingly in her ear.

Eventually, Cordy calmed down and was able to stand. They helped her to the sink and she rinsed her mouth and washed her face before the room provided a makeup table so she could fix her face. Tara couldn't help but share a grin with Deety as they watched. It was just so Cordy. She refused to let anybody see any sign of weakness if she could help it.

When she finished, Cordy stood and turned to Deety, “I think we need to see Xander now. Now that we understand what happened, we can help Ish and Hamadryad.”

Deety nodded, “Sure Cordy, he's in the same room as he was when he woke up the first time. Do you want me to go with you?”

“Thanks, Deety, but I think we've got it. I appreciate your help, both of you, but I'm back in the driver’s seat now and can handle things.”

Deety smiled and gave both of them a kiss before leaving them alone. Tara reached out and took her wife's hand and the two of them headed to Xander's room, only to be interrupted on the way by a voice she hadn't expected to hear yet.

They had just turned a corner when Tara noticed a woman walking toward them, wearing exercise clothing and drinking from a water bottle. Tara couldn't help but notice that the woman looked about the same physical age as her and Cordy, and wondered who she was. That is until the woman lowered the water bottle and gave Tara a good look at her face. The woman was staring at her as well before a smile lit up her face and Tara knew who the woman was.

“Tara?”

“Mama?”

She couldn't help it, she dropped Cordy's hand and rushed forward, pulling her mother into her arms, tears of happiness pouring down her cheeks as she hugged her. Cordy just laughed, hugged both of them and kissed Tara on the cheek, saying "I'll see you later, babe, bring your mom with you, Xander and I will want an introduction, understood?"

Tara managed to nod, still focused on hugging her mother, until the older woman released the hug and looked at her, “It's great to see you, Tara, but I think we need to sit down and have a talk, don't you? Especially about you being married, at your age!”

Tara was ready to start babbling explanations when she saw the grin on her mother's face and realized she was just teasing. It had been so long since Mama had felt well enough to tease that it took Tara by surprise. With a laugh, Tara nodded, “As long as you don't ask for details, Mama. I'm beyond thrilled to see you looking healthy so soon but I'm not going to discuss my sex life with you!”

Sara Maclay just laughed, “I don't need to know the details and I'm not going to share any details with you, sweetheart. I still don't understand how they did it but, from what I've been told, as soon as I was brought here, they moved me to somewhere that time flowed faster than here to cure the cancer and repair the damage. I was surprised as hell to find myself young again but I'm not complaining!”

She shook her head, “They explained how they did it but my head hurts trying to understand and I've just learned to accept all the time woogieing going on. My healers returned me to Boondock about two years ago and it was a mess at first, because I'd met Galahad and Tamara and the other healers I'd spent so much time with but they didn't have any idea who I was. Fortunately, now that we've all gotten caught up, it won't be a problem anymore. But anyway, I was just getting ready to rinse the sweat off and go for a soak. Care to join me?”

There was no way that Tara was going to turn that down and, with the tension and still getting used to wearing clothes, she'd worked up a sweat as well.

Ten minutes later, after stripping down and getting rid of the sweat, they were lowering themselves into the soapy water and had a tray of drinks and snacks sitting between them. Her mother had taken a sip of her drink and said, "So, the girl you were with, is she your wife?"

Tara nodded, “That's Cordy, or Cordelia, and before I get into how we met and got together, I have to ask you how much you know about my life and what I've been doing for the last several years?”

Her mother said, “I know about Sunnydale, and what happened to the three of you, and also about these so-called Powers that Be, and how you were rescued. Lazarus and Sharpie tried to explain about the Time Corps and what their missions are but I still can't get my mind around all the time travel shenanigans, so I just smile and nod. Will that be enough for the basics?”

Tara smiled, not surprised that her mama had problems with the idea. It had taken her a while to understand as well, and she had the experiences in Sunnydale to prepare her for the weirdness. Leaning back in the water, she took a drink and started talking about what had happened to her, and how she and Cordy had gotten together and then helped with the rescue of Xander.

Mama just listened, fascinated by the story, even though she cringed at some of the things that Spike and the other vampires did and winced sympathetically when Tara told her about going through puberty again.

The water was cooling off by the time she finished, and they were climbing out of the tub when Teena's voice got their attention.

“Hey, Tara, Xander is going to be waking up in about ten minutes so you'd better get moving. Have to warn you, though, that Xander's parents are in the room, so you and Sara should probably wear something. They're already having a hard time adapting and we're trying to limit the shocks until they can get acclimated.”

Tara was already heading out the door when she heard Teena's last comment and she growled in annoyance, only to hear mama laugh. “I know the feeling! I've gotten so used to being in my skin, I almost hate having to get dressed. But you do want to make a good impression on your in-laws, don't you?”

She bit back her initial response and just started dressing.

TCOS & TCOS & TCOS

Earlier

"Okay, Teena, thank you, that's a big help. Now, we know where to start looking to help him." Ishtar turned back toward her patient who was curled up on the bed, almost in a fetal position and whimpering. Her heart was aching for the pain Xander was in but she pushed it aside, she had to be professional, she could cry in Hamadear's arms after he was healed.

Activating the Lethe field, she gestured to the empathetic healers to get started and backed away. Ishtar knew that she was one of the best when it came to healing physical injuries or illness but, when it came to the heart and spirit, she let the real experts take over. It was watching Hamadryad and her team, or Tamara when she was available, that made her want to take some time after her next rejuvenation to study their art. For now, she just watched and made sure she was ready if they needed her.

The healers worked in silence, with only the occasional soft murmur of one of their voices disturbing the room. Cordelia came in silently and took a seat by the door, not saying anything as she watched. Eventually, Xander relaxed, the strained expression on his face fading away, and the healers stepped back. Hamadryad lightly touched his forehead and nodded, "Okay, we've gotten him through the crisis point so he can deal with the memories but he's going to need a lot more before he can go out in the field again. We can't afford to take the chance that there's something else that could affect him like this. I'm also going to get Cordy and Tara to go through the same thing and examine their earliest memories in case there is something they are repressing."

Cordy said, “I think that's a good idea and I'm sure that Tara will agree. But, how long will it be before he wakes up, because we need to have his parents here. They really need to finish their conversation.”

“I've already had Teena tell Mama Maureen, they will be here shortly, and then I'll get Tara and Sara to join us.”

TCOS & TCOS & TCOS

1630 Revello Drive
Sunnydale, California
Saturday, November 1^st, 1997
2:20 pm

The crying was over, for now, and the last of the Häagen-Dazs was in the freezer after the two of them had gorged themselves on the Chocolate Chocolate Chip and the Cherry Vanilla goodness. Buffy had deliberately turned on the stereo when they arrived and started the disc back in the beginning. She was able to conquer 'A Hard Day's Night', she could figure out what to do about Giles and what Xander and Principal Snyder had dropped on them.

She put her arm around Willow, pulling her close and cuddling with the redhead. “I'm glad you are here, Will, everything else in my life has gone topsy-turvy but, as long as I've got you, I know we'll get through it. I've still got to figure out what to do about Giles, but I want to wait until Xander can be here with us, I'm sure he'll have some ideas to help us.”

Willow snorted bitterly, “If he's not too busy screwing Cordelia! I still can't believe he would marry that, that skank! After all those years when he and I and Jesse were the officers of the 'We Hate Cordelia Chase' club. How could he just ignore everything she did to us?”

Buffy was a little surprised, she'd known that things weren't good between Willow and the rich girl, but Cordy had been a lot better since she helped out on the night of the Spring Fling, the night that she... No! Not thinking about that, I don't want to remember that night, the feel of his fangs and the coldness of the water...

She couldn't breathe, why can't she breathe? She turns to Willow, who's looking at her in worry, she tried to open her mouth, to tell Willow she can't breathe, but nothing comes out, she's gasping, she's feeling dizzy but can't stop the world from spinning, and then Willow is there again, holding a paper bag against her face, and she's panting and breathing in, she can breathe again, oh sweet breath! She lowered the bag, and took a deep breath, smiling shakily at Willow. “Thanks, Will, I don't know what came over me, I was just thinking that Cordelia actually had been a bit better since the night of the Spring Fling, and my thoughts started racing and I couldn't breathe.” She froze, “Oh shit! I died that night, Willow! I died! I'm only 16 years old, I don't want to die, please, don't let me die...” The tears started running down her cheeks, and all she could do was hold onto Willow as her world collapsed around her.

TCOS & TCOS & TCOS

Giles' Apartment
4616 Greenwood Place
#340
Sunnydale, California
Later that Afternoon

The two of them were stretched out on the couch, the bottle almost empty and a fresh one waiting next to it.

Jenny was leaning against him and, after taking a sip of her drink, said “And that's the whole story as I know it, English. I was sent here to keep watch on Angelus, to make sure he wasn't showing signs of being happy. I wasn't told why, or what would happen, just that I needed to contact my uncle Enyos if anything happened. So what's your story? Are you really going to go through with that thing on her birthday?”

Giles winced, he hoped that the anti-scrying charms he put in place masked this conversation. If Quentin or any of the other traditionalists ever found out... But she had been honest with him, he needed to be equally as honest. "No, no I'm not, I asked Xander as well as our guest to help me save her, and I will, even if it kills me! I hope it doesn't, I have no great desire to die."

Jenny chuckled, her hand resting on his chest, “I don't blame you, most people don't. But, you need to do something about that tattoo, I recognized it when your sleeve pulled up. Xander is right, you don't want that thing waking up, you aren't teenagers anymore, and that thing could do a lot of damage to everything before it kills you.”

He signed, “I've regretted the damn thing from the minute it killed Randall back in the '70's. I think we all did, except for Ethan anyway. But I don't know anything about the ritual Xander mentioned. Do you?”

Jenny pursed her lips, thinking, and he was struck by the sudden desire to kiss her but held back. They were both too drunk at the moment, but tomorrow?

She said, “Nothing concrete. I've heard the term a couple of times, though, and I could reach out to some of my contacts, see what they can find. But are you sure that most of the others would want to get rid of the mark? From what I remember, if it's only one person who isn't willing, it can still work, but if it's two people? The ritual won't have enough magical strength to succeed, so you probably should contact the surviving members if you can when we get up in the morning.”

He blinked, “In the morning? Why not now? I may be drunk, but I can still make a phone call or two.”

Jenny just moved, so she was straddling his lap, and his automatic reaction pressed against her. She smirked at him, “I said ‘in the morning’ because you are about to be far too busy to worry about calling anybody, English. I was ready to jump you after that thing with the Master but you didn't seem to pay me any attention. Now, I've got you where I want you now and I'm still sober enough to be in my right mind. Now. Are you going to take me into the bedroom or am I going to rip your clothes off right now?”

He knew that there were probably dozens of reasons why this was an incredibly bad idea, that the two of them would regret it in the morning, but right now, he was just drunk enough not to give a damn and pulled her against him, his mouth capturing hers.

'Sod my conscience!' Was the last rational thought to go through his mind for the next several hours.

End Chapter Eight

Okay, a couple of those scenes went places I wasn't expecting, and I promise I won't make you wait quite so long for the next chapter. Happy Reading!

 

STORY TITLE: The Circle of Scooby
PART: 09 of ??
AUTHOR: Red Jacobson (red.jacobson@gmail.com)
DISTRIBUTION: FanFiction.net, Archive of Our Own, Twisting the Hellmouth
DISCLAIMER: None of the Characters You Recognize belong to me, the Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel Characters belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy (Grrr! Argh!), and the Boondock characters belong to the Estate of Robert A Heinlein and his publishers.
SUMMARY: The activation of the world's slayers has caused massive destruction throughout the multiverse, and the Circle of Ouroborus is determined to prevent that happening and recruit three natives of the critical timeline to save the multiverse!
FEEDBACK: Of course! It Makes Me Write Faster
RELATIONSHIPS: Xander/Cordelia/Tara
RATING: PG-13
WORD COUNT: <4,388>
SPOILERS: A Crossover with RAH's Lazarus Long Books. I'm afraid that, while I'm going to do my best to explain things, at least a passing familiarity with Time Enough For Love, The Number of the Beast, The Cat Who Walks Through Walls, and To Sail Beyond the Sunset would help you understand who these characters are. None, but if you don't know how the Buffy the Vampire Slayer story goes by now, why are you reading this story?
CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE DEPARTMENT: I'm borrowing a bit of Cordy's childhood background from my buddy IronBear's stories, specifically Rio Blanco on the Mouth of Hell, and the Hell-er-nator Stories. If you want some amazing Xander/Cordelia stories, do yourself a favor and check him out!
AUTHORS NOTES: I'm going to try something unusual for this story, no lemons. Frankly, they've gotten to be a bore to write, and I imagine they've become boring to read as well. Hope this goes well.
A QUICK NOTE ON ANONYMOUS REVIEWS: It doesn't do either of us any good if you ask me questions about the story, but don't sign in so I can reply. The guest who left an unsigned review for the first chapter asked some fairly interesting questions about the story that I would have enjoyed discussing with him or her, but as it is, there's no way that can happen. So please, if you have questions or concerns about the direction the story is going, please do us both a favor and sign in so I can respond to you. Thanks!
SPECIAL THANKS TO PAX HUMANA: For Beta and Typo-busting services.

Carpinteria Botanical Gardens
Carpinteria, California
Saturday, November 1st, 1997
3:15 pm

Rom Snyder sat on the bench, leaning back and breathing in the air, seeming to be just one of many who were taking advantage of the decent weather to get out and about. If you looked more closely, you would be able to see the lines of tension on his face as his eyes scanned the other visitors to the garden. He relaxed slightly as he saw the slightly rumpled man in the suit walking toward him. Rom stayed in place until the man continued along the path, stopping at the bread booth and buying a few slices of bread before heading further toward the duck pond.

Rom counted slowly to 100 before standing and stretching, looking around for the public men's room. Walking out and drying his hands a few minutes later, he walked the paths for another ten minutes before ending up at the duck pond, standing next to the rumpled man. Without looking away from the ducks scrambling for the torn up pieces of bread, he softly spoke.

“Thanks for meeting me, things are even more interesting than they were last night. I've already heard from Tony and Jess and they are getting back in the saddle and Chuck will be back in town on Thursday and will be setting up a secure location for a meeting. I don't have a lot of time but it looks like this Watcher isn't a total waste like the last one and actually asked for help from your nephew and me.”

The man nodded and spoke just as quietly, “Jess called me earlier and she didn't say much but she did say that the two of them were going to be coming to meetings again. It's going to be good to have the two of them back, not just because she's my sister. I've got a feeling that things are going to start coming to a head soon, since next year is the Centennial of Sunnydale, and I wouldn't be surprised if the bastard didn't have plans to take advantage of the celebration.”

Rom tried to keep his face impassive. “Do you think Tony will try to get his job back? He might still have some sympathetic contacts there and, if he can show that he's getting treatment, they might be willing to help. Having him inside would be a big help.”

The man shrugged, “It's possible but not right away. He has to show that he's staying sober before anybody will be willing to take a chance. We do need to see if we can arrange a decent job for him, something to talk to Chuck about. But I do need to get back to town now. I'm sure there are attacks by gangs on PCP that need to be investigated.” The sarcasm in his voice was obvious, and with a brief nod to Rom, Detective Paul Stein tossed the last of his bread to the ducks and turned and walked away.

TCOS & TCOS & TCOS

Boondock
Time Immaterial

Tony was struggling to get air into his lungs as he collapsed on the ground by the track, pleased that at least this time he'd managed to reach the finish line. Forcing himself to sit up, he gave Xander a grateful smile as his son knelt down beside him and handed him a bottle of water. He would have been more grateful if his son didn't look like he was just out for an afternoon stroll, not running a damned marathon. At least, he wasn't alone in his misery. Jess was crossing the line, flanked by his daughters in law, and wasn't that a shock, his 16 year old son was married, and to two women at that?

Of course, Xander being married was only the least of the shocks that he'd had to absorb in the weeks that he and Jess had been here. The first couple of weeks had been the worst, though, as the healers had insisted on talking to him and Jess and going through everything that had happened since they had lost their baby and how they had reacted. It wasn't pleasant dealing with the memories but at least he and Jess could look each other in the eye again and they were able to enjoy each other in the bedroom after so many years. They didn't say anything about that to Xander, though, as he’d made it clear he didn't want or need to hear anything about his parents sex lives.

At the end of the second week, Xander had started joining them for the sessions. He'd gone through his own intensive therapy, helping him to bring back his memories of his sister and deal with the childish feelings of guilt which insisted that it was his fault she was gone. Tony and Jess had cried more during those sessions than they had in all the years since they lost her but at least he could remember his daughter now without it hurting badly enough that he was reaching for a bottle.

The three of them were only meeting with the healers once a day now so they must be making progress but the work on their minds was replaced with working on their bodies. That was why he and Jess were sitting on the ground, covered with sweat and struggling to catch their breath as Xander and the girls were back on the track, adding another 3 miles to their run!

Once they were breathing normally, he reached out and put his arm around Jess, pulling her close and smiling as she snuggled against him. “I thought that some of the stuff we dealt with helping Heather was strange, with things like that crazy druid trying to turn us into trees or the Chumash warrior trying to get back to the burial grounds, but this is so far beyond me I half wonder if I'm dreaming at times, you know?”

Jess nodded, “No arguments from me, but I think it's worse for me, because I know these people, I've known most of them since high school, when I found a copy of 'Time Enough for Love' in the library, so imagine how I'm feeling, sitting around the dinner table with people I know are fictional characters!”

There wasn't much he could say to that, he was more of a western fan, and he seriously doubted he was likely to run into Woodrow Call or Augustus McCrae any time soon.

The two of them sat quietly, enjoying each other's company, until Xander and his wives finished their run and they all headed to the refresher to clean up and sooth their muscles after the exercise. It had been weird at first, seeing everybody walking around in their skin, but after he and Jess started getting back into shape and toning up, the two of them started leaving their clothes behind most of the time.

They would be getting dressed again when they cleaned up though, it was time for a council of war with Lazarus and Zeb and a few others to prepare for taking down Wilkins, hopefully long before his attempt to Ascend this time.

TCOS & TCOS & TCOS

1630 Revello Drive
Sunnydale, California
Saturday, November 1st, 1997

Willow didn't know what to do! Buffy was falling apart in her arms and all she could do was hold her. Not that she minded holding her best friend but how do you comfort somebody who was told that somebody she trusted was going to help kill her when she turned 18? She did what she could, just holding Buffy tight and rubbing her back, whispering anything she could think of in the crying girl's ears.

Eventually, the tears dried and Buffy reached out for the tissues but still kept Willow's arms around her. When Buffy wiped her eyes and nose, Buffy leaned closer and the two of them sat back on the couch, sitting quietly.

After a while, Buffy started talking, talking about growing up in Los Angeles, and how she was at Hemery, until Merrick approached her. And she kept talking, about Merrick's death, about how she confronted Lothos in the High School gymnasium, and finally about Pike and the fire. She skipped over what happened after that, but went on to say how happy she was to make actual friends on her first day here in Sunnydale and her regret about not being able to save Jesse.

When Buffy went quiet, Willow talked about growing up with Xander and Jesse, and how Cordelia was their friend in the beginning, until she suddenly wasn't anymore. And how her parents had started leaving her home alone by the time she was eight years old, so she clung to Xander even harder, and how she thought that one day they would get married and have the house with the white picket fence and the kids, but that wouldn't happen, because she was too scared to let him know and now she was going to be alone, and she was already alone so much and didn't know what to do and...

She wasn't sure what happened next because suddenly Buffy wasn't leaning against her, she had turned so she was straddling Willow's lap, and they were staring into each other's eyes. Willow wasn't sure who made the first move but then they were kissing and it was even better than she'd ever imagined. But then it ended, and Buffy pulled back, looking worried but Willow smiled, “That was even nicer than I'd imagined it could be!”

Buffy looked confused at her reaction. “You aren't upset that I kissed you? Not freaking out or anything?”

Willow shook her head, “Buffy, I figured out a while ago that I liked girls and boys, both. How could I not when my mother would leave her books about adolescent sexuality in my room where I would read them? I guess it was easier to leave the books than actually spend time with me and explain things. But no, I'm not upset, surprised but not upset. But are you okay that I liked kissing you?”

“Very okay, very, very okay!” Buffy smiled, “I didn't have a bunch of books sitting in my room but I did have a very embarrassing question when my mom came home and found me using the massaging shower head and moaning another girl's name. So, no, knowing that you like kissing me is the first good thing that's happened today. And having you and Xander with me, we're going to get through this.”

Buffy looked a little uncertain for a second, before she said, “I am going to have to talk to Mom, though, not only that you and I are interested in each other, she won't have any problems with that. She actually had more than a few girlfriends in college, and still keeps in touch with a woman in Los Angeles, but I'm going to have to tell her about my being the Slayer, and what that means. I've lied to her long enough and I don't want to keep lying. Giles won't like it but, right now, I care more about what Harmony thinks than I do about Giles’ opinion!”

Willow giggled, “Harmony thinks? Since when?”

Buffy stared at her for a second before she started giggling as well and soon after that, the two of them were laughing hysterically.

When they stopped laughing, Buffy said, “Damn, I needed that laugh today. But can I ask you to stay with me tonight? We don't have to do anything but, if it hits me again, having you there will help. Okay?” The vulnerability in her voice hit Willow like a truck.

There was only one answer Willow could give to that and soon they were walking back to her house to get pajamas and other stuff to stay overnight and, if Willow happened to grab a couple of her 'naughty' books for them to read to each other, well, nobody else had to know, did they?

TCOS & TCOS & TCOS

Boondock
The council of war

Cordy sat quietly in her chair next to Xander, with Tara on her other side as Xander started things off. Lazarus and Zebbie were sitting at the back of the room, listening but not saying anything for now. If they needed more information to prepare for the Mayor, they would ask their questions then.

But Xander sat back in his chair, looking across the table at Tony and Jessica and he said, “Okay, it looks like we are about as healthy mentally as we are going to get so we need to know what's going on with you and Snyder, and Uncle Paul, and Cordy's dad. Can you start with how you got involved with Heather?'

Tony grinned, the lopsided grin from the father that always melted Cordelia when Xander used it on her, and he said, “It wasn't a matter of getting involved, Heather just was, and she pulled all of us into her orbit and held us all together, even when we didn't like each other. Heather was an orphan, found on the steps of Saint Michael's church. She was found, wrapped in a baby blanket with a note giving her name pinned to the blanket. She grew up in the orphanage until she was about six, when she started school with Jess and me and the others.

“The first day of school, we were put into groups, and they pulled names out of a bucket, and the names that were pulled, they were your group. I don't know why our names were pulled but the six of us were friends from the start. Heather was the leader, there was never any doubt. She said jump, we jumped and asked if it was high enough later.

“When we realized that she lived at the orphanage, Rom managed to talk his parents into fostering her, so she stayed with Rom and his family from the time she was seven or so, until those bastards killed her. It tore all of us apart, Rom and his family worst of all. But at least Rom knew that she was avenged. We couldn't tell his parents anything, and they ended up leaving Sunnydale within a year, and the last I heard, they only contacted Rom once or twice a year.

Tony laughed lightly, putting his arm around Jessica, who smiled at him. “It was Heather who made the two of us realize we'd fallen in love with each other, everybody else could see it and were tired of us dancing around each other. But that's not really an important part of the story. One day during the summer that Heather turned 16, we were playing Basketball at Chuck's house. Yes, Cordy, we called your father, the rich and important Charles Chase, Chuck, and he let us. He told us after a while that he liked being able to relax and be a normal guy, instead of one of the 'Chase Family'. From your expression, you feel the same way?”

Cordy nodded, “Hell, yes! That's why I enjoyed the hell out of being friends with Xander, Willow, Jesse and Amy, because I could have fun being Raksha the she wolf, with my mate Akela and our man cub Mowgli. But after my mother died, and daddy married his first future ex-wife, she was more interested in the status of being a Chase and forced me to stop being friends with 'the wrong sort', and had to start playing with Harmony and a few other girls, and I hated every minute of it!”

“Well, Raksha, we have you back now, and we aren't going to let you go, not now, not ever!”

Xander was looking at her with his grin but his eyes were serious and Cordy felt Tara squeezing her hand and she smiled. “Damn right! The jungles of Seonee are ours, and we still need to take Tara exploring when we get back!” Looking at Tony, she said, “Sorry about that but, yes, I felt the same way.”

Tony nodded, “Well, to get back to the story, during the basketball game, Heather was taking a shot when she suddenly collapsed. All of us ran over and Jess started trying to pick her up and get her into the shade when Heather woke up again and said she felt fine, better than fine, really. And she proved it, she could suddenly move a lot faster than before and, when she went for a jump shot, she actually jumped up over the backboard before dropping back down. We all realized that this wasn't normal but also that we needed to keep it very quiet, because we already knew the Mayor wasn't what he seemed to be, so we all swore an oath never to say anything to anyone who wasn't one of us.”

He scowled, “Of course, that all went to shit when that bastard Remington-Travers showed up and tried throwing his weight around. Heather wasn't putting up with his crap, and we backed her up, causing him enough irritation until he backed down. Once we became aware of vampires and the Hellmouth, we all started helping her. Rom and Jess were the best at first aid and emergency medicine and Chuck, Paul and I all started exercising and having Heather train us on the different weapons the bastard taught her. We all helped with the research and I think that Chuck still has the Watcher's library stored somewhere in his basement.

“All five of us started patrolling with Heather, and we did pretty good for almost two years, until Heather's 18th Birthday...” Tony sighed, shaking his head, and Xander reached over the table to put his hand on the man's shoulder.

“We understand, Cordy and I saw it happen to Buffy, you don't have to keep going if you need to stop.”

Tony shook his head but surprisingly Jess was the one to speak.

“We could all tell that something was wrong, because Heather wasn't as fast or as strong as she normally was, so we did our best to keep an eye on her. It was the night of her 18th Birthday Party and she disappeared from the party. Tony and Paul went to the Watcher to find out if he knew what happened and the rest of us went out searching.”

Tony picked up the story. “When Paul and I got to the Watcher's house, he laughed at us, saying that Heather was probably dead by then and the Council could take care of the rest of us 'interfering children'. Neither of us took that very well and managed to beat the information we needed out of him, before knocking him unconscious, tying him up and gagging him, locking him in the trunk of Paul's car.

“We found the others and rushed to the abandoned house where they were holding their damned test and if I wasn't already ready to kill, what I saw would have made me ready! Heather was laying on a dirty floor, a gash in her neck and blood pouring out, and three of the damned Watchers were just standing there, looking at her, none of them lifting a finger to help, and there was a vampire in a cage trying to get out. None of us said a word, Rom and Jess hurried to try and help Heather while Chuck, Paul and I tackled the bastards and knocked them unconscious.

“Heather died before they could stop the bleeding. And Paul and I told the rest what Remington-Travers had to say, and how they would try to kill us as well. I had already decided that he was one bastard that would never be seen again, and didn't have a problem with adding these three useless bastards to the total. All of us just looked at each other, and I said 'Death', every one of us said the same thing. I know that the Slayers aren't supposed to kill humans but that was what Heather had us for. There was plenty of human evil mixed up with the demons and vampires and none of us had any problem removing them from the gene pool.

“We stripped the Watchers of all their wallets and valuables, and anything that could be used to identify them, and woke them up. We forced them into the cage with the vampire, and told the vamp that if he turns all three of them and swears an oath on his demon not to attack us or to feed before the sun goes down the next day they will let him go. The vampire agreed and swore the oath before he turned all three of the Watchers. When they were on the ground, we took our stakes and dusted them, destroying the bodies. The funny part was, the vampire was actually rational, since he wasn't starving, and he laughed at how we got rid of the bodies. He said something about keeping that idea in mind if he wanted to get rid of the evidence. After we let him out of the cage, keeping our crosses ready, he walked out of the house and out of Sunnydale.”

Lifting his water bottle, he took a long drink and said, “There's not much more to tell about Heather. Chuck and Jess wrapped her up as much as they could and took her to the hospital, so the records were kept up to date. The orphanage actually stepped up and took care of getting her buried, saving us from having to keep it together long enough to handle it. We were all at her service a couple of days later and that was the last time we were all seen together in public. But that's another part of the story.

“Later that night, we went to Paul's house, and into the basement, where, where a naked Remington-Travers was chained up, nearly delirious from hunger and thirst. I knocked his ass out and we rolled him up in a carpet before loading him in the bed of my truck. We took him to the Shady Rest cemetery, where the latest victim of a BBQ fork accident had been buried that afternoon. We pulled the Watcher out of the carpet, still chained up, and set him down next to the grave. We kept watch and, when the dirt started moving, Rom fed the Watcher enough water to make him rational enough to understand what was going on. As soon as the fledgling crawled out of the grave, Rom said, 'this is for Heather you asshole!' and shoved him at the vampire. As soon as he was completely drained, Jess dusted the vamp and we tossed the Watcher into the grave and replaced the dirt and turf. We climbed back into my truck and drove to Chuck's house, breaking into his father's good booze and all of us got passed out drunk that night. But none of us had any nightmares about what we did, then or later.”

Tony went quiet and looked at them but, if he was expecting her or Xander or Tara to be disgusted, he would be disappointed. All of them had to kill things that were technically human before, it was sometimes necessary, and they didn't worry about it.

Instead, Xander just said, “So was it those of you who were least hungover that went to steal the Watcher's library? Because he wouldn't have any use for it, would he?”

Lazarus spoke up then, “Okay, it's almost time for dinner, we can meet again tomorrow to finish the story and start making plans.”

End Chapter Nine

Sorry it took so long for an update, but the depression was causing problems again. Hope you enjoy the background of the Misfits and the latest development with Willow and Buffy.

Beta’s Note: Welcome back!

 

STORY TITLE: The Circle of Scooby
PART: 10 of ??
AUTHOR: Red Jacobson (red.jacobson@gmail.com)
DISTRIBUTION: FanFiction.net, Archive of Our Own, Twisting the Hellmouth
DISCLAIMER: None of the Characters You Recognize belong to me, the Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel Characters belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy (Grrr! Argh!), and the Boondock characters belong to the Estate of Robert A Heinlein and his publishers.
SUMMARY: The activation of the world's slayers has caused massive destruction throughout the multiverse, and the Circle of Ouroborus is determined to prevent that from happening and recruit three natives of the critical timeline to save the multiverse!
FEEDBACK: Of course! It Makes Me Write Faster
RELATIONSHIPS: Xander/Cordelia/Tara
RATING: PG-13
WORD COUNT: <4,029>
SPOILERS: A Crossover with RAH's Lazarus Long Books. I'm afraid that, while I'm going to do my best to explain things, at least a passing familiarity with Time Enough For Love, The Number of the Beast, The Cat Who Walks Through Walls, and To Sail Beyond the Sunset would help you understand who these characters are. None, but if you don't know how the Buffy the Vampire Slayer story goes by now, why are you reading this story?
CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE DEPARTMENT: I'm borrowing a bit of Cordy's childhood background from my buddy IronBear's stories, specifically Rio Blanco on the Mouth of Hell, and the Hell-er-nator Stories. If you want some amazing Xander/Cordelia stories, do yourself a favor and check him out!
AUTHORS NOTES: I'm going to try something unusual for this story, no lemons. Frankly, they've gotten to be a bore to write, and I imagine they've become boring to read as well. Hope this goes well.
A QUICK NOTE ON ANONYMOUS REVIEWS: It doesn't do either of us any good if you ask me questions about the story, but don't sign in so I can reply. The guest who left an unsigned review for the first chapter asked some fairly interesting questions about the story that I would have enjoyed discussing with him or her, but as it is, there's no way that can happen. So please, if you have questions or concerns about the direction the story is going, please do us both a favor and sign in so I can respond to you. Thanks!
SPECIAL THANKS TO PAX HUMANA: For Beta and Typo-busting services.

Boondock
Time Immaterial
Immediately after Prior Scene

Instead, Xander just said, “So was it those of you who were least hungover that went to steal the Watcher's library? Because he wouldn't have any use for it, would he?”

Tony smirked, “Actually, it was Rom and Paul, because Chuck was providing a place to store them, and Jess and I, well, we were remembering Heather in our own way in the pool house, and the others knew better than to disturb us.” His smirk faded and the smile turned almost sad, “Actually, when we timed it a month or so later, we figured out that we started your sister that night, making the name Heather even more appropriate, damn it!”

Xander grimaced as he realized what his dad was saying. The two of them had a tacit agreement not to ask about each other's sex lives, although his wives and his mom didn't seem to have the same problem. But at least all of them could talk about his sister without breaking into tears now, thanks to Mama Maureen and Tamara and their teams.

Before he could say anything, Lazarus spoke up, “Okay, it's almost time for dinner, we can meet again tomorrow to finish the story and start making plans.”

TCOS & TCOS & TCOS

The Next Afternoon

There were several more people around the room this time, with Zeb, Jake, Commander Rico, and Colonel Campbell there as well as Xander started speaking. "Okay, we basically told you what happened with the Mayor and Graduation Ceremony in our time but what got you and the others suspicious of the man?"

It was Jessica that answered, grinning, "Believe it or not, it was a homework assignment. It was in early '76 when former Governor Reagan was challenging President Ford for the nomination and our history teacher wanted us to research and write a paper about other times that a President was challenged from within his party for the nomination. I remember choosing to write about 1968 when McCarthy came so close to beating President Johnson in New Hampshire that Johnson pulled out of the race. But when all of us were talking about the assignment that afternoon, the TV was on and they were showing all these ads for Reagan against Ford, and Ford against Reagan, and Jerry Brown against Carter, and so on. I was just shaking my head at all of them when I realized I'd never even seen a single Yard Sign for Mayor Wilkins or remembered anybody running against him.

“When I said something, none of the others could remember anything either and, when we went to the library, we got to look at the microfiche of the last several years of the Sunnydale Press. We told them it was for a school assignment, and we did look up the 1968 election and the one with Teddy Roosevelt against Taft, but we also checked and there was no listing, going back to the founding of Sunnydale, of any elections at all for Mayor. That's when we started noticing things like there was never any listing for the death of the first Mayor Wilkins, or births for Wilkins the second, or the third.”

Tony added, “All of us started looking into different things that didn't seem to make sense in town, just odd things, like the lack of uproar at the number of mysterious deaths. PCP wasn't a thing at the time, so there were lots of police reports of rampaging motorcycle gangs but I never saw a single gang. None of the others did, either. Well, I'm sure you get the idea.”

Xander grimaced, "Sunnydale Syndrome strikes again." He looked around the table, catching everyone's eyes, and said, "I'm thinking that Mayor Wilkins should be recalled as soon as possible, there's no need to wait until he's ready to ascend. We can probably use the confusion to move against Maggie Walsh and the Initiative Project before Adam gets off the drawing boards."

There were several nods around the table, and Tony said, “So what's your plan? Find yourself a Lee Harvey Oswald? I mean, there are a few more members of the Manson family around if you want to have a crazed assassin. Hell, you've already got the precedent of Squeaky Fromme taking shots at Ford.”

Xander shook his head, “I'm not sure yet, we need to find out what kind of mystical protections he has, plus the normal stuff about his routine et cetera. I want to make sure we can take him out without hurting any innocents if at all possible.”

“We'll talk to Rom and the others, Chuck and Paul are in and out of City Hall enough that it wouldn't seem unusual, and Wilkins thinks that he has Rom in his pocket. The mystic side though, the only practitioner I knew of was Catherine Madison, and from what you said, she went dark, probably Rack's doing, and is supposed to be dead?” Jessica asked, looking at them.

Xander nodded, “If not dead, then close enough. She cast something at Buffy and it was reflected back. Last I saw was Catherine being sucked into a statue. That's something that we should probably check on when we get back.”

They continued making plans for a few more hours until it was time for dinner.

TCOS & TCOS & TCOS

Willie's Alibi Room
Saturday, November 1st, 1997
2:30 pm

Angel climbed up through the sewer entrance to Willie's backroom, expecting it to be quiet at this time of day because he just wanted to pick up a bottle of whiskey, the good stuff this time, and do what he told the librarian, he intended to get blind drunk and try to forget this day.

But when he stepped into the bar itself, the place was packed with vampires and several different types of demons. He froze, ready to beat a quick retreat if needed because he knew that he wasn't popular with the other vampires, but they didn't even seem to notice him, they were all talking among themselves and shuddering.

Before he could get close enough to make out what they were saying, a hand landed on his shoulder, “Don't bother, they won't even pay any attention to you. Everybody is buzzing about how Drusilla was destroyed last night.”

Turning to Willie in shock, the human nodded, “Did you hear about the explosion when the car hit the gas tanks? Word is that something or somebody had hurt Drusilla bad enough that she was running in the streets and screaming, didn't even notice the car coming up on her, but she was hit and the driver lost control, killed all four in the car, and Drusilla was ashes. They're all in here because Spike lost his mind, swearing vengeance on a couple of the Slayer's friends. You might want to give them a warning because you know how vicious Spike can be.”

Angel nodded, still dazed, before turning back to the sewers, he could get drunk later, he had to warn them first.

TCOS & TCOS & TCOS

1630 Revello Drive
Saturday, November 1st, 1997
3:15 pm

Buffy had just gotten the door open and turned to take the overnight bag from Willow when the phone started ringing. Pushing the door further open, she grabbed the bag and set it inside the door, and hurried to get the phone. Glancing at the Caller ID, it wasn't a number she recognized, but picked it up, “Hello?

“Hey Angel, what's going on?

“Did Giles tell you to say that? Because I'm not sure if I'm in the mood to believe him, right now.

“Really? Is that what happened to cause the crash last night?

“Yeah, Spike wouldn't be happy about that, at all! But I'm not exactly in favor of happy vampires, so I'd say it's a good thing.

“Oh! Okay, yeah, that's different. I'll try and call his parents’ house, to see if they know where I can get him. He's more likely to listen to me or Willow and I need to talk to him anyway about things that our visitor had to say this afternoon.

“Okay, thanks for the info Angel, I'll see you later.”

Hanging up the phone, she turned and saw Willow watching her curiously. “That was Angel, he told me that Giles swore he wasn't going to do that thing on my birthday but I'm still not trusting Giles right now. And we need to tell Xander and the others that Drusilla got dusted last night, and Spike is out for revenge. Angel actually seemed worried about Spike but I don't know why; he's just a vamp and we've dusted plenty of those.”

Willow bit her lip nervously, before saying “Let's try and call his parents’ house. If they don't know how to reach him, then, well, don't tell anybody but I kinda hacked into the phone company and got Cordelia's cell phone number. I did it a couple of months ago, when she was being even more of a you know what than she normally was, and I was going to set her up to get prank calls and other stuff.”

It took Buffy a few seconds to translate the last part of what Willow said since it was all in one breath, but when she understood it, she grinned, "You're full of secrets, aren't you, Will? Hacking the phone company, what's next? Changing her grades on the school data-base?"

Buffy was joking about that but didn't like the sudden light in her friend's eyes. She really didn't know what caused the problems between Willow and Cordelia, other than it had been going on for years, but she needed to make sure Will didn't cross a line with her hacking. There was a difference between pranking someone, even a mean prank, and affecting somebody's grades.

Buffy added quickly, “Yeah, let's call his parents’ house first. And I think you and I need to have a talk about limits in hacking, Will, because, while I'm no expert, it seems like some of the things you do could get you put behind bars and I'm not crazy about visiting anybody in jail, okay?”

Willow looked mutinous, briefly, before giving Buffy the phone number and Buffy picked up the phone and dialed.

The phone was answered on the second ring but, to her relief, it was Xander that answered.

TCOS & TCOS & TCOS

Harris Residence
5 Minutes Later

Xander turned to his wives after hanging up the phone and said, “Got a bit of bad news for you, Tar, you won't be able to give Dru her bath, after all.”

Tara didn't say anything, just raised an eyebrow and gestured for him to get on with it. Grinning, he said, “After Cordy's super soaker attack last night, she ran out into the street and was hit by a car driven by Jack O'Toole, making Jack lose control and end up hitting the gas pump. So Dru is ashes that were hosed into the nearest gutter by now.”

Tara shrugged, “As long as she's dust, I'll live with the disappointment. But it's a shame that innocents were killed at the same time.”

Xander shook his head, “Sorry, Tara, I should have said but there were no innocents hurt. O'Toole and his gang were thugs and potential mass murderers. If I hadn't been there to stop them during our Senior Year, they were going to set off a bomb in the basement of the High School on the same night that a group of demons were trying to open the Hellmouth. If the idiots had been successful, the Hellmouth would have been blasted wide open and demons from who knows how many dimensions would be able to break through and it would have been game over for the human race. So, no, I'm not going to shed a tear at Jack and his buddies being Koreshed.”

“Unfortunately, that means that Spike is going to try and be even more of a pain in the ass than he normally would so we need to make sure we take precautions when we are out at night.” Turning to his parents, “Do you think that you consider this place home enough to count for a threshold to keep the vamps out?”

The two of them looked at each other and nodded but Tony said “If Tara can help us with the Threshold Spell you used at the hotel, that would be great, just in case our feelings aren't strong enough yet.”

Tara smiled, “That won't be a problem and do you still want me to cast the alcohol aversion on the two of you?”

"Let's wait a day or so on that, since we've all dealt with what happened to Heather, the need to drink doesn't seem to be as pressing. Hopefully, that won't change. It would be nice to keep a job for more than a month at a time." Tony said with a wry smile on his face.

“Actually, Tony, we got an email from Chuck, he's going to be back on Thursday and will set up a secure spot for us to meet and also see about finding a real job for you. And this time they won't let you be too stubborn to turn down the help! And Cordy, he says that he will be explaining everything at the meeting, so hold off on cursing him up one side and down the other, okay?”

His senior wife shrugged, “After what you've already told us, plus what we discovered on our own, that won't be a problem. Especially if my mother wasn't a part of things, and none of the ex-wives would have handled things well enough to be told. It would be like us trying to convince Harmony about what's really going on out there without her seeing a vamp dusting in front of her. Don't get me wrong, she's nice enough, and not as dumb as she acts, but if it doesn't fit her view of the world, it doesn't exist. Doesn't mean that I like the idea of her ending up dying at Graduation, though.”

Tony said, “I don't like the idea of anybody dying at Graduation, and we can talk about that when we can all get together but, considering what you told us, can the Librarian be trusted to choose Buffy over the Watchers?”

Cordelia said, “Actually, from what he wrote on the top page, I think he can be. From what I remember, he was torn up about having to do it before and that future vacuum bag filler Travers fired him, anyway. I'm not going to miss him, at all.”

She paused, thinking about something. “You know, it was Spike that put out the contract with the Order of Taraka the last time, to capture Angel if I remember right. What do you want to bet he wants to use them against the three of us? And if Dru got a vision, how many details did she leave for Spike? He knows about the two of us but does he know anything about Tara other than the fact that she is with us and is a witch?”

Xander shrugged, “Hard to tell, unless Apollo sends another dream, which I wouldn't count on. Where are you going with this, Cor?”

“I'm not sure yet, just the beginnings of an idea tickling my brain. As soon as I shake it loose, we can talk about it.”

Tara had been watching them intently and suddenly got a look of realization, “Oh! As far as you know, does the Order always send three assassins? Or was the last time just Spike going for overkill?”

Jess said, “From what I saw in the records in Chuck's basement, they always go in teams of three, that's why they have the reputation of never failing to fulfill a contract.” Her eyes widened and she smiled slightly. “If you're thinking what I'm thinking, I really like the way you think!”

He, Cordy and Tony were all wearing the same look of confusion on their faces, when Cordy started grinning. “Oh, yeah, that would surprise the hell out of him, wouldn't it? But it would depend on us taking out the assassins before they move so he has no idea who they are...”

The longer they talked, the more that the plan was fleshed out and before long, he and Tony were wearing grins to match their wives’. There was a lot that could go wrong, and they were counting on the same three being sent again, but it was something that they never would have thought of before so, hopefully, it would keep them in the dark until the time to strike.

He felt like he had to throw some cold water on the excitement, “This plan has a lot to recommend it, but what if he decides he wants the personal touch and not use the Order?”

TCOS & TCOS & TCOS

Elsewhere
About the same time

He looked up from his computer spreadsheet, wondering what had distracted him from the Gods cursed inventory. Listening carefully, he picked out the sound of a blade hitting a post and shook his head. She had been getting more anxious for weeks now, wanting to get back to her friends from before. He had tried to explain why it was a bad idea but she was even more stubborn than he was and refused to listen.

Standing, he grabbed his blade and scabbard and made his way up the stairs to the makeshift dojo that the two of them and a few of the others had built a few years ago when the restlessness got to her and there was a lull in her usual prey. He had to admit that a break from tracking the different antiques he'd purchased in the last month would be welcome and he quickened his walk up the stairs.

At the top of the stairs, he paused to watch her as he usually did. She was poetry in motion, the blade a part of her body, unlike he or most of the others who used the blade as a tool. He wasn't going to complain about her style, it had kept her alive when plenty of friends of his that were even older had fallen. She was still alive, a laughing demon most of the time, even when facing things that would give Torquemada nightmares. But lately, things had changed, and if she had any connection to Cassandra he'd have thought that the girl had a touch of the Sight to her.

He watched as she danced with her blade, the thick boards of the target nothing but chunks of wood scattered across the floor. He could already see that the chunks were cut in the right size to be carved and sanded so she could use them again when she went on the hunt but then, that was just like her. She never let anything go to waste if she could avoid it.

She looked up when he stepped onto the floor and lowered her blade. Grabbing a bottle of water, she drank deeply before moving to the bench and sitting down, checking her blade for any flaws or damage, no matter how slight. It was a habit he drilled into her from the first morning after she woke up and she has been one of his better pupils over the years.

“Feeling better, lass?” He asked softly, knowing that she could continue caring for her blade automatically and might be ready to talk.

She shook her head, “No, I'm not, I don't know if it's one of the dreams, or just personal experience with the bastard, but I can't help feeling that he's going to be moving sooner than expected and my friends are going to need my help.”

He grimaced, moving to sit next to her, “We've been over this, you know why going back is a bad idea. Even if they don't see you, how will you handle seeing them again, seeing how much they've changed? Knowing that they will change every day and you remain the same. Please, for the sake of your own sanity, put the idea away, nothing good will come of it, plenty of us who have tried have told you what happened. Why do you think you'll be different?”

She glared at him, before taking off her headband and wiping her face with a towel.

“Don't you think I know all that, Cousin? But if you think I'm going to let them go into danger with that bastard and not be watching their backs, you can stuff that up your Scottish ass! All of us fought and bled, and came close to dying for each other, and I'll strip down and give Horton a blowjob in the middle of Saint Patrick's before I'll turn my back on my friends again. I did what you told me back then, even though I was dying to tell them the truth, but I'm not going to let you talk me out of it this time.”

He nodded, “You're still just as stubborn as you were the first time I saw you, and I knew that this was coming. So, if you are going to do this, let's do it sensible. There are a few likely types who would enjoy a good brawl not far away from your friends. Let me contact them and see if we can provide backup to you and your gang of misfits, okay?”

End Chapter Ten

Okay, once again the damn characters have taken over the story. In the initial idea, that last scene didn't exist, but I've learned to stop trying to fight it. So, to quote Bette Davis in 'All About Eve', “Buckle your seat belts, it's gonna be a bumpy ride.”

Thanks for reading

ADDITIONAL DISCLAIMER: The concept of Highlander Immortals and all associated characters are property of Rysher Entertainment.

 

STORY TITLE: The Circle of Scooby
PART: 11 of ??
AUTHOR: Red Jacobson (red.jacobson@gmail.com)
DISTRIBUTION: FanFiction.net, Archive of Our Own, Twisting the Hellmouth
DISCLAIMER: None of the Characters You Recognize belong to me, the Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel Characters belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy (Grrr! Argh!), and the Boondock characters belong to the Estate of Robert A Heinlein and his publishers.
SUMMARY: The activation of the world's slayers has caused massive destruction throughout the multiverse, and the Circle of Ouroborus is determined to prevent that from happening and recruit three natives of the critical timeline to save the multiverse!
FEEDBACK: Of course! It Makes Me Write Faster
RELATIONSHIPS: Xander/Cordelia/Tara
RATING: PG-13
WORD COUNT: <4,008>
SPOILERS: A Crossover with RAH's Lazarus Long Books. I'm afraid that, while I'm going to do my best to explain things, at least a passing familiarity with Time Enough For Love, The Number of the Beast, The Cat Who Walks Through Walls, and To Sail Beyond the Sunset would help you understand who these characters are. None, but if you don't know how the Buffy the Vampire Slayer story goes by now, why are you reading this story?
CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE DEPARTMENT: I'm borrowing a bit of Cordy's childhood background from my buddy IronBear's stories, specifically Rio Blanco on the Mouth of Hell, and the Hell-er-nator Stories. If you want some amazing Xander/Cordelia stories, do yourself a favor and check him out!
AUTHORS NOTES: I'm going to try something unusual for this story, no lemons. Frankly, they've gotten to be a bore to write, and I imagine they've become boring to read as well. Hope this goes well.
SPECIAL THANKS TO PAX HUMANA: For Beta and Typo-busting services.
HEY BUD, IT'S BEEN A WHILE: Sorry for disappearing like that, but it was the depression grabbing me by the sac and squeezing, keeping me from focusing enough to write a coherent sentence. At least I'm feeling better now, hope it lasts for a while.

1630 Revello Drive
Sunday, November 2^nd, 1997
11:00 am

Joyce yawned as she pulled her jeep into the garage, using the remote to close the overhead door. Shutting the engine off, she stepped out, stretching to relieve the stiffness of driving for so long. She looked at the covered paintings in the cargo area and decided they could wait for an hour or so, she really needed a shower, and maybe a glass of wine?

Unlocking the door to the kitchen, she quietly walked in and closed the door behind her. Looking around the house, it was actually fairly neat, considering a teenager lived there, and Buffy's jacket was hanging on the coat rack, which let Joyce release a breath she didn't know she was holding. If the jacket was there, Buffy was home and safe.

She was heading out of the kitchen when she saw the two bowls sitting in the sink, both of them showing evidence of an ice cream binge. But who was the other ice cream fiend? The Chocolate Chocolate Chip was Buffy, the girl could no more pass up chocolate than her ex could pass up a new secretary in the office. No! Not thinking about that bastard, he's history, and I'm more curious about the other bowl.

Taking a closer look, she saw the tiny chips of chocolate in the vanilla ice cream and a chunk of cherry. The only one of Buffy's friends who liked Cherry Vanilla was Willow, and Joyce was a lot more comfortable with the idea of Willow being alone with Buffy, if it were Xander, she might be worried that things could get out of hand. Buffy was on the pill, but still, she didn't need to deal with getting a reputation at school.

Hearing the sound of a TV going upstairs, and smiled, she was going to have to tease Buffy about losing the whole day by sleeping. Sliding her shoes off, she climbed the stairs and saw Buffy's door standing open, and she stuck her head in, and froze because she wasn't expecting to see Buffy and Willow, both of them naked as jaybirds and kissing while their hands were busy with each other.

She knew she should back away, the two of them would be embarrassed enough, even though she knew that Buffy was attracted to girls, and it seems that Willow was too. Joyce started backing away, but her foot hit the squeaky board at the top of the stairs and the two girls broke apart as if they'd been scalded. When they saw her in the doorway, Buffy just glared at her, she could understand that, she didn't like it when her mother walked in on her and Kate during college. But Willow was turning bright red, and trying to hide under the sheet.

“Oh! I'm sorry Buffy, I didn't mean to interrupt anything, it's just that I finished going through the estate sales yesterday afternoon and got an early start this morning.” Walking into the room, she sat on the edge of the bed, and softly said, “Willow, you don't have to be embarrassed, Buffy knows that I'm aware that she likes girls, and so do I sometimes, so I'm not angry about the two of you. But it's almost afternoon, so the two of you should think about cleaning up and getting dressed, I'll start some breakfast, okay?”

Getting up, she headed out and down the stairs, and heard Willow saying that her mother would have had a questionnaire for one of her magazine articles, about how we realized the attraction, and who made the first move, and then she would want to know every detail of what we did. I'm not her daughter, I'm a convenient test subject for whatever theory she wants to test!”

Joyce shook her head, she had picked up that Sheila and Ira weren't the most attentive parents, but it sounded like it was worse than she expected. The least she could do would be to let Willow know she is always welcome here, any time her parents leave her at home.

TCOS & TCOS & TCOS

Buffy sat back with a satisfied grin, “That was great Mom, thanks.”

“Yes, thank you Mrs Summers, I mean, um um yeah!”

Joyce just smiled gently at the blushing redhead, “Willow, you don't have to worry about me yelling or throwing you out or anything like that. The only thing that I would have gotten annoyed about is if you used my bed and didn't change the sheets afterward.”

Willow let out a giggle, before clapping her hands over her mouth in mortification, but Buffy let out a laugh, before she said, “There is something I need to talk to you about, Willow already knows almost all of it, but it has to do with what happened at Hemery, and the fire in the gymnasium, plus everything that's happened since we moved here. It all started, for me, when an older gentlemen, very distinguished looking, introduced himself to me after school one afternoon, he said his name was Merrick...”

TCOS & TCOS & TCOS

Norman Manley International Airport
Kingston, Jamaica
Late Sunday Afternoon

With a final nod at Mister Zabuto's instructions, Kendra walked into the Terminal, doing her best to hide her nervousness. This was the first time she had been on an airplane, and Mister Zabuto trusted her enough to give her this mission and let her handle it on her own. She felt more than a little naked without her stakes or her knife, but they would be hard to explain if security found them in her backpack.

Smiling slightly at the feeling of the air conditioning, she looked for the sign to check in and baggage check and was glad that the lines were fairly short. A couple of minutes later she was handing her plane ticket and passport to the smiling woman at the counter and taking them back, along with her boarding pass, she walked through the security scanner and found the seating area for her flight.

Kendra was relieved that the waiting area wasn't crowded and took a seat against the wall. She amused herself by imagining what each person waiting for the flight was doing in Jamaica. The couple that was trying to appear married was probably the MI-6 Station Chief and his secretary/lover, being recalled to London for some reason. She snorted, she'd been reading too many of Mister Zabuto's James Bond novels.

The other passengers were very boring, so Kendra paid even closer attention, it was the boring people that often hid dark secrets. The middle-aged man with the priest's collar and the kindly expression was actually an assassin, and the disguise was just enough to get close to his target.

By the time her flight started boarding Kendra had assigned more and more ludicrous backgrounds to all of her fellow passengers, it kept her mind occupied and the nerves at bay, because her mission was extremely important Mister Zabuto said. She would do her best, but at least she had the name of the Watcher that was stationed on the Hellmouth, but she wondered why she was just being called to California now when Buffy Summers died several months ago.

She did her best to relax, knowing she had several hours of travel ahead of her, not to mention transferring to a different plane in Florida, so it was going to be a very long day.

TCOS & TCOS & TCOS

Rupert Giles Apartment
Sunnydale, California
Sunday, November 2^nd, 1997
3:50 pm

Hanging up the phone, Giles sat back in his seat with a smile toward his guest, although he wanted to do much more than just smile at her, Jenny, or Janna, was sitting across from him, wearing one of his shirts, unbuttoned enough to show she wasn't wearing anything underneath. She knew that he was looking at her, he didn't even bother trying to hide it, and she seemed to delight in teasing him, well he wasn't distracted any longer.

“That was the last of us, except for Ethan of course. All of them are eager to get rid of the mark, and promised to put the word out to any of their remaining contacts in the mystical underground about the Ritual of Disavowal so we can stop living in fear of going to sleep,”

Setting his notepad down, he took a sip from his cup and said, “Now that the serious business is taken care of, I want you to take off my shirt and lay across my lap, it's time for a brat like you to learn the penalty for teasing.”

Jenny stood up, smiling widely, “Spanking? Kinky, English, very Kinky, I didn't know you had it in you.” Slipping his shirt off, she struck a pose, giving him a very good view of her naked body, including the corkscrew dangling from her left nipple, before she draped herself over his lap, pushing her arse up in the air, eager for his hand. It had been a long time, but he was sure he remembered what to do.

TCOS & TCOS & TCOS

Sunnydale High School Library
Monday, November 3^rd, 1997
7:45 pm

Buffy took a deep breath and with Willow beside her, pushed the library door open, and walked through, seeing Giles at the counter, which was normal, but what was Ms Calendar doing here? And as close as she was standing, I guess Will and I weren't the only ones getting lucky this weekend. But that's not important now.

“Giles, I got your message from Angel, and I'm glad to hear it, but it's going to be a while before we're even close to trusting you again, understood?” Before he could say anything, she continued, “Angel told me something interesting the other day, it seems that Drusilla was dusted Friday night, from what Angel heard...”

Her Watcher seemed surprised, "That's not how I would have expected her to meet her end, for all her insanity, she was also extremely cunning, and she would know enough to stay out of the road. However it happened, it's good news. Although Spike will be screaming for vengeance, he and Drusilla had a very unusual relationship, but Spike will blame all of your group for her destruction, and he's already killed two slayers, so don't take him lightly. From what the archives show, he is capable of long-term planning, although he's been known to discard the plans just as often. So, all I can say is be very careful and don't expect him to be just like any other vampire you've fought, he is easily on Lothos' level, and don't expect him to be trapped in a burning gymnasium."
"Thanks for the info, and I'll make sure Xander and the others are aware, although Xander might already know." Buffy turned away before she paused and said, "We'll be back this afternoon, can you dig up what information you have on Spike? That should help us figure out how he may attack us.

The morning bell rang, and she and Willow had to hurry to get to their first-period Chemistry. Xander and Cordy were already seated, so they took a pair of desks right behind the couple. As they pulled their book out, Buffy reached over and squeezed Willow's hand, making her girlfriend smile.

The morning classes went smoothly enough, although Miss Calendar smirked at her and Willow when she saw them holding hands. Buffy just smirked back, and if the rest of the students were coming in, she would have kissed Willow right in front of the woman.

It was as they were sitting down to lunch with Xander and Cordy that Buffy spotted Billy Fordham entering the cafeteria. He must have felt her eyes on him, because he looked over and smiled when he saw her, before getting on line for today's mystery meat and cold vegetables. She shifted over, making a spot for Ford when he brought his tray over.

After the introductions she watched and listened to what Ford was saying, and saw that Xander had been right, there was something very wrong here. The tremors in his hands that he tried to hide, and the twinges of pain in his eyes were ringing alarm bells loudly, but she hoped that Xander would be able to help him. No matter how off Ford was acting, he was still a friend from before all the madness fell into her life, and she didn't want to lose him. She'd lost too many friends already.

They finished choking down their meals and Ford left to find his next class, but the four of them had a free and headed outside to enjoy the sunshine. When they were all sitting on the bench, Buffy said, “Just so the two of you know, and you can tell Tara, but Willow and I are a couple now. After the bombshells from Saturday, the two of us hit the Haagen Dazs pretty heavy, and I had a breakdown because it hit me that until you gave me CPR in the Master's cavern, I was dead! I'm 16 years old, I don't want to die.”

Xander reached out and took her hand, the most serious expression she'd ever seen on his face, and he said, “And you won't Buff, that's one of things that I'm going to do, is keep all of you alive. Speaking of that, Cordy and I, and Tara as well, are going to be joining in your training. The soldier version of me was disgusted at the flab, and I'm going to work it off, and I know that Tara wants to get fitter, but the Queen is perfect the way she is,” he finished with a grin. Buffy smiled back, reassured, and amused by the way Cordy was blushing under Xander's approving gaze.

“Another thing, my Mom knows about Willow and I and is cool about it, and we sat down yesterday and told her the truth about what's been happening with the 'Gangs on PCP' or the 'BBQ Fork accidents', and, to put it mildly, she was not happy, at all.”

As they were getting ready to head back inside for their next class, Xander said, “When you see Ford again, invite him to the Bronze tonight, I'm going to talk to him, see if there's anything savable for me to try and help him.”

She was very curious about how her 'Xander-shaped Friend' would be able to help Ford, but she trusted him and would be inviting Ford to the Bronze.

TCOS & TCOS & TCOS

Sunnydale High School Library
After Lunch

Tara was sitting at the table, busily writing on some official-looking forms, stopping at times to work the kinks out of her hand. She finished the last form and signed her name with a flourish, done at last!

Mister Giles came out from his office and picked up the paperwork, going over it carefully before nodding, “This will do nicely, Miss Maclay, to get you registered as an external student. It would be helpful if we could get your transcripts from your previous school, but obviously that would defeat the purpose of keeping your name out of the system. What we can do is set up a time for you to come in and take the standardized tests for your grade level so Miss Calendar and I know what areas you are stronger in. I believe that Miss Calendar is also very interested in discussing your magical training, and if possible, taking it further. Is that something you would be willing to discuss with her?”

Tara smiled, “That would be fine, most of my training was done in secret by my mother, and we spent a lot of time going over the ethics of using magic, because it's too easy to let it do everything, and that's when the problems start.”

Mister Giles smiled wryly, “Trust me, Miss Maclay, I learned that lesson years ago, when I realized just exactly what we had done inviting that demon to possess us. All of us, except for Ethan, have been searching for years to find a way to free ourselves, but none of us had heard of the ritual Xander mentioned, but all of us are using everything we have to find that ritual. He had given us hope for the first time in years, and that's a gift that I can't repay. But that's enough of my maundering. Would you be able to come in Friday morning to take the tests? It will give you a few days to go over the study guides to refresh your memory.”

“Not a problem, I'll get a ride with Xander and Cordy and just wait until they finish for the day.”

The final bell of the day sounded, and a few minutes later, Xander and Cordy, followed by Buffy and Willow were all seated at the table, and Giles was passing out Watchers Diaries from different slayers. All the slayers encountered Spike, most were able to get free, but there were two that died at his claws and fangs.

After a while, Cordy closed the diary and said, “Hey doofus, I seem to remember you were a pretty good shot with daddy's rifle when you were younger, did you keep in practice?”

He nodded, “I go out to Uncle Rory's place every few weeks and work on my aim, so I'm better than average. What did you have in mind? Because unless we can get some special ammunition, he's going to shake off a bullet wound, unless it's a head shot and you follow it up with a staking.”

Buffy looked like she was going to object, but then she closed her mouth and sat back, listening.

Cordy said, "What I'm thinking about, is filling the cartridges with ball bearing size balls of wood. A chest shot, armed with that kind of ammo should put a hurt on any vampire, I don't care who they are.

Mister Giles chuckled, "I don't know if it would work, as far as I'm aware it hasn't been tried, but I have a friend or two who could help make the cartridges. I'll admit I'm interested to see if it works."

Tara said, “I'm out of practice, but I've fired a rifle several times, so I'd like to work on my target practice”

Xander looked over at Buffy, “What about you Buff? Want to see if Slayer makes you an expert shot?”

Buffy stays silent for a moment, before nodding decisively. "Yes, it seems like we need to do the unexpected to send Spike to Hell with his loony-toon girlfriend, and Cordy's idea qualifies as unexpected. I would wish we could get the Spanish inquisition, because nobody expects them."

Everyone stared at her in disbelief, until Giles coughed to cover a laugh, and said, “And where did you find Monty Python's Flying Circus? Next you'll be wanting to know what is the average airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow!”

Willow sat up, “Ooh! I know that, it's just over 20.1 miles per hour, and that's for either the African and the European swallow.” Seeing the looks she was getting, she said “What? I was curious and looked it up.”

Buffy and Xander laughed, “Only you, Will, only you.” Buffy said, smiling at the girl fondly.

TCOS & TCOS & TCOS

The Bronze
Just after Dark

They were sitting in their booth, sipping the soda, or in Willow's case, hot chocolate, she is still banned from drinking caffeine after the last time. Buffy kept checking the door, but there was no sign of Ford and Xander was frowning, Ford might have already made a deal with Spike or some other vamp to be turned.

He would still be willing to help the guy, because when you are dying, especially the nasty way that Ford is, you are willing to do just about anything to keep on living. It's too bad that Ford doesn't understand what happens when you are turned. You are gone once the vamp drains you, and a demon who has all your memories, and can mimic your personality takes over your body, but it's not you.

He looked up as he felt eyes on him, and saw Angel walking toward them, and he didn't look thrilled at all. When he got to the table, he softly said, “I need to talk to you about Buffy's friend. Do you have a minute?”

Getting out of the booth, the others looked at him curiously, but he stepped over to the hall leading to the bathrooms. “Okay, from the way you are looking, I'm going to guess you didn't see him volunteering at the humane society, did you?”

Xander gave himself a mental point when he got Angel to scowl. “No, not hardly, have you heard about a place called 'The Sunset Club?”

“Yeah, a place for people who've read too much Anne Rice or Laurel K Hamilton, who think that vampires are higher beings. Idiots! And easy prey for the stupidest fledge ever turned. So Ford is hanging out with them, is he? I can't think of single good reason for him to be there, and a lot of very bad ones.”

Angel nodded, “Especially since I got Giles to check the school records, and there is no record of any new students, male or female registered with the school.”

Xander shook his head, “I'm afraid it might be too late to help him, depending on if he's made a deal yet, and what the deal was. But I see him coming in the door now, so I need to get back to the table and give the girls a heads up.”

There was no answer, and when Xander looked back, the vampire was gone. “How the hell does he keep doing that?” He muttered, heading back to the table.

End Chapter Eleven

 

STORY TITLE: The Circle of Scooby
PART: 12 of ??
AUTHOR: Red Jacobson (red.jacobson@gmail.com)
DISTRIBUTION: FanFiction.net, Archive of Our Own, Twisting the Hellmouth
DISCLAIMER: None of the Characters You Recognize belong to me, the Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel Characters belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy (Grrr! Argh!), and the Boondock characters belong to the Estate of Robert A Heinlein and his publishers.
SUMMARY: The activation of the world's slayers has caused massive destruction throughout the multiverse, and the Circle of Ouroborus is determined to prevent that from happening and recruit three natives of the critical timeline to save the multiverse!
FEEDBACK: Of course! It Makes Me Write Faster
RELATIONSHIPS: Xander/Cordelia/Tara, Buffy/Willow, Giles/Jenny
RATING: PG-13
WORD COUNT: <4,396>
SPOILERS: A Crossover with RAH's Lazarus Long Books. I'm afraid that, while I'm going to do my best to explain things, at least a passing familiarity with Time Enough For Love, The Number of the Beast, The Cat Who Walks Through Walls, and To Sail Beyond the Sunset would help you understand who these characters are. None, but if you don't know how the Buffy the Vampire Slayer story goes by now, why are you reading this story?
CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE DEPARTMENT: I'm borrowing a bit of Cordy's childhood background from my buddy IronBear's stories, specifically Rio Blanco on the Mouth of Hell, and the Hell-er-nator Stories. If you want some amazing Xander/Cordelia stories, do yourself a favor and check him out!
AUTHOR'S NOTES: I'm going to try something unusual for this story, no lemons. Frankly, they've gotten to be a bore to write, and I imagine they've become boring to read as well. Hope this goes well.
PART TWO OF CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE DEPARTMENT: The 'Ritual of Disavowal' is borrowed from Vidicon's Waifs and Strays Universe on TTH.
HEY BUD, IT'S BEEN A WHILE: Sorry for disappearing like that, but it was the depression grabbing me by the sac and squeezing, keeping me from focusing enough to write a coherent sentence. At least I'm feeling better now, hope it lasts for a while.

The Bronze
Monday, November 3rd, 1997
8:00 PM

Xander only had a minute to give Buffy and the others an alert before Ford was at their booth. With a smile, Xander turned and said, "Ford, perfect timing bud, I could use a pair of extra hands to bring back the refills. Tell you what, for your help I'll even buy your first drink."

Ford looked at him in surprise, not expecting a friendly greeting, but just shrugged as he gave Buffy a grin and walked toward the bar. When they were close to the hallway for the restrooms, he saw the grin drop off Xander's face as the other guy turned to look at him. Ford knew that he wasn't going to like what Xander said, but he figured it was warning him off Buffy, not that he had any plans for romancing Buffy. That was why you could have knocked him over with a feather when the first thing Xander said was,

"We'll see about the drinks in a minute or so Ford, but right now, I need to know if you made any deals with the vamps at the Sunset Club? Specifically have you made any deal with Spike?"

Ford was so surprised he just shook his head, "No, not yet, and I saw Spike but he was too obsessed with all of you to want to have anything to do with. I did my research and found out he didn't get the name Spike because he was a volleyball player!"

Xander could see the truth in his eyes and gave a mental sigh of relief. With a more natural smile, he said, "That was just about as good an answer as I could have hoped for, because there are other ways to help you, follow me."

Xander pushed open the door into the alley behind the club, and when Ford stepped out, he felt the prick of a needle at the back of his neck and was unconscious before the door closed behind him. Xander put the injector back in his case, grateful that Galahad was willing to provide it so they could get Ford to Boondock.

Raising his ring to his mouth, Xander said, "Fish in the net, needs cleaning before release."

He heard Jake Burroughs's voice come through, "Understood, cleaning commencing in, three, two, one, Now!"

Out of nowhere, an opening appeared in the wall behind him, and Zeb and Deety hopped out, Xander could see Hilda at the wheel, which he wasn't expecting, but it wasn't a big deal compared to what they were actually doing here. Deety was running a scanner around Ford's head, saying, "It's good that you were able to get to him in time, the tumors are nearly at the point where even Ish and Galahad wouldn't be able to save him. We'll have him back when we're satisfied he's cured and provide the records demonstrating the experimental treatment he went through, and the NDA's to keep people from digging too deeply."

"Thanks Deety, Ford was one of ones I felt bad about, yeah, he made a crappy decision, but who can say they would have done anything different?" Pulling the injector case out of his pocket, he handed it to Deety, stepping back out of the way as they finished what they were doing to get ready.

While they were talking, Zeb picked up Ford's unconscious body and put him on the stretcher, and he and Deety floated him through the hole that closed behind them.

Checking the time, it was 8:11 and a few seconds, and three seconds later the hole reappeared in the opposite wall, and Ford stepped out, looking the same as he did earlier, except the strain was gone from his face and eyes, and he said, "I don't know why you went out of your way like this, but thanks! I already got the lowdown on World as Myth, and I've actually been through Time Corps training so I'll continue to be sick for a few weeks longer, then I will die and head off to Boondock."

Xander gave him a grin, and said, "Did Zeb and Hilda put you through the Ego Busting part of the training?"

"Who the hell would think a tiny woman like Hilda could pack a punch like that? But we still need to get the girls their drinks, and you owe me one!"

Laughing, the two of them slipped back into the club and headed toward the bar. Neither of them looked back, if they had, they would have seen Angel step out of the shadows with a shocked look on his face, wondering what the hell Harris and the others had gotten themselves into, because he recognized the names of the people mentioned, from a series of books he read a few years ago. I wish he had taken the time to pick up a bottle at Willie's when he was there Saturday, but, even though it was tempting, getting smashed wouldn't accomplish anything, Even though his feelings for Buffy crashed in flames when Harris told him about the curse on Friday night, he still cared for her, and if Spike was on the rampage, Buffy and the others would need his help, and he could do that by finding out where Spike was holing up now.

Walking with a purpose, Angel strode out of the alley, heading toward the docks, to pick up any news that was out there.

TCOS & TCOS & TCOS

1630 Revello Dr
Approximately the Same Time

Joyce sat back in her office chair, rubbing her eyes tiredly. She had been working on entering the new inventory into the Gallery's computer database, but she couldn't stop thinking about what she had heard from Willow the day before. She had already been concerned about the amount of time Willow spent alone in that house, but it sounds like even when Sheila and Ira are at home, they don't have time for their daughter. From what she remembered from her Dad's dinner table stories, it sounded like Willow could make a good case for abandonment and Joyce would be more than happy to open up the guest room for Willow's stuff, even though she would most likely be sleeping in Buffy's bed. The only question is if Willow has any source of income of her own. If she and Buffy aren't too late getting back from the Bronze, she would sit down with both of them and discuss it.

Putting the notepad where she had been putting down her thoughts to the side of her desk, she stood and stretched before taking her seat and managed to complete the new inventory in less than two hours, in time to hear Buffy's keys in the lock at the front door. A quick look at the time and she saw Buffy was in almost a half hour before curfew, which pleased her. Stepping out of her home office, she headed toward the kitchen and intercepted Buffy and Willow, and said, "I'm glad you are home early, because I have something important to discuss with both of you, and no, it's not a bad thing at all, so don't worry."

Pretending she didn't see the look of relief on the two of their faces, she had them sitting at the table and said, "I'm going to be blunt here, Willow I'm really not happy with the amount of time you spend alone in that house, and from what I heard you say yesterday about Sheila wanting to fill out a questionnaire after finding you and Buffy, it sounds like you're on your own even when they are physically there, am I wrong?"

Willow blushed, looking down as she shook her head. Buffy moved closer and put her arm around the other girl, saying, "Don't worry Will, I think I know where Mom is going with this, and it can be a very good thing!"

Joyce smiled at Buffy, "I'm glad you approve, Buffy, but wait until I finish what I was saying to make sure you are right about what I'm planning. But Willow, Buffy is right about one thing, I'm not even close to being unhappy with you, you are doing the best you can, considering you are basically raising yourself and have been for years, haven't you?" Not waiting for a reaction, Joyce said, "I've been thinking that, if you could show a reasonable amount of income that wasn't from Sheila or Ira, you could make a very good case to be emancipated as a minor. Of course, you would be welcome to move in, in fact we can get the guest room cleared out so you have a place for your computers and everything else that belongs to you."

The look of shock on Willow's face was almost painful to see, before she smiled, and started talking, but she was talking so fast that Joyce couldn't make heads or tails of what she was saying, but couldn't get a word in to tell her that. Fortunately, Buffy was more familiar with the way Willow could react, and just pulled her into a kiss, cutting off the flow of words instantly. After a few minutes, Buffy pulled back, and Willow snuggled in her arms. "Willow is very excited about the idea, and she makes more than enough to live on from selling her computer programs. And, yes, this is where I thought you were going, and I'm very much in favor of the idea."

Joyce chuckled, "I never would have guessed." Glancing up at the clock, she said, "It getting late, and I need to get some sleep, and you two should be heading to bed yourselves, you do have school in the morning."

Getting up from the table, she was heading to the stairs when she heard the girls getting up as well, talking quietly as they followed her up to the bedrooms. Joyce wasn't trying to eavesdrop, but she could hear the tension in Buffy's voice, talking about somebody named Ford, and how he was acting strange after talking to Xander. She didn't know what to make of that bit of conversation, but neither of the girls seemed angry or upset with Xander so it must not be too serious.

Shutting the door behind her, she completed her bedtime rituals of cleaning the makeup and other things before going to bed, and she was still wondering about the snippet of conversation as she fell asleep.


Jenny Calendar's Apartment
Monday, November 3rd, 1997
10:12 PM

Jenny slipped out of bed, careful not to disturb the sleeping man in her bed, but she really needed to visit the ladies, otherwise, there would be another wet spot on her bed, and she didn't want that! Making the bathroom just in time, she was washing her hands when she finished, and looked at her face in the mirror, wanting to laugh at her hair, she was currently sporting the hairstyle called 'just fucked stupid, and loved it!' She was looking forward to waking up early so they could repeat the experience. Walking out into the dark living room, a blinking light from her computer caught her attention, she had an email, and since she only used that particular computer for her mystic endeavors, it could be important.

Sitting down at the keyboard, she woke the screen up and opened the email mailbox, grinning when she recognized the sender, it was one of her contacts who was searching for the Ritual of Disavowal, and hoping that Velma had luck finding something because she really didn't want to depend on the Lone Gunman to find the information she needed. The three of them were good at what they did, but she didn't have the time to follow them down the different rabbit holes their conspiracy theories led them to. Opening the email, she read the first few lines and had to restrain herself from waking English up to tell him the news. The ritual was surprisingly simple, and Velma had even included attached photographs of the pages she found the ritual written on.

Sending a quick reply thanking Velma for finding the information, Jenny promised to send observations of the ritual if she was allowed to be there, otherwise, she would make notes on any after-effects and send those along. Sending the email, she was getting up when she heard Giles walking around and then heard the toilet flush. When he stepped into the living room, she was standing, the glow of the computer monitor providing the only light. With a wide smile, she asked, "How awake are you, English?"

He managed to smirk, and said, "Awake enough for another round or two, if that's what you are asking."

"That's good to know, and I'll ask you to prove it in a couple of minutes, but I just got an email with some very good news. A complete description of the Ritual of Disavowal, including pictures of the pages in the book! It doesn't seem like it would be difficult, and there aren't any unusual components needed."

She didn't get to go any further because she was being lifted in his arms, and his lips were capturing hers, as she wrapped her legs around his thighs, feeling him sliding deep into her body. They managed to stumble back to the bedroom, and Jenny discovered, to her delight, that Giles was good for more than just a round or two.

They were both late for work the next day.

TCOS & TCOS & TCOS


Los Angeles International Airport
Monday, November 3rd, 1996
11:45 PM

Kendra stretched, after so many hours sitting in the airplane, it felt good to be able to move freely again! It would have been better if the flight had arrived earlier, because there are no shuttles to Sunnydale running at night, and checking the bus schedule, the last bus left 45 minutes ago. She had the name and phone number of the Watcher, Mister Giles, but it was far too late to ask him to come to pick her up. Not wanting to sit around the airport, she was too restless after the hours in flight, so she got directions to a Denny's restaurant that was within an easy walk of the airport. The man at the information booth looked at her a little strangely, but she was confident she could handle any humans that tried anything, and the route to the Denny's was all well-lit and a lot of traffic so the risk of vampires was a lot lower than it could be. Double-checking the directions, Kendra seated her backpack so it was comfortable, and headed out into the Los Angeles night.

She was surprised that nobody even gave her a second look as she walked, but that was fine with her, she just wanted to get something to eat and a cup of coffee if possible, but she wasn't expecting much, not after getting used to the way Mister Zabuto ground his beans and made the coffee. But at least it won't be instant coffee, that is an offense against the blessed bean and whoever developed it should have been staked out over a fire ant colony covered with honey, The pain would be almost enough to make up for what they did to coffee!

Seeing the Denny's up ahead, she started moving a bit faster and soon was having a seat at the counter looking over the menu options. She got her coffee while going over the menu, and was surprised that the coffee wasn't that bad, it wasn't as good as she was used to, but she could drink it and enjoy the taste. Eventually, she decided to have the Veggie omelet, since most of the other choices looked delicious but would sit heavy in her belly and make her sluggish, she could wait until she was somewhere she could relax to try one of the other dishes.

She made quick work of the breakfast, and getting a cup of coffee to go, she paid the ticket and left a tip before walking toward where the bus terminal is located. Checking the time, and it was just after 1 a.m., so there were still several hours before the first bus to Sunnydale would start to load. She was still feeling too restless to sit in one place for very long, so she started walking in the direction of the bus terminal, only to stop as she was passing a vacant lot, because something felt very strange to her, just on the edge of awareness, but she couldn't tell what had gotten her attention. Taking two steps into the vacant lot, it felt like she walked through a curtain, and a bar was in front of her, the name of the bar was lit up in neon, but she had no idea what a 'Caritas' was.


The Westin Hotel, Times Square
Private Work Area
New York City
Tuesday, November 4th, 1997
6:00 AM

Charles Chase set his laptop on the table in front of him, plugging it into the power outlet before he attached the phone cable to the separate cable that spoofed where the connection was coming from. He may be being excessively cautious, the Mayor had long arms, but Charles doubted they stretched all the way to New York. But better safe than sacrificed. That's why he only used the internet to conduct Misfits business from the secure room he had set up in most of the Hotels he would stay at in his travels. Logging into the computer with the separate identity he had created for himself and Rom and the others, although he didn't think Paul, Tony, or Jess ever made use of theirs. Surfing to the website of L'Ermitage in Beverly Hills, he reserved the private conference room for the entire day this coming Saturday. Providing the credit card that he had in the other name, he paid the total up front, and the room was reserved in the name of the Mount Shasta Hiking Society, about as innocuous a name as can be imagined. And considering some of the legends about Mount Shasta, a black magician like Wilkins wouldn't want to be within 100 miles of the place!

Pulling the small whiteboard from the drawer, he worked until the message was as short as possible, before converting it to the code they set up so long ago. Sending the mail with the Heather@ email addresses to each of the others, he saw that it was far too early for them to be awake, so he should expect replies late that afternoon. Shutting down the computer, he removed all the security devices and slipped them into a hidden compartment in his briefcase before packing up the computer itself. Setting his 'tells' to alert him if anybody had been in the room, he locked the door behind him, holding back a smile imagining what Heather would have said about the James Bond routine. Heather would never have had the patience to do what he and the others have been doing, she would have been leaping through the window at City Hall, her sword swinging and the devil take the hindmost!

He still wasn't sure how he felt about Cordelia getting involved and with Tony and Jess's boy at that. Part of him wanted to let her know how proud he was that she was getting passed the rich girl socialite that the women he married after Cynthia died, had insisted that his daughter behave like. He was focusing too much on the business and didn't notice until it was too late what the woman was doing. She didn't last long after he figured it out, too late to make a difference in Cordelia's behavior, especially when he found out the woman had gotten rid of all of Cordelia's Jungle Books and other Kipling adventure stories. That had hurt, because when Cynthia was alive, he would hold Cordy, she wasn't Cordelia yet, on his lap and read to her the adventures of Raksha and Akela and their man-cub Mowgli. He sometimes wished he could go back to those days and pay attention to what was important. But he was aware enough that he would never vocalize the words 'I wish' he'd seen the references to Anyanka and Halfrek and others in the damn watcher's library, and never wanted to encounter them in the flesh, no thank you!

Opening the door to the suite, Margaret was sitting with a cup of coffee and the morning paper. To his surprise, she was reading a copy of the Sunnydale Press, he didn't realize that it could be delivered this far away. Sitting down at the table he poured himself a cup and said, "Anything interesting happening back home in the last few days?"

"The usual, a 'gas leak caused mass hallucinations on Halloween night, people thinking they were turned into their costumes." She shook her head, "Honestly! Can't they think of something better that a gas leak? I know that most of the people in town are subject to Sunnydale Syndrome, but come on! Give me a break, will ya?"

Charles almost choked on his coffee as he registered what she had said, and looked intently at her, "How long? How long have you known?"

"Since before Heather died, so years. I didn't say anything because it was obvious that even thinking about Heather hurt, badly. But she saved my life my freshman year at UC Sunnydale, I was jumped by a bunch of freaks in robes, muttered something about a proper sacrifice for Machida. I was struggling and trying to call for help but couldn't make a sound. Next thing I knew, I was on the ground coughing and trying to get air into my lungs, and the guys in robes were long gone. Heather was still there, helping me up, and after thanking her, I asked her what was going on, so the two of us went to a coffee shop near the campus, where we wouldn't be overheard, and I got the full story about the vamps and the demons and what to do, and not to do to stay safe. A few months later I saw her name in the obituaries. I was there, in the back, paying my respects, but left before any of you noticed me. Now, you know that I know about Sunnydale, what is happening that has you acting very strangely? If I didn't know better, I'd think you were having an affair, and had a guilty conscience, but the two of us are far to active, not to mention adventurous, for you to stray." She grinned, "Unless of course, you find a girl open to playing with both of us. That could be a fun weekend."

He sat there, thinking furiously, "You're right, there is something going on, but, I'm sorry, until I get a chance to check things out, I'm not going to say anything more. If you are aware of what Sunnydale is like, then you know that there are things worse than death that can happen."

She nodded, "Actually, I don't have a problem with that, and before you ask, I didn't agree to date you when we met because of all this, I didn't even recognize you from the memorial service and at the cemetery. So, I'm going to stay here in the city while you do your investigations, and come back when you tell me you've got your questions answered, and can let me know what is going on."

Charles nodded, absently, pulling out his planner, and making a list of things he needed to confirm or deny because it was just too convenient that the Misfits were getting back in the saddle and his wife dropped a bombshell like that on him. He wasn't that gullible, so it's best that Margaret stays behind. Of course, if she was on the level, it would be helpful not to have to hide certain things.


End Chapter Twelve

 

STORY TITLE: The Circle of Scooby
PART: 13 of?
AUTHOR: Red Jacobson (red.jacobson@gmail.com)
DISTRIBUTION: FanFiction.net, Archive of Our Own, Twisting the Hellmouth
DISCLAIMER: None of the Characters You Recognize belong to me, the Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel Characters belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy (Grrr! Argh!), and the Boondock characters belong to the Estate of Robert A Heinlein and his publishers.
SUMMARY: The activation of the world's slayers has caused massive destruction throughout the multiverse, and the Circle of Ouroborus is determined to prevent that from happening and recruit three natives of the critical timeline to save the multiverse!
FEEDBACK: Of course! It Makes Me Write Faster
RELATIONSHIPS: Xander/Cordelia/Tara, Buffy/Willow, Giles/Jenny
RATING: PG-13
WORD COUNT: <4,953>
SPOILERS: A Crossover with RAH's Lazarus Long Books. I'm afraid that, while I'm going to do my best to explain things, at least a passing familiarity with Time Enough For Love, The Number of the Beast, The Cat Who Walks Through Walls, and To Sail Beyond the Sunset would help you understand who these characters are. None, but if you don't know how the Buffy the Vampire Slayer story goes by now, why are you reading this story?
CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE DEPARTMENT: I'm borrowing a bit of Cordy's childhood background from my buddy IronBear's stories, specifically Rio Blanco on the Mouth of Hell, and the Hell-er-nator Stories. If you want some amazing Xander/Cordelia stories, do yourself a favor and check him out!
AUTHOR'S NOTES: I'm going to try something unusual for this story, no lemons. Frankly, they've gotten to be a bore to write, and I imagine they've become boring to read as well. Hope this goes well.
SPECIAL THANKS TO PAX HUMANA: For Beta and Typo-busting services.
CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE DEPARTMENT: The 'Ritual of Disavowal' is borrowed from Vidicon's Waifs and Strays Universe on TTH.
HEY BUD, IT'S BEEN A WHILE: Sorry for disappearing like that, but it was the depression grabbing me by the sac and squeezing, keeping me from focusing enough to write a coherent sentence. At least I'm feeling better now, hope it lasts for a while.
YET ANOTHER AUTHOR'S NOTE: There is a sequence where the characters are practicing with rifles, and the scene is short on the technical details because the last time I had a rifle in my hand was in early November 1982 when I was going through Air Force Basic Training, and I've honestly forgotten 99.99% of what I learned. So instead of grabbing information from the internet that may or may not be accurate, and the specific model and ammo sizes aren't necessary to know for the story, I just decided to go bare bones rather than screw it up. Hopefully, you won't mind.
#
Caritas
Tuesday, November 4th, 1997
1:30 AM

Kendra was a little nervous, because she could recognize several different types of demons, most of them were peaceful, but not all. If it wasn't for the Host telling her about the anti-violence charms and protections, she was sure that the 3 Vampires sitting in the back would have attacked her. But she would worry about what happens later when she sings for the Host, and Kendra was glad that nobody she knew was there because she didn't think she could sing very well. Paging through the list of songs, her eyes landed on one particular title, since it was the theme song from the James Bond movie Mister Zabuto rented Friday evening.

Handing the Host her song choice, and his pleased smile helped settle her nerves a bit more. The music started playing, and Kendra closed her eyes, she knew the song by heart and started singing. If she had opened her eyes, she would have seen the look of surprise on several of the demons, and the impressed smiles as the sweet contralto came pouring out.


"Nobody does it better
Makes me feel sad for the rest
Nobody does it half as good as you
Baby, you're the best

I wasn't lookin' but somehow you found me
I tried to hide from your love light
But like heaven above me
The spy who loved me
Is keepin' all my secrets safe tonight

And nobody does it better
Though sometimes I wish someone could
Nobody does it quite the way you do
Why'd you have to be so good?"

She continued singing to the end and put the microphone down before opening her eyes, stepping back in shock at the wave of applause that hit her, even the vampires and the deadly demons were applauding her. It wasn't visible under her dark skin, but she could feel herself blushing. But then the Host came hurrying to her and took her by the hand, leading her to a private booth, where she was surprised to see a tall cool glass of Peanut Punch sitting in front of her. She had no idea how he knew that it was her favorite drink, but only got it as a special treat. She took a sip and hummed contentedly, it tasted perfect!

"I'm glad you are enjoying your drink little Miss Songbird, and I'm happy to tell you that you will be enjoying your Punch for a good long time now. I'm not certain what happened, because the Fates don't appreciate mortals interfering with their role. But, however it happened, until Friday night, you were headed to a very nasty destiny, but whatever happened that night, you have a much brighter future. You are still bound for Boca del Infierno, but you won't stay there long, because someone will need your help and you will go with them to help the helpless. And no, I don't know what that means either, but it's there in your path. Now I stay open until dawn, and you are welcome to relax, even take a quick nap, I'll make sure you aren't disturbed. And if you feel like singing us another song, I'm sure nobody will object. And your Punches are on the house, I know that the person that sent you didn't think about spending money. If you do fall asleep, I'll make sure you get up in time to catch the bus to Sunnydale."

Kendra wanted to ask him how he knew so much about her, and to stay awake, the Host might not mean her any harm, but not everybody feels the same way, and it would be a bad idea to fall asleep with all these demons around. She honestly tried to stay awake, but the next thing she knew, the Host was standing by her, saying "Morning Miss Songbird, the sun is up and the buses to Sunnydale and Carpenteria will be leaving in about an hour."

Sitting up, she saw that she'd been using her backpack as a pillow, but she'd been lying on a very comfortable couch. Standing, she stretched, mildly surprised that she wasn't stiff at all. It was then she noticed that the Host was holding a cup of the blessed bean out to her. She took it with a smiled thanks, taking a deep sniff and enjoying the smell before taking a sip. Lowering the cup, she said, "Thank you, you've been amazingly kind to me, and I appreciate it. But how did you know what my favorite drink was? I don't think anybody who wasn't from Jamaica had even heard of Peanut Punch, but you managed to make it perfectly, just like you did with the Blue Mountain Coffee, so how?"

The Host grinned at her, "Oh there's no big mystery, Songbird, when you sang for me, I got flashes of information along with the look at your paths. And the Punch? I take my name and my work very seriously, and if somebody asks me for a drink I don't know how to make, I make sure I know for the next time. And the Peanut Punch is something that a clan of Bracken Demons, completely harmless unless you are a feral cat or dog, but they spend a lot of time in Jamaica and taught me how to make it. But you are quite welcome, and you're more than welcome to come back anytime. Now, let's get you on the road to Sunnydale."

Still holding the disposable cup, she adjusted her backpack, making sure everything, especially her passport and billfold, and with a quick hug, she hurried toward the Greyhound terminal, arriving in plenty of time to buy her ticket and board the bus, looking around curiously, since it was too dark when she arrived to see much.

Soon enough, the driver was pulling out, and she relaxed, she had a couple of hours' ride ahead of her.

TCOS & TCOS & TCOS
#
The Westin Hotel, Times Square
Private Work Area
New York City
Tuesday, November 4th, 1997
9:00 AM

Charles tapped his fingers on the table, waiting for the clock to show 9 o'clock, so the person he needed would be at his desk in Memphis. He really would prefer not to use the man, the firm he works for is almost as bad as Wolfram and Hart, only their evil is strictly of the human variety. Finally, the number on the clock clicked over, and he picked up his phone. Dialing the number from memory the phone was picked up on the second ring.

"Devasher." The gruff voice, too many years of whiskey and cigars, came clearly through the line.

"Yes, this is Charles Chase, I need a relatively discrete, but very deep background investigation. The subject is Margaret Chase, and before you ask, yes she is my wife, and is well aware of the investigation. It was partly her suggestion because she is aware of how things truly are, and had known for years, but kept the knowledge hidden. I need to know if she is hiding anything else. What other information do you need to get started?"

After giving the man the requested information and agreeing on the price, Charles transferred half of the fee to the correct account, and hung up the line, feeling the need for a very hot shower to scrub the slime off his body from dealing with the man.

Unfortunately, the number of investigators who are aware of what happens after dark is very low, and the man is one of the few who doesn't do business with the fangs, or even worse things, so he just dealt with the situation by taking a lot of showers. It's not like his hands are exactly clean, none of theirs are, but he had no regrets, if he could figure out a way to feed that whole damned 'Watcher's Council' to vampires and leave them in the sun, he'd do it in a heartbeat!

At least, from what Rom was saying, the watcher to the current slayer may not be the waste of flesh Heather's watcher was, this Mister Giles asked their help to keep his slayer alive. That will give the man a chance to prove himself, and maybe live to a ripe old age. But whatever will happen to the man, it won't be until Wilkins is taken care of. That's easy enough to say, but somehow he doubted it would be quite as easy to accomplish. And at that, it will still be easier than facing Cordelia and Tony and Jessica's boy. Sure he's proud of his daughter doing what she can to help, but he doesn't want to be standing at an open grave saying goodbye to his only child. One thing Cordelia and her friends will need to understand is how important security is, no matter how safe they feel, otherwise, they may discover that death isn't the worst thing that can happen to them. He would also need to find out what kind of training they've been getting and figure out a way to disguise what they are doing. Well, they can thrash that out when they are face to face, but damn it's going to be good to have Tony and Jessica back in the game, they were two of the better planners of the Misfits. He, Rom, and Paul were far too much like Heather, leaping in, swords and stakes hitting targets, and sorting out the bodies later.

Shaking his head, he put his work area back in its normal setup, and his 'tells' in the correct places, before locking up. He needed to get back to their rooms so he could finish packing and get to the airport. He wasn't looking forward to landing at O'Hare, and the traffic in Chicago is brutal at the best of times. Sadly, he does have to show his face at the headquarters a couple of times a year, and it's better to get it taken care of before winter sets in.
#
Sunnydale High School
Library
Tuesday, November 4th, 1997
11:00 AM

Kendra shifted her backpack so it wouldn't fall off, and walked through the Front Door of the High School, trying to stay out of the way of the mass of students while looking for a sign to the Library. She wasn't able to find anything and was about to ask for help, when a tall, good-looking boy walked over to her, a smile on his face, and his hand held by a very beautiful girl, who was smiling in a friendly way. The boy's smile was just as friendly, and the other girls that were with them seemed willing to be friendly too, so she said, "Can you tell me how to get to the Library, please? I need to speak to Mister Giles, it's very important."

The boy's smile got even wider, "We can do better than that, we are actually heading to the Library to get started on some homework, so if you want to come with us, we'll help you beard the fearsome librarian in his native habitat."

Kendra stared at him in confusion, but the other girl just reached out and took her hand, "Don't worry about the Doofus, he's mostly harmless and I've almost got him house trained, but we can't do anything about his sense of humor."

Before she could say anything, Kendra was surrounded by this friendly group as they led her down the corridor and around a corner to the double doors marked 'Library'. Going through the doors, there was a distinguished-looking gentleman at the counter, talking to another woman, who seemed to be flirting with him, and he was flirting back, at least, until the young man, Doofus? Very strange name, but he cleared his throat and said, "You can flirt with Miss C on your own time, Giles, this young lady was looking for you, saying she needs to speak to you about something important.

Mr Giles looked sharply at the young man and nodded, "Thank you and the others for bringing her to see me, and if you need any of the books for your homework you know how the system works." Mr. Giles then lifted the gate and gestured for her to follow him, and she walked through the opening, shivering slightly like she touched an electrical wire, but then he was opening his office door and offering her a seat, before closing the door behind them. With a warm smile, he said "Well now, young lady who I don't know yet, how can I help you?"

Kendra licked her suddenly dry lips and said, "I was told that I needed to speak to you by Mister Zabuto, who said that the two of you knew each other?"

His smile turned into a grin, and he no longer looked like a distinguished Watcher, now he looked like a schoolboy about to set off a prank. He nodded, "Sam and I have known each other, off and on, for about 17 or 18 years, we were in the same class at the Watcher's Academy, and both of us were very unhappy to be there, so we expressed our unhappiness in ways that I won't tell you, I don't want to tell tales when your Watcher isn't here to defend himself

Kendra relaxed a bit more, she was almost certain he was who he claimed to be, but there was one more question, "Was one of those ways the night that got you the nickname 'Ripper'? Mister Zabuto couldn't stop laughing when he was telling the story, but what was the beer you were drinking, I want to make sure I avoid it when I'm old enough." She did her best to hide her grin, but it was a funny story the way Mister Zabuto told it.

"Yes, well, I made the mistake of drinking an American beer that was called Michelob, and well, Mister Zabuto and I as well as the other two trainee Watchers were regretting it the next morning. Now, I feel certain that I've proven I'm who I say I am, but who are you?"

"I am Kendra, the Vampire Slayer! She said, climbing to her feet, curious about the surprised look on the Watcher's face.

"So, it was long enough to activate the next slayer," he said with a frown, before he said, "Well, apparently the Council didn't think it necessary to tell your Watcher that Buffy Summers, the current slayer, was drained almost dry, and then dropped itno a pool of water and left to drown. Xander, the young man who brought you here, pulled her out of the water, and got her breathing again with CPR. It's odd that Sam wasn't told of her recovery, but that's for another day. You had something to tell me?"

She nodded, "Yes, Mister Giles, a seer had a vision last week that an evil demon would arise from the Hellmouth and devour the world. The demon she saw was called Acathla and it is currently trapped underground. And that's all the information we could discover. Mister Zabuto decided this information was too urgent to trust sending a letter, and since he was under the impression your Slayer had died, he directed me to follow your directions and report anything I discover to you."

He leaned forward in the chair, nodding, "That matches some information we received a few days ago, but knowing it was trapped underground is helpful. Now, did Mr Zabuto make any arrangements for how you were to live, or where you were to stay while you were here?" He must have noticed Kendra's surprise, because he muttered something that sounded like 'of course not!' before saying "I've got an idea about where you can comfortably stay, but I have to confirm that it's available."

"That would be very nice, Mister Giles, thank you."

"It's not a problem, you don't have to worry about that, it's a Watcher's duty to see to their slayer's health and wellbeing. And, since they are here, would you like to meet Buffy and her support team? I know you've probably been taught that the slayer works alone, always, right? Well, we've found out that having support has kept Buffy alive multiple times, more than just the incident where Xander revived her."

Kendra had to admit she was curious about meeting another slayer, and her friends seemed like enjoyable people to associate with, so she nodded, following him out of the office.
#
Rory Harris' House
Outside Sunnydale City Limits
The Junkyard
Wednesday, November 5th, 1997
After School

Rory had looked at them strangely when they piled out of Cordy's car and then pulled the cloth-wrapped rifles from the trunk. He watched while Xander was giving Buffy and Willow safety lessons on how to handle the rifle, and letting each of them practice the grip and how to sight on the target, then he showed them how to break down the weapon, and how to be absolutely certain that there are no cartridges left in the weapon. Once Rory was satisfied that the new girls knew weapons safety he went back to his workbench. While Xander was teaching Buffy and Willow, Tara and Cordy were doing the same with the rest of the guns. Since there were only the two who were novices at using a firearm, they let both of them try each of the rifles to find the best fit, and she practiced dry firing until she could squeeze the trigger properly. Once Xander was satisfied, the five of them put the weapons down and set up targets at different ranges, choosing targets that were roughly man-shaped so Buffy could adapt to the idea of shooting something that looked human.

They spent a couple of hours until Xander, Cordy, and Tara were all proficient at the older weapons than they were used to. Surprisingly, it only took a few tries before Buffy was hitting the target right where she was aiming every time. Xander kidded her that Slayer had another new toy, which got a laugh from Buffy, but she didn't disagree. While they were there, and still had plenty of daylight, the four of them improvised swords and Buffy showed them the basics of using a blade.

They were taking a break and Cordy said, "So how did your mom react to being asked to give Kendra a place to stay, Buffy?"

Buffy chuckled, "How do you think? She went instant 'mom' on the poor girl, and when she found out that her parents gave her up when she was very young, she broke out the hot chocolate, with the little marshmallows, so you know it got real. When Will and I headed up to bed, Mom had Kendra on her lap while she cried, but she seemed a lot more relaxed this morning when we took her to the library to make arrangements for her to attend classes with the rest of us."

Xander smiled softly, this Kendra wouldn't die at the claws of Drusilla, and she wasn't going to die at all if he could help it. He shared a quick look with Cordy and could tell she was thinking the same thing. Turning to Buffy, he said, "I'm glad that your mom was able to help, my parents would do their best to help, but they are still adjusting to being sober again. Not that I can blame them, once they broke down and told me about my older sister, I think Cordy and Tara would have been happy to join me in a bottle of rotgut!"

Buffy and Willow looked confused, and he realized they hadn't been told about his sister Heather, so he started talking, "You know about their friend Heather, well my parents had a daughter in February '80, and they named her Heather. Mom told me that the two of them loved her to pieces, just as much as they loved me when I arrived the next January. Apparently things were going fine until early '83, when Heather disappeared from our backyard..."

All of them had tears rolling down their cheeks, and Xander found himself being hugged by Willow and Buffy as they cried. Eventually, they got a hold of themselves and wiped their eyes. Xander tried to chuckle, but it didn't quite come out, "So now you know what drove my parents into the bottle, but now that we have it in the open, they are getting help with the drinking, and dad told Cordy that he wouldn't be foolish enough to turn down the help 'Chuck' offered this time."

There really wasn't much they could say to that, and it was getting close to the time for Buffy and Willow to get home, so they broke down the weapons and wrapped them, storing them back in the trunk and they headed toward the High School to bring Giles up to speed, and to get Kendra for the trip back to Revello Drive.

#
Time Corps Headquarters
Boondock
Time Immaterial

Elizabeth Andrew Jackson Libby Long, generally known as Libby, looked up from the monitor in front of her and scanned the room. Seeing the person she was looking for, she gestured and Deety made her way over, a curious expression on her face.

"What's going on, Libby? I thought you were monitoring the trio's timeline to see if any of the changes are rippling out yet."

Libby nodded, "That's what I was doing, and a couple of minor changes have flowed to the connected universes, but then an anomaly caught my attention, there was a Time Corps Team in the area at least twice, and years before the timeline drew our attention, the first was in 1983, and the second was sometime in 1978, but when I tried to access the files of the mission, I was told that they were sealed by orders of the Senior, and it was dated Gregorian 3342, next year! So even if we asked Lazarus about it, he probably doesn't know either."

Deety frowned thoughtfully, "Something about those dates.." Her eyes widened, "Oh crap! If I'm right about those dates, we can't say anything until the records are unsealed, otherwise it could a massive paradox and we don't want to chance it."

Libby had paled as she put the pieces together, "Agreed, but I'm looking forward to hearing Lazarus' explanation, aren't you?"

The other woman grinned wryly, "When have you ever known Lazarus to give a straight answer if he didn't want to?"

Libby laughed, "Good Point. But we should probably talk to Hamadryad about masking these memories so we don't accidentally refer to them at the wrong time.

"True, shut down your terminal,, you can pick up your work when we get back."
#
Sunnydale High School
Library
Wednesday, November 5th, 1997
5:20 PM

When they walked into the library, it was easy to see something was wrong, because Angel was there talking to Giles and Kendra, and none of them looked happy.

He and Cordy exchanged a concerned look, this hadn't happened before, so they all moved closer. The three of them at the counter looked up, and Giles said, "Good, you're here, Angel has brought information on Spike's whereabouts, and he's suddenly become a much higher priority. Go ahead Angel."

The ensouled vampire nodded, "Spike and several of his minions have taken over a warehouse behind 'the Fish Tank,' I was able to get blueprints of the building, and there is a sewer entrance in a back office. Normally that would be a problem, but they've gotten about 50 human prisoners, and from what Willie has picked up, Spike is preparing a ritual for Sunday night that will give him the strength, speed and durability of the two slayers he'd killed. He has been muttering about having the power to really hurt all of you, and the prisoners are being used for the sacrifices."

With a sharp nod, Xander said, "Okay, that just moves things up a bit. Giles, are any of your acquaintances who can make the special ammo in the area, and do you think they would be able to have about 100 of the cartridges ready by around noon on Saturday? That will give us time to practice loading the new cartridges into the rifles in a hurry."

Giles nodded, "I'll make a couple of calls this evening, but I'll need the specifications for the rifles and the size of the cartridges."

"I've got that info Giles, I checked when got them ready last night," Cordy said, writing down some numbers on a sheet of paper and handing it over to the librarian.

Looking at Willow, he said "Do you know if Sheila and Ira kept any Kosher salt in the house? If not, can you get some in the next day or so?" Willow nodded eagerly, and he smiled at her, "Cordy, Tara, and I are going to need a trip to Carpinteria Botanical Gardens, to get as much fresh water as we can carry."

Giles had been listening in approval, "I can provide the proper containers and bowls for the ritual, that is, if you are planning to prepare Holy Water?"

"That would be great, Giles, and Buffy, if you and Will can hit a Toys R' Us or something for super soakers? Just in case the ammo doesn't work properly, we'll have a back up."

He looked over at Kendra and said, "Sorry to leave you for last, Kendra, but you're going to have probably the most difficult part, learning to work and fight as part of a team, instead of on your own. To start with, and sorry if I'm stepping on anybodies toes, but if you can join Buffy and the rest of us on a patrol tonight to see how we do things, and watch our backs during any fights, it would be a help."

A quick glance at Buffy and Giles, and neither of them seemed unhappy with him, so he gave a mental sigh of relief. Buffy surprised him though, by addressing Angel, "Okay Angel, now I see what you were saying Friday night, I can believe my Xander Shaped Friend is every bit as dangerous to the baddies as you claimed." Giving Xander a grin, she added, "And I'm very glad you are my big brother!"

He was shocked silent, not sure how to react when Queen C spoke up, "Okay, can we have the group hug now so we can get moving? I'm looking forward to getting something to eat, and getting out of these sweaty clothes!"

The others laughed and were soon heading home, leaving Giles straightening up, and very glad that he chose Buffy and her friends over the Council because he did not doubt that if he moved against Buffy they would never find his body.

End Chapter Thirteen





<<<<>>>>

 

STORY TITLE: The Circle of Scooby
PART: 14 of?
AUTHOR: Red Jacobson (red.jacobson@gmail.com)
DISTRIBUTION: FanFiction.net, Archive of Our Own, Twisting the Hellmouth
DISCLAIMER: None of the Characters You Recognize belong to me, the Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel Characters belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy (Grrr! Argh!), and the Boondock characters belong to the Estate of Robert A Heinlein and his publishers.
SUMMARY: The activation of the world's slayers has caused massive destruction throughout the multiverse, and the Circle of Ouroborus is determined to prevent that from happening and recruit three natives of the critical timeline to save the multiverse!
FEEDBACK: Of course! It Makes Me Write Faster
RELATIONSHIPS: Xander/Cordelia/Tara, Buffy/Willow, Giles/Jenny
RATING: PG-13
WORD COUNT: <5,811>
SPOILERS: A Crossover with RAH's Lazarus Long Books. I'm afraid that, while I'm going to do my best to explain things, at least a passing familiarity with Time Enough For Love, The Number of the Beast, The Cat Who Walks Through Walls, and To Sail Beyond the Sunset would help you understand who these characters are. None, but if you don't know how the Buffy the Vampire Slayer story goes by now, why are you reading this story?
CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE DEPARTMENT: I'm borrowing a bit of Cordy's childhood background from my buddy IronBear's stories, specifically Rio Blanco on the Mouth of Hell, and the Hell-er-nator Stories. If you want some amazing Xander/Cordelia stories, do yourself a favor and check him out!
AUTHOR'S NOTES: I'm going to try something unusual for this story, no lemons. Frankly, they've gotten to be a bore to write, and I imagine they've become boring to read as well. Hope this goes well.
SPECIAL THANKS TO PAX HUMANA: For Beta and Typo-busting services.
CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE DEPARTMENT: The 'Ritual of Disavowal' is borrowed from Vidicon's Waifs and Strays Universe on TTH. Also, Joyce's Amazing Mom Powers are borrowed from a different Vidicon story, hope they don't mind.
CONFUSED AUTHOR’S NOTE: I have absolutely no idea where this version of Kendra came from, hopefully she’ll tell me before too much longer. All I know is she fell out of my fingers with this personality, and it’s kind of fun to see what she does next!

Sunnydale High School
Library
Thursday, November 6th, 1997
5:30 PM

Willow couldn't stop smiling, and the reason was the beautiful blonde walking beside her, her free hand clasped with Willow's, the other was carrying a canvas-wrapped bundle. Xander and Kendra were also carrying the packages as they headed toward the library. Xander had timed things very well, the halls of the High School were quiet. Xander had timed it to arrive after the last of the football players had hit the showers and headed for home.

Home, that's a word she'd never really understood, until Joyce had welcomed her into their house, and she felt like she belonged. She'd been in an incredibly cheerful mood, even without caffeine. Her mood was good enough that she could watch Xander with Cordelia, and to a lesser degree, Tara, which leads to very interesting pictures and raises questions about Queen C and how she kept control of the Cordettes. But she could imagine what the three of them were doing later that night, when Buffy could cuddle with her under the blanket and their hands could be busy as Willow described, in great detail, and, if she could find them on the web, naked pictures that resemble Xander and the two girls for visual aids.

When they reached the Library, Willow's eyes went to Giles and Jenny moving between a lot more bowls of purified water than she expected. The two of them were adding the purified salt before gesturing for Kendra to come over, since she was the closest they came to a practicing Catholic, to say the prayers that converted the water and salt to Holy Water. The others had set the packages on their research table and unwrapped them, pulling out several super-soaker water guns. Tara reached into her bag and brought some packets of herbs and a lighter out. Curious, Willow watched as Jenny left Giles and Kendra to finish up the water and went over to Tara, and the two of them started pouring something, she couldn't tell exactly what it was, in a circle around the water guns.

Before she could see anymore, she was distracted by Buffy needing her help finding a book in the upper section. Well, that was her excuse anyway, but as soon as they got to the farthest stacks, her girlfriend had her pressed against the back wall, kissing her firmly and Buffy's hands were under Willow's blouse, moving the bra away so she could touch Willow's boobs and Willow forgot all about what Jenny and Tara were doing, this was more interesting, especially when she worked her own hands down the back of Buffy's skirt and discovered that she was going commando! If her mouth was free, Willow would have been giving a naughty smirk as her hands shifted to the front of Buffy's skirt, and Willow's talented fingers were touching her girlfriend just the way she loved. They were not paying the slightest bit of attention to anything but each other, which is why they had no idea that Cordy had followed them, and when she saw them occupied, smiled widely and moved quietly back down to the main floor.

TCOS & TCOS & TCOS

Xander looked at her with a raised eyebrow, and she gave him a nod, making her husband give a sigh of relief. The three of them were determined to divert Willow's interest from anything magical, that way lies Slayer activation, something they were determined to prevent at all costs. The consequences were too severe and she and Tara had seen what happened to their world when they went to rescue Xander. They also wanted to avoid any possibility that Willow would end up addicted to magic again. And it was incredibly easy to plant the idea in Buffy's brain, all Cordy had to do, was make a comment that Buffy could hear, so she stood close to her husband and said, "Hurry up with the soakers doofus, I've got a new set of underwear on, and if you follow me up the stacks, I'll let you see it!"

If she weren't busy being 'Cordelia Chase' she would have giggled at the way his eyes focused on her, and she knew that she shouldn't tease him too much, because it would be too easy to get carried away and she didn't think Giles would appreciate Akela and Raksha making more cubs in the middle of the library. And besides, they would draw Tara in, and they still weren't sure how to break the news that the three of them were actually together. Cordy knew that neither she nor Tara would have a problem with Jenny, Kendra, Buffy, or Willow seeing either of them naked, the body modesty was a distant memory after spending all that time in Boondocks, but neither of them was comfortable enough with Giles to let him see them naked.

It was only a minute or so later that Buffy grinned and took Willow up into the stacks for some naughty Slayer time, and she and Xander started paying attention to what the two witches were doing to make the reservoir on the super-soakers glow and then seemed to get even bigger, so they could hold more of the Holy Water. Tara had looked up when Buffy took Willow away and caught Cordy's eye with a smirk.

They were almost done filling the super-soakers with the Holy Water when Buffy and Willow, both more than slightly disheveled made their way down the stairs. Giles looked up at the two of them and shook his head with an amused smile, while Jenny just grinned and leaned over to Tara to make a comment that made their wife start giggling.

The interesting reaction was Kendra's, when Buffy and Willow got closer, she sniffed a couple of times before breaking into a wide smile and if Cordy didn't know any better, she would be willing to bet that the other Slayer was looking forward to some prime teasing of Buffy and Willow. Cordy was amazed at the difference between the painfully shy and duty-bound girl from the first time around and this version of Kendra, and she wondered if just being greeted in a friendly manner, and bringing her all the way into the group, not to mention Joyce's 'super mom powers' were enough to change her personality that much? Not a question she could easily answer, and it wasn't that important in terms of the mission.

Checking the clock, it was close to 7 o'clock, fully dark so they had better chances of finding vamps and testing out their Holy Water weapons. It's too bad that Giles' friend couldn't get some of the wooden ammunition in time, but they are supposed to be delivered tomorrow night, giving them a full day to practice and get used to the feel of the gun.

Surprisingly, or maybe not, Giles and Jenny each picked up one of the super-soakers, and Giles grabbed several extra stakes. When Xander looked at him curiously, the Watcher said, "I'm curious about how the Holy Water works, and since this is the first night that Kendra will be patrolling in Sunnydale, it's expected that I, as the Watcher on site, evaluate her performance."

Cordy nodded to herself, she could see the self-satisfied blue blood bastards expecting the slayers to meet the criteria they determined, and none of them had any real idea what a Slayer, properly motivated, could accomplish. They are in for a big surprise when Buffy's 18th Birthday comes around!

TCOS & TCOS & TCOS

City Hall
Mayor Wilkins Office
Thursday, November 6th, 1997
6:30 PM

Mayor Wilkins picked up the report on the out-of-town visitors and shook his head in disappointment. He had allowed William the Bloody to set up a lair in his town because he had a reputation as a careful planner, not known for drawing attention to himself. Sadly, either the reputation was exaggerated or the loss of the Seeress Drusilla has made him more than a little insane. Normally that wouldn't bother him, but William was drawing attention to himself, especially the last few days when he started taking citizens to serve as a sacrifice to give him the powers of the two Slayers he had already killed.

What was disappointing to the Mayor was that William had been capturing prominent as well as wealthy citizens, including his Deputy Mayor, and that is not permitted, he had made quite sure that the vampire was made aware of the price to continue using his town as a base of operations. William should have realized that he was serious when the Mayor had three of the newest Childre crucified on the roofs of three different churches and made certain that William understood the message. But then he became obsessed with the Slayer and her support group, especially young Alexander and his girlfriend Cordelia, and the Wiccan girl who is hiding from her relatives, for perfectly understandable reasons. With the Wiccan, the group will have a reliable magic user on their side to ensure most, if not all, of the group survives until he devours their powers when he Ascends. The vampire can not be allowed to perform this sacrifice, the hostages can be convinced they've experienced mass hallucinations.

Contacting one of his contractor teams that are available, they had specific orders to break William's back and have him watch as all of his minions are dusted, and when they are dusted, strip William of his jacket so it can be returned to Nikki Wood's son, then strip him to the skin and pour several gallons of Holy Water over him, and time how long it takes to be eaten and dusted by the water. While they are conducting their experiment, a few members of the team can take the hostages retrieved from their cells and taken to get medical attention. And if William is typical of other Master Vampires, he should have a great deal of ready cash to cover the Hostage's medical charges, always nice to not have to dip into his private funds.

Setting the problem of William the Bloody aside, he went over the budget for the rest of the calendar year and, after quick calculations, wrote out a memo for his secretary to type and send out, letting each of the office managers know that for the holiday season, all non-exempt employees are eligible to sign up for and work up to five hours of overtime per week to have funds to ensure a cheerful family holiday. He chuckled, remembering the questions his patron had when he first provided the means for happy holidays to his employees. But when Richard was able to demonstrate that Sunnydale's population was actually growing, and people were putting down roots, and having families, they would be contributing as tax-paying citizens, and, by putting down their roots there would be plenty of young people to gather together to celebrate their student's graduation, and they will serve to feed Olvikan because he will be ravenous from the transformation.

Checking the time, he nodded, he was scheduled to address the Sunnydale Merchant's Association, to help them decide how to work together during the upcoming Holiday Season. He is determined to avoid a price war like there was in the past because they do nothing more than cause raised emotions and grudges. Sunnydale is too small a town to have prominent citizens working against each other. Inevitably it would require his intervention, and he really didn't enjoy arranging the losing party's introduction to Machida.

Clearing off his desk, he put the official files in a locked filing cabinet, while the actual work files including his contacts in different organizations like the Terrakans are hidden in a pocket of magical space that is slightly out of phase with the rest of the world, and invisible to all normal, and most magical forms of vision, possibly overkill, but he is getting closer and closer to his goals and is determined that nothing he can control goes wrong.

Sliding into his overcoat, he checks his reflection in the mirror and practices his genial, welcoming smile. Once he was satisfied, he shut out the lights and locked his office, whistling Jole Blon as he waited for the elevator.

TCOS & TCOS & TCOS

Restfield Cemetery
Thursday, November 6th, 1997
7:25 PM

Kendra really wasn't sure what to make of Buffy Summers and her friends, even after being subjected to Mrs. Summer's 'amazing Mom powers,' and she was grateful for Mrs. Summers opening a spare bedroom for her, it was pleasant to be able to relax behind the threshold of the house, which is extremely strong since all of them think of the house as 'Home', preventing any vampires from getting in, and they might even be strong enough to keep out minor demons. But that doesn't explain their behavior, it's easy to tell that Buffy and Willow are in a relationship, they haven't taken any pains to keep it hidden, and they are amusing together. But it's Xander and the other two women, even though he's officially dating Cordelia, Kendra's sense of smell is sensitive enough to smell Xander and Cordelia on each other, and both of their scents are all over Tara, and Tara's scent is mixed well with her two lovers.

Kendra was polite enough not to mention it, but if the opportunity came to ask in private, she was curious how the three of them worked. Not the sex, she was very familiar with the idea of two girls having sex, and, while she didn't mention it to anybody, she found the idea appealed to her. But including Xander with the two women was easy enough, and she did enjoy thinking about the three of them, it gave her a warm feeling all over, especially when she had the massaging shower head in hand...No! You can think about that later, Kendra told herself, focusing on her surroundings. She wasn't the only one to start paying attention, Buffy, Xander and his ladies, and Mister Giles the watcher were all holding their weapons at the ready, stakes for her and Buffy, and the water guns for all the others.

They continued following the path through the graves, to the location Willow had found of a newly buried body that had been found with blood in his mouth. A few minutes later, they arrived at the grave they wanted, and Kendra wasn't sure who this Warren Mears was, but Xander, Cordy, and Tara all clearly recognized the name, and they wore expressions that were a mixture of mild curiosity and extreme satisfaction. Setting those questions aside, Kendra concentrated on the grave and could hear the faint sounds of movement underground. Turning to Buffy, she was paying just as much attention to the grave and was aware of the sounds.

When it happened, it happened fast! The faint sounds suddenly became a lot louder, and a pair of hands broke through the sod over the grave. Waiting until the boy was partially out of the grave before Kendra's stake pierced his heart from behind. The body was falling to dust when she became aware of the vampires around them, they seemed to be led by a female who looked to be in her late teens. The female spoke, annoyance in her voice, "That really was rather rude of you, I'd taken the time to actually get to know the boy, and, while he had some extremely disgusting ideas about a woman's place, he was also a genius with a gift for planning. I'd been looking for nearly 50 years to find a potential childe that met the requirements, and you didn't even let him get all the way out of his grave. At least I made sure he didn't die a virgin, so that's something. But from the smell of you, there are at least two Slayers in your merry little band, and that means Mister Tweed is probably a Watcher, and they are known, the ones that survive anyway for their intelligence and planning skills, so, keep those three alive, have the others for dinner..."

Before the minions could move from their places, the water cannons made themselves known as jets of Holy Water sprayed all of the vampires, who immediately started screaming, and their flesh started melting, the leader screaming louder than the others, Kendra couldn't help but feel a twinge of pity, as well as to avoid anybody taking notice, Kendra slid forward at staked her, and she would have been willing to bet that she saw gratitude in the vampire's eyes as the stake slid home. Turning to the next one, all of the vampires had fallen to ash at the end of several different stakes.

Buffy shook her head, looking slightly ill, saying 'Okay, it's good to know it works, but, save it for Spike or another of the big bad, I'm well aware that these were demons and killers, but that was too close to torture for me to want to subject anyone or anything to the experience"

Kendra looked around, and while Willow, Mister Giles, and Miss Calendar were looking sick, but Xander and his ladies kept their faces carefully impassive, not agreeing with Buffy, but not disagreeing, to avoid any chance of argument, all of them were keyed up on Adrenalin and one of the first things Mister Zabuto taught her was to center herself, and when she was calm, respond to the people around her. It worked quite well, she was willing to listen to her Watcher as he critiqued her actions without reacting negatively. That could be something she taught the others, in case there are serious disagreements in the future.

Buffy looked over at Willow, and said, "Was Warren the only one for tonight, babe?"

Willow nodded, "Yes, he was the only one for today, I'll check around later to see if there are any scheduled for tomorrow or Saturday, if that's okay?"

"That would be fine, and I don't know about the rest of you, but I could really use some overpriced soda and miserable live music for a while, anybody else up for the Bronze?"

Other than Mister Giles and Miss Calendar, all of the rest were in agreement. Stowing the water guns in the boot of Cordy's and Mister Giles' cars, they headed closer to the edge of town where the club was standing.

TCOS & TCOS & TCOS

Harris Residence
Thursday, June 6th, 1997
7:30 pm

The dinner dishes were soaking in the sink, the pans and counter were already cleaned, and Tony and Jessica Harris were feeling nicely full after a busy day. The two of them had spent several hours going through each of the rooms in the house for stashed liquor bottles. Neither of them could remember hiding anything, but fortunately, the drunken memories have mostly faded, other than the awareness of spending a lot of time drunk. They hadn't found anything, other than Alexander's porn collection hidden under his mattress, which they found more amusing than anything else, and now they were climbing up into the attic.

There were no hidden bottles that they could find, but Jessica had frozen, staring at a cardboard box on the floor, with the word 'pictures' printed innocently on the top. "Tony? Can you come here for a second?"

Her husband was there immediately, and was about to ask what was wrong, when he saw the box and went pale, realizing what the box contained. Reaching out, he took Jess' hand reassuringly before taking a deep breath and releasing it, forcing himself to speak. "We've both gone through enough therapy that we can think about her without reaching for a bottle. If you feel ready to see pictures of her, I'll be right beside you, supporting you as we go through the box. And if nothing else, don't you think that Alexander deserves to see pictures of his big sister?"

Jess stood there silently, her eyes closed and her free hand clenching into a fist, before turning her head, "I hate it when you make sense, I just prefer to have a way we could contact Mama Maureen or Tamara, in case we need their help. But, it is what it is, and we have to deal with it. So yes, grab the box and put it on the coffee table, we can go through them together."

A few minutes later, cups of coffee were on the table in front of them, Tony sliced through the tape holding the box closed, and opened the flaps. Reaching into the box, he lifted out the photo album that was at the top and sat back on the couch, his arm around Jess' shoulders pulling her close. Putting the album over their laps, Jess steeled herself and flipped open the book, and gave a sigh of relief, the picture was of the two of them on their wedding day, and, while their baby girl was in the picture, she wasn't grown enough to be noticeable. With a slight grin at Jess, Tony flipped the page and the two of them were standing in the front yard of their house, holding up the 'Sold' sign. Heather was just starting to be visible under the loose top that Jess was wearing.

His hand started trembling, because he was almost certain what the next picture would show, and, flipping the page, he was right! It was a shot of him and Jess in the Maternity Ward at Sunnydale Memorial, Jess looked exhausted from the ordeal, her hair flattened with sweat and she never looked more beautiful to Tony than she did at that moment. Hearing a choked sob, he held Jess closer, and, almost against his will, his eyes moved to the bundle wrapped in a pink blanket that Jess held in her arms.

Tony couldn't help it, seeing his baby girl again, and cursing the universe that she was taken from them so soon, the tears flowed down his cheeks, and from the shaking and the sobs from Jessica, she was having the same problems. Getting his voice under control, he softly said, "Remember what Mama Maureen told us, to remember the good times, the happy moments, rejoice that we had Heather in our lives for as long as we did. Remember when she was first starting to walk? How she kept trying to push through a closed door, until she started hitting the door to get us to open it. Of course, it was usually the bathroom when we were otherwise occupied that she wanted to get the door open, of course."

Jess gave a rough chuckle, "Or the times we put her down for a nap and thought we could have some alone time, and we were in the middle of making Alexander when she climbed out of the crib, and I still don't know how she managed that without breaking her neck, but she did it, and we were so close when the hitting on the door started. At least we started getting a trustworthy sitter for the times we were going out for a few hours." It was her turn to laugh, "The clerk at the Sunnydale Motor Inn must have thought we were having an affair or something, because it was almost always in the middle of the afternoon that we'd get the room for a couple of hours and then leave, feeling much better."

Tony grinned, remembering those days, before the smile dropped, "Are you ready to look at another picture?"

Jess nodded firmly, "Yes, I just have to follow Mama Maureen's instructions, go ahead and turn the page."

The two of them slowly worked their way through the pictures, managing to smile at the memories, until Jess paused, a frown of concentration on her face. Tony looked at the picture, to see what had caught her attention. It was a picture of Heather splashing in the kiddie pool we had gotten for her, but there was nothing unusual that he could see. Before he could ask, Jess reached out with her hand, tapping her finger on Heather in the picture, and Tony noticed what had caught her attention. Heather had a birthmark on her back that looked almost like a lightning bolt, and until he had seen the picture, he had totally forgotten about it!

Jess looked over and caught his eyes, "You'd forgotten the birthmark too, hadn't you?"

"Yeah, until I saw the picture, but why the hell would we forget something like that about Heather? It doesn't make a damn bit of sense! Well, we aren't going to get any answers from each other. Let's see if the pictures bring back any other memories, okay?"

They made it through the rest of the album, and the next album in the pile without any other memories making themselves known. Tony wasn't going to say anything to Jess, but he had a strong suspicion that the City Hall monstrosity was involved somehow, but he hoped not, knowing what sort of things a black sorcerer would do with an innocent baby girl.

TCOS & TCOS & TCOS

The Bronze
Thursday, November 6th, 1997
8:35 pm

The club was busier than usual for a school night, but the sign-out front advertised live music, which would draw a larger crowd. Xander and Cordy smirked at the name of the band, 'Dingoes Ate My Baby' and Xander wondered if Oz was a werewolf yet. Or if he could avoid that fate? They discovered that Oz was a were sometime after Buffy turned 17, and that was a few months away yet, so they could probably befriend him before his baby cousin bites him.

They paid the cover charge to get in and were walking around the edge of the dance floor when Kendra suddenly stopped, staring at the stage. Xander turned to look at who or what had caught Kendra's attention. He was honestly surprised to see that she was fascinated by Oz. Which, if it turns into anything, would help keep him not furry, and his intelligence would be a huge help in researching whatever takes the place of Angelus and the Mayor as the year's "Big Bad"

Buffy had noticed as well and was close enough to give her a nudge. Kendra gave a start before shaking her head and continued walking. Taking two booths that were next to each other, Buffy and Willow took one, while Xander and the two girls took the other, inviting Kendra to sit with them. She took a seat but continued focusing on Oz, barely registering when Xander asked her what she wanted to drink. She managed to ask for a Sprite, not wanting the caffeine to make her jittery. After Xander left to get their drinks, Tara went with him to help carry after getting Buffy and Willow's order. When they were alone in the booth, Cordy slid closer and said, loud enough for Kendra to hear, but not be heard outside the booth.

"His name is Daniel Osbourne, but everybody calls him Oz, he's currently a senior at the high school, and as far as I'm aware, isn't dating anyone. Do you want me to introduce you?"

Kendra froze a deer-in-the-headlights expression on her face, before shaking her head quickly. Cordy just shrugged, hiding a smile at her new friend's crush on Oz. Fortunately, Oz was a decent guy, not flaky like most musicians she'd met. Xander and Tara had just brought their drinks when the lead singer of the band announced they were taking a short break. The stage lights dimmed and a light came up over the DJ booth, and the DJ started playing 'Tubthumping' by Chumbawumba, when to Xander and the other's surprise, Kendra started singing along, and they were stunned at her voice. And to be honest, Xander was flabbergasted to find out Kendra had even heard the song, let alone knew it well enough to sing along.

She kept singing with the next two songs, the Men In Black theme, and then "Together Again" by Janet Jackson. Lifting her glass, Kendra realized that she was out of soda, checking the others, and none of them needed a refill so she slipped out of the booth. Still singing along, she felt the need to visit the Ladies first, and coming out of the bathroom, she was lost in the music, the DJ had changed up and was playing 'Closer to the Heart' by Rush, and she was singing as she pulled open the door, and walked right into a boy walking passed the door.

Looking at who she had run into, it was the guitarist, 'Oz' Cordy said, and she forced her mouth to make words form and apologized for not paying attention.

Oz just quirked a grin and said "It happens to me too sometimes, when I'm letting the music carry me away. But if you keep singing, I'll be happy to accept your apology. My name is Oz, what's yours?"

For a long moment she froze, she couldn't think of her name before it suddenly popped into her head. "Kendra! My name is Kendra, nice to meet you, Oz."

Noticing the soda glass in her hand, Oz said, "I need to grab some water from the bar, want to come with?"

She hoped that it was dark enough that he couldn't see her cheeks heating up, but managed to smile at him and say, "That would be great, thanks.":

There was a bit of line at the bar, and the two of them kept talking, Oz seemed very interested that Kendra was attending Sunnydale High School, but they needed to test her to see what grade she would be in.

By the time they reached the bar, the lights were starting to go up on the stage, and Oz swore under his breath, before saying, "Do you know the words to How Do I Live? The LeAnn Rimes version?" At her nod, he said, "We're going to play that a couple of songs in, if I called you on stage, would you be able to sing the song?"

Her smile was almost blinding, and she nodded, grabbing her glass of soda. Oz smiled back, and said, "Okay, I'll be calling for you in a couple of songs, I love the way you sing, and I'm sure everybody else will too."

Oz turned and worked his way hurriedly to the stage, arriving just in time to strap on his guitar and talk to Devon, the lead singer, and he looked toward where Kendra was walking, with interest on his face.

Turning back to the band, he gave them the count, and they started playing a raucous version of Walking on the Sun, Devon and Oz both started grinning at the way she was dancing, singing her heart out.

Going into 'Angie' by the Rolling Stones, they finished and Oz moved to the microphone, "You're in for a treat tonight folks, I'm going to bring a young lady I just met tonight, and you have to hear her voice to believe it. So, Kendra, would you come up here?"

There was scattered applause and shocked looks on Xander and the others before he started smiling and clapping just as loudly, joined by the others in the booth.

A path was made to the stage, and Kendra started moving faster, her eyes judging the height of the stage and distance from her, a smile forming on her face. Just as she was approaching the barrier in front of the stage, she leaped in the air and landed on her hands, before springing up and landing on the stage on her feet. The applause was tremendous, and Oz picked up the microphone again, "I told you you were in for a treat, was I lying?"

Guiding her to the front center of the stage, Oz picked up his guitar and started to play. When the song started, Kendra closed her eyes and moved to the music, before starting to sing.

It was five songs later that she was finally able to leave the stage, and that was just because it was time to leave to make curfew. She and Oz made eye contact when she said she would see them at school in the morning.

Oz stood there watching as she walked away, and knew he wanted to see much more of the angel with the amazing voice!

End Chapter Fourteen



<<<<>>>>