Bennie was sitting at her desk in the living room, reading over some books in the dim lighting afforded by a black desk lamp. Her curly brown hair was pulled back from her face in a loose ponytail, leaving strands floating around her face. The large windows were open, letting a cool breeze waft through the house, but it was still warm enough that the 27-year-old Watcher was comfortable in her long T-shirt.

She turned a page in the ancient book, and upstairs she heard her oldest turn over in his bed. She paused for a moment, then satisfied that her 3-year-old son was still sound asleep, she leaned back in her chair and massaged her eyes. It was nearly 3 a.m. and the girls still weren't home.

Bennie spent many nights up late, reading prophecies, or cleaning the house or just sitting at the bay window, waiting for the two Slayers who were like daughters to her to come home, safe and sound, for one more night.

When Bennie had been notified by the Watcher's Council that the previous Slayer, a girl from Sweden, had died during an outbreak of demons, she had feared for her girl Abigail. For four years, Slayer after Slayer had gone to their graves at an alarming rate. Kendra, Faith, Myna, Sarah, Molly, Raisha and then Gretchen had died in the line of duty, each a gruesome death that left their Watchers reeling.

In fact, ever since Buffy Summers had 'died' that warm summer night in Sunnydale, Calif., the Slayers' luck had been going steadily down hill. It had seemed as if they just weren't as good as they had been, as they had to be. But then, Summers was contestably the best Slayer that ever lived.

It had appeared, during the first two months, that Abbey wouldn't survive very long either. The girl had the potential, but her preliminary training hadn't been completed when she was activated and she was left running to catch up in a dangerous game. She simply didn't have the skill. And Abbey would have died long ago, if it hadn't been for a strange, blond girl who arrived in town in the middle of winter.

For the first month or so, the stranger had come and gone with the wind, only there when Abbey was in mortal danger. But eventually they had broken down her walls of isolation, and over a lengthy discussion, she had finally revealed who she was. Buffy Summers was back in business and she was as deadly as ever.

The Slayer and the former Chosen One had bonded over their once shared fate and had become fast friends. Abbey, an orphan since the age of six, already lived with Bennie, and after a few months, Buffy moved into the old farm house as well, under the pretense of being there solely to protect Bennie's children, but Bennie had a feeling that the half-vampire was really, incredibly lonely.

And so the three young women had formed a weird kind of family over the last year, though you could find weirder. Bennie dropped Abbey and Micheal, her son, off at their respective schools on her way to work at her art studio. Buffy left the baby, Rilla, off at the baby sitters for a few hours in the morning, then picked both her and Mikey up in the afternoon. Abbey and Buffy would get home at 3:00 and the two teenagers (oh, all right, one teenager and one 21 year old, walking dead, half vampire, sarcastic former Slayer) would spend a couple hours practicing various forms of combat, or in other words, they would hold a session of 'Who can think up the most interesting way of killing a vampire?'

Then a whirl wind dinner and maybe an hour or two of free time, depending if it were summer of not, then they were out on patrol and unless the enemy of the day was a demon planning on taking over the world, Bennie would stay home to put the children to sleep and keep up on her reading.

It was a strange arrangement and definitely out of the ordinary, but they were all happy with the life they had carved out of what had traditionally been a nightmare. But every once in a while, when she thought no one was looking, Buffy's smile would fade and her mask would slip away and a look of sad, incredible longing would come over her face. She didn't know the details, but Bennie did know, like all the other Watchers, the tragic tale of the young American Slayer and her dark Angel. They had fallen in love, against all odds, against all reason. When the Anointed One had changed Buffy, she had faked her death to everyone but Rupert Giles, her Watcher and left town with her vampire lover.

The thing that stumped the current Watcher was that Buffy was no longer with Angel. From the little tid bits they had learned about her life after Sunnydale, Bennie and Abbey gathered that she had been on her own for at least four or five years. Still, whether Angel was dead or he whether he had left her or she had left him, whatever the reason, it was her business and no one else's. They loved Buffy like family and were willing to wait for as long as it took, until she was ready to tell them.

Suddenly the door opened, pulling Bennie out of her reverie. Buffy and Abbey tiptoed in quietly, trying not to laugh loud enough to wake the small sleeping people upstairs. Bennie sighed inwardly with relief and made her way to the hall. For at least one more night, her girls would live to enjoy another precious day.

Buffy lay on her bed, staring off into the darkness. She couldn't sleep again, he wouldn't let her rest. Angel haunted her, was on the edges of her mind every second of every day. Sometimes she could push him far enough away and she could get a few precious hours of sleep, but sometimes, like tonight, when the memories of her time with him so clear that she could smell his body and hear his voice and feel his lips pressed tenderly against her eyes, her face, her neck. . .

Oh, God, she missed him so much. If only she could find him, if only she were free to spend all her time looking for him. Buffy had foolishly thought that Angel would stay in Rome forever, just waiting for her to come back and pick him up again like an old, tattered stuffed animal that you keep in the back of your closet until you need something to squeeze while you cry. But he hadn't waited for her and he was right. She had looked for him about a year ago, but had been unable to find him. She had entertained the thought of searching out the vampires that had helped him save her, but then she realized that if Angel was gone, they were probably gone as well.

So Buffy had left and gone to where she was needed. She had been aware of the troubles the Slayers were having and she had been growing increasingly alarmed. She traveled to Ontario, Canada and had spent a few days searching for the current Slayer. She hadn't expected to become friends with her, much less move in and become a part of their odd ball family, but she wasn't as good at the Cryptic Guy act as Angel had been.

Angel. Did every train of thought have to lead back to him? Yes, of course it did. She was in love with him, there was no way around that. He was her soul mate, her other half, the thing that made her whole. He was her heart.

Buffy turned restlessly in her sleep. She wondered if he was thinking about her, if thoughts of her turning over in his head kept him awake until he thought he would go crazy not being able to touch her. She wondered if he was longing for her right now.