Disclaimer: Still not mine. I keep hoping.

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"Bloody Americans. Child has a few bad, possibly prophetic dreams and the parents commit her! Why not call a priest, or, or, a shaman like a normal...and to take the girl to Sunnydale! Of all places!" Rupert Giles sputtered to himself as he left the Sunnydale Motor Lodge and stepped into the waiting taxi.

"Where to, guv'nor?" the greasy driver asked in a painfully bad cockney accent, grinning at his self-apparent witticism. Giles sighed. Since hearing his accent the driver had been gleefully resurrecting every cliche about the English he could, most of which appeared to Giles to have likely been gleaned from repeated viewings of My Fair Lady or Mary Poppins. Either way, it had become more than tiresome, but finding another taxi would waste precious time. Time Giles now knew he didn't have to lose. Curtly he gave the driver the address the Summers girl's parents had just given them, and the driver eyed him speculatively through the rear view mirror. "I get it now. You're worried about your kid."

"I beg your pardon?" the young Watcher said, frowning.

"Mister, I know that place. My nephew's going there. Kid keeps having nightmares, it's driving my sis to distraction...so, what's yours? Boy? Girl?"

"Girl," Giles answered absently, then started, flushing. "But she's not...rather, I'm not h-her..." The driver, still quick to leap to conclusions, saved Giles from having to come up with a lie.

"She's with her mom now? Divorce, right? Lotsa kids there have parents divorced, or, you know, missing. Deadbeats. Makes `em nuts, I guess."

"Indeed," Giles replied, feeling an ever-increasing sense of foreboding. It was possible, upon further reflection, that it was no accident of fate that Buffy Summers had been dispatched to this particular clinic. And if that was the case...

"Hope it works out okay for you, with your girl," the cabbie said sympathetically, and Giles leaned back against the vinyl seat, feeling the weight of his new responsibility like a stone on his heart. He prayed that the girl was alright, that he would be up to the task ahead of him, and all the passion of that prayer seeped quietly into his clipped response.

"As do I."

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Nellie was afraid, and it was making the Master feel more than a little irritable. He'd been around more than long enough to know that when a minion was hiding something from him. It was especially annoying when they tried to act like nothing was wrong, as the doctor was now.

"Tell me," the Master said softly, and Nellie started guiltily. He knew she would have blushed if she could.

"Everything is almost at the ready. We've convinced all of the parents that the children must stay overnight. This will give us ample time to prepare for the ritual." The master vampire noticed she was not quite meeting his gaze, and his eyes closed to angry slits, though his voice remained perfectly nonchalant.

"Wonderful The portents of my rising will begin soon. They will only increase their fear."

"Yes, my lord," Nellie said, believing him satisfied with her report and relaxing a bit. The Master took a moment, then pressed forward, his tone still light.

"And the new girl, the one whose dreams disturb you so...I trust you've taken care of her, then?"

"I...there was a slight ch-change in plans," Nellie stammered, shifting nervously. "One of my minions apparently decided he wanted her all to himself. Probably as a snack..."

"You seem unsure, Nellie. This troubles me. This girl...troubles me. Nothing can go wrong, not when we're so close."

"It's being handled. We know where he's taken her and we're close to apprehending him now. If Angel hasn't-"

"Wait!" the Master interrupted, a strange expression on his face. He seemed suddenly more alert, and if Nellie hadn't known better, she would have said maybe even fearful. "Did you say-"

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"Angel! What do we do?" Buffy asked frantically. Three sets of saucer-like eyes were once again fixed on the vampire. This was getting really old, Angel decided. In the near-century he'd had his soul, he'd barely been taking care of himself, let alone anyone else. But now there were three children counting on him to get them out of one impossible mess after another. He scanned the room desperately but found no escape. He briefly thought about shoving them back in the wastebasket, but the way their hearts were hammering, he knew it would only buy him a minute, two at the most. Staring at the boarded up windows, he knew there was only one answer.

"Get ready," he said softly, moving over to the boards. "I'll only have a few seconds to boost you up before..."

"Before you catch on fire and die," Buffy finished, shaking her head firmly. "You can't!"

"Angel, no," Willow echoed softly. Angel smiled ruefully at the sorrow on the two girls' faces.

"Don't argue," he growled gently. "There isn't time. There's no other way."

"Well, if you hafta..." Xander shrugged, taking a step towards the window before Willow yanked him back with surprising strength.

"Xander!" his friend rebuked softly. "We can't let him die. S'not right." The boy looked at his feet, sullen but chagrined.

"So what are we gonna do?" he asked softly.

"You're gonna do what I say for once," Angel snapped in response. "You're gonna let me do this."

"I won't," Buffy said, tossing her head so that her blonde hair flew. Tears streamed down her face and her breath began to hitch. "I w-w-won't!" Guided by an impulse he couldn't quite understand, Angel took her small body in his arms and let her weep against his shoulder. He stroked her hair and found himself fighting back tears. *I wish I could see her grow up,* he thought. *Might have had a daughter like her, in a different life. In any kind of life.*

"I'm sorry, Buffy," he said, gently rocking her. "Trust me, if there was any other way..."

"Wait!" Willow whispered hoarsely. "Listen!"

The vampires in the corridor had stopped moving, and Angel could hear confusion and sudden trepidation in their voices as their footsteps suddenly began making a rapid retreat. Angel barely registered this, however, as his vampiric hearing had picked up another sound, a kind of vibration...

"Get down!" he said roughly, dropping to his knees and pulling Buffy to the ground with him. After freezing for a moment in confusion, Xander hauled Willow to the floor, covering her body with his own and ignoring her squeal of protest. Less than a second later the building began to shake. The children screamed as chunks of tile and plaster began to fall. One of the boards covering the windows fell as well, and Angel cried out as a ray of sunlight fell upon him.

"Angel!" Buffy screamed, and the vampire rolled out of the deadly light, leaving Buffy uncovered. Despite the shaking ground, the girl somehow rose to her feet and stood petrified, staring at the tiled surface beneath them in horror. "The floor, Angel! The floor!"

Angel pulled himself to his knees as Buffy stumbled towards Xander and Willow. He saw immediately what had frightened the girl. A series of cracks were forming in the floor, coming together, becoming a fissure that was growing exponentially each second the ground was shaking. He rose to his feet.

"Come on!" Angel cried as he turned towards the door, swaying with the effort to remain upright. Hearing a squeal of dismay, he looked back to see that despite Buffy's attempts to help Willow and Xander, they were unable to regain their footing. He ran back towards them, hauling them to their feet and scooping Willow into his arms just as the tremor suddenly stopped. All four of them froze in place for a moment, trying to regain their bearings. "Is everyone okay?" he asked, scanning them for any obvious signs of injury. Buffy nodded, and he could feel Willow's affirmative headshake against his shoulder.

"I'm okay. Is it over?" Xander asked, and after listening for a long moment, Angel nodded stiffly. Willow's arms were now wrapped tightly around his neck, and he reflected wryly to himself that it was good that he didn't need to breathe.

"I think so, but I've got to get you out of here before our friends come back," he said, taking a tentative step towards the door.

"The fastest way," Buffy added, grabbing hold of Xander's hand with one of her own, the other grabbing onto Angel's jacket. He smiled down at her, trying to look reassuring. The smile vanished as they heard a thunderous crack. The four screamed as one as the damaged floor gave way beneath them and they pitched into inky blackness.

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