Thanks to my beta vidicon, you are the best, most patience and talented beta.

Sorry for the late update on this, had a very busy two weeks boy oh boy. Still not quite happy with this chapter as it was fighting me tooth and nail arrgghh! Also originally had a different title for this but felt that it would better represent a later chapter. Any mistakes are my own, hope you enjoy. :)

Willow sat at the kidney shaped desk in the room, staring blankly at the black graphine computer screen that graced the wall of the quarters that she and the others had finally been allowed to retreat to. The sounds of a heated argument between watcher and slayer barely registering on her radar, despite the loud voices and recriminations.

Her mind was elsewhere, overloaded by all that had unfolded in the past few weeks of her harried life. She'd thought that her experiences in Sunnydale could and would prepare her for every weird and horrendous thing that life could possibly throw at her, but her recent encounters had completely turned that theory on its head.

Finding out that she had been whisked away to a time where she was more than likely long dead was reason enough for her current mental shutdown. But all of the madness hadn't stopped at just that morsel of knowledge, it kept on coming like a horde of demonic army ants, relentless and without mercy, devouring until there was nothing left.

Finding out that she had a mother that she obviously didn't know she'd lost hadn't been so bad, if not for the constant reminder of the lonely life she led with the people she always thought as her parents. God did they know she wasn't theirs? Had they found her on their doorstep and adopted her and never bothered to tell her? Or, God forbid, had they had something to do with her being taken away from her real mother? That thought alone took her breathe away and made her tear up. She wouldn't put that type of atrocity past a resident of good old Sunnydale. The people there either turned their backs on the seedier goings on or were knee deep in it.

And then there was Wesley. To have had a twin brother to grow up with would most likely have eased her loneliness significantly. Willow wondered why they had taken one and not the other, or why was she taken and not him. Willow had a slight bought of jealousy as she silently wished she was the one that had grown up in the 23 century instead of the demonic cesspool that was Sunnydale California.

That would have been a definite plus if not for the fact she would never have met her best friends, Xander and Jesse and also that would mean Wesley might have grown up there. And For all her wishing that she might have grown up in this time and with her biological family she could not wish a life like hers unto her brother, she didn't want to switch places with him. But she did want to grow up with her real family, even if they could not get back the years that were missing. To feel loved and wanted by her mother and brother.

She cringed. Even worse, if she switched places now after taking one look at her brother and after her short conversation with him she was sure he wouldn't last one second in Sunnyhell despite how intelligent he might be. Wesley was just as wussee as the Wesley back in her home town.

Then her mind went to something that had completely escaped her thoughts until now. What of her father? What had happened to him? Was he an absentee dad like Hank Summers or had something more nefarious happened to him. Neither Beverly nor Wesley had mentioned him at all and she hadn't even thought to ask. Most likely do to all the drama of the situation at hand.

Willow took in a breath that hurt and burned as she tried to calm herself down. She let it out slowly and focused once more on the blacked-out empty screen on the wall in front of her, she laughed bitterly as it seemed to reflect everything she felt at the moment.

The voices that shared the room with her became even louder and more relentless, forcibly breaking through her fog state. She slowly turned her chair to observe the full blown fight of her two now red faced compatriots. Giles seemed to be red more from embarrassment than anger as he stood their being berated by his slayer in her clear and furious rage.

Willow brows furrowed in concern, she knew that Buffy and Giles' relationship had been on shaky ground ever since he'd personally administered that drug to her so that she could go through the cruciamentum that nearly got her and her mother killed, but something more was clearly wrong here, granted Buffy had been angry before, at each of them at one time or another, but she had never lost control like this, she'd always either avoided and kept her distance in her anger.

Something was clearly motivating the more aggressive part of Buffy's nature and Willow had a sneaking and terrifying suspicion of what was behind it. The things the Deanna had told them were coming had given them all pause. The detailed description of Deanna's dream had unsettled them all and fear and disgust had gripped Willow's soul and she was sure that the others who had heard it were likewise affected.

The command crew of the Enterprise had sat silent and thoughtful in their seats as they were told of their gruesome and inevitable and above all pointless deaths at the hands of monstrous creatures. Tasha in particular had shivered as if someone of something had walked on her grave. The Hellmouth had followed them and was trying to warp this universe into its image and likeness, Deanna had no way of telling how far it had gotten in its endeavor or how strong of a foothold it had established, but she did know that if they did not stop it, the hellmouth would destroy everything they held dear.

Willow had secretly put on her resolve face at that moment. She had brought death to these people and she would see to it that it wouldn't take them. As she had helped Buffy on that faithful day she would help this crew defeat this thing. She had looked at each of her friends in turn and as they shared a look she knew that they would to. All except Anya who was surreptitiously looking for a way out.

Willow sighed in frustration as Buffy's voice began to carry, this had to stop she didn't want the guards who'd been posted outside the door to come in and stun all of them. She took a fleeting glance at both Angel and Anya who had retreated in a darkened corner to avoid the wrath of Buffy Summers, Vampire and Demon Slayer. Willow knew that Angel feelings we're more in danger of being slayed than his unlife because of Buffy affection for him which seemed to annoy Buffy more and more these days, but Anya on the other hand had the right idea to steer as clear of the slayer as she possibly could. Self-preservation was a heck of a thing Willow thought to herself as she smirked at them.

"Buffy!" Willow yelled out. That alone caught everyone up short even herself. Willow was not a yeller, a meeper and squeaker, but definitely not a yeller. She rolled her eyes as she caught Xander's way- to- go Willow smile and focused on Buffy.

"Buffy, there is obviously something going on here that we should be more conscious of. We're all a bit more edgy than we should be having dealt with this kind of thing for years."

Buffy looked at her opened mouthed, shocked, before her expression gave way to irritation. "Willow I believe that we can safely say that this," she dramatically waved her hands around her surroundings. "Is far beyond anything we've have ever had to deal with."

Normally Willow would have let it drop now and when she was younger even scurried off into a corner, but she wasn't going to have her people fighting amongst themselves like this, not when there was so much at stake She Crossed her arms. "Really, Buffy we haven't had to deal with different dimensions before, I seem to recall you telling all of us of a particular hell dimension that you were sucked into last year that you successfully escaped from and closed yourself. And that hellmouth that followed us here I also recall us kicking that things booty not once but three times so far. Okay we've not dealt with time travel before but with our track record it was only a matter of time, no pun intended." Willow began to turn red herself from her somewhat pep talk outburst and all of the attention she was getting because of it.

It did seem to work though. She saw Buffy calm down somewhat, take a deep breath and focus on the real problem instead of taking all her anger out on Giles, no matter how much she thought he deserved it at the moment. She gave him one last scathing look before she turned and took a seat on one of the plush furnishings. "Okay Willow, you've been awake around here the longest. What's the what? We're not exactly on a planet, how could this thing gain a foothold in space or even follow us for that matter?"

Giles stood there, his face a mask of calm. But inside he was full of turmoil because of his slowly deteriorating relationship he had with his slayer. He was slowly going from anger to shame as he thought on what he had done to her. Then he thought he had no choice it was his duty as her Watcher and to the council to test her and her weaknesses. But she had face her weakness and made them her strength and she had done so spectacularly. His pride for her was almost as overwhelming as the shame that he felt for having to do that to her. For his betrayal

He had originally refused to put her through the cruciamentum when Travers had informed him it was time for her testing, and the git had all but told him that if he didn't that he would send someone who wasn't as emotionally close to the situation to handle what needed to be done and that he would no longer be her watcher, a more fitting, stricter guide would be assigned to her. Giles had immediately recanted his refusal and told the bastard that he would have his full cooperation.

Who knew what type of incompetent Travers would send to take his slayer from him. Travers had it in for Buffy and Giles had no doubt his slayer wouldn't survive the transition, literally. Whatever plans he had for Buffy would most certainly end in her demise so that another more cooperative Slayer could be called. He wouldn't even put it past the Pillock to try to get rid of the civilians involved as well. Giles would not have that.

Not only was it against everything the Council should stand for in his mind, he had grown quite fond of Willow and Xander since they had fallen in with the Slayer. He looked up from his depressing thoughts when Buffy had asked Willow for information on what they were dealing with and realized that not one of them had a clue of what to do. He sighed and took control.

Willow since we obviously don't have access to our usual research material, could you please access that infernal machine in front of you? Even though we aren't in our own dimension or time maybe we can still find some information on how to stop what the hellmouth is doing. I hope to have more of a handle on what we're dealing with before the other slayers that Counselor Troi mentioned start showing up."

Willow nodded and turned to tap the desk, the computer screen slid up and out of it and the elaborate keyboard set in the top lit up. She smiled a little and began looking through the Enterprises vast digital library. Giles hoped that this universe wasn't into destroying books or knowledge that they didn't understand or at the least that they weren't successful in it. And that there wasn't something like Moloch hiding in one of those blasted machines he could certainly do without that being added to their already monstrous scenario.

Xander had perked up at the mention of alien Slayers. Armies of young, nubile women with Slayer powers would probably be the focus of his dreams for the next three decades. "Yes, what's that about Giles? From what I saw the slayer thing seemed to be something of a new thing to these people, to have so many called at once, has that happened before?"

"From what I can tell you Xander, and this is only an educated guess at most, is that the hellmouth overstepped its bounds and the balance was tilted too far towards evil and the universe took steps to restore that balance and grabbed hold of the slayer essence and began creating new slayers. The counselor told us that when her mother arrived that would be explained in far more detail." Giles responded. "As for the numbers, never in the history of earth has there been the recorded existence of more than one Slayer until Kendra. But that is only one planet and there are many inhabited ones here."

Picard sat in his ready room his brow crinkled in frustrated concentration. Q was aboard his ship again. The entity that had put his crew and his entire race of people on trial for his own amusement. He'd been almost ready to do a Worf and deck the self-appointed omniscient being right there. Only thing that stopped him was the fact that his crew was watching and expected more of him than just brute force and the so called higher being had fainted soon as he arrived. He raised his cup of Earl Grey taking a soothing sip, letting the aroma calm him down significantly.

He let his mind drift back to his counselor, she'd told a bewildered Giles and Buffy that other slayers had been called and were on their way to help in the fight. Picard had raised an eyebrow at that. He knew that Starfleet, the federation as a whole, would be in an uproar if these slayers were anything in the way of strength and prowess like Miss Summers and Miss Lehane were.

He knew the word Augment would be thrown around, and there would be fear of another Khan roaming around in the universe. The political fallout from this would be devastating; the Slayers would be sequestered, imprisoned, investigated and possibly killed. And he knew he and his crew couldn't let that happen. If what Deanna told them was true, these Slayers could be their only hope in surviving what was to come. He would make Starfleet understand that if push came to shove. He would keep his sanity in this even if the people that kept arriving on his ship tried every drop of his patience.

He sat his cup of tea down and rose up to gaze at the passing stars from his observation window contemplating things to come, he wondered who these slayers would be and where they would come from. Would all of them be female as Giles had suggested? From what walks of life would these young women be torn from to protect their way of life? It was his duty as a Starfleet Captain, no as a human being to help them in this endeavor. If one could not fight for ones way of life why should anybody else do it for you?

The Captain sighed as he propped his arm up on the side of the wall. This was not how he thought his first year as the Captain of the Enterprise would go. A battle with entities that he thought were nothing more than myth and legend, bed time stories that Maman's told to scare unruly children straight. He had just sat back in his seat when he received an urgent call from Doctor Crusher.

"Yes Doctor, what seems to be the problem?" He asked patiently wondering if this had anything to do with Q. They had reluctantly allowed the Doctor to transport the unconscious entity into sickbay, he and the rest of his crew, specifically Riker, had wanted to throw him in the brig or out the airlock.

"Captain! Our other guest has vacated sickbay once again, we have no idea of her location." Picard could hear the clear annoyance in her voice that was no doubt directed at her medical staff who should have been keeping a close eye on this particular patient who seemed to have a gift for flight and fight.

Picard was about to respond when his ready room doors burst open and an agitated Worf barreled in with said escapee at his hills followed by an irate Riker who looked ready to stun the both of them.

" HoD, Paw' vay! qaStaHulS qa'wl'vaD roS'ej tlhlS Hom Ha'veglargh!" Worf growled out in pure Klingon.

Captain Picard and Riker both raised an eyebrow at that with Captain Picard smirked as he translated the Klingons statement into Federation standard. Something about Feklar coming to spit out their bones. He took a sip of his tea to hide his mirth and noticed that Riker had lost the battle entirely as his deep frown immediately gave way to a wide grin. The young lady in between them looked on confused and a bit angered at their amusement. Didn't they realize the seriousness of the situation?

The Captain had gotten Worf's message loud and clear and had to agree, Feklar was indeed coming to lick at their souls and spit out their bones, but he would make sure to have something waiting for him to send him back to the fires of Grethor.

The Captain sat his tea down and gave Worf a stern look. "Lieutenant, we all know the severity of the situation that is upon us. And if you had been at the debriefing as you were required to be Mr. Worf, your information would have been up to date."

Worf bristled a bit and then deflated as he was reprimanded by his Captain. Even though circumstances were a bit uncertain, there was no excuse for his absence other than curiosity for the young woman that stood beside him. He glanced at said curiosity and his Klingon soul could not feel ashamed for his choice.

"Yes Captain," Worf didn't quite sound contrite to Picard's ears and he raised a curious brow at his Klingon lieutenant. He glanced back and forth between to two that seemed way too familiar with each other. From the close proximity of their bodies and protective stances that they took with one another. They flanked one another in a way that no one could not get a clear path to the other without the other intervening quickly.

Picard sighed, it seemed that two of his crew had formed attachments to their stow aways. That didn't bode well for their mission. "Commander Riker could you please escort Miss Lehane to her friends while I speak with Mr. Worf privately."

Both Faith and Worf stiffened at the thought of being separated from one another. Faith looked intensely at Worf and knew that she had gotten him into trouble. She sighed to herself, it seemed that everything she tried to touch turned to shit. Turning towards the door she warily followed the Commander out of the Captain's ready room, the last thing she saw was the tense stance of the warrior she had fought beside as he prepared himself to be chastised.

Klingon translations

" HoD, Paw' vay! - Captain, something is coming!

qaStaHulS qa'wl'vaD roS'ej tlhlS Hom Ha'veglargh! - Feklar comes to lick at our souls and spit out our bones!