Stuck With You

By Crow Skywalker

----------

Disclaimer – Don’t own BtVS or its characters. They all belong to Joss, etc.

Author’s Notes – I’ve always been one of those ones that dared to be different...and now you’ll see how. I'm not sure if this has ever been done (someone might have it done by the time I finish this fic) but I’ll give it a try anyway. While sitting and watching Buffy (Seeing Red, to be exact) it kind of clicked on how evil Warren really is...and incredibly sexy. If anyone has ever read my stuff, they’ll know I have a thing for evil guys...and I was thinking : what would it be like if Warren and Buffy got together? Knowing this’ll most likely never happen, I thought it would be cool to try anyway. So here’s my attempt at one of the first Warren/Buffy fics. And yeah, I know I have a lot of fics on the go...but don’t worry, I’ll get around to them sooner or later.

Other notes – Rated PG-13 for normal violence, and Buffy/Warren moments. Takes place before Entropy. May contain spoilers.

Story Summary – When the Troika gang have their sights set on a time transporter, things go wrong when Warren and Buffy accidentally get sent back to the time when everyone was still in High School. Now they must work together before history is changed and Buffy comes face to face with herself.

----------

Buffy Summers, the one and only Slayer of Sunnydale, yawned as she padded into her bathroom wearing only her pajamas. A long night of patrolling had kept her up most of the night, and she still wasn’t quite ready to leave the warm heaven she called her bed. However, duty called – and this time in the form of hamburgers, that needed to be grilled.

Getting into the shower she groaned as the warm water hit her and relaxed her tense muscles. Fighting baddies at night certainly wasn’t as easy as it looked, and it sure took its toll on her. Especially after working shifts at the Doublemeat Palace, which was where she was headed this early in the morning.

Yet another day working in that greasy old place, Buffy thought as she headed for her room to get dressed. She could smell things cooking downstairs as she passed through the halls. Hmm...Willow must have gotten up early to cook breakfast.

Having dressed, Buffy quickly checked Dawn’s room to see if she was up and ready for school. Seeing that the room was empty, she shrugged and headed downstairs. "Mmm...smells good! What’s cooking?" She asked as she entered the kitchen. Peering around she found Willow standing over the stove and Dawn busily eating a plate of bacon and eggs.

"Hey Buffy! You’re up!" Willow looked up and smiled as she put a plate on the table in Buffy’s usual place. "I was about to send Dawn up to wake you, I figured you’d slept in. Better hurry and eat or you’ll be late for work."

Buffy sat down mumbling thanks and started eating her breakfast. Glancing briefly at Dawn, who was finishing off and clearing up, she informed her, "I have to work until five tonight, so I won’t be home when you come home from school. Do you want me to pick something up or will you cook your own supper?"

"Uhm, actually, I was hoping that maybe..we could have a nice cooked supper tonight? All of us? Maybe invite Xander – he hasn’t been around a lot since the wedding mess.." Dawn suggested, putting her dirty dishes in the sink and picking up her book bag. "It’s been a while since we’ve all been together for a meal."

"Hey, now that’s a good idea." Said Willow, taking a seat with her own breakfast. "Xander needs his friends to help him through these times."

This brought a smile to Dawn’s face. "Really? So we’re having supper with everyone tonight? Maybe you can invite Tara over, Willow." She hinted.

Willow grinned at that. "Sounds good! I’ve been meaning to talk to her...maybe this is my chance. And maybe she’ll help me cook supper – I don’t think she has any classes today."

"Sorry I won’t be much help." Said Buffy, finishing off her breakfast as well.

"Oh, it’s okay." Dawn shifted her book bag. "You have to work. I’ll help Tara and Willow if I can. We’ll start eating as soon as you get home – so make sure you’re actually here on time." She finished, turning on her heels and leaving the house for school.

Buffy sighed, leaving the table and putting her dishes in the sink to be washed. It was true – ever since she’d come back from the dead she hadn’t been around much. But it was exactly her fault – she just couldn’t spend all her time at home, and Dawn thought she didn’t want to spend and time with her. Besides work there was her Slayer duties, and they kept her out and busy most nights, especially with Warren, Jonathan, and Andrew coming up with new evil schemes every few day.

Picking up the few things she needed, she bid goodbye to Willow. What a way to start a new day.

----------

"So the transmitter thing hooks up to the crystal?" Jonathan asked, pacing around the advanced piece of technology that they were working on.

Warren sighed for the hundredth time that day. "Yes! We steal the crystal from Sunnydale Historic Museum today and place it in its holder – and the thing is ready."

"And we’re stealing the crystal today?" Andrew asked, sitting back in his chair and munching on some chips.

"That’s the plan, my friends. Steal the crystal, complete the machine – use the time transporter to go back in time and kill the slayer while she’s untrained. It solves all our slayer problems." Warren leaned back and smiled at his fellow Troika friends.

"And you’re sure this piece of junk will work?" Asked Jonathan, peering up at the large machine.

"We’ll find out soon enough now won’t we?"

Jonathan frowned slightly and turned to look at the others. He wasn’t quite sure how he’d gotten mixed in with this little group. Sure, he was involved in a lot of things in the past – but taking over Sunnydale and killing people wasn’t quite one of them. However, here they were – the three of them, trying to take over Sunnydale – and only one thing stood in their way. The Slayer. Well, not for long if Warren had his way. It was true, they had built a time transporter to go back in time and kill the Slayer. It seemed like the only easy way to rid themselves of her. However, Jonathan always had second thoughts when it came to killing the Slayer. She had helped him many times, and he didn’t want to hurt her. But Warren insisted that she had to go.

Clueing back to reality Jonathan noticed that the other two were gathered around a table with a map laid out. He quickly went to see what was up, and how they were going to manage to get the stupid crystal in the first place.

"I think the invisibility ray is the best way to go." Warren was going on, "Then one of us can just walk in there in broad daylight and just grab it without anyone noticing."

"Isn’t the invisibility ray dangerous?" Jonathan asked, peering down at the map of the museum and remembering the trouble they last had with it. "I mean, too long invisible and the person kind of...dies."

"That’s why we’re doing this quickly. Now who wants to volunteer for the job?" Warren looked between Jonathan and Andrew, who looked away. Neither looked like they wanted to do it. "What? Too afraid the Slayer will show?" There was only silence, and he gave in. "Fine, fine...I’ll go myself." He sighed and rolled up the map, having memorized all exits in case of emergency. "Let’s do it."

Packing the newly made invisibility ray into their van and the few materials they would need, they soon found themselves in front of the large museum.

"Andrew, you take the wheel – in case we need to make a quick getaway." Warren ordered, leaving the front seat and crawling into the back of the van to where the ray gun was. "Jonathan, I need your help back here."

----------

 

Buffy settled in to one of the hard seats in the restaurant and stared down at the burger thing she was calling dinner. The day had gone pretty fast, and she was already on break from work. She frowned as she took her uniform hat off and let her hair down, a wave of grease smell hitting her nose. She scrunched her nose and smelt her hair - sure enough, it was her hair that smelt that gross.

Ugh...I’ll never get that smell out. She gingerly picked up her burger and studied it, before putting it back down. I don’t think I'm hungry. She sighed out loud, and turned her head to look out the window as she lay it in the palm of her hand. As far as she could tell it was still a nice day out and the sun shone brightly. Peering across the street she could see the Sunnydale Historic Museum clearly, and watched as a few people entered and exited. Quietly she wondered why anyone would want to be in such a dank and dreary place on such a beautiful day. Well, at least they’re not stuck in this dump.

Turning her attention back to the window, she watched as a familiar van pulled up in front of the museum, abstracting her view. She frowned slightly at the van, unable to remember if she’d seen it before or not. There was definitely something familiar about it, but she couldn’t quite pick it out at the moment. Well, she thought, looking over the van, it certainly is a junk heap.

The back doors opened and Buffy watched as someone stepped out, who appeared to be talking to themselves. Squinting, she finally figured out where she’d seen the van before. It was Warren, Andrew and Jonathan’s van! And, looking hard at the person, who now seemed to be standing guard and holding a phone close to his ear, that’s Jonathan!

Buffy quickly gathered up her things and threw the uneaten hamburger into the garbage. She was going to find out what they were up to.

----------

"Warren! Hurry up in there!" Jonathan hissed into the phone. The phone had been Warren’s idea, so if things went bad he could easily tell them, and they could get away quickly.

"Shh! I'm almost done – I just have to finished cutting a hole in the glass." Whispered a voice back through the phone.

Jonathan looked around anxiously. All of a sudden he had a bad feeling and wished to God that Warren would hurry up. Standing out here in the light wasn’t the best idea anyway – what if the Slayer spotted him?

"Got it!" Warren’s voice said a bit too loud, and Jonathan wondered how the hell Warren was pulling all this off without being caught.

He shifted uncomfortably before answering back, "Hurry!"

"And what’s the hurry?" Came a voice from behind him, and he froze, dropping the phone. He knew that voice – very well. Turning around he faced its owner, who was currently dressed in the red and white uniform of Doublemeat Palace. He tried hard not to laugh at how ridiculous she looked in that uniform. "Well, uh..Buffy! Nice to see you again!"

"Answer my question Jonathan. What are you and the dork squad up to now?" She asked firmly, crossing her arms.

"Wh-what makes you think we’re up to something?" He asked, his eyes searching the door to the museum. Where is Warren?? I told him to hurry! Now we’re all gonna get our asses kicked!

"I don’t know...you seem to have a knack for being a new pain in my ass." She followed his gaze. What could he be watching for? She soon found out.

The door to the museum seemed to fly open by some unknown force, catching Buffy’s attention for the slightest moment. It was then that something – or someone – pushed past her, knocking her to the ground. "What the hell?" She mumbled, from where she sat.

"Warren, did you get it?" Came a voice from the front of the van – Andrew, who had kept quiet the whole time the Slayer was near.

"Yeah," Came a voice without a body, "Jonathan! Get in here!"

Buffy watched as Jonathan followed the voice’s order, still having no idea what was going on. A flash of light in the dark van soon brought everything to her attention – once where there had been nothing, now stood Warren, a strange smile on his face as he looked out at her. "Step on it Andrew."

The engine roared, and Buffy quickly got to her feet. They were getting away, once again. But before the back door closed shut, Buffy heard Warren’s words : "We may be a pain in your ass Slayer, but you’ll soon be gone!"

Buffy blinked, taking all the strangeness in. What did they mean ‘you’ll soon be gone’? Did they make another invisibility ray? What were they doing in the museum?

The last question was answered when an alarm inside the building suddenly went off, and a security guard came running out, looking in every direction. "Damn thieves!"

"Hey, Sir, May I ask what’s going on?"

"The museum’s most prized crystal seems to have been stolen, and recently." He stared, before asking, "Have you seen any suspicious looking people out here?"

Buffy decided against telling him – she wanted to find the Troika herself. She had some things to settle with them – besides, this was a Slayer’s job. "No Sir."

"Thank you miss – and you seem to have dropped your phone."

Looking down, Buffy finally noticed the cell phone that Jonathan had dropped when she had appeared. Picking it up, she said her thanks to the guard and headed off across the street, watching until he was gone. Looking down at the phone she found that it was still on, and the number that had been called or had called recently was still on the small screen. She smiled at their stupidity – it would be easy to find them now.

A beeping noise made her realize that her break was up, and she entered the smelly old restaurant once again, planning on taking the rest of the day off. However, after being confronted by her boss, those plans were put on hold.

"You’ve been taking a lot of time off Summers – you can’t afford to take anymore."

"But –"

"No buts, unless you want to lose your job! Now go on, there are more burgers to be grilled!"

Buffy groaned, slipping the phone into her pocket. It would have to wait a few hours.

----------

"Whew...that was close." Said Andrew, falling back into his favorite chair after arriving home.

"Yeah...what took you so long?" Asked Jonathan, eyeing Warren.

Emptying his pockets and taking off his jacket, Warren smiled at them both as he held up a large expensive looking object with studded jewelry. "Came across it in the case next to this," He held up a red crystal that seemed to glow.

 

"Is that the crystal we need for the machine? Andrew asked in awe.

"This is it!" Warren grinned at them both. "Our solution to getting rid of the Slayer! Let’s celebrate our victory early."

And so they did, sitting around a newly stolen large screen television and eating whatever they wanted. Hours later Andrew got up to refill his Pepsi when he heard a phone ringing. Looking back at the others he found that they couldn’t hear it due to how loud the television was, and quickly went to find it. Picking up, he found that it was a young girl.

"Hi, someone there just phoned for pizza to be delivered? Well silly me, I'm new...and I never quite got the right address. Could you tell me again?"

"Oh, yeah...hi. Uh..Warren must have ordered it. Yeah, the address is 21 Roseivelt Crescent."

"Thank you, you’re pizza will be arriving soon." She answered, and there was a click that signaled that she hung up.

Shrugging, he got his drink and returned to find that the movie they had been watching was over. "Damn! I hate it when you guys do this to me! I missed the whole ending!"

"Maybe next time you won’t take so long." Warren replied, turning off the television and stretching. "How about we finish off the machine now? I think we’ve done enough celebrating..it’s time to finally kick the Slayer’s ass."

----------

Buffy smiled as she put the phone in her pocket. Pizza indeed, she thought, congratulating herself on a good performance. Now that she had their address, finding them would be simple. And now that her shift was over, and she was free to go – she had work to do.

Grabbing her few things, she quickly left the grease smelling locker room and headed out the back door. It didn’t take her long to find the address that she had been given.

Walking around the house, she peered in a few basement windows to be sure if this was the place she was looking for. Sure enough, she found the Trio working on some odd looking machine. Not bothering to knock, she quietly slipped in.

----------

"Are you sure that goes there Andrew?" Jonathan asked, studying the handiwork his friend was doing.

"Well of course!" He answered, "It doesn’t fit anywhere else!"

"Boys, boys!" Warren interrupted, "Please don’t start fighting again. I’ve already heard enough of that today." He unfolded a large blueprint and looked it over, "That looks right."

"So we just put the crystal in the slot?"

"That’s what it says to do." Warren folded the blueprint back up and stuffed it in his pocket, taking out the shiny red crystal as he did so.

Standing, Andrew dusted himself off. "Man, where’s the pizza when you want it? Those stupid deliveries – they’re always late!" He looked up to find Jonathan and Warren staring at him. "What? The pizza’s late, and I'm still starved!"

"When did you order pizza?"

"I didn’t...a girl phoned here on a cell asking for the address to deliver the pizza...I thought one of you ordered it..."

"I never ordered any pizza...did you?" Warren looked at Jonathan, who shook his head. "Then who ordered the pizza?"

"I did." Buffy stepped out of her hiding place, causing the Trio to gasp and turn to face her. "Although I’d rather deliver some knuckle sandwiches."

"How did you get our number?" Warren finally asked.

"Well, one of you were stupid enough to leave this behind." She smiled, holding out the phone, and all eyes turned to Jonathan.

"Oops."

"So what’s this contraption?" Buffy asked, taking a step foreword, and them a step back. "Some kind of shrink ray? A ray to grow you boys some brains, maybe?"

"Its uh...none of your business..." Andrew answered, fearfully trying to escape the advancing Buffy.

"Yeah uh...nothing." Jonathan backed him up, and soon found himself being picked up by the collar.

 

"You know, I’ve never been the one to hurt anything that’s not a demon, but maybe I can make a acceptation...just this once." Buffy smiled up at him, but soon dropped him when Warren started to laugh. "What?" She asked, giving him an odd look.

"Do you really want to see what this baby does?" He asked, taking a step back and into the machine, and placing the crystal in the slot. Immediately the machine started to whir and buzz, electricity crackling and shooting from it. "I’ll show you what it does!"

Buffy let go of Jonathan, who quickly backed up out of the way, to watch what was going on. She was ready for whatever they had in store for her.

She machine continued to glow with bluish white electricity, and soon turned to red. She assumed that whatever was going to happen, it was going to happen soon...and found herself running towards it, leaping at Warren and catching hold of him...and somehow managing to end up on the floor on top of him.

There was a screech behind them, an explosion, and the machine totally stopped. Slowly looking up and into Warren’s disgusted face, she quickly got off of him and stood on unsteady legs. "What the hell did you just do??"

"Me? What did I do? Look what you did Slayer!" He growled, picking himself up off the ground and hurrying over to the machine. "The stupid crystal exploded, along with half the parts!"

It was then that Buffy noticed a big difference – they were still in the same basement apartment, but there were a few things missing. One, Warren’s two friends...two...all of the things that had been there before. Except for an old dusty couch, that was all that was left of the living room. "Uh...where did all your stuff go?"

Warren didn’t answer – he was too busy trying to overlook the damage done to his precious machine. She sighed. She was going to have to do this the hard way. Stalking towards him, she grabbed him by the collar and swung him into the wall, grabbing hold of him and holding him in place. "I tried doing this the easy way but you don’t seem to listen." She hissed, "So you’re going to answer me now. What happened and where are we?"

"It isn’t a matter of where we are, Slayer – it’s a matter of when." He glared at her.

"When?" She asked, a confused look on her face.

"We made a time transporter, okay?" He finally pried her fingers loose of him, "And it seems that it wasn’t working right and exploded."

"I don’t believe any of this." She told him, crossing her arms. "So you and your friends made some kind of time machine, which is now broken, and I'm stuck in what time with you?"

Pulling the blueprints out of his pocket Warren tried to figure out what went wrong. " I shouldn’t be telling you any of this, but since we’re stuck here, we’re going to have to work together to get home. I guess we’re going to have to be civil to each other." He turned to face Buffy. "September of 1997."

Buffy stared at him in stunned silence. "September...of 1997?"

"That’s what I said."

"I was just starting.."

"High school in Sunnydale that year." He finished, turning back to the machine. I may have to talk to her and work with her to get this stupid piece of junk working again, but there’s no way in hell I'm going to tell her the original plan. And once the machine is working again I might just leave her here...that’ll get her out of my hair in the future.

Behind him Buffy was still arguing over whether to believe him or not. "I can’t believe this...of all the things that could have happened..and I'm stuck in the past. Stuck with you."

"I'm quiet sure the feeling is mutual."

----------

Sitting at the table in the Summer’s residence, time ticked slowly for Xander, Tara, Willow and Dawn, who were waiting patiently for Buffy to return home so they could eat the lovely meal Willow and Tara had cooked together. However, as another hour passed, all was not turning out so good.

Checking her watch every minute, Dawn finally got up from the table in a fury. "It’s almost 8:00 – obviously she’s not coming home!"

"Oh Dawny, I'm sure she has a good reason –" Tara started, but was interrupted by Dawn herself.

"It’s not good enough...it seems she never has enough time for me..she’s always busy with something else." Dawn said softly, tears coming to her eyes.

"Buffy’s had a lot to deal with recently, Dawnster." Xander put in, "She’s trying hard to keep everything running smoothly. She has her job, Slaying...and she’s been working hard to keep the house, and to keep you."

"Come on Dawn," Willow said soothingly, putting an arm around her shoulder, "Lets sit down and eat. We don’t have to wait any longer – it’ll just be us. Okay?"

Dawn reluctantly sat back down, nodding slowly. Picking up her fork she had had only a mouthful before she found she wasn’t hungry anymore, and began to push the food around her plate absent-mindedly. As for the rest of the group, they too, ate in silence.

----------

Coming out of his hiding place Andrew was amazed to find the machine missing, and the room in a mess. "Jonathan? Warren...Buffy?" A noise caught his attention and he headed in that direction, slowly making his way through the ruins of what used to be the living room. "Anyone here?"

Once again the noise – someone speaking. "Jonathan is that you?" He listened closer.

"You’re...standing...on me..."

Looking down Andrew found himself on top of a door, which must have blown out of its hinges. It tilted sideways and he jumped off, helping Jonathan lift it off himself.

Sucking in fresh air he coughed. "Thanks."

"What exactly...just happened here?" Andrew asked.

Jonathan continued to cough as the dust arose around him. "I'm..not sure. I think...the machine worked."

"Do you think they’re alive?"

"Most likely."

"Do you think...they made it? I mean, where do you think they are?"

"It was set for 1997, so I'm assuming that’s where they would be right now." Jonathan finally stopped coughing and sneezing and managed to stand. "Man, it sure made a mess of this place, didn’t it?"

"Yeah." Andrew observed. "Sooo...when do you think they’ll be back? Do you think Warren will really kill the Slayer when she’s like, with him right now?"

Jonathan shrugged, not sure of what to do or say. In reality they didn’t have a clue if Warren and the Slayer were still alive, or if the machine had even worked right. He kept these thoughts to himself. They could be in orbit for all we know right now. He watched in silence as Andrew made his way over to where the machine once stood, pulling things out of the way. What’re we supposed to do now?

"Uh, Jonathan," Andrew’s voice brought him out of his thoughts, "Was the crystal supposed to uh...break?"

"No." He watched as Andrew bent down to retrieve something, and turned towards him holding what looked like shards of red glass. His thoughts were confirmed. Something had gone wrong.

"I think it did..." He continued, "Is this bad?"

"Definitely." Jonathan made his way across the room, taking a few shards of what used to be part of the crystal and studying them. "We must have hooked something up wrong...and when Warren and Buffy got transported, it shattered the crystal." He looked up at his friend. "They could be anywhere."

"Like...in prehistoric times or something?"

"That’s included in anywhere...or whenever."

"Oh...crap..." Andrew shifted uncomfortably. "Don’t they need the crystal to get back?"

Jonathan nodded. "Wherever they are, they won’t be returning for a long time – if ever."

"What are we going to do now? We’re minus one and now the Slayer is gone."

Dropping the shards of crystal, Jonathan wiped his hands. "I think maybe we should go talk to the Slayer’s friends"

----------

Supper was over and Willow and Tara were busily talking while they washed up the dirty dishes. Out in the living room Xander was keeping Dawn company and was watching a bit of television with her. All in all, the night had gone pretty quietly, and Buffy was still yet to show up. Hearing a knock on the door Xander quickly got to his feet, expecting it to be Buffy, who seemed to forget her keys a lot. Opening the door, he found some very unexpected guests. "Jonathan and...?"

Andrew sighed. Out of the three evil minds, he was the lesser known. "Andrew – my brother was the one to ruin the prom and all?" He explained, remembering he had had to tell Buffy the same thing before she remembered him.

 

Xander glared at the two, quite aware of the things they had done and were up to. "What do you two want?"

"We uh.." Jonathan started, before backing up and putting his arms up to protect himself, watching as Andrew did the same. "Need your help because Warren and Buffy were sent back into the past and now they’re stuck there and you guys are the only people who can help us get Warren and uh...Buffy..back?" He said fast, taking another step back.

Xander just stared at them with a confused look on his face. "Say what?"

"Xander? Who’s at the door?" Called Willow, before she finally appeared behind him. "Oh...it’s...them." She said slowly, before looking up at Xander. "What are they here for? Shouldn’t you be out annoying other people? Perhaps, killing more young girls?"

"Hey! That was an accident!" Stuttered Andrew.

"And I bet making Buffy think she did it was an accident too. So what exactly do you want?"

Taking a big breath Jonathan told them briefly what had happened – this time more slowly. The whole time they both stared at him as if he grew three heads.

"You expect us to believe some cooked up story like that? Time transporter? Right – like we’re supposed to believe that. Go take it to the Star Trek producers or something." Xander scoffed, starting to close the door on them.

"Wait!" Jonathan stopped him. "Where is Buffy right now?"

"I don’t know – but I'm assuming she’s out patrolling and forgot the time." Xander answered.

"But you don’t know that, you’re just assuming since she hasn’t returned home yet!" He argued, "You have to believe us!"

"We have no reason to." Said Xander, once again trying to close the door.

"Willow! You’re a witch! The crystal – the Crystal of Ramiar...it has the ability of time and space! You should know!" Andrew tried, remembering what he learned about it before they stole it.

Willow stopped Xander from closing the door and stepped foreword. "How would you know..?"

 

"I'm into that kind of thing, okay?" Andrew said hurriedly. "It’s the crystal we used for our machine."

"You used..."

"Yes! We stole it from the museum earlier today...and when Warren used it in the machine it broke in half, and now him and Buffy are stuck in God knows when. Do you believe us now?"

Glancing up at Xander, Willow could tell that he didn’t trust them one bit. Neither did she – but after hearing about the crystal she had reason to believe that they may be telling the truth. Every good witch knew that the Crystal of Ramiar was a powerful gem – one that shouldn’t be played with. Obviously these guys didn’t know that, she thought, before moving out of the way for them to enter, much to Xander’s distaste. "Come in – I want to hear this story right down to every detail of what happened."

They stepped in, anxious looks on their faces as Willow led them into the Summer’s living room.

"What’re they doing here?" Damn asked curiously as they entered, turning off the television. She caught Willow’s gaze and immediately started to panic. "Does it have to do with Buffy? Where is she?? What did you jerks do to her now???"

"They sent her back in time." Willow sighed, heading to the kitchen to get Tara. She soon returned and motioned for Jonathan and Andrew to have a seat. "Start from the beginning – the whole story."

Jonathan and Andrew sat, wondering if coming to the Slayer’s friends had been a good idea. There’s no one else we can ask for help, Jonathan reminded himself as he told them the story – Andrew adding in bits and pieces every now and then. When he finished telling all that he knew, they all sat in silence. Dawn was the first to speak, jumping up from her sitting place with a look of shock and anger on her face.

"You sent my sister back in time and she’s stuck there with one of you losers?"

"Dawn, please." Willow gave her a look, and she quickly sat back down, her arms crossed and a glare focused at the two boys.

"Didn’t you read up on the crystal at all?" Willow turned her attention back to Jonathan and Andrew, "Everyone who’s into magic and things know that the Crystal of Ramiar isn’t something to be toyed with. It’s powers are hard to control."

"That’s what the machine was for...but it seems we must have made a mistake when building it." Said Andrew, his eyes on the floor. He certainly wasn’t enjoying hanging around here with his enemies.

"Obviously." Dawn muttered, rolling her eyes. "So what are we going to do now?"

"W-well, there’s not much that we can do." Tara answered, looking at her friend’s solemn faces. "There is only one crystal – it was taken from a Omar demon and placed in our museum for safe keeping. Now it’s broken."

"Sooo...we’re just going to sit here?" Xander asked. "There’s nothing we can do?"

Dawn’s eyes lowered as she realized what was going through all their minds. "Buffy’s not coming back."

"Dawn, I'm sure we’ll figure out something." Willow half smiled, trying to cheer the young teen up. "We just need some help.." She paused for a second and her face brightened, "I know!" Before anyone could question her she ran to get the phone and started dialing a number off the top of her head.

"Willow..who’re you phoning?" Asked Tara.

Willow flashed her a ‘Don’t worry, I know what I'm doing’ look as the phone on the other side rang. Finally she heard someone pick up.

"Hey, Giles – it’s Willow. We need your help."

----------

Warren sighed as he sat back in a dusty old chair and stared at his time machine – or what used to be it. It was in some major need of fixing before it would become anything more than scrap again. Behind him Buffy Summers paced back and forth, unsure of what to make of all of this.

"Did you figure out what we need yet?" She finally asked, stopping to look at him.

"Several parts have been broken – expensive parts." He turned in the chair so that he was facing her, amused at the look on her face. "That, and the crystal – which will be very hard to find."

"That’s just great." She sighed, slumping into the dust covered couch.

 

"I ordered the parts before...they had to be air mailed. Cost a bundle – although a small dent in our massive wallets at home." He mused. Him and his friends had first hit a bank when they started out in Sunnydale, and the money was still stashed away safely at home. But he wasn’t going to let the Slayer know that tiny fact.

"So if we were able to get those parts ordered – would you have enough to pay it off?" Buffy asked, looking around the room.

"I doubt it. Those parts are state of the art."

"And we’re stuck here unless we can get them?"

He nodded.

Buffy was silent for a moment. "Looks like one of us is going to have to go out there and get a job."

"We can’t."

"What do you mean we can’t?" She stopped studying the room and turned her gaze back to him. "Can’t get a job? What? You’ve never worked before?"

She ignored her smart remark. "No, I mean, we can’t go outside. Maybe I can, but not you. It’s 1997 Buffy, and the last thing you want to do is screw up time. If one of your stupid friends, family – or even yourself saw you, you’d disrupt time."

"You mean I can change time like that?" She asked, before going on to herself, "Wow...maybe then I wouldn’t die a few times. Or I could like, save people I couldn’t the first time around."

"Not unless you want to return home to a totally different place."

Buffy shrugged the idea off. "Forget that then."

A silence followed as enemies sat with nothing to say.

"Not even..."

"No." Warren finalized it.

 

"So you’re going out to get a job?" She asked, watching as Warren opened his mouth to speak, "And no, we are not stealing it. Or killing anyone." She added.

He closed his mouth and glared at her. They had been there for less than an hour and already he was fairly annoyed with her. "Fine."

Silence once again filled the room, and Buffy stared at her dusty surroundings. "We’re going to be here a while, aren’t we?" She finally asked, her voice soft. As much as she hated being stuck here with her so called ‘enemy’, she hated being trapped in the past and not being able to do anything.

"A long while." He replied, slumping down in his chair.

"Are we going to stay here?" She gestured to the filthy room around her.

"There’s nowhere else to go." He answered simply.

She sighed, stretching out on the couch, not caring that she was getting full of dust. "Isn’t exactly what I’d call home."

"Sorry it isn’t good enough for you my Highness." He answered coolly. "No friends to wait on you hand and foot."

She turned to glare at him. "Do you really have to be such an asshole?"

"Of course – you’re my enemy. Even though I'm stuck here and actually have to talk to you doesn’t mean I'm going to be nice to you all the time."

Giving him a weird look she turned back around. "I’ll remember that."

"It’s all your fault we’re stuck here, you know." Warren grumbled after a while, obviously starting to highly dislike the situation by the minute.

"My fault? I'm not the one who came up for the silly idea of the damn contraption!" She faced him once more, "If you hadn’t of made it then we wouldn’t be in this situation right now!"

"Well if you hadn’t of barged into our house unwanted –" He started, the fight amusing him for now. Seeing the Slayer upset and angry with him pleased him somehow. Besides, just sitting here with her was annoying him – he wanted to vent some anger out on her.

"If you hadn’t of been so stupid to steal from the museum that was right across from where I work –"

"If you hadn’t of ruined all our plans to take over Sunnydale –"

"If you hadn’t of stolen things and killed people –"

 

"I didn’t kill anyone!" He eyed her menacingly, "Yet."

"Is that a threat? Because I can seriously kick your ass."

"Whatever, Slayer." He got up from his seat, "You stay here while I go and scout around town."

She silently glared at him, watching as he crossed the room and left, slamming the door behind him. Great. Stuck here for only God knows how long with him – and he’s trying his hardest to annoy me. This is certainly the crappiest thing that’s ever happened to me – although I don’t know...dying and all.. She yawned, cuddling down on the couch. The room provided very little heat, and she was glad the couch provided some warmth. Today’s been such a long day... She closed her eyes. I need some sleep.

----------

Walking swiftly away from the house and down the street, Warren kicked an old can he found lying around. The sky above was dark, but he figured it wasn’t too late out. Checking his watch he confirmed this. It wasn’t even ten o’clock yet.

What to do...where to go...he thought, taking in the neighborhood as he walked. There certainly were some changes from his time – for one, some of the houses on the street were new – while others, like his, were rather old. He silently hoped that the house they would be staying in was empty. But with all the dust and old furniture, he was quite sure it was.

His stomach growled at that moment, reminding him that he hadn’t eaten any real supper – just a few snack items while he, Jonathan and Andrew were watching the movie. As he looked around for some sort of store or restaurant, he silently wondered what his two friends were up to right now.

Spotting a McDonalds, he started his way towards it. Micky D’s may be gross, but I'm starving! Anything will do! He entered and quickly went to the counter, ordering a large meal for himself. Luckily he hadn’t come to Sunnydale until recently in the future and didn’t have the same problem as Buffy did – he could go wherever he wanted.

It was then a idea came over him – something he should have thought of before. They weren’t entirely sure what time they were stuck in – and now was a good chance to find out.

"Hey," He turned back to the man at the counter, "Could you please me the date?"

The man gave him a weird look, before answering. "Sunday, September 14th."

"What year?" Warren pried.

The man looked at him like he had just landed from outer space. "1997."

Great, Warren mused, at least I now know the machine works right – or it did work right until now.

Taking his meal to a seat by the window he thanked God that he had brought his wallet – and the sum of money that was contained in it. Taking a bite out of his burger his mind seemed to turn to Buffy, and he wondered if she had had anything to eat. He shrugged that thought off – it didn’t matter. He didn’t care if she starved to death. She was only a nuisance to him.

Finishing off his food he sat there for a while longer, wondering how he was going to make it now that he was stuck in this time – now that he was stuck here with the one person he hated most. For a moment he considered going ahead with the plan and killing the Slayer of the past – but that meant that the future Slayer would disappear, and he most likely would need her help to get through all this. Damn, I really am stuck with her. He frowned, getting up and throwing out his trash.

Stepping once again out into the chilly night air, he was once again lost at what to do now that he was here. Checking out the Summers’ residence would have been a good idea – but now that the future Buffy was with him and he needed her help, killing past Buffy would have to wait. He shrugged, wouldn’t hurt anyway.

He headed in the direction he knew Buffy’s house should be. Sure enough, it was standing there as it always was – although somewhat different. Getting closer, he spied in through the large front window. Unopened boxes were spread around the living room, and everything seemed to be bare. They obviously still hadn’t finished packing from the move. She should be starting school tomorrow, Warren thought absently and ducked as someone entered the room. A lady he hadn’t seen before – who is she? The Slayer’s mother?

"Buffy!" He heard her call, "I found another box that belongs to you!"

A muffled answer and soon the Slayer appeared, a bright smile on her face. "How’re things going down here?"

Buffy’s mother looked around the room. "Well, it certainly doesn’t feel like home yet...but once I get everything put where its supposed to be, I’ll be a lot happier.

Buffy’s smile seemed to fade. "Mom – I'm sorry about all this," She gestured around the room, "If I hadn’t of...burned down the school gym and got kicked out of school and all, then we wouldn’t of had to move."

"Buffy, we’ve had this talk before." Her mom gave her a smile and led her out of the living room and what looked like the dining room, "It’s okay – everything’s going to be okay. Now you can have a fresh start –" And whatever else was said could not be heard by Warren, who was clinging with interest to every word.

So the Slayer burned down her school, huh? Warren thought, moving away from the house and onto the street. He’s heard enough for now. That’s something I never knew – although there’s a lot of things I don’t know about the Slayer. Like, if that was her mother in there – where is she now? And where is the Slayer’s pesky little sister? They hadn’t mentioned her at all – and Warren could see no sign that the child even lived in the house. Maybe she lives with her father, was his conclusion.

Shrugging all of his questions off he headed down the street. It doesn’t matter anyway. Looking at his watch he realized he’d been out longer than he thought. Maybe I should head back...although returning to that dust filled place with the Slayer doesn’t seem very appealing to me. He thought, taking the long way back. A cold gust of wind caused him to pull his shiver. I should stop and buy some necessaries. A jacket, some clothes, a blanket...stuff I’ll really need while I'm here.

Looking up from his walk he found a late night mall further down the street. Excellent..just what I need.

Stepping off the curb he made his way towards it.

----------

Buffy curled up tighter, unable to sleep. Not that she didn’t try hard enough, but a lot of things were keeping her awake. Like, at the moment, her mind was spinning. Question after question popped into her head, most of them ones she couldn’t answer. Why did these things always happen to her? How would they get home? How was she going to make it through the night without seriously kicking Warren’s ass? These were only a few of the questions spinning through her head.

With those thoughts she lay there for the longest time, staring at the wall across the room. She definitely wasn’t liking any of this. Not only was she stuck in the past with her ‘so-called enemy’, but she feared leaving the house and facing her past as well. Xander and Willow are still in high school, she thought, before her expression turned sad. Mom is still alive...Dawn isn’t here...Angel is still around...

She shivered from the cold and closed her eyes briefly. Maybe Warren was right – she should stay inside. Not only would people seeing her disrupt time, but she wasn’t sure if she could take the pain that she knew she would feel.

She could hear the door open and she opened her eyes in fear that someone had found them. She eased slightly when she spotted Warren carrying s load of bags.

"Still awake, Slayer?" He lay the bags down on a nearby counter, "Thought for sure you’d be asleep."

"Why, plan on getting rid of me in my sleep, Warren?" She asked dryly, not looking at him. She really wasn’t up to fighting with him.

Warren noticed her drawback but ignored it. "No, but that’s still a good idea."

"Well you go write it in your little ‘how-to-be-evil’ book."

He chose to ignore that comment as well as well. "Look, we’re going to be stuck here for a long time – from now on let’s try to get along?" He said, wincing. Getting along with the Slayer meant that they would have to be decent and civil to each other – at least for a while.

"Fine with me." She answered, yawning and listening to the bags rustle as he picked through them. "Where did you go?"

"Out around – the store, your place –"

"My place?" She asked, shooting him a look. "Why would you go there?"

"No reason." He said quickly, but he could feel that she was still suspicious of his actions. He decided to change the subject – or at least try to. "Does your sister live with your dad or something? Never saw her around."

Buffy seemed to tense for a moment, staring at the ceiling in silence before rolling over to face the back of the couch. "I don’t have a sister." She replied quietly, a sad tone in her voice. I’ll never see her again...oh God...I missed supper...even if I do get back, she’ll never speak to me again...

Warren was confused. "Yes you do – I’ve seen her and heard her on our video ca –" He stopped himself before he went any further. They had set up hidden video camera’s in the Summers’ house not too long ago, and as far as he could tell, nobody had found them yet.

 

"Forget about it. My sister is none of your business." Buffy snapped, seemingly not hearing what Warren had just confessed.

"Touché."

"Whatever." She grumbled, now in a bad mood. Turning to face the couch, she closed her eyes and forced herself to sleep. Anything was better than the reality she was in now, and she hoped to escape it by sleeping.

Trapped in the past with no one but this dork, she thought, yawning. And I can’t even kick his ass because I need him to get home. Maybe when I wake up in the morning, this’ll all be some kind of nightmare.

She sure hoped so.

 

To Be Continued...