LIST ONLY! Xav.... Er, Xander's School for Gifted Hunters. by voracity

Note: someone on Imaginings gave me this bunny.

Xav.... Er, Xander's School for Gifted Hunters.

Xander looked up, frowning at the song drifting down.

//Now it's time to say goodbye to all our company....//

"Your voice is still crap," he muttered.

//M..i...c...k...//

"I got the point!" he shouted. The voice quit. He huffed and shook his head. That meant he was right and he did have to do something heroically stupid. But first, he had to put some plans into order. He went to gather Spike for some help. If anyone could help him plot mayhem on the Powers That Be's plans, it was Spike.

The vampire looked at him. "I heard the voice," he said dryly. "She really can't sing."

"She wasn't that great making out in closets either. Had a dry mouth," Xander quipped. Spike gaped. "Yeah, that was Princess Cordelia of the land of snark." He sat down across from him. "But it means that I've got to make some plans."

"You think it means you're gonna die?"

Xander adjusted his eyepatch, giving him a pointed look. Spike moaned, shaking his head. "Yeah." He wrote out the barest of the plans, earning a dirty look. Xander stared at him. "Can we?"

"Of course. What's in it for me?"

"You can have a safe haven." He stared at him, getting a nod back. "Because." He wrote out something else, getting a moan and a head shake. "Yeah, that'll have to happen with what I know."

Spike nodded. "Heard a few of the visions."

"Yeah, probably nicer than me seeing them, Spike. Unless you really want to witness a mass invasion of LA?"

"No," he said, shaking himself. "Not really." He stood up. "Let's get to it then. We can have it stored outside of town in case."

"Oh, we need to move most everything out of town," Xander told him. Spike stared. Xander nodded. "Because it's going to suck."

"We can talk to the Watcher git into it," he decided, going to talk to him. "Watcher."

"Spike. Xander?"

"Vision," Xander said.

"Is it important right this moment?"

"Yeah. There won't be a Sunnydale as we know it when we're done." Xander leaned on the table. "It's going to compressively close the hellmouth for good."

Giles considered that for a moment. "Very well, I'll move things outside of town."

Xander smiled. "Me too." That got a nod. "I have not seen any outcome beyond that one for this one."

"There's more?" he demanded, looking horrified.

"Not this year."

"Oh, Dear Lord," he muttered. "Can you tell me?"

Xander winked. "After we're done with this one, Giles. Let things settle in first." Giles nodded, accepting that. He went to help Spike clean out all the nasty shit in Sunnydale. Every artifact that wasn't from the store. Every magic book, every other book, anything they could get their hands on. It was all going to the Midwest. He knew some people that might need it thanks to some online looking for the last few days. The first vision had made it clear that he needed to do something drastic to save his girls. So he would.

***

The night after Sunnydale fell in, Xander went trolling the demon bars. The slayers were still decompressing/whining at Angel/hanging out at the Hyperion. Xander knew he needed to find a few casual friends. He found the poker game he wanted and walked in, getting a lot of happy sounds. "You guys owe me kittens too?" he teased with a grin. They laughed and nodded. Xander sat down at a free table. "Hubert, gotta talk to you, my demonic man friend."

"I'll pay you tonight," he promised dryly.

"Not about the kittens you owe me." He stared at him then smirked evilly. The wish demon started to scratch, giving him a horrified look. "Vision and Cordelia both."

"Shit, man, you're screwed!"

"Yup. So I have a plan."

"That's even worse usually." The itching of a new wish was still going on, and it was only getting worse. "How detailed?" he sighed. Xander let him know what he had planned and what he'd do for it. The demon gave him an awed look because he *knew* Xander had a way around the tricky language he was using. That was so going to be an underground hit.

***

Xander drove up and parked in the area the email he had gotten back from that other hunter had told him to go to. He stared at the man waiting on him, getting out and sitting on the hood of his car. "Mr. Singer?"

"Yeah. Who are you anyway?"

"Xander Harris, formerly of Sunnydale's team."

The man stared at him. "I heard something about your town, kid."

Xander nodded. "Fighting the First Evil sucked ass."

The older man blinked a few times. "The what?" Xander got into the car and handed him the folder he had prepared. "What's all this?"

"I have an idea. Before you can ask, I made a deal, no soul contracts involved though. If the slayers would all live through the next six apocalypses, every last one, then I'd drop out of the Council. Because we need them all there for the sixth and the seventh. By the way, one of them is yours."

"You're a seer?" he demanded. Xander shifted his eye patch. "That's bleeding."

"It's only been three weeks. A scab probably burst open again," he sighed. "No, I didn't make a deal to have the visions either. The minion thought I'd need to see differently." He gave him a look. "That's my plan. I need a bit of help since I can't go near the Council."

"No soul contract?"

"No." He smirked. "See, I'm kinda a prophecy negator and I kinda screwed up a few for the Powers That Be so they worked. They kinda hate me." A slightly familiar figure showed up. "Aww, it's the Powers' messenger and balance demon. Hi, Whistler."

"This isn't quite what the deal spoke of, Harris."

"He's not Council."

"True. The Powers....."

Xander shrugged. "I don't care." He opened something and sucked the demon into it. He snapped it shut and put it into his pocket with a grin. "Some of us knew that was coming."

Bobby Singer stared at the young kid. "Okay, so you did what?"

"Backed up the slayer."

"I've barely heard of them."

"That's in there too." Bobby settled in to read it, giving him a few odd looks. Xander smirked. "Since I can't be Council, that doesn't mean I can't soothe my overly-tired of fighting and patrols ass by helping others."

"True," he said, nodding at that. "It's a sound plan. Why do you need help?"

"Well, three reasons." He wet his lips. "I only know of two places where I could set that up safely. Neither for sale from their militia members. I was hoping you knew of one I could perhaps sell some artifacts we looted from Sunnydale to buy?"

"I know someone who'll buy artifacts and I do know a few compound-like places for sale. None cheap." Xander pointed. "Inventory?" Xander smiled and nodded. He found that stapled together list and gaped in horror at the boy. "How in the hell?"

"They hid things for centuries on the hellmouth because the energy it was putting out masked everything. Some of that used to belong to the old Mayor, who did an ascension rite to become a pure demon for our graduation. Some of it belonged to vampires, the demon community we had, both peaceful and not, and some were just left abandoned in crypts. I'm interested in keeping most of the books, but I know some of them are hotly wanted by some sorts."

"That's probably dangerous." He got into the book list, groaning and moaning a bit. "Oh, damn, boy."

"Exactly." He grinned. "I was hoping you could help me with that portion of this task." The little cube rocked. "Shut up," he told it. "Or I'll mail you to Buffy for a pet." It settled down. He grinned. "Since I can't talk to the slayers anymore.... I was hoping that I could find a way to funnel information through the hunters back to them. It might help them see that normal people who hunt demons are called hunters, not just donut boy."

"Definitely," he agreed. "Power like that can corrupt."

"Especially when you're a teenage girl."

"True." He went back to it, smirking at the plans. It was well planned out. "Where are they?"

"Next town over. That supposed fire, it was a mage trying to get things and nothing burned. It's hidden. I've already shown the fire department that when they demanded."

"Caught you checking?"

"Yup."

"The mage?"

"Toasty."

"Even better. Chaos?"

"Nope. Supposedly a good guy." He gave him a look. "Another 'all the power is mine by right of being me' sort. I need to move it by tomorrow night if possible."

"I can arrange that. Can we look at it?"

"Yup, not a problem. The locals there know. They've had a few vamps too that I took care of."

"Even better. Dead man's blood?"

"Staking sorts. Sunnydale was almost all Aurelian lineage from the Master."

"I've heard about that," he said with a wince. "Heard you had to switch girls then too. I'm sorry about that."

Xander smirked. "That's one reason why the old Council hated me. I knew CPR. There were two. Now there's over two hundred."

"We need that many?"

Xander nodded. "We will a few times in the next decade, yeah. One of yours could use about fifty. Plus the Winchester boys. At least that's who I think they are based on the online profiles on that hunter's site run by demons."

"I've never seen that."

"I can show you." He smiled. "Not an issue. I'm all about sharing."

"Even better, kid. Let me make some calls?"

"Sure. I'm at the Super 8."

"Good deal." He watched the kid get into his car and drive off, then called. "We have information on what's going to happen to Sammy, Dean. No, a seer who made a deal to save some slayers. I'm nearly home. Drop in now." He hung up and went home to call his other contacts. He wanted those artifacts safely stored somewhere else or destroyed. The boy didn't seem to bothered by much but his remaining eye had looked tired. He clearly had some battle stress going on and needed the vacation from the hunting anyway. So this might just work out according to plan. He did need to do a background check on the kid too. Just in case something was up. It was a bit too convenient.

***

Xander walked around the run down campground area, nodding. "I like this," he decided quietly. He smiled at the realtor friend of Bobby's. "How low can I get it for?"

"They're asking $550,000."

Xander winced a bit but nodded. "How far out do our water rights go on the lake?"

"You have a mile of beach access to the lake and as far as I know as far as boating goes it's open." Xander nodded at that. "Were you going to keep it as a campground?"

"No. I'm going to be opening my own version of Xavier's School for Mutants," he said dryly, giving her a look. "I know a few people who need safe places to hide their kids."

"This could be very safe. It's thirty-five acres. It is set up as a campground but the old house up on the hill has a splendid view and only needs a bit of updating." Xander nodded at that. "How are you going to support it?"

"I might run a summer camp or three," he admitted. "That'll pay for the land taxes and upkeep. I have some money and I need a new project." She nodded at that. They walked back to where Bobby was waiting. "What do you think? A good place for my version of the X-Men school?"

Bobby smirked. "Definitely a good place for it, Harris." He looked around. "You going to keep the camping sites?"

"I might leave some up for hunting needs." He shrugged. "The house needs some work. We have the lake outside of boating."

"You have a stable for horse rentals if you wanted to do that," the realtor offered with a smile. "Plus the recreation area that has the pool and the tennis courts. You have a rudimentary driving range as well."

Xander nodded. "We can make this into something wonderful," he said quietly. He looked at Bobby again. "Think it's worth five and a half thou?"

"Probably for thirty-five acres. It's close to the highway too."

Xander nodded. "Okay, I can do that." Bobby had come through wonderfully with the artifact selling. He had more than enough money to retire here and do some nice things to the old house. Plus add on enough room for the school. He sat down to sign the papers. "Can I offer less?"

"You can," she said. "I'm not sure if there's other bids or not." She called the realtor over it, walking off talking to him. He wasn't sure about the hidden school idea but he knew some people needed to be security conscious and that was remote enough for that need. She came back. "It's been on the market now for almost a year, there are no bids currently."

"So five?" Xander suggested.

"Try five-thirty-five," she said. He nodded, letting her fill that in and then they went to the other realtor's office to submit it. He called them and they went to lunch together, Xander sketching out plans on the napkins for Bobby's amusement. She got an answer, they had accepted it. So Xander had a compound.

***

Xander got finished with the last problem at the house, and it was all done. He had to take down some of the camping areas soon but otherwise all he really needed to do was to fix the docks and start taking in hunting students. He called Dawn first, making her show up. He smiled. "Hi."

"Buffy's *way* pissed off at you," she said dryly. "She told me to have you explain yourself."

"I promised I could not tell anyone who was with the Council for the next six apocalypses."

She stared at him then texted that to her sister. She winced at what she got back. "What was the reward for you quitting us?" she asked, looking at him.

"You'd live."

"We would live?" Xander nodded. "The Powers?"

"No."

"Shit." He nodded with a smirk. "Okay." She looked around. "What're we doing with this huge old drafty house with a lake view and how did you afford this?"

"Spike helped me with the plans and an older hunter helped me with the rest." He grinned. "I plan on taking in some students who need to know how to hunt."

She gaped. "You're what?" she demanded. He nodded. "But... you're self-trained."

He snorted. "I know more than most people give me credit for and I can hire help."

"Oh!" She blinked and nodded. "Okay. So, the slayers that can't come to Cleveland yet...."

"If Giles pays for their food, yeah. Because they won't be Council yet."

"Huh." She stared at him. "Interesting." He grinned. "How big is it?"

"Thirty five acres."

"Wow." She sighed but nodded. "I might not mind."

"It's going to be safe even for apocalypses."

"Even better." She looked around again. "The hunters you've been talking to?"

"Older hunters are often paranoid, that's why they lived so long," he told her. "But we'll also have a kick ass medical center when I'm done. So they can maybe stay for a bit while healing."

"That's not a bad idea. I'll float it to Buffy and Giles." She gave him a hug. "Be safe, please?"

He nodded. "I will. I won't be here tonight by the way."

"That's cool. I'll email." She grinned and went back home, jogging to Giles' office, where Buffy was pacing. "He can't talk to anyone Council for the next six apocalypses." Buffy stared at her. "So we'd live."

She sat down, sighing. "I heard something about a deal."

"Yeah. Apparently it's going to be bad. But...." She grinned. "He's starting a school for kids who need to learn how to hunt. Including roaming hunter sorts who need to rest due to injuries and things."

"That's not a bad idea," Giles said.

"He said if you paid upkeep he could see taking in the younger slayers too because they weren't Council yet."

He smiled. "That may be a good deal for everyone. Six apocalypses?" Dawn nodded. "Hmm. I wonder which ones."

"He can't tell us," Buffy reminded him.

"I have the feeling he can tell those hunters who could tell us," Dawn said.

"That's true," Buffy said. She smiled. "He's thinking tactically."

"Again," Giles agreed. "Was it pretty?"

"It's real pretty and quiet and has a lake."

"My. That's actually a nice thing. I wonder how he afforded it."

"He said he and Spike had a plan."

Buffy held up a hand. "That means they probably looted," she said dryly. She rolled her eyes. "So he can't talk directly to us?" Dawn shook her head. "I want to know more about this deal."

"Have Angel ask around."

She called LA to talk to them. They might have heard. Plus Angel needed somewhere to stuff Connor now and then. Like she did Dawn.

***

Xander walked into the Roadhouse bar, smiling at the woman behind the bar. "Ma'am."

"I haven't seen you before. You lost?" she asked dryly.

"No, I'm a Xander. I know what I'm doing." She gaped. "Talked to Mr. Singer?"

"I have," she said, staring at him. "Where did you set up?" He handed over the information sheet he had. She looked it over. "So for short term?"

"Or for longer if they wanted somewhere safe for school. It'll also be open for injured hunters to stop over and heal at, as long as they're willing to help teach now and then. Each of you has a speciality and knowledge the kids could use. The same as the mini-slayers will need it some day."

She looked at him. "Mini slayers? You know about slayers?"

"I backed up Buffy for years."

"You're not Angel."

"No, I'm still Xander." He smirked. "Depending on who you asked I'm either tragically normal or I'm the thing that made plans go right by being a demon magnet or I'm the one that backed everyone up even when they didn't see it. And now I have visions on top of it."

She nodded. "That's a hard thing to live with."

"Yeah but the deal to save the slayers for the major bad apocalypse let me have some time to regroup."

"Soul deal?" she asked.

"Nope. Retired for six apocalypses." He smirked. "But I can't talk to them directly."

"I heard that from Bobby. That's actually nicer than some deals."

"The demon I called on owed me about fifty kittens from a poker game," he said with a grin. She gaped. "We had a high concentration of peaceful demons in Sunnydale."

"There's peaceful ones?"

"Yeah, who don't possess anyone."

"Prove it!" He got into his phone, finding that website to show her. She read it over, moaning. She looked at him. "Why don't we see them?"

"Because you don't want to and if they hear about hunters being around, they hide like the hounds of hell are on them," he said bluntly. "But they're also some of the most helpful beings who mostly just want to live in peace. There's some that aren't.... but then again, that's what a slayer does. That and apocalypses."

She handed the phone back. "I'll look into that site." He wrote down the address for her. "When do you think you'll let people camp?"

"I renovated the huge old house and added a dorm for the kids. I'm working on upping the medical center for more than simple injuries at the moment. As for camping, I haven't touched anything yet. I figure we can have the school part up and running within a few months. There's plenty of home schooling systems so we can go on that basis and add in Latin, other languages, some demon languages, some self-defense training if I can find someone to do that, and other skills like weapons maintenance and things."

"So basically what we'd teach the kids but they'd be safer."

Xander smiled and nodded. "I've got all but three higher ups to leave the compound totally alone. Those three I don't know well enough to talk to and one's a fucker anyway that I'm going to shoot on sight before it can cause an apocalypse. The other two... They're being snobs and don't usually bother humans. Mr. Singer made sure the protections around the boundaries are solid and the ones in the water are carved, not painted on, so they can't be broken. That way we have a safe boundary system."

She nodded. "Sounds like it'll be helpful. I can pass that information on."

"Thank you, Mrs. Harvelle. That's what I wanted to ask you for." He grinned. "Also, you can tell them that I do have the library all sorted and set up if they wanted to come see. Mr. Singer moaned for days over my book collection."

She smiled. "He does like to research and I'll let our others know that." She stared at him. "How're you going to pass on visions if you can't talk to them?"

"I can talk to you guys," he said with a grin. "And others who aren't Council. Including the LA team."

She smirked. "That's a good way around it."

Xander nodded. "Basically." He stood up straighter. "Can I have a coke for the road? I'm only three hours from here." He put down a dollar. She handed one over. "Thank you, ma'am. If you need me, my number's on there and I'll gladly help where I can. I'm still retraining to do things without the eye but I'm compensating pretty well so far." He smiled as he walked out.

She called Bobby. "You sent that young one at me?" He told her what was going on. "It looks sound. He straight and safe, all that?" He read her the information in his profile on that hunter's site. "Where did you find that?" She wrote down that address. "I'll have Ash look. Yeah, just left after handing me a flyer. Thanks, Bobby. Let me know." She hung up and went to talk to her renter, who was a hacker. "I just had an amusing run-in with someone."

"Who?"

"Xander Harris."

He choked and spluttered. "The White Knight of Sunnydale?" he demanded. "What's he doing out here instead of Cleveland?" She handed him the flyer. He looked and moaned. "I heard about a deal to save the slayers." He got onto a site that she didn't know about. "This is run by some of the wish demons." He let her see it.

She read the deal and nodded. "It's painful for him but a good thing I guess."

He smirked. "If he can handle some of the bouncy young things, it might help."

"It might. He said we can go there when injured too."

"That might help even more." He got into the sites she had written on the back, letting her see them. She moaned at the hunter information site. "Looks like it is run by lesser demons." He ran a hand through his mullet to straighten it out. "Some of those that're from other realms and things."

"Are they dangerous?"

"Not that we've heard. Most of us don't run into them. That's a slayer job." He let her see that information site as well. She sat down to read up on things she hadn't heard of. Maybe him being out of the Council would be good. He was like a herald of new information they hadn't had before. And visions.

***

Xander finished his sign when he heard the doorbell, walking out there to hang it up. 'Knock, walk in, and yell because I'm halfway across the building' made perfect sense to him. "Sam, Dean," he said with a grin. Dean opened his mouth. "Vision, Dean."

"Okay," he said. "You know what's going to happen?"

"Yeah, I do, and you're fucked if he gets your baby brother." He stared at Sam then grinned. "I've got it written down and you guys are more than welcome to the library. When we get kids here, if you want to stay over I would ask that you teach at least a bit of what you know to them."

"I can agree with that," Sam said with a grin. "Library? Copy of the vision?"

"Library," he said with a point. "Second floor, to the right, all the books. Vision book is the black bound red one on the second shelf beside the doorway behind the small desk."

They nodded and walked that way. "Any fees for camping?" Dean asked.

"No. And there's room in the house if you guys wanted to camp inside for a bit. It's kinda echoing in here by myself sometimes. I've got to fix the boat dock and then the kitchen cabinets if you need me." He walked off.

Dean nodded, watching him go. "He's a bit weird," he muttered.

"He's just off a major apocalypse where he lost his former fiancee," Sam said quietly. "This is his retirement."

"I can understand that." They followed the skimpy directions to the library, making Sam moan when they walked in. "Damn," Dean said in awe. "That's a lot of books." He spotted the desk and found the vision book so they could look at it. The first didn't have much information but as they moved on, they had some repetitive visions. Some with more information and some with less. "That description sounds familiar." They sat down with their journal, their dad's journal, and the vision book to see if there's new clues.

Sam stared at one symbol on the page. "That's... I've seen that when I was researching Druid history a few months back." He got up and went to look, figuring out the classification system easily enough. He found the book he needed, which wasn't surprising since he'd seen Stanford's library be half this one's size, and came back with it. "Here we go. We have a name," he said, putting it down in front of Dean. "The mark of Azazel. He had tried to get some Druids to worship him and they wouldn't so he destroyed them. One of the survivors wrote it down."

Dean read over that mark's notes then looked around. "Think we can find anything on him in here?" Sam nodded, taking him to where the demonology books were on the higher demons. They were next to the classification section. "The library's laid out in a normal, sensible fashion at least."

"Some of the bookcases are marked too," Sam told him with a grin. They got down to it, Sam having to find a translation guide for one of the languages but that was fine for now. When Xander came in with plates they just smirked at him.

"You have to eat sometime or you'll never be strong enough to blow up that headstone." He shrugged. "I'd do that soon by the way. Because I had one earlier of that nice Mrs. Harvelle's bar blowing up."

"Shit," Dean muttered, calling her. "Jo, Dean Winchester. Harris had a vision of an explosion in the bar. Yes, your bar. When, Harris?"

"Right before the demon takes Sam."

"Within weeks, Jo." He read off the description of the keystone to her. "Have someone blow that sucker up tonight."

Xander pointed. "It's eighteen miles that way if you go cross country. Unfortunately no road." He looked at the book then went to get a better translation guide. "The one I learned it from. Outside of verbs it's much easier. It doesn't always have the conjugation tables. I'll be in the kitchen if you need me." He went that way with a grin.

"I still say he's a little bit creepy," Dean muttered.

Sam shrugged. "So are we sometimes, Dean." He got back to it with the new guide. That did help a lot more. He finished translating that section they needed and let him see it. Dean muttered, hanging up to read it better. "So we're screwed."

Dean looked at him. "Is there any way to detox that shit from you?"

Sam shrugged. "I don't even know who to ask. Xander?" he called.

Xander leaned in a minute later. "What's up?"

"Do you have anything on how to detox higher demon blood when it's given as a baby?"

"Detoxing blood that gave you powers. They used it when I got exposed to mermaid taint." He came in to look. "No, Giles still has that book in Cleveland." He came back to write down the number. "Dawn's phone. She's Buffy's little sister and I can't talk directly to anyone who's Council. She's still too young." He grinned.

"Thanks, man," Dean said.

"I don't want what I saw happened to happen, Dean. Even if that angel is kinda weird yet nice." He shrugged. "Call Dawn, she's a massive researcher too. She grew up doing it." Dean nodded, calling her directly. He and Sam talked while Xander went back to making his own burger and fries. He had some plans to put into motion for the educational stuff. They'd be showing up soon. Cordelia had promised so he wouldn't be bored and get into trouble for the Powers.

Though he still hadn't given back the Powers' balance demon. The capturing cube was still on his desk. He sat on a counter in there to nibble on his dinner. The guys might be more friendly the next time they showed up. Right now they were in pre-apocalypse mode. He walked out and went up there, flipping to a page in the vision book and giving Sam a pointed look. Then he walked off again to finish his dinner.

Sam read and went pale. "He foresaw a demon invasion in downtown LA in May, Dean."

"Excuse me?" he demanded, taking it. Dawn was demanding answers too so he read it to her. That was an 'oh hell no' situation if there ever was one. He and Sam copied down the other visions it contained and they promised to give her copies when they got to Cleveland in a few days. They went to tell Xander they were going to camp, getting tossed keys. "You sure?" Dean asked.

Xander nodded. "It's too quiet here so far. Have a room, Dean. That way you're not on your backseat. That's a double room in the dorms."

"Thanks, Harris." He took Sam to camp for the night. It had running water that ran blissfully hot. It had nice, soft, clean smelling beds. It was *so* much better than the usual cheap motel. Xander didn't come anywhere near their rooms all night and it was safe, which was a blessing at times.

***

Dean knocked and was let into the slayer house by a young girl. "Hey, is Dawn here?"

"Are you her date?" she asked with a grin.

"No, I'm a hunter and we talked the other night. She's looking stuff up for us."

"Oh." She pouted. "Dawn, you have a hunter here," she called. "He's not a date." Sam walked in and shut the door behind himself. "Are you her date?"

"No, sorry," he said with a grin. "She sounds nice though." She smiled and went to tell the others there were cute guys in the building so they could stare in awe. Buffy never dated anything that cute.

Buffy and Dawn walked out with Willow behind them. "Hey, guys," Dawn said with a smile, shaking hands. "Which is which?"

"I'm Dean, that's Sam," Dean said with a smile. "How complicated is it?"

"Not very at all. We used it on Xander when he got exposed to mermaid taint. We got all but a few drops out of him so we should be able to weed most everything out of Sam." She took them to the working area Willow was setting up. Buffy and Dean were talking about the visions Xander had. She read over the copies and moaned, handing them to Giles. Who moaned and walked off to find information. Dawn smirked. "So maybe this deal of Xander's to save all of us will help."

"Maybe," Dean agreed. "I can see why he did it to save all the slayers."

Dawn stared at him. "You know exactly what it was."

"It was on a wish demon site another hunter found," Sam said.

"I so need that site," Dawn said. "Got an email address for him?" Sam texted him and got one back. He let her see the address. She smiled and wrote it down for future reference.

"Any idea why he had a rocking, complaining little silver cube?" Dean asked Buffy.

She considered that. "About poolball sized?" He nodded. "Yeah, that's to capture a demon. Giles used to have it in the shop but Anya bought it so it was probably in her stuff." She shook her head quickly. "Whatever's in it, I'm not real sure."

"What's his name that comes down from the Powers to give you bad choices," Dawn said.

"Whistler?" Buffy asked.

"Yes, and we want the asshole back," Cordelia's voice floated over them. "Today! Or else I'm *so* going to make Xander miserable enough to think we're dating again."

"Sure," Buffy called, waving slightly with a grin. "I'll let the people who can still talk to him tell him, Cordy." She looked at Dean with a manic grin. "Cordelia, one of my former slayerettes and Xander's former girlfriend, who is now the messenger for the Powers That Be."

"Cranky," Dawn added with a grin. "At least today."

Dean called Xander's phone. "Someone named Cordy just told Buffy to tell you to release Whistler?" He nodded once then hung up. "He said no," he said bluntly. "Because the Powers sent him to screw something up which would weaken the slayers during the invasion. He can be let go of after that."

She smirked at him. "That's good to know." She walked off to tell Giles that. They really needed to know more about this invasion thingy. She came back. "Six apocalypses?"

"Yeah, from what the site said," Dean said. "Why?"

"Because some fights are tragically bad but apocalypses always have a prophecy. Is yours one or not?"

"Yeah, it is," Sam said quietly. "He told me that before we left."

She nodded. "Okay, so we have five more without him."

"He said you all needed to be here for the sixth and the seventh," Dean told her.

"Even better to know." She went to find out what they were. Because this was a bit creepy from Xander. He was so getting spanked when she could talk to him again.

Dean looked at Sam. "Will this hurt him a lot?"

"Little bit from what Xander said," Willow said with a small grin. "It'll be fine, Dean. We'll do what we can to help Sam." He nodded, sitting down to watch how it went. The witches that came in to help were scarily strong but effective.

Dawn looked at him at the end. "He's maybe got two left," she told them. "Enough so he could call you but not enough for that freaky power shit that was in the later visions. Even if you're infected with more. Also, we changed the nature of them to something from a harmless demon race first. So the ones that're left aren't his marking." Sam and Dean both smirked at that. "If you guys need explosives for that keystone thingy, let us know?"

"Sure," Dean promised. "If we can't find any."

"Xander has recipes for all sorts of explosives," Willow said with a small shrug. "We didn't think it was that useful in Sunnydale."

Dean and Sam shared a look. They were finding more and more uses for Xander. Clearly that was a girl issue. Since only Sam acted like a girl.... They might have a new friend.

***

Xander heard the doorbell and jogged out. "Coming!" he yelled. He finally made it there with a grin and a pant. "Sorry, was out back." He smiled. "Welcome to Xander's House." He let them inside. They had passed the wards so they weren't undead. "Hi, pumpkin," he said, smiling at the little kid.

"I'm not a pumpkin, I'm not orange. I'm a princess."

"Sure, you can be a princess. I've met a few of those." He grinned at the parent. "Needing a place to stay for a few hours?"

"Yes, Mr. Harris. Can we impose?"

"Sure. No one else is here right now." He let them in and walked them off. "The library's up there," he said with a point at the doorway. "The kitchen is back here. I'll let you guys use the dorms since I'm up in my suite on the third floor. You can swim in the lake or whatever you want." The parent smiled. "Need medical?"

"No, I'm good. We just got done with a hunt; I'm exhausted and there's no motels anywhere near here."

"I understand fully." He let them into the dorms, pointing. "Those are generally for the younger kids and have twin size beds. The ones on the other hall have two doubles." She smiled and took one of those. "Let me know if you need anything. The kitchen's a pick it for yourself tonight since I need to get groceries if we want more than canned or frozen stuff. That was the door with the red handle."

"I can cook," she offered.

Xander beamed. "I'm not great but if you want to I wouldn't mind." He showed her the kitchen, earning an appreciative look. "Let me know if you need stuff. I'll be in the office, which is down here and third door up from the main door." He left them alone.

The mother looked down at her daughter. "He's very hyper," her daughter said.

"Some people are," she agreed. "Thankfully you're not or we'd never get any traveling done." Xander walked in with a book and held it up. "You know Summerian?"

He smiled. "Yeah, I can read it. If you want I can teach her a bit tonight."

She shrugged. "Sure, why not, it may come in handy some day." She got to work on dinner while Xander sat in there with her and the daughter to go over the first few lessons. She seemed to like it so maybe she'd get the books she needed from Bobby Singer to teach her Latin soon. "So, this school thing, how's it going to work?"

"Well, for the mandatory stuff, there's a good home schooling curriculum here in this state." She nodded at that. "So as long as they can pass the tests it's all right. As for the languages, I can teach some, whoever's here can teach whatever they know. Same with self defense, weapons work, and hunting classifications." She looked at him. "I worked with a slayer."

"Oh, you knew those British assholes," she said dryly. "They always said there were more demons than we knew."

"Yeah, there's over a thousand species. Over six hundred lived in Sunnydale." She dropped the fork she was using to scramble eggs. Xander grinned and nodded. "All but fifty or so of them were peaceful. They emigrated here or they were born here but most of them just wanted to raise a family. The ones that gave us problems we handled. The same as there's something like fifteen different species of vampires, and six of those break down into family clans for traits and magical gifts." She whimpered. He nodded. "I have a complete set of the classification manuals in the library, except for the two Mr. Singer checked out."

"We never see them."

"Most of you wouldn't hesitate," he said quietly. "Even if they're only being the gardener. They hide from you guys like there's no tomorrow. In Sunnydale they were more open because the hellmouth covered a lot and no one really noticed anything strange about anything. We carried swords and axes around town a number of times and they just smiled and waved." He grinned at the little girl. "Some of them even play kitten poker," he told her. Her mother moaned, shaking her head. "We got a lot of information from the poker circuit." He looked at her again with a grin. "I'm used to so much worse than just a ghost here and there. We didn't have too many spirit manifestations but I can name the twelve best ways to get a vamp that you can stake."

She shuddered. "That's just strange."

"I know." He smiled. "Which is why any hunters camping over or using the medical facilities or whatever, can teach a day or so while they're here. That way the kids learn what they know that others might not know. The same as I'll be teaching a class on artillery. One on battle planning, one on military mindset if the kids want it. I got possessed by a PFC back in high school."

She groaned, shaking her head. "That's just...bad."

"It was a chaos sorcerer's thing for halloween," he quipped with a grin. She picked up the fork and cleaned up the mess it made then got another one out to go back to her mixing. "Thank you for cooking dinner."

"It's not a problem." She smiled at her daughter. "She's got to eat anyway." She poured the egg mix in and came over to help her daughter learn her first few language lessons. It was still pretty cool to her at her age.

***

Xander opened the door for Ellen Harvelle, letting her inside. "Hi, Mrs. Harvelle."

"Xander." She looked around. "You need to dust."

"I need to see if there's a demonic version of house elves," he told her.

She gave him a look. "Demonic?"

"Well I don't think there's any that've escaped from any realm they might be in but a lot of popular fiction's odd characters are actually demons. I found the troll from the stories, the ones that live under the bridge, living in cliffs in Sunnydale."

She shook her head quickly. "You guys were nuts out there."

"Only in the spring. That's apocalypse season."

"I don't want to know. How are we doing with the set up?"

"I have curriculum set up, I have the lessons I can teach." He led her to the office to show her what he had. "I'm not the best at fighting, I learned on the job as it was. I can do a pretty mean bit of sword and axe work. I know a lot about guns. I know a good bit about knives." She smiled at that. "I figure I can lean on any visiting hunters to teach other things."

"Dean said you knew explosives."

He got up and led her up to a locked room. "Our forbidden section outside of apocalypses." He opened the door and turned on the light, letting her inside. "That cabinet has explosive recipes. The one next to it has various bomb plans. The next two have plans for various pieces of artillery." He looked at her. "The three bookcases have the dangerous magical texts. Not the ones you can research in but the blood magic rites for power raising and summoning, those things."

"You keep others in the general library?"

"How can you learn to counter them if you can't look them up?"

"Do you know many witches?"

"Yes. I'm also a slight authority on the subject of magic addiction." He gave her a pointed look. "We had one witch that had that problem. She's healing still but she's better."

"We usually burn those sort."

"Even if they're born with their gift, if it's a bloodline gift?"

"Well, no, but those sort don't cause problems."

"Actually, one of the witches we kinda worked with now and then did. She was a bloodline gifted witch who went dark." He turned off the lights and closed the door, locking it again. "Then again we were never sure why Willow had any gifts and she's the strongest we've ever heard of. She had her dark time due to grief and overuse and is healing. Amy, the first one, went full blown black magic addict. Went to a dealer and all that. She's the one that got Willow hooked."

"We've never even heard about that sort of thing."

Xander nodded, leading her to the library, finding the book he wanted and pulling it down to show her. "This is from the Devon Coven, the higher up witches that the old Council trusted. The book's on the different classifications of gifts and how they've been misused in some stunning examples. Plus how the darker paths have actually been used for helpful reasons now and then. Any gift is a double-edged sword."

"That's very wise."

"I got it when Willow tried to kill me for stopping her suicidal intent for the earth in her grief." She gaped. He nodded. "She went to Devon and is still healing but she's back on the side of the light."

"What happened?"

"Her girlfriend was shot right next to her. She had been cleaning up from her addiction and then that happened so she went full blown junkie and sucked up all the black magic she could. She was going to end everyone to make them all feel the pain she did. I stopped her and they sent her to Devon to get her right with the universe. She's now back firmly on the light side but we're still watching over her shoulder."

"I can't say as I've ever had that level of grief but I have seen others. Especially among hunters."

Xander nodded. "I stepped in because they took a friend."

"Wow." She let him lead her back to the office. "So you're all set up?"

"Yup, short of students and a few others. Though I have talked to the social worker that works with the Council, since so many of the girls' parents got taken out by the First's minions, and she's agreed I can take in kids who have been hurt by the demonic if they want to learn how to hunt."

"That's a pretty slippery slope."

"Even if they know what's going on, it won't mean they'll be hunting. It'll mean they're better protected in case it happens around them and they know how to call it in or handle it if it's an emergency."

"True." She looked around the office. "Dean said you keep a log of all your visions?"

"Yeah, it's in the library." He smiled. "Since I can't talk to the Council directly...."

"Him copying them was handy," she said. He grinned and nodded. "This invasion?"

"Massively horrible?" He sighed and pulled out something from his bottom drawer, handing it over. "Everything I've found out about the group doing it. We have very little hope of stopping them beforehand. LA is going to be an all-hands plus agents situation. We'll miss some just because we'll be overrun for the first few minutes."

She read it over, shuddering a few times. "Okay," she said, looking at him. "I can pass this around."

"You might have them do a secondary ring. That way they don't get too far past the actual battle." He pulled up a map on the computer, pointing. "This and this area are the only two stable places they can put a portal that huge in LA. We're betting on this one since I saw the Wolfram and Hart building." He let her see the map. "The slayers would usually line up down this main street and handle it with the others backing them up. And there will be peaceful demons who will come out to help."

"I'll pass that around." She pointed. "There's a few side streets."

"Which we think the agents would have to start on if they didn't jump into the back side of the battle to make their way forward. I have no idea if they're going to think about alleys, side streets, fire escapes and leaping from building to building, using the power lines, any of that." She nodded. "Now, if the hunters wanted to cover that area and the area behind the building, in case some run that way, which is what I'd do instead of trying to make it through the whole group, then that might be really helpful."

She nodded. "I know a few have been warned and are going." He nodded at that, grinning some. "You can't?"

"No. I can't."

"Part of the deal?"

"I'd be working with the Council. Even if I'm not anywhere near them."

"Got it." She smiled. "That was a tricky deal." He handed over something. She went totally pale, she knew she did. "When's this?"

"The seventh. The sixth is just about as bad. Did Dean and Sam solve theirs?"

"Yeah, we got that one stopped."

"That was the first down. An apocalypse has a prophecy about it. There'll be some bad battles between but a true apocalypse has to have a prophecy by the definition."

She smirked. "When is this?"

"Within five years. It's a bit floating. Something in the third going off will set that one off."

She nodded. "Okay." She smiled at him. "I'll pass that around and back." She stood up. "I'll come check when you have some kids here and work out all the little things."

"If you want, you can house any kids of hunters here when they're going to LA. Send me someone to watch over me if they're paranoid. Which I know all hunters are, especially the older ones. That's how they survived so long."

"I'll pass that around and see if I can get a former hunter to come help." She shook his hand and left, going to call a conference at the bar. Dean and Sam were there when she got back. "Yours was the first out of the six, boys."

"Thank God it's mostly solved," Sam muttered. She gave him a dirty look. "He might try to call me but we know how to kill him now."

"Good!" She put information down, handing Dean that one sheet. "The seventh one."

He read it and shuddered. "Oh, damn." He walked into the office to fax that to Dawn in Cleveland with a note on the bottom about it being the seventh apocalypse in the deal. She sent back a swear and a thank you. He came out. "They said thank you." Other hunters were showing up.

Ellen banged something heavy on the bar. "Guys, I've got information from a seer about LA's upcoming apocalypse. They're going to need us and the slayers plus half the government." She laid things out. "This is who's doing it. He doesn't think we can stop it beforehand." They came over to look and talk over it.

Dean pointed. "Can they run behind the building?"

"He thought someone should be on guard there," Ellen agreed. "Also that the agents might not take side streets into account. He did want us to set up at least a secondary ring so any that got through the slayers didn't get through us." They all nodded, setting positions and picking teams for each area that needed one, plus who could handle the main battle force if necessary.

"Guns?" Dean asked. "I know the slayers prefer blades."

She looked at the information. "Blow their heads off. Have to be beheaded." That got a few groans and calls made to the hunting arms suppliers. "Peter, I want your father to sit with Harris. He's setting up a safe place and school for kids of hunters and those who need or want to learn. Like the future slayers." He nodded at that, calling home to tell him that.
His father was missing a leg but still had plenty of fire for the duty. "Where?"

"'Bout three hours from here," Bobby said with a grin. "You know that campground with the lake?" They all nodded, some smirking. "Kid had me sell some artifacts, nasty bad ones at that, to buy it. He's added on stuff to the old house and said we can camp and things. If we're there for medical, he'd expect us to help teach at least something to the kids when we're local." That got a few nods and a few smiles from the parents.

"He's a geek," Sam said with a grin. "He's also off the Sunnydale team."

"He made a deal," one said.

"To let the slayers live through the next six apocalypses," Dean said, handing over that first note. "Because that's coming seventh. In return, he quit the hunting business and can't talk to the Council at all. No soul clause." They all smirked at that. It was a bit tricky.

"Most demons would've asked for a soul," Ellen admitted. "Any idea why, Dean?"

Sam snickered. "He said the one he made it with owed him a poker debt. Apparently they used the demonic poker circuit to get information in Sunnydale." Most of the hunters laughed at that. That made a lot of sense to them.

"I ran into something orange the other day and had to swear about not being able to find the witch that did it to him," one of the female hunters said.

Dean looked at her. "The Council recognizes a lot of demonic species that aren't like the possessing sort we deal with. The full classification manuals are about fifteen books."

Bobby nodded. "I'm checking them out two at a time to make notes from them. Half of the books are still in Latin. One was in Summerian."

"Harris can read that," one woman said. "I stopped there one night to see what was going on and we talked, then he taught my daughter her first lessons in Summerian. Bobby, can I get the Latin beginning lessons soon?"

"Sure," he agreed with a smile. "Never too young to start. Let me get home." She nodded at that. He looked at Ellen. "The Council also recognizes that some of them have their own languages. He's got translation manuals on about thirty of them."

"Wonderful," she said. "We can go study?"

"Yeah, he said library's open to hunters."

"Even better." She nodded. "Jo, you're going with Peter's dad to help with any kids that show up there," she said when she spotted her daughter.

"Fine."

"Thank you." She got the beers being requested and handed them out. The hunters had to handle some of this duty. The Council was full of young girls, even if they were slayers.

***

Xander walked out, smiling at the parent pulling up. "Hey, welcome to my version of the X-Men school," he joked, shaking the hunter's hand. "I'm Xander."

"I'm Bob." He looked around. "Nice job restoring this old wreck."

Xander grinned. "I worked construction for a few years. How many are coming to be safe here?"

"Sixteen that I know of." Bob looked at him. "You think you can handle it?"

"Before we left Sunnydale I was in a house with thirteen teenage girls. And one bathroom." Bob laughed at that. "C'mon, I'll show you around." He walked him inside, going slowly enough for his limp to keep up. He showed him everything and told him what he still needed a teacher to fill in for, getting a nod for that. It was going to work.

Xander introduced him to the harmless demon who had hired on to cook, earning a shocked look but the demon burbled at him about her children and grandchildren moving away so she was bored. Then she fed them lunch. He was careful but admitted she was a pretty good cook. They settled in the library to go over things he had to still do. Bob had trained his own sons and taken in a few younger hunters who had their parents killed. He knew how to train and what they needed to know first.

***

Xander finished checking the pool's pH, standing up to look around. "It's all ready," he decided, walking back up to the house. "Hey," he said when he saw Ellen and a younger woman who had to be related to her. "Hi, Xander Harris," he said with a smile.

She shook his hand. "Jo Harvelle. Mom said I had to come help you with the kids."

"That's cool." He led them into the office. "Bob, Jo and Ellen Harvelle are here," he called. He came out of the kitchen with some coffee. "She make a new pot?"

"Yup. You do the pool?"

"Yeah it's all set up and the ropes are in the lake for the safe swimming area, plus I finally finished fixing the dock for fishing and things." He grinned. "That way the kids aren't bored after lessons. We can go over the basics of stuff with them."

"That'll work," Ellen agreed. She handed Bob a list. "That's who's definitely dropping off."

"That's fine." He read it over. "Patty's particular but not that picky."

"Patty will want her kids to work on mundane skills."

Xander nodded. "That's fine. I didn't figure we'd be running self defense lessons this time." Ellen smiled at that. "If they have their school books they can study up in the library or in the classrooms. They can hang at the pool during certain hours so we make sure we have a lifeguard on duty or the lake."

"I can do that," Jo promised.

"Cool."

"The kitchen?" Ellen asked.

"Mabel is cooking," Bob told her. "She's from a harmless clan and had her entire family decide to live on a safer realm. She's a great cook, has a bit of a dirty mind, and pinches Xander on the butt now and then."

Xander nodded. "She thinks I'm still cute. Which I need to hear now and then." Jo gaped. He grinned. "Mabel?" he called. She walked in a minute later. "Mabel, this is Jo Harvelle, she'll be with us during the apocalypse in LA to help with the kids. This is her mom, Ellen. She runs the Roadhouse."

"Ma'am," she said, smiling and shaking Ellen's hand. "My son-in-law said you kept a very tidy bar and had a firm hand so no one got into too much trouble the night he wandered in there by accident, plus that none of the hunters bothered him."

She smirked. "I don't get many non-hunters. About six months ago?" Mabel nodded with a smile. "I remember him. He was a decent boy, didn't cause any problems and hid in a corner when he realized the bar was full of hunters." Mabel smiled at that. "Some hunters...."

"I know but I've never harmed more than the chickens out in back of my former house in my life. Those were food. And good food, but I'd never harm a human. We only eat birds."

"Okay, I can pass that around."

"I have," Bob assured her with a grin. "She's a great cook, Ellen."

"That's fine. I'll try to ease any worries." Mabel grinned and nodded, leaving them alone. She looked at Xander. "Any other helpers?"

"Not yet but there's a retired doctor and nurse who live up the road a bit who said they'd show up if we needed them to. If it's something bigger than I can handle."

"That's fine. You may get a few who stop here on the way back to nurse their injuries in quiet."

"All the camping spots are still up and we have rooms if they need them in the dorm," Xander assured her. "I remember post-apocalypse clean up *real* well."

"Good." She looked at her daughter. "Help where you can." She patted her on the arm. "I'm leaving for LA tonight. Most of the others are passing this way pretty soon. Bobby gave everyone maps." Xander grinned and nodded. "Plus bragged about the library. Will any of them want their things back?"

"No. They left them in Sunnydale." He shrugged. "Even if they lived, they'd think they were sucked into hell when the town was."

"Good point." She left, going to start her long drive.

Bob looked at Jo. "C'mon, I'll show you the dorms, get you settled." She grabbed her bag and followed him. "Xander's a bit bouncy. This is the first one he's sat out of," he said quietly as they walked off.

"I can understand that. I know why he made the deal and it made sense to most of us. Especially since he's missing an eye."

"He was in his last battle without it. Few weeks after losing it actually." She shuddered. "We'll handle it like always." He let her into a hallway. "This is the girls' side. House mother's room is on the left," he said with a point. "You can take up in there. Washer's downstairs." He opened that door. "There's also a common room for the kids to hang out together with an opening to the emergency bunker if necessary." She nodded, settling in. He walked her off to show her around. That way she knew where the pool and the lake were. Plus the hiking trails. The kids would have plenty to do while their parents fought this time.

***

Xander got a call and agreed to meet the person then called to Bob. "I've got to pick up someone at the airport."

"Someone injured?"

"The social worker for the Council wanted us to handle the little sister of a slayer. Their parents are gone and the sister is only fifteen but she's fully active. They don't think it's safe for her sister to be in Cleveland." He smiled. "I'll be back in an hour. Do I need to pick up anything?"

"No, not that I know of." Xander nodded and left. Bob went to tell Jo that. She had the kids in the pool. "Jo, we're getting our first full timer."

"That's fine. Who?"

"The little sister of a slayer."

"That's a hard job," she said. "Beth, I said to quit drowning your brother," she called. "You know your mother will let me paddle your ass." She quit trying to drown her little brother and got back to playing. She smiled at Bob, who snickered. "He picking her up?"

"Yup. So it'll probably be an hour or so." She nodded and went back to watching the little future hunting heathens. The twenty kids weren't being so bad right now. They settled in to do their homework when Xander told them to and all that. They had all stared at Mabel but she was used to it and taught them how to make lunch and cookies since they were all staring.

***

Xander met the social worker, smiling and shaking her hand. "Thank you."

"You're welcome, Xander, and this is an important job that needed to be filled in." She pulled the child closer. "This is Tabitha."

"Hey, Tabitha. I'm Xander." He shook her hand.

"What do you know about this shit?" she asked.

Xander smirked. "I worked with Buffy since I was sixteen and so was she." She gaped. "I had to retire to save some of the slayers so I'm setting up a place that's safe, where you can learn to do what you need to if you want to help her, and if not you know enough to go to college later."

She considered it. "You're not like the usual foster parents."

"No, not hardly," he said dryly. "Right now we have a few kids from hunting families in because of the sitch in LA."

"That's cool." She looked at the social worker. "He's good?"

"He's very good. He'd never hurt you. He hunted for seven years," she said quietly.

She nodded at that. "Then we can try it."

"Cool. Bags?"

"Two," the social worker said, handing over the slips. Xander grinned, signing the paperwork and took her troublesome little case off her hands. She went back to Cleveland.

Xander looked at her. "I'm not strict. There's phones so you can call her all you want. You get ten bucks worth of long distance a month. That's almost an hour." She nodded at that. "If you want to take on small jobs for allowance around the school, you can do that."

"School?"

"Yeah." He smirked. "I'm making you an X-Man."

She snorted. "You're so a geek."

"Yup." He let her grab her bags and checked the tags, putting one back. That one came out and it did look the same. He winked and took her to the car. "Need anything on the way back? Girl things? Female things?" She gave him an odd look. "I was surrounded by Buffy and Willow for *seven years*," he told her. "No guy friends outside of Giles and Spike. I know more than any sane man should about girl things."

"No, I have some."

"Cool." He got her into the car and drove off with her. It was a pretty drive and he let her pick the radio station. They got back in time to watch Jo herding the kids back up to the main building. "That's Jo. She's in for the apocalypse to help me watch over the kids. The guy with her is Bob. He's our first official teacher." He looked at her. "Their parents are all hunters."

"So they'll understand."

"Yup."

"Do you think my sister will survive LA?"

He moved some hair off her cheek. "I made a deal to quit the council to save every single slayer for six apocalypses. This is technically the second," he said quietly. She gaped. He smirked. "You can call her tomorrow. Tonight, since they were fighting earlier, she'll need calming down time."

"I can do that." They walked inside, him carrying her bags. "Hi," she said. "Tabitha Morris."

Jo smiled. "Jo Harvelle. Temporary girls' dorm monitor." She took the bags and got her settled in, introducing her to the other girls and where the things were. They ran out for dinner with the others. The girls included her, asking her about slayers. It helped break the ice and it was good to see. "Xander?" He looked over. "News?" she mouthed.

He held up a hand. "Texting now since they said the National Guard was closing down sections." He got one back, nodding. "Jo, text your mom. She's okay." She did that and the kids gathered around to call their own parents on their phones. Xander handed over his as well. "Mine doesn't keep numbers." The kids who were waiting grabbed his to use. It made them all relax and be happier. Tabitha got her turn and her sister was jumpy and edgy but said she was all right, just freaked out and going to find some stress relief. Xander got his own text from Dawn. He sent one back and they got calmed down together. It would work for now.

***

Gunn showed up with Connor a few days later, knocking then walking in and calling like the sign said. Xander leaned out of his office. "Hey."

"Hey, Gunn. Connor."

"Cordy?" Connor guessed.

"Yeah, she showed me pictures and I had met Gunn the last time I was in town. Come on." He let them into the office. "Mabel, can we have some water?" he called. She brought in bottles and left again.

Connor smiled. "The other hunters might freak out."

"Most of them met Mabel over lunch and agreed she's a really great cook." He smiled. "How did it go?"

"Better than we expected. Those extra hunters were a lot of help. A few got really injured but they're all alive." Xander grinned. "You good?"

"I'm fine actually. The kids are safe, they're down at the lake today. Jo let them slack on the homework stuff." He shrugged. "They've all done a lot and played all afternoon so it's been good." He looked at Connor. "The same deal is open to you if you need it."

"I might. Nosy agents asked where my parents were."

"You tell them you had a stepmom?"

"Yup and Buffy nearly choked," Gunn admitted. "I had miraculous papers naming me his custodian."

Xander nodded. "The Council had to produce a lot of those."

"True." He shifted. "You sure you can have Connor here?"

"Yeah. He'll still need the papers to show he graduated enough stuff. He can help teach and learn at the same time. It's not a problem."

"Cool. Connor?"

"I can handle that. LA's a mess right now anyway."

Xander nodded. "Probably for many months with the way those things go." They both nodded they remembered. "Anyway, want to look around?"

"Sure," they decided, getting up and walking off with him to look around the areas. The classrooms were small but nice enough. The dorms were nice. Connor only had a single bag of stuff so they could fix that later. They introduced him to Bob and the others when they ran into them at the lake.

Jo looked over and waved. "Tabitha, pull Beth off her brother," she called. She pounced Beth, knocking her into the sand. It started another fight.

Connor watched. "I don't understand why guys watch girls fight."

"They're not old enough for the sort of fighting Spike told you about," Xander said dryly. "Kids, the parents are going to start showing up probably later tonight or tomorrow. So if you need to do laundry, do it after dinner." They all nodded. "Tabs." She got off the other girl. "Tabitha, this is Connor Angel."

She looked at him. "Like the vampire?"

"Yeah, freaky crap with Wolfram and Hart got me made from two of them," he said dryly.

"That's actually kinda cool," she decided, dragging him off to introduce him around. He clearly had no idea what being a teenager was about but he'd learn.

Xander grinned at Gunn. "He'll be safe and confused for a bit but he'll fit in."

"Yeah, I think it'll do him good." He shook Xander's hand. "Connor, I'm going to pick you up some stuff at the store."

"Thanks, Gunn." Gunn shook Xander's hand and walked off.

Xander grinned at the two adults. "It's a long and freaky story. Especially since he was kidnaped and raised on a demon realm." Jo moaned, shaking her head. "He's got gifts from his lineage but he's a decent enough kid. Just never learned how to be a kid."

"Wonderful." She went back to watching over them, hurrying out to save two of the younger ones from the waves.

Xander came out to help since one was still missing. He picked her up, staring at her. "Are you part mermaid too?" he asked with a grin. She smirked and nodded. "That's cool." He put her down on the sand. "Go brag." She ran off to tell them that. He walked off with a wink for Bob.

"You are?" Bob asked, following him.

"Yeah. High school swim team's coach wanted to win *really* badly. We detoxed me of most of it."

"Were you all insane out there?"

"Yup," Xander admitted, cracking him up. "Go help Jo. I'll send any early parents down there." He nodded, going back to help her. Connor didn't know how to swim. Tabitha was teaching him. That kid seriously needed some normal people time.

***

Xander looked up as Dean and Sam limped in. "Medical is on two, use the elevator if you have to," he said bluntly.

"It's cool. We need a bandage change later." Dean sat down with a moan. "When you said an invasion of demons, you weren't kidding."

"No, not in the least." He smiled. "You guys all good?"

"A few were more banged up than not. Any of the parents make it here yet?"

"One. She's up in the med center doing a bandage change. I offered but she said she could do it."

"Most of us have at least the basics," Sam said. He sighed when his back finally relaxed. "Can we stay?"

"Yeah. We're only using one floor of the dorms." They grinned. "Tell Mabel you're here." They nodded. He checked the clock. "Most of the kids are in the library doing homework at the moment. Connor's complaining that he got dropped off. Tabitha is helping him with the basic math stuff right now." They nodded they had heard. "The others have their own homework. One didn't so I gave her a topic and taught her how to research." He smiled. "She's got a kick ass paper on holiday customs in Ancient Rome going on."

"Even better," Dean decided. He stood up with a wince. "Tylenol?"

"Yup. Big, huge ass box, Dean."

"Thanks, Xander." They went to do a bandage change and then find a bed to rest for the day. It was exhausting driving back here but a damn handy thing to have. They could go talk to the kids later.

***

Xander smiled at the parents coming in. "Guys, parents are here," he called. They came rushing down. One gave her mother a hug and said she'd be right back. She ran back to the library and came down with her report. "Since she didn't have homework, I taught her how to research a paper on holiday customs in Ancient Rome."

She smirked. "That's harmless but a good lesson she'll need for school." She went over it, nodding. "Not bad." Her daughter beamed at her. "We can go?" she asked Xander.

"If you don't want to stay for dinner." He shrugged. "All your stuff packed?"

"I need to do one last load of laundry," she admitted. She looked at her mother.

"I could use that myself."

"Go for it," Xander promised. She smiled and went to get her bag, bringing it in. The other parents did the same, and most ended up leaving in the morning. Dinner went well. The kids who didn't have parents there yet called. They were halfway back and traveling together. The kids watched their friends leave. Xander smiled. "If everything goes well, we might run a summer camp this summer," he called, waving at them. The parents smiled at that. They'd be asking their kids later about what they had done for the last week and a half.

Xander looked at the last few. "Give them a few hours." They nodded, going up to do the homework they knew they had to do. Xander went to help clean the rooms and throwing used linens in the washers. The kids had been good the whole time. Tabitha and Connor helped him, then he sent them to learn from each other. Connor was teaching her demon classification and she was going over the basics he didn't get to learn on the demon realm. Xander heard a car and walked out, looking at the two pulling in people. "They're in the library."

"Thanks, Harris," one said, moving stiffly.

"There's an elevator to the right of the door that leads to the medical center," he said quietly.

"I could use a few looked at."

"I'm a good field medic," Xander promised, walking them in there and up to the infirmary. He settled them on beds to look over the injuries. One was infected so he dosed it with the salve they had used in Sunnydale. "It's all herbal, stings like a bitch, but it'll draw anything short of a really deadly poison out," he said. The hunter nodded at that, his eyes watering. "I know. I've used it on numerous poison claw marks." He cleaned that for him once it was done and rebandaged then looked at the other.

"I'm good."

"Okay. Kids are on the other side of the hall." He pointed with a smile. They went to check on them. Xander cleaned up and followed. He checked on Tabitha and Connor. "Need help?"

"No, we're pretty good so far," she admitted. "They really screwed up his education taking him off realm."

Xander nodded. "Yeah but it happens sometimes." She grinned. Connor nodded he knew that. "The last two kids' parents are here." They went to talk to them. Xander followed. "Got all the laundry done?" he asked one.

"Last night," he said, smiling at his mother. "That way you didn't have to wait if you didn't want to."

"I'm proud." She gave him a hug. "Were you good?"

"They were real good," Jo assured her. "They even helped when Beth and her brother got into it a few times." Both parents rolled their eyes. "I had a talk with them because Beth kept trying to drown him."

"Good. Someone needs to," the father said, looking at his daughter. "You good?" She nodded and smiled. "C'mon, let's head." She ran to get her things and back up there. He shook Xander's hand. "Thank you."

"Not a problem and I'm thinking about running a summer camp next year so they can all hang out and talk again. It helped when they got a bit worried."

"I know." He left with his daughter. The mother helped her son check his room then they left together. He grilled his daughter in the car about what she had learned. He hadn't taught her anything demonology related outside of helping her learn her first latin lessons. As he had requested. He called the other parent who said the same. Their friends all said they had taken good care of the kids and they had learned what they wanted them to learn and were safe about it. Even if Jo had to keep rescuing Beth's brother from her. So maybe they'd put this on the safe place list after all.

Xander looked at the two. "So, fun this afternoon or work?"

"Fun," Tabitha said with a smirk. "Jo, are you staying?"

"I can stay for another day or so. Since Momma dropped me off I have to wait on her to pick me up."

Bob coughed. "I don't have to rush off."

Xander looked at him. "I was hoping to hire you on permanently to help me. The Council social worker said I'm getting six more kids in another month." Bob grinned at that. "All families of slayers. Two still have parents but the others are in the system."

"I can help," he decided. "How much do you pay?"

"Say sixty a week for right now plus free room and board?"

"That'll work," he agreed. He followed the kids out to talk to Connor about what he knew.

Xander grinned at Jo. "You did really good. I wasn't sure about a few thing but you gave me a good example."

"I usually watch the kids at the bar," she admitted. "Momma doesn't want me hunting."

"It's not a happy making life and most parents want their kids to be happier than they were."

"True." She grinned. "I'm going to the pool since I can swim without helping them not drown."

"Have fun." He grabbed a book and went to his office to read. The kids would come get him to start real lessons tomorrow. Tabitha knew he'd start getting hands on once the other kids with special education needs had left.

***

Xander looked over his school after his first month of actually running the school, smiling. "How're we doing?" he asked. The kids all grinned at him. "Anything you can see we need to work on?"

"You're asking the students?" Tabitha asked.

"Yeah. You guys know where we're weak."

"We could use a tutor who knew more educational stuff," one of them said. "You do good with the easy stuff but I'm taking Algebra and you can't help me there. Neither can Bob."

"We could use another girlish influence too," Tabitha admitted. "Someone we can ask girl questions to."

"I am hiring a school nurse," he admitted. They all smiled. "Her mom's a hunter so she understands. One of her daughters is a slayer." Tabitha grinned at that. "She might be able to help you with algebra too, I'm not real sure. If not, I'll see if maybe someone like Sam Winchester can pop back around for a week." The kids all grinned. They liked Sam and Dean when they had shown up for a night of peace and quiet after a hunt. "Any other needs?"

"More towels," Tabitha said. "We're running short."

"I've got that planned for next week." They all smiled at that, it meant shopping and they all got to go. "Anything for the grounds?"

"We could use a horseshoe set and some other things, plus the basketball net needs a new net," Connor said.

"I can do that. Those are coming out now." They all nodded and he made notes. "Anything else you can see?"

"Not yet," they all decided.

"Can we have chocolate cake for dessert?" one of the younger boys asked with a smile.

"Ask Mabel." He ran off to do that. He grinned at the others. "Not that I wouldn't beg too." They laughed and ran off to beg Mabel as well. Xander went to the office to call Dean and Sam. "Hey, Dean, Xander Harris. I wanted to know if I could borrow Sam for maybe a week? No, I have a few kids who need some higher math explained to them and I can't. I flunked algebra a few times. Thanks. Sure, that's fine. We're probably going to be shopping that day. We need more towels and off-time stuff to do. That'll work. Thanks." He hung up and made his formal list, adding it to the grocery list. He had to get those for her soon. That would be a Costco trip with Connor. That way they could haul the heavy stuff.

***

Dean caught up to the kids in the store, smirking at them begging. "Get the next price group up, they're going to last longer."

"Okay," Xander said, moving to those. They picked out their colors. "Four each, two wash cloths, and two hand towels." They grabbed those and one got pillow cases. "That's right, yours ripped." He walked them off, smiling at Dean. "Sam?"

"At the base camp. He needed to clean some stitches."

"The new nurse can help him with that." Dean grinned. "The social worker demanded." He shrugged. They walked off together, Dean helping herd the younger kids. They all begged and whined at Xander but Dean got them settled down. The toys got a good, long look over and things selected. Dean added a few others. The kids cheered at that and they got burgers at the in-store McDonald's before heading back to the school. Xander let them run inside to pounce Sam and talk to him then put their things up. Dean helped him stock the free time stuff in the activity closet and they went to dinner. It was time for a rest. Sam was in there with the kids. The nurse was in there too. Xander grinned. "Thanks, guys."

"It's not a problem. Education is important," Sam said with a smile. He let the kids tell him where they needed help and settled in to help them over dinner.

"Dean, want to run a lecture series on poltergeists?" Xander asked.

"I can do that," he agreed. He smirked at Connor. They had talked a lot the last time they had stopped in. "How's classification going?"

"Long and hard, dude. I swear there's new sub categories for crossbreeds."

"There are," Xander admitted. "Willow helped update the books." Connor shuddered. "She also got pictures of most of the ones we didn't have before."

"Wonderful!" He gave him a dirty look, getting a grin back. "We need individual books."

"Working on it." That got a grin and they settled in to eat and talk. Connor got into Sam's math tutoring group so he could get some help too.

Dean listened. "That's beyond what I was doing in his year."

"The home schooling system lets them work ahead if they're going faster," Xander said. He shrugged. "As long as they pass the tests, we're all good."

"Good." He dug in, eating the very nice dinner Mabel had made. After dinner, the kids unpacked the soccer balls and took the adults outside to play with them. It was good PT for them all. Bob watched from the sidelines but was happy enough to play referee since he couldn't run anymore.

***

The first official visit of the social worker finally came. Xander had been expecting it for over a month. The kids knew to expect it. They were keeping their rooms clean until they showed up. He met them at the door, smiling and shaking hands. "Hi." He led her to the office to talk. "I know the social worker I usually work with in Cleveland said you were doing a yearly investigative visit."

"We are. Are you formally a school?"

"No, we're formally a safe haven for children involved in odd areas." She blinked a few times. "You know what happened in LA?" She nodded slowly. "This is for the their kids, their siblings, all those who might be hurt to get them. We protect them, teach them what they need to know to protect themselves when they're older, and if they want to join that is up to them. We do follow the state's home schooling guidelines so they get an even shot at education."

"Interesting. What about those who aren't involved?"

"Everyone here has been involved some way or another. We are open to taking in children who have been attacked and want to understand. Right now, our thirty students are all children of those who hunt or relatives of slayers."

"Oh, I see." She nodded, making notes on that. "Our state's home schooling guidelines?" Xander turned to pull that out of his filing cabinet, handing it over. "I see that is ours." She handed it back. "What other optional classes do you offer?"

"Languages, about seven of them. I'm working on getting someone who can speak some of the more modern ones but we do have tape systems for Spanish, French, and Italian, plus a computer-based system for learning Japanese if the kids want." She nodded, making a note of that. "On the hunting side, we do teach a mandatory self-defense class. The one running that with me is actually a student who has been involved in the hunting community since he was a literal child. I teach blade work to those who want to learn it. I do teach gun safety classes each and every month to every single student. Most hunters use guns instead of blades, whereas slayers use blades. We have optional lessons on warding from one of the best at them. That's also runic lessons so another ancient language. We have special topic classes from any of the hunters that show up so they can teach what they know. We hold a research seminar for all students in all grades."

"It sounds like it's individually based?"

He smiled. "Every student learns differently. I, myself, couldn't learn a damn thing from a lecture class." She nodded at that. "So we're mostly hands on and self-paced research but every student gets a research paper every month in the five page range. Nothing too extensive and they mostly get to pick their own topics."

"So are you classifying yourself as an educational institution?"

"No, we're a safe haven at the moment. Some year we may have more staff and be a formally acceptable school. We're still in our fourth month here so we're working on the little things and hiring people as needed."

"Do you have any idea of your educational role model?" He held up a comic with a grin. She stared then at him. "I suppose parallels could be drawn, yes." He put it down. "Fun reading?"

"Yeah. I needed some this morning. Some of my friends called to chew me a new one over not being there to bitch at about their private lives going to hell again."

"I'm sorry to hear that. How do you handle the contact needs of the children?"

"They have a free ten dollars in long distance a month. After that, they can take on chores to earn money for phone cards or their parents can send them some or pay for a cellphone. We are in cellphone tower range."

"What about any other education, like moral education?"

He stared at her. "Do you think we don't teach that at the same time?" She shrugged. "Hmm. Let me make this blunter then. Hunting is a huge ass excuse for a moral dilemma. Hunters take out problem beings who are usually killing people." She flushed. "We may not have to always kill them, sometimes we banish, sometimes we capture, but we do not doubt our stance on the necessity. If I hadn't hunted, a lot more people would've died. The same as their parents do."

"I can understand that point of view. Much like soldiers."

"That's more the slayer code, but yes, basically. Everyone here has been touched by this in some way."

"How do you make sure none of that can get here?"

"We have an extensive and redundant set of warding lines around the property. Including in the lake. If it should come from a less demonic source, like the people in the next town who are presently sucking up to a master vampire as a cult, we have safe areas and an emergency bunker for the kids while the adults handle it." Connor knocked and walked in. "Connor Angel, this is the social worker."

"Figured that's why you weren't at lunch." He handed over a soda with a smirk. "Tabs wanted permission to go on a girl needs shopping trip?"

"Have her ask the nurse. I'll probably be busy with her most of the afternoon."

"That's cool. She said she could if this was the visit." He looked at her then back at him. "That vampire cult? Need help?"

"Probably." He smiled. Connor smirked back. "They're the breed that's allergic to silver."

"Got it." He left, going to look in the armory for what they'd need.

"His father was one of the defenders in LA who lost his life," he said quietly. "Connor has always known about demons and how they'd attack."

"That's not a very happy life."

"He was kidnaped as a child and actually raised off plane on a demon plane to teach him how to hunt demons."

"Oh, my. His father?"

"Fell during the battle."

"I'm sorry to hear that. His legal guardian?"

"Another of the LA team and he put him here so he could have some downtime and learn things that he didn't get taught before. The one who took him didn't really care if he leaned math and things."

"I see. That's a good thing to know." She made another note. "You have legal custody papers for him?"

"Yeah, for everyone here who's underage." He pointed at the filing cabinet. She nodded so he got them for her to look over. When she was done he put them back.

"What about possessed people? You hear much about them."

He smiled. "Anyone who might be possessed can walk into the school but they won't get far past the entryway. That way we can unpossess them. I'm fairly open to that problem myself. That's how we handle it and the wards do tell us." She gave him a startled look. "Would you like to go on a tour?" She relaxed and they walked out. Yup, the devil's trap caught her, just like he had expected.

Dean came down from the library at her yelling. "Figures the demons would try something like this."

"Yeah, thwarting them pisses them off," Xander said. "Want me to try it?"

"No, you still need to work on your shielding, Xander." He came down to do the exorcism, making sure she was all right by the end. He stared at her. "Hi, Dean Winchester," he said with a smug look. "Hunter."

She cleared her throat. "Thank you." She looked at Xander. "It was most upset at you."

"Yay," he said flatly then shrugged. "Does it owe me money from a poker game too?"

"I don't believe so," she admitted. She stepped out of the devil's trap and her illusion fell. Xander smirked. "You knew," she said flatly.

"Yup." He smirked. "I am from Sunnydale and I can smell the scale creme."

"That does stink but it works well." She reactivated her illusion. "I'm not here to harm the children."

He nodded. "I heard about your clan from Bill." She smiled. "Dean, let's take the tour?" He nodded, walking off with them. Mabel got an odd look.

"Are you a legal resident?"

"I think she was born in Wisconsin, weren't you, Mabel?"

"I was," she said with a smile.

"Okay." She walked off with them, going over the rest of the school.

"Do you have any suggestions I need to look into?" Xander asked at the end of the tour.

"You need an educational oversight person. A real teacher sort. That way you don't have to count on visitors to teach some subjects. You also need better ways of making sure the sexes don't visit too often from the common area."

"There's a spell on the stairs that would tell me if an opposite sex student walked up into the wrong dorm."

"That's good enough for me, even if the State itself wouldn't recognize that sort of precaution."

"The state sees us as a protected enclave that has presidential permission to bend some rules," he said with a grin. "Giles asked."

"That's good to know." She made note of that as well. "The children all look well cared for and all that. The nurse is a good step but do you have a doctor you can call for more serious matters?"

"The local ER is only ten minutes away," he said. "For routine things, the parents usually take them to see someone of their choosing or there's a doctor up the road that's retired and who said he'd come if it was something serious."

"That's good." She wrote that down as well. "The dining hall is a bit oddly laid out."

Xander shrugged. "It works and the kids arrange things to suit themselves. That was already here."

"Fine. Just get in a dedicated education person." Xander nodded, shaking her hand and walking her out to her car. She went to make her report. It was well thought out and functional for what it needed to be. Most of the peaceful demons respected Harris for what he did, especially since they found out he had visions and he had *known* what was needed. Him training future hunters was very in line with what was going on out there. The head social worker for the district didn't look pleased but he did have presidential level approval to run that sanctuary, which was what it was listed as.

***

Dean went to talk to Rupert Giles for Xander. Xander had shamelessly stolen Sam for a week of teaching duties, which he could agree with. Sam was the better teacher between the three of them. And Xander couldn't talk to the head of the Council anyway. He got let into the slayer house by Dawn. "Meeting?" he asked.

"Yup. I'm coming so I can hear news."

"You were invited to it anyway." He walked her back to the office, nodding at Buffy and Willow since they were in attendance with another of the old line watchers from England. "Hey," he said, holding out a hand. "Dean Winchester, Hunter."

"I saw you in LA." He shook his hand. "You called to request some help?"

"No, actually I'm a mouthpiece." He looked at Giles. "You know he can't talk to you himself."

"I'm aware of the reasons why though it's distressing."

"I gave you what he saw about that seventh apocalypse," Dawn pointed out.

"Yes, you have, and I agree we'd need every single slayer we have."

"He foresaw half of them being gone thanks to a problem," Dean told him. "Which you still have."

"Shit," Buffy muttered. "What sort?"

Dean looked at her. "All he told me was your ex was going spastic with some guy in a hood to take out all the slayers so the hellmouths would supposedly stay closed."

She gave him an odd look. "Nothing more concrete?"

"He was it was almost psychedelic and he thinks the Powers might be nudging but not fully behind it."

"Huh. Okay. Which ex?"

He smirked. "Captain Cardboard?"

"Oh, Riley." She looked at Willow, who shook her head with a moan. "We've heard he was figuring out what was going on."

"Yeah, maybe not," she said. "Is that an apocalypse?"

"He said the official definition had a prophecy about it," Dean said dryly.

"So that's just an emergency, good to know," Buffy said dryly. "Okay, we can handle some of that. What was the suggestion?"

"You have a lot of young, non-called slayers. So they wouldn't officially be Council until called." He looked at Giles again. "He's running a school. He's getting an education person out to oversee the home schooling program he picked out. He's teaching them a lot of the other stuff they have to learn as well, like classification and self-defense. Languages."

Giles nodded. "That would be most helpful, yes. We have almost a hundred girls."

"Which would probably make the ten boys he has right now feel a bit odd but they'd deal," Dean said.

"Good point." He considered it. "How set up is he?"

"He's actually very set up. The kids of hunters who go there get all sorts of education and safety at the same time, which their parents like. Those who only show up during bad times, he's thinking about running a summer camp for them." Dawn grinned at that. "He's got room for them. Even the ones that don't speak great english so far."

"So he'd be willing to take them in," Giles said.

"But that would be helping the Council," Willow pointed out.

"No, not if Giles paid a minimal tuition for their upkeep," Dean told her. "Then he's just educating them like he would any other future hunter."

"They'd have to come back as soon as their powers manifested," Buffy said. "Otherwise it would go against the deal. How good is their self-defense program?"

"Connor's running it at the moment. Apparently the asshole who kidnaped him never made him learn how to do things like add or conjugate verbs."

"Huh. That's not a bad trade off," she agreed, looking at Dawn. "And you're too young to hire on until you get a degree." Dawn nodded. "Which would mean I wouldn't have to worry about you being hurt by someone like Glory."

"What about this new menace?" Willow asked. "They could come after the girls there. Xander's not the best at defense."

Dean stared at her. "Beyond the fact that he has a full set of wards set up, enough to keep out anything demonic or tell him if they're harmless but crossing the border, he put up an intent ward and we have emergency procedures and an armory. Anyone attacking won't last too long." Her mouth flopped open. "Xander's very protective of the kids. No one and nothing is getting near them. The local social workers agreed it was a good thing. The local cops have snooped once or twice and decided the sanctuary aspect was a good thing since hunting is now known about more since LA. Xander told them exactly what the kids were there for. They agreed and mentioned a few who were in foster care after a demon attack."

Dean looked at Giles again. "That would also make this house more secure because you wouldn't have to worry about the girls being taken out at school or on the trip there. They won't get coddled, there's no mall for sixty miles, but they'll learn what they need to know. Plus it would let you add some people who aren't Council any longer to teach anything specialized the slayers-to-be should know."

"That is a good point in the favor of that plan. What is it like?" Dean pulled out the brochure his brother had made. "That's a large estate." He read over all the amenities and nodded. "Traveling hunters show up regularly?"

"Fairly so. Xander doesn't charge to camp and we can use the med center when we need to. All he asks is that we teach a few lessons now and then when we're around. He's looking for an education person right now to conform with what the state wanted. Sammy is presently tutoring in math and things." He grinned. "It lets him be a geek for a few more days. He and Sammy were using Arabic-style curses in Latin to teach the upper levels of latin class how not to swear."

Giles smiled. "That was something we did as well around the dorms."

"Quite a lot," the other watcher agreed. "You'd get punished for swearing but calling then names was allowed." He took the brochure to look over. "The lake is safely set?"

"We have carved wards on rocks just past the safe swimming line," Dean said. "One of our best at warding helped him with that. He's asked a few independent witches to help as well."

"That's not a bad idea and it would help with the spoiled brat problem we have."

"Not all of the minis are," Buffy said, giving him a dirty look.

"You can't tell me Arabelle will *ever* make more than a princess, Summers."

"No, I can't do that," she agreed. She looked at Dean. "What if a slayer retired from active duty?"

"As long as you're not Council he can't say a thing. That wouldn't hurt the deal at all."

She nodded. "We might be able to 'retire' some who're seriously injured and send them there to help."

Cordelia appeared, shaking her head. "Fully retired, not temporary retired. And tell him to let Whistler go please, Dean? I'm tired of doing his job too." She looked at Buffy. "Yes, the assmuncher Riley is with them." She smiled. "So is his wife. Track the mark," she told Willow plainly, getting a nod back. "Then go back to Devon. I saw that." Willow slumped in her chair. She smiled at Dean. "By the way, that one is number six. He already negated the fifth so it can't happen as more than an attempt thanks to negating yours. So the seventh is going to be iffish but not that horrible. Six is going to be the bitch and you'll end up losing people during it," she told Buffy. "Because the deal runs out during it with the way he worded it." She disappeared.

"Okay," Buffy agreed. "We can handle that the same way we have the zombie'd slayer." Dean shuddered. "She's technically alive I guess."

Dean nodded. "Xander said the guy still owed him fifty bucks too."

She smirked. "I'll let him know that." She looked at Giles. "That would solve some problems and we could still feed them an allowance for shopping and necessary things, plus help Xander upkeep them."

"How did he afford that?" Giles asked.

"He said it was a plan he and Spike cooked up," Dawn said. "I have the feeling he raided all the little hidden spots in Sunnydale and sent it out of the way when you sent yours."

"That would figure, yes," Giles sighed. "The library?"

"Bigger than yours," Dean said. "I know he has a trip planned next month because he asked Sam and I to be there to take his place for a few weeks. Something about a vision showing him something that should be taken out of hands in England." He shrugged.

Giles smirked. "That may be handy. Does he lock them up?"

"I know he sold a few off through a hunter contact. Some got bought by a church that helps hunters and got destroyed. I have no idea what's in the vault under the school."

"Interesting." He looked at the others. "That would solve some problems."

"It would," the old watcher agreed. "How much was he expecting for tuition?"

Dean pulled out the contract he and Xander had worked up to hand over. They went over it and Giles smiled, signing it then and there. Buffy went to tell the girls and get them some last minute shopping so they could transfer out. Dawn could ride herd and Dean could play escort. Dean faxed it back and went to the library to look something up. Willow went to her magical areas to see if she could figure out what mark she had to track. Dawn went to pack since Giles told her she was going too.

"Do we have winter there, Dean?" Buffy called.

"Yes and it'll be snowy," he called. "Usually about ankle deep or so."

"Sure, I can handle that." She got them all to the mall up the road. It was a highly used path for them. They were teenage girls.

***

Xander walked out to smile at his new students. "Guys, new kids," he called back into the building. They all ran out to get to know the new students. It was rare they met people they didn't know. Xander smirked at Dean, who grinned back. "Any problems?"

"Nope, and we stopped at the pharmacy on the way in to handle the girl needs because Dawn demanded." Xander winced. "She's not officially Council until she's old enough."

"Good point." Dawn walked over and punched him on the arm, getting a hug back. "Hi, Dawn. Connor, you know Dawn, right?" he asked, seeing him hanging back.

"Yeah." He waved. She smirked and waved back. "Good, you can help teach languages."

"Of course I can. I'm a genius in them." She smirked at him. He snickered, pulling one bouncy kid off someone looking upset. She looked at the slayer. "Like Xander, he's hyper. You learn to enjoy that state and egg it on occasionally." She smiled at the kid. "Hi, Dawn Summers." Tabitha gave her an awed look. "I can't join until I'm older either. Even if I was raised on the research." She shrugged. "So I'm here to help with some things and finish high school."

"That's cool." She took her over. "We're all the siblings of slayers too." Dawn smiled and waved. The kids all grinned back. "The others have hunters as parents."

"It's a hard life, no matter which side you fall on. A lot of worry, stress, and wondering if you'll be kidnaped by this one or not." They laughed and Dawn went to meet the other kids.

"Dinner is in a half hour," Xander called. "You know Mabel will complain at the minorest speck of dirt." They ran inside and helped the new girls settle in. Xander smiled at Dean. "Thanks."

"Welcome. Sammy still being a nerd?"

"I think he's holed up in a corner of the library today since today was a free day." He smirked. "The last time I looked he was giving a romance in one of the demon languages an odd look." They walked inside. "Sam!" he bellowed. He came out of the library, finger holding his spot in his book. "Dinner in half an hour."

"Sure. Thanks. Hi, Dean." He went back to his reading.

"Yeah, he's in geekland," Dean complained but he was smiling. He went to clean up too because Mabel was an excellent cook for being blueish tinted and a bit furry around the edges.

***

Six months later, Sam was pacing in the hospital, phone to his ear. "Xander," he sighed when someone finally answered. He blinked at the drowsy sounding voice. "Vision?" he guessed. He smiled. "Yeah, I hope he'll be fine. They said all his ribs on one side are caved and they're worried about his lung. Are you sure?" He nodded. "Thanks, man. Yeah, I can cover so you can recover that artifact. Not an issue. Probably a week. Dean's got a distressing amount of machines around his bed. Thanks, Xander." He hung up and walked into Dean's room, getting a sleepy look. "I woke Xander up. He was napping off a vision. He said that's not a problem and he was going to ask us to cover while he went after another artifact anyway."

"Did he ever release Whistler?"

"No." He sat down. "How are you feeling?"

"Thank God for morphine," he murmured, his eyes shutting again. "I'm feeling good enough I could enjoy a stripper."

"Not with the ribs, Dean. They might be too energetic." Sam smiled. Dean on high drugs was funny. He had a dream about chocolate coating his body and the Playboy bunnies, the actual bunnies not the human ones, licking it off him earlier.

***

Dean limped into the school a week later, smirking at the looks they got. "Yes, we're your vice principals," he said dryly.

Sam grinned. "Let me get him settled, guys, and we'll come help. Dean's got a lot of broken things."

"Ow," Connor hissed.

"Definitely, but Morphine great," Dean assured him.

"I think I've been there once but I don't remember," Xander said as he joined them. "Of course that was the night I lost my eye." He gave them both careful hugs. "You guys okay?"

"We're fine," Sam promised. "He needs some bed rest."

"That's fine. We have beds." The kids snickered at that. "Go ahead up and use my wing, guys. The beds are a bit bigger." They nodded, going up there. "Gloria, Dean's here," he called. The nurse came out to get on the elevator with them. Xander looked at the kids. "Weren't we doing PT-slash-free time stuff?" They rushed outside. It was still pretty so they wanted to play in the sunlight.

"I thought we were," he said as he followed them. Sam came down to kick the ball around with them for a while once Dean was settled in bed. Then it was dinner and they went to their common room to hang out and argue over what to watch on tv. Xander went to check on Dean with his dinner. Sam was picking out a new book to read through tonight. "Hey."

Dean blinked at him. "Oh, hey, food," he said, taking the tray. "Thanks. Forgot I was hungry."

Xander smiled. "That is one of the miracles of morphine, yeah." He smirked. "You sure you can handle it when I'm off?"

"Yup. Not an issue."

"Cool." He left, going to pack for his trip in the morning.

***

Xander came back a week later, after dropping all the nastiest of things on Bobby's doorstep. The nicer ones were going to be put in the vault. Some day he might even hand them back to the council. He walked in to find their social worker there. "Problems?" he asked Sam.

"She thinks we're gay."

"I thought you were brothers," Xander quipped, smirking at her. "Why would it matter?"

"The state....." she started.

He held up a hand. "We have presidential orders." She groaned, slumping. "Beyond that, Sam and Dean are brothers. If they're fucking, the last thing I'm going to worry about is if they're gay." She glared at him. He stared back. "Also, our education oriented person will be here next week. I finally found one who wouldn't freak out."

"That's fine, Mr. Harris." She stared at him. "Are you perhaps gay?"

"I lost my former fiancé when Sunnydale fell in. She died saving someone else." She blanched. "Right now my orientation is 'why' more than anything like gay or straight. I'm too tired to give a damn if there's something better than my hand." Sam snickered, shaking his head. "I also just got back from London. I did not need to come back to this."

She nodded. "I'll let you go for that rude comment then."

He stared at her then took off his shirt to show off the bandages. "I don't care, dear." She gasped. "Welcome to hunting 101. You will get hurt. Hell, I wasn't even dealing with a demon this time." She shuddered but left them alone. "Gloria?" he called.

Their nurse came to the walkway. "Xander. Medicine?"

"Please have some for me?" he begged. "The flight was nearly murder. I have such a headache. Between the fighting, whining bitches behind me who were mad that the local shops didn't have the exact shade of shoes so they had to go to New York to shop, the sick people in front of me, and these, it aches. Then I added in the two djinn I brought back for Bobby to destroy and the other six trapped beings." He looked at Sam, handing over his keys with a grin. "I trust you not to release them."

"I'll put them downstairs." He went to the car to get them for Xander.

"Come on, Xander. I have some nice tylenol. Let's see how bad that train wreck damaged you."

He snorted. "Bruises, a few cuts from the two fights I got into, and then there was the gang member who decided I was easy because I was missing an eye. Scotland Yard was really nice about him." He got onto the elevator, leaning against the wall. She helped him off and to a bed so she could look him over. "How long was the social worker whining?" he asked more quietly.

"Two days. She thought Dean and Sam were together in that special way."

Xander shrugged. "Honestly, I wouldn't care," he admitted. She gaped. He stared back. "I know but half of you guys were taught to only rely on the family. That everyone else was going to hurt you or screw you over."

"Don't remind me, that's why I'm divorced." She checked under the bandages. He had padded them for the trip back. The few cuts were nicely stitched. The bruises looked bad and painful. She got him some tylenol and sent him to bed. Then she cleaned up the small mess and made notes in his chart. She went to see what he had found this time. The six things were already locked in boxes, without any protection runes on them. "No wardings?"

"The vault has plenty," Sam said with a smile. He opened it and put them inside, watching one start to howl and rock. He put protections directly on that one. The whole vault was holy water washed, blessed, and consecrated. The demons weren't enjoying their stay. He closed the door once they were safely stored then they went to check on the kids. They found a young woman waiting. "Hi, Buffy."

"Sam. Is Dawn here? I've been trying to call her for two days."

"Dawn, visitors!" he shouted. She came bounding out and stared from the walkway upstairs. "Want to take it outside?" he suggested.

"No. I want my sister to walk out of the devils trap." Sam watched as Buffy tried. Sam got into the stash of holy water they kept down there, working on the exorcism. "Huh, skinwalker. Guys, there's a skinwalker here," she called. The other students came out to look it over, take notes, ask rude questions to it, and learn how to handle it if they didn't want to kill it and if they did how to do that too. They even peeled off the extra skin to see what it looked like.

Gloria shook her head. "Eww, Sam."

"I'll clean up the mess," he promised with a grin. Dean came out of the library holding his side. "Skinwalker."

"Yay," he said flatly. "At least this one won't get me accused of murder or of being dead."

The demon glared at him. "You should have been. My cousin should have killed you first."

"Yay," he said, smirking more now. "Clearly he was unworthy, just like you. Guys, take it outside so Sammy can end it." The kids went to add the notes to their classification notes and Sam took her out back to shoot her and bury her. Dean shrugged, going back to the library when Gloria gave him a dirty look.

She shook her head. "Things are insane around here," she muttered, going back to the infirmary.

***

Two weeks later, when they had a flat not fifty miles from the school, Sam looked up. "If you wanted us to stay there that badly, you could've just told us," he called.

"That's Whistler's job," Cordelia shouted back. "Fucking release him and he might!"

Sam opened the cube he had gotten off Xander, staring at the badly dressed, wrinkled demon. "He forgot."

"Bullshit," Whistler muttered. "At least it was a nice vacation. For that I should give him another vision."

Cordelia appeared. "That's my job. Do your own for a change."

"Hey, I was locked up," he complained.

"Yay! I managed to do mine even when I descended for a bit," she snorted, hands going on her hips. "And you let *Xander* capture you. Not even a slayer, but *Xander*. I mean, seriously, Whistler. How weenie was that."

Whistler looked at Sam. "Can I go back now? Just so I can avoid her PMS?"

"I do not! We don't have that anymore!" she complained.

"Sure," Sam said, capturing them both. "Have a honeymoon, dears." He put it into the backseat, grinning at Dean. "Want me to use the jack or the tire iron?"

"I want them out of the car, Sammy. They might wreck her for that."

Sam opened it and looked down at the tiny figures. "Did you pop the tire?"

"Sure did," she said smugly.

"If we let you go will you stop?"

"Not if you're out here, Sam. You're in danger and a threat both." She smirked. "Because the angels still have plans."

"Okay." He shut them back in there and looked at Dean, who stared back. "So, want the VP spot or the head teacher spot?"

"I'll take VP and self-defense classes," he decided. They got the tire changed and went back. Xander came out of his office when they walked in, giving them a funny look. "Cordelia popped the tire. She said the angels still have a plan for Sammy and me. We're not safe out there."

"Okay," he said with a small shrug and a grin. "How long did she complain?"

Sam listened to the cube then at him. "Still going." He grinned. "We let Whistler go but he asked to go back because she complained."

"I nearly did that a few times myself," Xander admitted, smiling at them.

"Hey, Mister, you earned those!" the cube complained.

Xander looked at them through the spy hole. "Whistler, the cure for that has always been to get her off. It cures stomach cramps, PMS, and all other foul girl moods."

"I've never had a human girl," Whistler said.

"Eww," Cordelia said. "I'm not sleeping with that. He dresses worse than you did."

Xander found something in the office and touched the bag to the spyhole, sending it down to them. Cordelia shrieked and ranted but he put them in the office safe for now. That would give them some nice privacy and some darkness because she hadn't liked too much light during sex. He walked off to assign them to permanent rooms and go over what the angelic plan that he had seen was. It wasn't even one of the apocalypses. No true prophecy, just a 'if this happens then we're screwed' note. So it didn't count in the seven. And hey, they could still talk to Buffy.

Inside the cube, Cordelia huffed, handing him the bag of sex toys. "I don't need those." She sat down on the couch that appeared when she wanted one to. "At least it's quiet. The Powers are throwing massive fits."

He nodded. "It was nice and quiet before, yeah."

"Hey, he can let you out to do your own job for a while. I'm tired of telling people to buy lube for the higher powers tiny dicks of doom." Whistler cackled, shaking his head. He created his living room and bedroom again, getting comfortable with their pirated tv signal. It was a bit fuzzy so they had to be in the safe again. They'd have Xander put them back on the shelf later. They could wait out all seven apocalypses right here and be safe, comfy, warm, and out of harm's way. Because not even the Powers could get them in here. Which meant that Xander could pull his plan to thwart the higher ups yet again in peace, quiet, and maybe even break bad with one of the boys they had gifted to him for his use.

The End.

The End.

voracity is the author of 70 other stories.
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