A/N: AU Buffy s6 and Angel s3. Willow and Dawn accidentally bring Buffy and Angel's daughter from another reality into this one, and Buffy/Willow/Spike/Dawn head to LA to figure everything out.


Dawn sat in the living room flipping through the TV, when Willow came in. "Heeey Daaaawnie!" Willow slurred.

Dawn was horrified. "Willow! You went to Rak's?"

"No!" Willow protested. "I had some drinks at the Bronze. Wanna do something?"

Dawn could not tell if Willow was telling the truth about if she were drunk or high off magic. "No. I'm waiting for Buffy to get home." Dawn sighed. "She's closing the magic box."

"Aw, what's wrong?" Willow hit Dawn in the arm.

"Nothing. It's just… Buffy's been so hard on herself about my five finger discounting. I know she does her best. I've made things worse for her."

"Buffy loves you! You're Dawnie!"

"Buffy's life would be easier if she weren't given a sister to support."

"Don't say that!" Willow insisted. Willow said some words and summoned a magic stone. "A little something I learned."

"Willow, you're not supposed to do magic!" Dawn exclaimed. But there was no stopping her, Willow went ahead and said another incantation. The next thing they knew they were in the Summers' home but it was a wreck. There was some kind of sound coming from upstairs. "What's going on?" Willow asked, rhetorically.

A storage bin that looked like a low bench by the entryway opened. "An Wil!" a little girl peaked out and said, in a baby talk voice.

Dawn ran over and picked her up. "Who are you?" she asked. "Are you okay?"

"Get away from-Oh Will!" Buffy breathily spoke stumbling from the kitchen. She was bleeding from her abdomen.

"Buffy! Cathy!" Angel yelled from on the floor of the dining room.

It was all very sobering for Willow. "Oh God. Oh God Buffy, what's wrong?"

"Get her out," Buffy cried. "Before he comes down."

"Dawn talk to Buffy, I'll check on Angel," Willow instructed. "Angel what's going on? What are you doing here? How are you bleeding to death?"

"Humanity's a bitch," Angel huffed. "Get Buffy and Cathy and run."

"Human-you're alive? You're tan."

"Had a good two and a half year run thanks to the Morah, no? Just save them. Willow. Go." Willow spotted a wedding ring on Angel. Angel then died.

Meanwhile Dawn approached Buffy, holding the little blonde girl. "Buffy, Buffy what happened? I'm calling 911. We'll figure the rest out later." Dawn saw Buffy had a wedding ring.

"Save her. Help Willow. Save my baby, please," Buffy begged. "Willow will take her to Giles. Will don't let her slay. Ever. It's Falek upstairs looking."

"MAMA! MAMA! DADA!" the baby cried.

"Mama?" Dawn questioned, as she looked around. "When were you born?" It seemed like the right question to ask the baby.

"September second, two-thousand," Buffy reached a hand to the little girl. "Best day of my life. Mommy loves you. Close eyes, baby." Blood come out of Buffy's mouth and her eyes shut.

Willow stalked over to Dawn. "Dawn whatever I've done, I break this, and it's done," Willow declared, before throwing the stone down and breaking it.

Dawn and Willow were back in the clean version of their living room and were not alone. "What the hell did I do?" Willow cried.

Dawn patted the sobbing child in her arms that they apparently brought with them. "Great question. Don't cry. Uh, that was a bad dream"

The front door opened and Buffy and Spike walked in. "Hey Dawn, you here?" Buffy called.

"Mama!" the little girl squealed.

"Who?" Buffy asked. "Who is she and where's her mom?"

Spike sniffed the air. "What the hell have you done?" he demanded. "Tell me she isn't-"

"How do you know?" Dawn asked. Spike pointed to his nose. "Ew."

"It's not a catch-all DNA test, I'm not about to host a talk show, I just know the two scents well, to be clear. Plus the blood."

Buffy looked around. "I'm clear on nothing. What's going on?"

"MAMA! MOM-MY! MAMA!" Cathy yelled.

Buffy frowned, sad at the thought this little girl wanted her Mommy. "Oh no. We'll find your Mommy, okay sweetheart? There's blood on her clothes. Where'd you find her? Any leads on her Mom? I'll find her."

"I have no idea what these two did," Spike said, pointing between Willow and Dawn, "but you're her mother."

Buffy turned to Spike, dumbfounded. "No I'm not. I'd remember having a kid."

MAAAAAMA! MAMA! MOOOOOM!" Spike groaned and ripped the kid from Dawn and shoved her at Buffy. The crying slowed once Buffy was forced to hold the girl. "Dada?" she then asked. "Want Dada!"

"Who's Daddy?" Buffy asked. "Not that I understand how I can be Mommy."

"Angel," Willow admitted. "Dawn and I went into an alternate reality. You and Angel were dying. I got us out of there and your daughter came with us. You were married, I think."

"You did ask me to save her," Dawn added. "However accidental the save was."

Spike caught Buffy before her and Cathy fell to the ground. Cathy pointed at Spike. "Yucky!" she declared.

"You're welcome!" Spike scrowled. "He definitely taught her that."

Buffy sat on the chair before she fainted. "Explain slowly, one of you, what's happened."

"I wanted to show Dawn a world where she didn't exist-"

"WILLOW!" Buffy snarled. "You went to Rak and are taunting my sister?"

"No," Willow insisted. "No Rak. I had a few drinks and I remembered how to conjure something. I wanted to show her life wouldn't be easier without her, I certainly did not know they'd be that bad. Just a world with no Dawn."

"Why?" Buffy was baffled.

"I thought maybe you would have an easier life if you didn't have me to worry about," Dawn admitted.

"You idiot!" Buffy said with tears in her eyes. "Of course life wouldn't be better without you. How could you think that? For a second?"

"I don't know, okay? But can we discuss that later?" Dawn answered.

"Mama! MOM-MY!" Cathy was unhappy about being ignored. She hit Buffy in the face.

"OW!" Buffy yelled. "That hurt!"

"Hi," she said softly.

Buffy stared at the girl. She was small, blonde, but definitely had Angel's eyes. "Hello," she eventually replied.

"Cathy," Willow said. "Pretty sure her name is Cathy, for the record."

Spike scoffed. "I'd have thought he'd be too ashamed to use that name. How alternate of a reality was it? And was it specially based on sisters?"

"What do you mean?" Willow asked.

"The name is familiar," Buffy said. "My brain is frozen."

"Not exactly what bedtime stories are made of," Spike explained. "But once upon a time two hundred and fifty years ago a human named Liam had a kid sister named Catherine- Cathy-"

"OH!" Buffy sighed loudly.

"And Angelus, formerly Liam, reveled in that kill to the point he mocked the fact little sis thought the big brother she adored was an Angel returning to the family for his new name," Spike finished. "No one lived happily ever after. No one lived at all. Darla loved the story."

"OH," Willow and Dawn sighed at the same time.

"MOOOM!" Cathy yelled again. "Hi!" She held Buffy tight. "No boo-boo!"

Buffy awkwardly hugged her. "Uh, hello, again. It'll be okay, sweetie. No one has boo-boos." Buffy swallowed. "We send her back, right? Like with Vamp Willow?"

"Buffy I'm not sure you're getting it," Dawn stated. "You and Angel died. Very much dead. And you said something about not wanting her to slay. Willow and Giles are still alive but that's all we know. Oh there was something called Falek and it may have been upstairs. I think you thought I was a friend of Willow's."

"Angel was human," Willow added. "It's how he was bleeding to death and I guess how you have a kid. He said something about two and half years. Could have been a little off, what with the blood. I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry."

"She was born September Second, Two Thousand." Dawn did the math. "That's about nineteen and a half months ago."

"Anything else?" Spike asked.

Dawn and Willow looked at each other. "That about covers it," Dawn concluded.

"No," Willow corrected. "Angel said something about being human thanks to a Morah. Don't know what that means. Now that's it."

"The thing that crashed through the window?" Buffy said, mostly to herself. "I went to see him in LA after the whole Thanksgiving thing. One crashed into his office and he killed it quickly. Then I left."

"I guess in a world without me, Morah's have other powers," Dawn concluded.

"There are probably many worlds without you Niblet," Spike replied. "There are lots of alternate realities."

"I've been sobered now," Willow answered. "I saw Tara talking to someone and I- there's no excuse. None. I know that." Willow was desperate to redeem herself. "But maybe we saved her? You obviously thought I was Willow in that reality. No telling if I was actually on my way."

"What are you saying?" Buffy asked.

"I'm not entirely sure," Willow admitted.

"I'm not a mother," Buffy insisted.

"MAMA!" Cathy yelled.

"Yeah, Hi," Buffy answered.

"WANT DADA!"

Willow sighed. "Doesn't he have a kid drama going on?" she asked.

"What?" Spike asked.

"Well, he's going to be hearing from me," Buffy stated. "Y'know what? I'm not doing phone tag. Nor am I risking Warren and the guys messing with her. Let's just go. I'll explain in the car, Spike. Pack stuff quickly. I'll call Tara on the way about the Magic Box." Everyone could smell Cathy needed to be changed suddenly. "We also need diapers. We'll stop." As they packed they discovered leaving was good because Cathy sobbed seeing the dining room and kitchen.

"We'll figure this out, Slayer," Spike said to Buffy as they prepared to leave.

"I'm not mother material," Buffy answered. Then Buffy looked at Cathy. "Or, this me isn't mother material."


A/N: TBC. I hope any readers liked the first chapter and there will be interest in more. Next chapter the gang arrives in LA. Even though Cathy is Buffy/Angel's, the ships can go either way at this point as to B/A. S/B A/C. Feedback is welcome.