28 CH.28
Jenny and Giles came up not long after Oz. Giles headed to where Ryan, Oz, and Xander were and sat down in the recliner. Ryan passed him a Corona and a lime slice, then started downing beers like they were Pez.
Xander asked." What's got you in the mood to be not sober?"
Giles took off his glasses and explained for him." Xander have you thought beyond the here and now lately?"
Xander looked at him funny." The Who and the what? I've been so busy trying to get past the yesterday and barely catching up with today. I haven't had time to think about tomorrow or the future."
Giles pointed to where Jenny veered off to. "Then perhaps you might want to stop your girlfriend from picking out any more baby names before your stuck with twenty kids. Now, this beer is clearly not strong enough, where did you put that bottle you had?"
Ryan smirked and pointed at Anya who was taking a swig." They kicked me back over here and kept it. But fear not I'm about to break into a case of my '68 if you want a better taste."
Giles stared at him for a second as his presence offended him." Why the bloody hell are you still sitting there for if you have a case of '68."
Ryan smirked and said." Because Jenny has something to tell you!"
With that, he passed Jenny as she headed to Gile while he was headed to the basement. He sent Jenny a message letting her know what Giles thinks as she passed him. She gave him a wink and a message saying she would play along with him.
Whistling on his merry way he heard himself being followed down by Oz. When he went passed the wine cellar he asked." So, how bad is it and what do you need me for?"
Oz cut to the chase." Her ex is a pack alpha and I need you to protect her in case I fail. He would kill her and my kid."
Ryan turned to him and passed the case saying." Buffy's the slayer, if he comes into town and disappears, who's to say she didn't get him."
Oz shook his head." The pack would descend on the town and kill everyone they could."
Ryan smirked." And if the entire pack disappeared in the slayer's territory?"
Oz froze for a second." That would be one mighty strong slayer she would need to stay that strong for a very long time."
Ryan barked a laugh." Indeed and with two witnesses to spread the story of an invincible slayer no one would question it."
Oz raised an eyebrow." Indeed."
Ryan continued his happy walk into the wine cellar now and picked out a couple bottles of '73 Bordeaux that Lyndsey swears by. With that, they headed upstairs to fill everyone's palette and mind.
Ryan ran to the nearest store and bought twenty pounds of hamburger and ten fries. When he got back he could tell Oz told everyone the plan because with all the serious faces around everyone clearly was drunk enough.
They watched him fry burgers and fries for a while until he asked." What about the plan don't you all like?"
Tara spoke first." The part where you kill an entire pack of werewolves!"
Ryan laughed and asked." Who said I'd be killing anyone?"
They turned to Oz." I clearly misunderstood you then."
Continuing his laughter for a while told them." I've seen many places and things I've been to many dimensions where it's nearly impossible to get out of without outside help and major power. Not all of them are bad or even dangerous. I was thinking of dropping them in a dimension where everything is shrimp and locking the dimension down so that no one could find them. If their remote semi-intelligent they'll survive and even thrive there. Besides the last being I knew that went there said it was annoying. So that's a plus."
When he finished talking the food was ready as well. Willow and Tara set the table and Bay finally asked." Why are you two walking funny?"
Seeing this Ryan laughed and pried open the case of '68. Both girls were trying and failing to walk without a limp. Buffy saw them and blushed as well.
Jenny explained it." Buffy and Riley got trapped in a haunted house that was feeding their sexual energy. Ryan took it as a challenge to his manhood and spent the next several hours turning what was a few ghosts into a poltergeist storm. Their limping because they helped him."
Tara and Willow blushed a deep red and looked away while they limped. Bay asked." Why don't I limp more often?"
When no one answered, she shrugged." I guess werewolves are just made of sterner stuff!"
Ryan chuckled at that. When she heard him she asked." What? You don't think so?"
Ryan turned to her smiling and told her." The first werewolves were twin old ones they called themselves Remus and Romulus after a few centuries of tormenting humans they came across me. Now Remus is missing his left eye and Romulus his Right. And I gave them to an acquaintance as a show of power to its subordinates. As far as I know, they never hunted humans again and certainly not in my territory."
Hearing this Bay looked terrified and Oz looked a little disturbed. Giles and the rest looked intrigued. Oz mumbled." Huh, So that's why the painting our teacher has of them shows them both missing an eye."
Ryan handed Giles a bottle of the '68 Glenlivet single malt and kept one for himself, he gave the girls the Bordeaux to which Jenny almost took both bottles. Smiling at this he told her there was more in the wine cellar. She smiled like a Cheshire cat after that.
When all the food was gone they retired to the living room. When Oz mentioned having to go somewhere all the girls offered their rooms, even Buffy. Ryan told them." They can stay in my room and I'll bunk with Willow and Tara in their rooms."
Hearing him, they all agreed except Willow and Tara who slid uncomfortable hands between their legs thinking what it means for them. Giles and Jenny stayed in the downstairs room again. When everyone headed to bed, Willow and Tara tried to slip off separately thinking he would only visit one of them. They were dead wrong.
That night Willow pouted when he followed her in and Tara sighed in relief. Before they could close the doors hem moved to quick for them to see. By the time Willow looked to her bed, Tara was on it. He closed the door behind them. They both audibly gulped.
He walked to the bed and pulled both girls to himself. He stripped like usually did and they followed. He shook his head at that but otherwise ignored it. When they laid down he just pulled them into comfortable positions and went to sleep. Seeing this they both snuggled up to him and smiled drifting off.
The next morning was the loudest it's been in a while. Everyone was milling about like worker ants. Noticing this Ryan laughed. "This what it's like to have a full family."The others smiled.
After everyone left for school and work, Oz and Bay were left with a fully stocked house and a temporary barrier around the property. With nothing to do but watch tv and play video games, they gave into society's temptation.
With full credits because of his cloning spells, Ryan was doing his thesis for several subjects while listening to classwork and Willow's small talk. By the end of the day, he'd turned in his signed hour sheets and his thesis for all of his doctorates.
When they got back to the house the were deciding what their next years schedule would be. Buffy was thinking about Riley who was passed due to ship out. And Tara was thinking about a kitten her and Willow picked out.
They call her Miss Kitty Fantastico. When Ryan saw it for the first time he told it." You do your ancestors proud."
It responded by laying on its side and yawning. Both girls nearly melted into a puddle. Now every time the kitten sees him it lays down and goes to sleep. When both the girls figured it out they started kicking him out of their rooms so that they could play with it.
-Beaten out by a cat!- Sighing in defeat, Ryan headed to see what the others were up to, after his latest banishment. Xander's business really kicked off after he hired Jonathan as his business assistant. Apparently, he had an eye for structural integrity. After hiring several more crews to fill in for the work demand. They were now working on most of Ryan's own homes.
Ryan hired Giles and Jenny to work with Lyndsey as his magical fortification team. He had d them purify all of his land with holy water and rituals to clean out the Hellmouth taint. After that they did everything from runic wards to basic blessings on every piece of material used.
They wore paid a kings ransom each week and all magical materials used, were from the magic shop or at least ordered through them. Giles ended up hiring Anya for the magic shop.
Ryan felt a headache every time he got the bill for his projects. She insisted on going over each item. When he asked Giles to take care of it, he said he wasn't an accountant. Then proceeded to raid his stock of aged whiskey.
Defeated yet again, he turned to Andrew for assistance. As if by magic his annoyances went away. Andrew was hired on the spot for any and all his business ventures. He took a load off Lyndsey as well. Not long after Andrew started working from him, another friend of theirs came looking for a job.
He introduced himself as Warren Mears. Tara took one look at his aura and told Ryan he was a sociopath. Ryan showed the guy to the door saying that his best chance was to try out working at Wolfram and Heart. After a few threats and gestures on Warrens part, Ryan called Lyndsey and told him to look into his background and to get a restraining order.
Lyndsey came by the next day with Faith in tow with the papers and a professional background check on Warren. When he showed Ryan his findings were slim.
Warren had been hacking into international backing records and stealing small sums from big financial investment groups, posing as a online client. Then he would fake a stock market crash and collect just enough to stay under their radar. When Lyndsey sent this in anonymously, the IRS investigated it and fined him sever thousand dollars.
On a lighter note, Faiths own hearing was dismissed and she was accepted into UCLA, Sunnydale. She would start next semester as a freshman. Her major was child psychology, she used her past as a motivator to want to help other kid that lived similar lives. She was minoring in anatomy and biology, she recommended Buffy try for physiology.
She moved in to the spare room Giles and Jenny used to stay over in. It took a few weeks for everything to go back to normal when the group found out. If it wasn't for a few drinking nights everyone would have stayed on edge longer. After they noticed her change in mentality, they opted to let past experiences stay buried.
Lyndsey started showing up more often and eventually, they let everyone know they were seeing each other. Not wanting to put a label on it or something, they kept it mostly to themselves.
After the semester ended, spring break rolled around. Even though Xander finished their house over the winter break, Ryan still decided to send Buffy and her mom to LA, for an all expenses paid break from work.
He paid for a limo and the Beverly Wilshire penthouse suite for them to spend quality time together. Buffy was reminded of her own wealth that was still in her savings account and they were off. Ryan had Lyndsey hire a professional art gallery assistant for Joyce's piece of mind, she agreed right away.
Giles and Jenny went on a special get away to Hawaii. Xander decided to try a real trip around the states with Anya, in style. They took off on a private jet Ryan was forced to buy so that he could experiment with air cleaning experimental filters. It runs on a miniature stable cold fusion reactor and the plane itself has a filter that rapidly sucks in greenhouse gases and filters them into clean carbon dioxide.
He decided not to patent it but instead put the plans all over the internet. When he did, several automotive industry companies and a few plane manufacturers tried to patent it themselves. Too bad he signed his work and refused to allow them a chance when it went to court. Lyndsey showed up with the original documents and explained that his client gave it to the world and not to any individual that tried to claim it for themselves, the technology was free to use by everyone and the kicker was that it was so cheap to make it practically killed the oil companies overnight. Even the nuclear reactors were being shut down and replaced. Other governments across the world were replacing theirs as well.
Xander and Anya were riding in the original prototype, so Ryan had to buy first-class tickets for himself, Willow and Tara to the Bahamas. They even got an extra ticket for their kitten.
Faith and Lyndsey stayed behind with Oz and Bay to keep the Hellmouth safe till they got back. He had to give up half his whiskey and wine cases to them both and set a barrier around half the town in case the werewolf pack showed up while they were gone.
When they arrived in the Bahamas they checked in to the Sandals Emerald Bay resort. The staff were friendly enough, especially when they found out they were staying in a royal estate beachfront two story one bedroom butler villa suite!
They called up the butler, who showed up with a smile and a bow. He picked up the kitten carrier and brought along several staff members to take their luggage. When they arrived at the villa, both Willow and Tara headed to the bathroom to get changed.
Ryan stayed with the butler long enough to dismiss him for the day and tell him to have a privet chef stop by around seven. With a bow the butler took his leave and an envelope disappearing till the morning. Ryan went to inform the girls of his plans.
He found them in the bathroom getting into bikinis. Shaking his head." I sent the butler away for the night and had him inform the personal chef to be ready at seven. We have the villa and property to ourselves till then. I figured if you wanted to sunbathe, why wear those?"
Hearing him, they dropped their jaws, he smirked and joined them in putting lotion on. Heading outside with the kitten in tow both girls looked around only to find that the beach was theirs. After seeing it for themselves, they dropped their towels next to their individual chairs and joined him.
Sitting in relaxing sunbathing chairs they listened to some caribbean music and read books, occasionally commenting on something. After an hour Ryan started making plans for himself and the girls.
The next day the girls went to the spa retreat while he set up the outside grill and ordered several things for them to try out. The butler recommended a couples gathering that had fun games and things to do together.
When Willow and Tara were done at the spa, he had the PC make them a dolphin and sushi platter while he himself made the girls feel special by showing them his life, one piece at a time. He left the painful stuff out and tried to focus on the memories of before his people were destroyed.
He came from a semi-advanced society, his people were a lot like the Nox in Willows favorite tv show, Stargate. He showed them their pacifist lifestyle and they asked."What went wrong with you?"
Chuckling he showed him his rebellious childhood and little experiments with trying to make a flying garden. He figured if it could fly with him then he could relax anywhere he went.
Throughout their vacation he showed them nearly all of his good memories. On the last night he showed them one of the best and closest to his heart, his twin brothers wedding. His brother married their childhood friend, out of both of them his brother was actually more of a pacifist. He went on to show them all his memories of the little pranks he did along the way. She had been his comrade in arms, planking everyone together. The girls asked." If you were so close why didn't you get together instead?"
Laughing he told them." It was like Buffy feels for Xander or Xander for you Willow. We both were to close and new each other to well. It would never have worked. Think of dating Xander now and you'll have your answer."
Nodding Willow thought then grimaced. Sharing her thoughts with Tara, she spoke. "I understand now, it would be like Spike getting together with Angel. Or Buffy with Cordelia."
Tara thought on it then voiced her own." Or Ryan here with Xander."
Coughing and choking on his martini he look at Tara with a horrified expression, then said. "Anya and Giles."
Both girls shook the thought from their heads as soon as it entered. He continued showing them their form of bonding ceremony, the couple or group would burn several herbs and enter a trance where they would connect their life force together in front of witnesses.
The elders would bless them with what was now considered powerful contraceptive spells and they would enter their new home together not to come out for several weeks. After saying that he cut off the memories there not wanting to end on a bad note.
He went on to tell them." Most married people would announce pregnancies when they emerged. When it was same sex couples or groups that were joined they would usually announce the adoption of a child or clone one using all the groups genetic markers. The technology was lost with the fall and I never retrieved the crystals with the stored information. It wasn't important enough to me at the time. But I do remember the rituals and spells that we used. When it comes our time one day I would be more than willing to break a few of the old ways and devide my lifeforce into the three of us. Their was always one couple with many lovers before that did the ceremonies but if you both choose to I will set it to make us all equals. Since my people are dead there is more than enough ambient energy to keep us alive virtually forever. The ceremony wouldn't change either of you too much, your physical body would become denser and would gain my abilities but appearance-wise you would look the same unless you wished it then you could look older or younger at will. I would give you all the knowledge of how to use magic and spells like I do."
Seeing him look so hopeful both of them tried not to point out the downside of their friends and family aging. Willow finally pointed it out. "It sounds nice enough sweety, but we would have to watch Buffy and everyone age as well."
Hearing her burst his bubble he went quiet for a while. They watched his face morph from, sad, to thoughtful, then determination set in. They knew he made some kind of decision and waited for him to tell them.
After several minutes they tried looking through their mind link. They both came up against a brick wall before it collapsed revealing an empty space with only the thought of the kitten rolling around. Finding this weird they both looked to see Miss Kitty Fantastico doing exactly what they saw in his mind.
When they looked at him he had schooled his face, trying not to give anything a way. Seeing his sneakiness they tried for the rest of the night to get him to reveal what he was planning. While they were very convincing he tired them out before he relaxed his guard while they were asleep.
