Title: Gift of a Future 17/?
Author: Gileswench
Feedback: Constructive criticism always welcome. Praise abjectly sought.
Disclaimer: It all belongs to Joss, Mutant Enemy, etc., etc., etc. I just let them have all the fun Joss won't. I own nothing except my twisted mind which you really don't want. Please don't sue.

Buffy's heart continued to pound as she entered the shop. She hoped nobody would notice how upset she was.

Then she noticed most of her friends and visitors were gone.

Only Captain Picard, Dr. Crusher, Wesley and Dawn remained out front.

"Where'd everybody go?" she asked.

"Going, going, gone," Wesley agreed cheerfully.

"Home, or wherever they're staying while they're here," Dr. Crusher said quietly. She sat with her son, touching him, watching him helplessly. Captain Picard sat next to Beverly with a comforting hand on her shoulder. Their protective distress touched a chord in Buffy's heart. She moved to where her sister sat and began to stroke her long, dark hair.

"You okay, Dawn?" she asked.

"I guess," the girl shrugged.

Buffy nodded and tried to come up with some sort of hope for her companions.

"We'll look for a way to fix him. Maybe Willow can do a spell or something. Or maybe Giles can find something in one of his books. There's something about almost everything in them. We'll figure it out."

Beverly nodded. Buffy recognized the doctor's expression. It was the same one she'd worn when people told her she'd be fine after her mother died. She knew the weary resignation that lay behind it; the little voice inside that said nothing would ever be fine again, but it was too much effort to argue the point.

"Yes, yes, of course," Captain Picard said when it became awkwardly clear Beverly wasn't going to respond directly. "And if we can't find an answer here, in your time, perhaps we can find one in ours."

"Yeah," Buffy said, willing to grab ahold of any lifeline. "Sure. I bet they cure stuff like this all the time when you're from. There's gotta be a way."

"Buffy..." Dawn began. Her sister turned on her firmly.

"There's always an answer. We'll find it. He'll be okay. He has to be."

Dawn got the message.

"Sure," she said uncertainly. "We'll find something. That's the Scooby way."

A sudden crash caught the attention of everyone in the room except Wesley who continued to hum oddly to himself. The door had fallen off it's hinges, and there stood Glory. She smiled in a predatory manner at Buffy.

"Told you this wasn't over," she gloated.

Wesley began to squirm fearfully and clutch his head.

"No, no, no, no, no," he gritted out. "Cracking. She's cracking up. She can't take much more! Cracking up!"

Beverly reached for her son.

"No, it's okay," she told him. "It's going to be fine, Wesley."

The boy suddenly looked up at Dawn. He smiled beatifically and reached out a hand toward her as she shrank closer to Buffy.

"Look at that," he whispered. "Brighter than the stars. Such pure, green, energy."

Glory turned to look where Wesley pointed. Buffy wrapped her arms protectively around her sister. Glory grinned. It was not a pleasant sight.

Time stood still for a long moment. At last, Buffy grabbed Dawn's hand and began to run to the back door of the shop. Glory leapt after her, but Picard tackled her. The Hellgoddess kicked the captain in the ribs and leapt to her feet only to find Beverly swinging a fertility statue at her head. Glory easily disarmed the doctor, tossing her into the training room doorway which had opened to reveal Giles. Both went down in a tangle of arms and legs, but it gave Buffy time to slip out the door with Dawn in tow.

The two girls raced down the alleyway toward Main street as quickly as they could run.

"Come on, we have to keep moving!" Buffy yelled.

"I can't!" Dawn cried.

She fell to the pavement. Buffy scooped her up in her arms and kept running. A blur moved past them, only to solidify in Buffy's path as Glory just as they reached the corner.

"I really hate it when people touch my things," the Goddess spat at the stunned Slayer. "Any last words, Slayrunt?"

"Just one," Buffy replied. "Truck."

Before Glory could fully process the meaning of the word, the semi slammed into her. She flew through the air and landed on the hood of a car along the street as Buffy and Dawn sped away into the night.

Glory began to sit up, then stopped with a jerk.

"No, not now, you idiot!" she ground out. "Let go -"

"Of my body!" Ben finished.

The intern rolled painfully off the car and looked down at the pink lace dress he was wearing.

"Oh God," he breathed.

*****

Half an hour later, the entire gang had reassembled at Buffy's house. The group sat around the room in small knots of nervous people and aliens. Nobody seemed quite sure where Geordie and the Buffybot were. Buffy paced distractedly as Dawn recounted their tale.

"...and then whoosh! All of a sudden Glory's standing right in front of us all skanky and blonde and thinkin' she's all that just because some bumpy heads kiss her stinky feet." She stopped in her story briefly. "She does have nice feet. And she's coming right at us and Buffy's just standing there not even blinking like 'bring it on!' And then Wham! Hellbitch in orbit!"

"Go Buff!" Xander crowed.

"I knew you'd beat her sometime," Willow beamed. "I mean, she's not the only one with super powers..."

Buffy shook her head as she stared out the window.

"A truck hit her," she said quietly.

"You threw it at her?" Anya asked hopefully.

"Well no," Dawn admitted. "She more sort of waited for it to hit Glory. But then Buffy ran real fast and we got away."

"I don't know how we got away," Buffy said. "That truck couldn't have slowed her down more than a second."

"Well, the important thing is you two are safe," Deanna prompted.

"Safe?" Buffy scoffed angrily. "We've barely managed not to get seriously dead every time we've crossed paths with Glory. Now that she knows Dawn is the Key..." She shook her head in despair as Beverly held Wesley a bit closer.

"There must be something in the Book of Tarnis that we've missed," Giles said. "Something we can use against Glory."

Everybody grew quiet as they tried to come up with a solution to the problem. Suddenly Anya looked up, beaming.

"Piano!" she yelled.

"Right!" Xander agreed. "Because that's what we used to kill that big demon that one time." He stopped and listened to what he'd just said. He shook his head. "No, that was a rocket launcher. An, what are you talking about?"

"We could drop a piano on her," Anya explained eagerly. she saw the combination of disgusted and mystified expressions around her. "Well it always works for that creepy cartoon rabbit when he's running from that nice man with the speech impediment."

Giles rolled his eyes.

"Yes, or perhaps we could paint a convincing tunnel on the side of a mountain," he sniped."Let's just keep thinking. Perhaps there's something at the magic shop..."

"We can't fight her," Buffy said.

"Well, no, not yet..."

"No. Not ever. She's too strong, Giles. We're not gonna win this with stakes or spells or pulling out some uranium power core. She's a God, and she's coming for us. Let's not be here when she starts knocking."

Anya blinked in bewilderment.

"Run away?" she asked hesitantly. Buffy shot her a look. "Finally!" the ex demon breathed. "A sensible plan!"

"That's not what she meant," Worf blurted out. "Is it?"

"Well we can't stay here," Buffy fumed. "She'll just kill us off one by one until there's no one standing between her and Dawn."

"Buffy," Giles began cautiously,"we all understand the severity of the situation, but there must be another way."

"No!" Buffy yelled. "We stay, we die. Show of hands for that option."

Troi caught Worf's eye and shook her head before he could raise his hand. Nobody else even lifted a finger. Buffy exhaled loudly and went into full planmode.

"Nobody goes home. Nobody tells anyone we're leaving. Just pack up any supplies we need and that's it, we're gone."

"Cool," Dawn said shakily. "Don't have to study for that Geometry test."

"What about wheels?" Xander asked quietly. "I don't think everyone's gonna fit in the Xandermobile."

"No, we won't," Buffy agreed. "But we'll need it. Xand, I want you to take Dr. Crusher and Wesley with you. He's hurt and I won't have time to protect him. Maybe you could take Data and Tara, too. You should have someone with superpowers and someone with magic in case Glory decides to aim for you."

"That's still a lot of people for my car."

"Then take my mom's Jeep. It holds more people and stuff. I'm counting on you, Xand. Keep them safe."

"Sure, Buff," he told her. "Where should we go?"

"Away," she said simply. "Anywhere that's away. Take your cell phone and we'll meet up in a few days. We just have to keep going until Glory runs out of time to use Dawn."

"And the rest of us?" Giles asked. We'll certainly never fit everyone into my car."

"Just get your stuff together," Buffy ordered. "I'll handle the rest."

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