"Buffy?" Dawn said, "can you feel that?"

"What?" Buffy asked, handing Clem's cousin the fare, glad once again that they'd finally been able to negotiate a more reasonable contract with his family's taxi company. For being some of the scariest women on the planet, most slayers were squeamish when it came to what some demons considered a delicacy.

"It's like hundreds of eyes are watching us," Dawn said in a low voice.

Frowning, Buffy scanned their surroundings. Just because they were standing in front of the administrative building for the national headquarters of the new Council didn't mean there wasn't the possibility of an ambush of some kind. After all, just last month the Perth office had been attacked by several hundred vampire koala bears. "I don't sense anything unusual," Buffy said. "Seem to be more slayers in the area than normal though."

"More than the usual twenty?" Dawn asked suspiciously.

"Hmm..." Buffy concentrated. In the middle of a battle it just worked but at other times she had to really concentrate to detect other slayers more than a couple feet away. "Faith is in that direction," she said, pointing towards Giles' office. "Wow! Every slayer east of the Mississippi must be here. Must be an emergency or maybe they heard about your recent misadventure?"

"My misadventure," Dawn grumbled. "Do you even know what that means?"

"Hey! I'm the smart one. I at least married a doctor," Buffy said. "I bet Mom would be so proud. Go me!"

"I married a doctor too," Dawn said, grabbing her carry-on.

"Not the same thing," Buffy said, holding the door open for her. "How many mothers want their daughters to marry a scientist?"

"Other than Willow's?"

"That was an exception," Buffy said. "Willow would never have invited her parents to Kennedy's graduation if she'd known they would show up with a future son-in-law."

"Serious miscommunication there," Dawn said, nodding in agreement. "Are you going to go see Giles?"

"We both are," Buffy told her, unlocking the door to their apartment. "We can unpack later."

"Do I hafta?" Dawn said, dropping her bag on the couch.

"I'm not facing him by myself," Buffy said firmly.

"But you do that so well. He'll never know what hit him."

"Usually I'm right," Buffy said. "This one might require a bit of groveling from both of us."

"My groveling outfit is at the cleaners," Dawn said, going into her bedroom.

"If you want Giles to help smooth things over for Sam you'll have to find another groveling outfit," Buffy said, following her. "Preferably something adult. That Catholic school girl outfit you wore the last time you groveled for the Vegas marriage thing was a bit much."

"Adult groveling? Do we even know how to do that?" Dawn asked. "Can't we just do a Xander-grovel?"

"No. We aren't going to take Giles out to a magic comedy strip club," Buffy said. "Let's not lose what dignity we have left. We actually have a plan."

"Janet is good at the planning thing," Dawn said. "Think we could get her to move to Cleveland?"

"She has an important job, where she is now, keeping your woman alive," Buffy said. "Unless you want both of them to move here and let someone we don't know keep an eye on their secret project?"

"I could get used to Sam being around full time," Dawn said, grinning at some thought Buffy really, really didn't want to know. "Besides, we don't know what their secret project even is. And they aren't going to spy on it for us."

"The Air Force has a portal expert and a doctor who specializes in strange diseases. What do you think they are doing?" Buffy asked, even though they'd discussed it already, more than once, since leaving Vegas. "And we don't need them to spy on their own program. I trust Janet. And you trust Sam, right?"

"Of course," Dawn said, digging out the suit she'd worn when she'd defended her dissertation. "As long as their project is in good hands we won't have to jump in and rescue them. Will this do?"

"Much better," Buffy said. "Giles is much easier to manipulate by a female wearer of the tweed."

"Isn't pimping your sister one of those things that gets you a ticket straight to hell?" Dawn asked.

"I like to think of it as being efficient," Buffy said. "We can take pictures to send to Sam."

"Cool," Dawn grinned at her. "What are you going to wear?"

"Slayer groveling takes a special touch," Buffy told her, pausing in the door. "I've got just the thing."

Dawn giggled at the picture her sister made, posing in the middle of the living room, dressed in a sundress that bore a strong resemblance to Dorothy's dress when she'd melted the Wicked Witch, and carrying a basket. "What's in the basket little girl," she said, giving Buffy her best leer.

"Wouldn't you like to know," Buffy said, "and, eww, I'm your sister... save that for your lady scientist. I'm sure she makes a mean basket."

"Technically, you're really my mother," Dawn told her. "And I think I'm going to be sick," she said, feeling nauseous at the idea. "There are so many things wrong with that."

"That can wait until later," Buffy said, putting down the basket. "Time to get our grovel on."

"You wanted to see us?" Buffy asked, in what Dawn thought was an overly innocent sounding voice.

"When you arrived back, yes," Giles said. "Which was over an hour ago."

"We needed to freshen up," Buffy said. "You didn't want us in your office all smelly from traveling did you?"

Before Dawn could add anything, the door to Giles' office was thrown open and Faith stomped in, muttering under her breath.

"Faith," Giles said, in that pre-Ripper voice that meant business, "do you need something else?"

"Me? Nope. Just here for the show," she said, flopping down on the couch off to the side of his office.

Dawn raised an eyebrow at Buffy, not sure she wanted an audience, but her sister just shrugged.

"The more the merrier," Buffy said, sitting down gracefully in one of the chairs in front of his desk. Following her lead, Dawn took the other one.

"So, the conference was a success?"

"Dawn presented her paper; there was lots of applause; and she made some useful contacts," Buffy told him. "Then we celebrated and came home."

"And nothing unusual happened?" He asked suspiciously.

"Nope, just the usual conference hi-jinks."

"Good, good." Giles stared at them. They stared back. "Are you sure?"

"Well..." Dawn mumbled.

"We didn't have to involve the lawyers," Buffy said quickly.

"Nope, no lawyers," Dawn added.

"Man, I wish I had some popcorn," Faith muttered from the couch.

"Hush, you," Buffy said.

"Super-G here must be the only one who doesn't know," Faith said, smirking at the glare the overused nickname earned her.

"How do you know?" Dawn asked her. "I didn't tell her," she said to Buffy defensively.

"Well, I didn't either. I haven't even told Willow yet," Buffy said. "Or Xander."

"Are you kidding?" Faith asked. "Every slayer in the world felt that. And if the Ken-doll knows, so does Willow. And Xander? Sweet guy. Every slayer's big brother, but kind of clueless." Getting up, she stood between them. "Are these your honeymoon outfits?" she asked, smirking at the two sisters. "Gotta say, Innocent Barbie and Tweed Girl not what I would consider a turn on."

"Honeymoon?" Dawn squeaked, nervously looking at Giles.

"We might have discussed it," Buffy admitted, nervously smoothing her dress. "But there wasn't time to work out the details. They had to get back."

"They?"

"Well, you never said anything about me getting married," Buffy said. "And now that I think about it, the issue wasn't that Dawn keeps getting married either."

"I'm so over that," Dawn interjected.

"The issue," Buffy paused to glare at her sister, "the issue is that every time Dawn has gotten married in Vegas in the past, she realized it was a mistake the next morning and we had to rescue her."

"That last one wasn't even my idea," Dawn grumbled. "Stupid warlock."

"Just be glad he needed a virgin sacrifice," Buffy said, too low for Giles to hear. Dawn winced at Faith's guffaw.

"You were supposed to keep an eye on her," Giles said. "Not join her."

"I did keep an eye on her," Buffy protested. "She never left my sight. Well, at least until we got back to our room," she added, blushing.

"So, where are they?" Faith asked.

"Why do you care?" Dawn mumbled. This wasn't one of the times she found Faith amusing.

"This isn't just about you, Twinkie," Faith said, patting Dawn on the head. "When you and your sister got hitched it affected all of us. If you don't cough her up ASAP there's gonna be a riot."

"Cough who up?" Giles asked.

"The 'Queen of the Slayers' took a Consort," Faith said. Dawn winced at the sarcasm. "And her little Princess did too. They want to meet her."

"Her?" Giles stared at them for a moment before taking off his glasses and slowly cleaning them.

"I'm not the 'Queen' of anything," Buffy protested. "And Dawn's not a slayer. What we do has nothing to do with the others."

"Wrong!" Faith said. "You know what Willow's spell did."

"When did you get to be Missy Insightful?" Dawn asked.

"How many slayers showed up the last time you were kidnapped?" Faith asked.

"A few?" Dawn muttered. It's been extremely embarrassing at the time. It hadn't even been a real kidnapping, just some geek still steamed about Marvel killing off Captain America taking everyone at the comic book shop hostage. All the slayers on the east coast had shown up before it was over.

"You see what I have to work with, Big Guy?" Faith said, looking up. "Miracle material they ain't."

"Who are you talking to?" Buffy asked.

"Huh?" Faith looked at her in surprise. "Nobody."

"Faith?"

"Yes, Giles?"

"Could you explain yourself?"

"And ruin my reputation for surly non-conformity?"

"Yes," Giles said firmly.

"You know, I had a look at the old Council's records on you Faith," Dawn said, looking for a little payback for the 'twinkie' remark.

"Where'd you find them?" Faith asked, losing what color she had.

"Not telling," Dawn said maliciously. "Good bribery material is hard to find."

"Dawn!" Buffy said. "You know we agreed that only a slayer could give permission for anyone to see their Council records. You aren't supposed to look at them."

"Buffy? Dear Sister-mom?"

"Yes?" Buffy mumbled.

"Who runs the archives and maintains all of our records?"

"Umm, the Council Archivist?"

"Which is whom?" Dawn asked with a smirk. "Confirming the records on all the current slayers? Kind of my job."

"Where were we?" Giles asked.

"We were not mentioning the fact that the reason Faith was a juvenile delinquent was that she graduated from high school when she was twelve and things were bad at home so she ran away," Dawn said. "She's the big brain in this room."

"So why aren't you this 'Queen'," Buffy asked Faith, "if you're such a genius."

"Has nothing to do with smarts," Faith said. "It's how Willow did the damn spell."

"Explain," Giles said, looking a bit peeved, Dawn thought. Probably because he'd totally missed something that was supposed to be his job.

"You can have my chair," Dawn offered.

"I'm fine where I am," Faith said, leaning against Buffy and running her fingers through her blonde hair, much to Dawn's amusement and Buffy's embarrassment.

"Faith?"

"Well, I was wondering why the newbie spell affected Dawn."

"Affected Dawn?" Giles glared at all three of them. Buffy cringed. "Why wasn't I informed?"

"It's nobody's business but ours," Faith told him, glaring back.

"I wasn't feeling lab-ratty, so I asked Buffy to not tell Willow or you," Dawn said quickly. "And I didn't know Faith had noticed." Faith just shrugged.

"The spell?" Giles asked, his tone making it clear they would revisit the subject of keeping secrets from him later.

"You know how different slayers have different skills?" Faith asked. "We've all got the basics. But some of the girls are better at some things than others. Like, Rona can sense evil from a mile away and Vi can hit any vamp with a stake that gets within a couple hundred feet without missing. Stuff like that?"

"How does that make Buffy the 'Queen'?" Dawn asked.

"Have you noticed how she doesn't give those crappy inspirational speeches any more?"

"My speeches aren't that bad," Buffy grumbled.

"Not any more," Faith said. "But before the spell you gave some doozies."

"So she's got super-slayer speech skills?" Dawn giggled, ducking Buffy's half-hearted swing.

"Nah, she has that slayer leadership thing amped up," Faith said. "She probably had it before but nobody noticed. A bit useless when there were only the two of us. But watch the newbies the next time she talks. They can't resist her."

"Even you?" Buffy asked eagerly.

"You wish, babe," Faith said. "But I'm immune."

"And this relates to Dawn in what way?" Giles asked.

"Did you notice how only a slayer can feel the scythe's magic?"

"Yes," Giles said.

"That's because it isn't really magical," Faith said. "It's kind of a conduit. If a slayer touches it, they get access to all of the power of the Slayer line. If anyone else touches it? Nada."

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"It's a theory," Faith said, shrugging. "But I'm right," she said.

Dawn shook her head. If anyone else had said it, she would have called them on their arrogance. But the Faith she'd gotten to know since Sunnydale, surprisingly, wasn't an arrogant person. Annoying? Certainly. But not afraid to have an opinion or to be right.

"So, what did Willow's spell do?"

"Well, it had to get its power from somewhere. That stuff doesn't just come out of thin air. And we know that, no matter how much Willow wants to jump my bones," Faith winked at Buffy, "she isn't going to include me in something that important."

"She doesn't hate you," Dawn said.

"Didn't say that," Faith said. "But she's not going to do anything that gives me any more power."

"Go on," Giles said.

"So, Willow's spell..." Faith paused for a moment. "It used the scythe to latch onto Willow's favorite slayer and used her to turn on the newbies. But Buffy has that connection to the kid. So the spell mixed in Dawn's mojo with the slayer activation juice."

Buffy scrunched up her nose. "Not seeing where you're going with this. So Willow's spell used me and Dawn together to activate the new slayers. And the spell made me a better leader. Where do you fit in? From the way you've been burning through the newbies it turned you into some kind of slayer sex goddess. But the Queen thing? I'm not buying it."

"First, I was already the hottest slayer out there, even if you weren't interested," Faith said, waggling her eyebrows. "And second, I got dragged into it the same way Dawn did. That spell included me because of our connection but since Willow is paranoid I'm more of a spectator, which suites me fine."

"And the 'Queen' thing?"

"The spell made you their boss. And Dawn is part of the package."

"But you don't actually know why Willow's spell had this affect on them," Giles said.

Well, no," Faith said. "Why doesn't matter. It just is. And B isn't going to go power crazy. So, no worries."

"You said there was going to be a riot?" Dawn asked. "Why?"

"You just added two new people, non-slayers, to the family. It upsets the power dynamic. You need to introduce them to fix things. Pronto."

"I hate my life," Buffy grumbled. "I could have done without knowing about this queen stuff. Or knowing that you aren't just a pretty face."

"Don't forget the sexy bod!" Faith said.

"As if we could," Dawn grumbled. "Could you get your ass out of my space?"

"Well, since I'm not needed anymore," Faith said, "I think I'll go." They all watched her saunter out of Giles' office, unable to help themselves.

"I'm sure she was exaggerating about the rioting," Buffy said as soon as the door had closed behind Faith.

"Explain why you are now married," Giles said.

"Seemed like a good idea at the time?" Buffy said sheepishly. "Besides, Dawn was doing it and I couldn't let her get married by herself."

"Janet is hot, in an older woman kind of way," Dawn told him, "though I personally prefer my Sam."

"So, you both married women? I didn't realize that was legal in this country."

"It is in Boston," Buffy said.

"Boston?" Giles rubbed his eyes.

"That would be my fault," Dawn told him. "I wanted to impress Sam."

"Sam?"

"Samantha," Buffy corrected. "Dawn apparently likes tall blondes."

"And you like short red headed doctors," Dawn retorted. "Sam's a scientist. She's an Air Force Major."

"So is Janet," Buffy grumbled. "And she's Chief Medical Officer at her base."

"Well, Sam's a fighter pilot!"

"And Janet does this thing with her tongue..." Buffy murmured, her eyes glazing over.

"Sam makes this cute squeak when I..." Dawn blushed and left her sentence incomplete. "Never mind."

"Ladies," Giles said, "is this necessary?"

"No," Buffy said.

"Sorry," Dawn muttered.

"Do both of you plan to stay married?" Giles asked.

"Well, we figured getting suddenly unmarried would attract more attention than doing nothing, for now anyway, and both Sam and Janet work for some top secret Air Force project in Colorado and it wouldn't look good for them to have a Vegas quickie wedding/unwedding show up in their service records," Buffy said without taking a breath.

"Except it took place in Boston and we'd have to explain that part also," Dawn said, "since we were all in Vegas."

"Yeah, badness all around," Buffy said. "And since none of us had planned to get married any time soon anyway this works out. We'll do the divorce thing in a year or so."

Dawn carefully kept her expression blank. Buffy and Janet could do whatever they wanted. She had no plans to get divorced from Sam if she could help it. And she had at least a year to convince Sam her idea would work. And it wasn't just about the best sex she could remember.

"It seems you have everything planned out," Giles said. "What do you need me for?"

"Well... we kinda need a favor," Buffy said. "We need you to do something about that stupid "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" rule."

"The what? And why?"

"Since this whole marriage thing is Dawn's fault, we need to fix it."

"Explain," Giles said.

"Congress passed some law that says it is okay to be gay if you're in the military, as long as no one knows it. And they can't ask you about it. But if they do find out, out you go," Buffy said, scrunching up her face in distaste. "If we had that rule we'd probably be down to less than a dozen slayers and a bunch of watchers. Almost like the old days."

"And you can't get married to someone of the same gender," Dawn added. "That's a big no-no."

Giles started rubbing his glasses again. "So, you don't want to get divorced right away because that would look bad on their service records. But you've put them both at risk already, just by getting married. So you want me to fix that for you. Is that correct?" He said with a sigh.

"Sounds about right," Buffy said, smiling.

"Yup," Dawn agreed. "Sam thinks they're pretty safe because the president promised to get that repealed and there's a moratorium on enforcing it until then but he's a politician so I'm not sure we should trust that."

"And how do you want this fixed?"

"Well, didn't you get all of us British passports last year?"

"Yes..."

"So that makes us British citizens. Doesn't that make whomever we marry British also?"

"Not immediately," Giles said. "Even the Council has limits to its influence."

"Oh," Dawn slumped back in her chair. "What about that agreement between the Council and the Crown?"

"What agreement?" Buffy asked.

"It was for slayers," Dawn said. "If you guys needed to work with the military, the British Crown would provide credentials. Or something like that."

"Yes. In a manner of speaking," Giles said. "Any slayer who passes the Royal Marines All Arms Commando Course can receive a commission in the Royal Navy Reserves."

"Well, that should be a piece of cake," Dawn said looking at her sister. "Right?"

"Do you remember where I went last summer?" Buffy asked. "While you were on that Amazon trip with Willow and Kennedy?"

"You went to England to evaluate some military co-op thing," Dawn said. She hadn't forgotten about it but Buffy hadn't really talked about it. At all. "Oh."

"Yes, Oh. Vi, Rona, and I did that commando course. And yes, we all passed." Buffy grimaced. "The hard part isn't the physical stuff. Any slayer could pass it. And the weapons training was fun. We don't get to play with those kinds of things much. But the mental stuff? Where they get inside your head, take you apart and turn you into a team player?

Vi had no problem. I made it but there were a lot of times I thought I wouldn't. High school me would have sat in a corner and cried for 9 weeks. Some of those trainers make Angelous look like a sweetheart. Rona? She made it because she's too stubborn to quit. Even mellowed out like she is now, Faith certainly wouldn't have made it. She would have put one of them through a wall the first week. And we've got more Faiths and Ronas than Vi's. They're just too independent and don't play well with others."

"So no one else is going to do it?" Dawn asked.

"Giles has my recommendation," Buffy told her. "If he agrees, anyone who wants to be on my team will have to go through the course. I'd also like Vi and Rona to have teams of their own, set up the same way. We'll be the teams that work directly with the military. If that works out, we'll look into something similar for teams to work with civilian law enforcement."

"They agreed," Giles told her. "I have a meeting tomorrow to set things in motion. We can't send more than three slayers to the course at a time so it'll take a year before all three teams are complete. But that doesn't really help with this problem," he told them.

"Nope, but I got the paperwork before we left for Vegas. It says I'm a Lieutenant-Commander in the Royal Navy Reserves and I'm on detached duty with the Council for as long as needed," Buffy said. "I wonder if I outrank Janet?"

"Why didn't you say anything?" Dawn asked.

"Because it isn't real?" Buffy said. "It sounds very James Bondish but it's not. It's mostly a status kind of thing so we could take the course. They gave us a quick three week training session on Royal Navy officer basics before the commando course, so we'd fit in better, but unless they need some help with demons or vampires, I'm not likely to be going into combat with them."

"Do you have a uniform? I bet you look cute in a uniform. You should send Janet a picture," Dawn said excitedly. "And don't forget to ask for one of her."

"It isn't the same thing," Buffy said. "But yes, we did get fancy uniforms to wear at the end ceremony and for when we met the Queen."

"The Queen queen?" Dawn asked.

"The one Giles likes," Buffy said, nodding. "Old lady, wicked sense of humour. She made a joke when she knighted him."

"Giles? You were knighted?" Dawn stared at him. "Why didn't you tell anyone?"

"It's traditional for the Head of the Council to be knighted," he told her. "It doesn't change anything."

"It's important," Dawn said, disagreeing with him. "Now I'll have to write up a cheat sheet for whomever is on phone duty. Can't have them calling you the wrong thing."

"What do you want me to do?" Giles asked.

"About the marriage thing? Don't we have a contact at the Pentagon? Can't we get the Queen to talk to the President? I bet she'd be on our side."

"Our contacts aren't meant for solving trivial personal problems," Giles told them.

"Good thing this isn't trivial then," Buffy said.

"Yeah!" Dawn said. "So not trivial. It's romance. And Happily Ever After. Miracle Max would do it," she said, pouting. She could see Buffy repeating the words to herself out of the corner of her eye. She wondered how long it would be before Buffy realized that her excuse for marrying Janet made no sense. Buffy, the dyed-in-the-wool, hardcore romantic, would never get married to someone she didn't have the potential to love.

"I'll see what I can do," Giles told them, reflexively cleaning his glasses.