Buffy Summers, original Slayer and one of the founders of Champion Industries, walked into the lobby of the Hyperion Hotel, base of operations for CI.

The reception area had changed very little since it had been the home of Angel Investigations. The only thing that made it different were the small personal touches here and there.

And, of course, the dark haired slayer who was dancing around the lobby in time to the music blaring from her headphones.

Faith, the last slayer who would ever be called in the traditional way, had been in the Hyperion Hotel before, of course. But she had been running from the law, then. Wary. Guarded.

She wouldn’t have been bopping happily to music. Seeing Faith with that kind of freedom was one of the best perks they had received from Angel inheriting Wolfram Hart.

Prison had changed Faith, for the better. The dark slayer had changed into someone Buffy respected, and, even more surprising, liked.

But prison had done all it could for Faith. Sending her back there would benefit no one. There were better ways for the girl to earn redemption, for her to atone for her sins. And she was proving that she could do them at Champion Industries.

So Buffy was glad she was there. Even if her idea of manning the phones was gyrating around the lobby to overly loud music.

Normally Buffy or Dawn did the public relations thing, but Buffy had had a meeting with Angel to turn in her “Vision Report”, ad they had taken to calling it. And Dawn was out with Draco on their first solo mission. Speaking of which . . .

“Faith!” Buffy called, ducking to avoid the fist the other slayer had flung out the last time Buffy had surprised the girl while she was listening to her music.

The brunette turned and laughed when she took in Buffy’s crouched position. “I heard you come in, B. Learned my lesson that time that I was Oz sitting.” Buffy stood up and straightened her clothes, rolling her eyes at the other girl. “Can’t let myself be snuck up on, now can I? Honed that in prison. Never know who could wander through the door.”

“Speaking of people that ought to be wondering through the door, shouldn’t Dawn and J.J. be back by now? Harmony told me that the W H people got all the paperwork done. So the kids will all be off to school tomorrow. They might need clothes or something.”

As if it was on cue, the phone at the reception desk started to ring. Buffy moved to answer it, but the other slayer was closer, and got to it first.

“Champion Industries, let us be your champions.”

Buffy was still surprised at how professional Faith could manage to sound when she tried.

“Yeah, kid. She just walked in the door, and she’s already pitching a fit.”

She set the receiver down, and turned to Buffy. “It’s the kids.”

A faint “We are not,” could be heard through the phone.

The blonde picked up the phone, but was interrupted before she could get a complete word out. “I called the second the sun set. The plane was late . . .”

Buffy’s slayer hearing picked up a voice with a distinct British accent mutter “That’s what you get when you resort to muggle forms of travel.”

“Shut up! So, flight was late, and traffic is crazy. We’ll be home as soon as we can.”

Buffy thought about it for a moment. She remembered the clothes that Draco Malfoy had had with him when he had landed on her doorstep in Sunnydale. Dawn would never forgive her if she made her go to school with people that didn’t dress right. “Dawn, are you and J.J. armed?”

“Armed to the teeth.” Buffy could hear the young man they called J.J. laugh in the background, but the cell phone could not show her the shocked expressions of the other teens. They could not believe that this was Draco laughing. In fact, it was hard to believe that the boy was Draco Malfoy at all.

“And we’re in the Angelmobile, so the car’s stocked too.”

Buffy’s mouth dropped open at that. Angel would kill her if anything would happen to that car. It really didn’t matter that he had a whole motor pool at his disposal, that car was still his baby. And the kids had been told to take the company van that CI had recently acquired. “We’ll be having a talk about that when you get home.” Dawn started to protest, but her sister interrupted before the younger girl said anything that would make Buffy change her mind about what she was going to say. “But first, Harmony got all the paperwork done today. Since the others are going to start school tomorrow, I’d suggest a trip to the mall for some necessities.” Buffy’s sensitive ears protested at her sister’s answering squeal. “You guys have the company card?”

“You betcha!”

“Well, just the absolute necessities. It’s dark already. We’ll go again on the weekend.” The blonde was almost ready to hang up the phone when she remembered one last thing. “Put the top up on that car!”

“Yes ma’am!”

“Be back soon.” With that final instruction, Buffy hung up the phone.

The slayer heard Faith chuckle behind her and turned to face the girl.

“I can’t believe you sent her shopping in L.A. with the company credit card.”

“I know.”

“And that you trusted them to protect those kids after dark.”

“I hope I did the right thing,” Buffy answered, rubbing the bridge of her nose in a manner very reminiscent of her watcher.

“You did. Gotta cut the apron strings sometime, B. They’re both older than we were when we started this fight.”

Buffy nodded, knowing that Faith meant older in a way that had nothing to do with age.