Disclaimer: Didn't create the characters, but i treat most of them better than Joss...so don't complain...I'm not making any money out of this so please don't sue me.

Beta'd by AtheneHahn, with special thanks to Maryperk for her advice and help.

by Jackofspikes

Chapter 44

**.

**

"Well...that was disturbing. Anyone else disturbed by that?" Xander joked lightly. As usual, he was the first to break the disquieting silence that followed Angel's strange departure, consequently breaking the strange thrall the scene seemed to hold over the rest of the group.

"Not as disturbed as I am to be agreeing with you, Harris," Cordy drawled sarcastically.

"Well, you had to get right once in your life, law of averages and all," Xander sniped right back.

"Play nice, children," Joyce gently chided, bringing a halt to their continued bickering.

As one the group moved back to the living room, each still distracted by the events they had just witnessed. They'd all known it was coming; Penny had warned them just exactly how dangerous Angel could become. But she hadn't mentioned the look in his eyes - the hint of insanity that they all recognised now that they'd spent some time around Drusilla. Not one of them had been prepared for that.

"I can't predict him now," Penny warned them all, concerned that the changes they'd brought about would temper what she knew to such an extent that they would have no pre-knowledge and that they might lose someone they weren't supposed to lose. She was suddenly very afraid. "This could be bad, really bad."

Cordelia's cry of pain as the vision hit her focused everyone's attention back to her.

Wesley automatically reached for his friend, helping her to sit as she rode the vision out.

Tara moved swiftly forward and took hold of one of the ex-cheerleader's hands. A few softly spoken words helped ease the suffering girl's pain. Cordelia offered a shaky smile to the Wiccan in gratitude.

"What did you see, Cordelia?" Wesley asked quietly, his concern for her clear in his voice.

"We need to open some sort of portal that can draw a specific person here. She's from here originally, I think, but she somehow got trapped in another dimension."

"Fred," Penny said thoughtfully, not realising she'd spoken out loud.

"No, definitely a female, Doc," the brunette seer insisted.

"What?" Penny looked up momentarily confused. Her brow cleared as she realised the misunderstanding. "Oh! Er, Winifred Burkle. Fred to her friends."

"What else can you tell us about her, Penny?" Wesley asked cautiously, still unsure if he wanted to know more or not.

"In 1996, she was sucked into a portal that had been opened by a jealous professor - who has a fairly nasty habit of doing that to any student that shows too much promise. She landed in Pylea which, incidentally, is Lorne's home dimension. In Pylea the humans are called 'cows' and are basically used as slave labour. She's a beautiful woman, both inside and out, she has a brilliant mathematical mind, a vast knowledge of quantum physics and science, and a natural ability in designing and creating inventions that would make her an important asset to the L.A. team. She's been mentally abused for a long time and will need help readjusting to life in this dimension. In my dimension, Cordelia's vision was different and then she, too, was transported to Pylea. The rest of your team and Lorne went to save Cordelia and Fred was saved as well. This time it seems the Powers don't want that to happen," Penny told them.

"Okay, so, what? We find a spell or ritual that will bring her here, Penny helps her with the adjusting and some of us go kick the professor's butt?" Buffy asked, not sure she was getting the whole dimension hopping deal right.

"I'm not sure there is a lot we can do about the professor, Buffy. He is human after all," Giles reminded his charge.

"You might not be able to do something, but we sure as hell can. He might be human, but he stepped into the fight the minute he started opening portals to get rid of the competition. Our job is to help the hopeless and that means this guy needs to be stopped," Cordelia insisted harshly, an eyebrow lifted in superior contempt.

Giles sighed deeply as he removed his glasses to clean them. "My dear girl..."

"Oh, no, you don't buster!" Cordelia stood, angrily facing the man she had once considered so knowledgeable on all things supernatural. "You don't get to do that to me. Not anymore. I believed all that council crap you told us, but you know what? The council. Knows. Jack! It's not a black and white world, being a demon does not automatically make you evil, just like being a human does not automatically make you good. Human or not, the guy is a predator that preys on the innocent, and we will shut him down."

Gunn and Wesley moved to join the fuming girl in solidarity, making it very clear that they fully supported her stance.

"So, we don't kill him, we bind him, or something. You're the big think-y guy, Giles, come up with something." Buffy suggested. She was pretty much agreeing with everything the ex-cheerleader had said. "But let's just concentrate on saving the genius in the piles dimension first, okay?"

~*~*~

"Welcome home, Fred." Penny smiled gently at the shaking woman before grinning happily. "We have tacos."

"Tacos?"

~*~*~

Tara waited for the rest of the household to settle before approaching Penny. She had made her decision and she desperately wanted to share it with someone she cared about. The playful doctor had easily found a way into the gentle Wicca's heart, and with Willow gone, Tara's first choice for a confidant was Penny.

Tapping softly, so as not to disturb the others, Tara was bade entry from within.

In a few short sentences, Tara explained to her friend why she was there.

"What have you decided?" Penny asked cautiously. She was careful to keep her own opinions to herself. She had already made her own choice to help the people that had had such an impact on her life. She may have been brought to this dimension without choice, but what she did in this dimension was up to her.

"I'm going to accept the mantle of Guardian," Tara spoke firmly.

"How will it affect you?"

"I'll hold the secrets that will help the others when they've made their decisions. Until then, I'll watch and wait."