---Sam's Office---

Josh followed Sam into his office. "What's going on, Sam?" he asked his best friend.
Sam didn't want to talk about it. He loved Josh like a brother, but he didn't want to get into this.
"Nothing's going on."
Josh raised an eyebrow. "Really, so that whole thing with Willow back there was perfectly normal?"
Sam swore under his breath. He hadn't realized that he had been that obvious. "Willow and I never get along, Josh. You know that."
But Josh wasn't about to let this go. "Yeah, but normally you two fight and make snarky comments towards each other. That out there was different. That was full of awkwardness. I mean come one, what happened? Did you get drunk and sleep with her or something." Josh grinned, trying to inject some humor into the conversation.
Sam was quiet for a moment to long for Josh's comfort. Then he muttered something Josh couldn't really hear.
"What did you say?" Josh asked, hoping to god he had misheard.
Sam sighed, and spoke louder. "I said we weren't drunk."
Josh's grin faded. "Please tell me you're kidding." He has to be kidding. Josh thought. There's simply no way that he...But the look on Sam's face told Josh his friend was serious.
"Okay, you have to tell me everything."
Sam got up from his desk and began pacing. He paused for a moment to gather his thoughts, then proceeded to tell Josh exactly what had happened last night. Telling the story just made him more angry, at himself, and at Willow. What the hell had they done. They hated each other. And yet somehow that had turned into a weird sort of sexual passion.
Sam sat back down and buried his head in his hands. "Christ, Josh. What do I do? She's year's younger then me, and I'm her boss. Not to mention the fact that we don't even like each other. What do I do?"
Josh was deep in thought. He felt bad for Sam, and for Willow. But he was also more than a little surprised. This could get really bad. Josh knew what Sam had to do. Not that Sam would want to do it. Hell, Josh wouldn't want to do it if he was in Sam's shoes.
"Sam, you have to go to C.J."
"Yeah." Sam knew that, but he really didn't want to.
"You remember what happened with Laurie."
"Yeah"
"C.J. told you to always go to her first in situations like this."
"Yeah."
"Speaking of that, you really can't get into situations like this anymore."
Sam laughed pathetically. "Trust me, Josh, I know that."
"Okay. And hey, if you want to talk about it, you know, not just the political side, I'm here for you." Josh knew it sounded sappy. But it was also true.

There was a knock on the door.
"Sam?" Sam heard Willow softly call his name. He guessed that he may as well get this over with now.
"Yeah, come one in."
Josh stood up as Willow entered the room. She looked terrible, so did Sam, really.
"All right, Sam. I'll talk to you later. You wanna meet for drinks?"
"God yes!" Sam stood up again when Willow came in. He watched Josh leave, trying to think of something to say to Willow. He was glad when she spoke first.
"Umm...Sam. I think we should talk to C.J. about what happened last night. You know, in case...in case this somehow gets out." Willow looked at him nervously, not really sure whether she was hoping he would agree, or not. If he didn't then she could put off talking to the Press Secretary, but she knew that it shouldn't be put off.
Sam was glad Willow had brought it up. He didn't want to have to fight with her about it. As much as they may fight, it would be much easier talking to C.J. if they showed a united front.
"I agree. I'll tell Carol we need to talk to C.J. as soon as possible." Sam paused. "Actually, why don't we just go now, and see if she's in her office?"
Willow nodded. "Okay, that sounds good."


---C.J.'s office----

C.J. looked at Sam and Willow from behind her desk. She noticed that they both looked worried as hell. What had they done now? C.J. took off her glasses, and sat down.
"All right. Have a seat and tell me why it was so important for you to talk to me."
Sam and Willow looked at each other. Each person hoping that the other would speak first. Finally, Sam took the initiative.
He cleared his throat. "Well, Willow and I have gotten ourselves into a bit of a mess."
C.J. pursed her lips. "How big of a mess?" she asked.
Willow shifted uncomfortably under C.J.'s gaze.
"Pretty big, actually," Sam continued. He paused for a moment, "Willow and I slept together." he eventually managed to spit out.
C.J. had had a million of ideas running through her head as to what Sam and Willow's problem might have been. This was not one of them. It wasn't even close. She already felt a headache coming on.
"You two slept together? Well, that's just great. Because this is exactly what our administration needs. I was just thinking that we didn't have enough scandal."
"Look, C.J..." Sam began.
"No, you just shut up for now. What, was the thing with Laurie not enough for you. You felt the need to create more problems?"
Willow interjected, "Who's Laurie? Is she the woman who you slept with who turned out to be a call girl?"
Sam nodded, but remained silent. C.J. felt herself getting angrier by the second.
"Sam, how the hell could you let this happen."
"It's my fault." Willow couldn't stand being silent any longer. "I initiated it. I take full
responsibility for what happened. Don't just yell at Sam."
C.J. glared at Willow. "Trust me, I'm yelling at you too. Now tell me exactly how this happened.

The next 15 minutes were spent telling C.J. the story of the night before. Willow and Sam both spoke, many times interrupting each other. Though they supported one another, it was obvious there was still a lot of hate between them. When they were done, C.J. spoke again.
"Does anyone else know about this?"
Sam and Willow both looked at the floor. Willow spoke first.
"I told Donna."
Sam grimaced. "I told Josh." He knew that C.J. would be pissed. He was right.
"Sam, I seem to remember telling you that in situations like this you talk to me first!"
"I know." Sam replied. "And I'm sorry. But what are we going to do?"
C.J. thought for a moment. "I'll get back to you later. I'm honestly not sure exactly what to do. I'll think about it. And I want to see you in my office first thing tomorrow morning. For now, get the hell out of my office. And for god's sake, don't tell anyone else about what happened."
Willow and Sam thanked C.J. and left her office. They didn't say a word to each other. Sam was angry, Willow was just shaken. She hadn't really experienced C.J.'s wrath before. She really wasn't looking forward to Toby finding out, or Leo. Things were just going to get worse. Suddenly she heard a familiar voice.
"Wills!"
Willow turned and, for the first time all day, truly smiled.

"Xander! Dawn!" Her problems momentarily forgotten, Willow ran to her friends. Soon she was enveloped in a tight group hug.
"When did you get here? I thought you weren't coming until Friday."
Xander and Dawn laughed. "Will, it is Friday." Dawn said.
"Are you doing okay, Willow?" Xander asked, a little concerned.
Willow knew that C.J. had told her not to tell anyone else what had happened, but she figured she could tell her old friends. Not to mention she needed to talk to someone about Angel thinking Spike might be alive.
"I have a lot on my mind. Did Giles tell you about Angel?"
Dawn nodded, suddenly serious. "Yeah, Giles told us. How are you holding up?"
It felt good to be around people she could fully confide in. "All right, but there's other stuff going on now. I'm done with work for the night. Why don't we talk in my office. IF you don't mind, I'll put off the tour until tomorrow."
Dawn and Xander exchanged looks, "Of course we don't mind," Xander said.
Willow led Dawn and Xander into her office. "Do you guys want anything to drink or anything? I can get something for you." Willow motioned for them to sit down.
Dawn shook her head, "I'm fine."
"Me too," Xander replied. "Why don't you just tell us what's going on?"
Willow sighed. "Well, as you know Angel came to see me yesterday, to tell me that Spike had been seen in London. Well, after he left, I was upset."
"That's understandable." Xander tried to comfort his friend.
"Yeah, well... I was able to keep my mind off of it most of the day, because I was really busy. But I did something really stupid last night?"
"How stupid?" Dawn asked.
"Very stupid. You see earlier that day, I had had an argument with Sam."
"He's the hottie you hate, right?"
Willow allowed herself a small smile. "Yeah, Dawnie. He is."
"What were you fighting about?" Xander asked.
"Well, I don't really want to get into that much, but it involved taking the subject of gay rights out of a speech for next week."
"Oh, I'm sorry Willow. Tara told me that you had been working on that pretty hard." Dawn frowned in concern.
Willow felt her heart constrict at the mention of her ex-girlfriend. She knew that part of her would always love Tara. But their relationship just hadn't worked. Willow was glad that Tara was still part of the group back in Sunnydale.
"Anyway, to take my mind off the Spike thing, I went to Sam's apartment late last night. I wanted to try to convince him that it should be in the speech. Well, we got into this bad argument. I mean really bad, worse than ones before. I... don't know why. But I kinda grabbed him and kissed him."
Xander was shocked "You what? What happened to the whole 'gay now' thing?"
Dawn's reaction was a little different. "Ohhh, smoochies for Willow! That's exciting. I'm glad you found someone! Just how handsome is he in person? I've seen him on T.V."
Willow blushed, "He is really handsome, but we are NOT together. In fact, we still pretty much hate each other. And as for the whole 'gay now thing' I don't really know. I mean I guess I would describe myself as bisexual. Which I think makes sense, as much as I loved Tara, I also did love Oz, and I was totally in love with you, Xander so....." Willow trailed off. Even after they had briefly had a fling in high school, Willow had never really sat down and talked with Xander about how much she had loved him. She certainly didn't want to do it now. She could tell that Xander was a little uncomfortable.
"Anyway," she continued. "It wasn't just smoochies."
Xander was on his feet in a second. "You mean you... you and he... I mean you guys...."
Dawn rolled her eyes. "She had sex with him, Xander. Is it really that hard to say? Do we get to hear details?" the teen asked.
"NO!" Xander and Willow simultaneously shouted.
Willow looked at her, "First of all, I just want to forget the whole thing happened. Secondly, you are wayyyy to young for details."
Xander agreed, "And also, just ick!"
Willow sighed. "Xander, the ick factor isn't really the problem. I mean even if Sam and I didn't hate one another, we still shouldn't have....I mean, he's my boss. And he's several years older than me. That' why I was in a meeting when you guys got here. Sam and I were talking to the Press Secretary, trying to figure out what to do."
"So what are you going to do?" Dawn asked.
"I'm not sure yet, C.J. wants to see Sam and me first thing in the morning." Willow glanced at her watch. "Hey, I was supposed to meet Donna for drinks, but why don't we go out to eat instead, that way Dawn can come along."
"That'd be great. Donna's the one you hang out with a lot, right?" Xander had Willow talk about most of her coworkers, but he still had trouble keeping all their names straight."
"Yeah, let me if she minds the change of plans." Willow picked up her phone, and dialed Donna's extension, hoping that she was at her desk. She was, and soon they had made plans to go to an all-night diner.
Willow hung up and motioned to her friends. "Come on. Let's go get some food. Tony's has really good hot fudge sundaes."
Xander and Dawn exchanged glances, "Are you sure you're going to be okay, Willow?" Xander asked.
Willow shook her head. "It's going to be hard, but for right now I just want to put it out of my head, and spend time with my friends, okay?"
The trio headed towards the Communications Bullpen to get Donna. Soon they were on their way to the diner. It was only about a 10 min. walk to the diner, and it was a nice night. The group was walking along, chatting pretty happily, when suddenly they heard a yell.
"Get away from him!" a man's voice called out.
Donna paled. "That sounded like bad."
Willow, Xander, and Dawn all looked at each other. They knew what screaming usually meant in Sunnydale. They all hoped that it wasn't the same here.
"It came from that direction." Xander pointed. They heard another yell, and the Sunnydalers took off, Donna running after them.
The group entered an ally and stopped in horror. In the dim light they could see a man lying still on the ground. Another guy was being pinned against the wall, by what Willow could just make out to be a vampire.
"Hey!" Willow shouted. The vamp turned and growled, dropping the guy he was holding. As he advanced Xander threw Willow a stake, as he went to check on the other man on the ground. Willow's instincts took over. She had been using the White House gym almost everyday, wanting to keep in shape. The training had helped. The vampire was soon dust. Willow panted, in both fear and a bit of excitement. She hadn't seen a vampire since leaving Sunnydale. Then she remember who else was with her.
She turned to look at Donna. The assistant was in shock. "Willow, what the hell was that."
Willow was at a loss for words. "Umm, well..."
Then the man Xander was looking after called out. "Donna? Willow? Is that you?"
Willow whipped around, her eyes had better adjusted to the light and she could now clearly see the man on the ground. "Josh." she breathed.
"Willow!" Dawn called out.
Willow turned her attention to Dawn, who had helped the man who the vampire had tried to drain. He was leaning on Dawn's shoulder, and as he stepped out of the shadow Willow could see his face. "Sam."

Xander was the first to speak. "This is really bad."
Willow could feel the blood drain from her face. "Yeah it is." Her instincts took over once again. "Is anyone seriously hurt?"
Josh moaned. "I'm going to have some pretty serious bruises, but I'm alive. Of course I think I might be having hallucinations."
Sam, still leaning on Dawn shook his head. "Not unless we're having the same ones. What the hell is going on? That guy bit me. He actually bit me!"
Dawn looked at his neck and pulled a tissue out of her purse. "Here, hold this against the wound. It really isn't that bad."
Sam took the tissue and pressed it against his neck. "What do you mean 'it's not that bad'? The guy bit me."
Dawn rolled her eyes. "Yeah, we already established that, but you'll be fine. I've had worse, a lot worse. All three of us have. Don't be such a baby."
Willow spoke "Dawn, don't start anything. Things are going to be hard enough. Why don't we all go some where and talk."
"Yeah" Donna finally spoke. "I'd like to talk about how that guy turned into dust, you know, right before my eyes."
"I'd kind of like to hear an explanation of that too." Josh said, as Xander helped him to his feet. Once Xander made sure Josh would be okay on his own, he went over to Willow and pulled her aside.
"Wills, what the hell are we going to do?" he asked her softly.
Willow rubbed her temples, feeling a headache coming on. "I don't Xander. I guess we should listen to what they think they saw first." Turning to the others, she raised her voice.
"Why don't we head to my apartment.
It's not that far away. That way I can look at Josh and Sam's injuries. And we can talk in private."

They made their way to Willow's place in silence. Willow unlocked her door, and ushered everyone inside.
"I'm going to start some coffee. Dawn, will you go and get the first aid kit. It's in the bathroom, right through there." She pointed down the hall.
"Sure." Dawn ran to get it as the others went into the living room. Willow flipped on the coffee maker and went to join them. Donna was checking on Josh's injuries. Dawn returned with the first aid kit, and Willow took it from her, going to Sam.
"Here, let me see your neck." She reached her hand up, but Sam jerked away.
"I can take care of it," he muttered.
"Sam, come one. I know what I'm doing. Let me see how bad it is." Sam nodded, and removed the tissue he still had pressed against his neck. Willow noticed that the bleeding had basically stopped. She opened the first aid kit and got out a bottle of antiseptic, a cotton ball, and a bandage. "This might sting a little," she warned as she began to clean the wound.
"He's going to be fine." Xander motioned towards Josh.
"All right. Now that everyone's taken care of, are we going to talk about what the hell is going on?" Josh yelled. "Sam and I were on are way to get some drinks. All of the sudden, some guy drags Sam into the alley, I tried to help and he threw me to the ground. He was so strong, and something was wrong with his face. The next thing I know he has Sam up against a wall, and then you guys show up. I want to know why that guy turned to dust right in front of us. And more importantly I want to now why the hell you three weren't surprised by it!"
"And I want to know why the hell he bit me!" Sam chimed in.
Willow looked at Xander. She sighed deeply. "I guess you guys deserve to know what happened. But it's kind of a long story, so I'll give you the gist of it first, and if you think we're crazy then I won't bother with the rest of it."
"This is really fucked up," Josh said.
Donna hushed her boss, "Just tell us the gist then."
"Okay." Willow sat down on the couch. Xander and Dawn sat beside her. "So....what do you know about vampires?"

Josh blinked. "Did you say vampires?"
Willow nodded. "Yeah."
Sam thought for a moment. "Okay, lets see. They drink blood, they turn into bats and fly around, they hate garlic, and oh yeah, THEY DON'T EXIST!!" Sam yelled.
Josh and Sam laughed a little, but Donna remained quiet.
Dawn spoke up, "Well, you're right about the drinking blood thing. but they can't turn into bats, and they don't really mind garlic. You have to use a stake to kill them....or fire.
"Or you can behead them," added Xander.
"Oh, yeah. I forgot about that one." Dawn said.
"Well, it doesn't happen very often. Staking is a lot easier." Xander responded.
"Guys!" Willow interrupted. "We can discuss the best way to kill them later. It's really not the point right now."
Donna finally decided to speak, "You three are serious, aren't you?"
"Yes, we are." Xander assured her.
"Vampires aren't real." Josh insisted.
"You saw that guy in the alley. You saw his face. And you can see the teeth marks he left on Sam. If he wasn't a vampire then what was he?" Willow raised an eyebrow.
"I don't know. He could have been some gang member. Some kid messed up on PCP.!"
Willow and Xander looked at each other and burst out laughing.
"What's funny?" Sam asked.
"That's what our old principal used to say when ever there was an attack involving the school." Willow explained.
"You can't expect us to really believe this." Josh insisted
"Vampires exist. Demons exist. Werewolves, witches, every nightmare from childhood, and things much worse than any child could ever imagine. They all exist. There not all evil, but many of them are. We fight them. We fight them with physical force, and with magic. Sometimes we lose. Xander and I have lost good friends, and countless classmates, so has Dawnie. Don't tell us they aren't real. Don't invalidate what we've been doing since sophomore year of high school."
"You...your crazy" Sam stuttered. "Magic doesn't exist."
"Really?" Willow allowed herself a small smile. She glanced around the room, her eyes settling on the bookcase on the far wall. She held out her arm and concentrated. The book shot off the self, across the room and into her waiting arm.
She looked at the shocked expressions on her coworkers' faces. "You were saying?"
"Oh, my God." Donna gasped. "How did you do that."
"Magic." Willow said flatly. "It's all about emotional control. Not all magic is bad."
"Okay, I don't know how to explain what just happened, but vampires? I just don't know if I can accept that." Sam said. Josh nodded his head in agreement.
"I wish Angel were here. Then he could put on his vamp face. You couldn't deny it then."
"Wait a minute. Isn't Angel that guy who came to see you yesterday?" Josh asked.
"Yep, that was Deadboy." Xander confirmed.
"You're telling us that he's a vampire. You're friends with a vampire?" Josh was confused.
"Well 'friends' is a bit strong of a word." Xander said.
"Xander!" Willow glared at her him, "Yes, Angel is our friend and a vampire. It's a really long story, but he has a soul. He's good."
"And super hot!" Dawn added.
"Okay. So why don't you tell us the whole story. I want to know how all of this happened. I want to know how you three got involved in all of this."
"All right." Willow took a deep breath. "Into each generation a Slayer is born...."