ALL DISCLAIMERS etc in Part 1

Lois and Clark returned to their desks and I emailed Willow.

'Hey Wills. Want to come to Metropolis and party hard with the Buffster? Well maybe not party cause I have to work but Lois and Clark have had an idea that I would love your help me and Alfred and I decided on what to give Brucie-boy for Christmas and could use your help with that too. Let me know ASAP and Bruce will send the jet.

'It's so cool being able to say that. :)

'love Buffy.'

Then I answered Bruce's email.

'Hey not-so-big-and-scary,

'>>Buffy, I hope your first day is going well, again.

'Of course it is :) Everyone loves me ::GRIN::

'>>Alfred asked about Willow as he said he would. If she wants to come out let me know and
>>we can arrange the jet for her.

'I emailed Willow. Waiting for her response but it may be a while. I only emailed her seconds ago... Oh and Perry just announced to the office he wants my draft outline before I leave today. I'll be busy but it'll only take me seconds to get ready to go when you arrive.

'>>Dick and I will be by at 1 to take you to lunch. I'm sorry but I'm going to use it as an excuse
>>to get out of the meeting with Luthor.

'As far as Lex is concerned, you could tell him that I'll call if you are late and demand to speak to him. I'm sure he won't mind you leaving a little early... ;)

'>>Also, I have further information on the slave traders for your article and agree with Lois
>>and Clark that Perry will like your 'modern mythology' articles.

'So why didn't you give me the info you have huh? And I'm going to yell at you about 'bugging' me at lunch.

'The Original and Greatest, Slayer 1 ;)'

"Send!" I turned back to my paperwork and began putting the papers into piles of similar information.

Nothing very interesting in many of the articles mostly just mentioning the potential of the traders and potential markets and as a result most of them ended up in the 'useless' pile. All hints and rumours. Perry would not be impressed with a re-telling of this information so I had a lot of work to do. I just hope Bruce has something good.

I started the draft and had it, roughly, half completed with notes for leads and further contacts, phone calls to make.

I sighed loudly. Some days the seconds seem to move like hours. I decided to jot down some notes for the myth article when writers block struck on the human sacrifice traders article. That needs a shorter title. Before I started, I checked my email. Yay! Mail from Willow.

'>>Hey Wills. Want to come to Metropolis and party hard with the Buffster? Well maybe not
>>party cause I have to work but Lois and Clark have had an idea that I would love your help
>>me and Alfred and I decided on what to give Brucie-boy for Christmas and could use your
>>help with that too. Let me know ASAP and Bruce will send the jet.

'Is this soon enough cause I only just got to check my email. You know how time zones make things weird and everything. Yes! I would love to join you in Metropolis. When?

'>>It's so cool being able to say that. :)

'Oh yeah! And it's even cooler when you are in the jet with the personal attention of the stewards who are there just for you!

'>>love Buffy.'

'Right back at you, Willow. :)'

Grinning I retrieved my cell phone from my jacket pocket and searched for Bruce's cell phone number. I picked up the handset on the desk phone and dialled the number. "Hey Bruce... No. No emergency. Just wanted to tell you to go ahead and send the jet to Sunnydale. It's a go... Sure. We can sort the details at lunch... Uh huh... No I will not let Dick monopolise my time. Well, at least not intentionally... Oh very funny. Just remember that Christmas is coming up and Santa is watching. You'd better be nice... Oh and do you have that information here in Metropolis? ...You do? Can you get it to me sometime today? ...Fabulous, and how is Lex? ...You can tell Mr. President to kiss my ass... I can say what I want Bruce... Well he *can* kiss my ass. I'll kick his in return but I'll kick it anyway... Hahaha... Ok. Later Bruce... Bye."

"If you weren't so nice Buffy, I'd really hate the way you converse so easily with a man who is *so* rich."

"Love you too Lois," I chuckled.

"Summers! No personal calls from work phones," Perry bellowed from somewhere in the office a lot closer to my desk than his office.

"That was someone with information for my story Mr. White," I said quickly.

"Good," he huffed before puffing away to his office.

"Who you just happened to call to ask for him to send his private jet to your home town for your best friend at the same time as asking for the information."

"Bite me Lois," I muttered as I began to make notes about the not-so-mythical creatures that go bump in the night.

After about 30 minutes of trying to be coherent, I came to the realisation that for me writing about demons is like anyone, myself included, writing about breathing. It's natural and normal. How do you explain breathing to someone who has never taken a breath or doesn't need to breathe? I decided on simple terms and small words like Merrick had used with me in LA when I was completely vapid.

So that was the way I began. Small words and simple terms. I decided not to go from the 'I've been there. This is real' angle but to go from the 'various works state..., though others state...' and that was were Willow came into it. I may need her to give me a shove in the right research direction. I could ask Babs but it's more fun to have Willow with me. Bruce won't know what happened to his quiet life. If he thought living with an ex-circus brat was hard he is in for a big shock.

It's going to be a blast!

Ok. Quick time check. Nearly 1. Good. I'm hungry. So what have I covered in my monsters brainstorm? Lesser demons like vampires, chaos demons, slime demons. Defined lesser demons and given a brief history of how they came to be. Hmmm. What else? The Hellmouths. Werewolves, witches–both the hereditary and learned varieties–and warlocks, the existence of other dimensions and interdimensional travel, vortexes and mystical convergences other than the Hellmouths. That's enough to blow Perry's mind but if he believes in Superman this stuff shouldn't be too much of a reach for him. I started to type the snippets of thought into coherent sentences on the computer.

"Did you give Lex my message Bruce?" I asked before they actually said anything to me.

"Face it Bruce. You cannot sneak up on Buffy," Dick laughed.

I heard the pout on Bruce's face. "I can sneak. I trained hard to sneak."

"So did you give him my message and where is Tim?" I asked, saving my work and turning around to face the men.

"Yes I did and it made him scowl. Tim and Alfred have gone shopping. Alfred insists Tim needs new clothes. Tim insists he doesn't."

"So you're unleashing them on Metropolis to battle it out in a department store?"

"Something like that."

"Oh. Lunchtime now?"

"It certainly is. You're mine for the next hour," Dick said enthusiastically, dragging me out of my chair and helping me to put my coat on. I realised then that the office was unusually quiet. I looked around. Everyone was staring. At Bruce. So I took the opportunity to look at him and make sure there wasn't something on him, like toilet paper stuck in the back of his trousers or something, that would attract that sort of attention and now I was wondering if the room always went this quiet when he came in. Obviously I hadn't noticed before...

"Yeah the room always does that, goes silent I mean, when Bruce walks in," Dick whispered in my ear as he led me to the elevator. Must have spoken out loud. "Where are Lois and Clark?" he asked as we waited for the tiny moving room to arrive.

"In with Perry. I think. At least they were on their way up there the last time I saw them. Now stop talking and take me somewhere I can eat," I grinned.

As the elevator doors closed, Dick chuckled and Bruce rolled his eyes.

"So, how is the caseload?" I asked in a hushed voice as we sat waiting for our food.

"Bigger than it ought to be, as usual, though the doctors at Arkham have reported a marked improvement in Jonathon Cranes behaviour."

"The Scarecrow? Maybe he's learned his lesson... Maybe he's just biding his time. I really hope he's learned his lesson."

"There is always hope for reform," Dick added.

"So says he who would be a police officer. Isn't that a bit hypocritical though, considering how, realistically, your alter ego means you are breaking the law?"

Dick seemed to give this some thought. "I hadn't considered it that way."

"But then, if you feel that's the best way to make a difference..."

"It is though I enjoy bartending..."

"I always thought you needed to reconsider."

"And you told me often Bruce," Dick told him with a hint of a smile.

"I'm sure Bruce is just concerned for your safety Dick." I quieted when our food arrived, waiting until the waiters left. "I know I am. It's scary enough without worrying about you not having the protection of the full body kevlar suit."

"You worry about me?" he asked, surprised.

"Of course I do." I put my fork down and leaned across the table to look him in the eye. "You are important to me. You are my best guy friend, cause Willow is my best girl friend," I explained. "What you do, what *we* do is very dangerous. People are very unpredictable even without mental certification. I'm worried that one day you won't call or that Alfred will have to call and tell me that one of you..." I paused to regain control of the tears that threatened. "Your bodies don't heal like mine. I worry because you are all part of my family now. I worry because it is my duty to protect humanity and I can't be everywhere and the guilt that I know I would feel... the guilt I felt when Jesse died and I only knew him briefly. I've spent time with you all, grown to love you as family and friends. Besides, you're both cute. What would the society people do without you?" I went back to eating my caesar salad.

Bruce chuckled. "Now I'm not the only one trying to convince you *not* to join the police force."

"I'm not trying to convince him against it. I'm just hoping he'll think about all of the possible outcomes, some of which I'm sure not even you have truly thought about Bruce. Perhaps talking to Bab's dad would be a good idea. I mean the guy *is* Gotham's Police Commissioner." I glanced at my watch. "There are times I want to be able to just do nothing and that that was my purpose in life, to do nothing."

"You'd be bored within nanoseconds," Dick said.

"And what would the world do with a bored Slayer?" Bruce asked.

"Pay her to leave them alone?" I suggested hopefully. Bruce and Dick chuckled. "Well I can dream can't I?"

"You certainly can," Bruce smiled.

I sighed. "Do I have to go back to the office?"

"Do you really want an angry phone call from Perry, or worse?"

"What could be worse than an angry phone call from Perry?" I asked Dick.

"A big blue escort back to the office."

"Point well made. I suppose I'd better get moving then." I grabbed my handbag and dug out my purse.

"Put that away Buffy," Bruce said, offended. I dropped the small purse back into my cavernous handbag and looked at Bruce in a mixture of surprise and innocence. I tried to pay everytime I was out with Dick and he never let me pay either. A bottle of drink and a pastry were bought for me for an afternoon snack before Bruce and Dick deposited me at my desk.

"Oh, I almost forgot," Bruce said softly, making me turn around to face him again. Just by the elevator door stood Alfred holding a fat A4 sized envelope. "The information you needed, and I telephoned Willow. She'll be here sometime this evening."

"Oh. Thanks," I smiled broadly.

"See you later beautiful," Dick whispered into my ear before kissing me.

I don't know how long I stared at nothing before Lois' giggle brought me back to the present. "Ok so he can surprise me and delight me..." I blushed.

Lois and Clark chuckled and went back to work, mercifully foregoing the pleasure of teasing me.