"She wants to go, and I won't take her--Jingwu said not to move her."

"Come in," Spike said, switching off the TV.

"I want to talk to Charles Gunn," Dawn said.

"Angel's friend Gunn?" Spike asked.

"Yes. Berengar said and Gang Long said I should talk to him. He's in Los Angeles and I'm going."

Spike glowered at the dragon. "You told her to talk to Gunn?"

Gang Long nodded. "Berengar told her how we met Gunn again, and she wants to talk to him."

"Where are you supposed to be?" the vampire asked the girl

"Nowhere--break day."

"All right. Gang Long, go get the Mercedes. We'll cut through the tunnels and talk to Giles at the Magic Box."

The dragon blinked out.

"He won't let me go."

"Then we'll take him along or we'll bring Gunn here. Dawn," the vampire said, as the girl looked stubborn, "ask Tara how angry Ann was when she skipped off to Angel's without planning or permission. Giles at his worst is not as bad as Ann when she's mildly annoyed. Anyway, Giles is your guardian, and won't refuse reasonable requests. There are alternate actions without dramatically running off to Los Angeles and getting everyone pissed off at you."

"Today? I don't want to get dragged into helping with inventory."

"That's a good point. Maybe not today, but we'll see. Come on, the tunnels start down in the bedroom."

***

"Tunnels?" Giles asked.

"A little pick-ax work," Spike said, "and I was in. I didn't think you'd mind."

"Los Angeles?"

"Yeah, that's a little more complex. Dawn, you start."

***

Gang Long and Filis came in the back door.

"Hi," Filis said. "I decided to go, too."

Giles look harried. "Very well, but only if Spike drives. Spike, have Dawn back in time for dinner, 7:30, and don't take her any place but the office."

"Hear that?" the vampire asked the girl. "What he says."

***

"Wow," Dawn said, looking around the lobby.

"A comfortable sized room," Gang Long agreed.

"You need some potted palms," Spike said. "Cordelia, right?"

"Filis?" Cordelia asked. "Is Ivo here too?"

"No, he's still at home."

"Are you having a picnic?"

"Lunch. I'm sure there'll be enough for everyone."

"Is that a fountain out there?" Gang Long asked.

"Yes, but it doesn't work." Cordelia said.

"I'll fix that," Gang Long said, and went out into the atrium garden.

"Filis! How nice to see you," Wesley said as he walked out of his office. "Giles said one of the Alves staying with Ann was called Filis, but I didn't know it was you."

"I ended up working for Tara's uncle Berengar," Filis said. "I'm on detached duty."

"Who's that?" Dawn asked.

"Fred," Cordelia said. "She's shy. Do I know you?"

"The correct answer," Spike said, "is yes and no. This is Dawn Summers. If you remember her, it's because the Monks who made her put the memory in your mind. On the other hand, you've never met her before. Dawn, this is Cordelia Chase."

"You're still a vampire."

"Don't worry about it," Spike said. "I know Ann and she doesn't like it if I feed on her friends."

"And he has a chip in his head," Wesley said.

"For the moment. Who's Fred?"

"Long story. What can we do for you?"

"They called and said they want to see Gunn," Cordelia said. "He's coming in."

"While we wait, let's have lunch," Dawn said.

"That isn't that big a basket, Filis. Are you sure you don't want to call for take out?"

"Ann packed this one, for humans, vegetarians, vampires and even teenage girls."

"Oh? Really?" Wesley said. "Rupert was telling me about his hamper. What's in this one?"

***

Charles Gunn walked in to the lobby and glanced around. "Suppose I were a client," he demanded loudly. "What would I think?"

Fred squeaked, dropped the plate Dawn had placed on the landing for her, and ran upstairs.

"That we don't waste clients' time or money going out to lunch," Cordelia said.

"We're adaptable," Wesley said, waving a sandwich.

"You scared Fred," Filis said.

"Have some wine," Spike offered.

"Greetings, Gunn," Gang Long said.

"This is Filis, who's an Alv; this is Spike, who's a vampire, but who isn't to be staked, since he's a friend of Ann's; and this is Dawn Summers," said Cordelia.

"Hi, I'm Dawn. I wanted to talk to you."

"Thanks," Gunn told Spike, taking the glass. "What's this?" he asked, inspecting the array of sandwich ingredients.

"Ham."

"So what do you want to talk to me about?" Gunn asked Dawn, putting mustard on a slice of rye bread, then layering some ham on top of that.

"Ann. Ann Grove and when you first met her."

Gunn eyed the girl, then his brown eyes flickered over to Gang Long. "She all right with this?"

"She's been telling Dawn anything she wants to know. Go ahead."

Gunn placed a slice of cheese on top of the ham, then lettuce on top of the cheese. "All right," he said. "It was back when I was a troll." He put a slice of bread, this one spread with peach, pepper and peanut chutney, on top of the lettuce and took a bite of the sandwich.

"When was this?" Wesley asked.

"Eighth century, this calendar," Gang Long said.

"No," Spike said. "Let Gunn tell her."

"I don't know what year it was," Gunn said. "I was a troll, and I was about 25 maybe, getting full grown for a troll and ready for marriage. All the girls in the tribe were my sisters--oh, some of them were really cousins, I guess, but as far as marrying any of them, they were my sisters--out of bounds.

"We were the only trolls around; the others had moved out, some even farther north, some through gates into other worlds. My father kidnapped a human girl, for me to marry. Her family objected. Male troll-female human crosses usually resulted in the woman's death in childbirth. The other cross was safe for the female troll, although the mating could be a little upsetting for the human male. Most of the babies of both crosses were infertile, though, which was a problem. Also, I didn't find humans particularly sexy.

"Anyway, the girl's family included a shaman, a spirit guide..."

"Me," Cordelia said. "They say. I don't remember."

"The shaman called for help and got, not one of the local spirits, but Ann, who was called Gytha back then."

"Oh," Spike said. "Really?"

"We were still in Constantinople," Gang Long said. "We'd stayed on, after I met Barzilai the first time. Jingwu heard the call, and we went north."

"Gytha came, rescued the girl, and killed my father. She paid me and my mother wergeld, covered my father's corpse with gold for each of us, then she found me a wife. And that was how I met Gytha."

"And she recognized you? How?"

"I have no idea. I walked in the door, she looked at me, then at Cordy, then back at me and laughed. I was annoyed, and asked her what was so damn funny. She said it was nice to see me again, and I said "Hell, lady, you don't know me," and she laughed again. She said she knew me very well, then she touched my head and said, "Remember," and I did."

"But she didn't recognize Cordelia?"

"She said she had, but she didn't ever say anything to me about it," Cordelia said. "She and Gunn say he and I are partners, and tend to be reborn, as ghost warrior and spirit guide, together. She never told me to remember, and I don't, I never have."

"Do you believe her?" Dawn asked Gunn.

"Yes," he said. "It's possible she froze Wesley, Angel and Cordelia while she hypnotized me--she could do that, or she could have hypnotized us all--but there is no reason for her to."

"You were there?" she asked Wesley. "When Ann and Gunn met? This time, I mean."

"Yes."

"Did it happen like that, like he said?"

"Yes," Cordelia corroborated.

"What did she look like?" Spike asked Gunn. "Ann, Gytha?"

"Tall, muscled, bald."

"What?"

"For a troll, she was really bald. Funny looking."

****

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