Buffy sat, alone on the steps outside her house. She had forgotten her key. Willow and Tara were at the Majick Shop, and Dawn was out with one of her friends. She just couldn’t summon the energy to go and find any of them, so sitting seemed the best option to her right now. As the hours passed, Buffy sat, and sat, and sat. Her mind wandered over the past years of her life. Since she discovered her destiny, her life had been a mess. She’d died, twice, she’d been through several rough break-ups, and had nothing to show for it except scars. She longed for her mother to open the door and call her inside, but that wasn’t going to happen. Being the responsible adult was just so exhausting; she didn’t even have Giles to turn to anymore. She thought back over the adults she’d looked up to in her life. Her dad – gone, her mum – dead, Merick – dead, Miss Calendar – dead, and now Giles away in England. It wasn’t fair; nobody told her real life was going to be this hard. Pondering the injustice of life, she slowly drifted off to sleep. Buffy felt a gentle rocking on her shoulders. She stirred, opened her eyes and saw a ghost, or was it a vampire? He certainly couldn’t be alive; she’d killed him herself. But there he was, Billy Fordham. He looked down at her confused face, his big eyes full of concern. “Buffy” he whispered, “C’mon wake up.” He gave her another little shake, but Buffy needed no more waking. She leapt to her feat and pulled Mr Pointy out of her pocket. “Get back,” she warned, “I don’t know what’s going on, but I know you’re not Ford,” a note of pain came into her voice, “Ford is dust. Who are you?” Billy smiled. “Good to see you too Summers,” the sun was shining – he wasn’t a vampire, “ I guess Giles was right, things are different here,” he looked at the stake in her hand, “why’s Mr Pointy with you?” With that, he grinned again, and held out his hand to Buffy, “come with me, we need your help.” Buffy was so confused that she took his hand and followed. Billy Fordham had been her boyfriend in LA, before she came to Sunnydale. He knew she was the Slayer, he was clever enough to work it out. Three years ago Billy had arrived at Sunnydale High, only to reveal that he was dying, and in exchange for the Slayer, he would receive immortality. His plan failed. He got his wish, but everything turned to dust. Literally. She looked at him again. He looked just as he had three years ago, but the look in his eyes made him seem tired, as if he’d been fighting too long. Just as Buffy was beginning to come to terms with the shock of seeing Ford again, she was faced with another surprise. “We’re here,” he said to Buffy, “there’s somebody that wants to meet you.” As they turned the corner, a familiar face met Buffy’s. “Kendra!” “You know me? But how is that possible?” enquired the girl, in her strong Jamaican accent, “so Giles was right, things are different here.” Buffy felt like her head was going to explode. There were just too many dead people greeting her today. “Ok,” she sighed, “what is going on here? You’re both supposed to be dead, and what does Giles have to do with all this? What do you mean different?” Neither Billy nor Kendra answered her. Instead, another familiar voice spoke from behind her, Buffy was glad to recognise this voice as being one of the living. “We need your help Slayer,” it was Tara, “come with us, you’re our only hope.” As Tara spoke, her eyes swirled with blackness, and her hair began to blow wildly in a wind that had suddenly swept up around them. The wind grew stronger, and Tara began to rise above them. She began chanting in a strange pagan language, she grew louder and louder, until she shouting over the wind.  As her chanting rose to a dramatic climax, darkness began to swirl around them. Just as suddenly as the wind rose, it dropped, and Buffy found herself dropping to the floor. The last thing she remembered was hitting the hard ground with a thud. For the second time that day, Buffy awoke to see Billy Fordham leaning over her. He turned slightly, “she’s waking up.” As he spoke, Kendra and Tara walked over to her bedside, though Oz now seemed to be with them. As he approached, the put his arms round Tara’s waist, and snuggled into her hair. “What is going on here?” Buffy asked again, “Tara, since when have you been in boy town? Kendra, Billy, why are you alive? Oz? Will somebody please tell me what’s going on?” Tara gave her a quizzical look, “boy town? What do you….oh. I haven’t gotten over that in your reality? Well, Giles did say things would be different.” “Everybody keep talking about Giles,” Buffy ventured, “where is he? My reality? What do you mean?” Everybody fell silent at Buffy’s questioning. After a moment, Oz spoke. “Giles is dead. He was killed last week, our first attempt to reach you failed. He gave his life to try and create a better world. He never stopped believing…….” As Oz trailed off, Tara continued the story, “Ever since Cordelia crossed over, and our Buffy died he’s been fixated on making things right. He knew that if we could just get you, or another Slayer here, we might have chance.” “Wait,” Buffy looked puzzled, “what about Kendra. You’re a Slayer right? Why do you need my help?” Kendra looked mildly embarrassed by the question. “I may be a Slayer, but Sunnydale needs more than just one Slayer and her friends. Two Slayers are better than one you know.” Buffy’s mind flashed to the dramatic events of a couple of years ago. How she had fought and nearly killed Faith. “Not necessarily,” she murmured, “two Slayers can be quite a handful if one of them’s a psycho.” None of the assembled doppelganger Scoobies appeared to have any clue what Buffy meant by this. With Kendra still alive, Faith obviously never had any cause to come to Sunnydale. Buffy pondered this, and then came to the issue of why Kendra was even here. Suddenly it all dropped into place. “I know what’s going on!” she exclaimed, “this is the Dopplegangland, the freaky mixed up place that vampire Willow came from, the world Anya and Cordelia created right? Am I right?” They all looked relieved that they no longer needed to explain anything to her. “Right,” said Billy, the smile returning to his face for an instant, before becoming deadly serious, “but now we need your help. The Master’s plant is operational again, he’s unstoppable. You’ve killed the Master before, help us do it again.” For a moment Buffy was raring to go, but then stopped to think. “But he’s killed me before, twice if you include this place and my world. What makes you think I can stop him this time?” As if in answer to her question, the assembled gang stepped aside, and looked towards the slowly opening door. “Bored now,” said a strangely familiar voice, “is she gonna play with us?” Leather-clad Willow stalked across the room to group and ran her fingers through Buffy’s hair. “How about it kitty? You wanna help us kill the Master?” Buffy’s mind was rapidly becoming confused again. Why would a vampire be helping them kill the Master, it didn’t make sense. Bill could see the confusion on her face, so stepped in with an explanation. “We just had to give you a little fright,” he grinned again, “yours wasn’t the only reality we stopped by for recruits. Meet Willow, we were just as surprised as you by her similarity to our evil vampire, but she’s human, don’t worry. ” “You think I’d let her live if she wasn’t B?” Buffy froze at hearing that nickname, and turned to the other doorway to see Faith leaning on the doorframe. “Two Slayers may be better than one, but three is way better than two girlfriend.” Buffy stared in amazement as Faith joined the cluster around the bed and began running her fingers through Willow’s ginger hair. “You two are…?” Buffy became even more perplexed, “Willow, I thought you hated Faith?” “Wrong reality,” smiled Willow, “the Slayer and the witch make a great team.” She turned and ran her tongue along Faith’s neck, who smiled with pleasure. “What’s the matter B?” Faith teased, “you having trouble dealing? It took me a while to get used to this crazy mixed up reality too, but hey, they need are help. Who are we to refuse?”