~I still don't own any of the characters owned by anyone else.

Rose found herself trying to tune out the occasional raised voice that drifted through the thick wooden doors that sealed her tower off from the rest of the complex. The adults were apparently still more than a little upset by what had happened to Gabrielle. They didn't shout very much but when they did they tended to be rather loud.

Despite her worry over Gabrielle she found herself looking over her new room with interest. It didn't really look like she had been expecting it to. While it was tastefully decorated with a few stuffed animals as well as pictures from her old room, it didn't really have the feel of a child's room. The walls of the tower were made out of the same magic hardened smooth black stone as the outer walls. She was just glad the walls were black and not pink or some other horrid color. She did wonder what enchantments the parents had used in order to get the large crystals set symmetrically into the ceiling to glow. She watched the crystals grow dimmer as she twisted the crystal dial on the wall plate. She shrugged, there were a lot of things she would have to ask her parents about this place once they weren't in panic mode. She twisted the dial back the other way and smiled when the crystals brightened. She thought the enchanted switches were cool. They were certainly prettier than the muggle light switches she had seen on TV.

The bed was a large four posted monstrous creation that looked as if it could swallow her whole. The sheets were done in red with some gold colored trim. Not the most tasteful of color combinations but it made the Gryffindor part of her swell with pride. She would have to thank which ever adult had been the decorator.

She grinned as she wandered over to the large bed and flopped down on it. It made the room seem a little more lived in, which was silly when she thought about it, as the bed barely took up one edge of the large room. Still she was happy that someone had made the attempt as she was a little bit scared about having her own room. She slide off the bed and walked over to stand in front of her new dresser. She ran her hand over the oak dresser feeling just how smooth the handcrafted wood was. She smiled as she thought of how much effort Uncle Xander would have had to put into the dresser to make it so smooth.

She smiled as she gently slid the top drawer open and found a few silk shirts and various other garments. She smiled as she sorted through the clothes, some of them actually looked useable. She chuckled as she found a few garments that could only have been picked out by Auntie Willow. Still they might be useful if she needed to hang out with her extended family. They weren't too bad just rather plain and normal, in other words boring.

She grinned as she noticed all of the open space. She could just imagine all of the various ways she could finish off her room. Her eyes fell on the stairs leading to the second floor. Her mom had said that all three floors of the tower were hers. Being that she really didn't want to overhear any more ranting from the adults, she figured now was as good a time as any to explore.

She quickly ran up the stairs anxious to see what the second floor brought. She knew that her siblings were probably having fun exploring the place the same as her, well other than Lilyanne who had already spent a lot of time here. Lily had been way to smug about something, not that she had had a lot of time to talk to Lily with everything else going on. Still she would have to figure out what she was so happy about. She shook her head and pulled her thoughts back to the present. She glanced around, off to the left was a large bathroom. Rose smiled as she poked her head into the bathroom and glanced over at the lovely shower. She giggled, it looked large enough to fit all of her siblings in it at once. "I so have to test this out once I finish exploring."

Her eyes lit up as she stepped into the main section of the second floor, it was mostly open space with a number of sturdy tables pushed up against the wall. "This would work perfectly for a workroom."

She danced up the stairs to the third floor. She stopped as she stepped onto the landing. Her mouth dropped open in shock, where the other two floors were built entirely of black stone the third floor was crafted with a mix of black stone and some type of translucent stone or crystal. The glow from the translucent parts illuminated the tables in the room wonderfully. The most impressive thing was the large number of old fashioned glass faced bookcases that lined the walls. The wood and glass looked new even if the style was old fashioned. Apparently her uncle had been extremely busy over the last several months. She sauntered over to the only bookcase that had any books in it. She carefully opened the case and looked the books over. Some of the books were books from her room in the Nexus but others were new to her. She picked up the sticky note attached to one of the new books.

"Rose, we collected a few books from your private library and I added a few books that Willow thought you might like. Thought we would make your second home as nice as your first. Love Mom."

Rose smiled, 'I'm sure she has already copied everything out of the books that she wanted, but at least I'll have something to read. Hopefully the shouting has died down enough to see what the others think of their rooms.'

Willow was trying hard not to explode, she was so frustrated with everything right now. She really wanted to be in the other room ripping the ward crystal apart herself to figure out why it had malfunctioned so badly. Not only did it trigger against her daughter who should have been included in the people the wards allowed in they had tried to kill her instead of sending out a warning like they were supposed to. Her hands were shaking so badly from fright and anger that she knew that Dawn stood a much better chance of actually getting something useful out of the crystal rather than just burning it to a crisp in a fit of rage. Not that Dawn was much calmer than she was, but at least she wasn't shaking like a new watcher on her first mission.

Xander leaned against the door, "You can't do everything Willow. There's no way you could have known that the ward crystal was defective."

Willow used her hand to wipe at her puffy tear stained eyes, "If I'd went over it with a fine toothed comb… I was too distracted planning the family's gathering and putting the finishing touches on everything else."

"The team from the council looked over all of the materials the keep was built out of including the ward crystal, they didn't find anything either. You're not a goddess Willow, no matter how much that would sometimes help. You can't be everywhere nor can you do everything. When we find out who did this then we can go after them."

Willow nodded, "It might turn out to be just an accident."

Xander raised an eyebrow, "With our luck?"

She shook her head, "Probably not."

Dawn wanted to melt into the ground, it had taken an hour of painstaking work to strip the layers of enchantment the crystal contained but she had found the reason the wards had acted the way they had. She really didn't want to have to tell her wife that the ward crystal hadn't malfunctioned and that by all rights Gabrielle should have died when the wards' energy tried to fry her. Dawn wasn't exactly sure why Gabrielle wasn't dead but she was very glad she wasn't.

Xander noticed Dawn standing in the doorway first, "Tell me you have some good news?"

"I wish I could, the crystal didn't malfunction, it was designed to kill her."

Willow's knuckles went white as her hand tightened on the table edge. "Who, how and why?"

Dawn shook her head, "You're not going to like it." She pressed on before she lost her courage. "As for the how, it wasn't until I took the crystal apart that I noticed a single human hair coiled inside the crystal. There is no way that would naturally be possible so I did a spell to find the owner of the hair, it's Gaby's. Someone somehow acquired one of her hairs and placed it in the ward crystal. Probably so that it was keyed to her. They designed the crystal to slowly collect and store magical energy and then unleash it in one great blast at it's target."

Xander blinked, "That sounds like a lot of work."

Willow nodded, "That would take a lot of time and skill."

Dawn nodded, "As for the who it would take a decently powerful dark witch to enchant the crystal. As for the why, I have no idea."

Xander frowned, "I'll contact Giles and see if he can have his people track down where exactly the crystal came from."

"Please find out who tried to kill my daughter." Willow's voice was so eerily flat that it sent chills down Xander's spine.

He watched Willow storm from the room, "That went better than I expected."

"I'm going to go check on Gaby and send Hermione up to our room to make sure Willow has a shoulder to cry on."

Xander nodded, "I'm going to go tell Giles that someone in his organization is a dead man walking, because if Willow doesn't kill them I will."

Leo glanced up at the door when he heard the knock. "Just a minute." He hurried over to the door and opened it. He wasn't sure who he was expecting but a naked and wet haired Gabrielle holding an amethyst comb wasn't it. "Aren't you supposed to be tucked in bed?"

Gabrielle shrugged, "Dawn cleared me for light activity, besides I couldn't sleep."

Leo stepped out of the way and gestured for her to come in.

She slipped in and looked around, "It's much the same as mine."

Leo nodded, "Probably the same as the others as well. I'm guessing a work room and private bathroom on the second floor?"

He grinned and shut the door. "Yeah, third floor is a weird glowy room with weapons and practice dummies."

Her mouth almost cracked into a smile, "Mine has quite a few plants in it as well as an open area with sand for casting circles. There is even a shallow stone pool that I can use for scrying, it's perfect. The plants were probably Neville's suggestion."

Leo chuckled, "I'm glad you're feeling better Gaby."

"The shower helped, through I still feel icky." She looked around for a second before spotting a wooden chair. "Do you mind brushing my hair?"

Leo rolled his eyes, "You know if it wasn't down to your bottom it wouldn't be so hard to take care of. Not that I mind but don't you normally have Rose or Lenora do that?"

She sighed as she handed him the comb and walked over to the wooden chair. She straddled it and faced away from Leo. "I normally do but I don't feel like being touched right now."

"You know I'm going to have to touch your hair to brush it, and maybe even your back."

"Yeah I know, but you aren't going to run your hand down my back and… well you get the picture. I don't really want to go there right now."

Leo stared at her sister, she was never one to pass up cuddling with her sisters. "You're not okay are you?"

"Not really, it hurt a lot Leo, my skin still doesn't feel quite right, Dawn said it's all in my head but… can we drop it? Just let me relax and brush my hair."

"Fine, so any ideas what we should get everyone for the holiday party?"

Gabrielle relaxed her shoulders slightly as her brother started carefully brushing her hair. "I don't know, I figure I'll try to go to the store tomorrow, that is if mom doesn't lock me away in my tower to keep me safe."

"I'm sure she will calm down at some point."

"Probably when we are old and grey."

Leo chuckled, "Maybe so."

After a few minutes of quiet Gabrielle looked around the barren walls, "You know what this place needs?"

Leo shook his head, "Nope what's that?"

"Some portraits of cute naked girls."

Leo chuckled, he was just glad that Gabrielle seemed to be making an effort, even if it was a little forced. It made him sort of glad that Lenora and Lillian had Luna to distract them as it meant that they were unlikely to want to do any cuddling with Gabrielle for the near future at least. He wasn't nearly as worried about Rose bothering Gabrielle about cuddling. Oh she wasn't opposed to cuddling with Gabrielle she just never started it. Well not that he knew of anyways. "If you know of any good ones."

"I'll let you know." Gabrielle swung her leg around and sat in the chair facing Leo, "Do you think we could hang out? Maybe watch a movie?"

"I guess now is as good of time as any to test out the new entertainment system. Zombies or cars?"

"Anything as long as it isn't a stinking romantic comedy."

Leo raised his eyebrows, "I'm offended that you think I even own anything like that."

She grinned, "Uh huh, I know you have a copy of Disney's lady and the Tramp somewhere hidden."

"Hey mom got that for me when I was like five. It's not my fault I kept it."

"Sort of is."

"Brat."

"Boy."

"Girl."

"Better than a boy."

Leo shook his head, "Now you're just being silly."

Gabrielle grinned, "Maybe, but I still win."

Leo wasn't going to push the old argument tonight, he figured Gabrielle needed to win at least one thing after the mess with the wards. Instead he walked over to the entertainment system and picked out one of the Die Hard movies. He knew that she wasn't supposed to watch any of the Die Hard movies but figured with everything else going on no one would have to know. The last time she had watched the movies she had picked up a few choice phrases her mother didn't appreciate her eight year old daughter saying. Uncle Xander had had to give a long lecture about how it wasn't appropriate for a little girl to swear like a drunken sailor. Leo remembered how Xander had barely been able to keep a straight face.

About fifteen minutes after starting the movie Gabrielle was out like a light with her head resting in Leo's lap. He sighed, "Ah well at least the movie is good."