"Girls, you're going to be late for school!" Buffy yelled up the stairs to the 5 Potential's Giles had put her in charge of. Bailey, wearing a plain blue tee with worn jeans, ran down the stairs with her bag banging against her hip. "Morning Buffy!"

"Aren't you a bit too cheerful for someone who has to go to school?"

"I have English today"

"And?"

"There's this guy.." her voice trailed off and she got a dreamy look on her face. "Ah, there's always a guy. What's his name?"

"Dylan. He's so hot Buffy!"

"Okay well I'll take your word for it. Go eat breakfast. You can't pick up guys on an empty stomach"

Bailey ran off into the kitchen and Buffy heard her telling Xander about Dylan. "Girls, get your arse's down here now! Or there'll be no patrolling tonight" She knew that would do it and instantly heard the four girls thumping around and running down the stairs. "It's about time"

"Sorry, Mad couldn't find her left shoe. Hey, stop it!" Morgan, the eldest of the five girls burst out laughing. Buffy raised her eyebrow at the girl and she quickly composed herself. "Go and eat some breakfast. Bailey's already in there. There's a guy"

Morgan, Alyssa and Madison perked up and ran like lightening into the kitchen. Chloe trailed along after them, showing no real interest in Bailey's guy. She was the youngest of all five girls and was nothing like them. She was quiet and shy and only spoke when she was spoken to. Buffy climbed the stairs to wake Dawn. Dawn was in her first year at UC Sunnydale and Buffy knew her first class didn't start till around ten. Buffy tapped on the door and gently pushed it open. She chuckled at the sight before her. Dawn was lying on the floor with her head back against the bed and her kitten, Mischief, was running up and down her legs. Buffy smiled, turned and left gently closing the door behind her.

As she was passing the door on her way to the kitchen, there was a strong knock and Buffy knew who it was before she opened it. "Hey Blake"

"Morning Buffy. How's Madison?"

"I believe she lost a shoe, but I think she's found it now, so it's all good."

"Typical."

"You want to come in?"

"Sure" Blake walked into the warm home and closed the door behind him. "What you got planned today?"

"Think I'm going to try and find a job, but who knows" he shrugged and Buffy got the message. "Think Brad's got hold of her yet?"

There were footsteps and before Blake could answer four girls surrounded him. "Hi Blake" "Hi Blake" "Hi Blake" "Hi Blake"

"Uh, Hi"

"Do you think Brad's got hold of who yet?"

"His little sister, Paige"

"How little?"

"Uh I think she's like 15 or something now"

"That's not very little"

"It's still littler than Brad"

"How come we call him that anyway? I thought his real name was Brandon"

"It is stupid but that's too long to say and Bran's a stupid nickname so we call him Brad. Duh"

"At least I can find my own shoe!"

"Stop! Both of you please. It's far too early. Now, have you all got your lunch?"

"Yes Blake" The four girls all chorused together.

"Girls, where's Chloe?"

All the girls shrugged and looked around the room. "Xander, Hon, have you seen Chloe?"

"No, sorry Buff"

"Uh oh. Chloe, get your arse down here now or you'll be grounded before you can say Vampire" Everyone was quiet and no noise could be heard anywhere else. "Blake take these four to school. I'll bring Chloe when I find her"

"Okay, come on girls" Blake ushered the four girls out the door and closed it behind him. Buffy walked into the kitchen and saw Xander buttering his very browned toast. "Xander, did Chloe come in for breakfast?"

"Uh, which one's she again?"

"Very funny Xander. I'm serious. I don't know where she is"

"Well, it's not like she just went poof. Or maybe she did"

"Arrggh. You are so not helping Xand. CHLOE! Where are you? You do realize that by doing this you are provoking me to beat you into a bloody pulp. Right?"

"Buffy, Xander. You might want to come see this" Dawn's voice held panic and Buffy and Xander raced upstairs to find Dawn standing in the bathroom doorway. "Dawnie? What is it?"

Dawn raised her arm and pointed it into the bathroom. They followed her hand and saw a disgusting site. "Well, I think I speak for all of us when I say, ew"

"Uh huh. Come on Dawnie, let's leave. We'll get it cleaned up later"

Buffy and Xander led Dawn away from the horrible site that lay in their bathroom. "Xander, could you call the gang and get them over here as soon as possible please"

"Sure" Xander found his way to the kitchen and picked up the phone. He dialed the number of his apartment. "Hello?"

"Hey Gunn, it's Xander. We have a situation"

"Uh oh. What kind?"

"Well, the icky, dead kind"

"You want Fred and me over there?"

"As soon as possible."

"Sure, no problem, see you in a bit"

He slid the phone onto his shoulder and clicked the tone. He dialed in the number of the Magic Box. "Hello, you have reached the Magic Box. Our hours are," He cut off Anya's false cheery voice and clicked the tone again. He dialed her home number.

"Hello?" She sounded groggy and still asleep.

"Anya? It's Xander. Can you come over as soon as possible please? We have a situation."

"It better be good if you felt the need to wake me up so early. If it isn't you'd better run for the hills". She hung up on him.

He dialed in the others house. "Hello?"

"Hey, it's Xander"

"Xander? Is everything okay?"

"No. We have a problem. Come over as soon as possible please." He hung up on the cheerful but dull Cordelia and clicked the tone again.

He dialed in the last number. "'Ello?"

"Spike. It's Xander. Get you and Willow over here a.s.a.p. we got a problem"

"What the?"

Xander hung up and placed the phone down on the receiver. He trailed back out to the lounge where Buffy had sat Dawn down on the couch and put the cartoons on. Buffy left her side when Xander came in and went to him. "How is she?"

"She's definitely been better. Did you get everyone?"

"Yeah. They should be here soon I think. Anya was a bit pissed I woke her"

"Well she'll just have to deal. We have bigger problems than Anya not getting all her sleep" There was a pounding on the front door and Buffy ran to get it. "What the?"

Angel barged passed her under a blanket that was on fire. Cordelia, Connor, Brandon, Fred and Gunn followed behind them. "Angel, why didn't you just come through the sewers?"

"This way was faster. So what's up?"

"Let's wait till everyone else comes first okay? Don't go bursting into flames anytime soon."

"Buffy?"

"Willow, hey. Where's Spike?"

"He had to take the sewer, cause daylight" Buffy nodded in understanding and shot Angel a glare.

"Hello. This better be worth waking me up this early in the morning Xander. This had better be a matter of life or death." Over on the couch Dawn gasped. "Okay, everyone into the kitchen please. Dawn you too" Dawn slowly rose from the couch and followed everyone else into the kitchen. When they were all seated, Spike came cruising up from the basement. "'Hello all, What's the what?"

Everyone waited for Buffy or Xander to start talking. Finally Xander muttered, "It's in the bathroom". They all walked upstairs, with Dawn, Buffy and Xander following behind. Willow and Spike were the first to open the door. "Oh, god". Spike took her by the arm and led her away downstairs to the couch. Fred, Gunn, Cordy, Angel, Connor and Brandon were next to see the sight. Fred fainted at the sight but Gunn caught her before she hit the ground. He took her into Dawn's room and laid her down on the bed. Cordy and Angel went down and sat on the couch next to Willow. Connor sat down on the bottom step or the stairs and leaned against the wall. Brandon went and stood against the wall beside the stairs. Anya leaned into the bathroom, waiting to know what was making people faint. "Never, in all my years as a vengeance demon, have I seen such a gross site. Worse than those bunnies," "Anya, please". Xander shut the bathroom door and went down the stairs.

"Well, what do we do now?"

"I don't know Buff, I just don't know"

-
-

"Paige, hey. What's new?"

"Nothing. I'm so bored"

"Yeah, I know. Can you come over?"

"Yeah, right. With my parents?"

"Oh yeah, sorry. Hey I could come over there"

"You could try. This life sucks"

"Yeah, I know. Hey there's always running away"

"Like that wasn't the first thing I thought of. Nah, I tried that already. Got myself caught. Not on purpose or anything."

"Oh. Damn that idea then."

"Yeah, guess so. Give me a sec and I'll see if you can come over"

"Okay, great" Kayla waited patiently as her friend on the other line ran to find someone to ask. In the background she heard their conversation.

"April! Can Kayla please come over?"

"What did your parent's say?"

"Uh yes"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes! So she can come over right?"

"Yes, I suppose so. But if your parent's ask, it was your idea"

"Okay" Kayla heard her friend run back to the phone that was left lying on the bed. "You can come!"

"I know. I heard, you two talk really loud"

"Okay, so I'll see you soon? Ooh! Do you want to spend the night?"

"Okay sure"

"Should you ask?"

"Why bother? You know my parent's don't give a crap where I am as long as they don't have to bail me out of jail"

"Okay. I'll see you in a bit."

"I'll be there with girly stuff!"

Paige laughed and Kayla realized she had never heard her friend do that before. "Bye"

"Bye". Paige hung up the phone. She skipped downstairs with a huge smile on her face.

"What's up with you?"

"Kayla's coming over, remember?"

"Oh yeah. For how long?"

"She's going to spend the night!"

"Oh, lovely. Two little horrors to look after"

"You don't have to look after us April. In fact, don't. Just stay downstairs and watch those soaps you like"

April laughed and Paige was comforted by the gentle laugh. Paige ran outside and down the drive to the gates. She climbed onto the first horizontal bar and held onto the vertical ones. "Okay, Miss Hart, just come down slowly and no one gets hurt"

Paige turned round and jumped off. "Hi Jasper! I'm waiting for my friend Kayla. She's coming to stay the night! We're going to have so much fun!"

"Did your nanny approve this?"

Paige nodded heartily. "Are you sure?"

Paige nodded again. "Honest, Jasper, honest" The guard cast her a questioning look but returned to his post all the same. Five minutes later Paige saw the familiar blonde walk round the corner. "Ooh, she's here. Jasper, open the gates!"

The old gates creaked open, allowing the guest to pass through them. "Hey Paige, how's it going?"

"It's great. Let's go inside! Bye Jasper". She waved at the guard who shook his head briefly at the girls and went back to his post.