A/N Thanks for the commentary Eckles. You'll know what I'm talking about when I get to it. Also I made a few changes to the episode.

Chapter 7

The Witch

'Fuck' was the first coherant thought Xander had, upon awakening as he felt something jump on his stomach. Cracking his eyes open brown eyes met green one's as he saw Selina wearing pajamas with pictures of cat's on them, sitting on his stomach, silently watching him.

"Ummm...hi." Xander said ackwardly, only for the little girl to look at him suspiciously.

"Are you really my, uncle?"

"What?" Xander asked groggily as he tried to sit up. Getting the hint, Selina got off of his stomach and sat next to him on the bed.

"My mom said that you were my, uncle." Selina informed him.

"Ummmm..."

"I didn't even know that she had a brother."

"Selina, there you are." Diana said as she walked into the room. "Leave your uncle alone and go and get ready for school."

"Okay, mom." Selina said happily as she jumped off Xander's bed. "Goodbye, Uncle Alex." she said as she kissed him on the cheek and ran out of the room.

"Uncle?" Xander asked as he gave Diana a look.

"What did you want me to tell her?" Diana asked. "That mommy has a rich sugardaddy?"

"I'm not a..."

"I know." she said interrupting him. "But Selina doesn't believe anymore than I did that a man would do something nice just for the hell of it. Except for her father." she added silently. "Now you don't mind if I use one of your cars to drop Selina off do you?"

"Actually you can just pick a car and keep it." Xander replied as he put on a shirt.

"There you go again." Diana said giving him a disgusted look.

"What?" Xander asked confused.

"You keep throwing your money in my face." she replied. "Me and Selina can do good on our own." she said as she turned to leave, only for Xander to grab her by the shoulders and turn her back around.

"Now you hold on. I didn't help you so I could throw a pity party with you." he informed her. "I lost my parents the same way you lost your husband. I...I felt so lost and I didn't think that anybody was ever going to be there for me, but then Bruce came along. If it wasn't for him, I never would have gotten these chances in life. Don't think about just yourself. Think about Selina and her future."

"I'm sorry, I'm just..."

"It's okay." Xander said as he pulled her into a hug.

"Mommy, you and uncle Xander aren't gonna kiss are you?" Selina asked as she entered the room. "Because if you are...ewwwwww." she said a little disgusted.

"Come on squirt." Diana said letting go of Xander. "I'll take you to school." as the two began to walk out of Xander's room, Diana turned back and nodded her head to him letting him know that she finally understood him. And that's when Xander realized that their relationship was going to be strained, but the outcome was going to be worth it.

Sunnydale High

Later that morning

"Alright, Cordy we'll hook up later." Xander said over his shoulder as he walked down a hallway. It seemed that Cordelia wanted to go out on their date sooner than later. Rounding a corner he ran smack dab into someone. "Sorry." Xander blurted out. 'Damn, why do I keep bumping into everybody.' he thought to himself as he looked down at the cute honey blonde in front of him.

"It's alright. I should have been watching where I was going." the girl replied.

"I hate for this to sound like some cheesy pickup line, but have we met before?" Xander asked. 'It's just something about her eyes.'

"I don't think so." the girl said giving him a look. "My names, Amy by the way."

"Sorry for my poor manners." Xander said as he held his hand out for her to shake. "My name is Alexander Wayne. But when I lived in Sunnydale it was Xander Harris."

"Harris?" Amy said with raised eyebrows. "Now I remember you. I used to babysit you as a little...I mean we used to play together when we were young." she corrected herself.

"Wait is your last name Madison?" he asked, not really paying attention to what she had said at first.

"Yeah." Amy replied.

"Now I remember you." Xander said thinking. "But didn't you used to be..."

"Big as a house." Amy finished for him with a grin. "Well I decided to lose some weight, because I wanted to become a cheerleader this year."

"Well you look beautiful." Xander said as he brushed a strand of her hair back behind her ear where it belonged.

"Tha...thanks." Amy said with a blush. "I...I have to get to the gym. I have to get ready for cheerleading practice you know..."

"Yeah, good luck with that." Xander said as the two went in seperate directions.

'Damn that was close.' Catherine Madison thought to herself. Every since she did the body swapping spell with her daughter, she had forgotten at times that she was in Amy's body. 'But maybe I'll stay in this body a little longer.' she said as she chanced a glance in Xander's direction. 'Maybe I'll try a little love spell. I've never been rich before.'

As Xander walked by the school library, he heard shouting coming from the other side. Walking in he saw Buffy in a cheerleader outfit and Giles walking around her with a frown on her face.

"This is madness!" Giles was raving. "What can you have been thinking? You are the Slayer and lives depend upon you." he said as he started to pace. "I make allowances for your youth, but I expect a certain amount of responsibility, and instead of which you enslave yourself to this, this cult."

"You don't like the color?" Buffy asked as she looked down at her outfit.

"I d..." Giles stopped in exasperation. "Do you um...do you ignore everything I say as a, as a rule?"

"No that's your trick." Buffy said as she finally noticed Xander standing at the door. "See you could ask Xander." she said as she moved over closer to her friend. "He could tell you that this is a good idea."

"I'm sure he would." Giles said with a roll of his eyes. He knew how teenage boys mind's worked.

"I guess it all boils down to, do you want Buffy to have a normal life?" Xander asked.

"Of course I do but..."

"Then why not let her do something a normal teen would do? If it becomes a big problem later on she could just quit."

"Yes, but..."

"Hey what's the what everybody?" Jesse said with a camcorder in his hands, as he and Willow entered the room.

"We're trying to convince Giles to let me be a cheerleader." Buffy informed him.

"You mean cheerleader as in the cheerleading tryouts that started five minutes ago?" Willow asked.

"And the one I'm about to record." Jesse replied as he held up his camcorder.

"Aw man, I have to get to the gym." Buffy said as she gave Giles a look. With a sigh he nodded his head for her to go and watched as his children walked out of the library.

"The earth is certainly doomed." he muttered to himself as he went back to filing books.

The Gym

The cheerleader tryouts were about to start and girls are stretching and practicing, doing back handsprings, cartwheels and walking handstands. One girl did a roundoff followed by a back
handspring, just as Buffy, Willow, Jesse, and Xander came through the door.

"Thanks for helping me with, Giles." Buffy said to Xander as they all sat down on the bleachers.

"No problem." Xander said giving her a wink. " You know people scoff at things like school spirit, but look at these girls giving their all like this." he said as he noticed Amber doing the splits between two chairs.

"Ooo, stretchy! Where was I?" Xander asked.

"You were pretending that seeing scantily clad girls in revealing postures was a spiritual experience." Willow answered as she looked over at him, with a smile.

"Who said I was pretending?" Xander asked with a shrug.

"Oh, hey!" Jesse said digging into his pocket. "I remember you telling me about the tryouts yesterday, so I bought you something." he told Buffy as he handed her a bracelet.

"What's this?" she asked as she looked it over. "Oh, how sweet." she said as she read the inscription 'Yours Always.'

"I-i-it came that way." Jesse assured her nervously.

"Jesse, likes Buffy. Jesse likes Buffy." Xander sing-songed into his friends ear, causing Jesse to slap his arm.

"Just look at that Amber." Cordelia said in a huff as she approached the group. "Who does she think she is, a Laker Girl?"

"I heard she turned them down." Willow said matter-o-factly as Joy, the cheerleading squad leader, stepped up with her clipboard and called for everyone's attention.

"Okay, listen up! Let's begin with..." she stopped to check her clipboard. "Amber
Grove. If you're not auditioning, move off the floor." she said to the other girls.

"Amy! Hi!" Willow said as she spotted her old friend.

"Hi." Amy greeted back as she walked over to them and sat down.

"I didn't know you wanted to be a cheerleader." Willow commented. "You lost a lot of weight."

"Had to." Amy replied with a shrug.

"Do you know Buffy and Xander?" Willow asked.

"Actually we're old friends." Xander said as he shook Amy's hand causing her to blush. Buffy just nodded her head in greetings.

"Oh, how I hate this, let me count the ways." Amy said to Buffy as Amber began her routine.

It was very athletic. She started off with a needle-split lift followed by a double spin and a jumping double spin. After landing, Amber launched herself into an aerial and a cartwheel.
Jazz slides were then followed by a single spin. Everyone in the gym was intent on watching her. Especially Jesse with his camcorder.

"She trained with Benson. He's one of the best coaches money can buy." Amy said as she looked back at Buffy.

"They have cheerleading coaches?" Buffy asked with arched eyebrows. 'Damn they have coaches for everything.'

"Oh, yeah! Don't you have?" Amy asked as if it were a common thing. "I train with my mom, three hours in the morning, three at night."

"Hmm, that much quality time with my mom would probably lead to some quality matricide."

"Oh, I know it's hokey. But she's really great." Amy said playing along.

"Hmm!" Cordelia said in a huff as she turned her back to Amber with a look of contempt on her face. 'That bitch is gonna get picked over me.' she thought to herself. 'Oh just fall over and break your leg already.'

Despite Cordy's huff, Buffy and Xander watch Amber in amazement. Amy and Willow are impressed too, especially when Amber's hands started to smoke.

"What the...?" asked with wide eyes.

"That girl's on fire!" Willow shouted out.

"Enough of the hyperbole!" Cordy screeched, still facing away from her, not seeing the smoke.

Amber's hands then caught on fire, making her drop her pompoms and scream. Buffy and Xander then react at the same time. Amber flailed her hands in the air, just as Xander and Buffy jump up simultaneously onto the stands and pull down a banner. They then ran back to Amber, knock her down and snuffs out the flames with the banner, as everyone stared in shock.

"It's okay, it's okay, you're gonna be... okay." Buffy muttered to the Amber, trying to offer some comfort. "God!"

Wayne Manor

An Hour Later

"You're home late." Diana commented as she saw Xander walk through the living room door.

"I was at the cheerleader tryouts." Xander replied, a little bummed out.

"What's wrong?" Diana asked playfully. "Cheerleaders don't help you get your jolly's?"

"A girl caught on fire today." Xander told her making her lose her smile.

"What? What happened, is she okay?"

"Yeah, it was just wierd. One minute she putting on a good show and the next...just all by herself she started to burst into flames."

"Spontaneous combustion?" Diana asked. "That's rare."

"That's the same thing that Giles said." Xander said as he walked past her and sat on his sofa. As soon as the incident had happened they had immediately went to Giles and told him what happened. "But I think that he and the gang are on the wrong page. I think there's something else going on, so I took the tape that a friend of mine was filming so I can examine it."

"A boy parting with a tape of girls bouncing around?" Diana asked. "He must be sick or something?"

"No, I told him that I was just making copies." he replied as he put the tape into the vcr and pushed play.

fifteen minutes later

"Maybe, I was wrong." Xander said as he pushed pause on the tape. "We've watched this thing five times and nothing."

"Hold on." Diana said taking a closer look at the tape. "Play it again and this time put it in slow motion." not seeing the harm in it, Xander did as she asked.

"There." she said as she pointed at the screen. Taking a closer look, Xander saw a red mist, coming from the bleachers and going towards Amber. It was something human eyes couldn't see at the time, but rather something that was picked up by a camera.

"What the hell is that?" Xander asked.

"I don't know, but that wasn't the only thing I was looking at." she said as she pointed to a honey blonde in the stands.

"That's Amy." Xander said doing a double take. 'She's smiling.' he noticed as Amber started to catch on fire.

"I think we have our suspect." Diana said as she stopped the tape.

"But, Amy?" Xander questioned outloud. "She just seemed so sweet."

"It's always the nice ones." Diana replied with a shrug. "Now I think you should tell the others that..."

"I'm not going to tell them anything." Xander said as he stood to his feet. "No offence to the group, but they just work to slow for my tastes. I'm going to go out and do some investigating first anyway."

"Oh, that reminds me." Diana said with a snap of her fingers. "Some old guy named, Alfred called for you. He said something about a shipment should be here for you soon."

"Good. I didn't like the fact of the batcave being so far away." Xander said as he ejected the tape. "So I'm gonna have one made under the house and use the other one as a secondary base."

"Aren't the guys coming to fix the batcave up gonna get suspicious?"

"Nah, because me and you are going to build it." he said as he walked out of the door before she could protest.

With heavy rain dripping off Batman's cape and cowl, he nimbly jumped from rooftop to rooftop. Seeing the house he wanted, he jumped to it's roof, pried open and slipped through a window, dropping silently to the floor.

As he looked around the dark attic, he saw that there were flowers and herbs hanging upside down from the rafters to dry along with personal items with identification tags. Looking closer, he saw a cauldron with a foul smelling liquid in it.

On closer investigation, he saw all kinds of cheerleading trophies and pictures on the wall. Moving over to one, he suddenly heard a noise. As Batman melted back into the shadows, he saw Amy enter the room.

He noticed that she moved around in the darkness with a practiced ease as she walked up to the cauldron. She waved a bracelet over the brew, then pulled it back. She then went over to a rack and yanked off a doll hanging there by its neck on a wire.

As she was about to walk back over to the cauldron, she noticed the rain spattering off the open window. Curious, she stepped over and closed it, only to turn around to the face of a demon.

"Doing a little Witchcraft, Miss Madison?" Batman asked as he sneered at her. He was so sure that she was a good girl.

"What the...Batman." she calmed down as she noticed who he was.

"What have you been up too, Amy?" Batman asked. "Why have you been targeting cheerleaders?"

'Good, the fool knows nothing.' Catherine thought to herself. "Because cheerleading runs in my blood." Amy told him as she walked over to where the trophies were. "I...my mother was known as Catherine the great. She was the best cheerleader this side of California and I'm gonna be just like her. Even if it kills me." she said as she reached her hand behind her back.

"Or somebody else." Batman replied as he stepped closer to her.

Suddenly Amy's hand flashed toward Batman, who dodged a small puff of smoke. As he stepped closer to her, he started to cough, choke, and finally lose his balance. Looking back up at her, Batman saw the creature from his dreams. He was looking at Spike.

Reeling back, in the throws of a hallucination, Amy smashed a bottle over him, soaking him with a foul smelling substance. Lurching for the window, images assaulting his mind, Amy raised her hand up and a green fire jumped out of her hand, making him burst into flames.

Fire engulfing him, Batman smashed through the window, cloak ablaze. Trying to activate his cloak it failed- except for one side that managed to pop open. The failed wing caused him to spiral and plummet, trailing flame, as he hit the ground with a crash and a sizzle, as wet pavement dampened the flames. Groaning, Batman rolled his burning batsuit along the asphalt.

His suit, smoldering, he lurched into an alley, raised his grapel gun, fired up at an enclosed roof, rode up, punched his way through wire and metal, crawled onto his back, and stared up at the stars of Sunnydale. The rain blurring his vision.

Breathing heavily he fumbled at his utility belt and pulled out a tiny phone.

"Diana!" he yelled hoarsely. "Diana!"

Wayne Manor

Ten o'clock PM

Xander finally awoke in his bed, shivering and red-eyed from crying. Looking to his side, he saw Diana at his bedside, watching over him.

"What happened?" Xander asked as he sat up.

"You tell me?" Diana asked. "I was just sitting in Selina's room, watching her fall to sleep and you were calling me on vid-phone. It took me over thirty minutes to find you in the Tumbler, but I managed to get you home."

"I'm...I'm not burned." Xander said as he looked down at himself.

"No you're not." Diana said giving him a look. "But, you were drugged with something, that probably made you think you were burning. I took a little sample of it off of your suit and..."

"How long was, I out?" Xander interrupted.

"Only for a couple of hours."

"I have to go back." Xander said as he weakly stood to his feet. "Amy's the one. She's been doing witchcraft on these girls."

"Xander you can barely stand up." Diana said sharply as she tried to push him back down on the bed. "And what do you mean by these girls? I thought there was just one?"

"She's going after, Buffy too." Xander told her as he held up the necklace, he took from Amy. It was the sameone that Jesse had given her just that morning. "I have to go."

"No!" she yelled as she gave him another push. "I can't let you go back out there and get yourself killed."

"I...I want." he told her. "I'm going to get back up."

Valleycrest cemetery

Buffy hiked up the collar on her jacket as she staked her last vampire for tonight. Even though she had slayed four of them, her mind still flashed back to what happened to Amber that morning.

"Nice night isn't it Ms Summer's." a voice asked from behind her.

""Gaah!" Buffy yelled, startled out of her reverie. "You again? Can't you sneak up on somebody else from time-to-time?"

"I could. But it wouldn't be as much fun." Batman said with a shrug.

"Well as long as you get your jollies. As for me? I'm libel to have a conanary attack."

"Hmmm... So what your saying is that everytime you see me, I break your heart?"

"Oh, don't get smug. That's not what I meant and you know it." Buffy told him.

"If you say so."

"Is there a reason you've made another appearance out of thin air?" Buffy asked as she stopped walking and glared at him.

"Actually there is. It's about what happened this morning at your highschool."

"How did you know about that?" Buffy asked wide eyed.

"I know many things, Miss Summers." he replied cryptically. "Even the person who was responsible for it."

"But, Giles said..."

"I've been doing some investigating and the person responsible for this witchcraft is, Amy Madison."

"Yeah right." Buffy said with another glare. "She's one of the sweetest girls, I've ever met. What makes you so sure, that she's the cause of all of this?"

"Because she was targeting you." Batman said as he reached into his utility belt and handed her, her bracelet back.

"How did you..."

"As I said, she was targeting you and she's into witchcraft." Batman replied. "Now if you want to help stop her, this is what I need for you to do."

Batman sat crouched on top of a house across the street from Amy's house. As he used his binoculars, he saw that Buffy was knocking on her door. As she dissappeared in her house as Amy opened the door, he sat there and thought about what Amy had said earlier that day.

'She was going to say, that she used to babysit me and just earlier she almost said that she was known as Catherine the great. Then that means...'

Standing to his feet, he jumped off the roof of the house and headed towards Amy's door. Quickly getting them open, with a pair of lock-picking tools, he saw a middle aged woman sitting alone in the living room, eating chips and watching TV. Slowly walking up to her he called out her name.

"Amy?"

"So what did you want to show me up here, Amy?" Buffy asked as they walked into her attic. Batman had told her to play along with her, until she tried something. Then he wanted her to throw a little smoke bomb at her and then pull a button on a bat communicater to let him know to come a running.

But Buffy wasn't gonna do that last part. She was just gonna kick Amy'a ass.

"I just wanted to show you something." Catherine said mumbling something under her breath, as she held a conjuring stone behind her back. If she couldn't be a winner as her daughter, then she was going to be one by being the new girl.

"Mom stop!" a voice yelled behind them. Turning they saw Amy's mom standing there.

"Amy, you get your worthless carcass downstairs now!" Catherine growled.

"Amy?" Buffy asked looking between the two.

"Stay out of this!" Catherine screamed as she used her power on Buffy, sending her crashing against a wall. "You stupid little bitch." she said as she turned back towards her daughter. "I give you everything and this is how you repay me?"

Batman waited until Catherine held up the stone, mumbled the incantation, and sent the beam from her body to Amy's, switching their souls. Emerging out of the shadows, he hurled a batarang, that hit Catherine in the hand, as she tried to do the same thing to Buffy. Knocking the beam off course, it reflected off of a mirror, back towards Catherine and then into a trophy that was beside her.

With a scream Catherine Madison, dissappeared in a beam of light.

"Um, what just happened here?" Buffy asked as she stood to her feet and looked at Amy. "You still evil?"

"That was my mom." Amy replied with a shrug.

"Now where's Batman?" Buffy asked as she scanned the room and didn't see him in sight. 'That son of a bitch did it to me again.' Buffy thought to herself.

Sunnydale High

The next day

"I talked it over with my, mom and you're welcome to stay with us." Buffy was saying to Amy as they walked down a hallway together.

"Thanks for the offer but my dad is gonna take care of me now." Amy told her with a smile. "And he is so impossible. He doesn't ever want me going anywhere. He wants to spend total quantity time together. And I'm, like, 'Dad, I can go out, it's perfectly safe.' But he's got all this guilt about leaving me with my mom. And he's being a total pain."

"You're loving it."

"Every single minute." Amy said with a smile. Every since her parents had gotten a divorce when she was ten, she barely saw her father. And that was mostly because her mom fought to keep them apart. "This Saturday night he wants to stay in and make brownies. Well, the brownies were my idea."

"Hey, I'm really sorry you guys got bumped back to alternate." Cordelia said as she came up behind them. Then she reconsidered what she said. "Hold it, wait... No I'm not."

"Well, I know that I'll miss the intellectual thrill of spelling out words with my arms." Amy joked.

"Ooo, these grapes are sour." Cordelia replied as Buffy and Amy stopped at the trophy case while Cordelia continued on.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot that you wanted to be on the squad." Amy apologized to Buffy for the cheerleader crack.

"Oh, hey, that's okay." Buffy said if not concerned. "Cheerleading's just a little too hairy for me these days."

"That's for sure." Amy replied taking a breath, as they went around to the front of the case and look at Catherine's picture.

"Catherine the Great." Amy muttered.

"And there's been no sign of her?"

"That last spell... wherever she is I don't think we'll have to worry." Amy told her, as they both looked at Catherine's cheerleading trophy.

"Twisted." Buffy said getting as they turned to go.

"I'm just happy to have my body back. I'm thinking of getting fat."

"Y'know, I hear that look's in for spring." Buffy said back to her.

"Why do you want to do that?" Xander asked as he walked up.

"Oh, um I remember a little of what my mom was thinking about you..." Amy said nervously. She had to admit, Xander was cute and she wouldn't mind doing a love spell on him herself. "and..."

"That's water under the bridge." Xander cut her off. "Let's start all over. Hi, my name is Xander." Xander said as the two shook hands.

"Amy." Amy replied with a little giggle, that Buffy stangely couldn't help but find annoying. Then she stood there and wondered why she found it annoying.

"Hey, Buff come on!" Xander called out. "I'm gonna treat you girls and the rest of the gang to a ice cream cone."

If they had of stayed a moment longer, they would have seen the eye's on Catherine's trophy move.

Later that night

An Apartment

"How can the Powers that be change their minds like this?" Angel asked as he paced around his apartment building.

"I'm not to question." Whistler said as he took a swig of some booze he had brought over. "Nobody anticipated that Xander Wayne would come to SunnyD and be the Dark Knight."

"But why do they want me to leave?" Angel asked as he turned to look at the tacky dressed man.

"Because, like it or not ratboy you have a destiny to fulfill." he replied with a shrug. "Neeedless to say if you stay, you're dust." then he looked at Angel hard. "What's wrong? You're talking like your'e in love with the Slayer or something?"

"N...no. Of course not." Angel replied a little too quickly. "I just agreed to help her, that's all."

"If you say so kid." the balance demon said as he threw the now empty bottle in the trash. "Now come on, i'll help you pack. There's this girl just outside of Boston that could use your help."

TBC...

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