"Xander," Buffy said suspiciously as she and Willow entered the kitchen, "why does my mom look like Giles after getting hit in the head?"
"She bribed me into explaining things," Xander admitted.
"What things?" the petite blonde Slayer asked nervously.
"Things she saw through the window before we came inside," Xander replied.
"She saw?" Buffy asked, wide eyed.
"She did," Joyce agreed, "and she owes you a huge apology and needs help decorating the house."
"Decorating the house?" Buffy asked, confused.
"Religious memorabilia," Joyce said. "I was thinking heavy wooden crosses, some votive candles, and possibly a rosary or two to use as a garrote in case of emergency."
"That… is actually a good idea," Buffy said, taking a seat next to her mom.
"So…" Willow said, trying to break the awkward silence, "what did she bribe you with?"
"As long as we aren't naked together in her bed she'll ask no questions," Xander replied.
Buffy turned to Xander, opened her mouth, paused, and then shut it with a thoughtful look on her face. "Okay, that's a good bribe. I'd probably have spilled everything for it too."
"When you say 'we' do you mean just Xander and Buffy?" Willow asked. "Cause I've got detailed notes on things."
"Willow!" Buffy exclaimed, making Joyce and Xander burst out laughing.
"According to Xander you not only do your best to help keep my baby alive, but also make her keep her grades up," Joyce said, wiping tears of laughter from her eyes, "so you are definitely part of the 'we' I will not question, as long as you three keep safe."
"We try," Buffy assured her.
"So, any more secrets I should know about?" Joyce asked.
The three looked at one another for a second before shrugging.
"Probably," Buffy said, "but not really secrets so much as just supernatural stuff that happened and you haven't heard about yet."
"Like your hair?" Joyce guessed.
"Chaos mage turned us all into our costumes and some things stuck," Buffy replied.
"How oblivious was I?" Joyce asked in disbelief.
"You did ask about my hair and there really wasn't a reasonable answer except exposure to something," Buffy assured her.
"The real answer is a lot crazier and less reasonable," Willow added.
"Alright," Joyce agreed, feeling a little better. "So, it's just your hair that changed?"
"No," Buffy said, "I've got a little of the ice mojo Elsa had, just not change the weather levels, more I don't need AC during the summer."
"That sounds handy," Joyce said. "And you two?"
"Willow is suddenly Disney Princess levels of athletic," Xander said with a grin, "and able to levitate pizza."
"Pizza?" Joyce asked curiously.
"I managed to float a slice of pizza," Willow said proudly, "so minor telekinesis."
"Pizza-kinesis," Xander said, "we don't know that you can move anything else."
Willow stuck out her tongue at him.
"And you didn't get anything?" Joyce asked Xander.
"He kept the most out of the three of us," Willow said. "He can dance, in fact everyone around him starts getting better at dancing while he is, and no matter how cold the temperature, as long as you're with him, you feel comfortable."
"I didn't think it got all that cold around here," Joyce said, "did you test it in the school freezer?"
"How much do you know about The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe?" Xander asked.
"It was one of my favorite books growing up, why?" Joyce asked.
"Xander's had the wardrobe to Narnia since he was twelve," Buffy said.
Joyce stared at Xander who simply nodded.
"Until recently, no one has ever believed me," Xander said, "so anytime I went there I went alone."
"Narnia…" Joyce said in wonder. "What's it like?"
"Cold," Xander said, "cold and filled with talking animals who insist I either need to be saved or that I come to Jadis'."
Buffy burst out laughing and Willow blushed bright red.
"It was a joke?" Joyce asked confused as her daughter was laughing but Willow was looking mortified.
"No, I just accidentally made a bad joke due to wording," Xander said with a grin. "Queen Jadis is still ruling in Narnia for at least seven days their time, which means time spent there and not here."
"Time," Joyce repeated thoughtfully. "How much time have you all spent there?"
"That was quick," Buffy said, surprised, "I thought you'd have to learn about Xander having a cottage there before you'd guess that."
"You own a home in Narnia?" Joyce asked. "I thought there was a limit to how many times you can pass back and forth."
"No limit as far as I can tell," Xander said, "I've been going back and forth about five or six times a week since I was twelve."
"What do you do there?" Joyce asked.
"Read, sleep, do homework, relax," Xander listed off.
"Build an awesome home," Buffy added.
"We have pictures," Willow said eagerly, retrieving her bag. "Do you wanna see?"
"I thought you left the photo album with Giles," Buffy said.
"I left him a copy," Willow replied.
"So… not our personal album?" Xander asked pointedly.
"No!" Willow exclaimed.
"Not asking," Joyce said, "and I would love to see your 'safe for parental consumption' photo album."
"Here," Willow said eagerly, passing it to her.
Joyce opened it and saw all the pictures Willow had taken of the cottage. "This is your house?"
"Built it myself," Xander said proudly.
"This is beyond impressive," Joyce said, "and it looks like it could withstand a siege."
"That's the way I designed it," Xander said. "I got tired of my sleep being interrupted by talking animals."
"Is that the White Queen?" Joyce asked in shock as she came across the mostly nude photos.
"It was her birthday!" Buffy blurted out.
"The day after her birthday, as we declined her invitation and promised Santa we'd stay out of things unless they knocked on our door," Xander corrected her.
"The books didn't do her justice," Joyce said, turning the page.
"Um… you aren't going to ask?" Buffy asked her mother.
"I'm just going to include her in the 'we' agreement and pretend I didn't see anything unusual," Joyce said firmly. "The forest looks amazing, "she said changing the subject. "I'm surprised you haven't had to cut down a bunch of trees for wood to keep warm."
"Santa made sure we were stocked up on coal for the fireplace," Xander replied.
"But Santa assured us we weren't on the naughty list!" Willow quickly added.
"So the supernatural is as much good as bad?" Joyce asked.
"No, it's weighted to bad, at least the stuff we deal with," Buffy admitted, "there just happens to be a really bright patch of good thanks to these two."
Willow and Xander quickly descended on Buffy to hug her tightly, making Joyce smile.
"I'd like to see your fortress in person sometime, preferably after Jadis has been deposed," Joyce said, "maybe during the summer when I can take a couple of days off."
"We should put in a guest bedroom," Willow said, "maybe in the storage room."
"Or make that our main bedroom and use the living room as a guest bedroom," Buffy suggested.
"Or we could just use it as such when we have guests over," Xander said. "We still need a couch," he reminded them.
"I wonder if we could bribe the beavers to make it and just use our own cushions," Buffy said.
"I don't get along with Mr. Beaver, he's a pest," Xander said with a frown. "I know he was just trying to be nice, but he interrupted my sleep a lot in my early years there."
"Who's your favorite Narnia character?" Willow asked Joyce.
"Jadis," she replied. "If she wasn't before she definitely is after I saw those photos."
"Mom!" Buffy exclaimed in shock.
"What? There were few strong female role models to look up to that compare to her when it came out," Joyce said 'innocently'.
"But she was the villain," Willow pointed out.
"Right or wrong isn't the point," Joyce said, "she was a woman who decided her own fate and went for it."
"She does that," Buffy admitted.
"Plus I would kill to have breasts like that," Joyce said with a smirk.
"Mom!"
Joyce laughed. "So, why were vampires digging through our trash?" she asked, deciding she'd teased her daughter enough for the moment.
"Probably looking for my hair," Buffy said, glad to change the subject, "there's a vampire clan who want to cast some spell and they need hair from someone who has killed a bunch of vamps."
"A spell? What kind of spell?" Joyce asked, concerned.
"No idea," Buffy replied, "all we know is it's called The Seeds of Dawn."
"And since vampires are casting it we're against it," Xander said.
"Yeah, we are pretty anti-vampire," Buffy said.
"With good reason," Willow added.
"So regardless of what the spell does it's something you have to stop?" Joyce reasoned.
"As usual," Buffy agreed.
"I think it's better not to know personally," Xander said, "knowing does little but make you worry and since we're going to stop it from going off it doesn't really matter what it's supposed to do."
"You sound pretty confident," Joyce noted.
"Slayer team some high number, vampires zero so far," Buffy said with a smile.
"We've gotten pretty good at thwarting things," Willow agreed.
"I always thought if one of us was going to use the word thwart it would be Giles," Buffy said.
"Xander's used it a couple of times, it was my turn," Willow defended herself.
"I don't think Buffy was listening when I said it during my pep talks," Xander said, pouting.
"Sorry," Buffy apologized giving him a hug, "it's just when you are giving the pep talks I'm usually a bundle of nerves wondering what's going to go wrong."
"You're forgiven, Buffster," Xander told her and kissed her forehead. "I'm so glad I offered to take you to Narnia to relax, you were much too wound up."
"Just having infinite time to sleep without having to worry about what the vampires and demons were doing was a tremendous weight off my mind," Buffy said as Willow wrapped her arms around the two.
Joyce joined in. "Thanks for taking care of my little girl."
"Mom!" Buffy complained with a groan.
"She takes care of us so much it's only natural we do the same," Xander said, before yawning. "We really should get some sleep, it's still early, but we have things to do in the AM."
"Good point," Buffy said. "Do you mind if we have a sleepover?" she asked her mom.
"No loud moans or rhythmic thumping I can hear," Joyce ordered.
"Yes Mom," Buffy said, blushing.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"We have gathered all the necessary components," the master vampire announced to his nest as he stood on the center of the stage in the small theater to a round of cheers from the thirty plus demons.
A balding figure in flannel pajamas yelled into his gag and struggled against the ropes that were binding him to the chair.
"Alice and Toby have brought us hair from the Slayer," he said with a proud smile at the two rumpled looking vamps.
"It could be from her mother," Alice admitted, "she still lives at home and they're both blonde."
"Magic is more of an art than a science," he told his childe, "the hair of the mother will be just as effective."
The two vampires smiled; happy they'd accomplished their goal as several of their nest had sacrificed their lives to allow them to escape with the hair.
"And Alan and Greg have brought us the final key to the ritual," the master vamp said proudly, gesturing to the struggling figure, "blood of one who is of trollish ancestry."
The man managed to free his mouth. "I'm human, one hundred percent!" he claimed in a panic.
The vampires all turned to look at him and after a second they burst out laughing.
"I'm serious," the man yelled before changing tacts, "I'm an important man in the community!"
"I think we've heard enough from him," the master said, gesturing for one of his children to gag him once more.
Once the man was silenced, the master turned to his nest once more. "We stand on the steps of a new era, soon we need not fear the sun for we will have The Seeds of Dawn!"
The demons roared in approval.
Typing By: Abyssal Angel
TN: "I think it's better not to know personally," Xander said, "knowing does little but make you worry and since we're going to stop it from going off it doesn't really matter what it's supposed to do."
Really wanna smack Xander one for that. Knowledge is power, and knowing what the spell is might give clues to where it needs to be cast or what spell components are needed that might lead to where they need to get it, allowing them to head the casters off. Bad Xander. Bad.
