Disclaimer: Ha ha I really wish I did!
GONETuscany wandered down the stairs of the now magic free home. It felt weird not coming across herbs in certain places like wedged between the toilet roll. Come to think of it maybe it was a blessing in disguise.
There was a sharp knock on the door and Tuscany finished the last two steps with a leap.
"Hey Xander," Tuscany grinned as she opened the door.
"Hey," He looked around and seeing that they were alone leaned forward and whispered, "How are things."
"We have a saying in Australia for moments like this… 'Fucking hell!'" Tuscany replied.
"Oh that pretty universal," Xander grinned, "How's the tension?"
"Well I'd rather face the demon again than Dawn. But funnily enough I'm the only one in the house no body is cranky with," Tuscany informed him, shutting the door.
"Must be a first," Xander observed.
"A welcome one," Tuscany confessed, "come on, Buffy is in the kitchen."
They walked into the kitchen to be confronted with Spike pressing himself up against Buffy. Xander's mouth dropped open. Tuscany felt a little pain in her heart! She didn't get long to dwell on the horrible feeling before Xander made his presence known.
"Good Godfrey Cambridge, Spike!" Xander exclaimed. Buffy blushed and pushed Spike away from her. Tuscany observed her older sisters reaction and wondered if maybe she did reciprocate Spike's feelings.
"Still trying to mack on Buffy? Wake up already. Never gonna happen! Only a complete loser would ever hook up with you. Well, unless she's a simpleton like Harmony, or a, or a nut sack like Drusilla…" Xander cried. Spike's expression became smugger with each insult and Buffy opened her mouth quickly.
"Hey! You really need to get Dawn off to school. Let's go, go fetch her, okay?" Buffy stammered, avoiding everyone's eyes. Xander looked satisfied. Tuscany wondered how oblivious he could be.
"You can let yourself out, right Spike?" Buffy said without looking at the blond vampire.
Spike smirked and watched them go.
"Subtle," Tuscany said after they left.
"You know me, convict. I'm all for the overt. Beside's it was Xander," Spike grinned at the girl.
"Can't deny that is an excellent point," Tuscany conceded, "are you leaving?"
Spike snorted and walked towards the lounge room.
"I thought as much," Tuscany commented to herself and followed him. She lowered herself into a chair.
"So Tuscany, What big bad Vampire got close enough to mark you with his scent?" Spike asked, quirking his eyebrow.
"What, like, peeing on me?" Tuscany was disgusted.
"No! Bugger me. I mean some of those trashy ones might but I just meant being closed to them or being bitten by one will make you smell like him for a while," Spike explained.
Tuscany looked at him aghast. Spike would be able to tell when she was seeing Dracula when she had hoped to keep a secret. "Can you tell who?"
"It smells familiar but I can't identify who," Spike looked at the younger slayer suspiciously, "Why? Should I know who it is?"
"Their not a problem," Tuscany hastened to assure him. Buffy walked into the room followed by an older woman with an unpleasant expression on her face.
"So, we gonna chat this out, or what?" Spike was completely oblivious to the other woman.
"Uh ... now's really not a-a good time. Um, I have company," Buffy said pointedly darting glances at the woman. Tuscany looked at the lady curiously wondering who she was to be making Buffy act like that.
"No worries. I'll wait," Spike settled himself more comfortable.
"Um, Miss Summers, if you and your boyfriend would like to…" The woman began, looking slightly miffed.
"He's Not!" Buffy stated. Spike tilted his head and the lady looked confused.
"Not my, my boyfriend, he's, um, just ... a…" Buffy spluttered, desperately searching for a word.
"A friend," Tuscany supplied.
Buffy nodded enthusiastically, "Spike ... this nice woman is, uh, from Social Services?"
"Oh, right! Uh ... hey! Buffy's a great mom. She takes good care of her little sis. Like, um, when Dawn was hanging out too much in my crypt, Buffy put a right stop to it," Spike stumbled, trying to make Buffy appear in a good light.
"I'm sorry, did you say?" The social service worker looked puzzled.
"Crib. He said crib. You know kids today and their buggin' street slang," Buffy laughed a high pitched fake giggle that made Tuscany wince.
"Uh, Spike, didn't you have to go now, you know, because of that thing?" Buffy seized his arm for emphasis.
"Uh, thing, yeah. Uh, my blanket," He pointed to a brown bit of material near Tuscany's arm.
Tuscany passed it to Buffy who shoved it into his chest. The pair scowled at each other. Tuscany bit her lip and cleared her throat. Remembering what was happening Buffy turned a bright smile towards the other woman.
"He sleeps here?"
"What? No! No. Oh, uh, the, the, the blanket. That's, um, uh, it's a security thing, you know. He ... has issues," Buffy tried to clarify hopelessly.
"Recovering agoraphobic," Tuscany helped.
"And who are you?" The lady turned to Tuscany.
"Tuscany. I'm Buffy's little sister. Dawn's older one."
"I have no record of you," The lady said, writing something down on her clipboard.
Buffy and Tuscany exchanged looks before Tuscany ploughed on, "Half sister. I was adopted by a family in Australia, hence the accent."
"And you arrived in the states recently?"
"Yeah. I finished school down under and applied for the uni's but when I was accepted by every single one, I realised I wouldn't be satisfied till I had met my real parents. Hank was on holiday so I found my sisters," Tuscany smiled winningly. Buffy gave her a subtle thumbs up at the mention of the universities.
"And you contribute financially?"
"I have a job teaching martial arts so Buffy can look after Dawn and the house," Tuscany continued, getting the swing of things.
"And helping her agoraphobic friends?" The lady asked slyly.
Tuscany grimaced, "Speaking of… I better go and see if he got off alright."
Tuscany found him at the top of the stair eavesdropping.
"We're not doing well are we," Spike stated.
Tuscany shook her head and sat next to him, "She wasn't even impressed with my outstanding academic background."
"Suck up," Spike accused. Tuscany responded with poking out her tongue.
The door was shut with a curt click and Spike rose and walked down to the stairs and Tuscany slipped into her bedroom. She remembered she did actually have a job to get to even if she only managed sporadically.
As she walked out she ran into Buffy who looked like she was about to cry.
"Are you ok?" Tuscany asked concerned.
"Probation," Buffy informed.
"Damn it. Silly old cow!" Tuscany said adamantly.
"Damn Spike. She saw Willow's herbs. I told her it was magic weed."
"Ouch! Bet she loved that!"
"Might as well pack Dawn's bag right now," Buffy sighed, defeated.
"Well I'm gonna go be a breadwinner and then we'll think of better ways to solve this problem," Tuscany said supportively.
"Like how?"
"Like getting Giles to be a reference. The British sound so authoritive. Or Anya could get one of her friends to eat her!"
"I like that idea!" Buffy smiled weakly.
"I'll be back later," Tuscany patted her big sister on the shoulder and walked down the stairs.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Tuscany walked into the house exhausted to hear Xander telling Willow.
"I personally couldn't tell, since she's all 'blinvisible.'"
"Who's blinvisible?… what is blinvisible?" She asked. The pair jumped.
"Buffy's invisible," Xander said quickly.
"And you think I had something to do with this?" Willow was clearly getting upset.
Xander was thinking of how best to broach the subject, "Well, come on, Will. Some of the spells you've done have caused some weird stuff to happen to each of us at one time or another. And let's not forget the recent forgetting."
"Buffy's invisible?"
Willow ignored Tuscany to angrily respond to Xander, "Oh. I see, so now when anything nasty happens, I get conveniently blamed for it?"
"No one's blaming!" Xander protested.
"Blaming for what?"
"So ... I guess it wouldn't matter if I just jump off the wagon completely ... since you already think I'm making pit stops," Willow cried, standing up.
"Well, look, if you said you didn't do it…" Xander broke of as Willow got up and grabbed her coat, "Willow, where are you going?"
"For a walk!"
Xander watched her leave with a sad expression.
"What is going on?" Tuscany asked.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
"How is Buffy invisible?" Tuscany asked Anya.
"I have no idea. You are going to my wedding, right?"
"Yes Anya, can you focus please," Tuscany waved a book of spells.
"You're a witch now. Can't you make it right?"
"I'm not a witch and I don't know how to fix Buffy's invisibleness!" Tuscany retorted.
"Well I doubt any of these books are going to help. Beside's I don't know where to put you or Buffy now. I had you with D'Hoffryn but I don't think you'd get along," Anya surmised.
"Why would you ever think that?" Tuscany said sarcastically.
"Because he's a demon and you're a slayer," Anya said seriously. Tuscany shook her head and opened a new book.
The door opened and Xander walked in.
"Thank god!" Tuscany breathed, "tell me you bring answers of the good variety."
"No luck," He sighed, "But Willow is working on it in a non magic capacity." He sat next to Anya and pulled open a book.
"Oh, I got it," Anya stated excitedly.
"Really?" Xander beamed hopefully.
"Yeah, we'll put D'Hoffryn at your parents' table, and move your Uncle Rory to table five near the bar," Anya decreed.
"Ahn honey, we're looking for invisibility spells here," Xander said patiently.
"Well, obviously I haven't found anything yet. At least nothing that would explain why things near Buffy become invisible," She reached out to touch the orange cone. It came away in her hand, "Ew Xander!"
"What happened?"
"An unpleasant tactile experience, like putting my hand in pudding," Anya noted.
"I feel like pudding," Tuscany added randomly.
Xander reached his own hand up to the cone and withdrew quickly when it covered his hand, "Ew!"
"Like pudding, am I right? Rice, or tapioca, lumpy like that," Anya tried to diagnose her views on the pudding.
"We have to find Buffy, she's gotta know," Xander stood.
"I don't think Buffy's gonna be too broken up over a pylon," Anya wiped the goop of her hand.
"Anya, whatever's happening to the pylon will probably happen to her. If we don't find Buffy, I-I mean ... if we don't figure out how this was done..." Xander trailed off.
"She's pudding," Anya finished.
"Wonderful. Rice pudding Buffy. This family already had issues with out having a dessert as a big sister," Tuscany groaned.
"I gotta find her," Xander headed back out the door he had so recently entered.
"I'll go find Willow," Tuscany said following him. She didn't think she could stand another minute with Anya.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Tuscany was disgruntled. She hadn't found Willow at the Internet café but the man had said she had just missed her.
She went to open the door of her house when it opened by herself.
"Tuscany?"
"Buffy? Wow, you really are invisible!"
"Yeah. I'm going to find Xander. I got the news about the pudding," Buffy's voice sounded distant.
"Rice, or tapioca! Not great options," Tuscany observed.
"Dawn, I'm going out to find Xander. If he calls me…" Buffy paused from calling up to Dawn as the phone began ringing.
Tuscany saw the phone rise, "Xander?"
Tuscany shook her head and trying to concentrate.
"Who is this? You sound familiar," Buffy said into the phone.
"Where?" Buffy asked and Tuscany raised an eyebrow.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
"Does this feel like a trap to you?" Tuscany addressed Buffy, or, where she thought Buffy was. "Because I'm getting this distinct gut feeling that says this is a trap."
"They have Willow," Buffy replied simply.
"Yeah I know but still. Didn't they say that you were to come alone?" Tuscany changed the subject.
"Well they don't know you're with me because they can't see me with you. Oh there's Willow."
"Just stay still, and you won't get hurt," A voice whispered, "You were supposed to come alone!"
"Hey I'm just a helpless girl," Tuscany answered the air.
"You ok, Will?"
"Buffy?" Willow sought the air for her friend.
"Where are the bad guys?" Buffy demanded.
"All around you Slayer. So don't try anything!" The voice hissed triumphantly.
"He's bluffing, Buffy, there, there's just three of them, I think," Willow countered urgently.
"More than enough to cause some serious carnage, right guys? ... Guys? Guys!" The voice sounded frantic.
"Kick! Use the kick!"
"I tried that, he keeps blocking it with his drunken monkey fist!"
Tuscany rolled her eyes.
"Ooh, scary video carnage." Buffy observed sarcastically.
"Hey! Slayer's here," The original voice informed them.
"Sorry didn't see her," One voice said. Tuscany shook her head. Who the hell were these idiots?
"Whose the other girl?" The third voice asked.
"Slayer's friend," Someone invisible guessed.
"Why don't we continue this in a less crowded area, like, over there," The man said threateningly.
"Where?" everyone wanted to know.
"Over… just follow me," There was a flying machine that looked like a giant gun.
"I think you got hit with a sci-fi invisible ray," Tuscany said randomly as an unseen villain jerked Willow.
"I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess you guys are the ones who did this to me?" Buffy said idly.
"Good god, Holmes, how do you deduce such facts?" Tuscany asked sardonically.
"It was an accident!" one of the voices protested.
"Who's that?" Buffy demanded, clearly recognising the voice.
"Nobody you know," It was the same voice but with a different accent.
"They're the ones from your mystery van," Willow stated.
"Oh. You. So what annoying thing are you gonna do to me now?" Buffy sighed.
" Save your life, make you visible." One said.
"Right. I'm supposed to believe that?" Buffy replied with a snort, clearly not.
"They told me everything, Buffy. Something's happening to you that, you're…" Willow trailed off.
"Fading away," Buffy finished for her, "I know."
"I can fix that," The leader promised.
The invisibility ray lifted up and begins warming up.
"Pick up that air hockey mallet on the table," The leader instructed.
"What for?" Buffy asked suspiciously.
"It'll give me a target to aim at." The leader explained with a sigh. The air-hockey mallet floated up into the air.
"Okay, now hold still, and all your troubles will soon be gone," The leader said. Tuscany narrowed her eyes. She couldn't help thinking that sounded rather final.
"You're on the wrong setting!" Willow cried. She had moved so she could look at the invisible ray.
"What?" The invisible leader demanded.
"An excellent question," Tuscany agreed crossing her arms.
"The gun, it's not set for reversing the particle ionization. It'll accelerate her molecular dissolution, I saw the plans!" Willow exclaimed.
"Again that excellent question is valid so I ask… What?" Tuscany spoke up looking confused.
"Mind your own business," The leader snapped.
"What's she talking about?" Another invisible male asked.
"That's what I'd like to know," Buffy sounded.
"Buffy, he's trying to kill you!" Willow cried, aghast. The leader lost his patience. The invisible ray swung around and hit Willow in the face.
"Willow!" Buffy yelled. The hockey mallet launched through the air and hit the space
"Ow!" Came the grunt of pain.
The invisibility ray clattered to the floor and Tuscany dived for it.
"Okay, play time's over," Buffy sounded crankier than Tuscany had heard her sound for a while.
"You haven't won yet, Slayer," The leader was furious.
"No, that part comes after I beat the snot out of you," Buffy informed him.
Tuscany tried to follow the exchange but ended up getting a headache from following the noise.
"You'll have to find me first! There's three of us, against just one of you," The leader said triumphantly.
"Hey, you lied to us!" Another invisible voice sounded. He was obviously emotionally hurt.
"Fight her yourself!" Came the much quieter voice!
"Think she cares about that? I go down, we all go down!" The leader negotiated with the others.
"And I promise, you're all going down." The smile was evident in Buffy's voice.
"We may not have your powers, Slayer, but you'll find that we are not so easy to…" another stick hit him, "Ow! Get her!"
Tuscany heard the sounds of fighting and tensed, trying to hear if one scuffle got to close. Willow hurried to the edge of the wall.
"Wait a minute, wait a minute! Who's biting my leg?" One wailed
"Sorry! Where is she?"
"Here," Buffy surprised them.
A pinball machine shattered and kids ran screaming.
Tuscany winced, "Bet you any money invisible man just got axed."
"Tuscany, chuck me the ray," Willow called.
Tuscany complied and Willow grunted as she caught it. She began fiddling with the dials and changing the setting.
"You go that way," The leader instructed.
"Which way?" The others were beginning to panic.
"Just keep talking, boys," Buffy stated with obvious glee at kicking them.
"Ow! Watch the chest hair!" One whined.
"I know that voice. You-you're.."
At that moment Willow fired the ray in the general direction of the voices. Buffy became visible, holding a weedy boy up by the front of the shirt.
"Jonathan?" She let him go, "You have chest hair?"
Willow fired the ray a second time and another male became visible.
"Warren?" Buffy demanded.
"Do we know these guys?" Tuscany asked no body in particular.
Willow aimed the invisible ray towards the moaning on the pinball machine. One last man.
"Who are you?" Buffy looked confused.
"Andrew." He answered with a small wave.
"I summoned the flying monkeys that attacked the high school?
Willow and Buffy exchanged a confused look.
"During the school play, you know?" Andrew continued desperately.
" It's Tucker's brother," Warren said.
"Yeah, it's Tucker's brother," Jonathon contributed with a small nod.
"Oh," Willow and Buffy both remembered.
"It still don't get it," Tuscany pouted.
The two sides faced each other in a typical cliché hero vs. villain's stance.
"So you three have, what, banded together to be pains in my ass?" Buffy asked with shrug.
"We're your arch-nemesises ... ses. You may have beaten us this time, Slayer, but next time ... um ... uh, next time..." Warren stammered to a halt.
"Maybe not!" Jonathon said dramatically and threw something down which burst into smoke. Tuscany coughed as the smoke curled up her noise and made it hard to breath. Buffy cursed next to her, when a whiney voice grabbed their attention.
"What do you mean, it's locked? You were supposed to check it!"
"I forgot!" Andrew sulked.
"I give you my arch nemesises...ses." Buffy muttered with a frown. Tuscany followed with a slow clap.
A security guard came up behind Buffy, Willow and Tuscany, "What's going on in here? I got a bunch of scared kids saying this place is haunted!"
The door opened and when the three spun around they trio were gone.
"Oh my god, Buffy!" Willow exclaimed with an open mouth.
"I know, they're gone. I guess we should chase them," She directed this last part to Tuscany who looked unhappy with the suggestion.
"No, your hair! It is adorable," Willow observed with a smile.
"Yeah, defiantly hot," Tuscany agreed. Buffy brought a hand up to her hair and gave a smile.
Tuscany left the two girls at the arcade. She could feel the onset of a deep and meaningful coming on and she didn't feel comfortable being involved in those conversations.
She turned down an alley thinking she would do a quick patrol before going home when she crashed into something cold and solid that sent her reeling back on to her butt.
"You were supposed to meet me tonight," A rich voice intoned from above her.
It was Dracula and he did not look happy at all!
AN: Yeah not much with the things to say. Um Drac chapter next. Also I'm aware now, after completing this chapter, that if the trio had been using surveillance on Buffy's hang outs they would know Tuscany was a slayer so I apologise for the mistake and also for not bothering to correct it. It's late and I just worked all day!
MD666