zigpal- thank you very much for the review (and claps of course. Where would I be without those?). And as for the Buffy romance- alls I say is, I'm not sure whether it will be long term or short term (i.e happens towards the end of the season), but I will say that you know the character. Also as for all things Bennedy- that thought frightened me. Truly. haha.

rabidreject- Yes, I was in much need of vacation.Much stress lately. It was strange though that for Thanksgiving we were in a county that didn't celebrate it. haha. (Not that we do much anyway. Or sure we have the family meal usually with everyone over just for the niceness of it all but we kinda have a Willow look on all things Thanksgiving hehe. Oh yes, we're a conflicted bunch). Thanks very much for the review and I hope you like this chapter.

g120- glad you liked how I stayed with the tone of the episode and yes, Lily is back (I had to write her in somehow. She's too great not too) and is actually going to be hanging around for a while.

A/N: Okay, here we go with the brand new storyline.

Side Note: How do you change factoids on your profile? It says I'm living in the UK on here, which you know, I'm not. But this was my friend's account before this and she is of the UK residency...so how do I change it? Anyone know?

The small apartment shared by Willow and Tara seemed even smaller due to the numerous books, papers and other student-related things that were scattered all over the living room. The two of them were sorting out their things for going back to college. They were starting a couple of weeks later than normal, but they had talked with the university and the lateness had not been a problem, as long as they could catch up with their classes easily which they promised they would.

"I just wish you were going back to college Buffy," Joyce sighed, as she looked over all the study books. Despite how easy a task packing for college was, everyone had come along to help though Tara suspected this was more due to the fact they were glad Willow was breaking out into the real world once more than anything else.

"I've got a job haven't I?" Buffy countered as she got a bag down for Willow. "What more do you want from me?"

"I know, and I think that's great honey," Joyce assured her, "But still...your education's important..."

"Well maybe I'll go back next year," Buffy suggested if only to pacify her Mother, "You never know"

"And in the meanwhile I'll take offense at the 'education is important' dig," Xander added, reminding Joyce that he had never been to college. Joyce missed the point entirely as she didn't even react to what he said. She'd been doing that quite a lot since they'd arrived at the apartment and Giles hadn't exactly been Mr Attention Span.

"Missing Lily huh?" Tara asked kindly, guessing correctly what was up with the two of them.

"What?" Giles jumped slightly at the mention of his daughter's name.

"Lily," Tara repeated, "You miss her not being here"

"She'll enjoy her time with her grandparents," He replied, but Tara just smiled at him understandingly.

"That's not what I asked," She told him kindly and he sighed.

"It's understandable that you miss your child after getting rid of her and abandoning her on your in-laws," Anya stated matter-of-factly.

"We did not abandon her!" Joyce protested, "But you're right about this messing us up. The first time apart is always the hardest. It's just two weeks is such a long time"

"Well, this'll give you some time to yourselves," Buffy pointed out and her sister nodded in agreement.

"And it'll give us a break from being woken up in the early hours of the morning," Dawn was smiling broadly, but no one denied she was deadly serious about her point.

"So," Joyce said, deciding to change the subject as she turned to Willow, "Looking forward to going back to college Willow?"

"Yeah," Willow eventually replied after thinking for a while, "Yeah I am. Just a little nervous I guess"

"Well," Dawn said, "Just remember; do what everyone else does, wear what everyone else wears, say what everyone else says. You don't wanna look wicked out of place"

Lilah Morgan hated doing any paper work that would be directly sent to the Senior Partners. Oh, she knew that working so close to them was undoubtedly a way to power for her, but it also meant there was more risks to her life if she slipped up even slightly. Plus, she really hated paper work. There were much more interesting things to be doing. Such as Wesley... No, she couldn't go there right now. She needed to remained focused and thinking too much on the ex-avenger allowed her thoughts to wander far, far away from work and off to what little kink games they'd get to play later on that night.

She squinted her eyes together as she felt the strain from having looked too closely at small print papers for too long. She looked up, as something in front of her desk caught her eye and she saw before her a girl with semi-curly blond hair and green eyes. She couldn't have been older than twenty-two and she had obviously appeared there by magical means as Lilah hadn't heard the door. The girl looked around in slight confusion as she took in her surroundings. When her eyes landed on Lilah's nameplate on the wooden desk and then the wolfram&hart tag behind her the young blond winced a little as she looked at Lilah.

"Bugger,"

"Do you have an appointment?" Lilah asked casually, more out of habit than anything since the girl's cursing had pointed out that obviously she hadn't an appointment, hadn't even planned on being there at all apparently.

"Not exactly," The woman replied, "Just really, really, really bad geography" She smiled, "I'll just be going now" She went to leave but when she tugged at the door that would lead out onto the corridor it wouldn't move.

"Automatic lock button," Lilah explained lightly, pointing at a black push button behind her desk, "Stops people I don't want to leave from leaving. You know- little things like that"

"Oh," The twenty-odd year old nodded as though seriously considering Lilah's words, before she tugged harshly on the door knob and the lock shattered effortlessly allowing the door to swing open. Lilah could only look on in mild yet well covered shock.

"That's not my only defense," She finally replied and with another button press a demon appeared in the door way and several others behind the newcomer. "This law firm is so efficient," Lilah smiled, "There's a button for everything. Now," She began stepping out from behind her desk in the direction of the girl, "Why don't we start with you telling me who and what you are?"

"Strangely enough I'm thinking 'no'" The girl then roundhouse kicked one demon into a wall, before grabbing the one in the doorway with both hands and swinging it into the others. Before she could walk out the door though one of the demons that remained standing grabbed her, his claws slicing into her shoulders, and swung her round, smashing her into Lilah's desk.

"Okay," She grumbled from where she landed on the floor, putting her fingertips briefly to the cuts on her shoulder, "That hurt"

She leapt up to her feet in a graceful and athletic movement and Lilah watched in interested amusement and shock as the girl fought fantastically and effortlessly, reminding Lilah of the one Slayer she had come across in her life, effectively slaying every single demon within no more than five minutes.

"As I said," The girl repeated, "I'll just be going now" She stepped over the demons' carcasses carefully so as not to actually step on any and ruin her shoes. The girl left, but popped her head back in a second later, "You don't happen to know the number of a good taxi firm do ya?" She asked casually as though none of the previous events had ever happened. Lilah could only look at her in disdainful disbelief, "Never mind," The blond told her, "Guess I'll take a bus"

Lilah only let her go because she had more important things to do. Such as finding out who the girl actually was. She fought like a Slayer yet she evidently wasn't one as Lilah knew the identity of both current Slayers and that girl hadn't been either. She headed around to the front of her desk where the girl had landed and saw the cuts the demons had caused on her shoulders had left a fair amount of blood staining the wood. Lilah picked up the phone on her desk.

"Lilah Morgan," She automatically said her identity into the phone, "I need the techs to get here and work on a blood sample in my office. Someone very interesting just came to my attention"

When Giles came home from the Magic Box he arrived to find the entire living room in disarray. There were glossy photos everywhere, some in color, some in black and white and they covered the coffee table, side tables and the entire couch save for the one space where his wife was sat with her legs tucked underneath her. She had two of the photos in her hands and a notepad and pen on her lap. She was clearly working on something gallery related.

"Joyce?" He greeted her but she didn't look up or even respond to the sound of her own name she was so engrossed in her work. "Hello Joyce" He repeated but again received no reply, "And here I am invisible to the eye...'hello Rupert, it is nice to see you this fine afternoon" Rupert did feel slightly elated that while she did not look up at the sound of her own name she did glance at him when she heard his.

"Oh," She smiled at him in pleasant surprise, clearly only having just realized he was stood there, "Rupert, hi. When did you come in?"

"Just a few moments ago," He told her and she smiled in apology.

"Sorry, it's just- this display. I have a lot to go through here," She told him, "But the more I look at the pieces and research them- find out their purpose and history, the easier it seems to be you know? I can really see how it's all gonna be laid out. I guess that's why I didn't hear you come in. I just got so lost in it"

Rupert nodded with a smile in understanding. He had seen first hand how stressed Joyce could become with her work- she was a perfectionist by nature but the only time she fully gave into that was when she was involved in her work- and it did take up quite a lot of her time, but she unquestionably loved every minute of it. As at home Rupert felt when he was researching demons and magic, Joyce was in her element as regards to all things regarding art and culture and it's respective history. Maybe Buffy hadn't been far off a few weeks ago when she had called them, good naturedly of course, a couple of research geeks. He loved watching her when she was in this 'mode'.

"What?" She asked with a slight laugh as she saw him watching her.

"Nothing in particular," He replied, "I just find you adorable when you get so lost in your work"

She smiled with patient amusement.

"That's not the look I'm going for right now," She told him, "I want to look like a business woman who knows what she's talking about"

"And you do," He assured her, walking over and being careful not to stand on any of the photos, "But you also look adorable while you do so"

"Rupert..." She whined, only half-meaning it as he took her hand in his and carefully and slowly pulled her up off the sofa, forcing her to toss the notebook aside.

"Come on..." He murmured into her hair, "Just a little break..."

"Rupert, I really..." Her complaints trailed off as he started to kiss her softly along her jawline, tracing along lightly until he reached her lips, capturing them with his own. "Maybe...just a little break..." She murmured. Okay, so it didn't take much to convince her, but since having Lily the two of them had so very rarely had any time alone together and had only once or twice been able to erm...comshuck. So when the opportunity arose to make with the comshucking who was Joyce to argue? In fact, she decided there and then it was her right to say yes and just to enjoy and enjoy she would...several times. Still kissing, the two headed towards the stairs, but had just reached to the point of the front door when there was a knock. Someone was on the front step. Joyce sighed.

"Leave it," Rupert told her, kissing along her shoulder line whilst lifting up her top with his hands, his warm palms caressing her skin making her want so much to just ignore the person at the door, "It's probably just a salesman..."

"Probably...just..." Joyce repeated in a murmur, kissing him back, her arms wrapped around him. The knocking persisted. She broke the kiss, "But what if it's not? What if it's important?"

"Rule of thumb around here tends to be that if it's important they will just walk right in," Rupert pointed out, before carrying on where he left off. Joyce gave in and the two set off again in the direction of the stairs. However, the knocking persisted even more, the door knob even rattling but for once the front door was actually locked and the person, whoever it was, could not get in.

"Rupert...we have to answer it," Joyce sighed, heading back to the door, but Rupert held onto her hand as though a constant reminder that they had better things to be doing, "We'll just see who it is and then..." He kissed her again, "Stop that." She told him, "It's very distracting"

"Well if you would start distracting me I wouldn't have to try so hard," He replied softly and she kissed him on the lips feverishly and passionately.

"It'll only be a minute. Promise" She told him, opening the door as she continued to kiss him. He kept his arm around her as she broke the kiss to see who it was at the door- which was a girl looking very grossed out to see her parents obviously heading to some serious smoochies.

"Okay, ew?" Lily told them.

"Oh my god..." Joyce gasped, stepping out of Rupert's embrace as she went towards the twenty two year old, "Lily?"

"Hi," She waved meekly.

"What do you mean you can't come up with anything?" Lilah demanded down in the science lab at Wolfram&Hart. "I thought we had everyone who ever existed on record. How hard is it to match a freakin blood type?"

"I-I-I don't know," The man stuttered in fright (perhaps something to do with Lilah's threat on his family if he didn't solve this fast), "B-b-but the blood type- it's not matching up to anyone. Or anything. It's as though the girl doesn't exist"

"Doesn't exist?" Lilah repeated slowly and the man nodded.

"Yes, but-"

"But what?" She leaned in close as the man shook his head vehemently.

"I-I'm not positive...but you see all blood types have a link coding to the parents...it's how paternity tests are performed"

"Yeah skip me the biology class," Lilah told him impatiently, "Just get to the point"

"Well, she does have similarities to...to a family recorded on here. Two families actually. But even checking their files we still come up non-existent on her"

Lilah seemed to think for a moment.

"What are the family names?"

"Erm...a..." The man brought up the appropriate windows on the screen, "uh 'Summers' and erm, 'Giles'..."

"Hm," Both names were familiar to Lilah but that told her nothing, "Look more closely into these families Alan. I want their history, whether they have any properties magical or otherwise- do they play a part in the apocalypse or any for that matter. And for the girl?"

"Yes?"

"Check the FC Files"

"Future Case?" Alan frowned, "But why? You don't think-"

"I think any girl that appears out of nowhere, fights like a Slayer and doesn't show on the data bases isn't exactly vintage. Just cross reference her blood there. If you don't find it there..." Lilah thought for a moment before finishing with, "you won't be going home to your family. Ever again"

"Lily, oh my goodness it's so good to see you again," Joyce said ecstatically, hugging her daughter-from-the-future tightly. She broke the hug only so that Rupert could have his turn.

"Not that I don't entirely agree," Rupert told her after a warm, tight hug, "But I'm afraid I have to ask how exactly is it that you're here?"

"Well, that's the thing," Lily replied, "I can't tell ya,"

"What? Why?" asked Joyce at the same time Giles asked, "Why? What?"

"Hey don't look at me in that shoot-the-messengery way," Lily told them, holding her hands up in mock retreat, "Dad was the one who said that under no circumstance was I to tell you until at least one week from now"

"I don't get it," Joyce admitted and Lily sighed.

"Apparently it's this whole big time-travel-has-consequences thing and I have to tell you at a certain time so we don't end up...I don't know on the wrong side of It's a Wonderful Life."

"Wait a moment," Giles said, something occurring to him, "You said you can't tell us until a week from now, correct?"

"Mm-hmm," Lily nodded.

"You're going to be staying with us until then?"

"And past," She added, "I've gotta help you until well you no longer need my help I guess"

"Again...what?" Joyce asked, her confusion becoming greater by the second.

"It's part of the spell Tara did," She explained, "The wording went something like 'until the one who is sent is no longer required' or needed or something like that. So I figure once I do my part off I go a poofing back to my time. Hopefully in the right place this time round" When, at this comment, her parents looked at her inquiringly she shook her head, "Don't ask," She told them, before turning to head for a seat in the living room to find there was none due to her Mom's excessive gallery research.

"Hey cool," She exclaimed, spotting a photo of one of the pieces, "The Patternam Collection. This is just a wicked display." She turned to her Mom, "Or so you told me...tell me...will tell me..." Lily frowned in confusion as she tried to work out the grammar. Joyce was too busy being happy over the fact that at least one of her daughters recognized certain work to be bothered about Lily's tenses.

"I was never really into the art scene," Lily said, almost reading her Mom's thoughts, "You know except for like aesthetics but you used to talk to me about it all the time when I was little. I loved listening to you. And you know- listen enough and some stuff's gotta sink in" She cleared a space on the couch and sat down, "So- where is everybody?" She asked, brightening as an intriguing thought occurred to her. "Hey where's baby me? I'm around here somewhere right?"

"Actually, no you're not," Joyce told her, taking a seat also on the coffee table opposite Lily; Rupert sat next to her.

"What do you mean?" Lily frowned.

"Well, at the moment you're ah, staying with your grandparents for a couple of weeks," Giles explained.

"Oh, I see," Lily nodded and then there was silence as her parents looked at her but tried not to seem like they were looking. Lily could read them like a very open book, "Guys, I'm not telling you why I'm here. Future you two would kill me. I have to tell you at the right time to make sure erm 'certain things are set in motion'" She smiled, evidently pleased she had remembered that quote.

"Right," Joyce sighed, trying to understand and not complain about the argument, "Well, I guess if you're gonna be staying for a time we'd best find you somewhere to stay"

"Oh yeah...I'd forgot about that bit," Lily admitted.

"Well, I'm afraid we only have one spare room," Her Dad told her, "And that's fairly small. It's possibly illegal to have people sleeping in there in fact"

"S'cool," She assured him, "As long as there's a bed, a window and no weird Cornish pixies living under the pillows I'm perfectly happy"

"Cornish pixies?" Joyce asked, faintly confused by this, but Lily shook the concern aside.

"Small infestation last week. No biggie. It was just you know...pesky" She smiled, but suddenly it disappeared from her face, "Oh bugger" She muttered as something occurred to her.

"What is it?" Giles asked.

"I also didn't think about something else..." She admitted, "I don't have any spare clothes..." When the two looked at her in exasperated disbelief, she went on the defense, "Hey you didn't think of it either. Maybe you two should think more about these things before you send me on time trips huh?"

"It's okay," Joyce assured her quickly, worried that the girl was bordering on hysterical; she was definitely the most hyper of her daughters and Dawn could be very hyperactive when she wished, "I'm sure we'll figure something out. Maybe you can borrow Buffy's clothes..." Lily just looked at her, "Or perhaps buy you some of your own"

"Much better," Lily smiled, "Now how about showing me the Unlivable Room?"

"I don't see why Mom couldn't pick me up," Dawn complained as she and Buffy walked down the street.

"Because she's busy doing the working thing." Buffy pointed out, "As was I until you came in complaining about faulty pants"
"Oh yeah," Dawn said sarcastically, "Like this was an embarrassing situation for you"

Buffy couldn't deny that the situation had been way more humiliating for her sister. In an art class the side seam in Dawn's pants had caught onto a craft knife that had been left unsheathed,most likely by a careless student, on the side. The seam had been completely sliced and as the cotton unraveled the whole side of one leg of Dawn's trousers had been effectively ripped in two, baring her leg all the way up to he underwear. She could have just had someone bring in spare jeans, but even the teaching staff and Principal Wood had acknowledged the humiliation on a sixteen year old girl in a situation such as that and had permitted for her to go home for the rest of the day. But since Joyce was working and so had unplugged the phone to allow to focus and Giles was stuck at the Magic Box as was Anya and Xander was on the building sight it had been left to Buffy to walk her home. Which had been particularly awkward for Dawn had she had a long pieced of material pinned to her trouser material to cover the huge split.

"I can't believe you made me walk home," Dawn continued to complain and Buffy sighed as they turned onto their street.

"What? You wanted me to steal a car and drive it?"

"Well...I wouldn't let you drive it," Dawn countered, "Your driving skills suck"

"As opposed to..." Buffy argued,silently pointing out the fact that Dawn could not drive either.

"Well, I could not drive better than you could not drive," Dawn argued, but then frowned as she realized she had made no sense.

"Just get inside," Buffy sighed with a small smile opening the front door and letting Dawn in.

"Mom? Dad?" A female voice called from the kitchen, "Can either of you tell me where the bottle opener is?" The woman came out of the kitchen holding a bottle of juice which indeed need to be opened by a opener of bottles. The two sisters instantly recognized the girl, but were a little too stunned to say anything about and as neither Joyce nor Giles replied to Lily's question there was only silence in the living room, "They'd better not be up to what I think they're up to..." Lily grumbled in response to the silence, turning away which is when her eyes fell on her older sisters (who were both presently younger if only by a few months in Buffy's case) "Buffy! Dawn!" She exclaimed happily, running over to hug them both.

"Lily, what are you doing here?" Buffy asked with a frown, "Wait- how are you doing here?"

"She can't tell us apparently," Giles informed them, coming down the stairs with Joyce, "Not until the appropriate time"

"Oh faboo; more cryptic," Buffy complained, "For once I'd just like a step-by-step account of what's going to happen. Would be make things so much simpler"

"And better Feng Shui," Dawn added and Buffy nodded in mock agreement.

"Lily is also going to be staying with us a little while longer than last time," Joyce added causing her older daughters to frown in puzzlement.

"You mean like she's staying?" Buffy asked.

"Until like, I'm not needed anymore then off I should automatically pop back to my time"

"This sucks," Dawn grumbled and Lily just looked at her.

"Thank you; that's really touching," She said sarcastically.

"No, it's just..i'm suddenly no longer the baby of the family and then...I am again" Dawn complained, "S'not fair. I'm the baby of the family to my baby sister"

"If it helps you feel any older, before I left you were panicking over what you believed to be potentially your first wrinkle," Lily told her peppily but Dawn only looked at her disbelief.

"No," She stressed the word, "That doesn't help. God" She stalked off up the stairs. "If anyone wants me I'll be in my room starting on night cream fifteen years early!"

"Whoops..." Lily winced, biting her lip in slight whoopsy-do embarrassment, "How come I always come out with the wrong thing? That always ends in some kind of awkwardness or babble fest? It's like a disease."

"I believe you get that from your Mother," Giles told her before heading into the dining room. Joyce was hot on his heels though with a 'what? What's that supposed to mean?'.

"Wow, you can really clear a room," Buffy commented with a mix of approval and amazement. "So, up for any Slaying tonight? Patrol was planned to be pretty dull. Few vamps and even fewer friends; they all claim to be too busy with a life"

The results were in. Well,semi anyway but no matter how little there was to reveal Lilah was there for the first hand updates.

"So what have we got?"

"Well, I finally placed what the- see these patterns here," He pointed them out on the microscope image of Lily's blood, projected on the computer screen. He then pointed out to an image of another blood sample that was next to it, "See how they aren't here. It's what I can only call an anomaly. You know the blood disease Hemophilia? The people who suffer from it have a deformity where their blood does not clot as normal so their body does not heal at the rate it should. This blood sample, from the woman who appeared in your office, seems to have the opposite of that- as though she heals exceptionally fast"

"Like a Slayer," Lilah suggested and Alan nodded.

"That was my first thought so I cross referenced with the FC files like you said and narrowed it down to potential Slayers and..." He clicked and typed bringing up a second window on the screen, "And bingo we found a match."

"And? Who is she?" Lilah asked.

"One Lilian Giles. Born May 22nd this year. She shouldn't be more than five months old"

"Well, she looked a lot older than that when she took down the guard demons," Lilah muttered.

"Well, that makes sense- I'd guess she got activated as a Slayer some time in the future. That's not all there is to her though"

"It's not...?" Lilah asked slowly, feeling intrigued. Now she was finally getting somewhere.

"She's not just a Slayer- she's also a Watcher. Giles line; they've been in that business generations"

"A Slayer and a Watcher?That's an new mix. Twice the power too..."

"There's more"

"Really?" Lilah didn't bother to hide her interest anymore; this girl had a lot of potential...if she could get her to switch sides.

"She happens to be the sister of one of the reigning Slayers; Buffy Summers. They share the same Mother- Joyce Summers- but Lilian's Father is one Rupert Giles- Buffy Summers' Watcher."

"Get a load of Family Affairs," Lilah commented with a smirk, "So...this Joyce? She's the Mother of two Slayers?"

"Uh-huh," Alan nodded, "And the Key"

"The Key?" Lilah couldn't hide her confusion. The title rang a bell but she wasn't sure why.

"Great mystical ball of energy? Senior Partners were highly into it until they realized only certain entities such as hell gods could harness it's power to open dimensions. Well, two years ago it came to our attention that the key had been condensed into human form"

"Human form? How is that possible?" Lilah asked, "It's too much energy. More than a week as a human and the form'd explode. Back to green energy"

"You'd think," Alan agreed, "But I did more research and the Key kid- Dawn Summers- is live and kicking and getting good grades in High School if these files are correct which, I assure you, they always are"

"So how has she survived in that form for so long?"

"I don't know," Alan shrugged, "But given the fact her sisters are Slayers and she's doing fine as the Key turned human I'd say it's something to do with their blood. This woman's specifically," He tapped on the screen at the tab labeled 'Summers, Joyce'.

"Wolfram&Hart have always tried to figure out how Potential Slayers are found by the Watcher's Council. I mean if we knew that we could get rid of them before they became pesky Powerpuff Girls," Lilah said to Alan, "But what if it's passed down the line of women- maybe with one active generation. We've never seen this before because Slayers have never had sisters or siblings at all. It's just the way it's played out."

"Yeah..." Alan said slowly, not sure what the point was that Lilah was getting to.

"Well, what if this is the active generation?" She suggested, "Then any kid that comes a poppin' out of their Mother is gonna be a Slayer. You said their blood is extra strong- guess it's why The Key is actually surviving and isn't just brain matter splattered over her bedroom wall"

"So...any kids this woman has is gonna be a Slayer? Or at least a Potential?" Alan checked and Lilah nodded.

"It makes sense. Think about it; her blood gives us the chance to have an entire army of Slayers at our side. The Senior Partners wouldn't have to worry about muscle power in the firm ever again," Lilah grinned as her own plan formed in her mind. It was perfect and it would definitely get her on the very good side of the Senior Partners. Promotion was inevitable. And plus- Angel would never get past the door never mind into he office ever again. Not with Slayers guarding every entrance. Much better than Vampire Detectors, "Welcome to Brave New World"