g120- Yep, the good ole L.A Lawyers are up to no good yet again, but 'fraid not giving you more on that this chapter (oh yes, I'm all about keep you on your toes). And thanks, I'm glad you thought that Dawn scene was written in character, makes me happy when people tell me that, haha; means I must be doing something right! Thanks for the review

Rabidreject- Happy you like the storyline, but trust me it gets better (at least I think so) and more complicated with crossovery goodness and more clues to the final battle and basically much more...erm...plotlineyness. And there may be interest for Lily somewhere...she is a Summers girl after and they tend to end up with someone gazing at them in adoration, haha.

zigpal- yay, my hand claps. And well, yeah Wolfram and Hart gang are going to be getting more than they bargained for, but so are Angel Investigations. And we all know Lilah is gonna be a player in it all. But as for this chapter, doesn't go any further with that arc I'm afraid- you'll just have to wait for the next one. (mwa hahahas)

A/N: Yay! A lighthearted chapter! And also anyone reading From Beneath You, my other ongoing fanfic, it should be updated in the next day or so and sorry for the long wait
"Buffy, I know I am most likely going to regret asking this question but why on earth is Spike with you?" Giles asked as he saw both Buffy and Spike stood on the front step.

"He needs a place to stay," Buffy told him, stepping aside and leading in the vampire, "That basement at the school is making him crazy"

"Well, perhaps you haven't noticed but we don't have a place for him to stay here," Giles pointed out, "Lily took up the remaining spare room"

"It's not a problem," Buffy assured him, "Mom had the basement sorted out for him" At this Giles turned to his wife who was stood beside him.

"You knew about all this?" He asked in disbelief, "And you didn't think to tell me anything?"

"Well, we knew you wouldn't agree," Joyce explained with a slight shrug.

"Damn right I wouldn't," Giles agreed angrily and Spike turned to Buffy with a sigh.

"Look; I'll go," He told her quietly, "This...it isn't good. It can't work"

"Yes it will," Buffy told him emphatically, touching his arm kindly and he softened at her touch. "And it's already working isn't it?" She smiled, "Only been out of that basement half an hour and you've already stopped talking to invisible people"

"He talks to invisible people?" Giles asked Joyce in a whisper and shrugged.

"Apparently," She whispered back, "According to Buffy anyway"

"Marvelous," Giles said sarcastically with a sigh. Not only was a vampire staying in their house, but it was an insane recently soul-having vampire who talked to invisible people. Well,this day just kept getting better and better didn't it?

"Bollocks"Spike said to Buffy in response to her reassurances and she quickly amended her words.
"Okay,so there was not one little episode on the way here but-"

"No," Spike shook his head, telling her she had got the wrong idea, "bollocks to this; I don't need you molly-" He trailed off as another person came into the room. He didn't recognize her and so instantly became shy and reserved.

"Spike," Lily sounded distinctly less than thrilled to see him. The vampire looked at the blond curiously at the sound of his name, but did no more than that.

"Oh erm...Spike's going to be staying with us a bit," Buffy explained, but apparently that wasn't enough as Lily bluntly asked why, "Because he's not well. The basement- where he was staying- was making him crazy. We're gonna help him get better here"

"Oh," Again Lily sounded less than impressed.

"Who...?" Spike asked quietly, still not understanding who the woman was and Buffy hurried to explain.

"Oh erm...Spike this is, this is Lily. Mom and Giles' daughter, that is..eh, my sister." Spike's expression sharpened as he quickly looked from the two parents to Lily, not comprehending how this could be possible, "I know it's a lot to take in, but she's here from the future," Buffy told him as Spike looked at Joyce.

"You had her then?" He asked and she nodded, "Sorry I wasn't here to...you know, congratulations and all that"

"It's fine, really," Joyce told him kindly, not entirely sure how to react to his thoughtful and soft spoken words. She had always considered Spike a nice person generally- vampire or no vampire, soul or no soul- but this was entirely different and she still wasn't quite sure how to deal with it.

"Right," was all Lily said before going upstairs, presumably to her room.

"For a girl in her twenties she sure can sulk like a teenager," Buffy commented.

"So can you," Joyce pointed out smoothly, while looking in the direction Lily had headed in, "I wonder what the matter is though"

"I'll go see," Rupert told her, thought it was as just as much about not having to help Spike move in as it was caring about Lily.

"Okay," Joyce nodded, "We'll just help Spike," She turned to the vampire, "Come on, the basement's this way.."

Spike already knew that though; he'd been down there often enough a couple of years ago to steal items belonging to Buffy and photos of her.

"Lily?" Rupert asked, knocking lightly on the bedroom door before walking in. She was sat on her bed, knees bent in front of her, and was flicking through the latest issue of Cosmo which probably seemed very old fashioned to her. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, it's fine," She assured him, before putting the magazine down, "It's just...why is he staying here? Doesn't he have like, I don't know, a crypt he can go to?"

"Apparently not," He sighed with a slight smile, taking a seat on the bed, "Is there any particular reason you're not entirely keen on the idea of having him stay here?" He asked, "Something that happens in the future maybe?"

"Nice try Dad," She smirked, "But you're not getting any info outta me until I say so. But no, it's nothing that happens in the future, it's just..."

"Just what?"

"I just don't like him," She admitted, "He like really annoys me"

Giles couldn't help but laugh a little at that.

"What?" She asked, "It's not like I have anything against him- I mean he's good, he has a soul, he fights evil- but he just sorta...pisses me off. I don't know why. Maybe it's genetic," She suggested with a smile, showing she knew that Giles wasn't exactly Spike's number one fan.

"Maybe," He smiled, enjoying this moment with a daughter despite the fact that Spike had wheedled his way in to being the topic of conversation, "So, for him to annoy you, you must see him often in the future I suppose"

"Again with the not-sharing," She said in exasperation but she was smiling, "Come on," She said, swinging her legs around and getting off the bed, "We've got a vampire to avoid and some food to get"

"You're hungry again?" Giles asked in disbelief, following her out of the extremely small room. She had only eaten less than half an hour ago.

"What? My stomach's a fast worker," She replied.

"The Harrises reporting for video watch," Xander announced the next night when Buffy opened the door to him and Anya. A couple of days ago the two of them- that is him and Buffy- had planned to have a video fest at her house, claiming they needed some much desired down time. Anya had eagerly added that she would like to join them, particularly if the videos included a film about a chimp playing hockey, but Willow and Tara had both announced themselves unavailable that night. No prizes for guessing what their preferred activity was. So it was just going to be him, Anya and the Buffster. However, that very Buffster's face was trouble.

"What's up?" He asked.

"Dawn." She replied, letting them in, "She's crying in the bathroom. About some boy at school" After shutting the front door after them, Buffy returned upstairs and the couple followed on. They saw that Joyce was listening in at the bathroom door with Lily hovering nearby. Giles was there too, but he seemed to be keeping minimum safe distance.

"Honey," Joyce was saying, "It can't be that bad, I'm sure it was fine"

The bathroom door was yanked open and a tear stained Dawnie stood there glaring at her.

"How can you even say that? R.J is never gonna notice me now!"

"From what you said he probably already noticed you," Buffy said to her, walking over.

"Yeah," Lily agreed with a small wince, "What with the tripping and the falling and the-"

The bathroom door was slammed in their faces and both Lily and Buffy realized they had unwittingly said the wrong thing.

"Erm..spirit," Joyce said, struggling for something to say that would make Dawn feel better, "They erm, they said you had spirit right?"

"Spirited," Lily whispered the correction.

"Spirited," Joyce corrected aloud for Dawn to hear.

"Go away!" Dawn's muffled yell told them and all three women on the other side of the door sighed.

"I don't think tonight's gonna be good for video watching Xand," Buffy decided sadly, but Anya was not happy with that decision.

"Why? Just tell her to get over it"

"If only," Joyce muttered.

"How about pizza?" Xander suggested, "Shall I order pizza? Don't teens in a snit like pizza"

The bathroom door was flung open again by Dawn as she came to yell at Xander.

"It is not a snit. I finally met him; the guy of my dreams, okay? And I blew it! R.J hates me now!"

Past Dawn, Buffy caught sight of something maroon, yellow and oddly familiar.

"Dawn, what's that?" She asked, but Dawn merely shoved past her in reply.

"Just the end of my life!" She cried, running to her room. Once she was gone, Buffy stepped forward and knelt down to see what it was.

"It's my old cheerleading uniform from Sunnydale High..." Buffy told them, holding up the tattered outfit; Dawn had ripped it to shreds.

"Remember when she had a crush on me?" Xander asked, "I miss the much cuter me crush"

"We all do, honey," Joyce told him, giving him a sympathetic pat on the shoulder before following Buffy into Dawn's room.

"It all just happened so fast," Dawn said the next day in the Principal's office. She was in there with Principal Wood, Buffy and her Mother who had been called over the moment the incident of O'Donnell falling down the stairs had happened and he had begun claiming that it was Dawn's fault; that she had pushed him, "I mean one minute he was walking and then he stumbled," She shrugged as though she were asking the three of them 'what else can I say?', "And next he fell"

"Honey did you-" Joyce sighed helplessly as she clutched at a rational way to explain why the 17 year old boy was blaming his daughter on why he fell, "did you accidentally brush by him in anyway?"

"No," Dawn shook her head, "I wasn't anywhere near him"

"Why would he say you pushed him down the stairs?" Wood asked, but he seemed to be asking the question to himself more than Dawn.

"I don't know," Dawn shrugged, seeming to think for a possible explanation, "Maybe he was embarrassed; it's hard being clumsy. Specially when you're popular and athletic," Dawn realized she was neither of things things and so couldn't possibly empathize despite the fact she knew all the strain of being popular and athletic as her love for R.J caused her to share his every emotion; she felt his pain, his love, his fear, his joy, everything. "I'll bet" She added for good measure.

"Well, to be perfectly candid Buffy, Mrs Giles, it wouldn't be the first time I've caught O'Donnell in a lie"

"Be nice if his lies didn't involve my sister though," Buffy said meaningfully.

"We can deal with that after he gets out of the hospital," Wood told her.

"Well, thank you Principal Wood," Joyce told him, "I appreciate your effort to resolve this- and letting me know"

"Not a problem" He assured her, "Well I'm gonna have to go break the news to Coach Wheeler. Not a conversation I wanna have"

"You mean cause O'Donnell was gonna start on Saturday?" Dawn guessed correctly.

"Exactly," Wood nodded, "Coach'll have to go back to the drawing board"

"Least he's still got R.J to take over," Dawn said and at these words something clicked in Buffy's mind and she looked at Dawn suspiciously. She glanced over at her Mom but noted that unfortunately Joyce had remained oblivious to the reference.

"Well, I think we have everything we need for now," Wood concluded, "Sorry you had to be involved in this Dawn"

"That's okay," Dawn told him, standing up, "I'm just sorry it happened" She left the room to return to her classes.

"Well, I'd best be going too," Joyce said, standing up also, "Again thank you Mr Wood for your efforts"

"Dawn's a good kid," He told her, "I wasn't going to let her get in trouble for no reason"

"Actually Mom," Buffy said, "Before you go I kinda need to talk to you"

"What is it?" Joyce asked, once Principal Wood had left earshot.

"It's Dawn," Buffy told her, "You know the guy she said could replace O'Donnell or whatever?"

"Mm-hmm"

"Well that's the guy she's been obsessing about. You know he of the 'hottest deepest smartest funniest and having-the-thickest-boy-lashes' description; RJ. And O'Donnell- I think he was set to replace him as QB. And then suddenly he falls down the stairs?"

"You're not saying-" Joyce shocked by what Buffy was suggesting.

"I'm just saying it's a bit of a coincidink- and Dawn has been acting a little overly about him"

"Buffy, she's sixteen," Joyce explained simply, "Sixteen year old girls act overly about everything"

"Yeah, I guess..." Buffy agreed reluctantly, "I don't...it's just all got me wigged I guess. I mean Dawn has never been this obsessed about a boy"

"She's never had a proper crush before," Joyce reasoned, "I mean beyond a 'Kiddie Crush' on Xander and Spike when she was fourteen there hasn't been much else"

"Yeah...maybe you right," Buffy finally relented, "I bet this whole R.J thing will blow over soon"

"Dawn, I thought you were in your room"

"She was at the Bronze," Buffy told Joyce, pushing Dawn through the front door into the hall. Her face was heavily made up, her hair tightly and neatly curled and she had apparently sewn herself into the dark tight fit jeans and silk, low rise top.

"Wearing that?" Lily asked, having come over to see what the fuss was about and when she saw Dawn's outfit her eyes widened, "What's that top made of? Paint?"

"That was exactly my question," Buffy contributed.

"Dawn- I can't believe you sneaked out of your room. What on earth possessed you to do that?"

"That would be RJ," Buffy told her Mom, "She was pressed up against him in the Bronze"

"I was dancing with him!" Dawn protested.

"Dancing with, mated with; it's a fine line," Buffy snipped, "Dawn go to your room."

"What? So you're Mom now?"

"No, but I am; Dawn, go to your room," Joyce repeated and the teenager sighed dramatically before storming upstairs making sure her foot banged down on each step loudly, before she reached her room and slammed the door behind her.

"So much for your 'it'll blow over' theory," Buffy sighed.

All that the group heard in answer was Giles' voice from the kitchen;

"Would you stop bleedin' hovering about. There isn't any. Just get out of my way. Spike; for god's sake go back to your basement"

"I just don't know what's wrong with her," Joyce shook her head with a sigh, not even paying attention to the events going on in the kitchen.

"This guy has got her pretty flipping," Buffy agreed, "I think I'm gonna talk to RJ tomorrow. See if he thinks making the girls crazy is so funny then"

"Can someone please explain this to me?" Giles requested the following night, "Because I'm afraid I don't quite understand"

"Dawn has a love spell on her," Buffy explained, "Causing her to lust after my lover, RJ"

"The football player Dawn has a crush on?" He checked, and Buffy nodded, "He...your lover?!"

"We're thinking no," Willow told him quietly, "They're both under the same love spell"

"I am not under a love spell!" Buffy protested to the group around her, which was in fact the Scooby Gang in it's entirety; Tara, Willow, Xander, Anya, Giles, Joyce and now Lily.

"You have to be Buff," Xander told her, "Real love wouldn't make you act so irrational," He paused, "So quickly anyway"

"We're working on it though" Willow assured everyone.

"Yeah," Tara agreed, "We'll come up with an anti-love spell soon"

"See, there you go," Anya said to Buffy and Dawn, "Soon neither of you will be in love with this boy"

Everyone soon saw that this was entirely the wrong thing to say as the two sisters turned on Anya with matching looks-could-kill glares.

"He's not a boy!" Buffy practically yelled.

"What do you know about our love?!" Dawn demanded of Anya, "It's true and real. This isn't magic it's my heart!"

The group slowly backed away in unison.

"Okay..." Anya said while Xander added

"We'll be working"

The group then hurried away to the safety of the dining room.

"I can't believe what those two are acting like," Joyce shook her head in disbelief, "They're just obsessed with that boy"

As if to prove her point the sounds of Buffy and Dawn arguing in the other room escalated.

"Why?" Buffy was asking, "Because I'm older than him? I'm extremely youthful! And peppy!"

Dawn said something quietly in reply that none of the group heard, before she rushed upstairs, clearly upset.

"Dawn wait!" Buffy pleaded, running up the stairs after her.

"What's going on with the Olsens?" Spike asked, wandering into the room, looking not entirely comfortable amongst the entire group, but standing there anyway.

"Love spell" Willow answered simply, "The two of them are like entranced by this football player RJ"

"Oh," He nodded, "Spell turned the two of them into crazy little lust puppies huh?"

"Spike," Giles sighed, "Sometimes I wish you just wouldn't say words"

"Love spells," Willow stated with a shake of the head, "Everyone forgets how dangerous they are."

"Hey," Xander pointed out, "Been there" He told her as he reminded them all of the debacle in his junior year at high school. At the mention of this both Willow and Joyce turned bright red, thus causing Xander to turn bright red in reply as he remembered Willow being in his bed, wearing nothing but a shirt- his shirt- and nibbling his earlobe, and then later on at Buffy's house when Joyce had sent Cordelia away and then began massaging him and kissing his neck. Feeling incredibly embarrassed by the memory he found a way to excuse himself, "You know I'm going to see how Buffy and Dawn are doing"" He exited the room and headed up the stairs at an impressive pace.

"What was that all about?" Anya asked, puzzled and it was Lily that supplied the answer as neither Willow nor Joyce were willing to.

"Oh Xander cast a love spell on Cordelia like in his junior year at high school and it went like horribly wrong."

"Wrong how?" Anya was intrigued.

"Well it made every woman in Sunnydale except Cordelia fall in love with him," Lily explained, "Dawn told me about- she was like the only one not affected. I think coz she was like a kid then- like eleven or something"

"Every woman?" Anya asked, before looking suspiciously from Joyce to Willow and both women avoided her gaze. That was when it first occurred to Rupert in five years.

"I hadn't realized," He admitted, "Joyce...you didn't happen to come across Xander that particular night did you?" He asked, desperately wanting her to say no. Thankfully she shook her head.

"No, I didn't come across him," He seemed relieved until she added, "He kinda came to the house with Cordelia" She left the room immediately after that, but Giles immediately followed after her.

"What? You didn't do anything though did you Joyce? Joyce?"

"I seduced him in the kitchen okay?!" She confessed in a rush, before running off into the back of that same room, trying to find some form of escape.

"Joyce!"

"And we think Dawn and Buffy have problems..." Lily said semi-sarcastically, trying not to think too much on her Mom coming on to Xander. If she did it would probably end with her in a sanitarian,

"And what did you do?" Tara asked Willow softly, who immediately decided to play the innocent card.

"What? What are you talking about?"

"The spell; you must have been effected too right? So what'd you do?"

"Oh...you know...climbed in his bed and waited for him to come home now what about this spell Buffy and Dawn are under I'm thinking some kind of siren-esque spell yeah?"

At that point Xander and Buffy came back down the stairs minus a Dawn.

"How's the bit?" Spike asked kindly.

"She's locked her door," Buffy replied, "That spell has got her good and loopy. Where's Mom?"

"Defending her Xander seduction to Giles in the kitchen," Anya explained straight-forwardly before looking at her red-faced husband, "Oh yeah; I heard it all"

"So," Xander said changing the subject, "RJ Brooks- whatcha got there Will?" He asked, referring to the laptop and Buffy immediately hurried over.

"Ooh! Lemme see! Is there a picture?"

"Family stuff..." Xander murmured, reading the screen, "Hey I knew his brother. He was a big jock at Sunnydale High too. Couple years ahead of us. Used to stick chewing gum in my hair. Huh"

"What are you thinking?" Willow asked.

"I think my relationship with RJ's brother was complex at best but maybe he's a way in"

"Take Spike with you," Lily quickly suggested. Not only did the vampire piss her off a little but he had been staring solidly at her for the past few minutes as though trying to see the similarities to her parents and it was making her nervous.

"Right, now find a picture," Buffy eagerly suggested

"Damn love spells," Willow cursed a little while later when still none of the gang had found anything, "Tara and I have tried every anti-love spell we can find. Nothing works"

"It's like something's grounding it," Tara reasoned, "Keeping a strong force behind it so nothing is able to penetrate the spell"

"Even if it did work," Anya added, "The guy'd probably do an anti-anti-love-spell-spell spell,"

"Anya that sounded like absolutely gibberish," Giles told her as he shut the book he had been reading from.

"Well,it kinda does make sense," Lily reasoned, taking off her purple thin-framed glasses (she had switched her contacts for them an hour ago, when so much straining and researching had caused them to itch not painfully, but well, annoyingly) "it's an anti spell for the anti spell to the original love spell"

"Yeah, whatever," Anya said, "Can we just de lust them already? The two of them are no longer entertaining; just annoying. How great can this RJ be anyway?"

The doorbell rang.

"I don't know," Joyce said, getting up to answer the door, "But if I ever get a hold of him he's gonna have some things to answer for" She pulled open the front door, "RJ" She stated, seeing the young boy on her front door step and recognizing him from Buffy pointing him out when she had been called to the school. At the sound of his name Willow and Anya rushed out of their seats to have a look and see if this RJ was as great as claimed, or the descriptions were just exaggerations by the spell. Lily and Tara remained seated as did Giles.

"Hey, erm, I was looking for Buffy- Ms Summers-"

"She's not here, sorry," Joyce quickly apologized, going to close the door before either of her eldest daughters had a chance to realize the 'boy of their dreams' was here.

"You sure?" RJ asked, not giving up easily.

"Positive," Willow confirmed urgently, "Now go away"

"No Buffy for you," Anya added, "Leave quickly now."

"Uh okay..." RJ seemed slightly confused by the way the three women were acting, but he accepted it as he went to walk away, "Tell her to call me okay?"

"Good thing Buffy and Dawn are upstairs," Willow said as the three of them watched the boy leave.

"Yeah..." Joyce agreed, but it was a half-hearted agreement as she paid more attention to the retreating man.

Almost in sync all three women cocked their heads to the side as they, in keen interest, watched RJ walk down the path.

"I'm sorry Rupert," Joyce apologized genuinely, "But I'm afraid what we have does not compare to the love I have for RJ"

"Oh for God's sake Joyce," Giles said in frustration and exasperation, "See reason! You're forty-four years old! He's seventeen!"

"What we have transcends any age difference," Joyce defended herself.

"Any love for RJ transcends everything," Willow added, "It can't be helped. Just like it can't be helped that RJ does not love her back because of his love for me"

"Oh please," Anya scoffed, "Like you two have anything. What we have is real"

"You don't even know him!" Joyce argued.

"Yes I do!" Anya protested, "I looked into him and I saw his soul"

"He was walking away!" Willow yelled, "So unless his soul was in his ass..."

"Okay, I think everyone needs to calm down" Tara suggested.

"I ditto that," Lily agreed, a concerned looked flitting from her Mother to Anya and Willow.

"Clearly, you've all been effected by the same spell as Buffy and Dawn," Giles told them, but he might as well have been saying that doing the hokey pokey would allow them to the win the lottery the way they looked at him in response to the mere suggestion of their love for RJ not being real.

"We are not under a spell!" Anya and Willow protested in synchronization.

"Yes you are," Joyce told them sadly and Giles was allowed to dare hope that the spell had not fully effected his wife, "No one can love three people at once- or even two. And I'm afraid that what RJ and I have is the reality" His hopes were shattered. He grabbed hold of Joyce's shoulders and turned her to look at him, away from the other two women.

"Joyce, look at me. You. Are. Under. A. Spell" She didn't look at all convinced by his words.

"What's going on?" Dawn asked, her and Buffy coming down the stairs after hearing the argument in the hall.

"Willow thinks she's in love with my boyfriend RJ," Anya said simply and both Willow and Joyce looked at her in shocked outrage.

"What?" Dawn exclaimed, "No- you guys can't do this!"

"Willow, you're a gay woman," Buffy pointed out but Will just looked back at her as though saying 'yeah...so?'

"And you're not!" Lily elaborated in exasperation.

"This isn't about his physical presence," Willow argued, "This is about his heart"

"But his physical presence has a penis!" Anya exclaimed in frustration.

"I can work around it..." Willow mumbled

"Yeah right," Joyce scoffed, "Face it Willow- you don't love RJ; you can't. You have simply been touched by the loving bond that he and I share"

"I think I just threw up" Giles groaned, "Joyce, for the sake of my sanity please stop talking"

"Wait. Everyone wait. Calm down, I know what this is" Buffy suddenly said and everyone fell quiet as they looked at her, waiting for an answer, "Clearly the three of you have been effected by the same spell that got Dawn"

This suggestion was met with 'pffts' and grunts of disagreement.

"Willow please," Tara pleaded, facing her lover, "Joyce is...in her own insane love spell way...she's right. You can't love RJ? You love me, remember? Don't you?" Tara seemed to be searching for more than just a way to snap Willow out of the spell. Willow smiled softly at Tara, putting a kind hand to her cheek.

"Of course I love you baby...but when the one comes along you have to answer his call. My strongest love is for RJ"

"Okay, if you all don't stop going about freaking RJ for just a minute I am not going be able to stop the gag reflex!" Lily shouted above the arguments, "So just bloody shut up!" The group fell silent, blinking at her, "Thank you" She sighed. "Now enough with the crazy footballer lust talk or whatever, whether you think you're under a spell or not there will be no more talk of RJ Brooks" Her Mother went to argue the point but Lily cut her off, "Nuh-uh, no talk at all. Now," She said quietly, "All of you...into the living room." The love spelled women walked into the living room, their heads held low in a sulk, "Now sit" Lily told them; they sat. "Right, now stay" She then turned back to her Dad and Tara. "Okay, now what?"

"Now what?" Tara repeated nervously, "I thought you had a plan. Y-you..uh...you sounded like you had a plan"

"No, just a quick temper and I'm thinking it's effects are gonna be even shorter," She added looking back in concern at the bewitched women. "It's just so creepy. So what do we do about reversing the spell?"

"Well, let's hope Xander and Spike shall come up with something from their visit to RJ's brother" He replied, " Beyond that I truly don't know. We've gone over everything we know about love spells and reversing them but we've ah, come up with nothing"

"I guess we just keep an eye on them lot until Xander comes back with answers then?" Lily asked and Giles and Tara nodded, knowing they had no other choice. The three turned around to find the living room empty. "What?"

The three immediately bolted through the ground floor of the house searching for where they could have gone. There was almost no one around, but Giles was just quick enough to grab Joyce by the arm as she was walking across the back garden around to the front of the house, presumably to find RJ.

"Urgh!" She whined childishly as he dragged her back in the house, slamming the kitchen door behind them.

"I found one," He informed Lily and Tara as the two joined them in the room.

"Just Mom?" Lily asked, "That's it?" She couldn't help smiling a little at her Mom tugging helplessly at her Dad's hold on her. Considering the vice-like grip he had on her arm Lily could see it was a pointless battle on her Mom's part. Joyce seemed to eventually come to the same conclusion as she sighed in frustration and ceased trying to tug away.

"Joyce, where are the others?" Tara asked, "Willow, Anya and Dawn and Buffy? Where did they go?"

"They went to prove they love RJ the most," Joyce admitted with a sigh, but Rupert turned her to face him so he could speak to her directly.

"How? How are they going to prove it?" He demanded an answer and she began to make a list

"Well, erm, I believe Willow thought she could find a spell to turn him into a woman. She was going back to her-"

"Let's start there," Tara said urgently and the four rushed out of the house to drive to Tara and Willow's place. Just as they were getting in the car Spike and Xander came rushing over to them, knocking on the car window to be let in. Once Giles clicked the button to unlock the doors they slid in the back seat along side Tara and Lily. It was a tight squeeze but they dealt.

"Hey, guess what we found out about our dear boy RJ?" Xander said and Joyce immediately turned around from her seat in the front of the car.

"Have you got a picture of him?" She asked with a bright smile, "Or like...just a shirt of his or something? Anything will do"

Xander and Spike raised an eyebrow at one another, before raising those same eyebrows in the mirror that would reflect their image back to Giles.

"She got hit by the spell," He explained, "As did Anya and Willow"

"Wait, Anya's been effected?" Xander asked, a lot more concerned than he had been a moment ago and Giles immediately picked up on that.

"Oh when it's my wife it's just 'one of those things' but when it's Anya you are concerned? Hmm," He sniffed, "Forgive me if I find that discriminative. In a rather insulting way"

"So where are we headed?" Xander asked, deciding to ignore Giles' comment.

"To Tara and Willow's place," Lily told him, "To stop Willow casting a spell to turn RJ into a woman."

"Of course..." Spike said in a tone that said 'why didn't we realize that' but his expression clearly read 'huh??'.

"You said you found something out about RJ" Giles reminded Xander and Spike.

"Oh yeah, turns out it is the jacket," Xander explained, "RJ doesn't even realize it has the mojo on it, but his brother had it before him and his dad before that- met their Mom that way apparently. Either way we figure, get the jacket, get rid of the love spell gone wild"

"I just hope we're on time,"Tara murmured worriedly

"That my friends is the sweet smell of victory." Xander said later on that night as they all gathered around the open fire at Buffy's house to watch the jacket burn.

"Also, burning cotton-poly blend," Anya added.

"Hopefully it'll bring my dignity back as well," Joyce said and Willow smiled in agreement.

"I clone that"

"You didn't lose your dignity," Rupert laughed, giving Joyce a small hug, "It's impossible to over a spell. Well, factually it is but technically it is never the person's fault so I don't think it's possible to count the dignity as lost"

"If you say so," Joyce sighed, a slight smile playing at her lips, "I just feel so stupid"

"Love spells can do that," Buffy pointed out, "As can the real thing. Just be glad you didn't make out with him on a school desk" They all looked at her, "Not that I did..."

"Or suggest a hot night in the kitchen," Giles murmured to Joyce, a laugh in his voice and she hit him in reply.

"I thought you said my dignity wasn't to be lost over a spell but you're just taking it from me...using an older spell!"

"I'm just glad this particular spell is over," Buffy said, "Now be honest Xander"

"About what?"

"When you and Spike took the jacket, you didn't think about slipping it on for just a second?" She asked teasingly.

"I refuse to answer that on the grounds that it wouldn't fit"

"I-" Anya began to say but Lily talked over them.

"Guys, I know this will probably seem like a randomly specific time," She told them, "And you'll probably look at me like I'm in a bunny suit once I say it"

"What?" Rupert asked, "What is it?"

"It's time I told you. I mean I need to tell you...the reason why I'm here"