zigpal- thanks for claps and review. And well, you find out a bit of why Lily was here, but as Joyce correctly thinks, it's not the full deal.And as for the seventeen thing- I'd never considered that relation before. Seventeen year old Xander, seventeen year old Ripper, now RJ...You're on to something there, haha.

Rabidreject- Thank you very much!

A/N: Now I've tried to keep this chapter in keeping with the style of the original episode which is why we still have all the canon Andrew/Jonathon clips and the Spike scenes. I've just replaced the Willow, Dawn and Buffy scenes with Tara, Joyce and Giles.Enjoy.

Conversations with Dead People

November 12, 2002

8.01pm

Tara was alone in the flat she and Willow shared. Her girlfriend was at the library studying for one of her courses that Tara knew she was clever enough to pass anyway without extensive studying but Willow was undoubtedly an academic and nothing would deter her from her literary research. Tara smiled to herself as she thought of Willow like that- bent over a book at a desk, reading close enough that her nose almost touched the text and then she'd smile at some random academic funny-only-to-her joke. Tara loved her and when she wasn't with her she literally felt her absence as she did right now, but Tara moved past it and carried on with her mundane household chores by herself.

Spike was sat by himself at a bar in the Bronze as the band set up on stage, getting ready for their first. Spike paid no attention to them as he downed his drink sadly.

Joyce was in a very empty house which was strange feeling considering how packed her home normally was. Live-in residents being herself, Rupert, their daughter Lily, their daughter Lily from the future, her daughters Buffy and Dawn, and then there was a vampire in the basement. Add to that the non live-in residents that seemed to permanently inhabit the place and her home was very rarely quiet but tonight it was just her and baby Lily and in the intense quiet she missed the usually overbearing bustle.

The rooms in a small hotel in England were cheap and dank but it suited Rupert and Lily's needs. It meant they could afford to pay for as many rooms as were required and the rooms were actually available to select. Each Potential they found got their own small, dank room along with a personal alarm they could press should anything try to break in or attack them and then both Rupert and Lily had their own separate rooms on top of that. In a more expensive and pleasant hotel it would simply not be affordable. And comfort wasn't a priority right now- the priority was saving all the Potential Slayers that were in danger. Well, their initial priority had been to break into the Watcher's Council to steal their records on locations of Potentials and information on what Lily had said was 'The First'. Giles had known basic information about the entity but beyond that nothing so he had readily agreed to taking the required information from the Council. The only slightly disconcerting thing was how easily his daughter had broken into the place without damaging a single lock or setting off one alarm mystical or otherwise. He was proud that she took after him in a lot of respects, but there were some thing he'd rather she didn't; breaking and entering for instance. Alone with his thoughts, as 5.01am clicked on the digital clock on the table beside the bed, he wondered why on Earth he couldn't get back to sleep. Resigned, he switched on a light, picked up a book and intended to read himself into a slumber.

Jonathon and Andrew hadn't been to Sunnydale since Willow had gone wicked evil on them and tried to kill them. It wasn't like it had even been their fault- Warren had done the shooting, not them. They'd been stuck behind bars. Sure it had seemed like Tara had won Willow and was going to save the day but the two boys weren't going to stick around to find out so they had ran and ran until they could no longer keep running. Which was when they had jumped from public transport to public transport and had eventually through some unexplainable force of direction ended up in every runaway's destination; Mexico.

But now here they were, driving back towards the Hellmouth in an El Camino on a road that was as empty and lonely as the two boys felt.

"You keep circling around," Andrew pointed out to the driving Jonathon in a whine, "Just drive straight in"

"Will you shut up? We gotta keep it lo-pro"

"Our pro couldn't be any more low," Andrew argued, "I'm not even sure this is a road"

"The freeway is a nesting symbol for John Q Law," Jonathon told the blond boy.

"That heat's passed man," He retorted and Jonathon held back a scowl as he explained.

"I'm laying odds our mugs are splashed across every wire from here to Appalachia and you want to drive on the freeway?" Jonathon shook his head in disbelief, "That's what they want us to do"

"You're just scared..."

"Of course I'm scared!" Jonathon yelled in reply, "The last time we were here thirty three point three barred percent of us got flayed alive! And now we're driving right back into the belly of the beast"

"Calm down," Andrew told him, "No one's gonna get flayed alive. We've got a plan. We're gonna fix all that" He tried to sound confident.

"We should have stayed in Mexico," Jonathon grumbled.

"Oh, I didn't like it there," Andrew whined, "Everyone spoke Mexico-an"

"You could have learned it," Jonathon pointed out as he continued to drive down the road, "You learned the entire Klingon dictionary in like two and a half weeks"

"That had a much cleaner transitive and intransitive rules" This comment was only met by silence, "Besides...I can't keep having those nightmares"

"Right," Jonathon said, his face draining of color as thought back the horrific images that had been plaguing his sleep, "Me neither" He paused as he remembered the phrase, "Desde abajo te devora"

"It eats you starting with your bottom," Andrew translated somberly.

"We're gonna make it right," Jonathon said quietly,more to himself than anything.

"We're fugitives," Andrew stated, "With hearts of gold"

Tara was just folding towels, a task that she hugely tempted to complete using magic a la Sabrina, when she heard a noise. It sounded like a small thump, like a door being closed but she was the only one in the apartment right? Setting towel duties aside, Tara walked into the hall of the small place towards the front door but saw it was closed and no one was standing there looking culprit worthy of opening and closing said door. For double-measure, Tara wandered around the apartment checking any other doors- maybe a cat had gotten in or something- they had a tendency to push open doors after all. Ah, but the sound had been of one being pushed closed hadn't it? Finding nothing, Tara shook her head at herself, and put down the noises to usual creaks and to her own home alone paranoia.
"Okay, I think if you put that any further into your mouth we're never going to get it out," Joyce laughed, gently tugging away a small toy Lily had been playing with. It had amused the young child for a long while due to it's many mirrors as the girl had been entranced by her own reflection. However, eventually vanity had taken a back seat and Lily had tried to learn more about the toy by exploring it with her mouth. Joyce had let her be for a moment, before now deciding to take it away.

She was trying to keep her permanently entertained as since her Dad had been gone, even though it had so far only been a few days, she had been showing signs of anxiety, crying at certain intervals now there was only one parent with her. She was calm and happy as long as Joyce was there, but the moment she was handed to her sisters or anyone else, the fact that someone was missing seemed to kick in and she'd begin to cry. Rupert had only been able to see his daughter for mere hours, before he had to leave with the older version of the same girl.

They were in England presently, according to his latest phone call and the fact he was so far away made his absence so much more harder. She knew they had to do what they had to but that didn't make it any easier. Such as it wasn't easy finding out why Lily was back in the first place. Apparently, it was to do with a big battle that was coming, no surprises there; when wasn't there a battle in Sunnydale? But this one was beginning with the killing of the Potential Slayers and it was this explanation that made greater sense of the disturbing dreams both Tara and Buffy had been constantly having. It was The First according to Lily, or that was what she had been told before she was sent here. They had apparently dealt with The First before, that is according to Buffy and Giles, but only briefly and Joyce didn't even have any recollection of that so she had assumed it was from before she had known Buffy was the Slayer or it had been such a small encounter that it had never been mentioned. Either way, they had to save what Potentials they could before The First got any further with it's plan. And that apparently meant traveling. For Rupert and Lily only. Buffy had wanted to go along but Lily had firmly told her no- that a Slayer did need to stay behind in Sunnydale and besides that's why she was back from the future- to help. So, for they didn't know how long- yes that was the other thing that added to the distress- they didn't know when the two would be returning and how long this search for Potentials was going to take. So Joyce spent most of her time waiting by the phone, at home or at work, for updates on whether her daughter and her husband were going to be coming back to their safe home anytime soon. Another factor that added to her worry was Lily's uneasiness when telling them her reasons. It had seemed as though there was more to say, but she wasn't telling them anytime soon. She was hiding something from them that was for sure. Call it Mother's Intuition but while 'finding and saving the Potentials' was most definitely the official reason, Joyce couldn't help but think that Lily had a hidden agenda.

But for now, especially with Buffy and Dawn both out, it was just her and baby Lily. Lily was sat up in the center of the living room floor, the coffee table pushed aside for a touch and feel playmat that had been Lily's most recent form of fun in the past week and Joyce was sat on the floor with her. Although for her the seat was a lot more painful and she was beginning to lose feeling in one of her legs. Shifting on the floor she moved her legs out from underneath her and when she returned her attention back to Lily she saw the child yet again had something in her mouth- this time the edge of the playmat-and she was munching the material with her gums and only-just-growing teeth.

"Come on," Joyce said with a smile, standing up and leaning over to scoop the child up in her arms, leaving the chewed material behind, "I think someone's hungry" Understanding the general gist of what Joyce was saying the child nodded and smiled eagerly, leaning into her and seemingly going to munch her hair but previous practice with Buffy and Dawn as children allowed her to flick her hair out of the way before Lily got her hands on it.

Tara heard the noise again- there was definitely something in the house. Turning around, prepared for any amount of beasties facing her, Tara came face to face with-

"Dawn," She sighed with obvious relief. It was some evil hell-beast; just Dawn.

"Hey" The teenager smiled.

"Dawn, I uh, I thought you were staying at a friend's tonight?"

"Oh I was, but she bailed," Dawn told her, "Well, not so much bailed as her little sister had to go to hospital. Whole big family crisis thing. So here I am with no place to go"

"Erm...last time I checked you had a home Dawnie," Tara laughed and the girl rolled her eyes.

"Well, yeah, but I was totally planning on having a Mom-free night and now I have to go back where it'll just me and her. And Lily- which puts her in extra Mom mode," Dawn sighed dramatically, "I just can't take the pressure. So I was wondering...is it okay if I hang here for a while?" She smiled winningly.

Lily was grasping the bottle herself with both of her tiny hands but Joyce knew better than to leave it all up to her, so she kept hold of it as well with one hand while the other held Lily comfortably on her lap as she fed. Lily's eyes were drooping as she drank the milk, getting full clearly making her tired and just watching her was making Joyce sleepy.

"You know, she really is gorgeous," A voice said suddenly making Joyce jump out of her skin, the bottle would have dropped away from Lily's mouth if Lily hadn't carried on clamping on to it reminding Joyce that she was doing something other than being scared out of her wits. She looked up to see who was the source of the voice and gasped when saw someone sat on the coffee table in front of her, just smiling at the domestic tableau before. The woman was in her late twenties to early thirties, petite and lovely-faced with large dark brown eyes and even darker hair that was cut in a bob framing her smiling expression. Joyce would recognize that face anywhere- she had seen it herself not too long ago when Willow had accidentally had a spell gone awry.

"Jenny Calendar..." She whispered in disbelief.

Giles still wasn't tired, but his eyes were beginning to ache from staring at the tiny print in the book for too long. He was going to have to opt for her just lying in bed, eyes wide open as he attempted something as crass as counting sheep. Maybe it work, because for certain the reading wasn't. Putting the book aside he gasped as he saw he was not alone in the room, but who was stood there in front of the closed door could not possibly be there. He had been dead thirty years. He should know- they had all contributed to his death, but Giles had been the one to kill him. Randall.

"You sure you don't want anything to eat?" Tara asked Dawn for the fifth time as the two of them sat on separate armchairs in the living room.

"No I'm fine, really," Dawn assured her.

"I can whip something up in a jiffy"

"Thanks Samantha, but I'll pass," Dawn joked, but the smile faded suddenly as she frowned at Tara in puzzlement, "You can really whip?"

Tara wore a puzzled smile.

"Can I whip? Is that some slang I'm not familiar with or is this a sex question you're not comfortable talking about with your Mom?"

"No," Dawn shook her head, "You said you could 'whip something up in a jiffy'"

"Well, I was just gonna put popcorn in the microwave or something..." Tara admitted guiltily.

"Oh.." Dawn said quietly, "I thought you meant..."

"Thought I meant what?" Tara asked, but soon understood what she was getting at, "You thought I was going to use magic? Honey, I'm not Sabrina," She told her with a kind laugh, despite the fact that had been her exact wish earlier on, "I don't use magic for things like that"

"But you could right?" Dawn asked, "I mean what you took when Willow was...well, you know, you took in all that magic- I saw it. And...and you never got rid of it. Did you?"

"No," Tara shook her head, "No it's there. There for when I need it, not when I want it"

"Yeah, but...it still means you could," Dawn said quietly, "I mean just because you won't doesn't mean you can't"

"I guess not..." Tara half-agreed.

"So if you wanted to you could just like have all that washing like fold itself?" Dawn asked energetically with an eager, child-like grin and Tara had to laugh.

"Well, I guess...I mean technically," She admitted, "B-But that's...that's not what it's for- I would never use it that way"

"It doesn't frighten you?" Dawn asked curiously, "Knowing there's all that power bubbling inside of you?"

Dawn's open and curious expression threw Tara as she found herself almost forced to seriously think about her answer.

"I think all power can be frightening Dawn, no matter how little," she finally replied, "And sometimes, yeah, I guess it does scare me but it...but it came from a good place and I'm a good person- a-and I find strength in that."

"But what if you don't?" Dawn asked, sounding so child-like that Tara was reminded the teenager was technically only two years old; it was no wonder she had all these questions.

"Don't what?"

"Find that strength?" Dawn elaborated, "Or what if the magic ends up being stronger than you are? And you no longer have a choice in what you do with it? I mean that could happen, right? Like it did with Willow?"

"Jen..h-how...how are you...how is this possible?" Joyce could barely form words as she looked upon a woman she knew to be dead, but right now looked very much alive.

"I wouldn't think too much about that," Jenny advised with a small understanding smile, "It'll make your head hurt. Trust me"

"O-okay..." Joyce forced herself to accept this explanation, "So then...why are you here?"

"Oh you know- the usual message from the Powers That Be" Jenny said casually but Joyce was thrown.

"The usual message...?" She repeating, prompting an explanation from the woman and Jenny hurriedly obliged apologetically.

"Oh, sorry, I thought you'd- never mind. What the message is, is that bad things are coming. Really bad. And you guys have gotta be prepared. And you've gotta be together on this."

"We always are," Joyce frowned, bristling a little at the insinuation that the group didn't work together.

"I know, but I mean really together this time," Jenny said, putting emphasis on the really, "No more secrets, lies, cover-ups, whatever. You've gotta be totally open with one another if you're gonna get though this"

Joyce fell into quiet and worried reflection as she wondered over who on earth could be hiding something when of course the answer came to her; Lily. Isn't that exactly what Joyce had gotten from her when she had explained about the danger the Potentials were in? She knew there was more to it- things that Lily wasn't sharing and now she knew for certain. Well, she was just going to ask when she and Rupert came- oh god, Rupert. How was she supposed to tell him who had come to see her? How would he react? Joyce wasn't even sure how she was reacting. This woman was not only a ghost but was someone who her husband had been in love with and as pathetic and selfish as it may seem, that hurt Joyce and she felt uncomfortable looking at the woman. It was as though she felt Rupert had betrayed her with Jenny when that was no where near the truth.

"I always used to think that would be me you know," Jenny suddenly said, bringing Joyce out of her reverie.

"Pardon?" Joyce questioned, not understanding what she was talking about and Jenny nodded at Lily whom Joyce was just finishing feeding.

"I was always kind of a traditionalist in that sense- wanted the whole big family scene. You know eventually die in bed happy and surrounded by fat grandchildren. I always saw Rupert as the main man in the scene." Her laugh was soft and nostalgic as she contemplated what could have been but never was, "Guess you never can guess how things will turn out can you?"

"No...guess not..." Joyce agreed, feeling uncomfortable discussing this woman's relationship with Rupert. To distract herself from the awkwardness, she turned away from Jenny and returned her full attention to Lily, placing the now empty bottle on the side table and using a towel, making sure she was clean, before making sure she was comfortable- she didn't look like she felt as though she had eaten too much but she couldn't be too sure, so Joyce kept the towel on her knee. She fussed with Lily's thin head of dark blond hair, attempting to smooth down the shorter pieces that were curling up, she kissed her, played with her hands, anything that allowed her to avoid eye contact with Jenny and prevented her from having to face up to what Jenny was saying. The words hurt too much.

The newly built Sunnydale High was dark, empty and quiet. That is, until a buzzsaw starting cutting a large hole in one of the school windows that were placed in the ceiling, intended to give it a school-of-the-future look. Once the glass pane was removed, two black backpacks were wired down followed by Jonathon, dressed all in black,sliding down a rope, landing gracefully on the linoleum floor. A moment later, Andrew, missing the rope entirely, crashed to the floor painfully in a heap.

"Oh get up you wuss," Jonathon told him as Andrew whined in pain.

"I have shin splints"

Ignoring this reply Jonathon grabbed a backpack, putting on before flicking on a flashlight and heading down one of the darkened corridors. Andrew followed suit.

"Wow, they really rebuilt it," Jonathon commented as he used his flashlight to take a good look at the new school.

"It still smells new. I think," Andrew added, breathing in the air with intense concentration etched across his face. Jonathon thought he had never looked more like a moron.

"It weird...it's a different building and all..." Jonathon looked around, "I mean on the one hand it's totally different...but it sorta feels exactly the same"

"And so big. And empty" Andrew added and at these words Jonathon felt fear creep over him as he looked around the empty building nervously.

"Maybe we should switch a light on or something,"

"Someone will see it from the outside," Andrew pointed out, making actual sense for once.

"Right..." Jonathon nodded, but his voice wavered and when the smallest of creaks was heard he nearly jumped out of his skin, "Maybe we should just go get Buffy"

"No," Andrew argued firmly, "No way"

"But we'll just tell her what we know about the seal of Danzalthar-"

"Think McFly!" Andrew snapped, interrupting Jonathon's reasonings, "Why would she believe us without any proof? We go to her empty handed and we're cooling our heels in the clink inside a Bell's microsecond"

At the mere mention of prison, Jonathon seemed to develop a resolve as he put back his shoulder and stood up straight.

"I ain't goin' back to the big house," He stated, "That place changes a man"

"That's why we need proof. Think of it as a trial by fire- a quest"

"Una Questa," Jonathon said, caught up the romance of the entire thing. It was all so very Indiana Jones.

"We find it, we alert the Slayer, we help he destroy it, we save Sunnydale," Andrew said emphatically, a deadly serious expression on his face that soon broke out into a geeky smile, "Then we join her gang and possibly hang at her house"

"Right," Jonathon nodded, developing his resolve again, "Okay. What do we do?"

"I think we should find the Principal's Office and work our way down from there," Andrew suggested, holding up a map of the building and Jonathon studied the paper for a moment.

"You go look down that hallway," He told Andrew, "I'll go check over there"

"Check communications," Andrew replied and the two boys spent the next few minutes saying 'check' over and over again into their walkie-talkies before eventually Jonathon stopped and began to walk off down the hall. He stopped a couple of paces forward and spoke into his walkie-talkie despite the fact he was close enough to Andrew to speak to them ordinarily.

"Echo Two to Echo One"

"This is Echo One, go ahead," Andrew replied into his own walkie.

"Do you really think they'll let us join their gang?"

Andrew could only shrug in response and Jonathon nodded sadly in reply before walking off slowly down the side corridor leaving Andrew alone. Or seemingly so.

"Nice job," At the sound of Warren's voice Andrew jumped out of his skin, so frightened that his double take became a more comical triple-take.

"Where have you been?"

"Take it easy, take it easy..." Warren calmed him down.

"I'm scared out of my friggin' gourd here!" Andrew retorted, "Do you have any idea how hard it's been to act this cool?"

"Calm down," Warren told him, "You're doing great. All specs are within parameters"

"I hate when you leave me," Andrew told him before adding softly, "One time you left me and I ended up a Mexican"

"We've been over this," Warren said with the exasperation of someone who had had to repeat themselves more than a dozen times, "That dying thing was all part of the Master Plan"

"I know," Andrew nodded, "But sometimes I don't understand the Master Plan"

"You of all people should understand the Master Plan," Warren told him, "C'mon, "If you strike me down-""

"'I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine'" Andrew automatically finished the quote, his face brightening with realization, "Of course!" He turned to Warren, "Hey do you think Willow could kill me too?"

"Hey don't worry," Warren assured him, "Short Rounds holds up his end of the bargain, we'll both become Gods"

"That boy is our last hope," Andrew quoted somberly as he looked in the direction Jonathon had gone.

"No, there is another," Warren added, immediately going with it but this seemed to only confused Andrew.

"Wait, really?" He frowned, "Who's our other hope?"

"No- I was just going with it," Warren sighed as he realized the moment was completely ruined, "It was a thing. No, he's our last hope, yep."

"Randall...it can't be you..." Giles spoke into what should be an empty room but wasn't, "It's not possible"

"Maybe," Randall admitted, "But we made a lot of impossible things possible didn't we? Our little group"

Giles could not reply, he was too shocked, too thrown by it all. Randall hadn't aged a day- of course he hadn't, how could he after...after dying. He was dressed in the same clothes he had died in...the same clothes he had been worn when the demon killed him. No, the demon hadn't killed him. Giles had killed him.

"Can't get to sleep huh?" He asked casually and Giles could only shake his head silently in reply. "I hate that. Or at least I did, when I was you know- alive"

"Randall..." Giles shook his head in distaste at how casually the boy was being about his death. Yes, that was one of the strangest thing about his presence here. While Rupert Giles had grown up, aged just like the other members of their group, Randall was still the young boy he had been back then. So, very, very young.

"You're so old," Randall stated bluntly, as though he had read Giles' train of thought.

"I most certainly am not!" Giles immediately retorted in offense, forgetting for one brief moment that he was arguing with a ghost. "I'm only forty-six"

"Seven," Randall corrected, immediately picking up on the one digit change.

"Fine, forty seven," Giles amended with a sigh, "But it's still not old," He added pointedly.

"You're not twenty though," Randall countered, "Like me"

Giles felt sick as he realized Randall shouldn't be twenty. He should be in his forties also. He should have lived, matured, grown-up, had a family, done whatever it was that he was meant to do in his later years. He shouldn't have died so young. God, they had all been fools and Randall had been the one to pay the price.

"No, no, I'm not," Giles agreed quietly, "Not anymore"

"That your daughter next door?" Randall asked, choosing a lighter topic as the heaviness threatened to fall on them both and Giles nodded.

"Yes, er, her name's Lily"

"She's a looker," Randall commented and when Giles scowled at him, instantly protective of his daughter, Randall held his hands up in defense, "What just because I'm dead doesn't mean I lost my common sense and I'm just saying. S'not like I can make a move on her- being dead and all. Guess she gets her looks from her Mum then? Coz you for sure never had hair that color"

"Yes," Giles smiled slightly, "She does uh, she does look a lot like her Mother"

"Hm," Randall gave a small nod of approval, "So how old is she?"

"She's..." Giles' face fell as he realized what the answer was, "She's twenty"

"Huh. Same age as me. Same age we were when...well you know the story"

"Randall, I'm so sorry," He apologized suddenly, saying what he had wanted to say to him for years and years, "I'm sorry for what happened, I'm sorry for what it did to you and I'm sorry for what I had to do to you"

"You were just doing what you had to," Randall told him kindly with a small shrug, "That was you, no matter what Ripper. Always the one ready to make the final call. To make the decision no one else wants to so no one else has to. Guess it makes sense it'd be you that did the deed"

"I-I didn't want to," Giles told him earnestly, "But it was the only way"

"Was it?" Randall didn't seem so sure, "You do know there's gonna be a lot of those decisions to come"

"What do you mean?"

"It's why I'm here," Randall told him, "They sent me. To tell you. To tell you that bad things are coming and you're not gonna be able to stop them unless you're prepared"

"We are," Giles immediately replied, "That is, uh, we will be. It's why-"

"Why you're here, I know," Randall nodded, "But that's not really what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the final call, the big picture, the hard decisions. Can you do that again?"

"What do you mean 'again'?" Giles immediately picked up on Randall's choice of words and in response, the boy's expression became saddened and he sighed as though he truly did not want to say what he had to. He finally made eye contact.

"If it's Lily or Joyce. Or Buffy or Dawn? Would you be able to?" He asked, "Would you be able to make the same decision you did with me? For the greater good"

"I-"

"Ripper, you're not going to be able to save them"

Spike still sat at the bar drinking and smoking alone, paying absolutely no attention whatsoever to those around him as he sat on the bar stool and moped. An attractive twenty-something year old girl slid into the seat next to him, a warm smile on her face as she asked to borrow a cigarette. Spike shrugged and handed her the packet and she took one, before lighting it. She smiled at him again.

"What happened...what happened to Willow wasn't her fault," Tara said to Dawn, but the teenager seemed unconvinced by this argument.

"Then whose it?" She challenged, obviously asking questions that had been preying on her mind for a decent amount of time, "I mean if it wasn't Willow then who is to blame?"

"Sometimes Dawn, th-there aren't people to blame," Tara told her, "Sometimes things just happen. Because, because of events, not because of people"

"Kay...but isn't that worse? I mean isn't that like the big scary?" She asked Tara, "That all still happened. Willow tried to kill us because of what was inside of her...all that power. Doesn't that scare me? It sure as hell scares me"

"Of course it scares me," Tara admitted, "It was a dark place Willow went to and it was horrible, for all of us including Wilow...that power it corrupted her. And of course it was scary but she-"

"Then why do you still do it?" Dawn asked, her tone desperate, almost in tears.

"W-what?"

"The magic." Dawn elaborated, "Why do you still do it if you know what it can do to you?"

"Dawn, I told you, it doesn't work that way. It's...it's complicated okay, but honey you do not have to worry. I will always keep you safe from any dangers of it, I promise"

"But you didn't use it to help Mom," Dawn said, her tone suddenly shifting to that of someone emotionally hurt.

"Dawn?"

"Mom was dying and you didn't help he!" Dawn cried, tears threatening in the corners of her eyes, "You said no, that you couldn't. Couldn't Tara or wouldn't? Tara, how could you leave her to die like that?" Dawn started to cry.

"Dawn, sweetie," Tara said softly and sympathetically, standing up to walk over to her but Dawn jumped out of her seat away from her.

"Don't touch me!" She snapped.

"Dawn," Tara tried to not show how much that reaction had hurt, "I'm sorry-"

"You almost killed her not using magic and now, using it is going to kill us all," Dawn told her sadly, "Magic's dangerous Tara. I just wish you'd leave it alone...otherwise we're all gonna end up..." Dawn trailed off as she looked at Tara's expression. She was frowning with deep concern and confusion, "What?" She asked.

"Who are you?" Tara asked straight-forwardly and Dawn laughed with unsurity.

"What do you mean? Wait this isn't some kind of, 'oh you're the key' magic misfire is it? Coz, just so you know- I rarely see the chuckles in this kinda sitch"

"I mean," Tara said, deadly serious as she took a step forward and in response Dawn took a step away from her, "Who are you? And why do you look like Dawn?"

"What do you mean, who am I? I am Dawn," Dawn protested with a completely confused expression. But before she could even take a step toward the door Tara reached for her arm to stop her escaping but her grip passed through her as though Dawn were merely a hologram.

"Whoops," 'Dawn' smiled insincerely.

"I know this must be kinda hard for you," Jenny said sympathetically to Joyce after the woman had lapsed into a silence that had lasted longer than could be classed as a conversational pause.

"What?" Joyce asked, though she was pretty sure she knew what the answer was.

"Seeing me here, having me here," Jenny elaborated, "I mean, I was the love of Rupert's life...it's gotta be hard for you and I'm..I'm sorry for that. It's just I was the one They sent down here to pass on the message and when They tell you to do something..." She smiled a little with a small shrug, "You kinda can't say no. But I just wanted to let you know that I'm sorry if this is uncomfortable for you"

"No it's fine, really," Joyce automatically assured her while her mind focused on the phrase Jenny had just used 'love of Rupert's life'. Was she? They never talked about Jenny- it seemed too upsetting a topic for Rupert to discuss or deal with. But didn't that in itself prove that it was true? But having the thought there in your mind was different from someone saying it outright as was happening now. What if Jenny was the love of his life? Yes, he loved Joyce but...what if she were second best? Or second choice? It wasn't like they had sought one another out- drugged candy had sort of thrown them together and then things had worked from there. But was that true love? Or just convenience? Maybe the person she was looking at in front of her had been Rupert's one chance at true love...the real deal. How could Joyce even expect him to get over her after she was taken from him so tragically. Even if she accepted how much he loved her, she could never ask that of him. She could never ask him to get over Jenny- he had been such a part of his life and his heart- and it was this fact, that she could never expect this of him, that hurt Joyce.

"Oh god, I've said the wrong thing haven't I?" Jenny worried, reading Joyce's silence correctly, "Look...I don't. Rupert and I we were...we were in love, but things happen and we have to move on, no matter how sad our past is. Some never get past that, but Rupert's been lucky. You both have. I'm part of his past but you are part of his future. I mean, sure he remembers me- at least I hope he does," She laughed a little, "But...it's not like he carries my rose quartz around with him anymore or anything"

Joyce's heart almost stopped as she thought to upstairs and to Rupert's bedside table. A top drawer in it contained spare glasses, bits and bobs he didn't seem to wish to remove from their new home and one rose quartz. A rose quartz he checked for it's presence every night.

"You know you could help me here," Andrew said, map and compass in hand, as he and Jonathon tried to make their way around the basement of Sunnydale High. "Orienteering is best suited for two adults- one to calibrate the compass, the other to survey the-"

"The basement's enormous," Jonathon commented, cutting Andrew off as he looked around in awe, "Is the high school really this big?"

"I hate it down here," Andrew grumbled, "It's all dank and barren" He looked back to the map, "This doesn't make any sense..." He looked up to find Jonathon gone and he began to panic, "Where did you go?"

"Dude, I'm right here. Pull yourself togeth-" A loud boom from somewhere else in the basement cut Jonathon off and the two boys grabbed one another in fright.

"What was that?" Andrew panicked.

"I don't know"

"Maybe we should go upstairs," Andrew suggested, "For a bit..."

"Yeah..." Jonathon agreed as the sound of creaking started and Andrew became even more scared.

"Or maybe you're right. Maybe we should get Buffy" He suggested with pure fear in his voice, "Maybe she could...help"

Jonathon thought about this for a moment before letting go of Andrew.

"No," He said firmly, "Esto es la questa. La questa para redempcion. C'mon," He walked on but his friend didn't follow, "C'mon" He urged and Andrew eventually relented, following on and while he became increasingly nervous, Jonathon seemed to become increasingly calm.

"I wonder what the new cafeteria is like..." He wondered aloud.

"Why do you care?" Andrew replied bluntly while looking at the map, "These walls aren't supposed to be here...this is wrong..."

"I don't know," Jonathon shrugged, "Seeing the high school again...part of me wishes I could go back" Andrew wasn't even paying attention.

"Everything's shifting around. I feel like we're in Hellraiser," He suddenly looked around, terrified, "I hate pinhead"

"Let me see that," Jonathon snapped, snatching the map out of his hands. "Have we circled all the way round? Maybe we should start over, go back to-"

Andrew tuned out to what shorty was rambling about and instead glanced around at their surroundings and his eyes fell on Warren stood outside a door to another area of the basement.

"There it is..." Andrew said

"What?" Jonathon looked up and saw the door Andrew was talking about, "Are you sure?"

Andrew continued to look and Warren nodded at him, his face serious.

"Yeah," He gulped.

Once the two of them walked into the antechamber Jonathon took in his surroundings and realized that, for once, Andrew had been actually right about something.

"You know I think you may be right," He told him.

Andrew tossed his pack on the floor in silent reply and took up a pick-axe.

"If this lines up," Jonathon continued, "What we'd be looking for should be right...under there"

The two boys looks at each other silently before Andrew broke the moment, slamming his pick-axe into the soil and began to dig.

"So what gave me away?" 'Dawn' asked with a sigh.

"Besides the incorporeal arm?" Tara asked back, "Dawn would never say what you did. We talked through what happened that night and...she would never say that"

"Can you be sure?" Dawn countered, "I mean can you really be sure that she doesn't think that?" She took a few slow steps towards the witch but Tara did not back down, "I mean if I was her...which technically I am right now, I would be pretty pissed off that you were gonna just let my Mother bleed to death"

"Stop looking like her," Tara ordered, "You're not Dawn. Stop using her this way"

"Why?" Dawn asked, "Would you prefer seeing the man your lover killed?" Warren smiled back at her. "God, this must really kill you. Like really, really kill you. Knowing what she did, what she can do. If she decides to go off the deep end she could kill you in an instant. Or worse- what if you go off the deep end and kill her instead? Wow," Warren laughed, "That would be pretty sweet"

"Who are you?" The question was demanding as though Tara were demanding the creature's identity to be revealed.

"I'm everyone sweetie," Joyce replied, "Well anyone who's dead anyway...died, dead..." Joyce frowned in confusion, "Either is or has been clinically dead. Yes, that's it I think. See, you did kill Joyce...if you hadn't how could I be her?"

"I-I didn't kill her,"

"No," Joyce agreed, "But you did let me die. Same difference,"

"N-no...it's, it's not..."

Joyce smiled sadly at her.

"You don't sound so sure there honey"

"Save them from what?" Giles asked, his tone urgent. He needed to know exactly what was going to put them in danger. Then he could hope to stop it.

"Besides yourself you mean?" Randall replied and when Giles frowned he elaborated for him, "Oh come on, bad things seem to follow you no matter where you go. I mean Joyce hasn't exactly escaped from your past unscathed has she? I mean, I may be wrong here so feel free to just tell me, but a few years ago- didn't Ethan rape her? Magically that is"

Giles didn't reply, he just felt sick to the stomach at the reminder of the painful memory.

"And then, again I may be wrong here so, but last year she was sporting a sprained wrist wasn't she? And a bruised face for weeks at your hand. Like literally you" Randall shook his head, "God that was some bad times there. And I hate to tell you this- but up there we get little glimpses of the future and you're not gonna keep your past away from Lily either. Ever occur to you why she takes after you in a lot of ways?" Randall smiled sadly, "She almost ended up on the same path as you. Course she's got her Mother's common sense I'm betting because she got out of it long before you would have. My point is Ripper...they're not safe from you so how can you think to keep them safe from what's coming?"

Joyce didn't know whether Jenny was still in the house, whether she was still even in this, this dimension or whatever it was for ghosts, Joyce, after Jenny had mentioned the rose quartz had merely excused herself, saying that she needed to put the now sleeping Lily to bed. She tucked her child in safely and warmly, wrapping the small covers around her before kissing her forehead gently. She then crossed the room, almost as though she had no will of her own, and stopped next to Rupert's bedside table. She stood there for what seemed to her like forever but could not have been more than a few minutes as she debated what to do next.

Her hand eventually took the decision from her as it seemed to reach for the drawer handle of it's own accord, pulling it open. Joyce didn't have to look very far- there, placed neatly on top was the semi precious stone tied to a black string. She reached for it, picking it up in her hands, staring at it lying in her palm.

"Oh..." Jenny's voice said from behind her softly. She sounded touched, "He still has it..." Jenny's expression changed however when she saw how upset Joyce looked, even though she was clearly trying to hide it, "Oh, I don't mean that...you know he doesn't-"

"I know," Joyce said softly, "It's just..." She dropped onto a seat on the double bed, "I guess I don't know, huh?" She smiled sadly, before looking at the rose quartz, "You gave this to him?" She asked, "When you were dating?"

"Not exactly," Jenny replied, "Willow found it and gave it to him...after I, well, after I died"

"Oh," The noise was so quiet it was almost inaudible to Jenny.

"It doesn't mean anything you know," Jenny assured her, "Him keeping it I mean"

"Yes it does," Joyce argued, knowing that it meant quite a bit, "I just wish I knew what"

"We've almost got this thing uncovered," Jonathon said as he and Andrew dug away to reveal the seal at the bottom of Sunnydale High's basement. The seal that led directly to the Hellmouth.

"Yep," Andrew nodded.

"I hope Buffy'll have some idea about how to destroy-" Jonathon paused as something occurred to him, "Thirty-six-nineteen-twenty-seven! That's it! That was my locker combination! That's been bugging me all night..."

"Dude, we've spent the last few years trying to forget high school- why are you trying so hard to remember it?"

"I don't know," Jonathon answered nostalgically, "I guess I miss it. Don't you?"
"Yeah, I really miss it," Andrew agreed sarcastically, "You know, I don't think they even knew my name back then"

Jonathon stopped his digging and leant on his shovel giving him the appearance of an old-timer relating 'exciting' stories of his youth to a young whipper-snapper.

"I'm serious," He insisted, "I really miss it. Time goes by. Everything drops away. All the cruelty, all the pain, all the humiliation...it all washes away. I miss my friends. I miss my enemies. I miss the people I talked to everyday. And I miss the people who never knew I existed. I miss 'em all. I want to talk to them. You know, find out what they're doing. I want to know what's going on in their lives"

"Yeah, well you know what?" Andrew snapped, "They don't want to talk to you. All those people you just mentioned- not one of them's sitting around going 'I wonder what Jonathon's up to right now'. Not one of them cares about you"

Jonathon seemed to calmly consider these words, but not a single one of them made in angry. Instead, he seemed to develop a moment of clarity and knowledge that allowed him to be at peace with it all, with everything that was high school.

"Well I still care about them," He eventually said, meaning every word, "That's why I'm here"

Spike walked the woman from the bar home. The two of them got along and as they walked down the quiet streets together, they talked, enjoying one another's company and laughed softly at each other's anecdotes and sorry attempts at humor.

"Get out," Tara said with quiet menace, her eyes glinting with gold and Joyce smirked.

"Ooh, little bit of that power coming out there huh?" She laughed, "One day it'll be too powerful and you'll lose control and god will that be a bloody day. And I'll be there watching every minute."

"Leave now or-"

"Or what?" Joyce challenged, "You'll hurt me? You don't know what hurt is. Last year? You're gonna wish you had killed Joyce and the rest of them and laid them to rest permanently after you've all gone through what I'm going to put you through. I'm not a big fan of easy death, fact is, the whole 'good and evil, balancing the scales' thing? I'm over it. I'm done with the mortal coil. But believe me" Now it was Buffy that grinned sinisterly at Tara, "I'm going for a big finish"

"From beneath you it devours..." Tara whispered in realization as she remembered her dreams from the Summer.

"Not it," Buffy told her, "Me" She smiled at her, her mouth becoming wider and wider until it stretched to horror movie proportions swallowing itself whole until no one was stood in front of Tara and she was alone in the flat again. Alone and fearful.

After Randall left, Giles' instinct had been to check on Lily, but he couldn't bear to look at her. He felt ashamed. Randall was right about his past always hurting the ones he loved. How could he ever hope to keep them safe when the most danger they were in was from him. And Lily...what was going to happen to Lily in the future? He only knew that it was his fault. And that's why he could not go check on her. He was far too ashamed and so he stayed in his room alone with his thoughts.

Jonathon, a gaping wound in his side from where Andrew had stabbed him, collapsed upon the now cleared seal, his wide open and unblinking dead eyes staring blindly up as his blood pooled around him, filling up the intricate design that made the seal.

Spike pulled his head back in full vamp mode, giving into complete animal instant as he bit into the young woman's neck and drained her completely.

Joyce, now alone as Jenny had left saying it was time for her to return...to return to whereever it was she came from, sat on the bed, fingering the rose quartz, rolling it between her palms, going over all the thoughts in her head that had been prompted by Jenny's very unexpected visit. She didn't hear anyone else in the house so when a hand clamped over her mouth from behind, a tissue covering her nose and mouth and seemingly soaked in chloroform she truly had not been expected it and did not even have time to fight back.