zigpal- Ooh so much cooler? Really? .::blushes::. thanks! Haha. And I'm glad you love it so very much and ooh, there's plenty Giles/Jenny storylineness coming here. Though you'll probably hate me after it. Haha. Thanks for claps and review!

g120- Yes, and no. Yes, he's after Giles, but still after Joyce and technically after neither of them. Confused? You will be. And yes, lots more Robia/Jenny. Teehee. And I really appreciate your [As usual well written and very very far from the ol' "character X survuvives so now everything goes way easy"-fic. comment; it meant a lot as I am trying to not make things predictably fanfic and stay true to the series. Of course this means in this chapter and the coming ones I'm slightly chaneling Joss as far as cruelty to characters and disastrous relationships go...but hopefully you'll stick with me. .::smiles broadly::. (There's comedy coming in First Date! I promise!) Thank you very much for review

rabidreject- The First is a nasty tricky little thing, yes. And Joyce's insecurites get blown outta the water here as you will see. Thanks a lot for the review.

A/N: More tragic speedbumps in the Joyce/Giles relationship. You will probably all hate me. Please stick with me? Hehe.

A/N2: I have friends with even more time on their hands than I do. She enjoys my fic (refuses to review of course the bitca) and is Graphics Queen and hey, look what she made me! I squealed. I have no idea who the actress is she has as Lily, but my friend is English so I'm presuming it's an English Actress? Any UK readers know her? Either way, she just seems perfect. She's like a cross between Joyce and Buffy oddly enough. Very cool. (And remember to replace 'dot' with an actual '.' if you're going to have a look haha) But I just had to share! haha

http://i115.photobucket dot com/albums/n309/FinolaFan/COCORIFIC7FAMILYPIPETTE dot jpg

"Don't look back at me"

"Why not?"

"Because it's a trust game, Ahn"

"But I'm afraid you're gonna drop me or not catch me," Anya said, turning to Xander with a sigh.

"That's why it's called a 'trust game'. Did we miss something here?"

"When I asked what the Potentials were doing, I didn't want a demonstration Xander. Especially one directly involving me"

"Well, we are," He said simply reply, "Now turn round, close your eyes and just fall back. I'll catch you"

Anya was not convinced.

"Are you sure we really need this many weapons?" Jacqueline asked as all the pointy objects were packed into the boot of the car.

"It's Sunnydale. And you're driving to the desert with a bunch of Potentials," Buffy pointed, "Trust me, you're gonna need all the weapons you can fit in"

"Maybe you have a point," Jac admitted as she and Buffy walked back into the house.

"Plus, you may end up wanting to kill a girl or two while you're there,"

Jacqueline and Cassandra were taking all the Potentials for a two day trip to the same place where Buffy had had her own Slayer vision quest. Then however it had just been her and Giles and so minimal stress, but this time it was two Watchers with an array of chatty, over-excited and sometimes obnoxious girls who had yet, in Buffy's opinion, to even actually contemplate what a Slayer is. All in all, she believed Cassandra and Jacqueline would be driven mad by the end of the trip.

"So are you all set?" Joyce asked, walking over from the living room as the two came back into the hall.

"Reasonably so," Jac replied, "But ah, the girls are already arguing about who is uh sitting where. Cassandra is trying to calm them down"

"Good luck," Joyce smiled, "They're as bad as Dawn on a sugar rush"

"Do we have to bring that up at every available moment?" Dawn asked as she walked past them. Buffy and Joyce's matching expression clearly said 'yes' in reply.

"Personally, I think the Potentials are going to break your sister and Cassandra," Jenny said to Giles in the kitchen doorway as they watched the tableau before them, "That many pimply young things all vying for attention? It's going to drive her insane"

Giles did not reply and remained silent, just putting all his focus into watching the scene in front of him play out.

"Not in a talking mood, huh?" Jenny asked, "But you know as well as I do that I'll just keep talking until you give in. I mean, I remember that time- I think it was our second date- when I surprised you by taking you to monster trucks?" Jenny laughed, "God, you wouldn't talk to me at all for the first twenty minutes from the moment you arrived. But I kept talking, acting as though you weren't ignoring me. And then eventually, eventually I made you laugh didn't I?" She smiled warmly, "And you gave up didn't you? Gave in. And bless you, you did try to enjoy the date, even if the entire event just seemed to horrify you. Made you look even cuter. Do you remember that though?"

"Yes," Giles found himself answering automatically and Jenny smiled in amused triumph.

"Aha! I knew you couldn't ignore me for too long," She laughed.

"You're not her." He said firmly, turning to look at her beside him, "You're not really Jenny"

"But that's what makes this even more interesting isn't it?" Jenny asked in reply, "You know I'm not Jenny, you know who I really am and yet you still...can't bear to send me away. Maybe you're not as happy with your current life as you thought Rupert"

At that point, Joyce walked over to them with a smile.

"No girls traipsing all over my house for two whole days," She squealed excitedly, okay maybe not squealed, but it was close enough, "The kitchen will actually be empty. And the basement. I can take laundry down without getting funny looks from seventeen girls. Plus," She smiled at him suggestively, "It means...more alone time for us," Her fingers danced softly over his chest, "I mean I'm sure I could convince Anya to take Lily for a night..." She reached up to kiss him but he seemed awkward and ill at ease so the kiss seemed detached and ended quickly. Joyce frowned at him a moment as though trying to see what was the better and he gave her his best attempt at an innocent expression. She sighed and seemed to push the concern aside as she carried on past him into the kitchen.

"Couldn't kiss her in front of me?" Jenny asked, "How thoughtful of you"

"Leave. Go away"

"Only when you mean those words," Jenny smiled, "And right now I'm not seeing any conviction in them. It's okay, I understand. I know how you feel." She shushed him soothingly, even though he said no words, it was as though she were soothing his unvoiced emotions, "But you don't have to worry. It'll all be okay, I promise"

There hadn't much to happen between Joyce and Rupert that night, despite the fact Anya and Xander were babysitting Lily as Joyce had suggested and there was no one else in the house, due to Buffy patrolling with Spike, the Potentials off in the desert with the Watchers and Dawn sleeping over at a friends. The night had started out with promises of passion but had gone out with little more than a fizzle. Rupert just seeming elsewhere and away and Joyce not having the patience to talk him around what she believed to be one of his moods had given up. So the two were just sleeping, backs turned to one another in bed, perhaps subconscious body language. On Giles' part it had been due to worry that Jenny was watching over the two of them and for Joyce it was her subconscious response to his inexplainable offness he had retained all day.

"You know you're right..." Jenny/The First whispered in Joyce's ear as she slept, kneeling down beside her, "Your fears aren't irrational. You know inside of you that they're justified. His heart lies with another. And worse, you know who that another is," Her words entered Joyce's dreamscape, but didn't wake her as consciously Joyce could not hear her and if she woke up she would not be able to see her either. "He's going to betray you. Like all the others did. It's a Summers thing isn't it? All the women in your family doomed to badness. None of you will ever have a man you can trust, doomed to betrayal. You saw you and Hank in Buffy and Riley didn't you? But you hoped it would turn out differently. But it didn't. Just like this isn't going to turn out differently for you either. Rupert- he's no different than Hank. Always wanting something new and exciting. Or perhaps the real worry here is that it's something old he wants this time. Either way it's not you they're searching for and yet again, you just don't cut it do you?"

Joyce tossed and turned in her sleep as her nightmarish dreams played out in her mind.

"I'm just glad the girls are gonna be gone as in out of our kitchen for two days," Buffy confided to Spike whilst the two of them sat in the basement.

"It's like a bloody war zone up there," He replied, "And not in a fun way"

"I mean do you see what they do to the kitchen when they're here?"

"Honestly? I'm just trying to stay out of their way"

"I noticed," Buffy nodded solemnly.

"This is better," He insisted seriously, "Believe me, Slayer"

"Okay" She nodded, "But you've been fine. In close contact with the girls"

"With you at my side yeah," He reasoned somberly, "You'd never let me hurt one of 'em. And that's how it's gonna be until we're sure The First is done making me it's bitch. We're together or I'm on a leash"

"So we find a way to make sure the trigger is deactivated-" Buffy said, hope building in her voice, "We've got a couple of days. Lack of pitter-patter and all. Maybe-"

"Buffy..." He said quietly, cutting her off.

"Spike? What is it?"

"Ow" He said softly.

"What?"

"Ow. Ow" His ows became more anguished as the pain increased and he fell back onto the bed, his hand clutching his forehead in pain. "Aughhhhh!"

"I hate to be frustratingly obvious, but I really don't think this can be good," Joyce said with a grimace as she took the bloodied cloth from Buffy who had just returned from the basement.

"How is he?" Willow asked.

"In the 'goes' part of comes and goes," Buffy replied.

"But why is it setting off?" Joyce asked, "I uh I mean I though the chip was only meant to go off when he...you know" She shrugged before pulling a silent expression that Buffy presumed to mean 'violence' or 'attack'.

"Me too." Buffy sighed, "And he swears he's not-"

"Is nothing ever simple around here anymore?" Jenny asked with a sigh as Giles attempted to listen to the conversation about Spike, "Remember when vampires were vampires? And there were no chips. I mean, Buffy would have staked Spike in a heartbeat. And with the chip going off all willy-nilly, maybe she still should"

"No." Giles replied firmly, "He has a soul now"

"What?" Buffy frowned as she, her Mom and Willow paused in their conversation to look at Giles.

"I u-uh was just thinking," He stuttered, "That maybe his having a soul is causing the ah chip to malfunction"

"Maybe," Buffy sighed in frustration, "But how can we know for sure? I mean we don't know anything beside the fact it was some stupid government conspiracy that shoved that thing in there. You sure you can't try and find out some stuff on this Will?"

"I could try," Willow replied, "But I don't know...government stuff sounds pretty destroy evidencey."

"You know if things had gone differently earlier on, you wouldn't have to deal with any of this," Jenny sighed sadly, "None of us would..."

"What do you mean?" Giles asked, making sure to keep his voice low so the others would not yet again hear him.

"Ah, so you're interested then?" Jenny smiled knowingly. That smile was so familiar to him and brought back years-old memories. Happy memories.

"No," He insisted, "I just wish to know what exactly you're getting at"

"Follow me," She told him, "Away from prying ears"

She headed out of the living room and Giles stood there for a moment debating his options before he excused himself from the other three women and followed on after Jenny.

Out of earshot apparently meant upstairs as Jenny only stopped walking once they were both on the landing. She came to a stop outside one of the bedroom doors and turned to face him.

"You know, there is a way."

"Pardon?"

"A way for things to be different," When he frowned at her she rolled her eyes in exasperation, "C'mon, my power isn't just being able to turn into dead people you know"

At that reference, Giles seemed to snap out of his obsession and backed away, realizing he was in fact listening to The First Evil and not the ghost of Jenny, a belief which he had found himself to begin to believe in.

"Okay, maybe that was the wrong thing to say," She said hurriedly, realizing where his thoughts were headed, "What I'm trying to say is- I don't have to be your last connection to Jenny. You could have the real thing"

"What on earth are you talking about?"

"I have a lot of power, let's not be all high and mighty and deny it. I do. I have a hell of a lot," Jenny smiled, "And I could use some of that to alter an event or two. Change a few things here and there and you get just what you've always wanted"

"Really?" Giles tone of voice revealed how skeptical he was of this entire concept, "And if you can change events so freely, then wouldn't you just wipe out Buffy? Erase her birth completely." He laughed in disbelief, "Or even the actual creation of The First Slayer if you're that powerful"

"You don't get it," Jenny said, shaking her head, "I can't directly change births. I can influence and tweak events but I can't just say 'there will be no Buffy' and poof my problems are over. You have watched too many sci-fi movies Rupert," She grinned at him in lovable amusement that was disarming for Giles, "It would be too big a thing. I may be over the whole good and evil mortal coil thing but there are active rules. Ones that won't break no matter how much I try. Whole Grand Design Agreement. It's a whole big thing. But I can change one little thing. Maybe Jenny finished the re-ensoulement spell at home? Instead of at the school? Angelus would not have been able to get in then would he?" Jenny stepped towards him, incredibly close so she was speaking intimately in a whisper to him, "He wouldn't have had the opportunity to break her poor, small, neck. She'd be alive the wouldn't she? And the spell would have been completed. Angel would have been re-ensouled without Buffy ever having to send him to hell. She wouldn't have ran away to L.A and you and Jenny would be together. Happy." She looked at him intensely, "I could do all that just by changing one tiny event." She smiled a sly smile as she looked up at him, "Interested?"

"What about Joyce? And Lily?" He countered, feeling an elation of happiness within himself that he hadn't given in entirely; that he had remembered what was important.

"That isn't what I asked," The First posing as Jenny replied knowingly. "Look, I'll show you first okay?"

"Show me?" Giles frowned in confusion.

"Yeah, sure," She nodded, "It'll be like A Christmas Carol but with a better light show"

The change in light was what he noticed first. No longer bright sunshine pouring through wide windows out into the landing at Revello Drive, now thick curtains were closed, house lights were on and a warm winter glow was about a place that seemed familiar to Giles but at the same time was completely new territory.

He stepped slowly around the perimeter of the place, taking every detail in, trying to figure out where he was. Where had The First sent him? Speaking of, where was The First? He looked around in puzzlement and as if on cue, Jenny walked towards him through the open door to the room.

"Hi," She smiled, "I just got back," She headed towards him and Giles expected her to stop just short of him as always, but instead she embraced him in a slight hug before kissing him on the lips. She was corporeal.

"J-jenny?" He gasped as she pulled away.

"So they tell me," She laughed slightly, "What's the matter with you? You look as though you've seen a ghost-" She paused as she herself paled, "Wait, you haven't have you?" She asked, looking around nervously for any ghostly presences.

"Not in the s-strictest sense uh uh no," He managed to reply, still staring at her in shock.

"Well, where are the kids?" She asked and he almost choked on air.

"Gh-K-k-kids?" He spluttered.

"Rupert, what's the matter with you?" She asked, her voice and gaze filled with concern, "You're acting a little odd...er than usual. Is this about Buffy?"

"Buffy?"

"Look, if you're that concerned about how she's doing; call her. See how she's doing with the Potentials. I'm sure she wouldn't mind that interruption" She walked over to a side table and picked up a cordless phone and handed it to him, "Call her," She insisted with a smile that suggested she knew him all too well, before she left the room, leaving him to have a private phone call.

He looked down at the phone in his hand. Calling Buffy. Yes, that didn't seem like a bad idea. Maybe he could even talk directly to Joyce. See what the hell was going on. Surely, The First didn't have so much power as to be able to do this. He dialed his home number and the ringing tone immediately began. Within a minute Buffy had answered the call.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Buffy. It's Giles," He told her, "Could you ah, could you get your Mother for me? I uh, I need to speak to her about something"

"Is that some kind of joke?" Buffy's voice was cold and unamused.

"Pardon?" He frowned, though she couldn't possibly see that, "Of course it's not. Put your Mother on the phone Buffy"

"Giles," Her voice had softened slightly, "My Mom's been dead two years. You know that." Her voice now turned to worry, "Has something happened to you? A memory spell? A demon?"

Giles hung up the phone in shock while Buffy was still asking questions about his wellbeing.

He turned and saw Buffy was stood beside him. Or more accurately, The First was stood beside him. Seeing the look in his eyes she sighed in frustration.

"Oh don't tell me that's what's gonna change your mind about this. This offer isn't on condition about what Joyce thinks or how it effects her, I'm just simply asking if you want it"

"Joyce is dead in this reality," He replied, "So no, that is not something I would want I-"

"Look," Buffy said, cutting him off, "If I changed that little factor would that make it better? Keep Joyce alive." She laughed, "I could even work with some connections I have- and get Jenny's soul put in Joyce's body." She smirked, "Now that would be an interesting option to see" She laughed.

"Why would you even offer me any of this?" Giles asked the question that had been plaguing his mind ever since The First had introduced this concept.

"Oh there's nothing evil about it," She assured him, "Not much anyway. Just that the nicer, deserved family lifestyle gets you out of my way a lot more in the coming battle. Leaves the little redheaded witch to do all the research by herself. And I'm thinking that's gonna make things go suitably slowly," She smiled.

"Still, no." He shook his head, "In this reality there's no Joyce. No Lily. I can't have that"

"Yeah, but that aside who do you want?" Buffy asked, "The world that has your lost love, your soul mate Jenny or the world with Mom?"

"Don't attempt to affect things like that," He told her, "Joyce and I love one another."

"Do you?" Buffy frowned, genuinely questioning this apparent fact, "Or were you both just convenient for one another? Come on," She sighed, "You were both lonely, had similar interests and thanks to some magical drug, you both knew you found each other at least mildly attractive so there was less chance of rejection. And you both admit that it only started out to be a little bit of fun, nothing serious. And you're only this far because, well, let's face it; things got a little out of control. Rushed on by all those pesky little apocalypses. Without Jenny there, Mom just happened to be handy. And believe it or not, she felt the same way about you too." She began to pace, looking so much like Buffy when she's on a rant, "Oh sure. She always claims to be this strong, independent woman, a woman of the twenty first century, but even I know that deep down she's always been one to believe in a strong family structure; that her daughters should have a father figure to look up to. And without Dad around anymore...well, she found you..." Buffy seemed to search around for the appropriate word, "convenient." She smiled, "She treats you no differently than she did Dad."

"And how exactly is that?" He challenged, arms folded across his chest.

"An accessory to complete The Family Unit Pack," Buffy said as though it were obvious just as Jenny came back into the room, presuming the sound of him talking was him talking on the phone.

No one could figure out a way to stop Spike's spasms of pain. Willow had researched as much as she could, but just as she had predicted there was no information to be found on the government chip. Tara had tried a few of her own brand of spells along with a few ancient non-English ones, but they only seemed to work for a moment before the chip would soon malfunction again. And Spike's nosebleeds were getting worse and worse.

Joyce had left the others with him, while she went to the bathroom to get more towels, the others ones already having become blood-soaked.

"Can I come look?" Dawn asked from her bedroom and Joyce paused long enough to peer in at her and give her a look that said 'do you need to ask that question?', "Please?"

"There's only one way I can put this Dawn," Her Mother replied, "No," She walked off in the direction of the bathroom. Knocking on the door out of habit, before remembering the girls were gone and so she just walked in only to find someone actually was in there. Someone that was long dead and had been powerful and terrifying when she'd been alive.

"Hey," Glory grinned from where she appeared to be resting on the sink, "Pink towels..." She grimaced, "So cute it makes me ill. Anyway, it totally doesn't matter" She smiled once more at Joyce in a disarming and crazy manner, "Wanna know what's keeping Watcher man huh?"

Joyce was too shocked by this appearance to actually reply.

"Come on, I could show you know," Buffy whispered in Giles' ear while he was trying to listen to what Jenny was saying to him. Jenny. Here in front of him. Alive. "What she was like with Dad" Buffy elaborated, "How it's just exactly the same way. A means to an end so to speak. I'll prove it"

"Oh my god...what's going on...?" Joyce asked as she saw the scene before her, the scene she had been taken to by Glory, but it was only Glory that could hear her words, the two being invisible to Giles and Jenny.

"Well you see he got given a choice," Glory explained, "Change one event change it all, people back to life... She sighed tiredly as she look at Joyce, "It's like a whole big thing."

They both looked across at Jenny and Giles talking at one another and Giles seemed to find himself smiling and laughing slightly at something she said, some joke she cracked.

"Oh," Glory said sounding sympathetic at the same time as sounding gleeful as she turned to Joyce, "Guess you were second choice after all huh?" She grinned.

When The First had said she'd show him, Giles soon found that yet again she hadn't meant it metaphorically as he found himself on a sunny street outside, with no sign of The First/Buffy at all. He looked to where a moment ago Jenny had been stood. So close, touchable. And for so short a time. The merest glimpse of what he could have had.

Forcing himself to shake these thoughts aside, he looked around, taking in his surrounding and tried to figure out once more where he was. Noting the car registration plates and a sign for a superstore just down the street he realized he was in L.A. Wonderful.

He gazed around in confusion, trying to get his bearings, when he heard a familiar voice carry over to him.

"Hank, there's one little space there- in the far corner. Just put the bag there."

"You know it's all going to get squashed you know?"

"It'll be fine if-" He heard Joyce sigh, "Buffy please, would you not do that? You're going to get hurt"

Giles followed the sound of the voice, until the family unit came into view. Joyce and Hank, presently a happy married couple, were piling shopping bags into the trunk of their car, while Buffy who could not have been more than eleven was swinging from the bars used for setting up bikes, swinging her entire body round like a gymnast.

"Buffy, if you fall..." Joyce warned her as she picked up another bag.

"Buffy, we both know this is going to end badly," Hank added, heading towards his daughter to get her off the bars.

As Giles watched this tableau with almost morbid fascination, he found himself admitting that the way Hank and Joyce were acting toward one another was just the same way he and Joyce were in the present. Coupley, family-worthy, both parental roles- occasional kissing in between. But after what The First had said to him, he found himself wondering now whether this comparison should be taken as a good thing or a bad thing.

"See," Buffy/The First said, stepping up beside him, "She's using you in the exact same way" She shook her head as though in disgust, "What a bitch. I mean inconsiderate much?" She looked at him, his eyes were still fixed firmly on the family, "So, how about making your choice now?" When he didn't reply she carried on talking, convincing him, "I mean sure Mom cares about you in that father-figure to my children way, but Ms Calendar loved you Giles. Loved you"

Giles still did not reply, he just continued to watch. Which was why he saw Joyce stumble slightly with an over-packed bag and she dropped the paper bag of shopping, and numerous items of fruit started rolling away down the street and she desperately tried to collect them all together. Instinctively, Giles rushed over to help her despite The First's protests.

As he headed over he picked up some of the escaping oranges smoothly and walked over to hand them to her. From afar he had known it was Joyce, but up close it kind of threw him. It was Joyce unquestionably, but now he saw how much younger she was. This was a long time ago and Joyce didn't look to be even thirty yet. In fact, if his maths served him then she was twenty-eight.

"Here," He said, holding up the escaped fruit to put back in the brown bag she was carrying.

"Thanks," She smiled, looking quite shy and he realized for one shocking moment the possible reason why; he was a much older man to her here and this younger Joyce was probably a little embarrassed, "I can be such a clutz some times," She smiled, actually looking up at him this time.

"No, you're not," He instantly replied without thinking, "You just get very occupied with other things"

"I do?" She laughed, "I'll erm use that excuse next time my husband points out my clumsiness"

They paused a moment before Giles realized he still needed to put the oranges in the bag.

"O-oh uh, ah, here," He said, and she held open the bag for him, but as he dropped the oranges in their hands inadvertently brushed across one another. The feeling it caused was one nicely familiar to Giles, but with his recent confusion and misgivings the feeling was also relief, confirmation. The emotion there from that one touch confirmed everything, erased all doubts. He looked at Joyce and saw she must have felt the same thing, but having, at this point in her life, technically never met him before she looked rather startled by the feeling. Looking at her hand a moment before looking back up at him. Once they made eye contact she quickly averted her gaze.

"W-well, well uh, I uh thanks. Thank you" She stuttered, smiling at him slightly , before turning from him and walking back over to her family, the bag in her arms now safely containing all items. He watched as she walked back over and for one brief moment she looked back over her shoulder at him, an expression of confusion on her face that was so familiar and recognizable to Giles it actually made him want to laugh.

"Joyce, what was he saying to you?" He heard Hank ask from afar.

"What?" Joyce frowned, "Him?" She waved her hand in Giles' direction.

"Well, you weren't speaking to anyone else Joyce"

"Oh, he didn't really say anything. Just helped get all those things together I dropped." She replied, "He was very helpful"

"I'm sure he was," Hank said suspiciously and his wife immediately picked up on the tone.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She laughed.

"I saw him...leering at you"

She laughed a short, sharp laugh of disbelief.

"Leering? I doubt it. He was just very helpful"

"Must be at least twenty years older than you..." He carried on, "Shouldn't be going after young women like that and-"

"Going after? He picked up some items of food, I'd hardly call that going after," She smiled, "Honestly, you do over-react some times dear"

"Over-react?" He scoffed, "I do not over-react. I- don't smile at me like that Joyce," He said when she just smiled knowingly at him, before closing the trunk. She walked over to Buffy taking her hand.

"Come on sweetie, let's get back in the car now,"

"Mom don't hold my hand, I'm not a baby" Buffy whined as her Mother led her to the open car door and as Buffy clambered in, she spared another glance in Giles' direction as though she wasn't quite sure what to make of him.

Smiling, knowing his decision was made- in fact realizing there never was a decision to make, he turned around to tell The First no. Whatever it had to offer Jenny wise, the answer was still no.

But as he turned around to look at The First he instead saw Joyce stood across from him, looking absolutely heartbroken.