Zigpal- Thanks for the claps and review. hehe. As for the Ethan storyline you'll just have to see how it all turns out...but yes, Riley will be leaving like he did in the series

rabidject- thank you for the complimenttary review- you made me blush! haha

A/N: Sorry it took me longer than normal to update, but having been too well this past week- had a few bad headaches and that, so couldn't really do the typing thing. Feel fine now so here's your Cocorific dosage. Haha.
"I can't believe it would be Ethan," Buffy carried on as she and Giles sat in the living room talking it over quietly, Dawn and Joyce still asleep upstairs, "I mean after what he did last time…"

"Ethan's never been one for learning lessons," Giles told her grimly but Buffy still shook her head in confusion.

"I thought the military had him anyway?" She said, referring to last year when Riley had had him carted away, "How did he get out?"

"Well, that was part of the Initiative," Giles pointed out, "So my best guess would be that when the Initiative closed down so did the detainment and rehabilitation center Ethan was being kept in"

"Stupid government." Buffy grumbled, "So much for rehabilitation. When we find him I'm going to give him my own brand of community service"

"First, we need to find him" Giles pointed out, a plan forming in his mind, "I suggest we get Tara and Willow to do a locator spell."

"Yeah, they are the Wicca girls," Buffy agreed, "What d'we tell Mom?"

"Uh, nothing. For now that is," Giles answered, "We don't know enough yet and I don't want to cause her any further worry"

"Right," Buffy agreed, "Right. Good point. Until we gotta bead on Ethan…right. Right"

"But I think we should at least tell her about Dawn," Giles proposed but Buffy immediately disagreed.

"What? No, she can't. She doesn't need to know"

"Buffy, it's her daughter. She has every right-"

"No, it wouldn't be fair. Not because of Mom, but because of Dawn," Giles stopped arguing as he listened to Buffy's insightful point, "For Mom to know Dawn isn't really hers would not only break my mom's heart but she'd instinctively act odd around her…and that's not fair on Dawn." She looked at Giles, willing him to understand and agree with her, "No one is to know, except you and me"

"But we just helped her move her stuff in a few days ago," Anya whined to the others in Buffy's dorm. She turned to see Buffy stood there looking at her and she plastered on a fake smile, "And it was fun!"

"People help each other out," Giles said from where he was stood in the far corner with Joyce, "It's one of our strange customs"

Anya grunted in detest but carried on packing up various items. Buffy however, couldn't help noticing that Giles wasn't so much packing as stood talking and doing the hand-holding thing with her Mom. There was also gooey-eyes to be witnessed.

"Giles," Buffy interrupted the two of them, "I see you're doing the least amount of helping that can actually be called helping"

"Well, uh…" Giles struggled to excuse himself, "I, uh, saw myself in a more patriarchal type role. Pointing, scowling…"

"And smooching my Mom?" Buffy finished with a chipper smile and Giles shrugged in acceptance.

"Well, uh, y-yes," He admitted and then caught sight of Xander and Riley fighting childishly in the corner. He expected it of Xander, but not Riley. "You two! Stop that!"

"He started it!" Riley argued and Joyce sighed, feigning nostalgia.

"Ah, you are all growing up,"

"He called me a bad name!" Xander said while Riley still had him in a headlock, "I think it was bad. It might've been Latin"

"Stop it you two or your going to break something!" Giles shouted at them, but they continued to fight.

"Or I'll break something," Buffy added with a sugar sweet smile and immediately the two guys broke apart.

"Effective," Joyce commented and Buffy nodded.

"I like to think so,"

"Still can't believe you're giving up this cherry corner suite" Xander commented

"Yeah, just a few days after we moved you in!" Anya was making an attempt to sound cheerful and happy about it, but was failing miserably to do so.

"It's no big," Buffy shrugged, "I mean with Mom not well-"

"I'm fine," Joyce argued, "It was just a little low blood sugar- nothing to worry about Buffy" She seemed to realize something, "That's not the reason you're moving out is it because-"

"No, no," Buffy shook her head denial, catching Giles' eye as they both realized how close she had just come to slipping up, "It's just when that happened, that being small and insignificant of course, it made me realize I wanna spend more time with my family…be at home. With Dawn and everything. You know- more quality sister time with Dawn."

"I'm sure she'll be thrilled," Joyce said sarcastically with a smile. Ever since Buffy had announced her moving back in the other day Dawn had done nothing but complain. Saying that they'd only 'just got rid of her' and how she'd barely survived the summer vacation with her living with them.

"Wait, where is Dawn?" Buffy asked, looking around in panic.

"Oh she just went out with a couple of boxes," Joyce explained, "She'll be back in a-"

"Dawn!" Buffy ignored her Mother as she rushed out into the hall to check where her sister was. "Dawn!"

"Some of your CDs are my CDs," Dawn told her, breezing back into the room without looking at her.

"I know, now fold," Buffy ordered, pointing her in the direction of the sheets. While Dawn sighed and headed towards her assigned task, Buffy walked over to Willow who was stood alone sealing up a cardboard box.

"Willow can I talk to you for a minute?"

Willow looked up at Buffy, panic filling her eyes.

"What? It's not about Tara's birthday? You can still make it right?"

"What?" Buffy asked in confusion, before something clicked in her memory banks about a Bronze party for Tara. She also remembered that she still needed to get her a gift, "No, it's nothing like that it's just…" Buffy looked around, aware that there were others in the room that could overhear their private conversation, "Can I talk to you outside?"

"Yeah, sure…" Willow said sounding worried as Buffy led her out of the room and into the hall. "What is it?"

"It's…you know like I thought something supernatural was hurting my Mom?" Buffy reminded her and Willow nodded.

"Yeah, why? Did you find something?"

"Oh yeah, I found something alright," Buffy nodded grimly, "Ethan"

"What? Huh?" Willow asked in confusion before her eyes widened in shocked understanding, "Wait, Ethan's behind all this?"

"Looks like," Buffy told her, "Giles recognized the spell signature…or whatever it is."

"Oh my god…" Willow breathed. She knew how terrible Ethan was, especially after the events of the previous year, but she didn't think even he could sink this low, "Does your Mom know?"

Buffy shook her head.

"No, we don't wanna worry her until we've found Ethan," Buffy told her, "Which is where you come in. And Tara, I guess"

"What do you want us to do?" Willow asked, ready as ever for the task Buffy was going to set, whatever it was.

"I need you to do a locator spell…"

"So…what'd you get her?" Buffy asked casually as she, Xander and her Mom poured over the books in the Magic Box, looking for anything that could link them to the woman she had had to fight when she saved the monk. She hadn't been too keen on her Mom researching, especially with this spell Ethan had on her, but after hearing how terribly strong the woman was and how close it had come for Buffy, Joyce had insisted that she had to help. She couldn't not, and Buffy, to some extent had understood that.

"Huh?" Xander asked in confusion, wondering what Buffy was talking about.

"Tara," Buffy explained, "You said you'd got her a present already"

"Yeah, that was a tangled web of lies sweetie," Xander informed her smoothly.

"Xander…" Joyce reprimanded and he shrugged shamefully.

"I couldn't think okay? My mind's all blank when it comes to drawing when I think about a gift for Tara. I mean what does she even like?"

"I don't know!" Buffy said in exasperation and Joyce briefly looked at the two in amusement before continuing to look through the books, "I mean, I like Tara"

"Yeah," Xander agreed, "She's super nice"

"Super, super nice," Buffy added with a nod, "But…"

"Yeah, 'but'…" Xander nodded in understanding though neither furthered their explanation.

"So you think they'll be a lot of Wiccas there?" Buffy asked, going for a slight change in subject, "Heavy Wiccan crowd?"

"Well that's sort of her deal," Xander pointed out, "Her and Willow are all Wiccy. Swingin' with the Wiccan lifestyle"

"Which is cool," Buffy commented

"Well yeah…" Xander agreed and Buffy was about to reply when her mother slamming a book closed loudly made her jump.

"Will you two please just get straight to the point you are both trying to make, because you are making me crazy"

"Okay!" Buffy admitted, slamming her head down on the table, "I have no clue what to buy Tara for her birthday," She sat back up to look at her Mom, "I mean I saw this blue sweater in Bloomy's…but I think I want me to have it"

"And you're talking about what exactly?" Giles asked as he walked over from the ladder to the second floor of the store.

"Tara's Birthday." Xander told him, "We're both at an official loss"

"You're in a magic shop and you can't think what Tara would like…" Giles said slowly and they both nodded, "I think you're both profoundly stupid"

"Well we don't really know the kind of things witches…like," Xander admitted, "What are we supposed to get her? One of those cheesy crystal balls?"

"Bloody well better not," Giles told him, "I've already wrapped mine."

"No you haven't," Joyce told him firmly.

"I haven't?" Giles was understandably confused.

"No, we bought her a lovely rose quartz pendant necklace and bracelet from au Naturel"

"We did?"

"Yes"

"Right," Giles accepted just choosing not to question any further as he walked over to the shop counter.

"How come I couldn't come up with something like that?" Buffy pouted childishly and Joyce laughed at her.

"Just stop thinking of her as a witch and more as just a girl" Joyce advised, "That's how I came to a happy medium"

"She has the knowledge of gift giving," Xander acknowledge with a nod of awe, "Share thy wisdom"

"That's all the wisdom you're getting," Joyce told him with a smile as she picked up the book she had been reading and got up to put it back on it's shelf.

"Urgh, this is too much thought," Buffy frowned, but her face cleared when an idea came to her. She turned around in her chair to look over at her Mom, "Hey can I go thirdsies with you and Giles?"

"Aww, poor Buffy…" Joyce said sympathetically as she headed back over to the table, "But no."

"Uh, are all these magic books?" An unfamiliar voice drew them all out of the gift predicament and they looked over to see a young man with blonde hair and a beard.

"Uh, private collection," Giles told him, "Books for sale are over there" He gestured with his cup of coffee. Instead of walking over to the shelf the stranger carried on asking the group questions, heading over to the table they were sat at and started flicking casually through the books.

"So all these books got spells in them?" He asked, "Turn people into frogs, things like that?"

"Yes," Xander agreed, his tone sarcastic, "We're building a race of frog people"

"So, uh, you all witches?" He held up his hands in mock surrender, "Hey don't do a spell on me now"

He was the only one who laughed. The group all just looked at him strangely in silence. Who the hell was this guy?

"Was there something in particular you want?" Giles asked him, getting to the point.

But before he could answer everyone heard the sound of Tara and Willow giggling together as they walked into the store and the blond stranger turned around to look at them.

"Well, whatta ya know?" He grinned and Tara immediately stopped laughing as she laid eyes on him, "What's the matter? You don't have a hug for your big brother?"

"It sounds terrible, I know, but I had never actually considered Tara having family before," Joyce admitted to Giles as she tidied up in the kitchen. The kitchen wasn't exactly messy per se, but it had the potential to be tidier.

"Yes," Giles agreed, "But Tara herself seemed less than pleased to see them"

"Yeah, I know," Joyce, said turning around to look at him, "I mean it's her family…and she acted as though the were bounty hunters who'd finally found her. There's just something not right there…" She bit her lip in concern, "What if they've hurt her?" She asked, her eyes wide in worry, "Before she moved away? Maybe that's why she moved so far…" Another thought hit her, "What if they're hurting her now? While she's alone with them?" She felt incredibly protective of Tara. Well, she did for then entire group- Spike included to a certain extent, but with Tara- she was just so quiet and timid and sweet that Joyce just wanted to take care of her and make sure nothing happened to her. But this was family. She couldn't really intervene when it was Tara's family. More was the pity.

"I'm sure she's fine," Giles said, walking over to assure her, "It's her family. They love her- so what's the worst that could happen?"

Joyce smiled at his words, but silently wished he wouldn't jinx things like that.

"I dislike high shelves," Anya commented as she tried to reach up to the research books on the top shelf in the store. Joyce was also trying to reach the texts and failing also.

"Tell me about it," Joyce rolled her eyes as she stood on the top step of the ladder, yet still couldn't quite reach the books Willow and Giles had said they needed and weren't on the table.

"Don't see why they couldn't get it themselves," Anya grumbled, as she stood on her own stepladder trying to reach, "We're just their slaves"

"Yes, but a paid slave," Joyce encouraged her, referring to the fact she was the only paid employee at the Magic Box. Anya nodded in agreement with a smile.

"Yes, the money does make it better," She frowned, "But it doesn't make the books come off the shelves"

"No…it doesn't…" Joyce agreed with a frown, decided to give up, "Rupert!" Giles looked up from the book he was reading, "Could'ya help us out here a little? Please?"

"Dawn, could you close the door?" Giles asked as he headed over to where Joyce and Anya were struggling. Even though he was heading over to help, they were still attempting to reach the texts themselves. At least this proved Dawn wasn't going to be able to get her hands on the books any time soon.

"I didn't open it," Dawn replied, shutting the door anyway.

"Nearly got it…" Joyce murmured, reaching the corner of the book and Anya watched encouraging her to reach the text when it fell off the shelf and hit Giles on the head. "Ooh!" Joyce winced, "Sorry"

Anya merely smiled, looking from Giles and back to Joyce.

"Do that again."

"No," Joyce told her simply with a slight smile going to step down the ladder. Unfortunately, haven't stretched so far up she no longer quite had her footing and as she went to walk back down the first step she slipped slightly and fell. Luckily though, it wasn't very far as Giles caught her in time, causing Joyce to smile at him and Anya to watch with further interest.

Anya seemed thoughtful for a moment before turning and heading back to the table where Xander was sat.

"You should try that sometimes," She told him.

"Huh?" Xander asked looking confused "Is this one of our conversations that I'm not a part of?"

"That," Anya pointed out where Giles was just placing Joyce back on her own two feet, "The catching thing. It would be romantic- we could make it into a game."

"A game?" Xander gave a nervous laugh in the direction of Willow who was now listening into their conversation. "What do you mean 'a game'?"

"Oh you know…" Anya smiled, "Like those fantasies you like us to play out before sex. There's the one with me in a gold bikini…princess Lala or something to that effect"

"Okay, Anya…" Xander said patiently, glancing to his right to see Willow's reaction. She was watching the two of them in interest, an amused grin on her face, "you're entering the scary share land now. That place we never go in front of friends"

"Would that be the part where she dishes the dirt on your little sex fantasies?" Willow asked, "Or the part where she seems to want to incorporate Giles and Joyce as one of them?"

"Oh I didn't mean that," Anya smiled, "Not exactly anyway…" She added with a shrug but Xander was no longer listening as he stood up.

"No, no more. Either of you, no more talking!" And with that he stomped off to another part of the store.

"Giles!!" Buffy shouting from the training room drew all their attention as they automatically headed slightly in the direction of the room, wondering what the matter was.

Xander reached the door first, but could go no further than that as he felt hands grab him by the shoulders and start pushing him back. He fought against whatever it was, but it was too strong.

"W-what's going on?" Dawn asked sounding worried as she ran over to her Mom and Giles. Both were watching Xander in confusion. Something was fighting- just no one could see what.

"Oh baby, come here sweetie," Joyce pulled Dawn closer to her, putting her arm around her protectively as she looked for a safe place for her to hide. She did not want Dawn getting caught in the invisi-gunfire.

The whatever-it-was had pushed Xander against the table, choking him but Willow knocked it aside by hitting it with a chair that smashed on impact. Upside was Xander could now breathe; the downside was that they still couldn't see the thing.

"Where'd it go?" Anya asked in panic, looking around as she held a crystal ball like a weapon. Her question was answered by Willow being sent flying into a wall.

"Rupert," Joyce said, her voice filled with worry as she looked down at Dawn. It was hard enough protecting her daughter from all the hell beasties her eldest faced, without them being invisible too.

"Uh, under here," Giles said, lifting up the cover of a table so Dawn could crawl underneath to safety. As soon as he did though he was knocked aside by an invisible punch.

"Rupert!" Joyce exclaimed just as Xander shouted 'it's over there!' As she went over to Giles though, she herself was knocked away, sliding across the floor at the same time Anya was knocked into a shelf on the other side of the room. She opened her eyes, having had them squeezed shut as she slid across the room, when she felt herself stop moving and saw she was all the way next to Anya. Xander held his hand out and helped her up.

"I think there's more than one," He concluded.

"Yeah, but how many?" Anya asked, looking around nervously, "I've already been hurt once this month!"

"Shut up!!" They all fell silent when they heard Buffy's command and saw her stood in the middle of the room trying to hear where the demons were since she couldn't see them either.

Joyce took the moment to run over to where Dawn was hid.

"Are you okay sweetheart?"

"Mm-hmm," Dawn nodded weakly, "What is it? Why can't we see them?"

"I don't know…" Joyce answered, "You're sister will sort it out, I'm sure. You are okay though?"

"Yeah, Mom, I'm fine but…"

"But what honey?"

"But I'd like to come out from under the table now"

Joyce looked to see that to her surprise the demons were now visible, Spike was here and Buffy was slaying the last demon. She covered Dawn's eyes just to be sure she didn't see anything. Once she was sure there were no more gruesome sights to be seen she held out her hand to lift Dawn out from under the table.

"What was all that?" She asked as she and Dawn went to stand next to Giles.

"That's exactly what I'd like to know," Buffy said, turning to face Tara, who was crouched on the floor, with a steely glare.

"What in God's name was all that?" Another person asked and Joyce looked up to see Tara's family were back in the store and said Tara looked an emotional wreck as she leant against the counter on the floor.

"I-I'm so s-s-sorry," She stuttered, clearly upset, "I-I was just trying to h-h-hide" Willow, now conscious after her little fly into the wall, came to kneel beside her, "I didn't want you to see what I am"

"Tara, what?" Willow was as understandably confused as everyone else.

"What do you mean 'what you are'?" Buffy asked straightforwardly.

"Demon," Mr MaClay filled in, "The women in our family…have demon in them. Her Mother had it…that's where the magic comes from"

"Just the women? That doesn't make any sense," Joyce thought to herself, relying on the tiny knowledge she had about DNA. She then realized by the way most in the room were looking at her, that she has said the thought out loud, "I-I just meant if it's inherited wouldn't it be on all one side of the family? Not just the women…"

"Evil can not be explained Mrs…." Mr MaClay began.

"Summers," She filled in reluctantly. She didn't like him and wasn't keen on the whole talking-to-him thing.

"Mrs Summers," He carried on, "It runs through the females and that's all we know. We came to take her home before well…before things like this," He pointed to the dead demon on the floor, "Started happening."

"You think this is new?" Buffy asked him.

"You cast a spell on us…to keep us from seeing your demon side…" Giles said to Tara with realization, "That's why we couldn't see our attackers"

"Nearly got us killed," Buffy commented with a grim look, which Tara interpreted as anger and disappointment.

"I'll, I'll go" She said, looking to Buffy, "I'm very sorry."

"What? Wait, what?" Willow grabbed a hold of her arm to stop from leaving, "Go where? I, she, just did a spell that went wrong. It was just a mistake"

"That's not the point," Mr MaClay argued, "And it's not your concern. She belongs with us. We know how to control her…problem"

"Tara…look at me," Willow said both sounding and looking distressed, tears pricking at her eyes as she and Tara made eye contact, "I trusted you more than anyone in my life. Was that all just a lie? Do you wanna leave?"

"It's not your decision young lady," Mr MaClay interrupted impatiently and Willow turned to look at him with a glare.

"I know that!" She turned back to Tara, her expression softened, "Do you wanna leave?"

Tara was in floods of tears, as she shook her head 'no'.

"You're going to do what's right Tara," Mr MaClay stated without a trace of emotion about the fact his daughter was crying her eyes out silently, "And you're coming with us"

"You can't seriously think you're going to take her?" Joyce asked incredulously, "She's falling apart. She doesn't want to go. Doesn't what your own daughter wants count for something to you?"

"I'll ask you to mind the fact that this is none of your concern either," Mr MaClay told her, "Just like her," He gestured to Willow, "You have no right prying into family affairs"

"And I'll ask you to mind what you say," Giles warned him, but the unvoiced threat seemed to go over Mr MaClay's head as he glared around at the entire group.

"Tara belongs with her family. I hope that's clear to the rest of you"

"It is." Buffy agreed. "You want her Mr MaClay? You can go ahead and take her"

"Buffy," Joyce said in shock, not believing what her daughter was agreeing with, but Buffy wasn't finished as she turned to Tara's Dad with her hands on her hips.

"You just gotta go through me"

"What?" Mr MaClay asked in shock.

"You heard me," Buffy told him, her stance making her look very threatening as she gave him a steely glare, "You wanna take Tara out of here against her will? You gotta go through me"

Dawn stepped away from her Mom so she was stood beside her sister, mirroring Buffy's stance.

"And me!"

"Is this a joke?" Mr MaClay asked in disbelief, "I'm not going to be threatened by two little girls"

"You don't wanna mess with us," Dawn warned him.

"She's a hair puller," Buffy informed the MaClays.

"And you're not just messing with two little girls," Giles added as he and Joyce went to stand behind the two teenagers.

"You're dealing with all of us," Xander concluded but Spike ruined the moment.

"Except me"

"Except Spike."

"I don't care what happens," Spike informed Mr MaClay with a slight nod of the head to emphasize the point.

"This is insane," Mr MaClay looked outraged, "You people have no right to interfere with Tara's affairs. We are her blood kin" He glared at them all, "Who the hell are you?"

Buffy took a second to look at her sister stood beside her, her Mom and Giles behind her, Xander and Anya stood together at the cash register and Willow and Tara holding hands beside them. She looked back to Mr MaClay before giving him an honest answer.

"We're family"

"That's to keep you from boozing it up!" Xander joked to Dawn as they all sat together at the Bronze for Tara's birthday party, as Dawn complained about having to have a blue stamp on her hand.

"Yes, because we know how well the non-stamp attitude worked out with my other daughter," Joyce told him with a pointed look and he gulped before giving a weak smile.

"Oh please," Dawn rolled her eyes, "Only losers drink alcohol"

As I can't take my eyes off you began, the group of adults all looked down at their clearly visible cups of alcoholic beverages after taking in Dawn's comment. Dawn was completely oblivious to their reactions as they all placed the cups down on the table silently

"Dance?" Giles asked, holding his hand out to Joyce and she looked at him suspiciously.

"I thought you didn't do dancing," She said.

He didn't answer, but merely held his hand out to her, silently repeating his question to ask her to dance. Smiling and accepting the offer at face value she took his hand and let him lead her onto the dance floor.

The truth was, he still didn't like to dance in large crowds and he still felt awkward but he just…wanted to dance with Joyce he guessed. Ever since Buffy had found out about Ethan's spell on her he'd become more protective of her, hating to have her out of his sight and wanting to spend as much time with her as possible. Take in every moment. He was privately ashamed of himself for being so cheesy.

"This is nice," Joyce told him as they danced to the slow song, "You should give into dance more often," She joked and he smiled, "And no more fainting spells," She added, "So you don't have to worry about having to catch me in the middle of the floor"

"What?" He asked.

"Not needed the tablets all week…no headaches, nothing," She told him, "Guess it must have been blood sugar or stress or whatever…" She trailed off as she decided not to think of all the reason why she fainted in the Magic Box, "Anyway, whatever it was, it's long gone now"

"Yeah…" Giles murmured half-heartedly knowing Joyce was very wrong. The malady was very far from gone.

Buffy was tidying up some of the discarded wrapping paper and putting it in the bin when Giles walked over to her.

"Hey," She greeted him, "Considering the MaClay incident Tara's party was a real success huh?"

"Have they found him yet?"

"Have who found what?" Buffy asked, confused and then she realized what he was talking about, "Oh, they're…Willow says they're on it, haven't quite found anything yet. He's a hard rodent-man to track"

"On it or not Buffy," Giles glanced over at Joyce was laughing during a conversation with Tara across the room, "I can't keep it from her any longer. She needs to know"

Buffy sighed in acceptance as she knew she had no right to decide whether to keep it from her Mom or not anyway. Technically no one had the right but her Mom, but the situation clearly made it difficult to ask her.

"Fine," She agreed, "I guess she does need to know, but you're not to say a word about Dawn," Giles went to say something but Buffy carried on, "I'm deadly serious. She can't know. It'd be too much"

Giles nodded, accepting the condition, though he didn't really need to be told though. He remembered the pain himself of finding out Dawn wasn't real and he didn't want to share that pain with Joyce unless he really, really had to.