zigpal- thanks for clapesque review. teehee. And yah- you caught my candy hints. hehe. I thought it would be an interesting way to deal with the future in-laws. haha.

rabidreject- thanks for review and yah- Ripper est back. hehe. Hope you like.

A/N: Okay, so one final part of Crush to come after this and then I'm done with this particular episode. hehe. And then I think it's just one more chapter until the Wedding episode. ooh la la. haha. Read. Enjoy. Review.

"Oh god…" Joyce breathed as she took everything in and Ripper, at the sound of her voice, first noticed she was there and a predatory grin spread across his face.

"Hiya luv," He greeted her in the all-too-familiar working class, London accent as he walked over to her and Joyce immediately felt apprehensive. Last time he had been like this, she had been a 'teenager' also and so the entire thing had simply been thrilling and exciting, but now she was still an adult- except for the way she was talking a lot of time which had given her the scary feeling of not having control over her own mouth- the Ripper persona, even it's early stages, worried her a little. He was, after all, very unpredictable with violent tendencies.

"Rupert," She said in greeting in a wary tone as he came closer to her, until there was hardly any distance between them.

"Ripper…" He corrected her, speaking into her ear in a sexily low tone so uncontrollable tingles rushed through her as she heard the seductive intent in his voice. She hadn't been exaggerating when she had owned up to Xander before about what had been bugging her lately and as he wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her immediately to him so all distance between them was closed and she let out a little 'oh!' in surprise, she realized that all those problems could be solved right now with how eager Ripper seemed to be. Suddenly, his lips were on hers, the kiss possessive and showed he was in control of the entire thing, his movements rough and careless as he plundered her mouth. And despite not being a teenager herself, she felt the pleasure of that familiar thrill arise. It seemed too long since Giles had been able to pay this sort of attention to her- the situation with Glory taking up so much time- and now she enjoyed every second of it, subconsciously wrapping her arms around him. But then it wasn't really Giles was it? Well, it was…. but not quite. He was his teenage self…. while she was still an adult (more-or-less)…which meant in essence she was kissing a teenager. Which was wrong, so very wrong she realized and she pulled away from the embrace.

"Now erm…" She said, sounding a little distracted as she tried to ignore the lingering feel of his lips on hers, "Now erm…that was uh…. nice, yes," She told him, as she slowly started to head into the living room to check on the other 'adults', "But now I'm-" He wasn't impressed with her breaking the kiss, or her starting to move away now and in one swift movement he grabbed her wrist and pinned it to the hall wall with his hand, "-staying right here apparently," Joyce finished as she glanced at her trapped hand and then at Ripper in front of her.

"Don't do that again," He warned her, but rather than be offended by the command she actually found it quite the turn-on. She had to snap out of this.

"Rupert," She began as she started to push him away slightly with her one free hand, "I- this isn't really a good- oh!" She let out another involuntary 'oh!' of surprise yet again as he used his other hand to pin her left hand parallel to her right against the wall above her. She sighed in slight frustration as she realized Ripper clearly didn't like being reasoned with and apparently had a took-what-he-wanted policy. She glanced up at her hands being pinned to the wall by his own before looking into his eyes as she spoke to him directly.

"You realize this like compromises the whole free will thi-" She was cut off by him kissing her roughly again, just as Buffy and her friends walked in- Anya now apparently in tow.

Buffy truly didn't know what to expect when she entered her house, except that to expect a houseful of adults who were for now, teenagers she had to expect the unexpected. However, she still hadn't expected to walk into the hall to see her Mom pinned tightly to the wall by Giles at the wrists as he kissed her. Apparently this meant her Mom had completely teened out since her phone call. Well, Buffy thought, as she looked at the two of them, at least her Mom wasn't wearing a mini skirt…though Giles' ensemble was now freakily familiar.

"It's like reliving a bad memory," Willow commented lightly as she took everything in.

"Welcome back to High School, I hope you enjoy your stay…." Xander said, apparently slowly loosing the will to live as he caught sight of Joyce's Mom and Giles' Dad.

"This is interesting," Anya, commented looking at everyone with curiosity, just as Ripper broke his kiss with Joyce for just a moment and Buffy's Mom caught sight of them.

"Oh hi guys…" She said casually as though she weren't pinned to a wall, only the slightly less-than-casual tone to her voice gave that fact away, "Buffy?" She gestured at Ripper with a slight nod of the head, "Little help?"

Buffy rolled her eyes and walked over to re-enact a scene from two years ago as she pulled Ripper away from her Mom.

"Oi!" Ripper automatically protested, while Joyce merely dropped her hands down beside her, rubbing her wrists slightly.

"Mom?" Buffy asked, as she kept Ripper away from her easily, with just one hand, "Are you okay?"

"What? I'm fine…. he's just a little…." She looked at Ripper, "Persistent"

"I mean, are you still- all adulthoodish?" Buffy asked.

"No," Joyce said her tone completely sarcastic, "That why I just answered your first question how I did." She rolled her eyes, "Jeez." She then paused to look at Buffy, "I'm an adult most of the time anyway…" She corrected, giving her an apologetic shrug for the previous overly sarcastic comment, "But these really aren't," She told her daughter as she led Buffy and her friends into the living room. Where Arlene and Harvey were making with the uber smoochies. "Oh my god!" Joyce exclaimed in shock at her sister, heading over and pulling her sister away from him. "What on earth do you think you're doing?

"Hey," Arlene complained, "Do I pull you away from your boyfriends? No."

"He's not your boyfriend," Joyce argued, "You have a husband"

"Oh come on, he's totally lame." Arlene rolled her eyes, "Like I would be seen dead with him." And with that she went back to making out with Harvey and Joyce turned to Buffy with a look of helpless disbelief.

"See?" Buffy said knowingly, "See what I had to go through in senior year?"

"It's really odd, isn't it?" Tara commented as she took it all in, "I mean they all look like themselves…but they're acting so different" She cast a nervous glance at Ripper, "And he's kinda scaring me…wouldn't a teenage Giles just be Giles but…teenagery?"

"Oh how many before you have had that misconception," Xander said sympathetically putting an arm round Tara in a guru-friendly way as he explained to her the story of Ripper- the cliffsnotes version. Buffy didn't have the option of adding in any information and helping Xander with the explaining as her eyes suddenly fell on Grace and Edward.

"Grandma!" Buffy exclaimed in utter disgust at the way the two of them were so very much all over each other.

"What? Huh?" Grace asked, looking over in Buffy's direction, squinting slightly as though she couldn't quite focus, "Hey Buffy." She grinned before looking at Edward, "its Buffy," She told him, before looking back at her granddaughter as she held up the empty bottle of wine- one of many, "You got any more o'this? We're out."

"Oh my god…are you drunk?" Buffy asked in disbelief, just thinking to herself how glad she was that her Mom hadn't totally regressed this time, "I don't believe this"

"This is just totally gross…" Joyce said simply as she looked at her Mother and then at her couldn't-care-less sulking teenager of a Father. Willow patted her on the shoulder sympathetically.

"We've gotta figure out how this happened," Buffy said to them all as Joyce flopped on the sofa, choosing to no longer look at everything around her, afraid she'd catch sight of her Mother or sister again. She glanced to the side and saw half a piece of chocolate cake left. Whose it was she didn't know, but right now she didn't care. She needed a little pick-me-up after that little sight. "And why Mom is only a little affected"

"Wait," Tara stopped Buffy in her planning tracks as she looked around the room, "Where are Dawn and Ted?"

"Oh god…" Buffy said, looking around in panic, "I hope…. right erm…" She pointed to Anya and Xander, "You two check the back garden and the kitchen. Willow? Tara? You two check the upstairs rooms. I'll look in the rest of the rooms and check outside and that." She looked to her Mom and saw Ripper heading over to her again. Her Mom seemed to employ an ignore policy on his actions as she carried on eating the remaining piece of cake, "Mom? You stay here and make sure Giles doesn't do anything too stupidly Ripperish."

"Sure," Joyce told her casually, not seeming too bothered that Dawn was missing.

As the group all set off in separate directions, Buffy saw Jac slipping on a The Donnas CD onto the stereo. She was merely thankful that the teenage Watcher had at least opted to put on some good CDs.

"Dawn? Ted?" Tara called as she and Willow walked along the landing and two fourteen year olds came out of Dawn's room. Willow hoped nothing more than talking had gone on. Like really hoped.

"All the adults are acting rather odd," Ted told the couple and they both nodded in agreement.

"Like band candy odd," Dawn added.

"I know…we're…uh…. we're working on it," Willow told her, but she didn't sound very convincing.

"But your Mom's pretty much normal though," Tara added.

"Really?" Dawn asked, true hope and relief in her eyes.

"Yeah," Willow confirmed before looking at Ted, "Yours is very much gone though"

"Found the Dawnster," Willow announced as the four of them came down the stairs and she saw Buffy stood, frozen, as she looked on at something happening in the living room, The Donnas album a running soundtrack. "What's the matter?"

"I left," Buffy said simply, "And when I came back, everything had changed" She pointed out what she was looking at and Willow turned to see Joyce looking way more relaxed around Ripper than she was before. In fact as she chewed gum- it's bright pink color revealing it to be from one of Dawn's packs- Ripper had his arm tightly around her waist and she was leaning into him like…well, like a lovesick teenager. It seemed Joyce had joined the regression ranks although she hadn't altered her clothes like the rest, the black trouser-jeans apparently being doable for teenage Joyce, although her blouse had been unbuttoned a little lower and she now pulled away from Ripper temporarily to sort her hair out in the mirror.

"I thought you said Mom was okay…" Dawn said worriedly.

"She was…." Willow replied weakly, not understanding either.

"This is just too much…" Buffy said, looking around, "There's just too many of them…"

"Hey-hey, what's going on?" Xander asked as he and Anya returned. He was looking in the direction of Joyce, who was not as bad as the rest of them while she styled her hair and popped gum, she kept grinning girlily in the direction of Ripper.

"Do you think it's a spell?" Anya supposed, "I mean you said it was a spell on the candy last time…so maybe this time it's just a spell"

"Maybe…" Willow agreed before looking at Buffy, "Do you think Ethan's back in town?"

"No, he wouldn't dare come back after the last few…." Buffy trailed off as a memory came to her.

"Okay all three of us are unhappy about our non-choice. One thing is for sure though- if anything goes wrong I will personally kill Ethan myself," She paused for a moment, "Where is Ethan? He said he was just going to fill the bowl thingy with water."

Instantly suspicious, Buffy left her Mom and Giles stood in the living room as she walked quietly toward the kitchen. She walked slowly in not knowing whether she expected Ethan to still be there or not. He was though. Stood in front of the fridge, with the door open and leaning in.

"What are you doing?" She asked abruptly and in shock at hearing her voice he jumped and hit his head on the top of the fridge. "I thought you came to get water"

The chocolate bars that Buffy had seen in the fridge…. Buffy looked over at the empty plate that had once held the cake slice her Mom had just devoured- her Mom now a teenager herself…the chocolate bars had been used to make the cake…Ethan looking in the fridge…he was behind the original band candy…oh god. She turned to Tara.

"Where did you put the wrappers?" She asked her, "The wrappers for the chocolate you used for the cake?"

"Erm…on the side…" Tara said, unsure why Buffy was asking her this, "On the kitchen side"

Tara had barely finished speaking before Buffy ran off into the kitchen and at a loss of what else to do the others followed.

Buffy dashed over to the side where she saw the screwed up piece of chocolate wrapping. Unfortunately she found it just to be silver foil, as if the outer wrapping had been ripped off. Then she found it. It was only small. No wider than one and a half inches in diameter, but it was enough. It was purple and there was the edge of a simple font cut off. Buffy would bet the farm it said 'milkbar' and further advised the buyer to support the school band.

"That son of a!" Buffy exclaimed, screwing up the paper once more and throwing it aside.

"What?" Xander asked, non-plussed.

"Ethan!" Buffy exclaimed in explanation.

"Ethan?" Xander repeated.

"When he came here, a few months ago…you know when-" Buffy didn't finish what she was saying but the group knew what she was talking about, "He must have put those candy bars in the fridge and…" Suddenly, she thought back to Christmas with the improvised dessert her Mom had made with the very same bars. Her Mom and Giles had got…. well, pretty frisky then…oh god. And the rest of them…Willow giggling girlishly at Xander, Xander being clown-like, she had been completely grossed by her Mom and Giles…. just as if they were sixteen again. Crap- the bars now worked on them as well? Well, it would make sense…they weren't teenagers anymore…but still…. in one word…crap. "They've all been band candied up." Buffy told them all, choosing not to share her revelation over Christmas- the fact that she could now be affected by the band candy made her feel vulnerable and also…old. Damn, what not-being-a-teenager could do to you. "Mom must have had a little of the cake before going to gallery so she was slightly teened…then when she had the rest of that cake slice just now…damn!"

"How do we make it stop?" Tara asked, looking around at Willow, Xander and Buffy for answers, "I mean, how do we change them back?"

"We don't," Willow replied, "I mean we didn't last time. It just like gradually wore off…different times depending on how much they had eaten"

"But with it being baked in we don't know how long this'll make the effects last," Buffy reasoned, "We need to figure out like some kind of reversal spell"

"Mum," Ted said simply and everyone looked at him with a frown.

"Huh?" Buffy asked.

"Ted, what'd you mean?" Dawn asked him and he began to explain,

"Mum, she's very adept at reversal spells. It's her speciality."

"But she's a teenager now," Anya said to him, "Which I've heard isn't going to make her the most co-operative"

"Well, Mum always wanted to be a Watcher for forever right? So even as a teenager she'd-"

"She'd still be eager to x-file it," Xander finished with relief, "Let's get to your Mom."

"I'm bored," Joyce whined, looking around at the scene around her. It was bad enough that her Mom was totally grossing her out, but her sister was seriously annoying her, "Can't we go to The Bronze?" She asked Ripper as she popped a bright pink bubble, her hand slipping in his.

"The Bronze?" Ripper scoffed, "Not bloody likely"

Joyce rolled her eyes at him. What the hell was his problem with The Bronze? It was a good enough place to go.

"Fine. Whatever," She told him, taking her hand out of his, "Well I'm goin' anyway" She started to walk off but he grabbed her hand roughly and she stopped in her tracks.

"You're not going anywhere," He told her.

"Gonna stop me are you?" She challenged him, "How? Gonna pin me to the wall again?"

"Maybe…" He reasoned, stepping closer, "But I thought we were gonna go out and find some fun"

She grinned at him and he returned it, but the smile soon faded from his face when Peter walked over to him.

"Hey," He greeted Joyce with a leer.

"Hey…" Joyce said slowly in return, but had a very unimpressed expression on her face as she looked at him.

"How about you find some fun with me…?" He asked her, clearly having listened to her and Ripper's conversation.

"Ew…no…" Was all Joyce said in reply, but as Peter went to protest she was nudged aside as Ripper stepped towards Peter threateningly.

"Back off," He told him, "From my girl."

"How about no?" Peter challenged, "And who's saying she's your girl?"

"I do," Ripper replied simply, but the threat in his voice was clear.

"Whatever London," Peter replied, sounding very much the non-afraid as he pushed past Ripper and turned on the 'charm' as he walked over to Joyce.

"You're not gonna make that move, mate," Ripper told him, pulling Peter away again as Joyce watched the two expectantly, slight concern her eyes.

"Wanna bet?" Peter stupidly challenged just as Buffy and the others rushed into the room. In one swift move Ripper knocked him back with one fist and knocked him out with the other.

"Giles!!" Buffy shouted at him in shock, heading over to look at her unconscious Uncle. "You can't do that"

"Sod off, sure I can," Ripper protested as he turned back to look at Joyce.

"That was so cool…" She smiled at him, but Buffy shook her head.

"No- not cool Mom. He just knocked out your brother-in-law"

"Yeah," Joyce said as though she had taken what Buffy had said on board, but it was so very clear that she hadn't, "Erm, we're outta here"

"Oh no, no, no you're not." Buffy protested, grabbing both their arms, "You need to stay here until we sort this all out,"

"Screw you," Joyce replied with a scowl, not impressed that Buffy was essentially trying to ground them both,

"Mom…" Buffy's voice was more exasperated than shocked, unlike the first time her Mom had said those words to her a few years ago, "Just-"

"I wanna go out. We wanna go out," Joyce interrupted her, "It's boring here"

"No," Buffy said in a firm tone that made her friends jump slightly, "You're not going anywhere." Joyce went to interrupt but Buffy carried on talking, mildly aware that she was channelling her Mother's adult self, "Until this has been sorted out, you are not to leave this house. You are not to go out with Giles under any circumstances unless I tell you."

"Oh my god," Joyce complained, "Care to throw in a little foot-binding? I can't believe you're doing this to me. You go out whenever you want and we can't do anything about it-"

"I can't believe I'm going to say this," Buffy interrupted her Mother's teenage rant, "But both of you…go to your room." She paused in thought for a moment, "I realize I can't stop any of your actions in that room, but you are not to leave it except when we call you down or you need to go to the bathroom. Now go."

Knowing Buffy's slayer strength gave her an edge over them, both Joyce and Ripper sulked silently- Ripper trying to keep an essence of cool about it- as they headed up the stairs.

"How long is she gonna be grounded?" Someone asked Buffy in a peppy voice and she turned around to see her Aunt Arlene stood there, Harvey behind her.

"She's not grounded," Buffy replied patiently.

"Sure looked like she was grounded,"

"Well, she's not. Now please just go over there," Buffy asked her, pointing to the empty sofa and both Harvey and Arlene headed over to the seat together without complaint. At least some of these teenagers were easier to deal with. As she walked over to Jacqueline with the others, she hoped Giles' sister was the same.

"You do realize how much you sounded scarily like Mom just then?" Dawn asked Buffy as they walked over to Jac, "Like tone of voice and everything?"

"No, and if you know what's good for you, you won't either," Buffy replied good-naturedly, but just in case Dawn made a note not to mention the similarity again.

"Jac?" Buffy interrupted the woman filing her nails and she looked up at her with an expression of pure boredom.

"What?" She asked impatiently and Buffy sighed. It was going to be a long night.

She still had the black jeans and high-heeled sandals on, but Joyce had swapped her shirt for a sea-blue spaghetti strap top, which from the look in his eyes, Ripper was very impressed with. She checked her hair one last time, the side curls pinned back, as Ripper opened the sash window of their bedroom.

He climbed through so he was stood on the trellis along the sidewall and gestured for her to come along after him and she hurriedly did, a giggle starting to tickle her throat. Just as she got her first leg over the window side she heard her sister's voice.

"You know you're not meant to be going out"

Joyce rolled her eyes.

"So?"

"So…you're meant to stay in."

"And yet again, I say 'so?'" Joyce replied.

"If you go out now…I'll tell." Arlene said, sounding, in Joyce's opinion, pathetic, "He's bad news" She pointed at Ripper.

"Whatever," Joyce said impatiently, swinging her other leg over the window so she was now completely on the outside of the house, her hands on the window sill as she looked over at her sister, "Fine. Go. Go tell. Do whatever you want just go away." And with that she climbed down the rest of the trellis after Ripper, landing neatly on the ground beside him. The moment she did he easily slipped his arm around her casually and she fell into step with him as they walked off together.

"What do you mean 'no'?" Willow questioned Jacqueline carefully.

"I mean I don't want to help…with spells. I'm so fed up of all this bloody abracadabra," Jac replied as she shoved the notebook she had been given by Willow to write down spell ideas into Buffy's hands, "I'm not doing research, I'm not doing spells. I'm not doing Magick"

"Fabulous…" Buffy drawled, looking at the rest of them pointedly before her eyes landed on Ted, "so much for your 'Mom always wanted to be a Watcher' theory"

"Well, that is what she told me," Ted pointed out and Xander looked at him sympathetically.

"Ted, Ted, Ted, my friend," He smiled at him briefly before getting a serious face, "Parents lie."

"So with Watcher gal pulling a rebellion it looks like it's down to you and Tara, Will. You've gotta figure out a reversal spell"

"We're on it," Willow told her, before heading off with Tara to begin the researching.

"Can't we just wait for it to wear off like last time?" Dawn asked.

"No…well, I don't wanna risk it," Buffy replied, "It's like I said in the kitchen Dawn, rather than just being eaten, it's been baked into something-the cake- so we don't know what effect it'll have on the length of time the affects last"

"Buffy!" Arlene sing-songed as she bounded down the stairs to join Harvey and then walk over to her niece.

"What?" Buffy turned to look at her.

"Joyce and Rupert are gone," She said simply not without some happy in the fact she was grassing up her sister. No wonder her Mom had told Buffy how much Arlene used to annoy her when they were kids.

"They're gone?" Buffy repeated incredulously and Arlene nodded.

"Out the window." She informed her, "like whoosh"

"Whoosh?" Buffy repeated before looking at her friends with a look of complete disbelief, "They climbed out their bedroom window! They climbed out…. I've gotta go find them"

Spike shook the shards of glass off his duster as he looked around the empty butcher's. He was absolutely starved and he knew there must be stored pig's blood around here. Unfortunately the alarm was ringing loudly so he needed to find it fast before anyone came along to see what was going on. With the blasted chip in his head it wasn't like he could fight them off. He turned around briefly to look outside the broken window, checking no one had already called the cops, to see a sight that made him do a double take. The Watcher wearing something quite unlike his usual suit attire- though as he'd heard Buffy say not too long ago, he had long left behind the tweed almost ever since he had begun dating her Mom- jeans, white t-shirt, leather jacket and also, apparently and shockingly, smoking. Basically looking like, if Spike didn't know him for who he really was, Spike's type of mate. And on his arm? Even though her hair was so very differently styled from normal- combed to perfection and clipped back to one side in a very 70s style- and she was popping gum childishly as she walked alongside Giles, it was still very evident to Spike who she was; Joyce. But why did the two of them look so different? As he went to take a closer look, his foot hit the edge of the glass cabinet in the store and the sound reverberated over the alarm, causing the couple to actually look over, the alarm apparently having no effect on them.

"Look, Watcher," Spike held his hands up in surrender as he walked over to them, "I'm not doing much wrong am I? Just looking for a bit of blood. Vamp's gotta feed himself aanhe?"

Spike frowned in confusion, as Giles just looked him as though he couldn't care less and was in fact wondering why the vampire was telling him this at all.

"Do I look like I bloody care Spike?" He asked in, to Spike's surprise, a course accent similar to his own, "Sod off"

"Just sayin…" Spike replied, sounding very confused, "What's up with you anyway?"

"Spike!" Joyce exclaimed, as she finally looked over and caught sight of him properly. She smiled at him in a girly way as she casually twirled and stretched out a string of the gum in her mouth, "Whatcha doin'?"

"Robbin' a butcher's what's it look like?" Spike replied, before scrutinising her in more of a way of concern than confusion. He'd always liked Joyce and she was acting weird enough for him to be worried. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Joyce automatically told him, sounding more on the defence than anything, before she smiled with intrigue yet again, "So robbing a store huh?" She asked, peering past him, but not moving away from Giles' arm draped around her.

"Yeah," Spike nodded carefully, wondering whether it would be safe to leave these two even for a moment to find Buffy.

"That is wicked cool," She told him and Spike decided there and then that it wasn't safe. He stepped towards Joyce, going to check she was okay, but was stopped by Giles pushing him back harshly. Harsh enough that Spike fell back a bit and he looked at the watcher in surprise.

"Ripper be careful," Joyce told Giles, looking at Spike with attracted concern and Spike frowned. Joyce was giving him the eye and who the hell was Ripper? The name ringed a bell to Spike and not just as in 'Jack the', either way the bell that was ringing for Spike was definitely a warning one and he watched Ripper carefully as he spoke again.

"Hey, watch who you're pushing Watcher," He warned.

"Or what?" Ripper challenged letting go of Joyce as he dropped his cigarette to step toward Spike threateningly and Spike became aware that the Watcher was actually taller than him. "You'll mime me to death? Piss off you little poncy"

"Well, I'll-" Spike stopped mid-threat as he took in the entire situation with a frown. Giles or 'Ripper' according to Joyce, was threatening him in a working class accent so very different from his usual librarian stutter and Buffy's Mom was popping gum childishly while not only being actively smitten with Ripper but was also actively checking out Spike himself as she walked over to him and Spike stepped back a little. The whole thing was completely…. freaky. "What the hell is wrong with you two?"

"They're teenagers," A fourth voice said in answer and Spike turned to see Buffy running up the street toward them and both Joyce and Ripper rolled their eyes at her and started to walk off in the opposite direction. "Oh no!" Buffy exclaimed, speeding up a little to run in front of the couple. "No you don't. I thought I told you two to stay in your room?"

"What?" Spike laughed in disbelief.

"You did," Joyce admitted without argument.

"And you deliberately went against what I said," Buffy concluded and Joyce shrugged as though she really didn't care.

"So what? You never ever did what I told you too. You still don't."

"Mom I…right I'm not arguing." Buffy decided, "We're going home," And she pushed them in the opposite direction and they reluctantly began to walk that way. Joyce briefly stopped to look at Buffy hopefully.

"Is Spike coming?" She asked and Spike instantly shook his head.

"Oh no Slayer, this once I think I'm gonna stay put-" The sound of police sirens coming nearer and nearer were heard and Spike ran over to the group, "But it's better than facing Sunnydale's finest with a chip in my head" He walked in step beside them much to Joyce's pleasure.

"Hey- are you looking at him?" Ripper asked her.

"I'm allowed to look aren't I?" She challenged and he suddenly stopped walking stopping Buffy and Spike behind them in their tracks also. He grabbed Joyce's chin in his hands, forcefully turning him to look at her. "Hey!" She exclaimed sounding unimpressed.

"No," He told her firmly and she tried to tug out of his hands but he tightened his grip on her.

"You little- you're so frickin' full of yourself always-" She was cut off by him kissing her and she soon wrapped her arms around him and he did the same to her. Buffy rolled her eyes at Spike.

"This is what they're like you know? As teens. Arguing, kissing, arguing, kissing. It's ridiculous"

"You are going to have to explain all this to me later," Spike told her, trying to ignore the fact that Joyce and Ripper were rushing off to third base in front of them in the middle of the street, "Leave no details unsaid."

"You know, since this teenager thing set in Granddad hasn't said one word," Dawn said to Xander thoughtfully as she, Xander, Anya and Ted were on adult watch.

"I know, he seems highly depressed," Anya commented lightly.

"Maybe that's the type of teen he was," Xander said thoughtfully, "Those sulky always-quiet kinds."

"Yes, it's uh weird seeing them all…as they were in a way," Ted thought aloud as he looked at the adults around, "Mum…as she is…"

"Not giving a damn about anything except her nails and Buffy's CD collection?" Dawn filled in.

"Yeah…but Dad is so…. outgoing and-" Ted frowned as he watched his Dad being all over Dawn's Aunt, "that is just something I can't understand"

"Well, as teenagers they would have got it on," Dawn said, "They'll probably just repress when they grow up to their normal selves"

"Ah yes," Xander sounded nostalgic, "The art of selective memory"

"But Giles' Dad seems pretty much the same…." Dawn said, "Except for the fact he seems quiet smug and pleased by the attention Drunk Grandma's paying him- which, hello? Gross"

"Well, maybe he's always been an uptight moron," Xander proposed before looking at Ted, "No offence"

"And we can't really say how Uncle Peter acts…" Dawn looked down at her Uncle on the floor, "Because well…Giles knocked him out"

"That's gonna cause some problems," Anya said what everyone was thinking just as Buffy walked back into the house with Spike, shoving Joyce and Ripper in front of them.

"Found them" Buffy announced, taking her Mom's hand, "Mom, you're gonna help Tara and Will in the kitchen…come on"

As she dragged her off, Ripper went to follow.

"Hey, what the hell are you doin eh? You leave her alone" Spike grabbed him back, stopping him walking off after Buffy. Vampire strength being stronger than Ripper.

"What's say you and me have a chat eh?" Spike proposed, very interested in this side of Giles he never really knew existed- except for that one time a couple of years ago when he'd set fire to his and Dru's house and almost beat the crap out of Angel. Oh yeah, good times.

"What can I do?" Joyce asked Willow and Tara casually as she sat up on the kitchen side, legs swinging impatiently. "I though I was gonna help"

"You are helping." Willow told her, "You're holding the spell book with the list of ingredients in."

"But I don't wanna do that," Joyce protested as she grimaced at the book, "It's old and musty and I'm getting this weird old book gunk on my hands. Can't I do what your doin?"

"No!" Willow told her in a harsher tone than she meant to. It was just Joyce's constant complaints and questions were driving her insane.

"Jeez, fine," Joyce rolled her eyes, "You don't have to get all extreme about it…I was just sayin'"

"Well, don't," Willow, told her, "I have to focus on the spell."

"Erm," Tara turned around to look at Joyce before gesturing at the herbs she was handling, "You can help me here Joyce. We just need to grind all these herbs before we can put them in as part of the spell. You can help with that…if you want"

Happy with this suggestion, Joyce jumped off the side and headed over, looking over the herbs with causal interest.

"So, what do I have to do?" She asked Tara, but threw a dirty look in Willow's direction that, considering the circumstances, made Tara laugh.

"Right," Buffy said as she came into the living room, "Willow and Tara say they think they've got a spell they can use and they're almost done,"

"Thank god," Xander said with pure relief.

"Why the sudden needage?" Buffy asked, "I mean beside the obvious"

"Them two," Xander replied pointing at the window, where outside Spike and Ripper were stood, both smoking and both apparently getting on very well, "doing the male bonding thing. It's NOT RIGHT"

"Oh…my…god," Buffy breathed, feeling horrified, "Whole world…dissolving…now…"

Suddenly the 'adults' all around them paused in what they were doing, looking at one another in confusion.

"What the hell are you doing?" Arlene asked, pushing Harvey away, "I'm a married woman- what the- get off me!" She shoved the confused Brit away.

"What am I doing?" He asked, "You came onto me!"

Grace and Edward froze in the middle of their ministrations and a now adult Mike caught sight of the two of them, anger in his eyes as he stormed over to the two of them.

Before the group could view how the argument was going to go, Joyce came out of the kitchen with Willow and Tara.

"Where's Rupert?" She asked worriedly and Buffy pointed out the window where Spike and Giles were now arguing instead of bonding. Ah yes, things may be going to hell around them but at least things were back to some semblance of normal.

"Okay…" Jac said slowly, heading over to the group, "What happened?" She asked, casting a concerned glance over at her husband who was arguing with Arlene still.

"A long story," Buffy replied before plastering on a large grin, "Welcome to Sunnydale!"

"But-" Jac paused in whatever she was going to say as she looked around, "Wait, where's Brian?"

Brian frowned as he felt something like a switch going on in his head. He was topless. At a house party. Of a person he didn't know. And he was in the middle of a Tequila Carwash. What the hell was he doing? He was too old for this- what on earth had gotten into him? He tried to escape the numerous beverages and foods being poured on him, but couldn't escape the teens holding him there and moving him along the table.