Jason Barnett- Erm, I'm going to say nothin in reply to that review except that I'm sensing you have some major issues with season 6...

zigpal-ooh yay! A standing ovation. teehee. And yes Joyce is going to be wicked ticked, hehe, but you'll see more of that in the later chapters. thanks for the review.

rabidreject- thanks for review, glad you liked it. And thanks for saying the songs were cute and not...well, crap. haha.

It was an oddly formal scene. Giles and Joyce were sat at the dining room table, sat at adjacent seats to one another.

"So, we both agree that our problems are far from solved," Joyce said into the formal silence, taking a deep breath before she did so.

"Y-yes," Giles nodded.

"I mean just because we sang a few songs, no matter how well sung," She added with a pointed look, "It doesn't just make everything go away"

"No, quite right," Giles agreed again, "But where, exactly, does that leave us?"

Neither had an answer until Joyce finally spoke up.

"Needing space?" She proposed. There it was, out there. Laid out on the table so to speak.

There was silence again as the two contemplated the full meaning of those words.

"What sor-"

"The space in England," Joyce told him before he could even finish his question. She forced herself to smile and focus on the positive, "I mean you'd be able to catch up with friends from there. Ones you haven't seen for years- and we'd definitely have space. But."

"But?" Giles asked.

"But Buffy," Joyce told him, "After everything, with everything we've," She sighed, struggling to say what she was trying to , "After what happened, I don't think it would be right for you to just leave. I mean, she needs you as much as she needs a Watcher right now"

"It wouldn't be permanent though," Giles reasoned, "I would come back"

It was on the tip of Joyce's tongue to ask 'would you though?', but she refrained. Instead, she merely settled for saying-

"True"

"So it's settled then," Giles concluded.

"I guess it is," Joyce nodded in quiet agreement, "When will you...?"

"As soon as possible, I suppose," He answered, "I believe it's for the best"

"Right," Joyce forced another small smile, before looking down at her lap, not looking him in the eye.

"Mom!" Dawn called down loudly from upstairs, completely interrupting the moment, "When's dinner ready?!"

Joyce sighed, clearing restraining her frustration at Dawn's interruption.

"Soon, Dawn," She called back up.

"England?" Buffy asked in disbelief. They were in the training room at the Magic Box, while the rest of the group were waiting in the main part of the store. Giles and Joyce had both decided that they wished to tell Buffy of Giles' move, before anyone else.

"Yes, Buffy," Giles confirmed.

"How can you? Giles, after- after everything that's happened. I need you, I need you here. Please"

"Buffy, I understand how you must feel-"

"No, no you don't," Buffy told him, close to tears, "You can't possibly understand. It's messed up, everything's messed up- I can't do this without you"

"Yes, you can," Giles told her confidently, "Besides which it won't be for too long and your Mother's here of course," He added nodding at Joyce and Buffy seemed to only just remember that she was there also.

"Why are you making him go?" She asked her Mother angrily.

"I'm not making him do anything," Joyce told her calmly, "We both came to this agreement-"

"Yeah," Buffy laughed, but sounded anything but amused, "You both 'decided'. Mom, how could you do this again?"

"Do what- Buffy, what-"

"This!" Buffy exclaimed, "What about Dawn? How do you think she's gonna feel? She wouldn't get out of bed for weeks when you divorced Dad! How can you do this all over again?"

"Buffy, I'm sorry if it seems as though, as though," Joyce faltered with a sigh, unable to express what she wanted to say, "Buffy,you know I, we, don't mean to cause...to make anything worse for you than it already-"

"But you are though," Buffy countered, cutting off, causing Joyce to look down into her lap, unable to look Buffy in the eye. "You two...how can you be so selfish? Don't you realize this effects everyone?"

"Y-yes," Giles told her, wavering a little under Buffy's hurt glare, "But we still believe this is the right thing to do"

"You're wrong," Buffy said firmly, "You're both wrong," Tears glistened in Buffy's eyes as she spoke, "You said you'd always be here"

"I am," Giles told her, "We are"

"No, no you're not," Buffy denied "This isn't time apart. Well it is...but then next it'll be trans-Atlantic divorce and you'll be off in jolly old England riding red double decker buses or whatever the hell it is you do there"

"Buffy-"

"When are you going?" She asked straight-forwardly, anger and hurt in her voice.

"Well, I've...uh, I've already bought the ticket," He admitted and Buffy shook her head in disbelief.

"That eager to get away from us all are you?"

"No, of course-"

"Whatever," She cut him off, before turning on her heel and storming out of the training room.

"So what do we got?" Dawn asked as everyone was gathered in the store. Dawn was leaning against the book case that was adjacent to the round table at which was sat her Mom and Giles and Tara. Buffy was perched on the ladder that led to the second floor and Anya was leant casually on the glass counter.

"Sorry?" Giles asked, confused.

"What kind of oogly-booglies?" Dawn elaborated, "Lizardy types? Or zombies or vampires or what?"

"Dawn,it's...this isn't about anything like that," Joyce told her.

"It isn't?" Now it was Dawn's turn to be confused.

"No,"

Just then, the shop door opened and Willow and Xander walked in. Xander was jacketless and looked slightly chilled, but Will looked decidedly warm in Xander's green letterman-type jacket with Harris written on the front.

"Thanks, it's cold out there," Willow was telling him.

"Not a problem," Xander told her, although he was shivering as he did so, "The cold only makes me stronger and more macho-like"

"Right, I'm glad you're all here," Giles told them, "You see, ah, Joyce and I, have uh something we, uh, we need to tell you"

"I'm gonna guess from the fine tragedy masks you're sporting that it's not something good," Xander guessed.

"No," Joyce confirmed, "You see, as, well, as you might know, recently Rupert and i-"

"Why don't you just jump to the chase?" Buffy asked, cutting her off as she stepped off the ladder. There were angry tears in her eyes, "Tell them that you're-"

Now Buffy was cut off as a slightly smoldering figure burst in through the shop door, slamming it behind him. A moment later he stood up straight as though that were nothing out of the ordinary. It was Spike, but not Spike as everyone knew him. He was wearing a tweedy, brown suit with a terrible matching hat that had, gasp, little ear flaps.

"Spike?" Giles asked, more surprised by his presence there at all than confused at what he was wearing. Joyce, however, was just confused

"Spike, wh...what are you wearing?"

"I uh, this?" Spike said, looking down at his ensemble, "A cover. Disguise and all that. Listen, I need you to give me asylum"

"I'll say," Xander readily agreed, looking at Spike's outfit with an expression that clearly said 'what the f-'

"No need to get cute," Spike told him as he hopped up on the counter next to where Xander was stood, and he took off his cap, ruffling his hair to get rid of the hat-hair effect."It's just a disguise. Thrift-shop number. Happens there's a bloke I'd rather not see just now," He looked over at Buffy, "I believe you've met him. The toothy bloke with the baby seal breath?"

Buffy didn't even respond. Just looked at Spike evenly.

"Alright then," Giles said, "If we've recovered from Spike's sartorial humor..I,we will jump. To the chase."

"Rupert's going back to England," Joyce told them all, "Not forever, but...but for a while at least"

"Just long enough for us to ah, re-evaluate where," He faltered, wondering how to phrase his words, "Just to give us space to see where we, uh, are in this relationship"

"England?" Xander asked, "Things are..." Xander almost seemed to gulp, "Things are that bad between you two?"

The couple didn't answer, which was enough answer for Xander.

"Mom...Giles...you..you c-can't," Dawn told them, so very close to tears.

"Dawn," Joyce said, "I'm so s-"

"I-I can't do this," Buffy suddenly said, walking past them all in the direction of the exit, "I gotta- you guys..."

Willow headed towards her, putting a hand on her which stopped her storming out for a moment.

"Buffy, I...listen, I know this must be awful for you. And I'm sorry, so sorry for what we put you-"

"I'm sorry, everyone's sorry," Buffy said sarcastically, cutting Willow off mid-apology as, after everything, she finally snapped, "And I know you're-" She looked at her Mom and Giles, "Most of you are trying to help me, but it's all too much Will. The memories, they hurt. It's just, it's too much. If you understood how it felt, how it feels now...It's like I'm dying in-" Suddenly Buffy's eyes closed as she fainted and fell to the floor.

"Buffy," Joyce gasped, but barely had time to worry, before she felt blackness enveloping her and she fell down too.

He had his arms around something. He wasn't sure what though. He could also smell apples. No, not apples. A woman's perfume. He opened his eyes, only now registering that he had had them closed, and saw that he was resting at a table and a woman (the wearer of the apple-y perfume he surmised) resting on him. She was still asleep on his chest and he had his arms wrapped around her. So he must know her. So why couldn't he remember her name? Come to think of it, why couldn't he remember his own?

The woman stirred, her eyes fluttering open and she looked around in confusion a moment, before registering that she was lay on someone. She started a bit, before sitting up a little to look at him. Her brown eyes widened beyond belief at the sight, before sitting up completely so she was no longer lay on him at all.

"Are you okay?" He asked her and she seemed to relax a little at the question but not much.

Was she okay? She really didn't know. There were a lot of things she didn't know. Like her name, her age, where she was, why she was asleep on this man, who the hell this man was. Not that she was complaining about waking up next to him, quite the contrary. She looked at the man. She'd guess he was middle-aged, and it wasn't a guess when she concluded he was very attractive. She found herself thinking that good-looking didn't quite cover it. Green eyes looked at her questioningly and she realized she still hadn't told him whether she was okay or not.

"I...uh, I think so. I don't know actually," She decided to just ask, "Erm, who are you?"

"Who am I? Well, I..uh, well you were the one asleep on my chest. Shouldn't you know?"

She found that the sound of his voice was very much a turn on- so she must know him right? Or maybe she just had a thing for British accents. She decided not to focus on the fact that she could recognize accents but didn't even know her own name.

"Uh, no," She replied, "And I-uh-"

"Don't know who you are either?"The man finished and she nodded. "Well, this is decidedly frustrating"

The two looked around and saw they were not alone in what looked to be a shop.

"Argh!" A high pitched scream drew their attention as a man in what looked to be a brown suit fell off the counter where he had been asleep. A blond woman who had been asleep next to the checkout, got up with a start at the sound of the scream, before walking around the counter to help the man up.

There was another couple near the counter, just waking up themselves. One had dark hair and eyes that were just as dark, no older than early twenties and the other was a red-haired woman of the same age.

Also sat at the table was dark blond haired-girl curled up in her chair. When she awoke and saw where she was she looked more embarrassed than confused.

A brunette crouched against a bookcase screamed an even more high-pitched scream than Brown-Suit Guy.

"Wh-who are you people?" She asked nervously and a petite, long-haired blond who had been at the front of the store walked over to her and knelt beside her.

"Hey don't worry," The blond told her but the young brunette was unconvinced.

"Don't hurt me," She begged.

"It's okay," The blond assured her, "I don't know anyone here either"

It seemed no one did. Every single person in the shop shared the same look of complete and utter confusion.

"Okay, who are you freaks?" The dark haired boy asked in pure panic and her attention was drawn away from the two young girls near the bookcase.

"You don't know me?" The red-head asked.

The two soon got into a half-argument over who should know who.

"It's not just you," The man with the British accent and green eyes said, bringing the argument to a halt, "Does anybody remember anything?" He looked around at everyone as he asked the question and felt he already knew the answer. They all looked so confused. The blond who had woken up on his chest didn't looked confused in a panicked way so much as amusingly bemused, as though she were privately trying to come up with a logical explanation for it all. She was evidently failing and she sat down in a seat in deeper thought and confusion.

"No," The bleached blond in the brown suit said from behind the counter.

"Well, perhaps we all got terribly drunk and this is some form of a black out,"

"I-I don't think I drink," The young brunette near the bookcase said.

"And isn't this an odd place to get drunk?" The curly-haired blond reasoned, looking around at their environment.

"Yes, good point," He agreed just as the dark haired boy went into complete panic mode.

"Okay, I'm not panicking, I'm not, I'm not. Stop looking at me like I'm panicking!"

"Take it easy guy," The blond from the front of the store told him, "No one's hurt right? And none of us look hatchet murder-y, so we're probably safe. Here. Where ever here is..."

"Look at the things on these shelves," The red-head said, looking around at the store, "Weird stuff in weird jars and weird books with weird covers like...'magic for beginners'," She looked around at everyone, pleased with the discovery, "Ooh"

"A magic shop," The dark blond who'd woken up curled in a chair, said in awe, "This is a real magic shop"

"Maybe that's it," Front-of-the-store blond reasoned, "maybe something magic happened to us"

"Magic?" The green-eyed man scoffed, "Magic is all balderdash and chicanery. I'm afraid we don't know a blood thing," He paused in thought, "Except I seem to British don't I?" He took off his glasses a moment before putting them back on again, "And a man. With glasses. Well that narrows it down considerably"

"For you maybe, if you can call that narrowing down anyway," The blond who'd woken up on him said, "I mean there's no mirrors in here and...well, I don't know about anyone else but I don't even remember what I look like." As if to prove this point, she glanced down at her self, before trying to look at her own hair. In his point of view, she looked endearingly child-like as she did so. He wanted to tell her that while she didn't know what she looked like, in his opinion she looked very attractive. But he immediately viewed that to be an inappropriate thing to say to a woman he didn't know. Then, of course he may know her very well...he just didn't remember. Instead he settled for saying comforting words. "Don't worry. We'll get our memories back and everything will be right as rain"

"Oh listen to Mary Poppins," The bleached-blond man from behind the counter scoffed, "Got his crust all stiff and upper with that nancy-boy accent. You Englishman are always so-" He paused, taking in his own accent. He frowned, "Bloody hell," He started ticking off words on his hand, "Sodding blimey shagging knickers bollocks- oh no," He looked horrified, "I'm English"

"Welcome to the nancy tribe," 'Mary Poppins' told him and the blond with the curly hair giggled a relieved laugh, as though that one comment had made everything a little less stressful, and he found himself feeling very happy that he was the one that made her laugh.

"You don't suppose..." The bleached blond looked at him in horror, "you don't think we're related do you?"

"There is a ruggedly handsome resemblance," The blond from behind the counter reasoned and both men looked pleased by this compliment, though not pleased by the fact that this made it more likely they were related.

"And you do inspire a particular feeling of familiarity...and disappointment," the older of the two said, "Older brother?"

"No..." The counter-blond said, "I was thinking more-"

But the bleached blond said it first.

"Father," He said in disgust, "God how I must hate you"

"Hey, what'd he do?" the curly-haired woman asked at the same time the man in question asked, "Me? What did I do?"

"Oh there's always something," His son retorted, "And what's with her?" He jabbed a finger at the blond, "I saw you two sleeping together. You probably hardly know her"

"Excuse me, but I don't think anyone knows anyone right now," She defended herself.

"Yes, exactly," His Dad agreed, "And besides we were only resting together"

His son sniffed in distaste.

"Could be worse I s'pose. She could be half ol' Daddy's age"

"Old?" Father and Accompanying Blond both scoffed in synchronization.

"I'm still young enough to get carded," He defended himself, which gave the red head a sudden idea.

"Carded! Driver's Licenses!"

Everyone started looking around in their pockets for some form of identity.

"Look! Me!" The dark haired boy said, holding up his License, "Alexander Harris. Cute picture. Hey! I exist" Alex grinned happily.

"I'm Willow Rosenberg," The red head announced with a giggle, "'Willow'. Funny name"

"I think it's pretty," The dark blond said quietly, smiling at her shyly.

"What'd you get?" Willow asked.

"Erm, Tara. And look, I'm a student at UC Sunnydale,"

"Me too!" Willow exclaimed, "Hey, maybe we're study buddies"

"I don't have a wallet," The young brunette stated sadly.

"Don't worry, me neither," The blond next to her told her, "But look..." She pointed to the nameplate necklace she was wearing, "You're Dawn"

"Or Umad," Dawn giggled, reading her name upside down.

"I'm called, let's see...'Rupert Giles'," The man who seemed to have taken charge said and the blond that had woken up on him, showed him her license.

"That's the same surname as mine. Look, Joyce Giles," She then showed him her ring on her finger and pointed out his, "I think we're married"

Rupert smiled back at her. Yes, he definitely liked the sound of that.

"Oh bugger," His son cursed realizing that moments before he'd insulted his Mom,or at least his stepmom. "Uh...sorry...uh.." What should he call her? Well, sucking up was clearly in order, "Uh, sorry Mum"

"Apology accepted," She smiled as she took Rupert's arm, clearly find comfort in the fact she had found some parts of her identity.

"Hey I'm engaged to someone," The blond for behind the counter announced, holding up her diamond ring for all to see. She then started looking around for something that would tell her who she was and who she was engaged to.

"What do I call you anyway?" Rupert asked his son and he immediately starting looking round for identification. He found none, but he did find a label sewn into his jacket.

"Made with care for 'Randy'." He looked at Rupert in disgust, "'Randy Giles? Why not just call me Horny Giles or Desperate For a Shag Giles? I- I knew there was a reason I hated you"

"Randy's...a family name...undoubtedly," Rupert reasoned, but he sounded unconvinced.

"So, we're married huh?" Joyce smiled up at him, and he couldn't help smiling back.

"Yes, so it would seem.," So it wouldn't be inappropriate if he kissed her. But it also felt like it would. After all, despite what their ID said, he still hardly knew the woman, "It would, ah, explain the waking up together"

"Ooh!" The blond woman at the counter exclaimed, breaking the almost- moment, "I'm Anya! My key fits the lock and I found some forms by the register that say Rupert and Anya own the store" She smiled, "That's me- Anya; shop-owner"

"This is our shop?" Rupert asked in disbelief, glancing around at the store, "Well, that's very progressive of me. You know, it truly is a small mind that fails to acknowledge the, erm, alternatives to our rational, scientific understanding of the universe..." His eyes settled on something that caught his attention, "Oh, fancy herbs!"

"Hey, maybe I'm engaged to you," Anya suggested, pointing at Randy, "Yeah, we met through the shop...what with you being Rupert's son. It does make sense. And I do find you very attractive."

Randy looked very pleased by this fact.

"You're not half-bad yourself," He grinned, "Maybe you're right. Maybe we are engaged"

"Randy..." She smiled, swooning slightly as she walked over to him and took his hand confidently. One thing about this girl, Randy thought, she's not shy. He glanced over at where Dawn, and the girl who had christened herself Joan were hugging.

"You never showed me affection like that," He told his Dad before remembering that he didn't remember, "I'd wager. Bet I had to go to my Mum...Stepmum...whatever for that. I bet you'd have left me out in the cold."

"How can you possibly-" Rupert scoffed in question, but Joan started talking over him.

"We've got to figure out what's going on," She said, "We need help"

"Looks like Joan fancies herself the boss," Randy pointed out, but Joan seemed to choose to ignore him.

"We've got a kid here-"

"A teenager," Dawn immediately corrected.

"A teenager and we have no idea what's wrong with us, I think a hospital's out best bet"

"Yes," Joyce agreed, "It's some sort of amnesia we're all suffering from...I guess. Maybe they'd be able to...fix it?"

"They can at least try and figure out what it was that caused it," Joan reasoned.

"Alright then," Rupert concluded, "Let's head out"

"Any suggestions on how we get there?" Joan asked as they started walking towards the door.

"Dad can drive us," Randy told her, "He's bound to have some classic mid-life crisis transport. Something, red, sporty...shaped like a penis"

For that comment Rupert gave him a steely yet patient glare that only parents can achieve, while Joyce, in full motherhood mode, gave him a quick, harmless clip around the head. Barely touched him, but enough to make him apologize.

"Hey!" Anya protested, rubbing Spike's head affectionately where Joyce had caught him.

Joan opened the door and on the front step stood two...vampires! The entire group screamed in terror, before Joan had the good sense to slam the door shut, and quickly lock it. The group all huddled away from the doorway, below the window, out of sight.

"Did you see what I-" Joan asked and Randy nodded.

"Vampires!" He concluded.

"Maybe it's Halloween," Tara suggested.

"Even it is, those were definitely not kids," Alex reasoned, "And those were definitely not costumes. Randy's right- we've got vampires"

"But that's not possible is it?" Joyce asked, "It's a bit...fantastical. I mean, it's Bram Stoker not actual real life"

"You just saw the evidence out there," Joan told her impatiently, "Those were vampires"

"I just wish it were more Ann Rice than Dracula," Alex gulped.

"Doors!" Willow exclaimed suddenly, "We should check for other doors, make sure they're locked and then put big heavy things in front of them! Come on!"

She grabbed her boyfriend, Alex's hand and the two ran off to check for other doors.

"Monsters are real..." Joan processed slowly, "Did we know this?"

"I don't know," Tara replied, "We n-need our memories back. We need to get to a hospital"

"Speaking as the proprietor of a magic shop, I propose we fight back," Rupert suggested bravely, "We use things here in the shop-magic tricks or whatever they call-"

"Send out Spike!" One of the vampires yelled as they rattled the windows and door.

"They seem to want spikes," Rupert said to the others, but this only confused them further. Then, Randy had a look of recognition in his eyes.

"Oh I saw some..." He rushed off to the counter and grabbed several stakes off there and dropped them in front of the group, " Let's give 'em these"

"But why do they want-" Joyce began but her question was seemingly answered by the vampires outside, before she could even finish.

"Slayer! Come out and play!"

"Slay her," Tara said, wide-eyed, "That's what they said before. They're going to use the spikes to-"

"Slay somebody. A female somebody," Joan concluded before becoming extremely pissed off, "Who do those jerks think they are?"

"Bloodsuckers," Anya explained simply, "That kill. By sucking blood. Take it easy Joan"

"We can't be talking about this," Joyce said, looking around at everyone, "This is crazy. How can we be talking about vampires? As if they exist?"

"Because a few of 'em are outside trying to break in and rip our heads off," Randy explained bluntly as he put some stakes in his inside pocket.

"Guys!" Willow whispered a shout to them as she came back, "There's a trap door in the basement. Seems to lead to the sewer"

"Let's go," Anya said, not leaving room for argument, when suddenly a vamp burst through the window shattering glass everywhere and the group ran out of the way as quickly as possible.

Joyce felt Rupert wrap his arms around her protectively from the glass as they ran away from the invading vampires. She felt comfortable like this. Memories or no, this felt right.

Absolute chaos broke out as the vamps rushed in, trashing the place and grabbing Joan and Randy. While Randy was backed helplessly into a display case, Joan bit her way out of the vampire's grip, before kicking him so hard in the groin he collapsed in pain on the ground. As Joan got her balance back, she instinctively grabbed one of the stakes Randy had dropped on the floor.

"Stay away from Randy!" She ordered the vampire attacking Randy, before staking the vamp in the heart. He turned to dust.

"What did you do?" Willow asked.

"Oh my god," Joyce breathed, "What is going on?"

"I don't know," Joan answered honestly before breaking out in a wide grin, "But it was cool"

"The boss ain't gonna like this," The remaining vampire said, "I'll be back and I won't be alone," And on that note he jumped back out the broken window. Randy immediately went over to the window and door and pulled down the metal security gate. It made them all feel a little bit safer.

"I think I know why Joan's the boss," Joan said in awe, "I'm like a Superhero or something!"

Everyone else returned the same awed look, except for Alex, who instead fell in a dead faint on the floor.

Once they had re-awoken Alex, which fortunately only took a few seconds, Joan fell into strategy mode.

"Okay, I've got a plan" She announced.

"I'm all ears," Alex told her.

"They seem to want Randy. And I seem to be pretty strong. Wicked-strong," She grinned at the thought, "So while you all go through the sewer and find the hospital, Randy and I'll take the monster for a run"

"No," Anya shook her head, holding onto Randy's arm protectively, "He's not going out there. It's a death trap. And I want my fiancée alive thank you very much. He can come with us."

Joan sighed as she saw how adamant Anya was.

"Fine. Whatever. I'll just fight them all off myself," She was pretty sure she could, but still, she preferred her plan to Anya's.

"Perhaps magic can help us," Rupert suggested, "It's worth a shot"

"Well, I'm staying here with you then," Joyce told him, "I'm not leaving you here alone."

"Right," Joan nodded, "You two stay here and do...whatever then. The rest of you- sewers and the hospital." She started to head towards the door, but Joyce grabbed her arm.

"You're seriously going out there alone?"

"Yes," Joan said simply as though she couldn't understand why there was a problem with that plan.

"I know I don't, well, I probably don't even know you, but I can't just let you go out there alone," Joyce told her, sounding extremely concerned for Joan's welfare.

"Yes, you can," Joan told her, "Super strong, remember? Or did you not see the vampire turn to dust"

"That was one vampire. I know you're pretty strong and you could deal with those two, but there's loads more out there- god knows how many and they are deadly serious about killing Randy...and, and you, you can't go out there"

"Don't worry-" Joan had the urge to call this woman 'Mom', but she successfully and rightfully refrained, "I'll be fine. Trust me"

And she ran out the front door, leaving Joyce looking and feeling terribly and mind-numbingly worried for Joan.

"So, I suppose I should start some magic," Rupert said, once everyone but he and Joyce had left the store.

"Do you know how to?" Joyce asked, twirling her necklace nervously as she asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Magic. Do you know how to do it?" She asked again, "I mean, what if you don't and...you say something and another something and before you know it- there's a huge...huge...army of, of-" She struggled round for an example, "Of bunnies" She finished.

"Bunnies?" He asked sceptically as he took a few books that could be of use off the shelves.

"Yes..." She said, not sounding confident at all, "Okay, I agree- that was a ridiculous example, but you do understand what I'm trying to say?"

"Yes," He nodded with a smile,"And I will read everything thoroughly and be very careful," He went to comfort her with a small kiss, it felt like the natural thing to do, but his lack of any memories of this woman made him stop mid-way.

"It would be okay you know," She told him, correctly guessing what he was thinking about, "I mean we are married after all"

"Yes, yes we are," He agreed.

"And maybe it would even trigger some of our memories," She suggested.

They leaned in very close to one another, consciously wary of each other, not entirely sure how to go about the task, it feeling akin to kissing a complete stranger. At the last moment, just before their lips touched, Rupert pulled away and held up the books he had taken off the shelves.

"We'd uh...research is in order I believe," He said, heading off to the round table placed conveniently in the store as though waiting for the researchers and their texts.

"Yes," Joyce sighed, not entirely happy with that decision.

It was a little while later and no success had come of the research, though Rupert did believe he was coming closer to the answer as the information in one book led him to another and another and so on, until, he believed, he would find the information they needed to have their memories returned to them.

Joyce thought that it was either that or it wasn't magical and they should instead, be at the hospital like everyone else. She looked around the store herself, seeing if anything would catch her attention. Something did. A handbag on the counter. She hadn't noticed it before, but she noticed it now.

She walked over to it, and starting pawing through the contents until she came to a leather purse. Opening it up she found some credit cards that bore the same name as on her driver's license. This was her bag! She continued flipping through the contents in the purse- cards, receipts and ooh- a photo. She pulled it out and saw it was picture of Dawn and Joan. Though they looked a few years younger than they had been in the store. They looked to be at a beach somewhere or something. Were they her daughters? She flipped over the photo and saw written on the back 'Dawn and Buffy, San Diego '97. Just after Dawn had too much ice cream. Not pretty'. She laughed silently at her own side note, wishing she could have this memory back. So Dawn and Joan were her children. And Joan was called Buffy, not Joan. Buffy? It was an odd name, but looking at the picture, Joyce thought it suited the girl.

She put the purse and photo down and continued looking through the contents of her bag, trying to remind herself that this wasn't invading privacy since it was her bag. She came across a diary. She immediately started flipping through it, looking for any further helpful information about her life.

There were important dates written down. Dull everyday thing such as when bills had to be paid and dentist appointments, but in the most recent months Joyce noticed three words that kept being written down on very regular dates. Marriage Counseling-Rita. A couple of dates on and it had been abbreviated to M.C or just Rita.

Joyce couldn't believe what she was reading. So much for their happy married lifestyle they thought they had. Apparently they were very not-happy right now. She stopped as another page drew her attention. November 14th had something very shocking written on it. 'Rupert leaving- England'. There were several doodles and question marks around it and the letters had been retraced again and again as though she hadn't been quite comfortable writing the words down and so had had to reaffirm them.

She had to tell Rupert this. Didn't she? Yes, of course she did. It was his life too after all.

"Rupert?" She called, "could you come over here a minute? I've found something"

"About the memory loss?" He asked as he walked over, joining her on the sales clerk side of the counter.

"No. About us," She told him, holding out the diary to him and pointing out the two shocking things that had been written down. "Seems we weren't as happy as we thought we were," She surmised grimly.

A little while later, the two of them were still stood behind the counter, leaning on the glass top as they looked at the diary and at the ticket Rupert had found in his picket. The one-way ticket.

"Things must be...so bad for you to be moving back to England," Joyce said, sadness enveloping her at the thought.

"Apparently so," Rupert agreed, feeling just as sad. He wished he had the memories to tell him where it all went wrong. Then, maybe, he could fix it. Instead they had nothing but...an unwanted and unhelpful clean slate.

"We must have...something must have..." Joyce didn't even know what to say about the situation. The evidence was right there in front of them though. Suddenly a thought struck Joyce, "You don't think we were a green card wedding that tried to make it work?"

Rupert looked completely appalled at the thought.

"No," He instantly said.

"You don't know that," She retorted, but deep down she thought it wasn't true either, "Maybe not," She admitted. Silence fell on the contemplative two again. Then another thought struck Joyce, "Do you think we were in love then?"

"I suppose we were at one point," He reasoned.

"But are...were we now?" She asked him, but before he could answer she carried on talking, "I think...whether we have our memories or not...that being in love...would be something you'd remember. Like a feeling. A feeling memory," She laughed at herself slightly, "I know that phrasing sounding stupid"

"Do you?" He asked her.

"Sound stupid?" She frowned, wondering whether it was him asking questions such as whether she was stupid was one of the reasons behind the marriage counseling.

"No," He smiled at her mistake, "Remember. Have a 'feeling memory'" He smiled again as he used her coined phrase

She thought for a moment, like really thought.

"Yeah," She nodded slowly, leaning in towards him, "Yeah, I think I do."

Their lips met and while at first the kiss was gentle, it was soon demanding of both partners,her mouth crushing his. She was just about to wrap her arms around him when it all came flooding back. The memories. What had happened in their lives. Where they were. Why he was leaving. Everything.

They both stopped kissing for a moment as their memories came back, but, oddly enough, their lips didn't separate. It was only a split-moment, but the decision was made in that second as Joyce wrapped her arms around him as she had initially intended to do before the memories returned, and the two resumed kissing. She felt his heartbeat accelerate as much as her own as the two pressed against one another, their hands exploring what they hadn't for weeks, familiarizing themselves with every contour, every movement, every impulse.

Within moments, as the kiss intensified, becoming hungry and demanding, the two slid down together out of sight of customers (if there had been any) behind the counter, still kissing.

The gang, as they returned to the Magic Shop from the sewers, were very unhappy. Xander was unhappy with Anya for kissing Spike. Spike was unhappy about the suit he was wearing, the fact he had thought he was Giles' son and the fact he didn't know where Buffy was. Willow was unhappy because Tara was leaving her. And everyone was unhappy with Willow.

The walked back into the store at the same Buffy walked in through the door. The doorbell had been knocked off by the vampire attack before and so no ringing sounded when she entered. She looked at the group for a moment and smiled uncomfortably. Yep, they'd all got their memories back. The only question was- where were the remaining two of the group?

"Mom?" Buffy called, walking through the store, "Giles?"

Of all the places Buffy and the others expected the couple to appear from, it wasn't from behind the counter and it wasn't with them clothesless. They stayed knelt down behind the counter so nothing was seen, but still.

"Oh my god!" Xander exclaimed, turning around and squinting his eyes shut real tight as did everyone else except Anya. Knowing his fiancée wouldn't have done the normal thing and looked away he used his spare hand to cover her eyes.

"B-Buffy, uh, Xander," Joyce stuttered in panic as she grabbed one of the ethereal looking covers off the side and threw it quickly over her and Giles. It wasn't cover enough, but it would do for the moment. "You, uh,y-y-you got your memories back then?"

"Yep," Xander replied, not turning around still, "And yet, we somehow managed to keep our clothes on" He retorted.

"Does this mean Giles isn't leaving?" Dawn asked tentatively, also looking in the opposite direction.

"No, he's n-" Joyce sighed, she really couldn't answer while she was having what could only be described as an extreme panic-inducing case of nudity, "Erm, Anya could you...?" She gestured to her clothes that had been thrown just out of reach. Anya, having pushed away Xander's hand, nodded and tossed Joyce her clothes and before he could ask, also threw Giles his.

"Thank you," The both murmured, before hurriedly getting dressed, once Anya had been told by Xander to look away again.

Finally, they were dressed and, now decent, the two stood up from behind the counter, looking rather sheepish at their actions, or rather at being caught.

"Oh thank god," Xander breathed, his voice full of relief as he saw the couple were dressed.

"So..is Giles staying?" Dawn asked again and Joyce and Giles looked at one another a moment.

"Yes, Dawn," Joyce finally said, looking at her daughter, "Yes, he's staying"

"We, uh, both agreed that while we still do have some things to work through, we both know that we want to work through them together" Giles told them.

"Not on different continents," Joyce finished and while most were smiling at this fact, Anya just looked confused.

"When did you suddenly agree to all this? During the shop sex or after?"

Xander looked like he could murder her.

"Nothing like losing all your memories to help you remember why you're here in the first place," Joyce couldn't help grinning at Giles and the two kissed. But while she had been talking about their relationship, the words themselves really reached Buffy as she took them in and thought them over.Nothing like losing all your memories to help you remember why you're here in the first place. "How did we lose our memories anyway?" Joyce asked, after breaking the kiss with Giles, "And how come we have them back?"

The group didn't say anything, but they all looked somberly at Willow. Willow's face was sad, ashamed and looked as though she were awaiting reprimand. But Tara's expression was even worse. Joyce could visibly see the girl's heart breaking at what Willow had done. A moment later, Tara, with one last look at Willow, ran out of the store. Willow went to say something to the rest of the group, but before she could Buffy ran out of the store as well, only out through the training room, rather than the front door. Unable to look at Willow after what she'd done with magic, yet again, Joyce and Giles also headed silently out of the store in the same direction Tara had left. Joyce did want to go after Tara, she just looked so upset, so heartbroken, but right now she needed to be alone. But she'd go see her, see how she's doing, soon. Perhaps tomorrow. But not now.

"Slayer," Spike said, running after Buffy, and only Anya, Xander and Willow were left in the shop.

"Xand," Willow began, but he cut her off.

"I love you Will, no matter what, you know that but...not right now okay? Not right now" And without another word he led Anya out of the store.

And Willow was left stood alone in the darkened shop.