zigpal- Thanks for claps, update et al. hehe. And I thought it was Anya's time to shine- she has the potential to be very take chargey and bossy the cow. And well, you'll just have to see how Joyce keeps the Spuffy secret from Rupert.

rabidreject- flatterer. Haha. Thanks so much for all you said. And yes we will be seeing more of the trio, in this chapter in fact. And yes e are moving away from Dark Willow or at least we're moving away from what we saw on the series...and I will reveal no more than that, but I will say there is definitely a big bad this season. Glad you really liked the Lily and Christmas chapters. And you made me blush when you said about my original chapters being 'fantastic'. Made me all ego-boosty worthy and happy. hehe. And well, you're in luck,because after this chapter we have another three original episodes. Which, incidentally feature more of Tara...

"I think I'm supposed to be making breakfast for Dawn and Buffy right about now..." Joyce murmured as she and Giles eventually broke the early morning kiss in the kitchen.

"It's cereal, milk and a bowl," Giles replied, staying close enough to Joyce so that if either went a millimeter forward their lips would lock once again, "I think they can manage that"

"You're...probably right..."Joyce agreed, giving in as she began kissing him again, the two of them enjoying a moment alone together, which if they thought on it, they hadn't had for a long time. "Stop hugging the bump," Joyce murmured through the kiss a moment later.

"What?" Rupert murmured back, before continuing the kiss. Joyce reached her hands down slowly until they were placed on top of Rupert's, where he was, in fact, hugging the steadily growing bump that Lily was gradually revealing herself to be. Rupert smiled through the kiss as he realized he'd been found out. "Oh...I like the bump..." He said simply in defense and Joyce laughed.

"I'm feeling that," She grinned, before taking his hands in hers and placing them around her waist, "But this is comfier" She told him, before kissing him again.

"I'll just get my erm...box of cereal and go..." Buffy told them as she entered the kitchen, causing the two to slowly pull apart.

"Good morning," Joyce smiled at her, taking in Buffy's awake attitude, "Sleep well?"

"Well, my head hit the pillow and then it was wake-up time," Buffy replied, "So I'm going to assume it was restful undisturbed sleepage."

"Oh good," Her Mom acknowledged, before looking around, "Erm...where's Dawn?"

"Still getting ready I think," Buffy replied as she poured out some cereal into a bowl, "Last time I checked she was only on skirt and socks"

"What?" Joyce asked in exasperation, "She's going to be late for school." She headed out of the kitchen to shout for Dawn to hurry up.

The moment she left the kitchen a figure covered in a smoking black blanket entered the room through the back door. The blanket was thrown off to reveal Spike, who immediately smoothed down his hair, tossed the blanket over his arm and attempted to act casual.

"Mornin'" He greeted the two.

"What- what are you doing?" Buffy asked in a panicked voice.

"And here of all places?" Giles asked, exasperated. True, Spike had saved Joyce's life on occasion and for that Giles was eternally grateful, but that didn't mean he actually liked having the vampire around at all hours of the day

"Just taking a stroll," Spike told them, "Found myself in your neck o the woods"

"'Strolling' in daylight is decidedly unhealthy for vampires, yes?" Giles frowned.

"Yeah, well...fact is my lighter's missing," Spike confessed, "Thought I mighta dropped it last time I was here"

"Last time you were here?" Buffy asked and Spike nodded, "Erm maybe. I don't know. I could uh look," She told him, suddenly feeling very conscious of the lighter she had found and slipped in her jeans pocket.

As Giles left the room, for whatever reason, Buffy strongly suspecting the reason at the top of the list being 'getting away from Spike', Buffy was glad she was left alone with Spike so they could well...talk. After what her Mom had told her, suggesting that maybe she did need Spike right now, at least as a friend if nothing else, Buffy felt she really did need to talk to him.

"Pretty flimsy excuse for coming by to see me," She told him.

"Don't flatter yourself, Luv," Spike replied, "Bloody fond of that lighter," She pulled the lighter of her jeans pocket and held it out in front of her, "That lighter in fact"

"Spike, we need to talk," She told him, slipping the lighter back in her pocket before he made a grab for it.

"Talkin's overrated luv," He told her, his voice low as he stepped toward her, "But then you proved that last week didn't you?" He grinned, "New Years has a bit more meaning to it now I think. For me anyway"

"Spike, I'm serious," Buffy told him and he sighed in frustration.

"Everything's gotta be serious for you, hasn't it Slayer? Everything's always about talking things through, considering our actions. Can't you just..." He pressed himself against her so she was backed against the sink, "live in the moment?"

"Spike, I need you," Buffy told him and he grinned a grin that would have made the Cheshire Cat envious, until Buffy said "But not like this" and his grin fell.

"What?" He asked, taking a small step away from her.

"I think..." Buffy sighed, "Spike, you're the only one...the only one who can..at least a little bit...understand what I'm going through and I need you for that. I need you to be my...I can't believe I'm saying this...I need a friend" Her eyes teared up ever so slightly, hardly noticeable, but Spike noticed as she carried on talking, "A friend that isn't Xander or Willow...or any of the others"

Spike was conflicted. He was touched, flattered that Buffy needed him, admitted to needing him in such a way, but he was also frustrated and annoyed because he wanted Buffy as more than just a friend. The remnants of the man he once was that remained inside him wanted to just be there for Buffy, agree to friendship and nothing more, while the demon urged him to just take, to have Buffy as more than a mere confidante simply because that's the way he wanted it.

"Okay..." He reasoned but took an intimate step towards her nonetheless, "But you know 'more' is always here," He murmured and Buffy seemed to relent slightly. "If you change your mind"

"No...Spike..." She protested, "That's when it gets...I don't want things being complicated,"

"They already are luv," He replied, toying with her hair and Buffy grabbed his hand, pushing it away. As she did so however she found herself looking up at Spike and edging forward slightly herself in a way that would clearly lead to lip-locking.

"Spike...no..." She repeated, but her body didn't seem to be agreeing with her thoughts as she continued leaning towards him, him mirroring the action as they leaned in to kiss.

"Just tell me to stop then..." He told her, before his lips were on hers.

"Dawn, where's your bag?" Joyce asked when her daughter finally came down the stairs.

"In my room," She shrugged.

"Well go get it!" Her Mother urged, "Dawn we do not have time for this, this morning. Now hurry upstairs and get your bag- your breakfast's in the kitchen"

Dawn sighed an exaggerated teenage sigh before stomping back up as she did so.

"Sometimes I don't know what to do with her," Joyce told Giles as the two headed back towards the kitchen, Joyce in front. She had taken one step into the kitchen when she caught a glimpse of Buffy and Spike just about to kiss. She stopped walking and in a split moment she went over a hundred options of what she should do, but the one that stood out the most was that this was something, no matter what Buffy was deciding to do right now re Spike, that Rupert should definitely shouldn't see. The same Rupert that was just about to walk past her and into the kitchen.

Joyce spun round to face Rupert, before quickly wrapping her arms around him and kissing him forcefully. He was momentarily thrown by the random kiss but he quickly got over that and into the kiss as he wrapped his arms around Joyce in turn. When the kiss eventually ended Joyce leaned back a little to see that Buffy was now alone in the kitchen.

"Erm...not that I'm complaining, but ah, what was that for?"

"Let's just...place the blame on hormones," Joyce told him just as Dawn stomped the stairs, storming past them and into the kitchen.

Teenagers were such lovely things.

"You ordered with a new dealer?" Joyce asked, as she was passed the invoice by the new girl. Her name was Hannah, and she was a student at UC Sunnydale (where Joyce was relieved to find out Buffy had started at again, even if it was only for the one class) majoring in Art History with a minor in American Lit. To help her with her History of Art course she was working part time at the gallery and she had been rather a god send, very quickly adapting to the work place and soon able to contribute fantastically. And so, Joyce had recently entrusted her to finding some pieces to compliment Kyle Landau's collection. Kyle Landau was, to put it lightly, a temperamental artist, but his work was good. It was inspired by Celtic and Pagan designs and so to compliment the display Joyce had decided that maybe some original Pagan pieces, no specific time period required as she knew from experience that while Pagan practices disappeared from public eye before the middle ages that definitely did not mean they stopped or ceased creating the art and pieces that went with the religion, would compliment the display.

"Yeah," Hannah nodded, "They had a promotional site. You know where they photo what they have but you have to call to do the deal. They cut some really good prices too,"

"Uh huh..." Joyce nodded, looking down at the name of the business on the invoice, "And uh who's name did you put the order in?" She asked as she attempted to find the information on the paper.

"Uh, mine," Hannah told her, "I think it was like a privately owned store, so I thought it would be better to go for the personal approach"

"Mm-hmm..." Joyce nodded again, "And who did you talk to on the phone?" She asked though she already knew it was going to be one of two answers.

"Well, it was two people actually. One made the order, the other tried selling us more- that's how I got the deals" Hannah was obviously quite proud of herself so she was understandably confused when her boss started laughing. Hannah knew Joyce was pregnant and wondered whether this may be one of the symptoms. "What...what is it?"

"Hannah, I'm sorry," Joyce managed to stifle her giggles, "I'm sorry, but you've made an order with my husband"

"What?" Hannah frowned, looking completely perplexed.

"The Magic Box," Joyce pointed out the name of the business printed on the invoice, "It's Rupert's business. And Anya's- that was the girl who tried to sell you more. They probably didn't realize because you ordered in your name" She handed the invoice back to the girl, "It doesn't matter. I'll just cancel the order on my break today,"

"Cancel?" Hannah was now even more confused.

"Trust me," Joyce told her, tapping her finger on where 'Magic Box' was printed, "That is not a place you want to order pieces from"

Not if you liked everything normal and safe- hearts beating in the right places and all of that.

Giles felt like slamming his head into wall- unconsciousness would bring welcome relief from the sound of Xander and Anya loudly making seating plans for the wedding non stop. So when the sound of the doorbell as someone opened the door, reached his ears he jumped up in glee to see to the potential customer.

Therefore, he was even more pleased when he saw it wasn't a customer, but Joyce.

"Joyce, not that I'm not glad to see you," He told her after kissing her lightly in greeting, "But what are you doing here?"

Joyce frowned a frown that was becoming very familiar to Giles these past few weeks- it was a telltale sign that she had forgotten something, in this case she had forgotten why she was there in the first place. He had at first been worried about these memory lapses, but she had assured him, as had the doctor, that it was just a symptom of pregnancy that develops as she was reaching the end of her first trimester. It was still very inconvenient though.

"Erm...oh that's it," She smiled as she suddenly remembered, "I need to cancel an order"

"An order?" Giles frowned.

"Yes, uh, one of the girls at work- she made an order with you for the gallery. But in her name. Hannah Blears"

"Hannah Blears," Giles repeated, heading over to where the order history was kept.

"Yes," Joyce nodded, "She was meant to order some Pagan and Celtic pieces for a show...but I think the ones from here may be a tad realistic"

"Quite right," Giles agreed as he began thumbing through the orders and as Joyce waited she leaned over to look at the seating board Anya and Xander were working on.

"Is this for the wedding?" She asked and Anya nodded.

"We're trying to get everyone in an appropriate place. But Tara and Buffy are still floating around"

"Which we're told isn't the best option at a wedding," Xander added.

"So where am I?" Joyce asked in curiosity as she looked for the thumb tack with her name on it. Xander pointed it out for her.

"You and Giles are just there, to my right. After Will"

"But..." Joyce frowned, "Isn't that where your parents are supposed to sit?"

Xander shrugged slightly, looking a little shy and embarrassed.

"Well, yeah," He admitted, "But well...you and Giles...you're well...you're better parents than my actual parents and so...I think those seats...belong to you two"

"Xander, that's..." Giles was obviously touched as he couldn't think of a word that would describe what Xander had just said "Thank you Xander"

Xander just shrugged the shy shrug again.

"That's so..." Joyce was also struggling to voice her thoughts on the matter, but she was a bit more emotional than Giles, "Xander, y-you know I've always...I always see you as a son to me, but to have you, what you said and where you've...it's just..." The words became indecipherable for Xander as they reached a high note and the words melded together as Joyce started crying.

"This is good tears right?" He asked with a worried smile, "You're not like devastated about this or anything?"

Joyce shook her head, waving his concern aside.

"Of course not," She said through the tears, "Of course I'm happy., I-" She went to say more, but then the crying became so much that it hindered her ability to talk.

"Xander," Giles said in an annoyed tone of voice as he walked over to Joyce in attempt to allay her sobs.

"What?" Xander mouthed and as Rupert held Joyce soothingly, he gave Xander a look that said 'look- you've set her off again' and Xander shrugged another shrug- but this one was distinctly more apologetic.

A moment later and Joyce had stopped her crying, though she was still sniffling slightly.

"I'm sorry," She apologized.

"It's okay," Anya told her, "I mean it as really weird and it made me unsure of what to do next but it's okay"

"I'm sorry," Joyce repeated, "It's just- what you said Xander- it means so much to me"

She grabbed a tissue as she started sniffling again.

"Did I miss something?" Buffy asked, but as the gang turned around to look at her, they found she wasn't there to look at.

"Buffy?" Joyce asked.

"Present," Buffy's voice was decidedly chipper but still without a body.

"Where are you?"

"At table four apparently," Buffy's voice pointed out and Xander turned to look at the board to see if Anya had indeed stuck Buffy with his parents while he had been panicking over Joyce's sudden crying. He pulled the Buffy Tack out.

"That remains to be seen," He told her

"As do you," Anya added, looking around.

"Yes, Buffy, where are you?" Giles asked, also looking around.

"Right here," Buffy replied, "Don't bother looking though. I've got a case of the invisibles"

"You're invisible?" Joyce choked out and Rupert took her hand in both of his, holding it calmingly, hoping to stop her from crying again, before she could even start. Though she still looked worried about Buffy, the trick worked.

"Buffy, how on Earth did this happen?" Giles asked.

"I don't know what happened," Buffy replied, "I left Mane Street after cutting my hair-"

"You cut your hair?" Anya asked eagerly.

"Why?" Joyce asked, feeling decidedly awkward talking to an invisible Buffy.

"Felt like a change," Buffy shrugged, although she knew none of them could see her.

"What's it like?" Anya inquired.

"Well up to about here," Buffy told them and then realized they couldn't see her hand, "Well, if you could see my hand it's at my shoulders"

"Oh that sounds adorable," Anya told her, "I was thinking about getting mine cut. Before the wedding. Maybe layering it."

"Can we get back to the freaking out about no-show Buffy?" Xander asked, looking at Anya incredulously for starting a conversation with Buffy about hair at a time like this.

"Yes, I believe we do have more pressing matters to attend to than the latest cuts," Giles agreed, "This is serious"

"I know," Buffy sighed and they heard footsteps as she moved away from the slightly, "But it kinda fits the day I've had. Might as well have been part of the wallpaper at college. Only saw Will and Tara once and everyone else...didn't even notice I was there"

Buffy picked two orbs out of a basket, but since she was invisible, it made it look like they were floating. The design on them made them look like eyeballs and Buffy held them up in place of her own eyes. She made them go cross-eyed, letting out a giggle as she did so.

"Hee, see what I did there?"

"Buffy, please..." Joyce asked her, sounding world-weary and Giles looked in Buffy's direction pleadingly also.

"Yes, Buffy, please," He didn't want Joyce setting off again with the tears. He believed Dawn had summed it up nicely the other morning when she had said Joyce was an emotional time bomb.

"Sorry," She apologized half-heartedly as the eyeballs went back in the basket.

"Now, did you notice anything suspicious?" Giles asked Buffy, "I mean shortly prior to you ah..."

"Getting cleared up," Xander finished.

"Nope, didn't see nothin'," Buffy told them, picking up a skull off the shelf as she did so.

"Why would anyone wanna make her invisible anyway?" Anya asked, "I mean invisible Slayer has gotta be way more effective than the standard variety"

"I don't really care about why Anya," Joyce told her, "I just care that my daughter becomes visible again"

"And to do that we need to find out how it happened in the first place," Giles concluded.

"Yeah, so we can we make her sight unseen sight seen again, right?" Xander added and Buffy answered by moving the mouth of the skull she was holding and doing a Sr Wence's impression.

"S'awright"

"Buffy..." Giles sighed in exasperation and like the eyeballs before, the skull was put back in it's original place with a sigh.

"I'm sorry," Buffy apologized, "It's just this invisible deal is...kinda fun"

"Research would be more effective if we knew where to start exactly," Giles thought aloud, "It would be helpful to have a little more to go on"

"Or anything to go on," Anya corrected him, "All we have is Buffy and with her all invisible, I'm not even sure we have that"

"I could go check out the spot Buffy disappeared- snoop for clues," Xander suggested and Giles nodded his approval.

"Good idea"

"Yeah, right...um..." Invisible Buff sounded very distracted, "You know what? I'm just gonna...go for a walk"

"A walk?" Joyce asked incredulously, "Buffy, you're invisible"

"I know... I'm just gonna clear my head." Buffy told her and from the sound of their footsteps they could tell she was already walking towards the door, "You guys keep working on the whats and the hows...hmm...'clear my head'"

"Well, it seems pretty obvious that it's some kind of spell that's done this to her," Anya said as she returned her attention to the seating chart for the wedding.

"A spell to turn a Slayer invisible?" Giles asked, sounding skeptical, "Doesn't sound very likely"

"Maybe it was a mistake," Anya suggested.

"A magic mistake?" Xander asked, "Who'd be messing with that kinda pow-"

As if on cue Willow walked into the store with Tara, ready for her magic training session with Giles.

Xander looked pointedly at Giles and the others as if to say 'high possibility. Let's ask her'

"No," Giles shook his head, "I refuse to believe she would relapse like this. She's been doing exceptionally well"

"Exceptionally well?" Willow asked with a smile, "Academic compliments? Better be talking about me there"

This comment was met by awkward silence.

"You were talking about me..."

"Yeah, but not in the way that you think...really," Xander told her.

"No," Anya shook her head, "We just wondering how you accidentally turned Buffy invisible"

"What?" Willow was confused more than anything else.

"We were thinking no such thing," Giles argued, before turning to Willow, "Buffy has however come across a slight problem. She's ah...become well, invisible actually"

"Invisible?" Tara asked, "How?"

"Well that's precisely what we were wondering," Giles told her.

"What? And you immediately think it has something to do with me?" Willow asked them all, sounding very hurt.

"No, of course not-" Joyce began but Willow cut her off.

"No, that's fine. I mean, it obviously doesn't matter how hard I'm trying to work past all this, you still all look to me to blame whenever something magically nasty happens around here."

"No one's blaming-" Xander told her, but he too as cut off by Willow.

"So I guess it wouldn't matter if I jumped off the bandwagon completely," She continued despite Giles' attempted interruptions of 'none of us are saying anything like that Willow, if you'd just-' "since you're already convinced I'm making pit stops"

She turned on her heel and stormed out of the store.

"Will!" Tara called, running after her, "Willow"

"Well, that went well," Anya commented.

"Maybe I should go talk to her," Xander suggested, but Joyce shook her head.

"Not yet, Tara's seeing to her now...you should probably wait till later to apologize in case..."

"In case she wants to bite my head off?" Xander filled in a suggestion and Joyce shrugged in agreement.

"Well,I'd better be going too," She told them all, standing up. She swayed a bit as a wave of dizziness reached her but after a split moment she got her bearings back. Nevertheless Rupert still put his arm around her to steady her. "I'm fine," She told him, "Just got up too fast. I will see you later," She smiled, before giving him a brief kiss, "And remember to cancel that order"

"It's canceled," He told her, holding up the pen he had canceled it with as though this were proof alone that it was done.

"Good," Another kiss and Joyce left the store.

"See, that's how it works Xander," Anya said, pointing at the seating chart, "Seating plans and then marital smoochies"

Xander looked very much like he desperately wanted to skip the seating plan part as he forced himself to listen to what Anya was saying.

It had been very hard to focus back on the work at the gallery, with the thought of her daughter being temporarily invisible constantly playing on Joyce's mind, but somehow she managed it. And now she was driving home, where Dawn would no doubt be by now, unless she had opted to head to the Magic Box where the others were.

It was one of these 'others' that caught Joyce's eye and caused to her pull up at the sidewalk.

"Willow?" The red head was alone, no Tara or Xander with her, and she was looking down at a piece of paper, so intently in fact that she initially didn't hear Joyce calling her name, "Willow?

"Hmm?" Willow frowned, looking up in the direction she had heard her name and saw Joyce leaning out of her car, "Hi, Joyce" She half-smiled, walking over.

"Are you okay?" Joyce asked, "I mean from before?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Willow told her, but she wasn't very convincing.

"We would never assume that it was you. We know you're trying very hard to overcome-"

"My addiction?" Willow asked lightly, but the statement was loaded.

"Xander was just thinking aloud," Joyce tried to excuse him and Willow nodded in acceptance.

"I know, he came and did the apology thing before"

"Ah. So where's Tara?"

"I told her to go home," Willow told her, "I wanted to do some heavy duty research and I know that can be pretty dull. She'd feel better doing heavy duty research at the magic shop if she has to do anything"

"Is that what you have there?" Joyce asked, nodding at the piece of paper in Willow's hands, "Research?"

"Yeah, sorta," Will admitted, "It's the address of the people I think are behind all this craziness lately, including Buffy's recent state change"

"Need a ride there?" Joyce offered, and since it was dark and walking around at night in Sunnydale wasn't the safest thing to do, Will accepted.

"Willow, I'm not sure I'm comfortable with you going in there," Joyce said to Willow as they reached the written address. However, Will was already getting out of the car, "Willow!" Joyce reprimanded, unbuckling her own seat belt and getting out of the vehicle.

"Joyce, you stay there," Willow told her.

"No, not if you're not staying," Joyce argued, "I'm not letting you go in there alone"

"Joyce, you're pregnant- so it's doubly not safe for you" Willow told her before turning on her heel to head towards the cellar door of the house as a way in.

"Why does everyone always play the pregnancy card?" Joyce asked herself in exasperation, before following Willow. No matter what, she wasn't going to let the girl go in there alone. "Maybe we should call the others-"

"No," Willow said firmly, "I can do this"

So when Willow went into the house, Joyce really had no choice but to follow. Oh how her life had seemed so much simpler when she and Buffy had first arrived in Sunnydale. Buffy burning down the Hemery High Gym seemed simpler than this.

Inside the basement was a geek's haven. Full of novelty posters, action figures, stuff that would have looked more at home on an episode of Doctor Who or Star Trek.

"Hey, look at this," Willow told her as she headed towards a board upon which a list including items and blueprints of Freeze Rays and Invisibility Rays were placed. Willow took the details in a moment, before saying, "Cool" in minor approval. Her attention was dragged elsewhere however when she heard the sounds of a struggle and she turned around to see Joyce's arm being grabbed by someone invisible and immediately after, Willow's own arm was taken hold of by an equally invisible presence.

"Get off me!" Willow protested, trying to tug away her arm, but another one grabbed her as well.

"Let go!" Joyce exclaimed, jabbing her elbow back at the invisible presence and the person let go.

"Ow!" He whined childishly, "She hit me,"

Willow mirrored Joyce's actions and elbowed her own captor before bailing with Joyce towards the door which shut in their faces. They tugged at the handle but clearly someone else was holding it shut.

"Congratulations ladies," The voice holding the door shut told them as two other invisible presences grabbed each of them from behind, tying their hands together, before they could retaliate again. "You just become our first hostages"

"Nuh-uh," Willow protested, tugging at the ropes around her hands, but they were too tight.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Joyce asked as she and Willow were tugged back down the stairs they had just run up, by the same invisible people who had tied their hands.

"Walking you back down the stairs," A voice answered in a 'no duh' tone. But it was a voice both Willow and Joyce recognized.

"I know that voice," Joyce said and Willow nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, I've heard it before,"

"No you haven't," The voice said, now sounding much deeper, "You've never met me...ever..."

"Why does this always happen when I'm with you?" Joyce asked Willow in frustration.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Willow challenged.

"Last time I helped you with something we got kidnapped," Joyce told her, tugging in frustration at the ropes binding her wrists and at the person pushing her to the center of the room with Willow.

"You're blaming me for this?" Willow asked incredulously, making a mental note to later on blame the accusation on Joyce's haywire pregnancy hormones. It's all anyone seemed to be doing these days. And for that exact same reason, no one actually told Joyce this, "I told you to stay outside. I said 'you're pregnant Joyce, it's doubly not safe for you', but did you listen? Noooo"

"What? And leave you to get kidnapped alone?" Joyce countered.

"Alright that's it," The voice who had announced them hostages said, "That's enough. Guys- gag 'em"

One of the guys moved away from Joyce and Willow and a minute later an ominous looking roll of duct tape was floating towards them..

"Dawn!" Buffy called up the stairs after just listening to Giles' message on the answer phone of how being invisible was going to cause her to literally fade from existence, "I'm going to the Magic Box! If Giles or Xander call-"

The phone started ringing and Buffy rushed to answer it.

"Giles?"

"Don't talk just listen," The voice over the phone told her, "You don't have a lot of time Slayer"

"Who is this?" Buffy asked with a frown that no one would be able to see, "You sound familiar"

Suddenly the voice changed to a deeper tone.

"I'm nobody. No one you know. We've got your Mother and your friend Willow...and if you don't want anything nasty to happen to them. You'd better meet us. Alone"

Alone meant not telling Giles they had got Joyce. Buffy knew that if she told him that but also told him not to come, then he wouldn't listen and would turn up anyway. So she could either tell Giles and risk it or just listen to what the guy on the phone was telling her and do what he said. This was her Mom and Willow- she decided not to take any chances.

"Where do we meet?" She finally asked.

As Buffy stepped into the arcade, unseen by everyone, she immediately scanned the entire room looking for her Mom and Willow. They were stood, seemingly alone at the back of the room and Buffy immediately rushed over.

"Mom, Will!"

"Buffy?" Joyce frowned, looking around, "Where are you?"

"Sorta in front of you...ish. Where are the bad guys?"

"All around you Slayer, so don't try anything" The voice of the man who had shown himself to be in charge. Willow had taken to calling him Man One. Not imaginative, but it was effective. It stopped her being too confused by the entire thing.

"He's bluffing Buffy," Willow told her, "There's only three of them. I think"

"More than enough to cause some serious carnage, right guys?" Man One said but neither Man Two or Three answered, "Guys? Guys!"

The sound of two guys arguing over a video game caught everybody's attention and Man One sighed in exasperation.

"Guys! The Slayer's here"

"Sorry, didn't see her," Man Three apologized as he and Two stopped playing the game and presumably headed over to where Willow and Joyce were stood.

"Why don't we continue this in a less crowded area?" Man One suggested, "Like over there"

"Where?" Everyone asked in sync and Man One sighed as he realized no one could see where he was pointing.

"Follow me," He sighed, grabbing hold of one of Willow's arms and one of Joyce's, dragging them over to the destination as way to guide the others. The two tugged at his grip, so he tightened his hold, but Joyce elbowed him in the abdomen, causing him to grunt in pain and she turned out of his grip, kicking out forcefully and thankfully connecting with an invisible something.

"Ow!" Man One exclaimed, though he still didn't let go of Willow, "I told you not to do that!" He grabbed Joyce's arm again, "Who taught you to kick like that?"

"That would be me," Giles informed him as he walked up to the group calmly, standing next to where Buffy was presumably stood.

"Slayer," Man One said menacingly, "I told you to come alone"

"Changed my mind," Buffy told him lightly, "Now I'm gonna go out on a limb and assume you're the ones that did this to me"

"It was an accident," Man Two told her and Buffy frowned.

"Who's that?" It was the same familiar voice she had heard on the phone, and like on the phone the voice once again dropped an octave.

"Nobody you know"

"They're the ones in your mystery van," Willow told her

"Oh you," Buffy said, sounding very unimpressed, "So what annoying thing are you going to do to me now?"

"Save your life," Man One told her, "Make you visible"

"Right I'm supposed to believe that"

"He's telling the truth," Man Three told her, "We don't wanna hurt anybody"

"They told us everything Buffy," Willow informed her, "Something's happening to you. You're-"

"Fading away," Buffy finished, "I know. Giles told me"

"I can fix that" Man One said.

"Please Buffy," Joyce pleaded, "It's your only chance"

Buffy sighed.

"And I'm guessing after that you three go on your merry invisible way"

"That's the idea," Man One agreed, "Pick up that air hockey mallet on the table. It'll give me a target to aim at" Buffy picked it up, holding it in front of invisible her, "Now hold still and your troubles'll soon be gone"

"You're on the wrong setting," Willow suddenly said as she peered at the gun.

"What?" Man One asked.

"The gun. It's not set for reversing the particle ionization. It'll accelerate her molecular dissolution! I saw the plans!"

"Mind your own business," Man One warned her.

"What's she talking about?" Man Two asked worriedly.

"That's what I'd like to know," Buffy agreed.

"Buffy he's trying to kill-" Willow was cut off as Invisible Man One used the butt of the gun to knock Willow down. A moment later and Man One also went down after her as Joyce pushed against the invisible force causing him to lose his balance. The gun went sliding across the floor away from them.

"Argh, you stupid-"

"I'd be quite careful how you finish that sentence," Giles warned Man One as he headed over to where Joyce and Willow were. Buffy, still invisible, also joined them, trying to pinpoint where on the floor Man One was.

"You haven't won yet Slayer," He told her and using his voice as direction, Buffy reached out and grabbed him off the floor by the collar and threw him into a wall.

"No, that parts comes after I beat the snot out of you"

An invisible fight broke out that broke so many of the arcade machines and made such a racket that the rest of the arcade customers ran out of the building, scared witless.

"Are you okay?" Rupert asked Joyce, deep concern in his eyes, as Willow went to get the Invisibility Ray.

"Yes," Joyce told him with a smile, just glad everything was (almost) over, "I'm fine"

"Now, let's see who our invisi-guys are," Willow told them as she aimed the gun which was now set at the correct settings. She shot the gun in one direction and Buffy was revealed to be holding up Jonathon by the collar. She looked at herself before looking at him in shock.

"Jonathon?"

Willow shot the gun again and Warren, the guy who had been behind April the robot and later Buffybot, was found to be in the ball pit.

"Warren?" Buffy was even more shocked.

Willow shot the gun a third time and they all prepared themselves for another familiar face. But the boy on the pinball machine was as unfamiliar as they get.

"Who are you?" Buffy asked.

"Andrew," He answered as he climbed off the pinball machine, "I summoned the flying monkeys that attacked the school"

Everyone just looked at him blankly. What flying monkeys?

"During the play. You know-"

Still no recognition and Andrew sighed.

"Tucker's brother," He told them.

Finally, there was recognition amongst the group.

"So you three have what?" Buffy asked, "Banded together to be pains in my ass?"

"We're your arch nemesisis..ees" Warren told her.

"Nemeses," Rupert and Joyce corrected in synchronization and the group took a moment to look at the couple as if to say 'what? How do you know that?'

"You may have beaten us this time Slayer," Warren continued, "But next time..."

"Maybe not!" Jonathon finished dramatically before a huge cloud of smoke blotted the trio from view.

A moment later the smoke cleared and the group could see the trio struggling to open the door.

"What do you mean it's locked?" Warren asked, "You were supposed to check it!"

"I forgot!" Jonathon exclaimed.

"I give you my arch nemeses" Buffy sighed.

"What's going on here?"

The four of them turned to see a security guard looking at them all with great suspicion as he surveyed the wreck that the room now was after the fight.