Genealogy Universe: Caitlin McKenzie

by Silver-Eternal-Dragon

BTVS Re-write. Caitlin McKenzie-Halliwell, younger sister to Buffy Summers, older sister to Dawn Summers and cousin to the Halliwell Sisters. Series will eventually be FaithxOC WillowxTara Not FUFFY

3. Chapter 3

Witch

Caitlin was sat watching her sister and her sister's watcher in amusement, Buffy had just told him that she was going to do cheerleading and his reactions as such was making it hard for Caitlin not to laugh. "This is madness! What can you have been thinking? You are the Slayer! Lives depend upon you!" Giles was very upset at the moment, he had been glad when the sisters came in chatting about what Caitlin had done during dance yesterday but then he had seen what Buffy was wearing. Giles began pacing, "I make allowances for your youth, but I expect a certain amount of responsibility, and instead of which you enslave yourself to this, this...Cult?" Giles stopped pacing and turned back to face Buffy but not before sending the chuckling teen on the counter.

Buffy looked down at her cheerleading outfit before she looked back up at Giles feeling somewhat self-conscious "You don't like the colour?" Caitlin couldn't help it anymore and started to laugh out loud at the look on Giles's face.

Giles seemed exasperated as he put some books back on the cart "I d...Do you, um...Do you ignore everything I say as a, as a rule?" he didn't understand the appeal, cheerleaders did not exist over in England for which he was glad.

"No, I believe that's your trick" Buffy responded casually as Giles pushed the cart to the counter. Buffy skipped in front of him and posed trying to catch his attention whilst continuing to make her sister laugh, she had been down since her episode on the phone with Grams, "I told you, I'm trying out for the cheerleading squad!"

Giles looked at her if she were insane as he spoke to her "You have a sacred birth right, Buffy. You were chosen to destroy vampires, not to... have pompoms at people and as the Watcher I forbid it." Giles thought it was the end of the conversation obviously forgetting who he was talking to and goes back to the table.

Caitlin controlled her laughing enough to speak to her sister "I told you this would be fun," she knew her sister wouldn't listen to Giles if he forbid something that would just give her more reason to do it and it wasn't like he could stop her.

Buffy was obviously thinking the same as her sister as she asked her next question sounding somewhat smug "And you'll be stopping me how?"

The watcher sat on the edge of the table and crossed his arms trying to think of something that could actually stop her and it wouldn't be brute force because she could easily beat him "Well, I... By appealing to your common sense, if such a creature exists."

The younger girl looked at Giles like he was mad "I'm not sure it does Giles, I've yet to see it myself," Caitlin turned to tease her sister with a big smile on her face Buffy raised a brow at her sister.

"Don't start with me little sister," the older blonde replied sounding threatening but the smile on her face was to reassure her sister that she wasn't angry, Caitlin went to stand by Buffy knowing they would be leaving soon. "I will still have time to fight the forces of evil, okay? I just wanna have a life; I wanna do something normal, something safe." Buffy linked arms with her sister "And that's that," to add effect to her words Caitlin stuck her tongue out and they both headed out of the library.

The sisters met Willow and Xander on the way to the gym and they all carried on to the try outs, "So how did it go?" Xander asked wanting to know if Buffy would be trying out but he mainly wanted to see her doing cheers in her cheerleader outfit to complete his fantasies.

Caitlin giggled still thinking of the look on Giles's face, "Oh it was fricken funny Xander, we got in there and Giles face fell and then when Buffy said about cheerleading her started ranting on about cults...I needed a good laugh," the youngest of the group wiped her eyes from the tears that had gathered at the memory.

"So she's not going to try out?" Xander asked with a small pout, dreams down the drain for him then.

Caitlin gave him a strange look at the pout, then it hit her he had a crush on her sister and all guys like watching cheerleaders "Yeah, of course she is, don't worry Xan man your safe," she said and the look of shock on his face made her smile widely and it looked slightly evil.

The four of them walked in the gym with Willow and Buffy in front as they had been slightly quicker than Caitlin and Xander. Xander's mouth dropped open as he looked around; girls were stretching and practicing, doing back handsprings, cartwheels and walking handstands. One girl did a round off followed by a back handspring and Caitlin actually looked slightly impressed maybe she was just a little bit wrong about the cheerleaders in this school "Giles didn't approve, huh?" Willow asked, she hadn't heard what Xander and Caitlin were talking about as she and Buffy were talking about other things

"He totally lost his water we haven't seen a vampire in over a week I'd say he should get a girlfriend if he wasn't so old," Buffy gave her sister a small as she snorted still finding it funny and she saw her sister was looking around the gym with a mixture of disgust and awe.

Willow noticed too and filed it away for when she was going to question Caitlin; she already had a few questions that she wanted to ask and was making a mental list "Well, we're behind you."

"People scoff at things like school spirit, but look at these girls giving their all like this!" Xander said as he noticed Amber doing the splits between two chairs, he faltered slightly as he stared at her "Ooo, stretchy!" Caitlin could almost see the dirty images flow through his mind so she nudged him with her elbow "Where was I?" as the dirty thoughts had entered his mind he had completely forgotten what he was saying.

Willow smiled finding it funny at him trying to play what he was doing off as something less than it really was, which was ogling girls "You were pretending that seeing scantily clad girls in revealing postures was a spiritual experience." Xander looked a bit shocked that he had been called on it; he was hoping that he wouldn't be but clearly he was being too obvious

Xander replied to Willow in mock offence "Who said I was pretending?" Suddenly realising he had forgotten something he turned to Buffy "Oh, hey! Here's a good luck thing for try-outs." He handed her a bracelet he had taken out of his pocket.

Buffy took the bracelet with a question "What's this?" she stared to twist it in her fingers.

"What's that?" Caitlin asked looking over her sisters shoulder at the jewellery Buffy held in her hand.

"Oh how sweet!" Buffy shot Caitlin a look, it was obvious that Xander had a crush on Buffy and the look was to keep Caitlin from teasing in front of Xander. Buffy read the inscription "'Yours Always,'" Caitlin clamped a hand over her mouth to stop the question she really wanted to ask, Buffy and Willow gave the male of their group a strange look almost as if they were asking him if he was serious

Xander looked like a deer caught in the headlights as he stuttered out an explanation "I-I-it came that way, really, they all said that!" Buffy exhaled, satisfied by his stuttered save but Caitlin was silently giggling and Willow felt like joining her.

Cordelia approached them as if she were friends with them; Caitlin looked confused as Cordelia spoke to them in a friendly manner "Just look at that Amber, who does she think she is, a Laker Girl?" Xander, Willow and Cordelia didn't seem fazed by the sudden change but the sisters looked a little out of the loop they were sure they disliked one another

Willow looked at Amber as she spoke to Cordelia without a stutter or nervous tone "I heard she turned them down."

Caitlin leant into Buffy and felt her sister responding, "Are you as confused as I am?" she felt Buffy nod and shrug. They didn't want to think about it too much and just let it off as the norm.

Joy, the cheerleading squad leader, steps up with her clipboard and calls for everyone's attention. "Okay, listen up! Let's begin with," Joy looks down at the clipboard she is holding and calls out the first and most obvious person she wants on the squad "Amber Grove. If you're not auditioning, move off the floor," Joy instructed and everyone moved over to the side so they could see the audition

Caitlin stood beside Willow, who looked her over again. Willow had told Buffy about what she had seen and heard in the class and library when she was away and had noticed that since then Caitlin had been different almost regretful or just generally in a funk. Willow's attention was brought away from the blonde by a familiar face "Amy! Hi!"

The named girl came over towards the group, Caitlin straightened up and tensed but looked confused as she did, Willow regarded her for a second before turning back to Amy. Buffy looked at her sister to but Caitlin shook her head and shrugged not understanding "Hi!"

"I didn't know you wanted to be a cheerleader! You lost a lot of weight." Willow said as she looked at Amy and smiled feeling excited like she usually was speaking to her friends.

"Had to," The reply from Amy was short but had enough information to answer Willow's question

Willow didn't notice the short reply and decided to introduce her new friends to one of her older friends "Do you know Buffy and Caitlin?"

Amy smiled at both sisters seemingly friendly but the younger sister didn't relax "Hi," She said as she focused on Buffy who returned the sentiment with a simple Hi as well whilst Caitlin gave a tight smile and nodded. "Oh, how I hate this, let me count the ways," Amy said as they all focused on Amber. She started off with a needle-split lift followed by a double spin and a jumping double spin which she landed gracefully. After landing, Amber launched herself into an aerial and a cartwheel. Jazz slides were then followed by a single spin. Everyone in the gym was intent on watching her and most feeling envious of how graceful she looked out there on her own, most knew that Amber would be top pick for the cheerleaders. Amy spoke to Buffy, "She trained with Benson, he's one of the best coaches money can buy."

Buffy looked shocked at what Amy had said "They have cheerleading coaches?" Caitlin shook her head as she poked her sister in the rib and made Buffy jump slightly.

Amy looked at Buffy like she was a little bit like the typical blonde, dumb "Oh, yeah! Don't you have? I train with my mom, three hours in the morning, three at night."

"Hmm, that much quality time with my mom would probably lead to some quality matricide," Buffy openly admitted she didn't really spend time with her mother like it was no big deal much to her sisters annoyance, Caitlin poked her again and when Buffy turned she gave her a little glare "stop it," Buffy said and it was clear Buffy was not in the mood to play which Caitlin could understand as she was like that before important dance shows.

"Oh, I know it's hockey but she's really great," Amy praised her mother getting a strange look from Willow that quickly disappeared; she hadn't remembered her mother like that but time changes everyone.

Cordelia turned her back to Amber with a look of disdain on her face, "Hmm!" it was clear she wasn't impressed but the gang kind of made the guess it was because she couldn't beat it

Buffy and Xander watched Amber in amazement; Buffy was reminded of watching her sister at her dancing watching Amber and wished her sister would get to do more shows. Amy and Willow were impressed too and Caitlin was still in her slightly impressed mind set from earlier. Amber's hands began to smoke and the longer she performed the more smoke that appeared. "What the...?"

"That girl's on fire!" Willow shouted as everyone looked on stunned to see smoke coming from her hands

Cordelia was still facing away facing away and hadn't seen the smoke when she replied to Willow "Enough of the hyperbole!" she was fed up of everyone worshipping Amber Grove, she reckoned she was twice as good as her.

Amber's hands caught fire as she continued to do her routine; she noticed the burning sensation and dropped her pompoms to the floor then screamed out loud, no one moved because they are all shocked that she was actually on fire. Caitlin was the first one to break out of the shock and reacted by turning around and jumping up on the stands so she can pull one of the banners down. Amber flailed her hands in the air trying to put out the fire and in her panic forgot the basic rule of stop, drop and roll. Caitlin quickly ran at Amber and knocked her down so she can snuff out the flames with the banner. Everyone stared in shock but Buffy as she snapped out of it and ran over to her sister and Amber. "It's okay, it's okay, you're gonna be... okay," Caitlin said to Amber who was sobbing in her arms, Buffy looks at both of them then continued to comfort the distraught teen "Goddess!" Caitlin said as she held Amber to her.

~GU:CM~

Buffy was pacing the library as Willow and Xander sat at the study table, Caitlin was sat on the counter again as she usually did fiddling with her necklace, the one Grams had given her when she was 7, Willow had been watching her play with it for a while and wanted to know what it was and the way Caitlin held it made it seem almost ritualistic or as if it were a religious symbol.

"I've been slaying vampires for more than a year now, and I have seen some pretty cringe worthy things, but...nobody's hands ever got toasted before." Buffy cringed as she actually spoke which made Caitlin look up and tuck her necklace back under her jumper, she didn't really want to be questioned on her necklace yet.

Caitlin nodded to what her sister was saying "seen vampires being toasted but they're already kinda dead and evil so, not so cringe worthy." Buffy looked at her and nodded but then what she had said caught up with her and her eyes started to glaze over, Buffy came over and ran her hand along her sisters thigh. Xander seemed none the wiser to Caitlin's change in attitude but Willow was and she noted it down mentally getting ready to ask Caitlin when she thought the younger girl was ready.

Giles came out of the cage, he had been shocked when he heard the news of flaming hands "I imagine not," he seemed to agree seeing vampires on fire was one thing but a live person was another.

"So, this isn't a vampire problem," Buffy stated as she kept her gaze on her sister assessing whether or not she would need to make an emergency call to Grams. She had overheard what Grams had said to Caitlin the day of Piper's graduation and a part of her wanted Caitlin to take that offer up.

Giles's reply was simple to his slayers statement "No." He looked over to the sisters and noticed that Caitlin wasn't quiet with them, he initially felt like Caitlin would hold Buffy back when he read her file but after seeing them together he knew that Buffy needed Caitlin to keep her level headed just as much as Caitlin obviously needed Buffy. In all his years he had never seen sisters so close and dependant on each other and he severely doubted they could survive without each other.

Buffy turned her attention from Caitlin to Giles "But it is funky, right? Not of the norm?" to a normal naive human being that would have seemed like a stupid question but in their world it was a needed question.

"Quite. Spontaneous human combustion is, is rare, and, and scientifically unexplainable, but there have been cases for hundreds of years. Usually all that's left is a pile of ashes" Giles explained to the slayer and her group, he himself didn't quite understand spontaneous human combustion.

"That's all that would have been left if it hadn't been for Caitlin," Willow remarked from her position, hearing her name Caitlin looked over to Willow, who smiled at her. Caitlin was doing some major fighting in her head at the moment trying not to envision the months before her move to Sunnydale, she saw the smile and managed to return it but it was a hollow smile.

"So, we have no idea what caused this. That's a comfort," Xander stated as he crossed his arms over his chest and leant back on his chair, he didn't like the thought of combusting and the subject was all round strange.

Caitlin slid her hand down her leg and took her sisters hand in her own and started to play with it. "It's magic," she whispered so inaudibly that even Buffy with her slayer hearing could barely hear her, Willow saw her speak from where she was sat as she was still looking at the blonde. Buffy heard Caitlin murmur something but couldn't pick up the words being said.

"But that's the thrill of living on the Hellmouth! There's a veritable cornucopia of, of fiends and devils and, and ghouls to engage," as Giles spoke he sat on the edge of the table and everyone looked at him like he were crazy, Caitlin snickered at him from where she was sat a few feet away "Pardon me for finding the glass half full," he almost felt proud of himself for making Caitlin laugh, he noticed that she had a sense of humour but wasn't always inclined to use it.

Buffy smiled at the rant and hearing her sister's laugh even if it was only a little bit "Any common denominators in cases of spontaneous combustion?"

The librarian slash Watcher had to think on that for a while "Uh, rage. In most cases the person who combusted was, was terribly angry or, or upset."

"So maybe Amber's got this power to make herself be on fire. It's like the human torch, only it hurts," Xander tried to rationalise what had happened but only made himself sound idiotic, Caitlin shook her head and muttered something, "huh?" he directed at Caitlin, who looked up at hearing it.

Caitlin looked around and noticed everyone looking at her, they had heard her muttering something and were interested in her view, "Amber wasn't angry or upset, when a dancer goes into the zone they feel the emotion of the dance and cheerleading is peppy and cheerful, ergo she would have been the same...and Xan human torch but hurts why would anyone do that?"

Xander holds his hands up in mock surrender "Just a thought some people are really strange," he noticed Caitlin smirk and nod at that. Willow couldn't believe how quickly Caitlin was back to what she assumed was normal, she wasn't certain when it came to Caitlin.

"I need to get the skinny on Amber. Find out if she's had any colourful episodes before," Buffy grabbed her sister's hand and pulled lightly signalling she wanted her to follow and after Caitlin got down from the counter they started to go.

"That means hacking illegally into the school's computer system. At last, something *I* can do!" Willow excitedly joined Buffy and Caitlin, she liked the fact she was contributing to a better cause.

Xander joined them as he spoke "I'll ask around about her." He didn't want to be left out; he was their friend and part of the group.

"You guys don't have to get involved," Buffy looked at both of them and saw her sister nodding in agreement; they had already hurt themselves enough as it is with this, Caitlin bearing most of the hurt on her shoulders. Buffy always felt guilt when she was around her sister but couldn't bear to be far from her, they were usually always together unless with friends. Now that they shared the same friends they spent a lot more time together.

They looked confused by what Buffy had said "What d'ya mean? We're a team! Aren't we a team?" Xander rambled off questions as he tried to comprehend what was just said

"Yeah! You're the Slayer, and we're, like, the Slayerettes!" Willow added to Xander's rambling, neither sister corrected her which made the two friends extremely happy. They could both understand where Buffy was coming from but she let her sister do it so why not them.

"We just don't like putting you guys in danger," Buffy stated she didn't need any more guilt and neither did Caitlin. She didn't want to lose Xander or Willow

Xander almost waved her off but decided against it, he didn't exactly want to be on the bad side of the slayer "Oh, huh, I laugh in the face of danger... Then I hide until it goes away."

Buffy's look clearly signalled she had given in "Okay, just walk softly, at least until we know a little more. I mean, what if Amber isn't causing these problems herself?" she asked as she looked at her Watcher, it could be serious if someone was causing all of this.

"Well, then we have to determine who or what did, and, uh, deal with it accordingly," Giles nodded to himself slightly happy with his plan and he smiled as he looked at Caitlin and noticed her smiling slightly.

Caitlin noticed that he kind of said the most obvious things and it amused her, she turned to her big sister and stuck her hand out, and Buffy met her eyes with a raised brow knowing what her sister wanted to do, "Bet you I can figure it out first and that it's not self-inflicted."

"I'll agree to that...next week's allowance from dad," Buffy said as she took her sisters hand but didn't shake it yet. Willow, Xander and Giles looked on in fascination and to them they assumed it would be both of their allowanced from 'dad' but Hank never gave a penny for or to Caitlin, Caitlin worked for hers. "Great next week's allowance," Caitlin and Buffy shook hands and walked off, Willow brushed past Caitlin's shoulder and the blonde turned to her and smiled, Willow smiled back but Caitlin could see the underlying confusion.

~GU:CM~

Buffy walked into the kitchen and noticed that there were several wooden boxes and crates. Joyce was trying to pry one open with a crowbar, "Hey!" Buffy said as she came further into the kitchen.

"Hi, how was school? Where's Caitlin?" Joyce asked her eldest daughter as she looked up from what she was doing slightly.

"Mm, a reverent joy. Something about dance, she kinda rushed off I almost thought she was picking Dawnie up but then I realised it was my day...What's all this?" Buffy waved over the crates that littered the kitchen, she knew it had to be something special if it was still at the house

"It's for the tribal art display; your sisters will be helping me set it up on the weekend"

"Cool! I don't mind helping," Buffy picks up a piece and examines it "We had try-outs today.

Joyce continued to focus on what she was doing but spoke to Buffy, "Oh, great! How'd it go?"

Buffy kept looking at everything her mother had opened so far "I didn't actually get to try out. There was an accident, pretty fierce competition, though."

"Oh, I know you'll do fine. Keep on pluggin'; just have to get back on the horse." Buffy noticed something about her mother's tone; she wasn't paying full attention and didn't know what she was talking about.

"Mom?" Buffy asked sounding a little sceptical, she was pretty sure her mother was paying no attention what so ever.

"Yeah?" Joyce replied still in an absent minded tone, she was getting frustrated with the box.

Buffy went and got a drink, she knew her mother couldn't answer the question, "What was I trying out for?"

"Oh, uh..." the mother of three was stumped; she stopped prying at the crate and looked at Buffy trying to figure it out, "Some activity? I have no idea, I'm sorry."

"That's okay. Your platitudes are good for all occasions," Buffy said as she heard Dawn coming down the stairs, she wanted to spend time with Dawn tonight seeing as she hadn't spent much time with her since she started high school.

"I'm distracted," Joyce admitted and started prying again and exhaled as she was still struggling to open the crate. "Got a lotta inventory to go through here, this is my Gallery's first major show and I'm glad you girls agreed to help me out it means a lot," she smiled at Buffy but the smile slipped off her face as she exhaled and gave up on the box. "You know, it might not physically kill you to give me a hand here," Joyce said annoyed and decided to check her clipboard again to make sure she had everything.

Dawn entered the kitchen and moved over to the fridge and got a drink, she stood next to Buffy and leant against her slightly, Buffy smiled and wrapped one arm around Dawn as the other went and grabbed the lid of the crate and effortlessly tore it off. "It was cheerleading," Buffy informed her mother, who was now paying attention.

"Oh good! I'm glad you're taking that up again, it'll keep you out of trouble," The mother of three seemed genuinely happy about that but the last part of her statement seemed to confuse Dawn and annoy Buffy. Joyce was lucky Caitlin wasn't there or she would have flown off the handle at her mother, she was still sensitive about that

"I'm not *in* trouble," Buffy replied to her mother tersely, Dawn's face scrunched up in confusion, how would cheerleading keep Buffy out of trouble when all she was whilst being a cheerleader was a bitch when she was a cheerleader. Buffy noticed the expression and caught Dawn's eyes hoping to show she would explain it later; Dawn seemed to understand and nodded.

"No, not yet," the mother replied flippantly as if it were bound to happen. Buffy was hurt by her mother's comment, she didn't realise her mother thought so little of her. Dawn scowled at her mother that was the sort of comment Hank would have made about Caitlin. Joyce looked up from her clipboard and noticed the varied looks she was receiving. "I mean, you stopped cheerleading just before the trouble, so it's good you're going back," She went back to the crate and partially lifted out a statue "Oh, dear" She quickly replaced it in the box

Dawn tried to peer into the box as she spoke to her mother "What?"

Joyce placed the crates lid so Dawn couldn't look into and looked back at her clipboard "The fertility statue, you two don't need to see it." She replaced the crate's lid and went back to her clipboard.

"Y'know, there's this girl, Amy, and, um, she trains with her mom, like, three hours a day," Buffy said trying to be off handed; she wished her mother would seem that interested in what she wanted to do.

Joyce had gone back to being distracted, Dawn shook her head and smiled at that, there mother was working so hard to create a secure future for them "Uh-huh."

Buffy had to add something on to see what her mother would say "Sounds like her mom's pretty into it."

Joyce didn't lift her head but lifted her eyes to look at Buffy "Sounds like her mom doesn't have a lot to do," She sounded slightly apologetic knowing Buffy wanted to spend time with her like that but she just wouldn't know what to do. She walked out of the kitchen with a piece of art.

Buffy walked over to the crate to see what was in it, she lifted the crate's lid a little bit and looked in, "Jeepers! Dawnie don't look in there" she said as she dropped the lid of the crate.

"Why did mom say you being a cheerleader would keep you out of trouble?" Dawnie dived straight into it, she didn't want to beat around the bush and hoped Caitlin wasn't home yet but her hope was in vain.

Caitlin came into the kitchen and got a drink from the fridge just like her sisters had, "mom said what?" she asked as she stood beside Dawn, she had just come home and saw her mother walking into the living room. Buffy and Dawn noticed that Caitlin was relaxed, very relaxed so she must have gone dancing, out of all the activities she did dancing and playing guitar relaxed her the most.

"Not much, Dawnie before I was the slayer I was a cheerleader and I had to stop that to be the slayer...all the 'trouble' relates to being a slayer so she thinks it's because I stopped being a cheerleader, and yes I know you thought I was a bitch," Buffy finished up her drink and threw the bottle in the bin with precision from where she was stood.

Dawn looked at her sister in awe, she always did when something like that happened, hey she was only 10 she could be easily impressed. "Oh," Dawn was mainly clueless when it came to the trouble Caitlin and Buffy got into in LA, she only knew that Caitlin went on an exchange that her dad set up to try and get her out of trouble. "Ooo dad's phoning tonight," Dawn jumped up and down, she liked talking to her dad, she missed him but not the way he acted to her sister, she missed how it was 3 years ago when everything was okay. Buffy was impressed Caitlin managed to keep the disgust from showing on her face when Dawn looked at her. Dawn threw her arms around Caitlin, "are you going to speak to him this time?"

Caitlin was annoyed simply because Hank was going to be calling, she hated hearing that man's voice and it always brought back painful memories. "Not this time Taz," she answered simply as she lifted her sister up and sat her on the counter so she could move away.

"Why not? You never talk to dad," Dawn didn't understand why Caitlin and their father never really got along, maybe because she was the middle child.

"Taz I said no," Caitlin barked from where she was walking, she happened to glance over her shoulder and saw Buffy's frown and Dawn's teary eyes. Caitlin buried her head in her hands and grabbed some of her hair. Buffy wanted to approach Caitlin but she had snapped at Dawn and would be beating herself up and comfort would piss her off. Caitlin breathed deeply to calm down and then turned and dashed back to Dawn and brought her into her arms, "I'm sorry, so sorry Dawnie." Dawn put her head on Caitlin's shoulder; Buffy came over and took the two of them in her arms, now she could comfort Caitlin.

"How about we all go outside for a bit and play around," Buffy suggested as she dropped a kiss top both of her little sister's hair. Both younger sisters didn't pull back from the hug instead Caitlin picked Dawn up and walked outside with Dawn in her arms.

~GU:CM~

Willow saw Caitlin walking into school and knew now was the perfect time to interrupt her and ask a few questions, Willow rushed until she was just behind the lagging blonde and placed a hand on her shoulder to get her attention and what happened next was unexpected. Caitlin felt the hand being placed on her shoulder and tensed, quickly she grabbed the hand and twisted it and turned around; she was met by Willows pained face. "Oh goddess...Willow I'm so sorry," she quickly let go and backed away looking horrified.

Willow should have known better than to sneak up on marital artist, they were all jumpy and stuff in the films, "no it-it's okay I shouldn't have snuck up on you...I'm okay." She saw the blonde starting to tear up and didn't know what to do. Caitlin watched Willow subconsciously rub her sore wrist; the tears fell from her eyes and ran down her face, she had hurt her friend after just over a week at being there. Willow saw this and felt her heart go out to the younger teen, she knew Caitlin had been having a hard time and now she had accidently made it worse by sneaking up in her. Without thinking if Caitlin would be uncomfortable she pulled her into a hug, Caitlin tensed immediately from the contact, only family hugged her. The young blonde felt surprisingly comfortable and relaxed, she put her head in the crook of Willow neck and wrapped her arms around the redhead's waist. Willow sucked in a surprised breath but didn't release the hug; she hadn't expected Caitlin to hug her back. Caitlin pulled back after she calmed down and gave Willow a look she could decipher, "Better?" Caitlin nodded as she stepped back "I really am okay Caitlin," she gave the blonde a smile, grabbed her hand and dragged her off to class.

Willow sat in her class after dropping Caitlin off at hers and wondered what had just happened, Caitlin's emotions were wild, one moment she was upset then she was apathetic or angry then remorseful, she didn't understand it. Willow was the first out of class when the bell rang and made her way towards Caitlin's class, she had built up enough confidence to ask but before she could get too far Amy rushed passed her "Hey, Amy!" the girl doesn't acknowledge her as she rushed down the hallway. Willow made her way over to Buffy who was stood looking a little uncomfortable "Is she okay?"

"No, she's, she's wiggin' about her mom, big cheer queen back when," she was still looking uncomfortable but a little bit of understanding was showing in her eyes. Hank had been really hard on Caitlin about her grades and activities because he had disapproved she wasn't doing what he did.

"Yeah, her mom's kinda..." Willow stalled for a second not wanting to be too harsh to Amy's mom but couldn't be too nice about her

Buffy noticed the dilemma and supplied with "...Nazi like?"

"Heil, if she gains an ounce she padlocks the fridge and won't eat anything but broth." She had grown up with Amy and her mom had done some weird things when she gained weight.

"So, mommy dearest is really... Mommy Dearest?" the blonde didn't like the sound of having food locked up, slayer appetite was killer and she ate a lot when it came to food. Buffy usually got Caitlin to make her something; she had taken after their cousin Piper with the love of cooking and baking food, Caitlin was a vegetarian but made great food.

"There's a bitter streak," Willow admitted, Amy's mother was usually bitter and annoyed every time she saw her "But Amy's nice. We used to hang in Junior High, when her mom would go on a broth kick, Amy'd come over to my house and we'd stuff ourselves with brownies!" Buffy's stomach almost grumbled at the thought of brownies, that had clenched it she was getting Caitlin to make her something for dessert.

They started down the hall, aware that they had class "Hey, any word on Amber?" Buffy asked, she remembered Willow saying she was going to look at Amber's records.

Willow could remember everything on Amber's records because they were pretty clean unlike some of the students, she had yet to look at Caitlin's or Buffy's as she didn't want to invade on their privacy and wanted them to tell her. "Nothing thrilling, average student, got detention once, for smoking. Regular smoking... with a cigarette, not, like, being smoky." Buffy hmm'd at the information; it gave them very little about if Amber had done this to herself accidently "All pretty normal," Willow added.

"So we just have to wait and we'll see what happens. Maybe nothing will." Buffy hoped that was true, being the slayer was a pain and it annoyed her she couldn't be normal, it made life that much harder for her as she was her sister's keeper most of the time especially when she had an episode. Willow looked around nervously, she wanted to tell Buffy what happened earlier but wasn't sure if it would get Caitlin in trouble; Buffy noticed "What is it Willow?"

"I uh I ran into Caitlin earlier and she kind of reacted badly to me putting my hand on her shoulder," she didn't meet Buffy's eyes not knowing if she had done wrong.

Buffy sighed knowing Caitlin didn't really like being touched anymore not after what happened to her, "She doesn't really like being touched it's something she's grown into...did she hurt you?" Buffy asked, she saw Willow's eyes close and knew she had "what did she do?" she could now anticipate a blue Caitlin when she next saw her.

"Twisted my wrist but she didn't mean it and apologised," the redhead was defending the younger blonde hoping not to get her in trouble.

Buffy liked that Willow was protecting her sister "Don't worry Willow she won't be in trouble but she might not be very talkative for a while she reacts badly to things like that." They carried on down the hallway until they needed to split up for class. Buffy noticed her sister waiting for her outside of the class and looked up at her with sorrow filled eyes. Buffy put her arm around her sisters shoulder offering silent support and led them into class.

~GU:CM~

Caitlin sat on the counter with Dawn in between her legs, Buffy had taken her to get Dawn from school yesterday and her little sister hadn't left her alone since and neither had Buffy except to patrol. Dawn could sense something was up with Caitlin and Buffy had told her it was because she had accidently injured Willow yesterday, she hated seeing her sister so sad and so hard on herself but couldn't really do anything about it. Buffy pulled out a freshly toasted half of a bagel from the toaster and took it to the island to put some filler on it, she had made sure Caitlin and Dawn ate first and now was eating her breakfast. Their mother walked into the kitchen carrying a book, "Look what I found. It's my yearbook from junior year," Caitlin looked a little confused about what was going on but noticed her older sister didn't and assumed it was what she missed yesterday "Oh, look! There I am." She put the book down on the island and went to get a cup of coffee, but was stopped when Caitlin handed her a full one made exactly how she liked it, "Thank you honey" Joyce dropped a kiss to her middle child's head .

Buffy looked at the picture as she brought the book over to Dawn and Caitlin "Mom, I've accepted that you've had sex. I am not ready to know that you had Farrah hair." Dawn scrunched up her face at the word sex, in her innocent world parents didn't have sex, and storks brought babies, it was less damaging that way. Buffy laughed at Dawn's face, Caitlin didn't seem interested and refused to move her head from where she had placed it on top of Dawn's.

"This is Gidget hair. Don't they teach you anything in history?" Joyce asked as she drank some of her coffee, Dawn had the book and was flicking through it as her mother asked.

Buffy seemed to want to appease her mother "Well, it's really cool, but I gotta book." She didn't want to be late and even if she left now and Caitlin didn't it was a safe bet that Caitlin beat her and she never knew how.

"Well, I was thinking. I know the cheerleading thing didn't work out... Maybe you should think about joining the yearbook staff. I did, it was a lot of fun." Two of her three of her children pulled a face with that one and Joyce looked at them with a 'what?' expression, she didn't know that it was now social suicide to be in the yearbook staff or you had to be overly popular and they were neither.

Buffy left her sisters side and went to the fridge "Not really my tip, mom," She'd let her mother think what she did was cool like a good daughter would, last year she would have told her mother exactly what she thought but she had changed and was less prone to hurting people's feelings.

"I was, uh, photo editor. I got to be on every page, made me look much more popular than I was," She was being awfully pushy in Dawns mind, what was up with her and trying to get Buffy to do things lately.

Her mother left her no choice she had to pull out the big guns, "And have you seen the kids that do yearbook? Nerds pick on them" Buffy walked to her bag getting fed up of what her mother was trying to do, she was disapproving her life and trying to change Buffy into...well her.

Joyce looked positively insulted "Some of the best times I had in school were working on the yearbook!" why oh why was her daughter so stubborn, she had been cursed with the Halliwell stubbornness.

Buffy turned to face her mom hoping to get her message across "Oh, this just in: I'm not you! I'm into my own thing," She didn't get why her mother was being like she was, what actually surprised her was how quiet Caitlin was being, she greatly disliked anyone bad mouthing or annoying herself and Dawn.

The mother of three was more than annoyed with Buffy's comment, it made it seem like there was something wrong with her "Your own thing, whatever it is, got you kicked out of school, and we had to move here to find a decent school that would take you!" her voice raised, not enough to class as a shout. Buffy looked hurt so she took her bag and started to go. "Honey, uhh..." Buffy didn't even turn to acknowledge her mother "Uhh! Great parenting form! Little shaky on the dismount," she sounded disgusted with herself as she turned to look at her younger daughters.

Dawn was pissed off, her mother had no right to throw that into Buffy's face, not after how her big sister had been trying her hardest to change "That was harsh mom, you're lucky Caitlin isn't aware of what is happening right now or you'd have to deal with all three of us," Dawn disentangled herself from her sister and took her hand leading her away from the kitchen. Joyce hung her head, she had insulted Buffy, annoyed Dawn and as Dawn said was lucky Caitlin wasn't very aware of what was going on or she would have to watch Buffy restrain Caitlin.

~GU:CM~

Caitlin had walked Dawn to school and had almost been late, she was lucky Buffy had tagged along or she wouldn't have made it to school, she just wasn't up to it. She was currently sat in the library a little more aware of her world than she had been earlier; Buffy had informed them that Cordelia had lost her eyesight. Caitlin was stood next to Willow and was very interested in what they were talking about..."Witchcraft, blinding your enemy to disorient and disable them is, its classic!"

"First vampires, now witches, No wonder you can still afford a house in Sunnydale." Xander announced loudly, Caitlin's head shot in his direction and she glared, no one bad mouthed witches they weren't bad only a when they choose to be. Buffy rubbed Caitlin's back calming her as Willow grabbed her hand almost to restrain her, Xander looked taken back but when Caitlin calmed down she gave Xander an apologetic shrug to which he nodded back.

"Why should someone want to harm Cordelia?" she was no threat to anyone, sure she was the top dog on the popular scale but she had no knowledge of this world or powers that they knew of.

"Maybe because they met her?" Willow asked with a hint of anger in her voice, she had no idea where this new confidence came from but it was actually slightly scary. The other people in the library looked at her in shock; Xander had never heard Willow talk like that before. Caitlin and Buffy were feeling slightly smug knowing she hadn't said things like that before and it was since they had been there. "Did I say that?" Willow asked in a shocked tone.

"And setting Amber ablaze?" asked Giles trying to ignore his shock, he wasn't going to show it outwards knowing that teenagers often changed their moods and attitude very quickly.

Xander had done some asking around about Amber and he knew all about Cordelia's friends seeing as they had all picked on him more than once a week, "Yeah, those guys don't hang..." Willow knew they didn't either and nodded in agreement with him.

"They're both cheerleaders," Buffy surmised, even if they didn't hang they still did the same activity and saw each other. She should know all about cheerleaders she had been since she had been able too.

"Someone doesn't like cheerleading," Caitlin remarked as she absently rubbed her thumb over Willow's hand, the blonde hadn't noticed she was doing it but the redhead did but didn't stop it. Willow was almost ready to explode from questions; Caitlin sure was a strange one.

Buffy decided to counter that "Or likes it too much," she used to be under that category until the slaying gig started and it had actually caused her and Caitlin to fall out majorly, enough for Caitlin to spend time with Grams and their cousins. Caitlin had come back jumpy around her and Buffy felt terrible for it.

"Amy!" Buffy and Willow exclaimed one after the other, everyone seemed to think and it did fit from what Amy had said about her mother and her obsession with cheerleading. Willow and Buffy had talked about Amy mother's behaviour about getting out of shape and everything so maybe she was doing it out of fear.

"So, you guys are leaning towards Amy?" Xander clarified seeing as they had both said Amy's name. He couldn't really see her doing it but he now knew better than to take things at face value.

"She's desperate to get on that team, and I've got this feeling she'd do just about anything to make her mom's dream come true," Buffy responded with a hint of upset and knowing. Caitlin looked at Buffy in confusion not knowing what she was talking about, had their mother said something. Buffy saw Caitlin looking bewildered but didn't elaborate, she didn't want Caitlin and their mother fighting seeing as Caitlin relied heavily on mother.

Giles didn't seem to get the thought process of the teenagers, who it their right mind would cast spells for a cheerleading spot, "Uh, let me make sure I have this right. This witch is casting horrible and disfiguring spells so that she can become a cheerleader?" his voice was thick with disbelief. Teenagers these days, he huffed mentally.

Caitlin seemed to understand his belief "I think you're underestimating the amount of pressure a parent can lay on you." Or older cousins Caitlin added but didn't vocalise it, Prue had always tried to get them all to excel and sometimes went a bit over the top.

"If you're not a picture perfect carbon copy they tend to wig." Buffy added at the end of her sister's sentence, she had experienced that this morning.

Willow supplied the information she had given Buffy the day before "Cheerleading was kind of her mom's last hurrah." Giles seemed to be getting it now, when she was in school it was always his grades and attendance.

Xander seemed to be getting antsy and he wanted to stop Amy. Caitlin looked at him but didn't tilt her head, she knew that if she did he would get suspicious about what she was doing, the tilt of her head was a dead giveaway that she was thinking "Look, we still have to stop Amy. We should grab her and..." he never got to finish.

The older male interrupted the younger male before he got ahead of himself "I think we should be sure she's the witch before we arouse her suspicions. She's, she's capable of some fairly unpleasant things."

"Okay, alright," Buffy got up as she continued to speak "so, you're in high school, you are desperate to make the team and please your mom, so you turn to witchcraft. What's the first thing you're gonna do?" she looked at her little sister for an answer, she was the one reading up on stuff and Buffy knew she was smart.

"Check out the books on witchcraft," Caitlin supplied, that's what she would do if it were up to her and she didn't have books on witchcraft which she actually did. Caitlin turned to look at Willow, she was the one who did the computer stuff. The younger sister would do it herself but she couldn't be asked.

Willow nodded she got up and both her and Buffy go over to the computer to access the on-line library card catalog. Xander quickly tried to shot the idea down, "Uh, no! No, that would be the *last* thing you would do! You don't wanna leave a paper trail. Forget that!" the brunette seemed overly anxious about checking something that really wouldn't take long.

"It'll just take a minute," the redhead responded absently as she started to pull the records up.

Xander got up and stood behind them, "We don't have a minute! Cheerleaders are in danger, Buffy's in danger." Xander then directly addressed Buffy, Caitlin looked on in amusement "You were the first alternate; you are on the team now that Cordelia's out. You could be next. We gotta get you to a safe house." Despite the seriousness of his voice Caitlin couldn't help but cough a laugh, she saw Giles rolling his eyes and it was clear that Xander's crush was obvious to everyone but Buffy.

"Xander..." Willow trailed off wanting him to stop and to get his attention, she still couldn't really believe she had a crush on him and couldn't believe that the crush had gone so quickly. Willow couldn't understand it really but Xander just no longer appealed to her, mentally shrugging she carried on with what she was doing.

"Yeah," the named male replied.

Willow exhaled and read the monitor "'Witches: Historic Roots to Modern Practice,' Checked out by Alexander Harris."

Buffy read the next one out "'The Pagan Rites', checked out by Alexander..."

"I wouldn't think that was your sort of thing Xander," Caitlin said after hearing both of the titles of the book. She highly doubted it was for the actually information, he didn't seem like the extra reading type so it was probably just the pictures.

"Alright, alright, it's not what you think" he hoped Buffy and Caitlin didn't think it was him, he had only known then for about a week after all so they might jump to conclusions, his worry was obviously for nothing when Willow spoke up.

"You like to look at the semi-nude engravings?" Willow suggested with raised brows, she knew what he was like and semi-nude girls was a given for the slightly older male.

"Oh, well, uh, I-I guess it *is* what you think" he remarked clearly relieved that Willow had said that but slightly embarrassed she said it in front of Buffy, Caitlin and Giles. Xander flinched under Caitlin's gaze but not knowing what she was annoyed about, Buffy motioned Caitlin to come over and the blonde acknowledged it and was pulled into a calming hug by Buffy.

"Have you all quite finished? We have to find a conclusive test. There may be something in here..." Giles started to flip through the pages of his book

Caitlin didn't let him finish trying to find the test before she was sprouting off information "You'll need some of her hair, a little quicksilver and some aqua fortis," Grams had taught her that test and only so she could decide and get knowledge of witches around her.

Willow translated them into common day items "Well, that's just mercury and nitric acid, you can get that in the science lab," The others were shocked that Caitlin knew of a test. Giles shook his head to clear it; he could talk to Caitlin about it later

Giles finished flipping through pages and found the specific test and read the ingredients out "Heat ingredients and apply to witch, and if a spell has been cast in the previous 48 hours, witch's skin turns blue.' Hmm," he shut the book "Oh and you'll need some Eye of Newt."

Caitlin nodded as the other three looked at her wondering how she knew, Buffy hadn't known that her sister was into reading up on witchcraft but it made sense because some of her books were really old and in Latin, "Well I'd love to go with you but I have a meeting with the school councillor."

Buffy frowned and pulled Caitlin over to the side showing the others this was a family matter, "What? Why do you have to meet with the councillor?" Buffy asked, she had thought all of this was behind them.

"Buff they have to see if I need any sessions and hopefully they will say I won't 'cause you and I both know I won't survive if I have to talk about this shit," Buffy nodded and noticed her sister was more like herself but was very tense and agitated so she decided to leave it without too much questioning.

"Alright but meet us outside science if it takes that long alright?" she needed to be sure her little sister would be okay. Caitlin saw the worry and tried to relax but she couldn't so she just nodded and hugged her big sister, without looking at the others she released her sister and left.

~GU:CM~

Caitlin punched the wall as she turned the corner, the councillor had really pissed her off and the demand for her to have a session twice a week was her undoing, she already had two sessions outside of school and like hell was she doing it in school and missing lessons. She noticed Buffy, Willow and Xander walking out of class and quickly approached and threw her arms around Buffy and breathed in her scent. "Did you see? Amy was as freaked out as the rest of us," Xander said as he looked at Caitlin then back to Buffy.

"So it's not her?" Willow asked as she subconsciously brought her hand to Caitlin's back and rubbed it soothingly hoping to calm the younger girl down, only Caitlin did the opposite and completely tensed but it was not noticed by anyone other than Buffy.

"The test was positive! She's our Sabrina. I just don't think she realizes what she's doing," Buffy pointed out as she wrapped her arms around Caitlin, she would ask what's wrong in a minute, they had to discuss this Amy problem first. Buffy already guessed it was to do with the councillor.

Willow brought her hand up to play with Caitlin's hair, she obviously didn't know she was doing it or she would have blushed at least 12 shades of red before stuttering an apology "Well, should we talk to her?"

Buffy felt Caitlin relax minutely at Willow playing with her hair and then relaxed further into her hold; Buffy put her chin on Caitlin's shoulder, "Maybe we should talk to her mother, I wonder if *she* knows what she's created."

Caitlin pulled back and looked at her sister and Buffy stared back into the eyes which matched hers "Buff," her voice was rough and strained.

Buffy brushed her sister's bangs out of her eyes and pulled back far enough so her little sisters arms fell down and Buffy grabbed her hand and rubbed her thumb over Caitlin's knuckles, "Yeah baby?" she wasn't going to interrogate her if she wasn't ready for talking.

"They want me to have two sessions!" Caitlin shouted through clenched teeth hoping it wouldn't be too loud. Willow's hand dropped to Caitlin's back again, she shared a look with Xander clearly worried why Caitlin needed counselling. "That bitch had the nerve to comment on Grams and you," Caitlin whined as she gripped Buffy's hands a little tighter. Buffy sighed and pulled her sister into her arms again, Willows hand fell down to her side and she looked shocked by her actions and blushed.

Buffy noticed the blush but didn't comment, she wondered if Willow was attracted to her sister and the wondered if her sister was attracted to Willow and that's why she hadn't pushed further into her embrace when Willow touched her back, sighing she pressed a kiss to her sisters temple, "C'mon lets go tell Giles about our in house Witch."

Caitlin stood outside of Buffy's room, her face was in between disgust and amusement, the room was a bit of a mess and that was what Caitlin was making the face at. Buffy was still sleeping, but Caitlin knew the alarm was going to go off so she pushed herself from the door frame and went into Dawn's room. Dawn was spread eagled on her stomach and her head was buried under the pillow, Caitlin chuckled as she approached the bed and sat on the edge, Caitlin leant forward and picked the pillow up from Dawn's head and bopped Dawn over the head with it. Dawn groaned in protest and pushed her hand out hoping to push, whoever was on the bed, off. She opened her eyes when she heard Caitlin laughing and at seeing her sister happy she rolled her eyes and playfully glared, "What was that for?" she asked as she rolled onto her back and sat up.

"It's time to get up and ready for school," Caitlin said ruffling her baby sisters hair and when Dawn swung half-heartedly at her she moved out of the way with a laugh, "Mom will be making breakfast so up," Caitlin left the room chuckling at hearing Dawn grumbling about mornings. Caitlin skipped down the stairs and saw her mother making orange juice, "Hey mom have you seen one of my wristbands, I can't find any?" she asked sliding onto a kitchen stool.

"Sorry sweetheart but I haven't, is it that important," most of Joyce's attention was on the juice but she was still aware that Caitlin's face screwed up signalling it was. Joyce didn't know why but since Prue had bought her some during their stay she always wore one on her right wrist.

Caitlin got up and made her way towards the laundry pile "Kinda, it's good luck and I need it," so it wasn't the truth but her mother probably couldn't handle that right now.

Joyce was still making fresh-squeezed orange juice when Buffy came in dancing and singing "Macho, macho, man! I want to be a macho man. Macho... Oh, hey, juice!" Buffy picked up the glass and downed it in one; Caitlin came back into the kitchen adjusting a wristband on her left wrist, with a pentagram on it, until she found it comfortable "Mm...Quality juice, not from concentrate!"

Joyce glanced at Buffy, her mood completely different from last night when they almost argued "You're in a good mood," she said cautiously. Caitlin nodded along with her mother; Buffy was in a very different mood than when she came in from slaying last night.

Buffy nodded "I am! I'm on the squad, which is great, 'cause I feel like cheering and leading others to cheer. Ooo, hey, juice!" Caitlin gave Buffy a strange look as she took the second glass and drank it.

"Listen, honey, about yesterday, I really..." Joyce started as she saw that Buffy was in a good mood but she was interrupted.

Buffy didn't let her mother finish, yesterday was the past and today was the present, "Mm! That is totally yester, besides, it's not like you were wrong, y'know I did get us kicked outta school. I'm just wacky that way!" the nonchalance was starting to annoy Caitlin, she knew how much it affected her and yet she's acting like it didn't matter!

"Still, I just want you to know that, despite the problems you've had, I really..." Joyce tried again but Buffy was going to adamant about it obviously.

Buffy cut her off again, "Mom you just don't get it and, believe me, you don't want it. Y'know, there are just some things about being a Vampire Slayer that the older generation..." she didn't get to finish this time

"A what?" Joyce asked sounding confused and slightly on edge, what was her eldest daughter going on about. Caitlin's eyes widened as Buffy actually told their mother what she was, Dawn had chosen that point to walk in and her eyes were wide as well, what the hell was wrong with Buffy.

"It's a... long story," Buffy covered up still as hyper as she was when she first arrived in the kitchen. Nothing was going to bother her today, she nodded to herself.

Joyce was a bit concerned for Buffy seeing as she was acting like Caitlin when she forgot her Lithium and Dawn mixed together, "Buffy, are you feeling well?"

"What? Oh, I'm, I'm fine, y'know? What, like, I can't be in a good mood? Is it, like, a new house rule? Fine y'know? It's just fine, fine, fine, 'cause...I'm a macho, macho man! I want to be a macho man! Macho, macho man!" Buffy bobs her head along to her singing and headed out of the kitchen, she carried on singing as she leaves the house "I want to be a macho man!"

Caitlin got up slowly, "I think I should follow her just in case this wackiness ends up with her streaking the school or something." Her mother and sister chuckled lightly but she could hear an undertone of worry in there, she quickly headed out of the door after scooping her bag up and ran after Buffy who was actually skipping to school. Today was gonna be a strange day, Caitlin mentally decided as she grabbed Buffy's hand and dragged her to school at a quick pace.

~GU:CM~

"I'm telling you she's acting weird!" Caitlin said as she dragged Xander and Willow to the gym where Buffy was practising, she had been in a few lessons with her sister and she was all peppy, too peppy for her liking and she liked her sister happy but she could only handle so much.

Xander shot her a look, "your reasoning is that she's too peppy...she's a cheerleader she has to be all spirited." The male was along for the ride just to see Buffy in action; he personally thought that she was over reacting.

Buffy noticed they had walked in and started to jump around gleefully, Caitlin was reminded of the time she caught Paige doing drugs. Caitlin couldn't help but feel like something had happened to Buffy last night whilst she was sleeping "Willow! Xander! My buds are here! I love my buds! Hi!" the whole squad looked at her as if she had lost it and Xander and Willow matched that look, "Hi... Oh..." She got back in line, and the routine continued.

Xander turned to Willow and took Caitlin's sentiment from earlier "Is it me, or is Buffy a bit looped?" he asked and got a very evil look from Caitlin, she had just said that and he had shot her down.

Willow shot a worried gaze, something told her this was going to go down right now, the cheerleaders continued with their routine. "We better get her outta there," she didn't want to know what Buffy could do in her dippy state.

"Yeah, before she..." Xander doesn't get to finish his sentence before it actually happened Buffy overthrew Joy's aerial and it sent her crashing into the gym wall.

"...hurts someone. Goddess" Caitlin finished for him and knew this was not a good thing; she had just used slayer strength accidently. It had taken Buffy a while to get used to Slayer strength when she first got it and it was like she was new to it all over again.

Joy got up as Buffy came running over looking strangely bewildered that she had sent a girl bigger than her sailing across the gym, it didn't register that she had used her slayer strength it didn't even seem like she knew she was the slayer "Did I do that?"

The three non-cheerleaders could clearly see the anger on Joy's face, yeah Buffy wasn't going to be in the squad for much longer, "You are *so* out of here!" Joy shouted getting right in Buffy's face.

Willow and Xander came running up and each grabbed one of Buffy's arms, they needed to get her to Giles something was clearly wrong. Caitlin stayed where she was but called out to Joy to take the attention off of her sister "It's not her fault!" Joy looked over at Caitlin with an explain look.

Xander took the unspoken question "She's on medication," Willow saw Caitlin stiffen at that from over by the entrance.

"What?" the now ditzy blonde looked at Xander as if he were speaking in tongues, she wasn't on medication...was she? Mentally shrugging she went back to the conversation. She was supposed to take medication then bad her for forgetting.

Caitlin heard the gym doors open and turned around to see Amy walking through looking mixed between apprehension and confusion, from what Buffy had told her last night she knew that Amy knew what that test had done and she was worrying about how the gang would act. "Well, obviously not enough. Who's our next alternate?" Joy saw Amy by the entrance, "Oh Amy, you just made cheerleader," Amy carried on walking into the gym but looked away from Caitlin, who didn't turn to face them but followed her with her head.

Buffy doesn't like that, a witch shouldn't be on the squad it was cheating in her eyes and she decided she must speak up, "No, no, no. You don't want her, she's a wi..."

Xander quickly put his hand over Buffy's mouth; yeah she was defiantly not in her right mind if she almost blabbed about Amy being a witch to the whole gym. "A wise choice indeed!" he finished Buffy's sentence with that not wanting Amy to know they were on to her. Even if she really was, Amy just thought the danger was Buffy and not her little sister, she was seriously wrong. He and Willow pull Buffy away, nodding and casting nervous smiles at Amy and Joy. Amy stared after them and eventually focused on Caitlin who frowned and followed her sister, she wasn't anything to worry about but Buffy was.

Caitlin walked quickly to catch up with Willow and Xander, who were now supporting Buffy between them as they tried to go to the library, "She's a witchy!" she announced loudly relieved she could now say it and Caitlin watched as she walked with a mix between a bounce and a stumble.

"Buffy..." Willow started worrying over what was happening to Buffy but couldn't finish because she didn't know what was wrong. She looked over her shoulder to where Caitlin was trailing behind and saw the younger blonde frowning in worry, Willow tried to send her a reassuring smile but she wasn't sure how reassuring it was when it felt more like she was grimacing. Caitlin knew what Willow was trying to do so when she caught up to her she placed her hand on Willow's back as well as Buffy's.

The latter of the two loved over their shoulder and their little sister, "I just got kicked off the team, didn't I?" she asked with a pout.

Caitlin chocked out a half laugh as tears welled up in her eyes "Yeah Buff ya kinda did," she sent Buffy a small smile when her sister frowned, Buffy had noticed the tears and wondered what they were about.

"I don't think it was your fault," Xander added drawing the blonde's attention away from each other as they both focused on him.

"Hmm, I know you don't, that's 'cause you're my friend. You're my Xander-shaped friend!" Buffy leans her head on his shoulder and peers up at him, "Do you have any idea why I love you so, Xander?"

Willow decided to tell Xander and Caitlin where to go even if they knew, she needed to say something so she could feel like she was helping "We gotta to get her to a..." she never got to finish.

Xander makes a gesture to stop Willow from speaking, "Let her speak!" he says slightly louder than how Willow was speaking, he wanted to know what Buffy wants to say.

"I'll tell you! You're not like other boys at all," Buffy said proud that she got to speak to Xander and tell him how she felt, speaking about your feelings was good for the soul, Buffy nodded to herself.

"Well..." Xander said bashfully, he liked to hear Buffy's praise about him and hoped it would mean more eventually. He had a major crush on Buffy since the first second he laid eyes on her as she walked towards the school and he hit a railing.

Buffy went in the opposite direction from what Xander was hoping, "You are totally, and completely one of the girls!" Caitlin snorted through her tears and Buffy turned to Willow, "I'm that comfy with him." Willow smiled widely; she found it funny that Buffy thought of Xander as a girl.

"That's great," Xander replied half-heartedly.

The blonde carried on talking regardless of what Xander had just said "Any other guy who'd give me a bracelet, they'd... wanna date me, and be like a..." she trailed of and stumbled more, she began to feel woozy and started to go pale "Oh! I, I don't feel so good."

"Buffy?" Caitlin asked as she peered at Buffy, she noticed her sister was pale and starting to sweat, without warning Buffy collapsed backwards into her little sisters arms. "Shit Buffy!" Caitlin called out in alarm "We need to get her to Giles," Caitlin said as she hoisted Buffy into a standing position and picked her up with great amount of effort.

"I think I should carry her," Xander said and put his arms out for her for Buffy. Caitlin's eyebrows pulled together, she didn't want to hand her big sister over to this hormone driven male, Caitlin closed her eyes and passed Buffy over to Xander and started taking deep breathed and changed her thoughts as she had started to wind herself up. Xander started off towards the library and Willow grabbed Caitlin's hand and watched the green eyes focus on her own and tugged until Caitlin started to follow her.

Caitlin stopped just inside of the library and lent against the wall, "Caitlin?" Willow asked feeling resistance on her arm, she turned in time to see Caitlin slide down to the ground and let go of Willow's hand. Willow bent down and picked Caitlin's head up and saw the tears running down her cheeks "Buffy's going to be alright," Willow wiped the tears from Caitlin's cheeks and leant forward to place a kiss on her forehead. Caitlin looked shocked as Willow pulled back but let out a little smile before it dropped off. Willow stood up and held her hands out for Caitlin, the blonde took the hands and let Willow led her into Giles office. Buffy was lying back in a chair with a wet cloth on her forehead. Willow walked in to support her head and kept the cloth in place with her hand "We've gotta get her to a hospital!" she panicked.

Caitlin walked over and Buffy grabbed blindly for her hand, Caitlin allowed Buffy to find her hand and felt her sister weakly tugging at it and she got the hint. She sat on the edge of the chair and ran her hand up and down her sister's arm, "They can't help her."

"Quite right" Giles agreed with Caitlin "This is a bloodstone vengeance spell." Caitlin's head shot up, she knew what a vengeance spell entailed. Giles took Buffy's pulse, "Hits the body hard like a, a quart of alcohol, and then it e-eradicates the, uh, immune system," Caitlin gripped Buffy's hand and felt her applying pressure back.

"A vengeance spell, like she's trying to get even with Buffy?" Xander asked from the corner of the room, Buffy had woken up as soon as he entered the library and she was just getting worse.

"'Cause she knows I know she's a witch," Buffy croaked feeling beyond weak and ill, nothing was focusing clearly and her limbs felt like lead.

"The others she just wanted out of the running. You she intends to, um..." Giles didn't really want to say it out loud, didn't want to believe that it was happening to the slayer already after a mere week of being her watcher.

Buffy finished his sentence for him, "Kill?" Buffy looked at Caitlin but her sister wouldn't meet her eyes instead she dropped head and brought her free hand to cover her eyes, a clear sign she was or had been crying.

"How much time do we have?" Willow asked barely above a whisper, she was concerned for Buffy's health and Caitlin's mental health.

"Oh, uh, I'm sure, uh..." once again Giles didn't want to say not when Caitlin looked to be on the verge of breaking down, Buffy shouldn't have to know but he guessed it would be best if he did tell her.

Buffy could see his reasoning but she needed to know, Caitlin needed to know how long she had left with her big sister "Truth, Please."

Giles sighed and glanced quickly at Caitlin who still had her head down, "Couple of hours...Three at most," he responded regretfully.

"Well, how do we reverse the spell?" Xander questioned desperately needing to save Buffy, he wasn't ready to lose her and he guessed Willow wasn't either. Xander placed his hand on Caitlin's shoulder trying to be supportive, Caitlin tensed minutely but it went unnoticed by everyone.

Giles got up from his place beside Buffy and looked at Xander "Well I, I've been researching that, and, uh, we can reverse all the spells if, um...we can just lay our hands on, on Amy's spell book," Giles took his glasses of and rubbed his eyes in frustration, this was not going to be easy

"And if we can't get a hold of it?" Willow asked she didn't have knowledge of witchcraft.

Caitlin looked up and looked at Buffy, who was looking back at her with concern, and then she looked up at Willow "then we can't reverse it." Willow was taken aback by Caitlin's knowledge of the arts.

"Well, the other way is to cut the witch's head off," he too was surprised by how much Caitlin seemed to know. Giles put his glasses back on and looked back at Caitlin who was staring into Buffy's eyes.

Xander spoke up in favour of that plan "Show of hands!" he raised his hand as an added incentive just in case anyone was confused, he used the hand that was resting on Caitlin's should and Caitlin relaxed.

"It's not Amy's fault, she only became a witch to survive her mother." Buffy's voice was weak and started to fade out towards the end of the sentence showing how weak she was becoming.

"Look, I don't care why, I just care that you go on breathing," Xander replied to Buffy's statement, Caitlin nodded her head to that and so did Willow. Buffy had to live; Caitlin wouldn't if her sister died.

"Giles, where would she be casting these spells?" she asked Giles hoping that he would know, what she didn't expect was for Caitlin to answer the question.

"Oh, she needs a sacred place where she can use a casting circle; she'll also need a cauldron an altar and probably a Grimoire," Caitlin replied absent-mindedly as she stroked her sister's arm, she had warned them it was magic but hadn't got into too much detail; after all it was a secret about how she knew.

"Her home, Okay Help me up," Buffy reasoned and tried to lift her arms up for them to help

Caitlin and Willow helped her up, and Caitlin went as far as to wrap her arm around Buffy's waist and put Buffy's arm around her shoulder. "We'll just go to her house and we'll get her book."

"Okay, we'll go with you," Willow started to head for the door wanting to go with Giles and Buffy but she was quickly stopped.

"Uh, no! You guys stay here and keep an eye on Amy," she didn't need Amy putting spells on them as well and seeing as she was already cursed she might as well go.

Giles stepped forward and tried to take Buffy from Caitlin "And keep her away from the science lab. We'll need it to cast our counter-spells," he wrapped his arm around Buffy's waist but Caitlin didn't let go.

"Like hell am I staying her when my sister is dying!" Caitlin argued vehemently, she had always stuck by Buffy's side and it wasn't going to change.

"Alright" Giles replied when Buffy failed to, the slayer slumped even further into their hold.

Giles, Caitlin and Buffy left leaving Willow and Xander looking worried over Buffy's condition.

~GU:CM~

Giles' old car pulled up to Amy's house, Giles turned to look at Caitlin cradling Buffy to her. "Let's hope that her mother can shed some light over what Amy's been doing," Caitlin nodded and watched Giles get out of the car and approach the back passenger door so he could help Caitlin get Buffy out of the car. Giles grabbed the cursed blonde and supported her whilst Caitlin shut the car door and rushed up to the front door and knocked, Giles approached at a slower rate because of Buffy. Caitlin gets impatient by the time Giles is next to her and knocks on the door some more, she turned and looked at her sister, Buffy looked very tired and out of it, barely keeping her eyes open. Giles knocked the next time and Amy's mother Catherine opened the door.

"Who are you? Wha, um, uh, is there something wrong?" Catherine didn't seem comfortable with the three in front of her and she sounded different from how Buffy had illustrated her earlier in the library, something was definitely wrong.

"Mrs Madison, we need to talk to you about your daughter," Giles told the women in front of him hoping that she would let them in because he doubted that Buffy could carry on standing for much longer

"I'm not allow..." Catherine started but rethought what she was going to say and started again "You'll have to come back later." She tried to close the door, but Caitlin prevented her and pushed her way in with Giles following closely.

Giles muttered under his as he made his way in "Excuse us!" Caitlin didn't say anything.

Catherine looked shocked and confused about what was happening "What?" she didn't want them in the house; if they were in the house then they were all in trouble.

Giles didn't pay her any attention as he turned to talk to Buffy, he was also keeping an eye on Caitlin for any negative reactions, and he had looked her file up and saw what had happened after the incident in LA. "You alright?" he looked for a place to for her to sit, "In here," he lead Buffy into the living room and addresses Catherine as he sets Buffy down onto the couch "Your daughter is meddling with something very dangerous, are you aware of that?"

Catherine decides to play dumb, it was probably safer if she did "Uh, I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh, I think you know only too well," Caitlin replies eyeing the skittish woman standing by the entrance, it seemed as if she was nervous about them finding something out.

"You've got to go. She's gonna be home soon, and you..." her response only seemed to make Caitlin's statement more believable, she was afraid of her own daughter and wasn't very good at hiding it.

Giles interrupted Catherine and pointed towards Buffy and started speaking to Catherine in a very angry tone, "This girl is very sick. Now you will shut up and you will listen to me! Your daughter has access to some very powerful magicks, and somehow your obsession with cheerleading has made..."

Catherine decided to interrupt Giles before he got even further away from the truth "I don't care about cheerleading! It's not my fault she's doing stuff," her face should her incredulous.

Buffy looked around whilst her watcher and her sister and her eyes rested on a plate of brownies shoved under the coffee table and began to realize who Catherine really was, she turned to face the three still talking and saw Caitlin turn to look at her and raised a brow at her.

"As her mother you should assume some responsibility for her actions," Giles lectured her as if she didn't know; Buffy supposed that she didn't know.

Catherine laughed humourlessly "Well, you know, these kids today! I..." she lost her hysterical nature and she started to calm down, she started to realise these people could help her "She's out of her mind. Ever since dad, her dad... left I can't control her," she finished sounding tired.

Buffy slowly started to get up ignoring the look that Caitlin was giving her, Caitlin started to approach her but Buffy put her hand up showing she was fine. Caitlin sighed as she stopped and stuffed her hands into her jean pockets pouting slightly, Buffy just smiled at her as she continued to get up.

"You're afraid of her?" Giles asked finally figuring out her reluctance to talk.

"Amy?" Buffy croaked out her question, she really wasn't feeling too well and hated to admit but she was suffering from Vertigo, she really should have let Caitlin help but she was not going to appear weak in front of her needing little sister. Catherine looked at Buffy and realized she had been found out, Caitlin scrunched her brow and Giles looked puzzled at Buffy.

"Are you Amy?" Caitlin turned to fully face 'Amy' who nodded jerkily, not really know what to say.

Giles turned from Buffy and looked back at Catherine "I don't understand," he admitted, if this was Amy then where was her mother? It hadn't occurred to him what the obvious answer would be.

Caitlin looked and sounded disgusted when she next spoke, "She switched! She switched your bodies, didn't she?" Amy looked down feeling defeated, she had tried to keep up the facade as her mother had asked but she couldn't deny who she really was.

"Good Lord!" Giles exclaimed as everything came into light, a part of his brain was wondering how Caitlin knew all about witchcraft and magic.

"She wanted to relive her glory days," Buffy muttered sitting down again, she was thinking about the conversation she had with Willow about how Catherine was about her figure and cheerleading, it all made sense.

Amy looked up at the three people who could help her, "She said I was wasting my youth, so she took it," she still sounded defeated but they could detect a hint of hope in her voice. Caitlin moved and sat behind Buffy and pulled her to her chest liking the fact that she could feel her sisters breathing, reassuring herself that she was still alive. Giles motioned for Amy to sit down so they could talk and when they were all situated Amy continued talking but now she sounded distraught, "I didn't know anything about her powers. I mean, when dad was here they would fight and yell and he would... call her a witch and... I mean, I would, just thought he meant... Oh, God, when he left I wanted to go with him. But she wouldn't even let me call. She went crazy, I mean, she'd lock herself upstairs for days, and she was always coming down on me, telling me I didn't deserve to have it so easy, and that I didn't know... how hard it was to be her, and... I guess she showed me, huh?" she trailed off she was confused, tired, distraught and desperate.

"Amy, it's gonna be okay," the Slayer grabbed at Amy's hand but didn't really have the strength to do anything with it, Amy squeezed it in appreciation.

"A few months ago, I woke up in h... her bed! I didn't know where I was, and... then I looked in the mirror..." she finished her tale with the little amount of strength Buffy seemed to lend her, even if she barely had enough of her own

"She locked herself upstairs?" Giles asked looking mixed between confused and relieved, she knew most witches would have their own space to perform spells but he didn't know if it would be there

"Yes" Amy answered looking fearful; she didn't what to go anywhere near her mother's things.

"Where?" the Watcher asked as he stood up, Caitlin shot up from her space next to her sister and approached Amy, she could tell she was fearful. She felt magical remnants through the house near the centre of the house.

Amy watched the young girl approach, "Your mother would lock herself in the Attic wouldn't she? She would ban you from ever going in there but she would spend hours there and when she came out the smell of sandalwood would hit your nose and then some foul smells afterwards?" Caitlin asked sounding very much like an expert. Amy furrowed her brows, how had she known all of that? Caitlin looked at her sister then back at Giles, "Stay with Buffy, Amy with me." She headed for the stairs.

"Wait a moment, you shouldn't be going near this stuff," Giles grabbed Caitlin's arm as she walked past him, she levelled him with a glare and he lets go, "Or I could stay?" he asked feeling uncomfortable with her glare, she smirked and nodded then headed towards the stairs. Amy led her to the attic and stopped back not wanting to be anywhere near it, Caitlin quickly assessed the door and could tell it didn't have a weak points so she stepped back and raised her foot to kick by the handle and the door flew open. She knew what she was looking for and moved into the attic, she couldn't suppress the shudder that ripped through her; a lot of dark magic had been casted in there.

Amy followed her in but with the intent to stop her, "Don't! If she finds out I've been here she'll kill me!" she was too young to die even if she was caught in her mother's older body. Little did Amy or anyone really know that Caitlin knew a lot about magic, she had been raised with the knowledge and only three people knew and one of which was dead, two if she got technical.

Caitlin walked around the cauldron to the rack with the hanging dolls; they had been used as a focus point for the spells, voodoo dolls almost. He saw the two dolls bound together for the body-switching spell but didn't touch them for fear of a warning spell being placed on them; she still needed to find everything else. "Goddess," she exhaled, Amy's mother knew a lot about magic and that worried her "I think we can reverse what your mom's done Amy."

Amy seemed ecstatic with that she wanted to be her 16 year old self again and go to school without fear of her mother "You could? Really, you could?"

"Yeah but we need to find her Grimoire or other reference books," it was most likely other reference books the spells ranged from body switching to vengeance spells and whilst Amy's mother seemed knowledgeable nothing was personalised it was all simple read and perform spells . She looked around for a stand or somewhere to store books and found a trunk; she knocked off the things on top. "Amy I need you to collect those dolls, and, uh, any other personal effects from the victims your mother might have used but be careful" As she started to open the trunk, a black cat jumped at her, she jumped slightly but expected it, the cat was her familiar. Caitlin stroked the cat and picked her up, the cat bristled but allowed it, "you're a good cat aren't you protecting your witch but let's see what you were guarding," she opened the trunk and saw a Grimoire in with other spell casting equipment, the Grimoire surprised her but she grabbed it anyway. She faced Amy and motioned to the door, they rushed back down into the living room.

"Did we find?" Buffy whispered, she was fading fast but she was trying to be strong for her sister.

"We found, come on" Caitlin couldn't look at her sister like that and headed straight for the car whilst Giles helped the weakening Slayer up from the couch.

"But where are you going?" Amy asked as she watched Caitlin rush to the car and then looked at Giles for an answer,

"We're going to school," absent-mindedly as he realised that Buffy was too weak to walk on her own and scooped her up into his arms. He looked at Amy as he added "And you're coming with us."

~GU:CM~

It hadn't taken them long to get back to school, there was virtually no traffic which the Englishmen was glad for. Caitlin took the lead knowing they had to get to the science labs so Giles can make the spell, Giles carried Buffy in to the science lab and led her down on a lab table; Caitlin came over and knocked everything off of it as he led her down. Giles rushed over to the front so he could start the spell, Amy stood off to the side watching what Giles was doing. Caitlin took off her jumper and draped it over Caitlin "We're gonna stop this. I promise...You just hang on, please" Caitlin dropped her forehead onto Buffy's as the blonde moaned, her vision was fading and she knew what was going to happen. Giles picked out Catherine's Grimoire from where Amy had put her mother's things

"How is she?" Amy asked Giles in a low voice hoping to not distract him; she hoped Buffy wouldn't die because of what her mother had done.

Giles looked up to where the sisters were and saw how pale Buffy looked compared to her sister, "We only have a few minutes left" he said grimly, "we need a frog eye...if you could" Giles asked Amy without looking up from where he had turned his vision to the Grimoire. Amy knew she had to do this even if she didn't want to; she quickly set everything up the cut the eye out and looked awfully squeamish doing it. Giles received the eye from Amy and puts it in the potion "Right! Here we go!"

Caitlin put her hand on the side of her sister neck and rubbed her thumb on her sister jaw, "it's almost done Buffy, you'll be back to normal and ready to kick ass," she had tears in her eyes as she saw her sisters unfocused eyes slipping shut.

Giles started to recite the spell as he continued to mix the potion, "The center is dark. Centrum est obscurus. The darkness breathes. Tenebrae respiratis. The listener hears. Hear me!"

Amy gasped "Oh, it's... it's working!" she said out loud but no one responded to her, too busy with what they were doing. Amy was thrilled it was starting to work she would have her body back soon.

Giles took the Grimoire up from the table, "Unlock the gate. Let the darkness shine. Cover us with holy fear." Catherine staggered back and covered her face, she was seeing with her eyes from her own body which probably meant that her mother could see what she was seeing. "Show me..." The lights go out in the classroom because of the spells energy.

"She's coming!" Amy knew that she needed to say it so they could get this over quicker.

Giles looked worried but continued to chant, he raised his arms, "Corsheth and Gilail! The gate is closed! Receive the dark! Release the unworthy! Take of mine energy and be sated!" He lunged his hands into the potion he's concocted. "Be sated! Release the unworthy!" he continued to chant loudly.

Buffy finally couldn't keep her eyes open and her head rolled her head slowly, Caitlin's eyes widened in horror as her other hand came up to straighten up her head, "Buffy!" she called loudly trying to rouse Buffy.

"Release!" he looked over to Buffy, Catherin began to chop at the door knowing they were reversing the spell "Release!" Catherine made a hole in the door and reached in to open the door; she marched through and raised her axe straight over Buffy. "RELEEEEASE!" Giles finished and watched as colour started to gain colour. Caitlin looked up and saw the axe so she rolled her and her sister off of the table; they landed with Caitlin on the bottom who groaned. Buffy had her strength back and got to her feet pulling Caitlin up with her

"Buffy?" Amy asked standing in front of them with the axe looking perplexed.

"Amy?" Buffy responded hoping it really was the teenager and not her mother. Catherine lunged at Buffy from the side and tackled her to the floor, knocking her out.

Giles advanced towards Catherine whilst pointing at the witch "You... you..." Giles never got to finish before Catherine growled and looked at him, she used her powers to force him back and push a table against him, Caitlin watched as he was knocked him down and out. Amy just stood there watching, still holding the axe in both hands.

Catherine got up and confronted her "You! You little brat!" she screeched, how dare she get these people to undo the spell she had cast and one of them knew the arts very well. Caitlin was checking on Buffy but she looked up as Catherine spoke.

"Mom! Please!" Amy begged trying to be threatening with the axe she held.

Catherine held out her hand, but before she could do anything Caitlin lunged at her and they both fell to the floor, Caitlin drew her fist back and hit the witch in the face but before she could do anything she was flung back onto the table Buffy had previously landed on and the momentum caused her roll off and hit her head. Catherine got up and magically got the axe from Amy then spoke to her, "How dare you raise your hand to your mother! I gave you birth. I gave up my life so you could drag that worthless carcass around and call it living?" instead of using the axe on her daughter she swung it into a table, she decided to use her magic to get rid of the annoyance. "You've never been anything but trouble. I'm going to put you where you can't make trouble again!"

Buffy jumped up behind Catherine, "Guess what?" she asked the witch who was about to attack Amy, part of her wondered where Giles and Caitlin where. Caitlin groaned as she got to her knees, she hadn't been knocked out but she had been winded. Catherine turned to face Buffy, quite happy to get rid of her as well, "I feel better!" Buffy informed her before punching Catherine much like Caitlin had only this time Catherine flew through the air, landed on a lab table and rolled off much like Caitlin had, hitting a shelf.

Catherine got up from where she had landed, "That body was mine! Mine!" she shouted at Buffy whilst referring to the cowering Amy who hadn't really moved from her spot, too afraid that her mother would punish her if she did.

Buffy couldn't believe it the older women was nearly pouting "Oh, grow up!" Catherine growled, she held her arm out toward Buffy and used her powers to send her flying against the wall. Caitlin got up as Buffy hit the wall and fell to the floor. Buffy got up, craning her neck.

Catherine began to cast a spell "I shall look upon my enemy!" She looked up at Buffy, and her eyes were become pitch black.

Caitlin noticed this and rushed over to Buffy, "Buffy she's using dark magic," she whispered in her sisters ear, Buffy turned her head slightly in acknowledgement but didn't take her eyes off of Catherine.

"I shall look upon her and the dark place will have her soul!" Catherin paid no attention to Caitlin and was glad she only had to do this spell once. The sisters looked around for a way to stop her, Buffy saw the pole holding up the mirror above her and signalled to Caitlin who nodded. "Corsheth, take her!" Catherine finished and the spell fired towards the sisters, Caitlin did a standing hook kick that knocked the pole out from under the mirror and let it flop down. Catherine's spell reflected from the mirror back at her, the power of the spell enveloped her and she screamed knowing what it meant for her. The energy twisted around her and disappeared with a roar, taking her with it.

Buffy finally looked around for Giles, who was still unconscious on the floor. Buffy and Caitlin approached him and he started to wake up "Well, that was, um, interesting." Buffy gave him her hand and help him up.

"You guys okay?" Buffy asked as she turned to face Amy and Caitlin.

Amy immediately spoke up in a mix of bewilderment and relief, "I'm fine!" she was so glad that she had her own body back and now how her mother wasn't threatening her she was relishing in it. Buffy looked to Caitlin who just nodded jerkily not really knowing how she felt.

"I assume the, uh, all the spells are reversed. It was my first casting, so..." Giles took a breath still not feeling a hundred per cent from being knocked out before he continued "I may have got it wrong."

Buffy was quick to reassure her watcher that he had done fine, "You saved my life! You were a god!" Giles nodded at Buffy's words and saw Caitlin doing the same from behind the blonde.

"Well, I didn't think you'd pull it off," Amy admitted rather apologetic, who could blame her seeing as she had been stuck in her mother's body for a while and when her and Caitlin went into the attic her fear of her mother had been firmly cemented in place.

Suddenly Xander came rushing into the room and grabbed Amy tightly, startling the poor girl whose nerves were already frayed "I got her! I got her! Cut her head off!" he declared loudly as he looked at Buffy not noticing that she was fine and standing on her own.

"Xander, what are you doing?" Caitlin asked seemingly confused as to why Xander was restraining the teen, didn't occur to them that last time he saw her she was all witchy.

"Saving you two?" Xander answered back with a question not sounding so sure of himself anymore. She had rushed off and when he caught up they were having a friendly chat, she brain washed them he decided.

"Get your hands off of her" Buffy said as she gave Xander a look that could be described as annoyed, he shouldn't tell her to hack some humans head off she wasn't a murderer.

"But she's evil," Xander defended himself, she was a witch and she had tried to kill her therefore she was pure evil and needed to be stopped.

Giles stepped up to explain it seeing the look of annoyance and both of the sister's faces, getting those two annoyed wasn't exactly smart considering one was a slayer and the other had over 8 years of martial art experience, "It wasn't exactly her."

Amy saw the slightly befuddled look that Xander sent Giles and dumbed it down even more "I was my mom."

Xander released her with an Oh, just in time for Willow to rush into the room wielding a baseball bat looking around the room wildly, Caitlin immediately approached her before she swung at Amy. Willow noticed Caitlin first and spoke to her "Where is she?"

Caitlin grabbed the bat just in case the redhead did swing "Uh, hey Willow! It's cool!" she was stunned at Willow's aggressive attitude but was glad she was ready to defend herself and her friends.

"It is?" she allowed Caitlin to grab the bat and she sounded as confused as Xander had when he came into the room.

Xander spoke up "Yeah, I took care of it," he decided to take the credit, she wasn't in the room but he needed to impress the ladies even if it was only Willow. They all just looked at each other, not knowing whether to correct him.

"Actually Giles saved the day," Buffy said as she pointed with her thumb to the watcher, Willow shot Xander a look before turning to Giles who was blushing slightly. The Englishmen took off his glasses and started to clean them, a nervous habit of his he couldn't get rid of.

The youngest person in the room went up to their sister and tugged on her hand; Buffy looked at her but didn't say anything, "Can we go home now?" Caitlin asked and Buffy nodded wrapping her arms around her sister to comfort her.

~GU:CM~

Buffy scooped her smashed alarm clock into a wastebasket; she hadn't done it when she woke up that morning, bearing in mind she wasn't even in her right mind thanks to the spell. Her mother came in smiling at Buffy, who smiled back, before glancing back at Dawn and Caitlin asleep on her bed. Her younger sisters had played around in the garden as soon as they had gotten home and even climbed the tree in the front garden and played on the roof, before she ordered them down so it wasn't surprising that they had crashed about an hour ago.

Joyce liked that Buffy was alright with her baby sisters in her room, she had come up for a reason she needed to talk to Buffy about what had been happening lately "I don't get it," she admitted as she came closer to Buffy

"What?" Buffy asked not knowing what her mother was talking about, it could be any number of things and she found it strange how people would open conversations like that.

"I've been doing a lot of thinking about... where you're coming from, how to relate to you... and I've come to a very simple conclusion: I don't get it," she had been thinking about it since Buffy firth brought it up in the kitchen a few days ago, her children just made no sense to her and she wondered if her mother felt like this when she raised her and her sister or raising her nieces.

"I'm inscrutable, huh?" strangely she felt rather proud about that, it also meant that she could keep her slayer secret without her mother figuring it out and that was a weight off of her shoulders.

"You're sixteen. I think there's a, a biological imperative whereby I can't understand you because I'm not sixteen," the mother of three reasoned, she hadn't been 16 for over 20 years so it was no wonder she didn't understand her sixteen year old daughter. Joyce was busy raising her nieces with her sister at that age; she had to be mature around them.

Curiosity peaked Buffy asked a question that had been playing on her mind since she found out Catherine body switched with her daughter, "Do you ever wish you could be sixteen again?"

"Oh, that's a frightful notion," Joyce exhaled as she sat next to her two youngest children who were snuggled together "Go through all that again? Not even if it helped me understand you," She smiled at her daughter, and Buffy smiled back. Joyce wouldn't dare go back to that age seeing as she would just have to do everything over again, she would have to lose her sister all over again and she wouldn't be able to go through that

Buffy was pleased with that, "I love you, mom." She jumped up from beside her sisters and mother kissing her mom on the cheek as she went, then ran from the room to take a shower before her and Caitlin went out patrolling then to the bronze to meet Willow and Xander.

Joyce stared in bewilderment as Buffy ran from the room "I don't get it!" she stated as she absently played with Dawn's hair.

"Don't think you were meant to," Caitlin said as she turned her head slightly, Dawn was practically stuck to her so moving wasn't exactly easy.

The mother nodded and dropped a kiss to her daughter's head, "you're probably right. Now I know how my mother felt when I was 16." Shaking her head she left the room in order to do some dreaded paperwork.

The middle child led there for a while before sliding out of her baby sisters arms and headed to her room so she could get changed to go out, not long after she finished Buffy came into the room all ready and dressed, "C'mon sleepy head it's time we went out." Caitlin smiled and nodded, the two blondes said their goodbyes and headed for a bit of relaxing.

~GU:CM~

Willow sat with Xander and Buffy in a booth looking out onto the dance floor where Caitlin was dancing, "how does she do that?" Xander asked in awe as he watched the males flocking around Caitlin and tried to dance with her.

Buffy was watching with a small smile at her sister enjoying herself, "she's always liked to let go and just dance, when she was younger it was our older cousin Prue that would hold her up and Caitlin would just smile and wave her arms around whilst bouncing up and down." She liked those memories even though Dawn wasn't in them, it reminded her of simpler times when they all lived at the manor, she was happy then, even if her dad lived in a rented apartment across town.

Willow tried to imagine that imagery but found it difficult to do so, she hadn't really seen Caitlin let go until now, "when did she first get into dancing?" she didn't really know much about either sister yet but they had only been around for over a week and she wanted to know more.

"About 8 months old I think...we have this video of Caitlin in Prue's arms and I'm over with Piper, Phoebe and Paige are dancing to some song and we all joined in. The camera focuses on Prue and Caitlin, Prue is swaying and holding Caitlin up and Caitlin starts to copy Paige and it's just really funny." Buffy chuckled at that remembering watching the video with her cousins a few weeks ago.

"You're family has an awful lot of P's in it," Xander piped up after digesting what Buffy had told them, this was the first time she had mentioned family excluding the obvious members.

Buffy looked up in contemplation, how many generations of P's had there been before her mother broke the tradition with the three of them "Yeah it started a few generations ago," Buffy wasn't sure how many generations that was Caitlin's sort of thing.

"Wow so it's like tradition but why is your mother, you and your sisters not P's?" Willow was interested in this she had read a lot on family interaction due to her parent's jobs as Psychologists, she was always reading up on new things it would keep her parents off of her back and also allow her to interact with them as they always spoke with psychological terms. The knowledge was also helping her understand Caitlin not that she even knew what the teen had.

Buffy knew the answer to that because she had heard her Grandmother and mother arguing over it a few years ago, "My mom is a P, she's Pandora but she changed her name after high school so her middle name became her first name. My dad didn't want mom to carry on with the tradition but my cousin has she had a little girl called Perri, cutest kid I've ever seen," Buffy boasted proudly about her cousin Perri the child was just endearing in so many ways that she had to be the sweetest kid Buffy had ever known as well.

Caitlin was unaware of what was happening around her, her eyes were closed and she could feel the beat flow through her body and decided to go along with it to see where it took her. It was the easiest thing for her to do when she was feeling the need to relax and after the last few days she really needed to relax, a large smile took over her face as she danced she had no clue she had attracted a lot of male and female attention nor did she realise that her sister was sharing the same smile she was just from observing her.

Buffy turned to Caitlin before looking back at her friends, "I'm going to join her for a bit" she got nods from both Xander and Willow but neither got up to join they felt as if it was a family moment. Buffy quickly made her way through the crowd and stood in front of her sister, grabbing one of her sisters hands she quickly slipped into the dance mind set granted she could never get there as quickly or as easily as Caitlin could nor could she be as good as Caitlin but she still found it relaxing just to be with her sister and dancing away in their own little world.

Xander watched the scene with a small smile on his face, now that he was alone with Willow he wanted to ask her a question, "Hey Will do you know what's up with Caitlin?" Willow knew what he was asking but she wanted him to tell her what he had noticed, "I mean sometimes it seems like she's not all there." The younger of the two nodded having observed the same thing but she figured that something terrible must have happened to Caitlin because of the state of her back, she had some deep scarring and it was still slightly red so they weren't exactly old.

"I don't know what's wrong with her Xander but I know it's a sore subject so for now I think it's best that we don't ask," Willow wanted to know but she wasn't going to risk Buffy or Caitlin's friendship over it. Curiosity killed the cat as they say.

Xander thought over what Willow said and nodded in consent, Buffy was protective of Caitlin so asking why she seemed crazy probably wasn't the best way to stay friends, "Yeah guess you're right."The two long time friends just sat in silence and watched as the two siblings laughed and danced around on the dance floor, acting like typical teenaged girls with no problems or responsibilities.

\Silver-Eternal-Dragon/