One of these days I'll post something that isn't riddled with mistakes. Those have been fixed. Thanks Daiz.
As for the in-laws, they were still there. They saw the whole thing. They're still floating around somewhere. They're just so not important right now.
"Joyce?" Xander called out as he entered the house a couple hours later. "Are you still here?" He heard sounds coming from the kitchen and moved to investigate. "Ben?" he asked, shocked to see the doctor leaning against the island.
"Xander," Ben greeted, turning around to face the young man.
"What are you doing here?" he asked. He stopped suddenly when he saw the hole where the doors and windows used to be. "What happened?" he asked as he realized Giles and Ethan were cleaning up broken glass and wood.
"Drusilla," Giles cursed as he stood up, stretching his back in the process.
"Is everybody okay?" Xander asked as he took the broom and dustpan from the older Englishmen. "The twins?"
"Everybody's fine," Giles reassured him. "Wesley and Gunn took them over to my flat until we get this mess cleaned up."
"Buffy?" Xander asked quietly. Giles closed his eyes just as Joyce walked into the room.
"She just woke up," she said to Ben. He nodded and left. She looked over at Xander. "I thought I heard you come in," she said as she helped sweep the floor. Giles and Ethan took the last few solid pieces of wood to the dumpster. "Did you need something?"
"It's not important," he shrugged as he held the dustpan. Soon all the glass and wood splinters were gone. Xander moved to the hole and began to examine it. "Damn. They bent the frame. I'll need to replace it before I can hang new doors." He turned to smile at Joyce. "Good thing I have so much practice replacing doors and windows at The Magic Box." She smiled at his joke.
"Was there something you needed?" she asked again. He sighed and came to lean against the island.
"I was hoping to ask you something, but I think this is a bad time."
"There is never a good time," she told him. "Ask."
"Okay." He took a deep breath and looked straight at her. "But remember you are absolutely allowed to say no."
"Xander!" she said impatiently.
"Okay," he relented. "You know how the company won the contract to rebuild the High School?" She nodded. "The new principal is very involved in every aspect of the school, including the design. He and Wayne have been talking and emailing back and forth since we won the bid. Wayne has a rough design plan for the school and the principal wants to come out and check it out in person."
"That sounds reasonable," she said, still unsure where he thought she would fit into this.
"Mike wants to give him a nice dinner while he's here. I was kinda hoping you could play hostess."
"Tonight?" Joyce asked, equal parts worry and exasperation.
"No," Xander quickly reassured her. "It will be a few weeks away. The boss would do it, but his wife was always the hostess. His hosting ability died with her. And if you say no we can always have it at a nice restaurant so there's no pressure."
"Why don't you ask Anya to host?" Joyce asked. Xander blushed.
"I love her," he started, wanting to make that part absolutely clear, "but there are some things she still doesn't get about being human. We've been to parties with other couples from work. They know what to expect, but sometimes she still leaves them speechless, and not necessarily in a good way. And I really want to make a good impression." Joyce sighed.
"Okay," she told him.
"Thank you." He gave her an impulsive hug. When he pulled back he had a big grin on his face. "I'll tell the boss and get a firm date. And the company will cover all the costs."
"Xander," she interrupted his celebrating. "I want Anya to help host or she's never going to learn how to do this." He nodded.
"I'll ask her tonight," he said.
"And there's one more thing I need you to do."
"Name it," he told her. She looked over at the gaping hole.
"I need a door."
"On it," he said, racing out of the house. A few minutes later he returned with his tool belt. He began taking measurements. "I won't be able to replace the frame until tomorrow," he told her as he wrote the dimensions in a notebook. "The best I'll be able to do right now is cover it."
"As long as it's safe," Joyce said, pouring herself a cup of coffee. Xander nodded.
"Giles said Drusilla did this?" he asked as he got out the tools he would need to straighten the edges of the hole.
"No actually Spike did," Joyce admitted. "Drusilla attacked and there was some sort of magic that held us hostage inside the house. Spike ran Drusilla off and literally broke the door down to get inside."
"But no one got hurt?" he double checked. Joyce sighed. He stopped and looked at her. "Joyce?"
"Drusilla attacked Buffy," she reluctantly admitted, paling a bit at the memory. "She almost killed her. Would have if Spike wasn't there."
"Wait a minute. Spike saved her? Even when he's all demony?"
"Yep," Joyce nodded. Xander looked back at her confused.
"How did Dru even get here? Wasn't it the middle of the day? For that matter how did Spike get out? Or Buffy? She's never alone outside."
"Magic," Giles said as he and Ethan returned from the trip to the dumpster.
"So you finally admit your witch is behind this?" Ethan asked. Xander looked irate at the slander.
"You know Willow would never help Dru," Xander argued on Willow's behalf. Giles held up a hand.
"I have proof that Willow is behind this," he admitted quietly. Ethan looked smug. "I'm just not sure how. I actually think this brings up more questions than answers."
"What?" Xander and Ethan asked at the same time just as Ben reentered the kitchen. He headed straight for Joyce.
"I'm not going to admit her," he told her. "But I do insist on bed rest until she has finished the IVs. And she needs to eat something."
"I know," Joyce told him.
"Something simple tonight. Maybe broth and crackers. You can disconnect the IVs as she finishes them, not before. If you need help I can come back." Joyce nodded. "I'll be back to check on her in a few days. And I'll need to see improvement in the weight department or I will have no choice but to admit her."
"Thank you," Giles shook his hand and walked him to the door. When he returned to the kitchen Ethan and Xander were glaring at each other.
"I've been saying she's behind the whole thing since I got here," Ethan pointed out.
"You really don't think Willow would ever hurt any of us?" Xander asked as soon as he saw him. Giles sighed.
"I think we should wait for Willow to get home before we continue this conversation." They both nodded. "How can we help with the door?"
"Well," Xander started, not wanting to stop defending his friend but knowing Giles well enough to know he wouldn't discuss that anymore right now. "We're just gonna cover it for tonight. I have some pieces of plywood in my workshop. We'll need five of them, plus my saw." Giles nodded and dragged Ethan away to get the supplies. Xander turned back to the hole and began taking his frustration out on the project. Joyce helped wherever she could, but spent most of her time with Buffy.
"What happened to the doors?" Dawn asked when she made her way back from school. She entered the kitchen to get a snack just as they were finishing up.
"Drusilla," everyone answered at the same time.
"Okay," she sounded unsure, but when nobody elaborated she just shrugged. "I'll just go get started on my homework," she said as she grabbed an apple and left. A few minutes later they finished covering the hole where the doors had been. They each left to freshen up, returning a few minutes before the group from the shops got home. Andrew immediately went into the kitchen, stopping short at the newly installed wall.
"Is it safe to cook?" Andrew asked. Anya smacked him on the arm. "Owe," he complained as he moved toward the oven. The girls just looked at each other curiously.
"Giles," Willow said when he, Ethan, and Xander reentered the kitchen. "What happened?"
"As if you don't know," Ethan glared at her.
"She didn't do this," Xander countered, putting himself between the girls and the chaos mage. The girls looked at each other again.
"Giles," Tara spoke up first. "What's going on?"
"Drusilla attacked," he told them, repeating the story for their benefit. "Perhaps we can continue this conversation in the library," he said once he finished. The girls nodded their head. They all followed him out of the kitchen, detouring to check on Buffy and Joyce before they gathered in the library. Dawn sighed as she closed her book.
"Guess I'm not getting any homework done in here," she said as she gathered her books.
"Wait," Giles told her. "This won't take long and I think you'll want to hear what I say." She nodded and sat back down. A few minutes later Joyce joined them. "Now that everybody is here I believe I know who is behind this situation." He turned to Willow. "Before I tell you my theory I need to ask you a question Willow, and I need you to be perfectly honest with me." She nodded. "Have you cast any spells today?"
"No," she said breathlessly.
"Have you been alone at all today?" he continued.
"Only a few minutes to go to the bathroom," she told him. "The whole day I've been either with Tara in The Gallery or Anya in The Magic Box." The other two nodded, backing up her story. He nodded, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"I knew you didn't really think she did it," Xander crowed.
"Oh, I know Willow did it," Giles countered. Xander immediately stopped celebrating.
"What are you talking about Rupert," Joyce demanded, stepping up protectively next to Willow. Giles sighed, pulling off his glasses.
"I'm not sure how much you know about Covens," he started. "They are rather remarkable things. They provide safety in numbers, knowledge from all those before, and strength a solitary magician simply can't find by themselves."
"We know that," Anya told him bluntly. "That's basic magic."
"Here's something you may not know," he finished. "Magic is as much an art form as painting and sculpting. Just like other artists, magicians develop a signature that is distinctly theirs. When a magician joins the coven, their signature is absorbed by the coven just as their magic is."
"They lose their signature?" Dawn asked.
"No," Ethan said, smirking. "You can't lose your signature. It's like trying to lose your fingerprint. But if a bunch of witches combine their magic, they combine their signature."
"At that point it becomes a sign of the Coven," Giles explained, "but it is almost always impossible to identify an individual magician in a Coven's sign." He finished polishing his glasses and put them back on. "This afternoon was different. This wasn't the work of a Coven, but of a single witch. And Ethan was able to identify their signature." He pulled the notebook out of his pocket and showed them the symbol he drew.
"So we find out who belongs to that symbol and stop them," Xander said. Giles sighed.
"Willow," he began, but she interrupted him.
"I didn't do this," she shrieked. He raised his hands to calm her down.
"I don't think you did," he said calmly. He placed a blank sheet of paper on the table. "Can you levitate that in the air for a few minutes please? Just you. Don't assist her Tara." She nodded and effortlessly lifted the paper. A few minutes later Giles had her stop. "Ethan?" he asked.
"Sure," he said, repeating the spell he had used earlier. A symbol appeared above the paper, which Giles carefully copied onto another blank piece of paper. When he was done he put the two symbols side by side. "Oh my God," Ethan said as he stared between the two symbols.
"They're similar," Joyce said, immediately noticing the minute differences, "but not identical." She turned to Giles. "What does that mean."
"A signature grows as the magician does," he told them, "but it can't be copied or manipulated. Willow cast the spells this afternoon. But it was not the Willow sitting before us." Willow looked up, not quite sure what he meant. Ethan started laughing hysterically.
"You, my dear, have an evil twin."